CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE JEAN BART BECOMES MANIFEST.
At this moment Pierre, who turned out to be the boatswain of the ship,accompanied by the three other men, one of whom carried a length ofratline in his hand, came clattering down the companion ladder, andentered the cabin.
"Now, monsieur," continued Renouf to me, "will you go on deck and doyour duty, or shall these men drag you there and compel you to do it byseizing you up to the gangway and flogging you into obedience?"
"I will obey your orders, Captain Renouf," said I, "since you leave noalternative but that of being flogged, which I do not choose to submitto. But--"
"Well, but what?" sneered Renouf.
"Nothing at present," answered I, suddenly realising the absurdity aswell as the imprudence of continuing to threaten while in so utterlyhelpless a condition.
"Aha, Monsieur Braggadocio!" answered Renouf; "so you are coming to yoursenses already, are you? It is well. Now you are beginning to exhibita glimmer of common sense, which I hope will increase with reflection,and if it does I doubt not that we shall get on well enough togetherafter all; especially as you will find that there is plenty of prize-money to be earned on board this ship. Now go forward and tell yourmates that you have accepted service under me, and persuade them to dothe same. I hope, for your sake, that you will have no trouble in sopersuading them."
"I go, sir," replied I; "but I tell you, now, in the presence of thesemen, that I obey you under protest, and only because I do not choose tosubmit to the indignity of compulsion by mere superior brute force."
And so saying I turned and left the cabin, being escorted to the deck byPierre and his three myrmidons.
I went right forward into the forecastle and, finding my fellow-survivors there, told them all that had passed in the cabin, at whichthey expressed the utmost indignation; Dumaresq being as loud as theloudest of my companions in his denunciation of Renouf's conduct. I letthem finish their growl, and then said:
"Well, lads, I have told you exactly what this fellow Renouf said, andhow he acted. It is now for you to act, each according to what seemsbest to him; for although I have been ordered to persuade you to followmy example, I shall do nothing of the sort. Each man must act accordingto his own judgment, just as I did. It did not suit me to submit to theindignity of being flogged, and I therefore accepted the onlyalternative that was left to me, namely, to consent to serve aboard thisship. But I did so with several mental reservations, the nature ofwhich I will communicate to you at some more convenient time."
As I said this, my gaze involuntarily turned in Dumaresq's direction.The poor fellow flushed up painfully and said:
"I hope, my dear Bowen, you have no suspicion that I will betray to thisrascal--whom I blush to acknowledge as a fellow-countrymen--anythingthat you may choose to say in my presence. Believe me, I fullyappreciate all the difficulties of your position, and can wellunderstand that you have felt yourself compelled to yield tocircumstances which you found it impossible to control. But give mecredit for believing that your surrender was not the base, unconditionalsurrender of a coward who preferred to turn traitor to his countryrather than submit to a flogging. If I have read your characteraright--and God knows I have been associated with you undercircumstances that ought to have given me some insight into it--you haveyielded to this man Renouf for some ulterior purpose of your own, whichyou intend to communicate to your comrades at the first fittingopportunity. Now, so far as I am concerned, I have not the same reasonsthat you have for objecting to take service in this ship, and I shalltherefore volunteer. But I want you to understand that the accident ofour happening to belong to two nations, at present unhappily at war witheach other, is wholly insufficient to lessen in the slightest degree thepersonal friendship I entertain for you and these good fellows here,your fellow-countrymen. I am your and their friend now and for ever;and I want to make it plain to you that, short of absolute treachery tomy country, you may count upon me to stand by you through thick andthin. You hesitate, and very rightly, too, to speak of your plansbefore me. It would be no advantage to you, and it might beembarrassing to me, were you to discuss them in my presence; but I haveso little sympathy with Captain Renouf in his high-handed method ofdealing with you that, were I to accidentally become acquainted with anyportion of your intentions, I should feel quite justified in remainingsilent about them. If the fellow is foolish enough to compel you toserve him against your will, he need feel no surprise at your taking anearly opportunity to free yourselves from so galling a yoke. And now,in order that I may not be a restraint upon you, I will relieve you ofmy presence by going aft and volunteering. But believe and trust in myfriendship always, even should circumstances assume such a character asto suggest a doubt of it."
So saying, he grasped the hand I offered him, wrung it heartily, andsprang up the ladder to the deck.
As soon as he was gone I translated to my four fellow-prisoners what hehad said, and we then resumed our discussion of the situation. I toldmy companions that although I had consented to serve on board the _JeanBart_, nothing should induce me to take up arms against my fellow-countrymen; that, on the contrary, if we should chance to fall in with aBritish ship, I was fully determined, by every means in my power, tofrustrate Renouf's intentions, and to hamper and obstruct him in everypossible way, and at all hazards; and that, if they felt disposed toaccept service with a similar determination, it would be strange if fiveresolute, determined men like ourselves could not do something verymaterial toward assisting in the capture of the schooner, and the safelodgment of Monsieur Renouf aboard a British hulk. The men seemed tolook at the matter in pretty much the same light that I did. Theyrecognised, as I did, that Renouf was an unscrupulous rascal, likely tohesitate at little or nothing to gain his own headstrong will; theyrealised the utter futility of attempting to resist him, backed as hewas by his whole crew; and, finally, they made up their minds to followmy example, recognising me as their actual leader, and heartily pledgingthemselves to be ready to act upon my initiative at a moment's notice,and to obey me to the death whenever a suitable opportunity should ariseto translate our somewhat vague plans into action.
Having arrived at this understanding, I went aft and informed CaptainRenouf that my comrades had consented, like myself under protest, toserve on board the _Jean Bart_; whereupon he ironically congratulated meupon my success--at which, nevertheless, I could see he was very muchpleased--and gave orders that we were forthwith to be enrolled in theport watch, under his brother. We went on duty within the hour, wereall placed in the same mess, and slept that night in that portion of the'tween-decks devoted to the accommodation of the crew.
I was called upon to perform the duty of an able seaman; and ere long itbecame apparent that, having gained his way with us Englishmen, Renoufwas now desirous to render our service as pleasant as possible to us.We were called upon only to do such work as is usually allotted to thehighest grade of seamen before the mast, and in many ways trifling butnone the less acceptable indulgences were shown to us. One of ourduties was, of course, to take our regular trick at the wheel, and inthis way I soon discovered that we were heading for West Indian waters.
It was on the fifth day after our submission to Renouf that, just afterbreakfast, a sail was made out from the mast-head, and the schooner'scourse was at once altered with the object of intercepting the strangeship, which was steering north. I was full of hope that the craft wouldturn out to be British, in which case there would almost certainly be afight, and an opportunity would be afforded me of paying off part of thedebt that I owed to Monsieur Renouf. But as the two craft neared eachother, and the stranger's sails, and finally her hull, rose above thehorizon, I was disappointed to discover that she was evidently aforeigner; and at length, in response to an exhibition of the Frenchcolours at the schooner's peak, she hoisted the Spanish ensign. Renouf,however, continued to bear down upon her; and presently the Spaniard,evidently growing alarmed at th
e menacing behaviour of the schooner, putup her helm and bore away before the wind, with the unmistakableintention of avoiding us if possible.
But a cart-horse might as well hope to gallop away from a thorough-bredracer as that ship to outsail the _Jean Bart_. The stranger was clearlya big, lumbering merchantman, built for the purpose of stowing thegreatest possible amount of cargo in a hull of her dimensions. She hadno pretensions whatever to speed, while the schooner was, as I haveelsewhere said, exceptionally fast; it was not wonderful, therefore,that we rapidly overhauled her without an effort.
It was my impression that, as the Spaniard was probably homeward-boundfrom that part of the world toward which we were steering, Renouf wasanxious to speak her and obtain what information he could with regard tothe state of affairs generally in that quarter; and I was therefore notsurprised at his persistent pursuit of the ship. But when later on inthe day we had closed her to within gun-shot distance, and he began tofire into her, I certainly thought he was again carrying things withrather a high hand, and that, if he was not careful, he would probablyget himself into serious trouble over the affair. Still it was nobusiness of mine. The Spaniards, like the French, were at war with us,and if they chose to make war upon each other also it was not for me toobject; on the contrary, any action calculated to produce a feeling ofill-will between the two nations could not fail to be of advantage toGreat Britain. I therefore felt no qualms of conscience whatever whencalled upon to take my station at one of the guns, and did my duty withhearty good-will.
We continued firing at the Spaniard for about half an hour, in a veryleisurely way, but with such deliberate aim that every shot struck her;and then, without firing a shot in return, the great hulking craftshortened sail and hove-to. Ten minutes later we, too, were hove-towithin pistol-shot of the Spaniard's weather quarter, and we then had anopportunity to learn, by the gilt lettering on her stern, that she wasthe _Santa Theresa_, of Cadiz. The _Jean Bart's_ three boats were atonce lowered, and a party of about forty men, armed to the teeth, andled by Captain Renouf, his brother Gabriel, and young Dumaresq pushedoff to take possession.
I thought this last a most extraordinary proceeding, France and Spainbeing then on friendly terms with each other; moreover, it at oncedisabused me of the impression that it was information only that Renoufwas seeking. Still, it was no business of mine; and even had it been,that was certainly not the moment for me to interfere, surrounded as Iwas by some forty evil-looking ruffians, fully armed, and the schoonerin charge of the second mate--the most evil-looking scoundrel of thelot, and, moreover, a man who had not attempted to conceal the fact thathe intensely hated the very sight of us Englishmen.
The boats passed under the Spaniard's stern, and a few minutes laterRenouf appeared upon her poop with his sword drawn, and waved a signalto Danton the second mate; whereupon a man was sent aloft to our royal-yard, with instructions to keep a sharp look-out all round the horizon,and to at once report the appearance of any strange sail that mightperchance heave in sight.
For close upon four hours the two craft remained thus hove-to, uponopposite tacks, gradually drifting further apart, except when Danton sawfit to fill upon the schooner from time to time for the purpose of againclosing with the Spaniard, never nearing her, however, closer than halfa mile to leeward; and during at least two hours of this time not atrace of life was to be discovered on board the bigger ship. At length,however, a slight movement became observable on board the _SantaTheresa_; and presently we saw that tackles were being got up on themain-topmast-stay and the lower yard-arms. The Spaniard's boats werethen hoisted out and lowered from the davits, until all of them appearedto be in the water, when the long-boat was hauled alongside to leeward,abreast the main hatchway; half a dozen men clambered down the side intoher; and, after a short interval which was probably employed in takingoff the hatches, it became apparent that they were hoisting cargo up outof the _Santa Theresa's_ hold, certain selected bales and packages ofwhich were from time to time carefully lowered down into the long-boat;a sight which went far toward confirming certain dreadful suspicionsthat had been slowly taking shape within my mind from the moment when Ihad seen Renouf, with his drawn sword, upon the Spanish ship's poop.
We now once more filled upon the schooner, and this time closed thebigger ship to leeward within less than a cable's length, when we oncemore hove-to, on the same tack as our neighbour, and a powerful tacklewas then got up on our lower yard-arm, and another on the triatic-stay.
By the time that these preparations were complete, the long-boat wasloaded as deeply as was prudent, and she was at once cast off and takenin tow by four men in one of the schooner's boats, the next largest ofthe _Santa Theresa's_ boats taking her place, for the reception offurther cargo. The weather was at this time quite fine, with a verymoderate breeze blowing, and so little swell running that it was notworth speaking about; yet the long-boat was no sooner fairly in tow thanit became apparent that those in charge of her were in difficulties;and, but for the prompt measures taken by Danton, she would have missedthe schooner altogether and gone wallowing away to leeward. With ourassistance, however, she was got alongside, after a fashion, and broughtto the schooner's lee gangway, when it became apparent that those incharge of her were so helplessly drunk that they could hardly stand.Yet, somehow, they managed, with assistance, to clamber up our low sideand reach the deck; when, as well as their drunken state would allow,they forthwith proceeded, in ribald language, to entertain their moresober shipmates with a tale of gross, wanton, cruel outrage, perpetratedon board the Spaniard, that made my blood boil with indignation, andcaused me, thick-skinned sailor as I was, to blush at the thought thatthe perpetrators were, like myself, human. I noticed that Dantonlistened with greedy ears to the foul recital; and by and by, when thelong-boat's cargo had been roused out of her and struck down our mainhatchway, he turned the schooner over to the carpenter, and, taking fourfresh and sober hands with him, proceeded on board the _Santa Theresa_,leaving the four drunken ruffians behind.
Shortly after the departure of the long-boat, one of the cutters camedrifting down to us, loaded to her gunwale, and the four intoxicatedscoundrels in charge of her amply verified the revolting story told bytheir predecessors, adding such details as abundantly confirmed mysuspicions that the _Jean Bart_ was no privateer, but an out-and-outpirate of the deepest dye. Their tale so inflamed the sober portion ofour crew, who had remained on board the schooner, that at one moment itlooked very much as though they were about to throw off all the trammelsof discipline and obedience, and proceed forthwith on board theSpaniard, to participate in the saturnalia still in progress there; andit was only by the production of a lavish allowance of rum, and apromise from the carpenter that they should all have their turn on boardthe doomed ship, that they could be restrained from heaving the cutter'scargo overboard--instead of hoisting it out and passing it down thehatchway,--seizing the boat, and proceeding on board the Spaniard _enmasse_. As for me, it may be imagined what a raging fever ofindignation and fury I was thrown into by what I had heard; and it wasmade all the more unendurable by the circumstance that I was utterlypowerless to interfere. For what could I and my four fellow-countrymensay or do to restrain some eighty lawless ruffians animated by all thevilest and most evil passions that the human breast ever harboured?Absolutely nothing! not even though we should resolve to lay down ourlives in the attempt. We might destroy some twenty or thirty of theFrenchmen, perhaps, before we ourselves went under, but that would innowise serve the unhappy Spaniards, who would still be at the mercy ofthe ruthless survivors. A thousand schemes suggested themselves to me,but there was not a practical one among them all, not one that offeredthe remotest prospect of success; and, with a bitter execration at ourhelplessness, I was at length obliged to admit that things must taketheir course, so far as we were concerned. But, although helpless tointervene just then, I saw that there was a possibility of theFrenchmen's excesses bringing retribution in their train. For every manwho had thus fa
r come from the Spanish ship had been almost helplesslydrunk; and I saw no especial reason why the rest should not be in thesame condition. And, if they were, what might not five resolute,reckless Englishmen be able to do?
I had observed that, when the carpenter found himself compelled to bribewhat I may term the sober half of the schooner's crew to remain aboard,by producing a quantity of rum, my four English shipmates exhibited nobackwardness in accepting and swallowing the very liberal allowance thathad been offered to them; I also accepted mine; and, upon the pretenceof being thirsty and therefore desiring to add water to it, I took itaft to the scuttle-butt, deftly hove the spirit overboard, and fillingthe pannikin with water, drank the contents with the greatest apparentgusto. And now, as certain vague possibilities began to presentthemselves to my mind, I contrived to draw Hardy, Green, Anstey, andSendell away from the crowd of excited, chattering Frenchmen thatswarmed in the waist and around the hatchway; and, getting them downinto the deserted forecastle, I briefly and rapidly explained to themall that I had discovered relative to the real character of the _JeanBart_ and her crew, as well as the nature of the doings aboard theSpanish ship; and, having thus wrought them up to a proper pitch ofindignation, I unfolded to them my somewhat hazy plans, and inquiredwhether they were disposed to aid me in them. To my delight, I foundthat they were with me, heart and soul. They had never very greatlyrelished their compulsory service aboard the schooner, and now that theywere made aware of her true character and that of her crew, theyprofessed themselves ready and eager to do anything I might propose inorder to escape the thraldom of a continuation of such service andcompanionship. Whereupon I bade them accept all the drink that might beoffered them, but to religiously abstain from swallowing another drop ofit, and to hold themselves in readiness to act under my leadershipwhenever I might deem that the favourable moment for such action hadarrived.