CHAPTER XIX
CERVILLO DESERTS HIS CREW
MIDSHIPMAN CARDYKE was restless under restraint, and during the longperiods of inaction was fond of looking out of the port and listeningto the swish of the waves against the ship's side. The noise soothedhim. To a youngster descended from a long line of naval men the stingof the salt-laden breeze was an alluring quality that would attracthim throughout the whole of his career.
While at the open port he happened to look as far astern as the frameof the port permitted. To his surprise he saw a column of smoke justabove the horizon.
It was a ship. He instantly awoke Fielding, who was having his "watchbelow," and informed him of the momentous news. The sub. was out ofhis bunk in a trice.
"You're right, Cardyke," he said, after a hasty glance in thedirection of the vessel. "It's a ship. But what is she--a cruiser?"
"She's heading this way, I think," observed the mid. "And what ismore, we are altering our course. See, the relative position of theship is more on the beam."
"Then it's not a cruiser, worse luck," muttered Fielding, "or thepirate would attempt to sheer off. They're up to some fiendishbusiness, I'll wager. Don't say a word to any of the others just yet.We'll keep on the look-out a little while longer."
The two young officers waited and watched till twilight gave place tonight. Presently Hiram B. Rutter strolled up to the open port.
"Having a breath of fresh air?" he inquired, affably.
"Ssh!" exclaimed Fielding, warningly. "There's a vessel over there.You can just see her starboard and masthead lights."
"Strikes me forcibly there are two red lights," said the American.
"So there are. By Jove! The villains are sending up rockets."
High above the _Independencia_ the red glare of an exploded rockettransformed the surface of the surrounding sea into a blaze ofdazzling light. Then, vanishing suddenly, the glare left the sub. andhis companions blinking in the darkness.
"I know what they are doing," exclaimed Cardyke, excitedly. "They'resending up false signals of distress to lure yonder vessel withintheir power."
"That's it," assented Fielding. "And now's your chance to make use ofyour improvised flashing-lamp."
By this time the rest of the hostages were aware of the approach ofanother vessel, and the ports were literally jammed with human heads.But Mukyima was not content with watching. The active Jap crawledthrough the narrow port, balanced himself on the sill, then with alike motion drew himself up to the deck. Lying prone behind thecasing of a skylight he waited till another rocket had been fired,then, mingling boldly with the pirate crew, made good use of hiseyes. Unobserved, he regained the half-deck and told General Oki ofwhat he had seen.
"Pirates get guns ready," explained Oki to Fielding. "Men are readyto capture other ship."
Cardyke had not been idle. All the ports were screened with theexception of one in which he set a lamp. Then using a heavy cabincurtain as a screen, he proceeded to "call-up" the approachingvessel.
"There's the acknowledgment," exclaimed Fielding, as a succession ofshort, rapid flashes came from the Morse signalling-lamp on thesteamer's bridge.
"Stand off; you are----" began the middy, using his improvisedshutter as quickly as he was able; but before he had flashedhalf-a-dozen words a heavy tarpaulin was dropped over the port fromabove, completely obscuring the light from seaward.
"Where's your knife?" asked the mid. "Lash it to the end of a pole orsomething and jab a hole through the canvas."
Before the obstructing tarpaulin could be cut through, the_Independencia's_ course was altered till she pointed bows on to theoncoming yacht. Thus the ports on her quarters no longer commanded aview of the strange vessel.
"They've done us," muttered Fielding.
"Perhaps the captain of the vessel will smell a rat, and sheer off,"remarked Cardyke.
"I don't know about that. He may think we are only asking him to keepoff till daylight, or something of that sort. He would never ignoresignals of distress."
"Couldn't we make an attempt to rush the ship and drive those rascalsbelow?"
"I'm afraid not. They've secured the hatches. But we'll get allhands to man the ports and fire their revolvers. That might make theskipper of that packet keep out of danger."
Before the warning could be given a quick-firer was discharged fromthe cruiser, and with a vicious spurt of flame a shell passed betweenthe steam yacht and the disabled whaler she had in tow, and JuanCervillo commanded the astonished captain of the steam yacht toheave-to instantly.
The tricked vessel was the _Serena_, a 300-ton pleasure craft ownedby a wealthy Canadian named Rignold. She had fallen in with a whaler_Hetty_ of Boston that had broken her shafting in a gale, and hadsustained considerable damage to her spars and rigging, and the ownerof the _Serena_ offered to tow the _Hetty_ into St. John's,Newfoundland. The offer had been gratefully accepted; and now bothvessels were under the guns of the pirate cruiser _Independencia_.
Rignold and his captain, officers, and crew were completelyastounded. During their cruise in the Arctic they had had noopportunities of receiving the general warning of the presence of theformidable pirate in the North Atlantic. The _Serena's_ skipper, aman of courage and resource, did not lose his head. Imagining thatthe cruiser was a Government vessel of fishery protection duties, andhad compelled his vessel to heave-to for the purpose of making anexamination, he promptly ordered the engines to be reversed, at thesame time shouting to the _Hetty's_ mate to mind her helm. Thewhaler, carrying considerable way, over-ran the yacht till brought upby the hawser, eventually swinging round between the _Serena_ and hercaptor.
"What ship that?" shouted Cervillo,
"Great snakes, that is not a British hail!" ejaculated the _Serena's_captain; then in reply he bawled, "Steam yacht _Serena_, of Quebec,with the whaler _Hetty_ in tow. Why are we ordered to heave-to?"
Before Cervillo could reply Fielding shouted in stentorian tonesthrough the port:--
"Clear off at full speed. This vessel is a pirate. Save yourselfwhile there's time."
Had he been given a free hand the yacht skipper would not havehesitated to run the gauntlet of the cruiser's guns, trusting in thedarkness to avoid a shot that would send the vessel to the bottom.But there were other considerations. Mr. Rignold, the owner, had alarge party of guests on bard, and on that account he was anxious notto be under fire. Moreover, he was too staunch a man to abandon thedisabled whaler. He would stand by and take his chance with the_Hetty_.
"You have to heave-to--that good enough?" bawled the Spanish captain.
"Ay, ay!" was the reply. "But you'll be real sorry for this piece ofwork."
"We see later," chuckled Cervillo, for the double capture could nothave better served his purpose. "Keep where you are till day come. Notricks, or I sink you."
Two hours later it was light enough to make out what the prizes werelike. The _Serena_ was a graceful-looking craft with a clipper sternand long, tapering counter. She had two light masts and a singlefunnel, and was one of many of a type of sea-going yachts that are tobe found in every port of the civilised world. The whaler was also ofa very ordinary though fast-disappearing type; bluff-bowed,wall-sided, and broad-sterned, and rigged as a brigantine with heavy,well-shrouded masts. Just before the mainmast was a small, blackfunnel--the only visible sign of the vessel's now useless auxiliarypower.
Before taking possession of the two ships Juan Cervillo mustered hismen aft.
"You must know, my lads," he began, "what I propose to do. The_Independencia_ is no longer serviceable; her days are nearlyfinished. Yonder craft are the last prizes she will take. It onlyremains for us to save ourselves, and as much of the booty as wepossibly can. The gold stowed away aft is, I am sorry to say, lost tous. We can only take revenge upon those who have cheated us out ofour hard-earned riches. I therefore propose that we place the crew ofthe yacht on board the whaler. If they manage to fetch port, well andgood, if not--that's not our concern. We will then transhi
p theamount of treasure that is left to us, scuttle the _Independencia_,and the English officer and his companions can keep guard over thegold at the bottom of the sea. With a nice little yacht like the oneyonder we ought to steam southwards without exciting suspicion. Yourshares in the spoil will not be as much as we hoped for, but enoughto let you live a merry life for some time to come."
The pirates, although regretting the loss of the gold, were not sorryto see the way clear to escape the perils that awaited them, and forthe next ten minutes the utmost activity prevailed. The three boatswere hauled out, and Da Silva proceeded to board the _Serena_. It wassignificant that every man in the boats was a Spaniard, and thatnearly all the officers formed part of the boarding-party.
Unceremoniously Mr. Rignold, his guests, and the crew of the yachtwere dumped on board the _Hetty_, and the work of transporting theremainder of the booty from the cruiser to the yacht was put in hand,Cervillo personally superintending the operations. This done, enoughprovisions to keep the pirates in plenty for another month were addedto the _Serena's_ stores. In the midst of the activity some of thecrew found time to taunt the captives on the half-deck, telling themgleefully that they were destined for a swift plunge to the bed ofthe ocean. Three of the Spaniards who had returned in one of theboats also found time for a little diversion. Under Da Silva's ordersthey moved unostentatiously from gun to gun, removing portions of thedelicate mechanism so as to render the weapons harmless.
Everything was now ready for Juan Cervillo's coup.
Ordering a dozen men to maintain a watch over the closed hatchwaysabove the half-deck, he bade the rest of the pirates go below andpack up their belongings.
"Have all your bags ready to lower into the boats by the time Ireturn," he concluded. "I mean to tow the whaler a mile or so toleeward, so that she will not be able to give assistance to theprisoners below. Her boats have been stove in, so there is no chanceof her putting off to the rescue of these obstinate dogs."
The men hastened to obey. The engineers, mostly Italians, were toldoff to get ready to open the sea-cocks and sink the cruiser. Cervillowent over the side, entered the waiting boat, and pulled off to theyacht.
Instead of towing the _Hetty_ clear of the doomed cruiser he promptlygave orders for the hawser to be cut, and at fifteen knots the_Serena_ steamed off, leaving the remainder of the pirates to theirfate.
It was the guard on the quarter-deck of the _Independencia_ who firstnoticed the yacht's apparently erratic behaviour. For a time the menwatched the rapidly receding _Serena_, till the thought flashedthrough their minds that there was something suspicious. The pettyofficer in charge, an Italian named Tito, bawled down the nearesthatchway the astonishing news. Quickly the intelligence that theyacht was steaming away spread the length of the lower deck, andseamen and stokers rushed up pell-mell from below.
"We're betrayed!" howled Tito. "Man the guns, and cripple her beforeshe gets out of range."
Hurriedly the guns' crew ran to the quick-firers. The murmur ofsubdued astonishment rose to a roar of anger and baffled fury whenthe pirates discovered that the mechanism had been tampered with andthe weapons rendered useless. Some of the exasperated seamen,snatching up their rifles, and elevating the back-sights to theutmost capacity, fired an irregular volley at the vessel that wasbearing away their treacherous captain and his Spanish _confr?res_.It was a useless act; the yacht was already out of range, and therattle of the rifles was only suggestive of the last nail driven intothe coffin of their dead hopes.