Sail Ho! Part 89

Then I concluded that I could do nothing till the door was closed, and as soon as an opportunity offered itself, I determined to creep out, and at all risks draw that door to, trusting to Jarette thinking that the closing was caused by the motion of the ship as it gently rocked upon the swell.

At last as I lay there, for minutes which seemed to be hours, I heard my enemy talking loudly, and I knew that he must be speaking to the men in the forecastle.

That would do. He could see nothing now, for between us there were the main and foremasts, and plenty besides--the galley and water-cask, and the long cabin-like range upon the top of which our boat had lain in the chocks.

I crept over the side after propping up the lid, went upon hands and knees to the door, readied out and touched it. That was sufficient: it swung upon its hinges so that Jarette could easily imagine that the motion of the ship had caused the change.

The next minute, still keeping the locker open ready to form a retreat for me in case of necessity, I leaned right out as far as I could, and bending down, strained my eyes, trying to cut the darkness as I whispered sharply--

"Are you there?"

"Yes; got them?" came from the boat, though to me the voice came out of the black darkness.

"No cartridges," I whispered. "Come closer. No--keep back."

I said that, not that I knew anything, but I had a kind of impression that Jarette was returning, and dropping down into the locker once more, I lowered the lid, but this time not quite close, for I thrust in a bit of one of the flags, so that there was room for a little air to get in, and that and possibly the idea that I could not be suffocated, made me more at my ease.

I waited some little time, and then began to grow impatient; feeling sure that I had fancied his coming and taken alarm at nothing, I determined to lift the lid and get some fresh air, but I did not stir just then, only lay still, finding my position terribly irksome. I could not hear well either, and at last I began to move cautiously to peer out, when to my horror there was a sharp blow delivered on the lid of the locker, and then another probably given with the b.u.t.t of a revolver, and Jarette exclaimed fiercely--

"Hang the rats!"

I lay back, breathless, expecting that he would hear the dull heavy throb of my pulses, while I trembled violently, thinking that all was over, and that he was trifling with me, and knew all the while that I was lying there. But by degrees I grew calmer. There were rats enough in the hold. I had heard them, and why should he not have attributed the slight rustling noise I made to one of the mischievous little animals?

At last, to satisfy my doubts, I heard him come and kneel upon the locker again, as if looking out of the cabin-window.

He stayed some minutes, and I began to think that he must see the boat; but I soon set that idea aside and felt that it was absurd, for if he had seen the boat he certainly would either have shouted to warn its occupants away, or fired at them.

"He feels that he is not safe," I said to myself at last, and to my great relief he got down, muttering to himself, and I could tell by the sound that he was at the table, for I heard a clink of gla.s.s, the gurgling of liquor out of a bottle, and then quite plainly the noise he made in drinking before he set down the gla.s.s and uttered a loud "Hah!"

Just then I heard voices from forward, loud laughing and talking.

"Curse them, what are they doing now?" exclaimed Jarette, loudly. "Oh, if I had only one man I could trust!"

He hurried out of the cabin, and I did not flinch now from opening the lid and looking out, to find that the door had swung to as soon as he had pa.s.sed through.

The noise was so boisterous forward that I crept out, pushed the door, and stood in the dark saloon, where I could still see the line of light at the bottom of Miss Denning's cabin as I crept to the companion, and, excited by curiosity, slipped aside to where I could shelter under the bulwark and see what was going on.

There were lanterns now by the big hatch in front of the main-mast, and I could see quite a group of men at whom Jarette was storming.

It was a curious weird-looking scene there in the darkness, for the men's faces stood out in the lantern-light, and in spite of their fear of their leader they were laughing boisterously.

"You dogs," he roared; "not a drop more. Go back to your kennel."

"Mus' have little drop more, skipper," cried one of the men.

"No," he roared, "not a drop, and it shall be allowances from this night."

"But there's heaps o' good stuff spoiling, skipper."

"I'll spoil you, you dog," snarled Jarette, and I saw him s.n.a.t.c.h a lantern from one of the men and lean down, holding the light over the open hold. "Hi! below there," he roared; "leave that spirit-keg alone, and come up."

In the silence which ensued I heard a m.u.f.fled muttering come from below, and Jarette dropped upon his knees to hold the lantern right down in the open hold, while the light struck up and made his face and his actions plain from where I stood watching.

"Once more, do you hear? Come up and leave that spirit, or I'll fetch you with a bullet."

"Better come up, mate," shouted one of the men.

"You hold your tongue," snarled Jarette to the speaker. "Now then, will you come, or am I to fire?"

There was no reply, and Jarette spoke once more in quite a calm, gentle, persuasive voice.

"I say, will you leave that spirit-keg alone and come up?"

Still no answer, and Jarette turned his head to the group of men.

"That's a fresh keg broached. Who did it?" he said slowly. "I said no more was to be taken. I say--who broached that keg?"

"Oh, well, it was all on us, skipper. You see we couldn't do nothing in this calm," said the man who had before spoken, and who seemed to be the most sensible of the group.

"Then you all broke my orders," cried Jarette, hastily now, "and you shall all see how I punish a man for breaking my orders."

I looked on as if spellbound, forgetting the boat and my mission as I crouched there in the dark, feeling that a tragedy was at hand, though I could not grasp all and divine that this was the crowning-point of the mutiny.

For Jarette bent right down over the open hold, lowering the lantern, whose light played upon the barrel of a pistol.

"Now," he cried, "once more, will you come up and leave that spirit-barrel, or am I to fire?"

"Fire away," came up in m.u.f.fled tones, but quite defiantly, and as the last word reached my ear there was the sharp report of the pistol, whose flash shone out brighter than the lantern. Then a horrible cry came from below, and for a few moments I could see nothing for the smoke which hung in the air. But from out of it came an excited burst of talking and yelling.

"Stand back," roared Jarette. "I have five more shots ready, and you see I can hit. Serve the scoundrel right."

"But look, look!" shouted the man who had spoken before; and as the smoke dispersed, I saw him pointing down into the hold, while the other men, sobered now, stood huddled together in alarm.

Then with a wild yell of horror one of them threw up his hands, shouting "Fire, fire!" ran forward, while a fearful figure suddenly appeared at the mouth of the hold, climbed on deck, and then shrieking horribly, also ran forward with Jarette and the others in full pursuit.

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.

It was a horrible sight, one which made me cling to the bulwarks absolutely paralysed, for the man who had climbed on deck was one ma.s.s of blue and yellow flames, which flickered and danced from foot to shoulder, and in those brief moments I realised that he must have fallen and overset the spirit-keg when Jarette fired, saturated his garments, and no doubt the fallen lantern had set all instantaneously in a blaze.

It was impossible to stir. My legs trembled, and every shriek uttered by the poor wretch, as he ran wildly here and there, thrilled me through and through. One moment it seemed as if he were coming headlong toward me, and I felt that discovery was inevitable; but before he reached the open hold, he dashed across the deck to the starboard bulwark, turned and ran forward again shrieking more loudly than ever, while the rapid motion through the air made the flames burn more furiously, and I could distinctly hear them flatter and roar.

His messmates, headed by Jarette, were not idle; they shouted to him to stop; they chased him, and some tried to cut him off here and there; but as if the idea of being stopped maddened him, the poor wretch shifted, dodged, and avoided them in the most wonderful manner, shrieking more wildly than ever, as a man who had been below suddenly confronted him with a tarpaulin to fling round him and smother the flames.

At last, with the sharp tongues of fire rising above his head, he made one maddened rush forward, and the whole of the party in pursuit; while his cries, and the sight of the man dashing on like a living torch through the darkness of that awful night, made me long to close my eyes and stop my ears. But I could not--it was impossible. I could only cling helplessly to that bulwark, praying for the power to help, but unable to stir.

It takes long to describe all this, but it was only a matter of a minute or two, before, with the flames rushing up to a point above his head and streaming behind him, he rushed for the bows.