Gascoyne, the Sandal-Wood Trader Part 28

"yours til deth.

"SUSAN.

"P.S. the piggs is quite livly but ther not so hansum heer as in the owld country. Don't forgit to rite to your susan."

No one can conceive the indignation that swelled the broad chest of honest John b.u.mpus when he listened to the laughter with which some parts of this letter were received.

"Now," said Dan, "could any man want better proof than this that John b.u.mpus _is not_ a pirate?"

This question was answered by a perfect yell from the crowd.

"Set him free; cut his cords!" cried a voice.

"Stop, friends," cried a big coa.r.s.e-looking man, leaping on the table and jostling Dan out of the way. "Not quite so fast. I don't pretend to be a learned feller, and I can't make a speech with a b.u.t.tery tongue like Dan here. But wot I've got to say is--Justice for ever!"

"Hurrah!" from some of the wild spirits of the crowd. "Go on, Burke,"

from others.

"Yes, wot I say is--Justice for ever! Fair play an' no favour: _That's_ wot I say!"

Another cheer greeted the bold a.s.sertion of these n.o.ble sentiments.

"Now, here it is," continued Burke, becoming much excited, "wot's to hinder that there letter bein' a forgery?--ay, that's the word, a forgery? (Hear! hear!) got up a-purpose to bamboozle us chaps that ain't lawyers. D'ye see?"

Burke glanced at Dan and smote his thigh triumphantly as he said this.

"It does not _look_ like a forgery," said Dan, holding up the letter and pointing to the writing. "I leave it to yourselves to say if it _sounds_ like a forgery--"

"I don't care a farthin' dip for yer _looks_ and _sounds_," cried Burke, interrupting the other. "No man is goin' for to tell me that anybody can trust to _looks_ and _sounds_. Why, I've know'd the greatest villain that ever chewed the end of a smuggled cigar _look_ as innocent as the babe unborn. An' is there a man here wot'll tell me he hasn't often an' over again mistook the crack of a big gun for a clap o'

thunder?"

This was received with much approval by the crowd, which had evidently more than half-forgotten the terrible purpose for which it had a.s.sembled there, and was now much interested in what bid fair to be a keen dispute. When the noise abated, Dan raised his voice and said--"If Burke had not interrupted me, I was going to have said that another thing which proves the letter to be no forgery is, that the post-mark of San Francisco is on the back of it, with the date all right."

This statement delighted the crowd immensely, and caused Burke to look disconcerted for a few seconds; he rallied, however, and returned to the charge.

"Post-marks! wot do I care for post-marks? Can't a man forge a post-mark as easy as any other mark?"

"Ah! that's true," from a voice in the crowd.

"No, not so easily as _any_ other mark," retorted Dan, "for it's made with a kind of ink that's not sold in shops. Everything goes to prove that the letter is no forgery. But, Mr Burke, will you answer me this--if it _was_ a forgery, got up for the purpose of saving this man's life, _at what time was it forged_? for b.u.mpus could not know that he would ever need such a letter until yesterday afternoon, and between that time and this there was but little time to forge a letter from San Francisco, post-mark and all, and make it soiled and worn at the edges like an old letter. (`Hear!' and sensation.) More than that," cried Dan, waxing eager and earnest, "if it was a forgery, got up for this purpose, _why was it not produced at the trial_? (`Hear! hear!' and cheers!) And, last of all, why, if this forgery was so important to him, did John b.u.mpus forget all about it until he stood on this table; ay, _until the rope was round his neck_?"

A perfect storm of cheers and applause followed this last sentence, in the midst of which there were cries of "You're floored, Burke! Hurrah for b.u.mpus! Cut the ropes!"

But although John's life was now safe, his indignation at Susan's letter having been laughed at was not altogether allayed.

"I'll tell ye wot it is," said he, the instant there was a lull in the uproar of voices. "If you think that I'll stand here and see my Susan's letter insulted before my eyes, you're very far out o' your reckoning.

Just cut them ropes an put any two o' ye'r biggest men, black or white, before _me_, an' if I don't shew them a lot o' new stars as hasn't been seed in no sky wotiver since Adam was a little boy, my name's--"

Up to this point Jo was heard, but the conclusion of his defiance was drowned in roars of laughter.

"Cut the ropes," shouted the crowd.

Dan drew a clasp-knife from his pocket, and with one stroke set b.u.mpus free.

"Shoulder high," yelled a voice; "hurrah!"

A wild rush was made at the table. Jo's executioners were overturned and trampled under foot, and the table, with himself and his young advocate sprawling on it, was raised on the shoulders of the crowd and borne off in triumph.

Half-an-hour later, b.u.mpus was set down at the widow's door. Mrs Stuart received him with a scream of surprise and joy, for she had given him up as a lost man.

"Now, then, Mrs Stuart," said Jo, throwing himself on a chair and wiping the perspiration from his forehead, "don't make such a fuss about me, like a good creetur. But do get me a bit o' bacon, and let's be thankful that I'm here to eat it. Cut it fat, Mrs Stuart; cut it fat; for it's wonderful wot a appet.i.te I've got after such a mornin's work as I've gone through. Well, well, after all that yer friends have said of ye, Jo b.u.mpus, I do believe that yer _not_ born to be hanged?"

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

THE RENDEZVOUS--AN EPISODE--PECULIAR CIRc.u.mSTANCES--AND OTHER MATTERS.

About five or six days' sail from the scene of our tale there lies one of those small rocks or islets with which the breast of the Pacific is in many places thickly studded.

It is a lonely coral isle, far removed from any of its fellows, and presenting none of those grand features which characterise the island on which the settlement of Sandy Cove was situated. In no part does it rise more than thirty feet above the level of the sea; in most places it is little more than a few feet above it. The coral reefs around it are numerous; and as many of them rise to within a few feet of the surface, the navigation in its neighbourhood is dangerous in the extreme.

At the time of which we write, the vegetation of the isle was not very luxuriant. Only a few cl.u.s.ters of cocoa-nut palms grew here and there over its otherwise barren surface. In this respect it did not resemble most of the other islands of the Pacific. Owing partly to its being out of the usual course of ships, and partly to the dangerous reefs already referred to, the spot was never approached by vessels, or, if a ship happened to be driven towards it, she got out of its way as speedily as possible.

This was the rendezvous of the pirates, and was named by them the Isle of Palms.

Here, in caverns hollowed out of the coral rock, Gascoyne had been wont to secrete such goods and stores as were necessary for the maintenance of his piratical course of life, and to this lone spot did Manton convey his prisoners after getting rid of his former commander. Towards this spot, also, did Gascoyne turn the prow of the cutter _Wasp_ in pursuit of his mutinous first mate.

Manton, for reasons best known to himself, (certainly not from goodness of heart,) was kind to his captives to the extent of simply letting them alone. He declined to hold any intercourse whatever with Captain Montague, and forbade him to speak with the men upon pain of being confined to his berth. The young people were allowed to do as they pleased, so long as they kept out of the way.

On reaching the Isle of Palms the pirates at once proceeded to take in those stores of which they stood in need. The harbour into which the schooner ran was a narrow bay, on the sh.o.r.es of which the palm trees grew sufficiently high to prevent her masts from being seen from the other side of the island. Here the captives were landed, but as Manton did not wish them to witness his proceedings, he sent them across the islet under the escort of a party who conveyed them to the sh.o.r.es of a small bay. On the rocks in this bay lay the wreck of what once had been a n.o.ble ship. It was now completely dismantled. Her hull was stove in by the rocks. Her masts and yards were gone, with the exception of their stumps and the lower part of the main-mast, to which the main-yard still hung with a ragged portion of the mainsail attached to it.

A feeling of depression filled the breast of Montague and his companions as they came in sight of this wreck, and the former attempted to obtain some information in regard to her from his conductors, but they sternly bade him ask no questions. Some time afterwards he heard the story of this vessel's fate. We shall record it here.

Not many months prior to the date of our tale, the _Avenger_ happened to have occasion to run down to the Isle of Palms. Gascoyne was absent at the time. He had been landed at Sandy Cove, and had ordered Manton to go to the rendezvous for supplies. On nearing the isle a storm arose.

The wind was fair, however, and the schooner ran for her destination under close reefed sails. Just before reaching it they fell in with a large full-rigged ship, which, on sighting the schooner, ran up her flag half-mast high as a signal of distress. She had sprung a leak and was sinking.

Had the weather been calmer the pirates would have at once boarded the vessel and carried her as a prize into the harbour, but the sea ran so high that this was impossible. Manton therefore ran down as close to the side of the merchantman, (for such she seemed to be,) as enabled him to hail her through the speaking trumpet. When sufficiently near he demanded her name and destination.

"The _Brilliant_, from Liverpool, bound for the Sandwich Islands. And you?"

"The _Foam_--from the Feejees--for Calcutta. What's wrong with you?"

"Sprung a leak; is there anchorage in the bay?" sang out the captain of the merchantman.

"No, it's too shoal for a big ship. Bear away round to the other side of the island. You'll find good holding ground there--I will shew you the way."

The pirate accordingly conducted the unsuspecting stranger away from the only safe harbour in the island, and led him through a complete labyrinth of reefs and rocks to the bay on the other side, in which he knew full well there was scarcely enough of water to float his own little schooner.