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diff --git a/21309.txt b/21309.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c85789b --- /dev/null +++ b/21309.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16128 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fitz the Filibuster, by George Manville Fenn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Fitz the Filibuster + +Author: George Manville Fenn + +Illustrator: Harold Piffard + +Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21309] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FITZ THE FILIBUSTER *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + + +Fitz the Filibuster, by George Manville Fenn. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +Another well-written book of nautical adventure by a writer who is a +master of suspense. Our hero is a young midshipman called Fitzgerald +Burnett, but always known as Fitz. The warship in which he serves is on +Channel Patrol, and they are on the lookout for a smuggler who is +running arms to a friendly Central American small Republic. They get +more caught up in the struggle that is going on in that country, and so +take part in several small fights and other tense situations. + +The book is full of well-drawn characters, especially some of the old +seamen that Fitz has to deal with. NH + +________________________________________________________________________ + +FITZ THE FILIBUSTER, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +ABOARD A GUNBOAT. + +"Well, Mr Burnett, what is it?" + +"Beg pardon, sir." + +"Now, my good boy, have I not told you always to speak out in a sharp, +business-like way? How in the world do you expect to get on in your +profession and become a smart officer, one who can give orders promptly +to his men, if you begin in that stammering, hesitating style? Here, +I'm busy; what do you want?" + +"I beg pardon, sir, I--" + +"Will--you--speak--out!" + +"Yes, sir; Mr Storks is going off to-night with an armed boat's crew--" + +"Thank you, Mr Burnett, I am much obliged; but allow me to tell you +that your news is very stale, for I was perfectly aware of that fact, +and gave the orders to Mr Storks myself." + +"Yes, sir; of course, sir; but--" + +"My good boy, what do you want?" + +"To go with them, sir." + +"Oh! Then why didn't you say so at first?" + +"I didn't know how you'd take it, sir." + +"Then you know now: very badly. No; the boat's going on important +business, and I don't want her packed full of useless boys. What good +do you expect you could do there?" + +"Learn my profession, sir." + +"Oh! Ah! H'm! Well--that's smart. Yes, I like that, Mr Burnett, +much better. Well, I don't know what to say. There's no danger. +Perhaps you will be away all the night and get no sleep." + +"Shouldn't mind that, sir. Mr Storks said that he wouldn't mind." + +"Doesn't matter whether Mr Storks minds or not. Well--yes; you may go. +There, there, no thanks; and--er--and--er--don't take any notice, Mr +Burnett; I am a little irritable this evening--maddening toothache, and +that sort of thing. Don't get into mischief. That'll do." + +Commander Glossop, R.N., generally known as Captain of H.M. Gunboat +_Tonans_, on special duty from the Channel Squadron, went below to his +cabin, and Fitzgerald Burnett--Fitz for short--midshipman, seemed +suddenly to have grown an inch taller, and comparatively stouter, as he +seemed to swell out with satisfaction, while his keen grey eyes +literally sparkled as he looked all a boy. + +"Thought he was going to snap my head off," he mattered, as he began to +walk up and down, noticing sundry little preparations that were in +progress in connection with one of the quarter-boats, in which, as she +swung from the davits, a couple of the smart, barefooted sailors, whose +toes looked very pink in the chill air, were overhauling and +re-arranging oars, and the little mast, yard and sail, none of which +needed touching, for everything was already in naval apple-pie order. + +Fitz Burnett ended his walk by stopping and looking on. + +"Going along with us, sir?" said one of the sailors. + +"Yes," said the lad shortly, and sharply enough to have satisfied his +superior if he had overheard. + +"That's right, sir," said the man, so earnestly that the boy looked +pleased. + +"Know where we are going, sir?" the other man ventured to ask. + +"Is it likely?" was the reply; "and if I did know do you suppose that I +would tell you?" + +"No, sir, of course not. But it's going to be something desperate, sir, +because we have got to take all our tools." + +"Ah, you'll see soon enough," said the boy, and full of the importance +of being one in some expedition that was to break the monotony of the +everyday routine, as well as to avoid further questioning, and any +approach to familiarity on the part of the men, Fitz continued his walk, +to come in contact directly after with another superior officer in the +shape of the lieutenant. + +"Hullo, Mr Burnett! So you are to go with us to-night, I hear." + +"Yes, sir," cried the boy eagerly. "Would you mind telling me what we +are going to do?" + +"Then you don't know?" + +"No, sir." + +"Then why did you ask the captain to let you go?" + +"I wanted to be there, sir. Armed boat's crew going off! It sounded so +exciting." + +"I don't think that you will find much excitement, Mr Burnett; but wait +and see. If you want more information I must refer you to the captain." + +This last was accompanied by a nod and a good-humoured smile, as the +officer moved away to look at the boat, but turned his head to add-- + +"Better put on a warm jacket; I dare say we shall have a cold night's +work." + +"I don't care," said the boy to himself. "Anything for a change. I do +get so tired of this humdrum steaming here and steaming there, and going +into port to fill up the coal-bunkers. Being at sea isn't half so jolly +as I used to think it was, and it is so cold. Wish we could get orders +to sail to one of those beautiful countries in the East Indies, or to +South America--anywhere away from these fogs and rains. Why, we haven't +seen the sun for a week." + +He went forward, to rest his arms on the bulwark and look out to sea. +The sight was not tempting. The mouth of the Mersey is not attractive +on a misty day, and the nearest land aft showed like a low-down dirty +cloud. Away on the horizon there was a long thick trail of smoke being +left behind by some outward-bound steamer, and running his eyes along +the horizon he caught sight of another being emitted from one of two +huge funnels which were all that was visible of some great Atlantic +steamer making for the busy port. + +Nearer in there were two more vessels, one that he made out to be a +brig, and that was all. + +"Ugh!" ejaculated the boy. "I wish--I wish--What's the use of wishing? +One never gets what one wants. Whatever are we going to do to-night? +It must mean smuggling. Well, there will be something in that. Going +aboard some small boat and looking at the skipper's papers, and if they +are not right putting somebody on board and bringing her into port. But +there won't be any excitement like one reads about in books. It's a +precious dull life coming to sea." + +Fitz Burnett sighed and waited, for the evening was closing in fast, and +then he began to brighten in the expectation of the something fresh that +was to take place that night. But knowing that it might be hours before +they started, he waited--and waited--and waited. + +There is an old French proverb which says, _Tout vient a point a qui +sait attendre_, and this may be roughly interpreted, "Everything comes +to the man who waits." Let's suppose that it comes to the boy. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +BRAVO, BOY! + +The dim evening gave place to a dark night. The _Tonans_ had for some +two or three hours been stealing along very slowly not far from land, +and that something important was on the way was evident from the +captain's movements, and the sharp look-out that was being kept up, and +still more so from the fact that no lights were shown. + +The gunboat's cutter had been swung out ready for lowering down at a +moment's notice, the armed crew stood waiting, and one man was in the +stern-sheets whose duty it was to look after the lantern, which was kept +carefully shaded. + +Fitz, who was the readiest of the ready, had long before noted with +intense interest the fact that they showed no lights, and his interest +increased when the lieutenant became so far communicative that he stood +gazing out through the darkness side by side with his junior, and said +softly-- + +"I am afraid we shall miss her, my lad. She'll steal by us in the +darkness, and it will all prove to be labour in vain." + +Fitz waited to hear more, but no more came, for the lieutenant moved off +to join the captain. + +"I wish he wouldn't be so jolly mysterious," said the midshipman to +himself. "I am an officer too, and he might have said a little more." + +But it was all waiting, and no farther intercourse till close upon eight +bells, when Fitz, feeling regularly tired out, said to himself-- + +"Bother! I wish I hadn't asked leave to go. I should have been +comfortably asleep by now." + +He had hardly thought this when there was a quick movement behind him, +and simultaneously he caught sight of a dim light off the starboard-bow. +An order was given in a low tone, and with a silence and method learned +on board a man-of-war, the boat's crew, followed by their officers, took +their places in the cutter, and in obedience to another command the boat +was lowered down, kissed the water, the hooks were withdrawn, she was +pushed off, the oars fell on either side, and away they glided over the +dancing waters in the direction of the distant light. + +"Now we are off, Fitz," said the lieutenant eagerly, speaking almost in +a whisper, but without the slightest necessity, for the light was far +away. + +"Yes, sir, now we are off," replied the boy, almost resentfully, and his +tone suggested that he would have liked to say, Why can't you tell me +where we are going? Possibly the officer took it in this light, for he +continued-- + +"This ought to be a bit of excitement for you, Burnett. We are after a +schooner bound for somewhere south, laden with contraband of war." + +"War, sir?" whispered the lad excitedly. + +"Well, some petty Central American squabble; and the captain has had +instructions that this schooner is going to steal out of port to-night. +Some one informed. We got the information yesterday." + +"Contraband, sir?" + +"Yes; guns and ammunition which ought not to be allowed to be shipped +from an English port against a friendly state.--Give way, my men!" + +The rowers responded by making their stout ashen blades bend, and the +cutter went forward in jerks through the rather choppy sea. + +"Then we shall take the schooner, sir?" + +"Yes, my lad, if we can." + +"Then that means prize-money." + +"Why, Burnett, are you as avaricious as that?" + +"No, sir; no, sir; I was thinking about the men." + +"Oh, that's right. But don't count your chickens before they are +hatched." + +"No, sir." + +"We mayn't be able to board that vessel, and if we do, possibly it isn't +the one we want. It's fifty to one it isn't. Or it may be anything-- +some trading brig or another going down south." + +"Of course, sir. There are so many that pass." + +"At the same time it may be the one we want." + +"Yes, sir." + +"And then we shall be in luck." + +"Yes, sir." + +"They must surrender to our armed boat." + +Fitz Burnett had had little experience of the sea, but none as connected +with an excursion in a boat on a dark night, to board a vessel whose +sailing light could be seen in the distance. + +They had not gone far before the lieutenant tabooed all talking. + +"Still as you can, my lads," he said. "Sound travels far over the sea, +and lights are very deceptive." + +The midshipman had already been thinking the same thing. He had often +read of Will-o'-the-Wisps, but never seen one, and this light seemed to +answer the description exactly, for there it was, dimly-seen for a few +moments, then brightening, and slowly going up and down. But the great +peculiarity was that now it seemed quite close at hand, now far distant, +and for the life of him he could not make out that they got any nearer. +He wanted to draw his companion's attention to that fact, but on turning +sharply to the lieutenant as if to speak, he was met by a low "Hist!" +which silenced him directly, while the men rowed steadily on for quite a +quarter of an hour longer, when all at once the lieutenant uttered in an +angry whisper-- + +"What are you doing, you clumsy scoundrel?" + +For there was a sudden movement behind where they sat in the +stern-sheets, as if the man in charge of the lantern had slipped, with +the result that a dull gleam of light shone out for a few moments, +before its guardian scuffled the piece of sail-cloth by which it had +been covered, back into its place, and all was dark once more. + +"Why, what were you about?" whispered the lieutenant angrily. + +"Beg pardon, sir. Slipped, sir." + +"Slipped! I believe you were asleep." + +The man was silent. + +"You were nodding off, weren't you?" + +"Don't think I was, sir," was the reply. + +But the man's officer was right, and the rest of the crew knew it, being +ready to a man, as they afterwards did, to declare that "that there Bill +Smith would caulk," as they termed taking a surreptitious nap, "even if +the gunboat were going down." + +"Put your backs into it, my lads," whispered the lieutenant. "Now then, +with a will; but quiet, quiet!" + +As he spoke the speed of the boat increased and its progress made it +more unsteady, necessitating his steadying himself by gripping Fitz by +the collar as he stood up, shading his eyes and keeping a sharp look-out +ahead. + +A low hissing sound suggestive of his vexation now escaped his lips, for +to his rage and disgust he saw plainly enough that their light must have +been noticed. + +Fitz Burnett had come to the same conclusion, for though he strained his +eyes with all his power, the Will-o'-the-Wisp-like light that they were +chasing had disappeared. + +"Gone!" thought the boy, whose heart was now beating heavily. "They +must have seen our light and taken alarm. That's bad. No," he added to +himself, "it's good--capital, for it must mean that that was the light +of the vessel we were after. Any honest skipper wouldn't have taken the +alarm." + +"Use your eyes, Burnett, my lad," whispered the lieutenant, bending +down. "We must have been close up to her when that idiot gave the +alarm. See anything?" + +"No, sir." + +"Oh, tut, tut, tut, tut!" came in a low muttering tone. + +"Look, boy, look; we must see her somehow. How are we to go back and +face the captain if we fail like this?" + +The boy made no reply, but strained his eyes again, to see darkness +everywhere that appeared to be growing darker moment by moment, except +in one spot, evidently where the land lay, and there a dull yellowish +light glared out that seemed to keep on winking at them derisively, now +fairly bright, now disappearing all at once, as the lantern revolved. + +"Hold hard!" whispered the lieutenant, and the men lay on their oars, +with the boat gradually slackening its speed till it rose and fell, +rocking slowly on the choppy sea, and the eye-like lantern gave another +derisive wink twice, and then seemed to shut itself up tight. + +"It's of no use to pull, Burnett," whispered the lieutenant. "We may be +going right away. See anything, my lads?" + +"No, sir," came in a low murmur, and the culprit who had gone to sleep +sat and shivered as he thought of the "wigging," as he termed it, that +would be his when he went back on board the gunboat; and as the boat +rocked now in regular motion the darkness seemed to grow more profound, +while the silence to the midshipman seemed to be awful. + +He was miserable too with disappointment, for he felt so mixed up with +the expedition that it seemed to him as if he was in fault, and that +when they returned he would have to share in the blame that Captain +Glossop would, as he termed it, "lay on thick." + +"Oh, Mr Bill Smith," he said to himself, "just wait till we get back!" + +And then a reaction took place. + +"What's the good?" he thought. "Poor fellow! He'll get it hot enough +without me saying a word. But how could a fellow go to sleep at a time +like this?" + +"It's all up, Burnett," came in a whisper, close to his ear. "The +milk's spilt, and it's no use crying over it, but after all these +preparations who could have expected such a mishap as that?--What's the +matter with you?" he added sharply. "You'll have me overboard." + +For the midshipman had suddenly sprung up from where he sat, nearly +overbalancing his superior officer as he gripped him tightly by the +chest with the right hand, and without replying stood rigidly pointing +over the side with his left, his arm stretched right across the +lieutenant's breast. + +"You don't mean--you can see--Bravo, boy!--Pull, my lads, for all you +know." + +As he spoke he dropped back into his seat, tugging hard with his right +hand at one of the rudder-lines, with the result that as the cutter +glided once more rapidly over the little waves she made a sharp curve to +starboard, and then as the line was once more loosened, glided on +straight ahead for something dim and strange that stood out before them +like a blur. + +As the men bent to their stout ash-blades, pulling with all their might, +a great thrill seemed to run through the cutter, which, as it were, +participated in the excitement of the crew, boat and men being for the +time as it were one, while the dark blur now rapidly assumed form, +growing moment by moment more distinct, till the occupants of the +stern-sheets gradually made out the form of a two-masted vessel gliding +along under a good deal of sail. + +She had so much way on, as the cutter was coming up at right angles that +instead of beating fast, Fitz Burnett's heart now continued its +pulsations in jerks in his excitement lest the schooner should glide by +them and leave them behind. + +It was a near thing, but the lieutenant had taken his measures +correctly. He was standing up once again grasping the rudder-lines till +almost the last moment, before dropping them and giving two orders, to +the coxswain to hook on, and to the crew to follow--unnecessary orders, +for every man was on the _qui vive_, knew his task, and meant to do it +in the shortest possible time. + +And now a peculiar sense of unreality attacked the young midshipman, for +in the darkness everything seemed so dream-like and unnatural. It was +as if they were rowing with all their might towards a phantom ship, a +misty something dimly-seen in the darkness, a ship-like shape that might +at any moment die right away; for all on board was black, and the +silence profound. There was nothing alive, as it were, but the schooner +itself, careening gently over in their direction, and passing silently +before their bows. + +One moment this feeling strengthened as Fitz Burnett dimly made out the +coxswain standing ready in the bows prepared to seize hold with the +boat-hook he wielded, while the men left their oars to swing, while they +played another part. + +"The boat-hook will go through it," thought the lad, as, following the +lieutenant's example, he stood ready to spring up the side. The next +moment all was real, for the cutter in response to a jerk as the +coxswain hooked on, grated against the side and changed its course, +gliding along with the schooner, while, closely following, their +officers, who sprang on board, the little crew of stout man-of-war's men +sprang up and literally tumbled over the low bulwarks on to the vessel's +deck. + +For a short period during which you might have counted six, there was +nothing heard but the rustle of the men's movements and the _pad, pad, +pad_ of their bare feet upon the deck. + +"Where's the--" + +What the lieutenant would have said in continuation was not heard. +Surprised by the utter silence on board, he had shared with Fitz the +feeling that they must have boarded some derelict whose crew, perhaps in +great peril, had deserted their vessel and sought safety in the boats. + +But the next moment there was a sudden rush that took every one by +surprise, for not a word was uttered by their assailants, the thud, +thud, thud of heavy blows, the breathing hard of men scuffling, followed +by splash after splash, and then one of the schooner's masts seemed to +give way and fall heavily upon Fitz Burnett's head, turning the +dimly-seen deck and the struggling men into something so black that he +saw no more. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +WAKING UP. + +It is a curious sensation to be lying on your back you don't know where, +and you can't think of the reason why it should be so, but with your +head right off, completely detached from your body, and rolling round +and round like an exceedingly heavy big ball, that for some inexplicable +reason has been pitched into a vast mill on purpose to be ground, but, +probably from its thickness and hardness, does not submit to that +process, but is always going on and on between the upper stone and +nether stone, suffering horrible pain, but never turning into powder, +nor even into bits, but going grinding on always for a time that seems +as if it would never end unless the millstones should wear away. + +That is what seemed to be the matter with Fitz Burnett, for how long he +could not tell. But a change came at last, with the gnawing, grinding +pain becoming dull. Later on it did not seem that his head was detached +from his body, and he had some undefined idea that his hands were where +he could move them, and at last, later on still, he found himself lying +in comparative calmness and in no pain, but in a state something between +sleeping and waking. + +Then came a time when he began to think that it was very dark, that he +was very tired, and that he wanted to sleep, and so he slept. Then +again that it was very light, very warm, and that something seemed to be +the matter with his berth, for he was thinking more clearly now. He +knew he was lying on his back in his berth, and curiously enough he knew +that it was not his berth, and while he was wondering why this was, +something tickled his nose. + +Naturally enough as the tickling went on, passing here and there, he +attributed it to a fly upon his face, and his instinct suggested to him +to knock it off. He made a movement to do this quickly and suddenly, +but his hand fell back upon his chest--whop! It was only a light touch, +but he heard it distinctly, and as the movement resulted in dislodging +the fly, he laughed to himself, perfectly satisfied. He felt very +comfortable and went to sleep again. + +Hours must have passed, and it was light once more. He turned his head +and looked towards that light, to see that it was dancing and flashing +upon beautiful blue water all rippled and playing under the influence of +a gentle breeze. He could not see much of it, for he was only looking +through a round cabin-window. This was puzzling, for there was no such +window as that in the gunboat, and the mental question came--where was +he? + +But it did not seem to matter. He was very comfortable, and that +dancing light upon the water was one of the most lovely sights he had +ever seen. He thought that it was a beautiful morning and that it was +very nice to lie and watch it, but he did not think about anybody else +or about whys or wherefores or any other puzzling problems, not even +about himself. But he did think it would be pleasant to turn himself a +little over on his side with his face close to the edge of the berth, +and take in long breaths of that soft, sweet air. + +Acting upon this thought, he tried to turn himself, and for the first +time began to wonder why it was that he could not stir; and directly +after he began to wonder what it was he had been dreaming about; +something concerning his head aching horribly and going round and round +in a mill. + +It was while he was obliged to give this up as something he could not +master that he heard a click as of a door opening, and the next moment +some one came softly in, and a face was interposed between his and the +cabin-window. + +It was a rather rough but pleasant-looking face, with dark brown eyes +and blackish curly hair, cut short. The face was a good deal sunburnt +too. But he did not take much notice of that; it was the eyes that +caught his attention, looking searchingly into his, and Fitz waited, +expecting the owner of the eyes would speak; and then it seemed to him +that he ought to ask something--about something. But about what? He +did not quite know, for he felt that though he was wide-awake he could +not think as he should. It was as if his apparatus was half asleep. + +But the owner of the eyes did not say anything, only drew back and +disappeared, and as he did so, Fitz found that he could think, for he +was asking himself how it was that the fellow who had been looking at +him had disappeared. + +He came to the conclusion directly afterwards that it was a dream. Then +he knew it was not, for he heard a gruff voice that seemed to come +through the boards say-- + +"All right, Poole. Tumble up directly. What say?" + +"He's awake, father, and looks as if he had come to himself." + +"Eh? Oh, that's good news. Come and see him directly." + +Now Fitz began to think fast, but still not about himself. + +"Father, eh?" he thought. "Whose father is he? He said he was coming +to see some one directly. Now I wonder who that may be." + +That was as much as Fitz Burnett could get through upon this occasion, +for thinking had made his eyelids heavy, and the bright flashing water +at which he gazed seemed to grow dull and play upon the boards of his +berth just over his head and close at hand. + +From growing dull, this rippling water grew very dark indeed, and then +for some time there was nothing more but sleep--beautiful sleep, +Nature's great remedy and cure for a heavy blow upon the head that has +been very close upon fracturing the bone, but which in this case fell so +far short that Fitz Burnett had only had severe concussion of the brain. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +ANOTHER BOY. + +It was either sunrise or sunset, for the cabin was full of a rich warm +glow, and Fitz lay upon his back listening to a peculiar sound which +sounded to him like _fuzz, whuzz, thrum_. + +He did not attempt to turn his head for some moments, though he wanted +to know what made those sounds, for during some little time he felt too +lazy to stir, and at last he turned his head gently and remembered the +eyes that had looked at him once, and recalled the face now bent down +over something before him from which came those peculiar sounds. + +Fitz felt interested, and watched the busy ringers, the passing and +re-passing needle, and the manipulation of a mesh, for some time before +he spoke. + +"How quick and clever he is!" he thought, and then almost unconsciously +a word slipped out. + +"Netting?" he said. + +Needle, string and mesh were thrown down, and Fitz's fellow-occupier of +the cabin started up and came to his side, to bend over and lay a brown +cool hand upon his forehead. + +"Feel better?" he said. + +"Better?" said Fitz peevishly. + +"Yes, of course." + +"Why--Here, stop a moment. Who are you?" + +"No doubt about it," was the reply. "That's the first time you have +talked sensibly." + +"You be hanged!" said Fitz sharply. + +But as he spoke it did not seem like his own voice, but as if somebody +else had spoken in a weak, piping tone. He did not trouble himself +about that, though, for his mind was beginning to be an inquiring one. + +"Why don't you answer?" he said. "Who are you? What's your name?" + +"Poole Reed." + +"Oh! Then how came you in my cabin?" + +"Well," said the lad, with a pleasant laugh, which made his rather plain +face light up in the warm sunset glow and look almost handsome; not that +that was wonderful, for a healthy, good-tempered boy's face, no matter +what his features, always has a pleasant look,--"I think I might say +what are you doing in my cabin?" + +"Eh?" cried Fitz, looking puzzled. "How came I--your cabin--your cabin? +Is it your cabin?" + +The lad nodded. + +"I don't know," said Fitz. "How did I come here?" + +"But it is my cabin--rather." + +"Yes, yes; but how did I come here?" + +"Why, in the boat." + +"In a boat?" said Fitz thoughtfully--"in a boat? I came in a boat? +Yes, I suppose so, because we are at sea. But somehow I don't know how +it is. I can't recollect. But I say, hasn't it turned _very_ warm?" + +"Yes. Getting warmer every day." + +"But my head--I don't understand." + +"Don't you? Well, never mind. How do you feel?" + +"Oh, quite well, thank you. But I want to know why I am here--in your +cabin." + +"Oh, you will know soon enough. Don't worry about it now till you get +strong again." + +"Till I get strong again? There, now you are beginning to puzzle me +once more. I am strong enough now, and--No, I am not," added the lad, +rather pitifully, as he raised one hand and let it fall back. "That arm +feels half numbed as if it had been hurt, and," he added, rather +excitedly, "you asked me how I was. Have I been ill?" + +"Yes, very," was the reply. "But don't fret about it. You are coming +all right again fast." + +Fitz lay back with his brow wrinkled up, gazing at his companion and +trying to think hard; but all in vain, and with a weary gesticulation-- + +"I can't understand," he said. "I try to think, but my head seems to go +rolling round again, and I can only remember that mill." + +"Then take my advice about it. Don't try to think at all." + +"But I must think; I want to know." + +"Oh, you'll know soon enough. You can't think, because you are very +weak now. I was just the same when I had the fever at Vera Cruz--felt +as if my head wouldn't go; but it got better every day, and that's how +yours will be." + +"Did I catch a fever, then?" said Fitz eagerly. + +"No," was the reply. "You caught something else," and the speaker +smiled grimly. + +"Caught something else? And been very bad?" + +The lad nodded. + +"Then--then," cried Fitz excitedly, "Captain Glossop had me sent aboard +this ship to get me out of the way?" + +"Well, not exactly. But don't you bother, I tell you. You are getting +right again fast, and father says you'll be all right now you have +turned the corner." + +"Who's `father'?" said Fitz. + +"That's a rum question. Why, my father, of course--the skipper of this +schooner." + +"Oh, I see; the skipper of this schooner," said Fitz thoughtfully. "Is +it a fast one?" + +"Awfully," said the lad eagerly. "You will quite enjoy seeing how we +can sail when you are well enough to come on deck. Why, if you go on +like this we ought to be able to get you up in a day or two. The +weather is splendid now. My father is a capital doctor." + +"What!" cried Fitz. "Why, you told me just now that he was the skipper +of this schooner." + +"Well, so he is. But I say, don't you worry about asking questions. +Couldn't you drink a cup of tea?" + +"I don't know; I dare say I could. Yes, I should like one. But never +mind about that now. I don't quite understand why Captain Glossop +should send me on board this schooner. This is not the Liverpool +Hospital Ship, is it?" + +"Oh no." + +"How many sick people have you got on board?" + +"None at all," said the lad, "now you are getting well." + +Fitz lay looking at the speaker wistfully. There was something about +his frank face and manner that he liked. + +"I don't understand," he said sadly. "It's all a puzzle, and I suppose +it is all as you say through being so ill." + +"Yes, of course. That's it, old chap. I say, you don't mind me calling +you `old chap,' do you?" + +"Well, no," said Fitz, smiling sadly. "You mean it kindly, I suppose." + +"Well, I want to be kind to you, seeing how bad you've been. I thought +one day you were going to Davy Jones's locker, as the sailors call it." + +"Was I so bad as that?" cried Fitz eagerly. + +"Yes, horrid. Father and I felt frightened, because it would have been +so serious; but there, I won't say another word. I am going to get you +some tea." + +The invalid made an effort to stay him, but the lad paid no heed-- +hurrying out of the cabin and shutting the door quietly after him, +leaving Fitz deep in thought. + +He lay with his white face wrinkled up, trying hard, in spite of what +had been said, to think out what it all meant, but always with his +thoughts tending towards his head rolling round in a mill and getting no +farther; in fact, it seemed to be going round again for about the nth +time, as mathematicians term it, when the cabin-door once more opened, +and his attendant bore in a steaming hot cup of tea, to be closely +followed by a bluff-looking, middle-aged man, sun-browned, bright-eyed +and alert, dressed in semi-naval costume, and looking like a well-to-do +yachtsman. + +He smiled pleasantly as he gave a searching look at the invalid, and sat +down at once upon a chair close to the lad's pillow, leaning over to +touch his brow and then feel his pulse. + +"Bravo!" he said. "Capital!--Humph! So you are thinking I don't look +like a doctor, eh?" + +"Yes," replied Fitz sharply. "How did you know that?" + +"Because it is written in big letters all over your face. Why, you are +getting quite a new man, and we will have you on deck in a day or two." + +"Thank you," said Fitz. "It is very good of you to pay so much +attention to an invalid. I knew you were not a doctor because your son +here said so; but you seem to have done me a great deal of good, and I +hope you think I am grateful. I am sure Captain Glossop will be very +much obliged." + +"Humph!" said the skipper dryly. "I hope he will. But there, try your +tea. I dare say it will do you good." + +As he spoke the skipper passed one muscular arm gently under the boy's +shoulders and raised him up, while his son bent forward with the tea. + +"Thank you," said Fitz, "but there was no need for that. I could have-- +Oh, how ridiculous to be so weak as this!" + +"Oh, not at all," said the skipper. "Why, you have been days and days +without any food--no coal in your bunkers, my lad. How could you expect +your engines to go?" + +"What!" cried Fitz. "Days and days! Wasn't I taken ill yesterday?" + +"Well, not exactly, my lad," said the skipper dryly; "but don't you +bother about that now. Try the tea." + +The cup was held to his lips, and the lad sipped and then drank with +avidity. + +"'Tis good," he muttered. + +"That's right," said the skipper. "You were a bit thirsty, I suppose. +Why, you will soon be ready to eat, but we mustn't go too fast; mind +that, Poole. Gently does it, mind, till he gets a bit stronger.--Come, +finish your tea.--That's the way. Now let me lay you down again." + +This was done, and the boy's face wrinkled up once more. + +"I am so weak," he said querulously. + +"To be sure you are, my lad, but that will soon go off now. You've got +nothing to do but to lie here and eat and drink and sleep, till you come +square again. My boy Poole here will look after you, and to-morrow or +next day we will carry you up on deck and let you lie in a cane-chair. +You will be able to read soon, and play draughts or chess, and have a +fine time of it." + +"Thank you; I am very much obliged," said the young midshipman warmly. +"I want to get well again, and I will try not to think, but there is one +thing I should like to ask." + +"Well. So long as it isn't questions, go on, my lad." + +"I want you to write a letter home, it doesn't matter how short it is, +about my having been ill--so long as you tell my mother that I am +getting better from my attack. Your son said when I asked him, that I +got it on the head, and I am afraid my mother would not understand that, +so you had better say what fever it was, for I am sure she'd like to +know. What fever was it, Captain? You might tell me that!" + +"Eh, what--what fever?" said the skipper. "Ah, ah," and he gave a +peculiar cock of his eye towards his son, "brain-fever, my lad, +brain-fever. It made you a bit delirious. But that's all over now." + +"And you will write, sir? I'll give you the address." + +"Write?" said the captain. "Why not wait till you get into port? You +will be able then to write yourself." + +"Oh, but I can't wait for that, sir. If you would kindly write the +letter and send it ashore by one of the men in your boat, it will be so +much better." + +"All right, my lad. I'll see to it. But there, now. You've talked too +much. Not another word. I am your doctor, and my orders are that you +now shut your eyes and go to sleep." + +As he spoke the skipper made a sign to his son, and they both left the +cabin, the latter bearing the empty cup. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +AGHAST. + +As the cabin-door closed Fitz lay back, trying to think about his +position, but he felt too comfortable to trouble much. There had been +something so soft and comforting about that tea, which had relieved the +parched sensation in his throat and lips. Then the skipper and his son +had been so kind and attentive. It was so satisfactory too about +getting that letter off, and then that evening glow rapidly changing +into a velvety gloom with great stars coming out, was so lovely that he +felt that he had never seen anything so exquisite before. + +"There, I won't think and worry," he said to himself, and a minute later +he had fallen into a sleep which proved so long and restful, that the +sun had been long up before he unclosed his eyes again to find his +younger attendant once more netting. + +"Morning," said the lad cheerily. "You have had a long nap, and no +mistake." + +"Why, I haven't been asleep since sunset, have I?" + +"You have, and it seems to have done you a lot of good. You can eat a +good breakfast now, can't you?" + +"Yes, and get up first and have a good wash. I long for it." + +"You can't. I shall have to do that. Here, wait a minute. I will go +and tell the cook to get your breakfast ready, and then come back and +put you all a-taunto." + +The lad hurried out of the cabin, leaving Fitz wide-awake now in every +sense of the word, for that last rest had brought back the power of +coherent thought, making him look wonderingly out of the window at the +glorious sea, so different from anything he had been accustomed to for +months and months, and setting him wondering. + +"Why, this can't be the Irish Channel," he thought, "and here, when was +it I was taken ill? I seem to have been fast asleep, and only just woke +up. Where was I? Was that a dream? No, I remember now; the lieutenant +and the cutter's crew. That schooner we were sent to board in the +darkness, and--" + +Here his young attendant re-entered the cabin with a tin-bowl in one +hand, a bucket of freshly dipped sea-water in the other, and a towel +thrown over his shoulder. + +"Here, hullo, midshipman!" he cried cheerily. "My word, you do look +wide-awake! But there's nothing wrong, is there?" + +"Yes! No! I don't know," cried Fitz excitedly. "What's the name of +this schooner?" + +"Oh, it's all right. It's my father's schooner." + +"And you sailed from Liverpool?" + +"I haven't come here to answer your questions," said the lad, almost +sulkily. + +"That proves it, then. I remember it all now. We boarded you in the +dark, and--and--" + +Before the speaker could continue, the cabin-door was thrust open and +the bluff-looking skipper entered. + +"Hullo!" he said sternly, "what's the matter here?" + +"Your son, sir, won't answer my questions," cried Fitz excitedly. + +"Quite right, my lad. I told him not to until you get better, so don't +ask." + +"I am better," cried the boy, trying to spring up, but sinking back with +a groan. + +"There, you see," said the skipper, "you are not. You are far too weak. +Why not take my word for it, my lad, as a bit of a doctor? Now, look +here! You want to know how it is you came on board my craft--wait +patiently a little while, and when I think you are well enough to bear +it I will tell you all." + +"But I don't want to be told now," cried the boy passionately--"not +that. I boarded with our men, and I can remember I felt a heavy blow. +I must have been knocked down and stunned. What has become of our +lieutenant, the boat and men?" + +"Oh, well, my lad, if the murder must out--" + +"Murder!" cried Fitz. + +"Murder, no! Nonsense! That's a figure of speech. I mean, if the +story must come out, here it is. I was going peacefully down channel +when your boat boarded us." + +"As she had a right to," cried Fitz, "being from one of the Queen's +ships on duty." + +"Oh, I am not going to argue that, my lad," said the skipper coolly. "I +was sailing down channel, interfering with nobody, when I was boarded by +a lot of armed men in the dark, and I did what any skipper would do +under the circumstances. The boat's crew meant to capture my craft and +my valuable cargo, so after a scuffle I had them all pitched overboard +to get back to their boat, and gave them the go-by in the darkness, and +I haven't seen anything of them since." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Fitz. "Resisting one of Her Majesty's crews! Do you +know, sir, what it means?" + +"I know what the other means, my lad--losing my craft and valuable +cargo, and some kind of punishment, I suppose, for what I have done." + +"But you have taken me prisoner, then?" cried Fitz. + +"Well, not exactly, my lad," said the skipper, smiling. "I shouldn't +have done that if I had known. Nobody knew you were on board till the +next morning, for we were all too busy clapping on all sail so as to +give your gunboat a clean pair of heels." + +"Never mind me," cried Fitz excitedly. "What about the boat's crew?" + +"Oh, they'll be all right. They got back to their boat. We could hear +plainly enough the shouting one to the other, and your officer hailing +till the last man was picked up. They were showing their lantern then +without stint, not giving us a mere glimpse like they did when we saw it +first." + +"Oh!" ejaculated Fitz, drawing his breath between his teeth as he +recalled the dropping off to sleep of poor Bill Smith. + +"It was not till sunrise, my lad, that I knew you were on board. You +had had an unlucky crack on the head which sent you down the +companion-ladder, and when my lads brought and laid you up on deck it +seemed to me the worst part of the night's business." + +"Then why didn't you put me ashore at once?" cried Fitz. "You were +keeping me a prisoner here," and he looked from father to son, the +former where he had seated himself quietly by the head of the middy's +berth, the other standing leaning against the bulkhead folding and +unfolding the clean towel, with the bucket of water and tin-bowl at his +feet. + +"Why didn't I put you ashore at once?" replied the skipper. "Say, why +didn't I put myself and men all in prison for what I had done? Well, +hardly likely, my lad. I couldn't afford it, between ourselves. There! +It was your people's fault. You may call it duty, if you like. Mine +was to save my schooner if I could--and I did. So now you know the +worst. Come; be a good boy and let Poole there wash your face." + +"Oh, this is insufferable," cried Fitz. "You are insulting a Queen's +officer, sir." + +"I am very sorry, sir," said the skipper coolly, "but I have got another +duty to do now, and that is to make you quite well. This is only a fast +trading schooner, but in his way a skipper is as big a man as the +captain of a Queen's man-of-war. He is master, and you have got to +obey--the more so because it is for your own good. Why don't I set you +ashore? Because I can't. As soon as I safely can, off you go, but till +then just you take it coolly and get well." + +"Put me aboard the first ship you see." + +"I shall put you where I like, my boy; so once more I tell you that you +have got to obey me and get well. If you go on like this, exciting +yourself, we shall have the fever back again, and then, mark this, the +words of truth, you will be too ill to ask me to write to your mother +and tell her how bad you are." + +Poor Fitz's lips parted, and he lay back upon his pillow speechless and +staring with a strange, wistful look in his eyes, making not the +slightest resistance, not even attempting to speak again, as the skipper +laid a hand once more upon his forehead, keeping it there a few minutes +before he removed it. + +"Not so hot," he said, "as I expected to feel it. Go on, Poole, my boy, +and get him his breakfast as soon as you can." + +The lad took his father's place as he vacated it and moved towards the +cabin-door, but only to return directly, step to the side of the berth, +and take one of the middy's hands and hold it between his own. + +"There, there," he said, "I am sorry to be so hard with you, my lad, for +you have spoken very bravely and well. Come! A sailor has to take the +ups and downs of his profession. You are all in the downs now, and are, +so to speak, my prisoner; but we shan't put you in irons, eh, Poole?" + +"No, father," said the lad addressed, smiling; "not quite." + +"And I shall be disgraced--disgraced!" groaned the midshipman. + +"Disgraced! Nonsense! What for? Why, my lad, your captain when he +knows all ought to put a big mark against your name; and I have no doubt +he will." + +As he spoke he left the cabin without another word, and the silence was +just as great within; but it was a busy silence all the same, while Fitz +lay back, unable to avoid feeling how cool and pleasant was the touch of +the water, and how gentle were his attendant's hands. + +He was still miserable, but there was something very satisfying later on +in being propped up with a great locker-cushion and a well-stuffed +pillow, feeling the deliciously warm morning air float through the open +cabin-window, what time, by the help of the skipper's son, he partook of +a capital breakfast, at first feeling that every mouthful was choking +him, then with eager appetite, Poole smiling pleasantly at him all the +while. + +It was annoying too, for the middy felt that, to use his own term, he +ought to hate this "filibustering young ruffian" with all his heart. As +for speaking to him unless it were to give him some imperious order, he +mentally vowed he would not do that. + +But that coffee was newly roasted, and though they were far at sea, the +fresh bread-cakes were nice and warm, and the butter not in the +slightest degree too salt. Fitz had been long without any food to +signify, returning health was giving him the first instalments of a +ravenous appetite, and somehow it seems to be one of Nature's rules that +_one_ fasting has his temper all on edge, while when he is satisfied it +does not take much to make him smile. + +So it was that before the breakfast was over, Fitz Burnett had forgotten +his mental vow. Curiosity got the better of him. + +"How far are we from land?" he said. + +"The nearest?" + +Fitz nodded. + +"Oh, about eight hundred miles." + +"And where's that? Somewhere south?" + +"No, north by east." + +"Do you mean it?" + +It was Poole's turn now to nod. + +The young midshipman sank back aghast, trying to mentally fill up the +blank between that night off the dark waters near Liverpool, and the +bright sunny sea before him now. + +It was a thorough failure, for before many minutes had passed, his +thinking powers seemed to be rendered misty by a sunny glow through +which he was wafted back to England, Kent, and his own old pleasant +home. + +His head had sunk back, and he was sleeping peacefully and well, not in +the least disturbed by his attendant as the breakfast-things were +removed and the cabin touched up. This done, Poole stood beside him, +examining his position. + +"Seems comfortable enough," he said, "and I don't think he can roll +over. Poor old chap! It does seem a nasty turn, but it was not our +fault. I hope he'll soon settle down, because he seems to be the sort +of fellow, if he wasn't quite so cocky, that one might come to like." + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +ON TWO SIDES. + +Fitz Burnett slept on during the greatest part of that day and most of +the next; each time that he woke up he seemed better, and ready for the +food that he had missed for so long and which was now so carefully +prepared for him. + +Very little had been said; the skipper's son attended upon him +assiduously, and was ready to enter into conversation, but his advances +were met so shortly and snappishly, that he soon contented himself with +playing the nurse seriously, while the invalid frowned and kept his eyes +fixed upon the sea through the open cabin-window, rarely glancing at his +attendant at all. + +It was on the fourth day after the lad had recovered his senses and +learned the truth of his position, that Poole made a remark about this +change in their passenger to his father, who had come into the cabin to +find the midshipman fast asleep. + +"Is it right, father, that he should sleep so much?" said the lad. + +"Certainly. He's getting on fast. Let him sleep as much as he can. +His wound is growing together again as quickly as it can. Can't you see +how much better he is?" + +"Well, I thought I could, dad," was the reply; "but every now and then I +think he's getting worse." + +"Eh? What makes you think that, lad? Does he begin to mope for his +liberty?" + +"I dare say he does, dad. It's only natural; but that isn't what I +meant. What I thought was that though he seemed rather nice at first, +he keeps on growing more and more disagreeable. He treats me sometimes +just as if I were a dog." + +"Well, you always were a precious young puppy, Poole," said the skipper, +with a twinkle of the eye.--"Ah! No impudence now! If you dare to say +that it's no wonder when I am such a rough old sea-dog, I'll throw +something at you." + +"Then it won't be thrown," said the lad, laughing. "But really, father, +he is so stuck up and consequential sometimes, ordering me about, and +satisfied with nothing I do, that it makes me feel peppery and ready to +tell him that if he isn't satisfied he'd better do the things himself." + +"Bah! Don't take any notice of him, boy. It's all a good sign, and +means he's getting well fast." + +"Well, it's not a very pleasant way of showing it, father." + +"No, my boy, no; but we can't very well alter what is. Fellows who have +been ill, and wounded men when they are taking a right turn, are weak, +irritable, and dissatisfied. I think you'll find him all right by and +by. Take it all calmly. He's got something to suffer, poor fellow, +both mentally and from that hurt upon his head. Well, I'll go back on +deck. I did come down to examine and dress his sconce again, but I'll +leave that till another time." + +He had hardly spoken before Fitz opened his eyes with a start, saw who +was present, and turned pettishly away. + +"Oh, it's you, doctor, is it?" he said. "I wish you wouldn't be always +coming in here and bothering and waking me up. What do you want now?" + +"I was only coming to bathe and re-plaster your head, squire," replied +the bluff skipper good-humouredly. + +Fitz gave himself an angry snatch round, and fixed his eyes frowningly +upon the speaker. + +"Look here," he said, "let's have no more of that, if you please. Have +the goodness to keep your place, sir. If you don't know that you have a +gentleman on board, please to learn it now, and have the goodness to be +off and take that clumsy oaf with you. I want to sleep." + +"Certainly," said the skipper quietly, and his son gave him a wondering +look. "But as I am here I may as well see to your head. It is quite +time it was done again." + +"Look here," cried Fitz, "am I to speak again? I told you to go. When +I want my head bandaged again I will send you word." + +"All right, my lad," said the skipper good-humouredly. + +"All right, _what_?" cried Fitz. "Will you have the goodness to keep +this familiar way of speaking to people of your own class!" + +"Oh, certainly," said the skipper. "Very well, then; send for me when +you feel disposed to have it dressed; and I'll tell you what, you can +let Poole wait till the cool of the evening, and he can bathe it and do +it then." + +"Bah!" cried the lad angrily. "Is it likely I am going to trust myself +in his clumsy hands? There, stop and do it now, as I am awake. Here, +stop, get some fresh cool water and hold the basin. Pish! I mean that +nasty tin-bowl." + +Poole got what was necessary without a word, and then stood by while the +injury was carefully bathed and bandaged, the patient not uttering a +single word of thanks, but submitting with the worst of graces, and just +giving his doctor a condescending nod when with a word of congratulation +the latter left the cabin. + +There was profound silence then, saving a click or two and a rustle as +Poole put the various things away, Fitz lying back on his pillow and +watching him the while, till at last he spoke, in an exacerbating way-- + +"Here, you sir, was that doctor, skipper, or whatever he calls himself, +trained before he came to sea?" + +Poole flushed and remained silent. + +"Did you hear what I said, boy?" cried Fitz. + +"Yes," was the short reply, resentfully given. + +"Yes, _sir_. Impudent scoundrel! Do you know whom you are addressing? +_Sir_ to an officer in Her Majesty's service, whatever his rank." + +"Oh, yes, I know whom I am talking to." + +"Yes, _sir_, you oaf! Where are your manners? Is that fellow a +surgeon?" + +"No; he is captain of this ship." + +"Ship! Captain!" sneered the boy, in a contemptuous tone which made his +listener writhe. "Why, it's a trading schooner, isn't it?" + +Poole was about to speak out sharply, when a glance at the helpless +condition of the speaker disarmed him, and he said quietly-- + +"Oh, yes, of course it's a trading schooner, but it was originally a +gentleman's yacht, and sails like one." + +"Indeed!" said the boy sneeringly. "And pray whose is it?" + +Poole looked at him open-eyed as if expecting to see him suffering from +a little deliriousness again; but as no sign was visible he merely said +quietly-- + +"My father's." + +"And pray who's your father?" + +Poole looked at him again, still in doubt. + +"That is." + +"Oh!" + +There was silence for a few moments, before Fitz turned himself wearily +and said in a careless, off-hand tone-- + +"And what's the name of the craft?" + +"The _Silver Teal_." + +"Silver Eel--eh? What a ridiculously slippery name for a boat!" + +"_Silver Teal_," said Poole emphatically. + +"Silver Grandmother! A nice set you must be to give your gimcrack craft +such a name as that! But you may take my word for it that as soon as +ever you are caught in your slippery eel you will all either be hung or +go to penal servitude for life--though perhaps you'll be let off, as you +are nothing better than a boy." + +"Oh yes, I am only a boy," said Poole, rather bitterly; "but the _Silver +Teal_, or Silver Eel as you call it, has to be caught yet. Your people +did not make a very grand affair of it the other night." + +"Pooh! That's only because one of our stupid fellows who had been on +the watch the night before dropped to sleep. They'll soon have you. +You'll have the _Tonans_ thundering on your heels before you know where +you are. I am expecting to hear her guns every minute." + +"That's quite possible," said Poole quietly; "but our little schooner +will take some catching, I can tell you." + +"So you think," said Fitz, "but you in your ignorance don't know +everything. You only sail, and what's the use of that against steam? +Just let our gunboat be after you in a calm, and then where are you +going to be?" + +"I don't know, and I don't think it's worth while to argue about it when +we are out here in mid-ocean, and I suppose your gunboat is hanging +about somewhere off the port of Liverpool. But look here, hadn't you +better take father's advice and not talk so much? I don't mind what you +say to me, and it doesn't hurt a bit, but you are rather weak yet, and +after all you have gone through I shouldn't like to see you go back +instead of forward. Why not have another nap?" + +Fitz gave a contemptuous sniff, held his tongue as if his companion in +the cabin were not worthy of notice, and lay perfectly still gazing out +to sea, but with his face twitching every now and then as he lay +thinking with all his might about some of the last words Poole had said +connected with the possibility of the gunboat being so far away, and he +alone and helpless among these strangers, his spirits sank. How was it +all going to end? he thought. What a position to be in! The skipper +had said something about putting him aboard some vessel, or ashore;--but +how or when? The position seemed hopeless in the extreme, and the poor +weak lad thought and thought till his tired brain began to grow dizzy +and ache violently, when kindly Nature led him to the temporary way out +of the weary trouble which tortured him, and he fell fast asleep. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +GETTING THE WORST OF IT. + +Another morning passed, and the schooner was once more sailing away +through the beautiful calm blue see, heaving in long slow rollers which +seemed to be doing their best to rock the injured prisoner back to a +state of health. + +He had breakfasted and been dressed by his sea-going attendant, and was +so much better that he was more irritable than usual, while the +skipper's son met all his impatient remarks without the slightest +resentment. + +The result was that the sick middy in his approach to convalescence was +in that state called by Irish folk "spoiling for a fight," and the more +patient Poole showed himself, the more the boy began to play the lord. + +It was not led up to in any way, but came out in the way of aggravation, +and sounded so childish on this particular occasion that Poole turned +his head and crossed to the cabin-window to look out, so that Fitz +should not see him smile. + +"I have been thinking," he said, with his back to the boy's berth, "that +while we are sailing along here so gently, I might get some of old +Butters' tackle." + +"Who's Butters?" said Fitz shortly. + +"Our bo'sun." + +"But what do you mean by his tackle? You don't suppose that I am going +to do any hoisting, or anything of that sort, do you?" + +"No, no; fishing-tackle. I'd bait the hooks and throw out the line, and +you could fish. You'd feel them tug, and could haul in, and I'd take +them off the hook?" + +"What fish would they be?" cried the boy, quite eagerly, and with his +eyes brightening at the idea. + +"Bonito or albicore." + +"What are they?" + +"Ah, you have never been in the tropics, I suppose?" + +"Never mind where I've been," snapped out the boy. "I asked you what +fish those were." + +"Something like big mackerel," replied Poole quietly, "and wonderfully +strong. You would enjoy catching them." + +The way in which these words were spoken touched the midshipman's +dignity. + +"Hang his impudence!" Fitz thought. "Patronising me like that!" + +"Shall I go and ask him for some tackle?" + +"No," was the snappish reply. "I don't want to fish. I have other +things on my mind. I have been thinking about this a good deal, young +man, and I am not going to put up with any of your insolence. I am an +officer in Her Majesty's service, and when one is placed in a position +like this, without a superior officer over one, it is my duty to take +the command; and if I did as I should do, I ought to give orders to +'bout ship and make sail at once for the nearest port." + +"That's quite right; and why don't you?" + +"Well--er--I--er--that is--" + +"Here, I say, old chap, don't be so cocky. What's the good of making a +windbag of yourself? I've only got to prick you, and where are you +then? You don't think you are going to frighten my dad with bluster, do +you?" + +"Blus-ter, sir?" + +"Yes, b-l-u-s-t-e-r. You can't call it anything else. I know how you +feel. Humbled like at being caught like this. I'm sorry for you." + +"Sorry! Bah!" + +"Well, I am, really; but, to tell the truth, I should be more sorry if +you could get away. It's rather jolly having you here. But you are a +bit grumpy this morning. Your head hurts you, doesn't it?" + +"Hurts? Horrid! It is just as if somebody was trying to bore a hole in +my skull with a red-hot auger." + +Poole sprang up, soaked a handkerchief with water, folded it into a +square patch, and laid it on the injured place, dealing as tenderly with +his patient as if his fingers were those of a woman, with the result +that the pain became dull and Fitz lay back in his bunk with his eyes +half-closed. + +"Feel well enough to have a game of draughts?" said Poole, after a +pause. + +"No; and you haven't got a board." + +"But I have got a big card that I marked out myself, and blackened some +of the squares with ink." + +"Where are your men?" + +"Hanging up in that bag." + +"Let's look." + +Poole took a little canvas bag from the hook from which it hung and +turned out a very decent set of black and white pieces. "You didn't +make those?" + +"Yes, I did." + +"How did you get them so round?" + +"Oh, I didn't do that. Chips lent me his little tenon-saw, and I cut +them all off a roller; he helped me to finish them up with sandpaper, +and told me what to soak half of them in to make them black." + +The invalid began to be more and more interested in the neat set of +draughtsmen. "What did you soak them in--ink?" he asked. "No; guess +again." + +"Oh, I can't guess. Ship's paint, perhaps, or tar." + +"No; they wouldn't have looked neat like that. Vitriol--sulphuric +acid." + +"What, had you got that sort of stuff on board the schooner?" + +"The governor has in his big medicine-chest." + +"And did that turn them black like this?" + +"Yes; you just paint them over with it, and hold them to the galley +fire. I suppose it burns them. They all come black like that, and you +polish them up with a little beeswax, and there you are." + +"Well, it was rather clever for a rough chap like you," said Fitz +grudgingly. "Can you play?" + +"Oh, just a little--for a rough chap like me. One has so much time out +at sea." + +"Oh, well, we'll have just one game. How many pieces shall I give you?" + +"Oh, I should think you ought to give me half," was the reply. + +"Very well," said Fitz cavalierly; "take half. I used to be a pretty +good fist at this at school. Where's your board?" + +Poole thrust his hand under the cabin-table and turned a couple of +buttons, setting free a stiff piece of mill-board upon which a sheet of +white paper had been pasted and the squares neatly marked out and +blacked. + +The pieces were placed, and the game began, with Fitz, after his bandage +had been re-moistened, supporting himself upon his left elbow to move +his pieces with his right hand, which somehow seemed to have forgotten +its cunning, for with double the draughts his cool matter-of-fact +adversary beat him easily. + +"Yes," said Fitz, rather pettishly; "I'm a bit out of practice, and my +head feels thick." + +"Sure to," said Poole, "knocked about as you were. Have some more +pieces this time." + +"Oh no!" said Fitz, "I can beat you easily like this if I take more +care." + +The pieces were set once more, and Fitz played his best, but he once +more lost. + +"Have some more pieces this time," said Poole. + +"Nonsense!" was snapped out. "I tell you I can beat you this way, and I +will." + +The third game was played, one which took three times as long as the +last, and as he was beaten the middy let himself sink back on his pillow +with a gesture full of impatience. + +"Yes," he said; "I know where I went wrong there. My head burns so, and +I wasn't thinking." + +"Yes, I saw where you made that slip. You might as well have given up +at once." + +"Oh, might I?" was snapped out. + +"Here, let me give that handkerchief a good soaking before we begin +another." + +"Yes, you didn't half wet it last time. Don't wring it out so much." + +"All right. Why, it's quite hot. It must have made your head so much +the cooler. There, does that feel more comfortable?" + +"Yes, that's better. Now make haste and set out the men." + +Poole arranged the pieces, and Fitz sat up again. + +"Here, what have you been doing?" he cried. "You have given me two +more." + +"Well," said the skipper's son, smiling, "it'll make us more equal." + +"Don't you holloa till you're out of the wood," cried Fitz haughtily, +and he flicked the two extra pieces off the board. "Do you think I'm +going to let you beat me? My head's clearer now. I think I know how to +play a game of draughts." + +The sick boy thought so, but again his adversary proved far stronger, +winning easily; and the middy dropped back on the pillow. + +"It isn't fair," he cried. + +"Not fair." + +"You didn't tell me you could play as well as that." + +"Of course not. I wasn't going to brag about my playing. Let's have +another game. I think we're about equal." + +"No, I'm tired now. I say," added Fitz, after a pause, as he lay +watching the draughtsmen being dropped slowly back into the bag, "don't +take any notice of what I said. I don't want you to think me cocky and +bragging. My head worries me, and it makes me feel hot and out of +temper, and ready to find fault with everything. We'll have another +game some day if I'm kept here a prisoner. Perhaps I shall be able to +play better then." + +"To be sure you will. But it doesn't matter which side wins. It is +only meant for a game." + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +A BASIN OF SOUP. + +Fitz had just finished his semi-apology when the fastening of the door +clicked softly; it was pushed, and a peculiar-looking, shaggy head was +thrust in. The hair was of a rusty sandy colour, a shade lighter than +the deeply-tanned face, while a perpetual grin parted the owner's lips +as if he were proud to show his teeth, though, truth to tell, there was +nothing to be proud of unless it was their bad shape and size. But the +most striking features were the eyes, which somehow or another possessed +a fiery reddish tinge, and added a certain fierceness to a physiognomy +which would otherwise have been very weak. + +Fitz started at the apparition. + +"The impertinence!" he muttered. "Here, I say," he shouted now, "who +are you?" + +"Who am I, laddie?" came in a harsh voice. "Ye ken I'm the cook." + +"And what do you want here, sir? Laddie, indeed! Why didn't you +knock?" + +"Knock!" said the man, staring, as he came right in. + +"I didna come to knock: just to give you the word that it's all hot and +ready now." + +"What's hot and ready?" + +"The few broth I've got for you. Ye didna want to be taking doctor's +wash now, but good, strong meaty stuff to build up your flesh and +bones." + +Fitz stared. + +"Look here, you, Poole Reed; what does this man mean by coming into my +cabin like this? Is he mad?" + +"No, no," said Poole, laughing. "It's all right; I'd forgotten. He +asked me if he hadn't better bring you something every day now for a bit +of lunch. It's all right, Andy. Mr Burnett's quite ready. Go and +fetch it." + +The man nodded, grinned, in no wise hurt by his reception, and backed +out again. + +"Rum-looking fellow, isn't he, Mr Burnett?" + +"Disgusting-looking person for a cook. Can anybody eat what he +prepares?" + +"We do," said Poole quietly. "Oh, he keeps his galley beautifully +clean, does Andy Campbell--Cawmell, he calls himself, and the lads +always call him the Camel. And he works quite as hard." + +He had only just spoken when the man returned on the tips of his bare +toes, looking, for all the world, like the ordinary able seaman from a +man-of-war. He bore no tray, napkin, and little tureen, but just an +ordinary ship's basin in one hand, a spoon in the other, and carefully +balanced himself as he entered the cabin, swaying himself with the basin +so that a drop should not go over the side. + +"There y'are, me puir laddie. Ye'll just soop that up before I come +back for the bowl. There's pepper and salt in, and just a wee bit onion +to make it taste. All made out of good beef, and joost the pheesic to +make you strong." + +"Give it to me, Andy," cried Poole, and the man placed it in his hands, +smiled and nodded at the prisoner, and then backed out with his knees +very much bent. + +Poole stood stirring the broth in the basin slowly round and round, and +spreading a peculiar vulgar odour which at first filled the invalid with +annoyance; but as it pervaded the place it somehow began to have a +decided effect upon the boy's olfactory nerves and excited within him a +strange yearning which drove away every token of disgust. + +"It's too hot to give you yet," said Poole quietly. "You must wait a +few minutes." + +Fitz's first idea had been that he would not condescend to touch what he +was ready to dub "a mess." It looked objectionable, being of a strange +colour and the surface dotted with yellowish spots of molten fat, while +mingled with them were strange streaky pieces of divided onion. But +animal food had for many days been a stranger to the sick lad's lips-- +and then there was the smell which rapidly became to the boy's nostrils +a most fascinating perfume. So that it was in a softened tone that he +spoke next, as he watched the slow passage round and round of the big +metal spoon. + +"It doesn't look nice," he said. + +"No. Ship's soup never does," replied Poole, "but the proof of the +pudding is in the eating, you know. The Camel's about right, though. +This is the best physic you can have. Will you try it now?" + +This was an attack that the boy could not stand. He wanted to say No, +with a gesture of disgust, but Nature would not let him then. + +"I dunno," he said dubiously. "Did he make it?" + +"Of course." + +"But he looks like a common sailor; not a bit like a cook." + +"He is a foremast-man, and takes his turn at everything, like the rest; +but he does all the cooking just the same." + +"But is he really clean?" + +"He made all those bread-cakes you have eaten," was the reply. + +"Oh," said Fitz quickly, for the soup smelt aggravatingly nice. "Would +you mind tasting it?" + +Poole raised the spoon to his lips, and replaced it. + +"Splendid," he said. "You try." + +He carefully placed the basin in his patient's lap, with the spoon ready +to his hand, and drew back, watching the peculiar curl at the corners of +the boy's lips as he slowly passed the spoon round and then raised it to +his mouth. + +A few seconds later the spoon went round the basin again and was +followed by an audible sip, on hearing which Poole went to the window, +thrust out his head, and began to whistle, keeping up his tune as if he +were playing orchestra to a banquet, while he watched the dart and +splash of a fish from time to time about the surface, and the shadowy +shapes of others deep down below the schooner's stern-post, clearly +enough seen in the crystal sunlit water set a-ripple by the gentle +gliding through it of the vessel's keel. + +After waiting what he considered a sufficient time, Poole said loudly, +without turning round-- + +"There's plenty of fish in sight." + +But there was no reply, and he waited again until in due time he heard a +sharp click as of metal against crockery which was followed by a deep +sigh, and then the lad turned slowly, to see the midshipman leaning back +in the berth with his hands behind his head, the empty basin and spoon +resting in his lap. + +Poole Reed did not say what he would have liked, neither was there any +sound of triumph in his voice. He merely removed the empty vessel and +asked a question-- + +"Was it decent?" + +And Fitz forgot himself. For the moment all his irritability seemed +gone, and the natural boy came to the surface. + +"Splendid!" he cried. "I never enjoyed anything so much before in my +life." + +And all that about a dingy basin of soup with fragments of onion and +spots of fat floating therein. But it was the first real meal of +returning health. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +A MON FRAE THE NORTH. + +Poole looked as solemn and calm as a judge as he raised the soup-basin +and listened to his patient's words, while all at once a suspicious +thought glanced through Fitz's brain, and he looked at the lad quickly +and felt relieved, for no one could have imagined from the grave, stolid +face before him that mirth like so much soda-water was bubbling and +twinkling as it effervesced all through the being of the skipper's son. + +"I couldn't have held it in any longer," said Poole to himself, with a +sigh of relief, for just then the door clicked and the Camel's head came +slowly in with the red eyes glowing and watchful. + +Then seeing that the meal was ended he came right in, and took basin and +spoon from Poole as if they were his own special property. + +"Feel better, laddie?" he said, with a grin at the patient. + +"Oh yes, thank you, cook," was the genial reply. "Capital soup." + +"Ay," said the Camel seriously, "and ye'll just take the same dose every +morning at twa bells till you feel as if you can eat salt-junk like a +mon. Ah weel, ah weel! They make a fine flather about doctors and +their stuff, but ye mind me there isn't another as can do a sick mon sae +much good as the cook." + +"Hear that, Mr Burnett?" + +"Oh yes, I hear," said Fitz, smiling, with a look of content upon his +features to which they had for many days been strangers. + +"I am not going to say a word the noo aboot the skipper, and what he's +done. He's a grand mon for a hole or a cut or a bit broken leg. He's +got bottles and poothers of a' kinds, but when the bit place is mended +it's the cook that has to do the rigging up. You joost stick to Andy +Cawmell, and he'll make a man of you in no time." + +"Thank you, cook," said Fitz, smiling. + +"And ye'll be reet. But if ye'd no' mind, ye'll joost kindly say `Andy +mon,' or `laddie' when you speak to me. It seems more friendly than +`cook.' Ye see, cook seems to belang more to a sonsy lassie than a mon. +Just let it be `Andy' noo." + +"All right; I'll mind," said the middy, who looked amused. + +"Ah, it's a gran' thing, cooking, and stands first of all, for it keeps +every one alive and strong. They talk a deal about French cooks and +their kickshaws, and about English cooks, and I'm no saying but that +some English cooks are very decent bodies; but when you come to Irish, +Ould Oireland, as they ca' it, there's only one thing that ever came +from there, and that's Irish stew." + +"What about taters, Andy?" + +"Why, isna that part of it? Who ever heard of an Irish stew without +taters? That's Irish taters, my lad, but if you want a real good Irish +stew you must ha'e it made of Scotch mutton and Scotch potatoes, same as +we've got on board now. And joost you bide a wee, laddies, till we get +across the ocean, and if there's a ship to be found there, I'll just +show you the truth of what I mean. Do ye mind me, laddie?" continued +the cook, fixing Fitz tightly with his red eyes. + +"Mind you? Yes," said Fitz; "but what do you want with a ship to make a +stew in?" + +"What do I want with a ship?" said Andy, looking puzzled. "Why, to +cook!" + +"Cook a ship?" + +"Ah, sure. Won't a bit of mutton be guid after so much salt and tinned +beef?" + +"Oh, a sheep!" cried Fitz. + +"Ay, I said so: a ship. Your leg of mutton, or a shouther are all very +good in their way, but a neck makes the best Irish stew. But bide a wee +till we do get hold of a ship, and I'll make you a dish such as will +make you say you'll never look at an Irish stew again." + +"Oh!" cried Poole. "He means one of those--" + +"Nay, nay, nay! Let me tell him, laddie. He never ken'd such a thing +on board a man-o'-war. D'ye ken the national dish, Mr Burnett, sir?" + +"Of course," said Fitz; "the roast beef of old England." + +"Pugh!" ejaculated the Scot. "Ye don't know. Then I'll tell ye. Joost +gi'e me the liver and a few ither wee bit innards, some oatmeal, pepper, +salt, an onion, and the bahg, and I'll make you a dish that ye'll say +will be as good as the heathen deities lived on." + +"Do you know what that was?" said Fitz. + +"Ay, laddie; it was a kind of broth, or brose--ambrose, they called it, +but I dinna believe a word of it. Ambrose, they ca'ed it! But how +could they get hahm or brose up in the clouds? A'm thinking that the +heathen gods didn't eat at all, but sippit and suppit the stuff they got +from the top of a mountain somewhere out in those pairts--I've read it +all, laddies, in an auld book called _Pantheon_--mixed with dew, +mountain-dew." + +"Nonsense!" cried Fitz, breaking into a pleasant laugh. + +"Nay, it's no nonsense, laddie. I've got it all down, prented in a +book. Ambrosia, the chiel ca'ed it, because he didn't know how to +spell, and when I came to thenk I see it all as plain as the nose on +your face. It was not ambrose at all, but Athol brose." + +"And what's that?" cried Fitz. + +"Hech, mon! And ye a young laird and officer and dinna ken what Athol +brose is!" + +"No," said Fitz; "we learnt so much Greek and Latin at my school that we +had to leave out the Scotch." + +"Hearken to him, young Poole Reed! Not to know that! But it is Greek-- +about the Greek gods and goddesses. And ye dinna ken what Athol brose +is?" + +"No," said Fitz; "I never heard of it in my life." + +"Weel, then, I'll just tell ye, though it's nae good for boys. It's +joost a meexture half honey and half whisky, or mountain-dew; and noo ye +ken." + +"But you are not going to make a mess like that when you get a sheep." + +"Ship, laddie--ship. If ye ca' it like that naebody will think ye mean +a mutton that goes on four feet." + +"Well, pronounce it your own way," said Fitz. "But what is this +wonderful dish you mean to make?" + +"He means kidney-broth, made with the liver," said Poole. + +"Nay, nay. Dinna you mind him, laddie. He only said that to make you +laugh. You bide a wee, and I'll make one fit for a Queen. You've never +tasted haggis, but some day you shall." + +Andy Cawmell closed one eye and gave the convalescent what was intended +for a very mysterious, confidential look, and then stole gravely out of +the cabin, closed the door after him, and opened it directly after, to +thrust in his head, the basin, and the spoon. + +"D'ye mind, laddie," he whispered, tapping the basin, "at twa bells +every day the meexture as before." + +He closed the door again, and this time did not return, though Fitz +waited for a few moments before speaking, his eyes twinkling now with +merriment. + +"Haggis!" he cried. "Scotch haggis! Of course, I know. It's mincemeat +boiled in the bag of the pipes with the pipes themselves chopped up for +bones. You've heard of it before?" + +"Oh yes, though I never tasted it. Andy makes one for the lads whenever +he gets a chance." + +"Do they eat it?" + +"Oh yes, and laugh at him all the time. I dare say it's very good, but +I never felt disposed to try. But he's a good fellow, is Andy, and as +fine a sailor as ever stepped. You'll get to like him by and by." + +"Get to like him?" said Fitz, pulling himself up short and stiff. +"Humph! I dunno so much about that, young fellow. Look here, how long +do you expect it's going to be before I am set aboard some ship?" + +"Ah, that's more than anybody can say," replied Poole quietly. + +Fitz was silent for a few moments, and then said sharply-- + +"What's the name of the port for which you are making sail?" + +"Name of the port?" said Poole. + +"Yes; you heard what I said, and I want to know." + +"Yes; it's only natural that you would," said Poole. "I say, shall I +get the tackle now?" + +"No; I want an answer to my question," replied Fitz, firing up again. + +"Well, I can't tell you. That's my father's business. We are sailing +under what you would call sealed orders on board a Queen's ship." + +"That's shuffling," cried Fitz angrily, with the black clouds coming +over the little bit of sunshine that lit up his face after his soup. +"Now, sir, I order you to tell me, an officer in the Queen's service, +where this schooner is bound." + +Poole was silent. "Do you hear me, sir?" + +"Oh yes, I hear," said Poole, "but I am in a state of mutiny, and I'm +going to ask old Butters to lend me his long line and hooks." + +He moved towards the door as he spoke, but Fitz shouted to him to stop. + +It was all in vain, for the lad closed the door and shut in the +midshipman's angry face. + +"Gone!" ejaculated Fitz. "He's too much for me now; but only just wait +till I get well and strong!" + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +WHAT FITZ WANTED. + +"What do you think of this for weather?" said Poole, one morning. +"Isn't it worth sailing right away to get into such seas as this?" + +"Yes," said Fitz dreamily, as he lay on one side in his berth with his +hand under his cheek, gazing through the cabin-window at the beautiful +glancing water; "it is very lovely." + +"Doesn't it make you feel as if you were getting quite well?" + +"I think it would," said the boy, almost as if speaking to himself; "it +would be all right enough if a fellow could feel happy." + +"Well," said Poole, "you ought to begin to now. Just see how you've +altered. Father says you are to come up this afternoon as soon as the +heat of the day has passed." + +"Come on deck?" cried Fitz, brightening. "Ah! That's less like being a +prisoner." + +"A prisoner!" said Poole merrily. "Hark at him! Why, you are only a +visitor, having a pleasant cruise. Father's coming directly," he added +hastily, for he saw the look of depression coming back into the boy's +face. "He says this is the last time he shall examine your head, and +that you won't want doctoring any more. Come, isn't that good news +enough for one morning?" + +Fitz made no reply, but lay with his face contracting, evidently +thinking of something else. + +"As soon as he's gone," continued Poole, "I am going to bring the lines +and some bait. Old Butters said you could have them as much as you +liked. Don't turn gruff again this time and say you don't want to try." + +Fitz appeared to take no notice, and Poole went on-- + +"There are shoals of bonito about, and the Camel can dress them fine. +You don't know how good they are, freshly caught and fried." + +Fitz made an impatient gesture. + +"How soon is your father coming below?" he said. + +"Oh, he may be down any moment. He and Mr Burgess are taking +observations overhead and calculating our course." + +"Then he won't be very long," said Fitz. + +"Oh no. Want to speak to him?" + +"Yes, particularly." + +Poole gave the speaker a sharp look, which evidently meant, I wonder +what he wants to say. + +At that moment the boys' eyes met, and Fitz said, as if to evade a +question-- + +"Don't you learn navigation--take observations, and that sort of thing?" + +"Oh yes, lots of it; but I have been having a holiday since you've been +on board. So have you. It must be quite a change after your busy life +on board a gunboat, drilling and signalling, and all that sort of +thing." + +Fitz was hearing him speak, but listening intently all the time, so that +he gave an eager start and exclaimed-- + +"Here's your father coming now." + +For steps were plainly heard on the companion-ladder, and the next +minute the door was thrust open, and the bluff-looking skipper entered +the cabin. + +"Morning, sir," he cried. "How are we this morning? Oh, it doesn't +want any telling. You are getting on grandly. Did Poole tell you I +wanted you to come up on deck this afternoon?" + +"Yes, sir; thank you. I feel a deal better now, only my legs are very +weak when I try to stand up holding on by my berth." + +"Yes, I suppose so," said the skipper, sitting down by the boy's head +and watching him keenly. "You are weak, of course, but it's more +imaginary than real. Any one who lays up for a week or two would feel +weak when he got out of bed." + +"But my head swims so, sir." + +"Exactly. That's only another sign. You are eating well now, and +getting quite yourself. But I am going to prescribe you another dose." + +"Physic?" said Fitz, with a look of disgust. + +"Yes, fresh air physic. I want you to take it very coolly for the next +few days, but to keep on deck always except in the hottest times. In +another week you won't know yourself." + +"Hah!" ejaculated the boy. "Then now, sir--don't think me ungrateful, +for nobody could be kinder to me than you and Poole here have shown +yourselves since I have been aboard." + +"Thank you, my lad, for both of us," said the skipper, smiling +good-humouredly. "I am glad you give such ruffians as we are so good a +character. But you were going to say something." + +"Yes, sir," said the boy excitedly, and he cleared his voice, which had +grown husky. + +"Go on, then. You are beating about the bush as if you had some favour +to ask. What is it?" + +"I want," cried Fitz excitedly, and his cheeks flushed and eyes +flashed--"I want you, sir," he repeated, "now that you say I'm better +and fit to get about--" + +"On deck," said the skipper dryly. + +"Oh yes, and anywhere as soon as this giddiness has passed off... I +want you now, sir, to set me ashore." + +"Hah! Yes," said the skipper slowly. "I knew we were coming to that." + +"Why, of course, sir. Think of what I must have suffered and felt." + +"I thought Poole here had done his best to make you comfortable, my +lad." + +"Oh yes, and he has, sir," cried the boy, turning to look full in his +attendant's eyes. "He has been a splendid fellow, sir. Nobody could +have been kinder to me than he has, even at my worst times, when I was +so ill and irritable that I behaved to him like a surly brute." + +"It's your turn now, Poole," growled the skipper, "to say `Thank you' +for that." + +"But you must feel, sir, how anxious and worried I must be--how eager to +get back to my ship. In another day or two, Captain Reed, I shall be +quite well enough to go. Promise me, sir, that you will set me ashore." + +The skipper had pursed up his lips as if he were going to whistle for +the wind, and he turned his now frowning face to look steadfastly at his +son, who met his eyes with a questioning gaze, while the midshipman +looked anxiously from one to the other, as if seeking to catch an +encouraging look which failed to come. + +At last the boy broke the silence again, trying to speak firmly; but, +paradoxically, weakness was too strong, and his voice sounded cracked as +he cried, almost pitifully-- + +"Oh, Captain Reed! Promise me you will now set me ashore!" + +The skipper was silent for a few moments, before turning his face slowly +to meet the appealing look in the boy's eyes. + +"Set you ashore?" he said gruffly. + +"Yes, sir, please. Pray do!" + +And the answer came-- + +"Where, my boy? Where?" + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +THOUGHTS OF HOME. + +Fitz Burnett looked wonderingly at the skipper as if he did not +comprehend the bearings of the question. "Where?" he faltered. "Yes; +you asked me to set you ashore. I say, where?" + +"Oh, at any American or English port, sir." + +"Do you know how far we are from the nearest?" + +"No; I have no idea how far we have come." + +"Never mind that," said the skipper gravely. "Let's take it from +another way of thinking. Do you know what it means for me to set you +ashore at some port?" + +"Oh yes, sir: that I shall be able to communicate with any English +vessel, and get taken back to Liverpool." + +"Well," said the skipper grimly, "you are a young sailor, but I am +afraid that you have very small ideas about the size of the world. I +dare say, though, that would be possible, sooner or later, for you go to +very few ports now-a-days without coming across a ship flying British +colours. It would be all right for you; but what about me?" + +Fitz looked at him wonderingly again. "What about you, sir?" he +stammered. "I was not thinking about you, but about myself." + +"That wanted no telling, my lad. It's plain enough. You were not +thinking about me, but I was. Look here, my boy. Do you know what my +setting you ashore means just now?" + +"Yes, sir," said the boy sharply. "Getting rid of a very troublesome +passenger." + +"Oh, you think so, do you? Well, I'll tell you what I think. It would +mean getting rid of one troublesome passenger, as you call yourself, and +taking a dozen worse ones on board in the shape of a prize crew. Why, +young Burnett, it would mean ruin to me and to my friends, whose money +has been invested in this cargo." + +"Oh no, _no_, sir. I am alone out here, and my captain's vessel is far +away. I couldn't go and betray you, even if I wanted to. You could set +me ashore and sail away at once. That's all I want you to do." + +"Sweet innocency!" said the skipper mockingly. "But I won't set it down +to artfulness. I think you are too much of a gentleman for that. But +do you hear him, Poole? Nice ideas he has for a beardless young officer +in Her Majesty's Navy. Why, do you mean to tell me, sir, you know +nothing about international politics, and a peculiar little way that +they have now-a-days of flashing a bit of news all round the world in a +few minutes of time? Don't you think that after that bit of a turn up +off Liverpool way, a full description of my schooner and her probable +destination has been wired across the Atlantic, and that wherever I +attempted to land you, it would be for the port officials to step on +board and tap me on the shoulder with a kindly request to give an +account of myself?" + +"I didn't think of that," said Fitz, slowly. + +"No," said the skipper. "You thought that I could hail the first ship I +saw, or sail up to the side of a quay, pitch you ashore, and sail off +again. Why, Fitz Burnett, as soon as I came in sight I should be +overhauled, seized, delayed for certain, and in all probability end by +losing schooner, cargo, and my liberty." + +"Surely it would not be so bad as that, sir?" + +"Surely it would be worse. No, my lad; I am sorry for you. I regret +the ugly accident by which you were knocked over; but you are thinking, +as we said before, about your position, your duty. I have got to think +of mine. Now, here's yours; you came on board here, unasked and unseen +until the next morning when we had put a good many knots between us and +your gunboat. It was impossible to land you, and so we made the best of +it and treated you as well as we could. Time is money to me now, and my +coming up punctually means something much more valuable than hard cash +to the people I have come to see. To be plain, I can't waste, even if I +were so disposed, any time for sailing into port to put you ashore." + +"Never mind that, then, sir," cried Fitz excitedly. "Speak the first +vessel you see, of any country, under any flag, and put me aboard +there." + +"No, my lad," said the skipper sternly. "And I can't do that. I am +going to speak no ships. My work is to sail away and hold communication +with no one. I have no need to make all this explanation to you, my +boy, but I am doing it because we are sorry for you, and want to make +things as easy as we can. Now, look here, you are a sensible lad, and +you must learn to see your position. I can do nothing for you beyond +treating you well, until I have made my port, run my cargo of +knick-knacks, and cleared for home. By that time I shall have a clean +bill of health, and be ready to look all new-comers in the face." + +"But how long will that be, sir?" cried Fitz excitedly. + +"Dunno, my lad. It depends on what's going on over yonder. If all goes +smooth it may be only a month; if all goes rough, perhaps two, or three. +I may be dodging about a long while. Worse still, my schooner may be +taken, condemned, and my crew and I clapped in irons in some +Spanish-American prison, to get free nobody knows when." + +"Oh!" groaned Fitz excitedly. + +"I am being very plain to you, my lad, now that the cat's out of the +bag, and there's nothing to hide. I am playing a dangerous game, one +full of risk. It began when I was informed upon by some cowardly, +dirty-minded scoundrel, one who no doubt had been taking my pay till he +thought he could get no more, and then he split upon me, with the result +that your captain was put upon the scent of my enterprise, to play dog +and run me down in the dark. But you see I had one eye open, and got +away. Now I suppose the telegraph will have been at work, and the folks +over yonder will be waiting for me there, so that I shall have to hang +about and wait my chance of communicating with my friends. So there, +you see, you will have to wait one, two, perhaps three months, before, +however good my will, I can do anything for you." + +"But by that time," cried Fitz, "I shall be disgraced." + +"Bah! Nonsense, my lad! There can be no disgrace for one who boarded a +vessel along with his crew, and had the bad luck to be struck down. +Now, my boy, you know I'm a father. Let me speak like a father to you. +Your real trouble is this, and I say honestly I am sorry, and so's Poole +there, not so much for you as for your poor relatives. There, it's best +I should speak quite plainly. It's as well to know the worst that can +have happened, and then it generally proves to have been not so bad; and +that's what clever folks call philosophy. The real trouble in your case +is this, that by this time your poor relatives will probably know that +your number has been wiped off your mess; in short, you have been +reported--dead." + +"What!" cried the boy, in a tone full of anguish. "They will have sent +word home that I am dead?" + +"I am afraid so," said the skipper. "It's very sad, but you have got to +bear it like a man." + +"Sad!" cried the boy passionately. "It's horrible! It will break her +heart!" + +"You mean your mother's," said the skipper gravely, and he laid his hand +kindly on the boy's shoulder. "But it's not so bad as you think, my +lad. I have had a little experience of women in my time--wives and +mothers, boy--and there's a little something that generally comes to +them in cases like this and whispers in their poor ears. That little +something, my boy, is always very kind to us sea-going people, and it's +called Hope. And somehow at such times as this it makes women think +that matters can't be so bad as they have been described, or that they +can't be true. Now I'd be ready to say that in spite of the bad news +that's come to your mother about you, she won't believe it's true, and +that she's waiting patiently for the better news that will some time +come, and that it will be many, many months, perhaps a year, before she +will really believe that you are dead." + +"Oh, but it's too horrible!" cried the boy wildly. + +"No, no, no. Come! Pluck up your spirits and make the best of it. +Look here, boy. You must bear it for the sake of the greater pleasure, +the joy that will come when she finds that she was right in her belief, +and in the surprise to all your friends when they see you come back +alive and kicking, and all the better for your voyage. I say, look at +the bright side of things, and think how much better it has all been +than if you had been knocked overboard to go down in the darkness at a +time when it was every one for himself, and no one had a thought for +you." + +Fitz turned away his head so that neither father nor son could see the +workings of his face. + +"There, my lad," said the skipper, rising, "I was obliged to speak out +plainly. I have hurt you, I know, but it has only been like the +surgeon, to do you good. I am wanted on deck now, so take my advice; +bear it like a man. Here, Poole, I want you for half-an-hour or so, and +I dare say Mr Burnett would like to have a bit of a think to himself." + +He gave the boy a warm pressure of his hand, and then strode out of the +cabin, his example being followed the next moment by Poole, whose action +was almost the same as his father's, the exception being that he quickly +caught hold of the middy's hand and held it for a moment before he +hurried out. + +Then and then only did Fitz's face go down upon his hands, while a low +groan of misery escaped his lips. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +MAKING FRIENDS. + +"Well, what is it?" said the skipper gruffly, as his son followed him on +deck and touched him on the arm. + +"Don't you think it possible, father, that--" + +"That I could turn aside from what I have got to do, boy? No, I don't." + +"But he's ill and weak, father." + +"Of course he is, and he's getting better as fast as he can. What's +more, he's a boy--in the depth of despair now, and in half-an-hour's +time he'll be himself again, and ready to forget his trouble." + +"I don't think he will, father." + +"Don't you? Then I do. I have had more experience of boys than you +have, and I have learned how Nature in her kindness made them. Look +here, Poole, I believe for the time that boys feel trouble more keenly +than do men, but Nature won't let it last. The young twig will bend +nearly double, and spring up again. The old stick snaps." + +The skipper walked away, leaving his son thinking. + +"I don't believe father's right," he said. "Fitz doesn't seem like most +boys that I have met. Poor chap, it does seem hard! I don't think I +ever felt so bad as he must now. I wish I hadn't had to come away, for +it was only an excuse on father's part. He doesn't want me. It was +only to leave the poor chap alone." + +Acting upon these thoughts, Poole tried to think out some excuse for +going down to the cabin again as soon as he could. But as no reasonable +excuse offered itself, he waited till the half-hour was expired, and +then went down without one, opened the cabin-door gently, and gravely +stepped in, to stop short, staring in astonishment at the change which +had come over his patient, for he was sitting bent down with his hands +upon his knees at the edge of his berth, swinging his legs to and fro, +with every trace of suffering gone out of the eyes which looked up +sharply. + +If Poole Reed was surprised at the midshipman's appearance, he was far +more so at his tones and words. + +"Hallo!" he cried. "Thought you'd gone to fetch those fishing-lines." + +"I--I--Oh, yes, I'll get them directly," stammered Poole. + +"Look sharp, then. The fish are playing about here like fun. I saw one +spring right out of the water just now after a shoal. The little ones +look like silver, and the big chap was all blue and gold." + +"All right; I won't be long," cried Poole, and he hurried out, letting +the door bang behind him. + +"Well, I was a fool to worry myself about a chap like that. Why, he +doesn't feel it a bit." + +But Poole Reed was not a good judge of human nature. He could not see +the hard fight that was going on behind that eager face, nor how the +well-trained boy had called upon his pride to carry him through this +struggle with his fate. + +Poole thought no more of his patient's condition, but hurried to the +boatswain, who scowled at him fiercely. + +"What!" he said. "Fishing-lines? Can't you find nothing else to do, +young fellow, on board this 'ere craft, besides fishing?" + +"No; there is nothing to do now." + +"Wha-a-at!" + +"You know I spoke about them before. It is to amuse the sick middy." + +"Yah!" came in a deep growl. "Why didn't you say so before? Poor boy! +He did get it hot that time." + +"Yes," said Poole maliciously, "and I believe it was you who knocked him +down." + +The grim-looking, red-faced boatswain stared at the speaker with his +mouth wide open. + +"Me?" he said. "Me? Why, I was alongside the chap at the wheel." + +"Were you?" said Poole, grinning to himself at the effect of his words. +"Then it couldn't have been you, Butters. Come on and get me the line." + +"Gammon!" growled the boatswain. "You knew it warn't all the time. +Come on." + +He led the way to his locker and took out a couple of square reel-frames +with their cord, hooks, and sinkers complete. + +"Ketch hold," he said gruffly, and then giving Poole a tin box which +rattled loudly, he growled out, "Plenty of spare hooks in there. But +don't lose more than you can help. Where are you going to fish? Off +the taffrail?" + +"No; out of the stern-window." + +"What! How are you going to haul in your fish?" + +"Oh, I don't know." + +"See what a mess you'll make, my lad." + +"I'll clean up afterwards," said Poole. + +"I don't believe you will get any. If you hook one you'll knock it off +in pulling it in. Why don't you bring the poor lad up on deck and let +him fish like a human being, not keep him cuddled up below there like a +great gal?" + +"But he's so weak, he can hardly stand." + +"Set him down, then, in a cheer. Do him good, and he'll like it all the +more." + +"Well, I never thought of that," said Poole eagerly. "I will. But oh, +I mustn't forget the bait. I must go and see the Camel." + +"Nonsense! Bait with a lask cut off from the first fish you catch." + +"Of course," cried Poole; "but how am I to catch that first one first?" + +"'M, yes," said the boatswain, with a grim smile. "Tell you what; go +and ask the Camel to give you a nice long strip of salt pork, fat and +rind." + +"Ah, that would do," cried Poole; and he hurried off to the galley, +where he was welcomed by the cook with a nod and wink, as he drew a +little stew-pan forward on the hot plate, and lifted the lid. + +"Joost cast your nose over that, laddie," he whispered mysteriously. + +"Eh? What for?" + +"It's the middy laddie's soup fresh made, joost luvely." + +"Oh yes, splendid," said the lad, and he hurriedly stated his wants, had +them supplied, and went back to the cabin ready to prepare for catching +the first fish. + +"Look here, Burnett," he said, "it'll be very awkward fishing out of +this window. How'd it be if I put a cane-chair close up under the rail? +Don't you think you could manage if I helped you up there?" + +"I don't know. I am afraid I couldn't walk," said the boy dubiously. +"I'd try." + +"Oh, never mind about your walking! If you'll come I'll run up and put +a chair ready, and then come back for you. I could carry you easily +enough if I got you on my back." + +One moment Fitz had been looking bright and eager; the next a gloomy +shade was passing over his face. + +"Like a sack," he said bitterly. + +"Well, then, shall I make two of the lads carry you in a chair?" + +"No," said the boy, brightening up again. "If I put my arm over your +shoulder, and you get one round my waist, I think I could manage it if +we went slowly." + +"To be sure," cried Poole, and he hurried on deck, thrust a long cane +reclining chair into the place he thought most suitable, and had just +finished when his father came up. + +"What are you about, boy?" he said; and Poole explained. + +"Well, I don't know. I meant for him to come up this afternoon, but I +thought that it was all over after that upset. How does he seem now?" + +"Just as if he were going to make the best of it, father." + +"Then bring him up." + +A minute later the tackle and bait were lying on the deck beside the +chair, and Poole hurried down to the cabin to help his patient finish +dressing, which task was barely completed when there was a tap at the +door and the Camel appeared, bearing his morning "dose," as he termed +it. + +This was treated as a hindrance, but proved to be a valuable fillip +after what the boy had gone through, and the preparation for that which +was to come, so that, with the exception of once feeling a little faint, +Fitz managed to reach the deck, leaning heavily upon his companion; but +not unnoticed, for the mate caught sight of him from where he was on the +look-out forward, and hurried up to take the other arm. + +"Morning, Mr Burnett," he said eagerly. "Come, this is fine! Coming +to sit in the air a bit? Oh, we shall soon have you all right now." + +The boy flushed and looked pleased at the kindly way in which he was +received, and as he reached the chair there was another welcome for him +from the hand at the wheel, who had the look of an old man-of-war's man, +and gave him the regular salute due to an officer. + +"Feel all right?" said the mate. + +"Yes, much better than I thought." + +"Fishing, eh?" said the mate. "Well, good luck to you! Come, we shan't +look upon you as an invalid now." + +"Lie back in the chair a bit," said Poole, who was watching his +companion anxiously. + +"What for?" + +"I thought perhaps you might feel a little faint." + +"Oh no, that's all gone off," cried the boy, drawing a deep long breath, +as he eagerly looked round the deck and up at the rigging of the smart +schooner, whose raking taper masts and white canvas gave her quite the +look of a yacht. + +There was a look of wonder in the boy's eyes as he noted the trimness +and perfection of all round, as well as the smartness of the crew, whose +aspect suggested the truth, namely, that they had had their training on +board some man-of-war. + +From craft and crew the boy's eyes wandered round over the sea, sweeping +the horizon, as he revelled in the soft pure air and the glorious light. + +"How beautiful it seems," he said, half aloud, "after being shut up so +long below." + +"Come, that's a good sign," said Poole cheerily. + +"What's a good sign?" was the sharp reply. + +"That you can enjoy the fresh air so much. It shows that you must be +better. Think you can hold the line if I get one ready?" + +"Of course," said Fitz, rather contemptuously. + +"All right, then." + +Poole turned away and knelt upon the deck, laughing to himself the +while, as he thought that if a big fish were hooked the invalid would +soon find out the difference. And then the boy's fingers moved pretty +quickly as he took out his junk-knife and cut a long narrow strip from +the piece of fatty pork-rind with which the cook had supplied him. + +Through one end of this he passed the point of the hook, and then +brought it back to the same side by which it had entered, so that a +strip about six inches long and one wide hung down from the barbed hook. +The next process was to unwind twenty or thirty yards of the line with +its leaden sinker, and then drop lead and bait overboard, running out +the line till the bait was left about fifty yards astern, but not to +sink far, for there was wind enough to carry the schooner along at a +pretty good pace, trailing the bait twirling round and round behind, and +bearing no small resemblance to a small, quickly-swimming fish, the +white side of the bait alternating with the dull grey of the rind, and +giving it a further appearance of life and movement. + +"There you are," said Poole, passing the line into the midshipman's +hands. "I will unwind some more, have fished like this before, haven't +you?" + +"Only a little for whiting and codlings," was the reply. "I never got +hold of anything big. I suppose we may get a tidy one here?" + +"Oh yes; and they are tremendously strong." + +"Not so strong but what I can hold them, I dare say," said Fitz +confidently. + +But his confidence was not shared by his companion, who unwound the line +till there was no more upon the frame, and then gave the end two or +three turns about one of the belaying-pins, leaving a good many rings of +loose line upon deck. + +There was need for the foresight, as was soon proved. Fitz was sitting +leaning right back with his eyes half-closed, thoroughly enjoying the +change; the trouble of the morning was for the moment numbed, and no +care assailed him. He was listening as he enjoyed the sensation that +thrilled the nerves of his arm as the bait and lead sinker were drawn +through the water far astern with a peculiar jigging motion, and +questioning Poole about the kind of fish that they were likely to +encounter as far south as they then were. + +"You have been across here, then, before?" he said. + +"Oh yes; four times." + +"Ever seen any sharks?" + +"Lots; but not out here. I saw most close in shore among the islands." + +"What islands?" + +"Oh, any of them; Saint Lucia, Nevis, Trinidad. Pretty big too, some of +them." + +"Ever catch one?" + +"No, we never tried. Nasty brutes! I hate them." + +"So does everybody, I suppose. But, I say, think we shall catch +anything to-day?" + +"Oh yes; but you mustn't be disappointed if we don't. Fish swarm one +day, and you can see as many as you like; another time--you go all day +long and you don't see one." + +"I say, this isn't going to be one of those days, is it? I haven't had +a bite yet. Think the bait's off?" + +"Not it. That tough skin closes up round the hook, and you would almost +have to cut it to get it over the barb. It makes a capital bait to +stick on, but of course it isn't half so attractive as a bit of a bright +silvery fish. I'll change it as soon as I can. I wish we had got one +of those big silvered spoons. I think father's got two or three. I +will go and ask him if you don't soon get a--" + +"Oh! Poole! Here! Help! I--I can't--Oh, he's gone!" panted the +middy. + +For all at once his right arm received a violent jerk, and as the line +was twisted round his hand he was dragged sideways, and but for Poole's +ready help would have been pulled off the chair helplessly on to the +deck. Fortunately for him the skipper's son was on the _qui vive_, and +stopping the convalescent's progress with one hand, he made a snatch at +the line with the other. + +"He's too much for you," cried Poole. "Here, shake your hand clear of +the line. I've got him. That's the way. Has it hurt you?" + +"It seemed to cut right into the skin," panted Fitz. "He must be a +monster. Oh, whatever you do, don't let him go!" + +"No, I won't let him go," was the reply; "not if I can help it. He is a +pretty good size. We will make a double job of it. Here, I'll haul him +in a few feet, and then you can take hold in front of me, and we will +haul him in together. No, he won't come yet. I shall have to let him +run a little--I mean, we shall have to let him run a little. Now then, +foot by foot. Let's let the line run through our hands." + +This was done steadily and slowly, till another fifty yards of line had +been given, the fish that had been hooked darting the while here and +there, and at a tremendous rate, and displaying enormous strength for a +creature of its size. + +But it had to contend not only with the drag kept up by the boys, but +the motion of the schooner as well, with the result that its strength +soon began to fail, till at last it was drawn behind the gliding +schooner almost inert. + +"There," cried Poole; "now I think we might have him in. I was afraid +to haul before for fear of dragging the hook out of its jaws. Look at +that now!" he cried impatiently. + +"What's the matter? Don't say he has gone!" + +"Oh no, he's not gone. Why, he is making a fresh dash for his liberty. +But we can't lift him in by the hook, and I never thought about getting +a gaff.--Here, hi!" he cried. "Come here, Chips!" + +One of the sailors sidled up--a dry-looking, quaint man with a wrinkled +face, who broke out into a smile as he saw what was going on. + +"Fish, sir?" he said, and his hand made a movement toward his cap. +"Want me to fetch my bag of tools?" + +"Yes," cried Poole. "I mean, get that long-handled gaff from down +below." + +"Right, sir," and the man trotted off, leaving the two lads slowly and +steadily hauling in yard after yard of the line. + +"Still fast on, sir?" cried the man to Fitz, as he stood what looked +like a highly-educated boat-hook against the rail. + +Fitz made no reply, for his face was flushed and his teeth hard set in +the excitement of his task. + +"Oh yes, we've got him fast enough, Chips," said Poole. "Be very +careful, for he's a heavy one, and Mr Burnett here wouldn't like to +lose him now." + +"All right, sir," said the man, taking up the long shaft again, and +lowering it down over the side. "I don't know, though, whether I shall +be able to reach him from up here. It looks like being best to get down +to the rudder-chains. No; it's all right. I shall manage him if you +get him close up to the side." + +"Steady! Steady!" cried Poole. "He's making another flurry. Let him +go again. No, it's all right--all over; haul away." + +By this time the great drops of perspiration were standing upon Fitz's +brow, joining, and beginning to trickle down the sides of his face; but +his teeth were still hard set, and intent upon the capture he kept on +hauling away as hard as his weakness would allow. + +"There," cried Poole, at last. "You caught him; but you had better let +me have the line to myself now to get him closer in, so that Chips can +make a good stroke with the gaff and pull him right aboard." + +"Yes," said Fitz, with a sigh; "I suppose I must," and with his +countenance beginning to contract with the disappointment he felt, he +resigned the line and sat back in the chair, breathing hard, gently +rubbing his aching muscles, and intently watching what was going on. +That did not take long, but it was long enough to attract the other men +who were on deck, and they came round, to form a semi-circle behind the +middy's chair, while Poole hauled the fish closer and closer in beneath +the counter, and then stayed his hand. + +"Can you do it now?" he cried. + +"Not quite. I'll come round the other side," replied the handler of the +gaff, who, suiting the action to the word, changed his place, leaned +right over the rail, almost doubling himself up, and then uttered a +warning-- + +"Ready?" + +"Yes," was the reply. + +"Now then, half-a-fathom more." + +What followed was almost instantaneous. Poole made two fresh grips at +the line, pulled hard, and then with an ejaculation fell backwards on to +the deck with the hooks upon his chest. + +"Gone!" groaned Fitz; but his exclamation was drowned in a roar of +laughter from the men, and a peculiar flapping, splashing noise caused +by the fish, in which the gaff had taken a good hold, bending itself +into the shape of a half-moon as it was hauled over the side, giving the +man saluted as Chips a violent blow with its tail, and then as it +flopped down upon the deck slapping the planks with sounding blow after +blow. + +Following directly upon the laughter there was a loud cheer, and in the +midst of his excitement at the triumphant capture, Fitz heard the mate's +voice-- + +"Well done, Mr Burnett! That's about the finest bonito I ever saw. I +thought you'd lost him, Chips." + +"Nay, sir; I'd got my hook into him too tight; but it was touch and go." + +"Yes, that's a fine one," said Poole, taking hold of the detached hook +and drawing the captive round in front of Fitz's chair. + +"Yes," replied the boy, who sat back wiping his brow; "but it isn't so +big as I expected to see." + +"Oh, he's pretty big," said the mate--"thick and solid and heavy; and +those fellows have got such tremendous strength in those thin half-moon +tails. They are like steel. Going to try for any more?" + +The mate looked at Fitz as he spoke. + +"It's very exciting," he said, rather faintly, "but I am afraid I am too +tired now." + +"Yes," said the mate kindly. "I wouldn't try to overdo it the first +time you are up on deck. Lie back and rest, my lad. Send for the +Camel, Poole, lad, when you have done looking at it. Now, my lads, two +of you, swabs." + +He turned away, and a couple of the men set to work to wash and dry the +slimy deck, but waited until the little admiring crowd had looked their +fill, the foremost men seeming to take a vast amount of interest in +fishology, making several highly intellectual remarks about the +configuration of the denizen of the deep. Before long though the real +reason of their interest escaped them, for one made a remark or two +about what a fine thick cut could be got from "just there," while +another opined that a boneeter of that there size ate tenderer boiled +than fried. + +By that time Fitz's excitement had died down, and he no longer took +interest in the beautiful steely and blue tints mingled with silver and +gold, that flashed from the creature's scales. In fact, in answer to a +whispered query on the part of Poole, he nodded his head and let it lie +right back against the chair. This was the signal for the Camel to be +fetched to help bear the big fish forward to the galley, ready for +cutting up, while the two men with bucket and swab rapidly finished +cleaning and drying the deck, so that the damp patches began to turn +white again in the hot rays of the sun. + +It was all very quickly done, and then Poole began to slowly wind up the +long line, giving every turn carefully and methodically so as to spread +the stout hempen cord as open and separate for drying purposes as could +be. + +He took his time, dropping in a word or two now and then, apparently +intent upon his task, but keenly watching his companion all the while. + +"Hasn't been too much for you, has it?" he said. + +"No," replied Fitz; "not too much, for it was very interesting; but it +was quite enough. I don't quite know how it is, but I have turned so +sleepy." + +"Ah, you are tired. Sit quite back, and I will draw the chair over here +into the shade. A nap till dinner-time up here in the air will do you +no end of good, and give you an appetite for dinner. There; the sun +won't be round here for an hour." + +It was easily done, the cane legs gliding like rockers over the +well-polished deck, and the lad returned to his place to turn the winder +where he had stood the line to dry. This process was going on rapidly, +and he stopped bending over the apparatus to examine the hook and stout +snood, to see that it had not been frayed by the fish's teeth. This +done, he turned to speak to Fitz again, and smiled to himself. + +"Well," he said, "it doesn't take him long to go to sleep," for the +tired midshipman's eyes were tightly closed and he was taking another +instalment of that which was to give him back his strength. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +A QUESTION OF DUTY. + +The wind was paradoxical. A succession of calms and light breezes from +adverse quarters--in short, as bad as could be for the schooner's +expedition. + +But, on the other hand, the days grew into weeks in a climate that might +be called absolutely perfect, and from his first coming on deck and +helping in the capture of the bonito, Fitz Burnett advanced by steps +which became long strides on his journey back to health. + +With the disappearance of suffering, away went all bad temper with the +irritation that had caused it. The boy had lain in his berth and +thought every night before going to sleep about his position and his +helplessness, and had fully come to the conclusion that though the +people among whom he was, skipper, officers and men, were in a way +enemies, he could not be held accountable for anything they did, and as +they had treated him throughout with the greatest kindness, it would be +ungracious on his part to go, as he termed it, stalking about on stilts +and making himself as disagreeable to them as he would be to himself. + +"Old Reed's quite right, after all," he said, "though I don't like it a +bit. I must make the best of my position. But only let me get half a +chance, and I shall be off." + +The boy then, as he rapidly recovered his strength, went about the deck +amongst the men, and became what he termed extremely thick with Poole. +There were times when he felt that they were becoming great friends, for +Poole was a thoroughly intelligent lad who had had a good deal of +experience for one of his years; but in these early stages of his +recovery, so sure as there was a little change in the weather, with the +damp or wind, twinges of pain and depression of spirits attacked the +midshipman; the physical suffering introduced the mental, and for a few +hours perhaps Fitz would feel, to use his own words, as disagreeable as +could be. + +It was during one of these attacks that the idea came back very strongly +that he was not doing his duty as an officer. He worked himself up into +the feeling that he was behaving in a cowardly way now that he had great +opportunities, and that if he did not seize one of these it would be to +his disgrace. + +"I ought to do it," he said, "and I will. It only wants pluck, for I +have got right on my side. It is almost as good as having the gunboat +and her crew at my back. It's one of those chances such as we read of +in history, where one fellow steps out to the front and carries all +before him. I did not see it so clearly before as I do now. That's +what I ought to do, and I am going to do it. Poole will think it +abominably ungrateful, and his father will be horribly wild; but I have +got my duty to do, and it must be done, so here goes." + +But "here" did not go, for on second thoughts matters did not seem quite +so clear; but a day or two after, when the notion had been steadily +simmering in his mind it seemed at last to be quite done, and shutting +his eyes to all suggestions regarding impossibility or madness, he made +his plunge. + +Fitz was not well. The weather had grown intensely hot, and +unconsciously he was suffering from a slight touch of fever, which he +complained about to Poole, who explained to him what it was, after +reference to his father, and came back to him with a tiny packet of +white crystals in some blue paper, and instructions that he was to take +the powder at once. + +"Fever, is it?" said Fitz, rather sourly. "One couldn't be catching +fever out here in the open sea. I shall see your father myself. Why +didn't he come on deck yesterday?" + +"Because he isn't well. He's got a touch of fever too. He had got the +bottle out of the medicine-chest, and was taking a dose when I went into +his cabin." + +"What!" cried Fitz. "Then he's caught the fever too?" + +"Oh no; he caught it years ago, on the Mosquito Coast, and now and then +when we get in for a change of weather like we have just had, it breaks +out again and he's very ill for a few days; but he soon comes round." + +"But I was never on the Mosquito Coast," cried Fitz impatiently. "I +never caught a fever there, and I couldn't catch one like that of your +father." + +"No," said Poole; "father was talking about it, and he said yours was a +touch due to your being susceptible after being so much hurt. That's +how he said it was. Now then, come down to the cabin and take your +physic like a good boy." + +"I am not going to do anything of the sort," said Fitz shortly. "I took +plenty while I was ill and weak, and you could do what you liked with +me. But I am strong enough now, and if what I feel is due to the +weather, when it changes the trouble will soon go off." + +"I dare say it will," said Poole, laughing; "but you needn't make a fuss +about swallowing this little scrap of bitter powder. Come on and take +it like a man." + +"Don't bother," said Fitz shortly, and he walked away right into the +bows, climbed out on to the bowsprit, and sat down to think. + +"He's a rum chap," said Poole, as he stood watching him, and putting the +powder back into his pocket. "He makes me feel as if I liked and could +do anything for him sometimes, and then when he turns cocky I begin to +want to punch his head." + +Poole turned and went down into the cabin, where his father was lying in +his berth looking flushed and weary, and evidently suffering a good +deal. + +"Well, boy," said the skipper; "did he take his dose?" + +"No, father. He's ready to kick against everything now." + +"Well," said the skipper shortly, "let him kick." + +Fitz was already kicking as he sat astride the bowsprit, looking out to +sea and talking excitedly to himself. + +"Yes," he said, "I like them, and we have got to be very good friends; +but I have got my duty to do as a Queen's officer, and do it I will. +Why, it's the very chance. Like what people call a fatality. That's +right, I think. Just as if it were made on purpose. Of course I know +that I am only a boy--well, a good big boy, almost a man; but I am a +Queen's officer, and if I speak to the men it is in the Queen's name. +And look at them too. They are not like ordinary sailors. I have not +been on board this schooner and mixing with them and talking to them all +this time for nothing. It was plain enough at first, and I was nearly +sure, but I made myself quite. Nearly every one of them has been at +some time or other in the Royal Navy--men who have served their time, +and then been got hold of by the skipper to sign and serve on board his +craft. They are a regular picked crew of good seamen fit to serve on +board any man-of-war, and I wonder they haven't been kept. They weren't +all trained for nothing. See how well they obey every order, as smart +as smart. That means training and recollecting the old discipline. +Why, if I talk to them right they won't stop to think that I am only a +middy. I shall speak to them as an officer, and it will come natural to +them to obey--in the Queen's name. It is my duty too as an officer, and +as an officer it means everything--midshipman, lieutenant, captain or +admiral--an admiral is only an officer, and at a time like this I am +equal to an admiral--well, say captain. I don't care, I'll do it.--All +these rough plucky chaps of course wouldn't be afraid of me as a boy; +they'd laugh at me. Of course I know that; but it will be the officer +speaking--yes, the officer." + +The middy's head began metaphorically to swell out until it seemed to +grow very big indeed, making him feel quite a man--and more. + +"Yes," he said, "I'll do it. I must do it. Now's the time, and I +should be an idiot if I neglected such a chance." + +Drawing a deep breath, he turned his head slowly, and assuming as +careless a manner as he could command, he looked back inboard beneath +the swelling sails, to see that several of the men were lying asleep in +the shade, while others were smoking and chatting together. The +boatswain was not visible, and the mate was apparently below, the after +part of the vessel being vacant save that the man at the wheel was +standing with outstretched hands resting upon the spokes, moving his +lower jaw slowly as he worked at his succulent quid. + +Poole was still below with his father in the cabin, so that to the +middy's way of thinking he had the deck to himself. He took another +deep breath, and with his heart beating heavily, swung himself round, +laid hold of a rope, and climbed inboard again, when assuming a +nonchalance he did not feel as he dropped upon the deck, he thrust his +hands into his pockets, mastered the desire to run, and beginning to +whistle, stalked slowly aft till he reached the companion-hatch, and +began to descend the steps without a sound. + +Now was the critical time, for as he went down he could see that the +cabin-door was shut, and hear the dull burr, burr, burr-like murmur of +the captain's voice talking to his son. + +Half-way down Fitz stopped short, for he heard a movement as if Poole +were crossing the cabin, and if he came out now the opportunity was +gone. + +The middy felt the sensation as of a spasm attacking his chest, and as +he paused there, half suffocated, he trembled with anger against himself +for losing such a chance; but the sound within the cabin ceased, the +captain's voice went murmuring on once more, and the suffocating +sensation passed away, leaving the boy ready to seize his opportunity, +and quick as thought he descended the last few steps, paused at the +cabin-entry, and raising his hand quickly and silently, secured the +outer door. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +A BOLD STROKE. + +Fitz Burnett did not pause to think of the rights or wrongs of his +proceedings, but smothered up everything in the belief that he was doing +his duty. + +He would not even pause to consider whether his ideas were possible or +impossible; everything was swallowed up in action, and with feverish +energy he hurried back on deck to make the most use of the flying +moments while he could. + +Hurrying forward to where the men were dozing, smoking, and thinking, he +signed to those who noticed his approach, and called to the others. + +"Now, my lads!" he cried. + +The men sprang up wonderingly, apparently influenced by old traditions, +and in no wise surprised to find the young officer about to give them +some order. + +"Look here, my lads," he said, in a low, quick, excited voice; "a word +with you! I know you were all ABs to a man." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" said the nearest sailor at whom he looked. + +"Old men-of-war's men," continued Fitz to another. + +"Ay, ay, sir! That's right," said the sailor. + +"It is my duty to make you, a crew of good men and true, know exactly +how you stand." + +The listeners looked wonderingly at the excited boy, and then at one +another, as if asking for the meaning of these unusual words. + +"Look here," continued Fitz, "you have all been good fellows to me since +I have been aboard." + +"Ay, ay, sir! Why not?" said one of the men, with his face broadening +into a hearty grin. + +"And that's why I, an officer in the Navy, feel friendly disposed to a +set of smart fellows who used to serve the Queen." + +"Ay, ay, sir! We served the Queen," came in a murmur. + +"You did it in ignorance, no doubt, but in what you are doing you are +offenders against the law, and may at any time be taken, and perhaps be +strung up to the yardarm after a short trial. Certainly you will be +severely punished." + +A low murmur of dissent, almost derision, came from the little knot of +men, and one of them laughed. + +"You don't believe me," cried Fitz. "It is true. And now listen to +what I say, one and all; I call upon you in the Queen's name to obey my +orders, for I take possession of this schooner as an officer in Her +Majesty's service. In the Queen's name!" + +There was a low murmur of mingled surprise and derision at this. + +"Silence, there!" cried Fitz. "I know that I am a very young officer to +speak to you, but I am in the Queen's Navy, and I order you in Her +Majesty's name to obey all my commands. I am going to sail at once for +Kingston, where I have no doubt there will be a man-of-war on the +station, and if you behave well I shall speak to the captain and get him +to make it easy for you, but of course I shall give up the skipper and +his son as prisoners." + +"Here, say something, Chips," growled one of the men; and the carpenter +spoke out. + +"Say, squire, won't that be rather hard on them?" + +"Silence, sir! How dare you! That is not the way for a common sailor +to address an officer." + +"Beg pardon, sir, but I am not a common sailor; I am a hartisan. Why, +you know--the Chips." + +There was a titter here. + +"Attention!" roared Fitz. "This is no laughing matter, my lads. +Perhaps each man's life, certainly his liberty, is at stake." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came in a growl. + +"That's better," said Fitz. "Now, I don't want to be hard on you, my +lads." + +"Hear, hear! Thank you, sir," cried the carpenter. + +"And I should be sorry to be harsh to any man; but once more, as an +officer in the Royal Navy, I have got my duty to do, and I mean to do +it." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came again, in a low acquiescent growl. "But he needn't +keep on a-telling us." + +"Those men who stand by me and do their duty in navigating this vessel +shall have ample pay and reward." + +"What about prize-money, sir?" shouted a voice. + +"There'll be no prize-money." + +The men groaned. + +"But there will be reward in the shape of salvage, my lads. I, +single-handed, have taken this schooner as a prize to the gunboat +_Tonans_, commanded by Captain Glossop, whose officer I am. She will be +condemned and sold, and those who help me loyally will have their +reward. Now then, every man stand forward who is ready to do his duty +by me." + +At that moment there was a sharp tapping heard from below. + +"What's that?" cried Fitz sharply, though he perfectly well knew. + +"It's the skipper, sir, a-opening his eyes, I think," said the +carpenter. "You've woke him up, talking like that, and he's coming on +deck with a pair of revolving bulldogs, to begin potting us all round. +Here, who's coming below?" + +"Silence, sir; and keep your places." + +The carpenter stepped back behind the rest, and the next moment there +rang out a most perfect imitation of the crow of a bantam cock, which +was followed by a roaring outburst of merriment from the men. + +Fitz turned scarlet with rage. + +"How dare--" he began. + +"Ahoy! On deck, there!" came faintly from the cabin, followed by a +heavy sound of beating and kicking. + +One of the men made a start aft for the companionway, followed by two +more, but Fitz stepped before them. + +"Stop!" he shouted fiercely. + +"On deck, there! Do you hear? Open this door!" came from below. + +"Take no notice," shouted Fitz, "until I give orders. Here, you +carpenter; where's the arm-chest?" + +"Down in the cabin, sir." + +"No, no; I mean the other one--the men's." + +"Arn't no nother one, sir. We always goes to the captain's tool-chest +when we've got anybody as wants killing, or any job of that kind on +hand!" + +"Ahoy, there!" came from below once more, and then the sharp report of a +pistol, a crash, and Poole came bounding up on deck, revolver in hand. + +Just as he came into sight the skipper's voice was heard distinctly-- + +"Lay hold of the first mutineer, Poole, and drag him down here." + +"That's meant for you, Mr Fitz, sir," said the carpenter with a +chuckle, and the men roared again. + +Fitz turned upon him, white as ashes, like an angry dog about to bite. + +"Silence, you insolent scoundrel!" he shouted. + +"What's the meaning of this, Burnett?" cried Poole. + +"This, sir," said the lad haughtily, stepping forward to meet him, +laying one hand on his shoulder, and making a desperate snatch at the +revolver; "I seize this schooner in the Queen's name. Now, my lads, +make this boy your prisoner." + +Poole clapped the pistol behind him as he shook himself free. + +"Look here, sir," he cried; "have you gone mad?" + +"Do you hear, men?" cried Fitz, seizing him again. "Forward! You, +Poole, in the Queen's name, surrender!" + +Not a man stirred, all standing in a group looking on, some wonderingly, +some thoroughly amused, while the carpenter whispered-- + +"All right, lads; let them fight it out. Of all the cheek!" + +"Did you say, You Poole or You fool?" said the skipper's son quietly; +"because one of us seems to be behaving very stupidly. Take your hand +off my collar. This pistol's loaded in five chambers, and was in six +till I blew the lock off the cabin-door.--Quiet, I tell you, before +there's an accident. Why, you must have gone off your head." + +"Did you hear what I said, men?" shouted Fitz furiously. "In the +Queen's name, make this boy your prisoner! Here, you, boatswain, take +the lead here and obey my orders." For that individual had just made +his appearance on deck. + +"What's the row, young gentlemen? Here, you, Squire Poole, put away +that six-shooter. If you and Mr Fitz here has fell out, none of that +tommy-rot nonsense. Use your fists." + +"Boatswain," cried Fitz haughtily, "I, as an officer, seize this +schooner in the Queen's name." + +"What, has she telled you to, sir? I never heared her come aboard." + +"No trifling, man. For your own sake, obey my orders. Seize this lad, +and then make sail for the nearest British port." + +The boatswain took off his cap and scratched his head, looking at the +boys in a puzzled way, while Poole made no further resistance, but +resigned himself to being held, as he kept the pistol well behind his +back. + +"Do you hear me, men?" shouted Fitz, his heart sinking with despair the +while, as he noted the smiling looks of every face before him, and felt +what a miserable fiasco he had made. + +"Oh yes, I can hear you, sir," said the boatswain. "I'd be precious +deaf if I didn't; but you're giving rather a large order, taking a lot +on yourself now as the skipper's lying in dock. Any one would think as +you had got a gunboat's well-manned cutter lying alongside, and I don't +see as it is. What was that there shot I heard?" + +"I blew the lock off the cabin-door by my father's orders," cried Poole. +"We were locked in." + +"Ho!" said the boatswain. "Then this 'ere's been what they used to call +aboard a ship I was in, a hen-coop _de main_. I don't quite exactly +know what it means, but it's something about shutting up prisoners in a +cage. But don't you think, young gentleman, you have been making a big +mistake? But oh, all right--here's the skipper hisself coming on deck." + +Fitz turned sharply towards the companion-hatch, to see the head and +shoulders of the skipper as he stood there holding on by the combings, +and swaying to and fro, looking very ill and weak. His voice, too, +sounded feeble as he said huskily, addressing the boatswain-- + +"Is there any boat alongside, Butters?" + +"I arn't seen one, sir," replied the boatswain. + +"Any cruiser within sight?" + +"No, sir." + +"Where's Mr Burgess?" + +"Down below, sir. I'm afraid he's got the fever too." + +"Tut-tut-tut!" ejaculated the skipper. "There, I needn't ask any +questions. I have heard and seen enough. Mr Burnett, come here. No? +Well, stay where you are. My good lad, have you been too much in the +sun, to begin playing such a silly prank as this? There, no more +nonsense!" he added sternly, and with his voice gathering in force. "It +is evident to me that you don't know what stuff my men are made of. But +I'm too weak to stand talking here. Come and lend me a hand, Poole. +You, my young filibuster, had better come below with me, where you can +talk the matter over like a man. Ha, ha, ha!" he added, with a peculiar +laugh. "There, I'm not angry with you, my boy. I must say I admire +your pluck; but you must see how absurd all this is!" + +The midshipman's hands had dropped to his sides, and a strange, +hopeless, bitterly despondent look made his face display so many +incipient wrinkles, the germs, so to speak, of those which in manhood +would some day mark his frank young features. + +"It's all over," he groaned to himself; "they are all laughing at me. I +wish I were overboard! What an idiot I have been!" + +The laugh was there all ready in the eyes of the crew, and ready to +burst out in a roar, as, thrusting the revolver into his breast, Poole +ran to his father's side, and steadied him as he went back into the +cabin; but not a sound was heard till the way was quite clear and Fitz +stood alone looking wildly about him like some hunted animal seeking a +place of refuge where he might hide. But the lad's choice was limited +to the cook's galley, the cable-tier, and the forecastle-hatch, none of +which would do. + +There were only two courses open, he felt, and one was to end his +troubles by going overboard, the other to surrender like a man, obeying +the skipper's orders and following him below--anywhere to be out of +sight of the jeering crew, whose remarks and mirthful shouts he +momentarily expected to hear buzzing about his devoted head. And hence +it was that as soon as the companion-hatch was clear he drew himself up +to his full height--it did not take much doing, for it is very hard work +for a boy to look like a man--and gazing straight before him, walked +haughtily to the cabin-hatch and disappeared. + +The men seemed to have been holding their breath; their faces relaxed +into smiles and grins, and the carpenter exclaimed-- + +"Chips and shavings! Bantams aren't--" + +In another moment there would have been a roar of derisive laughter, but +Butters growled out hoarsely and sternly-- + +"Stand by! D'y' hear? Steady, my lads! None of that 'ere! Grinning +like a set of Cheshire cats! What have you got to sneer at? My word! +My word! And a boy like that! That's what I call genuine British +pluck! What a hofficer he'd make!" + +"Ay, ay!" cried the carpenter. "Right you are. All together, lads! He +is the right sort! Three cheers!" + +They were given, with the boatswain pining in, and Fitz winced as he +heard them down by the cabin-door; but he was himself again directly, +for there was no jarring note of derision in the sound. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +A MISS-FIRE. + +Fitz Burnett felt the next moment as if it would be easier to do that +which had never fallen to his lot--board with an excited crew an enemy's +ship, as he stood there for a few brief moments at the cabin-door +listening to the heavy breathing and movements of the skipper, sounds +which he knew meant that he was being helped back into his berth. For +the cabin-door had swung to, and he could see nothing of that which was +passing within. + +But the task had to be done, and the men's cheer, rightly interpreted, +seemed to have heartened him up, so that feeling more himself, he waited +till he heard a heavy sigh of relief which told its own tale, and then +giving the door a thrust, he stepped into the little cabin, to face its +owner lying extended upon his back. + +Seeing Poole standing by his father's head, facing him, he waited +motionless for a few moments. + +"Hah! That's better!" sighed the skipper. "Get me the quinine-bottle +out of the chest, my boy. This fever has made me as weak as a rat." + +Poole moved to one of the lockers at once, leaving the way clear for his +father to see the young midshipman where he stood; and the boy set his +teeth as the skipper's fierce fiery eyes seemed to look him through and +through. + +"Now for it," thought Fitz, as he held his breath. "What will he say?" + +He was not long kept in doubt, for the skipper spoke at once, not with +some furious denunciation, not with mocking contempt of the childish +effort of which the lad had been the hero, but in a quiet, easy-going +tone, strangely contrasted with the fierce look in his eyes. + +"Oh, there you are, my lad," he said. "Do you see what work these +tropic fevers can make of a strong man? Why, if you had only had me to +deal with you would have had it all your own way. There, come and sit +down, and let's have a palaver." + +"I can stand, sir, thank you," said the boy coldly, "and you needn't +exert yourself to talk. I know all that you would say, and I confess at +once that I have failed. But," he added excitedly, "I am not sorry, not +a bit. I felt it my was duty under the circumstances, and I feel now +that I might have succeeded, and that it would have been right." + +"Of course you do," said the skipper quietly. "But there, come and sit +down here, all the same. That's right. We can talk more easily now. +One moment; just open that window a little wider. This place is like an +oven, and I want cool air.--Hah! That's better." + +He lay with his head thrown back and his eyelids half-closed. + +"Well," he said at last, good-humouredly, and with a smile beginning to +play about his rugged face, with the effect of sending a thrill of anger +through the boy's frame, as he flashed out furiously-- + +"Don't laugh at me, sir! Put me in irons; punish me as much as you +like; but don't jeer at me. I can't bear that." + +"Steady, my boy, steady!" said the skipper quietly. "You must cool down +now. Why, Burnett, my lad, you had better furl up all your romantic +sails and let's talk like men. I am not going to put you in irons, I am +not going to punish you. What nonsense! Why, when I was your age and +just as thoughtless, if I had been placed in your position I might +likely enough have tried on just such a trick. It will be a lesson for +you to follow out the old proverb, `Look before you leap.' You can't +see it now, but some day I have no doubt that you will feel that it was +a mad idea, attempted because you didn't know the people among whom you +had been cast, nor thought it out so as to see how impossible it all was +for a boy like you--a lad like you, single-handed, but with all a man's +pluck, and even unarmed, to make yourself master of my little craft. It +was rather a big venture to make, my lad; don't you think it was?" + +"No, sir," said the lad firmly. "I had something else behind me." + +"What, the belief that my lads only wanted a leader to turn against me?" + +"No, sir; that I was backed up, as an officer of the Queen, by the whole +power of the law." + +"Oh, I see," said the skipper. "Yes. Exactly. That's all very big and +grand, and it might act sometimes and in some places, and especially +when there are men well-armed to back it up as well; but if you had +thought it out, my lad, I think you would have seen that it could have +had no chance here.--Oh, that my dose, Poole? Half or full?" he +continued, as he raised his hand to take a little silver mug which his +son had brought. + +"Only half, father," replied the lad. "You had a full dose just before +you went to sleep." + +"To be sure; so I did," said the skipper, whose hand was trembling as he +took the cup.--"It's of no use to ask you to drink with me, Mr +Burnett?" + +Fitz shook his head. + +"No, I suppose not," continued the skipper; "but we are going to be good +friends, all the same." + +Fitz watched the sick man as he drained the cup. + +"Ah! Bitter stuff! If you just think of the bitterest thing you ever +tasted and multiply it by itself, square it, as we used to call it at +school, you would only come near to the taste of this. But it's not a +nasty bitter, sickly and nauseous and all that, but a bitter that you +can get almost to like in time.--Thank you, Poole," and he handed back +the cup. "It makes me feel better at once. Nasty things, these fevers, +Squire Burnett, and very wonderful too that a man, a strong man, should +be going about hale and hearty in these hot countries, and then breathe +in something all at once that turns him up like this. And then more +wonderful still that the savage people lower down yonder in South +America--higher up, I ought to say, for it was the folk amongst the +mountains--should have found out a shrub whose bark would kill the fever +poison and make a man himself again. They say--put the cup away, +Poole--that wherever a poisonous thing grows there's another plant grows +close at hand which will cure the ill it does, bane and antidote, my +lad, stinging-nettles and dock at home, you know. I don't know that it +holds quite true, but I do know that there are fevers out here, and +quinine acts as a cure. But there's one thing I want to know, and it's +this, how in the name of all that's wonderful these South American +people first found it out." + +Fitz looked at him in a puzzled way. "What does he mean," he thought, +"by wandering off into a lecture like this?" The skipper smiled at him +as if he read his thoughts. "Hah!" he said. "I am beginning to feel +better now. The shivers are going off. Not such a bad doctor, am I? +You see, one always carries a medicine-chest, but one has to learn how +to use it, and I have been obliged to pick up a few things. I shouldn't +be at all surprised some day if I have to doctor you for something more +than a crack on the head. Look here, Poole," he continued, with a +broad, good-humoured smile crossing his features, "come into +consultation. What do you think? Our friend here is a bit too +hot-blooded. Do you think he need be bled? No, no; don't flush up like +that, my lad. It was only my joke. There," he cried, holding out his +hand, which had ceased to tremble--"shake. I'll never allude to it +again. You did rather a foolish thing, but it is all over now--dead and +buried, and we are going to be just as good friends as we were before, +for I like you, my lad, none the less for the stuff of which you are +made--the pluck you have shown. But take my advice; don't attempt +anything of the kind again. Fate has put you into this awkward +position. Be a man, and make the best of it. Some day or other you +will be able to say good-bye to us and go back to your ship, feeling +quite contented as to having done your duty. Come now, let's shake +hands and begin again." + +He held out his hand once more, and after a moment's hesitation, Fitz, +who dared not trust himself to speak, placed his own within it, to have +it held in a firm, warm pressure for some moments before it was +released. + +"There," said the skipper, smiling, "I am coming out in a nice soft +perspiration now, and I feel as if that bit of excitement has done me +good. Here, Poole, I'm tired, and I think that I can sleep and wake up +better. Burnett, my lad, perhaps you would like to stay below the rest +of the day.--Poole, mix Mr Burgess a dose. You know how many grains. +Tell him I can't come to him myself, and see that he takes it. It's my +orders, mind. These attacks are sharp but short. I'm half asleep +already. Oh, by the way--" + +He stopped short, drawing a heavy breath. + +"By the way, I--" + +He was silent again. + +"I--Poole." + +"Yes, father," said the lad softly. + +"Are you there?" + +"Yes, father." + +The boys exchanged glances. + +"I--I think--Hah!" + +The skipper was fast asleep. + +The two lads remained silent for a few moments, watching the sleeper, +and then Poole looked full in his companion's eyes and slowly took out +the revolver which he had thrust into his breast, before raising the +hammer and bringing the cartridge-extractor to bear so that one after +another the charges were thrust out, each to fall with a soft tap upon +the cabin-table, after which the chambers were carefully wiped out, and +the weapon put back into a holster close to the head of the berth, the +cartridges being dropped into the little pouch attached to the belt. + +When all was done, steadily watched by Fitz the while, Poole raised his +eyes to his companion once again. + +"Shall we do as you and father did just now?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Fitz slowly and sadly, "if you will." + +"Will?--Of course!" + +The two lads shook hands. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +LAND HO! + +Two days passed, during which time Fitz kept to his cabin, and towards +evening Poole came down, to find the middy seated with his back to the +door gazing through the cabin-window at what seemed to be a beautiful +blue cloud low-down on the horizon. + +"Hullo!" cried Poole cheerily. "You can see it, then?" + +"Yes," said Fitz, without looking round. "That's land, I suppose." + +"Yes, that's one of the islands; but look here, what's the good of going +on like this?" + +"If I choose to sit at my prison-window and look out for the islands, I +suppose I have a right to do so," said Fitz coldly. + +"I say, take care. Recollect you have not quite got your strength up +again. Mind you don't fall." + +"May I inquire what you mean?" said Fitz haughtily. + +"Of course. I mean, take care you don't tumble off the stilts now you +have got on to them again." + +"Bah!" ejaculated the boy. + +"Well, what's the good of going on like that, sulking and pretending you +are a prisoner?" + +"There's no pretence in that," said Fitz bitterly. + +"Yes, there is," retorted Poole quickly. "It's all shammon and gam--I +mean, gammon and sham. You are no more a prisoner than I am. Why, even +father says you seem to be riding the high horse. I suppose you do feel +a bit awkward about coming on deck amongst the men, after going through +that--I mean, after what happened." + +"Oh, say it!" cried Fitz angrily. "After going through that +performance, you meant." + +"I am not going to argue and fence. Look here, you have got to face the +men, so why not make a plunge and do it? You think the lads will be +winking and exchanging glances and whispering to one another, when all +the time there's only one body on board the _Teal_ who gives all that +business a thought, and that's you. Tchah! Sailors have no time to +think about what's past. They have always got to keep a sharp look-out +for the rocks ahead. You are such a sensitive chap. Come on up, and +let's have a turn at fishing." + +"Is your father quite well again?" said Fitz, without heeding his +companion's proposal. + +"Oh yes; that was only one of his fits. They come and go." + +"And how's Mr Burgess?" + +"Pretty well right again. Come up. Have the glass. You can see +another island astern, one of the little ones, and I think we are going +to have one of these lovely tropic sunsets, same as we had last night +when you wouldn't come and see it." + +"How can a fellow situated as I am care for sunsets?" + +"Just in the same way as he can care for sunrises if he's awake early +enough. Oh, do pitch all that up! It has all gone by. But I see how +it is. You think that you made a mistake, and that everybody will be +ready to laugh at you." + +"And so they will," cried Fitz passionately. "I can never show my face +on deck again." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed Poole. "Well, you are a rum chap, fancying a thing +like that. Why, my father's too much of a gentleman ever to notice it +again, and I'm sure old grumpy Burgess wouldn't, from what he said to me +when I was telling him all about it afterwards." + +"What!" cried Fitz, flashing out. "You went down tale-bearing to the +mate like that?" + +"There you go again! I didn't go tale-bearing. He'd heard about it +from one of the men, and next time I took him his quinine he began +questioning me." + +"And what did he say?" cried Fitz fiercely. + +"Shan't tell you." + +"What!" cried Fitz. "And you profess to be my friend!" + +"Yes; that's why I won't tell you," said Poole, with his eyes twinkling. +"I want to spare your feelings, or else it will make you so wild." + +"The insolent piratical old scoundrel!" cried Fitz. "How dare he!" + +"Oh, don't ask me. He's a regular rough one with his tongue, as you +know by the way in which he deals with the men; gives the dad the raspy +side of his palaver sometimes, but dad never seems to mind it. He never +takes any notice, because Burgess means right, and he's such a splendid +seaman." + +"Means right!" cried Fitz angrily. "Is it right to abuse a prisoner +behind his back when he's not in a position to defend himself?" + +"Yes, it was too bad," said Poole sympathetically. + +"What did he say?" + +"Oh, you had better not know," replied Poole, winking to himself. + +"I insist upon your telling me." + +"Oh, well, if you will have it--only don't blame me afterwards for +letting it out." + +"What did he say?" repeated the boy. + +"It was while he had got a very bad fit of the shivers on, and the poor +fellow's teeth were all of a chatter with the fever." + +"I think your teeth seem to be all of a chatter," snarled the midshipman +fiercely. + +"Ha, ha! You are a wonderful deal better, Queen's man," cried Poole +merrily. + +"Have you come down here like the rest to insult and trample on me?" +cried Fitz, springing to his feet. + +"Ah, now you are getting yourself again." + +"I insist upon your telling me what that man Burgess said." + +"What he said? Well, he said you were a plucked 'un and no mistake." + +"Bah!" ejaculated Fitz, and there was silence for a few moments, during +which Poole thrust his head out of the cabin-window to give his +companion time to calm down. + +"Yes," said the lad, looking round. "Clouds are gathering in the west, +and we are going to have a grand show of such colours as I never saw +anywhere else. Come on up, there's a good chap." + +Fitz remained silent, and the skipper's son winked to himself. + +"Where's Mr Burgess now?" said Fitz at last. + +"He's in his cabin, writing home to his wife. You would never think how +particular such a gruff old fellow as he is about writing home. Writes +a long letter every week as regular as clockwork. Doesn't seem like a +pirate, does it?" + +"Is your father on deck?" + +"No. He's in his cabin, busy over the chart. We are getting pretty +close to the port now." + +"Ah!" cried Fitz eagerly. "What port are we making for?" + +"San Cristobal." + +"Where's that?" + +"In the Armado Republic, Central America." + +"Oh," said Fitz. "I never heard of it before. Is there a British +Consul there?" + +"Oh, I don't know. There generally is one everywhere. I think there +used to be before Don Villarayo upset the Government and got himself +made President." + +"And is it to him that you are taking out field-guns and ammunition?" + +"I never said we were taking out field-guns and ammunition," said Poole +innocently. "There's nothing of that sort down in the bills of lading-- +only Birmingham hardware. Oh no, it is not for him. It is for another +Don who is opening a new shop there in opposition to Villarayo, and from +what I heard he is going to do the best trade." + +"What's the good of your talking all this rubbish to me? Of course I +know what it all means." + +"That's right. I supposed you did know something about it, or else your +skipper would not have sent you to try and capture our Birmingham +goods." + +"Birmingham goods!" cried Fitz. "Fire-arms, you mean." + +"To be sure, yes," said Poole. "I forgot them. There are a lot of +fireworks ready for a big celebration when the new Don opens his shop!" + +"Bah!" cried Fitz contemptuously; and then after a few moments' thought, +"Well," he said shortly, "I suppose I shall have to do it. I can't stop +always in this stuffy cabin. It will make me ill again; and I may just +as well face it out now as at some other time." + +"Just," said Poole, "only I am afraid you will be disappointed, for you +will find nothing to face." + +Fitz turned upon the speaker fiercely, looking as if he were going to +make some angry remark; but he found no sneer on the face of the +skipper's son, only a frank genial smile, which, being lit up by the +warm glow gradually gathering in the west, seemed to glance upon and +soften his own features, till he turned sharply away as if feeling +ashamed of what he looked upon as weakness, and the incident ended by +his saying suddenly--"Let's go on deck." + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +"OLD CHAP"--"OLD FELLOW." + +Days of slow sailing through calm blue waters, with quite an Archipelago +of Eden-like islands showing one or another in sight. + +Very slow progress was made on account of the wind, which was light and +generally adverse. + +Fitz passed his time nearly always on deck with the skipper's glass in +hand, every now and then close enough in to one of the islands to excite +an intense longing to land, partly to end his imprisonment, as he called +it, partly from sheer desire to plunge into one or another of the +glorious valleys which ran upward from the sea, cut deep into the side +of some volcanic mountain. + +"Lovely!" was always on the boy's lips. "I never saw anything like this +before, Poole. But where's the port we are sailing for? Are we never +going to land?" + +"Oh, it's only a little farther on," was the reply. "If this wind only +gets up a little more towards sundown I expect we shall soon be there." + +"That's what you always keep saying," was the impatient retort. + +"Yes," said Poole coolly; "but it isn't my fault. It's the wind." + +"Oh, hang the wind!" + +"You should say, blow it!" said Poole, laughing. "But I say, old chap, +I don't want to damp you, but you really had better not indulge in any +hope of seeing any consul or English people who will help you to get +away. San Cristobal is a very solitary place, where the people are all +mongrels, a mixture of native Indians and half-bred Spaniards. Father +says they are like the volcano at the back of the city, for when it is +not blowing up, they are." + +"Well, I shall learn all that for myself," said Fitz coldly. + +"You will, old fellow, and before long too." + +"What do you mean by that?" said Fitz sharply. "Only that we shall be +there for certain to-night." As it happened, the wind freshened a +little that evening, while the sunset that Poole had prophesied was +glorious in the extreme; a wondrous pile of massive clouds formed up +from the horizon almost to the zenith, shutting out the sun, and Fitz +watched the resplendent hues until his eyes were ready to ache--purple, +scarlet, orange and gold, with flashes in between of the most vivid +metallic blue, ever increasing, ever changing, until the eye could bear +no more and sought for rest in the sea through which they sailed, a sea +that resembled liquid rubies or so much wine. + +But the end was coming fast, and like some transformation scene, the +clouds were slowly drawn aside, the vivid tints began to pale till they +died away into a rich, soft, purple gloom spangled with drops of gold. +And a deep sigh escaped from the middy's breast as he stood wondering +over the glories of the rapid change from glowing day into the soft, +transparent, tropic night. + +"I never saw anything like that before," sighed the boy. + +"No, I suppose not," was the reply. "It was almost worth coming all +this way to see. Doesn't it seem queer to you where all the clouds are +gone?" + +"Yes," said Fitz; "I was thinking about that. There is only one left, +now, over yonder, with the sun glowing on it still." + +"That's not the sun," said Poole quietly. + +"Yes, it is. I mean there, that soft dull red. Look before it dies +out." + +"That's the one I was looking at, and it won't die out; if you like to +watch you will see it looking dull and red like that all night." + +"Oh, I see," cried Fitz mockingly; "you mean that the sun goes down only +a little way there, and then comes up again in the same place." + +"No, I don't," said Poole quietly. "What you see is the glow from the +volcano a few miles back behind the town." + +"What!" cried Fitz. "Then we are as close to the port as that?" + +"Yes. We are not above a dozen miles away. It's too dark to see now, +or you could make out the mountains that surround the bay." + +"Then why couldn't we see them before the sun was set?" cried Fitz +sceptically. + +"Because they were all hidden by the clouds and golden haze that gather +round of an evening. Yes, yonder's San Cristobal, and as soon as it is +a little darker if you use the glass you will be able to make out which +are the twinkling electric lights and which are stars." + +"Electric lights!" cried Fitz. + +"Oh yes, they've got 'em, and tram-cars too. They are pretty wide-awake +in these mushroom Spanish Republic towns." + +"Then they will be advanced enough," thought Fitz, "for me to get help +to make my way to rejoin my ship. Sooner or later my chance must come." + +Within an hour the soft warm wind had dropped, and the captain gave his +orders, to be followed by the rattling out of the chain-cable through +the hawse-hole. The schooner swung round, and Fitz had to bring the +glass to bear from the other side of the deck to make out the twinkling +lights of the semi-Spanish town. + +Everything was wonderfully still, but it was an exciting time for the +lad as he leaned against the bulwarks quite alone, gazing through the +soft mysterious darkness at the distant lights. + +There were thoughts in his breast connected with the lowering down of +one of the boats and rowing ashore, but there was the look-out, and the +captain and mate were both on deck, talking together as they walked up +and down, while instead of the men going below and seeming disposed to +sleep, they were lounging about, smoking and chatting together. + +And then it was that the middy began to think about one of the four +life-buoys lashed fore and aft, and how it would be if he cut one of +them loose and lowered himself down by a rope, to trust to swimming and +the help of the current to bear him ashore. + +His heart throbbed hard at the idea, and then he turned cold, for he was +seaman enough to know the meaning of the tides and currents. Suppose in +his ignorance instead of bearing him ashore they swept him out to sea? +And then he shuddered at his next thought. + +There were the sharks, and only that evening he and Poole had counted no +less than ten--that is to say, their little triangular back-fins-- +gliding through the surface of the water. + +"No," he said to himself, "I shall have to wait;" and he started +violently, for a voice at his elbow said-- + +"Did you speak?" + +"Eh? No, I don't think so," replied the boy. + +"You must have been talking to yourself. I say, what a lovely night! +Did you notice that signal that we ran up?" + +"No," cried Fitz eagerly. + +"It was while you were looking at the sunset. Father made me run up a +flag. Don't you remember my asking you to let me have the glass a +minute?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"Well--I don't mind telling you now--that was to the fort, and they +answered it just in time before it was too dark to see. I think they +hoisted lights afterwards, three in a particular shape, but there were +so many others about that father couldn't be sure." + +"Then I suppose that means going into port at daylight?" + +"Yes, and land our cargo under the guns of the fort. I say, listen." + +"What to?" + +"That," said Poole, in a whisper. + +"Oh yes, that splashing. Fish, I suppose." + +"No," whispered Poole. "I believe it's oars." + +He had hardly spoken when the skipper's voice was heard giving orders +almost in a whisper; but they were loud enough to be heard and +understood, for there was a sudden rush and padding of feet about the +deck, followed by a soft rattling, and the next minute the middy was +aware of the presence of a couple of the sailors armed with capstan-bars +standing close at hand. + +Then all was silence once more, and the darkness suddenly grew more +dense, following upon a dull squeaking sound as of a pulley-wheel in a +block. + +"They've doused the light," whispered Poole. "It's a boat coming off +from the shore," he continued excitedly, with his lips close to the +middy's ear. "It's the people we expect, I suppose, but father is +always suspicious at a time like this, for you never know who they may +be. But if they mean mischief they will get it warm." + +Fitz's thoughts went back at a bound to the dark night when he boarded +with the cutter's crew, and his heart beat faster and faster still as, +leaning outward to try and pierce the soft transparent darkness of the +tropic night, he felt his arm tightly gripped by Poole with one hand, +while with the other he pointed to a soft pale flashing of the water, +which was accompanied by a dull regular _splash, splash_. + +"Friends or enemies," whispered Poole, "but they don't see us yet. I +wonder which they are." + +Just then the lambent flashing of the phosphorescent water and the soft +splashing ceased. + +It was the reign of darkness far and near. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +ANXIOUS TIMES. + +As the minutes glided by in the midst of that profound silence, a fresh +kind of feverish feeling began to steal over Fitz. There in the +distance, apparently beyond the dome of great stars which lit up the +blackish purple heavens, was the dull glowing cloud which looked like +one that the sunset had left behind; beneath that were the twinkling +lights of the town, and between the schooner and that, a broad black +plain of darkness, looking like a layer which extended as high as the +top of the masts. + +But as Fitz looked down, it was to see that the blackness below his feet +was transparent and all in motion with tiny glowing specks gliding here +and there as if being swept along by a powerful current. + +There were moments when he could have fancied that he was gazing into a +huge black mirror which reflected the vast dome of stars, but he knew by +experience that these moving greenish golden specks were no orbs of +light but the tiny phosphorescent medusas gliding in all directions +through the transparent water, and every now and then combining to emit +a pale green bluish flash of light, as some fish made the current swirl +by giving a swoop with its tail. + +Moment by moment in the silence all seemed to grow more and more unreal, +more dream-like, till he felt ready to declare that all was fancy, that +he had heard no splash of a coming boat, and that the next minute he +would start into wakefulness and find that it was all imagination. + +Then all at once he was listening with every nerve on the strain, +wishing that he knew Spanish instead of Latin, for a low clear voice +arose out of the darkness, saying, as he afterwards learned-- + +"Aboard the English vessel there! Where are you? I have lost my way." + +The skipper answered directly in Spanish. + +There was a quick interchange of words, and then the latter gave an +order in English which came as a relief to Fitz and made his heart jump, +suggesting as it did that the next minute there was going to be a fight. + +"Get the lads all round you, Burgess, and be on the alert. It seems all +right, but it may be a bit of Spanish treachery, so look out." + +As he was speaking Fitz with straining eyes and ear saw that the pale +golden green water was being lifted from the surface of the sea and +falling back like dull golden metal in patches, with an interval of +darkness between them, the bestirred water looking like so much molten +ore as it splashed about. + +Then there was the scraping of a boat-hook against the side, close to +the gangway, and the dimly-seen figure of a man scrambling on board. + +No enemy certainly, for Fitz made out that the newcomer grasped both the +captain's hands in his, and began talking to him in a low eager excited +tone, the captain's responses, given in the man's own tongue, sounding +short and sharp, interspersed too with an angry ejaculation or two. The +conversation only lasted about five minutes, and then the visitor turned +back to the side, uttered an order in a low tone which caused a little +stir in the boat below, and stepped down. Fitz could hear him crossing +the thwarts to the stern, and the craft was pushed off. Then the golden +splashes in the sea came regularly once more, to grow fainter and +fainter, in the direction of the city lights; and then they were alone +in the silence and darkness of the night. + +It was not Fitz's fault that he heard what followed, for the skipper +came close up to where he was standing with Poole, followed by the mate, +who had sent the men forward as soon as the boat was gone. + +"Well," said the skipper, "it's very unfortunate." + +"Is it?" said the mate gruffly. + +"Yes. Couldn't you hear?" + +"I heard part of what he said, but my Spanish is very bad, especially if +it's one of these mongrel half Indian-bred fellows who is talking. You +had better tell me plainly how matters stand." + +"Very well. Horribly badly. Things have gone wrong since we left +England. Our friends were too venturesome, and they were regularly +trapped, with the result that they were beaten back out of the town, and +the President's men seized the fort, got hold of their passwords and the +signalling flags that they had in the place, and answered our signals, +so that they took me in. If it had not been for his man's coming +to-night with a message from Don Ramon, we should have sailed right into +the trap as soon as it was day, and been lying under the enemy's guns." + +"Narrow escape, then," said the mate. + +"Nearly ruin," was the reply. + +"But hold hard a minute. Suppose, after all, this is a bit of a trick, +a cooked-up lie to cheat us." + +"Not likely," said the skipper. "What good would it do the enemy to +send us away when they had all we brought under their hand? Besides, +this messenger had a password to give me that must have been right." + +"You know best," said the mate gruffly. "Then what next?" + +"Up anchor at once, and we sail round the foreland yonder till we can +open out the other valley and the river's mouth twenty miles along the +coast. Don Ramon and his men are gathering at Velova, and they want our +munition badly there." + +"Right," said the mate abruptly. "Up anchor at once? Make a big +offing, I suppose?" + +"No, we must hug the coast. I dare say they will have a gunboat +patrolling some distance out--a steamer--and with these varying winds +and calms we should be at their mercy. If we are taken, Don Ramon's +cause is ruined, poor fellow, and the country will be at the mercy of +that half-savage, President Villarayo. Brute! He deserves to be hung!" + +"I don't like it," said Burgess gruffly. + +"You don't like it!" cried the skipper. "What do you mean?" + +"What do I mean? Why, from here to Velova close in it's all rock-shoal +and wild current. It's almost madness to try and hug the coast." + +"Oh, I see. But it's got to be done, Burgess. You didn't take +soundings and bearings miles each way for nothing last year." + +"Tchah!" growled the mate. "One wants an apprenticeship to this coast. +I'll do what you want, of course, but I won't be answerable for taking +the _Teal_ safely into that next port." + +"Oh yes, you will," said the skipper quietly. "If I didn't think you +would I should try to do it myself. Now then, there's no time to waste. +Look yonder. There's something coming out of the port now--a steamer, +I believe, from the way she moves, and most likely it's in reply to our +signals, and they're coming out to give us a surprise." The mate stood +for a few moments peering over the black waters in the direction of the +indicated lights. + +"Yes," he growled, "that's a steamer; one of their gunboats, I should +say, and they are coming straight for here." + +"How does he know that?" whispered Fitz, as the skipper and the mate now +moved away. + +"The lights were some distance apart," replied Poole, "and they've swung +round till one's close behind the other. Now look, whatever the steamer +is she is coming straight for here. Fortunately there is a nice +pleasant breeze, but I hope we shall not get upon any of these fang-like +rocks." + +"Yes, I hope so too," said Fitz excitedly; and then Poole left him, and +he stood listening to the clicking of the capstan as the anchor was +raised, while some of the crew busily hoisted sail, so that in a few +minutes' time the schooner began to heel over from the pressure of the +wind and glide away, showing that the anchor was clear of the soft ooze +in which it had lain. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +TICKLISH. + +Burgess the mate went forward, to stand for a few minutes looking into +the offing, before going back aft to say a word or two to the man at the +wheel, as the schooner was now gliding rapidly on, and then walked +sharply to where the skipper was giving orders to the men, which +resulted in a big gaff sail being run up, to balloon out and increase +the schooner's rate of speed through the water. + +A short consultation ensued, another man was put on the look-out +forward, and the mate went back to take the wheel himself. + +"Ah, that's better," said Poole quietly. + +"What's better?" asked Fitz. + +"Old Burgess taking the wheel himself. It's a bad enough place here in +the daylight, but it's awful in the darkness, and we are not quite so +likely to be carried by some current crash on to a rock." + +"Then why, in the name of common-sense, don't we lay-to till daylight?" + +"Because it wouldn't be common-sense to wait till that steamer comes +gliding up, and takes possession of the _Teal_. Do you know what that +means?" + +"Yes; you would all be made prisoners, and I should be free," cried +Fitz, laughing. "My word, Master Poole, I don't want you to have a +topper first, but I'd let you see then what it is to be a prisoner +aboard the _Silver Teal_." + +"Oh yes, of course, I know," replied Poole mockingly. "But you don't +know everything. When I asked you if you knew what it meant it was +this, that our cargo would go into the wrong hands and about ruin Don +Ramon's cause." + +"Well, what does that matter?" + +"Everything. Ramon, who has been striking for freedom and all that's +good and right, would be beaten, and the old President Don Villarayo +would carry on as before. He is as bad a tyrant as ever was at the head +of affairs, and it's to help turn him out of the chair that my father +and his Spanish friends are making this venture." + +"Well, that's nothing to me," said Fitz. "I am on the side of right." + +"Well, that is the side of right." + +"Oh no," said Fitz. "According to the rule of these things that's the +side of right that has the strongest hold." + +"Bah!" said Poole. "That would never do, unless it is when we get the +strongest hold, and that we mean to do." + +"Well, I hope old Burgess, as you call him, won't run this wretched +schooner crash on to a rock. You might as well hand me out a life-belt, +in case." + +"Oh, there's time enough for that," said Poole coolly. + +"I'll take care of you. But I say, look! That gunboat is coming on two +knots for our one. Can't you see?" + +"I can see her lights, of course, but it doesn't seem to me that she is +getting closer." + +"She is, though, and she's bound to overtake us, for old Burgess is +keeping right along the main channel. Why, if I didn't know who was at +the wheel," cried the lad excitedly, "I should be ready to think that +the steersman had proved treacherous, and was playing into the enemy's +hands. Oh, here's father! I say, dad, do you see how fast that gunboat +is overhauling us?" + +"Oh yes," said the skipper coolly. "It's all right, my boy; Burgess +knows what he's about. He wants to get a little more offing, but it's +getting nearly time to lie over on the other tack." + +He had hardly spoken when the mate at the wheel called out-- + +"Now!" + +The skipper gave a short, sharp order or two, the men sprang to the +sheets, the schooner was turned right up into the wind, the sails began +to shiver, and directly after they began to fill on the other tack, were +sheeted home, and the _Teal_ lay so over to starboard that Fitz made a +snatch at a rope so as to steady himself and keep his feet. + +"Why, he'll have the sea over her side," whispered Fitz excitedly. + +"Very likely," said Poole coolly. "Ah, you don't know how we can sail." + +"Sail! Why, you will have her lying flat in the water directly." + +"Make the sails more taut," said Poole coolly. "I say, we are going +now. I didn't see what he meant. We have just turned the South Rocks. +Talk about piloting, old Burgess does know what he's about. We are +sailing as fast as the gunboat." + +"But she's overhauling us." + +"Yes, but she won't try to pass those rocks. She will have to keep to +the channel. We are skimming along over the rocky shallows now." + +"Yes, with the keel nearly up to the surface," panted Fitz excitedly. + +"All the better! Less likely to scrape the rocks." + +"Well, you are taking it pretty coolly," continued the midshipman. +"This must be risky work." + +"Yes, we don't want to be taken. You wait a few minutes and watch the +gunboat's lights. You will see that she will be getting more distant as +she goes straight on for the open sea. Her captain will make for the +next channel, two or three miles south, to catch us there as we come +out--and we shan't come out, for we shall go right on in and out among +the shallows and get clear off, so as to sail into Velova Bay. We shall +be all right if we don't come crash on to one of the shark's fin rocks." + +"And if we do?" + +"Well, if we do we shan't get off again--only in the boats--but old +Villarayo's gang won't get the ammunition, for that will go down to +amuse the sharks." + +"Well, this is nice," said Fitz. "The schooner was bad enough before; +now it's ten times worse." + +"Nonsense. See how we are skimming along. This is a new experience for +you. You will see more fun with us in a month than you would in your +old tea-kettle of a gunboat in twelve." + +"Phew!" ejaculated the skipper, coming up, straw hat in one hand, +pocket-handkerchief in the other, and mopping his face. "This is rather +warm work, Poole, my boy. Well, Mr Burnett, what do you think of +blockade running for a change?" + +"What do I think of it, sir?" said Fitz, who was still holding on tight +to one of the ropes. + +"Yes. Good as yachting, isn't it?" + +"Well, I don't like it a bit, sir. I don't call it seamanship." + +"Indeed, young gentleman! What do you call it, then?" + +"Utter recklessness, sir." + +"Oh!" said the skipper. "Well, it is running it rather close, but you +can't do blockade running without. Not afraid, are you?" + +"Oh, I don't know about being afraid, sir, but I think that we shall +have to take to the boats." + +"Yes, that's quite likely, but the chances are about equal that we shall +not. Mr Burgess knows what he is about, and as likely as not we shall +be right into Velova Bay soon after sunrise, and the President's gunboat +twenty miles away." + +Several times over during the rest of the night's run, Fitz observed +that there was a little anxious conference between the skipper and the +mate, the former speaking very sternly, and on one occasion the latter +spoke out loud in a sharp angry voice, the words reaching the middy's +ear. + +"Of course it is very risky," he said, "but I feel as if I shall get her +through, or I shouldn't do it. Shall we take soundings and drop anchor +in the best bit we can find?" + +"Where we shall be clearly seen as soon as day breaks? No! Go on." + +It was a relief then to both the lads when the day broke, showing them a +line of breakers about half-a-mile away on the starboard-bow, and clear +open water right ahead, while as the dawn lifted more and more, it was +to show a high ground jungle and the beautiful curve of another bay +formed by a couple of ridges about three miles apart running down into +the sea. + +"There," cried Poole triumphantly; "we have been running the gauntlet of +dangerous rocks all night, and we've won. That's Velova Bay. You will +see the city directly, just at the mouth of the valley. Lovely place. +It's the next city to San Cristobal." + +"Fetch my glass, Poole," said the skipper; and upon its being brought +its owner took a long searching sweep of the coast as he stood by the +mate's side. + +"I can only make out a few small vessels," he said; "nothing that we +need mind. Run straight in, and we can land everything before the +gunboat can get round, even if she comes, which is doubtful, after all." + +"Yes, knowing how we can sail." + +The boys were standing near, and heard all that was said, for their +elders spoke freely before them. + +"What about choice of place for landing?" asked the mate. + +"Oh, we will go up as close as we can get. Ramon is sure to have a +strong party there to help, and in a very short time he would be able to +knock up an earthwork and utilise the guns as we get them ashore. That +would keep the gunboat off if she comes round." + +"Yes," said the mate quietly, and he handed over the wheel to one of the +men, the sea being quite open now between them and the shore a few miles +away. + +"Well," said the skipper, "what do you make of it?" For the mate was +shading his eyes and looking carefully round eastward. + +"Have a look yourself," was the gruff reply. + +The skipper raised the glass he had lowered to his side, and swept the +horizon eastward; knowing full well the keenness of his subordinate's +eyes, he fully expected to see some suspicious vessel in sight, but that +had not taken the mate's attention, for as soon as the glass had +described about the eighth of a circle the skipper lowered it again and +gave an angry stamp with his foot. + +"Was ever such luck!" he cried. + +"No," replied the mate; "it is bad. But there is only one thing to be +done." + +"Yes, only one thing. We must get out while we can, and I don't know +but what we may be too late even now." + +For the next few minutes all was busy on board the schooner. It was +'bout ship, and fresh sail was set, their course being due east, while +as soon as Fitz could get Poole to answer a question, what had so far +been to him a mystery was explained. + +"We are in for one of those hurricanes that come on so suddenly here," +said the lad, "and we are going right out to sea, to try and get under +shelter of one of the isles before it breaks." + +"But why not stop here in harbour?" said Fitz sharply. + +"Because there is none. When the wind's easterly you can only expect +one thing, and that is to be blown ashore." + +"But is there time to get under the lee of some island?" + +"I don't know. We are going straight into danger now, for as likely as +not we shall meet the gunboat coming right across our bows to cut us +off." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +ON TWO SIDES. + +The speed they were able to get out of the schooner, and the admirable +seamanship of her commander enabled them to reach the sought-for shelter +before the fury of the West Indian hurricane came on. It was rough +work, but with two anchors down, the _Teal_ managed to ride out the +blast, and fortunately for her crew the storm subsided as quickly as it +had risen, leaving them free to run in for Velova with a gentle breeze +over a heavy swell, which as evening approached began to subside fast. + +It still wanted a couple of hours of sunset when the morning's position +was reached, and with favourable wind and the signal flying they were +running close in, when Fitz suddenly caught Poole by the arm. + +"Look yonder," he said. + +"What at?--My word!" + +The boy rushed aft to where his father was standing watching the distant +city through his glass; but that which he was about to impart was +already clearly seen. From behind a wooded point about a mile behind +them the black trail of smoke rising from a steamer's funnel was slowly +ascending into the soft air, and for a few moments the skipper stood +with his teeth set and his face contracted with disappointment and rage. + +"Think they have seen us, Burgess?" he said at last. + +"Yes; they have been lying in hiding there, watching us till we were +well inside." + +"Can we get outside again?" + +"Not a chance of it," was the reply; "the wind will be dead in our +teeth, and we can only tack, while they are coming on full speed, and +can begin playing long bowls at us with heavy shot whenever they like." + +"What's to be done?" said the skipper, and without waiting for an answer +he added, "Keep on right in. There is one chance yet." + +"There, don't look so precious pleased," Poole whispered to Fitz. "We +are not taken yet." + +"I--I wasn't looking pleased." + +"Yes, you were," said Poole sourly; "but you needn't be, because you +would be no better off with them than you are with us. But you are not +with them yet. Father seems to be taking things very easily, and that +only means that we are going to get away." + +It did not seem like it, though, for as the schooner sailed on into the +beautiful orange glow of the coming evening, the gunboat neared them +swiftly, spreading a golden trail of light far behind her over the sea +which her screw churned up into foam, while overhead trailed backward +what seemed to be like a triumphant black feather of smoke. + +The city before them looked bright and attractive with its gaily-painted +houses, green and yellow jalousies, and patches of verdure in the +gardens, beyond which the mountains rose in ridge after ridge of green +and purple and grey. The bay in front of them was singularly devoid of +life. Probably on account of the swell remaining from the hurricane +there were no fishing-boats afloat save one, with a long white lateen +sail running up into the air like the pointed wing of some sea-bird +gliding over the surface of the sea. + +No one paid any heed to the boat, which drew nearer and nearer from the +fact that it was gliding across the bay right in the schooner's course. +In fact, every eye was directed at the gunboat, which came steadily on +without hurry, as if her commander felt that he was perfectly certain of +his prize, while what went on upon her deck was plainly visible through +the glass, the boys noting in turn that her heavy gun was manned and +ready to bring them to whensoever the gunboat captain pleased to make +her speak. + +"Oh, Fitz!" groaned Poole. "It does seem so hard. I did think we were +going to do it now." + +"Well, I can't help being sorry for you," said the middy. "Yes, it does +seem hard, though I suppose I oughtn't to speak like this. I say, +though, look at those stupid niggers in that boat! Why don't they get +out of the way? We shall run them down." + +"Murder! Yes," cried Poole, and pulling out his knife he ran to one of +the life-buoys to cut it free; but ere he could reach it there was a +sharp crack as the schooner seemed to glide right over the fishing-boat, +the tall white lateen sail disappeared, and Fitz ran to the side, +expecting to see those who manned the slight craft struggling in the +water. + +To his surprise, though, he saw that a dark-complexioned man was holding +on with a boat-hook, boat and trailing sail were being carried onward by +the schooner, and another man was climbing over the port bulwark. + +What followed passed very quietly. The man gained the deck and ran aft +to where the captain and mate were hurrying to meet him. + +There was a quick passing of something white, and then the man almost +glided over the bulwarks again into the boat, which fell astern, and +those who manned her began to hoist the long lateen sail once more. + +"A message from the shore," whispered Poole excitedly, as he saw his +father step into the shelter of one of the boats swinging from the +davits, to screen himself from any observant glass on the gunboat's +deck, and there he rapidly tore open a packet and scanned the message +that it contained. + +"Oh, I should like to know what it says," whispered Poole, "but I +mustn't ask him. It's lucky to be old Burgess," he continued, for the +captain walked slowly to his chief officer, who stood sulkily apart as +if not paying the slightest heed to what was going on. + +The skipper stood speaking to him for about a minute, and the lad saw +the heavy-looking mate give a short nod of the head and then turn his +eyes upwards towards the white spread sails as they still glided on +through the orange glow. + +_Boom_--_thud_! and Fitz literally jumped; the report, and its echo from +the mountain-backed shore, was so sudden and unexpected. + +"Blank shot," said Poole, looking at the white smoke curling up from one +of the man-of-war's small guns. + +"Order to heave-to," said Fitz; "and you will have to, or a ball will +come skipping along next." + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Poole, "across our bows; and if we didn't stop +for that I suppose they would open fire with their big gun. Think they +could hit us?" + +"I don't know about them," said Fitz, rather pompously, "but I know our +old _Tonans_ would send you to the bottom with her first shot." + +"Then I'm glad it isn't the _Tonans_" said Poole, laughing. "Here, we +are not going to be sunk;" for in obedience to the summons the schooner +was thrown up into the wind, the big sails shivering in the soft breeze, +and gradually turning of a deeper orange glow. Meanwhile there was a +bustle going on aboard the gunboat, and an orange cutter manned by +orange men glided down into the sea. Then oars began to dip and at +every stroke threw up orange and gold. So beautiful was the scene that +Fitz turned from it for a moment to look westward for the source of the +vivid colouring, and was startled for the moment at the curious effect, +for there, balanced as it were on the highest point of the low ridge of +mountains at the back of the city, was the huge orange globe that lit up +the whole bay right away to sea, and even as he gazed the sun seemed to +touch the mountains whose summit marked a great black notch like a cut +out of its lower edge. + +"Here they come," said Poole, making Fitz start round again. "What +swells," he continued bitterly. "The dad ought to go below and put on +his best jacket. Look at the golden braid." + +"I say," cried Fitz, "he'll see my uniform. What will he say to me?" + +"Take you for an English officer helping in a filibustering craft." + +"Oh, but I shall explain myself," cried Fitz. "But it would be rather +awkward if they didn't believe me. Here, you, Poole, I don't understand +a word of Spanish; you will have to stand by me and help me out of a +hole." + +"And put my father in?" cried Poole. "You are a modest chap!--Why, look +there, I am bothered if the dad isn't going to do it!" cried the lad +excitedly. + +"Do what?" + +"Put on his best jacket. Look, he's going to the cabin-hatch. No, he +isn't. What's he saying to old Butters?" + +The lad had no verbal answer, but he saw for himself. The gunboat's +cutter was still a couple of hundred yards away, and coming steadily on, +when, as if by accident or from the action of the swell, the spokes of +the wheel moved a little, with the consequence that the wind began to +fill the schooner's sails, the man at the wheel turned it a little, and +the canvas shivered once more. + +But the schooner had begun to move, gliding imperceptibly along, and as +this manoeuvre was repeated, she moved slowly through the water, keeping +the row-boat almost at the same distance astern. A full minute had +elapsed before the officer noticed this, and he rose in the stern-sheets +and shouted an order in Spanish, to which the mate replied by seeming to +repeat it to the man at the wheel, who hurriedly gave the spokes a turn, +the sails filled, and the _Teal_ glided steadily on. + +"Yah!" roared Butters furiously. "Out of the way, you great clumsy +lubber!" And he made a rush at the man, who loosed his hold of the +spokes and backed away as if to shelter himself from blows, while, +swinging free, the rudder yielded to the pressure of the swell and the +schooner glided along faster still. + +There was a threatening shout from the boat and a hostile movement of +weapons, to which Butters responded by roaring out in broad, plain +English-- + +"Ay, ay, sir! All right! Clumsy lubber! Break his head." + +As he spoke he moved slowly to the wheel, seized the spokes, rammed them +down as if confused, and then hurriedly turned them the other way, with +the result that the schooner still kept gliding slowly on, with the +cutter at the same distance astern. + +"That'll do," said the skipper; "drop it now," and trembling with +excitement as he grasped the manoeuvres being played Fitz made a grab at +Poole's arm, while Poole made a grab at his, and they stood as one, +waiting for the result. + +In obedience to his orders, the boatswain now turned and held the +schooner well up in the wind, her forward motion gradually ceasing, and +the gunboat's cutter now gaining upon them fast. + +"Why, the sun's gone down," whispered Fitz excitedly. + +"Yes," said Poole, "and the stars are beginning to show." + +"In another five minutes," said Fitz, "it will be getting dusk." + +"And in another ten," whispered Poole hoarsely, "it will be dark. Oh, +dad, now I can see through your game." + +"So can I," whispered Fitz, though the words were not addressed to him. +"Why, Poole, he means to fight!" + +"Does he? For a penny he doesn't mean to let them come on board. Why, +look at Butters; he's lying down on the deck." + +"Yes," whispered Fitz; "to be in shelter if they fire while he's working +the spokes. Look, the sails are filling once again." + +"It's too soon," whispered Poole hoarsely. "They'll see from the +gunboat and fire, and if they do--" + +"They will miss us, my boy," said the skipper, who had approached +unseen. "Lie down, my lads--every one on deck." + +"And you too, father," whispered Poole. "They may hit you with a +bullet." + +"Obey orders," said the skipper sternly. "The captain must take his +chance." + +_Crack, crack, crack_, and _whizz, whizz, whizz_! + +The officer of the cutter saw through the manoeuvre at last, and fired +at the retreating schooner's skipper, while a minute later, as the +_Silver Teal_ was gliding rapidly into a bank of gloom that seemed to +come like so much solid blackness down the vale, there was a bright +flash as of lightning, a deep boom as of thunder, which shook the very +air, and a roar of echoes dying right away, while the great stars +overhead now stood out rapidly one by one in the purple velvet arch +overhead. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +BY THE SKIN OF THEIR TEETH. + +"When we have escaped," cried Fitz excitedly, a few minutes later, a +very brief time having sufficed to shut out the cutter and gunboat too. + +"Escaped!" said Poole, with a little laugh, as he clapped his companion +on the shoulder. "Well, _we_ have." + +"Yes, yes, of course," said Fitz; "I meant you. But what will be done +now? We are--you are regularly shut in this bay. The gunboat will keep +guard, and her boats will begin patrolling up and down so that you can't +get away. It only means waiting till morning." + +"Waiting till morning, eh?" + +"Of course. And then they'll sink you as sure as you are here." + +"Yes," said Poole, laughing merrily; "not a doubt about it." + +"Well," said Fitz, "I don't see anything to laugh at." + +"Don't you? Then I do. Why, you don't suppose for a moment that we +shall be here? The fellows in that fishing-boat brought father some +despatch orders for a _rendezvous_ somewhere else, I should say. Just +you wait a little, my boy, and you will see what the _Teal_ can do. She +can't dive, but she can dodge." + +"Dodge in a little bay like this--dodge a gunboat?" + +"Of course. Just wait till it's a little darker. I dare say father has +got his plans all ready made, just the same as he had when it seemed all +over just now. If he and old Burgess were too much for the Spanish dons +in broad daylight, you may depend upon it that they will give them the +go-by in the dark. Quiet! Here he is." + +"Yes, here I am, my boy," said the skipper quietly. "Look here, you +two. Hear--see--as much as you can:--and say nothing. Everything on +board now must be quiet, and not a light seen." + +"All right, father," replied Poole, "but I can't see anything of the +gunboat's lights." + +"No, and I don't suppose you will. They will take care not to show any. +Well, Mr Burnett, may I trust you not to betray us by shouting a +warning when the enemy are near? We are going to play a game of +hide-and-seek, you know. We shall do the hiding, and the Spaniards will +have to seek. Of course you know," he continued, "it would be very easy +for you to shout when we were stealing along through the darkness, and +bring the enemy's boats upon us just when they are not wanted." + +"Well, yes, sir, I was thinking so a little while ago," replied the +middy. + +"Well, that's frank," said the skipper; "and is that what I am to expect +from your sense of duty?" + +Fitz was silent. + +"Well, sir," he said at last, "I don't quite know. It's rather awkward +for me, seeing how I am placed." + +"Yes--very; but I don't believe you would think so if you knew what sort +of a character this usurping mongrel Spaniard is. There is more of the +treacherous Indian in his blood than of the noble Don. Perhaps under +the circumstances I had better make you a prisoner in your cabin with +the dead-light in, so that you can't make a signal to the enemy with +lamp or match." + +"It would be safer, sir," said Fitz. + +"But most unpleasant," continued the skipper. "But there, my lad, +situated as you are, I don't think you need strain a point. Give me +your parole that you will content yourself with looking on, and I won't +ask you to go below." + +"Oh, he will, father. I'll answer for that," cried Poole. + +"Answer for yourself, my boy. That's enough for you to do. Let Mr +Burnett give me his own assurance. It would be rather mean, wouldn't +it, Mr Burnett, if you did betray us?" + +"Yes, sir; horrible," cried Fitz quickly. "But if it were one of our +ships I should be obliged." + +"Of course," said the skipper; "but as it is you will hold your tongue?" + +"Yes, sir; I shall look on." + +"That's right. Now then," continued the skipper, "the game's going to +begin. There is sure to be some firing, so keep well down under the +shelter of the bulwarks. Of course they will never have a chance to +take aim, but there is no knowing what a random shot may do." + +"Want me to do anything, father?" said Poole eagerly. + +"No, my boy. There is nothing you can do. It will all lie with Mr +Burgess; Butters, who will be at the wheel; myself, and the men who trim +the sails." + +"You are going to sail right away then; eh, father?" + +"That all depends, my boy--just as the chances come." + +"But as the schooner draws so little water, sir," said Fitz eagerly, +"won't you sail close in under the shore?" + +"No, my lad. That's just what the enemy will expect, and have every +boat out on the _qui vive_. I don't mind telling you now what my plans +will be." + +He was silent for a few minutes, and they dimly made out that he was +holding up his left hand as a warning to them not to speak, while he +placed his right behind his ear and seemed to be listening, as if he +heard some sound. + +"Boat," he said, at last, in a whisper, "rowing yonder right across our +stern. But they didn't make us out. Oh, I was about to tell you what I +meant to do. Run right by the gunboat as closely as I can without +touching her, for it strikes me that will be the last thing that they +will expect." + +He moved away the next moment, leaving the boys together once again, to +talk in whispers about the exciting episode that was to come. + +"I say, Fitz," whispered Poole excitedly, "isn't this better than being +on board your sleepy old _Tonans_?" + +"You leave the sleepy old _Tonans_ alone," replied the middy. "She's +more lively than you think." + +"Could be, perhaps; but you never had a set-out like this." + +"No," said Fitz stiffly, "because the _Tonans_ never runs away." + +"That's one for me," said Poole, laughing. "There are times when you +must run, my lad, and this is one. Hullo, they're shaking out more +canvas. It's going to be yachting now like a race for a cup. It's +'bout ship too." + +"Yes, by the way one can feel the wind," replied Fitz; "but I don't +believe your people can see which way to steer." + +"Nor I neither," said Poole coolly. "Father is going to chance it, I +believe. He'll make straight for where he saw the gunboat last, as he +thinks, and take it for granted that we can't run on to her. Besides, +she is pretty well sure to be on the move." + +"Most likely," said Fitz; "but it's terribly risky work." + +The rippling of the water under the schooner's bows came very plainly +now, as the boys went right forward, where two men were on the look-out. +These they joined, to find that they had the sternest instructions, and +these were communicated by the men to the two lads. + +"Mustn't speak, gentlemen," they said. + +"Just one word," whispered Fitz. "What are you going to do if you make +out that you are running right on to the enemy?" + +"Whistle," said the man addressed, laconically. + +"What, for more wind?" asked Fitz. + +"No, sir," said the man, with a low chuckle; "for the man at the wheel. +One pipe means starboard; two pipes, port. See?" + +"No," said Poole, "but he can hear." + +As they were whispering, the louder rippling beneath the schooner's +cut-water plainly told of the rate at which they were gliding through +the dark sea. The stars were clear enough overhead, but all in front +seemed to be of a deep transparent black, whose hue tinged even the +staysail, jib, and flying-jib, bellying out above their heads and in +front. As far as the lads could make out they had been running in +towards the city, taken a good sweep round, and then been headed out for +the open sea, with the schooner careening over and rushing through the +water like a racing yacht. + +There are some things in life which seem to be extended over a +considerable space of time, apparently hours, but which afterwards +during calmer thought prove to have taken up only minutes, and this was +one. + +Poole had just pointed out in a low whisper that by the stars they were +sailing due east, and the man nearest to them, a particularly +sharp-eared individual, endorsed his words by whispering laconically-- + +"Straight for the open sea." + +The water was gliding beneath them, divided by the sharp keel, with a +hissing rush; otherwise all was still; for all they could make out the +gunboat and her satellites, sent out to patrol, might have been miles +away. There was darkness before them and on either hand, while in front +apparently lay the open ocean, and the exhilaration caused by their +rapid motion produced a buoyant feeling suggesting to the lads that the +danger was passed and that they were free. + +Then in another moment it seemed to Fitz Burnett as if some giant hand +had caught him by the throat and stopped his breath. + +The sensation was appalling, and consequent upon the suddenly-impressed +knowledge that, in spite of the fact that there was about a mile and a +half of space of which an infinitesimally small portion was occupied by +danger, they were gliding through the black darkness dead on to that +little space, for suddenly in front there arose the dull panting, +throbbing sound of machinery, the churning up of water to their left, +and the hissing ripple caused by a cut-water to their right. + +It was horrible. + +They were going dead on to the gunboat, which was steaming slowly across +their bows, and it seemed to the breathless, expectant group that the +next moment they would be cutting into her side, or more likely +crumpling up and shivering to pieces upon her protecting armour. But +there is something in having a crew of old man-of-war's men, disciplined +and trained to obey orders in emergencies, and thinking of nothing else. +The skipper had given his commands to his two look-out men, and in the +imminence of the danger they were obeyed, for as Fitz Burnett gripped +his companion's arm, involuntarily drawing him sideways in the direction +of the bulwark, to make a leap for life, a sharp clear pipe, like the +cry of some sea-bird, rang out twice, while the panting and quivering of +the machinery and the churning rush of the gunboat's crew seemed right +upon them. + +Suddenly there was a loud shout, followed by a yell, the report of a +revolver, succeeded by the deep booming roar of a fog-syren which had +been set going by the funnel, and then as Fitz Burnett felt that the +crash was upon them, the roar of the fog-horn was behind, for the _Teal_ +had as nearly as possible scraped past the gunboat's stern, and was +flying onward towards the open sea. + +For a few moments no one spoke, and then it was one of the look-out men. + +"About as near as a toucher, that, messmate." + +"Ay, and I seemed to have no wind when I wanted to blow. Once is quite +enough for a job like that." + +"Is it true, Poole?" whispered Fitz, and his voice sounded hoarse and +strange. + +"I don't quite know yet," was the reply as the lad walked aft. "It +seemed so impossible and queer--but it is, and, my word, how close!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +IN THE DARK. + +"Silence there!" came in a stern, deep voice. "Sound travels in a night +like this." + +It was the speaker's ultra caution spoken in a moment of intense +excitement in which he hardly realised how far they had left the gunboat +behind. But his orders were obeyed, utter stillness ruling on board the +schooner till they had visual proof that there was no necessity for such +care. + +"What's that? Look!" whispered Fitz, as there was a faint lambent glare +far astern, one which gradually increased, and Poole whispered back-- + +"They are burning a blue light." + +"Yes," said the skipper, who was still close at hand. "Know what that +means, my boy?" + +"Well, I suppose it's to try if they can see us, father." + +"Not it," said the skipper sharply. "You know, Mr Burnett?" + +"I should say it's a signal, sir, to recall their boats." + +"Right, my lad; that's it; and that will take some little time, for I +dare say they are spread all over the bay. She's not likely to have a +consort; eh, Burgess?" + +"I should think not," was the reply. "No, I don't think we need trouble +ourselves about that." + +"Right, then. Get well out into the offing, and then sail for +south-east by south." + +The mate grunted, gave an order or two, with the result that a +gaff-topsail was run up, and the schooner heeled over more and more, +while now the dim light that had been thrown down on the binnacle was +increased a little, and the skipper took his place beside the steersman. + +"That means that he is not afraid of our being seen," said Poole +quietly. "I say, what an escape we had! Don't you call this exciting?" + +"Yes," said Fitz; "rather more so than I like. Let's go right forward +again to where the look-out men are." + +"To help them keep a sharp look-out for rocks? There are none out here, +or we shouldn't be going at this rate." + +"Think that they will come after us?" + +"Sure to," said Poole. "Full steam ahead." + +"Then they'll see us again at daylight." + +"Think so? Why, we have got all the night before us, and the gunboat's +captain isn't likely to follow in our wake." + +"I suppose not. It would be a great chance if he did. How beautiful +the water is to-night!" + +"Yes! One had no chance to admire it before. 'Tis fine. Just as if +two rockets were going off from our bows, so that we seem to be leaving +a trail of sparks behind." + +"Yes, where the water's disturbed," said Fitz. "It's just as if the sea +was covered with golden oil ready to flash out into light as soon as it +was touched." + +"Why, you seem quite cheery," said Poole. + +"Of course. Isn't it natural after such a narrow escape?" + +"Yes, for me," replied Poole banteringly; "but I should have thought +that you would have been in horribly low spirits because you were not +captured and taken on board the gunboat." + +"No, you wouldn't," said Fitz shortly. "I know better than that. I +say, you will stop on deck all night, won't you?" + +"Of course. Shan't you?" + +"Oh yes. I couldn't go to sleep after this. Besides, who can tell +what's to come?" + +"To be sure," said Poole quietly. "Who can tell what's to come? In +spite of what old Burgess says, the gunboat may have a consort, and +perhaps we are running out of one danger straight into another." + +Perhaps due to the reaction after the excitement, the lads ceased to +chat together, and leaned over the bows, alternately watching the +phosphorescent sea and the horizon above which the stars appeared dim +and few. + +Fitz looked more thoughtful as the time went on, his own words seeming +to repeat themselves in the question--Who knows what might happen? + +Once they turned aft, to look right astern at where they caught sight +once or twice of the gunboat's light. Then it faded out and they went +forward again, the schooner gliding swiftly on, till at last the mate's +harsh, deep voice was heard giving his orders for an alteration of their +course. + +It was very dark inboard, and it was not until afterwards that the two +lads knew exactly what had taken place. It was all in a moment, and how +it happened even the sufferer hardly knew, but it was all due to a man +having stepped in the darkness where he had no business to be; for just +after the giving of the order, and while the spokes were swinging +through the steersman's hands, one of the booms swung round, there was a +dull thud, a half-uttered shout, and then a yell from one of the +foremost men. + +"Man overboard!" was roared, and as the skipper ran forward, after +shouting to the steersman to throw the schooner up into the wind, +another man answered his eager question with-- + +"It's Bob Jackson, sir. I saw him go." + +The captain's excited voice rang out mingled with the shrill whistle of +the boatswain's pipe, and then to be half-drowned by his hoarse roar as +the men's feet pattered over the deck, now rapidly growing level as the +pressure was taken off the sails. + +"Now then, half-a-dozen of you!" came hoarsely. "Don't stand staring +there! Are you going to be all night lowering down that boat? Sharp's +the word! I am going to show you the way." + +As he spoke, Fitz had a dim vision of the big bluff fellow's action, as, +pulling out his knife, he opened it with his teeth. + +"Sharks below there!" he roared. "'Ware my knife!" and running right +astern he sprang on to the rail, looked round for a moment, fixed his +eyes upon a luminous splash of light that had just taken Fitz's +attention, and then sprang overboard into the black water, which +splashed up like a fountain of fire, and the bluff sailor's figure, +looking as if clad in garments of lambent gold, could be seen gliding +diagonally down, forming a curve as it gradually rose to the surface, +which began to emit little plashes of luminosity as the man commenced to +swim. + +"Well done! Bravo!" panted Fitz, and then he rushed to the spot where +the men were lowering down, sprang on to the bulwark, caught at the +falls, and slipped down into the boat just as it kissed the water. + +"You here!" cried a familiar voice. + +"Yes," panted Fitz, "and you too!" + +"Why, of course! Pull away, my lads. I'll stand up and tell you which +way to go." + +The falls were already unhooked and the oars over the side, the men +pulling with all their might in the direction where the regular splashes +made by the motion of the boatswain's arm could be seen as he scooped +away at the water with a powerful side stroke. + +"Pull, lads--pull!" roared the skipper's son, while in his excitement +Fitz scrambled over the oars to get right in the bows, where he strained +his eyes to try and make out the man who had gone over first, and a +terrible catching of the breath assailed him as he realised the distance +he had been left behind by the swiftly-gliding schooner. + +Even the boatswain was far away, swimming hard and giving out a heavy +puff like some grampus just rising to breathe. + +"This way, boys!" he shouted. "Come along! Cheer up, my hearty! I am +coming fast." + +He ceased speaking now, as the boat followed in his track, and Fitz as +he knelt in the bows reached behind him to begin fumbling for the +boat-hook, finding it and thrusting it out like a little bowsprit, ready +to make a snatch when the time should come. But his effort seemed as if +it would be vain, for after what seemed in the excitement to be a +terribly long row, the boat was brought abreast of the swimming +boatswain. + +"Can't you see him, Butters?" shouted Poole, who had now joined Fitz. + +"No, my lad," came in a hoarse gasping tone. "Can't you?" + +"No. I saw the water splash not a minute ago. It was just beyond where +you were swimming." + +"No; more to the left," cried Fitz. "Ah, there! There! There!" and he +pointed out in the direction he had described. + +"Yes, that's it," roared the boatswain, who seemed suddenly to have +recovered his breath, and throwing himself away from the boat, whose +side he had grasped, he splashed through the water for a few yards +towards where a ring of gold seemed to have been formed, and as the boat +followed, and nearly touched his back, he seemed to be wallowing in an +agitated pool of pale greenish fire, which went down and down for quite +a couple of fathoms, the boat passing right above it with the men +backing water at a shout from Poole, so that they passed the +disappearing swimmer again. + +"Now," shouted Fitz, as the golden light began to rise, and thrusting +down the boat-hook he felt it catch against the swimmer's side. + +The next moment the boatswain was up with a rush, to throw one arm over +the bows. + +"Got him!" he gasped. + +There was a quick scramble, the water almost lapped over the side as the +starboard-bow went down, and then, partly with the hauling of the boys, +partly by the big sturdy boatswain's own efforts, the unfortunate Bob +Jackson was dragged aboard, the boatswain rolling in after him with his +messmates' help, and subsiding between two of the thwarts with a hoarse, +half-strangled groan. + +"Hooroar!" came from the men, the boys' voices dominating the shout with +a better pronunciation of the word. + +"Hooroar it is!" gasped the boatswain. "Bravo, Butters! Well done! +Well done!" cried Poole. + +"Well done? I am done, you mean. I thought I'd let him go. Keep back, +some on you--give a fellow room to breathe. That's better," came with +more freedom. "Now then, give your orders, Mr Poole," panted the man; +"I've lost my wind. Get him on his back and pump his into him. That's +your sort!" he continued, as in obedience to the young skipper's +commands two men began to row while the others set to work upon the +first aid necessary in the case of a half-drowned man. + +"Ah!" sighed the boatswain, now sitting up in the bottom of the boat and +shuffling himself aft a little so as to give more room. "I am as weak +as a babby. Well done! Pump away, my lads. That's your sort! Pore +chap, he's all water and no wind now! I dunno what he'd been about. +Had he been soaping his feet?--Think he's coming round, Mr Poole?" + +"I hope so," was the reply. "I am afraid, poor fellow, he must have +been half-stunned. Come and look, Butters; I want you to feel his +chest." The boatswain came and leaned over. "Keep it up, my lads. It +will be all right soon. Oh yes, his own pump's going on inside. His +kit won't be for sale. But I don't believe he'd have taken his trick at +the wheel again if I hadn't gone down and fetched him up." + +"No; you saved his life, Mr Butters," cried Fitz excitedly. "I never +saw anything so brave before. Would you mind--" + +"Eh!--What, sir?--Shake hands?--Certainly, sir, hearty, and same to +you!" + +"Oh!" ejaculated Fitz involuntarily. "I am very sorry, sir. Did I +squeege too hard?" + +"Why, it was a scrunch," said the boy petulantly. "But it's all right +now. Your fingers, though, are as hard as wood." + +"Well, they arn't soft, sir. But hallo! I never shut up my knife." He +closed the keen blade with a sharp snap. "There! Now you see the vally +of a lanyard," he continued, as he thrust the great clasp-knife into the +waist-band of his trousers.--"Keep it up, my lads. I'll take a turn as +soon as I've got my own wind again. Ah, there's nothing like a lanyard. +If it hadn't been for that my snickersee would have gone zigger-zagging +down through the dark black water disturbing the little jellyfish and +lighting the way for a snip, snap, swallow, all's fish that comes to +their net style, to go inside some shark. But I've got it safe. It's a +fine bit of Sheffield stuff, and I'll be bound to say it would have +disagreed with him as had swallowed it. Here, somebody--who's got a +match? Mine'll be all wet. Strike a light, will you; I want to see if +he's beginning to wink yet." + +A match was struck, and as it burned steadily in the still air a faint +light was shown from the schooner far, far away. + +"See there, my lads? He's winking his eyes like fun; but go on pumping +slow and steady to keep him breathing--mustn't let him slip through your +fingers now. Pull away there, my lads; put your backs into it. My +word, there's a stiff current running here!" + +"Yes," said Poole; "we are much farther away than I thought." + +"But what an escape!" cried Fitz. + +"Eh? What do you mean?" + +"Look yonder; that streak of light gliding along and making the water +flash. You can just make out now and then something dark cutting +through it." + +"Ah, that's plain enough," said the boatswain; "a jack shark's back fin, +and a big un too." + +"Lucky for you both," said Poole, "that you are safe on board." + +"Lucky for him, you mean," said the boatswain. "That knife of mine's as +sharp as hands can make it. If I had let him have it he'd have shown +white at daylight, floating wrong side up." + +"If you had hit him," said Fitz. + +"If I'd hit him, sir! A man couldn't miss a thing like that. But of +course there wouldn't have been time to pick my spot." + +"Oh!" ejaculated Fitz, in a long-drawn sigh. "Seems to turn me quite +over! That's about the most horrible cry I know--Man overboard! It's +bad enough in the daylight, but on a night like this--" + +"Ah, it would make you feel a bit unked, my lad," said the boatswain, +"if you had time to think; but it was a fine night for the job. I have +been out in a boat after one of these silly chaps as didn't mind where +he was going, when you couldn't make out his bearings at all. To-night +the sea brimed so that you could tell where he was at every move. +Splendid night for the job!" + +"And it was a very brave act, Butters," said Poole warmly. + +"What was, sir?" + +"Why, to jump overboard on a dark night, not knowing whether you would +ever reach the schooner again." + +"Tchah! Nonsense, sir! You shouldn't talk stuff like that to a wet +man! It was all charnsh, of course; but a sailor's life is all charnsh +from the moment he steps aboard. We are charnshing now whether they'll +pick us up again, for they can't see us, and we don't seem to be making +no headway at all in this current. Here, you, Sam Boulter, get right in +the stem and stand by there with that there box of matches. Keep on +lighting one and holding it up to let it shine out. Be careful and +don't burn your ringers." + +A low chuckle rose from the oarsmen, followed the next moment by a deep +groan and a low muttering from the reviving man. + +"Hah!" said the boatswain. "He's coming round now, and no mistake." + +Just then there was a sharp scratch, a pale light of the splint of wood +stood out in the darkness, and mingled with a spluttering husky cough +came the voice of the half-drowned foremast-man. + +"Here, easy there! What are you doing? Hah! Boat! Boat! Help!" + +This was consequent on the gleaming match shining out before the poor +fellow's eyes. + +"Steady there!" roared out the boatswain. "What are you singing out +like that for? Can't you see you are safe aboard?" + +"Eh? Eh? Oh, thank goodness! I thought it was the schooner's lights. +That you, Mr Butters?" + +"Me it is, my lad! All right now, aren't you?" + +"Yes, yes; all right. But I thought it was all over with me that time." + +"So it ought to have been! Why, what were you about? Did you walk +overboard in your sleep?" + +"I--no--I--I dunno how it was. I suppose I slipped." + +"Not much suppose about it," said the boatswain, as the man sat up. +"Here, I'll give you a dose that'll do you good. Take one of them oars +and pull." + +"Oh no!" cried Poole. "The poor fellow's weak." + +"'Course he is, sir, and that'll warm him up and put life into him. Tit +for tat. We've saved him from what the old folks at home calls a watery +grave, and now it's his turn to do a bit of something to save us." + +"To save us, Mr Butters?" whispered Fitz, laying his hand on the +boatswain's arm. "Why, you don't think--" + +"Yes, I do, sir. I'm thinking all the time, as hard as a man can. +Here, you'd better not handle me; I'm as wet as wet." + +"But we shall soon get alongside the schooner, shan't we?" + +"Well, it don't seem like it, sir. Wish we could! I should just like a +good old jorum of something warm, if it was only a basin of old Andy's +broth as he makes so slimy with them little round wet barley knobs. I'm +all of a shiver. Here, you number one, get up and I'll take your oar. +I don't like catching cold when I'm at sea." + +"But surely they'll tack round, or something, so as to pick us up." + +"Here, hi! You look alive there with another of those matches. You +don't half keep them going, so that they can see where we are." + +"Aren't any more," said the man in the stem. "I held that one till it +did burn my fingers, and it was the last." + +"Humph!" grunted the boatswain. "Well, they can't see us, of course, +and the sea's a bit big and wide out here; let's try if we can't make +them hear." + +He had scarcely spoken when there was a soft bellowing roar; but the +sound took form and they made out--"Ahoy-y-y-y! Where away there?" +breathed, it almost seemed, so distant and strange was the hail, through +a speaking-trumpet. + +"Cease pulling!" shouted the boatswain. "Now then, all together. Take +your time from me. One, two, three--Ahoy-y-y-y!" + +Every lusty throat on board the boat sent forth the cry at once, and a +strange chill ran through Fitz's breast as he noted not only how feeble +the cry sounded in the immensity of space, but how it seemed thrown back +upon them from something it could not penetrate--something soft and +impervious which shut them in all round. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +BOATING. + +"Well, Mr Poole, sir, we seem to have got ourselves into a pretty jolly +sort of mess. I feel quite damp. You are skipper, sir; what's to be +done?" + +"Shout again," cried Poole; "all together,"--and another lusty yell was +given. + +"There, 'tarn't no use, sir," said the boatswain, "if so be as I may +speak." + +"Speak? Of course! I am only too glad of your advice. What were you +going to say?" + +"Only this 'ere, sir--that it aren't no use to shout. I am wet and +cold, and hollering like this is giving me a sore throat, and the rest +of the lads too. There's Dick Boulter is as husky as my old uncle Tom's +Cochin fowl. Here, I want to know why the skipper don't show a blue +light." + +"He dare not," said Poole hastily. "It would be showing the gunboat +where the schooner is." + +There was a sharp slap heard in the darkness, caused by the boatswain +bringing his hand smartly down upon his sturdy thigh. + +"Right you are, my lad. I never thought of that. I oughter, but it +didn't come. 'Cause I was so wet, I suppose. Well, sir, what do you +think?" + +"Try, every one of you," said Poole, "whether you can make out a light. +The _Teal_ oughtn't to be very far away." + +"Nay, sir, she oughtn't to be, but she is. Off shore here in these seas +you get currents running you don't know where. We don't know, but I +expect we are in one of them, and it's carrying us along nobody knows +how fast; and like as not another current's carrying on the same game +with the _Teal_." + +"Well, we must row, and row hard," said Poole. + +"But that may be making worse of it," put in Fitz, who had been +listening and longing to speak. + +"Well done," said the boatswain. "Spoke like a young man-o'-war +officer! He's right, Mr Poole, sir. I am longing to take an oar so as +to get warm and dry; but it's no use to try and make what's as bad as +ever it can be, ever so much worse." + +"That would puzzle you, Mr Butters," said Fitz, laughing. + +"Oh, I don't know, sir," said the boatswain seriously, and perfectly +unconscious of the bull he had made. "We might, you know. What's to be +done, Mr Poole?" + +"I can only see one thing to be done," said the skipper's son, "and that +seems so horrible and wanting in spirit." + +"What's that?" said Fitz sharply. + +"Wait for daylight." + +"Oh!" cried Fitz impatiently. "Impossible! We can't do that." + +"Well, I don't know, Mr Burnett, sir," growled the boatswain, gazing +round. "Seems to me as if we must. Look here, you Bob Jackson," he +almost roared now, as he turned sharply on the shivering foremast-man +who had just been brought back to life, "what have you got to say for +yourself for getting us all into such a mess as this? I always thought +you were a bit of a swab, and now I knows it." + +"Don't bully the poor fellow," cried Poole hotly. "It was an accident." + +"Of course it was, sir," cried the boatswain, in an ill-used tone, as he +drew off his jacket and began to wring it as tightly as he could; "and +accidents, as I have heared say, will happen in the best-manned vessels. +One expects them, and has to put up with them when they comes; but +people ought to have accidents at proper times and places, not just when +we've escaped running ourselves down, and the Spanish gunboat's arter +us. Now then, Bob, don't sit there hutched up like a wet monkey. Speak +out like a man." + +"I haven't got nothing to say, Mr Butters, sir, only as I am very +sorry, and much obliged to you for saving my life." + +"Much obliged! Sorry! Wuss and wuss! Yah! Look at that now! Wuss +and wuss. It never rains but it pours." + +"What's the matter?" cried Fitz, for the boatswain had made a sudden +dash with one hand as if striving to catch something that had eluded his +grasp. + +"Matter, sir? Why, I squeeged my brass 'bacca-box out of my +jacket-pocket. It was chock-full, and it would go down like lead. +Here, I give up now. Give your orders, Mr Poole, and I'll row or do +anything else, for I'm quite out of heart." + +"Never mind your tobacco-box," said Fitz. "I'll give you a good new one +the first time I get the chance." + +"Thankye kindly, sir," replied the man, "but what's the good of that? +It aren't the box I mind. It's the 'bacca. Can you give me a mossel +now?" + +"I am sorry to say I can't," said Fitz. + +"I've got plenty of that, Mr Butters, sir," said his wet companion, +dragging out a box with some difficulty, for his wet hand would hardly +go into his tight breeches-pocket, and when he had forced it in, +declined to come out. + +"You've got plenty, Bob, my lad?" cried the boatswain. "Then you are a +better man than I thought. There, I'll forgive you for going overboard. +It were an accident, I suppose.--Hah! That's better," he continued, +opening his knife and helping himself to a quid, which completely +altered the tone of his voice. "There you are, my lad; put that there +box back, and take care on it, for who knows but what that may be all +our water and biscuit and other stores as will have to last us till we +get picked up again? Now, Mr Poole, sir, what's it to be? I am at +your sarvice if you will give the word." + +"I think we had better keep pulling gently, Butters, and go by the stars +westward towards the land. It will be far better, and the feeling that +we are doing something will keep us all from losing heart." + +"Right, my lad. Your father the skipper couldn't have spoken wiser +words than them. Here, you Bob Jackson, get out of that jacket and +shirt, and two of you lads hold the things over the side and one twist +one way and t'other t'other, like the old women does with the sheets on +washing-day. I am going to do just the same with mine. And then we two +will do what bit of rowing's wanted till we gets quite dry. Say, Mr +Fitz, sir, you couldn't get better advice than that, if you had been +half-drowned, if you went to the best physic doctor in Liverpool." + +Shortly after, steering by the stars, the boat was headed pretty well +due west, and a couple of oars were kept dipping with a monotonous +splash, raising up the golden water, which dripped in lambent globules +from the blades. All above was one grand dome of light, but below and +around it was as if a thick stratum of intense blackness floated on the +surface of the sea. + +So strangely dark this seemed that it impressed the boat's crew with a +sense of dread that they could not master. It was a condensation of +dread and despair, that knowledge of being alone in a frail craft at the +mercy of the sea, without water or supplies of any kind, and off a coast +which the currents might never let them reach, while at any hour a +tempestuous wind might spring up and lash the sea into waves, in which +it would be impossible for the boat to live. + +"Don't sit silent like that, Burnett," whispered Poole. "Say something, +there's a good fellow." + +"Say? What can I say?" was whispered back. "Anything. Sing a song, or +tell a story. I want to keep the lads in good heart. If we show the +white feather they'll show it too." + +"That's right enough," said Fitz gloomily; "but I don't feel as if I +could do anything but think. I couldn't sing a song or tell a story to +save my life." + +"But you must. It _is_ to save your life." + +"I tell you I can't," cried Fitz angrily. + +"Then whistle." + +The middy could not even whistle, but the suggestion and the manner in +which it was said did have a good effect, for it made him laugh. + +"Ah! That's better," cried Poole. "I say, Butters, do you think if we +had a fishing-line overboard we should catch anything?" + +"Like enough, lad, if we had a good bait on. Fish is generally on the +feed in the night, and there's no end of no-one-knows-whats off these +'Merican coasts. Might get hold of something big as would tow us right +ashore." + +"Yes, or right out to sea," said Fitz. + +"Ay, my lad; but we should have to chance that." + +"But there's not likely to be a line in the locker," said Poole. + +"And if there was," said Fitz, "you have no bait." + +"'Cept 'bacca," said the boatswain, "and they wouldn't take that. And +even if they would, we couldn't afford to waste it on fish as most +likely wouldn't be good to eat. You catches fishes off these coasts as +is painted up like parrots--red, and green, and yaller, and blue; but +they are about as bad as pison.--Getting warmer, Bob?" + +"Bit," said the man addressed. + +"So'm I.--Tell the lads to keep their ears open, Mr Poole, for +breakers. There may be shoal water anywhere, and we don't want to run +into them." + +"You think it's likely, then," said Fitz, "that we may reach the shore?" + +"Oh yes, sir; we might, you know; and if we did I dare say you young +gents would find it an uninhabited island where you could play at +Robinson Crusoe till a ship come and took us off. What do you say to +that?" + +"Nothing," said Fitz. "I want the daylight to come, and a sight of the +_Silver Teal_." + +"Same here, sir. My word, I'm beginning to feel like wishing we had got +the Camel here, though he would be no good without the galley and his +tools. Not a bad chap to have, though, Mr Poole, if we was to land in +a sort of Robinson Crusoe island. There's worse messmates at a time +like that than a chap as can knock up decent wittles out of nothing; +make a good pot of soup out of a flannel-shirt and an old shoe, and +roast meat out of them knobs and things like cork-blocks as you find +growing on trees. Some of them cookie chaps too, like the Camel, are +precious keen about the nose, long-headed and knowing. Old Andy is an +out-and-out clever chap at picking out things as is good to eat. I had +a ramble with him once up country in Trinidad. He was a regular wunner +at finding out different kinds of plants. `Look 'ere,' he says, `if you +pull this up it's got a root something like a parsnep whose grandfather +had been a beet.' And then he showed me some more things creeping up +the trees like them flowers at home in the gardens, wonvuluses, as they +call them, only he called them yams, and he poked one out with his +stick, and yam it was--a great, big, black, thick, rooty thing, like a +big tater as had been stretched. Andy said as no fellow as had brains +in his head ought to starve out in a foreign land; and that's useful to +know, Mr Poole and Mr Burnett, sir. Come in handy if we have to do +the Robinson Crusoe for a spell.--Keep it up, young gents," he +whispered; "the lads like to hear us talk.--`That's all very fine, +Andy,' I says," he continued, aloud, "`but what about water? Whether +you are aboard your ship or whether you are in a strange land, you must +have plenty of water in your casks!' `Find a river,' he says. `But +suppose you can't,' says I. `Open your snickersee,' says he, `and dig a +hole right down till you come to it. And if there aren't none, then use +your eyes.' `Why, you can't drink your eyes,' I says, `and I'd rather +have sea-water any day than tears.' `Use them,' he says; `I didn't say +drink 'em. Look about. Why, in these 'ere foreign countries there's +prickly plants with long spikes to them to keep the wild beasts from +meddling with them, so as they shall be ready for human beings; and then +all you have got to do is to rub or singe the spikes off and they're +chock-full of water--juice, if you like to call it so--only it's got no +taste. Then there's plahnts with a spunful of water in their jyntes +where the leaves come out, and orkard plahnts like young pitchers or +sorter shucks with lids to keep the birds off, and a lot of water in the +bottom of them, besides fruits and pumpkin things. Oh, a fellow can rub +along right enough if he likes to try. I could manage; I know that.' +And I believe he could, gentlemen, and that's what makes me say as the +Camel would be just the right sort of fellow to have with us now, him +and old Chips, so long as old Chips had got his basket of traps; not as +he would stand still if he hadn't, for he's just the fellow, if he has +no tools, as would set to and make some." + +And the night gradually wore on, with the men taking their turns at +rowing. The boatswain and Bob Jackson both declared themselves to be as +dry as a bone, and what with talking and setting despair at defiance, +they went on and on through the great silence and darkness that hovered +together over the mighty deep, till all at once the boatswain startled +Fitz by turning quite suddenly and saying to him-- + +"There aren't no farmyard and a stable handy, sir, to give us what we +want. Could you make shift to do it?" + +"To do what?" said Fitz wonderingly. "Crow like a cock, sir. It's just +the right time now." + +"You don't mean to say it's morning, Butters?" + +"No, sir; it's Natur' as is a-doing that. You've got your back to it. +Turn round and look behind you. That's the east." + +Both lads wrenched themselves round upon the thwart where they sat, to +gaze back over the sea and catch the first glimpse of the faint dawn +with its promises of hope and life, and the end of the terrible night +through which they had passed. + +And after the manner of the tropics, the broad daylight was not long in +coming, followed by the first glint of the sun, which, as it sent a long +line of ruddy gold over the surface of the sea, lit up one little speck +of light miles upon miles to the north of where they lay. + +Fitz Burnett was the first to make it out, but before he could speak the +boatswain had seen it too, and broke out with-- + +"Three cheers, my lads. Put all you know into it, hearty. There lies +the _Teal_. Can you see the skipper, Mr Poole, sir?" + +"See my father?" cried the lad. "No! What do you mean?" + +"Ah, you want practice, sir. You ought to see him with your young eyes. +He's there on deck somewhere with that double-barrelled spyglass of +his, on the look-out for this 'ere boat." + +"Perhaps so," said Poole quietly, "and I suppose that's one of the +_Teal's_ sails; but it's only half as big as a pocket-handkerchief +folded into twenty-four." + +Two hours later they were on board, for it had not been long before the +double-barrelled spyglass had picked them out. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +ON THE WRONG SIDE. + +An anxious look-out had been kept up all through those early hours on +board both schooner and boat, for during the long delay caused by the +accident, it seemed highly probable that as the gunboat did not come in +sight she must have passed them in the darkness, gone on, and hence +might at any moment come into view. + +A man was sent up to the cross-trees, and a sharp look-out was kept up +as well from the deck for the missing crew who were got safely on board, +and the schooner sailed away towards the south and west, and still with +no danger in sight. + +"You've given me a bad night, young fellows," said the skipper, as he +stood looking on at the lads enjoying their morning meal, one over which +the Camel seemed to have taken extra pains, showing his large front +teeth with a smile of satisfaction as he brought it in relays of +newly-made hot cakes, before retiring to slip fresh slices of bacon in +the pan. + +"Yes, father," said Poole; "but see what a night we had!" + +"Ah, but yours was merely physical, my boy; mine was mental." + +"I thought ours was both; eh, Burnett?" said Poole, laughing. + +"Oh, yes, it was," cried the middy. "You don't know what a night we +had, Captain Reed." + +"Well, I suppose you did not have a very pleasant time, my lads.--Oh, +here's Mr Burgess. Well, they don't seem much the worse for it, do +they? Nothing in sight?" + +"No, nothing. I don't think she could have followed us out. Have you +any more to say to me about the course?" + +"No," said the skipper. "I think we pretty well understand about the +bearings as given in the letter. The Don put it all down pretty +clearly, and in very decent English too." + +Fitz looked up sharply, for the mention of the letter brought to mind +the light fishing-boat with the bird-wing-like lateen sail and the +rapidity with which the bearer of the despatch delivered it to the +skipper and went overboard again. + +Captain Reed noticed the boy's inquiring look, and said quietly-- + +"Perhaps we had better say no more about that with an enemy present." + +Fitz was in the act of helping himself to some more of the hot bread, +but at the skipper's words he flushed warmly, put down the cake without +taking out of it a semi-circular bite, and rose from his seat. + +"I don't wish to play the spy, sir," he said haughtily. "I will go on +deck till you have finished your business." + +"Sit down!" cried the skipper. "Sit down! What a young pepper-castor +you are! Mayn't a man think what he likes in his own cabin?" + +"Certainly, sir; but of course I cannot help feeling that I am an +intruder." + +"That's just what I feel, my boy, for coming in and disturbing you at +your meal. Sit down, I say. If anybody is going to leave the room, I +am that person; but I am not going to leave my cabin, so I tell you." + +The skipper gave his son a peculiar look, his eyes twinkling the while. + +"Think we can trust Mr Burnett here?" he said. + +Fitz gave a start. + +"Oh yes, father. He won't go and tell tales. He won't have a chance. +What was in that letter?" + +"Just a few lines, my boy, to say that everything was going very wrong +at present, and begging me whatever I did to keep the schooner's cargo +out of Villarayo's hands, and to join Ramon as soon as I possibly can." + +"But where, father? Both the towns are in the enemy's hands." + +"At his hacienda at the mouth of the Oltec River." + +"Hacienda?" said Poole. "That means a sort of farm, doesn't it, +father?" + +"Yes, my boy, and of course that's just the sort of place to deliver a +cargo of such agricultural implements as we have brought on board. What +do you say, Mr Burnett?" + +"Agricultural implements, sir? Why, Captain Glossop had notice that you +had taken in guns and ammunition." + +"Oh yes; people do gossip so," said the skipper dryly. "I didn't +examine them much myself, but I know there were things with wheels." + +"But there was a lot of powder, sir--kegs of it, I heard." + +"Chemical manure perhaps, my lad; potash and charcoal and sulphur +perhaps to kill the blight. Must be innocent stuff, or else my old +friend Don Ramon would not want it at his farm." + +"I don't understand," said the middy. + +"Well, it doesn't matter," cried Poole, laughing. "Go on, father." + +"That's what we are doing, my boy. But you go on with your breakfast, +Mr Burnett, and make a good one while you have a chance. We may be +getting news any minute that the gunboat is in sight; and if it is, +there's no knowing when we shall get a square meal again." + +"But whereabouts is this Oltec River, father?" + +"Well, as near as I can tell you, my boy, it's on the coast about thirty +miles by sea from Velova, though only about half the distance through +one of the mountain-passes by land. We ought to have been there now, +and I dare say we should have been if Mr Burgess had not run us on to a +rock. But that fellow going overboard quite upset my plans. It was a +great nuisance, and I seemed to be obliged to heave-to, and wait to see +if you people would come back on board." + +"Yes, father, I suppose so," said Poole coolly. + +"Done eating, you two?" + +The lads both rose, and the whole party went on deck to scan their +position, the lads finding the schooner gliding along southward before a +pleasant breeze, while miles away on the starboard-bow a dim line marked +the coast, which seemed rugged and broken up into mountain and vale; but +there was no sign of gunboat nor a sail of any kind, and Poole breathed +more freely. + +"One's so helpless," he said to his companion, "on a coast like this, +where one time you have a nice sailing wind, and the next hour it has +dropped into a calm, so that a steamer has you quite at its mercy." + +"Yes," said Fitz dryly; "but I don't see that it matters when you have +nothing on board but agricultural implements and chemical manures. What +business is it of the gunboat?" + +"Ah, what indeed?" cried Poole, laughing. "It's a piece of impudence, +isn't it, to want to interfere! But I say, Burnett, what father says +sounds well, doesn't it--a hacienda at the mouth of a river, and a +mountain-pass? That means going ashore and seeing something, if we are +in luck. I do know that the country's glorious here, from the peep or +two I once had. My word! People think because you go sailing about the +world you must see all kinds of wonders, when all the time you get a +peep or two of some dirty port without going ashore, and all your +travels are up and down the deck of your ship--and nothing else but +sea." + +"I wish I could get landed at some big port," said Fitz bitterly. "I +wouldn't call it dirty." + +"My word, what a fellow you are!" said Poole. "Grumbling again!" + +"Grumbling!" cried Fitz hotly. "Isn't it enough to make any one +grumble, dragged off my ship a prisoner like this?" + +"No," cried Poole. "Why, some chaps would call it grand. Now you've +got about well again it's all a big lark for you. Every one's trying to +make you comfortable. Look at the adventures you are going through! +Look at last night! Why, it was all fine, now that we have got through +it as we did. You can't say you didn't like that." + +"Well, no," said Fitz; "it was exciting." + +"So it is now. The gunboat's safe to be after us, and here we are, +going to take refuge up a river in perhaps no end of a wild country at +the Don's hacienda. Who knows what adventures we are going to have +next!" + +"Not likely to be many adventures at a muddy farm." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because I pretty well know what a farm is." + +"Not a Central American one, my fine fellow. I dare say you will have +to open your eyes wider than you think." + +"Perhaps so," said Fitz, who was growing more good-humoured over his +companion's frank, genial ways; "but I feel more disposed to shut my +eyes up now, and to have a good sleep." + +"Oh, don't do that! There will be plenty of time when it gets dark, and +before then I hope we shall be off the river. We are slipping along +pretty quickly now, and old Burgess is creeping closer in. That's his +artfulness; it means looking out for creeks and islands, places where we +could hide if the gunboat came into sight, or sneaking into shallows +where she couldn't follow. The old man knows what he is about, and so +does father too. Here, let's go and fetch a glass and get up aloft. I +want to make out what the coast is like." + +The binocular was fetched from the cabin, and the lads mounted the +rigging as high as they could to get comfortably perched, and then +shared the glass, turn and turn, to come to the conclusion that every +knot they crept along through the shallow sea brought them more and more +abreast of a district that looked wild and beautiful in the extreme: low +mountain gorge and ravine, beautiful forest clothing the slopes, and +parts where the country was green with the waving trees almost to the +water's-edge. + +And so the day slipped by, and the sun began to sink just as they glided +into a narrow sheltered estuary, which, as far as they could make out, +ran like a jagged gash inland; and an hour later the schooner was at +anchor behind a headland which completely bid them from the open sea. + +"There," cried Poole, turning to the middy, who was sweeping the +forest-clad slopes on either hand, "what do you think of this?" + +"Lovely!" cried Fitz enthusiastically, forgetting all his troubles in +the wondrous tropic beauty of the golden shores. + +"Come on, then. I don't know what Andy has got us for supper, but it +smells uncommonly good." + +"Supper!" said the middy, in tones of disgust. "Why, you can't leave a +scene like this to go and eat?" + +"Can't I?" cried Poole. "Do you mean to tell me that you are not hungry +too?" + +"Well, no," said Fitz, slowly, closing the glass; "I don't think I can. +I didn't know how bad I was until you spoke." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +A TROPIC RIVER. + +Strict watch was set, no lights were shown, and a quiet, uneventful +night was passed, the boys sleeping so hard that it was with some +difficulty that they were awakened, to start up wondering that it was +day. + +"Why," cried Fitz, "I feel as if I had only just lain down." + +It proved, though, that they had each had nine hours' solid sleep, and +after a hasty breakfast, preparations were made for ascending the river. +The men were armed, the largest boat lowered, and Fitz hung about +watching eagerly all that was going on; but, too proud to ask questions, +he waited to see how matters would shape themselves. + +As he expected, Poole came to him after a time, and in answer to the +middy's questioning looks said eagerly-- + +"The Don's hacienda is right up this river somewhere, and the dad is +going up in a boat with about half the lads, to see how the land lies, +while old Burgess stops at home and takes care of the _Teal_. And I +suppose he will have to take care of you too, you being a prisoner who +don't take any interest in what we do. What do you think?" + +"Think? That I shouldn't do any harm if I came with you, should I?" + +"Well, I don't know," said Poole, with mock seriousness. "You wouldn't +like to come too with me?" Fitz looked at him blankly. + +"It's going to be quite an expedition. The lads are going to have +rifles and plenty of ammunition; revolvers too. I am going to have the +same, because there is no knowing what sort of fellows we may meet. +But, as the dad says, if they see we are well-armed they won't meddle +with us. In these revolutionary times, though, every one is on the +rampage and spoiling for a fight. Pity you can't go with us." Fitz was +silent. + +"You see, I could have arranged it nicely. We might have had old Andy +to carry a couple of bags, and you could have had the governor's double +gun, and looked after the pot. We should have had you blazing away +right and left as we went up the river at everything that the Camel said +was good to eat. You would soon have filled both the bags, of course." + +"Look here," said Fitz, "none of your sneers! I dare say if I tried I +could shoot as well as you can." + +"Sneers!" cried Poole, with mock solemnity. "Hark at him! Why should I +sneer about your filling the bags when you are not going? Of course you +wouldn't. You'd think it wouldn't be right. I thought of all that, and +said so to father." + +Fitz coughed, and then said huskily-- + +"What did he say?" + +"What did he say? Well--" + +"Why don't you speak?" cried Fitz angrily. + +"You might give a fellow time. What did father say?" + +"Yes, of course!" + +"Oh, he said he didn't like much shooting, because he did not want the +enemy to know we were up the river, but that if I saw anything in the +shape of a deer or a big bird, or anything else good to eat, I was to +fire." + +"Hah!" sighed Fitz, as he saw himself spending a lonely day on board. + +"Hah!" sighed Poole, in imitation. "I wish you had been going too." + +Fitz looked at him searchingly. + +"There!" he cried. "You are gammoning me." + +Poole could not keep it in; his face expanded into a broad grin. + +"I knew you were," cried Fitz. + +"Yes, it's all right, old chap. The governor said that you were to +come, for he didn't think that there would be any trouble, and it would +be a pleasant change for you." + +"Your father is a regular trump," cried Fitz excitedly. "I say, though; +I should have liked to have a gun." + +"Well, you are going to have his. I'll carry a rifle, so as to bring +down all the bucks." + +"How soon do we start?" + +"Directly. Old Burgess is looking as blue as Butters' nose because he +has got to stop at home, and Butters himself is doing nothing else but +growl. He didn't like it a bit when the dad said that he must be tired +after the other night's work. But he's got to stop." + +Half-an-hour later the well-manned boat was being pulled vigorously up +the rapidly narrowing river, with the two boys in the bows, on the +look-out for anything worthy of powder and shot which might appear on +either bank; but there was nothing save beauty to recompense their +watchful eyes. + +Birds were plentiful enough, and of the loveliest plumage, while every +now and then a loud splash followed the movement of what seemed to be a +log of wood making the best of its way into deep water. And once high +in a mighty tree which shot up its huge bole from the very mud of the +bank, Poole pointed out a curious knot of purple, dull buff and brown, +right in the fork where a large branch joined the bole. "Not a serpent, +is it?" whispered Fitz. "It is, though," was the reply; and the middy +raised his piece. + +"No, no; don't shoot," said Poole softly. "It isn't good to eat, and we +might be giving the alarm." + +Fitz lowered the double gun with a sigh, and the boat glided on, sending +the rushing water in a wave to go lapping amongst the bushes that +overhung from the bank, and directly after the serpent knot was hidden +by the leaves. + +The rapid little river wound here and there, and they went on mile after +mile, with the steamy heat growing at times almost unbearable. But the +men did not murmur, tugging away at their oars and seeming to enjoy the +beauty of the many scenes through which they passed, for every now and +then the river widened out, to look like some shut-in lake. And so mile +after mile was passed, no spot where they could land presenting itself +in the dense jungle which covered the banks, and it was not till +afternoon that at a sudden turn they came upon an opening which had +evidently been produced by the axe, while a short distance farther on at +a word from the skipper the progress of the boat was checked at a +roughly-made pier of piles driven into the mud, to which were pinned +huge sticks of timber, beyond which was a rough corduroy road leading +evidently to something in the way of civilisation. + +"It must be up here somewhere, boys," said the skipper. "Two of you +stop as keepers, my lads, while we land and go and see. The hacienda +must certainly be hereabouts from the description Don Ramon gave;" and +as all stepped on to the rough timber pier, the skipper instructed the +boat-keepers to get well under shelter out of the sun and to keep strict +watch, before leading the way along the wooded road through the thick +growth which had newly sprung up amongst the butts of the great trees +that had been felled or burned off level with the soil. + +It must not be judged from this, that it was any scene of desolation, +for every stump and relic of fallen tree was ornamented with lovely +orchids, or wreathed with tangling vines. Butterflies of the most vivid +hues fluttered here and there in the glorious sunshine, while +humming-birds literally flashed as they darted by. + +The clearing had evidently been the work of many men, and it was plain +to see what the place must have been before the axe was introduced, by +the dense mass of giant trees that stood up untouched a couple of +hundred yards on either side--the primaeval forest in its glory, +untouched by man. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +A NIGHT WATCH. + +It was not many minutes later when, attracted by a group of the lovely +insects playing about the shrubs that were in full bloom, Fitz had hung +back, making them an excuse while he rested, standing mopping his face, +streaming with perspiration, while Poole, no less willing to enjoy a few +minutes' halt, stood looking back watching him. + +Meanwhile the skipper had gone on, closely followed by the men, and +passed out of sight. And then the few minutes became a few minutes +more, neither of the lads noting the lapse of time, for everything +around was so beautiful that they had no thought for the task in hand, +nor fear of being interrupted by any of the enemy who might be near. + +Everything was so dreamy and beautiful that Poole cast his eyes around +in search of some fallen trunk, with the idea that nothing could be more +delightful than to sit down there in the shade and drowse the time away. + +Then he was awake again, for from somewhere ahead, but so far off that +it sounded quite faint, there came a shout-- + +"Ahoy! Poole!" + +The lad ran, rifle in hand, to answer his father's call, but only to +stop short to look round sharply, feeling that he was leaving Fitz +behind. + +"Oh, there you are," he cried, as he caught sight of the lad following +swiftly after. "I thought that you were not coming." + +"I was obliged to. You don't suppose that I want to be left alone here +by myself?" + +"No, I suppose not. 'Tis a wild spot. It wouldn't be very pleasant if +one of the enemy came upon you. You'd be rather safer along with us. +Come on; we had better run. Mind how you come. These logs are rather +slippery where the sun doesn't shine." + +"Yes, and you had better mind, or some of this tangled stuff that's +growing up between will trip you up. Rather awkward if your gun went +off." + +A few minutes later they came up to where the skipper was standing +waiting for them. + +"Found the place, father?" + +"Yes; it's just over yonder in a clearing beyond those trees." + +"Where are the men?" + +"Inside the house." + +"Has Don Ramon come?" + +"No. There's not a soul in sight. I can't see any signs of a fight, +but it looks to me as if the enemy had been destroying all they came +across. I hope they didn't come upon him and take him prisoner, but it +looks very bad." + +"What shall you do, father?" + +"What he told me, my boy: take possession, and hold it if the enemy come +back. I have told the men to try and knock up a breastwork and close up +the windows. To put it into a state of defence is not possible, but +they can make it look stronger, and it will be better than the open +jungle if those mongrel scoundrels do come on. Winks is there with +half-a-dozen men; join them and superintend. Make them stick to it +hard. I am afraid of their thinking that there is no danger, and taking +it too coolly." + +"All right, father," said Poole, giving Fitz a glance as he stood ready +for starting off. + +"Oh, by the way, Mr Burnett, I am sorry to have got you into this +trouble. It doesn't seem the thing, does it? But I can't help myself. +I daren't let you get into the hands of the enemy, for they are a shady +lot. Only please mind this; you are a looker-on, and you are not to +fight." + +"Of course not, sir," cried Fitz. + +"Well, don't forget it. Let's have none of your getting excited and +joining in, if the row does begin. But it's hardly likely. If the +scoundrels see a strong-looking place they will give it a wide berth. +But if they do come, just bear this in mind; you are a spectator, and +not to fire a shot." + +"I shall not forget my position, sir," said Fitz quietly. "That's +right. You can't be in a safer place than in the shelter of Ramon's +farm. Off with you, Poole. I will join you soon." + +The two lads trotted off, and as they ran on side by side, Fitz said +rather testily-- + +"Your father needn't have talked to me like that. 'Tisn't likely that I +should join in such a fight as this." + +"Of course not," said Poole coolly; "only you look rather warlike +carrying that double gun." + +"Absurd! A sporting piece, loaded with small shot!" cried Fitz. + +"Not so very small," said Poole, laughing. "I shouldn't like it to be +loaded with them by any one firing at me. Oh, there's the hacienda +yonder. I heard of this place when I was here before. It's a sort of +summer-house near the river and sea, where Don Ramon used to come. My +word, though, how it seems to have been knocked about! It looks as if +there had been fighting here. The grounds have all been trampled down, +and the porch has been torn away." + +"What a pity!" cried Fitz, as he trotted up, with his gun at the trail. +"It must have been a lovely place. Oh, there are some of our men." + +"Yes," said Poole, smiling to himself and giving a little emphasis to +one word which he repeated; "there are some of `our' men. Look at old +Chips scratching his head." + +For the carpenter on hearing their approach had stepped out into the +wrecked verandah, and two or three of the sailors appeared at the long +low windows belonging to one of the principal rooms. + +"Oh, here y'are, Mr Poole, sir!" cried the carpenter, waving his navy +straw hat and giving it two or three vicious sweeps at the flies. "Just +the very gent as I wanted to see. How are yer, Mr Burnett, sir? Warm, +aren't it? Don't you wish you was a chips, sir?" he added +sarcastically, as Fitz gave him a friendly nod. + +"A chips? A carpenter, Winks?" said Fitz. "No; why should I?" + +"Of course not, sir. Because if you was you would be every now and then +having some nice little job chucked at your head by the skipper." + +"Why, of course," cried Poole. "What are you on board the schooner +for?" + +"Oh, nothing at all, sir--only to stop leaks and recaulk, cut sticks out +of the woods to make new spars and yards, build a new boat now and then, +or a yard or two of bulwark or a new keel. Just a few little trifles of +that sort. It's just like so much play. Here's the very last of them. +Nice little job ashore by way of a change. Skipper's fresh idea. He +didn't say so, but seems to me as if he means to retire from business, +and this 'ere's going to be his country house." + +"And a very nice place too," said Fitz, laughing. "It only wants doing +up." + +"That's right, sir," cried the carpenter; "only just wants doing up, and +a bit of paint, and then all you'd have to do would be to order a +'technicum van or two of new furniture out of Totney Court Road, or +elsewhere. And an other nice little job for me to lay down the carpets +and hang the picturs, and it would be just lovely." + +"Well, you seem in a nice temper, Chips," said Poole. + +"Temper, Mr Poole! Why, I feel as soft and gentle as a baby. I arn't +got nothing to grumble at." + +"And if you had you are the very last person in the world to say a word; +eh, Chips?" + +"Hear that, Mr Burnett, sir? That's Mr Poole, that is! He's known me +two years and a narf, which means ever since he come on his first +voyage, when I teached him how to handle an adze without cutting off his +pretty little toes. If ever I wanted my character, Mr Burnett, sir, I +should refer captains and other such to Mr Poole Reed, as knows me from +the top of my head down to the parts I put lowest in my shoes." + +"Look here, Chips, I want you to get to work. Whatever is the matter +now?" + +"Oh, nothing at all, sir; nothing at all! Carn't you see how I am +smiling all over my face?" + +"Oh yes, I know your smile. Now then, speak out. What do you want? +What is there wrong?" + +"Oh, nothing worth speaking of, Mr Poole. I arn't the sort of fellow +to grumble, Mr Burnett, sir; but now just look here, gentlemen.--Get +out, will you! Bother the flies! I wish I could 'ford to keep a nigger +with a whisk made out of a horse's tail. They are regular tarrifying me +to-day. I wouldn't keer if I could kill one now and then; but I carn't. +Either they're too fast or I'm too slow. But now just look here, both +on you, gentlemen. Here's a pretty position for a fellow to be in! +Nobody can't say even in this hot country as I arn't willing to work my +spell, but here's the skipper says to me, he says, `I want you to do +everything you can,' he says; `take what men you want, and make this +'ere aitch--he--hay--ender as strong as you can.' Now, I ask you, just +give your eyes a quick turn round the place and tell me, as orficers as +knows what's what, how am I to make a thing strong as arn't strong, and +where there arn't a bit of stuff to do it with? For what's the good of +a lot of bamboo-cane when what one wants is a load of good honest +English oak, or I wouldn't say no to a bit of teak." + +"Well, it is a ramshackle sort of place, certainly, Chips." + +"Ramshackle, sir? Why, a ramshackle shed is a Tower of London to it. +It's just a bandbox, that's what it is--just one of them chip and blue +paper things the same as my old mother used to keep her Sunday bonnet +in. Why, I could go to one end, shet my eyes, and walk through it +anywhere. Why, it wouldn't even keep the wind out. Look at them +windows--jalousies, as they calls them, in their ignorant foreign +tongue. Look at 'em; just so many laths, like a Venetia blind. What's +to be done to them? And then them doors. Why, they wouldn't keep a cat +in, let alone a Spaniel out. I dunno what's to be done; and before I +know where I am the skipper will be back asking me what I have been +about. Do you know what I'm about? About off my head. A man can't +make something out of nothing. Where's my tools? says you. Aboard the +schooner. Where's the stuff to work with? Nowhere. Why, I aren't got +so much as a tenpenny-nail. It's onreasonable; but I suppose it aren't +no use to talk. Come on, my lads, and let's see. Axes here. Get one +in between them two floor-boards and wedge one of them out--that's the +style!" And as he spoke, _rip, rip, crack_! the board was wrenched out +of its place, leaving a long opening and easy access to the boards on +either side. "Steady there, mates; don't lose a nail. They are very +poor ones, and only rusty iron now, but just you handle them as if they +was made of gold. That's your sort. We'll just nail them boards up +across the lower parts of them windows, far enough apart for us to fire +through, and when that's done they'll make a show if they don't do +anything else. It'll satisfy the skipper; but as to keeping the bullets +out, when the beggars begin to fire, why, Mr Poole, sir, I believe I +could take half-a-dozen of them little sugar-loaf-shaped bits of lead in +my mouth and stand outside and blow them through.--What do you say, +Camel? Where's a hammer? There are dozens of them, mate, in High +Street, Liverpool, at any price from one-and-six up to two bob. Did you +leave your head aboard the schooner?" + +"Did I leave my head aboard the schooner? What are you talking about?" +growled the cook. + +"Thought perhaps you had left it in the galley, stood up in one of the +pots to keep it safe till you got back. Turn the axe round and use the +head of that, stoopid. Chopper-heads was invented before hammers, I +know." + +"Well, you needn't be so nasty, mon," growled the cook. + +"Make you nasty if you was set to cook a dinner without any fire, and no +meat." + +Andy grunted and began hammering away, helped by two of his messmates, +who held the floor-boards in place while such nails as had come out of +the joists were driven in. + +Satisfied with this, the carpenter set to work at the end of one of the +joists, using a sharp axe so deftly that the great wedge-like chips +began to fly, and in a minute's time he had cut right through. + +"That's your sort!" he cried. "Now, lads, two on you hoist up." + +The men had hold of the freshly-cut end of the stout joist in an +instant, raised it up, its length acting as a powerful lever, and it was +wrenched out of its place, to be used beneath its fellows so dexterously +that in a short time there was no longer any floor to the principal room +of the hacienda, the joists being piled up on one side, and those who +were in it stood now a couple of feet lower with the window-sills just +on a level with their chests. + +"Bravo! Splendid!" cried Fitz excitedly. "Why, that gives us a capital +breastwork--bulwark, I mean--to fire over." + +"Yes," cried Poole, "and plenty of stuff, Chips, for you to barricade +the doors." + +"Barricade the doors, sir? You mean stop 'em up, I suppose. But how? +Arn't got a big cross-cut saw in your pocket, have you?" + +"Go on, old chap, and don't chatter so," cried Poole. "Break them in +half." + +"Nice tradesman-like job that'll make, sir! It is all very fine to +talk. Here, stand aside, some on you. I never was in a hurry but some +thick-headed foremast-man was sure to get in the way. Let's see; +where's my rule? Yah! No rule, no pencil, no square. Lay that there +first one down, mates. What are they? About twelve foot. Might make +three out of each of them." + +One of the joists was laid on the earth close to a collection of dry +leaves. + +"Looks like an old rat's nest," said Fitz. "Like enough, sir, only we +haven't no time to hunt 'em. Sure to be lots in a place like this." + +"Yes, I can smell them," said Poole--"that nasty musky odour they have!" + +The carpenter paced along beside the joist, dividing it into three, and +made a notch in two places with his axe, to begin the next minute +delivering a sharp blow or two where he intended to break the joist. +But at the first stroke the violent jar made the far end of the joist +leap and come heavily down upon the gathered-together nest of leaves. + +"Wo-ho!" cried the carpenter. "Steady there!" + +"Eh, mon! Look at that!" yelled the cook, as there was a scuffling +rush, and a thickish snake, about seven feet long, dashed out from its +nest and made for the door. + +There was a yell of dismay, and the men rushed here and there for the +windows, to escape, the boys as eager as their companions. + +It was only the carpenter who stood firm, and he made a chop with his +axe at the reptile's tail, but only to drive the blade into the dry +earth a yard behind. + +"After him, Camel!" he roared. "Don't lose him, lad! He'd do to cook +like a big eel. Yah, butter-fingers! You let him go! Why didn't you +try and catch him by the tail? Here, come back, all of you. Take hold +of a joist or two and stir up them nest-like places in the corners. I +dare say there's some more. We shall be hungry by and by. Don't let +good dinners go begging like that. Here, Mr Burnett, sir, and you, Mr +Poole, never you mind them cowardly lubbers; come inside and have a +hunt. It'll be a regular bit of sport." + +"Thanks, no," said Fitz, who was looking in through one of the windows, +Poole following his example at another. + +"You had better mind, Chips," said the latter. "I dare say there are +several more there, and they may be poisonous." + +"So am I, sir," said the carpenter, grinning. "Just you ketch hold of +my axe." + +"What are you going to do?" said Poole, as he took hold of the handle. + +"You stand by a moment, sir," said the carpenter, picking up the joist +upon which he had been operating, and holding it as if it were a lance. +"I am going to poison them." + +As he spoke he drove the end right into a heap of Indian corn-husks that +lay in the first corner, the blow being followed by a violent rustling, +and another snake made its appearance, not to dash for the door, but +turning, wriggling, and lashing about as it fought hard till it wriggled +itself free of the little beam which had pinned it into the corner, +crushing its vertebra about a third of its length from the head, and +ending by tying itself in a knot round the piece of wood and holding on. + +"Below there!" shouted the carpenter. "Stand clear!" + +He advanced towards Fitz with the joist, and as the boy leaped back he +thrust out the piece of wood, resting the middle on the window-sill. + +"Here you are, Camel," he cried; "fresh meat, all skewered for you like +a bun on a toasting-fork. Look alive, old haggis, and take him off. +He's a fine un, Master Poole. I can't abear to see waste." + +Fitz and Poole both stepped back, and at that moment with one quick +writhe the little serpent seemed to untie itself, dropping to the ground +limply, writhed again as if to tie itself into a fresh knot, and then +stretched itself out at full length. + +"Take care, Mr Burnett, sir," cried the carpenter, hastily taking from +Poole and holding out the axe he had been using. "Don't go too near. +Them things can be precious vicious. Ketch hold of this and drop it on +to him just behind his head." + +"No, no, don't, Fitz!" cried Poole. "Look at its little fiery eyes. It +may strike." + +"Not it," cried Fitz. "Chips has spoiled all his fighting for good;" +and taking a step or two forward with the axe he had snatched from the +carpenter's hand, he made one quick cut and drove it into the earth, for +the blade to be struck at once by the serpent's head, while the ugly +coils were instantaneously knotted round the haft. + +Fitz involuntarily started back, leaving the axe-handle with its ugly +load standing out at an angle, and the two lads stood watching the +serpent's head as the jaws parted once or twice and then became +motionless, while the folds twisted round the stout ash-handle gradually +grew lax and then dropped limply and loosely upon the earth, ending by +heaving slightly as a shudder seemed to run from the bleeding neck right +to the tail. + +"He's as good as dead, gentlemen," said the carpenter. "He won't hunt +no more rats under this place. Give me my chopper, please; I am +thinking there are a few more here. Let's have 'em out, or they'll be +in the way and get their tails trodden on when the fighting begins." + +"Yes, let's have them out, Chips," cried Poole; "but be careful. They +may be poisonous, and savage with being disturbed." + +"Oh yes, I'll be careful enough," cried the carpenter; and raising the +joist again he stepped back from the window and drove it into another +corner of the room, the boys peering in through the nearest window and +eagerly watching for the result. + +"Nothing here," cried the carpenter, after giving two heavy thrusts. +"Yes, there is. Here's a little baby one. Such a little wriggler! A +pretty one too; seems a pity to kill him." + +"No, no," cried Fitz, as he watched the active movements of the little +snake that suddenly raised itself like a piece of spiral spring, its +spade-shaped head playing about menacingly about a foot from the ground. + +"Yes, take care," cried Poole. "I believe that's a viper." + +"So's this," said the carpenter, letting one end of the joist rest upon +the ground and the other fall heavily right across the threatening +snake. "Hah! That's a wiper, and I wiped him out." + +Next moment he lifted the joist again, and used it pitchfork-fashion to +jerk the completely crushed dangerous reptile out of another window, +before advancing to the third corner, where a larger heap of Indian +corn-husks seemed to have been drawn together. + +"Anything there, Chips?" cried Fitz. + +"Oh yes, there's a big un here--two on 'em; and they're telling tales of +it, too, for they've left 'em hanging outside. Now, whereabouts will +their heads be?" + +"Take care," cried Poole, "for you may cripple one and leave the other +to dart at you." + +"Yes, and that wouldn't be nice," said the carpenter thoughtfully. "I +don't mind tackling one of them, but two at a time's coming it a bit too +strong. 'Tarn't fair like." + +"Look here," cried Fitz, "we'll come in, and each have a joist. We +should be sure to kill them then." + +"I dunno so much about that, gen'lemen. You might help, and you +moten't. If they made a rush you might be in my way, and you know, as +old Andy says, Too many cooks spoil the snake-soup. Here, I know; I can +soon turn them out." + +"How?" cried Poole, as the man stood the joist up against the wall. + +"I'll soon show you," cried the carpenter, pulling out a match-box. + +"You'll burn the place down." + +"Nay," cried the man; "them corn-shucks will just flare up with a fizz; +I can trample them out before they catch the wood. You two be on the +look-out, for there's no knowing which window my gentlemen will make for +as soon as they find as it aren't the sun as is warming them up." + +He struck a match as he spoke, let the splint get well alight, and then +stepping forward softly he stooped down to apply it to the pale, dry, +creamy-looking corn-leaves. + +"Look out!" cried Fitz excitedly. + +"Oh, my fingers are too hard to burn," growled the carpenter, ignoring +the notion of the danger being from the serpents; and he applied the +burning match to three places, letting the flame drop in the last, +before he stepped quickly back, watching the bright crackling flare +which rose in each spot where he had applied the match and then began to +run together to form one blaze. + +"Why, there's nothing there," cried Poole. + +"Oh, yes, there is, gen'lemen, and they're beginning to feel it. It's +so nice and warm that--Look, they are pulling their tails in under the +blanket to get their share. Now they says it's too hot. Look out; here +they come." + +The warning was not needed, for there was a sharp, fierce hissing heard +plainly above the spluttering crackle of the burning husks, the pile was +violently agitated, and then the burning heap was heaved up and +scattered about in various directions, while, half-hidden by the smoke, +it seemed as if a couple of pieces of stout Manilla cable were being +furiously shaken upon the earthen floor. + +"Murder!" shouted Poole, starting back from the window where he stood, +his action being involuntarily imitated by Fitz, who just caught a +glance of the snake that had startled his companion passing like a flash +over the window-sill, and making at what seemed to be an impossible +speed for a clump of bushes close at hand. + +"That's one of them," cried Fitz breathlessly. "What about the other?" + +_Bang! Bang! Thud! Thud_! came from inside the room, and then the +answer in the carpenter's gruff voice-- + +"I got him at last," he said. "He was a lively one. Reg'lar dodger. +Come and look here. It's all right; he's done. My! He is a whopper!" + +The inclination to look in was not great, but the boys stepped back at +once to the windows they had left, to see that the burning heap was well +alight, but apparently all in motion, while the carpenter was standing +near, half-hidden by smoke, pressing the end of the joist he had used +down upon a writhing serpent which he was holding pinned against the +earth in the middle of the flames. + +"Take care! Take care!" cried Poole. "It'll be furious if it gets from +underneath that piece of wood." + +"He'd be clever if he did, sir. I got him too tight. It's all right, +and I am making use of him at the same time." + +"Nonsense! Come out, man; you will have the place on fire directly." + +"Oh, no, I shan't, sir. Don't you see, I am letting him whack and +scatter it all out. There won't be enough to do any mischief now.--Hah! +He's quieting down; and he's the last on 'em. If there were any others +they are smoked out." + +As he spoke the lads could plainly see that the reptile's efforts to +escape were growing weaker, while the rest of the party, who had been +busy at the other end of the hacienda, had collected at window and door, +attracted by the rising smoke. + +"Just in time, mates! About another two minutes and he'll be done. Now +then," the speaker added, "I don't want to spoil him," and raking out +the heaving reptile, he forked it to the door and tossed it a few yards +away into the clearing. "All together!" he shouted. "Fair play! +Knives out. Who's for a cut of hot roast?" + +Chips's pantomime was at an end, for, rifle in hand, the skipper came +running up. + +"What's the meaning of this?" he roared. "Why don't you put that fire +out? Do you want to burn the place down? Who's been smoking here?" + +"It's all right, father. There were snakes under the floor, but Chips +has burned them out." + +"Oh, that's it! Dangerous brutes! Here, Winks, how have you been +getting on?" + +"Oh, tidy, sir, tidy," said the carpenter, wiping his smarting eyes as +he tried to check a cough and made it worse. "You see, there was no +stuff, and I had to tear up the floor." + +"Capital," said the skipper, as he examined the preparations. "Couldn't +be better, my man. Here, if there's time you shall serve those other +two rooms the same. Axes here, my lads. Cut down those bushes and pile +them up under the windows. We mustn't leave them there for cover." + +"Take care," cried Fitz. "There's a great snake in there. Here, Poole, +let's each take a joist and beat him out." + +"Hadn't we better try a match, sir? Them there bushes are that ily +evergreen stuff as'll burn like fun." + +"Yes," said the skipper. "We don't want the stuff for protection, and +the enemy might throw a light in and burn us out. But look here, Chips, +are there any sparks inside there, likely to set the wood-work alight?" + +"Nay, sir; it was all fluffy touch-and-go stuff. There's nothing there +now but smoke." + +The man moved as he spoke towards the clump of ornamental shrubs in +which the big snake had taken sanctuary, the two lads, each armed with a +joist carried lance-fashion, following him up, while the skipper hurried +into the building with one of the men, to satisfy himself that the +carpenter's words were correct. + +The remainder stood by to watch the firing of the clump of bushes, the +news that they hid a serpent putting all upon the _qui vive_. + +"Take care Chips," said Poole anxiously. "They are dangerous, +treacherous things. We don't want to get you bitten." + +"Of course you don't, my lad; but tchah! They aren't half so dangerous +as I am with a box of matches in my hand. Here, wait a moment; which +way's the wind? Oh, this 'ere. Blest if I know whether it's north +south, or east west, for I've quite lost my bearings. Anyhow, it don't +blow towards the house. Now then, I think I'll just have an armful of +these 'ere plantain-leaves and them there bamboo. They're the things to +burn." + +He hastily collected as many dry great ragged banana-leaves as he could +grasp, laid them in a heap to windward of the clump, and jumped back +quickly, grinning hugely as he turned to the boys. + +"He's there still," he said; "I heard him whisper like a sick goose as I +popped that stuff down." + +"We'd better look out, then, on the other side," cried Fitz, "or he'll +make a bolt. Shall I get my gun?" + +"No, no," said Poole; "we must have no firing now." + +Fitz moved, joist in hand, towards the other side of the clump. + +"Nay, you needn't do that, sir," cried the carpenter. "That's what we +want him to do." + +"Oh, I see; you don't want there to be any waste," said Poole. + +"Ugh!" shuddered Fitz, and the carpenter grinned as he hurriedly snapped +off as many dead bamboos as he could secure from a waving, feathery +group, bore the bundle the next minute to the edge of the clump of +shrubs, laid them on the heap of banana-leaves, and then rapidly applied +a burning match to the dry growth, which still retained a sufficiency of +inflammable oil to begin to flare at once, making the bamboos crackle +and then explode with a series of little reports like those of a +revolver. + +"That's right," said the carpenter; "if we had only got a few dozen +cocoanut-shells to help it on, we should have a bonfire as'd beat a Guy +Foxer all to fits." + +But there were no cocoanuts to be had without paying a visit to the +seashore, so the fire was mended with the bushes that were cut down from +here and there, blazing up so furiously that in a few minutes the clump +was consumed, and the snake with it, for it was not seen again. + +"Now then," said the skipper, "scatter those embers about, and put an +end to that smoke, or it will attract the enemy and show them where we +are." + +These orders were carried out, and the next hour was spent in adding to +the defences as far as was possible, in seeing to there being a supply +of water, and examining what there was in the shape of provisions in +store. + +But other precautions were being taken at the same time, the skipper +having sent out three of the men right and left along the forest-paths +and towards the shore, so as to ensure them against surprise. Then the +afternoon wore away, and the evening approached, without alarm, and +before the night could fall in its rapid, tropical way, the scouts were +recalled, sentries posted, and the defenders gathered-together in their +little fortress for their evening meal, by the light of the great stars, +which seemed to Fitz double the size that they were at home. + +Every one had his arms ready for use at a moment's notice, and the two +lads sat together nibbling the biscuit they had brought with them, and +moistening it from time to time with a draught of the water from the big +pannikin which they shared. That change from glowing sunset to darkness +had been wonderfully swift, and as the beauty of the surrounding jungle, +with its wondrous tints of green, changed into black gloom, the aspect +of the place affected the two young adventurers at once, Fitz giving +vent to a long-drawn sigh. + +"What's the matter?" said Poole, in a low voice. + +"Oh, I don't know," replied the middy. "It seems so strange and weird +here in the darkness. It makes me feel quite low-spirited." + +"Do you know why that is?" asked Poole. + +"Of course I do. It is all dark and dangerous, and at any time we may +have those mongrel Spaniels, as Chips calls them, rushing at us and +firing as they come." + +"Well, we should fire at them back again," said Poole coolly. "But it +isn't that that makes you nervous and dull." + +"Isn't it? Well, I suppose I am not so brave as you," whispered the +middy. + +"Fudge! It's nothing to do with being brave. I don't feel brave. I am +just as low-spirited as you are. It's because we are tired and hungry." + +"Why, we are keeping on eating." + +"Yes; biscuit-and-water. But that only keeps you from starving; it +doesn't do you good. Why, if old Andy had a good fire and was roasting +a wild turkey, or grilling some fish, we shouldn't feel dull, but be all +expectation, and sniffing at the cooking, impatient till it was done." + +"Well, I suppose there is something in that," said Fitz, "for I feel as +faint as can be. I seem to have been so ever since I began to get +better. Always wanting something more to eat." + +"Of course you do. That's right enough." + +"What's that?" cried Fitz, catching his companion by the arm; for there +was a loud slap, as if the water of the river had suddenly received a +sharp blow with the blade of an oar. + +"I d'know," said Poole. "Boat coming, I think. Did you hear that, +father?" And the speaker looked in the direction where the skipper had +last been seen. + +"Oh yes," was the reply, coming from outside one of the windows of the +room they had strengthened with a breastwork. + +"It's a boat coming, isn't it, father?" + +"No, my lad," said the skipper, in a deep-toned growl. "It's one of the +crocodiles or alligators fishing for its supper." + +"No, no, Mr Reed," cried Fitz; "we mean that sound like a heavy slap on +the water. There it goes again! That!" + +"Yes, that's the sound I meant," said the skipper. "Sounds queer, +doesn't it, in the darkness? But that's right. It's one of the great +alligator fellows thrashing the water to stun the fish. This makes them +turn up, and then the great lizardly thing swallows them down." + +Fitz uttered a little grunt as if he thought it was very queer, and then +went on nibbling his biscuit. + +"Poole," he whispered, "what stupids we were not to go and fish before +it got dark." + +"That's just what I was thinking," was the reply. + +"Yes," continued Fitz; "we hadn't as much sense as an alligator. I wish +we had a good fish or two here." + +"To eat raw?" said Poole scornfully. "Raw? Nonsense! We'd set old +Andy to work." + +"No, we shouldn't. How could we have a fire here? It would be like +setting ourselves up for the enemy to fire at. Why, they could creep in +through the jungle till they were fifty or sixty yards away, and take +pot-shots at us. But only let us get to-night over, and we will go +shooting or fishing as soon as it's day." + +"Hark at that," said Fitz, catching him by the arm. "Here they come at +last!" And not only the boys, but every one present but the skipper, +felt a strange fluttering about the heart, as a curious hollow cry rose +from somewhere at the edge of the jungle. + +And then from out of the darkness there was a sharp _click, click_! of +the lock of a rifle, the force of example bringing out quite a series of +the ominous little sounds, which came forth sharp and clear as every one +prepared to use his piece. + +"Steady there, my lads!" growled the skipper. "You don't think you can +shoot that bird?" + +"There, laddies; I kenned it was a bird--one of them long-legged, +big-beaked chaps that stand out in the water spearing eels. Wish we had +got him now." + +"Was that a bird, father?" whispered Poole. "Why, you ought to have +known it was, my lad. There goes another, and another. If you listen +you can hear the cry dying right away in the distance--one of those +great cranes." + +"Fine bird to keep for singing," said the cook, "only I want everything +for the pot or the spit. There he goes again. What a rich voice, +laddies! Sounds as if he were fat." + +The rifles were uncocked gently and carefully, and all sat listening +again, thoroughly on the _qui vive_, for though fully expecting that the +first warning of danger would be a shot from one of the sentries, all +felt that there was a possibility of the enemy stealing up in the +darkness and making a rush which would quite take them by surprise. + +It was depressing work to the wakeful, and as the hours stole slowly on +first one and then another, tired out with the exertions of the day, let +his head sink upon his breast where he crouched and gave audible notice +that he had forgotten everything in the way of danger, in sleep. + +From time to time the boys kept up a desultory conversation, but at last +this ceased, and Fitz suddenly lifted his head with a jerk and began to +look wonderingly round at the great stars. + +"What's the matter?" said Poole, in a startled way. + +"I dunno," replied the middy. "It seemed to me that somebody got hold +of me and gave me a jerk." + +"That's just how I felt. Look out!" + +Fitz did look out as far as the darkness would allow, and his hands +began to turn moist against the stock of his gun; but there was nothing +to be heard but the heavy breathing of the sleepers, and both lads were +beginning to think that the start and jerk were caused by their having +been asleep themselves, when there was a familiar voice close at hand. + +"Well, lads, how are you getting on?" + +"Not very well, father," replied Poole. "Is it all right?" + +"Yes, my boy; I have heard nothing but the cries of the night birds, and +the creeping of something now and then among the boughs." + +"Think the enemy will come to-night, Mr Reed?" said Fitz. + +"Can't say, my lad. They may, or they may not. If they knew how easily +they could get the better of us they would make a rush. Tut, tut, tut! +Kick that fellow, Poole. Can't he sleep without snoring like that? Who +is it?" + +"I think it's Winks, father." + +"Rouse him up, then." + +"Eh? Hullo! All right! My watch?" + +"No, no," said Poole. "Be quiet; you are snoring away as if you were +sawing wood." + +"Was I, my lad?" whispered the man. "Well, I believe I dreamed I was at +that game. Any fighting coming off?" + +"No, not yet." + +"All right; then I'll have another nap." + +But at that moment from out of the darkness, at apparently the edge of +the jungle beyond the hacienda clearing, there was a sudden crashing as +of the breaking of wood, followed instantly by an exceedingly shrill and +piercing shriek, the rustle and beating of leaves, two or three low +piteous sobs, and then silence for a few moments, followed by a soft +rustling which died away. + +"Steady there!" whispered the skipper, as he heard the click of a lock. +"Don't fire, my lad. It would only be wasting a charge." + +"But the savage has killed somebody, Mr Reed," whispered Fitz, in a +voice he did not know as his own; and he crouched rigidly there with the +butt of his piece to his shoulder, aiming in the direction of the +sounds, and with every nerve upon the strain. + +"Yes," said the skipper coolly; "the savage has killed somebody and has +carried him off. There, you can hear the faint rustling still." + +"But a savage could not carry a man off like that," said Fitz +wonderingly. + +"No," replied the skipper, with a low chuckle. "But that savage has +gone off with the body he seized. Don't you know what it was, my lad?" + +"No," replied Fitz wonderingly. + +"Then I'll tell you, as far as I know myself. I should say that was one +of those great cats, the tigers, as they call them here, the jaguars. +He was prowling along in one of those big trees till he could see a +monkey roosting, and then it was a leap like a cat at a rat, and he +carried him off." + +"Ah!" said Fitz, with a sigh. "I thought it was something worse." + +"Couldn't have been any worse for the monkey," said Poole, laughing. + +"No," continued Fitz thoughtfully; "but I didn't know there were jaguars +here." + +"Didn't you, my lad?" said the skipper quietly. "Why, we are just at +the edge of the impenetrable jungle. There is only this strip of land +between it and the sea, and the only way into it is up that little +river. If we were to row up there we should have right and left pretty +well every wild creature that inhabits the South American jungles: +tigers--you have had a taste of the snakes this afternoon--water-hogs, +tapirs, pumas too, I dare say. There goes another of those great +alligators slapping the water with his tail." + +"Would there be any of the great serpents?" asked Fitz. + +"Any number," replied the skipper, "if we could penetrate to where they +are; the great tree-living ones, and those water-boas that live among +the swamps and pools." + +"They grow very big, don't they?" said Fitz, who began to find the +conversation interesting. + +"All sizes. Big as you or me round the thickest part, and as long as--" + +"A hundred feet?" said Poole. + +"Well, I don't know about that, my boy," said the skipper. "I shouldn't +like to meet one that size. I saw the skin of one that was over thirty, +and I have heard tell by people out here that they had seen them +five-and-forty and fifty feet long. They may grow to that size in these +hot, steamy jungles. There is no reason why they shouldn't, when whales +grow to seventy or eighty feet long in the sea; but I believe those +monster anacondas of fifty feet long were only skins, and that either +they or the stories had been very much stretched." + +"What time do you think it is, father?" + +"Well, by the feel of the night, my lad, I should say it's about three." + +"As late as that, father? Time seems to have gone very quickly." + +"Quickly, eh? That's proof positive, my boy, that you have had a nap or +two. I have not, and I have found it slow." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +A JUNCTION. + +The skipper moved off into the darkness, and all was wonderfully still +once more in the clearing. There was the dense jungle all round, but +not a sound broke the silence, for it was the peculiar period between +the going to rest of the myriad creatures who prey by night, and the +waking up of those expectant of the sun. + +Then there was a sound of about the most commonplace, matter-of-fact +character that can be imagined. Fitz, as he lay half upon a heap of dry +leaves and canes, opened his mouth very widely, yawned portentously and +loudly, ending with, "Oh, dear me!" and a quickly-uttered correction of +what seemed to him like bad manners: "I beg your pardon!" + +"Ha, ha!" laughed Poole, "I was doing just the same. Here, you are a +pretty sort of fellow," he continued, "to be on the watch, and kick up a +shindy like that! Suppose the enemy had been sneaking in." + +He had hardly finished speaking when Fitz caught him by the arm and +sprang up, for there was a faint rustling, and the two lads felt more +than saw that some one was approaching them. Relief came directly, for +instead of a sudden attack, it was the skipper who spoke. + +"Silence!" he said softly. "Here, if you two lads are as sleepy as +that, lie down again till sunrise." + +"No, no, father," said Poole; "I am all right now. You must be tired +out. Burnett and I will go your rounds now." + +"Thanks, my lad; but no, thank you." + +"But you may trust me, father, and I will call you at daybreak." + +"No, my boy; I couldn't sleep if I tried." + +"No more could I now, father. Let me help you, then; and go round to +see that the watch is all right." + +"Very well. You go that way, and have a quiet chat with the man on +duty. It will rouse him up. I am going round here." + +The skipper moved off directly, and Poole, before starting off in the +indicated direction, whispered to Fitz-- + +"You can have another snooze till I come back." + +"Thank you; but I am going along with you." + +Quite willing to accept his companionship, Poole led the way slowly and +cautiously; but at the end of a few yards he stopped short. + +"What's the matter?" whispered Fitz. + +"Nothing yet; but I was just thinking. Is there any password?" + +"I dunno," whispered Fitz. + +"I didn't ask father, and it would be rather awkward if we were +challenged and shot at." + +"Oh, there's no fear of that. You'd know by the voice which of the men +it was who spoke, and he'd know yours when you answered." + +"To be sure. False alarm. Come on." It seemed darker than ever as +they went forward on what seemed to be the track, but proved to be off +it, for all at once as they were going cautiously on, literally feeling +their way, Poole caught his foot against a stump and nearly fell +headlong. + +"Bother!" he ejaculated loudly, to add to the noise he made, and +instantly a gruff voice from their right growled out, "Who goes there?" +accompanying the question with a clicking of a rifle-lock. "Friends," +cried Fitz sharply. "The word." + +"_Teal_" cried Poole, as he scrambled up. "Aren't right," growled the +same voice. "That you, Mr Poole?" + +"Oh, it's you, Chips!" cried the lad, in a tone full of relief. + +"Winks it is," was the reply; "but the skipper said I warn't to let +anybody pass without he said Sponson." + +"Sponson," cried Fitz, laughing. + +"Ah, you know now," growled the carpenter, "because I telled you; but it +don't seem right somehow. But you aren't enemies, of course." + +"Not much," said Poole. "Well, how are you getting on, Chips?" + +"Oh, tidy, sir, tidy; only it's raither dull work, and precious damp. A +bit wearisome like with nothing to do but chew. Thought when I heard +you that there was going to be something to warm one up a bit. +Wonderful how chilly it gets before the sun's up. I should just like to +have a bit of timber here, and my saw." + +"To let the enemy know exactly where we are?" + +"Ah, of course; that wouldn't do. But I always feel when I haven't got +another job on the way that it's a good thing to do to cut up a bit of +timber into boards." + +"Why?" asked Fitz, more for the sake of speaking than from any desire to +know. + +"Plaisters, my lad." + +"Plaisters?" + +"Ay; for sore hulls. A bit of thin board's always handy off a coast +where there's rocks, and there's many a time when, if the carpenter had +had plenty of sticking-plaister for a vessel's skin, a good ship could +have been saved from going down. Nice place this. What a spot it would +have been if it had been an island and the schooner had been wrecked!" + +"What do you want the schooner wrecked for?" cried Poole. + +"Me, sir? I don't want the schooner wrecked. I only said if it had +been, and because you young gents was talking the other day about being +on a desolate island to play Robinson Crusoe for a bit." + +"Oh yes, I remember," said Fitz. + +"So do I, sir. It set me thinking about that chap a good deal. Some +men do get chances in life. Just think of him! Why, that fellow had +everything a chap could wish for. Aren't talking too loud, are we, Mr +Poole?" + +"Oh no. No one could hear us whispering like this." + +"That's right. I am glad you young gents come, for it was getting very +unked and queer all alone. Quite cheers a fellow up. Set down, both on +you." + +"Thanks, no," said Fitz; "the ground's too wet." + +"Nay, I don't mean on the ground. Feel just behind you. There aren't a +arm-chair, but a big bit of timber as has been cut down.--There, that's +better. May as well make one's miserable life happy, and I don't +suppose we shall have anybody sneaking round now.--Ah, yes, that there +Robinson Crusoe did have a fine time of it. Everything his own, +including a ship safely docked ashore full of stores, and nothing to do +but break her up and sort the bits. And there he'd got all the timbers, +keel-knees, planks, tree-nails, ropes, spars and yards, and plenty of +sheet-metal, I'll be bound, for copper bottoming. Why, with plenty of +time on his hands, he might have built anything, from a yawl to a +schooner. But he didn't seem to me to shine much in naval architecter. +Why, at first he hadn't a soul much above a raft." + +"It was very useful, though," said Fitz. + +"Nay; more trouble, sir, than it was worth. Better have built himself +some kind of a boat at once. Look at his raft! Always a-sinking, or +fouling, or shooting off its cargo, or trying to navigate itself. I +don't believe in rafts. They're no use unless you want to use one to +get washed ashore. For my part--Pst!" + +The boys sprang up at the man's whispered signal, Fitz the more actively +from the fact that the carpenter's horny hand had suddenly gripped his +knee so forcibly that he had hard work to restrain a cry of pain. + +"Somebody coming," whispered Poole, quite unnecessarily, for a loud +rustling through the bushes was announcing the approach of the expected +enemy. + +"Stand by!" roared the carpenter, and his rifle flashed a line of light +through the darkness as he fired in the direction of the sounds. "Now, +my lads," he whispered, "double back into the ship." + +As the words passed his lips a voice from out of the darkness shouted in +broken English, and with a very Spanish accent-- + +"Don't fire! Friends! Friends! Friends!" + +The words checked the retreat on the hacienda, but they did not clear +away the watch's doubts. + +"Yes," growled the carpenter, "so you says, but it's too dark to see +your faces." Then aloud, "Who are you? Give the word." + +"Friends!" was shouted again. + +"Well! Where's the word?--He don't say Sponson, Mr Poole," added the +carpenter, in a whisper. + +"Captain Reed! Captain Reed!" cried the same voice, from where all was +perfectly still now, for the sounds of the advance had ceased. + +"Who wants Captain Reed?" shouted Poole. + +"Ah, yes, I know you," came excitedly. "Tell your father Don Ramon is +here with his men." + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +STRANGE DOINGS. + +All doubts as to the character of the new-comers were chased away by the +coming up of the skipper to welcome the Don, who had nothing but bad +news to communicate. + +He had passed the night in full retreat with the remnant of his +followers before the forces of the rival President. + +"Everything has gone wrong," he said. "I have lost heavily, and thought +that I should never have been able to join my friends. What about the +hacienda? Have you done anything for its defence?" + +"The best we could," replied the skipper. "I suppose you know that the +enemy had been here, that there had been a fight, and that they had +wrecked the place." + +"I? No!" cried the Don, in a voice full of despair. "I sent a party of +my friends here to meet you, and this was the _rendezvous_. Don't tell +me that they have been attacked and beaten." + +"I have as good as told you that," said the skipper dryly. + +"Ah-h-h!" panted the Don. + +"We have put the place in as good a state of defence as there was time +for, but we have not seen a soul." + +"It is terrible," groaned the Don. "My poor friends! prisoners, or +driven off! But you! You have your brave men." + +"I have about half my crew here, sir," said the skipper sternly; "but we +haven't come to fight, only to bring what you know." + +"Ah! The guns, the ammunition, the store of rifles!" cried the Don +joyously. "Magnificent! Oh, you brave Englishmen! And you have them +landed safe?" + +"No," replied the skipper, as the middy's ears literally tingled at all +he heard. "How could I land guns up here? And what could you do with +them in these pathless tracts? Where are your horses and mules, even if +there were roads?" + +"True, true, true!" groaned the Don. "Fortune is against me now. But," +he added sharply, "the rifles--cartridges?" + +"Ah, as many of them as you like," cried the skipper, and Fitz Burnett's +sense of duty began to awaken once again as he seemed in some undefined +way to be getting hopelessly mixed up with people against whom it was +his duty to war. + +"Excellent; and you have them in the hacienda?" + +"No, no; aboard my vessel." + +"But where is this vessel? You could not get her up the river?" + +"No; she is lying off the mouth. I came up here in a boat to meet you +and get your instructions, after, as you know, being checked at San +Cristobal and Velova, where your emissaries brought your despatches." + +"Brave, true fellows! But the gunboat! Were you seen?" + +"Seen? Yes, and nearly taken. I only escaped by the skin of my teeth." + +"You were too clever," cried the Don enthusiastically. "But you should +have sunk that gunboat. It would have meant life and success to me. +Why did not you send her to the bottom?" + +"Well," said the skipper quietly, "first, because I am not at war, and +second, because she would have sent me to the bottom if I had tried." + +"No, no," cried the Don enthusiastically. "You English are too clever +and too brave. The captain of that gunboat is a fool. You could easily +have done this thing. But you have the guns you brought all safe +aboard?" + +"Yes." + +"And you have some of your brave men with you?" + +"Yes; more than half my crew." + +"Then I am saved, for you will fight upon my side, and every one of your +brave Englishmen is worth a hundred of the miserable three parts Indian +rabble bravos and cut-throats who follow Villarayo's flag." + +"Well, I didn't come here to fight, Don Ramon, and I have no right to +strengthen your force," said the skipper sternly. "My duty is to land +the munitions of war consigned to you; and that duty I shall do." + +"But your men! They are armed?" + +"Oh yes. Every one has his rifle and revolver, and knows how to use +them." + +"And suppose you are attacked?" said the Don, catching him by the arm. + +"Well," said the skipper dryly, "we English have a habit of hitting back +if we are tackled, and if anybody interferes with us in what we have to +do, I dare say we shall give a pretty good account of ourselves. But at +the present moment it seems to me that it's my duty to get back to my +ship and wait until you show me where I can land my cargo." + +"Ah!" said the Don, and as he spoke Fitz had his first announcement that +day was near at hand, for he began to dimly see the eager, animated +countenance of the Spaniard, and to make out the figures of his +well-armed followers clustering round. + +"Well, sir, what is to be done?" + +"One moment; let me think. It will be safest, perhaps, for you to +return to the ship and wait." + +"Where?" said the skipper. "That gunboat is hanging about the coast, +waiting to capture us if she can." + +"Yes, I know; I know. And ashore Villarayo's men are swarming. They +have hunted us through the pass all night, and hundreds of them are +coming along the coast to cut us off from reaching boats and escaping +out to sea." + +"Then it's time we were off," said the skipper sharply. + +"Too late," replied the Don. + +"But my schooner?" + +"Will they capture that?" cried the Don. + +"Well no," replied the skipper. "There's not much fear, sir; my mate +will look out too sharply. No. That will be safe. Don Ramon, if you +will take my advice, you and your party had better break up and take to +flight for the present, while I will make for any port you like to name +and wait your orders, ready for when you can gather your friends +together and make another attempt." + +"Ah, yes, Captain Reed, you mean well; but where shall I flee? This is +my last place of refuge! Here, at my own home! It is best perhaps that +you and your men should get back to your ship. I and my friends are +pretty well surrounded, and have but two ways open to us. The one is to +surrender to Villarayo's merciless cut-throats and die like dogs; the +other, to stand at bay behind the walls of my poor home, fight to the +last, and die for our wretched country like soldiers and like men. +Shake hands, captain, in your brave English way. I and my friends thank +you for all you have done, and for making, as you say you have, a little +stronghold where we can hold on to the last. It is not your fault, +neither is it mine. I could have won the day, and brought happiness and +peace to my poor land; but it was not to be. Villarayo has been too +strong. That war-vessel with its mighty gun holds us at its mercy. +Whoever has that to back him up can rule this place; for any fort that +we could raise, even with the guns you have brought, would be crumbled +into the dust. There! Farewell! You have your boat. Save yourself +and your true, brave men. Quickly, while there is time!" + +"Yes, Don Ramon; that must be so," said the skipper, and Fitz Burnett's +cheeks began to burn, heated with the spirit within him, as he listened +to the speaker's words, almost in disgust, for in his excitement it +seemed as cowardly as cruel to leave these brave Spaniards to such a +fate. + +But then came the change, and his heart gave a leap, and his eyes +flashed with pride. He thought no more of his own position in the Royal +Navy than he did of the complications that had placed him where he was. +The British fighting spirit that has made our nation what it is was +strong within him, and his fingers tingled to clasp the skipper's hand, +and failing that, he tightly gripped Poole's arm, as the lad's father +said-- + +"No, Don Ramon, I can't leave you in the lurch like this. You and your +fellows must come with me." + +"No," said the Don proudly; "my place is here," and he drew himself up, +looking every inch in the broadening light the soldier and the man. + +What more the skipper would have spoken remained unsaid, for _crack, +crack, crack_! sounding smothered amongst the trees, came the reports of +the rifles and the replies made by Don Ramon's vedettes as they were +driven in, and the skipper's eyes flashed as he placed a little whistle +to his lips and blew shrilly, bringing his own men together at the run. + +Then taking in the position in one quick glance, he could see a puff of +smoke arising from the direction of the river and the boat, telling only +too plainly that even had he wished to escape with his men, the way to +safety was cut off. + +But in those moments no such idea entered his head, any more than it did +that of Fitz or Poole. The way was open to the hacienda, and joining +hands with the Spanish Don, he began to retire towards the defence he +had prepared, and in a very few minutes the house had been reached, and +the breastworks manned by the mingled force, consisting of Don Ramon's +followers and the schooner's crew, whose shots began to tell in such a +way that the enemy's advance was checked, and the bright sun rose above +the distant jungle, lighting up the enemy at bay. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +THE NON-COMBATANT. + +"Here, you, Mr Burnett, you are a non-combatant," said the skipper, +suddenly coming upon Fitz, after going round the walls of the hacienda +with Don Ramon, and seeing that they were manned to the best advantage. + +"Oh, yes, sir, I don't want to fight," replied the boy carelessly, and +wincing rather with annoyance as he saw the Spaniard give him a peculiar +look. + +"But you look as if you do, fingering that double-barrelled gun." + +"Do you wish me to give it up, sir?" + +"No, certainly not. Keep it for your defence. You don't know how you +will be situated, and it may keep one of the enemy from attacking you. +The sight of it will be enough. You, Poole, keep well in shelter. I +don't want you to be running risks." + +"I shan't run risks, father, unless you do," replied Poole. "I shall +keep close beside you all the time." + +"No," said the skipper sharply, "you will stop with Mr Burnett. I +leave him in your charge, and--Here! Who's that? Winks, you stop with +my son and Mr Burnett there. Be ready to help them if they are in +trouble." + +"Ay, ay, sir," cried the carpenter, and he drew himself up with his +rifle-butt resting on his bare toes. + +"There, Fitz," said Poole, grinning with delight; "you can't go back to +your old tea-kettle of a gunboat and say that we didn't take care of +you." + +"Such nonsense!" cried Fitz, flushing. "Any one would think that I was +a child. I don't see anything to laugh at," and as he spoke the boy +turned sharply from Poole's mirthful face to look searchingly at the +carpenter, who was in the act of wiping a smile from his lips. + +"Oh, no, sir, I warn't a-laughing," the man said, with his eyes +twinkling. "What you see's a hecho like, or what you call a reflection +from Mr Poole's physiomahogany. This 'ere's a nice game, aren't it! +I'm sorry for those pore chaps aboard, and our two mates in the boat. +They'll be missing all the fun." + +"Why, Poole," cried Fitz suddenly, "I forgot all about them. I suppose +they'll have gone back to the schooner." + +"Not they!" + +"Then you think the enemy's captured them?" + +"That I don't," replied Poole. "They'll have run the boat in, according +to orders, in amongst the shade, and be lying there as snug as can be, +waiting till they're wanted." + +"Well, I don't know so much about that, Mr Poole, sir," put in the +carpenter. "Strikes me that as sure as nails don't hold as tight as +screws unless they are well clinched, when we have driven off these here +varmin, and go to look for them in that 'ere boat we shall find them +gone." + +"What do you mean?" cried Poole. + +"Muskeeters will have eaten them up. They are just awful under the +bushes and among the trees." + +"Look there," said Fitz, interrupting the conversation. "Seem to be +more coming on." + +"That's just what I was thinking, Mr Burnett, sir. Reinforcement, +don't you call it? My! How wild our lads will be, 'specially old +Butters, when I come to tell 'em all about it. Makes me feel like being +on board a man-o'-war again, all the more so for having a young officer +at my elber." + +"Don't you be insolent," said Fitz. + +"Well!" cried the carpenter. "I say, Mr Poole, sir, I call that 'ard. +I didn't mean cheek, sir, really." + +"All right, Chips, I believe you," said Fitz excitedly. "Look, Poole; +they're getting well round us. Look how they are swarming over yonder." + +"Yes, it means the attack," replied Poole coolly. + +"Yes," cried Fitz. "Oughtn't we to begin, and not let them get all the +best places? There's nothing like getting first blow." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed Poole, who did not seem in the slightest degree +impressed by the serious nature of their position. "You're not a +player, you know. This is our game." + +Fitz reddened, and turned away with an impatient gesture, so that he did +not see the carpenter give Poole a peculiar wink and his leg a silent +slap, indicative of his enjoyment. + +Every one's attention was fully taken up the next moment, for it was +evident from the movements on the enemy's part that they were being +divided into three bodies, each under a couple of leaders, who were +getting their ragged, half Indian-looking followers into something like +military form, prior to bringing them on to the attack in a rush. + +Fitz watched all this from behind one of the breastworks he had seen put +up by the carpenter, who was going about testing the nailing of the +boards, and as he did so giving Don Ramon's followers a friendly nod +from time to time, as much as to say, Only seeing as it had got a good +hold, mate,--and then, once more forgetting Poole's reminder, the boy +said excitedly-- + +"Well, I don't think much of Don Villarayo's tactics. He's exposing his +men so that we might shoot half of them down before he got them up to +the astack." + +"Oh, they're no soldiers, nor sailors neither," replied Poole. "It's a +sort of bounce. He thinks he's going to frighten us out of the place; +and we are not going to be frightened, eh, Chips?" + +"_We_ are not, Mr Poole, sir; I'll answer for that. But I don't know +how Mr Ramon's chaps will handle their tools." + +"I should say well," cried Fitz, still warming up with the excitement, +and speaking frankly and honestly. "They'll take the example of you old +men-of-war's men, and fight like fun." + +"Thankye, sir," said the carpenter, brightening up. "Hear him, Mr +Poole? I call that handsome. That's your sort, sir! There's nothing +like having one of your officers to give you a good word of +encouragement before you start, and make the sawdust and shavings fly." + +Just at that minute Don Ramon, who had been hurrying from side to side +encouraging his followers, uttered a warning shout which was echoed by +an order from the skipper to his men not to waste a single cartridge, +and to aim low. + +"Bring 'em down, my lads," he said. "Cripple 'em. We don't want to +kill." + +He had hardly spoken when the nearest body of the enemy uttered a wild +yell, which was taken up by the others, and all advanced clear of the +bushes at a run, firing wildly and without stopping to re-load, dashing +on, long knife in hand. + +But before they had accomplished half the distance, each party was met +by a ragged volley from Don Ramon's men, whose instructions had been +carefully carried out. + +This staggered the enemy for the moment, but they came on, leaping over +or avoiding their wounded comrades, and gaining confidence at the +silence within the hacienda, they yelled again. So far not one of the +Englishmen had fired a shot, but now at a word from the skipper, a slow, +steady rifle fire began, with every shot carefully aimed, and seeming to +tell, so that ere they got close up to the walls of the hacienda, nearly +a score had dropped, the skipper having used his rifle and then stood +with the barrel of his revolver resting on the edge of a plank and +picking off man after man. + +In the brief space of time occupied by the advance the enemy had had +little time to think, but suddenly the fighting madness died out of one +of the rough-looking bravos as he saw a companion at his side throw up +his arms just in front of one of the windows and fall backwards. That +started the panic, for the man turned with starting eyes, uttered a yell +of dismay, and dashed back. + +"Look at that," growled the carpenter. "Just like sheep. One goes for +the gap in the hedge, and all the rest will follow. Ah, you may shout, +old chap--Don whatever your name is. You'll have to holloa louder than +that to stop 'em now." + +For the whole of the attacking body was in retreat, racing for the +shelter of the trees in a disorderly crowd whose paces were hastened by +Don Ramon's men, now re-loaded, sending another ragged volley in their +rear. + +Their action was very different from that of the schooner's men, who +contented themselves with re-loading and breaking out under the +leadership of Winks into a hearty British cheer, in which Don Ramon's +men now joined. + +"Well," said Poole, taking out his pocket-handkerchief and carefully +wiping the lock of his rifle, "what do you think of that?" + +"Oh," cried Fitz excitedly, "I wouldn't have missed it for--eh? I don't +know, though," he added, after breaking off short, his eyes having lit +upon the fallen men who were crawling back into shelter. "It is very +horrid, though, all the same." + +"Yes," said Poole; "but we didn't ask them to come, and it would have +been twenty times as horrid if we hadn't stood fast and they had got in +here with those long knives." + +Fitz looked at him fixedly. + +"Think they'd have used them if they had got the day?" + +"Think they'd have used them!" cried Poole scornfully. "Why, if they +had been pure Spaniards I believe they would in the excitement; but +fellows like those, nearly all of Indian blood, if they had got the +upper hand, wounded or sound I don't believe they'd have left a man +alive." + +"I suppose not," said Fitz; "but it is very horrid, all the same. +Where's your father? Oughtn't we to go and see to the wounded men?" + +"We shall have to leave that to the enemy," replied Poole. "If we went +out they'd begin firing from under cover. But here, I say--Here, you +Chips, go and ask my governor whether we ought to do anything about +those wounded men?" + +"Ay, ay, sir," replied the carpenter; "but I know what he'll say." + +"What?" said Fitz sharply. + +"Same as Mr Poole did, sir, for sartin," and the man trotted away. + +"You sent him off because you wanted to speak to me. What is it? Is +there fresh danger?" + +"Oh no; they'll think twice before they come again. But, I say, what +have you been about?" + +"Been--about? What do you mean?" + +"Look at that gun! Why, Fitz Burnett, you've been firing too!" + +The boy's jaw dropped, and he stared at the speaker, then at the lock of +the double fowling-piece, and then back, before raising the cocks, +opening the blackened breech, and withdrawing a couple of empty +cartridges. + +"I didn't know," he said softly. "Had it been fired before?" + +"It's kept warm a long time if it had," said Poole, with his face +wrinkling up with mirth. "Do you call this being a non-combatant?" + +"Oh, but surely--" began Fitz. "I couldn't have fired without knowing, +and--" He paused. + +"It seems that you could," cried Poole mirthfully. "You've popped off +two cartridges, for certain. Have you used any more?" + +"Oh no! I am certain, quite certain; but I am afraid--in the +excitement--hardly knowing what I was about--I must have done as the +others did." + +"Yes, and you said you didn't mean to fight. I say, nice behaviour this +for an officer in your position. How many anti-revolutionists do you +think you've killed?" + +"Oh, Poole Reed, for goodness' sake don't say you think I've killed +either of these poor wretches?" + +"Any of these poor wretches," corrected Poole gravely, and looking as +solemn as he could. Then reading his companion's horror in his face, he +continued cheerily, "Nonsense, old chap! You couldn't have killed +anybody with those cartridges of swan-shot unless they were close at +hand." + +"Ah!" gasped Fitz. "And I don't really think--" + +"Oh, but you did. It was in the excitement. Every one about you was +firing, and you did the same. It would have been rather curious if you +had not. Oh, here's my governor coming along with Chips." + +"I say," began Fitz excitedly. + +"All right; I wasn't going to; but slip in two more cartridges and close +the breech." + +This was quickly done, and the skipper came up, talking to the carpenter +the while. + +"Yes, my lad," he was saying, "I'd give something if you had a hammer +and a bag of spikes to strengthen all the wood-work here.--Well, Poole," +he continued, "Don Ramon is in ecstasies. He says this is his first +success, and I believe that if I were not here he'd go round and embrace +all the lads.--But about those poor wretches lying out there. I'm not +an unfeeling brute, my lads," he continued, taking in Fitz with a glance +the while, "but all I can do I have done." + +"But there are those two men moving out there, sir, that you can't have +seen," cried Fitz imploringly, "and it seems so horrid--" + +"Yes, my lad; war is horrid," said the skipper. "I saw them when they +first went down, and"--he added to himself--"I am afraid I was +answerable for one. But, as I was saying, I have done all I could, and +that is, insisted upon Don Ramon ordering his men to leave them alone +and not fire at every poor wretch who shows a sign of life." + +"But," began Fitz, "Poole and I wouldn't mind going out and carrying +them under shelter, one at a time." + +"No, my lad," said the skipper, smiling sadly, "I know you would not; +but I should, and very much indeed. You have both got mothers, and what +would they say to me for letting two brave lads go to certain death?" + +"Oh, but surely, sir," cried Fitz, "the enemy would not--" + +"Those worthy of the name of enemy, my boy, certainly would not; but +those fighting against us are most of them the bloodthirsty scum of a +half-savage tropical city, let loose for a riot of murder, plunder, and +destruction. Why, my dear boy, the moment you and Poole got outside the +shelter of these walls, a hundred rifles would be aimed at you, with +their owners burning to take revenge for the little defeat they have +just now suffered." + +"Are you sure you are right, Captain Reed?" + +"Quite, my lad; as sure as I am that it is not all ill that we have done +this morning, for San Cristobal and Velova will both be the better for +the absence of some of those who are lying dead out there." + +He stood gazing out between two boards for some few minutes, before +turning back, and glancing round the room he said a few words to the +English defenders. + +"Splendid, my lads," he said. "Nothing could have been cooler and +better. We want no hurry at a time like this." + +"Think they'll come again, father?" asked Poole. + +"Sure to, my lad, and we shall drive them back again. After that, this +Don Villarayo will have his work cut out to get them to come up again, +and I don't believe he will succeed." + +"Will they retreat then, sir?" asked Fitz. + +The skipper smiled. + +"I should like to give you a more encouraging reply," he said, "but--Oh, +here's Don Ramon. Let's hear what he says." + +"Ah, my friend," cried the Don, coming up to grasp the speaker's hands +effusively. "And you too, my brave lads, as you English people say. It +has been magnificent," and as he shook the boys' hands in turn, Fitz +flushed vividly, feeling guilty in the extreme. "Oh, it has been +magnificent--grand! Captain Reed, if I can only persuade you to join +hands with me here with your men, and make me succeed, I would make you +Admiral of my Fleet. Ah, yes, you smile. I know that it would only be +a fleet of one, and not that till the gunboat was taken and become my +own, but I would not be long before I made it two, and I would work +until I made our republic one of which you would be proud." + +"Don't let's talk about this, sir," said the skipper quietly, "until we +have gained the day. Do you think that the enemy will come on again?" + +"The wretches, yes! But Villarayo--the coward!--will keep watching from +the rear. He seems to lead a charmed life." + +"There, my lads; you hear. But we shall drive them back again, +President?" + +Don Ramon's eyes flashed at the compliment, and then he shrugged his +shoulders and said sadly-- + +"President! Not yet, my brave captain. There is much yet to do, and +fate has been bearing very hard upon me lately." + +"It has, sir. But about the enemy; you think they will come on again?" + +"Yes, for certain--and go back again like beaten curs. You and your men +have done wonders here in strengthening this place." + +Poole drove his elbow into the ribs of Chips, and winked at Fitz, who +could hardly contain his countenance at the carpenter's peculiar looks, +for the big rough sailor seemed as bashful as a girl, and nodded and +gesticulated at the lads in turn, while the next moment he looked as if +about to bolt, for the skipper suddenly clapped him on the shoulder and +exclaimed as he turned him round-- + +"You must thank this man, President, not me, for he was my +engineer-in-chief. Weren't you, Chips?" + +"Ah, my friend," cried the Spaniard, "some day, when I get my own, +believe me that I will pay you for all that you have done." + +"Oh, it's all right, sir. Don't you worry about that. 'Course you see +it warn't much of a job." + +He took off his straw hat and wiped the great drops from his sun-browned +brow with the back of his hand. + +"You see, sir, it was like this 'ere. The skipper he puts me on the +job, and `Chips,' he says, `make the best of it you can by way of +offence.' `Niver another word, sir,' and off he goes, and here was I +when the young gents come up, all of a wax; warn't I, Mr Poole, sir? I +put it to you, sir. `Look here, sir,' I says, `the skipper's put me on +this 'ere job with my kit of tools left aboard the schooner, and not a +bit of stuff.' Didn't I, sir? Speak out straight, sir. I only asks +for the truth." + +"You did, Chips," said Poole solemnly, and setting his teeth as he +spoke; "didn't he, Burnett?" + +"Oh yes," replied the middy, "he did say something like that," and then +as he caught Poole's eye he had to turn his back, looking out through +the slit in the window and biting his tongue hard the while, while he +heard the carpenter maunder on to the President something more about not +having a bit of stuff, and every nail to straighten before he could +drive it in again. + +"Yes, that's right. Winks," said the skipper, bringing the speech to an +end, and not before it was time, for the carpenter was beginning to +repeat himself again and again. "You did splendidly, and if we had a +few hundred feet of battens and boards, we could hold this place for a +month.--Well, President," he continued, turning his back on his man, who +sighed with relief and whispered to Fitz that that was a good job done, +"and after we've driven them back again?" + +"Ah! After! Treachery, fire, powder to blow us up! The fighting of +cowards. But with your help, my brave, as soon as they are cowering +among the trees we must attack in turn." + +"No, President," said the skipper, laying his hand upon the other's +shoulders; "you are too brave and rash. This is your last stronghold, +is it not?" + +"Alas, yes!" + +"Then you must hold it, sir, and tire the enemy out." + +"Yes, yes; you are right. But food--water? What of them?" + +"Ah! There we must see what strategy will do. There is the river not +far away, and as soon as they grow thirsty, my lads will contrive that +we have enough to drink." + +"To drink--ah, yes. But the food?" + +"Well, perhaps they will contrive that too. Sailors are splendid +fellows to forage, sir." + +"Yes. If I could only be a President of sailors!" cried the President +warmly. "There seems to be nothing that the English sailor cannot do. +But can they make powder-cartridges when their own is fired away?" + +"Well, I don't say that," said the skipper; "but they know how to save +them, and not fire good ammunition to waste; and that's what you must +try to teach your men. But look out yonder; while we are talking there +is something going on." + +Don Ramon looked out keenly, ran into the next room to look out in +another direction, and then came back. + +"They are coming on again, captain," he said. "It may be an hour yet. +But they mean attack, to leave more of their force behind." + +"Now is your time, then, sir, to speak to your men. Tell them to use +the cartridges as if each was the last he had and his life depended upon +sending it home." + +"Yes, yes," said the President. "I see; I see. But when my men are +fighting and the blood is up they will not think; but we shall see." + +Within half-an-hour another and a fiercer attack was made--one more ably +sustained and better met too by the defence; for the President's words +to his followers went home, the men grasping their position, and though +the attack was more prolonged it ended by another panic and a roar of +cheers. + +"Now, President," said the skipper, "what of the next attack?" + +"I don't know," was the reply. "If one is made it will be some +treachery with fire; but you see they have retired farther back, and it +is all their leaders can do to keep them from breaking up into retreat. +Villarayo must be mad, and will be thinking how to scheme my downfall to +the end. Captain, my heart is sick. What of the coming night? What of +the darkness which will shroud them like a cloak?" + +"It will not be dark for a couple of hours yet," replied the skipper. +"We can rest now, and refresh our men. After that we must plant our +outposts with those whom we can trust the most. They will warn us of +any attack, and if one is made--well, we shall be stronger than we were +this morning." + +"Stronger! What do you mean? Do you see coming help?" replied Don +Ramon. + +"No, sir. We must help ourselves. But our men are more confident in +their strength, while the enemy is weakened by defeat." + +The hours went on and the darkness fell, with the men rested and +refreshed; every avenue by which danger could advance was carefully +commanded, and before half-an-hour of full darkness had passed one of +the vedettes formed by Winks and Poole, with Fitz to keep him company, +was alarmed by the approach of a stealthy figure, upon whom Winks +pounced like a cat upon a mouse, and dragged him towards the hacienda, +to be met directly after by the skipper, the prisoner protesting almost +in a whisper that he was a friend, but covered by the barrel of a +revolver the while. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +A CUNNING SCHEME. + +"Yes," said the skipper sternly, speaking in very fair Spanish, "you may +say you are a friend, but a friend doesn't come crawling into a camp +like a serpent. It seems to me you are a spy; and do you know what is +the fate of a spy at a time like this?" + +"Yes, yes, senor; a spy would be shot." + +"Right--to save other people's lives. Where were you going?" + +"I was coming here, senor, to the hacienda." + +"So I supposed; but what for?" + +The man seemed to hesitate, and tried to speak, but no words would come, +for he was either suffering from agitation, exhaustion, or utter fear, +and Fitz Burnett's hands turned wet and cold at the thought of the stern +judgment that would be passed upon the trembling wretch if he could not +prove his words. + +"Do you hear what I say?" said the skipper, in a stern, fierce voice. + +"Yes, yes, senor," gasped the man at last, just when the two lads had +grasped hands, each to deliver a speaking pressure to the other. + +"Tell me, then. Why were you coming here?" + +"Because I believed that Don Ramon was here." + +"Do you know Don Ramon?" + +"Yes, senor; he is an old friend." + +"We can soon prove that," said the skipper. "Here, Poole, the Don is +lying down asleep, utterly worn out, but he must be awakened to see his +friend," he added meaningly. + +Poole gripped Fitz's hand tightly, as if to say, Come with me; and the +two lads hurried off to where the Don was lying asleep, guarded by four +of his men, under the shelter of a shed. + +"I hope to goodness," whispered Poole, "that the poor fellow's told the +truth." + +"Your father wouldn't have him shot if he had not, surely?" + +Poole was silent for a few moments. + +"I don't know," he said evasively.--"Yes, friends," he said, in answer +to a challenge in Spanish, "I want to speak to Don Ramon." + +"He is asleep, senor, and must not be awakened," was the reply. + +"I know he is asleep," said Poole sharply and authoritatively, "and he +must be awakened. It is a case of life or death." + +The awakening was already performed, for at the sound of the lad's +half-angry voice the man he sought sprang up, revolver in hand, ready +for action. + +"Yes?" he said. "Are they coming on?" + +"No," replied Poole. "We have taken a spy, as we think, but he +professes to know you, sir, and asks to see you at once." + +"I'll come," said the Don; and then turning to the lads with a smile: +"Friends are very scarce; I mustn't slight this one." + +In another minute he was where the prisoner was anxiously awaiting his +coming, ready to utter a sigh of relief as the Don caught him in his +arms with-- + +"Miguel, my friend! What brings you here?" + +"I knew you were in danger," was the reply. + +"And you came to tell me--" + +"Yes, and it was a risky task. What with your enemies and your +friends," he added meaningly, "I wonder that I am alive." + +"Forgive me!" cried Don Ramon. "I had been looking upon you as one who +had forsaken me in my distress. But yes, you are right; I am in danger, +but still alive. Surely you have no worse news?" + +"Yes, the worst." + +"Well, tell me; I can bear anything now." + +"You have beaten Villarayo off twice to-day." + +"Yes, with the help of my friends," said the Don, turning in a courtly +way towards the English party. "And you have come to warn me that they +are just going to make another attack?" + +"They are, but not yet. I have been with them at the risk of my life, +and I know that the men were so horribly discouraged by their losses +that they refused to attack again, and threatened to break up and return +to their homes; but at last Villarayo has prevailed upon them to stay, +and messengers went hours ago along the passes to Velova." + +"Yes; what for?" + +"With instructions that every fighting man from the fort and the +earthworks facing the sea, is to be withdrawn, and come through the +mountains to Villarayo's help. They will be here some time to-morrow, +and you must be overwhelmed, or flee at once." + +"It is impossible," said Ramon coldly. "We are shut in here, and my sun +must rise or set to-morrow. This is my last stand." + +"But your wife--your children! Think of them." + +"I have thought of nothing else, waking and sleeping," said the Don +coldly. "But my wife would not look upon me if I forsook my country, +and my children shall not live with the knowledge that Ramon's is a +coward's name." + +"Is this your decision?" said the messenger of bad tidings. + +"Yes. Captain Reed, my brave true friend, look at him. He is half-dead +with hunger and exhaustion. Can you give him water and food?" + +"He shall share what we have, sir, and I am sorry that we cannot give +him better fare than biscuit and water; but the rations we brought with +us were small, and they are nearly at an end. Don Miguel, I ask your +pardon for me and mine. You will forgive us our rough treatment? We +were fighting for your friend." + +"I know," said the visitor faintly, and he took and grasped the +captain's hand. + +A few minutes later he was sharing Don Ramon's shelter, and struggling +hard to recoup nature with the broken biscuit he was soaking in a +pannikin of water, while Fitz and his companions returned to their old +station to resume the watch. + +They sat for some time thinking, for nobody seemed disposed to talk, +even the carpenter, the most conversational of the trio, seeming to +prefer the society of the piece of dirty-looking black tobacco which he +kept within his teeth; but the silence became so irksome, for somehow +the firing seemed to have driven every wild creature to a distance, that +Fitz broke it at last. + +"I don't know when I felt so nervous," he whispered. "I felt sure that +something that would have seemed far more horrible than the fight was +about to occur." + +"What, my father ordering that poor fellow to be shot? Yes, it would +have been horrible indeed." + +"But would the skipper have ordered him to be shot, Mr Poole, sir?" +said Winks thoughtfully. + +"I'm afraid so, Chips." + +"Humph! Don't seem like him. He bullies us chaps pretty sharp +sometimes, and threatens, and sometimes the words he says don't smell of +violets, nor look like precious stones; but I can't see him having a +chap shot because he was a spy. Why, it'd be like having an execution +without a judge." + +"Yes, very horrible," said Fitz, "but it's time of war; as in the Duke +of Wellington's time,--martial law." + +"Who's him, sir? You mean Blucher--him as got into trouble over the +Army boots?" + +"No, no," said Poole. "Mr Burnett means the law that is used in +fighting times when a Commander-in-chief acts as judge." + +"Oh! All right, sir. But it sounds a bit harbitrary, as they calls it +in the newspapers. I should have thought a hundred dozen would have +been punishment enough, without putting a stinguisher on a man right +out. I suppose it's all right, but I wouldn't have given it to him so +hot as that. Well, I'm glad he come, because now we know what we've got +to expect to-morrow. Do you know what I should like if I could have +three wishes same as you reads of in the little story-books?" + +"Camel to come up now with one of his hot steak-and-kidney puddings +boiled in a basin?" + +"_Tlat_!" ejaculated the carpenter, with a smack of the lips. "And the +inions a-smelling looshus a hundred yards away. Nay, it warn't that." + +"A carpenter's tools?" said Fitz. + +"Nay, but you ain't far off, Mr Burnett. What I was wishing for was +one of them barge-loads of neatly-cut timber as you see piled upon the +Mersey, run right up this 'ere little river ready for all our chaps to +unload. My word! Talk about a fortification! Why, I'd make a +sixtification of it with them timbers, and so quickly that to-morrow +when the enemy come they should find all our Spaniels sitting behind the +little loop-holes like a row of monkeys cracking nuts, a-laughing and +chaffing the enemy, and telling of them to come on." + +"Oh, bother!" said Poole. "Don't talk so much. It's enough to tempt +the enemy to sneak up and begin potting at us. I know what I should +like to do." And he relapsed into silence. + +"Well, what?" said Fitz, when he was tired of waiting. + +"Get all the men together and make a sally." + +"A what?" said the carpenter. "What for? Blest if ever I heard of such +a dodge as that before. What'd be the good of a she-male at a time like +this? I could make a guy, sir, if that would suit you." + +"Will you hold your tongue, you chattering old glue-pot!" + +"All right, sir! Go it! Stick it on thick! Glue-pot, eh? What will +you call me next? But what would be the good of a Sally?" + +"Sally! To issue forth all together, stupid, and surprise the enemy in +their camp." + +"Oh! Well, I suppose they would be surprised to have us drop upon them +all at once; but if they heard us coming we should be surprised. No, +sir; let them come to us, for they're about ten to one. We are safest +where we are." + +"Yes; Chips is right," said Fitz. "It would be very dangerous unless we +could get them on the run. I wouldn't do that." + +"What would you do, then?" said Poole. + +"Well," said Fitz, "you told me I was not a player, and that it was your +game." + +"Yes, but that was before you began peppering the beggars with that +double gun." + +"Now, that's too bad," cried Fitz petulantly. "There, I've done now." + +"No, you haven't. You have got something on your mind, and if it's a +dodge to help us all out of this mess, you are not the fellow to keep it +back. So come; out with it." + +"Well, I'll tell you what I've been thinking," said Fitz, "almost ever +since I heard what that Mr Miguel said about the reinforcements coming +from Velova." + +"What, to crush us up?" said Poole. "Enough to make any one think! But +what about it?" + +"Why, the fort and earthworks will be emptied and all the fighting men +on the way to-morrow to come and fight us here." + +"Of course, and they'll be here some time to-morrow afternoon, and if +they don't beat us they will be going back with sore heads; but I am +afraid that those of us who are left will be going back as prisoners. +Is that what you meant?" + +"No," said Fitz, and without heeding a faint rustling sound such as +might have been made by some wild creature, or an enemy stealing up to +listen to their words, he went on: "I was thinking that this is what we +ought to do--I mean your father and the Don--steal off at once without +making a sound, all of us, English and Spaniards too, down to that +timber-wharf." + +"But suppose the enemy have got scouts out there?" + +"I don't believe they have. After that last thrashing they drew off +ever so far, and that President is doing nothing but wait for the coming +of his reinforcements." + +"That sounds right, Mr Poole, sir," said the carpenter. + +"Well, it's likely," said Poole, and the faint rustling went on unheard. +"But what then?" + +"Whistle up the boat. The men would know your signal." + +"Yes?" + +"Load her up till the water's above the streak, and let her drop down +with the stream. I noticed that it ran pretty fast. Land the men at +the mouth; leave them to signal for the schooner to come within reach-- +they could do that with the lantern, or a bit of fire on the shore, if +they didn't hear the captain's pipe--and while they are doing that, four +men with oars row back as hard as ever they could go, to fetch another +boat-load." + +"Boat-load?" said Poole. "Why, it would take about four journeys, if +not more." + +"Very likely," said Fitz. "But there would be hours to do it in." + +"And what then?" + +"Get everybody on board the schooner and make sail for the north. Get +into Velova Bay, and you could take the town with ease." + +"And what about the gunboat?" said Poole. + +"Ah! That's the awkward point in my plan. But the gunboat is not +obliged to be there, and even if she were you could take the town if you +managed to get there in the dark; and once you've got the town you could +hold it, even if she knocked the fort to pieces." + +"Hum!" grunted the carpenter. + +"It'd be a tight fit getting everybody here on board our schooner." + +"Nonsense!" said Fitz. "I could get a hundred men on board easily; and +besides, we should all be saved." + +"And besides, we should all be saved," said Poole, half aloud. "Yes, +that's true. It does seem possible, after all, for there would be no +defenders hardly left at Velova, and we could fit up a defence of some +kind to keep off the enemy when they found we had gone and old Villarayo +came raging back; and that wouldn't be for another two days. Yes, +there's something in it, if we could dodge the gunboat again." + +"Humph!" grunted the carpenter once more. "No; there's a hole in your +saucepan, and all the soup is tumbling out. The enemy is bound to have +some fellows on the watch, and likely enough not a hundred yards from +here, and they would soon find out that we were evacuating the place, +come and take us at a disadvantage, and perhaps shoot the poor fellows +crowded up in the boat. Oh no, my lad; it won't do at all." + +"Humph!" grunted the carpenter again. + +"Don't you be in such a hurry, Mr Son-of-the-skipper," said Fitz. "I'd +thought of that, and I should keep the enemy from coming on." + +"How?" said Poole, rather excitedly now. + +"Light three or four watch-fires--quite little ones--and put up a stick +or two amongst the bushes with blankets on them and the Spaniards' +sombrero hats. They'd look at a distance like men keeping the fire, and +we could make these fires so that they would glow till daylight and go +on smoking then; and as long as smoke was rising from these fires, I +believe not one of the enemy would come near until the reinforcements +arrived. And by that time, if all went well, we should be off Velova +Bay." + +"Humph!" grunted the carpenter again. + +"It won't do, Burnett," said Poole; "it's too risky. There's nothing in +it." + +"Humph!" grunted the carpenter once more. + +"And hark at that! You've set old Chips off snoring with your plot." + +"That he aren't!" growled the carpenter. "I've heared every precious +word. It's fine, Mr Poole, sir--fine! There's only one thing wanted +to put it right, and that's them Sallies sitting round the fire. I +wouldn't have Sallies. I'd have guys. I could knock you up +half-a-dozen with crossed bamboos, each on 'em looking like +tatter-doolies looking after crows with a gun. I says the plan would +do." + +"And so do I, carpenter," said the skipper, in his quick short tones as +he stepped out from among the trees, making the three start to their +feet. + +"And I, my friend," cried Don Ramon excitedly catching the middy by the +hand. + +"Poole, my lad," continued the skipper, "get one of the other men and go +cautiously down to the landing-place with every care, and if you reach +it unhindered, whistle up the boat at once. Carpenter, get others to +help you, and start fires as quickly as you can. _Very_ small. The +others can do that, while you contrive your rough effigies.--Now, Don +Ramon, you'll take the covering of our efforts with your men while mine +work. Remember, it is for our lives, and our only chance." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +FITZ SHOWS PEPPER. + +"Here, Mr Burnett!" came out of the darkness, and Fitz stopped short. +"Yes, sir." + +"Do you know that you are a great nuisance?" + +It was invisible, but Fitz flushed and felt, after his fashion, peppery. + +"I don't understand you, sir," he said hotly. + +"I spoke plainly, my lad. You are always in my way, and you never were +more so than at this minute." + +"Then why did you take me prisoner, sir?" said the boy angrily. + +"Why, in the name of thunder, did you come and tumble down my hatchway +instead of stopping on the gunboat? I didn't ask you to come. Here, +you are as bad as having a girl on board, or something made of wax, that +mustn't be spoiled. I can't stir without thinking of having to take +care of you." + +"Oh," cried Fitz angrily. "This is adding insult to injury, sir." + +"Well, yes, it don't sound very pleasant, does it, my boy? But you are +a young nuisance, you know. I mustn't have you hurt. You see, Poole's +my own, and I can do what I like with him; but you--Now then, what were +you going to do?" + +"I was going with Poole, sir." + +"Of course!" cried the skipper angrily. "Just like a middy. I never +had anything to do with one before, but I've heard times enough from +those who have, that if there's a bit of mischief afloat, the first nose +that goes into it is a middy's." + +"I don't know what I've done, sir, that you should keep on insulting me +like this." + +"Insult! Bah! Is it insulting you to stop you from going into the most +dangerous bit of to-night's work?" + +"Poole's going, sir." + +"Yes; to do his duty as my son, in this emergency. But it's not your +duty, and you will be in the way. It's very risky, my lad. For aught I +know there may be half-a-dozen scouts between here and the +landing-place, waiting to shoot down any one who tries to open up +communication with the boats." + +"I know that, sir." + +"And yet you want to go?" + +"Yes," said the boy warmly. "You are going to send poor Poole, and I +want to share his danger with him. I might help him." + +"I am going to send poor Poole? Yes, my boy, because I am obliged. +That job has to be done, and I'd sooner trust him than any one here. I +can't spare my men, and I can't send one of these Spanish chaps. It +won't do to have it muffed. But _poor_ Poole, eh? You seem to have +grown mighty fond of him all at once." + +"Oh no, I'm not," said the boy haughtily; "but he has been very kind to +me, and I'm not ungrateful. I might be able to help him if he gets into +danger." + +"Oh," said the skipper; "and suppose you get into danger?" + +"Oh, then he'd help me, sir, of course. I'm sorry for him. He can't +help being a filibuster's son." + +"Filibuster, eh? So I'm a filibuster, am I? Upon my word, you're about +the most cheeky young gentleman I ever ran against in my life. Well, +all right. You must chance it, I suppose." + +"Yes, please," said Fitz eagerly. + +"Yes, please, eh? Well, keep your eyes well skinned, my lad. You two +sharp-eyed youngsters ought to be able to take care of yourselves; but +look here, I don't want you to fight. This is our mess, not yours." + +"Well, I don't want to fight," said Fitz. "I want to get back on board +some English vessel." + +"Same here. That's what I want to do: get you on board the schooner. +That's an English vessel." + +"But not the sort I want, sir." + +"Beggars mustn't be choosers, my lad; but there, I've no more time to +talk. Just one word, though: I don't want you to fight, but I see +you've got my double gun, and I'll just say this. If you see Poole in +difficulties with any of those murderous mongrels, nine parts Indian and +one part Spaniard, don't you flinch about using it." + +"I shouldn't, sir, then." + +"All right; then be off." + +The skipper turned away, and Poole hurried up. + +"What's my governor been saying to you?" + +"Bullied me for being here," replied Fitz; "but he said that I might go +with you." + +"He did!" + +"Yes, and gave me orders to shoot all the niggers who attacked you." + +"Hooray! Then come on." + +The two lads hurried off together through the darkness, leaving the +hacienda and its defenders behind as they began to retrace their steps +along the rough track leading to the corduroy road. + +"Here, we mustn't talk," whispered Poole. "There's pretty nearly sure +to be a post of the enemy somewhere in front. We can't have such luck +as to get down there to the river without something in our way. I'll go +on first." + +"That you don't," said Fitz. "If any one goes first I will." + +"Now, no nonsense!" cried Poole angrily. "I'm boss of this job, and if +you don't do as I tell you I'll leave you behind." + +"I've got your father's orders to come and take care of you," retorted +Fitz; "and if you come any of your bounce and cheek now there'll be a +row, and it will end in my punching your head." + +"Poof! Cock-a-doodle-do!" whispered Poole. "There: come on! Let's +walk side by side. I'll settle all that with you when the work is done. +I say, keep your eyes skinned, and both ears wide open. I'll look to +the right, you look to the left. We'll get on that wooden road and +follow it down to the wharf." + +"Pretty wharf it is! I say, I hope those poor fellows haven't been +murdered." + +"Oh, don't talk like that. They've got the boat, and let's hope they're +safe. But it's been hard lines for them, waiting there all this time, +with nothing to do but nibble their biscuits and kill flies.--Pst!" + +Fitz imitated his companion's act and stopped short, his eyes striving +hard to pierce the gloom in front; but for nearly a minute both stood on +the strain. + +"Nothing," said Poole. "Come on. It was some little animal escaping +through the bushes; but make ready." + +The clicking of the locks of both pieces sounded painfully loud in the +silence as they went cautiously on, stopping again and again to listen, +each wishing they could hear some sound to relieve the painful tension +from which they suffered; but everything living seemed to have been +scared away, and they kept on without interruption, while the river +instead of getting nearer seemed to grow farther off, till at last Poole +slipped on one of the muddy logs which formed the road, and nearly went +headlong, but was saved by his companion, who in his effort to hold him +up, fetched him a sharp rap on the head with the barrel of his gun. + +"Thank you," said Poole. + +"Oh, I only tried to keep you up," said Fitz, breathing hard. + +"I meant for that affectionate crack you fetched me on the head. I say, +this arn't sporting, you know." + +"What do you mean?" whispered Fitz. + +"I mean, don't shoot me so as to fill the bag." + +"Don't fool," cried Fitz angrily. + +"All right; but don't hit me again like that. It hurts." + +"Pish! It was an accident. I am afraid--" + +"So am I," said Poole, taking him up sharply; "horribly." + +"I mean, that we have got on the wrong road." + +"I thought so; but we can't be. There is only this one, if you call it +a road, leading straight down to the river--no, not straight; +circumbendibus-y." + +"No," said Fitz, "it must have branched off, or we should have been at +the river long enough ago." + +"No, we have come too slowly." + +"Where is the river, then?" said Fitz. + +_Plash! Quenk_! + +At that moment some kind of waterfowl rose from its lair with a good +deal of fluttering of its wings, and a plaintive cry of alarm. + +"Ah!" sighed Fitz, with a deep expiration of his breath. "At last!" + +"Yes, at last. Mind how you come. The wharf must be just here. Can +you make out that bank of mist?" + +"Yes; I can see the top of it cut off quite sharply, and with the stars +above it. That must be the river, then." + +"That's right," said Poole. "Here, look out; we are quite close to the +edge of the wharf. I say, what luck! We've got here safely, after all. +Ah-h! What are you about?" + +"Slipped," said Fitz, with a gasp. "The wood's like ice." + +"Precious hot ice. I'm dripping. Do take care. If you go overboard +you'll be swept right away, and I'm bothered if I come after you." + +"I don't believe you," said Fitz, with a little laugh. "But oh, I say!" + +"What's the matter now? Smell crocs?" + +"No, no. I was thinking about those poor fellows in the boat. It's so +horribly silent. Surely they have escaped." + +Poole was silent for a few moments, and it seemed to the middy that he +was breathing unusually hard. + +"Is anything the matter?" whispered Fitz, at last. "Oh, don't talk like +that!" came in an excited whisper. + +"Then why don't you give the signal? What is it?" + +"I was listening, and fancied I heard some one coming behind us. Face +round, and if any one tries to rush us let 'em have it--both barrels. +Those big shot of yours may check them, and I'll hold my bullet in +reserve." + +Fitz made no answer, but breathed harder as he stood ready with his +fingers on the triggers. + +"Fancy," said Poole at last. "Now then." + +"Are you going to shout?" + +"No; I've got the dad's pipe," and applying the little silver whistle to +his lips he made it give forth one little shrill chirrup, and then +waited, while the stillness seemed to Fitz more awful than before, and +his heart sank lower with the dread lest the men were dead, the boat +gone, and his project completely at an end. _Chirrup_! + +Another what seemed to be a painfully long pause, and then _Chirrup_! +once again. + +The pause seemed even longer than before to the listeners, but the +interval was short indeed before from out of the mist in front came a +low hoarse "What cheer, oh!" followed by a sneeze and a grunt. "Teals?" +cried Poole. + +"Ay, ay! Two on us," came back. "Shall we pull ashore?" + +"Yes; come on." + +"Right. That you, Mr Poole?" + +"Yes! Look sharp!" + +There was a loud rustling, apparently about a hundred yards away, +followed by the scraping of an oar over the side of the boat, and then +the sound of paddling coming nearer and nearer, till the dimly-seen +forms appeared out of the mist, and the boat grated against the side of +the rough pier. "How goes it, sir?" said one of the men. "All right so +far," replied Poole. "But how is it with you two?" + +"Offle, sir." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Heads so swelled up with skeeters that we can't wear our hats. We've +finished the grub, and to-morrow morning we was a-going to toss whether +I should eat him or him should eat I." + +"No nonsense," said Poole. + +"No, sir; there arn't been none," said the speaker, in a low growl. +"This 'ere's been the roughest job I was ever on. We'd have given +anything to come and jine our mates so as to get a shot. Anybody lost +the number of his mess?" + +"No," said Poole. "No one even hurt." + +"'Cept us, sir, and we've each of us got ten hundred million wounds." + +"Wounds?" + +"Yes, sir; skeeters. Trunks as big as elephants. They'd have sucked +poor Jem here quite dry, only he did as I did, made it up with water, +and there was plenty of that.--But you've come to fetch us, haven't +you?" + +"No; only to set you on the alert." + +"On the which, sir? What ship's that?" + +"Nonsense!" cried Poole. "We are all coming down to get on board the +schooner as quickly as we can." + +"And a blessed good thing too," growled the other man. "But you'd +better stop where y'are, for this 'ere's an awful place. Anybody might +have my job for me." + +"Yes," said Poole, "I know it must have been terribly bad, but we are +off again directly with the news that you two are all right." + +"That we are which, sir?" said the first speaker. "Oh, I say, Mr +Poole, sir, don't go and tell the skipper a lie like that." + +"No, no; of course I'll tell him about how you have suffered; but we +haven't been lying in feather-beds up there. Here, I say, Fitz, don't +laugh." + +"I couldn't help it," cried Fitz. + +"No, sir, you couldn't," said the first man. "We couldn't at first. I +laughed at Jem to see him smacking his own face all over, and he laughed +at me and said mine looked beastly. And we didn't either of us look +nice when the sun rose this morning, not even when we'd had a good wash. +But it's all over now, as you are coming down, and the first thing Jem +and me's going to do as soon as we gets aboard the schooner is to go and +hide our heads in the hold. Say, Jem, old lad, I wonder what Chips will +say to you when he sees your mug!" + +"Just the same as he will say to you, messmate, about yourn." + +"Hush! Don't talk. Get back into hiding again, and be ready to pick up +the first load as soon as they come down." + +"What of, sir? Prisoners or plunder?" + +"Spaniards, my lad. Come, be serious. We are in a queer fix up there, +shut in by the enemy. Have you seen anything of them here?" + +"Yes; about a couple of dozen ugly-looking beggars, sort of +mahogany-brown, come and had a look; but they didn't see us, and went +back. It was just afore that first firing began." + +"That's right," cried Poole. "Back with you; but it won't be long +before some one comes, and then you must drop down to the coast, signal +the schooner, land your load, and come back; but keep two men to help +you." + +"Ay, ay, sir." + +"One word; you haven't seen any of the Teals, I suppose?" + +"Oh yes, sir. Old Butters rowed up with the dinghy this evening." + +"Last evening, mate," growled the other. + +"Yes, that's right, messmate. He just had a word with us. Mr Burgess +sent him. He wanted news, but of course we had got none, only about the +shooting. The bosun said that if the skipper didn't soon come back he +was afraid accidents would happen to the schooner--catch fire, or +something--for old Burgess was making it so hot for everybody that he +was glad to get away in the little boat." + +"Off with you!" said Poole, and he and his companion hurried back +through the gathering mist. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. + +WINKS'S SALLYS. + +The distance back to the hacienda seemed short enough, and in +anticipation of his mission proving successful, the skipper had his +first boat's load told off ready for their start. + +"Well done! Splendid!" he said to the lads. "Off with you back. Take +the command, Poole. Are you going again, Mr Burnett?" + +"Yes, sir; of course." + +Fitz turned sharply round when he was addressed, from where he was +standing with the carpenter, after noting that here and there at a +distance a tiny fire was burning, indicating the different posts between +them and the enemy, and just before Winks had come hurriedly up to him +and given him a nudge. + +"I arn't got them set up yet, sir," he whispered, "but I've made four. +Not much to look at, but they will be all right. Two crossed sticks, +bamboos, blankets, and them Spanish hats. There's two Sallys and two +Guys. The Sallys has got the blankets right over the tops with the hats +down close. They looks just like old women a little way off.--Going +back again, sir?" + +"Yes," replied Fitz. "We shan't be very long this time." + +"All right, sir. I shall have the traps set by the time you come again. +My word! I should like to be there when the Span'ls finds they are +nothing but a set of paddies. I should like to hear the words they +said. It would be something pretty in bad Spanish, I'll be bound." + +"Now, Mr Burnett," cried the skipper sharply, and somehow feeling as if +he were one of the schooner's officers, the middy hurried off, helping +to guide the party, consisting of Don Ramon's followers all but two, and +succeeding in reaching the wharf without an adventure, the boat coming +up at once on hearing their approach, and in a very short time loaded +gunwale down, gliding off along the swift stream. + +"That's one lot," said Poole excitedly, as the stern of the boat +disappeared. "Well, we had no orders, but of course we've got to go +back for another lot and bring them down. I suppose we shall have them +here long before the empty boat returns from the schooner." + +"It will be a stiff pull against the stream," said Fitz. + +"Yes, but empty, and I made them fully understand that they were to +start back after shipping the men and communicating with old Burgess. I +think that will turn out all right." + +It did, and in due time a second load was despatched to the schooner, +forming half the human cargo she would have to bear. + +They were anxious times during these journeys in the boat. All was +going well, but at any moment the fiction of the watchers by the fires +might have been discovered, and the enemy come on to the attack upon a +force weakened first by one-fourth, then by half, and later on by +three-fourths of its number, the danger increasing at a terrific ratio +for those who were left. At last, still keeping manfully to their +posts, the last portion--the last quarter of the little force--stood +waiting, nearly all English, those of Spanish descent consisting of Don +Ramon and his most staunch adherent. + +The skipper had urged him to go with the third party, but he had +scornfully refused. + +"What!" he cried. "Provide for my safety, and leave you brave +Englishmen to fight my battle all alone! Bah! You would never be able +to call me friend again. But tell me this: why did you not go yourself +and leave me to guard the hacienda till the boat came back?--Hah! You +say nothing! You cannot. No, I shall stay, and we will escape +together, ready to sail round, seize Velova, and meet mine enemies when +they return." + +The peril seemed to increase minute by minute, as the little party +watched, straining their ears in the darkness to catch the slightest +sound, while it seemed hours since the last party had left them, and +they awaited the coming of the two lads to announce that the boat had +returned. + +It was weary work for these goers to and fro, but excitement and +exertion kept them from feeling the agony of the Englishmen who, +apparently calm, kept watch and ward at the hacienda, while from time to +time the skipper and Winks went from fire to fire, mending them and +arranging more fuel so that when they were left for good they might +still keep burning. + +They had been round for the last visit, and returned to the hacienda, +walking very slowly, and pausing from time to time to listen for any +movement in the enemy's lines, and at last they stopped short close to +the spot where the carpenter had destroyed the snake, when after +standing for some time listening to a faint murmur of voices close at +hand, coming from the waiting crew, the carpenter uttered a peculiar +husky cough. It was so strange and unnatural that the skipper put the +right interpretation upon it at once. + +"Yes?" he said. "You wanted to ask me something?" + +"Yes, sir. It's this waiting makes me want to speak. I can't stand the +doing nothing at a time like this. I'd ten times rather be on the +fight." + +"So would I, Winks, if you come to that. It's a cruel strain, my lad. +Worse than being in the wildest storm. But go on; what did you want to +say?" + +"Oh, only this, sir. I want you to give me orders to go round again and +give the fires a poke. You needn't come, sir. You are wanted here. +You can trust me to do the lot." + +"Yes, I know that," said the skipper sternly; "but that isn't all. You +were thinking something else, and now it's come to the point you are +afraid to speak." + +"How did you know that, sir?" said the man huskily. + +"By your manner and the tone of your voice. What is it you are +thinking? Out with it at once." + +"Well, sir, I dunno how you come to know, but it has come over me just +lately like a skeer. Aren't the young gents been much longer this +time?" + +"Yes, much," replied the skipper; "or else it seems to be." + +"I thought so, sir, and I've got so now that I feels as if I can't bear +it. What are you going to do, sir? Follow 'em up and see what's +wrong?" + +"I shall give them ten minutes longer, Winks. I meant to stay here to +the very last, ready to give the enemy a volley and a check if they +should come on; but now the time has come to hurry on to the wharf and +wait there in the hope that the boat may still come and take us off +without further waste of time." + +"But don't let me make you downhearted, sir," said the carpenter, trying +to speak cheerily. "I'm a bit of an old woman in my ways sometimes. +Maybe it's all right, after all." + +"Maybe it is," said the skipper. "We are tired out and over-anxious +now. It's quite possible that we shall have them back here soon." + +"Pst!" whispered the carpenter. "There's some one coming." + +It was from their rear, and the next moment they were joined by Don +Ramon. + +"Ah, you are here," he said. "Is it not time that the boys came back?" + +"Nearly," said the skipper quietly. + +"No, no," said Don Ramon; "they have been twice too long. Something +must have happened, or they would have come by now." + +"Pst! Look out!" whispered the carpenter, and he cocked his rifle. +"No: all right," he continued. "It's not from the enemy's side." + +He was quite right, for directly after the two boys trotted up. + +"All right, father," cried Poole. "The boat's back." + +"We thought she would never have come," added Fitz. "They have had a +very hard pull up stream, for the water has risen, and they thought that +they'd never get to the landing-place." + +"But they are there!" cried the skipper eagerly. "What about the +others? Have they got on board?" + +"Everything was going right, father. I had a few words with Butters, +and he was very eager to know how soon I could get you all down." + +"And you couldn't tell him?" + +"No, father.--I think that's all." + +"Bravo! Magnificent!" cried Don Ramon. "You have both done wonders," +and to the lads' disgust he caught them in turn to his breast and kissed +them. "It is grand, and your fathers should be proud. My lads, it is +the grandest thing in life to be a Spaniard of pure Castilian descent, +but next to that the greatest thing in the world is to be an English +boy." + +"This is no time for compliments, Don Ramon," said the skipper sternly. +"They have done their duty; that is all. Now then, will you lead on at +once with half our party, and I with the rest will form the rear-guard. +If even now the enemy come up we shall be able to hold them in check. +We shall fire, and then double past you and your party, who will halt +and fire, and then retire past us again. We are very few and they are +many, but I think we can reach the boat in safety after all." + +The Don made no reply, but put himself at the head of his little party +at once, leaving the skipper, the two lads, and the remainder facing the +enemy's camp and watching the flickering fires between, the hardest task +of all when the way was open and they felt that with a good rush they +might reach the boat in safety. + +But discipline was master, and fighting down all desire to break away, +the remnant of the little force stood waiting, while the carpenter made +a last effort to find himself something to do, by suggesting that it +would be best perhaps to give them there fires just another touch. + +"No," said the skipper sternly. "In another two minutes we shall follow +on." + +"Thank goodness!" whispered Fitz excitedly. "I don't feel as if I could +stand any more." + +"Not even one of Don Ramon's speeches and a hug?" + +"Oh, don't talk about it," whispered Fitz angrily. + +"What! Isn't it grand to be an English boy?" + +"Bosh!" cried Fitz, and like an echo of his ejaculation came the +skipper's command-- + +"Forward!" And directly afterwards, "Poole--Mr Burnett--will you watch +with me?" + +The lads stepped to his side at once. + +"The last to turn our backs, Fitz Burnett," whispered Poole. "The place +of honour after all." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. + +ABOARD AGAIN. + +The little party strained their ears as they tramped silently on towards +the boat; but not a sound was heard suggesting that the enemy grasped +the fact that the strategy had been cleverly carried out. The dull +reflection of the fires had from time to time been faintly discernible +upon the low-hanging mist; but this soon died out, and fortune seemed to +be smiling kindly upon their efforts now. + +"I'd give something to know what time it is," whispered Poole, and he +took a step nearer to his father to ask him how long he thought it would +be before day. + +"I haven't the least idea, my boy," he replied. "The night has seemed +far too short, but it must be nearly at an end. But if we can once get +into the boat and reach the schooner I shall begin to hope that we may +reach Velova before the enemy." + +"We have got much farther to go than they have, though, father." + +"Yes, and everything will depend upon how long it is before the +reinforcements come and they make their advance. It may be hours yet, +and it may be before the break of day. There, don't talk to me again, +my lad; I want to think." + +So it was in silence and darkness that the corduroy road was traversed, +and the rear-guard reached the little wharf to find the advance +gathered-together, waiting to fire or descend at once into the boat. + +There was not a sound to be heard from the direction by which they had +come, and the skipper giving the order to embark at once, the men +stepped down carefully and well, till, dangerously packed, the order was +given to push off, Poole and Fitz being together in the stern, where the +skipper passed out an oar to steer, and they began rapidly to descend +the flooded stream. + +"There must have been rain in the mountains," he said quietly, and then +aloud, "Sit fast, my lads, and keep her well in trim. Two oars out +there, just to give me steering way, but you need hardly pull. +Everything depends upon your keeping steady. There, boys," he said, to +those at his side, "we are none too soon. It's lightening yonder in the +east." + +That morning the sun, as it rose high above the mist, shone down upon +the crowded decks of the schooner, her white sails glistening as the +land was left behind, with Poole and Fitz Burnett using the glass in +turn to watch the mouth of the little river; but they watched in vain, +for there was no sign of enemy hurrying to the bank, nothing to disturb +the peace and beauty of the scene. + +Poole scuffled up to the masthead, glass in hand, and Fitz Burnett +followed him, to stand as near as he could, with the ratlines cutting +into his feet and a crick coming in the back of his neck, as he held on +tightly, and leaned back watching his companion's action, longing to get +hold of the glass and use it himself. In fact, he was suffering from +that impatience which often attacks us all and makes us feel as we watch +another's action how much better we could do it ourselves, from the +greatest matter down to such a trifle us untying a knot in a piece of +string. Meanwhile, with the white sails swelling out above and below, +and the double glass to his eye, the skipper's son was slowly sweeping +the coast-line, letting nothing escape him, as he looked in vain for +some sign of the enemy. + +"See her, my boy?" came from the deck, and Fitz looked down, to see that +the skipper and Don Ramon were watching them. + +"No, father," cried Poole. "I wasn't looking out to sea." + +"Then why don't you?" cried the skipper angrily. "Are you trying to see +cocoanuts on the trees? Sweep the horizon, sir, and give us the first +notice of that gunboat's masts." + +"All right, father," said the lad quietly, and he wrenched himself round +and made the lenses of the binocular slowly travel along the +horizon-line, as he rocked gently here and there with the action of the +schooner riding swiftly over the long smooth swell; for there was a +pleasant breeze, all possible sail was set, and they were rapidly +diminishing the distance between them and Velova Bay. + +"See her?" said Fitz, as he noted that the skipper and his Spanish +friend had walked together forward--Don Ramon's followers, who crowded +the deck and sent up scores of tiny films of smoke from their +cigarettes, politely making way and forming quite a lane for their +leaders. + +They were idling, chattering, and laughing together, the very types of a +party of idlers out on a sea-trip, and their rifles were leaning against +the bulwarks here and there, lying about the deck, or stuck in sheaves +together with their barrels appearing above the sides of the boats +swinging from the davits. + +No one could have imagined from their careless indolent bearing that +they were posing as patriots, men who a short time before had escaped +from a deadly peril, and were now for aught they knew sailing straight +away into one as great. + +They formed a strong contrast to the old men-of-war's men, who retained +their well-drilled bearing as the crew of the schooner, eager, alert, +and ready at any moment to spring to sheet and brace at the mate's +orders when they went upon another tack. + +"No," replied Poole, after a long interval. "There's a shoal of fish +out yonder, and something sprang out farther to the east and went in +again with a splash, and there's a bad sign out yonder; cat's-paws on +the surface." + +"You don't mean to say that it looks like a calm coming?" + +"Just like that," said Poole slowly, with the glass still at his eye. + +"Well?" rose from the deck, as the two chiefs came slowly back. + +"Nothing, father--not a sign," cried Poole. "Well, you needn't stop up +there, my lad. Come down, and go up again in a quarter of an hour's +time." + +Poole slipped the glass into the case slung from his left shoulder, laid +hold of a rope, and looked at his companion, who did the same, and they +slid down together and dropped upon the deck, to begin walking forward. + +"I shan't be sorry," said Poole quietly, "when all these fellows are +ashore." + +"Nor I neither," replied Fitz, and then he turned his head sharply, for +a familiar head was thrust out of the galley, where the stove was black +and cold. + +"Weel, laddies," whispered the Camel, "I have had to put up the shutters +and shut up shop, for I canna pretend to feed all this lot; but ah'm +thenking ye'll feel a bit hungry now and then, and when ye do, joost go +below into the cahbin when there's naebody looking, and open the little +locker. I dinna mean to say another word, but--" He closed one +ferrety-looking red eye, laid a finger alongside of his nose, showed his +big teeth, and drew his head in again. + +"A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse," said Poole, laughing. +"Well done, Camel! But that's all you, Fitz." + +"Nonsense! It was a hint for both." + +"No. He has taken a fancy to you. He told me himself he had, and that +it was his doing that you got up your strength so quickly." + +"Oh, gammon!" cried Fitz petulantly. + +"No, it was what he calls his pheesic. He told me that when a man was +in bad health--crenky, he called it--that the thing to pull him round +was soup; and you know how he was always scheming something of the kind +for you. I shouldn't like to analyse too strictly what he made it of." + +"Why, meat, of course," cried the middy. "I don't know," said Poole +dryly. "You see, it's not like being ashore; but you had soup pretty +well every day, and you said yourself that it tasted all right. But it +doesn't matter. It did you good." + +"Don't you think we had better change the subject?" said Fitz sharply. +"Yes; and we'll go up aloft again. Coming?" + +"Of course," was the reply. + +They turned back to go aft towards the mainmast-shrouds, Don Ramon's +followers making room for them to pass; but as they reached the part of +the deck where they were going to ascend, they came upon the boatswain +looking as black as thunder. + +"Hullo, Butters! Anything the matter?" said Poole. "Matter!" growled +the copper-faced old fellow. "Look at my deck--I mean, as much of it as +you can see. I am pretty nigh sick of this! A set of jabbering +monkeys; that's about what they are." + +"Up aloft again, Poole?" cried the skipper. "Just going," was the +reply, and giving up his place by the starboard main-shrouds to Fitz, +the lad ran across the deck to the port side, where he began to ascend, +the pair meeting at the masthead upon equal terms. "Here, I'd give up +the glass to you," cried Poole, "but father mightn't like it, though +your eyes are as sharp or sharper than mine. I'll give one sweep round +and report to the deck, and then you shall have a turn." + +Poole passed his arm round a stay and raised the glass to his eyes, +while Fitz took a turn round the rope with one leg, and waited, +thinking. + +"Isn't such a bad fellow," he said to himself, as he watched the +captain's son, "but he's getting a little too familiar. He seems to +forget sometimes that I'm an officer; but there, it doesn't much matter, +and it won't last long." + +"Well, my lad?" came from the deck. + +"All clear, father," was the reply, and as Fitz glanced down he saw Don +Ramon place the cigarette he was holding between his teeth and clap his +hands, while from his crowd of followers who were looking on there +ascended a loud _Viva_! + +And the hot day glided on. + +There was a fair breeze, and the schooner fairly danced over the +laughing waters, sending shoals of flying-fish skimming out before them, +with their wing-like fins glistening like those of gigantic +dragon-flies, before they dropped back into the sea. + +Rations were served out to the eager crowd, and a buzz of conversation +was kept up, to ascend to the two lads, who spent most of their time +aloft, watching, talking, and comparing notes about what a peaceful time +it seemed and how strange a contrast to the excitement of the previous +day and night. + +"It's too good to be true, my lads," said the skipper quietly, as the +afternoon glided by. "We have made such a splendid run that it isn't +reasonable to expect fortune will favour us much farther." + +"Ah, you think that?" said Don Ramon, who came up rolling a fresh +cigarette. + +"Yes, sir, I do. In another hour we shall be round that headland, and +in sight of Velova if the mate keeps us clear of that long reef of rocks +which guards the bay." + +"Ah, and then you think Villarayo will be waiting for us with his men?" + +"Oh no," said the skipper; "I can't say for certain, but I should doubt +whether he has found out as yet that we are gone. I feel certain now +that he would not stir till all his reinforcements had reached him." + +"That is right," said the Don eagerly, "and even then--I know our people +well--they will fight bravely twice, but it is very hard to move them +again. But you spoke as if you _were_ in doubt. What is it you +expect?" + +"I expect, sir, that as soon as we get round that headland we shall see +the gunboat waiting for us, and ready to open fire. And once she gets +well within range--" + +Reed stopped. "Yes, what then?" cried Don Ramon eagerly. The skipper +shrugged his shoulders. "What can we do, sir, with my schooner crowded +up like this?" + +"Fly," said the Don, with his eyes flashing. "Of course; there is +nothing else to be done. But if they have decent men to work that gun, +one well-placed shot or shell will wreck my rigging, and we shall lie +like a wounded bird upon the water." + +The Don looked fixedly in the skipper's face for some moments before +giving him a short nod and turning away to light his cigarette. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. + +NO BURGESS ABOARD. + +But the skipper's forebodings were needless. As they sailed round the +headland it was through a sea of golden light. There lay Velova with +every window flashing in the late afternoon sunshine. Small coasting +vessels were at anchor, boats were putting out to sea to reach the +fishing-grounds; and, save that through the glass a few figures could be +seen about the little fort with its flagstaff flying the national +colours, and the rough earthworks could be made out mounting a few small +guns, all was calm and peaceful. + +"There, captain," cried Don Ramon triumphantly, "what do you say now?" + +"It is for you to speak, sir. What do you say now?" + +"Sail right in as close up to the wharf as you can get; you can lay your +vessel alongside in these calm waters." + +"And if they open fire?" + +"They will not dare," cried the Don, his eyes flashing with excitement. +"We must be first, and there will be scarcely any one there." + +"But if they did, sir?" + +"If they did, my men would crowd into your boats, we should row ashore +and carry the fort and earthworks. We can do that with ease while you +come right on to where we will meet you, and help to land the guns. +Captain Reed, our young friend's plans have opened the way to triumph. +You will see that all the people in Velova now will declare for me. I +shall arm them with the rifles you have brought, strengthen the fort and +earthworks, and plant three of the pieces upon the road leading to the +mountain-pass by which the enemy are bound to come. Let them attack +then if they dare. Do you see? Do you understand?" he added quickly. + +"Yes. Excellent. Nothing could be better than your plan, sir; and if +Villarayo should not arrive till morning the game would be your own." + +"Would be! Will be," said the Spaniard fiercely. "What is to prevent +it now?" + +The skipper glanced round as they stood together aft, and saving the two +lads there was no one to overhear his words, as he leaned a little +nearer to the excited Spaniard and said, almost in a whisper-- + +"The gunboat." + +There was a faint click. Don Ramon had closed his teeth sharply, and he +turned half round to gaze out to sea. The next minute he turned back +with his brow knit and his eyes half-closed. + +"Yes, my good friend," he said quietly; "that is the great enemy. Ah! +if you could show me how to get control of that it would mean all. +Still I do not despair. She is not here now, and there is the land, the +country all before me. Let her keep away till after Villarayo has +returned, and I have scattered all his horde of ruffians, the sweepings +of the place--as I shall, for once I have landed with my warlike +supplies, all that is good and true in Velova will fight for me to the +death--and then the march to San Cristobal will be an easy task. The +news that Villarayo and his people are scattered will go before me, and +the people there will crowd to me for arms, the arms that I shall send +round by your vessel to meet me there. Oh, it will be all child's play +now, and in another few days my flag will be flying at San Cristobal, as +it will be flying here." + +"If," said Fitz quietly to Poole, as the Spaniard walked forward to +address his men, "he is not counting his chickens before they are +hatched." + +"Yes," said the skipper, who had heard his words; "and if the gunboat +does not return." + +"Well, father, there are some things in his favour," said Poole, "even +about the gunboat." + +"What?" + +"This is a very rocky coast. That gunboat must draw a good deal of +water." + +"True, my boy; true." + +"And, father," said Poole, with a smile, "they haven't got a Burgess on +board." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE. + +THE CONTRABAND. + +The evening was coming on fast as the schooner sailed on towards the +little port with her overburdened decks. + +"Are we going to run right in, Poole?" asked Fitz, as he watched the +excitement of the crowd on deck, where every one of Don Ramon's +followers was busy polishing up his rifle, to the great amusement of the +carpenter, who slouched up to where the lads were standing. "Just look +at 'em," he said. "They thinks they're soldiers; that's what they have +got in their heads. Rubbing up the outsides of them rifles! I've been +watching of them this last half-hour. They're just like an old farmer I +used to know. Always werry pertickler, he was, to whitewash the +outsides of his pig-sties; but as to the insides--my!" + +That last word sounded like a bad note on a clarionet, for, as he spoke, +Winks was holding his nose tightly between his finger and thumb. + +Fitz laughed, and asked the question that begins the second paragraph of +this chapter. + +"Seems like it," said Poole, "but I don't know whether it's going to be +safe." + +"Won't be safe for them," continued the carpenter, "if they don't run +their loading-rods and a bit of rag through them barrels. Sore +shoulders for some of them. My word, how they will kick! Soldiers!" he +chuckled. "I say, Mr Burnett, have you ever seen them there +recruiting-sergeants about Trafalgar Square, London?" + +"Yes, often," said Fitz. "Why?" + +"Nice smart-looking, well-built chaps, as looks as if their uniforms +had growed on 'em like their skins." + +"Yes, they are smart picked men of course," said Fitz. + +"That's so, sir. What do you think they would say to these +tan-leather-coloured ragged Jacks, if they went up and offered to take +the shilling?" + +"Well, they wouldn't take many of them, I think," replied the middy. + +"Take many of them, sir? I seem to see one of the sergeants now. He'd +hold that little walking-stick of his with both hands tight and close up +under his left arm, stand werry stiff, and drop his head a little on one +side as he looked down at them; and then he'd give a sniff, and that +would be all." + +But Don Ramon did not despise his followers. He was bustling about +among them, addressing and exhorting and working them up to a tremendous +pitch of excitement, making them shout and cheer till they were hoarse. +Then they swarmed into the rigging and clustered in the shrouds, to wave +their rifles and hats at the crowd gathering upon the shore and cheering +shrilly in reply, the men's voices being mingled with those of women and +children, who seemed to be welcoming them as their deliverers. + +"Well, it's all right, Don Ramon," said the skipper, who was standing by +Burgess busily conning the schooner as she glided in now towards the +shore. + +"Yes," cried the Don proudly; "it is what you call all right. You see +there will be no fighting now." + +_Bang_! went a gun from the fort, and the lads started as they gazed at +the grey ball of smoke which began to turn golden as it rose in the air. + +"They're reckoning without the fort," said Fitz excitedly, as he +strained his eyes in vain for the ball which he expected to see come +skipping over the smooth water. + +"Yes," said Poole.--"No: it was a blank. Look, they are hauling down +the flag. Oh, it's all right. A regular walk-over. Three cheers for +Don Ramon!" + +"Yes," shouted the skipper. "With a will, my lads! Three cheers for +Don Ramon!" And they were given with such energy that the Don sprang up +upon the cabin-light, to bow and press his hands to his breast. + +He was down again the next instant, to run to the skipper and catch and +wring his hands. + +"You see," he cried, "the people are with me. But you will help me +still?" + +"As far as I can," was the reply; "but you must not call upon me to land +my men and help you in your fight with Villarayo." + +"No?" said the Don, in a questioning way. + +"No," replied the skipper. "The fight at the hacienda was an exception. +I was driven to that." + +"But you will help me still? The arms--the ammunition?" + +"Yes; it is our duty to land everything safely to your order." + +"Then I want the rifles and cartridges now." + +"Yes," said the skipper. "You feel satisfied that it will be safe to +have them landed?" + +"Quite. So as to arm my friends." + +"Then as soon as your men are ashore I will have the cases got up from +the hold." + +"No," said Don Ramon; "you must do it now. Have them up on deck so that +my people can bear them ashore as soon as we reach the wharf." + +"It shall be done," said the skipper quietly. "All that I require is +your authority, that you take them in charge." + +"I give you my authority before all your witnesses," replied Don Ramon +proudly; "and I take them in charge. Is that sufficient?" + +"Quite, sir. Mr Burgess, you will lay the schooner alongside the +wharf. Pass the word for the carpenter and eight or ten men. I want +these tarpaulins and hatches off. Order your men back, Don Ramon. I +want room for mine to work." + +It was a busy scene that followed. Sails were lowered, for they were +close in now; hammers were ringing; the way down into the hold was laid +bare; tackle was rigged up; and by the time the schooner lay alongside a +fairly-made wharf, a dozen long white cases bound with hoop-iron lay +piled up upon the deck, while dozens more lay waiting to take their +place. The excitement was tremendous; the wharf and its approaches were +crowded by an enthusiastic mob, eager and clamouring for arms, which +during the next hour were lavishly supplied, along with a sufficiency of +ammunition, with the result that Don Ramon's little force had grown into +a well-armed crowd, so full of enthusiasm that they gave promise, if not +of victory, of making a desperate defence. + +At last, with the help of those who seemed to be among the chief people +of the place, the little army, well-armed, was marched away from the +waterside to take up strategic positions under Don Ramon's instructions, +after which he returned to where the skipper and his men had opened +another hatch and were busily hoisting up the little battery of +six-pounder field-guns, with their limbers, everything being of the +newest and most finished kind. These, with their cases of ammunition, +proving much heavier than they looked, were swung round from the deck +with the tackle necessary and landed upon the wharf, where they were +seized upon at once by the Don's roughly-selected artillery-men, and at +last dragged off by teams of mules to the places of vantage where they +were to be stationed; and all amidst a scene of the wildest enthusiasm. + +As the last gun was landed, hastily put together, and seized and dragged +away by a human team, Don Ramon came back from the shore, palpitating +with emotion, and hurrying to where the skipper stood upon the deck with +the lads, wiping his face after superintending every part of the +delivery himself. + +"There, Don Ramon," he cried, "my work's done, and you have got +everything safe. I hope your fellows will be careful with the +ammunition." + +"Yes, yes," was the reply; "everything is being done. I have come back +to thank you. If you do not see me again yet awhile, it is because I am +over yonder--because I am wanted everywhere at once. Captain Reed, and +you, my brave young friends, I want to tell you of the gratitude I feel, +but--but--my heart is too full. I cannot speak. But one word; +to-morrow the enemy will be here, a great battle will rage, for my +people will fight now to the very death. If I fall--" He stopped short. + +He truly could say no more, and waving his hands to them, he sprang back +on to the wharf out of the light cast by the swinging lanterns, which +had for some time past thrown their weird gleams upon the scene, and was +gone. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY SIX. + +REAL WAR. + +There was little sleep that night for those on board, for once his +little cargo was discharged, the skipper had everything made snug and +ready for putting to sea if necessary at a moment's notice. + +Most of the men had been busy over the landing of the cases and guns, +and Fitz had thoroughly enjoyed the looking on, feeling a strange +longing the while to go ashore and superintend the unpacking and putting +together of the gun-limbers, and the mounting of the pieces. Not that +there was a great deal to do, for, in obedience to instructions, the +British manufacturers had sent the little field-guns with everything so +simplified that the rough artillery-men from the Central American fort +had few difficulties with which to contend. He saw little of Poole in +the darkness, but knew that he was busy over something with a couple of +men at his beck, while a third had had a duty of his own where a bright +light had gleamed out and a little chimney had roared in a way which +made Poole anxiously consult his father, who was superintending the +landing of cases, when in their brief conversation something was said +about sparks, and then a couple of tarpaulins were rigged up with lines, +in a way which entirely cut off the galley from the rest of the deck. + +The result of all this was, that when the deck was clear and hatches +replaced, the Camel stood smiling, with glistening face, for his work +too was done, and the fresh provisions that had been abundantly brought +on board by the women of the place were in a most welcome form for the +half-starved, weary crew, and about midnight there was something as +nearly like a banquet as could be expected under the circumstances, and +to the delight of all. + +There had been no form; the only ceremony had been for officers and men +to sit down sailor or tailor fashion, cross-legged upon the deck, and +eat as much as such men would. + +"Hah!" said the boatswain, turning towards the two lads, after being +very silent for quite half-an-hour. "I call this something like; but I +do hope as the Camel's had time to pick a bit." + +So busy had the party on board been, that they had thought little about +the proceedings on shore, the less so that the excitement and noise of +shouting orders, trampling feet, and the buzz of chattering women and +children had drifted farther and farther away to the opposite side of +the town, where beyond the low houses and hovels of the poorer part of +the population the long low valley commenced which rapidly became a +pass, the key, so to speak, of the little city. + +Here Don Ramon had mustered his force, and here during the rest of the +night his men worked by the light of the stars, making a wall of stones +with openings for the field-pieces, and clearing the road behind between +them and the earthwork nearer to the fort, to which in case of emergency +they could be withdrawn ready for another stand. + +He was no novice in such matters, having passed his life as he had +amidst a volcanic people where revolutions came and went as if +indigenous to the countries bordering upon the Mexican Gulf. + +In his way he was no bad soldier, and in fact a better man than his +rival the tyrant and oppressor, whom he had been urged by the superior +part of his fellow-countrymen to supplant. + +Hence it was that before morning, and without interruption, he made the +most of the rough but enthusiastic and willing materials to his hand, so +that at last he could breathe more freely and accept the congratulations +of his friends over the knowledge they shared that Villarayo would find +when he came up that not only had he a formidable nut to crack, but the +probability before him that the nutcrackers would give way first. + +All this was plain enough in the coming daylight, when the skipper and +the two lads made their way ashore in one of the boats from the spot +where the _Teal_ was moored, floating more lightly now, and almost as +gracefully in the pearly grey light as the beautiful little waterfowl +after which she was named. + +"Why, it looks almost like an anthill," said Fitz, as they approached +the mouth of the pass, whose sides were dotted with men, most of whom +were carrying rifles, while each displayed a formidable knife in his +belt. "But there doesn't seem to be any sign of the enemy as yet." + +"No," said Poole; "but I say, father, do you think that they will be +able to manage those guns?" + +"Yes," said the skipper gravely. "The men who had the gumption to plant +them like that will be pretty sure to find out the way to use them with +effect. Besides, they have had some experience, of course, with the +old-fashioned pieces in the fort." + +"There go their colours up!" cried Fitz excitedly, as the national flag +was run up to the head of the flagstaff that had been raised during the +night. "I hope they'll win, Captain Reed, for the Don's been very +plucky, and I suppose he is in the right." + +"If he hadn't been in the right I wouldn't have helped him as I have," +said the skipper gruffly. + +"No," said Poole firmly, as if to endorse his father's words. "But +don't you think, father, that if you brought all our chaps ashore to set +these men by the guns at liberty and leave our lads to work them, they'd +manage them much better--fire more regularly and twice as fast?" + +"Yes, that they would," cried Fitz excitedly. "There's hardly one of +them who doesn't know his gun-drill." + +"How do you know that?" said the skipper grimly. + +"Oh, I asked them," replied the lad, flushing. "They all talk to me +about their old life on board different Queen's ships. It was because I +was a midshipman, I suppose. Why," he continued, growing more excited +by what he saw, "our Chips--I mean, your Chips," he said, hastily +correcting himself--"would make a splendid captain for one of the guns; +Mr Butters another, of course; and the Camel, though he's cook now. +Oh, I could man all those guns easily." + +"Like to do it, perhaps," said the skipper dryly, "and fancy that +battery was the broadside of a ship?" + +"Yes, of course," said the lad; "I mean--" he stammered--"that is--Oh, +it's nothing to do with me." + +"No," said the skipper quietly, as he stood looking critically at the +preparations Don Ramon had made, while the scene around seemed to have +had the same peculiar exciting effect upon his son as it had upon the +midshipman, for Poole said suddenly-- + +"Why, father, if you were to do that it would make all the difference, +and be like turning the scale to Don Ramon's side." + +"Yes, my boy," said the skipper, "and here he is;" for the Don suddenly +appeared, mounted upon a sturdy mule, cantering towards them, with his +steed making very light of the rugged stony ground, and stopping short +close up to the group in response to a touch upon its rein, when its +rider sprang lightly to the ground, looking as wiry and fresh as the +beast he rode, in spite of the labours of the night. + +"Ah, my friend! Welcome!" he cried. "And you too, my braves. Now," he +added joyously, his eyes sparkling with excitement, "have not my brave +fellows worked? Are we not ready for the enemy when he comes? What +have you to say? There are the guns! Tell me, are they well-placed? +You who have brought them know so much. If they are not right, tell me +what to do, and it shall be done." + +"I would not alter anything now," said the skipper gravely. + +"Why not, if they, are wrong? There is time, and plenty, for my scouts +are far enough away, and the enemy is not in sight." + +The skipper was silent, but his eyes were not idle, and he seemed to be +examining every disposition closely. + +"He does not speak," continued Don Ramon. "Then you, my young English +officer; you come from a ship with guns, what have you to say?" + +"I was wondering," said Fitz, flushing, "not about the guns, for they +seem well-placed, but whether the enemy could come down that little +valley up yonder or get round by the rear." + +"No, no, no," cried the Don exultantly. "Velova can only be reached by +this pass, which my guns command. There is no other way--by land--but +there is the sea." + +"And the gunboat?" said Fitz. + +"Ah-h, yes, the gunboat!" cried the Don, with his face convulsed, as he +clenched his hands. "The gunboat--yes. It is the key to the +Presidency." + +"No," said the skipper suddenly, "I would change nothing, Don Ramon. As +far as I know, your position is magnificent." + +"Hah!" cried the Don, with his face smoothing once more, and his eyes +lighting up with pleasure. "But you think my grand, my beautiful and +perfect little guns that you have brought me are well-placed?" + +"Capitally," said the skipper sincerely. "But they are not perfect," +said the Don, with a peculiar smile, as he keenly watched the skipper +the while. "There is one thing wanting." + +"Surely not," cried the skipper angrily. "I saw them packed myself, and +I can answer for it that nothing was left out, unless it was in the +hurry of the unpacking last night. Quick, while there is time! What +has been left behind? Do you mean there is something still on board?" + +"Yes, my good friend," said the Don softly; "the crew. Captain Reed," +he continued excitedly, "with your brave fellows to man that battery the +day must be my own. Villarayo's sun would set in blood and dust; my +poor oppressed country would rise in pride to happiness and peace; and I +should be President indeed--my people's father--he who has saved them +from slavery and chains." + +The skipper shook his head. + +"No, no," continued the Don softly. "Listen. This country is rich in +mines; there are precious stones; there is no reward you could ask me +afterwards that I would not give. I care for nothing of these things, +for I am fighting for my country and my people's homes. Captain Reed, +you have always been my friend, my trusted friend, who brought me all +these in answer to my prayer. There is this one thing more. I ask it +of my trusted friend." + +Poole glanced at his father's stern face, which seemed to turn colder +and harder than he had ever seen it before, and then turned quickly to +look at Fitz, who was watching him with questioning eyes which seemed to +say, What will he reply? + +But reply there was none, apparently for minutes, though the space of +time that elapsed could have been numbered in moments, before he spoke, +and then it was in a low, softened and pained voice. + +"No, Don Ramon," he said. "You ask me for what I cannot give." + +"Give!" cried the Don passionately. "I offer to pay you!" + +"Yes, sir," said the captain, without changing his tone, "and that makes +it worse. I tell you my heart is with you in your project, and that I +wish you success, but I am answerable to those men, their friends, and I +suppose to my country's laws for their lives. I have no right to enter +into such an enterprise as this." + +"Why?" cried the Don passionately. "You fought with me before!" + +"Yes--to save their lives and yours. It was in an emergency. This is a +different thing. I cannot do it." + +"Then you forsake me?" cried the Don angrily. "That is neither true nor +fair," replied the skipper sternly. "I have helped you truly and well, +and run great risks in bringing you those munitions of war. With that +you must be content. As for forsaking you, you know in your heart, +through my help and the counsel you have received from my young +companion here, you never stood in a better position for dealing a +death-blow at your rival's position. Is that the truth, or is it not?" + +"Ah!" cried the Don passionately, evading the question. "When your help +means so much you give me empty words." + +"That is no answer, sir," replied the skipper. "Is what I have said the +truth, or is it not?" + +Don Ramon turned upon him furiously, his eyes flashing and his hands +clenched; but as he met the Englishman's stern questioning eyes he +stopped short, fixed by them, as it were, and then tossing his open +hands in the air with a gesture which seemed to say, There, I surrender! +his angry countenance softened, and he supported himself by taking hold +of the pommel of his saddle. + +"Yes," he said wearily, "of course it is the truth. You always were the +man in whom I could trust, and I suppose you are right. Forgive me for +being so exacting. But, captain, I have so much at stake." + +"Then trust to the strength of your cause, your position, and the +bravery of your people. But I am not going to forsake you, Ramon," +continued the skipper, in a graver and softer tone, "and I will tell you +this; if the day goes against you, the schooner will be lying a few +hundred yards from shore with her boats ready to take off you and as +many of your friends as you wish to bring. I will do that at any risk, +but I can do no more." + +Don Ramon was silent for a few moments, before repeating the captain's +last words slowly. Then, after a pause-- + +"It may be different," he said, "but if matters are as bad as that, it +will be because I have fired my last shot, and Villarayo has found that +another lover of his country is in his way no more. No, Captain Reed, I +shall not have to put your hospitality to the test. I could not escape, +and leave those who have been fighting for me to the death. There," he +added quickly, completely changing his tone, "I do not mean to die; I +mean to win. Forgive me once again. You will after your fashion shake +hands?" + +"With all my heart," cried the skipper, stretching out both his, which +were eagerly caught and raised quickly to the Spaniard's lips. + +"Thank you," he cried, "I am a man once more. Just now I talked like a +disappointed woman who could not have her way.--What does that mean?" he +said sharply as there was a shout from the distance. + +"People coming down the pass," cried Fitz excitedly, and there was the +report of a rifle which ran reverberating with many echoes along the +rocks. + +Before the sounds had ceased Don Ramon had sprung upon his mule, to turn +smiling with a comprehensive wave of his hand to the trio, and then +cantered off amongst the rugged stones, while they watched him till he +reached the battery of field-pieces and sprang off to throw the rein to +one of his men. + +"That shot was the opening of the ball," said the skipper. "Now, my +lads, back aboard the schooner, to make our arrangements, Poole, for +keeping my word with the Don if he and his people have to run." + +"No!" burst out both the boys in a breath. + +"No?" cried the skipper good-humouredly. "What do you mean? This isn't +going to be a show. You don't want to stop and see the fight?" + +"Not want to stop and see it?" cried Fitz excitedly. + +"Well, I am not fond of fighting, father," said Poole, "but I do. I +want to see Don Ramon win." + +"Humph!" grunted the skipper. "Well, you must be disappointed. As for +you, Mr Burnett, the sooner you are out of reach of bullets the +better." + +"Well," cried Fitz, "I like that--coming from the skipper of a trading +schooner! Do you know what I am?" + +"Of course," was the answer, with a smile. + +"It doesn't seem like it," cried Fitz. "I know I am almost a boy +still--Don't laugh, Poole!" he added sharply, with a stamp of the +foot--"Well, quite a boy; but young as I am, I am a naval officer, and I +was never taught that it was my duty to run away if ever I came under +fire." + +"It's the safest way," said the skipper mockingly. "`He who fights and +runs away, will live to fight another day.' That's it, isn't it?" + +"I suppose so," said Fitz, getting on his stilts--"to be laughed at for +a coward as long as he lives. Look here, Captain Reed, I am your +prisoner, but you are not my captain, and I mean to stop and see this +fight. Why, I must. I shall have to tell. Captain Glossop all about +this some day, and I should look well if I owned that I had run away.-- +But you don't mean it, sir. It's all nonsense to talk of being in +danger up here, all this distance off. Yes, he is joking, isn't he, +Poole?" + +"Well, there's not much joke about it, my lad," said the skipper +gravely. "I must own that I don't want to go away myself. Seems to me +that what we ought to do is to hurry back to where the women are, get a +good supply of linen and bandages from them, and muster some bearers +for--Yes, the firing is going on, and I don't suppose that it will be +long before some poor fellows will be falling out and crawling back to +the rear." + +"Yes," said Fitz eagerly; "I never thought of that. Come on, then, and +let's make haste so as to get back in time." + +The skipper nodded, and they hurried away, but had very little distance +to go, for the sound of the firing was bringing the curious from out of +the town, and it was not long before they had been furnished with the +material for binding up wounds, and better still, with a doctor, who +joined hands with them at once in making the rough ambulance +arrangements. + +Within half-an-hour they were back at the spot where the interview with +Don Ramon had taken place, to find that which their ears had prepared +them for, the rattle of musketry going steadily on as the enemy +advanced, while they were just in time for the sharp dull thud and +echoing roar of the first field-piece, whose shell was seen to burst and +send up its puff of smoke far along the rugged valley. + +This checked the advance for some minutes, scattering the enemy in all +directions, but it was plain to the lookers-on from their post of +observation, that they were being rallied, and the speaking out of the +second gun from the battery plainly told that this was the case. + +What followed in the next two hours was a scene of confusion and +excitement far up the valley, and of quiet steady firing from the +battery, whose shells left little for Don Ramon's advance posts to do. + +They lay low in their shelters, and built up rifle-screens, hastily +made, firing as they had a chance, but their work only helped to keep +the enemy back. It was to the guns that Don Ramon owed his success. +There was no lack of bravery on the part of the enemy's officers, for +they exposed themselves recklessly, rallying their men again and again, +and gradually getting them nearer and nearer to those who served the +guns. + +But the rifle-firing was wild, and not a man among the gunners went +down, or was startled from his task of loading and laying the sheltered +pieces. All the same the enemy advanced, the rugged pass affording them +plenty of places that they could hold, and at the end of three hours +they had made such progress that matters were beginning to look serious +for the defenders of Velova, and the time had come when it was evident +to the watchers that Don Ramon was making ready to retire his guns to +his next defence, for the teams of mules were hurried up and placed in a +hollow beyond the reach of the enemy's rifles; and now too it was seen +plainly enough that Villarayo or his captains were preparing for a rush +to capture the guns, and in the excitement the skipper forgot about all +risks to him and his, and proposed that they should hurry to a spot +higher up one side of the pass and fifty yards nearer to the battery. + +This proved to be an admirable point of vantage, and enlightened the +lookers-on to far more than they had been before, for they were startled +to see how much greater was the number of the attacking force than they +had believed. + +The enemy were in two bodies, gathered-together and lying down on the +opposite sides of the pass, and the lads had hardly raised their heads +above the shelter of some stones when they saw that the order had been +given for the advance, and the men were springing to their feet. + +"I must go and warn him," cried the skipper, beneath his breath, "or he +will lose his guns; and then--" + +He said no more, but stood spellbound like his young companions at what +was taking place, for Don Ramon was better supplied with information +than he had believed, and as the attacking forces of the enemy sprang +up, he found that the direction of the battery's fire had been altered +to left and right, and the attacking forces had barely commenced their +crowded charge when the six pieces burst forth almost together with such +a hurricane of grape that a way was torn through each rough column and +the fight was over, the smoke from the discharge as it rose showing the +enemy scattered and in full flight, the steep sides of the little valley +littered with the wounded, and more and more faltering behind and +dropping as their comrades fled. + +"_Viva_!" shouted the skipper, with all his might; but it was a feeble +sound as compared with the roar of voices which rose from the battery +and beyond, while it only needed the rifle-shots of those lying in the +shelters higher up the pass, and a shell dropped here and there till the +full range of the field-pieces had been reached, to complete Villarayo's +discomfiture for that day at least. + +"Now," said the skipper quietly, "we must leave the succour of the +wounded to Ramon's own people. I am sick of all this. Let's get back +on board the schooner." + +It was about an hour afterwards that Poole went to his father on the +deck of the _Teal_. + +"Oughtn't we to have stopped a little longer," he said, "and tried to be +of some help?" + +"I should have liked to, my boy," said the skipper sadly, "but I didn't +want you and young Burnett to see what was bound to follow. The rougher +portion of Don Ramon's followers have not the same ideas of mercy to a +fallen enemy that belong to a European mind, and so I came away." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN. + +POLITICAL QUESTIONS. + +Happily for them, the boys saw little more of the horrors of the petty +war. Aboard the schooner what met their eyes were the triumphs of +peace. The next day flags were flying, bells ringing, guns firing, and +the whole of the inhabitants of the town were marching in procession and +shouting _Vivas_. + +Crowds gathered upon the shore nearest to where the schooner was moored, +to shout themselves hoarse; and not content with this, they crowded into +boats to row out round the little English vessel and shout themselves +hoarser there, many of the boats containing women, who threw flowers +which floated round. + +"I am getting rather tired of this," said Fitz, at last. "I suppose +it's very nice to them, and they feel very grateful to your father for +bringing the guns and ammunition to beat off this other President +fellow; but keeping on with all this seems so babyish and silly. Why +can't they say, `Thank Heaven!' and have done with it?" + +"Because they are what they are," said Poole, half contemptuously. +"Why, they must have been spoiling their gardens to bring all these +flowers. They are no use to us. I should call that boat alongside-- +that big one with the flag up and all those well-dressed women on +board." + +"No, don't!" cried Fitz excitedly. "Why, they'd come and shout more +than ever, and begin singing again. What's the good of doing that?" + +"I'll tell you," said Poole; "and I should tell them that it would be a +deal more sensible to go back and fetch us a boat-load of fruit and +vegetables, and fowls and eggs." + +"Ah, to be sure," cried Fitz. "It would please old Andy too; but--but +look there; they are more sensible than you think for." + +"Well done!" cried Poole, "Why, they couldn't have heard what I said." + +"No," said Fitz, "and if they had there wouldn't have been time. You +must have telegraphed your thoughts. Why, there are two boat-loads." + +"Three," said Poole. + +And he was right, and a few minutes later that number of good-sized +market-boats were close alongside, their owners apparently bent upon +doing a good stroke of trade in the edibles most welcome to a ship's +crew after a long voyage. + +"Well, boys," said the skipper, joining them, "who's going to do the +marketing? You, Poole, or I?" + +"Oh, you had better do it, father. I should be too extravagant." + +"No," said the skipper quietly. "The owners of the _Teal_ and I don't +wish to be stingy. The lads have done their work well, and I should +like them to have a bit of a feast and a holiday now. Here, boatswain, +pass the word for the cook and get half-a-dozen men to help. We must +store up all that will keep. Here, Burgess, we may as well fill a +chicken-coop or two." + +"Humph!" grunted the mate surlily. "Want to turn my deck into a shop?" + +"No," said the skipper good-humouredly, "but I want to have the +cabin-table with something better on it to eat than we have had lately. +I am afraid we shall be having Mr Burnett here so disgusted with the +prog that he will be wanting to go ashore, and won't come back." + +"All right," growled the mate, and he walked away with the skipper, to +follow out the orders he had received. + +"I say," said Fitz, "I wonder your father puts up with so much of the +mate's insolence. Any one would think that Burgess was the skipper; he +puts on such airs." + +"Oh, the dad knows him by heart. It is only his way. He always seems +surly like that, but he'd do anything for father; and see what a seaman +he is. Here, I say, let's have some of those bananas. They do look +prime." + +"Yes," said Fitz; "I like bananas. I should like that big golden +bunch." + +"Why, there must be a quarter of a hundredweight," said Poole. + +"Do you think they'll take my English money?" + +"Trust them!" said Poole. "I never met anybody yet who wouldn't." + +They made a sign to a swarthy-looking fellow in the stern of the nearest +boat, and Fitz pointed to the great golden bunch. + +"How much?" he said. + +The man grinned, seized the bunch with his boat-hook, passed it over the +bulwark, and let it fall upon the deck, hooked up another quickly, +treated that the same, and was repeating the process, when Poole shouted +at him to stop. + +"Hold hard!" he cried. "I am not going to pay for all these." + +But the man paid no heed, but went on tossing in fruit, calling to the +lads in Spanish to catch, and _feeding_ them, as we say, in a game, with +great golden balls in the shape of delicious-looking melons. + +"Here, is the fellow mad?" cried Fitz, who, a regular boy once more, +enjoyed the fun of catching the beautiful gourds. "We shall have to +throw all these back." + +"Try one now," said Poole. + +"Right," cried Fitz. "Catch, stupid!" And he sent one of the biggest +melons back. + +The man caught it deftly, and returned it, shouting-- + +"No, no, no! Don Ramon--Don Ramon!" + +Something similar was going on upon the other side of the schooner, +where, grinning with delight, the Camel was seizing the poultry handed +in, and setting them at liberty upon the deck, while now an explanation +followed. + +The three boat-loads of provisions were gifts from Don Ramon and his +people to those who had helped them in their time of need, while the +Don's messengers seemed wild with delight, eagerly pointing out the good +qualities of all they had brought, and chattering away as hard as ever +they could, or laughing with delight when some active chicken escaped +from the hands that held it or took flight when pitched aboard and made +its way back to the shore. It was not only the men in the +provision-barges that kept up an excited chorus, for they were joined by +those in the boats that crowded round, the delivery being accompanied by +cheers and the waving of hats and veils, the women's voices rising +shrilly in what seemed to be quite a paean of welcome and praise. + +"What time would you like dinner, laddies?" came from behind just then, +in a familiar voice, and the boys turned sharply round to face the +Camel, who seemed to be showing nearly all his teeth after the fashion +of one of his namesakes in a good temper. "Ma word, isn't it grand! +Joost look! Roast and boiled cheecan and curry; and look at the +garden-stuff. I suppose it's all good to eat, but they're throwing in +things I never washed nor boiled before. It's grand, laddies--it's +grand! Why, ma word! Hark at 'em! Here's another big boat coming, and +the skipper will have to give a great dinner, or we shall never get it +all eaten." + +"No," cried Poole, "it's a big boat with armed men, and--I say, Fitz, +this doesn't mean treachery? No, all right; that's Don Ramon coming on +board." + +The tremendous burst of cheering from every boat endorsed the lad's +words, every one standing up shouting and cheering as the President's +craft came nearer, threading its way through the crowd of boats, whose +occupants seemed to consider that there was not the slightest risk of a +capsize into a bay that swarmed with sharks. But thanks to the +management of Don Ramon's crew, his barge reached the side of the +schooner without causing mishap, and he sprang aboard, a gay-looking +object in gold-laced uniform, not to grasp the skipper's extended hand, +but to fall upon his neck in silence and with tears in his eyes, while +directly afterwards the two lads had to submit to a similar embrace. + +"Oh, I say," whispered Fitz, as soon as the President had gone below +with the skipper; "isn't it horrid!" + +"Yes," said Poole; "I often grumble at what I am, only a sort of +apprentice aboard a schooner, though I am better off through the dad +being one of the owners than most chaps would be; but one is English, +after all." + +"Yes," said Fitz, with a sigh of content; "there is no getting over +that." + +Further conversation was ended by the approach of Burgess, the mate, who +at a word from the captain had followed him and the President below, and +who now came up to them with a peculiar grim smile about his lips, and +the upper part of his face in the clouds, as Poole afterwards expressed +it, probably meaning that the mate's brow was wrinkled up into one of +his fiercest frowns. + +"Here," he growled, "you two young fellows have got to go below." + +"Who said so?" cried Fitz. "The skipper?" + +"No, the President." + +"But what for?" cried the middy. + +"Oh, I dunno," replied the mate grimly, and with the smile expanding as +he recalled something of which he had been a witness. "I thinks he +wants to kiss you both again." + +"Then I'll be hanged if I go," cried Fitz; "and that's flat!" + +"Haw haw!" came from the mate's lips, evidently meant for a laugh, which +made the middy turn upon him fiercely; but there was no vestige of even +a smile now as he said gruffly, "Yes, you must both come at once. The +Don's waiting to speak, and he said that he wouldn't begin till you were +there to hear it too." + +"Come on, Burnett," said Poole seriously, and then with his eyes +twinkling he added, "You can have a good wash afterwards if he does." + +"Oh," cried Fitz, with his face scarlet, "I do hate these people's +ways;" and then, in spite of his previous remark about suspension, he +followed the skipper's son down into the cabin, with Burgess close +behind, to find the President facing the door ready to rise with a +dignified smile and point to the locker for the boys to take their +seats. + +This done, he resumed his own, and proceeded to relate to the skipper as +much as he could recall of what had been taking place, the main thing +being that Villarayo's large force had completely scattered on its way +back through the mountains _en route_ to San Cristobal, while Velova and +the country round was entirely declaring for the victor, whose position +was but for one thing quite safe. + +"Then," said the skipper, as the President ceased, "you feel that if you +marched for San Cristobal you would gain an easy victory there?" + +"I know my people so well, sir," replied the President proudly, "that I +can say there will be no victory and no fight. Villarayo would not get +fifty men to stand by him, and he would either make for the mountains or +come to meet me, and throw himself upon my mercy. And all this is +through you. How great--how great the English people are!" + +Poole jumped and clapped his right hand upon his left arm, while Fitz +turned scarlet as he looked an apology, for as the middy heard the +President's last words and saw him rise, a thrill of horror had run +through him, and he had thrown out one hand, to give his companion a +most painful pinch. + +But the President resumed his seat, and feeling that there was for the +moment nothing to mind, the boy grew calm. + +"Ah," said the skipper gravely. "Then but for one thing, Don Ramon, you +feel now that you can hold your own." + +"Yes," was the reply bitterly. "But I shall not feel secure while that +gunboat commands these seas. It seems absurd, ridiculous, that that +small armour-plated vessel with its one great gun should have such +power; but yet after all it is not absurd. It is to this little State +what your grand navy is to your empire and the world. While that +gunboat commands our bays I cannot feel safe." + +"But you don't know yet," said the skipper quietly. "How will it be +when her captain hears of Villarayo's defeat? He may declare for you." + +"No," said the President. "That is what all my friends say. He is +Villarayo's cousin, and has always been my greatest enemy. He knows too +that my first act would be to deprive him of his command." + +"Then why do so?" said the skipper. "He need be your enemy no longer. +Make him your friend." + +"Impossible! I know him of old as a man I could not trust. The moment +he hears of the defeat he will be sending messages to Villarayo bidding +him fortify San Cristobal and gather his people there, while at any hour +we may expect to see him steaming into this bay. That is the main +reason of my coming to tell you now to be on your guard, and that I have +been having the guns you brought mounted in a new earthwork on the point +yonder, close to the sea." + +"Well done!" cried the captain enthusiastically. "That was brave and +thoughtful of you, Don Ramon," and he held out his hand. "Why, you are +quite an engineer. Then you did not mean to forsake your friend?" + +"Forsake him!" said the Don reproachfully, and he frowned. But it was +for a moment only. "Ah," he continued, "if you had only brought me over +such a gunboat as that which holds me down, commanded by such a man as +you, how changed my position would be!" + +"Yes," said the skipper quietly. "But I did not; and I had hard work to +bring you what I did, eh, Mr Burnett? The British Government did not +much approve of what it called my filibustering expedition, Don." + +"The British Government does not know Villarayo, sir, and it does not +know me." + +"That's the evil of it, sir," replied the captain. "Unfortunately the +British Government recognises Villarayo as the President of the State, +and you only as the head of a revolution; but once you are the accepted +head of the people, the leader of what is good and right, Master +Villarayo's star will set; and that is bound to come." + +"Yes," said Don Ramon proudly; "that is bound to come in the future, if +I live. For all that is good and right in this little State is on my +side. But there is the gunboat, captain." + +"Yes," was the reply; "there is the gunboat, and as to my schooner, if I +ventured everything on your side at sea, with her steaming power she +would have me completely at her mercy, and with one shot send me to the +bottom like a stone." + +"Yes, I know," said the Don, "as far as strength goes you would be like +an infant fighting against a giant. But you English are clever. It was +due to the bright thought of this young officer here that I was able to +turn the tables upon Villarayo." + +The blood flushed to Fitz's forehead again--for he was, as Poole +afterwards told him, a beggar to blush--and he gave a sudden start which +made Poole move a little farther off to avoid a pinch. + +"What say you, Don Burnett?" + +If possible Fitz's face grew a deeper scarlet. + +"Have you another such lightning stroke of genius to propose?" + +"No, sir," said the boy sharply; "and if I had I must recollect that I +am a neutral, a prisoner here, and it is my duty to hold my tongue." + +"Ah, yes," said the Don, frowning a little; "I had forgotten. You are +in the Government's service, and my good friend Captain Reed has told me +how you happen to be here. But if the British Government knew exactly +how things were, they would honour you for the way in which you have +helped me on towards success." + +"Yes, sir, no doubt," said the lad frankly; "but the British Government +doesn't know what you say, and it doesn't know me; but Captain Glossop +does. He's my government, sir, and it will be bad enough when I meet +him, as it is. What will he say when he knows I've been fighting for +the people in the schooner I came to take?" + +"Hah!" said the President thoughtfully, and he was silent for a few +moments. Then rising he turned to the skipper. "I must go back, +Captain Reed," he said, "for there is much to do. But I have warned you +of the peril in which you stand. You will help me, I know, if you can; +but you must not have your brave little schooner sunk, and I know you +will do what is best. Fate may favour us still more, and I shall go on +in that hope." + +Then without another word he strode out of the cabin, and went down into +his barge amidst a storm of cheers and wavings of scarves and flags, +while those on deck watched him threading his way towards the little +fort. + +"He's the best Spaniard I ever met, Burgess," said the skipper. + +"Yes," said the mate. "He isn't a bad sort for his kind. If it was not +for the poor beggars on board, who naturally enough all want to live, I +should like to go some night and put a keg of powder aboard that +gunboat, and send her to the bottom." + +"Ah, but then you'd be doing wrong," said the skipper. + +"Well, I said so, didn't I? I shouldn't like to have it on my +conscience that I'd killed a couple of score fellow-creatures like +that." + +"Of course not; but that isn't what I mean. That gunboat's too valuable +to sink, and, as you heard the Don say, the man who holds command of +that vessel has the two cities at his mercy." + +"Yes, I heard," said Burgess; "and t'other side's got it." + +"That's right," said the skipper; "and if we could make the change--" + +"Yes," said Burgess; "but it seems to me we can't." + +"It seems to me we can't. It seems to me we can't," said Poole, +repeating the mate's words, as the two lads stood alone watching the +cheering people in the boats. + +"Well," cried Fitz pettishly, "what's the good of keeping on saying +that?" + +"None at all. But don't you wish we could?" + +"No, I don't, and I'd thank you not to talk to me like that. It's like +playing at trying to tempt a fellow situated as I am. Bother the +gunboat and both the Dons! I wish I were back in the old _Tonans_ +again." + +"I don't believe you," said Poole, laughing. "You're having ten times +as much fun and excitement out here. I say," he added, with a sniff, "I +can smell something good." + +And strangely enough the next minute the Camel came smiling up to them. + +"I say, laddies," he said, "joost come for'ard as far as the galley. I +don't ask ye to come in, for, ma wud, she is hot! But just come and +take a sniff as ye gang by. There's a dinner cooking as would have +satisfied the Don. I thot he meant to stay, but, puir chiel, I suppose +he dinna ken what's good." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT. + +A NIGHT'S EXCITEMENT. + +Every one seemed bent on celebrating that day as a festival. The fight +was a victory, and all were rejoicing in a noisy holiday, while for some +hours the crew of the schooner had their turn. + +Not all, for after a few words with the skipper, the two lads went aloft +with the binocular to keep a sharp look-out seaward, and more especially +at the two headlands at the entrance to the bay, which they watched in +the full expectation of seeing the grim grey nose of the gunboat peering +round, prior to her showing her whole length and her swarthy plume of +smoke. + +Arrangements had been made below as well, and the schooner was swinging +to a big buoy--head to sea, the sails ready for running up or dropping +down from her thin yards. + +"A nice land wind," the skipper had said, "and if she came it would not +be long before we were on equal terms with her." + +"But it won't last," said Burgess gruffly. "It'll either drop to a dead +calm at sundown, or swing round and be dead ahead." + +"Well, I don't mind the last," replied the captain, "but a dead calm +would be dangerous, and sets me thinking whether it wouldn't be better +to be off at once." + +"Well, that depends on you," said the mate. "If it was me I should stop +till night and chance it. But where do you mean to go? Right away +home?" + +"I don't know yet," was the reply. "For some reasons I should like to +stop and see Don Ramon right out of his difficulties. Besides, I have a +little business to transact with him that may take days. No, I shan't +go off yet. I may stay here for months, working for Don Ramon. It all +depends." + +"Very well," said the mate coolly, as if it did not matter in the +slightest degree to him so long as he was at sea. + +From time to time the skipper in his walk up and down the deck paused to +look up inquiringly, but always to be met with a quiet shake of the +head, and go on again. + +But about half-an-hour before sundown, just when festivities were at +their height on shore, and the men were for the most part idling about, +leaning over the bulwarks and watching as much of the proceedings as +they could see, the two lads, after an hour's rest below, having +returned to their look-out, Fitz suddenly exclaimed-- + +"There she is! But she doesn't look grey." + +"No," replied Poole eagerly. "What there is of her looks as if turned +to gold." Then loudly, "Sail ho!" though there was not a sail in sight, +only the steamer's funnel slowly coming into sight from behind one +headland and beginning to show her smoke. + +All was activity now, the men starting to their different places at the +bulwarks, and eagerly listening to the skipper's "Where away?" + +"Coming round the south headland," replied Poole. + +"That's right," said the skipper. "I can see her now." + +"Well?" said Burgess. + +"I shan't move yet. It will be pitch-dark in less than an hour. We can +see her plainly enough with the open sea beyond her, but like as not +they can't see us, lying close up here under the land. The chances are +that they won't see us at all, and then we can run out in the darkness; +and I suppose you will have no difficulty in avoiding the rocks?" + +"Oh, I don't know," said the mate coolly. "Like as not I may run spang +on to them in the dark. I shan't, of course, if I can help it." + +"No," said the skipper dryly; "I suppose not." + +Their task ended, the boys slid down to the deck once more, and somehow +the thought of his anomalous position on board the schooner did not +trouble the middy for the time being, for he was seaman enough to be +intensely interested in their position, and as eager as Poole for their +escape. + +"Do you think the sun's going down as quickly as usual?" he said +suddenly; and his companion laughed. + +"What's that for?" said Fitz. "Did I say something comic?" + +"Comic or stupid, whichever you like." + +"Bah!" ejaculated Fitz angrily, feeling more annoyed with himself than +with Poole. + +"Why of course she is going down at her usual rate." + +"Sun's a he," said Fitz. "It isn't the moon." + +"Thankye. You have grown wise," replied Poole sarcastically. "Do you +know, I should have almost known that myself. But bother all this! I +want to see the canvas shaken out ready for making a start." + +"Very stupid too," said Fitz. + +"Why?" + +"Because the people on board the gunboat mayn't see us now, with our +bare poles; and even if they could make us out they wouldn't be able to +distinguish us from the other craft lying close in shore." + +"Right," said Poole sharply. "I was getting impatient. I suppose we +are going to run out through the darkness, same as we did before." + +"I hope not," said Fitz meaningly. "Once was enough for a scrape like +that." + +Poole grunted, with agreement in his cones, and then they leaned over +the bulwarks together forward, following the example of most of the men, +who were just as keenly on the look-out, and growing as excited in the +expectation of the coming adventure, all but two, who, in obedience to a +growl from the mate, lowered down the dinghy and then pulled her +hand-over-hand by the mooring-cable to where it was made fast to the big +ring in the buoy; and there they held on, ready to slip the minute the +order was given from the deck. + +Meanwhile the rejoicings were going on ashore, no one so far having +become aware of the approach of the enemy, till she was well clear of +the headland, with her smoke floating out like an orange-plume upon a +golden sky. + +"There's the signal," cried Fitz suddenly, as a ball of smoke darted out +from the front of the fort, followed by a dull thud. + +"Hah!" said Poole. "That's like the snap of a mongrel pup. By and by +perhaps we shall hear the gunboat speak with a big bark like a mastiff. +I wonder whether they will make us out." + +"So do I," said Fitz. + +"It will be easy enough to sneak off if they don't." + +"Don't say sneak," said Fitz. + +"Why?" + +"It sounds so cowardly." + +"Well, this isn't the _Tonans_. The _Teal_ was made to sail, not to +fight." + +"Yes, of course," said Fitz; "but I don't like it all the same." + +"All right, then, I won't say it again. I wonder where the dad will +make for." + +"Well, that will depend on whether the gunboat sights us. I say, does +it make you feel excited?" + +"Yes, awfully. I seem to want to be doing something." + +"So do I," said Fitz, "instead of watching the sun go down so slowly." + +"Look at the gunboat, then. She's not moving slowly. My word, she is +slipping through the water! Why, she's bound to see us if it don't soon +get dark." + +The boys lapsed into silence, and as they ceased speaking they were +almost startled by the change that had taken place on shore. + +The shouting and singing had ceased; there was no sound of music, and +the bells had left off their clangour; while in place there came a low, +dull, murmurous roar as of surf beating upon some rocky coast, a strange +mingling of voices, hurrying foot-steps, indescribable, indistinct, and +yet apparently expressive of excitement and the change from joy to fear. + +"It has upset them pretty well," said Poole. "Why, I did hear that they +were going in for fireworks as soon as it was dark, and they fired that +gun like a challenge. I shouldn't wonder if they have fireworks of a +different kind to what they expect." + +"Yes," said Fitz excitedly. "The gunboat will begin firing shells +perhaps, and set fire to the town." + +"Bad luck to them if they do," cried Poole earnestly, "for it's a +beautiful old place with its groves and gardens. Here, I say, Burnett, +I wish this wretched little schooner were your _Tonans_, and we were +going to fight for poor old Don Ramon. Don't you?" + +"There's the sun beginning to go down behind the mountain," said Fitz, +evading the question. "I say, how long will it be before it's dark?" + +"Oh, you know as near as I do. Very soon, and the sooner the better. +Oh, I say, she must see us. She's heading round and coming straight +in." + +"For us or the fort?" + +"Both," said Poole emphatically. + +And then they waited, fancying as the last gleam of the orange sun sank +out of sight that they could hear the men breathing hard with suppressed +excitement, as they stood there with their sleeves rolled up, waiting +for the first order which should mean hauling away at ropes and the +schooner beginning to glide towards the great buoy, slackening the cable +for the men in the dinghy to cast-off. + +"Here, look at that!" cried Fitz excitedly, unconsciously identifying +himself more and more with the crew. + +"What's the matter?" said Poole. + +"Wet your hand, and hold it up." + +"Right," said Poole; "and so was old Burgess. I don't believe there's a +man at sea knows more about the wind than he does. Half-an-hour ago, +dead to sea; now right ashore." + +"Stand by, my lads," growled the boatswain in response to a word from +the mate; and a deep low sigh seemed to run all across the deck, as to a +man the crew drew in a deep long breath, while with the light rapidly +dying out, and the golden tips of the mountains turning purple and then +grey, the first order was given, a couple of staysails ran with jigging +motion up to their full length, and a chirruping, creaking sound was +heard as the men began to haul upon the yard of the mainsail. + +"Ah!" sighed Fitz. "We are beginning to move." + +As he spoke the man at the wheel began to run the spokes quickly through +his hands, with the result that to all appearance the men in the dinghy, +and the buoy, appeared to be coming close under their quarter. Then +there was a splash, the dinghy grated against the side, and one of its +occupants climbed aboard with the painter, closely followed by the +other, the first man running aft with the rope, to make it fast to the +ring-bolt astern, while the stops of the capstan rattled as the cast-off +cable began to come inboard. + +"Oh, it will be dark directly," said Poole excitedly, "and I don't +believe they can see us now." + +The enemy would have required keen eyes and good glasses on board the +gunboat to have made them out, for as the sails filled, the schooner +careened over and began to glide slowly along the shore as if making for +the fort, which she passed and left about a quarter of a mile behind, +before she was thrown up into the wind to go upon the other tack, +spreading more and more canvas and increasing her speed, as the gunboat, +now invisible save for a couple of lights which were hoisted up, came +dead on for the town, nearing them fast, and calling for all the mate's +seamanship to get the schooner during one of her tacks well out of the +heavy craft's course, and leaving her to glide by; though as the +darkness increased and they were evidently unseen, this became +comparatively easy, for the war-vessel's two lights shone out brighter +and brighter at every one of the schooner's tacks. + +But they were anxious times, and Fitz's heart beat fast during the most +vital reach, when it seemed to him as they were gliding by the gunboat's +bows that they must be seen, even as he could now make out a few sparks +rising from time to time from the great funnel, to be smothered in the +rolling smoke. + +But the next minute they were far away, and as they tacked it was this +time so that they passed well abaft under the enemy's stern. + +"Ah," said a voice close to them; and as they looked round sharply it +was to see the skipper close at hand. "There, boys," he said, "that was +running it pretty close. They can't have been keeping a very good +look-out aboard that craft. It was much nearer than I liked.--Ah, I +wonder how poor Don Ramon will get on." + +That finished the excitement for the night, for the next hours were +passed in a monotonous tacking to and fro, making longer and longer +reaches as they got farther out to sea; but they looked shoreward in +vain for the flashes of guns and the deep thunderous roar of the big +breech-loading cannon. But the sighing of the wind in the rigging and +the lapping of water against the schooner's bows were the only sounds +that greeted them in the soft tropic night. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY NINE. + +"NEVER SAY DIE!" + +As long as the excitement kept up, Fitz paced the deck with Poole, but +for two or three nights past regular sleep and his eyelids had been at +odds. The consequence was that all at once in the silence and darkness, +when there was nothing to take his attention, he became very silent, +walking up and down the deck mechanically with his companion to keep +himself awake, and a short time afterwards for no reason at all that he +was aware of, but because one leg went before the other automatically, +his will having ceased to convey its desires to these his supporters, +and long after Poole had ceased talking to him, he suddenly gave a +violent lurch, driving Poole, who was in a similar condition, sideways, +and if it had not been for the bulwark close at hand they would both +have gone down like skittles. For they were both fast asleep, sound as +a top, fast as a church, but on the instant wide-awake and angry. + +"What did you do that for?" cried Fitz fiercely. "I didn't," cried +Poole angrily. "You threw yourself at me." + +"That I didn't! How could I?" + +"How should I know? But you've made a great bruise on my elbow; I know +that." + +"Quiet! quiet!" said the mate, in a deep low growl. "Do you want to +bring the gunboat down on us, shouting like that?" And he seemed to +loom up upon them out of the darkness. + +"Well, but he--" began Fitz. + +"Quiet, I tell you! I have been watching you lads these last ten +minutes. You've both been rolling about all over the deck, and I +expected to see you go down on your noses every moment. Snoring too, +one of you was." + +"Well, that wasn't I, I'm sure," cried Fitz shortly. + +"Oh, are you?" said the mate. "Well, I'm not. There, you are no use up +here, either of you. Go down and tumble into your bunks at once." + +"But--" began Poole. + +"You heard what I said, my lad. Go and have a good long snooze, and +don't make a stupid of yourself, bandying words like that. The watch +have all been laughing at you both. Now then, clear the deck. I am +going to keep things quiet." + +The officer in charge of a deck is "monarch of all he surveys," like +Robinson Crusoe of old, according to the poem, and as "his right there +is none to dispute," both lads yielded to Burgesses sway, went down to +their berths, rolled in just as they were, and the next minute were fast +asleep, breathing more loudly than would have been pleasant to any +neighbour. But there was none. + +Their sleep was very short but very solid all the same, and they were +ready to spring up wide-awake and hurry on deck just before sunrise, +upon hearing the trampling overhead of the watch going through the +manoeuvres known as 'bout ship, and then proceeding to obey orders +angrily shouted at them by the mate, whose loud voice betokened that he +was in an unusual state of excitement, for his words were emphatic in +the extreme as he addressed the men after the cry of "all hands on +deck," in a way which suggested to one who overheard that they were a +gang of the laziest, slowest slovens that ever handled a rope. + +"Here, rouse up!" cried Poole. "Hear him?" + +"Hear him? Yes. What's the matter?" + +"I dunno. Any one would think that we were going to run the gunboat +down." + +The lads ran up on deck, and stared in wonder, for instead of the +catastrophe that Poole had verbally portrayed, the reverse seemed the +probability. In fact, instead of their tacking against the adverse wind +having carried them well out to sea, the progress they had made in a +direct line was comparatively small, and to the dismay of both the +sleepers as they looked over the stern, there was the gunboat not three +miles away, foaming down after them under a full pressure of steam. + +"How do you account for this?" said Fitz. + +"I dunno, unless they went right in, got to know that we had just left, +and came after us full chase." + +It was the idea of the moment, and to use the familiar saying, Poole had +hit the right nail on the head. It was morning, and Nature's signals +were in the east, announcing that the sun was coming up full speed, +while the former tactics of tacking against the freshening wind had to +be set aside at once, for it was evidently only a question of an hour +before the gunboat would be within easy range, and what she might do in +the interim was simply doubtful. But the skipper and his mate were hard +at work; the course had been altered for another run southward, close +along the coast; studding-sail booms were being run out from the yards +ready for the white sails to be hoisted; and a trial of speed was being +prepared between canvas and steam, proof of which was given from the +gunboat by the dense clouds of black smoke rolling out of the funnel and +showing how hard the stokers were at work. + +It was a busy time then; sail after sail filled out till the schooner +showed as a cloud of canvas gilded by the rising sun, while she +literally skimmed through the water dangerously near to a rocky coast. + +But as the sun rose higher that danger passed away, for as if by magic +the wind dropped, leaving the sails flapping, the graceful vessel no +longer dipping her cut-water low-down into the surface and covering the +deck with spray. + +Poole looked at his father and drew his breath hard, for he saw too +plainly the peril in which they stood. They were still gliding gently +through the water, but more slowly each minute, and riding now upon an +even keel, while the gunboat astern was tearing along, literally +ploughing her way, and sending a diverging foam-covered wave to +starboard and port. + +"Pretty well all over, Burgess," he said, in a low hoarse voice, and +Fitz stole out his hand to grip Poole's wrist and give a warm +sympathetic pressure; and he did not draw it back, but stood holding on, +listening the while to the mate's slow, thoughtful reply. + +"I don't know yet," said the latter, half closing his eyes and looking +towards the west. "The winds play rum games here sometimes, and you +hardly know where you are. They may go through one of their manoeuvres +now. This is just about the time, and I shouldn't wonder if we had a +sharp breeze from the west again, same as we did yesterday and the day +before." + +"No such luck," said the skipper bitterly. "It won't be the wind off +shore; it will be the _Teal_ on. You'll have to make for the first +opening you see as soon as there's wind enough, and run her right in. +Don't hesitate a moment, Burgess; run her right ashore, and then we must +do the best we can with the boats, or swim for it." + +"Run her right ashore!" said the mate grimly. + +"Yes--so that she's a hopeless wreck, impossible to get off." + +"Seems a pity," growled the mate; and his words found an echo in Fitz +Burnett's breast. + +"Yes, but it would be a greater pity for my beautiful little schooner to +fall a prize to that wretched tea-kettle there; and I won't have my lads +treated as prisoners. I'd sooner we all had to take to the woods." + +"All right, sir. You're skipper; I'm mate. It's you to give orders, me +to carry them out. But I'm beginning to think that they'll have us +before we get the wind. You see, it's nearly calm." + +"Yes," said the skipper, "I see; and I wonder they haven't begun firing +before." + +He walked right aft with the mate, leaving the lads alone, with Poole +looking five years older, so blank and drawn was his face. But it +brightened directly, as he felt the warm grip of the young middy's hand, +and heard his words. + +"Oh, Poole, old chap," Fitz half whispered, after a glance round to see +if they were likely to be overheard, but only to find that every seaman +was either intent upon his duty or watching the enemy in expectation of +a first shell or ball from the heavy gun. "Oh, Poole, old chap," he +said again, "I am sorry--I am indeed!" + +"Sorry?" said Poole quietly. "Yes; for you've all been very kind to +me." + +"Well, I am glad to hear you say so, for I tried to be, and the dad +liked you because you were such a cocky, plucky little chap. But there: +it's no use to cry over spilt milk. I suppose it isn't spilt yet, +though," he added, with a little laugh; "but the jug will be cracked +directly, and away it will all go into the sea. But I say, can you +swim?" + +"Oh yes, I can swim. I learnt when I was a cadet." + +"That's right; and if we can't get off in one of the boats you keep +close alongside of me--I know the dad will like me to stick with you-- +and I'll get a life-belt, or one of the buoys, and we will share it +together, one to rest in it while the other swims and tows. We'll get +to shore somehow, never fear--the whole lot of us, I expect, for the +lads will stand by, I am sure." + +"Yes, yes," said Fitz, glancing round over the sunlit sea. "But what +about the sharks?" + +"Oh!" ejaculated Poole involuntarily, and he changed colour. + +It was just as the skipper and mate came walking sharply forward again. + +"There!" cried the latter triumphantly. "What did I say?" + +"Splendid!" cried the skipper. "But will it last?" + +"It did yesterday. Why not to-day?" cried the mate fiercely. + +For the wind had suddenly come in a sharp gust which filled the sails, +making several of them snap with a loud report, laid the schooner on her +beam-ends, and sent her rushing through the water for some hundred +yards, making it come foaming up through the scuppers in fountains, to +flood the deck, before she was eased off by the man at the wheel and +rose again. + +But directly after the calm asserted itself once more; the greater part +of the sea was like a mirror, with only cat's-paws here and there; and +the gunboat came pounding on as stern as fate. + +"All right," said the mate cheerily; "it's coming again," and he ran to +the man at the wheel. + +"Stand by, my lads," cried the skipper, "ready to let go those stuns'ls. +We mustn't be taken again like that." + +The men rushed to the sheets, and when the wind came again, it came to +stay, striking the heavily-canvassed schooner a tremendous blow, to +which she only careened over, and not a drop of water came on board, for +the light studding-sails were let go to begin flapping and snapping like +whip-thongs until the violence of the gust had passed; and by that time +the men were busy reducing the canvas, and the schooner was flying +through the water like the winning yacht in a race. + +"Never say die!" cried Poole, with a laugh. "We are going faster than +the gunboat now." + +"Yes," replied Fitz thoughtfully; "but she has the command of the sea, +and can cut us off." + +"As long as her coals last," said Poole, "and they're burning them +pretty fast over this. I'd give something to guess what old Burgess +means to do. He's got something in his head that I don't believe my +father knows." + +"Oh, he'd be sure to know," said Fitz, whose hopes were rising fast, his +sympathies being entirely now with those who had proved such friends. + +"Oh, no, he wouldn't. Old Burgess can be as mute as a fish when he +likes, and there's nothing pleases him better than taking people by +surprise." + +"But what can he do more than race right away?" + +"Well, I'll tell you, Burnett, old chap. It's no use for him to think +of racing right away. What he'll do is this. I have said something of +the kind to you before. He knows this coast just like his ABC, the bays +and rivers and backwaters and crannies all amongst the rocks. He's +spent days and days out in a boat sounding and making rough charts; and +what he'll do, I feel certain, is this--make for some passage in amongst +the rocks where he can take the little _Teal_, run right in where the +gunboat dare not come, and stay there till she's tired out." + +"But then they'll sink us with their gun." + +"Oh no; he'll get her right into shelter where she can't be seen." + +"Then the gunboat captain will send after us with his armed boats and +board us where we lie." + +"Let him," said Poole grimly. "That's just what old Burgess and all the +lads would like. Mr Don what's-his-name and his men would find they +had such a hedgehog to tackle that they'd soon go back again faster than +they came." + +"Do you think your father would do that?" said Fitz, after a glance aft, +to note that they were leaving the gunboat steadily behind. + +"Why, of course," cried Poole. "But it's resisting a man-of-war." + +"Well, what of that? We didn't boggle about doing it with one of the +Queen's ships, so you don't suppose that dad would make much bones about +refusing to strike to a mongrel Spaniard like that?" + +Fitz was silent, and somehow then in a whirl of exciting thoughts it did +not seem so very serious a thing, but brought up passages he had read in +old naval books of cutting-out expeditions and brave fightings against +heavy odds. And then as they went flying through the water the +exhilaration of the chase took up all his attention, and the +conversation dropped out of his mental sight, for it lasted hours, and +during all that time the _Teal_ skimmed along, following out her old +tactics close to a lovely surf-beaten shore, passing bluff and valley +openings where there were evidently streams pouring out from the +mountains to discolour the silver sea, and offering, as the middy +thought, endless havens of refuge, till about the hottest part of the +day, when the pitch seemed to be seething in the seams. All at once the +captain, after a short conversation with his mate, went forward with a +couple of men, and Burgess went himself to take the wheel. "Now then," +said Poole, "what did I tell you?" + +"Do you think we are going to turn in here?" + +"That's just what I do think. Here, do you want a job?" + +"Yes--no--of course--What do you want me to do?" + +"Go and tell the Camel to get the oiliest breakfast he can all ready, +for we are half-starved." + +"Don't talk nonsense!" cried Fitz angrily. "What do you mean?" + +"Mean? Why, look! Old Grumbo's running us right in for the line of +surf below that bluff. There's an opening there, I'll be bound. Look +at the coloured water too. There must be a good-sized river coming down +from somewhere. Oh, the old fox! He knows what he's about. There's +one of his holes in there, and the hunt is nearly up. I mean, the +little _Teal_ is going in to find her nest." + +"Well, I hope you are right," said Fitz quietly; and then he stood +watching while the little schooner seemed as if being steered to certain +destruction, but only to glide by the threatened danger into a wide +opening hidden heretofore, and where the rocks ran up, jungle-covered, +forming the sides of a lovely valley whose limits were hidden from the +deck. + +At that moment the middy became aware of the fact that one of the men +was busy with the skipper heaving the lead and shouting the soundings +loud enough for the mate to hear, while with educated ear Fitz listened +and grasped the fact how dangerously the water shoaled, till it seemed +at last that the next minute they must run aground. + +For a few minutes it was as though something was clutching at the boy's +throat, making his breath come hot and fast; and he glanced back to see +where the gunboat was, but looked in vain, for a side of the valley rose +like a towering wall between, and on glancing in the other direction +there was another stupendous wall running up to mountain height, and all +of gorgeous greens. + +The next minute, when he looked forward, feeling that at any moment he +might have to swim, the voice of the man with the lead-line seemed to +ring out louder and more clear, announcing fathoms, as a short time +before he had shouted feet. + +There was a curious stillness too reigning around. The roar of surf +upon the rocky shore was gone; the wind had dropped; and the _Teal_ was +gliding slowly up the grand natural sanctuary into which she had been +steered, while the lad awakened to the fact that they had entered a +rushing stream, and as the feeling gained ground of all this being +unreal, their safety being, as it were, a dream, he was brought back to +the bare matter-of-fact by hearing an order given, the anchor descending +with a splash, and Poole bringing his hand down sharply upon his +shoulder, to cry exultantly-- + +"There, old chap; what did I say!" + + + +CHAPTER FORTY. + +"DEFENCE, NOT DEFIANCE." + +"What did you say? Oh yes, I remember. It has come out all right; but +we shall have them in here directly, after us." + +"What's that?" said the skipper, who overheard his words. "I hope not, +and I doubt of their getting within shot. Here, Burgess." + +"Hallo!" growled the mate, and he came slowly up, looking, as Poole +afterwards said, like the proverbial bear with a sore head. + +"Here's Mr Burnett prophesying all kinds of evil things about us." + +"Ah!" growled the mate. "He didn't know any better. I never prophesy +till after the thing has taken place. What did he say?" + +"That we shall have the gunboat in here after us directly. What do you +say to that?" + +The mate's sour countenance expanded into a broad smile, and he came +close up to the middy and clapped him on the shoulder. + +"Good lad," he said. "I hope you are right." + +"Hope I'm right!" said Fitz, staring. "Why, if she steams in within +shot they'll make such practice with that gun that we shall be knocked +all to pieces." + +"You mean they would if they got well within sight; but look for +yourself. Where could they lay her to get a shot? I can't see." + +"No," said Fitz thoughtfully, as he looked anxiously back and saw that +they were thoroughly sheltered by projecting cliff and headland. "I +suppose they couldn't get within shot." + +"No. That's right, my lad; and they couldn't come in anything like near +enough if it were all open water from here to where they are now." + +"What, is the water so shoal?" asked Fitz. + +"Shoal? Yes," growled the mate, his face growing sour again. "We've +nearly scraped the bottom over and over again. I only wish they'd try +it. They'd be fast on some of those jags and splinters, and most likely +with a hole in the bottom. My opinion, Captain Reed, is that if the +skipper of that gunboat does venture in he'll never get out again; and +that would suit us down to the ground. Bah--bah! He knows this coast +too well, and he won't be such a fool as to try." + +"No," said the skipper confidently; "you are quite right, Burgess. He +won't be such a fool as to try. But we must have a boat out at once to +go back and watch, for I'm pretty sure that Don what's-his-name will be +lowering a couple of his with armed crews to come in and scuttle us if +they can't tow us out." + +"Ah, well, they can't do that," said the mate coolly. "They'd be +meeting us on equal terms then, and you won't let them." + +"No," said the skipper, smiling, as he turned to Fitz; "I don't think we +shall let them do that, Mr Burnett. My lads will be only too glad to +receive the gunboat's crew on equal terms and send them back with a flea +in their ears." + +"Ay," said the mate, with a grunt; "and quite right too. I think it is +our turn to give them a bit of our mind, after the way in which they +have been scuffling us about lately. Shall I go with the boat?" + +"Yes, you'd better. Take the gig, and four men to row." + +"I can go, father?" cried Poole eagerly. + +"Well, I don't know," said the skipper. "If you go, Mr Burnett here +will want to be with you, and I know how particular he is as a young +officer not to be seen having anything to do with our filibustering, as +he calls it." + +Fitz frowned with annoyance, and seemed to give himself a regular +snatch. + +"You'd rather not go, of course?" continued the skipper dryly. + +"I can't help wanting to go, Mr Reed," replied the lad sharply; "and if +I went just as a spectator I don't see how I should be favouring any of +your designs." + +"Well, no," said the skipper dryly, "if you put it like that. I don't +see after all how you could be accused of turning buccaneer. But would +you really like to go?" + +"Why, of course," said Fitz. "It's all experience." + +"Off with you then," said the skipper; "only don't get within shot. I +don't want to have to turn amateur doctor again on your behalf. I am +clever enough at cuts and bruises, and I dare say if I were hard put to +it I could manage to mend a broken leg or arm, but I wouldn't undertake +to be hunting you all over to find where a rifle-bullet had gone. +Accidents are my line, not wounds received in war; and, by the way, +while we are talking of such subjects, if we have to lie up here in this +river for any time, you had better let me give you a dose or two of +quinine." + +"Oh, but I am quite well now," cried Fitz. + +"Yes, and I want you to keep so, my lad. That's a very good old proverb +that says, `Prevention is better than cure.'" + +A very short time afterwards the schooner's gig, with her little +well-armed crew, was allowed to glide down with the stream, with the +mate, boat-hook in hand, standing in the bows, Poole astern with the +rudder-lines, and Fitz a spectator, thoroughly enjoying the beauty of +the vast cliffs that arose on either side as they descended towards the +river's mouth. + +It was all zigzag and winding, the stream carrying them along slowly, +for a sharp sea-breeze was dead against them, explaining how it was that +the schooner had sailed up so easily as she had. + +Fitz had ample proof, without Poole's drawing his attention to the fact, +that there was no possibility of the gunboat making practice with her +heavy piece, for everywhere the schooner was sheltered, the course of +the river being all zigzag and wind, till all at once, as the men were +dipping their oars gently, the gig passed round a bend, and there was +the enemy about three miles off shore, lying-to, with her great black +plume of smoke floating towards them, spreading out like a haze and +making her look strange and indistinct. + +"Did you bring a glass, Poole, my lad?" growled the mate. + +"No; I never thought of that." + +"Humph! Never mind. I think I can manage. Both of you lads give a +sharp look-out and tell me what you can see." + +"Why, there's something between us and her hull," said Poole, "but I +can't quite make out what it is. Surely she isn't on a rock?" + +"No," cried Fitz; "I can see. She has lowered a boat." + +"Two," said the mate, in his deep hoarse voice. "I can make 'em out +now. I thought that was it at first. Pull away, my lads, for all +you're worth. Pull your port line, my lad, and let's run back. Hug the +shore as much as you can, so as to keep out of the stream. Hah! If we +had thought to bring a mast and sail and one of the other boats we could +have been back in no time with this wind astern." + +The gig swung round as the men bent in their quick steady pull, and they +began to ascend the stream once more, while Fitz rose in his place, to +look back watching the half-obscured gunboat till they had swept round +the bend once more and she was out of sight, when he re-seated himself +and noticed that the mate was still standing, intent upon cautiously +taking cartridges from his pouch and thrusting them into the chambers of +the revolver which he had drawn from the holster of his belt. + +This looked like business, and Fitz turned to dart an inquiring look at +his companion, who answered it with a nod. + +"Well," thought Fitz, "if he thinks we are going to have a fight before +we get back, why doesn't he order his men to load?" + +But it proved that the mate did not anticipate a fight before they got +back. He had other thoughts in his head, and when at last, after a long +and anxious row against the sharp current, with the lads constantly +looking back to see if the gunboat's men were within sight, they reached +the final zigzag, and caught sight of the schooner, old Burgess raised +his hand and fired three shots at the face of the towering cliff. + +These three were echoed back as about a score, when there was an +interval, and three tiny puffs of grey smoke darted from the schooner's +deck, and echoed in their turn. + +"Signal answered," said Poole quietly, and the men made their ash-blades +bend again in their eagerness to get back aboard. + +"Why, what have they been about?" whispered Fitz. + +"Looks like going fishing," said Poole, with a grin. "Don't chaff at a +time like this," cried Fitz pettishly. "I didn't know that you had got +boarding-netting like a man-of-war." + +"What, don't you remember the night you came aboard?" + +"Not likely, with everything knocked out of my head as it was." + +"Oh yes, we've got all these little necessaries. Father goes on the +Volunteer system: `Defence, not Defiance.'" + +"Well, that's defiant enough," said Fitz. "It's like saying, `You're +not coming aboard here,' in string." + +"Of course. You don't suppose we want a set of half Indian, half +Spanish mongrel sailors taking possession of the _Teal_? You wait till +we get aboard, and you'll see all our lads busy with the fleas." + +"Busy with the fleas?" said Fitz. "What do you mean?" + +"Those father talked about, to put in the Don's ears before we send them +back." + +"How can you go on making poor jokes at a time like this?" said the +middy, in a tone of annoyance. "Why, it looks as if we are in for a +serious fight." + +"As if _we_ are!" said Poole, emphasising the "we." + +"How many more times am I to tell you that it is our game and not +yours?" + +"But look here," said Fitz excitedly. "Your father really does mean to +fight?" + +"My father does, and so does every one else," replied Poole. "In oars, +my lads," and the next moment the mate hooked on close to the gangway. +"I suppose," continued Poole, "you will stop on deck till the row +begins? You will want to see all you can." + +"Of course," said Fitz, whose face was once more growing flushed. + +"Well, I wouldn't stop up too long. The enemy may fire, and you will be +safer down below." + +"Yes, I suppose so," said the middy coolly; "and of course you are +coming too?" + +"Coming too? That's likely, isn't it?" said Poole contemptuously. + +"Just as likely as that I should go and hide." + +"But it's no business of yours. You are not going to fight." + +"No," said Fitz, "but I want to see." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY ONE. + +FITZ FORGETS. + +The boarding-netting was partially drawn aside, and Fitz noted that more +than ever the crew of the schooner looked like well-trained man-of-war's +men, each with his cutlass belted on, waiting for the next order, given +in the skipper's voice, when the gig's falls were hooked on and she was +run up to the davits and swung inboard, as were the other boats, and +when the lad sprang on deck he saw that the netting was being lowered +down and secured over the gangway. + +It was plain enough that from the moment the gig had pushed off, all +hands had been at work preparing to resist attack if an attempt at +capture were made; and once more the middy forgot his own identity as a +naval officer in his eagerness and interest in all that was going on. + +"Oh, one word, Mr Burnett," said the skipper, as he passed where the +lad was standing. "Hadn't you better go below? You've got to think +about who you are if the Spaniards take us," and then with a +good-humoured smile as he read the vexation in the boy's countenance, +"Hadn't I better lock you up in the cabin?" + +"I say, Captain Reed," cried the boy, in a voice full of protest, "I do +wish you wouldn't do this. I can't help having a nasty temper, and this +puts me all of a tingle. It seems so hard that men should always laugh +at boys and think they are cowards. We can't help being young." + +"Of course you can't, my lad," said the skipper, patting him on the +back. "There, I will never tease you again. In all probability there +won't be anything serious, but if there is, take care of yourself, my +boy, for I shouldn't like you to be hurt." + +He gave his listener a pleasant nod, and hurried on towards the mate, +while Fitz joined Poole, who had nothing now to do, and they occupied +themselves in keeping watch for the expected boats and going about +amongst the men, whose general appearance seemed to Fitz to be that they +were going to some entertainment by way of a treat. + +But the treat promised to be serious, for rifles were here and there +placed ready for use, and close to every man there was a capstan-bar, +evidently intended to use as a club, a most effective weapon whose +injuries would not prove of a very dangerous type. + +Fitz whispered as much to his companion, who nodded and then replied-- + +"Well, that depends on what the lads call the spaniel dogs. The dad +doesn't want it to be too serious, of course, but we can't help it if +these fellows make our lads savage. You see, we've got cutlasses and +rifles, and fellows forget to be gentle if they are hurt." + +"But we are not at war with Don Villarayo's State." + +"No," said Poole, "and Villarayo is not at war with our schooner and the +men, but if he begins giving us Olivers he must expect to get Rolands +back. Those who play at bowls, you know, must expect rubbers, and when +Englishmen rub, they rub hard." + +Fitz half turned away to look astern. "I say," he said, "aren't they a +long time coming?" + +"No; they had a long way to row." + +"Seems a long time. Perhaps they have thought better of it and gone +back." + +"Think so? Well, I don't. They are sure to come. But I dare say it +will be a good quarter of an hour yet--perhaps half." + +"Well," said Fitz, "for my part, I--" He stopped short, and Poole looked +at him curiously. + +"Well?" he said. "You what? What were you going to say?" + +"Nothing. You'd only think that I was afraid." + +"Oh, I know," said Poole. "You were going to say that you hope it won't +turn out serious. I shouldn't think that you were afraid. I feel just +the same. But you may make up your mind for one thing. We are in the +strongest position, and Villarayo's sailors won't be allowed to take the +_Teal_. If it comes to bloodshed, it's their doing, mind, and not ours. +Now, don't let's talk any more." + +"Why not?" said Fitz. "I feel as if I must. Perhaps I shouldn't if I +were one of your crew, and like that." + +He pointed quickly to his companion's belt, from which hung a sword, and +then quickly touched the flap of the little holster buttoned over the +brass stud. "You won't use that, will you?" he said. "Not if I can +help it," was the reply. "Help it! Why, of course you needn't unless +you like." + +"Well, I shouldn't like to, of course. But if you were I, and you saw +one of these fellows aiming at one of your men, say at old Butters or +Chips, setting aside the dad, wouldn't you try and whip it out to have +first shot?" + +Fitz nodded shortly, and for the time being the conversation ceased, +while the lads' attention was taken up by the sight of the Camel, who +after making a rattling noise as if stoking his fire in the galley, shut +the door with a bang, and came out red-faced and hot, wiping his hands +prior to buckling on a belt with its cutlass and then helping himself to +a capstan-bar. + +It was only a few minutes later that the bows of a large cutter came in +sight, followed by the regularly dipping oars of the crew of swarthy +sailors who were pulling hard. + +The next moment the uniforms of two officers could be made out in the +stern-sheets, where they sat surrounded by what answered to marines, and +before the cutter had come many yards the bows of its consort appeared. + +As they came within sight of the schooner a cheer arose, a sort of +imitation British cheer, which had a curious effect upon the schooner's +crew, for to them it seemed so comic that they laughed; but a growl from +the mate made every one intent for the serious work in hand, as at the +next order they divided in two parties, each taking one side of the +schooner for the defence under command of the skipper and his chief +officer. + +"You understand, Burgess?" said the former sternly. "You will keep a +sharp eye on us, and I'll keep one on you. It must be a case of the one +helping the other who is pressed." + +The mate grunted, and the skipper spoke out to his men. + +"Look here, my lads," he said; "we are not at war, and I want no +bloodshed. Use your capstan-bars as hard as you like, and tumble them +back into their boats, or overboard. No cutlass, edge or point, unless +I give the word." + +The answer was a cheer, and then all eyes were directed to the boats, +which were coming faster through the water now, till, at a command from +the foremost stern-sheets, the men slackened and waited for their +consort to come up abreast. + +Another command was given, when the oars dipped faster all together, the +boats dividing so as to take the schooner starboard and port. + +"Not going to summon us to surrender?" said the skipper sharply. "Very +well; but I think we shall make them speak." + +The two boys stood together in the stern, close to the wheel, seeing the +boats divide and pass them on either hand; and then with hearts +throbbing they waited for what was to come--and not for long. + +Matters moved quickly now, till the boats bumped and grazed against the +schooner's sides, two sharp orders rang out as their coxswains hooked +on, and then with a strange snarling roar their crews began to scramble +up to the bulwarks, and with very bad success. They had not far to go, +for the schooner's bulwarks were very low for a sea-going vessel, but +here was the main defence, the nets fully ten feet high and very +strong--a defence suggestive of the old gladiatorial fight between the +Retiarius, or net and trident-bearer, and the Secutor, or sword and +shield-carrying man-at-arms. + +There was no firing then; the Spaniards seized the net and began to +climb, some becoming entangled, as in their hurry a leg or an arm +slipped through, while the defenders dashed at them and brought their +capstan-bars into use, crack and thud resounding, sending some back upon +their companions, others into the boats, while three or four splashes +announced the fall of unfortunates into the water. + +Loud shouts came from the boats as the officers urged the men on, and +from each an officer in uniform began to climb now and lead, followed by +quite a crowd on either side, some of them hacking at the stout cord +with their cutlasses, but doing little mischief, crippled as they were +by the sharp blows which were hailed down by the schooner's crew, upon +hand, foot, and now and then upon some unlucky head. + +Chips the carpenter, who was nothing without making some improvement +upon the acts of his fellows, made a dash at the officer leading the +attacking boat on the starboard side, delivering a thrust with the bar +he carried, which passed right through the large mesh of the net, +catching the Spaniard in the chest and sending him backwards into the +boat. + +"That's what I calls a Canterbury poke, dear boys," he cried. "Let 'em +have it, my lads. The beggars look like so many flies in a spider's +web; and we are the spiders." + +The shouting, yelling, and struggling did not last five minutes. Man +after man succeeded the fallen, and then it was all over, the boats +floating back with the current until they were checked by those in +command, who ordered the oars out and the men to row. But it was some +little time before the confusion on board each could be mastered, and +the disabled portions of the crew drawn aside. + +"Well done, my lads!" cried the skipper. "Couldn't be better!" + +"Here," shouted the mate, "a couple of you up aloft and tighten that net +up to the stay. Two more of you get a bit of signal-line and lace up +those holes." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came readily enough, and the men rushed to their duty. + +"Think that they have had enough of it?" said Fitz huskily. + +"Not they," replied Poole. "We shall hear directly what they have got +to say." + +He had scarcely spoken before there was a fierce hail from one of the +boats, whose commander shouted in Spanish to the skipper to surrender; +and upon receiving a defiant reply in his own tongue, the officer +roared-- + +"Surrender, you scum, or I'll order my men to fire; and as soon as you +are my prisoners I'll hang you all, like the dogs you are." + +"Back with you to your ship, you idiot, before you get worse off," cried +the captain sternly. "Dogs can bite, and when English dogs do, they +hold on." + +"Surrender!" roared the officer again, "or I fire." + +"At the first shot from your boat," cried the skipper, "I'll give the +order too; and my men from shelter can pick off yours much faster than +yours from the open boat." + +"Insolent dog!" roared the officer, and raising a revolver he fired at +the skipper, the bullet whistling just above his head. + +In an instant Poole's revolver was out, and without aiming he fired too +in the direction of the boat. He fired again and again over the +attacking party's heads, until the whole of the six chambers were empty, +and with the effect of making the Republican sailors cease rowing, while +their boats drifted with the current, rapidly increasing the distance. + +The order to fire from the boats did not come, but the second boat +closed up to the first, and a loud and excited colloquy arose, there +being evidently a difference of opinion between the leaders, one officer +being for another attack; the second--so the skipper interpreted it from +such of the words as he could catch--being for giving up and going back +to the gunboat for advice. + +And all the time, both boats still in confusion drifted farther and +farther away; but at last the fiery leader of the first gained the day; +his fellow gave up, and when the order was given to advance once more in +the first boat he supplemented it in the second, and a low deep murmur +rose up. + +"Why, Fitz," whispered Poole, "they have had enough of it. The mongrels +won't come on." + +"Think so?" whispered back Fitz, gazing excitedly over the stern, while +Poole's fingers were busy thrusting in fresh cartridges till his +revolver chambers were full. + +"Yes, it's plain enough," cried Poole, for the voices of the officers +could be heard angrily threatening and abusing their men; but all in +vain. + +There was the appearance of struggles going on, and in one boat the sun +flashed two or three times from the blade of a sword as it was raised in +the air and used as a weapon of correction, its owner striking viciously +at his mutinous men. + +"Ah!" ejaculated Fitz. "That's done it. They are more afraid of him +than they are of us--of you, I mean. They are coming on again." + +For the oars were dipping, making the water foam once more, as the crews +in both the boats began to pull with all their might. But only half; +the others backed water, and directly after the boats' heads had been +turned and they were being rowed back as hard as they would go, till +they disappeared round the first bend to the tune of a triumphant cheer +given in strong chorus by every man upon the _Teal_. + +Just at that moment Fitz clapped one hand to his cheek, for it felt hot, +consequent upon the thought having struck him, that in his excitement he +had been cheering too. That burning sensation was the result of a hint +from his conscience that such conduct was not creditable to a young +officer in the Royal Navy. + + + +CHAPTER FORTY TWO. + +THE CAMEL'S DEMAND. + +The nets were soon mended and the slack places hauled up taut, while the +_Teal's_ crew sauntered about the deck, waiting patiently for the next +attack, and compared notes about the slight injuries they had received. + +Meanwhile the skipper and mate were anxiously on the alert for what +might happen next. + +"I want to know what they mean, Burgess," the lads heard the skipper +say. "They'll never put up with such a rebuff as this." + +"Oh, I don't know," growled Burgess. "The officers wouldn't, of course, +but they'll never get those swabs to face us for another bout." + +"What do you think, then? That they will go back for fresh boats' +crews?" + +"That's somewhere about it, or some stinkpots to heave aboard, or maybe, +if they have got one, for a barge or pinnace with a boat's gun." + +"Possibly," said the skipper, and Poole gave Fitz a nudge with his elbow +as if to ask, Did you hear that?--a quite unnecessary performance, for +Fitz had drunk in every word. + +"Yes," continued the skipper; "they'll be after something or another. +Don Cousin is bound to take us by some means, and we must be on the +look-out for a surprise. Can we wait till dark and slip out to sea +again?" + +"No," said the mate abruptly; "I want broad daylight for anything like +that. I couldn't take the schooner a quarter of a mile in the dark +without getting her on the rocks." + +"I suppose not," said the skipper; "and I suppose it's no use to try and +get higher up the stream?" + +"Not a bit," replied the mate. "The boats would follow us anywhere. I +am very sorry. I've brought you into a regular trap, and there's only +one way out, and the gunboat's sitting on it. But under the +circumstances there was nothing else to be done. How I do hate these +tea-kettles! But one must look the plain truth in the face. They can +go anywhere, and we, who depend upon our sails, can't." + +"That's all true enough," said the skipper, "but it doesn't better our +position. What I want to know is, how things are going on lower down. +Now, if you lads, or one of you," he continued, turning to the boys, +"could shin up that high cliff yonder you could see the boats and the +gunboat too, and make signals to us so that we might know what to +expect." + +"All right, father," said Poole sharply, and he glanced at Fitz as he +spoke; "have me landed in the dinghy, and I'll go up and see." + +Fitz looked at the speaker, and his eyes said, "All right, I'll come +with you;" but the skipper made no answer for a time, but stood shading +his eyes and sweeping the face of the cliff, before dropping his hand +and saying-- + +"How would you do it, my lad?" + +"Oh, by climbing up, father, a bit at a time, getting hold of the bushes +and hauling oneself up sometimes." + +"Ah," said the skipper quietly. "You would be very clever if you did. +It might be managed for a little way up, but all that upper part isn't +perpendicular; it hangs right over towards us. Impossible, my lad. +Nothing could get up there but a bird or a fly. We must give up that +idea. Burgess, you will have to lower a boat and let her drift down to +the headland there, stern on, and with the men ready to pull for their +lives, as you may be fired at. When you get to the head you must let +her slide along close under the bushes till you get a sight of the boats +and see what they're doing." + +"Right," said the mate. "Now?" + +"Yes; the sooner the better." + +Poole glanced at Fitz, and then started to speak to his father; but +before he could open his lips there was an emphatic-- + +"No! You would only be in the way, my lads. I want four strong men to +row, and one in the stern to look out; and that one is Mr Burgess." + +"Very well, father," said the lad quietly, but he looked his +disappointment at Fitz, whose vexation was plainly marked on his +countenance, as he mentally said, "Oh, bother! He might have let us +go." + +Things were done promptly on board the _Teal_, and in a few moments the +cutter was lowered down with its little crew after the netting had been +cast loose and raised; and then they watched her glide down with the +stream, stern on, with the rowers balancing their oars, the stroke +dipping his now and then to keep her head to stream, and the mate +standing with his back to them till the headland was reached, when he +knelt down, caught at the overhanging bushes and water-plants, and let +the boat drift close in and on and on without making a sign, till she +disappeared. + +Just then Fitz heaved a sigh. + +"What's the matter, old chap?" said Poole. + +"Oh, we shall have nothing to do but wait now, perhaps for hours, for I +expect the enemy has gone right back to the gunboat, and waiting is a +thing I do thoroughly hate. Eh? Is that you, Camel?" + +"Andy Cawmell it is, sir. A'm thenking that it would be joost a good +time for a wee bit food. Ah've been watching Mr Burnett here, and the +puir laddie looks quite white and faint. Would you mind telling the +skipper that I've got a wee bit hot dinner a' ready? and if he will gi'e +the word I'll have it in the cabin in less time than Duncan Made-Hose +took his pinch of sneeshin." + +"Well done, Camel!" cried Poole, who darted to his father, leaving the +cook blinking and smiling at Fitz, who looked at him in admiration. + +"Why, Camel," he said, "you are a deal too clever for a ship's cook, and +I don't know what I owe you for all you have done for me." + +"Oh, joost naething at all, laddie." + +"Nothing! I want to make you a big present when I can." + +"You do, laddie? Vairy weel, and I'll tell you what I'd like. Ye'll +just gi'e me one of them quarter-poond tins of Glasgie sneeshin." + +"Snuff!" said Poole contemptuously. "Ay, laddie; snuff, as ye call it. +Nay, don't turn your nose up at sneeshin. Ye should turn it down. +Thenk of what it is to a man condemned to get naething but a bit of +dirty black pigtail tobaccy that he has to chew like the lads do in +their barbarous way. Ye'll mind that: a four-ounce tin of the rale +Glasgie." + +"Oh, but--" + +"Nay, nay, laddie. That'll make us square. Now then, what's the young +skipper got to say?" + +"The sooner the better, Camel, for he's half-starved; but you are to +keep a bit hot for Mr Burgess." + +"Ou, ay," said the Camel, smiling. "I never forget the mate. He wadna +let me if I would." + +The two lads watched anxiously for the return of the boat, but in vain, +and then, in answer to the summons, went reluctantly below as far as +their minds were concerned, but with wondrous willingness on the part of +their bodies, to join the skipper over a capital meal, which was hastily +discussed, and then the trio went on deck to where the men were keeping +watch, and ordered them to go below. + +"Get your dinner, lads, as quickly as you can, and then come up again. +We'll keep watch until you do." + +They took their places aft at once, and the watch began, lasting till, +headed by the boatswain, the men hurried up again, looking inquiringly +in the faces of those they relieved; but they looked in vain, for +nothing had been seen of the cutter, and quite an hour had passed when +she came round the bend, being rowed swiftly, for the mate to hail the +skipper and make the announcement-- + +"They have gone right back to the gunboat, and I waited till they were +run up to the davits, and then came back. Is there anything we can have +to eat?" + + + +CHAPTER FORTY THREE. + +WINKS'S PLANS. + +The mate and the boat's crew went below, and the skipper took a turn or +so up and down the deck, thinking deeply, while the two lads went and +settled themselves down aft to keep a keen look-out for any danger that +might approach, and naturally dropped into conversation, first about the +fight, a subject which they thoroughly exhausted before they began a +debate upon their position. + +"What's to be done, eh?" said Poole, in response to a question. "I +don't know. We are regularly boxed up--trapped. You heard what was +said, and here we are. We can't attempt to sail out in the daylight +because Don Cousin would sink us as sure as his great gun, and we can't +sneak out in the dark because, even if we got a favourable wind, old +Burgess couldn't find the way." + +"We might take to the boats, and slip off as soon as it was dark, and +row along close in shore. We should be out of sight long before +daybreak, and join Don Ramon at Velova." + +"Exactly," said Poole sarcastically; "and leave a note on the binnacle, +`With father's compliments to Don Cousin, and he begged to make him a +present of the smartest little schooner, just as she stands, that ever +crossed the Atlantic.' Likely, isn't it?" + +"Oh no," said Fitz hurriedly. "Of course that wouldn't do." + +"Oh, I don't know," said Poole, in the same mocking vein. "It doesn't +do to be in too much of a hurry over a good idea. There, you wait till +the dad turns and is coming back this way, and then you go and propose +it to him." + +"Likely, as you say," said Fitz, with a laugh. "But look here, what is +to be done?" + +"I only know of one thing," replied Poole; "keep a strict watch for the +next prank they will play, and beat them off again till they get tired +and give it up as a bad job." + +"That they will never do," said Fitz decidedly. "Think they could land +and get up on one of these cliffs from the shore side, and pick us off +by degrees with their rifles?" + +"No," said Poole, leaning back and gazing upwards. "I think that would +be impossible." + +"Well," said Fitz, "what do you say to this? Man the boats after dark, +row out to the gunboat, board her, and take her. Now, I think that +would be grand." + +"Oh yes, grand enough; but she's a man-of-war with small guns as well as +the big one, and a large, well-drilled crew. No, no, they would be too +keenly on the watch. I don't believe we could do that. I've a good +mind to mention it, though, to father. No, I won't. He'd have thought +of that, and he'd only look upon it as so much impudence, coming from +me." + +"I dunno," said Fitz. "Here he comes. Try." + +"Here, you two," said the skipper, coming close up to them; "I have a +nice little job for you. Take four men, Poole, and drop down in a boat +cautiously. Don't be seen, and get down to where you can watch the +gunboat till dark, and then come back here and report what you have made +out. Of course if they make any movement you come back directly and let +me know." + +These orders put all farther scheming out of the lads' heads, and a very +short time afterwards Poole had selected Chips and three other men, and +the boat was gliding down with the current, each bend being cautiously +rounded in the expectation of the enemy being seen once more ascending +the river. But the last headland was passed with the boat kept well +under shelter of the overhanging growth, and the open sea lay before +them; and there, about two miles away, and exactly opposite the mouth of +the river, lay the gunboat with a film of smoke rising from her funnel, +indicating that steam was being kept up, while by means of the glass +that this time had not been left behind, they could plainly make out +that she was lying at anchor, keeping watch upon the shore. + +"There," said Poole, "I'll be bound to say she's just at the mouth of +the channel by which we came in, and as close as she dare come. We +should look nice sailing down nearer and nearer to her. Bah! We should +never get half-way there." + +"Well, what's to be done?" said Fitz. + +"What we were told. Make ourselves comfortable till the sun's just +beginning to go down, and then get back as quickly as we can.--Make her +fast, my lads, with the painter--there, to that branch, only so that we +can slip off in a minute, for we may have to go in a hurry at any time." + +This was done, and they watched and waited in silence, keeping well out +of sight behind the shrubby growth, from the knowledge that the mouth of +the river was certain to be carefully scanned by those on board the +gunboat with their glasses. + +"Looks to me," observed Poole, "as if they mean to tire us out." + +"Oh yes, sir, that's it," said Chips. "I wish I had brought my tools +with me." + +"Why?" said Poole, who was glad to break the monotony of their watch by +a chat with the men. + +"Oh, it's as well to make the most use of your time, sir. Looks to me +as if the Don Captain had taken a lease of that pitch and meant to stay; +and under the suckumstances I couldn't do better than land here and get +up to that sort of shelf yonder. Beautiful situation too, freehold if +you held tight. Raither lonely perhaps, but with my axe and these 'ere +three stoopids to help me, I could knock the skipper up a nice eligible +marine villa, as they calls it, where we could all live comfortable for +a year or two; and you young gents could have nice little gardens of +your own. Then I could make you a little harbour where you could keep +your boat and go fishing and shooting and having a high old time. I +don't think you'd get such a chance again." + +"And what about the schooner?" said Fitz, laughing. + +"Oh, we should have to dismantle her, and work up the stuff, bulkheads +and such-like, to line the new house. I've got an idea that I could +work in all the hatches and tarpaulins for a roof; for though you get +plenty of sunshine out here, my word, when it do rain, it do! What do +you say, sir?" + +"Nothing," said Poole. "It won't do, Chips." + +"Well, no, sir; I thought it wouldn't when I first began to speak." + +"Try again." + +"Don't think I have got any more stuff, sir. But lookye here; why don't +the skipper take us all down in the boats when it's dark, and let us +board the enemy and take her? We could, couldn't we, messmates?" + +"Yes, of course," came in a growl. + +"There, sir! You 'ear?" + +"Yes, I hear," said Poole, "and I dare say we could, but only at the +expense of half the lads killed and wounded; and that would be paying +too dear. Now, look here, my lad; here's an idea rather in your way. +Couldn't we make a plan to scuttle and sink the gunboat where she lies? +What do you say to that?" + +"Can't be did, sir. I could creep alongside the schooner and do it to +her; but that there gunboat's got heavy steel plates right round her, +going ever so deep, and they'd be rather too much for my tools. They'd +spoil every auger I've got. The skipper hasn't got a torpedo aboard, +has he? One of them new 'uns that you winds up and sets a-going with a +little screw-propeller somewheres astern, and a head full of nitro-- +what-d'ye-call-it, which goes off when it hits?" + +"No," said Poole, as he lay back gazing at the gunboat through his +half-closed eyes, and in imagination saw the little thread-like +appearance formed by the disturbed water as a fish-torpedo ploughed its +way along; "we didn't bring anything of the kind." + +"No, sir; I thought you wouldn't. But what about a big bag of powder +stuck alongside her rudder? You see, you might tie the bag up with a +bit of spun-yarn rubbed with wet powder, and leave a long end hanging +down as far as the boat in which you rowed out." + +"And set a light to it?" said Fitz. + +"That's right, sir. You see," cried Chips, "and it would go fizzling +and sparkling till we rowed right away out of reach, and up she'd go, +bang." + +"And while you were striking matches to light the touch-string, the +enemy would be shooting at you or dropping cold shot or pig-ballast into +us to sink the boat," said Poole. + +"Bah!" said Fitz. "They keep such a strict watch that they would never +let a row-boat come near." + +"No, sir," said Chips; "that's just what I think. Them Spaniels aren't +very clever, but they all seem to have got eyes in their heads. Now, +this 'ere's a better idee. Say you are the skipper, and you says to +half-a-dozen of us, `Now, my lads, them there Span'ls is making +themselves a regular noosance with that there big gun. Don't you think +you could take the gig to-night, drop down under their bows, hook on by +the fore-chains, and then swarm up on the quiet like, catch hold of the +big gun, carry her to the side, and drop her over into deep water!'" + +"Ha! ha! Capital!" cried Fitz. "Splendid! Yes, I don't believe she +weighs more than two or three tons. Why, Poole, we ought to go +to-night. They wouldn't be able to get her up again without a lighter +and divers from New York. But it's a capital idea." + +"Don't you mind what he says," growled the carpenter. "He's a-quizzing +on us, my lads. Well, I gives that up. That job would be a bit too +stiff." + +"Yes," said Poole, laughing. "Try again." + +"I dunno what they wants a great clumsy lumbering thing like that aboard +a ship for. Bower-anchors is bad enough, banging against your craft; +but you can lower them down to the bottom when your ship gets tired, and +give her a bit of a rest." + +"Yes," said one of the other sailors; "you'll have to think of something +better than that, Shavings." + +"Ay, but that was a fine idea, my lad, if the gun had been a bit +lighter. The Span'ls would have been so flabbergasted when they heard +the splash, that we should have had lots of time to get away. Now, let +me see; let me see. What we wants is a big hole in that gunboat's +bottom, so that they would be obliged to take to their boats. What do +you say to this? I've got a bottle of stain aboard as I used to do over +the wood at the top of the locker in the skipper's cabin, and made it +look like hoggermy. Now, suppose I undressed a bit, say to my +flannel-shirt, tied an old red comforter that I've got round my waist, +to keep my trowges up, and then touches my hands and arms and phiz over +with some of that stain. Then I swims off to the gunboat, asks civil +like for the Don skipper, and says I'm a Spanish AB and a volunteer come +on the job." + +"And what then?" said Fitz, laughing. + +"Ah, you may laugh, sir. But you can't expect a common sailor like me, +who's a bit handy with his hammer and saw, to be up to all the dodges of +an educated young gent like you as has sarved his time aboard the +_Bry-tannia_ in Dartmouth Harbour. But of course there's a `what then' +to all I said. I shouldn't want to dress myself up like a play-hactor +in a penny show, with a red pocket-hankerchy tied to a mop-stick, big +boots, and a petticut instead of trowges, pretending he's a black +pirate, with a blood-red flag, one of your penny plain and twopence +coloured kind, you know. I did lots of them when I was a young 'un, and +had a box of paints. Not me. There's a `what then' to all this 'ere, a +sting to it, same as there is in a wopse's tail." + +"Let's have it then," said Fitz. "I want to hear what you'd do when Don +Cousin there shakes hands with you and says, `You're the very man I've +been waiting for all through this voyage.'" + +"Yes, sir; that's it. You've got it to rights. That's just what he +says, only it'd be in his Spanish liquorice lingo; and then the very +first time I takes my trick at the wheel I looks out for one of them +ugly sharp-pinted rocks like a fang just sticking out of the water, runs +the gunboat right a-top of it, makes a big hole in her bottom; down she +goes, great gun and all, and there you are. Now, Mr Poole, sir, what +have you got to say to that?" + +"Nothing," said Poole. "It's too big for me. When do you mean to +start?" + +"Well, I haven't quite made up my mind as to that yet, sir," said Chips +quietly. "There's the skipper's consent to get, and the painting to do; +and then I aren't quite sure about that there red comforter. I am +afraid it's in my old chest, the one that's at home, and I shouldn't +look so Span'l-like without a bit of colour. But it's a good idea, +isn't it, sir, although Mr Fitz don't seem to think much of it? What +do you make of them now on board the gunboat?" + +"There's somebody on the bridge, and he's got a glass, and I saw the +light flash off the lens just now." + +"Then they must be a-watching of us, sir, taking stock of the place. I +shouldn't wonder if we had a visit from them soon after dark, to try and +take us by surprise." + +"Well, they won't do that," said Poole. "We shall keep too good a +watch; but I shouldn't wonder if they tried." The time glided by, and +the sun began to sink, to disappear quite early to the watchers, shut in +by high cliffs; and as soon as it was out of sight the boat was dragged +up stream, well hidden behind the overhanging boughs that dipped their +tips to the edge of the river, till the first bend had been passed, when +the men took to their oars and pulled hard till the schooner was +reached. + +There was scarcely anything to report, the only thing that took the +skipper's attention being Fitz's statement that he had seen somebody on +the gunboat's bridge using a glass, and this was sufficient to start the +skipper making preparations for the night, for after a short +consultation with Burgess, they came to the conclusion that they would +be attacked before long; and about an hour after darkness had set in, a +whisper from one of the watch told that he had heard the faint creakings +of oars on rowlocks. + +A minute later a faint spark lit up what appeared to be a scale hanging +from its chains and being lowered down from the schooner's side into the +water; but as it touched the surface it grew and grew, and went gliding +down the stream, developing as it went into a tin dish containing some +combustible which grew brighter and brighter as it went on, till it +flashed out into a dazzling blue light which lit up the sides of the +cliffs and glistened like moonlight in the water, till at about a +hundred yards from the schooner's stern it threw up into clear relief +the shapes of three boats crowded with men, the spray thrown up by their +oars glittering in the blue flare, and then ceasing. + +For all at once a few softly-uttered words were heard upon the +schooner's deck, followed by a bright flash, and the roar of a volley +echoed like thunder from the cliff-sides, for the skipper's preparations +had been well made, so that about a score of rifle-bullets were sent +whizzing and hissing over the enemy's heads, while those who looked on +over the schooner's bulwarks saw the blue light begin to sink and grow +pale as it went on down stream, throwing up the boats in less bold +relief as they too went down towards the mouth in company with their +illuminator. + +Five minutes later all was dark and still again. + +"Showed them we were pretty well prepared for them," said Poole, at +last. + +"Yes," replied Fitz. "Think they'll come again?" + +"No," said the skipper, who was standing by in the darkness. "We shall +keep watch, of course, but I don't think we shall see any more of them +to-night. There, you two go below and sleep as hard as ever you can. +I'll have you roused if anything occurs." + +"Honour bright, father?" + +"Yes, and extra polished too," replied the skipper. + +"Come on, then, Burnett," whispered Poole, gripping his companion by the +arm. "I don't think that I ever felt so sleepy in my life." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY FOUR. + +FITZ HAS A DREAM. + +The middy did not say much, but a very short time later he proved that +he shared his companion's feelings, both lads sleeping with all their +might, and trying to make up for a great deal of exertion connected with +their disturbed existence of the past few days. + +It is generally conceded by the thoughtful over such matters, that +dreams come after the more solid portion of a person's sleep, that they +are connected with a time when the rested brain is preparing to become +active once again, and set to work in its daily routine of thought. + +This may be the rule, but it is said that there is no rule without an +exception. Fitz Burnett's slumber in his hot, stuffy berth was one of +these exceptions, and rather a remarkable one too, for almost directly +after dropping off he began to dream in the most outrageous manner, that +proving for him a sort of Arabian Night which had somehow been blown +across on the equatorial winds to Central America. The whole of his +dream was vivid in the extreme while it was in progress, and if it could +have been transcribed then, no doubt it would have proved to be of the +most intense interest; but unfortunately it had to be recalled the next +morning when its clearness was muddled, the sharpness of its features +blurred. + +Two or three times over he tried to dismiss it from his mind altogether, +for it worried him; but it absolutely refused to be got rid of, and kept +coming back with the utmost persistency, making him feel bound to drag +it back and try to set it in order, though this proved very difficult. +It was some time before he could get hold of the thread at all, and at +the first pull he found that he drew up several threads, tangled and +knotted up in the most inextricable confusion, while they were all in +some way connected with Chips the carpenter's plans. + +He did not want the task: it bothered him, for in the broad sunshine of +the morning Chips's notions seemed to him to be ludicrously absurd; but +somehow he felt bound to go on disentangling them, because he was, as it +were, in some way mixed up with them, and had been during the night +helping him to carry them out. + +"Makes my head feel quite hot," he said to himself, as he leaned over +the bulwark looking down at the water hurrying past the schooner. "I +haven't got a fever coming on, have I? If it doesn't all soon go off +I'll ask Captain Reed to give me some of his quinine. Ugh! Horribly +bitter stuff! I have had enough physic this voyage to last me for a +year." + +And then he lapsed into a sort of dreamy state in which he dragged out +of his sleeping adventures that he had been acting as a sort of +carpenter's boy, carrying the bag, which weighed him down, while all the +time he had to keep handing gigantic augers to Chips, and wiping his +forehead every now and then with handfuls of shavings, while his master +kept on turning away, trying to bore holes through the steel plates of +the gunboat, and never making so much as a scratch. Then came a rest, +and he and Chips were lying down together in a beautiful summer-house +built upon a shelf of the cliff, with lovely vines running all over it +covered with brilliant flowers, and growing higher and higher, with the +upper parts laden with fruit which somehow seemed to be like beans. He +did not know why it was, but his rest in this beautiful vine-shaded +place, whose coverings seemed to grow right up into the skies, was +disturbed by the carpenter's banter, for Chips kept calling him Jack, +and laughing at him for selling his mother's cow for a handful of beans, +and asking why he didn't begin to climb right up to the top of the great +stalk into the giant land. Before he could answer they were back again +by the side of the gunboat, seated in the dinghy, and Chips was turning +away at his cross-handled auger, which now seemed to go through the +steel as easily as if it were cheese-rind, while when the dreamer took +hold of a handful of the shavings that were turned out, they were of +bright steel, and so hard and sharp that they made the carpenter angry +because they did not remove the perspiration and only scratched his +face. But he kept on turning all the time, till the auger had gone in +about six inches, when he left off and asked for another, driving this +in at a tremendous rate and again asking for another and another, until +he had driven in a whole series of them which extended from the level of +the dinghy's gunwale right up the gunboat's side. + +Then it seemed to the sleeper that the dinghy was passed along to the +war-vessel's stern, where Chips made her fast to the rudder-chains, and +then held out his hand for the powder-bag, which was so big that it +filled up all the bottom of the little boat and swelled right over the +side. It was very heavy, but Fitz felt that it must be done, though it +was not proper work for a young officer in Her Majesty's Navy. + +But Chips was sitting astride the rudder, holding out his hands, and the +bag was obliged to be passed up. Directly afterwards it was made fast, +and Chips came back holding a black string moistened with gunpowder, and +holding out the end to him to light with a match. This he did, after +striking many which would not go off because his hands were wet; and +then he sat back watching the powder sparkle as it gradually burned +along the string towards the neck of the bag full of black powder, which +somehow seemed to be the soot from one of the chimneys at home, while +Chips the carpenter was only the sweep. + +Fitz remembered his sensations of horror as he sat expecting to see the +explosion which would blow him into the water; and his dread was +agonising; but just then the dinghy began to glide along till it was +underneath the augers extending upwards like a ladder, and up these the +carpenter climbed, beckoning him to follow, to the gunboat's deck, where +all the Spanish sailors were lying fast asleep. + +Here he seemed to know that he must step cautiously for fear of treading +on and waking the crew; but Chips did not seem to mind at all, going +straight in one stride right to where the big breech-loader lay +amidships on its carriage, waiting to be lifted out and dropped +overboard. + +And here the confused muddle of dreams became condensed into a good +solid nightmare that would not go, for Fitz felt himself obliged to step +to the heaviest part of the huge gun and lift, while Chips took the +light end and grinned at him in his efforts to raise it, while as he +lifted, and they got the gun poised between them, each with his clasped +hands underneath, it kept going down again as if to crush his toes. But +he felt no pain, and kept on lifting again and again, till somehow it +seemed that they were doing this not upon the gunboat's planks, and that +they could not get it overboard because the deck was that shown in the +tinselled picture of the Red Rover hanging upon the wall of the +gardener's cottage at home, while the sea beyond was only paper painted +blue. All the same, though, and in spite of his holding one end of the +gun, Chips was there, wearing a scarlet sash and waving a black flag +upon which was a grinning skull and cross-bones. + +When he got as far as that, Fitz could get no farther, for things grew +rather too much entangled; so much so that it seemed to him that he +awoke just then with his brain seething and confusion worse confounded, +telling himself that he must have had the nightmare very badly indeed, +and wondering whether it was due to fever coming on, or something +indigestible he had had to eat. + +But he said nothing about his dream for some hours, long after he had +been on deck, to find that there had been no alarm during the night, had +been refreshed by breakfast, and had heard that the gunboat was at +anchor where she had been the previous night, and this from Mr +Burgess's lips, for he had been down stream with the boat himself. + +It was getting towards mid-day, when the sun was shining with full +power, and the opinion was strong on deck that if the gunboat people +intended to make another attack they would defer it till the day was not +quite so hot. + +Just then Fitz Burnett seemed to come all at once to a conclusion about +his confused dream. Perhaps it was due to the heat in that valley, +having ripened his thoughts. Whatever it might have been, he hurried to +Poole, got hold of his arm, and told him to come forward into the bows. + +"What for?" asked Poole. + +"Because there's no one there, and we can talk." + +"All right," said the lad. Leading the way he perched himself astride +upon the bowsprit and signified that his companion should follow his +example; and there they sat, with the loose jib-sail flapping gently to +and fro and forming an awning half the time. + +"Now then," said Poole, "what is it? You look as if you had found +something, or heard some news. Is the gunboat going away?" + +"I wish it were," was the reply. "I wanted to tell you that I had last +night such a dream." + +"Had you? Well, are you going to tell it to me?" + +"No; impossible, for I can't recollect it all myself, only the stupid +and muddled part of it. But I have been trying to puzzle it out this +morning, and that set me thinking about other things as well, till at +last, all of a sudden, I got the very idea we want." + +"You have! What is it?" cried Poole excitedly. "Tell me gently, for +perhaps I could not bear it all at once." + +"It's the way to disable the gunboat." + +"Do you mean it?" + +"Yes." + +"A good sensible, possible way, that could be done?" + +"Yes, and by one person too, if he had the pluck." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY FIVE. + +TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. + +It was rather a queer position occupied by the two lads, seated astride +the bowsprit like children playing at horses--sea- or river-horses, in +this case, for the swift current was running beneath them. + +Poole looked hard at Fitz, his sharp eyes seeming to plunge into those +of his companion as if he read his very thoughts, while as Fitz returned +the gaze his look became timid and shrinking; a curious feeling of +nervousness and regret attacked him, and the next minute he was wishing +that instead of planning out a suggestion by which he would help these +filibusters, he had kept silence and not begun a proposal which he felt +to be beneath his dignity as a young officer of the Queen. + +"Well," said Poole at last, in a tone of voice which added to Fitz's +chill; "what is it?" Fitz remained silent. + +"Well, out with it! What's the scheme?" Still Fitz did not speak, and +Poole went on--"It ought to be something good to make you so cocksure. +I have gone over it all again and again, turned it upside down and +downside up, and I can't get at anything one-half so good as old Chips's +cock-and-bull notions. I suppose you are cleverer than I am, and if you +are, so much the better, for it's horrible to be shut up like this, and +I feel as if I'd rather wait for a good wind, clap on all sail, and make +a dash for it, going right ahead for the gunboat as if you meant to run +her down, and when we got very close, give the wheel a spin and shoot by +her. They'd think we were coming right on to her, and it might scare +the crew so that they wouldn't be able to shoot straight till we got +right by. And then--" + +"Yes," said Fitz; "and then perhaps when they had got over the scare +they'd shoot straight enough. And suppose they did before they were +frightened. What about the first big shell that came aboard?" + +"Ah, yes, I didn't think of that," said Poole. "But anyhow, that's the +best I can do. I've thought till my head is all in a buzz, and I shan't +try to think any more. I suppose, then, that yours is a better idea +than that." + +"Ye-es. Rather." + +"Well, let's have it." + +Fitz was silent, and more full of bitter regret that he had spoken. + +"I say, you are a precious long time about it." + +"Well, I don't know," stammered Fitz. "I don't think I ought to; +perhaps it wouldn't be a good one, after all." + +"Well, you are a rum fellow, Burnett! I began to believe in you, and +you quite made my mouth water, while now you snatch the idea away. +What's the matter?" + +Fitz cleared his throat, and pulled himself together. + +"Well," he said; "you see, it's like this. I've no business as your +prisoner to take part with you against a State which is recognised by +the British Government, and to which your father has surreptitiously +been bringing arms and ammunition that are contraband of war." + +"_Phee-ew_!" whistled Poole, grinning. "What big words! What a +splendid speech!" + +"Look here, if you are beginning to banter," replied Fitz hotly, "I'm +off." + +"Yes, you've just let yourself off--bang. We had got to be such friends +that I thought you had dropped all that and were going to make the best +of things. You know well enough that Villarayo was a bully and a brute, +a regular tyrant, and that Don Ramon is a grand fellow and a regular +patriot, fighting for his country and for everything that is good." + +"Yes, yes, I know all that," said Fitz; "but that doesn't alter my +position until he has quite got the upper hand and is acknowledged by +England. I feel that it is my duty to be--to be--what do they call +it?--neutral." + +"Oh, you are a punctilious chap. Then you would be neutral, as you call +it, and let Villarayo smash up and murder everybody, because Don Ramon +has not been acknowledged by England?" + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Fitz; "but these are all diplomatic things +with which I have nothing to do." + +"And you have got a good idea, then, that might save us out of this +position?" + +"Ye-es; I think so." + +"And you won't speak?" + +"I feel now that I can't." + +"Humph!" grunted Poole. "It seems too bad, and not half fair to the +governor." + +"It is not fair to me to make me a prisoner," retorted Fitz. + +"He didn't make you one. You came and tumbled down into our hold, and +we did the best we could for you. But don't let's begin arguing about +all that again. Perhaps you are right from your point of view, and I +can't think the same, only of helping to get the _Teal_ out of this +scrape." + +"I wish I could help you and do my duty too," said Fitz. + +"I wish you could," replied Poole. "But I don't think much of your +notion. You said it was all a dream." + +"No, not all. It came from my dreaming and getting into a muddle over +what Chips the carpenter said." + +"I thought so," said Poole coolly; "all a muddle, after all. Dreams are +precious poor thin stuff." + +"This isn't a dream," cried Fitz sharply. + +"And this isn't a dream," cried Poole, flushing up. "I have been +thinking about it, and I can't help seeing that as sure as we two are +sitting here, those mongrel brutes that swarm in the gunboat will sooner +or later get the better of us. Our lads are plucky enough, but the +enemy is about six to one, and they'll hang about there till they +surprise us or starve us out; and how will it be then?" + +"Why, you will all be prisoners of war, of course." + +"Prisoners of war!" cried Poole contemptuously. "What, of Villarayo's +men, the sweepings and scum of the place, every one of them armed with a +long knife stuck in his scarf that he likes to whip out and use! +Hot-blooded savage wretches! Prisoners of war! Once they get the upper +hand, there will be a regular massacre. They'll make the schooner a +prisoner of war if I don't contrive to get below and fire two or three +shots into the little magazine; and that I will do sooner than fall +alive into their hands. Do you think you would escape because you are +an English officer? Not you! Whether you are fighting on our side or +only looking on, it will be all the same to them. I know them, Burnett; +you don't; and I am telling you the honest truth. There! We'll take +our chance," continued the lad coldly. "I don't want to know anything +about your dreams now." + +Poole was in the act of throwing one leg over the bowsprit, and half +turned away; but Fitz caught him tightly by the arm. + +"I can't help it," he cried excitedly, "even if it's wrong. Sit still, +Poole, old chap. I've been thinking this. You see, when I went aboard +the _Tonans_ everything was so fresh and interesting to me about the +gun-drill and our great breech-loader.--Did you ever see one?" + +"Not close to," said Poole coldly. "Ah, well, I have, and you have no +idea what it's like. Big as it is, it's all beautifully made. The +breech opens and shuts, and parts of it move on hinges that are finished +as neatly as the lock of a gun; and it is wonderful how easily +everything moves. There are great screws which you turn as quietly as +if everything were silk, and then there's a great piece that they call +the breech-block, which is lifted out, and then you can stand and look +right through the great polished barrel as if it were a telescope, while +all inside is grooves, screwed as you may say, so that the great bolt or +shell when it is fired is made to spin round, which makes it go +perfectly straight." + +"Well, yes, I think I knew a good deal of that," said Poole, almost +grudgingly. + +"Well, you know," continued Fitz excitedly, "perhaps you don't know that +when they are going to fire, the gun is unscrewed and the breech-block +is lifted out. Then you can look through her; the shell or bolt and the +cartridge are pushed in, the solid breech-block is dropped in behind +them, and the breech screwed up all tightly once again." + +"Yes, I understand; and there's no ramming in from the muzzle as with +the old-fashioned guns." + +"Exactly," said Fitz, growing more and more excited as he spoke. "And +you know now what a tremendously dangerous weapon a great gun like that +is." + +"Yes, my lad," said Poole carelessly; "of course I do. But it's no +good." + +"What's no good?" said Fitz sharply. + +"You are as bad as Chips. If we got on board we couldn't disable that +gun, or get her to the side. She'd be far too heavy to move." + +"Yes," said Fitz, with his eyes brightening, and he gripped his +companion more tightly than ever. "But what's the most important part +of a gun like that?" + +"Why, the charge, of course." + +"No," cried Fitz; "the breech-block. Suppose I, or you and I, got on +board some night in the dark, unscrewed the breech, lifted out the +block, and dropped it overboard. What then?" + +Poole started, and gripped his companion in turn. + +"Why," he said, in a hoarse whisper, "they couldn't fire the gun. The +charge would come out at both ends." + +"To be sure it would." + +"Well--Oh, I don't know," said Poole, trembling with excitement; "I +should muddle it. I don't understand a gun like that." + +"No," cried Fitz; "but I do." + +"Here," panted Poole; "come along aft." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Do! Why, tell my governor, of course! Oh, Burnett, old fellow, you'll +be the saving of us all!" + +The lad's emotion communicated itself to the proposer of the plan, and +neither of them could speak as they climbed back on to the deck, and, +seeing nothing before their eyes but breech-loaders, hurried off, to +meet Mr Burgess just coming out of the cabin-hatch. + +"Is father below there?" cried Poole huskily. "Yes; just left him," +grunted the mate, as he stared hard at the excited countenances of the +two lads. "Anything the matter?" + +"Yes. Quick!" cried Poole. "Come on down below." The skipper looked +up from the log he was writing as his son flung open the cabin-door, +paused for the others to enter, and then shut it after them with a bang +which made the skipper frown. + +"Here, what's this, sir?" he said sternly, as he glanced from one to the +other. "Oh, I see; you two boys have been quarrelling, and want to +fight. Well, wait a little, and you'll have enough of that. Now, Mr +Burnett, speak out. What is it? Have you and my son been having +words?" + +"Yes, father," half shouted Poole, interposing--"such words as will make +you stare. Tell him, Burnett, all that you have said." + +The skipper and the mate listened in silence, while Poole watched the +play of emotion their faces displayed, before the skipper spoke. + +"Splendid, my lad!" he cried. "But it sounds too good to be true. You +say you understand these guns?" + +"Yes, sir; I have often stood by to watch the drill, and seen blank +cartridge fired again and again." + +"But the breech-block? Could it be lifted out?" + +"It could aboard the _Tonans_, sir, and I should say that this would be +about the same." + +"Hah!" ejaculated the skipper. "But it could only be done by one who +understands the working of the piece, and we should be all worse than +children over such a job." + +Poole's eyes were directed searchingly at the middy, who met them +without a wink. + +"As I understand," continued the captain, "it would be done by one who +crept aboard in the dark, unscrewed the gun, took out the block, and +carried it to the side. I repeat, it could only be done by one who +understands the task. Who could do this?" + +"I could, sir," said Fitz quietly. + +"And you would?" + +"If I were strong enough. But I am sure that I could do it if Poole +would help." + +"Then if it's possible to do, father," said the lad quietly, "the job is +done." + +"But look here," interposed the mate, in his gruff way; "what about Don +Ramon? What will he say? He wouldn't have that great breech-loader +spoiled for the world." + +"How would it be spoiled?" cried Fitz sharply. + +"Aren't you going to disable it by chucking the breech-block over the +side?" + +"Pooh!" cried Fitz contemptuously. "These parts are all numbered, and +you can send over to England and get as many new ones as you like." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY SIX. + +TO CUT AND RUN. + +The mate's face lit up in a way that those who knew him had not seen for +months. + +"Well done, youngster!" he said, in quite a musical growl. "Splendid! +Here, Poole Reed, you ought to have thought of that." + +"How could I?" said the lad. "I never learnt anything about +breech-loading cannon." + +"No more you did, my boy," said the skipper; "and we don't want to take +the honour from Mr Burnett. We shall have to do this, sir, but it will +be risky work, and I don't know what to say about letting you go." + +"Oh, I don't think that there will be much risk, Captain Reed," said +Fitz nonchalantly. "It only means going very quietly in the dark. It +would be done best from the dinghy, because it's so small." + +"And how would you go to work?" said the skipper. + +"Oh," said Fitz, "I should arrange to go about two bells, let the dinghy +drift close in under her bows after studying the gunboat well with a +glass, and I think one ought to be able to mount by climbing up the +anchor on the starboard side. If not, by the fore-chains." + +"And what about the watch?" + +"I've thought about that, sir, and I don't believe that they keep a good +one at all. It won't be like trying to board a gunboat in the British +Navy. Like as not those on deck will be asleep." + +"Yes, I think so too," said Poole. + +"Well," said the skipper, "I have something of the same sort of idea. +They'd never believe that any one from the schooner would do such a +daring thing. What do you say, Burgess?" + +"Same as you do, sir," said the mate gruffly. + +"But what do you think would be the great advantage of doing this, Mr +Burnett?" said the skipper. + +"The advantage, sir?" replied the middy, staring. "Why, it would be +like drawing a snake's fangs! You wouldn't be afraid of the gunboat +without her gun." + +"No," said the skipper thoughtfully, "I don't think I should; and for +certain she'd be spoiled for doing any mischief to Don Ramon's forts." + +"Oh yes, father," cried Poole excitedly. "It would turn the tables +completely. You remember what Don Ramon said?" + +"What, about the power going with the party who held the gunboat? Well, +it's a pity we can't capture her too." + +"Or run her ashore, father." + +"What, wreck her? That would be a pity." + +"I meant get her ashore so that she'd be helpless for a time." + +"Well, now's your time, my boy. It has come to a pretty pass, though, +Burgess, for these young chaps to be taking the wind out of our sails." + +"Oh, I don't mind," growled the mate. "Here, let's have it, Poole. +Look at him! He's got something bottled up as big as young Mr Burnett, +I dare say." + +"Eh? Is that so, my boy? Have you been planning some scheme as well?" + +"Well, father, I had some sort of an idea. It came all of a jump after +Burnett had proposed disabling the gun." + +"Well done!" whispered Fitz excitedly. + +"What is it, my lad?" said the skipper. + +"Oh, I feel rather nervous about it, father, and I don't know that it +would answer; but I should like to try." + +"Go on, then; let's hear what it is." + +"You see, I noticed that they have always got steam up ready to come in +chase at any time if we try to slip out." + +"That's right," growled the mate. + +"Well, I was thinking, father, how would it be if we could foul the +screw?" + +"Why, a job, my lad, for them to clear it again." + +"But wouldn't it be very risky work lying waiting while they tried to +clear the screw? You know what tremendous currents there are running +along the coast." + +"But they wouldn't affect a craft lying at anchor, my lad," growled the +mate. + +"No," said Poole excitedly; "but I should expect to foul the screw just +when they had given orders to up with the anchor to come in chase of us +or to resist attack." + +"And how would you do it, my lad?" said the skipper. + +"Well, father, I was thinking--But I don't profess for a moment that it +would succeed." + +"Let's have what you thought, and don't talk so much," cried the +skipper. "How could you foul the screw?" + +"Well, the dinghy wouldn't do, father; it would be too small. We should +have to go in the gig, with four men to row. I should like to take the +big coil of Manilla cable aboard, with one end loose and handy, and a +good rope ready. Then I should get astern and make the end fast to one +of the fans of the screw, and give the cable a hitch round as well so as +to give a good hold with the loop before we lowered it overboard to +sink." + +"Good," said Burgess. "Capital! And then if the fans didn't cut it +when they began to revolve, they'd wind the whole of that cable round +and round, and most likely regularly foul the screw badly before they +found out what was wrong." + +"Yes," said the skipper quietly. "The idea is excellent if it answered, +but means the loss of a good new cable that I can't spare if things went +wrong; and that's what they'd be pretty sure to do." + +Poole drew a deep breath, and his face grew cloudy. + +"The idea is too good, my lad. It is asking too much of luck, and we +couldn't expect two such plans to succeed. What do you say, Burgess?" + +"Same as you do," said the mate roughly. "But if we got one of our +shots to go off right we ought to be satisfied, and if it was me I +should have a try at both." + +"Yes," said the skipper, "and we will. But it seems to me, Burgess, +that you and I are going to be out of it all." + +"Oh yes. They've planned it; let 'em do it, I say." + +"Yes," said the skipper; "they shall. But look here, do you lads +propose to do all this in one visit to the gunboat?" + +"Poole's idea, sir, is all fresh to me," cried Fitz. "I knew nothing of +it till he began to speak, but it seems to me that it must all be done +in one visit. They'd never give us a chance to go twice." + +"No," said the mate laconically, and as he uttered the word he shut his +teeth with a snap. + +"When's it to be, then?" + +"To-night, sir," said Fitz, "while it's all red-hot." + +"Yes, father; it ought to be done to-night. It's not likely to be +darker than it is just now." + +"Very well," said the skipper; "then I give you both authority to make +your plans before night. But the dinghy is out of the question. With +the current running off the coast here you'd never get back in that. +You must take the gig, and five men. Pick out who you like, Poole: the +men you would rather trust. You'd better let him choose, Mr Burnett; +he knows the men so much better than you, and besides, it would be +better that they should be under his orders than under yours. There, I +have no more to say, except this--whether they succeed or not, your +plans are both excellent; but you cannot expect to do anything by force. +This is a case for scheme and cunning. Under the darkness it may be +done. What I should like best would be for you to get that breech-block +overboard. If you can do the other too, so much the better, but I shall +be perfectly satisfied if you can do one, and get back safely into the +river. There, Poole; make what arrangements you like. I shall not +interfere in the least." + +"Nor I," said the mate. "Good luck to you both! But I shouldn't worry +much about preparing for a fight. What you have got to do is to act, +cut, and run." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN. + +'CAUSE WHY. + +"Now we know," said Poole joyously, as they left the cabin and went +forward to their old place to discuss their plans: "what we have got to +do is to cut and run. Come on; let's go and sit on the bowsprit again. +It will soon be dinner-time. I wonder what the Camel has got?" + +"Oh, don't talk about eating now," cried Fitz, as they reached the big +spar, upon which he scrambled out, to sit swinging his legs, and closely +followed by Poole. "What's the first thing?" + +"Who's to man the gig," said Poole; "and I've got to pick the crew." + +"I should like to pick one," cried Fitz. + +"All right, go on; only don't choose the Camel, nor Bob Jackson." + +"No, no; neither of them," cried Fitz. "I say, we ought to have old +Butters." + +"One," said Poole sharply. "Now it's my turn; Chips." + +"Yes, I should like to have him," cried the middy. "But I don't know," +he continued seriously. "He's a splendid fellow, and so handy; but he +might want to turn it all into a lark." + +"Not he," cried Poole. "He likes his bit of fun sometimes, but for a +good man and true to have at my back in a job like this, he's the pick +of the whole crew." + +"Chips it is, then," said Fitz. "That's two." + +"Dick Boulter, then." + +"Three!" cried Fitz. + +"Harry Smith." + +"Four," said Fitz. + +"Four, four, four, four," said Poole thoughtfully. "Who shall we have +for number five? Here, we'll have the Camel, after all." + +"Oh," cried Fitz; "there'll be nothing to cook." + +"Yes, there will; the big gun and the propeller. He's cook, of course, +but he's nearly as good a seaman as there is on board the schooner, and +he'll row all right and never utter a word. There, we've got a splendid +boat's crew, and I vote we go and tell father what we've done." + +"I wouldn't," said Fitz. "It'll make him think that we hadn't +confidence in ourselves. Unless he asks us, I wouldn't say a word." + +"You are right," said Poole; "right as right. Now then, what's next? I +know: we'll go and make the lads get up the Manilla rope and lay it down +again in rings as close as they'll go." + +"On the deck here?" said Fitz. + +"No, no; right along the bottom of the gig. And we must have her +lowered down first with two men in her, ready to coil the cable as the +others pass it down. Now then, let's get inboard again and find old +Butters." + +"But he'll be wanting to know what we want with that rope." + +"Sure to," said Poole; "but he'll have to wait. Oh, here he comes. +Here, bosun!" he cried. "I want you to get up that new Manilla cable, +lower down the gig, and coil it in the bottom so that it will take up as +little room as possible, and not be in the men's way." + +"What men's way?" said the boatswain. "Chips, Harry Smith, the Camel, +and Dick Boulter," said Poole. + +"Ho!" grunted the boatswain, and he took off his cap and began to +scratch his head, staring at both in turn. "Whose orders?" he grunted, +at last. "I just seen Mr Burgess, and he never said a word." + +"The skipper's orders," cried Poole. + +"Ho!" said the boatswain again. "Well, that's good enough for me," and +he stood staring at them. + +"Well, get the men together and see about the rope," cried Poole. + +"What's your game? Going to take the end out to a steam-tug, or is the +gunboat going to tow us out to sea?" + +"Don't ask questions, please. It's private business of the skipper's, +under the orders of Mr Burnett and me." + +"Ho! All right, my lad; only oughtn't I to know what we are going to +do? You are going off somewhere in the boat, eh?" + +"Yes, that's right." + +"And I'm not to come?" + +"Oh, but you are," cried Poole, "and I've told you the men I've picked +for the job. Don't you think it's a good crew?" + +"Middling," said the boatswain grudgingly. "Might be better; might be +wuss. But look here, young fellow; I don't like working in the dark." + +"I am sorry for you," said Fitz, "for this will be an all-night job." + +"Then I'd better take my nightcap," said the boatswain quietly. "But +what's up? Are you going to make fast to the gunboat and tow her in?" + +"You know we are not," replied Poole. + +"Well, I did think it was rather an unpossible sort of job. But hadn't +you better be open and above-board with a man, and say what it all +means?" + +"It means that you and the other men are under the orders of Mr Burnett +and me, and that we look to you to do your best over what's going to be +a particular venture. You'll know soon enough. Till then, please +wait." + +"All right," said the boatswain. "I'm your man. For the skipper +wouldn't have given you these orders if it wasn't square;" saying which +the man walked off to rouse up the little crew, all but the Camel, whom +he left to his regular work in the galley. "We shan't want him yet," +said Butters, as the boys followed him. "Had he better get us some +rations to take with us?" + +"Oh no," said Poole. "We oughtn't to be away more than three or four +hours if we are lucky." + +"Why, this 'ere gets mysteriouser and mysteriouser," grumbled the +boatswain. "But I suppose it's going to be all right," and he proceeded +to give his orders to the men. + +"Now we shall begin to have them full of questions," said Poole. "I +begin to wish we were making it all open and above-aboard." + +"I don't," said Fitz; "I like it as it is. If we told everybody it +would spoil half the fun." + +"Fun!" cried Poole, screwing up his face into a quaint smile. "Fun, do +you call it? Do you know that this is going to be a very risky job?" + +"Well, I suppose there'll be some risk in it," replied the middy; "but +it will be all in the dark, and we ought to get it done without a shot +being fired. I say, though, I have been thinking that you and I must +keep together, for I am afraid to trust myself over getting out that +block. I should have liked to have done that first, but the splash it +would make is bound to give the alarm, and there would be no chance +afterwards to get that cable fast, without you let old Butters and the +men do that while we were busy with the gun." + +"No," said Poole decisively; "everything depends upon our doing these +things ourselves. The cable can be made fast without a sound, and as +soon as it is passed over the side of the boat, the men must lay the gig +alongside the bows for us to swarm up, do our part, and then get to them +the best way we can. I expect it will mean a jump overboard and a swim +till they pick us up." + +"Yes," said Fitz; "that's right. Ah, there comes the end of the cable. +It's nice and soft to handle." + +"Yes," said Poole, "and needn't make any noise." + +The lads sauntered up to where the men were at work, three of them +lowering down the gig, while the carpenter and boatswain were bringing +up the cable out of the tier, the former on deck, the boatswain down +below. + +"So you're going to have a night's fishing, my lad?" said the carpenter. +"Well, you'll find this 'ere a splendid line. But what about a hook?" + +"Oh, we shan't want that yet, Chips," said Poole coolly. + +"Nay, I know that, my lad; but you've got to think about it all the +same, and you'll want a pretty tidy one for a line like this. I didn't +know the fish run so big along this coast. Any one would think you'd +got whales in your heads. I never 'eard, though, as there was any +harpoons on board." + +"Oh no, we are not going whale-fishing," said Poole quietly. + +"What's it to be then, sir? Bottom fishing or top?" + +"Top," said Poole. + +"Then you'll be wanting me to make you a float. What's it to be? One +of them big water-barrels with the topsail-yard run through? And you'll +want a sinker. And what about a bait?" + +"We haven't thought about that yet, Chips." + +"Ah, you aren't like what I was when I was a boy, Mr Poole, sir. I +used to think about it the whole day before, and go to the butcher's for +my maggits, and down the garden for my wums. Of course I never fished +in a big way like this 'ere; but I am thinking about a bait. I should +like you to have good sport. Means hard work for the Camel to-morrow, I +suppose." + +"And to-night too, Chips, I hope," said Poole. + +"That's right, sir," said the man cheerily, as he hauled upon the cable. +"But what about that bait? I know what would be the right thing; +perhaps the skipper mightn't approve, and not being used to it Mr +Burnett here mightn't like to use such a bait." + +"Oh, I don't suppose I should mind, Chips," said Fitz, laughing. "What +should you recommend?" + +"Well, sir, I should say, have the dinghy and go up the river a mile or +two till we could land and catch a nice lively little nigger--one of +them very shiny ones. That would be the sort." + +The two lads forgot the seriousness of the mission they had in view, +exchanged glances, and began to laugh, with the result that the man +turned upon them quite an injured look. + +"Oh, it's quite right, gentlemen; fishes have their fancies and likings +for a tasty bit, same as crocodiles has. I arn't sailed all round the +world without picking up a few odds and ends to pack up in my +knowledge-box. Why, look at sharks. They don't care for nigger; it's +too plentiful. But let them catch sight of a leg or a wing of a nice +smart white sailor, they're after it directly. Them crocs too! Only +think of a big ugly lizardy-looking creetur boxed up in a skin half +rhinoceros, half cow-horn--just fancy him having his fads and fancies! +Do you know what the crocodile as lives in the river Nile thinks is the +choicest tit-bit he can get hold of?" + +"Not I," said Poole. "Giraffe perhaps." + +"No, sir; what he says is dog, and if he only hears a dog running along +the bank yelping and snapping and chy-iking, he's after him directly, +finishes him up, and then goes and lies down in the hot sun with his +mouth wide open, and goes to sleep. Ah, you may laugh, sir; but I've +been up there in one of them barges as they calls darbyers, though how +they got hold of such an Irish name as that I don't know. It was along +with a orficer as went up there shooting crocs and pottomhouses. Oh, +I've seen the crocs there often--lots of them. Do you know what they +opens their mouths for when they goes to sleep, Mr Burnett, sir?" + +"To yawn, I suppose," said Fitz. "Haul away there, my lad! Look +alive!" came in a deep growl from below; and Chips winked and made the +great muscles stand out in his brown arms as he hauled, but kept on +talking all the same. + +"Yawn, sir! Nay, that isn't it. It's a curiosity in nat'ral history, +and this 'ere's fact. You young gents may believe it or not, just as +you like." + +"Thank you," said Fitz dryly; "I'll take my choice." + +"Ah, I expect you won't believe it, sir. But this 'ere's what it's for. +He leaves his front-door wide open like that, and there's a little bird +with a long beak as has been waiting comes along, hippity-hop, and +settles on the top of Mr Croc's head, and looks at first one eye and +then at the other to see if he's really asleep, and that there is no +gammon. He aren't a-going to run no risks, knowing as he does that a +croc's about one of the artfullest beggars as ever lived. I suppose +that's why they calls 'em amphibious. Oh, they're rum 'uns, they are! +They can sham being dead, and make theirselves look like logs of wood +with the rough bark on, and play at being in great trouble and cry, so +as to get people to come nigh them to help, and then snip, snap, they +has 'em by the leg, takes them under water to drown, and then goes and +puts 'em away in the cupboard under the bank." + +"What for?" said Poole. + +"What for, sir? Why, to keep till they gets tender. Them there Errubs +of the desert gets so sun-tanned that they are as tough as string; so +hard, you know, that they wouldn't even agree with a croc. Yo-hoy! +Haul oh, and here she comes!" added the man, in a low musical bass voice +to himself, as he kept on dragging at the soft Manilla rope. + +"I say, Burnett," said Poole seriously, "don't you think we'd better get +pencil and paper and put all this down--Natural History Notes by Peter +Winks, Head Carpenter of the Schooner _Teal_?" + +"Nay, nay, sir, don't you do that. Stick to fact. That's what I don't +like in people as writes books about travel. They do paint it up so, +and lay it on so thick that the stuff cracks, comes off, and don't look +nat'ral." + +"Then you wouldn't put down about that little bird that comes +hippity-hop and looks at the crocodile's eyes?" + +"What, sir! Why, that's the best part of it. That's the crumb of the +whole business." + +"Oh, I see," said Fitz. "Then that's a fact?" + +"To be sure, sir. He's larnt it from old experience. I dare say he's +seen lots go down through the croc turning them big jaws of his into a +bird-trap and shutting them up sudden, when of course there aren't no +more bird. But that's been going on for hundreds of thousands of years, +and the birds know better now, and wait till it's quite safe before they +begin." + +"Begin what?" said Fitz sharply. + +"Well, sir," said the carpenter, as he hauled away, "that's what I want +to tell you, only you keep on interrupting me so." + +Fitz closed his teeth with a snap. + +"Go on, Chips," he said. "I'll be mute as a fish." + +"Well, sir, as I said afore, you young gents can believe it or you can +let it alone: that there little bird, or them little birds, for there's +thousands of them, just the same as there is crocodiles, and they are +all friendly together, I suppose because crocs is like birds in one +thing--they makes nests and lays eggs, and the birds, as I'm telling of +you, does this as reg'lar as clockwork. When the croc's had his dinner +and gone to sleep with his front-door wide open, the little chap comes +hopping and peeping along close round the edge, and then gets his own +living by picking the crocodile's teeth." + +"Ha-ha!" laughed Fitz. "'Pon my word, Poole, I should like to put this +down." + +"Oh, it don't want no putting down, sir; it's a fact; a cracker turns +mouldy and drops off." + +"Well, won't this go bad?" cried Fitz, laughing. + +"Not it, sir. You don't believe it, I see, but it's all natur'. It's +a-using up of the good food as the croc don't want, and which would all +be wasted, for he ain't a clean-feeding sort of beast. He takes his +food in chops and chunks, and swallows it indecent-like all in lumps. A +croc ain't like a cow as sits down with her eyes half shut and chews and +chews away, sentimental-like, turning herself into a dairy and making a +good supply of beautiful milk such as we poor sailors never hardly gets +a taste on in our tea. A croc is as bad as a shark, a nasty sort of +feeder, and if I was you young gents I'd have a study when I got ashore +again, and look in some of your big books, and you'd find what I says is +all there." + +"Did you find what you've been telling us all there?" said Poole. + +"Nay, my lad; I heard best part of it from my officer that I used to go +with. Restless sort of chap he was--plenty of money, and he liked +spending it in what he called exhibitions--No, that aren't right-- +expeditions--that's it; and he used to take me. What he wanted to find +was what he called the Nile Sauce; but he never found it, and we never +wanted it. My word, the annymiles as he used to shoot when we was +hungry, and that was always. My word, the fires I used to make, and the +way I used to cook! Why, I could have given the Camel fifty out of a +hundred and beat him. We didn't want any sauce. Did either of you +gents ever taste heland steak? No, I suppose not. Fresh cut, frizzled +brown, sprinkled with salt, made hotter with a dash of pepper, and then +talk about juice and gravy! Lovely! Wish we'd got some now. Why, in +some of our journeys up there in what you may call the land of nowhere +and nobody, we was weeks sometimes without seeing a soul, only +annymiles--ah, and miles and miles of them. I never see such droves and +never shall again. They tell me that no end of them has got shot.-- +Beautiful creatures they were too! Such coats; and such long thin legs +and arms, and the way they'd go over the sandy ground was wonderful. +They never seemed to get tired. I've seen a drove of them go along like +a hurricane, and when they have pulled up short to stare at us, and +you'd think that they hadn't got a bit of breath left in their bodies, +they set-to larking, hip, snip, jumping over one another's backs like a +lot of school-boys at leap-frog, only ten times as high." + +"Did you ever see any lions?" said Fitz, growing more serious as he +began to realise that there was very little fiction and a great deal of +fact in the sailor's yarn. + +"Lots, sir. There have been times when you could hear them roaring all +round our camp. Here, I want to speak the truth. My governor used to +call it camp, but it was only a wagging, and we used to sleep on the +sand among the wheels. Why, I've lain there with my hand making my gun +rusty, it got so hot and wet with listening to them pretty pussy-cats +come creeping round us, and one of them every now and then putting up +his head and roaring till you could almost feel the ground shake. Ah, +you may chuckle, Mr Poole, but that's a fact too; I've felt it, and I +know. And do you know why they roared?" + +"Because they were hungry?" + +"Partly, sir; but most of it's artfulness. It's because they know that +it will make the bullocks break away--stampede, as they calls it--and +rush off from where there's people to take care of them with rifles, and +then they can pick off just what they like. But they don't care much +about big bullock. They've got tasty ideas of their own, same as crocs +have. What they likes is horse, and the horses knows it too, poor +beggars! It's been hard work to hold them sometimes--my governor's +horse, you know, as he hunted on; and I've heard them sigh and groan as +if with satisfaction when the governor's fired with his big double +breech-loader and sent the lions off with their tails trailing behind +and leaving a channel among their footprints in the sand. I've seen it, +Mr Burnett, next morning, and I know." + +"All right, Chips," cried Poole. "We won't laugh at you and your yarns. +But now look here; there must be no more chaff. This is serious work." + +"All right, sir," said the man good-humouredly, as he wiped his dripping +face. "No one can't say as I aren't working--not even old Butters." + +"No, no," said Poole hastily. "You are working well." + +"And no one can't say, sir, as I've got my grumbling stop out, which I +do have sometimes," he added, with a broad grin, "and lets go a bit." + +"You do, Chips; but I want you to understand that this is a very serious +bit of business we are on." + +"O!" + +A very large, round, thoughtful _O_, and the man hauled steadily away, +nodding his head the while. + +"Serous, eh? Then you aren't going fishing?" + +"Fishing, no!" + +"Then it's something to do with the gunboat?" + +"Don't ask questions," cried Poole. "Be satisfied that we are going on +a very serious expedition, and we want you to help us all you can." + +"Of course, my lads. Shall I want my tools?" + +"No." + +The man was silent for a few moments, looking keenly from one to the +other, and then at the rope, before giving his leg a sharp slap, and +whispering with his face full of animation-- + +"Why, you're going to steal aboard the gunboat in the dark, and make +fast one end of this 'ere rope to that there big pocket-pistol, so as we +can haul her overboard. But no, lads, it can't be done. But even if it +could it would only stick fast among them coral rocks that lie off +yonder." + +"And what would that matter, so long as we got it overboard?" + +"Ah, I never thought of that. But no, my lad; you may give that up. It +couldn't be done." + +"Well, it isn't going to be done," said Fitz sharply; "and now let's +have no more talk. But mind this--Mr Poole and I don't want you to say +anything to the other men. It's a serious business, and we want you to +wait." + +"That's right, sir. I'll wait and help you all I can; and I'll make +half-a-davy, as the lawyers calls it, that I won't tell the other lads +anything. 'Cause why--I don't know." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT. + +VERY WRONG. + +Very little more was said, and the preparations were soon finished, with +the rest of the crew looking on in silence. It seemed to be an +understood thing, after a few words had passed with the selected men, +that there was to be no palaver, as they termed it. + +As for Fitz and Poole, they had nothing to do but think, and naturally +they thought a great deal, especially when the night came on, with the +watching party who had been sent below to the mouth of the river back +with the announcement that the gunboat was in its old place, the boats +all up to the davits, and not a sign of anything going on. But far from +taking this as a token of safety, the skipper and mate made their +arrangements to give the enemy a warm welcome if they should attack, and +also despatched a couple of men in the dinghy to make fast just off the +edge of the first bend and keep watch there, trusting well to their ears +for the first warning of any boat that might be coming up. + +The two lads stole away into their favourite place for consultations as +soon as it was dark, to have what they called a quiet chat over their +plans. + +"I don't see that we could do any more," said Fitz, "but we must keep +talking about it. The time goes so horribly slowly. Generally speaking +when you are expecting anything it goes so fast; now it crawls as if the +time would never be here." + +"Well, that's queer," said Poole. "Ever since I knew that we were going +it has seemed to gallop." + +"Well, whether it gallops or whether it crawls it can't be very long +before it's time to start. I say, how do you feel?" + +"Horrible," said Poole. "It makes me think that I must be a bit of a +coward, for I want to shirk the responsibility and be under somebody's +command. My part seems to be too much for a fellow like me to +undertake. You don't feel like that, of course." + +Fitz sat there in the darkness for a few minutes without speaking. Then +after heaving a deep sigh-- + +"I say," he whispered, "shall you think me a coward if I say I feel just +like that?" + +"No. Feeling as I do, of course I can't." + +"Well, that's just how I am," said Fitz. "Sometimes I feel as if I were +quite a man, but now it's as if I was never so young before, and that it +is too much for chaps like us to understand such a thing." + +"Then if we are both like that," said Poole sadly, "I suppose we ought +to be honest and go straight to the dad and tell him that we don't feel +up to it. What do you say?" + +"What!" cried Fitz. "Go and tell him coolly that we are a pair of +cowardly boys, for him and Mr Burgess to laugh at, and the men--for +they'd be sure to hear--to think of us always afterwards as a pair of +curs? I'd go and be killed first! And so would you; so don't tell me +you wouldn't." + +"Not going to," said Poole. "I'll only own up that I'm afraid of the +job; but as we've proposed it, and it would be doing so much good if we +were to succeed, I mean to go splash at it and carry it through to the +end. You will too, won't you?" + +"Yes, of course." + +There was a slight rustling sound then, caused by the two lads reaching +towards one another and joining hands in a long firm grip. + +"Hah!" exclaimed Fitz, with a long-drawn expiration of the breath. "I'm +glad I've got that off my mind. I feel better now." + +"Same here. Now, what shall we do next? Go and talk to old Butters and +tell him what we want him to do?" + +"No," cried Fitz excitedly. "You forget that we are in command. We've +no business to do anything till the time comes, and then give the men +their orders sharp and short, as if we were two skippers." + +"Ah, yes," said Poole, "that's right. That's what I want to do, only it +seems all so new." + +"I tell you what, though," said Fitz. "We shall be going for hours and +hours without getting anything, and that'll make us done up and weak. I +vote that as we are to do as we like, we go and stir up the Camel and +tell him to send us in a nice meal to the cabin." + +"But it isn't long since we had something," suggested Poole. + +"Yes, but neither of us could eat nor enjoy it. I couldn't, and I was +watching you; but I feel that I could eat now, so come on. It'll help +to pass the time, and make us fit to do anything." + +"All right," said Poole, and they fetched Andy from where he was sitting +forward talking in whispers with his messmates, told him what they +wanted, and ordered him to prepare a sort of tea-supper for the little +crew of the gig. + +The Camel was ready enough, and within half-an-hour the two lads were +doing what Poole termed stowing cargo, the said cargo consisting of +rashers of prime fried ham, cold bread-cake, hot coffee and preserved +milk. + +They did good justice to the meal too, and before they had ended the +skipper came down to them, looked on for a minute or two, and then +nodded his satisfaction. + +"That looks well, my lads," he said. "It's business-like, and as if +your hearts were so much in your work that you didn't feel disposed to +shirk it. It makes me comfortable, for I was getting a little nervous +about you, I must own." + +The boys exchanged glances, but said nothing. + +"Here, don't mind me," continued the skipper. "Make a good hearty meal, +and I'll talk to you as you eat." + +"About our going and what we are about to do, father?" said Poole. + +"Well, my boy, yes, of course." + +"I wish you wouldn't, father. It's too late now to be planning and +altering, and that sort of thing." + +"Yes, please, Captain Reed," cried Fitz excitedly. "It's like lessons +at school. We ought to know what we've got to do by now, and learning +at the last minute won't do a bit of good. If we succeed we succeed, +and if we fail we fail." + +"Do you know what a big writer said, my boy, when one of his characters +was going off upon an expedition?" + +"No, sir," said Fitz. + +"Good luck to you, perhaps," said Poole, laughing, though the laugh was +not cheery. + +"No, my lad," said the skipper. "I have not been much of a reader, and +I'm not very good at remembering wise people's sayings, but he said to +the young fellow when he talked as you did about failing, `In the bright +lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail,' which I suppose was a +fine way of saying, Go and do what you have got to do, and never think +of not succeeding. You're not going to fail. You mustn't. There's too +much hanging to it, my boys; and now I quite agree with you that we'll +let things go as they are." + + + +CHAPTER FORTY NINE. + +CHIPS SNIFFS. + +The silence and darkness made the lads' start for their venturesome +expedition doubly impressive, the more so that the men were looking on +in silence and wonder, and no light was shown on board the schooner. +The gig with its load of cable had been swinging for hours by the +painter, and midnight was near at hand, when the little crew, each armed +with cutlass and revolver, stood waiting for their orders to slip down +into their seats. + +This order came at last, accompanied by one command from the skipper, +and it was this-- + +"Perfect silence, my lads. Obey orders, and do your best.--Now, my +boys," he continued, as soon as the men were in the boat, "do not fire a +shot unless you are absolutely obliged. Mr Burgess will follow in the +large boat with a dozen men, to lie off the mouth of the river ready to +help you if you are in trouble; so make for there. If you want to +signal to them to come to you, strike a couple of matches one after the +other, and throw them into the water at once. Last night the gunboat +did not show a light. I expect that it will be the same to-night, as +they will think they are safer; but I fancy amongst you, you will have +eyes sharp enough to make her out, and the darkness will be your best +friend, so I hope the sea will not brime. There, your hand, Mr +Burnett. Now yours, Poole, my boy. Over with you at once." + +The next minute the boys had slid down into the boat, to seat themselves +in the stern-sheets with the boatswain; the carpenter pulled the stroke +oar, so that he was within reach if they wished to speak, and with the +boatswain taking the rudder-lines they glided slowly down the stream. + +"Tell them just to dip their oars to keep her head straight, boatswain," +said Poole quietly. "We have plenty of time, and we had better keep out +in mid-stream. A sharp look-out for anything coming up." + +"Ay, ay, my lad," was the reply, and they seemed to slip on into the +black darkness which rose before them like a wall, while overhead, like +a deep purple band studded with gold, the sky stretched from cliff to +cliff of the deep ravine through which the river ran. + +"Now, Poole," said Fitz suddenly, speaking in a low voice, almost a +whisper, "you had better say a word or two to Mr Butters about the work +we are on." + +"No," replied Poole; "it was your idea, and you're accustomed to take +command of a boat, so you had better speak, for the boatswain and the +carpenter ought to know. The other men will have nothing to do but +manage the gig--" + +"Hah!" ejaculated the boatswain, in a deep sigh, while Chips, who had +heard every word, only gave vent to a sniff. + +Fitz coughed slightly, as if troubled with something that checked his +breath. + +"Then look here, Mr Butters," he said quickly; "we're off to disable +the gunboat yonder, and do two things." + +"Good!" came like a croak. + +"First thing is to foul the screw." + +There was another croak, followed by-- + +"Lay that there cable so that she tangles herself up first time she +turns. That's one." + +Fitz coughed again slightly. + +"You will run the boat up in silence, the men will hold on, while you +and Chips make fast the end to one of the fans, and then let the cable +glide out into the water as we pass round to the bows. It must all be +done without a sound. All the rope must be run out, to sink, and then I +propose that you hold on again under the starboard anchor." + +"Suppose starboard anchor's down?" growled the boatswain. + +"Pass the boat round to the port; either will do; but if we are seen or +heard, all is over." + +"Won't be seen," growled the boatswain. "It's black enough to puzzle a +cat." + +"Very well, then--heard," continued Fitz. + +"Right, sir. What next?" + +"There are no more orders. You will hold on while Mr Poole and I get +aboard. We shall do the rest." + +"Hah!" sighed the boatswain; and like an echo came a similar sound from +the carpenter. + +Then _pat, pat, pat_ came the kissing of the water against the bows of +the gig, and the sides of the ravine seemed as weird and strange as +ever, while the darkness if anything grew more profound. + +At this point, with the boat gliding swiftly down stream, Poole leaned +sideways to run his hand down Fitz's sleeve, feel for his hand, and give +it a warm pressure, which was returned. + +Then they went on round bend after bend, the current keeping them pretty +well in the centre, till at last the final curve was reached, the starry +band overhead seemed to have suddenly grown wider and the air less +oppressive, both hints that they were getting out to sea, and that the +time for the performance of the daring enterprise was close at hand. + +Most fortunately the sea did not "brime," as the West-countrymen say, +when the very meshes of their nets turn into threads of gold through the +presence of the myriad phosphorescent creatures that swarm so thickly at +times that the surface of the sea looks as if it could be skimmed to +clear it of so much lambent liquid gold. + +This was what was wanted, for with a phosphorescent sea, every dip of +the oar, every wavelet which broke against the boat, would have served +as signal to warn the watch on board the gunboat that enemies were near. + +But unfortunately, on the other hand, there was the darkness profound, +and not the scintillation of a riding light to show where the gunboat +lay. They knew that she was about two miles from shore, and as nearly +as could be made out just at the mouth of the channel along which the +_Teal_ had been piloted to enable her to reach the sanctuary in which +she lay. + +But where was she now? The answer did not come to the watchers who with +straining eyes strove to make out the long, low, dark hull, the one +mast, and the dwarfed and massive funnel, but strove in vain. + +Fitz's heart sank, for the successful issue of his exploit seemed to be +fading away, and minute by minute it grew more evident that there was +not the slightest likelihood of their discovering the object of their +search; so that in a voice tinged by the despair he felt, he whispered +his orders to the boatswain to tell the men to cease rowing. + +Then for what seemed to be quite a long space of time, they lay rising +and falling upon the heaving sea, listening, straining their eyes, but +all in vain; and at last, warned by the feeling that unless something +was done they were bound to lose touch of their position when they +wanted to make back for the mouth of the little river, Fitz whispered an +order to the boatswain to keep the gig's head straight off shore, and +then turned to lay his hand on Poole's shoulder and, with his lips close +to his ear, whisper-- + +"What's to be done?" + +"Don't know," came back. "This is a regular floorer." + +The boy's heart sank lower still at this, but feeling that he was in +command, he made an effort to pull himself together. + +"In the bright lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail," seemed +to begin ringing as if at a great distance into his ears, and he rose up +in his place, steadied himself by a hand on his companion's shoulder, +and slowly swept the horizon; that is to say, the lower portion of the +sky, to which the stars did not descend. + +In vain! + +There was no sign of gunboat funnel, nothing to help them in the least, +and coming to the conclusion that their only chance of finding her was +by quartering the sea as a sporting dog does a field, and at the same +time telling himself that the task was hopeless, he bent down to try if +he could get a hint from the boatswain, when he muttered to himself the +words that had now ceased to ring, and his heart gave quite a jump. For +apparently about a hundred yards away there appeared a faint speck of +light which burned brightly for a few moments before with a sudden dart +it described a curve, descending towards the level of the sea; and then +all was black again. + +For a moment or two the darkness upon the sea seemed to lie there +thicker and heavier than ever, till, faint, so dim that it was hardly +visible, the lad was conscious of a tiny light which brightened +slightly, grew dim, brightened again, and then the boatswain uttered a +low "Hah!" and Chips sniffed softly, this time for a reason, for he was +inhaling the aroma of a cigar, borne towards them upon the soft damp +night air. + +The lads joined hands again, and in the warm pressure a thrill of +exultation seemed to run from their fingers right up their arms and into +their breasts, to set their hearts pumping with a heavy throb. + +Neither dared venture upon a whisper to inform his comrade of that which +he already knew--that some one on board the gunboat was smoking, +probably the officer of the watch, and that they must wait in the hope +that he might go below after a look round, when there was still a +possibility that the crew might sleep, or at least be sufficiently lax +in their duty to enable the adventurers to carry out their plans. They +could do nothing else, only wait; but as they waited, with Fitz still +grasping his companion's hand, they both became conscious of the fact +that by slow degrees the glowing end of that cigar grew brighter; and +the reason became patent--that the current running outward from the +river, even at that distance from the shore, was bearing them almost +imperceptibly nearer to where the gunboat lay. + +The idea was quite right, for fortune was after all favouring them, more +than they dared to have hoped. All at once, as they were watching the +glowing light, whose power rose and fell, those on board the gig were +conscious of a slight jerk, accompanied by a grating sound. This was +followed by a faint rustle from the fore part of the boat. What caused +this, for a few moments no one in the after part could tell. + +They knew that they had run upon something, and by degrees Fitz worked +out the mental problem in his mind, as with his heart beating fast he +watched the glowing light, in expectation of some sign that the smoker +had heard the sound as well. + +But he still smoked on, and nothing happened to the boat, which had +careened over at first and threatened to capsize, but only resumed her +level trim and completely reversed her position, head taking the place +of stern, so that to continue to watch the light the middy had to wrench +himself completely round; and then he grasped the fact that the current +had carried them right on to the anchor-chain where it dipped beneath +the surface, before bearing them onward, still to swing at ease. + +The man who acted as coxswain--the Camel to wit--having leaned over, +grasped the chain-cable and almost without a sound made fast the painter +to one of the links. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY. + +A DARING DEED. + +The brains of the other occupants of the boat had been as active as +those of Fitz, and their owners had come to pretty well the same +conclusion, as they all involuntarily lowered their heads and sat +perfectly still listening, and hardly able to believe that the man who +was smoking was not watching them and about to give the alarm. + +But the moments glided by and became minutes, while the silence on board +the gunboat seemed painful. The perspiration stood upon Fitz's brow, +forming drops which gradually ran together and then began to trickle +down the sides of his nose, tickling horribly; but he dared not even +raise his hand to wipe them away. + +By degrees, though, all became convinced that they could not be seen, +and something in the way of relief came at the end of about a quarter of +an hour, when all at once the cigar in the man's mouth glowed more +brightly, and then brighter still as it made a rush through the air, +describing a curve and falling into the sea, when the silence was broken +by a hiss so faint that it was hardly heard, and by something else which +was heard plainly. + +Some one, evidently the smoker, gave vent to a yawn, a Spanish yawn, no +doubt, but as much like an English one as it could be. Then, just +audible in the silence, there was the faint sound of feet, as of some +one pacing up and down the deck, another yawn, and then utter silence +once again. + +No one stirred in the gig; no one seemed to breathe; till at last Poole +raised his hand to Fitz's shoulder, leaned closer till he could place +his lips close to his companion's ear, and whispered softly-- + +"I think they've let the fires out. I've been watching where the funnel +must be, and I haven't seen a spark come out." + +Fitz changed his position a little so as to follow his companion's +example, and whispered in turn-- + +"Nor I neither, but I fancy I can see a quivering glow, and I've smelt +the sulphur quite plainly." + +There was another pause, and Poole whispered-- + +"Think there's anybody on deck?" + +The answer came-- + +"If there is he must be asleep." + +"What about that chap who was smoking?" + +"I think after that last yawn he went below." + +"Then isn't it time we began?" + +Fitz whispered back-- + +"Yes, if we are going to do anything; but our plans seem turned +topsy-turvy. We are close to the bows, where we ought to get up for me +to tackle the gun." + +"Yes," whispered Poole, "but if we do that there'll be no chance +afterwards to foul the screw; and that ought to be done, so that we can +get rid of this cable. It will be horribly in the way if we have to row +for our lives." + +Fitz pressed his companion's arm sharply, for at that moment there was +another yawn from the gunboat's deck, followed by a muttering grumbling +sound as of two men talking, suggesting that one had woke the other, who +was finding fault. But all sound died out, and then there was the deep +silence once again. + +The lads waited till they thought all was safe, while their crew never +stirred, and Poole whispered once more--"Well, what is to be done?" + +The next moment Fitz's lips were sending tickling words into the lad's +ear, as he said sharply-- + +"Mustn't change--stick to our plans. I am going to tell Butters to work +the boat alongside, and then pass her to the stern." + +"Hah!" breathed Poole, as he listened for the faint rustle made by his +companion in leaning towards the boatswain and whispering his commands. + +The next minute the boat was in motion, being paddled slowly towards the +gunboat in a way the boys did not know till afterwards, for it was as if +the gig as it lay there in the black darkness was some kind of fish, +which had suddenly put its fins in motion, the five men having leaned +sideways, each to lower a hand into the water and paddle the boat along +without a sound. + +The darkness seemed to be as black as it could possibly be, but all at +once, paradoxical as it may seem, it grew thicker, for a great black +wall had suddenly appeared looming over the boat, and Poole put out his +hand, to feel the cold armour-plating gliding by his fingers, as the +men, to his astonishment, kept the craft in motion till they had passed +right along and their progress was checked by the gig being laid bow-on +beside the gunboat's rudder; and as soon as the lads could fully realise +their position they grasped the fact that the propeller must be just +beneath the water the boat's length in front of where they sat. + +Then silence once again, every one's heart beating slowly, but with a +dull heavy throb that seemed to send the blood rushing through the +arteries and veins, producing in the case of the lads a sensation of +dizziness that was some moments before it passed off, driven away as it +was by the tension and the acute desire to grasp the slightest sound +where there was none to grasp. + +Every one was waiting now--as all felt sure that so far they had not +been heard--for the middy's order to commence, while he felt as if he +dared not give it, sitting there and letting the time glide by, +convinced as he was now that the end of the Manilla cable could not be +attached to one of the fans without their being heard, and in +imagination he fancied the alarm spread, and saw his chance of ascending +to the deck and reaching the gun, die away. + +Then he started, for Poole pinched his arm, sending a thrill through +him, and as it were setting the whole of his human machine in action. + +"Now or never," he said to himself, and leaning forward to the boatswain +he whispered a few words in the man's ear, with the result that a very +faint rustling began, a sound so slight that it was almost inaudible to +him who gave the order; but he could feel the boat move slightly, as it +was held fast beside the rudder, and the next minute when the young +captain of the adventure raised his hand--as he could not see--to feel +how the boatswain was getting on, he touched nothing, for the big sturdy +fellow was already half-way to the bows of the gig. + +Fitz breathed hard again, and listened trembling now lest they should +fail; but all was perfectly still save that the boat rocked slightly, +which rocking ceased and gave place to a quivering pulsation, as if the +slight craft had been endowed with life. This went on while the two +lads gazed forward and with their minds' eyes saw the boatswain reach +the bows and join the Camel, while two of the men who had not stirred +from their places held on by the rudder and stern-post, one of them +having felt about till his hand encountered a ring-bolt, into which he +had thrust a finger to form a living hook. + +And as the lads watched they saw in imagination all that went on. They +did not hear a sound, either in the bows or from above upon the +gunboat's deck, while the two handy men were hard at work laying out the +rope that was already securely attached to the cable; and then came the +first sound, just after the boat moved sharply, as if it had given a +slight jump. + +The slight sound was the faintest of splashes, such as might have been +caused by a small fish, and it was due to the end of the rope slipping +down into the water, while the jump on the part of the boat was caused +by its having been lightened of Chips's weight, for he had drawn himself +upwards by grasping the rudder, across which he now sat astride, to grip +it with his knees. The man wanted no telling what to do. He had +rehearsed it all mentally again and again, and quick and clever of +finger, he passed the rope through the opening between rudder and +stern-post, and drew upon it softly and steadily till he had it taut, +and was dragging upon the cable. Old Burgess was working with him as if +one mind animated the two bodies. + +He knew what would come, and waited as the spiral strands of the rope +passed through his hand; and when it began to grow taut he was ready to +raise up the end of the big soft cable, pass it upwards, and hold it in +place, so that it gradually assumed the form of a loop some ten feet +long, and it was the head of that loop that jammed as it was drawn tight +against the opening between stern-post and rudder, and very slowly laced +tightly in position by means of the rope. + +But this took time, and twice over Chips ceased working, as if he had +failed; but it was only for a rest and a renewal of his strength, before +he ceased for the third time and made a longer wait. But no one made a +sign; no one stirred, though the two lads sat in agony, building up in +imagination a very mountain of horror and despair branded failure in +their minds, for they could hardly conceive that their plans were being +carried out so silently and so well. + +At last Fitz gripped Poole's arm again so as to whisper to him; but the +whisper did not pass, for at that moment, after being perfectly still +for some time, the boat began to pulsate again, for the carpenter was +hard at work once more, his hands acting in combination with those of +the boatswain, for, still very slowly, working like a piece of +machinery, they began to haul upon the cable in the boat. At the first +tightening that cable now seemed to begin to live like some huge +serpent, and creep towards them, the life with which it was infused +coming, however, from the Camel's hands, as, feeling that it was wanted, +he began to pass it along, raising each coil so that it should not touch +against the gunwale of the boat, or scrape upon a thwart. + +He too knew what was going on, as between them, the boatswain in the +bows, the carpenter still astride the upper portion of the rudder, they +got up enough of the cable to form another loop, whose head was softly +plunged down into the water, passed under one fan of the great screw and +over another, and then, its elasticity permitting, drawn as tight as the +men could work it. + +This feat was performed again, and as final security the boatswain +formed a bight, which he thrust down and passed over the fan whose edge +was almost level with the surface. + +Then as the boys sat breathing hard, and fancying that the daylight must +be close at hand, the boat gave another jerk, careening over sideways +towards the rudder, for the carpenter had slowly descended into the +bows, to crouch down and rest. + +But the boatswain was still at work, with the Camel now for mate, and +between them they two were keeping up the quivering motion of the gig, +as, slowly and silently, they went on passing the thick soft Manilla +cable over the side, to sink down into the sea until the last of the +long snaky coils had gone. + +The announcement of this fact was conveyed to the two lads by the motion +of the boat, Fitz learning it first by feeling his right hand as it hung +over the side begin to pass steadily through the water, which rippled +between his fingers; and as he snatched it out to stretch it forth as +far as he could reach, he for a few moments touched nothing. Then it +came in contact with the sides of the gunboat, and his heart gave a jump +and his nerves thrilled, for he knew that the first act of their +desperate venture was at an end, that the gig was gliding forward, +paddled by the sailors' hands, towards the gunboat's bows, so as to +reach one or other of the hanging anchors, up which he had engaged to +scramble and get on board to do his part, which, now that the other had +been achieved, seemed to be the most desperate of all. + +"I shall never be able to go through with it," he seemed to groan to +himself in his despair; but at that moment, as if by way of +encouragement, he felt Poole's hand grip his arm, and at the touch the +remembrance of the skipper's words thrilled through his nerves, to give +him strength. + +The next moment he was sitting up firmly and bravely in his place, +tucking up his cuffs as if for the fight, as he softly muttered-- + +"There is no such word as fail." + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY ONE. + +IS THE DEED DONE? + +The boat had stopped, and Fitz had heard the faintest of faint clicks as +of iron against iron, for the hook in the carpenter's hands had lightly +come in contact with the port anchor, which was hanging in its place, +teaching them that it was the starboard that was down; and as Fitz +looked up sharply, he fully expected to see a row of faces peering over +the bulwark and looking down into the boat as the watchers gave the +alarm, which would result in a shower of missiles being hurled upon +their heads, the precursors of a heavy shot that would go crashing +through the bottom of the boat. But he was only gazing up at a black +edge and the stars beyond, and just above his head something rugged and +curved which he knew were the anchor's flukes. + +Fitz knew that to hesitate was to give place to doubts as to his +success, and that the longer he waited the more likely they were to be +discovered. That no watch was being kept was certain, and rising in the +boat he took hold of the anchor as far up as he could reach, its +ponderous nature rendering it immovable; and drawing himself steadily +upward he began to climb. + +It was easy enough to an active lad, and once started there was no time +for shrinking. Quickly enough he was standing first upon the flukes, +then upon the stock, while the next minute he was grasping the port-rail +and trying to look down on to the deck, where he fancied he made out the +figures of three or four men. But everything was so indistinct that he +could not be sure, and he prepared to climb over, when he felt a touch +upon his arm and started violently, for he had forgotten their +arrangement that Poole should bear a part in the disabling of the gun. + +He dared not speak, but just gave his companion's arm a grip, slipped +silently over the bulwark, and went down at once on all-fours like a +dog. Poole was by his side directly, and as they knelt, both tried to +make out the exact position of the gun, and both failed, till Fitz +lowered himself a little more, and then repeating his investigation +managed to bring the muzzle of the great piece between him and the +stars, towards which it was pointed, slightly raised. + +All was so still, and the deck apparently so deserted, that his task now +seemed to be ridiculously easy; and beginning to creep aft towards the +great carriage, which was planted a little forward of 'midships, one +hand suddenly came into contact with something soft and warm, with the +result that there was an angry snarl, a snap, and a hand was brought +down with a heavy slap upon the deck. + +In an instant there was a start, and a low growling voice asked what was +apparently a question as to what was the matter. The response came from +the man who had struck the blow; but what he said was unintelligible to +the listeners, who had immediately shrunk flat upon the deck, conscious +as they were that two of the crew had been sleeping within touch, while +for aught they knew others might be all around. + +All notion now of the task being ridiculously easy was swept away, and +the two adventurous lads lay hardly daring to breathe for what seemed a +quarter of an hour, before a deep stertorous breathing told that the +danger was for the moment passed and the time for action come. + +It was Fitz who this time set the example of beginning, and he did it by +thrusting softly with one foot till he could feel where Poole lay ready +to seize him by the ankle and give it a warm pressure which the lad took +to mean--Go on. + +Raising himself a little, he began to creep aft once more, bearing to +his left towards where he believed the carriage and turn-table of the +great gun to be, and reaching them without further interruption, and so +easily that his task seemed to become once more simple in the extreme. + +Reaching carefully out, he satisfied himself as to his position, took a +step upward, and found directly after that he was about the middle of +the gun, whose breech lay a little to the right and was reached with +ease. + +"Oh, if I could only whisper to Poole," he thought. "Come on, quick, +old fellow, and then together we can get it to the side, drop it +overboard, and follow so quickly that we need only make one splash, for +it would be impossible to go back as we came." + +"Yes, that will be the way," thought Fitz; "and our fellows will row +towards the splash at once, and pick us up. Why didn't I think to tell +them? Never mind. That's what they are sure to do." + +Directly after he was running his hand along the pleasantly cool surface +of the gun; but he paused for a moment to listen, and begin to wonder in +the darkness why it was that Poole had not made some sign of being near. + +He reached back, giving a sweep with his hand; but Poole was not there, +and he took a step forward to repeat the movement--still in vain. + +"Oh, I am wasting time," thought Fitz, as he stepped back to his former +position. "He's waiting for me to reconnoitre and fetch him if I want +him." + +In this spirit he felt the gun again, guiding himself by his hands to +its huge butt, his fingers coming in contact first with the sight and +then with the two massive ball-ended levers which turned the great +screw. + +He could barely see at all, but his finger-tips told him that it was +just such a piece as they had on board the _Tonans_, but not so large. + +Forgetting Poole for the moment, he passed right round to the breech, +thrust in his hand, which came in contact with the solid block, and then +withdrawing his hand he seized hold of the great balls, gave them a +wrench, and in perfect silence the heavy mass of forged and polished +steel began to turn, the well-oiled grooves and worm gliding together +without a sound, and, after the first tug, with the greatest ease. + +It was all simple enough till he came to the final part of his task, and +attempted to lift out the breech-block, the quoin that when the breech +was screwed up held all fast. + +He took hold and tried to lift, but tried in vain, for it seemed beyond +his strength. His teeth gritted together as he set them fast in his +exasperation against Poole for not being at hand to help and make what +now seemed an impossibility an easy task. + +Perspiring at every pore, he tried again and again, the more eagerly +now, for a low growling voice was heard from the direction whence he had +crawled. + +But the piece of steel was immovable, and in his despair he felt that +all was over and that he had failed. + +Then came light--not light to make the gun visible, but mental light, +with the question, Had he turned the levers far enough? + +Uttering a low gasp in his despair, for the growling talk grew louder, +he seized the great balls again, gave them another turn or two, and once +more tried to stir the block, when his heart seemed to give a great +jump, for it came right out as he exerted himself, with comparative +ease, and directly after he had it hugged to his chest and was +staggering and nearly falling headlong as he stepped down from the iron +platform, making for the side. But he recovered himself, tottering on, +and then in the darkness kicking against something soft--a sleeper--the +encounter sending him, top-heavy as he was, crash against the bulwark, +but doing all that he wanted, for the breech-block struck against the +rail, glanced off, and went overboard, to fall with a tremendous splash, +followed by another, which the middy made himself, as he half flung +himself over, half rolled from the rail, to go down with the water +thundering in his ears. + +The heaviness of his plunge naturally sent him below for some distance, +but it was not long before he was rising again. + +It was long enough, though, for thought--and thoughts come quickly at a +time like this. Fitz's first flash was a brilliant one, connected with +his success, for the breech-block was gone beyond recovery; his next was +one of horror, and connected with the sharks that haunted those waters; +his third was full of despair; where was Poole, whom he seemed to have +left to his fate? + +Hah! The surface again, and he could breathe; but which way to swim for +the boat? There was none needed, for his shoulders were barely clear of +the water when his arm was seized in a tremendous grip, another hand was +thrust under his arm-pit, and he was literally jumped, dripping, into a +boat, to pant out his first audible utterance for the past hour. It was +only a word, and that was-- + +"Poole!" + +"I'm all right," came from out of the darkness close at hand. + +"Then give way, my lads, for your lives!" panted Fitz, and the oars +began to splash. + +It was quite time, for there was no sleeping on board the gunboat now. +All was rush and confusion; voices in Spanish were shouting orders, men +hurrying here and there, a few shots were fired in their direction, +evidently from revolvers, and then a steam-whistle was heard to blow, +followed by a hissing, clanking sound, and the man who had hauled Fitz +in over the bows put his face close to him and whispered-- + +"Steam-capstan. They're getting up their anchor. But there was three +splashes, sir. What was that there first?" + +"The breech-block, Chips." + +"Hooroar!" + +It was some little time before another word was spoken, during which +period the men had been rowing hard, and the boatswain, who had got hold +of the rudder-lines, was steering almost at random for the shore, taking +his bearings as well as he could from the gunboat, out of whose funnel +sparks kept flying, and a lurid glare appeared upon the cloud of smoke +which floated out, pointing to the fact that the stokers were hard at +work. + +"Mr Burnett--Mr Poole, sir," said Butters, at last, "I aren't at all +satisfied about the way we are going. I suppose we may speak out now?" + +"Oh yes," cried Fitz; "I don't suppose they can hear us, and if they did +they couldn't do us any harm, for it must be impossible for them to make +us out." + +"Oh yes, sir," cried the boatswain. "No fear of that." + +"But what do you mean about not being satisfied?" + +"Well, sir, my eyes is pretty good, and if you give me a fair start I +can take my bearings pretty easy from the stars when I knows what time +it is. But you see, it's quite another thing to hit the mouth of that +little river in the dark. I know the land's right in front, but whether +we are south'ard or north'ard of where the schooner lays is more than I +can tell, and there's some awkward surf upon some of the rocks of this +'ere coast. Will you give your orders, please." + +"Well, I don't know that I can," replied Fitz. "I think the best thing +is to lie-to till daylight. What do you say, Poole?" he continued, from +his position to where Poole was, right forward. + +"Same as you do," was the reply. "It's impossible to make for the river +now. We may be only getting farther away." + +"Just keep her head on to the swell, my lads." + +The next minute the gig began riding gently over the long smooth waves, +while her occupants sat watching the gunboat, the only light from which +now was the glow from the funnel. + +"Bit wet, aren't you, Mr Burnett, sir?" said Chips. "What do you say +to taking off two or three things and letting me give them a wring?" + +"Ah, it would be as well," replied Fitz, beginning at once to slip off +his jacket, and as if instinctively to take off attention from what he +was doing he began to question Poole. + +"You had better do the same, hadn't you?" he cried. + +"Doing it," was the reply. "I say, are you all right?" + +"No; I am so horribly wet. What about you?" + +"Just the same, of course." + +"But I say," said Fitz, who was calming down after the excitement; "why +didn't you come on and help?" + +"How could I? One of those fellows lying on the deck threw a leg and an +arm over me in his sleep. I just brushed against him, and he started as +if I had touched a spring, and held me fast. I tried to get away, but +it was of no use, and if I had shouted it would have only given the +alarm. I didn't get loose till the row began, and then there was +nothing to do but come overboard and be picked up. I was in a way about +you." + +"Same here about you," cried fitz. "I didn't know what had happened, +and when I tumbled over the rail--I didn't jump--I felt as if I had left +you in the lurch." + +"Well, but that's what I felt," said Poole. "It was queer." + +"It made us all feel pretty tidy queer, young gentlemen," said the +boatswain; "but if I may speak, the fust question is, are either of you +hurt?" + +"I am not," cried Fitz. + +"Nor I," said Poole. + +"That's right, then," said the boatswain gruffly. "Now then, what about +that there block of iron? Was it that as come over plosh, only about a +yard from the boat's nose?" + +"Yes," cried Fitz excitedly. + +"Then all I can say is, that it's a precious good job that Mr Burnett +didn't chuck it a little further, for if he had it would have come right +down on Chips and drove him through the bottom, and we couldn't have +stopped a leak like that." + +"But I should have come up again," said the carpenter, "just where I +went down, and as the hole I made would have been just the same size as +me, I should have fitted in quite proper." + +"Yah!" growled the boatswain. "What's the use of trying to cut jokes at +a time like this? Look here, gentlemen, have we done our job to +rights?" + +"As far as the gun's concerned," replied Fitz, "it's completely +disabled, and of no use again until they get another block." + +"Then that's done, sir." + +"And about my job," said Poole. "I am afraid the screw's not fouled, +for I fancy the gunboat is slowly steaming out to sea." + +"Well, I don't see as how we can tell that, Mr Poole, sir," said the +boatswain. "I can't say as she's moving, for we are both in a sharp +current, and she may be only drifting; but seeing the way as you made +fast the end of that there cable, and then looped over bight after bight +round them there fans, and twistened it all up tight, it seems to me +that the screw must be fouled, and that every turn made it wuss and +wuss. I say that you made a fine job of that there, Mr Poole. What do +you say, Chips, my lad?" + +"Splendid!" cried the carpenter. + +"Why, it was you two did it," said Fitz. + +"Well, that's what I thought, sir," said the carpenter; "but it was so +dark, I couldn't see a bit." + +"Zackly," said the boatswain; "and you said it was your job, sir." + +"Oh, nonsense!" cried Poole. "I meant yours." + +"Well," said Fitz, "all I can say is that I hope your knots were good." + +"I'll answer for mine," said the boatswain, "but I won't say nothing for +Chips here. He aren't much account unless it's hammers and spikes, or a +job at caulking or using his adze." + +"That's right," said Chips, "but you might tell the young gents that I'm +handiest with a pot o' glue." + +There was silence for a few moments, and then Fitz said-- + +"It's almost too much to expect that both things have turned out all +right; but I can't help believing they have." + +"Well, sir," said the boatswain, "I do hope as that there cable is not +all twisted up in a bunch about them fans--reg'lar wound up tight--and +if it is there's no knowing where that there gunboat will drift during +the night; for I don't care how big a crew they've got aboard, they +can't free that there propeller till daylight, if they do then. But it +do seem a pity to spoil a beautiful new soft bit of stuff like that, for +it'll never be no good again." + +"Fine tackle for caulking," said the carpenter, "or making ships' +fenders." + +"Yah!" cried the boatswain. "We should never get it again. It's gone, +and it give me quite a heartache to use up new ship's stores like that. +But what I was going to say was, that the skipper will be saddersfied +enough when we get back and tell him that Mr Burnett's crippled the big +gun." + +"Oh, but that was the easy job," said Fitz. "It was just play, lifting +out that block and dropping it overboard." + +"And a very pretty game too, Mr Burnett, sir," said the boatswain, +chuckling. "But I say, seems quite to freshen a man up to be able to +open his mouth and speak. While you two young gents was swarming up +that anchor, and all the time you was aboard till you come back plish, +plosh, I felt as if I couldn't breathe. I say, Mr Poole, would you +like to take these 'ere lines?" + +"No," said Poole shortly; "I want to get dry. But why do you want me to +take the lines?" + +"To get shut of the 'sponsibility, sir. I can't see which way to +steer." + +"Oh, never mind the steering," cried Fitz. "Just keep her head to the +swell, and let's all rest, my lads. I feel so done up that I could go +to sleep. We can't do anything till daylight. Here, I say, Camel, did +you bring anything to eat?" + +"The orders were to bring the rations stowed inside, sir," replied the +cook; "but a'm thenking I did slip a wee bit something into the locker +for'ard there, juist ahind where ye are sitting, sir. Would you mind +feeling? Hech! I never thought of that!" + +"Thought of what?" said Fitz. + +"Ye've got the ship's carpenter there, and he's got a nose like a cat +for feesh. Awm skeart that he smelt it oot in the dairk and it's all +gone." + +"Haw, haw!" chuckled the carpenter. "You are wrong this time, Andy. I +got my smelling tackle all choked up with the stuff the bearings of that +gunboat's fan was oiled with--nasty rank stuff like Scotch oil. I don't +believe I shall smell anything else for a week." + +_Rap_! went the lid of the little locker. + +"It's all right, my lads," cried Fitz. "Here, Andy, man, those who hide +can find. Come over here and serve out the rations; but I wish we'd got +some of your hot prime soup." + +"Ay, laddie," said the cook softly, as he obeyed his orders; "it would +ha' been juist the thing for such a wetting as you got with your joomp. +Mr Poole, will ye come here too? I got one little tin with enough for +you and Mr Poole, and a big one for the lads and mysen. But I'm vairy +sorry to say I forgot the saut." + +"He needn't have troubled himself about the salt," said Poole softly. +"I should never have missed it. You and I have taken in enough to-night +through our pores." + +"Yes," said Fitz.--"Splendid, Andy." + +"Ah," said the Camel; "I never haud wi' going upon a journey, however +short, wi'out something in the way of food." + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY TWO. + +FITZ'S CONSCIENCE PRICKS. + +Daybreak brought a blank look of amazement into the lads' countenances. +The soft, sweet, bracing air of morning floated from the glorious shore, +all cliff and indentation looking of a pearly grey, almost the same tint +as the surf that curled over upon the rocks distant about two miles. + +A mere glance was directed at the dangerous coast, for every eye was +turned seaward, east, north, and south, in search of the gunboat; but +she was not to be seen. + +"Surely she's not gone down!" cried Fitz. + +"Oh, hardly," said Poole; "but it's very puzzling. What do you make of +it, Butters?" + +"Well, sir," said the boatswain, "I'm thinking that like enough she's +got upon a rock and stuck fast, while the sharp current has carried us +along miles and miles, and quite out of sight." + +"But they may have got the screw all right, and gone straight out to +sea." + +"Nay, sir. Not in the dark. We got them fans too fast; and besides, I +don't see no smoke on the sea-line. The steamer leaves a mark that you +can see her by many miles away. No, sir, I think I'm right; it's us as +has drifted." + +"Which way?" said Poole. "North or south?" + +"Can't say yet, sir. May be either. South," he added emphatically the +next moment. + +"How do you know?" cried Fitz. + +The boatswain smiled. + +"By the colour of the sea, sir," replied the man, screwing up his eyes. +"Look at the water. It isn't bright and clear. It's got the mark of +the river in it. Not much, but just enough to show that the current +hugs the shore, bringing the river water with it; and there it all is +plain enough. Look at them little rocks just showing above the surface. +You watch them a minute, and you'll see we are floating by southward, +and we may think ourselves precious lucky that we haven't run upon any +of them in the night and been capsized. You see, we have come by two +headlands, and we have only got to row back to the north to come sooner +or later in sight of landmarks that we know." + +"Then give way, my lads," said Fitz; "a fair long steady stroke, for the +skipper must be getting terribly uncomfortable about us, Poole, eh?" + +"Yes. Pull your best, boys. What do you say, Fitz, to taking an oar +each for a bit? I'm chilly, and a good way from being dry." + +"Good idea," said Fitz, changing places with one of the men. "You'll +keep a sharp look-out, boatswain. The enemy may come into sight at any +moment as we round these points, and even if she daren't come close in, +she may send after us with her boats." + +"Trust me for that, sir," said the boatswain, and the oars began to dip, +with the sun soon beginning to show tokens of its coming appearance, and +sending hope and light into every breast. + +It was a glorious row, the chill of the night giving place to a pleasant +glow which set the lads talking merrily, discussing the darkness through +which they had passed, the events of the night, and their triumphant +success. + +"If we could only see that gunboat ashore, Burnett!" cried Poole. + +"Ah," said Fitz, rather gravely; "if we only could!" And then he +relapsed into silence, for thoughts began to come fast, and he found +himself wondering what Commander Glossop would say if he could see him +then and know all that he had done in the night attack. + +"I couldn't help it," the boy said to himself, as he pulled away. "I +shouldn't wonder if he would have done precisely the same if he had been +in my place. I feel a bit sorry now; but that's no good. What's done +can't be undone, and I shan't bother about it any more." + +"Now, Mr Burnett, sir," said the boatswain, in a tone full of +remonstrance, "don't keep that there oar all day. Seems to me quite +time you took your trick at the wheel." + +"Yes," said the lad cheerily; "I am beginning to feel precious stiff," +and he rose to exchange seats with the speaker, Poole rising directly +afterwards for the carpenter to take his place. + +"I'd keep a sharp look-out for'ard along the coast, Mr Burnett, sir," +said the boatswain, with a peculiar smile, as the lad lifted the lines. + +"Oh yes, of course," cried Fitz, gazing forward now, and then uttering +an ejaculation: "Here, Poole! Look! Why didn't you speak before, +Butters?" + +"Because I thought you'd like to see it fust, sir. Yes, there she lies, +just beyond that headland." + +"At anchor?" cried Poole. + +"Can't say yet, sir, till we've cleared that point; but she's upon an +even keel, and seems to be about her old distance from the shore. That +must be the southernmost of them two great cliffs, and we are nearer the +river than I thought." + +"Lay your backs into it, my lads," cried Poole. + +The gig travelled faster as the two strong men took the place of the +tired lads; and as they rowed on it was plain to see that the gunboat +was much farther from the point and shore than had been at first +imagined. + +"It would be awkward," said Fitz, "if they sent out boats to try and +take us, for they must see us by now." + +But the occupants of the gunboat made no sign, and when at last the +_Teal's_ gig was rowed round the headland which formed the southern side +of the entrance to the river, all on board could hardly realise how +greatly they had been deceived by the clear morning light, for the +gunboat was still some three or four miles away, and apparently fast +upon one of the reefs of rocks, while from her lowered boats, crowded +with men, it was evident that they were either busy over something +astern, or preparing to leave. + +"They must be hard at work trying to clear the screw," cried Fitz +excitedly. + +"Can't make out, for my part, sir," replied the boatswain, while Poole +carefully kept silence; "but it looks as much like that as ever it can, +and we have nothing to mind now, for we can get right in and up the +river long before their boats could row to the mouth." + +Poole steered close in to the right bank of the river, so as to avoid +the swift rush of the stream, this taking them close under the +perpendicular cliff; and they had not gone far before there was a loud +"Ahoy!" from high overhead. Looking up they made out the face of +Burgess the mate projecting from the bushes as, high upon a shelf, he +held on by a bough and leaned outwards so as to watch the motions of the +boat. + +"Ahoy!" came from the men, in answer to his hail. + +"All right aboard?" shouted the mate. + +"Yes. All right!" roared the boatswain. "What are they doing out +yonder to the Spaniel?" + +"Trying to get her off, I suppose. She went ashore in the night. I +came up here with a glass to look out for you, and there she was, and +hasn't moved since. What about that gun?" + +"Burnett has drawn its tooth," shouted Poole. "Father all right?" + +"No. Got the grumps about you. Thinks you are lost. You didn't foul +the screw, did you?" + +"Yes," shouted Poole. + +"Then that's what they're about; trying to clear her again; and when +they do they've got to get their vessel off the rocks. I'm going to +stop and see; but you had better row up stream as hard as you can, so as +to let the skipper see that you have not all gone to the bottom. He +told me he was sure you had." + +The men's oars dipped again, and they rowed with all their might, +passing the dinghy with the man in charge moored at the foot of the +cliff, while soon after they had turned one of the bends and came in +sight of the schooner a loud hail welcomed them from those who were on +board. Then Poole stood up in the stern, after handing the rudder-lines +to his companion, and began waving his hat to the skipper, who made a +slight recognition and then stood watching them till they came within +hail. + +"Well," he said, through his speaking-trumpet, "what luck?" + +"The gun's done for, father, and the gunboat's ashore," shouted Poole, +through his hands. + +"Oh. I heard that the enemy had gone on the rocks. And what about the +propeller?" + +"Oh, we fouled it, father," said Poole coolly. "That's right," said the +skipper, in the most unconcerned way. "I thought you would. There, +look sharp and come aboard. There's some breakfast ready, but I began +to think you didn't mean to come. What made you so long?" + +He did not wait to hear the answer, but began giving orders for the +lowering of another boat which he was about to send down to communicate +with the mate. + +"I say," said Fitz, grinning, "your dad seems in a nice temper. He's +quite rusty." + +"Yes," said Poole, returning the laugh. "I suppose it's because we +stopped out all night. There, get out! He's as pleased as can be, only +he won't make a fuss. It's his way." + +The day glided on till the sun was beginning to go down. Messages had +passed to and fro from the watchers, who had kept an eye upon the +gunboat, which was still fast. + +Fitz, after a hearty meal, being regularly fagged out, had had three or +four hours' rest in his bunk, to get up none the worse for his night's +adventure, when he joined Poole, who had just preceded him on deck. + +He came upon the skipper directly afterwards, who gave him a searching +look and a short nod, and said abruptly-- + +"All right?" + +"Yes, quite right, thank you, sir." + +"Hah!" said the skipper, and walked on, taking no notice of Poole, who +was coming up, and leaving the lads together. + +"I say," said Fitz sarcastically, "I can bear a good deal, but your +father goes too far." + +"What do you mean?" asked Poole. + +"He makes such a dreadful fuss over one, just for doing a trifling thing +like that. Almost too much to bear." + +"Well, he didn't make much fuss over me," said Poole, in rather an +ill-used tone. "I felt as if we had done nothing, instead of disabling +a man-of-war.--Hullo! what does this mean?" + +For just then the boat came swiftly round the bend, with the mate +sitting in the stern-sheets, the dinghy towed by its painter behind. + +A shout from the man on the watch astern brought up the skipper and the +rest of the crew, including those who had been making up for their last +night's labours in their bunks, all expectant of some fresh news; and +they were not disappointed, nearly every one hearing it as the boat came +alongside and the mate spoke out to the captain on the deck. + +"Found a way right up to the top of the cliff," he said, "and from there +I could regularly look down on the gunboat's deck." + +"Well?" said the skipper sharply. + +"No, ill--for them; she's completely fast ashore in the midst of a +regular wilderness of rocks that hardly peep above the surface; and as +far as I could make out with my spyglass, they are not likely to get off +again. They seem to know it too, for when I began to come down they had +got three boats manned on the other side, and I left them putting off as +if they were coming up here." + +"Again?" said the skipper thoughtfully. + +"Yes; to take it out of us, I suppose, for what we've done. How would +it be to turn the tables on them and make a counter attack?" + +"Granting that we should win," said the skipper, "it would mean half our +men wounded; perhaps three or four dead. I can't afford that, Burgess." + +"No," said the mate abruptly. "Better stop here and give them what they +seem to want. I think we can do that." + +"Yes," said the skipper. "All aboard; and look sharp, Burgess. Let's +be as ready for them as we can. The fight will be more desperate this +time, I'm afraid." + +"Not you," said the mate, with a chuckle, as he sprang on deck. "Well, +my lads, you did wonders last night. How did you like your job?" + +"Not at all," cried Fitz, laughing. "It was too wet." + +The mate smiled, and the next minute he was hard at work helping the +skipper to prepare to give the Spaniards a warm reception, taking it for +granted that it would not be long before they arrived, burning for +revenge. + +The preparations were much the same as were made before, but with this +addition, that the carpenter, looking as fresh as if he had passed the +night in his bunk, was hard at work with four men, lashing spare spars +to the shrouds, so as to form a stout rail about eighteen inches above +the bulwarks, to which the netting was firmly attached. + +There was no question this time about arming the crew with rifles, for +every one felt that success on the part of Villarayo's men would mean no +quarter. + +"Then you mean this to be a regular fight?" Fitz whispered to Poole, +after watching what was going on for some time. + +"Why, of course! Why not?" + +"Oh, I don't like the idea of killing people," said Fitz, wrinkling up +his forehead. + +"Well, I don't," said Poole, laughing. "I don't like killing anything. +I should never have done for a butcher, but I would a great deal rather +kill one of Villarayo's black-looking ruffians than let him kill me." + +"But do you think they really would massacre us?" said Fitz. "They +can't help looking ruffianly." + +"No, but they have got a most horribly bad character. Father and I have +heard of some very ugly things that they have done in some of their +fights. They are supposed to be civilised, and I dare say the officers +are all right; but if you let loose a lot of half-savage fellows armed +with knives and get their blood up, I don't think you need expect much +mercy. They needn't come and interfere with us unless they like, but if +they come shouting and striking at us they must take the consequences." + +"Yes, I suppose so," said Fitz; "but it seems a pity." + +"Awful," replied Poole; "but there always has been war, and people take +a deal of civilising before they give it up. And they don't seem to +then," said the lad, with a dry smile. + +"No," said Fitz; and the little discussion came to an end. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY THREE. + +WORSE THAN EVER. + +"This is bad, my lads," said the skipper, joining the boys. + +"What's wrong, father?" said Poole. "Why, it's close upon sundown, and +it begins to look as if they are going to steal upon us in the dark, +which will give them a lot of advantage. I would rather have been able +to see what we are about. What an evening, though, for a fight! I have +journeyed about the islands and Central America a good deal, and it is +nearly all beautiful, but this river and its cliffs, seen in the warm +glow, is just my idea of a perfect paradise. Look at the sky, with +those gorgeous clouds! Look at the river, reflecting all their +beauties! And the trees and shrubs, looking darker in the shades, and +in the light as if they had suddenly burst forth into bloom with +dazzling golden flowers. And here we are going to spoil everything with +savage bloodshed." + +"We are not, Captain Reed," said Fitz sharply; "you would not fire a +shot if you were not obliged." + +"Not even a blank cartridge, my boy," said the skipper, laying his hand +upon the middy's shoulder. "I loathe it, and I feel all of a shiver at +the thought of my brave lads being drilled with bullets or hacked with +knives. If it comes to it--and I am afraid it will--" + +"I say, father, don't talk of trembling and being afraid!" said Poole +reproachfully. + +"Why not, my boy?" + +"Because I don't know what Fitz Burnett will think." + +"Whatever he thinks he'll know that I am speaking the truth. But I say, +lad," continued the skipper, gripping the middy's shoulder tightly; +"you'll help me, won't you?" + +"Haven't I forgotten myself enough, sir?" said Fitz, in a tone as full +of reproach as that of Poole. + +"No, my boy. I think you have behaved very bravely; and I don't think, +if your superior officer knew all, that he would have much to say. But +I don't want you to fight. I mean, help me after the trouble's over; I +mean, turn assistant-surgeon when I take off my jacket." + +"Yes, that I will," cried Fitz. "I ought to be getting ready some +bandages and things now." + +"Oh, I think I've got preparations enough of that sort made," said the +skipper; "and there is still a chance that we may not want them. Hah! +That hope's gone. Ahoy! bosun! Let them have the pipe." + +Old Butters's silver whistle rang out shrill and clear, but only called +one man to his duty, and that was the Camel, who came tumbling out of +the galley and gave the door a bang. + +Every one else was on the alert, watching a boat coming round the bend, +followed by two more, crowded with armed men whose oars sent the water +splashing up like so much liquid gold. The fight began at once, for the +skipper had given his instructions. + +These he supplemented now with a sharp order which was followed by the +crack of a rifle echoing from cliff to cliff, and Fitz, who had run +towards the stern to look over, was in time to see that the skipper's +comment, "Good shot, my lad!" was well deserved, for one of the officers +in the stern-sheets of the first boat sprang up and would have gone +overboard but for the efforts of his men, who caught and lowered him +back amidst a little scene of confusion and a cessation of the rowing. + +Another shot rang out and there was more confusion, the way of the +leading boat being stopped; but the orders issued in the other boats +were plainly heard on board the schooner; oars splashed more rapidly, +and once more all three boats were coming on fast. + +"Fire!" cried the skipper, and with slow regularity shot after shot rang +out, to be followed by a ragged volley from the enemy, the bullets +whizzing overhead and pattering amongst the rigging of the well-moored +vessel, but doing no real harm. + +"Keep it up steadily, my lads," shouted the skipper. "No hurry. One +hit is worth five hundred misses. We mustn't let them board if we can +keep them back. Go on firing till they are close up, and then cutlasses +and bars." + +But in spite of the steady defence the enemy came on, showing no sign of +shrinking, firing rapidly and responding to their officers' orders with +savage defiant yells, while shots came thick and fast, the two lads +growing so excited as they watched the fray that they forgot the danger +and the nearness of the enemy coming on. + +"They are showing more pluck this time, Burgess," said the skipper, +taking out his revolver and unconsciously turning the chambers to see +that all was right. + +"Yes," growled the mate. "It's a horrible nuisance, for I don't want to +fight. But we've made rather a mess of it, after all." + +"What do you mean?" said the skipper. "Ought to have dropped that other +anchor." + +"Why?" said the skipper sharply. "Because they may row right up and cut +us adrift." + +"Yes," said the skipper quietly; "it would have been as well. Take a +rifle and go forward if they try to pass us, and pick off every man who +attempts to cut the cable." + +"All right," replied the mate; "I will if there is time. But in five +minutes we shall be busy driving these chaps back into their boats, and +they will be swarming up the sides like so many monkeys." + +"Yes," said the skipper. "But you must do it if there _is_ time. They +don't seem to mind our firing a bit." + +"No," Fitz heard the chief officer growl angrily. "Their blood's up, +and they are too stupid, I suppose." + +"Cease firing!" shouted the skipper. "Here they come!" The order came +too late to check six of the men, who in their excitement finished off +their regular shots with a ragged volley directed at the foremost boat, +and with such terrible effect that in the midst of a scene of confusion +the oars were dropped and the boat swung round broadside to the stream, +which carried it on to the next boat, fouling it so that the two hung +together and confusion became worse confounded as they crashed on to the +third boat, putting a stop to the firing as well as the rowing. The +commands of the officer in the last boat were of no effect, and the +defenders of the schooner, who had sprung to their positions where their +efforts would have been of most avail, burst forth with a wild cheer, +and then turned to the skipper for orders to fire again. + +But these orders did not come, for their captain had turned to the mate +with-- + +"Why, Burgess, that's done it! I believe we've given them enough." +Then heartily, "Well done, boys! Give 'em another cheer." + +In their wild excitement and delight the schooner's crew gave two; and +they had good cause for their exultation, for the firing from the boats +had quite ceased, the efforts of their commanders being directed towards +disentangling themselves from their sorry plight, many minutes elapsing +before the boats were clear and the men able to row, while by this time +several hundred yards had been placed between them and the object of +their attack. + +Then the Spanish officers gave their orders to advance almost +simultaneously; but they were not obeyed. + +They raged and roared at their men, but in vain--the boats were still +drifting down stream towards the bend, and as the darkness was giving +its first sign of closing in, the last one disappeared, the skipper +saying quietly-- + +"Thank you, my lads. It was bravely done." + +A murmur rose from among the men, only one speaking out loudly; and that +was the carpenter, who, as he took off his cap and wiped his streaming +forehead, gave Fitz a comic look and said-- + +"Well, yes; I think we made a neat job of that." + +Some of the men chuckled, but their attention was taken off directly by +the boatswain, who shouted-- + +"Here, you Camel, don't wait for orders, but get the lads something to +peck at and drink. I feel as if I hadn't had anything to eat for a +week." + +"Yes, and be quick," cried the skipper. "It's all right, my lads; I +don't think we shall see the enemy again." + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR. + +"OF COURSE WE WILL." + +The next morning reconnoitring began once more, prior to the skipper +giving his orders, and the schooner dropping down slowly towards the +mouth of the river; for the mate had been up on the cliff soon after +daybreak, busy with his glass, and had returned to report that the spot +where the gunboat lay still fast on the rocks was so distant from the +Channel through which the schooner had sailed, that it was doubtful +whether, if they attempted to sail out, she could be reached by the +small pieces that the enemy had on board. + +"Then we won't give them the chance to attack again," was the skipper's +comment, and the wind favouring, the channel was soon reached, and with +the mate conning the craft, they sailed outward along the clear water, +with the men armed and ready for any attack that might be attempted by +the man-of-war's boats. + +It was not very long before the boys, who had mounted aloft with their +glass to watch the deck of the foe, were able to announce that boats +were being manned for lowering, and the tortuous nature of the channel +now began to lead the schooner ominously near; but both the skipper and +the mate were of opinion that at the rate they were sailing they would +be able to evade an attack. + +"And if they are not very careful," growled the latter, "it strikes me I +shall be running one if not two of them down. They'd be much safer if +they stopped aboard." + +But still the dangerous nature of the rocks forced them nearer and +nearer to the enemy. + +"Not much doubt about the big gun being disabled," Poole remarked to his +companion, as they noted how busily the crew were preparing to lower the +boats. "We should have had a shot long before this." + +"And there's no doubt either about the screw being fouled," said Fitz. +"I say, take the glass. They're doing something which I can't make out. +You try." + +Poole re-focussed the binocular, but it was some moments before he +spoke. + +"Can't you?" cried Fitz excitedly. + +"Yes, but I'm not quite sure. Yes, now I am. Right!" + +For at that moment a white ball of smoke shot out from the gunboat's +deck, followed by a dull thud, and something came skipping over the +heaving sea, before there was another sharp crack and a shell burst +about a hundred yards from the schooner's stern. + +"I wonder whether we shall have to go any nearer," said Poole excitedly. +"They'd be able to do us a deal of mischief like that. I believe she's +got four of those small guns on board." + +"Judging from their gunnery," said Fitz coolly, "they are not likely to +hit us, even if we go much more near." + +"Well, I hope not," said Poole. "Those are nasty waspish things, those +shells. There she goes again. I wonder whether we could do anything +with rifles at this range." + +The skipper proved to be of opinion that they could, but he preferred to +devote all his attention to the navigation of the schooner, and in fact +there was plenty to do, for every now and then they found themselves +dangerously near the spots where a little creamy foam showed upon the +surface of the sea, insidious, beautiful patches that would have meant +destruction to the slight timbers of the yacht-like craft. + +But the mate was perched up on high, and between him and the steersman +the skipper stood ready to transmit the keen chief officer's signals to +the man at the wheel, so that they rode in safety through the watery +maze, paying no heed whatever to the shells which came at intervals from +the gunboat's deck, the small modern guns having a terribly long range. +The boats filled with men still hung from the davits, ready for the +order to start, which was never given, the captain of the gunboat +evidently being of opinion that his rowing men would not be able to +compete with the schooner's sails, and waiting as he was for the +bursting of some shell overhead bringing down one of the important spars +by the run, while it was always possible that the schooner's fate might +be the same as his, to wit, running stem on to some rock, to sink or +remain fast. + +Under these circumstances the boats would have been of avail, and +another attempt might have been made to board and take the little +schooner. + +But the Spaniards' gunnery was not good enough; the shells were +startling, but their segments did no worse than speckle the surface of +the sea, and at last involuntarily cheers rang out, for the _Teal_ was +running swiftly away from the danger, and the shells that came dropping +were far astern. About half-an-hour later, and long after the firing +had ceased to be dangerous, the mate came down from his eyrie, to seat +himself and begin wiping his dripping face. + +"You look tired, Mr Burgess," said Fitz, going up to him, "Shall I get +you a tin of water?" + +"Thank you, my lad," said the rugged fellow huskily. "I am nearly +choked with thirst." + +Fitz ran to the breaker, took the tin that stood ready, dipped it, and +bore it to the mate, who drained it to the last drop. + +"Thank you, my lad. That's the sweetest drop I ever tasted in my life. +Hard work for the body will make a man thirsty, but work like that I +have just been doing is ten times as bad. Hah! It's horrid!--horrid! +I believed I knew that channel pretty well, but for the last hour, and +every minute of it, I have been waiting to hear the little schooner go +scrunch on to some hidden rock; and now I feel quite done." + +"It must have been horrible," said the middy, looking his sympathy. "Of +course we all knew it was dangerous, but none of us could have felt like +that." + +"No, my lad," said the mate, holding out his rough hand. "I don't +believe anybody felt like that," and he gripped the boy's hand firmly. +"But I say, between ourselves, I didn't mean to speak. It's made me +feel a little soft like, and I shouldn't like anybody to know what I +said." + +"You may trust me, Mr Burgess," said the lad warmly. + +"I do, my lad; I do, for I know what a gentleman you are. But to +nobody, please, not even to young Poole." + +The rough mate nodded his satisfaction as he met the middy's eyes, and +somehow from that minute it seemed to Fitz that they had become great +friends. + +"Now, that's what I call the prettiest view we've seen of that gunboat +yet, Mr Burnett, sir," said the carpenter a short time later, as the +lad strolled up to where he was leaning over the bulwarks shading his +eyes from the sun. "I don't profess to be a artist, sir; nighest I ever +come to making a picter was putting a frame round it and a bit of glass +in front, as I kep' in tight with brads. But I've seen a deal of natur' +in my time, hot and cold, and I say that's the prettiest bit of a +sea-view I ever set eyes on. She's a fine-built boat--nice shape. +Looks like about half-way between a flat-iron and one of them as the +laundresses use with a red-hot thing in their insides. But it ain't +only her shape as takes my fancy. It's her position, and that's one +that everybody on board must admire, as she lies there nice and distant +with the coast behind, sea in front, and a lovely bit of foam and +breakers both sides. Ah! she makes a lovely pictur'. She don't want no +frame, and the beauty of her is that she's one of them what they used to +call dissolving views. You see, we shan't see her no more, and don't +want to, and that's the beauty of it." + +"Yes, you're right, Chips," said Poole, laughing. "We've seen rather +too much of her as it is. But you are a bit wrong. I dare say we shall +see her again. Don Ramon will be for trying to get her off the rocks +when he hears how she lies. Why, Chips, that's in your way. What a job +it would be for you!" + +"Job for me, sir?" said the man, staring. + +"Yes. That gunboat and her fittings must have cost a tremendous sum of +money. It would be the making of you if you could get her off." + +The carpenter stared, and then gave his thigh a slap which sounded like +the crack of a revolver. + +"Yuss!" he cried. "I never thought of that. My word, shouldn't I like +the job!" + +"Think you could do it, Chips?" cried Fitz. + +"I'd try, sir. Only let 'em give me the job. But the skipper wouldn't +let me go." + +"Well, you don't want to go, Winks," said Poole. + +"That's a true word, sir. I don't want to go. The _Teal's_ good enough +for me. But I should like to have the getting of that gunboat off all +the same. Let's see; that there Don Ramon wants it, doesn't he?" + +"Yes," cried Poole. + +"I say, look out!" cried Fitz. "Here's Chips's dissolving view +dissolving away." + +The declaration was quite true, for the gunboat was slowly disappearing, +as the _Teal_ sailed on, to reach Velova Bay without further adventure +or mishap. + +All seemed well as they sighted the port, and Don Ramon's flag was +fluttering out jauntily; but to the astonishment of all on board, as +they drew nearer the fort there was a white puff of smoke, and then +another and another. + +The British colours were run up, but the firing went on, and the skipper +grew uneasy. + +"Villarayo must have captured the place," he said, as he looked through +his double glass. + +"Here, I don't see any shot striking up the water, father," cried Poole. + +"No; I tell you what it is," cried Fitz. "They are glad to see us back. +They are firing a salute." + +Fitz was right, and before long a barge was coming off, with the +national colours trailing behind, Don Ramon being made out seated in the +stern-sheets in uniform, and surrounded by his officers. He looked +ceremonious and grand enough in his State barge, but there was no +ceremony in his acts. He sprang up the side as soon as the coxswain +hooked on, and embraced the skipper with the tears in his eyes, the two +lads having to suffer the same greeting in turn, so as not to hurt the +feelings of one whose warmth was very genuine. + +"Oh, my friend the captain," he cried, "I have been wasting tears on +your behalf. You did not _come_ back, and the news was brought by three +different fishing-boats that the enemy had driven you ashore and wrecked +and burned your beautiful schooner, while there had been a desperate +fight, they said, and they had heard the firing, so that I could only +guess what must have been the result. I believed my brave true friend +and all on board had been slain, while now I have you all safely back +again, and my heart is very glad." + +"And so am I, Don Ramon," said the skipper warmly, for he felt how +genuine the greeting was. "But things are much better than you +thought." + +"Yes, better far," cried the Don. "But make haste. Let us get ashore. +My people are getting up a banquet in your honour and that of every +_one_ on board." + +"Oh, I'm not a banqueting man," said the skipper, laughing. + +"Ha, ha! We shall see," said the Don, laughing in his turn. "How came +they, though, to tell me such false news? I believed the men who +brought it could be trusted." + +"Well, I dare say they can be," said the skipper. "But they didn't stay +long enough. We had almost to run ashore, and there were two or three +fights; that was true enough. But if they had stayed long enough they +could have brought you the best news that you have had for months." + +"Best news!" cried the Don excitedly. + +"Yes; the gunboat, with her big breech-loader and propeller disabled, is +fast upon the rocks." + +"Captain Reed!" cried the Don, seizing him by both hands. "Is this +true?" + +"As true as that I am telling you." + +"But the captain and his men?" + +"They're standing by her. But they will never get her off." + +"Oh!" shouted Fitz, giving a sudden jump and turning sharply round, to +see the carpenter backing away confused and shamefaced, for he had been +listening eagerly to the conversation, and at the critical point +alluding to the gunboat being got off, he had in his excitement given +Fitz a vigorous pinch. + +"Here, what are you thinking of doing?" said the skipper. + +"Doing?" said the Don excitedly. "There will be no banquet to-night. I +must gather together my men, and make for the gunboat at once." + +"What for?" cried the skipper. + +"To strike the last blow for victory," cried the Don. "We must surround +and take the gunboat's crew, and then at any cost that gunboat must be +floated. I don't quite see yet how it is to be done, but the attempt +must be made before there is another gale. That gunboat must be saved. +No," he continued thoughtfully, "I don't see yet how it can be done." + +"I do, sir," cried Winks, dashing forward. "I'll take the job, sir, and +do it cheap. Say a word for me, skipper. You know me. It's fust come +fust served at times like this. Say a word for me, sir, afore some +other lubber steps in and gets the job as won't do it half so well. Mr +Burnett, sir--Mr Poole, you will put a word in too, won't you?" + +"I do not want any words put in," said the new President gravely. "I +know you, my man, and what you can do. I know you too as one of the +friends who have fought for me so bravely and so well. You shall get +the gunboat off the rocks." + +In his excitement Chips did the first steps of the sailor's hornpipe, +but suddenly awakening to a sense of his great responsibility, he pulled +himself up short with a sharp stamp upon the deck, thrust his right +fore-finger into his cheek, and brought it out again _plop_. + +"Stand by there, sir! Steady it is. I like things right and square. I +never did a job like this afore; but you trust me, and I'll do my best." + +"I do trust you," said Don Ramon, smiling and holding out his hand, "and +I know such a British seaman as you will do his best." + +The carpenter flushed like a girl and raised his hand to grasp the +President's, but snatched his own back again to give it three or four +rubs up and down, back and front, upon the leg of his trousers, like a +barber's finishing-touch to a razor, and then gave the much smaller +Spanish hand such a grip as brought tears not of emotion but of pain +into the President's eyes. + +"Now then, for the shore!" cried the Don. "But, Captain Reed, my +friend, I am never satisfied. You will help me once again?" + +"You know," replied the skipper, "as far as I can." + +"Oh, you will not refuse this," said the President, laughingly. "It is +only to transport as many of my people as the schooner will bear. I +shall have to trust to fishing-boats and the two small trading vessels +that are in the port to bear the rest, I must take a strong force, and +make many prisoners, for not one of the gunboat's crew must escape." + +"Oh, you won't have much trouble with that," said the skipper. "Once +you have the full upper hand--" + +"I have it now," said the Spaniard haughtily. + +"Then they will all come over to your side." + +"You will come with me ashore?" said the Don. + +"Yes; but when shall you want to sail? To-morrow--the next day?" + +"Within an hour," cried the Spaniard, "or as soon after as I can. I +must strike, as you English say, while the iron is in the fire." + +"Well, that's quick enough for anything," whispered Fitz. + +The two lads stood watching the departing barge, with the skipper by the +President's side, and then turned to go aft to the cabin. + +"This is rather a bother," said Fitz. "I should have liked to have gone +ashore and seen the banquet, and gone up the country. I am getting +rather sick of being a prisoner, and always set to work. But--hullo, +Chips!" + +"Just one moment, sir; and you too, Mr Poole." + +"Yes; what is it?" + +"That's rather a large order, gentlemen, aren't it? That there Don will +be wanting to make me his chief naval constructor, perhaps. But that +wouldn't do. I say, though, Mr Burnett, sir, can you give a poor +fellow a tip or two?" + +"What about?" said Fitz. + +"What about, sir? Oh, I say, come! I like that! How am I going to get +off that there gunboat? She's a harmoured vessel, you know." + +"Oh, you'll do it, Chips. You could always do anything, even when you +hadn't got any stuff. What about pulling up the hacienda floor?" + +"To make fortifications, sir? Yes, we did work that to rights. But +iron's iron, and wood's wood. You can drive one into t'other, but you +can't drive t'other into one." + +"No, Chips," said Fitz, laughing. "But there are more ways of killing a +cat than hanging." + +"So there are, sir; toe be sure. Making up your mind to do a thing is +half the battle. I should like to have the help of you two young gents, +though, all the same. A word from a young officer as knows how to +disable a Armstrong gun, and from another who thinks nothing of tying a +screw-propeller up in a knot, is worth having." + +"Oh, I'll help you," said Fitz. "But I am afraid my help won't be of +much use." + +"The same here," said Poole. "Ditto and ditto." + +"Then I shall do it, sir," cried the carpenter confidently. "Of +course," cried Fitz. "But that gunboat must be very heavy. How shall +you go to work?" + +The carpenter gave a sharp look round, and then said in a low +confidential tone-- + +"A deal too heavy, sir, for us to lift her. The only way to do is to +make her lift herself." + +"How?" + +"Taking out of her everything that can be moved; guns first, then shot +and shell, and laying them overboard outside upon the rocks, ready for +hoisting in again at low water when she's afloat. Next thing I should +do would be to find out whether she's got any holes in her, and if she +hasn't--and I don't believe she has, for there's been no storm to bump +her on the rocks--then I shall pump her dry, have her fires got up, and +at high water full steam ahead, and if she don't come off then I'm a +double Dutchman." + +"But what about the screw?" + +"Them as hides can find, sir, which means them as tie can untie. I +think we can get her off, sir, if we put our backs into it. What say +you?" + +"Get her off?" cried Fitz. "Of course we will!" + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE. + +BOARDING THE GUNBOAT. + +That evening, followed by a heterogeneous fleet of about twenty small +vessels crammed with fighting men, the _Teal_ sailed again, and their +time of arrival was so contrived that dawn of the next morning but one +found the little fleet in delightfully calm weather forming a +semi-circle from one point of the shore to the other, the focus of its +radius being formed by the gunboat on the rocks. + +The plans had been made on the voyage, and as there was plenty of water +for every vessel but the schooner, the latter's boats, well filled with +men, alone accompanied the rest. + +It was an attack, but no defence, for as soon as the crew of the gunboat +realised the formidable nature and numbers of the expedition, they took +to the boats to try and escape to the shore. But the cliffs forbade +this, and after another attempt or two to get away, all surrendered and +gave up their arms, ready, as had been predicted, to begin cheering Don +Ramon, the officers as they gave up their swords humbly asking to be +allowed to retain their positions under the new Government, for there +seemed to be a general acceptation of the fact now that the petty war +was at an end. + +Don Ramon's answer to this was to accept the services of the officers +and the best of the men. The rest were boated off to the mouth of the +river and set ashore. + +"Ornamental, I call it," said Chips, as he sat forward in one of the +schooner's boats commanded by Poole, in which, as a matter of course, +Fitz had taken his place. + +"What is, Chips?" said Poole. "Do you mean your head?" + +"My head, sir," said the carpenter, staring. "Well, no, sir, I didn't +mean my head. 'Tain't a bad one as it goes, but I never set myself up +for a good-looking chap, one of your handsome sort. I allus left that +to the Camel here." + +The men, who were resting on their oars, burst into a roar of laughter, +and the cook laughing as heartily as the rest and displaying his great +teeth, but his mirth was silent. + +"Hark at him," he said. "Chips is a wonderful man for a joke." + +"Nay, and I never set up as a joker either," said the carpenter; "but +about this 'ere head of mine, I allus reckoned it was more useful than +ornamental. What did you mean was the matter with it, Mr Poole?" + +"Oh, only that it was swelled out so since you've been head contractor +and engineer-in-chief for the getting the gunboat off the rocks. +Doesn't your hat feel very tight?" + +"Nay, sir, and you are all wrong, for there's such a breeze here coming +off the sea, hitting slap agin the rocks and coming back right in your +face, that I have been longing for a piece of paper to fold up and put +inside the band of my hat to make it tight. Why I nearly lost it +twice." + +"Oh," said Poole, "I thought it must be swelled. You've grown so +important ever since you took the job." + +"Never mind what he says, Chips," cried Fitz, "he's only chaffing you." + +"Bless your 'eart, sir," cried the carpenter, "I know: this aren't the +first voyage I've had with Master Poole." + +"But what do you mean about being ornamental?" said Poole. + +"Oh, us Teals, sir, and our boats. Here have we been figuring about +holding up our rifles in the sun, and with these here cutlashes getting +in the men's way wherever we rowed. Regular ornamental I calls us, +never so much as fired a shot or hit any one on the nose with one's +fist. We have done a bit of shouting though. I've hooroared till if I +had tried to do any more, I should roar like a sick bull in a cow-yard +shut up to eat straw, while all the cows were in the next field getting +fat on grass. I want to know what's the use of our coming at all!" + +"As supporters of the Don," said Fitz; "for prestige." + +"For what, sir?" + +"Prestige," said Fitz, laughing. + +"Oh! that's it, was it, sir? Well, I'm glad you told me. Where does +that come in?" + +"Why, all through. Shows how English men-of-war's-men have helped to +frighten these mongrels into surrender. Haven't you?" + +"Well, I dunno about me, sir. I dare say the sight of the Camel there +has scared them a bit. Wherever he showed his teeth, they must have +said to themselves, `What a beggar that would be to bite!' And I +suppose that made them a bit the readier to chuck it up as they did. +But it's just what I said. We Teals have been ornamental all through +this job, and I should have liked to have had just one more go in by way +of putting a neat finish." + +"Oh, you've got job enough coming off," said Poole. "There's your +work," and he pointed to the gunboat lying about a quarter of a mile +away. + +The carpenter became serious directly, frowned severely, laid his +coxswain's boat-hook across his knees, and took off his straw hat to +give his dewy forehead a couple of wipes with his bare mahogany-brown +arms. + +"Yes, gentlemen," he said, "that's a big handful for one man, and I feel +a bit staggered, and get thinking every now and then that it was the +biggest bit of cheek I ever showed in my life." + +"What was?" said Fitz. + +"What was, sir? Why, to say that I would get that there vessel off them +rocks. There are times when I feel skeered, and ready to tuck my tail +between my legs and run away like a frightened dog." + +"You!" cried Fitz, and the two lads laughed heartily. + +"Ah, it's all very fine, gentlemen, you are on the right side. You +aren't got it to do. I have, and if I was to try and laugh now it would +be on the other side of my mouth." + +"Get out," said Poole, "you'll do it right enough. Won't he, Fitz?" + +"Of course." + +"Think so, gentlemen?" + +"To be sure we do," cried Fitz. "You'll do it, Chips. Go in and win." + +"Thank you, sir," said the man, rather sadly. "I did say I'd do it, +didn't I?" + +"To be sure you did." + +"Well then, of course I must try." + +"To be sure you must," cried Fitz. "Why, you'll be able to do it in +broad daylight with nobody to interrupt you." + +"So I shall, Mr Burnett, sir. It won't be like swarming up her side in +the dark, expecting a couple of dozen of them half-bred niggers to come +at you with their long knives ready to pitch you overboard. Here: I am +glad you talked. I was getting all in the downs like over that job, +when it aren't half so 'ard as for a young gent like you to swarm up +that anker, that very _one_ yonder as is hanging from the cat-head now, +and then taking out that breech-block and--" + +"There, that will do," cried Fitz, turning scarlet; "I don't want to +hear any more about that. I say, Chips, how do you mean to begin?" + +The carpenter screwed his face up into a very cunning smile. + +"Like me to tell you, sir?" + +"Of course," cried the boys in a breath. + +"Well," said the carpenter, "you are both very pleasant young gents as +has allus been good friends to me, and I'd tell you in a minute but for +one reason." + +"You don't want your messmates to know your plans?" said Fitz quickly. + +"Oh no, sir, it's a bigger reason than that. You see, it's just like +this 'ere. I'll tell you, only don't let 'em know in the other boat. +You see there's Mr Burgess yonder, and old Butters." + +"Well, don't make such a rigmarole of it all, Chips," cried Poole. +"What's your big reason?" + +"Well, sir, it's just this 'ere," said the carpenter solemnly. "I'll be +blessed if I know it myself." + +"Bah!" cried Poole angrily. + +"What I want is clean decks, with all them there trash cleared away, and +time for me and the bosun having the craft to ourselves just to go round +and smell it all over before we begin." + +"Of course," cried Poole. + +"You see, it's a big job, gentlemen, and it's no use for us to roosh it. +What I want is for us to be able to lay this 'ere boat aboard, and +leave to begin. I want room, sir, and to see what tools I want, and--" + +"Ahoy there, Mr Poole!" came from the next boat. "Let your men give +way and follow me. I am going to board the gunboat now, and put a prize +crew on board." + +"Ay, ay, sir," cried Poole; and then to the carpenter, who sat +moistening his hands prior to giving them a rub on his knees, "There you +are, Chips. Give way, my lads. We are going to make fast a tow-rope to +the gunboat's stern. Keep your eyes open, and you will see how Chips +will haul her off." + +There was another laugh as the men bent to their oars, rowing so +vigorously that several of the small craft full of Don Ramon's +followers, hanging round the ponderous-looking craft upon the rocks, +hurriedly made way as if half expecting to be run down, and a few +minutes later the schooner's boats, headed by Mr Burgess, were +alongside their late dangerous enemy, to spring on board, the Spanish +crew drawing back to the other side to crowd together and look +carelessly on, all idea of resistance being at an end. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY SIX. + +WINKS'S LUCK. + +Neither Fitz nor Poole had felt any desire to pose as the heroes of the +little night attack, which had resulted in the disabling of the armoured +man-of-war, but it was with a strange feeling of exultation that they +climbed on board in the full sunshine, eager as they were to stand once +more upon the decks, and see in the broad daylight what the vessel was +like into which they had climbed in the darkness of the night. + +Fitz's first thought as he passed through the gangway was to make for +the great gun that stood amidships upon its iron platform and revolving +carriage, the huge muzzle elevated, and looking ready to hurl its great +shells far and wide; but he had to wait and stand with the schooner's +men drawn up while the prisoners and volunteers who had joined the +winning side filed down into the boats that swarmed around, till with +one exception the crew had all left the deck, the exception being the +firemen, who willy nilly were retained on board for service in +connection with the engine under the new President. + +All this took time, but at last Don Ramon's dread had become his joy, +and he showed his feeling of triumph as he paced the gunboat's deck +rubbing his hands, and every now and then giving vent to a satisfied +"Hah!" as he stopped to converse with Burgess, or to say a kindly word +to one or other of the prize crew, not least to the two boys. + +"Hah!" cried the carpenter at last. "Now then, gentlemen, I think we +must say going to begin. Here's Mr Burgess as hungry as I am. You +would like to come round with us, wouldn't you, Mr Poole? Mr Burgess +says we can get to work as soon as ever we like." + +"Of course we should," said Poole. "Come on, Fitz;" for just then Don +Ramon came up to the mate to make a flowery speech, telling him that he +left him in perfect confidence to hold the prize while he went to see to +the disposal of the rest of the prisoners who were left, so that no +attempt might be made to regain the upper hand. + +Poole turned to Fitz expecting to see him eager to follow the carpenter, +but it was to find him standing with one foot upon the platform of the +great gun, looking at the muzzle, as it sloped toward the sky, evidently +deep in thought, and he did not stir until Poole laid a hand upon his +arm with the query-- + +"What are you thinking about?" + +"That night," was the reply. + +"So was I just now," said Poole. "Look there, that's where I lay with +one of the Spaniards holding me down, and afraid to make a sound, or to +struggle. It was horrid, and I couldn't tell what sort of a position +you were in. It was ticklish work and no mistake." + +"Yes," said Fitz, thoughtfully, "horrible for you, but I believe it was +worse for me, because something seemed to be tagging at me all the time +and telling me that I had no business there." + +Poole looked at his companion curiously. + +"But you felt that you must do it, didn't you?" he said. + +"Oh, yes," cried Fitz, "I was desperate; but I never want to go through +such a five minutes again. Let's see, I stepped along there," he +continued, pointing and following the steps his memory taught him that +he must have taken to get round to the back of the great gun. "Yes, +this is exactly where I stood to swing round those great balls and open +the breech, but only to be disappointed, finding as I did that the block +was fast. Oh, Poole, how I did tug and strain at it, feeling all the +while that I had been boasting and bragging to your father, and that +after all I was only a poor miserable impostor who had been professing +to know a great deal, when I was as ignorant as could be, and that I was +being deservedly punished in that terrible failure that was taking +place." + +"Ah, I remember," cried Poole; "you said the block stuck fast?" + +"Yes, till the idea came that I had not turned the great screw far +enough." + +"But you ought to have made sure of that at first." + +"Of course I ought," cried Fitz sharply, "and I ought to have been as +cool and calm as possible when doing such a venturesome thing--in the +pitch-darkness, with perhaps ten or a dozen of the Spanish sailors--the +watch--" + +"The watch!" cried Poole, laughing. "Come, I like that." + +"Well, then, men lying about all round us. You were perfectly cool of +course?" + +"I!" replied Poole. "Why I was in a state of high fever. I didn't know +whether I was on my head or my heels. I believe, old fellow, that I was +half mad with excitement." + +"I'm sure I was," cried Fitz, "till the thought came that perhaps I had +not turned the screw far enough. That thought made me quite jump. Then +there was the feeling the screw move. I felt as if I could see the +great thread all shining as it glided along, while I must have seen the +block when I lifted it out." + +"But that was all fancy of course. It was the darkest, blackest night I +ever saw." + +"I know, but I certainly seemed to see the block as I held it hugged to +my breast." + +"I should have liked to see you when you were making for the side all +top-heavy, and went flying over after the great quoin as you called it. +My word, Fitz, that was a flying leap overboard." + +"Ugh!" ejaculated the latter with a shudder. "As I go over the task +again, it seems as if it is all part of a queer dream." + +"A very lively one though," said Poole, laughing. "I say, I wonder how +deep you went down." + +"Oh, don't talk about it! Ever so far. It seemed a terribly long time +all going down and down, feeling all that time as if I should never come +up again, and thinking about sharks too. Why, it couldn't have been +half-a-minute from the time I touched the water till I was at the top +again swimming, and yet it seemed to be an hour at least." + +"It does seem long at a time like that. But I say, what a narrow escape +that was." + +"Of being caught, yes." + +"No, no," cried Poole; "I mean when the breech-block went over the +side." + +"It just was," said the carpenter, coming up. "I know somebody, +gentlemen, who thinks as he had a very narrow squeak of being took down +to the bottom with that bit o' steel and kept there. But that would ha' +been better than floating up again to be pulled to pieces by the sharks. +I don't suppose that they stops much about the bottom o' the sea; they +generally seem to be too busy up at top, drying their back-fins in the +open air. Trying your little bit o' performance over again, gentlemen?" + +"Yes, Chips," said Fitz, as the man stood smiling at him. "It was a +horrible night's work." + +"Well, no, sir, not horrid. We came out to do something and we did it +fine. The on'y awkward bit on it is the risk you ran a-popping that +there breech-block on somebody's head, for which miss he's very much +obliged--very much indeed. But I came to see if you gents wouldn't like +to come down below with us to sound the well, for I expect there's a +precious lot o' water there, and a big hole to let it in. Mr Burgess +have gone down with Butters." + +The two lads hurriedly followed the carpenter below, to encounter the +mate and boatswain fresh from their task. + +"Deal more water than I like to see, my lads," said the boatswain, "but +we shall know better where we stand after that steam-pump has been going +for a couple of hours." + +"Job for that engineer and his fireman," said the carpenter coolly; and +very soon after the panting of the donkey-engine, the rattle of the +pump, and the vigorous splashing down of clear water betokened the +relieving of the gunboat's lower parts of some portion of their burden, +as Poole said, but only to be met by a damping remark from Fitz. + +"Not much good," he said, "if the water runs in as fast as it runs out." + +As time could be the only test for this, the little party of examiners +descended now into one of the schooner's boats, the carpenter standing +up in her bows and passing her along to make fast by one of the +ringbolts of the stern-post, and giving the two lads a peculiar look as +he proceeded to examine the propeller. + +"Well, how does it seem?" said the mate. + +"Seem, Mr Burgess, sir?" said the carpenter dryly, "don't seem at all, +sir. There's nothing here but the biggest ball o' string I ever see. +Would you mind coming forard, Mr Butters, sir, and seeing what you can +make of it?" + +The boatswain passed over the thwarts and joined his comrade of the past +night's work, stood looking down for a few moments, and then took off +his cap and scratched one ear. + +"You young gents had better come and have a look," he said; "you had the +designing on it." + +The boys did not wait for a second invitation, but hurriedly went +forward, to find that their scheme had acted far beyond their +expectations, for the fans of the propeller had wound up the thick soft +cable so tightly that the opening in which the fish-tail mechanism +turned was completely filled with the tightly-compressed strands of +rope, so that Poole suggested that all that needed was to get hold of +one end, and then as soon as the steam was well on to reverse and wind +the cable off in a similar way to that in which it had been wound on. + +"Hah, to be sure," said the boatswain, giving his leg a sailor's slap, +"there's nothing like a bit o' sense, Mr Poole, sir; that nice noo +Manilla cable's been twisted round my heart, sir, ever since it was +used, and made me feel quite sore. Nothing I hates worse than waste." + +"It wasn't waste," said Fitz, impatiently. "You might just as well say +the bait was wasted when you have been fishing. Don't you get something +good in return?" + +"Ah, but that's fishing, young gentlemen, and this aren't," said +Butters, with a very knowing smile. + +"Not fishing!" cried Fitz. "I think it was fishing. You used the +cable, and you've caught a gunboat." + +"But s'pose we've got the gunboat and the bait back as well, how then?" +cried the boatswain. "Look ye here, my lad, I'm going to have that +there end of the cable taken a turn round the steam-capstan, and as soon +as the chaps have got full steam on, the screw shall be turned, and +we'll wind it off fine and good as noo." + +Fitz shook his head as he gazed down through the clear water at the mass +of rope, and exclaimed-- + +"I know it won't do." + +"What, aren't you saddasfied now?" said the boatswain, while Chips +wrinkled up his face and looked uneasy. + +"Aren't never seen a screw fouled like that afore, along of a coir +cable, Mr Fitz, sir, have you?" + +"No," replied the middy. "But I've seen a Manilla cable after it's been +down with a heavy anchor in a rocky sea off the Channel Islands." + +"And how was that, sir?" + +"Frayed in half-a-dozen places by the rocks, so that the anchor parted +before we'd got it weighed, and the captain was obliged to send for a +diver to get the anchor up." + +"But there aren't no rocks here, Mr Fitz, sir, to fray this here one, +because it has never been down." + +"No, but it has been ground against the iron stern-post till it's nearly +through in ever so many places. Look there, and there, and there." + +"Hah, look at that, bosun," cried the carpenter triumphantly. "Just +cast your eye along there and there. Our side's right and the Manilla +cable's all wrong. I'm afeard too as we're going to find out a good +many other things is wrong, and the gunboat aren't afloat yet." + +"No, but you've undertaken to float her, Chips," said Poole. "I +wouldn't reckon on being Don Ramon's head naval architect and engineer +just yet." + +"No, sir, I don't," said the carpenter seriously. "But anyhow we'll set +the screw free before we trouble any more about that leakage;" and in a +very business-like way he carried out the boatswain's plans, connecting +the cable with the capstan, and winding it off; but it was so damaged by +grinding against the edges of the opening that it parted five different +times before it was all off, to the boatswain's great disgust. + +"What have you got to say about the leakage, Mr Burnett, sir?" +whispered the carpenter after the cable task was ended, and the fans of +the propeller showed clearly in the water just below the surface, and +had been set whirling round in both directions to churn up the water, +and prove that the shaft had not been wrenched or dragged from its +bearings. + +"Nothing at present, Chips," replied the middy. + +"Because I'd take it kindly, sir, if you'd drop a fellow a hint or two. +This is a big job, sir, and means my making or my breaking, sir." + +"But you shouldn't ask me, my man," replied the middy. "You are old and +experienced, while I'm only a boy." + +"Yes, sir, I knows that," said the man; "but you're come out of a +gunboat, sir, and you've got your head screwed on the right way, sir. I +never see a young gent with such a head as yours, nor yet one as was +screwed on so tight." + +"Oh, nonsense, Chips," cried the boy, flushing. "It's your job, not +mine." + +"Nay, sir, it aren't nonsense, it's sound sense. I like a bit of the +first as well as any man when larking helps to make hard work go easy. +Often enough a bit o' fun acts like ile to a hard job, but it won't ile +this one. And as I said afore, sir, I'd take it kindly if you'd put in +a word now and then over the rest o' the job same as you did over the +cable." + +"But you ought to consult with Mr Burgess or the captain, my man," said +Fitz, uneasily. + +"Nay, I oughtn't, sir. I'd a deal rayther have a word or two from you +when you see things going wrong." + +"Why?" said Fitz quickly. + +"I've telled you, sir. Doesn't all you say come right? I've kinder got +a sort o' confidence in you, Mr Burnett, sir, as makes me feel as if I +should like to be under you in some ship or another, and I aren't the +on'y one aboard as feels that, I'm sure." + +"Well, it's very kind of you to put so much faith in me," said the +middy; "but don't say any more, please, and don't believe in me too much +for fear I should make some horrible blunder, and disappoint you after +all." + +"Ah, you won't do that, sir," said the carpenter confidently. + +"Of course I shall be only too glad to help you if I can, for I should +be very glad to see you float the vessel." + +"And you will keep an eye on what I do, sir, and put in a word if you +think I'm going wrong?" + +"If you wish it, yes," replied Fitz. + +"Thanky, sir," whispered the man earnestly. "It may be the making of +me, sir, and anyhow, as I have took up this job, I don't want these +Spaniel chaps to see an Englishman fail." + +"They shall not, Chips, if I can help it," cried Fitz, warmly. "There +now, let's see whether the donkey-engine is able to keep the water down, +or whether she's lower in the water than she was." + +"There, sir," whispered the man, "hark at you! Call yourself a boy! why +you couldn't ha' spoken better if you'd been a hold man of a 'undered. +You made me want to give you a shout, only I had to keep quiet, and let +the Spaniels think I'm doing it all to rights. I don't mind about our +lads. They all know me, and what I can do and what I can't. I don't +want to try anything and chuck dust in their eyes--not me; but I do want +to show off a bit and let these Spanish Mullotter chaps see what an +Englishman can do, for the sake of the old country and the British +flag." + +"Then let's go below, Chips," said Fitz, "and see what the pumping has +done." + +Poole, who had been aft with the mate during this conversation, rejoined +them now, and together they went below to sound the well. + +"Good luck to us, gentlemen," said the carpenter, rubbing his hands. + +"Good luck," cried Poole eagerly. "You don't mean to say she's making +less water?" + +"Nay, sir, but I do say that the engine's lowering it. There's a foot +less in her now than when we began pumping, and that means we win." + +A few hours later, after the donkey-engine had kept on its steady +pumping, Chips made another inspection, and came up to where Fitz and +Poole were together, pulling a very long face. + +"Why, what's the matter, Chips?" cried Fitz anxiously. "You don't mean +to say that anything is wrong?" + +"Horribly, gentlemen," cried the man. "It's always my luck! Chucking +away my chances! Why, she's as good as new!" + +"Well, what more do you want? Isn't that good enough for you?" + +"Yes, sir, it's good enough; but Mr Butters here and me, we was half +asleep. We ought to have formed ourselves into a company--Winks and +Co., or Butters and Co., or Butters and Winks, or Winks and Butters, or +Co. and Co." + +"Why not Cocoa and Cocoa?" said Fitz, laughing. + +"Anyhow you like, gentlemen, only we ought to have done it. Bought the +gunboat cheap, and there was a fortune for us." + +"Never mind that," said Poole. "You'll be all right, Chips. Don Ramon +will be presenting you with a brass tobacco-box, or something else, if +you get her off." + +"Go and ast him to order it at once, so as to have it ready, for we +shall have her off to-morrow as soon as them 'hogany lubbers have got +the steam up." + +"You don't mean that?" cried Poole. + +"Ask Mr Butters here, and see what he says." + +"Yes," said the boatswain coolly; "and I thought we should have to +lighten her by a couple of hundred tons or so. But it makes a man feel +very proud of being an English sailor. These half-breeds here give up +at once. Why, if she'd had an English crew aboard, that cable wouldn't +have stopped round the screw, and the lads wouldn't have sat down to +smoke cigarettes and holloa. Why, they might have had her off a score +of times." + +"But what about getting her safely into the channel again?" said Poole. + +"What about getting old Burgess aboard to con her; she going slow with a +couple of fellows at work with the lead in the chains? Why, it's all as +easy as buttering a bit of biscuit." + +Not quite, but the next evening the gunboat was well out in deep water, +comparatively undamaged, and flying Don Ramon's colours, making her way +towards Velova Bay, towing a whole regiment of boats, the _Teal_ proudly +leading under easy sail. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN. + +A STARTLER. + +"Ah," said Don Ramon to the skipper, the morning after their arrival, +"if only that gun were perfect!" + +"Well, it ought to be in two months' time. You'll have to get command +of the telegraph at San Cristobal." + +"To get command?" cried the Don. "I have full command. Resistance to +my rule is dead, and I have only to wait to be acknowledged by the +Powers. But go on with what you were saying." + +"Oh, it was only this. You can wire to the makers of the gun to send +you out a new breech-block by the first steamer. They will honour your +order, I'll be bound." + +"It shall be done," said Don Ramon eagerly. + +This took place in the principal building of the little port, where the +Don was entertaining the skipper and the two lads; and he seemed quite +disturbed when, after a short communication had passed, Fitz and Poole +got up and asked their host to excuse them. + +"You wish to go so soon?" he said. "Why, I have friends coming to whom +I wish to introduce you as the brave young heroes who helped me to +success." + +"Oh, there's no need for that sir," said Fitz. "We don't want to be +made a fuss over." + +"But I take it that you would be willing to gratify your host," replied +the Don loftily, "and it would please me much if you would stay." + +"But we must get back on board, sir," said Fitz anxiously. Then +noticing the air of displeasure in the President's countenance, the +middy added hastily, "There, sir, we will come back at once." + +They hurried down to the shore, where the schooner's gig was lying with +her crew on board. + +"Well, I don't understand whatever you want," said Poole, "unless you +have suddenly found out that because ladies are coming you ought to put +on a clean shirt." + +"Get out!" cried Fitz; and then, assuming command of the boat, to +Poole's great amusement, though he said nothing, Fitz gave orders to the +men to give way and row them out to the gunboat. + +"Why, I thought you wanted to go to the _Teal_! Oh, I see. Well, it's +very nice of you. You want us to go and take charge of the prize crew +so as to let old Burgess go and have some tucker with the Don." + +"Nothing of the kind," said Fitz shortly. + +"What is it then?" said Poole. "What's the good of keeping things so +close?" + +"Wait and see. I don't know yet myself." + +"Dear me!" said Poole. "I suppose his lordship has found out that he +left his purse in the cabin." + +"Wrong," said Fitz. "It was only an old leather one if he had, with +nothing in it. Can't you wait a few minutes till I see if I am right?" + +"Oh, yes, I'll wait; only too glad to get away while the other people +come. I say, Fitz, old chap, let's be as long as we can. I do hate all +that fuss. It makes me feel so weak." + +"Yes; I don't like it. That's the worst of foreigners. They are so +fond of show. I say, Poole, old chap, I've got such a grand idea." + +"What is it?" + +"Wait and see." + +"Now, just you look here," said Poole; "you can't say but what I'm a +good-tempered sort of fellow, but if there's much more of this you'll +put me out. I'm not a little child, and you are not playing at +bob-cherry, so leave off dangling nothing before my lips and then +snatching it away." + +"Ah, you wait and see," said Fitz. + +Just then, as Poole turned upon him irritably, the gig touched the +gunboat's side, and the boys sprang on board, to be greeted by the mate +and the members of the prize crew, who had moored her well under the +guns of the little fort. + +"Hullo, young fellows! I know what you want," cried the mate. + +"Then you are cleverer than I am," said Poole, laughing, "for I don't." + +"Then why have you come?" + +"Ask Burnett here. He seems to be Grand Panjandrum now." + +"You've come," said the mate, "by the President's orders, to bring me +ashore to drink wine and eat cake, or some nonsense of that kind, and +you may go back and tell him I can't leave my post." + +"Wrong," said Fitz; and he hurried away forward, to come into sight +again waving his hand to Poole to join him. + +"Whatever's the matter with the fellow?" said Poole to himself, as he +followed the middy. + +Fitz met him half-way, caught him by the collar, and with his face +flushed and eyes flashing, whispered something in his ear. + +"No!" cried Poole. "You don't mean it!" + +"I do," said Fitz, and he whispered a few more words that made his +companion stare. + +"Shall we?" cried Fitz excitedly. + +"Oh, I don't know," replied Poole. "It would make such a scare." + +"I don't care," said Fitz. "It will make Don Ramon ready to jump out of +his skin. I don't know what he won't say when he gets the news; and +besides, I feel as if I had a right." + +Meanwhile the people were beginning to arrive to crowd the _salle_ where +the President and the skipper were ready to receive them, and the +President had risen at once, and amidst a tremendous burst of applause, +to begin a speech in which he intended to congratulate his hearers upon +the end of the war and the commencement of what he hoped would be a long +term of peace, when he and all present were startled by a terrific roar +as of thunder close at hand, followed by what seemed like a minute's +silence, when the echoes began to speak, carrying on the sound along the +valley and up into the mountains, where it rolled and died out, rose +again, and was eddied on and on, to finally fade away in a dull whisper. + +For the time no one spoke, no one stirred, but stood as if turned to +stone, as so many statues where but a few minutes before all was +animation and suppressed excitement consequent upon what was looked upon +as the successful determination of the revolution. + +Upon every face horror was now depicted, cheeks were pale, eyes dilated +and staring, and fear with all its horrors seemed to have enchained the +crowded _salle_. + +There was one pale face though that seemed to stand out the central +figure of the gaily-dressed and uniformed crowd. It was that of the +President, who slowly stretched out his hands on high, his fists +clenching and his features convulsed. There was no horror there in his +looks, but one great reflex of the despair within his heart. + +"Oh," he groaned, "and at a time like this, when I have fought so hard, +when I would have given up my very life for my unhappy country. +Gentlemen, we have a new enemy to contend with, and that is Fate. Am I +to own that all is lost, or appeal to you, my faithful friends, to begin +again to fight the deadly battle to the very last?" + +"But what is it?" cried one of the officials. + +"Yes," shouted another, "what does this mean?" + +The President smiled bitterly, and stood for a few moments gazing back +sadly at his questioners as the crowd began to sway to and fro, some of +those present beginning to make for the door, but in an undecided way, +and swaying back to press once more upon their leader, as if feeling +that he was their only hope. + +He seemed to read this in their faces, and suddenly the blood began to +flush like a cloud across his pallid brow, nerving him as it were to +action. + +Throwing his right hand across his breast he sought for the hilt of his +sword, which his left raised ready, and he snatched the blade from its +scabbard, whirled it on high, and then held it pointed towards the +nearest open window, through which a thin dank odoured cloud of smoke +was beginning to float, telling its own tale of what the explosion was. + +For a few moments the President was silent, rigid and statuesque in his +attitude, while his eyes flashed defiance and determination. + +"Gentlemen," he cried, "you ask me what this means," and he seemed to +flash his glance around the room to take in everybody before letting his +eyes rest at last upon the skipper. "It means that the scotched snake +has raised its poisoned head once more, how I know not, nor yet what +following he hab. But the enemy still lives, and we must fight again to +the very death if needs be." + +A murmur of excitement ran through the _salle_, and once more the weak +amongst those assembled raised a murmur, and glances were directed +towards the door, as if the next moment panic was about to set in and a +rush was imminent. At that moment, as if in response to the President's +appealing look, the big bronzed skipper, Poole's father, British to the +backbone, took a step or two forward, and the President's face lit up +with a smile as he uttered a loud "Hah!" full of the satisfaction he +felt. + +"Silence there," he shouted, directing his words at his wavering +followers, whose spirits seemed to have been completely dashed. +"Silence, and let our brave captain speak." + +"I have only this to say," cried the skipper. "Be calm, gentlemen, be +calm. Are we who have carried all before us to be frightened by a +noise? It is an explosion. Whatever has happened you must be cool, and +act like the brave men you are. This is either some accident, or the +cunning enemy has sent in some emissary to lay a train. It is all plain +enough. Some of the powder collected in the magazine of the fort has +gone. There was a great flash, I saw it myself, and it evidently came +from there. Now, President, take the lead. Out with your swords, +gentlemen. I don't believe you will need them. Some pounds of +gunpowder have been destroyed. Had the enemy been there we should have +heard their burst of cheering, and the noise of their coming on, for +this place would have been the first they would have attacked." + +The skipper's sensible words were greeted with a groan of despair, for +at that moment that of which he had spoken came floating in turn through +the open window. + +"Ah," cried the President, catching at the skipper's arm and gripping it +fast as he pointed to the open window with his sword. "Brave words, my +friend, but you hear--you hear--" and another murmur of despair ran +through the crowd. + +"Oh yes," said the skipper, "I can hear." + +"The cries," said the President, "of the savage enemy." + +"No," roared the skipper with a mocking laugh. "Your enemies, man, +can't cheer like that," and he rushed to the window. "There they go +again. Why, Don, that's not a Spanish but good old English shout. Yes, +there they go again. I don't know what it means, but I can hear, far +off as they are, those were the voices of some of my crew." + +"What?" cried the President. + +"Come here, all of you," cried the captain, "and look out. There's +nothing to fear. Follow my lead and give another cheer back. That +shouting came from the gunboat deck. Look, Don Ramon, you can see my +fellows waving their caps, and those two boys are busy on the bridge +doing something, I can't make out what. Yes, I can, they're bending on +a flag. There: up it goes. Why, gentlemen, we have been scaring +ourselves at a puff of powder smoke. Why, by all that's wonderful--" He +stopped short and held up his hand. + +"Silence, please," he cried after a pause, and a dead stillness reigned +once more as every one who could get a glimpse of the gunboat strained +his neck to stare. + +"I am stunned, confused," whispered the President. "What is it, +captain? For pity's sake speak." + +"No, sir, I'll let your best friend do that." + +"My best friend? You speak in riddles." + +"Yes, wait a minute, and the answer, a big one, to this great riddle +will come," cried the captain. "Can't you see, man? the lads are busy +there getting ready for your friend to speak. Another moment or two and +you will hear what he says--that Don Ramon is President of this +Republic, and his seat in the chair is safe against any enemy that may +come. Ah, all together. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" + +The skipper's cheer was loud, but it was stifled before it was +half-uttered, for once more that terrific roar arose, making the +Presidential building quiver and the glass in several of the windows +come tinkling down into the stone-paved court. + +Most of those present had this time seen the flash--the roar had set the +ears of all ringing once again, as a great puff of smoke dashed out like +a ball and then rose slowly in the sunshine, forming itself into a great +grey ring, quivering as another burst of cheering arose from the +gunboat's deck. + +For it was neither attack from the cunning enemy nor the catastrophe +caused by explosion, as the fresh burst of cheering from the gunboat +fully explained, for they were British cheers from the prize crew, +echoed by those on board the schooner. + +There was nothing the matter, only a happy thought had occurred to the +middy, and he wondered that it had not come before, as he hurried to the +proper spot, made a little search, and found that he was right--that +there was a spare breech-block on board which enabled him and Poole, +after gaining access to the magazine, to thrust a blank cartridge into +the great gun and announce the fact in what was literally a _feu de +joie_. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT. + +A REGULAR YOUNG FILIBUSTER. + +"Oh, pray don't say any more to me about it, sir," cried Fitz, the next +day. "It was only just an idea." + +"An idea, my dear young friend!" cried the President. + +"Yes, sir; a mere trifle." + +"A trifle!" said the President. "Oh, how lightly you English boys do +take such things. Your trifle, as you call it, has made me fast in the +Governmental chair. I shall always think that I owe you my success." + +"What, because I thought there was another breech-block, sir?" + +"Oh, not merely that. There was your first idea about getting away from +the hacienda and coming round here by sea. They may seem trifles to +your young elastic spirit, but their effect has been great." + +"Once more, sir; please don't say any more. My only wonder is now, that +somebody else on board the gunboat did not think about the spare block +and get it into use." + +"Ah, yes; one of the officers has been talking to me about it. He said +he was the only man on board who knew of its existence, and--simply +because it had not been wanted--he had almost forgotten, or, as he put +it, it was for the time driven out of his head by the great trouble they +were in, caused by the fouling of the screw, and the current carrying +them on to the rocks." + +"Oh, I am glad of that," said Fitz. "Glad? Why?" said the President, +looking at him wonderingly. + +"Because it makes Poole Reed stand out so much better than I do. It was +entirely his notion to foul the screw." + +"Oh, come, come, come!" cried Don Ramon. "I am not going to weigh you +both in the balance to see which was the better. I shall always look +upon you as a pair of young heroes." + +"Oh, I say," cried Poole, "please don't!" + +"Very well," said the Spaniard, laughing; "I'll say no more, but I shall +think." + +"I don't mind his thinking," said Fitz, a short time later when he was +talking to his companion about what had been said. "But I hope next +time he wants to go into ecstasies about what we did, he'll let them all +off at you." + +"Thankye," said Poole; "much obliged." The lads had something else to +think of the next day, for in the midst of the rejoicings over Don +Ramon's success, and when the gunboat was dressed with colours from head +to stern, the new President's flag predominant, and her old officers +accepting the alteration in the state of affairs with the greatest +nonchalance, and in fact on the whole pleased with the change of rulers, +signals were shown from the high look-out at the entrance of the harbour +indicating that a vessel was in sight. In the midst of the excitement +that this caused, steam was hastily got up on board the gunboat, and the +decks cleared for action ready for an engagement if necessary in Don +Ramon's cause. + +The excitement soon ceased to be alarming, for in due course the +stranger's flag was made out, her signal for a pilot answered, and in +the course of the afternoon a United States cruiser steamed in, +answering the salute from the fort and gunboat, and taking up her +position close under their guns. + +The rest of the customary civilities were interchanged, and the captain +of the Yankee came ashore to visit the new President, laughingly saying +that he had come to see Don Villarayo, but as he was in the mountains +and a new President governed in his stead, and as he supposed it was +only a matter of form before Don Ramon would be acknowledged by the +American Government, he had nothing to do but wait for instructions +after he had communicated with Washington. + +The captain made himself very agreeable, chatting with Don Ramon's +notabilities, and the schooner's skipper; but several times he glanced +searchingly in the direction of Fitz Burnett, who had been awaiting his +opportunity either to be introduced or to go up and speak. + +His turn came at last, for the captain fixed his eyes upon him with a +look of invitation to which Fitz instantly responded by closing up, +colouring slightly the while with consciousness, as it seemed to him +that the American captain, all spick and span in his neat naval uniform, +was looking askant at the well-worn garments the lad was wearing. + +"How do, youngster?" he said. "I didn't know one of your cruisers was +in these waters. Has she left you here as a hostage, or something of +the kind? You English chaps are everywhere." + +For long enough Fitz Burnett had been waiting for this moment, ready to +pour out his troubles and adventures to somebody who would give him +help; and now that the time had come he could hardly speak. + +The American captain noticed it, and raised his eyebrows a little. + +"Why was it?" he said kindly, as he saw how thoroughly agitated the boy +was. "In trouble?" + +"Yes, sir," cried Fitz. + +"You don't mean to tell me you've done such a stupid school-boy act as +to desert your ship?" + +"Oh, no, no, no!" cried Fitz excitedly; and out it all came, the captain +listening eagerly and questioning him wherever the boy hesitated, till +he had finished his adventurous tale. + +"Well, this is something fresh, my lad," cried the American captain. +"But I reckon that the time will come when you'll think you've been in +luck. For you've done nothing wrong. You were regularly taken prisoner +while doing your duty, and your skipper can't blame you." + +"Think not, sir?" cried Fitz, warming up in the gratitude he felt for +the captain's sympathy. + +"Think not? Of course! If he does, and won't have you back, I'll find +you a berth on my ship, and be glad to have you. What do you say? Will +you come?" + +Fitz looked at him searchingly, and shook his head. + +"I am in the Queen's service, sir," he said. + +"And a fine service too, my lad. But how has this skipper behaved to +you since you've been with him?" + +"Oh, as if I had been his own son, sir," cried Fitz warmly; "and his boy +and I have been the best of friends." + +"But I say, you've been a regular young filibuster all the time, +breaking the laws and helping in a revolution. Why, you've been +carrying on high jinks, and no mistake! But you don't mean to tell me +you want to stay with them?" + +"Oh no, of course not. I want to rejoin the _Tonans_." + +"Where do you say--in the Channel Service? Well, I can't take you +there." + +"I thought, sir, that perhaps you would put me on board some English +cruiser," cried Fitz. + +"And I will, of course. But it may be a month first." + +"I don't mind that, sir," said Fitz, "so long as I can send a message +home, for they must think I'm--" + +He broke down here, for he could bear no more. + +What he had thought would be all joy proved to be pain, and as he was +turning away, it was with the knowledge that the American captain had +read him through and through, giving him a warm pressure of the hand, +and saying, just loud enough for him to hear-- + +"Directly I can get at the wires I'll send a message to New York, +telling our people to communicate with your Admiralty, that you are +alive and well." + +The next minute the captain was talking with both the Reeds, and to +Fitz's great satisfaction he saw that they were chatting, evidently on +the most friendly terms. + +As the American captain had suggested, it was nearly a month before he +sailed away with Fitz on board, after a parting that made the hearts of +the two lads ache, while the pressure of the skipper's hand lingered +long. + +But after the fashion of most boys under such circumstances they hid +their emotions like men. + +"I suppose," said the skipper, "I shall never have the chance to give +you such a cruise again." + +"No," said Fitz, laughing; "never, I should say. Good-bye, sir! +Good-bye, Poole, old chap, till next time." + +"Yes," said Poole merrily. "So long!" + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Fitz the Filibuster, by George Manville Fenn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FITZ THE FILIBUSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 21309.txt or 21309.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/3/0/21309/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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