Ben Burton: Born and Bred at Sea

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

  Our prize--a ship of six hundred tons, and mounting fourteen guns--called the "Santiago," proved to be of considerable value. A prize crewbeing put on board, we steered for Saint Helena, where it was possiblewe might find a purchaser, and if not, Captain Oliver resolved to takeher to the Cape. Fortunately, at Saint Helena we found the officers andcrew of an Indiaman, which had been burnt at sea; and the Company'sagent there was very glad to purchase our prize, and send her on, mostof the goods being suitable to the Indian market. On concluding thebargain, the agent presented the Captain with a couple of young tigers.They were somewhat inconvenient pets, though they would have beenvaluable had we been going home. However, as we had no others on board,he accepted them, thinking they might serve to amuse the ship's company,and having an idea, I believe, that they might be perfectly tamed. Wein the midshipmen's berth welcomed them with glee, and at once began toteach them to perform all sorts of tricks. They would let us ride ontheir backs, and they learned to leap through hoops and over ropes, andthey would rush round and round the deck at a rapid rate, and soon theybecame the most playful, engaging creatures possible. Oldershaw was theonly person who expressed doubts about their amiability.

  "If I were the Captain, I would clip their claws and draw their teethbefore I would let them play with you youngsters," he observed. "Theirtricks may be playful now, but they will serve you a scurvy one beforelong, or their nature is more changed than I believe it to be."

  Of course we laughed at his prognostications, and continued to amuseourselves with our pets as usual. The Cape was reached. We took onboard a supply of live and dead stock, having now a long run before usacross the Indian Ocean, into that part of the world where I had firstseen the light--the China Seas. We had several sheep and a supply ofhay to feed them on. Some of the men had an idea that our tamed petswould gladly feed on the hay, but their carnivorous teeth refused tomunch it. They, however, turned suspiciously hungry glances towards thenewcomers. Oldershaw observed it, "They have probably never eaten sheepor midshipmen," he observed, "but the nature to do so is in them, anddepend upon it their nature will have sway if we give them theopportunity." However, as the animals were tolerably well-fed, and werecarefully caged, they gave no exhibition when anyone was watching themof their evil propensities, if they possessed them. When our stock offresh meat was exhausted, first one sheep and then another was killed tosupply the Captain and officers' tables, a portion falling to the lot ofsome of the men's messes. Their skins, which were peculiarly fine, werecleansed and prepared by the armourer, who happened also to understandthe trade of a currier. Two of them were hung up to dry, when it cameinto the brains of Tom Twig and Dicky Esse to clothe themselves in theskins, and in high glee they came prancing about the deck, baa-ing away,imitating two frolicsome lambs, with a tolerable amount of accuracy.They afforded much amusement to us, their messmates, and not a little tothe men who happened to be on deck. Not content with amusing us, offthey went, into the neighbourhood of the tigers' cage. It ought to havebeen shut, and generally was shut. So exact was their imitation ofnature that the beasts, after watching them with great eagerness forsome moments, could no longer resist their natural propensities. Withfierce leaps they rushed against the door of their cage. It gave way,and out they sprang. One bound carried them on to the backs of theirexpected prey. In another instant Tom and Dicky Esse would have beentorn to pieces, had they not, in a way midshipmen alone could have done,slipped out of their skins, and rolled pale with terror across the deck.The animals, finding only the dry skins, were about to make anotherspring, when the man who had charge of them and had witnessed the scene,came rushing up with his stick of office, and several other men comingto his assistance with ropes, the savage creatures were forthwithsecured. Both the midshipmen were rather more frightened than hurt, andin consideration of their terror they escaped any further consequencesof their conduct which was looked upon by the First-Lieutenant assomewhat derogatory to the dignity which they were in duty bound tomaintain.

  After leaving the Cape, we were constantly becalmed, and then, gettingfurther east, fell in with a hurricane, from the effects of whichnothing but first-rate seamanship, under God's Providence, could havepreserved the frigate. We were now getting much in want of water, andCaptain Oliver, unwilling to go out of his way to any of the settlementsto obtain it, resolved to search for a supply at the first island weshould fall in with. At length we came in sight of a large island, withyellow sands, and green palm trees waving in the breeze. Nothing couldbe more attractive, but it appeared that nobody on board had been therebefore. The master knew the existence of the island on the chart, butwhether it was inhabited or not, or by whom, he could not say. As noanchorage was found, the ship was hove to, and three boats, with casks,under the command of the Second-Lieutenant, and my friend Oldershaw, andPember, were directed to go on shore. I went with Oldershaw, and Twiggand Esse went in the other boats. We pulled into the bay abreast of theship, where, between two projecting rocks, we found an excellentlanding-place, and not far from it a stream of water, clear and limpid.As no natives appeared, the opinion was that that part of the island, atall events, was uninhabited, and this made us somewhat careless. Allthe casks being filled, the boats were sent back for a fresh supply, aswe could not hope to find a better place for filling up with thatimportant necessary. Pember, directing Tom Twigg to take charge of hisboat, invited Dicky Esse and me to accompany him meantime on a stroll tosee the island farther inland. He directed Toby Kiddle and Pat Brady tofollow with a couple of muskets.

  "Not that they will be wanted," he observed; "but if we do fall in withany natives, it will make them treat us with respect."

  "If I were you, Pember, I would not go far from the bay," observedOldershaw, as he shoved off.

  "You are always uttering warnings, old Careful," muttered Pember; and,leading the way, he turned his back on the sea and proceeded inland.

  The country was very beautiful. We soon came to a grove of cocoa-nuts,when Pember proposed that we should procure a supply. This, however,was more easily thought of than done. Pat Brady, who was the mostactive of the party, declared that he could manage it after the nativefashion. He and Kiddle having placed the muskets against a tree, wereconsidering the best way of mounting. We went first to one tree andthen to another, to find one which seemed most easy to climb, with asatisfactory reward at the top of it for our trouble. Having made aband of sufficient strength with our handkerchiefs, Pat commenced hisascent. He had got some way up, Kiddle having helped him as far as hecould reach, when suddenly a dozen dark-skinned savages sprang out fromamong the trees, and before we could draw our pistols they had broughtus all to the ground. Forthwith they proceeded to bind our arms behindus. Pat, seeing there was no use going higher, came gliding down thetree, and was secured in the same manner. We endeavoured to make themunderstand that we had desired to do them no harm, and that if thecocoa-nuts were theirs, we should be happy to pay for them. Whetherthey understood us or not I cannot say, but without more ado, three ofthem attaching themselves to Pember, and a like number to each of theother men--one black fellow, however, only taking charge of Dicky andanother of me--they dragged us off into the interior. In vain Pemberstruggled and expostulated. The fierce gleam of their dark eyes, andthe keen blades of their glittering creeses which they flourished beforeus, showed that it would be dangerous to dispute the point with them.All we could do, therefore, was to move forward as they insisted, hopingthat, when our absence was discovered, a strong party might be sent inpursuit of us, and that we might be recovered. We had not gone far whenthey were joined by another band of a similar number, and we could nothelp suspecting that they had been watching us all the time, but seeingso many armed men round the boats had not ventured to attack us. Thismade us still more regret our folly in having ventured alone into thecountry. On, on we went. We had great reason to fear that they had nointention of restoring us. At length they stopped at a vi
llage ofbamboo huts, covered with cocoa-nut leaves, from which a number of womenand children came forth to gaze at us. The children went shrieking awaywhen they saw our white skins, while the women advanced cautiously andtouched us, apparently to ascertain whether the red and white would comeoff.

  "Faith, they take us for white niggers!" said Pat Brady, observing thelook of astonishment, not unmixed with disgust, with which the womenregarded us. "It's to be hoped they won't set us to work as we do theblacks, though, to be sure, it would be better than eating us, and Idon't like the looks of those fellows at all, at all."

  "Depend upon it, if they don't eat us they will make us work, or whyshould they otherwise carry us off?" observed Kiddle. "These Malayfellows make slaves of all the people they can lay hands on. If it wasnot for that they would cut our throats."

  These remarks made Dicky Esse and me feel very uncomfortable, tillPember observed that perhaps they had carried us off in the hopes ofobtaining a ransom. This idea kept up our spirits a little; but as theycontinued to drag us on further and further into the country, our hopeon that score greatly decreased. At length we reached another village,in which was a large hut. Under the shade of a wide-spreading verandahin front of it an old chief was seated on cushions; a dozen half-nakedsavages with drawn swords standing behind him. He was dressed in adark-coloured turban, with a shawl over his shoulders, a belt, in whichwere three or four formidable looking daggers with jewelled hilts, and acurved sword by his side. His dark countenance was unpleasantly savageand morose, and we felt that our lives would be of little value if theydepended upon the amiability of his disposition. Our captors arrangedus before him, and then appeared to be explaining how they had gotpossession of us. He smiled grimly at the narration. As Pember, DickyEsse, and I were placed in advance, it was evident that our captorslooked upon us as of more value than the men. This made us hope thatthey were entertaining some thoughts of allowing us to be ransomed, forin every other way the men were likely to prove more useful to them thanwe should.

  After our captors had said all they had to say, the old chief made a fewremarks in return. Before he had ceased speaking, several of his guardsadvanced towards us with their sharp-looking swords glittering in thesunbeams. It was a moment of intense anxiety. It seemed evident theyintended to kill us. We could, however, neither fly nor defendourselves.

  "I say, Ben, have you said your prayers?" whispered Dicky to me. "Ifnot, it is time to begin."

  Pember prepared to meet his fate with dogged resolution, his dark redcountenance turning almost to an ashy hue. Kiddle and Brady, as I castmy eye on them, were evidently preparing to show fight.

  "Knock the fellow next you down, Pat," said Toby, "and get hold of hiscutlash. I will treat mine the same, and if we cannot get away we willdie game."

  Suddenly our expected executioners stopped, and stood waving theirweapons at a short distance from our necks. The chief continuedharanguing for some time, and when he ceased others stepped forth fromthe crowd and addressed him. Whether or not the chief had intended tokill us, we could not ascertain, but having kept us in most disagreeablesuspense for half-an-hour or more, though it seemed several hours, themen with the swords faced about, and marched back to their formerposition. Our guards then carried us off to a hut at a little distance,into which we were all thrust, several men standing outside as a guardover us. After some time they brought us a mess of grain of some sort,well seasoned with pepper.

  "I suppose they don't intend to kill us, or they would not give usthis," observed Pat, taking a handful from the bowl, as, of course, wewere left to feed ourselves, with our fingers. "Faith, it's not so bad,after all."

  His example was followed by Dicky and me, and after a time Pember andKiddle, unable any longer to restrain their appetites, also commencedeating. A supply of dry leaves and long grass, with several carpets,were brought in, and we were given to understand that they were to serveus as beds. This sort of treatment again raised our hopes that ourcaptors might give us our liberty on receiving a ransom. Our difficultywould be to communicate with the ship.

  "They cannot expect any very large sum for us," observed Pember, who,deprived of any stimulant, was getting sadly out of spirits. "TheCaptain would not consent to pay much for me, I am afraid, and you twoyoungsters are worth little enough."

  "Speak for yourself," answered Esse. "I rather think the Captain sets ahigher estimation on me than you do."

  "Whether or not, for the honour of the flag they will not desert us," Iobserved.

  Pember on this gave a faint sickly laugh.

  "Few inquiries would be made at the Admiralty as to what had become ofan old mate and two youngsters. Expended on a watering party--killed bysavages. Such would be our epitaph, and the matter would be settled tothe satisfaction of all parties."

  No wonder, considering the circumstances, that our conversation did nottake a more lively tone. Pat Brady, to be sure, did his best now andthen to get up a laugh, but with very poor success.

  "Keep silence, man!" exclaimed Pember, at last, in a surly tone. "Youwill be singing out in a different way to-morrow morning when they getthe ovens ready."

  "Faith, I suppose they would be after making me into an Irish stew, or adish of bubble and squeak!" exclaimed Pat, whose spirits were not to bequelled even with the anticipation of being turned into a feast forcannibals. I had an idea, however, that the people into whose hands wehad fallen were not addicted to such practices, and was, therefore, notmuch influenced by the remarks which Pember occasionally made as to ourprobable fate. We were allowed to pass the night in quietness, and nextmorning another bowl of food was brought to us, with a basket of fruitof various sorts, very acceptable in that hot climate. We waitedanxiously, expecting the arrival of a party from the frigate, either torescue us by force, or to offer a ransom for our liberty; but no oneappeared, nor did any of the natives, except the man who brought thefood, come to the hut. Once, during an interval of silence, Essedeclared he heard firing, but though we listened with all our might, thesounds reached no other ears. After a time, indeed, we all fancied weheard the boom of great guns, but even of that we could not be quitecertain. Night again came round, and no one had come to look for us.