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diff --git a/28418-8.txt b/28418-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3117aa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/28418-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6493 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Buccaneer, by Stephen W. Meader + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Black Buccaneer + +Author: Stephen W. Meader + +Release Date: March 27, 2009 [EBook #28418] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK BUCCANEER *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Bruce Thomas and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "If a man starts to haul on that line, I'll shoot him +dead!" [See page 62.]] + + + THE BLACK BUCCANEER + + BY + + STEPHEN W. MEADER + + ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR + + + NEW YORK + + HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY + + + COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY + HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC. + + Twelfth printing, May, 1940 + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + BY QUINN & BODEN COMPANY, INC., RAHWAY, N. J. + + + + + +FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"If a man starts to haul on that line, I'll shoot him +dead!" _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + +"Ho, ho, young woodcock, and how do ye like the +company of Stede Bonnet's rovers?" 23 + +"Don't say a word--sh!--easy there--are you +awake?" 143 + +A sudden red glare on the walls of the chasm 223 + +Job had bracketed his target 247 + + + + +THE BLACK BUCCANEER + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +On the morning of the 15th of July, 1718, anyone who had been standing +on the low rocks of the Penobscot bay shore might have seen a large, +clumsy boat of hewn planking making its way out against the tide that +set strongly up into the river mouth. She was loaded deep with a +shifting, noisy cargo that lifted white noses and huddled broad, woolly +backs--in fact, nothing less extraordinary than fifteen fat Southdown +sheep and a sober-faced collie-dog. The crew of this remarkable craft +consisted of a sinewy, bearded man of forty-five who minded sheet and +tiller in the stern, and a boy of fourteen, tall and broad for his age, +who was constantly employed in soothing and restraining the bleating +flock. + +No one was present to witness the spectacle because, in those remote +days, there were scarcely a thousand white men on the whole coast of +Maine from Kittery to Louisberg, while at this season of the year the +Indians were following the migrating game along the northern rivers. The +nearest settlement was a tiny log hamlet, ten miles up the bay, which +the two voyagers had left that morning. + +The boy's keen face, under its shock of sandy hair, was turned toward +the sea and the dim outline of land that smudged the southern horizon. + +"Father," he suddenly asked, "how big is the Island?" + +"You'll see soon enough, Jeremy. Stop your questioning," answered the +man. "We'll be there before night and I'll leave you with the sheep. +You'll be lonesome, too, if I mistake not." + +[Illustration: Jeremy] + +"Huh!" snorted Jeremy to himself. + +Indeed it was not very likely that this lad, raised on the wildest of +frontiers, would mind the prospect of a night alone on an island ten +miles out at sea. He had seen Indian raids before he was old enough to +know what frightened him; had tried his best with his fists to save his +mother in the Amesbury massacre, six years before; and in a little +settlement on the Saco River, when he was twelve, he had done a man's +work at the blockhouse loophole, loading nearly as fast and firing as +true as any woodsman in the company. Danger and strife had given the +lad an alert self-confidence far beyond his years. + +Amos Swan, his father, was one of those iron spirits that fought out the +struggle with the New England wilderness in the early days. He had +followed the advancing line of colonization into the Northeast, hewing +his way with the other pioneers. What he sought was a place to raise +sheep. Instead of increasing, however, his flock had dwindled--wolves +here--lynxes there--dogs in the larger settlements. After the last +onslaught he had determined to move with his possessions and his two +boys--Tom, nineteen years old, and the smaller Jeremy--to an island too +remote for the attacks of any wild animal. + +So he had set out in a canoe, chosen his place of habitation and built a +temporary shelter on it for family and flock, while at home the boys, +with the help of a few settlers, had laid the keel and fashioned the +hull of a rude but seaworthy boat, such as the coast fishermen used. + +Preparations had been completed the evening before, and now, while Tom +cared for half the flock on the mainland, the father and younger son +were convoying the first load to their new home. + +In the day when these events took place, the hundreds of rocky bits of +land that line the Maine coast stood out against the gray sea as bleak +and desolate as at the world's beginning. Some were merely huge +up-ended rocks that rose sheer out of the Atlantic a hundred feet high, +and on whose tops the sea-birds nested by the million. The larger ones, +however, had, through countless ages, accumulated a layer of earth that +covered their gaunt sides except where an occasional naked rib of gray +granite was thrust out. Sparse grass struggled with the junipers for a +foothold along the slopes, and low black firs, whose seed had been +wind-blown or bird-carried from the mainland, climbed the rugged crest +of each island. Few men visited them, and almost none inhabited them. +Since the first long Norse galley swung by to the tune of the singing +rowers, the number of passing ships had increased and their character +had changed, but the isles were rarely touched at except by mishap--a +shipwreck--or a crew in need of water. The Indians, too, left the outer +ones alone, for there was no game to be killed there and the fishing was +no better than in the sheltered inlets. + +It was to one of the larger of these islands, twenty miles south of the +Penobscot Settlement and a little to the southwest of Mount Desert, that +a still-favoring wind brought the cumbersome craft near mid-afternoon. +In a long bay that cut deep into the landward shore Amos Swan had found +a pebbly beach a score of yards in length, where a boat could be run in +at any tide. As it was just past the flood, the man and boy had little +difficulty in beaching their vessel far up toward high water-mark. Next, +one by one, the frightened sheep were hoisted over the gunwale into the +shallow water. The old ram, chosen for the first to disembark, quickly +waded out upon dry land, and the others followed as fast as they were +freed, while the collie barked at their heels. The lightened boat was +run higher up the beach, and the man and boy carried load after load of +tools, equipment and provisions up the slope to the small log shack, +some two hundred yards away. + +Jeremy's father helped him drive the sheep into a rude fenced pen beside +the hut, then hurried back to launch his boat and make the return trip. +As he started to climb in, he patted the boy's shoulder. "Good-by, lad," +said he gently. "Take care of the sheep. Eat your supper and go to bed. +I'll be back before this time tomorrow." + +"Aye, Father," answered Jeremy. He tried to look cheerful and +unconcerned, but as the sail filled and the boat drew out of the cove he +had to swallow hard to keep up appearances. For some reason he could not +explain, he felt homesick. Only old Jock, the collie, who shouldered up +to him and gave his hand a companionable lick, kept the boy from +shedding a few unmanly tears. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The shelter that Amos Swan had built stood on a small bare knoll, at an +elevation of fifty or sixty feet above the sea. Behind it and sheltering +it from easterly and southerly winds rose the island in sharp and rugged +ridges to a high hilltop perhaps a mile away. Between lay ascending +stretches of dark fir woods, rough outcroppings of stone and patches of +hardy grass and bushes. The crown of the hill was a bare granite ledge, +as round and nearly as smooth as an inverted bowl. + +Jeremy, scrambling through the last bit of clinging undergrowth in the +late afternoon, came up against the steep side of this rocky summit and +paused for breath. He had left Jock with the sheep, which comfortably +chewed the cud in their pen, and, slipping a sort pistol, heavy and +brass-mounted, into his belt, had started to explore a bit. + +He must have worked halfway round the granite hillock before he found a +place that offered foothold for a climb. A crevice in the side of the +rock in which small stones had become wedged gave him the chance he +wanted, and it took him only a minute to reach the rounded surface near +the top. The ledge on which he found himself was reasonably flat, nearly +circular, and perhaps twenty yards across. + +[Illustration] + +Its height above the sea must have been several hundred feet, for in the +clear light Jeremy could see not only the whole outline of the island +but most of the bay as well, and far to the west the blue masses of the +Camden Mountains. He was surprised at the size of the new domain spread +out at his feet. The island seemed to be about seven miles in length by +five at its widest part. Two deep bays cut into its otherwise rounded +outline. It was near the shore of the northern one that the hut and +sheep-pen were built. Southwesterly from the hill and farther away, +Jeremy could see the head of the second and larger inlet. Between the +bays the distance could hardly have been more than two miles, but a high +ridge, the backbone of the island, which ran westward from the hilltop, +divided them by its rugged barrier. + +Jeremy looked away up the bay where he could still see the speck of +white sail that showed his father hurrying landward on a long tack with +the west wind abeam. The boy's loneliness was gone. He felt himself the +lord of a great maritime province, which, from his high watchtower, he +seemed to hold in undisputed sovereignty. + +Beneath him and off to the southward lay a little island or two, and +then the cold blue of the Atlantic stretching away and away to the +world's rim. + +Even as he glowed with this feeling of dominion, he suddenly became +aware of a gray spot to the southwest, a tiny spot that nevertheless +interrupted his musing. It was a ship, apparently of good size, bound up +the coast, and bowling smartly nearer before the breeze. The boy's dream +of empire was shattered. He was no longer alone in his universe. + +The sun was setting, and he turned with a yawn to descend. Ships were +interesting, but just now he was hungry. At the edge of the crevice he +looked back once more, and was surprised to see a second sail behind the +first--a smaller vessel, it seemed, but shortening the distance between +them rapidly. He was surprised and somewhat disgusted that so much +traffic should pass the doors of this kingdom which he had thought to be +at the world's end. So he clambered down the cliff and made his way +homeward, this time following the summit of the ridge till he came +opposite the northern inlet. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +It was growing dark already in the dense fir growth that covered the +hillside, and when Jeremy suddenly stepped upon the moss at the brink of +a deep spring, he had to catch a branch to keep from falling in. There +was an opening in the trees above and enough light came through for him +to see the white sand bubbling at the bottom. + +At one edge the water lapped softly over the moss and trickled down the +northern slope of the hill in a little rivulet, which had in the course +of time shaped itself a deep, well-defined bed a yard or two across. +Following this, the boy soon came out upon the grassy slope beside the +sheep-pen. He looked in at the placid flock, brought a bucket of water +from the little stream, and, not caring to light a lantern, ate his +supper of bread and cheese outside the hut on the slope facing the bay. +The night settled chill but without fog. The boy wrapped his heavy +homespun cloak round him, snuggled close to Jock's hairy side, and in +his lonesomeness fell back on counting the stars as they came out. First +the great yellow planet in the west, then, high overhead, the sparkling +white of what, had he known it, was Vega; and in a moment a dozen +others were in view before he could number them--Regulus, Altair, Spica, +and, low in the south, the angry fire of Antares. + +For him they were unnamed, save for the peculiarities he discovered in +each. In common with most boys he could trace the dipper and find the +North Star, but he regrouped most of the constellations to suit himself, +and was able to see the outline of a wolf or the head of an Indian that +covered half the sky whenever he chose. He wondered what had become of +Orion, whose brilliant galaxy of stars appeals to every boy's fancy. It +had vanished since the spring. In it he had always recognized the form +of a brig he had seen hove-to in Portsmouth Harbor--high poop, +skyward-sticking bowsprit and ominous, even row of gun-ports where she +carried her carronades--three on a side. How those black cannon-mouths +had gaped at the small boy on the dock! He wondered-- + +"Boom...!" came a hollow sound that seemed to hang like mist in a long +echo over the island. Before Jeremy could jump to his feet he heard the +rumbling report a second time. He was all alert now, and thought +rapidly. Those sounds--there came another even as he stood there--must +be cannon-shots--nothing less. The ships he had seen from the hilltop +were men-of-war, then. Could the French have sent a fleet? He did not +know of any recent fighting. What could it mean? + +Deep night had settled over the island, and the fir-woods looked very +black and uninviting to Jeremy when he started up the hill once more. + +As their shadow engulfed him, he was tempted to turn back--how he was to +wish he had done so in the days that followed--but the hardy strain of +adventure in his spirit kept his jaw set and his legs working steadily +forward into the pitch-black undergrowth. Once or twice he stumbled over +fallen logs or tripped in the rocks, but he held on upward till the +trees thinned and he felt that the looming shape of the ledge was just +in front. His heart seemed to beat almost as loudly as the cannonade +while he felt his way up the broken stones. + +Panting with excitement, he struggled to the top and threw himself +forward to the southern edge. + +A dull-gray, quiet sea met the dim line of the sky in the south. Halfway +between land and horizon, perhaps a league distant, Jeremy saw two vague +splotches of darkness. Then a sudden flame shot out from the smaller +one, on the right. Seconds elapsed before his waiting ear heard the +booming roar of the report. He looked for the bigger ship to answer in +kind, but the next flash came from the right as before. This time he +saw a bright sheet of fire go up from the vessel on the left, +illuminating her spars and topsails. The sound of the cannon was drowned +in an instant by a terrific explosion. Jeremy trembled on his rock. The +ships were in darkness for a moment after that first great flare, and +then, before another shot could be fired, little tongues of flame began +to spread along the hull and rigging of the larger craft. Little by +little the fire gained headway till the whole upper works were a single +great torch. By its light the victorious vessel was plainly visible. She +was a schooner-rigged sloop-of-war, of eighty or ninety tons' burden, +tall-masted and with a great sweep of mainsail. Below her deck the +muzzles of brass guns gleamed in the black ports. As the blazing ship +drifted helplessly off to the east, the sloop came about, and, to +Jeremy's amazement, made straight for the southern bay of the island. He +lay as if glued to his rock, watching the stranger hold her course up +the inlet and come head to wind within a dozen boat-lengths of the +shore. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +One of the first things a backwoods boy learns is that it pays to mind +your own business, _after_ you know what the other fellow is going to +do. Jeremy had been threshing his brain for a solution to the scene he +had just witnessed. Whether the crew of the strange sloop, just then +effecting a landing in small boats, were friends or enemies it was +impossible to guess. Jeremy feared for the sheep. Fresh meat would be +welcome to any average ship's crew, and the lad had no doubt that they +would use no scruple in dealing with a youngster of his age. He must +know who they were and whether they intended crossing the island. There +was no feeling of mere adventure in his heart now. It was purely sense +of duty that drove his trembling legs down the hillside. He shivered +miserably in the night air and felt for his pistol-butt, which gave him +scant comfort. + +[Illustration] + +The ridge, which has already been described, bore in a southerly +direction from the base of the ledge, and sloped steeply to the head of +the southern inlet. High above the arm of the bay, where the sloop was +now moored, and scarcely a quarter of a mile from the shore, the ridge +projected in a rough granite crag like a bent knee. Jeremy had a very +fair plan of all this in his mind, for his trained woodsman's eye had +that afternoon noted every landmark and photographed it. He followed +this mental map as he stumbled through the trees. It seemed a long time, +perhaps twenty or thirty minutes, before he came out, stifling the sound +of his gasping breath, and crouched for a minute on the bare stone to +get his wind. Then he crawled forward along the rough cliff top, feeling +his way with his hands. Soon he heard a distant shout. A faint glow of +light shone over the edge of the crag. As he drew near, he saw, on the +beach below, a great fire of driftwood and some score or more of men +gathered in the circle of light. The distance was too great for him to +tell much about their faces, but Jeremy was sure that no English or +Colonial sloop-of-war would be manned by such a motley company. Their +clothes varied from the sea-boots and sailor's jerkin of the average +mariner to slashed leather breeches of antique cut and red cloth skirts +reaching from the girdle to the knees. Some of the group wore +three-cornered hats, others seamen's caps of rough wool, and here and +there a face grimaced from beneath a twisted rag rakishly askew. +Everywhere about them the fire gleamed on small-arms of one kind or +another. Nearly every man carried a wicked-looking hanger at his side +and most had one or two pistols tucked into waistband or holster. + +This desperate gang was in a constant commotion. Even as Jeremy watched, +a half dozen men were rolling a barrel up the beach. Wild howls greeted +its appearance and as it was hustled into the circle of bright light, +those who had been dancing, quarreling and throwing dice on the other +side of the fire fell over each other to join the mob that surrounded +it. The leaping flames threw a weird, uncertain brilliance upon the +scene that made Jeremy blink his eyes to be sure that it was real. With +every moment he had become more certain what manner of men these were. + +His lips moved to shape a single terrible word--"Pirates!" + +The buccaneers were much talked of in those days, and though the New +England ports were less troubled, because better guarded, than those +farther south, there had been many sea-rovers hanged in Boston within +Jeremy's memory. + +As if to clinch the argument a dozen of the ruffians swung their +cannikins of rum in the air and began to shout a song at the top of +their lungs. All the words that reached Jeremy were oaths except one +phrase at the end of the refrain, repeated so often that he began to +make out the sense of it. "Walk the bloody beggars all below!" it seemed +to be--or "overboard"--he could not tell which. Either seemed bad enough +to the boy just then and he turned to crawl homeward, with a sick +feeling at the pit of his stomach. + +His way led straight back across the ridge to the spring and thence down +to the shelter on the north shore. He made the best speed he was able +through the woods until he reached the height of land near the middle of +the island. He had crashed along caring only to reach the sheep-pen and +home, but as he stood for a moment to get his breath and his bearings, +the westerly breeze brought him a sound of voices on the ridge close by. +He prayed fervently that the wind which had warned him had served also +to carry away the sound of his progress. Cowering against a tree, he +stood perfectly still while the voices--there seemed to be two--came +nearer and nearer. One was a very deep, rough bass that laughed hoarsely +between speeches. The other voice was of a totally different sort, with +a cool, even tone, and a rather precise way of clipping the words. + +"See here, David," Jeremy understood the latter to say, "It's for you to +remember those bearings, not me. You're the sailor here. Give them again +now!" + +"Huh!" grunted Big Voice, "two hunder' an' ten north to a sharp rock; +three-score an' five northeast by east to an oak tree in a gully; two +an' thirty north to a fir tree blazed on the south; five north _an'_ +there you are!" He ended in a chuckle as if pleased by the accuracy of +his figures. + +"Ay, well enough," the other responded, "but it must be wrong, for +here's the blazed tree and no spring by it." + +Close below, Jeremy saw their lantern flash and a moment later the two +men were in full view striding among the trees. As he had almost +expected from their voices, one was a tremendous, bearded fellow in +sea-boots and jerkin and with a villainous turban over one eye, while +his companion was a lean, smooth-shaven man, dressed in a fine buff +coat, well-fitting breeches and hose, and shoes with gleaming buckles. + +They must have passed within ten feet of the terrified Jeremy while the +tossing lantern, swung from the hairy fist of the man called David, +shone all too distinctly upon the boy's huddled shape. When they were +gone by he allowed himself a sigh of relief, and shifted his weight from +one foot to the other. A twig broke loudly and both men stopped and +listened. "'Twas nought!" growled David. The other man paid no attention +to him other than to say, "Hold you the lantern here!" and advanced +straight toward Jeremy's tree. The boy froze against it, immovable, but +it was of no avail. + +"Aha," said the lean man, quietly, and gripped the lad's arm with his +hand. As he dragged him into the light, his companion came up, staring +with astonishment. A moment he was speechless, then began ripping out +oath after oath under his breath. "How," he asked at length, "did the +blarsted whelp come here?" The smaller man, who had been looking keenly +into Jeremy's face, suddenly addressed him: "Here you, speak up! Do you +live here?" he cried. "Ay," said the boy, beginning to get a grip on his +thoughts. + +"How long has there been a settlement here? There was none last Autumn," +continued the well-dressed man. Jeremy had recovered his wits and +reasoned quickly. He had little chance of escape for the present, while +he must at all costs keep the sheep safe. So he lied manfully, praying +the while to be forgiven. + +"'Tis a new colony," he mumbled, "a great new colony from Boston town. +There be three ships of forty guns each in the north harbor, and they be +watching for pirates in these parts," he finished. + +"Boy!" growled the bearded man, seizing Jeremy's wrist and twisting it +horribly. "Boy! Are you telling the truth?" With face white and set and +knees trembling from the pain, the lad nodded and kept his voice steady +as he groaned an "Ay!" + +The two men looked at each other, scowling. The giant broke silence. +"We'd best haul out now, Cap'n," he said. + +"And so I believe," the other replied, "But the water-casks are empty. +Here!" as he turned to Jeremy, "show us the spring." It was not far away +and the boy found it without trouble. + +"Now, Dave Herriot," said the Captain, "stay you here with the light, +that we may return hither the easier. Boy, come with me. Make no fuss, +either, or 'twill be the worse for you." And so saying he walked quickly +back toward the southern shore, holding the stumbling Jeremy's wrist in +a grip of iron. + +Crashing down the hill through the brush, the lad had scant time or will +for observing things about him, but as they crossed a gully he saw, or +fancied he saw, on the knee-shaped crag above, the slouched figure of a +buccaneer silhouetted against the sky. It was not the bearded giant +called Herriot, but another, Jeremy was sure. He had no time for +conjectures, for they plunged into the thicket and birch limbs whipped +him across the face. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The events of that night made a terribly clear impression on the mind of +the young New Englander. Years afterward he would wake with a shiver, +imagining that the relentless hand of the pirate captain was again +dragging him toward an unknown fate. It must have been the darkness and +the sudden unexpectedness of it all that frightened him, for as soon as +they came down the rocks into the flaring firelight he was able to +control himself once more. The wild carouse was still in progress among +the crew. Fierce faces, with unkempt beards and cruel lips, leered redly +from above hairy, naked chests. Eyes, lit from within by liquor and from +without by the dancing flames, gleamed below black brows. Many of the +men wore earrings and metal bands about the knots of their pig-tails, +while silver pistol-butts flashed everywhere. + +As the Captain strode into the center of this group, the swinging chorus +fell away to a single drunken voice which kept on uncertainly from +behind the rum-barrel. + +"Silence!" said the Captain sharply. The voice dwindled and ceased. All +was quiet about the fire. "Men," went on Jeremy's captor, "clear heads, +all, for this is no time for drinking. We have found this boy upon the +hill, who tells of a fleet of armed ships not above a league from here. +We must set sail within an hour and be out of reach before dawn. Every +man now take a water-keg and follow me. You, Job Howland, keep the boy +and the watch here on the beach." + +Fresh commotion broke out as he finished. "Ay, ay, Captain Bonnet!" came +in a broken chorus, as the crew, partially sobered by the words, hurried +to the long-boat, where a line of small kegs lay in the sand. A moment +later they were gone, plowing up the hillside. Jeremy stood where he had +been left. A tall, slack-jointed pirate in the most picturesque attire +strolled over to the boy's side and looked him up and down with a +roguish grin. Under his cloak Jeremy had on fringed leather breeches and +tunic such as most of the northern colonists wore. The pirate, seeing +the rough moccasins and deerskin trousers, burst into a roar. "Ho, ho, +young woodcock, and how do ye like the company of Major Stede Bonnet's +rovers?" + +[Illustration: "Ho, ho, young woodcock, and how do ye like the company +of Stede Bonnet's rovers?"] + +The lad said nothing, shut his jaw hard and looked the big buccaneer +squarely in the face. There was no fear in his expression. The man +nodded and chuckled approvingly. "That's pluck, boy, that's pluck," said +he. "We'll clip the young cock's shank-feathers, and maybe make a +pirate of him yet." He stooped over to feel the buckskin fringe on +Jeremy's leg. The boy's hand went into his shirt like a flash. He had +pulled out the pistol and cocked it, when he felt both legs snatched +from under him. + +His head hit the ground hard and he lay dazed for a second or two. When +he regained his senses, Job Howland stood astride of him coolly tucking +the pistol into his own waist-band. "Ay," said Job, "ye'll be a fine +buccaneer, only ye should have struck with the butt. I heard the click." +The pirate seemed to hold no grudge for what had occurred and sat down +beside Jeremy in a friendly fashion. + +"Free tradin' ain't what it was," he confided. "When Billy Kidd cleared +for the southern seas twenty years agone, they say he had papers from +the king himself, and no man-of-war dared come anigh him." He swore +gently and reminiscently as he went on to detail the recent severities +of the Massachusetts government and the insecurity of buccaneers about +the Virginia capes. "They do say, tho', as Cap'n Edward Teach, that they +call Blackbeard, is plumb thick with all the magistrates and planters in +Carolina, an' sails the seas as safe as if he had a fleet of twenty +ships," said Job. "We sailed along with him for a spell last year, but +him an' the old man couldn't make shift to agree. Ye see this +Blackbeard is so used to havin' his own way he wanted to run Stede +Bonnet, too. That made Stede boilin', but we was undermanned just then +and had to bide our time to cut loose. + +"Cap'n Bonnet, ye see, is short on seamanship but long in his sword arm. +Don't ye never anger him. He's terrible to watch when he's raised. Dave +Herriot sails the ship mostly, but when we sight a big merchantman with +maybe a long nine or two aboard, then's when Stede Bonnet comes on deck. +That Frenchman we sunk tonight, blast her bloody spars"--here the lank +pirate interrupted himself to curse his luck, and continued--"probably +loaded with sugar and Jamaica rum from Martinique and headed up for the +French provinces. Well, we'll never know--that's sure!" He paused, bit +off the end of a rope of black tobacco and meditatively surveyed the +boy. "I'm from New England myself," said he after a time. "Sailed honest +out of Providence Port when I was a bit bigger nor you. Then when I was +growed and an able seaman on a Virginia bark in the African trade, along +comes Cap'n Ben Hornygold, the great rover of those days and picks us +up. Twelve of the likeliest he takes on his ship, the rest he maroons +somewhere south of the Cubas, and sends our bark into Charles Town under +a prize crew. So I took to buccaneering, and I must own I've always +found it a fine occupation--not to say that it's made me rich--maybe it +might if I'd kept all my sharin's." + +[Illustration: Job Howland] + +This life-history, delivered almost in one breath, had caused Howland an +immense amount of trouble with his quid of tobacco, which nearly choked +him as he finished. Except for the sound of his vast expectorations, the +pair on the beach were quiet for what seemed to Jeremy a long while. +Then on the rocks above was heard the clatter of shoes and the bumping +of kegs. Job rose, grasping the hand of his charge, and they went to +meet the returning sailors. + +To the young woodsman, utterly unused to the ways of the sea, the next +half-hour was a bewildering mêlée of hurrying, sweating toil, with +low-spoken orders and half-caught oaths and the glimmer of a dying fire +over all the scene. He was rowed to the sloop with the first boatload +and there Job Howland set him to work passing water-kegs into the hold. +He had had no rest in over twenty hours and his whole body ached as the +last barrel bumped through the hatch. All the crew were aboard and a +knot of swaying bodies turned the windlass to the rhythm of a muttered +chanty. The chain creaked and rattled over the bits till the dripping +anchor came out of water and was swung inboard. The mainsail and +foresail went up with a bang, as a dozen stalwart pirates manned the +halyards. + +Dave Herriot stood at the helm, abaft the cabin companion, and his bull +voice roared the orders as he swung her head over and the breeze +steadied in the tall sails. + +"Look alive there, mates!" he bellowed. "Stand by now to set the main +jib!" Like most of the pirate sloops-of-war, Stede Bonnet's _Revenge_ +was schooner-rigged. She carried fore and main top-sails of the old, +square style, and her long main boom and immense spread of jib gave her +a tremendous sail area for her tonnage. The breeze had held steadily +since sundown and was, if anything, rising a little. Short seas slapped +and gurgled at the forefoot with a pleasant sound. Jeremy, desperately +tired, had dropped by the mast, scarcely caring what happened to him. +The sloop slid out past the dark headlands, and heeled to leeward with a +satisfied grunt of her cordage that came gently to the boy's ears. His +head sank to the deck and he slept dreamlessly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +A rough hand shook him awake. He was lying in a dingy bunk somewhere in +the gloom of the cramped forecastle. "Come, young'un," growled a voice, +strange to Jeremy, "you've slept the clock around! Cap'n wants you aft." + +The lad ached in all his bones as he rolled over toward the light. As he +came to a sitting position on the edge of the bunk, he gave a start, for +the face scowling down at him looked utterly fiendish to his sleepy +eyes. Its ugliness fairly shocked him awake. The man had a grim, bristly +jaw and a twisted mouth. His eyes were small and cruel, so light in +color that they looked unspeakably cold. The livid gray line of a +sword-cut ran from his left eyebrow to his right cheek, and his nose was +crushed inward where the scar crossed its bridge, giving him more the +look of an animal than of a man. A greasy red cloth bound his head and +produced a final touch of barbarity. To the half-dazed Jeremy there +seemed something strangely familiar about his pose, but as he still +stared he was jerked to his feet by the collar. "Don't stand there, you +lubber!" shouted the man with the broken nose. "Get aft, an' lively!" A +hard shove sent the boy spinning to the foot of the ladder. He climbed +dizzily and stumbled on deck, looking about him, uncertain where to go. +It must have been past noon, for the sun was on the starboard bow. + +The _Revenge_ was close-hauled and running southwest on a fresh west +wind. Dave Herriot leaned against the weather rail, a short clay pipe in +one fist and his bushy brown beard in the other. At the wheel was a +swarthy man with earrings, who looked like a Portuguese or a Spaniard. +Glancing over his shoulder, Jeremy saw most of the crew lolled about +forward of the fo'c's'le hatch. Herriot looked up and called him gruffly +but not unkindly, the boy thought. He advanced close to the +sailing-master, staggering a little on the uneven footing. + +"Now look sharp, lad," said the pirate in a stern voice, "and mind what +I tell 'ee. There's nought to fear aboard this sloop for them as does +what they're told. We run square an' fair, an' while Major Stede Bonnet +and David Herriot gives the orders, no man'll harm ye. _But_"--and a +hard look came into the tanned face--"if there's any runnin' for shore +'twixt now and come time to _set_ ye there, or if ever ye takes it in +yer head to disobey orders, we'll keel-haul ye straight and think no +more about it. You're big and strong, an' may make a foremast hand. For +the first on it, until ye get your sea legs, ye can be a sort o' cabin +boy. Cap'n wants ye below now. Quick!" + +Jeremy scrambled down the companionway indicated by a gesture of +Herriot's pipe. There was a door on each side and one at the end of the +small passage. He advanced and knocked at this last one, and was told, +in the Captain's clear voice, to open. + +Major Bonnet sat at a good mahogany table in the middle of the cabin. +Behind him were a bunk, two chairs and a rack of small arms, containing +half a dozen guns, four brace of pistols, and several swords. He had +been reading a book, evidently one of the score or more which stood in a +case on the right. Jeremy gasped, for he had never seen so many books in +all his life. As the Captain looked up, a stern frown came over his +face, never a particularly merry one. The boy, ignorant as he was of +pirates, could not help feeling that this man's quietly gentle +appearance fitted but ill with the blood-thirsty reputation he bore. His +clothes were of good quality and cut, his grayish hair neatly tied +behind with a black bow and worn unpowdered. His clean-shaven face was +long and austere--like a Boston preacher's, thought Jeremy--and although +the forehead above the intelligent eyes was high and broad, there was a +strange lack of humor in its vertical wrinkles. + +"Well, my lad," said the cool voice at last, "you're aboard the +_Revenge_ and a long way from your settlement, so you might as well make +the best of it. How long you _stay_ aboard depends on your behavior. We +might put into the Chesapeake, and if there are no cutters about, I'd +consider setting you ashore. But if you like the sea and take to it, +there's room for a hand in the fo'c's'le. Then again, if you try any +tricks, you'll leave us--feet first, over the rail." He leaned forward +and hissed slightly as he pronounced the last words. Something in the +eyes under his knotted gray brows struck deeper terror into the boy's +heart than either Herriot's threat or the cruel face of the man with the +broken nose. For that instant Bonnet seemed deadly as a snake. + +[Illustration: Stede Bonnet] + +Jeremy was much relieved when he was bidden to go. The sailing-master +stood by the companionway as he ascended. "You'll bunk for'ard," he +remarked curtly. "Go up with the crew now." The boy slipped into the +crowd that lay around the windlass as unobstrusively as he could. A +thick-set, bearded man with a great hairy chest, bare to the yellow sash +at his waist, was speaking. "Ay," he said, "a hundred Indians was dead +in the town before ever we landed. They didn't know where to run except +into the huts, an' those our round-shot plowed through like so much +grass--which was what they was, mostly. Then old Johnny Buck piped the +longboat overside and on shore we went, firin' all the time. Cap'n Vane +himself, with a dirk in his teeth and sword an' pistol out, goes +swearin' up the roadway an' we behind him, our feet stickin' in blood. A +few come out shootin' their little arrers at us, but we herded 'em an' +drove 'em, yellin' all the time. At close quarters their knives was no +match for cutlasses. So we went slashin' through the town, burnin' 'em +out an' stickin' 'em when they ran. Our sword arms was red to shoulder +that day, but we was like men far gone in rum an' never stayed while an +Indian held up head. Then we dropped and slept where we fell, across a +corp', like as not, clean tuckered, every man of us. Come mornin', the +sight and smell of the place made us sober enough and not a man in the +crew wanted to go further into the island. There was no gold in the +town, neither. All we got was a few hogs and sheep. We left the same +day, for it come on hot an' we had no way to clean up the mess. That +island must ha' been a nuisance to the whole Caribbean for weeks." + +Job Howland nodded and spat as the story ended. "Ye're right, George +Dunkin," he said. "That was a day's work. Vane's a hard man, I'm told, +an' that crew in the _Chance_ was one of his worst." He was interrupted +by a villainous old sea-dog with a sparse fringe of white beard, who +sprawled by the hatchway. He cleared his throat hoarsely and spoke with +a deep wheeze between sentences. + +"All that was nowt to our fight off Panama in the spring of 'eighty," he +growled. "We weren't slaughterin' Indians, but Spaniards that could +fight, an' did. What's more, they were three good barks and nigh three +hundred men to our sixty-eight men paddlin' in canoes. Ah, that was a +day's work, if you will! I saw Peter Harris, as brave a commander as +ever flew the black whiff, shot through both legs, but he was a-swingin' +his cutlass and tryin' to climb the Spaniard's side with the rest when +our canoe boarded. Through most of that battle we was standin' in +bottoms leakin' full of bullet holes, a-firin' into the Biscayner's +gun-ports, an' cheerin' the bloody lungs out of us! When we got aboard, +their hold was full of dead men an' their scuppers washin' red. They +asked no quarter an' on we went, up an' down decks, give an' take. At +the last, six men o' them surrendered. The rest--eighty from the one +ship--we fed to the sharks before we could swab decks next day. Eh, but +that was a v'yage, an' it cost the seas more good buccaneers than ever +was hanged. Harris an' Sawkins an' half o' their best men we left on the +Isthmus. But out of one galleon we took fifty thousand pieces-of-eight, +besides silver bars in cord piles. Think o' that, lads!" + +A fair, stocky, young deserter from a British man-of-war--his forearm +bore the tattooed service anchor--broke in, his eyes gleaming greedily +at the thought of the treasure. + +"That was in New Panama," he cried. "Do you mind old Ben Gasket we took +off Silver Key last summer! Eighty years old he was, and marooned there +for half his life. He was with Morgan at the great sack of Old Panama +before most on us was born. An' Old Ben, he said there was nigh two +hundred horse-loads o' gold an' pearls, rubies, emeralds and diamonds +took out o' that there town, an' it a-burnin' still, after they'd been +there a month. Talk o' wealth!" + +The man with the broken nose raised himself from his place by the +capstan and stretched his hairy arms with an evil, leering yawn. Every +eye turned to him and there was silence on the deck as he began to +speak. + +"Dollars--louis d'ors--doubloons?" said he. "There was one man got 'em. +Solomon Brig got 'em. All the rest was babes to him--babes an' beggars. +Billy Kidd was thought a great devil in his day, but when he met Brig's +six-gun sloop off Malabar, he turned tail, him an' his two great +galleons, an' ran in under the forts. Even then we'd ha' had him out an' +fought him, only that the old man had an Indian princess aboard he was +takin' in to Calicut for ransom. That was where Sol Brig got his broad +gold--kidnappin'. Twenty times we worked it--a dash in an' a fight out, +quick an' bloody--then to sea in the old red sloop, all her sails fair +pullin' the sticks out of her, an' maybe a man-o'-war blazin' away at +our quarter. Weeks after, we'd slip into some port bold as brass an' +there, sure enough, Brig would set the prisoner ashore an' load maybe a +hundred weight of little canvas bags or a stack of pig-silver half a +man's height. The very name of him made him safe. I'd take oath he could +have stole the Lord Mayor o' London and then put in for his ransom at +Execution Dock. + +"We got good lays, us before the mast, but there never was a fair +sharin' aboard that ship. One night I crawled aft an' looked in the +stern-port. 'Twas just after we'd got our lays for kidnappin' the +Governor o' Santiago--a rich town as you know. In the cabin sat ol' +Brig, a bare cutlass acrost his lap, countin' piles o' moidores that +filled the whole table. When a rope creaked the old fox saw me an' let +drive with his hanger. Where I was I couldn't dodge quick, an' the +blade took me here, acrost the face. Why he never knifed me, after, I +don't know." + +The scarred man stopped with the same abruptness that had marked his +beginning. His fierce, light eyes, like those of a sea-hawk, swept +slowly around the audience and lit on Jeremy. He reached forward, +clutched the boy's shirt, and with an ugly laugh jerked him to his feet. +"'Twas havin' boys aboard as killed Sol Brig," he rasped. + +[Illustration: Pharaoh Daggs] + +"They hear too much! Look at this young lubber"--giving him a +shake--"pale as a mouldy biscuit! No use aboard here an' poverty-poor in +the bargain! Why Stede don't walk him over the side, I don't see. Here, +get out, you swab!" and he emphasized the name with a stiff cuff on the +ear. Job Howland interposed his long Yankee body. His lean face bent +with a scowl to the level of the other's eyes. "Pharaoh Daggs," he +drawled evenly, "next time you touch that lad, there'll be steel between +your short ribs. Remember!" + +He turned to Jeremy who, poor boy, was utterly and forlornly seasick. +"Here, young 'un," he said kindly, "--the _lee_ rail!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Bright summer weather hovered over the Atlantic as the _Revenge_ +ploughed smartly southward. Jeremy grew more accustomed to his new +manner of life from day to day and as he found his sea-legs he began to +take a great pleasure in the free, salt wind that sang in the rigging, +the blue sparkle of the swells, and the circling whiteness of the +offshore gulls. He was left much to himself, for the Captain demanded +his services only at meal times and to set his cabin in order in the +morning. In the long intervals the boy sat, inconspicuous in a corner of +the fore-deck, watching the gayly dressed ruffians of the crew, as they +threw dice or quarrelled noisily over their winnings. He was assigned to +no watch, but usually went below at the same time as Job Howland, thus +keeping out of the way of Daggs, the man with the broken nose. As +Howland was in the port watch, on deck from sunset to midnight, Jeremy +often took comfort in the sight of his loved stars wheeling westward +through the taut shrouds. He would stand there with a lump in his throat +as he thought of his father's anguish on returning to the island to +find the sheep uncared for and the young shepherd vanished. In a region +desolate as that, he knew that there was but one conclusion for them to +reach. Still, they might find the ashes of the pirate fire and keep up a +hope that he yet lived. + +But the boy could not be unhappy for long. He would find his way home +soon, and he fairly shivered with delight as he planned the grand +reunion that would take place when he should return. Perhaps he even +imagined himself marching up to the door in sailor's blue cloth with a +seaman's cloak and cocked hat, pistol and cutlass in his belt and a +hundred gold guineas in his poke. Not for worlds would he have turned +pirate, but the romance of the sea had touched him and he could not help +a flight of fancy now and then. + +Sometimes in the long hours of the watch, Job would give him lessons in +seamanship--teach him the names of ropes and spars and show how each was +used. The boy's greatest delight was to steer the ship when Job took his +trick at the helm. This was no small task for a boy even as strong as +Jeremy. The sloop, like all of her day, had no wheel but was fitted with +a massive hand tiller, a great curved beam of wood that kicked amazingly +when it was free of its lashings. Of course, no grown man could have +held it in a seaway, but during the calm summer nights Jeremy learned +to humor the craft along, her mainsail just drawing in the gentle land +breeze, and her head held steadily south, a point west. + +One night--it was perhaps a week after Jeremy's capture, and they had +been sighting low bits of land on both bows all day--Dave Herriot came +on deck about the middle of the watch and told Curley, the Jamaican +second mate, he might go below. He set Job to take soundings and, +himself taking the tiller, swung her over to port with the wind abeam. +Jeremy went to the bows where he could see the white line of shore +ahead. They drew in, steering by Job's soundings, and by the time the +watch changed were ready to cast anchor in a small sandy bay. Herriot +came forward, scowling darkly under his bushy eyebrows, and rumbling an +occasional oath to himself. The sloop, her anchor down and sails furled, +swung idly on the tide. The men were clearly mystified as the +sailing-master started to give orders. "George Dunkin," he said, "take +ten men of the starboard watch, and go ashore to forage. There be farms +near here and any pigs or fowls you may come across will be welcome. +You, Bill Livers," addressing the ship's painter, "take a lantern and +your paint-pot and come aft with me. All the rest stay on deck and keep +a double lookout, alow an' aloft!" The forage party slipped quietly off +toward the beach in one of the boats. The remainder of the crew looked +blankly after the retreating Bill Livers. + +"Hm," murmured Job, "has Stede Bonnet gone _clean_ crazy?"--and as +Herriot let the painter down over the bulwark at the stern--"Ay, he's +goin' to change her name, by the great Bull Whale!" + +An hour before dawn the crew of the long-boat returned, grumbling and +empty-handed. Herriot appeared preoccupied with some weightier matter +and scarcely deigned to notice their failure by swearing. There was no +singing as the anchor was raised. A sort of gloom hung over the whole +ship. As she stole out to sea again, the men, one by one, went aft and +leaned outboard, peering down at the broad, squat stern. Jeremy did +likewise and beheld in new white letters on the black of the hull, the +words _Royal James._ Next day in the fo'c's'le council he learned why +the renaming of the _Revenge_ had cast a pall of apprehension over the +crew. There were low-muttered tales of disaster--of storm, shipwreck, +and fire, and that dread of all sailors--the unknown fate of ships that +never come back to port. Apparently the rule was unfailing. Sooner or +later the ship that had been given a new name would come to grief and +her crew with her. Pharaoh Daggs cast an eye of hatred at Jeremy and +growled that "one Jonah was enough to have abroad, without clean +drownin' all the luck this way," while the crew looked black and shifted +uneasily in their places. + +The bay where they had anchored overnight must have been somewhere on +the eastern end of Long Island, a favorite landing place for pirates at +that time. All day they cruised along the hilly southern shore. The men +seemed unable to cast off the gloom that had settled upon them. Stede +Bonnet sat in his cabin, never once coming on deck, and drinking hard, a +thing unusual for him. Jeremy, who saw more of him than any of the +foremast hands, realized from his gray, set face that the man was under +a terrible strain of some sort. He told Job what he had seen and the +tall New Englander looked very thoughtful. He took the boy aside. +"There'll be mutiny in this crew before another night," he whispered. +"They'll never stand for what he's done. If it comes to handspikes, you +and I'd best watch our chance to clear out. Pharaoh Daggs don't love us +a mite." + +But the mutiny was destined not to occur. An hour before noon next day +the lookout, constantly stationed in the bows, gave a loud "Sail ho!" +and as Dave Herriot re-echoed the shout, all hands tumbled on deck with +a rush. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +As the pirate sloop raced southward under full sail, the form of the +other ship became steadily plainer. She was a brig, high-pooped, and +tall-masted, and apparently deeply laden. Major Bonnet, who had come up +at the first warning, seemed his old cool self as he conned the enemy +through a spyglass. Jeremy had been detailed as a sort of errand boy, +and as he stood at the Captain's side he heard him speaking to Herriot. + +"She's British, right enough," he was saying. "I can make out her flag; +but how many guns, 'tis harder to tell. She sees us now, I think, for +they seem to be shaking out a topsail.... Ah, now I can see the sun +shine on her broadside--two ... three ... five in the lower port tier, +and three more above--sixteen in all. 'Twill be a fight, it seems!" + +Aboard the _Royal James_ the men were slaving like ants, preparing for +the battle. Every man knew his duties. The gunners and swabbers were +putting their cannon in fettle below decks. Others were rolling out +round-shot from the hold and storing powder in iron-cased lockers behind +the guns. Great tubs of sea water were placed conveniently in the +'tween-decks and blankets were put to soak for use in case of fire. +Buckets of vinegar water for swabbing the guns were laid handy. In the +galley the cook made hot grog. Cutlasses were looked after, pistols +cleaned and loaded and muskets set out for close firing. Jeremy was sent +hither and thither on every imaginable mission, a tremendous excitement +running in his veins. + +The sloop gained rapidly on her prey, hauling over to windward as she +sailed, and when the two ships were almost within cannon range, Stede +Bonnet with his own hand bent the "Jolly Roger" to the lanyard and sent +the great black flag with its skull and crossbones to fly from the +masthead. The grog was served out. No man would have believed that the +roaring, rollicking gang of cutthroats who tossed off their liquor in +cheers and ribald laughter was identical with the grumbling, sour-faced +crew of twenty hours before. As they finished, something came skipping +over the water astern and the first echoing report followed close. The +cannonade was on. + +A loud yell of defiance swept the length of the _Royal James_ as the men +went to their posts. The gun decks ran along both sides of the sloop a +few feet above the water line. They were like alleyways beneath the main +deck, barely wide enough to admit the passage of a man or a keg of +powder behind the gun-carriages. These latter were not fixed to the +planking as afterward became the fashion, but ran on trucks and were +kept in their places by rope tackles. In action, the recoil had to be +taken up by men who held the ends of these ropes, rove through pulleys +in the vessel's side. Despite their efforts the gun would sometimes leap +back against the bulkhead hard enough to shatter it. As the charge for +each reloading had to be carried sometimes half the length of the ship +by hand, it is easy to see that the men who served the guns needed some +strength and agility in getting past the jumping carriages. + +Jeremy was sent below to help the gunners, as the shot from the +merchantman continued to scream by. Job Howland was a gunner on the port +side and the boy naturally lent his services to the one man aboard that +he could call his friend. There was much bustle in the alley behind the +closed ports but surprisingly little confusion was apparent. The +discipline seemed better than at any time since the boy had been brought +aboard the black sloop. + +Job was ramming the wad home on the charge of powder in his bow gun. The +other four guns in the port deck were being loaded at the same time, +three men tending each one. + +"Here, lad," sang out Job, as he put the single iron shot in at the +muzzle, "take one o' the wet blankets out o' yon tub an' stand by to +fight sparks." Jeremy did as he was bid, then got out of the way as the +ports were flung open and the guns run forward, with their evil bronze +noses thrust out into the sunlight. + +The sloop, running swiftly with the wind abeam, had now drawn abreast of +her unwieldy adversary. The merchant captain, apparently, finding +himself out-speeded and being unable to spare his gun crews to trim +sails, had put the head of his ship into the wind, where she stood, with +canvas flapping, her bows offering a steady mark to the pirate. + +"Ready a port broadside!" came Bonnet's ringing order, and then--"Fire!" +Job Howland's blazing match went to the touch-hole at the word and his +six-pounder, roaring merrily, jumped back two good feet against the +straining ropes of the tackle. Instantly the next gun spoke and the next +and so on, all five in a space of a bare ten seconds. Had they been +fired simultaneously they might have shaken the ship to pieces. Jeremy +was half-deafened, and his whole body was jarred. Thick black smoke hung +in the alleyway, for the ports had been closed in order to reload in +greater safety. The boy felt the deck heel to starboard under him and +thought at first that a shot had caught them under the waterline, but +when he was sent above to find out whether the broadside had taken +effect, he found that the sloop had come about and was already driving +north still to windward of the enemy. Bonnet was giving his gunners more +time to load by running back and forth and using his batteries +alternately. Herriot had the tiller and in response to Jeremy's question +he pointed to the fluttering rags of the brig's foresail and the smoke +that issued from a splintered hole under her bow chains. + +Below in the gun deck the buccaneers, sweating by their pieces, heard +the news with cheers. The sloop shook to the jarring report of the +starboard battery a moment later, and hardly had it ceased when she came +about on the other tack. "Hurrah," cried Job's mates, "we'll show him +this time! Wind an' water--wind an' water!" + +The open traps showed the green seas swirling past close below, and off +across the swells the tall side of the merchantman swaying in the trough +of the waves. "Ready!" came the order and every gunner jumped to the +breach, match in hand. Before the command came to fire there was a crash +of splintering wood and a long, intermittent roar came over the water. +The brig had taken advantage of her falling off the wind to deliver a +broadside in her own turn. Stede Bonnet's voice, cool as ever, gave the +order and four guns answered the brig's discharge. The crew of the +middle cannon lay on the deck in a pitiable state, two killed outright +and the gunner bleeding from a great splinter wound in the head. A shot +had entered to one side of the port, tearing the planking to bits and +after striking down the two gun-servers, had passed into the fo'c's'le. +Jeremy jumped forward with his blanket in time to stamp out a blaze +where the firing-match had been dropped, and with the help of one of the +pirates dragged the wounded man to his berth. Almost every shot of the +last volley had done damage aboard the brig. Her freeboard, twice as +high as that of the sloop, had offered a target which for expert gunners +was hard to miss. Jagged openings showed all along her side, and as she +rose on a swell, Job shouted, "See there! She's leakin' now. 'Twas my +last shot did that--right on her waterline!" + +"All hands on deck to board her!" came a shout, almost at the same +instant. Jeremy hurrying up with the rest found the sloop bearing down +straight before the wind, and only a dozen boat's lengths from the +enemy. + +A wild whoop went up among the pirates. Every man had seized on a musket +and was crouching behind the rail. Bonnet alone stood on the open deck, +his buff coat blowing open and his hand resting lightly on his sword. An +occasional cannon shot screamed overhead or splashed away astern. +Apparently the brig's batteries were too greatly damaged and her crew +too badly shot up to offer an effective bombardment. She was drifting +helplessly under tattered ribbons of canvas and the _Royal James_, whose +sails had suffered far less, bore down upon her opponent with the swoop +of a hawk. + +As she drew close aboard a scattered fusillade of small arms broke out +from the brig's poop, wounding one man, a Portuguese, but for the most +part striking harmlessly against the bulwark. The buccaneers held their +fire till they were scarce a boat's length distant. Then at the order +they swept the ship with a withering musket volley. The brig was down by +the head and lay almost bow on so that her deck was exposed to Bonnet's +marksmen. Herriot brought his sloop about like a flash and almost before +Jeremy realized what was toward, the ships had bumped together side by +side, and the howling mob of pirates was swarming over the enemy's rail. +Job Howland and another man took great boat-hooks, with which they +grappled the brig's ports and kept the two vessels from drifting apart. +Jeremy was alone upon the sloop's deck. He put the thickness of the mast +between him and the hail of bullets and peered fearfully out at the +terrible scene above. + +[Illustration: Dave Herriot] + +The crew of the brig had been too much disorganized to repel the +boarders as well as they might, and the entire horde of wild barbarians +had scrambled to her deck, where a perfect inferno now held sway. The +air seemed full of flying cutlasses that produced an incessant hiss and +clangor. Pistols banged deafeningly at close quarters and there was the +constant undertone of groans, cries and bellowed oaths. Above the din +came the terrible, clear voice of Stede Bonnet, urging on his seadogs. +He had become a different man from the moment his foot touched the +merchantman's deck. From the cool commander he had changed to a devil +incarnate, with face distorted, eyes aflame, and a sword that hacked and +stabbed with the swift ferocity of lightning. Jeremy saw him, fighting +single-handed with three men. His long sword played in and out, to the +right and to the left with a turn and a flash, then, whirling swiftly, +pinned a man who had run up behind. Bonnet's feet moved quickly, +shifting ground as stealthily as a cat's and in a second he had leaped +to a safer position with his back to the after-house. Two of his +opponents were down, and the third fighting wearily and without +confidence, when a huge, flaxen-haired man burst from the hatch to the +deck and swung his broad cutlass to such effect that the battling groups +in his path gave way to either side. The burly form of Dave Herriot +opposed the new enemy and as the two giants squared off, sword ringing +on sword, more than one wounded sailor raised himself to a better +position, grinning with the Anglo-Saxon's unquenchable love of a fair +fight. Herriot was no mean swordsman of the rough and ready seaman's +type and had a great physique as well, but his previous labors--he had +been the first man on board and had already accounted for a fair share +of the defenders--had rendered him slow and arm-weary. The ready +parrying, blade to blade, ceased suddenly as his foot slipped backward +in a pool of blood. The blond seaman seized his advantage and swung a +slicing blow that glanced off Herriot's forehead, and felled the huge +buccaneer to the deck where he lay stunned, the quick red staining his +head-cloth. As the blond-haired man stepped forward to finish the +business, a long, keen, straight blade interposed, caught his cutlass in +an upward parry and at the same time pinked him painfully in the arm. + +Jumping back the seaman found himself faced by the pitiless eyes of +Stede Bonnet, who had killed his last opponent and run in to save his +mate's life. That quick, darting sword baffled the sailor. Swing and +hack as he might, his blows were caught in midair and fell away +harmless, while always the relentless point drove him back and back. +Forced to the rail, he stood his ground desperately, pale and glistening +with the sweat of a man in the fear of death. Then his sword flew up, +the pirate captain stabbed him through the throat and with a dying gasp +the limp body fell backward into the sea. + +Meanwhile the pirates had steadily gained ground in the hand to hand +struggle and now a bare half-dozen brave fellows held on, fighting +singly or in pairs, back to back. The brig's captain, wounded in several +places and seeing his crew in a fair way to be annihilated, flung up a +tired arm and cried for quarter. Almost at once the fighting ceased and +half the combatants, utterly exhausted, sank down among their dead and +wounded fellows. The deck was a long shambles, red from the bits to the +poop. + +While the hands of the prisoners were being bound, Bonnet and all of his +men not otherwise employed hurried below to search for loot. The man who +had held the boat-hook astern left this task and greedily clambered up +the brig's side lest he should miss his chance at the booty. Job alone +stuck to his post, and motioned Jeremy to stay where he was. Cheers and +yells of joy rang from the after-hold of the merchantman where the +pirates had evidently discovered the ship's store of wine. + +After a few moments Pharaoh Daggs thrust his scarred face out of the +companion, and with a fierce roar of laughter waved a black bottle above +his head. The others followed, drinking and babbling curses, and last of +all Stede Bonnet, pale, dishevelled, mad with blood and liquor, stood +bareheaded by the hatch. He raised his hand in a gesture of silence and +all the hubbub ceased. "We have beaten them!" he cried between twitching +lips. "I Captain Thomas, the chiefest of all the pirates, and my +bully-boys of the _Royal James_! We'll show 'em all! We'll show 'em all! +Blackbeard and all the rest! He, he, he!" and his voice trailed off in +crazy laughter. The men of the crew stood about him on the brig's deck +dumbfounded by his words. Jeremy could hardly breathe in his surprise. +Suddenly he gave a start and would have cried out but that Job Howland's +hand closed his mouth. A swiftly widening lane of water separated the +sloop from her late enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +As she cleared the side of the waterlogged merchantman, the _Royal +James_ began to move. Her sails which had been left flapping during the +close fighting, now filled with a bang and she went away smartly on the +starboard tack. Job had dragged Jeremy aft and the two were huddled at +the tiller, partially screened by the mainsail, when a howl of +consternation broke out aboard the brig. Few if any of the firearms were +still loaded, or they might have been shot to death, out of hand. As it +was, the sloop had drawn away to a distance of nearly a quarter of a +mile before any effort was made to stop her. + +Then a single cannon roared and a round shot whizzed by along the tops +of the waves. When the next report came, Jeremy could see the splash +fall far astern. They were out of range. + +The two runaways now felt comparatively safe. It was certain that the +brig was too badly damaged to give chase even if she could keep afloat. +Jeremy felt a momentary pang at the thought of leaving even that +graceless crowd in such jeopardy, but he remembered that they had the +brig's boats in which to leave the hulk, and his own present danger +soon gave him enough to occupy him. + +Job lashed the tiller and going to the lanyard at the mainmast, hauled +down the black flag. Then they both set to work cleaning up the deck. +The three dead men were given sea burial--slipped overboard without +other ceremony than the short prayer for each which Jeremy repeated. The +gunner who lay in agony in his berth had his wound bound up and was +given a sip of brandy. Then the lank New Englander went below to get a +meal, while Jeremy sluiced the gun decks with sea water. + +Night was falling when Job reappeared on deck with biscuit and beans and +some preserves out of the Captain's locker. There was little appetite in +Jeremy after what he had witnessed that day, but his tall friend ate his +supper with a relish and seemed quite elated at the prospect of the +voyage to shore. He filled a clay pipe after the meal and smoked +meditatively awhile, then addressed the boy with a queer hesitancy. + +"Sonny," he began, "since we picked you up, I've been thinkin' every +day, more an' more, what I'd give to be back at your age with another +chance. Piratin' seemed a fine upstandin' trade to me when I +begun,--independent an' adventurous too, it seemed. But it's not so +fine--not so fine!" He paused. "One or two or maybe five years o' rough +livin' an' rougher fightin', a powerful waste o' money in drink an' +such, an' in the end--a dog's death by shootin' or starvation, or the +chains on Execution Dock." Another pause followed and then, turning +suddenly to Jeremy--"Lad, I can get a Governor's pardon ashore, but +'twould mean nought to me if my old days came back to trouble me. You're +young an' you're honest an' what's more you believe in God. Do you +figger a man can square himself after livin' like I've lived?" The boy +looked into the pirate's homely, anxious face. He felt that he would +always trust Job Howland. "Ay," he answered straightforwardly, and put +out his hand. The man gripped it with a sort of fierce eagerness that +was good to see and smiled the smile of a man at peace with himself. +Then he solemnly drew out his clasp-knife and pricked a small cross in +the skin of his forearm. "That," said he, "is for a sign that once I get +out o' this here pickle I'll never pirate nor free-trade no more." + +The wind sank to a mere breath as the darkness gathered and Jeremy stood +the first watch while his tired friend settled into a deep sleep that +lasted till he was wakened a little after midnight. Then the boy took +his turn at sleeping. + +When the morning light shone into his eyes he woke to find Job pacing +the deck and casting troubled looks at the sky. The wind was dead and +only an occasional whiff of light air moved the idly swinging canvas. A +tiny swell rocked the sloop as gently as a cradle. + +"Well, my boy, we won't get far toward shore at this gait," said Job +cheerfully as Jeremy came up. "Except for maybe three hours sailin' last +night, we've made no progress at all. I've got some porridge cooked +below. You bring it on deck an' we'll have a snack." + +The meal finished, they turned to the rather trying task of waiting for +a breeze. About noon Job climbed to the masthead for a reconnaissance +and on coming down reported a sail to the east, but no sign of any wind. +The sky was dull and overcast so that Job made no effort to determine +their bearings. They figured that they had drifted a dozen or more +sea-miles to the west since the battle, and were lying somewhere off the +little port of New York. + +The day passed, Job amusing Jeremy with tales of his adventures and old +sea-yarns and soon night had overtaken them again. This time the boy had +the first nap. He was roused to take his watch when Job saw by the stars +that it was eight bells, and, still yawning with sleep, the lad went to +stand by the rail. Everything was quiet on the sea, and even the swell +had died out, leaving a perfect calm. There was no moon. The boy's head +sank on his breast and softly he slid to the deck. Drowsiness had +overcome him so gently that he slept before he knew he was sleepy. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Jeremy's first waking sensation was the sound of a hoarse confused shout +and the rattle of oars being shipped. He struggled to his feet, staring +into the dark astern. Almost at the same instant there came a series of +bumps along the sloop's side, and as the boy rushed to the hatch to call +his ally, he heard feet pounding the deck. "Job!" he cried, "Job!" and +then a heavy hand smote him on the mouth and he lost consciousness for a +time. + +The period during which he stood awake and terrified had been so brief +and so fraught with terror that it never seemed real to the lad in +memory. There was something of the awful hopelessness of nightmare about +it. Always afterward he had difficulty in convincing himself that he had +not slept steadily from the time he drowsed on watch to the minute when +he opened his eyes to the light of morning and felt his aching head +throb against the hard deck. + +As he lay staring at the sky, a footstep approached and some one stood +over him. He turned his eyes painfully to look and beheld the dark, +bearded visage of George Dunkin, the bo's'n, who scowled angrily and +kicked him in the ribs with a heavy toe. "Get up, ye young lubber!" +roared the man and swore fiercely as the boy, unable to move, still lay +upon his back. A moment later the bo's'n went away. To Jeremy's numb +consciousness came the realization that the pirates had caught them +again. + +The words of the Captain on his first day aboard came back to the lad +and made him shudder. There had been stories current among the men that +gave a glimpse of how Stede Bonnet dealt with those who were +treacherous. Which of a dozen awful deaths was in store for him? Ah, if +only they would spare the torture, he thought that he could die bravely, +a worthy scion of dauntless stock. He thought of Job who must have been +seized in his bunk below. The poor fellow was to have short happiness in +his changed way of life, it seemed. + +Jeremy tried to steel his nerves against the test he was sure must +follow soon. Instead of going to pieces in terror, he succeeded in +forcing himself to the attitude of a young stoic. He had done nothing of +which he was ashamed, and he felt that if he was called to face a just +God in the next twenty-four hours, he would be able to hold his head up +like a man. + +Time passed, and he heard a heavy tramp coming along the deck. He was +hoisted roughly by hands under his arm-pits and placed upon his feet, +though he was still too weak to stand without support. A dozen faces +surrounded him, glaring angrily. Out of a sort of mist that partly +obscured his vision came the terrible leer of the man with the broken +nose. The twisted mouth opened and the man spoke with a deliberate +ugliness. The very absence of oaths seemed to make his slow speech more +deadly. + +"Ah, ye misbegotten young fool," he said, "so there ye stand, scared +like the cowardly spawn ye are. We took ye, and kept ye, and fed ye. +What's more, we was friends to ye, eh mates? An' how do ye treat yer +friends? Leave 'em to starve or drown on a sinkin' ship! Sneak off like +a dog an' a son of a cowardly dog!" Jeremy went white with anger. "An' +now"--Daggs' voice broke in a sudden snarl--"an' now, we'll show ye how +we treat such curs aboard a ten-gun buccaneer! Stand by, mates, to +keel-haul him!" + +At this moment a second party of pirates poured swearing out of the +fo'c's'le hatch, dragging Job Howland in their midst. He was stripped to +his shirt and under-breeches and had apparently received a few bruises +in the tussle below. Jeremy's spirits were momentarily revived by seeing +that some of the buccaneers had suffered like inconveniences, while the +young ex-man-o'-war's-man was gingerly feeling of a shapeless blob that +had been his nose. Dave Herriot, his head tied up in a bandage, was +superintending the preparations for punishment. "Let's have the boy +first," he shouted. + +Aboard a square-rigger, keel-hauling was practiced from the main +yardarm. The victim was dragged completely under the ship's bottom, +scraping over the jagged barnacles, and drawn up on the other side, more +often dead than living. As the sloop had only fore and aft sails, they +had merely run a rope under the bottom, bringing both ends together +amidships. They now dragged the boy forward, still in a half-fainting +condition and made fast his feet in a loop in one end of the rope, then, +stretching his arms along the deck in the other direction, bound his +wrists in a similar way. He was practically made a part of the ring of +hemp that circled the ship's middle. + +Without further ceremony other than a parting kick or two, the crew took +their places at the rope, ready to pull the lad to destruction. He set +his teeth and a wordless prayer went up from his heart. + +The wrench of the rope at his ankles never came. As he lay with his eyes +closed, a high-pitched voice broke the quiet. "If a man starts to haul +on that line, I'll shoot him dead!" Jeremy turned his head and looked. +There stood Stede Bonnet, his face ashen gray and trembling, but with a +venomous fire in his sunken eyes. He held a pistol in each hand and two +more were thrust into his waist-band. Not a man stirred in the crew. + +"That boy," went on the clear voice, "had no hand in the business, and +well you know it. It is for me to give out punishments while I am +Captain of this sloop, and by God I shall be Captain during my life. +Pharaoh Daggs, step forward and unloose the rope!" The man with the +broken nose fixed his light eyes on the Captain's for a full five +seconds. Bonnet's pistol muzzle was as steady as a rock. Then the +sailor's eyes shifted and he obeyed with a sullen reluctance. Jeremy, +liberated, climbed to his knees and stood up swaying. Just then there +was a rush of feet behind. He turned in time to see Job Howland vanish +head foremost over the rail in a long clean dive. The astonished crew +ran cursing to the side and stared after him, but no faintest trace of +the man appeared. At dawn a breeze had sprung up and now the little +waves chopped along below the ports with a sound like a mocking chuckle. +They had robbed the buccaneers of their cruel sport. + +Mutiny might have broken out then and there, but Stede Bonnet, cool as +ever, stood amidships with his arms crossed and a calm-looking pistol in +each fist. "Herriot," he remarked evenly, "better set the men to +cleaning decks and repairing damage. We'll start down the Jersey coast +at once." + +Jeremy got to his bunk as best he might and slept for the greater part +of twenty-four hours. When he awoke, the crew had just finished +breakfast and were sitting, every man by himself, counting out gold +pieces. Bonnet had divided the booty found on the brig and in their +greedy satisfaction the pirates were, for the time at least, utterly +oblivious to former discontent. When he got up and went to the galley +for breakfast, Jeremy was ignored by his fellows or treated as if +nothing had occurred. Indeed, there had been little real ground for +wishing to punish the boy aside from the ugly temper occasioned by +having to row a night and a day in open boats. Only Pharaoh Daggs bore +real malice toward Jeremy and his feelings were for the most part +concealed under a mask of contemptuous indifference. + +As the day progressed the lad found that matters had resumed their +accustomed course and that he was in no immediate danger. He missed his +brave friend and co-partner as bitterly as if he had been a brother, but +partially consoled himself with the thought that Job's act in jumping +overboard had probably spared him the awful torture of the keel or some +worse death. The Captain would never have defended the runaway sailor as +he had done Jeremy, the boy was certain. + +All day the sloop made her way south at a brisk rate, occasionally +sighting low, white beaches to starboard. Sometime in the first +dog-watch her boom went over and she ran her slim nose in past Cape May, +heading up the Delaware with the hurrying tide, while the brig's +long-boat, towing behind, swung into her wake astern. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +When the gang of buccaneers had tumbled down the hatch after Jeremy's +cry of warning, Job Howland, barely awake, had leaped to the narrow +angle that made the forward end of the fo'c's'le, seizing a pistol as he +went. Intrenching himself behind a chest, with the bulkhead behind him +and on both sides, he had kept the maddened crew at bay for several +moments. The pistol, covering the only path of attack, made them wary of +approaching too close. When, finally, a half-dozen jumped forward at +once, he pulled the trigger only to find that the weapon had not been +loaded. In desperation he grasped the muzzle in his hand and struck out +fiercely with the heavy butt, beating off his assailants time after +time. This was well enough at first, but the buccaneers, who cared much +less for a broken crown than for a bullet wound, pressed in closer and +closer, striking with fists and marline-spikes. It was soon over. They +jammed him so far into the corner than his tireless arm no longer had +free play, and then bore him down under sheer weight of numbers. When he +ceased to struggle they seized him fast and carried him to the deck. + +Job was out of breath and much bruised but had suffered no lasting hurt. +He saw Jeremy led forward, heard the men's cries and realized that the +torture was in store for them both. + +Unbound, but helpless to interfere, he saw the boy stretched on the deck +and the rope attached to his arms and legs. He suffered greater agony +than did Jeremy as the crew made ready to begin their awful work, for he +had seen keelhauling before. And then suddenly Stede Bonnet was standing +by the companion and the ringing shout that saved the boy's life struck +on Job's ears. He could hardly keep from cheering the Captain then and +there, but relief at Jeremy's delivery brought with it a return of his +quick wits. He himself was in as great danger as ever. + +He was facing aft, and his eye, roving the deck for a means of escape, +lit on the brig's boat, which the pirates had tied astern after +reboarding the sloop. She was trailing at the end of a painter, her bows +rising and falling on the choppy waves. He waited only long enough to +see that the Captain succeeded in freeing Jeremy, then drew a great +breath and plunged over the side. Swimming under water, he watched for +the towed longboat to come by overhead, and as her dark bulk passed, he +caught her keel with a strong grip of his fingers, worked his way back +and came up gasping, his hands holding to the rudder ring in her stern. + +The hot, still days had warmed the surface of the sea to a temperature +far above the normal, or he must certainly have become exhausted in a +short time. As it was, he clung to his ring till near noon, when, +cautiously peering above the gunwale, he saw the sloop's deck empty save +for a steersman, half asleep in the hot sun by the tiller. With a great +wrench of his arms the ex-buccaneer lifted himself over the stern and +slipped as quietly as he was able into the boat's bottom. There he lay +breathless, listening for sounds of alarm aboard the sloop. None came +and after a few moments he wriggled forward and made himself snug under +the bow-thwart. The boat carried a water-beaker and a can of biscuit for +emergency use. After refreshing himself with these and drying out his +thin clothing in the sun, he retreated under the shade of the thwart and +slept the sleep of utter fatigue. + +Late the next day he took a brief observation of the horizon. There was +sandy shore to the east and from what he knew of the coast and the +ship's course he judged they must be nearing the entrance to Delaware +Bay. His long rest had restored to him most of his vigor and although he +was sore in many places, he felt perfectly ready to try an escape as +soon as the sloop should approach the land and offer him an +opportunity. + +As the night went on the _Royal James_ made good speed up the Bay aided +by a strong tide. A little while before light she came close enough to +the west shore for Job to see the outlines of trees on a bluff. He +figured the distance to be not above a mile at most. There was some +question in his mind whether he should cut the painter and use the boat +in getting away or swim for it. He decided that it would be better for +him in most ways if the pirates still supposed him dead. So, quietly as +an otter, he slipped over the gunwale, paddled away from the boat's side +and set out for the land, ploughing through the water with a long +overarm stroke. + +Job had a hard fight with the turning tide before the trees loomed above +his head and his feet scraped gravel under the bank. When at last he +crept gasping out upon dry ground, it was miles to the southward of his +first destination. Dawn had come and the early light silvered the +rippling cross-swells and glinted on the white wings of the gulls. The +big mariner shook the water from his sides like a spaniel, stretched +both long arms to the warm sky, laughed as he thought of his escape and +turning his gaunt face to the northward set out swiftly along the +tree-clad bluffs. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Meanwhile the _Royal James_ was far up inside the Capes, sailing +demurely along, the ports of her gun deck closed and the British colors +fluttering from her top. Jeremy watched the shores they passed with deep +interest. He wondered if there would be a chance for him to get away +when they came to anchor. There was nothing but hardship in his lot +aboard the sloop, now that Job was gone. He was unnoticed for the most +part by the men of the crew, and when any of them spoke to him it was +with a cuff or a curse. As for Captain Bonnet, he had relapsed into one +of his black moods. Nothing brought him on deck or made him speak except +to give Herriot monosyllabic commands. + +Late the following day, after a slow progress along the Delaware shore, +the sloop hove to in a wide roadstead and the anchor was run out. The +steeples and shipping of a little town were visible by the water side, +but no one put off to meet them. To the surprise of all, Bonnet himself +came on deck, wearing a good coat and fresh ruffles and with his hair +powdered. He ordered the gig lowered, then looked about the assembled +crew and addressed them good-humoredly enough. "Now, my lads," said he, +"I'm going ashore with a picked boat's crew to get what news there is +about. You that go with me remember that you are of the _Royal James_, +honest merchant coaster, and that I am Captain Thomas, likewise honest +navigator. We'll separate into every tavern and ship-chandler's place +along the wharves, pick up the names of all ships that are soon to sail, +and their cargoes, and meet at the gig at eight bells. Herriot and you +men aboard here, keep a strict watch. Daggs, I leave the boy in your +charge. Don't let him out of your sight." + +At the last words Jeremy's heart sank to his boots. He knew how futile +would be any attempt to escape under the cold hawk-eyes of the man with +the broken nose. As the gig put off from the sloop's side, the boy +leaned dejectedly against the rail. Pharaoh Daggs slouched up to him. +"Ah there, young 'un," said he with cynical jocularity, "just thinkin' +o' leavin' us, were ye, when the old man took the gimp out o' ye?" The +bantering note vanished from the man's voice. "I'ld like to break yer +neck, ye young whelp, but I won't--not just yet!" He seemed to be +licking his ugly chops at the thought of a future occasion when he might +allow himself this luxury. Then he went on, half to himself it seemed. +"Hm, Bonnet's a queer 'un! Never _can_ tell what he'll do. Them eight +men aboard that brig, now--never was a rougher piece o' piracy since +Morgan's day than his makin' those beggars walk the plank. Stood there +an' roared an' laughed, he did, an' pricked 'em behind till they tipped +the board. An' then to stop us from drownin' a blasted little rat that'd +tried to kill us all! Oh, he's bad, is Stede--bad!" Jeremy gave a start +as this soliloquy progressed. He had wondered once or twice what had +become of the prisoners taken aboard the brig. That attempted escape of +Job's had cost dear in human life it seemed. And his own deliverance had +been the mere whim of a mad-man! He shuddered and thanked God fervently +for the fortune that had so far attended him. + +There was a pause while the buccaneer seemed to regard him with a sort +of crafty hesitancy. At length he spoke. + +"See here, boy," he said, his voice sinking to a hoarse whisper, "how +long had you been livin' on that there island?" + +Jeremy looked up wonderingly. "Not long," he answered, "only a day or +two, really." + +"And you--nor none of yer folks--never went nosin' 'round there to find +nothin', did yer? Tell me the truth, now!" Daggs leaned closer, a +murderous intensity in his face. + +"No," said Jeremy, squirming as the man's fingers gripped his shoulder. + +The pirate gave him another long, piercing look from his terrible eyes, +then released him and went forward, where he stood staring off toward +the shore. + +In his wretched loneliness the boy sank down by the rail, his heart +heavier than it had ever been in his whole life. It might have been a +relief to him to cry. A great lump was in his throat indeed and his eyes +smarted, but he had considered himself too old for tears almost since he +could walk, and now with the realization that he was near shedding them, +he forced his shoulders back, shut his square jaw and resolved that he +would be a man, come what might. Darkness settled over the river mouth. +The form of Pharaoh Daggs in black silhouette against the gray of the +sky sent a shudder through Jeremy. He recalled with startling +distinctness the solitary man he had seen on the island the night of his +capture. The two figures were identical. Pondering, the boy fell asleep. + +It was some four hours later that he woke to the sound of hurrying oars +close aboard. A subdued shout came across the water. The voice was Stede +Bonnet's. "Stand by to take us on!" he cried. A moment later the gig +shot into sight, her crew rowing like mad. They pulled in their oars, +swept up alongside the black sloop, and were caught and pulled aboard by +ready hands. "Cut the cable!" cried the Captain as soon as he reached +the deck. The gig was swung up, the cable chopped in two and the +mainsail spread, and in an incredibly short time the _Royal James_ was +bowling along down the roadstead. Hardly had she gotten under way when +two long-boats appeared astern and amid shouts and orders to surrender +from their crews, a scattered fusillade of bullets came aboard. No one +on the sloop was hit, and as the sails began to draw properly the pirate +craft soon left her pursuers far to the rear. + +Jeremy, never one to watch others work, had lent a hand wherever he was +best able, during the rush of the escape. When the sloop was well out of +range and the excitement had subsided, he turned for the first time to +look at a small group that had been talking amidships. Two of the +figures were very well known to him--Bonnet and Herriot. The light of a +lantern, which the latter held, fell upon the face of a boy no older +than Jeremy, dressed in the finest clothes the young New Englander had +ever seen. + +The lad's face was dark and resolute, his hair black, smoothly brushed +back and tied behind with a small ribbon. His blue coat was of velvet, +neatly cut. Below his long flowered waistcoat were displayed buff velvet +breeches and silk stockings of the same color. His shoes were of fine +leather and buckled with silver. + +In response to the oaths and rough questions of the two pirates, the lad +seemed to have little to say. When he spoke it was with a scornful ring +in his voice. The first words Jeremy heard him say were: "You'll +understand it soon, I fancy. We are well enough known along the bay and +my father, as I have said, is a friend of the Governor's. There'll be +ten ships after you before morning." Herriot put back his head and +roared with laughter. "Hear the young braggart!" he shouted. "Ten ships +for such a milk-fed baby as he is!" + +"Well, my lad," said the Captain, "you'll be treated well enough while +we wait for the money to be paid. Here, Jeremy!" As the young +backwoodsman came up, Bonnet continued, "Two boys aboard is bad +business, for you're sure to be scheming to get away. However, it can't +be helped, just yet, and mind what I say,--there'll be a bullet ready +for the first one that tries it. Now get below, the pair of you." + +Glad as he was to have a companion of his own age aboard, Jeremy, +boylike, was too shy to say anything to the new arrival that night, and +indeed the other boy seemed to class him with the rest of the pirates +and to feel some repugnance at his company. So the two unfortunate +youngsters slept fitfully, side by side, until broad daylight next +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The "salt horse" which was served out for breakfast aboard the _Royal +James_ made scant appeal to the Delaware boy's appetite. He hardly +touched the portion which Jeremy offered him and kept up his pose of +proud aloofness all the morning. It is scarcely a matter for wonder that +he did not at once make friends with Jeremy. The latter's buckskin +breeches and moccasins had been taken from him when he came aboard and +he was now clad in his old leather tunic, a pair of seaman's trousers, +which bagged nearly to his ankles, wrinkled, garterless wool socks and +an old pair of buckled shoes, stuffed with rags to make them fit. His +hair, never very manageable, had received little attention during the +voyage and now was as wild and rough as that of a savage. It would have +required a long second glance for one to see the fine qualities of grit +and self-reliance in the boy's keen face. + +The sloop was making great speed down the middle channel of the Bay, her +canvas straining in a fine west breeze, and her deck canted far to +leeward. No boy could long withstand the pleasure of sailing on such a +day, and before noon the young stranger had given in to a consuming +desire to know the names of things. Jeremy now had the whole ship by +heart and was filled with joy at the opportunity of talking about her to +one more ignorant than himself. Of course, he was as proud of the _Royal +James_ as if he owned her. How he glowed over his account of the battle +with the brig! Nothing on the coast could outsail the sloop, he was +sure. Indeed, it was with some regret that he admitted a hope of her +being overtaken by the Delaware boy's friends, and he was divided +between pride and despair as the day went on and no sail appeared to the +north. By noon his new acquaintance was ravenously hungry, as was to be +expected, and over their pannikins of soup the last reserve between them +went by the board. + +[Illustration: Bob] + +"Are you his son?" asked the dark-haired lad, nodding toward Herriot. +Jeremy laughed and described his adventure from the beginning while the +other marveled open-mouthed. "Are they holding you for ransom, too?" +asked he, as the story ended. "No," replied Jeremy, "I reckon they knew +as soon as they saw me that there wasn't much money to be gotten in my +case. As I figure it, they didn't dare leave me on the island for fear +I'ld have those three ships-of-war after them." Both boys laughed as +they thought of the head-long flight of Stede Bonnet's company from a +garrison of fifteen sheep. + +"Well," said the Delaware boy, still chuckling, "you know most of my +story already. My father is Clarke Curtis of New Castle. My own name is +Bob. Father owns some ships in the East India trade and has a plantation +up on the Brandywine creek. Last night I was at our warehouse by the +wharves. Father was inside talking to one of his captains who had just +come to port. I wanted to see the ship--she's a full-rigger, three or +four times as big as this, and fast too for her burden. Well, I went +down on the dock where she was moored. There was nobody around and no +lights and she stood up above the wharf-side all dark and big--her +mainmast is as high as our church steeple, you know--and I was just +looking up at her and wondering where the watchman was, when four men +came along down the wharf. I thought perhaps 'twas Father and some of +his men. When they were quite close that biggest one, Herriot, stepped +up to me and before I could shout he put his hand over my mouth and held +me. They gagged me fast and then one of them gave a whistle, long and +low. Pretty soon a boat came up to the dock and they grabbed me and put +me in, spite of all I could do. They paddled along to another wharf and +took aboard some more men and then started to row out as fast as they +could. I guess those boats that came after us were from Father's ship. +He must have missed me right away. So now old Bonnet or Thomas or +whatever his name is thinks he's going to get a fat sum out of me. +That's all of my story, so far. But there'll be another chapter yet!" +Jeremy, for both their sakes, sincerely hoped that there might. + +At sunset of that day the _Royal James_ cleared Cape Henlopen and held +her course for the open sea, while behind her in the gathering dusk the +coast grew hazy--faded out--was gone. The two boys, sitting late into +the first watch, shivered with that fine ecstasy of adventure that can +come only in the shadowy mystery of star-lit decks and the long, +whispering ripple of a following sea. + +Jeremy, who twenty-four hours before had thought of the ship as a place +of utter desolation, would not now have changed places with any boy +alive. He knew, perhaps for the first time, the fulness of joy that +comes into life with human companionship. That night two lads at least +had golden dreams of a youthful kind. Ducats and doubloons, princesses +and plum-cake, swords awave and cannon blazing, great galleons with +crimson sails--no wonder that they were smiling in their sleep when +George Dunkin held a lantern over the bunk at the change of the watch. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The day came in dark with fog, which changed a little after noon to +driving scud. The wind had gone around to the northeast and freshened +steadily, driving the waves in from the sea in steep gray hills, quite +different from anything Jeremy had before experienced. The sloop, under +three reefs and a storm jib, began to make rough weather of it, +staggering up and down the long slopes in an aimless, dizzy fashion that +made Jeremy and Bob very unhappy. The poor young New Englander had to +perform his regular tasks no matter how he felt within, but once the +work was done he stumbled forward miserably and lay upon his bunk. Bob +was too wretched to talk all day, and for the time at least cared very +little whether he was rescued or keel-hauled. + +Near nightfall Jeremy went aft to serve the Captain's supper, and as he +returned along the reeling wet deck in the gathering dark, he stopped a +moment to look off to windward. The racing white tops of the waves +gleamed momentarily and vanished. He was appalled at their height. While +the little vessel surged along in the trough, great slopes of foam and +black water rose on either beam, up and up like tossing hillsides. Then +would come the staggering climb to the summit, and for a dizzy second +the terrified lad, clinging to a shroud, could look for miles across the +shifting valleys. Before he could catch his breath, the sloop pitched +down the next declivity in a long, sickening sag, and rocked for a brief +instant at the foot, her masts swaying in a great arc half across the +sky. Then she began to ascend. Shivering and wide-eyed, the boy crept to +his bunk, where he fell asleep at last to the sound of screaming wind +and lashing water. + +At dawn and all next day the gale swept down from the northeast +unabated. The fo'c's'le was thick with tobacco smoke and the wet reek of +the crew, for only the steersman and the lookout would stay on deck. +Bob, somewhat recovered from his seasickness, lay wide-eyed in his bunk +and heard such tales of plunder and savagery on the high seas as made +his blood run cold. When Jeremy came dripping down the ladder, early +that afternoon, he found the Delaware lad staring at Pharaoh Daggs with +a look of positive terror. The buccaneer's evil face was lit up by the +rays of the smoky lantern, hung from a hook in one of the deck beams. He +sat on the edge of the fo'c's'le table, his heavy shoulders hunched and +a long clay pipe in his teeth. "That night," he was saying, "four on us +went an' cut Sol Brig down from where they'd hanged him. We got away, +down to the sloop an' out to sea with him. I didn't have no cause to +love the old devil, but I'd ha' hated to have a ghost like his after me, +so I lent a hand. We wrapped him up decent an' gave him sea-burial from +his own deck, as he'd paced for thirty year. An' _then_," he said with a +snarl and half-turning to face Jeremy, "we got them two boys on deck! +Both of 'em said 'twas the other as told, so we treated 'em fair an' +alike. We stripped 'em an' laid in deep with the cat till there wasn't +no white skin left above the waist. Then we sluiced 'em with sea water. +When they could feel pain again, we stretched 'em with rope an' windlass +till one died. T'other was a red-headed, tough young devil, an' took +such a deal of it that we had to brain him with a handspike at the +last." + +Even the crew were silenced for a little by this recital. Jeremy and Bob +shivered in their places, hardly daring to breathe. Then a Portuguese +spoke from the corner, his greedy little black eyes glittering in his +swarthy face. + +"Where wass da Cap'n's money--da gold 'e 'ada-not divide', eh?" + +Daggs gave a little start and leaned forward scowling. "Who said he had +any?" he asked savagely. "Sol Brig kept himself to himself. He never +told secrets to any man aboard!" Then he turned and with a black frown +at the two boys, climbed through the hatch into the howling smother +outside. + +Jeremy, always alert, saw one or two glances exchanged among the pirates +before the interminable foul stream of fo'c's'le talk resumed its +course, but apparently the incident of the scarred man's abrupt +departure was soon forgotten. + +As the storm continued, Bonnet and Herriot gave up their attempts to +sail the _Royal James_ and contented themselves with keeping her afloat. +The gale was driving them southward at a good rate and they were not +ungrateful as they reflected that it must have effectually put a stop to +all pursuit. Toward night the wind went down a trifle, though the seas +still ran in veritable mountain ranges. The dawn of the following day +showed a clear sky to the north, and every prospect of fair weather. +Before breakfast all hands were set to shaking out reefs and trimming +sails, a task which the tossing of the sloop made unusually difficult. +New halyards had to be fitted in some places. Otherwise the vessel +herself had suffered but little. The brig's boat, towed astern all +through the flight down the bay, had been swamped and cut loose on the +first day of storm. However, as the _Royal James_ had two boats of her +own lashed on deck, this was not considered a real loss. + +When the sun was high enough, Herriot took his bearings, and gave the +helmsman orders to keep her headed west, a point north. The sloop made a +long beat of it to starboard, thrashing up all night and most of the +following day, before she sighted the Virginia Capes. Slipping through +under cover of darkness, Bonnet resumed his rôle of sober merchantman +and sailed the _James_ up the Chesapeake under the British flag, with a +fine air of honesty. + +Jeremy and Bob regained their spirits as the low shores unrolled ahead +and passed astern, with an occasional glimpse of a plantation house or a +village at the water's edge. As every fresh estuary and arm of the bay +opened on the bow, the lads hoped and expected that the sloop would +enter. Bob thought the chances for escape or rescue would be much +increased if they came to anchor in some harbor. Jeremy remembered the +Captain's half-promise to free him when they reached the Chesapeake, and +although he would have been loth to part from his new friend, he felt +that he might render him better service ashore than in his company +aboard the pirate. + +It was two full days before the order was finally given to anchor. They +had put into the mouth of a wide inlet far up on the Eastern shore, and +Bonnet had her brought into the wind at a good distance from either +side. The banks were high and wooded, and as far as the boys could see +there was no sign of habitation anywhere about. Their minds were both +busy planning some way of getting to land when Dave Herriot came up +behind them and put a huge hand into the collar of each. "Come along +below, lads," he said gruffly. They went, completely mystified, until +the big sailing-master thrust them before him into the port gun deck. +Then Jeremy understood. The old-fashioned arrangement of iron bars +called the "bilboes" was fastened to the bulkhead at the bow end of the +alleyway. It had two or three sets of iron shackles chained to it and +into the smallest pair of these, meant for the wrists of a grown victim, +he locked an ankle of each of the boys. + +"Ye'll stay _there_ a while, till we sail again," Herriot remarked as he +departed. The lads stared at each other, too glum to speak. Bob was pale +with rage at what he considered a dishonor, while the Yankee boy's heart +was heavy as he thought of the opportunities for flight he had let slip +on the voyage up the bay. Within half an hour after the anchor was +dropped the young prisoners heard the creak of the davit blocks, and a +moment later the splash of a boat taking water close to the nearest +gun-port. Jeremy stretched as far as his chain would allow, and through +a crevice saw four men start to row toward shore. There was some coarse +jesting and laughter on deck, then one of the crew sent a "Fare ye well, +Bill!" after the departing gig. The hail was answered by the voice of +the Jamaican, Curley. Half an hour later the boat returned, carrying +only three. Jeremy, straining at his tether, made out that Curley was +not one of them. He sat down, thoughtful. "Well, Bob," he said at last, +"whether it's about your ransom I can't say, but Bill Curley's been sent +ashore on some errand or other--and to be gone a while, too, I figure." + +They could do little but wait for developments. It was something of a +surprise to both when Bonnet's voice was heard on the deck above, soon +after, ordering the capstan manned. The anchor creaked up and to the +rattle of blocks the sail was hoisted. They felt the sloop get under way +once more. When one of the foremast hands brought them some biscuit and +pork for supper, he told them it was Herriot's orders that they be left +in irons for the present at least, and added, in response to Jeremy's +query, that they were headed south under full canvas. The boys' thoughts +were very bitter as they tried to make themselves comfortable on the +bare planking. Fortunately, at their age it requires more than a hard +bed to banish rest, and before the ship had made three sea-miles, care +and bodily misery alike were forgotten in the heavy slumber of fatigue. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +Job Howland's long legs, clad as they were in nothing more cumbersome +than a pair of under-breeches, made light work of hills and ravines as +he held his way steadily up the Delaware shore. Like most of the sailors +of that day, he had gone barefoot aboard ship since the beginning of the +warm weather and his soles were so calloused that he hardly felt the +need of shoes. + +At a shack on a little cove, just before midday, he found several +fishermen, to whom he applied for clothing. They had pity on his plight, +fitted him out with a shirt, serviceable breeches and rough boots, and +gave him, as well, as much biscuit and dried fish as he wished to carry. +Thus reinforced he continued to put the leagues behind him till night, +when he slept under a convenient jack-pine. Early next morning he pushed +on and came without further adventure to the little port of New Castle, +just as the sun was setting. + +Job had been in the town before and now went straight to the Red Hawk +Tavern, a small place on the water-front that catered chiefly to +seafaring men. The tavern-keeper, a brawny Swede, to whose blue eyes +half the seamen that plied along the coast were familiar, held out a +big hand to him as he entered. He had known the tall mariner when he had +been on the Virginia bark before Hornygold had captured it and had had +no news of him since. Job told him his whole story over a hot meal in +the back room, and it is merely indicative of the public mind of that +day that the big Swede had not the slightest compunction in sympathizing +with him. Indeed, in most dockside resorts it was a common thing for +pirates and honest seamen to fraternize with perfect goodwill. The +innkeeper offered him a bed for the night, and next morning directed him +to the governor's house. + +Delaware, a far smaller and less developed colony than her neighbors, +Pennsylvania and Maryland, had, nevertheless, her own government, +located at New Castle. The brick house of the King's appointee was on +the High Street--the most imposing building in the town, excepting the +two churches. Job knocked at the door and was admitted by a colored +servant in livery, who gave him a chair in the wide hall and asked him +to wait there. + +As the long Yankee fidgeted uncomfortably on the edge of his seat, he +heard voices raised in a room opposite, the door of which was closed. +Some one, apparently growing angry, was saying: + +"Good Gad, man, are we to sit idle and let these ruffianly thieves make +off with our money--children--wives! One good man-o'-war could teach the +scamps such a lesson as would scare half of 'em off the seas! Why, if +I'd had even a good culverin aboard the _Indian Queen_ last night, I'd +have chased the beggars clear to Africa, an need were. Governor, you +_must_ see this as we see it!" + +There was a reply in a lower tone and a moment later the door opened for +two gentlemen to come out. One was thin and pale and seemed a suave, +cool fellow, Job thought. He was elegantly dressed in gray. His +companion, larger and more strongly built, seemed to have become very +red in the face from suppressed emotion. His linen ruffles were awry and +his fists clenched as he emerged. Without looking at Job, he jammed his +cocked hat upon his head and strode out. + +The man in gray turned to the waiting seaman and beckoned him into the +room just vacated. Job, as cool and self-possessed as if he were loading +his six-pounder under fire, told the story of his experiences aboard the +pirate sloop, finishing with an account of the attempted flight with +Jeremy, their recapture and his escape. The Governor listened gravely, +starting once when the mariner named Captain Bonnet. At the end he +nodded. "You shall have the pardon as ruled by the Crown," he said. "But +there is another side to this affair. You say you slept at the Red +Hawk. Was there no talk there of a boy stolen from the wharves late in +the evening?" Job replied that he had gone to bed early and had +breakfasted and left without hearing any gossip. + +"From what you say," went on the Governor, "I should be ready to swear +that the Captain Thomas, who proclaimed himself by that name in a tavern +last night and later made off with the son of Clark Curtis, was the same +man as your Stede Bonnet." Job hastened to relate the incident of the +buccaneer's crazed speech from the brig's deck. He asked how the +kidnapper had been described. The features tallied almost exactly with +those of Stede Bonnet. In addition, the schooner, as half a dozen men +would swear, had been painted black. + +Thus satisfied that Bob Curtis was aboard the _Royal James_, the +Governor wrote a formal pardon, stating that "Job Howland, late a +pirate, having duly sworn his allegiance to his Majesty the King, and +repented of all unlawful acts committed by him aforetime," was +henceforward granted full release from the penalty of his crimes and was +to be held an honest man during his good behavior. Then he took the +seaman with him and passed quickly down to one of the larger warehouses +by the dockside. + +Standing in the doorway were the red-faced gentleman whom Job had seen +that morning and a large man in sea boots, easily recognized as a ship's +officer. To the rather cool greeting of the former the Governor returned +a cheerful nod as they came up. "Look here now, Curtis," he said, "I +can't spare those cannon, and that's flat, but to show that I mean well +by you, I've brought a man whom you may find of some use. Tell him +your story, Howland." + +The tale was repeated, to the intense interest of its two new hearers. +"By Gad," cried Mr. Curtis, slapping his thigh, as the seaman finished, +"that's a clue worth having! We know who the scoundrel is, at least, +and, of course, he'll be sure to head for Carolina. Bonnet couldn't keep +away from that coast for more than six months if his life depended upon +it. Howland, if you care to ship again, I'll make you gun-pointer aboard +the _Indian Queen_ here. You say you want nothing better than to get a +crack at the pirate. We'll make what preparations we can and get off at +once. This young friend of yours--about Bob's age he must be--well, I'm +glad my boy's got company! Let's get to work aboard here now." + +Job fell to with a good will helping the _Indian Queen's_ crew get her +ready for an encounter with the pirates. She carried only two light +serpentine cannon of an ancient make, far below the standard necessary +to combat a well-armed schooner like the _Royal James_. There were no +other ships in the harbor carrying guns, however, and it was over the +matter of procuring an armament that Curtis had had words with the +Governor. There were six good culverins mounted in the fort below the +town. The planter had wished to borrow them to fit out his vessel, +urging that it was a matter of concern to the whole colony. To this the +Governor replied that with the port stripped of defences it would be +possible for a pirate fleet to enter and plunder without difficulty, +while Curtis's ship was careering over the seven seas on a wild-goose +chase. Naturally the personal element in the affair blinded Curtis to +the truth in this argument. However, with the advent of Job Howland and +the news he bore, all differences were forgotten. The planter and +ship-owner now needed thorough, rather than hurried, preparation. He +sent his overseer on horseback to Philadelphia to arrange for the +purchase of guns, and put all the available carpenters and shipwrights +to work on the _Queen_, strengthening the improvised gun decks and +cutting the rows of ports. + +The northeast gale that sprang up next day put a temporary stop to these +activities and gave Job an opportunity to get himself some decent +clothes and hobnob a while with his friend the Swede. The whole +waterfront was agog with the news of the kidnapping, and everywhere the +tall New Englander went he was surrounded by a knot of questioning +seamen. Several coasting-skippers, whose vessels lay ready-loaded at the +wharves, decided to put off sailing until some news should indicate that +the Bay was clear. + +When the storm had blown itself out the artisans again set to work on +the big East Indiaman. Job, who had learned the science of gunnery under +good masters, supervised the placing of every porthole with reference to +ease and safety in firing as well as to the effectiveness of a +broadside. He had a section of the deck forward of the capstan +reinforced stoutly to bear the weight of a bow-chaser, on which he +placed some dependence in case of a running fight. + +It was about six days later, in the first week of August, when two men +came into New Castle from different directions, one on horseback, the +other on foot. The first of these was Curtis's overseer, returned from +the larger colony up the Bay, and bringing the good news that a score of +cannon were lying on the dock at the foot of Market Street, in +Philadelphia, ready to be shipped aboard the _Queen_ as soon as she was +put in shape. + +The other was a sour-looking man of middle height, lean and darkly +sallow, dressed in good sea clothes somewhat worn. He slipped through +the trees into a lane that led toward the wharves. Coming unobtrusively +into the Red Hawk Tavern at a little after 7 o'clock in the evening, he +asked for a pint of rum, paid for it, and began to talk politely to the +Swede. Job was eating his supper in one corner. He started when the man +entered, but made no exclamation, and shading his face from the light, +continued to watch him narrowly. It was his old shipmate, Bill Curley, +the Jamaican. The pirate finished his rum and giving the barkeep a civil +"Good-night," passed out into the ill-lighted street. When he was gone +Job rose and stepped to the bar. "Quick, Nels," he whispered, "what did +he ask you? He's one of Bonnet's crew!" The Swede replied that he had +inquired the way to Clarke Curtis's house. Job was armed with a good +pistol. He made sure it was primed and then set out up the street, +keeping a careful lookout. + +Soon he detected the figure of the Jamaican in the gloom ahead, and +followed it, keeping out of earshot. The man went straight up High +Street to the town residence of the planter. There were tall shrubs in +the yard and he waited behind one of these, apparently reconnoitering. +Then he stooped, took off his shoes, and carrying them in one hand, +advanced and pinned a piece of paper to the door. Turning, he made his +way back to the gate and once on the soft earth of the road, started to +run in the direction from which he had come. This brought him, in fifty +yards, face to face with a pistol muzzle, the butt of which was held by +his old friend, Job Howland. He stopped in his tracks and at the big +Yankee's command held both arms above his head. Job jammed the nose of +his weapon against Curley's breastbone and searched him without a word. +Having removed a long dirk and a pistol from the Jamaican's waistband, +he ordered him to face about and walk back to the planter's house. When +they arrived there, Job took down the paper from the door and knocked +loudly. A negro boy, scared almost into fits at the sight of the drawn +pistol, led the way into his master's room. + +Curtis rose with an ejaculation of surprise and heard Job's brief +account of the events leading to Curley's capture. Then he took the +paper and read it, alternately frowning and exclaiming. As he finished, +he passed it to the New Englander. It was a letter neatly drawn up and +written in Stede Bonnet's even, refined hand. + + + Aboard Sloop _Royal James,_ now + in an Inlet near the Head of the + Chesapeake Bay. + + To Mr. Clarke Curtis. Esq. + of New Castle, in the Delaware Colony. + + Sir: + + Having now aboard us and in safe custody your son Robert Curtis, we + offer you the following terms for his release and safe return to + you. Namely, to wit: + + First, that you shall make no attempt to attack us in an armed + vessel, or otherwise to employ force upon us. + + Second, that you shall send a single man, carrying or otherwise + bringing, provided he is alone, a sum in gold amounting to 5,000 + pounds sterling. + + + Third, that this man shall be on the sandbars at the entrance to + the Cape Fear River in Carolina at noon on the 10th day of + September in this year of grace 1718, ready to deliver the sum + before-mentioned and to take in charge the boy, also + before-mentioned. + + Failing the accomplishment of any or all of these terms the boy + will be immediately put to death without stay or pity. + + Expecting you to act with discretion and for the welfare of your + son, + + Ever your humble servant, + + Captain Thomas. + (Ship _Royal James_) + + +"Well," remarked Job as he finished, "we know where they'll be on +September the 10th, at all events. As for our friend here, we can safely +turn him over to the constable, I reckon. Here, Curley--march!" And he +ushered the Jamaican out as they had entered. The gaol was only a few +doors down a cross street, and Job had soon delivered his prisoner into +capable hands. Then he returned to Curtis's house. + +The shipowner was pacing up and down his library, where the paper lay +half-crumpled on the floor. He looked up as Job entered and his brow was +wrinkled deep with lines of worry. + +"Gad!" he exclaimed, "this is awful! Must we actually give up trying to +punish the dog? Why, he has us at his mercy, it seems. The money I can +raise, I believe, and it's not the thought of losing it that cuts me. +It's letting that gallows-hound go unscathed. And if anything should +slip in the plans--good God, it's too terrible to think of!" + +He dropped into an armchair, his head resting in his hands. Job +understood something of the father's anguish and refrained from any +comment. Standing by the broad oak mantelpiece, he mused over the +chances of the boy's escape alive. Knowing Bonnet's eccentricities, he +would have been the last to urge an armed attack in defiance of the +terms in the letter. He had not the slightest doubt that the Captain, +half-insane as he was, would be capable of even more dastardly crimes +than the one he now threatened. Gradually an idea took form in the +ex-pirate's brain. It was a bold one and needed to be executed boldly if +at all. When the grief-stricken gentleman raised his head, Job turned +and faced him. "Mr. Curtis," he said, "there's one thing to be done, as +far's I can see, and I believe it's for me to do it. I've told you about +Jeremy Swan, the boy we took aboard up north along. I think most as much +o' getting him out o' this scrape as you do o' savin' your lad. Now +here's my scheme. I know that coast around Cape Fear like I know the +black schooner's deck. I'll get down there about the first o' September, +an' I reckon they'll be there near the same time. I'll sneak up as close +as I can in a small boat, then crawl acrost the bars till I'm near their +moorin', an' swim out after dark, so I can look over the lay o' things +aboard. It's just possible that I can get a word to one o' the boys and +maybe take 'em off without bein' caught. You can be lyin' to, somewhere +out o' sight, and' if we get clean away, we'll take the _Queen_ around +an' blow Bonnet out o' water. That's the best I can offer, but if it +works it'll do the job up brown." + +Curtis had listened earnestly, amazed at the daring of the man's +suggestion. He reached out a broad hand and took Job's hairy fist in a +grip that expressed the depth of his feelings. His eyes were blinking +and he could not trust his voice, but the long Yankee knew that the risk +he had offered to undertake was appreciated. They talked far into the +night, planning the details of the attempt and discussing measures to be +employed should it fail. They still had the best part of a month in +which to work. + +It was Job's suggestion that they should interest the governments of +North and South Carolina to help in destroying Bonnet's craft. The +pirate's port of departure had been Charles Town and he was to be +fought in waters adjacent to both the colonies. It seemed not +unreasonable to hope that there was aid to be obtained there. Next day +they asked the Governor's sanction to this proposal, and were so far +rewarded that in less than another twenty-four hours a messenger had +been dispatched to Wilmington and Charles Town bearing letters under the +colony seal. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +The _Royal James_ hurried down the Chesapeake for a day and a night +before Captain Bonnet gave orders to free the young prisoners below in +the bilboes. Jeremy and Bob came on deck stiff and weary from their +cramped quarters and very far from happy in their minds. Rescue seemed +farther away than ever, and though they had laid many plans for an +escape by swimming, the sight of the great stretch of water off either +beam--the shore was frequently a dozen miles away--quenched their hopes +in this direction. + +The crew seemed quite elated over something, and talked and joked +incessantly about the prospect of action in the near future. Bonnet was +merrier than Jeremy had ever seen him, came often on deck and even mixed +a little in the conversation of the foremast hands. On the night that +they cleared the Capes he served out double noggins of rum to all the +men aboard. There was a good deal of prodigality in the way it was +poured out and a fine scene of carousal ensued, lasting until after the +watch changed at midnight. It was the first time either of the boys had +heard the smashing chorus of "Fifteen Men" sung by the whole fo'c's'le. +Of course, the words had often been hummed by one or two of the pirates, +but it took the hot cheer of the grog to open most of their throats. At +the final "Yo, ho, ho!" every cannikin crashed on the deal table and the +lantern heaved to and fro overhead as if a gale were blowing outside. +There followed the howling refrain that Jeremy had heard on the beach of +the island a month before--"An' we'll walk the bloody beggars all below, +all below--an' we'll walk the bloody beggars all below!" + +The sentiment seemed too true to be picturesque after what had happened +aboard the brig. The fierce-faced buccaneers, with their red, drunken +eyes, strained forward, every man, and yelled like demons under the +swaying lantern. Close behind and above were the smoky beams and +planking, black with dancing shadows. Yet wild and exciting as it all +was, Jeremy felt sickened. There was no illusion, no play-acting about +it for him. He had seen the awful reality--the murder and the +madness--and he had no admiration left for the jolly buccaneer of story. + +On the following morning, and for two days thereafter, the schooner +cruised slowly along a level sea under shortened sail. A double lookout +was kept constantly on duty and as they bore up to the northward, Jeremy +saw that they must be watching for south-bound shipping out of the +Delaware. Bonnet was evidently gambling on the chance that Bob's friends +had given up the idea of pursuit. + +Then one hot mid-afternoon the two boys were startled from their places +in the shade of the after-companion by a quick shout from the man at the +masthead. They followed the direction of his pointing arm with their +eyes and as the schooner heaved slowly on a gentle swell, they caught a +glimpse of a low, broad sail on the port bow. The men were all on deck +ready to trim the sails for greater speed, but Herriot, after consulting +with the Captain, ordered the gunners and gun-servers below to prepare +ordnance. Bob and Jeremy were under a tremendous strain of excitement. +The stranger ship might be one of the New Castle fleet which Bob firmly +believed to be searching the seas to recapture him from Bonnet. Should +it prove to be so, their lives were in worse danger than ever, for +neither of the boys doubted that the erratic Captain would kill them at +once if the fight went against him. + +However, their minds were soon set at rest on this score. As the pirate +drew up closer and closer, the details of the other ship became visible +to those on deck. She also was schooner-rigged, a trifle larger than the +_Royal James_, but without the latter's height of mast. Her low +free-board indicated that she was heavily cargoed. No gunports could be +seen along her sides. + +Bonnet now ordered an extra jib to be broken out, and had the sloop +brought around on the port tack so that her course, instead of running +opposite to the stranger's, would obliquely cross it. The wind, what +little there was, came from the West. + +As soon as the other ship perceived this change in direction, she veered +off her course closer to the wind, and almost immediately the boys could +see the white flutter of some extra canvas being spread at her bows. As +this new piece filled out, it proved to be a great balloon jib, which +increased her sail area by nearly half. Her head came off the wind again +and she went bowing along over the swells to the southward faster than +one would have imagined possible. Bonnet had figured on crossing her at +close range, but as she swept onward he realized that he would go by too +far astern to hail her if he kept his present direction. Herriot himself +took the tiller. As quickly as he could, without loss of headway, he +eased the _Royal James_ over till she was running nearly parallel with +the fleeing ship. His orders came quick and fast, while the men trimmed +the main and fore sheets to the last hair's breadth of perfection. It +was to be a race, and a hard one. + +For nearly half an hour the sloops ran along almost neck and neck and +perhaps half a mile apart. The pirates dared not risk pointing closer to +the wind in order to get into cannon range. They would have lost so much +speed that it would have developed into a stern chase--useless since +they possessed only broadside batteries. The best they could do was to +hold their position, hoping for luck in the wind. + +Bonnet scowled awhile at the British Jack that still flew from the +_James's_ top, then went below and brought up the black pirate flag. The +buccaneers, now all assembled on deck, gave it a cheerful howl of +greeting as it fluttered up to the main truck. "Now we'll catch 'em, +lads!" roared Herriot, and they answered him with a second cheer. + +For once, however, the Jolly Roger seemed to bring bad fortune instead +of good. The wind had hardly swept it easily to leeward once when it +fell back against the shrouds, hardly stirring. The pirate sloop's deck +righted slowly and her limp sails drooped from the gaffs. A sudden flaw +in the breeze had settled about her, without interrupting her rival's +progress in the least. A glum despair came over the crew. They lolled, +for the most part silent or grumbling curses, against the rails, with +here and there one trying to whistle up a wind. The other sloop rapidly +drew away to the south. + +Bonnet had been talking to Herriot with quick gestures and pointings. +Now he walked forward swiftly and the men got to their feet with a jump. +"We'll board the prize yet," said the Captain short and sharp. "Now look +alive--every one of you!" He ordered one squad of men to the hold for +spars, another for rope, a third for a spare mainjib. Meanwhile he set +two men to making a sort of stirrup out of blocks of wood. This was +fastened to the deck far up in the bows. When the spars came up he had +one of them rigged with a tackle running to the foremast, and set its +foot in the wooden contrivance just finished. It swung out forward like +a great jibboom. The crew saw what was in the Captain's mind and gave a +ringing yell of joy. A score of willing hands made fast the stays to +windward and others spread the spare sail from the upper end of the +spar. As the last rope was bent, a strong draught of air came over the +water. The canvas shook, then filled, and as the fresh breeze steadied +in her sails the sloop heeled far to port. She moved faster and faster, +while the white water surged away under her lee. This was sailing worth +while! The returning wind had come in much stronger than before the +flaw, and was now almost worthy of at least one reef under ordinary +conditions. With her extra canvas, the _James_ was canted over +perilously. Her lee scuppers were often awash and a good deal of water +was coming into the port gundeck. + +But to the delight of all on board, including the boys, who could hardly +be blamed for relishing the excitement, Bonnet refused to take in an +inch of sail. Instead, he ordered every available man to the weather +rail. The dead weight of thirty seamen all leaning half-way over the +side served to keep the light craft ballasted for the time being. Bob +and Jeremy clung to the rail amidships and vied with each other in +stretching out over the boiling seas that raced below. + +The fleeing ship, which had gained four or five miles during the lull, +was now in plain view again, nearly straight ahead. Her deep lading was +telling against her now. The handicap of sail area being overcome, the +black pirate's shallow draft and long lines gave her the advantage. +Every buccaneer in the crew was howling with excitement as the race went +on. The long main boom of the _Royal James_ skipped through the spray +and her mainsail was wet to the second line of reef points, but Herriot +held her square on the course and Bonnet smiled grimly ahead, with a +look that meant he would run her under before he would shorten sail. +Hand over hand they overhauled their rival, until once more the tiny +figures of men were visible over her rail. A little knot of them were +gathered aft, busy at something. Bonnet seized his glass and scrutinized +them intently. Then he yelled to Herriot to ease the sloop off to port. +"They've got a gun astern there!" he shouted. "They'll try our range in +a minute." Hardly had he spoken when a spout of foam went up from the +sea far to starboard, followed almost instantly by the dull sound of an +explosion. By the time the gunners on the ship had loaded their piece +again the _James_ had come over to their port quarter and they had to +shift the cannon's position. The shot went close overhead, cutting a +corner from the black flag of the pirate. Bonnet swore beneath his +breath, then ordered the cannoneers below to their batteries. They went +on the run. Jeremy and Bob stayed above watching the operations on the +enemy's deck. The two sloops were less than three hundred yards apart +and the _James_ had drawn nearly abeam when a third shot came from her +rival's deck gun. This time it crashed into the pirate's hull far up by +the bits. Bonnet was by the fore hatch, sword in hand, as was his custom +during an action. Looking coolly at the splintered bulwark forward, then +back at the enemy, he gave the sharp "Ready a starboard broadside!" to +the waiting gunners. He allowed them time to have their matches alight, +then "Fire!" rang his clear voice. The deck leaped under the boys' feet. +The long, thunderous bellow of the battery jarred out over the sea. Even +as they looked the enemy's maingaff, shot away at the jaws, dangled +loose from the peak halyards, and her broad sail crumpled, puffing out +awkwardly in the breeze. + +At the same time a wide rent in her side above the waterline gaped black +as she topped a wave. The gunners' cheer as they saw their handiwork +rose to a deafening yell, taken up by all hands, when, a moment later, +the British colors came fluttering down aboard the other ship. + +Herriot ordered the improvised spinnaker and the flying-jib taken in, +then brought the buccaneer sloop around and came up beside the newly +captured prize. All the pirates were behind the bulwarks with muskets +loaded, prepared for any treachery that might be intended. However, as +they ranged alongside, the hostile crew lined up on their deck, sullen +but unarmed, and the Captain, a big, gray-bearded man, held up a piece +of white cloth in token of surrender. Bonnet hailed him, asking his +name. + +"Captain Peter Manewaring of the sloop _Francis,_ Philadelphia for +Charles Town," answered the coasting skipper. + +"And I am Captain Thomas, in command of the sloop _Royal James,_" Bonnet +gave him in return. "You will set your men to carrying over into my ship +all the powder you have aboard. As soon as we are fast alongside I shall +be pleased to entertain you in the cabin." + +The sails were run down on both sloops and their hulls were quickly +lashed together with ropes. Herriot superintended the operation of +transferring a half-dozen kegs of powder, some casks of wine and the +best food in the coaster's larder to the hold of the black schooner. The +cargo of the _Francis_ was a varied one, but not by any means a poor +prize. She carried some grain in bags forward, a great number of bolts +of cloth, chiefly woollens, and other things of divers sorts, including +some fine mahogany chairs and tables newly brought from England. The +wine was merely incidental, but proved very acceptable to the +ever-thirsty buccaneers. + +That night, with the nine men of the _Francis's_ crew lying in irons on +the ballast, they drank deep to their victory, and once more Jeremy and +Bob fell asleep to the rough half-harmony of their bellowings. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +A stiff easterly breeze whitened the gray seas next morning. It was +cloudy and seemed to be getting ready for a blow. The pirate and her +prize had drifted all night, bound together, and as day broke a tipsy +lookout spied land to the westward. Herriot came on deck hastily at the +call and himself went to the rail to heave the lead. The soundings +showed a bare four fathoms of water. Bonnet was summoned and the crew, +hardly recovered from their orgy, staggered about the deck preparing to +get under way again. Seven men, under Dunkin, were told off to man the +_Francis._ A dozen others were needed to plug her shot-holes before she +was really seaworthy. This task being finally accomplished, the ropes +were taken off, the sails run up and the two sloops, closehauled to +starboard, set about beating off shore. + +It was a terrible day for Jeremy and Bob. In the crew there was the +regular fighting, swearing and vomiting that always followed a night of +carousal. The fact that they were short-handed made the work harder and +the grumbling louder than ever. The bow of the _Royal James_ was partly +shot away above the bits, and there was a full day's work for every hand +that could be spared rigging canvas over the gap to prevent its taking +in water in case of a storm. Meanwhile the fo'c's'le was in as filthy a +state as could well be imagined. Herriot thrust his head down the hatch +once during the morning and as he caught the sickening stench of the +place he called the two boys, who had been up forward helping the +patching. + +"Here, young 'uns, get below and clean up," he ordered sharply, and +handed each lad a bucket and a deck-brush. They filled the buckets and +went below reluctantly. At first it was impossible for them to stay +under hatches for more than five minutes at a time, so they took turns +in running up for air and a fresh supply of water. Gradually the +flooding they gave the place told in its atmosphere, and by noon they +had put it into decent shape again. Hardly had Jeremy come on deck, +weary and sickened with this task, when Captain Bonnet called to him +from the companion. He made his way aft and entered the cabin. Bonnet +had just resumed his place at the broad table. Opposite him and facing +Jeremy was the big slouched figure of Captain Manewaring. "Bring the +wine, Jeremy," said the buccaneer quietly, and without turning. He was +looking with steady eyes at his guest. Jeremy went back along the +passage to the wine-locker under the companion stairs and took from it +two bottles of Madeira. As he was closing the cupboard door, Bonnet's +voice cut the air like a knife. The two words he spoke were not loud, +but pronounced with a terrible distinctness. "You lie!" was what he +said. + +Jeremy shivered and waited, listening. There was no reply loud enough +for him to hear through the closed door of the cabin. After a moment he +tiptoed back and before turning the knob listened again. Nothing but +silence. He opened the door with a pounding heart and stepped into the +room. + +The two men sat motionless in their places. Bonnet held a cocked pistol +in his right hand, its point covering the other man's head. On the table +before Manewaring was a second pistol. His face was drawn and gray and a +fine sweat stood upon his forehead. Jeremy shrank against the wall, +hardly breathing, his two bottles clutched idiotically, one in each +hand. The tense seconds ticked on by the cabin clock. + +"Come--quick!" said the pirate, with a gesture toward the other pistol. +Manewaring's hand appeared over the edge of the table and gave a +trembling jerk toward the pistol-butt. Then it fell back into his lap. +He gasped. A drop of sweat ran down his temple into his gray beard. +Again the only sounds were the tick of the cabin clock, the wash of the +seas outside and the hoarse breathing of the cornered man. At length he +moved with a sort of shudder, whispered the name of his Maker and seized +the butt of the pistol desperately. + +Bonnet had raised his weapon, pointing to the ceiling. "I shall count +three, then fire," said he in the same even voice. + +"One----" But before he spoke again his opponent had jerked his muzzle +down and fired. Bonnet must have seen the flash of the intention in his +eyes, for he threw himself to the left at that instant, and the shot +went crashing through a panel of the door. With the deliberate sureness +of Fate the pirate took aim at his adversary, who whimpered and +grovelled behind the table. Then he shot him. Jeremy's knees went limp, +but he saved himself from falling and managed to set the bottles on the +table. + +Behind him as he staggered out, Stede Bonnet poured himself a glass of +wine and drank it with a steady hand. The boy met a crowd of men at the +head of the companion, but was too shaken to tell them what had +happened. Herriot, going below, heard the details of the duel from the +Captain's own lips. Under the sailing-master's orders the body of the +dead man was carried out on deck, sewed into a piece of sailcloth and +heaved over the rail without more ado. Jeremy made his way to his bunk +and told Bob the story between chattering teeth. + +There was silence on the ship that afternoon. Bonnet's action had +sobered his rough company to the point where they ceased quarreling and +talked in undertones, gathering in little knots about the slanted deck +when not at work. The two boys were glad enough to be out of the way. +Jeremy, tired and discouraged, sat on the bunk's edge, his shoulders +hunched and his eyes on the floor. His young companion, who had more +cause for hope, watched him with sympathetic eyes. He could see that the +New England boy was too dejected even to try to plan their escape--the +usual occupation of their hours together. Finally he reached over, a bit +shyly, and gave him a friendly pat on the back. + +"Brace up, Jeremy," he said. "You're clean tuckered out, but a rest and +a nap'll help. Here, cover yourself up and I'll do your work tonight. +Maybe I'll have a scheme thought up to tell you in the morning." + +Jeremy cared little whether he slept or woke, for the events of the past +days, coupled with the disappointment of not being set ashore as he had +hoped, had brought even his determined courage to a low ebb. He was on +the verge of a fever, and Bob's prescription of rest and sleep was what +he most needed. Made snug at the back side of the berth, where little +or no light came, he fell into a fitful slumber. Bob took a last look to +see that his friend was comfortable and went on deck. + +Pharaoh Daggs had taken a great deal of liquor the night before, as was +his wont when grog was being passed. The rum he consumed seemed to +affect him very little. No one ever heard him sing, though his cruel +face, with its awful, livid scar, would lean forward and sway to and fro +with the rhythm of the choruses. He could walk a reeling deck or climb a +slack shroud as well, to all appearances, when he had taken a gallon as +most men when they were sober. From Newfoundland to Trinidad he was +known among the pirates as a man whose head would stand drink like a +sheet-iron bucket. This reputation was made possible by the fact that he +was no talker at any time, and when in liquor clamped his jaws like a +sprung trap. Whatever effect the alcohol may have had upon his mind was +not apparent because no thoughts passed his lips. The rum did go to his +head, however. The instinctive effort of will that kept his legs steady +and his mouth shut had no root in thought. Behind the veil of those +light eyes, the brain of Pharaoh Daggs, drunk, was like a seething pit, +one black fuddle of ugliness. To compensate for the apparent lack of +effect of liquor upon him, the inward disturbance usually lasted long +after the more tipsy seamen had slept around to clear heads. + +Today he lolled with his sneering face toward the weather beam, a figure +upon whose privacy no one would care to trespass. The sound of the shots +and the tale of the duel had neither one awakened in him any apparent +interest. Through the long afternoon till nearly five o'clock he +slouched by the fo'c's'le. Then with a leisurely stretch he walked to +the hatch, and peered down it. Wheeling about he scanned the deck +craftily, looking at all the men in turn, before he descended the +ladder. + +In the half-light below he paused again, and seemed to send his piercing +glance into every bunk, from the forward to the after bulkhead. Finally, +satisfied that no one else was in the fo'c's'le, he went to his own +sleeping place, on the port side, and kneeling beside the berth hauled a +heavy sea-chest from beneath it. + +Jeremy's light sleep was broken by a scraping sound close by. He opened +his eyes without moving, and from where he lay could see a man busy at +something opposite him. As the figure turned and straightened, he knew +it for the man with the broken nose. The boy was instantly on the alert, +for he had every reason to distrust Daggs. Without making a sound he +worked nearer to the edge of the bunk and pulled the cover up to hide +all but his eyes. The pirate hauled his chest out farther into the +middle of the floor, where more light fell. + +[Illustration] + +Then he knelt before it and unlocked it with a key which he took from +about his neck. Jeremy almost expected to see a heap of gold coin as the +lid was raised. He was disappointed. A garment of dark cloth, probably a +cloak, and some dirty linen were all that came to view. The buccaneer +lifted out a number of articles of seaman's gear and laid them beside +him. After them came a leather pouch, quite heavy, Jeremy thought. The +man raised it carefully and weighed it in his hand. It must have been +his portion of the spoils taken on the voyage. However, this was not +what he was after, it seemed, for a moment later it was laid on the +floor beside the other things. Next he removed two pistols and a second +pouch of the sort used for powder and shot. There was a long interval as +he rummaged in the bottom of the box, under other contents which Jeremy +could not see. At last the pirate stood up, holding a rolled paper tied +with string. Another long moment he peered about him and listened. When +he had reassured himself, he untied the string and opened the paper, a +square document, perhaps a foot each way. It was discolored and worn at +the edges, apparently quite old. What was inscribed on it Jeremy could +not see, stare as he might. Daggs examined it a moment, then knelt, +preoccupied, and spread it upon the floor. With one finger he traced a +line along it, zigzagging from one side diagonally to the foot, his lips +moving silently meanwhile. Then his other hand hovered above the +document for a time before he planted his thumb squarely upon a spot +near the top. + +Jeremy's thoughts kept time with his racing heart. He watched every +motion of the buccaneer with a fierce intentness that missed no detail. +Daggs had been quiet for a full two minutes, a crafty gloating smile +playing over his thin lips. Now once more he touched a place upon the +sheet before him. "Right there, she'll be," he muttered. Then, after +slowly rolling up the paper, he replaced it and locked the box. The eyes +of the boy in the bunk gleamed excitedly, for he was sure now of the +nature of the document. Beyond any reasonable doubt, it was a chart. +"Solomon Brig's treasure!" he whispered to himself as the tall figure of +the man with the broken nose clambered upward through the hatch. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +Jeremy realized that his life would be in danger if Daggs saw him coming +on deck after what had just happened. He lay still, therefore, in spite +of his desire to tell Bob what he had seen. The rest of the afternoon +his imagination painted pictures of ironbound chests half-buried in the +yellow beach sand of some lonely island far down in the tropics; gloomy +caves beneath mysteriously waving palm trees--caves whose black depths +shot forth a ruddy gleam of gold coin, when a chance ray of light came +through the shade; of shattered hulks that lay ten fathoms down in the +clear green water of some still lagoon, where pure white coral beds gave +back the sleeping sunshine, and fishes of all bright colors he had ever +seen or dreamed about swam through the ancient ports to stare +goggle-eyed at heaps of glistening gems. + +At last he must have slept, for Bob's voice in his ear brought him back +to the dingy fo'c's'le of the _Royal James_ with a start. The lantern +was lit and most of the port watch were snoring heavily in their bunks +after a hard day's work. Bob took off his shoes and trousers and climbed +into the narrow berth beside his friend, who was now wide awake. +"Listen, Bob," whispered the New England boy as soon as they were +settled, "do you remember the things Daggs has said, off and on, about +old Sol Brig--how there was always a lot of gold that the men before the +mast never saw and how he must have saved it till he was the richest of +all the pirates? Well, who would know what became of that money, if +anybody did? Daggs, of course, the only man that's left of Brig's crew! +I think Daggs knows, and what's more, I believe I saw the very chart +that shows where it is." He went on to tell all he had seen that +afternoon. Bob was as excited as he when he had finished. "We must try +to get hold of that map or else get a sight of it!" he exclaimed. Jeremy +was doubtful of the possibility of this. "You see," he said, "the key is +on a string 'round his neck. The only way would be to break the chest +open. It's big and heavy and we should raise the whole ship with the +racket. Then, besides, I don't like to steal the thing, even though he +is a pirate." Bob also felt that it would hardly be honest to break into +a man's box, no matter what his character might be. "If we should just +happen to see the chart, though," he finally explained, "why, we have +just as much right to hunt for the treasure as he has, or any one else." +Jeremy agreed to this solution of a knotty problem of honor and both +boys decided that for the present they had no course in the matter but +to wait for some accident to put the paper in their way. However, not to +let any opportunities slip, they resolved to watch Pharaoh Daggs +constantly while he was awake, in the hope of getting a second glimpse +of the treasured document. + +Jeremy had regained both strength and spirits when he tumbled out next +morning. The pall of uneasiness which had hung over the ship all the day +before had lifted and the men, sobered once more, went about their +business as usual. The boys set themselves to the task of watching with +much zeal. It was not so difficult as might be expected. They had always +been aware of the presence of the man with the broken nose whenever he +was on deck. His sinister eye was too unpleasant to meet without a +shiver. Likewise they felt an instinctive relief when he went out of +sight. For this reason it was no great matter for either lad that +happened to be present to note the fact of the pirate's going below. +Whenever he left the deck for anything he was shadowed by Bob or Jeremy +as the case might be. For nearly three days the mysterious chest +remained untouched. Of that the boys were sure. + +The threatened storm that had roughened the sea on the day when Captain +Manewaring met his sudden end seemed to have spent itself in racing +clouds and gusts of wind. Fair weather followed and for forty-eight +hours the _James_ and her prize stood off the coast, heading up to the +northeastward with the wind on the port quarter. + +Bonnet had remained below, haggard and brooding, suffering from one of +the spells of reaction that commonly followed his misdeeds. By night of +the second day he cast off his gloom and came on deck, the old reckless +light in his eye. + +"Here, Herriot," he called, as he appeared, "we've got a rich prize in +our fist and a richer one coming. Let's be gay dogs all tonight. Give +the hands extra grog and I'll see you in the cabin over a square bottle +when the watch is changed." + +Before the mast the news was hailed with delighted cheering. A keg of +rum was rolled out of the hold and set on the fo'c's'le table. Hardly +had darkness settled before half the men aboard were drunk and the +cannikins came back to the spigot in an unending procession. There was +too much liquor available for the usual choruses to be sung. Most of the +pirates swilled it like pigs and stopped for nothing till they could +move no longer, but lay helpless where they happened to fall. Only a +bare three men stayed sober enough to sail the ship. Jeremy thanked his +stars for fair weather when he thought of the case they might have been +in had the orgy occurred in a night of storm. + +Next day a few of the crew woke at breakfast time. The rest snored out +their drunken sleep below. Daggs came on deck as usual, to the outward +eye quite his careless, ugly self. His two young enemies watched him +closely, for they suspected that the drink he had taken had helped to +Jeremy's previous discovery. As the hours went by, one after another of +the buccaneers woke and dragged himself on deck to growl the discomfort +out of him. By mid-afternoon Jeremy, going below, found all the bunks +empty. He slipped behind a chest far up in the dark bow angle and waited +for a signal from Bob. The boys had seen the man with the broken nose +watching the decks uneasily for hours and suspected that he meant to go +below as soon as the fo'c's'le was empty. + +Jeremy must have been in his hiding place close to half an hour before +he heard Bob's sharply whistled tune close outside in the gun deck. He +ducked lower behind his box and presently heard steps descending the +ladder. A guarded observation taken from a dark corner close to the +floor disclosed the slouching form of Daggs standing by the table. + +The buccaneer took a long time for his cautious survey of the fo'c's'le. +Standing perfectly still he turned his body from the hips and gave the +place a silent scrutiny before he set to work. He proceeded just as he +had done before and quickly had the chest open and its contents spread +upon the planking. He had just unrolled the chart when a shout from the +hatch made him leap to his feet. "Sail ho!" was being passed from mouth +to mouth above, and already there were men on the ladder. In a fever of +haste, Daggs half-pushed, half-threw the chest under his bunk and shoved +the loose clothes and small arms after it. The paper he still held in +his hand. After a second of indecision, while he looked over his +shoulder at the descending crowd of seamen, he thrust it in on top of +the box and stood erect, flushed and swaying. The hands were preoccupied +and none seemed to notice his act. There was a general scurrying of +sailors to get out their cutlasses and pistols, and in the confusion +Jeremy found an easy opportunity to crawl out of the hiding place and +busy himself like the rest. + +Going on deck a minute later, he found Bob and whispered a brief account +of what he had seen. For the present there was much to be done on deck. +They ran hither and thither at Herriot's commands, giving a hand at a +rope or fetching something mislaid in the cabin. The _James_ was under +all her canvas and in hot pursuit of a large sloop, visible some three +miles to leeward. The fleeing ship was driving straight to sea before +the strong west breeze, her sails spread on both sides like the broad, +stubby wings of a white owl. Bonnet had his jury spar swung to +starboard from the foremast foot and bent the big jib to balance his +main and foresail. Bowing her head deep into every trough as the waves +swept by, the black sloop ran after her prey at dizzy speed. The crew +gathered along the wet bows, silent, intent on the game in hand. They +were drawing up perceptibly from moment to moment. At last they were +within half a mile--five hundred yards--close astern. Aboard the enemy +they could see a small knot of men huddled aft, working desperately at +the breach of a swivel-cannon. Bonnet ordered Herriot to stand off to +starboard for a broadside. But as the _James_ swerved outward, a flare +of fire and a loud report went up from her opponent's after part. For a +moment it seemed that her cannon had been discharged at the pirate, but +as they waited for the splash of the shot, a thick smoke grew in a cloud +over the enemy's deck. The gun or a keg of powder had exploded. As soon +as the buccaneers perceived it, they bellowed hoarse hurrahs and +prepared to board. The gunners swarmed up from the port gun deck at the +order and all lined up along the rail howling defiance at the +merchantman. Jeremy saw that all were on deck and touched Bob's arm. + +They made their way quietly below, and the New Englander went to Daggs' +berth. From beneath it protruded the corner of the piece of paper. Both +boys knelt eagerly over it as Jeremy pulled it into the light. + +It was, as they had expected, a chart. The drawing was crudely done in +ink, applied it seemed with a stick, or possibly with a very badly +fashioned quill-pen. There was very little writing upon it, and this of +the raggedest sort. To their intense disappointment it bore no name to +tell where in the seven seas it might be. That the chart was of some +coast was certain. A deep, irregular bay occupied the central part of +the sheet. Two long promontories jutting from east and west nearly +closed the seaward or southern end. The single word "Watter" was written +beside a dot high up on the paper and a little northeast of the bay. An +anchor, roughly drawn near the northern shore and a small cross between +two parallel lines a short distance inland, completed the information +given, except for a crossed arrow and letters indicating the cardinal +points of the compass. + +[Illustration] + +It required no great time for the two lads to examine every line and +mark. They looked up and faced each other disappointed. Jeremy voiced +the thought which both had. "How are we to know where the thing is?" he +asked. Bob shook his head and looked glum. Then he seized the paper +feverishly and turned it over. Its soiled yellow back gave no clue. Not +even the latitude and longitude were printed. "Well," said Jeremy, +finally, "one thing we can do, and that's remember exactly how it +looks." He measured the length of the bay with the middle joint of his +forefinger. "Three--four--and a bit over," he counted. "Anchorage in +that round cove to the northwest." Then, measuring again, "And the cross +is two finger-joints northwest of the anchorage. What those lines each +side of it are I don't know, but I'll remember them. And that dot marked +"Watter" is one and a half northeast of the mitten-shaped cove. There--I +guess we've got it all by heart now." He had just finished speaking and +both of them were still looking intently at the map when a fresh +outburst of cheers and the beginning of a sharp musketry fire were heard +above. Jeremy replaced the paper where he had found it and they hurried +up to look out of the hatchway. + +The two ships were now only half a cable's length apart, running side by +side. Few shots were being returned by the merchantman and all her crew +were keeping out of sight behind the solid rail. + +"All hands to board her," Bonnet sang out and answering her tiller the +_Royal James_ swung over till the two sloops' sides met with a jar. They +were fast in an instant and a score of whooping buccaneers swept over +the rail. From a place of vantage the boys watched the short, bloody +conflict that followed. It seemed that several of the enemy's crew, few +as they were at the beginning, had been killed by the explosion of the +gun. Only a half-dozen rose to meet the pirate onslaught. Not one asked +for mercy, even after Herriot had shot down the captain, and the tide of +sea-rovers rushed at and over the little handful of defenders in an +overwhelming flood. There was no need of the plank this time. Every man +fell fighting and died sword in hand. To the two young prisoners, +already sickened with the sight of blood, this wholesale murder of a +band of gallant seamen came as a revolting climax. They stared at each +other, white-faced as they thought of the fate that threatened them and +all honest men who fell into such ruthless hands. It was Bob's first +sight of a hand-to-hand sea-battle, and as the last merchant sailor went +down under the howling pack he fainted and tumbled into Jeremy's arms. +When he came to his senses again the Yankee boy had propped him up +behind the companion and was rubbing him vigorously. "I know how you +feel," he said in answer to Bob's stammered apology. "It's all right and +you've no call to be ashamed. I came near it myself." The Delaware lad, +who had been almost as distressed at being guilty of swooning as at the +pillage of the merchant sloop, felt a vast relief when he heard Jeremy's +words, and quickly got upon his feet once more. + +The pirates had cleared the enemy's deck of bodies and blood and now +were taking an inventory of the sloop's cargo, if the shouts that came +from her hold meant anything. She was a little larger than the _James_ +in length and beam, but had carried no armament other than the now +damaged stern-chaser. The white letters at her stern declared her the +_Fortune_ of New Castle. From what Captain Bonnet said to his +sailing-master as they returned over the rail, Jeremy gathered that she +had been in light cargo and was not as rich a prize as the _Francis_. + +The latter ship had now come up and was standing off and on waiting for +orders. Bonnet had lost two men killed and several hurt in the fight, so +that the crew of the _Royal James_, without the prize crew on board the +_Francis_, now numbered scarce a dozen able-bodied men. The question of +manning the newly captured sloop was finally settled by transferring to +her George Dunkin and his seven seamen. Bonnet freed the men of the +_Francis_ who had been in chains, and set them to work their own ship +under command of Herriot and another pirate. He undertook to sail the +_James_ himself, for by this time he was really an able skipper, despite +the fact that he had taken to the sea so late in life. As the crew of +the _Francis_ lined up before going aboard, the notorious buccaneer +faced them with a cold glitter in his eyes. For a while he kept them +wriggling under his piercing scrutiny. Then he spoke, his voice even and +dangerous. + +"You will be under Mr. Herriot's orders. I think you are wise enough not +to try to mutiny with him. But if you should undertake it, remember that +no sooner does your sloop draw away to over one mile's distance than I +will come after you and blow you out of water without parley. There are +just enough sails left aboard your ship to keep headway in a light +breeze. Over with you now!" + +As darkness deepened the three sloops set out westward under shortened +canvas, keeping so close that the steersmen hailed each other +frequently through the night. Bob and Jeremy went to their bunks gloomy +and subdued. But Jeremy's sorrows were lightened by the feeling that +sometime, somewhere, he would find a use for the chart, the outline of +which he had firmly fixed in his memory that afternoon. And wondering +how, he fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +The fair weather held and for several days the little fleet cruised west +by south, then southerly when they had picked up the Virginia Capes. The +pirate crew, in spite of their impatience to divide the cumbersome booty +they had helped to win, kept in a fairly good temper. Hopes were high +and quarrels were quickly put aside with a "Take it easy, boys--wait +till the sharin's over." Bob and Jeremy got off with a minimum of hard +words and might have considered their lot almost agreeable but for one +incident. The whippings which were a regular part of boys' lives aboard +ship in those days, had always been administered by George Dunkin. As +bo's'n, it was not only his right but his duty to lay in with a rope's +end occasionally. He was one of the fairest men in Bonnet's company and +Jeremy had never felt any great injustice in the treatment Dunkin had +accorded him. Since his lieutenancy aboard the prize-sloop, however, the +bo's'n had necessarily ceased to be the executive of punishment, and +when Monday, recognized on all the seas as whipping day, came around, +there was a very secret hope in Jeremy's heart that the office would be +forgotten. As for Bob, he had so far escaped the lash, it being +understood that he was not an ordinary ship's boy. As the day wore on, +the Yankee lad remained as inconspicuous as possible, and began to think +that he was safe. About mid-afternoon, however, a gang of buccaneers, +working at the rent in the bows which still gave trouble, shouted for a +bucket of drinking water. Bob had been snoozing in the shade of the +sail, and when he was roused at last, took his own time in carrying out +the order. When he appeared finally, there was a good deal of swearing +in the air. Daggs reached out and jerked the boy into the center of the +group, his light eyes agleam under scowling brows. "See here, you little +runt," he hissed, "don't think because the Cap'n's savin' you to kill +later, that you're the bloomin' mate of this ship! Come here to the +capstan, now!" Before Bob was aware of what they meant to do, the angry +sailors had slung him over a capstan bar and tied his hands and feet to +a ring in the deck. After the clothes had been pulled off his back, +there was an interval while the pirates quarrelled over who should do +the whipping. Daggs demanded the right and finally prevailed by +threatening the instant disemboweling of his rivals. Bob was trembling +and white, not from fear but because of the indignity of the punishment. +The scarred executioner spat on his hands, took the heavy rope and +squared his feet. "Shiver away, you cowardly pup," said he, grinning at +one side of his twisted mouth. Then with a vicious whirl of his arm he +brought the hard hemp down on the boy's naked shoulders--once, twice, +three times--the lad lost count. At last he nearly lost consciousness +under the torturing fire of the blows. When the buccaneer ceased for +lack of breath his victim hung limp and twitching over the wooden bar. +Long welts that were beginning to drip red crossed and recrossed his +back. "Now, where's that other whelp?" panted Daggs. Somebody went below +and dragged Jeremy to light. The boy was brought up to the crowd at the +capstan. He took one look at Bob's pitiful, set stare and the red drops +on the deck, then turned blazing to face the man with the broken nose. + +"You great coward!" he cried. The man was staggered for an instant. Then +his rage boiled up and the tanned skin of his neck turned the color of +old mahogany. "I'll kill the boy," he whispered hoarsely and drew back +his heavy rope for a swing at Jeremy's head. + +"Daggs"--a voice cut the air from close by his side. "Daggs, who made +you bo's'n of this sloop?" + +The man whirled and nearly fell over, for Stede Bonnet was at his elbow. +"One more thing of this kind aboard, and I'll maroon you," said the +Captain sharply, and added, "Gray, put this man in irons and see that +he gets only bread and water for five days!" Then he turned on his heel +and went back to the cabin. So once more Jeremy's life was saved by the +Captain's whim. He half carried, half supported his chum to their bunk +and after rubbing his back with grease, begged from the galley, nursed +him the rest of the day. By the following afternoon the Delaware lad had +recovered his spirits and although he was still too sore and stiff to go +on deck, had no trouble in eating the food Jeremy brought him. The +absence of Daggs made life assume a happier outlook and it was not long +before the boy was as right as ever. + +August was nearly past. To the boys, who knew little of the geography of +the coast and nothing of Bonnet's plans, it was something of a surprise +when the man at the tiller of the _James_, which was in the lead, swung +her head over to landward one morning. Low shores, with a white line of +sand beneath the vivid dark green of trees, ran along the western +horizon. As the sloop ran in, the boys expected to see the broad opening +of some bay but there was still no visible variation of the coast line. +No town was to be seen, nor even a single hut, when they were close in. +The trees were live-oaks, Bob said, though Jeremy had never seen one to +know it before. + +The _Royal James_ and her consorts held a slow course along the shore +for several hours. The strip of sand was gradually widening and in +places stretched inland for a mile in dunes and hillocks, traversed by +little tidewater creeks. At last there showed a narrow inlet between two +dunes, and Bonnet, who had now taken the helm, headed the sloop +cautiously for this opening. One of the men constantly heaved the lead +and cried the soundings as the ship progressed. The pirate chief kept to +the left of the channel and finally passed through into a wide lagoon, +with a scant fathom to spare at the shallowest place. The _Fortune_ +entered without difficulty, but the deeply-laden _Francis_ grounded +midway in and had to wait several hours for the tide to float her. + +Listening to the talk of the crew, Bob heard them say they had come into +the mouth of the Cape Fear River in Carolina. From what he knew of the +nearby coast he believed that it was a very wild region, almost +unsettled, and that there would be slight chance of getting to safety, +even if they were able to effect an escape. This fear seemed justified +later in the day, when Bonnet said to one of his men that there was no +need of shackling the boys as had been done in the Chesapeake. Turning +so that they could hear, he added, "Too many Indians in these woods for +the lads to try to leave the ship." Jeremy, who had seen enough of both +pirates and Indians to last him a lifetime, remarked to his friend that +personally he would risk his neck with one as soon as the other, but Bob +had heard terrible stories of the red men's cruelty and did not agree +with him. "We'd best stay aboard and wait for a better chance," he +argued. + +All three of the sloops were leaky and needed a thorough overhauling in +various ways. As soon as the _Francis_ was off the bar, therefore, they +proceeded up the estuary for a distance of nearly two miles and secured +their vessels in shallow water, where they could be careened at low +tide. + +Next morning and for many hot days thereafter the pirates and their +prisoners toiled hard at the refitting of the ships. Lumber was not easy +to come by in that desolate region and when they had used up all their +spare planking, Bonnet took the _Royal James_ out over the bar to hunt +for the wherewithal to do his patching. After a cruise of a day and a +night to the southward they sighted a small fishing shallop which they +quickly overtook, and captured without a fight. The two men in the +shallop jumped overboard and swam ashore when they saw the black flag, +and Bonnet was too much occupied in getting the prize back to the +river-mouth to give chase. It was an unfortunate thing for him that he +did not do so, but of that presently. The shallop was run into the +river-mouth and broken up the next day. With the fresh supply of lumber +thus secured, the work of repair went forward undelayed, and within a +few weeks the sloops were almost ready for sea again. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +It had been about the beginning of September when the pirate fleet had +sighted the live oaks on the bars of the Cape Fear River. To Bob and +Jeremy those first days were uneventful but hardly pleasant. Through the +long still afternoons a pitiless sun blazed into every corner of the +deck. Wide flats and hot-looking white dunes stretched away on either +hand. Only the line of woods half a mile distant offered a suggestion of +green coolness. When the sun had set the fo'c's'le held the heat like a +baker's oven. One long, tossing night of it sufficed for the two boys, +and after that they sought a corner of the deck away from the snoring +seamen and lying down on the bare planks, contrived to sleep in +reasonable comfort. + +The days were spent in hard work for the most part. A good deal of +washing and cleaning had to be done aboard all three vessels, and as +labor requiring no special skill, it fell frequently to the lot of +Jeremy and Bob. It was small matter to them whether they toiled or were +idle, for the blistering sun allowed no respite and it seemed preferable +to sweat over something useful than over nothing at all. + +On the third day after the return of the _James_ from her foraging trip, +Jeremy, who had been scraping and tarring ropes for hours on end, +straightened his back with a discontented grunt and looked away to the +edge of the woods, his eyebrows puckered in a frown. "Bob," he said in a +voice too low for any of their shipmates to hear, "Bob, I'm going to run +away if something doesn't happen soon." + +"You'll be shot, like as not," answered the Delaware boy. + +"Well, shot let it be," he replied doggedly. "If I'm to stay aboard here +all my life, I'd _rather_ be shot. It looks like the best chance we've +had, right now. Will you come tonight?" + +Bob thought for a moment. "I'm not afraid of their catching us," he +finally said. "It's the Indians, after we're into the woods. You say you +know the Indians and trust them as long as they are treated right. That +may be true of the ones you've known, but these Tuscaroras are +different. They don't talk the same language, and those words you +learned would mayhap go for curses down here. I don't think we ought to +try it." + +Jeremy admitted that his previous acquaintance stood for nothing, but +argued, from the fact that Bonnet had been trying to frighten them, that +he had probably exaggerated the danger. Finally, not wishing to leave +his friend if he could help it, he agreed to abandon the plan for the +present. + +They worked at the rope-tarring till suppertime, then rose wearily, +stretching, and went for their salt-horse and biscuit. When the coarse +rations were eaten, it was nearly sunset. Jeremy watched the sluggish +water glide by below the canted rail, till at last small quivering blurs +of light, the reflections of stars, began to gleam in the ripples. A +faint breeze, sprung up with the coming of night, blew across the +sweltering lagoon. Bob, tired out, fell asleep, his head pillowed on the +deck. The pirates, some below in the bunks, some stretched on the +planking, lay like dead men. After the hard labor of the day even the +regular watch slumbered undisturbed. Jeremy's thoughts went drifting off +into half-dreams as the soft black water lulled him with its unending +whisper. His head nodded. He raised it, striving, he knew not why, to +keep awake. The gentle water-sounds crept in again, soothing his drowsy +ears. He was close to sleep--so close that another moment would have +taken him across the border. But in that little time the sharp double +cry of a heron, flying high over the lagoon, cut the night air and +startled the boy broad awake. + +As he stared off over the dim whiteness of the bars, his senses astretch +for a repetition of that weird call, there was a faint splashing in the +water close to the sloop. One of the starpools was blotted out in +blackness at the instant he turned to look over the rail. The boy's +heart seemed to be beating against the roof of his mouth. Thoughts of +alligators crossed his mind, for he had heard of them from the pirates +who had plied in southern waters. As quietly as he could, he moved to +the rail and stood staring over, his eyes bulging into the dark and his +breath coming short and fast. For perhaps a minute there was no sight +nor sound but the lapping water of the lagoon. Then he became aware of a +whiteness drifting close, and heard a familiar voice whispering his +name. "Jeremy--Jeremy--it's Job!" said the white blotch. It bumped +softly along the side, and at last the boy could see the homely features +of his old friend, pale through the gloom. There was a loose rope-end +dragging over the side, and Job's hand feeling along the woodwork came +in contact with it. + +"Better not try to come aboard," whispered Jeremy. "They're all on deck +here. Can you take us off?" + +There was silence for an instant as Job felt for a hold in one of the +gun ports. Then he raised himself till his head was level with the deck. + +"Is the other lad there?" he asked. + +"Ay," replied Jeremy. "He's here but he will have to be wakened." + +[Illustration: "Don't say a word--sh!--easy there--are you awake?"] + +"Go to him and take his hand. Begin squeezing soft-like, and press +harder till he opens his eyes. Don't startle him," was Job's admonition. + +The boy did as he was bid. A gentle grip on the Delaware lad's palm +brought him to his senses. Jeremy was whispering in a cool, steady +undertone, "Bob, that's the lad--wake up, Bob--don't say a +word--sh!--easy there--are you awake?" When he was rewarded by a nod of +comprehension, he told his comrade of Job's presence and the chance they +had to escape. Bob understood in a moment. They returned to the rail and +first one, then the other let himself quietly down, holding to the rope. +Jeremy slipped into the water last. + +Luckily they could both swim, though the sloop was so near the beach +that swimming was hardly necessary. The tall ex-pirate crawled out upon +the sand in the lead and they followed him quickly over a dune and +across another creek. They were now far enough away for their flight to +be unheard and Job began to run, the boys close behind him. They made a +good mile to the south before he allowed his panting runaways to stop +for breath. There in the reeds beside a narrow estuary, they came upon a +small dinghy, pulled up. The seaman ran the boat into the water, bundled +the boys into the bottom astern, and was quickly pulling down stream +along the sharp windings of the creek. + +When they had put three miles of sand and water behind them, Job rested +on his oars to catch his breath. His voice came through the hot dark, +pantingly. "Lucky you stood up an' came to the rail the way you did, +lad," he said. "I didn't know just how I was to reach you. When you came +to the side I could see it was a boy, an' knew things was all right. +Well--we'd best be gettin' on--no tellin' how soon they may find you're +gone." Once more the big Yankee bowed his back to the task in hand and a +silence fell, broken only by the faint sound of the muffled oars and the +swirl of water along the sides. Not even the thrill of the escape could +keep the two tired boys awake, and it was nearly an hour later that they +were roused by voices calling at no great distance. A tall black mass on +which showed a single moving light rose out of the gloom ahead. The hail +was repeated. "Oh, there, Job Howland--boat ahoy! What luck?" "All's +well," replied Job, and ran in under the ship's counter. A line was let +down and as soon as the skiff was made fast Bob and Jeremy and their +deliverer scrambled up to the open port. + +There was shouting and a moving to and fro of lanterns, as they were +ushered into the cabin, and suddenly a tall man, half-clad, burst +through the door at the farther end. He had the tattered form of Bob +Curtis in his arms in an instant, and great boy though he was, the +Delaware lad hugged his father ecstatically and wept. + +Job and Jeremy, pleased as they were to see this reunion, were hardly +comfortable in its presence and made a vain attempt to withdraw +gracefully. The merchant was after them before they could reach the +door. "Here, Howland," he cried, holding to Bob with one hand and +seizing the ex-pirate's arm with the other. "Don't you try to leave yet. +Gad, man, this is the happiest hour I've had in years. I owe you so much +that it can't be put in figures. And this tall lad is Jeremy that you've +told me of. Look at the sunburn on the pair of 'em--pretty desperate +characters to have aboard, I'm afraid!" + +His roar of laughter was joined by the other three, as he showed the way +to a couple of roomy berths, built in at the end of the cabin. The two +boys were left, after a final boisterous "Good-night," and proceeded to +make themselves snug between the linen sheets. Jeremy had never slept in +such luxury in his whole life, and moved gingerly for fear of hurting +something. At last their exhilaration subsided enough for the rescued +lads to go to sleep once more. Jeremy's last thought was a half-mournful +one as he wondered how long it must be before he, too, could throw +himself against the broad homespun wall of his father's breast. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +When they woke it was to the regular heave and lurch of a sailing vessel +in motion, and Jeremy, looking out the port, beheld the crisp, sparkling +blue of open sea. + +There were two suits of every-day clothes upon the cabin bench and into +these the boys climbed, impatient to get out on deck. The ship was the +big merchantman, _Indian Queen_, though Bob, used as he was to her +appearance, would hardly have known her in her new guise. Long lines of +black cannon grimly faced the open ports along either side. The rail had +been built up solidly to a height of about six feet, so that the main +deck was now a typical gun deck, open overhead. Her regular crew of +seasoned mariners was augmented by as many more longshoremen, all good +men, picked for their courage and hand-to-hand fighting ability. + +Job, who acted as second mate and was in full charge of the gun crews, +took the boys proudly from one big carronade to another, explaining each +improvement which his experience or ingenuity had devised. His chief +pride was the long nine-pounder in the bows. She was a swivel gun set on +bearings so finely adjusted and well-greased that one man could aim +her. Job patted her shiny brass rump lovingly as he looked across the +blue swells ahead. He could hardly wait for the hour when he should set +a match to her breach. + +Clarke Curtis joined the group a few minutes later, and they went +together to the main cabin. Bob's father, Mr. Ghent, the Captain, and +Job Howland settled themselves comfortably over long pipes and glasses +of port, and prepared to hear the boys' story. Jeremy, bashful in such +fine company, was persuaded to recount his adventures from the time Job +had gone over the side till the kidnapped Delaware boy had come aboard. +Then Bob took up the tale and told with much spirit of the storm, the +trip up the Chesapeake and the subsequent pursuit of the _Francis_ off +the Capes. From this point on the two lads told the story together, +eagerly interrupting each other to put in some incident forgotten for +the moment. When they came to the discovery of Pharaoh Daggs' chart, Job +sat up with a jerk. "I always thought he knew!" he exclaimed. "Jeremy, +lad, could ye draw me a picture of what 'twas like?" The boy readily +consented, and given a piece of paper, proceeded to set down, from his +memory of the outline and from the general measurements he had taken, a +very fair copy of the original. The ex-buccaneer leaned over him as he +drew, and shook his head doubtfully as the work went on. "No," he said +when the boy had finished, "I can't recall such a bay just this minute. +An' as there was nothin' on it to tell where it might be, I don't know +as there's anything for us to do. Like as not it's on some little island +as isn't set down, so 'twould be scant use to look over the ship's +charts. Still, I'll try it." A half-day of poring over the maps produced +no result. There were bays large and small that resembled the one Jeremy +had drawn, but none closely enough to warrant the belief that it was the +same. "Well," remarked Job as he put away the charts, "Daggs'll never +live to reach his bay. He'll swing on Charles Town Dock, an' I mistake +not." But in that saying at least the ex-pirate proved himself no +prophet. + +The light wind held and the _Indian Queen_ made reasonable speed down +the coast for nearly two days. Then, after drifting under short sail all +night, she made in with the dawn, past the small island which nearly a +century and a half later was to be the scene of a great war's beginning, +crept up against the tide till noon and anchored off the thriving port +of Charles Town. Mr. Curtis and Job went ashore in the cutter, as soon +as all was snug aboard. On landing they went directly to the Governor's +house. + +Governor Johnson was at home and gladly welcomed the Delaware merchant, +who was an old acquaintance of his. When they had been shown into a +large room where the official business of the colony was transacted, Mr. +Curtis proceeded at once to the point of his visit. He learned that the +messenger from Delaware had arrived and his plea for aid had been duly +considered. Johnson was troubled at having no better answer for his +friend, but said that the treasury of the southern colony had not yet +recovered from the strain put upon it four years before at the time of +the Indian massacres. He believed that he had no right at this time to +spend the public funds in fitting out a fleet, unless it was to avenge +an injury done some member of the colony. His honest distress at being +unable to assist was so obvious that neither the merchant nor his chief +gunner felt like urging their claim for help. + +Mr. Curtis told of the rescue of the two boys, much to the discomfort of +the blushing Job, and they rose to take their departure, feeling no ill +will toward the Governor for his inability to help them. As they started +to go out of the room, a loud insistent knock was heard. "Come in," said +Johnson, and immediately the door was opened to admit a short, +well-built gentleman, very much flushed as to the face, and whose eyes +fairly shot forth sparks. He was followed by two other men, dressed in +rough clothes that seemed to have seen recent hard usage. The leader +advanced with rapid steps. "Look'e here, Governor," he said, "those +confounded pirates are at us again. Here's two of my men----" + +"Gently, Colonel Rhett," interrupted the Governor, his eyes twinkling. +"Allow me to introduce Mr. Clarke Curtis of Delaware and his friend, Mr. +Howland. I believe your business and theirs will fall very easily into +one track. Pray be seated, gentlemen." + +The Colonel shot a keen glance at these new acquaintances and, when the +four had taken chairs around the table, began again more calmly to tell +his story. A fishing smack, one of a half-dozen open boats belonging to +him, had been cruising along the coast to the eastward the week before, +and when about forty miles west of Cape Fear had sighted a large black +sloop under great spread of sail, bearing down upon her. The two men in +the shallop put about and made for shore as fast as they could, using +oars and canvas alike, but when they were still half a mile out they saw +that the pursuing ship flew a black pirate flag. When, a few moments +after, a round shot came dangerously close to their stern, they leaped +over the side without more ado and succeeded in swimming ashore, glad to +come out of the adventure with whole skins. After a perilous journey of +many leagues overland, they had just arrived in Charles Town and +reported the affair to Rhett, their employer. "So you see," said the +Colonel in conclusion, "we're in for another siege of the kind we had +with _Blackbeard_ unless we take some quick action on this." + +Johnson sat thoughtful for a moment. "Let me put the matter up to you +exactly as it now stands," he finally said. "There is a little money in +the treasury. But to buy and fit out properly three ships would drain us +almost as dry as we were in 1715. Would you have me do that, Rhett?" The +Colonel shook his head. "No," he replied, "you must not." Then after +looking at the floor for a moment he stood up with quick decision. "See +here," he said, "we can get enough volunteers to do this whole business +or my name's not William Rhett." Mr. Curtis thrust out a big hand. "My +ship _Indian Queen_, twenty-one guns, is in the harbor, ready for sea. +She's at your service," he smiled. The Colonel gripped his hand +delightedly. "Done," he cried, "and now let's see what other commanders +we can recruit. Will you give me a commission, Governor?" And receiving +an affirmative reply, he led the way down to the docks. + +Colonel Rhett was a well-known figure in Charles Town. He owned a large +plantation a few miles inland, and conducted a fish warehouse as well. +Among tobacco growers, townsmen and sea-captains alike he was widely +acquainted and respected as much as any man in the colony. His courage +and skill as a soldier were proverbial, for he had been a leader in the +suppression of the Indian uprising. Certainly no man in the Carolinas +was better fitted for the task which he had in hand. For two days he and +his friends from the _Queen_ fairly lived on the wharves, and before +sunset of the second he had secured the services of two sloops, the +_Henry_, Captain John Masters, and the _Sea Nymph_, Captain Fayrer Hall. +Neither ship was equipped for fighting, but by using cannon from the +town defences and borrowing some half-dozen pieces from the +heavily-armed _Indian Queen_, a complement of eight guns for each sloop +was made up. + +On September 15th the three ships, in war trim and carrying in their +combined crews nearly 200 men, crossed the Charles Town bar. Just before +they sailed news had come in that the notorious pirate, Charles Vane, +had passed to the south with a prize, and Rhett's first course was laid +along the coast in that direction. Two or three days of search in the +creeks and inlets failed to reveal any sign of the buccaneer, however, +and much to the relief of the impatient Mr. Curtis, they put about for +Cape Fear on the eighteenth. The progress of the fleet up the coast was +slow. Constant rumors of pirates were received, and every hiding place +on the shore was examined as they went along. + +Bob and Jeremy, wild with suppressed excitement, could hardly brook this +delay, for, as they warned the officers of the expedition repeatedly, +there was every reason to expect that Bonnet would leave the river soon, +if he had not gone already. For this reason the _Indian Queen_ went on +in advance of the others and patrolled the waters off the headland for +four days, until Rhett should come up. + +On the evening of the twenty-sixth he made his appearance and as there +was still light they decided to enter the river-mouth. The tide was just +past flood. Rhett's flagship, the _Henry_, nosed in first over the bar +and was followed by the _Sea Nymph._ The great, deep-draughted _Queen_ +advanced to within a few lengths of the entrance, but the soundings +showed that even there she had only a fathom or two to spare, and would +certainly come to grief if she adventured further. As it was, even the +lighter sloops ran aground fifteen minutes later and were not launched +again till nearly dawn. Captain Ghent had anchored the big ship as close +in as he dared and she sat bow-on to the channel-mouth. Her two consorts +were in plain sight a few hundred yards inside. Rhett came back during +the night in a small boat and held a council of war with Curtis, Ghent +and Job Howland. He reported that a party of pirates in longboats had +come down river during the evening to reconnoitre, but had beat a +retreat as soon as they had seen the _Henry's_ guns. + +It was decided about half the crew of the _Queen_ should be added to the +force of men on the two sloops, while the big vessel herself was forced +to be content with standing guard off the entrance. This was a bitter +blow not only to Mr. Curtis, but to Job and the boys, who had looked +forward to the battle with zest. + +Bob and Jeremy had been ordered to bed about midnight, but they rose +before light, in their excitement, and sunrise found them in the bows +with Job, watching the long point of sand behind which they knew the +pirates lay. Preparations had been made aboard the _Henry_ and _Sea +Nymph_ for an immediate advance up the river. Hardly had the first slant +beams of sunlight struck upon Rhett's deck before the crew were lustily +pulling at the main halyards and winding in the anchor chain. + +But even before the two Carolina sloops were under way there was an +excited chorus of "Here he comes!" and above the dune at the bend of the +river, appeared the headsails of the _Royal James_. Bonnet had weighed +his chances and decided for a running fight. The pirate ship cleared the +point, nearly a mile away, and came flying down, every inch of canvas +drawing in the stiff offshore breeze. It seemed for a moment as if she +might get safely past the Carolinians and out to sea, with the _Queen_ +as her only antagonist. Probably Bonnet had counted on the +unexpectedness of his maneuver to accomplish this result. But if so, he +had left out of his reckoning the character of William Rhett. That +gentleman hesitated not an instant, but headed upstream directly toward +the enemy. Fortunately, he had two good skippers in Masters and Hall, +for the good Colonel himself knew little of sailing. Thanks to these +lieutenants, the two attacking sloops were let off the wind at exactly +the right time, and filled away down the river close together off the +pirate's starboard bow. Bonnet raced up abeam, firing broadsides as fast +as his men could load, and his cannonade was answered in kind from the +_Henry_. She and the _Sea Nymph_ began to veer over to port, forcing the +black sloop closer and closer to shore, but the buccaneer Captain +refused to take in an inch of sail. His course was all but justified. +The speedy craft which he commanded gained on her foes hand over hand +till, when only a few hundred yards from the narrow mouth of the +estuary, she led them both by her own length. + +From the deck of the _Queen_ Jeremy and Bob could pick out the big form +of Herriot at the tiller. Just as the _Royal James_ passed into the +lead, they saw him swing mightily on the long steering-beam while at the +same instant the main sheet was hauled in. It was prettily done. The +pirate went hard over to starboard, kicking up a wave of spray as she +slewed. She sprang away from under the bows of the _Henry_ with only +inches to spare, for the bowsprit of Rhett's sloop tore the edge of her +mainsail in passing. The fierce cheer that rose from the deck of the +black buccaneer was drowned in a jarring crash. She had eluded her foe +only to run, ten seconds later, upon a submerged sand bar. It was now +the Carolinians' turn to cheer, though it soon appeared that they might +better have saved their breath for other purposes. The _Henry_, unable +to check her speed, ran straight ahead, and hardly a minute after her +enemy's mishap was hard aground twenty yards away. Both sloops lay +careened to starboard, so that the whole deck of the _Henry_ offered a +fair target for Bonnet's musketry, while the _Royal James's_ port side +was thrown up, a stout defence against the small-arm fire of Rhett's +men. Owing to the slant of their decks it was impossible to train the +cannon of either ship. + +The _Sea Nymph_, meanwhile, in an effort to cut off the course of the +pirate, had put over straight for the channel mouth, and before she +could come about her bows also were fast in the sand, and she lay stern +toward the other two, but out of musket-shot, unable to take a hand in +the hot fight that followed. Had either the _Henry's_ crew or the +buccaneers been able to send a proper broadside from their position, it +seems that they must surely have blown their foe out of water, though we +need, of course, to make allowance for the comparative feebleness of +their ordnance in contrast to that of the present day. + +The stranding of the three vessels had occupied so short a time that the +little group of witnesses high up in the bow of the _Indian Queen_ had +not yet exchanged a word. Clinging to the rail, open-mouthed, they had +seen the pirate make her bold dash across the bows of her pursuers, only +to strike the bar in her instant of triumph, then following with the +quickness of events in a dream, the grounding first of the _Henry_, +afterwards of the _Nymph_. + +Nor was there an appreciable pause in the spectacle, for the pirates, +who had been shooting steadily during the race down river, wasted no +time in trying to get off the bar, but raked their nearby adversaries' +deck with a withering fire. Rhett's crew tumbled into the scuppers, +where they were under the partial cover of the bulwark, but many were +killed, even before they could reach this shelter, and living and dead +rolled down together, as in a ghastly comedy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +The boys, intent upon this awful scene, turned as a shout from Job +Howland swelled above the uproar. The big gunner was at the breach of +his swivel-gun, ramrod in hand. The little group scattered to one side +or the other, leaving an open space at the bow rail. At the same moment +Job put in his powder, a heavy charge, ramming it home quickly, but with +all care. On top of the wadding went the round-shot, which was in its +turn hammered down under the powerful strokes of the ramrod. Maneuvering +the well-balanced breech with both hands, the tall Yankee trained his +cannon upon the pirate sloop; allowed for distance, raising the muzzle +an inch or more; nosed the wind and glanced at the foremast pennons; +then swung his piece a fraction of an inch to windward. + +At last with a shout of "'Ware fire!" he sprang back and laid his match +to the touch-hole. There was a spurt of flame as the long nine roared +above the staccato bark of the musketry. Then they saw a section of the +pirate's upper rail leap clear of her deck and fall overside. "Too +high," said Job shortly, though Ghent and Curtis had cheered at the +shot, for the distance was a good half-mile. Job worked feverishly at +his reloading, helped by others of the _Queen's_ gun crews. Again the +charge was a stout one, but this time the gunner laid his muzzle +pointblank at the top of the rail, allowing only for wind. Once more he +fired. Just short of the _Royal James_ went up a little tower of spray. +Job said not a word, but set his great angular jaws and went about his +work with all the speed he had. + +"Look," said Jeremy to Bob, in a sudden burst of understanding, "the +tide's rising. See how it runs in past our bows. In another five minutes +one of those boats will be afloat. Watch how the _James_ rocks up and +down already! If she gets off first, it'll go hard with Rhett, for +Bonnet'll let off a broadside as soon as his guns are level. That's why +Job's trying so hard to put a hole in her." + +Almost as he spoke the report of the third shot rolled out. The +buccaneer sloop jumped sharply, like a spurred horse. In her side, just +at the water line, a black streak had suddenly appeared. The waves of +the incoming tide no longer swayed her buoyantly, for she wallowed on +the bar like a log. The effect of the shot, though it could be seen from +the _Sea Nymph_, where it was greeted with cheers, was still unknown +aboard the _Henry_. In the wash of water as the tide rolled in, Rhett's +sloop stood almost on an even keel. The remnant of his crew appeared to +have taken heart, for a brisk fire now answered that of the buccaneers. +Suddenly a triumphant shouting began aboard the stranded flagship, soon +answered in increasing volume from her two consorts. The _Henry_ was +moving slowly off the bar. + +On the black sloop there was a silence as of death. Stede Bonnet, late +gentleman of the island of Barbadoes, honorably discharged as major from +the army of his Majesty, since turned sea-rover for no apparent cause, +and now one of the most notorious plunderers of the coast, faced his +last fight. Outnumbered nearly ten to one, his ship a stranded hulk, his +cannon useless, surely he read his doom. His men read it and turned +sullenly to haul down the tattered rag of black that still hung from the +masthead. But a last blaze of the old mad courage flared up in the +Captain, as he faced them, dishevelled and bloody, from behind cocked +pistols. Above the tumult of the fusillade his voice, usually so clear, +rose hoarse with anger. "I'll scatter the deck with the brains of any +man who will not fight to the end!" he cried. + +For a second the issue was in doubt. In another instant the iron spell +he held over his men must have won them back. Herriot was already +running to his side. But before he reached his chief a louder cheer from +the attacking sloops made him turn. The black "Roger" fluttered +downward to the deck. + +One of the captive sailors from the _Francis_, fearing to be taken for a +pirate if it came to deck-fighting, had crept up behind the mast and cut +the flag halyards. The men's hearts fell with the falling ensign and +they stood irresolute while the _Henry_ went up alongside. There was now +water enough for her to come close aboard and when she stood at a boat's +length distant, Colonel Rhett appeared at the rail. He pointed to the +muzzles of four loaded cannon aboard his sloop and told Bonnet that he +would proceed to blow him into the air if he did not surrender in one +minute's time. There was little parley. The pirate captain's flare of +resistance had burned out and pale and strangely shaken he handed over +his sword and submitted to the disarming of his men. + +It was now well along in the morning. The prisoners whom Rhett had taken +were rowed out in small boats across the bar and put aboard the _Indian +Queen_. One by one they were hauled over the side and placed below in +chains. Job, Jeremy and Bob stood at a little distance and counted those +who had been captured. Now and then they were greeted by an ugly look +and a curse as some old shipmate recognized them. Last of all, Major +Bonnet passed, haggard and unkempt, his head bowed in shame. + +"Thirty-five in all," finished Job. "Guess our old and handsome friend, +Pharaoh Daggs must have got his gruel in that fight. Well, if ever man +deserved to die a violent death, it's him. I'd like to make sure, +though. Want to go over to the _James_ with me?" Both boys welcomed the +opportunity and as the longboat was just then starting back, they were +soon aboard the battered pirate, so recently their home. Three or four +dead men lay on the canted deck, for no effort had been made as yet to +clean the ship. Bob and Jeremy had no stomach for looking at the corpses +of their erstwhile companions and turned rather to explore the cabin and +fo'c's'le, leaving Job to hunt for the body of their old enemy. + +In the long bunkroom some water had entered with the rising tide and +they found the lower side a miniature lake. In the semi-darkness, +seamen's chests floated past like houses in a flood. One of the big +boxes was open, half its contents trailing after it. Something familiar +about the brass-bound cover and the blue cloth that hung over the side +made Jeremy start. "Daggs' chest!" he exclaimed and reached forward, +pulling it up on the dry planking. The two boys delved into the damp +rubbish it held. There were a few clothes, a rusty pistol, an able +seaman's certificate crumpled and torn almost beyond recognition. The +sack of money and the chart were gone. After searching in dark corners +of the fo'c's'le and fishing in the pool of leakage without discovering +what they sought, the boys returned to the box. "Odd," said Jeremy at +length. "Every other chest is locked fast. Why should he have opened +his?" This seemed unanswerable. They returned to the deck, to find Job +peering into the green water overside. "The body's not here," said the +big seaman, "unless he fell over the rail or was thrown over. I'm +looking to see if it's down there." The sand shone clean and white +through the shallow water on every side. No trace of the buccaneer was +to be seen. Jeremy told of finding the open chest. "Hm," mused Job, +"looks like he'd got away, though he may be dead; I'd like to know for +sure. Still," he added, his face clearing, "chances are we'll never see +nor hear of him again." And putting the man with the broken nose out of +their thoughts, they rejoined their friends on the big merchantman. + +Just before nightfall the Carolina sloops, which had made an expedition +up the river, returned with Bonnet's two prizes in tow. They had been +abandoned in the effort to escape, and Rhett had launched them without +difficulty. A great sound of hammering filled the air above the desert +lagoon for two days. The old _Revenge_, now so rechristened since she +had fallen into honest hands, had to be floated, for there was still +service in her shattered black hull. A hundred men toiled on and around +her, and in a remarkably short time a jury patch was made in her gaping +side and her hold pumped dry. Then crews were picked to man the three +captured sloops, and the flotilla was ready to return triumphant. On the +morning when they stood out to sea, the twelve men of Rhett's party who +had been killed in action were buried with military honors, saluted by +the cannon of the fleet. + +A voyage of three days, unmarred by any accident, brought the victorious +squadron into Charles Town harbor. Joy knew no bounds among the +merchants and seamen along the docks. Indeed, the rejoicing spread +through the town to the tune of church bells and the whole colony was +soon made aware of Rhett's victory. + +When the buccaneers had been taken ashore under a heavy guard and locked +up in the public watchhouse, Mr. Curtis and Bob, with Job and Jeremy, +went ashore to stretch their legs. It was a fine, fall day, warm as +midsummer to Jeremy's way of thinking. The docks were fascinatingly full +of merchandise. Great hogsheads of molasses and rum from Jamaica, set +ashore from newly arrived ships, shouldered for room with baled cotton +and boxes of tobacco ready to be loaded. There was a smell of spices and +hot tar where the sun beat down on the white decks and tall spars of +the shipping. Negroes, hitherto almost unknown to the Yankee boy, +handled bales and barrels on the wharves, their gleaming black bodies +naked to the waist. + +Planters from the fertile country behind the town rode in with their +attendant black boys, and gathered at the coffee-houses on King Charles +Street. It was to one of these, the "Scarlet Fish," that the bluff +Delaware man took his protégés for dinner. + +The place was resplendent with polished deal and shining pewter. +Curtains of brightly colored stuff hung at the high square windows, and +on the side where the sun entered, pots of flowers stood in the broad +window-shelves. There were gay groups of men at the tables, and talk of +the pirates was going everywhere over the Madeira and chocolate. It +seemed the news of Job's gunnery had been spread by Rhett's men, for +some of the diners recognized and pointed to him. A pretty barmaid, with +dimples in her elbows, curtsied low as she set down his cup. "Oh, yes, +Captain Howland!" she answered as he gave his order, blushed a deep pink +and ran to the kitchen. Whereupon Job, quite overcome, vowed that the +ladies of Carolina were the fairest in the world, and Mr. Curtis roared +heartily, saying that "Captain Howland" it should be, and that before +many months, if he knew a good seadog. + +As they sat and sipped their coffee after a meal that reflected glory +upon the cook of the "Scarlet Fish," Colonel Rhett came in and made his +way to their table through a hurly-burly of back-slappings and "Bravos." +As soon as he was able to sit down in peace, he drew Mr. Curtis a little +aside to talk in private. The two boys were content to watch the +changing scene and listen to the hearty badinage of the fashionable +young blades about the tables. It was, you must remember, Jeremy's first +experience of luxury, unless the good, clean quarters and wholesome +meals aboard the _Queen_ could be so called. He had never read any book +except the Bible, had never seen more than a half-dozen pictures in his +life. From these and from the conversation of backwoodsmen and, more +recently, of pirates, he had been forced to form all his conceptions of +the world outside of his own experience. It is a tribute to his clean +traditions and sturdy self-reliance that he sat unabashed, pleased with +the color, the gayety, the richness, but able still to distinguish the +fine things from the sham, the honest things from those which only +appeared honest--to feel a thrill of pride in his father's hard, +rough-hewn life and his own. + +Colonel Rhett's conference with Mr. Curtis being over, the score was +paid and the party took their triumphal way to the door, Job turning his +sunburned face once or twice to glance regretfully after the dimpled +barmaid. + +That afternoon they were taken to the Governor's house, where Job and +each of the boys told the story of their experiences in Bonnet's +company. These stories were sworn to as affidavits and kept for use in +the coming trial of the pirate crew. It was a special dispensation of +the Governor's which allowed them to give their evidence in this form +instead of waiting in Charles Town for the court to sit, and needless to +say they were heartily glad of it. The formalities over, Governor +Johnson led the party into the adjoining room. He motioned them to sit +down and faced them with a smile. "Now, my lads," said he, "the spoil +taken on the _Royal James_ has been divided, and though, as you may +guess, it had to go a long way, there's a share left for each of you." +Jeremy and Bob stared at each other and at their friends. The benign +smiles of Mr. Curtis, Colonel Rhett and Job showed that they had known +beforehand of this surprise. The Governor was holding out a small +leather sack in each hand. "Here, catch," he laughed, and the two +astonished lads automatically did as they were bid. In each purse there +was something over twenty guineas in gold. Before they had found words +to thank the Governor he laughed again merrily. "Never mind a speech of +acceptance," said he. "Colonel Rhett, here, has something else for you." + +"Yes," replied the Colonel. "You see, there was a deal of junk in the +Captain's cabin that comes to me as Admiral of the expedition. I'd be +much pleased if you two lads would each pick out anything that pleases +you, as a personal gift from myself and Stede Bonnet." As he spoke, he +took the cloth cover from a table which stood at one side. On it the +boys saw a shining array of small arms, some glass and silver decanters +and a pile of books. The Colonel motioned Bob forward. "Here you are, +lad, take your choice," he said. Bob stepped to the table and glanced +over the weapons eagerly. He finally selected a silver-mounted pistol +with the great pirate's name engraved on the butt, and went with pride +to show it to his father. + +It was Jeremy's turn. He had no hesitation. From the moment he had heard +the offer his shining eyes had been fastened upon one object, and now he +went straight to the table and picked up the biggest and thickest of the +heap of books, a great leather-bound volume--Bunyan's "Pilgrim's +Progress." It is not the least inexplicable fact in the career of the +terrible Stede Bonnet that he was a constant reader of such books as +this and the "Paradise Lost" of Milton. Bunyan's great allegory had +come at last into a place where it could do more good than in the cabin +bookshelf of a ten-gun buccaneer. Jeremy, poor lad, uneducated save for +the rude lessons of his father and the training of the open, had longed +for books ever since he could remember. He had affected a gruff scorn +when Bob had spoken from his well-schooled knowledge, but inwardly it +had been his sole ground for jealousy of the Delaware boy. That +ponderous leather book was read many times and thoroughly in after +years, and it became the foundation of such a library as was not often +met with in the colonies. Job gave the lad an understanding smile and a +pat on the back, for Jeremy had told him of his passion for an +education. + +The four grown men drank each other's health and separated with many +hearty handclasps. An hour later the _Queen's_ anchor was up and she was +moving out to sea upon the tide, cheered vigorously from the docks and +saluted by every vessel she passed. The warm September dusk settled over +the ocean. A soft land breeze rustled in the shrouds, and the great +sails filled with a gentle flapping. Slowly the tall ship bowed herself +to the northeast and settled away on her course contentedly, while the +water ran with a smooth murmur beneath her forefoot. Jeremy, lying +wide-eyed in his bunk, where a single star shone through the open port, +thought it the sweetest sound he had ever heard. He was homeward bound +at last. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +There were brave days aboard the _Queen_ as she voyaged up the +coast--days of sun and light winds when the boys sat lazily in the blue +shadow of the sails, looking off through half-closed eyes toward the +faint line of shore that appeared and disappeared to leeward; or +listened to Job's long tales of adventure up and down the high seas; or +fished with hand-lines over the taffrail, happy if they pulled up even a +goggle-eyed flounder. Twice they ran into fog, and on those days, when +the wet dripped dismally off the shrouds and the watch on deck sang +mournful airs in the gray gloom, the two lads settled into big chairs in +the cabin, beneath a mighty brass oil-lamp, and while Bob sat bemused +over Captain Dampier's Voyages, Jeremy fought Apollyon with that good +knight Christian, in "Pilgrim's Progress." But best of all were the days +of howling fair weather, when sky and sea were deep blue and the wind +boomed over out of the west, and the scattered flecks of white cloud +raced with the flying spray below. Then all hands would stand by to +slack a sheet here or reef a sail there, and Ghent, who was a bold +sailor, would take the kicking tiller with Job's help, and keep the big +ship on her course, the last possible foot of canvas straining at the +yardarms. High along the weather rail, with the wind screaming in their +ears or down in the lee scuppers where the white-shot green passed close +below with a roar and a rush, the boys would cling, yelling aloud their +exultation. It was more than the risk, more than the dizzy movement that +made them happy. With every hour of that strong wind they were ten knots +farther north. + +So they sailed; and one morning when the mist cleared, Mr. Curtis led +both boys to the port rail to show them where the green head of Cape +Henlopen stood, abeam. There was moisture in the corners of his eyes as +he pointed to it. "Thank God, Bob, my lad, you're here to see the +Delaware again!" he said huskily. + +Up the blue bay they cruised in the fine October weather and came in due +time--a very long time it seemed to some aboard--to the roadstead +opposite New Castle port. There was a boat over almost before the anchor +was dropped and a picked crew rowed the Curtises, Job and Jeremy ashore +as fast as they dared without breaking oars. They drew up across the +swirling tidewater to the foot of a long pier. It was black with people +who cheered continually, and somewhere above the town a cannon was fired +in salute, but all Bob saw was a slender figure in white at the +pier-edge and all he heard was a woman's happy crying. A message to his +mother telling of his safety had been sent from Charles Town three weeks +before, and there she was to welcome him. There was a ladder further in +along the pier, but before they reached it some one had thrown a rope +and Bob swarmed up hand over hand. Jeremy, stricken with a sudden +shyness, watched the happy, tearful scene that followed from the boat +below. + +Women had had small part in his own life. Since his mother's death he +had known a few in the frontier settlements, and they had been good to +him in a friendly way, but this ecstatic mother-love was new and it made +him feel awkward and lonely. + +It seemed that all Delaware colony must be at the waterfront. Every soul +in the little town and men from miles around had turned out to welcome +the returning vessel, for the news of Bonnet's defeat had been brought +in, days before, by a Carolina coaster. There was bunting over doorways +and cheering in the streets as the Governor's coach with the party of +honor drove up the main thoroughfare to the Curtis house. + +When they were within and the laughing crowds had dispersed, Bob's +mother came to Jeremy, put her hands on his shoulders and looked long +into his face. She was a frail slip of a woman, dark like her son, with +a sensitive mouth and big, black eyes full of courage. Jeremy flushed a +slow scarlet under her gaze, but his eyes never flinched as he returned +it. + +"A fine boy," she said, at length, "and my own boy's good friend!" Then +she smiled tenderly and kissed him on the forehead. Jeremy was then and +there won over. All women were angels of light to him from that moment. + +That night, alone in the white wilderness of his first four-poster, the +poor New England boy missed his mother very hard, more perhaps than he +had ever missed her before. He fell asleep on a pillow that was wet in +spots--and he was not ashamed. + +In the days that followed nothing in Delaware Colony was too good for +the young heroes. Jeremy could never understand just _why_ they were +heroes, but was forced to give up trying to explain the matter to an +admiring populace. As for Bob, he gleefully accepted all the glory that +was offered and at last persuaded Jeremy to take the affair as +philosophically as himself. They were in a fair way to be spoiled, but +fortunately there was enough sense of humor between them to bring them +off safe from the head-patting gentlemen and tearfully rapturous ladies +who gathered at the brick house of afternoons. + +Perhaps the thing that really saved them from the effects of too much +petting was the trip up the Brandywine to the Curtis plantation. It was +a fine ride of thirty miles and the trail led through woods just turning +red and yellow with the autumn frosts. Jeremy, though he had been on a +horse only half a dozen times in his life, was a natural athlete and +without fear. He was quick to learn and imitated Bob's erect carriage +and easy seat so well that long before they had reached their journey's +end he backed his tall roan like an old-timer. With Job it was a +different matter. He was all sailor, and though the times demanded that +every man who travelled cross-country must do it in the saddle, the lank +New Englander would have ridden a gale any day in preference to a steed. +Even Jeremy could afford to laugh at the sorry figure his big friend +made. + +The trail they followed was no more than a rough cutting, eight or ten +feet wide, running through the forest. Here and there paths branched off +to right or left and up one of these Bob turned at noon. It led them +over a wooded hill, then down a long slope into the valley of a stream. +"John Cantwell's plantation. We'll stop here for a bite to eat," +explained the boy. By the water side, in a wide clearing, was a group of +log huts and farther along, a square house built of rough gray stone. + +They rode up to the wide door which looked down upon the river. In +answer to Bob's hail a colored boy in a red jacket ran out to take the +horses' heads and four black and white fox terriers tore round the +corner barking a chorus of welcome. Bob jumped down with a laughing, "Ah +there, Rufus!" to the horse-boy, and proceeded to roll the excited +little dogs on their backs. As Jeremy and Job dismounted, a big man in +sober gray came to the doorway. His strong, kindly face broke into a +smile as he caught sight of his visitors. "Well, Bob, I'm mightily glad +to see thee back, lad! We got news from the town only yesterday." He +strode down the steps and took the boy's hand in a hearty grip, then +greeted the others, as Bob introduced them. Jeremy marvelled much at the +cut of the man's coat, which was without a collar, and at his continual +use of the plain _thee_ and _thy_. But there was a direct simplicity +about all his ways, and a gentleness in his eyes that won the boy to him +instantly. + +One moment only he wandered at John Cantwell. In the next he had +forgotten everything about him and stood open-mouthed, gazing at the +square doorway. In the sun-lit frame of it had appeared a little girl of +twelve. She was dressed demurely in gray, set off with a bit of white +kerchief. Her long skirt hid her toes and her hands were folded most +properly. But above this sober stalk bloomed the fairest face that +Jeremy had ever seen. She had merry hazel eyes, a straight little nose +and a firm little chin. Her plain bonnet had fallen back from her head +and the brown curls that strayed recklessly about her cheeks seemed to +catch all the sunbeams in Delaware. + +For a very little time she stood, and then the pursed red mouth could be +controlled no longer. She opened it in a whoop of joy and catching up +her skirts ran to smother Bob in a great hug. Next moment Jeremy, still +in a daze, was bowing over her hand, as he had learned to do at New +Castle. She dropped him a little curtsey and turned to meet Job. + +Betty Cantwell and her father were Quakers from the Penn Colony to the +north, Bob had time to tell Jeremy as they entered. That accounted for +the staid simplicity of their dress and their quaint form of speech--the +plain language, as it was called. Jeremy had heard of the Quakers, +though in New England they were much persecuted for their beliefs by the +Puritans. Here, apparently, people not only allowed them to live, but +liked and honored them as well. He prayed fervently that Betty might +never chance to visit Boston town. Yet already he half hoped that she +would. Of course, he would have grown bigger by then, and would carry a +sword and how he would prick the thin legs of the first grim deacon who +dared so much as to speak to her! These imaginings were put to rout at +the dining-room door by the delicious savor of roast turkey. One of the +black farmhands had shot the great bird the day before, and the three +travellers had arrived just at the fortunate moment when it was to be +carved. + +It was a dinner never to be forgotten. The twenty miles they had ridden +through the crisp air would have given them an appetite, even had they +not been normally good trenchermen, and there were fine white potatoes +and yams that accompanied the turkey, not to mention some jelly which +Betty admitted having made herself, "with cook's help." Bob joyfully +attacked his heaped-up plate and ate with relish every minute that he +was not talking. Jeremy could say not a word, for opposite him was Betty +and in her presence he felt very large and awkward. His hands troubled +him. Indeed, had it been a possibility, he would have eaten his turkey +without raising them above the table edge. As it was, he felt himself +blush every time a vast red fist came in evidence. Yet he succeeded in +making a good meal and would not have been elsewhere for all Solomon +Brig's gold. Perhaps Job, who was neither talkative nor under the spell +of a lady's eyes, wielded the best knife and fork of the three. + +Dinner over, and Bob's story finished, they were taken to see the stable +and the broad tilled fields by the river bank, where corn stood shocked +among the stubble. Afternoon came and soon it was time for them to +start. There were laughing farewells and a promise that they would stop +on the return trip, and before Jeremy could come back to earth the gloom +of the forest shut in above their heads once more. They put the horses +to a canter as soon as the ridge was cleared, for there were still ten +miles to go and the light was waning. Jeremy was very much at home in +the woods, but the chill, sombre depths that appeared and reappeared on +either hand seemed to warn him to be prepared. He reached to the +saddlebow, undid the flap of the pistol holster, and made sure that his +weapon was loaded, then put it back, reassured. The footing was bad, and +they had to go more slowly for a while. Then Bob, in the lead, came to a +more open space where light and ground alike favored better speed. He +spurred his horse to a gallop and had turned to call to the others, when +suddenly the animal he rode gave a snort of fear and stopped with braced +forefeet. Bob, caught off his guard, went over the horse's head with a +lurch and fell sprawling on the ground in front. Then he gave a scream, +for not two feet away he saw the short, cruel head of a coiled +rattlesnake. + +Jeremy, riding close behind, pulled up beside the other horse and threw +himself off. Even as he touched the ground a sharp whirr met his ear +and he saw the fat, still body and vibrating tail of the snake. He +wrenched the pistol from the holster, took the quickest aim of his life +and pulled the trigger. After the shot apparently nothing had changed. +The whirr of the rattle went on for a second or two, then gradually +subsided. Bob lay white-faced, and still as death. Jeremy drew a step +closer and then gave a choked cry of relief. The snake's smooth, +diamond-marked body remained coiled for the spring. Its lithe forepart +was thrust forward from the top coil and the venemous, blunt head--but +the head was no more. Jeremy's ball had taken it short off. + +Bob was unhurt, but badly shaken and frightened, and they followed the +trail slowly through the dusk. Then just as the shadows that obscured +their way were turning to the deep dark of night a small light became +visible straight ahead. They pushed on and soon were luxuriously +stretched before a log fire in the Curtis plantation house, while Mrs. +Robbins, the overseer's wife, poured them a cup of hot tea. + +When bedtime came, Bob came over to Jeremy and gave him a long grip of +the hand, but said never a word. There was no need of words, for the New +England boy knew that his chum would never be quite happy till he could +repay his act in kind. Yet he could not tell Bob that the shooting of a +snake was but a small return for the gift of a vision of one of heaven's +angels. Each felt himself the other's debtor as they got into the great +feather bed side by side. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +Two boys turned loose on a present-day farm can find enough interesting +things to do to fill a book much larger than this. For me to go into the +details of that week's visit to Avon Dale would preclude any possible +chance of your hearing the end of this story. And there are still many +things that need telling. + +But though no great or grave adventure befell the two boys while they +stayed at the plantation, you may imagine the days they spent together. +Back of the farm buildings lay the fields, all up and down the river +bank for miles. And back of the fields, crowding close to the edge of +the plowed ground, the big trees of an age-old forest rose. The great +wild woods ran straight back from the plantation for five hundred miles, +broken only by rivers and the steep slopes of the Alleghanies, as yet +hardly heard of by white men. Giant oaks, ashes and tulip trees mingled +with the pine and hemlock growth. The hillsides where the sun shone +through were thick with rhododendron and laurel. And all through this +sylvan paradise the upper branches and the underbrush teemed with wild +life. Squirrels, partridges and occasional turkeys offered frequent +marks for the long muzzle-loading rifles, while a thousand little song +birds flitted constantly through the leaves. Jeremy had never seen such +hunting in his colder northern country. The game was bigger and more +dangerous in New England, but never had he found it so plentiful. As the +boys were both good marksmen, a great rivalry sprang up between them. +They scorned any but the hardest shots--the bright eye of a squirrel +above a hickory limb fifty yards off or the downy form of a wood pigeon +preening in a tree top. Though a good deal of powder and lead was spent +in the process, they were shooting like old leather-stocking hunters by +the end of the week. + +The last two days had to be spent indoors, for a heavy autumn rain that +came one night held over persistently and drenched the valley with a +sullen, steady pour. Little muddy rivulets swept down across the fields +and joined the already swollen current of the Brandywine. On the morning +when they started back, the river was running high and fast and yellow +along the low banks, but a bright sun shone, and a fresh breeze out of +the west promised fair weather. + +The horses were left at the plantation. They took their guns and a day's +provisions and carried a long, narrow-beamed canoe down to the shore. It +was a dugout, quite unlike the graceful birch affairs that Jeremy had +seen among the Penobscots, but serviceable and seaworthy enough. + +Job, happy to be on the water once more, took the stern paddle, Bob +knelt in the bow, and Jeremy squatted amidships with the blankets and +guns. With a cry of farewell to the kindly folk on the bank, they shoved +out and shot away down the swift river. + +It was exciting work. The stream had overflowed its banks for many yards +and the brown water swirled in eddies among the trees. To keep the canoe +in the main channel required judgment and good steering. Job proved +equal to the occasion and though with their paddling the swiftness of +the current gave the craft a speed of over ten miles an hour, he brought +her down without mishap into a wide-spreading cove. They rested, +drifting slowly across the slack water. "This can't be far from +Cantwell's," Bob was saying, when Jeremy gave a startled exclamation, +and pointed toward the shore, some fifty yards away. A little girl in a +gray frock stood on the bank, her arms full of golden rod and asters. +She had not seen the canoe, for she was looking behind her up the bank. +At that instant there was a crashing in the brush and a big buck deer +stepped out upon the shore, tossing his gleaming antlers to which a few +shreds of summer "velvet" still clung. He was not twenty feet from the +girl, who faced him, perfectly still, the flowers dropping one by one +from her apron. + +It was the rutting season and the buck was in a fighting mood. But he +was puzzled by this small motionless antagonist. He hesitated a bare +second before launching his wicked charge. Then as he bellowed his +defiance there came a loud report. The buck's haunches wavered, then +straightened with a jerk, as he made a great leap up the bank and fell +dead. From Jeremy's long-barrelled gun a wisp of smoke floated away. +Betty Cantwell sat down very suddenly and seemed about to cry, but as +the canoe shot up to the shore she was smiling once more. They took her +aboard and started down stream again. A few hundred yards brought them +to the edge of the Cantwell clearing, where Bob hailed the negroes +working in the field and gave them orders for bringing down the dead +buck. + +At the landing John Cantwell was waiting in some anxiety, for the sound +of Jeremy's shot had reached him at the house. Bob told the story, +somewhat to Jeremy's embarrassment, for nothing was spared in the +telling. The Quaker thanked him with great earnestness and reproved his +daughter gently for straying beyond the plantation. + +After another of those famous dinners Job and the boys returned to their +craft, for there were many miles to make before night. As Jeremy took +up the bow paddle he waved to Betty on the bank, and thrilled with +happiness at the shy smile she gave him. Once again they were in the +current, shooting downstream toward tidewater. + +It was mid-afternoon when they crossed the Brandywine bar and paddled +past the docks of Wilmington. Outside in the Delaware there was a choppy +sea that made their progress slower, and the sun had set when the slim +little craft ran in for the beach above New Castle. The voyagers +shouldered their packs and made their way up the High Street to the +brick house. + +When the greetings were over and the boys were changing their clothes +before coming down for supper, Clarke Curtis entered their room. "Lads," +he said, "I'd advise you to go early to bed tonight. You'll need a long +rest, for in the morning you start overland for New York." At Bob's +exclamation of surprise he went on to explain that the _Indian Queen_ +had weighed anchor two days before for that port, and as there was no +other ship leaving the Delaware soon, he wished the boys to board her at +New York for the voyage to New England. Both youngsters were overjoyed +at the prospect of an early start. Bob, who had been promised that he +could accompany his chum, was hilarious over the news, while Jeremy was +too happy to speak. + +Later, as they were packing their belongings for the trip, Job Howland +came in. He, too, looked excited. "Jeremy, boy," he said, "I'd have +liked to go north with you, but something else has come my way. Mr. +Curtis bought a new schooner, the _Tiger_, last week, and she's being +fitted out now for a coast trader. He offered me the chance to command +her!" + +"Three cheers!" shouted Bob. "Then New Castle will be your home port, +and I'll see you after every voyage!" + +The three comrades chatted of their prospects a while and shortly went +to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +The boys and their luggage were on their way to Wilmington in the family +chaise before dawn, and it was scarce seven o'clock when they bade +farewell to the old colored serving-man and clambered aboard the +four-horse coach that connected in Philadelphia with the mail coach for +New York. + +The coaches of that day were cumbersome affairs, huge of wheel, and with +ridiculously small bodies slung on wide strips of bull's hide which +served for springs. The driver's box was high above the forward running +gear. There were as yet no "seats on top," such as were developed in the +later days of fast stage-coach service. + +In one of these rumbling, swaying conveyances the boys rode the thirty +miles to Philadelphia, crossing the Schuylkill at Gray's Ferry about +noon. They had barely time for a bite of lunch in the White Horse Tavern +before the horn was blown outside and they hurried to take their places +in the north-bound coach. Along the cobbled streets of the bustling, +red-brick town they rumbled for a few moments, then out upon the smooth +dirt surface of the York Road, where the four good horses were put to a +gallop. + +The Delaware, opposite Trenton, was reached by six o'clock, and there +the half-dozen passengers left the coach and were carried across on a +little ferry boat, rowed by an old man and his two sons. They spent the +night at an Inn and next morning early boarded another coach bound +northeast over the sparsely settled hills of New Jersey. The road was +narrow and bad in places, slackening their speed. Twice the horses were +changed, in little hamlets along the way. In the late afternoon they +crossed the marshy flats beyond Newark and just after dusk emerged on +the Jersey side of the Hudson. A few lights glimmered from the low +Manhattan shore. The quaint Dutch-English village which was destined to +grow in two hundred years to be the greatest city in the world, lay +quiet in the gathering dark. + +The ferry was just pulling out from shore, but at the sound of the coach +horn it swung back into its slip and waited for the passengers to board. + +A gruff Hollander by the name of Peter Houter was the ferryman. He stood +at the clumsy steering-beam, while four stout rowers manned the oars of +his wide, flat-bottomed craft. Approaching the steersman, Bob asked +where in the town he would be likely to find the Captain of a +merchantman then taking cargo in the port. The Dutchman named two +taverns at which visiting seafaring men could commonly be found. One was +the "Three Whales" and the other the "Bull and Fish." + +Landing on the Manhattan shore, the boys shouldered their luggage and +trudged by ill-lighted lanes across the island to the East River. As +they advanced along the dock-side, Jeremy distinguished among the +low-roofed houses a small inn before which a great sign swung in the +wind. By the light which flickered through the windows they could make +out three dark monsters painted upon the board, a white tree apparently +growing from the head of each. "The Three Whales," laughed Jeremy, "and +every one a-blowing! Let's go in!" + +It was an ill-smelling and dingy room that they entered. A score of men +in rough sailor clothes lounged at the tables or lolled at the bar. Two +pierced tin lanterns shed a faint smoky light over the scene. Bob waited +by their baggage at the door, while Jeremy made his way from one group +to another, inquiring for Captain Ghent of the _Indian Queen_. Several +of the mariners nodded at mention of the ship, but none could give him +word of the skipper's whereabouts. + +As he was turning to go out he noticed a man drinking alone at a table +in the darkest corner. His eyes were fixed moodily on his glass and he +did not look up. Jeremy shivered, took a step nearer, and almost cried +out, for he had caught a glimpse of a livid, diagonal scar cutting +across the nose from eyebrow to chin. It was such a scar as could belong +to only one man on earth. Jeremy retreated to a darker part of the room +and watched till the man lifted his head. It was Pharaoh Daggs and none +other. + +A moment later the boy had hurried to Bob outside and told him his news. +"If we can find Ghent," said Bob, "he will be able to summon soldiers +and have him placed under arrest." + +They hastened along the river front for a hundred yards or more and came +to the "Bull and Fish." A man in a blue cloth coat was standing by the +door, looking up and down the street. He gave a hail of greeting as they +came up. It was Captain Ghent. + +"I was just going down to the "Three Whales" thinking you might have +stopped there," he said. Bob told him their news and the skipper's face +grew grave. "Better leave the bags here for the present," he suggested +and then, after a moment's quiet talk with the landlord, he led the way +toward the other tavern. On the way he stopped a red-jacketed soldier +who was patrolling the dock. After a word or two had been exchanged the +soldier fell in beside them, and just as they reached the inn door two +more hurried up. + +"Come in with me, Jeremy, and point out the man," said Captain Ghent. + +The lad's heart beat like a triphammer as he entered the tavern once +more. A silence fell on the room when the three soldiers were observed. +Jeremy crossed toward the dark corner. The table was empty. He looked +quickly about at the faces of the drinkers, but Daggs was not there. +"He's gone," he said in a disappointed voice. + +The innkeeper came forward, wiping his hands on his apron. "That fellow +with the scar?" he said. "He went out of here some five minutes ago." + +"Which way?" asked Ghent. But no one in the room could say. + +They passed out again, and Ghent smiled reassuringly at the boys. +"Well," he said, "like as not he'll never cross our path again, so it's +only one rogue the more unhung." + +Jeremy failed to find much comfort in this philosophy, but said no more, +and soon found himself snugly on board the big merchantman, where his +bunk and Bob's were already made up and awaiting them. + +It was good to hear the creak of timbers and feel the rocking of the +tide once more. Jeremy lay long awake that night thinking of many +things. At last he was on the final lap of his journey. The _Indian +Queen's_ cargo would be stowed within a day or two and she would start +with him toward home. He thought with a quiver of happiness of the +reunion with his father. Had he quite given up hope for his boy? Jeremy +had heard of such a shock of joy being fatal. He must be careful. + +He thought of the evil face of the broken-nosed buccaneer. What was +Daggs doing in New York? Just then there was a faint sound as of +creaking cordage from beyond the side. Jeremy's bunk was near the open +port and by leaning over a little he could see the river. Barely a +boat's length away, in the dark, a tall-masted, schooner-rigged craft +was slipping past on the outgoing tide, with not so much as a +harbor-light showing. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +It was on the second morning after the boys had reached New York that +the _Indian Queen_ went down the harbor, her canvas drawing merrily in +the spanking breeze of dawn. The intervening day had been spent at the +dock-side, where wide-breeched Dutch longshoremen were stoutly hustling +bales and boxes of merchandise into the hold. Jeremy had watched the +passers along the river front narrowly, though he could not help having +a feeling that Pharaoh Daggs was gone. The fancy would not leave his +mind that there was some connection between the vanished pirate and the +dark vessel he had seen stealing out on the night tide. + +A strong southwest wind followed them all day as the _Queen_ ran past +the low Long Island shore, and that night, though Captain Ghent gave +orders to shorten sail, the ship still plunged ahead with unchecked +speed. They cleared the Nantucket shoals next day and saw all through +the afternoon the sun glint on the lonely white dunes of Cape Cod. + +Two more bright days of breeze succeeded and they were working up +outside the fringe of islands, large and small, that dot the coast of +Maine. + +Jeremy was too excited even to eat. He stayed constantly by the man at +the helm and was often joined there by Bob and the Captain, as they drew +nearer to the Penobscot Bay coast. In the morning they dropped anchor in +fifteen fathoms, to leeward of a good-sized fir-clad island. Jeremy had +a dim recollection of having seen it from the round-topped peak above +his father's shack. His heart beat high at the thought that tomorrow +might bring them to the place they sought, and it was many hours before +he went to sleep. + +At last the morning came, cloudless and bright, with a little south +breeze stirring. Before the sun was fairly clear of the sea, the anchor +had been catted, and the _Queen_ was moving gracefully northeastward +under snowy topsails. + +They cleared a wide channel between two islands and Jeremy, forward with +the lookout, gave a mighty shout that brought his chum to his side on +the run. There to the east, across a dozen miles of silver-shimmering +sea, loomed a gray peak, round and smooth as an inverted bowl. "It's the +island!" cried Jeremy, and Captain Ghent, turning to the mate, gave a +joyful order to get more sail on the ship. + +About the middle of the forenoon the _Queen_ came into the wind and her +anchor went down with a roar and a splash, not three cables' lengths +from the spot in the northern bay where Jeremy and his father had first +landed their flock of sheep. On the gray slope above the shore the boys +could see the low, black cabin, silent and apparently tenantless. Behind +it was the stout stockade of the sheep-pen, also deserted, and above, +the thin grass and gray, grim ledges climbed toward the wooded crest of +the hill. + +Jeremy's face fell. "They must have gone," he said. But Bob, standing by +the rail as they waited for the jollyboat to be lowered, pointed +excitedly toward the rocky westward shoulder of the island. "Look +there!" he cried. Three or four white dots were moving slowly along the +face of the hill. + +"Sheep!" said Jeremy, taking heart. "They'd not have left the +sheep--unless----" + +But the boat was ready, below the side, and the Captain and the two boys +tumbled quickly in. Five minutes later the four stout rowers sent the +bow far up the sand with a final heave on the oars. They jumped out and +hastened up the hill. There was still no sign of life about the cabin, +but as they drew near a sudden sharp racket startled them, and around +the corner of the sheep-pen tore a big collie dog, barking excitedly. He +hesitated a bare instant, then jumped straight at Jeremy with a whine of +frantic welcome. + +"Jock, lad!" cried the boy, joyfully burying his face in the sable ruff +of the dog's neck. In response to his voice, the door of the cabin was +thrown open and a tall youth of nineteen stepped out, hesitating as he +saw the group below. Jeremy shook off the collie and ran forward. "Don't +you know me, Tom?" he laughed. "I'm your brother--back from the +pirates!" + +The amazed look on the other's face slowly gave place to one of +half-incredulous joy as he gripped the youngster's shoulders and looked +long into his eyes. + +"Know ye!" he said at length with a break in his voice. "Certain I know +ye, though ye've grown half a foot it seems! But wait, we must tell +father. He's in bed, hurt." + +Tom turned to the door again. "Here, father," he called breathlessly. +"Here's Jeremy, home safe and sound!" He seized his brother's hand and +led him into the cabin. In the half-darkness at the back of the room the +lad saw a rough bed, and above the homespun blankets Amos Swan's bearded +face. He sprang toward him and flung himself down by the bunk, his head +against his father's breast. He felt strong, well-remembered fingers +that trembled a little as they gripped his arm. There was no word said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +It was the savory smell of cooking hominy and the sizzle of broiling +fish that woke Jeremy next morning. He drew a breath of pure ecstasy, +rolled over and began pummelling the inert form of Bob, who had shared +his blanket on an improvised bed in the cabin. The Delaware boy opened +an eye, closed it again with carefully assumed drowsiness, and the next +instant leaped like a joyful wildcat on his tormentor. There was a +beautiful tussle that was only broken off by Tom's announcement of +breakfast. + +Opposite the stone fireplace was a table of hewn planks at which Bob, +with Jeremy, Tom and their father, were soon seated. The latter had +bruised his knee several days before, but was now sufficiently recovered +to walk about with the aid of a stick. + +"Father," said Jeremy between mouthfuls, "I want to see that cove again, +where the pirates landed. If we may take the fowling-piece, Bob and I'll +go across the island, after we've bade good-by to Captain Ghent." + +"Ay, lad," Amos Swan replied, "you'll find the cove just as they left +it. An I mistake not, the place where their fire was is still black +upon the beach, and the rum-barrels are lying up among the driftwood. +'Twas there we found them--on the second day. Ah, Jeremy, lad--little we +thought then we'd see you back safe and strong, and that so soon!" + +The white frost of the November morning was still gleaming on the grass +when the two boys went out. Against the cloudless sky the spires of the +dark fir trees were cut in clean silhouette. From the _Indian Queen_, +lying off shore, came the creak of blocks and sheaves as the yards were +trimmed, and soon, her anchor catted home, she filled gracefully away to +the northward, while the Captain waved a cheery farewell from the poop. +He was bound up the coast for Halifax, and was to pick Bob up on his +return voyage, a month later. + +When they had watched the ship's white sails disappear behind the +eastern headland, the boys started up the hill behind the cabin. They +carried a lunch of bread and dried fish in a leather pouch and across +Jeremy's shoulder was one of his father's guns. Bob was armed with the +silver-mounted pistol from Stede Bonnet's arsenal. + +It was a glorious morning for a trip of exploration and the hearts of +both lads were high as they clambered out on the warm bare rock that +crowned the island. + +"Isn't it just as fine as I told you?" Jeremy cried. "Look--those blue +mountains yonder must be twenty leagues away. And you can hardly count +the islands in this great bay! Off there to the south is where I saw the +_Revenge_ for the first time--just a speck on the sea, she was!" + +Bob, who had never seen the view from a really high hill before, stood +open-mouthed as he looked about him. Suddenly he grasped Jeremy's arm. + +"See!" he exclaimed, "down there--isn't that smoke?" He was pointing +toward the low, swampy region in the southwestern part of the island. +Jeremy watched intently, but there was nothing to disturb the morning +calm of sky and shore. + +"That's queer," Bob said at last, with a puzzled look. "I could take an +oath I saw just the faintest wisp of smoke over there. But I must have +been mistaken." + +"Well," laughed Jeremy, "we'll soon make sure, for that's not far from +where we're going." + +They scrambled down, and following the ridge, turned south toward the +lower bay at about the point where Jeremy had been discovered by Dave +Herriot and the pirate Captain. + +Dodging through the tangle of undergrowth and driftwood, they soon +emerged on the loose sand above the beach. As Amos Swan had said, the +rains had not yet washed away the black embers of the great bonfire, and +near by lay a barrel with staves caved in. Looking at the scene, Jeremy +almost fancied he could hear again the wild chorus of that drunken crew, +most of whom had now gone to their last accounting. + +"What say we walk down the shore a way?" suggested Bob. "There might be +a duck or two in that reedy cove below here." And Jeremy, glad to quit +the place, led off briskly westward along the sand. + +Soon they came to the entrance of a narrow, winding tide-creek that ran +back till it was hidden from sight in the tall reeds. Just as they +reached the place, a large flock of sandpeeps flew over with soft +whistling, and lighting on the beach, scurried along in a dense company, +offering an easy target. Bob, who was carrying the gun, brought it +quickly to his shoulder and was about to fire when Jeremy stopped him +with a low "S-s-s-s-t!" + +Bob turned, following the direction of Jeremy's outstretched arm, and +for a second both boys stood as if petrified, gazing up the tide-creek +toward the interior of the island. About a quarter of a mile away, above +the reeds, which grew in rank profusion to a man's height or higher, +they saw a pair of slender masts, canted far over. + +"A ship!" whispered Bob. "Deserted, though, most likely." + +"No," Jeremy answered, "I don't think it. Her cordage would have slacked +off more and she wouldn't look so trim. Bob, wasn't it near here you saw +that smoke?" + +"Jiminy!" said Bob, "so it was! Right over in the marsh, close to those +spars. It's some vessel that's put in here to careen. Wonder where her +crew can be?" + +"That's what looks so queer to me," the other boy replied. "They're +keeping out of sight mighty careful. Men from any honest ship would have +been all over the island the first day ashore. I don't like the look of +it. Let's get back and tell father. Maybe we can find out who it is, +afterwards." + +Bob argued at first for an immediate reconnaissance, but when Jeremy +pointed out the fact that if the strangers were undesirable they would +surely have a guard hidden in the reeds up the creek, he accepted the +more discreet plan. + +They made their way quietly, but with as much haste as possible back +along the shore, past the remnant of the fire, and up the hill into the +thick woods. + +Just as they crossed the ridge and began to see the glint of the +northern inlet through the trees, Jeremy paused with a sudden +exclamation. + +"Here's the spring," he said, "and look at the sign above it. I never +saw that before, for it was dark when I was up here. I almost fell in." + +The spring itself was nearly invisible to one coming from this +direction, but stuck in the fork of a tree, beside it, was a weathered +old piece of ship's planking on which had been rudely cut the single +word WATTER. + +"Some Captain who used to fill his casks here must have put it up so +that the spring would be easier to find," Bob suggested. But Jeremy, +striding ahead, was thinking hard and did not answer. + +Amos Swan heard their news with a grave face. No ship but the _Queen_ +had touched at the island for several months to his knowledge, he said. +He agreed with the boys that the secrecy of the thing looked suspicious. +When Tom came in for the noon meal, his father told him of the discovery +and they both decided to bring the sheep in at once, and make +preparations for possible trouble. + +Tom, armed, and accompanied by the boys, set out soon after dinner for +the western end of the island, two miles from the shack. It was there +that the flock was accustomed to graze, shepherded by the wise dog, +Jock. Their way led along the rocky northern slope, where the sheep had +already worn well-defined paths among the scrubby grass and juniper +patches, then up across a steep knoll and through a belt of fir and +hemlock. When at length they came out from among the trees, the pasture +lay before them. There in a hollow a hundred yards away the flock was +huddled. Jock became aware of their approach at that instant and lifted +his head in a short, choking bark. He started toward them, but before he +had taken a dozen steps they could see that he was limping painfully. +Running forward, Jeremy knelt beside the big collie, then turned with a +movement of sudden dismay and called to his comrades. He had seen the +broad splotch of vivid red stained the dog's white breast. Examination +showed a deep clean cut in the fur of the neck, from which the blood +still flowed sluggishly. But in spite of his weakness and the pain he +evidently suffered, Jock could hardly wait to lead his masters back to +the flock. Hurrying on with him they crossed a little rise of ground and +came upon the sheep which were crowded close to one another, panting in +abject terror. + +[Illustration: Jock] + +"Twenty-six--twenty-eight--yes, twenty-eight and that's all!" Tom said. +"There are two of them missing!" + +Jock had limped on some twenty yards further and now stood beside a +juniper bush, shivering with eagerness. + +Following him thither, the boys found him sniffing at a blood-soaked +patch of grass. The ground for several feet around was cut up as if in +some sort of struggle. A few shreds of bloody wool, caught in the +junipers, told their own story. + +A man--probably several men--had been on the spot not two hours before +and had killed two of the sheep. They had not succeeded in this without +a fight, in which the gallant old dog had been stabbed with a seaman's +dirk or some other sharp weapon. + +Bob, scouting onward a short distance, found the deep boot-tracks of two +men in a wet place between some rocks. They were headed +south-eastward--straight toward the reedy swamp where the boys had seen +the top-masts of the strange vessel! The crew--whoever they might +be--had decided to leave no further doubt of their intentions. They had +opened hostilities and to them had fallen first blood. + +With serious faces and guns held ready for an attack the three lads +turned toward home, driving the scared flock before them. Old Jock, +stiff and limping from his wound, brought up the rear. They reached the +inlet at last, but it was sunset when the last sheep was inside the +stockade and the cabin door was barred. + +That night the wind changed, and the cold gray blanket of a Penobscot +Bay fog shut down over the island. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + +The fog held for two days. On the third morning Jeremy, on his knees by +the hearth fire, was squinting down the bright barrel of a flintlock. He +had been quiet for a long time. Bob felt the tenseness of the situation +himself, but he could not understand the other's absolute silence. He +scowled as he sat on the floor, and savagely drove a long-bladed +hunting-knife into the cracks between the hewn planks. At length a low +whistle from Jeremy caused him to pause and look up quickly. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +A look of excitement was growing in Jeremy's face. + +"Say, Bob!" he exclaimed, after a second or two. "I've just remembered +something that I've been trying to bring to mind ever since we crossed +the island. You know the sign we saw up by the spring? Well, somewhere, +once before, I knew I'd seen the word 'Watter' spelled that way. So have +you--do you remember?" + +Bob shook his head slowly. Then a look of comprehending wonder came into +his eyes. "Yes," he cried. "It was on that old chart in Pharaoh Daggs' +chest!" + +"Right," said Jeremy. "And now that I think about it, I believe this is +the very island! Let's see--the bay was shaped this way----" He had +seized a charred stick from the hearth and was drawing on the floor. + +"Two narrow points, with quite a stretch of water inside--a rounded cove +up here, and a mitten-shaped cove over here. And the anchor was +drawn--wait a minute--right here. Why, Bob, look here! That's the same +rounded cove with the beach where the sloop anchored that night they got +me!" + +Bob could hardly contain himself. "I remember!" he said. "And the dot, +with the word 'Watter' was one and a half finger-joints northeast of the +bay. Let's see, the bay itself was about four joints long, wasn't it? Or +a little over? Anyhow, that would put the spring about--here." + +"Allowing for our not being able to remember exactly the shape of the +bay," Jeremy put in, "that's just where the spring should be. Bob, this +is the island! And now that cross-mark between the two straight +lines--two finger-joints northwest of the anchorage-cove, it was. That's +just about here." He marked the spot on the floor with his stick. + +"Now we've got it all down. And if that cross-mark shows where the +treasure is----" Jeremy paused and looked at Bob, his eyes shining. + +"Where would that be--up on the hill somewhere?" asked Bob breathlessly. + +"About three-quarters of a mile south of the spring--right on the +ridge," Jeremy answered. + +"When shall we start?" Bob asked, his voice husky with excitement. + +"Wait a bit," counselled Jeremy. "We daren't tell father or Tom, for +they'd think it just a wild-goose chase, and we'd have to promise not to +leave the cabin. You know it _is_ an improbable sort of yarn. Besides, +we'd better go careful. Do you know who I think is at the head of that +crew, over in the creek?" + +"Who?" whispered Bob. + +Jeremy's face was pale as he leaned close. + +"Pharaoh Daggs!" He said the name beneath his breath, almost as if he +feared that the man with the broken nose might hear him. And now for the +first time he told Bob of the schooner that had slipped past in the dark +that night in the East River. + +"You're right, Jeremy," Bob agreed. "He'd lose no time getting up here +if he could find a craft to carry him. You don't suppose they've found +Brig's treasure yet, do you?" he added in dismay. + +"They can't have reached here more than a day before us," Jeremy +replied. "And if they haven't it already aboard, they won't be able to +do anything while this fog holds. If it should lift tomorrow, we'll +have a chance to scout around up there. But don't say a word to father." + +That night the boys slept little, for both were in a fever of +expectation. They were disappointed in the morning to see the solid wall +of fog still surrounding the cabin. But Jeremy, sniffing the air like +the true woodsman that he was, announced that there would be a change of +weather before night, and set about rubbing the barrel of the flintlock +till it gleamed. The day dragged slowly by. At last, about three in the +afternoon, a slight wind from the northeast sprang up, and the wreaths +of vapor began to drift away seaward. + +Luckily for the boys' plans, both Tom and his father were inside the +sheep-stockade when Bob took the pistols, powder and shot down from the +wall, and with Jeremy went quietly forth. + +Before the mist had wholly cleared, they were well into the woods, +climbing toward the summit of the ridge. Each kept a careful watch +about, for they feared the possibility that a guard might have been set +to observe movements at the cabin. + +They reached the top without incident, however, and turned westward +along the watershed. They were increasingly careful now, for if the +pirates were dependent on the spring for their water, some of them might +pass close by at any moment. Bob, who was almost as expert a hunter as +Jeremy, followed noiselessly in the track of the New England boy, moving +like a shadow from tree to tree. + +So they progressed for fifteen minutes or more. Then Jeremy paused and +beckoned to Bob, whispering that they should separate a short distance +so as to cover a wider territory in their search. They went on, Bob on +the north slope, Jeremy on the south, moving cautiously and examining +every rock and tree for some blaze that might indicate the whereabouts +of the treasure. + +More minutes passed. The sun was already low, and Jeremy began to think +about turning toward home. Just then he came to the brink of a narrow +chasm in the ledge. Hardly more than a cleft it was, three or four feet +wide at its widest part, and extending deep down between the walls of +rock. He was about to jump over and proceed when his eye caught a +momentary gleam in the obscurity at the bottom of the crevice. He peered +downward for a second, then stood erect, waving to Bob with both arms. + +The other boy caught his signal and came rapidly through the trees to +the spot, hurrying faster as he saw the excitement in Jeremy's face. + +"What--what have you found?" he gasped under his breath. + +Jeremy was already wriggling his way down between the smooth rock walls, +bracing himself with back and knees. Within a few seconds he had +reached the bottom, some ten feet below. It was a sloping, uneven floor +of earth, lighted dimly from above and from the south, where the ledge +shelved off down the hillside. The dirt was black and damp, undisturbed +for years save by the feeble pushing of some pale, seedling plant. +Jeremy groped aimlessly at first, then, as his eyes became accustomed to +the half-light, peered closely into the crevices along either side. + +Bob leaned over the edge, pointing. "Back and to the left!" he +whispered. Jeremy turned as directed, felt along the earth and finally +clutched at something that seemed to glitter with a yellow light. He +turned his face upward and Bob read utter disappointment in his eyes. + +The gleaming something which he held aloft was nothing but a bit of +discolored mica that had reflected the faint light. + +Bob almost groaned aloud as he looked at it. Then he took off his belt +and passed an end of it down for Jeremy to climb up by. The latter took +hold half-heartedly, and was commencing the ascent when his moccasined +foot slipped on a low, arching hump in the damp earth. He went down on +one knee and as it struck the ground there was a faint hollow thud. +Astonished, the boy remained in a kneeling posture and felt about +beneath him with his hands. + +"What is it?" whispered Bob. + +Jeremy stood erect again. "Some kind of old, slippery wet wood," he +answered. "It feels like--like a barrel!" + +"I'm coming down!" said the Delaware boy, and casting a cautious look +around, he descended into the depths of the crevice. + +With their hands and hunting-knives both boys went to work feverishly to +unearth the wooden object. A few moments of breathless labor laid bare +the side and part of one end of a heavily-built, oaken keg. + +"Now maybe we can lift it out," said Jeremy, and taking a strong grip of +the edge, they heaved mightily together. It stirred a bare fraction of +an inch in its bed. "Again!" panted Jeremy, and they made another +desperate try. It was of no avail. The keg seemed to weigh hundreds of +pounds. + +Mopping his forehead with his sleeve, Bob stood up and looked his +companion in the face. "Well," he grinned, "the heavier the better!" +"Right!" Jeremy agreed. "But how'll we get it home? We don't dare chop +it open--too much noise--or set fire to it, for they'd see the smoke. +Besides it's too damp to burn. Here--I'll see what's in it, yet!" + +He crouched at the end of the barrel, whetted his hunting-knife on his +palm a few times, and began to cut swiftly at a crack between two +staves. Gradually the blade worked into the wood, opening a long narrow +slot as Jeremy whittled away first at one side, then at the other. From +time to time either he or Bob would stoop, trembling with excitement to +peer through the crack, but it was pitch-dark inside the barrel. + +Jeremy kept at his task without rest, and as his knife had more play, +the shavings he cut from the sides of the opening grew thicker and +thicker. First he, then Bob, would try, every few seconds, to thrust a +fist through the widening hole. + +At length Bob's hand, which was a trifle smaller than Jeremy's, squeezed +through. There was a breathless instant, while he groped within the keg, +and then, with a struggle he pulled his hand forth. In his fingers he +clutched a broad yellow disc. + +"Gold!" + +They gasped the word together. + +Bob's face was awe-struck. "It's full of 'em--full of pieces like this," +he whispered, "right up to within four inches of the top!" + +They bent over the huge gold coin. The queer characters of the +inscription, cut in deep relief, were strange to both boys. Jeremy had +seen Spanish doubloons and the great double _moidores_ of Portugal, but +never such a piece as this. It was nearly two inches across and thick +and heavy in proportion. + +One after another Bob drew out dozens of the shining coins, and they +filled their pockets with them till they felt weighted down. At length +Jeremy, looking up, was startled to see that the sun had set and +darkness was rapidly settling over the island. They threw dirt over the +barrel, then with all possible speed clambered forth, and taking up +their guns, made their way home as quietly as they had come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + +"No, lad, the risk is too great. Ye'd be in worse plight than before, if +they caught ye, and with a score of the ruffians searching the island +over, ye'd run too long a chance. Better be satisfied with what's here, +and stay where we can at least defend ourselves." + +Amos Swan was speaking. On the deal table before him, a heap of great +goldpieces gleamed in the firelight while seated around the board were +his two sons and Bob. + +It was Tom who answered. "True enough, father," he said, "and yet this +gold is ours. We own the island by the Governor's grant. If we sit idle +the pirates will surely find the treasure and make off with it. But if +we go up there at night, as Jeremy suggests, the risk we run will be +smaller, and every time we make the trip we'll add a thousand guineas to +that pile there. Think of it, father." + +The elder man frowned thoughtfully. "Well," he said at length, "if you +go with them, Tom, and you go carefully, at night, we'll chance it, once +at least. Not tonight, though. It's late now and you all need sleep. +I'll take the first watch." + +At about ten o'clock of the evening following, Jeremy, Bob and Tom stole +out and up the hill in the darkness. They were well-armed but carried no +lantern, the boys being confident of their ability to find the cleft in +the ledge without a light. A half hour's walking brought them near the +spot, and Jeremy, who had almost an Indian's memory for the "lay of the +ground," soon led the way to the edge of the chasm. Dim starlight shone +through the gap in the trees above the ledge, but there was only +darkness below in the pit. One by one they felt their way down and at +last all three stood on the damp earth at the bottom. "Here's the +barrel--just as we left it. They haven't been here yet!" Jeremy +whispered. + +Working as quickly and as quietly as he could, Bob reached into the +opening in the keg and pulled out the gold, piece by piece, while the +others, taking the coins from his fingers, filled their pockets, and the +leather pouches they had brought. + +It was breathlessly exciting work, for all three were aware of the +danger that they ran. When finally they crawled forth, laden like +sumpter-mules, the perspiration was thick on Jeremy's forehead. Knowing +the character of Pharaoh Daggs so well, he realized, better probably +than either of his companions, what fate they might expect if they were +discovered. So far, apparently, the pirates had not thought of setting a +night guard on the ridge. If they continued to neglect this precaution +and failed to find the treasure themselves, three more trips would---- + +His calculations were interrupted by the sudden snapping of a twig. He +stopped, instantly on the alert. Behind him Tom and Bob had also paused. +Neither of them had caused the sound. It had seemed to come from the +thick bush down hill to the right. For an endlessly long half-minute the +three held their breath, listening. Then once more something crackled, +farther away this time, and in a more southwesterly direction. + +Man or animal, whatever it was that made the sounds, was moving rapidly +away from them. + +Jeremy hunched the straps of his heavy pouch higher up on his shoulder +and led on again, faster than before, and hurrying forward in Indian +file, they reached the cabin without further adventure. + +All through the next day they stood watch and watch at the shack, ready +for the attack which they expected to develop sooner or later. But still +it appeared that the pirates preferred to keep out of sight. The boys +had told Amos Swan of the noises they had heard the previous night and +he had listened with a grave countenance. It could hardly have been +other than one of the pirates, he thought, for he was quite certain that +except for a few rabbits, there were no wild animals upon the island. +"Still," he said, "if you were moving quietly, there's small reason to +believe the man knew you were near. If he did know and made such a noise +as that, he must have been a mighty poor woodsman!" + +The boys, anxious that nothing should prevent another trip to the +treasure-keg, accepted this logic without demur. + +The following night Amos Swan decided to go with the boys himself, +leaving Tom on guard at the cabin. As before, they armed themselves with +guns, pistols and hunting-knives and ascended the hillside in the inky +dark. There were no stars in sight and a faint breeze that came and went +among the trees foreboded rain. This prospect of impending bad weather +made itself felt in the spirits of the three treasure-hunters. Jeremy, +accustomed as he was to the woods, drew a breath of apprehension and +looked scowlingly aloft as he heard the dismal wind in the hemlock tops. +Ugh! He shook himself nervously and plunged forward along the hillcrest. +A few moments later they were gathered about the barrel at the bottom of +the cleft. + +It was even darker than they had found it on their previous visit. +Jeremy and his father had to grope in the pitchy blackness for the coins +that Bob held out to them. Their pockets were about half-full when there +came a whispered exclamation from the Delaware boy. + +"There's some sort of box in here, buried in the gold!" he said. "It's +too big to pull out through the hole. Where's your dirk, Jeremy?" + +The latter knelt astride the keg, and working in the dark, began to +enlarge the opening with the blade of his hunting-knife. After a few +minutes he thrust his hand in and felt the box. It was apparently of +wood, covered with leather and studded over with scores of nails. Its +top was only seven or eight inches wide by less than a foot long, +however, and in thickness it seemed scarcely a hand's breadth. + +Big cold drops of rain were beginning to fall as Jeremy resumed his +cutting. He made the opening longer as well as wider, and at last was +able by hard tugging to get the box through. He thrust it into his pouch +and they recommenced the filling of their pockets with goldpieces. + +Before a dozen coins had been removed a sudden red glare on the walls of +the chasm caused the three to leap to their feet. At the same instant +the rain increased to a downpour, and they looked up to see a pine-knot +torch in the opening above them splutter and go out. The wet darkness +came down blacker than before. + +But in that second of illumination they had seen framed in the torchlit +cleft a pair of gleaming light eyes and a cruelly snarling mouth set in +a face made horrible by the livid scar that ran from chin to eyebrow +across its broken nose. + +Jeremy clutched at Bob and his father. "This way!" he gasped through the +hissing rain, and plunged along the black chasm toward the southern end, +where it debouched upon the hillside. They clambered over some boulders +and emerged in the undergrowth, a score of yards from the point where +the barrel had been found. + +"Come on," whispered Jeremy hoarsely, and started eastward along the +slope. Burdened as they were, they ran through the woods at desperate +speed, the noise of their going drowned by the descending flood. + +In the haste of flight it was impossible to keep together. When Jeremy +had put close to half a mile between himself and the chasm, he paused +panting and listened for the others, but apparently they were not near. +He decided to cut across the ridge, and started up the hill, when he +heard a crash in the brush just above him. "Father?" he called under his +breath. To his dismay he was answered by a startled oath, and the next +moment he saw a tall figure coming at him swinging a cutlass. The pirate +was a bare ten feet away. Jeremy aimed his pistol and pulled the +trigger, but only a dull click responded. The priming was wet. + +[Illustration: A sudden red glare on the walls of the chasm.] + +At that instant the cutlass passed his head with an ugly sound and +Jeremy, desperate, flung his pistol straight at the pirate's face. As it +left his hand he heard it strike. Then as the man went down with a +groan, he doubled in his tracks like a hare, and ran back, heading up +across the hill. + +It was not till he was over the ridge and well down the slope toward +home that he dropped to a walk. His breath was coming in gasps that hurt +him like a knife between his ribs, and his legs were so weak he could +hardly depend on them. He had run nearly two miles, up hill and down, in +heavy clothes drenched with rain, and carrying a dozen pounds of gold +besides the flintlock fowling-piece which he still clutched in his left +hand. Somewhere behind him he had dropped the box, found amid the +treasure, but he was far too tired to look for it. More dead than alive +he crawled, at last, up to the door of the cabin and staggered in when +Tom opened to his knock. + +While he gasped out his story, the older brother looked more closely to +the barring of the window-shutters and put fresh powder in the +priming-pans of the guns. + +Ten minutes after Jeremy, his father appeared, wet to the skin and with +a grim look around his bearded jaws. He, too, was spent with running, +but he would have gone out again at once when he heard that Bob was +still missing if the boys had not dissuaded him. Jeremy was sure that +if Bob had escaped he would soon reach the cabin, for he had the lay of +the island well in mind now. + +And so, while Tom kept watch, they lay down with their clothes on before +the fire. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + +The gray November morning dawned damp and cold. In the sheer exhaustion +that followed on their adventure of the night before, Jeremy and his +father slept heavily till close to nine o'clock, when Tom wakened them. +His face was haggard with watching, and he looked so worried that they +had no need to ask him if Bob had come in. + +It was a gloomy party that sat down to the morning meal. The youngest +could eat nothing for thinking of his chum's fate. While his father +still spoke hopefully of the possibility that the boy might have found a +hiding place which he dared not leave, Jeremy could only remember the +frightful, scarred visage of Pharaoh Daggs looming in the torchlight. He +knew that Bob would find little mercy behind that cruel face, and he +could not throw off the conviction that the lad had fallen into the +clutches of the pirates. + +All day, standing at the loopholes, they waited for some sign either of +Bob's return, or, what seemed more probable, an attack by the buccaneer +crew. But as the hours passed no moving form broke the dark line of +trees above them on the slope. + +At length the dusk fell, and they gave up hope of seeing the boy again, +though on the other score their vigilance was redoubled. The night went +by, however, as quietly as though the island were deserted. + +It was about two hours after sunrise that Jeremy stole out to give +fodder to the sheep, penned in the stockade ever since the first alarm. +He had been gone a bare two minutes when he rushed back into the cabin. + +"Look father," he cried. "In the bay--there's a sloop coming in to +anchor!" + +Amos Swan went to a northern loophole, and peered forth. "What is she? +Can ye make her out? Seems to fly the British Jack all right," he said. +Following the two boys, he hurried outside. Jeremy had run down the hill +to the beach where he stood, gazing intently at the craft, and shading +his eyes with his hand. After a moment he turned excitedly. "Father," he +shouted, "it's the _Tiger!_ I saw her only once, but I'd not forget +those fine lines of her. Look--there's Job, himself, getting into the +cutter!" + +A big man in a blue cloak had just stepped into the stern sheets of the +boat, and seeing the figures on the shore, he now waved a hand in their +direction. + +Sure enough, in three minutes Captain Job Howland jumped out upon the +sand and with a roar of greeting caught Jeremy's hand in his big fist. +"Well, lad," he laughed, "ye look glad to see us. Didn't know we was +headed up this way, did ye? But here we be! Soon as the sloop was ready +Mr. Curtis had a light cargo for Boston town, and he told me to coast up +here on the same trip. He wants Bob home again. Why--what ails ye, boy?" + +They were climbing the path toward the shack, when Job noticed the +downcast look on Jeremy's face, and interrupted himself. + +In a few words the boy told what had happened during the brief week they +had been on the island. + +"By the Great Bull Whale!" muttered the ex-buccaneer in astonishment. +"Sol Brig's treasure, sure enough! And that devil, Daggs--see here, if +Bob's alive, we've got to get him out of that!" He swung about and +hailed the boat's crew, all six of whom had remained on the beach. + +"Adams, and you, Mason, pull back to the sloop and bring off all the men +in the port watch, with their cutlasses and small-arms. The rest of you +come up here." + +As soon as Job had shaken hands with Jeremy's father and brother, they +entered the cabin. + +"Now, Jeremy," said the skipper, "you say this craft is careened on the +other side of the island, close to the place where Stede Bonnet landed +us that time? How many men have they?" + +"We don't know," the boy replied. "But I don't think Daggs had time to +gather a big crew, and what's more, he'd figure the fewer the better +when it came to splitting up the gold. I doubt if there's above fifteen +men--maybe only fourteen now." He grinned as he thought of the big +pirate who had attacked him in the woods. + +"Good," said Job. "We'll have sixteen besides you, Mr. Swan, and your +two boys. An even twenty, counting myself. If we can't put that crowd +under hatches, I'm no sailorman." + +The crew of the _Tiger_, bristling with arms and eager for action, now +came up. Without wasting time Job told them what was afoot and they +moved forward up the hill. + +Once among the trees the attacking party spread out in irregular +fan-formation, with Tom and Jeremy scouting a little in advance. The +stillness of the woods was almost oppressive as they went forward. All +the men seemed to feel it and proceeded with more and more caution. Used +to the hurly-burly of sea-fighting, they did not relish this silent +approach against an unseen enemy. + +Clearing the ridge they came down at length to the edge of the beach, +close to the old pirate anchorage, and Jeremy led the way along through +the bushes toward the mouth of the reedy inlet. Working carefully down +the shore to the place whence Bob and he had sighted the spars of the +buccaneer, he climbed above the reeds and peered up the creek. To his +surprise the masts had disappeared. + +"She's gone!" he gasped. + +Job and Tom looked in turn. Certain it was that no vessel lay in the +creek! + +"Perhaps they sighted the _Tiger_," suggested Jeremy. "If so, they can't +have gotten far. They've likely taken the rest of the gold. And Bob must +be aboard, too, if he's still alive." + +As they turned to go back, one of the sailors who had walked down to the +reeds at the edge of the creek, hurried up with a dark object in his +fist. He held it out as he drew near and they saw that it was a pistol, +covered with a mass of black mud, Jeremy saw a gleam of metal through +the sticky lump, and quickly scraping away the mud from the mounting he +disclosed a silver plate which bore the still terrible name "Stede +Bonnet." The boy gave a cry of pleasure as he saw it, and thrust the +weapon quickly into Job's hands. + +"Look!" he exclaimed. "It's Bob's pistol. And there's only one way it +could have gotten where it was. He must have thrown it from the sloop's +deck as they went past, thinking we'd find it. See here! They can't be +gone more than a few hours, for there's not a bit of rust on the iron +parts. Maybe we could catch them, Job, if we hurry!" + +Job turned to his men and called, "What say you, lads--shall we give +them a chase?" + +A chorus of vociferous "Ay, Ay's" was the answer. + +"Here we go, then!" he shouted, and led the way back up the hill at a +trot. + +As they reached the ridge, Jeremy cut over to the left a little through +the trees, so that his course lay past the treasure cleft. When he +reached it he found just what he had expected--the shattered staves of +the barrel lying open on the ledge, and several rough excavations in the +dirt at the bottom of the chasm, where the buccaneers had searched +greedily for more gold. The charred remnants of a bonfire, a few yards +further down the cleft, showed that they had worked partly at night. + +Leaving the ledge, the boy was hurrying back to join the main party when +he came out upon an elevated space, clear of trees, from which one could +command a view of the sea to the west and south. Involuntarily he +paused, and shading his eyes with his hand, swept the horizon slowly. +Then he gave a start, for straight away to the westward, in a gap +between two islands, was a white speck of sail. + +"Job!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Job!" + +The big skipper was only a short distance away, and he came through the +trees at a run followed by most of his men, in answer to Jeremy's hail. +No words were necessary. The boy's pointing finger led their eyes +instantly to the far-off ship. Job took a quick look at the sun and the +distant islands, to fix his bearings, then set out for the northern +inlet again, even faster than before. + +As they came running down the slope toward the cabin, Amos Swan emerged, +gun in hand, evidently believing that they were in full rout before the +enemy. + +"They've left the island," panted Jeremy, as he reached the door. "We +saw their sail--we're going to chase them! We're sure, now, that Bob's +aboard!" + +His father looked relieved. + +"Go--you and Tom!" he said. "I'll stay and mind the island." + +Job, with a dozen of his men, was starting in the cutter, and had +already hailed the _Tiger_ to order the other boat sent ashore. Tom and +Jeremy hurried into the cabin, and stuffing some clothes into Jeremy's +sea-chest along with a brace of good pistols and a cutlass apiece, were +soon ready to embark. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + +There was a bustle of action aboard the sloop when the boys swarmed up +her side. One chanty was being sung up forward, where half a dozen +sturdy seamen were heaving at the capstan bars, and another was going +amidships as the throat of the long main gaff went to the top. Captain +Job stood on the afterdeck, constantly shouting new orders. His big +voice made itself heard above the singing, the groan of tackle-blocks +and the crash of the canvas, flapping in the northwest wind. + +It was a clear, sunny day, with a bite of approaching winter in the air, +and the boys were glad to button their jackets tight and move into the +lee of the after-house. + +"Here, lads," Job cried, "there's work for you, too. Take a run below, +Jeremy, and bring up an armload of cutlasses. See if any of those +muskets need cleaning, Tom." + +Jeremy scurried down the companion ladder, and forward along the +starboard gun deck to the rack of small arms near the fo'c's'le hatch. +Jeremy was pleased to see that the sloop carried a full complement of +ten broadside guns, beside a long brass cannon in the bows. In fact, +she was armed like a regular man-o'-war. The tubs were filled and neat +little piles of round-shot and cannister stood beside each gun. The +_Tiger_, he thought, was likely to give a good account of herself if she +could come to grips with the buccaneers. + +Stepping on deck once more, his arms piled with hangers, Jeremy found +that the sloop had already cleared the bay on her starboard tack and was +just coming about to make a long reach of it to port. The pirate sail +was no longer in sight in the west, but as several islands filled the +horizon in that direction, it seemed likely that she had passed beyond +them. + +Jeremy approached the Captain. "How far ahead do you think they are?" he +asked. + +"When we sighted 'em, they were about four sea-miles to the westward," +answered Job. "If they're making ordinary sailing, they've gained close +to three more, since then. But if they're carrying much canvas it may be +more. We shan't come near them before dark, at any rate." + +He cast an eye aloft as he spoke, and Jeremy's gaze followed. The +_Tiger_ was carrying topsails and both jibs, with a single reef in her +fore and main sails. She was scudding along at a great rate with the +whitecaps racing by, close below the lee gunports. Jeremy whistled with +delight. He had seen Stede Bonnet crowd canvas once or twice, but never +in so good a cause. + +The wind held from the northwest, gaining in strength rather than +decreasing, and the sloop, heeled far to port, sped along close-hauled +on a west-sou'west course. + +After three-quarters of an hour of this kind of sailing they were close +to the group of islands, and sighting a passage to the northward, swung +over on the other tack. A rough beat to starboard brought them into the +gap. Though they crossed a grim, black shoal at the narrowest part, Job +did not shorten sail, but steered straight on as fast as the wind would +take him. And at length they came clear of the headland and saw a great +stretch of open sea to the southwestward with a faint, white dot of sail +at its farthest edge. + +At the sight a hearty cheer went up from the seamen, clustered along the +port rail. A lean, wind-browned man with keen black eyes came aft to the +tiller where Jeremy and Tom stood with the Captain. It was Isaiah +Hawkes, Job's first mate, himself a Maine coast man. "It's all clear +sailin' ahead, sir," he said. "No more reefs or islands 'twixt this an' +Cape Cod, if they follow the course they're on." + +The _Tiger_ hung with fluttering canvas in the wind's eye for a second +or two, then settled away on the port tack with a bang of her main +boom. + +"Here, Isaiah, take the tiller," said Job, at length. "Hold her as she +is--two points to windward of the other sloop. You'll want to set an +extra lookout tonight," he continued. "We shan't be able to keep 'em in +sight at this distance, if they've sighted us, which most likely they +have. I'm going up to have a look at 'Long Poll' now." + +Accompanied by the two boys, he made his way along the steeply canted +deck of the plunging schooner to the breach of the swivel-gun at the +bow. + +"Ever seen this gal afore, Jeremy?" asked Job, shouting to make himself +heard above the hiss and thunder of the water under the forefoot. "She's +the old gun we had aboard the _Queen_. Stede Bonnet never had a piece +like this. Cast in Bristol, she was, in '94. There's the letters that +tells it." And he patted the bright breach lovingly, sighting along the +brazen barrel, and swinging the nose from right to left till he brought +the gun to bear squarely on the white speck that was the pirate sloop, +still hull-down in the sea ahead. "Come morning, Polly, my gal," he +chuckled, "we'll let you talk to 'em." + +As he spoke, the fiery disk of the sun was slipping into the ocean +across the starboard bow. With sunset the breeze lightened perceptibly, +and Job ordered the reefs shaken out of the fore and mainsails and an +extra jib set. Then he and the boys, who, although they had quarters +aft, had been assigned to the port watch, went below and turned in. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + +Jeremy, stumbling on deck at eight bells, pulled his seaman's greatcoat +up about his ears, for the breeze came cold. He worked his way forward +along the high weather rail and took up his lookout station on the +starboard bow. + +Overhead the midnight sky burned bright with stars that seemed to +flicker like candle-flames in the wind. A half-grown moon rode down the +west and threw a faint radiance across the heaving seas. It was blowing +harder now. The wind boomed loud in the taut stays and the rising waves +broke smashingly over the bow at times, forcing the foremast hands to +cling like monkeys to the rail and rigging. + +Captain Job, with Tom to help him, stood grimly at the thrashing tiller +and drove the sloop southwestward at a terrific gait. The sails had been +single-reefed again during the mate's watch, but with the wind still +freshening the staunch little craft was carrying an enormous amount of +canvas. Job Howland was a sailor of the breed that was to reach its +climax a hundred years later in the captains of the great Yankee +clippers--men who broke sailing records and captured the world's trade +because they dared to walk their tall ships, full-canvassed, past the +heavy foreign merchantmen that rolled under triple reefs in half a gale +of wind. + +One by one the hours of the watch went by. Jeremy, drenched and +shivering, but thrilling to the excitement of the chase, stuck to his +post at the rail beside the long bow gun. His eyes were fixed constantly +on the sea ahead and abeam, while his thoughts, racing on, followed the +pirate schooner close. + +How was Bob to be gotten off alive, he wondered, for he had come to +believe that his chum was aboard the fleeing craft. If it came to a +running fight, their cannonade might sink her, in which case the boy +would be drowned along with his captors. And there were other things +that could happen. Jeremy groaned aloud as he thought of the fate that +Pharaoh Daggs had once so nearly meted out to him. He felt again the +bite of the hemp at his wrists, and saw that pitiless gleam in the +strange light eyes of the pirate. Would Daggs try to settle his long +score against the boys by some unheard-of brutality? + +A sudden hail cut in upon his thoughts. "Sail ho!" the lookout on the +other side had cried. + +"Where away?" came Job's deep shout. + +"Three points on the port bow," answered the seaman, "an' not above a +league off!" + +Jeremy, straining his eyes into the night, made out the dim patch of +sail ahead. + +"How's she headed?" called the Captain again. "Is she still on her port +tack, or running before the wind?" + +"Still beating up to the west!" the sailor replied. + +"Good," cried Job. "They think they can outsail us. Keep her in sight +and sing out if you see her fall off the wind!" + +Half an hour later the watch was changed and Jeremy scrambled into his +warm bunk for a few hours more sleep. + +It was broad daylight when he and Tom reached the deck once more and +went eagerly forward to join the little knot of seamen in the bows. All +eyes were turned toward the horizon, ahead, where the sails of the +fleeing schooner loomed gray in the morning haze. + +The wind which had shifted a little to the north was still blowing +stiffly, heeling both sloops over at a sharp angle. The _Tiger_ had +gained somewhat during the morning watch, but the pirates had now +evidently become desperate and put on all the sail their craft would +carry, so that the two vessels sped on, league after league, without +apparent change of position. + +Job, who had now taken the tiller again, called to Jeremy after a while. +"Here, lad," he said, when the boy reached the poop, "lend me a hand +with this kicker." + +Jeremy laid hold with a will, and found that it took almost all his +strength, along with that of the powerful Captain, to hold the schooner +on her course. At times, when a big beam sea caught her, she would yaw +fearfully, falling off several points, and could only be brought back to +windward by jamming the thrashing rudder hard over. + +"We lose headway when she does that, don't we, Job?" panted the boy +after one such effort. "And I reckon we couldn't lash the beam fast to +keep her this way, could we? No, I see, it has to be free so as to move +all the time. Still----" + +As he staggered to and fro at the end of the tiller, the boy thought +rapidly. Finally he recommenced: "Job--this may sound foolish to +you--but why couldn't we lash her on both sides, and yet give her +play--look--this way! Rig a little pulley here and one here----" He +indicated places on the deck, close to the rail on either quarter. "Then +reeve a line from the tiller-end through each one, and bring it back +with three or four turns around a windlass drum, a little way for'ard, +there. Then you could keep hold of the arms of the windlass, and only +let the tiller move as much as you needed to, either way----" + +"By the Great Bull Whale," Job laughed, as he grasped the boy's plan, "I +wonder if that wouldn't work! Jeremy, boy, we'll find out, anyhow. +Braisted!" he called to the ship's carpenter, "up with some lumber and a +good stout line and a pair of spare blocks if you've got them. Lively, +now!" + +In a jiffy the carpenter had tumbled the tackle out on the deck, and +under the direction of Job, began to rig it according to Jeremy's +scheme. It was a matter of a few moments only, once he caught the idea. +When at length the final stout knot had been tied, Job, still keeping +his mighty clutch on the tiller beam, motioned to Jeremy to take hold of +the windlass. The boy jumped forward eagerly and seized two of the rude +spokes that radiated horizontally from the hub. The position was an +awkward one, but with a slight pull he found that he could swing the +windlass rapidly in either direction. + +"Avast there--avast!" came Job's bass bellow, and looking over his +shoulder, Jeremy saw the big skipper flung from side to side in spite of +himself as the windlass was turned. The seamen who had gathered to watch +were roaring with laughter, and Job himself was chuckling as he let go +the tiller and hurried to Jeremy's side. Taking a grip on the spokes, he +spun them back and forth once or twice, to feel how the vessel answered +her helm under this new contraption, and in a moment had it working +handsomely. He was using the first ship's steering-wheel. + +The sloop, which had yawed and lost some headway during this interlude, +now struck her stride again, and drove along with her nose held steady, +a full half-point closer to the wind than had been possible before. Job +perceived this and loosed one hand long enough to strike Jeremy a mighty +blow on the back. + +"She works, boy!" he cried. "And at this gait we'll catch them before +noon!" + +Indeed, the crew had already noticed the difference in their sailing, +and were lining the bows, waving their caps in the air and yelling with +excitement as they watched the distance between the two craft slowly +shorten. + +An hour passed, and the gunners were sent below to make ready their +pieces, for the lead of the pirate sloop had been cut to a bare mile. + +Job had turned the wheel over to Hawkes, and now, with three picked men +to help him, was ramming home a heavy charge of powder in the long +"nine." On top of it he drove down the round-shot, then bent above the +swivel-breach, swinging it back and forth as he brought the cannon's +muzzle to bear on the topsails of the pirate schooner, whose black hull +was now plainly visible. He sniffed the wind and measured the distance +with his eye. When his calculations were complete he turned and held up +his hand in signal to the helmsman. As the swivel allowed movement only +from side to side, he must depend on the cant of the deck for his +elevation. Holding the long gunner's match lighted in his hand, he +waited for the exact second when the schooner's bow was lifted on a wave +and swinging in the right direction, then touched the powder train. +There was a hiss and flare, and at the end of a second or two a terrific +roar as the charge was fired. The smoke was blown clear almost +instantly, and every one leaned forward, watching the sea ahead with +tense eagerness. At length a column of white spray lifted, a scant +hundred yards astern of the other sloop. The crew cheered, for it was a +splendid shot at that distance and in a seaway. The sky was thickening +to windward, and it grew harder momentarily to see objects at a +distance. Job was already at work, superintending the swabbing-out of +the gun and reloading with his own hands. There was a long moment while +he waited for a favorable chance, then "Long Poll" shook the deck once +more with the crash of her discharge. This time the shot fell just ahead +and to windward of the enemy--so close that the spray blew back into the +rigging. + +Job had bracketed his target, but the mist-clouds that were sweeping +past rendered his task a difficult one. Grimly but with swift certainty +of movement he went about his preparations for a third attempt. + +Suddenly there was a shout from Jeremy, who had climbed into the +forestays for a better view. "Look there!" he cried. "They're lowering a +boat. There's something white in it, like a flag of truce!" + +In the lee of the pirate vessel a small boat could be seen tossing +crazily in the heavy seas. Job, who had called for his spyglass, looked +long and earnestly at the tiny craft. + +"There's but one man in it," he announced at length, "and he's showing a +bit of something white, as Jeremy says. Here, lad, you've the best eyes +on the sloop, see if you can make out more." + +The boy focussed the glass on the little boat, which was now drifting +rapidly to the southeast, already nearly opposite their bows. The figure +in it stood up, waving frantic arms to one side and the other. + +"It's Bob!" Jeremy almost screamed. "That's a signal we used to have +when we were hunting. It means 'Come here!'" + +He had hardly finished speaking when--"Port your helm!" roared Job. "All +hands stand by to slack the fore and main sheets!" + +[Illustration: Job had bracketed his target.] + +The _Tiger_ fell off the wind with a lurch and spun away to leeward, +bowing into the running seas. + +Five minutes later they hauled Bob, drenched and dripping, to the deck. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + +The boy was pale and haggard and so weak he could hardly stand alone, +but he looked about him with an eager grin as Tom and Jeremy helped him +toward the companion. + +"Why," he gasped, "here's old Job! What's he doing up here!" as the +latter strode aft to seize his hand. + +"Ay, lad," laughed the big mariner, a mighty relief showing in his face, +"we're all your friends aboard here. But how came those devils to let +you off so easy? We figured we'd have to fight to get you, and mighty +lucky to do it at that!" + +The schooner had come into the wind again and was heading westward in +pursuit of the pirate, now hidden in the murk ahead. Bob was helped to +the cabin and propped up in a bunk while his friends hastened to get +some dry clothes on him. A pull of brandy stopped his shivering. + +"I thought none of you would ever see me alive," he said soberly. "But, +Job, before I tell you all about it, are you sure you've lost sight of +Daggs' sloop? They were worried about your shooting, and figured the +only chance they had was to set me adrift and then get away in the +dirty weather, while you were fishing me out. They'd never have given me +up if that second shot hadn't mighty near gone through and through the +old _Revenge_." + +"The _Revenge_!" said Job. "I thought I knew the cut of that big +mainsail, and she was painted black, too! Well, their trick succeeded. +Just this minute we'd have no more chance of finding 'em than a needle +in a haystack. But it may clear again before night, and then we'll see! +Go ahead now and spin your yarn, my lad!" + +And Bob, swigging hot tea and munching a biscuit, began once more to +tell his story. + +"After we separated, and started to run, up on the hill that night," he +said, "I seemed to lose all my sense of direction for a while. I was +scared for one thing, I'll freely admit. When I saw Daggs' face in the +torchlight leaning over us, there by the treasure barrel, it frightened +me pretty nearly out of my senses. So I started to run, without an idea +of where I was going, and by the time I got my wits back, I couldn't +tell just where I was, in the rain and the dark. I seemed to be right on +top of the ridge, but I had zig-zagged several times, I remembered, and +when I tried to figure which side of the hill I should go down, I +couldn't for the life of me decide. Finally I said to myself, 'Here, +don't be a fool! Which way was the wind blowing when we set out from the +shack? Aha, it was north,' says I. 'Very well, then, this must be the +way to the cabin--straight into the wind,' And down the hill I started, +bearing over to my right, so as to come out just above the sheep-pen." + +"But--" interrupted Jeremy, "when that storm came up the wind backed +clear round into the south--" + +"I know it now," Bob answered, "but I didn't then. I kept right on, +tickled that I was out of it so well, and wondering where the rest of +you had gotten to. Pretty soon I came to some low land that I didn't +remember, but I saw a light off ahead and to my right, and decided that +was the cabin. I blundered along through the trees till I was quite +close, and then I discovered that the light came from a bonfire. I +stopped for a second, puzzled, for I was sure I must be near the cabin. +I wondered if the pirates had captured it. I stole up still closer and +watched the light and presently a buccaneer walked in front of it. + +"That was enough for me. I turned and started to run. And at about the +third step I fell plump into the arms of a pirate. You see I had walked +straight toward their part of the island by making that silly mistake. + +"This fellow got a grip on my collar, and I couldn't break loose, though +I'll warrant his shins are tender yet, where I kicked him. He hauled me +down to the fire, and he and three others who were there looked me +over. The one that had caught me was a big mulatto--as ugly-looking a +customer as I ever saw. And the others were no lambs. I'll tell you, my +hearties, Daggs has gathered up a pretty lot of rascals in this crew. +Not one of 'em but looks as if he'd knife you for a copper farthing! + +"These four by the fire wasted no time, but went through my pockets in a +hurry. They took my pistol and were quarreling about dividing the +goldpieces I had, when the rest of the crowd began to appear. They were +all wet, and in a bad temper for a dozen other reasons. Plenty of curses +came my way, but no one laid a hand on me, for they had a mighty fear of +Pharaoh Daggs. When he finally came, he swore at them till they slunk +around like whipped curs. + +"He was in an ugly mood that night. Seemingly he was disappointed in the +amount of treasure they had found. Besides that, they had come on one of +their best men with his head beaten in, and you and your father had +gotten clean away. Things looked black enough for me, I can tell you. + +"Daggs and the mulatto, who is his mate, started in to question me, +after they had grumbled awhile. They knew already how many of you there +were at the cabin, but they asked about your guns and supplies. Of +course, I didn't make the stronghold any weaker in the telling. When +they had all the information they thought they could get out of me, +they held a sort of council. Some wanted to go right over before light +and attack the cabin. Others were for broaching a barrel of rum first, +and making thorough preparations. Finally Daggs decided to put it off +until they could get some pitch and dry grass ready, so as to set fire +to the roof. + +"It was nearly daylight by this time, and they started back through the +reeds toward their sloop, leading me along with them. We travelled half +a mile or so, down a crooked black trail only wide enough for one man at +a time, and ankle deep in the mud of the swamp. When we reached the +schooner they stuck a pair of handcuffs on me and put me down on the +ballast. In spite of the filth and the cold I was so dog-tired that I +tumbled on the nearest pile of old chains and went to sleep. + +"I woke up late in the afternoon, and I don't think I was ever so stiff +and uncomfortable and hungry in my life. I made my way over to the hatch +and found I could reach the combing with my hands, so I pulled myself +up, after a mighty hard tussle. Try it some time with your hands tied! + +"Most of the pirates were forward in their bunks, but one who was +keeping watch on deck took pity on me and gave me a couple of biscuits +and a swig of water. He was more or less talkative, besides, and from +him I learned that Daggs planned to start about midnight for your side +of the island, carrying buckets of pitch and tinder, so as to roast you +out. + +"As you may imagine, this kind of talk nearly turned me sick with fear, +and right in the midst of it Pharaoh Daggs came on deck. + +"He had that empty sort of glare in his eyes that we used to see +sometimes when he was drunk. Of course, he walked straight and even, but +as he came over toward us, with his teeth showing and his eyes fixed on +a point just above the pirate's shoulder, I almost yelled 'Look out!' If +I had, it might have cost me my life right there. He walked along, light +on his toes like a cat, till he stood two feet from us. Then, so fast I +hardly knew what happened, he hit the other man on the chin with his +fist. That was all. The man dropped with his head back against the rail. +And Daggs went off, chuckling to himself but not making any noise. I +don't think he saw me at all, for his attack was more like the work of a +mad dog than of a man. + +"I crept away and got below decks as fast as might be, and there I +stayed hidden till after dark, when some of the buccaneers rousted me +out. A keg of rum had been opened in the waist, and the liquor was going +freely. Most of the crew were already drunk, but they had the sense to +chain me by one leg to the foremast, and then made me run back and +forth between them and the barrel. I was only too glad. No cannikin was +skimped while I was at the spigot. I looked around and remembered some +of the wild nights we had seen on the old _Revenge_. And then for the +first time I realized that the deck I stood on was the same! They'd +gotten hold of the old black sloop when she was auctioned at Charles +Town, patched up her bottom and here she was--buccaneering once more! +Where the gang of cut-throats aboard her were gathered, I don't know, +but they put Stede Bonnet's famous crew to shame. + +"Pharaoh Daggs was somewhere ashore with two of the crew till nearly +midnight. When he returned, the rest were lying like pigs about the +deck. He had sobered slightly--enough to remember the night's +undertaking--but it was useless to think of rousing those sots to any +sort of endeavor. He kicked one or two of them savagely with his heavy +boot, too, but it got hardly more than a grunt from them. + +"He stood there cursing for a minute, then came over and looked at the +shackle that held me to the foremast-foot, and shook it to make sure it +was solid before he went below. He had something done up in a cloth that +he held mighty tenderly, and he seemed in a better humor. + +"I curled up on the deck and by wrapping myself in a greatcoat which I +found beside one of the drunken pirates, succeeded in keeping reasonably +warm. + +"When morning came Daggs and his mulatto mate managed to wake most of +the men and forced them to get out and forage for wood and water, while +they themselves crossed the ridge to reconnoitre. I think it was about +two hours after sunrise when those of us who stayed aboard the sloop saw +figures running down the hill. The buccaneers got out boarding-pikes and +picked up cutlasses, but in a moment Daggs reached the side, out of +breath with his haste. + +"'There's a ten-gun schooner in the northern cove!' he cried. 'They're +landing a boat now. We haven't any time to lose--the tide's past full +already! Cut those moorings!' + +"The hemp lines were slashed through with cutlasses and the men, with +one accord, jumped to the push-holes. The sloop was on an even keel and +just off the bottom. A few strong shoves started her down the creek. + +"My hopes of escaping began to go down, for there I was, still chained +to the fore-stick like a cow put out to grass. I looked around me in +desperation, for I wanted to leave you some sign at least of my +whereabouts. Then my eye fell on a little heap of small arms that had +been thrown down near the forehatch. The pistols were useless to me, as +I had no powder, but among them I saw the bright silver mountings of my +own--the one that used to be Stede Bonnet's. + +"We were drawing near the creek mouth, and those of the crew who were +not at the poles were busy unfurling the sails. I picked the pistol up +unobserved and waited till we were just hauling clear of the creek. Then +I threw it overside and saw it strike in the mud. Did you find it?" + +"Yes," said Jeremy. "That's how we knew for certain that you'd been +captured." + +"Well," the Delaware boy went on, "there's not much more to tell. The +pirates made all sail to the southwest, but after we cleared the +islands, there you were, roaring along in our wake. Daggs thought that +the _Revenge_ was a faster sailer than your craft, but he found he +couldn't keep her as close to the wind on this tack. I don't think he +wants to fight if he can help it, but he was getting desperate this +afternoon before the weather began to thicken up. I heard him tell the +mate he'd rather come to broadside grips than risk having you drop a +shot through the black sloop's bottom with that bowchaser. Then the mist +started to come over, and I guess Daggs saw his chance right away. He +called the crew aft and told them what he was going to do, and a moment +later I found myself being lowered in a boat into that wicked sea. I +thought they were trying to drown me out of hand, till they gave me a +piece of white cloth to wave. Then I got an inkling of their idea. + +"Sure enough, no sooner was I fairly adrift than I saw you put over in +my direction, and thinking Jeremy might be aboard, I gave him our old +signal. It worked, and here I am safe enough. But meanwhile those devils +have got off into the mist, and it'll be hard to follow them." + +Job sat thoughtful, pulling at his pipe. He seemed to be cogitating some +of the points in Bob's narrative, and the others kept silent, unwilling +to interrupt him. At length he blew a great cloud of blue smoke toward +the deck-beams above and turning to the boy, asked, "Did Daggs or any of +the rest ever speak of the place where they were going?" + +"They never talked about it openly," Bob replied, "but from words +dropped now and then by the mulatto mate I figured they were heading +down for the Spanish Islands. I don't think they intend putting in +anywhere first, unless they land for water in one of those out of the +way inlets along the Jersey coast." + +Job nodded. "That's about as I thought," he answered. "So we'll hold on +this tack till nightfall--we're just off the Kennebec, now--and then +we'll run sou'-sou'east before the wind, to clear Cape Cod. Daggs--if he +figgers as I would in his place--won't start to leeward right away, for +he'd rather have us in front of him than behind. And unless I'm much +mistaken he's in too much of a hurry to waste time in doubling back up +the coast. All right Bob, lad, you'll be wanting sleep now, so we'll +leave you. On deck with you, boys!" + +And tucking the blankets about the drowsy youngster in the bunk, Job led +the way to the companion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + +The mist was sweeping past in swirls and streaks, and though the wind +had abated somewhat, the _Tiger_ still ploughed along into the obscurity +at a fair rate of speed. Jeremy stayed forward with the lookout, peering +constantly into the gloom ahead, and half expecting to see the ghostlike +sails of the _Revenge_ whenever for a moment a gray aisle opened in the +mist. But there were only the grim, uneasy seas and the shifting fog. + +Before darkness fell Job shortened sail, for he did not wish to get too +far ahead of the enemy. And about the end of the second dog watch he +gave the order to slack sheets and fall away for the southward run. + +The wind turned bitterly cold in the night, and when the watch was +changed Tom and Jeremy staggered below, glad to escape from the stinging +snow that filled the air. + +But with that snow-flurry the weather cleared. The sun rose to a day of +bright blue water and sharp wind, and hardly had its first level rays +shot across the ocean floor when the watch below was tumbled out by a +chorus of shouts from the deck. + +Jeremy, as he burst upward through the hatchway, cast an eager eye to +either beam, then uttered a whoop of joy, as he caught the gleam of +white canvas over the bows. There, straight ahead and barely a league +distant, raced the _Revenge_ and her pirate crew. + +Captain Job reached the deck only a couple of jumps behind the boys, and +an instant later his deep voice boomed the order to shake out all reefs +and set the top-sails. + +Bob, who had slept the clock around and eaten a hearty breakfast, soon +appeared at Jeremy's side, looking fit for any adventure. With Tom they +went up into the bows and were shortly joined there by others of the +crew, all intent on the chase. + +The swells as they surged by from stern to bow seemed to move more and +more sluggishly. Beneath a press of sail that would have made most +skippers fearful of running her under, Job was driving the _Tiger_ along +at a terrific pace. Now once more Jeremy's steering-wheel was proving +its worth. Job at the helm could hold the plunging schooner on her +course with far less danger of being swung over into the trough than +would have been the case with the old hand tiller. + +But in spite of the schooner's headlong speed, the distance between her +and her quarry seemed to lessen scarcely at all. The old _Revenge_ with +her tall sticks and great spread of canvas was flying down before the +wind with all the speed that had made her name a byword, and the man +with the broken nose was evidently willing to take as many chances as +his pursuers. + +All morning the chase went on. At noon, when the winter sun flashed on +the high white dunes of Cape Cod, to starboard, the _Tiger_ seemed to +have gained a little. Job, leaving the wheel for a bit, came forward and +measured the distance with his eye. He shook his head. "Two miles," he +said. "At this rate we can't get within range before dark." And he went +back to his steering. + +But for once he was mistaken. For an hour or more the buccaneers had +been hauling over little by little toward the coast, possibly with the +idea of running in and escaping overland as soon as night should fall. +Now the lookout in the foretop of the _Tigers_ gave a cheer. + +"They've caught a flaw in the wind!" he shouted. "Watch us come up!" + +Sure enough the _Revenge_ had sailed into an area of light air to +leeward of the Cape, and the boys could see that their own sloop, which +still had the wind, was hauling up hand over hand on her adversary. + +"By the Great Bull Whale!" roared Job, leaping forward along the deck, +"now's our chance! Hold her as she is, Hawkes, while I load the long +gun." + +The big gunner-captain worked rapidly as always, but before he had done +ramming down the round-shot, the pirate schooner was within range for a +long-distance try. She lay off the _Tiger's_ starboard bow, almost +broadside on, but still too far away to use her own guns. + +Job aimed with his usual care, but when at length he put a match to the +powder, the shot flew harmlessly through the pirate's rigging, striking +the sea beyond. Almost at the same moment the wind drew strongly in the +sails of the _Revenge_ once more, and she began plunging southward at a +breakneck pace. + +Job ran aft for a word with the mate, who had the wheel, then returned +and again loaded the bowchaser, this time with chainshot and an extra +heavy charge of powder to carry it. When he had finished he stood by the +breach in grim silence, watching the chase. + +It soon became apparent that though the _Tiger_ could gain little on her +rival in actual headway, she was gradually pulling over closer to the +quarter of the _Revenge_. Hawkes, who was an excellent seaman, humored +the craft to starboard, bit by bit, without sacrificing her forward +speed. + +At the end of twenty minutes Job gave a satisfied grunt, maneuvered the +cannon back and forth on its swivel base once or twice, and fired. +Above the roar of the discharge the boys heard the screech of the +whirling chainshot, and then in the _Revenge's_ mainsail appeared a +great gaping rent, through the tattered edges of which the wind passed +unhindered. There was a howl of joy from the crew, and without waiting +for an order, they tumbled pell-mell down the hatches to man the +broadside cannon in the waist. + +Job stayed on deck, watching the enemy through his spy-glass. +Handicapped by her torn mainsail, the _Revenge_ was already falling +abeam. When they had hauled up to within five or six hundred yards of +her, Job called the men of the port watch on deck to shorten sail. This +done, and the two sloops holding on southward at about an even gait, the +Captain took a turn below, where he looked at each of the guns, gave a +few sharp orders and ran back to his station on the after deck. + +"All ready, Hawkes," he called, "bring us up to within a hundred and +fifty fathoms of her!" + +The mate spun the wheel to starboard, and the schooner, answering, drew +nearer to the enemy. + +"Close enough--port your helm," cried Job. + +But even as the _Tiger_ swung into position for a broadside, there came +the roar of the pirate's guns, and a shot crashed through the forestays, +while others, falling short, threw spray along the deck. + +"All right below," shouted Captain Job, steady as a church. "Ready a +starboard broadside!" And at his sharp "Fire!" the five cannon spoke in +quick succession. The deck rocked beneath Jeremy's feet, where he stood +by the companion, ready to carry Job's orders below. + +As the dense smoke was swept away forward on the wind, they could see +the _Revenge_, her rigging still further damaged by the volley, going +about on the starboard tack, and making straight for the shore. + +"Put your helm hard down and bring her to the wind!" roared Job, at the +same time jumping toward the mainsheet. + +The schooner swung to starboard, heeling sharply as she caught the wind +abeam, and was in hot pursuit of her enemy before a full minute had +passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + +Little by little the _Tiger_ pulled up to windward of the buccaneer and +the men below in the gun deck could be heard cheering as their advance +brought the black sloop more and more nearly opposite the yawning mouths +of the _Tiger's_ port carronades. + +The shore was now less than half a mile distant. Though making all +possible speed, the pirate schooner seemed to rise on the waves with a +more sluggish heave than before. Job, watching her through the spyglass, +turned to Isaiah Hawkes. + +"Don't she look sort o' soggy to you?" he asked. "I can't quite make out +whether that's a hole in her planking or--by the Great Hook Block! See +there, now, when she lifts! One of our shots landed smack on her +waterline. No wonder they're trying to beach her!" + +A moment later the _Tiger_ had hauled fairly abreast and the two +schooners plunged along a bare hundred yards apart. Not a head showed +above the high weather bulwark of the _Revenge_. Only the muzzles of her +guns peered grimly from their ports in her black side. There was +something sinister about this apparently deserted ship, lurching +drunkenly shoreward, with her torn sails and broken rigging flapping in +the breeze, and the pirate flag flying at her peak. + +Job made a megaphone of his hands and raised his voice in a hail. + +"Ahoy, _Revenge_!" he boomed. "Will you surrender peacefully, and haul +down that flag?" + +There was silence for a full ten seconds. Then a musket cracked and a +bullet imbedded itself in the mainmast by Job's head. + +"All right, boys," he said, without moving, "let 'em have it! Ready, +port battery? Fire!" Jeremy and Bob, clinging side by side to the +hatch-combing, felt the planking quiver under them at the series of +mighty discharges, and saw the pirate schooner check and stagger like an +animal that has received its death wound. + +Only one of her guns was able to reply, the round-shot screaming high and +wide. But on she went, and the steep beach below the dunes was very +close now. + +Captain Job stood by the hatchway. "All hands up, ready to board her," +he ordered, and the crew, swarming on deck, ran to their places by the +longboat amidships. + +The _Tiger_ was now in very shallow water, but Job waited till he saw +the other craft strike. Then, "Bring her head to the wind, Hawkes!" he +cried, "And over with the boat, lads! Lively now, or they'll get +ashore!" + +Hardly was the order given when the boat shot into the water. During the +scramble of the seamen for places on her thwarts, Jeremy and Bob jumped +down and crouched in the bows, unseen by any but those nearest them. Ten +seconds after she hit the waves the boat was filled from gunwale to +gunwale with sailors, armed to the teeth with pistols, cutlasses and +boarding-pikes. Job, last to leave the deck, spoke a word to Hawkes, who +remained in command, and jumped into the sternsheets. + +"Now, give way!" he roared. + +The eight stout oars lashed through the water and the boat sped +shoreward like an arrow. Up in the bows the two boys clutched their +weapons and waited. Neither one would have admitted that he was scared, +though they were both shivering with something more than the cold. +Besides his precious pistol, Bob was gripping the hilt of a +murderous-looking hanger, which he had picked up from the pile on deck +in passing. Jeremy had been able to secure no weapon but a short pike +with a heavy ashen staff and a knife-like blade at the upper end. They +peered over the bows in silence. The longboat was close to the +_Revenge's_ quarter now, but there was no sign of the pirates along her +rail. + +"Suppose they've got ashore?" asked Bob. "I don't see--" + +"Down heads all!" + +It was Job's voice, and the boys together with many of the seamen ducked +instinctively at the words. As they did so there came a crash of +musketry, followed by intermittent shots, and splinters flew from the +gunwale of the boat. Jeremy heard a gasping cry behind him and a young +sailor toppled backward from the thwart. He fell between the boys, and +as they raised him in their arms he died. + +Another seaman had been killed and three more wounded by the pirate +volley, which had been fired from a distance of barely a dozen yards. +Seeing the effect of their fusillade, the buccaneers rose cheering and +yelling from behind the bulwarks of the sloop in the evident belief that +they had succeeded in demoralizing the attacking force. But the speed of +the boat had hardly been checked. In another instant the rowers shipped +their oars and the gunwale scraped along the free-board of the schooner. + +"A guinea to the first man up!" cried Job, himself reaching up with +powerful fingers for a grip by which to climb. + +There were no rope-ends hanging, and as the _Revenge_ in her stranded +position lay much higher forward than aft, the boys, standing in the +bows, found themselves faced by smooth planking too high to scale. + +Jeremy started back over the thwarts, but heard Bob calling to him and +turned. + +"Here's a place to board!" the Delaware boy was saying, and pointed +toward the forward gun-port which stood open just beyond and above the +bow of the longboat. In a twinkling Bob had straddled through the hole, +with Jeremy close after him. It was dark in the 'tween-decks and the two +boys made their way forward on tiptoe, waiting breathlessly for the +attack they felt sure would come. But apparently all the buccaneers were +busy above in the fierce fight that they could hear raging along the +rail. They moved on, undeterred, till they reached the foot of the +fo'c's'le ladder, where Jeremy feeling along the bulkhead, uttered an +exclamation. + +"This is their gun-rack," he said. "And here's a musket all loaded and +primed! I'll take it along!" + +The hatch cover had been drawn to, but Bob, trying it from beneath, +decided it was not fastened. Both boys tugged at it and succeeded in +sliding it back an inch or two, where it stuck. + +The hubbub on deck was now terrific. They could hear, above the general +outcry, an occasional sharply gasped command in Job's voice, or a +snarling oath from one of the buccaneers, but for the most part it was a +bedlam of unintelligible shouts with a constant undertone of ringing +steel and the thud of shifting feet. Most of the firearms, apparently, +had been discharged, and in the mêlée no one had time to reload. + +Bob, straining desperately at the hatch-cover, spied Jeremy's +pike-shaft, and thrusting it through the narrow opening, pried with all +his strength. The hatch squeaked open reluctantly and the boys squirmed +through on to the deck. + +They gasped at the sight which met their eyes as they emerged. Both of +them had confidently expected to find the pirates already beaten, and +fighting with their backs to the wall. But such was far from being the +case. + +On the deck amidships lay two men from the _Tiger_, sorely wounded, +while Job and two others stood at bay above them, swinging cutlasses +mightily, and beating off, time after time, the attacks of a dozen +fierce pirate hanger-men. A number of buccaneers had fallen but all who +were unwounded were raging like a pack of dogs about the figures of Job +and his two supporters. + +"They can't get up!" cried Bob, "The men can't climb the side! Here, +help me bring that rope!" It was a matter of seconds only before the +boys had dashed across the deck and thrown a rope's end to the men below +in the longboat. Then Jeremy turned and ran toward the waist. Another +man was down now. Job and a single comrade were fighting back to back, +parrying with red blades the blows of half a score of the enemy. Jeremy +saw a gleam of yellow teeth between wicked lips, and a flash of light +eyes in the thick of the assault. Then for a moment he had a glimpse of +the whole face of Pharaoh Daggs, scarred and distorted with frightful +passion--a cruel wolf's face--and even as he looked, the dripping +sword-blade of the man with the broken nose plunged between the ribs of +Job's last henchman. The wounded seaman staggered, leaning his weight +against his captain, but still kept his guard up, defending himself +feebly. Job hooked his left arm about the poor lad's body and backed +with his burden toward the mainmast, slashing fiercely around him with +his tireless right arm the while. When they reached the mast, Job leaned +his comrade against it, set his own back to the wood, and battled on. + +But now a cheer resounded, and the buccaneers, turning their heads, +found themselves face to face with the rush of half a dozen men from the +_Tiger_, while more could be seen swarming over the rail. + +The knot of pirates broke to meet the attack, but some of them stayed. +Daggs and three others, including the huge mulatto mate, closed in on +Job, cutting at him savagely. The wounded sailor had fainted and slipped +to the deck. Jeremy saw the saddle-colored mate step swiftly to one +side, then come up from behind the mast, drawing a long dirk from his +sash as he neared Job's back. He had lifted the knife and was stepping +in for a blow, when Jeremy pulled the trigger of his musket. There must +have been an extra heavy charge of powder in the gun, for its recoil +threw the boy flat on the deck, and before he could regain his feet he +saw a man close above him and caught the flash of a hanger in the air. +Desperately Jeremy rolled out of the way, and none too soon, for the +blade cut past his head with a nasty _swish_. He scrambled up and caught +a boarding-pike from the deck as he did so. The pirate followed, hacking +at him with his cutlass, and for seconds that seemed like hours the boy +fought for his life, parrying one stroke after another, till the pike +shaft was broken by the blows, and he was left weaponless. As he ducked +and turned in despair, a man from the _Tiger_ ran in and caught the +buccaneer on his flank, finishing him in short order. + +The deck was now full of struggling groups, for though a score of the +longboat's crew had climbed aboard, the pirates were putting up a fierce +resistance. Jeremy, panting from his encounter, cast about for a weapon +and soon found a cutlass, with which he armed himself. He turned toward +the mainmast foot once more, and to his joy discovered that his shot had +taken effect. The mulatto had disappeared under the trampling mass of +fighting men, and Job's tall figure still towered by the mast. It took +the lad only a second, however, to realize that his Captain's plight was +serious. The big Yankee was fighting wearily with a broken cutlass, and +his face was gray beneath the red stream of blood that ran from a wound +above his eye. Jeremy plunged into the ruck of the battle, careless now +of danger. A sort of berserk rage possessed him at the sight of that +wound. He hewed his way frantically toward the mast, and suddenly found +Bob there beside him, cutting and lunging like a demon. He gasped out a +cheer. But even as it left his throat, the Captain's arm flew up +convulsively, then dropped out of sight in the mob. + +"Job's down!" cried Bob wildly, but the New England boy's only reply was +a half-choked sob. + +Now the tables were turned of a sudden, for three stout sea-dogs from +the _Tiger_, finishing their first opponents, dashed into the fray with +a yell, and Daggs, hewing his way to the mast, turned to face the new +attack with only two men left on foot to back him. + +The fight was short and fierce. First one, then the other of the +buccaneers went down before the furious assault of Job's seamen. At +length only the pirate chief was left to battle on, terrible and +silent, his face set in a ghastly grin, like the visage of a lone wolf +fighting his last fight. + +But the odds were too great. The men of the _Tiger_ pressed in +relentlessly till at last a dozen sword-points found their mark at once. +And so died Pharaoh Daggs, violently, as he had lived. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + +It was Jeremy who, five minutes later, held Job's head on his knees, +while the weary, bleeding sailors stood silently by with their hats off. + +The bo's'n, a grizzled veteran of many sea-fights, was kneeling beside +his Captain with an ear to his side. There was hope in the man's face +when at length he looked up. + +"He's breathin' yet," was his verdict, "breathin', but not much more. +There's half a score of cuts in him, different places. Here, lads, rig a +stretcher, an' let's get him back to the ship." + +When the unconscious body of their big friend had been placed gently in +the boat, Bob and Jeremy turned to each other with sober faces. + +"It was a costly sort of victory," said Bob. "This deck's not a pretty +sight, and there's nothing much we can do to help. Let's have a look at +the cabin." + +They went below and forced open the door of the after compartment, which +had once housed the great Stede Bonnet. Instead of its old immaculate +and almost scholarly appearance, the place now had an air of desolation. +It reeked of filth, stale tobacco-smoke, and the spilled lees of +liquor. In the clutter on the cabin table lay two bulging sacks and a +small box. + +"Well," said Bob, as he felt the weight of one of the bags, "here's the +rest of Brig's gold!" + +But Jeremy's attention was occupied. He had picked up the box from the +table and was examining it curiously. + +"See here, Bob," he cried, "this is the little chest I was carrying the +night we ran through the woods. I dropped it when that pirate tackled +me. What do you suppose is in it?" + +The box was leather-covered and heavily studded with nails. Jeremy tried +the small padlock and found it rusty and weak. A hard pull on the staple +and it came away in his hand. He threw open the cover and the two boys +stood back, gasping with astonishment. + +There on the lining of soft buckskin lay twelve great emeralds, gleaming +with a clear green light even in that dark place. They were perfectly +matched and as large as the end of a man's thumb, each cut in a square +pattern after the oldtime fashion. Such stones they were as could have +come only from the coffers of an oriental king--the ransom, perhaps, of +a prince of the blood, or of the favorite wife of some Maharajah, seized +in one of Solomon Brig's daredevil raids. + +Bob found breath at last. + +"It's a fortune!" he cried. "They're worth more than all the gold +together! And they're yours, Jeremy--yours by right of discovery twice +over. You're rich--you and your father and Tom! Think of it! You can buy +a whole fleet of big ships like the _Indian Queen_, and become a great +merchant. You and I'll be partners when we're grown up!" Jubilant, he +picked up one of the sacks of gold and made his way to the deck, +followed by the half-dazed Jeremy, who carried the rest of the treasure. + +The sun was close to setting when the _Tiger's_ boat made its last trip +to the pirate sloop. This time its errand was a sad one. Silently the +crew passed long, limp bundles across the rail, rowed with them to the +beach, and clambered up the desolate dunes with picks and shovels in +their hands. There, where the wind moaned in the beach-plum thickets and +the white gulls wheeled and screamed, they dug a long grave and laid the +dead to rest, pirates and honest men together under the wintry sky. + +The boat returned and was hoisted aboard. Just as the mainsail had been +run up and the schooner was filling away for her northward beat, a +single shout from the crosstrees caused every man to turn his gaze +shoreward into the gathering dark. A faint glow seemed to hang in the +air above the pirate sloop. A little snaky flame wriggled its way along +a piece of sagging cordage, licked at the edges of a torn sail, and +flared outward in a burst of red fire. A moment later, and the whole +schooner was ablaze, from waterline to masthead. Jeremy, watching, +fascinated, from the _Tiger's_ rail, thought of the night when he had +first seen that black hull, and of the burning brig that had lit up the +sky as the pirate sloop now illumined it. Her fate was the same that she +had meted out to many a good ship. + +They were rapidly drawing away, now. The great glare of the burning +schooner faded out as the flame devoured her fabric. The foremast +toppled and fell in a shower of sparks. The mainmast followed. Only a +feeble light flickered along the edges of the low-lying hulk. The faint +gleam of it was visible, astern, for some time before it was swallowed +by the dark sea. + +The _Revenge_ was gone. + + * * * * * + +This is the end of my story. + +Of the voyage to Boston town; of how Job was nursed back to health by +Phineas Whipple, the best surgeon in all the colonies; of the glorious +reunion when Amos Swan and Clarke Curtis rejoined their sons; of the +many pleasant things that Bob and Jeremy found to do together, after the +Swans had come to live in Philadelphia--of all these things there is +not space enough in this book for me to tell. + +Jeremy Swan grew up to be one of the great Americans of his day: a man +strong, wise and independent. And although he became rich and highly +honored, he never lost the simplicity of his ways. + +Sometimes when he was a hale old man of seventy, he would take his +grandson, who was named Job Cantwell Swan, on his knee, and tell him +stories. But the story that young Job loved best to hear and that old +Jeremy loved best to tell was about a boy in deerskin breeches, and the +wild days and nights he saw aboard the Black Buccaneer. + + + THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Page 43, 2nd paragraph - changed "broad-side" to "broadside" to match +other instances + +Page 63, next to last line - added opening quote before "Herriot" + +Page 73, first line - corrected typo "priate" to "pirate" + +Page 88, 3rd paragraph - corrected typo "fidgetted" to "fidgeted" + +Page 91, 1st paragraph, next to last sentence - changed "a a man" to "a +man" + +Page 102, second paragraph, 6th line - corrected typo "showly" to +"slowly" + +Page 120, line 21 - added missing end quote at the end after "pirate." + +Page 164, 2nd paragraph, line 8 - added opening quote to "Daggs' chest!" + +Page 189, line 4 - corrected typo "somethinig" to "something" + +Page 196, last line - removed second "and" + +Page 231, 5th line from bottom - corrected typo "neck" to "deck" + +Page 268, 6th paragraph - changed "round-shot" to "roundshot" to match +other instances + +Page 273, 2nd paragraph, line 2 - corrected typo "thmselves" to +"themselves" + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Black Buccaneer, by Stephen W. 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