A Set of Rogues

  CHAPTER XL.

  _Of our escape from Barbary, of the pursuit and horrid, fearfulslaughter that followed, together with other moving circumstances._

  So Groves, as my man was named, told me how he and eight other poorEnglishmen, sharing the same bagnio, had endured the hardships andmisery of slavery, some for thirteen, and none less than seven, years;how for three years they had been working a secret tunnel by which theycould escape from their bagnio (in which they were locked up every nightat sundown) at any moment; how for six months, since the completion oftheir tunnel, they had been watching a favourable opportunity to seize aship and make good their escape (seven of them being mariners); and hownow they were, by tedious suspense, wrought to such a pitch ofdesperation that they were ripe for any means of winning their freedom."And here," says he, in conclusion, "hath merciful Providence given usthe power to save not only ourselves from this accursed bondage, butyou, also, if you are minded to join us."

  Asking him how he proposed to accomplish this end, he replies:

  "'Tis as easy as kiss your hand. First, do you accept Haroun's offer?"

  "I have," says I.

  "Good!" says he, rubbing his hands, and speaking thick with joy. "Youmay be sure that Mohand will suffer no one to interfere with yourgetting aboard, to the achievement of his design. When is it to be?"

  I hesitated a moment, lest I should fall into another trap, trying toescape from the first; but, seeing he was an Englishman, I would notbelieve him capable of playing into the Turks' hands for our undoing,and so I told him our business was for midnight on the feast of Ramadah.

  "Sure, nought but Providence could have ordered matters so well," sayshe, doubling himself up, as if unable to control his joy. "We shall bethere, we nine sturdy men. Some shall hide in the canes, and othersbehind the rock; and when Haroun rows to shore, four of us will get intohis boat (muffled up as you would be to escape detection), and as soonas they lay themselves to their oars, their business shall be settled."

  "As how?" asks I, shrinking (as ever) from deeds of violence.

  "Leave that to us; but be assured they shall not raise a cry that shallfright your lady. Oh, we know the use of a bow-string as well as anyTurk amongst them. We have that to thank 'em for. Well, these two beingdespatched, we return to shore, and two more of our men will get in;then we four to the felucca, and there boarding, we serve the others aswe served the first two; so back comes one of us to fetch off our othercomrades and you four. Then, all being aboard, we cut our cable, up withour sail, and by the time Mohand comes, in the morning, to seek his gameon the sand-bank, we shall be half way to Elche, and farther, ifProvidence do keep pace with this happy beginning. What say you,friend?" adds he, noting my reflective mood.

  Then I frankly confessed that I would have some assurance of hishonesty.

  "I can give you none, Master," says he, "but the word of a goodYorkshireman. Surely, you may trust me as I trust you; for 'tis in yourpower to reveal all to Haroun, and so bring us all to the galleys. Haveyou no faith in a poor broken Englishman?"

  "Yes," says I; "I'll trust you."

  Then we rose, clapping hands, and he left me, with tears of gratitudeand joy in his eyes. Telling my friends I had something of a secretnature to impart, we went out to the end of the mole, where we weresecure from eavesdroppers, and there I laid the whole story before them,whereupon we fell debating what we should do, looking at this matterfrom every side, with a view to our security; but, slavery lying beforeus, and no better means of escaping it coming to our minds, we did atlast unanimously agree to trust Joe Groves rather than Haroun.

  The next day there fell a great deluge of rain, and the morrow being thefeast of Ramadah, we regarded this as highly favourable to our escape;for here when rain falls it ceases not for forty-eight hours, and thusmight we count upon the aid of darkness. And that evening as we wereregarding some merchandise in a bazaar, a fellow sidles up to me, andwhispers (fingering a piece of cloth as if he were minded to buy it):

  "Does all go well?"

  Then perceiving this was Joe Groves, I answered in the same manner:

  "All goes well."

  "To-morrow at midnight?"

  "To-morrow at midnight," I return. Upon which, casting down the cloth,he goes away without further sign.

  And now comes in the feast of Ramadah with a heavy, steady downpour ofrain all day, and no sign of ceasing at sundown, which greatly contentedus. About ten, the house we lodged in being quite still, and our fear ofaccident pressing us to depart, we crept silently out into the streetwithout let or hindrance (though I warrant some spy of Mohand's waswatching to carry information of our flight to his master), and sothrough the narrow deserted alleys to the outskirts of the town, andthence by the river side to the great rock, with only just so much lightas enabled us to hang together, and no more. And I do believe we shouldhave floundered into the river o' one side of the marsh of canes ort'other, but that having gone over this road the last time with thethought that it might lead us to liberty, every object by the wayimpressed itself upon my mind most astonishingly.

  Here under this rock stood we above an hour with no sound but thebeating of the rain, and the lap of the water running in from the sea.Then, as it might be about half-past eleven, a voice close beside us(which I knew for Joe Groves, though I could see no one but us four,Jack by my side, and Moll bound close to her husband) says:

  "All goes well?"

  "Yes, all goes well," says I; whereupon he gives a cry like the croak ofa frog, and his comrades steal up almost unseen and unheard, save thateach as he came whispered his name, as Spinks, Davis, Lee, Best, etc.,till their number was all told. Then Groves, who was clearly chosentheir captain, calls Spinks, Lee, and Best to stand with him, and bidsthe others and us to stand back against the canes till we are called. Sowe do his bidding, and fall back to the growth of canes, whence we couldbut dimly make out the mass of the rock for the darkness, and therewaited breathless, listening for the sound of oars. But these Moors, fora better pretence of secrecy, had muffled their oars, so that we knewnot they were at hand until we heard Haroun's voice speaking low.

  "Englishmen, are you there?" asks he.

  "Aye, we four," whispers Groves, in reply.

  Then we hear them wade into the water and get into the boat withwhispering of Haroun where they are to dispose themselves, and so forth.After that silence for about ten minutes, and no sound but the ceaselessrain until we next hear Groves' voice.

  "Davis, Negus," whispers he, on which two of our number leave us and goout to the boat to replace Haroun and that other Moor, who, in themanner of the Turks, had been strangled and cast overboard.

  And now follows a much longer period of silence, but at length thatcomes to an end, and we hear Groves' voice again whispering us to come.At the first sound of his voice his three comrades rush forward; butGroves, recognising them, says hoarsely, "Back, every one of you butthose I called, or I'll brain you! There's room but for six in the boat,and those who helped us shall go first, as I ordered. The rest must waittheir time."

  So these fellows, who would have ousted us, give way, grumbling, and Mr.Godwin carrying Moll to the boat, Dawson and I wade in after him, andso, with great gratitude, take our places as Groves directs. We beingin, he and his mate lay to their oars, and pull out to the felucca,guided by the lanthorn on her bulwarks.

  Having put us aboard safely, Groves and his mate fetch the three fellowsthat remained ashore, and now all being embarked, they abandon the smallboat, slip the anchor, and get out their long sweeps, all in desperatehaste; for that absence of wind, which I at first took to be a blessing,appeared now to be a curse, and our main hope of escape lay in pullingfar out to sea before Mohand discovered the trick put upon him, and gavechase. All night long we toiled with most savage energy, dividing ournumber into two batches, so that one might go to the oars as the othertired, turn and turn about. Not one of us but did his utmost--nay, evenMoll would stand by her husband, and strain like any man at this w
ork.But for all our labour, Alger was yet in sight when the break of daygave us light to see it. Then was every eye searching the waters forsign of a sail, be it to save or to undo us. Sail saw we none, but aboutnine o'clock Groves, scanning the waters over against Alger, perceivedsomething which he took to be a galley; nor were we kept long inuncertainty, for by ten it was obvious to us all, showing that it hadgained considerably upon us in spite of our frantic exertions, whichconvinced us that this was Mohand, and that he had discovered us withthe help of a spy-glass, maybe.

  At the prospect of being overtaken and carried back to slavery, a sortof madness possessed those at the oars, the first oar pulling with sucha fury of violence that it snapped at the rowlock, and was of no furtheruse. Still we made good progress, but what could we with three oars doagainst the galley which maybe was mounted with a dozen? Some were forcutting down the mast and throwing spars, sails, and every useless thingoverboard to lighten our ship, but Groves would not hear of this, seeingby a slant in the rain that a breeze was to be expected; and surelyenough, the rain presently smote us on the cheek smartly, whereuponGroves ran up our sail, which, to our infinite delight, did presentlyswell out fairly, careening us so that the oar on t'other side wasuseless.

  But that which favoured us favoured also our enemies, and shortly afterwe saw two sails go up to match our one. Then Groves called a council ofus and his fellows, and his advice was this: that ere the galley drewnigh enough for our number to be sighted, he and his fellows shouldbestow themselves away in the stern cabin, and lie there with such armsof knives and spikes as they had brought with them ready to their hands,and that, on Mohand boarding us with his men, we four should retiretowards the cabin, when he and his comrades would spring forth and fightevery man to the death for freedom. And he held out good promise of asuccessful issue. "For," says he, "knowing you four" (meaning us) "areunarmed, 'tis not likely he will have furnished himself with any greatforce; and as his main purpose is to possess this lady, he will notsuffer his men to use their firepieces to the risk of her destruction;therefore," adds he, "if you have the stomach for your part of thisbusiness, which is but to hold the helm as I direct, all must go well.But for the lady, if she hath any fear, we may find a place in the cabinfor her."

  This proposal was accepted by all with gladness, except Moll, who wouldon no account leave her husband's side; but had he not been there, Ibelieve she would have been the last aboard to feel fear, or play acowardly part.

  So without further parley, the fellows crept into the little cabin, eachfingering his naked weapon, which made me feel very sick withapprehension of bloodshed. The air of wind freshening, we kept on at aspanking rate for another hour, Groves lying on the deck with his eyesjust over the bulwarks and giving orders to Dawson and me, who kept thehelm; then the galley, being within a quarter of a mile of us, fired ashot as a signal to us to haul down our sail, and this having no effect,he soon after fires another, which, striking us in the stern, sent greatsplinters flying up from the bulwarks there.

  "Hold her helm, stiff," whispers Groves, and then he backs cautiouslyinto the cabin without rising from his belly, for the men aboard thegalley were now clearly distinguishable.

  Presently bang goes another gun, and the same moment, its shot takingour mast a yard or so above the deck, our lateen falls over upon thewater with a great slap, and so are we brought to at once.

  Dropping her sail, the galley sweeps up alongside us, and casting outdivers hooks and tackle they held ready for their purpose, they grappledus securely. My heart sank within me as I perceived the number of ourenemies, thirty or forty, as I reckon (but happily not above half adozen armed men), and Mohand ou Mohand amongst them with a scimitar inhis hand; for now I foresaw the carnage which must ensue when we wereboarded.

  Mohand ou Mohand was the first to spring upon our deck, and behind camehis janizaries and half a score of seamen. We four, Mr. Godwin holdingMoll's hand in his, stood in a group betwixt Mohand and his men and thecabin where Joe Groves lay with his fellows, biding his time. One of thejanizaries was drawing his scimitar, but Mohand bade him put it up, andmaking an obeisance to Moll, he told us we should suffer no hurt if wesurrendered peaceably.

  "Never, you Turkish thief!" cries Dawson, shaking his fist at him.

  Mohand makes a gesture of regret, and turning to his men tells them totake us, but to use no weapons, since we had none. Then, he himselfleading, with his eyes fixed hungrily upon Moll, the rest came on, andwe fell back towards the cabin.

  The next instant, with a wild yell of fury, the hidden men burst out ofthe cabin, and then followed a scene of butchery which I pray Heaven itmay nevermore be my fate to witness.

  Groves was the first to spill blood. Leaping upon Mohand, he buried along curved knife right up to the hilt in his neck striking downwardsjust over the collar bone, and he fell, the blood spurting from hismouth upon the deck. At the same time our men, falling upon thejanizaries, did most horrid battle--nay, 'twas no battle, but sheerbutchery; for these men, being taken so suddenly, had no time to drawtheir weapons, and could only fly to the fore end of the boat forescape, where, by reason of their number and the narrow confines of thedeck, they were so packed and huddled together that none could raise hishand to ward a blow even, and so stood, a writhing, shrieking mass ofhumanity, to be hacked and stabbed and ripped and cut down to theirdeath.

  And their butchers had no mercy. They could think only of their pastwrongs, and of satiating the thirst for vengeance, which had grown to amadness by previous restraint.

  "There's for thirteen years of misery," cries one, driving his spikeinto the heart of one. "Take that for hanging of my brother," screams asecond, cleaving a Moor's skull with his hatchet. "Quits for turning anhonest lad into a devil," calls a third, drawing his knife across thethroat of a shrieking wretch, and so forth, till not one of all thecrowd was left to murder.

  Then still devoured by their lust for blood, they swarmed over the sideof the galley to finish this massacre--Groves leading with a shout of"No quarter," and all echoing these words with a roar of joy. But herethey were met with some sort of resistance, for the Moors aboard, seeingthe fate of their comrades, forewarning them of theirs, had turned theirswivel gun about and now fired--the ball carrying off the head of JoeGroves, the best man of all that crew, if one were better than another.But this only served to incense the rest the more, and so they went attheir cruel work again, and ceased not till the last of their enemieswas dead. Then, with a wild hurrah, they signal their triumph, and onefellow, holding up his bloody hands, smears them over his face with adevilish scream of laughter.

  And now, caring no more for us or what might befall us, than for theTurks who lay all mangled on our deck, one cuts away the tackle thatlashes their galley to us, while the rest haul up the sail, and so theygo their way, leaving us to shift for ourselves.