CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
CAPTURE OF THE PLATE FLEET AND SACK OF LA GUAYRA--DISAPPEARANCE OF ROGERAND HARRY.
To make certain of not arriving at their destination too soon, andbefore the townspeople and the garrison had retired for the night, theEnglish ships carried but a small amount of canvas, and consequentlymade only some two to three knots per hour.
It was a little after midnight when Roger, who was, as usual, on thelookout, and who was credited with the sharpest pair of eyes in theship, saw for the second time the lights of La Guayra opening up. Asthey came into fuller view of the town itself, and of the roadstead,they were somewhat astonished to find that both were enveloped in almostperfect darkness--there was scarcely a light to be seen, either ashoreor afloat. There were one or two scattered here and there about thetown, but there were none at all in the forts, and not a single glimmerwas to be made out anywhere in the roadstead.
Surely it was not possible that the vessels of the plate fleet, and itstwo protecting warships, could have left the port and disappeared duringthe short time that had elapsed since the boat expedition had made itsreconnaissance! At that time, too, there had been numerous other craftlying there at anchor; yet now it seemed as though the bay weredeserted. Some fresh arrangement--some new plan--was obviouslynecessary.
The English ships showed no lights whatever, and the strictest silencewas observed. The captains had received their orders beforehand, andwould have known exactly what course to pursue had there been any lightsshowing. But now it became necessary to take fresh counsel amongthemselves, and decide how to act.
The flag-ship was, as usual, in the van, and Mr Cavendish ordered allthe boats to be lowered and manned. These were then to spread out inline, so as to make sure of intercepting the other two vessels as theycame up, and, having found them, to give orders for them to heave-to,and for their respective captains to repair on board the _GoodAdventure_. The boats themselves were to return to the flag-ship assoon as these orders had been carried out.
Luckily there was no difficulty in picking up the other ships, even inthe pitchy blackness that prevailed that night, and with but a fewminutes' delay the officers of the fleet were once more assembled in thecabin of the flag-ship. The situation was discussed as briefly aspossible, for there was no time to lose, and it was presently decidedthat, instead of the remainder of the fleet following the flag-ship'slead, as originally agreed, the officer of each ship who had been withthe boat expedition should do his best to pilot the vessel under hiscare to the berth occupied by the warships. Arrived there, should theSpanish ships be present, as all on board fervently hoped would prove tobe the case, they were to attack at once. Whichever of the twoSpaniards might happen to be first attacked, the other would almostcertainly come to the help of her consort, and the flash of the guns andnoise of the tumult would serve to guide the remainder of the Englishsquadron to the scene of the conflict.
If, on the other hand, it should be found that the warships and plateships had made their escape, each vessel was to return to the entranceof the roadstead and await the arrival of her consorts as they tooretreated from the bay, when, all having rejoined, they were to returnto their former hiding-place, where fresh plans would be discussed andmade.
This matter being arranged, the captains returned each to his own ship,and very shortly afterward the fleet were again under weigh and standinginshore in the same order as at first.
Slowly and noiselessly as ghosts they glided on, each heading for theplace where the pilots thought, and all hoped against hope, to find thewarships lying, with behind them the plate fleet, which was the actualobjective of the expedition.
The English ships had separated, and on board the flag-ship nothingcould now be seen or heard of the remainder of the squadron, each pilothaving taken the direction in which he personally considered the enemyto be lying. Nothing could be made out, either ashore or afloat, toguide them in the slightest degree in their search. They were, indeed,groping blindly forward in the hope of accidentally coming upon theirquarry. The few lights of the town that were visible were away at theother side of it, at a long distance from them, and were so far frombeing of any service that they were positively misleading, to such anextent that at any moment it might happen that they would find theirship ashore.
Roger and Harry were standing in their usual position on the fore-deck,gazing eagerly ahead, each anxious to be the first to sight the enemy,when Harry caught his friend's sleeve, and, pointing into the darknessat a faint blur upon their port bow, said:
"There's something there, Roger. D'ye see it, lad? It's a ship of somesort. I can just make out her masts. We shall pass her at very closequarters. Now, I wonder if perchance she is one of the warships that weare searching for?"
The words were scarcely out of his mouth when a perfect volcano of flameflashed from the side of the vessel which Harry had just sighted,immediately followed by a thunderous roar, and the shot from thewell-aimed broadside came crashing aboard, doing a considerable amountof execution. Men fell in every part of the ship. Cries, shrieks,groans, and curses arose from the decks, which for a moment were aperfect pandemonium of confusion.
The captain, rushing along the deck, shouted: "Steady, lads, and standto your guns! The Spaniards expected and are ready for us; but do notforget that you are Englishmen. Pull yourselves together, men, and givethem back better than we received."
The confusion was but momentary. The crews were by this time too welldisciplined to become panic-stricken, and, awaiting the word of command,they presently poured in their already-prepared broadside with greateffect, for the mainmast of the war-ship was seen to quiver, totter, andfinally fall with a rending crash over the side remote from the _GoodAdventure_, throwing the crew of the Spaniard into momentary disorder.
As the flag-ship came up to her antagonist, she took in her sails andranged up alongside, inshore of her. There were no batteries oppositewhere the vessels were lying, so that no danger was to be apprehended onthat score.
Like magic, the lights flared up from all parts of the town, and aboardall the vessels in the bay, as also in the fort at the oppositeextremity of the roadstead. The war-ship herself became a blaze ofillumination, as did also her consort, which could now be seen lying buta half-cable's-length distant, and which also opened a tremendous fireupon the flag-ship. The other two ships of the English squadron,meanwhile, had shifted their helms and were fast approaching, guided bythe flashing of guns and the uproar of the action.
Even the ships of the plate fleet, lying near at hand, and which provedto be heavily armed, now began to open fire, as well as the distantfort; and it was soon very evident that the English fleet had enteredinto an engagement in which the odds were vastly against them. They hadanticipated surprising the enemy; but the surprise was all the otherway. Neither had they reckoned on the plate vessels being nearly soheavily armed.
The booming of cannon now resounded from all sides, and the darkness wasmade light by the flashes from the guns, whilst the air became thick andheavy with powder smoke. The _Elizabeth_ and the _Tiger_ had come uponthe scene, and were attacking the second war-ship, which was resistinggallantly, supported as she was by the guns from the ships composing theplate fleet.
Indeed the English were in a very warm corner.
The flag-ship was engaging the first war-ship--the name of which theydiscovered to be the _Sotomayor_--yard-arm to yard-arm, and both vesselsfairly reeled under the concussion as the heavy shot crashed in at oneside and out at the other, while the _Good Adventure_ was already onfire below from the flashes of the guns of her opponent. Englishsailormen, however, were ready then, as now, to meet all emergencies,and the fire was speedily quenched, only to start again, however, and beagain put out.
Three times did Cavendish pour his boarders on to the decks of the_Sotomayor_, and three times they were driven back by the desperatevalour and greatly superior numbers of the Spaniards.
The Spaniard had lost every mast b
ut her foremast, and the English shipwas in almost as bad a plight. Both ships were badly riddled by shot,and their crews were decimated. It seemed as though, unless somedecisive move were made to end the conflict, that the combatants wouldbe exterminated to a man.
The second war-ship, the _Villa de Mejico_, was in even worse plightthan her consort, having two vessels to engage her instead of only one.She fought with the valour of desperation, however, and was packed withsoldiers who had been put aboard her from the fort in anticipation ofthe attack.
It had somehow got to be known, although it was never discovered how,that the English were near at hand, and were suspected of contemplatingan attack on the fleet; and in view of this suspicion elaboratepreparations had been made for their reception.
The crews of the _Tiger_ and the _Elizabeth_ had several timesendeavoured to board, but had been swept back to their own ships onevery occasion by the combined sailors and soldiers on the Spaniard.
Harry and Roger were, as usual, in the very thick of it, fighting sideby side like the young heroes that they were, and, truth to tell, doinga considerable amount of execution.
They were pausing for a moment to take breath, when both happened toglance forward, and at once saw that the two ships, the _Good Adventure_and the _Sotomayor_ with her, were drifting right down upon the secondSpaniard and her antagonists. The Spaniards on the _Sotomayor_, findingthemselves almost overpowered, had cut their cable purposely, to driftdown with the tide on board their consort, in the hope of being able tomake a better stand together than separately. But they were mistaken intheir expectation. The other vessel, having had two to contend with,was in no condition to render assistance of any kind; rather, indeed,did she stand in need of help from the _Sotomayor_.
A brief minute later the flag-ship, still grappling with her quarry, wasaboard the other three craft, and the confusion became worse confounded.
The Spaniards, determined to make one last desperate effort to beat offthe English, rallied, and, combining their forces, forestalled theirantagonists by attempting to board.
The two Spanish ships acted in concert, and hurled their soldiers andsailors aboard the three English craft; but it was a hopeless attemptfrom the first. The English closed up, and, forming a solid phalanx,cut them down right and left, driving them back, and quickly compellingthe shattered remnant of the boarders to seek the refuge of their owndecks. Nor did they stop at that, but followed them pell-mell and closeon their heels in their retreat to the decks of the Spanish ships. TheSpaniards fought with the courage of desperation, but their utmostefforts were unavailing; the blood of the Englishmen was now thoroughlyup, and there was no stopping them. They rushed with irresistiblecourage and determination among the shattered and now completelydisheartened remnants of the enemy, and cut them down wholesale. Meremortal flesh and blood could no longer withstand the impetuous onslaughtof the Englishmen, and presently a voice was heard from their diminishedranks shouting: "We surrender! we surrender! Mercy, mercy!"
Cavendish raised his voice in command; the slaughter ceased, and the twoarmadas were in the hands of the English. The Spaniards were ordered tofling down their weapons, and they obeyed.
They were then at once sent below and secured under hatches, and thevictors were now free to turn their attention to the plate ships thatwere their primary objective.
Such boats as would swim were quickly lowered and filled with armed men,whose orders were to board the vessels, capture them out of hand, andcarry them out to sea under their own canvas; after which the Englishvessels and their two prizes would make their way out of the roadsteadas well as might be in their shattered state.
Once out of the bay, the uninjured vessels of the plate fleet would beable to tow their companions in misfortune.
At sight of the approaching boats, containing the victorious English,the crews of the plate ships were seized with uncontrollable panic, andmany of them incontinently jumped overboard, whilst the remainderhurriedly lowered their boats and pulled shoreward, anxious only toescape by any means from so terrible a foe. And this they were allowedto do without let or hindrance from the English, as the latter hadalready quite as many prisoners as they could conveniently look after.
The vessels were boarded, and sail made; and presently the enragedpopulation of La Guayra had the bitter mortification of seeing the plateships sail out of the roadstead in the possession of the English.
They swore vengeance, deep and awful, should any of those "pirates"--asthey always termed the English adventurers--ever fall into their hands;but the latter were equally ignorant of and indifferent to such threats.
The vessels, injured and uninjured, in due time gained the outside ofthe roadstead, and there hove-to, in order to effect temporary repairs.
Meanwhile Cavendish had resolved to jury-rig his vessels, and sink thetwo armadas in full view of the town, to make the defeat and capturestill more bitter to the Spaniards.
The Spaniards were transferred from the _Sotomayor_ and the _Mejico_ tothe English fleet, and at daylight the warships were sunk in full viewof the town. The English fleet then anchored, and proceeded with theirwork of repair; whilst, for safety's sake, a prize crew was put on boardeach of the plate ships, which were then sent away to the formerhiding-place at the little bay down the coast.
Whilst the repairs were going forward, Cavendish held another council,at which it was resolved to send an expedition by night to attack LaGuayra itself. He argued that the Spaniards would deem them contentwith the capture of the plate ships, and would never expect them to landand attack the city. They would be taken by surprise; and, as thecrowning event of the successful enterprise just executed, he would sackand burn the town, "to give the Spaniards something to remember him by",as he phrased it.
The sailors were only too delighted at the idea of attacking theirenemies again, as also at the prospect of the plunder to be obtained atthe looting and sack of the city.
The boats were therefore lowered over the side of the ships remote fromthe town, and lay under the vessels' lee during the day, in readinessfor the attack that night.
All day long the repairs were gone on with, and after nightfall torchesand lanterns were lit, to deceive the Spaniards into believing that theywere working hard all through the night, and so lessen their suspicionas to the probability of any further attack.
A keen watch was kept on the town all day long, to discover whether anypreparations were being made to resist attack, but nothing of the kindcould be discovered.
Evidently the Spaniards, as Cavendish had anticipated, were lulled tosecurity by the supposition that the English, having secured the platefleet, would have no reason or incentive for returning, and fondly hopedthat, as soon as the repairs to the ships were finished, they would sailaway; and that would be the last they would see of the heretic dogs.
But they little knew the character of Cavendish; he was not the man toabandon any enterprise upon which he had once entered. It was aprinciple of his to inflict the greatest possible amount of damage onthe enemy that he could; and meanwhile the town of La Guayra stillremained uninjured.
Therefore--so ran his argument--La Guayra must be sacked and laid inashes before he could consider his duty as thoroughly finished.
As a consequence, shortly after midnight the boats of the fleet stolesilently out from under the sheltering lee of their parent vessels, andmade swiftly and noiselessly, with muffled oars, for the town.
Roger and Harry, ready as ever for an adventure, no matter how dangerousit might be, were in the boats, and keeping a sharp lookout ahead; forby this time there were but few lights to guide them, the whole citybeing wrapped in darkness.
Everything ahead of and around them was perfectly quiet; not a sounddisturbed the still night air save only the scarcely audible ripple ofwater under the boats' bows as they swept gently shoreward.
Presently there was a grating of pebbles under their keels, and theboats stopped dead.
The crews silently disem
barked, and all stood still for a few moments,listening intently to ascertain whether the noise of the boats groundingon the beach had been heard. But no sound came to them, and, afterwaiting a little longer to make certain, the boats were gently pushedoff again, each in charge of a couple of hands to take care of them, andthe marauders proceeded up the beach, soon arriving on the road that ranthe whole length of the town at the edge of the shingle.
The first thing to be done was to obtain possession of the fort; and,feeling their way as best they could in the dense darkness, they set offin the direction in which they knew it lay.
Up the hill they marched, and presently a black mass, somewhat darkerthan their surroundings, showed itself against the sky. They werethere.
Stealing quietly round, they searched for the gateway, which they soonfound.
Everything was now ready for the attack, and the officers went silentlyamong the men to discover whether all were present, when it was foundthat not a single man was missing, or had lost his way in the dark.
Two sacks ready filled with powder, tightly pressed down, and tied atthe mouth, were now brought forward.
They were placed in position against the ponderous iron-bound door, atrain was laid to them, and the men then retreated to a safe distanceand lay down, waiting for the explosion.
Presently there was a flicker of light as the spark was struck, and atthe same moment Roger and Harry grasped hands for a second, for bloodywork was about to begin.
There was a splutter, a stream of fire ran along the ground, and, asthey gazed, an enormous flash of brilliant white light blazed up, nearlyblinding them, followed by a deafening report and a tremendousconcussion that seemed to make the very earth tremble. And with it camethe sound of wrenching iron, cracking timber, and the crash of fallingmasonry, and from the interior of the fort the clamour and outcry of thesudden awakening of its occupants.
But the English, with no cheer or shout to announce their approach,leaped to their feet, dashed across the intervening ground, and plungedover the fallen masonry and wreckage of the gate into the interior ofthe fort and into the dim radiance of hastily kindled lanterns.
Here and there they found a man, only half-awake, confusedly running toascertain what might be the origin of the uproar, and him they cut downat once. From room to room they went, giving no quarter--knowing thatthey themselves would receive none,--and one by one the unhappySpaniards were killed.
There was no organised resistance; it was every man for himself, forthey had been taken most completely by surprise.
Roger, with Harry and a few more, ran at once up aloft and came out uponthe battlements, where with mallet and spike they industriouslyproceeded to render the guns useless.
Into the touch-hole of every gun a spike nail was driven as far as itwould go, thus effectually preventing the possibility of the weaponbeing fired until the spike was drilled out, which would necessitate theexpenditure of at least an hour of hard work.
In a very short time every gun was effectually spiked, and, the captureof the fort being by this time completely accomplished, the men formedup again outside, and descended at the double to the town, which was nowthoroughly awakened and alarmed.
The cathedral was to be the next place of call, the object being toremove the gold and silver plate with which it was known to befurnished.
Meanwhile the tocsins were being sounded. The brazen voices of thechurch bells pealed out high above all the other clamour. To add to theconfusion and terror, the English halted, and, fixing their arquebuses,fired a volley into a square where some troops seemed to be mustering.
Immediately upon the crash of the volley came cries and screams from theterrified populace, bearing eloquent witness to the execution wrought bythe flying bullets. Then, picking up their weapons, the English flewlike fiends through the town, cutting down all who had the temerity tooppose them.
The cathedral was soon reached, and they entered it.
Lights were glimmering far up the aisles, just lit by the tremblingpriests, who had come in by ones and twos to find out what all theuproar was about. But the English pressed on, undeterred by theirpresence, and, moving up the long chancel, reached the altar.
Two or three seamen made their way to the belfry, and, loosing thebell-ropes, in the madness of their excitement began to ring the bellsin the steeple; and presently, clang, clang, clang, came from the toweras they hauled on the ropes. Rushing from one bell-rope to another,they started every bell in the steeple ringing, with an effect that wasappalling and terrible.
As the bells gained momentum, and swung on their beams, so did the ropesattached to them fly up and down through their appointed holes in thebelfry roof, with ever-increasing velocity.
Now they began to twine round each other like living, twisting serpents,and the sailors pulling them had to spring quickly aside to avoid beingcaught by the flying and coiling ends.
Clang! clang! The sound of the bells now became a mad jangle, and thesteeple fairly rocked to their swinging.
Everywhere the people were pouring out of their houses in terror andpanic, not knowing whither to turn for safety.
Those who were below in the church were now tearing all the gold andsilver ornamentation from the altar, and the communion plate wasscattered on the floor of the chancel.
Vainly the frightened priests strove to stay the work of destruction andviolation; the seamen were deaf to all entreaty, and cut and tore thesilken hangings from the altar, wrapping the costly fabric over theirown tarry and soiled clothing. Every man plundered for himself only,and would allow none to rob him of his intended spoil.
Above the altar stood a life-sized figure of the Blessed Virgin Mother,exquisitely modelled in solid gold, and clothed in rich fabric that wasadorned with precious stones innumerable. The sailors saw it, andleaped one after another upon the altar, drawing their swords andhacking off the gems, whilst the priests covered their eyes with horrorat the desecration and sacrilege.
The eyes of the figure consisted of two magnificent sapphires of greatsize, and, being unable to reach these with their swords, the sailorsput their weapons behind and under the image, and with a few violentwrenches it came crashing to the ground with a thunderous noise.
As it fell, from above them in the belfry came a most awful, piercing,and agonising scream of anguish. It rose in one shrill cry above everyother sound, and echoed, long-drawn out and ghastly, among the dimarches of the roof high above them.
The fearful cry rose and fell, while all below stood still, frozen intosilence by the utter horror of the sound. It was as the voice of a lostsoul in the most dreadful torment. As suddenly as it had arisen itceased, and it was now noticed that the tenor bell was no longerclanging its deep mellow voice above them in the steeple.
An old priest stepped out from among his brethren.
"Cease, ye wicked men!" cried he in excellent English. "Cease, yeheretics and sacrilegious dogs, ere worse befall ye! That awful shriekwas the despairing cry of a soul torn from its body in awful torment.Take warning, ye, from that man's dreadful fate; for a man it was,although ye might have deemed the voice that of a devil!
"I can tell ye his doom. He was caught up by the whirling ropes of thebells which ye have rung to your own confusion, and his body has beentorn to pieces in the pipe through which the bell-rope runs. Takewarning, I say, and leave this sacred place in peace!"
He spoke no more, for one of the officers, fearing the effect his wordsmight have on the superstitious seamen, seized him by the shoulders andhustled him down the long aisle of the building and through the doorinto the street.
Harry and Roger could not bring themselves to take part in the shockingwork of desecration, and were standing some distance away, surveying thescene with disgust, when suddenly above the bestial shouts and uproarcame the cry: "Save yourselves, lads, run! There is no time to lose;the church is on fire! Run! Run!"
Startled amid their work of destruction, the men paused and looked roundto see w
hence the voice had come, but could not discover itswhereabouts.
As they looked, however, columns of smoke were seen drifting about thebuilding and issuing from the crevices of the roof and walls.
Evidently the alarm was genuine, by whomsoever given, and the sailorsmade for the doors. Those who had overturned the golden figure stillclung to their booty, and, raising it in their arms, half-carried andhalf-dragged it away with them by main force.
It was a scene of the most utter confusion; some staggered awayoverladen with gold and silver cups, others with costly silks andfabrics, whatever most appealed to their erratic taste.
When nearly all were out of the building, Roger and his friend awoke tothe fact that they were being left alone, and ran forward to escapewhile there was time; but, even as they turned to go, the ground seemedto fall from beneath their feet, and they plunged down, down, until theystruck the hard ground below, the shock causing them to loseconsciousness.