Hunting the Skipper Part 103

What do you say to getting a good bunch of palm leaves and waiting till these slaver beggars come again, and then setting fire to the place and burning them all up together?"

"Yes, sah," said the black sadly. "Caesar go and set fire to sugar-barrel; all burn up."

"Bah! Take too long, darkie. Now, if you'd got a barrel o' powder!"

"Big Ma.s.sa Tom want barrel o' powder?"

"Do I want a barrel of powder?" growled the big sailor, in a deep-toned voice full of contempt and scorn.

"Not big barrel sugar," said the black sadly; "lilly barrel black powder, all black like n.i.g.g.ah."

"Here, what are you talking about, you old pitch kettle?" cried the sailor, full of animation now. "You don't know where there's a lilly barrel, do you?"

"Yes," said the man quietly.

"Not a lilly white barrel?"

"No, sah; lilly black barrel. Two--ten--twenty lilly barrel."

"What!" cried Murray excitedly. "Where is it?"

"Down'tair," said the black, speaking with more animation now. "Ma.s.sa Murray Frank wantum?"

"Yes, of course," cried the lad. "Where do you say it is?

Down-stairs?"

"Yes, ma.s.sa. Down'tair long wi' Ma.s.sa Allen bottle of wine. Plenty bottle o' wine. Two, ten, twenty lilly barrel black powder."

"Avast there, my lads," said the big sailor, in a deep, low whisper.

"Rouse and bit, my chickens. Here's corn in Egypt and no mistake." And then, as the men sprang up ready to meet another attack, even if it might be the last, Tom May turned to Murray. "Beg pardon, sir, but what's it to be?"

"Get a barrel of powder up directly, Tom," replied the lad; "that is, if it doesn't turn out too good to be true. You serve it out to the lads, too, and be ready to give the enemy a surprise when they come on again."

"Beg pardon, sir, but hadn't we better make it a mine, sir? Clap a couple o' barrels just in their way. Lay a train, and one on us be ready to fire it just as they're scrowging together under the window."

"Yes, far better, Tom; far better than blazing at the wretches with the muskets. Here, Caesar, show us where the powder is. Is it locked up?"

"Yes, ma.s.sa; down'tair. Caesar know where key."

The feeling that he was going to be of some great a.s.sistance to those who were the friends of his master seemed to rouse up the black, who staggered at first as he rose, and then seemed to grow stronger as he led the way towards the door, caught at the bal.u.s.trade, and before he could be seized fell and rolled heavily down the stairs, to lie groaning feebly at the bottom.

"Look at that now!" cried the big sailor, as he helped Murray to raise the poor fellow to his feet. "Why didn't you speak out about the gunpowder before?"

"Caesar not know," moaned the s.h.i.+vering black. "Key dah," he panted.

"Key dah."

"Key dah!" growled the big sailor. "Who's to know where _dah_ is?

Can't you show us? I believe we shall have the beggars here before we can find it, sir."

But the black began to recover a little and ended by leading the way in the darkness to a closet in the princ.i.p.al down-stairs room, leaving it open, and then, armed with a key and hurrying his companions back, he opened a door in the wide hall, and holding on by the big sailor, showed the way down into the cellar of the well-vaulted house.

The rest proved to be easy, though every step was taken under a state of intense excitement, while the wounded and worn-out sailors forgot every suffering, inspired as they now were by hope.

At last, armed with a couple of fair-sized kegs of powder, held in reserve in case of troubles with the large body of slaves that were always about the plantation and at the so-called barracks, the plan of laying a mine and firing it when next the enemy made an attack was modified at Murray's suggestion into the preparing of some half-dozen sh.e.l.ls, each composed of an ordinary wine bottle or decanter fully charged and rammed down with an easily prepared slow match such as would occur to any lad to contrive ready for lighting from a candle held prepared in the upper chamber, risk being a matter that was quite left out of the question.

"Hah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Murray, as the sh.e.l.ls were at last prepared. "Now they may come on as soon as they like. This must be the best plan, Tom--to wait till they begin to attack, and fire from here."

"Well, it's the safest, sir; but mightn't we load every piece we've got and give 'em a taste of that wittles as well, sir?"

"Of course," was the reply; and every piece was loaded; but still the enemy did not come.

"I say, sir, this here arn't going to end in a big disappyntment, is it, sir?"

"What, do you think they mayn't come?"

"Yes, sir, that's it."

"What could be better, Tom?" replied Murray.

"Oh, I want 'em to come, sir," grumbled the man. "They've made us so savage that we shan't none of us be happy without we gets a chance to use this here dust."

"They'll come; depend upon it, Tom," said Murray.

"Then how would it be to light a fire out yonder, sir?" suggested the big sailor.

"What, so as to see the enemy?"

"Nay, sir; we shall manage that, and when the sh.e.l.ls busts, sir, they'll light it up a bit; but what I meant was, sir, to start a pretty good fire just at a fair distance in front of the window, sir, just handy for some of us to make up good big charges of powder tied up in the sleeves of our s.h.i.+rts, sir, handy and light ready to heave into the hot parts where the fire's burning. They're pretty tough, them slavers, but a few of them charges set off among 'em would be more than they'd care to face. We've got plenty o' powder, sir, to keep it on till to-morrow; so what do you say?"

"I say, certainly, Tom," replied Murray; "and on thinking again of what we had first planned, I say that we will lay a train from the door under this window to a mine consisting of one of the barrels just hidden."

"And me fire it, sir?" cried the big sailor eagerly.

"No; I shall do that myself," said Murray firmly.

"All right, sir; you're orficer," said the big sailor, rather sulkily, "and a sailor's dooty's to obey orders; but I did think, sir, as a orficer in command was to give orders and let them as was under him do the work. I don't mean no offence, Mr Murray, sir, but I thought you was in command now that the first luff was down in orspittle, or as we say, in sick bay."

"Well, we'll see, Tom," said Murray. "I don't want to disappoint you, my lad. What we've got to make sure of is that the mine is fired."

"Ay, ay, sir; but you might trust me, sir."

"I do trust you, Tom," replied Murray. "There, let's have the powder up and take the head out of another keg."

"Ay, ay, sir. Give the word, sir, and we'll soon do that."

"Off with you," cried Murray; and while the men were gone below, he carefully arranged the so-called sh.e.l.ls that had been prepared, so that they were handy for hurling from the window, and once more examined the quick match that had been formed of strips of linen and moistened powder--a fuse that could be depended upon to keep burning when once set alight.

He had hardly satisfied himself as to the arrangement of the terrible weapons that had been prepared, before a sound that floated through the open window drew him close up, and he had hardly stood there in doubt a couple of minutes before his doubt was dispelled, for plainly enough, and apparently from the other side of the island, came the report of a heavy gun, which was answered by another report, evidently from a gun of different calibre.