Asiatic Breezes Part 8

"That is the right thing to do," added Louis.

"You will all keep a sharp lookout to seaward, and call me as soon as either vessel heaves in sight."

The captain went to the cabin, and in two minutes he was sound asleep.

The rest of the ship's company had obtained about one-half of their usual slumber, and they were not inclined to follow the example of the captain. Louis went to the cabin and proceeded to study up the island.

He made notes in a little blank-book he kept for the purpose in his pocket, and he had already filled a dozen such books; for they contained a full diary of all the events of the voyage for over a year.

Felix kept his spy-gla.s.s in his hand all the time, and every few minutes he swept the horizon to the northward with it. Morris had gone to sleep in the pilot-house, for his watch was not on duty. At about six bells in the forenoon watch the Milesian began to show more sign of animation than before. He held his gla.s.s in range with the cape, and directed his attention steadily in that direction.

If he had been fishing, he would have said that he "had a bite." It was clear that he saw something in the distance, which was hardly more than a speck on the ocean; but there was also a thread of black smoke on the sky above it, for it had cleared off since sunrise. Of course it was a steamer; but whether it was the Fatime or the Guardian-Mother, or neither of them, he could not determine, and he did not wish to disturb the captain for nothing.

He continued to watch the appearance for half an hour longer, and then he struck seven bells. In that time the steamer could be seen more distinctly, though she was still five or six miles distant. He was satisfied from his reasoning that the vessel was approaching the cape.

The craft looked smaller than the ship, and in another quarter of an hour he was convinced that she was the pirate. Then he hastened to the cabin, and announced the news to the captain, and Louis heard him.

"Are you sure it is the pirate, Flix?" demanded Captain Scott, as he sprang from his bed and looked eagerly into the face of the messenger.

"Not absolutely sure; only reasonably confident," replied Felix, as he followed the captain to the forecastle.

Scott examined the distant sail with the gla.s.s for a little time, and Louis did the same with another. Morris was aroused by the voices, and rushed out with his field-gla.s.s.

"That's the pirate!" exclaimed the captain; and the others had waited for him to express his opinion.

"If my mother should step on deck and tell me so, I shouldn't know it any better," added Felix; and Louis and Morris were equally sure of the fact.

"Go to the engine-room, Morris, and tell Felipe to stir up his fires,"

said the captain, who had suddenly become a ma.s.s of vim and activity.

"Then call all hands."

Scott observed the approaching steamer with his gla.s.s till she was within three miles of the Maud. Morris had been ordered to set the American flag, and it was now floating in the light breeze at the ensign staff.

"Now all hands will come with me," continued the captain; and all but Felipe followed him to the cabin.

His first movement was to throw off the cushions from the divan on the port side, and raise the lid of the transom. From this place he took out a breech-loading rifle, one of half a dozen deposited there three months or more before. They had been in service in the famous attack of the Samothraki on the Maud in Pournea Bay, and had never been removed. No one asked any questions; and the captain ordered them to be conveyed to the pilot-house and engine-room, where they would be available for immediate use. A supply of cartridges was also sent forward, and those who had revolvers were instructed to put them in their pockets.

All these orders were promptly obeyed, and the situation began to look decidedly warlike. Louis could not help asking himself whether or not Captain Scott was not proceeding too rapidly. But the belligerent chief had Captain Ringgold's written orders in his pocket, and there was no room for a protest. Everything appeared to be ready to give the pirate a warm reception, and nothing more could be done.

The Moorish steamer was feeling her way into the bay very slowly, sounding all the time. The Maud was anch.o.r.ed in fourteen feet of water, which placed her keel very near the rocky bottom, and with no greater depth for a cable's length outside of her. Scott had chosen the position of the little steamer so that the Fatime could not come alongside of her, or within a cable's length of her, which is one-fifth of a nautical mile.

"I think we are all right now, Louis," said Captain Scott when he had completed his preparations.

"It looks as though you meant to fight the pirate," added Louis.

"Not if it can be avoided; but I do not intend to let Mazagan take any one of my people out of the Maud; and all hands will shoot before anything of that kind can happen," replied Scott very mildly, and with no excitement in his manner; for he had studied the bearing of his model, and tried to imitate him.

"Do you expect Mazagan will resort to violence, Captain Scott?"

"That is an odd question, Louis," answered Scott, laughing heartily, perhaps as much to manifest his coolness as to treat the question lightly. "Excuse me, Louis, but you make me smile. Do I expect Mazagan to resort to violence? For what did he visit Pournea Bay? Did he resort to violence when he caught you in that shop in the Muski? Did he resort to violence when his a.s.sistants attempted to capture you and Miss Blanche in Zante? What do you suppose he followed the Maud up here for, Louis?"

"Perhaps to induce me to pay him twenty thousand dollars to let up on Miss Blanche and myself," replied Louis, overwhelmed by the argument.

"Are you ready to pay him?"

"Never!"

"Then he will resort to some other means to accomplish his purpose in coming to Cyprus. Do you wish me to surrender the Maud to him?" asked the captain.

"Certainly not."

The Fatime let go her anchor as near the Maud as the depth of water would permit her to come.

CHAPTER VIII

THE LECTURE ON THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS

Captain Scott was ready to do anything the occasion might require.

Possibly he would not have been sorry to come into collision with Captain Mazagan and his piratical craft, judging from what he had said to Louis Belgrave, and he had pluck enough to precipitate a conflict with the enemy; but sometimes it requires more courage to keep out of a fight than to plunge into one.

As he had admitted himself, Louis was his model; and he felt that no rashness, no braggadocio, no challenging, no casting down the gage of battle to the pirate who had already outlawed himself, no holding out of a temptation to cross swords with him, would be justified or palliated when he came to render an account of his conduct in what was yet to occur to the commander of the Guardian-Mother.

Whatever he did he was to do strictly in self-defence. The character of Captain Ringgold and of Louis would permit nothing more than this. The "Big Four" fully understood why the Fatime was there. It was true that the Maud had held out the temptation for her to follow her; but it was as a man with a gold watch and plenty of money in his purse holds out a temptation to the robber; but it does not follow that he should throw away his valuables.

But the plan suggested by Scott and adopted by the commander had not worked as had been expected. The Guardian-Mother ought to be there in the bay, or somewhere in the vicinity; but nothing had been seen of her, and no one knew what had become of her. According to the plan, the two steamers were to find a way to escape from the pirate, and Scott had marked out the manner in which it was to be done. The gale and the non-appearance of the ship had upset the plan, though the Maud had carried out her portion of the programme.

"What next, Captain Scott?" asked Louis.

"Wait," replied the captain.

"Wait for what?"

"I don't know," replied Scott, shaking his head. "Wait for whatever is to come."

"But what is to come?" asked Louis, who still had a fear that the captain would resort to some fool-hardy expedient.

"You know just as much about this affair as I do, Louis, and you may be a better prophet than I am. It is not a question of navigation just now, or I should be willing to take the entire responsibility. Of course the handling of the Maud is an important element in getting out of the sc.r.a.pe, whatever it may prove to be. I have somewhere seen a picture of a good-looking gentleman playing chess with an individual provided with horns, hoofs, and a caudal appendage. But in this game the mortal appeared to have the best of it, and he says to the infernal power, 'Your next move.'"

"And that is what you say to the representative of the same infernal majesty in Khrysoko Bay," interposed Louis, rather pleased with the ill.u.s.tration, especially in its application to Captain Mazagan.

"Precisely so; it is the pirate's move, and I shall not do a thing till he makes it," added Captain Scott. "What Mazagan will do, or how he will do it, I have no more idea than you have, Louis. That is where we stand.

I am willing to listen to any advice that you wish to give me."

"I have no wish to give any advice," replied Louis; and by this time he was entirely satisfied with the position Scott had taken, and he approved everything he had done.

At this point Pitts announced that dinner was ready, and Scott led the way to the cabin. The ledge of rocks appeared to cover at least half an acre of the bottom of the bay. The Maud had anch.o.r.ed abreast of the rock, in two fathoms of water. It was just about high tide when she came in, as the captain had learned from his nautical almanac, and the ebb placed the craft broadside to the Moorish steamer, so that the "Big Four" could see her out the cabin windows.