Asiatic Breezes Part 7

"We don't know; but I think I have as much influence with my mother as she has with me. I hardly believe she could or would make me act the part of a coward."

The subject was dropped there, for it seemed to be exhausted. The night wore away very slowly, and nothing more was seen of the Fatime's lights.

The morning watch came on duty at four o'clock; but the captain did not leave the deck. It was evident to him that the sail had increased the speed of the Maud, and perhaps that was the reason she had run away from the chaser. An hour later, with the dawn of the day, the gale broke.

"Land, ho!" shouted Louis over the forward part of the upper deck, so that Morris could hear him at the wheel; and the captain rushed out of the pilot-house where he had lain down on the divan.

"Where away?" called the first officer.

"Broad on the starboard bow," replied Louis.

"That must be the country south-west of Cape Arnauti," said Scott, after he had examined the sh.o.r.e with the gla.s.s. "Make the course north north-east, Morris," he shouted to the wheelman.

"North north-east!" returned the helmsman.

"There are mountains on this island, some of them nearly seven thousand feet high; and there is a cl.u.s.ter of them close to the sh.o.r.e here,"

added the captain.

It was another hour before they could distinctly make out these mountains; and by that time the end of the cape could be seen on the beam. The speed of the Maud had been reduced one-half, and the course due east was given out. She followed the land around the cape, and was soon in smooth water. With the chart before him at the helm, and with Morris heaving the lead, Captain Scott piloted the Maud to the head of a considerable bay, where he ordered the anchor to be cast loose, and then stopped the screw.

CHAPTER VII

THE BELLIGERENT COMMANDER OF THE MAUD

"Here we are!" shouted Captain Scott, as the cable slid out through the hawse-hole.

"That's so; but where are we?" asked Louis, who had been watching the bottom for the last hour. "There is a big ledge of rocks not twenty feet from the cut.w.a.ter. Here we are; but where are we?"

"We are on the south-west sh.o.r.e of Khrysoko Bay," replied the captain.

"That ledge of rocks is just what I have been looking for the last half-hour."

"Then, I am glad we have found it," added Louis.

"What's the name of the bay, Captain?" inquired Felix, scratching his head.

"Khrysoko," repeated Scott. "It p.r.o.nounces well enough; but when you come to the spelling, that's another affair."

"I could spell that with my eyes shut; for I used to cry so myself when I was a baby. Cry so, with a co on the end of it for a snapper. But I thought that bay was on the coast of Ireland, sou' sou'-west by nor'

nor'-east from the Cove of Cork," added Felix.

"That's the precise bearing of the one you mean, Flix; but this isn't that one at all, at all," said the captain with a long gape.

"Then it must be this one."

"The word is spelled with two k's."

"That's a hard k'se; but where do you get them in?"

The captain spelled the word with another gape, for he had not slept a wink during the night; and Louis advised him to turn in at once.

"Breakfast is all ready in the cabin, sir," said Pitts.

"That will do me more good than a nap," added Scott. "Don, keep a lively lookout on that high cape we came round, and see that it don't walk off while I'm eating my breakfast. Remember, all you fellows, that is Cape Arnauti; and if any of you are naughty, you will get fastened to that rock, as doubtless the chap it was named after was."

"Oh-h-h!" groaned Morris. "You are not sleepy, Captain; a fellow that can make a pun can keep awake."

"I should not need a bra.s.s band to put me to sleep just now; but I shall not take my nap till we have overhauled the situation, and figured up where the pirate may be about this time in the forenoon," replied Scott, as he led the way to the cabin.

As Pitts was waiting on the table, nothing particular was said. Don had his morning meal carried to him on the forecastle, where Felipe joined him. He kept his eye fixed on the cape all the time, as though he expected to see the Fatime double it. He knew nothing at all about the real situation, though he could not help seeing that the Maud was trying to keep clear of the Moorish steamer; and he was in full sympathy with this idea.

The larder of the little steamer had been filled up at Alexandria, and Pitts had prepared one of his best breakfasts. The party were in high spirits; for the little Maud had run away from the pirate, though of course there were other chapters to the narrative.

"As soon as we get the situation a little more settled, and you fellows get your eyes braced wide open, one of you must tackle the island of Cyprus, and get up a lecture on it; for the commander desired that we should learn something about the place," said the captain.

"I move you, Mr. Commander, that Mr. Louis Belgrave be invited to prepare and deliver the lecture," interposed Morris; and the motion was put and carried.

"I have no objection; and my own curiosity would have prompted me to do so without any invitation; but I thank you for the honor you confer on me in the selection," replied Louis; and the company adjourned to the forecastle.

"Well, Don, have you seen anything of the Moorish craft?" asked the captain.

"Not a sign, sir," replied the engineer. "If she is looking for the Maud, I don't believe she will find her in here very soon."

"I don't believe this is just the place to hold a consultation on a delicate subject," said Louis, as he pointed to the scuttle which had been removed from its place by Felipe. "I think we shall do better on the hurricane deck."

As this afforded a better place to observe the surroundings, and especially the approaches from the sea, the captain a.s.sented to it, and the "Big Four" repaired to the upper deck. They seated themselves in the little tender of the Maud, and all of them looked out in the direction of the cape, from beyond which the pirate was expected to put in an appearance.

"Our present situation is the subject before the house," the captain began. "We have made the bay for which I shaped the course of the Maud as soon as the gale began to make things sloppy. This is a mountainous island, with nothing like a harbor on the west coast between Cape Gata and Cape Arnauti. There are from twelve to twenty fathoms of water in this bay, within a mile of the sh.o.r.e; and the rocks close aboard of us reach out a mile and a half, with from ten to twelve feet of water on them. There is no town within ten miles of the sh.o.r.e, and we are not likely to see any natives, unless some of them come to this bay to fish.

That's where we are."

"We should like to have you tell us now where the Fatty is," added Morris.

"Or the Guardian-Mother," said Louis.

"I am sorry to say that I can't tell you where either of these vessels is; and I am as anxious to know as any of you can be," replied Scott, as he took a paper from his pocket. "I have followed the orders of Captain Ringgold, just as he wrote them down: 'Proceed to Cape Gata; but if it should blow heavily from the southward, go to the north side of the island, and get in behind Cape Arnauti.' And here we are."

Felix was seated where he could see that much more was written on the paper which the captain did not choose to read. But he had the right to keep his own council, and the Milesian asked no questions.

"Here we are--what next?" added Louis.

"That depends," replied Scott. "The commander of the Guardian-Mother knows where we are, though he may have to look in at the harbor of Limasol to see if the Maud is there. When he comes I shall have nothing further to say."

"Don't you expect to see the Fatty before the ship comes?"

"It is quite impossible to form any idea what has become of the pirate.

Perhaps she is looking for the Maud; and if she is she will probably find her. I think this is about as far as we can go now; and, if you will excuse me, I will turn in and get my nap," said the captain as he rose from his seat.