The Pirate Slaver Part 8

I was parched with thirst, and looked round the state-room for some liquid wherewith I might quench it. There was none; but I now observed a small mahogany shelf, close to the head of the bunk, which had hitherto escaped my notice, and upon it stood a small silver hand-bell, quaint of shape, and elegantly adorned with _repousse_ work. With considerable pain and giddiness I contrived to turn my body far enough round to seize the bell and ring it; in instant response to which the state-room door opened--revealing a glimpse of a small but elegantly-- furnished cabin--and a young mustee lad, clad only in a white shirt thrown open at the neck, and white drill trousers girt to his slender figure by a crimson sash, entered, and demanded in Spanish--

"Can I do anything for you, senor?"

"What is your name, my lad?" said I, answering his question with another.

"I am called Pedro, senor."

"Well then, Pedro," said I, "you can do two things for me, if you will.

In the first place you can get me something to drink, if you will be so kind; and, in the next, you can tell me the name of this ship and her captain."

"I will willingly do both, senor, with pleasure. The drink first,"

answered the lad, with a bright smile that disclosed an array of small and beautifully regular, ivory-white teeth. And, turning on his bare heel, he retired as noiselessly as he had entered, only to reappear, a moment later, with a tumbler in one hand, and a large gla.s.s jug full to within an inch of the brim with lemonade, upon the surface of which floated two or three slices of the fruit and a curl of the rich golden green rind. He filled and handed me a b.u.mper, which I instantly drained and begged for another. The lad laughed, and handed me a second tumblerful, which I also drained. The liquid was deliciously cool, and of that peculiar acid and slightly bitter flavour that seems so ineffably refreshing when one is parched with fever.

"Another yet, senor?" asked Pedro, with a laugh, as I handed the gla.s.s back to him.

"Well--n-o--not just now, I think, thank you," answered I. "And now, Pedro, my boy, tell me about this ship and her captain, and how I came to be here."

"That is easily done, senor," answered the lad. "In the first place, the brigantine is named the _Francesca_ after my mother; she hails from Havana; and is commanded by my father, Don Fernando de Mendouca; and you were brought here by him, when he found you lying apparently dead upon the deck of the _Requin_ after your people had been driven off and compelled to beat a retreat."

"_What_?" I exclaimed. "Driven off? Compelled to retreat?"

"Certainly, senor," the lad answered proudly. "You surely did not seriously expect to capture all four of us with that paltry schooner of yours, and so small a force as you brought against us, did you?"

"Well," I admitted, "I must confess that when I saw what we had to contend with, I had my doubts as to the issue. But then, you see, I was not the captain."

"Your captain must have been _mad_ to have attacked us in broad daylight, as he did. And, indeed, he _seemed_ to be mad by the desperation with which he fought. I never saw anything like it in my life."

"_You_?" I exclaimed again. "Do you mean to say that you took part in the fight?"

"Certainly, senor; why not?" demanded Pedro haughtily. "True, I am very young; but I am strong. And I am bigger than the little officer who was fighting near you when the French sailor struck you down with the handspike."

"Yes; that is very true," I agreed, knowing, from the lad's description, that he was referring to Freddy Pierrepoint. "So you were in the fight, and saw our captain, eh, Pedro? Can you tell me what became of him?"

"He was shot--by one of our men, I believe; and I think he was killed, but am not quite sure. He was carried back into his own schooner by two of his men; and after the fight had lasted about two minutes longer a very handsome, light-haired officer appeared to take the command, and seemed to order a retreat; for your men steadily retired to their own vessel, and, fighting to the very last, cast her adrift, set the sails, and retired, hotly pursued by the _Requin_."

"Phew!" exclaimed I; "we seem to have made rather a mess of it this time. Poor Ryan! I am sorry for him; very sorry indeed. You are right, Pedro, our captain _was_ mad; the poor fellow was badly wounded in the head not long ago, and he had by no means recovered from his injuries. And now he is wounded again, if not killed outright. I am _very_ sorry for him. And now, Pedro, can you tell me how your father proposes to dispose of _me_?"

"No, senor, I cannot. Nor can he at present, I think," answered the lad. "It was at my entreaty that he brought you on board here; otherwise you would have been thrown overboard to the crocodiles that swarm in the creek just here. He said that prisoners were only a useless enc.u.mbrance and an embarra.s.sment; but somehow I liked your looks as you lay, white and still, upon the French schooner's deck, and I begged him so hard to save you that he could not deny me. And I am sure that we shall be friends--you and I--shall we not? There is no one on board here that I can be intimate with--except my father, of course--and he is so much older than I, that I can scarcely look upon him as a companion. Besides--"

The lad stopped, embarra.s.sed.

"Besides what?" demanded I.

"Well--I--perhaps I ought not to say. You see we are strangers yet, and father has often said that it is a great mistake to be confidential with strangers. Some other day perhaps I may feel that I can speak more freely. And that reminds me that I have let you talk far too much already; you need rest and perfect quiet at present, if you are to escape a bad attack of fever, so I shall leave you for a little while to sleep if you can. But first let me bathe your wound for you, and bandage it afresh."

"You are very kind, Pedro," remarked I, as the lad with singular deftness proceeded to remove the stiff and blood-stained bandage from my head. "And I must not allow you to leave me until I have thanked you-- as I now do, very heartily--for having saved my life. Perhaps I may have an opportunity some day to show my grat.i.tude in some more convincing form than that of mere words, and if so, you may depend upon me to do so. Meanwhile, I see no reason whatever why we should not be friends, and good friends too, if your father is willing that it should be so. At the same time--but there, we can talk about that too, when we know a little more of each other, and understand each other better.

Thanks, Pedro; that is very soothing and comfortable indeed. Now, another drink of lemonade, if you please--by the way, you may as well leave the jug and gla.s.s within my reach--and then, if you insist upon running away, why, good-bye for the present."

The lad left me, and I fell into a rather gloomy reverie upon the fate of poor Ryan and that of the gallant fellows who had fallen in our ill-planned attack upon the occupants of this unlucky creek, as well as upon my own future, the uncertainty of which stood out the more clearly the longer I looked at it. I think I must have become slightly light-headed eventually, for twice or thrice I caught myself muttering aloud in a rather excited fashion, now imagining myself to be in the thick of the fight once more, and anon fancying myself to be one of the slaves that were imprisoned in the brigantine's noisome hold; until finally my ideas became so hopelessly jumbled together that I could make nothing of them, and then followed a period of oblivion from which I awoke to find the state-room faintly illumined by the turned-down lamp screwed to the ship's side near the head of my bunk, and by the more brilliant rays of a lamp in the main cabin, the light of which streamed through the lattices in the upper panel of the state-room door. The ship was heeling slightly, and I knew by the gurgle and wash of water along her side that she was under weigh, but still in perfectly smooth water, for I was unable to detect the slightest heave, or rising and falling motion in her. There was an intermittent faint murmur of voices overhead, an occasional footfall on the deck, and now and then the creak and clank of the wheel-chains following a call from the forecastle, all of which led me to the conclusion that the brigantine was effecting the pa.s.sage of the creek on her way seaward. This state of things continued for perhaps a quarter of an hour, when I felt the vessel lift as if to a small swell, the wash and splash of the water along her side became more p.r.o.nounced, then came a light plunge, with a corresponding roar of the bow wave; her heel perceptibly increased, and the pipe of the wind took a more sonorous sound; an expression or two in tones that seemed to indicate a feeling of relief and satisfaction pa.s.sed between the persons overhead, and then a string of orders pealed forth from one of them, followed by the clatter of ropes thrown down on the deck, and the cries of the crew as they made sail upon the vessel. The movements of the craft now rapidly grew more lively; she heeled still more steeply under the pressure of the wind; the splash and rush of water alongside grew momentarily more confused; bulkheads began to creak, and cabin-doors to jar and rattle upon their hooks; the two people overhead began to pace the deck to and fro; the wind whistled and bl.u.s.tered with increasing loudness through the rigging; and as the craft plunged more sharply I caught the sound of an occasional clatter of spray upon the deck forward. This went on for some considerable time, and then I became aware of the sound of surf booming distantly, but rapidly increasing in strength and volume, until after a period of perhaps ten minutes its thunder seemed to suddenly fill the air, as the brigantine brought it square abeam; then it rapidly died away again until it was lost altogether in the tumult of wind and sea that now stormed about the vessel, and I knew that we had pa.s.sed close to either Shark or French Point, and were fairly at sea. This conviction was confirmed a few minutes later by the descent of some one--presumably the captain--into the cabin, where, as I could tell by the clink of bottle and gla.s.s and the gurgle of fluids, he mixed and tossed off a gla.s.s of grog, after which he retired to a state-room on the opposite side of the cabin and closed the door. Then, lulled by the motion of the ship and the sound of the wind and sea, I gradually sank into a feverish sleep, from which I did not fairly awake until the sun was streaming strongly in through the glazed scuttle of my state-room next morning.

Shortly afterwards Pedro entered and bade me good-morning with a cheery smile.

"You are looking better, senor," he remarked; "your eyes are brighter, and there is more colour in your face. I hope you were not greatly disturbed last night by the noise of getting the ship under weigh?"

"Not at all," I answered; "on the contrary, I did not awake until you were clear of your moorings and pa.s.sing down the creek. I remained awake until the ship seemed to be fairly at sea, and then I went to sleep again. I suppose we are out of sight of land by this time?"

"Yes, thanks be to the blessed Virgin! And I hope we shall see no more until we make Anegada," was the reply.

"Anegada?" I queried. "Where is that?"

"What!" exclaimed Pedro, "do you not know Anegada? Then you have never been to the West Indies?"

"That is very true," I admitted. "I have never been to the other side of the Atlantic."

"I was certain of it, or you would know Anegada," answered Pedro.

"Anegada is the most easterly of the Virgin Islands; and my father always endeavours to pick it up on his westerly runs. It makes a good landfall, and enables us to continue the rest of our run with confidence, and to dodge those pestilent cruisers of yours. Anegada once sighted, my father knows every inch of the rest of the way, and could take his ship from thence to Havana blindfold, I believe. But while we are talking this water is cooling, and I want to bathe your wound and bind it up afresh. So; am I hurting you?"

"Not at all," I answered. "Your touch is as light as a woman's. By the way, where are my clothes, Pedro? I shall turn out as soon as you have done with me, if you will kindly send somebody with some water. That ewer seems to be empty."

"It can soon be filled, however," remarked the lad. "As to your clothes, they are forward, drying. They were so stained and stiff with blood that you could not possibly have put them on again, so I had them washed. You see my clothes would not be big enough for you, while my father's would be too big; so you will be obliged to make shift with what you have until we reach Havana. I am glad that you feel well enough to dress, for I am anxious that you should meet my father as soon as possible. I fervently hope that you will succeed in impressing him favourably."

"Why?" I demanded, laughingly. "Is he so very formidable a personage, then?"

"Formidable enough, for one in your situation, if he should happen to take a dislike to you," the lad answered gravely. "Not that I have very much fear of that, however," he continued; "and in any case, my father is all right except when anything has occurred to vex him."

"Well, I suppose that holds good of most people," I remarked. "However, we must hope for the best. And now, since you have coopered me up so nicely, if you will let me have some water and my clothes, I will make my toilet as far as I can."

Upon leaving my bunk I found that I was still very shaky, with a tendency to giddiness, added to which my head was aching most distressingly; but I thought it possible that these disagreeable symptoms would perhaps pa.s.s off as soon as I found myself in the open air; I therefore dressed as quickly as possible, and made my way on deck.

The morning was brilliantly fine, with a slashing breeze from about east, a trifle northerly, and the brigantine was bowling along before it, with all studding-sails set on the starboard side, in a manner that fairly made me stare with astonishment, although I had been accustomed to fast vessels. The _Francesca_ was an exceedingly fine and handsome vessel, of enormous beam, and sitting very low upon the water, but the pace at which she was travelling conclusively demonstrated that, beamy as she was, her lines must be the very perfection of draughting; indeed this was proved by the ease with which she appeared to glide along the surface of, rather than _through_, the water, her progress being marked by singularly little disturbance of the element, considering her very high rate of speed. Her sails were magnificently cut, setting to a nicety, and drawing to perfection, and they were white enough to have graced the spars of a yacht. I noticed, too, that the inside of the bulwarks, her deck-fittings, bra.s.s-work, and guns, were all scrupulously clean and bright, while every rope was carefully coiled upon its proper pin, the princ.i.p.al halliards and sheets being Flemish-coiled on the deck. In fact, the whole appearance of the vessel was far more suggestive of the British man-o'-war than of the slaver. The watch on deck consisted of about a dozen men--one or two of whom looked remarkably like Englishmen--and it did not escape me that, one and all, they had the look of resolute, reckless fellows, who would be quite ready to fight to the last gasp, if need be. And I was impressed, at the very first glance, with the fact that they were all quietly and steadily going about their work, talking quietly together, and behaving without a single trace of that lawlessness that I had expected to prevail among a slaver's crew.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

DON FERNANDO DE MENDOUCA.

The most striking figure in the ship, however, was, beyond all question, a tall, well-built man, with a firmly-knit, powerful frame, every movement of which was eloquent of health and strength and inexhaustible endurance, while it was characterised by that light and easy _floating_ grace that is only to be acquired by the habitual treading of such an unstable platform as a ship's deck. He was very dark, his hair, moustache, and beard being coal-black and wavy, while his skin--or at least the exposed parts that met my eye--was tanned to so deep a bronze as to give him quite the complexion of a mulatto. But there was not a drop of black blood in him; his nose alone--thin, shapely, and slightly aquiline--was evidence enough of that. He was clad in the inevitable suit of white drill, girt about the waist with a crimson c.u.mmerbund; his head-covering was the equally inevitable Panama broad-brimmed hat, and his otherwise naked feet were thrust into a pair of Turkish slippers of red morocco, embroidered with gold thread. And, early as was the hour, he held a half-smoked cigar between his large, even, white teeth. As I emerged from the companion he was standing to windward, near the helmsman, critically eyeing the set of the brigantine's beautifully cut canvas; and upon seeing me he--without moving from his position or offering me his hand--bowed with all the stately grace of a Spanish hidalgo, and exclaimed in Spanish, in a firm, strong, and decidedly musical voice--

"Good-morning, senor! I congratulate you upon being sufficiently recovered to leave your cabin. I suppose I ought, by every rule of good manners, to bid you welcome to my ship; but I have discarded conventional forms of speech--among other things--and now make a practice of speaking only the strict truth; and--as Pedro has probably told you--I had little to do with your being here beyond the mere issue of the order for your transfer from the deck of the French schooner.

But, if I cannot at this moment truthfully bid you welcome, I can at least say that I sincerely hope we shall be good friends; and should that come about, you shall be welcome not only to my ship, but, as we Spaniards say, to my house and all that is in it."

"Thank you, Don Fernando," I answered. "I can easily understand that you find it exceedingly difficult to regard me as a welcome guest, and believe me, I am not going to be so foolish as to feel hurt at your frankly telling me so. And I heartily unite with you in the hope that as long as we may be compelled into intimate a.s.sociation with each other, we shall be able to forget that our professions are antagonistic, and that personally it may be quite possible for us to be good friends.

And now, senor, permit me to seize this, the first opportunity that has presented itself, to express to you my most grateful thanks for having saved my life yesterday--"

"Stop, senor, if you please," he interrupted, holding up his hand. "I have already explained to you that I had absolutely nothing to do with that beyond the mere issuing of an order. To be perfectly frank with you, I was in no mood to show mercy to any one just then, for you and your pestilent, meddlesome crew fought like fiends, and cost me several good men that I could ill spare. Your grat.i.tude, therefore," and I thought I detected an echo of something very like scorn in his voice, "is due solely to my boy Pedro, whose whim of saving you I did not even then care to thwart. But enough of this; you are my guest, and may, if you will, become my friend. I hope your accommodation is to your liking?"

"Excellent, indeed," answered I, glad enough to get away from a topic that seemed to be somewhat distasteful to my host. "Excellent, indeed, and far more luxurious than anything to which I have been accustomed on board my own ship."