by Howard Pyle
Chapter III. WITH THE BUCCANEERS
Being an Account of Certain Adventures that Befell Henry Mostyn UnderCapt. H. Morgan in the Year 1665-66
I.
ALTHOUGH this narration has more particularly to do with the taking ofthe Spanish vice admiral in the harbor of Porto Bello, and of the rescuetherefrom of Le Sieur Simon, his wife and daughter (the adventureof which was successfully achieved by Captain Morgan, the famousbuccaneer), we shall, nevertheless, premise something of the earlierhistory of Master Harry Mostyn, whom you may, if you please, consider asthe hero of the several circumstances recounted in these pages.
In the year 1664 our hero's father embarked from Portsmouth, in England,for the Barbados, where he owned a considerable sugar plantation.Thither to those parts of America he transported with himself his wholefamily, of whom our Master Harry was the fifth of eight children--agreat lusty fellow as little fitted for the Church (for which he wasdesigned) as could be. At the time of this story, though not abovesixteen years old, Master Harry Mostyn was as big and well-grown as manya man of twenty, and of such a reckless and dare-devil spirit that noadventure was too dangerous or too mischievous for him to embark upon.
At this time there was a deal of talk in those parts of the Americasconcerning Captain Morgan, and the prodigious successes he was havingpirating against the Spaniards.
This man had once been an indentured servant with Mr. Rolls, a sugarfactor at the Barbados. Having served out his time, and being of lawlessdisposition, possessing also a prodigious appetite for adventure, hejoined with others of his kidney, and, purchasing a caravel of threeguns, embarked fairly upon that career of piracy the most successfulthat ever was heard of in the world.
Master Harry had known this man very well while he was still with Mr.Rolls, serving as a clerk at that gentleman's sugar wharf, a tall,broad-shouldered, strapping fellow, with red cheeks, and thick red lips,and rolling blue eyes, and hair as red as any chestnut. Many knew himfor a bold, gruff-spoken man, but no one at that time suspected that hehad it in him to become so famous and renowned as he afterward grew tobe.
The fame of his exploits had been the talk of those parts for above atwelvemonth, when, in the latter part of the year 1665, Captain Morgan,having made a very successful expedition against the Spaniards into theGulf of Campeche--where he took several important purchases fromthe plate fleet--came to the Barbados, there to fit out another suchventure, and to enlist recruits.
He and certain other adventurers had purchased a vessel of some fivehundred tons, which they proposed to convert into a pirate by cuttingportholes for cannon, and running three or four carronades acrossher main deck. The name of this ship, be it mentioned, was the GoodSamaritan, as ill-fitting a name as could be for such a craft, which,instead of being designed for the healing of wounds, was intended toinflict such devastation as those wicked men proposed.
Here was a piece of mischief exactly fitted to our hero's tastes;wherefore, having made up a bundle of clothes, and with not above ashilling in his pocket, he made an excursion into the town to seekfor Captain Morgan. There he found the great pirate established at anordinary, with a little court of ragamuffins and swashbucklers gatheredabout him, all talking very loud, and drinking healths in raw rum asthough it were sugared water.
And what a fine figure our buccaneer had grown, to be sure! Howdifferent from the poor, humble clerk upon the sugar wharf! What a dealof gold braid! What a fine, silver-hilled Spanish sword! What a gayvelvet sling, hung with three silver-mounted pistols! If Master Harry'smind had not been made up before, to be sure such a spectacle of glorywould have determined it.
This figure of war our hero asked to step aside with him, and when theyhad come into a corner, proposed to the other what he intended, and thathe had a mind to enlist as a gentleman adventurer upon this expedition.Upon this our rogue of a buccaneer captain burst out a-laughing, andfetching Master Harry a great thump upon the back, swore roundly that hewould make a man of him, and that it was a pity to make a parson out ofso good a piece of stuff.
Nor was Captain Morgan less good than his word, for when the GoodSamaritan set sail with a favoring wind for the island of Jamaica,Master Harry found himself established as one of the adventurers aboard.
II
Could you but have seen the town of Port Royal as it appeared in theyear 1665 you would have beheld a sight very well worth while lookingupon. There were no fine houses at that time, and no great countinghouses built of brick, such as you may find nowadays, but a crowd ofboard and wattled huts huddled along the streets, and all so gay withflags and bits of color that Vanity Fair itself could not have beengayer. To this place came all the pirates and buccaneers that infestedthose parts, and men shouted and swore and gambled, and poured out moneylike water, and then maybe wound up their merrymaking by dying of fever.For the sky in these torrid latitudes is all full of clouds overhead,and as hot as any blanket, and when the sun shone forth it streamed downupon the smoking sands so that the houses were ovens and the streetswere furnaces; so it was little wonder that men died like rats in ahole. But little they appeared to care for that; so that everywhere youmight behold a multitude of painted women and Jews and merchants andpirates, gaudy with red scarfs and gold braid and all sorts of odds andends of foolish finery, all fighting and gambling and bartering for thatill-gotten treasure of the be-robbed Spaniard.
Here, arriving, Captain Morgan found a hearty welcome, and a messagefrom the governor awaiting him, the message bidding him attend HisExcellency upon the earliest occasion that offered. Whereupon, takingour hero (of whom he had grown prodigiously fond) along with him, ourpirate went, without any loss of time, to visit Sir Thomas Modiford, whowas then the royal governor of all this devil's brew of wickedness.
They found His Excellency seated in a great easy-chair, under the shadowof a slatted veranda, the floor whereof was paved with brick. Hewas clad, for the sake of coolness, only in his shirt, breeches, andstockings, and he wore slippers on his feet. He was smoking a greatcigarro of tobacco, and a goblet of lime juice and water and rum stoodat his elbow on a table. Here, out of the glare of the heat, it was allvery cool and pleasant, with a sea breeze blowing violently in throughthe slats, setting them a-rattling now and then, and stirring SirThomas's long hair, which he had pushed back for the sake of coolness.
The purport of this interview, I may tell you, concerned the rescue ofone Le Sieur Simon, who, together with his wife and daughter, was heldcaptive by the Spaniards.
This gentleman adventurer (Le Sieur Simon) had, a few years before, beenset up by the buccaneers as governor of the island of Santa Catharina.This place, though well fortified by the Spaniards, the buccaneershad seized upon, establishing themselves thereon, and so infesting thecommerce of those seas that no Spanish fleet was safe from them. At lastthe Spaniards, no longer able to endure these assaults against theircommerce, sent a great force against the freebooters to drive them outof their island stronghold. This they did, retaking Santa Catharina,together with its governor, his wife, and daughter, as well as the wholegarrison of buccaneers.
This garrison was sent by their conquerors, some to the galleys, someto the mines, some to no man knows where. The governor himself--Le SieurSimon--was to be sent to Spain, there to stand his trial for piracy.
The news of all this, I may tell you, had only just been received inJamaica, having been brought thither by a Spanish captain, one DonRoderiguez Sylvia, who was, besides, the bearer of dispatches to theSpanish authorities relating the whole affair.
Such, in fine, was the purport of this interview, and as our heroand his captain walked back together from the governor's house to theordinary where they had taken up their inn, the buccaneer assured hiscompanion that he purposed to obtain those dispatches from the Spanishcaptain that very afternoon, even if he had to use force to seize them.
All this, you are to understand, was undertaken only because of thefriendship that the governor and Captain Morgan entertained for Le SieurSimon. And, indeed
, it was wonderful how honest and how faithful werethese wicked men in their dealings with one another. For you must knowthat Governor Modiford and Le Sieur Simon and the buccaneers were all ofone kidney--all taking a share in the piracies of those times, and allholding by one another as though they were the honestest men in theworld. Hence it was they were all so determined to rescue Le Sieur Simonfrom the Spaniards.
III
Having reached his ordinary after his interview with the governor,Captain Morgan found there a number of his companions, such as usuallygathered at that place to be in attendance upon him--some, thosebelonging to the Good Samaritan; others, those who hoped to obtainbenefits from him; others, those ragamuffins who gathered around himbecause he was famous, and because it pleased them to be of his courtand to be called his followers. For nearly always your successful piratehad such a little court surrounding him.
Finding a dozen or more of these rascals gathered there, Captain Morganinformed them of his present purpose that he was going to find theSpanish captain to demand his papers of him, and calling upon them toaccompany him.
With this following at his heels, our buccaneer started off down thestreet, his lieutenant, a Cornishman named Bartholomew Davis, upon onehand and our hero upon the other. So they paraded the streets for thebest part of an hour before they found the Spanish captain. For whetherhe had got wind that Captain Morgan was searching for him, or whether,finding himself in a place so full of his enemies, he had buried himselfin some place of hiding, it is certain that the buccaneers had traversedpretty nearly the whole town before they discovered that he was lyingat a certain auberge kept by a Portuguese Jew. Thither they went, andthither Captain Morgan entered with the utmost coolness and composure ofdemeanor, his followers crowding noisily in at his heels.
The space within was very dark, being lighted only by the doorway and bytwo large slatted windows or openings in the front.
In this dark, hot place not over-roomy at the best--were gathered twelveor fifteen villainous-appearing men, sitting at tables and drinkingtogether, waited upon by the Jew and his wife. Our hero had no troublein discovering which of this lot of men was Captain Sylvia, for notonly did Captain Morgan direct his glance full of war upon him, but theSpaniard was clad with more particularity and with more show of finerythan any of the others who were there.
Him Captain Morgan approached and demanded his papers, whereunto theother replied with such a jabber of Spanish and English that no mancould have understood what he said. To this Captain Morgan in turnreplied that he must have those papers, no matter what it might cost himto obtain them, and thereupon drew a pistol from his sling and presentedit at the other's head.
At this threatening action the innkeeper's wife fell a-screaming, andthe Jew, as in a frenzy, besought them not to tear the house down abouthis ears.
Our hero could hardly tell what followed, only that all of a suddenthere was a prodigious uproar of combat. Knives flashed everywhere,and then a pistol was fired so close to his head that he stood like onestunned, hearing some one crying out in a loud voice, but not knowingwhether it was a friend or a foe who had been shot. Then another pistolshot so deafened what was left of Master Harry's hearing that his earsrang for above an hour afterward. By this time the whole place wasfull of gunpowder smoke, and there was the sound of blows and oaths andoutcrying and the clashing of knives.
As Master Harry, who had no great stomach for such a combat, and no veryparticular interest in the quarrel, was making for the door, a littlePortuguese, as withered and as nimble as an ape, came ducking under thetable and plunged at his stomach with a great long knife, which, hadit effected its object, would surely have ended his adventures then andthere. Finding himself in such danger, Master Harry snatched up a heavychair, and, flinging it at his enemy, who was preparing for anotherattack, he fairly ran for it out of the door, expecting every instant tofeel the thrust of the blade betwixt his ribs.
A considerable crowd had gathered outside, and others, hearing theuproar, were coming running to join them. With these our hero stood,trembling like a leaf, and with cold chills running up and down his backlike water at the narrow escape from the danger that had threatened him.
Nor shall you think him a coward, for you must remember he was hardlysixteen years old at the time, and that this was the first affair of thesort he had encountered. Afterward, as you shall learn, he showed thathe could exhibit courage enough at a pinch.
While he stood there, endeavoring to recover his composure, the whilethe tumult continued within, suddenly two men came running almosttogether out of the door, a crowd of the combatants at their heels. Thefirst of these men was Captain Sylvia; the other, who was pursuing him,was Captain Morgan.
As the crowd about the door parted before the sudden appearing of these,the Spanish captain, perceiving, as he supposed, a way of escape openedto him, darted across the street with incredible swiftness toward analleyway upon the other side. Upon this, seeing his prey like to getaway from him, Captain Morgan snatched a pistol out of his sling, andresting it for an instant across his arm, fired at the flying Spaniard,and that with so true an aim that, though the street was now full ofpeople, the other went tumbling over and over all of a heap in thekennel, where he lay, after a twitch or two, as still as a log.
At the sound of the shot and the fall of the man the crowd scatteredupon all sides, yelling and screaming, and the street being thus prettyclear, Captain Morgan ran across the way to where his victim lay, hissmoking pistol still in his hand, and our hero following close at hisheels.
Our poor Harry had never before beheld a man killed thus in an instantwho a moment before had been so full of life and activity, for whenCaptain Morgan turned the body over upon its back he could perceive at aglance, little as he knew of such matters, that the man was stone-dead.And, indeed, it was a dreadful sight for him who was hardly more thana child. He stood rooted for he knew not how long, staring down at thedead face with twitching fingers and shuddering limbs. Meantime a greatcrowd was gathering about them again. As for Captain Morgan, he wentabout his work with the utmost coolness and deliberation imaginable,unbuttoning the waistcoat and the shirt of the man he had murdered withfingers that neither twitched nor shook. There were a gold cross anda bunch of silver medals hung by a whipcord about the neck of the deadman. This Captain Morgan broke away with a snap, reaching the jinglingbaubles to Harry, who took them in his nerveless hand and fingers thathe could hardly close upon what they held.
The papers Captain Morgan found in a wallet in an inner breast pocket ofthe Spaniard's waistcoat. These he examined one by one, and finding themto his satisfaction, tied them up again, and slipped the wallet and itscontents into his own pocket.
Then for the first time he appeared to observe Master Harry, who,indeed, must have been standing, the perfect picture of horror anddismay. Whereupon, bursting out a-laughing, and slipping the pistol hehad used back into its sling again, he fetched poor Harry a great slapupon the back, bidding him be a man, for that he would see many suchsights as this.
But indeed, it was no laughing matter for poor Master Harry, for it wasmany a day before his imagination could rid itself of the image of thedead Spaniard's face; and as he walked away down the street with hiscompanions, leaving the crowd behind them, and the dead body where itlay for its friends to look after, his ears humming and ringing fromthe deafening noise of the pistol shots fired in the close room, and thesweat trickling down his face in drops, he knew not whether all thathad passed had been real, or whether it was a dream from which he mightpresently awaken.
IV
The papers Captain Morgan had thus seized upon as the fruit of themurder he had committed must have been as perfectly satisfactory to himas could be, for having paid a second visit that evening to GovernorModiford, the pirate lifted anchor the next morning and made sail towardthe Gulf of Darien. There, after cruising about in those waters forabout a fortnight without falling in with a vessel of any sort, at theend of that time they overhauled a carav
el bound from Porto Bello toCartagena, which vessel they took, and finding her loaded with nothingbetter than raw hides, scuttled and sank her, being then about twentyleagues from the main of Cartagena. From the captain of this vesselthey learned that the plate fleet was then lying in the harbor of PortoBello, not yet having set sail thence, but waiting for the change of thewinds before embarking for Spain. Besides this, which was a good dealmore to their purpose, the Spaniards told the pirates that the SieurSimon, his wife, and daughter were confined aboard the vice admiral ofthat fleet, and that the name of the vice admiral was the Santa Maria yValladolid.
So soon as Captain Morgan had obtained the information he desired hedirected his course straight for the Bay of Santo Blaso, where he mightlie safely within the cape of that name without any danger of discovery(that part of the mainland being entirely uninhabited) and yet be withintwenty or twenty-five leagues of Porto Bello.
Having come safely to this anchorage, he at once declared his intentionsto his companions, which were as follows:
That it was entirely impossible for them to hope to sail their vesselinto the harbor of Porto Bello, and to attack the Spanish vice admiralwhere he lay in the midst of the armed flota; wherefore, if anything wasto be accomplished, it must be undertaken by some subtle design ratherthan by open-handed boldness. Having so prefaced what he had to say, henow declared that it was his purpose to take one of the ship's boats andto go in that to Porto Bello, trusting for some opportunity to occur toaid him either in the accomplishment of his aims or in the gaining ofsome further information. Having thus delivered himself, he invited anywho dared to do so to volunteer for the expedition, telling them plainlythat he would constrain no man to go against his will, for that at bestit was a desperate enterprise, possessing only the recommendation thatin its achievement the few who undertook it would gain great renown, andperhaps a very considerable booty.
And such was the incredible influence of this bold man over hiscompanions, and such was their confidence in his skill and cunning, thatnot above a dozen of all those aboard hung back from the undertaking,but nearly every man desired to be taken.
Of these volunteers Captain Morgan chose twenty--among others our MasterHarry--and having arranged with his lieutenant that if nothing was heardfrom the expedition at the end of three days he should sail for Jamaicato await news, he embarked upon that enterprise, which, though neverheretofore published, was perhaps the boldest and the most desperate ofall those that have since made his name so famous. For what could be amore unparalleled undertaking than for a little open boat, containingbut twenty men, to enter the harbor of the third strongest fortress ofthe Spanish mainland with the intention of cutting out the Spanish viceadmiral from the midst of a whole fleet of powerfully armed vessels, andhow many men in all the world do you suppose would venture such a thing?
But there is this to be said of that great buccaneer: that if heundertook enterprises so desperate as this, he yet laid his plansso well that they never went altogether amiss. Moreover, the verydesperation of his successes was of such a nature that no man couldsuspect that he would dare to undertake such things, and accordingly hisenemies were never prepared to guard against his attacks. Aye, had hebut worn the king's colors and served under the rules of honest war, hemight have become as great and as renowned as Admiral Blake himself.
But all that is neither here nor there; what I have to tell you now isthat Captain Morgan in this open boat with his twenty mates reached theCape of Salmedina toward the fall of day. Arriving within view of theharbor they discovered the plate fleet at anchor, with two men-of-warand an armed galley riding as a guard at the mouth of the harbor, scarcehalf a league distant from the other ships. Having spied the fleet inthis posture, the pirates presently pulled down their sails and rowedalong the coast, feigning to be a Spanish vessel from Nombre de Dios. Sohugging the shore, they came boldly within the harbor, upon the oppositeside of which you might see the fortress a considerable distance away.
Being now come so near to the consummation of their adventure, CaptainMorgan required every man to make an oath to stand by him to the last,whereunto our hero swore as heartily as any man aboard, although hisheart, I must needs confess, was beating at a great rate at the approachof what was to happen. Having thus received the oaths of all hisfollowers, Captain Morgan commanded the surgeon of the expedition that,when the order was given, he, the medico, was to bore six holes in theboat, so that, it sinking under them, they might all be compelled topush forward, with no chance of retreat. And such was the ascendancy ofthis man over his followers, and such was their awe of him, that not oneof them uttered even so much as a murmur, though what he had commandedthe surgeon to do pledged them either to victory or to death, with nochance to choose between. Nor did the surgeon question the orders he hadreceived, much less did he dream of disobeying them.
By now it had fallen pretty dusk, whereupon, spying two fishermen in acanoe at a little distance, Captain Morgan demanded of them in Spanishwhich vessel of those at anchor in the harbor was the vice admiral, forthat he had dispatches for the captain thereof. Whereupon the fishermen,suspecting nothing, pointed to them a galleon of great size riding atanchor not half a league distant.
Toward this vessel accordingly the pirates directed their course, andwhen they had come pretty nigh, Captain Morgan called upon the surgeonthat now it was time for him to perform the duty that had been laid uponhim. Whereupon the other did as he was ordered, and that so thoroughlythat the water presently came gushing into the boat in great streams,whereat all hands pulled for the galleon as though every next moment wasto be their last.
And what do you suppose were our hero's emotions at this time? Like allin the boat, his awe of Captain Morgan was so great that I do believe hewould rather have gone to the bottom than have questioned his command,even when it was to scuttle the boat. Nevertheless, when he felt thecold water gushing about his feet (for he had taken off his shoes andstockings) he became possessed with such a fear of being drowned thateven the Spanish galleon had no terrors for him if he could only feelthe solid planks thereof beneath his feet.
Indeed, all the crew appeared to be possessed of a like dismay, for theypulled at the oars with such an incredible force that they were underthe quarter of the galleon before the boat was half filled with water.
Here, as they approached, it then being pretty dark and the moon notyet having risen, the watch upon the deck hailed them, whereupon CaptainMorgan called out in Spanish that he was Capt. Alvarez Mendazo, and thathe brought dispatches for the vice admiral.
But at that moment, the boat being now so full of water as to belogged, it suddenly tilted upon one side as though to sink beneath them,whereupon all hands, without further orders, went scrambling up theside, as nimble as so many monkeys, each armed with a pistol in one handand a cutlass in the other, and so were upon deck before the watch couldcollect his wits to utter any outcry or to give any other alarm than tocry out, "Jesu bless us! who are these?" at which words somebody knockedhim down with the butt of a pistol, though who it was our hero could nottell in the darkness and the hurry.
Before any of those upon deck could recover from their alarm or thosefrom below come up upon deck, a part of the pirates, under the carpenterand the surgeon, had run to the gun room and had taken possession of thearms, while Captain Morgan, with Master Harry and a Portuguese calledMurillo Braziliano, had flown with the speed of the wind into the greatcabin.
Here they found the captain of the vice admiral playing at cardswith the Sieur Simon and a friend, Madam Simon and her daughter beingpresent.
Captain Morgan instantly set his pistol at the breast of the Spanishcaptain, swearing with a most horrible fierce countenance that if hespake a word or made any outcry he was a dead man. As for our hero,having now got his hand into the game, he performed the same service forthe Spaniard's friend, declaring he would shoot him dead if he openedhis lips or lifted so much as a single finger.
All this while the ladies, not comprehending wh
at had occurred, had satas mute as stones; but now having so far recovered themselves as to finda voice, the younger of the two fell to screaming, at which the SieurSimon called out to her to be still, for these were friends who had cometo help them, and not enemies who had come to harm them.
All this, you are to understand, occupied only a little while, for inless than a minute three or four of the pirates had come into the cabin,who, together with the Portuguese, proceeded at once to bind thetwo Spaniards hand and foot, and to gag them. This being done to ourbuccaneer's satisfaction, and the Spanish captain being stretched outin the corner of the cabin, he instantly cleared his countenance of itsterrors, and bursting forth into a great loud laugh, clapped his handto the Sieur Simon's, which he wrung with the best will in the world.Having done this, and being in a fine humor after this his firstsuccess, he turned to the two ladies. "And this, ladies," said he,taking our hero by the hand and presenting him, "is a young gentlemanwho has embarked with me to learn the trade of piracy. I recommend himto your politeness."
Think what a confusion this threw our Master Harry into, to be sure,who at his best was never easy in the company of strange ladies! You maysuppose what must have been his emotions to find himself thus introducedto the attention of Madam Simon and her daughter, being at the time inhis bare feet, clad only in his shirt and breeches, and with no hat uponhis head, a pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the other. However,he was not left for long to his embarrassments, for almost immediatelyafter he had thus far relaxed, Captain Morgan fell of a sudden seriousagain, and bidding the Sieur Simon to get his ladies away into someplace of safety, for the most hazardous part of this adventure was yetto occur, he quitted the cabin with Master Harry and the other pirates(for you may call him a pirate now) at his heels.
Having come upon deck, our hero beheld that a part of the Spanish crewwere huddled forward in a flock like so many sheep (the others beingcrowded below with the hatches fastened upon them), and such was theterror of the pirates, and so dreadful the name of Henry Morgan, thatnot one of those poor wretches dared to lift up his voice to give anyalarm, nor even to attempt an escape by jumping overboard.
At Captain Morgan's orders, these men, together with certain of his owncompany, ran nimbly aloft and began setting the sails, which, the nightnow having fallen pretty thick, was not for a good while observed by anyof the vessels riding at anchor about them.
Indeed, the pirates might have made good their escape, with at most onlya shot or two from the men-of-war, had it not then been about the fullof the moon, which, having arisen, presently discovered to those of thefleet that lay closest about them what was being done aboard the viceadmiral.
At this one of the vessels hailed them, and then after a while,having no reply, hailed them again. Even then the Spaniards might notimmediately have suspected anything was amiss but only that thevice admiral for some reason best known to himself was shifting hisanchorage, had not one of the Spaniards aloft--but who it was CaptainMorgan was never able to discover--answered the hail by crying out thatthe vice admiral had been seized by the pirates.
At this the alarm was instantly given and the mischief done, forpresently there was a tremendous bustle through that part of the fleetlying nighest the vice admiral--a deal of shouting of orders, a beatingof drums, and the running hither and thither of the crews.
But by this time the sails of the vice admiral had filled with a strongland breeze that was blowing up the harbor, whereupon the carpenter,at Captain Morgan's orders, having cut away both anchors, the galleonpresently bore away up the harbor, gathering headway every moment withthe wind nearly dead astern. The nearest vessel was the only one thatfor the moment was able to offer any hindrance. This ship, having bythis time cleared away one of its guns, was able to fire a parting shotagainst the vice-admiral, striking her somewhere forward, as our herocould see by a great shower of splinters that flew up in the moonlight.
At the sound of the shot all the vessels of the flota not yet disturbedby the alarm were aroused at once, so that the pirates had thesatisfaction of knowing that they would have to run the gantlet ofall the ships between them and the open sea before they could reckonthemselves escaped.
And, indeed, to our hero's mind it seemed that the battle which followedmust have been the most terrific cannonade that was ever heard in theworld. It was not so ill at first, for it was some while before theSpaniards could get their guns clear for action, they being not theleast in the world prepared for such an occasion as this. But by and byfirst one and then another ship opened fire upon the galleon, until itseemed to our hero that all the thunders of heaven let loose upon themcould not have created a more prodigious uproar, and that it was notpossible that they could any of them escape destruction.
By now the moon had risen full and round, so that the clouds of smokethat rose in the air appeared as white as snow. The air seemed full ofthe hiss and screaming of shot, each one of which, when it struck thegalleon, was magnified by our hero's imagination into ten times itsmagnitude from the crash which it delivered and from the cloud ofsplinters it would cast up into the moonlight. At last he suddenlybeheld one poor man knocked sprawling across the deck, who, as he raisedhis arm from behind the mast, disclosed that the hand was gone from it,and that the shirt sleeve was red with blood in the moonlight. At thissight all the strength fell away from poor Harry, and he felt sure thata like fate or even a worse must be in store for him.
But, after all, this was nothing to what it might have been inbroad daylight, for what with the darkness of night, and the littlepreparation the Spaniards could make for such a business, andthe extreme haste with which they discharged their guns (many notunderstanding what was the occasion of all this uproar), nearly all theshot flew so wide of the mark that not above one in twenty struck thatat which it was aimed.
Meantime Captain Morgan, with the Sieur Simon, who had followed himupon deck, stood just above where our hero lay behind the shelter of thebulwark. The captain had lit a pipe of tobacco, and he stood now in thebright moonlight close to the rail, with his hands behind him, lookingout ahead with the utmost coolness imaginable, and paying no moreattention to the din of battle than though it were twenty leagues away.Now and then he would take his pipe from his lips to utter an order tothe man at the wheel. Excepting this he stood there hardly moving atall, the wind blowing his long red hair over his shoulders.
Had it not been for the armed galley the pirates might have got thegalleon away with no great harm done in spite of all this cannonading,for the man-of-war which rode at anchor nighest to them at the mouthof the harbor was still so far away that they might have passed it byhugging pretty close to the shore, and that without any great harm beingdone to them in the darkness. But just at this moment, when the openwater lay in sight, came this galley pulling out from behind the pointof the shore in such a manner as either to head our pirates off entirelyor else to compel them to approach so near to the man-of-war that thatlatter vessel could bring its guns to bear with more effect.
This galley, I must tell you, was like others of its kind such as youmay find in these waters, the hull being long and cut low to the waterso as to allow the oars to dip freely. The bow was sharp and projectedfar out ahead, mounting a swivel upon it, while at the stern a number ofgalleries built one above another into a castle gave shelter to severalcompanies of musketeers as well as the officers commanding them.
Our hero could behold the approach of this galley from above thestarboard bulwarks, and it appeared to him impossible for them tohope to escape either it or the man-of-war. But still Captain Morganmaintained the same composure that he had exhibited all the while, onlynow and then delivering an order to the man at the wheel, who, puttingthe helm over, threw the bows of the galleon around more to thelarboard, as though to escape the bow of the galley and get into theopen water beyond. This course brought the pirates ever closer andcloser to the man-of-war, which now began to add its thunder to the dinof the battle, and with so much more effect that at every discha
rge youmight hear the crashing and crackling of splintered wood, and now andthen the outcry or groaning of some man who was hurt. Indeed, had itbeen daylight, they must at this juncture all have perished, though,as was said, what with the night and the confusion and the hurry, theyescaped entire destruction, though more by a miracle than through anypolicy upon their own part.
Meantime the galley, steering as though to come aboard of them, had nowcome so near that it, too, presently began to open its musketry fireupon them, so that the humming and rattling of bullets were presentlyadded to the din of cannonading.
In two minutes more it would have been aboard of them, when in a momentCaptain Morgan roared out of a sudden to the man at the helm to put ithard a starboard. In response the man ran the wheel over with the utmostquickness, and the galleon, obeying her helm very readily, came aroundupon a course which, if continued, would certainly bring them intocollision with their enemy.
It is possible at first the Spaniards imagined the pirates intended toescape past their stern, for they instantly began backing oars to keepthem from getting past, so that the water was all of a foam about them,at the same time they did this they poured in such a fire of musketrythat it was a miracle that no more execution was accomplished thanhappened.
As for our hero, methinks for the moment he forgot all about everythingelse than as to whether or no his captain's maneuver would succeed, forin the very first moment he divined, as by some instinct, what CaptainMorgan purposed doing.
At this moment, so particular in the execution of this nice design,a bullet suddenly struck down the man at the wheel. Hearing the sharpoutcry, our Harry turned to see him fall forward, and then to his handsand knees upon the deck, the blood running in a black pool beneath him,while the wheel, escaping from his hands, spun over until the spokeswere all of a mist.
In a moment the ship would have fallen off before the wind had not ourhero, leaping to the wheel (even as Captain Morgan shouted an order forsome one to do so), seized the flying spokes, whirling them back again,and so bringing the bow of the galleon up to its former course.
In the first moment of this effort he had reckoned of nothing but ofcarrying out his captain's designs. He neither thought of cannon ballsnor of bullets. But now that his task was accomplished, he came suddenlyback to himself to find the galleries of the galley aflame with musketshots, and to become aware with a most horrible sinking of the spiritsthat all the shots therefrom were intended for him. He cast his eyesabout him with despair, but no one came to ease him of his task, which,having undertaken, he had too much spirit to resign from carryingthrough to the end, though he was well aware that the very next instantmight mean his sudden and violent death. His ears hummed and rang, andhis brain swam as light as a feather. I know not whether he breathed,but he shut his eyes tight as though that might save him from thebullets that were raining about him.
At this moment the Spaniards must have discovered for the first time thepirates' design, for of a sudden they ceased firing, and began to shoutout a multitude of orders, while the oars lashed the water all aboutwith a foam. But it was too late then for them to escape, for within acouple of seconds the galleon struck her enemy a blow so violent uponthe larboard quarter as nearly to hurl our Harry upon the deck, and thenwith a dreadful, horrible crackling of wood, commingled with a yellingof men's voices, the galley was swung around upon her side, and thegalleon, sailing into the open sea, left nothing of her immediate enemybut a sinking wreck, and the water dotted all over with bobbing headsand waving hands in the moonlight.
And now, indeed, that all danger was past and gone, there were plentyto come running to help our hero at the wheel. As for Captain Morgan,having come down upon the main deck, he fetches the young helmsman aclap upon the back. "Well, Master Harry," says he, "and did I not tellyou I would make a man of you?" Whereat our poor Harry fell a-laughing,but with a sad catch in his voice, for his hands trembled as with anague, and were as cold as ice. As for his emotions, God knows he wasnearer crying than laughing, if Captain Morgan had but known it.
Nevertheless, though undertaken under the spur of the moment, I protestit was indeed a brave deed, and I cannot but wonder how many younggentlemen of sixteen there are to-day who, upon a like occasion, wouldact as well as our Harry.
V
The balance of our hero's adventures were of a lighter sort than thosealready recounted, for the next morning the Spanish captain (a verypolite and well-bred gentleman) having fitted him out with a shift ofhis own clothes, Master Harry was presented in a proper form to theladies. For Captain Morgan, if he had felt a liking for the young manbefore, could not now show sufficient regard for him. He ate in thegreat cabin and was petted by all. Madam Simon, who was a fat andred-faced lady, was forever praising him, and the young miss, who wasextremely well-looking, was as continually making eyes at him.
She and Master Harry, I must tell you, would spend hours together, shemaking pretense of teaching him French, although he was so possessedwith a passion of love that he was nigh suffocated with it. She, uponher part, perceiving his emotions, responded with extreme good natureand complacency, so that had our hero been older, and the voyage provedlonger, he might have become entirely enmeshed in the toils of hisfair siren. For all this while, you are to understand, the pirates weremaking sail straight for Jamaica, which they reached upon the third dayin perfect safety.
In that time, however, the pirates had well-nigh gone crazy for joy; forwhen they came to examine their purchase they discovered her cargo toconsist of plate to the prodigious sum of L180,000 in value. 'Twas awonder they did not all make themselves drunk for joy. No doubt theywould have done so had not Captain Morgan, knowing they were still inthe exact track of the Spanish fleets, threatened them that the firstman among them who touched a drop of rum without his permission he wouldshoot him dead upon the deck. This threat had such effect that they allremained entirely sober until they had reached Port Royal Harbor, whichthey did about nine o'clock in the morning.
And now it was that our hero's romance came all tumbling down about hisears with a run. For they had hardly come to anchor in the harbor whena boat came from a man-of-war, and who should come stepping aboard butLieutenant Grantley (a particular friend of our hero's father) and hisown eldest brother Thomas, who, putting on a very stern face, informedMaster Harry that he was a desperate and hardened villain who was sureto end at the gallows, and that he was to go immediately back to hishome again. He told our embryo pirate that his family had nigh gonedistracted because of his wicked and ungrateful conduct. Nor could ourhero move him from his inflexible purpose. "What," says our Harry, "andwill you not then let me wait until our prize is divided and I get myshare?"
"Prize, indeed!" says his brother. "And do you then really think thatyour father would consent to your having a share in this terrible bloodyand murthering business?"
And so, after a good deal of argument, our hero was constrained to go;nor did he even have an opportunity to bid adieu to his inamorata. Nordid he see her any more, except from a distance, she standing on thepoop deck as he was rowed away from her, her face all stained withcrying. For himself, he felt that there was no more joy in life;nevertheless, standing up in the stern of the boat, he made shift,though with an aching heart, to deliver her a fine bow with the hat hehad borrowed from the Spanish captain, before his brother bade him sitdown again.
And so to the ending of this story, with only this to relate, that ourMaster Harry, so far from going to the gallows, became in good time arespectable and wealthy sugar merchant with an English wife and afine family of children, whereunto, when the mood was upon him, he hassometimes told these adventures (and sundry others not here recounted),as I have told them unto you.