"Um! it _may_ be so," muttered Mendouca, with a strong accent of doubt in his voice, however. "Let me have another look at her."
I handed over the gla.s.s with alacrity, for it was about my last wish just then to be questioned too closely as to the character of the stranger; and Mendouca subjected her to a further long and exhaustive scrutiny. At its termination he turned to me, and, with an accent of unmistakable suspicion, inquired--
"It hasn"t suggested itself to you, I suppose, that yonder craft may be a British man-o"-war? You have seen nothing so like her in your own squadron as to lead to the suspicion that she may be a dangerous enemy whom I ought to be promptly warned to avoid?"
Now, had I not known that he had never seen the _Barracouta_, I should have scarcely known what reply to give to this home question; as it was, however, I answered at hazard--
"Well, at this distance yonder vessel offers to my eye very little resemblance to the usual type of British gun-brig; she is longer, and much lower in the water, and her masts are certainly further apart than is the case with our brigs generally, you must see that for yourself; and it would be unreasonable to expect me to give a more decided opinion at this distance and in so vague a light."
"Will you swear to me that you are honestly of opinion that yon brig is _not_ a man-o"-war?"
"Certainly not," answered I, with pretended annoyance at his pertinacity. "She may be, or she may not be; it is quite impossible to express a more decided opinion, under the circ.u.mstances, and I therefore must decline to do so."
And I turned and walked away from him with an air of petulance.
Mendouca laid down the telescope, walked to the binnacle, and peered intently for a moment at the compa.s.s.
"Keep her way two points more to the southward," he ordered the helmsman.
This alteration in our course brought the brig about one point before our beam, distant about two and a half miles, and if persisted in, would soon have the effect of increasing the distance between the two craft; and, unless we were already seen, rendered it quite possible that we might slip past un.o.bserved, our spars standing naked to the dark sky, and our hull lying low upon the equally dark water. There was, however, the hope that, even at the distance separating the two vessels, the roll and grinding of the heavy sweeps would be heard in the perfect stillness of air and water; and I felt confident that, if yonder brig were indeed the _Barracouta_, and the sounds referred to extended so far as to reach the sharp ears on board her, they would be identified, and their significance at once understood. But even as the thought pa.s.sed through my mind it seemed to have also occurred to Mendouca; for he strode toward the waist and exclaimed in a low, clear voice that was distinctly audible fore and aft, but which would probably not have been audible half a cable"s length away--
"Let those n.i.g.g.e.rs knock off sweeping for the present, and send them below. And as soon as they are there and you have clapped the hatches on--noiselessly, mind--let all hands set to work to m.u.f.fle the sweeps with mats, old canvas, pads of oak.u.m, or anything else that you can lay your hands upon. It is unfortunate that this was not thought of before; but it may not yet be too late."
The negroes, grateful for this unexpected respite from their exhausting toil, and of course quite ignorant as to its cause, gladly tumbled below, and the gratings were carefully secured over them. Meanwhile the boatswain, with one hand, dived below, and in a short time the two men re-appeared with a load of miscellaneous stuff and some b.a.l.l.s of spun-yarn; and all hands went diligently to work under Mendouca"s personal supervision, to m.u.f.fle the sweeps, which was so effectually done that when, half-an-hour later, they were again manned, they worked with scarcely a sound beyond the rather heavy splash of their blades in the water. Meanwhile, during the progress of the m.u.f.fling process--in which I had not offered to partic.i.p.ate--I kept a keen watch upon the distant brig, taking an occasional squint at her through the night-gla.s.s when I thought it possible to do so without attracting Mendouca"s attention. I do not quite know what I expected to see, for of course I knew perfectly well that every eye in the brig might be steadfastly watching us, without our being able to detect any sign of such scrutiny; and I was moreover fully aware that should we have been discovered, and our character suspected, no visible indication of such discovery or suspicion would be permitted to reveal itself to our eyes; and the same studied concealment would equally apply to the preparations for any investigation that they might be moved to undertake. Still, I thought it just barely possible that by maintaining a strict watch I might chance to detect some sign of alertness on board the brig, if she were indeed the _Barracouta_, as I strongly suspected. Nor was I disappointed, for I did at length detect such an indication, not on board the brig herself, but at some considerable distance from her, and immediately under the slender crescent of the setting moon, where, while sweeping the surface of the water, moved by some vague instinct, I caught two faint momentary flashes of dim orange radiance that to me had very much the appearance of reflected moonlight glancing off the wet blades of oars. And if this were so it meant that we had been seen, our character very shrewdly suspected--most probably from the steady plying of the sweeps for no more apparently urgent reason than that we were becalmed--and that a surprise attack was about to be attempted from the very quarter where, under the circ.u.mstances, it was least likely to be looked for, namely, straight ahead. Of course what I had seen might merely have been a ray of moonlight glancing off the wet body of a porpoise, a whale, or some other sea creature risen to the surface to breathe; but it had so much the appearance of the momentary flash of oars that I was loath to believe it anything else. a.s.suming it to be what I hoped, my cue was now of course to distract attention as much as possible from that part of the ocean that lay immediately ahead of us; and this could not be better done than by concentrating it upon the brig, which now lay practically abeam of us, a short three miles away.
I therefore--no longer surrept.i.tiously but ostentatiously--again brought the night-gla.s.s to bear upon her, and allowed myself to be found thus when Mendouca came aft, after having personally superintended the m.u.f.fling of the sweeps and the putting of them in motion again.
"Well," he said, as he rejoined me, "have you not yet been able to satisfy yourself as to the character of that brig?"
"No," said I; "but, whatever she is, they all seem to be asleep on board her. If she is a slaver, her skipper has more care and consideration for his property than you have, for he at least allows his slaves to rest at night."
"That is quite patent to us all," answered Mendouca drily. "But then, you know, he may not be running short of food and water, as we are.
Or--he may not be a slaver."
"Of course," I a.s.sented, with the best accent of indifference that I could a.s.sume. "But, slaver or no slaver, I have not been able to detect a sign of life on board that brig for the last half-hour, or indeed from the moment when I first began to watch her. I can make out the faint light of her binnacle lamps, and that is all. But the fact of their being allowed to continue shining would seem to argue, to my mind at least, that, be they what they may, they have no reason for attempting to conceal their presence from us. If you feel differently toward them I think you would do well to extinguish your binnacle lights for awhile; the helmsman can steer equally well by a star, of which there are plenty to choose from."
"Yes, of course; you are right," he a.s.sented hastily; "there can be no harm in doing that."
And going to the binnacle, he glanced into it, saw that the ship was heading on the course he had last set for her, directed the helmsman to choose a star to steer by, and then himself carefully withdrew the lamps and extinguished them.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
THE AFFAIR OF THE "FRANCESCA" AND THE "BARRACOUTA"S" BOATS.
I continued to industriously scrutinise the brig through the night-gla.s.s, and, by so doing, contrived to keep Mendouca"s attention also pretty closely centred upon her; but I could see that he was fully on the alert. He appeared to instinctively scent danger in the air, for he frequently a.s.sumed an anxious, listening att.i.tude, with a growing irritability that manifested itself in repeated execration of the slaves for the quite unavoidable splashing sounds that they made in working the sweeps. He was also intently watching the thin crescent of the setting moon that was by this time hanging on the very verge of the western horizon; and I suspected that he was awaiting her disappearance to put in practice some stratagem--such as, perhaps, a further alteration of the ship"s course--as an additional safeguard. But, whatever may have been his intentions, they were all altered by an unlucky discovery made by one of the men on the forecastle, who, at the very moment when the moon was in the act of sinking behind the horizon, caught sight for a moment of a large boat full of men strongly outlined against the golden crescent, and immediately reported the fact, coming aft that he might do so without raising his voice.
"A boat!" exclaimed Mendouca anxiously, when the man had told what he had seen. "Are you _quite_ sure?"
"As sure as I am that I am now standing here speaking to you, senor,"
answered the man, in a tone of conviction. "Jose saw it also. We were both watching the disappearing moon, and when she was about half-way below the horizon we suddenly saw a large boat, pulling, I should say, at least twelve oars, glide swiftly across her face, as though steering to the southward on a line that would cross our course."
"Phew!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mendouca; "that looks serious. For it undoubtedly means that the brig"s people are by no means as fast asleep as you have imagined them to be, Dugdale. How far off did you judge the boat to be when you saw her?" he demanded, turning again to the seaman.
"A matter of a mile and a half, or perhaps a trifle more," was the answer.
"Very well, then, that will do," answered Mendouca. ""Forewarned is forearmed," as the English say. As you go forward pa.s.s the word along for the sweeps to be laid in and stowed away, and for the negroes to be sent below, and the hatch gratings put on and secured. And, do you hear, everything must be done as noiselessly as possible."
"Bueno, senor," answered the man, as he turned away to do Mendouca"s bidding; and in a few minutes the sweeps were laid in and stowed away, and the brigantine"s head gently turned more to the southward, in order that she might drift in that direction as long as she retained her way.
Then, the slaves having been driven below and secured, the decks were rapidly but noiselessly cleared for action, the guns were cast loose and loaded, a liberal supply of grape and canister was pa.s.sed on deck, arms were served out to the men, and the boarding nettings were triced up all round the ship. The whole of the work was executed so rapidly and silently as to clearly demonstrate that the crew was a thoroughly seasoned one, inured to fighting, and by no means averse to it when the chances were in their favour, as they certainly were in the present instance; and I was filled with chagrin and disgust at the thought of how simple an accident had sufficed to mar and defeat what might otherwise have proved a perfect surprise to Mendouca and his crew.
Still, although I could not conceal from myself the fact that this apparently trivial accident had placed the attacking party at a woeful disadvantage, by warning their antagonists of the intended attack, and thus putting them on the alert, I had seen enough of British pluck to hope that even yet, despite all, it might still prove successful; and I awaited the event with no small anxiety, quite determined that if the slightest chance offered of affording any aid to the a.s.sailants, I would avail myself of it, let the consequences to myself be what they would.
But Mendouca soon proved that he was not the man to overlook any such peril as this; for presently, when by personal inspection he had satisfied himself that everything was in readiness, he came up to me and said, with just the suspicion of a sneer in the tones of his voice--
"Now, Dugdale, I will not pay you so poor a compliment as to suppose you capable of treacherously making use of your present position on board my ship, to raise your hand against the man who gave you your life, at the moment when his whole attention will be needed to protect himself against outside enemies. Still, your conscience appears to be a very curious and inscrutable thing, and there is no knowing what it may prompt you to do under the influence of excitement and misguided enthusiasm. In order therefore that you may be placed beyond the danger of temptation to do something that you would probably afterwards have cause to bitterly regret, I will ask you to go below to your cabin, where, for your own safety"s sake, I will take the liberty of locking you in, with a companion whose duty it will be to see that you remain there and do not commit yourself by any rash act."
"Oh, certainly!" I answered, rather bitterly. "Needs must when the devil drives; so lead on, most courteous senor."
"Look here, Dugdale," said he, apparently rather hurt by my tone, "you must not feel yourself aggrieved at my action in this matter. What I propose to do is for your own good and safety, quite as much as by way of a safeguard of my own. My men are fairly amenable to discipline in their calmer moments, as you have doubtless discovered by this time; but I should be sorry to answer for them in the excitement of a fiercely-contested fight, such as this is likely to be; and since you have persistently refused to join us out and out, I honestly think it will be safer for you to be below out of sight until we have driven those meddlesome boats off."
"Very well," said I; "it must of course be as you please. Only, for mercy"s sake, spare me the humiliation of mounting a guard over me!"
He looked me intently in the eyes for a moment, and then said--
"All right, I will; you shall be locked up by yourself. Only, for your own sake, be careful to behave exactly as you would in the presence of a guard; for I promise you that, if I have the slightest reason to suspect any treachery on your part, you will be sorry that I ever spared your life. Now, come along, for there is no time to spare."
I accordingly followed him below and entered my cabin, closing the door behind me, and I immediately heard him turn the key and withdraw it from the lock, after which he went on deck again; and for a time the most perfect stillness and silence reigned throughout the ship.
The silence was not of long duration, however; for I had scarcely been in my cabin ten minutes when I heard a low murmur of voices overhead, and the next instant Mendouca"s voice pealed outs loud and clear, in English--
"Ho, the boats ahoy! Who are you, and what do you want?"
There was some reply that I could not catch, the voice evidently coming from a point at some distance from the ship, on the opposite side to that occupied by my cabin. It was probably an inquiry as to name and destination of the brigantine, for Mendouca shouted--
"The _Nubian Queen_, of and for Liverpool, from the Bra.s.s river, with oil and ivory. Keep off, or I will fire into you! I warn you that we are armed, and are quite prepared to defend ourselves."
A long hail from the boats now followed, to which Mendouca replied--
"If you do it will be at your peril; I have been cleared out once before just about this same spot, and I do not intend to be robbed a second time. Keep off, I tell you! If you advance another stroke I will fire!"
And instantly afterwards I heard him say to his own men in Spanish--
"Now, lads, you have them all in a cl.u.s.ter, let them have it. Fire!"
The sharp, ringing report of the brigantine"s nine-pounders immediately pealed out, and even through the shock and concussion of the discharge I thought that, as I stood with my ear at the open port, I caught the sound of a crash. Whether this was so or not, there could be no mistake about the screams and groans of agony that came floating over the water in response to our broadside, mingled with cries of command, the roll and dash of oars in the water, a rattling volley of musketry, and the deeper notes of two boat-guns fired almost together, the shot of one at least of which I heard and felt strike the hull of the brigantine.
All was now in an instant noise and confusion on deck; the silence that had held the tongues of the crew was now no longer necessary, and the jabber, the oaths, the shouting, the loud, defiant laughs, the rumbling of the gun-carriages, the creaking of tackle-blocks, the thud of rammers and sponges, the calls for cartridges, all combined to create a hubbub that would not have shamed the builders of Babel; and through all and above all rose Mendouca"s voice in short, sharp sentences of appeal, encouragement, and direction to his men. I could hear, by the furious grinding of handspikes, the breathless e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns of the men, and the crash of the gun-carriages as the guns were run out, that the _Francesca"s_ crew were working like demons; and almost before I could have believed it possible, they had again loaded their guns and a second broadside rang out over the still water, to be again followed by a still more gruesome chorus of cries and groans, and the sudden cessation of the sound of the oars, loud above which rose the exultant cheers of the ruffians on deck.
"Hurrah, lads!" I heard Mendouca exclaim joyously; "load again smartly, but with grape and canister only this time. We have checked them for a moment, but they have not yet had enough, I fear; they will come at us again as soon as they have picked up their shipmates, so now is your time; load and let them have it while they are stationary!"