The Pirate Island Part 27

"Certainly I do, Robert," answered Blanche, very gravely. "But I must admit that I have never until now viewed the matter in the serious light in which you put it. I must beg your pardon, and I do most sincerely, for the way in which I spoke to you just now. I had no idea that you had any such good reasons as you have given for desiring to be rich.

But what would you be able to do single-handed, no matter how rich you might be?"

"Ah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Bob with a gesture of impatience, "that's just what _everybody_ says, and that's exactly where the mischief lies; they don't do anything because they can't do _everything_, and because they can't get others to join them. But I shouldn't look at it like that; I should just do my duty, whether other people did theirs or not; if others choose to shirk their duty it is their own look-out, it affords no excuse for me to shirk mine. But there--it's no use for me to talk like this; perhaps I never shall be rich; the gold is there, you say; but that is a very different thing from having it banked in England. How do they think we are going to get it away from the island without discovery? You may depend upon it that, whenever we go, it will be all in a hurry."

Blanche explained Captain Staunton's plan as to the carrying off of the gold; but Bob shook his head dubiously.

"It is a capital plan, I admit," he said, "but its success depends upon everything turning out exactly as arranged, and--you mark my words-- things _won't_ turn out that way at all; they never do. Will you do me a favour, Miss Lascelles?"

"Certainly I will, Robert, provided of course that it is in my power,"

answered Blanche.

"Thank you," said Bob. "You can do it easily enough. Bring home here-- and get the other ladies to do the same--every day when you return from the cavern, as many nuggets as you can conveniently carry--say two or three pounds' weight each of you, you know--and hand them over to me.

I'll contrive to find a safe hiding-place for them, and when the moment comes for us to be off I'll see that they go with us if such a thing is at all possible; then we shall not be quite dest.i.tute if after all we have to leave the heap in the cave behind us. But don't say anything about this to the gentlemen; Captain Staunton might not like it if he heard that I doubted the practicability of his plan."

Blanche readily gave the desired promise, and there the matter ended for the time.

Meanwhile the work went steadily forward at the shipyard, and by the time that Bob was once more able to go on duty the framework of the schooner was complete, and the planking had been begun, whilst the battery was in so forward a state that another fortnight would see it ready to receive the guns. Ralli was in a high state of delight; but Bob had not been at work many days before he discovered that things were no longer as they had been when he received his hurt. The Greek had never been courteous in his behaviour to the _Galatea_ party, but now he was downright insolent, and his insolence seemed to increase every day.

At the outset of the work the gentlemen of the party, that is to say, Captain Staunton, Lance, and Rex, had been required to look on and direct the progress of the work only, but now Lance was the only one to whom this privilege was granted, a privilege which he scorned to accept unshared by the others, and accordingly when Bob once more joined the working party he found his friends with their coats off and sleeves rolled up to the shoulders performing the same manual labour as the rest. Seeing this, he of course did the same, and thus they all continued to work until--the end came.

Bob was greatly surprised at this state of things; so much so that he sought an early opportunity to inquire of Lance the meaning of it.

Neither Lance nor anyone else in the party were, however, able to give any explanation of it; all they could say with regard to the affair was that Ralli had been gradually growing more insolent and tyrannical in his treatment of them until matters had reached the then existing unpleasant stage. But he was earnestly cautioned by Captain Staunton not to mention a word respecting it to the ladies, as it was extremely desirable that they should be kept for as long a time as possible quite free from all anxiety of every kind.

"But can nothing be done to make this fellow mend his behaviour?"

inquired Bob of the skipper as they separated from the rest of the working party and walked toward the cottage on landing from the boats that night.

"I fear not," was the reply. "While the schooner and the battery were still to be built we had the man to some extent in our power; but now that the battery is so near completion, and the hull of the schooner fully modelled, he is independent of us, and he has sense enough to know it. His own people are quite capable of finishing off the schooner now that her framework is complete, so that threats on our part would be useless--nay, worse than useless--since they would only irritate him and lead to increasing severity toward us."

Bob lay awake a long time that night, quite satisfied that the time had arrived when something ought to be done, but what that something should be he puzzled his brain in vain to discover.

About a fortnight after this a serious accident occurred at the shipyard, or rather at the battery. This structure was now so far advanced that it was ready to receive the guns which were intended to be mounted in it. The armament was to consist of six 24-pounder iron muzzle-loaders of the ordinary old-fashioned type, to which Johnson had helped himself in some raid on the Spanish-American coast; and on the morning in question a gang of men was told off to hoist these guns up the cliff into the battery.

Lance had, as a matter of course, undertaken the supervision of this operation; but the work had hardly commenced when Ralli made his appearance on the scene, announcing his intention to himself direct operations at the battery, and roughly ordering Lance to return at once to his work on the schooner, "and to be quick about it too, or he (Ralli) would freshen his way."

Evelin of course returned at once to the shipyard without condescending to bandy words with the Greek, and the work went forward as usual.

Ralli soon had a pair of sheers rigged, and in due time one of the guns was slung ready for hoisting.

Lance had been watching Ralli's operations, first with curiosity and afterwards with anxiety, for he soon saw that the man knew nothing whatever about handling heavy guns. He now saw that the gun which was about to be hoisted was wrongly slung, and that an accident was likely enough to result. So, forgetting his former rebuff, he threw down his tools and hurried to the place where the men were working about the gun and told them to cast off the slings.

"You have slung it wrong, lads," said he, "and unless you are very careful some of you will be hurt. Cast off the slings, and I will show you the proper way to do it."

The men, accustomed to working under his directions, were about to do as he bade them, when Ralli looked over the parapet and angrily ordered them to leave the lashings as they were and to sway away the gun.

"As for you, mister soldier," he said, shaking his fist at Lance, "you have left your work contrary to my orders, and I will seize you up to a grating and give you five dozen to-night as a lesson to you. Now go."

Lance turned on his heel and walked away. Things had come to a crisis at last, he thought; and he began to wonder how the crisis was to be met; upon one thing he was quite resolved, and that was that he would never submit to the indignity of the lash; Ralli might kill him if he chose, but flog him--_never_.

His sombre meditations were brought to an abrupt ending by a sudden crash accompanied by a shout of consternation in the direction of the battery. Looking that way he saw the tackle dangling empty from the sheers, with the lower block about half-way up the cliff face, and at the base of the cliff were the men grouped closely together about some object which was hidden by their bodies. Suddenly one of the men left the rest and ran toward the shipyard, shouting for help.

"There has been an accident," thought Lance. "The gun has slipped from the slings, and likely enough somebody is killed."

"Muster all the crowbars and handspikes you can, lads," said he, "and take them over to the battery; there has been an accident, I fear."

A strong relief gang was soon on the spot, only to find Lance's fears confirmed. The gun had been hoisted nearly half-way up the cliff when the guide-rope had fouled a rock. The armourer had stepped forward to clear it, and in doing so had given it a jerk which had canted the gun in its slings, and before the unfortunate man had realised his danger the gun had slipped and fallen upon him, crushing both his legs to a jelly.

There was an immediate outcry among the men for Lance, an outcry which Ralli would have checked if he could; but his first attempt to do so showed him that the men were now in a temper which would render it highly dangerous for him to persist, so he gave in with the best grace he could muster and ordered one of the men to fetch Evelin to the spot.

On receiving the message Lance of course at once flung down his tools and hastened to the a.s.sistance of the injured man. When he reached the scene of the catastrophe he found all hands, Ralli included, crowded round the prostrate gun, and everybody giving orders at the same time, everybody excited, and everything in a state of the direst confusion.

As he joined the group Ralli stepped forward with a smile on his lips, which in nowise cloaked his chagrin at being obliged to yield to the demands of the men, and began--

"You see, mister soldier, we cannot do without you it seems, after all.

Just lend the men a hand to--"

But Lance brushed past him without deigning the slightest notice; and, pushing his way through the crowd, called upon a few of the men by name to a.s.sist him in relieving the unfortunate armourer from the ponderous weight of the gun, which still lay upon the poor fellow's mangled limbs.

Such implicit confidence had these men in him, prisoner among them though he was, that his mere presence sufficed to restore them to order; and in a few minutes the armourer, ghastly pale, and with every nerve quivering from the excruciating pain of his terrible injuries, was safely withdrawn from beneath the gun.

"Now, make a stretcher, some of you--ah, d.i.c.kinson, _you_ are the man for this job; just make a stretcher, my good fellow--the same sort of thing that you made for the lad Bob, you know--and let's get our patient into a boat as quickly as possible; I can do nothing with him here,"

said Lance.

"Ay, ay, sir," answered d.i.c.kinson promptly; and away he went with two or three more men to set about the work, Lance plying the injured man frequently with small doses of rum meanwhile.

Ralli stood upon the outskirts of the crowd angrily watching the proceedings. He could not shut his eyes to the fact of Lance's popularity with the men, and he vowed within himself that he would make him pay dearly for it before the day was done, even if he were compelled to seize him up and flog him himself.

The stretcher was soon ready, and the armourer having been placed upon it, was carried as carefully as possible down to the boat. As the procession pa.s.sed the shipyard Lance beckoned to Captain Staunton, saying--

"I shall need your a.s.sistance in this case. It will be a case of amputation unless I am greatly mistaken, and if so, I shall require the help of someone upon whose nerve I can depend."

Captain Staunton, upon this, hurried back for his coat, and rejoined Lance just as the party was on the point of embarking in the boat. As the men propelled the craft swiftly across the bay Lance related in a loud tone to the skipper Ralli's behaviour during the morning, and his threat. They were still discussing the matter anxiously together when d.i.c.kinson, who was pulling stroke-oar, and who doubtless guessed from catching a stray word or two what was the subject of their conversation, broke in upon their conference by inquiring of Lance whether he thought the armourer would recover.

"It is impossible to say yet," answered Lance cautiously. "Of course we shall do our best for him, poor fellow, but he will require more attention than I fear Ralli will allow me to give him."

"If that's all," remarked d.i.c.kinson, "I think you needn't trouble yourself, sir; the Greek knows too well what he's about to interfere with you when it comes to doctoring a hinjured man--a man as was hurt too all along of his own pride and obstinacy. And as to that other matter--the flogging, you know, sir--axing your pardon for speaking about it so plain, sir--don't you trouble yourself about that. He sha'n't lay a hand upon you while me and my mates can pervent it--shall he, mates?"

"No, that he sha'n't, bo'," was the eager answer.

"No, he _sha'n't_," coincided d.i.c.kinson. "We can't do much to help you, you see, sir," he added, "'cause, worse luck, we don't all think alike upon some things; but we've only got to say the word to the rest of the hands, and I _knows_ as they won't hear of you bein' flogged. There isn't one of us but what respects you, sir, but what respects you gentlemen both, for that matter; you've always had a good word for everybody, and that goes a long way with sailors sometimes--further than a gla.s.s o' grog--and you may make your mind easy that the Greek won't be let to--to--you know what, sir."

"Thank you, d.i.c.kinson," said Lance with outstretched hand, "thank you with all my heart. You have relieved me of a heavy load of anxiety; for, to tell you the truth, I had quite made up my mind not to submit to the indignity; and if Ralli attempts to carry out his threat it will probably lead to precipitate action on our part, which at the present time would be simply disastrous."

"So 'twould, sir; so 'twould," agreed d.i.c.kinson. "You needn't say another word, sir; _we_ understands. Only we'd like you to know sir-- and this here's a very good opportunity for us to say it--that whenever _the time comes_ you may reckon upon all hands of us in this here boat."

"How do you mean?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lance, considerably startled. "I really do not understand you."

"Oh, it's all right, sir," returned d.i.c.kinson cheerfully. "We warn't born yesterday, ne'er a one of us, and you don't suppose as we believes you've all settled down to stay here for the rest of your nateral lives, do you? Lord bless you, sir, _we_ knows you must have got some plan in your heads for getting away out of this here hole; and the long and the short of it is this:--When you're ready to go, we're ready to lend you a hand, perviding you'll take us with you. We're sick and tired of this here cursed pirating business; we wants to get away out of it; and we've been talking it over--me and my mates--and we've made up our minds that you're sartain to be off one of these fine days, and we'd like to go with you, if you'll have us. We want to give the world another trial, and see if we can't end our days as honest men; ain't that it, mates?"

"Ay, ay, Bill; that's it and no mistake; you've put it to the gentlemen just exactly as we wanted it; what you says, we'll say, and whatever promises you makes we'll keep 'em; we wants another chance, and we hopes that if so be as these here gen'lemen are thinking of topping their booms out of this they'll just take us along with 'em," replied the man who was pulling the bow-oar, the others also murmuring an a.s.sent.

"But what makes you think we have an idea of effecting our escape? And how many others of you have the same opinion?" inquired Captain Staunton.