The Pirate of the Mediterranean Part 55

As the unhappy girl said this she clung to him, endeavouring to draw him to the centre of the raft.

Ada had been afraid of leaving her seat, for she saw the risk to which all were exposed by the struggle, and that the weight of another person thrown on the spot might complete the catastrophe, though her agitation was scarcely inferior to that exhibited by Nina.

"Stay, stay, signor," she exclaimed--"before you commit the impious deed you threaten, listen to me. You would seek a certain death, and certain punishment in another world, to avoid the risk you run of meeting it at the hands of my countrymen in this--now listen to me. I have already promised Nina to intercede in your behalf, and I now solemnly vow to you to employ every means in my power to preserve your life, and I feel almost certain of success. A pet.i.tion made by me under the circ.u.mstances of the case will, I am confident, be attended to, and you may yet enjoy many years of happiness with one who is so well able to afford it you."

"Lady," said Zappa, "again you have conquered me. Unworthy as I am to live, I accept life at your hands, and confide in your promise, though something tells me it will avail me but little. Nina, you need not thus so fearfully clasp my arm. I will not attempt to escape you, girl."

As he said this, he allowed himself to be led forward by Nina, and sat himself down on a chest, where he remained for some minutes with his face buried in his hands, and bent down on his knees. Paolo steered as he had been directed, and as the raft had for some time pa.s.sed all the rocks and shoals to be feared, the task was not difficult. Ada, meantime, watched anxiously, the approach of the English brig; but the wind, she thought, was lighter than it had been, for the distance between them did not appear to decrease so rapidly as at first, and as she looked alternately from the brig to the sh.o.r.e, she thought that there was more than a probability of their reaching it before they were overtaken. The pirate seemed indifferent to his fate, but he was once more aroused to exertion by a shout from his men, and guided by what they said, he turned his eyes towards the sh.o.r.e, whence, from behind the headland towards which they were steering, the long low hull of a mistico was seen stealing forth, with her pointed lateen sails hauled close on a wind.

"The _Zoe_, the _Zoe_," shouted the pirates. "Our comrades come to our a.s.sistance."

There could be little doubt that the mistico in sight was the _Zoe_.

"But is she manned by our friends?" thought Zappa, whose suspicions were keenly alive to treachery. "If she were, would she thus venture out in the very face of an enemy?" The men, however, seemed convinced that she came as a friend, and welcomed her with every extravagant sign of joy.

Though so near them, she had to make several tacks before she could reach them, whereas the brig of war, being before the wind, came down steadily towards them, and was rapidly approaching within range of her guns. Zappa watched them both. The mistico was manned by Greeks, for their picturesque costume was easily distinguishable, but he was not certain that they were friends; and far rather would he have fallen into the hands of the English, than into the power of his own countrymen.

Should he continue his course, and should they prove enemies, the moment he was recognised would probably be his last, and those with him would be sacrificed; but, on the other hand, if he lowered the sail and attempted to pull up to the brig, he might lose the chance of saving himself and his followers. He saw the risk of having to trust to the clemency of the British authorities, whom he had so often, by his misdeeds, offended. He was decided on continuing his course by seeing the mistico get out her sweeps, and from the point where she then was, she could lay almost up for them. In a short time all doubt was at an end, well-known faces were recognised on board, and greetings, loud and frequent, were exchanged between them. A universal cry of sorrow was uttered as the loss of their favourite _Sea Hawk_ was announced, though their chief was warmly welcomed, as they saw that he was among those saved, and no mutinous feeling was perceptible among them. The sail was lowered, and he raft was soon alongside the mistico. The crew jumped on board, and pointing to the approaching brig, urged their friends to instant flight, but Zappa still remained with the rest.

"Lady," he said, addressing Ada, "I leave you here, whence you will speedily be rescued by your own countrymen, and to your charge also I leave this poor girl; you will, I feel a.s.sured, see her safely restored to her country and her home; and Nina, listen to me; should I succeed in escaping my enemies, I will join you there, and in peace and safety forget the dangers we have pa.s.sed."

"Listen, Nina," said Ada. "You cannot serve him by accompanying him, while with me you will speedily, I trust, be in safety."

"What, leave him now in danger and in difficulty!" she exclaimed. "No, no, I am not so light of feeling as to do that. Farewell, sweet lady.

You have loaded me with a debt of grat.i.tude I cannot hope to repay."

She stooped as she spoke, and kissed Ada's brow, then sprang back towards Zappa, who was stepping on board the mistico, for the pirates loudly summoned him, and with good cause, for at that moment another square-rigged vessel was seen coming round the east end of the island.

Nina was in time to clasp the pirate's arm.

"Oh, take me with you!" she cried. "Your lot I will share, your fate shall be mine."

He clasped her round the waist, and seizing the stay of the mast, leaped with her on board. Paolo stood irresolute a moment. He looked at Ada, she turned her face from him. He saw his sister among the pirates. He recollected his devoted love for her, and the sacrifice she had already made, besides which he felt the hopelessness of his pa.s.sion, and just as the raft was being cast off, he followed her on board the mistico.

The next moment Ada Garden found herself the only occupant of the raft, drifting on the face of the water.

CHAPTER FORTY.

The _Ione_ had in vain chased the _Sea Hawk_. She had examined every island in her course, and searched in every bay and nook, and behind every rock and headland, but the pirate still evaded her, till captain, officers, and men were almost worn out with their labours. Fleetwood, it may be supposed, did not save himself, and it could scarcely be expected that he should allow his officers to do so; in truth, however, every man and boy on board was almost as eager in the pursuit as he was, and fatiguing as it was, never was any duty performed more willingly, though, as they could relieve each other, they were not so much exhausted with fatigue. Night and day he was on deck, and it was with difficulty he could be persuaded to take any food or rest, expecting, as he did, that the next few hours would place the _Sea Hawk_ in his power.

Thus day after day pa.s.sed away. Sometimes a sail hove in sight, and they stood after her in chase, but only to come up with her to find that she was some English trader to the Bosphorus, or Greek man-of-war, of perhaps little less doubtful character than the _Sea Hawk_ herself. The inhabitants of the islands either knew nothing about her, or would give no information, nor could any clue be obtained from any craft they fell in with; so at last Captain Fleetwood resolved to return south again, keeping close along by the Greek coast, to examine the dense group of islands and islets of which I have spoken.

The wind had been light all night, and the _Ione_ had made little progress; but as the morning broke a breeze sprang up from the northward, and she hauled in a little to fetch the easternmost of the islands, among which she was about to cruise. A Greek pilot had been taken on board on the _Zone's_ first entering the Archipelago. He was a clever old fellow, and he undertook to carry the ship in safety through all the dangers with which she would be surrounded. Zappa had once plundered a ship of which he had charge, and he was doubly anxious to get hold of him. All the officers were on deck with telescopes in hand, sweeping the horizon, while the captain, as was his custom every hour, had just gone aloft with his gla.s.s to take a wider sweep, and to a.s.sure himself, with his own eyes, whether any sail was or was not in sight.

"Poor fellow," said Linton, "I am afraid the captain will never live through it. He is worn almost to a skeleton, and he looks as if a fever were consuming him. Should anything dreadful have occurred, I am afraid it will kill him when he hears of it."

"I fear so too, and it would be the last way I should wish to gain my commission," said Saltwell, with much feeling. "I wish to Heaven we could fall in with this phantom rover."

"It takes a great deal of worry to kill a man," observed the doctor, who had no great faith in the effect of any but physical causes on the body, the consequences of a limited medical education, though he was a very fair surgeon. "If he persists in going without food and sleep, of course he will grow thin."

"That's very well for you to say, doctor; but when a man's heart is sick he can't eat," answered Linton. "It is the uncertainty of the thing is killing him. Let him once find the young lady, and he will pluck up fast enough; or, let him know the worst, and, as he is a man and a Christian, he will bear his affliction like one, I'll answer for him."

"Deck, ahoy!" hailed the captain, from aloft. "Keep her away one point more to the southward."

"Ay, ay, sir," answered Saltwell, and every telescope was pointed in the direction the ship was now steering.

Nothing, however, was to be seen from the deck; but the captain still kept at the mast-head with his gla.s.s, intently watching some object still below the horizon. At last he descended, and summoned the pilot, with the first lieutenant and master, into his cabin, where a chart was spread out on the table.

"And we may stand safely on towards that island on our present course without fear of rocks or shoals, pilot?" he asked.

The answer was in the affirmative.

"There is a strong current setting from the eastward, you say, and you have known many vessels wrecked attempting the pa.s.sage? Then, Mr Saltwell, pack all sail on the brig. There is a large boat, or a raft, with a square sail, to the south-east of us, which we will overhaul without delay."

Royals and studding-sails, alow and aloft, were now set, and away the _Ione_ flew before the breeze. Now the wind fell, and now it freshened; but the brig gained rapidly on the chase, which, by the little way it made, was soon suspected of being a raft. Then came all the horrible doubts and fears, naturally suggested to Fleetwood's mind--but we will not dwell on them.

"Sail, ho!" sung out the hand at the foremast-head.

"A felucca-looking craft right under the land ahead of us," was the answer to the usual questions.

Saltwell himself went aloft to ascertain more clearly her character, and soon returned with the report that she was a mistico beating up for the raft.

"She will be up to it, too, sir, I am afraid, long before we can reach it," he observed. "Shall we get a gun ready to fire, sir?"

"In mercy's name, no!" exclaimed Fleetwood. "We do not know what innocent people might be injured."

"I meant to fire at the mistico, sir," said the lieutenant. "She is, I am certain, a piratical craft, and if those on the raft are of the same kidney, she will a.s.sist them to escape; or if not, her people will rob and murder them under our very eyes."

"You forget, Mr Saltwell, that we cannot be certain of that craft being a pirate, and till we are, we have no right to fire," said the captain.

"Besides, our shot might strike the raft, or the pirates, if such they are, might fire on it in revenge."

The cry of "a sail on the larboard bow" interrupted the conversation, and, as the gla.s.ses were turned in the direction indicated, the sails of a lofty ship were seen appearing above a headland, which ran out from the east end of the small island which lay before them. The mistico could not yet see the stranger, so she stood on fearlessly towards the raft. The people on the raft were then seen to quit it, and to go on board the mistico, which directly kept away, and ran to the westward, evidently to avoid the stranger which she must have just then seen for the first time.

The ship made the number of the _Venus_, and after standing on some little time, tacked and stood towards the _Ione_. The mistico, it must be understood, was now about a mile from the sh.o.r.e, and little more than the same distance from the west end of the island, while the _Ione_ was another mile to windward of her, so that if she sailed well, she might easily get round the point, and then by keeping away among the cl.u.s.ter of islands and rocks further to the south, very likely escape altogether.

To avoid this, Fleetwood made the signal to the _Venus_ to bear up and run round to the south end of the island, to intercept the chase, trusting to his senior officer following his wishes. Old Rawson was not a man to stand on etiquette, and if a midshipman had signalised him he would have obeyed the order, and he instantly put up his helm, and ran back again out of sight, though the mistico was already too far to the westward to profit by the change by dodging round in the same direction.

"We must leave the raft to take its chance, sir, while we chase the mistico, I suppose," asked Saltwell.

"Yes, by all means--haul up a couple of points on the starboard tack."

"Port the helm. Larboard fore braces. Starboard after braces," cried Saltwell.

"Avast," exclaimed Captain Fleetwood, who had been looking at the raft through his gla.s.s. "Starboard the helm again. Keep her as she was.

The _Venus_ will look after the mistico. There is some one on the raft.

It is the figure of a female, and by heavens she is waving to us. It is, it must be--"

His agitation was so great, that he was obliged to support himself on Saltwell's arm, who sprang to his side to catch him, thinking that he was about to fall to the deck.

The brig ran on till she neared the raft, a boat was lowered--her captain threw himself into it. He was speedily alongside the raft; in another moment Ada Garden lay fainting in his arms, overcome with excess of joy and grat.i.tude to Heaven, and love for him, who had rescued her.