Hunting the Skipper Part 26

"But war when it is a necessity ought to be carried on in as humane a fashion as is possible."

"With people like this? Bah! Why, if they once get aboard they will spear us to a man, or batter our heads with their war clubs."

"They would if they could," said Murray quietly.

"They will, I tell you," said Roberts excitedly.

"No, they will not, old chap, for the skipper won't let them."

"Oh, you!" exclaimed Roberts, who stamped one foot down upon the deck in his excitement. "Why, you are as foolish as our officers."

"Speak gently, or some one will be hearing you," said Murray quietly.

"I want some one to hear me!" exclaimed the lad. "We are giving all our chances away."

"That we are not! I've been trying to calculate how we shall stand for distance when the _Seafowl_ glides off on the other tack."

"So have I," cried Roberts furiously, "and it will be with the crews of two of those war canoes on board spearing and stabbing us."

"Indeed!" said Murray, in quite a drawl. "That doesn't agree with my calculation. I make it that they will be about fifty yards astern, and beyond spear-throwing distance."

"And I tell you that you are all wrong, Frank."

"Well, one of us is, old chap, for certain."

"You!" said Roberts emphatically. "No, I think not, old fellow. You see, too, that I have the skipper's opinion on my side."

"The skipper's opinion isn't worth a pinch of powder. He's a crack-brained lunatic. Here, what do you mean by that?"

"Only to turn my hand into a tompion to stop your fiery, foolish words, old fellow," replied Murray. "You'd look nice if any one carried your remarks to the captain."

"I'm only doing my duty, sir, and am trying to save our ship from the attack of these savages who are bearing down upon us."

"And setting your knowledge of navigation and the management of the _Seafowl_ above that of the captain."

"I tell you I have lost faith in the skipper."

"Of the lieutenant--"

"He does not see our peril."

"And the wisdom of our old and experienced warrant officers," continued Murray.

"There," said the midshipman, "look at that! Not a shot fired, and those two leading canoes abreast of us. There'll be a ma.s.sacre directly."

"Bravo!" whispered Murray excitedly. "Wonderfully done! You miserable old croaker, wasn't that splendid?"

A minute before, the lad who had remained cool and self-contained during what seemed to be a perilous time, had watched without comprehending the action of the forward guns' crews, who, in obedience to the orders given by the first lieutenant, seized upon the capstan bars and stood ready to starboard and port, waiting for something antic.i.p.ated.

Then as the _Seafowl_ answered to her helm and Roberts was turning frantic with excitement as he felt that the savages were bound to be aboard directly, the sloop careened over from the force of the breeze when her course was altered, there was a dull crashing sound and her stem cut one long war canoe in two amidships, leaving the halves gliding alongside in company with some fifty or sixty struggling and swimming naked savages, some of whom began to climb aboard by the stays, others by the fore chains; but as each fierce black head rose into sight, there was a tap given by a well-wielded capstan bar, and black after black dropped back into the water, to glide astern, stunned or struggling, to be picked up by his companions in the second boat, which was being overtaken by others, bristling with spears, while the vessel was a cable's length ahead and steadily increasing its speed.

"Now then, d.i.c.k, what about my calculation?" said Murray, giving his companion a poke in the side. "Pretty near, wasn't I?"

"Humph! Luck--chance," grumbled Roberts ill-humouredly.

"Of course! But wasn't the captain right?"

"No; he ought to have given the savage wretches another lesson."

"A bloodthirsty one," said Murray. "Pooh! Don't be such a savage, d.i.c.k."

"I'm not, sir," retorted the midshipman angrily. "What are our weapons of war for unless to use?"

"Oh yes; of course, when they are wanted. If I were a captain I shouldn't shrink for a minute about firing broadsides and sinking our enemies in times of necessity, any more than I should have minded burning out such a hornets' nest as that yonder; but the captain was quite right over this business. Look at the wretched creatures, regularly defeated."

"They've been allowed to escape, sir," said Roberts haughtily, "and I feel ashamed of our commander."

"I don't," said Murray, laughing. "I think he's a peculiar eccentric fellow, ready to say all kinds of unnecessary things; but he's as brave as a lion--braver, for I believe lions are precious cowards sometimes."

"Pooh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Roberts.

"And the more I know of him the better I like him."

"And I like him the less, and I shall never rest till I can get an exchange into another ship."

"I don't believe you," said Murray, laughing merrily.

"You don't! Why--"

"Pst! The skipper," whispered Murray.

For the captain had approached the two midshipmen, his spy-gla.s.s under his arm and his face puckered up with a good-humoured smile.

"Laughing at it, eh?" he said. "That was a novel evolution of war, young gentlemen, such as you never saw before, I'll be bound. There; we might have shattered up the n.o.ble black king's fleet and left the river red with what we did and the sharks continued afterwards, but my plan and the master's conning of the vessel answered all purposes, and left my powder magazine untouched ready for the time when we shall be straining every nerve, gentlemen, to overtake that Yankee's schooner.

That's what we have to do, Mr Roberts; eh, Mr Murray?"

"Yes, sir; and the sooner the better," replied the latter.

"The sooner the better? Yes," said the captain, nodding; "and if we have to sink her that will be work more worthy for our metal. But patience, patience. Yes; for sailors like better work than sinking a few savage canoes. But, as I said, patience. You hot-blooded boys are always in such a hurry. All in good time. I'm not going to rest till I have got hold of my smooth, smiling Yankee, and I promise you a treat-- some real fighting with his crew of brutal hounds. I'll sink his schooner, or lay the _Seafowl_ alongside, and then--it will be risky but glorious, and you boys shall both of you, if you like, join the boarders. What do you say to that?"

The captain did not wait for an answer, but tucked his telescope more closely under his arm and marched aft, to stand gazing over the stern rail at the last of the war canoes, which disappeared directly in one of the river bends, while the sloop glided rapidly on towards the muddy river's mouth.

"Well, d.i.c.k, how do you feel now?" said Murray, smiling.

Roberts knit his brows into a fierce frown as if ready to resent any remark his messmate might make. But the genial, open, frank look which met his disarmed him of all annoyance, and he cleared his throat with a cough.

"Oh, I don't agree with him about the treatment of those blacks," he said. "There's a want of stern, n.o.ble justice about his running down that canoe."