The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane
Page 17
CHAPTER XVII.
I AM SHOT OUT OF ONE SHIP AND CRAWL INTO ANOTHER, WITH WHAT ADVANTAGEMAY YET BE SEEN.
My first feeling on recovering consciousness was of a great weightoppressing me, and this I presently found was due to two dead men lyingathwart me, where they had fallen in their last agony. Using all mystrength, it was as much as I could do to thrust him off--one fellowlying across my breast with his shoulder against my throat, and theother 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 theloss of blood from two wounds--one in my thigh and the other in thethick 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 thoseparts and a great smarting when I struggled to free myself from theweight of the dead bodies.
Being once more able to breathe freely, I lay back on the deck exhaustedand faint with the effort, and slowly brought back to my mind what hadhappened. The silence on board, save for the sound of reveling from theblack ship alongside, told me that the battle was over; and it neededbut little to convince me how the fight had ended; but, thinking of mydear Lady Biddy, I presently set my hands, all stiff and sticky withblood, 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 uspoor fellows, whom he termed carrion, overboard, without regard to ourbeing dead or living. Then, once more, a weariness as of death comingover me, I fell again on my back, with a giddiness in my head anddespair at heart, which robbed me of all vigor, while the stench ofspilled blood made my bowels heave with sickness. The pirates, comingnow to clear the deck, took up one poor corpse, lifted him on to thebulwarks, and so bundled him over; and in this wise three or four more,when, seeing the labor before them, one fetched from below the woodengangway wherewith they slide merchandise from a wharf down into a ship,which they now thrust through one of the upper deck gun-ports, making itfast with cords. This way, with less trouble and much quicker, they shotthe "carrion" into the water, taking no heed if some poor wretch butslightly wounded did cry for pity and mercy, except by inhuman laughterand fiendish jests.
Two or three rascals came and carried off the corpses I had thrust fromme, and then I knew my turn was come, and naught could save me, for Ihad no strength to help myself. And back came those two (who were newhands 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 meby the shoulders, and so they bore me, like so much butcher's flesh tothe cutting board, and flung me on to the slanting gangway. By this timethe slope was all slippery with gore of blood, so that no sooner was Icast on than I slid down like a stone, and shot thence deep into the seabelow.
Now, whether I owed it to the cold, invigorating virtue of therefreshing sea, the smarting anew of my wounds in the salt thereof, orthe instinct which possesses nearly every creature to make one finalstruggle for existence in the presence of death, I can not say; onlythis I know, that no sooner had the waters closed over my head thanenergy returned to my spirit and strength to my limbs, and striking outmanfully with my arms and legs, I shortly came to the surface of thewater, not more than a couple of fathoms from the stern of the _FaithfulFriend_.
But here was no hold at all, nor could I see that I was much better offthan if I had never risen from the deep, till, casting my eyes about, Ispied a rope hanging over the stern of the black ship and trailing inthe sea, which rope was part of her rigging (for she also had sufferedin the gale, to say nothing of our shot). To this I swam, and beingstill full of new-born vigor, I drew on it till it became taut, and Icould keep my head above water with no exertion at all.
Here I rested a bit, all the while searching how I might better mycondition, and perceiving that my rope passed over the lower sterngallery, I presently got the rope between my knees, and by passing onehand over the other made a shift to pull myself up, though not withoutdifficulty, for as I drew myself out of the water I began to turn roundand round on the strained rope like a joint of meat at the end of astring. However, this was but a trifle of trouble, and hand over hand Iclimbed up till at length I reached the gallery, where I took anotherrest, and returned thanks to God with as grateful a heart as I couldfind.
This gallery, I take it, opened into the steward's room, for through theports I heard the clinking of mugs and the voices of men within, andseeing that at any moment some fellow might look out and spy me, I feltit would not do to linger there; so I went again to my rope, which hungconveniently on one side of the ports, and pulled myself up to thegallery above, which is what is called the captain's parade, thatbalcony against the chief cabins where the officers alone are privilegedto walk. Here, as luck would have it, the wreck of a sail hanging downfrom the deck above formed a kind of screen, where I might rest for thepresent secure from observation. With a glad heart I crawled under thisrefuge, and, sitting down to fetch my breath, I thought it not amiss tolook to my wounds. On the crown of my head was a lump as big as a fairegg, and the scalp cut, but no longer bleeding; in my thigh was a pikewound about three inches long, but not deep. By tearing off the foot ofmy stocking and so drawing the other part high, I managed to make a veryfair dressing for this wound. The other, which was, as I say, in thefleshy part of my arm, gave me little anxiety, for, though it still bledpretty freely, I could get at it easily, and, binding it round with myneckerchief, I felt no further concern about it, but only satisfactionto find that my case was no worse.
Scarcely had I come to this conclusion when I heard the trampling offeet on the deck above, and the sound of voices, with one in a highertone giving orders. And the first thing these men did was to haul uponthe sail which screened me.
"I am a lost man if I stay here longer," thinks I; so slipping alongstill under the sail I came to the little door opening on to thegallery. By happy chance this was not fastened, save by a latch, andseeing, as I peered through the lattice window, that no one was on theother side, I slipped through, and found myself in a prodigious finecabin; for this Rodrigues was no common, sluttish jack-sailor, but a manwho, when he could afford it, lived like any prince, indulging himselfin every extravagant luxury that a voluptuous taste can conceive. Herewas a thick carpet on the floor, and all round the sides ran a sofett,furnished with cushions in the Moors' style, with fine paintings andmirrors above, and a lantern of colored glass like gems hanging from theceiling, which was painted as pretty as could be with devices of flowersand cherubs. To the windows were silk curtains of a rose color; but tospeak 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 cabinof this scoundrel pirate. Nor had I time or inclination then to takenote of all this bravery, being only concerned to find me some holewhere I might hide for safety. And now came a bustle on the outside ofthe cabin, so that I felt I had but come out of the frying-pan into thefire, and which way to turn I knew not. I could not go into the body ofthe ship for the men there, nor back into the gallery neither for themen 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 thesofetts, I pushed the gilded panel to see if, perchance, this were somefantastic kind of door; and, sure enough, it was, giving way readily tomy hand, and closing behind me softly with spring-work. And there Ifound 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, hungwith saffron taffety. Other door to this chamber was there none; norcould I see any place of safety but under the cot, whither therefore Idid creep--recommending myself to Providence--without further ado, andnot a whit too soon neither, for scarcely had I got my long legs wellout of sight when the door opened and a boy came in, as I could see byhis little bare feet peeping under the valance.
Putting my eye close to the ground, I saw him go to a polished chest onthe other side and fetch from one drawer a clean shirt and a pair ofst
ockings; 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 hisarms and carried them away, from which I opined that Rodrigues had yetanother cabin where he was about to change his bloody and besmirchedclothes for these other. Nor was I far out in this surmise, for in someten minutes or so, the door was flung open, and I caught sight of thosesame slop-shoes and clean stockings for a moment as he stood by the sideof the cot thrusting back the curtains before he threw himself down torest. As his deep breathing proclaimed that he had fallen asleep, I wasfor a while sorely tempted to creep out from my hiding-place and cut thevillain's throat as he lay there; nay, so well could I make out where helay over my head that, putting the point of my jack-knife against thesacking, I felt sure that I could, with one forcible thrust, drive it upinto his black heart. Yet I could not do this either way; for, first, mysentiment revolted against taking the life of a defenseless man, asagainst murder--despite his cruel treatment of the helpless wounded andmyself--and then my reason forbade me to attempt such a desperatemeasure, for if Rodrigues died there yet remained forty or fiftydesperate villains to overcome, and how was one wounded man by anypossibility to accomplish that feat? To fail in such an attempt would beto provoke the enemy to such a fury of revenge that he would massacreevery one of those whose release had been attempted. I say massacre, buta yet worse fate might be reserved for Lady Biddy, whose dear sake nowdid most concern me. With this reflection I gently shut up myjack-knife, and slipped it back into my pocket for better employment.