The Castaways Part 11

So saying, without further ado I leapt upon the brig's bulwarks, from thence to those of the barque, and so down upon her deck, closely followed by O'Gorman.

CHAPTER TEN.

WE PLUNDER THE FRENCH BARQUE.

As my feet touched the barque's deck, I flung a lightning glance about me to gather as much information as possible, not knowing but that at any moment such knowledge might be of priceless value to me. The craft was somewhat bigger than I had at first set her down to be, being of fully four hundred, or maybe four hundred and fifty, tons measurement.

Looking for'ard to the swell of her bows, I saw that she must evidently be of a motherly build, which accorded well with the fact that she had lost steerage-way long before such had been the case with the brig. Her decks were in a very dirty and untidy condition, looking as though they had not been washed down, or even swept, for at least a week, and they were lumbered up with quite an unusual number of spars and booms. Yet she was evidently a pa.s.senger ship, for the cabin under her full p.o.o.p was brilliantly lighted up, and through its open door I caught a glimpse of several men and women so attired as to at once proclaim their status on board; moreover, the quarter-deck was also occupied by a group of men and women, evidently pa.s.sengers, with two or three sailorly-looking men among them, over whom a party of O'Gorman's people were mounting guard, the remainder being stationed on guard over the fore-scuttle, down which I presumed the barque's crew had been driven.

My attention was almost instantly attracted toward the little party on the quarter-deck, and especially toward a grey-haired man in uniform, whom I imagined might be the skipper. I advanced toward the party, with a bow, and said, in French:

"I wish to speak to the captain of this vessel: may I ask if he happens to be among you?"

The old gentleman in uniform at once advanced a pace and, acknowledging my salute by raising his gold-laced cap, answered:

"I am he. And I demand to know, monsieur, by what right you and your crew of ruffians have dared to run aboard me in this outrageous fashion, driving my crew below, stationing a guard athwart my decks, and frightening my pa.s.sengers very nearly out of their senses. Are you pirates, or what?"

"Monsieur," answered I, "there is nothing to be gained by attempting to deceive you, and I will therefore at once say that I fear you will find that you have fallen into the hands of pirates. The big man beside me is their captain, while I, and a young lady aboard the brig, have the misfortune to be their prisoners. I shall probably not be afforded an opportunity to explain to you the unfortunate situation of the young lady and myself; but as soon as I became aware of the intention of these men to board you I prepared a letter which will explain everything--it is unfortunately written in English, but that, I am sure, will prove no obstacle to you. This letter I will presently endeavour to pa.s.s, un.o.bserved, to one of you; and if you will kindly act in accordance with the request set forth therein, you will very greatly oblige two most unhappy people."

"Monsieur," said the Frenchman, "I will gladly do anything in my power to help you; but as to effecting your rescue--" he glanced expressively at O'Gorman and his companions, and shrugged his shoulders in a way that very clearly indicated his helplessness.

Here O'Gorman cut in. "Well, what has the ould chap got to say for himsilf?" he demanded.

"Why," answered I, "you heard what he said. He wants to know what we mean by boarding his ship in this outrageous fashion and driving his crew below."

"Ask him what is the name of his ship, where he is from, and where bound to," ordered the Irishman.

I put the questions; and the skipper answered:

"This is the _Marie Renaud_, of and from Ma.r.s.eilles, for Bourbon, with a general cargo."

I translated, turning to O'Gorman--and slightly away from the group of Frenchmen--to do so; and while I was speaking a hand touched mine--which I held, clenched, behind my back, with the letter, folded small, within it--while a voice murmured in my ear:

"Your letter, monsieur?"

I opened my fingers, and felt the missive gently abstracted.

"Thank G.o.d for that opportunity!" thought I fervently, as O'Gorman said:

"Ask him if he has plenty of provisions and water aboard."

I at once saw the villain's game: he was going to replenish the brig's stores by plundering the barque, thus rendering it unnecessary to touch at any port. So, while translating the question to the French skipper, I took it upon myself to very tersely mention my suspicions, and to recommend the adoption of any precautionary measures that might suggest themselves.

"The bulk of my stores is stowed in the after hold," answered the French skipper, "but there is about enough in the lazarette to carry us to Cape Town. If they can be persuaded to be satisfied with what is there only, we shall come to no great harm."

"You hear?" said I, turning to O'Gorman again, quite certain, by this time, of his inability to understand a single word of French; "they are very short of provisions, having only sufficient in their lazarette to carry them to Cape Town."

"Is that all?" demanded the Irishman. "Thin, be jabers, _I'm_ sorry for thim, for there's a good manny miles bechuxt here and Cape Town, and I'm afraid they'll be mortial hungry before they get there. For I'm goin'

to help mesilf to everything ateable that the barque carries, and so ye may tell the skipper--bad cess to him for a mismanagin' shpalpeen! Whoy didn't he lay in stores enough to carry him to the ind of his v'yage?

And ye may tell him, too, to start all hands to get those stores on deck in a hurry; our own lads will have enough to do in lookin' afther everybody, and seein' that none of the Frenchies thries to play anny tricks wid us."

I translated the gist of these remarks to the French captain, and at the same time gave him a hint to exhibit a proper amount of righteous indignation over the robbery; which he did to perfection, wringing his hands, rumpling his hair, and pacing the deck with the air of a madman while he poured out anathemas enough upon O'Gorman and his gang to sink the entire party to the nethermost depths of perdition. Meanwhile, the French crew, under the supervision of the mates--with Price watching the operation to see that a clean sweep was made of the lazarette--went to work to pa.s.s the stores on deck; and in less than an hour everything that the lazarette had contained was safely transferred to the brig, and stowed away.

While this operation was in progress, O'Gorman made a tour of the various cabins, compelling the unfortunate pa.s.sengers to turn out their trunks before him, and appropriating the whole of their cash, jewellery, weapons, and ammunition, together with as much of their clothing as happened to take his fancy. As he executed his self-imposed task with considerable deliberation, those pa.s.sengers whose turn was still to come had plenty of time to meditate upon their coming despoilment, and one of them--the individual who had so kindly relieved me of my letter--took it into his head to do me a good turn. Withdrawing quietly to his cabin, he presently reappeared with a mahogany case, to which he unostentatiously directed my attention, immediately afterwards laying it carelessly down in a dark corner of the cabin.

Then he came and stood close beside me, and murmured in my ear:

"A brace of duelling-pistols, with a full supply of ammunition, monsieur. Since apparently they _must_ go, I would rather that they should fall into monsieur's hands, if possible. He may perhaps find them useful some time in the future."

"A thousand thanks, monsieur," returned I, in a whisper. "Should we ever meet again I will endeavour to repay your kindness with interest."

Then, watching my opportunity, I possessed myself of the case of pistols, made my way on deck with them, and--thanks to the bustle of trans-shipping the stores--managed to slip on board the brig with it and convey it, undetected, to my own cabin. Having done which, I spoke a rea.s.suring word or two to Miss Onslow--who had retired to her own cabin--lighted a pipe, and sauntered up on deck again with the most careless demeanour imaginable.

It was long past midnight by the time that O'Gorman had finished rifling the barque, by which time he had secured all the provisions out of the unfortunate craft's lazarette, had taken four bra.s.s nine-pounder guns, two dozen stand of muskets, the same number of cutla.s.ses and boarding pikes, together with a considerable quant.i.ty of ammunition, had emptied one of the barque's water-tanks, and had robbed them, in addition, of their two best boats--fine twenty-seven feet gigs--with their whole equipment. Then, the weather still being stark calm, he compelled the Frenchmen to hoist out their remaining two boats and to tow the brig clear of and about a mile distant from the barque. Before that moment arrived, however, the French skipper contrived to get a hurried word with me.

"Monsieur," he said, "the contents of your letter have been communicated to me; and permit me to say that you and Mademoiselle Onslow have the heartiest sympathy and commiseration of myself and my pa.s.sengers in your most unpleasant situation. But, monsieur, I fear I cannot possibly help you in the way that would doubtless be most acceptable to you--namely, by receiving you on board my ship. The scoundrels who hold you in their power would never permit it; and even were it possible for you and mademoiselle to slip aboard, unperceived, and secrete yourselves, your absence would be quickly discovered, it would be guessed what had become of you, and the pirates would a.s.suredly give chase and recapture you-- for the barque, fine ship though she be, certainly _is_ a trifle slow-- and who knows what vengeance the wretches might wreck upon us for having presumed to abet you in your attempt to escape them? You will perceive, I am sure, that my duty to my pa.s.sengers forbids my exposing them to such a risk. But I shall now call at Cape Town, to replace what those villains have taken from me; and you may rest a.s.sured that I will not only report the act of piracy that has been perpetrated upon me, but I will also make known the unfortunate situation of yourself and mademoiselle, so that your countrymen may be enabled to take such steps as they may see fit to effect your rescue."

This was as much as I could reasonably hope; and I thanked the skipper heartily for undertaking even so much as that.

In the early hours of the morning a gentle little air from the northward--that gradually strengthened to a nice working breeze--sprang up; and when I went on deck at seven bells the _Marie Renaud_ was out of sight, and we were alone once more on the tumbling waste of waters.

From that time forward nothing of importance occurred until we arrived in the longitude of the Horn, our pa.s.sage of this notorious headland being accomplished in gloriously fine weather--for a wonder--with half a gale of wind from the eastward, blowing over our taffrail, to which we showed every rag that we could set upon the hooker. The actual pa.s.sage occurred in the early morning--about six o'clock, according to our dead reckoning--and upon working out the sights that I had secured after breakfast for the determination of the longitude, I found that we were thirty miles to the westward of it, and far enough south to permit of our shifting our helm for the mysterious island to which we were supposed to be bound. Accordingly, having verified my figures, and p.r.i.c.ked off the brig's position on the chart, I made my way up on deck, and informed O'Gorman of the state of affairs.

"So we're actually now in the moighty Pacific, eh?" he exclaimed in high elation. "Bedad that's good news, annyhow, and we'll cilibrate the occasion by takin' an exthry tot o' grog all round, and dhrinkin'

shuccess to the v'yage. But, sthop a minute; ye want to know where ye're to shape a coorse for, now? By the powers, misther, I'll tell ye that same in a brace of shakes. Let me go and get the paper out o' me chist, and I'll soon make ye as wise as mesilf."

The fellow hurried away for'ard, and dived below into the forecastle, from which he soon emerged again, bearing in his hand an oblong envelope. From this he carefully withdrew a paper, folded lengthwise, and, opening it, read:

"'Latichood: Two, forty-eight, forty; south. Longitood: One hundred and forty-four, ten, ten; west. Approach island from nor'-west, and stand towards it with summit of hill bearin' south-east half-south, which leads through the pa.s.sage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to south a quarter west for the mouth of the bight'--and that's enough: there's no call to read the rest to ye," he concluded abruptly.

"As you please," answered I; "I have no desire whatever to know anything more of the matter than what is absolutely necessary to enable me to navigate the brig to the spot, and afterwards to make a civilised port in the shortest possible time. I will, however, have a look at the chart, and ascertain the particular island to which those figures of yours refer."

"You might as well bring the chart up on deck, and let me see it: I'd loike to see just where we're bound to, and how long it'll take us to git there," remarked O'Gorman.

I accordingly went below, secured the chart, together with a pencil, a pair of dividers, and a parallel ruler, and took the whole on deck.

Then, spreading the chart open, I p.r.i.c.ked off the lat.i.tude and longitude given by O'Gorman, and, to my astonishment, found that the spot was located in open water.

"I am very much afraid that your information is faulty, O'Gorman," said I, pointing to the spot. "Do you see that? There is no island shown in your lat.i.tude and longitude. The nearest land to it is the Marquesas group, and Hiau--the nearest of them--is three hundred and sixty miles distant from your spot."

O'Gorman stared blankly at the chart for a full minute or more, glared suspiciously at me for nearly as long; looked at his paper again, to a.s.sure himself that he had made no mistake; and finally rapped out a string of oaths in his consternation. Then he nipped his profanity short off as a comforting reflection occurred to him.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, "but this oiland as Oi'm talkin' about is unbeknownst, so av coorse it won't be drawed on the chart. That's all right, misther; you navigate the brig to that place, and you'll find an oiland there, safe enough."

"But, supposing that we do _not_," I suggested; "supposing that your information happens to be incorrect; what then?"

"Ay, but it _won't_ be," he snarled back; "it'll be correct, and we'll find the oiland where Oi told ye. And if we don't, why bedad it'll be the worse for you and the gal, for we'll cruise for it until we find it, if we has to cruise until the Judgment Day, like the Flyin' Dutchman!"

"All right," I said. "If the island is where you say it is, I will find it for you, never fear. If it is _not_--well, then it will _not_ be found; and that is all there is about it."