by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIX.
A SEA FIGHT.
The instant the rowers were secured Harry Furness embraced his faithfulfollower William Long. He had learned from Jacob that the ship hadappeared in sight about two in the afternoon, and that it was notthought likely by the sailors of the port that she would reach it untilthe breeze sprang up in the morning, although she might get within adistance of five or six miles. The whole party had, in concurrence withHarry's orders, brought with them their hoes, which were the onlyweapons that were attainable. It was agreed that their best course wouldbe to row along the shore until near the lights of the port, then to rowout and lay on their oars half a mile beyond the entrance, where, as itwas a starlight night, they would assuredly see the ship if she had cometo anchor. As soon as the first dawn commenced they were to row out andmeet the ship. Wrappings of cloth were fastened round the rowlocks toprevent noise, twelve men took the oars, the boat was shoved down intothe sea, and they started on their voyage. The boat rowed but slowly,and it was, Harry judged, past three o'clock when they reached the pointthey had fixed on off the mouth of the harbor. No ship was visibleoutside the port, although there was sufficient light to have seen itsmasts had it been there.
"We had better go another half-mile further out," he said. "Should theytake it into their heads on shore, when they see us, to send a fastboat out to inquire what we are doing, it might overtake us before wecould reach the ship."
An hour after they had ceased rowing a faint streak of daylight appearedin the west, and a ship could be seen about three miles seaward, whilethe shore was nearly that distance behind them, for they had beendeceived by the darkness, and were much further out than they hadthought.
"It is all the better," Harry said. "It must be some time before theythink of sending a boat after us, and we shall reach the ship before itcan overtake us."
As soon as it became broad daylight Harry took one of the oars himself,and all save the twelve rowers, and Jacob and William Long who sat inthe stern, lay down in the bottom of the boat, where some pieces ofmatting, used for covering cargo, were thrown over them. There was notas yet a breath of wind, and the ship's sails hung idly against themasts. After three-quarters of an hour's hard rowing the bargeapproached her side. There were only a few figures on the deck.
"Are you the captain of this vessel?" Jacob asked one who seemed to himof that condition.
"Ay, ay," the sailor said. "What is the news?"
"I have come off from the island," Jacob answered, "by orders of hisworshipful the governor, to warn you that there is an insurrection amongthe slaves of the island, and to bid you not to anchor outside, or towait for your papers being examined, but to enter at once."
By this time the boat was alongside, and Jacob climbed on board.
"You have brought some troops with you?" he asked, "They will bewanted."
"Yes, I have eighty men whom I have brought as a reinforcement to thegarrison of the island, besides a hundred and fifty prisoners fromWaterford, stowed away below the hatches forward. Hullo! why, what isthis? Treason!"
As he spoke Harry, followed by the rowers, swarmed on board armed withtheir hoes. The captain and the men round him were at once knocked down.The sentries over the fore hatchway discharged their muskets, and, withsome of the crew stationed there, made aft. But Harry's party had nowall joined him on deck. A rush was made, and the decks entirely cleared.A few of the soldiers who came running up through the after hatchway onhearing the tumult and noise of the fight were beaten down and hurledbelow on those following them, and the hatches were slipped on andsecured. Then a triumphant shout of "God and the King!" was raised.
The forehatches were now lifted, and the prisoners invited to come up.They rushed on deck, delighted and bewildered, for it was the first timethat they had seen the sun since they left England, having been keptbelow, where many had died from confinement and bad air, while all weresorely weakened and brought low. Among them were many officers, of whomseveral were known to Harry--although they had some difficulty inrecognizing in the man, bronzed brown by his exposure to the sun andclad in a tattered shirt and breeches--their former comrade, HarryFurness. A search was at once made for arms, and ranged in the passageto the captain's cabin were found twenty muskets for the use of thecrew, together with as many boarding pikes and sabers. Ammunition wasnot wanting. The arms were divided among Harry's band of forty men, andthe twenty strongest of those they had rescued. The hoes were given tothe remainder.
The captain, who had by this time recovered from the blow dealt him byHarry, was now questioned. He was told that if he would consent with hiscrew to navigate the vessel to Holland, he should there be allowed to gofree with the ship, which it seemed was his own property; but the cargowould be sold as a fair prize, to satisfy the needs of his captors. Ifhe refused, he would be sent with his crew on shore in the barge, andhis ship and cargo would alike be lost to him. The captain had nohesitation in accepting the first of these alternatives, as he would be,although no gainer by the voyage, yet no loser either. He told Harrythat for himself he had no sympathy with the rulers in London, and thathe sorely pitied the prisoners he was bringing over.
The hatch was now a little lifted, and the prisoners below summoned tosurrender. This they refused to do. Harry and his men then, with muchlabor, lowered a four-pounder carronade down the forehatch, and wheeledit to within a few feet of the bulkhead which divided that portion wherethe prisoners had been confined from the after part. The gun was loadedto the muzzle with grape, and discharged, tearing a hole through thebulkhead and killing and wounding many within. Then the officer incommand offered to surrender.
Harry ordered them at once to hand up all their firelocks and other armsthrough the hatchway, which was again lifted for the purpose. When thoseon deck had armed themselves with those weapons, the prisoners wereordered to come up, bringing their wounded with them. As they reachedthe deck they were passed down into the barge, from which all the oarssave four had been removed. Six of the soldiers had been killed, and theremainder having entered the barge, where they were stowed as thickly asthey could pack, the head rope was dropped, and they were allowed to rowaway. Besides the eighty muskets of the guard, a store of firelocks,sufficient to arm all on board, was found; these having been intendedfor the use of the garrison. A gentle breeze had by this time sprung upfrom the land, and the ship's head was turned seaward.
The boat was but half a mile behind them when it was joined by aneight-oared galley, which had been seen rowing out from the harbor,whence, doubtless, it had been dispatched to inquire into the errand ofthe boat seen rowing off to the ship. After lying alongside the bargefor a minute or two she turned her head, and made back again with allspeed.
"You would have done more wisely," the captain said to Harry, "if youhad retained the prisoners on board until the second boat camealongside. You could have swamped that, and sent those in it back withthe others, who will not reach shore until late this afternoon, for withonly four oars they will make no way until the land breeze falls."
"It would have been better--far better"--Harry agreed--"but one does notalways think of things at the right time. What ships are there in port,Jacob?"
"There is the vessel I came by and two others," Jacob replied, "allabout the same size as this, and mounting each as many guns. You haveeight, I see, captain; the one I came out in had ten."
"They will pursue us," the captain said, "you may be sure. It is knownthat we are not a fast sailer, and I think, sir, you will have to fightfor it."
"So be it," Harry said. "There are two hundred of us, and though theymight sink the ship, they will assuredly never carry it by boarding.There is not a man here who would not rather die fighting than spend hislife in slavery on that island."
The vessel had gone about six miles on her course, when from thetopmast the captain announced that the galley had gained the port, nowtwelve miles distant. "There is a gun," he said, five minutes later."They have taken the alarm now." He then descended to t
he deck, leavinga sailor in the tops. Two hours later the latter announced that thetopsails of three ships coming out from the harbor were visible.
"We have nigh thirty miles' start," the captain said. "They will not beup to us till to-morrow at midday."
"Do you think it would be any use to try to lose them by altering ourcourse in the night?" Harry asked.
"No," the captain answered. "It is but ten o'clock in the day now. Theywill be within ten or twelve miles by nightfall, for the wind isstronger near the land than it is here, and with their night glassesthey could hardly miss us on a bright starlight night. I am ready to tryif you like, for I do not wish to see the ship knocked into matchwood."
After some deliberation it was determined to hold their course, and asnight came on it was found that escape would have been out of thequestion, for the vessels behind had overhauled the Lass of Devon fasterthan had been anticipated, and were little more than five miles astern.They could be plainly seen after darkness set in, with the nightglasses.
"What you must do, captain, is to lay her aboard the first which comesup," Harry said; "even if they have brought all the garrison we shall befar stronger than any one of them taken singly."
During the night the pursuing vessels lessened sail and maintained aposition about a mile astern of the chase, evidently intending to attackin the morning. The day spent in the open air, with plenty of the besteating and drinking which could be found in the ship, had greatlyreinvigorated the released prisoners, and when at daybreak the vesselsbehind were seen to be closing up, all were ready for the fight. Theenemy, sure that their prey could not escape them, did not fire a shotas they came up in her wake. The two immediately behind were but acable's length asunder, and evidently meant to engage on either side.Harry ordered the greater portion of men below, leaving only sufficienton deck to fight the guns, to whose use many were well accustomed. Thewind was very light, and the ships were scarcely stealing through thewater.
"We had better fight them broadside to broadside," Harry said; "but keepon edging down toward the ship to leeward."
The fight began with a heavy fire of musketry from the tops, where, inall three ships, the best marksmen had been posted. Then, when they wereabreast of each other, the guns opened fire. The vessels were littlemore than fifty yards apart. For half an hour the engagement continuedwithout intermission. Both ships of the enemy had brought all their gunsover to the sides opposed to the Royalist vessel, and fought eighteenguns to his eight. Fearing to injure each other, both aimed entirely atthe hull of their opponent, while Harry's guns were pointed at the mastsand rigging. The sides of the Lass of Devon were splintered and brokenin all directions, while those of his assailants showed scarcely a shotmark. The fire of his men in the tops--all old soldiers--had been soheavy and deadly that they had killed most of the marksmen in theenemy's tops, and had driven the rest below. All this time the Lass ofDevon was raked by the fire of the third vessel which had come up behindher, and raked her fore and aft. At the end of the half-hour themainmast of the vessel to windward, which had been several times struck,fell with a crash.
"Now, captain, lay her aboard the ship to leeward."
They had already edged down within twenty yards of this ship, and slowlyas they were moving through the water, in another three or four minutesthe vessels grated together. At Harry's first order the whole of his menhad swarmed on deck, pouring in such a fire of musketry that none couldstand alive at the enemy's tiller to keep her head away as the Lass ofDevon approached. As the vessels touched Harry leaped from the bulwarkon to the deck of the enemy, followed by Jacob and his men. TheParliamentary troops had also rushed on deck, and, although inferior innumbers, for they counted but eighty men, they made a sturdy stand.Gradually, however, they were driven back, when an exclamation fromMike, who, as usual, was close to Harry, caused him to look round.
The ship behind had, the moment she perceived the Lass of Devon bearingdown upon her consort, crowded on more sail, and was now ranging up onthe other side of her. Bidding Jacob press the enemy hard with half hisforce, Harry, with the remainder, leaped back on to the deck of his ownship, just as the enemy boarded from the other side. The fight was now adesperate one. The vessel which had last arrived bore a hundred of thetroops of the garrison, and the numbers were thus nearly equal. TheRoyalists, however, fought with a greater desperation, for they knew thefate that awaited them if conquered. Gradually they cleared the deck ofthe Lass of Devon of the enemy, and in turn boarded their opponent.William Long led thirty men into the tops of the Lass of Devon, andpoured their fire into the crowded enemy. Every step of the deck wasfiercely contested, but at last the Roundheads gave way. Some threw downtheir arms and called for quarter, others ran below. The Royalists, withshouts of "Remember Drogheda!" fell upon them, and many of those whohad surrendered were cut down before Harry could arrest the slaughter.
A loud cheer announced the victory, and the men in the other ship, whohad hitherto, although with difficulty, made front against the attacksof Jacob and his men, now lost heart and ran below. The wind had by thistime entirely dropped, but battening the prisoners below, Harry set hismen to thrust the ships past one another, until they were sufficientlyin line for their guns to be brought to bear upon the third enemy.Crippled as she was by the loss of her mast, she immediately hauled downher colors, and the victory was complete.
The prisoners were brought on deck and disarmed. Harry found that theboats of the four ships would carry two hundred men closely packed, andbut a hundred and eighty of the two hundred and fifty troops who hadsailed in pursuit remained alive. These, with sufficient provisions andwater to last for three days, were made to take their places in theboats, and told to row back to the island, which they should be able toregain in two days at the utmost. The crews of the captured ships werewilling enough to obey the orders of their captors, for the sailors hadin general but little sympathy with the doings of Parliament. Harry hadlost in killed and wounded forty-two men, and the rest he dividedbetween the four ships, giving about thirty-five men to each. Hehimself, with Jacob, William Long, and Mike, remained on board the Lassof Devon, officers being placed in command of the troops on board theother ships, which were ordered to sail in company with her. Twenty-fourhours were spent in getting a jury-mast set in place of that which hadbeen shot away. When this was completed the four ships hoisted theircanvas and sailed together for Holland.
They met with no adventure until near the mouth of the English Channel,when one morning a fleet of eight ships was perceived. The captain ofthe Lass of Devon at once pronounced them to be ships of war, and theirrate of sailing speedily convinced Harry that there was no chance ofescape. Against such odds resistance was useless, and the other shipswere signaled to lower their topsails in answer to the gun which theleading ship of the squadron fired. Anticipating a return to captivity,if not instant death, all on board watched the approaching men-of-war.Presently these, when close at hand, brought up into the wind, and aboat was lowered. It rowed rapidly to the Lass of Devon, which laysomewhat the nearest to them. Harry stood on the quarter-deck ready tosurrender his sword. The boat came alongside, an officer leaped on deckand advanced toward him.
Harry could scarce believe his eyes; this gallant, in the gay dress of acavalier officer, could be no follower of Cromwell. The officer pausedand gazed in astonishment at Harry. The recognition was mutual, and thewords "Furness" and "Elphinstone" broke from their lips.
"Why, Elphinstone, what squadron is that?"
"Prince Rupert's, to be sure," the officer said.
"What! did you take us for the Roundhead fleet?"
Harry made no reply, but taking off his hat, shouted to his men, "It isthe Royalist fleet. Three cheers for Prince Rupert."
A cheer of joy burst from the men, caught up and re-echoed by the crewsof the other ships. Harry led the officer into his cabin, and rapidlyexplained to him the circumstances which had taken place; ten minuteslater, entering a boat, he rowed off to the flagship.
; "Why! Harry Furness!" exclaimed Prince Rupert, "whither do you springfrom? I heard of you last as being sent to slave in the Bermudas, andmethought, old friend, that you would stand the heat better than most,since you had served such a sharp apprenticeship with me in that ovenyou wot of. And now tell me how is it that you have got free, and that Ifind you sailing here with four ships?"
Harry related his adventure. When he had finished Prince Rupert said:
"I envy you, Furness, in that you have three faithful friends. One is asmuch as most men could even hope for, whereas you have three, who eachseem willing to go through fire and water for you. They do remind me ofthe wonderful servants of whom my old nurse used to tell me as a child.They were given by a fairy to some fortunate prince, and whenever he gotinto sore straits were ready to do the most impossible things to freehim from them. Now you must take up your quarters here until we reachHolland, whither I am on the point of sailing. We have picked up severalfat prizes, which I have sent to Italy to sell, to pay the wages of mymen, for his gracious majesty's exchequer is of the emptiest. But I hearthat Blake is about to put to sea with the ships of the Parliament, andI care not to risk my fleet, for they will be needed to escort hismajesty to Scotland ere long."
"Are the Scots then again inclined to his majesty's cause? Were I KingCharles, I would not trust myself to them," Harry said. "They sold hisfather, and would sell him--at least Argyll and the knaves with himwould do so."
"I like not these cold, calculating men of the north, myself," PrinceRupert said, "and trust them as little. Nor would my cousin venturehimself again among them, if he took my advice. His majesty, however, isno more given to the taking of advice than was his father before him,unless it be of Buckingham and Wilmot, and other dissolute young lords,whose counsel and company are alike evil for him."
The same afternoon the fleet sailed for Holland, the four merchantmenaccompanying it. Upon their arrival there Harry sold the three shipswhich he had taken, together with such cargo as was found in theirholds. He sold also the cargo of the Lass of Devon, leaving the shipitself, as he had promised, to the captain, its owner, and making himand the sailors a handsome present for the way they stood by him andworked the ship during the action. The rest of the proceeds he dividedbetween the officers and men who had sailed with him, and finding thatthese were ready still to share his fortunes, he formed them into aregiment for the service of the king, enlisting another hundredRoyalists, whom he found there well-nigh starving, in his ranks.
It was at the end of April, 1650, that Harry reached Hamburg, and amonth later came the news of the defeat and death of the Earl ofMontrose. He had two months before sailed from Hamburg to the Orkneys,where he had landed with a thousand men. Crossing to the mainland he hadmarched down into Sunderland. There he had met a body of cavalry underColonel Strachan, in a pass in the parish of Kincardine, now calledCraigchonichan, or the Rock of Lamentation. The recruits he had raisedin Orkney and the north fled at once. The Scotch and Germans he hadbrought with him fought bravely, but without effect, and were utterlydefeated, scattering in all directions. Montrose wandered for many daysin disguise, but was at last captured, and was brought to Edinburgh withevery indignity. He was condemned to death by the Covenanters, andexecuted. So nobly did he bear himself at his death that the veryindignities with which Argyll and his minions loaded him, in order tomake him an object of derision to the people, failed in their object,and even those who hated him most were yet struck with pity andadmiration at his noble aspect and bearing. Argyll stood at a balcony tosee him pass, and Montrose foretold a similar fate for this double-dyedtraitor, a prediction which was afterward fulfilled. Harry deeplyregretted the loss of this gallant and chivalrous gentleman.