CHAPTER XXVI
DICKORY STRETCHES HIS LEGS
There were jolly times on board the swift ship Revenge as she spedthrough the straits of Florida on her way up the Atlantic coast. Theskies were bright, the wind was fair, and the warm waters of the GulfStream helped to carry her bravely on her way. But young DickoryCharter, with the blood-stained letter of Captain Vince tucked away inthe lining of his coat, ate so little, tossed about so much in hisberth, turned so pale and spoke so seldom, that the bold CaptainBlackbeard declared that he should have some medicine.
"I shall not let my fine lieutenant suffer for want of drugs," he cried,"and when I reach Charles Town I shall send ashore a boat and procuresome; and if the citizens disturb or interfere with my brave fellows,I'll bombard the town. There will be medicine to take on one side or theother, I swear." And loud and ready were the oaths he swore.
A pirate who carries with him an intended son-in-law is not likely, ifhe be of Blackbeard's turn of mind, to suffer all his family plans to beruined for the want of a few drugs.
When Dickory heard what the captain had to say on this subject his heartshrank within him. He had never taken medicine and he had never seenBlackbeard's daughter, but the one seemed to him almost as bad as theother, and the thought of the cool waves beneath him became moreattractive than ever before. But that thought was quickly banished, forhe had a duty before him, and not until that was performed could he takeleave of this world, once so bright to him.
An island with palm-trees slowly rose on the horizon, and off thisisland it was that, after a good deal of tacking and close-hauling, theRevenge lay to to take in water. Far better water than that which hadbeen brought from Belize.
"Do you want to go ashore in the boat, boy?" said Blackbeard, reallymindful of the health of this projected member of his family. "It mayhelp your appetite to use your legs."
Dickory did not care to go anywhere, but he had hardly said so when arevulsion of feeling came upon him, and turning away so that his facemight not be noticed, he said he thought the land air might do him good.While the men were at work carrying their pails from the well-knownspring to the water-barrels in the boat, Dickory strolled about to viewthe scenery, for it could never have been expected that a firstlieutenant in uniform should help to carry water. At first the scenerydid not appear to be very interesting, and Dickory wandered slowly fromhere to there, then sat down under a tree. Presently he rose and went toanother tree, a little farther away from the boat and the men at thespring. Here he quietly took off his shoes and his stockings, and,having nothing else to do, made a little bundle of them, listlesslytying them to his belt; then he rose and walked away somewhat brisker,but not in the direction of the boat. He did not hurry, but even stoppedsometimes to look at things, but he still walked a little briskly, andalways away from the boat. He had been so used, this child of outdoorlife, to going about the world barefooted, that it was no wonder that hewalked briskly, being relieved of his encumbering shoes and stockings.
After a time he heard a shout behind him, and turning saw three men ofthe boat's crew upon a little eminence, calling to him. Then he movedmore quickly, always away from the boat, and with his head turned he sawthe men running towards him, and their shouts became louder and wilder.Then he set off on a good run, and presently heard a pistol shot. Thishe knew was to frighten him and make him stop, but he ran the faster andsoon turned the corner of a bit of woods. Then he was away at the top ofhis speed, making for a jungle of foliage not a quarter of a milebefore him. Shouts he heard, and more shots, but he caught sight of nopursuers. Urged on even as they were by the fear of returning to theship without Dickory, they could not expect to match, in their heavyboots, the stag-like speed of this barefooted bounder.
After a time Dickory stopped running, for his path, always straightaway, so far as he could judge, from the landing-place, became verydifficult. In the forest there were streams, sometimes narrow andsometimes wide, and how deep he knew not, so that now he jumped, now hewalked on fallen trees. Sometimes he crossed water and marsh by swinginghimself from the limbs of one tree to those of another. This was hardwork for a young gentleman in a naval uniform and cocked hat, but it hadto be done; and when the hat was knocked off it was picked up again,with its feathers dripping.
Dickory was going somewhere, although he knew not whither, and he hadsolemn business to perform which he had sworn to do, and therefore hemust have fit clothes to wear, not only in which to travel but in whichto present himself suitably when he should accomplish his mission. Allthese things Dickory thought of, and he picked up his cocked hatwhenever it dropped. He would have been very hungry had he not bethoughthimself to fill his pockets with biscuits before he left the vessel. Andas to fresh water, there was no lack of that.