Salt Water Part 21

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

VOYAGE TO MALTA--THE REPENTANT PIRATE--THE PLAGUE--A SQUALL--BOBBY SMUDGE PROVES USEFUL--ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE THE SCHOONER--TRIAL OF THE PRISONERS--THEIR EXECUTION--THE YOUNG PIRATE'S DYING COUNSEL.

We had been five days at sea, and a fair breeze, though somewhat light at times, had sent us tolerably well on our course. A strict watch had been kept on the prisoners. All seemed very unconcerned as to the almost certain fate which awaited them. They ate and drank, and laughed and conversed among themselves, as if they were to be released at the end of the voyage. One of their number, however, who had received a severe hurt in the scuffle when they were captured, was in a very different temper. He kept as far apart from them as he could, and joined neither in their jokes nor conversation. He was far younger than the rest; and as I watched him I observed an expression in his countenance which would not have been there had he been a hardened villain. He seemed grateful to me also for noticing him, and I consequently frequently took an opportunity of saying a word to him appropriate to his situation.

"I should like to read, sir, if I had a book," he said to me one day.

"I once was used to reading, and it would be a great comfort."

I promised to try and get him a book. When I told Mr Vernon of the man's request, he advised me to lend him my Bible. "He may not care for it at first," he observed; "but as he wishes to read, he may draw instruction and comfort from it; and it may, by G.o.d's grace, enable him to perceive the evil of his career."

I accordingly took the pirate my Bible--it had been my sainted mother's.

The unhappy man's eye brightened as he saw it.

"Well, sir, I was ashamed to ask for it, and I knew not if one might be on board; but that is the book I wanted."

I left it with him, and he was constantly reading it attentively and earnestly; nor did he allow the sneers and jeers of his companions to interrupt him. I had perceived a considerable change in him since he was brought on board; and he every day seemed to grow thinner and weaker. I thought that he was dying; and I believe that he was of the same opinion.

Some bulkheads had been run up in the after-part of the hold to form a cabin for Delano--not for his own comfort and convenience, because he was the greatest villain of the gang; but in order not to allow him an opportunity of communicating with his companions. He lay there on a mattress, with his heavy handcuffs, and his legs chained to staples in the deck, like a fierce hyaena, glaring on all who looked at him. I should not, however, picture him properly if I described him as a wild-looking savage. On the contrary, there was nothing particularly objectionable in his face and figure. His face was thin and sallow, without much whisker; his features were regular, and could a.s.sume a very bland expression; his figure, too, was slight and active, and his address not ungentlemanly: but it was his eye, when either sullen or excited, which was perfectly terrible. Conscience he seemed to have none: it was completely dead, as were all the better feelings of which our nature is capable: they were destroyed, too, by his own acts--his long unchecked career of wickedness. Once he had been gay, happy, and innocent; but no good principles had ever taken root in his heart. Very early, those a mother's care had endeavoured to instil into him had been eradicated; and step by step--slow at first, perhaps--he had advanced from bad to worse, till he became the consummate villain he now was.

But I am forestalling the account I afterwards got of him.

We had three officers' watches on board the schooner. Mr Vernon kept one, I kept another, and an old quartermaster we had with us kept the third. Mr Vernon, in compa.s.sion to poor Bobby Smudge, had applied for him as cook's boy, to get him out of the way of Chissel the carpenter, his master, and in hopes of improving him by a somewhat different treatment to what he had been accustomed. The good effect of considerate kindness was already apparent; and the poor lad seemed most grateful for any encouraging word spoken to him. The best of our men had been sent on board the brig, and we remained only with eight and the _Helen's_ crew--a very fair complement, had we not always required two to stand sentry over the prisoners. We had another and a more insidious enemy on board, of whom we wot not, and whom no sentry could control-- the plague--that fell scourge of Asiatic cities. How it came on board we could not discover. It might have been in some of the pirates'

clothes, or some of our men might have caught it while they were on sh.o.r.e for a short time; or it might have been concealed in the schooner long before, and only brought forth by a congenial state of the atmosphere. There it was, however. It made its appearance on the fifth day, and in two days carried off three of our people and one of the _Helen's_ crew. The pirates escaped unscathed. It seemed, indeed, in no way to alarm them. They laughed and talked, and blasphemed more than ever. We hailed the brig, which had hitherto kept us company, and found that she was free from the affliction; so that, of course, except at a distance, we could hold no communication with her. I will not attempt to describe the appearance of that dreadful disease. It was sad to see the poor fellows attacked, with so little prospect of their recovery; while no one could tell who would be the next victim. As they died they were sewn up in their hammocks, with a shot at their feet, and at once consigned to the deep. Mr Vernon read the funeral service appointed by the Church of England for such an occasion.

After the first man was buried--a fine, active young fellow two days before, apparently full of life and strength--he addressed the crew:--

"Do not suppose the prayers I have read can do any good to him who has just gone for ever from our sight. For your benefit they were offered up. A like fate to his may be that of any one of us before another day has pa.s.sed; and I would earnestly urge you, for the short time which yet may remain for you, to turn your hearts to G.o.d--to prepare for eternity."

Something more he said to the same effect. It was good advice at the proper time. I am sorry to say that it was very little heeded, or, at all events, very quickly forgotten. Two of those who stood by and heard it, were themselves, within two days, called to their last and dread account. Mr Vernon took it very much to heart; anxious and agitated as he had been of late, his nerves were much shaken, and I feared that he would be the next victim. He bore up bravely, like a Christian, for some time; but, as one after another of the crew was taken ill, he succ.u.mbed, not to the malady itself, but to very weariness, and was compelled to take to his cot. My commander's illness threw a larger amount of responsibility on me than I had ever before enjoyed. I felt on a sadden grown wonderfully manful, and did my best to be up to my duty. Watson, the quartermaster, was a great aid to me. The old man seemed never to want sleep. He was on deck at all hours, constantly on the look-out, or seeing that the sentries were on the alert. Perhaps he did not place full confidence in my experience. We had had light winds or calms, with a hot burning sun, and sultry nights, for nearly a week.

When this weather commenced, the plague appeared. The barometer had been falling for some hours; but still there was no other indication of a change of weather. A fourth man was taken ill. I had gone below to report the case to Mr Vernon, when I heard Watson's voice, in quick eager tones, calling the people on deck to shorten sail. I sprang up the companion-ladder. The sea was as smooth as gla.s.s, and the sky was bright and clear enough in the south-east, whence a small dark cloud came sweeping up at a rapid rate towards us. I perceived that there was not a moment to lose. The people sprang to the halyards and brails; but before all the sail could be taken off the vessel, the squall had struck her. Over she went on her beam-ends. A cry of terror was heard above the roar of the wind in the rigging, and the rattling of ropes and blocks, and the dash of the surging waves. The water almost reached the combings of the hatches: everybody on deck thought we were gone. Two of the men were washed overboard. Watson, who was aft, hove one of them a rope. He seized it with convulsive energy: his life, dear to the meanest, depended on the firmness of his grasp. We hauled him in out of the seething cauldron; but the other poor fellow drifted far away. To the last he kept his straining eyes fixed on the vessel. He was a strong swimmer, and struck out bravely--lifting himself, every now and then, high out of the water, as if that useless exertion of strength could bring him nearer to us. Perhaps he was looking for a plank, or something to make for, to support himself. Unhappily, none was hove to him in time. All hands were too much occupied in the means for preserving their own lives. Weak and ill as he was, Mr Vernon had rushed on deck as he felt the vessel going over. He had ordered the helm to be put up; and Watson had seized an axe, waiting his directions to cut away the mainmast, when the throat-halyard block parted, the peak-halyards had already been let go, and the mainsail coming in of itself, the vessel righted in an instant; then, feeling her helm, and the headsail being yet set, she flew off before the squall. While we were rejoicing at our own preservation, we almost forgot our poor shipmate. Never can I forget the cry of despair he gave as he saw us flying from him. He knew full well that it was impossible for us to return; not a spar or plank was near to support him, to prolong his life even for a few short hours. The brig, also, was too far away to leeward to render him any help; so that aid from man he had none. Lifting up his arms, with eyeb.a.l.l.s starting from his head, he gave one last look at us; and then, uttering a cry of agony, sunk for ever. It had been dreadful to see strong men struck down by the plague, and die by rapid degrees; but I know not whether a scene like this was not still more harrowing. In the course of an hour we had run out of the squall, and the weather had become cool and refreshing. The squall had one very beneficial result, for no other persons were attacked with the plague, and the man who was suffering from it began rapidly to recover. Vernon also sensibly felt the change in the weather, and every day I saw an improvement; though the causes of his illness were too deeply seated to callow the atmosphere to have much effect on him. We very soon repaired the damages which the schooner had sustained, and by the next morning we were all to rights. Our chief anxiety was for the brig. We had lost sight of her in the squall, and we could not tell whether she had been more prepared than we were to meet its fury. Even had she not suffered from the gale, the plague might have broken out in her. Mr Vernon came occasionally on deck, but he was compelled, from weakness, to spend the greater part of the day in his cot, though this was very much against his inclination. We had in vain questioned and cross-questioned our prisoners, to discover if they knew anything of the fate of the _Ariadne_, but not a particle of information could we obtain; and I was myself satisfied that they really knew nothing about her. Our late peril suggested a new cause of alarm to the mind of Mr Vernon, which apparently had not before occurred to him; and he began to fear that the vessel in which the Normans had sailed might have been overtaken by one of those white squalls so common in the Mediterranean, and might have suffered the fate we so narrowly escaped. Since the squall, our prisoners had remained unusually quiet; though, while the plague was aboard, they were as noisy and blasphemous in their conversation as ever. The sick man continued in the same state as before, though he seemed more reserved when I spoke to him than he had been at one time.

He continued reading all day, as long as there was light, and asked to be allowed to have a candle to read at night; but this, of course, could not be permitted. There was evidently something working in his mind, which he would gladly be rid of, but could not. Having lost so many hands, the duty fell, naturally, more severely on the survivors; and we had enough to do to keep watch on deck, and a vigilant guard over our prisoners.

One night I had charge of the deck. Besides the man at the helm there was the look-out forward, and two hands lying down by the windla.s.s.

There was no moon, and the sky was covered with clouds, so that it was very dark. As I kept moving about, now looking out to windward, now over the lee-side, and then at the binnacle, to see that the schooner was kept on her proper course, I fancied that I saw a dark figure come up the main-hatchway; and while I stopped at the waist, I heard a voice, in a low whisper, say--

"Hist, sir, hist! I want to speak to you."

"Who is it?" said I, in the same low tone.

"Bobby Smudge, sir; listen: there are not many moments to lose, before we shall all have our throats cut, if we don't take care."

This piece of intelligence put me on the _qui vive_, though, remembering Master Smudge's pranks, I own that I did not much credit it.

"Come here," said I, rather impatiently, "and let me know all about it."

"I didn't like to be seen, sir," he replied, coming cautiously up to me, and looking round to ascertain that no one was near. "I don't know, sir, who's a friend and who's an enemy aboard here, just now."

"What do you mean, boy?" I asked.

"Why, just this, sir. That thundering scoundrel below there, is just trying hard to turn all the men's heads; and if we don't look alive, he'll do it, too."

I now felt that there might be some truth in poor Smudge's information.

"Go on, my lad," said I.

"Well, sir, I has to confess that he first tried it on with me. While the people were dying with the plague, and no one was looking on, he called me to him, and told me that he knowed where loads of gold was stowed away--enough to sink the ship and freight another twice the size; and that if I would help him to get his liberty, he'd show it to me, and that I might have as much as I wanted. I listened to him, and thought there would be no great harm if I was to help him to get free, and save his neck; so I agreed to take a message to the rest of the brig's people, to tell them to keep up their spirits, and to try and get their arms and legs out of limbo. He then told me to hunt in the carpenter's chest for a file, and a cold-chisel and hammer. While I was looking one night for the tools, the thought struck me, all of a heap like--if this chap was to get free, what would he do with Mr Vernon and you, sir, who had been so kind to me, and saved me from so many of that Mr Chissel's finnams? Why, he'll be cutting their throats, to be sure, and making off with the schooner; and where should I then be, I should like to know. So I goes back to Captain Delano, and tells him I couldn't find the tools. He swears a great deal at this, and tells me to go and look for them again; and that if I didn't bring them, he'd be the death of me. How he was to do me any harm while he was chained hand and foot, I couldn't tell; but still I was very much frightened. Well, howsomedever, I keeps a watch on him, and I soon seed that he was trying it on with some of the _Helen's_ crew; and at last, that he'd got one of our people to listen to him. How far he had succeeded in getting them over to his plans, I couldn't tell till just now. I had stowed myself away in the coil of the hawser, just before the bulkhead of his cabin, where I lay in a dark shadow, so that no one could see me, when I heard a man talking to him. I made out that he had almost got his fetters off his limbs, and that the other people would be shortly free of theirs; and that they knew where the arms were to be found; and that as soon as they had got them, they would make a rush on deck, and throw overboard all who wouldn't join them. Then they were to carry the schooner to the coast of Africa, to the very place where all Captain Delano's gold is stowed away."

How much of this story might be true, and how much imagination, I could not tell; but it was too serious a matter to allow any risk to be run; so I ordered him to slip below, and to beg Mr Vernon would at once join me on deck with his pistols. He was then to make his way forward, and to rouse up Watson, with directions to him to come to us. Bobby was so quick in his movements, that before a minute had pa.s.sed they both joined me. They were but just in time, when some dark heads were seen rising up above the combings of the hatchway. Before, however, they had time to make their footing good on the deck, Mr Vernon, Watson, and I had sprung on them, and knocked them below again with the b.u.t.t-ends of our pistols. At the same time, before they could make another attempt, the three men forward came running aft, and we quickly got the hatches on over them. There they and the two wretched traitors Delano had inveigled to release them remained, like wild beasts shut up in a cage,--much more dangerous, however, for they had the sentries' muskets, and perhaps other arms which might have been conveyed to them. They were, moreover, driven to desperation, and it therefore required great caution in dealing with them. Mr Vernon had recourse to a _ruse_ to a.s.sist in damping their spirits.

"Brig ahoy!" he sung out, "send your boat aboard here well-armed; our prisoners have broken loose. Watson," he whispered, "go and get the people up from forward. I suppose you can trust them."

"Ay, ay, sir, they are all true enough," he replied; "it's only one of the merchant-brig's crew, and that poor fellow, Nolan, who was always weak-like. They ought never to have been placed as sentries."

When all the people were mustered, we outnumbered the pirates; but, though we had arms in our hands, so had they; and if we took the hatches off, we could scarcely hope that they would yield without a struggle, which would very probably prove a b.l.o.o.d.y one. Still, if we let them remain below, they might commit some mischief--very probably set the ship on fire, or force their way out through the bulkheads, either forward or aft, when we were not expecting them. While this state of things was continuing, I happened to look over the side: my eyes caught sight of an object looming through the darkness.

"A sail on the weather bow!" I sung out, with no little satisfaction.

We hauled up a little, and stood for her. She had seen us and shortened sail.

"What vessel is that?" I inquired.

"A prize to his Majesty's ship _Harold_," answered the voice of Adam Stallman.

"All right; we want your aid. Heave-to, and send your boat aboard, with the people well-armed," I sung out.

In a few minutes Adam himself stood on our deck, with four well-armed followers. The inconvenience of a lengthened quarantine, to which he would be exposed, was not, under the circ.u.mstances, to be taken into consideration. A plan of operations was soon settled on. We agreed to have lanterns ready, and by swinging them down into the hold the moment the hatches were off, we hoped to discover where the pirates were stationed, and thus, if they attempted to fire, to be able to take better aim at them in return. It was an anxious moment. At a signal the hatches were in a moment thrown off. Delano stood like a lion at bay, with a musket in his hand. He fired it at Stallman, and then attempted to spring up on deck. Happily the ball missed its aim, and he was knocked over by several stout fists, which his head encountered, and fell like a log back into the hold. Several shots were exchanged, and the four pirates fought desperately in their hopeless attempt to regain their freedom. They were soon, however, overpowered, and borne down on the deck, without loss of life to either party. The only people who did not fight were the two traitors and the sick pirate, and he remained bound as before, having refused to be liberated. Delano had been stunned by his fall, and when he regained his senses, he found himself again in irons, with additional chains round his arms. This showed him probably that all that had pa.s.sed was not a dream, as it might otherwise have appeared to him. He growled out curses against his ill-luck, but he had no other means of venting his rage and disappointment. The other men took the matter very coolly. It appeared to me that their minds were too dull and brutalised, and their hearts too callous, to comprehend their awful position. Seared in their consciences, they were truly given over to a reprobate mind. The two men who had been gained over by Delano to a.s.sist him we sent on board the brig, exchanging them for two who could be relied on; and now our misfortunes seemed to have come to an end. The young man I have spoken of belonging to the pirate's crew, after this seemed to sink faster than ever. Mr Vernon, in consideration of his condition, had him removed from the immediate neighbourhood of the others, and placed within a screen in the after-part of the hold. I then, at his request, went to visit him one afternoon. He was sitting up, with the Bible on his knees, and his back resting against the bulkhead, so that the light which came down the hatchway-glanced on his forehead and the leaves of the sacred book. His hair, which was of a light brown (almost auburn, it had probably been, as a lad), was very long, and hung down on either side of his high, smooth, and sunburnt brow. His dress was that of an ordinary seaman, and when he was first captured it was perfectly neat and clean. I went and sat down on a bucket by his side.

"I have asked to see you again, sir, for you are the best friend I have found for many a year," he began, in a weak voice, speaking apparently not without pain and difficulty. "From this book I have discovered, at length, the cause of all my crimes, my sufferings, and ultimate doom.

Disobedience brought me to what I now am. I never learned to obey or to fear G.o.d or man. I was born in the same rank of life in which you move, perhaps with far greater expectations; and when I think of what I might have been and what I am, it drives me to madness, and I wish that I had never been born. My father was a man of property and position, and much esteemed for many virtues. My mother was highly educated and refined, and of religions feeling. It might be supposed that a child of such parents could not but turn out well. Unhappily for me, they loved me much, but not wisely. I was allowed to have my own way in all things, I was never taught to obey. As I grew up, my self-willed disposition became more and more developed. I could not bear constraint of any sort. Too late they discovered their error. I had received at home some little religious instruction; I even knew something about the contents of the Bible, but its spirit was totally beyond my comprehension. At last it was determined to send me to school. I went willingly enough, for the sake of the change; but, not liking it, ran away. I was not sent back, but instead a tutor was provided for me. He was totally unfitted for his occupation, and was unable, had he tried, to make any good impression on me. We quarrelled so continually, that he was dismissed, and I was persuaded to go to school again. Once more I ran away; but this time I did not run home. I wanted to see the world, and I was resolved to become a sailor. I cannot bear to dwell on my ingrat.i.tude and heartlessness. I knew that my disappearance would almost break my mother's heart, and that my father would suffer equally; yet I persevered. I little thought what I was to go through. A fine brig was on the point of sailing for the coast of Africa. I fell in with the master, and offered to go with him. He asked no questions as to who I was, or where I came from; but, wanting a boy, he shipped me at once. The next day we were at sea, and all means of tracing me were lost. I was not ill-treated; for the captain, though bad enough in many respects, had taken a fancy to me. We were to engage, I found, in the slave-trade. At first I was shocked at the barbarities I witnessed, but soon got accustomed to them. We did not always keep to that business.

The profits were not large enough to satisfy our avarice; and even piracy we did not hesitate to commit at times, when opportunity offered.

At length the brig was cast away, and many of the crew and all our ill-gotten gains were lost. I, with two or three others, who escaped, shipped on board a Spanish slaver. We changed from bad to worse.

Knives were in constant requisition; more than once I dyed my hands in blood. I gained a name, though a bad one; and was feared, if not loved.

Such was the training--such the scenes of my youth. After a time I began to weary of the life, and wished to see English faces, and to hear English spoken once more; so, finding a vessel short of hands returning home, I ran from the slaver, and shipped on board her. We were cast away on the south coast of England; many of my shipmates never reached the land. I was picked up by a boat's crew when almost exhausted, and was carried by them into a cave near the sh.o.r.e.

"They belonged to a large band of smugglers,--their leader one of the most daring and successful on the coast. I was too much hurt to be moved for some days, and pa.s.sed the time listening to their adventures, which they were at no pains to conceal. I became so much interested in their mode of life, that a few words of encouragement from their chief, who was known under the name of Myers, induced me to join them. I thought I would take a few cruises with him before I paid a visit to my home, to inquire for my father and mother. A wild life I spent for some time. Our lawless occupation led us into many acts of violence, in which I was never backward. One you are cognisant of. I was in the cavern when you and your commanding officer were brought there, and I a.s.sisted in hanging you over the pit. I was a favourite with Myers; and he trusted me entirely. When he was obliged to leave the country, I had resolved to start homeward; but was engaged in running a cargo on sh.o.r.e, when I was captured by the revenue men, and after an imprisonment of some months, sent on board a man-of-war. She was bound for the coast of Africa. I laughed at the climate which carried off many of my shipmates; but the discipline of a king's ship did not suit me, and I took an early opportunity of running from her.

"I lived among the blacks for some time; but it was a weary life, and finding a trader homeward bound, I got on board, and at length reached Liverpool. I went to my father's house. Both he and my mother were alive, but I had great difficulty in persuading them of my ident.i.ty.

When they were convinced of it, they were ready to receive me like the Prodigal. But I had not repented. I was not fit to dwell with them. I felt like a wild beast among lambs. I had not an idea in common with them. When the novelty wore off, my evil habits came uppermost. I asked my father for money. He told me that he wished me to embrace some regular calling, and desired to know what I would choose. I laughed at the notion. He still declined giving me the sum I asked for, but I insisted that I must have it. My looks alarmed him, and at length he reluctantly gave it me. With it I set off for Liverpool, where I soon spent it. Then the first pang of remorse came across me. I thought of the calm quiet of that home for which I had so completely unfitted myself. I was meditating returning to it once more, and asking my father to explain his wishes, when, as I was sauntering along the quays, I encountered Myers. He was much disguised, but he knew me and stopped me. He told me that he was engaged in a scheme by which a rapid fortune was to be made; that he could not then unfold it; but that, if I would ship on board a vessel with him, he would explain it when we were at sea. My impulse was to refuse; but I was tired and weary, and consented to enter a tavern with him. He there plied me with liquor till all my scruples vanished, and I became once more his slave.

"What occurred on board that vessel I cannot now tell; but you will probably know ere long. But the favour I have to ask of you is, that if I die, as I hope to do before our trial, you will find out my parents, and tell them, not all the truth, but how you encountered me on the point of death, and that I died repentant."

I promised the unhappy young man that I would do as he desired, and, at his request, I took down the name and address of his parents.

I have often since thought, as I recollected this story, that if parents did but consider the misery they were storing up for themselves and their children by neglecting the precepts of the wise King of Israel, they would, oftener than they do, search that book for counsel and advice, and would teach their children also to seek instruction from its copious pages.

Oh! my young friends, remember that you cannot live well without some rule of conduct, any more than you can steer a ship across the ocean without a compa.s.s or knowledge of the stars. Then, let me urge you to take the best rule you can find; and where, let me ask, does there exist one comparable, in any way, to that found in the Proverbs of Solomon?

If you would be truly wise, learn them by heart, and remember them always.