Blue Jackets Part 13

"Yes; go."

I did not wait for a second order, you may be sure, but sprang in, and as the _Teaser_ was thrown up in the wind with her sails flapping, it being deemed unsafe to go any nearer to the barque, the little wheels chirrupped, and down we went, to sit the next moment lightly upon a good-sized wave which rose up as if to receive us; the falls were cast off, the oars dropped, and the next minute we glided away towards the stranded vessel.

"Quite a treat to get a bit of an adventure, eh Herrick?" said Mr Brooke.

"Yes, sir. Been slow enough lately."

"Oh, you need not grumble, my lad. You did have one good adventure. By the way, how are your sore ribs?"

"My ribs, sir? Oh, I had forgotten all about them. But do you think this is the work of pirates, or that the s.h.i.+p has run ash.o.r.e?"

"I'm not sure, my lad, but we shall soon know."

We sat watching the fine well-built barque, as the men pulled l.u.s.tily at their oars, making the water flash and the distance grow shorter. Then all at once my companion said shortly--

"Pirates."

"Where, where?" I said eagerly, and my hand went to my dirk.

Mr Brooke laughed, and I saw all the men showing their teeth.

"No, no, my lad," he said. "I meant this was the work of pirates."

"How do you know, sir?"

"Look at those ropes and sheets hanging loose. They have been cut. The barque has not been in a storm either. She has just gone on to the rocks and the fore-topmast evidently snapped with the shock."

"And the smoke? Is that from the forecastle?"

He shook his head, and stood up in the boat, after handing me the lines, while he remained scanning the vessel attentively.

"Hail her, Jones," he said to the bowman; and the man jumped up, put his hands to his mouth, and roared out, "_s.h.i.+p ahoy_!"

This again and again, but all was silent; and a curious feeling of awe crept over me as I gazed at the barque lying there on the reef as if it were dead, while the column of smoke, which now looked much bigger, twisted and writhed as it rolled over and over up from just abaft the broken foremast.

"Steady," cried the lieutenant; "the water's getting shoal. Keep a good look-out forward, Jones."

For all at once the water in front of us, from being smooth and oily, suddenly became agitated, and I saw that we had startled and were driving before us a shoal of good-sized fish, some of which, in their eagerness to escape, sprang out of the water and fell back with a splash.

"Plenty yet, sir," said the man in the bows, standing up now with the boat-hook. "Good fathom under us."

"Right. Steady, my lads."

We were only about a hundred yards from the barque now, and the water deepened again, showing that we had been crossing a reef; but the bottom was still visible, as I glanced once over the side, but only for a moment, for there was a peculiar saddening attraction about the silent s.h.i.+p, and I don't know how it was, but I felt as if I was going to see something dreadful.

Under the lieutenant's directions, I steered the boat so that we glided round to the other side, pa.s.sing under the stern, and then ran alongside, with the bulwarks hanging over towards us, and made out that the vessel had evidently been in fairly deep water close by, and had been run on to the rocks where two reefs met and closed-in a deep channel.

How are we going to get on board? I asked myself, as I looked upward; but I was soon made aware of that, for right forward there was a quant.i.ty of the top-hamper of the broken mast with a couple of the square sails awash, so that there was no difficulty about scrambling up.

"I don't think there is any one on board, Herrick," said Mr Brooke, "but sailors should always be on the _qui vive_. Stay in the boat, if you like."

"I don't like, sir," I said, as soon as he had given orders to four men to follow us, and the next minute we were climbing up to stand upon the deck.

"No doubt about it," said Mr Brooke through his teeth. "She has been plundered, and then left to drift ash.o.r.e or to burn."

For there from the forehold curled up the pillar of smoke we had seen, and a dull crackling noise came up, telling that, though slowly, the fire was steadily burning.

We could not see much below for the smoke, and Mr Brooke led the way forward to the forecastle hatch, which lay open.

"Below! Any one there?" cried my officer, but all was silent as the grave.

One of the men looked at him eagerly.

"Yes, jump down."

The man lowered himself down into the dark forecastle, and made a quick inspection.

"Any one there?"

"No, sir. Place clear and the men's kits all gone."

"Come up."

We went aft, to find the hatches all off and thrown about anyhow, while the cargo had been completely cleared out, save one chest of tea which had been broken and the contents had scattered.

"No mistake about it, Herrick," said Mr Brooke; and he went on to the after-hatch, which was also open and the lading gone.

The next minute we were at the companion-way, and Mr Brooke hailed again, but all was still. Just then the man peering over my shoulder sniffed sharply like some animal.

The sound sent a shudder through me, and Mr Brooke turned to the man sharply--

"Why did you do that?"

"Beg pardon, sir," stammered the man; "I thought that--as if--there was--"

He did not finish.

"Come on," said Mr Brooke sternly, while I shuddered again, and involuntarily my nostrils dilated as I inhaled the air, thinking the while of a butchered captain and officers lying about, but there was not the faintest odour, and I followed my officer, and then for a moment a horrible sickening sensation attacked me, and I shuddered.

But it all pa.s.sed off, and, myself again directly, I was gazing with the others at the many signs which told us as plainly as if it had been written, that the crew of the unfortunate barque had barricaded themselves in here and made a desperate resistance, for her broken doors lay splintered and full of the marks made by axes and heavy swords. The seats were broken; and bulkheads, cabin windows, and floor were horribly stained here and there with blood, now quite dry and black, but which, after it had been shed, had been smeared about and trampled over; and this in one place was horribly evident, for close up to the side, quite plain, there was the imprint of a bare foot--marked in blood--a great wide-toed foot, that could never have worn a shoe.

"Rather horrid for you, Herrick," said Mr Brooke in a low voice, as if the traces of death made him solemn; "but you must be a man now. Look, my lad, what the devils--the savage devils--have done with our poor Scotch brothers!"

"Yes, I see," I whispered; "they must have killed them all."

"But I mean this--there, I mean."

I looked at him wonderingly as he pointed to the floor, for I did not understand.