Marmaduke Merry Part 16

We rushed towards the spot where poor Billy had last been seen. There was a considerable commotion in the water. Now a leg, now an arm appeared. We ran on. Two of the men who had accompanied us dashed into the sea, as we also did, and we all made our way up to the spot just as poor Billy had disappeared under the water. We could see his limbs, however, and, seizing hold of him, we all dragged away and brought him to the surface. The cause of his disappearance was explained. Round his right leg and arm, and indeed his neck, were entwined the long tentaculae or arms of what I fancy was a huge squid. To clear him of the horrible ma.s.s seemed impossible. Indeed it appeared as if the poor fellow was already dead. We shouted for the rest of the men, and with their a.s.sistance we dragged Billy and the creature into shallow water.

The monster would not let go, and we all set to work with our knives to cut it away arm by arm, and feeler by feeler. Till this was done, there was evidently no chance of our being able to restore animation. As it was, there seemed to be very little prospect of reviving the poor fellow. At length, however, we got him clear of the horrible ma.s.s, which dropped into the sea, and none of us were inclined to stop and examine it. I never have been quite certain what it really was. The sand was hot enough to hatch a turtle's egg, so we laid Billy down on it and set to work to rub him all over his body. After a time an eyelid moved, and then his limbs began to twitch, and that encouraged us to rub harder and harder, till at length, to my infinite relief, he breathed, and, getting rid of some of the salt water he had swallowed, he sat up and stared round him, exclaiming, "Hallo, mates, have you caught the big fish? I thought as how I'd a grip of him myself." Billy never heard the end of his big fish. When he attempted to put on his clothes, he complained that he was stung all over, and so the men carried him just as he was to the boat. They had, however, no little difficulty in keeping him there, for when his. .h.i.therto impeded circulation was completely restored, the stinging sensation increased, and made him feel that only a plunge in the sea would cure him. This event had delayed us considerably. We ought to have taken our departure from the island even before Billy had begun to bathe, and so, when I looked at my watch, I found that we were two hours at least behind our time. At last we shoved off, but where the frigate was we could not tell. Grey thought that she must have drifted round to the other side of the island. We had been directed to keep a look-out for her, but had neglected to do so. Then it became a question to which side she had drifted. To ascertain, we lay on our oars, and found a current running to the east, and so decided that she must have gone in that direction. We now pulled merrily along, sure of soon falling in with her. Billy Wise was the only unhappy one of the party. He could not tell what was going to happen to him, till the men told him he must have fallen into a hedge of sea-nettles, and that he would soon get well again. This comforted him considerably, and so he consented to put on his clothes and sit quiet.

It was now growing dusk, when, as we rounded a point, Grey exclaimed that he saw a sail ahead. I jumped upon the seat, and made out that she was a schooner standing off the land.

"She hasn't much wind," Grey remarked.

"We might overhaul her," said I.

"We ought to do so," remarked Grey; "she may be an enemy."

"We've got arms, sir," said one of the men.

"And ammunition," added another.

"Many a rich prize has been taken by a boat's crew," observed the c.o.xswain, the oldest man in the boat.

"Well, Grey, suppose we just pull up to her and ascertain what she is,"

said I.

"With all my heart," he answered; "it's a pity, now we have got the muskets and ammunition, if we have the chance, that we should not make use of them."

I fully agreed with him. My only fear was that the schooner might after all not prove an enemy. The wind was dropping gradually--there was little doubt that we should get up to her.

"I suppose that the captain won't mind much if she is an enemy and we attack her," continued Grey. "He'll suspect, though, that we disobeyed orders, and had arms in the boat."

"Not if we take her," I answered. "He'll not ask questions. If we fail we shall get into a terrible row--we may count on that; but we must take her, and it will stick a feather in our caps, and put some dollars in our pockets too."

We were pulling steadily on all this time. We got the muskets up, and ascertained that they were dry, and, loading them, placed them on the thwarts ready for use. The schooner held her course. There was just wind enough to fill her sails and no more. I felt convinced that she was French. I asked the c.o.xswain, Ned Dawlish, his opinion. He agreed with me, and thought that she was a privateer.

"If so, she must be armed," said I. "We will keep in her wake, and as in a short time she will not have steerage way, she will be unable to bring her guns to bear on us."

The men were all highly delighted with our proposal. They must have antic.i.p.ated some such chance when they smuggled the arms into the boat.

Ned Dawlish took another look at the chase. "She's a French craft, and a privateer, I'll bet any money," he exclaimed, sitting down again to his oar.

The crew now gave way with a will. The sooner we were up to her the better, because, of course, we knew that we must by this time be seen, and our intentions suspected.

"She carries three or, maybe, four guns on a side," observed Ned, looking over his shoulder. "But that's no odds, they can't reach us."

His eagerness and courage animated the rest of the crew. How many men the chase carried we could not tell; indeed, we did not consider. Not one of us entertained a doubt that we should take her. Our proposed plan of proceeding was very simple. We were to pull up alongside, jump on board, and, cutla.s.s in hand, drive the enemy down the hatches, or into the sea if they would not yield.

There was still some light left, and, as we drew near, it appeared to me that the decks were somewhat crowded. I asked Grey what he thought. He agreed with me. Still it was too late to retreat. We had not got much farther when bright flashes of flame burst from the stern, and, what we little expected, a shower of bullets rattled about us.

"Give way, lads, give way!" shouted Ned Dawlish. "We'll lick the Johnny c.r.a.peaus in spite of that."

The boat dashed on. We hoped to get alongside before another volley was fired. In vain. Again a leaden shower rattled round our heads. Once more Ned Dawlish shouted loudly. There was a deep groan, and he fell, with his face bent down, to the bottom of the boat. Grey seized his oar, and took his place. He had been shot in the back. Speed was everything to us now. There must be a considerable number of small-arm men on board, I saw; but even then it never occurred to me that we ought to turn tail.

On we went. Still the enemy kept up a fire at us. Toby Bluff gave a sharp cry. A bullet had hit him, but he answered me when I spoke, and kept his seat. We had the muskets ready. I let go the tiller and seized one. Grey and Billy Wise and two other men did the same, and let fly among the enemy.

In another instant we were under the schooner's quarter. The bowman hooked on. Without asking leave, up we scrambled, and, cutla.s.s in hand, in spite of boarding-pikes thrust at us, and pistols flashed in our faces, began to play heartily about us among the very much astonished Frenchmen.

CHAPTER NINE.

If the Frenchmen were very much astonished at finding us among them, we were not the less so on discovering the number of our opponents.

Besides the crew, we found ourselves engaged with thirty or forty soldiers; but had there been more, it would have been the better for us, for so crowded were the schooner's decks, that they impeded each other's movements. By the suddenness of our rush, we had gained the after part of the vessel, and had killed or wounded half a dozen of the enemy before they knew exactly what to do. The bodies of these men served as a sort of rampart, while the bowman of our boat, having secured her, climbed up the side to our support, thus allowing us a few seconds to look about. In the centre of a group of vociferating, gesticulating, grimace-making Frenchmen, some armed with muskets, others with swords and cutla.s.ses, and others pistols and boarding-pikes, stood a tall, gaunt, soldier officer, eyeing us very sternly, and tugging hard to get a sword out of a long scabbard, while he kept screaming to his men, as I understood, to annihilate the dogs of Englishmen, and to kick them into the sea. But though he kept shouting louder and louder, till his cries resembled the rabid howls of a wild beast, his soldiers found that though it might be easy to order them to kick five stout British seamen overboard, and two rather precocious midshipmen, it was not quite as easy for them to obey. I saw, too, that our only chance of success was to push on without further delay. Had Mr Johnson been with us I should have felt less doubt as to the result of our exploit.

"On, my lads!" I shouted, "we must drive these Frenchmen off the deck."

Grey echoed my words, as did another faint voice, and I found that Toby Bluff, in spite of his wound, had climbed on board the schooner, and was ready to do battle by my side. On we all pushed. A st.u.r.dy French seaman, on my left, raised his cutla.s.s, while I was engaged with another on my right. I could just see, out of the corner of my left eye, his weapon descending, and fully believed that my last moment had come, for it was impossible to ward it off. Before, however, the cutla.s.s reached my head, there was the report of a pistol close to my ear, and my enemy tumbled over dead on the deck. Toby had saved my life, just as I had before saved the boatswain's. We continued cutting and slashing away so furiously, that the Frenchmen no longer attempted to contend against us.

Jumping aside like a troop of monkeys, as we got among them, they tumbled over each other down the hatchways, the old officer with them; whether he went of his own accord, or could not help it, I was unable to tell. All I know is, that he disappeared with most of his army, the remainder of whom lay sprawling on deck, or clinging to the bowsprit, while some of the crew had run up the rigging, and others had tumbled into the hold with the soldiers. Over these latter we took the liberty of clapping the hatches, while Billy Wise did the wisest thing he had been guilty of for a long time; he pointed his musket at the men aloft, and intimated that he would shoot the first who attempted to descend.

Some of them had pistols, but they had fortunately already fired them at us, and they were afraid of throwing them at our heads, lest Billy should put his threat into execution. His adventure with the sea monster had evidently roused his wits, for he had, besides this, done good service in boarding, and several of the foe owed their fall to his st.u.r.dy arm. In less than five minutes from the time we sprang on board, Grey and I were shaking hands, as we stood on the hatch, with the Frenchmen below us.

"I hope, though, that the Monsieurs won't blow up the ship," he observed; "they must begin to feel heartily ashamed of the way they have allowed us to take her from them."

"No fear of it; they are not the fellows for that," I answered: "but it is just possible that they may attempt to take her back again, so we must keep a very bright look-out to prevent them."

Grey agreed with me.

"I wish that I could talk to them, though," he remarked; "I don't suppose that one of our party knows a word of French."

"No; we must learn, however, on the first opportunity," said I. "It would be very convenient, and very likely useful. If the captain had not known it, we should probably have been caught by the enemy's fleet when we got among them."

The puzzle was now to settle how to manage with these prisoners. As we had only seven effectives, and they had more than forty, it was no slight task. Billy Wise, touching his hat, suggested that we should shoot them, or send them overboard with round-shots at their heels, to swim ash.o.r.e if they could; but as that mode of procedure was somewhat contrary to the customs of civilised warfare, we declined to adopt it, though undoubtedly it would have solved our difficulties. We ultimately agreed that our best plan would be to get hold of all those on deck, and to lash their hands behind them, and then to summon a few at a time of those below to be treated in the same way. We soon had all those above deck secured. It seemed extraordinary that men should submit in so abject a manner to a party of men and boys. They appeared, indeed, entirely to have lost their wits. It shows what boldness and audacity will accomplish. However, it might have been the other way, and we might all have been knocked on the head, or tumbled down as prisoners into the Frenchman's hold. Having accomplished this, we sent a hand to the helm, trimmed sails, though there was not much wind to fill them, and steered in the direction in which we hoped to fall in with the frigate. I must own that it was not till then that we thought of poor Ned Dawlish. We drew the boat alongside, and had him lifted on deck.

We had some faint hopes that, though he lay so still, he might be alive, but his glazed eyes and stiffened limbs too plainly told us that his last fight was over, and that we should hear his cheery voice and hearty laugh no more. We then, turned our attention to Toby Bluff. He had shown himself a true hero, for though his wound must have given him intense pain, he had not given utterance to a complaint or a single groan, but had endeavoured to work away as if nothing was the matter with him. I had observed a good deal of blood about his dress, but it was not till I came to examine him that I found it had flowed from his own veins, and that his shirt and trousers on one side were literally saturated. He was looking deadly pale, and would in a few seconds have fainted, had not Grey and I set to work to staunch the blood. We had not much experience as surgeons, but we succeeded after some time.

"Thank ye, sir; thank ye," said Toby, his voice growing weaker every moment; "I'll be up and at 'em again directly. I wants another pistol, please, sir. I don't know what tricks the mounseers may be up to, and they shan't hurt you if I can help it, that they shan't. I shot one on 'em, and I'll shoot another."

By this time his voice grew indistinct, and we began to be alarmed about him. We happily had some rum and water left. We poured it down his throat, and it evidently revived him. We then placed him under charge of the helmsman, and continued our other duties.

"Now, Merry, what's to be done?" asked Grey, when we had got all who remained on deck in limbo. "If those gentlemen down there find it's hot, which I suspect they will very soon, they will begin to grow obstreperous, and try to force their way out. When men get desperate, they are somewhat difficult to manage."

"People cannot live without air, I fancy, and they cannot have much of it in the hold of this craft, which must naturally have a pretty strong smell of bilge-water," I answered. "We must get them up somehow or other, so that they don't overpower us. However, we may as well first get the dead men overboard; they are only in the way where they are."

"We should see to the wounded first," remarked Grey, more thoughtful and humane than I was. "If we could get below, I dare say that we should find spirits and wine, and other good things for them."

The first man we came to had received the stroke of a British cutla.s.s full on the top of his head, and did not require our a.s.sistance, so he was pitched overboard. The next was the man shot dead by Toby, so his body was treated in the same way. A third still breathed, but was bleeding profusely from a deep wound in his shoulder, and a shot through his side. His case seemed hopeless, but we bound up his hurts and placed him against the bulwarks, under the shade of the sail. Two more we came to were dead, and two badly wounded. When we had done what we could for them, and placed them with their companions, we saw a fourth man, whom we supposed to be dead, right forward. When we lifted him up his limbs did not seem very stiff, nor could we see any wound about him.

Billy Wise was a.s.sisting us.

"Why, sirs," he exclaimed, "the chap has got a big knife in his clutch, and those eyes of his ain't dead men's eyes, but maybe it will be just as well to pitch him overboard; he can't do no harm then, anyhow."

Billy was right, for as he spoke I saw the supposed dead man's eyes twinkle. Calling another of our people to our a.s.sistance, we s.n.a.t.c.hed the knife out of the man's hand, and then lifting him up we seemed as if about to heave him overboard. Indeed, Billy thought that was our object. The Frenchman, however, did not approve of this, and gave strong evidence that he was alive, by struggling violently, and uttering with extraordinary volubility a variety of expletives on the matter.

When we had frightened him a little, we lashed his arms behind him and placed him with the rest of the prisoners on deck. There could be little doubt that he had shammed dead, and kept a knife ready, with the hopes of releasing his companions while we were off our guard, and retaking the vessel. For this we could not blame him, so we treated him with the same care as the other prisoners--only, perhaps, we kept rather a sharper watch over him, lest he might attempt to play us some other trick.

There were some casks of water on the deck, so we served some of it out to ourselves and our prisoners on deck alike. Most of the Frenchmen looked as if they were grateful, but the sulky countenances of some of them did not alter. However, that made no difference in our behaviour, as Grey and I agreed it must have been terribly annoying to their feelings to find themselves thus hopelessly prisoners.

We had done thus much, when we heard thumping and shouts from below.

This was what we expected, but we had hoped to have fallen in with the frigate before it became absolutely necessary to open the hatches. We looked round. From the deck she was nowhere to be seen, so charging Grey and our men to watch the hatches--the companion and forehatch, as well as the main, I went aloft to obtain a wider circle, in the expectation that I might thus discover her.