by G. A. Henty
Chapter 14.
For eight hours the Osprey struggled with the storm. The sea sweptover her decks, and the dinghy was smashed into fragments, but theyacht rode with far greater ease than an ordinary vessel would havedone, as, save for her bare mast, the wind had no hold upon her.There were no spars with weight of furled sails to catch the windand hold her down; she was in perfect trim, and her sharp bows metthe waves like a wedge, and suffered them to glide past her withscarce a shock, while the added buoyancy gained by reefing thebowsprit and getting the anchors below lifted her over seas that,as they approached, seemed as if they would make a clean sweep overher.
From time to time Frank went up for a few minutes, lashing himselfto the runner to windward. The three men at the helm were allsitting up, lashed to cleats, and sheltering themselves as far asthey could by the bulwarks. Movement toward them was impossible.Beyond a wave of the hand, no communication could be held.
Frank could not have ventured out had he not, before going downbelow for the first time, stretched a rope across the deck in frontof the companion, so that before going out he obtained a firm graspof it, and was by its assistance able to reach the side safely.Each time he went out four of the crew from below followed him andrelieved those lashed to the shrouds forward.
The skipper was carrying out the plan he had decided on, and theforesail was hoisted a few feet, the Osprey by its aid graduallyedging her way out from the centre of the tornado. The hands asthey came down received a stiff glass of grog, and were told toturn in at once. Two hours after the storm broke Purvis came downfor a few minutes.
"She is doing splendidly, sir," he said. "I would not have believedif I had not seen it, that any craft of her size could have gonethrough such a sea as this and shipped so little water. We have hada few big 'uns come on board, but in general she goes over themlike a duck. It is hard work forward. You have got to keep yourback to it, for you can hardly get your breath if you face it. Ifit was not for the lashings, it would blow you right away.
"I have been at sea in gales that we thought were big ones, butnothing like this. Of course, with our heavy ballast and barepoles, she don't lie over much. It is the sea and not the wind thataffects her, and her low free board is all in her favour. But Ibelieve a ship with a high side and yards and top hamper would beblown down on her beam ends and kept there."
"Do you think that it blows as hard as it did, Purvis?"
"There ain't much difference, sir; but I do think there ain't quiteso much weight in it. I expect we are working our way out of it. Wehave been twice round the compass. It is lucky we had not got downamong the islands before we caught it. I would not give much forour chances if we had been there, for these gales gradually wearthemselves out as they get farther from the islands."
In six hours the weather had so far moderated that they were ableto hoist the reefed foresail, and two hours later the trysail wasset with all the reefs in. These were shaken out in a short time,the wind dying away fast. Half the crew had turned into theirhammocks some time before, and the regular watch was now set. Themotion of the ship, however, was very violent, for there was aheavy tumbling sea still on, the waves having no general direction,but tossing in confused masses and coming on to the deck, now onone side, now on the other.
At midnight Frank also turned in, in his clothes; but he was soonup again, for the motion of the yacht was so violent that he foundit next to impossible to keep from being jerked out of his berth.The first mate had had four hours off duty, and had just come upagain to relieve the captain.
"It is lucky, sir, that all our gear is nearly new," he said; "forif it had not been, this rolling would have taken the mast out ofher. The strain on the shrouds each time that she gets chucked overmust be tremendous."
"It would have been better, for this sort of work, if we had hadten feet taken off that stick before we started."
"Well, just for the present it would have been better, sir; buteven if we had had time I would not have done it. We should nothave much chance of overhauling the Phantom if we clipped ourwings."
In another two hours the sea had sensibly moderated. Frank againwent down, and this time was able to go to sleep. When he went ondeck the sun was some way up, the mainsail was set, and the reefshad been shaken out.
"This is a change for the better, captain."
"It is indeed, sir. I think that we have reason to be proud of thecraft. She has gone through a tornado without having suffered theslightest damage, except the loss of the dinghy. I shall be gettingthe topmast up in another hour. You see, I have got her number-twojib on her and shifted the mizzen, but she is still a bit toolively to make it safe to get up the spar. Like as not, if we did,it would snap off before we could get the stays taut."
"I am terribly anxious about the Phantom," Frank said, "and onlytrust that she was in a snug harbour on the lee side of one of theislands."
"I hope so, sir. I was thinking of her lots of times when the galewas at its height. If she was, as you say, in a good port, shewould be right enough. Of course, if she was out she would run forthe nearest shelter."
"If she had no more wind than we had before it came on, she had notmuch chance of doing that."
"That is true enough, sir; but, you see, the glass gave us noticethree hours before we caught it. Besides, they certainly tooknative pilots on board as soon as they got out here, and these musthave got them into some safe place at the first sign of a gale."
"Yes, they must certainly have had a pilot on board," Frank agreed;"and there is every ground to hope that they were snugly at anchor.They were three weeks ahead of us, and must know that it is thehurricane season as well as we do. It is likely that the firstthing they did on their arrival was to search for some quiet spot,where they could lie up safely till the bad season was over."
Late on the following afternoon land was seen ahead.
"There is Porto Rico, sir. It may not be quite our nearest point tomake, but there are no islands lying outside it; so that it wassafer to make for it than for places where the islands seemed to beas thick as peas."
"Yes, and for the same reason it is likely that Carthew made forit. Of course, naturally we should have both gone for eitherBarbadoes or Antigua, or Barbuda, the most northern of the LeewardIslands; but he would not do so if he intends to keep his Belgiancolours flying. And, indeed, it would seem curious that two Englishgentlemen should be cruising about in a Belgian trader. You maytake it that he is certain to put into a port for water andvegetables, just as we have to do. There seem to be at least half adozen on this side of the island. He may have gone into any ofthem, but he would be most likely to choose a small place. However,at one or other of them we are likely to get news; and the firstthing for us to do is to get a good black pilot, who can talk someEnglish as well as Spanish."
"It is likely we shall have to take three or four of them before wehave done. A man here might know the Virgin Islands, and perhapsmost of the Leeward Islands, but he might not know anything east,west, or north of San Domingo. We should certainly want anotherpilot for the Bahamas, and a third for Cuba and the islands roundit, which can be counted almost by the hundred. Then again, none ofthese would know the islands fringing almost the whole of the coastfrom Honduras to Trinidad. However, I hope we shall not have tosearch them. There is an ample cruising ground and any number ofhiding places without having to go so far out of the world as that.At any rate, at present he is not likely to have gone far, and Ithink that he will either have sought some secluded shelter amongthe Virgin Islands, or on the coast of San Domingo."
When within a few miles of Porto Rico they lay to for the night,and the next morning coasted westward, and dropped anchor in theport of San Juan de Porto Rico.
A quarter of an hour after dropping anchor the port officials cameon board. The inspection of the ship's papers was a shortformality, the white ensign and the general appearance of the craftshowing her at once to be an English yacht, and as she had onlytouched at Madeira on her way from Gibraltar, a
nd all on board werein good health, she was at once given pratique.
"The first thing to do is to get an interpreter," Frank said, as hewas rowed to shore, accompanied by George Lechmere. "The secretaryof Lloyd's gave me a list of their agents all over the world. It isa Spanish firm here, and it is probable that none of them speaksEnglish, but if so I have no doubt that by aid of this signal bookI shall be able to make them understand what I want. I have acircular letter of introduction from Lloyd's secretary."
He had no difficulty in discovering the place of business of SenorJuan Cordovo, and on sending in his card and the letter ofintroduction, was at once shown into an inner office. He wasreceived with grave courtesy by the merchant, who, on learning thathe did not speak Spanish, touched a bell on his table. A clerkentered, to whom he spoke a few words.
The young man then turned to Frank, and said:
"I speak English, sir. Senor Cordovo wishes me to assure you thatall he has is at your disposal, and that he will be happy to assistyou in any way that you may point out."
"Please assure Senor Cordovo of my high consideration and gratitudefor his offer. Will you inform him that I intend to cruise for sometime among the islands, and that I desire to obtain the services ofan interpreter, speaking English and Spanish; and if he possessessome knowledge of French, so much the better."
The reply was translated to the merchant, who conversed with theinterpreter for two or three minutes. The latter then turned toFrank.
"I have a brother, senor, who, like myself, speaks the threelanguages. He is at present out of employment, and would, I amsure, be very glad to engage himself to you as your interpreter."
"That would be the very thing," Frank said. "Does he live in thetown?"
"Yes, senor. I could fetch him here in a few minutes if SenorCordovo will permit me to do so."
The merchant at once granted the clerk's request.
"Will you tell Senor Cordovo," Frank said, "that I do not wish tooccupy his valuable time, and that I will return here in a quarterof an hour?"
The merchant, however, through the clerk, assured Frank that hewould not hear of his leaving, and producing a box of cigars,begged him to seat himself until the arrival of the interpreter. Hethen said something else to the clerk, and the latter asked Frankif he wanted any supplies for the yacht, as his employer acted asagent for shipping.
"Certainly," Frank said, glad to have the opportunity of repayingthe civility shown him. "I require fresh meat, fruit andvegetables, sufficient for twenty-five persons. I shall also beglad if he will arrange for boats to take off water. My barrels andtanks are nearly empty, and I shall want a supply of about athousand gallons."
While the clerk was absent, Frank, with the assistance of thesignal book, kept up a somewhat disjointed conversation with theSpaniard. The clerk was, however, away but a few minutes; andreturned with his brother, an intelligent-looking young fellow ofseventeen or eighteen. He did not speak English quite as well asthe clerk, but sufficiently well for all purposes. Frank asked himhis terms, which seemed to him ridiculously low, and a bargain wasforthwith arranged.
"Will you ask Senor Cordovo if any other English yacht has beenhere during the past three weeks or a month? I have a friend onboard one, and I fancy that she is cruising out here also."
The merchant replied that no English yacht had touched at the portfor some months, and that such visits were extremely rare. Heassured him that the stores ordered would be alongside in thecourse of the afternoon, and expressed his regret when Frankdeclined his invitation to stay with him for a day or two at hiscountry house.
After renewed thanks, Frank took his departure with his newinterpreter, whose name was Pedro. George Lechmere was waiting atthe corner of the street.
"I have arranged everything satisfactorily, George. This young manis coming with me as interpreter, and as he speaks both French andSpanish we shall get on well in future.
"When will you be ready to come on board, Pedro?"
"In half an hour, senor."
"You will find my boat at the quay. Take your things down to it. Itis a white boat with a British flag at the stern. But I don't wantyou to go off yet. I have two things I want you to do before yougo.
"In the first place, I want a pilot. I want one who knows theVirgin Islands well, and also the coast of San Domingo."
"There will be no difficulty about that, senor."
"In the second place, I want to find out, from the boatmen at thequays, whether a Belgian schooner of seventy or eighty tons hastouched here during the last month. She carries large yards on herforemast, and is a very fast-looking craft. She was at one time anEnglish yacht. If she called here, I wish to know whether shesailed east or west, and if possible to obtain an idea as to herdestination."
"There was such a vessel here, senor, for I noticed her myself. Sheonly remained a few hours, while her boats took off water andvegetables. I happened to notice her, for having nothing to do Iwas down at the quays, and the boatmen were talking about her, shebeing a craft such as is seldom seen now. Some of the old men saidthat she reminded them of the privateers in the great war. I wentdown to the boats when they first came ashore. The men only spokeFrench, and they paid me a dollar to go round with them to maketheir purchases. They took them, and also the water, off in theirown boats; which surprised me, for they were very handsome boats,much more handsome than I have seen in any ship that ever camehere. I said that it would cost them but a very small sum to sendthe barrels off in the native boats, but they insisted upon takingthem themselves.
"I don't know which way they sailed, because I went home as soon asthey went away from the quay, but the boatmen will be able to tellme."
He went away and talked with some of the negro boatmen, and soonreturned, saying that she sailed westward.
"At what time did she sail?"
"It was just getting dark, senor, for they said that they couldscarcely make her out, but she certainly went west."
"Well, all you have to do now, Pedro, is to hire a pilot. Get thebest man that you can find. I want one who knows every foot of theVirgin Islands. We are going there first. It does not matter somuch about his knowing San Domingo, for as we shall probably comeback here, we can put him ashore and get another pilot speciallyfor San Domingo. Be sure you get the best man that you can find,whatever his terms are. We will be back again here in half an hour.
"That is satisfactory indeed, George," Frank went on, as theyturned away. "Of course, strongly as we believed that he might behere, there was no absolute certainty about it, for he might havegone to the South American ports, or even have headed for the Gulfof Florida. You see he is not only here, but came to the veryisland we thought that he would most likely make for. As for hisgoing west, no doubt that was merely a ruse. He did not get upanchor until it was getting so dark that he would be able in thecourse of half an hour to change his course, and make for theVirgin Islands without fear of being observed. I don't suppose thatthey have any idea whatever of being followed, but they take everyprecaution in their power to cover up their traces. You noticed, ofcourse, their anxiety that no shore boat should go off to them.
"Well, George, we have succeeded so well thus far, that I feelconfident that we shall overhaul them before long. As far as onecan see on the chart, most of these Virgin Islands are mere rocks,and the number we shall have to search will not be very great, andif the pilot really knows his business, he ought to be able to takeus to every inlet where they would be likely to anchor."
Pedro was awaiting them when they returned to the boat, and wasaccompanied by a big negro, who, by the grin on his good-naturedface, was evidently highly satisfied with the bargain that he hadmade.
"This is the man, senor," Pedro said. "I met one of the portofficers I know, and he told me that he was considered to be thebest pilot in the island. He speaks a little English--most of thepilots do, for several of the Virgin Islands belong to yourpeople--and, of course, when he goes down to the WindwardIslands--"
"The Wi
ndward Islands!" Frank repeated. "Why, they are not anywherenear here."
"I should have said the Leeward Islands, senor. The English callthem so, but we and the Danes and the Dutch all call them theWindward Islands."
"Oh, I understand.
"What is your name, my man?"
"Dominique, sar. Me talk English bery well. Me take you to any portyou want to go. Me know all de rocks and shoals. Bery plenty deyis, but Dominique knows ebery one of dem."
"That is all right. You are just the man I want. Well, are youready to go on board at once?"
"Me ready in an hour, sar. Go home now, say goodbye to wife andpiccaninnies. Pedro just tell me that boat go off with water inone, two hours. Dominique go off with him. Me like five dollars togive wife to buy tings while me am away."
"All right, Dominique, here you are. Now don't you miss the boat,or we shall quarrel at starting, and I shall send ashore at onceand engage someone else."
"Dominique come, sar, that for sure. Me good man; always keeppromise."
"Well, here is another couple of dollars, Dominique; that is apresent. You give that to the wife, and tell her to buy somethingfor the piccaninnies with it."
So saying, Frank, George Lechmere, and Pedro stepped on board theboat; while the pilot walked off, his black face beaming withsatisfaction.
He came off duly with the last water boat, and while the contentsof the barrels were being transferred to the tanks--for now thatthe long run was accomplished there was no longer any necessity forcarrying a greater supply than these could hold--Frank had a talkwith him.
"Now, Dominique, this is, you know, a yacht cruising about onpleasure."
"Yes, sar, me know dat."
"At the same time," Frank went on, "we have an object in view. Justat present we want to find that schooner or brigantine that put inhere nearly a month ago. She carried a heavy spread of canvas onher yards, and lay very low in the water."
The pilot nodded.
"Me remember him, sar; could not make out de craft nohow. Somepeople said she pirate, but dar ain't no pirates now."
"That is so, Dominique. Still there may be reasons sometimes forwanting to overhaul a vessel, and I have such a reason. What it is,is of no consequence. Pedro tells me that when she got under sailshe went west, but as it was just dark when she sailed, she mayvery well have turned as soon as she was hidden from sight and havegone east; and it seems to me likely that she would, in the firstplace, have made for one of the Virgin Islands."
"It depends, sar, upon the trade that he wanted to do. Not muchtrade dere, sar. The trade is done at Tortola, dat English island;and at Saint Thomas or Santa Cruz, dem Danish islands; all de odersdo little trade."
"Yes, Dominique, but I don't think that she wants to trade at all.What she wants to do is to lie up quietly, where she would not benoticed."
"Plenty of places in the islands for dat, sar."
"Did they take a pilot here?"
Dominique shook his head.
"No, sar; several offers, but no take. If want to hide, they nowant pilot from here; they take up a fisherman among the islands,to show dem good place. But plenty of places much better in SanDomingo or Cuba. Why dey stop Virgin Islands? Little places, manygot no water, no food, no noting but bare rock."
"I think that they would go in there, because, as the hurricaneseason had begun when they got here, they would think it better torun into the port."
"Hurricane not bad here, sar; bery bad down at what English callLeeward Islands. Have dem sometimes here, not bery often; had onefour days ago, one ob de worse me remember. We not likely to haveanother dis year."
"That is satisfactory, Dominique, We got caught in it the otherday, and I don't want to meet another. Well, you understand what Iwant. To begin with, to search all the places a vessel that did notwant to attract notice would be likely to lie up in. We want toquestion people as to whether she has been seen, and if we don'tfind her, to hear whether, when last seen, she was sailing in thedirection of the Leeward Islands, or going west."
"Me find out, sar," the negro said, confidently. "Someone sure tohave seen her."
"Well, you had better come below. I have got a chart, and you shallmark all the islands where there are any bays that she would belikely to take shelter in, and we can then see the order in whichwe had better take them."
This was a little beyond Dominique's English, but Pedro explainedit to him, and at Frank's request went below with them; Franktelling Hawkins to weigh anchor as soon as the tanks were filledand the stores were on board. He had, before he came off, returnedto Senor Cordovo and paid for all the things supplied.
Going through the islands, one by one, Dominique made a crossagainst all that possessed harbours or inlets, that would each haveto be examined.
"Tortola is the least likely of the places for them to go," Franksaid, "as it is a British island."
"Not many people dar, sar. Most people in town. De rest of islandrock, all hills broken up, many good harbours."
"What is its size, Dominique?"
"Twelve miles long, sar. Two miles wide."
"Well, that is not a great deal to search, if we have to examineevery inch of the coast. How many people are there?"
"Two, three hundred white men. Dey live in de town most all. Two,three thousand blacks."
"Well, we will begin with the others. I should think that in afortnight we ought to be able to do them all."
The next twelve days were occupied in a fruitless search. Everyfishing boat was overhauled and questioned, and Frank and Pedrowent ashore to every group of huts. The only fact that theylearned, was that a schooner answering to the description had beenseen some time before. The information respecting her was, however,very vague; for some asserted that she was sailing one way, someanother; and Frank concluded that she had cruised about for somedays, before deciding where to lie up. It was at Tortola that theyfirst gained any useful information. Many vessels had, during thelast six weeks, entered one or other of the deep creeks, and one ofthem had laid up for nearly a month in a narrow inlet with but oneor two negro huts on shore. It was undoubtedly the Phantom, orrather the Dragon, for the negroes had noticed that name on herstern. She had sailed on the day after the hurricane, and, as theylearned from shore villages at other points, had gone west.
"Well, it is a comfort to think that even if we had sailed directhere from Porto Rico we should not have caught her," Frank said toGeorge Lechmere. "She had left here two days before we got there. Isuppose they have someone on board who has been in the islandsbefore, for certainly the harbours are the best in the group. Nodoubt they got some fishermen to bring them into the creek. Well,there is nothing to do but to turn her head west. It is butforty-eight hours' sail to San Domingo, and I fancy that it islikely that he will have stopped there. You see on the chart thatthere are numberless bays, and there would be no fear of questionsbeing asked by the blacks. If we don't find him there we must tryCuba; but San Domingo is by far the most likely place for him tochoose for his headquarters, and there are at least four biggishrivers he could sail up, beside a score of smaller ones.
"I should say that we had better try the south and west first. Thecoast is a great deal more indented there than it is to the north.There seem to be any number of creeks and bays. I should think thathe would be likely to make one of these his headquarters, and spendhis time cruising about."
Although Dominique professed a thorough knowledge of the coast ofSan Domingo and Hayti, Frank could see that he was not soabsolutely certain as he was of the Virgin Islands, and he told himto land at villages as he passed along, and bring fishermen offacquainted with the waters in their locality.
"Dat am de safest way for sure, sar," Dominique said. "Dis chileknow de coast bery well, can pilot ship into town of San Domingo orany oder port that ships go to, but he could not say for certainwhere all de rocks and shoals are along places where de ships nebergo in."
Three days later the Osprey, after sailing along the northernshore, arrived a
t Porto Rico and, passing through the Mona channelbetween that island and San Domingo, dropped anchor in the port ofthe capital. Dominique went ashore with Pedro, and spent some hoursin boarding coasting craft and questioning negroes whether they hadseen the brigantine. Several of them had noticed her. She had beencruising off the coast, and had put in at the mouth of the Nieve,and at Jaquemel on the south coast of Hayti. They heard of her,too, in the deep bay at the west of the island between Capes DameMarie and La Move. Some had seen her sailing one way, some another;she had evidently been, as Frank had expected, cruising about.
Pedro put down the dates of the times at which she had been seen,but negroes are very vague as to time, and beyond the fact thatsome had seen her about a week before, while in other cases it wasnearer a fortnight, he could ascertain nothing with certainty. Sofar as he could learn, she had only put into three ports, althoughthe coasters he boarded came from some twenty different localities.
"I fancy that it is as I expected," Frank said. "They have oneregular headquarters to which they return frequently. It may besome very secluded spot. It may be up one of these small riversmarked on the chart--there are a score of them between Cape la Moveand here. She does not seem to have been seen as far east as this.Of course, she has not put in here, because there are some eight orten foreign ships here now. Every one of these twenty rivers hasplenty of water for vessels of her draught for some miles up. Ifancy our best chance will be to meet her cruising."
"The worst of that would be, Major," George Lechmere said, "thatshe would know us, and if she sails as well as she used to do, weshould not catch her before night came on--if she had seven oreight miles' start--especially if we both had the wind aft."
"That is just what I am afraid of. I have no doubt that we couldbeat her easily working to windward in her present rig, but I am byno means certain that she could not run away from us if we wereboth free; and if she once recognised us there is no saying whereshe might go to after she had shaken us off. Certainly she wouldnot stay in these waters.
"The question is, how can we disguise ourselves? If we took downour mizzen and dirtied the rest of our sails, it would not be muchof a disguise. Nothing but a yacht carries anything like as big amainsail as ours, and our big jib and foresail, and the straightbowsprit would tell the tale. Of course, we could fasten somewooden battens along her side, and stretch canvas over them, andpaint it black, and so raise her side three feet, but even then thenarrowness of her hull, seen end on as it would be, in comparisonto the height of the mast and spread of canvas, would strikeCarthew at once."
"We could follow his example, sir, and make her into a brig. I daresay we could get it done in a week."
"That might spoil her sailing, and as soon as he found that we werein chase of him, he would at once suspect that something was wrong.That would, of all things, be the worst, especially if hefound--which would be just as likely as not--that he had the legsof us.
"I believe the most certain way of all would be to search for herin the boats. If we were to paint the gig black, so that it wouldnot attract attention, give a coating of grey paint to the oars,and hire a black crew, we could coast along and stop at everyvillage, and search every bay, and row far enough up each river tofind some village or hut where we could learn whether the Phantomhas been in the habit of going up there. It would take some time,of course, but it might be a good deal of time saved in the longrun. We could do a great deal of sailing. The gig stands well up tocanvas when the crew are sitting in the bottom, and we could fither out with a native rig.
"From here to Cape La Move, following the indentations, must besomewhere between five and six hundred miles, perhaps more thanthat. The breeze is regular, and with a sail we ought to make fromforty to fifty miles a day--say forty--so that in three weeks weshould thoroughly have searched the coast, even allowing forputting in three or four times a day to make inquiries. The yachtmust follow, keeping a few miles astern. At any rate she must notpass us.
"At night when she anchors she must have two head lights, one atthe crosstrees and one at the topmast head. I shall be on thelookout for her, and we will take some blue lights and some redlights with us. Every night I will burn a blue light, say at nineo'clock. A man in the crosstrees will make it out twenty milesaway, and that will tell them where I am, and that I don't wantthem. If I burn a red light it will be a signal for the yacht tocome and pick me up."
"Then you will go in the boat yourself, Major?"
"Yes, I must be doing something. I shall take Pedro with me, andperhaps Dominique. We can get another pilot here. Dominique is ashrewd fellow, and can get more out of the negroes than Pedro can.Certainly, that will be the best plan, and will avoid the necessityof spoiling the yacht's speed, which may be of vital importance tous at a critical moment.
"Call Dominique down. I will send him ashore at once with Pedro, toget hold of a good pilot and four good negro boatmen, and a nativesail. I think that is all we want."