Across the Spanish Main: A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER FOUR.

  WHAT HAPPENED TO ROGER ON BOARD THE GLORIA DEL MUNDO.

  When Roger next opened his eyes he was at a loss to to recallimmediately to mind the preceding events; nor could he for the momentimagine where he might be.

  He was in great pain from the wound in his head, received on board theSpanish ship which he and Harry had boarded together, and this served tobring his memory back to what had occurred.

  He remembered rushing with Harry down a dark alleyway, with cutlass inhand, and also that a man had suddenly sprung at him and cut him down;that he had received so violent a blow on his head that he had feltcertain his skull was cloven asunder; and then his memory ceasedabruptly. But where was Harry, his inseparable companion?

  Roger raised his throbbing head painfully, and tried to look round, butcould nowhere discover the presence of his dear friend. He shouted hisname: "Harry; Harry, where are you?" but there was no reply. Onlysomewhere above him he could hear the roar of cannon, hoarse cries ofcommand, angry shouts, and the trampling feet of many men.

  Looking about him, he perceived that he lay in a cabin of some sort,very richly furnished, but lit by a light so dim that he could only makeout objects in it very indistinctly. There was no port-hole orsky-light of any description in the apartment, which led him to theconclusion that he must be in some room far away below the water-line.This impression was heightened by the fact that exterior noises came tohis ears muffled, as by distance.

  In the cabin itself there was no sound, save the gnawing of a ratsomewhere on the floor below him. On the walls he could dimly discerntwo or three pictures, and just above his bunk was a portrait of a lady.There were also several star trophies of weapons arranged at intervals;and at one end of the cabin--which was of unusually spaciousdimensions--stood a large cabinet or escritoire, one of the drawers ofwhich had apparently been pulled out hastily, as papers were to be seenprotruding from it, and several documents had fallen to the floor.

  Oh, how he wished he might venture to rise from his bunk and make aninvestigation of the cabin! But he was afraid to attempt any suchexploit, for his head ached so atrociously, and he felt so deadly sickand giddy from the anguish of his wound and loss of blood, that he feltcertain if he exerted himself but ever so little he would sink helplessand insensible to the deck. While thinking thus he abstractedly raisedhis hand to his head, and thus discovered that his wound had beenbandaged, evidently by a skilled hand, for the wrappings were all neatlyput on, adjusted, and sewn, instead of being merely tied. This was sofar satisfactory, for it seemed to point to the fact that he had falleninto friendly hands, although his returning senses, enabled him to cometo the conclusion that he must certainly be aboard a Spanish ship. Witha sigh of relief he was preparing to pull the coverlet over him and liedown once more, when his ear caught the sound of footsteps approaching.He was just about to shout to the person or persons, whoever they mightbe, and enquire as to where he was, and whether they could afford himany information as to what had become of Harry, when his quick earcaught one or two words of the conversation which the unknown personswere carrying on. It was in Spanish. Then his surmise was a true one,and he was indeed aboard one of the enemy's ships. With a stifled cryhe flung himself down in the bunk, and pulled the coverlet over him onceagain, closing his eyes, and simulating heavy breathing, in the hope ofpersuading the new-comers that he was in a deep slumber.

  He was only just in time, for as he composed his limbs into acomfortable position, in the event of the strangers making a lengthystay, two men entered.

  Roger looked at them from between his nearly-closed eyelids and saw thatboth were tall men, slender and dark, both wearing long black mustachiosand closely trimmed beards. Roger happened to possess a slightknowledge of Spanish, and was thus able to gather the meaning of atleast part of their conversation. With one accord they approachedRoger's bunk and leaned over, looking at his face.

  "He sleeps," said the elder of the two men.

  "Well, let him sleep as long as he will," replied his companionsardonically, "for it is little enough sleep the young heretic will getwhen once he is delivered over to the Holy Inquisition."

  Roger shuddered.

  He had heard quite enough of the methods of that institution tounderstand the significance of the words. He longed to open his eyesand take more particular note than he had yet been able to do of thepersonality of his two visitors; but he withstood the temptation, andkept his eyes closed, listening hard to catch all he could of theensuing conversation.

  "And what, Alvarez, are the captain's orders with regard to the boy?"said the elder man, whose name, it transpired, was de Soto.

  "Senor Don Guzman's orders," answered the other, "are that he is to bekept in this cabin until we have finally disposed of these threepestilent English ships; and when that is done, and we have capturedthem, he is to be locked up in the fore hold, with the other prisonerswe shall take--if the rascals do not in this case fight to the death, asthey often do. Then when we return to Cadiz they are all to be handedover to the Holy Inquisition."

  Roger felt the cold perspiration start in beads on his forehead.

  "Ah! It seems almost a pity," said de Soto, "that we should haveplucked this lad from the sharks, only to hand him over to those otherfiends of the Holy Office; for he is a handsome and stalwart lad, andthose limbs of his were never meant to be seared with red-hot irons, andtorn asunder on the rack!"

  "Hush, de Soto, my friend!" responded Alvarez; "let no man save myselfhear you speak thus of the Holy Office, or thy limbs, of which thou artso proud, may perchance make acquaintance with the same torments as arereserved for this young heretic."

  "Thanks, Alvarez!" returned de Soto; "I should not have spoken thusbefore any other than thyself; but thou art my friend, I know. I cantrust thee with my life; as, indeed, I am trusting thee in speaking thusfreely of the so-called Holy Inquisition. Is it not so?"

  "Yes, de Soto, it is so; and I am indeed thy friend," replied Alvarez,turning his head slightly aside, so that his companion might not catchthe evil glitter that shone in his eyes. He did not know that Roger wasobserving him through nearly-closed lids, and that he had caught thatlook on Alvarez's face as he turned from de Soto; and possibly if he hadknown he would not have greatly cared. But if ever the devil incarnatelooked out of any man's eyes, he did at that moment out of those of theman whom Roger had heard addressed as Alvarez.

  "But how goes the fight, de Soto?" he continued, after a pause."Methinks there is less cannonading now than there was a little timesince."

  "When I left the deck a few minutes ago," answered de Soto, "two of ourships, alas!--the _Maria Dolorosa_ and the _Buena Vista_--haddisappeared. One was sunk by the fire of these cursed English: and,unable to hold the other, our brave countrymen fired her magazine. Iexpect this young heretic was on board the ship that blew up, for justbefore the explosion came I thought I saw two figures on her poop, oneof whom was standing up, while the other was lying on the deck at hisfeet. I think the one who was lying down must have been our friend,here. What became of the other I know not; but he was doubtless eitherdrowned or swallowed by one of those same sharks from which we only justrescued this lad in the nick of time. He will live, I fear, to wishthat we had left him to them. As for our other three ships, they wereengaging right valiantly those of the enemy, and beating them down too;but these cursed islanders seem to know not when they are beaten, and Idoubt me that our victory will be at all an easy one. As for them,although the ship of Cavendish has lost all her masts, her hull isalmost intact, thanks to our wretched gunnery; and there she now lies onthe water, unable to move, it is true, but, like a wounded lion, all themore dangerous for being wounded. But the _Gloria del Mundo_ is givingher all attention, and she will be compelled to strike to our heavierbroadsides ere long. Our other two vessels, _El Capitan_ and_Salvador_, are engaging the remaining ships of the English squadron,and the moment cannot be far distant when they will all surrender to theflag
of his most sacred majesty, Philip of Spain, the invincible flag,the flag of the empire of the Old World and the New," concluded de Soto."So," thought Roger to himself, "it would appear that I am on board the_Gloria del Mundo_, and that the action is as yet undecided. But Senorde Soto is, I imagine, somewhat mistaken if he seriously believes thatCavendish will surrender his ships; rather will he let them sink withcolours flying. I will not believe that the flag of England, themistress of the seas, is this day destined to dip to the blood and goldflag of Spain. And the end of the fight, I will wager, is not onlyfarther off than this good de Soto suspects, but it will also have adifferent ending from what he looks forward to, or my name is not RogerTrevose!"

  "I believe the lad is awake," said Alvarez; "I could almost swear hemoved just now."

  Both men bent over Roger, who had involuntarily stirred upon hearingthat these two anticipated the surrender of the English.

  "No," dissented de Soto, "I think he still sleeps; you must haveimagined it, Alvarez."

  The glitter came again into the eyes of the latter, as he replied: "deSoto, my imagination is not--" when suddenly the roar of cannonadingagain commenced, drowning the remainder of the sentence. Then came ashock that made the stately vessel reel throughout the whole of hermassive fabric. There was a rending and grinding of timber, and afrightful crash on deck announced that one of the masts had come down.

  Roger heard distant cheers, and knew that his prognostication that theend had not yet come was correct. Evidently the English had repeatedthe manoeuvre that they had so successfully practised earlier in theday, and laid their ships alongside once more. Musketry, pistol-shots,shouts, groans, the clash of steel, a perfect medley of sound floateddown from the deck above and through the open cabin-door.

  "Quick, Alvarez, on deck!" roared de Soto, plunging out of the cabin;"the English have laid us aboard, and will have the ship if we are notcareful!"

  Alvarez was in nowise behindhand. Snatching his sword from its sheath,and clutching a pistol from the table as he went, he followed de Soto ondeck.

  Roger attempted to get out of his bunk, with the idea of joining hisfriends on deck and taking part in the fight, but he fell back on hismattress, weak and giddy from the attempt. What would he not give to beable to go on deck at this moment! but he could not stir for the reelinggiddiness of his head; he felt that to attempt to rise would but resultin his falling insensible to the floor of the cabin; and he could butlie still and listen to the turmoil raging above his head.

  The din was terrific; now came triumphant shouts in English, and Rogercould picture to himself the bravo fellows rushing the Spaniardspell-mell across their own decks and into the water, or below; and againthe tide of battle seemed to turn, and the English to be getting theworst of it.

  Oh, maddening thought, that he was helplessly imprisoned here, unable totake part in the brave doings that were being wrought above! Little bylittle the shouts and fierce cries died away. "Who had won?"conjectured Roger to himself.

  There was a clatter of running feet in the passage leading to the cabin,and the man Alvarez, with a hunted look of terror in his face, clashedinto the apartment. He burrowed hastily among the papers in the opendrawer that Roger had noticed at first, and apparently was unable tofind what he was looking for.

  "Carramba!" he ejaculated, "what has de Soto done with those papers?"

  He tore the remainder of them from the drawer with a curse, flung themon the floor, and, dropping on his knees, hastily turned them over oneafter another as they lay there.

  Now for some time Roger had been vaguely conscious of a peculiarsluggish movement of the ship as she heaved on the swell, and the sightof Alvarez's haste suddenly brought the ghastly truth home to him. Theship was sinking!

  "I must wait no longer," muttered Alvarez to himself, "or I shall bedrowned like a rat in a trap, in company with that young heretic therein the bunk. I wonder whether by any chance de Soto has taken thosepapers himself! Carrajo! now I remember. When we came in together tolook at the English whelp the drawer was open. Without doubt de Sotohas them. Well, never mind; I will have them from him before I havefinished with him. I can recall all he has said about the HolyInquisition, and, if that is not enough to condemn him, I can easilyenough invent something else; but have those papers from him before hedies, I will. Perhaps, when he is in the hands of that Inquisition hehates so much, he will be willing to surrender those documents to hisdear friend Alvarez, if that friend promises to rescue him from furthertorment. And now for the English cub," he continued, rising to his feetand drawing his dagger from its sheath.

  Once again came that sickening lurch, accompanied by the sound ofwashing of water close at hand. The ship was fast settling down.

  "No," murmured Alvarez, "I cannot wait. My life is too valuable to meto risk it even for the pleasure of slaying an Englishman; and the seawill soon send the youngster to the nether world." And he rushed fromthe cabin, leaving the papers and charts strewn on the floor at the footof the escritoire.

  By this time Roger was pretty fully awake to a knowledge of his greatand pressing danger. Here he was, weak and dazed to the point of utterhelplessness, on board a fast-sinking ship, with none to render him aid,and feeling quite unable to move without it.

  "Oh, God help me!" he moaned; "what a miserable death to die! Harry!Harry! Harry!" he cried distractedly, "come and help me; I am herebelow drowning! Help! help!"

  There was no reply.

  But a sound that he had heard before without attaching much importanceto it now forced itself upon his attention; it was the swishing ofwater; and, looking over the edge of his bunk he saw that water wasalready rising fast over the floor of the cabin. Desperation now lenthim strength, and, pulling himself together with a violent effort, heslowly and painfully rose upright and put his legs over the edge of theberth. He felt incapable of making any further effort for the moment.

  Then once more he raised his voice and shouted for help, and this timehe fancied that far away in the distance he heard a reply. He shoutedagain and again; then paused, listening.

  The answering voice sounded a little nearer.

  At that moment the ship gave another roll, and to Roger it seemed asthough she must founder immediately.

  There was another sickening lurch, and Roger, convinced that the end hadcome, went tumbling off the edge of his bunk, and fell flat on his facein about two feet of water which was washing over the cabin floor. Theshock of the fall displaced his bandages; his wound began to bleedafresh; and, confused as he still was, the idea took possession of himthat he was in danger of bleeding to death.

  Would nobody ever come to take him out of this awful hole? "Help, help,I am drowning!" he shouted.

  But this time there was no answering voice.

  Then Roger once more pulled himself together and began to crawl over thefloor, the water splashing round and over him. Inch by inch he nearedthe door, and then he heard a call, so near that it startled him.

  "For Heaven's sake, where are you, Roger? Answer, man, if you arealive." The voice was Harry's.

  "Harry," groaned Roger, "here I am; help me quickly or you will be toolate; the ship sinks fast!"

  Guided by the voice, Harry soon made his appearance.

  "Roger, man," he cried, "thank God I have found you! I thought you weregone for ever. Can you help yourself at all, lad?"

  "A little, I think, if you will put your arm round me," replied Roger.

  Harry flung his arm under Roger's arm-pits and raised him to his feet.

  "One moment, Harry," cried Roger, pointing to the papers which Alvarezhad left on the floor, and which were now floating about the cabin;"secure these papers; I believe they are of value."

  Harry seized the documents with his free hand, and, supporting Roger,staggered with him to the foot of the companion-ladder. How theyeventually got up into the free air the two never clearly knew, for theywere deep down in the body of the ship, and had two or three ladders toclimb
ere they arrived on the upper deck. But reach it they did, afterwhat seemed an eternity of suspense. Then, as they stepped out oncemore into the blessed free air of heaven, the whole of the Atlanticseemed suddenly to sweep over the ship; they felt her slide from beneaththeir feet; and they were drawn down, down, down, until it appeared asthough they would never again see the light. But at last, with lungsbursting and almost suffocated, they shot up to the heaving surface ofthe sea, clinging tightly to each other.

  And there--oh, blessed sight!--not twenty fathoms away, lay their ownship, dismasted and looking an utter wreck, but more beautiful to theireyes than any palace.

  From her decks there came a shout: "There they are! there they are!Lower away a boat! lower quickly, or the sharks will have them!"

  In a few minutes the only remaining boat belonging to the ship waslowered, and a dozen willing arms were sending her flying over the watertowards the two lads.

  Bearded faces looked over her gunwale, and brawny arms literallysnatched them from an awful death; for as they were dragged out of thewater there was a snap of hungry jaws, and several huge sharks werebaulked of their prey.

  A few minutes later, dripping and exhausted, the two lads foundthemselves once more safe and sound on the decks of their beloved ship,and saw Cavendish himself looking at them with an expression of anxietyon his face.

  "I hope, lads, you are none the worse for your adventure?" said he.

  "No, sir, we are safe, thank God!" replied Roger; "but we have beenthrough a good deal, and are somewhat shaken. We should therefore liketo go below for a while. But is all the fighting over?"

  "Yes," replied Cavendish, "and victory is to us."

  The two then went below, and Harry soon had Roger under the care of thesurgeon. The good man pronounced that his wound was not dangerous, andthat he would do, with care.

  Then, sitting by Roger's side, Harry plunged into a recital of hisadventures since the boarding of the Spaniard, a circle of eagerlisteners standing or sitting round them.