CHAPTER IV.
COMPLETELY STRANDED
"There don't seem to be any Mexican warships in the harbor," said Ned tothe senor, as they looked landward from the deck of their badly mauledbark. "There isn't one in sight to come out after that sloop."
"There are two good reasons for it," growled the senor, gloomily. "Oneis that there isn't any harbor here. Nothing but an open roadstead,exposed to all the storms that come, so that to anchor off Vera Cruz isto run a fair chance of being wrecked. The other is that my unfortunatecountry has no navy. There isn't a Mexican vessel afloat that would careto go out after a Yankee man-of-war. We are not yet a nation, and I'mhalf-afraid we never will be. This war may do something for us. Therethey come! I shall know very soon now."
As he spoke, he pointed at several boats which were pulling out towardthe _Goshawk._ Some of them appeared to come from the wharves of thecity, but one, which was nearer, was evidently from the castle, and itwas in this that the senor took the deepest interest. Besides itshalf-dozen of oarsmen, it contained a tall man in a gorgeous uniform,and it was only a minute or so before Zuroaga exclaimed:
"Yes, that is Colonel Guerra himself. I am glad he is all alone!"
The bark was now drifting pretty rapidly landward, under such canvas asshe had left, and the _Portsmouth_ was safely out of range of theMexican guns, which were throwing away an occasional shot at her. Shehad not been touched by one of them, and she had the honor of being thefirst United States ship to try her batteries upon the renowned oldSpanish fortress. It was, indeed, a well-built fortification, and itcarried many guns, most of which had been brought over long ago from thefoundries of old Spain. It did not stand upon the main shore, but on anisland about half a mile out, and it therefore seemed unassailable,except from the sea or by heavy siege-guns on the shore. It had been oneof the last places surrendered when the Spanish government reluctantlygave up Mexico. From that day onward, in each of the successiverevolutions, it had been a first object with each new tyrant of thenominal republic or empire to get control of the fortress, whichdominated nearly all of the commerce of Mexico with the outer world. Atthe present time, it was commanded by an officer whom President Paredesbelieved that he could trust--or he would have shot him. This, ofcourse, was the main reason for the dark doubts of Senor Zuroaga. On theother hand, it might be taken into account that any prominent Mexicanofficer, like Colonel Guerra, would be willing to strengthen himself forsuch political changes as were entirely likely to come. For the sake ofold friendship and family ties, for instance, he might be even desirousof binding to his own interests a man who was known to have a largenumber of personal adherents in the important State of Oaxaca.
That very man stood aft upon the deck of the _Goshhawk_ when the boat ofColonel Guerra touched her side, but he did not at once come forward toextend a greeting. That ceremony was performed sufficiently well byCaptain Kemp, and the responses of the castle commander were to the lastdegree enthusiastic. According to him, indeed, the fort could not haveheld out against a siege for a week without the powder in the hold ofthe bark. Therefore, it might be that not much of it was likely to bedistributed among the other forces of Mexico. The captain had manythings to say, but before long Colonel Guerra walked slowly aft withoutanybody following him. He may have merely desired to look over the sideand examine the injuries inflicted by the shot of the _Portsmouth_, forthat was the first thing he did, without so much as appearing torecognize any human being in the neighborhood. One of the two personswho were there, however, drew slowly near him, and, as he did so, heheard the colonel mutter, in a very low tone:
"My dear friend, you have done well to bring me the powder. Thank youfor your devotion to me and to Santa Anna, but you are in deadly peril.The orders of Paredes are out against you. General Morales, whom Paredestrusts, will soon be here to supersede me, but he will really come tohold this place for our general when he returns from exile. Considerthat I do not know that you are here, for my next in command is a spy onme. This ship will never put to sea again. The captain and crew will becared for, but that gringo boy is not safe, now that there has beenbloodshed on the Rio Grande. Take him with you to the house of yourcousin, Colonel Tassara, in the lower part of the city. Then get away toOaxaca as soon as you can. President Paredes is still in the city ofMexico, and he will not go to take command of the army in the north forsome time. You and I believe, of course, that he is really gathering itto have it led by our one-legged hero, Santa Anna. Paredes, however,suspects that a revolution is springing up under him, and he is watchingfor it. Of course, for that reason, he would shoot you at once as areturned conspirator against him. As for that matter, be careful how youland, for there are many spies. No doubt you can go where you please,after you get back among your own people. Farewell, but do not speak tome."
He turned and strolled carelessly away, and the senor bowed his head fora moment, as if in deep thought, while Ned Crawford was aware of anentirely new idea, which had crept into his mind as he had listened tothe warning utterances of Colonel Guerra.
"I declare!" he said to himself, "he believes that Senor Zuroaga broughtthe powder, and he didn't. He believes that the senor is going in forold Santa Anna, and he isn't. He believes that the senor and I areenemies of Paredes, and so we are. I am! I hope that he'll be beaten outof his boots by General Taylor, and then upset by the new revolution. Iguess he's right, though, about this ship, and I must find out how I cansend a letter home. I want father and mother to know all about thisbusiness. Go ashore and hide? I'm ready for that, but I'd like to get agood look at the old city somehow."
Ned had been laboring under many perplexities and a great deal ofdepression of spirits during several days, but now he felt a kind ofexhilarating fever creeping all over him, and at first he did not knowexactly what it might be. When his father had taken him with him acrossthe Atlantic,--it seemed so long ago now,--he had gone eagerly enough,and he had had a grand time looking at Liverpool and London. It had beena rare treat for a youngster who had but recently passed up from agrammar school into the counting-room of a New York shipping-house.After that, when he had been sent on this trip, to make his voyage homeby way of Mexico, he had considered himself exceedingly lucky. But whatwas all that in comparison with this in the way of strange and wildadventure? Why, he had sailed through a naval engagement, cannonadingand all, and right on out of that into a full-grown war and a half-grownrevolution. The thrill which went over him was, therefore, the adventurefever. Something like this fever, in the veins of all sorts of men,young and old, has made the world what it is, discovering its newcountries, its new sciences, its new institutions, and leading itforward and upward out of its old-time dullness and barbarism. So Nedstood straighter and felt older and had a pair of very brave, brighteyes when he walked forward to try and have a few words with CaptainKemp.
"Captain," he asked, "when can I go ashore?"
"Not quite yet," said the captain. "Don't bother me now. Of course, theammunition for the castle goes out first. Then all the rest of the cargomust go ashore as fast as it can, and you are bound to attend to that.I'm glad that all of it is apparently on English account, and not forthe American part of the concern. That makes all things easy. I hardlyknow what to do with the ship, though. We can't repair her here."
That was evidently the disadvantage of having a vessel get out of orderin a place where there were no good dockyards. As for the unlading,there were already "lighter" barges on their way from the fort, andothers, no doubt, would soon be on hand from the city. Haste was themain object, under the circumstances, and the entire work would berapidly accomplished.
Zuroaga went below, and Ned followed him, for there was nothing morethat he could do on deck just then.
"Senor," he asked, as soon as they were in the cabin, "how can I send aletter home? I don't know exactly what to say, either."
"Say anything you please," replied the senor. "Your letter will go bythe mail of the English consul, and the mails for England will not bemeddled wi
th by the Mexican authorities."
"I'll sit right down and begin one," said Ned, but the senor interruptedhim very soberly with:
"One word before you begin, please. I know you overheard what ColonelGuerra said to me. You and I must get on shore as soon as we can, and itwill not do for either of us to remain in Vera Cruz. I have decidedthat I must take you with me to Oaxaca."
"Well," hesitated Ned, "I understand that you must go, but what am I indanger of if I should stay here?"
"Edward, my dear fellow," said the senor, "I will tell you, and you hadbetter put it into your letter. First, you just wait and see whatbecomes of the _Goshhawk_. She will never sail out of the Gulf of Mexicoagain. The captain and crew will get away as best they can, and I can'ttell how long it will be before they can do it. Meantime, you would bearound on shore, and you would be known for a Yankee, a gringo. Thatmight mean danger for you from any evil-minded Mexican. Some of thiscoast population are worse than savages, and they all carry knives.You'd never know who hurt you."
"That's awful!" exclaimed Ned. "I never thought of that."
"There is another reason," calmly continued the senor, "for your notlingering down here in the _tierra caliente_--the hot country--any laterin the season. It is the yellow fever, and that is pretty sure to showitself before long. It takes people from the north quicker, a good deal,than it does those who were born here. I have even heard that there isa rumor of some cases occurring already. Your father is an old friend ofmine, and he would never forgive me if I were to permit you to beexposed to it, when you can so easily get away into the uplands, whereit is never heard of. Be a good clerk now, and attend to your cargo, andbe glad that it hasn't been sent to the bottom of the gulf."
Ned had been thinking of that pretty seriously, and he sat down to writehis home letter, well pleased that he had nothing to do with theunloading of the contraband of war part of the cargo. With reference tothat, moreover, he had learned from Zuroaga that a Mexicanpost-commander of the rank of Colonel Guerra was a kind of localmilitary dictator. Only so much of the ammunition as he might see fit tosend would ever find its way into any other hands than his own. Thesenor had added that it was almost the same with whatever customs dutieswere collected by the civil officers of the port, with the one drawbackthat a dishonest army collector, if discovered, might possibly gethimself shot as a kind of supposable revolutionist, stealing the profitsof the others.
The lighter barges were now swarming around the bark, and a hundred busyworkmen were doing their best, quite patriotically, for the guns andgunners of the castle. It was easy to see that the American sailors didnot fancy that job, and were willing to keep out of it. So theysauntered around, attending to a few ship's duties here and there, whilenow and then one or another of them might have been heard to grumble hisunwillingness to ever again go to sea under an English captain. Thetruth was that they had excellent reasons for discontent concerning thescrape into which they had been led, and they were well aware that theyhad not yet by any means seen the end of it. Almost the best they couldhope for was that they were to be sent back to some country of Europe,on some ship or other which had not yet arrived at Vera Cruz, and whichmight not sail away with them on board for a number of weeks to come.Any man among them was now almost willing to have had the _Portsmouth_sink the _Goshhawk_.
Heavy shot may be craned over into boats, and kegs or barrels ofgunpowder may be let down tenderly, gently, as well by moonlight andlantern-light as by any other. Therefore, the coming on of night did notinterfere with the landing processes. Moreover, any amount of sleep maybe performed by a healthy boy in a battered ship lying safely atanchor. So Ned made up, more or less, for the sleep he had lost duringthe long race of the _Goshhawk_, and it was not early when he came ondeck the next morning. When he did so, he found his duties as nominalsupercargo cut out for him, and Captain Kemp appeared to be especiallyanxious that a son of one of the owners should supervise whatever was tobe done with the peaceable part of his cargo. He even explained to Nedthat he might yet be called upon in some law court to testify to thehonest accuracy of all the papers he was now to sign.
"It'll take about two days more," he told him, "and you mustn't goashore till the ship's empty. The American consul hasn't taken hispassports yet, but he expects to get away soon, somehow or other. Mostlikely, he'll be taken off by a ship of war. So, perhaps, will otherAmericans. You might wait and get away then, if you think best, but youcan't hope to ever go on this ship."
Ned had an increasingly strong feeling that he did not now care to go onthat or any other craft of war or peace. He would much rather go toOaxaca than to New York, and he felt more sure than ever that hisfather would not wish him to run any risk of the dreadful yellow fever.So he worked on industriously, learning a great deal concerning theprocesses required in getting a cargo out of a ship. During severalhours, he was so occupied that he almost forgot the existence of hisMexican friend, but he was dimly aware that a small rowboat had come tothe off-shore side of the ship, and had shortly pulled away without anyinterference on the part of the officials, military or civil. Perhapsshe was understood to have come there by order of Colonel Guerra. Towardnightfall, however, that boat came again, as she did before, not runningin among the barges, but seeming to avoid them. There were five men inher, and one of them stood up to say to a sailor at the rail:
"I wish to see young Senor Carfora. Is he on board?"
"Hullo!" thought Ned. "That's the Spanish name Senor Zuroaga told me Iwas to go by." Then he sang out aloud, as he hurried across the deck,"Here I am. What do you want of me?"
"Lean over and talk low," responded the man in the boat, but the onesailor near them did not understand a word of Spanish, and he mightsuppose, if he wished to do so, that it was something about the cargo.Ned himself listened eagerly, while the speaker went on: "I am ColonelTassara. Senor Zuroaga must not come to the ship again. I will be hereto-morrow evening. May I be assured that you will then be ready to cometo my house?"
"Tell him of course you will!" said a voice behind Ned, peremptorily,and it was Captain Kemp who had come over for a few words with Tassara.
"I'll be ready, colonel," said Ned, when his turn came to speak, and theboat pulled away, leaving him and the captain by themselves.
"It's a good arrangement for you, my boy," said the captain. "Unless Iam mistaken, though, there are signs of the worst kind of anortheasterly storm. This is a dangerous anchorage for that sort ofthing. I don't think I shall risk having too many men on board when thenorther gets here. The cargo will be all out, and the ship's wellinsured. The American consul doesn't know a thing about the ammunitionor the running away from the cruisers. He has enough else on his handsjust now."
Ned did not care a great deal about that, but he was more than ever in ahurry to see the end of his supercargo business. The fact was that anair of something like mystery appeared to be gathering around him, andthere is a tremendous fascination in anything mysterious. What if hewere now getting right in behind the war, after a fashion, and at thesame time into the darkest kind of revolution or rebellion against thepower of President Paredes, in company with that wonderful adventurer,General Santa Anna, and all the desperate characters of Mexico?