Arthur Lee Knight

“ What would the blacks do? That was the torturing question.
The band of pirates were pouring over the sandhills, yelling as they came and brandishing their weapons with fierce gestures. They were, however, a hundred yards in the rear and to the right of us. Every moment I expected them to open fire on us; but I suppose they were anxious to capture us alive, and I felt sure that we were caught in a trap—hemmed in between them and their allies the blacks.
Oh, how slowly that boat came lumbering along over the waves! I eyed her with astonishment. ”

“ These thoughts passed quickly through my mind as we sped across the sandhills. There was a very determined look on the gunner’s face and on Ned’s. They felt, I am sure, that the supreme crisis was at hand, and that in a few moments a decisive blow would be struck which would mean to us victory or death.
“Ha!” said my coxswain in a savage tone, “there’s the whole gang of villains!”
As he spoke I caught sight of a body of men running with great speed across the sandhills, as if in an effort to intercept us. ”

“ I had a mortal dread of this savage-looking animal, for I felt instinctively that if ever by good-fortune we should be enabled to make our escape from our present captors, the bloodhound would be put upon our trail to hunt us down. The reflection was a very disturbing one, and I strove to banish it, but in vain. Certainly no plan of escape seemed feasible, but a British midshipman is sanguine even when things look irretrievably dark, and, like the immortal Mr. Micawber, trusts that eventually something favourable will turn up. ”

“ Then the remembrance of the story of the valuable cargo of the Flying-fish flashed across my memory. According to the reports of the spies and guides, all this valuable booty which the mutineers had seized upon was stowed away in caves well known to their insurgent allies. Well, here was a cave big enough in all conscience to hold the cargo of an ordinary merchantman; but where in the name of all that was wonderful was this much-talked-of loot? I could see no traces of it, and I felt sure that my eye embraced the main portion of the giant cave. Stay! ”

“ It took me only a few seconds to rush down the embankment, and I at once caught sight of Charlie’s prostrate form extended motionless in the ditch. Close beside him lay the dead body of a seaman who had been shot through the head with a rifle-bullet just as we were about to rush the fort. In a moment I was at my friend’s side, half dreading that he might be dead too; for he lay motionless, with his white face upturned to the sky.
In vivid contrast to all the sounds of battle was the deathlike stillness of that gloomy ditch, where the two human forms lay inert and apparently lifeless. ”

“ Ned was always very sanguine, and consequently was often disappointed; but his courage was indomitable.
I now felt so much better that I seized a spare oar—of which there were several in the boat—and began to pull, begging the negroes to give my shipmates each a cocoa-nut, as I felt sure that they must be suffering intensely from thirst.
“Good idea of yours, Mr. Darcy,” said Ned, who had overheard my remark. “I just about feel as if I could drink a brewery dry at this moment. I tell you what, though; I wish that there shegro warn’t in the starn-sheets. ”

“ As we were gazing at them rather hopelessly, and demanding ammunition for the pistols, “Mother Bunch” produced a weighty-looking club, armed with metal spikes, from some corner of the stern-sheets, and with many grins and exclamations of satisfaction, whirled it around her head in a bellicose fashion.
“Bravo, my shegro brave and true!” shouted Ned in great delight. “We’ll let you go for some of them swabs and brain ’em by-and-by, jiggered if we don’t. Amazons aren’t in the running when you’re out on the war-path, I reckon!” ”

“ The glare of many torches was in my eyes, and was reflected on the irregular roof and walls of the giant cave with a strange and weird effect. These flickering rays of light also glinted with an almost dazzling brightness on the muskets and other weapons that lay about, and fell in a more subdued fashion on the fierce-looking visages of about a score of the inmates of the cavern, who had unconsciously assumed highly-dramatic attitudes. All had sprung to their feet, and some had drawn pistols from their belts, whilst others waved the bright blades of swords over their heads. ”

“ For the primrose streaks of colour in the sky had melted away as if by magic, and the glorious sun had recalled a sleeping world to life. In the roadstead our beautiful frigate lay calmly and serenely at anchor, her guns frowning from the portholes, and her shapely hull and taut spars and rigging reflected with extraordinary fidelity in the waters which appeared to sleep in the warm [Pg 72] rays of the sun. Astern lay the Flying-fish, which, though a well-built vessel, lacked the trim appearance and impressiveness of the British man-of-war. ”

“ They were stamped too legibly with the brand of their evil passions.
I had for a long time felt convinced that our captors had no connection with the Cuban insurgents, or with the mutineers of the Flying-fish. There could be no doubt that Mr. Triggs had surmised rightly, and that they were pirates first and smugglers afterwards. It was merely a coincidence that their great cave happened to be not far distant from our line of march; and undoubtedly our reliable spies had mistaken them for a body of insurgents, and had so led us astray. ”

“ I went up to the gunner and laid my hand upon his arm.
“Ned and I both think we ought to push on at all hazards,” I said. “I hope you agree with us, Mr. Triggs.”
“Yes, yes, I do, my boy. I’ve weighed the pros and cons as clearly as I can in my own mind, and you bet your life Tim Triggs isn’t the man to turn back and give the enemy a wide berth so long as he can steer a true course without a pilot. We’ve no chart, and are pretty well adrift about our bearings; but let’s forge ahead, and see if we can’t spot a landmark of some kind.” ”

“ The more I looked at them, the more I felt convinced that they were not Creole insurgents. At any rate, they were not the same men whose fort we had stormed and whose forces we had dispersed only a day or two previously. Neither did they resemble—except in their olive-coloured complexions—the dashing irregular cavalry which had met with the same disastrous fate. The men into whose clutches we had fallen were much more of the sailor type, and this impression was not given by the cut of their clothes alone. ”

“ Triggs was struck upon the right shoulder by a volcanic stone.
“Why, this is as bad as being under fire!” he cried, rubbing the injured part. “Carry on, Ned. Act as guide, like a good fellow, and try to steer for the coast on the opposite side of the island from the creek.”
“Right you are, sir; I’ll do my best, and no man can’t do more than that. We’ll give the lagoon a good wide berth most sartinly.” ”

“ This cave, in which I found myself a most unwilling prisoner, was vast in size and unequal in shape; but I could not see its whole extent from the spot where I lay. The sound of falling water was loud and continuous, and I fancied that there must be a cascade—invisible to me—falling through an orifice in the roof into a pool beneath. ”

“ I glanced at Ned. As was natural in a man who had passed through numberless perils, he looked quite unconcerned, but his bronzed face wore its usual determined expression.
The path, at first stony and precipitous, at length wound its way onward at a gentler gradient, and seemed to be nearing the base of the hilly slopes which flanked the savage ravine. The timber here was magnificent, some of the stately trees towering up with their spreading branches to an altitude of a hundred and fifty feet. Lizards ran about in all directions; dragon-flies darted hither and thither ”

“ To thread one’s way in a boat through these labyrinths of tiny West Indian islets is often an operation requiring great skill and nerve, and a thorough knowledge of the winding channels.
The world looked beautiful, bright, and happy, and as if wrapped in a sublime repose. How strange it [Pg 202] seemed that we should form part of such a fair scene! A band of bloodthirsty pirates, their souls black with recent crime, were indeed an incongruity in such a picture. ”

“ So near us was the ponderous beast that we could hear it forcing its way through the underwood as it followed on our spoor.
To my utter amazement Ned seemed pleased at an occurrence which seemed to me to sound our death-knell.
“Good luck! We must swarm a tree!” he cried. “Here’s one will do first-rate.”
I do not know if the gunner felt as bewildered as I did at this fresh strategy of my coxswain. At any rate he said nothing, but signed to me to scramble up the tree Ned had pointed out, the branches of which most fortunately hung low down. ”

“ I know well enough, through having chicks of my own, that sisters reads their brothers’ books when they can get a hold of ’em—you all of you know, through having read Mr. Darcy’s yarn, that he, the gunner, and my messmate, Ned Burton—as fine a chap as ever ran aloft or took his trick at the helm, though that’s neither here nor there—went off together to reconnoitre the enemy’s position. ”

“ One naturally hesitates to speak of one’s own acts on an occasion of this sort for fear of being thought egotistical; but being bound to describe what actually occurred, I cannot avoid stating that I saved my coxswain’s life on the occasion of this cavalry charge, and I am very thankful that I had it in my power to do him that service.
It was a simple matter. Just at the point where Ned was standing and forming part of the hedge of steel, the full brunt of the cavalry charge seemed to fall, and for a few seconds I really almost feared that the face of the square would be driven in. ”

“ Osborne—who had provided himself with a revolver—was to go in the first cutter with my chum, Charlie Balfour. These two boats the captain considered quite sufficient for the duty, especially as a complete surprise was intended, and it was known that the mutineers were very imperfectly supplied with arms.
With muffled oars, and long steady strokes, we pulled away over the star-begemmed waters for the long low vessel, which with her clear-cut spars and rigging, and somewhat rakish appearance, more nearly resembled a pirate than a peaceful merchantman. ”

“ The negroes and the negress kept up a really awful succession of war-cries as they rushed from one side to the other—at the imminent risk of capsizing the boat—brandishing their paddles, and bringing them down with resounding blows upon the gunwale, varying this procedure with firing an occasional pistol, and making imaginary stabs with knives. ”

“ Suddenly we arrived upon the verge of what looked like the large crater of an extinct volcano. Its edges were fringed with sparse vegetation, but within all was arid and desolate in the extreme, and the brown, bare, thirsty-looking soil was strewn with blocks of lava and igneous rocks, where lizards probably held high revelry whenever they felt in a “jinky” humour.
I jumped two or three feet off the ground!
The old greybeard, who was walking close to my side, had pulled out a bugle, on which he blew an ear-piercing and mighty blast. ”

“ I was awoke in the early hours of the morning by a chorus of shouts and angry yells, and a grinding and buffeting noise and vibration which seemed to shake our little vessel violently from her cutwater to her stern-post.
“We’ve struck on a rock, I’m afraid!” cried the gunner, starting up in great alarm. “I hope, if the [Pg 189] vessel begins to sink, they’ll knock off our manacles in time to give us a chance for our lives.”
“Maybe ’tis a collision,” said Ned, “and that would be as bad perhaps. I take it these furriners are only fair-weather sailors at the best of times.” ”

“ Where was the gang of shouting and yelling desperadoes, the chief, the mule-driver? Ha! where was my brave and faithful coxswain, Ned Burton? When I had last seen him—
The gunner divined my thoughts.
“I must explain everything hurriedly,” he said in a low rapid voice, “for at any moment that swab of a chief and his men may return. First with regard [Pg 149] to Ned Burton. I’m thankful to say the brave fellow lies sleeping over yonder in the dark shadow of that projecting corner. Don’t you see him?” ”

“ We at once told off a party to convey the wounded back to the shores of the creek, that they might be taken on board the frigate as quickly as possible. Mr. Triggs was placed in charge of this detachment, which included the prisoners, and had orders to rejoin the main body as expeditiously as he could, so that there might be no delay.
A fatigue party was also told off to bury the dead—a mournful duty which brings forcibly to one’s mind the horrors of warring with one’s fellow-creatures. ”

“ Every moment the scenery became more savage and more picturesque, the rush of waters from the valley and its offshoots more distinctly audible, and the slopes we were descending more steep, slippery, and rock-encumbered.
The swarthy Sancho, however, glided on before us, and led the way without a moment’s hesitation. He was a lithe, well-built fellow of about forty, and looked wiry and active. He carried in his right hand a sharp cutlass, with which he occasionally cut down [Pg 99] a creeper or some underwood that obstructed the way. There was no path. ”

“ We all required rest, and it had become absolutely necessary to refresh the inner man, marching and fighting having somewhat exhausting effects on the systems of even the strongest men. We had also to await the arrival of Mr. Triggs and his escort, before pushing on into the depths of the jungle. Meanwhile, the gunnery lieutenant sent out spies, with orders to try to ascertain the line of retreat taken by the flying cavalry, and to obtain any other news they could pick up regarding the whereabouts of other bodies of the enemy. ”

“ Once more the much-dreaded bloodhounds gave tongue, warning us only too palpably of the proximity of our ruthless enemies. The chief and his henchman Miguel had obviously been taking a survey from the lofty rock, hoping to detect some signs of our whereabouts; but now they had evidently taken up the trail again, determined to hunt us down mercilessly.
Ned again constituted himself our guide, and led the way swiftly but noiselessly. Several times we knocked our heads against the pendent creepers and the low branches of the trees, and abraded our shins against fallen trunks and half-hidden rocks ”

“ They seemed to have almost died away, but an occasional yell arose from some apparently distant spot in the forest.
Ned was in high feather.
“Well, I didn’t expect to succeed as well as that,” he observed, “for I thought to a dead certainty they’d twig what we was about, and follow down-stream. What a lot of owls they must be!”
“They may discover their mistake at any moment,” said the gunner. “Let’s make tracks for the sea-shore as hard as we can pelt.” ”

“ At the same moment the brig fired another shot, which also fell short.
We now saw that the two boats which had been towing the brig were shoving off in chase of us. Their oars flashed in the sunlight, and they seemed to be full of men.
“Pull like old winky, lads!” yelled Ned; “they shan’t have it all their own way, the thundering rascals!”
Mother Bunch resolutely refused to give up her oar; but Sambo went to assist her, and I double-banked the other negro’s. All aches, pains, want of food were forgotten. ”

“ I was determined, however, that I would not flinch from death if our murder had been determined upon, as I felt that it would be casting a dishonour upon our nation not to meet even that terrible fate with calm courage—hard, very hard as it seemed, to be cut off at such an early age, when life was at its brightest epoch. ”

“ A fierce hand-to-hand struggle had taken place for a few moments, but on every side our men were triumphant. The cavalry charge was fairly repulsed, and as the horsemen beat a hasty retreat they were terribly harassed by the withering fire of our riflemen. We had not gone unscathed, however, for one of our sub-lieutenants and a marine had been killed, and we had one man seriously and three slightly wounded. In the volley from their carbines the enemy had wasted their ammunition sadly, for not a single shot took effect, all the casualties having occurred during the hand-to-hand struggle. ”

“ I expected every moment to see Ned’s oar break.
Our eyes never quitted the two black boats that were pursuing us. The brig did not fire again, for fear of hitting them by mistake, but she kept her sweeps going.
I should think that for quite an hour this exciting chase went on. Once or twice the pirates decidedly gained on us, but on our putting on a spurt they again dropped astern. Their boats were heavily laden with armed men, or they would easily have overhauled us. Several times they fired shots at us with muskets, and once a bullet struck the stern of our boat. ”