CHAPTER XLI
THE "ARATO" ANCHORS NEARER SHORE
On went the boat, each one of the oarsmen pulling with all his force, thecaptain in the stern, shouting and encouraging them, and Shirley andBurke crouched in the bow, each with his rifle in hand. Up went the jibof the _Arato_. She gently turned about as she felt the influence of thewind, and then the captain believed the men on board were trying to getup the foresail.
"Are you sure there are only two of the crew on that schooner?" said thecaptain to the prisoner. "Now, it isn't worth while to lie to me."
"Only two," said the man. "I swear to it. Only two, Senor Capitan."
The foresail did not go up, for one of the men had to run to the wheel,and as the vessel's head got slowly around, it seemed as if she mightsail away from the boat, even with nothing but the jib set. But theschooner gained headway very slowly, and the boat neared her rapidly.Now the man at the wheel gave up all hope of sailing away from hispursuers. He abandoned the helm, and in a few moments two heads and twoguns showed over the rail, and two shots rang out. But the schooner wasrolling, and the aim was bad. Shirley and Burke fired at the two headsas soon as they saw them, but the boat was rising and pitching, andtheir shots were also bad.
For a minute there was no more firing, and then one of the heads and oneof the guns were seen again. Shirley was ready, and made hiscalculations, and, as the boat rose, he drew a bead upon the top of therail where he saw the head, and had scarcely pulled his trigger when hesaw a good deal more than a head, for a man sprung up high in the air andthen fell backward.
The captain now ordered his men to rest on their oars, for, if the otherman on board should show himself, they could get a better shot at himthan if they were nearer. But the man did not show himself, and, onconsideration of his probable tactics, it seemed extremely dangerous toapproach the vessel. Even here they were in danger, but should theyattempt to board her, they could not tell from what point he might firedown upon them, and some of them would surely be shot before they couldget a chance at him, and the captain did not wish to sacrifice any of hismen, even for a vessel, if it could be helped. There seemed to be no hopeof safely gaining their object, except to wait until the man shouldbecome tired and impatient, and expose himself.
Suddenly, to the amazement of every one in the boat, for all heads wereturned toward the schooner, a man appeared, boldly running over her deck.Shirley and Burke instantly raised their rifles, but dropped them again.There was a shout from Maka, and an exclamation from the prisoner. Thenthe man on deck stooped close to the rail and was lost to their sight,but almost instantly he reappeared again, holding in front of him astruggling pair of legs, feet uppermost. Then, upon the rail, appeared aman's head and body; but it only remained there for an instant, for hislegs were raised still higher by the person behind him, and were thenpropelled outward with such force that he went headlong overboard. Thenthe man on deck sprang to the top of the rail, regardless of the rollingof the vessel in the gentle swell, and waved his hands above his head.
"Inkspot!" shouted the captain. "Pull away, you fellows! Pull!"
The tall, barefooted negro sprang to the deck from his perilous position,and soon reappeared with a line ready to throw to the boat.
In a few minutes they reached the vessel, and the boat was quickly madefast, and very soon they were on board. When he saw his old friends andassociates upon the deck, Inkspot retired a little distance and fell uponhis knees.
"You black rascal!" roared Burke, "you brought these cut-throatscoundrels down upon us! You--"
"That will do," said the captain. "There is no time for that sort ofthing now. We will talk to him afterwards. Mr. Shirley, call all handsand get up sail. I am going to take this schooner inside the headland.We can find safe anchorage in the bay. We can sail over the same coursewe went on with the _Miranda_, and she drew more water than this vessel."
In an hour the _Arato_, moored by her spare anchor, lay in the littlebay, less than two hundred yards from shore. It gave the shipwrecked mena wild delight to find themselves again upon the decks of a seaworthyvessel, and everybody worked with a will, especially the prisoner andInkspot. And when the last sail had been furled, it became evident to allhands on board that they wanted their breakfast, and this need wasspeedily supplied by Maka and Inkspot from the _Arato's_ stores.
That afternoon the captain went on shore with the negroes and the Chilianprisoner, and the bodies of the nine men who had fallen in the attackupon the wall of gold were buried where they lay. This was a verydifferent climate from that of the Peruvian coast, where the desiccatingair speedily makes a mummy of any dead body upon its arid sands.
When this work had been accomplished, the party returned to the _Arato_,and the captain ordered Inkspot and the prisoner to be brought aft to betried by court martial. The big negro had been wildly and vociferouslyreceived by his fellow-countrymen, who, upon every possible occasion, hadjabbered together in their native tongue, but Captain Horn had, so far,said nothing to him.
The captain had been greatly excited from the moment he had seen the sailin the offing. In his dire distress, on this almost desolate shore, hehad beheld what might prove to be speedy relief, and, much as he hadneeded it, he had hoped that it might not come so soon. He had beenapprehensive and anxious when he supposed friendly aid might beapproaching, and he had been utterly astounded when he was forced tobelieve that they were armed men who were rowing to shore, and must beenemies. He had fought a terrible fight. He had conquered the scoundrelswho had come for his life and his treasure, and, best of all, he hadsecured a vessel which would carry him and his men and his fortune toFrance. He had endeavored to keep cool and think only of the work thatwas immediately in hand, and he had no wish to ask anybody why or howthings had happened. They had happened, and that was all in all to him.But now he was ready to make all necessary inquiries, and he began withInkspot. Maka being interpreter, the examination was easily carried on.
The story of the negro was a very interesting one. He told of hisadventures on shore, and how kind the men had been to him until they wenton board the _Arato_, and how then they treated him as if he had been adog--how he had been made to do double duty in all sorts of disagreeablework, and how, after they had seen the light on the beach, he had beenput into the hold and tied hand and foot. While down there in the dark hehad heard the firing on shore, and, after a long while, the firing fromthe deck, and other shots near by. All this had so excited him that hemanaged to get one hand loose from his cords, and then had speedilyunfastened the rest, and had quietly crept to a hatchway, where he couldwatch what was going on without showing himself. He had seen the two menon deck, ready to fire on the approaching boat. He had recognized CaptainHorn and the people of the _Miranda_ in the boat. And then, when therewas but one man left on deck, and the boat was afraid to come nearer, hehad rushed up behind him and tumbled him overboard.
One thing only did Inkspot omit: he did not say that it was Mr. Burke'sexample that had prompted him to go ashore for refreshments. When thestory had been told, and all questions asked and answered, the captainturned to Burke and Shirley and asked their opinions upon the case.Shirley was in favor of putting the negro in irons. He had deserted them,and had nearly cost them their lives by the stories he had told on shore.Burke, to the captain's surprise,--for the second mate generally dealtseverely with nautical transgressions,--was in favor of clemency.
"To be sure," said he, "the black scoundrel did get us into trouble. Butthen, don't you see, he has got us out of it. If these beastly fellowshadn't been led by him to come after our money, we would not have hadthis schooner, and how we should have got those bags away withouther,--to say nothing of ourselves,--is more than I can fathom. It is mybelief that no craft ever comes within twenty miles of this coast, if shecan help it. So I vote for letting him off. He didn't intend to do us anyharm, and he didn't intend to do us any good, but it seems to me that thegood he did do rises higher above the water-line than the harm. So I say,let
him off. We need another hand about as much as we need anything."
"And so say I," said the captain. "Maka, you can tell him we forgive him,because we believe that he is really a good fellow and didn't intend anyharm, and he can turn in with the rest of you on his old watch. And nowbring up that Chilian fellow."
The prisoner, who gave his name as Anton Garta, was now examined inregard to the schooner _Arato_, her extraordinary cruise, and the peoplewho had devised it. Garta was a fellow of moderate intelligence, andstill very much frightened, and having little wit with which to concoctlies, and no reason for telling them, he answered the questions put tohim as correctly as his knowledge permitted. He said that about twomonths before he had been one of the crew of the _Arato_, and ManuelCardatas was second mate, and he had been very glad to join her on thislast cruise because he was out of a job. He thought she was going toCallao for a cargo, and so did the rest of the crew. They did not evenknow there were guns on board until they were out at sea. Then, when theyhad turned southward, their captain and Senor Nunez told them that theywere going in pursuit of a treasure ship commanded by a Yankee captain,who had run away with ever so much money from California, and that theywere sure to overhaul this ship, and that they would all be rich.
The guns were given to them, and they had had some practice with them,and thought that Cardatas intended, should the _Miranda_ be overhauled,to run alongside of her as near as was safe, and begin operations byshooting everybody that could be seen on deck. He was not sure that thiswas his plan, but they all had thought it was. After the storm the menhad become dissatisfied, and said they did not believe it was possible tooverhaul any vessel after so much delay, and when they had gone so farout of their course; and Senor Nunez, who had hired the vessel, was indoubt as to whether it would be of any use to continue the cruise. Butwhen Cardatas had talked to him, Senor Nunez had come among them andpromised them good rewards, whether they sighted their prize or not, ifthey would work faithfully for ten days more. The men had agreed to dothis, but when they had seen the light on shore, they had made anagreement among themselves that, if this should be nothing but a firebuilt by savages or shipwrecked people of no account, they would not workthe schooner any farther south. They would put Cardatas and Nunez inirons, if necessary, and take the _Arato_ back to Valparaiso. There weremen among them who could navigate. But when they got near enough to shoreto see that the stranded vessel was the _Miranda_, there was no moreinsubordination.
As for himself, Garta said he was a plain, common sailor, who went onboard the _Arato_ because he wanted a job. If he had known the errand onwhich she was bound, he would never have approached within a league ofher. This he vowed, by all the saints. As to the ownership of the vesselGarta could tell but little. He had heard that Cardatas had a share inher, and thought that probably the other owners lived in Valparaiso, buthe could give no positive information on this subject. He said that everyman of the boat's crew was in a state of wild excitement when they sawthat long pile of bags, which they knew must contain treasure of somesort, and it was because of this state of mind, most likely, thatCardatas lost his temper and got himself shot, and so opened the fight.Cardatas was a cunning fellow, and, if he had not been upset by the sightof those bags, Garta believed that he would have regularly besiegedCaptain Horn's party, and must have overcome them in the end. He wasanxious to have the captain believe that, when he had said there wereonly two men on board, he had totally forgotten the negro, who had beenleft below.
When Garta's examination had been finished, the captain sent himforward, and then repeated his story in brief to Shirley and Burke,for, as the prisoner had spoken in Spanish, they had understood butlittle of it.
"I don't see that it makes much difference," said Burke, "as to what hisstory is. We've got to get rid of him in some way. We don't want tocarry him about with us. We might leave him here, with a lot of grub anda tent. That would be all he deserves."
"I should put him in irons, to begin with," said Shirley, "and then wecan consider what to do with him when we have time."
"I shall not leave him on shore," said the captain, "for that wouldsimply be condemning him to starvation; and as for putting him in irons,that would deprive us of an able seaman. I suppose, if we took him toFrance, he would have to be sent to Chili for trial, and that would be ofno use, unless we went there as witnesses. It is a puzzling question toknow what to do with him."
"It is that," said Burke, "and it is a great pity he wasn't shot withthe others."
"Well," said the captain, "we've got a lot of work before us, and we wanthands, so I think it will be best to let him turn in with the rest, andmake him pay for his passage, wherever we take him. The worst he can dois to desert, and if he does that, he will settle his own business, andwe shall have no more trouble with him."
"I don't like him," said Shirley. "I don't think we ought to have such afellow going about freely on board."
"I am not afraid he will hurt any of us," said the captain, "and Iam sure he will not corrupt the negroes. They hate him. It is easy tosee that."
"Yes," said Burke, with a laugh. "They think he is a Rackbird, and it isjust as well to let them keep on thinking so."
"Perhaps he is," thought the captain, but he did not speak thisthought aloud.