"I will take the lads we picked up the other day; they are sharp fellows, especially one of them, and may be useful."
Owen and Nat were summoned and ordered to get into the boat with the other men, among whom was Mike Coffey. Owen was well pleased to have been selected by Mr Leigh.
"We shall be out of the way, too, of that midshipman Mr Ashurst,"
observed Nat. "He is a regular bully when he has the chance."
On reaching the deck of the prize, however, what was their disappointment to find that Mr Ashurst had gone on board her in one of the other boats. He looked hard at Owen as he came up the side.
"Who sent you here, boy?" he asked.
"I was ordered to come," answered Owen, touching his hat.
"Well, look out, and see that you behave yourself," said the midshipman, as he walked away.
Owen felt a sickening sensation as he looked along the decks of the prize. Those of the "Sylvia" had been bad enough. These, although the dead and wounded had been removed, were still covered in every direction with blood, while they were thickly strewed with shattered spars, fragments of bulwarks, blocks, pieces of rope, and torn sails, while from below came up cries and groans of the wounded, either waiting to have their hurts dressed or already in the surgeon"s hands. As the frigates were at the time not far from the coast of Celebes, every effort was made to repair the more serious damages, in order to enable them to haul off the sh.o.r.e before nightfall. The first thing to be done was to get up a fore jury mast. Rather more than a third of the French crew still remained on board the prize; but as all hands were required for this work, Mr Leigh waited to send them away until it had been accomplished. Most of them, indeed, appeared willing to lend their help. It was nightfall, however, before sail could once more be made on the frigate. By that time it came on to blow very hard, and the sea getting up, made it dangerous for the boats to pa.s.s to and fro. Captain Stanhope, therefore, sent word to Mr Leigh to retain the remainder of the prisoners, and should the frigates get parted, to steer for Marrack, the nearest port on the Java coast where shelter could be found. The fort protecting the harbour had a short time before been captured by Lieutenant Lyons with two boats" crews. The captain"s last directions to Lieutenant Leigh were to keep a sharp look-out on his prisoners. The wind increased, and the night became very dark. The English crew remained on deck, but most of the Frenchmen went below. All the sail the frigate could carry was set, but it soon became evident that she was making little or no way off the sh.o.r.e.
Captain Stanhope had directed Mr Leigh to keep the lead going, and to anchor should the prize drift into shoal water. He accordingly ordered the cables to be ranged ready for that emergency. Owen had been actively engaged the whole day, and Mr Leigh had employed him to carry orders to the different parties at work. Soon after nightfall the "Sylvia" was lost sight of; as, for her own safety, she had been compelled to get a good offing, Captain Stanhope not being willing to run the risk of anchoring on a lee sh.o.r.e. His intention was, however, to stand in the next morning and rejoin the prize. Had the wind been but moderate, the "Venus" would have run but little risk. Blowing, however, heavily, as it now did, Mr Leigh could not help acknowledging that they were in considerable danger. Though under reduced sail, she fortunately stayed very easily. The lieutenant, therefore, did not hesitate to go about as often as he considered necessary. A look-out was kept for the land, and every time she tacked the lead was hove, but as no bottom had yet been found, it was hoped she might yet be a considerable distance from it. The French crew had remained quietly below, one or two only occasionally coming on deck, apparently to ascertain the position of the ship.
Strange that even at this time of peril Mr Ashurst should have treated Owen in his usual tyrannical manner. He never met him without uttering a word of abuse. Two or three times he took up a rope"s end and struck him, declaring that he was idling or not obeying orders. At last Owen could bear it no longer.
"You are perfectly well aware, Mr Ashurst, that you have no right to treat me thus," he said in a firm voice. "You are placing yourself in my power, for were I to complain of you, you would be punished. I have no wish to do that, but I must beg that you will desist."
"Who are you, to speak like this to me?" exclaimed the midshipman, apparently astonished at Owen"s language and manner.
"Were I your inferior in birth and education I should have a perfect right to expostulate," said Owen.
"In birth--in birth and education! You, a contemptible ship"s boy, put yourself on an equality with a n.o.bleman"s son!" exclaimed Ashurst.
"I am not placing myself on an equality, for I am not a n.o.bleman"s son, but I am the son of a gentleman, and have received a gentleman"s education, and have, I hope, the feelings of one," answered Owen, his temper rising in a way he found it difficult to quell; "all, however, I insist on is that you should not strike or abuse me, for by so doing, as you well know, you are acting contrary to the articles of war."
"A young sea lawyer, are you!" cried Ashurst. "Look out for squalls when we get on board the frigate again."
"Has it occurred to you, Mr Ashurst, that if this gale continues we may never get there?" asked Owen, feeling suddenly prompted to put the question. "We have a wild rocky coast under our lee, and should the anchors fail to hold, we may, before morning, be cast on it with little hope of any one on board escaping."
"Who told you that?" asked Ashurst, in a changed tone.
"My own sense and observation," answered Owen. "When Mr Leigh sent me into the cabin this afternoon, I examined the Frenchman"s chart, which lay open on the table, and I saw the sort of coast we are off. I do not wish to alarm you, nor any one else, but I only tell you what I know to be the state of the case."
"Does Mr Leigh think the same?" inquired Ashurst, in the same tone he would have used to an equal.
"I have no doubt he does, but of course he would not tell the crew until it was absolutely necessary to do so; unless he had foreseen that we should probably have to anchor he would not have ordered the cables to be ranged."
"I hope things are not so bad as you think, Hartley," observed Ashurst, although, at the same time, his voice belied his words. Without apologising to Owen, he walked away in a very different manner to that he had just before a.s.sumed.
"It is a great shame that that midshipman should treat you as he does,"
said Nat. "Although he is civil enough now, he will be as bad as ever before long, and I have made up my mind what to do."
"You"d better not interfere, Nat," said Owen. "The officers probably would not listen to you, and you would only get yourself into bad odour."
Nat did not exactly understand what that meant, but he did not mind doing anything which might benefit Owen. By midnight the gale had increased considerably, and the English crew, in addition to their previous exertions--having to work hard at the pumps--were almost worn-out. It was difficult, therefore, to spare hands to keep a proper look-out on the French prisoners.
Mr Leigh, calling Owen, sent him below to ascertain what they were about.
"I must get the fellows to take their spell at the pumps, if not, their lives will be sacrificed as well as ours."
This last remark Owen did not hear, although the same idea had occurred to him.
Supposing him to be an ordinary ship"s boy, who had come among them for curiosity, the prisoners took little notice of him. The greater number were collected together in the fore-part of the lower deck. Some were playing cards, others with dice or dominoes. Some were lying down, others singing s.n.a.t.c.hes of songs, talking and laughing, appearing to have forgotten altogether that they were prisoners. One group, composed chiefly, it seemed, of petty officers and able seamen, were standing together, engaged in more earnest conversation.
Owen, as he had been directed to do, stood by, counting their numbers, concealed by the foremast from the last-mentioned group. Taking no notice of Owen the Frenchmen continued their conversation. He was on the point of going away to report that the prisoners seemed very quiet, when he caught some words which made him listen with more attention.
Although not accustomed to hear French spoken by Frenchmen, he had frequently read and talked French with his mother, and was well acquainted with the ordinary phrases in use. The Frenchmen went on.
They spoke of the danger the ship was in. That before long she must anchor, when probably half the crew would lie down to rest, while the other half would be kept at the pumps. They appeared to know the coast; there were several islands abreast where they then were, with channels between them. Their intention was to master the English crew, cut the cables, and, making sail by dawn, to run through one of these channels, where the "Venus" might lie completely concealed. They would then have time to repair damages, and as soon as the English frigate had gone away, supposing her prize to be lost, they might make their escape.
Only two French officers, however, remained on board who understood navigation, and they must be gained over. This the French boatswain undertook to do. Some thought their officers would not agree to the plan.
"Then they must be forced to do so," answered the boatswain; "we will make them prisoners as well as the English, or heave them all overboard together."
"That would be dangerous," remarked another, "for should we be retaken, they would hang us."
"The fortune of war, my friend," answered the boatswain; "remain where you are, that the English may see that you are amusing yourselves, while I pay a visit to our lieutenant and the young Aspirante. They surely will not refuse to enter into our plan."
Owen waited some time longer, but finding that he was not likely to gain any further information he stole sway, concealed by the darkness, from where he had been standing, unperceived, as he hoped, by any of the prisoners. The boatswain, he believed, had not yet gone aft, he therefore hastened to report what he had heard to Mr Leigh.
"This is important information you have brought me," observed Lieutenant Leigh. "We can easily thwart the Frenchmen"s plot, and I doubt whether their two officers would agree to it. I had no idea you understood French. The first thing to be done is to send a gang of these fellows to the pumps. They shall work whether they like it or not."
Calling Mr Stewart, the master"s mate, who had accompanied him, Mr Leigh directed him to take a dozen armed men and to bring up thirty of the French crew. "If they refuse, let them understand that they will be placed in irons. Hartley, accompany Mr Stewart, and tell the Frenchmen why they are wanted."
The order was speedily put into execution. The Frenchmen grumbled, but as they had been deprived of all their weapons they could make no resistance, and the number required were marched up to the main deck.
The French boatswain and several of his companions were greatly astonished, shortly afterwards, to find themselves handcuffed by another party of English seamen accompanied by their officers.
"You deserve it, you rascals," said the French lieutenant. "Did you suppose we should break our word of honour, and join you in your villainous plot?"
The greater number of the prisoners were now kept at the pumps, with the exception of those in irons and attending to the sick. In vain they expostulated. They could not deny that they intended to try and recapture the ship. The English crew were thus greatly relieved, and a portion were enabled to lie down and obtain the rest they so much required.
Thus night wore on, and as yet no sign of land had been discovered.
Again the lead was hove. It gave twenty fathoms, shortly afterwards fifteen; and at the same moment, during a lull in the gale, the roar of breakers on a rocky sh.o.r.e could be heard.
Mr Leigh instantly gave the order to prepare for anchoring. The canvas was quickly taken in and the anchor let go. This was the moment the Frenchmen had intended to carry their plot into execution. The English officers, with a party of men, well armed, kept watch on them, and deprived of their leaders they dared not make the attempt. It was now a question whether the anchor would hold. A second had been got ready to let go if necessary, and the French lieutenant undertook, should they part from that, to pilot the frigate through one of the channels of which the boatswain had spoken, where she could remain in safety until the gale was over.
"I will trust you," said Mr Leigh, shaking him by the hand. "You have proved yourself a man of honour."
Notwithstanding the promised a.s.sistance of the French lieutenant, Mr Leigh felt considerable anxiety as to what might be the fate of the frigate. The French crew might still rise and attempt to retake the prize should they find themselves at a distance from the "Sylvia." The coast, too, was dangerous in the extreme, and it might be found impossible to reach the channel through which it was proposed to pa.s.s.
Before sail could be made the frigate might be driven on the rocks under her lee, or the sails, if set, might be blown to tatters before she could again be brought to an anchor. With forebodings of evil, Lieutenant Leigh paced the deck. The night pa.s.sed slowly away; when morning dawned the "Sylvia" was nowhere to be seen. The gale blew as furiously as ever. Captain Stanhope, in the crippled state to which his ship had been reduced by the action, although she had suffered much less than her opponent, had evidently considered it his duty to keep off the sh.o.r.e. "I should have done the same," thought Mr Leigh. "He would have risked the "Sylvia"s" safety by coming to our a.s.sistance. It was right to leave us to our fate."
Although a long scope of cable had been run out, the "Venus" rode uneasily over the heavy seas which came rolling in. Now she rose, now she pitched into them, as they pa.s.sed under her, while the spray in thick showers broke over her bows.
Still the stout cable held, although the lieutenant cast many an anxious look astern, where little more than a quarter of a mile away the breakers burst with a continual roar on the rock-bound coast. They could distinguish the entrance to the pa.s.sage some distance to the northward, but even had all the masts of the "Venus" been standing, and a strong crew been ready to make sail, the difficulty of gaining it would have been very great. Should the French prisoners have succeeded in carrying out their design, the frigate would have been cast away.
The fate of the wounded would have been certain, and few of those on board would have escaped.
Ashurst still continued his ill-treatment of Owen. Nat saw him again strike him.