Rodman The Boatsteerer And Other Stories Part 13

Ten miles away, creeping up to the land under shortened canvas, were a barque and a brig. No lights showed upon their decks, for theirs was an evil and cruel mission, and the black-bearded, olive-skinned men who crowded her decks spoke in whispers, lest the sound of their voices might perhaps fall upon the ears of natives out catching flying fish in their canoes.

Closer and closer the ships edged in to the land, and then, as they opened out the long white stretch of beach that fringed the lee of the island, they hove-to till daylight.

But if there were no lights on deck there were plenty below, and in the barque's roomy cabin a number of men were sitting and talking together over liquor and cigars. They were a fierce, truculent-looking lot, and talked in Spanish, and every man carried a brace of revolvers in his belt. All round the cabin were numbers of rifles and carbines and cutla.s.ses; and, indeed, the dark faces of the men, and the profusion of arms that was everywhere shown, made them look like a band of pirates, bent upon some present enterprise. Pirates they were not; but they were perhaps as bad, for both the brig and the barque were Peruvian slavers, sent out to capture and enslave the natives of the South Sea Islands to work the guano deposits of the Chincha Islands.

At one end of the cabin table sat the captain of the barque--a small-made, youthful-looking man, of not more than twenty-five years of age. Before him was spread a sheet-chart of the Ellice Group, and another of the Island of Nukufetau, which he was studying intently.

Standing at the back of the captain's chair was a short, stout, broad-shouldered man, with a heavy black moustache and hawk-like features, who followed with interest the movements of the captain's slender brown hand over the chart. This was Senor Arguello, the owner of the two vessels, and the leading spirit in the villainous enterprise.

"There is the pa.s.sage into the lagoon, Senor Arguello," said the young captain, pointing to the place on the chart; "and here, on this islet, the last one of the three that form the western chain of the atoll, is the native village. Therefore, if we can succeed in landing our boats'

crews between the islet and the one next to it, we can cut off all chances of the natives escaping in that direction."

"Good, Captain Martinas. But what if they escape into the forest?"

"As you see, Senor," said the captain politely, "the islet is but narrow, and offers no chance of concealment unless there are mangrove scrubs in the wider portions. We can secure every one of them in a few hours. There is no possible way of escape but by the sea, and that we have provided against--the brig's boats will watch both sides of the islet, three on the lagoon side, and two on the ocean side."

"Excellent, Captain," said the fat ruffian Arguello. "I must compliment you upon your exact.i.tude of your arrangements. I trust that we shall be as successful here as we were at Nukulaelae.{*} Captain Hennessy," and here he bowed to a man who sat at the other end of the table, "will, I am sure, see that none of these people are drowned in their silly efforts to escape, as occurred at other places."

* Nukulaelae was almost entirely depopulated by these slavers.

Captain Peter Hennessy, once a dashing officer of the Peruvian navy, now a dissipated, broken-down master of a slaving brig, for answer struck his hand heavily on the table, and swore an oath.

"That was not my fault. But, by the G.o.d above me, I am sick of this business! I undertook to sail the brig and fill her with natives, but I did not undertake to have a hand in the b.l.o.o.d.y deeds that have happened.

And now that I am on board, I may as well tell you all that the moment I see a shot fired at any of these poor devils I back out of the concern altogether."

"The brave Captain Pedro is tender-hearted," sneered the young captain of the barque, showing his even white teeth under his jet-black moustache.

"No words from you, Captain Martinas," retorted the Irishman. "I am prepared to go on now; but mind you--and you know me--the first man that I see lift a rifle to his shoulder, that man will I send a bullet through, be he black or white."

Then, with a curt nod to his fellow-a.s.sociates in crime, the captain of the brig _Chacahuco_ strode out of the cabin, and calling his boat, which was towing astern of the barque, he got into her and pulled off to sh.o.r.e.

Just as the first flushes of the rising sun tinged the sea to windward with streaks of reddish gold, the decks of the slavers bustled with activity. Boats were lowered, and the crews of cut-throat Chilenos and Peruvians swarmed eagerly into them, and then waited for the signal to cast off.

Suddenly the look-out on the barque, who was stationed on the foreyard, hailed the deck and reported that three canoes had pushed off from the beach and were paddling towards the ship.

A savage curse broke from Porfiro Arguello. He and Martinas had hoped to get part of the landing party posted between the two islets before the natives could see the ships. Now it was too late.{*}

* Three vessels were engaged in this nefarious business, a barque and two brigs. The most dreadful atrocities were committed. At Easter Island they seized nearly the whole population; at Nukulaelae, in the Ellice Group, they left but thirty people out of one hundred and fifty.

"Let all the boats go round to the port side," said Martinas. "The canoes will board us on the starboard side, Senor Arguello, and once we get these people safely on board we shall still be in time to block the pa.s.sage between the islets."

The boats were quickly pa.s.sed astern, and then hauled up alongside on the port side; and Martinas, having signalled to the brig to do the same with her boats, lest the natives, seeing armed men in them, should make back for the sh.o.r.e, quietly lit a cigar and waited.

On came the three canoes, the half-naked, stalwart rowers sending them quickly over the ocean swell. In the first canoe were four men and two young girls; in the others men only. Unconscious of the treacherous intentions that filled the hearts of the white men, the unfortunate people brought their canoes alongside, and, with smiling faces, called out in English--

"Heave a rope, please."

"Aye, aye," responded a voice in English; and the natives, as the rope was thrown to them, made fast the canoes and clambered up the sides, the two girls alone remaining in the first canoe, and looking with l.u.s.trous, wondering eyes at the crowd of strange faces that looked down at them from the barque's decks.

Ten minutes before Martinas had ordered two sentries who stood guard, one at the break of the p.o.o.p and the other on top of the for'ard deckhouse, to disappear; and so, when the natives gained the deck there was nothing to alarm them. But at the heavy wooden gratings that ran across the decks, just for'ard of the p.o.o.p and abaft the for'ard deckhouse, they gazed with eyes full of curiosity. As for the main hatch, that was covered with a sail.

"Good morning, cap'en," said the leader of the natives, a tall, handsome old man about fifty. "Where you come from?"

"From California," answered Martinas, making a sign to one of his officers, who slipped away down to the main deck.

"What you come here for, sir?" resumed the native amiably; "you want fowl, pig, turtle, eh?" And then, unfastening a small bag tied round his naked waist, he advanced and emptied out a number of silver dollars.

"What is that for?" said Martinas, who spoke a little English.

The native laughed pleasantly.

"Money, sir." And then he looked round the ship's decks as if seeking something. "Me want buy boat. Where all your boat, cap'en? Why boat no here?" pointing to the davits and the pendant boat-falls.

"Sea break all boat," said the Peruvian quickly. And then, seeing the look of disappointment on the man's face, he added, "But never mind. You come below. I have handsome present for you."

"All right, cap'en," answered the old man with a pleased smile, as he turned and beckoned to the other natives to follow him.

An exultant smile showed on the grim features of Senor Arguello as he saw the captain's ruse. But just then the second mate came up.

"The girls won't come up on deck," he muttered in Spanish to the captain. "They laugh, and shake their heads."

"Let them stay, Juan, until I get these fellows below quietly. Then let one of the boats slip round and seize them."

Great results sometimes attend upon the merest trifles, and so it fell about now, for by a simple accident were some hundreds of these innocent, unsuspecting people of Nukufetau saved from a dreadful fate; for just as Mana, who was the chiefs brother and the uncle of the two poor half-caste children in the canoe, was about to go below, followed by his people, one of the boat's crew on the starboard side dropped the b.u.t.t of his musket heavily on the naked foot of a young Chileno boy, who uttered an exclamation of pain.

Wondering where the cry came from, the old native, before he could be stayed, ran to the port side and looked over. There, lying beneath him, were four boats filled with armed men.

Suspicion of evil intent at once flashed through his mind, and, springing back, he gave voice to a loud cry of alarm.

"Back, back, my children!" he cried. "There be many boats here, and in them are men with guns and swords." And then he and those with him rushed for the break of the p.o.o.p, only to meet the black muzzles of carbines and the glint of twenty cutla.s.ses.

Alas! poor creatures, what hope was there for them, unarmed and almost naked, against their despoilers? One by one they were thrown down, seized, and bound; all but the old man, who, with his naked hands, fought valiantly, till Martinas, seizing a cutla.s.s from a seaman, pa.s.sed it through his naked body.

With one despairing cry, the old man threw up his arms and fell upon his face, and Martinas, drawing out his b.l.o.o.d.y weapon, ran to the side and looked over. The canoes were there, but the two girls were gone.

"Curses on you, Juan!" he shouted. "Why did you not seize them?"

But Senor Arguello, with a grim smile, took him by the arm and pointed to where Juan, the second mate, was chasing the two girls in his boat.

At the sound of the struggle on deck they had jumped overboard, and, fearless of the sharks, were swimming swiftly for the reef, not a quarter of a mile away.

Standing on the p.o.o.p-deck of the barque, the captain and Arguello watched the chase with savage interest. Halfway to the sh.o.r.e they saw Juan stand up and level his carbine and fire. The ball struck the water just ahead of the two girls, who were swimming close together. Then, in another two or three minutes, Juan was on top of them, and they saw the oars peaked.

"Saints be praised! He's got one," said Arguello. "They are lifting her into the boat."