Picked up at Sea Part 34

"'It's no use your grumbling,' says Cap'en Jarvis, with a queer grin on his face that was more angry-like than a pain, 'It's no use your grumbling with me! Aloft with you, and make that fore topsail all snug, and set storm staysails, for we've got something rougher coming. I'll settle with you, Master Harry, by-and-by!'"

"You haven't told me yet about this man, though I've read his name in the papers. Who was Black Harry?" asked I.

"Haven't I told you about him yet? No; then, I'll tell you all about him now, for he had more to do with the row aboard the _Gulnare_ than anybody else! He was a regular dare-devil of a pocket-a-win, as they are called at Liverpool--a tall, lean, down-east Yankee from Boston, with jet-black hair, and a swarthy face, which made you think he had n.i.g.g.e.r blood in him and got him his name of 'Black Harry.' A powerful man and a good foremast hand; but an all-fired lazy devil about work, and as sulky as a bear when he didn't get his grub regular. He was no coward though; and no skulker in danger, as some white-livered chaps are who ought to be ashamed to ship as sailors, for he'd venture aloft sometimes when no one else would dare, and was the first man at the weather-earing when it was 'Reef topsails!' But he had a temper as skittish as the cap'en's, and couldn't stand being swore at. I've heard him many a time mutter after the captain had been going on at him. I know I'd not have liked to have said half to him that Captain Jarvis did, for Black Harry looked like a man who would never forget nor forgive a grudge.

"Well, by-and-by the hands came down from aloft; and amongst them Black Harry, who lagged behind the rest, although he had been the first in the foretop going up.

"'Come here, you lubber!' said the cap'en to him, singing out aloud as he touched the deck--'you, I mean, Black Harry. I've got a little matter to settle, I think, with you. Who incited the hands to mutiny just now? I don't forget, Master Harry--I don't forget!'

"'Neither do I!' grumbled Harry below his voice.

"'What is that, you mutinous dog?' exclaimed the cap'en, flying into a violent pa.s.sion again, although he had somewhat calmed down from his former rage--'Answer me to my teeth, you scoundrel? Take that!' and he hit a drive full fair in the centre of the forehead, with the b.u.t.t-end of his revolver, holding it by the barrel, felling Harry to the deck senseless, like a bullock under the poleaxe!

"Some of the crew murmured 'Shame!' But the cap'en kept up his authority. 'Silence there!' he cried out. 'Down with you, watch below, if you want to see your bunks to-night, and take that hulking carca.s.s with you, or I'll throw it overboard!' And then the men went below, and took poor Black Harry, with them; the vessel was made snug under her jib, storm staysails, and close-reefed mainsail; and Captain Jarvis, who hadn't been off the deck, except to fetch his revolver that time, once in the twenty-four hours, returned to his cabin to have a bit of sleep, leaving me on the watch; the second officer and boatswain, who acted also as third mate, having also turned in for a caulk and gone down into the steerage.

"The sun, which we couldn't see, had set long since, before indeed that little misunderstanding had occurred about going aloft; and the moon shone feebly now and then through an occasional opening in the clouds, which had piled up atop of each other so heavy to windward that they were like a pall in the sky.

"There was only myself and the steersman aft, the rest of the watch, which were only five in number altogether, being stowed somewhere under the bulwarks amidships, trying to get an odd wink if the seas that were shipping in as the ship's bows fell would let them. Not a sound was to be heard save the whistle and screech of the wind through the cordage, and the creak of a block occasionally aloft; and I was looking out at the weather, wondering how soon the next squall would tackle us, when my arms were seized by somebody behind me, who held them down close to my sides, and a gag of a reef-knot or some piece of rope shoved into my mouth, so that I couldn't cry out.

"'Mr Marling!' says a voice, which I recognised at once as Black Harry's, whispering in my ear, 'you need not fear nothing, only keep quiet, and no harm will be done to you; but if you tries to make a noise, why, we'll have to quiet you in a way you won't like!'

"With that, you may be sure, I was as tranquil as a mouse, while they tied me down to a ring-bolt close by the cabin skylight, so that I couldn't move; but from my position I could see and hear everything that went on afterwards, although I couldn't get the gag out of my mouth so as to be able to speak.

"'Now, men,' I heard Black Harry then say aloud; 'now, we'll pay out that devil below! I wonder how he'll like his mutinous dogs at close quarters?' and he laughed a horrible bitter laugh.

"Then I heard them begin to descend the companion ladder into the captain's cabin.

"They didn't go far enough! No sooner had Black Harry placed his foot on the first stair, followed by the other mutineers, than there was a flash and a stunning explosion from below. The captain, who had the quick hearing of a hound, must have caught the sound of their tussling with me on the deck, for he was ready for them with his double-barrelled gun. I saw him distinctly by the flash through the skylight, standing at the foot of the companion, while Gripper, the second officer, was hurrying up behind him through the door leading into the steerage where our berths were. Yes, I saw the captain. He had fired one shot, and stood waiting with the other barrel ready.

"'Come on, you dogs!' I heard him exclaim as he discharged the gun.

'There's one dose of slugs, and I've got another handy for you!'

"The men from the sound appeared to shrink back for a second, but the next minute they rushed down in a body; there was a second report of the captain's gun, and I received, unbeknown to him, poor fellow--for he didn't intend it, I know--a slug right in my eye here; and for some time I was in such agony that I didn't know what occurred below, although I heard plenty of shots fired, and the sound of hand-to-hand fighting mingled with oaths, and curses, and cries.

"When I recollected myself again there was Black Harry near me surrounded by only four others, as well as I could see after wiping the blood off my face with part of my arm, which I was able to do by wriggling at my lashings; the rest must have gone under in the scrimmage.

"'Now, you villain,' I heard Black Harry say again in a voice full of spite and anger, 'I've got you! Lash him up there in the lee rigging!'

says he to his fellow-murderers; and in a trice I saw the poor cap'en, quite pale and exhausted, fixed like a spread eagle in the mizzen shrouds to leeward. 'Now, you villain!' says Black Harry again, c.o.c.king one of the captain's revolvers which he had ready in his hand, 'you said you would riddle us just now if we didn't go aloft after treating us like dogs ever since we came on board your cursed ship! Well, Jarvis, you dog--Cap'en Jarvis, I beg your pardon!--I intend to riddle you now!'

"The cap'en didn't say a word; he only looked at him; but if looks could kill, his would then!

"'You dog!' said Black Harry again, after a stop to see if the captain would speak. 'I've got three slugs in my stomach, and you've swore three times at me to-day like a dog--that makes six in all; I intend to send six shots through your vile carca.s.s without killing you if I can help it. You knocked me down on the deck with the b.u.t.t-end of your pistol, and ordered my body to be taken below by the hands, or else you said you'd throw it overboard. For that outrage I'll take my last revenge, after riddling you like a sieve, by smashing in your skull, and pitching your vile carca.s.s to the sharks--Dog!'

"With that the ruffian fired his first shot with the revolver at his powerless victim. The captain winced slightly, and I saw the bullet had carried off part of one of his ears.

"'Ha!' said Black Harry, 'nervous, are you? Here's another fillip for you.'

"But at the same moment the storm, which I had seen brewing up to windward, burst over the ship; and a tremendous wave seemed to flatten me down on the deck, the ring-bolt to which I was lashed preventing me from slipping away. When the rush of water had subsided, and I was able to hold up my head once more, my wounded eye smarting worse than ever, I saw that the mizzen and main masts with part of the foremast had been washed clean away with the shrouds, running-gear, and all their hamper, and, of course, the body of the poor captain, Black Harry, and all his companions in crime had been carried off too in the general wreck.

"How long I remained lashed to the deck of the crippled vessel with the waves dashing over me, the sport of the sea and the mark of the weather, I know not. The first thing I recollect after what appeared to be an eternity of torture, was that I found myself on board the _Saracen_, a screw steamer bound from New York to Southampton, which had sighted the _Gulnare_ tossing at the mercy of the wind and waves, and sent a boat to see whether there was anybody alive on board. I was on board, alive though senseless for a time, and brought to after much kindly solicitude; so, too, was little Peter, the cabin-boy, whom the mutineers had tied up in his bunk in the forecastle, and who was also alive, though nearly starved to death. Besides our two selves, there was no other living thing; but the bodies of Gripper, the second officer, Painter, the boatswain, and those of the mutineers who had not been washed overboard, were found floating about in the cabin, all with the marks of bullet and shot wounds and other injuries, to show that they had come by a violent death after a hard struggle.

"When my senses were to the fore again, naturally I informed my salvors of all that had occurred; and as the cargo of the _Gulnare_ was a valuable one, her hull not very much damaged, and the weather calm and favourable, the captain of the _Saracen_, which had so providentially come across her--and a right good fellow he has been to me!--made up his mind to salvage my old ship if he could."

"And so he towed her in here at Falmouth, and you made your depositions along with the cabin-boy, Peter, the only survivors of the catastrophe, about the facts of the case, for the benefit of the underwriters and the clearance of your own character?"

"Just so, mister," said the man with the shade over his eye, who it strikes me from certain circ.u.mstances was of American nationality; "and that's the whole story about 'Black Harry,' I guess!"

THE END.