The Pirate Slaver Part 17

The poor souls had been without food or drink since tiffin. I thought therefore that it would not be amiss to set them down to a good meal, and with that object directed the steward to find his mates and also the cook, if possible, it appearing that none of the individuals named had been seen either during or since the attack, which gave rise to the suspicion that they had contrived to conceal themselves somewhere about the ship. This proved to be the case, the cook, with his mates, and the three under-stewards being eventually discovered in a disused pig-sty under the topgallant-forecastle, carefully concealed beneath a lot of lumber that they had dragged over themselves. From this secluded retreat they were speedily routed out, and, being solemnly a.s.sured that all danger was now past, were at length prevailed upon to resume their duty and to prepare a long-delayed dinner--or supper, as it might be more appropriately called--for the cuddy occupants.

When at length the meal was served, I took the liberty of occupying the poor murdered captain's seat at the table; and while we were eating and drinking, I managed to gain a pretty clear idea of the incidents of the attack upon the _Bangalore_ each one having pa.s.sed through some more or less trying experience which he or she was anxious to relate to the rest; and when the meal was over Mr Molyneux, a Calcutta merchant, rose to his feet and, while formally thanking me on behalf of himself and his fellow-pa.s.sengers for what I had already done, expressed their perfect concurrence in the wish of the surviving crew that I should take command of the ship, merely suggesting the great desirability of navigating her forthwith to the nearest civilised port. This, of course, was my own fixed intention, and I suggested Sierra Leone as the most suitable spot for which to make, it being as near as any other, with the advantage that the necessary officers to navigate the ship home, and a sufficient number of men to make up the full complement of the crew, might almost certainly be reckoned upon being found there.

The brigantine had left us, and with her departure everybody appeared to consider the danger as past. This, however, was an opinion which I by no means shared; for, knowing Mendouca so well as I did, I felt that it was by no means unlikely that, having reached an offing of some ten or twelve miles, he might order the sweeps to be laid in until daylight, in order that he might remain in our neighbourhood and a.s.sure himself by the actual demonstration of his own--or Pedro's--eyesight that the _Bangalore_ had foundered, taking with her to the bottom all evidence of the atrocious crime of which he and his crew had been guilty. And, even should no uncomfortable doubts on this point a.s.sail him, he _must_ learn, ere the lapse of many hours, that I and others were missing; and then, guessing, as he would at once, at the explanation of our absence, nothing would prevent him from returning and taking, or attempting to take, such measures as would insure our eternal silence.

I therefore considered it a singular if not an actually providential occurrence that when I went out on deck after dinner--or supper--the sky should have become overcast, with scarcely a star to be seen, with every appearance of both wind and rain ere long. It had become exceedingly dark, so much so that no sign of the brigantine was to be discovered, but by listening intently the roll and clatter of her sweeps were still to be caught; and it was with very deep and fervent thankfulness that, after listening intently for several minutes, I felt convinced that she was still receding from us. I had given strict orders that the lanterns should be allowed to remain burning on deck, just as the pirates had left them, that no other lights should be kindled anywhere about the ship except where it was possible to effectually mask their light, and that no one should show anything of himself above the level of the topgallant-rail upon any consideration; but now, the brigantine having been gone from us rather more than two hours, I gave instructions that all the lanterns on deck and all lights of every kind visible from outside the ship might be simultaneously extinguished, so that, should anybody happen to be watching our lights, they might come to the conclusion that the ship had filled and we were gone to the bottom.

This done, I mustered my entire crew and, first hoisting in the long-boat, sent them aloft to stow all the lighter sails, so that we might not be wholly unprepared should the change of weather that now seemed impending be ushered in with a squall. This occupied the men a full hour and a half, at the end of which, having brought the ship into tolerably manageable condition, I gave them permission to lie down and s.n.a.t.c.h a nap if they could, but to hold themselves ready for any emergency that might arise.

It was by this time long past midnight, and so pitchy dark that, all lights having been extinguished, it was impossible to see one end of the p.o.o.p from the other. The stars had all vanished, and the silence was so profound as to be quite oppressive, not even the sound of the pirate's sweeps now being audible; though whether they had been laid in, or whether the vessel had increased her distance so greatly as to have pa.s.sed beyond the range of sound, I knew not, but I strongly suspected the former contingency. This profound silence was maintained for nearly an hour, and then my hearing--rendered unusually acute no doubt by the intense darkness that enveloped me--once more became conscious of a regular, measured, rhythmical sound, the sound of sweeps again being plied, and, without doubt, on board the _Francesca_. What did it mean?

Had Mendouca, in his feverish and painful condition, grown impatient of delay and ordered the sweeps to be again manned, after having given instructions for them to be laid in? Or, as my forebodings whispered to me, had the absence of myself and others been already discovered, and was the brigantine returning in search of us? For the first quarter of an hour or so after the sounds had once again broken in upon the silence this was a question very difficult to decide; but when half-an-hour had pa.s.sed the fact was indisputable that the pirates _were returning_, for the sounds had become distinctly clearer and stronger than they had at first been.

What was now to be done? There was but one course for us; namely, to take every possible measure for the defence of the ship to our last gasp, for I felt a.s.sured that, should Mendouca recover possession of her, his fury at the trick that we had played him would be sated by nothing short of our absolute destruction. Having quickly made up my mind upon this point, I was in the act of groping my way along the p.o.o.p, with the object of calling the men, when I thought I felt a faint stirring of the air, and, pausing for a moment, I moistened the back of my hand and held it up, turning it this way and that until I felt a distinct sensation of coolness. Yes, there was no doubt about it, I had felt a cat's-paw, and it seemed to be coming over our starboard quarter; while the sound of the sweeps was away broad on our port bow. I could scarcely restrain a cheer as the hope of a breeze thus came to encourage me at the very moment when a new and terrible danger was threatening us.

I paused for an instant and reflected; and my thoughts took somewhat this shape: "If Mendouca is returning--and he undoubtedly is--it is because through some unfortunate combination of circ.u.mstances my absence has already been discovered, and he has at once jumped to the correct conclusion that I have somehow contrived to escape from the brigantine to the ship. And he knows me well enough to feel a.s.sured that, once here, I shall not tamely allow the Indiaman to go down under my feet; or, if that should prove unpreventible, that I shall at least release the prisoners and concoct with them some plan of escape, such as taking to the boats, or constructing a raft. And he also knows that, in either case, should we succeed in preserving our lives until we are fallen in with, or picked up, his atrocious act of piracy and murder will be proclaimed, and every craft in the squadron will be specially ordered to keep a look-out for him and effect his capture at all hazards.

Therefore he will spare no effort to find the ship and destroy her.

Now--ah, there is another little breath of wind, I felt it distinctly that time!--should he fail to find us, what course will he pursue? Why, he will certainly expect us to make our way northward--for Sierra Leone, most probably, the port that we have already determined to steer for-- and he will do his best to overtake and recapture us. Therefore our best course will obviously be to head to the _southward_, and thus increase the distance between the two craft as rapidly as possible, so that they may be out of sight of each other at daybreak; and then to proceed upon our proper course under easy sail."

This seemed to me to be a very fair and sound line of reasoning, and I determined to act upon it forthwith. I accordingly made my way forward, routed out the men, told them there was a breeze coming, and ordered them to brace up the yards and trim the sheets aft for a close-hauled stretch on the port tack, at the same time cautioning them to work silently, as I had only too much reason to fear that the pirates were returning to search for the ship. This news, confirmed as it was by the now perfectly audible sound of the sweeps, was enough for them, and they went about the decks so silently, speaking in whispers, and carefully taking each rope off its belaying-pin, and _laying_ it down on deck, instead of flinging it down with clatter enough to wake the Seven Sleepers, that I am certain no one in the cabins, even had they been awake, could possibly have been aware of what was happening.

By the time that we had got our canvas trimmed the breeze had become quite perceptible, and the ship had gathered steerage-way; we therefore wore her round, and presently had the ineffable satisfaction of hearing a slight but distinct tinkling and gurgle of water under the bows.

With the springing up of this most welcome little breeze the sound of the sweeps first became by imperceptible degrees less audible and then was lost altogether, but whether this arose from the fact that the wind carried the sound away from us, or whether it was that they had laid in the sweeps, and were making sail upon the brigantine, it was impossible to tell, nor did I greatly care, provided that the breeze freshened sufficiently to carry us out of sight before daybreak, this now being my great anxiety. Maxwell a.s.sured me that the _Bangalore_ was a real clipper, easily beating everything that they had fallen in with, both on the pa.s.sage out and on their homeward voyage. But no ship can sail fast without a fair amount of wind, and so far this breeze that had come to us was a mere breathing, just enough perhaps to waft us along at a speed of about two knots, or two and a half, maybe, whereas what I wanted was at least a seven-knot breeze, that would take us clean out of sight of our starting-point before dawn. For I knew that, if the _Bangalore_ was a clipper, so too was the _Francesca_; and if her people once caught sight of so much as the heads of our royals from their own royal-yard, they would chase us as long as there was the slightest hope of overhauling us. And the knowledge of this fact made me wonder whether I had not acted rather imprudently in stowing all the lighter sails, instead of leaving them abroad to give us all the help of which they were capable. I was just inwardly debating this point, and had arrived at the conclusion that we ought to set them again, when the atmosphere seemed suddenly to grow more dense, and in a moment down came the rain in a regular tropical deluge, like the bursting of a waterspout, the sails flapped to the masts, and we were becalmed again. This was horribly vexatious, not to say disheartening; but, happily for our peace of mind, it was a state of things that did not last long; it merely meant a shift of wind, for presently, when the shower had ceased as abruptly as it had begun, the breeze sprang up again, this time coming out from the northward, and with gay and thankful hearts we squared away before it, or rather, headed just far enough to the eastward of south to permit everything set to draw properly. Moreover, the breeze gradually but steadily freshened, until in about an hour from the time when the ship first began to move we were going seven knots at the very least.

This was so far satisfactory, especially as the sky remained overcast and the night intensely dark, rendering it utterly impossible to see anything beyond a distance of three or four of the ship's lengths on either hand, and I now had good hopes of running the brigantine out of sight before daylight. That she was still engaged in the search for us, however, soon became evident; for about three-quarters of an hour after the springing up of the true breeze our attention was suddenly attracted by the outburst of a brilliant glare of bluish-white light on our port-quarter, which was nothing less than the brigantine burning port-fires, probably in an attempt to discover our whereabouts by the reflection of the light on our sails, or possibly in the expectation of catching sight, by means of the light, either of our boats, or a raft, or perhaps a hen-coop and grating or two floating about as evidence of our having gone down. However, she was about five miles distant from us at that time, and although the light of the port-fires rendered her perfectly visible to us, I had little or no fear that it would betray our whereabouts to her people. She remained dodging about and occasionally burning port-fires for fully another hour--by which time we had sunk her to her foreyard below the horizon, as viewed from our deck--and then, as she discontinued her pyrotechnic display, we lost sight of her. At daybreak I sent a man right up to the main-royal-yard, where he remained until the light was thoroughly strong, and then came down with the report that the horizon was clear.

This was highly satisfactory, inasmuch as it confirmed my hope that if Mendouca was still prosecuting a search for us--as I felt sure he was, he having of course failed to discover any evidence of the ship having foundered--he was looking for us in a northerly direction, very probably cracking on in the belief that we had gone that way and that there was still a chance of overtaking us.

At eight bells in the morning watch we brought the ship to the wind on the larboard tack, with her head about east-north-east, and I then divided my scanty crew into two watches, with Joe Maxwell, the carpenter, as my chief mate, and a very smart A.B., named Tom Sutcliffe, as second. This done, the watch was set, and put to the job of straightening-up generally and pumping out the ship, this latter job being accomplished and the pumps sucking in just under the ten minutes that Maxwell had allowed for it. It was clear, therefore, that our hull was sound, and that in that respect, at all events, with the best--or rather the worst--intentions in the world, the pirates had done us little or no harm.

Our most serious difficulty was the want of water, Mendouca having literally cleared the ship of every drop she possessed, save some eight or ten gallons in the scuttle-b.u.t.t, which they had either overlooked, or perhaps had considered not worth taking. But here again it appeared as though G.o.d in His infinite mercy had taken compa.s.sion on us; for about noon the wind died away, and I had only just time to take my meridian observation for the lat.i.tude when the heavens clouded over, and toward the close of the afternoon we were visited by a terrific thunderstorm accompanied by a perfect deluge of rain, during which, by loosely spreading all the awnings fore and aft, we were enabled to catch a sufficient quant.i.ty of water to carry us without stint as far at least as Sierra Leone.

It remained calm until about midnight, when a little breeze sprang up from the eastward which enabled us to lay our course nicely while it fanned us along at a speed of about five knots. The next morning broke bright and clear; and with the first of the light the look-out reported a sail broad on our weather bow. Maxwell, fearing that it might be our old enemy, the _Francesca_ showing up again, came down at once and called me, stating his fears, and causing me to rush up on the p.o.o.p just as I had sprung from my cot, quite regardless of appearances, although I could scarcely believe that Mendouca, if indeed we should be so unfortunate as to fall in with him again, would make his appearance in the eastern board. I must confess, however, that when I first reached the deck and beheld the stranger, I experienced a slight qualm of apprehension, for the craft was undoubtedly square-rigged, forward at least, and she was steering as straight as a hair for us, with studding-sails set on both sides, and coming down very fast. A few minutes' work with the telescope, however, sufficed to remove our apprehensions, so far at least as the _Francesca_ was concerned, for as the light grew brighter we were enabled to discern that the stranger was a brig, and as I continued working away with the gla.s.s the vessel seemed to a.s.sume a familiar aspect, as though I had seen her before. At first I thought that it might possibly prove to be the Spanish brig that had been anch.o.r.ed just ahead of us off Banana Peninsula; but as she drew nearer I recognised with intense delight that it was none other than the dear old _Barracouta_ herself. "And with her appearance," thought I, "all my troubles are ended; for doubtless Captain Stopford will not only lend me men enough to carry the ship to Sierra Leone, but will also escort me thither."

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

TO THE CONGO AGAIN UPON A SPECIAL MISSION.

There was very great delight manifested fore and aft when I was able to announce that it was a British man-o'-war that was bearing down upon us; for all hands felt, like myself, that we had only to state our recent experiences to secure her protection at least until our arrival in safer waters. There was one exception to this, however, in the person of Simpson, who no sooner learned the true character of the strange sail, than he came aft and told me his story; which, in brief, was to the effect that he had originally belonged to our navy, but had deserted, out of affection for Mendouca--who had shown him great kindness--when that individual chose to shake off his allegiance and abjure his country. And now, of course, he dreaded nothing so much as recognition and seizure, for not only was he a deserter, but he had also been guilty of taking an active part in more than one deed of piracy perpetrated by his chief; he therefore implored me to let him keep below out of sight during the presence of the man-o'-war--which clearly meant to speak us-- and also to omit all mention of or reference to him in the narrative of my own personal adventures. This I readily promised to do; for although I was fully conscious that, in making such a promise, I was screening an individual who had most seriously transgressed the laws of his country, I could not help feeling that he had also contributed in a very important degree toward the saving of the _Bangalore_, and all on board her; and I considered that this to a very great extent made amends for his past misdeeds, although it was quite probable that if he were arraigned for it, his judges might not take quite as lenient a view of the case. There it was, however; but for him I might never have succeeded in effecting my escape from the _Francesca_, and in that case the _Bangalore_ and all on board her would have gone to the bottom. I therefore felt fully justified in promising to afford him all the protection that lay in my power.

When the brig was within a mile of us she hoisted British colours, and fired a gun for us to heave-to, which we of course at once did, displaying our ensign at the mizen-peak at the same time. The ladies and gentlemen in the cuddy, learning from the stewards what was happening, at once turned out to do honour to the occasion, so that when, a few minutes later, the _Barracouta_, with all her studding-sails collapsing and coming in together, rounded-to within biscuit-toss of our weather quarter, our p.o.o.p must have presented quite an animated appearance.

As the beautiful craft swept gracefully yet with a rush up into the wind, a figure that I recognised with delight as that of Young, our beloved first luff, sprang on to the hammock-rail with a speaking-trumpet in his hand. The next moment he had raised it to his lips, and was hailing--

"Ho, the ship ahoy! What ship is that?"

"The _Bangalore_, eighty-two days out from Calcutta, bound to London; and plundered two days ago by a pirate. I hope you are none the worse for your boat adventure, Mr Young, in the attack upon that same pirate last week? I have news and to spare for you, so shall I lower a boat, or will you? If you can conveniently do so it will perhaps be better, for I am rather short-handed," I replied.

I saw Young staring at me with all his eyes; evidently he had not as yet recognised me in the longsh.o.r.e rig with which I had been fitted by the kindness of one of the cuddy pa.s.sengers.

He raised the trumpet to his lips, and began--

"Who in the name of ---?" when I saw little Freddy Pierrepoint scramble up alongside him excitedly and utterly regardless of etiquette, and say something eagerly. Young lowered the trumpet, stared hard at me, raised it again, and roared through it--

"Can it be possible that you are Dugdale--the Harry Dugdale that we have all been mourning as lost?"

"Ay, ay, Mr Young, it is myself, sure enough, alive and well, I am thankful to say; and more glad than I can express to see the dear old _Barracouta_ again!"

As I uttered these words the watch on deck gave a ringing cheer, which thrilled me to the heart, for it told me better than words how sincerely attached to me the honest fellows were, and how delighted to see me again; and although the outburst was by no means in accordance with strict discipline, Young--thoroughly good fellow that he was--never checked them, but, as their voices died away, simply waved his trumpet, and shouted, "I will come on board you!" and disappeared behind the brig's high bulwarks.

A short pause now ensued, during which I suspected that the first luff was conferring with Captain Stopford, the _Barracouta's_ people gazing curiously at us meanwhile through the brig's open ports; and then the sound of the boatswain's pipe came floating to us from the brig across the tumbling waters, and we heard his gruff voice bellowing--"Gigs away!"

The call was followed by a slight, m.u.f.fled scurrying of feet, and the gig's crew were seen leaping, light as figures of india-rubber, into the elegantly-moulded craft that hung at the brig's davits, the falls were eased away, and in a moment the boat, light as a bubble, was dancing upon the sparkling blue tumble at the brig's lee gangway. Then the first lieutenant and Freddy Pierrepoint appeared at the head of the side-ladder, the latter descending first and the lieutenant instantly following, the boat's bow was borne off from the ship's side, the oars dropped with a clean cut into the water, the men bent their backs as they gave way, and the dancing craft came bounding over the long surges towards us.

Meanwhile, on board the _Bangalore_ I had caused the side-ladder to be shipped and the ropes rove in readiness for the lieutenant's arrival; and in a few minutes he and Freddy were standing on the Indiaman's broad deck and greeting me with a hand grip the heartiness of which there was no mistaking.

I told my story as briefly as possible, and at its conclusion Young said--

"Well, we must of course let you have a few men; but it will be a few only that we shall be able to spare, for I am sorry to say that our loss was terribly heavy in our boat attack upon your friend Mendouca, no less than eight killed and twenty-three wounded, only four of the latter having as yet been able to return to duty. You must, however, lay your case before Captain Stopford--who, by the way, hopes you will take breakfast with him--and I dare say that when he learns how very short-handed you are, he will strain a point to spare you a dozen men to take the ship to Sierra Leone. And now, suppose you introduce us to your pa.s.sengers, who, judging from what I have been able to see of them from here, appear to be a very pleasant lot of people."

Upon this hint I led the way to the p.o.o.p, where by this time nearly the entire cuddy party had a.s.sembled, and introduced my companions in due form, and in a few minutes Young and Freddy were each surrounded by a large patty, Master Freddy's, I noticed, being mainly composed of the younger members of the gentler s.e.x, who petted and made much of the juvenile warrior, to that young gentleman's entire content.

In due time I proceeded on board my old ship; and on reaching the deck was fully repaid for all that I had gone through by the heartiness of the greeting that I received from my shipmates, one and all of whom seemed sincerely delighted at finding that I was still in the land of the living. For, as fate would have it, the _Barracouta_ had fallen in with the _Felicidad_ with the French schooner _Mouette_ in company as a prize--the latter vessel having pursued the _Felicidad_ out of the creek, only to find that she had caught a Tartar, which captured her after a short but determined struggle--and from her the _Barracouta's_ people had learned all particulars of our somewhat disastrous enterprise, including the news that I was missing, and was believed to have been killed in the unsuccessful attack upon the schooner in the creek.

Captain Stopford was kindness itself in his reception of me, commiserating with me upon all the hardships of my late adventure, and heartily congratulating me upon my escape from the _Francesca_, and the saving of the Indiaman, the latter of which, he a.s.sured me, he would take care to report in the proper quarter in such a way as should further my advancement in the service. With regard to supplying me with men, he promised to do the best that he could; and at Young's suggestion--he being one of the rather large party that the captain had invited to meet me at breakfast--it was arranged that I should have a dozen; and as he fully agreed with me that there was just a chance that the _Francesca_, might be at no great distance to the northward, still actively pursuing her search for us, it was further arranged that I should crowd sail for Sierra Leone, in the hope of turning the tables upon Mendouca by overtaking him, in which case we were to do our best to detain him until the arrival of the _Barracouta_ upon the scene, it being the captain's plan to follow us at a distance of some fifteen or twenty miles. As an incentive to expedition--and no doubt, incidentally, to the promotion of the capture of the _Francesca_--the captain informed me that if we managed to accomplish a quick run to Sierra Leone, I should probably be in time to rejoin the _Felicidad_, which schooner was then at that port, refitting after her engagement with the _Mouette_. I was very grieved to learn that poor Ryan, although not nearly so severely wounded as I had believed, was lying in the hospital at Sierra Leone, prostrate with a bad attack of fever, from which, when the _Barracouta_ left, it was greatly feared that he would not recover.

As soon as breakfast was over the crew were mustered, and Young picked out for me twelve good, stout men, who were ordered to pa.s.s their bags down into the boat and go on board the _Bangalore_ with me; and, this most welcome addition to our crew having been received, I made sail, packing upon the good ship every rag that would draw, the _Barracouta_ remaining hove-to until we had placed a sufficient distance between her and ourselves. But although we carried on day and night--the Indiaman proving such a flyer that the _Barracouta's_ people had their hands full to keep us in sight--nothing more was seen of the _Francesca_, and we were at length driven to the conclusion that, failing to find us, Mendouca had resumed his voyage at a much earlier period than we had antic.i.p.ated. We reached Sierra Leone on the afternoon of the third day after falling in with the _Barracouta_; and there I left the Indiaman, which, after a detention of four days, sailed for England with a full complement, made up of the officers and men of a large barque that had been wrecked upon the coast only a week or two before, supplemented by a few out of the many white seamen who had been left behind in hospital when their ships were ready to sail for home, and who, contrary to the general rule, had recovered from, instead of succ.u.mbing to, the deadly malaria of the coast.

As for me, I found that I had arrived most opportunely, so far as the _Felicidad_ was concerned, for the repairs to that small hooker were completed, as it happened, on the very day of our arrival; and Captain Stopford very generously offered me the command of her, a.s.serting that my conduct with regard to the Indiaman had conclusively demonstrated my entire fitness for the post, and that if I chose to accept it he should have no anxiety whatever, either on the score of my courage or my discretion. Ryan, poor fellow, was, contrary to expectation, still alive, and hopes were now entertained that he might ultimately recover; but he was still so weak that when I went to the hospital to see him, he was so overcome with emotion at the sight of me--although he had been carefully prepared for the meeting--that he burst into tears and was seized with a fit of hysterical sobbing so violent that I had to retire again at once without exchanging a word with him; and, to my very deep regret, I had not another opportunity to see him. I grieve to say that although, when I paid him that unfortunate visit, he appeared to be making slow but sure progress toward recovery, he suffered a relapse a few days afterwards, from which he never rallied; and his ashes now repose, with those of many another gallant spirit, in the spot that is known throughout the world as "The White Man's Grave."

The repairs to the _Felicidad_ being completed, her final preparations for sea were vigorously pushed forward, and on the third day after our arrival, having first visited the _Bangalore_ and bade farewell to her pa.s.sengers--each and every one of whom insisted that he (or she) owed his (or her) life to me, and that henceforward I must regard myself as a dearly cherished friend--I joined the little hooker as her commander, and sailed the same afternoon for the Congo; my especial mission being to test the truth, or otherwise, of Mendouca's statement respecting the fate of the _Sapphire's_ boats' crews, and--in the event of its being true--to attempt the rescue of any of the unfortunate people who might perchance be still alive.

We made the high land to the northward of the river mouth about midnight, after a rather long and uneventful pa.s.sage; and, the wind being light, and the river current strong, even at a considerable distance from the entrance, we then reached in toward the land, and anch.o.r.ed in fourteen fathoms, at about as many miles from the sh.o.r.e, where we remained, rolling and tumbling about on the heavy swell, until the sea-breeze set in, about eight o'clock the next morning. We then hove up our mud-hook, and ran in, anchoring in Banana Creek, opposite Lobo's factory, about six bells in the forenoon. There was only one other vessel in the creek at the time, a Portuguese brig; and her build and general appearance so unmistakably proclaimed her honest, that I never gave her a second thought. Besides, I had a special mission to accomplish--namely, the discovery and deliverance, if possible, of between thirty and forty of my own countrymen, languishing in a bitter captivity, and in daily, if not hourly, peril of death by torture as cruel and protracted as the fiendish malignity of merciless savages can possibly devise.

Now, I was as well equipped for such an expedition as I could possibly wish, save in one particular. I had a smart, light-draught vessel, capable of "going anywhere where a duck can swim," as we say at sea; we were well armed, had plenty of ammunition, mustered a crew of twenty-six prime seamen, the pick of the _Barracouta's_ crew--men who would go anywhere, and face anything--we carried an ample supply of blankets, beads, bra.s.s wire, old muskets, and tawdry finery of various descriptions, priceless in the eyes of savages, for the purpose of peaceable ransom, if such could be accomplished; but we lacked an interpreter, a man acquainted with the barbaric language of the up-river natives, through whom we should be able to communicate with them and carry on the necessary negotiations. And such a man it was now my first duty and anxiety to secure. I had given this matter a great deal of careful consideration during our pa.s.sage, and had at length determined upon the course of action that seemed to promise the most successful results; and it was in accordance with this determination that I anch.o.r.ed in Banana Creek instead of proceeding forthwith up the river to the spot named by Mendouca as the scene of the captivity of the _Sapphire's_ boats' crews.

I entered the river without any disguise of any sort, showing British colours and the man-o'-war's pennant; and, as I had expected, our old friend Lobo soon came alongside in his gig, with his usual stereotyped smiles and bows, and offers to supply us with anything and everything that we might happen to want. I took care to be below when he boarded us; and, in accordance with previous arrangements, Gowland, who met the fellow upon his arrival, proposed that he should go down into the cabin and see me personally upon the business of his visit. He at once a.s.sented, willingly, Gowland following him down, and when the two had entered, the sentry at the cabin-door closed it after them.

"Ah, good-morning, sar," exclaimed Lobo to me, as he entered. "Glad to see you back in the river, sar! I hope dat de capitan and officers of de beautiful _Barracouta_ are all well? Ah, gentlemen, dat was a ver'

fine bit of vork, dat attack of yours upon Chango Creek; ver' fine and ver' successful. I 'ave alvays been proud of _my_ share in dat exploit.

But, gentlemen, you mus' please never so much as vhisper dat I, Joaquin Miguel Lobo, had anything to do vid it. My vord, if you did, de rascal slavers vould cut my t'roat for me, and de man-o'-war gentlemen vould lose a fait'ful ally."

"No doubt, Senor Lobo," agreed I genially. "But, never fear, you are perfectly safe from betrayal to the slavers, so far as we are concerned; you shall find us as faithful to you as you have been to us. But sit down, man, and let me offer you a gla.s.s of wine."

With many bows and wreathed smiles, and deprecating elevations of the shoulders, Lobo took the seat to which I pointed him, and I touched a bell.

"Steward, put the wine and some gla.s.ses on the table, will you; and also a box of cigars that you will find on the shelf in my cabin."

The wine and cigars were brought; we helped ourselves; and I began--