Sail Ho! Part 103

"Don't talk; no. Ready there at the capstan?"

"Ay, ay," came back.

"Haul away then."

The rattle and clang of the tackle began, as the men turned with all their might, the catches on either side making sure of every foot they won, and by degrees the heavy boat rose slowly out of the water, and higher and higher, till she was above the bulwarks, when the men cheered, ceased turning, made all fast, and while two of us got hold of the painter and swung the boat's head round, the crane-like spar, at whose end the iron wheel, hung, was slewed round till the boat was well on board.

Then Hampton and Barney ran back to the capstan and lowered away, till the boat lay on its side on the deck, when, with a rousing cheer, the gangway was closed, and I felt that I could breathe; for, as I looked over the bulwarks for our enemies, there they were, steadily rowing toward us, but still quite a mile away.

I breathed more freely then, for, in spite of their superior strength, I felt that our position was not unfavourable. The sides of the ship were high and smooth, and, without help from within, the only likely places for our enemies to be able to gain the deck were from under the bowsprit, where I had climbed up, or through the stern-windows. But we had a keen and thoughtful man in command. Mr Brymer soon rendered the stern-windows safe by having the dead-lights over them, while I was sent round to screw up the glazed-iron frame of every circular window. Then our princ.i.p.al vulnerable point was the stay beneath the bowsprit, where he stationed Dumlow, armed with a capstan-bar, which the big sailor prepared to use as a club; the other dangerous points being the chains, where it was possible for a man to climb up by means of a boot-hook.

These places Mr Brymer guarded as well as possible by stationing one or other of his forces ready for their defence, with the understanding that we were to act on our discretion, and run to help in the defence of the part most menaced.

All these arrangements were quickly made, and lastly, the saloon was reserved for our final stand, the cannon being wheeled just inside, pointed so as to sweep the entrance, though I failed to see how it was to be fired if we were driven there, when the red-hot poker was in the stove of the galley.

By this time they were all armed. Miss Denning was back in our citadel, the saloon, where we had all been refreshed with the provisions she had prepared for us. Mr Brymer had begged Mr Denning, too, to go into his cabin, out of the way of danger; but he had flushed up and insisted upon having a chair placed by the cannon, and being furnished with one of the guns and some cartridges.

"I am a good shot," he said, "weak as I am, and I command a good deal of the bulwarks on either side of the ship."

So he was placed as he wished, and sat with his gun across his knees, just at the breach of the cannon.

"And I can fire that if it becomes necessary," he confided to me, as I said good-bye to him before I went to my place.

"How?" I asked,--"with a match?"

"No," he whispered; "if it comes to the worst, and Jarette and his scoundrels are making for here, I shall put the muzzle of my gun to the touch-hole and fire it."

"Won't it blow the priming away?" I said.

"No; it will fire the piece instantly."

"I hope he will not have to try," I thought to myself as I ran to Walters' cabin, and told him of the fight to come.

"And I can't help," he moaned. "I wish I could."

"What, to take the ship?" I said spitefully.

"You know better than that," he said.

I don't know how it was, but one minute I was saying that to him spitefully, the next I had hold of his hand and shook it.

"I didn't mean it," I said quite hurriedly. "Good-bye, old chap; we're going to whop them after all."

I ran out of the cabin with the thought in my mind that I might perhaps be killed.

"And one ought to forgive everybody," I said to myself, just as Mr Brymer cried--

"Oh, here you are, Dale. Take this gun, and mind, you are the reserve.

Be ready to go and help any one who is most pressed. There must be no nonsense now. Shoot down without mercy the first scoundrel who reaches the deck. If it is Jarette, aim at his head or breast; if it is one of the others, let him have it in the legs."

He hurried to the side then, leaving me with a double-barrelled gun and a handful of cartridges, which, after seeing that the piece was loaded, I thrust into the breast-pocket of my jacket.

"This is a rum way of forgiving one's enemies," I said to myself; "but I suppose I must."

And then I began patrolling the deck as we waited on our defence, with the boats coming on and the insidious enemy within, for the fire was certainly making a little way in the hold.

The boats were only a couple of hundred yards away now. I could see Jarette seated in the stem of one of them, as they came on abreast, making straight for the port-gangway abaft the main-mast; and my breath came thick and fast, for the fight was about to begin, and I felt that we could not expect much mercy at the hands of the leader of the men.

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN.

"It's all over," I thought to myself; "they'll take the ship and send us adrift now;" but all the same I knew that the defence would be desperate as soon as Mr Brymer gave the word.

I could see the faces of Jarette and his men now clearly enough in the one boat, while in the other I picked out five men, among whom was the cook, who would have been, I should have thought, the very last to join in so desperate a game, one which certainly meant penal servitude for all, and possibly a worse punishment for the leaders, as death might very probably ensue in the desperate attack upon the ship. But I had no more time for such thoughts. Jarette just then rose up in the stern of the boat he was in, and hailed us.

"Ahoy, there! Open that gangway," he shouted, "and let down the roped steps."

Mr Brymer stepped to the bulwarks just opposite the boat.

"Throw up your oars there," he cried, and the men obeyed, so used were they to his orders.

"Row, you idiots, row!" roared Jarette, and the oars splashed again.

"Stop there, you in the boats," cried Mr Brymer, "or I give the order to fire."

"Bah! don't be a fool, Brymer," he shouted. "Pull away, my lads; they won't fire. Hi! there, the rest of you, don't take any notice of the mate. We saw you were on fire and in danger. We saw the fire and smoke in the night, and came to save you."

"In the same way as you deserted the ship when you thought she would sink," said Mr Brymer, tauntingly.

"Pull, my lads, and get aboard," cried Jarette, so that the men in the other boat could hear; "he doesn't know what he's talking about. We'll put the fire out, and then talk to him."

Bang! went Mr Brymer's revolver, fired over the heads of the men in Jarette's boat, and the Frenchman fell backward into the stern-sheets.

I thought he was killed, and the men ceased rowing.

But Jarette was up again directly.

"Pull, you beasts!" he cried. "You jerked me off my feet. You, there,"

he roared to the men in the second boat, "round to the starboard side and board there. No--"

He leaned over the side and said something behind his hand to the men in the other boat, which we could not hear, but we did hear him say--"We must have her. It's too far to row."

Those last words enlightened us, telling as they did that the boats had made very little progress, but had drifted with the current just as the ship had, and they could never have been very far away. They must too have supposed the vessel had sunk till they saw the fire renewed, when feeling that they had been premature in forsaking her, they came back, and were no doubt a good deal taken aback by finding us there ready to defy them.

"Now!" shouted Jarette. "Ready? Off!"

The boats came on in spite of two or three shots fired from the deck, and then, with Jarette rapidly returning our fire, they were soon close up and sheltered to a great extent.