The Rover's Secret: A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

  A PACKET OF DISTURBING LETTERS.

  The first task was to send by shore-boat a brief note on board theadmiral, informing him of our capture, and requesting him to send a fewhands on board to take care of the vessel. A prompt reply, in the shapeof a somewhat dandified mid, with a dozen stout seamen to back him, wasvouchsafed to this request, the midshipman bringing with him also averbal message to the effect that the admiral would be glad to see us onboard to breakfast with him. This condescension, of course, merelymeant that he was curious to hear full particulars of the capture, butwe nevertheless felt much gratified at the invitation; and, detainingthe gig alongside only long enough to enable us to make ourselvespresentable, we jumped into her, and five minutes later found ourselveson the quarter-deck of the old _Mars_.

  Admiral J-- himself happened to be on deck at the moment when we steppedin through the entering port, and the look of mingled astonishment andanger with which he regarded us as we presented ourselves before him atonce told us that something was wrong.

  "How now, young gentlemen!" he testily exclaimed; "are you the twomidshipmen who sent me this note, informing me that you had capturedyonder cock-boat of a felucca?" We respectfully intimated that we were."Then how comes it, sirs, that you have presumed to come on board me inthose 'longshore togs? Away with you back at once, and when next youventure to appear in my presence, see to it that you come in a properuniform."

  The murder was out. We were, of course, dressed in the clothes withwhich Don Luis de Guzman had so generously supplied us, and we had beenfor so long a time out of uniform that it had never occurred to us thatour costume would be regarded as in the slightest degree inappropriate.We explained in as few words as possible that we were two of thesurviving officers of the _Hermione_, that we had been for some timeprisoners in La Guayra, and that we had only very recently effected ourescape therefrom; and that put the whole affair straight in a moment,the admiral, who, peppery as was his temper, was a thoroughly kind-hearted old fellow in the main, actually condescending to apologise forhis hasty speech; and, the steward at that moment announcing thatbreakfast was on the table, we all--that is to say, the admiral, CaptainBradshaw, Courtenay, and myself--trundled into the cabin and took ourplaces at the table. Then, for the first time, as we found ourselvesonce more in the society of our own countrymen, with good wholesomeEnglish fare sending forth its grateful odours to our nostrils, with thetable covered with its snowy linen, and laden with the handsome, yethome-like breakfast equipage, did we fully realise all that we hadpassed through since we had last found ourselves so placed, and for mypart the revulsion of feeling almost overcame me. The emotions of amidshipman are, however, proverbially of a very transient character, andI soon found myself prosecuting a most vigorous attack upon thecomestibles, and, between mouthfuls, relating in pretty full detail allour adventures from the moment of the mutiny, excepting, of course, mylove passages with Dona Inez, which I kept strictly to myself.

  The story of the mutiny naturally excited a very lively interest, andCourtenay and I were questioned and cross-questioned upon the subjectuntil we were absolutely pumped dry, it transpiring that we were thefirst survivors of that dreadful tragedy who had reappeared among ourown countrymen. The narrative of our sojourn in La Guayra did not, Iregret to say, prove one-tenth part so attractive; but when we reachedthe subject of the Conconil lagoons, Merlani's treasure hoard, and thescheme of the Spanish authorities to at once possess themselves of itand suppress the piratical band, the interest again revived, and we werequestioned almost as closely on this subject as we had been about themutiny.

  Before the meal was concluded, it had been settled that a schooner--lately a French privateer--recently captured, and then in the hands ofthe dockyard people undergoing the process of refitting, should behurried forward with all possible despatch, and commissioned by acertain lieutenant O'Flaherty, with Courtenay and myself as his aides,her especial mission to be the destruction of Merlani's stronghold, andthe capture of as many members of the piratical gang as we could layhands upon. As, however, it seemed that the _Foam_--as the schooner hadbeen re-christened--could not possibly be got ready under eight or tendays at the earliest, we were informed that we might take a week to lookabout us, a permission of which we most gladly availed ourselves. Wewere also informed that the prize-money for the Jean Rabel affair hadbeen awarded, and the admiral was good enough to advise us to put ourbusiness affairs into the hands of his own agent in Kingston, to whom hegave us a letter of introduction.

  Our first business on leaving the _Mars_ was to take passage to Kingstonin one of the many sailing-boats which, owned by negro boatmen, arealways obtainable at Port Royal, and in her we managed, with the aid ofa fine sea-breeze, to make the passage in an hour, being badly beaten,however, in a race with a gig belonging to the frigate _Volage_ whichhappened to be lying at Port Royal at the time.

  Arrived in Kingston we made our way, in the first instance, to the post-office, where we each found several letters awaiting us. There werenine for me, of which eight were from my father, and one--heaven onlyknows how it had found its way across in so short a time--from DonaInez. I _ought_, I suppose, to have first opened those from my father;but I did not. With the ardour that might have been expected I firsttore open the envelope superscribed by Inez. The letter was dated theday after our flight from La Guayra; and the poor girl, who had alreadylearned from the faithful Juan that our plans had somehow been capsized,had written in an agony of apprehension as to our safety. It appearedthat Juan--whose arrival at the cove had been delayed about half an hourby the suspicious manoeuvres of a felucca ahead of him, undoubtedly the_Pinta_--had hung about the spot for something like an hour and a half,at the expiration of which time two Spaniards had presented themselveson the beach and had inquired whether he belonged to the _Pinta_. Onhis saying that he did not he had been very sharply cross-questioned asto who he was, and the reasons for his presence there at that hour,which cross-questioning he was sensible enough to evade and cut short byretreating to his felucca and returning to La Guayra, from whence he,the first thing next morning, made his way to the castle to report andto seek further instructions. Having actually witnessed our departure,and knowing from the time at which it had occurred that we must havemade our way on board the wrong felucca--which Juan was subsequentlyable to say with almost absolute certainty _must_ have been the_Pinta_--my lady-love was painfully anxious as to our fate; for itappeared that the _Pinta_ and her crew bore a somewhat evil reputationamong those who professed to know her best at La Guayra; and the onlyhope or consolation which Dona Inez could find lay in her somewhat toofavourable estimate of our ability to take care of ourselves. She mostearnestly entreated that I would not lose a moment, after the receipt ofher letter, in writing to set her mind at rest. She added that herfather had returned home in excellent health; and that, though he had atfirst betrayed some vexation at the loss of our services, he had sooncooled down, and had then acknowledged that he was glad, for our sakes,that we had succeeded in effecting our escape.

  Having read and re-read this most cherished epistle some half a dozentimes over, I refolded and put it carefully into my pocket, next turningto the letters from my father, which I arranged and opened according tothe dates of the postmarks.

  The first of these letters--being the third written by my father sincethe date of my leaving England (I had received the other two on theoccasion of our former visit to Port Royal, in the _Hermione_)--was verysimilar to all others which had ever reached me from the same writer;brief, cold, and evidently strained and artificial as to the one or twoexpressions of affection contained therein--altogether a painful andunsatisfactory letter to receive, in fact. The second was somewhatsimilar, except that therein my father condescended to inform me that hewas by no means well; that he thought he had perhaps been overworkinghimself, and that unless his health speedily mended he feared he shouldbe obliged to call in medical advice. This was sufficiently alarming;but
the third letter was even more so, for in it he informed me that hehad suffered a complete break-down in health and spirits; that he hadplaced himself under the care of Doctor Wise, one of the most eminentphysicians of the day, and that he had not only been strictly enjoinedto entirely lay aside his brush for at least six months, but that he hadalso been ordered to travel. This, however, was evidently not the worstof it; for the letter, a long, rambling, and somewhat incoherent epistlethis time, went on to hint mysteriously at the causes which had broughtthis lamentable state of affairs about; but so obscurely was the letterworded that, on its first perusal, the only information I coulddefinitely gather from it was that my father was then suffering from theeffects of many years of mental anguish resulting from some matterwhich, if I understood him aright, seemed to be in some way connectedwith my poor dead mother. The letter concluded with the extraordinarywords, "Lionel, the shadow of deception and falsehood rests upon usboth, and from no fault of ours.--Yours distractedly, CuthbertLascelles."

  "The shadow of deception and falsehood!--no fault of ours!--yoursdistractedly!" Whatever could it all mean? The closing words of theletter, "yours distractedly," puzzled me most of all. Hitherto myfather's communications to me, however lacking in affection they mightotherwise have been, had all terminated with the orthodox "youraffectionate father." Why, then, this departure from the rule? Was itintentional, or was it merely to be regarded as an indication of theterribly disturbed state of the writer's mind?

  I read and re-read this most singular epistle at least half a dozentimes without gathering any additional light upon the obscure andmysterious hints which it contained, and I then turned to the remainingletters, thinking I might possibly find in them a solution to theenigma. And at the first reading I imagined I _did_ find it; theconclusion at which I arrived being that my poor unfortunate father musthave gone mad! I patiently went through the whole packet a second time,seeking in them some additional evidence of insanity; but no, saving onthis one particular matter the writer had evidently been in fullpossession of all his faculties. The fourth letter contained theinformation that the news of the mutiny on board the _Hermione_ hadreached England, and that it was believed some of the officers hadescaped massacre and had been landed at La Guayra. Touching this matterhe had written: "I can scarcely say, at this moment, whether I hope youare among the living or among the dead. If the latter, I shall at leastenjoy the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that I have seen the lastof one who, though I could have dearly loved him, and have been proud ofhim for his own sake, was, nevertheless, although my own son, almosthateful to me, because of his marked resemblance to one whose duplicityhas been the curse of my life. But if, on the other hand, you areliving, Lionel--as something whispers to me that you are--I shallperhaps be disposed to accept your preservation as a token from Heaventhat I may, after all, have been mistaken, and that your mother could,had I given her the opportunity, have explained those circumstanceswhich, unexplained, completely shattered her own happiness and mine."

  The next letter, the fifth, was dated from Rome, in which city my fatherinformed me that he had then been staying for about three weeks; butthat he was about to leave it again, for what destination he could notthen say, as he had derived no benefit whatever from the change--wasrather worse, in fact--since the city was so full of associationsconnected with my mother that his trouble was then harder than ever tobear. He added that he was still strongly impressed with the idea of mybeing alive, and that this idea, with the excuse it afforded him forcontinuing to write to me, gave him some small comfort. He said he hadbeen exceedingly gratified at the very favourable report which hadreached him of my conduct at Jean Rabel, and he most earnestly besoughtme, if indeed I were still alive, to comport myself in such a mannerthat my glorious deeds might in some measure, if not wholly, atone forthe suffering my mother had caused him. The remaining letters weredated from Naples. They all dwelt upon the same theme; but the lastclosed with the request that, if it ever reached me, I would at oncewrite in reply, addressing my letter to his lawyer in London, who wouldbe kept advised of his whereabouts and would forward it on to him.There was also an assurance that he had no desire to visit my mother'sheartless deception of him upon me, since, whatever were _her_ faults,_I_ was his son, and he had no intention of disowning the relationship;so that, if ever in need of money, I was without hesitation to draw uponhim for any reasonable amount. "In want of money, indeed!" Luckily, Iwas not; but, as I crushed the letters back into my pocket, I solemnlyvowed that, rather than touch a penny of that man's money, at leastwhilst his state of mind remained what it then was, I would perish ofstarvation in a ditch. Then bewildered, stunned, and utterly crushed inspirit, I hastily excused myself to Courtenay upon the plea of havingreceived distressing news from England, and, obeying the same impulsewhich impels a wounded animal to rush away and hide itself and itssuffering in the deepest solitudes, I turned my back upon Kingston, withits busy bustling streets, and hastened to bury myself among the hills.I pushed forward without rest or pause until I found myself on the crestof a lofty eminence overlooking the town and harbour; when, flingingmyself down beneath the grateful shade of a gigantic cotton-wood, I gavefree vent to my feelings of suspense, indignation, and sorrow, andburying my face in my hands wept as if my heart would break. I will notattempt to describe or enlarge upon the feelings which then harrowed mysoul; the words have never yet been coined which could adequatelyexpress my anguish. No merely mortal pen could depict it; nor cananyone, save those unfortunates who have passed through such an ordeal,imagine it. Moreover, the subject even now, when I am old and grey-headed, is still so painful to me that I care not to dwell unduly uponit. Let me, therefore, pass on to the moment when, relieved, yetexhausted by the passage of that terrible outburst of tears, I had sofar regained composure as to be able to look my position fairly in theface.

  My first act was to draw forth the fatal bundle of letters and reperusethem patiently from beginning to end, still clinging to the desperatehope that I had after all, in some unaccountable way, misunderstood myfather's meaning, and that I was under some hallucination. But no;there were the words all too plainly written for any possibility ofmistake. His was the hallucination--not mine. _False_? Adissimulator? I thrust my hand into my bosom, and dragged forth thevelvet case containing my mother's portrait, which I had worn next myheart throughout all the vicissitudes of fortune encountered by me sincethe moment it had first been placed in my hands, and, pressing thespring, threw back the cover, and allowed my eyes to rest upon theloveliness it had concealed. Deceitful! If falsehood lurked within theliquid depths of those clear, calm, steadfast eyes, or was hidden behindthat smooth and placid brow, then I thought must the very angels befalse! If falsehood could shroud itself behind a mask of suchsurpassing loveliness, such an aspect and personification of all that ispure, and innocent, and faithful, and true, "where," I asked myself,"oh! where is truth to be found?" That my mother had, all unwittingly,and in some inexplicable manner aroused my father's suspicions, I couldnot doubt; but, after all, the matter was manifestly, to my mind, merelyone of fancied or implied duplicity or deceit capable of easyexplanation; it would probably have had no lasting effect on any but adiseased mind; and, knowing him as well as I did, I could understandhow, with his reserved temperament and in his wounded pride, my fatherwould silently withdraw himself from his wife, nor deign to stoop so faras to seek an explanation. I could discern only too clearly that he hadtaken as proof of dissimulation some circumstance that would only appearsuspicious until the opportunity for explanation had passed away forever--hence the unhappiness of which I had gained an inkling during mynursery days--and that it was probably not until his heart had beensoftened by bereavement that he had coolly and dispassionately enoughreviewed the circumstances to arrive at the conclusion that he might,after all, have been mistaken. My father had written of his "doubts andmisgivings," and I felt confident that it was nothing in the world butthe tenacious hold of these doubts and misgivi
ngs upon his mind whichhad in the first instance made him so unfatherly in his treatment of me,and had now reduced him almost to a condition of insanity. It was thehorrible uncertainty which was killing him, soul and body--theuncertainty whether, on the one hand, his suspicions had been wellfounded; or whether, on the other hand, he had been hideously cruel andunjust to the one being who, above all others, ought to have been theobject of his most tender solicitude. _I_ had no doubt whatever uponthe subject; there was a conviction, amounting to absolute certainty inmy mind, that my unhappy father had all too easily allowed himself to bedeceived, and I there and then solemnly vowed and resolved thathenceforward it should be the great object and aim of my life todemonstrate this to him to the point of positive conviction. "Yes," Iexclaimed, springing to my feet with renewed hope, "I had already oneincentive--my love for Inez--to spur me forward to great and nobleachievements: I have now another--the justification of my dead mother'smemory; and henceforward these shall be the twin stars to guide meonward in my career. `For Love and Honour' shall be my motto; and, withthese two for guerdon, what may a man not dare and do?"

  An hour later saw me back in Kingston and comfortably ensconced in thebay-window of a private room in the--hotel, inditing a long epistle tomy father in collective reply to the entire budget I had that morningreceived from him. In this letter I summarily disposed of the mutinyand my subsequent adventures in half a dozen brief sentences, feelingthat such a matter could well wait until my father was in a morecongenial mood for the communication of particulars; devoting my entireenergies to the combating of those doubts which I now saw had been foryears insidiously sapping his happiness, ay, and his very intellect aswell I thanked him for taking me into his confidence, fully entered intomy reasons for regarding his suspicions as groundless, and besought himfirst to communicate to me fully all the facts of the case--which, Ipointed out to him, I ought to be made acquainted with, in order that Imight be enabled to take the fullest advantage of any opportunity whichmight offer, in my wanderings, to sift the matter to the bottom--andthen to dismiss all thought of it from his mind. This letter cost methree or four hours of severe study; but I contrived to bring it to asatisfactory conclusion at last; and then, with a considerably lighterheart, I began and finished a letter to Inez, in which, mingled with theusual lover-like protestations, I gave her full details of our adventurefrom the parting moment on the beach to our arrival in Port Royalharbour. I further told her that I found myself at that momentpossessed of a tidy little sum in prize-money, and that, inspired by mylove for her, I had resolved to fight my way to the top of the ladderwith the utmost possible expedition, with a great deal more of the samesort, which would no doubt appear the most arrant nonsense to _you_,dear reader, so I will not inflict it upon you.

  These two important tasks completed, I felt very much more easy in mymind, and was able to sit down to my dinner, which was shortlyafterwards served, with a tolerable appetite. Whilst I was engaged indiscussing the meal Courtenay came in. He informed me that he hadaccepted an invitation for himself and me to spend a week with MrThomson (the admiral's, and also our own, agent) at his country house,some fifteen miles off in the heart of the Blue Mountain range; andthat, as he had been unable to find me in time for us to go out therethat evening, our host had promised to send in a couple of saddle-horsesand a negro guide for our accommodation next morning, and that we shouldfind them awaiting us at Mr Thomson's store at nine o'clock. This wasgood news, for though I had pulled myself pretty well together after theshock occasioned by the perusal of my father's letters, I felt that alittle change and amusement would be most acceptable under thecircumstances.

  On the following morning, punctual to the moment, we presented ourselvesat the rendezvous; where we found, as had been promised, a couple ofexcellent saddle-horses awaiting us in charge of a grinning, happy-looking negro groom, who was mounted on a stout mule. Our guide, whoinformed us that his name was Pompey, promptly took charge of ourvalises, which he slung one on each side of his own saddle; we thenmounted, and without loss of time got under weigh for our destination.The first six or seven miles of our journey was uninteresting enough,but when we plunged into the mountain road and found ourselves environedon each side by a thick growth of luxuriant tropical vegetation, thefoliage and flowers of which bore all and more than all the hues of therainbow, whilst gorgeous butterflies, gaudy insects, and birds of themost brilliant plumage flitted hither and thither about us, with anoccasional opening in the dense growth revealing the most enchantinglittle views of the distant harbour and sea, or perchance a passingglimpse of some quiet vale, with its cane-fields, boiling-house, andresidential buildings, our journey became an enjoyable one indeed. Wereached our destination--an extensive and somewhat straggling one-storied building, with large lofty rooms shrouded in semi-darkness bythe "jalousies" or Venetian shutters which are used to carefully excludeevery ray of sunlight--about noon; and received a most cordial andhearty welcome from our host, a most hospitable Scotchman, and hisfamily, and here--not to unnecessarily spin out my yarn--we spent one ofthe most pleasant and enjoyable weeks I had up to that time passed. Thefamily, in addition to our host and his charming wife, consisted of ason and three daughters, who did everything that was possible to makeour visit pleasant, and they were a musical family throughout; so thatwhat with shooting, riding, visiting our somewhat distant neighbours,and receiving visits in return, when singing and dancing became theorder of the evening, our short holiday passed all too quickly. Thesemost excellent people were the first, as they were the warmest, friendsI ever made in the island; and when, late in the afternoon of the eighthday of our visit, Courtenay and I, with Pompey again for our pilot,mounted to return to Kingston, we received a very warm and evidentlysincere invitation from the whole family to make their house our homewhenever opportunity would afford. We slept at our hotel that night,and, bright and early next morning, made our way to Port Royal, wherealmost the first object which met our view was our new ship, the _Foam_,at anchor close under the stern of the flag-ship, with the hands onboard busy bending a new suit of canvas.

  Directing our boatman to run alongside, a minute or two later saw us ondeck shaking hands with Mr Neil O'Flaherty, our new commander, whoproved to be a regular typical Irishman--genial, high-spirited, and fullto overflowing with fun and humour. We took to him in a moment; and Ithink the favourable impression was mutual, for we never had the ghostof an unpleasantness with him during the short but eventful period whichwe served under him. We had been thoughtful enough to bring our chestsalong with us in the boat, so that we could join at once, if need were;these were accordingly hoisted up over the side, and the boatmandismissed; after which, at O'Flaherty's invitation, we descended to thecabin to cement our new friendship over a glass of wine, and to have achat about the cruise upon which we were about to enter, leaving theboatswain to superintend the operations on deck. The admiral, itseemed, had only given our new skipper a very general set ofinstructions, leaving him to arrange all details as to the armament andmanning of the schooner after a conference with us, as we were supposedto be the persons best posted on the question of these requirements.The whole of the morning was devoted to a full and particular recital onour part of everything which had transpired from the moment of ourboarding the _Pinta_ until that of our leaving her; after which weformed ourselves into a committee to discuss the outfit of the craft;and we now learned, somewhat to our chagrin, that Carera and his boat'screw, having duly turned up at Port Royal, had made such representationsto the admiral as had induced that distinguished officer to release themand the felucca forthwith, upon the understanding that they were toreturn at once to La Guayra, and were not to attempt to communicate,either directly or indirectly, with Merlani or any of the other pirategangs on the Cuban coast which it was proposed that we should attack.This, of course, was all very well; and would do no harm whatever _if_the rascals only adhered to their agreement; but of this I confess Ifelt somewhat doubtful. The mischief, however, if mischief th
ere were,was done, and it was therefore no use to worry about it; but I saw thatit would need even greater circumspection than ever in the carrying outof our difficult enterprise, and for that, heaven knows, the necessityought never to have been created.

  Our palaver over, we all adjourned to the deck, and from, thence intothe gig, which had been ordered alongside to convey us on shore to thedockyard. We took advantage of this opportunity to make a thoroughinspection of the outward appearance of the craft which was to be ourfuture home; and, so far as I at least was concerned, I cannot say thatthe impression produced was an altogether satisfactory one. In thefirst place, the _Foam_ was, to my mind, rather small for the work shehad to do, measuring only eighty tons register. She was, it is true, avery fine beamy little vessel for her size, of shallow draught of water,with sides as round as an apple, and beautifully moulded; indeed, Ijudged, from the look of her, that she had evidently been speciallybuilt for privateering purposes, her carrying capacity being very small,whilst no effort seemed to have been spared to render her exceedinglyfast and stiff under her canvas. She was very strongly built of oak,with massive timbers, copper fastened throughout, and heavily copperedup to her bends; so that, as far as her hull was concerned, there wasnot much, beyond its size, to find fault with. But, in the matter ofspars and rigging, those heathens the dockyard riggers had completelyruined her, as O'Flaherty admitted, almost with tears in his eyes. Herlower masts had been left in her intact and untouched, as they had beenwhen she first fell into our hands, and two handsomer sticks I neversaw; but, in place of the tall slim willowy topmasts which she thencarried, they had sent up a couple of heavy, clumsy sticks which, withthe yards on her foremast, were stout enough for a vessel of at leasttwice her tonnage. And, not content with this, they had furtherhampered the poor little craft with a regular maze of heavy shrouds,stays, and back-stays, all of which had been set up until they were astaut as harp-strings; so that we had only too much reason to fear that,in a fresh breeze and a choppy sea, we should find the little craftcramped and her sailing powers completely spoiled. There was onecomfort, however, the rigging was all new; and we trusted that a fewhours at sea would stretch it sufficiently to restore in some measurethe spring and play of her spars; but the heavy top-hamper with whichshe was burdened was an evil which could only be cured in one way; and Iresolved that it _should_ be cured as soon as we got out of harbour, ifI could bring O'Flaherty to my way of thinking.

  Our inspection completed, we pulled ashore to the dockyard, whereO'Flaherty made out and handed in his requisition for such furtherstores as we considered would be necessary; and from thence we wendedour way to the gun wharf, where arrangements were made for thesubstitution of six brass long sixes in place of the nine-poundcarronades with which it had been proposed to arm the little hooker.These, with the long eighteen which was already mounted on a pivot onthe forecastle, would, we considered, make us as fit to cope with thepirates as we could hope to be in so small a craft. The guns camealongside and were hoisted in that same afternoon; and the following daywitnessed the completion of our preparations for sea, including theshipping of our ammunition and the filling up of our water-tanks,etcetera. O'Flaherty was able to report himself ready for sea late thatafternoon, upon which all three of us were invited on board the _Mars_to dine with the admiral. The captain of the _Emerald_ frigate, whichhad arrived the previous day, and his son, a midshipman belonging to thesame ship, were also among the guests; and, in the latter, I thought Irecognised the young gentleman who had amused himself by popping away atme with a musket during the pursuit of the _Pinta_ through the Boca deGuajaba. I was not quite certain about the matter at first; but theconversation which ensued upon the admiral making mention of the_Foam's_ destination and mission soon convinced me that I was correct inmy surmise. The _Emerald_, it then turned out, was the identicalfrigate from which we had so narrowly escaped; and Captain Fanshawe atonce waxed eloquent upon the unparalleled audacity and effrontery of theCuban pirates, and the urgent necessity for their prompt suppression,instancing the escape of the _Pinta_ as a case in point. His son, too,as one of the actual participators in the pursuit, had a great deal tosay upon the subject, and seemed somewhat disposed to draw the long-bowwhen narrating his own share of the exploit, which tendency I thought itonly kind to nip in the bud by giving our version of the affair. Bothfather and son at first appeared to be considerably nettled when theyfound that it was to us they owed their discomfiture; but their bettersense speedily prevailed, and they joined as heartily as the rest in thelaugh against themselves. On parting at the gangway that night,however, as we prepared to leave for our respective vessels, youngFanshawe laughingly remarked, as he gave our hands a cordial farewellgrip:

  "You have the laugh on your side at present, Lascelles; but I warn youthat you will not get off so easily the next time I have an opportunityof taking a pot-shot at you."

  We reached the _Foam_ about midnight; and next morning at daybreakweighed and worked out of the roadstead with the first of the sea-breeze, nipping sharp round the point as soon as we could weather it andkeeping close along to windward of the Palisades until we were abreastof Plum Point; when, being fairly clear of the shoals, we braced sharpup for Yallah's Point. Once abreast of this, we were enabled to checkour weather-braces a trifle and ease off a foot or two of the main-sheet, when away we went for Morant Point through as nasty a shortchoppy sea as it has ever been my luck to encounter; the schoonerjerking viciously into it and sending the spray flying from her weatherbow right aft into the body of the mainsail and out over the leequarter. But the discomfort to which we were thus subjected was amplycompensated for by the magnificent panorama of wooded mountain, brawlingstream, sweeping bay, landlocked inlet, frowning cliff, and white sandybeach, as we skirted the shores of this most beautiful island ofJamaica.