The Rover's Secret Part 5

"That is enough," said Farmer; "your answer but confirms me in my conviction as to the ident.i.ty of yonder frigate. It is the _Mermaid_.

Speak, sir, is it not so?"

"You are right, Farmer, it _is_ the _Mermaid_, thank G.o.d! and you cannot escape. See! she is already hauling up to speak us; and in another twenty minutes will be alongside. Now, sir, resign to me the command which you have with so much violence and bloodshed usurped; and you, men," he continued, turning round and in a loud voice addressing the rest of the crew, "return at once to your duty. Support and a.s.sist me in recovering the command of the ship, and I promise--"

"Silence!" roared Farmer, striking the master a heavy blow full in the mouth with his clenched fist. "Seize him, you two," he continued to the men who had charge of the prisoner, "and if he offers to speak again to the men clap a belaying-pin between his teeth. My lads, you now know the truth; yonder frigate is our old acquaintance the _Mermaid_. Mr Southcott proposes that I should surrender the command of this ship to him; and if I do so we all know what will follow. Most of us will dangle at the yard-arm; and though, _through the royal clemency_," (with a bitter sneer), "a few may be allowed to escape with a flogging through the fleet, with left-handed boatswains' mates to cross the lashes--think of that, men, and compare it with the mere two or three dozen at the gangway which most of you have tasted since you joined the _Hermione_-- where is the man among you, I ask, who can point to himself and say, 'I shall be one of the _fortunate_ few?' No, no, my lads! after last night's work there must be no talk of surrender; the ropes are already round our necks, and as surely as we ever find ourselves beneath the British flag again, so surely will those ropes be hauled taut and ourselves bowsed up to the yard-arm. And, even if our lives could be a.s.sured to us, what inducement is there to us to serve under British bunting again? I say there is _none_. We must choose, then, between two alternatives; we must either fight or fly. Which is it to be?"

The rest of the mutineers huddled together, evidently irresolute; each man eagerly sought his neighbour's opinion, the _pros_ and _cons_ of Farmer's question were hurriedly discussed, and I saw with inexpressible delight that a good many of the men were more than half disposed to fall in with the master's suggestion.

Mr Southcott must have seen this too, for he wheeled round upon Farmer and exclaimed:

"Surely, Farmer, you are not mad enough to entertain the idea of fighting the _Mermaid_? Why, man, you could not stand up before her for five minutes with the men in their present undisciplined state and no one but yourself to direct operations. Your defeat under such circ.u.mstances is an absolute certainty; and think what would be the fate of yourself and your misguided followers if taken in arms against the flag under which they have sworn to serve. At present some at least of them may hope for mercy if they will but--"

"Away with him! Take him below!" shouted Farmer, "and if he attempts to open his mouth again put a bullet through his brains. Now, shipmates,"

he continued, as the master was hurried below, "make up your minds, and quickly too; which will you have, the yard-rope or a pitched battle?"

"What occasion is there for either?" inquired a burly boatswain's-mate.

"There's more ways of killing a cat than choking of her with cream.

Let's square dead away afore it and set stunsails alow and aloft, both sides. I'll lay my life we run far enough away from the _Mermaid_ afore sunset to dodge her in the dark."

"No good," dissented Farmer. "The _Mermaid_ could beat us a couple of knots off the wind in this breeze."

"Ay, ay; that's true enough; she could so," a.s.sented a topman. "But we have the heels of her on a taut bowline; so why not brace sharp up on the starboard tack, pa.s.s between the islands, and then make for Porto Rico?"

"What! and run the gauntlet of those two cruisers insh.o.r.e there, as well as take our chance of falling in with the _Magicienne_ and the _Regulus_, which we know are knocking about somewhere in that direction!

Is that the best counsel you can give, Ben?"

"Well, then, let's haul close in with the land, set fire to the ship, and take to the boats," answered Ben.

"And what then?" sneered Farmer.

"Why, land, to be sure, and take sarvice with Jack Spaniard," was the reply.

"Why, man, do you suppose they would welcome us if we went to them empty-handed?" asked Farmer. "No, no, that will never do. If we join the Spaniards we must take the ship with us to ensure a welcome; and I'm half inclined to think that will be the best thing we can do. But not now; that must be thought over at leisure. Meanwhile, what is to be done in the present emergency? We have no time for further argument.

Will you stand by me and obey my orders?"

"Ay, ay, we will, every man Jack of us, sink or swim, fight or fly," was the reply from a hundred throats.

"That's well, my lads," exclaimed Farmer exultantly; "it shall go hard but I will bring you through somehow. Starboard your helm, there," to the man at the wheel; "let her come to on the larboard tack; to your stations, men; let go the larboard sheets and braces, and round in on the starboard. Smartly, my bullies; let's have no bungling, now, or Captain Otway there will at once suspect that something is amiss.

That's well; ease up the lee topgallant and royal-braces a trifle; well there of all; belay! Afterguard, muster your buckets and brushes and wash down the decks. Roberts, go below with a gang and rouse the hammocks on deck; and quarter-masters, see that they are snugly stowed.

Where's the signal-man? Bend the ensign on to the peak-halliards and our number at the main; and main-top, there I stand by to hoist away the pennant. Gunner, muster your crew; go round the quarters with them; and see that everything is ship-shape in case we should have to make a fight of it."

I was surprised to see how, as Farmer issued his orders in a tone of authority, the instinct of discipline a.s.serted itself; the men sprang to their stations as nimbly and executed their several duties as smartly as though Captain Pigot himself had been directing their movements. The _Hermione_ was braced sharp up on the larboard tack and heading as near as she would lay for the _Mermaid_, which was now about a point and a half on our weather bow, about four miles distant, and nearing us fast; whilst the _Favourite_ and the _Drake_ were stretching out from under the land to join her.

Presently a string of tiny b.a.l.l.s went soaring aloft to the _Mermaid's_ main-royal mast-head, to break abroad as they reached it and stream out in the fresh morning breeze as so many gaily coloured signal flags.

"There goes the _Mermaid's_ bunting, sir!" sang out the signal-man, "she is showing her number."

"Ay, ay, I see it," exclaimed Farmer. "And, by Heaven," he added, "it never struck me until this moment that Pigot was senior captain. Hoist away your ensign and pennant! up with the number! We are all right, my hearties; I know how to trick them now."

He raised the telescope to his eye and brought it to bear upon the _Mermaid_.

"All right," he exclaimed a few seconds later, "she sees our number-- haul down! Now signal her to chase in the north-eastern quarter.

Hurrah, my hearties, that's your sort! There goes her answering pennant; and there she hauls to the wind on the starboard tack. That disposes of her at all events. Now signal the _Favourite_ and _Drake_ to chase to the nor'ard; that will send them through the Mona Pa.s.sage, and leave us with a clear sea."

A quarter of an hour later the three cruisers which had caused the mutineers so much uneasiness were thrashing to windward under every rag they could spread; when Farmer bore up and ran away to the southward and westward with studding-sails set on both sides of the ship.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

LA GUAYRA.

After breakfast that morning the men were mustered on the quarter-deck; and Farmer, with some half a dozen of the other mutineers, discussed in their presence and hearing the question of what should be done with the ship now that they had her. There was, of course, a great deal of wild talk, especially among the foreigners--of whom, most unfortunately for the ill-fated officers of the ship, there were far too many on board-- and at one period of the discussion it seemed by no means improbable that the frigate would be converted into a pirate, in which event there can be no doubt but that, for a time at least, she would have proved a terrible scourge to all honest navigators in those seas. Farmer, however, was strongly in favour of going over to the Spaniards; and in the end his counsels prevailed, though he met with a great deal of opposition.

This point settled, the ship's head was laid to the southward; and sunrise on the fourth morning succeeding the mutiny found us off La Guayra, with a flag of truce flying. The signal was duly observed and answered from the sh.o.r.e; upon which the gig was lowered, and, with a white flag floating from her ensign staff, her crew in their holiday rig, and Farmer with three other ringleaders of the mutiny in her stern- sheets, she shoved off for the harbour. She was absent for the greater part of the day, it being seven bells in the afternoon watch before she was observed pulling out of the harbour again; and when she made her appearance it was at once observed that she was accompanied by several heavy launches full of men. It took the flotilla fully an hour to pull off to us, and when they reached the frigate it was seen that the occupants of the sh.o.r.e-boats were Spanish seamen, with a sprinkling of officers among them. On coming alongside the entire rabble at once boarded; the ship was formally handed over by Farmer to an officer in a resplendent uniform, whose first act was to direct one of his aides to strike the white flag and hoist the Spanish ensign at the peak; and the surviving officers--five of us in number--were then mustered and ordered into one of the boats alongside. We were compelled to bundle down over the side just as we were, without a single personal belonging, or article of clothing except what we stood in; and, the boat being manned by some twenty as bloodthirsty-looking desperadoes as I ever clapped eyes on, we were forthwith pulled ash.o.r.e and at once marched off to prison.

It was dark by the time that we reached the harbour; we were consequently unable to see much of the place that night beyond the fact that it lay at the base of a lofty range of hills. We were received at the landing-place by a party of soldiers with fixed bayonets, who had evidently been awaiting our arrival, and, escorted by them, we arrived-- after a march of about a mile--at the gates of a most forbidding-looking edifice constructed of heavy blocks of masonry, and which had all the appearance of being a fortress. Pa.s.sing through the gloomy gateway-- which was protected by a portcullis--we found ourselves in a large open paved courtyard, across which we marched to a door on the opposite side.

Entering this door, we wheeled to the right and pa.s.sed along a wide stone pa.s.sage which conducted us to a sort of guard-room. We were here received by a lanky, cadaverous-looking individual with a shrivelled yellow parchment skin, hands like the claws of a vulture, piercing black eyes, and grizzled locks and moustache, who, with but scant courtesy, took down the name and rank of each of us in a huge battered volume; after which we were conducted through another long echoing pa.s.sage, and finally ushered into a sort of hall, about sixty feet long by forty feet wide, with a lofty stone groined roof, and six high, narrow, lancet- shaped windows in each of the two longer walls. These windows we subsequently found were closely grated on the outside with heavy iron bars. The moment that we crossed the threshold the heavy oaken door was closed and barred upon us, and we were left to shift for ourselves as best we could.

The first thing of which I was distinctly conscious on entering the hall was the volume of sound which echoed from the walls and the groined roof. Singing, laughter, conversation, altercation were all going on at the same moment at the utmost pitch of the human voice, and apparently with the whole strength of the a.s.sembled company, which, after winking and blinking like an owl for several moments, I succeeded in dimly making out through the dense cloud of suffocating smoke which pervaded the place, and which appeared to emanate from a wood fire burning on the pavement at the far end of the hall, and from some three or four flaring oil lamps which were suspended from nails driven into the walls between the joints of the masonry.

It was a minute or two before any of the noisy company appeared to notice us. At length, however, one man, rising to his feet and shading his eyes with his hand as he looked in our direction, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed:

"Who have we here? More companions in misfortune?"

Then advancing with outstretched hand he exclaimed uproariously:

"What cheer, my hearties? Welcome to Equality Hall!"

Then, as he for the first time noticed our uniforms, he muttered:

"Why, dash my old frizzly wig if they ain't navy gents!" adding in a much more respectful tone of voice: "Beg pardon, gentlemen, I'm sure, for my familiarity. Didn't notice at first what you was. Come forward into the range of the light and bring yourselves to an anchor. I'm afraid you'll find these but poor quarters, gentlemen, after what you've been used to aboard a man-o'-war. And you'll find us a noisy lot too; but the fact is we're just trying to make the best of things here, trying to be as happy as we can under the circ.u.mstances, as you may say.

Here, you unmannerly lubbers," he continued, addressing a group who were sprawling at full length on a rough wooden bench, "rouse out of that and make room for your betters."

The men scrambled to their feet and made way for us good-naturedly enough; and we seated ourselves on the vacated bench, feeling--at least I may answer for myself--forlorn enough in the great dingy, dirty, comfortless hole into which we had been so unceremoniously thrust. Our new friend seated himself alongside Mr Southcott, and, first informing that gentleman that the company in which we found ourselves were the crews of sundry British merchantmen which had been captured by the Spaniards, and that he was the ex-chief mate of a tidy little Liverpool barque called the _Sparkling Foam_, proceeded to inquire into the circ.u.mstances which had led to our captivity. The account of the mutiny was received by the party, most of whom had gathered round to listen to it, with expressions of the most profound abhorrence and indignation, which were only cut short by the appearance of a sergeant and a file of soldiers bearing the evening's rations, which were served out raw, to be immediately afterwards handed over to a black cook who answered to the name of "s...o...b..ll," and who had good-naturedly const.i.tuted himself the cook of the party. The rations, which included a portion for us newcomers, consisted of a small modic.u.m of meat, a few vegetables, a tolerably liberal allowance of coa.r.s.e black bread, and water _ad libitum_. The little incident of the serving out of rations having come to an end, and the sergeant having retired with his satellites, our friend of the _Sparkling Foam_--whose name, it transpired, was Benjamin Rogers--resumed his conversation with us by proceeding to "put us up to a thing or two."

"I've no doubt, gentlemen," he said, "but what you'll be asked to give your parole to-morrow, if you haven't already--you haven't, eh? well, so much the better; you'll be asked to-morrow. Now, if you'll take my advice you won't give it; if you do, you'll simply be turned adrift into the town to shift for yourselves and find quarters where you can. If you've got money, and plenty of it, you might manage to rub along pretty well for a time; but when your cash is gone where are you? Why, simply nowheres. Now, this is a roughish berth for gentlemen like you, I'll allow; but within the last few days we've been marched out every morning and set to work patching up an old battery away out here close to the beach, and we've been kept at it all day, so that we get plenty of fresh air and exercise, and merely have to ride it out here during the night.

There's only some half-a-dozen soldiers sent out to watch us; and it's my idea that it might be no such very difficult matter to give these chaps the slip some evening, and at nightfall make our way down to the harbour, seize one of the small coasting craft which seem to be always there, and make sail for Jamaica. At least that's my notion, gentlemen; you are welcome to it for what it's worth, and can think it over."

We thanked our new friend for his advice, which we followed so far as to think and talk it over before stowing ourselves away for the night upon the bundle of straw which const.i.tuted the sole apology for a bed and covering allowed us by the Spaniards.

Mr Southcott, the master, was indignant beyond measure at the scurvy treatment thus meted out to us as prisoners of war, and talked a great deal about the representations he intended to make to the authorities with regard to it; but in the meantime he decided to give his parole, in the hope of a speedy exchange, and strongly recommended us to do the same. He was possessed of a little money, it seemed, which he had taken the precaution of secreting about his person immediately on the ship making the land, in antic.i.p.ation of his speedily finding a use for it; and this money he most generously offered to share with us as far as it would go. To this, however, none of us would listen; and as we were wholly without means the only alternative left to us was to refuse our parole, and put up as best we could with such board and lodging as the Spaniards might be disposed to give us, and to bend all our energies to the accomplishment of a speedy escape. As for me, I still held in vivid remembrance the statement which my father had made to me on the eve of my departure for school, and the caution he had given me against expecting any a.s.sistance from him after I had once fairly entered upon my career; and I resolved to endure the worst that could possibly befall me rather than act upon a suggestion which the master threw out, to the effect that possibly someone might be found in the town willing to cash (for a heavy premium) a draft of mine upon my father.

Rogers' expectation that we should be asked for our parole was verified next morning; and Southcott, giving his, bade us a reluctant farewell after a further ineffectual effort to persuade us to reconsider our decision. Finding that we were not to be persuaded he bade us take heart and keep up our spirits, as his very first task should be to make such representations to the authorities as must result in a very speedy and considerable amelioration of our condition. We parted with many expressions of mutual regret; and that was the last any of us ever saw of the poor fellow, nor were our subsequent inquiries as to what had become of him in the slightest degree successful.

As for us who remained, upon our explaining, through the medium of a very inefficient interpreter, that the lack of means to support ourselves precluded the possibility of our giving our parole upon the terms offered us, we were brusquely informed that we must then be content to be cla.s.sed among the common prisoners, to put up with their accommodation, and to take part in the tasks allotted to them. We were then abruptly dismissed, and, without further ceremony, marched off to the scene of our labours, which we found to be the fort mentioned by Rogers--an antiquated structure in the very last stage of dilapidation, which it was the task of the prisoners to repair.

To be obliged to work was, after all, no very great hardship. We were in the fresh open air all day, which was infinitely better than confinement between four walls, even had those walls inclosed a far greater measure of comfort than was to be found within the confines of our prison-house. The physical exertion kept us in a state of excellent health, and consequently in fairly good spirits; the labour, though of anything but an intellectual character, kept our minds sufficiently employed to prevent our brooding over our ill fortune; we were allowed to take matters pretty easily so long as we did not dawdle too much, and thus entail upon our lounging guard the unwelcome necessity of scrambling to their feet and hunting up our whereabouts; our daily labours brought with them just that amount of fatigue which ensured sound sleep and a happy oblivion of the dirt and manifold discomforts of our night quarters; and finally, there was the prospect that at any moment some lucky chance might favour our escape.