“We have hit some of the poor blacks again,” said Tailtackle, who was still on deck.
But we had no further time for observation, for the Spaniard returned our broadside with the same cold-blooded precision as before.
“Down with the helm and let her swing round,” cried I–“cross his quarters–forward there–out with the sweeps, and hold her steady–that’s right–now run over a gun and let him have it–steady boys–aim well–fire!”
We now lay directly across the stern of the slaver, hardly thirty feet from him, and although he defended himself with great determination and courage, pouring upon us a perfect shower of musket balls from his rigging and cabin windows, yet I saw very clearly that in consequence of the skill with which our helm was managed, enabling us to retain a raking position, that our fire was making terrible havoc on board of him.
“Hurrah! his foremast’s down. Well done, boys; pepper him well, whilst he is in confusion. There goes his gaff and flag, but don’t stop firing on that account; it did not come down with his consent. I told you so–he has run it up again. Good, my lads; you have shot the main yard away now, and he can’t escape us.”
Nimbly as monkeys, two sailors clambered up the rigging to repair the injury done. Had they succeeded in their object, the slaver would again have got under way and escaped from our fire. All this time, Bangs and Gelid had been firing at the enemy with the most murderous precision. They lay behind the bulwarks, and their black servants were in the cabin busily engaged in loading their muskets for them. Wagtail, who was not much of a shot, sat on deck and passed the weapons up and down.
“For heaven’s sake, Master Bangs,” cried I, “pick off those two men in the rigging. Down with them.”
“What! those two chaps at the end of the long pole?” asked Bangs, turning to me with the greatest coolness imaginable.
“Yes, yes–down with them.”
He raised his musket as deliberately as if he were shooting at a target.
“I say, Gelid, my boy, take the one this way, will you?”
“Certainly,” replied Paul.
They fired, and the seamen fell, and after struggling in the water for a moment like wounded birds, sank to the bottom, leaving on the surface of the sea, pools of blood to mark their graves.
“Now,” cried I, to the man at the wheel, “run her alongside of the Spaniard. Out with the grapnels, men; that’s right. Hurrah! she’s ours.”
“Follow me, ye boarders!” I exclaimed as soon as I had collected my people, and in the excitement of the moment I sprang on the slaver’s deck, followed by eight-and-twenty men. But the enemy was ready for us, and we were received by a shower of musket balls that sent four of our tars into the next world, and wounded three more. Spite of this warm reception, however, we reached the quarter-deck, where the Spanish captain with about forty men, armed with swords and pistols, presented a formidable front. We attacked them; Tailtackle, who as soon as he heard the cry of “boarders,” had rushed out of the magazine and followed us, split the captain’s skull with his cutlass. The lieutenant was my bird, and I had nearly finished him, when he suddenly drew a pistol from his belt and shot me through the shoulder. I felt no pain except a sharp twinge, and then a sensation of cold, as if some one had poured water over my neck.
Our fellows fought with the accustomed bravery of British sailors, but for some time the chances of the combat were doubtful. At last our opponents began to waver, and finally gave way; but at this moment some fifty blacks, armed with muskets, sprang suddenly upon deck, and rushed to the aid of the Spaniards. I now gave up all as lost. My men, disheartened at this accession to the number of their foes, began to give way, whilst the Spanish crew fought with renewed courage. Moreover, we found that we were now fighting not for glory, but for life itself; for, on looking round, we saw to our horror that the grapnels had been loosened, and thus all retreat cut off. Our vessel was no longer lying alongside of the brig, but across its bows, so that the bowsprit of the latter crossed its deck. We could not, therefore, reach it, since the Spaniards had possession of the forecastle of their own vessel. At this critical moment we received unexpected aid in the shape of a shower of grape shot from our schooner, which swept away many of the negroes, besides wounding a large number of them, whilst at the same time a new party of combatants sprang on deck to our rescue.
V
When we boarded the slaver, we left on board our vessel the helmsman Peter Mangrave, the black quarter-master Pearl, five negroes who were on board as passengers, little Reefpoint, who was wounded, and Bangs, Gelid, and Wagtail. At the moment when I had given up all as lost, honest Pearl sprang on deck, his cutlass in his hand, accompanied by the five blacks and Peter Mangrave, whilst behind him came no less a person than Aaron Bangs, with the three negro servants, whom he had armed with pikes.
“Now Pearl, my beauty,” cried Bangs, waving his cutlass, “give them a touch of their own lingo.”
Immediately the black quarter-master called out:
“Coramantee Sheik Cowloo kokemoni pepulorum fir.”
Which I afterwards found out meant, “See the Sultan Cowloo, the great ostrich, with a feather on his back as big as a palm leaf; fight for him, you dogs.”
Immediately the blacks joined Bangs’ party, and commenced so fierce an attack on their former masters, that they soon drove them down the hatchway, leaving half their number on the bloody deck, dead or dangerously wounded. But, driven to desperation, they still resisted, firing up the hatchway, and paying no attention to my repeated demands to them to surrender.
“God in Heaven!” cried Jigmaree, “that is the sound of hammers; they are freeing the blacks.”
“If you unchain the negroes,” cried I, in the Spanish language, “by the Heaven above us, I will blow you into the air, if I have to go with you. Stop, Spanairds! think madmen, what you are doing.”
“Cover the hatches,” cried Tailtackle.
But the covers must have been lost overboard, for they were nowhere to be found. The firing from the hold still continued.
“Loosen the gun, and load it with grape,” cried I. “Forward with it, and fire down the hatchway.”
The shot struck among the closely packed slaves, and a fearful, heart-rending cry rent the air. Oh God! I shall never forget it. Yet still the madmen continued their fire.
“Load, and fire again.”
My men were now mad with rage, and fought more like devils than human beings.
“Once more, my lads,” cried I; but this time they pushed the gun so madly forward, that both it and the carriage were precipitated with a fearful crash into the hold. At the same moment a cloud of smoke burst forth from the hold.
“They have fired the brig,” cried Jigmaree. “Back to the schooner, or we shall be blown into the air like onion peels.”
But the schooner had got loose, and was fast leaving us. Gelid, Wagtail, and Reefpoint, were on board; the latter, though badly wounded, had crept out of his hammock, and on deck. They made us understand, by signs, that they could not hoist the sails, and that, moreover, the rudder was shot away, and the vessel unmanageable in consequence.
“Up with the foresail, men,” cried I; “hoist the foresail, and get the brig under way, or we are lost.”
My men obeyed my orders with the calmness of desperation. I took hold of the wheel myself, and in a few moments we lay alongside of our vessel once more. It was high time, for already some hundred and fifty unfettered slaves had rushed on deck, and we had hardly time to spring on board, to escape the furious charge they made on us from the hinder part of the vessel. The murderous fire of grape shot they had endured, had made them perfectly mad with rage, and had they been able to get at us we should undoubtedly have been torn to pieces.
But the fire was quicker than they. The smoke, which rose like a pillar of clouds through the hatchway, was now mingled with red tongues of flame, which, like fiery serpents, twined themselves round the crackling masts and rigging, that shrivelled in their hot embrace. The sea, too, vied with its fierce brother element in destroying the ill-fated vessel. Either through our shots, or from the falling of the gun into its hold, some of the planks had been started, and the water rushed in in torrents. The flames increase, the guns become heated and go off, and at last the ship suddenly sinks from our view, whilst the loud and awful death-cry of five hundred helpless beings, imprisoned in the burning vessel, rings in our ears, curdling our blood, and seeming as if it would burst the very vault of Heaven with its appalling tones. It was a fitting knell to be rung over the slaver’s grave.
And now the brilliant rays of the setting sun, streaming brightly over the waters, gild with an unearthly glare the whirling clouds of smoke, that rising towards the blue sky, grow fainter and fainter until they are lost in the clear ether. The sea no longer dances and flashes in the red light, as if exulting with the glee of fiends at the mortal agony of its victims. Calm and smooth as a polished mirror, it lies spread out over the spot where the slaver sank.
Suddenly a huge cloud of thick black smoke rises from the bosom of the deep. It mounts upward until it rivals in height our vessel’s masts, and then it spreads itself over the scene like a sable pall, as if it would prevent the fumes of such unclean and hideous offering from rising to Heaven, and hurl them down on our accursed heads, as witnesses of the wrath of that Being, who has said: “Thou shalt not kill.” And now for a moment all is still as the grave, and it seems to me that the air is too hot and close to breathe; it stifles me, and I feel like a second Cain.
At this moment a crowd of slaves, men, women, and little children, who had been drawn down by the sinking vessel, appeared struggling on the surface of the sea. The strongest cried like very devils in their despair, whilst the women and children, the weak and the helpless, gasped vainly for breath, and worn out by their efforts to sustain themselves above the water, sank at last to the bottom with a look of mute agony I shall never forget. Among the whole number, we did not see one of the ship’s crew. Like desperate men, they had sunk with their vessel. We fished up about one half of the unhappy blacks, but the direst necessity compelled us to leave the rest of them, as it was impossible for us to take them on board. Oh that I could for ever blot this scene from my memory!
It chanced that among those saved, was a young and pretty girl, who, weak and exhausted, was lying on deck, her head resting on a block of wood. A powerful negro swam to that part of the vessel where she lay. Seeing him in the water, she sprang up and held out her hand to him, to help him on board. As he was about to grasp it, he was struck in the breast by a shot, and mortally wounded. With a shriek the poor girl sprang overboard, clasped him in her arms, and they sank together.
“Oh, woman, woman,” said Aaron, “whatever may be the color of thy skin, thy heart is always the same.”
Soon all was still again; here and there a wounded negro still struggled for a moment ere he sank into his watery grave. A few spars from the ill-fated vessel, were yet tossed about on the surface of the sea, whilst the blood-red rays of the setting sun poured a flood of light over the bloody deck, shattered hull, and torn rigging of the schooner, lighting up the faces of the dead with an unearthly glare. At this moment some drops of rain fell from a passing cloud, like tears from the pitying eyes of an angel, who, sailing through the skies, had stopped for a moment in her flight to look down sorrowfully on the scene of desolation which man, the worm of a day, had caused in a moment of power and savage madness.
On a gun-carriage, close to me, sat Aaron, whilst the surgeon bound up a cut in his neck. He looked solemnly at me for a moment, and then pointing towards the brilliant luminary, which, as it sank beneath the waves, lit up the western sky with a crimson and golden light, said:
“Remember this morning, captain, and thank the Almighty, who whilst sending so many poor creatures to their final account, has in his great mercy permitted us to see the end of this fearful day. Oh, thank him, captain, that you have once more seen the sun set.”
VI
The wound in Bangs’ neck, which had been made by a boarding pike, was not deep, but still it was an ugly cut, and if, as he himself expressed it, he had not been bull-necked, it would have gone hard with him.
“Captain, my boy,” said he, when the surgeon had finished dressing his wound, “I’m pretty well patched up now, and feel as good as new, except a little stiffness, but I’m very thankful I have such a strong bundle of muscles, or some of the arteries would have been in danger. Come, and get mended yourself now, and I will hold the light.”
A calm had fallen on the sea, which rendered all work unnecessary at present, and the cabin, which was again used as a cockpit, was filled with poor fellows waiting to have their wounds dressed. When it came to my turn I took off my clothes and seated myself on a tub. The pistol bullet which had struck me, was sticking in the fleshy part of my left shoulder, just below the skin, and made a small protuberance resembling a sloe in form and colour. The collar bone which it had first struck, but glanced off from, to bury itself in the muscles of the arm, was somewhat injured, and my breast was not a little bruised. The opening in the skin, caused by the bullet, was so small that one could hardly introduce a pea into it, and scarcely any blood flowed therefrom.
“It is a very simple thing, sir,” said the surgeon, as he introduced a small probe into the wound; putting a finger on each side of the ball, he pressed them together, causing it to fly out.
“It is a lucky thing, captain,” said Bangs, “that your collar bone can bear something, as well as my neck, but this bruise on your breast is of more consequence; you must go to bed, and take care of yourself.”
But there was no bed on which I could lie down. The cabin was filled with the wounded, and the surgeon had plenty of work before him, for out of our little crew of forty-two men, nine were killed and eleven wounded. Accordingly I had a tent erected on deck, in which I and my friends determined to take up our quarters for the night. It was now eight o’clock. I could only remain in the tent until I saw my friends provided for, for my presence was constantly required to direct the repairing of the injuries we had sustained. The greatest part of our rigging was shot away, and the tired sailors were busy in mending it as well as they were able. Our mainmast was much injured near the deck, and we were obliged as well as circumstances would permit, to steady it with wooden props. Our foremast had fortunately come off with a whole skin, but we had received thirteen shots in our hull, three of them between wind and water.
When all was done that skill and the most determined perseverance could do, I returned to our tent. Not far from it, near the stern of the vessel, sat Wagtail, preparing our supper with the help of the cook. This meal, as you may imagine, was uncommonly simple–salt beef, biscuits and cold grog, but I doubt if any of us before or since, ever partook of a meal with such an appetite as we did then. The beef disappeared as if by magic; the bones were polished off until they were as white as ivory, whilst the rum sank in the flask like the quicksilver in a barometer, on the approach of a hurricane.
“Holloa captain,” cried Bangs, when he had stopped to take breath, “how do you feel, my boy?”
“Well, not as easy as I could wish for; this day has been a day of fearful responsibility to me.”
“Just so,” replied he, “I shall sleep with a heavy heart myself, for though I am no butcher by profession, I have this day shed the blood of more than one fellow creature; it is a dreadful reflection, and what was it all for, captain? You meet a large vessel in the night, and sing out ’heave to.’ The large vessel says ‘I won’t.’ You say ‘You shall.’ The large vessel replies ‘I’ll be damned if I do.’ And immediately you take measures to make the large vessel heave to, and thereby some five hundred human beings, who a few hours ago were in possession of life and health, are now food for fishes.”
I felt hurt. “I had not expected this from you, sir, and–”
“Hush!” said he, “I do not blame you. You have done right; but why will not the government at home take some decisive measures to put an end to this horrible traffic, and so prevent scenes like this from occurring?”
We spoke for some time on this subject, and my friends grew so warm that many bitter speeches were made, and the conversation became unpleasant.
“Well, gentlemen,” said I at last, “I don’t know how you feel, but I am completely knocked up; fortunately it is now calm, and I think we shall sleep well, and so, good night.”
We went to bed, and the sun was already some distance above the horizon when we awoke on the next morning. It had been perfectly calm during the night, and we found ourselves still so near the scene of the preceding day’s combat, that several corpses were swimming around the vessel. As I went forward I was not a little alarmed to see the number of black faces that were there.
“Master Tailtackle, how many of these poor creatures have we on board?”
“Fifty-nine in the hold, sir, and thirty-five on deck.”
At this moment Bangs walked out of the tent and approached the spot where I stood. Hardly was he perceived by the blacks, when the cry of “Shiek Cowloo,” rent the air. Bangs was greatly startled at this unexpected salute, for he had forgotten his heroic deeds of yesterday, and did not know what to attribute it to; at last the cause of it seemed to strike him, for he rushed back to the tent with a roar of laughter. I went down into the cabin and sat down to breakfast with Gelid and Wagtail. Suddenly we heard Bangs cry out, “Pegtop! come here, Pegtop–do you hear? Help me to tie my cravat–that’s right. Now I will go on deck.”
Here Pearl, the black quarter-master, was impatiently waiting for him.
“Well Pearl, my boy, what is the matter?” and then before Pearl could reply, “I say, Pearl, go to the other end of the vessel and tell your black friends that it was all a humbug–that I am neither the Sultan Cowloo, nor have a feather as big as a palm leaf on my back, of which I can easily satisfy them if they wish it.”
“Oh, sir,” said Pearl, bowing, “I think the less we say about that the better, because we have not half enough fetters for the savages, and if they were undeceived, they could easily rise, as our crew are much diminished, and murder the whole of us.”
“The devil!” muttered Aaron; “well then go and tell them that I am a bigger ostrich than ever, and that I will very soon astonish them; they may take my word for it.”
“Pegtop, you rascal,” continued he, “come here. I say, Pegtop, bring me my uniform–that’s right–now my sword–never mind the pantaloons, I want them to see that it’s all fudge about the feather–now my hat–that’s right–now go before me, and fan me with the lid of that box of herrings.”
Pegtop did as he was bid, and Bangs followed him, affecting the most majestic walk and gravest look. But hardly had he left the tent, when the blacks again set up a wild cry, and those who were not chained, flocked around him, dancing and shouting, and whilst some of them rubbed their flat noses and wooly heads against him, others seized hold of his clothes, so that after several vain attempts to shake them off, he took to his heels and fled back to the tent, amid the laughter of the whole crew. Bangs laughed louder than any of them.
“I say, captain,” said he, lying down on the deck and looking through the window into the cabin where we were just beginning to breakfast, “how the deuce am I to get down there? If I stir outside of the tent, these black barbarians swarm round me. Ah! I see–”
Without further reflection, he put his legs through the small hatchway which was directly over the breakfast table, in order to get into the cabin in that way, but unluckily he trod in a bowl of broth, with which Wagtail used always to begin his breakfast. The broth happening to be broiling hot, he jerked his foot out of it, striking Gelid in the face as he did so.
“Oh! oh!” cried Paul, whilst Wagtail threw himself on the sofa, and roared with laughter. But the next moment Bangs gave another kick, and this time Pepperpot got a sound blow on the side of the head, whilst down came the great ostrich, clattering among cups and dishes, and making an awful havoc amongst them. After indulging in peals of laughter for a while longer, we collected the fragments of our breakfast, and ate it with undiminished appetites.
About this time a light breeze sprang up, and we crept slowly forward to the place of our destination.
VII
“Land ahead!” cried the lookout, from the mast head.
“What does it look like?” asked I.
“Low hills, sir, and now I see houses on the highest peaks.”
“Hurrah, New Providence, Fort Nassau, ho!”
Soon we saw the shores of the British island, New Providence, but the wind lulled, and we were soon nearly becalmed again.
“I say, captain,” said Bangs, “we must be your guests for this night at least, and trouble you for lodgings on board your nut-shell. No hopes, as I see, of getting into port to-night, and if we did it would be too late to land.”
He was right, and we sat down to our rude and homely meal in the little broiling hot cabin. We were all in a very good humor. I flattered myself that my conduct in our late combat with the slaver, would advance me several steps up the ladder of promotion, whilst my friends were overjoyed at the thoughts of soon being on terra firma once more.
“Captain, my boy,” said Bangs, “I honor your profession; but, nevertheless, have no great desire to belong to it. I am satisfied that no persuasion or bribery can ever induce me to make my home on the deep; and, indeed, viewing the thing closely–”
“By the mark two fathoms less three quarters,” called out the leadsman.
We ran into the harbor of Nassau, where we saw the glimmering of lights, but as it was too late to land that night, we dropped anchor, and after taking a parting glass of grog, went to bed. As I was convinced of the perfect security of the harbor, I ran the schooner, as she needed repairing badly, quite near to the shore, in order to be close to the dock-yard. During the night the little vessel softly touched the bottom. The shock woke me and several of the men, for though a seaman is accustomed to the swell and motion of the heaving ocean, yet the slightest touch of any hard, opposing substance, rouses him quick as lightning. I could hear, through the thin partition, the officers in earnest conversation.
“We are aground,” said one.
“Well, what of it,” said another; “there is no sea here; all is still and calm, and shut in by the land.”
However, we were all soon snoring again, for during the last few days we had over-tasked our strength considerably, and since the late action had deprived us of the services of one half of the crew, the other half had had still harder duty to perform, and were almost exhausted. It might have been about four o’clock in the morning, when I was suddenly roused by the sound of voices in the apartment next to the cabin. I heard one person call to another, and then a cry of murder reached my ears. Pretty soon Wagtail, who was sleeping on a mattrass below me, coughed loudly and hastily. A heavy splash followed, and immediately some of the men in the forecastle called out:
“The vessel is full of water–water up to our hammocks.”
“I am drunk,” roared Wagtail, who with might and main was rolling about his little bed. “Captain, I am drunk–Gelid, Bangs, we are all drunk.”
“To the pumps!” cried Tailtackle, who had hastened on deck.
“It is useless,” said I, springing out of bed, and sinking up to my knees in water. “Bring a light, Tailtackle, one of the planks must have started, and as the tide is rising, get out the boats, and put the wounded into them. Don’t be alarmed men, the vessel is aground, and as it is nearly high tide, there is no danger.”
The sailors were now quiet, and busied themselves in putting bedding and provisions into the boats belonging to the vessel, and those which, on hearing the alarm given, had come from the shore to our rescue. As there was no immediate danger, I returned to the cabin, wading through the water, which rose to my body. Bangs was sitting up in bed, busily engaged in putting on his breeches, which luckily he had put under his pillow. The rest of his own clothes, and those of his friends, were swimming about the cabin, saturated with water. Gelid, who during all the tumult had slept soundly, was now awake. He put one of his legs out of bed, with a view of rising, and plunged it into the water.
“Heavens! Wagtail,” he exclaimed, “the cabin is full of water–we are sinking! Ah! it is deuced hard to be drowned in this puddle, like potatoes in a tub.”
“Captain, captain,” cried Bangs, looking over the side of his bed, “did you ever see the like of that? There, just under your light–look at it; why it’s a bird’s nest, with a thrush in it, swimming about.”
“Damn your bird’s nest,” growled little Pepperpot, “by Jove, it’s my wig with a live rat in it.”
“The deuce take your wig,” said Paul; “Zounds! take care of my boots.”
“Hang the wig and boots, too,” cried Bangs, “there goes my Sunday coat. Captain, who has sunk the ship?”
Here his eyes met mine, and a few words served to explain our situation; the only question now was, how to get ashore, as nothing could be done until daybreak. My determination was soon made. I put my friends into one of the boats, which were lying alongside of the schooner, gave their wet chests into the care of their black servants, and let them find a lodging as well as they could. Then the wounded, and afterwards the rest of the crew were put on board a couple of merchant vessels lying near us, and as their captains were obliging fellows, I easily persuaded them to take the schooner between them, at ebb-tide, and raise it with the flood. When it was pumped out, and afloat again, I took it into port, where it received a thorough overhauling. As there remained nothing more to be done, I put on dry clothes, and towards evening went ashore. Thus ended my first cruise.