All of them could see for themselves how completely overmatched they were, and must have known the utter uselessness of attempting any further resistance to us; but the mutineers of the negro portion of the _Saint Pierre"s_ crew, who were now in the majority, feared to give in owing to the fact of their believing they would be ultimately hanged if taken alive after the atrocities they had committed; so being of the opinion they were bound to be killed in any case, they determined apparently, if die they must, they would die fighting.
Whatever might be their motive or conviction, I will give them the credit of being plucky, and must say that they fought bravely, though with a ferocity that was more than savage, to the bitter end, their last rally on the break of the p.o.o.p being the fiercest episode of the fray, several hand-to-hand combats going on at one and the same time with hand pikes and capstan bars whirling about over the heads of those engaged, where cutla.s.s cuts were met with knife-thrusts from the formidable long- bladed weapons the negroes carried in their hands only to sheathe them in the bodies of their white antagonists.
My brain got dizzy as I watched the mad turmoil and my blood was at fever heat, taking part in the fight too, you may be sure, whenever I saw an opening, and dealing a blow here or parrying one there, as chance arose, with the best of them, young though I was, and totally inexperienced in such matters!
It was coming near to the finish, being too warm work to continue much longer, and I think all of us had had pretty well enough of it, when, looking round for Colonel Vereker, whom I suddenly missed from among the combatants, I saw him struggling with one of the blacks in a regular rough and tumble tussle on the deck.
The two were rolling about close to the after skylight from whence we had observed the flash of the pistol shot as we approached the ship, and which the colonel had been trying to get near to ever since he boarded her, but had been prevented from reaching by one obstacle or another until now, when this negro clutched hold of him and forced him back again.
He and the Haytian were tightly locked in a deadly embrace, the negro gripping him with both arms round the body, and the colonel endeavouring to release his revolver hand, the two rolling over and over on the deck towards the rail forward.
"Ha!" muttered the colonel, who was hard pressed, through his set teeth.
"Only let me get free."
Strangely enough, the gla.s.s of the skylight above the spot where the pair were struggling was instantly shattered from within, as if in response to his muttered cry; and with a loud bark that could have been heard a mile off, a big dog burst forth from the opening, making straight for the colonel and his relentless foe.
Then there came a startled yell from the negro, who, releasing his late antagonist, staggered to his feet.
"Holy name of--" he screamed out in wild affright, but he had not time to reach the concluding word of his sentence--the name of his patron saint, no doubt--"the devil!"
For before he could get so far, giving a fierce growl, the dog at once sprang up at him, his fangs meeting in the Haytian"s throat, whereupon the latter, toppling backwards over the p.o.o.p-rail, fell into the waist below, with the dog hanging on to him; and I noticed presently that both were dead, the brave animal who had come so opportunely to the rescue of the colonel, his master, being stabbed to the heart by a knife which the negro still held in his lifeless hand, while his own neck had been torn to pieces by the dog whom death could not force to relinquish his grip!
Immediately running up to the colonel, who was feebly trying to rise, his wrestle with the black having crippled his wounded leg and arm, I helped him to his feet as quickly as I could, while others cl.u.s.tered round to shelter us.
"Poor Ivan, true as steel in death as in life!" he faintly muttered, glancing from the break of the p.o.o.p on the two bodies huddled together below, the blood of the faithful dog flowing with that of his ruthless foe into a crimson pool that was gradually extending its borders from the middle of the deck to the lee scuppers. "He has defended my little Elsie, I am sure, to the last, likewise, even as he defended me. I hope and trust my child is still safe in the cabin. Help me aft, my lad, to see; quick, quick!"
Of course I a.s.sisted him as well as I could under the circ.u.mstances, but as he limped along towards the companion-hatchway, the leader of the desperadoes, that villainous "marquis," who I thought had met with his just deserts long since, not having seen him for some little time among the other fighters, most unexpectedly jumped from the rigging in front of the colonel and aimed a vindictive blow at him with a marline-spike.
This must have settled the colonel if it had fallen on his uncovered head. Fortunately though, dropping quickly the colonel"s arm, I fended off the blow with the revolver I held in my hand, while at the same time I gave the scoundrel a drive in the face that must have astonished his black lordship a good deal, for my clenched fist met him square on the mouth and shook his teeth, making them rattle, as well as disarranging the twist of his crinkly moustache!
He came at me with a snarl like an angry tiger, and then, hugging me tight, with his hideous black face thrust close against mine, and his muscular arms pressed tightly around my ribs, he squeezed every ounce of breath out of my body.
I thought my last hour had come.
But help came to my aid from a most unlooked-for quarter.
"Ah! you blackguard," cried a voice that sounded dimly in my ears, my head at the time seeming to be whirling round like the arms of a windmill from the sense of suffocation and the rush of blood to the brain. "Coward! miscreant! you are here again."
Breathless though I was, I was so surprised, and indeed frightened at the voice and accent of the speaker, which I immediately recognised, that I at once came to myself and opened wide my half-closed eyes.
Good heavens! Shall I ever forget the sight? Yes; it was Captain Alphonse, whom I had last seen only half an hour or so previously in the skipper"s cot on board the _Star of the North_, when Garry O"Neil said he would probably never wake to consciousness again in this life, or move out of the skipper"s state room!
Here he was though, all the same, looking like an apparition from the dead, wild, ghastly, awful, but quite sufficiently in his senses to recognise his terrible enemy, the pseudo "marquis."
It is a scene I shall never forget, as I remarked before.
Like poor Ivan, and with equal ferocity, the Frenchman sprang at the ugly villain"s throat, the whole lot of us tumbling headlong on the deck together, which caused the wretch to release me in order to protect himself from Captain Alphonse, who, kneeling on the top of him, hammered him against the bulwarks as though trying to beat the life out of him.
Making a last desperate effort, the Haytian "marquis" gripped his antagonist round the waist as he previously gripped me, dragging him down beside him again; and then, as the two came with all their might against the side of the ship where the port flap was loose, the whole of the planking gave way, and poor Captain Alphonse, with that scoundrel the black "marquis," crashed through the splintering wood together, falling with a heavy splash overboard into the sea beneath, going to the bottom locked in each other"s arms--a terrible ending to the terrible episode of this, their last meeting.
For the minute the colonel seemed overwhelmed with grief at this awful and sudden termination of poor Captain Alphonse"s life, and we would all sooner have seen him die unconsciously if not quietly, in his bed; but such are the ways of Providence, and we cannot control them!
But this day certainly witnessed a series of surprises, so it seemed to me, the most wonderful things happening every moment.
Colonel Vereker had dragged himself as well as he could, up to where I lay on the deck, after being set free from the bearlike hug of the negro, helping me up on my legs in the same Good Samaritan way in the which I had saved him shortly before; and we were both looking over the side, talking excitedly of the dreadful catastrophe that had just happened, and wondering whether the poor captain"s body would rise to the surface again, when all of a sudden, something bright crossing the deck caught my eye like a flash of light, and I heard the sound of light and hurried footsteps.
Wheeling round hastily I was amazed at the beautiful object that met my gaze, for I saw standing there, only a pace or two off, a lovely young girl, with a profusion of long silky hair of a bright golden hue, that streamed in a tangled ma.s.s over her shoulders, and reaching down almost to her feet.
"My father, my dear father!" she exclaimed in broken and ecstatic tones, her voice sounding to me like the soft cooing of a dove, as she flew and nestled herself into the outstretched arms of the colonel, who had also turned round at her approach, some sympathetic feeling having warned him of her coming, telling him who it was even before he saw her.
"Oh, my father! my father! At last, at last!"
And then, unable to control herself longer, she burst into a pa.s.sion of tears and sobs.
Colonel Vereker, on his part, was equally overcome.
"G.o.d be thanked!" cried he, raising his face to heaven, clasping her at the same time fondly to his heart and kissing her trembling lips again and again. "My darling one, my own little daughter, whom I thought I had lost for ever, but whom the good G.o.d has preserved to be the delight of my eyes again, my little one, my precious!"
For a few minutes I too had a lump in my throat, but turned aside, and then, not wishing to appear to be observing them, I left them alone and went off to another part of the ship.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
HORS DE COMBAT.
A grand hurrah just then burst forth from the deck below us, where the skipper and most of the men were ma.s.sed, telling as plainly as triumphant cheer could tell, that the fight was ended, and that victory had crowned our arms with success. I rushed back to tell the colonel.
On hearing my footsteps, however, little Elsie turned round and caught sight of me.
"Oh, my father!" said she, untwining herself from the colonel"s embrace, though she still nestled up close to him, as she stared at me shyly, with a puzzled look on her mignonne face. "Why, who is this young sir, my father? I seem to know him, and yet I do not remember having ever seen him before!"
"Look at him again, darling one," said her father, petting her caressingly, while another hearty cheer went up from the hands in the waist. "He is Senor d.i.c.k Haldane, a gallant young gentleman whom you must thank, my little daughter, for having saved my life."
At this the graceful young girl advanced a step or two towards me, and catching hold of my hand, before I could prevent her, kissed it, greatly to my confusion; as albeit it was an act expressive amongst the Spanish, with whom she had been brought up, of deferential courtesy and grat.i.tude, but it made me blush up to my eyes and feel hot all over.
"A thousand thanks, sir," she began; but as she raised her eyes to my face in thus giving utterance to her thanks for having, as the colonel had told her, saved her father"s life, a flood of recollection seemed to come upon her, and she exclaimed:
"Ah, I remember now! My father, yes, he is like the gentleman whom I saw on the deck of the steamer that awful night when the negroes rose up against us--last Friday, was it not? But it seems so long ago to me!
You, you naughty papa, would not believe that your little girl had seen anything at all, not even a ship, but that I only fancied it in my foolishness. However, there is the same steamer that I saw (pointing with her finger to the _Star of the North_), and here is the same, for I am sure he is the same, the very same young officer. Am I not right?"
And looking up at her father, she exclaimed, "Your little girl told the truth after all."
"And you, young lady," said I, smiling at her recognition of me, strange coincidence as it was, corroborating my own experience of the same eventful night, "yes; you are the same little girl I saw on board the "ghost-ship," as all the men here called your vessel, not believing, likewise, my story that I had seen her or you either. Yes, I would have known you anywhere. You are the girl whom I saw with the dog!"
The next moment I could have bitten my tongue out, though, for my thoughtlessness in alluding to the poor dog; for at the bare mention of him Elsie"s face, which had a sort of absent, wandering look about it still, at once lighted up, and she glanced round in all directions.
"Ah, I declare I had quite forgotten Ivan in the joy and happiness of seeing you again, my father," she exclaimed excitedly. "Where is he, the brave fellow? Ivan, Ivan, you dear old dog. Come here; come here, sir, directly!"
She looked round again, with a half smile playing about the corners of her pretty rosebud of a mouth and a joyous light in her eyes, expecting her faithful friend and companion would come bounding up to her side; but she now waited and watched and listened in vain, there being no response to her summons either by bark or bound or wag of poor Ivan"s bushy tail.