The Ocean Cat's Paw: The Story of a Strange Cruise

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  AN EXCITING TIME.

  About mid-day there was a sudden lull. The wind blew nearly as hard asever, but the clouds were broken up, allowing a few gleams of sunshineto pass through, and soon after the sky seemed to be completely swept;the streaming wharves and streets began to show patches of dry paving,and nearly every vessel near was hung with the men's oilskins, Roddbeing one of the first to shed his awkward garments and come out lookingmore like himself.

  There was such a transformation scene, and all looked so bright in thesunshine, that the boy took the first opportunity to ask the skipperwhat he thought of it now.

  "Just the same as I did before, my lad," he replied bluntly. "Here,it's only mid-day, and mid-day aren't to-night, and to-night aren'tto-morrow morning. Just you wait."

  "Oh, I'll wait," said Rodd, "but I think we ought to start off as soonas we can, and get right away to sea."

  "Do you?" said the captain gruffly. "Well, I don't."

  After dinner Uncle Paul had a few words with the skipper, and then shookhis head at his nephew, who was watching them inquiringly.

  "No, my lad," he said, "it won't do; the captain says there's more badweather coming; but we'll go and have a look round the town if youlike."

  Rodd did like as a matter of course, and with the sun now shiningbrightly as if there were no prospect of more rain for a month, theywere rowed ashore, Rodd noticing as they went that the crew of the brigseemed to be very busy, a couple of boats going to and fro fetchingstores of some kind from the nearest wharf, but what he could not makeout.

  Then came a good ramble through the busy place, where everybody seemedto be taking advantage of the cessation of the storm, and Rodd notedeverything to as great an extent as a hurried visit would allow.

  There was plenty to see, the forts, one each side of the harbour, and acouple more on the higher ground, displaying their grinning embrasuresand guns commanding the harbour and the town, while soldiery in theirrather shabby-looking uniforms could be seen here and there, andsentries turned the visitors back upon each occasion when they wentnear.

  "Rather an ugly place to tackle, Rodd, from the sea, but I suppose ourfellows wouldn't scruple about making an attack if there were any need.But here, I think we had better get back on board."

  "Oh, not yet, uncle. I haven't half seen enough."

  "But I am getting sick of this tiresome wind," said Uncle Paul. "Onecan't keep on one's hat, and it is just as if these gusts were genuineFrench, and kept on making a rush at us from round the corners of thestreets as if they wanted to blow us into the harbour."

  "Yes, it is rather tiresome," replied Rodd. "But I should have liked tohave had a look inside one of those batteries."

  "Pooh! What do you want to see them for?"

  "Why, just because they are French, uncle."

  "Nonsense! You have seen all ours on the heights of Plymouth, and theyare a deal better-looking than these. We have a good way to walk, solet's go down at once. There, look yonder."

  "What at, uncle?"

  "What at? Why, at the clouds gathering there in the wind's eye. Yousee Captain Chubb's right, and we shall have the rain pouring down againbefore long."

  Rodd laughed as if he did not believe it, but making no fartheropposition, they began to descend towards the harbour; but before theywere half-way there the wind had increased to a furious pitch, the seabecame a sheet of foam, and with wonderful rapidity the clouds hadgathered overhead, till a black curtain was sweeping right over, and afew heavy drops of rain began to fall. Then down came a drenchingshower, and they were glad to run for refuge to the nearest shelter,which presented itself in the shape of a great barrack-like buildingthat seemed to be built about a square, and at whose arched entrance acouple of sentries with shouldered muskets were pacing up and down.

  As Uncle Paul and Rodd approached at a trot, with the intention ofgetting under the archway, both sentries stopped short, and one of themheld his weapon across breast high, scowling fiercely, and barred theirway.

  "Here, it's all right," cried Rodd. "We only want to shelter out of therain for a few minutes;" and he pressed forward. "Come on, uncle.Never mind him!"

  "_Halte la_!" cried the sentry.

  But Uncle Paul's hand went to his pocket, and drawing out half-a-crownhe pointed quickly at the falling rain and the archway under which theynow stood, taking out his handkerchief the while, and beginning to brushoff the drops which bedewed his coat.

  The man glanced at the coin, then at his brother sentry, and both lookedinward at the square behind them. The exchange of glances was veryquick, and then the first sentry opened one hand, but kept it very closeto his side, again looking inward to see that he was not observed,before grumbling out--

  "_Eh bien! Restez_!" And then as if perfectly unconscious of the bribehe had received, he resumed his slow pace up and down under the shelterof the great archway.

  It was all a matter of minutes, but long enough for the wind and rain tohave gathered force, and while the former raved and shrieked, down camethe latter in a sheet, or rather in a succession of sheets which madethe roadways seem as if full of dancing chess pawns, and the gulliesturn at once into so many furious little torrents tearing down theslopes towards the harbour.

  "Nice, isn't it, uncle?" said Rodd merrily.

  "Nice!" grumbled Uncle Paul. "I don't know what I was thinking about togive way to you in such treacherous weather. Why, it's worse than ever.How are we going to get back to the schooner?"

  "Oh, it will soon be over, uncle, and if it isn't we must get to knowwhere the nearest place is from that sentry, and make a rush for it toget some tea, and wait there till the shower is over."

  "Shower!" said Uncle Paul. "It looks to me like a night of storm comingon, and as if we shan't get back to the schooner to-night."

  "Well, it doesn't matter, uncle," cried the boy coolly. "There's sureto be a good hotel, and Captain Chubb will know why we haven't comeback. As soon as there's a bit of a lull we will make a run for it, andwe shall be able to get a lesson in French."

  "Bah!" said Uncle Paul impatiently. "How the wind comes whistlingthrough this archway! We shall be getting wet even here."

  The two men on guard were evidently of the same opinion, for they turnedto their sentry boxes and began to put on their overcoats, afterstanding their muskets inside.

  But before this was half done, each snatched up his piece again andfaced the entrance, for all at once there was the clattering of hoofs inthe cobbled paved street, and a cavalry officer, followed at a shortdistance by a couple of men, dashed up to the front and turned in underthe archway, drenched with rain, the officer saying something sharply toone of the sentries.

  The man replied by pointing to a doorway at the back of the greatentrance, while the officer swung himself from his horse, threw the reinto one of his men, and then lifting his sabre-tache by the strap he gaveit a swing or two to throw off the water from its dripping sides, andthen opened the great pocket to peer inside as if to see that itscontents were safe.

  The next moment, as if satisfied, he let it fall to the full length ofits slings, gave a stamp or two to shake off the water that dripped fromhim, and then raised his hands to give a twist to the points of his wetmoustache. He scowled fiercely at Rodd the while, and then marchedtowards the doorway with the steel scabbard of his sabre clinking andclanking over the stones.

  "Pretty good opinion of himself, Pickle," said Uncle Paul quietly.

  "Yes, uncle; but what a pair of trousers--no, I mean long boots--no, Idon't; I mean trousers.--Which are they, uncle?" added the boy, who wasrather tickled by the size and the way in which they were finished offat the bottoms with leather as if they were jack-boots.

  "Wait till he comes out, Pickle, and ask him," said the doctor dryly.

  "No, thank you, uncle; my French is so bad," said the boy, with his eyessparkling. "But, my word, they must have been galloping hard to escapethe rain! Look at those poor hors
es. They are breathed."

  Rodd had hardly spoken when they became fully aware that they had takenrefuge in the entrance to the town barracks, for the notes of a buglerang out, echoing round the inner square of the building, and seeming tobe thrown back in a half-smothered way from wall to wall, while the windand rain raged down more fiercely than ever.

  "Something must be the matter," said Rodd, with his lips close to hisuncle's ear.

  "Seems like it, boy. That officer must have brought a dispatch."

  The object of the bugle was shown directly, for in spite of the rain theinterior of the barracks began to assume the aspect of some huge wasps'nest that had suddenly been disturbed.

  Soldiers came hurrying out into the rain, hurriedly putting on theirovercoats; the great arched gateway filled up at once with men seekingits shelter, and the sentry who had received his half-crown came toroughly order the English intruders to go elsewhere; but it was onlyoutside militarism, for he said in a low hurried tone in French--

  "Run outside to the end of the barracks. Grand cafe."

  "Come along, uncle. Never mind the rain," cried Rodd, catching at hisuncle's wrist, as he fully grasped the sentry's meaning; and steppingoutside the archway they ran together, or rather, were half carried bythe shrieking wind, for some thirty or forty yards, almost into thedoorway of a large lit-up building, for already it seemed to be almostnight.

  "Never mind the rain, indeed!" grumbled Uncle Paul. "Why, I'm nearlysoaked. Oh, come, we have got into civilised regions, at all events;"for a couple of waiters, seeing their plight, literally pounced uponthem and hurried them through the building into a great kitchen where ahuge fire was burning and the smell of cookery saluted their nostrils.

  The attentions of the waiters of what was evidently one of the principalhotels of the town were very welcome, and a glance teaching them thattheir visitors were people of some standing, they made use of theirnapkins to remove as much of the superabundant moisture as was possible,and then furnished themselves with a fresh relay to operate upon theirbacks.

  "Queer, isn't it, uncle? I am quite dry in front. My word, how therain did come down!"

  "Messieurs will dine here?" said one of the waiters smilingly.

  "_Oh, oui, pour certain_" replied Uncle Paul. "If you don't mind,Pickle."

  "Mind, uncle? Oh, yes, of course. I am horribly hungry."

  "You always are, my boy. Well, we must make the best of a badbusiness," continued the doctor, as, nodding to the waiter, he moved alittle closer to the fire and turned his back, an example followed byRodd.

  "It makes a dreadful time, monsieur," said the smiling waiter. "Will hechoose, or trust his servant to prepare a dinner upon the field of whichthe English milor' will be proud?"

  "You speak capital English," said the doctor, rather sarcastically.

  "I have been many times in public in London."

  "Ah, that's right. Then give us a snug little dinner while we dryourselves. But what's the meaning of all that upset at the barracksnext door?"

  "It is not quite that I know, sir," said the man eagerly; "but twoofficers came in upon the instant to put their cloaks where they shouldnot water themselves so much, and I hear them say, a dispatch comequickly for monsieur the Governor to seize upon a ship. Oh, faith of aman! Hark at that!"

  For there was a sudden crash and an echoing roar, while some of theutensils in the great kitchen clattered together, and a piece ofearthenware fell from a shelf upon the stone floor, to be shivered toatoms.

  "_Tonnerre, eh_?" said the doctor.

  "_Non, non, monsieur_" cried the man, relapsing into his native tonguefor a moment. "It is what you English gentlemen call a great gun fromthe fort; and look, look! The poor _cuisiniere_ much alarm, as you callit."

  For just then, as if catching the contagion from the shrieking of thestorm, one of the cook-maids threw herself back into a chair and beganto scream.

  It was a busy scene for a few minutes while the frightened hystericalwoman was hurried out, while with the storm seeming to increase inviolence, and amid the trampling of armed men outside, who were hurryingfrom the barracks, the two English visitors gradually picked up scrapsof information which explained the excitement that in spite of the stormwas going on outside.

  "Messieurs would like to see," said the friendly waiter. "They willcome up-stairs to the long _salle_ whose windows give upon the harbour."

  "But what's the matter?" cried Rodd. "Is there a wreck?"

  "A wreck, sare?" said the waiter, shaking his head. "No, I know notwreck."

  "Has a ship come ashore and is breaking up?"

  "Ha, ha! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! You would say _naufrage. Non,non, non_! It is a sheep in the harbour; a foreign spy. They say ithas come to set fire to the town."

  "Then they have chosen a very bad night for it," said Uncle Paul,laughing.

  "Monsieur is right. Nosing would burn. But the enemies of la France,my great country, not stop to think of zat."

  "Oh, but that must be a rumour, Rodd," said Uncle Paul uneasily. "Why,surely they are not going to fancy that our English schooner is a spyand an enemy!"

  The waiter's ears were sharp, and he cried at once--

  "English! Oh non, monsieur. You are from the little two-mast. It isnot you. It is some enemy of the King whose sheep is in the harbour,and great dispatches have come to the Governor that she is to be seized.Ah, there again, monsieur! Anozzer gun from the fort."

  It was plain enough to hear, for the windows of the big badly-lit roominto which the man had conducted them clattered in their frames, whilethe dull, heavy report was preceded by a vivid flash as of lightning.

  "Ha, ha! You see. The sheep will not get away, for at the forts theyare alert and will sink her if she try."

  "Oh, but no vessel could try to put out in a storm like this, Rodd,"said Uncle Paul.

  "No, sare," continued the waiter excitedly; "the boats will go out withthe soldiers and take the sheep."

  "She is a man-of-war, I suppose?"

  "Yes, sare. Not very big, but an enemy; but if she fight they willshoot from all the forts and sink her."

  "But how do you know all this?" said Rodd.

  "Many soldiers, horsemen, came galloping up to bring dispatches to theGovernor. There, sare; you will look from the window," continued theman, using a clean serviette that he took from under his arm to rub thesteamy window-panes, for the cold blast of the storm had caused the warmair inside to blur the glass with a thick deposit of vapour. "There,sare," continued the man; "zat is ze sheep."

  "Oh, it's too thick to see for the rain."

  "Yes, sare; but you see out zare in ze arbour ze two lights."

  "Nonsense man!" cried Uncle Paul, half angrily. "That is the Englishschooner--ours."

  "Oh, non, non, non, monsieur! Away to ze _gauche_--ze left hand. Zesheep with two high, tall mast, that we all see here when she come in zestorm yesterday. We all here with ze officer of ze regiment see youcome in through ze storm, and ze enemy sheep, a stranger, come after,and ze officer say she will run you down and sink you in ze harbour!"

  "Oh, that one!" cried Rodd excitedly.

  "Ah, I see, monsieur knows. You see her lights swing in the wind--two;"and the man held up a couple of fingers.

  "Yes, I see where you mean," cried Rodd; "but she has only one light."

  "Ah, ha! Monsieur is right. Zare is only one. Ze vind storm has blowout ze uzzer. Look, now zare is no light at all. Ze sheep put im out."

  The violence of the rain was now abating, but the wind beat against andshook the window-panes and shrieked as it rushed by. It was evening,and a few minutes before it had been dark as night, but with thecessation of the rain the heavy forms and light rigging of the manyvessels gradually became more and more visible, while fresh lights beganto come into view, but in every case not moving and swinging about likethose in the rigging of the safely moored ships, but gliding about fromvarious directions as if they were in the sterns
of boats that had putoff from the harbour side.

  "Messieurs see?" said the waiter excitedly. "Two boats come now fromthe fort on ze uzzer side. Look, look! Ze lights shine on ze soldiers'bayonet. They go to take ze sheep."

  As the man was speaking the brig that had previously taken up so much ofRodd's attention stood out more clearly. Her riding lights were indeedgone, but there was a peculiar misty look forward, and it was now Rodd'sturn to speak excitedly about what he saw.

  "Why, uncle," he cried, "she's moving! They've slipped their cable andhoisted the jib!"

  "Nonsense, boy! Not in a storm like this."

  "I don't care, uncle; she has. Look; you can see her gliding along."

  "Impossible!"

  "It isn't, uncle. Look, you can see them plainly now; two boats full ofmen, and they are rowing hard, but getting no nearer to the brig. Here,I want to see; let's get right down to the harbour."

  "What, to get wet again?" cried Uncle Paul.

  "It doesn't rain now a drop. There's nothing but wind; and look, look;the people are running down now in crowds, and there goes a company ofsoldiers at the double. Oh, there's going to be something veryexciting, uncle, and we must see."

  "But the dinner, boy, the dinner! What is this to us?"

  "Dinner, uncle!" cried the lad indignantly. "Who's going to stop fordinner when there are boats out yonder full of men going to board andtake a ship?"

  "Humph! Well," grunted Uncle Paul, "I suppose it would be ratherexciting, and we shall be able to see; but I don't know, though.There'll be firing, and who knows which way the bullets will fly?"

  "Oh, they; won't hit us, uncle. Come on."

  Uncle Paul was rapidly growing as excited as his nephew, while thewaiter, if it were possible, was as full of eagerness as both together,and forgetting all his duties and the dinner that he had ordered to beprepared, he cried--

  "Ze rain is ovare; you come vith me. I take you out ze back way anddown ze little rue which take us to the quay."

  That was enough for Rodd, and the next minute they were following thewaiter down the big staircase through the great kitchen once more, whichwas now quite deserted, and out into a walled yard to a back gateway,beyond which, mingling with the roaring of the wind, they could hear thetrampling of many feet.

  "Zis way; zis way!" the bare-headed waiter kept crying, as he put hisserviette to quite a new use, battling with the wind as he folded itdiagonally and then turned it into a cover for his head by tying thecorners under his chin.

  "Here, I say," cried Rodd, as the man kept on at a trot; "I want to getto the harbour."

  "_Oui_, _oui_; zis way!" panted their guide, who nearly put the visitorsout of patience by turning off two or three times at right angles andapparently taking them quite away from where they wished to go. "Zisway! Zis way!" he kept on crying, till at last the trio were alone,others who had been hurrying onward having taken different directions.

  Bang went another gun from the fort, a report which seemed to be sentback instantly from the harbour walls, apparently close at hand.

  "Yes, zis way; zis way!" shouted the man. "I show you before zey sinkze sheep."

  And now he suddenly turned into a narrow alley formed by two toweringwarehouses so close together that there was not room for two people towalk comfortably abreast; but "Zis way, zis way," shouted the guide,"and you shall be zere upon ze field--_sur le champ, sur le champ_. Ahha!" he cried directly after, as he suddenly issued from out of thedarkness of the alley into the comparative light of a narrow wharfencumbered with casks, just beyond which was the dripping stone edge ofthe great harbour, and below them boats, barges, and lighters swingingfrom the great rusty iron rings and mooring posts of the quay.

  "Vat you say to dat?" cried the waiter, turning round to face hiscompanions, beginning loudly and ending in a choking whisper, for he hadmet a gust of wind face to face which stopped him for the moment fromtaking his breath and forced him to turn his back and make a snatch atthe corner of one of the warehouses. "Faith of a good man!" he panted."The vind blow me inside out! Aha! What did I say?"

  "Capital!" panted Rodd, almost as breathlessly as the waiter, at whomupon any other occasion he would have burst out into a roar of laughter,so grotesque was his appearance with the white napkin tied under hischin. "Oh, this is a splendid place!"

  "Here, you look out, Pickle," cried Uncle Paul. "Lay hold of something,or we shall be blown right off."

  "All right, uncle. Why, if one of those gusts sent us into the harbourwe should be drowned."

  "Come a little farther this way, then, and if the wind is too much forus, why we shall only go down into this barge."

  At that moment, as they looked across and downward towards the mouth ofthe harbour, there were the flashes of bright light to illumine thegloom of the evening, and the reports of a ragged volley of musketrycoming from one of the two boats which they could now make out beingrowed hard after the brig, as it glided rapidly along in the directionwhere the watchers now stood.

  Then for a short space it passed out of sight behind a group of fourvessels which were safely moored. Then it was out again, and as thelookers-on excitedly watched, they made out dimly that the vesselanswered her helm readily and was gliding round in a tack for the otherside of the harbour, while the two boats in pursuit altered theirdirection, the men rowing with all their might, as if to cut the brigoff during her next tack.

  There was another ragged volley, this time from the second boat; but ifthey were firing to bring down the steersman, it was in vain, for thebrig sailed swiftly on, gaining a little way, as she made for the mouthof the harbour.

  This was far distant yet, and her chances of reaching it even in theshelter of the harbour, with such a gale blowing, were almost nil.

  "She'll do it, though, uncle," shouted Rodd, with his lips close toUncle Paul's ear.

  "Yes, my boy, I expect she will," was the reply; "but they've got somedaring people on board, and I shouldn't like to be the man at thewheel."

  "Ah, why don't they shoot? Why don't they shoot?" cried the waiter."She is an enemy, and--"

  The rest of his speech was unheard, for another flash cut the darkness,followed by the thud of a big gun, the shot coming as it were instantlyupon the waiter's question; but it had no effect upon the brig, whichcame nearer and nearer to the pier-like wharves of the harbour, glidedround again with the two stay-sails rilling upon the other tack, andthen went off once more.

  "She'll get away, uncle," cried Rodd excitedly, "and I don't know whatthey are, but one can't help admiring such a brave deed."

  There was another report, this time from quite another direction.

  "That must be from the fort up behind the town, Rodd," cried Uncle Paul."It's too thick to see any splash, but they must be in earnest now, andwill not be firing blank charges. It looks as if they mean to sink herif she doesn't stop."

  "They've got to hit her first, uncle," cried Rodd excitedly. "Oh, Ican't help it, uncle," he continued, with his lips close to his uncle'sear so that the waiter should not catch his words, "but I do hope theywon't."

  "Well, my boy, I can't help feeling the same, though she's neither enemynor friend of ours, and we don't know what it all means; for I don'tsuppose," he said, with a half-laugh, "that she has got NapoleonBonaparte on board."

  Uncle Paul had not taken his nephew's precaution, and as a heavy gustwas just dying out, the excited waiter caught a part of his speech.

  "Ha, ha!" he cried. "You sink so? You say le Petit Caporal is onboard?"

  "No, no," cried Uncle Paul; "I didn't say so."

  "No, sare; you think so, and zat is it. He has escape himself from zeplace where you English shot him up safe, and he come in zat sheep toburn down ze town. But ah-h-h, again they will sink him. Faith of aman, no!" he cried angrily, for there was a shot from another battery,this time nearer the harbour mouth. "They cannot shoot straight."

  For onward glided the brig, making tack after tack, and zigzagging h
erway through the narrow entrance of the harbour, at times partlysheltered by the great pier to windward, then as she glided farther outcareening over in spite of the small amount of reefed sail she carried,but all the while so well under control that she kept on gaining andleaving the two boats farther and farther behind.

  "Oh, if it were only lighter!" cried Rodd, stamping his foot withvexation. "Why, she'll soon be out of sight."

  "Before she gets much farther," said Uncle Paul gravely, "she'll begetting within the light cast by one or other of the harbour lights, andthat will be one of her critical times."

  "Why critical, uncle?" cried the boy earnestly. "Because the men in thefort will have a better chance of hitting her, I should say."

  "Oh, I hope they won't," said Rodd beneath his breath. "Why, it wouldbe horrible, uncle," he half whispered, with his lips close to hisuncle's face. "She must have a brave captain to dare all this."

  "A very brave captain," said Uncle Paul earnestly. "But you thinkshe'll get away, uncle?"

  "No, Rodney," said the doctor, laying his hand with a firm grip upon hisnephew's shoulder. "She may pass through the harbour mouth withoutbeing hit by the gunners, for it would require a clever marksman to hitso swiftly moving an object, rising and falling as the brig does nowthat she is getting into the disturbed water near the mouth."

  "But suppose she passes through untouched, uncle? What then?"

  "What then, boy? She will be out of the shelter given by the end of thejetty. It's too dim now to see, but once or twice I had just a glimpseof the waves washing over the harbour light, and there must be aterrific sea out there. Why, you can hear it plainly even here."

  "No, uncle; that's the wind."

  "And waves, my boy. Why, trying to sail out there in the teeth of sucha gale as this, it will be almost impossible for her to escape. Itseems to me to be an act of madness to attempt such an escapade, andcleverly as the brig is handled I think it is doubtful whether she willever clear the mouth. But if she does she will catch the full force ofthe storm and--"

  "And what, uncle?"

  "Be carried away yonder to the east somewhere and cast ashore."

  "Oh-h!" sighed Rodd; and it was almost a groan.