In Greek Waters Part 23

"I see it, Baldock."

"I believe it is the schooner's gaff top-sail, sir; it is too narrow for a square sail."

"I think you are right, Baldock. It might be the peak of one of the native lateen sails, but I think it is too far away for that. It is about the direction we might expect the schooner to come from. She was more to the north-west when we saw her last, but to get round the Turks she would have to bear either one way or the other, and if she ran to the south that is just about where she would be on her way back. Hullo! that was a near shave; we had better get off this, Baldock."

"Are you hit, sir?"

"Yes, but I don't think it is of any consequence; it is in the arm, but as I can move it all right, it is only through the flesh."

Half a dozen guns had flashed out in reply to the shot, which had been fired from a distance of less than a hundred yards, the man having crept through the bushes unseen. Martyn's coat was taken off and his arm bandaged at once.

"It is rather foolish to expose yourself like that, Captain Martyn,"

Mr. Beveridge said as he came up. "Your life is too valuable to us all to be risked in that way."

"It was rather foolish," Martyn laughed; "but I thought the fellows were out of range, and did not give them credit for enterprise. Anyhow there is no great harm done. I think we have made out the schooner, sir, and it is worth getting a ball through one's arm to know that she is on her way back."

"Do you feel sure it is her?"

"Well, I can say that it is not a square top-sail; that is certain, and it must either be her gaff top-sail or the peak of a lateen sail of one of these native craft; but I think it is the schooner. If it is, we sha'n't be long before we can make out her fore-top gallant-sail. No native craft carries a lateen and anything like a square sail."

"If it is the schooner, how far is she off, do you think?"

"Five-and-twenty miles, I should say. There is not much breeze, but that is all the better, for she will be slipping along now at least two knots to the Turks' one, while in a strong breeze she would not go more than five to their four. It is five o'clock now, and though we can't feel any wind here, I expect she is making five or six knots an hour. Anyhow she ought to be here between ten and twelve."

A quarter of an hour later Baldock said: "May I take another squint from the look-out, sir?"

"Yes, but don't stand there long, Baldock. I expect that fellow has moved off again if he was not hit by any of our shots. Still it is as well not to give him another chance."

Baldock stood on the rock shading his eyes from the light of the western sun, which was now getting near the horizon. For a minute or two he stood uncertain, and then said:

"It is the schooner, sir, sure enough. I can just make out a black line below the sail; that must be her fore-top gallant-sail just showing."

A cheer broke from the sailors lying along the shelter of the screen of bushes.

"That is good news, Baldock," Martyn said. "Come down now; another half-hour will settle it anyhow, and there will be light enough till then."

The next observation settled the question. It was certainly a square sail underneath the sharp peak of a gaff top-sail. The joy of the Greeks was extreme when they heard that the vessel that was to carry them away was in sight.

"The schooner will be in a nice mess," Martyn grumbled to Tarleton.

"With what there are on board now, and all these, there will be something like six hundred of them; a nice cargo that."

"There is one thing," Horace laughed, "I expect she has carried as many before."

"Yes, I daresay she has taken six hundred slaves, but we can't pack these Greeks as they pack slaves. There will be no moving on board, and as to fighting the guns if we fall in with a Turk, it will be well-nigh impossible. Why, she will be as deep in the water as she was when we sailed out of Plymouth. What is the weight of them all, Horace, do you suppose?"

"Not very great, Captain Martyn. I don't suppose there are a dozen of the men weigh over ten stone. I suppose the women average seven, and the children, counting babies, say four. As there are as many children as there are men, that would make the average seven stone all round, but even if you said eight stone, which is a hundredweight, and they are certainly not that, or anything near it, that would make thirty tons, and it won't be over that if you throw in all the bundles. You calculated that you got fifty tons out of her hold."

"Oh, well, that is not so bad. If it comes on to blow we will make shifting ballast of them, and pack them all up to windward on both decks; that ought to make her as stiff as a church. It will be a big job getting them all on board tonight. There is one thing, I don't suppose the Turks have made her out. Of course they don't know that we are expecting a vessel, or anything about her rig. We must make a fire down on the sh.o.r.e as soon as it gets dark, and keep a sharp look-out for her, putting the fire out as soon as she is near enough for the light to begin to show on her sails. Then we will open fire all along the line as if we thought we heard them creeping up towards us, and that will cover the rattling of the anchor chain. I will hail Miller to m.u.f.fle the oars, and in that way we may manage to get most of them on board at any rate before the Turks have an idea of what is going on. By firing an occasional shot we shall keep their attention fixed, and gradually withdraw from the line as we did from that place we held up there."

CHAPTER X

A DARING EXPLOIT

Soon after nine o'clock Will Martyn took his post on the sh.o.r.e at the northern end of the position. A dropping fire was kept up all round the semicircle, as if the defenders feared that the a.s.sailants might be trying to crawl up towards them. Martyn continued to listen intently for half an hour, then he thought he heard a sound on the water. In another minute or two he could make out the sound of voices.

"Miller has got his head screwed on the right way," he said to himself. "He is showing no lights." Another five minutes and he could dimly make out the outline of the schooner.

"_Misericordia_ ahoy!" he shouted.

"Ay, ay," came across the water.

"I am going to put out the fire so that the light won't show on your sails, and in a minute or two I am going to open fire heavily to cover the rattle of the chains. Directly you hear us begin let go the anchor; don't answer."

Horace was standing by the fire, and he at once scattered the brands and threw sand over them. Martyn ran up to the front of the position and shouted, "Open fire!" and the rattle of musketry broke out all round the screen. The Turks, surprised at the sudden din, and fearing that a sortie was going to be made, replied briskly, and for four or five minutes the fire was maintained. Horace down on the sh.o.r.e heard the rattle of the anchor chain and the creaking of the blocks, followed shortly by the sound of the tackle as the boats were lowered.

"Please m.u.f.fle the oars, Mr. Miller!" he shouted, and the answering hail came across the water. Twelve of the sailors came down from their posts to a.s.sist with the boats, and in three or four minutes there was a slight splash of oars, and the four boats of the schooner ran gently ash.o.r.e.

"All well, I hope?" Tom Burdett asked as he jumped out.

"All well, Tom, with the exception of about half a dozen slightly wounded."

"Thank G.o.d!" the boatswain said. "I tell you we felt mighty sore at having to run away and leave you just at daybreak this morning, and you can't tell how glad we were when we caught sight of the fire first and then made out the popping of the guns. Have you got the Greeks out, Mr. Horace?"

"Yes, there are over five hundred of them here."

"My eye!" the sailor said, "that is something like a cargo."

"I have got twelve men here, Tom. That will give you four and a helmsman to each boat with what you have got. Has Marco come ash.o.r.e with you?"

"Yes, Mr. Horace. I thought I might be useful if you had got the Christians with you."

"Yes, that is what I wanted you for, Marco. Now, then," he said to the women who were cl.u.s.tered behind him, "take your places in the boats.

Help them in, lads; there are lots of children among them. You need not be afraid of packing them closely so long as you leave yourselves room to row, for there is not a ripple on the water. Father, would you mind going off with the first lot?" he said as Mr. Beveridge came up.

"Marco has come ash.o.r.e to help here, and Mr. Miller does not talk their language. If you take Zaimes with you he can help settle them down as they come on board. Mind, lads, you are to make as little noise as you can. There are six hundred of those Turks lying round us, and if they got a notion of what was going on they would be coming on us like a pack of wolves, and in the dark they would be among us before we knew that they were coming, and your first boatload would be your last. Impress upon the Greeks, father, when they get on board, that not a word must be spoken."

"Mr. Miller will see to that, sir, no doubt," the boatswain said. "He has got the whole lot of them down between decks, and he and Bill Sc.o.o.ns have got the deck to themselves."

The women and children were crowded into the boats, which were first backed stern on sh.o.r.e to allow them to enter. The sailors lifted the children, and wading into the water put them in. The smaller boats pushed off as soon as they were filled, and they were back again just after the two larger ones started. The schooner was but a hundred yards away, and so quickly did the work go on that in little more than a quarter of an hour the last batch of women and children left the sh.o.r.e. Horace directed Marco to see that the wounded were carefully lifted into the next boat, and to go on board with them; he then ran up to Martyn. The continuous fire had ceased now, but dropping shots were kept up all round the position.

"The last batch has gone on board, Captain Martyn," he reported.

"Thank G.o.d for that, Horace! That is a load off one's mind. It is a smart piece of work to have got them on board so soon. I did not expect you for some time yet. I have been listening sharply. Of course I heard sounds, but even here they were faint, while the Turks, being twice as far away, can hardly have heard them, and if they did would not have made them out, knowing nothing of what is going on. Now do you and Tarleton go off, one each way, and send every third man down to the boats; but if the third man is a sailor send the next Greek to him. When you get down to the sh.o.r.e go along to the boats and see the men off. As soon as they are in the boats start back again, sending the rest of the Greeks down to the sh.o.r.e. Then when you join me here I shall know that there are only our own men to draw off. Tell them all to keep up a pretty sharp fire when the Greeks have left."

In a very few minutes they were beside him again. "The boats took the first batch off in one trip, sir," Tarleton reported, "and they will be back again by the time the last fellows we have sent down get to the sh.o.r.e."