CHAPTER XV
WE FALL INTO SORE DISASTERS OF RAGING TEMPEST AND BLOODY BATTLE
As soon as I was got on board I told Captain Wilkins of our generalissimo's intention, which he heard with much satisfaction, and did straightway communicate with his crew, who thereupon set up a great cheer. About two o'clock, the breeze freshening, the Faithful Friend changed her course and we with her, and for two hours we ran west, though the wind had been more prosperous for making south. Yet did the black ship follow us in the course persistently as in the other, keeping always the same distance in our wake. Then did Sir Bartlemy signal us to open all our ports for the guns to play, and to stand every man to his post, which we did very cheerfully and as smartly as ever the company on the Faithful Friend did. And though this preparation might well be seen from the black ship, we could see with our perspectives no such preparation on her, so that the simple would have conceived she had no lower ports for guns, and was an unarmed trader. Then Sir Bartlemy signaled us to stand-to, yet to be in readiness to come to his help if need arose, which we did; meanwhile he puts about and sails down on the black ship, who kept her ports closed, but stayed his coming patiently.
Being come within speaking distance, Sir Bartlemy takes his speaking horn and spreads out his ancient; whereupon the black ship spread hers, which was true English, and every way as good as ours. Then our general through his horn demanded what ship that was and why she did so persistently dog us. To this a man from the black ship replied, that she was the Robin Goodfellow, of Southampton, commanded by Richard Simons, and a very peaceable trader, bound for Campeachy Bay to barter for dye-wood, and that she meant us no harm, but only sought to have protection against pirates by sailing in the company of two ships so well armed as we.
"Then," shouts my uncle, "be you like your ship, a good fellow, and sheer off, for we like your room better than your company; and sheer off at once (adds he) or I will pepper your jacket to a pretty tune."
To show that he meant to be as good as his word, he bade his gunner fire a broadside wide of the black ship, which did the gunner very faithfully, hurting no one. "Though, would to God!" says my uncle afterwards, "I had been wise enough to fire amongst his rigging for a better earnest."
The black ship made no response; but, turning about, held off before the wind half a mile and no more; and my uncle, sailing upon her to make her go to a greater distance, she sheered off, keeping always the same distance; and this maneuver was repeated twice or thrice till Sir Bartlemy, guessing she was endeavoring to lure him away from us, and, seeing it was useless to try and come up to close quarters with a ship that could sail two furlongs to his one, gave up this attempt and rejoined us. Our captain tried to make his men believe that the black ship was what her captain represented, and that he, in still following us – which he did as though he had received no warning, or scorned to accept it – was merely showing a stubborn spirit and not a hostile one, since he had not showed any guns or fired in defiance to us. Some of our better men accepted this; but there were many who could not stomach it, and openly cursed the day when they had come to sea on this venture.
So held we on, and my uncle, hoping the black ship would have to stay for water and refreshment at the Azores (for we had gone from our course that if the black ship were indeed bound for Campeachy she might have no further pretext to hang on our heels), and being himself still very well victualed, would not stay there, but, passing them, bore down towards the Bermudas; but neither would the black ship stay there, but kept to our heels as perversely as ever.
Now, being come to the Bermudas, that befell which I feared, for the seas, which are greatly disturbed at those parts, rose prodigiously, and with it there came a most terrible hurricane, which obliged us to run with a single small sail. This gale did so buffet and hurl us about as we could with much pain keep to our course and reasonably near our consort during the day; but at night it was worse, for no lamps of ours could be kept burning, nor was any of the Faithful Friend's to be seen, though from time to time we fired off our petereros for a signal, yet answer got we none. In this terrible tempest we were sorely bruised, our little sail split to shreds, and no chance to rig another, so that we tossed helpless on the water, expecting every moment to founder. But it pleased God to spare us this time.
I shall not dwell on the terrors of that night, nor of the next day, and the night following, but come briefly to the morning of the third day of our tribulation, when, by help of such sails as we could set, we drifted out of that horrid region and came into calmer waters; in which time we had been swept an incredible distance; but, lord! so broken in our masts, riggings, and elsewhere as it was pitiable to see; besides three men short of our number, who we counted were washed away in that hurricano. Then looking around could we see nothing of the Faithful Friend, nor of the black ship neither; so that we reckoned one or both had gone to the bottom.
To think that Lady Biddy was no more affected me so grievously that I threw myself on the deck, not caring what became of me, and lamenting that I lay not at the bottom of that cruel sea with her. But Captain Wilkins kept a brave heart (God be praised!), and, hoping yet to see our consort again, contrived to set up some sort of sails, fresh rig his rudder, and restore order on board, so that ere long we were making good way towards Trinidado (as we judged), where it had been agreed we should in case of separation seek rendezvous. On the morning of the fourth day, ere yet there was full daylight, but only twilight, as I was standing on the poop deck very melancholy and dejected, I heard the sound of guns to the south of the course we were making; and Captain Wilkins, to whom I ran in all speed to communicate these tidings, did likewise believe he heard this sound; whereupon he at once shaped our course in that direction, whereby in a little time we were further assured that these sounds were real, and not bred of imagination. The reports were not apart, like signals, but continuous; so that we knew it was the cannonading of ships in battle, which stirred every man to make all haste; and indeed we did all we could think on to speed our ship; still were we slow, for our want of sail, which made us furious with impatience.
There was a haze upon the water, so that when the tumult of guns was loud in our ears, we could see nothing; but now the sun getting up strong over the horizon and sucking up the mist, we of a sudden caught sight of the flashing guns, and then of a ship not many furlongs off, broadside towards us, which we presently descried to be the black ship; though now her whole side was open with ports, from which her guns shone out like teeth. At the same time we perceived that she was grappled on stem and stern to another ship on the further side, which we doubted not was the Faithful Friend; upon which we did all set up a prodigious cheer; and Captain Wilkins putting about, we passed the black ship at less than a furlong distance, and dealt into her the whole weight of our great guns on that side without getting a single shot in return. The reason of this was that all the ship's company were occupied on the other side plying their cannon and boarding the Faithful Friend (which we recognized in nearing the black ship), as was evident from the rattle of muskets and small arms between the peals of the great guns.
But after getting this dose from us, they were not long in manning their guns on the hither side, as we found to our cost when, putting about once more, we sailed down to give him the other broadside; for their cannon belched out with such fury as laid many a stout seamen between our decks low, besides shooting away our rudder, which rendered us helpless, as it were.
Seeing this, I begged Captain Wilkins to give me a boat and such of his men as could be spared to go and succor our friends, to which he agreed readily enough, and forthwith lowered our barge; whereupon I, with a score of hearty fellows, all armed to the teeth, sprang in, and rowed with all our might to that side of the grappled ships where lay the Faithful Friend. Through one of her lower ports we scrambled, one after the other, but I the first, you may be sure; and there it was all thick with stinking gunpowder and smoke, and strewn with dead men, and such as were too sorely wounded to join in the battle above, and no man ever heard greater din than there was of big guns and small, the clashing of steel, the trampling on the decks, the shouting and cursing of men fighting, and the sad groaning of the hurt, and such confusion as you could not tell one sound from another scarcely.
This did but spur us on to be doing, and like so many cats we sprang up through the hatchways and ladders, and so came on the main deck, taking no heed of the poor fellows who lay heaped at the foot of those ladders, nor of the blood that trickled in thick drops from step to step, splashing in our faces as if it had been mere rain-water, and smeared down the handrails, where many a good man had pressed his bleeding body for support.
Now, as I sprang on deck, did I find myself in the very midst and thick of these wicked pirates, who were readily to be distinguished from honest seamen by red skirts which they wear who bind themselves to the regulations of their Order.
Just before me was a culverdine pointed against the roundhouse, into which the crew of the Faithful Friend (such as were not laid low) had retired, and were there barricaded, and a fellow stood over against it, blowing his match to fire the piece. And this man I knew full well for a villain of the old Sure Hawk's company, and with the axe in my hand, I struck him between the teeth right through to his neck-joint. He was the first man I had ever slain; but I counted it as nothing, being wrought to very madness with passion, and wrenching my axe from his bone, I turned upon another rascal who was making at my side with his knife, and with a back-handed blow, the hinder part of my weapon crashed his forehead into his brains as you might with your thumb break the shell of an egg into the yolk. By this time my good comrades had sprung up behind me to my help, else had my fight soon come to an end; for the pirates, getting over the amazement into which my sudden attack had thrown them, with a shout of rage turned all upon me. Then did we so lay about us that we beat the pirates back into the fore part of the ship, and truly I do think that if those of our friends in the roundhouse could then have come to our help we should have won the day; but, as ill-luck would have it, they had taken such pains to barricado themselves, to prevent the pirates coming at them, that they could not immediately get out to come at them, and so, for want of support, were we undone. For there were of the pirates two score, I take it, and more coming to their succor over the side every moment, while we, not counting those who may have fallen, were but one score, all told.
Foremost among our enemies was Rodrigues himself, who did look a very devil for rage, with the grime of smoke and blood about his face, his white, pointed tusks bared to the gums, and his eyes flaming with fury. His head was bound about with a bloody clout, for he had got a wound, and through the grime of powder-smoke on his face there was a bright channel where the blood still wept. But for all his wounds he fought better and more desperately than any of the rest; and seeing that those in the roundhouse were struggling to get out to our help, and that his only chance lay in beating us down ere they succeeded, he threw himself forward with nothing but a long curved knife in his hands. His intention was to settle my business, seeing that I had done him this mischief; and surely he would (for I was closely grappled with a fellow, my arms about him and his about me, each seeking to get freedom for the use of the knives in our hands), but that a comrade, seeing my peril, dealt at him with his brown bill, driving the spike into his shoulder. On this, Rodrigues, with a howl of rage, struck out the point from his shoulder, and turning on this poor man with his hooked knife ripped him up from the navel as you might a rabbit. At that moment I threw my man on his back, and in falling on the deck my knife was driven up to the hilt through his loins. Then did I get a terrible blow on the head (from whom I know not), so that I lost all consciousness, and lay like one dead.
CHAPTER XVI
THE BATTLE ENDED TO OUR COMPLETE DISCOMFITURE
Now must I speak of what happened on board the Faithful Friend after my discomfiture; not from my own knowledge – for knowledge had I none, being felled, as I say, like an ox – but from what I afterwards learnt from others.
Headed by Rodrigues, the pirates cleaved our little company in two, and so surrounded them with great numbers that their case was hopeless, and in short time they were beaten down every man, and left for dead, these heartless pirates giving no quarter to any. And while these few were being despatched, Rodrigues, with a following of shouting fiends, returned to attack those who were making their way out of the roundhouse, and by the fury of that onslaught did they cut down all those who had got out, and forced them within once more to set up their barricadoes.
Then, seeing no further danger on board the Faithful Friend but such as a round dozen of his rogues might cope with, he called off the rest to return on board his ship to defend it against the Sea Lion. For Captain Wilkins, having set out two long sweeps or galley oars from the lower stern gallery to serve as a rudder, had returned to the attack, and coming cheek by jowl with the black ship, he grappled her in his turn, so that now all three ships were bound together, and thus, with their cannons mouth to mouth did they discharge their shot one into the other with incredible bitterness.
But here the black ship being but poorly manned – most of her company being on the Faithful Friend– played but the weaker part; seeing which, Master Wilkins resolved to board her with his men, and so make his way over her decks to the deliverance of his consort. He called his men to clamber the sides of the black ship and escalade her bulwarks. But against such an attack was the black ship well provided, for not only were her bulwarks at arm's length above those of the Sea Lion, but furnished with a devilish device of broken sword-blades, spikes, and sharp nails set in long spars and lashed to the side, so that nowhere could a man make headway, or surmount without cruel gashes. While the poor brave men were beating down this defense, Rodrigues and his wretches came pouring back to the defense of the black ship, and while some mowed down the attackers from their high bulwarks with axe and sword, other some were sent below to recruit their fellows at the big guns. Rodrigues himself did direct these pieces, so bending down their mouths that the shot should go through the decks to beat out the side below water. And so well did he thrive in this wickedness that presently, after these great guns had been fired, the Sea Lion began to fill, and the men on board, seeing they must perish by drowning if they stayed in her, forsook their pieces, and, rushing all on deck, cast aside their arms, fell on their knees, and begged mercy of Rodrigues. And let it not be thought they were cowards for this, but put yourself in their place, and consider if the fear of death would not have moved you to the same distress.
Rodrigues, not wishing to lose all the Sea Lion contained, removed his defense of sword blades, etc., and bade the men come up, which they did, all save Captain Wilkins, who, with his sword in his hand, stood alone on the deck. Rodrigues, taking a musket in his hand, bade this brave man lay down his sword or die; but he took no notice of this command, whereupon did Rodrigues level his piece and shot him dead where he stood.
Then Rodrigues sent down a parcel of his men to stanch the leak in the side of the Sea Lion, and this they did by lowering a leaded sail upon the outer side to cover the holes; after which the water was pumped out, and the carpenters repaired the breach more securely, so that there was no further peril of her going down.
And now being masters of both ships, the pirates make great rejoicing, for though there were yet those in the roundhouse of the Faithful Friend who were unfettered, yet were they close prisoners and powerless to recover their ship, or do mischief, except in foolhardy desperation, to their captors.
To every pirate was dealt out double allowance of meat and drink, but the latter not of a strong kind, for Rodrigues knew full well that a drunken bout might prove their undoing. As for the prisoners they got naught to eat, but only jeers and derision.
While his men were yet carousing, Rodrigues goes on the poop deck of the Faithful Friend, and stamping his heel to call attention to those below, he cried out to know if Sir Bartlemy Pengilly was yet alive; to which Sir Bartlemy himself replied:
"Ay," says he, "and I hope to live yet to see you hanged, villain!"
"Well," replies the other, "you'll not get that chance unless you accept my conditions."
"I will make no conditions with such as you," cried my uncle.
"You had better, my friend," says Rodrigues, jeeringly; "'twill save you a deal of trouble in the long run."
To this my uncle made no reply but one of his sea oaths.
"I shall leave you to the better guidance of your company," says Rodrigues "who, I have no doubt, will bring you to reason when they begin to feel the pinch of starvation. But, mark this, if you hurt only by accident a single hair of my men with the arms you hold so precious, I will cannonade you where you are, and spare not one single life."
Then calling to his boatswain he bade him whistle his company to their posts, and pointing to the deck, all hampered with dead and dying men, he cried:
"Look to your comrades; let not one of your fellows who has a spark of life escape your care. For the other carrion, fling it overboard, no matter whether it be dead or living."
These words I heard, for at that moment I was waking from my trance.
CHAPTER XVII
I AM SHOT OUT OF ONE SHIP AND CRAWL INTO ANOTHER, WITH WHAT ADVANTAGE MAY YET BE SEEN
My first feeling on recovering consciousness was of a great weight oppressing me, and this I presently found was due to two dead men lying athwart me, where they had fallen in their last agony. Using all my strength, it was as much as I could do to thrust him off – one fellow lying across my breast with his shoulder against my throat, and the other again across my middle, his arms thrown out upon the first.
The cause of my weakness was not that blow that had felled me, but the loss of blood from two wounds – one in my thigh and the other in the thick of my arm – which I had received without any knowledge on my part, and now for the first time discovered by my clothes being glued to those parts and a great smarting when I struggled to free myself from the weight of the dead bodies.
Being once more able to breathe freely, I lay back on the deck exhausted and faint with the effort, and slowly brought back to my mind what had happened. The silence on board, save for the sound of reveling from the black ship alongside, told me that the battle was over; and it needed but little to convince me how the fight had ended; but, thinking of my dear Lady Biddy, I presently set my hands, all stiff and sticky with blood, on the deck, and raised myself up, looking towards the coach. Then it was I saw Rodrigues and heard him order his men to cast all us poor fellows, whom he termed carrion, overboard, without regard to our being dead or living. Then, once more, a weariness as of death coming over me, I fell again on my back, with a giddiness in my head and despair at heart, which robbed me of all vigor, while the stench of spilled blood made my bowels heave with sickness. The pirates, coming now to clear the deck, took up one poor corpse, lifted him on to the bulwarks, and so bundled him over; and in this wise three or four more, when, seeing the labor before them, one fetched from below the wooden gangway wherewith they slide merchandise from a wharf down into a ship, which they now thrust through one of the upper deck gun-ports, making it fast with cords. This way, with less trouble and much quicker, they shot the "carrion" into the water, taking no heed if some poor wretch but slightly wounded did cry for pity and mercy, except by inhuman laughter and fiendish jests.
Two or three rascals came and carried off the corpses I had thrust from me, and then I knew my turn was come, and naught could save me, for I had no strength to help myself. And back came those two (who were new hands and so did not recognize me), and one kicking me over on my face, the other took up my legs by the knees, while the first laid hold of me by the shoulders, and so they bore me, like so much butcher's flesh to the cutting board, and flung me on to the slanting gangway. By this time the slope was all slippery with gore of blood, so that no sooner was I cast on than I slid down like a stone, and shot thence deep into the sea below.
Now, whether I owed it to the cold, invigorating virtue of the refreshing sea, the smarting anew of my wounds in the salt thereof, or the instinct which possesses nearly every creature to make one final struggle for existence in the presence of death, I can not say; only this I know, that no sooner had the waters closed over my head than energy returned to my spirit and strength to my limbs, and striking out manfully with my arms and legs, I shortly came to the surface of the water, not more than a couple of fathoms from the stern of the Faithful Friend.
But here was no hold at all, nor could I see that I was much better off than if I had never risen from the deep, till, casting my eyes about, I spied a rope hanging over the stern of the black ship and trailing in the sea, which rope was part of her rigging (for she also had suffered in the gale, to say nothing of our shot). To this I swam, and being still full of new-born vigor, I drew on it till it became taut, and I could keep my head above water with no exertion at all.
Here I rested a bit, all the while searching how I might better my condition, and perceiving that my rope passed over the lower stern gallery, I presently got the rope between my knees, and by passing one hand over the other made a shift to pull myself up, though not without difficulty, for as I drew myself out of the water I began to turn round and round on the strained rope like a joint of meat at the end of a string. However, this was but a trifle of trouble, and hand over hand I climbed up till at length I reached the gallery, where I took another rest, and returned thanks to God with as grateful a heart as I could find.
This gallery, I take it, opened into the steward's room, for through the ports I heard the clinking of mugs and the voices of men within, and seeing that at any moment some fellow might look out and spy me, I felt it would not do to linger there; so I went again to my rope, which hung conveniently on one side of the ports, and pulled myself up to the gallery above, which is what is called the captain's parade, that balcony against the chief cabins where the officers alone are privileged to walk. Here, as luck would have it, the wreck of a sail hanging down from the deck above formed a kind of screen, where I might rest for the present secure from observation. With a glad heart I crawled under this refuge, and, sitting down to fetch my breath, I thought it not amiss to look to my wounds. On the crown of my head was a lump as big as a fair egg, and the scalp cut, but no longer bleeding; in my thigh was a pike wound about three inches long, but not deep. By tearing off the foot of my stocking and so drawing the other part high, I managed to make a very fair dressing for this wound. The other, which was, as I say, in the fleshy part of my arm, gave me little anxiety, for, though it still bled pretty freely, I could get at it easily, and, binding it round with my neckerchief, I felt no further concern about it, but only satisfaction to find that my case was no worse.
Scarcely had I come to this conclusion when I heard the trampling of feet on the deck above, and the sound of voices, with one in a higher tone giving orders. And the first thing these men did was to haul upon the sail which screened me.
"I am a lost man if I stay here longer," thinks I; so slipping along still under the sail I came to the little door opening on to the gallery. By happy chance this was not fastened, save by a latch, and seeing, as I peered through the lattice window, that no one was on the other side, I slipped through, and found myself in a prodigious fine cabin; for this Rodrigues was no common, sluttish jack-sailor, but a man who, when he could afford it, lived like any prince, indulging himself in every extravagant luxury that a voluptuous taste can conceive. Here was a thick carpet on the floor, and all round the sides ran a sofett, furnished with cushions in the Moors' style, with fine paintings and mirrors above, and a lantern of colored glass like gems hanging from the ceiling, which was painted as pretty as could be with devices of flowers and cherubs. To the windows were silk curtains of a rose color; but to speak of all these appointments have I no time; only will I say this, that never anywhere else have I seen such expense wasted as in the cabin of this scoundrel pirate. Nor had I time or inclination then to take note of all this bravery, being only concerned to find me some hole where I might hide for safety. And now came a bustle on the outside of the cabin, so that I felt I had but come out of the frying-pan into the fire, and which way to turn I knew not. I could not go into the body of the ship for the men there, nor back into the gallery neither for the men above; yet to stay where I stood would be as bad as either.
In this pickle I halted till spying an opening on one side between the sofetts, I pushed the gilded panel to see if, perchance, this were some fantastic kind of door; and, sure enough, it was, giving way readily to my hand, and closing behind me softly with spring-work. And there I found myself in a cabin smaller than the other, but still mighty fine, and fitted up as a bed-chamber, with a good cot fixed on one side, hung with saffron taffety. Other door to this chamber was there none; nor could I see any place of safety but under the cot, whither therefore I did creep – recommending myself to Providence – without further ado, and not a whit too soon neither, for scarcely had I got my long legs well out of sight when the door opened and a boy came in, as I could see by his little bare feet peeping under the valance.
Putting my eye close to the ground, I saw him go to a polished chest on the other side and fetch from one drawer a clean shirt and a pair of stockings; then from another slop shoes, a pair of trunks, and the like; till, having set out all that was necessary, he gathered them up in his arms and carried them away, from which I opined that Rodrigues had yet another cabin where he was about to change his bloody and besmirched clothes for these other. Nor was I far out in this surmise, for in some ten minutes or so, the door was flung open, and I caught sight of those same slop-shoes and clean stockings for a moment as he stood by the side of the cot thrusting back the curtains before he threw himself down to rest. As his deep breathing proclaimed that he had fallen asleep, I was for a while sorely tempted to creep out from my hiding-place and cut the villain's throat as he lay there; nay, so well could I make out where he lay over my head that, putting the point of my jack-knife against the sacking, I felt sure that I could, with one forcible thrust, drive it up into his black heart. Yet I could not do this either way; for, first, my sentiment revolted against taking the life of a defenseless man, as against murder – despite his cruel treatment of the helpless wounded and myself – and then my reason forbade me to attempt such a desperate measure, for if Rodrigues died there yet remained forty or fifty desperate villains to overcome, and how was one wounded man by any possibility to accomplish that feat? To fail in such an attempt would be to provoke the enemy to such a fury of revenge that he would massacre every one of those whose release had been attempted. I say massacre, but a yet worse fate might be reserved for Lady Biddy, whose dear sake now did most concern me. With this reflection I gently shut up my jack-knife, and slipped it back into my pocket for better employment.