STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
A RACE FOR LIFE.
That had been a tremendously hot day, but in the excitement of thesilver-seeking the weather had been unnoticed; but as the night came onit seemed almost suffocating to those who were not moved by suchpassionate emotions as Dutch Pugh and his wife.
Sam Oakum had been till quite late standing chewing his tobacco, as helooked over the side watching the golden green water that heaved gentlyagainst the stern of the vessel, for, moored as she was, she did notswing with the tide, and after a time he went and joined 'Pollo, whosegalley was, after all, no hotter than the rest of the ship.
From where they sat talking in a low voice, the encounter between Laureand Hester had not been heard, and when from time to time Oakum thrustout his head and took a look round to see the faint glow from the cabinskylight, all was as still as death, and he drew his head in again andwent on talking.
"Don't gawp like that, 'Pollo," said Oakum at last, as his companionyawned in a fashion that was quite shark-like.
"I berry sleep and tired, Mass' Oakum, sah; I had berry hot day."
"There, I'll soon wake you up, my lad."
"No, sah, I hope you do nuffum ob de sort, for I want go asleep."
Oakum chuckled softly to himself, and then, just as 'Pollo was in themidst of a second yawn, he said:
"I wonder how much apiece the governors mean to give us."
'Pollo was wide awake on the instant.
"I no know, Mass' Oakum, sah, but dey get so much for demselves dat theygive us great big whack."
"I dunno," said Sam. "We ought to have made a bargain. But there,let's go down and turn in."
"No, sah, I tank you," said 'Pollo; "it ten time more hot down belowdere dan in my galley, where de fire full go. Nuff to cook all de boysin de forksel, and make 'em come up brown in de morning. I not bitsleepy now, and when I am I lie down here on de deck and hab rest."
"Well it is a bit better up here, 'Pollo, for you can breathe."
"Yes, sah; can get de wind 'nuff to kip going. But 'bout de silber,sah. You tink dey get up all from down below?"
"Yes, 'Pollo, and I suppose we shall start next to get to another sunkenwreck, and unload her."
"I tink, sah, I take de schooner close up to dat old wreck off de lillyisland."
"So do I, 'Pollo; and what's more I will."
"I tink, sah, we ought get berry big lot ob silber for ourselb. If Itought dey turn shabby, I say let Mass' Oakum and me go and get de wholeob de oder ship and cut de silber in two half, and take one apiece."
"Very pretty, 'Pollo, if we could do it: but as we can't, let's becontent with what we get from the governors."
"Yah--yah--yah--yah," laughed 'Pollo softly.
"Now then, what are you grinning about?" said Oakum.
"I tink, sah, about de sunken ship and de silber."
"What of it?"
"I tink, sah, how funny it am if we came out here, find de sunk ship,pull up all de silber, and den if we go and lose de ship somewhereselse, and all de silber go to de bottom again."
"I say, young fellow," growled Sam, "don't you get croaking like that.'Taint lucky."
"No, sah; wouldn't be lucky lose all de silber again. I tink I know howmuch I go to hab for my share."
"Enough to make you an independent gentleman for life, 'Pollo."
"You tink so, sah?" chuckled 'Pollo.
"Sartin sure."
"Den I wear white hankcher and white wescoat ebery day; and make somedarn niggah clean my boots free times over. Yah, yah, yah."
"Here, I shall be smothered if I stop up here much longer, 'Pollo," saidOakum, stepping out upon the deck, where all was dark and silent, only avery faint light now coming up through the cabin skylight.
"It am hot, sar, berry hot," said 'Pollo, and they stood at the sidestaring at the shore, where the undergrowth seemed to be lit up by ashower of fallen stars, which leaped and danced from leaf to leaf, whilethe very sea beneath them seemed alive with pale shining points oflight, which glided softly along till some fish darted through the waterand made the little starry dots flash into a long line of light.Against the side of the ship there seemed to be so much pale goldenlight rising and falling, showing the copper sheathing of the vessel,and surrounding it with a soft halo which made its shape just faintlyoutlined from stem to stern. The cables, too, by which it was mooredcould be faintly traced as lines of light illuminated and sparklingright to the sand below, and for some little time the two men stoodwatching in silence.
"Dat's shark," whispered 'Pollo, suddenly, as he pointed down to wherethe points of light flashed more vividly as they were agitated, andthough they could not make out the shape of the monster, it was plain tosee that some great fish was slowly gliding through the water.
"What's he hanging about after?" said Oakum, watching the placeintently. "I should have thought it had been made too warm for themgentlemen, and they'd have give us a wide berth."
"He know somebody go to die soon," said 'Pollo, in a low voice. "DatMass' Studwick or pretty Missee Pugh."
"Don't you talk humbug," said Oakum, with a growl. "Phew! it's strangeand hot; I shall go and turn in."
"You soon turn out again. Mass' Oakum, you go below. De cockroach habfine game night like dis hyar, sah, and de skeetas buzz bout likeanyfing. You top on deck and lay down under de awning. Dey coming ondeck dose oder chap half baked, sah."
"How do you know?" growled Sam.
"I hear some one, sah, just now come crawl up, and--Oh, Goramighty, whohit me on de head?"
For just then there was a dull thud, a fall, and Sam Oakum felt himselfseized from behind, and a hard hand placed over his mouth.
He was too sturdy a fellow, though, to submit to that, and wrenchinghimself free he sent one of his assailants one way, and the othersprawling over the body of 'Pollo, and darting aside, he gave a spring,caught at the inner side of the main shrouds, swung his legs up, and asthe two men ran in pursuit of him they passed beneath him in thedarkness, and he climbed softly up higher and higher, then crawlinground to the outside, and clung there, gazing down into the darknessbelow, feeling that he had had a narrow escape for his life.
"The ship's been boarded in the dark," he muttered, as he listenedattentively, seeing nothing, but making out something of the proceedingsby the sounds below.
Now came the noise of the cabin hatches being secured; then there wereshort, sharp orders here and there, followed by a struggle, a wild cry,and a heavy fall. Then came the splash heard below in the cabin, andOakum muttered to himself:
"There's one poor fellow gone to his long home."
Then he set himself to make out who it could be, but his attention wastaken off directly by sounds of the alarm having spread below.
"And now how about all the silver?" muttered Oakum. "That's about thesize of what this here means."
Sam was right, for the ship had been seized for the sake of the silverfound, and that which was to be discovered, for Laure had decided thatit was not safe to stay any longer. He had been waiting his time, andhad there been no chance of discovery he intended to let Parkley andDutch go from wreck to wreck, and obtain all the sunken treasurepossible before seizing the vessel. But now the plot seemed so ripethat if allowed to go further it might fail, so, exasperated by hisencounter that evening, he had whispered his intentions to the men underhis orders, unfortunately more than half the crew, and as Sam Oakumlistened from aloft he could hear the scoundrels hurrying about, thehatches secured, and then proceedings followed that showed him that thealarm had fully spread.
First there was the shivering of a skylight, Captain Studwick callingout to know what the noise meant, followed by beating and kicking at thedoor; and then several shots were fired followed by a dead silence,broken by Laure's voice giving orders in a sharp, business-like way.
"I wonder where poor old 'Pollo is," said Sam Oakum as he sat upon hisperch thinking, and by force of habit he took out his tobacco-box,helped h
imself to a bit, and began to consider about the perils of hisposition. Where he was would do very well for now, he argued, but assoon as the day began to break he would be seen, and then theprobabilities were that he would be shot down.
"Leastwise, p'haps, they'll let me off as soon as I say I'll jyne 'em,but that won't come off. Now, who's in this game, I wonder? Thatyaller-skinned mulatto chap's one for a dollar, and there's roughsenough among those as came aboard with him to make up a pretty crew,I'll swear."
Sam sat thinking while the captors of the vessel were pretty busy downbelow, and at last, one plug of tobacco being ended, he started uponanother, but this time not being so cautious, or rather having hisattention taken up by what was passing below, he closed the steeltobacco-box with a loud clear snap, and in the stillness of the nightthis sounded so clearly that he knew he must be discovered.
To change his position was the work of a few moments, and while he wasin the act of moving there was a sharp flash, and the report of apistol, followed by another and another, the bullets whistling close byhim.
"There's some one up in the rigging," said Laure sharply. "It's thatblack cook."
"No," said another voice, "we fetched him down first off, and he's beenpitched below."
"Who is it, then?" said Laure sharply.
"I think Oakum was on deck," said another voice.
"Here you, Sam Oakum, come down," said Laure, in a clear, loud voice."Come down and you shall not be hurt."
"That's nice palaver after sending bullets to fetch a man down," saidSam to himself, "and after pitching one poor chap to the sharks. Ithink I'll stay where I am."
"Here, two of you to the port, and two to the starboard shrouds. Takeyour knives with you, and if the scoundrel won't give in, fetch him downbest way you can."
Sam Oakum drew a long breath as he heard these words, and then, therigging beginning to quiver, he set his teeth, and began to makecautiously for one of the stays, intending to get to the next mast if hecould, and so steal down on deck, where, if he could contrive to reachthe poop, he might climb over and join those below through the cabinwindows.
It was ticklish work, though, for as he glided and swung from place toplace, he could hear by the hard breathing that he was closely pursued.Spider-like, too, the touching of the various ropes by his enemies gavehim fair warning that he was in danger, though, unfortunately, hismovements were in the same way telegraphed to his enemies.
At last they came so near that his capture seemed certain, or if notcapture, he felt sure that a blow from a knife would be his portion.For just as he was going to pass on to the shrouds he had reached, hefelt by their vibration that some fresh men were coming up, and seizinga rope he swung himself out clear from the top and hung there, gentlyswaying about, hearing his pursuers pass close by him, so near that hecould have stretched out one hand and touched them.
As far as he could judge, he was now just over the cabin skylight, andhis heart bounded, for somewhere about here ought to be the top of thewind-sail hung up in the rigging, so that the great canvas tube mightconvey the fresh air below to take the place of the hot.
"If I could only reach that," thought Sam, "I might slip inside, and godown with a run into the cabin."
He felt about gently for some few moments--not a very easy task,swinging as he was--and then to his great joy he felt his leg come incontact with the rope that suspended the sail, threw his legs round it,and slid down to the top; then, feeling for the opening in the side, hethrust in his leg and held on for a moment while he drew his knife andopened it with his teeth, determined to sell his life dearly if heshould be assailed.
It was well he did so, for, directly after squaring his elbows so as tomake all the resistance possible to a rapid descent, he let himselfglide into the long canvas sack; but, in spite of his efforts, he wentdown with a rapid run, not as he expected into the cabin, but upon thedeck, where he lay struggling for a few moments before he could get hisknife to work and rip up a sufficiently-large slit to allow of hisrolling out, and then leaped to his feet, ready to meet the first attackthat came.
The darkness befriended him, for no one dared fire for fear of hitting afriend, and though the noise of his fall brought his enemies round, itwas only to seize one another; and in the midst of the confusion heescaped, and dashed off in a hard race, closely pursued by half-a-dozenscoundrels, whose purpose evidently was to hunt him overboard.
Twice over he ran right into some one's arms, and once he ran full tiltagainst an enemy, and sent him rolling over on to the deck. Shouts andoaths rang around him, and over and over again poor Oakum felt that hisonly chance of escaping from one horrible death was by seeking another.
"But no," he muttered, "I'm not going to be served like that;" and hedodged round mast, galley, and boat, crouching under bulwarks, andescaping over and over again by a miracle as he tried hard to think ofsome means of baffling his pursuers. The cabin skylight was toostrongly covered with wirework, he thought, or he would have tried toleap through; and as to leaping overboard, swimming beneath the cabinwindow, and calling to those who were prisoners to lower down a rope,that was not to be thought of after the sight he had seen that night inthe luminous water.
"I should be torn to pieces," he muttered. "Take that, you mutinousruffian," he added, as he struck out fiercely at one of his enemies,lying down the next moment flat on the deck, so that a pursuer fell overhim, and fell with a crash.
Try how he would, the fugitive was beaten; at every turn in the darknessan enemy seemed to spring up in his way, and as he heard the whish ofblows directed at him he wondered he had escaped so long.
But a man running for his life is hard to overtake, especially if hehave the darkness for his ally: and so it was that at the end of fiveminutes, during which Sam had been a dozen times within an ace of beingtaken, he was still at large, standing panting close to the forecastlehatch, while his enemies were creeping cautiously up, ready to make aspring.
"If I'm to be threw overboard," muttered Sam, "I won't go alone, anyhow.If the sharks is to be fed, they shall have a double allowance;" andsetting his teeth with a vicious grating noise, he prepared for a runaft.
The darkness was now more intense than ever, for a thick mist had comeoff the land, enshrouding the deck so that Sam could not see the knifehe grasped in his hand, but his ears were strained so that he could makeout the panting breath of his enemies as they came nearer and nearer,and to his horror he found that they had spread themselves right acrossthe deck; and his imagination suggested that they had joined hands so asto make sure that he did not escape, literally dragging the deck fromastern forward, so he knew that they were certain of him this time.
His only chance seemed to be to run out on the bowsprit, and to try toget by one of the stays upon the foremast, but the men were so closethat he felt sure they would cut him down before he had gone a yard.
Crouching down, and backing, he was close to the capstan, when his footcame in contact with a fender--one of those heavy pads of cordage andnetwork used to keep ships' sides from grinding on a stone wharf.
In an instant he had caught it up, and raising it in both hands abovehis head he waited his time, and then, as the men closed up, he hurledit with all his force against the nearest, catching him full in thechest, and sending him down like a skittle, when, as he uttered a cry,the others believing that the man they sought to capture had sprung uponhim, closed in with a shout, and Oakum dashed by them again.
His triumph was but short-lived, for the men were after him directly,chasing him now more savagely than ever. Once or twice his bare feethad slipped on the wet deck, and he had shuddered, believing it to beblood; and forgetting the place, as now, panting and nearly exhausted,he was running on, feeling that the time had come to stand at bay, oneof his feet glided over the boards and as he made an effort to savehimself by a leap, there was a heavy crash, a fall, and he knew no more.