CHAPTER X--How I Defended the Foretop
For full five minutes I lay motionless, listening to the zip of thebullets as the pirates kept up a hot fire on my perilous position. ThenI raised myself and peered cautiously over the edge of the top.
The situation was a grave one, but I had a fighting chance. I was on aplatform some ten feet square, but the lubber's holes reduced thestanding room by nearly a quarter. The after side of the top wasprotected by a mantlet of stout wood, while the sides were fitted with alow breastwork.
Where I was lying was thus fairly secure. The only danger was that Imight be picked off by musketeers in the maintop or crosstrees, theforemast itself protecting me from any shots from for'ard. The plankingof the top also was stout enough to resist a musket ball, though thethud of shots as they struck the under side of the top at first filledme with misgiving.
After firing for some time the rascally crew apparently came to theconclusion that they were doing too much damage to their own sails andrigging, the fore-topsail being holed in many places; so I could lookaround in comparative security.
The tops were to be utilized by sharpshooters in the coming fight, forto my delight I found a whole armoury stowed away on theforetop--muskets, pistols, cutlasses, and two sharp axes, with plenty ofpowder and ball. Had I delayed my desperate plan much longer the topwould have been filled with men. I examined the muskets and the pistolsand found them already loaded. I next turned my attention to the deckof the pirate ship. The guns' crews were at their stations, and wereeither looking astern or else regarding my position. The captain and hisscarred-faced lieutenant were almost speechless with rage, for they knewthat for the time being I held the trump card.
Not a sign could I see of my four men, but presently the wretched negrowas hauled out, a knife was thrust into his hand, and by shouts anddumb-show he was ordered to go into the rigging and bring me down.
The recreant blackamoor was almost mad with terror, his skin turned adusky-greyish hue, and his eyes rolled about in an agony of fright.Behind and below him were the knives and pistols of the pirates, abovehim was I, covering his trembling body with a pistol that I steadiedagainst the edge of the lubber's hole.
Slowly he climbed till, urged on by the shouts of the fiendish crew, hereached the futtock shrouds. Here he stopped, and in a low, agonizedvoice he whispered: "No shoot, Massa; only pretend to shoot! Me come toyou; me help you! No shoot me!"
Seeing that this man would be useful in the defence of the top, I fired,the bullet passing well over his head. He then climbed up hurriedly,till his head and shoulders were through the lubber's hole. Then with ayell of triumph the treacherous black seized my right wrist in hispowerful grip, and his knife flashed in the air.
But he reckoned not on the other weapons that I had. Seizing anotherpistol in my left hand, I fired point-blank at his head.
Through the smoke I saw the gaping hole cut by the ball, his griprelaxed, and he fell. For a brief space his body hung suspended on theinside of the futtock shrouds, then it slowly over-balanced and crashedwith a heavy thud across a gun carriage on the deck below.
A loud yell came from the pirate crew, and once more a heavy fire wasopened on the foretop, but, lying snugly under the shelter of themantlet, I remained in perfect safety. The only chance they had ofbringing me down was by training a piece of ordnance on the top; buteither they did not possess a cannon capable of being elevated to thatheight, or else they feared that the damage done would be greater thanthe success of getting rid of me.
When the firing ceased I again looked over the edge of the breastwork,the deadeye lanyards making me practically invisible from the deck.Cautiously taking a musket, I thrust its muzzle over the edge and aimedat my particular enemy, the scarred-faced pirate and smuggler. I fired,and though I missed him, the bullet struck the pirate captain in theback, and he fell to the deck. Leaving him where he was lying, thelieutenant took refuge on the aft side of the mainmast, cursing at me ina lusty voice.
Encouraged by my success, I opened a steady fire on the crew, and in afew moments the whole of the deck that was visible from the foretop wasdeserted.
But only for a time. Groups of men made their way towards the foremastshrouds, holding thick planks of wood over their heads. Under theserude mantlets they made preparations for storming the foretop, somemaking for the weather shrouds, others for the lee.
Seizing one of the axes, I attacked the lower rigging vigorously,cutting through shrouds, slings, braces, and halyards, everything thatcame within reach, thus making my position secure from escalade.
The _Friend of the Sea_ was sailing close hauled on the starboard tack,and as I continued my work of destruction I could see the head sailscoming down, while, deprived of its principal supports, the foremastswayed and creaked ominously.
In spite of the frantic efforts of the helmsman, the pirate ship flew upinto the wind, her maintopsail was taken aback, and she was hove to in ahelpless state.
Then for the first time I could see the _Gannet_ coming down on the_Friend of the Sea_, the sun shining on her clouds of weatherworncanvas.
Having the weather gauge, she soon ranged up and opened fire. Why shehad not done so before I could not understand, till a crowd of thepirates came for'ard, dragging with them my four men. While the chaselasted they had, so I afterwards learned, suspended their prisoners overthe stern, thus preventing our humane captain from opening fire; but,now the chase was at an end, there was no further use for the doomedmen.
Blindfolded, and with their arms tied behind their backs, theunfortunate men were marched to the entry port and pushed into the seain sight of their comrades, who were powerless to prevent yet ready toavenge their deaths.
Both ships were firing rapidly, the shot from the _Gannet_ whistlingthrough the pirate's rigging and crashing through her hull at everybroadside.
Though overmatched both in number and weight of guns, the _Friend of theSea_ fought bravely, and from my elevated position I could see the menstricken down by dozens, yet their fire was vigorously kept up.
Being sure that escape was impossible, the _Gannet_ devoted all herattention to the hull of her foe, at the same time shortening thedistance between them.
Now through the drifting smoke I could distinguish the crew of the_Gannet_. There was Captain Poynings standing unmoved amid the crashand din of the fight, the master standing by the wheel, his head boundwith a blood-stained scarf, several men, still in death, encumbering herdecks, while amid the throng of excited fighters a continuous processionof wounded was winding its way towards the main hatch.
Finally both vessels came within a few yards of each other, and I heardthe order given: "Prepare to board!"
The pirates had now abandoned their guns, and had begun to clusterfor'ard, under the shelter of the bulwarks, each man armed with pistoland cutlass. They knew what the issue meant, and each man prepared tosell his life dearly.
As the crash came, and the two ships were interlocked, the Gannets,headed by their gallant captain, poured over the hammock nettings andgained their enemy's deck. Every inch was grimly contested, several ofthe _Gannets_ falling between the two vessels and meeting a miserablefate by being ground between the heaving sides.
Captain Poynings singled out the scarred-faced lieutenant, and, beingwell ahead of his men, his position was for a time one of considerabledanger. I watched the fight without fear of being made a mark by thepirates, who were too hard pressed to heed me. The sight held mespellbound, till I observed one of the pirates covering our captain witha musket. The man waited, with finger on trigger, till the position ofthe combatants would give him an opportunity to fire without injuringhis leader.
Seeing this, I grasped a loaded musket, and at fifteen yards' distanceput a ball through the villain's head. Almost at the same time CaptainPoynings ran his opponent through the arm, and the latter, jumpingbackwards, turned and ran towards the hatchway.
Then came a cry, from which side I knew not: "The ma
gazine! themagazine!" and immediately the captain shouted: "Back, men, for yourlives!"
There was a rush for the shelter of the _Gannet_, and, realizing thedanger, I crept along the foot-rope of the foreyard, gained the foreyardof the _Gannet_, and thence made for her foretop. Once there I lost notime in descending to the deck, heartily thankful at treading the planksof a British man-o'-war once more, though my return in the confusion wasunnoticed.
The fighting was practically at an end, the _Gannet_ being busilyengaged in trying to free herself from the pirate's embrace, and keepingback the frenzied rushes of the doomed crew.
When the last grappling was severed, the _Gannet_ swung slowly round,her flying jibboom still entangled in the pirate's bowsprit shrouds.Suddenly there was a blinding flash, followed by an appalling roar--thedesperate villain had fired the magazine.
Luckily the _Friend of the Sea_ had by this time used nearly all herammunition, so that the explosion, though disastrous to herself, did usvery little damage.
Before the debris flung high in the air by the explosion had fallen, thepirate ship had sunk beneath the waves, taking our flying jibboom andpart of the jibboom with her, while a heavy pall of smoke covered theplace where a moment before she was lying like a wounded animal at bay.
Now that all danger was past, the effects of the hardships I hadundergone began to tell. I was faint, weary, and hungry; my clotheswere in rags, my hands blistered, and my face blackened with powder.However, I made my way aft to report myself.
There was no sign of Captain Poynings on the quarterdeck, so I wenttowards his cabin. As I passed underneath the break of the poop I cameface to face with young Greville Drake.
He stood stockstill for a moment, his eyes starting from his head interror, till, realizing that I was flesh and blood, and not a phantom,he gasped: "Good heavens, 'tis Aubrey Wentworth back from the dead!"
Seeing I was like to fall, he took me by the arm and led me below. "ButI must report myself," I said.
"Then report to me, Aubrey."
"You? Why not the captain?"
His answer was a suggestive jerk of his thumb towards the cockpit hatch,where the grim procession of mangled seamen still continued.
"What!" I exclaimed. "Is Captain Poynings down?"
"Yes; struck down at the last of the fight, and so are all the otherofficers. In me you see the senior unwounded officer, and as such I amin command of the _Gannet_."
It was only too true. Our gallant captain had been hurled to the deckby a piece of falling timber from the doomed ship. The lieutenants wereall either killed or dangerously wounded; the master, though he remainedat his post during the engagement, had fallen through loss of blood; andthe purser, who took his part in the fight as bravely as the rest, hadhad his left arm shattered above the elbow.
With the crew the mortality had been fearful, while hardly forty menwere uninjured. With an undermanned, severely damaged ship, it was aquestion whether we should ever reach port again. Only a continuedspell of fine weather would guarantee our safety.
Having washed, changed my ragged garments, and eaten a hearty meal, Iwent below to the cockpit.
Here, lighted by the dismal glimmer of a few ship's lanterns, a ghastlysight met my eyes, while a hot, fetid stench filled the gloomy regionlike a cloud. Stretched upon rough wooden trestles, or huddled in rowsupon the bare deck, were dozens of human beings, some moaning, othersshrieking and cursing in their agony.
Our surgeon was about to operate upon a little powder-monkey, a lad ofabout fifteen years of age, who had received a ball in the shoulder.Lying by the lad's side was his father, whose leg had just been removed,the pitch with which the stump had been smeared still smoking. In spiteof the pain caused by the rough-and-ready surgery, the father graspedhis son's hand, encouraging and comforting the boy, as the surgeonprobed for the bullet.
At length I found Captain Poynings. He, refusing the comfort of his owncabin, preferred to share with his gallant crew the horrors of thecockpit, and lay, with his head and shoulders swathed in bandages, on arough mattress, as if he had been an ordinary mariner.
Added to the dismal noises came the dull thud of the carpenters' hammersand mallets as they drove plugs into the shot holes betwixt wind andwater, while the creaking of the ship's pumps betokened that she wasleaking freely.
On going on deck I found that, as the next officer fit for duty afterDrake, I was put in charge of the starboard watch, and had to take myshare in the responsibility of navigating the _Gannet_ to the nearestport.
This happened to be Gibraltar, which we reached after thirty-six hoursof anxiety and arduous labour, and when the _Gannet_ dropped anchor offthe mole our feelings were those of relief and thanksgiving.
I accompanied Drake on shore to pay a visit to the Spanish authorities,asking them to afford us assistance in refitting. This request wasreadily and courteously granted, and during our stay, extending overthree weeks, we had frequent opportunities of visiting the famous rock.
My companion often called my attention to the fact that militarydiscipline seemed very lax at this great fortress; so when, forty-oneyears later, it was captured by a _coup de main_ by Admirals Rooke andShovel, the news of its falling an easy prey to us did not come as agreat surprise.
At length the _Gannet_ was again fit for sea; our captain was wellenough to take command, and on the tenth day of September, 1663, wesailed for the shores of Old England.
A Lad of Grit: A Story of Adventure on Land and Sea in Restoration Times Page 10