CHAPTER IV: THE SERGEANT'S YARN
Jack Stilwell and a few of the other men availed themselves of thepermission to escape for a time from the stifling atmosphere below, andmade their way on deck. For a time the rush of the wind and the wildconfusion of the sea almost bewildered them. Masses of water wererushing along the deck, and each time she rolled the waves seemed asif they would topple over the bulwarks. Several of the party turnedand went below again at once, but Jack, with a few others, waited theiropportunity and, making a rush across the deck, grasped the shrouds andthere hung on. Jack soon recovered from his first confusion and was ableto enjoy the grandeur of the scene.
Small as was the canvas she was showing, the vessel was traveling fastthrough the waves, sometimes completely burying her head under a sea;then as she rose again the water rushed aft knee deep, and Jack hadas much as he could do to prevent himself being carried off his feet.Fortunately all loose articles had long since been swept overboard,otherwise the risk of a broken limb from their contact would have beenserious.
In a quarter of an hour even Jack had had enough of it and went below,and, having changed his drenched clothes, slung his hammock and turnedin. The next day the gale began to abate, and by evening the wind hadnearly died away, although the vessel was rolling as heavily as beforeamong the great masses of water which rolled in from the Atlantic.
The hatchways, however, were now removed, and all below ordered on deck,and after awhile a party was told off to sluice down their quartersbelow. The men were all weakened by their confinement, but their spiritssoon rose, and there was ere long plenty of laughter at the misfortuneswhich befell those who tried to cross the deck, for the ship was rollingso heavily that it was impossible for a landsman to keep his feetwithout holding on.
The next morning, although a heavy swell was still rolling, the shipassumed her normal aspect. The sailors had removed all trace of disorderabove, clothes were hung out to dry, and, as the ship was still far toounsteady to allow of walking exercise, the soldiers sat in groups onthe deck, laughing and chatting and enjoying the warm sun whose raysstreamed down upon them. Seeing Sergeant Edwards standing alone lookingover the bulwark, Jack made his way up to him.
"It has been a sharp blow," the sergeant said, "and I am glad it's over;the last four days have been enough to sicken one of the sea for life. Isuppose you think this is a good opportunity for my yarn."
"That is just what I was thinking, sergeant."
"Very well, then, my lad, here goes. I was born at Poole. My people wereall in the seafaring line, and it was only natural that, as soon as Igot old enough to stand kicking, I was put on board a coaster plyingbetween Poole and London. It was pretty rough, but the skipper wasn't abad kind of fellow when he was sober. I stuck to that for three years,and then the old craft was wrecked on Shoreham beach. Fortunately shewas driven up so far that we were able to drop over the bowsprit prettywell beyond the reach of the waves, but there was no getting the Elizaoff. It was no great loss, for she would have had to be broken upas firewood in another year or two. About six hours out of everytwenty-four I was taking my turn at spells at the pump.
"Now the Eliza was cast away, I had to look out for another ship. Ihad had enough of coasters, so instead of going home I tramped it up toLondon. Having got a berth on board a foreign bound vessel I made twovoyages out to Brazil and back. A fine country is the Brazils, but thePortuguese ain't the fellows to make much out of it. Little undersizedchaps, they are all chatter and jabber, and when they used to comealongside to unload, it were jest for all the world like so manyboatfuls of monkeys.
"Well, I starts for my third voyage, being by this time about sixteenor seventeen. We got out to Rio right enough; but we couldn't get a fullcargo back, and the captain determined to cruise among the West IndyIslands and fill up his ship. We were pretty nigh full when one morningthe lookout hailed that there were two vessels just coming out of aninlet in an island we were passing some three miles on the weather bow.
"The captain was soon on deck with his glass, and no sooner did he makethem out than he gave orders to clap every sail on her. We hadn't a verysmart crew, but there are not many British ships ever made sail fasterthan we did then. The men just flew about, for it needed no glass toshow that the two vessels which came creeping out from among treesweren't customers as one wanted to talk to on the high seas. The onewas a brig, the other a schooner. They carried lofty spars ever so muchhigher than an honest trader could want; and quick as we had got up oursails, they had got their canvas spread as soon as we had.
"The ship was a fast sailer, but it didn't need half an hour to showthat they had the legs of us. So the skipper called the crew aft. 'Now,my lads,' he said, 'you see those two vessels astern. I don't think itneeds any telling from me as to what they are. They might be Spaniardsor they might be French, or they might be native traders, but we arepretty well sure they ain't anything of the kind. They are pirates--Iguess the same two vessels I heard them talking about down at Rio. Theyhave been doing no end of damage there. There were pretty nigh a dozenships missing, and they put them all down to them. However, a couple ofEnglish frigates had come into Rio, and hearing what had happened hadgone out to chase them. They hadn't caught them, and the Braziliansthought that they had shifted their quarters and gone for a cruise inother latitudes.
"'The description they gave of them answered to these two--a brig and aschooner, with low hulls and tall spars. One of them carries ten guns,the other two on each side, and a heavy piece mounted on a swivelamidship. It was said that before they went down to Brazil they had beencarrying on their games among the West India Islands, and had made it sohot for themselves that they had been obliged to move off from there.It was like enough that, now the hue and cry after them had abated, theywould return to their old quarters.
"'Well, my lads, I needn't tell you what we have to expect if they takeus. Every man Jack will either get his throat cut or be forced to walkthe plank. So we will fight her to the last; for if the worst comesto the worst, it's better to be killed fighting like men than to bemurdered in cold blood. However, I hope it won't come to that. We carrytwelve guns, and they are heavier metal than most merchantmen have onboard. We are more than a match for either of them alone; and if we canmanage to cripple one, we can beat the other off.
"'At any rate we will try our best. Thank God we have no women on board,and only ourselves to think of! Now, my lads, cast the guns loose andget the ammunition on deck; run two of the guns aft and train them overthe stern. As soon as they come within range we will try and knock somespars out of them. Now, boys, give three cheers for the old flag, and wewill swear together it shall never come down while there's one of us tofight the ship.'
"The men gave three cheers and then went off to their quarters at theguns. They were quiet and grave, and it was easy enough to see that theydid not like the prospect. An Englishman always goes into action, asfar as I have seen, with a light heart and a joke on his lips when he'sfighting against Frenchmen or Spaniards or any other foe, but it's adifferent thing when it's a pirate he has to deal with. Every man knowsthen that it's a case of life or death, and that he's got to win or die.The enemy made no secret of what they were, for when they got within amile of us two black flags ran up to their mastheads.
"The captain he trained one of the stern chasers hisself, and the firstmate took the other. They fired at the same moment, both aiming at theschooner, which was getting the nearest to us. They were good shots bothof them. The mate's ball struck the water some twenty yards in frontof her forefoot, and smashed her bow planking some three feet above thewaterline; while the captain's struck her bulwark, tore along her deck,and went out astern, doing some damage by the way, I reckon.
"We could see there was some confusion on board. They hadn't reckonedthat we carried such heavy metal, and our luck in getting both shots onboard must have surprised them. Then her bow paid off, there was a puffof smoke amidship, and a ball from the long swivel gun buzzed overhead,passing through
our mainsail without touching mast or stay.
"So far we had the best of it, and the men looked more cheerful thanthey had done from the first moment when the pirates showed from amongthe trees. After that we kept up a fire from the stern guns as fast aswe could load. I could not see myself what damage we were doing, for Iwas kept hard at work carrying ammunition. Presently the broadside gunsbegan to fire too, and taking the chance for a look round I saw that thepirates had separated, and were coming up one on each side of us.
"So far they had not fired a shot after the first. I suppose they didn'twant to lose ground by yawing, but as they came abreast of us they bothopened fire. Our chaps fought their guns well, and I expect the piratesfound they were not getting much the best of it; for one of them made asignal, and they both closed in to board. We hadn't had much luck afterour first shot. We had hulled them over and over again and spotted theirsails with shot. Many of their ropes were hanging loose, but we hadn'tsucceeded in crippling them, although almost every shot had been aimedat the masts; for every man knew that our only chance was to bring themdown.
"As they came up close to us they poured in a volley of grape, and aminute later they grated alongside and a crowd of men swarmed on boardover the bulwarks. Our fellows fought to the last, but the odds werefive to one against them. The skipper had been killed by a grapeshot,but the mate he led the men; and if fighting could have saved us theship would not have been captured. But it was no use. In two minutesevery man had been cut down or disarmed. I had laid about me witha cutlass till I got a lick over my head with a boarding pike whichknocked my senses out of me.
"When I opened my eyes I was hauled up to my feet and put alongside themate and six others, all of whom was bleeding more or less. The rest hadall been chucked overboard at once. In a minute or two the captain ofone of the pirates, a little dapper Frenchman, came up to us. 'You havefought your ship well,' he said to the mate, 'and have killed several ofmy officers and men; but I bear you no malice, and if you are readyto ship with me I will spare your life.' 'I would rather die a hundredtimes!' the mate said. The pirate said nothing, but just nodded, andfour of his men seized the mate and flung him over the bulwarks. Thesame question was asked of each of the men; but each in turn refused,and an end was made of them. I was the last.
"'Now, my boy,' the captain said, 'I hope you won't be stupid like thosepig headed fellows. What do you say--good treatment and a free life onthe sea, or the sharks?'
"Well, lad, if my turn hadn't been last I would have said 'no' likethe others. I wouldn't have shown the white feather before any of myshipmates; but they had gone--there wasn't one to cast a reproachfullook at me or to taunt me with cowardice. I just stood alone; thereweren't no one to back me up in choosing to die rather than to serve,and so I says, 'I will join you, captain.' I don't say I was right, lad;I don't say I didn't act as a coward; but I think most young chaps withmy bringing up, and placed as I was, would have done the same. There'smany as would have said 'no' if they had had comrades and friendslooking on, but I don't think there's many as would have said 'no' ifthey had stood all alone as I did.
"I can't say as I blame myself much about that business, though I havethought it over many a score of times; but anyhow, from the first I madeup my mind that at the very first chance I would get away from them. Iknew the chance wasn't likely to come for some time--still there it was;and during all the black scenes I took part in on board that ship I wasalways telling myself that I was there against my will.
"It was the brig as I was to go in. And as soon as that little matter ofthe crew was settled all hands set to work to shift the cargo from theship aboard the pirates. Wonderful quick they did it too; and when Ithought how long that cargo had taken to get on board, it was wonderfulhow soon they whipped it out of her. When they had stripped her of allthey thought worth taking, they ran one of the cannon to the open hatch,loaded it and crammed it full of balls to the muzzle; then they pointedit down the hold and fired it, and were soon on board their own craft.
"The charge must have torn a great hole in the ship's bottom, for Icould see she was settling down in the water before we had left her fiveminutes, and in a quarter of an hour she gave a sudden lurch and sank.As I was in for it now, I knew the best thing was to put a good faceon it, so I lent a hand at shifting the cargo and did my best to seemcontented. We sailed off in company, and in the morning when I came ondeck I found the two craft riding side by side in a land locked harbor.
"A few minutes later the boats were lowered and the work of getting thecargo on shore began. It was clear enough that this was the pirates'headquarters; for there were lots of huts built on the sloping sides ofthe inlet, and a number of men and women stood gathered on the shore toreceive us as we landed. The women were of all countries, English andFrench, Dutch, Spaniards, and Portuguese, with a good sprinkling of darkskinned natives. All the white women had been taken prisoners at sometime or other from vessels which had fallen into the pirates' hands,and though most of them must have been miserable enough at heart, poorcreatures, they all made a show of being glad to see the men back again.It was but a week, I learned, since the pirates had sailed, and it wasconsidered a great stroke of luck that they should so soon have effecteda capture.
"No one attended to me, but I worked hard all day with the others rowingbackward and forward between the shore and the ship. When it became duskthey knocked off work, and the men went off to their huts, for it seemedthat each of them had a wife, brown skinned or white. Seeing that nobodypaid any attention to me, I went off to the little captain, who wasmaking his way up to a hut of a better class than the others.
"'What is to become of me, captain?' I asked. 'Ah! I had not thought ofyou,' he said; 'well, you can go up with me and get some supper, andyou can have a blanket and sleep on my veranda for tonight; we will seewhere you can be lodged in the morning.' I followed him into his house,and was astonished as I entered at the luxury of the apartment, whichfar exceeded anything I had ever seen before. The plank walls wereconcealed by hangings of light green silk, a rich carpet covered thefloor, the furniture was most handsome and massive, and had no doubtbeen intended for the palace of the Spanish governor of some of theislands. A pair of candelabra of solid silver stood on the table, andthe white candles in them, which had just been lighted, threw a softglow of light over the room and lighted up the table, on which was aservice, also of solid silver, with vases and, lovely flowers. A youngwoman rose from a couch as he entered: 'I have been expecting you forthe last half hour, Eugene. You have worked longer than usual thisevening; if the fish are spoiled you must not blame Zoe.'
"The speaker was a tall and very handsome woman, and I now understoodhow it was that my captor spoke such excellent English. There was a deepexpression of melancholy on her face, but she smiled when speaking tothe pirate, and her tone was one of affection.
"'I have brought home a countryman of yours, Ellen. I forgot to allothim quarters until it was too late, so please give him over to the careof Zoe and ask her to give him some supper and a blanket; he will sleepin the veranda.'
"The first look which the woman gave me as the captain spoke made mewish that instead of speaking to the captain I had lain down fastingunder a tree, there was so much contempt and horror in it; then, as Isuppose she saw I was but a boy, it changed, and it seemed to me thatshe pitied me from her heart; however, she clapped her hands and anegress entered. She said something to her in Spanish, and the old womanbeckoned me to follow her, and I was soon sitting in front of a bettermeal than I had tasted for many a month, perhaps the best meal I hadtasted in my life.
"As she couldn't speak English there was no talking with the old woman.She gave me a tumbler of stiff rum and water to drink with my supper,and after I had done she handed me a blanket, took me out into theveranda, pointed to the side where I should get the sea breeze, and leftme. I smoked a pipe or two and then went to sleep. I was awakened in themorning by some one coming along the veranda, and, sitting up, saw thelady I had seen the n
ight before. 'So you are English?' she said. 'Yes,ma'am,' says I, touching my hat sailor fashion. 'Are you lately fromhome?' she asked. 'Not very late, ma'am,' says I; 'we went to Rio first,and not filling up there were cruising about picking up a cargo when--'and I stopped, not knowing, you see, how I should put it. 'Are thereany more of you?' she asked after awhile in a low sort of voice. 'No,ma'am,' says I; 'I am the only one.' 'I did not ask,' she said almostin a whisper, and I could see her face was 'most as white as a sheet, 'Inever ask. And so you have joined them?' 'Yes,' says I, 'I couldn't helpit, ma'am. I was the last, you see; if there had been any one else tohave encouraged me I should have said no, but being alone--' 'Don'texcuse yourself, poor boy,' she said; 'don't think I blame you. Who amI that I should blame any one? It is little I can do for you, but ifyou should want anything I will do my best to befriend you.' I heard thecaptain's voice calling. Suddenly she put her finger to her lips, as ahint to me to hold my tongue, and off she went.
"I don't know whether the captain's wife spoke to him about me or not,but at any rate he didn't tell me off to any of the huts, but kept meat the house. I used to go down in the day to work with the other menunloading the ship and stowing away the stores, but they only worked fora few hours morning and evening, lying in hammocks slung under the treesduring the heat of the day. I made myself useful about the house, helpedthe old woman to chop wood, drew water for her, attended to the plantsin the little garden round the house, trained the creepers up theveranda, and lent a hand at all sorts of odd jobs, just as a sailor willdo.
"When, ten days after we arrived, the ships got ready for anothercruise, I was afraid they would take me with them, and I lay awake atnights sweating as I thought over the fearful deeds I should have totake part in; but the captain gave me no orders, and to my delight themen embarked and the ships sailed away without me. I found there weresome forty men left behind, whose duty it was to keep a sharp lookoutand man the batteries they had got at the entrance to the cove in caseany of our cruisers came in sight.
"The man who was in command was a Spaniard, a sulky, cruel lookingscoundrel. However, he didn't have much to do with me; I took my turn atthe lookout with the rest of them, and besides that there was nothingto do. The men on shore had all been in one or other of the ships when Iwas taken; for I found there were about a hundred and sixty of them, anda quarter stayed at home by turns, changing after each cruise, whetherit was a long or short one.
"The captain's wife often spoke to me now; she would come out and sit inthe veranda while I was at work. She asked me what part I came from, andwhere I had sailed, and what friends I had at home. But she never saida word to me about the capture of the ship. She always looked sad now,while she had been cheerful and bright while the captain was on shore.In time she got quite friendly with me, and one day she said, 'Peter,you will have to go to sea next time, what will you do?'
"'I must do as the others do, God forgive me,' says I; 'but don't think,ma'am, as ever I shall do it willing. It may be years before I gets achance, but if ever I does I shall make a run for it, whatever the riskmay be. I speaks free to you, ma'am, for I feel sure as you won't saya word to no man, for it would cost me my life if they thought that Iwasn't with them willing.'
"'I will not tell any one, Peter, you may be sure,' she said; 'but I donot think you will ever have a chance of getting away--no one ever doeswho once comes here.'
"Well, in time, lad, she lets out bit by bit a little about herself. Shehad been on her way out to join her father, who was an officer of theEast Indy Company, when the ship was taken by the pirates. The men wasall killed, but she and some other women was taken on board the pirateand at last brought there. The French captain took a fancy to her fromthe first, and after she had been there a year brought a Spanish priestthey captured on board a ship and he married them. The pirates seemed tothink it was a joke, and lots of them followed the captain's example andgot married to the women there. What they did with the priest afterward,whether they cut his throat or landed him in some place thousands ofmiles away, or entered him on board ship, is more nor I know.
"There's no doubt the captain's wife was fond of her husband; pirate ashe was, he had not behaved so bad to her--but except when he was withher she was always sad.
"She had an awful horror of the life he led, and with this was a terrorlest he should fall into the hands of a cruiser, for she knew that ifhe hadn't the good luck to be killed in the fight, he would be tried andhung at the nearest port. It was a kind of mixed feeling, you see; shewould have given everything to be free from the life she was leading,and yet even had she had the chance she would not have left her husband.I believe he had promised her to give it up, but she must have knowedthat he never would do it; besides, if he had slipped away from the shipat any place where they touched he could not have got her away, and herlife would have paid for his desertion.
"But I don't think he would have gone if he could, for, quiet and niceas he was when at home, he was a demon at sea. Ruffians and scoundrelsas were his crew, the boldest of them were afraid of him. It was not aword and a blow, but a word and a pistol shot with him; and if ithadn't been that he was a first rate seaman, that he fought his shipssplendidly, and that there was no one who could have kept any show oforder or discipline had he not been there, I don't believe they wouldhave put up with him for a day.
"Well, lad, I sailed with them for three voyages. I won't tell you whatI saw and heard, but it was years before I could sleep 'well at night,but would start up in a cold sweat with those scenes before my eyes andthose screams ringing in my ears. I can say that I never took the lifeof a man or woman. Of course I had to help to load the cannon, and whenthe time for boarding came would wave my cutlass and fire my pistolswith the best of them; but I took good care never to be in the frontline, and the others were too busy with their bloody doings to noticewhat share I took in them.
"We had been out about a fortnight on my third voyage, and the schoonerand brig were lying in a little bay when we saw what we took to be alarge merchant ship coming along. She was all painted black, her riggingwas badly set up, her sails were dirty and some of them patched, shewas steering east, and seemed as if she was homeward bound after a longvoyage. Off we went in pursuit, thinking we had got a prize. She clappedon more sail, but we came up to her hand over hand. She opened fire withtwo eight pounders over her stern. We didn't waste a shot in reply, butranged up alongside, one on each beam. Then suddenly her sides seemed toopen, fifteen ports on each side went up, and her deck swarmed with men.
"A yell of dismay went up from the schooner which I was on. In a momenta flash of fire ran along the frigate's broadside; there was a crash oftimber, and the schooner shook as if she had struck on a rock. There wasa cry, 'We are sinking!' Some made a wild rush for the boats, others intheir despair jumped overboard, some cursed and swore like madmenand shook their fists at the frigate. It seemed no time when anotherbroadside came.
"Down came the foremast, crushing half a dozen men as she fell. Her deckwas nearly level with the water now. I climbed over the wreck of theforemast, and run out along the bowsprit. I looked round just as Ileaped. The pirate captain was standing at the wheel. He had a pistolto his head, and I saw the flash, and he fell. Then I dived off and swamunder water as hard as I could to get away from the sinking ship. When Icame up I looked round. I just saw the flutter of a black flag above thewater and she was gone. I was a good swimmer, and got rid of my shoesand jacket, and made up my mind for a long swim, for the frigate was toobusy with the brig for any one to pay attention to us, but it did nottake long to finish it.
"In five minutes it was over. The brig lay dismasted, and scarce a dozenmen out of the forty she carried were alive to throw down their armson deck and cry that they surrendered. Then the frigate's boats werelowered; two rowed in our direction, while two put off to the brig.There were only nine of us picked up, for from the first broadside tillwe sank a heavy musketry fire had been poured down upon the deck, andas we were not more than fifty
yards away from the frigate, the men hadbeen just mowed down. We were all ironed as soon as we were brought onboard. After that we were brought up one by one and questioned.
"'You are young to be engaged in such work as this,' the captain saidwhen my turn came.
"'I was forced into it against my will, sir,' I said.
"'Yes,' the captain said, 'I suppose so; that's the story each of theprisoners tells. How long have you been with them?'
"'Less than six months, sir.'
"'How old are you?'
"'I am not seventeen yet. I was boy on board the Jane and William. Wewere taken by the pirates on our way back from Rio, and all except mekilled or thrown overboard.'
"'And you bought your life by agreeing to sail with them, I suppose?'the captain said contemptuously.
"'I did, sir,' I said; 'but I was the last they asked; all the othershad gone, and there warn't no one to back me up.'
"'Well, boy, you know what your fate will be,' the captain said;'there's no mercy for pirates.'
"The next day the captain sent for me again, and I took heart a little,for I thought if they had made up their minds to hang me they wouldn'thave questioned me.
"'Look here, lad,' the captain said; 'you are the youngest of theprisoners, and less steeped in crime than any here, therefore I willat once make you an offer. If you will direct us to the lair of thepirates, I promise your life shall be spared.'
"'I don't know the latitude and longitudes sir,' I said, 'and I doubt ifany besides the captain and one or two others do, but I know pretty wellwhereabout it is. We always set sail at night and came in at night, andnone was allowed on deck except the helmsman and two or three old handstill morning; but when I was ashore and on duty at the lookout I noticedthree trees growing together just at the edge of the cliff at the pointwhere it was highest, two miles away from the entrance to the cove. Theywere a big un and two little uns, and I feel sure if I were to see themagain I should know them.'
"'Very well,' the captain said, 'I shall make for port at once, and handover the prisoners to the Spanish authorities, then I will start on acruise with you, and see if we can find your trees.'
"From the description I could give him of the islands we passed after wehad been at sea a few hours, and the time it took us to sail from themto some known points, the captain was able to form a sort of idea as towhich group of islands it belonged to, and when he had reached port andgot rid of his prisoners, all of whom were garroted--that's a sort ofstrangling, you know--by the Spaniards, a week afterward, we set outagain on our search for the island."