CHAPTER EIGHT.
WE CAPTURE A SPANISH INDIAMAN.
The schooner was turned over to the dockyard people that same afternoon,and duly surveyed; and on the following day, when I presented myself atthe admiral's office, the old boy handed me a list, as long as the mainbowline, setting forth the several alterations deemed necessary to fitthe little craft for His Majesty's service.
"Here, Mr Courtenay, just run your eye over that list, and tell me whatyou think of it," he cried, as he passed it to me across the table.
I "ran my eye over it."
"New gang of rigging fore and aft--new bulwarks, six feet high, fittedwith hammock rail, etcetera, complete--deck strengthened by doubling thedeck-beams--new coamings to hatchways,"--and so on, and so on, until myimagination had conjured up a picture of the trim little _Susanne_transmogrified out of recognition, and so stiffened and hampered by herextra deck-beams and new rigging, that we should have reason to deemourselves fortunate should we ever succeed in screwing six knots out ofher on a bowline.
The admiral must have beheld my face growing ever longer as I worked myway through this precious list to the end of it, for when I had finishedit, and looked up at him blankly, he laughed aloud, as he exclaimed--
"Why, boy, what is the matter with you? Your face is as long as afiddle!"
"Oh, sir," I exclaimed, in accents of despair, "you surely will notallow those--those--dockyard people to completely ruin the poor littlehooker by making all these alterations and additions to her? She is anew vessel, sir--I understood from the mate of her that this was herfirst voyage. She is as sound and strong as wood and iron can make her,and any attempt to further strengthen her can only result in thedestruction of her sailing powers. Then, as to those high bulwarks,sir, what will be the use of them? They will not afford us an atom ofprotection, while they will make her sag away to leeward like a barge!And this new gang of rigging--"
The admiral again burst out laughing. "There, there," he saidsoothingly, as he held up his hand to stop me, "don't distress yourselfany further, Mr Courtenay; I'll go aboard her myself this afternoon,and see how much of this she really requires before signing the order.Meanwhile, go aboard yourself and draw up a list of such alterations andadditions as you may think needful, and hand it to me when I come downto have a look round."
I did so, and the upshot of it all was that I eventually wheedled theadmiral into consenting that the schooner should remain absolutelyuntouched above the deck, the only alterations made in her consisting inan extension of the cabin and forecastle accommodation, the enlargementof the magazine, and the substitution of iron ballast for the stoneswhich the Frenchmen had considered good enough to keep the little hookeron her feet. I had some difficulty in gaining my patron's consent tothe retention of the low, light bulwarks with which the craft wasfitted, the admiral being strongly of opinion that they ought to be highenough and stout enough to shelter us from musketry fire. Moreover, Ithink he considered that we looked altogether too rakish and piraticalas we then were; but I represented to him that under certain conditionsthis might be advantageous rather than otherwise, and in the end thekind-hearted old fellow indulgently let me have my way. The result ofthis was that within a fortnight of our arrival we were at sea again,with the little ship--rechristened by the name of the _Tern_--smellingoutrageously of fresh paint, to the unmitigated disgust of the thirty-six stout fellows who were quartered in her forecastle. Young Lindsay,with many apologies to Captain Harrison, elected to unite his fortuneswith mine, rather than turn over to the _Minerva_; and I was also givenanother lad--a very quiet, lady-like young fellow named Christie--tobear us both company and do duty as master. Black Peter, also came tothe conclusion that there would be more scope for his talents aboard theschooner than in the frigate, and without asking anybody's leave,installed himself, unceremoniously and as a matter of course, in theposition of cabin servant.
We weighed about five o'clock in the evening, with the last of the seabreeze,--a very smart, handsome privateer schooner named the _Coquette_being in company,--and just managed to sneak through the narrow channelbetween Gun and Rackum Cays, when the wind dropped dead, and left us inthe East Channel in the midst of a glassy calm, rolling our rails underto the furious swell that came sweeping along past Plum Point. The_Coquette_ was within biscuit-toss of us, and she too was rolling andtumbling about to such an extent that I every minute expected to see herroll her sticks away. This lasted for close upon two hours, duringwhich the sun went down in a blaze of splendour and lavish magnificenceof colour such as I have never beheld outside the limits of the WestIndian waters. Then, just as the burning glories of the west werefading into sober grey, while Hesperus beamed softly out withmomentarily increasing effulgence in the darkening blue of the easternsky, a gentle breeze came stealing to us off the land, to which bothschooners, with a mutual challenge to each other, gladly trimmed theircanvas, and away we both went, hugging the Palisades closely, for thesake of the smoother water, until Plum Point was passed, when wegradually drew away from each other, the _Coquette_ shaping a course forMorant Point, while I edged away for the island of Martinique, havingformed the opinion that some of the more knowing of the enemy'shomeward-bound merchant skippers might endeavour to slip out of theCaribbean between the islands of Martinique and Dominica, in the hope ofthereby eluding our cruisers and privateers, most of which chose theneighbourhood of the Windward Passages for their cruising-ground. Bythe end of the second dog-watch the breeze had freshened so much that itbecame necessary to hand our royal and topgallant sail; and soonafterwards the wind hauled gradually round until it became the truetrade wind, piping up to the strength of half a gale, and compelling usto haul down a single reef in our big mainsail and two reefs in ourtopsail, under which the little beauty lay down and thrashed through itwith all the life and go of a thorough-bred racer. The _Coquette_ wasstill in sight, some eight miles away to windward, and, famous as shewas for her speed, I had the supreme delight of observing that we hadhead-reached upon her to the extent of quite two miles. And now webegan to discover the great advantage of having exchanged our stoneballast for iron, the schooner being not only much stiffer under hercanvas, but also more lively than before. It was grand sailing weather,the breeze, although strong, being perfectly steady, while the sea waslong and regular, allowing the little hooker plenty of time to rise toeach as it came rushing down upon her with hissing crest all agleam withsparkling sea-fire. And it was exhilarating to stand right away aft,close by the weather taffrail, and watch the little beauty as she torealong with breathless speed through the dusky night. The sky was clearas a bell, save for a few detached fleeces of trade-cloud that cameswooping along at frequent intervals athwart the stars, so that therewas plenty of light to see by; and it was as intoxicating as wine tomerely stand abaft there, as I did, feeling the strong rush of the windpast me, and drinking in its invigorating freshness and coolness, as thedeck heaved and plunged beneath my feet, and the bending masts swayedand reeled to and fro, the trucks sweeping long arcs among the dancingstars, and the wind piping high and shrill through the rigging, as theschooner leaped and plunged irresistibly forward, with a storm of sprayflashing in over her weather cat-head and blowing aft as far as themainmast at every buoyant upward leap of her to meet the sea, while awhole Niagara of hissing foam--with an under-stratum of whirling cloudsof lambent green sea-fire--went swirling past the lee rail at a speedthat made one giddy to look at. Five bells in the first watch saw usfairly abreast at Morant Point, and then, as the night was clear and thebreeze steady, I went below and turned in.
Nothing of any importance occurred during the next few days, and,carrying on upon the schooner to the last stitch that she could staggerunder, we arrived off the northern extremity of the island of Martiniqueexactly at midnight on the fifth night after leaving Port Royal. Iconsidered that we had now reached our cruising-ground, and that therewas consequently no need for any further hurry. We therefore shortenedsail to double-reefed mainsail, fo
re staysail, and jib,--furling all oursquare canvas,--and leisurely passed through the channel betweenMartinique and Dominica until we were some sixty miles to windward ofboth islands, when we headed the little hooker to the northward and_ratched_ as far as the latitude of Antigua, then heaving about andreturning over the same ground again.
The first two days of our cruising proved utterly barren of results, butthe time was by no means wasted, for, having sedulously exercised thecrew in the working of the guns and in cutlass drill every day duringour passage across from Port Royal, I now rigged up a floating targetand gave them a little firing practice, taking care to have a man on theroyal yard to give us timely notice of the appearance of any sail thatperchance might be frightened away by the sound of firing; and I wassoon gratified at the discovery that I numbered among my crew severalvery fairly clever marksmen.
It was within a few minutes of sunset, on the evening of the third dayof our cruise, that, being again off the northern extremity ofMartinique, and heading to the southward, the lookout aloft reported theupper canvas of what looked like a large ship standing out close-hauledbetween that island and Dominica. I immediately got the ship'stelescope and went aloft with it, being just in good time to catch aglimpse of the royals and heads of the topgallant sails of a shipsteering a course that would carry her some six miles to the northwardof us. Having made as sure as I could of her bearing, distance, andcourse, I descended to the deck, and gave orders to wear ship, afterexecuting which manoeuvre we hauled down all our canvas and lay in waitfor the approaching craft, the schooner, although under bare poles,head-reaching at the rate of about two miles per hour. I estimated thatthe distance of the stranger from us was then some twenty-five miles,and if she was making a speed of eight knots--which was a fairly liberalallowance--it would afford us ample time to drift fairly athwart herhawse; and this I hoped to do undiscovered, as I believed that, from thecut of her canvas, she was a merchantman belonging to one or another ofour enemies, and I was most anxious that she should not take fright andbear up for either of the islands, involving us in a long stern-chase,with possibly a cutting-out job at the end of it if she should succeedin reaching the refuge of a harbour.
The evening was fine, with a moderate breeze from about east-north-east,and not very much sea running. The swell, however, was high enough tohide us for at least half the time, and although the stars soon beamedforth brilliantly, while a thin silver sickle of moon hung high aloft,the conditions generally seemed fairly promising for success. Of courseI gave the most stringent orders that no lights whatever should bepermitted to show aboard the schooner, and I was careful to remain ondeck myself to see that these orders were rigorously observed. Thecanvas of the stranger seemed to grow upon the horizon very slowly, andthe time of waiting for her approach appeared long; but at length, byfour bells in the first watch, she had drawn up to within about threemiles of us, and I gave the word to see all clear for sheeting home andhoisting away at a moment's notice; for the time had now arrived when,if anything like a proper lookout was being kept on board her, we mightbe discovered at any instant. But minute after minute passed, and shestill came steadily on, heeling slightly to the steady trade wind, andbowing solemnly over the undulating swell, with a curl of white foamunder her bluff bows that made her appear to be travelling at aboutthree times her actual speed. We had by this time fore-reached athwarther fore-foot, and were edging along at a pace that promised to place usabout half a mile to windward of her by the time that she would becrossing our stern, and now I kept the night-glass immovably bearingupon her, watching for the sudden yaw that should indicate the discoveryof a possible enemy in her path. I had by this time made up my mindthat she was a Spaniard, and the mere fact of her adventuring, herselfthus alone, instead of availing herself of a convoy, was to mesufficient assurance that she went heavily armed and manned. It alsosuggested the possibility that she might be carrying an exceptionally-rich freight, it sometimes happening that the skipper of such a ship,especially if he chanced to be a man of daring and courage, preferred totake his chance of making the voyage alone rather than risk being cutoff from the convoy by the swarm of privateers and picaroons thathovered upon its skirts almost from the moment of its sailing to that ofits arrival.
Our people were by this time all at their stations, with sheets andhalliards in their hands, ready to sway away at the first word of anorder from me; and it was not so dark but that I was able to see, out ofthe corner of my eye, the nudges and gestures of delight which theyinterchanged as the great, stately Indiaman swept at length athwart ourstern, dark and silent as a phantom.
"Up helm and wear her round," I shouted, all necessity for furtherconcealment being now at an end; "sheet home and hoist away for'ard--hold on aft with your peak and throat halliards until we are fairlyround! Starboard braces round in! trim aft the starboard headsheets!_Now_ hoist away your mainsail! Ah, they see us at last! There shebears away. Steady there with your lee helm, my man; do not let hercome to just yet. Keep the chase upon your weather bow; she must not beallowed to get to leeward of us. Mr Lindsay, just pitch a shot athwarther hawse as a hint that we wish her to heave-to."
The shot was fired, and another, and yet a third, but the stranger tookno notice whatever, the object of her captain being apparently to bearaway across our bows and so get before the wind, when, of course, thecloud of studding-sails that her rig allowed would afford her a veryimportant advantage over the schooner. But I was not going to permitthat if I could help it, and it soon became perfectly clear that wecould, the schooner having the heels of the ship, although we were soonunder the lee of the latter, with her sails partially becalming ours.At length, finding that we could outsail the Indiaman, I luffed close inunder her lee and hailed, in the best Spanish that I could muster--
"Ho, the ship ahoy! Heave-to, and strike, sir, to His BritannicMajesty's schooner _Tern_!"
The only reply to this was a rattling volley of musketry, evidentlyaimed at me as I stood on the weather rail, just abaft the main rigging,for I heard the bullets whistling all round my head.
"If you don't heave-to, sir," I exclaimed angrily, "by heaven, I willfire into and sink you!"
"Schooner ahoy! who are you?" now came a hail, in very indifferentEnglish, from the ship; and in the dim starlight I could just make outthe shape of a shadowy figure standing by the mizzen rigging.
"This schooner, sir, is His Britannic Majesty's schooner _Tern_, as Ihave already had the honour to inform you. Do you intend to heave-to,sir, or will you compel me to fire into you?" I retorted, in Englishthis time.
The figure vanished from the lee rail of the ship without making anyreply to my question; and, annoyed at being treated in this curiousfashion, I turned my face inward and shouted--
"Let her go off a little, Mr Lindsay,--just far enough to enable us tofire at his rigging,--and then see whether a broadside will bring thefellow to his senses."
I leapt down off the rail, and turned to walk aft, when the figuresuddenly popped into view again aboard the Indiaman, and shouted--
"No, no, senor; do not fire, for the love of God! We have severalladies aboard here, and I will surrender, rather than that they shouldbe hurt! I surrender, sir, I surrender!"
And the next instant I heard the same voice shouting, in Spanish, anorder for the crew to lay aft and back the mainyard.
As the broad mainsail of the ship collapsed and shrivelled into massivefestoons to the hauling of the crew upon the clew-garnets, buntlines,and leech-lines, preparatory to backing the maintopsail, we tooshortened sail in readiness to heave-to at the same moment as the prize;and five minutes later I found myself, with my sword drawn and a dozenstout fellows, armed to the teeth, at my heels, standing upon thequarter-deck of the stranger, with a little crowd of well-dressed men--evidently Spaniards--curiously regarding me and my following by thelight of a couple of lanterns that someone had placed on the capstan-head.
"Bueno!" exclaimed a fine, sailorly-looking, elderly man, "all is well
;they are undoubtedly English, and we have therefore nothing to fear!"
And so saying, he stepped forward and handed me his sheathed sword.
As I doffed my hat and held out my hand to receive the weapon, I couldnot help saying--
"Pardon, senor, but may I be permitted to ask an explanation of thatremark?"
"Assuredly, noble sir," answered the Spaniard, returning my bow, with adignified grace that excited my keenest envy; "the explanation isperfectly simple. The fact is, that when your schooner suddenlyappeared just now, as though she had risen from the bottom of the sea,my first impression was that we had been unfortunate enough to stumbleacross the path of my detested countryman, Pedro Morillo; and I wasdetermined to sink with my ship and all on board her rather thansurrender to him."
"And pray, senor, who is this man Pedro Morillo, of whom you speak? andwhy should he require a countryman of his own to surrender to him? andwhy should you be so very strongly averse to falling into his power?"demanded I.
"Ah, senor, it is easy to see that you are a stranger to these waters,or you would not need to ask for information respecting that fiendMorillo," answered the Spaniard. "He is a cruel, avaricious, andbloodthirsty pirate, sparing neither man nor woman, friend nor foe. Butlittle is really known about him, senor, for those who meet him rarelysurvive to tell the tale; but there have been one or two who, by amiracle, have escaped him, and it is from them that we have gained theknowledge that it is better to perish by his shot than to fall aliveinto his hands."
"Is the vessel by means of which he perpetrates his piracies abrigantine, very handsome, and wonderfully fast?" I inquired, suddenlybethinking me of poor Captain Tucker and his story.
"Certainly, senor, that answers perfectly to the description of theaccursed _Guerrilla_. Have you seen her of late? But no, of course youhave not, or you would not now be here; for Morillo is said to beespecially vindictive against the English, inflicting the most atrocioustortures upon all who fall into his hands. In the dim light we at firstmistook your schooner for the _Guerrilla_, and that is why we fired uponyou as we did. Permit me, senor, to express my profound regret at my sounfortunate mistake, and my extreme gratification that it was notfollowed by a disastrous result."
At this compliment we of course exchanged bows once more; after which Itook the liberty of addressing to this very polite and polished skippera few questions with regard to his ship, coupled with a hint that I wasanxious to complete without delay my arrangements for placing a prizecrew on board and bearing up for Jamaica.
Our prize, I then learned, was the _Dona Dolores_ of Cadiz, a SpanishWest Indiaman of eleven hundred and eighty-four tons register, homeward-bound from Cartagena, Maracaibo, and La Guayra, with a very valuablegeneral cargo and twenty-eight passengers, ten of whom were ladies.Captain Manuel Fernandez--the skipper--was most polite, and anxious tomeet my views in every way; at least, so he informed me. He conductedme into the ship's handsome saloon and introduced me to hispassengers,--the female portion of which seemed to be frightened nearlyout of their wits,--and was kind enough to promise me that, if it wouldbe agreeable to me, the whole of his people should assist my prize crewto work the ship. This suggestion, however, did _not_ happen to beagreeable to me, so I was compelled to explain, as politely as I couldphrase it, that my duty compelled me not only to decline his magnanimousoffer, but to secure the whole of his crew, officers and men, below, andalso to remove all arms of every description from the ship; after which,if he would give me his parole, it would afford me much pleasure toreceive him as a guest on board the schooner. I could see that this wasa bitter pill for the haughty don to swallow, but I was politelyinsistent, and so of course he had to yield, which he eventually didwith the best grace he could muster; and an hour later the _Dolores_,with Christie, the master's mate, in command, and ten of our lads as aprize crew, was bowling along before the wind with studding-sails setaloft and alow, while the _Tern_ followed almost within hail; it beingmy intention to escort so valuable a prize into port, and thus takeevery possible precaution against her recapture.