CHAPTER XII.
A PRIZE FOR THE NOANK.
"It doesn't take long to see all there is on one of these plantations,"said Guert Ten Eyck to himself. "It's the laziest kind of place,though. I haven't seen a man in a hurry since I came here."
He was standing in a wide veranda which ran along the entire front, atleast, of a long, two-story, fairly well-built house. There werewell-kept gardens, with noble trees and shrubbery, and all the verandawas shadowy with climbing vines. It was the old Paez plantation house,and was also the present home of Senor Alvarez and his family.
"It's all very fine," Guert had remarked of it. "They're as rich asmud, but I wouldn't live here for anything. What if the _Noank_ shouldmanage to get away without me on board of her?"
That was a black idea which seemed almost to make him shudder. He hadremained here as a favored guest for over a fortnight. During thesedays of his Spanish plantation experiences, the _Noank_ had been idlyrocking at her anchor in the sheltered cove to which her Carib pilothad steered her.
The two British war-ships had been cruising to and fro in a fruitlesssearch for her, and their commanders were more than a little chagrinedat their ill success, for they were firmly convinced that she could notbe far away.
Guert had visited the shore, and his friends, in turn, had visited him,to be also liberally entertained at the plantation. Nothing but thegreat need for secrecy had prevented more extended inland hospitalitiesto the brave _Americanos_ who had destroyed the picaroon. The highestauthorities on the island were quite ready to acknowledge so importanta public service, and no Spaniard, official or otherwise, was at alllikely to help the British capture the _Noank_.
Guert had been promised information of any change in the prospect forcruising. He had learned, too, that this kind of lying in ambush wasaltogether a customary feature of all piracy or privateering among theAntilles. Captain Avery had expected it, and had considered himselffortunate in getting so good a lagoon to lurk in. The _Tigress_ andthe _Hermione_ were enemies which it would not do to trifle with.Moreover, he had been kept well advised of the goings on in the harborof Porto Rico, and he knew all about the English merchantmen who weredischarging or taking in cargoes. One subject in particular hadgreatly interested the young American sailor, for there were a greatmany dark-skinned laborers upon the Paez and the neighboringplantations.
"If all the slaves are as well treated as they are here," Guert hadthought, "they are a great deal better off than they ever were inAfrica. I don't want to see any such thing in America, though. I'msorry it's there. We don't want any more slave trade. Too many of 'emdie on the way from Africa."
His ideas, of course, were very raw and incomplete. He was only a boy,and he could not see all of the mischief. He had watched the coloredpeople in their huts, away off behind the plantation house. He hadseen them at work in the fields. They seemed to be fat, merry, and notat all discontented. As for their Spanish owners, nothing could bemore easy-going and careless than their way of life. Their onlyapparent difficulty appeared to be in finding something to do. Guerthimself found enough, for all this thing was entirely new to him. Heenjoyed especially his horseback rides around the country, along forestroads, and into wonderfully lovely nooks of semi-tropical vegetation.He was all the while picking up Spanish words with great rapidity, forthere was no other language to be heard, except queer African dialectsamong the slaves. He progressed all the better, too, because of havingmade a pretty good beginning before coming there. On the whole,however, his plantation days seemed a long time to look back upon, andhere he stood, in the veranda, disposed to consider his situationseriously.
"What!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Could I stay here and think of the_Noank_ being out there in a fight? My own mother'd be ashamed of me,if I did!"
A light hand was on his shoulder, and a soft, kindly voice said tohim:--
"My dear young friend! If I were your mother, I should feel as you sayshe would. I would have my brave son fighting for his country."
"O Senora Paez!" said Guert, whirling to look into her venerable face,"you all have been so good to me! But I cannot stay here while our warfor liberty is going on."
Before she could speak again, a loud hail came up to them from thegateway at the road, and a man on horseback dashed in at a gallop.
"Senora Paez," said Guert, excitedly, "it's Vine Avery! Something'shappened."
"Guert!" shouted the rider, "we're all ready to sail! Come on! Thecoast is clear! Come back with me!"
"Hurrah! I'm ready," he began.
"Go, my dear boy!" interrupted the old senora. "I will call them tosay good-by to you. I would not detain you if you were my son. It isyour duty!"
Quickly enough, the Alvarez household gathered to say farewell to theiryoung guest. They were all brimming with hospitality. They urged himto come again and to consider their house his home. Nevertheless hecould see, plainly enough, that not one of them dreamed of detaininghim, now. They understood that his post of honor was behind the gunsof the _Noank_, and they would have despised him if he had not feltjust as he did.
A horse was brought, and Senor Alvarez himself rode with Vine and Guertto the seashore, less than ten miles away. That distance was gallopedrapidly. A boat was at the beach with a sailor from the _Noank_ in it,and in a minute or so more it had three rowers. Loud and sincere werethe last grateful farewells from the senor on the beach. As heartywere the good wishes sent back from the boat, but Guert's heart wasthrilling as it had not thrilled during all his peaceful weeks at thePaez plantation.
There, yonder, at the mast of his beautiful schooner, floated the starsand stripes, the banner of freedom. There, waiting for him to rejointhem, were his own brave captain and the crew that seemed to him as hiskindred. Away out yonder, outside of all these reefs and keys andledges, was the great ocean.
"Hurrah, Vine!" he shouted. "Hurrah for a cruise and fights andprizes!"
"We're bound to have 'em!" said Vine.
As they pulled along, moreover, he told Guert that one of the sailorsof the _Santa Teresa_ had come all the way from Porto Rico in a rowboatto tell Captain Avery a lot of news that the captain had as yet kept tohimself.
"It looks to me," said Vine, "as if we had some work all cut out forus."
"That's what we want," said Guert.
"I tell you what, though," said Vine, "the queerest feller on board theschooner is that Dutchman, Groot. He asks after you every now andthen. Do you know, he actually ventured to go right into Porto Ricotwice. I don't s'pose anybody he saw there suspected him of being apirate."
"Well," said Guert, "he never was one, exactly. Here we are, Vine. Iguess I'll have a talk with him."
The boat was at the side of the _Noank_, and a score of well-knownfaces were at the rail.
"On board with you!" called out Sam Prentice. "The anchor's comin' in.There's no time to be wasted."
Other orders followed, and Guert sprang away to his duties feeling agood deal more like himself than if he were watching slaves in atobacco-field.
Very secure indeed had been that bit of a landlocked harbor on theisland coast. Its entrance was a mere narrow canal, so to call it,between dangerous reefs on either side. No deep-draft British vesselcould pass through that channel; even the _Noank_ was compelled to takeit at high water because of its bars.
"Captain Avery," asked Guert, after delivering the messages of goodwill from his Spanish friends, "didn't you say that the British mighthave come in and carried the schooner in boats?"
"Ye-es, I did," drawled the captain. "That's the reason why I anchoredher jest in that spot. I kept a sharp lookout, you see, on that therep'int o' rocks yonder. Our guns were kept trained on this channel, allthe time. We were all prepared then to knock their boats to flindersas they got in to about here. Not one of 'em'd ever pulled past this'ere twist in the channel, when it opens into the lagoon."
Guert's question was answered, and he had a higher idea than ever
ofthe remarkable fitness of Lyme Avery to conduct the business of theprivateer _Noank_.
"I see it," he thought. "They'd ha' been smashed by a raking fire atshort range. It would ha' been awful!"
The schooner had but little canvas spread as yet, and she picked herway carefully, slowly; but the channel was not a long one, after all.
"Out at sea!" exclaimed Guert, with a long breath of relief, at last."Seems to me as if I'd been on shore a year. I was getting pretty sickof it."
"Lyme Avery," remarked his mate, as more sails were spreading, "itlooks to me as if we were goin' to have a rough night. We'd better gitwell away from the coast."
"We'll do that," replied the captain, "and we'll run along in the tracko' that Liverpool trader. She has pretty nigh a day the start of us."
"I understand that," thought Guert, overhearing them. "We're in for arace. We may be chased ourselves, too. It doesn't look to me as if astorm's coming, but they read weather signs better'n I can."
"Come," said a low voice in his ear; "I want to talk with you."
The summons was spoken in Dutch, such as Guert had been accustomed tohear in old days upon Manhattan Island. Somehow or other the sound ofit was very pleasant to him. He turned even eagerly to follow Groot,and was led forward almost to the heel of the bowsprit.
"Now, my boy," said the escaped pirate, "we are by ourselves. I knowyou like a book. I have talked with Coco and Up-na-tan. They say youknow all about their having been freebooters, long ago. They call itKidd business. Now, I never was really one of that kind, but there areways for one buccaneer to know another, soon as he sees him, or talkswith him."
"Yes," replied Guert, "they say so. It's by handgrips and signs andwords. I know some of 'em now."
He and the Dutchman shook hands, and Guert said what he knew.
"That's well enough for a beginning," said Groot, "but you must know itall. It might save your life some day. It saved mine when theycaptured me. I'll teach you. I mean to keep company with you andthose two old fellows. I owe you my life."
"Vine helped, too," said Guert. "I'm glad we hauled you aboard. Thesharks were pretty close behind you just then. Oh! But wasn't itawful! I wish we'd saved more of 'em."
"You couldn't," said Groot. "They'd only ha' been turned over to thelaw, if you had. They were all sharks, too, nearly all. Worst kind.Some weren't quite as bad as the rest, perhaps. Never mind them, now.Let's attend to this business."
Guert was willing enough, although Groot laughed, and said it made akind of pirate of him.
"We'll practise now and then," he told him. "Now, some wouldn'tbelieve it, but I met more than a score of regular picaroons, living attheir ease in Porto Rico. Some of them are rich, too, and don't meanto go to sea any more. For all that, they're always ready to giveinformation or any other help to sea-rovers like themselves."
Guert was all the while learning a great deal, and this addition to hisstock of knowledge hardly surprised him.
"I see," he thought. "It's a kind of matter of course. It would be agood deal stranger if it wasn't so. Those that get away rich don'tcare to run any more risks. Besides, if such fellows hadn't signs andpasswords already, they'd set right to work and invent some. Evenregular armies have passwords and countersigns, and all the ships havesignals."
He was thinking of that sort of thing when the dark came on. The windwas strengthening, and there were clouds rushing across the sky tovindicate Sam Prentice's prophecy concerning the weather.
"He was right, I guess," thought Guert. "Hullo! What's the captain upto?"
Captain Avery was standing at the mainmast, and he had just touched offa rocket that went fizzing up to its bursting place.
"I wonder who'll see it," thought Guert.
Far away in the deepening gloom to leeward, at that moment, the firstlieutenant of the _Tigress_, watching upon her quarter-deck,exclaimed:--
"Captain! One more of our cruisers! She'll come within hail beforelong. That's it! I hope we're going to be relieved. I'm sick andtired of this West India station."
"So am I!" said the captain, heartily. "Reply to that signal. Give'em our own number. Draw 'em this way."
His signal officer responded promptly, and more than one rocket went upfrom the _Tigress_. Her commander was much chagrined, however, for hereceived no response to give him the information he expected of thecharacter of the newcomer.
Moreover, as far away from the _Noank_ as he was, but in a directlyopposite line, to windward, at the same time, the English skipper of afine, bark-rigged merchantman, just out from Porto Rico, feltexceedingly gratified. She was a craft of which Captain Avery had noknowledge whatever up to that moment.
"Hey!" shouted the skipper. "See that? One more of our cruisers closeat hand, beside the one away off to looard. I'll send up a light tolet 'em know where we are."
Captain Avery had not really asked so much of him, but that wasprecisely what his unnecessary rocket did.
"Lyme!" exclaimed Sam Prentice, as the shining stars fell out of theflying firework from the bark. "I declare! They told us that fellerwouldn't sail for three days yet, and there he is. He's goin' to beour surest take, Captain."
"All right," replied the captain. "Not to-night, though. We'll justfoller him along till mornin'. Then we'll put a prize crew into himand send him to New London. We're much obliged to him for callin' onus."
"I guess we're sure of him," said Sam, "but we'd better look out forour sticks and canvas, first."
That was what every vessel in that neighborhood was compelled to doduring the gale which began to blow.
"She stands it first-rate," said Guert to Up-na-tan, an hour or solater. "Tell you what, though, I feel a good deal better than I did onshore."
"Boy talk Spanish," replied the Manhattan. "Talk him all while. Learnhow. Boy not know much, anyhow."
The red man had all along deemed it his duty to impress upon the mindof his young friend the idea that he was only a beginner, an ignorantkind of sea apprentice with all his troubles before him. After thatthere followed a watch below, another on deck, and then the morning sunbegan to do what he could with the flying rack of clouds and spray andmist that was driving along before the gale.
"Vine," asked Guert, "has anything more been seen of that trader!"
"Can't you see?" said Vine. "There she is. We're to wind'ard of her,now. She's answering father's signals, first-rate. We owe all thatluck to Luke Watts and his private signal-book."
Nevertheless, the skipper of the bark was even then expressing muchperplexity of mind as to what the _Noank_ might be and where from. Hedid not exactly like her style. It was peculiar, he said, as themorning went on and the gale began to subside, that the seeminglyfriendly schooner, answering signals so well, should keep the samecourse with himself, all the while drawing nearer.
"She outsails us," he remarked. "We can't get away from her. I wishthe corvette or the frigate were in sight."
Both of them had vanished. They had tacked toward Porto Rico and theofficers of the _Tigress_, in particular, were keeping a sharp lookoutfor the newly arrived British man-of-war that had burned rockets sovery promisingly in the night.
"It's all right, Lieutenant," remarked Captain Frobisher. "The galehas carried her along finely. We shall find her in port when we getthere."
"I wish we may!" growled the very sharp lieutenant, "but I don't likeit. I didn't exactly make out the reading of that second rocket.Perhaps a lubber sent it up. We'll see."
On went the schooner and the bark without any outside observers. Downsank the tired-out gale, and the sun broke through the clouds.
"Coco!" shouted Captain Avery, at last, "haul down that lobster flagand run up the stars and stripes. Vine, give 'em that forwardstarboard gun. All hands to quarters! 'Bout ship! Men! she's ourprize!"
A ringing sound of cheers answered him, and the report of the gunfollowed. It was a signal for the Englishman to heave to, and hercapt
ain dashed his hat upon the deck.
"Caught!" he groaned. "Taken by the rebels! I wish they were all sunka hundred fathoms deep."
Loud, angry voices from all parts of his ship responded with similarsentiments relating to American pirates, but there could be no thoughtof resistance. The bark was hove to, and her flag came down in a hurryas if to avoid all danger of further shotted cannonading.
"Ship ahoy!" came loudly across the water. "What bark's that?"
"Bark _Spencer_, Captain McGrew. Porto Rico for Liverpool. Cargo. Nopassengers. Who are you?"
The answer settled his mind entirely, and in a few minutes more he hada boat's crew of American sailors on board.
"Captain McGrew," said Captain Avery, glancing around, "I'm glad you'veno passengers. I'll find out, first, how many of your fellers I canleave on board with my prize crew, to handle her to New London. Some'druther work ship than be crammed under hatches."
The British sailors exchanged nods and glances, and their skipperresponded:--
"All right! We're a prize, no doubt. We're insured, so far's thatgoes. 'Tisn't so bad for the owners. But you'd better tally fourchaps that hid in the hold to keep from being 'pressed into the_Tigress_. They're not deserters, you know, but they'd as lief keepaway from havin' to answer questions."
Four stalwart British tars at once stepped forward, and not one of them"peached" to McGrew that their names were already on the rolls of thefrigate, so that they were much more than halfway deserters.
"Humph!" said Captain Avery, "I guess I can trust 'em. It saves mefour hands. I'll pick out four more. Captain McGrew, you and the restmay come on board the schooner. I'll give you a free passage toFrance. Treat ye well, too. Hand over your papers. Sam Prentice,this is your trip home."
"All right!" almost roared Sam. "I'll carry her safe in. She and hercargo'll bring us a pile o' shiners. Lyme, she's our first West Injyluck!"
"Hurry up, Sam!" said the captain. "Then I'll try for that fellerahead that led us from Porto Rico. She's along the track, somewhere."