Old Jack Part 11

"Hurrah, my lads! we are in the last reach," shouted our captain; "in five minutes we shall be in clear water!"

The men shouted in return. Stronger blew the breeze, making the blue sea sparkle and leap outside. On either hand it broke in ma.s.ses of foam, which leaped high into the air. On we flew! A narrow channel of smooth water was before us. We glided through it. "Hurrah--hurrah! we are free--we are free!"

I remember how fresh and pure I thought the sea air smelt. With what freedom I breathed, after being shut up so long in a hot loft! The breeze was easterly--a wind which would carry us on a bowline to Jamaica. Every sail the little schooner could carry was set on her.

Our pursuers were not, however, yet willing to give up the chase. Once clear, with the open sea before us, we distanced them fast, and the sailing qualities of the little schooner being very fair, we had little fear of being overtaken.

From what I saw of our present companions, I certainly should not have liked to have a.s.sociated much with them. While danger threatened, they were quiet enough; but as the prospect of being overtaken decreased, they grew more reckless and overbearing in their manner, and showed with how little provocation they would be ready to break into a quarrel with us, or among themselves. Thanks to Mr Gale's and Peter's example, we were not likely to give them cause for that. As they had been prepared for flight, they had not only put on a considerable quant.i.ty of additional clothing, but each man carried round his waist a belt filled with gold and silver coins, while his pockets were filled with jewels and such silver ornaments and other articles of value which he could manage to stow away in them. This much impeded their activity, though, of course, it was but natural that they should wish to carry away with them as much as they could of those spoils, to gain which they had hazarded the loss both of life and soul!

"It will be as well, for their own sakes, that none of those fellows fall overboard," observed Peter to me when none of them were near to listen; "they'll go down like a shot, and then what will be the use to them of all the dollars and the gold they have collected? What's the use of it to them now? just to spend in the grossest folly and debauchery; and for the sake of collecting it, they have been living a life of murder and rapine! All I can say is that I don't want to change places with them, though their pockets are full and mine are empty!" I agreed with Peter that neither would I, and we had good reason before long to think the same.

We were still not clear of danger from our pursuers. The breeze freshened so much that it was with difficulty we could stagger along under the press of canvas we carried; and as the Spaniards' vessels were much larger, had we been compelled to shorten sail, they might easily have come up with us. If they did, we well knew that we could expect no mercy from them. Still the chase was very exciting. However, I would rather be the pursuer than the pursued; and I suppose that a hare, or a fox, or a stag would, if it could express its opinion, agree with me in the latter remark. Fortunately for us the breeze kept very steady; and as, after a time, the Spaniards found that they lost ground rather than gained on us, they tacked and stood back towards the Cuban coast. This event was noticed with loud cheers by all our people, nor was I slack in joining them.

Our pa.s.sage, till we sighted the coast of Jamaica, was very rapid.

Captain Helfrich had made some arrangement with the pirates as to their future course. I do not know what it was. Some were to go away in their boats in different directions; some wished to land, and others to be put on board homeward-bound vessels. They wanted to take the schooner, but, of course, he could not willingly let them have her, as she was not his property. I suspect that they had formed a plan to take her; but their designs, if such existed, were defeated.

Among the cargo were some small casks of rum. A knowledge of this fact the captain wished to keep concealed from everybody on board.

Unhappily, however, the pirates discovered them, and, in spite of Captain Helfrich's remonstrances and warnings, they very soon had them up and broached on deck. Every minute they became more and more riotous and inclined to quarrel among themselves. Again the captain warned them that they would betray themselves; but laughingly they answered that they knew him well, and that he would take care that they got into no mischief.

The wind heading us, we had to stand in-sh.o.r.e, so as to beat up towards Kingston. There was a little sea on, but not enough to prevent our observing objects some way below the surface. Peter and I were looking over the side--one of the other men being at the helm--when we noticed a dark pointed object floating alongside; another came up near it.

Looking down, we with a shudder discovered the long tapering bodies of two sharks swimming just on our quarter. Nothing is so hateful to a sailor, even when he has a sound plank under his feet, as a sight of those tigers of the deep. Happening shortly after to go over to the other side, and glancing my eye over the bulwarks, with almost a thrill of horror I saw two others precisely in the same relative position. At first I thought they must be the same, but going back to the other side, there were those first seen just as they had been before.

"I don't like the look of those brutes," said Peter. "I am not superst.i.tious, but I never have seen sharks swimming along as those are but what some mischief or other has happened--a man has fallen overboard, or something of that sort!"

I, as may be supposed, shared fully in Peter's feelings, and set to work wondering what the harm would be.

I had not long to wait. The schooner had tacked, and was laying pretty well along-sh.o.r.e, with her head off it, and about a mile distant. One of the pirates, with drunken gravity, had insisted that he was not going to be idle, and that he would tend the fore-sheet. The state of things on board had made the captain doubly anxious to get in before night, and we were, therefore, carrying on perhaps even more sail than the little craft could well bear. We were taking the water in well over our bows; but that seemed in no way to inconvenience the hardy pirates, as they sat on the deck at their levels. I will not attempt to paint the picture presented by the pirates. The horrid oaths and blasphemy, the obscene songs, the shouts of maniac laughter, may be better imagined than described.

Peter and I and the other men had gone aft, where was also the captain, while Mr Gale stood at the helm. The sun was perhaps an hour above the horizon. Frequently the captain had turned his eyes in the direction of Kingston Harbour. A sail was seen standing out of the harbour, steering towards us, for the purpose, evidently, of getting a good offing before nightfall. As her topsails appeared above the horizon, we could make out very clearly that she was a brig.

"Hand me up my gla.s.s, Jack," said the captain with animation. He took a long, steady look at her, and then handed the gla.s.s to Mr Gale, whose place Peter took at the helm.

While they were all looking eagerly at the approaching brig, I felt the schooner heel over even more than she had been doing. The captain likewise became sensible of the movement. He looked round--

"Let go the fore-sheet!" he shouted loudly. Mr Gale at the same moment sprang forward to execute the order; but the pirate who was tending it held it on tight with drunken stupidity. Mr Gale tried to drag him away from it; but the man, instead of letting go, gave a turn, and jammed the sheet. Down came the squall on us with redoubled strength.

The little vessel heeled over till her gunwale was buried in the sea.

The water rose higher and higher up her deck. It was too late to cut the sheet. No skill could save her.

Down, down went the vessel! Shrieks and cries arose, but they were no longer the sounds of revelry. They were those of horror and hopeless dismay, uttered by the pirates as they found the vessel sinking under their feet and they were thrown struggling into the water. So suddenly did she go over, and so rapidly did she fill, that even the most sober had no time to consider how they could save themselves, much less had those wretched drunken men. Overloaded as they were with clothes and booty, they could neither swim nor struggle towards the spars, and planks, and oars, and boats, which were floating about on every side.

When Mr Gale found that it was too late to save the schooner, he sprung back towards one of the boats which had been stowed right aft on the weather-side; the captain, Peter, and I, with our men, had been cutting the lashings which had secured it with our knives; and giving it a shove as the deck of the vessel touched the water, we were able to get clear just as she went down. The mate had not quite reached the boat, but Peter, leaning forward, hauled him in before he was drawn into the vortex made by the schooner as she sunk. To clear her, we had of necessity to shove astern, and this drove us still further from the spot where the rest of the people were still struggling in the waves. Some of the soberest had managed to disenc.u.mber themselves of their clothing, and to clutch hold of spars to support themselves; but they had another danger, from the seaman's remorseless enemy, to contend with. We now guessed why the sharks had been accompanying us; or could they have scented the dead body of the pirate chief, which we had still on board?

Why the captain had not buried him I do not know.

Scarcely had we leaped into the boat, when the terrific shrieks of the struggling pirates reminded us of what we had seen. In an instant the monsters were at them, and one after the other, with fearful rapidity, they were dragged from the supports to which they clung, their bodies mangled, and limbs torn asunder. We got out our oars as quickly as possible, and pulled back, endeavouring to save some; but before we could reach the nearest man a shark had seized him, and we could see his arms helplessly stretched out, as he was dragged down through the clear waters. On we pulled towards another, but he likewise was carried off after he had already seized the boatswain's oar, and thought himself safe. A third cried out to us piteously to come and save him. We pulled towards him with all our might; but fast as we flew through the water, two huge sharks went faster, and before we could reach him he was their prey, literally torn in sunder between them. He was the last who yet floated; the others had gone down at once, or had been torn to pieces with all their wealth about them. While we were looking round, an object rose to the surface.

"What means that?" exclaimed our captain with an expression of horror and alarm such as I did not believe his countenance capable of wearing.

It was the body of the old pirate: his face was turned towards us, and one of his arms moved as if beckoning us to follow him!

"No, no--you do not want me! I have visited you once at your summons!

I'll no longer obey you!" shouted our captain with a hoa.r.s.e voice, staring wildly; then he sank down into the stern-sheets overcome with his emotions.

For a minute, fancying that the old pirate was alive, we pulled towards him; then we remembered that he had been placed in a rough coffin of thick light wood, the lid of which had not been secured. Some nails, probably, had caught the clothes and kept the body in. When the vessel sunk the coffin had floated through the hatchway, the lid being knocked off; and thus the old man was once more presented to our view.

The monsters who had so speedily disposed of his wretched followers now darted forward to attack the coffin. Round and round they turned it; one arm was seized, then another, and we saw the body dragged down with a dozen sharks surrounding it, tearing it limb from limb!

Our captain very quickly recovered himself, and pa.s.sing his hand over his brow, as if to shut out some dreadful vision, ordered us in a calm tone to pull towards the approaching brig. As we pulled from the spot, the water appeared here and there tinged with a crimson tint; but scarcely a vestige of the unfortunate little schooner remained. The brig approached.

"She is the _Rainbow_, sir; there can be no doubt of it!" exclaimed Peter, who had been eyeing her narrowly over his right shoulder.

He was right. On her people seeing a boat she was hove-to, and we were very quickly on board. I need not describe the surprise of Mr Jones, the first mate, who had now command of her as captain, or of the officer who had been shipped instead of Mr Gale. Of course, we had all long been given over as lost.

Mr Jones very willingly gave up his command to Captain Helfrich, and re-occupied his post as first mate; but the new officer who had been shipped, in a most foolish way nourished a peculiar dislike not only for Mr Gale for superseding him, but towards all of us, and took every opportunity of showing it. The vessel had got a full cargo in, and was on her way back to Dublin. At first, however, he pretended that he wished to be very kind to me, in consequence of the hardships I had gone through, and the narrow escape I had of death from the Maroons. Of course, there was no reason for keeping that part of our adventures secret, so I gave him a full account of all that had occurred; but then he led me on to describe the hurricane, and our capture by the pirates; and from the interest he took in the questions he asked me, I felt that he had some sinister motive for his inquiries. This made me hold my tongue for the time; and when I told Peter all the mate had asked me, he told me that I was perfectly right not to give him any further information, as he was sure that he would make a bad use of it. We neither of us liked the expression of the man's countenance, or his manner to his superiors, or us his inferiors. Time was to show us that we were right in our conjectures.

When the extra mate found that he could get nothing out of Peter or me he attacked the other men; and from what they confessed to us they had told him, we feared that he had obtained from them all the information he required. He left the brig directly we entered port, and immediately returned to Jamaica.

Captain Helfrich was received in Dublin as one who had returned from the dead; for the account of his supposed death had preceded us, and his wife had actually a.s.sumed widow's mourning for him. His sudden appearance very nearly cost her her life.

We took the usual time to refit the brig, and then sailed once more for the same destination. We had the usual number of pa.s.sengers, and all went well till we reached Kingston.

After we had lain a little time there, we saw from the captain's manner that all was not going well with him; and Peter told me that from what he heard on sh.o.r.e, that he was accused of having been leagued with pirates; and that all sorts of things were said about him. This, to a man of the captain's temperament, was very trying. Those who knew him best, must have been perfectly convinced that, for many years past, he could not possibly have been guilty of any act of piracy; although I could have little doubt that, in his early days, he must, in some way or other, have been connected with the person whom I knew alone by the name of Captain Ralph. It was a practical evidence of the truth of that saying of Holy Writ, that the sins of his youth rise up in judgment against a man in his old age.

We had little difficulty in tracing the reports to the malignity of the man who had acted as mate during the last pa.s.sage home. In consequence of these reports, Captain Helfrich had considerable difficulty in obtaining a cargo for the brig; and so disgusted was he with all the annoyance he had received, that he resolved not to return again to the West Indies.

At last, however, we were ready to sail. The evening before we were to go to sea, a boat came alongside, pulled by black men, with one man only in the stern-sheets. He asked to see Captain Helfrich. I looked over the side, and recognised him as Michael, the tall negro who had been the means of rescuing us from the Maroons. Mr Gale sent me to let the captain know that a person wanted to see him, and of course I told him who he was. The captain accordingly directed me to invite him below at once. I did so, and remained in the cabin.

"I've come, captain," said he, "to ask a favour of you."

"Anything you ask I am bound to grant," answered the captain.

"All I have to beg is a pa.s.sage to England," replied the negro. "I go to seek in your country that liberty which I can find nowhere else. For years have I been striving to instil into my unhappy countrymen a knowledge of their true position; but they are too ignorant, too gross-minded to understand me. I have had no wish to set them against their masters. In most instances, both parties have been born to the position they occupy, and cannot help themselves. All I want is, that the masters should do them justice, and should treat them as men--as human beings with souls, with like pa.s.sions, with like thoughts as themselves--that they should do their best to improve their minds, to educate them, to prepare them for that liberty they must sooner or later obtain. The question is, how will it be obtained? By fair and gentle means, granted--not taken by force as a right, or by violence and bloodshed. I have tried all means. I have leagued with all cla.s.ses of men to commence, in some way or other, the work. Thus, for a time, I a.s.sociated with Captain Ralph; but he grossly deceived me, as he did everybody else. I joined the Maroon bands, in the idea that force might avail; but in that respect I found that I was totally wrong in my calculations. I have tried to influence the planters, to show them their true interests: that with a well-instructed peasantry they would get far more work done, and at a smaller cost, than they do now with their gangs of ignorant slaves; but they laugh my notions to scorn.

They fancy, because they find the negro ignorant, brutal, and stupid, that he can never be anything else. They forget that they made him so when they made him or his ancestors slaves; and that it must take more than one generation of gentle, watchful, judicious education to raise him out of the wretched state in which he now grovels. No philanthropist would wish them to emanc.i.p.ate their slaves now without long previous training, to fit them for liberty. If they ever free them without that training, they will ruin their properties. I find fault with them for not commencing that training at once, for not teaching them the religion they themselves profess, for not in any way attempting to enlighten their ignorance. Perhaps I may induce people in England to advocate the negro's cause; but yet if Christian men here, on the scene of their sufferings, do not care for them, how can I expect people at a distance to listen to their cries, to labour that they may obtain justice?"

Michael said much more on the same subject. Our captain listened, but did not clearly understand him; nor did I at the time. He, however, willingly granted him a pa.s.sage, and treated him with the attention he deserved at our hands during it.

Michael was a man far beyond his time. Not many blacks are like him; but I have met some with comprehensive minds equal to those of any white men. The vicious system to which the generality are subject, stunts or destroys all mental development; but had they the advantages of the whites, I believe as many buds in the one case as in the other would bear rich fruit. Michael left us in Dublin, and it was not till long afterwards that I heard his subsequent fate.

We had a prosperous pa.s.sage to Dublin, and nothing occurred during it worthy of being mentioned. The captain very slowly recovered his usual spirits, but was completely himself again before we reached home.

The _Rainbow_ remained longer in dock than usual, and during the time I had charge of her, Peter took the opportunity of visiting his friends, who lived some miles from Liverpool.

My life was almost like that of a hermit's though surrounded by mult.i.tudes. I scarcely spoke to anyone. I amused myself, however, in my own way. I cut out all sorts of things in wood and bone, and practised every variety of knot-and-splice. At last it occurred to me that I would try to make a model of the brig. I bought at a timber-yard a soft piece of white American pine, without a knot in it; and as I had charge of the carpenter's tools, I got some of the chisels and gouges sharpened up, and set to work. With rule and compa.s.s I drew two lines for her keel on one side, and then pencilled out the shape of her deck on the other. I first, by-the-by, made a scale of so many parts of an inch to a foot, and measured every part of the brig I could reach.

Having got the shape of her deck exact, and her depth, I used to go ahead and astern and look at her shape, and then come aboard again, and chisel away at my model. I shaved off very little of the wood at a time, and my eye being correct, I made one side exactly equal to the other. Then fixing the wood in a vice, I scooped out the whole of the interior with an even thickness on every side. At length the hull was completed very much to my satisfaction. Then I got a piece of thin plank for her deck, and built on her bulwarks, with the windla.s.s, the binnacle, caboose, and combings of her hatchway complete. Next I commenced rigging her. I formed all the blocks, and expended many a penny in purchasing whipcord and twine of different thickness, as well as linen for her sails. Having often carefully watched the sailmakers at work, and helped them when they would allow me, I was able not only to cut out the sails properly, but to fasten on the bolt-ropes, and to mark exactly the divisions of the cloths. I had also to bring the painter's art into play; and to fashion with a file various stancheons, and belaying-pins, and such like things, out of bits of iron and copper; indeed, I am vain to say that I made a very complete model. When she was perfectly completed, I walked round and round her with no little satisfaction, surveying her from every quarter, and placing her in every possible position--indeed, I was never tired of tr.i.m.m.i.n.g sails. I had had a purpose in building her, for I wanted to present her to my kind captain for one of his little boys, whom I had seen occasionally on board.

Old Pat Hagan, though too advanced in years to be intrusted entirely with the charge of the ship, occasionally came down to enable me to take a run on sh.o.r.e. The first day, therefore, that he made his appearance, I started with my model on my head to the captain's residence.

"Who has sent you here, Jack, with that pretty little craft?" asked Captain Helfrich, as I was shown into his parlour, where he with his wife and children were sitting.

"Why, sir, as I hoped that you would not think me taking too much on myself in offering it to Master James, I made bold to bring it myself,"

I replied, looking down and feeling somewhat bashful at the praise my model was receiving.