The Three Lieutenants Part 24

"Poor Miss O'Regan looked very downcast, though the midshipmen did their best to keep up her spirits by telling her that they were sure the Spaniards would not dare to hurt her or any of us, let them bl.u.s.ter and threaten as they might.

"The Spanish officers were polite enough, and begged her to go into the cabin and take some refreshment, but she refused to leave the deck unless her father was allowed to accompany her; they, however, brought her a chair which she was thankful to sit down on, while the midshipmen, who looked upon themselves as her guard, stood around her.

"As soon as the sea-breeze set in, sail was made, and the corvette, followed by the brig and schooners, stood away for the harbour of Carthagena, while the _Sarah Jane_ and sloop put back into the bay.

"We reached Carthagena in the afternoon, and brought up before the town.

As soon as the anchor was dropped, the commodore went on sh.o.r.e to communicate with the government, and to learn what he was to do with his prisoners; some time before nightfall he came back, and he gave orders that we were all to be landed forthwith and marched up to the common gaol; so I made this out from what the fat officer said to the young gentlemen.

"No one was allowed to speak to the colonel, not even his own daughter; as soon as she found that her father was to be taken on sh.o.r.e, she begged to accompany him, and the midshipmen said they would go too. Of course I went with them.

"The brig and schooners in the meantime had run higher up the harbour.

The boats were at once manned, the fat officer, who was, I have a notion, the first lieutenant of the corvette, took charge of the young lady and us. She begged so hard that the colonel might come in the same boat, that our friend, who wasn't a bad sort of chap after all, said he would speak to the commodore: he pressed the point, and the colonel was placed in our boat. He didn't speak much; in truth, I suspect he had but little to say that was likely to comfort his daughter, while he knew that the officer was listening all the time. She asked him in a trembling voice if he thought that his life was in danger, and said that she would go and plead for him with General Carmona, who commanded the troops in the city.

"'On no account,' answered the colonel, 'it would be useless, and you would only be exposing yourself to insult.'

"Speaking very low, so that he could not be overheard, he told her to get one of the midshipmen to escape if possible to the British Consul, as he would be better able than any one else to help him.

"As soon as we landed we were marched up together to the prison, the young lady being compelled to walk with the midshipmen and me alongside her; the colonel and skippers followed, and then came the crew, while the people rushed out of their houses and gathered in the streets to stare at us, some shouting and abusing us, and calling us pirates and all sorts of names in their lingo. I didn't care what they said, but walked along with my head upright, looking on every side as if I was there for my own pleasure.

"The prison was a dirty tumbled-down-looking sort of a place, and says I, 'I hope they are not going to put the young lady in there;' but they were, though they allowed her a room to herself, with one close to it for the midshipmen and me. I was allowed to be with them, because they said I was their attendant and that they required my services, though not exactly as the Spaniard fancied. The colonel, though they saw he was a thorough gentleman, was thrust in with the skippers and the crew into a low dirty room paved with stone, with stout iron bars to the small windows. There were already a score or more of rough-looking ruffians in it; this we saw as we pa.s.sed by before we were taken to our own room in an upper story. As many as could get to the windows, which looked out into the street, hung out old caps or baskets at the end of sticks, to receive money or food which the people outside might give them. The window of our room was strongly barred, and so was that of Miss O'Regan; but there was a door between the two, which we found we could open, and so she and the young gentlemen were able to consult what to do. The furniture of our room hadn't much to boast of. Our beds were only heaps of straw, with bits of sacking on the top; there was no table, and only some rough benches to sit on. Miss O'Regan was very little better off. She had a sort of bed and chair, and a heap of straw for Polly; but after a time the gaoler's wife, I suppose she was, brought her a basin of water and a few other things; but that was all the Spaniards' boasted politeness made them think of providing her. She tried to interest the old woman to see if anything could be done for the colonel; but the dame said that it was as much as her place was worth to interfere, and she couldn't say a word to give the young lady any hope that he would be better treated.

"When it was light we made an examination of the bars in the windows to see if we could by any means get through them. Those in our room were too strongly fixed to be moved in a hurry, though we might have done it in time. Miss O'Regan found one in hers which was looser than the rest, and Mr Rogers and I on examining it discovered that it was so eaten away with rust, that by hauling at it together we might wrench it out.

What we wanted was to get free, and to go and find the British consul.

The window looked into a yard surrounded by a high wall; but what was behind we couldn't tell. The bar once out we could, we thought, lower ourselves into the yard; the wall we might easily scale, as it was full of big holes worn by time, and it would not cost us much to climb over it.

"'I have a file in my knife,' said Mr Gordon; 'it's a small one, but if we use it carefully it will cut through the bar in time.'

"The lower part of the bar we found was almost eaten away with rust. We agreed that the first thing was to sc.r.a.pe it clear of the rust with the blades of our knives and let the file do the rest. We were afraid, however, to begin till all in the prison was quiet. We could hear the warders walking about and talking loudly, and one now and then pa.s.sed our door, so that we could not tell if one was going to look in on us or not. At last a fellow came bringing a jug of water and a bowl of greasy rice with some bits of meat in it, and a loaf of brown bread; he made us understand that it was for us.

"'I hope you're going to give the young lady something better than this,' said Mr Rogers, pointing to Miss O'Regan's room.

"You'll understand that when we heard him coming we had got back into our own room and had shut the door. 'Si! Si!' he said, nodding his head, and so we hoped that it was all right. Though the food was coa.r.s.e we were not sorry to get it, as we had had nothing to eat all day, and at first we thought they were going to starve us outright. There was only one wooden spoon for all of us; the young gentlemen laughed, and said that didn't matter, as it was given us so that we might each get our fair allowance.

"We heard the old woman come back into the young lady's room, and when she was gone Mr Rogers knocked and asked if he might come in, and he found, when Polly opened the door, that the dame had brought them some pastry and fruit, and some white bread and a bottle of wine, and we knew from that that they were not going to ill-treat them at all events.

"In the meantime we talked over what was to be done; at last it was agreed that Mr Desmond should go with me, and that we should try to find our way to the British Consul's the first night we could get out.

We concluded that it would take some time to file through the bar, and we did not expect to get free for at least several nights to come. The young lady told us that she and Polly would keep watch, and would let us know when we might come in to do the work. In the meantime we lay down on our beds of straw, for as we hadn't been to sleep the night before we could with difficulty keep our eyes open. Nor had she for that matter; but her anxiety on account of her father made her wakeful. At last she knocked at the door, and I stood up and awoke Mr Rogers. We went in as softly as we could and began working away at the bar, Polly and Miss O'Regan watching at the door to listen if any one was coming. We soon got the rust off; but Mr Gordon's file made very slow progress. We worked while they watched. When daylight came at last we found that we had not got through more than the tenth of an inch; still that was something. To prevent what we had been doing being discovered we covered the marks of the file with rust, stuck on by some grease which we got from our bowl. I must cut my yarn short. One day was much like another; still we could not learn anything about the poor colonel and the rest of the prisoners, except that they were kept shut up below.

What the Carthagenans were going to do with them and us we could not tell. There was one advantage in the delay, for if we had got away the first night the guard would have been on the look-out, and we should have probably been caught. It was bad enough for us, but much worse for the poor young lady. We worked on and on, night after night, till at last we had got almost through the bar, and I felt sure that with a good haul I could wrench it on one side wide enough to get through.

"The old woman, who came up every day to see Miss O'Regan, spoke more kindly than usual to her, and called her a poor girl in her own lingo, and seemed to pity her. This made the young lady ask her why she spoke thus, and at last she confessed that she was afraid that General Carmona was going to shoot some of the English prisoners, and very likely the old colonel among them. This made the young lady cry out, and we could hear her speaking in such woeful tones that at last Mr Rogers went in and asked what was the matter; he then learnt all what I have just told you.

"'Oh! can nothing be done to save my father?' she exclaimed, as she clasped her hands together.

"The old woman then said that the only way would be to send a letter to the British consul, but it would be dangerous for her to do so as it might cost her her life, or at all events her husband his place, if it was discovered that she had carried it. At last she agreed to try and let Polly out, and at the same time told her which way she was to take to find the consul's house--it was not more than ten minutes' walk from the prison--first she was to turn to the right, and then cross a large square, and to turn down the first street on the left, at the end of which was the house; she was to look for the arms of England painted over the door.

"'At all events, if Polly does not find it, we shall; the old woman has helped us more than she thinks,' observed Mr Rogers.

"Polly was ready to run every risk to serve her mistress, the difficulty was to get a letter written as we had no paper, pens, nor ink; but I have a pocket-book, said Mr Gordon, and a few words on a leaf explained our situation. We of course didn't tell the old woman our own plan, and we thought that by letting her do as she proposed that we might throw her husband off his guard. At last she went away, saying that she would try and see what she could do. Polly got ready to start; after some time the old woman came back saying that her husband would not consent to anything of the sort. We all pretended on this to be very downcast, Miss O'Regan was really so, as she thought the old woman's plan was the safest. At last all was quiet; Polly, as usual, took her post at the door. Mr Rogers and I worked away at the bar: 'Now one strong pull and we'll have it out,' I whispered; and hauling away with all my strength, I broke it off at the bottom and wrenched it on one side. We made a rope of the rugs which covered our beds long enough to let me lower myself into the yard. Mr Desmond was dawn directly after me, and I caught him in my arms and bolted away to the opposite side of the wall as quick as lightning, then I lifted him on my shoulders and he soon scrambled on to the top of the wall; it was a harder job for me to follow, seeing that he put his hands and feet into holes which were not big enough for mine. We had hit the very place we should have chosen, for just below us was a heap of rubbish which came some way up the wall, and we were now on the outside of the prison. Mr Desmond scrambled down in the same way that he got up. 'Keep still,' he said in a low voice, 'don't drop? don't drop! there are broken pots and pans of all sorts, you may cut yourself.' He spoke just in time, for it would have been a queer place to fall on. The night was pretty dark, and no one was about. We stopped to listen, and not a sound was to be heard, so we crept along the wall till we turned the corner, and found ourselves in front of the prison. If there was a sentry, he was fast asleep in his box, for we were not challenged. We soon had crossed the square the old woman had told us of, then we ran on as fast as our legs could carry us till we reached the consul's house, which we knew by a big board over the door, though we couldn't see the arms. Mr Desmond went up to the door and pulled the bell. 'It's no time to stand on ceremony, though it's not the hour that the consul generally receives visitors, I fancy,'

he said, with a laugh. He pulled and pulled again. 'I must climb in at the window if we can't awake them any other way, though maybe I shall be shot if I do,' he added, looking up to see if there was one he could reach. 'Do you, Needham, just lift me up on your shoulders, and I am sure I can reach that balcony, and it will be hard if I don't get a window open, and once in the house I'll go round and knock at all the doors till I rouse up some one.' No sooner said than done; the midshipman disappeared over my head, and I was left standing below wondering what next would happen. I knew from the sounds which reached me that he was trying one window after another, at last I heard a loud crash, which showed that he had got through some way or other. Again all was silent. Presently there came cries, and squealing, and shouts, through the lattice which there always is in Spanish doors, so that the people from within may talk to any one outside without opening them; then there came a man's gruff voice, and Mr Desmond's, talking away as fast as his tongue could move, trying to explain what it all meant.

This went on for some time, till the gruff voice grew calmer, and Mr Desmond began to talk slower, and I heard women's and girls' voices uttering all sorts of exclamations. Says I to myself, 'It's all right now.'

"At last the door opened, and Mr Desmond told me to come in, that he was thankful to say that the vice-consul would do all he could, and that the consul himself had gone away to a place a mile or two along the coast. 'Then the best thing we can do is to go after him,' said Mr Desmond. 'Can you find us a boat and crew, sir?' he asked of the vice-consul.

"'That will be a difficult thing, young sir,' he answered. 'A boat may be found, but no crew would go without the permission of the general.'

"'Well, then, if you will find us a boat we will go alone,' said Mr Desmond; 'and if the place is only a mile or two off, and you'll instruct us how to find it, we can have no difficulty in doing so.'

"This idea seemed to please the vice-consul, who, though he spoke English, was not an Englishman; he would have acted, I've a notion, very differently if he had been. His wife and the young ladies, his daughters, whose voices I had heard when Mr Desmond roused them out of their sleep, seemed much interested at hearing about Miss O'Regan, and they all urged the old gentleman to help us, and told him that he must go in the morning and see what could be done for the young lady at least. He called up a black servant somewhere from the bottom of the house, and told him to lead us down to the harbour and show us a boat we might take.

"The old lady pressed us to stop and have some supper, but Mr Desmond was in a hurry to get off, and the vice-consul, I have a notion, wanted to be rid of us.

"'Why, my dears,' he exclaimed, 'I wonder you like to be seen by the young officer and the sailor, such figures as you are.'

"In truth, both the old lady and the young ones, as well as two or three black girls, were dressed, I must say, in a funny fashion, with such things as they had clapped on when Mr Desmond roused them up. The old gentleman had put on his breeches hind part before, while she had got into his dress-coat with the tails in front, and little else on beside her night-gown, and a big shawl over her shoulders. I won't say how the young ladies looked, only I couldn't help remarking that they were not over-dressed, so that when their father made this remark, away they all scuttled in a desperate hurry, each trying not to be last, and I've a notion that they had forgotten what might be thought of them. We could hear them giggling and laughing at each other as they reached their rooms. We were, you may suppose, not much in a mood to laugh just then, and, as soon as the old black was ready we started off. He seemed in a desperate fright, expecting every moment that he should be seen, and carried off to prison. We met no one, however, and soon reached the water's edge. The black who was sent with us, I forgot to say because he could speak English, showed us a boat hauled up on a slip, and, going to a shed near, brought out a pair of oars, a mast and sail.

"'Dare; you steer for de point up dare,' he said. 'When you round it, pull on for about three miles, when you come to anoder harbour, then you pull up it, and in de biggest house in de place you find de consul.'

"'Why,' says Mr Desmond, 'the vice-consul told us it was not more than a mile or so away.'

"'Ma.s.sa not know, den,' answered the old black, as soon as he had helped us to launch the boat; and without stopping a moment to watch us while we shoved off, he ran away as fast as his old legs could carry him. We had to pull along-sh.o.r.e some distance to keep clear of the corvette, then the night-breeze freshening we stepped our mast and made sail, steering as the black had told us to do.

"The boat was somewhat crank, and I had to keep my weather-eye open, and to hold the sheet in my hand to escape being capsized. However, the boat sailed fast, and soon weathering the point we found our way at last into the harbour. We hauled up the boat on the beach, and ran along till we came to the big house the vice-consul had told us of.

"'This must be the place,' said Mr Desmond, giving a pull at the door-bell.

"Again we had to ring and shout as before. No one coming to the door, Mr Desmond proposed trying the old dodge, and getting in at the window.

We went round the house, and knocked at all the windows we could reach.

At last an old gentleman poked out his head from an upper window, and threatened in Spanish to blow out our brains with a blunderbuss, if we didn't take ourselves off. Mr Desmond understood what he said, and that he meant it was clear, for I caught sight of the muzzle of his piece resting on the window-sill.

"'Don't do that same, if you please, sir,' answered Mr Desmond. 'I am an officer of her Majesty's sloop of war, the _Tudor_, and my companion is one of her crew, and we have come to get the a.s.sistance of the consul, who, I presume, you are.'

"I can't say that he looked much like one in his white night-cap. The old gentleman then asked a number of questions of Mr Desmond, who told him all about what had happened, and at last, having taken some time, however, to dress himself, he came down and let us in. He was polite enough then, for he showed us into a room and begged us to sit down, while he listened to what Mr Desmond had further to say to him.

"He told us in reply that he had but little influence with General Carmona, and that he had, therefore, some time back written to Jamaica, begging that a ship of war might be sent to protect the English on the coast, as their position was far from pleasant. He promised, however, to return to Carthagena the next morning, and to try what he could do to save the colonel's life, and obtain the liberation of the other prisoners. He advised us to wait till the morning, but Mr Desmond was in a hurry to go back and report to Miss O'Regan and his messmates what we had done; he thought that we could get into the prison before daylight by the way we had come. The consul seemed very much astonished at his determination, but he was firm, and I was ready to do whatever he proposed.

"'After all you may be right, if you manage to do so without being discovered,' answered the old gentleman. 'It will save me also from being accused of a.s.sisting in the escape of the prisoners.'

"Having wished the consul good-bye we hastened back to the boat, and once more making sail, stood out of the harbour. The wind, however, shifting shortly afterwards, we made a stretch out to sea, thinking to fetch Carthagena the next tack, when, suddenly, it again shifted, and blew directly off the land; not a foot would the boat sail to windward, and as to pulling against it, that was more than we could do. When daylight broke, we found ourselves five or six miles off the sh.o.r.e, and drifting farther and farther away. Mr Desmond was in a great taking at not getting back to the sh.o.r.e; we lowered our sail, and I took to the oars, but it was all of no use. There was a good deal of sea on, and we did not even hold our own. The sea-breeze was longer than usual coming, and it was pretty well mid-day already. We had nothing to eat or drink since our supper in the prison. All we could hope was that the consul would get back and help our friends. At last it fell a dead calm; we then got the oars out again, and were about to pull back when we heard guns in the offing, and I guessed that they must be fired by the ship of war the consul had told us of. Mr Desmond thought I was right, and we agreed that we should serve our friends better by pulling off towards her. We had a long pull as you know, sir, and I am thankful that I was right; and I am certain it won't be Mr Murray's fault if he don't give the Dons a lesson which will teach them not to play tricks with Englishmen in future."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

PREPARED FOR ACTION--A MESSAGE SENT TO THE CARTHAGENAN COMMODORE--HIS CONTEMPTUOUS REPLY--THE SUPPLEJACK BRINGS THE CORVETTE TO ACTION AND TAKES HER--SINKS A BRIG AND CAPTURES THREE SCHOONERS--MURRAY VISITS THE CARTHAGENAN GENERAL, AND DEMANDS THE LIBERATION OF THE PRISONERS--AN OMINOUS REPLY.

The boats were manned, and every preparation made for the intended expedition. The danger was great, but Lieutenant Murray determined to risk everything for the sake of the object. Even had he not been deeply interested, he would not have allowed the insult to the British flag to pa.s.s unquestioned. His small crew were in high spirits, determined to dare and do everything to rescue the young lady and the midshipmen.

They, at all events, the Carthagenans had no right to detain whatever might have been the case with regard to the colonel, and the officers and the crews of the merchant vessels.