Two Gallant Sons of Devon Part 7

"Um-m!" commented Bas...o...b.. "then, after all, there would not have been much chance of reaching it with our guns. Is it a strong place? Shall we find it very difficult to force our way in?"

"I have never been inside--the saints be praised--so cannot tell you very much about it," answered Pacheco. "So far as the building itself is concerned, it is a strong place, being built entirely of stone, with high walls, which are said to be nowhere less than three feet thick.

But the main entrance is guarded only by a pair of oaken doors--ma.s.sive, no doubt, but probably fastened only with bolts of ordinary strength; for who would ever dream of attempting to break into the Inquisition?

Heaven forgive me for affording information to these heretical English,"

he muttered under his breath in his native tongue; "but, indeed, if in their fury they should tear the place down, I for one should not be sorry!"

"Are there many troops in the town?" demanded Bas...o...b..

"About a hundred, ill.u.s.trious senor," answered Pacheco. "Five hundred are on their way down from the interior, it having been intended to send them home in the galleon, but I have not heard that they have yet arrived."

"If they had arrived, do you think you would have heard of it?" demanded Bas...o...b..

"I might, senor; but, on the other hand, I might not," answered Pacheco.

"If they had arrived and marched into the town openly, doubtless I and every other inhabitant of Cartagena would have been aware of the fact.

But, senor, your question has given rise to a doubt in my mind, and I am now wondering whether, in view of your presence in the harbour and your threat to bombard the town, his Excellency the Governor may not have taken steps to have the expected troops intercepted and introduced into the town secretly during the dead of night. If you were to ask my advice, senor, I should recommend you not to trust overmuch to the fact that I have heard nothing of the arrival of those soldiers."

"See here, sirrah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Bas...o...b.. suddenly rounding upon the man, "you are extraordinarily free and glib with your information. Now, are you a traitor to your own people, or is your information false and intended to mislead us?"

"Neither, senor, on my honour as a Spaniard," answered Pacheco. "The fact is," he continued in explanation, "that I have seen much of the English during my business as a seafarer, and have learned to like them, in spite of their overbearing ways and the fact that they are heretics.

Moreover, senor, you are about to attack the Inquisition, and good Catholic though I am, it would not grieve me were you to take it and give it to the flames, for I like it not, and that's the truth, the saints forgive me!"

"Now, gentles," said Bas...o...b.. "you have heard what Senor Pacheco has said about the troops, and if it be truth--as I doubt not it is--it behoves us to be careful how we thrust our noses into that city of Cartagena yonder. Yet go I must, and will; for it is not to be thought of that our Captain may be in their accursed Inquisition, perhaps suffering torments unimaginable, and we doing nothing to help him.

Therefore, in view of the possibility of those troops having arrived, and having been secreted somewhere in the town, I think we must modify our plans a little, to the extent, that is to say, of making the landing-party as strong as we can at the expense of the party remaining behind. Now, Mr Winter, what is the smallest number of men that you would care to be left with?"

"If I am to defend the ship successfully in the event of a possible attack," said Winter, "I must have at least twenty men. I cannot do with less. Leave me twenty, and you may take all the rest, even including young Chichester, who is like to be a great deal more useful ash.o.r.e than he would be with me."

"Very well," agreed Bas...o...b.. "twenty be it; you can scarce do with less, for it is more than likely that, while we are busy ash.o.r.e, they will endeavour to recover possession of the treasure. And now, Senor Pacheco, we shall need you as guide to show us the shortest way to the Inquisition. Art willing to do us that service?"

"I am, most ill.u.s.trious," answered Pacheco; "but, with your favour, senor, it must be under at least seeming compulsion, for if it were known that I did such a thing save under the fear of instant death, I should never again be able to show my face in Cartagena. Therefore, most valiant Englishman, if I am to lead you, it must be with my hands bound and a pistol held to my head."

"Very well," answered Bas...o...b.. "We will manage that for thee, old sea-horse, as natural as life, so that n.o.body seeing thee being driven along at the head of us shall guess but that thou'rt quaking in thy shoes at every step thou takest. Take charge of him, d.i.c.k; he is to be thy prisoner, remember. Bind his hands behind him so firmly that he cannot get away, and just tightly enough to leave a mark. Put a halter round his neck, and hold the end of it in thy hand, and threaten him with thy drawn pistol at every street corner. And now, gentles, to our preparations. Every man of the sh.o.r.e party shall go armed with hanger on hip, a pair of loaded pistols in his belt, a good bow in his hand, and a quiver full of arrows slung over his shoulder. We muster on the main deck twenty minutes hence, and the pinnace, with the interpreter's boat, ought to be sufficient to carry us all from the ship to the wharf."

The first half-dozen men who were ready slid down the ship's side into the interpreter's boat so swiftly and silently that they took her astonished crew completely by surprise, and held them in subjection until the rest were ready; then Senor Pacheco, slung in a noose, was lowered down the ship's side, and roughly ordered into the stern-sheets by d.i.c.k, who followed him there and kept him in apparent awe with a drawn pistol. Within the twenty minutes all were ready and embarked in the two boats--the pinnace having been lowered in the interim, when they pushed off from the _Adventure_, the attenuated crew of which bade them G.o.dspeed with a hearty cheer--and headed up the harbour toward the north-western half of the town.

The distance which they had to pull, in order to reach the wharf indicated by Pacheco, was about three-quarters of a mile, and as they neared the landing-place they perceived that a good many people had gathered, and were watching them curiously; but of soldiers there was not one to be seen, which Bas...o...b..confessed he regarded as rather a bad sign, as the absence of any visible inclination to resist their landing seemed to him to point to the preparation of a trap somewhere on the road. He asked Pacheco what he thought about it.

"G.o.d forgive me! I know not what to think, most ill.u.s.trious," answered that worthy. "But I like it not, for I think with you that the Governor would never permit you to land unresisted, had he not prepared a warm reception for you at some point where you will be at even greater disadvantage than you would be on the wharf. And yet I do not know how that could be either, for he has had no means of learning your destination, so how could he know where to set his trap? But, lest he should have guessed, I will lead you by the less direct way, for there are two roads by which it is possible to reach the Inquisition."

As the boats ranged up alongside the wharf, and the Englishmen mounted and formed up on the quay, the mob, which consisted of about two hundred wharf labourers, with a small sprinkling of half-breed women and fifty or sixty boys, gave back sullenly and scowlingly with a few low-muttered threats and an occasional hissing gibe of _hereticos_! But there was no attempt at violence except when some half-dozen boys began to throw stones. But the stringing of the Englishmen's bows, and the fitting of a few arrows to the strings, sent the mischievous young urchins to the right-about in double-quick time, and within a minute the landing had been accomplished and the march begun.

Pacheco, with his hands lashed behind him and a halter round his neck, the end of which was in d.i.c.k's hand, led the way, marching between Chichester and Stukely, the latter having come ash.o.r.e in Bas...o...b..s boat, bringing his case of instruments and a pocket case of drugs with him.

The road lay, for a short distance, along the water front, and they had not been marching two minutes before they came to a wide and busy street which seemed to run right through the very heart of the town to its farther end.

"That," remarked Pacheco, "is the direct road to the Inquisition, and it is for your excellencies to decide whether you will choose it, or whether you will go on and take the longer and narrower road to the same place."

"Which road do you recommend, senor?" demanded Bas...o...b..

"Nay, most ill.u.s.trious, it is not for me to recommend either," answered the Spaniard; "the responsibility is far too great for me--for if disaster were to overtake you after you had accepted my advice, I should be blamed for it. I can only repeat what I have already said, that this is the direct road to the Inquisition, and the road which the authorities will naturally expect you to take if they have any suspicion as to your destination."

"Then in that case," decided Bas...o...b.. "we will take the other one.

Forward!"

The march was thereupon resumed, the little band of Englishmen being followed, at a respectful distance, by a rapidly increasing mob which seemed, from its appearance, to be composed of all the ruffians and cut-throats of the city. But they did not offer to molest the invaders, beyond occasionally shouting insulting epithets at them, of which the English took no notice. The mob seemed simply to follow out of curiosity, and possibly with the hope of witnessing some interesting developments later on.

A quarter of a mile farther on they came to another street, not nearly so wide as the first--a street of lofty, more or less dilapidated houses, with narrow, cage-like balconies before the upstairs windows, and small cellars of shops on the ground floor. The street was paved with rough cobble stones, and sloped from each side toward the centre, through which ran a kennel or gutter enc.u.mbered with garbage and filth of every description, through which a foul stream of evil-smelling water wound its devious way. The street had apparently at one time been one of some pretensions, but had now fallen upon evil days and become the abode of a number of petty tradesmen, such as cobblers, sellers of fruit and cheap drinks, dealers in second-hand goods of every description, and riffraff generally. It swarmed with dirty, slatternly women, still dirtier half-naked children, lean and hungry-looking dogs, and lazy, hulking men with bra.s.s ear-rings in their ears, the rags of tawdry finery upon their bodies, and their sashes perfect batteries of murderous-looking knives. They were a villainous, scowling, criminal-looking lot of ruffians without exception, and low murmurs of anger and astonishment, not unmingled with dismay, pa.s.sed from one to another when the English suddenly wheeled into the street.

They gradually seemed to acquire courage, however, as they noted the small number of the intruders, and the fact that the latter took no notice of them, and presently, when the mob which had followed the English from the wharf swung into the street and began to explain in response to the questions with which they were eagerly plied, many of the tenants and frequenters of the Calle de Santa Catalina joined the procession, which by this time numbered some three or four hundred and completely blocked up the narrow street in the rear of the English. It was becoming an ugly, dangerous-looking crowd, too, the kind of mob whose courage grows with the consciousness of increasing superiority in numbers, and it now began to flaunt its fearlessness before its admiring women folk by joining vociferously in the insulting epithets which were now being raucously yelled after the little band of strangers. The situation was becoming distinctly threatening, and Bas...o...b..quietly dropped to the rear, for it was in that direction that trouble seemed to loom largest.

He had just joined the rearmost file when one boastful ruffian, egged on by the rest, suddenly ran out in front of the crowd and whipping a long, murderous-looking knife from his sash, hurled it with deadly aim at him.

Luckily for the master, he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and wheeled round just in time to parry the flying missile with the blade of his sword.

"Halt!" he cried, "and extend yourselves across the street, facing outward!" And at the same instant he whipped a pistol from his belt, levelled it, and fired at the aggressor, who flung up his hands and, with a shriek, fell prostrate in the gutter, with the blood rapidly dyeing purple the dirty white of his shirt. A howl of execration and dismay from the Spaniards immediately followed this act of retaliation, knives were whipped from their sheaths, and for an instant it looked as though the mob were about to charge; but the business-like prompt.i.tude with which the English fitted their arrows to their bows, and drew the latter, quelled the courage of their a.s.sailants for the moment, who contented themselves by yelling execrations as they lifted the injured man and carried him into the nearest house. Then, satisfied with the effect of their demonstration, the English resumed their march; but the mob continued to hang tenaciously upon their skirts, like a pack of hungry wolves, and it became every moment increasingly evident that it would need but a little encouragement to induce them to attack in deadly earnest.

In this fashion the English proceeded for nearly half a mile when they perceived what appeared to be a square opening out before them; and a moment later, as they debouched into it, they saw that this square was full of soldiers, both cavalry and infantry.

"Back for your lives into the street; you will stand a better chance there!" yelled Stukely, halting and facing the little band who followed him. But it was too late; the street behind them had in some unaccountable fashion also filled with soldiers, and the retreat of the English was cut off. They were trapped as neatly and effectually as their enemies could possibly have desired.

"Did you know anything of this?" demanded d.i.c.k of the man who had led them thus far.

"On my soul, no, senor, as I hope for salvation!" fervently answered Pacheco, looking fearlessly into Chichester's eyes.

"I believe you," returned d.i.c.k, releasing his grasp upon the halter round the Spaniard's neck. "Go, and save yourself while it is possible.

One of your own countrymen will doubtless free your hands; I have no time to do it. Go!"

"My thanks, senor; and may the Blessed Mother and the saints protect you!" And, bending forward, he went at a run, with his hands still bound behind him, toward the soldiers, who, seeing that he was an apparently escaped prisoner, opened out and allowed him to pa.s.s through their ranks.

At this moment an officer wearing a full suit of plate armour, and mounted on horseback, advanced, and, lifting the visor of his helmet, demanded, in fairly good English:

"Where is the officer in command of this force?"

"Here," answered Bas...o...b.. pushing his way to the front.

The Spaniard bowed. Then, indicating with a wave of his hand the troops present, which must have numbered some eight hundred at least, he said with a smile:

"Senor, do you need any further argument than these to convince you of the desirability of surrendering at discretion?"

"_A buena querra_?" demanded Bas...o...b.. who had picked up a phrase or two of Spanish during his conversations with Marshall.

"Certainly, senor, if, as I presume to be the case, you hold a commission from your queen."

"I hold no such commission, senor," answered Bas...o...b.. who began to realise that he and his followers were in a very tight place.

"You hold no such commission, eh? Then, is one to a.s.sume that you are merely a band of ordinary, commonplace pirates, eh?" demanded the officer.

"You are at liberty to a.s.sume what you please," retorted Bas...o...b.. "I repeat that I hold no commission, no authority save that which is conferred by my own sword. And I surrender _a buena querra_, or not at all."

"You surrender at discretion, or not at all, senor pirate. Which is it to be?" was the rejoinder.

"Not at all, then," answered Bas...o...b.. "We will fight to the death, rather than surrender to perish in your h.e.l.lish Inquisition!"