The Queen's Cup by G. A. Henty
Chapter 18.
In a couple of minutes they had gained it.
"Anyone hurt?" Frank asked.
One of the boatmen had an arm broken by a bullet, and two of thesailors had received spear wounds at the hands of the villagers.They were not serious, however, and leaving George Lechmere tocover the rear, they started up the path; Dominique, as usual,leading the way, Frank following behind him with Bertha, who hadhitherto not spoken a word.
"Am I dreaming?" she asked now, in a tone of bewilderment. "Is itreally you, Frank?"
"You are not dreaming, dear, and it is certainly I--Frank Mallett.Now tell me how you got on."
"As well as might be, Frank, but it was a terrible time. Please donot talk about it yet. But how is it that you are here? It seems amiracle.
"Oh, how ill you are looking! And your arm is in a sling, too."
"That is nothing," he said; "merely a broken collarbone. As to mylooking ill, you must remember, I have had almost as anxious a timeas you."
"Then it was the Osprey, after all," she exclaimed, suddenly, "thatwe saw the last day that we were out sailing. We were on deck, andI was not noticing--I did not notice much then--when Anna said tome, 'That looks like an English yacht, miss. I am sure Mr. Carthewthinks she is chasing us.'
"Then I got up and looked round. I could not see for certain, butit did look like a yacht, and I thought that it was about the sizeof the Osprey. Those two men were standing with their backs to uslooking at it through their glasses, and Carthew happened to turnround and saw me standing up, and at once said: 'You must go below.I believe that is a pirate chasing us.'
"I said that it was nothing to me if it was. One pirate was just asgood as another. Then he said that if I would not go down he shouldbe obliged to use force, and called four men aft. So as it was ofno use resisting, we went down. Presently we felt that the coursehad been changed. Late in the evening we heard them fire the twoguns, and then some musket shots. Later on the man came down andtold us that the pirates had tried to attack us in their boats, andthat they had beaten them off, and that there was no furtherdanger. But for all that I could see that he was troubled."
"That was when I was hit, dear. We had not reckoned on the twoguns, and with only the gig and dinghy, with one man killed andfive of us wounded, it was too stiff a business, though we shouldhave persevered, but that squall came down on us from the hills,and the Phantom, moreover, left us standing still. We believed thatwe should come up with the schooner in the morning."
"But how did you come here, Frank? How did you know where we hadbeen taken?"
"It is a long story, dear. We started in pursuit four days afteryou had been carried off. I will tell you all about it when we getsafe again on board the yacht. I am afraid we shall have sometrouble yet. Now if you are quite recovered from your surprise, doyou feel equal to hurrying on? Every moment is of importance."
"Oh, yes," she said. "He will be after us."
"He won't," Frank said. "George Lechmere cut him down. Whether hekilled him or not I cannot say, but I don't fancy anyhow that hewill be able to take up the chase. It is that rascally Obi man I amafraid of. He has great power over the people, and may raise thewhole country to attack us."
"I am ready to run as fast as you like, Frank."
"We may as well go at a trot for a bit."
Then raising his voice, he said:
"We will go at double, lads, now.
"Put your arm on my shoulder, Bertha, and we can fancy that we aregoing to waltz."
"I feel so happy that I want to cry, Frank," she said as theystarted.
"Don't do that until you get on board the Osprey."
As they passed the spot where they had halted, George Lechmere toldtwo of the blacks to pick up the stretchers and carry them along.They were merely two light poles, with a wattle work formed ofgiant creepers worked for some six feet in length between them.
"What are those for?" Bertha asked, as she passed them.
"Those are to carry you and Anna along when you get exhausted. Itis twenty miles to the coast, you know."
"I feel as if I could walk any distance to get on board the Ospreyagain."
"I have no doubt that you have the spirit, Bertha, but I questionwhether you have the strength; especially after being over threemonths without any exercise at all. I felt it myself yesterday,although we did little more than ten miles."
"Oh, but then you have been wounded. And you do look so ill,Frank."
"I dare say the wound had a little to do with it," he said; "but ofcourse the climate is trying too; though it is cooler up on thehills than it is in that bay."
"Now, Frank, the first question of all is--How is my mother? Whatdid she do when I was missing? It must have been awful for her."
"Of course, it was a terrible anxiety, Bertha, but she bore itbetter than would be expected, especially as she had not been wellbefore."
"It troubled me more, Frank, than even my own affairs. As soon as Ihad time to think at all, I could not imagine what she would do,and the only comfort was that she had you to look after her."
"No doubt it was a comfort, dear, that she had someone to lean upona little.
"Halt!" he broke off suddenly, as there was the sound of a stickbreaking among the trees close by. "Stand to your arms, men, andgather closely.
"Bertha, do you and Anna take your place in the centre, and pleaselie down."
"I cannot do that, Frank," she said, positively. "Here you are allrisking your lives for us, and now you want me to put myself quitesafe while you are all in danger."
"I want to be able to fight, Bertha, free of anxiety, and to beable to devote my whole attention to the work. This I can't do if Iknow that you are exposed to bullets."
"Well, I can't lie down anyhow, Frank; but Anna and I will crouchdown if you say that we must when they begin to fire."
They were silent for two or three minutes, and no sounds were heardin the wood.
"We shall be attacked sooner or later," Frank said quietly to themen. "We will take to the trees on our right if we are attackedfrom the left, and to those on the left if they come at us from theright. If we are attacked on both sides at once, take to the right.
"George, do you and Harrison and Jones get behind trees, next tothe path. It will be your business to prevent anyone from passingon that side. I, with the other two, will take post behind treesfacing the other way. The four boatmen with Dominique will shelterthemselves in the bushes between us, with Miss Greendale and hermaid in the middle. They will be the reserve, and if a rush is madefrom either side, they will at once advance and beat it back.
"You understand, Dominique?"
"Me understand, sar. If those fellows come we charge at them. Thesefellows no used to shoot, sar. Better give muskets to others. We dobest with our swords."
"That is the best plan.
"You take one of the muskets, George, and give one to Harrison. Thetwo men on my side had better have the others, as I can't use one.
"You understand, lads. These will be spare arms. Keep them inreserve if possible, so as to check the fellows when they make arush. Now do you all understand?
"You explain it to your men, Dominique.
"Now we will go on again, and at the double. It will be as much asthose fellows can do to keep up with us in this thick wood."
Ten minutes passed. Then there was a loud shout and the blowing ofa deep horn on their left, followed by a yell from the wood on bothsides.
"To the right," Frank shouted, and the party ran in among thetrees.
"Get in among that undergrowth with Anna," he said to Bertha.
"Gather there, Dominique, with your men. We shall want youdirectly. They are sure to make a rush at first.
"Now, lads, one of you take that tree; the other the one to theright," and he placed himself behind one between them. On glancinground he saw that George had already posted his two men, and hadtaken up his station between them.
"All hands kneel down," he said. "The
A moment later there was a general discharge of firearms roundthem, and then some forty negroes rushed at them.
"On your feet now, men," Frank shouted. "Take steady aim and bringdown a man with each shot."
A cheer broke from the sailors. Four shots were fired from Frank'sside, and five from George Lechmere's, and with them came thecracks of Frank's revolver, followed almost directly afterwards bythose of the pistols carried by the men, and George Lechmere'srevolver.
Scarce a shot missed. Ten of the negroes fell, and those attackingfrom the right turned and bolted among the trees. The negroes onthe left, however, inspired by the roaring of the horns and theshrieking yells of the Obi man, came on with greater determinationand dashed across the path.
"Now, Dominique, at them!" Frank shouted, as with the two sailorshe rushed across.
The numbers now were not very uneven. Of the twenty negroes on thatside, five had fallen under the musketry and pistol fire, and twoothers were wounded; and as Frank's party and the blacks fell uponthem they hesitated. The struggle was not doubtful for a moment.Six of the negroes were cut down, and the rest fled.
"Don't pursue them, men," Frank shouted; and the sailors at oncedrew off, but Dominique and his black boatmen still pursued hotly,overtaking and cutting down three more of their assailants.
"All is over for the present," Frank said, going to the spot whereBertha and Anna were crouching. "Not one of us is hurt as far as Iknow, and we have accounted for sixteen or seventeen of theserascals."
Bertha got up. She was a little pale, but perfectly calm and quiet.
"It is horrid, being hidden like that when you are all fighting,Frank," she said, reproachfully.
"We were hidden, too, till they came at us," he said; "and verylucky it was, for some of us would probably have been hit, badshots though they are."
"No, Frank, not before all these men," she remonstrated.
"What do I care for the men?" he laughed. "Do you think if they hadtheir sweethearts with them they would mind who was looking on?
"There, I must be content with that for the present. We must pushon again."
Dominique had returned now with his men, and the party startedagain at a trot, as soon as the firearms had all been reloaded.
"We shan't have any more trouble, shall we?" Bertha asked.
"Not for the present," he said. "We have fairly routed the blackswho came here with you, and the villagers, and they certainly won'tattack us again until they are largely reinforced; which theycannot be until we get down towards the sea, for there are novillages of any size in the hills."
After keeping up the pace for a mile, Frank ordered the men to dropinto a walk again.
"Now, Frank, about my mother?" Bertha asked again as soon as shehad got her breath; and Frank related all that had taken place upto the time that the Osprey sailed.
"Then she is all alone in town? It must be terrible for her,waiting there without any news of me. It is a pity that she did notgo home. It would not have mattered about me, and it would havebeen so much better for her among her old friends. They would allhave sympathised with her so much."
"I quite agreed with her, Bertha, and think still that it wasbetter that she should stay in London. I am sure the sympathy woulddo her harm rather than good. As it is, now she will be kept up bythe belief that she is doing all in her power for you, by savingyou from the hideous amount of talk and chatter there would be ifthis affair were known."
"Of course, it would be horrid, Frank, and perhaps you are right,but it must be an awful trial."
"I have done all I could to set her mind at rest," Frank said. "Iwrote to her directly I arrived at Gibraltar, and again as soon asI got the letter from Madeira saying that the brigantine hadtouched there. I wrote from Madeira again with what news I couldpick up, and again from Porto Rico, from the Virgin Islands, andfrom San Domingo. Of course, from there I was able to say that thescent was getting hot, and that I had no doubt I should not be longbefore I fell in with the brigantine. Then I sent another letterfrom Jaquemel. That seems to me a long time ago, for we have doneso much since; but it is not more than ten days back. We will postanother letter the first time that we touch anywhere, on the offchance of its going home by a mail steamer, and getting therebefore us."
"It was wonderful your finding out that I had been carried off inthe Phantom. That was what troubled me most, except about mother. Idid not see how you could guess that the brigantine we had bothnoticed the day before was the Phantom. I felt sure that you wouldsuspect who it was, but I could not see how you would connect thetwo together."
"You see, I did not guess it at first," he replied. "I felt surethat it was Carthew from the first minute when I found that you hadnot landed, and it was just the luck of finding out that thePhantom's crew had returned, and that they had been paid off atOstend, that put me on the track. Of course, directly I heard thatshe had been altered and turned into a brigantine, I felt sure thatshe was the craft that we had noticed; and as soon as I learnedthrough Lloyd's that she had sailed south from the Lizard, I feltcertain that she must have gone up the Mediterranean, or to theWest Indies. I felt sure it was the latter. However, it was a greatrelief when I got a letter from Lloyd's agent at Madeira, tellingme that the brigantine had touched there, and I felt certain that Ishould hear of you either here or at one of the South Americanports."
They kept on until they reached the hut at the point where the pathforked. It was found to be empty.
"Open the basket," Frank said. "We must have a meal before we gofurther. We have come about half the distance.
"Now, Bertha, there is the bay, you see, and it is all downhill,which is a comfort. Do you feel tired, dear?"
"Not tired," she said, "but my feet are aching a bit. You see, Ihad thin deck shoes on when we were hurried ashore, and they arenot good for walking long distances in."
"Well, we will have a quarter of an hour's rest," he said. "It isgetting dark fast, and by the time we go on it will be night, andwill be a great deal cooler than it has been."
"I can go on at once if you like," she said.
"No, dear; there is no use in hurrying. We may as well stop half anhour as a quarter. Don't you hear that?"
The girl listened.
"It is a horn, is it not?" she asked, after a pause.
"Yes, I can hear it in half a dozen directions," he said. "Thatscoundrel of an Obi man is down there ahead of us, and thatunearthly row he and his followers are making will rouse up all thevillagers within hearing. We will try to give him the slip. Iintend to take the path we came by for four or five miles, and thento strike off by one to the right, and hit the main road to Port auPrince, a good bit to the east of where we quitted it. The countryis all cultivated there, and we will strike down towards the bayand make our way through the fields, and if we have luck we may beable to get down to the place where the gig will be waiting for uswithout meeting any of them."
"Oh, I do hope there will be no more fighting, Frank! You may notall get off as well as you did last time."
"We must take our chance of that, dear. At any rate the countrywill be open, and we shall be able to keep in a solid body, and Ihave no doubt that we shall be able to beat them off."
"Could we not go down to the shore, and get a boat somewhere, androw to the yacht?"
"Yes, we might manage that, perhaps. That is a capital idea,Bertha. There is a place called Nipes, twelve or fourteen mileseast of our inlet. It won't be very much further to go, for we havebeen bearing eastward all the way here. Making sure that we shallgo straight for the yacht, they will gather in that directionfirst, and won't think of giving the alarm so far east. There was apath, if I remember right, that came up from that direction aquarter of a mile further on. We will turn off by it."
As soon as the meal was over they started again. They found thepath Frank had spoken of, and followed it down until they cameamong trees. Then D
For a time the two women kept on travelling, but after five milesBertha was compelled to stop and take off her shoes altogether. Fortwo miles further she refused the offers to carry her, but at lastwas forced to own that she could go no further.
The two litters were at once brought up, and the four sailors,Dominique and the three uninjured boatmen, lifted them and wentalong at a trot, George Lechmere leading the way with a lantern.The weight of the girls, divided between four strong men, was amere trifle, and they now made much more rapid progress than theyhad before, and in three quarters of an hour arrived at Nipes.
As they got to the little town, Bertha and Anna got out and walked,so as to attract as little attention as possible among the negroesin the streets. Dominique answered all questions, stating that theywere a party belonging to a ship in Marsouin Bay, that they hadbeen on a sporting expedition over the hills, and had lost theirway, and now wanted a boat to take them back.
As soon as they reached the strand half a dozen were offered tothem. Dominique chose the one that looked the fastest. He told theboatman that the ladies were very tired, and they wanted to getback as soon as possible, and he must, therefore, engage ten men torow, as the wind was so slight as to be useless.
As he did not haggle about terms, the bargain was speedilyconcluded, and in a few minutes they put off. The men, animated bythe handsome rate of pay they were to receive, rowed hard, and in alittle over two hours they entered the inlet at the end of whichthe Osprey was lying. As they neared the end the boatmen weresurprised at seeing a large number of people with torches on therising ground, and something like panic seized them when they heardthe Obi horns sounding. They dropped their oars at once.
"Tell them to row on, Dominique," Frank said, "and to keep closealong the opposite side. Tell them that if they don't do so we willshoot them. No; tell them that we will chuck them overboard and rowon ourselves."
"There is the place where we landed," Frank said presently toBertha (the men had resumed their rowing), "just under where yousee that clump of torches."
"Ah, there is our boat," he broke off suddenly, as it appeared inthe line of the reflection of the torches on the water.
It was half a mile away, lying a few hundred yards from shore. Hetook out the dog whistle that he used when coming down to thelanding stage to summon the boat from the yacht, and blew it. Therewas a stir in the boat, and a moment later it was speeding towardsthem.
"Row on, Dominique. She will pick us up in no time."
And long before they reached the Osprey the gig was alongside.
"Thank God that you are back, sir," they cried as they cameabreast. "We have been in terrible anxiety about you. Have yousucceeded, sir?"
"Don't cheer. I want to get back to the yacht before they know thatwe are here. Yes, thank God, I have succeeded. Miss Greendale andher maid are on board."
A low cheer, which even his order could not entirely suppress, camefrom the three men in the boat. The mate was himself rowing stroke.
"We did not dare bring any more hands, sir," he said. "There hasbeen such a hubbub on shore for the last hour and a half that wethought it likely that they and the Phantom's people might be goingto attack us. We rowed to the landing at ten o'clock, as youordered us, but in a short time a party of men came along close tothe water, and as soon as they saw us they opened fire on us, andwe had to row off sharp. We have been lying off here since. We didnot see how you could get down through that lot, but we thought itbetter to wait. I did think there was just a hope that you mightmake your way down to the coast somewhere else and come on in ashore boat.
"Well, here we are, sir."
As he spoke they came alongside the Osprey.
"Is it you, sir?" Hawkins asked eagerly.
"Look here, lads," Frank replied, standing up, "above all things Idon't want any cheering, or any noise whatever. I don't want themto know that we have got on board. I know that you will all rejoicewith me, for I have brought off Miss Greendale, and none of ourparty except one of the boatmen has been wounded in any wayseriously."
There was a murmur of deep satisfaction from the crew. As Berthastepped on deck the men crowded round with low exclamations of "Godbless you, miss! This is a good day indeed for us!"
Bertha, in reply to the greeting, shook hands all round.
"I see you have not put out the lights in the cabin yet, Hawkins. Iwill just go down with Miss Greendale and see that she iscomfortable, and then I will come up again."
"Oh, Frank!" the girl exclaimed, bursting into tears as theyentered the saloon, "this is happiness indeed. I feel at homealready."
Frank remained with her for three or four minutes.
"Now, dear, take possession of your old cabin again. No doubt Annais there already. She had better share it with you.
"Now I must go up and finish with the Phantom at once. Do not beafraid, I shall take them by surprise, and there will be verylittle fighting."
And without waiting for remonstrance he hurried on deck.
"Are the men armed, Hawkins?"
"That they are, sir. We have been expecting an attack every minute.There have been three or four shore boats going off to thebrigantine within the last quarter of an hour."
"I am going to be beforehand with them, Hawkins."
"They've got both those guns pointing this way, sir."
"I am not coming from this way to attack them, Hawkins. I am goingto put all hands in that native craft I came in, row off a littledistance from this side, then make a circuit, and come down on theother side of them. I will leave George Lechmere here with fourmen, with three muskets apiece, so that if they should start beforewe get there they can keep them off until we arrive. If I can get afew of the boatmen to enlist I will do so."
He spoke to Dominique, who went to the side and asked:
"If any of you are disposed to stop here to guard the craft for aquarter of an hour, in case she is attacked, the gentleman herewill pay twenty dollars a man; but remember that you may have tofight."
The whole crew rose. Twenty dollars was a fortune to them.
"Come on board, then," Dominique said.
"I don't know whether these fellows are to be trusted, George, butI hope you won't be attacked. Keep these fifteen muskets foryourselves. Put four apiece by the bulwarks and station yourselvesby them. Keep your eyes on these boatmen, put the oars of the boathandy for them, and let them arm themselves with them. If you areattacked an oar is not a bad weapon for repelling boarders."
"All right, Major. I will station two of them between each of us."
By this time the captain had picked out the four men that were toremain, and had the rest drawn up in readiness to get into theboat.
"Get in quietly, lads," Frank said. "Ten of you man the oars. Wewill put an end to the Phantom's wanderings tonight."
"That we will, sir," was the hearty rejoinder of the men.
Frank took the tiller, and they rowed straight away from the Ospreyfor a hundred yards, when Frank steered towards the right bank,where there were no torches, and where all was quiet. Thebrigantine could be seen plainly, standing up against the glare ofthe torches on the other side. They rowed three or four hundredyards beyond her, then taking a turn approached her on the sideopposite to that facing the Osprey. Three native boats like theirown were lying beside her, and there was a crowd of men on herdeck.
Frank brought her round alongside of these boats. He had alreadyordered that firearms were not to be used in the first place.
"I don't want to kill any of these blacks," he said. "They havenothing to do with the affair, and they believe us to be pirates. Iexpect that we shall get on board unnoticed. Then with a cheer goat them with the flat of your cutlasses. You can use the edge onthe whites if they resist. But I expect that the blacks will alljump overboard in a panic, and that then the whites, seeing thatthey are outnumbered, will surrender."
No one, indeed, noticed them. There was a great hubbub andconfusion, a
The blacks in the panic fell over each other, and rushing to theside jumped overboard, some into their boats, and some into thewater. The white sailors, carried away by the stampede, andseparated from each other, were unable to act. The captain, drawinga brace of pistols from his belt, fired one shot, but before hecould fire another Frank hurled the iron belaying pin at him. Itstruck him in the face, and he fell insensible. The Belgiansailors, seeing themselves altogether outnumbered, and without aleader, threw down their arms.
"Tie their hands and feet," Frank ordered, "and bundle them intoone of the native boats."
Two of these had pushed off and lay fifty yards away, and the seawas dotted with the heads of swimmers making towards them. TheBelgian sailors were placed in the other boat.
"Put their captain in, too," Frank said. "He will come roundpresently.
"Now four of you jump into our boat and cast her off.
"Captain, will you look about for the oil, and pour it over all thebeds, but don't set them on fire until I give the order.
"Now, lads, two of you run below, and get the cushions off thestarboard sofa.
"Purvis, get the skylight open on the port side, and wheel the twoguns round, and point them down into the cabin. I will train themmyself on the same spot just at the back of that seat. They mightcome off and extinguish the fire, though I don't think they will;but we will make sure by blowing a hole through her side under thewater line."
Five minutes were sufficient to make the preparations, and thecaptain came up and reported that all was ready.
"I have heaped up all the bedding on the floor, sir, and pouredplenty of oil over it," he said.
"Very well, then, take two men aft, and begin there and work yourway forward, and finish with the fo'c'sle hammocks. You can beginat once."
In a minute there was a glare of light through the stern cabinskylight, while almost at the same moment a dense cloud of smokepoured up the companion. Then the light shone up through thebull's-eyes on deck of the other staterooms. Then the captain andthe two hands ran through the saloon forward. Frank went to thefo'castle hatch, and stooping down saw the captain apply the fireto a great heap of bedding.
"That will do, Hawkins," he said. "Come up at once with the men, oryou will be suffocated down there."
They ran up on deck, and a minute later a volume of flame burst outthrough the hatch. Frank went to the guns, and lighting two matchesgave one to Hawkins.
"Now," he said, "both together."
The two reports were blended in one, and as the smoke cleared awayFrank could see, by the cabin lamp that was still burning, a spurtof water shooting up from a ragged hole at the back of the sofa.Fired at such a short distance, the bullets with which the gunswere crammed had struck like solid shot.
"Into the boats, men!" Frank shouted.
"Shall we take these chaps off with us, sir?" the captain said."They will be keepsakes."
"All right, Hawkins, in with them."
The tongue of fire leaping up from the forecastle, followed by thedischarge of the guns, had been the first intimation to those onthe Osprey of what had happened. Bertha and her maid ran up on deckat the sound of the cannon.
"What is that?" the former asked, in alarm.
"It is all right, Miss Greendale," George Lechmere said, leavingthe side and coming up to her. "The Major has captured thebrigantine almost without fighting. There was only one pistol shotfired. I did not hear a single clash of a sword, and the blacks onboard jumped straight into the water. I was just coming to call youas you came up. The brigantine is well on fire, you see."
"But I thought I heard the cannon."
"Yes, the Major has fired them down the skylight, so as to makesure of her. Do you see, miss, they are putting the guns in theboat now. They will be back here in a few minutes."
By the time the boat came alongside, the flames from the afterskylight had lit the mainsail and were running up the rigging. Aminute later they burst out from the companion and the skylight.
"Thank God that is all over, Frank," Bertha said, as they stoodtogether watching the sight.
The inlet was now lit up from side to side. On shore a state ofwild excitement prevailed. The boats had reached the shore, and thenegroes there had rushed down to hear what had taken place, and toinquire after friends. Above the yells and shouts of the frenziednegroes sounded the deep roar of the horns, and the angry beatingof the Obi drums. Numbers of torch bearers were among the crowd,and although nearly half a mile away, the scene could be perfectlymade out from the yacht.
The boatmen had received their promised pay as soon as Frank hadreached the yacht, and had taken their places in their boat, butDominique told Frank that they would not go till the Osprey sailed,as they were afraid of being pursued and attacked by the villagers'boats if they did so.