The Cruise of the Frolic Part 22

They were wonderful fellows, those Moors. I have always felt a vast respect for them when I have beheld their remains in the south of Spain.

The reason of their success is, that they were always in earnest in whatever they undertook. However, I don't want to talk here about the Moors. Gibraltar is a very curious place, and well worth a visit; with its excavated galleries, its heavy guns, its outward fortifications, its zig-zag roads, its towers and batteries, its narrow streets, its crowded houses, its ragged rocks, and its troops of monkeys, the only specimens of the family of simia, which reside, I believe, in a wild state in Europe. Gibraltar, in reality, from its geological formation, belongs rather to Africa than to Europe, it being evidently cut off from the African mountains, and having no connection with those of Europe.

It is a question for naturalists to solve how the monkeys came there--I don't pretend to do so. We brought up in Gibraltar Bay, where the yacht lay very comfortably, and so do now our men-of-war. Should, however, a war break out with Spain, they would find the place too hot to hold them, as the bay is completely commanded by the Spanish coast, where batteries could speedily be erected, nor could the Rock afford the ships any protection.

Now I have talked enough about Gibraltar; I'll however just describe it, like a big tadpole caught by the tail as it was darting away towards Africa. We spent some pleasant days there, and were very hospitably treated by some military friends in the garrison. Malta, the Isles of Greece, and the Levant, was our destination. I did not fail to make inquiries respecting Sandgate; and, curious enough, I fell in with a merchant who had in his youth fought in the Greek War of Independence.

He told me that a youth of that name, and who in every way answered Sandgate's description, had come out from England and joined the patriot forces. He was a brave, dashing fellow, but most troublesome from his unwillingness to submit to any of the necessary restraints of discipline, and utterly unprincipled. He had, however, plenty of talent, and managed to ingratiate himself with some of the Greek chiefs, though the more respectable, as did the English Philh.e.l.lenes, stood aloof from him.

"The truth is," said my friend, "many of those Greek chiefs had been notorious pirates themselves, and I have no doubt Sandgate learned his trade from them."

"I suspect very strongly that the man you describe and Sandgate are one and the same person," I remarked. "It is curious that I should so soon have gained a clew to him."

The next day I again met my friend. "I have some further account of Sandgate to give you," said he, taking me by the b.u.t.ton; "he'll give some little trouble before his career is closed, I suspect. My Smyrna correspondent is here, and he tells me that he knew of Sandgate's being there, and of his selling his yacht. He served with me in the war, and knew him also: consequently, when he made his appearance he kept his eye upon him. He traced him on board a vessel, in which he went to one of the Greek islands. From thence he crossed to a smaller island owned by a chief who had once been a notorious pirate, and was strongly suspected of still following the same trade in a more quiet way. There he lost sight of him; but several piracies had been committed during the spring by a craft which it was suspected had been fitted out in the island in question."

"We certainly have in a most unexpected way discovered a clew to Mr Sandgate's whereabouts and course of life," I remarked. "It would almost read like a romance were it to be put into print."

"Oh, we have had many heroes of that description from time to time in the Mediterranean," replied my friend. "There was that fellow Delano, who was hung at Malta a few years back, he was an Englishman--or a Yankee, I believe rather. How many piracies he had committed I do not know before he was found out, but at last he tried to scuttle a brig, which did not go down as he thought she had, so happily his intended victims escaped and informed against him. He was captured by a man-of-war's boat's crew, and he and his followers were carried in chains to Malta. Then there was a very daring fellow, a Greek, Zappa by name, who commanded a brig, and on one occasion attacked an Austrian man-of-war which he believed had treasure on board, and took her. Then there has been no end of Greek pirates of high or low degree.

Gentlemanly cut-throats, princes and counts with fleets under their command, down to the disreputable owners of small boats which lie in wait behind headlands to rob unwary merchantmen who cannot defend themselves. Oh! the Mediterranean has reason to be proud of the achievements of its mariners from the times of the pious Aeneas down to the present day."

From all I heard of Sandgate, indeed, I felt more and more thankful that Miss Manners had so fortunately escaped from his power.

Nothing worthy of note occurred to us during our very pleasant stay at Gibraltar. The day before we had arranged to leave the place, who should we fall in with but Jack Piper, a lieutenant in the navy, and a friend and old messmate of Tom Mizen's. "Why, I thought we had left you at Plymouth!" I exclaimed as I wrung his hand.

"So you did," he answered; "but I had been ordered to come out here and to join my ship. You know old Rullock, Mizen's uncle. He had just before commissioned the 'Zebra' brig, for this station, and as she was the first vessel to sail, I got a pa.s.sage in her. We had a fast run, and they only put me on sh.o.r.e here yesterday while she has gone to Malta. We had Mrs and Miss Mizen on board, and Mrs Mizen's niece, Miss Susan Simms" (Jack, I knew, rather affected Miss Susan, and he looked very conscious as he mentioned her name). "Very nice girl," he continued; "so kind of her, too, to come out just at an hour's notice to take care of her cousin, Miss Rullock, you know. You haven't heard, perhaps, that they are rather alarmed about Miss Laura. Caught a cold, somewhat ugly symptoms. Think her consumptive, so it was judged best to bring her out to spend a winter at Malta, and as her uncle was coming, the opportunity was a good one."

"Ah! this news will be matter of interest to Hearty," thought I. "We shall now see whether his feelings for Miss Mizen had any root, or whether he was affected by a mere pa.s.sing fancy."

"Poor girl! I am sorry to hear of her illness," said I aloud. "Malta is as good a place as she could come to, and I hope the change will do her good. We shall see her there, I dare say. Have you any commands for the ladies?"

"Say I hope that my ship will be there before long," answered Piper, absolutely blushing through the well-bronzed hue of his cheek.

He had been appointed as first lieutenant of the "Thunder,"

sloop-of-war. She was expected at the Rock every day. Jack Piper was not very dissimilar in appearance and manner to Porpoise, and he was the same sort of good-natured, frank, open-hearted fellow--just the man to do a gallant, n.o.ble action, and not to say a word about it, simply because it would not occur to him that it was any thing out of the way.

There are plenty of such men in the service, and England may be proud of them.

On quitting Piper I went on board the yacht, where we had agreed to a.s.semble in the evening, to be ready for a start by daybreak. Should Hearty not have heard of the "Zebra's" touching at the Rock, I resolved to say nothing about the matter. If he really was in love with Miss Mizen, I might chance to spoil him as a companion, and if he did not care about her, there was no harm done.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

A SUSPICIOUS SAIL--AN EXPECTED VISIT FROM AN UNINVITED STRANGER--WE PREPARE TO RECEIVE HIM.

The Rock of Gibraltar was fading from our sight in the far distance, as the sun in a blaze of glory went down into his ocean bed between the pillars of Hercules. The yacht lay in a dead calm, her canvas idly flapping for want of more useful employment, while every spar and rope was reflected in the mirror-like surface of the watery expanse; yet she was not immovable, for the current which runs in at the mouth of the Mediterranean was sending her on at the rate of some knots an hour, over the ground pretty well in her direct course. We sat on deck and smoked our cigars, and spun many a yarn, and told many an adventure of bygone days. It was with difficulty that we could persuade ourselves to turn in, so enjoyable was the cool sea atmosphere after the burnt-up, baked, oveny air of the old Rock.

The next morning, when we came on deck, although there had not been an air in all the heavens, as Snow informed us, we had sunk Gibraltar completely beneath the sea. That day pa.s.sed much like the previous one.

Now and then a light breeze from the westward filled the cutter's sails, and made her step through the water at a speed which must have astonished some of the ancient fish, which looked up at her from out of their caverned homes beneath the waves. As the day wore on we made out, away to the westward, the mastheads of a brig. As we gradually rose them it appeared that she was a polacca-rigged brig, probably a Greek laden with corn, bound out of the Straits, perhaps to supply the insatiable maw of old England with food. We had just made this discovery when we were summoned to dinner. To people who have nothing to do, any small thing affords subject of interest. I remember a story of two n.o.blemen, shut up at a country inn on a rainy day, betting large sums on the speed of two small flies running over a pane of gla.s.s, and of others equally wise, staking larger amounts than many a naval and military officer receives in his life-time, on two spots of rain, the bet being a drawn one by the drops uniting. When we returned on deck after dinner no change had taken place. The canvas of the cutter gave every now and then an idle flap, while the sails of the Greek brig seemed very much in the same humour. We, however, were so far better off than the stranger, because the current was sweeping us, slowly indeed, but still in the direction we wanted to go, while it was carrying her away from it. Still we appeared by some mysterious influence to near each other. It was not, however, for some time that we discovered that her crew were towing her ahead, and that she had also long sweeps out, which probably sent her through the water two or three knots an hour.

"I thought those Greek seamen were idle dogs, who would not think of taking so much trouble as these fellows appear to do, even to save their lives."

"Oh, there's little enough to be said in their favour," replied Porpoise. "These fellows want to get through the Straits, as they fancy they shall find a fair wind outside, so they take a little trouble now in the hopes of perfect idleness by and by." Odd as it may seem, I could not help fancying that there was something strange about that brig, yet what it was of course I could not tell.

"Well, I shall always think favourably of the industry of Greeks, after watching those fellows," said Carstairs.

The strange brig kept creeping up closer and closer to us; still, except an occasional glance which we took of her, as being the only object in sight, she appeared in no way to excite the interest of my messmates.

I, however, as I remarked, clearly remember to have had a strange feeling of doubt and mistrust as I looked at her. It is impossible to account for similar sensations, experienced frequently by people on various occasions; had she been a rakish-looking, low, black schooner, with a wide spread of canvas, met with in the lat.i.tude of the West Indies, I might very naturally have guessed her to be a pirate or slaver; but the brig in sight was a harmless, honest-looking trader, and still I could not help frequently during the day looking at her, very much as I should have done had she been of the character of the craft I had described.

"Bubble!" exclaimed Hearty, "you know that you have promised us a tale of your own composition, and you have very frequently been missed from the deck and found pen in hand in the cabin, covering sundry sheets of paper, and when we have been wrapped in slumber you have been supposed to have sat up continuing your work. Come, man, have compa.s.sion on our curiosity, and give us the result of your lucubrations."

"Oh, no! spare my blushes," answered Will, with a comic sentimental look: "I don't aim at the world-wide celebrity of an author: I am content to please a select circle of friends like yourselves. Who would read a story published under the signature of Will Bubble? No! I say, let me float on adown the quiet stream of insignificance. The post of safety is a humble station--hum!"

"Over-modesty, over-modesty, Will," answered Hearty. "Pluck up courage, man; you will do well if you try."

The best of the joke was, that the rogue, as I well know, had for many a year past been dabbling in literature, and often had I enjoyed a quiet laugh when reading an article from his pen.

"Well, perhaps some day I'll try," said he, demurely.

"Hillo! what can the fellow be wanting?" exclaimed Porpoise, interrupting our talking (I won't call it conversation).

We all turned our eyes in the direction in which he was looking. The brig had lowered a boat, which with rapid strokes was pulling towards us.

"She seems to have a good many hands in her," he added, holding his gla.s.s to his eye. "I don't quite like the look of her."

"Nor do I either, I confess," said I. "There are some craft in this sea not altogether honest, we must remember, though they are generally met with higher up towards the Levant."

"What ought we to do, then?" asked Hearty.

"Just serve out the cutla.s.ses and pistols, and cast the guns loose,"

said Porpoise. "Tell the people to keep an eye on the strangers, and if more than two or three attempt to come on board, to tumble them into their boat again. There's not the slightest danger if we put on a bold front, but if we are caught napping, I would not be answerable for the consequences."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

THE STRANGER COMES ON BOARD--THE GREEK CHIEF--A WHITE SQUALL--WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE BRIG?--THE SUSPICIOUS STRANGER AGAIN--PREPARATIONS FOR A FIGHT.

The advice Porpoise gave seemed so rational that although it might have gone somewhat against the grain with so thorough a John Bull as Hearty to put himself in a posture of defence before he was attacked, Snow was summoned aft to superintend the distribution of the contents of the arm-chest. The men buckled on their cutla.s.ses with looks of no small glee, snapping the locks of their pistols to try them before loading, as they eyed the advancing boat.

"There's no fear, gentlemen, but what they'd give an account of twice the number of chaps as are aboard that craft, if they ever come to close quarters," said Snow, approvingly casting his eye over the crew.

I could not help thinking the same, for a finer set of broad-shouldered, wide-chested fellows I never saw, as they stood around us with their necks bare, and the sleeves of their blue shirts tucked up above the elbows, handling their weapons with the fond look which a child bestows on a newly-given toy.

"Go forward again, my men, and keep on the opposite side to which the boat comes," said Porpoise.

"Just stand about as if you did not suspect there was any thing wrong; very likely there may not be, you know, and perhaps the Greek has lost his reckoning, and is sending aboard us only to ask his whereabouts."

"A craft like that wouldn't send away a boat with twelve men in her, or more, to ask such a question," observed Snow to old Sleet; "I know better nor that."

"You may well say so," answered the old man. "I've heard of such rum tricks being played, that I always like to be prepared for squalls."