The Ghost Ship Part 33

"How did he die?" I asked. "Was he killed at the first rush?"

"Faith, I can't say corrictly," replied Garry in a very melancholy tone of voice. "I'm afeard care carried him off, somehow or other, as it killed the cat, for he war the most disconsolate, doleful, down-hearted chap I ivver saw piping the hands to dinner. An' so he's d'id! Poor old bo'sun! we'll nivver see his loike ag'in."

"Lord bless you!" cried old Masters angrily, stepping up nearer and confronting us, "I'm not dead at all, I tell you--I tell you I'm not-- I'm blessed if I am. Can't you see me here alive and hearty afore you?

Look at me."

"Ah, it's his ghost!" I said, with an affected and tremulous start.

"He told me, poor fellow, he felt himself doomed, and nothing could save him; and I suppose his spirit wants to prove to me he wasn't a liar, as I always thought he was, the old sinner!"

This was too much for Garry, and he couldn't hold in any longer, and both of us roared at Masters, who looked scared; and, though angry and highly incensed with us at first, was only too glad at its being but a joke, and not a fact that he was dead, to bear us any ill-feeling long.

We were horrified when we were told later on, while we were committing to the deep the corpses of those slain--negroes and white men impartially sharing the same grave beneath the placid sea, at rest like themselves, the breeze having died away again soon after sunset--that Etienne Brago and Francois Terne, the two wounded sailors we had left below with the Boissons, and little Mr Johnson and the colonel and Elsie of course, that _these_ were the only ones left of the thirty odd souls on board the _Saint Pierre_ when she sailed from La Guayra a fortnight before!

After all the bodies had been buried in their watery tomb, not forgetting that of poor Ivan, who we all thought merited an honoured place by the side of his biped brethren of valour--well, after all this had been done the skipper had the pumps rigged and the decks sluiced down to wash away all traces of the fray.

A council of war was then held between us all on the p.o.o.p, the skipper of course presiding, and the colonel coming up from the cabin to take part in the proceedings, as well as old Mr Stokes from our ship, where he had remained attending singlehanded to the duties of the engine-room, denying himself, as Garry O'Neil remarked, "all the foin of the foighting!"

This conclave had been called for the purpose of deciding what was to be done with the _Saint Pierre_ and the captured black pirates, from whom we had salvaged her, and without much deliberation it was pretty soon decided, on the colonel's suggestion, to send the ship to her destined port, Liverpool, taking the negroes in her, so that they could be tried before a proper court in England for the offence they had committed.

"It's of no use your fetching them up to New York," said the colonel, "for though I'm an American myself and am proud of my nationality, I must confess those Yanks of the north mix up dollars and justice in a way that puzzles folk that are not accustomed to their way of holding the scales."

The skipper was of the same opinion as Colonel Vereker; so, the matter having been settled, a navigating party was selected to work the _Saint Pierre_ across the Atlantic, with Garry O'Neil as chief officer. The skipper was unable to spare Mr Fosset, and Garry was all the more fit in every way for the part, as he would be able to look after the wounded French sailors, who would naturally go in the ship as they were the princ.i.p.al witnesses against the blacks on the charges that would be brought against them of "piracy on the high seas."

It was dark when all these details were finally arranged, and all of them went back aboard on our vessel for rest and refreshment, the colonel and his daughter, of course, accompanying us.

Madame and Monsieur Boisson, however, could not be made to leave the ship, saying they would not do so--Madame, that is, said it, and the _brave Hercule_, following her lead as usual, "would not leave," said she repeatedly, "until they once more touched _terra firma_," and not wishing they should be starved for their obstinacy, the skipper ordered Weston to look after the happy pair and provide them with food at the same time as he did the wounded and prisoners.

The two vessels remained for the night, still lashed alongside for better security, all hands being too tired out besides to be able to do anything further beyond "turning in" and getting as much rest and sleep as they could after the fatigue and excitement of the day.

Next morning at sunrise Garry O'Neil went back to his ship with his crew of eight men--all the skipper was able to spare him--and by breakfast time they had made her all atauto, bending new sails, which they found below in the forepeak, in place of the tattered rags that hung from some of the yards, and otherwise making good defects, preparing the vessel for her pa.s.sage home.

We were all sorry to part with Garry even for the short period that would elapse before he would rejoin the old barquey, for he was the life of all us aboard; but the same regret was not felt for Master Spokeshave when we saw him go over the side to accompany the Irishman, the skipper having so decreed, as his a.s.sistant navigator, the damage to his nose not necessarily affecting his "taking the sun," though it might interfere with the little beggar's alt.i.tudes of another character.

By eight bells all the details necessary under the circ.u.mstances were satisfactorily arranged, including the transfer of the effects belonging to the colonel and Miss Elsie, these two preferring to voyage with us, unlike their whilom pa.s.sengers, the Boissons, who remained in their old quarters, going with "Captain Garry," as we all dubbed our mess-mate on his promotion to a separate command; and half an hour or so later a splendid breeze just then springing up from the westwards and flecking the still blue water with buoyant life, the two ships parted company amid a round of enthusiastic cheers that only grew faint as the distance widened them apart, the _Saint Pierre_ sailing off right before the wind, with everything set below, and aloft, across the ocean on her course for Saint George's Channel, while we braced our yards sharp up and bore away full speed ahead in the opposite direction, bound for New York, which port we safely reached without further mishap four days later.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

I GO TO VENEZUELA.

"You'd better stick to us," said the skipper to Colonel Vereker, who talked of taking the next Cunard steamer, which was advertised to leave on the morrow, as the _Star of the North_ was being berthed in our company's dock on the East River. "I'm only going to stop here long enough to discharge our cargo and ship a fresh one; which is all ready and waiting for us; and then, sir, we'll 'make tracks,' as our friends the Yankees say, right away over the 'herring-pond' to Liverpool as fast as steam and sail can carry the old barquey. Better stick to us, colonel, and see the voyage out."

"All right, Senor Applegarth," replied the colonel, who could not drop his Spanish phraseology all at once, though otherwise gradually returning to his and our own native tongue and becoming less of a foreigner in every way, "I will return with you."

Both were as good as their word, he and little Elsie coming home with us, and the skipper making the pa.s.sage from Sandy Hook to the Mersey in eight days from land to land, the fastest run we had ever yet achieved across the Atlantic, whether outward or homeward-bound.

But, quick as we were, the _Saint Pierre_ managed to reach Liverpool before we did, the pilot who boarded us off the Skerries bringing the news that she had gone up the river a tide ahead of us.

This piece of intelligence was confirmed beyond question by Garry O'Neil coming off in the company's tug that sheered alongside as we dropped anchor in the stream later on, midway between the Prince's landing-stage and the Birkenhead sh.o.r.e, the manager of our line being anxious to compliment the skipper on his successful rescue of the French ship, the percentage on whose valuable cargo for bringing her safely to port, and thus saving all loss to the underwriters, would more than repay any damage done for the detention of our vessel when engaged on the errand of mercy and justice that took her off her course.

In addition likewise to the thanks of the company and the underwriters, the skipper was also presented with a handsome gold chronometer watch by the committee of Lloyds, besides partic.i.p.ating in the amount awarded by the charterers of the _Saint Pierre_ for the salvage of the ship, though in this latter apportionment it was only fair to mention that we all shared, officers and crew alike, I for my part coming into the sudden possession of such a tidy little sum of ready money that I felt myself a comparative millionaire.

When talking with Garry, whom it is almost needless to say all hands were glad to see again, the men cheering him l.u.s.tily as he crossed the gangway from the tug, he told us that though otherwise they had had a fairly pleasant voyage after parting company with us off the Azores, the Boissons gave him a good deal of trouble.

Madame, he said, worried his life out by "making eyes" at him when he went below at meal-times, while on deck he was never safe for a moment from her embarra.s.sing attentions unless, in desperation, as he was often forced to do, he went aloft to get out of her way.

"Faith, an' sure, that warn't the worst of it nayther," complained Garry in his humorous way. "Though the vain, silly ould crayture bate Banagher for flirtin'--an', indade, bates ivviry other of her s.e.x, G.o.d bless 'em, that I've ivver clapt eyes on yet--that quare little Frenchy chap, her husband, he, the little sparrow, must neades git jallous, an'

makes out it's all my fault, an', belave me, a nice toime I had o' it altogether. At last I said to him, afther havin' been more than usual exasperated by him, 'If you want to foight me, begorrah, ye can begin as soon as you loike,' at the same toime showin' him me fists."

"_Ah, non, non, mon Dieu, non_, note yat vay!" sez he, joompin' away from me whin he caught soight o' me fists. "I was mean ze duel and ze rapiere."

"Not me, faith," sez I. "If it's duellin' ye want you'll have to go to another shop, Monsieur Parleyvoo, for it ain't in my line. Allow me to till ye too, Monsieur Boisson, that if ye dare to hint at sich a thing ag'in whilst I'm in command of this ship, the ounly satisfaction ye'll ivver have out of me in the rap-here way will be a rap on the h'id wid this shtick of moine here, you recollict, joist to thry the stringth of y'r craynium, begorrah! Faith, that sittled the matther, the little beggar turnin' as pale as a codfish and goin' below at onst, lookin'

very dejecthed an' crestfallin. He nivver s'id another word afther that to me as long as he remained aboard, nor did Madame trouble me very much more wid her attenshions. On the contrary, bedad, from the day this happened till yestherday, whin she wor set ash.o.r.e at the landing-stage yonder, she'd look moighty saur at me if we chanced to mate on deck-- aye, faith, as saur as a babby that's been weaned on b.u.t.thermilk."

"Why," inquired the skipper, when we had both a good laugh at Garry and his account of the Boisson episode, "have they left, then, the ship for good?"

"Faith, yis, sor, bag an' baggage, the blissid pair of 'em, an' moighty pleased I wor to say the backs of 'em!"

"But how about the trial of those black devils, those pirates, then; won't they be required as witnesses against the murderers?"

"No, sor," replied Garry. "The polis officers that came aboard whin we got into dock sid they didn't want monsieur nor madame neither, as they didn't know a ha'porth of the jambolle, worse luck, they bein' below all the toime. The magistrates think the two French sailors, who're goin'

on foine by the same token, and the colonel, all of whom were on deck an' saw everything that went on, would be sufficient witnisses aga'n the Haytian scoundrels."

"Oh!" said the skipper, "have these men been brought up before the magistrates?"

"Aye, yestherday afthernoon, sor, an' they've been raymanded, whativer that may mane--it ought to have been rayprimanded, I'm thinkin', an' a cat-o'-nine-tails, if they had their desarts--till next Tuesday! The magisthrates belayvin' the ould _Star of the North_ wid you, cap'en, wid the colonel aboard, to give ividence ag'st the mutineers, that they wouldn't be in from New York afore then, not knowin' what the ould barquey could do in the way of stayming as you an' I do, sor, an' that she'd arrive, faith, to-day!"

All happened as Garry O'Neil informed us, the Haytians and mutineer blacks of the _Saint Pierre's_ crew being brought up again before the magistrates the week following our arrival home, when, after hearing the additional evidence against them given by Colonel Vereker and the skipper, the six black and mahogany-coloured rascals were committed for trial at the next a.s.sizes, which we were told would not be held for another month, on the charge of "piracy and murder on the high seas."

The colonel took advantage of the interval that would necessarily have to elapse before his presence would again be required in court to escort Miss Elsie to Paris, and place her under the care of the sisters at the convent at Neuilly, where, I think I told you before, he said her mother had been brought up and educated; while the skipper and others of us belonging to the _Star of the North_, being compelled to remain within handy reach of the authorities, in case our presence at the trial might be required, the opportunity was seized to lay the old barquey up in dry dock and give her a thorough overhaul within and without, though the engines, as proved by our rapid pa.s.sage here, were none the worse for our breakdown in mid-Atlantic, thanks to the skill and exertions of poor Stoddart and the rest of old Mr Stokes' staff.

Most of us in this way got a short holiday while awaiting the a.s.sizes, which I spent with my mother and sister, taking home with me the money I had been awarded as my share of the _Saint Pierre's_ salvage, which had made me fancy myself a temporary Croesus.

Alas, though, the sum, large though it was for a young fellow to find unexpectedly in his pocket, went but a very short step in satisfying the rapacious wolf I found at my mother's door when I reached the little cottage, where she lived with my sister Janet, in one of the suburbs of Liverpool.

A bubble company, whose directors had all been selected for their religious bias rather than their business qualifications, burst at one fell coup, almost in the very hour of my return home, dissipating into thin air, as the Latin poet has it, all the savings of a lifetime which my mother had invested in the swindle--the provision left behind by my father, when he died, for her use, and the subsequent benefit of my sister and myself. The devout rogue who had "managed" the concern to his own worldly interest and that of his fellow religionists, carried on the same, so they said, in a pious and eminently "Christian way," no doubt, respected alike in the eyes of G.o.d and men, according to the loudly-voiced tenets of the particular sect, to which he and his co- directors mostly belonged; but he managed, all the same, to carry off to a remote and friendly land outside the pale of international law, and where dividends need no longer be paid to clamorous creditors, a considerable amount of portable property of a valuable nature, amongst which, probably, was our inheritance, my mother's capital!

Under these circ.u.mstances it behoved me to consider how I could best aid my poor mother and sister, then left suddenly dest.i.tute through no fault of their own.

Fortunately, I had the means ready at hand.

In our constant a.s.sociation on board the _Star of the North_ after his rescue from the drifting boat, in which he greatly exaggerated the help I was able to render him, Colonel Vereker was kind enough to notice me much more than my subordinate position on board would have seemed to warrant; and in a conversation we had together during the voyage home from New York, after asking me what my prospects were, he made me an offer to accompany him back to Venezuela on his return, promising me, should I accept, a good salary to start with, and a fair chance of ultimately making my fortune.

Loving the sea and my profession, however, with all a sailor's love, besides being attached to my old ship and her officers, I felt no inclination then to give up what I had learnt to look upon as my legitimate calling, and turn landsman; so, although I had the highest admiration for the colonel, coupled with more than a liking for his young daughter, between whom and myself there seemed such a mysterious sympathy on the evening of my sighting the _Saint Pierre_, when the captain declared we were some hundreds of miles apart, I reluctantly and, so it seemed to me, ungraciously, declined his proposal, telling him I preferred "sticking" to the skipper and the old barquey!

But the colonel very kindly would not take my refusal at first as final; and, when setting out for Paris to take Elsie to her convent school, she taking leave of me with many tears and a.s.surances that under any circ.u.mstances she would always remain _mio amiquito_ (my little friend) pledging herself, too, to be, if allowed at the school, a constant correspondent if I would write to her sometimes to let her know where I was. Well, the kind, good-hearted man, taking, as he said, a deep interest in my welfare for Elsie's sake as well as for my own, a.s.sured me that he would keep his generous offer open until the period arrived for his ultimate departure for South America, on the termination of the trial of the Haytian pirates and their mutineer accomplices.

So, recollecting all this, in my hour of need, I naturally turned to the colonel and told him of my trouble on his return to Liverpool for the a.s.sizes, at which, by the way, the black scoundrels and their allies were sentenced to five years' penal servitude, the judge regretting his inability to impose a heavier punishment from the fact of proof being wanted of the active partic.i.p.ation of the prisoners in the atrociously cruel murder of Cato and the other diabolical work perpetrated on board the ill-fated ship.