A Pirate of the Caribbees Part 12

"Thanks, senor," I replied, as I poured out with a shaking hand and benumbed fingers a generous modic.u.m of rum, filling up the pannikin with evil-smelling water, "I drink to our better acquaintance."

So saying, I emptied the pannikin at a gulp, and set it down upon the table. "And now, senor," I continued, as my companion, in turn, proceeded to help himself and to pledge me, "perhaps you will kindly inform me, first, whom I have the honour to address; secondly, why I have been brought aboard this felucca; and, thirdly, to what place you propose to convey me?"

"a.s.suredly, senor," answered the Spaniard; "it will afford me much happiness to gratify so very natural and reasonable a request. In the first place, senor, I am your Excellency's most humble servant, Juan Dominguez, captain of this felucca. In the next place, you are here by order of my excellent friend and patron, Don Pedro Morillo, captain of the brigantine _Guerrilla_; and, in the third place, I am conveying you--also by Don Pedro's orders--to Cariacou, an island which I understand you have already visited, under certain memorable circ.u.mstances."

So that was it, was it? I was kidnapped, not in accordance with some wild scheme of the Spaniards to cripple our too active navy by robbing it of every officer that they could lay hands upon, but in order that a cowardly, bloodthirsty pirate might at leisure, and in safety, wreak his revenge upon me for the injury that I, in the exercise of my duty, had done him. Speaking in all frankness, I do not believe I am a coward; but I confess that the information thus calmly communicated to me by this Spaniard--who was most probably a naturalised British subject-- caused my blood to run cold; for I had heard quite enough of Morillo to feel tolerably well a.s.sured that if his motive in causing me to be kidnapped was revenge, he would not be satisfied with merely shooting me, or stabbing me to the heart; he would undoubtedly exercise his utmost ingenuity to render my pa.s.sage out of this world as lingering and painful as possible; and, from all accounts, he was quite an adept in the art of torture!

"You seem disturbed at my intelligence, amigo," remarked my companion, gazing upon me with a smile of amus.e.m.e.nt. "Well," he continued, "perhaps you have cause to be; who knows? I have heard that it was you who, taking advantage of my friend's absence at sea, visited Cariacou and destroyed poor Morillo's batteries and buildings there, carrying off his brig and everything else that you and your crew could lay hands upon. I hope, for _your_ sake, that Morillo was misinformed, and that you will be able to demonstrate to his complete satisfaction your entire freedom from all complicity in that very ill-advised and malicious transaction; he may then be content to simply hang you at his yardarm.

But if you fail to convince him--phew! I sincerely pity you; I do indeed, senor."

"Thanks, very much," retorted I, with the best attempt at sarcasm that I could muster,--for I began to perceive that this fellow was amusing himself by endeavouring to frighten me, and I did not intend to afford him very much gratification in that way,--"your pity is infinitely comforting to me, especially as it is evident to me that the feeling is genuine. May I ask whether your share in this present transaction is undertaken purely out of friendship for Morillo, or is it being carried out upon a business basis?"

"Well, to be strictly truthful, there is a little of both," answered Dominguez. "Why do you inquire, if it is not an indiscreet question?"

"Now," thought I, "I wonder whether this question of his is intended to indicate that he is open to a bribe--a bribe to put me ash.o.r.e again, safe and sound, provided that I make him a sufficiently liberal offer.

Perhaps the attempt may be worth making; it will, at all events, enable me to judge what are my chances, so far as he is concerned." So I replied--

"To be candid with you, friend Dominguez, it occurred to me that you had undertaken this little adventure as much with the object of turning a more or less honest penny as for any other reason. Now, supposing that I should experience any difficulty in satisfying Morillo upon the point that you just now referred to, what do you imagine will be the result?

Something exceedingly unpleasant for me, I a.s.sume, since you were good enough to express pity for me."

"Something exceedingly unpleasant?" he repeated, with a laugh. "Well, yes, that is one way of putting it, certainly, but it is a very mild way; so ridiculously mild that it suggests no idea of what was in my mind when I said I pitied you. Flaying alive is unpleasant, so is being roasted alive over a slow fire, so is gradual dismemberment--a finger or a toe at a time, then a hand or a foot, and so on until only the trunk remains,--all these are unpleasant, _exceedingly_ so, I should imagine, from what I have seen of the behaviour of those who have undergone those operations at my friend's hand; but in the contingency you just now suggested, I fancy that Morillo would do his best to devise something considerably better--or worse, whichever you please to call it--for _you_."

I shuddered, and a feeling of horrible sickness swept over me. Strive as I would, I could not help it, as this inhuman wretch spoke, with evident gusto, of the torments to which I might--failing Morillo's ability to devise still greater refinements of cruelty--be subjected.

But by the time that he had finished speaking, I had succeeded in rallying my courage sufficiently to remark--

"Thanks; your reply to my question leaves nothing to be desired in the way of lucidity. Now, supposing I should happen to feel some repugnance to those delicate attentions on Morillo's part that you have just alluded to, what inducement would be sufficient to persuade you to 'bout ship, and land me on the wharf at Kingston, instead of at Cariacou?"

"Ah," replied Dominguez, "that is a question that is not to be answered off-hand; there are several points that occur to me as requiring careful consideration before I could name the sum that would induce me to act as you wish. Of course you will understand that I have no personal animus against you; you have never injured me, and therefore I have no feeling of revenge to gratify by delivering you into Morillo's power. But, on the other hand, Morillo is my friend, and I am always glad to oblige him when I can, particularly when, as in the present case, I am well paid for it. Now, if I were to act as you suggest, I should be thwarting, instead of obliging him; I should convert him from a friend into an enemy; and I think that you are now in a position to understand what that means. It means that I should be compelled to _disappear_ as completely as though the ground had opened and swallowed me; because it is one of Morillo's characteristics that, while he is a staunch and generous friend, he is also a bitter and relentless enemy. He _never_ forgives; so long as his enemy lives, he will never rest until he has been revenged upon him. And this reminds me that if you and I should succeed in coming to an arrangement, you must not regard the matter between yourself and Morillo as settled; I warn you that you will have to maintain a ceaseless watch, for so long as you and he live he will never relax his efforts to get you into his power. Afloat, and with a greatly superior force, you _may_ reckon yourself to be reasonably safe; but _ash.o.r.e_--no! Very well. Now, what I have told you will enable you to understand my position in relation to this matter: at present I am his friend, but I have his enemy in my power; and if I aid and abet that enemy to escape I become his enemy, which will necessitate my prompt retreat to the other side of the world, to begin life afresh, with the haunting feeling that, go where I will and do what I may, I am _never safe_! That alone points to a necessary demand on my part of a considerable sum--a _very_ considerable sum--from you as compensation for the many serious inconveniences and dangers that must inevitably follow upon my falling in with your proposal. But that is not all.

There is my mate, Miguel, and the lad Luis, for'ard; both of them would require some very substantial inducement to lead them to fall in with our views. Altogether, I should say that what you propose would probably cost you--well, at least, ten thousand pounds."

"Ten thousand pounds?" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "Nonsense, man; you must be dreaming. Why, I could no more raise ten thousand pounds than I could fly."

"No?" he queried coolly; "not even to save yourself from--"

"Not even to save myself from the utmost refinement of cruelty that your friend Morillo is capable of devising," I answered decisively.

"Pardon me, senor, but I can scarcely believe you," retorted Dominguez, with that hateful, sneering smile of his. "You have been exceptionally fortunate in the matter of prizes since your arrival in these waters, and I feel convinced that in prize money alone you must now have a very handsome sum standing to your credit. Then, if I am correctly informed, you have made many friends. You are, for instance, a great favourite with the admiral, who would doubtless be willing to advance a very considerable sum to help you out of your present exceedingly disagreeable predicament; and I have no doubt there are others who would be equally willing to help you if your position were clearly laid before them."

"But, man alive, I cannot do it," I exclaimed angrily. "So far as prize money is concerned, I suppose three thousand pounds is the very utmost that I possess. And as for the admiral, I am no more to him than any other officer, and I am certain that he would absolutely refuse to advance a single penny-piece for such a purpose as you suggest; to do so would simply be offering an inducement to you--and others like you--to kidnap officers, and then hold them to ransom. But I tell you what it is," I continued; "you may rest a.s.sured of this, that if any harm befalls me,--if, in short, you deliver me into Morillo's power,--the admiral will make you suffer as severely for it as Morillo himself could possibly do. So there you are, between two fires; and, if you care for my opinion, it is that the admiral is likely to prove a worse enemy to you than even Morillo over this business."

"That, possibly, might be the case if the admiral happened to discover that I have been implicated in it," replied my companion, with exasperating composure. "But then, you see, he never will! I have taken every possible precaution against that."

"How about Caesar and Peter, the two negroes who brought me aboard here?" I inquired.

"Pshaw!" answered Dominguez impatiently, "do you suppose they would inform against me? Not they. Why, they are both--well, never mind what they are, except that I feel perfectly safe, so far as they are concerned."

"Very well," I retorted, "time will show whether your confidence in them is well founded or not. Meanwhile, my position is such that three thousand pounds is the outside figure I can offer you as my ransom, and you may take it or leave it as you please."

"Then I fear, amigo, that your days are numbered," replied Dominguez composedly, as he rose from his seat preparatory to returning on deck.

"I am sorry for you," he continued, "very sorry; but I _must_ think of myself before all else, and three thousand is not nearly tempting enough. Possibly when you have had a little longer to think it over you will be able to see your way to make a very considerable advance upon that sum. There is plenty of time; the _Josefa_ is a grand little ship, but she has one fault, she is slow, and I do not expect that we shall reach Cariacou in less than a full week. You have therefore six or seven days before you in which to consider the matter; and should you see your way to raise the ten thousand, at any time before we sight the island, I shall be happy to talk with you again. Meanwhile, there is your bunk. Will you turn in at once, or would you prefer to take a turn on deck first?"

"Thanks," answered I, with alacrity, delighted to discover that I was not to be confined to the cabin. "I think I will go on deck for half an hour or so, to get a breath of fresh air; it is rather close down here."

"As you will," returned Dominguez, amicably enough; "I have no fear of your attempting to escape. You are scarcely likely, I think, to go overboard and offer yourself as a meal to the sharks. Do you smoke? I can recommend these," as he drew from a locker a box of cigars.

I helped myself to one mechanically, and lit it, Dominguez following my example, and then politely offering me precedence up the companion ladder. I accepted the courtesy, and made my way somewhat stiffly up the steep steps; for my limbs were still cramped from the compression of the ligatures wherewith I had been bound. After what I had pa.s.sed through it was an inexpressible relief to me to find myself once more breathing the free, pure air of heaven, with the star-spangled sky arching grandly overhead.

It was a brilliantly fine night,--or morning rather, for it was by this time past two o'clock a.m.,--the sky cloudless save for a small shred of thin, wool-like vapour skimming rapidly athwart the stars; the trade wind was blowing a moderate breeze, and the felucca was bruising along on an easy bowline with long, swinging plunges and soarings over the low, jet-black, glistening surges at a pace of some five and a half knots perhaps, with a perfect thunder of roaring, breaking seas under her bluff bows, and a belt of winking, sparkling sea-fire, a couple of fathoms wide, sweeping past her lee rail and swirling into the broad, short wake that she trailed behind her. The land was still clearly in sight on our port quarter, the range of the Liguanea Mountains towering high into the star-lit sky and gradually sloping away to the eastward in the direction of Morant Point. Beside Dominguez and myself there was but one other figure visible on deck, that of the man at the helm--a long, thin, weedy-looking figure, so far as I could make out in the ghostly starlight, but one who had evidently used the sea for some time, if one might judge by the easy, floating poise of his figure on the plunging deck as he stood on the weather side of the tiller, with the tiller rope lightly grasped in his right hand, swaying rhythmically to the leaps and plunges of the little hooker. As Dominguez followed me out on deck he stepped aft to the small, dimly lighted binnacle, glanced into it, made some brief remark in a low tone to the silent helmsman, walked forward and took a long look ahead and on both bows, and then, returning aft, excused himself to me for turning in, upon the plea that it would soon be his watch on deck, and so dived below and left me.

Left thus to myself, I fell to mechanically pacing the short deck of the felucca for a few minutes, smoking thoughtfully the while and turning over in my mind the disquieting conversation that had just pa.s.sed between Dominguez and myself; then, my gaze happening to wander aft to the solitary figure at the tiller, I sauntered aft and endeavoured to strike up a conversation with him. The fellow, however, proved to be so boorish and saturnine in his manner that I quickly abandoned the attempt and, pitching my half-smoked cigar over the rail, retired below and tumbled, "all standing," into the bunk that Dominguez had indicated as mine, where, despite the food for serious reflection that the occurrences of the night afforded me, I soon fell into a sound sleep.

The week that succeeded my abduction was so utterly barren of events that it may be pa.s.sed over with the mere remark that throughout the whole of the time we had perfect weather, with a steady, moderate trade wind, under the impulsion of which the felucca bruised along upon her proper course, reeling off her five to six knots per hour with the regularity of a clock; and during the whole of that time, strange to say, we sighted not a single sail. I had been by no means idle during this time, however, as may well be supposed; for every day at noon saw the little hooker a hundred and thirty to a hundred and fifty miles nearer the spot where, if nothing happened in the interim to prevent it, I was to be delivered into the hands of a fiend in human form, whose hatred of me was so intense and vindictive that he had taken a considerable amount of trouble, and put himself to considerable expense, merely to get me into his power and wreak a blood-curdling revenge upon me.

But to tamely submit to be thus handed over to Morillo's tender mercies was the very last thing that I contemplated. I had every reason to believe that the picture drawn by Dominguez of the form which Morillo's revenge would probably take was a tolerably truthful one; and while I was prepared to face death in any form at a moment's notice in the way of duty, I had not the remotest intention of permitting myself to be tortured to death merely to gratify the ferocity of a piratical outlaw, if I could possibly help it. So for the first three or four days I devoted myself wholly to the task of endeavouring to bribe my custodians to forego their intention of handing me over to Morillo, and to land me upon the nearest British territory instead. But I by and by made the discovery that my efforts in this direction were doomed to failure; Dominguez was clearly so profoundly impressed with Morillo's power, and with his tenacious memory for injuries, that the conviction had borne itself in upon him that if he yielded to my persuasions it would be absolutely necessary to his safety, not only to buy over the whole of those engaged upon the business of my abduction, but also to place the whole width of the globe between himself and Morillo; and to execute these little matters satisfactorily would, according to his own calculations, necessitate the disburs.e.m.e.nt on my part of the modest amount of ten thousand pounds sterling, a sum which, as I explained to him over and over again, it was utterly beyond my power to raise. It was not that Dominguez was grasping or avaricious; it was simply that he regarded a certain course of action necessary to his own safety and well-being, in the event of his consenting to yield to my wishes; and as he had no intention of suffering any pecuniary or other loss or damage by so yielding, it appeared to him that the thing could not be done under the sum he had named, and there was the whole matter in a nut- sh.e.l.l. The attempt at bribery having thus resulted in failure, there remained to me but one other alternative, that of a resort to force-- myself against Dominguez and the two men who formed his crew. For, come what would, I was firmly resolved never to suffer myself to be delivered alive into Morillo's hands; if it was my doom to die at the end of this adventure, I would die fighting. So, while feigning to yield to the inexorable force of circ.u.mstances, I began to meditate upon the most promising means whereby to escape from the exceedingly unpleasant dilemma in which I found myself involved; and after giving the whole matter my most careful attention, I came to the conclusion that my simplest plan would be to take--or attempt to take--the felucca from Dominguez and his a.s.sociates, and, having done so, make for the nearest British harbour.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

I SEIZE THE FELUCCA.

Having come to this conclusion, the next thing was to devise a plan of some sort; but upon attempting to do this, I soon discovered that it was wholly impossible, so much depending upon circ.u.mstances over which I had no control whatever, that I might have formed a dozen plans with never a chance to carry any one of them through. The only thing, therefore, was to await an opportunity, and be prepared to seize it the moment that it presented itself. Perhaps the most difficult part of my task was to preserve all through this trying time such a demeanour as would effectually conceal from Dominguez the fact that I was alert and on the watch for something; but I managed it somehow, by leading him to believe that, rather than suffer torture, I had determined to provoke Morillo into killing me outright; a plan of which Dominguez highly approved, while expressing his doubts as to the possibility of its achievement.

In suggesting--as I find I have in the above paragraph--that I had no plan whatever, I have perhaps conveyed a wrong impression; what I intended the reader to understand was that I had no _finished_ scheme, complete in all its details, to depend upon. A plan of a sort I certainly had, but it was of the vaguest and most nebulous kind, consisting in nothing more specific than the mere determination to seize the felucca at the first favourable opportunity, and sail her, single- handed, to the nearest British port; but of _how_ this was to be accomplished I had not the most remote idea. The only point upon which I was at all clear was that it would be inadvisable, for two reasons, to make my attempt too early: my first reason for arriving at this conclusion being that, the longer I deferred action the nearer should we be to Barbadoes, for which island I intended to make; while my second reason was that, should Dominguez perchance suspect me of any sinister design, the longer the delay on my part the less suspicious and watchful would he be likely to become. Fortunately for my purpose, we were making rather a long pa.s.sage of it, the little hooker not being by any means a particularly weatherly craft; consequently our first land-fall-- on our sixth day out--was the curious shoal and accompanying group of rocky islets called Los Roques, or The Roccas, off La Guayra, close to which we hove about and stood to the northward on the starboard tack.

This occurred during the early morning, about an hour after sunrise.

The trade wind was then blowing steadily but moderately, and the weather was, as usual, fine and clear. Toward noon, however, it became noticeable that the wind was very decidedly softening down; and when Dominguez took his meridian observation of the sun, we were not going more than four knots. It was the custom aboard the felucca to dine in the middle of the day, as soon as Dominguez had worked out his calculations, the skipper and I dining first, and then going on deck while Miguel, the mate, took his meal. While Miguel was below Dominguez usually took the tiller, but of late I had occasionally relieved him-- with a vague idea that possibly it might, at some opportune moment, be an advantage for me to be at the helm. And, as it happened, I chanced to be first on deck on this particular day, and, without any premeditation, went aft and relieved Miguel; so that, when a few minutes later Dominguez came on deck, he found me in possession of the tiller, and staring intently at some floating object about a quarter of a mile away, and slightly on our weather bow, that kept rising into view and vanishing again as the long, lazy undulations of the swell swept past it.

"What are you staring at so hard, Senor Courtenay? Do you see anything?" demanded Dominguez, as he sauntered aft toward me from the companion, cigar in mouth.

"Yes," answered I, replying to his last question first, "there is something out there, but what it is I cannot for the life of me make out. There--there it is! You can see it now lifting on the back of the swell, about a point on the weather bow."

"Ay," he answered eagerly, "I see it, and, unless I am greatly mistaken, I know what it is. Keep her away a little, senor, if you please; let her go off a point. I do not want to pa.s.s too close to that object if it be what I imagine."

"And pray what do you imagine it to be, senor, if one may be permitted to ask the question?" inquired I, as I gave a pull upon the tiller rope and kept the felucca away, as requested.

"A turtle! a sleeping turtle, and an unusually fine one, too!" answered Dominguez, in a low voice, as he stood staring out away over the weather bow, with one hand shading his eyes while the other held his smouldering cigar.

As Dominguez spoke a little thrill of sudden excitement swept over me, for I thought, "Just so; I know what he means. He intends to make an effort to capture that turtle,--probably by means of the boat,--and, if he does, my chance will have come!" But I steadied myself instantly, and returned, in a perfectly nonchalant tone of voice--

"And supposing that it be, as you imagine, a sleeping turtle, what then, senor?"

"Hush, senor, I pray you!" replied Dominguez, in a low, excited whisper.

"Keep silence; you will soon see!"

Presently the object lifted into view again, only some ten or a dozen fathoms away; and as it went drifting quietly past, we got so distinct and prolonged a view of it as to render its ident.i.ty unquestionable. It was, as Dominguez had imagined, a sleeping turtle of enormous size.

"Holy Virgin, what a magnificent fellow!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Dominguez, as the creature vanished in the trough on our weather quarter, "we _must_ have him! Senor, if we lower the sail, so that the felucca cannot drift far, will you have any objection to being left by yourself for a few minutes, while Miguel and I and the boy go after that turtle with the boat?" he demanded eagerly.