Chapter 16.
The stars were bright, and with the aid of a night glass thebrigantine was kept in sight; the sailors relieving each other atthe masthead every half hour. Frank would have stayed on deck allnight, had not George Lechmere persuaded him to go below.
"Look here, Major," he said. "It is like enough that we may have astiff bit of fighting tomorrow. Now we know that those fellows haveguns, though they may be but two or three pounders, and it is clearthat it is not going to be altogether such a one-sided job as welooked for. You have had a long day already, sir. You have got anugly wound, and if you don't lie down and keep yourself quiet, youwon't be fit to do your share in any fighting tomorrow; and Ireckon that you would like to be in the front of this skirmish. Youknow in India wounds inflamed very soon if one did not keep quietwith them, and I expect that it is just the same here.
"It is not as if you could do any good on deck. The men are just asanxious to catch that brigantine as you are. They were hot enoughbefore, but now that one of their mates has been killed, and fiveor six wounded, I believe that they would go round the world ratherthan let her slip through their hands. I shall be up and down allnight, Major, and the captain and both mates will be up, too, and Ipromise that we will let you know if there is anything to tellyou."
"Well, I will lie down, George, but I know that I shall get nosleep. Still, perhaps, it will be better for me to keep my armquite quiet."
He was already without his coat, for that had been cut from theneck down to the wrist, to enable George to get at the wound. Hekicked off his light canvas shoes, and George helped him to liedown in his berth.
"You will be sure to let me know if she changes her course oranything?"
"I promise you that I will come straight down, Major."
Three quarters of an hour later, George stole noiselessly down andpeeped into the stateroom. He had turned down the swinging lampbefore he went up, but there was enough light to enable him to seethat his master had fallen off to sleep. He took the news up toHawkins, who at once gave orders that no noise whatever was to bemade. The men still moved about the deck, but all went barefooted.
"The wind keeps just the same," Hawkins said. "I can't make it morethan three and a half knots through the water. I would give ayear's pay if it would go round dead ahead of us; we should soonpick her up then. As it is, she keeps crawling away. However, wecan make her out, on such a night as this, a good deal further thanshe is likely to get before morning. Besides, we shall be havingthe moon up soon, and as we are steering pretty nearly east, itwill show her up famously.
"Now I will give you the same advice that you gave the governor.You had much better lie down for a bit. Purvis has gone down for asleep, Perry will go down when he comes up at twelve, and I shallget an hour or two myself later on."
"I won't go down," George said, "but I will bring a couple ofblankets up and lie down aft. I promised the Major that I would lethim know if there was any change in the wind, or in thebrigantine's course, so wake me directly there is anything to tellhim. I have put his bell within reach. I have no doubt I shall hearit through that open skylight if he rings; but if not, wake me atonce."
"All right. Trust us for that."
Twice during the night George got up and went below. The first timeFrank had not moved. The second he found that the tumbler of limejuice and water, on the table at the side of the bunk, was nearlyhalf emptied; and that his master had again gone off to sleep andwas breathing quietly and regularly.
"He is going on all right," he said to Hawkins, when he went up."There is no fever yet, anyhow, for he has drunk only half thatglass of lime juice. If he had been feverish he would not havestopped until he had got to the bottom of it."
When George next woke, the morning was breaking.
"Anything new?" he asked Purvis, who was now at the tiller.
"Nothing whatever. The governor has not rung his bell. The wind isjust as it was, neither better nor worse, and the brigantine iseight miles ahead of us."
George went forward to have a look at her.
"I think I had better wake him," he said to himself. "He will havehad nine hours of it, and he won't like it if I don't let him knowthat it is daylight. I will get two or three fresh limes squeezed,and then go in to him."
This time Frank opened his eyes as he entered.
"Morning is breaking, Major, and everything is as it was. I hopethat you are feeling better for your sleep. Let me help you up.Here is a tumbler of fresh lime juice."
"I feel right enough, George. I can scarcely believe that it ismorning. How I have slept--and I fancied that I should not havegone off at all."
Drinking off the lime juice, Frank at once followed Lechmere ondeck, and after a word or two with Purvis hurried forward.
"She is a long way ahead," he said, with a tone of disappointment.
"The mate reckoned it between seven and eight miles, Major."
"How far is she from the Bec?"
"I don't know, sir. I did not ask Purvis."
Frank went aft and repeated the question.
"I fancy that that is the Bec, the furthermost point that we cansee," Purvis said, "and I reckon that she is about halfway to it."
"Keep her a point or two out, Purvis. The line of shore is prettystraight beyond that, and I want of all things not to lose sight ofher for a moment. I would give a good deal to know what she isgoing to do. I cannot think that she is going to try to go roundthe southeast point of the island, for if she were she would havelaid her head that way before."
The Osprey edged out until they opened the line of coast beyond theheadland, and then kept her course again. There was a trifle morewind as the sun rose higher, and the yacht went fully a knot fasterthrough the water. In less than two hours the brigantine wasabreast of the headland. Presently Frank exclaimed:
"She is hauling in her wind."
"That she is, sir," Hawkins, who had just come on deck, exclaimed."She surely cannot be going to run into the bay."
"She can be going to do nothing else," Frank said. "What on earthdoes she mean by it? No doubt that scoundrel is going to land withMiss Greendale, but why should he leave the Phantom at our mercy,when he could have sent her on to Port au Prince?"
"I cannot think what he is doing, sir; but he must have some gameon, or he would never act like that."
"Of course, he may have arranged to go with the lady to some placeup in the hills; but why should he sacrifice the yacht?"
"It is a rum start anyhow, and I cannot make head or tail of it. Ofcourse you will capture her, sir?"
"I don't know, Hawkins. It is one thing to attack her when she hasMiss Greendale on board, but if she has gone ashore it would bevery like an act of piracy."
"Yes, sir. But then, you see, they fired into our boat, and killedone of our men, and wounded you and four or five others."
"That is right enough, Hawkins, but we cannot deny that they did itin self defence. Of course, we know that they must have recognisedus, and knew what our errand was, but her captain and crew would beready to swear that they didn't, and that they were convinced byour actions that we were pirates. At any rate, you may be sure thatthe blacks would retain both craft, and that we should be heldprisoners for some considerable time, while Miss Greendale would bea captive in the hands of Carthew. I should attack the brigantineif I knew her to be on board, and should be justified in doing so,even if it cost a dozen lives to capture her; but I don't think Ishould be justified in risking a single life in attacking thebrigantine if she were not on board. To do so would, in the firstplace, be a distinct act of piracy; and in the second, if we gotpossession of the brigantine we should have gained nothing by it."
"We might burn her, sir."
"Yes, we might, and run the risk of being hung for it. We mighttake her into Port au Prince, but we have no absolute evidenceagainst her. We could not swear that we had positive knowledge thatMiss Greendale was on board, and certain as I am that the femalefigures I made out on the deck were she
and her maid, they werevery much too far away to recognise them, and the skipper mightswear that they were two negresses to whom he was giving a passage.
"Moreover, if I took the brigantine I should only cut off Carthew'sescape in that direction. His power over Miss Greendale would bejust as great, if he had her up among those mountains among theblacks, as it was when he had her on board. I can see that I havemade a horrible mess of the whole business, and that is the onlything that I can see. Yesterday I thought it was the best thing tostart on a direct chase, as it seemed absolutely certain to me thatwe should overhaul and capture her. Now I see that it was the worstthing I could have done, and that I ought to have waited until Icould take her in the bay."
"But you see, Major," said George Lechmere, who was standing by,"if we had gone on searching with the boat, before we had made anexamination of the whole bay, there would be no knowing where shehad gone, and it might have been months before we could have gotfairly on her track again."
"No, we acted for the best; but things have turned out badly, and Ifeel more hopelessly at sea, as to what we had better do next, thanI have done since the day I got to Ostend. At any rate, there isnothing to be done until we have got a fair sight of thebrigantine."
It seemed, to all on board, that the Osprey had never sailed sosluggishly as she did for the next hour and a half. As theyexpected, no craft was to be seen on the waters of the bay as theyrounded the point, but Dominique and the other pilot had beenclosely questioned, and both asserted that at the upper end of thebay there was a branch that curved round "like dat, sar," thelatter said, half closing his little finger.
Progress up the bay was so slow that the boats were lowered, andthe yacht was towed to the mouth of the curved branch. Here theywere completely landlocked, and the breeze died away altogether.
"How long is this bend, Jake?" Frank asked the second pilot inFrench.
"Two miles, sir; perhaps two miles and a half."
"Deep water everywhere?"
"Plenty of water; can anchor close to shore. Country boats run inhere very often if bad weather comes on. Foreign ships never comehere. They always run on to the town."
"You told us that there were a few huts at the end."
"Yes, sir. There is a village there, two others near."
The crew had all armed themselves, and the muskets were againplaced ready for use.
"You had better go round, Hawkins," Frank said, "and tell them thaton no account is a shot to be fired unless I give orders. Tell themen that I am just as anxious to fight as they are, and that ifthey give us a shadow of excuse we will board them."
"I went round among the men half an hour ago, sir, and told themhow the land lay, and Lechmere has been doing the same. They allwant to fight, but I have made them see that it might be a veryawkward business for us all."
The men in the boats were told to take it easy, and it was the bestpart of an hour before they saw, on turning the last bend, thebrigantine lying at anchor a little more than a quarter of a mileaway.
"She looks full of men," Frank exclaimed, as turned his glassesupon her.
"Yes, sir," said the captain, who was using a powerful telescope,"they are blacks. There must be fifty of them beside the crew, andas far as I can see most of them are armed."
"That explains why he came in here, Hawkins. They have been usingthis place for the last three weeks, and no doubt have made goodfriends with the negroes. I dare say Carthew has spent his moneyfreely on them.
"Well, this settles it. We would attack them at sea withouthesitation, however many blacks there might be on board, but to doso now would be the height of folly. Five of our men are certainlynot fit for fighting, so that their strength in whites is nearlyequal to ours. They have got those two little cannon, which wouldprobably reduce our number a bit before we got alongside, and withfifty blacks to help them it is very doubtful whether we should beable to take them by boarding. Certainly we could not do so withoutvery heavy loss.
"We will anchor about two hundred and fifty yards outside her. Aslong as she lies quiet there we will leave her alone. If she triesto make off we will board her at once. Anchor with the kedge; thatwill hold her here. Have a buoy on the cable and have it ready toslip at a moment's notice, and the sails all ready to hoist."
"Easy rowing," the captain called to the men in the boats, "andcome alongside. We have plenty of way on her to take up a berth."
In two or three minutes the anchor was dropped and the sailslowered.
"Now I will row across to her," Frank said, "and tell them that Idon't want to attack them, but I am determined to search theircraft."
"No, Major," George Lechmere said, firmly. "We are not going to letyou throw away your life, and you have no right to do it--at anyrate not until after Miss Greendale is rescued. You may be sure ofone thing: that Carthew has left orders before going on shore thatyou are to be shot if you come within range. He will know that ifyou are killed there will be an end of the trouble. I will gomyself, sir."
Frank made no answer for a minute or two. Then he said:
"In that case you would be shot instead of me. If Carthew is onshore, as I feel sure he is, the others won't know you from me. Iagree with you that I cannot afford to risk my life just now, andyet we must search that brigantine."
"Me go, sar," Dominique, who was standing by, said suddenly. "Metake two black fellows in dinghy. Dey no fire at us. Me go dere,tell captain dat you no want to have to kill him and all his crew,but dat you got to search dat craft. If he let search be made, denno harm come of it. If he say no, den we take yacht alongside andkill every man jack. Say dat white sailors all furious, because deyfire at us yesterday, and want bad to have fight."
"Very well, Dominique. It can do no harm anyhow, and as I feel surethat the lady has been taken ashore, I don't see why they shouldrefuse."
Accordingly, Dominique called to two of the negro boatmen to getinto the dinghy, and took his seat in the stern. When the boat washalfway between the two vessels there was a hail in French:
"What do you want? If you come nearer we will fire."
"What want to fire for?" Dominique shouted back. "Me pilot, me nocapture ship, single handed. Me want to speak to captain."
It was evident the answer was understood, for no reply came for aminute or two.
"Well, come along then."
The words could be heard perfectly on board the yacht.
"The skipper talks English, George. I thought that he would do so.Carthew was sure to have shipped someone who could understand him.I don't suppose his French is any better than mine."
The dinghy was rowed to within ten yards of the brigantine.
"Now, what message have you brought me from that pirate?"
"Him no pirate at all. You know dat bery well, massa captain. DatEnglish yacht; anyone see dat with half an eye. De gentleman theresays you have a lady on board dat has been carried off."
"Then he is a liar!" the Belgian said. "There is no woman on boardat all!"
"Well, sar, dat am a matter ob opinion. English gentleman tink datyou hab. You say no. Dat prove bery easy. De gentleman say he wantsto search ship. If as you say, she is no here, den ob course noreason for you to say no to dat. If on de other hand you say no,den he quite sure he right, and he come and search whether you likeit or no. Den der big fight. Bery strong crew on board dat yacht.Plenty guns, men all bery savage, cause you kill one of der fellowslast night. Dey want to fight bad, and if dey come dey kill many.What de use of dat, sar? Why say won't let search if lady not here?Nothing to fight about. But if you not let us see she not here, denwe board de ship, and when we take her we burn her."
The Belgian stood for two or three minutes without answering. Theyhad seen that there were two or three and twenty men on board theOsprey, and they were by no means sure that this was the entirenumber. There were three blacks, and there might be a number ofthem lying down behind the bulwarks or kept below. The issue of afight seemed to him doubtful. He was by no means sure that his
menwould fight hard in a cause in which they had no personal interest;and as for the blacks, they would not count for much in ahand-to-hand fight with English sailors.
He had received no orders as to what to do in such a contingency.Presently he turned to three of his men and said in French:
"Go to that stern cabin, and see that there is nothing about thatwould show that it has been occupied. They have asked to search us.Let them come and find nothing. Things will go quietly. If not,they say they will attack us and kill every man on board and burnthe ship, and as we do not know how many men they may have onboard, and as they can do us no harm by looking round, if there isnothing for them to find, we had best let them do it. But mind, theorders hold good. If the owner of that troublesome craft comesalongside, you are to pour in a volley and kill him and the sailorswith him. That will make so many less to fight if it comes tofighting. But the owner tells me that if he is once killed therewill be an end of it."
He then went to the side, and said to Dominique:
"There is nothing for you to find here. We are an honest trader,and there is nothing worth a pirate's stealing. But in order toshow you that I am speaking the truth, I have no objection to twohands coming on board and going through her. We have nothing tohide."
Dominique rowed back to the yacht.
"Dey will let her be searched, sar."
"I thought they would," Frank said; "and of course that is a signthat there is no one there."
"I will go, sir," the skipper said, "as we agreed. He would giveanything to get rid of you, and you might be met with a volley whenyou came alongside. And now there ain't no use in running risks. Ifthey have been told what you are like, they cannot mistake me foryou. You are pretty near a foot taller, and you are better than tenyears younger, and I haven't any hair on my face. I will go throughher. I am sure the lady ain't there, or they would not let me.Still, I will make sure. There are no hiding places in a yachtwhere anyone could be stowed away, and of course she is, like us,chock full of ballast up to the floor. I shan't be many minutesabout it, sir. Dominique may as well go with me. He can stay ondeck while I go below, and may pick up something from the blackfellows there."
"You may as well take him, Hawkins; but you may be very sure thatthey won't give him a chance to speak to anyone."
The captain stepped into the boat and was rowed to the yacht. Heand Dominique stepped on to the deck and were lost sight of amongthe blacks. In ten minutes they appeared at the gangway again, andstepped into their boat. Another minute and she was alongside theOsprey.
"Of course, you found nothing, Hawkins."
"Nothing whatever, sir. Anything the lady may have left behind hadbeen stowed away in lockers. I looked about to see if I could sighta bit of ribbon or some other woman's fal-lal, but they had goneever it carefully. Two of the other state cabins had been occupied.There were men's clothes hanging there. Of course, I looked intoevery cupboard where as much as a child could have been stowedaway, and looked round the forecastle. Anyhow, there is no womanthere now.
"Dominique had to go round with me. The captain evidently did notwant to give him a chance of speaking to anyone. The mate and twoof the sailors posted themselves at the gangway, so that the twoblacks should not be able to talk to the niggers on board. And now,sir, what is to be done next?"
"We will go below and talk it over, captain.
"You come down, too, George. Yes, and Dominique. He may be useful.
"Now, Hawkins," he went on, when they had taken their seats at thetable, "of course, I have been thinking it over all the morning,and I have come to the conclusion that our only chance now is tofight them with their own weapons. As long as we lie here there isno chance whatever of Miss Greendale being brought on board again,so the chase now has got to be carried on on land. If we go to workthe right way, there is no reason why we should not be able totrace her. I propose to take Lechmere and Dominique and the fourblack boatmen. If we stain our faces a little, and put on a pair ofduck trousers, white shirts, red sashes, and these broad straw hatsI bought at San Domingo, we shall look just like the half-casteplanters we saw in the streets there. I should take Pedro, too, butyou will want him to translate anything you have to say to Jake.
"I propose that as soon as it is dark tonight we muffle the oars ofthe dinghy, and row away and land lower down, say a mile or so; andthen make off up into the hills before tomorrow morning. Dominiquewill try to find out something by inquiring at some of the huts ofthe blacks. They are not likely to know, but if he offers them ahandsome reward to obtain news for him, they will go down to thevillages and ferret out something. The people there would not belikely to know where they have been taken, but they would be ableto point out the direction in which they went on starting. Then wecould follow that up, and inquire again.
"We might take a couple of the villagers with us. Belonging here,they would have more chance of getting news from other blacks thanstrangers would have."
"Don't you think, sir, that it would be as well to have four orfive men with you?" Hawkins said. "There is no doubt this fellowthat you are after is a desperate chap, and he may have got astrong body of these blacks as a guard. He might suspect that,after having pursued him all this way, you might try to follow himon land. You could put the men in hiding somewhere every day whileyou were making inquiries, and they would be mighty handy if itcame to fighting, which it seems to me it is pretty sure to dobefore you see the lady off."
"Well, perhaps it would be best, Hawkins; and, as you say, bykeeping them hid all day I don't see that they could increase ourdifficulties. But then, you see, you will want all your hands here;for if the brigantine sails, whether by night or day, you are tosail too, and to keep close to her wherever she goes. It is notlikely that Carthew and Miss Greendale will be on board, but he mayvery well send orders down to the brigantine to get up the anchor.He would know that we should stick to her, as Miss Greendale mighthave been taken on board again at night. In that way he would getrid of us from here, and would calculate that we should get tiredof following the brigantine in time, or that she would be able togive us the slip, and would then make for some place where he couldjoin her again. So my orders to you will be to stick to her, butnot to interfere with her in any way, unless, by any chance, youshould discover that Miss Greendale is really on board. In thatcase I authorise you to board and capture her. They won't have theblacks on board, and as the wounded are going on all right, andthree of them, anyhow, will be able to lend a hand in a couple ofdays, you will be a match for them; especially as they will soonmake up their minds that you don't mean to attack them, and youwill get a chance of running alongside and taking them bysurprise."
"Well, sir, I think that we can do that with four hands less thanwe have now. You see, there are nineteen and the two mates andmyself. Say two of the wounded won't be able to lend a hand, thatmakes us twenty, to say nothing of Jake and Pedro. So, even if youtook four hands, we should be pretty even in numbers; and if ourmen could not each whip two Belgians, they had better give up thesea."
"Yes, I have no doubt that they could do that, and were it not forCarthew and his friend I would not hesitate to take eight men. Idon't know about the other, but you may be sure that Carthew willfight hard. He is playing a desperate game. Still, I think that Imight take four, especially as I think the chance of MissGreendale's being brought on board, until he believes that we haveleft these waters, is very small.
"Very well, then, that is settled. The five blacks, Lechmere andmyself, and four of the sailors, will make a strong party. Servemuskets and cutlasses out to the blacks; and the same, with a braceof pistols, to each of the hands that go with us. While we are awaylet two of the men dress up in my white duck shirts and jackets,and in white straw hats. Let them always keep aft, and sit about inthe deck chairs, and always go down below by the main companion.That will make them think that I am still on board; while if thereis no one on the deck aft they will soon guess that we have landed.
"You understand all that we
have been saying, Dominique?"
"Me understand, sar, and tink him bery good plan. Me suah to findout which way dat rascal hab gone. Plenty of black fellows glad toearn two dollar to guide us. Dey no money here. Two dollars big sumto them."
"All right, Dominique, but we won't stick at two dollars. If itwere necessary I would pay two hundred cheerfully for news."
"We find dem widout dat," the black said, confidently. "Not goodoffer too much. If black man offered two dollars he bery glad. Ifoffered twenty he begin to say to himself, 'Dis bery good affair;perhaps someone else give forty.'"
"There is something in that, Dominique. Anyhow I shall leave thatpart of the business to you. As a rule, I shall keep in hiding withthe boatmen and sailors all day. I shall be no good for askingquestions, for I don't know much French, and the dialect thenegroes of these islands speak is beyond me altogether. I cannotunderstand the boatmen at all."
"Black men here bad, sar; not like dem in de other islands. Heredey tink themselves better than white men; bery ignorant fellows,sar. Most of dem lost religion, and go back to fetish. Bery baddat. All sorts of bad things in dat affair. Kill children and womento make fetish. Bad people, sar, and dey are worse here than at SanDomingo."
There was nothing to do all day, but to sit on deck and watch thebrigantine. Most of the blacks had been landed, and only three orfour sailors remained on watch on deck. Frank and George Lechmere,in their broad straw hats, sat and smoked in the deck chairs; theformer's eyes wandering over the mountains as if in search ofsomething that might point out Bertha's hiding place. The hillswere for the most part covered with trees, with here and there alittle clearing and a patch of cultivated ground, with two or threehuts in the centre. With the glasses solitary huts could be seen,half hidden by trees, here and there; and an occasional littlewreath of light smoke curling up showed that there were othersentirely hidden in the forest.
"Don't you think, Major," George Lechmere said after a long pause,"that it would be a good thing to have the gig every night at somepoint agreed on, such as the spot where we land? You see, sir,there is no saying what may happen. We may have to make a runningfight of it, and it would be very handy to have the boat to fallback upon."
"Yes, I think that a good idea, George. I will tell Hawkins to sendit ashore, say at ten o'clock every night. There is no chancewhatever of our being down before that. They are sure to have takenher a long distance up the hills; and though, of course, one cannotsay at present, it is pretty certain that we shall have to attackafter dark.
"It is important that we should land where there is some sort of apath. I noticed one or two such places as we came along. We may aswell get into the dinghy and row down and choose a spot now. Ofcourse, they will be watching from the brigantine, but when theysee the same number that went come back again, they will supposethat we have only gone for a row, or perhaps to get a shot atanything we come across. We may as well take a couple of guns withus."
A mile down the inlet they came upon just the spot they weresearching for. The shore was level for a few yards from the water'sedge, and from here there was a well-marked path going up the slopebehind.
"We will fix upon this spot, George. It will be easy for the boatsto find it in the dark, from that big tree close to the water'sedge. Now we will paddle about for half an hour before we go back."
An hour later they returned to the yacht, and George began at onceto make arrangements for the landing.