The housekeeper, without attaching much importance to the girl"s protest, however, replied:
"Nonsense, my child! You say that anger is so terrible. That depends,--for if anger suggested to the captain a way and means of escape from these treacherous Englishmen, he is perfectly right to glorify it, and I, in his place--But good Heavens!" she exclaimed, seeing the girl turn alarmingly pale and close her eyes as if she were about to swoon. "Good Heavens, what is the matter with you? Your lips are quivering. You are crying. You do not answer me,--speak, what is the matter?"
But the words failed to reach the ears of the poor child. With her large eyes distended with terror and bewilderment, she indicated with a gesture some apparition which existed only in her disordered imagination, and murmured, wildly:
"The man in black! Oh, the man in black! There he is now! Don"t you see him?"
"Calm yourself! Don"t allow yourself to think any more about that, in Heaven"s name. Don"t you know how hurtful such thoughts are to you?"
"Oh, that man! He was equally terrible in his rage, when--It was years and years ago, and I was little more than a baby, but I can see him yet, in his strange, sombre costume of black and white like the livery of the dead. It was night, and my father was absent from home when this man gained an entrance into our house, I know not how. I had never seen him before. He threatened my mother, who was holding me in her arms. "At least spare my child!" she sobbed. I remember it well. But he only exclaimed, still advancing threateningly upon my mother, "Don"t you know that I am capable of anything in my anger?" And then he rushed out of the room. Oh, my mother, my mother dead, and I--"
The girl could say no more, for she was relapsing into one of the nervous spasms which this terrible recollection almost always caused,--this recollection of a deplorable occurrence from which her condition of morbid susceptibility seemed to have dated.
This crisis soon abated, thanks to the judicious attentions of the housekeeper, who was, alas! only too used to rendering them. When she was herself again, the young girl, whose character was a singular compound of weakness and firmness, thought with shame and regret of the lack of self-control she had displayed while this account of the corsair"s escape was being read, an account which, strange to say, had an inexplicable fascination for her, inspiring her at the same time with horror and a sort of morbid curiosity; so, in spite of Onesime"s entreaties, she insisted that he should continue the reading so unfortunately interrupted.
The housekeeper, noting this insistence, and fearing that any opposition might react very dangerously upon the girl"s excitable nature just at this time, also requested Onesime to continue the account of Captain l"Endurci"s escape.
CHAPTER IX.
CONCLUSION OF THE CAPTAIN"S NARRATIVE.
The rest of the captain"s letter read as follows:
""In order to carry out my plan, the first thing I had to do was to free myself from my bonds. Being unable to reach them with my mouth so I could gnaw them in two with my teeth, I devised another means. By crawling about on my stomach and feeling around with my face--as I had no use of my hands--I finally succeeded in discovering a large iron hook, doubtless intended for holding the ballast in place. Approaching this hook, I leaned my back against it and began to rub the ropes that bound me across the iron and upon the sharp end of the hook. Two hours afterward I had worn the ropes sufficiently thin to be able to sever them by a powerful wrench, anger having endowed me with almost supernatural strength.
""My hands free, the rest was only child"s play.
""I had my tinder-box, my pipe, a package of tobacco, and a long whaling-knife in my pocket. In the twinkling of an eye I had cut the ropes that bound my legs and started on a tour of inspection through the hold on my hands and knees, as it was too low to admit of my standing upright.
""I could find nothing but some sc.r.a.ps of old sail and a few pieces of rope. The only means of egress was a square hatchway. The boards of which this was made had separated a little in one place, and I could see the moonlight through the opening. Placing my hands upon my knees and making my body into a bow, I tried to force open the hatchway with my shoulders, but in vain. It was evidently secured--as it should have been--with two strong iron bars.
""Taking some of the ends of rope, I cut them into small pieces, untwisted the strands, and in this way soon collected a small pile of tow. Afterward I cut some of the old canvas on which I had been lying into narrow strips and laid them on the little pile of tow, which I had placed directly under the hatchway; after which I emptied my little bag of tobacco on it to make it more combustible, and set fire to it, blowing it vigorously all the while.
""The tow took fire, communicated it to the pieces of old sail, and an instant afterward the hold was filled with a dense smoke, part of which filtered through the opening in the hatchway, while I yelled "Fire!"
with all my might. My cries and the strong smell of smoke that escaped through the hatchway frightened the men on deck. I heard a great commotion up there, the hatchway was raised almost immediately, and the thick cloud of smoke that poured out through the opening was so blinding that I was able to make my way through it, unseen, to the deck, with a single bound, knife in hand. I found myself face to face with a tall, swarthy man. I plunged my knife into his heart. He fell backward into the sea. Leaping for the axe which is always kept near the bitt, so the rigging can be quickly cut away if need be, I struck down another man; then, with a back stroke, nearly cut off the arm of a man who was rushing upon me, sabre in hand. All this occurred almost in the twinkling of an eye. Taking advantage of the sort of stupor that had seized the crew, and feeling much calmer after this explosion of long-suppressed rage, I could see better where I was, or take my bearings a little, as the saying is.
""It was a magnificent moonlight night; a strong breeze was blowing; an old, white-haired sailor was at the helm; a cabin-boy and three terrified sailors had taken refuge in the bow, separated from me by the open hatchway. The man I had struck down with the axe did not move; the one I had wounded was on his knees, holding his right arm in his left hand.
""I still had three able-bodied men, a boy, and an old man to contend with, but they, all seemed to be demoralised by my sudden attack.
""Just then I caught sight of a pair of pistols near the rudder, and before either of the three sailors could make the slightest movement, I jumped for these weapons. In another moment my two bullets had struck down a man apiece. With me at the helm, and the old sailor and the boy to a.s.sist me, the boat could be handled with little or no difficulty, for the weather was superb, and we could not be more than fourteen or fifteen miles from the sh.o.r.es of France.
""My situation thus promptly defined, I loaded my pistols again and advanced toward the three men, who were gradually recovering from their surprise.
"""Go down into the hold, all three of you," I thundered. "If you don"t, I"ll shoot two of you, and hew down the other."
""There was only the length of the hatchway--about four feet--between me and these men, so I could easily blow their brains out. They instantly jumped into the hold, where the small quant.i.ty of combustible material I had lighted was now nearly burned out. The wounded man, too, staggered down as best he could; I replaced the hatchway, securing it with the iron bars as before; then I walked to the stern of the boat.
"""Give me the helm," I said to the old sailor; "you and the boy are to manage the sail, and manage it right, or I"ll blow your brains out."
""As I took the rudder out of his hand, he recoiled a step and exclaimed:
"""It is Captain l"Endurci, as I live!"
"""You know me, then?"
"""Know you, captain! I made two voyages with you on the _h.e.l.l-hound_."
"""And your name?"
"""Simon from Dunkirk."
"""I remember you now. So you intended to deliver me, your old captain, into the hands of the English, did you?"
"""May I be shot if I suspected for a single instant that it was you, captain."
"""So this smack belongs to you, I suppose."
"""No, captain, to Bezelek."
"""And where is he?"
"""At the bottom of the sea. He was the man that you killed first and that fell overboard."
"""But how does it happen that you consented to have a hand in my abduction?"
"""Well, captain, we"ve been doing a little smuggling."
"""That is very apparent."
"""And night before last two men came to us,--that is one of them lying there now."
""He pointed to the dead man in the bow as he spoke.
"""Throw him into the sea," I said, curtly.
"""And the other man?" I inquired, as soon as this order had been obeyed.
"""He is down in the hold. He is the man you wounded in the arm."
"""And how did these men induce you and Bezelek to become their accomplices?"
"""They said: "Bezelek, there are fifty guineas ready for you if you will consent to take a man we will bring to you to England. We do not intend to injure him in any way; but if he resists, you and your men will be expected to lend a hand in gagging and binding him, and placing him in the hold of your fishing-smack. You will be paid twenty-five guineas in advance, and twenty-five more on your arrival at Folkestone." As there seemed to be no great harm in the proceeding, the offer tempted Bezelek and he agreed to do what the men asked. But I swear that I had no idea it was you. If I had, I would never have had anything to do with the affair."
""Four hours after I escaped from the hold we were within sight of the port of Mora, where I landed safe and sound."