CHAPTER THREE.
THE NIGHT ATTACK.
From this sleep I was aroused--in a few minutes, it seemed to me,although really it was nearly two hours later--by a boisterous bangingupon the mess-table, followed by the voice of the marine who executedthe functions of steward to the mess, exclaiming--
"`All hands,' gentlemen, please! The captain and the first liftenant isalready on deck."
This was followed by the rasping scrape of a lucifer match, by thefeeble light of which the man's face was seen bending over the lanternwhich he was endeavouring to light.
"Ay, ay, Jerry, look alive with the lantern, man!" responded themaster's mate. "What is the night like?" he continued, as he swunghimself out of his hammock and hastily proceeded to thrust his long legsinto his breeches.
"Dark as pitch, sir; blowing more than half a gale of wind, andthreatening rain," was the cheering answer.
"A pleasant prospect, truly," muttered Good, my especial chum, as wejostled each other in the confined space wherein we were struggling intoour clothing.
"It might be worse, however," responded Gowland, as he knotted a blacksilk handkerchief tightly about his loins. "The darkness and the roarof the wind among the trees will help capitally to mask our approach,while I dare say that the craft which we are going to attack will be insuch a snug berth that nobody will think it worth while to keep alook-out, blow high or blow low. I say, Pierrepoint, are you told offfor the boats?"
Pierrepoint intimated that he was.
"Then put that rubbishy toasting-fork away and get a cutlass, boy, asDugdale has. Of what use do you suppose a dirk would be in ahand-to-hand fight with a great burly Spaniard? Why, none at all. Ican't understand, for my part, why such useless tools are supplied foractive service! Get a good honest cutlass, boy; something that you cantrust your life to. And look sharp about it! Hurry up there, youloafers! Come, Burdett, my boy, stir your stumps if you don't want awigging from the first luff! Hillo, Jerry! what's that, hot coffee?Well done, my man, I'll owe you a glass of grog for that! Pour it outquickly, and rouse out the bread barge."
Jerry was a smart fellow and looked after us well, I will say that forhim. In less than a minute a cup or pannikin of steaming coffee stoodready for each of us, with the bread barge, well supplied, in the centreof the table.
"There's no time for eating now, but take my advice and slip a biscuitinto your pocket, each of you, to eat as soon as the boats shove off,"advised Gowland. "There is nothing worse for a man, in this climate--or_any_ climate, for the matter of that--than to turn out and go into theopen air in the middle of the night upon an empty stomach." And,suiting the action to the word, he thrust a biscuit into each of hisside-pockets, placed a morsel in his mouth, and, with the exclamation,"Well, I'm off!" darted up the ladder and disappeared.
I followed, and, upon reaching the deck, found that all hands weremustered and waiting for inspection previous to being told off to theboats. The skipper was in his cabin, but a few minutes later--by whichtime all the laggards had put in an appearance--he emerged from thecompanion-way and the inspection at once began, great attention beinggiven, I noticed, to those who were to go in the boats, to insure thattheir weapons were in serviceable order, their pistols loaded, and thateach man had his due supply of cartridges. The inspection was conductedby the first lieutenant, accompanied by the captain and a sergeant ofmarines, the latter carrying a lantern, by the rather dim and uncertainlight of which the inspection was made. The moment that this was overthe men who were to participate in the expedition were told off, each tohis proper boat, the boats were lowered and brought to the gangway, andin less than a quarter of an hour from the moment of our being called wewere off.
The expedition consisted of four boats; namely, the gig, the pinnace,and the first and second cutters. The gig was a very fine, handsomeboat, beautifully modelled, and exceedingly fast; she was commanded bythe captain himself, who led the expedition--a sure indication of theimportant character, in his opinion, of the impending encounter. Shepulled six oars, and in addition to the skipper, my chum, Good, and hercrew of seamen, carried half-a-dozen marines, four in the stern-sheets,and two forward. The pinnace was a big, roomy, and rather heavy boat,pulling ten oars, double banked, and mounting a nine-pounder gun in herbows. She was commanded by Mr Michael Ryan, the second lieutenant, arollicking, high-spirited Irishman, whose only fault was that he lackeddiscretion and was utterly reckless; albeit this fault was to a greatextent condoned by the effect of his influence upon the men, who wouldfollow him anywhere. His crew, in addition to the ten oarsmen and acoxswain, consisted of little Pierrepoint and ten marines, six aft andfour forward. The first and second cutters were sister boats, preciselyalike in every respect, each pulling eight oars, double banked. Theywere rather smarter boats than the pinnace, being nearly as long butwith less beam and freeboard, and finer lines. The first cutter wascommanded by Gowland, the master's mate, and carried, in addition to hercrew of ten men and a coxswain, eight marines. The second cutter wasentrusted to me, and carried the same complement as her consort, thefirst cutter. It will thus be seen that the expedition numberedseventy-seven souls in all--nearly the half of our ship's company, infact--the brig being left in charge of the first luff, with the master,the purser, the surgeon, young Burdett of the midshipmen's mess, thecook and his mate, captain's, gun-room, and wardroom stewards, andseventy-eight seamen.
The weather, although favourable enough for such an expedition as thatupon which we were engaged--and which, if our anticipations should provecorrect, would depend largely for its success upon our ability to takethe enemy completely by surprise--was decidedly disagreeable; for, asJerry had reported, it was dark as pitch, the wind was sweeping athwartthe river in savage gusts that roared among the trees with a volume ofsound that rendered it necessary to raise the voice to a loud shout inorder to make an order heard from one end of the boat to the other, andwe had scarcely left the ship when it came on to rain with a fury thatrendered the preservation of our ammunition from damage a seriousdifficulty and a source of keen anxiety. Fortunately for us, we reachedthe mouth of the creek a few minutes before the rain began to fall, butfor which circumstance we should have met with the utmost difficulty indiscovering the entrance, and might possibly have lost a considerableamount of valuable time in the search for it. Even as it was, sointense was the darkness that, although the creek was only some twohundred yards wide, we found it impossible to keep the boats in thecentre of the channel, and for a little while were constantly runningfoul of each other or the banks. Luckily for us, we were no sooner inthe creek than its eastern bank afforded us a shelter from the directviolence of the wind, the bush and trees growing so thickly right downto the water's edge that close inshore we were completely becalmed; and,thus sheltered, our sense of hearing helped us somewhat despite the deeproar of the gale overhead, while we quickly caught the knack of steeringalong the outer edge of the narrow belt of calm, in this way avoiding toa great extent the difficulties and petty mishaps that had at first soseriously hampered our movements.
In this way, and exposed all the while to the pelting of the heavytropical downpour, which quickly drenched us to the skin in spite of theprotection of our oil-skins, we slowly groped our way along the creekwith muffled oars for rather more than an hour, when we unexpectedlyfound ourselves at the entrance of a fairly spacious lagoon, in thecentre of which we speedily made out not one, but _four_ craft mooredright athwart the channel, completely barring our further passage. Fromtheir disposition it looked very much as though they had been mooredwith springs upon their cables--for their broadsides were presented fairat us--and, if so, it argued at least a suspicion on their part of apossible visit from an enemy, with doubtless a corresponding amount ofprecaution against the chance of being surprised.
Scarcely had we made this discovery when the gig, which was leading,found her further progress unexpectedly interrupted by a boom composedof tree-trunks, secured together with chains, stretching
right acrossthe water-way. As she struck it a loud cry was heard proceeding fromthe river bank on our starboard hand, immediately followed by amusket-shot. The next moment a spark of light appeared in the samequarter, quickly increasing in size and intensity until in less than aminute a large fire, evidently caused by the ignition of a veryconsiderable quantity of highly combustible material, was blazingfiercely in the shelter of a thick clump of overhanging bush, thatseemed to almost completely shield it from the rain, which, however, hadconsiderably moderated by this time. The dense mass of bush behind andon either side of the blazing mass acted in some sort as a reflector,concentrating the light of the fire upon the boom and our four boatsclustered closely together about it, and defining them with veryunpleasant distinctness against the background of impenetrable darkness.
That this was so, and that our projected surprise had proved alamentable failure, was made clear by the sounds of commotion and thesharp cries of command that at once arose on board the slavers, almostinstantly followed by a smart and well-directed musketry fire, thebullets from which came dropping about us in very unpleasant proximity,although, fortunately, nobody was actually hit.
"Separate at once!" cried the skipper, rising in the stern-sheets of thegig as he realised that the time for silence and secrecy was past;"separate at once; spread yourselves along the boom, and let each boat'screw do its best to make a passage through it. Try the effect of a shotfrom your gun upon it, Mr Ryan. Marines, return the fire of thosecraft, aiming at the flashes from their pieces. The first boat to forcethe boom will report the fact to me before passing through."
We spread well along the boom, maintaining open order, so that we mightafford as small a target as possible, and devoted our energies tobreaking through the obstruction at points where the trunks were unitedby chains; but we found this by no means an easy matter, staples beingdriven home through the links into the tenacious wood so closelytogether that it was impossible to find a space wide enough to take theloom of an oar--the only lever at hand, as we had not anticipated orprovided for such a contingency. Meanwhile, our adversaries provedthemselves fully alive to the advantage which our situation affordedthem, and fully prepared to make the most of it, for they kept up abrisk though irregular fire of musketry upon us from which we soon beganto suffer rather severely, two of my men being hit within the space ofas many minutes, while sharp cries of pain to our right and left told usthat the occupants of the other boats were receiving their full share ofthe slavers' attentions. This was only the beginning of the conflict,however, for before our marines had had time to fire more than thrice inreply to the slavers' musketry fire, five fierce flashes of flame burstsimultaneously from the side of the largest of the four craft,accompanied by the sharp, ringing roar of brass nine-pounder guns, andinstantly a perfect storm of grape tore and whistled about our ears,splintering the planking of the boats and bowling over our people rightand left. Three more of my men went down before that discharge, and thecries of anguish from the other boats told that they too had sufferednearly or quite as severely. The gig fared worst of all, however, foran entire charge, apparently, plumped right into her bows, where the menwere clustered pretty thickly, helping two of their comrades who werekneeling upon the boom endeavouring to tear asunder its fastenings, andno less than six of her crew fell before that withering discharge,including the two men upon the boom, who both fell into the water, andwere never seen again.
"By Jove! this will never do," cried the captain. "Out oars, men, andpull alongside the pinnace!"
This was done; and as the two boats touched, our gallant leader sprangon board the larger of the two, crying to the second lieutenant--
"Here, Mr Ryan, I will change places with you. Take the gig, if youplease, and see if you can cast the boom adrift at its shore end; I willlook after matters here meanwhile. Mr Gowland, go you to the other endof the boom, and see what you can do there. Now then, lads, what is thebest news there with that gun?"
"Just ready, sir," came the answer. "Poor Jim Baker was struck, andfell athwart the breech, wettin' the primin' with his blood just as wewas about to fire, so we've had to renew it; but we're ready now, sir."
"Very well," cried the skipper. "Bear the boat off from the boom, andfire at the chain-coupling; that ought to do the business for us."
The order was promptly obeyed, and a few seconds later the gun spokeout, the shot hitting fair and square, and dividing the two parts of thechain that formed the coupling between two contiguous tree-trunks. Aloud hurrah proclaimed this result, yet when the pinnace pulled up tothe boom again, and tried to force her way through, it was found thatthe logs could not be forced apart; evidently they were still unitedunder water.
"Load the gun again, lads, as smartly as you can," exclaimed theskipper; "and then we must try to roll the logs over, and get the chainsabove water. Well, what news, Mr Gowland?" as the first cutter wasseen approaching us.
"It's no good, sir," answered Gowland. "We can't get within twentyyards of dry ground for the mud, which is too stiff to permit of ourforcing the boat through it, but not stiff enough to support a man. Imade the attempt, and went in up to my arm-pits before they could gethold of me to pull me out."
Meanwhile, a hot fire of grape and musketry--the latter from all four ofthe craft--was being maintained upon us; our men were falling fast; andthe matter to my mind began to look very serious. Still, those who werenot hurt, or whose hurts were not very severe, worked away manfully inan endeavour to break the boom; but it was clear--to me at least--thatour only hope lay in the pinnace's gun. If that failed, it seemedprobable that every man of us would be placed _hors de combat_ before wecould force a passage through.
Our nine-pounder was soon ready again; and then--Gowland and I havingmeanwhile stationed our respective boats one on each side of thepinnace, and by the united efforts of our crews succeeded in rolling thelogs so far over as to bring the remaining pair of coupling chains outof the water--a second effort was made to divide the boom. The shot wasa successful one, both chains being completely cut through. Anotherringing cheer proclaimed the good news just as the gig rejoined us witha similar piece of intelligence to that already brought by Gowland, asto the impossibility of landing and getting at the shore-fasts of theboom. That obstacle was now, however, happily severed, and drawing hissword, the skipper waved it over his head as he shouted--
"Out oars, men, and give way for your lives! Follow me, the rest of theboats. We will tackle the big fellow first, and bring the other threeto their senses afterwards with the aid of her guns."
The words were scarcely out of his mouth when another broadside of grapehurtled in among us, now once more huddled closely together about thebreach in that deadly boom, and from the dreadful outcry thatimmediately arose, the tossing of arms aloft, and the dropping of oars,it was evident that fearful havoc had been wrought by it among ouralready seriously diminished company. And, to make matters worse, itwas instantly followed by a louder, deeper report, and a crash on boardthe pinnace as an eighteen-pound shot struck her gun fair upon itsstarboard trunnion, dismounting the piece and sending it overboard,while a shower of splinters of wood and metal flew from the slide,wounding and maiming at least four more men. And then, as though thatwere not enough, the shot glanced and swept the boat fore and aft,crushing in the side of one poor fellow's head like an egg-shell,smashing in the ribs of another, and whipping the captain's sword out ofhis hand, with all four of his fingers, as it flew over his head intothe darkness beyond.
In the teeth of this new disaster the pinnace forced her way through thenow divided boom, closely followed by Ryan in the gig, then myself, withGowland bringing up the rear. "Give way for your lives!" was now theword; and at racing pace--or as near it as we could get with our sadlydiminished crews--we headed for the biggest craft of the four, which wenow made out to be a large brig, very heavily rigged and with immenselysquare yards. We opened out a little to port and starboard as we went,in order that we might show as small a ma
rk as possible for ourantagonists to fire at, and, having already passed the heavy pinnace, Iwas fast creeping up into the leading position, when Ryan, who saw whatI was after, sheered alongside and in sharp, terse language ordered meto change places with him. Of course I could but obey, and the fieryIrishman, finding himself in the best-manned boat of the lot, speedilypassed ahead, despite the utmost efforts of the rest of us to keep pacewith him. One more broadside of grape greeted us as we pushed somewhatheavily across the lagoon, and that put the poor unfortunate gigpractically out of the combat, for it reduced her oarsmen to two, whileshe had already been so badly knocked about that it needed the utmostefforts of the least severely wounded of her crew to keep her afloat bybaling. We kept on, however, in the wake of the other boats, and had atleast a good view of the short, sharp fight that followed. The brig waslying with her starboard broadside presented to us, and as the boatsadvanced toward her they gradually passed out of the broad line of lightcast by the still fiercely blazing fire that had been kindled on theshore. No sooner did this happen, however, than half-a-dozen menprovided with port-fires sprang, three into her main and three into herfore port rigging, illumining the brig herself brilliantly, it is true,but at the same time revealing the whereabouts of our boats distinctlyenough to enable her people to keep up a most galling pistol andmusketry fire upon us, besides giving them the advantage that the lightwas at their backs, while it shone in the faces of our marines with suchdazzling effect that they were able to reply but ineffectively to thefire with their own muskets.
The second lieutenant was first alongside, closely followed by Gowland,the pinnace making a bad third and ranging up under the bows of thebrig, while the other boats attempted to board her in the waist. Butthe brig--and the three schooners as well for that matter--was wellprotected by boarding nettings triced up fore and aft, and as our menmade a dash at her they were met by pikes thrust at them out through theports, by the snapping of pistols in their faces, and the fierce lungeof cutlasses through the meshes of the netting. Nevertheless theypersevered gallantly, hacking away at the netting with their cutlasses,and occasionally delivering a thrust through it at any one who happenedto come within arm's-length of them. But it was clearly a losing game;our losses had been so heavy during our attack upon the boom that wewere already far out-numbered by the crew of the brig alone, and theypossessed a further important advantage over us in that they fought upona spacious level deck, while our lads were obliged to cling to thebulwarks as best they could with one hand while they wielded theirweapons with the other; moreover, the slavers were able to make atolerably effective use of their pikes and still keep beyond the reachof our cutlasses.
"If it were not for that diabolical netting," thought I, "there would besome chance for us still." And as we ranged laboriously up alongside,my eye travelled up the face of the obstruction to its upper edge, and Isaw that it was suspended at four points only, two on the port and twoon the starboard side, in the wake of the main and foremasts.
"A sharp knife," thought I, "ought to divide each of those tricing-linesat a single stroke, when down would go the net upon the defenders' headsand hamper their movements long enough to give our people a chance."And then I remembered that only a day or two before I had sharpened myown stout clasp-knife--at that moment hung about my neck on a lanyard--to almost a razor edge, and that consequently I had in my possessionjust the weapon for the purpose.
As my meditations reached this point the gig touched the brig's side,and whipping out my knife and opening it, I made one spring from theboat's gunwale into the netting, up which I at once swarmed with all theagility I could muster--and I was fairly active in those days, let metell you--a musket-shot knocking my cap off as my head rose above thelevel of the bulwarks, while a moment later a fellow made a lunge at mewith his pike as I skipped up the meshes, and drove its head halfthrough the calf of my left leg. I felt the wound, of course, but wasat the moment much too excited and intent upon the task which I had setmyself to give it a second thought, and in another instant, so it seemedto me, I had reached the tricing line, which I grasped tightly with onehand while I hacked away vigorously with the other. The rope parted atthe third stroke of the knife, and down dropped the net, sagging so muchin the wake of the main-rigging that our lads were easily able tosurmount the obstacle, and I saw Ryan, with a wild, exultant "Hurroo!"half fall, half leap down to the brig's deck, where he laid about him soferociously with fist and cutlass that he at once cleared a space aroundhimself for his followers.
As for me, I was left dangling by one hand at the bare end of thesevered tricing line, but within easy reach of the starboardmain-topsail sheet, which I promptly grasped and began to lower myselfhand over hand down to the deck. Even as I glided down the sheet, I sawthat one of our lads had followed my example, and, cutting the foretricing line, had let the whole of the starboard netting down on deck,while his comrades were pouring in over the bulwarks like an avalanche.The brig's crew still offered a gallant resistance, but the Britishblood was by this time fairly at boiling point, and, grimly silent, theblue-jackets laid about them in such terrible earnest with fist andcutlass, belaying-pin, clubbed musket, sponge, rammer, or any othereffective weapon that they could lay hands upon, that their rush becameirresistible, and their antagonists gave way before them in terror.
At this juncture, and while I was still some twelve or fourteen feetabove the deck, I noticed a man, whose dress and appearance suggested tome the idea that he might possibly be the leader of this band ofoutlaws, quietly separate himself from the combatants, and with acertain sly, secretive manner, as though he were desirous of avoidingobservation, slink along the deck to the companion, down which hesuddenly vanished. There was an indescribable something about the airand movements of this fellow that powerfully aroused my curiosity andexcited an irresistible impulse within me to follow him; andaccordingly, swinging myself to the deck abaft the main-mast, which wasdeserted, the fight still being confined to the waist and forecastle ofthe brig, I made a dart for the companion, kicked off my shoes beforeentering, animated by some instinct or idea which I did not stop toanalyse at the moment, and drawing my cutlass from its sheath, creptcautiously and noiselessly down the companion-ladder. The moment that Ientered the companion-way I was saluted by a whiff of moist, hot airloaded with a powerful, foetid, musky odour, of which I had alreadybecome vaguely conscious, accompanied by a deep, murmuring sound thatseemed to proceed from the vessel's hold; and although this was my firstexperience with slavers, I knew in an instant that the brig had herhuman cargo on board, and that the sound and the odour proceeded fromit.
The companion-way was in complete darkness, but at the foot of theladder, and to starboard of it, there was a thin, horizontal line of dimlight marking the presence of a door that I had heard slam-to as Ikicked off my shoes previous to descending. Making for this, I gropedfor the door-handle, found it, and, grasping it firmly, suddenly turnedit and flung the door open. As I did so I found myself standing at theentrance to a fine, roomy cabin, which seemed to be handsomely, nay,luxuriously furnished. It was but dimly illuminated, however, the onlylight proceeding from an ordinary horn lantern, which, kneeling upon thedeck, the man I had followed was holding open with one hand, while withthe other he was applying the end of a slender black cord to the flameof the enclosed candle. The other end of the cord referred to led downan open hatchway close to the fore-bulkhead of the cabin; and as I tookin the whole scene in a single comprehensive glance--the open hatchway,the black cord, and the dimly-burning lantern--I realised with lightningintuitiveness that every soul on board the brig was tottering upon thevery brink of eternity; the reckless villain before me was in the veryact of exploding the powder magazine, and blowing the ship and all shecontained into the air.
This surmise was confirmed as, turning his head at the sound of theopening door, the fellow withdrew from the lantern the end of the blackcord--which was of course a length of fuse composed of spun-yarn wellcoated with damp powder, now fizzi
ng and spluttering and smoking as thefire swiftly travelled along it. So rapidly did the fire travel indeed,that during the second or so that the desperado paused in surprise at myunexpected appearance, it reached his fingers, causing him to drop it tothe deck with a muttered curse. I knew that in twenty or thirty secondsat most that hissing train of fire would run along the guiding line ofthe fuse down the hatchway to the powder in which the other end of itwas certain to be buried; and bounding forward I placed one foot uponthe blazing fuse as I dealt a heavy downward stroke with the hilt of mycutlass upon the upturned temple of the man who, crouching before me,was clearly on the point of springing to his feet. Then, dashing downmy cutlass as the fellow sank back with a groan upon the deck, Iwrenched my still open knife from my neck, and, while the strugglingflame scorched and seared the sole of my naked foot, slashed the bladequickly through the fuse, and with the same movement whirled the severedand unlighted part as far away from me as possible. This done, I knewthat the danger was past; and, drawing the short burning fragment offuse from beneath my foot, I carefully deposited it in the lantern,where it instantly flamed itself harmlessly away. My next act was tosecure the remainder of the fuse and cautiously withdraw it from thedark hatchway down which it led; and, this safely accomplished, I closedthe aperture by drawing over the hatch, and then sat down to nurse myseared and blistered foot and to await the progress of events; mycompanion or adversary, or whatever he should be rightly called, stilllying motionless where he had fallen, with a large blue lump on hiswhite temple from which a thin stream of blood slowly oozed.
During the few brief seconds that had elapsed between my entrance intothe cabin and the flinging of myself upon one of its sofas, I had lostall cognisance of what was happening elsewhere; but as I took myscorched foot upon my knee and ruefully contemplated its injuries, Ionce more became aware of the sounds of conflict on deck; the fierce,confused stamping of many feet; the cries and ejaculations ofencouragement or dismay; the quick jar and clash of blade upon blade;the occasional explosion of a pistol; the dull, crushing sound ofunwarded blows; the sharp scream of agony as some poor wretch felt thestroke of the merciless steel; the cries and groans of those who hadbeen smitten down, and, still conscious, were being trampled underfootby the combatants; the deep muttered curse; the sharp word of command;and the occasional cheer that broke from the lips of our own gallantlads. Suddenly there was a louder hurrah, a quick scurrying rush, aloud shout of command in Spanish for every man to save himself, anoutcry of terrified ejaculations in the same tongue, a quick successionof splashes in the water alongside, and a sudden silence, broken thenext instant by a gasping but triumphant shout from Ryan of--
"Hurroo, bhoys! By the blessed--Saint--Pathrick--but--that's natelydone! Ugh!--pouff!--we've--drove them--clane overboard! Murther! butit's meltin' I am--and as dhry--as a limekiln!"