CHAPTER VI.
A SWIM FOR LIFE.
Thinking that his friends were close beside him, Harrie dropped intothe boat arranged for their flight. At the same moment Franciscolanded in the bow of the slight craft rocking at its moorings, whileflashes of light and wild orders of men under the stress of greatexcitement came from the deck of the _Libertador_.
"Are you all here?" asked the young Venezuelan, while he lookedhurriedly upward to the scene of excitement Over their heads, ratherthan about him.
"Jack and Ronie are not here!" replied Harrie. "Hark! That must bethem engaged in a hand-to-hand fight."
"We must cut loose!" exclaimed Francisco, through his clinched teeth."Some of them are coming over the rail!"
"Boat ahoy!" thundered a stentorian voice from the vessel.
Francisco was in the act of cutting the boat adrift at that moment, andbefore the sound of the speaker's voice had died away the fugitiveswere several yards astern.
"Ply the oars, for your life!" said Francisco. "Our lives depend onour work for the next few minutes."
Loath as he was to make this flight without his friends, it was reallyall that Harrie could do, and he lent his arm to that of his companion,and with each stroke of the oar they were taken farther and fartherfrom the scene of wild commotion reigning upon the deck of the outlawedship.
"They are laying to," panted Francisco. "They have sighted us, andboats will be lowered to give us pursuit. Ha! that shows they meanbusiness."
A volley of firearms at that instant awoke the night scene,illuminating the sea for a considerable distance. But the shots flewwide of their mark, though the light from the guns had disclosed theirposition, so the following volley whistled uncomfortably near. Adarkness deeper than ever succeeded the discharge of firearms, andunder this cover the fugitives managed to get beyond range before thethird volley could be sent after them.
Harrie had improved the passing gleams to look for Ronie and Jack, buthe had failed to learn aught of their fates, and his heart was veryheavy, as he concluded that he alone had been permitted to escape.Francisco was silently bending over his oar, sending the boat swiftlythrough the water into the unknown dangers that must lie in theirpathway.
Meanwhile, how has it fared with Jack and Ronie, who found their escapecut off at the very moment they were about to follow their companions?
"By the horn of rock--Gibraltar, if you please!" gritted the first,seizing upon a stout lever that some one had dropped nearby, and whichpromised to be a formidable club when wielded by his nervous arms,"when ye keelhaul old Jack Greenland ye'll hear Gabriel's trumpetsounding not far away!"
Then, as the mob rushed forward, he sprang in front of Ronie, who hadsuddenly found himself flung back from the ship's rail, to be sentheadlong to the deck, and swinging his primitive weapon over his headhe mowed down a semi-circle of the seamen as if he was cutting a swathof grain. By that time Ronie, whose determined nature was aroused bythis rough treatment, was upon his feet, holding in his right hand aserviceable small arm that he had been able to pick up.
Shots were fired upon them by the crew of the _Libertador_, but,fortunately, the assailants proved but poor marksmen. One burlyruffian attempting to fell Ronie, the latter pointed at his body anddischarged his firearm. At least he cocked the weapon and pulled thetrigger, but it failed to respond. Realizing that it was empty, heused it as a club, and a moment later had cleared his path of the bigseaman. At that moment Jack cried out:
"Quick--into the sea!"
An instant later their forms disappeared over the rail, and they shotheadforemost into the water. Almost simultaneously with their escapethe deck where they had just stood swarmed with the armed rabble.
Ronie for a brief while lost consciousness, and then the voice of Jackcame faintly to his ears:
"Where are you, lad?"
"Here, Jack."
"Good! I will be with you in a minute. Drop astern as fast as youcan."
Ronie was a good swimmer, and as soon as he had recovered from theshock of his headlong leap from the vessel he gathered himselftogether, and when Jack came alongside he felt equal to the task whichseemed to lie ahead.
"Are you hurt, my lad?" asked Jack.
"No, Jack."
"Then keep beside me, and mind that you do not waste any of yourstrength, for if we do not find Harrie and the boat it is likely to bea long swim."
"Where can he be? I believe they are lowering a boat from the ship."
"Let them lower away, lad. It'll be a long chase before they overhaulus. Let's keep a little more to the right, for the boat has in allprobability gone that way, if they got away. I am not sure they did,but it looked like it."
Then, the cries of the excited officers and crew of the _Libertador_growing fainter, as they swam on and on, Ronie and Jack steadily forgedahead, peering with anxious gaze into the gloom about them for a sightof their friends.
At the end of an hour the dark hulk of the _Libertador_ had faded fromview, and no more did the shouts of the exasperated men on board reachtheir ears, while they, feeling the fearful strain upon them, movedslowly through the water, hope slowly dying out in their breasts.
"We shall not find them!" declared Ronie.
"We must!" said Jack. "Let's shout to them again, now, together:
"Boat a-h-o-y!"
As they had done a dozen times before without receiving any welcomingreply, they sent their united voices far out over the sea, shimmeringnow in the starlight. Still no response--no sound to break thedreadful silence of their watery surroundings.
"My old arms are not quite tired out yet, lad; hold upon me."
"No--no, Jack. I am young and strong. I can bear up a while longer.If I only knew Harrie had escaped I should feel better."
"We can only hope that they have, and fight for our lives a littlelonger."
Nothing more was said for some time, while they continued their battlewith the sea, each stroke of the arm leaving them a little weaker,until it seemed to the castaways that they could not hold up muchlonger.
"The race is almost over, lad," said Jack, at last. "I feel worse foryou than for myself. You have been a true boy. It does not matter somuch with an old wornout veteran like me, but you are----"
"Look, Jack!" exclaimed Ronie, in the midst of his speech. "I believethat is the boat!"
His companion glanced in the direction pointed out by Ronie, and a gladcry escaped his lips.
"Boat, ahoy!" he cried. "Help! H-e-l-p!"
Then they listened for a reply, fearing lest the other should fail tocatch their faint appeal, for both were so hoarse and exhausted thattheir united voices could not reach far.
"It is a sloop," declared Jack. "It is coming straight down upon us.They cannot miss us--ay, they are veering away! They have not heardus--they have not seen us--they are going to pass us. Once again, lad,shout for your life. It is our only hope."
Never did two poor mortals appeal with greater desperation for succor,and a moment later a low cry of rejoicing left their sea-wet lips asthe reply rang over the water in a piercing tone:
"Ahoy--there! Where away?"
"Here--to your lee!" replied the castaways, and then, quite overcome,they suddenly lost consciousness.