The Three Lieutenants Part 34

"I'm sure, at all events, to fall in with a slaver or two, or perhaps have some such work as that of Saint Juan cut out for me," said Jack.

"I am now, I believe, to be ordered to Havannah, so Johnny Ferong a.s.sured me yesterday, and as he is certain to be well informed, I expect every hour to receive my despatches from the admiral."

While Jack was speaking, a boat was seen coming down the harbour, and in a short time he received from the officer who came in her an order to proceed at once to Havannah, and on his way to keep a sharp lookout for slavers, of which it was known there were a good many on the coast. He at the same time got a letter from Murray, who had been residing with his friends at Saint David's since he gave up the command of the _Supplejack_. We may take a glance at its contents, which thus ran:--

"Dear Jack,--Since I cannot tear myself away from this Eden, though had I a pair of wings I would do so for a brief s.p.a.ce, to see how you are getting on on board the little brig, I must beg you to be content with the few lines I have the time to write, before our sable 'Mercury' starts for Kingston. I am, as you may suspect, supremely happy. Stella has recovered her spirits, and every day becomes more attractive. It is beautiful to see her watch over my young kinsman Archy, who is slowly recovering from his dangerous wound. The doctor says that had it not been for her watchful care he would have succ.u.mbed to the fever, which attacked him after his arrival here.

"You ask me when our marriage is to take place. Stella will not hear of it; her father's death is too recent; and she will not tempt me away from my duty, for she thinks that if I became a married man I shall wish to remain on sh.o.r.e; and I cannot help acknowledging that, in that respect, she is right. She wants me, at all events, to serve as a commander till I obtain a post-rank; and her kind friends here offer her a home till she has one of her own.

"I long for the time, however, when I may take her to Scotland as my bride and present her to my family. In truth, though I have often fancied that nothing would make me wish to leave the navy, I have begun to meditate doing so rather than be separated from her.

Perhaps, however, I may be able to persuade her to yield to my wishes, and as the _Tudor_ will probably remain on the station, I shall constantly be returning to port and be able to enjoy her society.

"I am sure, you say, to get command of the corvette, provided Grafton goes home; and the doctors say that there is no chance of his recovering out here.

"Stella desires to be kindly remembered to you, as do all your friends at Saint David's. You have won their hearts, I a.s.sure you, and they will be happy to see you whenever you return to Jamaica.

"They press me to remain here till I am ordered to join the ship; and as you may suppose, I am perfectly happy to accept their hospitality.

"My cousin Archy desires to be remembered to those young reefers, your brother Tom and Desmond. I hope some day to be among them and a.s.sist in keeping them out of mischief. Give my kind regards to Terence, and believe me,

"Your very affectionate friend,

"Alexander Murray."

Jack had no time to answer this letter, as, the breeze proving favourable, he was obliged to put to sea according to his instructions.

During his run westward he kept a bright lookout for slavers in all directions. It was just daylight; a mist lay on the surface of the ocean, which completely shut out any object at a distance; while a light breeze from the South-east filled the brig's sails and impelled her at the rate of two or three knots an hour through the water. Harry Bevan, who had joined from the frigate, was officer of the watch. The men, with trowsers tucked up and buckets in hand, were about to commence the operation of washing decks.

"I say," exclaimed Tom, who had been sent forward on some duty, "I never believed in the great sea serpent, but, as sure as I'm alive, that must be the fellow right ahead, wriggling along at a tremendous rate! If you listen you'll hear the noise he's making!"

"Broken water ahead!" shouted the lookout forward.

"That I'm sure it cannot be!" said Bevan.

He, however, as a precaution, brought the brig to the wind, and directed Tom to call the commander. Jack was quickly on deck.

"Keep her away again!" he exclaimed, after he had examined the object which had so astonished Tom. "That is neither the head nor tail of the big sea serpent, but a shoal of turtles, which having come from the Bay of Honduras, are bound for the Cayman Islands, where they are going to lay their eggs?" he said, laughing heartily at Tom's notion.

The brig was soon in the midst of them, their columns dividing to get out of her way. It was wonderful the noise they made, as their fins rapidly struck the water in their onward course. Soon afterwards the mist lifted, and the lofty trees which grew on the great Cayman could be seen rising out of the water some fifteen miles off, appearing like a grove of masts emerging from the ocean. Directly afterwards the mist, which still hung in the west, was swept away, exposing to view the sails of a square topsail schooner shining in the rays of the sun with snowy whiteness. Jack immediately ordered the brig to be kept away, and made all sail in chase. The schooner held her course for some time, but at length discovering that the brig had kept away, set also every st.i.tch of canvas she could carry. This at once betrayed her character, for had she been an honest trader, she would have had no reason to run from an English brig.

The crew felt as eager to overtake her as did the commander. It was the first of this sort of work they had had, and they indulged with immense satisfaction in the idea of carrying back a prize full of slaves to Port Royal.

Long Tom was got ready for action, as it was not likely that the slaver, if such she was, would yield without making every effort to escape. The chase showed that she had a remarkably nimble pair of heels, for fast as the _Supplejack_ was, after a couple of hours had pa.s.sed by, she appeared to have gained little or nothing on her.

"Do you think we shall take her?" asked Tom of Needham, who had been appointed as gunner of the _Supplejack_.

"If the wind freshens, and we have the first of it before it reaches her, we may get her within range of Long Tom, and it then won't be my fault if we don't bring down some of her spars; but if night comes on before our shot can reach her, she may manage to slip out of our hands in the dark."

"But we have most of the day before us, and we surely shall get up with her before then," observed Tom.

"You see, we have run on already two hours, and are no nearer than at first," said Needham. "If we were to chase her round the world, and she was to sail twelve knots to our ten, she would soon be out of sight, so I don't feel very certain that we shall have her ladyship; but if we miss her this time we may fall in with her another."

At the time the men were piped to dinner, the _Supplejack_ had not gained more than at first on the chase. Still Jack persevered, trusting that something might happen to favour him.

The men in their eagerness to watch the chase hurried up on deck, and the officers remained below as short a time as possible. Every expedient that could be thought of was adopted to increase the speed of the brig. Every variation of the breeze was carefully watched by Jack's vigilant eyes. Now he ordered a pull at the starboard, now at the larboard braces, while every inch of canvas that could be set was kept thoroughly wetted so that not a thimbleful of the precious wind could escape till it had done its duty.

The day wore on; it was tantalising in the extreme to see the stranger still keeping so far ahead. The breeze, however, at length freshened, and the stronger it blew the faster the brig sailed. She was evidently nearing the chase, but the sun, casting a ruddy glow over the western sky and across the laughing sea, was sinking rapidly towards the horizon, turning the sails of the schooner, which had hitherto appeared of snowy whiteness, into deep shadow. "Long Tom will reach her now, I've a hope, sir," said Needham, "and if we can knock away some of her flying kites, she may be ours before the day is over."

"Try, at all events," answered Jack, and Needham, giving a friendly slap on the breech of the gun, while he cast his eye along the sight, brought it to a proper elevation, and the brig yawing slightly, he pulled the trigger. The shot flew straight for the chase, but as Jack watched its course, he saw that it fell into the water short of the mark.

"It was not far off, though, sir," said Needham, "and if we hold on at the rate we are going, we shall soon have her within range."

The gun was again loaded, and after another few minutes Jack ordered it once more to be fired, but with no better success than at first, and, as he saw, it would be useless to fire till he had gained still more on the chase.

The lower limb of the sun had now, however, reached the horizon, below which the glowing orb rapidly sank, and the shades of night came creeping over the ocean.

Still the shadowy outline of the schooner, like a dark phantom stalking over the deep, could be discerned ahead. A vigilant lookout was kept, but hour after hour went by and the brig appeared to have got no nearer to her than at first. Jack and most of his officers remained on deck.

Towards morning the distance seemed somewhat lessened. He had his eyes on the chase, and could not help hoping that by daylight they might be near enough to try what Long Tom could do, when the sails of the schooner began to grow less and less distinct. He had a moment before seen her; he rubbed his eyes; she had disappeared! It was very provoking, still he could but hope that in the morning they would again get sight of her. Ordering the same course to be kept, he at length turned in, desiring to be immediately called should she be again seen.

When morning broke, a mist, similar to that which had risen the previous day, obscured all distant objects. A lookout was sent aloft, but he could see nothing; and when the sun rose in the sky, and the mist dispersed, the chase was nowhere visible.

"Better luck next time," observed Jack, when he came on deck, and he ordered the brig to be kept on her proper course for Saint Antonio, the westernmost point of Cuba. Several vessels were sighted during the day, but they were too far off to make it worth while, Jack considered, to go out of his course to speak them.

The midshipmen employed themselves in a variety of ways. Tom had, of course, brought Spider, who a.s.sisted them to idle away many a spare hour.

Tom and Desmond one day amused themselves by making a target of a piece of canvas. It was painted in circles of different colours, with a yellow bull's-eye in the usual fashion. This was suspended by a line at the end of a spar, rigged from the fore yardarm, on about a level with the bulwarks, and well answered the purpose intended. With half-a-dozen ship's pistols they began blazing away, sometimes. .h.i.tting the mark, though as often, it must be confessed, missing it. Tom proved himself decidedly the best shot. Desmond declared that his pistol somehow or other shot crooked whenever he failed to hit the target. They thus pa.s.sed away many an hour in calm weather, and Jack considered that the powder was well expended, as it taught them how to handle their weapons.

McTavish and the purser in the meantime got out lines and hooks baited simply with pieces of canvas, the former wishing to obtain some dolphins for examination, which had been seen darting through the water on either side of the brig.

"Hurrah!" exclaimed McTavish, "I have got hold of a big fellow at last.

Lend a hand to haul him in, Norris." In another minute a good-sized fish was hauled on deck.

"Do you call that a dolphin?" said Tom. "I thought a dolphin was a fellow with a big head and large fins, of all the colours of the rainbow."

"It is undoubtedly a dolphin," answered McTavish. "If you haul it out of the shade of the bulwarks, you will see that it is of cerulean hue.

There, it won't retain that colour long; it's changing already. Now it is purple, and before long, as its life ebbs, it will become black. But hurrah! I have another bite."

Three other dolphins were hauled up in quick succession, and taken forward to be anatomised by the surgeon.

Several spectators watched the operation. "Hallo!" cried McTavish, as he cut open one of the fish. "This fellow has swallowed something very hard;" and to the astonishment of all, he pulled out two bullets. In another were found three, and inside a third a similar number. There could be no doubt that they had swallowed the bullets which fell into the water from the midshipmen's pistols. The fact proved the rapidity with which dolphins are capable of swimming, as it could not be supposed that they had all been close to the spot where the bullets fell, nor could they have seen them till they reached the surface. As, however, many of the bullets had _ricocheted_ for a considerable distance, the fish had probably caught sight of them as they first struck the water, and darting after them, caught them as they began to sink.

The brig continued her course, and having rounded Cape Saint Antonio sailed eastward for Havannah; keeping, however, at a respectful distance from the numerous low sandy islands, or keys as they are called, which lie off the northern sh.o.r.e of the island, and have brought many a tall ship to destruction. At length the irregular outline of the hills above the magnificent harbour of Havannah appeared in sight.

A fair and fresh breeze filled the sails of the brig, and carried her rapidly towards the mouth of the harbour. Presently a lateen-rigged craft, a pilot vessel, came sweeping out from behind the high, threatening rocks, on the summit of which the ma.s.sive fortifications guarding the entrance of the port were now discernible.

The pilot vessel was soon close on board, but Jack waved her off, being very well able he considered to take in his small brig without a.s.sistance. The brig was now running through a channel between three or four hundred yards broad, and half a mile in length, which leads into the magnificent landlocked harbour.

High on the starboard side rose the ma.s.sive fortress of El Moro and on the port, that of La Ponta extending from either side of which could be seen the encircling line of fortifications which protect the city and harbour.

The brig, pa.s.sing through the narrow entrance, the whole panorama of the magnificent landlocked bay with its fleet of vessels, some at anchor, others moored with their heads to the quay, its numberless boats with lateen sails and hulls painted, some of a bright blue, others of a scarlet hue, and others again striped with green and white, darting about in all directions; its great square stone warehouses fronting the water; its many mansions, the residences of n.o.bles and merchants; its beautiful-looking villas, and groves of palm-trees; the high-peaked roofs of its convents, and tall grey towers of its churches rising above the whole, now appeared in full view. The brig appeared in a complete lake, the fort of La Ponta high above, near which she had pa.s.sed, completely shutting out the entrance of the harbour. On the sh.o.r.es around were seen numberless hamlets of every hue, the rich foliage of the tropical trees and shrubs, giving a cheerful aspect to the surrounding barren slopes, as did the bright green jalousies of most of the residences, and the flowering trees which rose among them, to the city. In every open s.p.a.ce visible were seen slaves hurrying here and there with heavy loads, seamen of all nations strolling along intermixed with the far-famed volantes, brilliant with burnished metal, rolling in and out of gateways, the steed which drew it, bestrode by a postillion, six or eight feet from the body of the vehicle.