The Three Lieutenants Part 28

The calm and dignified manner of the brave colonel rebuked the officious priests, and they returned without venturing to utter any of the contemptuous remarks which they had bestowed on his less polished fellow-sufferers.

Crowds collected in the streets to see the mournful procession pa.s.s: most of the Englishmen walked boldly on, with heads erect and undismayed countenances; many of them, indeed, scarcely believed that the government would venture to put them to death; the natives, on the contrary, fully aware of the sanguinary disposition of their countrymen, expected no mercy, but marched on with trembling knees and downcast countenances, expecting the fate which awaited them. They had been captured in open rebellion, attempting to overthrow the government, and were conscious how they themselves would have treated their enemies had they exchanged places.

The crowd gathered rapidly, eager to indulge themselves of the spectacle which was about to take place. Suddenly there came a booming sound of a gun across the harbour followed by the thunder of several others, one at short intervals much louder than the rest. The colonel and Captain Crowhurst turned their heads.

"Those guns come from vessels in action," said Tom; "perhaps one is an English ship; if so she is sure to give the Dons a drubbing."

Some of the crowd hastened to the harbour to see what had taken place.

The soldiers advanced with their prisoners at a more rapid rate than before; they quickly reached an open place just outside the town. Here they stopped, and presently several officers came on the field. The prisoners were marched a short distance to the front of the troops, who extended their line on either side of them. An officer of rank with his staff now rode up. Colonel O'Regan on seeing him stepped forward.

"General Carmona," he said, "I have been your enemy, and have no hope of mercy at our hands. I, therefore, do not ask it for myself; I speak for these men, who if they have broken your laws did so in ignorance; still more earnestly do I entreat you not to injure these two young English officers, who, as I informed your commodore, are entirely guiltless.

They were saved at sea from a wreck by the brig on board which I was a pa.s.senger, and if you put them to death you will bring the vengeance of their countrymen on your head; you may have some excuse for shooting me, but you will have none if you murder them, for murder it will be, whatever you may call it."

This address seemed to have some effect on the general, who, however, issued no counter-orders to the officers charged with the execution of the prisoners. The colonel, with the two masters and their four mates, together with the princ.i.p.al natives (all of whom appeared to be of the rank of officers) were placed in a row, when several soldiers came behind them for the purpose of binding handkerchiefs over their eyes.

The colonel turned round to the men who were about to perform that office for him with a calm smile.

"I desire to gaze my last on the blue sky above us," he said gently.

"Let me at least die like a soldier--it is the only favour I ask."

His companions followed the colonel's example, and begged to be allowed to die with eyes unbound. The general now ordered the officer in command of the firing-party to hurry his preparations.

"As you have so many to dispose of, it would have made shorter work had you placed them all together," he shouted out.

The rest of the prisoners had, in the meantime, been led on one side to await their turn. The firing-party now advanced--the doomed men gazed at them with pale, though undaunted countenances. The commanding officer, in a loud, harsh voice, gave the usual order, "Make ready,"

"Present," then came the fatal word--"Fire!" Some fell forward, shot dead; others were struggling and writhing on the ground; Colonel O'Regan alone was standing upright. It was but for a moment; he was seen to stagger forward, then to fall heavily on his face. Regardless of the danger they ran from the firing-party, who advanced to plunge their bayonets into the bodies of those who still had life in them, Tom and Archy dashed forward with the idea of helping their unfortunate friend.

They attempted to raise him, but the expression of his countenance, and the blood oozing from a wound in his breast, told them but too truly that all was over; and had not their guards, who were alarmed on their own account at having allowed them to escape, dragged them back they would probably have been bayoneted on the spot. Just then an officer, who came galloping up with looks of consternation on his countenance, informed the general that his corvette, the chief vessel of his navy with which he believed that he could defy the world, had struck her flag to a British brig-of-war, and that his brig had been sent to the bottom.

The news produced an electric effect on him and his officers. He at once gave orders that the surviving English prisoners should be conducted back to gaol under charge of a small body of troops, while the rest were marched off to the batteries.

"We have had a narrow escape," said Tom to Archy, not at the time aware to what cause they were indebted for their preservation. "We ought indeed to be thankful; but I would have given anything to have saved the colonel. Poor Miss O'Regan, what will she do with no one to look after her?"

"But we will do our best!" answered Archy; "and as I have a notion that she will some day be my cousin, I have a sort of right, you know, to watch over her."

"But in the meantime what shall we say to that poor young lady?" asked Tom.

"I haven't the heart to tell her that her father has been shot,"

answered Archy, "though, of course, something must be said; we must not tell her a falsehood, that's certain."

"Then we must just say that we were marched out into the country, when firing was heard which we have no doubt came from an English ship of war, and then we were marched back again," said Tom. "If she asks any further questions we need not say anything more, and perhaps before long we shall all be on board, when she will be better able to bear her misfortune than she would be shut up in prison."

Much to their satisfaction the midshipmen were taken back to the room they had before occupied. The great drawback, however, was the fear they felt of being cross-questioned by Miss O'Regan. They had not been there long before they heard the gaoler's wife go into her room; and they guessed that she would tell the poor girl more than they themselves could venture to do.

There was a great deal of talking, and after some time the old woman went away. Scarcely had she gone than Miss O'Regan opened their door.

"I have important news for you," she exclaimed, in an animated tone: and she gave them the information she had just heard, that an English brig-of-war had captured the whole of the Carthagenan fleet, and that the authorities as well as the people were in a state of the greatest possible alarm and agitation.

"We may expect therefore to be speedily liberated," she added. "My poor father must also be set free."

She had been so interested in describing what she had heard that she did not make the inquiries they expected, and the midshipmen were saved the pain of informing her of her father's death.

They pa.s.sed the next two hours in a state of great anxiety; at last footsteps were heard, and voices coming towards their room. Their door was thrown open and there stood Lieutenant Murray, Gerald Desmond, Needham, and several strangers, one of whom was in the consular uniform.

The former giving them a smile of recognition, hurried into Miss O'Regan's room, and Paddy Desmond, after warmly shaking hands, began recounting to them the adventures he and Needham had gone through. They in return had a sad tale to tell of the events which had lately occurred. It was cut short by the reappearance of Murray with Miss O'Regan leaning on his arm, followed by Polly carrying the box with her mistress's wardrobe.

"Now, young gentlemen," said the consul, "we have come to conduct you to my house, where no one will dare to molest you, and I daresay that you will be glad to get out of the prison."

"Yes, indeed we shall, sir," answered Tom, "but I should like to wish the gaoler's wife good-bye."

"I am sorry to tell you that she and her husband have been dismissed from their post, and are now themselves confined in one of the cells in which they have been accustomed to lock up others. However, I will do my best for them, and in a short time there will be another change of government, when they will probably be reinstated. They are accused of having connived at the escape of your companions, and I can probably help them by explaining how it occurred."

Murray had thought it better not to tell Stella of her father's death.

Her suspicions, however, had been aroused, and she pathetically begged that she might see him.

"It is impossible," answered Murray. "Let me entreat you not to inquire further at present, and you shall be informed of all that has happened as soon as we reach the consul's house."

Stella was silent. The dreadful truth began to dawn on her. She dare not ask another question.

With no small satisfaction the party found themselves outside the prison walls. They were not interfered with by the populace, who regarded the conqueror of their fleet rather with awe and respect than any vindictive feelings. The vice-consul's Spanish wife received the young English lady with a kind welcome, and did her best to prepare her for the afflicting intelligence she was to hear. Murray undertook the task.

Her grief was too great for tears.

"I was prepared for it," she said, at length. "A fearful foreboding of evil has oppressed me since we sailed from Antigua. I cannot help thinking that he himself felt that such might too probably be his fate, yet he braved it under the belief that he was engaged in the cause of humanity."

The consolation Murray offered was not without its due effect.

"There is one, at all events, who will take your father's place, and joyfully devote his life to your service and to watching over you with the tenderest love," he said, taking her hand.

"I know it," she answered, "and my father often expressed his satisfaction at the thought that I might some day become your wife."

Stella had another trial to undergo when receiving from Tom and Archy the last message which her father sent her.

Although the consul promised to protect her, and the ladies of the family treated her with the greatest sympathy and kindness, she was naturally anxious to join her friends in Jamaica, and Murray was also unwilling that she should remain longer on sh.o.r.e than possible.

There were few places at that time more disorganised and disturbed than Carthagena. The consul himself and his family, indeed, were frightened, and gladly accepted Murray's invitation to take up their quarters on board the _Supplejack_, till matters were in a more settled state on sh.o.r.e. The consul's boat was in readiness, and the whole party were soon a.s.sembled on the deck of the brig. Their departure showed the government that the commander intended to carry out his threat of sending for a fleet to bombard their town should his demands not be complied with. Another messenger was therefore despatched to hasten the departure of the captured merchantmen, which, the wind being favourable, within the time allowed were seen entering the harbour.

As his duty would not allow Murray to leave Carthagena until he had received instructions from the admiral, he determined forthwith to send the _Sarah Jane_ with an account of the event which had occurred, and to ask for instructions.

As soon as she came to an anchor, Higson, Tom, and Archy, with a boat's crew were sent on board. Great was the midshipmen's delight when they stepped on deck to see "Master Spider" on the top of the caboose, apparently on excellent terms with his new a.s.sociates; he knew his old friends, however, at once, and came hopping down to greet them with every demonstration of pleasure.

The brig was in a terribly dirty condition, and the furniture of the cabin was considerably damaged, while the greater part of her cargo and every article of value had been carried off.

The native crew was sent on sh.o.r.e, and Murray picked out the most respectable of her former ship's company, with two or three of the best men out of the sloop to man her, promising them a handsome reward if they behaved well.

Though he could ill spare Higson, there was no one else to whom he could entrust the command of her.

He felt bound also to send the three midshipmen back to their ships, and the confidence he had in Needham made him resolve to send him, and in addition he picked out four good men from the _Supplejack_.

"I hope we have made up a tolerable ship's company for you, Higson," he said; "keep a watchful eye over them, and do not trust them too much; they have ample inducement to behave well, but they have been so long, I suspect, engaged in lawless pursuits, that it is impossible to say what tricks they may take it into their heads to play."

Murray was constantly on board the _Sarah Jane_, endeavouring to restore her cabin to its former state of comfort. He felt that Stella could not stay on board the _Supplejack_ with him, and painful as it was to part with her, his only course was to send her at once to her friends in Jamaica.

She herself saw the propriety of this, and made no demur. "I can trust you confidently to the care of Mr Higson and your former young protectors," he said, as he made the proposal. "As soon as duty will allow me I hope to return to Jamaica, and then I trust that nothing will occur to prevent me from making you mine, and giving me the right to protect and watch over you."