CHAPTER SEVEN.
A DARING ACT OF PIRACY.
The captain, having thus sorrowfully and reluctantly abandoned all hopeof finding the missing boats, at once became keenly anxious to reachPort Royal with all possible expedition, in order that the painfulbusiness of our trial by court-martial for the loss of the frigate mightbe got over without delay. We therefore carried on night and day; andso smartly did the little schooner step out, that on the seventh dayafter bearing up we found ourselves at daybreak within sight of Turk'sIsland, running in for the Windward Passage before the rather languidtrade wind. Most of the people were by this time getting about oncemore, so that, with our own men and the _Wyvern_ party, our decks lookedrather crowded; and as we went below to breakfast the captain remarkedupon it, expressing his satisfaction that the time was so near at handwhen we could exchange our cramped quarters aboard the schooner for themore roomy ones to be found in the Kingston hotels or the houses of thehospitable Jamaica planters.
We were still dawdling over breakfast in the close, stuffy little cabinof the schooner, when Lindsay, who was looking out for me, poked hishead through the open skylight to report that there were two sailahead--a ship and a brigantine--hove-to in somewhat suspiciousproximity; and that Captain Tucker--who had been aloft to get a betterview of the strangers--declared his belief that the brigantine was noneother than the piratical craft the crew of which had pillaged anddestroyed the _Wyvern_.
"How do they bear, Mr Lindsay?" demanded the captain.
"Straight ahead, sir," answered Lindsay.
"And how far distant?" was the next question.
"About ten miles, sir," replied Lindsay.
"And what are we going at the present moment?" asked the captain.
Lindsay withdrew his head from the skylight to glance over the rail, andthen replaced it again to answer, "A bare five, sir, I should say; thewind seems to be growing more scant. Shall I heave the log, sir?"
"No, thank you," answered the captain; "I have no doubt your judgment isnearly enough correct for all practical purposes, Mr Lindsay. Let ahand be sent aloft to keep an eye on the strangers, and tell him toreport anything unusual that he may see. I shall be on deck myself in afew minutes."
Excusing myself, I slipped up on deck to have a look at the two craft,the upper canvas of which was visible above the horizon directly aheadof us. As Lindsay had said, the one was a full-rigged ship, while theother was a fine big brigantine; both were hove-to, and in such closeproximity that the merest tyro might shrewdly guess at what was going onthere just beyond the horizon. But, to make assurance doubly sure, Itook the ship's glass, and went up on the topgallant yard, from whence Iwas able to obtain a full view of them. It was as I had expected; boatswere passing rapidly to and fro between the two craft, those which leftthe ship being heavily laden, while those which left the brigantine werelight.
I was still aloft, working away with the telescope, when the captainemerged from the companion-way, and at once catching sight of me,hailed--
"Well, Mr Courtenay, what do you make of them?"
"It is undoubtedly a case of piracy, sir," I replied. "The brigantineis rifling the ship, and the latter has all the appearance of a BritishWest Indiaman."
"Whew!" I heard the skipper whistle, as he walked to the rail andlooked thoughtfully down at the foam bubbles that were gliding past ourbends. "If she is an Indiaman she will have passengers aboard her," heremarked to the doctor, who at that moment joined him.
The doctor seemed to acquiesce, although he spoke in so low a tone thatI could not catch his words. The two stood talking together for a fewminutes, and then the captain hailed me again.
"What do you judge our distance from those two craft to be, MrCourtenay?" he asked.
"A good eight miles, sir, I should say," answered I.
"Thank you, Mr Courtenay; you may come down, sir," returned theskipper, which I took to be a hint that he wanted me. I accordinglyslung the glass over my shoulder, swung myself off the yard on to thebackstay, and so descended to the deck.
"Did you notice whether they seemed to have more wind than we have?"inquired the captain, as I joined him.
"Pretty much the same, sir, I should think," answered I. "It looks asthough it would fall calm before long."
"I am afraid not; no such luck," remarked the skipper, cocking hisweather eye skyward and carefully studying the aspect of the heavens."I fervently wish it would; then we could nab that fellow beautifullywith the boats."
"Might we not try, sir, as it is?" inquired I eagerly. "We have enoughpeople--that is, counting the _Wyvern's_ men, who, I have no doubt,would all volunteer," I hastened to add, as my eye fell upon three orfour of those whom we had taken out of the launch, and who, what withstarvation and their still unhealed wounds, looked more fit for ahospital than for boat duty.
"Thank you, Mr Courtenay," answered the skipper, with a smile,evidently reading my unspoken thoughts. "No, I am afraid it would notdo. In the first place, I question whether we really _have_ sufficientmen to justify such an attempt; and, in the next place, if we had, itwould still be desirable, in my opinion, to defer the attempt until weare much nearer. At present nobody can tell what we are. The schooneris such a small affair that I am in hopes the brigantine will take nonotice of us until we are within striking distance of her; while, if Iwere to send the boats away, she would probably make off at once. No;it is rather trying to the patience to remain idly aboard here, driftingalong at this snail's pace, but I am convinced that it is the correctthing to do. Perhaps, if we show only a few men about the decks, thebrigantine may be tempted to tackle us."
"Ah! if only she would, sir!" I ejaculated, with such intensity offeeling that the captain laughed.
"Why, I declare you are developing into a regular fire-eater!" heexclaimed.
"Think of the passengers, sir, some of them women, most likely!" Isaid.
"I _am_ thinking of them, sir!" answered the captain through hisclenched teeth, and with a sudden glitter in his eye that foreboded evilto the brigantine's people, should we be fortunate enough to get withinstriking distance of them.
I turned away and walked forward to where I saw Black Peter, the whilomservant of the midshipmen's mess aboard the _Althea_. He was one ofthose whom we had found still alive in the launch, and he had picked upwonderfully since then, having become almost his old self again. He waslounging on the forecastle near the port cat-head, with his bare, brawnyarms crossed on the rail as he gazed ahead at the two craft, with whichwe were slowly closing.
"Peter," said I, "get the grindstone ready. And Green, get thecutlasses up on deck and give them a thorough good sharpening. We maywant them by and by."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Green, with a grin, as he shambled away to getthe weapon, while Peter bestirred himself with alacrity to prepare thegrindstone for its work by drawing a bucket of water and pouring it intothe trough. A few minutes later Peter, his eyes gleaming withexcitement and every one of his ivories bared in a broad grin ofdelight, was whirling the handle round at a furious speed, as Green andanother hand stood on either side of the stone, each pressing a bareblade to its fiercely buzzing disc.
We continued to drift along at an exasperatingly slow pace before thelanguid breeze until we had arrived within about four miles of the twocraft, when the skipper gave orders to clear the decks and cast loosethe guns; but he instructed me that the galley fire was not to beextinguished and the magazine opened until the last moment. Apparentlyhe had his doubts as to the probability of the brigantine attacking us.And, if so, his doubts were soon confirmed; for when we had reduced thedistance by another mile the lookout aloft reported that the brigantinewas filling away; and in another minute or two she turned her stern tous, rigged out her studding-sail booms, and went off before the wind,setting her studding-sails as she went.
"Ah!" ejaculated the captain, "it is as I feared! She smells a rat, anddoes not mean to wait for us! Hoist out the gig at once, Mr Courtenay,and pull for
your life to that ship; too probably it is a case of the_Wyvern_ over again, and if there are any people left aboard her theymust be saved. Let the men go fully armed, but do not take more thanthe boat's proper complement, as you are not likely to have any fightingto do, while you may want all the room in the boat that you can spare."
We were by this time moving so slowly that it was unnecessary to heave-to in order to hoist out the gig. No time, therefore, was lost ingetting her into the water, and within five minutes of the issuing ofthe order by the captain we were afloat and away from the schooner, withthe men--a picked crew, consisting of the strongest and smartest men inthe ship--bending their backs as they drove the beautifully modelledboat at racing speed through the water.
We had barely got away, however, before I detected light wreaths ofsmoke curling up between the masts of the distant ship; and at the samemoment I observed that although her mainyards were still braced abackshe seemed to be no longer hove-to, for, as I watched, her bows fell offuntil she was nearly before the wind, and she went drifting slowly awayto leeward, sometimes heading in one direction and sometimes in another,yawing about all over the place, with a difference of fully four pointson either side of the general direction in which she was driving. Thiswas most exasperating, as although she was drifting slowly she was stilldrifting, and that, too, in the same general direction that we weresteering, thus prolonging the time that must necessarily elapse ere wecould overtake her, while it would greatly increase the expenditure ofenergy on the part of the oarsmen to enable us to get alongside.
"Give way with a will, men," I cried. "The rascals have not only setfire to the ship, but they have also cast loose her wheel, so that sheis now running away from us to leeward. The harder you pull the soonershall we catch her, and the better chance will there be for us to putout the fire. And remember, for aught that we know, her crew may belying there upon her deck, bound hand and foot, utterly helpless, toroast alive, unless we can get alongside in time to save them!"
This appeal was not without effect upon the men; hard as they had beenpulling, they now put out every available ounce of strength theypossessed, their brawny muscles standing out like ropes upon their barearms, while the perspiration literally poured off them, and the stoutash blades bent like wands, as they all but lifted the gig clean out ofthe water at every stroke. We tore along over the low, oil-like ridgesof the swell at the speed of the dolphin, leaving the schooner as thoughshe were at anchor; yet to my eager impatience our headlong pace seemedto be little better than a crawl, for the light wreaths of smoke that Ihad seen winding lazily upward from the ship's hull and twining abouther spars increased in volume with startling rapidity, while itmomentarily grew darker in colour, until, within ten minutes of itsfirst appearance, it had become a dense cloud of dun-coloured smoke,completely enveloping the ship, in the heart of which long, forkingtongues of flickering flame presently appeared. They had apparently setfire to the poor old barkie in at least half a dozen places, and she wasburning like match-wood.
"Pull, men, pull!" I cried, "or we shall be too late; she is wellalight even now, and in another quarter of an hour she will be a blazingfurnace if she goes on at her present rate. Heaven above! if there arepeople aboard her what must their feelings be now?"
A groan of sympathy burst from the men in response to this ejaculationof mine, and they tugged at the oars with a strength and energy thatfilled me with amazement. We were coming up with the ship hand overhand; but, fast as the boat flew, the fire grew still faster, andpresently I saw the flames climbing aloft by way of the well-tarredshrouds until they reached the sails, when there arose a sudden blaze offlame among the spars, and in two or three minutes every shred of canvashad been consumed, and the crawling tongues of fire were circling aboutthe masts and yards, feebly at first, but steadily increasing until theywere all ablaze. Meanwhile the ship, deprived of her canvas, graduallyfell broadside-on to the wind, and from that position as graduallydrifted round until she lay bows-on to us. By this time we were withinthree-quarters of a mile of her, and now that she was no longer drivento leeward by her sails, we neared her rapidly. But my heart sankwithin me as I watched her, for the destruction of her sails, which Ihad at first thought a fortunate circumstance,--inasmuch as she nolonger blew away from us,--I now recognised as a dreadful happening;for, stationary as she now lay on the water, the light draught of windhad full power to fan the fire that raged aboard her, and by the timethat we drew up under her bows and hooked on to her bobstay, she was aroaring mass of flames from stem to stern.
I shinned up the bobstay and so got on to her bowsprit, and from theremade my way into her head; but I could go no farther, for the fore partof her deck was a sheet of fire, upon which no living thing could existfor more than a few seconds of unspeakable torment, and even where Istood the heat was all but unendurable. I could not see very far aftfor the flames and smoke. Her fore-scuttle was open, and a pillar offlame roared out of it as from a chimney on fire; and some ten feetabaft it was her foremast, ablaze from the deck to the truck; andimmediately abaft it again was the blazing framework of what had shortlybefore been a deck-house. Beyond that I could see nothing. One thingwas quite certain, and that was that if there were living people stillaboard her--which I could not believe possible--they must be aft, and itwas there that we must seek them. So I scrambled down into the gigagain, and ordered the men to back off and pull round under the ship'sstern.
They lost no time in obeying my order; and it was well for us all thatthey exhibited so much alacrity, for as we swept round and gave way anominous cracking and rending sound was heard aboard the ship, and amoment later her blazing foremast toppled over and fell with a crashinto the sea, missing the gig by a bare boathook's length.
"Look out for the other masts; they'll be comin' down too in a jiffy!"sang out one of the men; and they all pulled for their lives. But thealarm was a false one, the main and mizzen masts standing for full tenminutes longer.
But when we got under the ship's stern it became perfectly clear that noliving thing could be aboard her, for she was even more fiercely ablazeaft than she was for'ard, the whole of her, from the mainmast to thetaffrail, being a veritable furnace of roaring flame, with tongues andjets of fire leaping from her cabin windows and from every port andscuttle. It was impossible to board her in this direction; it wouldhave simply been an act of suicide to have attempted it; even heroutside planking, right down to the water's edge, was so hot that it wasunbearable to the touch; and it was beyond all doubt that if thosefiends in the brigantine had left the crew, or any portion of them, onboard, the unhappy creatures must have perished long ere we had reachedthe ill-fated craft. I therefore took a note of her name,--the_Kingston Trader_ of Bristol,--and reluctantly gave the word to haul offto a safe distance to wait until the schooner should run down and pickus up.
This occurred about a quarter of an hour later, and the moment that thegig was fairly clear of the water we crowded sail after the brigantine;but, fast as the schooner was, the pirate craft easily ran away from us,and by sunset had vanished below the horizon.
Nothing further of importance happened to us until our arrival at PortRoyal, which occurred on the evening of the following day, when we justsaved the last of the sea breeze into the harbour. The captain wentashore and reported himself that same night, dining with the admiralafterwards; but I did not go ashore until late the next day, as therewas a great deal of business that I had to attend to. Captain Harrisonwas of course most anxious that our trial by court-martial for the lossof the frigate should take place as speedily as possible, because hecould not hope for another command until that was over; and it happenedby a quite exceptional piece of luck that there were enough ships in theharbour to allow of its being held at once. It was consequentlyarranged to take place on board the flag-ship, on the fourth dayfollowing our arrival. It was, of course, only a formal affair, theloss of the frigate being due to causes quite beyond our control,--unless, indeed, we had chosen to run fro
m the two French ships insteadof fighting them,--so it was soon over, and before noon we were allhonourably acquitted, and our side-arms returned to us with muchcongratulatory handshaking on the part of the officers present. CaptainHarrison, the doctor, Lindsay, and I were invited to dine with theadmiral at his Pen that evening, and we accordingly drove out with thelast of the daylight, arriving at the house just as the sun was settingover Hunt Bay. The admiral was the very soul of hospitality, and wewere therefore a large party, several officers from Up Park Camp and asprinkling of civilians being present "to take off the salt flavour"likely to prevail from a too exclusive gathering of the naval element,as our host laughingly put it.
Somewhat to my surprise, I found myself the lion of the evening, CaptainHarrison having most generously made the utmost of my exploit incapturing the French schooner and my subsequent search for the frigate'sboats; and so many compliments were paid me that, being still young andcomparatively modest, I had much difficulty in maintaining my self-possession and making suitable replies.
After dinner, and while the rest of us were chatting and smoking overour wine, the admiral, apologising for being obliged to temporarilyabsent himself, withdrew, taking Captain Harrison with him. They wereabsent for nearly an hour, and when they returned there was noticeablein the skipper's manner a subdued but joyous exultation that told ofgood news. I did not, however, learn what it was until we had left thePen and were driving back to our hotel in Kingston by the dazzlingsilver radiance of a tropical full moon. And, prior to that, theadmiral had said to me, as I bade him good-night--
"Come and see me in my office to-morrow about noon, Mr Courtenay; Iwant to have a talk to you."
As soon as we were clear of the Pen grounds and fairly on our road toKingston, the skipper said to me--
"Mr Courtenay, do you happen to have noticed that fine frigate, the_Minerva_, lying just inshore of the flag-ship?"
"Yes, sir, I have," said I. "She is a beauty, and is said to be awonderful sailer, especially on a taut bowline. I heard yesterday thather captain is ashore, down with yellow fever."
"Very true," answered the skipper. "The poor fellow died this morning,and the admiral has been pleased to give the command of her to me."
"I congratulate you with all my heart, sir," said I. "I thought I couldread good news in your face this evening when you returned to thedining-room. She is a magnificent vessel, and I sincerely hope that youwill have abundant opportunity to distinguish yourself in her. And Ihope, sir, that you will take me with you."
"Thank you, Courtenay, thank you!" exclaimed the skipper, evidentlytouched by the sincerity of my congratulations; "if we can only manageto fall in with the enemy frequently enough, never fear but I willdistinguish myself--if I live. As to taking you with me, I would do sowith the greatest pleasure, and as a matter of course, were I permittedto have my own way; but I believe, from what the admiral let drop to meto-night, that he has his own plans for you, and, if so, you may restassured that they will be far more to your advantage than would be youraccompanying me to the _Minerva_. Let me see--how much longer have youto serve before you are eligible for examination?"
"Only four days more, sir," I answered, with a laugh; "then I shall goup as early as possible."
"Only four days more?" exclaimed the skipper in surprise; "I thought itwas more like two months!"
"Only four days, I assure you, sir," repeated I.
"Um! well, I suppose you know best," was the answer, given in a musingtone, to which was presently added, "So much the better! So much thebetter!"
"May I ask, sir, whether that remark has any reference to me?" Iinquired.
"Certainly, Courtenay, certainly; there cannot be any possible objectionto your asking, but I am not bound to answer, am I?" replied theskipper, with a laugh. "No," he continued, "I must not tell youanything, except that I have reason to believe that the admiral is verymuch pleased with your behaviour, and that he contemplates marking hisapproval in a manner which, I am sure, will be very pleasing toyourself."
And that was all I could get out of the gallant captain; but it wassufficient to cause me to pass a sleepless night of pleasurablespeculation.
Prompt to the second I presented myself at the admiral's office nextmorning, and was at once shown into the great man's presence.
"Morning, Mr Courtenay!" exclaimed he, as I entered. "Bring yourselfto an anchor for a minute or two, will ye, until I have signed thesepapers; then I shall be free to have a talk to you. Jenkins, clear awaya chair for Mr Courtenay."
The orderly sergeant reverently removed a pile of books and papers froma chair, dusted it, and placed it near an open window, and I amusedmyself by looking out upon the busy scene in the harbour, while theadmiral proceeded to scrawl his signature upon document after document.
"There!" he exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, as he signed the last oneand pushed it away from him, "thank goodness that job is finished! Now,Mr Courtenay--by the way, Captain Harrison told me last night that hebelieved you would soon be eligible for your examination. Is that so?"
"Yes, sir," answered I; "I shall have served my full time in three daysmore."
"Three days!" exclaimed the admiral. "Is that all?"
I replied that it was.
"And I understand that you are a good seaman and navigator," resumed theadmiral. "I suppose you have no fear of failing when you go up for yourexamination?" I modestly replied that I had not, provided that I wastreated fairly, and had not a lot of catch-questions put to me.
"Just so," responded the admiral musingly. "Your navigation, I have nodoubt, is all right," he continued, "and of course you can work a shipwhen she is all ataunto. But suppose you belonged, let us say, to afrigate, and at the end of an engagement you found yourself in command,and your ship unrigged, what is the first thing you would do?"
I considered for a moment, and then proceeded to describe the steps Ishould take under such circumstances, the admiral listening all the timeintently, but uttering no word and giving no sign of any kind toindicate whether my reply was satisfactory or not, until I had finished,when he said--
"Very good, Mr Courtenay, very good indeed--on the whole. Have youever helped to fit out a ship?"
"Yes, sir," answered I, "I was aboard the poor old _Althea_ during thewhole time that she was in the hands of the riggers."
"Ah!" he exclaimed, "and you heartily wished yourself anywhere else thanthere, I'll be bound. But it has done you good, young gentleman; youhave profited by your experience, I can see, and will perhaps some daybe deeply thankful for the knowledge you then gained. Now, supposingthat you found yourself on a lee shore, in a heavy gale of wind, withall your masts gone, what steps would you take for the preservation ofthe ship and the lives of your crew?"
Again I replied at length, stating that I should anchor the moment thatthe ship drifted into a suitable depth of water, letting go both bowers,backing them up with the sheet anchors, and shackling the remainder ofthe bower cables on to those of the sheet anchors, which latter I shouldthen veer away upon to within a few fathoms of the clinch.
"And suppose that, having done this, your ship dragged, or parted hercables, what then?" persisted the admiral.
"Then, sir," said I, "we could only trust in God's mercy, while standingby to take care of ourselves and each other as soon as the ship shouldstrike."
"Good!" exclaimed the admiral; "a very excellent and proper answer, MrCourtenay. Now," he continued, "I have been asking you these questionswith a purpose. I wanted to ascertain for myself whether I should bejustified in sending you away in command of that little schooner thatyou took so cleverly, and I think I shall. I believe you will doexactly for the work I have in my mind for you. Sickness and casualtiestogether have played havoc among the officers on this station of late,to such an extent that I have not nearly as many as I want; consequentlyI am only too glad to meet with young gentlemen like yourself, who havemade good use of their opportunities. These waters are swarming witht
he enemy's privateers,--with a sprinkling of pirates thrown in, itwould appear, from what the skipper of the unfortunate _Wyvern_ says,--and they must be put down--sunk, burned, destroyed by any means that canbest be compassed, or, better still, captured. I therefore propose tofit out that little schooner of yours, and to place you in command ofher, for the especial purpose of suppressing these pests, andincidentally capturing as many of the enemy's merchantmen as you canfall in with. Now, how d'ye think you'll like the job?"
I replied, delightedly, that nothing could possibly suit me better; thatI was inexpressibly grateful for the confidence he was about to reposein me, and that I would leave nothing undone to prove that suchconfidence was justified.
"Very well, then, that is settled," observed the admiral genially. "Wewill have the schooner overhauled at once, and made ready for sea asquickly as may be. Then you can go to sea for a month; there will be anexamination next month, for which you must arrange to be in port, andthen--having passed, as I feel certain you will--you shall have yourcommission, and be off to sea again to win your next step."