CHAPTER XII
FACE TO FACE
With her head to the wind the pirate vessel Revenge bore down slowlyupon the King and Queen, now lying to and awaiting her. The stiff breezewas growing stiffer and the sea was rising. The experienced eye of PaulBittern, the sailing-master of the pirate, now told him that it would bedangerous to approach the brig near enough to make fast to her, even forthe minute which Captain Bonnet craved--the minute which would have beenlong enough for a couple of sturdy fellows to toss on board the prizethat exasperating human indictment, Ben Greenway.
"We cannot do it," shouted Black Paul to Bonnet, "we shall run too nearher as it is. Shall we let fly at short range and riddle her hull?"
Captain Bonnet did not immediately answer; the situation puzzled him. Hewanted very much to put the Scotchman on board the brig, and after thathe did not care what happened. But before he could speak, there appearedon the rail of the King and Queen, holding fast to a shroud, the figureof a young man, who put his hand to his mouth and hailed:
"Throw me a line! Throw me a line!"
Such an extraordinary request at such a time naturally amazed thepirates, and they stood staring, as they crowded along the side of theirvessel.
"If you are not going to board her," shouted Dickory again, "throw me aline!"
Filled with curiosity to know what this strange proceeding meant, BlackPaul ordered that a line be thrown, and, in a moment, a tall fellowseized a coil of light rope and hurled it through the air in thedirection of the brig; but the rope fell short, and the outer end of itdisappeared beneath the water. Now the spirit of Black Paul was up. Ifthe fellow on the brig wanted a line he wanted to come aboard, and if hewanted to come aboard, he should do so. So he seized a heavier coil and,swinging it around his head, sent it, with tremendous force, towardsDickory, who made a wild grab at it and caught it.
Although a comparatively light line, it was a long one, and the slack ofit was now in the water, so that Dickory had to pull hard upon it beforehe could grasp enough of it to pass around his body. He had scarcelydone this, and had made a knot in it, before a lurch of the brig broughta strain on the rope, and he was incontinently jerked overboard.
The crew of the merchantman, who had not had time to comprehend what theyoung fellow was about to do, would have grasped him had he remained onthe rail a moment longer, but now he was gone into the sea, and, workingvigorously with his legs and arms, was endeavouring to keep his headabove water while the pirates at the other end of the rope pulled himswiftly towards their vessel.
Great was the excitement on board the Revenge. Why should a man from amerchantman endeavour, alone, to board a vessel which flew the JollyRoger? Did he wish to join the crew? Had they been ill-treating him onboard the brig? Was he a criminal endeavouring to escape from theofficers of the law? It was impossible to answer any of these questions,and so the swarthy rascals pulled so hard and so steadily upon the linethat the knot in it, which Dickory had not tied properly, became aslipknot, and the poor fellow's breath was nearly squeezed out of him ashe was hauled over the rough water. When he reached the vessel's sidethere was something said about lowering a ladder, but the men who werehauling on the line were in a hurry to satisfy their curiosity, so upcame Dickory straight from the water to the rail, and that proceedingso increased the squeezing that the poor fellow fell upon the deckscarcely able to gasp. When the rope was loosened the half-drowned andalmost breathless Dickory raised himself and gave two or three deepbreaths, but he could not speak, despite the fact that a dozen roughvoices were asking him who he was and what he wanted.
With the water pouring from him in streams, and his breath coming fromhim in puffs, he looked about him with great earnestness.
Suddenly a man rushed through the crowd of pirates and stooped to lookat the person who had so strangely come aboard. Then he gave a shout."It is Dickory Charter," he cried, "Dickory Charter, the son o' old DameCharter! Ye Dickory! an' how in the name o' all that's blessed did yecome here? Master Bonnet! Master Bonnet!" he shouted to the captain, whonow stood by, "it is young Dickory Charter, of Bridgetown. He was onboard this vessel before we sailed, wi' Mistress Kate an' me. The lasttime I saw her he was wi' her."
"What!" exclaimed Bonnet, "with my daughter?"
"Ay, ay!" said Greenway, "it must have been a little before she went onshore."
"Young man!" cried Bonnet, stooping towards Dickory, "when did you lastsee my daughter? Do you know anything of her?"
The young man opened his mouth, but he could not yet do much in the wayof speaking, but he managed to gasp, "I come from her, I am bringing youa message."
"A message from Kate!" shouted Bonnet, now in a state of wildexcitement. "Here you, Greenway, lift up the other arm, and we will takehim to my cabin. Quick, man! Quick, man! he must have some spirits anddry clothes. Make haste now! A message from my daughter!"
"If that's so," said Greenway, as he and Bonnet hurried the young manaft, "ye'd better no' be in too great haste to get his message out o'him or ye'll kill him wi' pure recklessness."
Bonnet took the advice, and before many minutes Dickory was in dryclothes and feeling the inspiriting influence of a glass of good oldrum. Now came Black Paul, wanting to know if he should sink the brig andbe done with her, for they couldn't lie by in such weather.
"Don't you fire on that ship!" yelled Bonnet, "don't you dare it! Forall I know, my daughter may be on board of her."
At this Dickory shook his head. "No," said he, "she is not on board."
"Then let her go," cried Bonnet, "I have no time to fool with thebeggarly hulk. Let her go! I have other business here. And now, sir,"addressing Dickory, "what of my daughter? You have got your breath now,tell me quickly! What is your message from her? When did you sail fromBridgetown? Did she expect me to overhaul that brig? How in the name ofall the devils could she expect that?"
"Come, come now, Master Bonnet!" exclaimed the Scotchman, "ye aretalkin' o' your daughter, the good an' beautiful Mistress Kate, an' nomatter whether ye are a pirate or no, ye must keep a guard on yourtongue. An' if ye think she knew where to find ye, ye must consider heran angel an' no' to be spoken o' in the same breath as de'ils."
"I didn't sail from Bridgetown," said Dickory, "and your daughter is notthere. I come from Jamaica, where she now is, and was bound toBridgetown to seek news of you, hoping that you had returned there."
"Which, if he had," said Ben, who found it very difficult to keep quiet,"ye would hae been under the necessity o' givin' your message to hisbones hangin' in chains."
Bonnet looked savagely at Ben, but he had no time even to curse.
"Jamaica!" he cried, "how did she get there? Tell me quickly, sir--tellme quickly! Do you hear?"
Dickory was now quite recovered and he told his story, not too quickly,and with much attention to details. Even the account of the unusualmanner in which he and Kate had disembarked from the pirate vessel wasgiven without curtailment, nor with any attention to the approvinggrunts of Ben Greenway. When he came to speak of the letter which Mr.Newcombe had written her, and which had thrown her into such despair onaccount of its shortcomings, Captain Bonnet burst into a fury ofexecration.
"And she never got my letter?" he cried, "and knew not what had happenedto me. It is that wife of mine, that cruel wild-cat! I sent the letterto my house, thinking, of course, it would find my daughter there. Forwhere else should she be?"
"An' a maist extraordinary wise mon ye were to do that," said BenGreenway, "for ye might hae known, if ye had ever thought o' it at all,that the place where your wife was, was the place where your daughtercouldna be, an' ye no' wi' her. If ye had spoke to me about it, it wouldhae gone to Mr. Newcombe, an' then ye'd hae known that she'd be sure toget it."
At this a slight cloud passed over Dickory's face, and, in spite of themisfortunes which had followed upon the non-delivery of her father'sletter, he could not help congratulating himself that it had not beensent to the care of that man Newcombe. He had not had time to formulateth
e reasons why this proceeding would have been so distasteful to him,but he wanted Martin Newcombe to have nothing to do with the good or badfortune of Mistress Kate, whose champion he had become and whose fatherhe had found, and to whom he was now talking, face to face.
The three talked for a long time, during which Black Paul had put thevessel about upon her former course, and was sailing swiftly to thenorth. As Dickory went on, Bonnet ceased to curse, but, over and over,blessed his brother-in-law, as a good man and one of the few worthy totake into his charge the good and beautiful. Stede Bonnet had alwaysbeen very fond of his daughter, and, now, as it became known to him intowhat desperate and direful condition his reckless conduct had thrownher, he loved her more and more, and grieved greatly for the troubles hehad brought upon her.
"But it'll be all right now," he cried, "she's with her good uncle, whowill show her the most gracious kindness, both for her mother's sake andfor her own; and I will see to it that she be not too heavy a chargeupon him."
"As for ye, Dickory," exclaimed Greenway, "ye're a brave boy an' willyet come to be an' honour to yer mither's declining years an' to thememory o' your father. But how did ye ever come to think o' boardin'this nest o' sea-de'ils, an' at such risk to your life?"
"I did it," said Dickory simply, "because Mistress Kate's father washere, and I was bound to come to him wherever I should find him, forthat was my main errand. They told me on the brig that it was CaptainBonnet's ship that was overhauling us, and I vowed that as soon as sheboarded us I would seek him out and give him her message; and when Iheard that the sea was getting too heavy for you to board us, Idetermined to come on board if I could get hold of a line."
"Young man," cried Bonnet, rising to his full height and swelling hischest, "I bestow upon you a father's blessing. More than that"--and ashe spoke he pulled open a drawer of a small locker--"here's a bag ofgold pieces, and when you take my answer you shall have another likeit."
But Dickory did not reach out his hand for the money, nor did he say aword.
"Don't be afraid," cried Bonnet. "If you have any religious scruples, Iwill tell you that this gold I did not get by piracy. It is part of myprivate fortune, and came as honestly to me as I now give it to you."
But Dickory did not reach out his hand.
Now up spoke Ben Greenway: "Look ye, boy," said he, "as long as there'sa chance left o' gettin' honest gold on board this vessel, I pray ye,seize it, an' if ye're afraid o' this gold, thinkin' it may be smearedwi' the blood o' fathers an' the tears o' mithers, I'll tell ye anething, an' that is, that Master Bonnet hasna got to be so much o' apirate that he willna tell the truth. So I'll tak' the money for ye,Dickory, an' I'll keep it till ye're ready to tak' it to your mither;an' I hope that will be soon."