Harry Collingwood

“ No man could do more. Just put your doublet under my head to keep it off the hard stone, dear lad; and oh, Roger, do not weep so bitterly; it tears my heart to see you. I feel but little pain now, and what still remains will not be for long. Now, Roger, listen to me, my friend. I shall be gone very soon; do not, I pray you, stay grieving over my body after I am dead, for that will avail me nothing, and only involve you in my fate. Therefore, get those tools and cut away at that grating, so that you will be ready when that unknown friend of ours comes to assist you to escape. Promise me, Roger. ”

“ The long-drawn shriek continued for some moments, and then died down again to a low, moaning sound; then it rose again, and changed into a series of short yapping cries of anguish, almost like the barking of a dog; then it ceased.
“What on earth is that, Harry?” ejaculated Roger, looking at his friend, on whose forehead the cold perspiration was now standing in beads. “What an awful sound!”
“I am afraid, my friend,” replied Harry, “that it means that some poor mortal is undergoing torture almost greater than he can bear. What devils these inquisitors are! ”

“ Soon the irons were white-hot, and the chief driver called to us in Spanish: ‘We must escape that cursed heretic-ship yonder. Now, you all see these irons? If I see one of you flagging in your efforts, that man will be branded with them, and when we get into harbour will be handed over to the office of the Holy Inquisition as a heretic and an aider and abettor of heretics.’ This cruel threat drove us all nearly mad, and—for we knew what that meant—our muscles cracked again as we laboured on at the oars, hampered as we were by the bloody corpses of our fellow-slaves. ”

“ But at last, with lungs bursting and almost suffocated, they shot up to the heaving surface of the sea, clinging tightly to each other.
And there—oh, blessed sight!—not twenty fathoms away, lay their own ship, dismasted and looking an utter wreck, but more beautiful to their eyes than any palace.
From her decks there came a shout: “There they are! there they are! Lower away a boat! lower quickly, or the sharks will have them!”
In a few minutes the only remaining boat belonging to the ship was lowered, and a dozen willing arms were sending her flying over the water towards the two lads. ”

“ With our full crew we might perhaps have been a match for the English ship in point of speed, but half our galley-slaves were killed, and the Englishman, having now cut away his drag, was coming up with us hand over hand. The slave-drivers came down among us, and, standing on the drivers’ plank, running down the centre of the galley, drove us to superhuman exertions by the merciless blows of their heavy-thonged whips, the lashes of which were plaited up with small lead balls on them. ”

“ Answer me!”
“Yes,” replied Harry, “we belonged, and consider that we still belong, to the ship of Mr Cavendish, who is no pirate, but a noble and true English gentleman.”
“Silence!” snarled Alvarez. “Do not dare to speak in that way to me! Answer my questions only, and make no remarks of your own. I say that the man Cavendish is a pirate, and that is sufficient. Now, you are both heretics, that I know, and I am shortly going to the trouble of attempting to convert you to the only true faith, through the gentle, loving, and persuasive methods applied to heretics by the most Holy Inquisition. ”

“ The foaming crests of the sea were ablaze with phosphorescence, and appeared to tower above the poop as high as the main-topsail-yard, and the sight of them sweeping along after the ship was positively appalling. The wind now began to increase in violence, literally tearing off the summits of the huge waves and sending them in spindrift hurtling across the deck like showers of shot that cut the face like the lash of a whip. ”

“ Like magic, the lights flared up from all parts of the town, and aboard all the vessels in the bay, as also in the fort at the opposite extremity of the roadstead. The war-ship herself became a blaze of illumination, as did also her consort, which could now be seen lying but a half-cable’s-length distant, and which also opened a tremendous fire upon the flag-ship. The other two ships of the English squadron, meanwhile, had shifted their helms and were fast approaching, guided by the flashing of guns and the uproar of the action. ”

“ He spoke no more, for one of the officers, fearing the effect his words might have on the superstitious seamen, seized him by the shoulders and hustled him down the long aisle of the building and through the door into the street.
Harry and Roger could not bring themselves to take part in the shocking work of desecration, and were standing some distance away, surveying the scene with disgust, when suddenly above the bestial shouts and uproar came the cry: “Save yourselves, lads, run! There is no time to lose; the church is on fire! Run! Run!” ”

“ His wandering eye caught sight of Roger’s familiar form; he called his friend to him, and Roger assisted him to his feet. Harry quickly recovered, but said that he felt rather sick and faint after what he had seen, and his head was aching rather badly.
“Oh, Roger, what fiends in human shape are those men!” he exclaimed. “They cut and slash and burn the living bodies of their fellow-men until they lose all semblance of human beings. Surely some judgment from heaven will some day fall upon them for committing such awful deeds!” ”

“ Sail was hoisted and, the flag-ship leading, the little squadron passed out between the heads one after another on their way to the coast of Mexico; and by evening the island was merely a long grey line on the eastern horizon, while all eyes were strained toward the golden west, each man eager for the first sight of a sail that might prove to be a richly-laden galleon, or even the pirate José Leirya. ”

“ Presently they saw her yards thrown aback, and she came up into the wind, remaining hove-to until a boat was lowered, and then slowly tacking to and fro opposite them. The watchers on the beach saw the boat lowered down the side, and the men scramble into her; then they saw the sunlight glitter on the oar-blades as they dipped into the water and the boat shot away from the parent vessel’s side. She came rushing toward the beach as fast as the arms of a dozen lusty men could drive her, her coxswain standing up in the stern-sheets and peering eagerly ahead at the island. ”

“ My sister has ever loved your mother, and I think your mother has some little affection for the maid; and I am sure, therefore, that she would be happy with your folk.”
“Let us then consider the matter as settled, so far as we are concerned, Harry,” said Roger; “and let us pledge each other to sail together; to stand by each other through thick and thin, through fair and foul; to share all dangers; and to divide equally all plunder that we may obtain from the rascally Dons. Then I will away to consult my folk; and you shall come too, Harry, and add your persuasions to mine. ”

“ Harry!” he cried distractedly, “come and help me; I am here below drowning! Help! help!”
There was no reply.
But a sound that he had heard before without attaching much importance to it now forced itself upon his attention; it was the swishing of water; and, looking over the edge of his bunk he saw that water was already rising fast over the floor of the cabin. Desperation now lent him strength, and, pulling himself together with a violent effort, he slowly and painfully rose upright and put his legs over the edge of the berth. ”

“ To help you hunt down that bloody pirate, however, I will tell you that he intended sailing up through the bays of Honduras and Guatemala, and through the Yucatan channel into the Gulf of Mexico, to cruise there for merchantmen sailing to and from Vera Cruz and the other ports. And it is there that you will find him, sirs. Chase him; run him down; take him, at all costs, and hang him and his crew from his own yard-arm, and burn his ship; so shall you exterminate one of the most cruel, ferocious, bloodthirsty devils who ever sailed the sea, and avenge me, sirs. For I shall soon die ”

“ José may, or may not, know by this time that I have the key to the hiding-place of his treasure; but if he does he will not dare to remove it and attempt to bury it elsewhere; for all in the ship are aware of what took place when he first buried it, and none would go with him again to assist him, and he could not undertake the job alone. Besides, he has always expressed the utmost confidence that no one could ever translate the cipher without the key, and that he carries in his own brain; so he will almost surely leave his wealth where it is. ”

“ Harry was the first to recover his presence of mind, and he spoke to Roger.
“Come, come, Roger, lad,” said he; “pull yourself together, my friend. If they are indeed coming for us, we must make up our minds to endure it as best we can, even as we have done before. And perchance we are mistaken, and they do not intend to torture us at all.” ”

“ Over a hundred of the natives lay dead on the sands; and a number of wounded were seen crawling towards the brush, endeavouring to escape. They were allowed to go, as the English could not be burdened with wounded savages, and were indisposed to slay them in cold blood. There were twenty-three of the Englishmen who would never again answer the roll-call; and over forty wounded, who were conveyed on board the Good Adventure and the Elizabeth, afloat in the bay. The dead, both black and white, were, for health’s sake, immediately buried in the sand where they lay. ”

“ Roger soon found his two men, and the boat was got ready and over the side in a very few minutes; yet, quick as he had been, he perceived as he pushed off that Mr Leigh’s boat was already some distance on her way to the other ships.
“Now, give way, men, with a will!” cried the lad, encouragingly. “You heard what Mr Cavendish said—there is not a moment to lose if we are to get that man off, and the ship too, ere the gale breaks. And indeed I like not the look of the weather at all. It fast grows more threatening, and we shall be lucky if we get back to the fleet in time. ”

“ He may perceive that we are sailing into danger, and wish to warn us from approaching any closer before it be too late.”
“Zounds, boy!” shouted Cavendish, “’fore Heaven I believe that you may be right in your assumption!”
Then, turning to the crew: “All hands stand by to veer ship!” he cried.
But even as he spoke there was a sudden check to the vessel’s way, and almost instantly she stopped dead, the sudden shock throwing more than one man prostrate on the deck. At the same moment the leadsman in the chains gave his warning cry: “Three fathoms only, and shoaling fast!” ”

“ My life is too valuable to me to risk it even for the pleasure of slaying an Englishman; and the sea will soon send the youngster to the nether world.” And he rushed from the cabin, leaving the papers and charts strewn on the floor at the foot of the escritoire.
By this time Roger was pretty fully awake to a knowledge of his great and pressing danger. Here he was, weak and dazed to the point of utter helplessness, on board a fast-sinking ship, with none to render him aid, and feeling quite unable to move without it.
“Oh, God help me!” he moaned; “what a miserable death to die! Harry! Harry! ”