CHAPTER XXI
Captain Craddock
Fired with impatience to solve the mystery, Captain 'Enery rowedashore and proceeded to the stockade, there to await Touchstone'sreturn; and in half an hour the expedition rejoined us. There were,as Captain 'Enery had said, at least a score of strangers, all wellarmed and mingling freely with our people in a friendly manner;while at Touchstone's side walked a man who was evidently someone inauthority.
He was little in stature, yet of great breadth across the shoulders,and long in body. His legs seemed disproportionately short, so thathe strutted like a young bantam. He was clean shaven, his sunburntfeatures being hard in expression, while the stern glint in his eyesbetokened a commanding nature.
"Have I the honour of addressing Captain Henry?" asked the littleman pompously.
"Cap'n 'Enery, if it please you," replied that worthy. "And you,sir?"
"I am Captain Edmund Craddock, commanding His Majesty's ship_Antelope_. I am beholden to your men for their co-operation inassisting to exterminate this nest of rascally pirates; but, in theexecution of my duty, I must demand to see your warrant for yourpresence on this island with an armed force."
"That can be shown you on board the _Golden Hope_, your honour,"replied Captain 'Enery.
"I trust so, for your own sakes," the other said; "therefore let usproceed on board her."
"He's a cool game-cock," remarked Clemens in an undertone to themaster gunner, as we followed Captain 'Enery and the naval officerto the boats. "Why, for all he knows he may be running into a den ofpirates!"
"I'll tell you more of him anon," replied Touchstone; "but take itfrom me, he knows his business."
On boarding the _Golden Hope_, Captain Craddock, accompanied byCaptain 'Enery, retired to the cabin where Captain Jeremy was lying.Here they remained talking for more than an hour; but the interviewmust have been satisfactory all round, for on returning to thequarter-deck I saw the naval captain produce his snuff-box and offerit with a grave flourish to Captain 'Enery.
"Well, I wish you joy on it," I heard him remark. "If you find thetreasure, for I've no doubt that it is on the island, you'll be farluckier than a good many. With your permission, I'll remain yourguest till my vessel arrives."
"Does she know the channel?"
"As well as she knows her way into Spithead," replied the other,laughing. "Do you think I've cruised among these islands for thelast twenty years, off and on, for nothing?"
Meanwhile the men who had accompanied Touchstone were gathered onthe fo'c'sle, surrounded by a group of eager listeners, all anxiousto hear the story of the pursuit; and at the same time the mastergunner was relating the tale to the bos'n, the quartermaster, andmyself.
"We covered the path through the forest in double-quick time," saidhe; "and directly we gained the crossroads that Captain Miles hadhit upon we turned to the right. A mile farther on this road forked,the larger or left-hand path apparently making towards the pirates'settlement. As I thought 'twould be better to set an ambush as farfrom that place as possible, I took our men by the right-hand path,and finished up at a little cove, where three small boats werehauled up, quite deserted."
"There we took cover, for there were rocks in plenty, the seasidepath running betwixt the boulders and a low cliff. We had not beenthere more than a couple of hours ere Jonas Cook, who had been sentoff to keep a look-out, came running back with the news that thebuccaneers were close at hand."
"On they came, quite unsuspectingly, straggling over a quarter of amile of ground. This was bad for us, for our ambush would not allowevery man of them to be surprised; so we let the head of the columnpass, and then I gave the word to fire."
"We bowled a lot of them over like skittles those who had alreadypassed broke and fled, but those in the rear, instead of runningaway, dashed towards us with pistol and cutlass. Although we gavethem another volley, they still came on, till, being outnumbered,most of them were cut down. The remnant, escaping our fire, brokethrough our ambush and followed those who had gone on ahead."
"Wouldn't they have done better if they had run back and taken coverin the woods?" asked the quartermaster.
"I am right glad they didn't, or we should have had our work cut outto run them down," replied Touchstone. "They feared that a party wasat their heels to complete the trap, and therefore they chose to runthe gauntlet of our fire. But 'twas all the better for us."
"How so?"
"Why, we had them all in front of us. We pursued them for close on amile, till from the top of a hill we saw a harbour larger than this,with a group of houses surrounded by a stockade on one side of it.And in the middle of the harbour were two large ships. Before therascally villains could reach this fort a body of men rushed out.'This is too many for us,' I thought, and I was about to beat aretreat when I saw the new-comers open fire on the runaways, whostraightway laid down their arms and were instantly secured."
"Then I saw for the first time that both the vessels flew Englishcolours, and when we had made ourselves known we found out that theywere the frigate _Antelope_ and the buccaneering craft _Secret_,which had been captured the day before. We won't be troubled withthose rascals again, at all events, for the _Antelope_ sank the twothat escaped from here and, as I said, took the third. But----"
"Sail, ho!"
"Whither away?" shouted the bos'n, our conversation terminatingabruptly with the interruption.
Gliding round the end of the reef by a channel of which we ourselveswere ignorant came a graceful frigate, the setting sun gleaming onher brown canvas and her black-and-yellow sides, while the red crossof St. George streamed proudly in the breeze.
Smartly handled, she worked her way in through the narrow,land-locked entrance; then luffing up into the wind, she droppedanchor within a cable's length of the _Golden Hope_.
"What think ye of her, gentlemen?" asked Captain Craddock, withjustifiable pride. "I'll warrant she's the smartest 40-gun frigateafloat, even though I, her captain, say it."
No one would have thought, to see the gallant vessel, that she hadbeen in action with three buccaneers but two or three days ago. Herports, picked out in vermilion, had been repainted, while every sparand rope was intact. Yet, on closer inspection, a number of neatlyplugged holes in her sheering sides showed how fierce had been theengagement.
"We'll lie here for a few days," continued Captain Craddock, as hisbarge came alongside to take him back to the frigate. "If we can beof service to you in the matter of spare spars, cordage, or gear,you have but to say so."
Captain Craddock was as good as his word, and, thanks to hisassistance, not only were our wounded carefully tended by thechirurgeon of the frigate, but the work of refitting the _GoldenHope_ and the _Neptune_ proceeded far more rapidly than we hadexpected, so that when the _Antelope_ weighed and set sail for PortRoyal, our two ships looked little the worse for the severe ordealthey had undergone.
Meanwhile Captain Jeremy continued to progress favourably, yetslowly. In this interval we could do nothing towards recovering the_Madre_ treasure, so it is little wonder that time hung heavily onour hands.
One morning I landed with the intention of walking along the cliffsto the place where the _Madre_ had first gone ashore ere she hadslipped back into deep water. With me went one of the seamen, for'twas unwise to stray far from the stockade alone. We were botharmed, the man carrying his cutlass and a pistol in his belt, whileI had a fowling-piece.
In less than an hour we gained the summit of the cliff, which wasthere about one hundred feet in height, though divided into twosheer drops of half that distance by a terrace or ledge, about sixfeet in width.
"See yon dark line in the water?" asked the Seaman. "'Tis thedeep-water channel across the shoal by which the frigate came intoharbour. I heard Cap'n 'Enery and the bos'n say as 'ow they weregoing to sound it. When we get out of 'ere--when, I says, with alldue respect to you, Master Hammond--we ought to take yon passage andsave a couple of leagues through the other one by which we came."
"There's a boat putting off from the _Golden Hope_ now," Iexclaimed.
"That be it for sartain. Howsomever, I'd liefer be here thansounding all day in the broiling sun."
"What a number of sea-birds!" I said, pointing to the face of thelower cliff, about which thousands of white, grey, and black gullsand cormorants were darting in and out of the crevices, making acontinuous din. "Are they good for food? If so, I'll have a shot atsome of them."
"Too fishy to my liking," replied the man, as he settled himself onthe grass and proceeded to fill a short black pipe. "Their eggsain't so bad, though. I've a mind to come 'ere with a rope, like Iused to do at home. I'm a Portland man, I am, and know how to gobird-nesting. But if you want to, you can try a shot at 'em. I'llbring up 'ere for a spell and have a pipe. But mind you don't go toonear the edge; it might give way."
Accordingly I shouldered my piece and walked towards a gap in thecliffs where, I could see, a natural path led to the lower ledge.For a moment I hesitated, for a false step would send me crashingupon the rocky platform below, with the prospect of a further tumbleof fifty feet into the sea. But being cool-headed and now wellaccustomed to dizzy heights, I began to descend.
The path was little more than a succession of rough steps, coveredwith the deserted nests of sea-fowl, here and there partially hiddenby a few tufts of coarse grass. I had to exercise considerablecaution to prevent myself slipping, but at length I reached theledge or platform without mishap.
Here I took cover behind a detached boulder to allow the birds toreturn, for my presence had alarmed them, so that they hadtemporarily flown farther afield.
I had primed my musket and laid it within arm's length, and waspatiently awaiting their reappearance, when a dark shadow fellathwart the rock.
Instinctively I turned my head to ascertain the cause, when a handwas clapped over my mouth, and I felt the contact of a man's kneeswith the small of my back.
I was a prisoner.
The Quest of the 'Golden Hope': A Seventeenth Century Story of Adventure Page 22