The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane
Page 18
CHAPTER XVIII.
GREATLY PUT TO IT TO KNOW WHAT TO DO, I DO NOTHING.
The bumping and grinding together of the ships had ceased beforeRodrigues came to take rest, showing that the grapnels were cast offthat bound the three ships together; and now, from the easy movement, Isurmised that we were under way, and making for some haven for thegreater convenience of repairing injuries, distributing of stores,refreshment, etc., which was indeed the case. On board the _Sea Lion_Rodrigues had set a sufficiency of men to work her, and on the _FaithfulFriend_ a greater number for a like purpose, and to serve as guard overthe prisoners in the roundhouse, while the rest he took with him onboard his own ship to lead the way and conduct the prizes he had taken.About eight o'clock that evening (as I judge) we seemed to have comeinto very smooth water, and then the boy coming to the cabin called toRodrigues that the master did wish to speak to him; whereupon Rodriguessprang up and went out. Then for the first time could I stretch my limbswith ease; for though the bustle on deck, the hammering of thecarpenters, and such noisy business affected his slumbers not in theleast, yet did I but turn upon the carpet under his cot, his breathingwould show that the sound had alarmed his senses, which was a remarkablething, but not without parallel, for those who live in peril develop, asI may say, a new sense which never sleeps. Thus had I been constrainedto lie very still (which was doubtless of great advantage to me for thehealing of my wounds, but very little to the repose of my bones), for Iknew full well that had he found me under his cot he would have slain methere, helpless as I was for defense, without any such compunction asstayed my hand from taking his life.
So now, as I say, being free to move, I stretched myself and turned meabout with great relief and satisfaction, for here, as I take it, had Ibeen lying on my back without motion the best part of ten hours.Presently I heard the voice of Rodrigues on the deck above, and feelingmighty faint for want of food, I lifted the valance and peeped out.There was just light enough to descry a wine-cooler in the corner of thecabin over against the chest I have mentioned, and urged on by mynecessity I made bold to wriggle out from my hiding-place and creep overto it. By good chance it was unlocked, and inside were half a dozen goodbottles, of which I scrupled not to appropriate the first I laid my handon; then to make a good job of it while I was about it, I pried into acabinet hard by, when by another good chance I lighted on a dish ofdried raisins. Well content with this booty, I hied me back under thecot, and rolling up a corner of the carpet to serve as a pillow, Imanaged to refresh myself to my heart's content. Nay, I think I drankmore of that wine (the most excellent that ever I did taste) than wasgood, for despite my determination to keep awake, I unconsciously fellasleep, which was the maddest thing a man in his right senses could havedone; for had Rodrigues come back into that cabin he would surely havediscovered me by my hard breathing; but this (thanks be to God!) he didnot do; for having rested himself, he gave permission to his crew torelax awhile likewise, himself going on board the _Faithful Friend_ forthe better custody of the prisoners there, as I believe.
At this time the three ships, brought all well together, lay anchoredwithin a good bay (as I am told) in an island which I take it must havebeen one of the Bahamas.
I was awoke by a bustling in the next cabin, to find the sun streamingfull under the edge of the cot valance. I heard Rodrigues speaking therein a tone of command, but what he said my senses were yet too confusedto make out; then I caught sight of the boy's feet again as he enteredthat one where I lay and set something down. And now he comes verybriskly to the cot and sets about stripping it; that done, he shakes upthe bed, turns it over as any maid would, and fetch out from the chestclean sheets, which he lays in the place of those who had stripped off,and so makes up the bed; after which he sets the furniture in order,and, tucking the foul linen under his arm, goes out.
All this while there was prodigious hurrying to and fro over head,tumbling of heavy goods below, creaking of pulleys, shouting of orders,and like confusion, which was caused by the shipping aboard of the blackship all the stores and treasure belonging to the _Sea Lion_ and the_Faithful Friend_, to which this rogue Rodrigues had a fancy. But tothink that in the midst of all this pother he took heed to having cleansheets laid in this bed did astonish me beyond all things.
The bustle continued all the morning; once or twice the boy came in withparcels, which he set atop of that he had already brought, but nothingelse occurred to disturb my meditations. And these, as I grew accustomedto the noise around me, were of a very melancholy sort, not because ofthe sad outlook concerning my own fortunes, for I may truly say I hadgrown in a sort callous and indifferent to what became of me, but forthinking of Lady Biddy. I took myself very grievously to task for havingslept all through that night like a log while she was in such anextremity.
"Is this your devotion, wretch!" says I to myself--"is this your love,that you can slumber in peace while she, hived up with rude sailors,destitute of common necessaries, is in peril of death at the hands ofher wicked persecutors? Have you no bowels of pity, that you could makenot one effort to save her, rascal?"
In this way I taunted myself, until, falling into a more reasonablestate of mind, I began to reason as to what I might yet do in herbehalf. I concluded from the shifting of the stores that Rodrigues haddetermined to abandon the two ships with their crew, for the mere hullscould be of little value to him. Coming to this decision, I was forgetting away from the black ship and rejoining the _Faithful Friend_,that I might be near by Lady Biddy; but what could I then do? Was notthis rather a gratification of my own selfish desire than a means ofbenefiting her? Was I not simply adding another hungry mouth to thatdestitute company? With these and a hundred such fruitless arguments didI torment myself; now preparing myself to get away, now resigning myselfto stay where I was, getting no nearer to a rational determination inthe end that I was in the beginning.
I was still in this torment when I heard the anchor weighing and the mensinging as they used to do at this business. Suddenly their singingceased, and I heard a great angry clamor of voices from a distance; nay,I do think I heard my uncle's big voice above the rest, and then thefellows above replying with laughter and derision, so that I knew wewere leaving that unhappy company behind, as was the more evident by thebending of the ship before the wind. Then, desperate to think I wasbeing carried away from Lady Biddy, I took resolution to dash throughthe cabin to the gallery and cast myself into the sea, and to this end Ihad set my hands and feet against the wall, to thrust my body from underthe cot, when the door was thrown violently open, the cabin entered, andthe sacking of the bed was pressed down over my head, which made methink that Rodrigues had come again to rest himself.
Turning silently on my back I glanced under the valance. At a littledistance were the bare feet of the boy; close to the valance, standingbeside the cot, were the feet of a man. Thus they stood immovable for aspace, and then lightly they moved away and the door was closed behindthem. But the sacking still bulged downward with the weight thrown onthe bed. "Had Rodrigues laid there a wounded comrade?" I asked myself.
That it was Rodrigues who had entered and left the cabin I was sure, forI now heard his voice speaking low, as if giving orders to the boy, inthe one adjoining.
If it be a wounded comrade he has laid here, then he is badly hurt,thought I, as I lay with my eyes fixed on the sacking, for there was nosign of movement; nor was there any sound of groaning or the like.
Only for a few minutes did matters stand thus, however; then there was alittle movement above, followed by a quick start, and the next instant,in the space below the valance, I saw descend the sweetest little footthat ever man did see, and then its fellow, both neatly shod, afterwhich fell the hem of an envious petticoat that shut them from my sight.
My heart quite ceased to beat as I asked myself, "Who is this woman?"
For a moment she stood where she had stepped to the ground, as iflooking around to realize where she was; then like any doe she sprangtoward the little wind
ows that opened on to the gallery, and lookingout, she gave a moan of despair, that by which plaintive, delicatesound, I knew that this dear creature was Lady Biddy.