With Drake on the Spanish Main Part 20

Angry as he was, Dennis could not withhold a certain admiration for the man's daring; and then he fell a-wondering why he had not been struck on the head and killed outright; a ruffian like Biddle would hardly have spared him from any feeling of compunction.

How long Dennis lay half stifled under the blanket he could not tell.

Hours seemed to have pa.s.sed when it was at last removed, and he could breathe freely. And there, beside him, lay Amos Turnpenny, gagged like himself. Jan Biddle and several of his comrades stood over them, grinning with malicious triumph.

"Pegs, Captain," said the man, "you do seem betoatled. Thought the vessel had broke a-loose, I reckon. And so she had--eh, comrades?"

"Ho! ho!" laughed the men, vastly appreciating their leader's joke.

"Now, we be eight, young master captain,--stout fellows, but a small crew for this vessel. You be in our power, you and Haymoss too, for all he be a rare fustilugs; and down a-hold lie Bill Hawk and Luke Fenton, that kept but a ninny-watch, to be sure. Wherefore we be twelve all told, enough for the manage of this craft. Haymoss will not be boatswain, to be sure, nor you captain; I be captain; boatswain is French Michel yonder; but 'ee can take your choice,--help to work this vessel, or walk the plank. Now I will loose your gags, and you and Haymoss can talk the matter out, and when ye've made up your minds we'll unbind 'ee, or tumble 'ee overboard, according."

Left to themselves, Dennis and Turnpenny were not long in deciding on their course of action. They were at present outnumbered; they had to accept the inevitable. Their a.s.sistance would be very valuable in the working of the vessel, and Biddle, in spite of his a.s.sured bearing, was by no means so confident in his seamans.h.i.+p and skill as he tried to make himself appear. After his treacherous conduct he had no reason to suppose that Turnpenny would lift a finger to make good his deficiencies; on the other hand it was not to the interest of the prisoners that the s.h.i.+p should come to grief through mishandling, and Biddle knew that in extremity Turnpenny's instinct of seamans.h.i.+p would forbid him to hold aloof.

But while Dennis and the mariner agreed that they had no choice but to accept the position with what grace they might, they resolved to bide their time for getting the vessel again under their control and returning to the island.

"My poor comrades and me be parted again," said Amos, with a sigh.

"'Tis true it will not be so bad for them upon the island as 'twas for us. But there they be, and there they must bide until we can fetch 'em off."

"And mayhap the Spaniards will land before we can get back to them, and then G.o.d help the poor fellows. There is little chance we two can overpower these eight villains; we can but hope on."

Having acquainted Biddle with their decision, they were cast loose, and sat beneath the break of the p.o.o.p watching their captors' attempts at navigation. The vessel had rounded the easternmost point of the island and was running before a south-south-westerly wind. But it made little progress; as the day wore on the breeze died away, and the island was still in sight as the sun gradually sank in the western sky. The mutineers cast somewhat anxious glances around, as if fearing that the comrades they had betrayed might even now find some means of following them. But as the island gradually faded into the dusk their spirits rose, and having broached one of the few jars of wine which had been left in the cabin, they began to boast of the success of their trick.

Biddle even acquainted the prisoners with the manner in which it had been carried out. In the darkness they had surprised the watch on board, and cut the cable mooring the vessel to a tree at the side of the gully; then seven of them had lowered the jolly-boat and in it towed the s.h.i.+p past the shoulder of the cliff until the sails caught the wind and it was carried free of the sh.o.r.e. He told Dennis exultantly that if he had swum out three or four minutes earlier the plot would have been defeated, for only he was then on board, at the helm. But just before Dennis scrambled on board the others had clambered up by the fore chains, and his cry and plunge having been heard, there had been time to arrange for his reception.

The crescent moon, which had somewhat favoured the attack on the fort, had now increased in size, and threw a thin silvery light upon the sea.

Biddle, among a little group of his comrades, was still recounting his achievement for the benefit of Dennis and Turnpenny when the look-out shouted that he spied a vessel to windward.

"What care I for a vessel to windward!" cried the man. "We'll give her the slip in the dark. I, Jan Biddle, be captain now; ay, what did Hugh Curder sing t'other day?

Here is a master excelleth in skill, And our master's mate he is not to seek.

That be d.i.c.k Rackstraw, Haymoss, a merry soul, not a glumping galliment like 'ee.

And here is a boatswain will do his good will----

not you, Haymoss; you be boatswain no longer; 'tis French Michel, a deal better man.

And here is a s.h.i.+p-boy----

why, hang me if we won't make a s.h.i.+p-boy of our n.o.ble captain, comrades. 'Tis a stripling, to be sure, and I warrant will be none the worse for a smitch o' tar on his fingers. Ees, we'll make him s.h.i.+p-boy, we will so. Ho! ho!

And here is a s.h.i.+p-boy----"

But his mirth and the gleeful shouts of the others were suddenly checked when the look-out cried that he saw a second, and then a third vessel. Biddle sprang up with an oath and ran to the taffrail. What he saw did not lessen his alarm. The three strangers were coming up on a broad front, half a mile between them. They were evidently bringing a freshening breeze with them, for they had not been visible when darkness first fell. It was clear to a mariner's eye that the bark would have to show her best sailing powers if she was to escape. She had been sailing under foresail and mainsail only, but now in frantic haste the crew, in obedience to Biddle's orders, set the topsails and the topgallants. But before the effect of this was apparent the approaching s.h.i.+ps had crept up within gun range. It was not long in doubt whether they had seen the _Mirandola_, and were making straight for her. A flash was seen from the bows of one of the vessels; a few seconds afterwards a m.u.f.fled roar was heard.

"Blank charge!" said Turnpenny to Dennis. "'Tis a word of warning."

Biddle only shouted a defiant curse. The bark was now feeling the full force of the wind, and was making good headway. It appeared likely that, running before the wind, she could hold her own with the strangers. A minute later another gun was fired, and this time with no harmless intent, for there was a great splash in the water a little ahead of the _Mirandola_ on the starboard side. After a short interval, a third discharge shook the air, and the mutineers raised an exultant shout when they saw the splash some distance astern. It was clear that, if the guns had been fired with the same elevation, the chase was drawing away. The dropping of a fourth and fifth shot still farther astern left no room for doubt.

"What say you now, master boatswain as was!" cried Biddle, triumphantly. "Bean't Jan Biddle as good a mariner as Haymoss Turnpenny?

Here be a master excelleth in skill."

"My heart! it be a true saying, don't halloo till 'ee be out o' the wood," said Amos, grimly.

"Zuggers! but you be a molkit, Haymoss, a molly-caudle to be sure. Go aft, Haymoss, and cuddle the s.h.i.+p-boy and say your prayers."

Turnpenny raised his arm to strike the insolent fellow, but Dennis whispered him to let it pa.s.s; there was nothing to be gained by a fight at the present moment, even supposing they prevailed against the odds.

Hour after hour the chase continued. The moon went down, but still the three vessels could be seen in the dim starlight. Clearly the _Mirandola_, good sailor as she was, could not shake them off. Biddle ceased to boast; his bl.u.s.tering confidence was changing to dismay, for he now perceived that though he had drawn further and further away from the vessel that had fired, her consort to windward was becoming more clearly visible. He had not reckoned on so obstinate a chase; moreover, being unable to read a chart, he had no idea whither the vessel was heading. There was no chance of doubling. To alter the course would be to lose time, and allow the persistent pursuer to make up on her. She seemed indeed to be gradually decreasing the distance between them, though the other two were out of sight.

So the chase went on through the hours of darkness, and daybreak showed two vessels far astern, but the third without doubt creeping up slowly but surely. Biddle, weary with the long night's work, was in a sullen rage; the other men watched the pursuer with undisguised terror; Dennis and Turnpenny, holding themselves aloof, looked on with curiosity and something of amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Jan Biddle be no fool," said Turnpenny once. "I could not have handled the craft better myself. But 'tis not an end."

Then, when the spirits of the crew were depressed to the lowest, an early morning mist settled down upon the sea, blotting the pursuer from sight.

"Jaykle! 'tis a mercy!" cried Biddle, rousing himself.

He instantly changed the course of the vessel.

"We'll fool them this mizzly morn," he said. "Mum's the word now, comrades."

Dead silence was maintained on board, and for some hours the bark made steady headway through the mist. Dennis could not but admire the mutineer's fine recklessness. Without any sure knowledge of his bearings he held the vessel steadily to the wind, though she might at any moment strike a coral reef or even run aground on one of the innumerable islets that studded the gulf. He was bent only on escaping the dreaded grip of the Spaniards.

At length the fog began to clear, dissipated by the increasing heat of the mounting sun. The crew strained their eyes through the eddying mist, to a.s.sure themselves that the pursuer, as they hoped, had been deluded by the change of course. But they were appalled, and looked from one to another with a gasp of dismay, when they saw, less than half a league distant, a large Spanish galleon holding exactly the same course as themselves. Far down on the southern horizon another sail could be seen.

"What I'd have done myself," said Turnpenny to Dennis. "The Spanish skipper be no fool neither. When the mist came down he guessed the manoeuvres of Master Jan, and afore he was closed in by it he had time to signal the others to make off, one east, t'other sou'east, while he held on the same course, thereby making sure that we'd still be in sight of one or other of 'em when the mist lifted. Ah! lookeedesee, sir; there's a flag a-running up the galleon's forepeak. 'Tis a signal to the others to come and join the chase. Be jowned if Jan Biddle han't got to run the race all over again!"

CHAPTER XVII

The Demi-Culverin

Jan Biddle's face was the image of despairing rage when he saw how he had been outwitted. But he stuck gamely to the helm. The _Mirandola_ was now carrying every st.i.tch of canvas possible; her only chance, and that but a slight one, was to fly on before the wind. Dennis was tingling with excitement. Here was the bark, cutting through the water at a spanking rate; there the larger galleon, speeding after her under press of sail, and two other vessels equally large coming up from the south. He had forgotten that he was a prisoner--forgotten everything but the fact that the implacable enemy was at his heels.

Suddenly he saw the galleon luff up in the wind, and noticed a lift of the foresail.

"Now she's at us!" cried Amos at his elbow, scarcely less excited.

From the bows of the galleon came a spout of white smoke, blown back amid the sails and rigging, and disappearing in a long wispy trail to leeward. The report of the gun followed close, and the shot plumped into the sea less than twenty yards astern.

"Be jowned if it do not put me in mind of brave doings on the _Anne Gallant_" said Turnpenny. "'Twas well aimed; an they get our range, 'tis heigh for our pearls and pieces of eight!"

A second shot came, falling about the same distance short of the mark.

A third and fourth followed at intervals, neither hitting the vessel, each failure greeted with a yell from the crew, who seemed now to have lost their terror in the sheer excitement of the chase. On swept the gallant _Mirandola_, showers of spray flas.h.i.+ng over her bows, her slender masts swaying and creaking under the stress of her bellying canvas. Then a shot whistled over the masthead.