The Voyage of the Aurora Part 22

Tom pa.s.sed his hand wearily over his forehead, shaded his eyes with his hand, again peered long and anxiously over the gleaming sea, and shook his head despondingly. The bright vision had vanished, and he sank moodily down in the bottom of the boat, his arms resting upon the thwart, and his head bowed upon them.

Oh! that terrible time of _waiting_; with the sun beating mercilessly down upon their uncovered heads and scorching up their brains; with the h.e.l.lish tortures of hunger and thirst, already unendurable, momentarily increasing in intensity; with a horrible feeling of deadly weakness fast paralysing their energies and dragging like leaden weights upon their aching limbs, what wonder that each moment lagged until it seemed an hour, each minute a day, and that the hours stretched themselves out into eternities of overwhelming anguish! At last George feebly felt, with a curious mingling of despair and relief, that his own senses were leaving him. Soon the boat was--to his disordered vision--no longer drifting helplessly upon a lonely sea; she was tranquilly gliding under silken sails up the winding reaches of a gently flowing stream, the crystal waters of which flowed over golden sands and between banks of richest flowery verdure, with overshadowing trees whose boughs drooped beneath their load of blushing fruit; whilst, in the distance, palaces of whitest marble gleamed amid the many-tinted foliage, and all the air was musical with the songs of birds. He no longer felt the agonies of hunger or the fiery torment of thirst; he plucked the ripe fruit as the boat swept gently past, and his pangs were a.s.suaged; he no longer suffered from the scorching rays of the sun, for a silken awning floated over his head, and the cool breeze crept refreshingly beneath it and gently fanned his aching brow; and he no longer suffered from weariness, for his body reclined upon cushions of the softest down, and he felt himself gradually sinking into a luxurious slumber under the soothing influence of the most entrancing melodies.

"Ou ay; he'll do weel eneuch, he's comin' roun' brawly; it's joost a plain common case o' starvation an' exposure; there's naething complicat.i.t about it at a'; pairfect rest and a guid nourishing diet 'll set him on his pins again in less than a week."

Such were the words which fell upon George Leicester's ear as he once more became feebly conscious of the fact of his own existence. The words came to him mingled with other sounds, to wit--the creaking of bulkheads, the rattling of cabin doors hooked back to allow the free pa.s.sage of fresh air, the grinding of a rudder and the clank of rudder-chains, the sonorous hum of the wind through a ship's rigging, the flapping of a sail, the distant subdued murmur of men's voices, and the soft plashing of water. He at the same time became conscious of a gentle swaying and pitching motion, such as is felt on board a ship close-hauled, with a moderate breeze and a correspondingly moderate sea.

For a minute or two George felt languidly puzzled as to his whereabouts, but he was by no means anxious for enlightenment upon the subject; he was in a state of blissful comfort, and he was quite content to remain in pa.s.sive enjoyment of the same, to feel the gentle current of air softly fanning his brow, to yield himself to the easy, luxurious swing of the cot in which he was lying, and to listen dreamily to the soothing sough of the wind and the plash and gurgle of the water along the ship's side.

It was whilst he remained in this semi-conscious state of beat.i.tude that another voice broke in, in cheery response to the words of the first speaker, with--

"That's capital news, doctor; I heartily congratulate you on the successful result of your efforts. And the other one is also likely to do well, you say?"

"Ou ay; he'll do weel eneuch, too; though--mind ye--the puir laddie has had a narrow escape. But they're a' richt the noo; I ken richt weel what tae do wi' baith noo that I hae succeedit in bringin' back some signs o' life in them. And noo, captain, if ye'll excuse me, I'll--eh, weel! hoo's a' wi' ye the noo, my mon?"

This exclamation was elicited by the circ.u.mstance that George had at last mustered sufficient resolution to open his eyes and look curiously about him.

And this is what he saw. He saw that he was the occupant of a snow-white canvas cot, which hung suspended from the beams of a ship's roomy after-cabin, the situation of the apartment being manifested by the presence of stern-ports fitted with glazed sashes, all of which were open. There were also two side-ports, one on each side of the cabin, out of which grinned a couple of eighteen-pound carronades, the carriages of which, as well as the whole of the gun inside the port, were painted white. The walls of the cabin, the deck-beams, and the underside of the deck were also painted white with gilt mouldings; a few pictures--one of which was the portrait of a lady--were securely fastened to the walls; the floor was covered with fine matting, and a large writing-table with three or four solid, substantial-looking chairs completed the furnishing of the apartment.

But the chief objects of attraction to George were two figures, which stood beside his cot. One of these was a tall, lanky individual, clad entirely in white, with red hair, prominent cheek-bones, and a pair of piercing grey eyes surmounted by s.h.a.ggy eye-brows. The other was a shorter, stouter man, light-haired and blue-eyed, a genuine Saxon all over, his fair complexion tanned to a rich ruddy-brown hue, and with a hearty, kindly, genial expression of countenance which won George's heart in an instant. This individual was also in white, his clothing being reduced to a shirt and a pair of white duck trousers supported at the waist by a belt. George had no difficulty in deciding that he was on board one of his Majesty's frigates, and that the persons who stood beside him were her captain and the medico.

"Hoo's a' wi' ye the noo, my mon?" repeated the doctor, placing his fingers upon George's pulse.

"I--I--scarcely know," stammered George drowsily. "I feel all right and very comfortable. Is anything the matter? And--and _where am I_?"

"Ye feel a' richt, do ye?" returned the doctor, ignoring George's question. "Ye're no' hungry--nor thirsty, eh?"

"Not particularly," answered George. "And yet I think I could take some breakfast, if it would not be troubling--"

"Brackfast! Hear til him; brackfast! why, mon,"--drawing out a huge, turnip-like silver watch--"it's nearly sax o'clock p.m. Will a bite o'

dinner no' serve ye as weel? Hech, hech," and the queer, grumpy-looking visage of the really genial-hearted doctor beamed into a smile, as his lips uttered the strange sounds which with him pa.s.sed for laughter.

Doctor Pearson's laughter was infectious, perhaps because of its singularity. George smiled in response, and Captain Singleton smiled too; then, turning to the doctor, the latter said--

"My dinner will be served in a few minutes, doctor. If you think it would not injure your patient, I will send him in something from my table."

"Weel," responded the doctor with the caution characteristic of his countrymen, "I'll no' commit mysel' by any positeeve statement just; I'll wait and see, since ye've been so vera kind as to ask me to dine wi' ye. But I think I may venture to say that a wee drappie o' soup will no' hurt the chiel. And noo, wi' your leave, captain, I'll just tak' the sma' leeberty o' turnin' ye oot o' your ain cabin, as there's been an ample suffeecency o' conversation for the present."

The captain laughed good-naturedly, and turned, with a friendly nod to George, to leave the cabin. Doctor Pearson also turned to go, but paused for an instant to once more feel George's pulse, and then, with an amiable grunt of satisfaction, he also walked out, saying as he went--

"Never fash your brains, my mon, by wonderin' whaur ye are. Ye're in guid han's, ye may tak' my word for it, and in guid time, when ye're strong eneuch to talk, you'll be told everything. Noo lie still, and keep your 'ees open for a few minutes, and I'll see that ye hae a decent bit of dinner sent in til ye."

The worthy doctor was as good as his word; a substantial basin of nourishing soup, with a small quant.i.ty of fresh, white, wholesome cabin-biscuit broken into it--"soft tack" was a comparatively unknown luxury at sea in those days--and a gla.s.s of port wine being brought in to George by the captain's steward about ten minutes later; and, having demolished these, the patient once more dropped off to sleep, and pa.s.sed a comfortable night.

Three days more of Doctor Pearson's skilful treatment sufficed to put both George and Tom upon their pins once more, and then, and not until then, Captain Singleton asked of the former an account of the circ.u.mstances which had resulted in placing them in the desperate situation in which they had been found.

"Well," said the captain at the conclusion of George's story, "I heartily sympathise with you, Mr Leicester, in all that you have suffered, and I as heartily congratulate you on your plucky escape. It was rather a clever trick, the way in which those rascals took your ship from you, I _must_ say that. It is a wrinkle which, possibly, I may some day play off in turn upon their own countrymen. By your description of them, I should say that the fellows were undoubtedly pirates; the sea swarms with them all round about here--indeed, we are now cruising for the purpose of putting a stop to their depredations, and were returning from an unsuccessful chase after a very suspicious-looking schooner when we picked you up. There is one craft in particular--a barque of undoubtedly English build--which we are most anxious to lay our hands upon; her crew are a peculiarly bloodthirsty set of ruffians, and have perpetrated an unusually large number of atrocities. By-the-bye, did you not say that your vessel was barque-rigged and a fast sailer? I should not be at all surprised to find that she is the identical craft we are so anxious to get hold of.

Would you mind giving me a particular description of the _Aurora_?"

George, of course, readily acceded to this request, detailing with seaman-like fidelity every peculiarity of hull and rigging. When he had finished, Captain Singleton said--

"Thank you. The set of the spars and rigging, and the cut of the canvas, does not coincide with the description with which I have been furnished; but your description of the _hull_ tallies with mine in every particular, and I have not a doubt that it is the same vessel. And now, to turn to other matters, what do you propose to do with yourself when we land you at Kingston?"

"Well," said George, "I scarcely know; but I suppose I shall endeavour to get a berth on board a homeward-bound ship, or work my pa.s.sage home.

There is nothing else that I can do, for I am absolutely penniless."

"Well," said Captain Singleton, "if a sufficient sum to defray the expenses of your pa.s.sage home would be of any service to you, I dare say I could manage to raise such an amount, and you shall be heartily welcome to it."

"Thank you, very much," returned George; "but I could not possibly accept your exceedingly kind offer, even as a loan, for I could not be certain of ever being in a position to repay it. No, I shall have to get a berth of some kind."

Four days after the above conversation the cruise of the _Hebe_ terminated, and on the day following George and Tom found themselves cast adrift, as it were, in the sandy streets of Kingston.

They were not absolutely penniless, however; for, in addition to a good serviceable suit of clothes apiece out of the slop-chest, Captain Singleton had insisted upon George's accepting a ten-pound note, to meet their more immediate needs, and, being in a friendly port now, the two seamen had very little doubt of getting employment of some kind or other before long.

Their idea was first to make the round of the various shipping agents'

offices, and endeavour to obtain a berth on a homeward-bound ship. If that failed, then George thought they might possibly, aided by Captain Singleton's influence, obtain work in the dockyard at Port Royal; and, if the worst came to the worst, they could always depend with absolute certainty upon being received on board a man-o'-war.

In pursuance of the first-mentioned plan, they were wending their way along the street, when, as they pa.s.sed the entrance to a large general store, they were violently jostled by a man who was making his exit from the place with considerable precipitation.

"Beg pardon, shipmates, no damage done, I hope. I ought to have kept a better lookout when crowding sail to the extent--why--why--no, it _can't_ be; and yet--hang me if it _ain't_, after all. Well, this _is_ a pleasant surprise, and no mistake. Cap'n, how are ye? And you, Tom, how did them d.a.m.ned slave-drivers treat you?"

It was Mr Bowen, the late chief mate of the _Aurora_. He was dressed in the somewhat rough garb of the mate of a coasting schooner, but was looking well and hearty nevertheless, and certainly had nothing of the appearance of a man who had recently been suffering the horrors of slavery.

George and Tom both shook hands heartily with their old friend, and then Mr Bowen--who seemed to be pretty well acquainted with the town--led the way into a quiet, respectable tavern near the water-side.

Having called for some sangaree in honour of the unexpected and very agreeable meeting, George, at his friend's request, proceeded to recount all that had happened since the eventful morning when they were separated (for life, as each then feared) in the square at Havana. When he had finished the story, he added--

"And now, Bowen, my dear old friend, let us know how _you_ fared among the Dons."

"Badly enough, cap'n, badly enough," was the reply. "But you shall hear the whole story, such as 'tis. Maybe you happen to remember the chap as bought me--a tall, thin feller, with a nose like the beak of an eagle, and a wicked look in his glittering black eyes. Well, as soon as this here Don Christoval--that was his name--as soon as he'd bought all the slaves he wanted, we was all chained together, and started on a march to the south'ard. We travelled the whole width of that cursed island, taking two days over the trip, and was then shipped across in a little flat-bottomed sailin'-boat to the Isle de Pinos, where this here Christoval had a big 'baccy plantation. It took us a whole day, after we'd landed on the Isle of Pines, to reach the place, and on the following morning we were set to work.

"As it happened, I was the only white slave on the plantation, and, whether 'twas on this account, or whether 'twas because I was an Englishman, I can't tell, but I soon found out that all hands, from Don Christoval downwards, had a special spite against me, and seemed determined to make the place as hot as they could for me. I was put to all the heaviest and dirtiest work about the place, and if there was a job that had to be done after knockin'-off time, I was the man that had to do it.

"There was nothing but Spanish spoke about the place, so I very soon got acquainted with the lingo, whether I liked it or not; and almost the first thing I understood was that Mr Don Christoval had boasted that, fierce as I was, he'd tame me so that in six months I wouldn't dare to say my soul was my own.

"Well, you may be sure that my temper hadn't grown much more amiable from being made a slave of, and this palaver about _taming_ just made me worse than ever. I vowed by all that was holy I _wouldn't_ be tamed, let 'em do what they would, and a pretty miserable time of it this stupid vow and my own obstinacy brought me. They used to amuse themselves by seein' what they could do to rouse me; the overseers, as they were riding by, would pull up and begin to abuse and scoff at me, flicking at me with their whips all the time, and I dare say you know pretty well how clever those same overseers are with their whips-- they'll hit a fly twenty feet off. And when they'd see my eyes begin to sparkle, they'd just let out with the infernal whip, fetching me a regular 'stinger' across the shoulders, and gallop off, laughing. I can tell you, they made a regular devil of me before all was done.

"Well, one morning there was a regular rumpus on the estate. Don Christoval had sold some cattle the day before, and had been paid for 'em. The money was stowed carefully away by him when he turned in that night, and next morning 'twas gone--somebody'd crept into the house during the night, and had stole it. Well, as there was n.o.body about the estate but the regular hands, it was clear enough that some of these must have got hold of the cash, and the lying scoundrels had the impudence to say that I was the thief. They came down, two of the overseers did, and searched my hut fore and aft, from deck to keelson; but, of course, they didn't find it, for the simple reason that I hadn't took it. Hows'ever, they would insist that I knew where 'twas, and at last they dragged me up to the house, and told the Don that I'd took it, but that they couldn't find it because I'd hid it away somewhere.

"The Don happened to be just starting off for a ride, and was mounted on a splendid black horse. He sat there in the saddle and listened to all that the overseers had to say, and when they'd finished, he spurred his horse at me, and swearing that he'd get the secret out of me, if he had to cut my heart out to find it, raised his heavy riding-whip, and made a slash at me.

"Well, cap'n, and Tom, old shipmate, you needn't be told that I had already been made pretty savage by all this business, and when this hawk-nosed Don Christoval struck out at me, why, it just roused all the devil there was in me. I put up my hand--so--as if to ward off the stroke, and as the whip came down, I caught it in my hand, wrenched it out of the Don's grasp, and, as quick as lightning, returned the blow with all my strength, lashing him fair across the face and cutting his cheek open. He reeled backwards in his saddle, and I, first letting out right and left at the two overseers, who stood one on each side of me, and bowling them over like a couple of ninepins, sprang upon him, seized him by the collar, and dragged him out of his saddle, and, leaping upon the frightened horse's back, gave the poor brute a lash across the flank, which sent him flying down the road, through the 'baccy plants, and out upon the open country like a shot out of a shovel.

"Well, I don't know that I'd ever been on horseback in my life before, but somehow I managed to stick to the saddle, it didn't seem at all difficult, and on I went, straight ahead, as fast as the horse could gallop, for an hour or more, and then we fetched up somewhere on the sh.o.r.e. There was a schooner in the offing with the British flag flying at her gaff-end, and, as luck would have it, I'd just managed to hit the spot where a boat's crew belonging to her were ash.o.r.e, filling up their fresh water. I told the middy in charge who and what I was, and he shoved off at once with me, took me aboard, and told the lieutenant in command all about me; and, after knocking about with 'em for a fortnight, I landed here, just six months ago. And that ends my yarn."

"And what have you been doing since then?" asked George, after congratulating Bowen on his escape.