CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
I SEIZE THE FELUCCA.
Having come to this conclusion, the next thing was to devise a plan ofsome sort; but upon attempting to do this, I soon discovered that it waswholly impossible, so much depending upon circumstances over which I hadno control whatever, that I might have formed a dozen plans with never achance to carry any one of them through. The only thing, therefore, wasto await an opportunity, and be prepared to seize it the moment that itpresented itself. Perhaps the most difficult part of my task was topreserve all through this trying time such a demeanour as wouldeffectually conceal from Dominguez the fact that I was alert and on thewatch for something; but I managed it somehow, by leading him to believethat, rather than suffer torture, I had determined to provoke Morillointo killing me outright; a plan of which Dominguez highly approved,while expressing his doubts as to the possibility of its achievement.
In suggesting--as I find I have in the above paragraph--that I had noplan whatever, I have perhaps conveyed a wrong impression; what Iintended the reader to understand was that I had no _finished_ scheme,complete in all its details, to depend upon. A plan of a sort Icertainly had, but it was of the vaguest and most nebulous kind,consisting in nothing more specific than the mere determination to seizethe felucca at the first favourable opportunity, and sail her, single-handed, to the nearest British port; but of _how_ this was to beaccomplished I had not the most remote idea. The only point upon whichI was at all clear was that it would be inadvisable, for two reasons, tomake my attempt too early: my first reason for arriving at thisconclusion being that, the longer I deferred action the nearer should webe to Barbadoes, for which island I intended to make; while my secondreason was that, should Dominguez perchance suspect me of any sinisterdesign, the longer the delay on my part the less suspicious and watchfulwould he be likely to become. Fortunately for my purpose, we weremaking rather a long passage of it, the little hooker not being by anymeans a particularly weatherly craft; consequently our first land-fall--on our sixth day out--was the curious shoal and accompanying group ofrocky islets called Los Roques, or The Roccas, off La Guayra, close towhich we hove about and stood to the northward on the starboard tack.
This occurred during the early morning, about an hour after sunrise.The trade wind was then blowing steadily but moderately, and the weatherwas, as usual, fine and clear. Toward noon, however, it becamenoticeable that the wind was very decidedly softening down; and whenDominguez took his meridian observation of the sun, we were not goingmore than four knots. It was the custom aboard the felucca to dine inthe middle of the day, as soon as Dominguez had worked out hiscalculations, the skipper and I dining first, and then going on deckwhile Miguel, the mate, took his meal. While Miguel was below Dominguezusually took the tiller, but of late I had occasionally relieved him--with a vague idea that possibly it might, at some opportune moment, bean advantage for me to be at the helm. And, as it happened, I chancedto be first on deck on this particular day, and, without anypremeditation, went aft and relieved Miguel; so that, when a few minuteslater Dominguez came on deck, he found me in possession of the tiller,and staring intently at some floating object about a quarter of a mileaway, and slightly on our weather bow, that kept rising into view andvanishing again as the long, lazy undulations of the swell swept pastit.
"What are you staring at so hard, Senor Courtenay? Do you seeanything?" demanded Dominguez, as he sauntered aft toward me from thecompanion, cigar in mouth.
"Yes," answered I, replying to his last question first, "there issomething out there, but what it is I cannot for the life of me makeout. There--there it is! You can see it now lifting on the back of theswell, about a point on the weather bow."
"Ay," he answered eagerly, "I see it, and, unless I am greatly mistaken,I know what it is. Keep her away a little, senor, if you please; lether go off a point. I do not want to pass too close to that object ifit be what I imagine."
"And pray what do you imagine it to be, senor, if one may be permittedto ask the question?" inquired I, as I gave a pull upon the tiller ropeand kept the felucca away, as requested.
"A turtle! a sleeping turtle, and an unusually fine one, too!" answeredDominguez, in a low voice, as he stood staring out away over the weatherbow, with one hand shading his eyes while the other held his smoulderingcigar.
As Dominguez spoke a little thrill of sudden excitement swept over me,for I thought, "Just so; I know what he means. He intends to make aneffort to capture that turtle,--probably by means of the boat,--and, ifhe does, my chance will have come!" But I steadied myself instantly,and returned, in a perfectly nonchalant tone of voice--
"And supposing that it be, as you imagine, a sleeping turtle, what then,senor?"
"Hush, senor, I pray you!" replied Dominguez, in a low, excited whisper."Keep silence; you will soon see!"
Presently the object lifted into view again, only some ten or a dozenfathoms away; and as it went drifting quietly past, we got so distinctand prolonged a view of it as to render its identity unquestionable. Itwas, as Dominguez had imagined, a sleeping turtle of enormous size.
"Holy Virgin, what a magnificent fellow!" ejaculated Dominguez, as thecreature vanished in the trough on our weather quarter, "we _must_ havehim! Senor, if we lower the sail, so that the felucca cannot drift far,will you have any objection to being left by yourself for a few minutes,while Miguel and I and the boy go after that turtle with the boat?" hedemanded eagerly.
So my chance _had_ come, if I could but so demean myself for a _few_minutes as not to arouse the suspicions of this man by any ill-timedexhibition of eagerness or too earnest assent to his proposal. I took asecond or two to steady my nerves, and then asked--
"Cannot we _all_ go in the boat together? I have never yet seen aturtle captured, and should greatly like to witness the operation."
"No, senor; I am sorry, but it is out of the question," answeredDominguez hastily. "The boat is but small, and I am very doubtfulwhether she will be capable of carrying three of us and that greatbrute--if we are so fortunate as to catch him. I would send Miguel andLuis only, but that I know they would not be able to secure him unaided.We shall not be gone long, senor, and the felucca _cannot_ drift far inthis light breeze and with so little swell running."
"N-o, I suppose not," I answered, with just the slightest imaginableshow of reluctance. "All right, senor," I continued, "away with you, byall means; I should be sorry to spoil your sport for you. Shall I lowerthe sail?"
"Not just for a moment, senor," answered Dominguez; "we must creep farenough away that the flapping of the canvas may not wake our friendyonder, or we shall lose him." Then, poking his head through the openskylight, he called softly, in Spanish--
"Miguel! Miguel! come on deck at once, friend; there is a large turtleout here floating, fast asleep, and I want to catch him."
Miguel mumbled a reply of some sort,--what it was I could not tell,--andDominguez briskly withdrew his head from the skylight and sprang uponthe rail, looking away out on the weather quarter for the turtle. Itwas still visible, at intervals, but fully a quarter of a mile asternnow.
"There, that will do; we are far enough away now, I think," he muttered,stepping lightly off the felucca's low rail to the deck. "Here,Miguel," as that worthy emerged from the companion, wiping his lips withthe back of his hand, "help me to lower the sail, quick! And you, SenorCourtenay, will you do me the favour to haul taut the sheet as the sailcomes down, so that it may not flap about and make more noise than wecan help?"
"Certainly," I answered cheerfully, letting go the tiller rope andseizing the fall of the sheet. "Lower away whenever you like."
The single lateen sail, stretched upon its long, heavy, tapering yard,came sliding down the mast, rustling heavily, despite all that I coulddo to prevent it; and presently it lay quiescent, stretched along thedeck, with the after yardarm projecting far over the taffrail. I sprangup on the companion slide to see whether the turtle was still visible,and was rejoiced to find
that he _was_,--floating, an unconspicuous andunrecognisable object by this time,--nearly half a mile away, apparentlyquite undisturbed by the rustling sounds of the canvas.
"Is he still there, senor?" demanded Dominguez, in an eager half-whisper.
I nodded, pointing silently to where I could see the creature appearingat intervals on the ridges and backs of the swell.
"Good!" ejaculated Dominguez. "Now, where is Luis? Oh, here you are!"as that individual poked his head up through the fore-scuttle to seewhat was going on, his still working jaws betraying that he too had beendisturbed during the process of consuming the midday meal. "Just lookinto the boat, Luis, my son, and see that the oars and baler are in her,while Miguel and I unship the gangway. Can you still see him, SenorCourtenay?"
"Yes," I replied, "he is still there, but a long way off now. I think Ihad better keep my eye on him, and direct you by an occasional wave ofthe hand, as you pull down, or you will have a job to find him."
"Thank you," answered Dominguez; "if it will not be troubling you toomuch I shall be greatly obliged."
"Oh, no trouble at all," responded I. "I should stand here to watch thefun in any case."
Dominguez and Miguel soon managed, between them, to unship the gangway,which done, they lifted the boat--a mere dinghy--out of her chocks ontop of the main hatchway, slued her bows round toward the gangway, andran her over the side, fisherman fashion, the three of them immediatelyjumping in and shoving off from the felucca's side; Dominguez, whosteered the boat, looking round at me from time to time for directionsas to the way in which he was to head the boat.
Released now from the scrutiny of the Spaniard's eyes, it was no longernecessary for me to maintain that painful self-restraint which had costme so severe an effort in order that I might not by look or gesturearouse the ghost of a suspicion as to my intentions; so, while Icontinued to mechanically wave the boat to the right or the left, ascircumstances demanded, I now gave my mind to the task of determiningthe details of my proposed line of action.
To begin with, I was fully resolved that Dominguez and his companionshaving left the felucca, they should never again return to her, if Icould possibly prevent it. At the right moment I would make sail uponthe little craft and head her for Barbadoes, leaving them to get ashoreas best they could. And here my conscience pricked me a little, for Ihad already had experience of a voyage in an open boat, and knew what itmeant. On the other hand, however, my life was at stake; for it had bythis time become perfectly apparent to me that unless I could raise thesum of ten thousand pounds demanded by Dominguez--which was a simpleimpossibility--that individual would most certainly deliver me over toMorillo; in which case there was every reason to believe that I shoulddie a cruel and lingering death of torment--which I considered myselfquite justified in avoiding by every means in my power. Moreover, wewere not very far from the land. The Roccas were only some twenty-fivemiles away, at the utmost, and could easily be reached by Dominguezbefore midnight; and the weather was fine, and the water smooth. Thevoyage of the dinghy was therefore not likely to be of a veryadventurous or dangerous character; so that, by taking possession of thefelucca and turning the Spaniard and his companions adrift, I shouldonly be inflicting upon them a very mild punishment for their unlawfulseizure of my person, especially when the cruel object of that seizurecame to be taken into consideration. I would not leave them, however,wholly without provisions and water, if I could help it. My firstthought, therefore, was how I might be able to convey to them a smallsupply of each without affording them an opportunity to regainpossession of the felucca; and after a few minutes' deliberation Ithought I could see a way by which this might be accomplished.
Meanwhile the dinghy went drifting rapidly away astern, propelled byMiguel and Luis, who stood up at their oars, looking ahead, whileDominguez stood up in the stern-sheets, looking over their shoulders andoccasionally glancing back at me for guidance. At length, however, hecaught sight for himself of the turtle, and thenceforward kept hisattention wholly fixed upon it. As soon as I became fully satisfied ofthis I jumped down off the companion, for the moment for action on mypart had now arrived.
The first thing was to get sail upon the felucca again; and to mastheadthe long, heavy lateen yard, with its big sail, was no easy task for oneman. There was, however, a little winch affixed to the fore part of themast, chiefly used for this very purpose; so, upon jumping down off thecompanion, my first act was to assure myself that the mainsheet wassecurely belayed, after which I rushed forward, and, setting hand-tautthe main halliard, threw two or three turns of the fall round the barrelof the winch. I then ran aft again and sprang once more upon thecompanion to see what was happening aboard the dinghy. She was by thistime drawing pretty close up to the sleeping turtle, and the wholeattention of the trio aboard her appeared to be absorbed in the effortto get alongside the creature without waking him. Now, therefore, wasmy time for action. I accordingly dashed forward to the mast, and,shipping the crank handle of the winch, hove away upon the halliard fordear life. The yard and sail crept slowly--oh, how _very_ slowly--upthe mast, the canvas rustling in the wind noisily enough to wake thedead, still more to reach the ears and give the alarm to those in thedinghy. But, having once begun, there was nothing now for it but to goon with the work, and get the yard mastheaded and good way upon thefelucca before those in the dinghy could pull back and get alongside.
At length, after what seemed to be an interminable time,--although therapid _click, click_ of the pawls told me that in reality I wasaccomplishing my task very smartly,--I managed to get the yard some two-thirds of the way up the mast, when I took a turn with the halliards andonce more rushed aft to get a look at the boat. As I had expected, theslatting of the canvas had reached and given them the alarm, and theboat was now round and heading back after the felucca, Miguel andDominguez straining frantically at the oars, while Luis had taken theplace of the latter at the tiller. The little craft was being pushedfuriously along--as I could tell by the manner in which her nose dippedand the white foam boiled round it at every stroke of the oars; but thefelucca was gathering way, and with the wind square abeam and herimperfectly hoisted sail ramping full, seemed to be quite holding herown. I seized the tiller and kept her away another point, carefullywatching both her progress and that of the boat, and ten minutes later Iexperienced the satisfying, conviction that she was steadily leaving herpursuers. Once fully assured of this, I lashed the tiller, and oncemore running forward, completed the setting of the sail, when I let thelittle hooker come up to "full and by."
The next matter demanding my attention was that of conveying a supply offood and water to the luckless occupants of the dinghy withoutpermitting them to come alongside. There were several small breakers offresh water on deck, constituting the supply of the felucca, and one ofthese would be ample for the occupants of the dinghy until they couldget ashore or were picked up--indeed, the boat had not capacity for morethan one. They were all carefully bunged with cork and canvas, so Icould safely launch one of them overboard for the dinghy to pick up. Itherefore proceeded to unlash one and roll it toward the still opengangway; and then came the question of provisions. There was a largewash-deck tub on the forecastle which I knew to be water-tight, and itstruck me that this might be utilised to float the dry provisions untilthe dinghy could pick them up; so--first making sure of the position ofthe boat--I dived below and routed out of Dominguez' bunk a large canvasditty-bag that I had often seen there, and, emptying out the clothingwhich it contained, proceeded to fill it with bread and such otherprovisions as I could most readily lay hands on. This, when full, Itied securely at the neck and took on deck, placing it in the wash-decktub after I had dragged the latter conveniently close to the gangway.Then, going below again, I brought up three plates, some knives andforks, three tin pannikins, and a few other oddments that I knew wouldbe useful, and placed them in the wash-deck tub with the provisions.Then, when I thought that all was ready, the boat's mast and sail caughtmy ey
e as it lay upon the hatchway,--having been flung there by Luiswhen he cleared out the boat,--and this I determined they should alsohave, as, while quite resolved to abandon them, I was most anxious thatthey should be afforded every opportunity to reach the shore alive andwell. Then, everything being ready, I once more ran aft to seewhereabout the boat now was.
She was a long way astern--quite two miles--and, as I looked, itappeared as though Dominguez had already given up the pursuit, for theboat did not seem to be moving. Her occupants were, however, all ontheir feet, staring hard in my direction and waving their armsfrantically. I therefore put the helm up, and, jibing round, proceededto run down toward them. This was rather a risky thing to do, but Ithought that with care I could accomplish what I wanted, and still evaderecapture. When they saw me returning for them--as they doubtlessthought--they started pulling again for a minute or two, then once morelay upon their oars, watching. On my part I also was careful to keep akeen watch upon their movements, my intention being to pass withinhailing distance of them, if possible, without giving them a chance todash alongside. That this was their intention I soon became aware, foras the felucca swept down toward them I could see that their oars werein the water and that they were quietly manoeuvring to get the dinghyhead-on and as close as possible to the spot over which they expected meto pass. But I was not to be quite so easily caught napping; so,carefully measuring the distance with my eye, I again put the helm up,just at the right moment, and, sweeping past the dinghy within half adozen fathoms, hailed her discomfited occupants somewhat to thiseffect:--
"Dinghy ahoy! I am not going to allow you to come alongside again, so Iwould recommend you to make the best of your way to the Roccas, which,as you know, bear south-south-west, some twenty-five miles distant. Ihave no doubt that, if you can reach them, you are certain to be takenoff sooner or later. Meanwhile, I do not wish you to starve, so I amgoing to launch overboard some provisions and water for you to pick up;also the boat's mast and sail. The weather promises to hold fine, soyou ought to make a fairly good and quick passage of it."
Meanwhile, the moment that Dominguez became aware of what I was doing heswept the boat round with a couple of powerful strokes of his oar, andonce again they gave chase with might and main, Dominguez at the sametime shouting to me that if I would allow them to return on board theywould land me wherever I pleased, and never ask so much as a penny-pieceby way of ransom. Could I have trusted the fellow, I would willinglyhave acceded to his proposal; but I could not. He had already shownhimself to be so coldly callous, so absolutely indifferent to thefearful fate to which he had undertaken to consign me, that I felt itwould be the sheerest, most insane folly to place myself in his poweragain. I therefore kept the felucca away until I found that she wasrather more than holding her own in the race, when I once more lashedthe tiller, and, calling to Dominguez to look out for the things that Iwas about to launch overboard, ran to the gangway, and firstsuccessfully set the wash-deck tub afloat, then rolled the breaker ofwater out through the open _gangway_, and finally sent the mast and sailadrift; after which I returned to the tiller and watched the process ofpicking up the several articles, as I gradually brought the felucca toher former course, close-hauled upon the starboard tack.