The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer Part 13

The young captain caused himself and the pilot to be landed upon the western extremity of the small sandy beach which, fringed with coconut palms, half encircled the creek, and bidding their small boat's crew push off a spear's cast from the sh.o.r.e and there hold themselves in readiness to dash in to the rescue, if necessary, upon hearing the blast of the captain's whistle, proceeded to walk slowly round the cove, carefully examining the surface of the sand, as they went, in quest of footprints to serve as a guide, while Dyer at frequent intervals raised his hands trumpet-wise to his mouth and gave utterance to a peculiar, penetrating wailing cry which the pilot a.s.serted was a call used by the Cimarrones to summon their comrades.

When they had traversed about two-thirds of the length of the beach certain marks were discovered in the fine, yielding sand, which, they decided, were prints of naked feet, several days old, and, carefully following these, they at length discovered a narrow but tolerably well defined footpath leading from the sh.o.r.e into the heart of the high woods. This they at once proceeded to follow, George leading the way with his drawn sword in his right hand and a musket in his left, while Dyer, close behind him, a.s.siduously repeated his mysterious call at frequent intervals.

At a distance of but a few yards from the beach the sombre shadow of the woods was so deep that the explorers at first found it exceedingly difficult to trace the footpath in the subdued light, but in the course of a few minutes their eyes grew accustomed to the gloom and they were able to perceive something of their more immediate surroundings. They found themselves hemmed-in on every hand by giant tree trunks, dimly revealed in the green twilight which penetrated with difficulty the vast overarching ma.s.ses of foliage, the s.p.a.ce between the enormous trunks being choked with undergrowth of a thousand varied forms, conspicuous among which were immense ferns towering high above their heads, while above these, and drooping in many cases right down to the ground, was an inextricable maze and tangle of lianas, or "monkey rope," intertwined with which were countless festoons of flowering creepers, the mingled perfumes of which were almost overpowering in their pungency. Long pliant twigs thickly studded with needle-sharp thorns constantly protruded across the path, menacing their faces and tenaciously grappling their clothing, so that they had to halt at almost every other step to free themselves; and frequent quick rustlings among the long tangled herbage underfoot warned them of the presence of many hidden creeping things, some at least of which, as Dyer grimly suggested, were certain to be snakes or some other kind of venomous creature. The truth of this was very soon afterward rather unpleasantly demonstrated, for as George was battling with an exceptionally thick tangle of thorns which obstructed his way, he suddenly felt beneath his right foot a thick, cable-like something that yielded and squirmed beneath his tread, and like a flash there came a fierce hiss instantly followed by a sharp blow upon his boot. He at once realised that it was a snake upon which he was treading, and had enough presence of mind to throw his whole, weight upon his right foot, thus pinning the reptile firmly to the ground. The blows upon his boot were repeated some half a dozen times before he was able to clear away the herbage about his feet, when he found that he was standing upon the body of a most ugly and repulsive-looking snake about five feet long, thick in the body, blunt tailed, of a dark olive green colour, variegated with irregular blotches of darker tint, and having the broad, flat, heart-shaped head that marked it as a venomous species.

It was striking fiercely but rather ineffectually, because of its constrained position, at his boot, while its tail part was coiled tightly about his boot leg. A quick and lucky stroke of his sharp sword-blade whipped off the cruel head, and then, stooping down, George saw that his boot had been several times partially punctured by the long poison fangs. Fortunately for him he had, at Dyer's suggestion, donned a pair of long sea boots of thick leather which had become hardened by frequent washings of salt water, and thus the fangs had failed to penetrate, to which fact he undoubtedly owed his life.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

HOW THE ENGLISHMEN TOOK NOMBRE DE DIOS.

For fully two miles the adventurers pursued their devious course through the tropical forest, sometimes groping their way cautiously through the deep green twilight, and anon almost blinded by a sudden glare of dazzling sunshine, as they emerged into an open s.p.a.ce caused either by fire or a windfall, and all the time Dyer kept up the curious cry, at frequent intervals, which was the call of the Cimarrones. And all the time, too, they were accompanied by a constantly increasing company of monkeys of various kinds who, led no doubt by curiosity, went swinging and springing from branch to branch beside and above the pathway, exchanging strange cries which, Dyer averred, were remarks upon the personal appearance of the strangers, uttered in monkey language!

Nor were monkeys and snakes the only inmates of the forest, for they had scarcely progressed a quarter of a mile beyond the spot where the snake had been encountered when a great creature like a long-legged cat, but standing over thirty inches high at the shoulder, suddenly emerged from the tangled underwood and halted abruptly, staring at the approaching strangers for a few seconds before, with an angry snarl, it bounded out of sight down the path. It was not easy to detect its colour and markings in that dim light, but its shape stood out clear and sharply denned against the brilliant sunlight streaming down into a windfall just beyond, and Dyer p.r.o.nounced it to be a jaguar. Then, a little farther on, they had just sighted the glint of water between the trees some distance away on their left front, when a heavy crashing was suddenly heard among the underbush, and a moment later a creature about the size of a half-grown calf was glimpsed trotting heavily towards the water. As in the case of the jaguar, its colour could not be distinguished, but its shape was very remarkable. Dyer compared it to a pig with exceptionally thick legs and a peculiar, elongated snout; and that was about as near as he could reasonably be expected to get to it.

It subsequently became known to natural historians as the tapir.

It was about a quarter of an hour afterwards that an answering cry to Dyer's signal shout was first heard, and some five minutes later, as the two Englishmen emerged from the gloom of the forest and entered a natural clearing of about fifteen acres in extent, they were suddenly confronted by six big, stalwart blacks, who barred their further progress with threatening spears of most formidable appearance. These men seemed to be a cross between the African negro and the Indian of Central America, for they were somewhat lighter of colour and slighter of build than the negro, while their black hair hung down to their shoulders in crisp curls. They were naked, save for a skin ap.r.o.n girt about their loins; and by way of ornament they wore necklaces composed of the teeth and claws of animals and the beaks of birds strung upon thin strips of hide. They also all wore bits of bone thrust through the lobes of their ears.

The individual who appeared to be the leader of the party addressed the two white men in a somewhat thick, throaty tone of voice, but in language of which the Englishmen were quite ignorant, the only thing that was at all clear being that it was a question of some sort that he was propounding.

"Speak you to un, cap'n," said Dyer. "I don't understand their lingo, but I think most of 'em understands Spanish. Cap'n Drake could always make hisself understood."

The six blacks gazed intently at Dyer as he spoke, apparently striving to gather some conception of the meaning of his words, and George noticed that at the mention of Drake's name they all started, while two or three of them murmured to each other, "Drake--Drake--_El Draque_?"

questioningly. He at once jumped to the conclusion that Drake's name was familiar to them, and promptly acted upon the a.s.sumption.

"Yes," he said in Spanish, "we are friends of _El Draque_. Do you remember him?"

"_Si, senor_," answered the leader of the party eagerly, also in a mongrel kind of Spanish which George was able to comprehend without very much difficulty. "Yes, we remember _El Draque_, the great white chief and the enemy of our enemy the Spaniard. Is he here again?"

"No," answered George, "I regret to say that he is not; the Great White Queen needed his services, so he could not come. But I have come in his stead to punish the Spaniards for their treachery to him last year, and I want some information concerning Nombre de Dios. Can you give it me?

You are Cimarrones, are you not?"

"_Si, senor, si_," answered the black; "we are Cimarrones; and perhaps our chief may be able to tell you what you wish to know about Nombre.

Will you come to our village? It lies yonder."

And, indeed, in the far corner of the clearing George could now distinguish a small village consisting of about thirty low huts huddled together in the bordering shadow of the next belt of high timber. The path from the wood zigzagged across the clearing, winding here to avoid an enormous stump, and there to pa.s.s round a fallen tree--for the Cimarrones were far too lazy to attempt what they regarded as the unnecessary labour of clearing away obstacles--but trending generally toward the conglomeration of huts in the far corner of the clearing.

The village of Lukabela--so named after its chief--did not favourably impress George Saint Leger, when the little party presently reached it.

It was the young Englishman's first introduction to actual savagedom, and the filthy condition of the huts and their surroundings, the lean and hungry look of the pack of snarling village dogs which rushed out to meet them, red-eyed with semi-starvation and ferocity, and with bared fangs, ferocious as wild beasts and only restrained from attack by the presence of the native escort, and the overpowering reek of many mingled forms of dirt and decay which pervaded the place, were in the last degree repulsive to the somewhat fastidious young man. But this was only a first impression, and it quickly yielded to one of admiration when, as the villagers poured out of their huts to learn the cause of the unwonted excitement of their dogs, George noted with appreciative eyes the splendid physique of the men and women who const.i.tuted its inhabitants. They were of mixed breed, ranging from the robust, full- blooded African negro to the slimmer and slighter figure of the Central American Indian with long, straight, black hair and copper-coloured skin. But these were the extreme types; the majority were a mixture of the two races, and the mingling of African and American blood appeared to have had a beneficent effect upon both, the product being an individual of less bulky frame perhaps than his negro progenitor, but lithe, active, supple, and apparently of tireless endurance, superior in intelligence, courage, and good looks to either of the extremes.

The appearance of the two white men, escorted by half a dozen of their own tribe, but apparently not as prisoners, was productive of tremendous excitement among the villagers, to whom such an occurrence was almost unique, for they had only known it to occur once before; but the excitement soon became pa.s.sive when the leader of the party who had found George and Dyer explained in a few words that the strangers were Englishmen and friends of _El Draque_, and that they had landed from a big canoe, in which they had crossed the Great Water, in order to obtain certain information concerning the city of Nombre.

The tale was scarcely told when there emerged from a hut somewhat larger than the others an individual who, in addition to the ap.r.o.n round his loins, wore a cloak composed entirely of feathers of the most varied and beautiful colours, worked into a sort of pattern, and a coronet made of wing and tail feathers bound about his brows. This was of course Lukabela, the village chieftain, and as George beheld the man coming forward attired in all his finery, he more than suspected that Lukabela had purposely delayed his appearance in order to gain time for the a.s.sumption of those symbols of his rank.

Lukabela, petty chieftain of the Cimarrones, was certainly a very fine and imposing figure of a man, as tall as George, with a body and limbs that might have been modelled by a Greek sculptor, and a rather small head. His features were well shaped, his expression keenly intelligent, indomitably resolute, fearless, and somewhat haughty, and there was a certain hardness about the chiselling of his mouth that suggested cruelty. But he listened gravely, yet with a certain restraint, as George explained to him in Spanish the object of his and Dyer's inland journey; and when, in the course of his explanation, George mentioned that _El Draque_ was a personal friend of his, Lukabela's reserve vanished, and he cordially invited the two Englishmen to enter his hut and partake of his hospitality. George would fain have declined that invitation; but he perceived that the moment was one when squeamishness must yield to diplomacy; and, bowing gravely, he accepted the invitation, and the two white men followed the black into the interior of his hut.

The refreshment offered to the Englishmen was not of a very inviting character, for it consisted chiefly of raw flesh--of what particular animal it was difficult to say, but it was, luckily, supplemented by a quant.i.ty of delicious fruit of different kinds, with a drink of pungent, and slightly subacid flavour, inviting to the palate and wonderfully refreshing in effect, so that, after all, George and Dyer were able to do full justice to their host's hospitality. At the conclusion of the meal Lukabela produced a bag of deerskin, from which he extracted some dry leaves of a rich brown colour, out of which he deftly manufactured three _cigarros_, and for the first time in his life George had an opportunity to sample the delights of the curious herb now called tobacco. Truth to tell, he did not altogether like the experience; the smoke had a tendency to get into his throat and nostrils, choking him and making him sneeze violently; but Dyer, who had sampled the weed on his previous voyage, and liked it, smoked his _cigarros_ as avidly as Lukabela himself; and after the tobacco had been solemnly consumed the chief, who was now in a very placid humour, confessed himself ready to talk and eager to afford his white brothers all the information and help in his power.

It was not help, however, that George wanted just then, as he explained with all the diplomacy he was able to summon to his aid; he informed Lukabela that all he required at that moment was the fullest information possible relative to the defences of Nombre de Dios and the strength of its garrison; and this the Cimarrone was fortunately able to give, for it chanced that he had been in the immediate neighbourhood of the town only a week or two before, and, from a hiding-place beside the road, had actually beheld some five hundred soldiers march out _en route_ for Panama, to which place they were returning after having escorted the last gold-train of the year across the isthmus and guarded it in Nombre until it had been shipped and carried safely out to sea. The garrison remaining to guard the town he estimated at less than two hundred, inclusive of the artillerymen who manned the sh.o.r.e battery. Asked what he could tell relative to this same sh.o.r.e battery, Lukabela sketched upon the floor of his hut, with the aid of a charred stick, a rough plan of the town and harbour, upon which he indicated the situation of the battery, giving also the number of guns which it mounted. This completed the measure of the information which he was in a position to furnish, but he added that if any further intelligence was required his English brothers had only to specify it, and he would see that it was at their disposal within four days. Time, however, was now of the utmost value to George; he was burning with impatience to get into the town and ascertain, if he might, his brother's fate, and he believed he had now acquired enough knowledge to enable him to accomplish at least the first of those two objects; he therefore rose to bid the chief farewell, at the same time presenting him with a necklace of big, vari-coloured beads which Lukabela accepted with obvious yet dignified delight. Then he called a man to whom he spoke for a few moments in the peculiar language of the tribe, afterward explaining to George, in Spanish, that he had given instructions that they were to be guided back to the creek by an easier and more direct route than that by which they had come. He also added that if at any future time George should need the a.s.sistance of the Cimarrones all that he had to do was to either come or send and ask for it, and it should be his.

The preparations for the descent upon Nombre were all completed in good time before sunset, after which the crew were sent to early supper, and then directed to turn in and secure a few hours' rest before making the start, and this they all did with the exception of the dozen who, under the purser, were to remain and take care of the ship during the absence of the rest, and these kept watch while the others slept.

The night proved admirably adapted for such an expedition as the one contemplated; it was fine, and starlit except when ma.s.ses of cloud came driving slowly up before the trade-wind and obscured the heavens for a s.p.a.ce; although even then the stars in the unclouded portions of the firmament afforded a sufficient amount of light to enable the adventurers to see where they were going, and to distinguish the half- dozen boats that const.i.tuted the flotilla. The trade-wind in the offing was blowing a moderate breeze, and there was a young moon, but it would set early, some two hours indeed before the moment at which the expedition was timed to start. George and his officers had fixed upon two o'clock in the morning as the most suitable time for the attack upon the town, and it was estimated that the run from the creek to Nombre, under sail, would occupy about four hours; but in order to allow a small margin for unforeseen contingencies it was arranged that the start should be made at half-past nine o'clock in the evening; at nine o'clock, therefore, all hands were called, and after partaking of a good second supper which they found awaiting them, they were finally inspected and ordered down into the boats, which pushed off from the ship punctually at the moment arranged.

The creek in which the _Nonsuch_ rode concealed was so completely land- locked that not a breath of air stirred within it as the boats left the ship's side, the surface of the water was mirror-like in its absolute placidity, and it was only when the men began to descend into the boats, rocking them more or less as they entered them, and so sent a few ripples undulating away across the gla.s.sy surface, or when some fish stirred in the depths below, that the phosph.o.r.escence latent in the black water awakened and sent forth little threads and evanescent gleams of sea-fire. The complete absence of wind in the creek rendered it necessary that the men should take to their oars when getting under way, and then, indeed, as the blades dipped and rose, the placid surface broke into swirling patches and streaks of brilliant light that enabled the ship-keepers to watch their comrades' progress, and trace it until the boats rounded the point and disappeared.

The calm continued until the boats had made an offing of about a quarter of a mile, when the first faint breathings of the land breeze made themselves felt, then the m.u.f.fled oars were thankfully laid in, the sails hoisted, and before a steadily strengthening breeze the boats stood off the land upon a diagonal course which not only made the land breeze a fair wind over the larboard quarter, but also carried them toward Nombre while it swept them out toward where the trade-wind was blowing. The boats sailed in line ahead; and when, as was soon the case, their relative speeds had been determined, they were made fast in a string by a stout warp, with the fastest boat leading and the rest following in the order of their speed.

It was exactly half-past one o'clock when, after an uneventful voyage, having previously hove-to beyond the Point, lowered their sails, and snugly stored them and the masts away, the six boats from the _Nonsuch_ entered Nombre de Dios harbour and, keeping well within the shadow of the land, crept cautiously along the sh.o.r.e toward the battery, which was to be their first point of attack. There were several ships in the harbour, as could be seen by the number of riding lights dotted about here and there, casting shimmering reflections upon the surface of the placid water; but everything was perfectly quiet, no craft of any description were moving, and if a watch was anywhere set the watchmen were probably fast asleep at that hour, since there was no sound or sign of movement. Yet it struck George as somewhat strange that an air of such absolute security should seem to pervade the port; for things had been said during his visit to San Juan de Ulua which must have caused the authorities there to more than suspect the intention of the Englishmen to descend upon Nombre; and there had been time enough for a fast dispatch boat to make the voyage from the one city to the other, warning Nombre to be on the alert. As young Saint Leger pondered upon these things he grew suspicious that he might quite possibly be blundering into some ingeniously prepared trap, and, calling the boats about him, he gave instructions for the observance of certain additional precautions. But, had he but known, he need not have entertained the slightest anxiety or misgiving; for it afterward transpired that although, as he had all along suspected, the authorities at San Juan had actually dispatched a message to Nombre, recounting in detail all that had happened at the Mexican port, and warning the authorities at Nombre to be on the look out for the English, and to adopt every possible measure to ensure their capture, the vessel bearing the dispatch never reached her destination, and it was shrewdly conjectured that she must have foundered with all hands in the hurricane which the _Nonsuch_ had encountered.

The great bell of the Cathedral was booming out the hour of two a.m. as the six boats swerved toward the sh.o.r.e and advanced in line abreast; and some six minutes later they gently grounded upon the beach, the oars were noiselessly laid in, and each man, grasping his weapons, and stepping quietly over the side, waded ash.o.r.e, while those who stepped over the bows stood ready to push off the boats again, each with its two boat-keepers, at the low-spoken word of the officer in command. Every man knew exactly what his duty was up to the moment of landing, and did it; and so excellent were the arrangements that within two minutes of grounding the boats were again afloat, while those who had come in them were drawn up in two unequal parties on the beach, the duty of the smaller party, under Mr Richard Ba.s.set, being to surprise and capture the sh.o.r.e battery, while the other, numbering some forty men, under Saint Leger's leadership, was to march upon the Grand Plaza and seize it, and the Governor's house, which was situated therein. But with so small a force, and the numbers of the enemy unknown, it was necessary to exercise a very considerable amount of precaution lest some unforeseen accident should wreck the entire enterprise; therefore, while the force under George stood to their arms, motionless, close down by the water's edge, Ba.s.set with his contingent crept warily up the sand toward the sh.o.r.e battery and presently were swallowed up within its shadows.

Then ensued an anxious five or six minutes of breathless waiting on the part of George and his company, during which no sound save the gentle wash of the miniature breakers on the sh.o.r.e immediately behind them broke the breathless stillness of the night. Then, from the direction of the battery, there suddenly came to the ears of the eagerly listening party the sounds of subdued scuffling, the faint clink of steel, and a shout which suddenly ended in a choking gurgle. The sounds were by no means loud; indeed, so subdued were they that at double the distance of the listening party from the battery they would probably not be heard at all. Nor did they last long; the whole affair, whether for good or for ill, was over in less than five minutes. But George knew that the termination of it was for good, so far as the English were concerned, for had it been otherwise the subdued sounds of the scuffle would have risen into shouts of alarm and the firing of musketry, instead of dying down again into silence, as they did. And presently a man came running down the beach from the battery, bearing a message from Ba.s.set to George to the effect that the former had succeeded in taking the garrison completely by surprise and capturing them and the battery practically without striking a single blow--"and Mester Ba.s.set he du zay, zur, that if you'll give un half an hour he'll make thicky battery so's he can hold mun again' all comers."

Now, time was pressing, and it was of the utmost importance that the Grand Plaza and its approaches should be secured before the earliest of the inhabitants of the city should be stirring; but it was of at least equal importance that the battery should be rendered capable of being held against attack at least until all the contemplated negotiations had been satisfactorily concluded, since the battery commanded a good part of the city; therefore, after some consideration, George sent back a message to the effect that he and his party would remain where they were for exactly thirty minutes, during which Ba.s.set must do all that he could to render his position completely tenable, because at the expiration of that time the advance upon the Grand Plaza would begin.

For half an hour, therefore, the party under the command of the young captain crouched, silent and motionless, upon the beach, during the whole of which seemingly endless time George was quaking with apprehension lest some nocturnal prowler, a fisherman, or a boat from one of the craft at anchor in the harbour should appear upon the scene, discover the presence of the lurking Englishmen, and succeed in raising an alarm before a capture could be effected. But fortune seemed to be on their side, for no intruder of any sort appeared, and when at length the half-hour had expired the word was given, and with a little sigh of relief from the strain of suspense, the men rose noiselessly to their feet and moved off in the wake of Dyer, who, knowing the way, was to act as pilot to the party.

Nombre de Dios was even then a city of considerable size and importance: it was, indeed, the most important Spanish settlement on the Atlantic side of the isthmus, exceeding Cartagena in the number of its inhabitants, and rivalled only by Panama on the whole continent. But when that is said it must not be supposed that it covered a very great extent of ground; moreover, the Grand Plaza did not occupy the exact centre of the city, this point being nearly half a mile further inland, consequently a march of some twenty-five minutes sufficed to enable the party to cover the distance between the beach and their destination.

But that march had to be made through narrow, tortuous, unlighted streets and for some forty armed men, complete strangers to the place, to accomplish this during the darkest hour of the night without attracting a certain amount of attention was practically an impossibility, let their precautions against so doing be as elaborate as they might. The wonder was that they did not attract a great deal more attention than they actually did, for although the strictest silence was enjoined upon the members of the party, the tramp of forty men and the unavoidable jingle and rattle of their accoutrements sounded appallingly loud in George's sensitive ear as they pa.s.sed along through ways so confined that two vehicles could only have pa.s.sed each other with the utmost difficulty, and where the high walls and overhanging upper stories reflected back every sound in the breathless stillness of the night. But it was the hour when people sleep most heavily, and although there can be little doubt that the sounds of the party's progress must have disturbed a good many people along the route, so complete was the sense of security in the city that only very few troubled themselves to rise from their beds to investigate the cause of the disturbance. And of those few it is safe to say that not one really suspected the actual state of affairs at the moment. Thus it was that the daring intruders actually succeeded in eventually reaching the Grand Plaza and securing the command of its every approach without raising a general alarm.

But of course it was not possible that such a state of affairs could endure very long, nor indeed was any serious effort made to prolong it, for, with one party of his men in possession of the Grand Plaza, and another holding the sh.o.r.e battery, George felt that for all practical purposes the town was his, therefore so soon as the Grand Plaza had been secured all further attempts at secrecy and concealment were abandoned; the men moved hither and thither without restraint, and orders were given in tones which, while not unnecessarily loud, were still loud enough to awaken people here and there in the houses facing the square and apprise them that something quite out of the usual order of things was happening. Men began to rise from their beds and go to their windows to investigate, jalousies were thrown back here and there to enable those behind them to obtain a better view, and when, in the dim light afforded by some half a dozen lamps that were permitted to burn all night in the Plaza, armed men were seen to be moving hither and thither, with the feeble light from the lanterns glancing on their weapons, and with lighted matches glowing redly in the linstocks, a few of the bolder inhabitants summoned up courage enough to shout an inquiry as to what was amiss. And when at length the more persistent ones were told, in good Castilian, that yet had in it the suspicion of an alien tw.a.n.g, that nothing was amiss, and were advised to return to their beds and resume their interrupted slumber, suspicion at last began to awake, and instead of returning to bed the citizens proceeded to arouse their households, and to hurriedly dress. Then a few of the more courageous ones--but these were very few--ventured to sally forth into the square to investigate more closely, only to find that each approach was guarded by a small band of st.u.r.dy, bushy-bearded men clad in foreign-looking garments, armed to the teeth with most formidable and business-like weapons, and speaking some uncouth and incomprehensible tongue, who gently but firmly refused to allow them pa.s.sage. At which those citizens returned somewhat precipitately to their houses and, retiring to their back premises, proceeded to discuss the matter with their neighbours out of adjacent windows, or over garden fences, some of them hazarding the opinion that _El Draque_ had returned and, profiting by his previous experience, had surprised the city in the dead of night and secured possession of it. Then, as the opinion spread and, in process of spreading became announced as a certainty, lanterns were lit, spades and mattocks were routed out, and those who had jewels or money to conceal proceeded to conceal them with frantic haste by burying them either in secluded corners of their gardens or beneath the floors of their cellars, while those who had nothing to conceal busied themselves in hastening through the city by its back ways and byways, knocking up their relatives and acquaintances and frightening them out of their wits by informing them that a hostile army had entered the city, the saints knew how, and coming from the saints knew where, and were encamped in the Grand Plaza. At which intelligence the city awoke to life with amazing rapidity, men turned out into the streets and shouted the news to others, or others shouted it to them, women rushed out of their houses weeping, dragging their frightened and screaming children after them, ran aimlessly hither and thither, still further frightening themselves and others as they did so, and then rushed back home again, rightly believing that this was the best and safest place for them; and at least a hundred men in the course of a single hour mounted horses and galloped at breakneck speed to the barracks to acquaint the military commandant of the disaster that had befallen the city, while others again forced their way into the churches and proceeded to ring the bells frantically. By four o'clock in the morning every man, woman and child in the city was broad awake, and the air was vibrant with the discordant clang of bells furiously rung by unaccustomed hands, pealing out above and piercing through that indescribable murmur of sound which tells the hearer that an entire population is swarming the streets, half frenzied with terror, the whole punctuated at frequent intervals by the scream of a woman or child, the shouts of men, and the occasional crack of a musket-shot fired by someone demented with fright and quite irresponsible for his actions.

Meanwhile, having secured possession of the Grand Plaza and made the best dispositions in his power for its defence, George, accompanied by a bodyguard of four men, proceeded to the Governor's house and, arousing its inmates, demanded an immediate interview with His Excellency Don Sebastian Salvador Alfonso de Albareda, the individual who just then chanced to hold the responsible post of Governor of His Most Catholic Majesty's city of Nombre de Dios on the Spanish Main.

When first awakened, His Excellency was disposed to be somewhat explosive upon the subject of so untimely an invasion of his slumbers; but when the terrified major domo of the establishment informed him that the city had been surprised and taken possession of by a party of ruffianly English who appeared to have no sense of respect for any earthly thing, and one of whom claimed to be a friend of, or in some way connected with, that redoubtable pirate and most valiant cavalier, _El Draque_, the Don's wrath suddenly subsided, for he felt that the matter was indeed of extreme moment, brooking no delay; he therefore gave instructions that the Most Ill.u.s.trious One who claimed to be the chief ruffian of the lot should be ushered with all due ceremony and respect into His Excellency's reception room; and while the major domo retired to execute this errand the Governor hastily a.s.sumed the garments that he had laid aside a few hours earlier, and in a remarkably brief s.p.a.ce of time presented himself before his unwelcome visitor.

Entering the room with stately deliberation, he bowed to George in his grandest manner, and said, as calmly as though interviewing English raiders were an everyday occurrence with him:

"Good morning, senor! You have business with me?"

"I have, senor, if in you I have the honour to behold the Governor of the city of Nombre de Dios," answered George, with a dignity of manner at least equal to that of the Spaniard.

"Good!" returned Don Sebastian. "I have the honour to be the individual you refer to."

"Then, in that case," said George, "I will proceed at once to explain my business with your Excellency. In the first place, I have the honour to inform you that your city is in my hands and at my mercy; and although my followers who hold possession of the Grand Plaza are but a few in number, they are so placed, and are so resolutely determined to hold their positions, that they can only be displaced at the cost of great loss of life to both sides. Also another party of my followers is in possession of the sh.o.r.e battery, and their commander has instructions to turn the guns of the place upon the town and open fire upon it at the first signs of conflict which may reach his ears. In order, therefore, to save the lives and property of the citizens from needless destruction, I have first to request that your Excellency will at once take such steps as may be necessary to prevent all possibility of an attack upon my people by any soldiers who may happen to be in garrison here, or by the citizens themselves. And when that has been done I shall have the honour to explain to your Excellency the precise nature of the business which has brought me to Nombre."

Don Sebastian bowed smilingly, displaying a very fine set of even, white teeth, of which he was quite pardonably proud. This, however, was merely a habit, for he was not thinking of his teeth just then. What he was thinking was that it was an atrocious misfortune that the city of which he had the honour to be Governor should have been selected for attack by these truculent English, who were no doubt bent upon avenging the reverse of their fellow-countrymen at San Juan during the previous year. But if this were the case, why had they not attacked San Juan, instead of coming to Nombre to make trouble and bring about his ruin?

For the statement which this great hulking boy captain had just made to him showed clearly enough that he and his party could not be driven out of Nombre without desperate fighting, accompanied by tremendous loss of life and ruinous destruction of property, if indeed it could be achieved at all, with a garrison of less than one hundred and fifty men, fifty of whom const.i.tuted the garrison of the sh.o.r.e battery and were now prisoners, if the young Englishman spoke the truth, which Don Sebastian did not doubt. No, clearly, fighting was not to be thought of, excepting possibly as a very last resource. But he, Don Sebastian, was a man of the world, a man of mature experience in the ways of diplomacy, and surely far more than a match, in this respect, for the simple- looking lad who stood there staring at him so solemnly. Yes, diplomacy was undoubtedly the way out of this unfortunate sc.r.a.pe; the Englishman must be made to realise that the capture of Nombre was a stupid mistake, out of which neither honour nor profit was to be gained; and once convinced of this, he would perhaps withdraw himself and his forces peaceably. These thoughts flashed through Don Sebastian's brain while George was still speaking; and by the time that the latter had finished, His Excellency had formulated his plans and was ready to reply. Hence his benignant smile, which was intended to suggest also a tinge of sarcasm and incredulity.

"Senor," he said, "I will not be so presumptuous as to suggest the slightest doubt of your own conviction that the city of Nombre de Dios is absolutely at your mercy. But you must pardon me if I decline to share that conviction. I know the strength and courage of the troops who const.i.tute our present garrison, and, without for a moment casting the slightest reflection upon the strength or courage of your own people, you must permit me to believe that, should we unhappily be driven to resort to force of arms, we could drive you and yours into the sea. But I trust," he continued hastily, in response to a certain gleam in George's eye that had not escaped his notice, "we may not be forced to the adoption of any such extreme measure. For I may as well inform you at once that if you have come hither with any thought of pillage, you are too late; the plate fleet left here nearly two months ago with the year's acc.u.mulations of treasure, and our treasure-house is at the moment absolutely empty, as I am prepared to prove to you by taking you to it, if you doubt my word. And, this being the case, I trust it will not be difficult for us to come to some amicable arrangement by which you may be induced to quit Nombre without the resort to measures on either side which could only result in unnecessary and much to be deplored bloodshed."

"Senor," answered George, with a deep bow--he was rapidly becoming as punctiliously courteous of manner as the Spaniards themselves--"I am charmed and delighted to find you so readily prepared to adopt a reasonable and friendly att.i.tude in the face of existing circ.u.mstances.

I accept unreservedly your statement as to the emptiness of your treasure-house, and will certainly not put you to the injurious necessity of proving it by conducting me thither to satisfy myself upon the point; and I do this the more readily since my visit to Nombre has no reference whatever to what you are pleased to term pillage. No; my object in coming hither was of a quite different kind; and if I have taken possession of Nombre it is merely in order that I might enjoy the advantage of being in a position to drive a bargain with the authorities of the town, should I unhappily find them less amenable to reason than your Excellency seems disposed to be."

This was excellent, very much better than Don Sebastian had dared to hope; these English were not bent upon plunder, it would appear; and, that being the case, he cared very little what else their object might be; it would be strange indeed if he, a master of the art of diplomacy, could not get rid of them without a fight, and so not only avoid a severe reprimand from the Viceroy, but also perhaps earn his hearty commendation. Don Sebastian's spirits rose; the imbroglio was but a petty thing after all; and in imagination he already pictured not only the peaceful but the friendly departure of the English, and himself receiving the compliments of the Viceroy upon the tactfulness of his, Don Sebastian's, management of the affair, which might easily be represented as being infinitely more serious than it really was.

Therefore he bowed to George more deeply and smiled at him more expansively than ever as he replied:

"Senor Englishman, I am gratified beyond all power of expression to find in you so amicable a disposition, and I feel certain that whatever may be the occasion of the visit with which you have honoured us, neither you nor I, nor the citizens of Nombre, will have the smallest reason to regret it. But perhaps, senor, it has escaped your memory that you have not yet enlightened me as to that occasion?"