by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER X
"JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE, MOTHER"
Morris Woolridge did not make use of any military forms, for he did notclaim to understand them; but he simply came on the forecastle himself,followed by the other four of his party; for Louis had joined it whendirected to do so by his superior. Captain Scott took the rifle he hadreserved for his own use from the pilot-house. Those who had beenwaiting for the order had only to move a few feet, and not a second ofdelay had been made.
A boat large enough to contain six men, as did the pirate's, does notovercome its inertia and shoot ahead forty feet without any apparentlapse of time, like a bullet shot from a rifle. Morris and his men werein position before the boat had made ten feet.
Morris gave no orders according to the manual of the soldier, but heranged his command on the forecastle, close to the starboard rail. Theguns were all loaded, and every one of the party had had some experiencein the use of the weapon, so that none of them had to be taught how tofire it.
"Aim at the boat," said the first officer in a quiet tone; and all therifles were directed to the enemy.
It was a fact which came out afterwards, that every one of them aimedat Mazagan, not only because he was the most prominent mark as he stoodin the standing-room, but he was regarded as the biggest villain of theassailants, and they could shoot him with less compunction than theMoors in his train. He was the representative of the villain behind thescenes, and all the mischief seemed to come out of him.
"Stop where you are, or I shall order my men to fire!" shouted CaptainScott, as soon as the rifles were all aimed at the boat. "Say that inArabic to them, Don!"
The engineer translated the warning for the benefit of those who wereback to the Maud, and perhaps did not see the weapons that were pointedat the boat. But Mazagan could see the six rifles, including the one inthe hands of the captain; and before Don could finish his Arabicsentence, he had given the order to cease rowing. At least it wassupposed he had done so, for the Moors dropped their oars, some of theminto the water.
The boat's crew were in a panic without any doubt, and Captain Scott wasinclined to feel that "the coon had come down." Mazagan spoke to them ina savage tone, as though he was reproving them for their cowardice; butthey plainly did not relish the idea of being shot down without beingable to make any resistance, for there was nothing that looked like amusket to be seen in the boat.
"STOP WHERE YOU ARE OR I SHALL ORDER MY MEN TO FIRE!"Page 92.]
After his recent experience in Cairo, probably Captain Mazagan wasprovided with a revolver; but he did not exhibit it, and in the face ofhalf a dozen breech-loaders, capable of sending three dozen bullets intothe boat, it would be a piece of useless bravado. It could be seen onthe forecastle of the Maud that the pirate's crew were demoralized. TheMohammedans are said to be fatalists; and in what they regard as a holycause they have no fear of death, for they believe it bears themdirectly to paradise. But some of them must have had sense enough tounderstand that they were engaged in piracy, and that their heaven didnot open wide its gates to those who fell in the commission of crime.
The boat lost its headway, and became motionless at a distance of twentyfeet from the Maud, with the rifles still pointed at its crew. If thepirate chief had a revolver in his pocket, this was the time to use it;but he did not even produce it. He could not help seeing that if hefired a shot, it would immediately cause half a dozen bullets to be sentinto the boat; and he had good reason to believe that he would himselfbe the first victim.
"What are you about?" he demanded in angry tones.
"About to fire if you come any nearer," replied Captain Scott.
"Can't you see that we are unarmed? Do you mean to shoot us down likedogs?"
"That depends upon you, Captain Mazagan. But you are so very politewhile you act as a pirate, that I think it is proper for me to say,with your permission, that my crew can fire thirty-six balls withoutstopping to load again. If you persist in this business, not one of yournumber will ever get on board of the Fatime again," added the captain ofthe Maud, as decided as before; but the politeness of the pirate andLouis had amused him at such a time, and he was disposed to imitatethem.
"If you mean to murder us all, I cannot help myself just now," howledMazagan, furiously mad at the disappointment which had suddenlyovertaken him; and he seemed like an angry child who had been denied apiece of candy, and resented it with tears and yells.
"All you have to do is to pull back to your ship, and we shall not takethe trouble to follow you," answered Scott. "This difficulty is not ofour seeking."
"I came to you peaceably, unarmed, with a fair proposition"--
"A most impudent and presumptuous proposition!" shouted Captain Scott.
"I have been respectful and polite to you, and you threaten to shoot meand my men."
"You have plainly announced your intention to take Mr. Belgrave on boardof your steamer by force. Do you call that respectful and polite?"
"But I gave him a polite invitation to take possession of my cabinwithout the use of force, and he declined to accept it," argued CaptainMazagan, somewhat mollified in his tone and manner.
"Which he had a perfect right to do. You proposed to rob him of the sumof two hundred thousand francs; and you invite him to become a prisoneron board of your ship in the capacity of a hostage for the payment ofthe money of which you propose to rob him."
"What is the use of arguing the question with him, Captain Scott?"interposed Louis, who retained his place in the ranks. "His position isabsurd, and the fellow is a fool as well as a knave."
"I have distinctly stated that my claim is to be indemnification for theinjury done to my noble master," replied the pirate, in reply to Scott'slast remark. "I do not propose to rob you."
"Call it blackmail then, if you please."
"I do not know what that means."
"Mr. Belgrave has nothing to do with your claim. He has not insulted orassaulted your ignoble master; and, in United States dialect, you 'havetaken the wrong pig by the ear.' To come back to first principles, Ihave nothing more to say," added Captain Scott, as he turned his back tothe claimant.
"I have something more to say," returned Mazagan, bristling up withanger again. "My boat is unarmed; but I have not come up here withoutbeing prepared to meet you. I wish to be fair and just, and I will statethe truth to you."
"I don't believe you know how to do it!" exclaimed Scott.
"I would not irritate him any more than is necessary," said Louis in awhisper.
"I have lost all patience with him," replied the captain; and his mannerindicated that he spoke the truth.
"You will find before you have done with me that I can and do speak thetruth, Captain Scott. When I made my first attempt to obtainsatisfaction for my noble master in the Archipelago, I failed becauseyour large ship was armed with cannon, and she disabled my felucca. Whenmy noble master offered me the command of the Fatime, to be used incarrying out his wishes, I stipulated that she should be armed with twotwelve-pounders, with a supply of ammunition. I may add that I haveserved as an officer in the Turkish navy. Now, Captain Scott, I havenothing more to say from this boat, and the next time I speak it will bewith twelve-pounders; and my last word is that the Fatime will not goout of this bay till she leaves with Mr. Belgrave on board of her."
"Adieu!" shouted Scott in mocking tones.
"Do you suppose the villain spoke the truth, Captain?" asked Louis.
"Very likely he did, though he is not in the habit of doing so," repliedScott, laughing; but he was accustomed to put the best face upon anawkward situation.
The boat was pulling away from the Maud, and the danger of an attack wasremoved for the present. Mazagan appeared to be urging his men to pullwith all their might, and they were doing so. He evidently had a purposebefore him, born of his failure to accomplish anything by his visit tothe Maud.
It seemed to be incredible that this man could be sane and sensible tomake such a proposition as he had put forwa
rd; and doubtless it was doneto clothe piracy in a more seemly garb than it usually wears. It wassimply ridiculous on the face of it, with no imaginable foundation forthe preposterous claim advanced.
Mazagan went on board of his steamer, and a few minutes later a cloud ofblack smoke began to pour out of her smokestack. Captain Scott hadalready ordered Felipe to put his furnaces in order for quick time. Atthe indication given of the firing up of the enemy, he went to theengine-room himself. Don was at work on the fires; and he gave Felipedirections to get up all the steam possible, and to prepare to run theMaud at the greatest speed she had ever attained.
Then he went to the pilot-house, and did not appear to be inclined totalk even with Louis. He went to work upon the chart which includedKhrysoko Bay, called Pifanio on some maps, and studied intently for aconsiderable time. It was clear to all on deck that he had something inhis head, and it was believed that he was preparing to meet the boastfulthreats of Captain Mazagan.
"Well, my darling, what is to be the next scene in the comedy?" askedFelix, as he seated himself by Louis in the bow.
"I don't know, Felix; but whatever it may be, Captain Scott is evidentlygetting ready to play his part in it," replied Louis, still watching thecaptain through the open front windows of the pilot-house.
"They are making the steam sizzle below, and I suppose the captain hasordered this to be done. By the powers of mud! Do you mind that?"exclaimed the Milesian, pointing to the Fatime.
"What of her?"
"Don't you see that she has a gun run out on her port side? She had justthrown open the port when I spoke," replied Felix.
"Then the pirate spoke the truth for once," added Louis.
"He said the vessel had been armed with two twelve-pounders, and we havenot even one. I suppose she has the other on the starboard side. If shehad half a dozen of those playthings she might do something."
"She may do a deal of mischief with two of them if they are wellhandled," suggested Louis.
"She can't use but one of them at once, and she will have to comeentirely about before she can do anything with the other. Hertop-gallant forecastle isn't big enough for them, as theGuardian-Mother's is for hers. I am not much scared yet, my darling."
"Neither am I, Flix; but I think this is about the tightest place wehave been in since we came across the Atlantic."
"Captain Scott will arrange the affair all right. If I were asporting-man, I would bet on him yet," protested Felix.
"But while we are not scared, you know that it is possible for one ofthose guns to put a shot through our boiler, rip out the engine, or teara big hole in the plates of the Maud," added Louis.
"We can plug the shot-holes--I believe that is what they call it."
"We have not a single one of the old man-of-war's-men of theGuardian-Mother on board who can tell us what to do in case ofaccident."
"But we won't croak, whatever else we do. If we are to be sent to thebottom of this bay, we will go down with the best grace possible," addedFelix, who was certainly in as good humor as ever he was, in spite ofthe brass gun that protruded at the side of the Fatime. "Do you supposeCaptain Scott knows about that twelve-pounder?"
"He appears to be very busy; and I doubt if he has looked at the enemysince he went into the pilot-house," replied Louis. "I think I hadbetter tell him that Mazagan spoke the truth about his guns."
The young men might well have been excused if they had been intimidatedat the situation as it was now presented to them. That the Maud was tobe the mark for the cannon of the enemy looked like a settled fact; butno one seemed to be at all excited or nervous. It is true that all ofthem had been in several fights. They had fought the fishermen in theCanaries, the smugglers at Gibraltar, the Greek pirates in theArchipelago, and the brigands at Zante. They had had some experience ofdanger, but they had never come into the presence of great guns before.They were to face these on the present occasion; at least, they wereprepared to do so.
Before Louis could reach the pilot-house, he saw the captain standing atthe wheel, and heard one bell in the engine-room on the gong. It wasevident that he was ready to carry out his plan, whatever it was; for hewas not expected to announce it. Felix observed the Fatime and hertwelve-pounder, whistling, "Just before the Battle, Mother."