CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
"ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL."
Leaving Woodford to attend to the securing of the prisoners, I hastenedaft to see how Tompion and his little party were faring in the cabins.I found them in the saloon under the poop, with four prisoners who hadbeen discovered ransacking the cabins, and in one of these prisoners, afine handsome middle-aged man of swarthy complexion, with dark hairclustering in close ringlets all over his shapely head, dark piercingeyes, small ears, from the lobes of which depended a pair of plain goldear-rings, and a somewhat slim yet wiry and athletic-looking figure cladin a picturesque but somewhat showy costume, I thought I identified theman I was so anxious to meet, Giuseppe Merlani. The man was badlywounded, having been run through the body by Tompion, who had beencompelled to inflict the wound in order to save his own life. Thefellow looked hard, almost wildly at me, and muttered something which Icould not catch, as I was at the moment speaking to the gunner; andwhen, a minute afterwards, I found myself at liberty to interrogate him,I discovered that he had swooned from loss of blood. I directed Tompionto have him taken below, undressed, and placed in a hammock, despatchingone of our men, meanwhile, to hunt up the surgeon of the _SantaCatalina_, and then made my way below to the spot where I had left DonLuis. I found him still in charge of the man Collins, who had managedin an effectual if somewhat clumsy way, to stanch the bleeding of hiswound; and it is scarcely necessary to say that he was overjoyed when Iinformed him that we had succeeded in recapturing the ship. He at oncestaggered to his feet, and upon my assuring him that there was nothingfurther to fear from the pirates, announced his intention of goingimmediately to his daughter's hiding-place, begging me to accompany himthither. We accordingly started on our way to the main-deck, Collinssupporting Don Luis by placing his arm round the latter's waist. But wewere barely half-way up the ladder when a sudden hubbub and confusionarose on the upper deck, and I was compelled to hasten away to see whatit meant. I found that it was caused by the discovery, suddenly made,that the pirate schooner was sinking alongside, and I reached the pooponly just in time to see her heel over and founder stern first, thebroadside of shot which had been fired into her when she rangedalongside having passed through her deck and out through her bottom,thus occasioning so fatal a leak that the only wonder was that she hadfloated so long.
The excitement and confusion attending this incident had not subsidedwhen the surviving Spanish officers and crew made their reappearance ondeck. The former were very profuse in their compliments and thanks forwhat they termed our invaluable assistance; having tendered which theymanifested a disposition to resume their former status on board. But Iwas quite determined not to allow this. The ship had passed completelyout of their possession into that of the pirates, and had beenrecaptured by us. She was therefore our lawful prize, and I wasresolved to retain possession of her, as I had informed Don Felix Iwould. I pointed this out to the Spanish officers, and requested themto surrender their swords, which, very sensibly, they did. Don Felix,however, who had hidden himself away below somewhere, and who did notreappear until some time after the others, stormed and blustered andreviled us, calling us everything but gentlemen, and demanding to knowwhether we considered we were making him a proper return for hiskindness in having rescued us. This, of course, was all very well; buthe had refused our offer of assistance, as I pointed out to him, and hadhad his ship taken from him, not by us, but by the pirates. He was, ofcourse, obliged to deliver up his sword; but he would not listen toreason, retiring to his cabin and sulking there until our arrival inPort Royal harbour, for which, on gaining possession of the ship, I hadat once shaped a course. Previous to this, however, I had secured hisdespatch-box and had put it in a place of safety, otherwise I have nodoubt he would have promptly dropped it overboard out of the sternwindows.
I was anxious to treat my prisoners with the same generosity andconsideration which they had accorded to me; and I hastened to set theirminds at rest upon this point. But whilst the officers were perfectlywilling to give their own parole, they reluctantly admitted that theyfelt it quite impossible to guarantee the good behaviour of their men; Iwas therefore compelled, in self-defence, to confine the latter below.All this took up a great deal of time; it was consequently not untilafter the men had had their dinner that I was able to set the watchesand start the carpenter upon the task of getting new spars ready forsending aloft. I had been informed by the Spanish surgeon, when we allsat down to luncheon together, that Don Luis' hurt was not of a seriouscharacter, and that he was likely to do well enough if the feverresulting from his wound could be kept under; but with regard to thepirate captain the case was different: his wound, I was assured, wasmortal, and whilst the man might possibly linger for several days, hemight, on the other hand, expire at any moment. The surgeon furtherinformed me that Merlani--for he it really proved to be--had manifestedquite an extraordinary inquisitiveness respecting me, and had at lastrequested that I might be informed he would like to speak to me.
As soon, therefore, as I found myself at liberty, I, without delayingeven to wait upon Don Luis and Inez, made my way below to the sick-bay,where, in a little corner which had been separated by a screen from thepart occupied by the other injured men, lay Merlani in a hammock, withone of my men to attend upon and at the same time stand sentry over him.
He was ghastly pale, and evidently suffering great pain, as I could seeby the occasional twitching of his facial muscles, as well as by theperspiration which bedewed his forehead and trickled down upon thepillow; but he seemed to be quite free from fever, and he was perfectlysteady and collected in his mind.
He looked long and eagerly in my face as I stood beside his hammock, andhis countenance brightened up with pleasure. At length he said inSpanish:
"This is kind of you, Senor Lascelles. I wanted to see you, because inthe moment that I first looked upon your face I was reminded of one whoin my younger days I almost worshipped; and when, during the dressing ofmy wound, I learned your name, I could not resist the temptation ofbelieving that you must be related to her--that you must, in fact, beher son. Tell me, am I not right? Are you not the son of MariaBisaccia?"
"That was indeed my mother's name," I said, greatly disconcerted. "ButI find it difficult to understand how it could possibly have happenedthat you and my mother should have--"
"Known anything of each other?" he interrupted. "Yes; and well you may.But it is easily explained. I have not always been the blood-stainedvillain that I now am; when I knew your mother I was, I need scarcelysay, wholly innocent of crime. Idle, perhaps; wayward; and a triflewild I undoubtedly was; but crime and I were strangers, and strangers weshould have continued to be," he added somewhat wildly, "if I had butlistened to and heeded the warnings and pleadings of my sweet foster-sister."
"_Your foster-sister_!" I ejaculated, a great light bursting in upon mein a moment. "Was my mother your foster-sister?"
"Ay was she," replied Merlani. "Her mother died half an hour aftergiving her birth; and my mother--who was at that time nursing my sisterBianca, now dead, woe is me!--was summoned in all haste to the chateauto take the place of a mother to the new-born infant. I was at thattime a youngster of seven years old, and as my mother became a permanentinmate of the chateau for the first four years of your mother's life, Isaw a great deal of the dear child, and have played for hours with herand my sweet Bianca on the sunny terrace in front of the chateau, ay,and have dragged them in a little chariot, made by my father, many aweary mile up and down the rough steep road leading to Amalfi."
"So, then, you and my mother were friends?" I remarked, in the hope ofleading him on to talk further upon the subject. "Friends!" ejaculatedMerlani; "well, yes, we were; but that expression is hardly the rightone. She was the guardian angel; I the poor, weak, erring mortal overwhom she watched. Always listening to her advice and admonitions withthe profoundest and most respectful attention, and always anxious to doright, whilst I was in her presence, I had no sooner withdra
wn myselfand mingled once more with my usual associates, than my natural weaknessprevailed, and I found myself involved in some scrape or other, from theconsequences of which your mother, with a patience more than mortal,rescued me as often as she could. Had I but heeded her counsels Ishould never have been what I now am."
"I can readily believe that," said I, "little as I know of my mother.But do you intend me to accept that remark as _literally_ true, or--"
"It is literally true," answered Merlani. "You must know, senor, thatat the time to which I refer, like many more young men of my own age, Ibecame greatly interested in politics; so much so that after a time Iunited myself to a secret society, the object of which was to compassthe freedom of our beloved Italy. I was on sufficiently intimate termswith your mother to confide freely to her all my hopes and aspirations,this among the rest; but, whilst she thoroughly sympathised with me inthe particular matter to which I have referred, she had penetrationenough to be fully sensible of the danger to which I was exposingmyself; and she earnestly sought to dissuade me from having anything todo with active politics. But I was proud of being looked upon as apatriot, and blind to the fact that my country was not then ripe for thefreedom which I, among others, burned to give her; I, therefore, asusual, went my own headstrong way, and eventually got into very serioustrouble. I was obliged to fly; and learning that your mother--by thistime married--was in Rome, I resolved to seek her in the first instance,and beg of her that pecuniary assistance which my other friends wereincapable of affording me. I did so, found her, and, after considerabledifficulty, succeeded in obtaining a private interview with her. Irepresented to her the danger of the position in which--"
"One moment," I interrupted. "What, may I ask, was your object inmaking the interview _private_?"
"It was on your father's account," answered Merlani. "I know not whathe may be _now_, if he still lives, but he was then an exceedinglyproud, haughty, and overbearing man, very impatient and hasty of temper,as I had had many opportunities of noticing; and he had, moreover, nosympathy with the movement with which I had associated myself. Ihappened to know, also, that though he was unaware of the relationship--if I may so term it--which existed between your mother and myself, I hadbeen unfortunate enough to attract his unfavourable attention whilst hewas prosecuting his love suit with your mother. I was thereforeanxious, above all things, to avoid compromising the wife in the eyes ofher husband by letting him know that she possessed so disreputable anacquaintance; and finally, I felt convinced that if he became acquaintedwith the facts of my case he would consider it his duty to deliver meinto the hands of the authorities. Hence my desire for secrecy.
"Well, as I have said, I found your mother, represented to her the perilof my position, pointed out to her the imperative necessity for absolutesecrecy, and besought her, by all she held dearest, to help me once moreand for the last time. She was deeply distressed when I told her in howserious a scrape I had involved myself, the more so as she could see noway of helping me without appealing to her husband for the necessaryfunds, which I bound her not to do, assuring her that such a step wouldinevitably bring about my ruin. At length she promised to think thematter over and do what she could for me, promising to meet me again thenext evening.
"It so happened, however, that the pursuit after me was so hot that Iwas compelled to be closely hidden for nearly a fortnight, during whichI have reason to believe that your mother suffered the keenest anxietyon my account. When at length I dared venture out again I found yourmother's distress more keen than ever because she had been unable toobtain even the modest sum of money I had named as necessary to securemy safety. She bade me meet her again. I did so, only to find herstill in the same pitiable state of helplessness and distress. I mether again, and yet again--seven times in all; and at our last meetingyour mother pressed into my hand a small package of money--the proceedsof the sale of her own private jewels, as a hastily-written tear-blottednote inside informed me. The assistance, however, came just too late.I was arrested that very night and cast into prison, where, without eventhe pretence of a trial, I was confined for seven long years among thevilest of the vile. I should probably have been there still had I notsucceeded in effecting my escape. But those seven years of miseryunutterable had done their work upon me; I entered the prison a harmlessenough young fellow, save that I was the victim of a mistakenenthusiasm; I emerged from it _a fiend_, my heart full to overflowing ofhatred for the entire human race, with which I have warred, in one wayor another, from that day to this.
"Such, Senor Lascelles, is my story; my only excuse for telling youwhich is the tender memories of your sainted mother, evoked by yourextraordinary personal resemblance to her. You have listened to me witha patient kindness which you must surely have inherited from her, and Ithank you; the thought of her has made me once more human; I feel thebetter for having been permitted to take her honoured name once moreupon my lips; but now, senor, with your permission I will rest a little;I am weary, and oh, so very weak."
I withdrew, and making my way to Albuquerque's berth, begged permissionof the owner to occupy it for an hour or two; which permission beingobtained, I sat down then and there, and, whilst Merlani's story wasstill fresh in my memory, put the whole of it in black and white.
This done, I thought it high time to look in upon Don Luis, who would,perhaps, otherwise think I was slighting him. I accordingly made my wayto his private cabin and knocked softly. The door was opened by Inez,who no sooner saw me than she flung herself into my arms--full in viewof her father, who was reclining upon a couch--kissed me rapturously,and exclaimed:
"Oh, Leo, my dearest, how glad I am to see you once more, and unhurt,after all the dreadful occurrences of to-day; come in, _mio_, and sitdown; papa and I have both been longing to see you, have we not, youdear, proud, good-natured darling of a father?"
"Yes," said Don Luis smiling, much to my astonishment, for I quiteexpected that his displeasure would have been kindled by his daughter'sdemonstrative reception of me--"yes, we have; but not from _precisely_the same motives, I fancy. However, let that pass. Come in, Leo, myboy, come in; why, you look as frightened as if it were you, and notthat wilful headstrong daughter of mine, that I ought to be angry with.Sit down, and let Inez pour you out a glass of wine whilst you tell mehow affairs have been progressing since I saw you last. But first," hecontinued, offering me his left hand--his injured limb being tightlyswathed in bandages, and therefore unavailable--"let me express to youmy heartfelt gratitude for the prompt and effective response you made tomy appeal for help and deliverance at the moment that we were about tofall irretrievably into the hands of those piratical desperados. Youand your gallant followers have saved us all from death--and, in mydaughter's case, from a fate so much worse than death that I shall neverbe able to think of it without a shudder. You will find that I am notungrateful--but I will speak of that anon. Now tell me, how have youmanaged with that miserable poltroon, Don Felix, and his officers andcrew! Tell me in detail all that happened from the moment you wereobliged to leave me."
Seating myself by his side, with Inez close to us both, I gave myfriends a full and detailed account of everything that had transpired,omitting, of course, the particulars of my interview with Merlani; and Iwound up by saying:
"Of course, Don Luis, I cannot say how the admiral may deal with thematter of my seizure of the ship, or how he will dispose of her officersand crew; but in any case I think that, as you and Dona Inez arecivilians, he will not attempt to detain you; and even should he thinkof doing so, I do not believe I am overrating my influence with him whenI say that I think he would, at my intercession, restore you yourfreedom."
"Thank you, Leo," said Don Luis heartily; "this is good news. I havebeen feeling a little anxious on that point since I have found time tothink about it; for detention, at the present crisis in my affairs,might affect me most seriously. But if I can only succeed in making myway back to La Guayra, I have no doubt that, in a fortnight at most,
Ican collect evidence enough to completely frustrate the machinations ofmy enemies and set myself perfectly right again with the authorities inSpain.
"Now, with respect to yourself and this foolish--well, no, I willwithdraw the word `foolish'--this love affair between you and Inez.There is no doubt but you and your brave fellows have been the means ofpreserving us both from a very terrible fate; and, as I have said, youshall not find me ungrateful. I am not going to give my unconditionalconsent to Inez's marriage with you--not yet at least, that would berather too absurd. You are both--and you, especially, Leo--far tooyoung to seriously contemplate marriage for some years to come;moreover, you are at present merely a midshipman; you still have yourway to make in the noble profession you have chosen to follow. I havenot the slightest doubt that you _will_ make it in due time; you havealready established something more than a merely local reputation as amost gallant officer and seaman; you have distinguished yourself in amost remarkable manner for so young a man, and your superiors would beworse than ungrateful were they to fail to duly acknowledge and rewardsuch distinguished merit. I have no doubt they _will_ reward it, and Ifully expect that when once you have `served your time'--I believe thatis the correct expression, is it not?--your rise in your profession willbe rapid, and that it will not be very many years before you gain yourpost rank. When that day arrives, if your present regard for Inezremains unchanged, come to me, and you shall find me perfectly willingto incline a favourable ear to your proposals. In the meantime Icompletely withdraw my veto as to your intercourse with her; you mayhave as much of each other's society as you wish during the short timeyou are likely to be together, and you may afterwards correspond asvoluminously as you please; but--understand me clearly--I will notaccede to or in any way countenance anything approaching to a betrothal,or, as you English term it, an engagement! And now, my dear children, Ihope you are both satisfied."
My story is ended. Is there any need that I should say more? Well,perhaps some of my readers may object to so abrupt a termination to thisveracious history; and, to please them, it may be as well, perhaps, tobriefly state a few additional facts.
I will add, then, that we succeeded in carrying the _Santa Catalina_safely into Port Royal, after a fine but somewhat slow passage, though Isuppose I need scarcely say that to Inez and myself the days sped onlytoo fast. I duly reported myself to the admiral, and was by himreceived most favourably, notwithstanding the deplorable _contre-temps_of the loss of the _Dolphin_. The _Santa Catalina_ was duly declared alawful prize; and though objections to this proceeding were raised bythe Spanish government, and her surrender was formally demanded of us,she was never given up; and after even more than the usual delays, allconcerned in her capture duly touched the prize-money due on heraccount--a very considerable sum, as in addition to a valuable cargo shehad on board a large quantity of bullion. I do not know what became ofher officers and crew, as I was almost immediately appointed to adashing frigate fresh out from England; but no objection was raised tothe departure from the island of Don Luis and his daughter, who managed,after some delay and difficulty, to secure a passage to La Guayra in aneutral vessel; and once there, he soon found means to set himself rightwith his government. Contrary to all expectation, Merlani survived longenough to be able to tell my father all he had told me, and more; thuscompletely and for ever setting at rest those harassing doubts andsuspicions as to the sincerity of my mother's affection which had goneso far towards making a wreck of my father's life. My father's remorseand regret for his cruel treatment of my mother were keen in theextreme, and most painful to witness; but he faithfully strove to makewhat compensation he could by lavishing upon me all the love of hisreally warm and affectionate nature.
I remained on the West Indian station long enough to complete my time asa midshipman; and my old friend, the admiral, lived long enough tobestow upon me my post rank, which he did with almost indecent haste--atleast, so said some of those who chose to feel jealous at my rapidadvancement, which, however, the admiral stoutly maintained I hadfaithfully earned.
I presume it is scarcely necessary to add that, this coveted rank oncegained, I lost no time in pressing my suit for Dona Inez's hand, whichwas then yielded to me with a very good grace--and with it a handsomefortune--by Don Luis, who only stipulated that we should live with him,he shortly afterwards resigning his post and removing to England toenable us to do so.
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