At this act of black treachery the small boarding party were ready to make a furious rush, but the sloop"s officers and men looked on themselves appalled, while a young fellow, quite a boy, flung himself on the officer"s body in a pa.s.sion of grief, then suddenly springing up, drew his knife and advanced towards Juarez.
"Enough!" said Webster sternly.
"Kill the black-hearted dog!" screamed the Brazilian sailors, giving vent to their hate for their brutal commander, which no doubt had been long pent up.
"I see," said Webster, with a grim smile; "we must get this fellow on board to save him from his friends."
He signalled to the _Swift_, and when she came alongside, Juarez, who still breathed heavily, was lowered to her deck.
"What"s to be done with the sloop, sir?"
"Oh, leave her, if she can float, and think ourselves lucky to be free of a gang of prisoners."
"She can reach Madeira by means of her sails."
"Take a look round, then, and come aboard."
Webster and Hume went aft, where all the damage done by the _Swift"s_ guns had taken place, and there they found the bulwarks smashed to splinters, the two guns overturned, and the deck wet with blood from a dozen dead.
With a last word of advice to the gloomy and silent officers of the sloop, Webster stepped overboard, and very soon the _Swift_ went on her way.
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
A PAINFUL SCENE.
The stricken sloop lay like a log on the ocean as the _Swift_ stretched along into the Atlantic. In less than half an hour she had been struck down, maimed, and humbled by an enemy which she had treated with contempt.
"Why didn"t you sink her?" said Commins softly, coming to the side of Captain Pardoe, who stood with a dull flush in his face, fixedly regarding the labouring sloop. "You are fighting for the National Government. Why didn"t you sink her?"
Pardoe turned and regarded the man at his side under his brows for a moment. "What a devil you are, Commins!"
"Am I really?" remarked Commins imperturbably; "but, however flattering to my sagacity, that is scarcely an answer to my question. You have committed a blunder, Pardoe, and if the authorities at Rio were informed of it they might--I"m not saying they would, mind you--but they might court-martial you."
"Court-martial me for smashing an enemy"s ship? You"re a fool, Commins!"
"Pardon me, but you have not smashed the enemy. There he goes leisurely on his way back to port after you had him in your power, and if either of us is to be called a fool I am inclined to think you are ent.i.tled to that honour. Take my advice: go back and sink that ship."
"Do you mean that?"
"Certainly, in your own interests. The Brazilian Admiral would be the last man to suppose you had let the enemy escape from motives of humanity. And, then, you saved the life of that fiend, Juarez."
"Juarez is my prisoner."
"Yes, truly; but, observe how absurd your case would be when you say to the Admiral: "I let the warship escape, but I have brought you her Captain, who would have been a.s.sa.s.sinated by his own crew.""
"I see you have already placed me on my trial," said Pardoe dryly. "I presume you wish me to murder Juarez as well as to sink the ship?"
"You have a brutal way with you, Pardoe, as befits, no doubt, a brave sailor; but it jars. As for Juarez, it may give our friends some pleasure to dispose of him at Rio, though his presence on board will cause me a feeling of nausea; but it is necessary that you should do your work thoroughly, and for your safety, and the success of our mission, you must destroy that ship."
"I must!" said the Captain, with a dark look.
"Well, there is no compulsion; but that is my opinion, and the opinion of Miss Laura de Anstrade."
"You lie!"
Commins grew white to the lips, and his gloved fingers, resting on the bridge rail, trembled, but recovering himself, he said: "I will bring her here, and you shall receive the orders from her own lips," then left the bridge.
Captain Pardoe flung himself round, took a hasty turn up and down the cramped bridge, then, with a stern and angry visage, faced Miss Anstrade.
She came swiftly, with a rustling of skirts, and a faint perfume that seemed strangely out of place, as much out of place as would be the inhuman order from her woman"s lips to destroy a helpless ship. Her large eyes glared with a feverish light, her breast heaved, and her hands were clutched in a sort of hysterical pa.s.sion.
"Captain Pardoe," she cried, in a thin, unnatural voice, "why have you let that ship escape?"
"Because, madam, I had not men enough to work her, and she would never have reached Rio."
"No; but she can reach the bottom."
"Good G.o.d!" he muttered, his face turning an ashen grey, "Miss Laura, you cannot mean that?"
"Yes; but I do!" she said, with a gasp.
"Then," he said fiercely, "you must put someone else in command."
"Oh, no, no!" she cried, "I never--"
"Be firm," whispered Commins; "think how your case will be strengthened.
If you can say you have destroyed one of the enemy"s ships. Remember your brother!"
Captain Pardoe noticed the action, and, pointing to Commins, he said bitterly: "Appoint that man your Captain, madam; he alone is capable of such an act, and perhaps Juarez would a.s.sist him."
"It is policy," whispered Commins.
The name of Juarez had a strange effect on the girl. She drew herself up, and in a hard voice called Lieutenant Webster.
He, seeing something unusual occurring, as, indeed, had all those on the main-deck, had drawn near.
"At your service, madam," he said, with a hasty look at Captain Pardee"s dark face.
"I wish to appoint you Captain, Mr Webster."
"Thank you, madam!"
Commins smiled as Pardoe threw his head up with a snort of indignant surprise.
"Mr Pardoe has refused to obey orders. I beg your pardon, what were you about to say?"
"I don"t think I wish to say anything, madam, and I"d rather not hear anything more;" saying which, Webster, with a distressed look on his frank face, stepped by, and stood beside Captain Pardoe.