The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer Part 2

For a second or two George hesitated, considering what answer he should return to his mother's frenzied question. He knew that the horrors suggested by Dyer were true, and the knowledge that his brother was exposed to such frightful perils--might even at that precise instant be the victim of them--held him tongue-tied, for how could he confirm this blunt-spoken sailor's statement, knowing that if he did so he would be condemning his dearly-loved mother to an indefinite period of heart- racking anguish and anxiety that might well end in destroying her reason if indeed it did not slay her outright? He was as strictly conscientious as most of his contemporaries, but he could not bring himself to condemn his mother to the dreadful fate he foresaw for her if he told her the bald, unvarnished truth. He knew, by what he was himself suffering at that moment, what his mother's mental agony would be if he strictly obeyed her, therefore he temporised somewhat by replying:

"Calm yourself, mother dear, calm yourself, I beg you. There is no need for us to be unduly anxious about Hubert. I will not attempt to conceal from you that he is in evil case, poor dear fellow--all Englishmen are who fall into the hands of the Spaniards, especially if they happen to be Protestants--and I greatly fear me that some of those who were taken with Hu may be in grave peril of those dangers of which Dyer has spoken.

But not Hubert. Hubert was an officer, and it is very rare for even Spaniards to treat captive officers with anything short of courtesy. I fear that our dear lad may have to endure a long term of perhaps rigorous imprisonment; he may be condemned to solitary confinement, and be obliged to put up with coa.r.s.e food; but they will scarcely dare to torture him, still less to condemn him to the _auto-da-fe_. Oh, no, they will not do that! But while Dyer has been talking, I have been thinking, and my mind is already made up. Hubert must not be permitted to languish a day longer in prison than we can help. Therefore I shall at once set to work to organise an expedition for his rescue, and trust me, if he does not contrive to escape meanwhile--as he is like enough to do--I will have him out of the Spaniards' hands in six months from the time of my departure from Plymouth."

At the outset Dyer had listened to George's speech in open-mouthed amazement, and some little contempt for what he regarded as the young man's ignorance; but even his dense intellect could not at last fail to grasp the inward meaning and intention of the speaker; a lightning flash of intelligence revealed to him that it was not ignorance but a desire to spare his mother the anguish of long-drawn-out anxiety and the agony resulting from the mental pictures drawn by a woman's too vivid imagination; and forthwith he rose n.o.bly to the exigencies of the occasion by chiming in with:

"Ay, ay, Mr Garge, you'm right, sir. Trust your brother to get away from they b.l.o.o.d.y-minded Spaniards if they gives him half a chance. For all that we knows he may ha' done it a'ready. And if he haven't, and you makes up your mind to fit out an expedition to go in search of mun, take me with ye, sir. I'll sarve ye well as pilot, Mr Garge, none better, sir. I've been twice to the Indies wi' Cap'n Drake, once under Cap'n Lovell and now again under Cap'n Hawkins. And I've a grudge to pay off again' the Spaniards; for at La Hacha they played pretty much the same trick upon Cap'n Lovell as they did this time upon Cap'n Hawkins."

"Aha! is that the case?" said George. "Then of course you know the Indies well?"

"Ay, that do I, sir," answered Dyer, "every inch of 'em; from Barbadoes and Margarita, all along the coast of the Main right up to San Juan de Ulua there ain't a port or a harbour that I haven't been into. I do believe as I knows more about that coast than the Spaniards theirselves."

"Very well, Dyer," returned George. "In that case you will no doubt be a very useful man to have, and you may rest a.s.sured that, should I succeed in organising an expedition, I will afford you the opportunity to go with me. Ah! here comes your supper at last--" as the maid Lucy appeared with a well-stocked tray--"Draw up, man, and fall to. You must stay with us to-night--is not that so mother?" And upon receiving an affirmative nod from his mother the young man continued--"and to-morrow I will send you over to Cawsand in our own boat."

Whereupon, Dyer, pious seaman that he was, having first given G.o.d thanks for the good food so bountifully set before him, fell upon the viands with the appet.i.te of a man who has been two months at sea upon less than half rations, and made such a meal as caused Mrs Saint Leger to open her eyes wide with astonishment, despite the terrible anxiety on behalf of her first-born that was tugging at her heart-strings and setting every nerve in her delicate, sensitive frame a-jangle. And, between mouthfuls, the seaman did his best to reply to the questions with which George Saint Leger plied him; for it may as well be set down here at once that no sooner did the youngster learn the fact of his capture by the Spaniards than he came to the resolution to rescue Hubert, if rescue were possible; and, if not, to make the Spaniards pay very dearly for his death. But to resolve was one thing, and to carry out that resolution quite another, as George Saint Leger discovered immediately that he took the first steps toward the realisation of his plan--which was on the following morning. For he was confronted at the very outset with the difficulty of finance. He was a lad of rapid ideas, and his knowledge of seafaring matters, and the Spaniards, had enabled him to formulate the outlines of a scheme, even while listening to Dyer's relation of the incidents of Hawkins' and Drake's disastrous voyage.

But he fully recognised, even while planning his scheme, that to translate it into action would necessitate an expenditure far beyond his own unaided resources. True, his mother was very comfortably off, possessing an income amply sufficient for all her needs derived from the well-invested proceeds of her late husband's earnings, but George was quite determined not to draw upon that if he could possibly help it, although he was well aware that Mrs Saint Leger would be more than willing to spend her last penny in order to provide the means of rescuing her elder son from a fate that might well prove to be worse than death itself. Therefore the younger Saint Leger began operations by calling upon Mr Marshall, the merchant and owner of the _Bonaventure_, and, having first ascertained that that gentleman had definitely, though reluctantly, decided not to risk his ship in another Mediterranean voyage so long as the relations of England and Spain continued in their then strained condition, unfolded a project for an adventure to the Indies, which, if successful, must certainly result in a golden return that would amply reimburse all concerned for the risks involved. But Mr Marshall had not grown from an errand boy into a prosperous merchant without acquiring a certain amount of wisdom with his wealth, and he at once put his finger on the weak spot in George's proposal by inquiring what guarantee the latter could offer that his scheme would be successful when a very similar one conducted by such experienced adventurers as Hawkins and Drake had just disastrously failed. He frankly admitted that the young man's scheme was promising enough, on the face of it, and he also intimated that, as a merchant, he was always ready to take a certain amount of risk where the prospects of success seemed promising enough to justify it, but he no less frankly declared that, while he had the utmost confidence in George's ability as a seaman, he regarded him as altogether too young and inexperienced to be the head and leader of such an adventure as the one proposed; and he terminated the interview by flatly refusing to have anything to do with it.

Bitterly disappointed at his failure to enlist Marshall's active sympathy, George called upon some half a dozen other Plymouth merchants.

But everywhere the result was the same. The adventure itself met with a certain qualified approval, but the opinion was unanimous that George was altogether too young and inexperienced to be entrusted with its leadership. In despair, George at last called upon Mr William Hawkins, the father of Captain John Hawkins, to obtain his opinion upon the project. Captain John had arrived home a day or two previously, and young Saint Leger was so far fortunate that he was thus able to obtain the opinion of both father and son upon it. As might have been expected, although these two seamen were friends of the Saint Legers, they were so embittered by disappointment at the failure of the recent expedition that they could not find words strong enough to denounce the scheme and to discourage its would-be leader, and so well did they succeed in the latter that for an hour or two George was almost inclined to abandon the idea altogether. Yet how could he reconcile himself to the leaving of his brother to a fate far worse than death itself--for though he had sought to make the best of the matter to his mother, he himself had no illusions as to what that fate would be--and how could he face his mother with such a suggestion? The lad had infinite faith in himself, He knew, better than anybody else, that he had never yet had an opportunity to show of what stuff he was made, he candidly admitted the damaging fact of his extreme youth, but he would not admit to himself that it was a disability, although others regarded it as such; he had been a sailor for seven years and during that time he had mastered the whole of the knowledge that then went to make the complete seaman; moreover, he was also old for his years, a thinker, and he carried at the back of his brain many an idea that was destined to be of inestimable value to him in the near future; therefore, after a long walk to and fro upon the Hoe, he returned home, disappointed it is true, but with his resolution as strong and his courage as high as ever.

And here he found balm and encouragement awaiting him in the person of one Simon Radlett, a shipbuilder, owning an extensive yard at Millbay.

"Old Si Radlett," as he was generally called, was something of a character in Millbay and its immediate neighbourhood, for, in addition to being admittedly the best builder of ships in all Devon, he was a bit of an eccentric, a man with bold and original ideas upon many subjects, a man of violent likes and dislikes, a bachelor, an exceedingly shrewd man of business, and--some said--a miser. He was turned sixty years of age, and of course had seen many and great changes in Plymouth during his time, yet, although well advanced in the "sere and yellow," was still a hale and hearty man, able to do a hard day's work against the best individual in his yard; and although he had the reputation of being wealthy he lived alone in a little four-roomed cottage occupying one corner of his yard, and did everything--cooking, washing-up, bed-making, etcetera, etcetera, for himself, with the a.s.sistance of a woman who came, for one day a week, to clean house, and wash and mend for him. He had known George Saint Leger from the latter's earliest childhood, and had loved the boy with a love that was almost womanly in its pa.s.sionate devotion, nothing delighting him more than to have the st.u.r.dy little fellow trotting after him all over the yard, asking questions about ships and all things pertaining thereto.

He it was who had presented George with the toy ship that still occupied a conspicuous position in the latter's bedroom at The Nest, and which was such a gorgeous affair, with real bra.s.s guns, properly made sails, and splendid banners and pennons of painted silk, that the child had never cared to have another. And the affection which the old man had manifested for the child had endured all through the years, and was as strong to-day as it ever had been, yet such was Radlett's reputation for close-fistedness that it had never once occurred to George that he might possibly be willing to help him, consequently he had not sought him. No sooner, however, did the youngster enter the house and discover the old tarry-breeks in close and animated conversation with Mrs Saint Leger than his spirits rose; for it had been years since Radlett had so far presumed as to actually call upon madam, and George somehow felt intuitively that such an unwonted and extraordinary circ.u.mstance was in some way connected with the realisation of what had now become his most ardent desire.

CHAPTER THREE.

HOW OLD SIMON RADLETT MADE A CERTAIN PROPOSITION TO GEORGE.

"Well, Garge, my son, so you'm safe whoam again," exclaimed the old shipbuilder, rising to his feet with outstretched hand, as young Saint Leger entered the room. "My word!" he continued, allowing his gaze to rove over the lad's stalwart frame, "but you'm growed into a reg'lar strapper, and no mistake; a reg'lar young Goliath of Gath a be, no less.

And you've been a slayin' of a Philistine or two, here and there, so I do hear" (Mr Radlett was a little mixed in the matter of his Bible imagery, you will perceive, but he meant well). "Ay, ay; I've been havin' a crack wi' old Cap'n Burroughs, since mun comed whoam, and he've a been tellin' me all about ye. Garge, I'm proud of 'e, boy--and so be madam here, too, I'll be boun'--for 'twas I that made a sailor of 'e by givin' of 'e thicky toy bwoat, a matter o' twelve or vourteen year agone 'tis now. My goodness me! how time du vly, to be sure. It du seem to me only like a vew months ago that I took spokeshave and chisel in hand to make thicky bwoat, and here you be, a'most a man in years, and quite a man in experience as I du hear.

"Wi' madam your mother's good leave, I'll ask 'e to sit down, Garge, for I be comed over expressly to have a talk with 'e. And, first, let me say to 'e--as I've already said to madam, here--how sorry I be to hear of what ha' happened to your brother, Mr Hubert. But--as I was sayin'

to madam when you comed in--you'll soon have mun out o' Spanish prison again, for I do hear as you'm arrangin' an adventure expressly for that purpose."

"I certainly _want_ to arrange such an adventure, if the thing can be managed," replied George; "but I have got no farther than wanting, as yet. I have called upon Mr Marshall, the owner of the _Bonaventure_, and some half-dozen other merchants, and tried to interest them in my scheme, but all to no purpose. They say that I am much too young to be entrusted with the responsibility of heading such an adventure."

"Too young be danged!" exclaimed Radlett with energy.

"They don't know 'e as well as I do, Garge, or they wouldn't talk like thicky. Why, old Cap'n Burroughs told me hisself that if it hadn't ha'

been for you the _Bonaventure_ 'd ha' been in the Spaniards' hands to- day, and all hands o' her crew, _too. Too young_? Rubbidge! Now, just you tell thicky plan o' yours to me, and I'll soon tell 'e whether I do think you'm too young, or not. And I be an old man; I've seed a good many strange happenin's in my time, and I've drawed my own conclusions from 'em; I'm just so well able to form a sound opinion as Alderman Marshall or any other man to Plymouth. Now, Garge, you just go ahead, and when you've a done I'll tell 'e what I do think of your plan, and you too."

"Well," replied George, "it is simple enough. My brother was taken prisoner in the course of a treacherous attack made by the Spaniards upon a party of peaceful English traders; therefore I take the ground that his relatives are ent.i.tled to demand his release, together with compensation for any suffering or inconvenience that may have resulted from the treacherous action of the Spaniards. I learned, only to-day, that the Queen has already demanded satisfaction for the outrage from the Spanish Amba.s.sador. But we all know what that means. The negotiations may go on for years, and the demand may be withdrawn in the end if by so doing the interests of diplomacy may be served. Therefore I do not propose to wait for that--for who trows what may happen to my brother in the interval? My plan is this: I intend to go on trying until I can find somebody sufficiently interested in my scheme either to advance me the money, or to entrust me with a ship. Then I will get together a crew who will be willing to go with me, taking a certain share of the proceeds of the expedition in lieu of wages--and I believe I shall be able to raise such a crew without difficulty--and I shall sail direct to San Juan de Ulua. Arrived there, I shall make a formal demand for my brother's immediate release. And if the Spaniards refuse, or attempt to put me off by saying that they do not know what has become of Hubert, I will at once attack the town, take it, and hold it for heavy ransom. And if ransom is refused, I will sack the place, taking every piece of gold or silver and every jewel that I can lay hands upon.

And from there I will traverse the entire coast of the Spanish Main, attacking every town that promises to be worth while, until I have succeeded in persuading the Spaniards that it will be to their advantage to free my brother and deliver him over to me."

"And, supposin' that they should deliver up your brother at the first town you call at--San Juan de Ulua, I think you named the place--what'll you do then, boy?" demanded Radlett.

"I shall still require compensation for my brother's seizure," replied George. "And," he added, "that compensation will have to be amply sufficient not only to recompense Hu for his imprisonment, but also to pay handsomely all connected with the expedition. It is my intention, sir, not to return home until I can replace every pig of iron ballast in my ship with gold and silver."

"Hear to him! hear to him! Gold and silver, quotha!" exclaimed Radlett, delightedly. "And how big's thy ship to be, then, eh, Garge?"

"The biggest that I can get," answered George; "the bigger the better, because she will carry the more men, the more guns--and the more gold.

I should have liked the _Bonaventure_, if I could have got her, for I'm used to her, and she is just the right size. But Mr Marshall will have nothing to do with me and my scheme."

"Ay, the _Bonaventure_," remarked the shipwright, meditatively. "Iss, her be a very purty ship, very purty indeed. What be her exact tonnage, Garge?"

"One hundred and twenty-seven," answered George. "Yes," he agreed, "she _is_ a pretty ship in every way, and as good as she is pretty. And fast! There's nothing sailing out of Plymouth that can beat her-- although perhaps I ought not to say as much to you, Mr Radlett, seeing that 'twas Mr Mason, your rival, who built her."

"Never mind vor that, boy, never mind vor that," answered Radlett, heartily. "'Tis true what you do say of the ship, every word of it; and she be a credit to the man who built her, although he do set up to be my rival. But 'twont be true very much longer, Garge, for I've a-got a ship upon my stocks now as'll beat the _Bonaventure_ every way and in all weathers. I've a called her the _Nonsuch_, because there's never been nothin' like her avore. I drawed out the plans of her shortly a'ter the _Bonaventure_ was launched, because I couldn't abear to be beaten by Mason nor n.o.body else. And I altered they plans, and altered 'em, and altered 'em until I couldn't vind no more ways of improvin' of 'em, and then I started to build. And now the _Nonsuch_ be just ready for launchin', and I'd like you to come over and look at her avore I puts her into the water."

"Certainly; I will do so with very great pleasure," answered George, delightedly, for he had a very shrewd suspicion that this invitation meant more than appeared upon the surface, that indeed--who knew?--it might mean that the eccentric old fellow was rather taken with his (George's) scheme, and might be induced to take a very important hand in it. "When shall I come?"

"Come just so soon as ever you can, the sooner the better; to-morrow if you do like," answered Radlett. "And now," he continued, rising, "I must be gettin' along, for 'tis growin' late and I be keepin' of you from your supper. No, thank'e, madam, I won't stay. My supper be waitin' vor me to whoam, and a'ter I've had it I've a lot o' things to do that won't wait for time or tide. So good-bye to 'e both. And you, madam, keep up your spirits about Mr Hubert; for I'll warrant that Garge, here, 'll have mun out o' Spanish prison in next to no time."

George was up and stirring betimes on the following morning, and, after an early breakfast, set out for Mr Radlett's shipyard at Millbay. He found the old man busily engaged upon certain papers in the little room which he dignified with the name of "office"; but upon George's appearance the old fellow hastily swept the doc.u.ments pell-mell into a drawer, which he locked. Then, pocketing the key, he led the way to the back door of the house, which gave upon the shipyard, upon pa.s.sing through which young Saint Leger immediately found himself in the midst of surroundings that were as familiar to him as the walls of his own home. But he had no time just then to gaze about him reminiscently, for immediately upon entering the shipyard his gaze became riveted upon the hull of a tall ship, apparently quite ready for launching, and from that moment he had eyes for nothing else. As he came abruptly to a halt, staring at the great bows that towered high above him, resplendent in all the glory of fresh paint and surmounted by a finely carved figure of an unknown animal with the head of a lion, the horns of a bull, the body of a fish, four legs shaped like those of an eagle, and the wings of a dragon, old Radlett nudged him in the ribs and, beaming happily upon him, remarked: "There a be, Garge; that's the _Nonsuch_. What do 'e think of her?"

"Upon my word I hardly know," answered George. "Let me look her over a bit, Mr Radlett, before you ask my opinion of her. Is she finished?"

"Finished?" reiterated the old man. "Iss, sure; quite finished, and all ready for launching. Why? Do 'e miss anything?"

"Why, yes," said George; "I see neither fore nor after castles. How is that?"

"Swept 'em both away, lad," was the answer. "What good be they? I allow that they be only so much useless top hamper, makin' a ship crank and leewardly. 'Tis the fashion to build 'em, I know; but I've thought the matter out, and I say that they do more harm than they be worth.

Therefore I've left 'em out in the _Nonsuch_, and you'll see she'll be all the better for it. But although she have neither fore nor after castles, she've a p.o.o.p, and a raised deck for'ard where guns can be mounted and where, sheltered behind good stout bulwarks, the crew'll be so safe as in any castle. Do 'e see any other differences in her?"

"Yes, I do," answered George, as he walked round the hull and viewed it from different standpoints; "indeed I see nothing but differences. The under-water shape of her is different, her topsides have scarcely any tumble-home, and she has not nearly so much sheer as usual. Also I see that you have given her a very much deeper keel than usual. That ought to be of service in helping her to hang to windward."

"So 'twill, boy; so 'twill," agreed Radlett. "You'll find that 'twill make a most amazin' lot o' difference when it comes to havin' to claw off a lee sh.o.r.e, all the difference, perhaps, between losin' the ship and savin' of her. Then, about the tumble-home, I don't see the use o'

it. True, it do help to keep the sea from comin' over side in heavy weather, and keeps the decks dry. But then it do make the deck s.p.a.ce terrible cramped up, so that wi' guns, and boats, and spare spars and what not, the crew haven't got room to move. But you'll see presently, when you goes aboard, that this here _Nonsuch_ have got decks so roomy as a ship o' double her size. And I do hold that they almost vertical sides o' hern'll make mun ever so much finer a sea boat. And I've a- worked out the lines o' mun upon a new principle that, unless I be greatly mistaken, will make this here _Nonsuch_ such a fast sailor that nothin' afloat'll be able to escape from mun--or catch mun, if so be that her have got to run away from a very superior force. And I be havin' the sails cut differently, too. I've thought it all out, and I've made up my mind that the way sails be cut up to now, they be very much too baggy, so that a ship can't go to windward. But I be havin'

all the _Nonsuch's_ sails cut to set so flat as ever they can be made, and--well, I do expect 'twill make a lot of difference. And now, Garge, havin' looked at her from outside, perhaps you'd like to go aboard and see what she do look like on deck and below."

George having agreed that this was the case, the old man led his visitor up a ladder reaching from the ground to the entry port. After the s.p.a.cious deck had been duly admired and commented upon the pair entered the cabins in the p.o.o.p and below, where again everything proved so admirable that young Saint Leger found himself quite at a loss for words in which to adequately express his approval, to the great delight of the proud designer of the ship.

At length, after a thoroughly exhaustive inspection of the ship, both inside and out, during which Radlett drew attention to and expatiated upon the various new ideas embodied in the design, the curiously contrasted pair retired to the little room which the shipwright called his office, and there sat down for a chat.

"Well, Garge," exclaimed the old man, as he seated himself comfortably in a great arm-chair, "now that you've had a good look at the _Nonsuch_, what do 'e think of her?"

"She is a splendid craft, and a perfect wonder, well worthy of her name," p.r.o.nounced George with enthusiasm. "I should not be surprised to learn that she inaugurates an entirely new system of shipbuilding. She would be the very ship, of all others, for such an adventure as mine; but I suppose you have built her with an especial view to some particular kind of service. Even if you have not, I very much doubt whether I could raise the money in a reasonable time to buy her. What price are you asking for her?"

"She is not for sale, boy," answered the old man with an inscrutable smile. "I built her in order to put to the test certain theories o' my own, and now, before ever she touches the water, I be sure, from the look of her, that my theories be right. So I be going to keep her and use her for my own purposes. And one o' they purposes be to make money so fast as ever I can. I've got neither chick nor child to think about and take care of, so my only pleasure in life be to build good ships and make good money with 'em.

"Now, Garge, when I sat listenin' to you talkin' last night, I says to myself--'There's money, and lots of it, in that there adventure o'

Garge's, if 'tis only worked right. But it'll want a good leader, and a good ship; and young as Garge Saint Leger be, I do believe he've a-got the brains and the courage for it, while I've got the ship. If I'd a built the _Nonsuch_ expressly for such an adventure she couldn't ha'

been better suited for it.' So I comed home and thought the thing over until I'd made up my mind about it. Now, Garge, I'm willin' to do this for 'e. I'll launch the _Nonsuch_ just as sune as we can get the cradle builded. Then, directly that she be afloat, I'll put on a strong gang o' riggers to get her masts in and rigged and her spars across--the sails be makin' now, and'll be finished by the time that she's ready vor 'em; and when she's all complete I'll fit her out in ordnance, ammunition, and weapons of all sorts, and provision her for a year's cruise, all at my own expense. You shall have her for your adventure upon condition that you provide a sufficient crew for her, to my satisfaction, and that, for the use of the ship and her equipment, I be to have one half of all the treasure you brings home; the other half to be disposed of as you thinks fit. Now, what do 'e say? Will that arrangement suit 'e?"

"It will suit me admirably, Mr Radlett, and I agree to your proposal with a thousand thanks and the greatest pleasure," said George.