Mr Frewen

“ I felt then that I disliked Mr Frewen, who must be a cold-hearted, brutal kind of man, and I was not surprised at Mr Denning the invalid showing so much dislike to him now.
“Yes, he’s very bad,” said Mr Frewen at last, “I shall have to get ready a mixture for him—something pretty strong too.”
I was looking anxiously in his eyes as he said this, and then we both looked at Walters, for the poor fellow winced and moaned again.
“Yes,” said Mr Frewen to me, but watching his patient the while; “medicine is as a rule very nasty, and the strong mixtures worst of all ”

“ There was silence again, and as I listened for a voice, the lanterns forward swung to and fro, and so much water came aboard that I fully expected to see them extinguished, when all forward would have been in darkness.
“Is he never coming again?” whispered Mr Frewen at last.
“Oh yes, he’ll come,” said Mr Brymer. “They’ve got the grog forward there, and perhaps he has gone below.”
“Then why not crawl forward and clap on the forecastle-hatch?”
“Because it will be far safer for us to secure their leader; and, besides, by closing up the forksle you might shut in our friends as well.” ”

“ For there were Mr Frewen, the mate, and Barney Blane, all panting and eager to help us.
I told him what had happened, and Mr Brymer said quietly—
“On their own heads be it. This may act as a warning to them. But there must be no hesitation; our lives and that of Miss Denning depend upon swift action. At the first stroke of an axe, fire again.”
“I will,” said Mr Preddle firmly; and by the light of the lantern I saw that the chambers of his revolver were exposed, and that he was thrusting in a fresh cartridge. ”

“ Well, don’t let Miss Denning see you. If you had been knocked about like this in a struggle with those scoundrels under the hatch you would have won her sympathy; but a lad who goes and indulges in fisticuffs till his face looks like a muffin which has tumbled into the slop-basin, can’t show himself in ladies’ society till he has grown well.”
“Oh, I say, Mr Frewen!” ”

“ Mr Brymer fidgeted a little, and Mr Frewen saw it.
“Bear with me a few moments,” he said, “and I have done. I shrink, I say, from shedding blood; but if the stern necessity comes, I will strike home as a man should at such a time.”
“You—” began Mr Brymer.
“Stop, sir, and hear me out,” said Mr Frewen. “It seems to me that there can be no doubt of one thing: if we can shoot down—wounded, I hope—this man Jarette, we might easily master his followers.” ”

“ Then our silence was broken by a slight moaning, for the doctor had gone to attend Walters, where he still lay insensible; and after that I faintly grasped the fact that in that darkness aft Mr Frewen had been attending to the captain and to Mr Denning. But I knew it all in a very misty way, and then I knew nothing whatever, for everything was a blank till I started up excitedly, and Mr Brymer said—
“Steady, my lad, steady; nobody is going to throw you overboard.” ”

“ All this was in a whisper, and then we followed Mr Frewen to the shattered entrance of the saloon, and stood there looking forward, but seeing very little, though a white peculiar gleam came off the sea, and a couple of lanterns swung forward, by the side of one of which we made out the gleam of an oilskin upon whose wet surface the dim light played.
“He’ll be up by the wheel,” Mr Brymer whispered. “We must tackle him there; and once get him down, we can beat back the others. ”

“ Why, Mr Dale, sir,” he said, turning to me, “it has made you hot; your face is all over great drops.”
“Is it?” I said, rather faintly; “I suppose it is very hot.”
But all the same I felt cold and ready to shiver, while to escape notice I hurried aft and entered the saloon where the gentlemen were waiting, Mr Brymer following me in.
“Well!” he said eagerly.
“They’ve taken it to the last drop,” I panted, and then to the doctor—“Oh, Mr Frewen, I feel as if I had been committing a dozen murders. I wish I had not said a word about the soup.” ”

“ I glanced at Mr Denning, and saw him wince.
“Then you will agree with Captain Berriman and me that some very stern measures must be taken?”
“Yes,” said Mr Preddle.
“I do, certainly,” replied Mr Denning.
Mr Frewen and I were both silent; but at last the doctor spoke.
“What do you propose doing?” he said, rather huskily.
“That is what we are here to decide, and that quickly, for one or two of us must always be on deck. Can you suggest anything, either of you?”
No one spoke, and I felt that whoever did would feel like a judge condemning a man to death.
“Time is flying, gentlemen,” said the mate. ”

“ I was silent, thinking as I was how terrible was the slip my messmate had made, and seeing now clearly how it must take years for him to climb back to the position he held when we left the London Docks.
“There,” said Mr Frewen at last, “you need not be afraid, Dale. I shall treat him as I would any other patient. A medical man has but one aim when he treats a sick person, a surgeon one who is injured—to make the sufferer well again. ”

“ I had forgotten that,” said Mr Frewen, hastily bestirring himself. “Here, some one cried out when one of those shots was fired, and again I heard an exclamation just now.”
“It was Walters who was hit first,” I said, from where I knelt in the bottom of the boat.
“Where is he? Somewhere forward?”
“No; here,” I said.
“Has any one matches? It is impossible to see,” muttered Mr Frewen.
“He is hit in the chest, sir,” I said.
“How do you know?” cried Mr Frewen. “Is this your hand, my lad? What are you doing?”
“Holding my neckerchief against his side to stop the bleeding,” I said in a low voice. ”

“ Is it likely?”
“I beg your pardon, Brymer,” whispered Mr Frewen, “I did not know what I was saying. I was half mad.”
“My dear fellow, I know,” was the mate’s reply in the same tone. “I’m not going to give up, nor yet despair. There’s always a chance for us. That scoundrel may come to his end from a quarrel with one of his men; a ship may heave in sight; or we may board and surprise them, and if we do, may I be forgiven, but I’ll crush the life out of that wretch as I would destroy a tiger. ”

“ Villari,” said the planter. “But here is the situation—and I am sure your own sound sense will make you approve of Mrs. Marston asking Mr. Frewen to take charge of the Esmeralda. And, before I go any further, I must tell you that Mr. Frewen not only did not seek the position, but said pointedly to Mrs. Marston—only an hour or two ago—that he would be quite satisfied to sail with you as mate. He is as honest as the sun. Pray do not for one moment imagine that he has supplanted you.”
“Then let him come with me as mate,” urged the Italian.
Raymond shook his head. ”

“ That morning, by Mr Brymer’s orders, he filled a number of bottles with fresh water, and got ready a quantity of biscuits, which he was told to bear to the mutineers.
“But I dursen’t, sir,” he said. “That Jarette would swear I was a traitor as soon as he heard my voice, and shoot me same as he did poor Phipps.”
“What! the steward?” cried Mr Frewen.
“Yes, sir, dead, on the night they rose.”
“You rose,” said Mr Brymer.
“No, sir, I didn’t; I’m only a cook, and not a fighting man. One does lots of things when a pistol’s held to your head as you wouldn’t do other times.” ”

“ Mr Frewen drew a deep breath, which sounded to me as if full of relief, and the mate went on—
“It is not too much to expect that if at any time we make an attack now, some of the men will side with us.”
“Don’t matter if they don’t, sir,” growled Bob Hampton, in the deepest of deep bass voices. “We’re strong enough, if you’ll only give us a chance.”
“All depends on chance, my lads,” said Mr Brymer. ”

“ But it was no use to wish, for though Mr Frewen was sleeping, so sure as I nearly dropped off, Mr Preddle would put his lips to the hole I had made for my own torture, and whisper something.
“Dale, I’ve been thinking that if Mr Frewen could seize the man who opens your door and attends upon you, and hold him while you ran out and opened mine, you and I could then go and open two more cabins, and so on, and then we could seize the ship.”
“Yes,” I said heavily, and there was a pause. Then just as I was dropping off to sleep again—“Dale!”
“Yes, sir.”
“We ought to do it when it is dark. ”

“ Then the matter was thoroughly discussed, for Mr Frewen’s plan proved to be not so easy on consideration as we had at first supposed.
“You see, gentlemen,” said Mr Brymer, “it’s one thing to set a trap, and another to get your rats to walk into it. How were you thinking of giving it to them?”
“I thought dissolved in water,” replied Mr Frewen.
“Two objections to that,” said Mr Denning; “the stuff would make it taste, and in all probability some of the men would not take it.”
“I’ll answer for it that Jarette would not touch water,” cried Mr Brymer, “so that plan will not do. ”

“ And now that Mr Frewen did speak it was quite aloud, for there was no need for whispering.
“I was thinking about what Captain Berriman and Mr Brymer must feel,” I said.
“About the management of the ship? Yes, poor fellows, and both suffering too. You see that scoundrel has let the whole day pass by without letting me go and attend the captain. You are right, Dale, they must both be feeling horribly about the ship. Think you can sleep?”
“Sleep? No; nor you. It is far too rough for that. Think this is a good seaworthy ship, Mr Frewen?” ”

“ I said merrily.
“So they are,” he cried,—“worse. I feel sometimes as if I could kill them all.”
“Gone to her own cabin, Dale,” said Mr Frewen, meeting us at the saloon-door-way, and Mr Preddle looked at us inquiringly.
“Dale is afraid of Miss Denning seeing his wounds,” said Mr Frewen, laughing. “He does not think they look the proper kind to be proud of.”
“I wish you wouldn’t joke me about my bad face, Mr Frewen,” I said, as we entered the far cabin, where the mate was seated by Captain Berriman’s cot, and I was startled to see how changed he looked. ”

“ He fired, evidently aiming in the direction of Mr Frewen’s voice, for the bullet whizzed over the doctor’s head; when, without waiting for orders, Mr Preddle fired back, and his shot was followed by a sharp ejaculation, suggesting that some one had been hit; but directly after we heard a little talking, and several shots were fired at us, but without effect.
“There,” said Mr Brymer, “we have done our duty by them, we must now do it by ourselves.”
“If we could only master that one man,” said Mr Frewen in the little council of war which followed, “we could manage.” ”

“ Upon seeing this, Jarette said something shortly to his followers and they drew back, the door was closed, and we were in total darkness once again.
“And all that trouble, care, and suffering for nothing, Dale,” said Mr Frewen, dolefully.
“For nothing?” I said, sitting up. “Do you call it nothing to have found out that we have three strong men on the other side ready to fight for us? I don’t.” ”

“ But I don’t like firing until the last extremity.”
“I’ll speak to them,” said Mr Frewen.
“Very well; but get well out of reach. They will not be so merciful as we are.”
Mr Frewen went round to the bow-side of the hatch, and shouted loudly to those in the forecastle, with the result that the chopping ceased, and after a few moments’ delay Jarette’s voice was heard.
“You surrender then, eh?” he shouted. “Look sharp and knock off these boards.”
Mr Brymer could not help laughing aloud, and a pistol was fired in his direction.
“Stop that!” shouted Mr Frewen. ”

“ After this had been going on some time, on one occasion Mr Brymer, who had been aft at the wheel with Bob Hampton and had returned in time to hear the talking, shook his head and said to Mr Frewen—
“That sounds bad. They’re hatching a new plot against us. It is like having your ship on fire somewhere amongst the cargo in a place where you cannot reach. It goes on smouldering day after day, and you are in the full expectation of its breaking out. ”

“ You’ll have no other chance.”
“We shall see,” said Mr Frewen, coldly.
Jarette looked at him sharply, and then all about the narrow cabin before fixing his eyes again upon my fellow-prisoner.
“Look here,” he said, in a sharp, fierce way. “You’re thinking of escaping—listen to this, boy,” he added, turning sharply to me, “it will do for you too. Now don’t think any more about such a bêtise, doctor,” he continued, “for it is of no use. There is no escape for you. ”

“ Chapter Sixteen.
“Why didn’t you aim straight, man?—why didn’t you aim straight?” cried Captain Berriman. “You did not touch him.”
“I did not try to hit him,” replied Mr Frewen, quietly.
“Then why did you fire, sir? A loud noise is not likely to frighten such a man as that.”
“No; but the idea of being shot at, and the explosion of that loose powder about his ears has startled him, and he’ll be careful about coming up to the door to lay powder-bags again.” ”

“ But Captain Berriman agrees with me that it is our duty, unless we like to well provision a boat and leave the ship.”
“But that would be a terrible alternative,” said Mr Frewen, hastily.
“Terrible, sir; and a cowardly and unfaithful one to the owners of the vessel.”
“But can we not keep the men down until you are able to run into some port?”
“When we have run into the region of calms. No, sir, even if we had favourable winds we are horribly short-handed, and I should not dare to make much sail for fear of a change, and being unable to reduce it.” ”

“ Oh, my poor fish!”
“I hadn’t,” I said, “Mr Frewen wants to speak to you. He has a pistol for you ready for when we try to escape.”
“Oh dear! oh dear!” he sighed. “We shall never try to escape. We’re shut in here, and shall be drowned. Is the ship going down?”
“No, no; she’ll ride it out.”
“But those men don’t know how to manage her, do they?”
“I think so,” I replied. “I don’t half understand big ships, but they seem to be doing what my father would do with a yacht.”
“Let me come, Dale,” whispered Mr Frewen. ”