by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVIII.
SLAVES IN THE BERMUDAS.
The Good Intent, upon which Harry Furness with thirty-five otherRoyalist prisoners were embarked, was a bark of two hundred tons. Shecarried, in addition to the prisoners, sixty soldiers, who were goingout to strengthen the garrison of Barbadoes. The prisoners were crowdedbelow, and were only allowed to come on deck in batches of five or sixfor an hour at a time. Four of them had died on the way, and the otherswere greatly reduced in strength when they landed. As soon as theyreached Bermuda the prisoners were assigned as slaves to some of theplanters most in favor of the Commonwealth. Four or five were allottedto each, and Harry having placed Mike next to him at the end of theline, when they were drawn up on landing, they were, together with twoothers of the soldiers who had defended the tower of Drogheda with him,assigned to the same master.
"He is an evil-looking scoundrel," Harry said to the Irish boy. "Helooks even more sour and hypocritical than do the Puritans at home. Wehave had a lesson of what their idea of mercy and Christianity is whenthey get the upper hand. I fear we have a hard time before us, my lad."
The four prisoners were marched to the center of the island, whichseemed to Harry to be, as near as he could tell, about the size of theIsle of Wight. Their new master rode in front of them, while behindrode his overseer, with pistols at his holsters, and a long whip in hishand. Upon their way they passed several negroes working in the fields,a sight which mightily astonished Mike, who had never before seen theseblack creatures. At that time the number of negroes in the island wascomparatively small, as the slave trade was then in its infancy. It wasthe want of labor which made the planters so glad to obtain the servicesof the white prisoners from England. Many of the slaves in the islandhad been kidnaped as boys at the various ports in England and Scotland,the infamous traffic being especially carried on in Scotland.
When they reached the plantation the horsemen alighted in the courtyardof the residence, and the planter, whose name was Zachariah Stebbings,told the overseer to take them to the slave quarters.
"You will have," he said harshly, "to subdue your pride here, and towork honestly and hard, or the lash will become acquainted with yourbacks."
"Look you here, Master Stebbings, if such be your name," Harry said, "aword with you at the beginning. We are exiled to this place, and giveninto servitude to you through no crime but that of having fought bravelyfor his majesty King Charles. We are men who care not greatly for ourlives, and we four, with seven others, did, as you may learn, defend thetower of Drogheda for two days against the whole army of Cromwell, anddid only yield to thirst, and not to force. You may judge then, of ourmettle from that fact. Now, hark you; having fallen into this strait, weare willing to conform to our condition, and to give you fair and honestwork to the best of our powers; but mind you, if one finger be laid onus in anger, if so much as the end of a whip touch one of us, we havesworn that we will slay him so ventures, and you also, should youcountenance it , even though afterward we be burned at the stake fordoing it. That is our bargain; see you that you keep to it."
So stern and determined were Harry's words, so fierce and haughty histone, that the planter and his overseer both turned pale and shrankback. They saw at once the manner of men with whom they had to deal, andfelt that the threat would be carried out to the fullest. Muttering someinarticulate reply, the planter turned and entered the house, and theoverseer, with a dogged, crestfallen look, led the way to the slavequarters. The place assigned to them was a long hut, the sides lightlyconstructed of woven boughs, with a thick thatch overhead. Along oneside extended a long sloping bench, six feet wide. This was the bed ofthe slaves.
An hour afterward the other inmates of the hut entered. They consistedof four white men who had been kidnaped as boys, and two who had beenapprentices, sent out, as Harry soon learned, for their share in therising in the city, which he had headed. The negroes on the estate, sometwenty in number, were confined in another hut. There were, besides,four guards, one of whom kept sentry at night over the hut, whileanother with a loaded firearm stood over them while they worked. Thegarrison of the island consisted, as Harry had learned before landing,of two hundred and fifty soldiers, besides the militia, consisting ofthe planters, their overseers and guards, who would number altogetherabout five hundred men.
The next day the work in the fields began. It consisted of hoeing theground between the rows of young sugar canes and tobacco plants. The sunwas extremely powerful, and the perspiration soon flowed in streams fromthe newcomers. They worked, however, steadily and well, and in a mannerwhich gave satisfaction even to their master and his overseer. Harryhad impressed upon his two men and Mike the importance of doing nothingwhich could afford their employer a fair opportunity for complaint. Hewould not, Harry felt sure, venture to touch them after the warning hehad given, but he might send one or all of them back to the town, wherethey would be put to work as refractory slaves on the fortifications,and where their lot would be far harder than it would be on theplantation. He urged upon them above all things to have patience; sooneror later the people of England would, he felt sure, recall the youngking, and then they would be restored to their country. But even beforethat some mode of escape, either by ship, or by raising an insurrectionin concert with the white slaves scattered through the island, mightpresent itself.
The white slaves and negroes were kept as far as possible apart duringtheir work in all the plantations in the island. The whites were deemeddangerous, and were watched with the greatest care. The blacks were alight-hearted and merry race, not altogether discontented with theirposition, and the planters did their utmost to prevent the white slaveshaving communication with them, and stirring them up to discontent andrebellion. At the same time they were not absolutely forbidden to speak.Each slave had a small plot of ground assigned to him near the huts, andon these, after the day's work was over, they raised vegetables fortheir own consumption.
Mike, who, as a lad, was much less closely watched than the men, soonmade friends with the negroes. He was full of fun and mischief, andbecame a prime favorite with them. He learned that at night, as no watchwas kept over them, they would often steal away and chat with thenegroes on other plantations, and that so long as there were no signsof discontent, and they did their work cheerfully, the masters placed nohindrance upon such meetings. Often at night, indeed, the sound of thenegro singing and music could be heard by the prisoners, the overseerstroubling themselves in no way with the proceedings of their slavesafter nightfall, so long as their amusements did not interfere withtheir power of work next morning. Mike heard also that the treatment ofthe slaves, both white and black, varied greatly on differentplantations, according to the nature of their masters. In some the useof the lash was almost unknown, the slaves were permitted manyindulgences, and were happy and contented; while in others they wereharshly and cruelly treated. Mr. Stebbings was considered one of theworst masters in the island, and, indeed, it was everywhere noticed thatthe masters who most conformed to the usages and talk of the Puritans athome were the most cruel taskmasters to their slaves. Many times HarryFurness' blood boiled when he saw the lash applied to the bare shouldersof the slaves, often, as it seemed to him, from pure wantonness on thepart of the overseer. But the latter never once ventured to touch Harryor his three companions.
Through the negroes Mike learned that to each of the four plantationsadjoining their own four white prisoners had been assigned, and amongthese, Harry found, on obtaining their names, were the other fivesoldiers who had fought with him at Drogheda.
Mike soon took to going out at night with the negroes, making his waythrough a small opening in the light wall of the hut. This was easilyclosed up on his return, and by choosing a time when the sentry was onthe other side of the house, he had no difficulty in leaving or enteringunseen. By means of the negroes he opened up a communication with theother soldiers, and informed them that Colonel Furness bade them holdthemselves in readiness when an opportunity for escape should
arise. Itmight be weeks or even months before this would come, but the signalwould be given by a fire burning at daybreak upon a hill at no greatdistance from the plantation. He bade them use their discretion as totaking any white slaves with them into their confidence. At nightfall,after seeing the column of smoke, they were, as best they could, to maketheir way from the huts, and meet in a clump of trees near the house ofMr. Stebbings.
Harry had, indeed formed no distinct plan for escape; but he wished,should an opportunity offer, to have such a body of men at hand as mightstand him in good stead.
One day, about a month after their arrival on the plantation, theoverseer brutally beat an old negro who was working next to Mike. Theold man resumed his work, but was so feeble that he in vain endeavoredto use his hoe, and the overseer struck him to the ground with the buttend of his whip. Mike instinctively dropped his hoe and sprang to liftthe old man to his feet. The infuriated overseer, enraged at thisinterference, brought down his whip on Mike's head and felled him by theside of the negro. In an instant Harry sprang forward, armed with hishoe; the overseer seeing him coming, retreated a step or two, drew hispistol from his belt and fired--the ball flew close to Harry's ear, andthe latter, whirling his hoe round his head, brought it down with hisfull strength upon that of the overseer; the man fell in his tracks asif smitten with lightning. The guard ran up with his musket pointed, butHarry's two companions also advanced, armed with their hoes, and theguard, seeing that even if he shot one, he should assuredly be killed bythe others, took to his heels and ran off to the house. A minute laterZachariah Stebbings with the four guards was seen running up to thespot.
"What is this?" he exclaimed furiously. "Mutiny?"
"No, Master Stebbings," Harry said calmly. "We have, as you know, workedhonestly and well, but your brutal overseer has broken the agreement wemade, and struck this lad to the ground without any cause. I, of course,carried out my part of the compact, though I doubt me the fellow is notkilled. His hat is a thick one, and may have saved his skull. You hadbest leave matters alone. I and my three men are a match for you andyour guards, even though they have guns, and you best know if ourservices are worth anything to you."
The planter hesitated. He was unwilling indeed to lose four of his bestslaves, and he knew that whether he attacked them now, or whether hereported the case to the commandant of the island, he would assuredly dothis. After a moment's hesitation, he said:
"The fool has brought it on himself. Do you," turning to the guards,"lift him up and carry him to the house, and let old Dinah see to hishead. It is an ugly cut," he said, leaning over him, "but will do him noharm, though it will not add to his beauty."
The blow had indeed been a tremendous one, and had it alighted fairly onthe top of his head, would assuredly have cleft the skull, in spite ofthe protection afforded by the hat. It had, however, fallen somewhat onone side, and had shorn off the scalp, ear, and part of the cheek. Itwas three weeks before the overseer again resumed his duty, and he castsuch a deadly look at Harry as assured him that he would have his lifewhen the occasion offered.
Two days later, when the planter happened to be in the field with theoverseer, two gentlemen rode from the house, where they had been toinquire for him. The sobriety of their garments showed that theybelonged to the strictest sect of the Puritans.
"I have ridden hither," one said, with a strong nasal twang, "ZachariahStebbings, having letters of introduction to you from the governor.These will tell that I am minded to purchase an estate in the island.The governor tells me that maybe you would be disposed to sell, and thatif not, I might see the methods of work and culture here, and learn fromyou the name of one disposed to part with his property."
At the first words of the speaker Harry Furness had started, and droppedhis hoe; without, however, looking round, he picked it up and appliedhimself to his work.
"I should not be unwilling to sell," the planter answered, "for a fairprice, but the profits are good, and are likely to be better, for I hearthat large numbers of malignants, taken by the sword of the LordCromwell at Dundalk and Waterford in Ireland, will be sent here, andwith more labor to till the fields, our profits will increase."
"I have heard," the newcomer said, "that some of the ungodly followersof the man Charles have already been sent here."
"That is so," the planter agreed. "I myself, standing well in the favorof the governor, have received four of them; that boy, the two men nextto him, and that big man working there. He is a noted malignant, and wasknown as Colonel Furness."
"Truly he is a stalwart knave," the other remarked.
"Ay is he," the planter said; "but his evil fortune has not as yetaltogether driven out the evil spirit within him. He is a man of wrath,and the other day he smote nigh to death my overseer, whose head is, asyou see, still bandaged up."
"Truly he is a son of Belial," the other argued, but in a tone in whicha close observer might have perceived a struggle to keep down laughter."I warrant me, you punished him heartily for such an outbreak."
"To tell you the truth," the planter said, "the man is a good workman,and like to an ox in his strength. The three others were by his side,and also withstood me. Had I laid a complaint before the governor theywould all have been shot, or put on the roads to work, and I should havelost their labor. My overseer was in the wrong, and struck one of themfirst, so 'twas better to say naught about the matter. And now will youwalk me to the house, where I can open the letter of the governor, andtalk more of the business you have in hand."
The instant the man had spoken Harry had recognized the voice of his oldfriend Jacob, and doubted not, though he had not ventured to look round,that he who accompanied him was William Long; and he guessed thathearing he had been sent with the other captives spared at the massacreof Drogheda to the Bermudas, they had come out to try and rescue him. Soexcited was he at the thought that it was with difficulty he couldcontinue steadily at his work through the rest of the day. When atnightfall he was shut up in the hut with his companions, he told themthat the Puritan they had seen was a friend of his own, a captain in histroop, and that he doubted not that deliverance was at hand. He chargedMike at once to creep forth to join the negroes, and to bid them tellone of their color who served in the house to take an opportunity towhisper to one of his master's guests--for he learned that they werebiding there for the night, "Be in the grove near the house when all areasleep." The negroes willingly undertook the commission, and Mikerejoined the party in the hut. Two hours later Harry himself crept outthrough the hole, which they had silently and at great pains enlargedfor the purpose, and made his way round to the grove. There were stilllights in the house, and the negroes in their hut were talking andsinging. An hour later the lights were extinguished, and soon afterwardhe saw a figure stealthily approaching.
"Jacob," he whispered, as the man entered the shelter of the trees, andin another moment he was clasped in the arms of his faithful friend. Forsome time their hearts were too full to speak, and then Harry leadinghis companion to the side of the wood furthest from the house, they satdown and began to talk. After the first questions as to the health ofHarry's father had been answered, Jacob went on:
"We saw by the dispatch of Cromwell to Parliament that the solesurvivors of the sack of Drogheda, being one officer, Colonel Furness, anoted malignant, and thirty-five soldiers, had been sent in slavery tothe Bermudas. So, of course, we made up our minds to come and look afteryou. Through Master Fleming I obtained letters, introducing to thegovernor the worshipful Grace-be-to-the-Lord Hobson and JeremiahPerkins, who desired to buy an estate in the Bermudas. So hither wecame, William Long and I; and now, Harry, what do you advise to be done?I find that the ships which leave the port are searched before theyleave, and that guards are placed over them while they load, to see thatnone conceal themselves there, and I see not, therefore, how you canwell escape in that way. There seem to be no coasting craft here, or wemight seize one of these and make for sea."
"No," Harry replied. "They allow
none such in the port, for fear thatthey might be so taken. There are large rowing boats, pulled by twelveslaves, that come to take produce from the plantations farthest from theport round to ships there. But it would be madness to trust ourselvesto sea in one of these. We should either die of hunger and thirst, or bepicked up again by their cruisers. The only way would be to seize aship."
"That is what William Long and I have been thinking of," Jacob said."But there is a shrewd watch kept up, and the ships are moored under theguns of the battery. We passed, on our way hither, a bark bringing anumber of prisoners taken at Waterford. She is a slow sailer, and, bythe calculations of our captain, will not arrive here for some daysyet."
"If we could intercept her," Harry said thoughtfully, "we might, withthe aid of the prisoners, overcome the guard, and then turning her head,sail for Holland."
"That might be done," Jacob assented, "if you have force enough."
"I can bring forty men," Harry answered. "There are eight here, and wehave communication with those in the neighboring plantations, who areready to join me in any enterprise. That should be enough."
"It is worth trying," Jacob said. "I will hire a rowboat, as if to bringround a cargo of sugar from this plantation to the port. I will stationa man on the highest point of the hills to give me notice when a sail isin sight. He may see it thence forty miles away. The winds are light andbaffling, and she will make slow progress, and may bring up outside theport that night, but assuredly will not enter until next morning. Theinstant I know it is in sight I will ride over here, and William Longwill start with the barge from the port. When you see me come, do yousend round word to the others to meet at midnight on the beach, whereyou will see the boat drawn up. Can you let your friends know speedily?"
"Yes," Harry replied. "My signal was to have been given at daybreak, butI will send round word of the change of hour, and that if, when theyare locked up for the night, they see a fire burning on the pointagreed, they are to meet on the shore at midnight. Tell William Long tohaul the boat up, and let the rowers go to sleep on the shore. We willseize them noiselessly. Then we will row along the shore till off theport, and at first daybreak out to the ship if she be at anchor, or awayto meet her if she be not yet come. They will think that we bear amessage from the port."
After some further discussion of details the friends separated, and thenext day Mike sent round by the negroes the news of the change of plans.Two days later Jacob rode up to the plantation. He had upon the firstoccasion told Stebbings that the sum he asked for the estate seemed tohim too high, but that he would return to talk it over with him, afterhe had seen other properties. Immediately upon his arrival, whichhappened just as the slaves returned from work, Mike sent off one of thenegro boys, who had already collected a pile of brushwood on the beaconhill. Half an hour later a bright flame shone out on its summit.
"I wonder what that means?" the planter, who was sitting at dinner inhis veranda with Jacob, said angrily.
"It looks like a signal fire," Jacob remarked calmly. "I have heard thatthey are sometimes lit on the seacoast of England as a signal tosmugglers."
"There are no smugglers here," the planter said, "nor any cause for sucha signal."
He clapped his hands, and ordered the black slave who answered to tellthe overseer to take two of the guards, and at once proceed to the fire,and examine its cause. After dinner was over the planter went out to theslave huts. All the white men were sitting or lying in the open air,enjoying the rest after their labor. The negroes were singing or workingin their garden plots, The list was called over, and all found to bepresent.
"I expect," the planter said, "that it is only a silly freak of some ofthese black fellows to cause uneasiness. It can mean nothing, for thegarrison and militia could put down any rising without difficulty andthere is no hope of escape. In a week we could search every possiblehiding-place in the island."
"Yes, that is an advantage which you have over the planters in Virginia,to which place I hear our Scottish brethren have sent large numbers ofthe malignants. There are great woods stretching no man knoweth how farinland, and inhabited by fierce tribes of Indians, among whom those whoescape find refuge."
That night when all was still Harry Furness and his seven comrades creptthrough the opening in the hut. In the grove they were joined by Jacob.They then made their way to the seashore, where they saw lying a largeshallop, drawn partly up on the beach. A man was sitting in her, whilemany other dark figures lay stretched on the sand near. Harry and hisparty moved in that direction, and found that the men from two of theother plantations had already arrived. A few minutes later the other twoparties arrived. The whole body advanced noiselessly along the shore,and seized and gagged the sleepers without the least difficulty ornoise. These were bound with ropes from the boat, and laid down one byone on the sand, at a distance from each other.