Arthur Lee

“ 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. ”

“ He soon grew used to the motion, and a little later he and Arthur, with Nettie and her Doll, were seated in a big chair on Wheels, and were being pushed along a broad wooden walk by a colored man.
"Isn't there a big crowd on the boardwalk?" said Arthur to his sister, as they were being wheeled along. [Pg 88]
"Yes, but not as large as this time last year," replied the little girl. "Look out, Arthur!" she suddenly cried. "Your Bear is slipping! If he falls under the wheels he'll be run over!"
Arthur made a grab for his toy, which had been resting in his lap, but he was not quick enough. ”

“ Like an inrushing tide, determined to drive everything before it, our little naval brigade swept up to the attack, and with a ringing cheer threw itself, sword and revolver in hand, into the breach which the frigate had made with her shell.
A more diabolical set of men than those who clustered on the rampart to meet us I had never before seen. They were not in the least cowed by our determined attack, and met us with shouts of defiance and rage, some discharging pistols in our faces, and others pouring in volleys of musketry, which for a moment checked our advance. ”

“ 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. ”

“ At this moment the crash of a volley of musketry rang out above the confused din on deck. Then we heard shrieks and yells of agony mingled with the shouts of commanding voices and the baying of the bloodhounds.
We exchanged glances of astonishment and horror.
“Didn’t I say they were pirates?” exclaimed Mr. Triggs in an excited tone of voice. “This proves it. There is no need to be on deck to watch their villanous deeds, for ’tis all as plain as a pikestaff. We’ve run alongside some merchant vessel, and these precious scamps are going to board and take possession of her.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The booming noise of the waves breaking upon the beach was mild compared [Pg 165] to the roar caused by this buffeting of the great boulders. The storm clouds we had observed in the sky during the afternoon had all vanished, and the celestial star-gems, flashing and twinkling, shone down brilliantly from their setting of dark lapis lazuli. Not a vapour obscured the clear radiance of heaven’s vaulted dome, with its ghostly light from a myriad distant worlds.
Was that a dark-hulled, rakish-looking vessel I saw riding upon the sombre waters of the bay? ”

“ 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. ”

“ A fiction library may be made very interesting if it is so arranged as to represent the history of France or of England, or any country. From the boundless stores of fiction writers—in fact, from Scott alone almost—a sequence of volumes may be arranged which, if read in proper order, would make a very excellent romance history. Almost every interesting episode of history has had its story woven into romance. ”

“ We had now joined Ned.
“Here,” he said, shoving a sword and a pistol into each of our hands, and retaining a rifle himself, “stick to them weapons like grim death. Follow me, but don’t utter a word. This here earthquake may be the saving of us, and—”
My coxswain’s speech was drowned in the most extraordinary and terrifying noise I had ever heard—many degrees worse than the late subterranean thunders. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The volcano was now doing us another service. Through the darkened atmosphere it would be impossible for the chasing pirates to see us till they were quite close.
But those awful dogs with their deadly scent! I could not doubt that they would track us down long, long before we could reach the coast. And even if we succeeded in gaining the seaboard first, the chances were a hundred to one against our finding any sort of boat—at any rate a friendly boat. ”

“ The negroes were now as busy as bees. One of them handed up cocoa-nuts to Mr. Triggs and Ned, [Pg 275] while the other seized an oar and backed up my efforts to improve the speed of the craft.
We were steering straight out to sea. The surface of the water was less disturbed than it had been, owing to the cessation of the earthquakes, and light draughts of air seemed to be working their way up from the offing. It was probable that a sea-breeze would soon set in, and this might be of great benefit to us, as there was a mast and sail in the boat. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ I peered about me intently, fully expecting to see boats drawn up on the beach, and attendant crews waiting close at hand. Nothing of the kind, however, was visible.
“The chief will send up a rocket,” I muttered to myself, “and then boats will be dispatched from the vessel in the bay.”
How earnestly I hoped that the bandage over my eyes would not be examined by any of my meddlesome jailers! I considered it of great importance that I should continue to see, even to a limited extent, what was going on. ”

“ Charlie tried in vain to rise, and then sank back in an exhausted state.
“Give me a weapon to defend myself with,” he [Pg 38] said hoarsely; “I won’t be killed without a struggle, weak as I am.”
My friend’s faltering voice and pathetic request helped to recall my wits, and braced up my nerves like a powerful tonic. I darted to the dead blue-jacket’s side, and gained possession of his rifle and cutlass. The latter I handed to Charlie with the remark, “We’ll defend you, old chap, but you may as well have this bit of steel in your fist.” ”

“ Little tongues of flame and puffs of grey smoke darted from the muzzles of the rifles defending one side of the square, and the crash of a volley of musketry rang out into the air with almost deafening [Pg 80] effect. ”

“ Still we made the unwieldy old boat move; we could take that much credit to ourselves.
I glanced for the twentieth time at the brig. She was slowly but surely gaining on us, and Ned had been quite right about the boats—two of them had her in tow. How many sweeps she was able to utilize I could not tell, as she was at least two miles distant. I wondered how far her guns could carry, and whether, when the pirates found that there was no chance of a breeze, they would not detach the boats in chase of us. ”

“ By the powers, there might have been a pretty kettle of fish to fry if those Americans hadn’t turned up trumps. I was just on the point of spitting that skipper on the end of my sword when the fray began, and it was only when the master-at-arms rushed into the cabin of one of the ladies, with a couple of marines, and the handcuffs ready for slipping on, that her loud shrieks proved to me that there was something wrong. ”

“ 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!” ”

“ By all the laws of fence my antagonist’s life was at my disposal, and he should have been stretched upon the sward at my feet; but as ill luck would have it—we always attribute our misfortunes to ill luck, don’t we?—I slipped on a patch of wet grass, and fell prostrate at [Pg 42] the very feet of my foe, my nose coming into violent contact with a hard mound of earth.
Although this contretemps was most unexpected, and the shock considerable, I had presence of mind enough to keep a firm grip of my sword. One does not lightly part with a firm and trusty friend. ”

“ Triggs, not heeding this interruption, “that we make for another part of the coast of this island, and endeavour to possess [Pg 231] ourselves of a boat. We know that there are a few negro settlers living here, and if we came across any of them it might be possible to bribe them to assist us in our escape.”
“What should we bribe them with?” I asked; “we haven’t a dollar among us.”
“Here’s a watch and chain at any rate,” said my coxswain, triumphantly drawing those articles out of his pocket, and handing them over to me.
“Thank you, Ned,” I said; “you are a trump and no mistake. ”

“ The first cutter hooked on at the vessel’s starboard gangway, whilst we made fast to port, and quickly scrambled on board. The deck was deserted, and a deathlike stillness reigned throughout the ship.
I met Mr. Thompson and his party at the main-hatchway, and we proceeded to light some dark [Pg 17] lanterns we had brought with us, and get our revolvers ready for use.
“Mr. Osborne has sprained his ankle in getting out of the boat,” whispered the gunnery lieutenant, “and he is in such pain that we left him in the cutter in charge of the bowmen. We can manage all right without him. ”