The First Mate: The Story of a Strange Cruise Page 7

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  ATTACKED BY PIRATES.

  We both halted and listened intently, Monroe with one foot on the topstep of the companion, on his way below.

  "What did you think you heard?" I questioned in a half-whisper.

  "Well, I can scarcely say," was the low-spoken reply. "As a matter offact, I am not sure that I heard anything. I am beginning to think thatKennedy's stupid talk must have affected us all aft here, more or less,but it certainly seemed to me that while I was bidding you good nightjust now I caught the faintest suggestion of--Ah! by Jove! there it isagain. Did you catch it?"

  "Yes," I said, "unless--But no; I don't believe it was imagination. Ithought I heard a sound like the groaning of an oar against a thole pin,some distance off in that direction," with a flourish of my hand towardthe east.

  "Yes," agreed Monroe; "that describes the sound exactly. SurelyKennedy's apprehensions cannot have been well-founded, after all, canthey?"

  "Don't know in the least," I returned; "but I guess we shall, very soonnow. Meanwhile, since it must be obvious to you that I cannot possiblyleave the deck at this juncture, perhaps you will have the goodness toslip down below and do that key-turning trick you suggested to me justnow."

  "Sure! I will," answered the parson. "It was my advice, and I willtake the responsibility of carrying it out," and he vanished down thecompanion way.

  As he disappeared I went down the poop ladder at a run, hurried forward,and made my way to the forecastle head, where I found the look-outleaning against the guard rail with his arms folded and his chin sunkupon his chest. He was not asleep, for as he heard the light patter ofmy shoes upon the ladder he straightened himself and turned to see whowas coming; but I had a very shrewd suspicion that the stillness of thenight had induced in him a condition very much the reverse of alertness.

  "Is that Johnson?" I demanded sharply.

  "No, sir," he replied. "I'm Maguire."

  "Then, Maguire," I said, "I am afraid you have not been keeping quite sowideawake as you ought, considering that it's your look-out. Forinstance, have you heard any unusual sounds, such as you ought to havereported, since you came on watch?"

  "No, sir," replied the man. "And as to--"

  "That will do," I interrupted. "Now, pull yourself together andlisten."

  We both set ourselves intently to listen, but before half a dozenseconds had passed I heard loud voices--those of Monroe and the boy,and, almost immediately afterward, that of Mrs Vansittart--the parson'sin remonstrance, the boy's in loud and angry protest, and that of thelady in anxious enquiry. It seemed as though Monroe had somehowmismanaged his rather delicate task, for as I started to go aft again Iheard the lad shout, "I _will_ go on deck if I feel like it, and you,Monroe, aren't going to stop me. And as for the Britisher, do you thinkI care what he says?" But here Mrs Vansittart cut in with aninjunction to Julius to hold his tongue, following it up with an enquiryas to what all the fuss was about. I felt that it was time I took ahand; so, cautioning Maguire to keep a bright look-out and listen forall he was worth, I sprang down the forecastle ladder on my way aft.And as I did so I ran into a couple of men who had just crept out frombeneath the launch, evidently curious to learn what the disturbance wasabout.

  Halting for a moment, I ordered the two men to rouse the watch quietly,and stand by for an "All hands" call, and then continued on my way aft,meeting the trio just by the foot of the poop ladder. Mrs Vansittartwas evidently in something of a temper, for, as I joined the party, sheturned sharply and demanded:

  "Is that Mr Leigh?"

  "It is, madam," I replied. "Hush, Julius!" I continued, for the boyalso had turned angrily upon me. "Pray stop your outcry, for Heaven'ssake! Silence is of vital importance to us all at this moment, for wemay be on the very verge of a crisis. Mr Monroe and I are both ofopinion that we very recently heard certain sounds that--"

  "I know all about that," interrupted Mrs Vansittart; "Mr Monroe hasalready explained that to me. What I want to know now is by what rightyou presumed to instruct him to lock the door of the drawing-room, andso prevent me from coming out on deck?"

  "Yes," added the boy, in that high-pitched, clamorous voice of his,which would carry so far over the water on such a night, "and what righthave you to order me to be locked in my cabin? Who are you, I shouldlike to know--"

  "Craft on the port quarter--two of 'em--three--four--a whole fleet ofsmall craft headin' dead for us!" yelled the look-out at this moment.

  "Good heavens!" I ejaculated, "then Kennedy's extraordinary premonitionwas right after all;" and, unceremoniously quitting the little groupunder the break of the poop, I rushed forward, shouting:

  "All hands to general quarters! Throw open the ports. Off with the guncovers; slew the guns, and point them out through the ports. Pass theword for the gunner, and send him aft to me." Then I turned and wentaft again, once more encountering the saloon party, now made complete bythe appearance of Miss Anthea, clad, like her mother, in a very becomingdressing-gown.

  "Madam," said I, addressing Mrs Vansittart, "there is no time forexplanation at this moment, for, unless I am very greatly mistaken, weare about to be attacked by a fleet of pirate craft. But I mostearnestly beseech you to retire below, taking your son and daughter withyou out of harm's way. If my suspicions are well-founded, none of youcan be of the slightest assistance on deck, while at any moment we mayhave shot flying about our ears, and--"

  "Yes," the skipper agreed, "you are quite right. Mr Leigh is perfectlyright, Julius, therefore I order you to go to your cabin at once. Andyou too, Anthea. Mr Monroe, if Julius will not go quietly, I authoriseyou to use such force as may be necessary to compel him to go. And whenyou have seen him safe in his cabin, lock him in, and bring me the key.Now, sir,"--very haughtily to me--"be good enough to accompany me to thepoop, and let us see what justification there is for all this suddenalarm and confusion."

  It was very evident that the lady was tremendously indignant with me.And at this, when I came to think of it, I was not greatly surprised,for it certainly was a tremendous liberty for a second officer toconsent to, much less order, the locking of a skipper and owner in herown cabin. I therefore followed her, very much crestfallen, up the poopladder, and at once looked away out over the port quarter in search ofthe supposed pirate fleet.

  It was at this time so very dark that for several seconds I could seenothing. The moon had set, and the bank of cloud already referred tohad overspread more than half the sky; moreover, a mist had comecreeping up from the eastward, not dense enough to merit the name offog, yet sufficiently thick to dim the light of the stars still shiningin the western half of the heavens, while it added still more to thedarkness which gloomed away to the eastward of us. But presently, downin the midst of the dusky blackness broad on our port quarter, I caughta glimpse of a small, indeterminate shape of still deeper blackness,then another, and another, and another, until I had counted ten of them;and concentrating my gaze intently upon them, I felt sure I couldoccasionally distinguish a small, evanescent, silvery gleam like that ofsea fire stirred into brilliance by the slow passage of a moving objectthrough the water.

  "Yes," I exclaimed, pointing, "there they come, ten of them, if notmore. Have you any particular orders to give, madam, or will you leavethe defence of the ship to Mr Kennedy and me?"

  "Why, of course I leave it to Kennedy--and you--to do the best you can,"replied Mrs Vansittart. "I know nothing at all about fighting tactics;and I shall not attempt to interfere. Further than that, I shall gobelow--although I do not like the idea of quitting the deck at theapproach of an enemy--for I am sensible enough to recognise that I cando no good up here, and should only be in the way. But, Walter, never,under any circumstances whatever, again dream of turning a key upon me.It was a most unwarrantable liberty, which not even such a crisis asthis can justify; and for a few minutes I was really furiously angrywith you. But I believe what you did was done with the very best ofintentions, so I will
say no more about it. Now, here comes Kennedy, soI will just say a word or two to him, and then go. Take care ofyourself, my dear boy, and see that you do not get hurt."

  There was no time for me to express my gratitude to the lady for herexceeding kindness in thus overlooking what at best could only bedescribed as a serious error of judgment--although, even so, I could notrefrain from reminding myself that the fault originated with Monroe--forat that moment the first mate came bounding up the poop ladder,struggling into his jacket as he came.

  "Whoopee!" he shouted, as he reached the level of the poop. "What did Itell ye, bhoy? Where are the shpalpeens? Show 'em to me--Oh! beg yourpardon, ma'am; I didn't expect to find you here--"

  "Where did you expect I should be, then, pray, Mr Kennedy?" demandedthe skipper. "Hiding in the shaft tunnel, I suppose--"

  "By the piper! ye might be in a worse place than that same, ma'am. Uphere, for instance," interrupted Kennedy. But Mrs Vansittart was in nomood to discuss that unfortunate subject any further, just then at allevents; she therefore cut in upon the first mate's remarks by saying:

  "Now, that will do, Mr Kennedy. Please listen to me, for time ispressing. I have just been explaining to Mr Leigh that I know nothingabout fighting, therefore I shall leave you and him to do the best youcan for our defence, and go below out of the way, since I can be of nouse up here. Good night, and take care of yourselves! And let me knowwhen it is all over." With which the lady took herself off, to ourintense relief.

  "Now, then," exclaimed Kennedy, turning to me, "where are the cut-throatpirates that I'm afther hearin' about?"

  "There they are, less than half a mile off," I replied, pointing. "Theyare coming along very slowly, hoping to catch us unawares, perhaps.But, goodness knows, that young rip, Julius, was making noise enoughjust now to be heard at double that distance, and to show that some ofus at least are broad awake." Then I briefly explained what orders Ihad so far given, and waited to hear what he had to say.

  "Have the small arms been served out yet?" he demanded.

  "Not yet," I answered. "But they are ready at a moment's notice."

  "Right!" he approved. "Let them be served out at once; a cutlass and abrace of fully loaded automatics to each man, not forgettin' our nobleselves. With these Maxims we shall not need any rifles, I guess."

  I turned away to issue this order, when I was met at the head of thepoop ladder by Bledsoe, the gunner.

  "You sent for me, sir?" he asked.

  "I did, Bledsoe," said I. "Come up. Mr Kennedy is here, and he mayhave some orders for you." Then I turned to Kennedy and said:

  "Here is the gunner. I sent for him a few minutes ago, thinking youmight wish to see him. Also, I had it in my mind to order him to send afew portfires up on deck. It occurred to me that if those fellowsinsist on closing with us, it would be a good plan to have a hand up inthe maintop with some portfires; it would enable us to see what we aredoing."

  "It would that," agreed Kennedy; "and we'll do ut. See to it, MrBledsoe, if ye plaise. And ye may also send up some ammunition for thefour-inches and Maxims. I guess we'll not need the Hotchkisses.That'll do, gunner; let's have that ammunition quick. Mr Leigh, begood enough to attend to that matther of the shmall arms, and then comeback here and take charge of the Maxims. It's about time we let thoseginks know that we're awake, so I'll step down to the main-deck and seeabout throwin' a shot over 'em."

  We descended to the main-deck together, all hands being by that time ondeck and at stations; and while I went below to attend to the sending upand distribution of the cutlasses and automatics, Kennedy plantedhimself in rear of Number 2 gun of the port battery. A minute later thedeep, ringing report and jar of the discharge were heard and felt, butwith what effect I knew not, being on the deck beneath. A minute latera second gun roared overhead, and while my ears were still ringing withthe report I heard the boom of a distant gun, and listened breathlesslyfor the impact of the shot. I heard nothing, however, so concluded thatthe missile had flown wide. By the time that our third gun spoke mytask below was completed; I therefore snatched at a cutlass, buckled thebelt round my waist, took a brace of automatic pistols from the man whowas loading them, thrust them into my belt, and rushed up on deck. Iencountered Kennedy near the foot of the poop ladder, reported to himwhat I had done, and received from him the order to go up on the poopand open fire with the Maxims forthwith.

  "We've hit one of thim, and she seems to be sinkin'," he said; "but therest of the divvies are comin' for us like mad, wid their sweepschurnin' up the wather like the paddles of one av your London tugs.Shtop 'em from layin' us aboard, if ye can, bhoy. We want nohand-to-hand fightin' wid thim, for they'll outnumber us ten to one, Icalculate." He added this last item in a confidential whisper.

  I dashed up on the poop, and, to my great satisfaction, found both theMaxims manned and well supplied with ammunition. But although it wasnow easy enough to hear the grind and splash of the sweeps with whichthe attackers were urging their craft through the water, ay, and even tohear their shouts of encouragement to each other, the darkness and themist together still combined to render them too indistinctly visible topermit of effective firing from our Maxims. I therefore shouted toKennedy a suggestion that he should order the man in the maintop tolight his portfires, so that we might have light to see what we wereabout. And Kennedy was in the very act of giving the order when threeof the approaching craft fired upon us almost at the same instant; and a_moment_ later I heard a sharp, splintering crash, followed by a dull,crunching sound below me on the main-deck. One of the enemy's roundshot had got home through our port bulwark, so far as I could judge.

  I was in a perfect fever of impatience to get additional light, thoughit were ever so little, and had about made up my mind to open fire withthe Maxims without further delay, for the approaching craft were by thistime perilously close--not more than two cables' lengths distant, Ibelieve--when I caught a faint flicker of light from aloft, and the nextinstant the baleful, blue-white glare of a portfire illuminated thescene and revealed ten small sailing craft foaming down upon us underthe impulse of from twelve to sixteen powerfully-manned sweeps apiece.Each craft carried a gun, which looked to be about the calibre of atwelve-pound smooth-bore, mounted in the eyes of her; their decks werecrowded with Malays of most ferocious, malignant, and determined aspect,and I caught the gleam and flash of the light from innumerable krissesand rifle barrels as their owners waved them above their heads in savageanticipation of presently getting to close-quarters with us.

  It was evident that we were confronted with a most formidable anddangerous situation, demanding the utmost promptitude of action, and Iat once turned to the crew of the port Maxim, with the command upon mylips to them to open fire, when a cry of horror arose from the gun'screw on the main-deck immediately below where I was standing, and a man,looking up to me and pointing with his hand, shouted that the mate waskilled. Glancing down over the poop rail, I saw the body of poorKennedy stretched out on the deck in the midst of a pool of blood, withthe top of his head shot away, doubtless by the round shot that, a fewseconds earlier, I had heard crash through the bulwarks.

  "Let them have the contents of every gun that will bear!" I shouted.Then turning to the Maxim crews, I added: "Open fire upon them--thenearest craft first; and clear their decks of men, if you can, beforethey get alongside."

  The light was the only thing that our lads--and the pirates too,apparently--had been waiting for, for the next moment the guns of ourport battery crashed forth, one after the other, while our port Maxim--the only one of the two that could be brought to bear--started itssavage thud-thudding tattoo, and in less than half a minute the ship wasenveloped in a cloud of acrid smoke which, hanging motionless in thestagnant air, effectually cloaked the approach of the attacking force,and as effectually prevented anything like accurate shooting.

  Nor were the enemy one whit behindhand in availing themselves of theassistance afforded by the light of the portfires; inde
ed, they hadrather the best of it, for although the hull of the yacht was speedilyenveloped in smoke, the portfire brilliantly illuminated our canvas, andthus afforded them an excellent guide in aiming. And now the round shotbegan to fly thick and fast, while bullets and slugs hummed and sangabout our ears like a swarm of angry hornets. Luckily for us, the aimof the pirates was atrociously bad--probably the fire of our Maximdisconcerted them--and although we afterward found that five round shothad passed through our sails, only one struck our hull, while, by whatseemed like a miracle, the bullets all missed our bodies, though in manycases by only the merest hair's-breadth. For perhaps half a minute thefire of the pirates was maintained with the utmost fury, and then all ina moment it died away to a few desultory shots, which presently ceased.

  Putting my whistle to my lips, I blew a shrill blast upon it, which Ifollowed up with the order:

  "Main-deck guns, cease firing!" And as I uttered the words I thought Ifelt a faint draught of air upon my face. I was not mistaken, for atthe same moment the heavy pall of smoke which enveloped us began lazilyto shape itself into fantastic wreaths that slowly swept away to thewestward, while our lighter canvas rustled gently, and then filled to asmall air from the eastward. As it happened, our sails were correctlytrimmed, so that all that was needed was just to allow the ship to comeup to her proper course when she gathered way.

  Meanwhile, with the dispersion of the smoke, we were able once more toget a glimpse of the enemy, and that glimpse revealed them to be in fullflight. They must have suffered frightfully from our fire before theircourage gave way, for of the ten craft which constituted the originalattacking force only six were now visible, while every one of theseappeared to be more or less in difficulties--three of them, indeed, verymuch more than less. I perceived that only one of the half-dozenappeared to be working her full complement of sweeps, while another washobbling off under the impulse of but a single pair. Shells, thoughthey be of but four-inches diameter, are capable of inflicting seriousdamage when they hit and explode.

  The breeze, which at first came away as a mere breathing, gainedsteadily in strength, until the yacht was sliding along at a six-knotpace, and it would have been easy for us to have overtaken our audaciousattackers and sunk them out of hand. But I had my doubts as to whetherany of them would remain afloat long enough to get back to the smallhidden harbour from which they had emerged; while in any case it seemedto me that the rascals had received so severe a punishment that it wouldbe long before they again attempted to attack a seemingly helpless ship.I therefore allowed them to go their way without further molestation,and, boarding the fore and main tacks, brought the ship to her course.This done, I gave orders for the guns to be secured, the charges to bedrawn, the unused ammunition to be returned to the magazine, and thesmall arms to the armourer, and the decks to be cleared up generally.

  Meanwhile poor Kennedy's body had been carried forward and laid upon thefore-hatch, covered over with a tarpaulin. Poor chap! I was sincerelygrieved at his loss, for he was both a first-rate seaman and athoroughly stanch messmate. And as, passing round the deck to satisfymyself that all my orders had been satisfactorily executed, I paused fora moment to gaze regretfully at the shrouded form under the tarpaulin, Icould not help wondering a little at the memory that he, the onlyvictim, should have been the one to have experienced a premonition,practically amounting to certainty, not only of the encounter, but also,as I now felt convinced, that it would prove fatal to him.

  Having completed my inspection of the decks, and satisfied myself thateverything was all right, I called the boatswain aft to take temporarycharge, and then entered the drawing-room, intending to pass through itto the door of Mrs Vansittart's cabin, to make my report. But onentering the apartment I was surprised to find the lady seated there,fully dressed, and evidently waiting with some impatience for news. AsI advanced she rose to her feet and held out her hand to me.

  "Well, Walter," she exclaimed, "it is all over--the dreadful fighting, Imean--and you are unhurt. Is it not so?" Then, as I briefly replied inthe affirmative, she continued: "But why are you looking so serious?And why have you come to me instead of Mr Kennedy? I most sincerelyhope that nothing dreadful has happened."

  "We have got off much more easily than at one moment I dared to hope," Isaid. "But I grieve to inform you that the fight has cost us the lifeof one man, and he the man whom we can least of all afford to lose. Youwill guess at once that I mean poor Kennedy, who was killed by a roundshot--the only shot that did any damage worth mentioning."

  For a moment Mrs Vansittart seemed scarcely able to credit my news. Ibelieve that up to then she had never quite realised the fact of ourperil; but now that one of our men had actually lost his life it wassuddenly brought home to her with startling vividness, and she wascorrespondingly upset. She stared at me unbelievingly, gasped: "What?Neil Kennedy killed? Oh, Walter, you cannot possibly mean it!" andthen, as I nodded my head, she sank back into her chair and burst intotears. I thought it best to let her have her cry out in peace, fortears seem to be the natural safety valve of a woman's emotions; andwhile she sat there with her face buried in her hands and the tearsstreaming through her fingers, Miss Anthea, Monroe, and Julius came upfrom below. Of course they all wanted to know what was the matter, andI was obliged to explain. In the course of the explanation, which tooksomething of the form of a brief narrative of the entire adventure, Ihappened to remark:

  "What puzzles me more than anything is how it happened that thosefellows were able to find us so accurately on so dark a night. I tookthe greatest care to mask all our lights effectually; yet when we firstsighted them they were heading as straight for us as if we were in plainsight."

  "And so we were," remarked Monroe; "for which we have to thank our youngfriend Julius, here. When, in obedience to his mother's command, I tookhim below to his cabin before the fight began, I not only found the openport of his cabin uncovered, but all three of the electric-lightsablaze, so that the port must have shown up in the dark like alighthouse. The young gentleman explained to me that he couldn't sleepbecause of the heat, and had therefore been reading in bed!"