The surgeon having given me permission, I wrote my letter, and Mr. White took it that very night, having no companion with him but two natives who acted as guides. I have a copy of the letter, made at the time, which runs as follows:
_"To Captain Edward England:_
_"Sir,--I write you this in a most forlorn and distressing situation._
_"Having defended ourselves, our ship, and those intrusted to our keeping, from you, who sought to encompa.s.s our destruction by all means in your power, we now find ourselves reduced to the necessity of imploring aid from you, who so lately sought our lives. Nor would we even yet ask anything from you were it not for three poor and helpless women, whose safety here is a matter of uncertainty from day to day, and who, without aid is extended to them, may perish miserably in this desolate and savage land._
_"Sir, though a wild and ungoverned nature, I never knew you to be a cruel man; therefore I ask this aid of you for the sake of these three women._
_"Furthermore, I ask that you do not hastily refuse this plea for aid, but may allow me to come aboard of your craft and speak to you in person._
_"I know that there is with you one who is mine enemy, because of a great injury which he hath done me, and who will no doubt conspire against my life--I mean Captain Leach, lately one of my pa.s.sengers, and who, I suspect, along with others, betrayed us into your hands. But although I believe he would seek my life, yet I am willing to trust it into your hands if you will promise me safety in my coming and my going._
_"Sir, I beseech you to grant me this speech with you, that I may plead the cause of the weak and helpless, and am, sir,_
_"Your very obedient and humble servant,_
"John Mackra."
XI.
Mr. White was only gone for a little more than two days, and when he returned he brought with him a letter from the pirate captain. The communication ran thus:
_"To Captain John Mackra, late of the "Ca.s.sandra:"_
_"Sir,--If you choose to risk your life by coming hither, devil a word have I to say against it. They"re a wild set of blades under me, and mind the helm no better than a washing-tub, so that my orders have little or no weight with them. All the same, if you"re the man to come aboard, and have the courage to face the matter out, I"ll do what I can to see that no harm happens to you. But if you"ll take a friend"s advice you"ll stay where you are, and let a bad matter cure itself, for you know very well that there is no use splicing a rotten rope. As for the pickle you"re in, lay that to your luck, and not to me._
"Edward England."
I was none too well pleased with this precious epistle, for I could see very readily how little command Captain England held upon the wretches under him. Nevertheless, it did not alter my determination to to go aboard of the pirate craft and to speak with him. I was the more inclined to do this as I felt well a.s.sured that the pirates could not now be as hot for my blood as they had been at first.
It was necessary for me to get away from the king"s town without confiding my determination to any one, or any one having knowledge of my departure, for I knew very well that there was not one of my officers but would have stayed me from acting on my plans had they been informed of them, even if they should find it needful to use force to prevent my going.
It was the evening of the eighth day since the fight when Mr. White returned with Captain England"s letter, and I determined that that very night should witness my departure upon my enterprise, which to one looking coolly upon it might seem little if any better than the frantic act of a madman. Nor was it that I myself was unconscious of the magnitude of these dangers, for I entered upon them only because that in the desperate state of our necessities I could see no other course out of our difficulties, and so had to choose this for lack of a better.
Accordingly, as said above, I determined to set out that very night, for nothing could be gained by further delay.
There was no other choice left me but to make my way along the beach, which, although it would increase the distance by five or six miles, would yet afford me a sound and level highway for my journeying, the sand being firm and hard when the water was out at low tide.
That night I wrote a lengthy letter to Mr. Langely, giving him full particulars as to what I was about to undertake, and also instructions as to how he should proceed in the event of my not returning from my adventure. I also wrote my will, and settled all my affairs as well as I was able. This took until nigh midnight.
All this I managed to do without the knowledge of any one, and by the light of a little wick floating in a dish of oil, the flame of which I kept so well shaded that no one perceived it in all that time.
About one o"clock I came out from my hut, and found the stars shining most beautifully in the sky, and all the air full of the noises of the night. I did not tarry, however, but walked straight to the beach, and along it towards the northern end of the island, around which and beyond the cape I knew the bay to lie, about ten leagues distant from the king"s town.
I had only been twice upon my feet since the fever had left me, and found that I was far more weak than I had supposed myself to be, so that I had to rest myself at frequent intervals. However, I managed to cover some ten miles of my journey by about six o"clock in the morning, by which time I was so exhausted that I could go no farther, but had to lie down under the shade of the bushes and rest myself for a long time.
I speak of these things to show why it was that my journey should have occupied nigh upon two days, for it was not until the afternoon of the second day that I came within sight of a boat, drawn up on the beach, which I knew to belong to the pirates, and from which the crew had gone into the thickets, either to search for game or for water.
I had eaten nothing all that day, for I had not thought that my journey would have taken me so long, and I did not care to burden myself with any more food than necessary. So I was glad to see the boat, not only being very weary, but also having my feet so badly blistered by the unwonted exposure to the hot sun on the bare sand that it was only with pain that I could take a single step.
As I drew nigh, two fellows who had been lying in the shade upon the further side sprang to their feet and hailed me.
"Who are you?" says one of them--a great black-bearded fellow with a dirty yellow handkerchief tied around his head, a ragged scarf about his loins, a brace of pistols hanging from a leathern belt, and a dirty shirt opened at the breast, showing a hairy throat and chest.
"I am Captain John Mackra," said I, and I sat down upon the gunwale of the boat, for I could go no farther.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "I AM CAPTAIN JOHN MACKRA," SAID I, AND I SAT DOWN UPON THE GUNWALE OF THE BOAT.]
"The devil you are!" says he, and he stared at me from top to toe as though I had been some strange creature the like of which he had never beheld before. Then, without another word, he put his fingers to his lips and gave a great, long, shrill whistle. I presently heard a great crackling in the bushes and the noise of loud voices, and soon there burst out of the thickets six or eight great, bearded, dirty, villanous rascals, who came running down to the boat, having caught sight of me, and knowing me to be a stranger. "It"s Captain Leach," said the one of the pirates who had not yet spoken--a young fellow of not more than twenty.
Some of those who had just come had been drinking, as could be very plainly seen from the way in which they acted. One of them was for killing me off-hand, and I verily believe would have done so, in spite of all that the others could do or say, had not another of them knocked him down with an oar with such a blow that I thought at first the fellow had been killed outright.
After that they bound me hand and foot, and chucked me into the stern-sheets of the boat along with the fellow who had been knocked down by the oar, and who lay without life or motion, as though neither were of more account than so much old junk. After that they shoved off from the beach in the direction of my old craft the _Ca.s.sandra_, which rode at anchor about a mile and a half or two miles away.
The boat had hardly come alongside when the news of my coming ran fore and aft like a train of powder. They hoisted me upon deck and laid me just aft of the main-mast, whilst a great crowd gathered round me and stared at me, some of them grinning and some of them cursing me.
Most of them were more or less in liquor, and it was this circ.u.mstance that came nigh to costing me my life, and this was how it happened:
One great fellow with a dreadful scar across his face gave me a kick in the loins which I thought at first had finished me, and for no cause that I could see but that he was drunk and in a savage humor. One or two of them sang out to him not to kill me just then, but he made no answer except by aiming another kick at my head, which I warded off with my arm so that it did me little or no harm. He drew back his foot for another blow, but just then an iron belaying-pin came whizzing through the air and struck the fellow in the jaw, knocking him down upon the deck as though he had been shot.
I turned mine eyes and saw that it was Captain England himself who had struck the blow.
"Look "ee," says he, "we"ll have none of this; if killing is to be done, it is to be done lawyer-like. He"s come aboard himself, and if he"s to be killed he"s to be killed after his trial, and not before."
There was a moment or two of pause, for Captain England had drawn a brace of pistols, and held one c.o.c.ked in either hand; but just then up stepped a fellow who it was very plain to see was of some account amongst them, for his clothes were of rich stuff, and he had a gold chain with a cross slung around his neck, and golden ear-rings in his ears. He walked up to England until he stood face to face with him.
"Look "ee, Ned England," says he, "what I"ve got to say is this: you"re carrying things with too high a hand to suit us easy-going fellows. D"ye think you"re king or emperor, and that we"re n.i.g.g.e.r slaves, that you knock us about as it suits your humor?"
I had expected that England would have shot the fellow down where he stood, but he stayed his hand, and by the muttering of the rest I knew that the speaker carried most of them with him.
"Look "ee, now," says he, more boldly, "didn"t we choose you for our captain ourselves? And here you knock us around with belaying-pins as though you owned every man of us; and all for what? Why, for giving this here precious sea-captain an innocent kick or two for all of the good fellows he"s sent to h--ll since ten days ago. What I say is, hang him up to the yard-arm;" and he fetched me a terrible kick in the side without taking his eyes from his captain"s face.
At this time, although I heard what was said, I thought but little of what was pa.s.sing about me, my mind being beclouded with my weakness and my pains, for I had wellnigh swooned from the agony of those two kicks upon my flank and loins. Therefore I lay with mine eyes shut, feeling deathly sick and faint.
A time of silence followed, though how long it might be I could not exactly tell. Then I heard Captain England speak, the words coming to my ears as though from a great distance, because of my condition.
"D--n you, Burke, what do I care for the fellow? If you want the man"s life, take it!" and I knew that he swung upon his heel and walked away.
XII.