CHAPTER TWENTY.
AFTER THE FIGHT.
"Bravo, Gnat! Well done, little 'un!" whispered Barkins the nextminute, as I walked aft, feeling quite confused, while my headache andsensation of misery passed off as if by magic. "Blacksmith would havedone it better, of course; wouldn't you, Smithy?"
"Done it as well as you would," said my messmate sulkily; and there wasa heavy frown on his brow; but, as he met my eyes, it cleared off, andhe smiled frankly. "I say: Well done our side!" he whispered. "Whatwould they do without midshipmen!"
"I say, though," said Barkins, "we've given John Pirate anotherdressing-down; but what about the plunder?"
"Ah, of course," said Smith. "Junks both burned, and no swag. Whatabout our prize-money? Eh, Gnat?"
"I wasn't thinking about that, but about our poor lads. They must havehad a sharp fight. I hope no one is hurt."
My companion were silent for a moment or two. Then Barkins saidquietly--
"I thought it would be only the teapots that were broken. Think ourchaps were hurt? You couldn't see?"
"I could see that there was a big fight going on; and look here!"
I nodded in the direction of one of the companion-ways, from which thedoctor suddenly appeared with his glasses on, and an eager, expectantlook in his eyes as he bustled up to us.
"I'm all ready," he said. "Boats in sight yet?" I shuddered, and Inoticed that Smith looked white. "Well, why don't you answer? What'sthe matter, my lads? Oh, I see." He laughed.
"Horrible sort of person the doctor, eh? But you didn't look like thatwhen I tackled your wounds the other day. But if you people will fight,the surgeon must be ready. Oh, let's see: you were up at thecross-trees, Mr Herrick, with your glass, and saw all. Will there bemuch work for me to do?"
"I don't know, sir," I said, trying hard to speak quietly. "I couldn'tsee much for the smoke. I hope not."
"So do I, boy, heartily. I don't mind the wounds so long as they're nottoo bad. It's painful to have fine strong lads like ours slip throughone's fingers. But we must do our best. Any Chinese prisoners? Sureto be, I suppose."
"I should think so, sir."
"And wounded. Well, if there are, you three lads ought to come and bemy body-guard with your dirks. Like to see the operations, I daresay?"
"Ugh!" I said, with a shudder.
"Bah! Don't act like a great girl, Herrick," said the doctorscornfully. "You would never have done for a doctor, sir. I nevershudder at the worst cases."
"But then you are hardened, sir," said Barkins.
"Hardened be hanged, sir!" cried the doctor indignantly. "A cleversurgeon gets more and more softened every time he operates, moredelicate in his touches, more exact in his efforts to save a limb, orarrange an injury so that it will heal quickly. Hardened, indeed! Why,to judge from your faces, any one would think surgery was horrible,instead of one of the greatest pleasures in life."
"What, cutting and bandaging wounds, and fishing for bullets?" blurtedout Smith; "why, sir, I think it's hideous."
"And I think you are an impertinent young coxcomb, sir," cried thedoctor indignantly. "Hideous, indeed! Why it's grand."
He looked round at us as if seeking for confirmation of his words, butneither spoke.
"Hideous? horrible?" he said, taking off his glasses and thrusting hishand into his pocket for his handkerchief to wipe them, but bringing outsomething soft and white, which proved to be a piece of lint. "Oh, I docall it cool. If there's anything hideous it's your acts, sir; havingthose thundering guns fired, to send huge shells shivering andshattering human beings to pieces for the doctor to try and mend; yourhorrible chops given with cutlasses and the gilt-handled swords you areall so proud of wearing--insolent, bragging, showy tools that are not tobe compared with my neat set of amputating knives in their mahoganycase. These are to do good, while yours are to do evil. Then, too,your nasty, insidious, cruel bayonets, which make a worse wound than abullet. Oh, it's too fine to call my work horrible, when I try to putstraight all your mischief."
"Here they are," cried Barkins excitedly, as a hail came from the top.
We ran aft to see the first boat come steadily along close in shore,which was being hugged so as to avoid the full rush of the tide.
Directly after the others came in sight, and glasses were all in usefrom the bridge and quarter-deck.
I adjusted mine directly, and saw at the first glance that there wasplenty of work for Dr Price, for men were lying in the stern-sheetswith rough bandages on limbs and heads, while several of those who wererowing had handkerchiefs tied round their foreheads, and others hadhorrible marks upon their white duck-frocks, which told tales of injuryto them as well as to their enemies.
The third boat was given up to men lying down or sitting up together,leaving only just room for the rowers, while the fourth and largest boatwas being towed; the thwarts, that in an ordinary way would have beenoccupied by rowers, now holding the marines, who sat with their riflesready, and fixed bayonets, while the stern-sheets were filledwith Chinamen, seated in three groups, and all in the mostuncomfortable-looking way. I could see that their hands were tiedbehind their backs, and it was horribly plain that several of them werewounded; but why they should have formed these three groups, and satthere with their heads laid close together, was what puzzled me.
A loud cheer rose from our deck as the boats came near; and this wastaken up directly by the returning party, the men rowing harder as theyshouted, and the little triumphant procession reached the side.
The first hail came from the captain.
"Mr Brooke--where's Mr Brooke?"
"Here, sir," cried that officer, standing up with a stained handkerchiefabout his head, and his uniform all black and scorched.
"Any fatalities?"
"No, sir; not one."
I saw the captain's lips move, but no one heard him speak. I guessed,though, what he said, and I felt it.
Then as quickly as possible the boats were run up to the davits, and theuninjured men leaped on deck. Next the wounded, such as could stir,descended from the boats, one poor fellow staggering and nearly fallingas soon as he reached the deck. After which the badly wounded werecarefully lifted out and carried below, to be laid in a row to wait thedoctor and his assistant make their first rapid examination, to applytourniquets and bandaged pads to the most serious injuries.
"Good heavens, Mr Brooke, what a condition you are in! The doctor musttake you first."
"Oh no, sir," said the young lieutenant quietly. "I'm not very bad; acut from a heavy sword through my cap. It has stopped bleeding. Myhands are a little bruised."
"But how was this?"
"As we advanced to board, they threw quite a volley of stink-potsfizzing away into us. I burned myself a little with them."
"Chucking 'em overboard, sir," cried the boatswain. "Splendid it was."
"Nonsense!" cried Mr Brooke. "You threw ever so many. But it was hotwork, sir."
"Hot! it is horrible. How many prisoners have you there?"
"Eighteen, sir; the survivors escaped."
"But you shouldn't have fired the junks, man," said the captain testily."There may have been wounded on board."
"Yes, sir," said Mr Brooke, with his brow puckering; "wounded and deadthere were, I daresay, thirty; but the enemy set fire to their vesselsthemselves before they leaped overboard, and it was impossible to savethem: they burned like resin. We saved all we could."
"I beg your pardon; I might have known," cried the captain warmly."Come to my cabin. Mr Reardon, be careful with those prisoners; theyare savage brutes."
"Enough to make 'em, Gnat. Look! What a shame!"
I looked, but I could not see any reason for Smith's remark.
"Beg pardon, sir," growled one of the men, who had a bandage round hisarm; "you wouldn't ha' said so if you'd been there. They was all alike.The junk we took was burning like fat in a frying-pan, and me and mymate see one o' them chaps going to be
roasted, and made a run for itand hauled him away--singed my beard, it did; look, sir."
Half of his beard was burned off, and his cheek scorched.
"Then my mate gets hold of his legs, and I was stooping to get my fistsunder his chest, when he whips his knife into my arm 'fore I knowed whathe was up to. But we saved him all the same."
"Here," cried Mr Reardon, as the marines descended from the third boat,and stood at attention in two parties facing each other; "who wasanswerable for this? Why, it is an outrage. Brutal!"
"S'pose it was my doing, sir," said the boatswain, touching his cap;"but I asked leave of Mr Brooke first, and he said yes."
"What, to tie the poor wretches up like that, sir, and half of themwounded!"
"Beg pardon, sir; there was no other way handy. We lashed their armsbehind 'em to keep 'em from knifing us, and then they kept on jumpingoverboard, and trying to drown themselves. We haven't hurt them."
"Cast them loose at once."
"Yes, sir; I should like half-a-dozen strong chaps in the boat, though."
"Well, take them," said Mr Reardon, who was speaking less severely now."I'll have the uninjured men in irons this time. Be careful."
"And if I'd my way, I'd have 'em all in iron boxes, 'cept their hands."
The boatswain said this to me, with a nod, as the first lieutenantturned away, and, unable to control my curiosity, I sprang up on thebulwark to look into the boat.
"Let's have a look too," cried Smith, and he jumped up to gain aposition much closer than mine, but quitted his hold and dropped back ondeck, lost his footing, and came down sitting; for, as he leaned overthe boat's gunnel, one of the prisoners made a sudden snap at him, afterthe fashion of an angry dog, and the marines burst into a roar oflaughter.
Smith got up scowling and indignant.
"My hands slipped," he said to me aloud. And then, to carry off hisconfusion, "How many are there, Herrick?"
"Three lots of six," I said, as I now saw plainly enough how it was thatthe prisoners were in such a strange position. For they had beendragged together and their pigtails lashed into a tight knot, a processadmirably suited to the object in hand--to render them perfectlyhelpless; and their aspect certainly did not excite my anger.
Meanwhile the boatswain had stepped into the swinging boat, and heturned to me, but looked at Smith as he spoke.
"Like to try whether either of the others will bite, Mr Herrick?" hesaid.
Smith coloured and frowned.
"No, thank you," I replied; "I'm satisfied."
"Now then, you two," said the boatswain, "stand by with your bayonets;and you, my lads, be ready as we cast them loose. Get a good grip ofeach fellow by the tail; he'll be helpless then."
I stood looking on at the curious scene, and the next minute wasconscious of the fact that the first lieutenant had returned tosupervise the putting of the prisoners in irons himself; and, as thetails were unlashed, he took note of the men who were injured, and hadthem lifted out and laid on deck.
The others made no attempt to escape, for they were too firmly held;but, as the armourer fitted on the irons, I could see theirwild-beast-like eyes rolling in different directions, and then becomefixed with a look of savage hate on our men, who were certainly none tootender with a set of wretches who only waited an opportunity to destroylife without the slightest compunction.
At last they were all lying on the deck--nine with serious wounds, theother half for the most part injured, but only to a very slight extent,and these were soon after taken one by one between a file of marines tothe place in the hold appointed once more for their prison.
Then the doctor came up for ten minutes, and, after a few words with thesergeant of marines, examined the nine prisoners, passing over six tothe sergeant with orders, and having three laid aside for his ownministrations.
We three lads stood watching the sergeant, who had evidently had somepractice in ambulance work, and skilfully enough he set to work spongingand bandaging injuries. But all the time a couple of marines stood, oneon either side, ready to hold the prisoners down, for each seemed tolook upon the dressing of his wounds as a form of torture which he wasbound to resist with all his might.
"Nice boys, Mr Herrick," said the boatswain drily. "Do you know why weare taking all this pains?"
"To save their lives and give them up to the authorities at Tsin-Tsin, Isuppose."
"Yes, sir."
"For them to be put on their trial for piracy on the high seas."
"Yes, sir, that's it; but it would be a greater kindness to let thewretches die out of their misery."
"But some of them mayn't be guilty," I said.
The boatswain laughed.
"I don't think there's much doubt about that, sir," he said. Just then,as the last man was treated by the sergeant, the doctor came on deckwith his assistants, both in white aprons and sleeves--well, I'm alittle incorrect there--in aprons and sleeves that had been white.
"I've no business here," said the doctor hurriedly; "but these mencannot be left. Keep an eye on them, my men, and don't let them do meany mischief. I can't be spared just now."
The next moment he was down on his knees by the side of one of theprisoners, who, in his eyes for a few minutes, was neither enemy norpiratical Chinaman, but a patient to whom he devoted himself to the fullextent of his skill, performing what was needful, and leaving hisassistant to finish the bandaging while he went on to the next.
In another ten minutes he had finished, and rose from his knees.
"There, Mr Herrick," he said; "do you call that horrible? because Icall it grand. If those three ill-looking scoundrels had been leftanother hour they would have died. Now, with their hardy constitutions,they will rapidly get well, perhaps escape and begin pirating again.Possibly, when we give them up--oh my knees! how hard that deck is!--theauthorities will--"
"Chop off all head. Velly bad men--velly bad men indeed."
The doctor laughed, and hurried away while the last prisoner was carrieddown below.
"There," said the boatswain, when all was over, "that job's done, MrHerrick. Nice fellows your countrymen, Ching."
"Not allee nice fellow," replied Ching seriously. "Pilate velly badman. No use. Why captain save him up?"
"Ah, that's a question you had better ask him. But I say, Ching, thosefellows came up here with cargo, didn't they?"
"Calgo?" said Ching.
"Yes; plunder out of the ships they took."
"Yes," said Ching.
"Then where is it? There was none on board the junks."
"Ching know," said the interpreter, laying his finger to the side of hisnose. "You likee Ching show?"
"Yes, of course. Prize-money, and you'd share."
"Ching likee plize-money. You bling ship along, and Ching show."