Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships Part 28

Edda heard of the expected combat with perfect calmness.

"How I pity the poor men who may be wounded in the battle!" she remarked.

Her father sneered.

"May we go on deck and help them?" she asked suddenly. "I am sure that we can be of use."

"Certainly not," he answered, sternly. "We shall have enough to do without being interrupted by the interference of women."

"Oh, father! do not say that," said Edda. "We would be of all the use in our power; we would tend the wounded; we would take food to those who were weary; we would carry up powder and shot if required. I have read of women doing such things. Why should not we?"

"Because there are men enough to fight, and it is considered that you will be safer down below," said Colonel Armytage, casting a look of involuntary admiration at his daughter. "Round shots are no respecters of persons, and one might destroy you or your mother or the other women as readily as the roughest man on board. In Heaven's name, child, keep out of danger."

A part of the hold was quickly arranged for the accommodation of the ladies during the expected action. Two lanterns were hung up in it below the beams, but notwithstanding all that was done, it was a very dreary, dark abode. Edda entreated that she and her mother might remain on deck till they were within range of the enemy's guns. Most of the other ladies followed her example, and the deck once more resumed its usual orderly appearance, though there were signs of the expected strife in the warlike costumes of the gentlemen, who walked up and down with swords buckled to their sides, pistols in their belts, or muskets on their shoulders.

The captain had not vainly boasted of the sped of the ship, and, as he now hauled up a little to the westward there appeared to be a considerable chance of her running the stranger out of sight during the night. Darkness was now coming on. The stranger was seen on the lee-quarter continuing the pursuit under all sail. Some of the more timid suggested that part of the cargo should be thrown overboard to lighten the ship, so as to afford them a better chance of escaping, but to this the captain would not consent. He was responsible for the property. He hoped to defend it and every part of it, and even if hove away it could do little to aid their escape. His calmness and determination infused courage into all around him. Night came on. The stranger was still far beyond gunshot. Not a light was allowed to be shown on board the Indiaman. The ladies were induced to retire to their cabins, many under the happy belief that all danger had pa.s.sed, and that they might look forward to a pleasant continuance of the voyage. None of the officers or crew, however, went below.

Many of the pa.s.sengers also remained on deck. As night closed in, far off was still to be seen the dark outline of the stranger ship. Was she gaining on the "Osterley?" Captain Winslow and his officers looked and looked again. There seemed to be little doubt about that. No more canvas could be clapped on the Indiaman. Everything had been done that could be thought of to make her sail fast. A hurricane just then would have been welcome. Clouds were gathering in the sky, and, as the night drew on, the darkness increased. At length the stranger was hid from sight. Some declared that they could still see her, but Captain Winslow was of opinion that they were mistaken. Still even he, as he walked the deck, continued to cast many an anxious glance astern. He called his first officer to him, and they held an earnest consultation together.

"We'll try it," he observed; and the yards were squared away, and the Indiaman was once more steering to the southward dead before the wind; it was her best point of sailing. It was hoped that the stranger, believing that she was bound for Madras, would continue the chase in that direction. The darkness continued.

"Well, sir, I trust that we have given that suspicious-looking gentleman the go-by," observed the captain to Colonel Armytage. "Perhaps it might be better to inform the ladies of this, to tranquillise any alarm they may still feel."

"Have no anxiety on that score. I do not allow my wife and daughter to indulge in idle apprehensions," answered the colonel in the supercilious tone in which he frequently spoke.

"This man may be a very important personage, but he is a very disagreeable one," thought Captain Winslow, as he turned away.

The worthy captain was well-nigh wearied out, so, summoning his first officer to take charge of the deck, he returned to his cabin to endeavour to s.n.a.t.c.h a short rest, leaving directions to be summoned should any change occur in the present state of things.

The first officer had been one of the most anxious to fight. He believed that they might not only beat off the enemy, but take her also, and he now kept a bright look-out, hoping that she might again appear.

He was a young man, and thought more of the honour and glory to be gained than of the risk to be run. Over and over again his night-gla.s.s swept round in the direction of the eastern horizon. The range of his vision was limited. After taking a long gaze he suddenly exclaimed, "There she is though!" He called an old quartermaster and bade him take the gla.s.s.

"Yes, sir, she's the ship, there's no doubt about it. She has been keeping way easily with us," observed the seaman. "I'd sooner that craft, Mr Lloyd, were a hundred miles away, or a thousand, for that matter, than where she is: we none of us likes her looks, and she'll prove a rummish customer if she gets alongside of us."

"Oh, never fear, Davis; you'll all fight like Britons, and beat her off; or take her, maybe. But call the captain, and let him know our friend is in sight, away on the larboard beam."

Captain Winslow was on deck in an instant. He had been dreaming of the stranger. There she moved like a dark phantom, silently stalking over the waters.

There was something peculiarly ominous in her appearance. The very silence with which she glided on through the darkness was threatening.

She soon came up within range, but not a shot was fired. There she remained gliding on, with her courses brailed up, keeping pace with the Indiaman. It was very evident that she might have come down upon her long before had she chosen.

The approach of the stranger quickly became known in the cabin, and the gentlemen pa.s.sengers were soon congregating on deck, many of them buckling on their swords and examining the locks of their pistols by the light of the binnacle lamp. Various opinions were offered. Some thought that Captain Winslow ought to begin the battle by firing a broadside into the stranger; but he declined the proposal, and suggested that it would be better to ascertain first whether she was inimically disposed.

"She can scarcely be a friend, or she would not frighten people so horribly," observed some one, but the speaker was not discovered.

The remark produced a laugh, and the spirits of the more timid began to rise.

"Perhaps the gentleman intends to wait till daylight to commence sport,"

observed the previous speaker.

Another hour pa.s.sed by; Captain Winslow could not help feeling that his ship was completely in the power of the stranger. She evidently sailed two feet to his one; could shoot ahead and rake him, or could stand off and cannonade him with her long guns, without his being able to return a shot. A st.u.r.dy Briton as he was, he almost wished, for the sake of all on board, especially of the females, that it had been determined to yield at once.

"No, no, that would never do," he muttered soon after to himself; "we'll fight, and defend them like men."

The stranger had been edging in nearer and nearer to the Indiaman. The ladies had been a.s.sembled and sent to their apartment in the hold. They were told it was only as a precautionary measure in case of an action.

They endeavoured to keep up each other's spirits, hoping for the best.

Miss Armytage sat by her mother, calm and resigned, endeavouring to read, but her mind often left the page and wandered far away.

Some few tried to talk, but they found the effort vain. A few young girls laughed and joked, and tried to persuade themselves that there was nothing to dread, but they too soon became silent, and the whole party sat patiently waiting for the event they dreaded, yet hoped might be avoided. They had no means of ascertaining what was taking place; Edda offered to go up and learn, but her mother entreated her to remain where she was, reminding her of her father's commands. The time pa.s.sed slowly by; many thought that it must be soon day. All hoped that it would be, for they fancied that with the light the stranger would be discovered to be a friend. Not a sound from the deck above reached them. The silence itself was painful. It was suddenly broken by the deep-toned voice of the captain speaking through a trumpet. Then came the concussion and fierce roar of the guns overhead, followed by the thunder of those of their opponent, and the crash of the shot as they tore their way through the sides of the ship. Many of the ladies shrieked loudly, with wild fright, and clung trembling to each other. Yes, the b.l.o.o.d.y fight had really begun; how would it terminate? Next there was a crashing sound as if the ship had struck on a rock, and she trembled in all her timbers, and there was still the roar of the great guns, but added to it the rattle of musketry; and now followed wild shouts and shrieks, and the clashing of steel as cutla.s.s met cutla.s.s, and men strove desperately for life, and there was the sharp report of pistol shots, and the cries increased; and there was the tramping of feet, every moment becoming louder, and the clashing of swords, and the shouts and cries growing nearer. And now one of the officers rushed down the ladder. His face was pale; there was blood on his arm.

"Ladies, we will defend you to the last," he exclaimed. "But come up on the main-deck, and keep together. We have been boarded and overpowered.

We have rallied on the afterpart of the deck, and hold it still; but there is no time to be lost."

Miss Armytage and her mother were the first to lead the way. When they reached the main-deck they saw the gallant band of the defenders struggling with overwhelming numbers of the enemy. In the front rank was Colonel Armytage. A huge seaman, a negro, had attacked him, and was pressing him hard. He seemed to be already wounded; others were rushing on. His foot slipped and he fell. His opponent's cutla.s.s was uplifted to give him a blow, which must have proved fatal, when a young officer sprang forward, interposed his own sword, and turned aside the weapon of his enemy.

"Yield, sir," he exclaimed in French. "You are a prisoner, and your life shall be respected." As he spoke, aided by the others, he dragged the colonel, no longer able to resist, out from the _melee_, and at that moment Edda recognised him as the young stranger whom she had met so frequently at Calcutta.

"All who yield shall have quarter," cried a voice from among the a.s.sailants of the British. "We are honourable enemies, and seek the lives of none who no longer resist. The ladies shall be protected."

"It's Hobson's choice," said one of the pa.s.sengers: "let us make terms while we can."

Several others expressed the same opinion. Indeed, it was evident that further resistance was useless. The ship was already in possession of the enemy. The captain was not with them. Where he was, no one knew.

Too probably he was wounded; perhaps killed. Colonel Armytage was a prisoner. The first officer lay desperately wounded in the front rank of the little band, who had so gallantly held out to the last.

"Drop your swords, brave enemies, and the Frenchman who makes another stroke at your head, dies," said the voice.

Although many had but little faith in the promise, they yielded to necessity. The captors, however, kept their word.

The captain, a stout middle-aged man, came forward, and taking the swords of the officers, bowed to the group of ladies, and a.s.sured them that everything in his power would be done for their accommodation.

"Oh, bring my father, then!" exclaimed Miss Armytage. "Let us attend to him, should he be hurt."

"The officer, my lieutenant, took prisoner?--certainly. He shall be placed under your charge, madam," answered the captain, with a bow.

As soon as it was daylight, the English part of the Indiaman's crew, with the officers, as well as the military men among the pa.s.sengers, were removed on board her captor, which proved to be "La Sybille," a French privateer corvette. Her name had lately become known for the havoc she had committed among the British merchantmen, many of which had been carried off, but what had afterwards become of them it had not been hitherto ascertained.

It was a great relief to Edda to receive a visit from Captain Winslow.

He was wounded, and having been knocked down and stunned when the Frenchman boarded, he had not recovered till the ship was completely in their power.

Several of the Indiaman's officers and crew had been killed or wounded, but the b.l.o.o.d.y signs of the conflict had been removed when the ladies once more appeared on deck. Strangers navigated the ship, and Edda observed that her Calcutta acquaintance had the command. He approached, however, but seldom, and always with the signs of the most profound respect. Edda sometimes observed him standing at a distance, watching her, with his arms folded on his bosom, and a melancholy expression in his countenance. Still, she did not altogether like his look, though it would have been difficult for her to determine why. One thing certainly was against him. He had been acting the part of a spy at Calcutta, and it at once occurred to her, that it was probably owing to the information he had obtained that the "Osterley" had been watched for, and fallen into the hands of the enemy. Senor Gerardo, as he had called himself, at the same time paid the greatest attention to Colonel Armytage, and seemed to antic.i.p.ate all his wants; indeed, no captors could have behaved with more attention to their prisoners than did the officers of "La Sybille" to the pa.s.sengers of the "Osterley."

The two ships were now sailing together, to the eastward of south, but where they were going, no one could ascertain. A sentry was stationed at the compa.s.s, and though they were allowed to range anywhere else about the ship, when any one drew near that, they were civilly ordered to move away. Ten or more days pa.s.sed, and the two ships lay at anchor in a beautiful bay, among a group of islands, some of considerable elevation, and covered with all the varied productions of the tropics.

There were few signs of cultivation, but there were numerous huts and tents scattered about, and it was evident that the island had been taken possession of by the French as a rendezvous for their cruisers. Another Indiaman lay at anchor with her masts and spars in a shattered condition, as if she had met with a gale on her pa.s.sage there, and had not been in a fit condition to send away. On a near inspection a battery was discovered thrown up on each side of the bay, while a strong fort in the centre commanded the anchorage, and sentries were seen pacing the beach to prevent the possibility of any prisoners escaping.

The pa.s.sengers remained on board two days, while workmen were seen on sh.o.r.e, erecting fresh huts. During this time, Lieutenant Gerardo was constant in his attentions to Edda, but they were so delicately offered, and his manners were so gentlemanly and refined, that she was almost angry with herself for not feeling more grateful. At last the whole party were directed by the French captain who came on board, to prepare for going on sh.o.r.e, and informed that they were at liberty to take every part of their private property with them.

"We do not war with individuals, and we feel deeply the necessity we are under of placing a restraint on your actions."

The young lieutenant expressed his great regret at no longer being allowed to have charge of them. "Still I trust, Miss Armytage, that you will allow me occasionally to come and inquire after your health. 'La Sybille' requires repairs, and will be detained here some time."