The Pirate of the Mediterranean Part 21

"It is useless wishing that," said the Italian. "The door is too strongly fastened, and it shows me that I am a prisoner, and no longer trusted; let us return up-stairs."

The Greek girl thought a little, as if unwilling to give up their object.

"We will do as you propose, lady," she said at last; "but we will not let him know that we came down, and are aware that he leaves his post; so, another day he may not fasten the gate, and we may get out, and wander where we like, without asking his leave."

They were about returning, when little Mila exclaimed--

"Stay, I think I hear him coming, and we won't tell him we have been waiting; but, after he has been here a little, I will ask to be let out."

They waited accordingly for some time, during which some person was heard moving slowly about outside, when little Mila again exclaimed, as loud as she could call, "Vlacco, Vlacco! let me out, I say, grandfather; you have bolted the door, as if a storm was blowing to burst it open."

At last the bolt was withdrawn, and the door opening, an old Greek, with white locks escaping from under his red cap, and a thick, grey moustache, stood before them. He had a rough, weatherbeaten countenance, and dark eyes, deeply sunk in his head, with a very stern expression. His appearance was altogether forbidding, and his countenance was one which it would make any person very uncomfortable to look at, who knew that his life depended on the amount of mercy and pity to be found in his bosom. He must have been a powerful, active man in his youth; but a weight of years had sadly pulled down his strength, and palsied his once unfaltering hand.

"What a noise you make, little one. You seem to be in a great hurry to get out of the gilded cage," he exclaimed, not seeing the Italian who stood in the shade. When, however, she stepped forward, he altered his tone, which became as courteous as his gruff nature would allow.

"Pardon, lady," he said, "I was not aware of your presence. What is it you wish?"

"Why, we wish to wander forth, and explore the island, grandfather,"

answered the young girl, speaking for the Italian, who had difficulty both in comprehending old Vlacco's way of speaking, and in answering him in Romaic. "Now, I will not hear any excuses; I am going with the lady, who is ill, and will pine to death if she is kept shut up in this way; and, if you do not think we are able to take care of ourselves, you can come too. It is a pity we have not got wings, and then you might clip them as they do those of the wild sea-fowl, to prevent their flying away."

The old Greek offered a number of objections to the project; among others, that if anything happened to the lady, his life would pay the forfeit; but they were all overruled by his grandchild, who laughed at his fears, and at length she and the Italian set out on their expedition. They took the way along the neck of land of which I have spoken, among rocks which towered up in many fantastic shapes, without a sign of vegetation on their weatherworn summits, and overlooking precipices which descended many hundred feet of perpendicular height into the sea below. At last they emerged from this wilder tract, and descending a gentle slope covered with many a sweet-scented shrub, on which the bees delight to rest, they looked down into the centre of the island. Here a scene of a nature totally different to what they had left met their view. Every spot of ground was cultivated to the utmost extent. Below their feet was an orange grove, the trees of which were laden with the ripening fruit; the side of a neighbouring hill was covered with vines wide spreading along trellises gracefully arranged.

Several orchards of apple and pear trees were seen in the distance.

Beyond were fields of Indian corn waving in the breeze, and on the higher ground millet and barley were seen growing.

"We may boast, lady, that our island is not altogether the barren rock those might suppose who have looked forth only from the windows of the castle," said Mila. "And from yonder hill to the north let us enjoy the view over the whole of it, if you will venture so far."

The Italian expressed her readiness to go there; for though, as she said, she had before visited it, a long time since then had pa.s.sed away.

As the two young girls pa.s.sed through the fields, several husbandmen, employed in them, gazed at them with a somewhat furious look; but they all knew the granddaughter of old Vlacco, and quickly concluded who her companion was. The view from the summit of the hill, which was the highest part of the island, extended, as Mila had said, not only over the whole of the island, but embraced a wide circle of the surrounding sea, and of many a neighbouring isle and islet, which appeared in every direction, rising from the bosom of the deep, some with their outlines clear and defined, others of various shades of blue, the most distant seeming like faint clouds floating in the horizon. They had enjoyed for some time, from this rocky post, the breeze which in that elevated position came cool and refreshing, when the quick eye of little Mila discerned a white sail, a mere speck, upon the blue sea. It skimmed rapidly along, and approached the island. They watched the vessel with breathless attention.

"She has two masts; she is a brig of some size," cried the island girl, who was well accustomed to distinguish the different rigs of vessels.

"It is, it must be his bark," exclaimed the Italian. "Oh! let us hurry to meet him, or he may come and find me absent."

"The brig cannot arrive till long after we shall reach the tower,"

answered the Greek girl, following, however, the wishes of her companion.

On reaching the tower they saw the sh.o.r.es of the bay below crowded with people, all bustle and animation, in expectation of the approaching sail; but neither of the girls could determine, from the great distance at which she still was, whether she were indeed the looked-for brig or a stranger.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

A bright moon was floating in the pure ether of that lovely clime, as the _Ione_, under all sail, glided out from the calm waters of the harbour of Valetta on to the open sea. No sooner had she got beyond the shelter of Saint Elmo than she heeled over to the force of a brisk north-westerly breeze, which sent her through the water at the rate of some seven or eight knots an hour, to the no small satisfaction of all on board. No time had been lost in getting ready for sea. The purser had got off his stores with unusual despatch; the first lieutenant had received what he required from the dockyard; the officers, who were on sh.o.r.e, had been sent for and collected; sea stock had been laid in by the caterers of the gun-room and midshipmen's mess, and Signor Michael, from Nix Mangiare Stairs, had not neglected to send the groceries which were ordered; little was forgotten, and no one was left behind. The commander had been the most busy, and those who saw the calm and composed way in which he went about the business in which he was occupied, could scarcely have supposed the anguish which had so lately rent his mind. After he had spoken to his first lieutenant, he had again gone on sh.o.r.e, and tried to find out the three Greeks who had deposed to having been robbed by pirates; but as they had quitted Malta, he looked over the copies of their depositions, and he there found it stated that the vessel which had attacked theirs was a large polacca brig, supposed to be the _Sea Hawk_, and there was further a full description of her and her commander. The boatman, Manuel, was examined, but little could be gleaned from him but a description of the person he had put on board the speronara, which answered to that given by the Greeks; and the conclusion arrived at was the correct one, that he was no other than Zappa himself, and that he had employed the speronara merely to bring him to Malta and to carry him on board his own vessel, which must have remained all the time in the offing. It might be supposed that Captain Fleetwood would first have gone in search of the speronara, but he considered that by so doing he should lose much valuable time without a prospect of gaining any adequate information; and he therefore resolved at once to sail to the eastward, touching at Cephalonia, on the chance of learning something to guide his future course.

The moment the object of the voyage was known, there was not a man or boy on board who did not zealously enter into it; and many became almost as eager to fall in with the _Sea Hawk_, and to recover the prisoners, if any were still alive, as could have been the commander himself. It was the universal subject of conversation, morning, noon, and night, in the gun-room, the midshipmen's berth, and at the messes of the petty officers and men. Many a midnight watch was made to pa.s.s rapidly away by discussions as to the probabilities of their success, and with yarns of length interminable, about pirates and robberies on the high seas.

Far too sacred were held the feelings of the commander to allow any one to allude even to the subject to him; and though he doubtlessly thought more than any one else about it, he endeavoured to maintain his usual tranquil exterior. It was sad, however, to perceive that anxiety was rapidly thinning his cheek and dimming the l.u.s.tre of his eye, though it could not quench the fire which would urge him to continue the search as long as life endured. He remained much in his cabin, poring over charts of the Greek Archipelago, and studying all the books he possessed, describing the islands. When he came on deck, it was to glean information from those who had visited that part of the Mediterranean, or to discuss with Saltwell the plan of operations he had commenced arranging, but in the details of which he purposed to be guided by the accounts he should receive wherever they touched.

Every sail they sighted was overhauled, provided she did not lead them much out of their course, in the hopes of gaining tidings either of the survivors of the _Zodiac's_ crew or of the pirate brig, and also to urge those bound in the same direction to aid in the search.

Every one on board the _Ione_ prayed for a fair wind, and plenty of it, to carry them along rapidly to the scene of their operations. The officers, who could but sympathise with their captain from having known Ada Garden, were, of course, the most eager, and never, perhaps, were a set of men collected better able to aid in accomplishing the same object.

Mr Saltwell, the first lieutenant, was a first-rate officer. He had been constantly before at sea as a first lieutenant; for though his good qualities were known in the service, he had very little interest.

Whatever was the work in hand, he contrived to get it done in the best possible way without noise or trouble, so that he was always liked by the men, and the ships in which he served were kept in excellent order.

In appearance he was slight and dark, for his countenance was well bronzed by tropical suns, and he was too active to grow fat. His manners were gentlemanly, though he had a remarkably small amount of soft-sawder about him; and all sincerity himself, he could not believe that people were speaking falsely to him, and was at times rather apt to come out roundly with the truth, to the astonishment of those who heard him; so that he was clearly not fitted to be a courtier. Captain Fleetwood had a great respect and regard for him, as he knew him well, for they had before served together.

The second lieutenant, Henry Linton, was a young man of good family and considerable interest, he had been made a lieutenant as soon as he had served his time, and he expected shortly to receive his commander's commission. He was a very gentlemanly, amiable fellow; and as he had good sense and much observation, and had always attended to his duty, he was a very fair seaman and a good officer. In his heart of hearts he rather pitied, not to say despised, Saltwell, for his want of the polish he possessed and his indifference to the elegancies of life, though he was not unable to appreciate his messmate's frankness of manner and truthfulness of character. His foible was his admiration for the poets, and his belief that he could write poetry and was a first-rate critic.

The purser, Mr Jones, was an honest, painstaking man, with a large family, and he came to sea for their benefit, after having nearly given up the service.

Than the master, no one in the service was a better navigator. He was a self-taught genius, for he had gone to sea originally before the mast, and even in that capacity had found time to gain instructions in navigation, geography, history, and many other sciences. He was for some time rated as a schoolmaster of a frigate, and afterwards entered as a master's a.s.sistant, and was soon promoted to the rank of master.

Mr Norton was, notwithstanding his early a.s.sociates, a man of pleasing, gentlemanly manners, and a real favourite with all hands, and his vast fund of information and anecdote made him a great acquisition to a mess.

The surgeon, Mr Viall, was, for a wonder, an Englishman. He was supposed to be able to amputate limbs with great accuracy, and was a very respectable man. Though he had been some years at sea, he had never contrived to learn anything about nautical affairs; and one day, in Malta harbour, he went on board a large merchantman, which happened to be brought up at no great distance from his ship, and was going below before he discovered that he had got into the wrong box.

The a.s.sistant-surgeon, O'Farrall, was an Irishman, and much more of a character. He had, shortly before the time of which I speak, come to sea for the first time. A day or two after he had joined the _Ione_, one of the marines insulted him by quizzing his Irish brogue, so he forthwith lodged his complaint with Mr Saltwell. The first lieutenant desired him to point out the man.

"Faith, I don't remember exactly the cut of his mug," said he; "but I made sure of knowing the spalpeen again by that same, that his name is Tower."

"How do you know that his name is Tower? I think he must have deceived you. We havn't a man of that name on board."

"Oh! by--, he couldn't decave me, lieutenant, darlin', then; for though he didn't recollect it, I'll be sworn, or he'd a kept a more dacent tongue in his mouth, I saw his name of Tower graven on his musket."

Most of the other members of the midshipmen's berth I have already described.

There was a mate of the name of Grummit, who had been for some years waiting for his promotion, but was of so hopeful a disposition, that he always expected his commission out by the following packet; and there was a master's a.s.sistant, called Samuel Spike, who considered himself capable of commanding the allied fleets of Europe; and a clerk, named Smith, who intended, when he had made his fortune and retired from the Service, to become First Lord of the Treasury; but as these delusions did not prevent them from attending to their duties, and they certainly appeared to contribute very much to the happiness of the young men who entertained them, n.o.body interfered with them. I ought not to forget to mention among the officers, the boatswain, gunner, and carpenter. The most remarkable circ.u.mstance connected with them was, that their names were respectively Brown, Black, and White. They were all good seamen, and properly impressed with the importance of their offices. If Brown had, like his superiors, a weakness, it was in the belief that not a boatswain in the service could pipe better, or had a louder voice than himself, as also that he deserved a much higher rating than he possessed.

"A sail on the larboard bow," hailed the look-out from the mast-head.

"What does she look like?" inquired Mr Saltwell, who was on deck.

"A large brig, sir, close hauled on the larboard tack," was the answer.

The wind at the time was about north-west.

The first lieutenant, with his gla.s.s slung across his shoulder, instantly went aloft. He could see about half way down her topsails, and there was something in the look of them which made him think it was worth while overhauling her. He came down, and went into the cabin to report her to Captain Fleetwood.

On his return the yards were braced up a little, and the course altered three points more to the northward. Captain Fleetwood soon came on deck, and went aloft to examine the chase. As the _Ione_ was already carrying as much canvas as could possibly be set, little more could be done to make her sail faster.

Of course, bound as they were on what might prove a long and arduous cruise, it would not have done to start the water, or lighten the ship in any way; and, in a smooth sea, the common expedient of slinging the hammocks, and making the watch below turn in with round shot in their arms, would have been of no avail. The breeze, however, favoured them; for while the _Ione_ was heeling over with it almost to her bearings, the chase lay nearly becalmed. She had no royals set, and her foresail was hauled up, so that they neared her rapidly.

"I suspect our friend there keeps a bad look-out; for I don't think he has seen us yet," observed Mr Saltwell to the master.

"If that is the case, he is not the fellow we are in search of,"

answered Mr Norton. "A pirate would have his eyes about him."

"Perhaps, as he is becalmed and cannot get away, he hopes, by apparent indifference to our approach, to deceive us as to his character,"

suggested Linton; "or he may have mistaken us for a merchantman, and expects to make a prize of us."