CHAPTER XII
A RESCUE
The _Arrow_ was one morning lying at anchor in a small bay on the southcoast, when one of the sailors called Nat's attention to a boy who hadrun down and was wildly waving his arms. Nat caught up his telescope.
"It may be a white boy," he said. "Lower the gig! I will go myself inher. Quick! he may be pursued."
It took but a very short time to cross the quarter of a mile of water.The lad rushed in up to his chin to meet them, and was quickly hauledinto the boat. His hands and face had been blackened, but this had soworn off that he merely presented the appearance of a sooty-faced whiteboy. He burst into a fit of convulsive sobbing as he found himself amongfriends. Nat saw that it was useless to question him at the moment, sohe told the men to row back at once to the schooner; then hehalf-carried him down to his own cabin, brought out a glass of wine, andgave it to him.
"Drink that up, lad," he said, "then you can tell me something aboutyourself." The boy put the glass with shaking hands to his lips anddrank it down.
"That is right, lad; now tell me something about yourself. What is yourname?"
"I am a girl, monsieur; my name is Louise Pickard. We have been hidingin the forest for six weeks--my father and mother, my sister, and tenFrenchmen, who worked for us. We lived on fruit and what provisions themen could obtain by going down to the plantations at night. Two days agothe negroes found us; they killed one of the men at once, and the restof us they took. My sister and I were dressed as boys. They were goingto kill us one by one; they burnt one of the men to death yesterday, andtied us to trees round and made us look on. This morning they killedanother; they cut off his arms at the elbows and his legs at the knees,and then cut him about with knives till he died. Then they shut us uptogether again. There was a little window, and my father pushed methrough it. He had heard the negroes say that there was a vessel in thebay with white men in it. The hole was in the back of the house, andthere were trees there, so that I managed to get off without being seenby the negroes. My father tried to get Valerie through the same window,but she was too big. She is two years older than I am, and I could nothave squeezed through had not my father pushed me. He told me to comedown to the shore and take refuge with you."
"How many of these black scoundrels are there?" Nat asked.
THE RESCUE OF LOUISE PICKARD.]
"Two or three hundred. The negroes are going to attack youto-night--there are some fishermen's boats at a village a mile or twoalong the shore. Father told me to warn you. I did not like comingaway, I would have liked to have died with the others; but it was soawful to look on at the tortures. If they would but have killed us atonce, I would not have minded; but oh, monsieur, it was too terrible!Can you not do something for them?" And she again burst into tears.
"I will see what can be done," Nat said, putting his hand kindly on hershoulder. "I am going up on deck now. This is my cabin," and he openedthe door of his berth. "The steward will bring you some hot water, thenyou had better have a wash and get rid of that charcoal, for I supposeit is charcoal on your face. We can do nothing for you in the way ofdress at present. But if you will take off your things and put themoutside the door, I will get them washed at once, and you can lie downin my berth until they are dry. They won't take very long in this hotclimate."
The steward by his orders brought in a can of hot water. The girlretired with it to the cabin, and Nat went on deck and told Turnbull andLippincott what he had heard from her.
"It is awful," the latter said. "Can we do nothing, sir?"
"That is the point, Mr. Lippincott. I feel that it is impossible for usto remain quiet while such devilry is being carried on among thosewoods. But you see the matter is rendered all the more difficult by thefact that we ourselves are going to be attacked to-night. Our crew isweak enough already. If three or four boat-loads full of blacks were tofall upon us, we could not spare a man; while if we were to land, weshould need every man for the job, and even then should be terriblyweak. Something has to be done, that is evident, and we have to hit upona plan. Now, let us all set our wits to work." At this moment the blacksteward came up from the cabin with a bundle.
"The boy am put dese things outside him door, sah. Wat am me to do widdem?"
"Bring them along to the galley, Sam. I must get your father to washthem. Pomp," he went on to the cook, "have you got plenty of hot water?"
"Yes, sah; allus hab hot water."
"Well, look here, I want you and Sam to set to work and wash theseclothes at once. The boy I brought on board turns out to be a Frenchgirl, the daughter of a planter who is in the hands of the negroes upthere. We must see to-morrow what we can do in the way of rigging herout properly, but for to-day we must manage with these things. Get themas white as you can, and then hang them up to dry. I want her on deckagain as soon as possible to give us information as to where her friendsare confined."
"All right, sah, we soon gets dese clean."
"And you may as well heat up a basin of that turtle-soup we hadyesterday. I expect she has had little enough to eat of late."
Then he went back to the quarter-deck.
"It seems to me, sir," Turnbull said, "that if the girl would go ashorewith us as a guide, we might succeed. After it gets dark, put me and oneof the hands on shore, with a saw and a bottle of oil to make it worknoiselessly. Then we could crawl up to this little window by which shegot out, and cut away the wood--for no doubt it is a wooden hut--tillthe hole is large enough for all of them to get out."
"That seems a good plan, Turnbull, certainly; the only drawback is thatprobably before it gets dark the negroes will have discovered that theboy, as they consider her, has escaped, and will keep a sharp look-outon the others. Then, too, although one or two might get out noiselesslyand make their escape, the chances of ten people doing so would be muchsmaller, and if the attempt were detected you might only share theirfate. If we had all the crew close at hand to cover their retreat itmight be managed, great as would be the odds against us, but you seethere is this boat attack to be guarded against. I don't think that Icould allow you to run such a risk, Turnbull."
"Still, something must be done, sir."
"Yes, we are agreed as to that," Nat said, and going to the rail hestood there gazing at the shore for some minutes.
"I have an idea," he said, suddenly turning round. "You see that pointnear the mouth of the bay, where the rock rises eight or ten feetstraight out from the water's edge; there are trees behind it. It willbe a dark night, and if we could get the schooner over there withouttheir noticing it, as I think we could, we could probably lay her prettyclose alongside, and when the boats came, the betting is that they wouldnever find her. They would row about for a bit looking for us where weare anchored, and, not finding us, would come to the conclusion that wehad got up sail and gone away after dark. In that way we could land ourwhole party."
"I think that would do first-rate, sir."
"Of course there is a certain amount of risk of their discovering her,"Nat went on, "but we must chance that. We will send her topmasts down assoon as it is dark, so that they won't show against the sky-line, andboats might then row within twenty yards of her without noticing her,especially if we can get her in pretty close. It is just possible thatwe may be able to lay her right against the rock. The water is deeppretty close in, even opposite to us, for the girl was not more thanfour or five yards from the shore when she was up to her neck in water,and no doubt it is a good deal deeper than that, at the foot of thoserocks. As soon as it is dark, Mr. Lippincott, you had better take theboat and sound along there. Of course you will muffle your oars. Itwould be a great thing if we could get alongside. In the first place,the nearer she gets in the less likely that she would be to be seen,and in the next place it would be very important, if we are hotlypursued, to be able to get on board without having to use boats."
"Certainly," Turnbull agreed.
"When we have got her in her place," Nat went on, "we will take a lightanchor out f
ifty fathom or so, and put the hawser round the windlass, sothat the instant we are on board, four men, told off beforehand, can runforward and set to work. Once we are three yards out we should be safefrom boarding, however strong their force may be. We will have the gunson that side loaded with a double charge of grape before we land, andonce out we will give them a dose they will remember for a long time.Now, we may as well tell the crew; they will be delighted at theprospect of a fight."
The men were clustered together forward discussing whether anything waslikely to take place, for the arrival of the boy, the fact that he hadbeen taken down to the cabin aft and had not reappeared, and the evidentanxiety of their officers, sufficed to show them that something unusualwas on hand. When they came aft Nat said, "My men, we are about toundertake an enterprise that will, I am sure, be after your own heart.The apparent boy we brought on board is a young French lady. Herparents, sister, and seven white men are in the hands of the negroes,who each day murder one with horrible torture. Now we are going torescue them."
A cheer broke from the men.
"The job will be a pretty tough one, men, but you won't like it any theworse for that. There are, I hear, two or three hundred of thosemurderous brutes up there. Of course, if we can get the prisoners outwithout a fight we shall do so, but I hardly think we shall be able tomanage that. The matter is somewhat complicated by the fact that I hearthat a boat attack is going to be made upon us to-night. Now, we arecertainly not strong enough to carry off this party and at the same timeto leave enough men on board to defend the schooner. After it is dark,therefore, I intend to take her across to that rock over there, moor heras close to it as I can, and strike the topmasts. In that way we mayhope that on a moonless night, as this will be, the boats will not findher, but will suppose that we have sailed away. However, of that we mustrun the risk. I shall take every man with me. Of course, we shall battenthe hatches down, and fasten them so that if they do find her it willgive them as much trouble as possible, and we may possibly catch them atwork as we return.
"You will, of course, take muskets and a brace of pistols each, and yourcutlasses. I have no doubt that we are being watched from the shore,therefore go about your work as usual. Do not gather together talking,or give them any cause to suppose that we are intending to do anything.It is not likely that the escape of the girl has yet been discovered,for if they were watching among the trees up there they would hardlyhave noticed that the boat took an extra person from the shore. Greasethe falls of the gig, so that she can be lowered noiselessly, and mufflethe oars. As soon as it is quite dark Mr. Lippincott will takesoundings, in order to see how close into the rock it will be safe totake her."
With another low but hearty cheer, expressing the satisfaction they feltat the prospect of a fight with the negroes, the crew went forwardagain. One of them set to work to grease the falls not only of the gigbut of the other boats, in case these should also be required, twoothers cut up some old guernseys and lashed them round the gig's oars atthe point where they would touch the thole-pins, others resumed theiroccupation of polishing the brass-work, while the rest sat down underthe shelter of the bulwark and talked over the adventure on which theywere about to engage. In an hour the girl's clothes were washed anddried. One of the crew who had served as an assistant sail-maker had atonce, under Nat's instructions, set to work to sew half a dozen flagstogether, and with these he had constructed a garment which, ifprimitive in design, was at least somewhat feminine in appearance.
Round the top was a deep hem through which was run a thin cord. By theaid of this it could be drawn together and gathered in at the neck. Sixinches from the top, two of the seams between the flags were left open,these were for the arm-holes. This primitive pinafore was to be drawn inat the waist by a belt. The man had chosen from among the signal flagsthose whose colours went best together, and though the result wasextremely motley, it was yet a very fair substitute for a dress. Thethree officers could not help laughing as he brought it aft to showthem.
"That is very well contrived, Jenkins," Nat said. "I have no doubt theyoung lady will greatly prefer it to going about dressed as a boy."
As the clothes were by this time dry, Nat told Sam to take them belowwith the new garment, to lay them down outside his state-room door, andthen to knock and tell the young lady that they were there in readinessfor her, and that as soon as she was dressed lunch would be ready. Whenhe had done this he was to come up on deck again. A quarter of an hourlater Nat himself went down. The clothes had disappeared, and the girl,who was about thirteen years of age, came out. She had, with theexception of the coat, donned her former garments, and over these hadput the flag pinafore. Her arms were covered by those of the lightflannel shirt, and the dress hung straight down all round.
"It is a queer-looking thing," he said with a smile, "but it is the bestwe can manage in the emergency. Here is a belt, if you strap that roundyour waist it will make the thing look more comfortable."
The girl smiled wanly. Now that her face and hands were clean, Nat sawthat she was a pretty little thing, and would have been prettier had nother hair been cut quite short.
"We are going this evening," Nat went on, "to try to rescue your parentsand sister from those black fiends."
She clasped her hands before her.
"Oh, sir, that is good of you!"
"Not at all. You don't suppose that we are going to remain here quietly,knowing that close by there are white people in the hands of thosescoundrels. We shall want you to act as our guide. We are going to takea saw with us and cut away the wood round that hole you escaped by, andhope to get your friends out without the negroes seeing us. If they do,so much the worse for them. Now, will you sit down while the stewardlays the cloth for lunch?--it will be ready in two or three minutes;then I will bring the other two officers down to introduce them to you."He raised his voice: "Sam! luncheon as soon as possible."
The young negro was expecting the order, and ran in at once with atable-cloth and a plate-basket, and in two or three minutes the tablewas laid; then he went out and returned with the plates.
"Eberyting ready, sah; me bring down de soup when you gib de word."
"Give my compliments to Mr. Turnbull and Mr. Lippincott, and ask them tocome down to lunch."
The girl looked anxious and shy as she heard the footsteps coming downthe companion, but an expression of relief came over her face as she sawthat they were even younger than the officer she had already seen.
"These are my officers, mademoiselle--Mr. Turnbull and Mr. Lippincott.Their French is not of the best, but you must make allowance for them."
The girl smiled and held out her hand to the two middies. The news thather parents and sister might yet be rescued had already greatly raisedher spirits.
"I do look funny, do I not?" she said.
"I am sure you look very nice," Turnbull replied. "It is quite a noveltyfor us to have a lady on board."
"And are you both going to help bring my friends down?"
"Yes, we are all going. We will get them down, and I hope we shall havea chance of punishing some of the murderous niggers."
"You mean you hope that there will be a fight?" she asked in a tone ofsurprise, as she took her seat on Nat's right hand.
"That I do," Turnbull said heartily. "There is not a man on board whowould not be sorry if we were to get down again without an opportunityof having a slap at the beggars."
"Mr. Turnbull is a very bloodthirsty character," Nat said gravely. "Idon't know whether you have in French a history of Jack the GiantKiller?"
"I never saw such a book," she said, looking a little puzzled. "Did hereally kill giants?"
"Yes, Jack did; he was wonderful that way. Mr. Turnbull has never beenable to find any giants, but he means to take it out of the blacks."
"I am sorry to say, mademoiselle," Turnbull said, "that although when onthe quarter-deck our captain's word may be received as gospel, hepermits himself a very wide latitude of speech in his own cabin. Thefact is,
that whatever my disposition may be, I have never yet had anyopportunity for performing any very desperate actions, whereasLieutenant Glover has been killing his enemies by scores, fighting withwild beasts, attacking pirates in their holds, has been blown up intothe air, and rescued ladies from slaughter by the negroes."
The French girl turned her eyes wonderingly towards Nat.
"You need not believe more than you like, mademoiselle," he said with alaugh. "I am afraid that we are all given to exaggerate very much, butMr. Turnbull is the champion fabricator."
"But is it quite true that you are going to try to get my father andmother and sister away from the negroes?"
"That is quite true," Nat said earnestly. "We are certainly going to tryto get them, and I think that we have a good chance of doing so. Muchwill depend, of course, upon whether we can reach the hut where they areconfined before being discovered. You see, we have only twenty-five men,or, counting us all, including the quarter-master, steward, and cook,thirty-one. It is a small force, and though we might bring all theprisoners off in safety if we once got them into our hands, it would bea serious thing if the negroes had time to rally round the hut before wegot there. How does it stand, is it surrounded by trees?"
"No, it is at the edge of the forest. There is a large indigo field infront, and it is there most of the negroes are. There may be some in theforest, but I did not see any as I came down here."
"That is good. How many do you say there are?"
"Seven men, without counting my father."
"We will tell eight of the sailors to carry up boarding-pikes, Turnbull.Unfortunately we have no spare firearms. However, boarding-pikes are notbad weapons, and as no doubt only a small portion of the negroes haveguns, it will add a good deal to our strength if it comes to ahand-to-hand fight."
"That it will," Turnbull agreed. "That will bring us up to thirty-nine,and thirty-nine whites ought to be able to fight their way easilyenough through this black mob, especially as we shall take them bysurprise, and they won't know how many of us there are."
As soon as it became dark, Lippincott went off in the gig, and returnedin half an hour with the news that there were six feet of water at thefoot of the rock, and twelve feet ten yards away.
"I think, sir," he said, "that we could get her in within three or fouryards of the rock."
"That would do excellently," Nat said. "The carpenter had better set towork at once and nail three planks--we have got some down below fifteenfeet long--side by side. Let two of the hands help him. Tell him, if hedoes not think that it will be stiff enough, to nail one of the spareoars on each plank."
He had learned from the girl that many of the negroes sat up by theirfires nearly all night, and that therefore there was no advantage indelaying the landing, and he was anxious to move the schooner as soon aspossible, as the boats might appear at any time. Everything was inreadiness--the arms had been brought on deck, the muskets and pistolsloaded, and as soon as the gangway was knocked together, which did nottake many minutes, Lippincott went off in the gig with a long hawser. Assoon as he returned and reported that he had fastened it to a tree abovethe rock, the crew tailed on, and the schooner was noiselessly towed toher place. Another hawser was taken on shore, and she was hauledbroadside on until she lay, with only a few inches of water under herkeel, within ten feet of the line of rock.
The hatchways had all been securely fastened down, and an old chain wastaken round the trunk of a large tree, and its ends shackled round themainmast. This could be loosed almost instantaneously by the crew whenthey returned, but would much increase the difficulty that the negroeswould encounter in getting the vessel away if they discovered her. Theedge of the rock was but some three feet higher than the rail, and therewas therefore no difficulty in ascending the gangway. When all hadcrossed, this was pulled up and pushed in among the bushes. Theyfollowed the shore till they reached the spot at which the girl had comedown, as she would more easily find her way from there than from theplace where they had landed. Telling the others to follow in singlefile, Nat took his place with the girl, at their head.
"How far is it?" he said to her in low tones.
"It is just at the top of the hill. We shall be there in less than aquarter of an hour." The sailors had been warned to walk with thegreatest caution, and especially to avoid striking any of their weaponsagainst the trees.
They went slowly, for it was very dark in the forest. Beyond the factthat she had come straight down the hill when she escaped, she couldgive no information about the way.
"I did not look," she said; "I ran straight down. But I am sure that ifwe go as straight as we can up from the water, we shall come upon theplantation, and then I shall be able to tell you exactly where the hutis."
Keeping therefore upward, they went on until they reached level ground,and saw by the faint light ahead that they were nearing the edge of theforest. They stepped even more cautiously then until they arrived at theopen ground. A dozen great fires blazed in various places in front ofthem, and they could hear the laughing and talking of the negroes.
"It is more to the right," the girl said. "It is nearly in the corner ofthe field where you see that fire; that is close to the hut. They alwayskeep a big fire there, and the leaders sleep round it. There are alwaystwo negroes on guard in front of the hut."
"I expect they have got one behind now. Of course they have found out bythis time that you have escaped, and they must have known that it couldonly have been by that window."
Keeping well inside the line of trees, they crept along to the corner ofthe clearing. The two negroes had been instructed in the part they wereto play, and as soon as they got well round behind the house the othershalted, and knife in hand they crept through the trees, and then upontheir hands and knees crawled forward. The others listened intently. Thegabble of voices continued on the other side of the hut, and when alouder yell of laughter than usual broke out they saw a figure appear atone corner and look round, as if anxious to hear what was going on.Suddenly two arms appeared from the darkness behind him. He was graspedby the throat and disappeared suddenly from sight. Two minutes later Samcame through the trees.
"Dat chile no gib de alarm, sah. Can go on now and cut him window."
The carpenter and the man told off to assist him at once ran forward,accompanied by the girl and Nat, who went straight to the little window.He had told her that she must not speak, for her mother or sister mightutter a sudden exclamation which would alarm the sentries on the otherside. Putting his face to the window, he said in a low voice, "I prayyou be silent, the slightest sound might cost you your lives. We arehere to rescue you; your daughter is safe and sound with us. Now we aregoing to enlarge the window." Low exclamations of delight told him thathe was heard.
The carpenter at once set to work, the man with him oiling his saw veryfrequently; nevertheless it seemed to Nat to make even more noise thanusual. Suddenly, however, one of the prisoners began to utter a prayerin a loud voice.
"That is papa," the girl whispered; "he used to say prayers everynight."
"It was a very good idea to begin now," Nat said. "What with the row bythe fires, and his voice inside, the guard are not likely to hear thesaw."
In ten minutes the window had been enlarged to a point sufficient for afull-sized person to get through.
"Now, madam, will you come first," Nat said. "We will pull you throughall right."
One by one the captives were got out. There were still two men left whenthe door opened, and three or four negroes appeared with blazing brands.
"We have come to fetch one of you out to give us a lillie fun. Bake 'imsome ober de fire."
Then he broke off with a shout of astonishment as he saw that the hutwas almost untenanted, and he and the others were about to rush forwardat the two men still there when Nat thrust his arm through the opening.Two shots cracked out, one after the other. The two leading negroesfell, and the others with a yell of terror rushed out of the hut.
"Quick, for
your lives!" he said to the two men, one of whom was alreadyhalf through the window. "We shall have them all on us in a fewminutes."
In a few seconds the men were out, and Nat and the two seamen ran withthem to the edge of the wood, to which the other captives had beenpassed on as soon as they were freed. By this time the air was ringingwith yells and shouts.
"Now, men, move along a little farther so as to get a view of the fire,and then we will give them a volley."
The negroes were rushing forward, yelling and shouting, when twenty-fivemuskets rang out with deadly aim, for the blacks were not more thanthirty yards away.
"Load again, lads! that will sicken them for a bit," he shouted; andindeed the negroes with yells of astonishment and fear had run back,leaving some fourteen or fifteen of their number on the ground.
"Are you all loaded?"
"Ay, ay, sir."
"Then down the hill you go. Have the three ladies gone on?"
"Yes, sir; the two blacks went down with them."
"Have the Frenchmen got their pikes? That is good; now keep as close asyou can together. They are coming up by scores, and will make a rush ina minute or so."
As fast as they could the sailors and the rescued men made their waydown the hill, but owing to the thickness of the trees it was impossibleto run. They had gone but a short distance when there was an outburst ofyells round them, and, looking back, Nat saw a number of blazing brands.
"You had better have kept in the dark," he muttered. "You would not havecome so fast, but more of you would go back alive. Don't hurry, men," hesaid; "take it coolly. Take care of the trees. They are sure to come upto us, for they can see their way; but they won't be in such a hurrywhen we open fire again."
They were half-way down the hill when he gave the order: "You four mennext to me turn round and pick off some of those fellows with torches.The rest halt in case they make a rush."
The four shots were fired one after the other. As many negroes fell.
"Are you ready, lads? Four more fire!"
The shots had an equal success. Many of the negroes at once took refugebehind trees.
"That will do, men; on you go again! Don't make more noise than you canhelp. With all that yelling they won't be sure that we have moved."
"FOUR SHOTS WERE FIRED AND AS MANY NEGROES FELL."]
It was not, indeed, until they were down on the shore that the negroesagain came up with them. Then they burst out at several points from thetrees, being uncertain of the exact course the retreating party hadtaken.
"Now, keep together in a body, men!" Nat shouted in English, andrepeated the same order in French. "March steadily forward. We have gotto fight our way through them."
Now that the negroes saw how comparatively small was the number of theirfoes, they rushed upon them.
"Don't throw away a shot!" Nat shouted. "Now, let them have it!"
The men who had already fired had loaded again, and as the negroes cameup, a crackling fire broke out from the little party.
"Now, lads, at them with pistol, cutlass, and pike! We must get throughthese fellows ahead before others come up."
With a loud cheer the sailors rushed upon the blacks, cutting andthrusting, the men who had been released fighting with desperate furywith their pikes, mad with the thirst for revenge for the horribleatrocities that they witnessed and the thought of the fate they hadescaped. Pistols cracked out continually, and it was not long before thenegroes lost heart; and the sailors, at Nat's order, flung themselvesupon them and cut a way through.
"Straight on now, men! Show them that you can run as well as fight. Weshall have a hundred more of them down on us directly."
There was no doubt of this; the yells that rose from the forest and thelight of many brands showed that the whole of the negroes were hasteningto join their comrades. Nat had previously begged the two officers andthe quarter-master not to use their pistols, and he, with them, ran inthe rear line. A few only of the negroes pressed closely behind them;the rest, dismayed by the slaughter that had taken place, awaited thearrival of their comrades.
"Now, turn and let them have both barrels!" Nat said; and the four men,facing round, levelled their pistols, and six of the leading negroesfell, while the others halted at once. "Keep your other pistols," Natsaid; "we shall want them at the gangway."
There was a shout of satisfaction as the men in advance caught sight ofthe schooner. The two negroes had already placed the gangway inposition, and had crossed it with the three ladies and Monsieur Pickard,who had accompanied them.
"Over you go, men!" Nat shouted; "they are close behind us."
Most of the men were across when a crowd of blacks came rushing along.Sam and Pomp had taken their station at the taffrail, and as the head ofthe mob came on their muskets flashed out, and the two leading men fell.Then they opened fire with their pistols, and at the same moment Nat andhis three companions discharged their remaining pistols and then randown the gangway, the sailors having by this time all passed over. Theplanks were at once pulled on board.
"Now, unshackle the chain and round with the capstan!" Nat shouted. "Therest of you lie down behind the bulwarks."
A moment later the chain was unshackled, and as the capstan rapidlyrevolved, the schooner's head receded from the shore. Yells of ragebroke from the negroes, and a scattered fire of musketry was opened.
"Now, Turnbull, do you and Lippincott each go to a gun, and when we arefar enough off for them to bear on those rascals let them have it."
A minute later the bow-gun was fired. It was too near for the shot tospread properly, but it cut a lane through the crowd, and half a minutelater the second gun crashed out. By this time the sailors had allloaded their muskets again.
"Now for a volley!" Nat shouted; "that will finish them; or I ammistaken."
It was indeed decisive, and with yells of rage and pain the negroesdarted into the forest behind them. As fast as the guns could be loaded,round after round of grape was fired among the trees. By this time theschooner was close to the kedge; this was hauled up and sail set, butthe breeze was so light that the vessel scarcely moved through thewater. The guns were again loaded with grape, and a keen watch was kept,as it was possible that the boats might not yet have arrived, havingdelayed putting off until it was thought that all on board would beasleep. In the meantime the wounds were examined. None of these wasserious. Only a small proportion of the negroes were armed with muskets,and these being among the crowd had for the most part been unable tofire; consequently only one man had been hit in the arm by a ball, whilesix or eight had received gashes more or less deep from the knives andother weapons of the negroes.
"Even if the boats have not been here," Nat said to Lippincott, "I don'tthink we shall have any trouble with them; they will have heard ourguns, and, I dare say, the musketry firing, and will know that, now weare awake and on our guard, we should probably sink them before theyreached us."
Half an hour passed, and then, as they got beyond the shelter of theisland, they caught a little breeze, and the schooner began to slipthrough the water.
Nat called the men from the guns. "I don't think that we shall have anymore fighting to-night," he said. "You have all done very well. We havecertainly killed three times our own number, and we have successfullycarried out the main object of our adventure. I have ordered the stewardto serve out a good ration of rum all round, but I should advise youwho have got wounds to keep your share for a few days."
"It won't hurt us, sir," one old sailor said, and three or four othervoices were raised in assent.
"I did not suppose that my advice would be taken," Nat said with a laughto Turnbull, "still, it was as well to give it; and I don't suppose thatan extra allowance of grog will go far towards heating their blood."
"Not it," the middy replied; "rum is cheap out here, and I don't supposethat half a bottle would be considered by them as an excessive drink.How are you going to stow our passengers away? Of course we will give upour cabins to the ladies."
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"I think the best plan will be for us to turn out altogether, Turnbull;there will be our three state-rooms for the ladies, and the father cansleep on the sofa of the main cabin. We will have a screen put upforward of the steward's cabin, and have cots slung for ourselves there.Of course we will take our meals with them aft. I don't think there areany spare hammocks, and the eight white men must make a shift to sleepon some old sails--it won't be for many days. Well, Sam, what is it?"
"Supper am ready, sah."
Leaving the quarter-master to take charge of the watch, they went below.They had not expected to see the ladies up, but they were all there.
"Monsieur Pickard, I must introduce myself and my officers."
"It needs no introductions, sir," the Frenchman, a tall, thin man somefifty years of age, said in a broken voice; "my daughter Louise has toldme your names, and how good you have been to her. Ah, monsieur, no wordscan express our obligations to you all! It was not death we feared, butsuch a death. Even now we can scarce believe that this is all true, andthat we have escaped from those fiends. In the name of my wife and mydaughters and myself, I thank you with all my heart for what you havedone for us. Little, indeed, did we think, when we helped Louise throughthat narrow window in order that she might warn you that you were goingto be attacked, and with the hope that she might escape from the awfulfate that awaited us there, that it would be the means of saving us all.We heard the negroes saying that the schooner was flying the Britishflag, but we had no idea that she was a vessel of war, thinking it was asmall trader they were about to attack. But even had we known it, itwould not have raised any hopes in our minds, for we should not havethought that, with so small a force as such a vessel could carry, hercommander would think of attacking so great a number of men as, Louisewould have told you, had us in their power."
"We are only too glad to have an opportunity of being of service to youand your family, Monsieur Pickard. Indeed, had there been only these twoofficers and myself on board, I am sure that we should have made anattempt to release you; and should, I have no doubt, have succeeded indoing so without being discovered, as would have been the case to-night,had not they taken it into their heads to come into the hut just at thatmoment. And now, monsieur, for the sleeping arrangements. My cabin is atthe service of madame, those of Mr. Turnbull and Mr. Lippincott, of theyoung ladies. We shall have cots slung for ourselves elsewhere; thatsofa must serve for you, Monsieur Pickard. To-morrow, madame, we willplace at your disposal whatever there is on board the ship forfabricating dresses for your daughters that will be less striking thanthat now worn by Mademoiselle Louise. We have a roll of white duck, fromwhich, I have no doubt, they will be able to contrive a couple of whitedresses." For the eldest girl, as well as Louise, was in boy's clothes,as the Pickards had fortunately had warning before the outbreak tookplace on their plantation, one of the men with them having overheardwhat was said at a meeting of the negroes, and in consequence they, theoverseers, two white superintendents of the indigo works, a carpenterand mechanic, had during the night taken to the woods, Madame Pickarddressing her daughters in some clothes that they had in store, and whichwere cut down to fit them.
"And now, ladies," Nat went on, "I know that you will above all thingsbe longing for bed, but I hope that you will each take a basin of soupand a glass of wine before you turn in, you must need them sorely. Thesteward will get your cabins ready for you. I am sure that MademoiselleLouise will set you a good example; she recovered her appetite as soonas she learned that we intended to get you out."