The Missing Merchantman Part 9

CHAPTER EIGHT.

SIBYLLA THE HOSTAGE.

Sibylla no sooner heard Williams' order for the boats to shove off than she intuitively divined the horrible fate in store for her; and, resolved to effect her escape at any and every hazard, she darted toward the gangway, determined to fling herself into the sea rather than be left alone and unprotected in the midst of that gang of lawless men.

But Williams was too quick for her; he saw her movement, antic.i.p.ated her intention, and, leaping down off the rail, flung his arms around her, exclaiming:

"Avast there, my pretty one; you are to stay with us! Nay, it is no use to struggle; you will not be allowed to go, so you may as well submit quietly to your fate. Curse the girl--how she fights! Stand still, will you, and listen to me! The boats are already a hundred fathoms away from the s.h.i.+p; there are half a dozen sharks cruising round us--I saw them not five minutes ago; and if you were silly enough to jump overboard, as you seem inclined to do, you would be torn to pieces before we could even think about picking you up."

"Better that than to remain here at the mercy of such wretches as you!"

gasped Sibylla, still struggling feebly, for her strength was almost exhausted.

"Well said, my beauty," laughed Williams; "you are a rare plucky one, and no mistake. I like to see--"

"Hands off, Williams!" exclaimed Ned, as he stepped coldly forward to the rescue. "What do you mean, sir, by such dastardly conduct? Do you call this keeping faith with me?"

"Yes, of course I do," exclaimed Williams. "I don't want to hurt her if she'll only keep quiet. Here, Ned, you take charge of her. She'll be quieter with you than with me, perhaps; and see if you can persuade her that she will be better off here than overboard among the sharks. As to keeping faith with you, my hearty, why, I've done the best I could.

Those friends of yours, that you seem to have taken such a tremendous fancy to, have been treated just as well since we took the s.h.i.+p as they were before. We've lost nearly three weeks cruising about trying to find a good place on which to land them--and a perfect paradise of a spot we've found for them at last; n.o.body could wish for a better--and, now that they are turned adrift, I've landed them with an outfit complete enough for them to start a regular colony. What more would you have! Haven't I yet done enough to satisfy you?"

"No, certainly not," answered Ned, inwardly grieving now that he had not ventured to add to the scanty "outfit" several other articles which he had felt would have been of the utmost value to the marooned party, but which he had feared to include lest the whole should have been refused them. "No; this young lady was one of the party, and was included in my stipulations. Yet you have detained her on board here, a prisoner."

"Ah, well! the less said about that, perhaps, the better," remarked Williams. "I quite intended to have landed her with the rest of them; but that island looming up ahead this morning--when you told us only last night that we had a clear sea ahead of us--looked so queer that we held a consultation, and came to the conclusion that, for our own safety's sake, we ought to keep somebody aboard here to act as a sort of hostage to secure us against treachery on your part; and, as we didn't think it would be right to separate husband and wife, or parents and children, why, you see, there was only this young lady left for us.

And, whilst we are talking upon this subject, s.h.i.+pmates," he continued, turning to the rest of the crew, whose curiosity had brought them about the little party, "let me say, here and now, that Bill Rogers, Bob Martin, and myself agreed this morning that she must be kept among us for the safety of the s.h.i.+p and all hands. You all know--for no secret has been made of it--that Ned, there, has been kept with us, not of his own free-will, but because we required somebody to navigate the s.h.i.+p for us. And you know, too, or I know, that the lad has just that amount of spirit in him that he wouldn't hesitate to cast away the s.h.i.+p and all hands--himself included--or to play us any other awkward trick if he saw a chance of spoiling our plans for the recovery of a few of the good things that we've been defrauded out of. Now, so long as this young girl is all safe and sound we have nothing to fear from his treachery, because, d'ye see, I'm going to tell him and her--as I do now--that any act, or even suspicion, of treachery on _his_ part will be followed by the young woman being turned adrift by herself in the dinghy; and, rather than see her come to harm, he will be faithful to us, and carry out our orders to the best of his ability. But if evil comes to her we shall lose our hold upon him at once--I say all this before him because I've studied him and know him, and I want him to understand as much--and it has, therefore, been agreed that any man who interferes with the young lady will be shot at once and on the spot. So, now, mates, as you've had the whole affair explained to you, it is to be hoped you'll shape your behaviour accordingly."

"Stop a moment!" exclaimed Ned, as Williams waved his hand by way of dismissal to his little audience, "it seems, from what Williams has said, that Miss Stanhope has been detained a prisoner solely on my account. If that be really the case, I wish to say that, if you will release her and put her on sh.o.r.e with her friends on the island yonder, I swear to you that, though I will never take part in any piracies or other unlawful acts which you may commit, I will in every other respect be absolutely faithful to you, and will navigate the s.h.i.+p whithersoever you will, to the best of my ability. This is no light sacrifice for a young man in my position to make; yet I will make it cheerfully, and take any oath of fidelity you may choose to impose upon me."

"It is no use, Ned; we can't--we dare not do it," answered Williams.

"You mean what you say--_now_--I don't doubt; but if you ever had a chance to betray us, as you may have, you wouldn't be able to resist the temptation. No; the matter has been fully talked over, and the young lady must stay."

Ned was about to make a further effort on Sibylla's behalf, but the girl herself stopped him.

"Humble yourself no more to these men!" she said; "it will be of no avail, I can clearly see. And trouble not yourself on my behalf. G.o.d is able to protect me even here; His will be done!"

She turned away, and Ned, offering his arm, half led, half supported Sibylla into the cabin; and, as he poured out and offered her a gla.s.s of wine from a decanter which stood in one of the swinging trays over the table, he exclaimed:

"Oh! Miss Stanhope, what can I say, or how express the sorrow and regret I feel at the knowledge that it is through me you are placed in this terrible position. Believe me--"

"Say no more, Mr Damerell, I entreat you," interrupted Sibylla. "I know that you have no cause for self-reproach; we are both equally unfortunate. For, if I am detained on board this s.h.i.+p a prisoner, so are you; your prospects in life are as completely blighted as mine. And I have at least the comfort of that man's a.s.surance--in which I believe he was quite sincere--that I shall be treated with consideration and respect. Indeed, terrible as must be my position here, I am by no means sure that I am not safer where I am than is my poor sister on that lonely island. What may be her fate and that of those who are with her who can tell? to what dangers and privations will not they be exposed?

It is terrible only to think of it. And now let me thank you for your n.o.ble and self-sacrificing efforts just now on my behalf. Come what will, I shall never forget them, nor shall I ever forget that you have proved yourself our true and staunch friend, forgetting yourself and all your own trouble and peril in your anxiety to help and befriend us.

Tell me, do you think there is any possibility of our ever being able to make our escape from these dreadful people?"

"Well," said Ned, "I should not like to raise hopes which may never be fulfilled, but I think there _is_ just a possibility of it. You must not build too much on what I say, because it would be idle to deny that our future is beset with difficulties and perils. The absence of your brother-in-law, the doctor, and Mr Gaunt is an irreparable loss to us, to say nothing of that of the captain and young Manners, both of whom will, I feel sure, be landed somewhere within the next few days. But do not despair; perhaps, when Williams has rid himself of them, his vigilance may relax. I should, under any circ.u.mstances, have tried to escape, and you may rest a.s.sured that, as your deliverance seems now to depend almost wholly upon me, my thoughts will more than ever be given to the project. What you have to do is to think as little as may be upon your present situation and to keep up your spirits. A chance _may_ come to us at any moment--and I believe it _will_ come, sooner or later.

We must therefore be on the watch and hold ourselves ready to take advantage of it when it comes. The accidents--if I may call them so--of the sea are countless; we shall, by and by, be constantly hovering in the regular track of other s.h.i.+ps, and that, in spite of all their vigilance, may afford us an opportunity to make our situation known. Or we may be captured; for, if the rascals carry out their present plans, it will not be long before we shall have all the men-of-war in these seas after us. Or we may, perhaps, be able to effect our escape in a boat. That gig of ours, in which our friends have been sent ash.o.r.e is a splendid boat; and if we could get away in her whilst in some well- beaten s.h.i.+p track, with a good stock of provisions, we might well hope to be picked up in the course of a few days. That, however, I should only propose as a last resource. But the more I think of it the less hopeless do our prospects appear; so keep a good heart, Miss Stanhope, and hope for the best. By the by, do you know how to use a pistol?"

"Yes," said Sibylla, "I know how to use a revolver. Duncan has--or had--a pair; and when we were at home he taught Rose and me how to fire them, putting up a target in the garden for us to shoot at. Why do you ask?"

"Because--although I think there is not much ground for apprehension--it will do no harm if you have a weapon upon which you can lay your hand in case of need. I have a pair of small revolvers which, though they are not very formidable weapons for long-distance shooting, are tolerably effective at close quarters, say within thirty yards or so. I will give you them--they are in a case, with cartridges and so on all complete; and I should like you to keep them always loaded and handy. And now, if you feel sufficiently composed to be left alone, I think I will go out on deck again and see how matters are progressing there."

When Ned reached the p.o.o.p, to which he naturally directed his steps, he found Williams there, fuming at the protracted absence of the boats, which could clearly be seen, with their noses hauled up on the sandy beach, and the two boat-keepers sitting in lazy att.i.tudes on their gunwales, quietly smoking. That the remainder of the crews were not delayed by a.s.sisting the marooned pa.s.sengers to "shake down" was evidenced by the fact that the latter could be seen grouped together on a little gra.s.sy knoll, the ladies and children seated upon boxes, whilst the two men were vigorously attacking with their axes a couple of young straight-stemmed palms at no great distance.

"What can the rascals be about?" growled Williams impatiently. "I'll bet anything they are off skylarking in the woods, instead of hurrying back to the s.h.i.+p, as they ought. For'ard, there! pa.s.s the word for the boatswain to clear away one of those signal-guns. We'll give them a shot by way of a reminder to quicken their motions."

The gun was cleared away, loaded, and fired--not once but nearly a dozen times before the laggards appeared. They were seen at last, however, hurrying down to the beach, in little straggling groups, one after the other, and finally the boats pushed off and headed for the s.h.i.+p.

A quarter of an hour later they were alongside; and in another moment the two men who had been sent away in charge stood on the quarter-deck, confronting their angry chief.

"Come, Rogers I come, Martin! what the mischief have you been about, keeping us dodging in the offing all this while?" demanded Williams fiercely. "Hook on the tackles, and let us be off," he continued.

"Wait a minute, cap'n," answered Rogers; "we've a bit of news for you that I expect you won't particularly relish. One of the men has cut and run; and it was hunting for him that kept us ash.o.r.e so long."

"Who is if!" demanded Williams.

"Why, it's Tom Nicholls, one of the steerage pa.s.sengers that Blyth s.h.i.+pped after we fell in with that barque on her beam-ends."

"So he has bolted, has he, the white-livered hound!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Williams furiously. "Well, he shall not escape us. Take your boats' crews, both of you; give each man a rifle and half a dozen rounds of ball cartridge, and pull ash.o.r.e again and hunt the cur until you find him, and bring him aboard here to me, dead or alive! I'll anchor the s.h.i.+p and wait for you, if it takes you a week to do the job."

"Ay, ay, we'll get him before the day is over, never fear!" exclaimed Rogers, apparently in high glee at receiving the brutal order. "Come along, mates, and get your rifles; it isn't every day that we get the chance of such a spree as a man-hunt!"

The boats' crews had, during this short colloquy, scrambled up the s.h.i.+p's side to the deck, and had gathered round the speakers, curious to see how Williams would receive the news of the loss; and it was to these that Rogers had addressed himself.

They did not, however, appear to by any means enter into the spirit of the thing, hanging back so coldly unresponsive to the mate's jovial invitation that the latter paused in blank astonishment.

"Why--why--what the--" began Rogers, when he was brusquely interrupted by one of the men, who stepped forward and said:

"Get somebody else to go in my place, matey. I don't understand man- huntin', as you calls it, and should only make a poor fist at it, I'm afraid."

"Same here," said another. "I never done anything of the sort yet, and don't know how to set about it."

The others were expressing themselves to the same effect, when Williams darted forward, and, seizing the first speaker roughly by the collar, savagely demanded:

"Look here, you scoundrel, do you mean to say that you _won't_ go?"

"Ay, ay, s.h.i.+pmate, that's just exactly what I _do_ mean," was the answer, given good-naturedly enough. "But take your hand off my collar," the man continued more sternly. "Two can play at that game, you know; and I doubt whether you are man enough to thrash me."

Williams, white as death with pa.s.sion, prudently withdrew his hand from the man's collar, and stepped back a pace or two.

"What does this mean?" he demanded. "Are you going to mutiny, men, before our cruise has even commenced?"

An insolent laugh greeted this inquiry; and the man who had just spoken answered:

"Call it what you like, Cap'n Josh; mutiny is as good a name for it as any other, I reckon. And what I mean is, that I, for one, ain't goin'

ash.o.r.e on no man-huntin' expedition. There was nothing said about man- huntin' when the articles for this here cruise was drawed up; and what I say is, if Tom Nicholls wants to cut and run, let him do it."

"Ay, ay; so says I," added another of the men. "He never entered into the thing with no spirit, anyhow; and if he'd rather be ash.o.r.e there than makin' his fortune aboard here with us, why, let him stay ash.o.r.e, says I. 'No manhuntin'' is my sentiments."

Several of the other men now declared themselves to the same effect, whereupon Williams, finding himself in the minority, said, with as perfect an a.s.sumption of indifference as he could command at the moment:

"Very well, lads; just as you please. It was of you, not of myself, that I was thinking. The work will be so much the heavier for you if Nicholls is allowed to escape; but, if you do not mind it, I am sure I need not. If, as you say, the fool prefers slaving ash.o.r.e there for a bare living to making his fortune with us afloat, let him go. Up with the boats, and be smart about it! Up with your helm, abaft there, and let her go off square before the wind! Square the main-yard; and away aloft there, some of you, and rig out the topmast and topgallant- studding-sail booms!"

These orders were rapidly obeyed. The s.h.i.+p squared away before a freshening breeze; and two hours later the island was left so far astern that a landsman might easily have mistaken it for a grey cloud on the edge of the horizon.