CHAPTER XXIX. THE SERVICE OF KING WILLIAM
One of the boats bumped alongside the Arabella, and up the entranceladder came first a slight, spruce little gentleman in a coat ofmulberry satin laced with gold, whose wizened, yellow, rather peevishface was framed in a heavy black periwig. His modish and costly apparelhad nowise suffered by the adventure through which he had passed, andhe carried himself with the easy assurance of a man of rank. Here, quiteclearly, was no buccaneer. He was closely followed by one who in everyparticular, save that of age, was his physical opposite, corpulent ina brawny, vigorous way, with a full, round, weather-beaten face whosemouth was humourous and whose eyes were blue and twinkling. He waswell dressed without fripperies, and bore with him an air of vigorousauthority.
As the little man stepped from the ladder into the waist, whitherCaptain Blood had gone to receive him, his sharp, ferrety dark eyesswept the uncouth ranks of the assembled crew of the Arabella.
"And where the devil may I be now?" he demanded irritably. "Are youEnglish, or what the devil are you?"
"Myself, I have the honour to be Irish, sir. My name is Blood--CaptainPeter Blood, and this is my ship the Arabella, all very much at yourservice.
"Blood!" shrilled the little man. "O 'Sblood! A pirate!" He swung tothe Colossus who followed him--"A damned pirate, van der Kuylen. Rend myvitals, but we're come from Scylla to Charybdis."
"So?" said the other gutturally, and again, "So?" Then the humour of ittook him, and he yielded to it.
"Damme! What's to laugh at, you porpoise?" spluttered mulberry-coat. "Afine tale this'll make at home! Admiral van der Kuylen first loses hisfleet in the night, then has his flagship fired under him by a Frenchsquadron, and ends all by being captured by a pirate. I'm glad you findit matter for laughter. Since for my sins I happen to be with you, I'mdamned if I do."
"There's a misapprehension, if I may make so bold as to point it out,"put in Blood quietly. "You are not captured, gentlemen; you are rescued.When you realize it, perhaps it will occur to you to acknowledge thehospitality I am offering you. It may be poor, but it is the best at mydisposal."
The fierce little gentleman stared at him. "Damme! Do you permityourself to be ironical?" he disapproved him, and possibly with a viewto correcting any such tendency, proceeded to introduce himself. "I amLord Willoughby, King William's Governor-General of the West Indies, andthis is Admiral van der Kuylen, commander of His Majesty's West Indianfleet, at present mislaid somewhere in this damned Caribbean Sea."
"King William?" quoth Blood, and he was conscious that Pitt and Dyke,who were behind him, now came edging nearer, sharing his own wonder."And who may be King William, and of what may he be King?"
"What's that?" In a wonder greater than his own, Lord Willoughbystared back at him. At last: "I am alluding to His Majesty King WilliamIII--William of Orange--who, with Queen Mary, has been ruling Englandfor two months and more."
There was a moment's silence, until Blood realized what he was beingtold.
"D'ye mean, sir, that they've roused themselves at home, and kicked outthat scoundrel James and his gang of ruffians?"
Admiral van der Kuylen nudged his lordship, a humourous twinkle in hisblue eyes.
"His bolitics are fery sound, I dink," he growled.
His lordship's smile brought lines like gashes into his leathery cheeks."'Slife! hadn't you heard? Where the devil have you been at all?"
"Out of touch with the world for the last three months," said Blood.
"Stab me! You must have been. And in that three months the world hasundergone some changes." Briefly he added an account of them. KingJames was fled to France, and living under the protection of King Louis,wherefore, and for other reasons, England had joined the league againsther, and was now at war with France. That was how it happened that theDutch Admiral's flagship had been attacked by M. de Rivarol's fleetthat morning, from which it clearly followed that in his voyage fromCartagena, the Frenchman must have spoken some ship that gave him thenews.
After that, with renewed assurances that aboard his ship they shouldbe honourably entreated, Captain Blood led the Governor-General and theAdmiral to his cabin, what time the work of rescue went on. The newshe had received had set Blood's mind in a turmoil. If King James wasdethroned and banished, there was an end to his own outlawry for hisalleged share in an earlier attempt to drive out that tyrant. It becamepossible for him to return home and take up his life again at the pointwhere it was so unfortunately interrupted four years ago. He was dazzledby the prospect so abruptly opened out to him. The thing so filled hismind, moved him so deeply, that he must afford it expression. In doingso, he revealed of himself more than he knew or intended to the astutelittle gentleman who watched him so keenly the while.
"Go home, if you will," said his lordship, when Blood paused. "Youmay be sure that none will harass you on the score of your piracy,considering what it was that drove you to it. But why be in haste? Wehave heard of you, to be sure, and we know of what you are capable uponthe seas. Here is a great chance for you, since you declare yourselfsick of piracy. Should you choose to serve King William out here duringthis war, your knowledge of the West Indies should render you a veryvaluable servant to His Majesty's Government, which you would not findungrateful. You should consider it. Damme, sir, I repeat: it is a greatchance you are given.
"That your lordship gives me," Blood amended, "I am very grateful. Butat the moment, I confess, I can consider nothing but this great news. Italters the shape of the world. I must accustom myself to view it as itnow is, before I can determine my own place in it."
Pitt came in to report that the work of rescue was at an end, and themen picked up--some forty-five in all--safe aboard the two buccaneerships. He asked for orders. Blood rose.
"I am negligent of your lordship's concerns in my consideration of myown. You'll be wishing me to land you at Port Royal."
"At Port Royal?" The little man squirmed wrathfully on his seat.Wrathfully and at length he informed Blood that they had put into PortRoyal last evening to find its Deputy-Governor absent. "He had gone onsome wild-goose chase to Tortuga after buccaneers, taking the whole ofthe fleet with him."
Blood stared in surprise a moment; then yielded to laughter.
"He went, I suppose, before news reached him of the change of governmentat home, and the war with France?"
"He did not," snapped Willoughby. "He was informed of both, and also ofmy coming before he set out."
"Oh, impossible!"
"So I should have thought. But I have the information from a MajorMallard whom I found in Port Royal, apparently governing in this fool'sabsence."
"But is he mad, to leave his post at such a time?" Blood was amazed.
"Taking the whole fleet with him, pray remember, and leaving the placeopen to French attack. That is the sort of Deputy-Governor that the lateGovernment thought fit to appoint: an epitome of its misrule, damme!He leaves Port Royal unguarded save by a ramshackle fort that can bereduced to rubble in an hour. Stab me! It's unbelievable!"
The lingering smile faded from Blood's face. "Is Rivarol aware of this?"he cried sharply.
It was the Dutch Admiral who answered him. "Vould he go dere if he werenot? M. de Rivarol he take some of our men prisoners. Berhabs dey dellhim. Berhabs he make dem tell. Id is a great obbordunidy."
His lordship snarled like a mountain-cat. "That rascal Bishop shallanswer for it with his head if there's any mischief done through thisdesertion of his post. What if it were deliberate, eh? What if he ismore knave than fool? What if this is his way of serving King James,from whom he held his office?"
Captain Blood was generous. "Hardly so much. It was just vindictivenessthat urged him. It's myself he's hunting at Tortuga, my lord. But, I'mthinking that while he's about it, I'd best be looking after Jamaica forKing William." He laughed, with more mirth than he had used in the lasttwo months.
"Set a course for Port Royal, Jeremy, and make all speed. We'll belevel yet with M. de Rivarol, and wipe off s
ome other scores at the sametime."
Both Lord Willoughby and the Admiral were on their feet.
"But you are not equal to it, damme!" cried his lordship. "Any one ofthe Frenchman's three ships is a match for both yours, my man."
"In guns--aye," said Blood, and he smiled. "But there's more than gunsthat matter in these affairs. If your lordship would like to seean action fought at sea as an action should be fought, this is youropportunity."
Both stared at him. "But the odds!" his lordship insisted.
"Id is imbossible," said van der Kuylen, shaking his great head."Seamanship is imbordand. Bud guns is guns."
"If I can't defeat him, I can sink my own ships in the channel, andblock him in until Bishop gets back from his wild-goose chase with hissquadron, or until your own fleet turns up."
"And what good will that be, pray?" demanded Willoughby.
"I'll be after telling you. Rivarol is a fool to take this chance,considering what he's got aboard. He carried in his hold the treasureplundered from Cartagena, amounting to forty million livres." Theyjumped at the mention of that colossal sum. "He has gone into Port Royalwith it. Whether he defeats me or not, he doesn't come out of Port Royalwith it again, and sooner or later that treasure shall find its way intoKing William's coffers, after, say, one fifth share shall have been paidto my buccaneers. Is that agreed, Lord Willoughby?"
His lordship stood up, and shaking back the cloud of lace from hiswrist, held out a delicate white hand.
"Captain Blood, I discover greatness in you," said he.
"Sure it's your lordship has the fine sight to perceive it," laughed theCaptain.
"Yes, yes! Bud how vill you do id?" growled van der Kuylen.
"Come on deck, and it's a demonstration I'll be giving you before theday's much older."