The Golden Galleon Part 21

"Prithee, Master Oglander," said the old man, "hast seen aught of young Robin Redfern these few hours past?"

"Nay," answered Gilbert, "he hath not been near me since I have been below."

"Then I much fear," returned Hartop, "that the lad hath fallen overboard, for no man hath set eyes upon him since we shortened sail eight hours ago. We have searched for him all-wheres, but he cannot be found. As a last resource I have sent a man up the main-mast to seek him in the tops, although 'tis well-nigh impossible he can be there."

As he spoke the old man glanced aloft through the fog, and at the same moment a voice hailed him from tops.

"Below there!" the voice cried. "The kid is here. I have found him!"

Jacob Hartop sprang up upon the bulwarks, grasped the shrouds, and climbed up with the nimbleness of a much younger man. Gilbert watched him, and presently he disappeared into the railed gallery there. When he again appeared he was slowly descending, bearing the boy's inert form over his shoulder.

"There!" cried Hartop, as he dumped the lad down upon the deck. "Thank the Lord y'are not starved to death up there!"

The boy looked up, dazed as if he had been suddenly aroused from sleep.

"How came you to go hiding up there?" questioned Hartop in a severe tone. "Dost know how you have alarmed us, quotha? How came you up there, I say?"

The lad's eyes glanced about him as if in mortal fear.

"'Twas Red Bob," he stammered. "He's here, on board this ship. I was afraid of him, Master Hartop; for he doth owe me a sorry grudge for being the cause of his being put into prison. I went up the mast to hide from him, and, being there, I could not get down again, try as I would."

"And, prithee, who might be this Red Bob of whom y'are so afraid?" asked Jacob.

And then Robin caught sight of Gilbert Oglander, and he said:

"Master Gilbert should know the man. 'Tis the man that was put into prison for stealing the ducks and geese from the Manor farm, Master Gilbert, and that attacked you in Beddington Dingle, and that robbed Master Hartop of his bag of precious stones that he had brought home from the Spanish Main."

"Marry!" exclaimed Gilbert in surprise. "And you say he is aboard the _Revenge_?"

"Ay, truly," said Robin; "and by the way he regarded me, I feel sure he doth know that it was I who raised the alarm and was the cause of his being caught."

"You need be in no such fear of the man, my lad," said Gilbert. "Let him but attempt to harm you, and I warrant you he'll not soon forget it. You are in my personal charge now, Robin, and I'll see you are hurt by no man."

Later on that same day Gilbert encountered the man Red Bob in the forward part of the ship, whence the lad had gone immediately after prayers to witness a strange ceremony, of which the occasion was this: that Red Bob had that day been taken in the swearing of a blasphemous oath, and was now to be punished in sight of his companions. With a general consent of all the ship's company, it had been ordained that any man guilty of using profane language should be condemned to wear a heavy iron chain about his neck, and that at the time of morning and evening prayers he should receive three blows given him by the boatswain. The guilty man could only free himself from the penalty by transferring it to another whom he discovered swearing. Thus did the men of the _Revenge_ endeavour to banish the vice of bad language on board.

Red Bob had worn the chain for the s.p.a.ce of seven hours, and he was standing in the midst of his fellows meekly submitting to the boatswain's blows when Gilbert appeared. Gilbert thought he had never seen a man whose face showed more of brutality and evil than this Red Bob, and as he looked at him and remembered that night in Beddington Dingle, he could not doubt that it was this same man, this poacher, who had attacked Jacob Hartop and stolen the poor old man's wallet with its jewels and the precious letter, of which so much had been said at Modbury Manor.

Jacob Hartop himself was at Gilbert's elbow as Red Bob retired towards the forecastle smarting from the boatswain's blows. As he approached them he touched his forelock, and was pa.s.sing on when Gilbert accosted him.

"Stop," said the lad, "I have a word or two to say to you."

"I am at your worship's service," returned Red Bob. "What would you?"

And then, recognizing Gilbert as the young heir of Modbury, he added: "But I have little need to ask, methinks, for I guess that you would question me concerning the matter of the night when I was arrested and thrown into Plymouth gaol?"

Gilbert nodded. "Yes," he said, "you have guessed my wish right truly."

"Well, your honour," said Red Bob, "as to the poaching of the farm ducks--"

"Nay, I meant not the poaching matter," interrupted Gilbert. "You have had your just punishment for that, and so 'tis at an end. It was rather of the matter of your attack upon Master Hartop here, that I would know more. You see, there was a letter stolen--a letter of grave importance."

"Ay, 'twas the Spaniards that purloined it," broke in Red Bob.

"The Spaniards?" echoed Gilbert. "Prithee, what Spaniards mean you?"

"Look you, my masters," said Red Bob, and then he drew Gilbert to the bulwarks and signed to Hartop to join him. "I can tell you, mayhap, more than you know. But firstly, be a.s.sured that I had no hand in the affair.

The men who waylaid Master Hartop were Jasper Oglander, his son Philip, and one Andrea de Ortega. Nay, do not doubt me," he cautioned, seeing that Gilbert shook his head in incredulity; "I had the whole story from overhearing the Spaniards while I was in the gaol. For you must know that, having been for some three years on the Spanish galleys, I know their language, though of that they never dreamt when they contrived their plots and conspiracies in my hearing. Willingly would I have warned Master Richard Drake of their schemes; but in gaol one can hold speech with none but one's fellow-prisoners, and ere I was released and brought on board this ship the Spaniards had made good their escape."

"Ay, but what of Master Jasper Oglander?" interrupted Hartop. "Say you that you have proof against him?"

"I have proof thus far," rejoined Red Bob, "that on that night in December he and his two companions followed you from the ship with intent to get possession of the letter. It was they who a.s.sailed you in Beddington Dingle. They possessed themselves of the letter, which, it seemeth, contained news of the Spanish plate fleet. It was on account of that news that they were in so great haste to get back to Spain. Their escape was contrived by Jasper Oglander and his son--"

"Marry come up!" cried Gilbert "Why, then, Timothy Trollope was right after all!"

Red Bob shook his head, and a grim smile played about his lips.

"Timothy Trollope had been righter still if he had finished his work on Polperro beach," said he. "'Tis said that the lad ran his rapier through young Philip Oglander. Haply he did so; but of this I am certain, that young Philip Oglander is at this moment on board the _Pearl_ on his way to Spain, with intent to inform the Spanish king of the setting out of this present expedition to waylay the plate fleet. That, my master, is the sum of what I know, and if there be aught else that you would question me upon, my name on the ship's books is Robert Cruse, and you will find me when on duty in the carpenter's quarters." And so saying, he again touched his forelock and proceeded on his way into the forecastle.

Thus, when it was too late to relent, did Gilbert learn of his injustice towards Timothy Trollope. He reflected that had he only believed in Timothy's report of the character of Jasper and Philip Oglander, much mischief might have been averted. For it needed no a.s.surance from Jacob Hartop to bring him to understand to the full all that might follow from the escape of the Spanish prisoners. They were now on their way to Spain, apparently with the object of hastening to King Philip and informing him of the starting of Lord Thomas Howard's expedition to the Azores; and the result of their intelligence would no doubt be that the Spanish king would endeavour by all the means in his power to frustrate the English designs upon his treasure-ships.

Gilbert spoke of these things with Roland Grenville, but young Grenville regarded them with small concern, and reminded Gilbert that Lord Thomas Howard was well acquainted with the situation, for that he had given instructions to all his captains to keep a constant watch for the _Pearl_, to the end that if any should sight her she was to be pursued and captured, or else sent to the bottom with a well-directed shot.

But if any strange vessels were espied they were only peaceful traders bearing our own flag of St. George, or else one or two of the Earl of c.u.mberland's fleet, which were at that time cruising off the coasts of Spain. Certain it is that the _Pearl_ did not come within sight of any on board the _Revenge_, for her voyage across the Bay of Biscay and thence westward to the Azores was performed without so much as the firing of a single gun. Nor did any event of great moment occur the while on board, or any circ.u.mstance worthy of mention, saving only that ere the Western Isles were sighted the men had already begun to grumble much at the quality of their rations and at their bodily discomforts.

For, as if the ill results of bad victualling of the Queen's ships in 1588 had not been a sufficient lesson, the food supplied to the present expedition was of the poorest sort, and it was little wonder that there was much discontent. The beer, of which one gallon each day was supplied to every man and boy, had been stored in old oil and fish barrels, and was so corrupt that many refused to drink of it. The meat was so salt that many said the brine had been put into it for the purpose of disguising the rank foulness thereof. The bread, too, was daily becoming more closely inhabited by maggots, while even the sweetest food was like to become unsavoury by reason of the noisome and poisonous scent of the bilge-water, which was in itself enough, had not the men all been for the most part hale and healthy, to make many a brave sailor food for crabs and sharks.

But if the men grumbled it was as yet only in surly undertones, for all knew that there was good fruit to be had on the island of Flores, and perhaps even some good wine. Furthermore, the Spanish treasure-ships were expected on an early day, when, after a little fighting, as none doubted, our ships would speedily be filled up to the gunwales with bars of gold and ingots of silver and bags of precious stones. And then it would be--Hi! for England and a merry life for the rest of their days!

The thought of that treasure buoyed up the heart of many a man whose spirit might else have failed him in the long days of waiting that were before them. But more than the hope of gain was the hope, which every man in the fleet felt in his inmost heart, of giving a trouncing to the proud Dons of Spain. For a.s.suredly there was no stronger feeling in the British seaman's heart at that time than that of hatred of the Spaniard.

CHAPTER XV.

IN SEARCH OF THE PLATE FLEET.

It had been night-time when the fleet cast anchor under shelter of the island of Flores--the most westerly of the Azores; and if any of the younger members of the expedition who had not before gazed upon foreign land had hoped to witness aught that was novel or surprising, they had perforce to content themselves for the time being with the sight of a stretch of dark land rising out of a blue moonlit sea. Here and there, it is true, they could discern the black outline of a tall date-palm against the lighter background of the sky, poised, as it were, on the ridge of some rugged hill. But when the morning came the sloping land could be clearly seen with its terraces of vine and its blossoming orange-trees and its plantations of olives; and at the foot of the cliffs there was a long white line of foam, where the Atlantic rollers broke upon the rocky sh.o.r.es.

The _Revenge_ lay so near to the sh.o.r.e that the people of the island, who had come down from their village on the hillside, could be distinctly seen standing in a group looking out in wonder at the ships.

And some of them had even put out their boats and were paddling towards the ships in the hope of doing some trade in the selling of fresh fruit.

When they came alongside, certain of the officers bought a few bunches of luscious grapes or baskets of oranges and dates; but what was most required was a supply of fresh water, and for this the English saw no reason why they should pay money or money's worth, and their own boats were better fitted for the carrying of water-beakers than those of the natives. So, ere the sun was yet high above the horizon, two boats of the _Revenge_ were launched, and a like number from each of the other ships, and they were pulled towards the beach.

In one of the _Revenge's_ boats went Gilbert Oglander. He sat at the tiller, and he steered her round under the stern of Jacob Whiddon's bark, the _Pilgrim_, that lay but a cable's length away from his own ship. As he pa.s.sed under her high counter one of her own boats shot out from her larboard side, and her men pulled vigorously at their oars as if intent upon having a race. Gilbert glanced at her rowers as she came abreast of him, and as he caught sight of the youth at her helm he started in amazement. For a moment he could not believe the evidence of his own eyes. But when the youth turned half-round with his face full in view there could be no mistake as to his ident.i.ty, and Gilbert cried aloud in a voice that carried far across the waves:

"Tim! Timothy! Timothy Trollope!"

And Timothy (for it was in truth he) touched his cap in salutation, and answered cheerily: