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+Project Gutenberg's With Drake on the Spanish Main, by Herbert Strang
+
+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: With Drake on the Spanish Main
+
+Author: Herbert Strang
+
+Illustrator: Archibald Webb
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2012 [EBook #38795]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH DRAKE ON THE SPANISH MAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: "The Spaniard swung round."]
+
+
+
+
+
+WITH DRAKE ON THE
+
+SPANISH MAIN
+
+
+BY
+
+HERBERT STRANG
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY ARCHIBALD WEBB
+
+
+
+LONDON
+
+HENRY FROWDE
+
+HODDER & STOUGHTON
+
+1908
+
+
+
+
+OXFORD: HORACE HART
+
+PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1907, by the BOBBS MERRILL COMPANY in the
+
+United States of America
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The romancer, in choosing as the setting for a tale the period of a man
+who looms large in history, finds himself on the horns of a dilemma.
+He cannot place his fictional near his historical hero without either
+dwarfing the former until the young reader ceases to find him
+interesting, or robbing the latter of some of the glamour with which
+history invests him.
+
+In the following pages I have tried to meet the difficulty by making
+Francis Drake the presiding genius of the story.  The deeds of Dennis
+Hazelrig are akin to those of Drake; the same spirit of adventure
+dominates them: and when, in the course of the story, the real and the
+fictitious personages meet, it is, I trust, without loss of dignity to
+either.
+
+HERBERT STRANG.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+JETSAM
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SEA-GIRT
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A WRECK--AND MIRANDOLA
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SALVAGE
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE EDGE OF THE MARSH
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SPANISH WHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AMOS TURNPENNY
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HALF-PIKES AND MACHETES
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+AMOS TELLS HIS STORY
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE MAROONS BUILD A CANOE
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE MAIN
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BENEATH THE WALLS
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE TAKING OF FORT AGUILA
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+VAE VICTIS
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A LONG CHASE
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+JAN BIDDLE, MASTER
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE DEMI-CULVERIN
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+JUAN THE MAROON
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+DRAKE'S CAMP
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A RAID THROUGH THE FOREST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+MAIDEN ISLE AGAIN
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A FIGHT ON THE CLIFFS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+BOMBARDED
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE LEAGUER OF SKELETON CAVE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE MULE TRAINS
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+LOI
+"The Spaniard swung round"  _Frontispiece_.  _See p._ 78
+
+Map of Maiden Isle
+
+Dennis saves Mirandola
+
+"Captain singled out Captain"
+
+"The sailor threw up his left hand to ward off the attack"
+
+"A shot fell immediately in their wake"
+
+Map to illustrate Drake's adventures
+
+"The seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard."
+ELOI
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Jetsam
+
+Daybreak!  But, eastward, no glory of dawn.  Black thundrous clouds
+roll sullenly across a livid sky, riven at moments by pale zigzags of
+flame.  Rain tumbles in cascades.  League upon league of white-crested
+waves chase one another in fury, hissing, roaring as they hurl
+themselves upon a stubborn shore, only to be broken and thrown back
+into the seething turmoil.  The wind outstrips them, shrieking as it
+cleaves a way through the massed foliage, in mad haste to reach the
+mainland and smite the yielding tops of Darien's palms and pines.
+
+The shelving sandy beach is strewed with the jetsam of the storm.
+Here, a tangled heap of seaweed, left by a breaker when, spent with its
+own rage, it falls back baffled.  There, a log of wood, hard by
+nameless creatures of the sea, destroyed by the fury of their own
+element.  And here, high up the strand, beneath a bank overgrown with
+large-leaved plants, lies a human form, huddled, motionless.
+
+The waves do not touch it now; the storm has exhausted itself; the tide
+is ebbing.  Minute by minute the sea becomes less boisterous; the strip
+of sand widens; the rain ceases.  By and by the sun breaks through the
+eastern sky, and, gathering strength, disperses the lingering clouds
+and flings his radiance over the scene.  His beams, falling aslant
+through a gap in the cliffs, strike upon the draggled form on the sand;
+it stirs slightly, stretching itself as a leaf uncurls.  At last, when
+the air quivers with heat, and all things lie under a shimmering haze,
+Dennis Hazelrig heaves a sigh, opens his eyes, and looks amazedly about
+him.
+
+His eyes close; for some minutes he remains still; then he lifts
+himself slightly, falls back with a gasp, and lies again as one dead.
+But Nature is recovering under the beneficent rays.  Pigeons are cooing
+in the branches above; parrots are screaming; insects drone their
+burden; and when a mosquito, adventuring forth, alights on a human
+cheek, and tastes, Dennis is stung once more into consciousness.  He
+starts up, brushes the marauder away, staggers to his feet, and, to
+prevent himself from falling, clutches at a tuft of grass in the
+overhanging bank.  Its thin blade-like edge draws blood from his hand,
+and he looks at the red stain as at some strange phenomenon.  Then he
+laughs huskily, checks the sound as though it too is unfamiliar, and
+laughs again--a short sobbing laugh.
+
+"Certes, I am alive!" he mutters.
+
+
+An hour or two passed before Dennis ventured once more to try his
+tottering legs.  The sun's heat had dried his clothes, which, as he
+ruefully observed, had been so rent by the buffeting waves that they
+hung upon him precariously.  But in the same genial warmth his strength
+was returning, and though all his body ached, he could now move without
+a stagger.  Catching sight of some clams near him, he was conscious of
+a vast emptiness within, and felt for the clasp-knife which he was wont
+to wear slung about his waist.  It still hung upon its chain.  He had
+opened and eaten, ravenously, a dozen of the shellfish before he
+realized that after all his thirst exceeded his hunger, and he looked
+round for a spring of fresh water.  He walked some paces along the
+shore, groaning with every movement, until his ear caught the musical
+ripple of a stream, and he saw a rivulet flowing across the sand from a
+narrow water-course in the cliff.  In an instant he was down on his
+knees, drinking his fill.
+
+Refreshed with the draught, he rose and began to consider.  He was
+alive: that was the first thing.  It seemed marvellous to him.  The
+tornado had ceased.  Looking round, he could hardly believe that the
+sea now so calm was the same sea which, but a few hours before, had
+been a raging monster.  As far as the eye could scan it stretched away,
+shimmering in the sunlight, only a white crest here and there giving
+sign of its late disturbance.  Not a sail broke the line of the
+horizon.  What had become of the _Maid Marian_ and her crew and his
+companion adventurers on board?  Had they, had any of them, been cast
+ashore like himself, on some other part of this strange coast?  If he
+had escaped, why not others?  There was something cheering in the
+thought, and instinctively he braced himself for a search when,
+remembering that awful night--the amazing suddenness of the blast that
+struck the bark, rending the sails like ribands, snapping the mainmast
+like a reed, the tumultuous waves, the crashing thunder, the bursts of
+lightning, the deluge that poured down from the heavens--as he
+remembered these battling elements he shuddered involuntarily; could it
+be otherwise than by a miracle that he had survived?
+
+He lived over again his last conscious moments.  The mainmast had gone
+by the board.  He heard the hoarse shout of Miles Barton the master,
+calling upon the men to cut away the wreckage.  He was with them at the
+task, struggling to keep his feet, when the gallant vessel staggered
+under the onslaught of a tremendous sea, and he was swept off her deck.
+He heard cries all around him, but could see nothing for the darkness
+and the blinding rain.  Striving to keep his head above water, he felt
+his strength failing, so puny was it against the might of the
+passionate waves, when he encountered a floating spar, and clung to it
+with the tenacity of despair.  After that he knew nothing.  His grip
+must have relaxed, for the spar was not near him when he awoke to
+consciousness on the beach.  Yet it seemed that this had been his
+salvation.  He must have held to it until near the shore; then some
+mountainous breaker had torn him away and hurled him to the spot where
+he had lately opened his eyes again upon the world.
+
+Hapless bark!  It was scarcely possible that she had survived the
+hurricane.  And what of the souls on board with him?  What of Miles
+Barton, the bluff sea-dog her master, and his cheery crew, and the
+score of gallant gentlemen who had sailed out of Plymouth Sound but two
+months before, gay, high-hearted adventurers for the Spanish Main?
+Where was Sir Martin Blunt, the blithe captain of the band, and Philip
+Masterton, and Harry Greville, and Francis Tring, all young men of
+mettle, whom Dennis was proud to call his friends, and who, though but
+little his elders in years, had seen and done things in the great world
+that made him burn with envious admiration?  Alas! he could not but
+fear that the sea had swallowed them.
+
+But then again came the thought: might not Fortune have befriended them
+too?  Why imagine the worst?  And Dennis thrust sad thought from his
+mind; hope was not dead.  His meal had given him strength to search,
+and search he would.
+
+He looked about him.  The sandy beach was narrow.  It was overhung by
+cliffs of varying height, in parts merely a low bank, in parts reaching
+an altitude of perhaps forty or fifty feet.  They were covered with the
+dense vegetation of the tropics.  Some distance to the north of where
+he stood the receding tide had left bare a long ledge of massive rock,
+running up into the highest part of the cliff.  To the south the shore
+was less rocky, and within half a mile curved round to the east.  It
+was in this direction that he decided to go.
+
+But he had not walked far along the glistening sand when he suddenly
+bethought himself.  Signs of life there had yet been none, save the
+cries of birds from the trees above him.  But what if he came upon a
+fishing village, and found himself among enemies--the wild red men of
+whom he had heard, the Spaniards of whose terrible deeds returning
+navigators made such grim tales for the winter nights at home?  Where
+was he?  On some shore of the Caribbean Sea, he made no doubt, for only
+the day before, when the _Maid Marian_ was sailing merrily westward,
+Sir Martin had declared, and old Miles had borne him out, that but a
+few more days would bring them to the point where they expected to meet
+other adventurers who had preceded them on the same quest for
+excitement and gain.
+
+And Dennis halted as one dazed when the full sense of his calamity was
+borne in upon him.  He was alone!--alone!  There might be, for all he
+knew, thousands of people almost within hail of him; but he was none
+the less alone, for they would be of another race, speaking another
+tongue, unfriendly, hostile.  He sat down on a smooth rock and, resting
+his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands, stared moodily out
+to sea.  Between him and all that he held dear stretched this wide
+ocean for thousands of miles.  In utter hopelessness he wondered why it
+had not swallowed him up with all his comrades, instead of casting him
+here, a battered miserable body.
+
+The mood passed.  He had escaped the perils of the sea, not by his own
+strength, but by the hand of Providence.  If perchance he had more to
+fear from man than from nature--why, it behoved him, an English boy,
+and a Devon boy to boot, to face his destiny with a stout heart.  After
+all, he was of the same stuff as Master Walter Raleigh and Master
+Francis Drake and many another bold man of Devon.  He could not think
+that any one of them, in his situation, would give way to black
+despair; and, lifting his aching body from the shore, he walked on: he
+would at least learn somewhat of his surroundings.
+
+The beach, he found, bore gradually to the left, so that he could see
+but a short distance ahead.  Still he encountered no signs of life,
+save here and there a scuttling crab, and the rank plant growths above
+him, whence now and again a bird fluttered out and wheeled screaming
+about his head, and then soared clattering into the foliage.  Soon he
+tired of this monotonous tramping over sand, which appeared to lead no
+whither; and observing at length a cleft in the rocks, whence a shallow
+stream swiftly poured itself upon the beach, he bethought himself he
+might more quickly make a discovery if he pushed his way up the
+water-course, which must by and by lead to higher ground.  He turned in
+obedience to this impulse, waded through the stream, that wound this
+way and that between banks thickly covered with vegetation, and after
+what seemed an eternity to his aching limbs, found himself upon a cliff
+overlooking the sea.  His wandering had brought him by a circuit to a
+point north of the spot where he had awoke to consciousness.
+
+The cliff on which he stood was much higher than the surrounding
+country.  To right and left the ground shelved downwards, and he now
+perceived that the coast on both sides had an inward trend; that, in
+fact, the cliff was also a promontory.  Turning round, he found that
+his view was blocked by the trees except in one direction, where a
+sudden dip in the ground gave him an outlook over several miles.  And
+there, surely, at the far end of the vista, was the sea again.  For the
+first time the suspicion occurred to him that he had been cast upon an
+island.
+
+He went to the farthest point of the cliff to scan more carefully the
+horizon.  Looking across the sea, which from the beach had seemed an
+unbroken plain, he now saw in the far distance several dark vague
+shapes rising a little above the surface.  These must be islands.  To
+the north, somewhat nearer to him, and somewhat more definite, were
+similar forms, which seemed to grow in size during the hour or more he
+watched them, no doubt owing to the fall of the tide.  Far to the south
+he descried a long dark bar upon the horizon; this must be land, many
+miles away, probably the mainland.  His view to the east being almost
+entirely shut out by the foliage, he could feel no certainty that his
+suspicion was justified; but he felt a stirring of interest and
+excitement now: supposing it were indeed an island, how did the
+discovery bear upon his lot?
+
+Once more he turned and gazed along the valley at whose end he saw the
+sea.  It could not be many miles away; perhaps in an hour or so he
+could reach it.  The island, apparently, was not a large one, so that
+he could not go far without meeting its inhabitants.  He looked around
+for any signs of habitation--a roof-top, a column of smoke; but there
+was none.  Next moment he reflected that, if the island were small, it
+would not take him long to make its circuit and search every yard of
+the beach for tracks of his late comrades--of the _Maid Marian_ too.
+Still cherishing a hope that some might have survived like himself, he
+set off to descend the cliff towards the beach, every downward step
+racking his bruised limbs and strained joints.  When he gained the
+beach, he once more tramped southward, his eagerness lending him speed.
+He passed the water-course up which he had struck inland, and soon
+after came upon scattered articles of wreckage, among them the broken
+topmast of the _Maid Marian_.  With a sigh for his lost comrades he
+passed on.
+
+The sun had risen high in the heavens, and Dennis was fain to rest.
+
+"I'm a poor battered hulk," he said aloud, finding some little solace
+in the sound of his voice, "and hungry--how hungry I am!"
+
+He looked around for food, spied some shell-fish and ate them raw,
+quenching the ensuing thirst at another stream that rippled down from
+the interior.  The feeling of nervousness lest he should encounter
+strangers again took hold upon him, and he felt a desire to hide.  He
+found himself casting uneasy, almost terrified glances around him from
+the nook in which he was now resting, somewhat sheltered from the sun's
+fierce rays.  Then, conquering the feeling, he rose again to continue
+his search of the beach.  He must by and by, he thought, come upon some
+quay or harbour.  When he should see it, he would halt and consider his
+course of action: whether to advance and risk the meeting with
+strangers, or to retreat until with recovered strength and a clearer
+mind he could prepare himself for what might be in store.
+
+As he proceeded, he noticed that the jungle frequently approached to
+within a few feet of the mass of weed that marked high-water.  At one
+spot he discovered, almost buried in the sand, the worm-eaten
+stern-post of a vessel.  He could distinguish one or two letters of her
+name.  Many a ship, he doubted not, had been wrecked on this coast,
+many a hapless wight had been cast up by the tide, alive or dead.  By
+and by he came, on the southern side of the island, to high cliffs, and
+he set about scaling that which offered the easiest ascent, to obtain a
+view of sea and land from this point of vantage also.  It was densely
+wooded, and as he mounted he heard, besides the cries of startled
+birds, other sounds that struck uncannily upon his ear.  In his
+weakened state any new note in these sounds set his nerves tingling,
+and more than once he stopped, and could scarcely prevent himself from
+turning and speeding back to the beach, where at least there was
+nothing to cause him fresh tremors.
+
+Near the top of the cliff the wood thinned away somewhat, and when he
+reached its highest point he found himself on a stretch of greensward.
+Northward the ground sloped gently down to a clump of trees, of a
+species unknown to him, tall, with slender trunks, which it seemed to
+him he could climb as easily as the masts on the _Maid Marian_.  He
+made his way to them, half minded to swarm up the tallest of the group,
+so that from its summit he might gain a view, possibly, over the whole
+island, and solve the question that troubled him--whether somewhere
+upon it there was a settlement of men.  Only when he reached the foot
+of the trunk did he remember his weakness.  He stood leaning against
+it, and gazing up its length felt that at present his muscles were
+incapable of the feat.
+
+All at once his eyes became fixed in his head.  Travelling to the top,
+where a mass of foliage crowned the towering stem, they had lighted
+upon a face, that seemed to be peering at him from between the leaves.
+The feeling of fright that had before almost paralysed him seized him
+again.  But next moment he laughed aloud.
+
+"Ninny that I am!" he murmured.  "Afraid of a monkey!"
+
+He looked again.  The monkey, a large long-tailed specimen of its kind,
+was gazing at him gravely, with a look so human that it reminded him of
+his old schoolmaster at Winchester.  With the sportive instinct of a
+boy--Dennis was not yet seventeen--he stooped, picked up a stout piece
+of fallen branch, and flung it upward.
+
+"Stir, Sir Monkey!" he cried.  "I hail thee as the lord of this island!"
+
+The wood struck the branch on which the monkey was perched.  Chattering
+angrily, it flung its long arms around the branch above, and swung
+itself up, resting there, blinking and showing its teeth at this
+unmannerly intruder.
+
+"A big fellow indeed!" said Dennis to himself.  "I will not climb.  If
+the beast is angered, as he seems, he would be no mean foe in his high
+perch.  I'll not try a bout with you, Sir Monkey.  For this time,
+farewell!"
+
+And he went on, smiling a little as he became conscious that the
+meeting with the monkey had cheered him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Sea-Girt
+
+Besides the birds, and the ground animals which he heard at times
+scurrying through the undergrowth, the sole inhabitant of the island
+that Dennis had yet discovered was a monkey.  Though he was beginning
+to suspect that his fears of encountering hostile human folk had been
+needless, he still felt a timid reluctance to leave the coast-line for
+the interior; and having given up for the present his idea of climbing
+a tree to obtain a wider view, he contented himself with walking to the
+top of the cliff, to continue his observations from that point.  His
+native courage was returning; yet, as he mounted the cliff, he moved
+for the most part under cover of the trees; the dread of possible
+enemies still made him wary, though every now and then he forgot his
+precautions, only remembering them again when the sense of his
+loneliness forced itself upon him, or when he was momentarily startled
+by a sudden sound.
+
+Panting a little from his exertions when he gained the summit,
+conscious of his bodily weakness, of bruised limbs and strained sinews,
+he looked eagerly around.  Eastward stretched an illimitable expanse of
+sea; he scanned it longingly, yet doubtfully, for while it was from
+that quarter, or from the channel between the island and the mainland,
+that he might hope for rescue from a friendly ship, it was thence also
+that he might be descried perchance by an enemy.  He sat down on the
+grass, once more yielding to the heavy sense of forlornness, and
+thinking sadly of his lost companions.  How long he remained there he
+knew not; his mind wandered a little: he thought afterwards that he had
+probably slept, for he suddenly awoke to the consciousness of a gnawing
+hunger.  He had walked far, and the few shell-fish he had picked up on
+the shore gave but meagre sustenance.  Stiff and cramped, he rose to
+search again for food.
+
+There was nothing edible in his immediate neighbourhood.  The trees
+sprang to a lofty height, and bore no fruit.  Plucking up his courage,
+he made his way slowly down the slope towards the middle of the island.
+The vegetation grew thicker as he proceeded; there was no path or road;
+all was a wild tangle.  At first he saw nothing wherewith to ease his
+pangs; never in his life had he taken a thought for his next meal; it
+was a new experience.  Often enough at home he had plucked fruits as
+they grew; he remembered with a strange homesick feeling many a boyish
+depredation upon neighbouring orchards, out of sheer mischief, not from
+a longing for food.  But there were no apple-trees or plum-trees here.
+And when at last he came upon a broad-leaved tree upon which grew huge
+clusters of a yellowish fruit, in shape like monstrous pea-pods, he
+hesitated, wondering whether this might not be one of those evil trees
+of which he had heard, one taste of which would turn his skin black,
+and fire him with a raging thirst, and afflict him with a madness whose
+end was death.  But his natural appetite would not be gainsaid.  With
+hope and misgiving mingled he at last stretched up his hand and plucked
+one of the tempting pods, and stripped off the skin, and nibbled a
+morsel of the soft fruit within.  It was delicious; but so was the
+devil's fruit of mariners' tales--the more delicious the more
+poisonous.  Somewhat anxiously he waited; there was no change in the
+colour of his skin; he watched it through the rents of his tattered
+garments; and indeed it seemed to him that any change would be for the
+better, for he perceived for the first time that he was already black
+and blue with bruises.  He bit off another and a larger piece; then,
+with the ravenous haste of one long fasting, he let prudence fly, and
+ate the whole fruit, and another, and another, until he saw with
+surprise and qualms that his feet were encircled by a ring of empty
+skins.  But he felt astonishingly refreshed and invigorated; he must
+eat one more; and thus, timorously and recklessly, he made acquaintance
+with the banana.
+
+Of water for drink there was abundance.  He drank gladly at a stream,
+and wandered on.  It was strange that he no longer felt alone.  He saw
+no man, nor any trace of one; he had become accustomed now to the
+rustle of birds and the swish of four-footed creatures moving amid the
+greenwood; what then caused him to look apprehensively around?  What
+was this odd feeling of expectation that possessed him?  There was
+nothing to account for it, and by and by the nervousness which had left
+him during his search for food returned in greater force.  It was not
+lessened when he suddenly became aware that the sun was setting.
+Darkness, he knew, would soon envelop him, and there came with a rush
+upon his mind the memory of his early childhood, when night, with its
+silence, its blackness, had filled him with terror.  He felt that a
+night in the solitude of these unfamiliar trees would be unbearable,
+and, guiding himself by the sunset glow, he hurriedly plunged through
+the jungle towards the shore.  There, under the open sky, he could feel
+more at ease.
+
+His course brought him to the beach on the southern side, where, in the
+morning, he remembered having seen, though in his despondency he had
+not heeded, a number of half-rotten staves of casks.  These might, he
+thought, serve him for making a rude shelter.  He soon found the spot,
+and then noticed, what had escaped his dazed observation before, that
+close by the staves there lay a medley of stripped branches.  Had some
+one, at some time, built himself of these materials a shelter in that
+very place?  He gathered the stuff together and rigged up a crazy hut,
+such as he had seen erected by shepherds on the moors of Devon.  The
+day had been hot, but he knew from his experience on shipboard that the
+nights were cold; already he felt a sharpness in the air, and shivered
+in his tatters.  The hut would defend him somewhat from the chill of
+night.
+
+Another fear seized upon him with the approach of dark.  His mind had
+been so occupied with thoughts of human enemies that the possibility of
+the island harbouring wild beasts had not, in the daylight, occurred to
+him.  The darkness, he knew, brought forth small and great beasts; and
+he remembered with a shudder the tales told him by one of the hardy
+adventurers on board the _Maid Marian_--of packs of wild dogs that
+scoured these tropic woods, devouring sleeping men; of the hideous
+cayman, that lurked upon the shore, and, having swallowed
+hundredweights of stones to increase its heaviness, seized upon some
+unwary creature, and dragged it down into the watery depths, to feast
+upon it at leisure.  All wild beasts, he had heard, were afraid of
+fire; he had his flint and steel, secure in a leather pouch upon his
+girdle; but he had no dry timber; the sodden wood of the staves and
+branches of which he had built his hut would be useless, and he shrank
+from issuing forth into the now darkening woods to find material that
+would serve.  He comforted himself with the recollection that not once
+during his tramp around the island had he seen any animal larger than a
+hare, save the monkey; and he resigned himself to make the best of what
+he feared would be a cheerless night.
+
+The dark fell rapidly, again he had that strange feeling that he was
+not alone.  He went to the entrance of the hut, where he had drawn some
+of the worm-eaten branches, strung together with a few creepers, across
+as a door.  Peering out, he saw nothing but the darkened cliffs and the
+sea, heard nothing but the wash of the surf, the rustle of the breeze,
+and the soft tones of wood-pigeons.  He returned to the rear of the
+cabin, where he had strewed leaves for his couch.  As he lay back upon
+it and looked up to the roof he started, and instinctively seized a
+branch for protection: above him shone two greenish eyes peeping
+through one of the many gaps.  His hasty movement disturbed the
+watcher, and Dennis heaved a sigh of relief as he heard a shrill
+chattering above, and knew it for the gibber of a monkey.  Springing up
+he dashed out of the cabin to drive the intruder away.  He was just in
+time to see the monkey springing up the nearest tree.
+
+It was long before he fell asleep.  Then his rest was fitful and
+disturbed, not only through his over-wrought nerves, but by the
+nocturnal cries of creatures in the forest, and the attentions of
+insects, which nipped and stung with importunate malice.  In spite even
+of them, however, he slept; and when with the rising of the sun they
+betook their satiated bodies elsewhere, he lay till the morning was
+drawing towards noon in the sound sleep of exhausted nature.
+
+Opening his eyes upon bright day, he was tempted by the smoothness of
+the sea to bathe.  When he flung off his clothes he laughed to see the
+parti-coloured patches on his skin.  Blue, and yellow, and black, the
+bruises reminded him of his battering in the storm, and his laughter
+turned to sighing as he thought once more of his comrades and their
+hapless fate.  But in the physical joy of swimming he again plucked up
+heart, and he left the stinging water with a most healthy hunger.  The
+recollection of his feast of fruit drew him into the woodland.  He
+wandered long before he lighted upon the banana grove, and though, in
+the course of roaming, he saw other fruit-bearing trees, he resisted
+for the present the temptation to climb and taste; when once his hunger
+was appeased by the fruit he knew, he could more safely make an
+experiment on the unknown.
+
+He saw, too, many animals which had escaped his notice previously.
+There were hedgehogs, and tortoises, and giant spiders, and scorpions
+to which he gave a wide berth; but he caught no glimpse of any
+four-footed beast to cause him dread, and having by this time made up
+his mind that there were no human beings on the island, he went more
+fearlessly, with a readier eye to note the features of his new abode.
+
+Happening once to halt and glance back he saw, perched in the branches
+of a tree not many yards away, a monkey.  Was it the same, he wondered,
+as that which had peered at him out of the tree he had thought of
+climbing, and pried upon him in his humble cabin?  It seemed to be of
+the same size; it had spindly limbs and a long slender tail; but
+probably there was a colony of the strange creatures on the island.
+
+"Good morrow, Sir Monkey," he said, again finding a pleasure in the
+sound of his voice.  "Are you lonely too?  You were not, surely, cast
+like me upon this island, far away from kith and kin.  You have a wise
+and solemn look: what secrets do you harbour in that shallow skull of
+yours?  And what do you think of me, I wonder, when you look at me with
+those cunning little eyes?  I wish you could speak, for here am I
+prating to myself like an old gossip of eighty."
+
+As he moved on it was very soon clear that the monkey was dogging him.
+He amused himself by putting the matter to the test.  When he sat down,
+the monkey stopped, and remained almost perfectly still, partially
+concealing itself among the leaves.  When Dennis rose and went on his
+way the monkey followed, springing from branch to branch with amazing
+dexterity, always keeping at a distance.  Dennis became interested,
+fascinated, as he watched the movements of the agile creature.
+
+"Truly, Sir Monkey," he said, "I begin to wish I had a tail."
+
+And as the day wore on, and the monkey kept pace with him wherever he
+went, he began to find in its presence something of the comfort of
+human companionship.  Once, as he sat resting under a tree, the broken
+skin of a fruit he had eyed longingly fell within a couple of yards of
+him, and looking up he saw the monkey sucking with relish at another of
+the same kind.
+
+"Aha! my fine fellow," said Dennis, "you have something of a man about
+you, and mayhap what is good for you is good for me too."
+
+And he climbed a tree on which the pale yellow fruit was hanging, and
+plucked one, and made a wry mouth at his first taste of the tartish
+lime.
+
+Thus the day passed in aimless yet not unprofitable wandering.  Warned
+by his experience of the previous night, he resolved to prepare his
+shelter somewhat earlier.  Where should it be?  He was determined not
+to go back to the cabin, for the insects had plagued him there
+unmercifully, and he could only ward them off by means of a fire.  But
+flame by night and smoke by day rising from the shore would assuredly
+provoke curiosity among the crew of any passing ship; and since, of the
+vessels likely to pass in these latitudes, the most would undoubtedly
+be Spaniards, he was loath to attract visitors who might prove so
+eminently undesirable.  Yet, as he knew from his experience in woods at
+home, the insects would be even more numerous inland than at the shore.
+A fire he must have, and it struck him that if he could find, somewhere
+in the middle of the island, a sheltered hollow, he might safely kindle
+there a few sticks, trusting that the over-arching foliage would
+prevent a glow in the sky, and that the smoke, in the night-time, would
+pass unobserved.
+
+About a mile from the edge of the eastern cliff was a spring whence a
+little stream flowed westward.  At its source but an inch or two wide,
+it gathered volume on its winding course, and Dennis, tracking it,
+wondering by what circuit it would finally reach the sea, discovered
+that it ran at length into a somewhat extensive marsh.  He knew nothing
+about rainfall and land drainage, but being a lad of some powers of
+observation and reasoning, he was not long in coming to the conclusion
+that the marsh collected as in a cup the water that fell on the
+surrounding high ground during such torrential rains as had fallen on
+the night of the storm.  It was clear that there must be an outlet, or
+the marsh would be a lake, and this outlet he found amid thick
+undergrowth towards the western cliff near which he had been thrown by
+the sea.
+
+Penetrating the dense jungle, he discovered that the outflow poured
+through a channel some three feet deep.  Only a small stream now
+trickled down its centre; the banks were sandy and dry, and the
+interlaced foliage so arched it over, that Dennis decided he might rest
+in it secure from observation, and even run the risk of kindling a fire
+at night.  It seemed scarcely necessary to bring the staves of his
+cabin over several miles of difficult country to this spot; the trees
+themselves formed a sufficient shelter; but with his clasp-knife he
+cleared away some of the undergrowth, and lopped off a few low-growing
+branches to make a little enclosure; and by the time the natural shade
+deepened at the approach of night, he had fenced in a few square yards
+and scooped out a hollow in the middle for his fire.
+
+All the time he was working the monkey watched every movement from a
+branch overhead.  Dennis was not at first aware of the animal's
+presence, so closely hidden was it by the foliage.  Only when he struck
+a spark from his flint, and after some ineffectual attempts succeeded
+in blowing up a flame, did the monkey reveal its hiding-place by a
+little gibber of amazement.
+
+"So ho! my friend," cried Dennis, looking up vainly.  "You haunt me
+like a familiar.  Have you never seen a fire?  Do not let your
+curiosity tempt you too far, for, much as I value your company, I had
+rather you remained at your present comfortable distance until I know
+you a little better.  Play the sentinel, Sir Monkey, if you will."
+
+Dennis felt very well satisfied with his contrivance as he sat by the
+fire, eating a supper of bananas before laying himself down on a bed of
+leaves.  The smoke defended him somewhat from the insect pests; the
+warmth was comforting; and the cheerful glow gave him a sense of
+homeness and well-being.  He fed the fire more than once during the
+night, waking, it seemed, when the diminished heat warned him that the
+fuel needed replenishing, And when he awoke from his longest spell of
+sleep the dawn was stealing through the trees, birds were cooing,
+whistling, chattering overhead, and the monkey, on a low branch, was
+watching him with unalterable gravity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A Wreck--and Mirandola
+
+Dennis, as he made his breakfast, pondered deeply on the situation,
+taking the monkey in to his confidence.  "Could we change parts, Sir
+Monkey--if I were you, and you were Dennis Hazelrig, what would you do?
+This is your island: we will call it yours; I am your guest.  You seem
+to be a solitary creature like myself: are you miserable, I wonder?
+Does your loneliness trouble you?  There is food for us both: it is so
+warm that for the present, at least, I need no more clothes than you;
+neither of us will starve.  How old are you?  You look wise enough to
+be very old.  Am I to remain on this island until I have a beard as
+long and white as Sir Parson's at home?  Oh, you cannot understand what
+I say, for all your wise look: you cannot know what a wretched mortal I
+am.  What can I do?"
+
+The monkey only blinked at him, and plucked a dark plum-like fruit from
+the bough and munched it.
+
+For a time Dennis sat listless, feeling too wretched even to move from
+the spot.  Then he got up and made his way back to the cliff.  He stood
+on the summit, scanning the whole circumference of the shining sea.
+Not a sail was in sight.  He scarcely knew whether he was disappointed
+or not.  Supposing a vessel hove into view, he durst not try to attract
+the attention of some one on board.  If it were English it would be
+welcome as a spar to a drowning man.  If it were Spanish, he might as
+well jump into the maw of some sea monster.  Yet how could he discover
+its nationality without at the same time betraying his presence?
+Several times during that third day he climbed to the same spot, and
+looked out with the same eagerness; not one glimpse did he catch of a
+white wing upon the water; and he always turned away with the same
+uncertainty.
+
+He spent hours in roaming, as aimlessly as before, along the beach and
+through the woodland.  Coming in the course of the day to the cliff
+near which he had been cast ashore, he remembered that hitherto he had
+not made a complete circuit of the island; the beach northward appeared
+to be barred by huge masses of rock.  In his present mood he had no
+curiosity to see what lay beyond; he supposed indeed that, if he did
+care to clamber toilsomely over the barrier, he would simply arrive at
+a point of the beach which he had already reached from the other side.
+
+But later in the day, when the tedium of inaction had become
+unbearable, he started to explore the lower course of the streamlet on
+whose bank he had slept.  He found that the channel gradually widened,
+the banks growing higher as he neared the sea.  By and by he came upon
+a wide pool on whose rim a mass of seaweed lay rotting in the sun, and
+stooping out of sheer curiosity he dipped his finger and, tasting,
+discovered that the water was salt, as he had supposed.  Clearly at
+high tide the sea came thus far up the gully.  The entrance was as yet
+hidden from him by the jutting shoulder of the cliff, but he could hear
+now the light rumble of surf upon the beach, and he went on, feeling
+some curiosity to learn whereabouts on the shore he would arrive.
+
+He had taken but a few more steps when, rounding the projecting cliff,
+he came upon a scene which petrified him with astonishment.  Docked in
+the sand, lying over on her side, was the battered hulk of a two-masted
+vessel.  Her stern was somewhat towards him, and he read, painted
+there, the word _Maid_; but so familiar was he with her lines that he
+needed not the rest of the name; this was in very truth the wreck of
+the _Maid Marian_.  Of her two masts only the stumps remained: her
+deck, inclined towards him, was littered with a medley of rigging; her
+rudder was gone, part of her bulwarks torn away.
+
+There was an uncanny look about the hapless vessel as she lay there on
+the sandy beach, at the head of a small bay bounded by the cliffs on
+either side.  Dennis felt just such a thrill as he might have felt had
+he come suddenly upon the body of a friend.  The solitude, the silence,
+intensified by the rustling wash of the surf, the background of
+boundless sky and ocean, combined to affect him with a sense of
+desolation.  He felt a shrinking reluctance to approach, and when he
+had conquered this and stood beneath the vessel's quarter, it was some
+time before he summoned up the resolution to climb on board.  Then he
+mounted slowly, hesitatingly, by the aid of a loose shroud, holding his
+breath as if fearful of disturbing a sleeper.
+
+All was intensely still.  Multitudinous insects were crawling this way
+and that among the litter of rigging: save for these there was no sign
+of life--where for two months as merry a company as ever trod deck had
+talked and laughed and jested.  Dennis felt a lump in his throat as he
+recalled the little incidents of the voyage: quarter-staff bouts with
+old Miles Barton, wrestling matches with Harry Greville, sword-play
+sometimes with the captain himself.
+
+The hatchways were battened down.  He shrank from going below.  Evening
+was drawing on; he would leave the wreck now, and return in the
+morning.  And as he set his foot once more on the beach, and began to
+retrace his steps up the gully, he saw the monkey grinning at him from
+a tree on the cliff, and was surprised to find how pleasant and
+consoling was the creature's company.
+
+Hard on his discovery of the wreck came another discovery.  Retracing
+his way up the chine, he noticed a green ledge on the cliff, some few
+feet above his head, on the right-hand side.  The thought occurred to
+him to rest there for a little; he could reach it by an easy climb.
+When he gained the ledge, he found that it ran back for a longer
+distance than he had supposed below.  At its further end grew a wild
+mass of bushes and trees, some of which bore a plum-like fruit that he
+had seen the monkey eating with enjoyment.
+
+He went to pluck some of the fruit, and penetrating a little way into
+the thicket, he suddenly perceived that the bushes appeared to grow
+across an opening in the rock.  He pulled the strands aside, and looked
+into the dark entrance of a cave.  The discovery interested him.  Might
+he not find here a better lodging than the rude shelter he had made on
+the bank of the stream?  It was far above high-water mark, and
+conveniently placed for refuge, being accessible landwards only by the
+rocky channel, and wholly hidden from observation at sea.  Yet he
+paused before stepping into the cave.  Might it not be a wild beast's
+lair?  True, he had seen no animals which he could have any cause to
+fear, but at this moment of overstrung nerves he felt a child's dread
+of the dark.
+
+"A proper adventurer, in good sooth!" he said to himself.  "The skirts
+of a nurse would befit me better than an island in the Spanish Main."
+
+And without more ado he took a step forward and entered.
+
+The daylight was quenched within a few feet of the opening.  Striking a
+spark from his flint, he kindled a mass of dried grass he had stowed in
+his pouch for this purpose, and started as the brief flame lit the
+interior, for there, almost at his feet, lay a human skeleton.
+Incontinently he dropped his torch and fled,--scoffing, when once more
+in the free air, at his lack of courage.  But the wish to make this his
+abode was vanished.  He had no fancy to consort with skeletons, and
+besides, the damp and musty atmosphere of the cave was unpleasant.
+Without delay he set off to regain his former resting-place.
+
+These new discoveries had introduced a disturbing element into his life
+on the island.  Uninhabited as it apparently was now, clearly it had
+not always been so.  What was the history of that skeleton?  Were there
+others further within the cave?  It was not the remains of a castaway,
+for not even in the fiercest hurricane could the sea penetrate so far.
+Had some poor wretched fugitive fled there for refuge from a human
+enemy, and been slain or starved?  These questions kept him wakeful
+long that night, and haunted him even while he slept.
+
+With morning light he thought less of the cave and more of the wreck.
+The _Maid Marian_ had left Plymouth well equipped with stores; the
+hatchways had been battened down in the storm, and unless the sea had
+poured in through holes stove in her sides, there must be below decks a
+considerable quantity of materials that would prove serviceable if his
+stay on the island was to be lengthened.  As soon as he had finished
+his breakfast he set off to return to the chine.  It was no surprise to
+him now to observe the monkey following, like an attendant lackey.
+
+"Come, Sir Monkey," he said, with an attempt at gaiety, "let us go
+together and inspect our treasure trove."
+
+He felt again a strange sense of awe as he climbed into the vessel's
+waist, and trod her planks delicately.  But remarking that her position
+had been shifted slightly by the incoming tide during the night, and
+that little streams of water were escaping from holes on to the sand,
+he reflected that it behoved him to lose no time if he wished to secure
+her contents, for any day a tempest might spring up and shatter the
+hulk irretrievably.  Gulping down the timidity that still troubled him,
+he climbed to the quarter-deck, and went forward through the broken
+doorway into the main cabin.
+
+The floor was littered with the possessions of his dear lost comrades.
+Here was Harry Greville's sword; near it a pistol-case that had
+belonged to Philip Masterton.  He stepped over these and other relics
+and entered the captain's cabin beyond.  Here, too, all was ruin and
+disorder.  Garments, instruments of navigation, an ink-horn, trumpets,
+a drum, Sir Martin's arms and breastplate, the big leather-bound book
+in which he wrote his diary of the voyage, lay pell-mell on the floor.
+Dennis could hardly bear to look upon these mementoes of the lost, and
+he soon turned his back on them and returned to the open part of the
+vessel, where he sat for a time, given up to melancholy brooding.
+
+At last he rose, threw off the oppression, and ventured to force up the
+main hatch forward of the mainmast and descend.
+
+[Illustration: Insulae Virginis Charta]
+
+Even now he could not bear to remain long below.  He explored the whole
+length of the vessel in sections, returning at short intervals to
+breathe the fresh air and enjoy the cheerful sunlight.  On one of these
+occasions he was amused to see that his faithful attendant had now
+ventured to quit the security of its tree, and was sitting on a rock
+within a few yards of the vessel, an interested spectator.
+
+His inspection of the contents of the vessel fully rewarded him.  In
+the steward's store abaft the mainmast he found a large number of
+utensils--an iron pease-pot, a copper fish-kettle, a skimmer, several
+wooden ladles, a gridiron, a frying-pan, a couple of pipkins, a
+chafing-dish, a fire-shovel, a pair of bellows, trays, platters,
+porringers, trenchers, drinking-cans, two well-furnished tinder-boxes,
+candles, and candlesticks.  There were casks of beer and wine, great
+boxes of biscuits, bags of oatmeal, pease, and salt, whole sides of
+home-cured bacon, several cheeses, a tierce of vinegar, jars of honey
+and sugar, flasks of oil, pots of balsam and other salves, a pledget
+for spreading plasters, a pair of scissors, and several rolls of linen,
+these last evidently provided for the exigencies of fighting.  In the
+carpenter's store forward there were hammers, awls, chisels, files, a
+saw, hundreds of nails, both sixpenny and fourpenny.  In the armoury
+were half-pikes, cutlasses, muskets, with bandoliers, rests, and
+moulds, calivers, barrels of gunpowder and tar, and leaden bullets,
+such as were to be bought at Plymouth six pounds for threepence.  And
+as to the other appurtenances of a well-found ship, Dennis was almost
+bewildered by the quantity of them--bolts, and chains, and pulleys,
+buckets, mops, sand-glasses, horn lanterns, faggots for fuel,
+fishing-nets, articles of apparel, things for trade and barter: the
+list would fill a page or two.  And he rejoiced exceedingly to find
+that all were in good condition, even the cheeses: there could not be
+even a rat on board to commit depredations.
+
+Surveying this great and substantial store, Dennis rubbed his head in
+puzzlement.
+
+"'Tis a month's work," he said ruefully, "and for one pair of hands.
+The grave and reverend signor yonder will scarce assist, I trow,
+indeed, 'tis to be feared he may be thievishly inclined, and needs must
+I bestow the goods skilfully.  Well, to it; time and tide, they say,
+waits for no man."
+
+He began by carrying the biscuits and other perishables from the hold
+to the bulwarks, where he rigged up a running tackle, and lowered the
+bags and boxes to the sand beneath.  So intent was he upon his task
+that it was with a start of surprise and alarm he noticed that the tide
+was flowing in, and had almost reached the vessel.  Threatened with the
+loss of the precious stores, he was hard put to it to drag and carry
+and roll them up the beach beyond the reach of the waves, and the sun
+was far down towards the western horizon before he had them high and
+dry.  By this time the sea was several feet deep around the vessel, and
+the thought struck him: what if the wreck were to float away on the
+tide and all the remaining salvage be snatched from him?  So grave a
+misfortune must be prevented.  At once he swam out to the ship, and
+securely fastening to the stump of the broken mast one of the stout
+cables he found below, he again plunged into the sea, and in a little
+had wound the other end about two sturdy trees growing out from the
+cliff.
+
+While the wreck remained in its present position it was desirable that
+he should have his lodging close by.  There was no shelter on the shore
+itself, nor did the cliff promise a comfortable abiding place; and his
+thoughts returned to the cave, which was a good deal nearer than the
+spot where he had rested the previous night.
+
+Among the things he had brought ashore were a lantern, a tinder-box,
+and a candle.  Fortified with a light, he entered the cave with less
+tremor than on the previous evening, and looked about him.  The cave
+was deep: his light did not reach the further extremity.  The roof was
+damp and green with moss.  There was the skeleton, stretched on the
+rocky floor.  By its side, as he now saw, lay a hatchet of curious
+shape: a little beyond were some coloured beads.  But within the circle
+of light he discovered no other remnants of humanity; these were not
+very terrible after all, and he might have taken up his abode there but
+for the fusty, humid atmosphere.  He gave up the idea of sleeping in
+the cave, but made for himself, just outside and across the entrance, a
+couch of cloaks taken from the wreck.
+
+Before settling himself for the night, he returned to the base of the
+cliff, opened with the hatchet one of his precious boxes of biscuits,
+and taking a handful, sat on a flat rock to make an unaccustomed
+supper.  He had barely eaten a mouthful when he saw a brown figure leap
+from somewhere above his head, swoop on the still open box, clutch one
+of the biscuits, and spring away with a long chatter of delight.
+
+"Ah, knave!" he exclaimed, "my prophetic soul avouched that your
+gravity cloaked an evil bent.  You are a thief, Sir Monkey.  But I do
+not grudge you the biscuit; your constancy in attendance merits some
+reward.  A toothsome morsel, is it not?  It pleases me to see your
+pleasure, and--yes, I have it!  You are my sole companion on this
+island; why should we not be friends?  You must learn a rightful
+humility, to be sure.  Regarding me as the dispenser of luxuries, will
+you not love me, with the respectful love of a dependent?  Come, let us
+see."
+
+Rising from his seat in time to forestall a second application to the
+biscuit box, he went to it, took half a dozen, shut down the lid, and
+returned to the rock.
+
+"Now, Mirandola," he said--"I name you Mirandola for your wisdom, not
+your larceny--here in my hand I hold one of the twice-cooked, the
+fellow of the one you found so delectable.  Come and take it, and give
+thanks."
+
+But the animal sat motionless on its branch, grinning and gibbering.
+
+"You do me wrong to suspect me," Dennis went on.  "Well, this is to
+prove my good faith."
+
+He flung the biscuit on to the sand a few yards away, and laughed
+quietly to see what ensued.  The monkey chattered volubly with
+excitement, swung itself to a lower branch, then back to its former
+perch, where it sat for a moment blinking and grinning.  Then it
+descended with extraordinary rapidity to the foot of the tree, crouched
+behind the trunk while a man might count ten, and with frantic haste,
+as though fearful its courage would not endure, it darted on all fours
+across to the biscuit, looking in its movements like a gigantic spider.
+Seizing the delicacy, it sped back to the tree, squatted on the lowest
+branch, and set its jaws right merrily to work.
+
+"That is your first lesson, Mirandola," said Dennis, placing the
+remaining biscuits in his pouch, in full sight of the animal.  "The
+second begins at once; it enjoineth patience."
+
+And heedless of the loud outcry made by the monkey when it saw these
+choice comestibles disappear, Dennis returned to his couch, and laid
+himself down for the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Salvage
+
+Rising with the sun, Dennis set about making a more careful examination
+of the hull of the _Maid Marian_.  The leaks in her timbers were rather
+more serious than he had supposed.  Clearly they would prevent her from
+drifting out to sea on the tide, but they would also render her final
+break-up inevitable in the event of a violent storm from the
+north-west.  There were signs on the face of the cliff that at times
+the waves dashed over the narrow beach of sand against the wall of rock
+beyond.  In these latitudes, as the fate of the _Maid Marian_ proved,
+storms arose without warning, and with incredible swiftness; and it
+behoved Dennis to make all speed in saving the ship's stores.
+
+At low tide on this day, and on many that followed, he worked hard at
+his task.  He rigged up a block and pulley in the waist, by means of
+which he was able to hoist casks and other heavy objects up the
+hatchways and lower them over the side of the vessel.  It was more
+difficult to convey them from the vessel to a place of safety beyond
+the reach of the tide.  At first he tried to haul them by a rope, but
+finding soon that he succeeded only in working up a ridge of sand which
+rendered haulage exhausting and in some cases impossible, he bethought
+himself of the device of employing rollers, such as he had seen used by
+fishermen on the beach at home.  It was an easy matter, with the tools
+now at hand, to lop off and strip some straight boughs suited to his
+purpose, and upon these he brought, slowly and not without pains, the
+bulkier goods to safe harbourage.  The tide always rose about the
+vessel too soon for his impatience; but the work was arduous, the
+intervals were really needed for rest, and they gave opportunities of
+furthering his acquaintance with the monkey.
+
+His relations with Mirandola, indeed, were placed on a sound and
+satisfactory footing long before he had emptied the hull.  The biscuits
+were invaluable.  At intervals, now long, now short, he would throw one
+towards the monkey, which watched all his doings at the wreck day by
+day with unfailing regularity.  Little by little he diminished the
+length of his throw, until, on the third day after his first lesson,
+Mirandola had gained sufficient confidence to approach him to within a
+few inches.  On the fourth day, after keeping the monkey waiting longer
+than usual, Dennis took a biscuit from his pouch, held it for a moment
+between his fingers, then put it back again.
+
+"It is time, Mirandola," he said, "that your education was completed.
+You are, I verily believe, as wise as a serpent; will you not believe
+that I am harmless as a dove?  This is the same biscuit I stowed but
+now in my pouch; it is for you; it is yours if you will take it
+mannerly.  No, I will not cast it on the sand; it is more seemly to
+take it from my hand, and, I do assure you, it will be no less
+relishable.  Come, then, dear wiseacre; have I ever deceived you?  Show
+a little confidence in your true friend and well-wisher."
+
+He held forth the biscuit, with an alluring smile.  Mirandola cocked
+his head on one side, gazed at this dispenser of delectable things with
+a searching solemnity, and then crawled forward with watchful eye,
+dubiously halting more than once.  At length he came to Dennis's feet,
+and sat up, with so gravely sad an expression that Dennis found it hard
+not to laugh.  Then, thrusting up his long arm, he made a grab at the
+biscuit.
+
+"Not so, Mirandola," said Dennis, holding it beyond the monkey's reach.
+"Manners maketh man; assuredly they will not mar monkeys.  Ape the
+gentle philosopher your namesake; be courteous and discreet.  Now, once
+more."
+
+He lowered the biscuit slowly, keeping his eyes on the creature's face.
+But with a suddenness that took him aback, Mirandola raised himself on
+his hind legs, flung out an arm, and, before Dennis could withdraw it,
+held the biscuit in his skinny paw.
+
+"Wellaway!" laughed Dennis.  "I may keep my breath to cool my porridge,
+for all the effect my words have upon your savage nature."
+
+Then, to his surprise, the monkey came to him again, and held out his
+hand.
+
+"You shall not be disappointed," he said.  "Not for the world would I
+reject your advances.  Here is a biscuit, and with this, shall we say,
+our friendship is sealed."
+
+And it was not long before Mirandola would sit upon his knee, and take
+food from his hand with all mannerliness; and, its distrust gone,
+showed itself to be as affectionate and devoted as a dog.
+
+Dennis availed himself in other ways of the hours when the tide
+interrupted his labour with the stores.  There was no lack of planking
+and tarpaulin in the vessel; these he utilized in building on the
+ledge, and near a fresh spring that ran out of the cliff, a little hut
+about two trees that grew near enough together to form uprights for his
+roof.  Then he erected two small sheds close by, wherein to shelter his
+goods from the weather.  At first he fumbled with the unfamiliar tools,
+not omitting to pinch his fingers as he hammered in the nails.  But he
+soon acquired a certain dexterity, and was indeed mightily pleased with
+his handiwork.
+
+Every now and again he made a trip across the island, to discover
+whether any vessels were in sight.  Once or twice he descried a sail on
+the horizon; once, indeed, he felt some excitement and anxiety as he
+saw a bark under full sail bearing straight, as he thought, for the
+shore.  But in this he was mistaken; the vessel altered her course, and
+Dennis, watching her diminishing form, hardly knew whether to be glad
+or sorry.  He was in truth too busy for self-commiseration: work filled
+his days, unbroken sleep his nights.  His feeling of loneliness had
+almost entirely passed away, for Mirandola was his inseparable
+companion, and it pleased his fancy to talk to the monkey as to a human
+being.
+
+So engrossing had his labour been that he had taken no account of the
+passage of time.  It came upon him with a shock, once, that the
+unnumbered days were flitting away.  The idea that he was doomed to
+grow old upon this island, and linger out his years in endless
+solitude, struck his imagination with a chill, and set him climbing the
+cliff in a kind of frenzy, to scan once more the wide horizon for a
+sail.  If at that moment a vessel had hove in sight, he would have
+flown a flag, fired a musket, to attract attention, reckless what crew
+it bore, so deep was his yearning to see a fellow man.  When the fit
+passed, it left him with a new desire.  Never yet had the possibility
+occurred to him of leaving the island.  Could he construct a raft, or
+build a boat--nay, was there a chance of making the _Maid Marian_
+herself, battered as she was, seaworthy?  The absurdity of attempting
+to navigate single-handed a bark of near a hundred tons set him
+laughing; but the idea suggested a new outlet for his energy, just at
+the time when the conclusion of his salvage work had bereft him of
+occupation.
+
+He became fired with the purpose of saving the vessel.  The weather
+hitherto had been perfect; but sooner or later a storm must come, and
+then the ship would be ground to splinters against the cliff.  Was it
+possible to float her?  He had unloaded what he imagined to be a good
+many tons of stores; thus lightened, could she be moved?  If he could
+succeed in floating her, whither could she be taken?  His tour of the
+island had failed to discover any harbour; there was little to gain and
+much to lose by allowing himself to drift about aimlessly in such a
+hulk.  Suddenly an idea struck him.  Would it not be possible to devise
+some means of floating her up the gully, round the shoulder of the
+cliff?  Her draught was not great: at high tide the water was deep
+enough to carry her many yards beyond her present position, to a point
+where she would be at once invisible from the open sea and protected
+from the weather.
+
+At the next fall of the tide he made a thorough inspection of the
+wreck.  It was easy to find the leaks, for at every ebb the water that
+had entered the vessel at the flood gushed out in tiny cascades.  Many
+a time he had seen ships careened and caulked in the dockyard at
+Plymouth.  He had plenty of rope of which to make oakum, and of tar
+more than enough to meet his needs; in his search through the vessel he
+had lighted on no caulking iron, but a long nail would serve, and it
+should go hard with him, he thought, but he would make the old hulk
+sound and seaworthy ere many days were gone.
+
+He found an unexpected assistant in Mirandola.  He had teased out but
+an inch or two of rope when the monkey squatted down by his side and
+began with his strong nimble fingers to copy him, looking up in his
+face with an air of such busy importance that Dennis was fain to lie
+back and laugh.
+
+"By my troth, Sir Mirandola," he said, "this is friendship indeed.  And
+you outdo me, on my soul; you pick two inches to my one.  'Tis not the
+daintiest of work for fingers untrained to it, and if it pleases you,
+why, I will e'en leave it to you, and admire this unwonted usefulness
+in a philosopher."
+
+But he found that when he ceased, the monkey ceased also.
+
+"Poor knave!" he said.  "You see not the end.  'Tis but an apish trick
+after all.  Well, God forbid that I should judge your motive; I am
+thankful for your help, and we will work together."
+
+Between them the two collaborators soon had a fine heap of oakum ready
+for use, and a couple of days' hard work at low tide sufficed to caulk
+all the seams.  Mirandola's share in this second part of the job gave
+Dennis more amusement.  The busy creature solemnly dabbed tar on sound
+parts of the timbers, and chattered with disgust when he discovered
+that the stuff clung to his hairy skin, defying all his efforts to get
+rid of it.
+
+"I' faith, I named you more fittingly than I wot," quoth Dennis.
+"Pico, your illustrious namesake, was a gentleman of rare and delicate
+taste.  Touch pitch and thou art defiled.  But a little turpentine,
+mayhap, will cleanse the outward spots; and as for your inward
+hurt--what think you of a spread of honey on your biscuit?"
+
+Mirandola thought nobly of the new delicacy, and came in time to look
+for honey whenever he had imitated Dennis with more than usual energy.
+
+The leaks having been well caulked, Dennis proceeded to pump the water
+from the lower parts of the hold.  He awaited the next high tide with
+great eagerness.  To his joy the vessel floated, and rode fairly
+upright on her keel.  The tide carried her several yards up the beach,
+leaving her again high and dry at the ebb.
+
+But Dennis now found himself faced by a difficulty.  He wished to get
+the vessel round the shoulder of the cliff, so that the tide might
+carry her up the chine to the pool below his hut and sheds.  The
+distance was barely eighty yards, but he had noticed, from the movement
+of a log floating some little way out, that the set of the current was
+from north to west; so that if once she were allowed to float free, and
+felt the force of the current, she would probably drift away in the
+opposite direction from what he desired.  On the other hand, if she
+were driven too high on the beach, she might stick so firmly in the
+sand that it would be impossible to move her, and then she would lie at
+the mercy of the first north-west gale.
+
+His little nautical knowledge was at first at a loss.
+
+"Mirandola, your speechless wisdom is of no avail," he said ruefully,
+as he sat at his fire one evening, feeding the monkey with pease
+porridge.  "You and I are both landsmen; unlike you, I adventured
+forth, to gain gold, and fight the don Spaniards, if so the fates
+should ordain.  Here is never a Spaniard to fight, and as for gold, the
+wealth of Croesus would not at this moment benefit me a jot.  If I had
+been bred to the sea, now, I should not be at this pass."
+
+But long cogitation, and another visit to the ship, determined a course
+of action.  The windlass, he discovered, was uninjured, and though it
+was very stiff, he could still manage to turn it.  A big jagged rock
+jutted out from the cliff near the shoulder round which the vessel must
+be warped.  To this rock he carried a rope from the stump of the
+mainmast and securely fastened it.  This would prevent the vessel from
+drifting out to sea.  Then, with a hatchet from the ship's stores he
+cut a number of thick branches from the trees along the gully, and
+pitching them into the pool floated them one by one on to the beach
+alongside the wreck.  There was plenty of rope on board to fashion
+these into a stout raft, on to which, with the aid of the windlass, he
+lowered a kedge anchor just sufficiently heavy to hold the vessel in a
+calm.  It was a matter of some difficulty to get the anchor so evenly
+adjusted on the raft that the latter would not turn turtle; but after
+some patient manoeuvring Dennis arranged it squarely in the centre, and
+when the tide came in the whole floated with a fair appearance of
+stability.  Then with a long pole Dennis cautiously punted the raft out
+beyond the gully, paying out as he went a stout cable, connecting the
+anchor with the windlass.  Some thirty yards beyond the gully, at a
+point near enough in shore to be beyond the reach of the current, he
+prepared to drop the anchor.  It was too heavy for him even to move;
+the only plan that suggested itself was to bring about what he had up
+to that moment been most anxious to prevent--the raft must now be
+intentionally upset.  One by one he cut away the lashings of the
+outermost logs on the seaward side.  At last he felt by the movement of
+the raft that only his own weight prevented the crazy structure from
+turning over.  He slid from the raft into the sea; the far side sank
+and the anchor slipped over and went with a thud to the bottom.  Then
+the raft righted itself, and Dennis scrambled aboard.
+
+The rest was easy.  When the tide ebbed it carried the wreck inch by
+inch towards the anchor, for with the aid of the windlass Dennis was
+able to keep the cable constantly taut, while at the same time he paid
+out the rope connecting the vessel with the shore.  A couple of tides
+brought him in this way up to the anchor; then, transferring the shore
+cable to a stout tree some distance up the gully, he slacked off the
+kedge line when the tide was running up, and allowed the wreck to be
+carried shorewards.  In this way the _Maid Marian_ floated slowly up
+the gully on the flood, and another couple of tides brought her within
+a few yards of the pool, which he designed for her permanent harbourage.
+
+Below this there was a narrow bar that threatened to baulk him.  At low
+tide, indeed, he had to shovel away a large amount of sand in the
+middle of the channel, and once came near losing his temper with
+Mirandola, who, with well-meant industry, and a quite innocent
+pleasure, set about scooping back the sand as it was dug out.  But the
+animal tired of this fatiguing amusement; the difficulty was overcome;
+and when at last the vessel rode gently into the little natural harbour
+below the hut, Dennis hailed the success of his long toil with a
+cheerful "Huzza!" and broached a cask of sack.  Of this indulgence he
+partly repented, for the monkey seized upon the empty can when he laid
+it down, and drained it greedily.
+
+"No, no, my friend," said Dennis, gravely.  "Wine maketh glad the heart
+of man; I do not read that it is anywise a drink for brutes.  And all
+your philosophy would not reconcile me to a drunken Mirandola.  'Be not
+among wine-bibbers,' says the wisest of kings and men; I bethink me he
+says also, 'My son, eat thou honey, for it is good!'  You shall have
+honey, my venerable son."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Edge of the Marsh
+
+During his operations about the wreck, Dennis had noticed that the
+monkey showed a strange aversion for the sea.  At low tide, when the
+vessel was high and dry, he quite cheerfully accompanied his benefactor
+on board; but as a rule, when he saw the tide rolling in, he chattered
+angrily, swarmed down the side of the vessel, and posted himself at the
+nearest point above high-water mark.  Only on the one occasion, when he
+mounted the windlass, did he remain on deck when the tide was at flood;
+there he seemed to regard himself as out of reach of the waves.  Dennis
+wondered whether the dread of the sea was a characteristic of the
+monkey tribe, or whether Mirandola had at some time suffered a
+sea-change which it was determined not to repeat.
+
+He took endless pleasure in studying the amiable creature; and when,
+his work with the ship being finished, he began once more to take
+lengthy strolls across the island, he drew a new delight from the
+companionship of the monkey.  The friendship being so firmly
+established, Mirandola showed off his accomplishments with a freedom he
+had not displayed when he regarded this newcomer with distrust and
+suspicion.  Dennis laughed to see his antics in the trees.  He would
+curl his long tail about a branch, and swing to and fro with manifest
+enjoyment.  Sometimes, clutching a banana with one hand, he would pick
+another with one foot, and hold a third to his mouth with the second
+hand.  Sometimes when he saw Dennis holding his forehead in a brown
+study, he would rub his long gaunt arms over his own brow with a
+wistful look that brought a smile to the lad's face.  He was amiability
+itself, and showed genuine distress when Dennis took occasion to scold
+him for some piece of inconvenient prankishness.
+
+Now that his thoughts were no longer engrossed with his salvage work,
+Dennis more often speculated on his future.  The prospect was not very
+encouraging.  Supposing he could carry out his half-formed purpose of
+building a boat, what chance was there of surviving a voyage across the
+ocean in a vessel that, untrained as he was in handicraft, must
+necessarily be a clumsy thing?  And unless he could risk an ocean
+voyage he felt that he had better remain where he was.  No European
+nation but the Spaniards and the Portuguese had settlements on the
+American coast.  What might be expected at the hands of the Spaniards
+he knew full well.  Had he not heard from the lips of one Master John
+Merridew fearsome tales of their treachery and cruelty?  John Merridew
+had sailed with Captain John Hawkins to the West Indies, with Master
+Francis Drake as one of the company.  Forced by foul weather into the
+port of St. John de Ulua, the Captain made great account of a certain
+Spanish gentleman named Augustine de Villa Nueva, and used him like a
+nobleman.  Yet this same Augustine, sitting at dinner one day with the
+Captain, would certainly have killed him with a poniard which he had
+secretly in his sleeve, had not one John Chamberlain espied the weapon
+and prevented the foul deed.  And recalling Merridew's narrative,
+Dennis wondered what had become of those hundred poor wretches who,
+when victuals ran short, and the ship's company were driven to eat
+parrots and monkeys and the very rats that swarmed in the hold,
+preferred to shift for themselves on shore, rather than starve on
+ship-board.  In imagination he saw that touching scene, when the
+General, as Merridew called Captain Hawkins, gave to each man five
+yards of cloth, embraced them in turn, counselled them to serve God and
+love one another; and thus courteously bade them a sorrowful farewell,
+promising, if God sent him safe to England, to do what he could to
+bring home such as remained alive.  That Captain Hawkins would fulfil
+his promise Dennis believed; but how many of those Englishmen were
+still living?  He reflected that he at least had food and present
+safety; compared with theirs his lot was a king's.
+
+But he was not to escape misfortune altogether.  One day the storm he
+had so long been expecting broke over the island, hurling great seas
+into the mouth of the chine, threatening to dash the _Maid Marian_
+against the rocks or sweep her out into the ocean.  In the midst of
+pelting, blinding rain Dennis strove to ensure her safety.  She
+wrenched at her anchor; every moment he feared lest her mooring ropes
+should be snapped; he could do little but keep a watch on the
+fastenings.  And while he was thus watching, a roaring flood passed
+through the gully from the plateau above, swamping his hut, washing
+away some of his hardly-won stores; and the fierce blast tore off the
+roof of one of his sheds, exposing its contents to all the fury of the
+weather.
+
+Next day he did what he could to repair the damage.  Fortunately much
+of his perishable goods was contained in stout boxes which he always
+kept securely fastened, and the things he lost were those he could best
+spare.
+
+In the afternoon of that day, he went across to the opposite side of
+the island, as he was wont to do at intervals, to take a look-out from
+the high cliff there.  He wondered whether the storm had cast any other
+ill-fated vessel upon the shore.  But, scanning the whole horizon, he
+saw nothing but league upon league of restless sea.
+
+"Our solitude is not to be disturbed, Mirandola," he said to the
+monkey, "for which let us be thankful.  Or ought we to deplore it?  I
+wish you could speak, my friend, and tell me something of your history.
+Are you the last of your race, I wonder?  Well, so am I.  I have no
+kith nor kin; nor, as it appears, have you.  I have a humble estate in
+an island--to be sure, somewhat larger than this.  Now I come to think
+of it, this island is yours; it is a mark of nobility of soul--or is it
+poverty of spirit?  I cannot say--that you do not regard me as a
+supplanter.  Good Holles, my steward, would not brook the intrusion of
+any adventurer on my lands.  Heigh ho!  How fares the old fellow, I
+wonder?  How he shook his old head when I acquainted him with my
+purpose to join Sir Martin Blunt in his voyage to the Spanish Main!
+'God save you, sir!' said he, and asked whether he should sell my
+whippets!  One thing I know, Mirandola: that if it please God to bring
+me safe home in season, Holles will give me a faithful account of his
+stewardship.  Let me think I am your steward, good my friend.  And now
+let us return to our honey-pot."
+
+On the way back, Dennis struck somewhat to the left of his usual path,
+to skirt the marsh on its south-western instead of its north-eastern
+side.  It was far larger in area than when he had first seen it; its
+outlet was too narrow to carry off the surplusage due to the tremendous
+rains.  Dennis was picking his way around the oozy edge, letting his
+thoughts travel back to the pleasant land of Devon, when suddenly he
+was brought up short by the sight of a mark in the soft earth, the
+strangeness of which mightily surprised and perplexed him.  Parallel
+with his own tracks there ran for a few yards a faint ribbon-like
+track--such a track as might be made by a large cart wheel that had
+rested very lightly on the surface.  It was a single track: following
+its course, he found that it disappeared into the water, just as he had
+seen the mark of a cart wheel disappear into a roadside horse-pond at
+home.
+
+He looked around.  There was nothing to account for the mark.  He
+scouted the idea that it had been actually made by a wheel; a vehicle
+must have been drawn by animals, and there were no hoof-marks to match.
+With all his puzzling he could find no explanation, and though he
+looked warily about him as he went on his way, with some return of his
+old feeling of nervousness, he saw no sign to suggest that the island
+had been visited.
+
+It was a day or two before he again found himself near the marsh.  He
+had been fishing from the base of the high cliff that formed his usual
+look-out.  A kind of natural pier of broken rock jutted out from the
+cliff seawards, and the deep water on each side was the favourite
+resort at high tide of shoals of small fish, which chose it, he
+supposed, because the depth was not great enough for the ground sharks
+that sometimes made their appearance off the shore, and the little fish
+could disport themselves there in security.
+
+Carrying his catch on a string--enough for his own dinner, for
+Mirandola would not touch it--he passed again by the brink of the
+marsh, and once more was puzzled by the wheel-like track which he had
+seen before and been unable to explain.  The marsh had somewhat shrunk
+in the interval; the receding water had left more of the track visible:
+and the outer soil having been baked hard by the sun, the strange
+imprint was clearer and more definite.
+
+It occurred to Dennis now to attempt to trace the mark in the opposite
+direction, away from the point where it disappeared in the water.  It
+speedily grew fainter as he came to harder soil, and he lost it
+altogether where it entered undergrowth which had no doubt been
+partially submerged when the marsh was at its highest.  But after some
+search he found it again where it emerged from the rank vegetation, and
+from that point he traced it with little difficulty, for it kept fairly
+close to the margin of the lake.  Its resemblance to the track of a
+wheel had now ceased; not even the most rickety of carts, driven by a
+drunken tranter on a Devonshire lane, could have made such erratic
+movements as must have caused this shallow winding mark on the soil.
+Dennis followed its curves with persistent curiosity, not unmixed with
+a vague uneasiness.  Mirandola accompanied him, springing lightly from
+bough to bough of the trees nearest the edge of the marsh, descending
+with extraordinary quickness and loping along the ground where gaps
+intervened, or the fringe of the woodland belt took a trend inwards.
+
+At length the tracking came perforce to an end.  Again the trail
+disappeared into the water, and Dennis halted, feeling a little vexed
+that his patience was, after all, to bear no fruit.  He looked round
+for Mirandola.  The monkey had disappeared, exploring, no doubt,
+thought Dennis, a close-packed thicket that came within a few yards of
+the morass, having apparently crowded out all nobler trees save one
+slender cedar which, dominating the undergrowth, seemed taller than it
+really was.
+
+Dennis was about to give up the problem as hopeless and go on his way,
+when suddenly he heard Mirandola chattering in a manner that was new to
+him.  The moment after, the monkey sprang from the thicket into the
+tree, and climbed with frantic speed to the very top, where he sat
+gibbering and shaking with terror.  Dennis, wondering what had
+perturbed him, took a step forward, then started back in a cold shiver.
+A huge serpent was rearing itself from the midst of the undergrowth and
+winding its coils about the trunk of the tree.
+
+Mirandola on the topmost branch had now ceased his chattering, and
+clung, watching the monster with dilated eyes.  The poor creature was
+helpless.  To descend from his perch would have been fatal; there was
+no other tree at hand to which it might escape.  Indeed, under the
+fascination of the serpent's baleful eyes, as it slowly drew its
+immense coils up the trunk, the monkey lost all power of motion; and
+Dennis himself, even with the thicket between him and the monster, felt
+a sort of chill paralysis as he watched its sinister movements.  For
+half a minute he stood rooted to the spot; then, making an effort to
+throw off this dire oppression, he tried to think of some means of
+helping the monkey.  At that moment of danger, he was conscious for the
+first time of the strength of his affection for the animal whose
+companionship had done so much to relieve the awful solitude of the
+island.  Unless he intervened, Mirandola was doomed, and the thought of
+losing Mirandola filled him with a fierce longing to slay this monster
+that was crawling inch by inch towards its prey.
+
+His first impulse was to run back to his hut for the gun he kept there
+ready loaded; but slow as the serpent's progress was, before he could
+return to the spot the tragedy would have ended.  Then he remembered
+how the reptiles in the woods at home were killed.  A blow on the
+vertebrae crippled them; could he cripple this huge creature, which
+even yet had not heaved all its length into the tree?  His only weapon
+was the sailor's clasp-knife which he always carried at his girdle.  He
+opened it impulsively, then hesitated.  If he failed to hit the
+vertebrae, and dealt only a flesh wound, he might perchance save the
+monkey, but could he then save himself?  He knew nothing of a boa
+constrictor's power of movement; yet his instinct told him that, if
+once enfolded in those monstrous coils, he must inevitably be crushed
+to death.  But he could not stand and see his pet mangled and devoured:
+the serpent, moving deliberately, as though aware of its victim's
+paralysis, was not yet beyond his reach.  Springing through the
+undergrowth, he marked a spot some distance from the reptile's tail.
+The serpent heard his approach, and turned its head slowly in his
+direction; but a second later Dennis drove his knife with all his force
+at the centre of the sleek round mass.
+
+Next moment he was thrown sprawling on the ground, by a flick of the
+tail as the upper part of the serpent's body writhed convulsively under
+the blow.  He jerked himself to his feet and leapt away through the
+undergrowth in panic fear.  A few steps brought him to open ground, and
+then, crushing down his nervous terror, he looked back.  The coils were
+slipping down the tree, and in a moment it was clear that the serpent's
+power was gone; its huge bulk moved uncontrollably: its motor force was
+destroyed.  Dennis ventured to enter the thicket again.  When the
+serpent reached the ground, it writhed as he had seen injured eels and
+earthworms writhe, but its movements were all involuntary; Mirandola
+was saved.
+
+[Illustration: "Dennis saves Mirandola."]
+
+The monkey was now chattering volubly, but still clung to his perch.
+Clearly he would not venture to descend while his enemy moved.  For
+some time Dennis watched it; then, feeling that he must put an end to
+its maimed life, he hurried away to fetch his gun.  A bullet in the
+head: and the reptile lay motionless.
+
+Even then some little time elapsed before Mirandola yielded to Dennis's
+persuasive calls and slid, still somewhat nervously, to the ground.  He
+avoided the reptile's body, and scampered away with shrill cries to the
+open.  When Dennis overtook him, the monkey sprang upon his shoulder,
+and so they returned to the hut.
+
+After this thrilling experience Dennis felt somewhat less at ease in
+his peregrinations of the island.  He had come to think that he had
+nothing to fear there so long as it was unvisited by men.  But the
+thickets that gave hiding to one huge reptile might harbour many more.
+Henceforth he walked more warily, and never ventured far from his hut
+without a gun.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Spanish Whip
+
+Dennis had given up the idea of building a boat as a means of escape
+from the island; but now that time again hung heavy on his hands, he
+reverted to it as a refuge from the tedium of idleness.  It promised to
+give him much labour, for, unless he stripped the planking from the
+_Maid Marian_, he must needs fell trees for himself, and prepare his
+timbers as well as his unskill could devise.  The trees of the island
+were for the most part unknown to him; and he was not aware of the
+Indian practice of hollowing out a cedar trunk with fire or hatchet.
+In his wanderings he now began to take note of the different species,
+with a view to selecting one that would best suit his tools.
+
+One day, when he was strolling through the woodland on this errand, he
+was amazed, and not a little alarmed, to hear, from some spot far to
+his right, what seemed to him to be the ring of axes.  He halted,
+incredulous.  The island, he was assured, had no other inhabitant; yet
+he could not be mistaken; the sound of tree-felling reminded him of
+home, and he felt a sudden deep yearning for the combes and holts of
+far-off Devon.  But this feeling was immediately quelled by a sense of
+danger.  Who were these woodcutters?  No friends, he was sure; he had
+given up hope of finding friends upon these remote coasts.  And if not
+friends, discovery by these spelt death to him, or slavery to which
+death would be preferable.
+
+He was minded to turn about and seek safety in his hut.  Built upon the
+edge of the chine, it could only be discovered by careful exploration
+of the woodland, and the chine was all but invisible from the sea.
+There he might remain in hiding, with a fair chance that he would not
+be found.  But this first impulse passed.  He felt an overmastering
+curiosity to see who these visitors were.  Whence had they come, he
+wondered?  Why, if they came from the distant mainland, had they
+crossed the sea?  He could not suppose that wood was lacking upon the
+shores of the great continent.
+
+Slowly, with infinite caution, he began to thread his way towards the
+sound.  There were open spaces amid the woodland; these he durst not
+cross, but kept always in the shelter of the trees.  He dreaded lest
+Mirandola should betray him by a cry; but the monkey leapt from bough
+to bough almost noiselessly, as if he too had taken alarm from the
+unwonted sound.  A few weeks before, Dennis himself would have found it
+difficult to make his way through the woods and the undergrowth without
+giving signs of his presence by the snapping of twigs or the rustle of
+parting foliage; but the abiding sense of danger which had oppressed
+him during his earlier passages across the island had bred in him a
+wariness of movement that was now almost as instinctive as in the wild
+creatures whose lives depended on their caution.
+
+Guiding himself by the sounds, he was drawn towards a grove of trees
+that lay about two hundred yards from the southern beach.  Only a day
+or two before he had struck his hatchet into one of them, and concluded
+from its soft white sappy rind that it would not provide fit timber for
+his boat.  Yet it was clearly these trees upon which the unseen woodmen
+were at work.  He stole forward, and coming to a dense fringe of
+undergrowth beyond which the grove lay, he edged his way into the
+thicket, and very stealthily pressed the foliage aside until he got a
+view of what was doing.
+
+The trees grew somewhat far apart, and across a fairly open space he
+saw the strangers whose unexpected presence was causing him such
+concern.  Five men, stripped to the waist, were hard at work with axes.
+Four of them had dusky skins of reddish hue; the fifth, a short,
+thickset, brawny man, the muscles of whose arms showed like great
+globes, was clearly a white man, though his hands and arms were stained
+a bright scarlet quite different from the red duskiness of southern
+natives, or the red-brown caused by exposure to sun and wind.  As they
+moved, the five men clanked the chains that fettered their ankles to
+stout logs of wood.  A little apart stood three men looking on,
+laughing and talking together in a tongue strange to Dennis.  They were
+big swarthy fellows, with soft wide-brimmed hats, each decked with a
+feather, brown leather doublets and hose, and long boots.  Each bore a
+caliver and a whip.
+
+The sun was high in the heavens, its beams beating down through the
+trees upon the unprotected backs of the toilers.  Sweat was pouring
+from them.  The trees were thick, some at least two yards in
+circumference; to cut them through needed no slight exertion.  The
+white labourer paused to draw his arm across his reeking brow.  Then
+one of the watchers strolled across from the tree against which he had
+been lolling, and raising his whip, brought the thong with a stinging
+cut across the back of the slave who had dared to intermit his labours.
+A red streak showed livid on the white skin.  For a moment it seemed to
+Dennis, watching the scene, that the victim was about to turn upon his
+assailant with the axe, his sole weapon.  An expression of deadly rage
+writhed the features of his red, bearded face.  His grip tightened upon
+the axe.  But he controlled his impulse with an effort.  The warder
+laughed brutally, flung a taunt, and cracked his whip in the air in
+challenge and menace.  Sullenly the woodman resumed his task, and his
+persecutor, with another laugh, turned and rejoined his companions,
+applauded by their grins.
+
+Dennis felt himself stung to anger.  This swarthy ruffian, he doubted
+not, was a Spaniard, a subject of King Philip, once the consort of an
+English queen.  It was not a pleasant introduction to the race
+dominating the Americas.  Apparently Mirandola liked them no better
+than he, for at the first sight of the strangers the monkey had fled
+away.  Dennis found him a good quarter-mile distant when, taking
+advantage of an interval during which the Spaniards ate and drank, and
+the flagging toilers rested, he strode away to a banana grove to
+refresh himself.
+
+He watched the group till near sundown.  Several trees having been
+felled, the men proceeded to hack off the branches and to chip away the
+white rind.  Then the strange scarlet colour of their arms and hands
+was explained.  The heart of the trees was a brilliant red.  As the
+rind was stripped off, the Spaniards drew near and examined the core,
+and under their direction the labourers cut and trimmed certain
+selected logs.  The work was still unfinished when the sun went down,
+and the leader of the Spaniards gave the word for returning to the
+shore.  The logs were struck off the slaves' ankles and replaced by
+manacles; then they set off.  Dennis followed them at a safe distance,
+and when he came within view of the sea, there was a small vessel
+riding at anchor some little distance off shore, and the slaves were in
+the act of dragging a row boat through the white surf.  In this they
+all put off, and darkness covered them up as they regained the ship.
+
+Dennis returned to his hut, joined by the monkey on the way.
+
+"Here is food for thought, Mirandola, my friend," he said.  "No fire
+for us to-night!  Are you acquainted with don Spaniards and their ways?
+You kept a wide berth: have you too suffered at their hands?  Who is
+the poor wretch the ruffian lashed?  By his looks he would pass for an
+Englishman: I hope he is not of English breed.  Yet I hope he is: what
+do you make of that, Mirandola?  I protest I love your wise and
+friendly countenance; but there is something warming to the heart in
+the sight of one of my own kind, if such he be.  We must be up betimes,
+my friend; maybe the morrow will give us assurance."
+
+Thinking over the incident before he slept, Dennis wondered why the
+party had returned to the ship.  If the purpose of their visit was to
+obtain any quantity of this strange red wood, doubtless they had
+several days' work before them; why had they not camped on shore?
+Perhaps they felt that the slaves were safer on board; perhaps, too,
+they did not care to weaken the ship's company during the hours of
+night.  It was a small vessel; probably there was not a large number of
+Spaniards aboard; but doubtless they were all armed like the three who
+had come ashore, and their slaves, being fettered, would need but a few
+to control them.  Dennis hoped that when they returned next day they
+would not make too thorough a search for similar groves elsewhere in
+the island, for if they should discover his hut, he had little doubt
+they would seek to impress him into the hapless gang.
+
+His sleep was restless.  Many times he woke with a start and sprang up
+trembling, feeling that the Spaniards were on his track.  At daybreak
+he was on his way towards the western shore, and took up his position
+in the same thicket, the leafy screen being almost impenetrable.  The
+monkey was with him now; but when his ears caught first the measured
+thud of oars, then the clank of chains drawing nearer, Mirandola
+chattered angrily, sprang into a tree, and disappeared.
+
+The party came into view: five slaves, three Spaniards.  The former
+were, to all appearance, the same as those Dennis had seen on the
+previous day; but it seemed to him that their armed guards were
+different; probably the men of the ship took it in turns to come
+ashore.  But if the individuals were different, their methods were much
+the same.  Indeed, before Dennis had been watching the work many
+minutes, he had reason to know that the warders of to-day were even
+more ingeniously brutal than those of yesterday.  The first thing he
+noticed was a change in their manner of rendering their slaves
+harmless.  One of them carried a large wooden mallet; the others had
+between them iron staples with sharp-pointed ends.  These staples they
+drove one by one with the mallet into the boles of the five trees
+selected for the day's operations.  Secured to each staple was one end
+of a long chain, the other end of which was fastened to the captive's
+ankle band.  Thus the hapless woodmen were fettered not merely by the
+logs of wood, as on the previous day, but by chains that bound them to
+the very trees they were to cut down.  The staples were driven into the
+trunks below the line of the cleft to be made; but the chains, though
+long, seemed to Dennis scarcely long enough to enable the men to escape
+crushing should the trees happen to fall the wrong way.  That was a
+chance which evidently did not trouble the guards.
+
+Dennis wondered why this additional precaution had been taken to ensure
+the safe custody of the wretched men.  Had they shown signs of mutiny?
+It would not be surprising after the treatment of the previous day.
+Certainly the ingenious device lightened the task of surveillance, for
+the wood-cutters, however exasperated, could not turn upon their guards
+until they had forced out the staples with their axes.
+
+The three Spaniards threw themselves down at some distance from the
+slaves and lolled negligently against the trees.  The wood-cutters
+plied their axes, sturdily, monotonously, never speaking, their faces
+expressing nothing but a sullen despair.  Dennis fixed his eyes on the
+white man, and felt an eager longing to hear him speak.  One word would
+be enough to show whether he was indeed an Englishman.  But the man was
+as silent as the rest, and nothing was heard save the ring of the axes
+and the voices of the Spaniards conversing.
+
+Five trees lay upon the ground; the warders rose to drive the staples
+into others.  It appeared that time hung heavy on their hands.  Some
+demon of mischief suggested to one of them a means of obtaining a
+little diversion.  His proposal was received with shouts of laughter by
+his companions.  Dennis did not understand what was said, but the
+meaning was soon made plain.  The three men drew lots with three twigs
+of unequal length, and placed themselves by the side of three
+slaves--the white man and two Indians--as fate determined.  Again they
+drew lots, and proceeded to fasten their men to three new trees.  The
+other two Indians were set to strip the trunks already felled.  It was
+soon evident that the Spaniards' amusement was to be had at the expense
+of the wood-cutters.  They pooled a number of pieces of eight; the
+Spaniard whose man first felled his tree was to take the stakes.
+
+The three men set to work, the warders standing over them with their
+whips.  The faces of the Indians wore their wonted look of dull apathy;
+but Dennis saw the lips of the white man tighten, and a grim scowl
+darken his brow.  The sport commenced.  Excited by their gamble, the
+Spaniards urged on their men with loud cries.  For some minutes the two
+Indians smote the trees with feverish energy; the white man plied his
+axe with measured strokes, neither slower nor faster than before.  The
+warders became more and more excited, and from cries proceeded to
+blows.  One of the Indians flagged, and to stimulate him the Spaniard
+behind dealt him a savage blow with his whip, and the poor cowed wretch
+laid on with greater vigour.  Hidden in the bush Dennis nervously
+clutched his sword and felt the blood surge into his cheeks.  Fine
+sport, indeed!  The other Spaniards, not to be outdone, began to
+belabour the backs of their men also, and Dennis, seeing great weals
+rise on the bare flesh, could scarcely control the impulse to dash at
+all costs from his hiding-place to the aid of the suffering men.  He
+saw the face of the white man pale beneath the sun-tan and the red
+stains; perchance the Spaniard would have had a qualm if he had seen
+the fury his features expressed.  But he did not see it; with callous
+levity he shouted, and brought his whip down with a sickening crack
+upon the broad red-streaked back.
+
+Then, with a suddenness that took Dennis's breath away, the white man's
+pent-up rage burst its bounds.  At the end of his endurance, he swung
+round with a nimbleness surprising in a man of his bulk, and flung his
+axe with unerring aim at his tormentor.  The man fell among the logs.
+In a second, before the other Spaniards had time to recover from the
+shock of this unheard-of audacity, one of the Indians at work on the
+fallen tree hurled his weapon at the warder nearest him, and struck him
+headlong to the ground.  The third man had sufficient command of his
+wits to take to his heels and scamper away.
+
+The wood-cutters were between him and the shore, and the direction of
+his flight was towards the thicket in which Dennis stood, all tingling
+with the excitement of this amazing change of scene.  He gripped his
+sword; but the Spaniard stopped short within a few yards of the bushes,
+uttered a furious oath, and turning about, kindled his match, preparing
+to shoot at the slaves, who were hacking with frenzied haste at the
+staples that held them to the trees.  The two Indians who were free
+were hobbling towards the woodland on the other side, appalled by their
+own temerity.  Dennis heard the Spaniard chuckle as he raised his
+caliver.  The man knew full well that, even if the woodmen succeeded in
+breaking loose, he would have time to shoot them down one by one,
+hobbled as they were.
+
+Dennis could no longer remain inactive.  An enemy of the Spaniards,
+whatever his colour, was a friend of his.  He could not see the poor
+wretches slaughtered.  For an instant he thought of kindling his own
+match and firing at the Spaniard, who was within easy range.  Then,
+changing his mind, he pushed aside the bushes, sprang into the open,
+and leapt over the ground with the lightness of a panther.  The
+Spaniard heard his movements and swung round; Dennis saw the startled
+look of terror in his eyes.  Taken aback, he had no time to ward off
+the musket stock of this assailant who had sprung as it were out of the
+earth.  His cry of alarm was stifled in his throat, and under the blow
+dealt him with all the force of honest rage he dropped senseless to the
+ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Amos Turnpenny
+
+Dennis felt his limbs tremble as he stepped round the fallen body and
+went forward.  The white man and the biggest of the Indians had already
+released themselves, and stood as though rooted to the ground with
+amazement.
+
+"I am a friend," cried Dennis, while still separated by some yards from
+them.
+
+"My heart, that's a true word!" gasped the white man, and Dennis
+thrilled with joy as he heard the broad accent of a south-countryman.
+"A friend, true; and a blessed word to Haymoss Turnpenny's ears."
+
+They gripped hands, and looked each other squarely in the face.  There
+was a lump in Dennis's throat, and a mist of tears in the elder man's
+eyes.  Then Turnpenny glanced over his shoulder with a sudden access of
+fear.
+
+"We bean't safe," he muttered, and there was a world of terror in his
+gesture and tone.  "They'll find us, and then 'twill be hell-fire.  Can
+'ee hide us?"
+
+"Let us first release that black man."
+
+"Ay, sure, fellow creature, although black.  I'll do it, in a trice."
+
+He walked towards the trees where the last man was still struggling to
+force out the staple.  At this moment Dennis saw one of the others, who
+had released his feet from the hobbling logs, springing past him with
+uplifted axe, the fire of fury in his eyes.  Turning, he noticed that
+the Spaniard he had felled was moving.  He had but just time to dash
+after the man and prevent him from butchering his prostrate enemy.  The
+Indian drew back in surprise, and Dennis stood on guard until the
+Englishman joined him.
+
+"Bean't he killed dead?  Why didn't 'ee kill him, lad?  T'others be
+dead as door nails, and won't trouble you nor me no more."
+
+"We'll let this fellow live; he may be useful to us."
+
+"Why didn't 'ee kill him with your sword or caliver?  He's vermin, as
+they be all."
+
+"Well, his back was towards me," said Dennis.  "Besides, a shot would
+have alarmed his comrades on the ship."
+
+"The ship!" repeated the man, looking round again with fear in his
+eyes.  "The ship!  They'll find us!  We are rats in a trap!  Lord save
+us all!"
+
+"Come, we must think of something.  Can you speak to these men?"
+
+"Ay, in some sort.  Not in their own tongue, 'tis monkey-talk to me.
+Ah! look at 'em, poor knaves."
+
+The Indians had fallen upon the provisions brought by the Spaniards for
+their own consumption, and were devouring them ravenously.  Turnpenny
+called to them in a husky whisper, as though fearful of his own voice
+reaching the ears of an enemy.  Then, taking the dazed Spaniard with
+them, the woodcutters, hobbled by the logs, made off across the island,
+led by Dennis to the watercourse at the further end of which his hut
+stood.  Within half a mile of that spot he halted, and got the
+Englishman to tell the others to remain there until rejoined.  With
+Turnpenny he hastened on.
+
+"God be praised I was able to help you," he said.
+
+"Ay, but I fear me 'tis to your own undoing.  They will come ashore,
+and catch 'ee, and flay 'ee alive."
+
+"Tell me, how many men are left on the bark?"
+
+"Ten, lad, all armed to the teeth.  Sure they will land when we don't
+go aboard at night.  They will hunt us down.  This time to-morrow we'll
+be dead men, or worse than dead."
+
+"Pluck up heart," said Dennis.  "There are six of us; I have arms for
+all; we can post ourselves at a place of our own choice, and make a
+good defence, I warrant you."
+
+"My heart!  But what will be the use?  Say we beat them off, 'twill be
+like as if we tried to stem the waves.  With a fair breeze the mainland
+is but a day's sail, and there the Spaniards swarm like cockroaches in
+a hold.  I tell 'ee, lad, whoever ye be, we be dead men!"
+
+"I've been nearer death," said Dennis quietly.  "Look!  There is my
+hut.  I was cast up on this shore from a wreck: I have been here
+several weeks, months--I know not: it has pleased God to keep me alive
+here, alone on this island, and I believe there is hope for us all."
+
+"Amen! ... My heart!  There's a sheer hulk in the pool yonder."
+
+"Ay, all that's left of the _Maid Marian_.  But I will tell you my
+story anon.  Come away into the hut, and let us talk of what we can do
+to save ourselves from the Spaniards."
+
+As they entered the hut, the Englishman drew back with a startled cry.
+Perched on a cask sat Mirandola.  He chattered angrily at the sight of
+a stranger.
+
+"My one friend on the island, and a faithful comrade," said Dennis.  "A
+gentle soul; he will do you no harm."
+
+"A friend, say you?  'Tis against nature to be friends with a
+spider-monkey.  And I be fair mazed; it do seem all a dream, only in
+the offing yonder there be a real ship, and, say what 'ee will, I be
+afeard."
+
+"We'll first file off these clogging hobbles.  And what say you to a
+mug of beer?  It has come far; I have not broached the cask, and maybe
+'tis still drinkable."
+
+"My heart!  I never thought to taste beer or cider again.  'Twill
+comfort my nattlens, sure, and I was once a good man at a tankard."
+
+The fetters were soon struck off; a mug of beer was drawn, and drained
+at a gulp; but Turnpenny was still ill at ease.  He went to the
+entrance of the hut and looked nervously up and down the gully,
+listening with head cocked aside.  Dennis could not guess at the
+terrible past which had made this stout English mariner as timid as a
+child.
+
+"Let us get back to the black men," he said, knowing from his own
+experience the value of action in banishing sad thoughts.  "Are they
+Indians of America?"
+
+"Maroons, sir, half Injun, half negro; lusty fighters, and faithful
+souls when they do love 'ee."
+
+"We'll knock off their chains and give them arms.  What can they use?"
+
+"Not muskets, nor harquebuses, but anything that will dint a blow."
+
+"Half-pikes and swords, then.  For yourself, take your pick."
+
+"Ay, it do give me heart to handle a cutlass again.  Here's a fine
+blade, now, and a musket--give me a harquebus; I could shoot once, but
+my arm is all of a wamble now.  Lookeedesee!"
+
+He raised the heavy weapon to his shoulder and tried to steady it.
+
+"See!  Shaking like a man with the palsy," he said, his nervousness
+returning.  "I be no more good than a bulrush."
+
+"Pish, man!" said Dennis cheerily.  "You are overwrought; your arm is
+tired with wielding the axe.  An hour's rest will set you up.  Come,
+bring the file and the weapons; we must see that the others are not
+scared in our absence."
+
+The four maroons had remained on the spot where they had been left,
+keeping guard over the Spaniard, who had now quite recovered from his
+blow.  They eyed Dennis with a wide stare, and fell silent when he
+approached, seeming scarcely to comprehend the wonderful good fortune
+that had befallen them.  The removal of their fetters and the gift of
+arms struck them as a crowning mercy; they grovelled upon the ground as
+in the act of worship.
+
+"They take 'ee for a magician, sir," said Turnpenny.  "'Tis marvellous
+to their simple poor minds.  All the world be full of spirits to them;
+a storm at sea be the stirring of witches, and the Spaniards be devils.
+My heart!" he exclaimed suddenly, "the fear has took me again!  When
+they do miss the sound of the axes they will jealous summat wrong, and
+then they'll come and we'll be all dead men."
+
+"Cheer up!" said Dennis.  "'Tis easy to cure that.  Two of the men can
+set-to upon the trees again, and one can steal to the shore and keep an
+eye on the ship, and acquaint us if he sees any stirring there."
+
+"But what of the Spaniard, lad?  'Tis then only one maroon to watch
+him, and 'tis not enough.  If so be the knave be left to himself, he'll
+run to the beach and give the alarm."
+
+"We'll stop that, too.  When he has had a portion of food, we will gag
+and bind him, and all will be well."
+
+When the Spaniard was secured, the whole party returned to the scene of
+the tree-felling, and while one of the men went stealthily forward to
+spy upon the ship, two others plied their axes upon the fallen trunks.
+
+Dennis, more alert of mind than the sailor, foresaw that the trick
+could have only a temporary success.  When the time came for the
+wood-cutting party to return to the vessel, their non-appearance would
+awaken suspicion among the Spaniards on board.  Believing the island to
+be uninhabited, they would not guess what had happened; it would not
+even occur to them as possible that cowed and unarmed slaves would have
+courage enough to turn on their masters, much less overcome them.  But
+if the party did not return at nightfall, the captain would certainly
+send some of his men to discover the cause.  Of all men the Spaniards
+were the most superstitious; when they landed, their very superstitions
+would put them on their guard.  Their approach would be cautious; they
+would probably discover the escaped slaves before these could strike at
+them effectively; and then, when the inevitable fight came, the party
+of six, of whom only two could use firearms, and one had partially lost
+his nerve, would stand a poor chance against men armed cap-�-pie and
+doubtless inured to the practice of warfare.  Besides, even if the
+landing party could be taken by surprise and routed, the sound of the
+combat would alarm the Spaniards still remaining on the ship.  They
+would sail away, and in a few days return in overwhelming strength.
+
+Dennis was at first staggered by the difficulties and perils of the
+situation, and he dared not consult with Turnpenny until the sailor had
+regained his courage.  For the present the important thing was to keep
+him employed, so as to turn his thoughts from anything that would feed
+his fears.
+
+"We must bury these two knaves," said Dennis, glancing at the bodies of
+the Spaniards.  "You and I can do that.  Your name, I bethink me,
+is----"
+
+"Turnpenny, by nature, Haymoss by the water o' baptism, sir."
+
+"Haymoss?"
+
+"Ay, sure, a religious good name, sir; a' comes betwixt Joel and
+Obydiah somewheres after the holy psa'ms.  Born at Chard, sir, in
+Zummerzet, but voyaged to Plimworth when that I was a little tiny boy,
+and served 'prentice aboard the _Seamew_--master, John Penworthy."
+
+Dennis had heard only the first sentence of this string of facts.  He
+was in the very act of stooping to dig a grave with one of the maroons'
+big axes, when there flashed into his mind an idea which set him aglow
+with hope.
+
+"Well, friend Amos," he said, so quietly that none could have suspected
+his inward eagerness, "think you not we may strip the outer garments
+from these knaves before we bury them?  Your back would be the better
+for a covering, and this leathern doublet would well beseem you."
+
+"True, sir, but I never donned a stranger's coat yet.  I be English
+true blue, and though the Spaniard's doublet might span my back,
+'twould irk my feeling mind, sir!"
+
+"To please me, Amos.  I would fain you covered your arms--the red is
+too like blood, and we may see enough of that ere we be many hours
+older."
+
+To Dennis's gratification the sailor did not again blench at the
+suggestion of a fight with the Spaniards.  He laughed.
+
+"My heart!  'Tis easy to see you be a new man in this new world, sir.
+The stains of logwood don't worrit me; 'tis a noble dye, you must own,
+and many's the noble garment that has been dyed for a Spaniard's madam
+out o' the logwood I've cut.  But since it offends your innocent eye,
+I'll e'en don the knave's coat afore I put him out o' sight in earth
+too good for him."
+
+Overjoyed at the man's recovered spirits, Dennis hastened, as they went
+on with their task, to press his advantage.
+
+"You are two enemies the less, Amos--nay, three, counting the knave we
+have in pound among the trees yonder.  What say you to our making a
+shift to put a few more in the same case?"
+
+"What mean you, sir?"
+
+"Tell me, what people hath the ship yonder, besides the ten Spanish
+knaves of whom you spoke?"
+
+"Why, sir, as a true man I answer, a black cook--no maroon, but a swart
+fat knave from the Guinea coast; and three maroons, who fell sick, or
+rather were well-nigh beat to death, in an island over against the
+continent yonder we visited on the same errand."
+
+"And they are gyved, as you were?"
+
+"All but the cook.  He goes free, but, my heart! 'tis little he gains
+by it.  He is every man's football and whipping-boy."
+
+"Why then do the Spaniards remain aboard the ship when there are so few
+slaves to guard?"
+
+"'Tis first because they be idle knaves, who would never do a hand's
+turn save by necessity.  Item, because they be but poor seamen, and
+need a dozen to handle a craft, only forty ton burden, that three
+true-born Englishmen could sail into the devil's jaws.  Item, because
+the spot where she lies at anchor is ill-protected; 'tis rather an open
+roadstead than a bay, and if a squall should come up sudden, as 'tis
+nature in this meridian, they'd need all the lubbers' work to get a
+fair offing."
+
+"So three true-born Englishmen are a match for a dozen base cullies of
+Spain?  Is that your thought, Amos?"
+
+"Ay, at musket, pike, or quarter-staff; there's never a doubt on it."
+
+"Think you two, then, are a match for ten?  The balance turns a little
+in favour of the Spaniards; by right proportion it should be two to
+eight; but mayhap four maroons on t'other scale would even the odds."
+
+Turnpenny desisted from his work, and a shadow of his former fear came
+upon his face.  Dennis did not allow time for the fit to lay hold of
+him.
+
+"There is advantage to him who strikes first," he went on, quietly.
+"If we wait, assuredly we shall have to fight against heavy odds.  But
+if we assume a bold part, and jump the risks, we may gain all the
+vantage of surprise, and enforce it with that English blood you hold so
+high in estimation, to say naught of English thews and sinews.  Why,
+man, that stout arm of yours would fell an ox."
+
+"True, sir," said the simple mariner, bending his arm to raise the
+muscle, and looking at the knotty protuberance with great complacency;
+"I ha' done desperate deeds of strength in my time.  But, heart alive!
+do 'ee think to capture the ship?"
+
+"I think of venturing for it; and, unless I be mightily mistaken, Amos
+Turnpenny is not the man to turn his back on a venture of that kind."
+
+"Not by nature, sir," said the man, uneasiness struggling with simple
+vanity in his mind.  "By nature I be as bold as a lion.  But the lion
+in the story was meshed in with ropes, and could do no harm to a silly
+mouse; and for four year past, sir, the ropes of mischance have held my
+spirit in thrall, wherefore it is that----"
+
+"That you are afraid?  Nonsense!  You are the lion; I am the mouse.
+Let us say that I, by good luck, have gnawed those confining ropes
+asunder, and now, on this island, you are free of mind as of limb, and
+a man of heart and vigour."
+
+Turnpenny flung down his axe and fairly jumped.
+
+"My heart!" he cried, gleefully; "'tis the very marrow of the tale!  I
+be free, free!  For four year I have forgot the word.  Sound of limb,
+straight of eye, with all my five wits, praise God above!  Speak your
+thought, sir; Haymoss Turnpenny is your man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Half-Pikes and Machetes
+
+The Spaniards had by this time been buried.  The two maroons were still
+hacking at the trees.  Nothing had been reported by the man on the
+look-out.  Glancing at the sun, Dennis guessed that it was still two or
+three hours from setting.  But for interruptions there would be ample
+time to develop his plan.
+
+"Come beneath the shade," he said to Turnpenny.  "There is much to be
+said and done.  If perchance a man lands from the ship, we must take
+him prisoner.  If several come, we must fight them at the gully.  If
+they lie secure, and we are undisturbed, we shall capture their vessel
+this night."
+
+"I believe it, sir, partly; I'd believe it more firm if I understood."
+
+"Give me your judgement on my plan.  At sunset we will haul some logs
+down to the shore and push off in the boat, as if we were the Spaniards
+with their slaves.  You and I will rig ourselves in the doublets and
+hose of the two yonder; it will go hard with us if, in the dark, we do
+not mislead the Spaniards into security.  We will mount into the
+vessel, and if luck favour us we shall be masters of the craft before
+the Spaniards have awakened to the danger."
+
+"A noble plan, but fearsome," said Turnpenny, shaking his head.  "We
+shall be two short, sir.  We rig up as Spaniards, you and me; granted;
+but the knaves on deck will see two Spaniards instead of three, and
+they will want to know what has become of Haymoss Turnpenny."
+
+"We will take our prisoner.  Then they will see three Spaniards, and if
+they then miss Amos Turnpenny, let them suppose that the sailor man has
+turned troublesome, and been left on the island, to bring him to a
+reasonable humility."
+
+"Ay, sure, that unties the knot.  But I would not give a groat for my
+chance of seeing Plimworth Sound again if the knaves spy the head of
+Haymoss sticking out o' the Spanish doublet.  The captain, he be a man
+of desperate fight; no miserable dumbledore is he; 'tis a word and a
+blow with him; I've seed him kill a man of his own breed for no more
+than a wry word."
+
+"We must trust to our disguise, and the dark."
+
+"But the maroons, sir; they'll be of no use 'ithout weapons, and if
+they climb aboard with naked steel in their hands, 'tis all over with
+us."
+
+"You and I will mount first."
+
+"That would put the knaves on guard at once.  'Tis always us poor
+slaves that come over side last into the boat and go first out of it,
+so as never to give us no chance of making off.  They need not be
+afeard; whither could poor miserable wretches escape away?  But there
+it is."
+
+"Well, Amos, we must accept the wonted course, though I would fain go
+first, with you at my elbow."
+
+"It is my very own thought, sir.  No white man can trust a black un in
+the deadly breach.  But be jowned if I see any ways o' they maroons
+getting aboard with arms in their hands."
+
+"Nor I.  Mayhap an idea will enter our conceits anon."
+
+"My heart!  There be another thing I had clean forgot.  We have ta'en
+their irons off."
+
+"We must put them on again.  We will not fail for the sake of a clank."
+
+"Ay, but there's the rub, sir.  The maroons will show fight if we
+attempt that same.  Poor souls!  Having no language and no intellecks
+to speak of, they'll not understand the main of our intent.  They will
+suppose 'tis but a change of masters, and I fear me my few words o'
+Spanish will not suffice to set their minds at ease."
+
+"You made them understand you a while ago; you must try again.  But a
+word more.  I judge the sun is grown far on the west; 'twill soon be
+time to put our fortunes to the hazard.  And, lest our dallying here
+waken the suspicions of the Spaniards, let us don these articles of
+apparel e'en now, and fix on the irons, and then go down to the shore,
+the maroons hauling the stripped logs thitherwards.  The ropes are
+handy here."
+
+"What, sir, haul logs in the very sight of the knaves?"
+
+"Ay, do we not wish to deceive them?  If they see two Spaniards
+marshalling the black men, cracking their whips, moreover, will they
+not believe 'tis their comrades, bent on finishing the work this night?
+'Tis growing towards dusk; the vessel lies out too far for them to mark
+our lineaments; 'twill lull them into a fool's security."
+
+"And so it will.  I will presently go speak to the maroons with my
+tongue, and, seeing that the poor mortals lack understanding, with my
+fingers and my eyes and my ten toes if the case do require it."
+
+Dennis watched the sailor somewhat anxiously.  It would be a stroke of
+rank ill-fortune if they refused to have their manacles replaced.
+Everything depended on their docility.  To his joy, after some minutes
+of gesticulation, Turnpenny came back, his broad face beaming with
+conscious self-esteem.
+
+"Be jowned if I haven't done it easy!" he said.  "I spoke 'em plain,
+and to make all clear, I put my two hands together, with one finger
+pointing aloft: that stood for yonder vessel.  Then I pointed to this
+doublet, and to yours, and set my face to a most wondrous frown, by the
+which they understood that you and me pass for Spaniards.  A firk with
+my cutlass did signify our warlike intent, a thrust of my arms forth
+and back pictured the sweep of oars; and, to make an end o't, they
+understand our fixed purpose and are keen set to lend us their aid."
+
+"Admirably contrived!" said Dennis.  "Now, while I bring the Spaniard
+to bear us company, do you replace the irons and fasten ropes about the
+logs.  Darkness will steal upon us unawares and prevent the first part
+of our contriving."
+
+As Dennis returned to the gully to fetch the Spaniard, he saw that
+Mirandola was keeping pace with him through the trees.  Since the event
+of the morning the monkey had held himself aloof, as if scared by the
+presence of so many strange men.  Dennis halted and called to him, but
+the animal blinked and made no movement to descend.
+
+"Ah, Mirandola," said Dennis, as he walked on, "even the wisest of us
+have our failings.  Jealousy, my friend, is a canker.  I love thee none
+the less because I have a new friend.  Will you not believe it?  Is
+there not room for both--Turnpenny and Mirandola?  If we succeed in
+this enterprise, you and Amos must be made at one."
+
+Some little while later, in the growing dusk, the four maroons were
+hauling a heavy log out from the undergrowth that fringed the sea.
+Dennis and Turnpenny urged them with rough cries and persistent
+cracking of their whips.  As soon as they came within view of the
+vessel the ropes were cast off, and they all made their way back.  When
+they returned with a second log, there came a faint hail from the
+vessel.
+
+"Ay, ay, 'od rot you!" shouted Turnpenny indistinctly in response,
+knowing that at the distance his voice could not be recognized.
+"Belike 'tis a call to us to embark, sir," he said to Dennis.  "Mark
+you, they called us; no man dare say they did not call us; and if they
+do not like us when we appear, 'tis not because we are not proper men."
+
+The logs were laid alongside of those brought down the previous day;
+then the men released the boat's moorings, and hauled her off the shoal
+where she lay into water deep enough to float her.  By this time it was
+almost dark, and the number of men who clambered into the boat could
+not easily be counted on board the vessel, nor would it be noticed that
+the maroons hoisted each a large bundle.  At the last moment Dennis had
+decided not to encumber the boat with the captive Spaniard.  He had
+thought of using the man to reply in Spanish to any hail from the
+vessel during the passage from the shore; but this might be attended
+with danger if the Spaniard should have courage enough to risk the
+inevitable penalty should he raise his voice to warn his comrades.
+Accordingly he was left on shore, gagged and bound, in a spot where he
+might easily be discovered by the Spaniards next day if the enterprise
+failed.  There were no wild beasts to molest him, and the place chosen
+was remote from the haunts of the boa constrictor.
+
+The maroons pulled steadily towards the silent vessel, lying low in the
+water some two hundred yards off shore.  Already a lamp had been lit
+aboard.  Every member of the little party in the boat was tense with
+anticipation.  Not a word was spoken.  The silence would cause no
+wonderment among the Spaniards on the vessel; a party of free negroes
+might have filled the air with their babblement; but the maroons
+partook of the reserve of the Indian race, and, living, as they did, in
+a state of deadly feud with the Spaniards, they nourished a deep silent
+longing for vengeance in their hearts.  Besides, these men were cowed
+slaves, and, after the hard day's toil they were supposed to have
+undergone, no one would have expected them to be talkative or merry.
+
+Stroke by stroke the boat drew nearer to the ship.  At length a voice
+hailed it, and a flare was kindled in the waist of the vessel for its
+guidance.
+
+"Why do you return so late?" came the question in Spanish.
+
+Turnpenny answered in passable Spanish, but in a muffled tone--
+
+"Wait till we come aboard."
+
+A few seconds later the boat came beneath the vessel's side and was
+made fast.  The biggest of the maroons--he who had flung his axe at the
+Spaniard--got up and clambered aboard.  On his back he bore a huge load
+of bananas.  Close to his clanking heels swarmed a second man; before
+the first was well over the bulwarks a third was beginning the ascent,
+each carrying a similar bundle.  The fourth man had but just set his
+foot on the rope ladder that hung over the side when there came to the
+ears of Dennis and the sailor, nervously awaiting their turn, the sound
+of altercation above.  One of the Spaniards had bestowed a kick upon
+the foremost of the slaves, and, laughing loud, grabbed at the load of
+fruit upon his back.  The maroon, instead of dropping his burden and
+cowering away, as was the wont of slaves, held firmly to it, and
+stepped back to avoid the Spaniard's clutch.
+
+"You hound!" cried the man, with an oath, and snatched a knife from his
+belt.
+
+Then, to his utter amazement, the maroon let his load fall indeed,
+contriving as he did so to rip out of it a shortened half-pike which
+was cunningly concealed there.  The light of the torch fell on the
+naked steel.  With a loud cry of rage the Spaniards who had been
+lolling on the vessel's side sprang towards the slave, cursing his
+audacity, shouting to their supposed comrades in the boat below to ask
+the meaning of this unheard-of act of mutiny.  But he stood his ground,
+glaring upon them, holding his weapon to ward them off.  And now at his
+side his three fellow-slaves were ranged, their bundles lying at their
+feet, glistening half-pikes in their hands.  Yelling with fury the
+Spaniards, armed at the moment only with their knives, pressed forward
+to teach these mutineers a lesson.  What access of madness had seized
+them?  Where was the abject look of terror with which they usually
+shrank from their masters?  What could the men in charge have been
+about?  The Spaniards rushed to the fray with the violence of wrath and
+outraged bewilderment.
+
+At this first moment the fight was not unequal.  The six Spaniards who
+had been on deck found that with their knives they could not come to
+close quarters with the four stalwart maroons wielding half-pikes.  The
+latter, moreover, had kicked off the fetters loosely set about their
+ankles, and moved with freedom.  And while the Spaniards were shouting
+for their comrades in the cabin and, as they supposed, in the boat
+below to come to their aid, the numbers of the mutineers were suddenly
+augmented.  At the first sound of the scuffle, Dennis and Turnpenny,
+each armed with a cutlass, had sprung on to the ship, the former by the
+ladder behind the last maroon, the latter, with a sailor's agility,
+leaping up to the gunwale and hauling himself over.  When they reached
+the deck they found the Spaniards dancing round the little group of
+slaves, who were keeping them at bay with valorous lunges of their
+weapons.
+
+No sooner had the two Englishmen joined the combatants than they found
+that they had now the whole ship's company to reckon with.  A huge
+Spaniard rushed from the main cabin behind the maroon, a machete in one
+hand, a pistol in the other.  There was a flash, a sharp barking sound;
+one of the slaves staggered and fell.  Other Spaniards came headlong
+out, in their haste not pausing to bring fire-arms.  From the
+forecastle ran one of the sick maroons.  The instant his eyes took in
+the scene, he snatched up a belaying pin from the deck and, weak as he
+was, threw himself into the m�l�e.  Now had come the chance for which
+he had so long hungered, and his black blood seethed as he rushed to
+pay off old scores.
+
+There was hot work then amidships that narrow vessel.  Cutlass and pike
+were matched, not for the first time, against the long Spanish knife.
+Under the disadvantage of surprise the Spaniards, though they
+outnumbered their assailants, were not so effectively armed for the
+fray.  The maroons laid about them doughtily; they knew how terrible a
+weapon was the knife at close quarters, and their whole purpose was to
+hold their masters off and cripple them if they could.
+
+The big Spaniard who had rushed first from the cabin and fired at the
+maroon found himself immediately afterwards engaged with a lithe young
+man who, though clad in a Spanish doublet, was certainly not a
+fellow-countryman of his.  Instinctively, as it seemed, captain singled
+out captain.  Dennis made a vigorous cut at him, but the blade was
+fouled by the shrouds above his head, and the blow, losing half its
+force, was easily warded off by the Spaniard's machete.  He sprang
+back; if his opponent had been a little nimbler Dennis would have been
+at his mercy; but the Spaniard was gross with idleness and good living;
+heavy of movement he failed to seize his advantage, though in the lunge
+his knife cut the lad's doublet, and gashed his sword arm in the
+recovery.
+
+[Illustration: "Captain singled out Captain."]
+
+Dennis was scarcely conscious of his wound.  At this fierce moment his
+practice on the deck of the _Maid Marian_ served him well.  To attempt
+a second cut would have been to give another opening.  He shortened his
+arm and gave point.  The Spaniard was no tyro.  With a turn of the
+wrist he parried the thrust, which was aimed low, but could not prevent
+the blade from entering his shoulder.  He staggered and reeled back
+towards the doorway of the cabin, and the two men immediately behind
+him rushed into the fight.  Turnpenny meanwhile had been engaged in a
+similar duel, and by the sheer force of his bulk had borne his opponent
+to the deck.  Side by side Dennis and he faced their new assailants.
+One of these, a long sinewy fellow, had an amazing dexterity with his
+knife, and a most perplexing nimbleness of movement.  Dennis kept him
+at bay only by the length of his cutlass.  For a few moments there was
+brisk work around the mast.  Making a sweeping cut, Dennis somewhat
+overreached himself, and it would have gone ill with him had not
+Turnpenny, who had run a second man through, perceived his danger in
+the nick of time.  Springing forward, he pierced the fellow to the
+heart.
+
+Three of the Spaniards had now fallen.  The rest, who had barely held
+their own against the maroons, were stricken with fear when they saw
+their comrades' fate.  Two of them sprang overboard; the remaining
+four, finding the three maroons now reinforced by the Englishmen,
+rushed back after their captain into the cabin, and, before they could
+be overtaken, slammed-to the door and shot the bolt.  Dennis snatched
+up a belaying pin and brought it with all his force against the door,
+but made no impression on its stout timbers.  There was a roar and a
+flash close to his ear; he felt his cheek singed; one of the Spaniards
+had fired through a loophole in the cabin wall.  The moment after,
+there was another flash from a loophole on the other side, and one of
+the maroons uttered a cry of pain.  In the open waist of the vessel the
+little party had no protection from musket fire; the loopholes had
+doubtless been pierced against the contingency of such an assault as
+this, and nothing but the darkness could prevent the Spaniards in the
+cabin from bringing down a man at every discharge.  They had the whole
+armoury of the ship to draw upon; there was no means of checking their
+fire; and realizing the situation Dennis called on Turnpenny and the
+rest to seek cover.  Some found shelter just forward of the mainmast;
+two swarmed on to the poop, and, climbing to the edge of its break,
+held themselves ready with their half-pikes to attack any one
+attempting a sortie from the cabin.  Dennis and the sailor, picking up
+the calivers they had laid down when they boarded the vessel, dropped
+down behind a coil of rope towards the forecastle.
+
+"My heart!" exclaimed Turnpenny, as he primed his weapon.  "'Twas brisk
+work, and not the end neither."
+
+"They are run to earth, Amos, 'tis true, got away like foxes.  Our case
+is not too good.  We are baulked, my friend."
+
+"Ay, sir.  With all the victuals and munitions abaft, the knaves have
+the better of us.  We cannot get at them; say we made endeavour to
+scuttle the ship, they could shoot us afore we got away."
+
+"And there are sick maroons in the forecastle, I bethink me you said.
+I would fain save them alive.  We must do something to bring the knaves
+to an engagement.  There are five of them now.  With time to recover
+themselves somewhat, and fortify themselves with food, they can if it
+so please them lie low till morning light, then sally out upon us with
+arms loaded, several pistols apiece, and we, fasting, would be of a
+surety overmatched."
+
+"Ay, and we cannot feed ourselves even on that noble store of bananas,
+for they lie athwart the very course of bullets from the cabin."
+
+"Could we smoke them out?  Could we blow the door in?"
+
+"With a sufficiency of powder, but the magazine is beneath the cabin."
+
+"Is there none elsewhere?"
+
+"Why, now I do mind me, the boatswain hath a vast relish for wild fowl,
+and is never loath to go a-shooting on shore.  'Tis like he hath a
+little secret store."
+
+"Then I will go rummage the forecastle.  Do you bide here, Amos, and
+keep ward over my caliver until I return."
+
+When the party boarded the vessel, there had been a dim light in the
+forecastle.  It was now extinguished.  Dennis went in through the open
+entrance; then, feeling safe from the enemy's bullets, he took a candle
+from his pouch and having lit it, held it above his head.  He shrank
+back, startled for the moment.  The pale flame had fallen full on the
+face of a big negro, crouching in the corner of an upper bunk.  A
+second glance assured him that he had nothing to fear; the black face
+was sickly with terror.  In a flash Dennis remembered the negro cook of
+whom Amos had spoken.  As cook, being allowed a certain freedom of
+movement about the vessel, the man would probably know where the
+boatswain kept his powder, and search might be unnecessary.  Dennis
+called to him; the negro only showed more of the whites of his eyes.
+Dennis beckoned him with his finger; he only cowered and groaned.
+
+"'Tis to be main force then, you white-livered rascal!" cried Dennis,
+and, setting down his candle, caught the man by his waist-band and
+began to haul his oily mass out of the bunk.  "You gibber more
+brutishly than Mirandola; come, or I'll shake your fat bulk to a jelly."
+
+Not without labour he lugged the negro forth, and dragged him aft to
+the place where Amos was crouching.
+
+"Here's a fat knave that's like to dissolve with fright," he said.  "I
+do not understand his monkey-talk; speak to him, Amos.  Ask of him what
+we need to know, and tell him we intend him no harm, and will certainly
+not expect such a craven to fight."
+
+"Ay, sir, 'tis Baltizar the cook, and a very whey-blooded knave.  I'll
+ferret it out of him, trust me."
+
+He took some minutes in his scraps of Spanish to make the man
+understand what was required of him.  When he understood, the negro
+became very voluble.  He said that the boatswain did indeed keep a
+small jar of powder in his sea-chest, but there was a much larger
+quantity concealed among the ship's stores under hatches.  It had been
+placed there by the mate--"the long knave I spitted," Amos
+explained--who was accustomed to do a little private trading with the
+natives of the mainland, and had destined the powder as a bribe for
+certain pearl-fishers of the coast.
+
+"Is it in the fore-peak?" asked Dennis, remembering where he had found
+powder on the _Maid Marian_.
+
+"No, worse luck!" replied Turnpenny, after questioning the man.  "'Tis
+in the lazaretto, and the hatchway being but a few feet from the break
+of the poop, we cannot come at it 'ithout running the hazard of a shot
+from the cabin."
+
+"'Tis darker now; could I not risk the deed?"
+
+"The knaves med not see you, 'tis true; but you could not knock out the
+battens 'ithout raising a din, and they would know your whereabouts,
+and not all on 'em would miss your carcase.  Be jowned if I'd like to
+see 'ee make the venture."
+
+Releasing the negro, Dennis crouched again behind the coil of rope.
+
+"We must find a way to get that powder," he said.  "A mariner like you,
+Amos, ought to be fertile in devices.  Come, set your brains on the
+rack."
+
+"I be afeard they be soft wi' four years' misery, but I'll rouse 'em.
+If I had but the second sight, now, like the old witch as lived within
+a cable-length o' my grandad's hut on the moors!"
+
+But Amos had done his brains an injustice.  He had not pondered many
+minutes before he exclaimed--
+
+"My heart!  We have them on the hip!  We'll e'en shin up the shrouds
+and lower the mainsail.  She's furled on the yards, but we can unreeve
+her 'ithout noise, and when she's down, she'll be a barricade betwixt
+the mainmast and the break o' the poop, and not a knave of them can see
+what is toward in the waist."
+
+Dennis applauded the notion, and the two instantly set about their
+task.  Crawling to the starboard side, they crept along by the rope
+netting that replaced in the waist the wooden bulwarks which bounded
+the decks, and reached the shrouds of the mainmast unperceived by the
+enemy in the cabin.  To swarm up was the work of a few moments to
+Turnpenny, and Dennis was little less expert, having practised himself
+on the _Maid Marian_ in many details of the mariners' duties.  Gaining
+the yards, they cast off the robands, made the buntlines fast, then,
+easing the earings, lowered away by the buntlines and the clew-garnets.
+Scarcely five minutes after they had left the shelter of the rope-coil,
+a wall of canvas shut the waist from the view of the Spaniards.
+
+They had barely finished their task when two musket-shots rang out, and
+two holes were cut in the sail.  Clearly the enemy was on the alert.
+There was no time to be lost.  Turnpenny knocked out the battens as
+quickly as possible, and lifting the hatch, disclosed a small ladder
+leading down into the lazaretto.
+
+"I will go down," said Dennis, "being of less bulk than you, Amos."
+
+He climbed nimbly down, struck a light, and after a little search
+discovered a jar of powder among a miscellaneous collection of ship's
+stores.  Hoisting the jar up, he gave it into the hands of Turnpenny,
+climbed up again, and returned with the sailor to the coil of rope, to
+be out of harm's way while they went on with their preparations.
+
+"If we fire the whole jar we shall of a surety sink the ship," said
+Dennis; "and that I am loath to do.  We must needs make a petard; but
+how?"
+
+"That cook knave shall find us a tin vessel, or I'll firk him," said
+Turnpenny.
+
+He went into the forecastle.  Dennis heard a brisk exchange of bad
+Spanish; then the sailor returned, with a small canister out of which
+he poured a heap of peppercorns.
+
+"Most admirable!" said Dennis, who had meanwhile forced off the top of
+the jar.  Making a hole in the rim of the canister near the lid, he
+filled the vessel with powder and firmly closed it.
+
+"There's our petard, Amos.  Now to place it."
+
+"That be my job, sir."
+
+"No, no, we go shares in this work.  'Twas your idea to lower the sail.
+I carry less flesh than you, and therefore can go more lightly."
+
+"But mayhap I be surer footed on the plank, being a mariner of forty
+year."
+
+"I doubt it not, yet the deed shall be mine."
+
+Carrying the canister, and in the pouch slung at his neck a handful of
+powder for the train, he crept to the side of the vessel, ran lightly
+along the gangway by the rope netting, and lifting a corner of the
+sail, stood between it and the wall of the cabin.  Then he dropped on
+hands and knees, and wormed his way forward until he touched the wall,
+following it along until he reached the door.  Being beneath the line
+of loopholes, he was in no danger so long as he moved quietly; but at
+the slightest sound the enemy would fling open the door and give him
+his quietus before help could reach him from beyond the barricade.  He
+might have felt still more confident had he known that Turnpenny had
+crept along after him, and was waiting at the corner of the sail, ready
+to spring to his aid in case of need.
+
+Feeling with his hand for the middle panel of the door, Dennis laid the
+canister down close against it.  To ensure that the hole he had made in
+it, to connect with the train of powder, should rest upon the planks
+and not turn over, he pressed a slight dent in the rim.  Then he crept
+backwards the way he had come, laying close to the cabin wall a train
+of powder from his pouch, not stinting the quantity, so that there
+might be no gaps in the line.  He drew a breath of relief when he came
+once more to the further side of the canvas and stood erect.  There was
+not a gust of air stirring; the confined space between the sail and the
+cabin was hot and stuffy; and what with holding his breath during the
+minutes his task had occupied, and the strain upon his nerves, he had
+felt almost suffocated.
+
+He said not a word when he found Turnpenny awaiting him, but placed his
+finger on his lips and motioned the man to return.  The charge having
+been laid in safety, it remained to arrange a course of action when the
+door should be blown in.  While the sail was still lowered it would be
+impossible to dash forward into the cabin.  The screen was no longer
+required now that there was no further need for the open hatchway; to
+remove it might indeed put the enemy on their guard, but they could not
+know what to expect, and there would be no time after the explosion to
+hoist the sail, even if it were possible to spare men for the task.  So
+Turnpenny volunteered to replace the hatch and hoist and bend the sail,
+work which he would do more quickly and expertly than Dennis.  It was
+then necessary to communicate with the maroons, for to attack the cabin
+in less than full strength, against superior weapons, would be to court
+disaster.  A loud whisper reached the men who had taken shelter behind
+some tackle forward of the mainmast, and brought them crawling to their
+leaders.  It was not so easy to attract the attention of the two men
+who had shinned up the poop, and to whom, though they had probably seen
+Dennis as he crawled beneath the sail, he had not dared to make a sign.
+The difficulty was removed by a word from Turnpenny to one of the
+maroons.  The man made a strange clicking in his throat, and within a
+couple of minutes his comrades had crept noiselessly along the port
+side of the vessel, and the party was complete.
+
+With great solemnity and many repetitions the sailor exhausted his
+small stock of Spanish in explaining what was required of them.  They
+were all to charge together the instant after the petard had done its
+work.  If the force of the explosion proved sufficient to blow in the
+door, they would dash through into the cabin and engage the enemy hand
+to hand.  If, on the other hand, the door should be only partially
+shattered--as Turnpenny pointed out, there was no calculating on the
+precise effect of a charge of gunpowder--two men were to break it in
+with a short spar unrigged for a battering ram.  Dennis counted on
+gaining a few moments while the Spaniards recovered from the surprise
+and shock of the explosion.  In that brief interval it might be
+possible for him and Turnpenny to find the loopholes in the cabin wall
+and thrust the muzzles of their calivers through.  By the time they had
+fired the door would be burst in, and then it would be a fight to the
+death.
+
+If the occupants of the cabin had felt any wonder or misgiving at the
+manipulation of the sail, there was nothing during the pause to give
+them either explanation or reassurance.  They might have suspected that
+the intention of lowering the sail was to screen an approach to the
+hatchway; but as, according to Baltizar the cook, the jar of powder had
+been appropriated by the mate secretly, and he was now dead, it would
+never have occurred to them that their enemy would seek there anything
+but food.  Otherwise they would assuredly have made some effort, beyond
+the firing of two random shots, to avert their fate.
+
+There was absolute silence when Turnpenny had concluded his whispered
+instructions to the maroons.  The vessel rocked gently, almost
+imperceptibly; the tide was on the turn.  Dennis crept once more to the
+gangway by the rope netting, stole along on bare feet, and stooped with
+a beating heart to apply the match which Turnpenny had made for him.
+It had an inch or two to burn before it reached the train of powder;
+and he stood back against the side, out of danger from the explosion,
+ready to rush across to the nearest loophole when the moment came.
+
+Suddenly a line of flame shot like a lightning flash across the planks.
+In an instant there was a deafening crash, and though each man of the
+attacking party knew what was coming, and was beyond reach of actual
+harm, they were all somewhat dazed by the explosion.  But it was only
+for the fraction of a second.  Then Dennis and Turnpenny sprang
+forward, one on each side of the cabin entrance, towards the loopholes
+whose position they had marked in the previous fight.  For a few
+moments they were baffled by the blinding smoke, but finding the holes
+almost simultaneously, they thrust in the muzzles of their weapons, and
+fired at random into the cabin.  A muffled cry from within announced
+that one or other of the shots had taken effect, but the next instant
+there was a roar as the Spaniards discharged their muskets together at
+the gaps rent in the door by the explosion.  At the time the Englishmen
+knew not whether any man was hit, for, dropping their calivers, they
+seized their cutlasses, and, just as the spar carried by two lusty
+maroons levelled the shattered door, they dashed at the opening.
+
+The light from a horn lantern hanging in its gimbals struggled with the
+smoke that filled the room.  Dennis stumbled over a body that lay
+across the entrance.  He had barely recovered his footing when he was
+amazed to hear a frenzied shriek from the further end of the cabin, and
+two men rushed forward with uplifted hands, shouting again and again a
+single word which, being Spanish, he did not understand.
+
+"My heart! they cry for quarter!" cried Turnpenny, as much amazed as
+Dennis.
+
+One of the maroons who had carried the spar, either not understanding
+or not heeding the wild despairing cry, thrust at the foremost Spaniard
+with a half-pike, and the wretch fell forward, hurling Dennis to the
+floor and doubly blocking the entrance.  Dennis threw the man off and
+scrambled to his feet; but before he could take a step forward there
+was a second explosion, louder and more shattering than the first, and
+when he recovered his dazed senses he found himself lying at the fore
+end of the waist, twenty feet away from the cabin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Amos Tells his Story
+
+"Body o' me!  Will 'ee squall like babbies?  Make for the boat, you
+howling knaves!"
+
+And then Turnpenny launched into a tirade of Spanish abuse, which came
+somewhat more trippingly from his lips than sentences of sound
+instruction.  Dennis rose, and staggered towards the sailor.
+
+"God be praised!  I feared you were dead, sir.  The knave has blowed up
+the powder magazine, and in five minutes by the clock the ship will
+tottle down by the stern.  These black rascals were howling like souls
+in bale, in the stead of swinging overboard into the boat while there
+is time.  Come away, sir; the craft will sink to the bottom or ever we
+gain the island."
+
+Bruised and sore, dropping blood from his untended wound, Dennis
+hastened with Amos to the side, and was in the act of following the
+maroons into the boat when he suddenly remembered the two sick men in
+the forecastle.
+
+"I'll be with you anon," he cried, hurrying across the waist.
+
+"What a murrain!" muttered Amos, scrambling back and running after him.
+"Shall we drown for a brace of savages!  Wilful!  Wilful!"
+
+He reached the forecastle in time to see Dennis hauling from his bunk
+the fat negro, who lay there huddled and shivering with terror.
+
+"Make the fat fool understand!" cried Dennis, shoving the cook into
+Amos's arms.  Then he hurried to the further end, where the maroons lay
+in a stupor of fright.  Having no words to acquaint them with their
+peril, he sought to move them by signs; but the men gazed at him in
+fear, regarding him doubtless as a new oppressor.
+
+"Amos, leave that lump of jelly and come hither," he shouted.  The
+sailor bawled a word or two in Spanish, and sped the negro towards the
+side with a kick.  Then he made haste to join Dennis.
+
+"The wretches are helpless," said the boy.  "We must carry them--fair
+and softly, Amos."
+
+"Ay, sir, an you will; but our case is parlous; I fear me our leisure
+will not serve."
+
+"No delay, then.  Hoist this fellow upon my back; do you bring the
+other.  We cannot suffer the knaves to drown."
+
+They staggered forth with their burdens, Dennis foremost.  As he
+stumbled towards the side he caught sight of a man crawling slowly from
+the direction of the cabin.  The man called to him feebly, but Dennis
+did not pause until he had reached the gangway by the netting, where he
+laid the maroon down.
+
+"Call to his fellows below there to assist him into the boat," he cried
+to Amos.  "There is a man yet alive; we must save him."
+
+"Beseech you let the knave drown," returned the sailor.  "'Tis a
+pestilent Spaniard--a meal for sharks.  Be jowned if the lad be not a
+mere dunderpate," he grumbled, as he lowered his burden into the hands
+of the men below.
+
+Meanwhile Dennis had hastened to meet the wounded man, who groaned
+miserably as he dragged his limbs along.  Half supporting, half
+carrying him, Dennis brought him to the side just as the second maroon
+had been bestowed safely in the boat.  Turnpenny, still growling under
+his breath, helped to lift the Spaniard down.  Then the boat was cast
+off, and the men rowed for the shore.
+
+"Canst see any sign of the knaves that leapt overboard?" said Dennis,
+looking around.
+
+"Never a hair," replied Turnpenny, "Sure they be swallowed quick by the
+sharks, and there's an end."
+
+Dennis shuddered.  It was his first acquaintance with the tragedy of
+adventure on the Spanish Main, and his unschooled heart turned sick at
+the thought of the terrible fruit his scheme had borne.  He gazed at
+the dark form of the vessel that was gradually fading into the night.
+The poop was already under water.  He had not foreseen this end to his
+enterprise; the rapid sequence of events had bewildered him.  What had
+caused the second explosion?  Had the magazine been fired by accident?
+What a mercy it was that he and all his party had not been blown to
+atoms!  He could not but feel a poignant pity for the poor wretches who
+had thus suddenly met their doom.
+
+The boat grounded on the shoals.  He sprang into the water and assisted
+Turnpenny and the maroons to carry the helpless men to the fringe of
+grass, and to haul the boat up the beach.  Then he turned once more to
+look at the vessel.  No longer was her dark form outlined against the
+starlit sky; she had gone down, leaving no trace.
+
+Joining the men on the stretch of greensward where they were assembled,
+he suddenly heard the shrill voice of Mirandola close at hand, and next
+moment felt the touch of the animal's paw upon his arm.  The monkey had
+followed the party at a distance when they came down to the shore in
+the dusk, and sat forlorn on the grass, watching the boat that carried
+his master away.  Could the poor beast think human thoughts, Dennis
+wondered, as he felt its body trembling against his?  Had it believed
+that it was deserted by the being who had treated it with kindness?
+Certainly it showed clear signs of gladness now, and its joy at
+recovering its one friend had vanquished its dislike and suspicion of
+the rest.
+
+"Here we be, sir, ten martal souls," said Turnpenny, "reckoning
+Baltizar, who in sooth is more like a jellyfish than a man.  What be us
+to do?"
+
+"We cannot tramp across the island in the dark, Amos.  What say you to
+camping in the logwood grove?  'Tis nigh at hand, and we can lie there
+with fair comfort until the dawn."
+
+"With all my heart.  'Twill be a drier bed than those villanous knaves
+yonder can boast."
+
+"Poor wretches!  How came it that the magazine blew up, think you?"
+
+"I know not, sir.  I will ask the knave you brought last from the
+vessel--a deed of merciful madness."
+
+He spoke a few words to the wounded prisoner, while the maroons who had
+formed the wood-cutting party conveyed their sick comrades to the
+grove.  The man replied in feeble accents.
+
+"This was the manner of it, sir," said Amos, after a minute or two.
+"The captain being sore wounded, and two killed outright, the other
+knaves, seeing how that they stood in danger of being sliced by our
+bilbos, did incontinently call upon him to render up the vessel, hoping
+thereby to come off with their lives.  But the captain, a tall man and
+of a good spirit, did resolutely refuse to yield to their entreaties,
+swearing that he would with his own hand blow up the vessel rather than
+deliver it to heretics and dogs of English.  Straightway he passed into
+his own cabin, and made fast the door; which seeing, and knowing that
+what he had said, that would he perform, the knaves began to whoop and
+hallo for quarter.  Then did the captain, as 'tis to be supposed, make
+into the after cabin and fire his pistol into the magazine, and so
+dealt the ship that mighty blow."
+
+"And this man--who is he?"
+
+"A man of Portingale, sir, not of Spain, and so somewhat nearer grace.
+He thanks you and all the saints that he remains alive, though his
+limbs be maimed withal."
+
+"Let us convey him softly to the grove; on the morrow we will look to
+his wounds and bind them up with balsam and other salves from the
+wreck."
+
+"Marry, you use him too gently.  'Tis like warming a snake in your
+bosom; and, since charity begins at home, we will look to our own hurts
+first."
+
+When the party was settled as comfortably as possible in the grove,
+Dennis and the sailor disposed themselves side by side to sleep.  But
+both were wakeful, for all their fatigue.  They lay for a time in
+silence, each fearful of disturbing the other; but Dennis, hearing at
+last a long pent-up groan from his companion, asked what ailed him.
+
+"Thinking, sir--old thoughts of home."
+
+"I have been minded to ask you of your history, Amos, but we have had
+other matters to speak of.  How came you to be a prisoner of the
+Spaniards?"
+
+"'Tis a tale long in the telling, sir, but I will give 'ee the drift of
+it.  I were a young cockerel of twelve when I ran away to sea.  It kept
+a-calling me; night and day I heard the sound; and when I could no
+longer endure it, I went and joined myself ship-boy to a worthy mariner
+o' Plimworth.  Afterwards he made me his prentice, and so a mariner I
+have been from that day to this.  Ay, 'twas a brave life for a man, in
+the days of King Hal, lad.  I mind me I were but rising seventeen when
+the French king took a conceit to invade England.  My heart! he had
+reason enough, for King Hal had before sent a power to capture
+Boolonny, on the French coast, which they did, and burnt it with fire.
+The French king would have his tit for tat, and he gathered a great
+power and a mighty fleet to strike at Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
+
+"I was rising seventeen, as I said, and gunner's mate aboard the _Anne
+Gallant_, a noble galleass.  The fleet made a brave show, lying off
+Spithead, and I was hot to show my mettle; 'twas my first fight, by the
+token, and sure 'twas a famous fight.  The _Anne Gallant_ and others of
+her sort, with the shallops and rowing-pieces, did so handle the French
+galleys that our great ships in a manner had little to do.  The only
+hurt we suffered was the breaking of a few oars.  We anchored for the
+night, as did the French fleet, we hoping to come at them in the
+morning; but when daylight broke, hang me if the French were anywhere
+to be seen, and though we gave chase they got away and ran into their
+ports.  But a little after, the _Anne Gallant_, with three other
+galleasses and four pinnaces, was set upon off Ambletoosy by eight
+great galleys.  There was great shooting betwixt us; we drew alongside
+of the _Blancherd_ galley in the smoke, and leaping aboard her, we took
+her captive, with two hundred and thirty pikemen and musketeers, and a
+hundred and forty rowers.  Master King Francis got the wrong pig by the
+ear when he tackled King Harry.
+
+"Ah me and well-away!  That was over twenty-five year ago.  I served
+many years on merchantmen, under many a master, good and bad.  I made
+one voyage to the Guinea coast with Master Hawkins, and five year ago,
+being about to set sail to the Indies for to trade slaves with the
+Spaniards, he sent for me and made me boatswain aboard his own great
+ship, the _Jesus of Lubeck_, of 700 tons.  Marry, 'twas a goodly
+squadron that sailed out of Plimworth Sound.  Besides the _Jesus_,
+there was the _Minion_ of Captain Hampton, the _William_ and _John_,
+all great ships, and three smaller vessels, of the which Master Francis
+Drake commanded the _Judith_.  Hast ever set eyes on Master Francis?"
+
+"Ay, indeed, once only--this very year, in Plymouth, some months before
+I sailed."
+
+"And I warrant he was stout and brave, and as 'twere a raging fire
+against the Spaniards, making ready to chastise the villanous traitors
+and promise-breakers: was it not so, good-now?"
+
+"Well, to say sooth, when I saw him he seemed to have no thought of
+Spaniards: his whole mind was set on a game at the bowls, and he was
+some little put out when he failed of winning."
+
+"Master Francis put out over such a trifle?  Why, believe me, with
+these very eyes I saw him warp his bark clear when beset by Spanish
+fire-ships and battered by Spanish guns, with as serene a countenance
+as he were sailing a shallop for pleasure on the Plym.  Master Francis
+put out for losing at the bowls!  Tush, lad!"
+
+"Nevertheless 'tis true, for I was there present, and saw and heard it."
+
+"God-a-mercy!" ejaculated Turnpenny.  "And what was the manner of it?"
+
+"Why, Master Drake came to two gentlemen bowling on the Hoe, and one of
+them, being summoned away, left the other to play out the game with the
+Captain.  He was beat, as I said, and being well conceited of his
+skill, he was for a moment vexed.  Then he laughed, and clapped his
+hand on the shoulder of the other--a stripling he was--and said: 'A rub
+for me, my lad; 'twas a rare game, and I thank thee.'"
+
+"Ay, that was true Master Francis: he is ever gall and honey mingled.
+Art then of Plimworth, sir?  As you love me, your name?"
+
+"Dennis Hazelrig, of Shaston."
+
+"Of Shaston?  I was never there.  I will mind of your name.  You be
+gentle, I know by your speech, and Dennis Hazelrig do sound richer to
+the ear than plain Haymoss Turnpenny, but----"
+
+"Come, man, to your story," interrupted Dennis.
+
+"Ay, sir, then I must make a tack.  I was at Plimworth, a' b'lieve,
+when the name of Master Drake set me out o' my true course.  Well, the
+ships I named, great and small, sailed right merrily out o' the Sound
+o' Plimworth; 'twas a day of October, I mind me, the very season o'
+gales.  We had a deal of buffeting afore we made the coast of Guinea,
+and a deal of hard knocks afore we took on board our store o' negroes
+for to sell to the Spaniards of the Main."
+
+"To sell?"
+
+"Why yes, sir; that is Captain Hawkins his trade; and knowing now
+myself what it is to be a slave, I have a fellow feeling for the poor
+knaves, black as they be, and bought and sold like cattle.  Well, 'twas
+near six month afore we came to the Indies and did some traffic among
+the islands.  Then by ill hap, as we sailed for Cartagena, we were
+caught in a most violent and terrible storm, the which battered us
+mightily for the space of four days; in sooth, we feared we should go
+to the bottom.  The _Jesus_ was dealt with most sorely, her rudder
+shaken, and all her seams agape.  Then, coasting along Florida, we ran
+into the jaws of another tempest, the which drave us into the bay of
+Mexico.  There we sought a haven, and moored our ships in the port
+called St. John d'Ulua, where we landed, and our General made proposals
+of traffic.
+
+"The next day did we discover a fleet of thirteen ships open of the
+haven, and soon we spied a pinnace making towards us.  There was in her
+a man bearing a flag of truce, and he came aboard the _Jesus_,
+demanding of what country we were.  I mind we laughed at the knave; he
+swelled himself out like a turkey-cock.  Our General made answer that
+we were the Queen of England her ships, come for victuals for our
+money, and that if the Spanish General would enter, he should give us
+victuals and other necessaries and we would go out on the one side of
+the port, the while the Spaniards should come in on the other.  But it
+had so fell out that with their fleet there came a new viceroy of the
+Spanish king, and he was mightily put out by our General's reply,
+thinking it something saucy from an Englishman with so small a fleet.
+The proud knave returned for answer that he was a viceroy with a
+thousand men, and would ask no man's leave to enter.  Our General
+laughed, and set us laughing too when he said: 'A viceroy he may be,
+but so am I.  I represent my Queen, and am as good a viceroy as he; and
+as for his thousand men, I have good powder and shot, and they will
+take the better place, I warrant him.'"
+
+"A right proper answer," said Dennis.  "And what then?"
+
+"Why, Master Viceroy gave in, and swore by king and crown he would
+faithfully perform what our General demanded, and thereupon hostages
+were given on both sides.  The villanous knave!  Our General chose out
+five proper gentlemen and sent them aboard the Spanish admiral; but the
+viceroy, stuffed with fraud and deceit, rigged up five base swabbers in
+costly apparel and sent them to our General, as if they were the finest
+gentlemen of Spain.  Yet did we use them right royally, deeming it to
+be an act of courtesy and good troth.
+
+"Then their ships came with great bravery into the port, and there was
+great waste of powder in firing salutes, as the manner is at sea.  But
+'twas not long afore our General became doubtful of their dealings.  So
+did we all, for with my own eyes I saw them, when they moored their
+ships nigh ours, cut out new ports in the sides, and plant their
+ordnance towards us.  'So ho!' says I, 'there be trickery and
+hugger-mugger in brew.'  Our master, one Bob Barrett, chanced to be
+well skilled in the Spanish tongue, and him our General sent aboard
+their admiral to know the meaning of these same doings.  The base
+villains set poor Bob under guard in the bilbows, and we had scarce
+seen that mark of their knavery when they sounded a trumpet, and
+therewith three hundred of them sprang aboard the _Minion_ from the
+hulk alongside.  My heart!  Many a time afore had I seen the blazing of
+our General's wrath, but never so fierce as it blazed then.  His eyne
+were like two coals of fire as he called to us in a loud voice.  I mind
+his very words.  'God and St. George!' cried he.  'Upon those
+traitorous villains, my hearts, and rescue the _Minion_; and I trust in
+God the day shall be ours.'  And with that, with a great shout we leapt
+out of the _Jesus_ into the _Minion_, and laid on those deceitful
+knaves, and beat them out; and a shot out of the _Jesus_ fell plump
+into the poop of the Spanish vice-admiral, and the most part of three
+hundred of the villanous knaves were blown overboard with powder.
+
+"It was a good sight to see Captain Hampton of the _Minion_ cut his
+cables and haul clear by his stern-fasts, the while his gunners poured
+round shot into the vice-admiral that rode ablaze.  But there was but
+four of us to their thirteen.  The Spaniards came about us on every
+side, and began to fire on us with brass ordnance from the land.  My
+heart!  'Twas hot work for us when we scrambled back on to the _Jesus_
+as the _Minion_ sheered away.  Being so tall a ship we could not haul
+her clear.  She had five shot through her mainmast; her foremast was
+struck in sunder with a chain-shot, and her hull moreover was
+wonderfully pierced.  Our General gave orders that we should lay her
+alongside of the _Minion_ till dark, and then take out her victuals and
+treasure and leave that noble vessel.  A right true man is Captain
+Hawkins.  In the midst of that noise and smoke he called to Samuel his
+page for a cup of beer, and it was brought to him in a silver cup; and
+he drank to us all and called to the gunners to stand by their ordnance
+lustily like men.  He had no sooner set the cup out of his hand but a
+demi-culverin shot struck away the cup, and a cooper's plane that stood
+by the mainmast, and ran out on the other side of the ship; the which
+nothing dismayed our General, for he ceased not to encourage and cheer
+us.  I hear his voice in my ears now.  'Fear nothing!' he cries, 'for
+God, who hath preserved me from this shot, will also deliver us from
+these traitors and villains.'
+
+"But on a sudden we perceived that the Spaniards had loosed two
+fireships against us.  The men of the _Minion_ were in such a taking
+with fear of those monsters that they bided not the outcome, nor did
+they heed their captain's commands, but in a mighty haste made sail.
+The _Jesus_ being then alone,--for the _Angel_ was sunk and the
+_Swallow_ taken, and Master Drake had warped the little _Judith_
+clear--our General cried to us to spring upon the _Minion_ ere her
+sails could draw, which he himself did.  As I made to do his bidding,
+my heart! there came toppling on my head a portion of the main topsail
+cross-tree, and struck me senseless withal.  When something of my wits
+returned to me, there was I, amid a score of wounded and captive
+fellows, on the deck of the noble _Jesus_, and a mob of Spaniards
+around; sure she must have been built under an evil star."
+
+"And what befell you then?" asked Dennis, eagerly, for Turnpenny had
+fallen silent.
+
+"God-a-mercy, sir, the fear takes me when I think on't!  They hauled me
+ashore, with certain others of our men, and hanged us up by the arms
+upon high posts, until the blood gushed out at our finger-ends.  'Tis
+by the merciful providence of God alone I am yet alive, carrying about
+with me (and shall to my grave) the marks and tokens of their barbarous
+cruel dealings.  'Tis by the same wondrous grace I 'scaped handling by
+the Inquisition, that hath devoured many of my poor comrades.  My heart
+and my reins cry and groan for the terror and pain of their sufferings.
+God have mercy on us all!"
+
+Overcome by the recollection of what ensued upon his capture by the
+Spaniards, Turnpenny went by turns hot and cold and was unable to
+continue his story.  Many times during the night Dennis was woke from
+his own troubled slumbers by a cry from his companion, upon whom, now
+that the time of action had ceased, his former sickly terror seemed to
+have returned with double force.  Both were heartily glad when morning
+came, and with the new day the necessity of facing their new situation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Maroons Build a Canoe
+
+The events of twenty-four hours had wrought a surprising change in
+Dennis's circumstances.  The solitude of the island had suddenly become
+peopled.  No longer would Mirandola be his sole comrade and confidant.
+He was inexpressibly glad of the company of a fellow-countryman; the
+presence of a group of men of strange races was somewhat embarrassing.
+Besides Turnpenny, there were now on the island the Spaniard who had
+been left pinioned on the shore, and the wounded Portuguese rescued
+from the sinking ship, three survivors of the wood-cutting party, three
+sick comrades, and the fat negro cook; in all a community of eleven.
+Small as it was, after his loneliness Dennis felt it to be a crowd.
+
+His first care on waking in the morning was to liberate the bound
+Spaniard, and to bring salves from his store for dressing the wounds of
+the Portuguese, and of his party; his own wounds proved to be slight.
+While absent on this errand he left Turnpenny in charge of the rest,
+and found when he returned that the sailor had already spread a
+delectable breakfast, having set the maroons to gather from the trees
+not merely bananas, but several other fruits which Dennis himself, in
+his dread of eating something poisonous, had not yet ventured to taste.
+When the wounded man and the sick maroons, who were still bewildered by
+their good fortune, had been attended to, he held a consultation with
+Turnpenny.  As a result of this he decided to keep the whereabouts of
+his hut and the existence of the stores a secret from the white men.
+
+"They be all villains and traitors," said Turnpenny; "we must e'en keep
+them prisoners, and give them into the ward of the maroons.  Wherefore
+I say, let the maroons build them a hut a mile or more away from your
+dwelling.  They are idle knaves, and having been so long time slaves,
+they will be well content to do nothing but keep watch and ward over
+those that once were their masters.  And as for their food, there is
+enough on the island for a whole city."
+
+"And what of us, my friend?"
+
+"Why, sir, here we be, two Englishmen, a thousand leagues or more away
+from home, but a few leagues from the mainland, where Spaniards rule
+the roast, and like to be discovered any day if another logwood party
+come ashore.  'Tis not in reason we could do with them what, by the
+mercy of God and your own ready wit, sir, we did with the knaves
+yesternight; and if we be found, there's naught afore us but death or
+chains; and for myself, I'd liever die than endure such things as I
+have suffered since the fight at St. John d'Ulua."
+
+"Why then, good Amos," said Dennis with a smile, "it does seem we must
+cast lots who shall be king of this island, and the other shall be
+chancellor, and we will put in practice in our governance the ideas of
+the incomparable Sir Thomas More, who, though a Papist, did set forth
+in his _Utopia_ most worthy and admirable schemes of ruling a society
+of men."
+
+"I know naught of Sir Thomas More or what you call Utopia; and as for
+king and chancellor, I am but poor Haymoss Turnpenny, that cannot read
+nor write and have never had the ruling of more than a crew of
+mariners.  Call yourself king an 'ee please, sir; but methinks 'twould
+be more fit and commendable if we seized upon this island in the name
+of our sovereign lady Queen Bess."
+
+"A right loyal notion, and one that we will put in act.  But then we
+must give it a name."
+
+"Ay, sure, and what better name than Maiden Isle, after that same
+gracious lady?"
+
+"So it shall be, and I here proclaim Elizabeth, by the grace of God
+queen of England, France, and Ireland, queen of Maiden Isle on the
+Spanish Main.  But this is idle mockery, Amos.  We are not builders of
+empires, but poor castaways, doomed to linger out our lives in what is
+after all a desert, or else in painful servitude.  There is nothing for
+laughter here."
+
+And then they fell to talking of their chances of one day escaping from
+the island and seeing the fair shores of England again.  It could only
+be by being taken off by an English ship, or by setting off themselves
+and risking the perilous voyage across the Atlantic.  The latter
+alternative seemed beyond the bounds of possibility.  The _Maid
+Marian_, even if they could make her hull seaworthy and repair her
+shattered spars and rigging, would need a crew to navigate her, and the
+maroons were not sailor men.  To build a smaller craft capable of the
+long voyage was an enterprise beyond their powers.  Turnpenny could
+make a shift to navigate a vessel, but he had no practical skill in
+ship-building.
+
+The other alternative seemed equally unlikely, Dennis learnt from the
+sailor that the island on which they had so strangely met was situated
+deep in the Sound of Darien.  It was less than a hundred and fifty
+miles from Cartagena, the capital of the Spanish Main, to the east, and
+about the same distance from Nombre de Dios to the west; but the trend
+of the coast caused vessels to stand out some distance to sea in
+passing, and thus the island was little likely to be touched at by
+chance visitors.
+
+One other course occurred to Dennis, only to be dismissed when he
+mentioned it to Turnpenny.  It was to build a boat capable of conveying
+them to the mainland, and to take refuge among the Indians or the mixed
+race of Cimaroons or maroons who had settlements at various parts of
+the coast.  But Turnpenny pointed out that this would expose them to
+the risk of being caught by the Spaniards, who were constantly at war
+with the natives, and would at the same time quite ruin the chances of
+getting into touch with an English vessel.  While they remained on the
+island there was always the bare possibility of some English or
+Huguenot adventurer coming within reach.
+
+Faced by the prospect of an indefinite sojourn on the island, they had
+only to make the best of it.  Turnpenny explained to the maroons the
+plan arranged for them, and they accepted it without demur.  The
+prisoners were sullen and resentful, perforce submissive, not a little
+distrustful of their guards, from whom they had deserved no kindness.
+Baltizar the fat negro was given the task of supplying the party with
+food, partly from the natural resources of the island, partly from the
+stores of the _Maid Marian_, which Dennis resolved to share,
+economically, with the rest.
+
+A spot about a mile from the chine was chosen as the site of the
+shelters for the maroons and their prisoners.  Having set the men at
+work, Dennis returned with Turnpenny to his own hut.  Mirandola no
+longer showed any jealousy of the presence of a third party; apparently
+he had been cured of it by fright at the prospect of being deserted.
+Turnpenny, on his part, before the day was out was so much amused at
+the animal's antics that he lost his first disgust.
+
+"My heart!" he exclaimed, when, work for the day being over, the monkey
+sat on a tub, happily feasting on biscuits and honey: "if 'tis wise
+looks do make a chancellor, sure the beast be the properest chancellor
+to your king, sir."
+
+"You look pretty wise yourself, Amos," said Dennis, laughing.  "We had
+resolved that the sovereignty of this island belongs to our lady Queen
+Bess; say then that I am her viceroy, and you my chamberlain; and for
+Mirandola, why, let us make him our jester."
+
+Day followed day uneventfully.  Dennis made a still more thorough
+exploration of the island in Turnpenny's company, and had his eyes
+opened to many things which had formerly escaped him.  Passing the spot
+where he had saved Mirandola from the boa constrictor, he mentioned the
+incident, and remarked that he had seen no other reptiles in the course
+of his wanderings.
+
+"'Tis because you knew not where to look," said Turnpenny.  "The snakes
+in this new world be cunning; 'wise as serpents,' says the Scripture,
+and a true word.  They dress their skins so as to look like the trees
+they live in; 'twould puzzle Solomon himself in all his wisdom and
+glory to say which is tree and which is the coil of a snake."
+
+And as they passed through the thickest woods, which Dennis had
+prudently refrained from entering, the sailor drew his attention more
+than once to snakes of various kinds whose coils were almost
+indistinguishable from the trunks of trees.
+
+Once he plucked some fruit from a kind of palm, and, pressing it,
+squeezed out a juice as black as ink.
+
+"That is a good sight," cried Dennis gladly.  "I found in the cabin of
+the _Maid Marian_ a store of paper and quills, but the ink was all
+spilled, and I had nothing wherewithal to write.  So I have lost count
+of the days, and know not whether I have been on this isle weeks or
+months.  Now I can make a journal."
+
+"Not so neither!  This juice is good to write withal, but the marks
+disappear within the ninth day, and the paper is as white as if it had
+never been written on.  'Tis no matter, indeed; we should be none the
+happier for seeing the tale of our days."
+
+One day Dennis showed Turnpenny the cave in the cliff, which hitherto
+he had refrained from revealing.  The sailor attentively examined the
+trinkets which Dennis had found on the floor beside the skeleton and
+carefully collected.  He pronounced them to be such ornaments as were
+worn by the natives of the mainland, and made no doubt that the
+skeleton was that of some Indian or maroon done to death by brutal
+persecutors.
+
+Dennis got him to continue the story of his life, never yet resumed
+since his first night on the island.  He had been sent, he said, among
+a gang of prisoners from St. John d'Ulua to Cartagena and thence to a
+place on the coast somewhat south of Cartagena, where the governor had
+a pearl fishery.  It was defended by a fort, garrisoned by some fifty
+Spaniards.  Expecting reprisals from Hawkins for the treacherous
+treatment he had received, the governor had ordered the fort to be
+strengthened, and dispatched several of his able-bodied prisoners to
+assist in the work.
+
+"And I think of my dear comrades rotting in the dungeons of Porto
+Aguila--for so 'tis named.  There was Ned Whiddon, and Hugh Curder, and
+Tom Copstone, and a dozen more, and for all I know they are there even
+now, toiling all day, with many stripes from the villanous whips, and
+groaning all night in most foul and noisome dungeons.  Ah! the tales I
+could tell would make your skin creep and your hair to stand on end.
+Why, what think 'ee they do if the tale of work seem to them not
+sufficient?  They tie the poor wretch to a tree, and take thorns of the
+prickle palm, and put them into little pellets of cotton dipped in oil,
+and stick them in the side of the miserable captive, as thick as the
+bristles of a hedgehog.  This alone causes a most fierce torment, but
+they are not content therewith.  They set the oiled cotton afire, and
+call on the poor wretch, with loud despitous laughs, to sing in the
+midst of his torment, and if he cries out in the agony of pain they out
+upon him for a base miserable coward and villain.  With my own eyes I
+have seen the foul deed, and many more which it is shame to tell of."
+
+"How came it that you got aloose?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Why, it happened in this wise.  The treasure of pearls fished up from
+the sea-bottom at that place was wont to be conveyed to Cartagena every
+month by ship.  One day the vessel sent with this intent came into the
+port wonderfully battered by a storm, the which had nigh stripped her
+of all rigging and had moreover washed half her crew overboard.  The
+garrison at the fort being soldiers, and there being no other mariners
+at hand, the Spanish captain moreover being fearful of the governor's
+wrath if the treasure should be delayed, he sent half a dozen or more
+of his slaves, French and English, aboard that vessel to work her back
+to the capital city.  My heart!  I well nigh wept for joy when I heard
+what was in store, for I bethought myself that of a surety we mariners,
+French and English, might seize upon that vessel on the voyage and sail
+her at our pleasure.  But it was as if the knave had seen to the very
+heart of my intent, for when we mounted on ship-board, there were
+Spanish soldiers set over us, two for one, and with the Spanish crew
+they were as three to one, and they armed.  My device was come to
+naught.  We did each man his best to lengthen out that voyage, if
+perchance we might fall in with an English vessel and acquaint them
+with our case; but never a sail did we see till we made the harbour of
+Cartagena, and all our hopes were dashed.
+
+"Then it came to pass that, being a handy man and a stout, I was sold
+for money to the master and owner of a ship employed in the traffic of
+timber--that same vessel that lies a fathom deep yonder.  At sea I was
+a mariner; ashore, being stout of the arms, I was made to ply an axe on
+the trees, as you yourself saw.  'Tis three year or more since I fell
+prisoner at St. John d'Ulua, and six months since I last set eyes on my
+comrades at Porto Aguila, and I fear me I shall never see them more."
+
+"Why think you they be even now there?"
+
+"Why, sir, because the Spaniards be all knaves, and there is no truth
+nor faithfulness in them, not one.  The Captain of that place was the
+Governor of Cartagena his own son.  A son, one med think, would be
+loving and obedient unto his father, but 'tis not so among these dogs
+of Spain.  Why, body o' me! in the stead of doing diligently the thing
+his father commanded, this young roisterer must needs build him a
+house, and thereto he used the labourers sent him with intent to
+strengthen the fort, and when I came from that place the house was got
+but a little above the ground, and was not like to be finished for a
+full year."
+
+"Might not other labourers be hired from Cartagena?"
+
+"I trow not.  The Spaniards are so scared and daunted by the descents
+of venturers' ships upon their coasts that they are looking to their
+fortresses throughout the Spanish Main.  By long and large 'tis more
+like the prisoners will be conveyed back to Cartagena for to build new
+forts there.  But this will not be yet, for the Governor of Cartagena
+holds the pearl-fishery in dear affection, and he will not bring the
+men thence until he has assurance that all is done as he commanded.
+No, truly, I believe they be still at Porto Aguila, my dear
+mate-fellows, and though I praise God for His infinite goodness and
+mercy in bringing me safe into this haven and out of the hands of those
+wicked men, I mourn in my heart for Hugh Curder, and Tom Copstone, and
+Ned Whiddon, and other my comrades; God save them!"
+
+Many a time in the succeeding days did Amos relate incidents in the
+life of the prisoners at Porto Aguila that made Dennis's blood run
+cold.  He now began to understand the deep and fierce hatred of the
+Spaniards that filled the hearts of adventurers who had returned from
+expeditions to the American coast.  The same consuming desire for
+humbling and punishing the proud Spaniards burnt in his veins, and he
+chafed at the idleness to which he was enforced on this remote island.
+
+Meanwhile the other inhabitants of Maiden Isle were living what
+appeared to be a contented life.  With abundance of food, and nothing
+to do, the maroons enjoyed, as Dennis thought, conditions that answered
+to their idea of bliss.  He was therefore a little surprised one day to
+hear the unwonted sound of wood-felling, and to find, when he came to
+the spot, four of the men plying their axes lustily upon a huge cedar.
+They desisted when he approached, with something of a guilty air that
+puzzled him.  They had shown themselves very amiable companions,
+grateful for their rescue from their taskmasters.  He could only
+suppose that even they had begun to weary of idleness, and had resorted
+to their former occupation of log-cutting from no other motive than the
+desire to kill time.
+
+But Turnpenny shook his head when Dennis suggested this explanation.
+
+"It do seem to me there be another meaning in it, sir.  'Tis their
+intent, a' b'lieve, to make unto themselves a canow."
+
+"But they have no skill to do it, nor fit implements, Amos."
+
+"Bless your eyes, sir, you do not know them.  Wait a while, and if that
+be not their purpose, never trust Haymoss Turnpenny."
+
+Letting a few days pass, Dennis went again one morning with the sailor
+to the scene of the tree-felling.  The huge trunk had already begun to
+take shape as a canoe at least twenty-five feet long.  The men were
+diligently working at it, some with axes, others with fire.  Its
+interior had been partly hollowed out, the wood and pith burnt away,
+and the charred sides scraped with the hatchets.  It was clear that
+within a few days the tree would become a vessel which, whether
+navigable or not, would certainly float.
+
+"'Tis a pretty piece of work," said Dennis to Turnpenny.  "Ask them
+whereto they design it."
+
+Turnpenny spoke a few words in Spanish.  The answer was surprising.
+One of the maroons, a man whom the others seemed to have elected as
+their leader, threw down his hatchet and fell on his knees.  Then, in a
+strange jargon which the sailor had much ado to understand, he gave
+voice to the sentiments and aspirations of himself and his comrades.
+They were sick of solitude.  They had homes upon the mainland; and
+yearned to see again their relatives and comrades, to return to their
+settlement, to share in its life, to seek opportunities of revenging
+themselves on their oppressors.  And so they were making this canoe, in
+which they would sail over the sea.  They were not ungrateful for the
+kindnesses showered upon them by the white men; indeed, to show their
+gratitude, they would take them with them, having first killed the two
+prisoners.  Their spokesman on his knees besought the white men to
+yield to their desire, and come with them.  They would supply all their
+needs, and follow them with all obedience, if they would lead them
+against the Spaniards.
+
+"Tell him to get up," said Dennis.  "This is a matter we must think
+upon."
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny held by and by a serious consultation.  They felt
+that they were in a somewhat awkward predicament.  The maroons' desire
+to regain their friends was natural and reasonable, but their departure
+would deprive the white men of valuable allies.  And what of the two
+prisoners?  Turnpenny would not have hesitated to kill them, but Dennis
+shrank from that course.  They might allow the maroons to carry them
+off; but then the Spaniards would either be butchered as soon as the
+canoe was out of reach, or they would probably be held as hostages and
+exchanged for natives held captive by the Spaniards on the mainland.
+In that case they would certainly report the presence of two white men
+on the island and the assault upon the lumber boat; a search party
+would be the result, and Dennis and his companion would be slaughtered
+or carried away into slavery.  On the other hand, if the maroons were
+allowed to depart, leaving the prisoners on the island, the burden of
+keeping watch over them would prove a constant source of anxiety.
+
+"The canoe is all but finished," said Dennis.  "We must let them finish
+it.  To forbid them, poor knaves, would be cruel."
+
+"And vain, to boot," said Turnpenny, "for if we took their axes from
+them, they would use bits of sharp rock.  The Indians have hollowed out
+such canows with instruments of flint from the beginning of the world."
+
+"We must let them go, then.  For ourselves, I see not at present our
+course; but we can provide against the worst hap by conveying our
+stores, secretly and by night, to Skeleton Cave; 'tis a good
+hiding-place, not like to be easily discovered, and we know not what
+necessity may drive us to make it our habitation."
+
+The transfer of the stores occupied two nights.  Mirandola accompanied
+the two men as they went to and fro between the sheds and the cave,
+clinging so closely to them that it seemed as if he had some intuition
+of changes to come.
+
+"By my soul," said Turnpenny with a laugh, "he be as faithful as a dog."
+
+"And whatever may chance, we will not leave you, Mirandola," said
+Dennis.  "Shall I forget the days when you were the only friend of my
+solitude?  Would you could speak, for assuredly I would ask your
+counsel on this pass to which we are come."
+
+They went daily to the clearing to watch the progress of the canoe.  As
+yet they had given no answer to the maroons; but these were working
+very diligently at the task, having apparently inferred from the
+silence of the white men that at least nothing would be done to prevent
+their making use of the vessel.  Dennis and Turnpenny talked over the
+situation again and again; but their thoughts followed the same weary
+round.  At one moment they were almost resolved to throw in their lot
+with the maroons and voyage with them to the mainland; the next they
+shrank from this course as throwing away what seemed their only chance
+of ultimate rescue--the chance of being found some day by an English
+vessel.
+
+The problem weighed more heavily on Dennis than on Turnpenny.  Compared
+with his former sufferings, it was to the sailor a slight matter.
+Dennis, lying sleepless at night, envied his friend the soundness of
+his slumbers.  The mariner snored as peacefully on his canvas couch in
+the corner of the hut as though he were on a feather bed at home.  To
+Dennis the hours of darkness passed wearisomely.  He thought of all
+that had happened since he sailed with light heart from Plymouth Sound,
+and wondered sometimes whether his comrades had not perchance been
+happier in meeting swift death in the storm.  Then he upbraided himself
+for his ingratitude to the Providence which had preserved his life and
+health, and given him the companionship of a fellow countryman.  He
+contrasted, too, his lot with that of Turnpenny's mates on the
+mainland, dragging out a miserable existence of slavish toil.  He
+recalled the sailor's stories of the tortures they endured--and then
+suddenly, one night, there flashed upon his mind a possibility which,
+in his preoccupation with his own plight, had never yet occurred to
+him.  The maroons would shortly leave the island; had Providence
+arranged this as an opportunity for helping the hapless Englishmen in
+the Spaniards' power?  If Turnpenny and he should accompany the black
+men, might they not find, at some time or other, a means of rescuing
+the prisoners--Ned Whiddon, Hugh Curder, Tom Copstone, and the rest?
+
+The idea set Dennis throbbing with a new hope, a new aim.  Slaves
+sometimes escaped; the maroons themselves were the offspring of negroes
+who had made off from the Spanish settlements and formed alliances with
+the native Indians of the woods.  Their communities were constantly
+being recruited: what if the sailor and he should cast in their lot
+temporarily with the men about to embark, and watch for opportunities
+of communicating with the distressed Englishmen!  Even if they never
+found a means of reaching home, it would still be something to the good
+if their comrades were got out of the hands of their oppressors.  At
+the worst they might form a settlement of their own, and live free,
+though in exile.
+
+The idea took complete possession of Dennis.  He felt no desire to
+sleep.  For a moment he was tempted to wake Turnpenny and put the
+question to him; instead, he got up, and stole quietly from the hut, to
+think it over more fully under the open sky.  He walked down to the
+shore, and, sitting on a rock, looked over the sea and pondered the
+matter to the soft accompaniment of the washing tide.
+
+It was clear that the Spaniards of the mainland had no suspicion that
+the island was inhabited, or they would long since have visited it.
+They might be off their guard.  From what Turnpenny had told him he
+knew the indolence of their temperament--the unlikelihood of their
+taking precautions against problematical dangers.  Unless directly
+threatened by the vessels of adventurers like Hawkins and Drake, they
+might be expected to ply their trade--manage their pearl fisheries,
+work their mines--without great vigilance.  True, they had recently set
+about strengthening their defences; but probably the season of panic
+had passed; it was years since Hawkins had troubled them.  It had
+already been proved what a determined few could do; if he, with
+Turnpenny and the six maroons, could safely reach the mainland, might
+they not bide their time until, Fortune assisting them, they found some
+means of bringing off the prisoners, or at least of striking a blow in
+their cause?  Surely it was better to make the attempt than to rust in
+idleness on the island, waiting on a chance that might perhaps never
+come, and always exposed to the risk of discovery by the Spaniards.
+The more Dennis thought, the more his imagination was captivated by the
+idea, and when he at last returned to the hut he was resolved to broach
+the subject to Turnpenny as soon as he should wake.
+
+As he came to the entrance the sailor's voice hailed him.
+
+"Be that you, sir?"
+
+"Yes.  I could not sleep, and went for a walk on the shore."
+
+"I had but just waked, all of a sweat, and shaking like a leaf."
+
+"Why, what ailed you?"
+
+"A dream, sir.  Do 'ee believe as dreams come true?  My old grandam was
+wont to say they go by contraries; dream of a weddin', she would say,
+sure there would be a funeral.  And she was a wise woman; ay, sure."
+
+"I know not, Amos.  We read in Scripture of dreams that most wondrously
+came true.  'Twas in a dream that Solomon asked of God an understanding
+heart, the which was promised to him with riches, and honour, and
+length of days; and Solomon lived long in the land, and became the
+richest and wisest of kings.  Scripture was written for our
+instruction, Amos, and I would liever believe in Holy Writ than in the
+old wives' tales of a score of grandams.  But what then was your dream?"
+
+"Why, sir, if it be not sin to speak it, I was standing alone in a
+waste place, and on a sudden the voice of Tom Copstone spoke out of the
+air, and said, 'You and me, Haymoss; you and me, my heart!'  And while
+I was wondering in my simple mind what those words might mean, there
+was a thick smoke, and a roar as of thunder, and I stood dazed, and the
+fear came upon me.  And then the smoke lifted, and I saw old Tom with
+'s head all bloody, and Hugh Curder behind him, and behind him again I
+saw you, sir, and Ned Whiddon, and, God a-mercy! my very own self, as I
+ha' seen myself time and again in the glass, but sore battered and
+misused.  And I thought sure 'twas my ghost, and the fear of it woke me
+up, and I rose all panting and trembling, and cried to 'ee, and when
+there was no answer I broke into a sweat, remembering my grandam's
+words."
+
+"Well, 'tis all safe.  I also have had a dream, Amos, and yet I did not
+sleep.  And 'tis to tell you my dream I am here now.  Mayhap it will
+fit yours; God in His mercy send that both yours and mine come true!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The Main
+
+The dawn of day found Dennis and Turnpenny discussing the scheme which
+was born of the night's meditation.  Remembering his bitter experience
+of bondage among the Spaniards, and oppressed by his superstitious fear
+that his dream portended some calamity, the sailor at first refused
+point-blank to consider Dennis's suggestion.  But by and by, when
+Dennis had shown him how light had been his sufferings, after all, by
+comparison with those of his comrades, and had declared his belief that
+the strange coincidence of the dream with his own imaginings was an
+augury of good, Turnpenny's better feelings got the upper hand of his
+timorousness, and he threw himself with ardour into a consideration of
+the project.
+
+As soon as it was light, he asked Dennis to lead him to the very spot
+where the idea had occurred to him.  And there, in the little bay
+beneath the chine, he became the bold-hearted English sailor again.
+
+"My heart! we're a-going to do it," he said.  "See here, sir."  He
+began with the end of a half-pike to mark out a rough plan on the dry
+sand.  "Here be the fort.  Here be the don Captain's new house; the
+foundations were no more than laid when I was hauled away on ship
+board.  Here, at this angle, be the rooms of the guard; in the cellars
+beneath my poor comrades lie and groan o' nights.  In this quarter be
+the pearl-fishers, penned up like cattle when their work is done.  And
+here, under the guns of the fort, be the little harbour, with a quay of
+planking.  Nor'ard, a mile or more, is the fishery, where the black
+knaves have to dive for the baubles, and woe betide 'em if they do not
+bring up enough to please their masters."
+
+"And think you you could pilot us to the place, Amos?"
+
+"I've never a doubt of it.  Twice have I sailed to it in direct course
+from Cartagena, and many's the time I have passed it in the lumber
+ship.  'Tis true I am not so skilled in the landmarks from this side as
+from the side of Cartagena; nathless I be a ninny, not worth the name
+of mariner, an I be not able to lay a course thitherwards without
+losing my bearings."
+
+"What is the country thereabout?"
+
+"Why, sir, for the most flat and forest clad.  Behind the fort there is
+a hill, fairish high.  Once on a time 'twas covered with trees, but a
+great stretch of the forest was of late burned black by a fire; I mind
+it well, for the shape of the black patch is like to a monstrous
+cayman, upwards of a mile long.  'Tis a famous landmark, and clear to
+the eyes a great way off at sea.  Let me but spy that, and I warrant I
+will steer any bark to it on a straight furrow."
+
+"Well, then, Amos, it does seem that with good luck we can make a
+landing somewhere on the coast, and then it shall go hard with us but
+we can, by taking thought, devise some plan whereby we may release your
+comrades from their chains.  But we cannot do it without help from the
+maroons; think you they would be willing to lend us aid?"
+
+"My heart!  Do but promise them a share of the Spaniards' treasure, and
+they will be hot to have at them."
+
+"But the fishery belongs to the Governor of Cartagena, you said.
+Imprimis, we are not pirates; nor indeed is there like to be a great
+hoard of pearls at Porto Aguila, for they will be sent, no doubt, for
+safety to Cartagena."
+
+"Bless your bones, sir, I warrant there be more kept at Porto Aguila
+than be sent to Cartagena.  The Captain, truly, is the Governor's son;
+but every Spaniard is a shark, and would rob his grandam's grave were
+he not afeard of ghosts.  And as for being pirates, when 'tis Spaniards
+in question I would be a pirate without the tenth part of a scruple,
+for 'tis certain the fishery was filched from the Indians; they be the
+Spaniards' jackals."
+
+"Well, let us go to the maroons and put the case to them."
+
+Dennis need have had no doubt as to the men's reception of his
+proposal.  To begin with, they were frankly delighted that the white
+men would accompany them.  They had often talked among themselves about
+the young lord, as they called him, who had led the attack on the
+Spaniards' vessel, and they were agreed that his presence in the canoe
+would serve them as a talisman.  Then, even without the prospect of
+plunder from the Spaniards' treasure-house, they nourished a bitter
+resentment against their old oppressors, and were ready to embrace any
+opportunity of striking a blow at them.
+
+"We are the servants of the young lord," said their spokesman to
+Turnpenny, "we will do whatever he bids."
+
+"Ask them if they know the region."
+
+The reply was in the negative.  None of them had ever been engaged in
+the pearl fishery; most of them hailed from the neighbourhood of Nombre
+de Dios.
+
+"Then our whole dependence is on you, Amos," said Dennis.
+
+"Ay, sir, and it do daunt me somewhat.  In a bark, or a shallop, or
+e'en a longboat, I could have great comfort; but a canow, sir--a mere
+tree-trunk hollowed out, wi' no ribs nor planks, no spars nor other
+gear; 'tis a fearsome and wonderful craft, with a crazy look."
+
+"But the maroons are wont to handle such craft, you told me.  They will
+navigate her; you will but have to cry the course."
+
+"True, sir, but no master mariner that hath any manhood in him will be
+content to govern a craft being ignorant of its true nature.  Yonder
+monkey would be as fit."
+
+"Ah!  We must take Mirandola.  The poor beast would, I verily believe,
+break his poor heart did we leave him here in loneliness again."
+
+"Leave the knave prisoners to bear him company, sir."
+
+"No, no.  Besides that it would be a poor compliment to Mirandola
+himself, it would have some spice of danger for us.  Left to themselves
+in freedom, the men would of a surety signal to any passing ship, the
+which being in all likelihood Spanish, the report of our doings would
+soon be spread abroad through all the coast, and a hue and cry would be
+raised after us.  We must bring them along with us.  Trust me, they
+shall have no chance then of giving the alarm to the enemy, and 'tis
+not unlike, indeed, they may serve us as hostages."
+
+"I fear me they'll be the Jonahs in our marvellous craft."
+
+"An ill comparison, Amos.  Jonah fled from his duty, and by reason of
+his wrongdoing peril came upon the mariners.  The similitude does not
+hold."
+
+"That be a great comfort, sir, in especial for that there be no whales
+as I know on in these waters, but only sharks."
+
+In answer to a question from Turnpenny, the head man of the maroons
+said that the canoe would be ready to take the water within a week.
+But he added that since the young lord had agreed to make the voyage
+with them, they were willing to remain a little longer on the island,
+in order to give careful finishing touches to the craft and ensure its
+thorough seaworthiness.  Dennis thanked them, through the sailor, for
+this mark of consideration, and resolved to use the interval in
+teaching them the use of the caliver.  He could not foresee what might
+ensue upon their landing; they would be at a disadvantage if they had
+no other arms with which to meet the Spaniards than axes and pikes.
+
+Accordingly, he presented each of them with a caliver from the stores
+he had placed in Skeleton Cave, and for a certain portion of each day
+Turnpenny and he instructed them in marksmanship, choosing for their
+practice ground the deepest part of the chine, whence the noise of
+firing was least likely to be heard out at sea.  The first experiments
+were disheartening, and at the same time amusing.  At the kick of the
+cumbrous weapons the men flung them down in alarm, crying out that they
+were possessed with evil spirits.  But their timidity was by degrees
+overcome; and when Dennis, in addition to practising them at fixed
+targets, rigged up a canvas figure which he suspended on two parallel
+ropes across the chine and ran from side to side by means of pulleys,
+they entered with some zest into the sport.  At first the figure made
+many journeys to and fro without receiving a single hit; but within a
+week the marksmanship had improved astonishingly, and there was not a
+man of them but might be trusted to hit a moving object at fairly short
+range.
+
+Meanwhile Amos, not content to trust the navigation of the canoe
+entirely to the maroons and their paddles, had busied himself in
+rigging up a mast with small sails taken out of the _Maid Marian_.
+When he at last pronounced the vessel ready, several kegs of water and
+boxes of biscuits were rolled down to the beach near at hand, and the
+party awaited only a favourable wind to launch their craft.
+
+For some days there had been a dead calm, and when at length a light
+breeze sprang up it blew in shore.  The natives grew impatient, and
+begged to be allowed to proceed with their paddles alone.  But this
+Turnpenny stoutly refused.  With a voyage of thirty or forty miles
+before them it was needful to spare the men as much as possible, lest
+when they reached the mainland they should be worn out, and unfit to
+cope with the labours and perhaps the struggles that awaited them.
+Turnpenny scanned the sky with a seaman's eye, in some fear lest the
+wind when it came should prove too boisterous for this strange craft,
+which he still looked on with distrust.  One morning, however, he
+announced that a fresh breeze had sprung up from the north-west,
+promising to increase in force as the day wore on.  No time was lost.
+The canoe was carried down to the beach and moored in shallow water;
+the stores were lifted aboard; then the two prisoners, pale with
+apprehension, and Baltizar the cook, were conveyed to the vessel on the
+backs of three stalwart maroons, and last of all Dennis and Turnpenny
+prepared to wade out.
+
+During the proceedings at the beach the monkey had remained perched in
+a tree, watching everything with many signs of excitement.  At the last
+moment Dennis turned and called to the animal; but it merely gibbered
+and blinked.
+
+"Come, Mirandola," said Dennis, coaxingly, "we cannot go without you.
+I fear me you feel a declension from your high estate, when you were
+the sole partner of my solitude; but believe me, I still hold you in
+dear affection.  Come then, and let your grave and reverend presence
+dignify this our enterprise."
+
+But the monkey refused to budge, and Dennis remembered the aversion he
+had always shown to the sea.  He walked towards the tree in which the
+animal sat, holding forth his hand, using every blandishment; then,
+when all was of no avail, and Turnpenny called to him from the canoe to
+leave the unnatural creature, he turned and stepped into the water.  He
+had just laid his hand on the side of the canoe, preparing to leap in,
+when he heard a shrill cry, and saw the monkey spring down with amazing
+celerity and run on all fours towards him across the sand, uttering
+sounds of entreaty.  It was as if Mirandola had to the last refused to
+believe that his master was leaving him, and now that he could doubt no
+longer, had overcome his horror of the sea and resolved to brave the
+discomforts of the voyage.  He reached the brink of the water and
+scampered up and down, as though seeking a dry path to the boat.  It
+was impossible to resist his pleading cries.  Dennis returned; the
+monkey with a squeal of delight sprang upon his shoulder; and so
+entered the canoe, a trembling passenger.
+
+The maroons shoved off; Turnpenny ran up his sail; and the craft moved
+into deep water.  For some minutes the natives kept their paddles
+busily employed, until, drawing out of the lee of the island, the
+vessel felt the full force of the breeze and began to scud merrily over
+the rippling sea.
+
+"My heart!" cried Turnpenny, "'tis a wondrous neat little craft.  I was
+wrong; I own it free; and if the wind holds she will make good sailing
+and bring us ere many hours are gone to the coast where we desire to
+be."
+
+"Too soon, if I mistake not," said Dennis.  "It will not be well for us
+to make the shore before dark; we may be spied from the land.  In
+truth, we run a great risk, Amos.  Our sail will not escape the eyes of
+the look-out of any vessel whose track we may chance to cross."
+
+"True, sir, there be risks great and manifold.  But we must e'en hope
+for the best.  The maroons have rare good eyes; and if perchance they
+catch sight of a vessel, I will run down the sail afore they can spy
+us, and we will lie snug until the coast be clear."
+
+After two hours' sailing the coast hove into sight as a long blue bar
+upon the horizon.  At midday Turnpenny lowered the sail, for it was
+clear that at the rate the vessel was going she would run into view
+from the shore long before it would be safe to attempt a landing.
+While the crew were eating their dinner of fruit and biscuits one of
+the men cried out that he saw a sail.  Turnpenny took a long look in
+the direction the man pointed out, Dennis watching his face in keen
+anxiety.
+
+"All's well, sir," said the sailor at length.  "She be coasting along
+towards Cartagena; in an hour she will be clean out of sight, and we're
+so low in the water that no natural eye will see us, the sail being
+down."
+
+They lay gently rocked by the waves until, after a good look round, he
+judged it safe once more to hoist the sail.  An hour afterwards he
+declared that he recognized a headland which was no more than three
+leagues from Porto Aguila.  The vessel's head was pointed direct for
+the land, but the wind dropping somewhat, they were still a long way
+from shore when the sun went down and the swift darkness of the tropics
+descended upon them.
+
+"We dursn't try to land in the dark," growled Turnpenny.  "This craft
+of ours is only fit for fair weather and easy harbourage, and not
+knowing the little crinkles o' the coast, t'ud be nowt but a miracle if
+we 'scaped being stove in."
+
+"But there will be a moon to-night, I think?" replied Dennis.
+
+"True, a little tiny one, like the horn of a cow.  Maybe she will give
+light enough to guide us to a creek.  We must e'en wait for her rising."
+
+They had no means of telling the time, and the maroons grew so restless
+that, while it was still dark, Turnpenny ordered them to paddle
+cautiously along the shore.
+
+"'Tis a creek I be looking for," he said to Dennis, "where we can run
+the canow with a fair chance of hiding it when day breaks."
+
+"How far are we from the fort?"
+
+"I cannot tell.  I fear me I have overshot the mark with being over
+cautious."
+
+"That is impossible, Amos.  At least it is an error on safety's
+side.--Hist! what was that?"
+
+His ears had caught a slight splash at no great distance shorewards.
+
+"Nowt to make 'ee uneasy, sir," replied Turnpenny.  "'Twas without
+doubt a cayman slipping off into deep water; and by the token, 'tis a
+guide for us, for the reptile haunts the banks of rivers, and sure the
+very creek we be looking for will be somewheres anigh here."
+
+The men drove the canoe a little nearer in shore, and in a few minutes
+Turnpenny, who was in the bows peering intently ahead, whispered that
+he did indeed see the opening of a creek.  Soon the canoe entered a
+fairly wide water-way, much obstructed with reeds, and darkened by the
+dense and high vegetation on either bank.  Now and again, through a gap
+in the foliage, the late rising moon shed a wan mysterious light upon
+their course.  As the canoe moved slowly and stealthily up the creek,
+Dennis was conscious of a strange home-sickness.  How many times had he
+rowed by night on little tree-shaded creeks and river-mouths in far-off
+Devon!  The deep shadows, the narrow paths of ghostly light, the
+silence, rendered only the more intense by the incessant croaking of
+frogs, lent a charm to the adventure that almost eclipsed its peril.
+
+The creek made several curves within a short distance, and Turnpenny,
+speaking in a whisper, said that they had now come far enough to escape
+notice from the sea.
+
+"'Tis well, my friend; and now, say: shall we land, or shall we rather
+remain in the canoe for the rest of the night?  I give my voice for
+landing.  We are packed here as close as biscuits, and I would fain
+stretch my limbs, and moreover get a little to windward of some of
+these our companions."
+
+"I warrant the maroons would liever stay in the canow, sir; and I own I
+myself am somewhat chary of landing in the dark.  I know summat o'
+these forest lands, and there be fearsome wild creatures in 'em, the
+like of which you never saw in Maiden Isle yonder.  There be wild hogs,
+of a surety, and monstrous wild cats that climb like monkeys, and see
+in the dark, and will pounce on a man and carry him off afore he can
+twink an eyelid.  And as for these our bedfellows, my heart! there be
+worse ashore--muskeeties, and sandflies, and ants in armies, that crawl
+aneath your clothes, and nip your arms and neck, and make themselves
+most pestilent ill neighbours.  And we cannot light a fire to scare
+them away, for savage as they be, whether four foot or six foot, they
+be gentle and mild by comparison with the two-footed enemies the fire
+would bring on our tracks."
+
+"We will lie by till morning, then, and pray the night be not
+disturbed."
+
+The maroons were unmistakably glad when this decision was communicated
+to them.  To their minds the mere darkness was awful, and when to this
+were added the manifold dangers of the forest, they would rather have
+faced an army of Spaniards than camp unprotected among the trees.
+
+The party spent a restless, uncomfortable night in their cramped
+quarters.  Yet in his wakeful moments Dennis found some pleasure in
+watching the fire-flies darting hither and thither on the shore, and in
+listening to the continuous drone of insects, that seemed to his ears a
+pleasant lullaby.  Once a goat-sucker clattered heavily past, uttering
+its weird cry; now and again he was amused by the question, "Who are
+you?" shouted from the trees, and recognized it as the cry of some
+nameless bird.  As morning drew on, these sounds were replaced by
+others.  Macaws screeched from the tree-tops, toucans barked like
+puppies, tree-frogs whistled and boomed, and at intervals the whole
+neighbourhood reverberated with long howls which Turnpenny said were
+the morning song of red howler monkeys.  As morning began to dawn, and
+these signs of forest life multiplied, Dennis noticed that Mirandola
+was becoming much excited; and when the canoe was run ashore under a
+towering mora tree, the monkey sprang nimbly to land, chattering with
+delight, and in an instant was springing up into the foliage.
+
+"Poor knave!" said Dennis.  "It seems we have brought him home, Amos.
+Would that we too were restored, whole and happy, to our friends!"
+
+"God-a-mercy, do 'ee forget Hugh Curder, and Tom Copstone, and Ned
+Whiddon, poor souls?  Do 'ee have more respect for the feelings of a
+heathen monkey?"
+
+"Nay, nay, you mistake me," said Dennis, smiling at the sailor's honest
+indignation.  "I do not forget them.  By God's mercy we are here in
+safety, and ere long I hope to have all your friends to join our little
+company.  Now, master mariner, what is to be our course?"
+
+"Why, sir, we must first go and spy out the land."
+
+"Through the forest?  How shall we find our way?"
+
+"Imprimis, this creek runs eastward of the bluff I steered by.
+Wherefore 'tis our first business to lay our course westward and cut
+off that headland, as you might say."
+
+"But can you be sure of setting your course aright?"
+
+"There's the sun above us, and we may catch a glimpse of him here and
+there among the trees.  And 'tis certain we shall encounter brooks
+wandering like lost children in the forest; only though they do seem
+lost, we know, being men, and in our right minds, that they be running
+all the while to the sea.  By this and by that we'll come at the place
+we steer for."
+
+"And who shall go on this inland voyage of discovery?"
+
+"Why, you and me, sir.  God-a-mercy, the very words of my dream!  'You
+and me, Haymoss, you and me!'  'Tis a good sign, for sure.  The maroons
+shall lie hid in the creek, and keep ward over the prisoners."
+
+"But can we trust them?  Will they not, having arrived on the mainland,
+act after their own devices and depart?"
+
+"'Tis a risk, in truth; but I will speak to them with all gravity, and
+bring to their mind the Spaniards' treasure, and the stripes they
+suffered in bondage.  We will see if there be faith in their black
+blood."
+
+After a conversation with the maroons, Turnpenny announced that they
+had agreed to remain in the creek until nightfall.  If the white men
+had not returned then, they would hold themselves free to act as they
+pleased.  Then Dennis and the sailor set off on their scouting
+expedition.
+
+At the edge of the forest the trees grew fairly wide apart, and the
+canopy above admitted a few rays which lay as bright spots on the floor
+of dead leaves.  But as the two adventurers proceeded the forest became
+thicker and thicker, until they walked in a dim twilight.  Well covered
+with vegetation as Maiden Isle had been, Dennis had never imagined
+anything like the dense woodland through which he was now slowly making
+his way.  It steamed with moisture; the din of early morning had given
+place to a mysterious stillness; birds and animals were quiet or
+asleep; and if the silence was broken at rare moments by the long howl
+of a monkey, the melancholy sound did but enhance the impression of
+utter solitude.  Turnpenny led the way with great wariness; his former
+experiences of forest life warned him of dangers that might lie in
+wait--a slumbering jaguar which their footfall might disturb, a snake
+so cunningly marked that it was indistinguishable from the tree about
+which it was coiled.  Several times he halted, in doubt of his
+bearings.  Once, when he confessed himself beaten, he climbed with a
+mariner's agility a towering trunk, and declared when he descended that
+from its top he had caught a glimpse of the open sea and so learnt the
+general direction in which to go.
+
+They came at length to a narrow open space, where apparently trees had
+been felled at no very distant date.  Turnpenny was pointing out a
+hairy sloth hanging under a branch like a nest of termites, when Dennis
+touched him on the arm and bade him look across the glade.
+
+"What is it?" he whispered.
+
+"Methinks the figure of a man, moving among the trees."
+
+Though he had spoken under his breath, it almost seemed that his words
+had been overheard, for the figure halted, then instantly turned
+sideways and vanished from their sight.
+
+"We must after him," said Turnpenny.
+
+"Ay, and catch him, or there is an end to our venture and us.  He is
+alone, for he made no sound, and if he had companions near by he would
+surely have summoned them."
+
+Without further pause Dennis ran across the glade, and plunged into the
+forest on the other side, taking the southerly direction in which he
+had seen the figure disappear.  He had not gone far before he heard the
+rustle and crash of some one forcing his way through the undergrowth;
+clearly the fugitive was not a good runner, or he would have been out
+of earshot before this.  Dennis quickened his step, guided always by
+the sound, ever increasing in loudness.  At length he again caught a
+glimpse of the man, labouring ahead; he gained on him, and was within a
+few yards when the runaway suddenly turned, and Dennis halted and
+swerved aside just in time to evade a spear hurled straight at him.  It
+whizzed through the air, flew harmlessly by, and struck with a twang a
+tree trunk, where it hung quivering.
+
+Next moment Dennis sprang forward and closed with the man.  He had no
+time to take note of him, save that he was more than common tall.  But
+it struck him with surprise that he met with no real resistance.  The
+man staggered under the impact; the two rolled on the leaf-strewn
+ground; and in an instant Dennis was uppermost.  He scarcely needed the
+Devonian trick of wrestling to maintain his advantage; his opponent was
+already spent.  Holding him down, Dennis raised himself at arm's length
+to recover breath and take stock of the fugitive.  He was struck by the
+glare of inextinguishable hate in the man's haggard eyes.  Helpless as
+he was, there was no yielding in his mien; it was weakness, not fear or
+cowardice, that had made him such an easy captive.
+
+In a few moments Turnpenny came up breathless.  Seeing that Dennis held
+the man firmly down, he did not offer to assist, but halted and threw a
+keen glance at the prisoner.
+
+"God-a-mercy!" he exclaimed, suddenly.  "'You and me, Haymoss!'  'Tis
+the dream come true.  'Tis Tom Copstone, 'tis very Tom!  Sir, let him
+up; 'tis my dear comrade, my messmate in the _Jesus_.  Oh, Tom, what a
+piece of work is this!"
+
+Dennis was amazed at the alteration in the man's expression.  The
+fierce blaze of his blood-shot eyes was quenched in a mist of tears.
+
+"Haymoss! dear Haymoss!" he murmured, and seemed like to swoon away.
+
+Turnpenny was by this on his knees beside his old comrade.
+
+"Oh, Tom, to see thee in this sorry plight!" he exclaimed, pitifully.
+
+He raised the prostrate figure.  Copstone did indeed present a sorry
+spectacle.  His clothes were completely in tatters, he was emaciated
+almost to a skeleton; his hair and beard hung long, straggling and
+matted.
+
+"Tell me, Tom, me and this true friend, what has brought 'ee to this
+fearsome pass."
+
+"I ran away; 'tis three months since.  Three, I say, but I cannot tell;
+maybe 'tis four or five.  I ran away from those devils; 'twas more than
+flesh and blood could endure."
+
+"But whither, whither, Tom?"
+
+"I had hope to fall in with a friendly folk--maroons or Indians; for
+such hate the Spaniards, and whoso hates the Spaniards must be a friend
+to me.  But I found none, and I had perforce to take to the forest, and
+here I made shift to keep body and soul together with the fruits of the
+earth.  Then I was stricken with the forest fever, and lay for nights
+and days shivering and burning by turns."
+
+"Take time, dear Tom," said Turnpenny, noticing the other's gasps.  "We
+be true friends."
+
+"And here is wine from my store," said Dennis, producing a flask.  "It
+will refresh you."
+
+The man drank gratefully.
+
+"And I marvel," added Turnpenny, "that 'ee be still alive in this
+fearsome place of wild beasts.  Verily the Almighty has kept a guard
+over you, even as He defended Daniel in the den of lions."
+
+"'Tis true; yet I did what I could for myself.  Come and see."
+
+He led them through the forest, winding in and out among the trees in a
+manner that seemed to the others nothing short of marvellous, until he
+came to a great trunk in which there were notches cut, from a point
+near the base to the lowest branch.  By these notches he climbed up,
+Dennis and Turnpenny following in turn.  The steps ceased when the
+bough was reached; then he ascended some twenty feet through foliage
+until he arrived at a little hut, formed of branches cunningly
+intertwined, with a roofing of thatch.
+
+"My heart, 'tis a pleasant and delectable mansion!" said Turnpenny,
+looking admiringly at the leafy structure.  "And did 'ee fashion it
+with your own hands, Tom?"
+
+"No," replied the man, with a smile.  "Here I found it, as it is.  It
+was made, I doubt not, by Indians, in the time before the Spaniards set
+foot on these shores.  'Twas here I lay when the fever was heavy upon
+me, and I thought to die.  Oh! how good it is to see your face,
+Haymoss; but what brings 'ee, old friend, to this dreadful place, and
+how got you free from the hands of the oppressor?"
+
+"'Twas the deed of this gentleman, a man of Devon, Tom, that was cast
+on an island yonder in the Main, and by wit and courage loosed me from
+bondage."
+
+He told the whole story, to the great wonderment of his friend.
+
+"And now we be here to help Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder and others of
+our messmates in the fort," he said, in conclusion.  "By God's mercy we
+will snatch them, too, from the house of bondage, and make them free
+men once more."
+
+"Ay, and I will help.  The sight of 'ee has done me a world of good;
+the Lord has put a new song in my mouth.  I will lead you.  I know this
+forest in and out, Haymoss, for though I be by rights but a simple
+mariner, I am made now into a woodsman.  For why?  'Cos otherwise I
+should have been a dead man.  The spear I threw but now,--God be
+praised it failed of its mark, sir! and I bethink me 'tis still
+sticking in the tree--has served me in good stead many a time and oft.
+'Twas the only thing I brought away with me, and without it long ere
+this the birds would ha' picked my bones."
+
+"Think 'ee thou'rt strong enough to lead us to the fort, Tom?" asked
+Turnpenny.
+
+"Ay, sure, and 'tis a good time, i' the heat o' the day, when the
+Spaniards be mostly asleep.  We'll e'en go at once.  What be the name
+of this true friend?"
+
+"'Tis Master Dennis Hazelrig, Tom, and a' come from Shaston, and has
+changed a word with Master Drake."
+
+"Ah, Master Drake be a rare fine man and mariner.  I warrant he hath
+not forgot the base dealings o' the knaves at St. John d'Ulua, and in
+my bondage I looked for the day when he should come with a mighty power
+and do unto them what they had done to us, and more also.  But I could
+not wait, Haymoss, I could not wait; and now we be met, and Master
+Hazelrig, and you and me, Haymoss----"
+
+"My heart, the very words of my dream!  Ay, Tom, you and me and Master
+Hazelrig, we three, will do what men may do to succour Hugh Curder and
+Ned Whiddon, and other our dear comrades in distress."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Beneath the Walls
+
+Tom Copstone leading, the party of three swiftly made their way through
+the woodland.  Their mark was the south-western angle of the fort; that
+was the quarter, said Copstone, whence it might be most safely
+reconnoitred.  The ground rose gradually as they proceeded, and after
+walking for what must have been several miles they came upon a large
+open space which had evidently been cleared by fire.
+
+"'Tis the black cayman on the hill above the fort," whispered Turnpenny
+to Dennis.  "You mind, sir?"
+
+"Ay, the landmark of which you made mention."
+
+Skirting the upper side of the clearing for a few hundred yards, being
+careful to remain slightly within the edge of the forest, they arrived
+at a spot where, while themselves concealed, they had an uninterrupted
+view of the country before them.  There was a thin belt of woodland
+beyond the clearing, but the hill then dipped somewhat steeply, and
+through this dip they saw the fort which held so many bitter memories
+for the sailors, and the sea stretching out beneath it, a vast
+shimmering plain.
+
+"'Tis bigger than I deemed likely," said Dennis, "the garrison being
+but fifty, if I remember right."
+
+"True, sir," said Copstone, "there be but fifty Spaniards, but there be
+Indians and maroons within the walls as well, the slaves and
+pearl-fishers to wit.  Aforetime, as I have heard tell, the fishers
+lived in huts around; but about six year ago a French vessel bore
+suddenly down upon the place.  The Spaniards, some twenty or thirty
+then, had no warning, and the Frenchmen had an easy job to carry off
+all the treasure that the captain had stored up, and in the tumult a
+great part of the fishers made off and were never seen more.
+Thereafter the Governor of Cartagena gave command that the fort should
+be strengthened and the workers lodged within: you can see the huts
+ranged along inside by the wall."
+
+"'Twas shutting the door after the steed was stolen," said Dennis, with
+a smile.  "Now let me print the lines of the settlement upon my memory."
+
+The fort was a rough square in shape, with a round tower at each
+corner.  In the centre of the enclosure was a long low house, with a
+veranda, which Copstone explained was the Commandant's new house, but
+lately finished.  Close by was a smaller house, occupied by the captain
+of the garrison, and beyond this a row of still smaller buildings,
+devoted to the Spanish troops.  From their elevated position they could
+see that on the eastern side the fort was bounded by a stream which
+appeared to wash the wall; but Copstone said that between the wall and
+the stream was a level walk, about twelve feet wide, where the officers
+were accustomed to promenade in the cool of the evening.  The one gate
+of the fort was cut in the eastern wall, and it led immediately to a
+narrow pier running into the river, where the vessels were loaded and
+unloaded.  Between the pier and the mouth of the stream a small
+two-masted bark now lay at anchor; there was safe harbourage, and this
+vessel probably awaited its cargo of pearls to be conveyed to
+Cartagena, having brought provisions thence.
+
+The northern wall, Copstone said, was built on a rocky cliff about
+thirty feet high, washed at high tide by the sea, which swept round the
+north-eastern angle, and formed, with a series of broken rocks and
+boulders, an effective defence to a great part of the western wall.
+The southern face of the fort was hidden from the spectators by the
+intervening trees, but between it and this belt of woodland was an open
+space some two hundred and fifty yards wide, cleared with the object of
+depriving possible assailants of cover.  About a mile to the right was
+the scene of the pearl-fishing, and the fishers were at that moment to
+be seen at work, diving from canoes, in each of which, said Copstone,
+were two Spaniards fully armed.
+
+"And where be our dear comrades, Torn?" asked Turnpenny.  "In my time
+they were lodged in underground dungeons hewn out of the rock beneath
+the south-east tower yonder."
+
+"And there they be still, poor souls," said Copstone.  "Ah! many's the
+hour I've spent in the selfsame dungeons, groaning with the pain of the
+stripes made by their whips on my bare back."
+
+"And 'twas thence 'ee fled, Tom?  I marvel how 'ee broke out o' that
+strong-fast place."
+
+"Nay, never a soul has broken out of they dungeons.  It was in this
+wise with me.  One day a fearsome storm blew up without a minute's
+warning.  The harbour yonder, that is wont to be safe, was a seething
+whirlpool then, and a bark that lay beside the pier, laden with a
+treasure of pearls in readiness for the voyage, was dashed hither and
+thither by the fury of the waves until she was like to be battered into
+splinters.  There was a cry for all hands to save her, and we were
+driven out of the gate to do what we could.  The sky was black as
+pitch, though 'twas an hour or two from sunset; and in the midst of
+that coil, covered by the darkness, I dropped down over the embankment
+wall, clinging on with my hands, and so worked myself along till I came
+to the extremity of the walk, fearing every moment lest a wave should
+come and sweep me away.  But by the mercy of God I came safe to the end
+of the walk, where the round tower juts out--you mind, Haymoss?--its
+foundations being struck into jagged rocks, with many a cleft in
+between.  There I refuged myself till the night came, beat upon by the
+waves till the breath was well-nigh battered out of my body.  But
+there, a drenched mortal, I clung until the tempest fell to a calm, and
+in the darkness I got me away to the woods."
+
+"My heart! 'twas a deed of daring and peril," said Turnpenny.  "But
+list!  What be adoing down yonder?"
+
+The silence below was suddenly broken by the ringing sound of picks.
+Men were apparently at work on the face of the fort nearest the
+observers.  The labourers were out of sight, and Copstone confessed
+himself unable to guess what their task might be.  The fort seemed
+complete; for a month before Copstone's escape the work had indeed been
+hurried on in response to urgent orders from Cartagena, where the
+Governor desired more men to assist in his own defences.  His commands
+resulted in the prisoners being treated with increased brutality, and
+Copstone said that it was a stock joke with the Spanish garrison that
+by the time they had done with the captives at Porto Aguila there would
+be little work left in them.
+
+For an hour or more the three men stood scanning the fort and its
+surroundings, until Dennis felt that every detail was firmly graven
+upon his mind.  Then, as they had a long journey back to the boat, and
+it was desirable that they should reach their companions before the
+fall of night, they set off to return to the creek.  Copstone knew it
+well; under his guidance the others took a short cut through the
+forest, that saved them, he said, more than a mile, and the short
+tropical twilight had only just begun when they arrived at the canoe.
+The maroons had not been disturbed during their absence.  One of the
+Spaniards, who recognized the creek, had tried to persuade the natives
+to set them at liberty, promising them a rich reward.  But they had no
+faith in him or any of his race, and their answer was to make his bonds
+more secure.
+
+Knowing that they were several leagues from the fort, with a long
+wooded hill between them, the sailors agreed that it would be safe to
+kindle a fire on shore, beside which they might camp for the night
+without molestation by insects.  But they had little sleep.  The three
+sat long over the fire, Copstone relating incidents in his prison life
+that made the blood of his hearers boil with rage and indignation.
+With the good food given him from the stock they had brought, and the
+companionship of his countrymen, he had already become a very different
+being from the famished solitary creature they had met in the forest;
+and when, fired with passionate hatred of the Spanish oppressors and
+with pity for their hapless prisoners, Dennis and Turnpenny vowed that
+they would go through with their enterprise, no matter at what cost,
+Copstone declared himself heart and soul with them, and only longed for
+the moment of action to come.
+
+But it was not enough to be full of zeal.  The greatest courage and
+determination would not suffice alone to achieve their object.
+
+"We are but ten against fifty," said Dennis, "and one of the ten a fat
+negro whom the sight of a bare blade would cause to shake like a jelly."
+
+"Leave him out, sir," said Turnpenny.  "He would squeal like a stuck
+pig if his finger were pinched."
+
+"There are but nine of us, then, and what can nine do against fifty?"
+
+"If all the nine were men of Devon like Tom Copstone and me," said
+Turnpenny, "we would face fifty don Spaniards and beat 'em too.  But
+you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as the saying is, and
+you can't turn a negro or maroon into a true fighting man that will
+never say die.  Men of their sort cannot play a losing game, though
+they be full of courage if things go well with them."
+
+"I fear me even nine men of Devon could not fight a pitched battle
+against five times their number, whether Spaniards or other.  But 'tis
+not my purpose to approach the walls with a trumpet and deliver a
+defiance.  Our only chance is by surprising the fort in the darkness,
+and so taking them at a disadvantage.  How stands it then, Amos?"
+
+"Why, sir, it stands clean topsy-versy, which is to say it is by no
+means possible.  The walls, as you did yourself see, be too high to
+leap over, and the gate be shut and bolted and barricadoed by night."
+
+"But is it watched?"
+
+"That I know not.  Do 'ee know, Tom?"
+
+"Nay; afore dark all the prisoners be thrust into the dungeons, and
+kept fast in ward until morning light."
+
+"And do they set a guard over the dungeons?"
+
+"Not as I know, sir.  What would be the good?  The doors be strong and
+clamped with iron; the guard house be just above; and we was all so
+worn with toil and so sick at heart that nary one of us ever had the
+spirit to attempt a sally.  When they had us fast in the dungeons,
+there they might leave us, with never a fear but we would be safe
+bound."
+
+"Methinks that same security would forbid them to keep a watch
+seawards.  The sea washes the north side of the fort, you said?"
+
+"Ay, sir, and even at high tide there is no draught for a vessel of
+more than twenty tons burden, so they need fear no attack thence.
+True, they might keep a watch on the harbour when a vessel lies there;
+but 'tis years since any enemy has appeared, and with the dons 'tis out
+of sight, out of mind, I trow."
+
+"Well, does not that favour us?  Grant we cannot scale the walls, nor
+force the gate, we may still approach the fort from the sea by night,
+without risk of being discovered, and that is the very thing that we
+must do.  This night is too far spent for us to make any attempt in
+that quarter.  We must possess our souls in patience for yet another
+day, and truly that is not amiss, for it will give us leisure to spy
+once more upon the fort.  Think you 'tis possible to come where we may
+view the north side?"
+
+"There is but one way; to make a circuit as we lately did, and go
+further through the woods, and creep down at dusk to the rocks, when
+the work for the day is over and we are not like to be seen by the
+Spaniards who keep ward over the fishers."
+
+"That is what we will do, then.  And now, since we know not what the
+day may bring forth to try our strength, let us get what sleep we can,
+and so fortify ourselves."
+
+But for many hours Dennis lay awake, thinking over the next day's
+doings.  Up with the dawn, he set the maroons to cut from the trees a
+number of light tough poles, and these Copstone and Turnpenny, with
+seamen's skill, quickly fashioned into a rough but serviceable ladder.
+It was made to taper from bottom to top in three sections, the first
+seven feet long, the second five feet, and the last, four.  The first
+and second were lashed together with some spare rope brought in the
+canoe, but the supply gave out when this was done, and Dennis was at a
+loss for material to fasten the second and third sections together.
+The headman of the maroons speedily made good the deficiency.  Going
+into the forest, he soon returned with long pliable tendrils of a
+creeper called bejuca that grew plentifully among the undergrowth, and
+these, when cut into short lengths, formed lashings as strong as could
+be desired.
+
+The greater part of the morning was spent in constructing and testing
+the ladder.  After the midday meal Dennis and the sailors again made
+their way through the forest to their former place of espial, waited
+until they saw the canoes return with the pearl fishers, and then, in
+the late afternoon, crept down the hillside westward of the fort until
+they came to the rocks on the shore.  From their new position they were
+able to glance along the northern wall of the fort.  The tide was on
+the turn, and it was clear from the masses of seaweed and the waterworn
+appearance of the rocks on which the wall was built that at high water
+the base of the escarpment would be washed by the waves, as Copstone
+had said.  Having formed a careful mental picture of the place, Dennis
+gave the word for return, and they reached their camping ground just
+before dark, as on the previous evening.
+
+Arrangements were at once made for their expedition.  Turnpenny
+estimated that the distance by water from the mouth of the creek to the
+fort was about ten miles.  It was desirable to start early if the
+paddlers were not to be overtired when the serious work of the night
+began.  Dennis was in some doubt what to do with the prisoners, but
+after consultation with the sailors he decided to leave them behind in
+the charge of the cook and one of the maroons.  He deplored the
+necessity of thus diminishing his little party, but it was clearly
+impossible to trust the guardianship of the prisoners to Baltizar
+alone.  That flabby and chicken-hearted negro was desperately afraid of
+being left.  He feared the prisoners, although they were securely
+pinioned; still more he feared the wild beasts of the forest.
+Turnpenny "gave him a piece of his mind," as he said, and his language
+was none the less forcible because he eked out his scanty vocabulary of
+Spanish with racy expressions in his own vernacular.  He called
+Baltizar a slack-twisted nollypate, a wambling dumbledore, an
+ell-and-a-half of moidered dough, mingling with his expletives an
+instruction to keep up the fire if he wished to scare the beasts away,
+and a warning that the Spaniards, if they were allowed to escape, would
+certainly kill him first.  And to guard against the danger that the
+prisoners might work upon his fears and persuade him to loose their
+bonds, the maroon chosen to remain with him was told, in his hearing,
+that if he had any conversation with the two men he was instantly to be
+knocked on the head.  Watching the negro's expression, Dennis felt
+pretty sure that he would prove a most zealous jailor.
+
+The night was still young, the moon had not yet risen, when the canoe
+floated silently seawards down the creek.  The little party of three
+white men and five maroons was not hilarious; every man knew that he
+had taken his life in his hands.  But neither were they down-hearted,
+for seven of them had the recollection of a night adventure which had
+wonderfully succeeded against great odds; and though the odds this time
+were immeasurably in favour of the enemy, and the task was infinitely
+more difficult, the very magnitude of what they had set themselves to
+do fired them with eagerness and hope.
+
+The sections of the ladder had been unlashed, and were safely bestowed,
+with the rope and the tendrils, in the sides of the canoe.  In his
+ignorance of the coast, Dennis ordered the paddlers to put some
+distance out to sea before heading the canoe westward, so as to avoid
+any rocks or shoals that might lie in wait for the frail craft.  The
+wind was north-east, and as there was only the faint illumination of
+the stars, the sail was run up during the first part of the voyage.
+But when they rounded the headland that lay between the creek and the
+fort, Turnpenny took in the sail, lest by some unlucky chance it should
+be observed from the shore, and bade the maroons paddle slowly, for
+they wished to arrive at the fort when the tide was high, a little
+before dawn.
+
+Slowly as they paddled, however, the fort loomed up on the shore a good
+hour before they had intended to draw in.  None of the party had any
+means of telling the time; but Turnpenny, experienced in reading the
+heavens on many a silent night on the deep, guessed it pretty
+accurately by the horn of the moon just peering above the horizon.  To
+delay their arrival a little, Dennis ordered the men to rest on their
+oars, and for an hour the canoe rocked gently on the swelling tide.
+The pause would have been even longer had not Dennis perceived that the
+inaction bred a certain nervous restlessness in the maroons--an ill
+mood in which to face the coming ordeal.
+
+At last, shortly after four in the morning, the nose of the canoe was
+turned towards the fort, and the vessel crept in dead silence towards
+the line of white foam that showed where the tide was lapping the wall.
+It was still half a musket-shot distant when its progress was arrested
+with a suddenness that threw the paddlers heavily forward.  Recovering
+themselves, they backed water lustily, but without avail; the canoe was
+fast on a rock.  Instantly three of the men slipped gently overboard to
+lighten the vessel, kicking their legs busily to ward off any ground
+sharks that might be adventuring in the neighbourhood.  In a few
+moments the canoe slid off the rock, the men clambered back to their
+places, and the paddling was resumed.  But it was soon discovered that
+the shock had torn a hole in the vessel's side; she was filling fast;
+and by the time she came beneath the wall of the fort she was wellnigh
+waterlogged.  Not a man of the party ventured to speak a word; but from
+the glances they gave one another it was clear that they realized what
+the accident meant for them.  Nothing but complete success could now
+save them, for if the attempt on the fort failed, it would certainly be
+impossible to escape on this leaking vessel, and they must fall an easy
+prey to their enemies.
+
+One after another they quietly left the canoe, carrying the climbing
+apparatus, and their calivers and ammunition, which had fortunately
+lain on the raised stern of the vessel and had escaped a wetting.  They
+found themselves on the rocks, in two or three feet of water.
+Turnpenny and Copstone gave their weapons into the charge of two of the
+maroons while they carefully lashed the two longer sections of the
+ladder together.  Meanwhile Dennis was scanning the wall above him with
+the object of finding a suitable spot against which to plant the
+ladder.  In spite of Copstone's belief that the fort was not
+sentinelled, Dennis had taken the precaution to land a little to the
+west of the tower at the angle, thinking that the sentry, if one were
+posted there, would probably be taking shelter under the eastern
+parapet.  But so far as he could see in the dim light the line of the
+wall was unbroken.
+
+At the top, however, a battlement slightly overhung it.  To Dennis,
+gazing up, this battlement seemed terribly far off, and his heart sank
+as he felt that the ladder would certainly not be long enough.  But it
+was possible that the apparent height was deceptive; at any rate the
+attempt must be made.  Accordingly, Turnpenny and Copstone, as he had
+previously arranged with them, planted the ladder beneath the wall
+while he mounted.  The first steps were easy, but when he came near the
+top he was seized with a momentary dizziness and had to pause before he
+ventured to take another upward step.  He climbed very slowly: he was
+now close against the wall, with nothing to cling to, and he maintained
+his balance only by pressing forward until he was almost flat against
+the smooth surface.  He reached the last rung; it was impossible to
+ascend another inch; and the top of the wall was still, it appeared, at
+least twelve feet above him.  Even if the third section of the ladder
+was added, the coping would be still utterly beyond his reach.
+
+It was a position in which many a bold fellow might have despaired,
+and, for a little, Dennis did feel dismay and a touch of compunction
+for having brought the men below into what appeared to be a hopeless
+case.  But it is such moments as these that prove the grit of a man's
+character.  Dennis was no weakling; and as he stood and leant against
+that wall, shrouded by the night, he set his teeth and vowed that by
+hook or crook he would ere long be upon the other side.
+
+He looked up and around, to see if there were any notches or seams by
+means of which he could scale the wall.  The moon was creeping round
+the sky, and now threw a little more light on the scene.  Letting his
+eye travel slowly over every foot of the surface from left to right, he
+suddenly caught sight of what seemed to be a hole in the wall, some
+distance to his right, several feet above him, and a yard or so below
+the parapet.  It flashed upon him that this must be a gun embrasure;
+was it possible, he wondered, to make his way in by that?  Carefully
+descending the ladder, he told the sailors in a whisper what he
+proposed; they quickly lashed on the last section, and shifted the
+ladder until it stood immediately below the dark patch which at this
+distance the embrasure appeared to be.  Then Dennis mounted again.
+
+Once more he was disappointed.  At the imminent risk of falling
+backwards he crept up to the highest point, but even then he found he
+could but just touch the lower edge of the hole.  He had not sufficient
+grip on the smooth sill of it to pull himself up: he could not raise
+himself high enough to peep through.  He wondered whether Copstone, who
+stood nearly a head taller, would have better success; but remembering
+the man's privations he thought it scarcely possible that he would have
+nerve enough to mount on this frail ladder, which bent dangerously
+beneath his weight now that the last section was added, without
+becoming dizzy and toppling down.  Was there any conceivable manner in
+which the ladder could be still further lengthened?
+
+Down he crept again and held another whispered consultation with the
+two men.  At first neither was able to make a suggestion.  They stood
+looking at one another in perplexity.  Then suddenly Turnpenny,
+forgetting himself in his excitement, uttered an exclamation in a tone
+which sent a shiver down Dennis's back.
+
+"Hush, man!" said Dennis in a warning whisper.  "What is it?"
+
+"Ah, I must talk gentle," said Turnpenny.  "Of a sudden I thought of
+muscles and sinews, and the power of a strong back.  Me and the headman
+of the maroons--not so strong as me, to be sure, but yet with mighty
+shoulders of his own--me and him betwixt us can raise the ladder aloft,
+and hold it firm while you mount, and then without doubt you'll be high
+enough to peep through the port-hole and see all that may be seen."
+
+"Art sure you can do it, Amos?" asked Dennis, eagerly.
+
+"Why, sir, look at this!" he returned, bending his arm until the muscle
+showed like a globe of iron.
+
+Without more ado, Turnpenny and the maroon hoisted the ladder, and, one
+on either side of it, supported it with their shoulders.  Then Dennis
+climbed on to Copstone's back, thence to the ladder, and began the
+ascent.  The ladder was more tremulous than ever, and Dennis felt a
+flutter at the heart as he came nearer and nearer to the top.  But the
+stalwarts below did not yield an inch, and Dennis crawled up and up
+until at length his head came to the level of the embrasure, and with
+one more step he found himself able to rest his arms in it.  To his joy
+the embrasure was empty: the gun had evidently been withdrawn; and
+taking this as a good omen--surely it indicated great security on the
+part of the garrison!--he hoisted himself up and wriggled into the
+aperture.  Then, breathless, with a hurrying pulse, he crouched to
+consider his next move.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Taking of Fort Aguila
+
+During the morning, while the ladder was being made, Dennis had talked
+over with the sailors the plan of action he proposed to adopt should
+they succeed in entering the fort undetected.  The first thing was to
+silence the sentry, if sentry there was.  It was quite clear, from the
+fact of having been undisturbed hitherto, that no careful look-out was
+kept; but Dennis did not forget Copstone's suggestion that a sentry
+might be napping behind the parapet, and it must be his first business
+to assure himself on this point before giving the signal for his
+companions to make the ascent.
+
+He crouched motionless in the embrasure, listening.  It had been
+pierced for only a short gun--a minion or falconet perhaps; and
+doubtless within three feet of him was a stone walk extending for the
+whole length of the wall.  All was still; there was not a sound to show
+that, within the enclosure, a hundred human beings were crowded,
+masters and slaves.  But looking through the embrasure Dennis saw a few
+lights twinkling in the centre of the fort, and he guessed that some at
+least of the enemy were awake.  However great their security, it had
+seemed incredible to him that the place should be left wholly
+unguarded, even if only to provide against turbulence on the part of
+the slaves.
+
+After a few moments Dennis ventured to crawl towards the inner end of
+the embrasure, where he might get a view of the whole enclosure.  The
+thin light of the moon fell on the brightly painted walls of the
+commandant's house in the centre; there was no light in the windows; no
+doubt the se�or capitan was fast asleep.  But a beam of light came from
+a building somewhat to the right; this was presumably the officers'
+quarters.  The huts along the western wall, in which the slaves slept,
+were all in darkness.  On the farther side of the enclosure, in the
+round tower beneath which the prisoners were confined, another light
+shone forth; somebody was awake there.  But not a sound stirred the
+heavy moist air of the tropical night.  If there were sentries upon the
+walls, they were certainly not pacing up and down.
+
+Waiting another minute or two, Dennis ventured to peep round the corner
+of the embrasure.  He could scan the whole length of the walk from
+tower to tower; no sentry was in sight, but he saw the gun below him a
+little to his right.  Taking courage from the silence, he slipped out
+of the hole, and groped his way on bare feet toward the tower at the
+north-east angle.  Every now and again he paused to listen, and at
+last, when he came within a few yards of the tower, he heard a sound of
+deep regular breathing hard by.  Evidently some one was asleep.  He
+stole along by the parapet in the deep shadow cast by the moon, until
+he saw, huddled in the corner between the tower and the wall, the form
+of a man.  He halted to consider.  Should he go forward and pounce on
+the sentry, risking the sound of a struggle if he attempted to gag him,
+or a cry if he struck at him with his sword and failed to kill him
+outright?  It went against the grain to slay a sleeping man, and the
+sentry was apparently so fast asleep that it seemed possible for the
+rest of the party to climb up without disturbing him.
+
+But there might be a sentry at the other end.  Leaving the man in
+peace, Dennis stole back again, went on hands and knees where the gun
+necessitated his coming for a moment into the moonlight, then rose and
+groped his way along beneath the parapet as before.  There was no
+sentinel, asleep or awake, in this direction.  With more confidence now
+in the chances of a safe ascent he returned once more to the embrasure,
+and, taking from his pocket a thin piece of creeper, he paid this out
+through the aperture.  He soon felt a slight tug from below.  He waited
+until he felt a second tug, then gently pulled the creeper towards him.
+To the end of it a stout line was attached--a part of his salvage from
+the wreck of the _Maid Marian_.  This he quickly secured to the heavy
+gun, and having strained on the rope to convince himself that the
+fastening would hold, he gave the signal by another tug to his comrades
+below.
+
+Then he crawled into the embrasure, and, leaning out, saw Amos swarming
+with a seaman's nimbleness up the rope.  Giving him a hand when he came
+within reach, Dennis helped to haul him into the embrasure.
+
+"What about the calivers?" he whispered, for the sailor had come up
+unarmed, lest a clank of steel against the wall should attract
+attention.
+
+"We've tied 'em up in our shirts, sir.  Haul on the rope and we'll have
+'em up in a trice."
+
+The bundle was quickly raised and brought into the embrasure without a
+sound.
+
+"There's a sentry asleep by the tower yonder," whispered Dennis.
+
+"Did 'ee not kill him?"
+
+"No, you could not kill a sleeping man, Amos?"
+
+"I warrant I could, though I'd liever not.  But we must do summat with
+the knave."
+
+"He sleeps sound."
+
+"Maybe, but any moment he might waken, and then t'ud be all over with
+us.  A sailor's knot and a mouthful of shirt will make all snug."
+
+"Very well.  We must go quietly."
+
+Soft-footed as cats they stole to the careless sentinel, still drawing
+the long regular breath of placid slumber.  Suddenly the sound changed
+to a low choking gurgle: Turnpenny had nimbly slipped a strip of his
+shirt into the man's open mouth.  In two minutes he lay straight on his
+back, his arms and legs firmly bound with lengths of the flexible
+tendril.  Then the two intruders moved swiftly back to the embrasure,
+and signalled to the waiting men that it was safe for them to ascend.
+
+Tom Copstone and two of the maroons came up in turn.  Then there was a
+hitch.  The remaining three men stood helpless on the rocks, afraid to
+attempt a feat which had never come within their experience.  There was
+a moment's delay: then Turnpenny slipped down the rope, hitched a loop
+around one of the men, abusing him under his breath as a
+good-for-nothing land-lubber, and signalled to the others to haul him
+up.  The two others were brought up in the same way, not without some
+bumps against the wall; then Turnpenny again came up hand over hand,
+and the little party of eight stood complete beside the gun.
+
+"My heart! 'tis a famous doing!" said Turnpenny mopping his sweating
+brow.  "'You and me, Haymoss,' as I heard in my dream."
+
+The next step also had been pre-arranged.  Copstone, as the man most
+familiar with the fort enclosure, was to lead four of the maroons to
+the quarters of the garrison, dash into the outer room where the
+fire-arms would probably be kept, and hold the Spaniards in play while
+Dennis and his companions made a rush for the round tower beneath which
+were the dungeons.  The Spaniards would no doubt be asleep in the inner
+room, and, suddenly disturbed from their slumbers, they might be
+expected to hesitate before attacking five well-armed men who stood
+guard over their muskets.  It was scarcely likely that more than one or
+two would at this dead hour of night be in the outer room where the
+light was, and Copstone and his men might be safely trusted to account
+for them.
+
+"You must give us a minute, Tom," said Amos, "seeing that we have the
+greater way to go."
+
+"Ay, indeed," said Dennis, "our entrances should fall together.  You
+know the way, Amos?"
+
+"Ay, sure, and have good reason to."
+
+"Well, then, Copstone will wait until we have had time to reach the
+tower, then he will perform his part."
+
+This conversation had passed in whispers.  All having been arranged,
+they crept down the steps from the battlement to the courtyard, and
+while Copstone and his four dusky companions stood in the shadow of the
+stairway, the other three, with rapid, noiseless steps, ran towards the
+light in the farther corner.  The courtyard was covered with grass,
+except for a small stone-paved space around the buildings in the
+centre; and Turnpenny, who was leading, kept to the grass, even though
+their bare feet might make no sound on the stones.
+
+But they had covered little more than a third of the distance, and had,
+indeed, not yet come level with the buildings, when all three were
+suddenly startled by a low deep growl on the right, from the
+neighbourhood of the commandant's house.
+
+"Crymaces!  I had forgot the Captain's dog!" whispered Turnpenny.
+
+They had instinctively halted and turned in the direction of the sound.
+A dark form, still growling, was rushing over the stone court towards
+them.  It made direct for Turnpenny.  The sailor threw up his left hand
+to ward off the attack, but the beast was so large, and came against
+him with such momentum, that he reeled under the impact, and the sword
+he held raised in his right hand was almost wrenched from his grasp.
+Dennis was swinging forward to his comrade's assistance when he saw
+that no help was needed.  The hound had impaled itself on Turnpenny's
+sword.  Amos gasped with relief as he shook himself free; then,
+whispering "They'll have heard the beast's growls," he set off at full
+speed for the round house, the two others following close at his heels.
+
+[Illustration: "The sailor threw up his left hand to ward off the
+attack."]
+
+They dashed straight for the doorway, which was faintly lit by a light
+in the guard-room to the right of the passage.  In a quarter-minute
+they were inside; five seconds more brought them to the door of the
+room, which they reached just as three Spaniards were leaving the table
+at which they had been dicing, curious, no doubt, to discover the cause
+of the dog's uneasiness.  They were unarmed; their weapons indeed lay
+on a bench at the further end of the room; clearly the dog's growls had
+caused them no real alarm, and no other sounds could have reached them.
+Consequently they stood stock-still, petrified with amazement, when
+they saw two white men and a maroon with naked swords rush almost
+noiselessly into the room.
+
+"Surrender, villains!" cried Amos, pointing his sword full at the first
+man's throat.
+
+His tone, backed by the sight of the three blades, helped to clear
+their scattered wits.  With fine presence of mind, the man farthest
+from the door snatched a goblet from the table and hurled it straight
+at Turnpenny, stooping then to seize his sword that lay on the bench
+behind.  But he had taken only a single step when the maroon, with a
+cry of fury, flung himself clean across the table, and drove his weapon
+through the man's body.  The other two, less quick-witted and less
+courageous than their hapless comrade, shrank back and held up their
+hands, crying aloud for mercy.
+
+"Down on your knees, dogs!" shouted Turnpenny.  "To the passage, Juan!"
+he said to the maroon.  "Stand by the door opposite."
+
+While Amos unstrung his caliver and lit his match, Dennis swept the
+Spaniards' weapons from the bench out of their reach.  Scarcely had
+this been done when the door on the opposite side of the passage
+opened, showing a room dimly lighted by a candle-lamp, and eight or ten
+Spaniards who had been roused from sleep by the noise.
+
+"What is this?" cried one of them, fumbling with his sword as he came
+to the door.
+
+Juan, the maroon, stood on no ceremony, but promptly transfixed him,
+and he fell like a log across the doorway.  His comrades immediately
+behind recoiled in panic; but were pushed forward by the men in the
+rear, who had not seen what had happened.
+
+"Stand, you villains!" called Turnpenny, from the opposite doorway.  "I
+will shoot any man of you that lifts a finger."
+
+"Shut the door!" cried one of the men behind.
+
+But this was impossible; the door opened outwards, and none could reach
+it without stepping over the body of the man whom the maroon had
+killed.  They well knew that the first who ventured across the
+threshold would meet with the same fate, and every man of them shrank
+from the risk.  Dim as the light was, Turnpenny recognized the features
+of men under whose whips he had many times writhed.
+
+"Fling down your sword, Hernando," he cried to the foremost of them.
+The man hesitated.  "Down with it, or you are a dead man," roared the
+seaman, and there was an accent in his voice that boded ill for the
+Spaniard if he should delay.  His sword fell with a clatter on the
+stone floor.
+
+"Now yours, Fernan, and yours, Manuel," and as these obeyed the curt
+command the rest waited no bidding, but cast their weapons from them
+and cried for quarter.
+
+"Out with you, into the guard-room," shouted Turnpenny.  "Have a care,
+Juan; let none escape."
+
+The big maroon stood in the passage with his back towards the outer
+gate, and the sight of his ferocious look and his formidable sword was
+enough.  The Spaniards tumbled over each other like a flock of sheep as
+they surged into the room, where Dennis stood ready to cut down any who
+attempted resistance.
+
+"Ah, 'tis you, Jos�," cried Turnpenny, following the last into the
+room.  "Where are your keys?"
+
+The warder edged away, seeking to hide behind his comrades.  At a sign
+from Turnpenny the maroon sprang after him and hauled him back.
+
+"Your keys, rascal!" cried Turnpenny, and the cold barrel of the
+caliver within an inch of his ear jogged his memory.
+
+"Mercy!  I will fetch them," he said, hastily.  The maroon followed him
+as he ran back into the room opposite, and in a few seconds he returned
+with his heavy bunch.
+
+"Lock 'em in, sir," said Turnpenny, handing his weapon to Juan.  "I be
+going with this villain to loose the prisoners."
+
+He caught the terrified warder by the shoulder and pushed him into the
+passage, where he turned to the right towards the stairway leading to
+the dungeons.  Down he bundled him, neck and crop, and forced him to
+find the key among his bunch and throw open the door.
+
+"'Tis me, comrades," he cried jubilantly into the dark space, "'tis me,
+your old comrade, Haymoss Turnpenny, come to free 'ee from this cursed
+hole.  Be you there, Ned Whiddon?"
+
+"Ay, ay," came the amazed answer.
+
+"And you, Hugh Curder?"
+
+"Ay, Haymoss, here I be."
+
+"Come out, my hearts.  Ah, I hear the chains clanking on your poor
+legs.  'Tis not for long, dear comrades.  Come out; this villain warder
+will ungyve ye; then do the same with the rest of the comrades and
+follow up aloft.  We have arms for 'ee there, dear hearts.  God be
+praised you be alive!  Jos�, you villain, loose their fetters.  Ned, I
+will leave him with 'ee; keep an eye on him."
+
+Leaving the cowed Spaniard in the safe hands of Whiddon and Curder,
+Turnpenny hastened back to rejoin Dennis, who had locked the door upon
+the others, and piled their arms against the wall of the passage.  Then
+the three rushed out into the open, and raced at breakneck pace across
+the courtyard to the main buildings, whence came the sounds of
+desperate conflict--shots, cries, and the clash of steel.
+
+
+Copstone, waiting impatiently with the four maroons at the foot of the
+wall until the others should have reached the far corner of the
+enclosure, heard the growl of the commandant's dog, and guessed, from
+the sudden silence that followed, what had happened.  Instantly he led
+his men with a rush towards the main building, where the light
+indicated that some at least of the garrison were awake.  They reached
+the spot just as the door was thrown open and a man stepped across the
+threshold, whistling for the dog.  Copstone sprang upon him, and
+toppled him over, and was then dashing past him into the house when he
+perceived that a group of at least half a dozen Spaniards were coming
+towards the door, alarmed by the sound of the scuffle.  Copstone darted
+back; the maroons fired their calivers into the doorway; groans
+proclaimed that some of the shots had told.  But there were resolute
+spirits among the garrison; in a few seconds they came pouring out,
+and, catching sight of the maroons, evidently believed that they had
+nothing worse than an outbreak of the native labourers to contend with.
+Shouting with fury, they pressed forward, slashing with their swords,
+and forced the assailants into the narrow space between the wall of
+heir quarters and the commandant's house.
+
+When Dennis and his comrades came breathless upon the scene, Copstone
+and his party were hemmed in by a crowd of infuriated Spaniards
+outnumbering them by seven to one.  The Spaniards had had no time to
+light the matches for their muskets; the maroons had had no time to
+reload; and both attacked and attackers were laying about them
+doughtily with their swords.  Whatever the timidity of the maroons in
+captivity, there was no doubt about their courage when fighting for
+their lives against odds.  Aided somewhat by the darkness, which made
+it difficult to distinguish foe from friend, they were cutting and
+thrusting vigorously with their backs against the wall, encouraged by
+the voice of Copstone, who mingled with English words of cheer a few
+Spanish exclamations he had picked up during his imprisonment.
+
+But steadily as they fought, it would have gone ill with them had not
+the arrival of Dennis and the others caused a momentary relaxation of
+the pressure upon them.  The three dashed with a resounding cheer upon
+the rear of the Spaniards.
+
+"Stand to it, my hearts!" bellowed Turnpenny.  "You and me, Tom
+Copstone, you and me!"
+
+Three Spaniards fell at the first onset.  Before the rest had recovered
+from their surprise, before they had any idea of how small the
+reinforcement was, three more suffered the same fate.  In the
+confusion, Dennis and his men dashed right through the cordon and
+ranged themselves alongside the doughty five.  Then the Spaniards,
+finding that their rear was no longer attacked, realized that their
+enemy had received but a slight accession of strength, and returned to
+the fight with redoubled energy.  For some time it was cut and thrust
+almost at random, and many shrewd blows were dealt on both sides.  So
+sudden and surprising had the attack been that the Spaniards had had no
+time to collect their wits and resort to strategy.  It had not occurred
+to them to get at the rear of their enemy over the wall.  Again and
+again they rushed headlong upon the little party; but the maroons and
+Copstone had taken new courage from the presence of Dennis and the
+others.  Turnpenny was in the centre of the line, Dennis at the extreme
+right, Juan the maroon at the left next to Copstone.  Again and again
+they flung back the furious assault, and ever and anon above the din of
+the combat rose the inspiriting battle-cry of Turnpenny, "You and me,
+Tom Copstone, you and me!" and the answering shout, "You and me,
+Haymoss; good cheer, my heart!"
+
+But eight men, however bold and stout-hearted, could not long contend
+with an enemy at least four times their number.  Scarce a man of them
+but was bleeding from several wounds.  The exertions and excitements of
+the night had made inroads upon their strength even before the fight
+began, while the Spaniards were at no such disadvantage; some of them,
+indeed, had risen fresh from sleep.  Gradually the blows of the lesser
+force weakened.  The Spaniards could not all attack them at the same
+time, so confined was the area of conflict; but when any of their
+number fell out, from wounds or fatigue, there were new men to take
+their places.  For the others there was no such relief.  Each one of
+them had to meet a succession of Spaniards.  Dennis felt his strength
+giving way.  He was not conscious of having been wounded, but he could
+now scarcely hold his sword from sheer weariness.  And he felt that
+things were going badly with his comrades.  Two of the maroons at his
+left had fallen, whether killed or merely wounded he could not tell.
+He still heard the ringing voice of Turnpenny, but his heart sank as he
+realized that in a few more minutes he, at any rate, would no longer
+have the force to respond.
+
+At last, when he felt with a kind of frenzied despair that it was
+impossible he should strike another blow, there fell upon his ears a
+new sound from the front--from some point beyond the crowd of
+Spaniards.  Surely there was an English ring in those cheers; it was no
+mere Spanish yell.  It was coming nearer, swelling into a roar.  A few
+seconds later, the ring of steel by which the little party was
+encircled seemed to be burst asunder; then the Spaniards broke and
+scattered in all directions, fleeing helter-skelter before knives and
+swords wielded with the terrible might of vengeance by the hands of a
+score of men who had but lately lain cowed and crushed in their
+dungeons.  Little mercy they deserved; little they found.  Ned Whiddon,
+Hugh Curder, and many another hunted them into the four corners of the
+courtyard; the tables were turned, and the freed prisoners smote and
+spared not.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Vae Victis
+
+The intention of Dennis had been to release the prisoners and then make
+for the bark that lay alongside the quay.  She was only of some fifty
+tons burden; her crew would not be a large one; and it ought to be a
+comparatively easy matter to overpower the men on board and warp the
+vessel clear before the discomfited Spaniards could recover from their
+confusion and make an organized attack.
+
+But he had not reckoned on the rapidity with which events had moved,
+and the impossibility of communicating his design to the men who had
+been released.  They had scattered in all directions in pursuit of the
+Spaniards; Copstone and the maroons were carried away by the lust of
+vengeance, and, wounded as they were, had rushed away with the rest;
+and Dennis found that only Turnpenny was left at his side.
+
+There were elements of peril in the situation.  Some of the Spaniards
+had swarmed over the wall of the officers' quarters.  If they found
+efficient leadership they might yet rally and prove a very formidable
+enemy.  Dennis and the seaman held a hurried consultation.  They were
+unarmed save for their swords; they had left their calivers in the
+passage of the round tower, and the weapons were no doubt now in the
+hands of two of the released prisoners.  Adventurous as they both were,
+it seemed the height of folly and rashness to attempt, they two alone,
+to cope with unknown numbers beyond the wall.  While they were still
+perplexed as to the best course to follow, they heard a roar and a
+crash from the direction of the commandant's house, followed by a babel
+of cries.  Running round, they found that the maroons, headed by
+Copstone, had blown open the door of the house, and were hunting
+through it in the darkness for the man under whose authority they had
+suffered so many grievous wrongs.  There were only four rooms; it was
+the work of a few minutes to ransack them thoroughly; not a trace of
+the commandant or his household could be discovered.
+
+"Be jowned if they bean't stolen a march on us," cried Turnpenny, "and
+made for the harbour first!"
+
+"Let us after them at once, then.  If they get away ours will be a bad
+case indeed."
+
+Calling to the half-dozen men who were at hand, Turnpenny led the way
+at a great pace to the gate in the eastern wall of the fort.  It was
+locked.  Almost beside himself with baffled rage, the seaman threw his
+great bulk against the timbers; but they were stout, and even his
+weight failed to force the lock.
+
+"Is there no other way out?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Not as I knows on.  Where be Tom Copstone?  Hey, my heart, be there
+any other way out o' this yard?"
+
+"Ay, there be a postern in the nor'-east tower."
+
+The words were scarcely out of his mouth before Dennis dashed towards
+the tower, the others following him with a rush.  The door at the foot
+of the tower was open; he sprang up the spiral stairway three steps at
+a time, and almost broke his head against the postern door, that opened
+inwards and blocked the way.  The dawn was bursting in the eastern sky,
+and Dennis looked eagerly out.  The postern faced the sea, and the
+harbour and quay were hidden from him by the circumference of the
+tower; but he spied a rope ladder dangling from the opening to the
+narrow footway below.  It was clear that the commandant and his party,
+while the combat was at its height, had slipped out of the house and
+made their escape by this exit.
+
+By this time Turnpenny and half a dozen others were crowding the narrow
+staircase.
+
+"They have made for the bark," cried the seaman, "and if there be true
+mariners aboard she'll be warped clear and out to sea."
+
+"She is not there yet.  We have one chance.  Copstone, run back to the
+gate; blow up the lock and lead as many of your comrades as you can
+find hot foot along the quay, in case it be still possible to seize the
+vessel.  Amos, can we train the fort guns on the mouth of the harbour?"
+
+"Ay, sure, and I'll do it, being once gunner's mate aboard the _Anne
+Gallant_."
+
+"And I can aid you; God be praised that Sir Martin practised us
+venturers in the usage of ordnance in the _Maid Marian_."
+
+He slammed-to the postern door, freeing the stairway, and rushed up to
+the narrow open archway leading on to the battlements, stumbling in the
+dim light over the prostrate body of the gagged sentry as he leapt
+through.  Vaulting on to the parapet, he looked down at the quay to see
+how the men were faring.  A cry of bitter mortification burst from his
+lips as he saw the bark slowly moving towards the sea.  Her sails were
+hoisted on the mainmast, and filling with the light westerly breeze; a
+group of officers, among whom the commandant was easily distinguished,
+crowded her deck, in addition to the crew; and there was not one of
+Dennis's party or the prisoners in sight.
+
+But at that moment there was a loud explosion; the gate fell with a
+crash; and a crowd of men, white and black, headed by Copstone, rushed
+out on to the quay.  They roared with fury when they saw that they were
+too late.  Those of them who had loaded calivers ran along the quay,
+firing ineffectually at the moving vessel.  They were answered with a
+volley from her decks, and two maroons fell, shouts from the Spaniards
+acclaiming the lucky shots.
+
+But Turnpenny had now taken his post at the nearest gun.
+
+"Body o' me, sure 'tis a saker taken from the Jesus herself!" he cried
+joyfully.  "And here be powder and round shot and stone shot, and a
+half circle for the sighting.  Haymoss Turnpenny be no true man an he
+do not send a good un plump into the midst of the knaves."
+
+But none knew better than Turnpenny that, at any considerable distance,
+it was easier to miss than to hit.  Seeing that it was impossible to
+depress the gun so as to get a shot at the vessel until she had drawn
+clear of the harbour, he ran to the ordnance on the northern wall, and
+loaded them in readiness in case his first shot missed.  Meanwhile
+Dennis had spied the muzzle of a demi-culverin projecting from the roof
+of the round tower, and summoning to his assistance a white man who was
+among his party, he ran up and began with all haste to load the gun.
+
+Before he had finished, there was a flash and a roar from Turnpenny's
+saker just below.  The Spaniards on deck, who the moment before had
+been laughing at the futile shots from the men on the quay, skipped
+down the companion way with exceeding nimbleness.  Dennis looked
+eagerly for the result of the shot.  That something had been carried
+away was clear from the clattering noise on board and the rush of the
+crew towards the stern-works; but neither the fore nor the mainmast had
+been hit, and the vessel still glided seawards.  Turnpenny growled with
+rage, and ran to the next gun, from which, however, it would be useless
+to fire until the bark had come quite out from the harbour mouth.
+
+Dennis's heart leapt within him as he saw that the course of the vessel
+would bring her in a few seconds within range of his gun.  Now was his
+chance of showing how he had profited by Sir Martin's lessons in
+gunnery.  How ardently he hoped that the bore was true and the windage
+not too great to spoil his aim!  He waited with lighted match until,
+sighting with the gunner's half-circle--the quadrant with which every
+piece of ordnance was equipped--he knew that the Spaniard was well
+within range.  He applied the match and sprang forward to the very edge
+of the parapet to watch the effect of his shot.  There was a sound of
+rending and splitting from the deck; and through the smoke he saw the
+mainmast collapse with all its rigging.  A great shout from the
+battlements and from the crowd below acclaimed the famous shot.  There
+had been no time to run up a sail on the foremast; the vessel lost way;
+and the crew, having been deserted by the officers, huddled into the
+forecastle, leaving several of their number prone upon the deck.
+
+When the motion of the vessel ceased, two of the Spaniards rushed up
+the companion-way and called on the crew frantically to hoist the
+foresail.  But in vain.  The men were helpless with terror.  And while
+the Spaniards were storming and gesticulating, Turnpenny, exerting his
+immense strength, hauled round the eight-foot minion which had been
+removed from the embrasure by which the intruders had entered the fort,
+and next moment a carcass crammed with case-shot plumped amidships of
+the hapless bark, and the Spaniards, cowering from the flying
+splinters, scuttled down the companion-way--all but one fellow, bolder
+than the rest.  The vessel had swung round a little, so that her
+stern-chaser, a culverin twelve feet long, pointed full at the fort.
+It was already loaded.  The Spaniard, with a shout of defiance, altered
+the elevation of the gun, lit a match, and applied it to the
+touch-hole.  A round shot crashed through the embrasure from which
+Turnpenny had fired, scattering a shower of stone-chips around, and
+dealing wounds among the group who were watching and assisting the
+seaman to reload.  The crashing sound brought the Spaniards again from
+below, and they began feverishly to clean out and reload the piece.
+But another shot from Dennis's gun fell plump into the round-house on
+the half-deck; and now the Spanish commandant, perceiving that the men
+on the quay had sprung into the fishers' canoes that lay alongside, and
+were making direct to board his vessel, saw that the game was up, and,
+raising his arms aloft, shouted that he surrendered.
+
+"Go and board her," cried Dennis to Turnpenny.  "I'll stay by the guns
+in case he meditates treachery."
+
+The seaman hurried away with a mixed crowd of maroons and white men.
+In a few minutes he was pulling lustily for the vessel.  Dennis, with
+gun loaded, watched him climb the side and receive the Spaniard's
+sword.  Then a hawser was fixed to the headboards, and the vessel was
+towed back to the quay side.
+
+Dennis hastened down.  The crestfallen commandant with all his men was
+brought ashore and escorted to his house, where they were left under
+guard.  Hugh Curder, with three other seamen, was placed in charge of
+the vessel, and then Dennis re-entered the fort-enclosure with
+Turnpenny and the rest, eager to see, now that day had fully dawned,
+what had happened during his absence.
+
+He could not repress a shudder as he saw the ground strewn with dead
+and wounded men; and he was horrified to observe that some of the
+slave-fishers had broken out of their huts, and were moving about the
+court-yard, giving the finishing stroke to the wounded of their late
+masters who were yet alive.  Dennis sent Ned Whiddon among them to put
+a stop to this ruthless butchery; then his intervention was called for
+at the round tower from which the prisoners had been released.  A group
+of them, headed by a big ruffianly seaman, had burst open the door of
+the room in which the unarmed Spanish guards had been locked, and were
+beginning a work of butchery there when Dennis, with Turnpenny and a
+few others, rushed to the scene.  Dashing into the room, Dennis sprang
+at the ringleader just as he was thrusting at a Spaniard who had thrown
+himself down on his knees and was pleading for mercy.
+
+"Hold, knave!" he cried, hauling the man away.
+
+"Zounds! and who be you?" shouted the fellow, recovering himself and
+lunging furiously at Dennis.
+
+"I'll teach 'ee, Jan Biddle!" roared Turnpenny.  Seizing the man, he
+lifted him as though he were a child and hurled him over his head in
+true Devonian style.  Biddle's head struck the floor with a loud thud,
+and he lay as one killed.
+
+"Souse him, my hearts!" cried Turnpenny.  "The saucy knave!"
+
+And in a few minutes a plentiful drenching from a water-butt at the
+door brought some glimmering of sense into the man's bruised noddle.
+
+Meanwhile the Spaniards who had survived the fight and escaped from
+their pursuers, had barricaded themselves in the officers' quarters,
+where they were unmolested while the majority of their late prisoners
+were on the quay.  The victory could not be considered complete while
+they remained shut up, for they no doubt had arms and ammunition at
+their disposal.  Some of the victors were for blowing up the house and
+all in it; but Dennis and Turnpenny dissuaded them from this, and
+declared for insisting on unconditional surrender.  To obtain this they
+made use of the captive commandant.  At Dennis's suggestion, Turnpenny
+put the case to him, pointing out how hopeless was the position of his
+men, and promising to spare their lives if they surrendered at once.
+The commandant was then led to the officers' house between two men with
+drawn swords, and after a few minutes' colloquy the men agreed to hand
+over their weapons.
+
+Dennis meanwhile collected his whole party.  They were a very ragged
+regiment.  None was quite so tattered as Tom Copstone, but all were
+dirty, unkempt, unshorn, bearing many marks of toil and suffering, as
+well as the more recent marks of fight.  Of the five maroons who had
+scaled the fort wall two were dead; the rest were all wounded.  Not one
+of the little band had escaped unhurt.  Dennis had several gashes in
+his arms.  Turnpenny's big face was disfigured with cuts and bruises,
+while Copstone, who had fought with utter recklessness, seemed to have
+borne a charmed life, so many were his wounds.  The released prisoners
+had come off best.  With the exception of the two men shot down from
+the vessel, one being killed and the other badly wounded, they had
+escaped with a few scratches.  They were a wild, rough lot, and Dennis
+wondered, as he looked them over, whether they would show themselves
+amenable to discipline.
+
+The Spaniards having been disarmed and locked in the house, Turnpenny
+constituted himself master of the ceremonies.  After a brief talk with
+Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder, his special friends, he said to Dennis--
+
+"Here we be, sir, masters of the fort, twenty-two all told, five being
+French.  We must needs have a captain, and that be you, for 'tis all
+owed to your wit, and we pay you our humble duty."
+
+"Thank 'ee, Amos, but I will not be captain save by the wish of all.
+Methinks 'tis an office for one older in years."
+
+"Be jowned if it be, sir.  Comrades, list while I tell the tale of
+these rare doings."
+
+He related to the crowd the story of his rescue from the Spaniards on
+the island, the capture of the lumber-ship, the voyage in the maroons'
+canoe, and all that had happened since.
+
+"And now, comrades," he concluded, "I ax 'ee, who so fit to be our
+captain as Master Dennis Hazelrig, of Shaston in Devon?  We owe our
+lives to him, and there be many a thing to face afore we get across the
+thousand leagues to home.  Who but him shall be our captain?"
+
+The election was ratified with a great shout.
+
+"Thank 'ee, comrades," said Dennis.  "'Tis not a post I covet;
+willingly would I serve under an older man, my good friend Amos, to
+wit.  But I accept your choice.  One thing I say.  There may be more
+fighting before us; if we fight, let us fight like Englishmen, not like
+savages, and treat our enemies according to the manner of civilized
+nations.  Do you agree to that?"
+
+"Ay, ay!" shouted the men,--all but Jan Biddle, whose growling protests
+were howled down by the rest.
+
+"Then it is mine to choose my lieutenant.  You are all good men and
+true, but 'tis my misfortune I am not so well acquainted with you as I
+hope to be.  But I know Amos Turnpenny, and you know him also; and----"
+
+"I crave your pardon, sir," said Amos, interrupting; "I was gunner's
+mate twenty-five year ago on the noble _Anne Gallant_, and four year
+ago boatswain on Captain Hawkins his _Jesus_, and methinks the rank of
+boatswain befits my stature and my fancy both; and if I may be so bold,
+I say let these our comrades, good men and true, as you yourself did
+say, choose among themselves two to serve as mates aboard the vessel."
+
+"A wise speech," said Jan Biddle.  "There be good mariners among us;
+ay, and some of us are skilled in the manage of greater vessels than
+the poor bark yonder.  Let us then do as Amos says, and choose who
+shall come next to our noble captain."
+
+"So be it," said Dennis, with a glance at Amos.  "Choose then, and we
+will abide the choice."
+
+It was clear that Jan Biddle expected the election to one of the posts
+to fall upon himself.  He could not hide his chagrin when by general
+consent Ned Whiddon and a man of quiet appearance named Gabriel Batten
+were selected.  Dennis on his part was glad that Biddle was to remain a
+simple member of the crew; he disliked the man's overbearing manner and
+the shifty look in his eyes.
+
+These matters having been settled, he explained that his purpose was to
+sail away as soon as the vessel could be got ready, and steer a course
+for England.  It was needful to make haste, for the sound of the firing
+might have been heard on Spanish ships at sea, and even now an enemy
+might be making for the spot.  The first thing was to inspect the
+vessel at the quay and see what damage had been done.  He asked the two
+mates and Turnpenny to accompany him to the ship for this purpose.
+Meanwhile he suggested that the others, with the assistance of the
+natives, should give those who had been killed burial in the sea, and
+he dispatched two of the maroons to the creek where they had left
+Baltizar and one of their comrades in charge of the two prisoners, to
+acquaint them with what had happened and bring them to the fort.
+
+Boarding the Spanish vessel, he found that the mainmast was a complete
+ruin; it would be necessary to replace it.  This Ned Whiddon said would
+be no difficult matter.  A couple of men could soon fell a tall and
+slender cedar in the woods, and though it was not advisable to spend
+much time in trimming it, a few hours' work would suffice to fit it for
+its use.  Luckily the step was uninjured, and there was plenty of sound
+rope on board from which to form new stays.
+
+The deck had been a good deal knocked about by the shots from the fort,
+but the damage done was not such as to render the vessel unnavigable as
+soon as the mast should be stepped and the rigging repaired.  Ned
+Whiddon undertook to carry out the necessary work with the assistance
+of men of his choice, and went back to the fort with Batten to make a
+beginning.
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny examined the vessel from stem to stern above and
+below decks.  In the captain's cabin they found a number of small bags
+which on being opened they discovered to be full of pearls.  The
+commandant had evidently not come empty-handed from the fort.  There
+were also several chests containing pieces of eight, and in the hold
+were twenty odd jars filled with gunpowder, and more than a hundred
+jars of wine.
+
+"'Tis my counsel to fling 'em overboard as soon as it be dark," said
+Amos.  "'Tis a goodish time since my comrades have tasted strong
+liquor, and I fear me with such plenty they might drink until they were
+drunken and fit for nought.  And Jan Biddle with wine in him would be
+no less than a madman."
+
+"Ay.  Tell me, Amos, what know you of that same loud-tongued mariner?"
+
+"Why, sir, I know little.  He do say he be an Englishman, and one time
+second mate on a Dutch privateer; but what be the truth of it none can
+say.  He speaks the French and Dutch tongues as readily as English, and
+has suffered at the hands of the Spaniards even more than most, by
+reason of his unruly tongue.  He is loved by none, but hath a certain
+power over men; and I rejoice that he is not chosen for mate aboard
+this vessel."
+
+"I like not his looks.  Your comrades have done wisely, I trow, in
+rejecting him.  And now, what think you of the chances of our purposed
+voyage, Amos?"
+
+"My heart!  I warrant we can sail her merrily across the great ocean,
+and with favouring winds may hope to see the blessed shores of England
+in a matter of two months.  And my soul hungers for the sight of the
+old cliffs.  By the mercy of God, who hath marvellously prospered our
+doings, we will yet again come to haven in our dear native land."
+
+"We will new christen her for luck, Amos.  Her present name--I cannot
+say the words--"
+
+"_Nuestra Se�ora del Baria_--a papist name, sir, 'Our Lady of'--I know
+not what.  What name shall we give her?"
+
+"What say you to _Mirandola_?  Our comrade the monkey has without doubt
+gotten him away to the woods, and there, mayhap, found old friends of
+his kind.  I hold the beast in affection, Amos, and would fain keep him
+in remembrance."
+
+"The _Mirandola_ it shall be, sir; 'tis a fair sounding name, and, if I
+may speak my mind, befits a tight little craft somewhat better than a
+heathen monkey.  Though i' fecks, I'd liever call her by a plainer
+name; yet it shall be as you say."
+
+"And now, a matter that troubles me, Amos: what shall we do with the
+Spaniards our captives?"
+
+"Be jowned if I would let the knaves trouble me.  Let 'em loose afore
+we sail.  There is much food, I doubt not, in the fort, and abundance
+in the woods around.  The knaves will not starve; t'ud be no great loss
+if they did; and belike a vessel will come to this place ere many days
+be past, and then they can tell the tale, with raging and cursing that
+will harm us not a jot."
+
+"It shall be done.  And it will be well, I trow, to raze the fort to
+the ground.  It has been built with the blood and sweat of our
+comrades; to destroy it will be a just reprisal."
+
+"Ay, and make the knaves to dismantle it with their own hands.  I would
+fain scourge their naked backs as they have scourged mine, many's the
+time."
+
+"And the ordnance?"
+
+"Burst it asunder.  Why should we leave it sound to belch its shot,
+mayhap, on English craft some day?  God-a-mercy, 'twas a famous shot of
+yours, sir, that sent the mainmast by the board, and I don't grudge it
+'ee that your aim was truer than mine.  'Tis twenty-five year since I
+served the ordnance on the _Anne Gallant_."
+
+"And I had good practice on the _Maid Marian_.  But you have not forgot
+your cunning, Amos, and I warrant if we have occasion to use the piece
+here in the stern you will make good firing.  Now 'tis time to return
+to the fort; I would not that Jan Biddle should stir up the rage of our
+people against those unhappy Spaniards, and 'tis not unlike, we being
+absent, he may do so."
+
+"Ay, 'tis meet we trust not Jan Biddle overmuch.  Let us go, sir."
+
+They found on returning that Ned Whiddon had already gone into the
+forest with two or three men to fell a tree for the mast.  While he was
+absent on this errand Dennis set part of his company to collect all the
+Spaniards' small arms and pile them in readiness for conveyance to the
+vessel, others to ram excessive charges of powder into the guns, and a
+third gang to superintend the Spaniards in their enforced task of
+dismantling the fort.  Great charges of powder, of which there was an
+ample store, were placed in barrels in each of the round towers, to be
+fired at the last moment, for Dennis did not wish to risk an explosion,
+which must be heard many miles away, until he was on the point of
+sailing out on the _Mirandola_.
+
+The work of preparation was continued throughout the day, with brief
+pauses for meals.  Ned Whiddon and his party toiled with such right
+good will that he was able to announce, at nightfall, that after a
+little more work in the morning the new mast would be ready for
+stepping.  This was especially good news, for in view of the possible
+arrival of a Spanish vessel Dennis could not feel secure until the
+_Mirandola_ was fairly out at sea.  As soon as it was dark, Turnpenny
+and Copstone went down to the vessel, and flung overboard the whole
+store of wine save a few jars which they kept for emergencies.  The
+Spaniards, of whom about thirty had survived the fight, were again shut
+up in the houses of the commandant and the officers, and Dennis
+arranged that a careful watch should be kept through the night.  Then,
+tired out with his long labours, he gladly threw himself upon a couch
+in one of the towers, and slept soundly until the dawn.
+
+In the morning, as he went round the battlements with Turnpenny to see
+that the guns had all been crammed with bursting charges, he was seized
+with a whim to preserve two of them and carry them home to England.
+
+"Me thinks they would make rare trophies for our folks to marvel at,"
+he said to Amos with a smile.  "What say you, Amos?  Would not one look
+exceeding well on the Hoe at Plymouth?  And I think not Holles, my
+steward, who is keeping my little place at Shaston warm for me till I
+attain to man's estate,--I think not even he, puritan as he is, would
+find cause why one should not stand at my gates."
+
+"A rare conceit, sir.  Pray you one be the saker stolen by the knaves
+from the _Jesus_; t'other might be the demi-culverin you fired so
+famously.  They'd be good ballast aboard, moreover; pearls are of
+greater price than weight; and there be room enough and to spare in the
+hold."
+
+With some trouble the two pieces were lowered over the battlements to
+the quay and hoisted aboard the vessel, where Ned Whiddon and his crew
+were already at work stepping the mast and overhauling the rigging.  By
+midday Whiddon declared with pride that the _Mirandola_ was ready for
+sea.  A great cheer greeted the announcement.  No time was lost in
+carrying stores, water, arms, and ammunition on board.  When all was
+safely stowed, Dennis, with Turnpenny as interpreter, had a final
+interview with the commandant, to whom he made known his intention of
+blowing up the towers of the fort, but leaving the buildings in the
+centre of the enclosure intact.  He said also that the native
+pearl-fishers, with the maroons, had elected to coast along the shore
+in their canoes until they reached a settlement of their own people.
+Being well provided with arms, they could defend themselves against
+pursuit even if there should be any disposition on the part of the
+Spaniards to attempt to capture them.
+
+Then, one after another, the guns were fired and burst to atoms by
+means of long trains of powder.  Last of all the charges in the towers
+were exploded, and as the masonry toppled and fell after each
+thunderous roar, the little company greeted the destruction with a
+storm of cheers.  When Dennis and his comrades turned their backs on
+the place and went aboard the _Mirandola_, they left the once
+stronghold a heap of ruins, amid which the Spaniards were already
+moving about in desolation and despair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A Long Chase
+
+The _Mirandola_ was towed out of the little harbour by maroons and
+Indians in their canoes, and beat out to sea against a
+nor'-nor'-easterly wind.  Thanks to Ned Whiddon and his comrades the
+bark was in capital trim, and the crew, now after many days free men
+afloat, were at the top of cheerfulness and jollity.  The long voyage
+home had no terrors for them.  They were all sturdy mariners,
+accustomed to adventure their lives on the deep.  They had hardly
+weathered the headland to the east and stood away for the mouth of the
+gulf before Hugh Curder began to troll a ditty:
+
+  "Lustily, lustily, let us sail forth;
+  The wind trim doth serve us, it blows from the north,
+  All things we have ready, and nothing we want,
+    To furnish our ship that rideth hereby;
+  Victuals and weapons they be nothing scant,
+    Like worthy mariners ourselves we will try.
+          Lustily, oh lustily!"
+
+
+"Oh, 'tis good to hear to 'ee, Hugh!" cried Turnpenny.  "And I do wish
+we had a crowdy-kit aboard, for I mind me Tom Copstone can ply the bow,
+and a merry tune would set our feet a-jog.  To it again, Hugh; open
+your thropple, man, and we'll bear our burden, every man of us."
+
+And Hugh Curder, after "hawking and spitting," as he said, because his
+"wynd-pipe" was "summat scrannied for want o' use," struck up again:
+
+  "Her flags be new trimmed, set flaunting aloft----"
+
+
+"Not so," interrupted Ned Whiddon.  "We bean't got no flags."
+
+"Pegs! 'tis in the ditty, Ned," cried Turnpenny.  "None but a
+ninny-hammer would look for sober truth in a ditty.  Heed him not,
+Hugh; to it again."
+
+  "Her flags be new trimmed, set flaunting aloft,
+    Our ship for swift swimming, oh she doth excel;
+  We fear no enemies, we've escaped them oft;
+    Of all ships that swimmeth she beareth the bell.
+          Lustily, oh lustily.
+
+  "And here is a master excelleth in skill,
+    And our master's mate he is not to seek;
+  And here is a boatswain will do his good will,
+  And here is a ship-boy, we never had leak."
+          Lustily, oh lustily."
+
+
+"You be the ship-boy, Hugh, seeing you be the youngest of us," said
+Whiddon.  "And you've a proper breast for a singing-boy."
+
+"Now the last stanzo, Hugh," cried Turnpenny.  "'If fortune then fail
+not,'--but my scrimpy voice murders it.  Sing up, man."
+
+  "If fortune then fail not, and our next voyage prove,
+    We will return merrily and make good cheer,
+  And hold all together as friends linked in love,
+    The cans shall be filled with wine, ale, and beer,
+          Lustily, oh lustily."
+
+
+"'Tis not worth a crim," growled Jan Biddle, when the song was ended.
+"'Wine, ale, and beer'--where is it?  I'd give a week o' life for a
+gallon o' home-brewed."
+
+"Ay, and what then!" said Gabriel Batten.  "Sing the song of ale, Hugh."
+
+  "Back and side go bare, go bare,
+  Both foot and hand go cold----"
+
+
+"Nay, not that one; 'tis over long, and 'll make us too drouthy.
+Seeing we have no ale, 't'ud be cruel to sing the praises of it so
+feelingly.  Nay, sing the ditty that serves for warning; 'twill better
+fit our case."
+
+Hugh Curder began:
+
+  "Ale makes many a man to make his head have knocks;
+  And ale makes many a man to sit in the stocks;
+  And ale makes many a man to hang upon the gallows--"
+
+
+"Oh, shut his mouth!" cried Biddle testily.  "We'll all be glumping if
+we list to such trash.  Hallo for the wind to change, for with this
+nor'-easter blowing we'll never get clear of the coast."
+
+The vessel was indeed making slow progress, beating out against the
+strong wind.  Dennis, though elected Captain, had little to do with the
+actual handling of the ship: in those days the captain was not always a
+navigator.  But the _Mirandola_ was in good hands.  Both Whiddon and
+Batten were practised seamen, and in seamanship, as distinguished from
+navigation, Turnpenny was incomparable.  They had found in the cabin a
+chart of the coast and the neighbouring sea, by means of which they
+avoided the shoals and made without mishap towards the mouth of the
+gulf.  Dennis and Turnpenny examined the chart carefully to see if they
+could distinguish the island they had named Maiden Isle.  Several small
+islands were marked on it as mere dots without names, and they could
+not for a long time decide which of them was Maiden Isle; but Turnpenny
+at last fixed on one of them, and his conjecture was proved to be
+correct in the evening.  Whiddon had set the course by Turnpenny's
+suggestion, and just before dark the vessel skirted the south-eastern
+corner of the island where he and Dennis had met so strangely.
+
+Looking at the chart, Dennis wondered how the _Maid Marian_ had escaped
+wrecking a dozen times during the hurricane that finally cast her up on
+the western shore.  There was marked a good open channel for vessels of
+any draught south and south-east of the island, but, as he had guessed,
+the sea to the north and west was practically unnavigable except by
+small craft.  The _Mirandola_ gave the island a wide berth in passing;
+the wind was freshening, and there were signs of heavy weather.  Dennis
+felt a little regret at leaving the island unvisited, and abandoning
+the relics of his friends which he had saved from the wreck; but, like
+every member of his party, he was eager to lose sight of this hostile
+coast, and to gain the wide ocean where, given good luck, they would be
+secure from Spanish molestation and have nothing to fear but the
+ordinary chances of a long voyage.
+
+They made little headway that night.  Anxious as they were to run out
+of the main track of Spanish commerce, they felt the necessity of
+choosing a safe rather than a short course, and especially of avoiding
+the network of reefs and islands to leeward.  In the blackest hours of
+the night, indeed, they lay to, Turnpenny remarking that it was better
+to lose a little time than to run the risk of losing the vessel by a
+too bold navigation of unfamiliar seas.
+
+This caution proved to be justified, for the wind shifted in the night;
+and when at break of day the _Mirandola_ again got under way they found
+that she had drifted dangerously near an island which, being very
+small, was not marked on the chart.  A light haze lay over the sea, but
+it lifted soon, and then vast excitement was aroused on board when the
+look-out shouted that he descried, under the lee of the island, a
+vessel under full sail.  Turnpenny took a long look at her, and
+declared that she was a bark somewhat larger than the Mirandola, though
+at the distance--near four miles, he thought--it was impossible to be
+sure.
+
+"Of what nation is she?" asked Dennis.
+
+"No mortal man could say," returned Amos; "but 'tis a hundred to one
+she be a Spaniard, and we must either fight or run."
+
+"Think you she will see us, being so small a vessel?"
+
+"None can tell that either.  We must look to the worst.  True, we have
+the weather-gage of her; but soon or late she will overhaul us if she
+gives chase.  She has a look of speed, or I be no mariner.  'Tis
+certain we cannot fight her; our armament will not suffice;
+furthermore, from her size I reckon her crew be three or four times
+ours, and our men have no mind to be captured and cast again into a
+Spanish dungeon."
+
+"We must e'en run then," said Dennis with a sigh.  "That means we must
+put about?"
+
+"True, and 'tis somewhat in our favour, for you perceive the wind has
+shifted in the night to west-sou'-west, and belike we can sail
+close-hauled better than she can."
+
+Whiddon accordingly put the vessel about, and set the course so that
+she could keep the island between herself and the stranger.  But in the
+course of the next hour it was clear that the _Mirandola_ had not
+escaped notice.  The stranger had weathered the island and was
+manifestly standing in pursuit.  The crew of the _Mirandola_ watched
+her anxiously.  They were but twenty-two all told, five of them being
+French: and although they were all stout mariners with no lack of
+native courage, the remembrance of their past sufferings did not
+incline them to run risks.  For some time it was doubtful whether the
+pursuing vessel was or was not gaining; but as the day wore on it
+became clear that the _Mirandola_ was being outsailed.
+
+"'Tis a piece of rare good luck we had the wind against us last night,"
+said Turnpenny, "for in a straight chase in the open we should have no
+chance against the critter, whereas if we get back among these islands
+we may give her the slip."
+
+"If we do not strike a reef and founder," replied Dennis.
+
+Here Turnpenny tried a device that he had often seen practised on the
+_Anne Gallant_.  He ordered two men to go up to the cross-trees with a
+pulley-block; they rove a line through, and, hoisting up buckets of
+water, saturated all the canvas.  Then he put all the men on to the lee
+braces, and so got the vessel to lie a point nearer the wind.
+
+The two manoeuvres considerably increased her speed, but in spite of
+all that seamanship could do or devise the gap between the vessels
+sensibly diminished; the pursuer loomed ever larger down to leeward.
+Then Jan Biddle began to show himself in his true colours.  Dennis had
+noticed that the man had attached to himself a group of the wilder
+spirits among the crew, who with an ill grace went about the duties
+assigned to them by Whiddon, and upon whom, indeed, the mate called as
+seldom as possible.  When it became clear that the _Mirandola_ was
+being surely overhauled, these men were observed in close talk beneath
+the break of the poop.  By and by Biddle swaggered forward, followed by
+seven or eight of his comrades, to where Whiddon and Turnpenny stood,
+forward of the mainmast.  Batten was at the helm.
+
+"Art mad, Ned Whiddon?" cried Biddle in a hectoring tone.  "Dost think
+thou'rt a mariner?  Crymaces! if we trust to thee we'll be laid by the
+heels in the hold of yonder craft ere night."
+
+"Couldst do better, think 'ee?" asked Whiddon quietly.
+
+"Better?  Who but a slin-pole would have done as 'ee have done?
+There's but one way to scape out of the clutches of the Spaniards, and
+that is to put the helm down, come about, and run for it.  This craft
+is better running free than close-hauled."
+
+"Know a fool by his folly," said Turnpenny.  "Rule your saucy tongue,
+Jan Biddle, and offer not to teach your betters."
+
+"Who be you to talk of betters, Amos Turnpenny--a sluddering rampallian
+like you?  An you will take no counsel we'll e'en see to the manage of
+the vessel ourselves.  Here, comrades, this be enough of these joulter
+heads; let go the sheets; I will put the helm down and we'll go round
+on the other tack: we'll have no fools over us, to bring us to harm."
+
+But before one of the malcontents could step forward to do his bidding,
+Turnpenny threw his arms around Biddle, lifted him clean off his feet,
+and flung him against the bulwarks, where he lay stunned.
+
+"And I'll serve any man likewise that dares to raise his voice in
+mutiny.  Get about, you villains, and 'ware lest you be clapped in
+irons and set awash in the bilge."
+
+Dennis had hastened to Turnpenny's side at the first sign of
+altercation.
+
+"When the chase is over we will deal with these fellows," he said
+quietly.  "Meanwhile, Amos, is not that our Maiden Isle on the lewside
+ahead?"
+
+"Surely it is, sir."
+
+"Think you not 'twould serve us best to run in among the reefs
+thereabouts?  The bark could not follow us."
+
+"True, but we might strike and run aground any moment, and lose our
+vessel and our lives withal."
+
+"Ay, but we are being surely overhauled, and meseems 'twere better to
+take the risk of running aground than to fall into the hands of the
+Spaniards.  There is a chance of our threading a way through, whereas
+the stranger, being of greater draught, would not venture her bottom
+among these uncharted shoals."
+
+"Verily 'tis a wise thought--if there be time.  What think 'ee, Ned?
+Yonder, mark 'ee, is the isle whereon Master Hazelrig and I lived
+secure for a matter of weeks, with food in plenty.  Think 'ee there be
+time to make the shallows afore the Spaniard comes within shot of us?"
+
+"Ay, there be time enough, but I fear me we should wreck our craft."
+
+"There be no other way, Ned.  And I warrant me I could make a shift to
+steer a safe course inshore, because 'twas on the south side of the
+isle we landed from the timber ship, and there, i' fecks, be her
+masts--see, Ned, standing out a little above the sea."
+
+"Then do 'ee take the helm, Haymoss, and God save us all."
+
+Clearly the course of the _Mirandola_ was being closely watched on the
+pursuing vessel, for when, tacking in obedience to the helm, she made
+direct for the south of the island, there came a puff of smoke from the
+side of the bark, and a shot plumped into the sea about two
+cable-lengths astern.
+
+"'Twas over hurrisome, master don," said Turnpenny with a chuckle; "and
+call me a Dutchman if 'ee ever get to closer range."
+
+He ran the little vessel cleverly inshore and steered past the wreck of
+the timber ship.  Then it occurred to Dennis that there must be a
+practicable channel not far to the west, or the _Maid Marian_ would
+have gone aground in the hurricane long before she did.  At his
+suggestion the _Mirandola_ was kept on her course for half a mile
+beyond the southernmost point of the island.  Then, as there was no
+time to take soundings, she was put before the wind, with the object of
+gaining the north of the island, where Dennis knew that if the pursuer
+drew as much water as from her size seemed likely, there was little
+chance of her being able to follow.
+
+The confident bearing of Dennis and Turnpenny had a cheering influence
+on the crew.  Even Jan Biddle, who had now recovered from his blow, and
+his cronies seemed no longer inclined to quarrel with the handling of
+the vessel.  The pursuer was now out of sight, hidden by the bend of
+the shore.  The _Mirandola_ was making excellent sailing before the
+wind, and Dennis hoped that if she could elude the Spaniard until dark,
+there might be a good chance of her escaping any further attentions.
+
+The pursuer came in sight again just as the _Mirandola_ was approaching
+the rocky ridge which had been a barrier to Dennis's exploration of the
+shore on his first day on the island.  He was rejoiced to see that in
+wearing she had lost a little.  Then a sudden idea struck him.  Beyond
+the ridge was the entrance to the gully, and up the gully the broad
+pool in which the _Maid Marian_ lay.  Would not the best course after
+all be to play a trick on the pursuer?  Why not try to run into the
+pool?  When the _Mirandola_ had once rounded the shoulder of the cliff
+she would again be almost out of sight; if she could run into the gully
+the pursuers would almost certainly suppose that she had fled round the
+northern side of the island; and safe in the pool, she might lie there
+until the chase had been given up.  He mentioned his idea to Amos.
+
+"Be jowned if it bean't a right merry notion," cried the mariner.
+
+But none knew better the difficulty of steering the vessel safely into
+the gully.  There was no time for consideration.  If once she passed
+the entrance the vessel could not beat back again before the pursuer
+came within range.  The slightest failure in Turnpenny's seamanship
+would run the bark on the rocks.  But the old mariner knew the gully.
+With set lips and a deep indentation between his brows he stood at the
+helm and gave his orders to the men.
+
+"Stand by the halliards," he cried, "and let go the moment I say the
+word."
+
+It was important to have plenty of way on the vessel, for the instant
+she came to the headland the wind would be taken out of her canvas.
+Easing the helm gently over, Turnpenny called to the men to let go as
+the ship rounded the point; in a few moments the canvas was all taken
+in, and with the way on her she glided up the gully.
+
+Within ten minutes from the time when the notion first occurred to
+Dennis the _Mirandola_ lay side by side with the wreck of the _Maid
+Marian_ in the pool, invisible from the open sea.
+
+"Mum's the word," said Turnpenny when the anchor had been dropped.
+"Muzzle your jaws for a while.  Master Hazelrig and me we knows this
+island, and we'll mount the cliff yonder and see what the don Spaniard
+makes of us now."
+
+Leaving the men to swim ashore if they chose, Dennis and Turnpenny
+sprang overboard, soon found their footing, and scrambled up the rocks
+and the cliff, keeping well under cover.  When they reached the top
+they saw the pursuer about three miles distant.  She had shortened
+sail, and was evidently inclined to give the coast a wider berth than
+the _Mirandola_ had done.  It was growing dusk when she came level with
+the gully, standing about a mile from the shore.  Her movements for a
+time were erratic; clearly the people on board distrusted the waters
+round the island, and were somewhat perplexed as to the course taken by
+the fugitive.  At length they decided apparently to abandon the
+pursuit, for she stood to windward, and the two watchers breathed again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Jan Biddle, Master
+
+"God be praised!" said Turnpenny, fervently; "we have escaped out of
+the hands of the enemy."
+
+"And we find ourselves once more on Maiden Isle, the which I never
+thought to set foot on more.  I am glad of it, Amos, for now that we
+have a bark fit to carry us over the sea, I would fain take with us
+certain things that belonged to my dear comrades.  They will be
+cherished by their sorrowing folks at home."
+
+"True, the sight of such belongings of the dead and gone do have a
+morsel of comfort in it.  And moreover we can take some of your stores,
+for though our own monkey ship be not ill provided, yet the victuals be
+Spanish, and 'twill make new men of our comrades to give 'em a rasher
+of bacon now and again."
+
+"Ay, but why monkey ship, Amos?"
+
+"Why, sir, I cannot put my tongue to the name your fancy gave the
+vessel, and to my thinking it is not to compare with _Anne Gallant_,
+and _Jesus_, and _Minion_, and other craft I have served aboard, to say
+nothing of the _Susans_ and _Bettys_ that are well beknown in Plimworth
+Sound."
+
+"Well, have your way.  To my ears _Mirandola_ hath a pleasant sound,
+and it will always keep me in mind of my good friend.  But 'tis time we
+returned to our comrades."
+
+When they reached the entrance of the chine they found that the crew
+had all come ashore, save one or two who were curiously examining the
+wreck of the _Maid Marian_.  They could not refrain from shouting a
+glad "Huzza!" when they learnt that the pursuing vessel was standing
+away.  Jan Biddle and one of his cronies had been rummaging in Dennis's
+hut and sheds, finding little to reward them, however, almost
+everything having been transferred to Skeleton Cave.  Night was drawing
+on apace, and though some of the crew were for setting sail in the
+darkness, the majority agreed with Dennis that it would be better to
+defer their departure until the following night.  This plan would give
+them a whole day's rest; it would render it less likely that the
+pursuer would be still in the neighbourhood; and it would enable them
+to carry more water on board, which was desirable in view of the
+possibility of a protracted voyage.  Dennis and Amos decided to occupy
+their old hut; the men were given their choice of the sheds, now all
+but empty, and the huts erected by the maroons near the logwood grove.
+They all declared for sleeping ashore rather than on board ship, Hugh
+Curder and Gabriel Batten, however, volunteering to remain on deck as a
+night watch.
+
+Next day, after the stores and things which Dennis wished to take home
+had been transferred from the cave to the vessel, and several barrels
+of fresh water from the spring in the cliff had been placed in her
+hold, the men broke up into little groups and wandered about the
+island, revelling in their liberty and in the abundance of fruit which
+they could have for the picking.  Several times Dennis went to the
+cliff top on one side and Amos on the other side of the island to scan
+the horizon for a sail, but neither saw any sign of one.  In the
+afternoon Dennis ventured to sound Sir Martin's trumpet as a signal of
+recall, and the men came dropping back in ones and twos and threes in
+anticipation of departure.
+
+The tide was at flood, and Dennis had just given the order to go
+aboard, when Tom Copstone suddenly exclaimed--
+
+"Zuggers!  Where be Gabriel Batten?"
+
+"Is he not here?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Not the ghost of him," said Amos, looking round on the company.
+
+"He were always a ninny-hammer," cried Jan Biddle angrily.  "Never did
+I know such a man for simples and other trash.  Sure he be roaming
+somewheres with his nose to the ground, trying to smell out some herb
+that will heal a scratch or cure a distemper."
+
+"Blow up the trumpet for en," suggested Copstone; "Gabr'el be a vitty
+lad--none the worse for not being made so rampageous as 'ee, Jan
+Biddle, for all he do go wool-gathering at whiles."
+
+Biddle glared at the speaker, but said no more.  Hugh Curder, being the
+man with the brazen lungs, blew a loud blast on the trumpet which set
+the cliffs and the chine reverberating.  They waited; the wanderer must
+have gone far indeed if he was out of earshot of that strident blare.
+But as time went on, and he did not appear, Dennis began to be somewhat
+vexed.
+
+"'Twas thoughtless of the man," he said; "already is the tide beginning
+to ebb, in two hours it will be impossible to embark this night, and
+that entails upon us the loss of another day."
+
+"Embark without him," growled Biddle.  "What is he that he should keep
+a score of good men waiting his pleasure?"
+
+"Nay, nay," said Dennis.  "We cannot leave him here.  You have had your
+sufferings and sorrows, from the like of which God save us all; but is
+there a man of you that hath dwelt alone upon an island, spending
+nights and days without the sight of a face, or the sound of a voice?
+That have I done, and not willingly shall I subject a man to a like
+solitude.  There is still a little space during which the tide will
+serve.  Let us scatter in parties, some going this way, some that, and
+halloo; perchance some of us may light on our comrade."
+
+The suggestion was adopted; only Jan Biddle and his few particular
+friends went about the search grudgingly.  But though the men scoured
+the island from shore to shore, and kept up the quest to the very verge
+of nightfall, long after the tide had run so low that the idea of
+setting sail till next day had to be abandoned, they discovered no
+trace of the straggler, and returned weary and irritable when the
+trumpet recalled them.
+
+"He may come in by and by," said Dennis cheerfully.  "If not we must
+e'en take up the search in the morning.  We shall have a whole day
+wherein to pursue it.  Let us now get our supper and commend ourselves
+and our comrades to God."
+
+"Odspitikins!" cried Jan Biddle.  "What did I say!  What a captain is
+this!  Here be we, twenty-one souls, raped up here for one slummaking
+micher not worth a varden."
+
+"My heart!" shouted Amos, "you were best keep a still tongue in your
+noddle, Jan Biddle, or with the captain's leave I'll clap 'ee in irons
+the instant we go aboard, and keep 'ee under hatches for a sluddering
+mutineer--ay, and larrap 'ee first, I warrant 'ee."
+
+Biddle's experience of the strength of Turnpenny's arm did not
+encourage him to repeat his protest; but when the supper was spread on
+the rocks above the pool, he carried off his portion to a place apart,
+and nursed his wrath among a small group of his comrades who followed
+him.  The malcontents numbered eight in all, and four of these were
+Frenchmen, with whom Biddle could converse freely in their own tongue.
+
+Again they slept ashore, except the two who had been selected to keep
+watch on the vessel.  The precaution seemed hardly necessary, for it
+was unlikely that a hostile ship would appear in the night; but
+Turnpenny had suggested that it was well to keep up the customs
+observed at sea.  The men chosen for this night's watch were two steady
+fellows named William Hawk and Luke Fenton.
+
+Dennis lay awake for some time, talking with Amos about the missing
+man.  Though he had maintained a cheerful composure before the crew, he
+was in reality not a little vexed at the delay caused by the
+thoughtlessness of Gabriel Batten.
+
+"Is it true, what Biddle said," he asked, "about Batten's madness for
+gathering simples?"
+
+"Ay, 'tis true.  He be a vitty lad, as Tom Copstone said, and a good
+seaman, quiet withal; but he has a maggot, and 'tis that, without a
+doubt, that has led him aroaming.  There be a time for everything, and
+though I do not deny that Gabriel's skill in simples has ofttimes
+served us well, 'tis not to be wondered at that the men make a pucker
+about it."
+
+"Well, we must find him to-morrow.  We cannot sail away without him;
+why, there is not even a Mirandola here now to bear him company."
+
+"Be jowned if I don't ballirag en to-morrow for his hanticks,
+od-rat-en!"
+
+Dennis passed a restless night, waking often, to wonder what had become
+of the wanderer.  He resolved to set out himself as soon as dawn broke,
+and take advantage of his knowledge of the island to search thoroughly.
+Finding himself unable to sleep again, he got up while the chine was
+still in darkness, and walked to the edge of the cliff overlooking the
+pool.  In the gloom he could just see the dark form of the _Maid
+Marian_; but then he started, rubbed his eyes, looked again, and felt a
+shock of amazement when he realized that the other vessel was no longer
+there.  Next moment it flashed upon him that she must have dragged her
+moorings and floated away on the very last of the ebb-tide, and the
+fact that no alarm had been given seemed to show that the watchers had
+fallen asleep, overcome by the sweltering heat of the tropical night.
+
+Calling to Amos, he set off at full speed down the cliff towards the
+opening of the gully, narrowly escaping a serious fall in the darkness.
+He was much relieved to see, on rounding the shoulder of the cliff, the
+dark hull of the vessel in front of him.  The tide was so low that it
+was marvellous she had floated so far without grounding, and the
+thought that she might strike a reef and cause further delay while
+repairs were made prompted a vigorous shout, to waken the neglectful
+watch ere it was too late.  But there came no answering hail from the
+vessel; and fearing that, even if she did not run aground, the men on
+board might not have sufficient seamanship to bring her back in safety,
+he dived into the water and struck out in her wake.
+
+As he did so, he heard footsteps behind him, two or three voices, and
+the sound of another splash.  Evidently some one had followed him.  The
+_Mirandola_ was moving very slowly; the motion of the tide was indeed
+almost imperceptible, and Dennis, being a good swimmer, soon came under
+her counter.  Catching hold, by a happy chance as he thought, of a rope
+that had formed her mooring cable, he swarmed hand over hand up the
+side and on to the deck.  But no sooner had his feet touched the planks
+than two figures sprang towards him, a blanket was thrown over his
+head, and before he could utter a sound he was flung down, gagged, and
+pinioned.
+
+Even through the thick folds of the blanket Dennis was able to hear a
+great scuffling on board within a few seconds of his own discomfiture.
+Then all was still, except for the muffled tones of his captors'
+voices.  He could not hear what they said, but it was not long before
+he knew from the greater motion of the vessel that they must have
+hoisted sail.  Not for a moment did he doubt the meaning of it all.
+Who but Jan Biddle and his fellow malcontents would have had the daring
+to run off with the vessel?  The man was a ruffian in looks, and Dennis
+had already had several evidences of his turbulent spirit.  And, lying
+helpless and half smothered on the deck, he did not have to seek far
+for the motive of the act.  It was not merely chagrin at being denied a
+rank; the man knew that there were pearls in the hold, a valuable
+treasure, and his treachery was prompted by cupidity.  He had supposed,
+Dennis suspected, that as a simple mariner among the crew he would get
+but a small portion of the treasure when it should be divided, and
+persuaded some of the men to make this attempt to secure the whole.
+Angry as he was, Dennis could not withhold a certain admiration for the
+man's daring; and then he fell a-wondering why he had not been struck
+on the head and killed outright; a ruffian like Biddle would hardly
+have spared him from any feeling of compunction.
+
+How long Dennis lay half stifled under the blanket he could not tell.
+Hours seemed to have passed when it was at last removed, and he could
+breathe freely.  And there, beside him, lay Amos Turnpenny, gagged like
+himself.  Jan Biddle and several of his comrades stood over them,
+grinning with malicious triumph.
+
+"Pegs, Captain," said the man, "you do seem betoatled.  Thought the
+vessel had broke a-loose, I reckon.  And so she had--eh, comrades?"
+
+"Ho! ho!" laughed the men, vastly appreciating their leader's joke.
+
+"Now, we be eight, young master captain,--stout fellows, but a small
+crew for this vessel.  You be in our power, you and Haymoss too, for
+all he be a rare fustilugs; and down a-hold lie Bill Hawk and Luke
+Fenton, that kept but a ninny-watch, to be sure.  Wherefore we be
+twelve all told, enough for the manage of this craft.  Haymoss will not
+be boatswain, to be sure, nor you captain; I be captain; boatswain is
+French Michel yonder; but 'ee can take your choice,--help to work this
+vessel, or walk the plank.  Now I will loose your gags, and you and
+Haymoss can talk the matter out, and when ye've made up your minds
+we'll unbind 'ee, or tumble 'ee overboard, according."
+
+Left to themselves, Dennis and Turnpenny were not long in deciding on
+their course of action.  They were at present outnumbered; they had to
+accept the inevitable.  Their assistance would be very valuable in the
+working of the vessel, and Biddle, in spite of his assured bearing, was
+by no means so confident in his seamanship and skill as he tried to
+make himself appear.  After his treacherous conduct he had no reason to
+suppose that Turnpenny would lift a finger to make good his
+deficiencies; on the other hand it was not to the interest of the
+prisoners that the ship should come to grief through mishandling, and
+Biddle knew that in extremity Turnpenny's instinct of seamanship would
+forbid him to hold aloof.
+
+But while Dennis and the mariner agreed that they had no choice but to
+accept the position with what grace they might, they resolved to bide
+their time for getting the vessel again under their control and
+returning to the island.
+
+"My poor comrades and me be parted again," said Amos, with a sigh.
+"'Tis true it will not be so bad for them upon the island as 'twas for
+us.  But there they be, and there they must bide until we can fetch 'em
+off."
+
+"And mayhap the Spaniards will land before we can get back to them, and
+then God help the poor fellows.  There is little chance we two can
+overpower these eight villains; we can but hope on."
+
+Having acquainted Biddle with their decision, they were cast loose, and
+sat beneath the break of the poop watching their captors' attempts at
+navigation.  The vessel had rounded the easternmost point of the island
+and was running before a south-south-westerly wind.  But it made little
+progress; as the day wore on the breeze died away, and the island was
+still in sight as the sun gradually sank in the western sky.  The
+mutineers cast somewhat anxious glances around, as if fearing that the
+comrades they had betrayed might even now find some means of following
+them.  But as the island gradually faded into the dusk their spirits
+rose, and having broached one of the few jars of wine which had been
+left in the cabin, they began to boast of the success of their trick.
+Biddle even acquainted the prisoners with the manner in which it had
+been carried out.  In the darkness they had surprised the watch on
+board, and cut the cable mooring the vessel to a tree at the side of
+the gully; then seven of them had lowered the jolly-boat and in it
+towed the ship past the shoulder of the cliff until the sails caught
+the wind and it was carried free of the shore.  He told Dennis
+exultantly that if he had swum out three or four minutes earlier the
+plot would have been defeated, for only he was then on board, at the
+helm.  But just before Dennis scrambled on board the others had
+clambered up by the fore chains, and his cry and plunge having been
+heard, there had been time to arrange for his reception.
+
+The crescent moon, which had somewhat favoured the attack on the fort,
+had now increased in size, and threw a thin silvery light upon the sea.
+Biddle, among a little group of his comrades, was still recounting his
+achievement for the benefit of Dennis and Turnpenny when the look-out
+shouted that he spied a vessel to windward.
+
+"What care I for a vessel to windward!" cried the man.  "We'll give her
+the slip in the dark.  I, Jan Biddle, be captain now; ay, what did Hugh
+Curder sing t'other day?
+
+  Here is a master excelleth in skill,
+  And our master's mate he is not to seek.
+
+That be Dick Rackstraw, Haymoss, a merry soul, not a glumping galliment
+like 'ee.
+
+  And here is a boatswain will do his good will----
+
+not you, Haymoss; you be boatswain no longer; 'tis French Michel, a
+deal better man.
+
+  And here is a ship-boy----
+
+why, hang me if we won't make a ship-boy of our noble captain,
+comrades.  'Tis a stripling, to be sure, and I warrant will be none the
+worse for a smitch o' tar on his fingers.  Ees, we'll make him
+ship-boy, we will so.  Ho! ho!
+
+  And here is a ship-boy----"
+
+
+But his mirth and the gleeful shouts of the others were suddenly
+checked when the look-out cried that he saw a second, and then a third
+vessel.  Biddle sprang up with an oath and ran to the taffrail.  What
+he saw did not lessen his alarm.  The three strangers were coming up on
+a broad front, half a mile between them.  They were evidently bringing
+a freshening breeze with them, for they had not been visible when
+darkness first fell.  It was clear to a mariner's eye that the bark
+would have to show her best sailing powers if she was to escape.  She
+had been sailing under foresail and mainsail only, but now in frantic
+haste the crew, in obedience to Biddle's orders, set the topsails and
+the topgallants.  But before the effect of this was apparent the
+approaching ships had crept up within gun range.  It was not long in
+doubt whether they had seen the _Mirandola_, and were making straight
+for her.  A flash was seen from the bows of one of the vessels; a few
+seconds afterwards a muffled roar was heard.
+
+"Blank charge!" said Turnpenny to Dennis.  "'Tis a word of warning."
+
+Biddle only shouted a defiant curse.  The bark was now feeling the full
+force of the wind, and was making good headway.  It appeared likely
+that, running before the wind, she could hold her own with the
+strangers.  A minute later another gun was fired, and this time with no
+harmless intent, for there was a great splash in the water a little
+ahead of the _Mirandola_ on the starboard side.  After a short
+interval, a third discharge shook the air, and the mutineers raised an
+exultant shout when they saw the splash some distance astern.  It was
+clear that, if the guns had been fired with the same elevation, the
+chase was drawing away.  The dropping of a fourth and fifth shot still
+farther astern left no room for doubt.
+
+"What say you now, master boatswain as was!" cried Biddle,
+triumphantly.  "Bean't Jan Biddle as good a mariner as Haymoss
+Turnpenny?
+
+  Here be a master excelleth in skill."
+
+
+"My heart! it be a true saying, don't halloo till 'ee be out o' the
+wood," said Amos, grimly.
+
+"Zuggers! but you be a molkit, Haymoss, a molly-caudle to be sure.  Go
+aft, Haymoss, and cuddle the ship-boy and say your prayers."
+
+Turnpenny raised his arm to strike the insolent fellow, but Dennis
+whispered him to let it pass; there was nothing to be gained by a fight
+at the present moment, even supposing they prevailed against the odds.
+
+Hour after hour the chase continued.  The moon went down, but still the
+three vessels could be seen in the dim starlight.  Clearly the
+_Mirandola_, good sailor as she was, could not shake them off.  Biddle
+ceased to boast; his blustering confidence was changing to dismay, for
+he now perceived that though he had drawn further and further away from
+the vessel that had fired, her consort to windward was becoming more
+clearly visible.  He had not reckoned on so obstinate a chase;
+moreover, being unable to read a chart, he had no idea whither the
+vessel was heading.  There was no chance of doubling.  To alter the
+course would be to lose time, and allow the persistent pursuer to make
+up on her.  She seemed indeed to be gradually decreasing the distance
+between them, though the other two were out of sight.
+
+So the chase went on through the hours of darkness, and daybreak showed
+two vessels far astern, but the third without doubt creeping up slowly
+but surely.  Biddle, weary with the long night's work, was in a sullen
+rage; the other men watched the pursuer with undisguised terror; Dennis
+and Turnpenny, holding themselves aloof, looked on with curiosity and
+something of amusement.
+
+"Jan Biddle be no fool," said Turnpenny once.  "I could not have
+handled the craft better myself.  But 'tis not an end."
+
+Then, when the spirits of the crew were depressed to the lowest, an
+early morning mist settled down upon the sea, blotting the pursuer from
+sight.
+
+"Jaykle! 'tis a mercy!" cried Biddle, rousing himself.
+
+He instantly changed the course of the vessel.
+
+"We'll fool them this mizzly morn," he said.  "Mum's the word now,
+comrades."
+
+Dead silence was maintained on board, and for some hours the bark made
+steady headway through the mist.  Dennis could not but admire the
+mutineer's fine recklessness.  Without any sure knowledge of his
+bearings he held the vessel steadily to the wind, though she might at
+any moment strike a coral reef or even run aground on one of the
+innumerable islets that studded the gulf.  He was bent only on escaping
+the dreaded grip of the Spaniards.
+
+At length the fog began to clear, dissipated by the increasing heat of
+the mounting sun.  The crew strained their eyes through the eddying
+mist, to assure themselves that the pursuer, as they hoped, had been
+deluded by the change of course.  But they were appalled, and looked
+from one to another with a gasp of dismay, when they saw, less than
+half a league distant, a large Spanish galleon holding exactly the same
+course as themselves.  Far down on the southern horizon another sail
+could be seen.
+
+"What I'd have done myself," said Turnpenny to Dennis.  "The Spanish
+skipper be no fool neither.  When the mist came down he guessed the
+manoeuvres of Master Jan, and afore he was closed in by it he had time
+to signal the others to make off, one east, t'other sou'east, while he
+held on the same course, thereby making sure that we'd still be in
+sight of one or other of 'em when the mist lifted.  Ah! lookeedesee,
+sir; there's a flag a-running up the galleon's forepeak.  'Tis a signal
+to the others to come and join the chase.  Be jowned if Jan Biddle
+han't got to run the race all over again!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The Demi-Culverin
+
+Jan Biddle's face was the image of despairing rage when he saw how he
+had been outwitted.  But he stuck gamely to the helm.  The _Mirandola_
+was now carrying every stitch of canvas possible; her only chance, and
+that but a slight one, was to fly on before the wind.  Dennis was
+tingling with excitement.  Here was the bark, cutting through the water
+at a spanking rate; there the larger galleon, speeding after her under
+press of sail, and two other vessels equally large coming up from the
+south.  He had forgotten that he was a prisoner--forgotten everything
+but the fact that the implacable enemy was at his heels.
+
+Suddenly he saw the galleon luff up in the wind, and noticed a lift of
+the foresail.
+
+"Now she's at us!" cried Amos at his elbow, scarcely less excited.
+
+From the bows of the galleon came a spout of white smoke, blown back
+amid the sails and rigging, and disappearing in a long wispy trail to
+leeward.  The report of the gun followed close, and the shot plumped
+into the sea less than twenty yards astern.
+
+"Be jowned if it do not put me in mind of brave doings on the _Anne
+Gallant_" said Turnpenny.  "'Twas well aimed; an they get our range,
+'tis heigh for our pearls and pieces of eight!"
+
+A second shot came, falling about the same distance short of the mark.
+A third and fourth followed at intervals, neither hitting the vessel,
+each failure greeted with a yell from the crew, who seemed now to have
+lost their terror in the sheer excitement of the chase.  On swept the
+gallant _Mirandola_, showers of spray flashing over her bows, her
+slender masts swaying and creaking under the stress of her bellying
+canvas.  Then a shot whistled over the masthead.
+
+"Too high, too high!" shouted Amos.  "She's got our range now, to a
+surety; would they but depress the gun and our cockle-shell would be
+shivered to splinters.  Jan Biddle be a better man than I took him for;
+see the sinews of his arms as he grips the helm.  My heart! but he be a
+mazy Jack to think he can 'scape that tantarabobs.  Ah!"
+
+His final exclamation was occasioned by the effect of another shot from
+the enemy's bow-chaser.  It struck the taffrail, and cast up a huge
+splinter which flew straight across the poop.  Next moment Jan Biddle
+was stretched senseless beside the helm, and the helm taking charge,
+the ship ran off before the wind.  The crew were aghast.  Biddle was
+their captain, but he was more; he was the soul of their enterprise.
+Without him they were as a flock of sheep.  Not a man of them was fit
+to direct.  Some cried out for surrendering; the bolder spirits howled
+them down, swearing it were better to sink with the ship than to return
+to the servitude from which they had but lately escaped.  When Biddle
+fell, Amos, with the instinct of the mariner, had rushed towards the
+unmanned helm.
+
+"Sir, 'tis our turn," he called to Dennis.  "Let us do what we can to
+save this vessel, and od-rabbit the mutineers!"
+
+He leapt to the helm, seized it in his iron grip, and brought the ship
+once more to the wind.
+
+"See!" said Dennis at his side.  "Yonder streak on the horizon is
+surely the mainland.  Is not our only chance to win the coast?  We
+cannot escape by mere sailing, but there will be shallows amid which
+perchance we may slip away as at Maiden Isle.  Shall we not attempt it,
+Amos?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir.  We'll run inshore, and methinks I know a trick will help
+us."
+
+At this moment another shot fell and ploughed up the deck, striking up
+a shower of splinters in all directions.  Again arose cries for
+surrender; but Dennis shouted to the frantic men:
+
+"Amos is at the helm.  Trust to him.  Remember what he did at the fort.
+Never surrender to the dogs of Spain.  We will 'scape them even yet."
+
+At his words they plucked up heart; all they wanted was a leader; and
+when Turnpenny declared that land was in sight, and that he'd be jowned
+if he didn't cheat the don Spaniards, they answered with a cheer.
+
+Outclassed as the _Mirandola_ was in sailing before the wind, it
+occurred to Amos that she might show to better advantage in working to
+windward.  Accordingly he altered her course a few points.  The
+immediate effect was that the enemy gained a little, and with a broader
+target succeeded twice in hulling the vessel.  Apparently the shots did
+little damage, for she still rode the waters buoyantly, and after some
+time, to the joy of the crew, it was seen that the gap between the two
+ships was sensibly widening.  But now a more serious danger threatened
+the gallant bark.  The second of the enemy's vessels, which was some
+distance to windward when the mist lifted, was rapidly making towards a
+point where she might intercept the _Mirandola_ and drive her back
+towards the galleon which she had just escaped.  Turnpenny's seamanship
+was capable of no more.  To tack would have been to run into the lion's
+jaws; to bear up would have been equally hopeless; all he could do was
+to stand on, and possibly weather the vessel ahead.
+
+He explained the difficulty to Dennis, who was still at his side.
+Dennis knew no trick of navigation that would meet the case; but
+racking his wits to find some means of helping the hardy mariner, he
+suddenly asked himself whether it were not possible to use one of the
+guns he had brought as trophies from the fort.  They were big guns,
+quite disproportionate to so small a vessel as the _Mirandola_.  To
+fire them might do more damage to her than to the enemy.  But it was a
+moment when something might well be risked, and he mentioned his idea
+to Turnpenny.
+
+"Good-now, 'tis a brave notion!" cried the mariner.  "Do 'ee grab the
+helm, sir; head her straight for the coast; Ise warrant 'ee I'll soon
+give the villain a mouthful of iron."
+
+Amos rushed amidships, called all the crew about him, set some of them
+to rig up the tackle blocks by which the weapons had been lowered into
+the hold, and himself knocked off the hatch and descended.  His first
+proceeding was to unloose William Hawk and Luke Fenton, the two men who
+had been surprised by the mutineers, and had since lain side by side in
+no enviable state of mind or body.
+
+"Od rabbit 'ee for a brace of numskulls!" he exclaimed.  "Get 'ee up
+and come show a leg, now."
+
+With their assistance he slung the demi-culverin by its pomelion, and
+the men above hoisted it to the deck; the carriage followed, then its
+ammunition, and Amos set about mounting it.  There was no time to lug
+it to the quarter-deck.  Amos ordered the men to place the carriage,
+consisting of two "cheeks" or side-pieces held together by thick
+cross-pieces of wood, on the waist; then the cannon was slung on to it,
+the clamps were fixed over the trunnions, and a quoin was driven under
+the gun to prevent it from sagging towards the breech.  When mounted on
+the fort it had not been secured by breechings, but Amos quickly made
+ready a length of stout rope, fastened one end to the gun, and clinched
+the other to ring-bolts in the vessel's side.  This would check the
+recoil when the gun was fired.
+
+Amos was now in his element.  He had not been for nothing gunner's mate
+aboard the _Anne Gallant_ twenty-five years before.  He lost no time in
+loading the piece with round shot; then, all being ready, he ran back
+to instruct Dennis how to bring the vessel round when he gave the word.
+He found that Biddle, who had merely been stunned by the flying
+splinter, was now sitting with his back against the taffrail, watching
+these proceedings in a sullen envy.
+
+"The Spaniard will draw closer when we yaw, sir," said Amos, "but that
+we cannot help; and 'tis a mercy we are out of range of her bow-chaser."
+
+"Is she not beyond range of our gun, Amos?"
+
+"Nare a bit, sir.  Our demi-culverin is bigger, I'se warrant, than any
+gun she has aboard.  Point-blank her range be a hundred fathoms; but I
+reckon I can hit the knave at six hundred at the least.  Put the helm
+down when I call, and then I'll send an apple aboard will be ill to
+digest."
+
+He returned to the gun, and sang out to Dennis; he put the helm down,
+the vessel yawed, and when she lay broadside to the pursuer, Amos
+carefully laid the piece, aiming directly at the fore-mast.  He waited
+till the vessel rose on the next wave, then gave the word to William
+Hawk, who stood by the breech with lighted match.  The match was
+applied; there was a deafening roar, followed by a sound of rending;
+the _Mirandola_ quivered from stem to stern; and through the smoke it
+was seen that the gun had jumped clean out of the carriage and was
+lying against the step of the mainmast.  Amos ran to it in haste,
+fearing that it might have burst in the discharge.  But it was
+uninjured.  Several planks amidships had been started; the mainmast was
+heavily scored; and a number of round shot were rolling about the
+waist.  Amos shouted to the men to remount the gun and sponge it out,
+while he ran to the side to see what the effect of the shot had been,
+calling to Dennis to put the helm up again and head the vessel on her
+former course.
+
+The smoke had cleared away, and Amos saw that the pursuer had gained
+considerably, and was still coming on apparently undamaged.  But a few
+minutes later he uttered a shout of glee.  There was a bustle in the
+forepart of the Spanish ship; men were crowding to the gunwale; and
+Amos perceived that they were letting a sail down over the side.
+
+"I hit her betwixt wind and water," he cried to Dennis.  "They are
+letting down a sail to stop the leak.  True, I aimed at the foremast,
+but she rose somewhat quicker than I did guess and so 'scaped with a
+hulling."
+
+"But she has gained on us, Amos.  The hurt she has suffered does not
+abate her speed."
+
+"Truly, so it is, but I will give her another so soon as the gun is
+righted, and call me a joulter-head an I do not deal her such a blow
+that she'll tottle like a man fair buddled."
+
+Dennis called to Luke Fenton to take the helm, while he went forward to
+scan the horizon for the hazy streak which he had taken, half an hour
+before, for the shore-line.  He had barely reached the cut-water when
+he heard the roar of a gun and the sound of a crashing blow.  For an
+instant the vessel's head fell off, and turning hastily he saw Jan
+Biddle rushing to the helm.  A round shot from the enemy's bow-chaser
+had fallen smack upon the poop, smashing the binnacle, and killing poor
+Fenton instantly.  Only Biddle's prompt action had saved the ship from
+yawing and presenting her broadside to the pursuer.
+
+Seeing that the helm was in safe hands, Dennis turned once more and
+glanced anxiously towards the shore, which was now beginning to loom
+large to windward.  Was it possible, he wondered, to reach it before he
+could be cut off by the second Spanish vessel?  He measured the
+distance with his eye, and his heart sank as he perceived that, if she
+held her present course, the Spaniard could not fail to run across the
+bows of the _Mirandola_ long before she could gain the coast.  It
+seemed that he must choose between surrendering and fighting against
+heavy odds.  But certainly one ship would be easier to deal with than
+two; might not another fortunate shot from the demi-culverin cripple
+the vessel in chase, and so enable the _Mirandola_ to get away from one
+of her pursuers?  Dennis did not forget that there was still a third
+vessel somewhere to leeward, but she was at present out of sight.
+
+By this time the gun had been righted and reloaded.  Dennis hastened to
+rejoin Amos.
+
+"Shall I take the helm again, or leave it to Biddle?" he asked.
+
+"Fegs, I say leave it to him, and do 'ee take the match, sir.  I'se
+warrant 'ee'd be quicker than Billy Hawk.  Biddle will port the helm
+when I give the word; he hates you and me, but he hates the Spaniards
+worse."
+
+This time the gun had been loaded with chain shot.  At a hail from
+Amos, Biddle put the helm down, the vessel swung round, and as soon as
+she was broadside to the enemy Amos carefully laid the gun, loosening
+the quoin, and thereby elevating the muzzle, which he pointed straight
+for the pursuer's foremast.  But the enemy was now more alert.  At the
+first sign of the _Mirandola_ yawing the galleon began to swing round
+by the stern, so that the two vessels came broadside on within a few
+moments of each other.  Those few moments gave time for Amos to resight
+his gun.  Dennis stood ready, match in hand.
+
+"Now!" said the mariner, as the _Mirandola_ sank on the roll while the
+galleon rose.
+
+The gun spoke.  Only a second or two later it seemed to the crew of the
+_Mirandola_ that the end of all things must have come.  With a
+thunderous roar the whole broadside of the enemy burst upon them.  Some
+of the enemy's shots passed clean over the smaller vessel; her masts
+almost miraculously escaped harm, but her hull was struck in half a
+dozen places, and her long-boat splintered to atoms.  And the big gun,
+breaking loose from its extemporized breechings, recoiled obliquely
+across the waist, smashed through the forecastle, and plunged with a
+resounding splash into the sea.  Some of the men were groaning in pain;
+the Frenchmen were flat on their faces beseeching their saints; Dennis
+found himself in a heap by the break of the poop; for the moment Amos
+was not to be seen.
+
+Dennis picked himself up and peered through the smoke to see whether
+the enemy had suffered any hurt.  To his joy he saw that both the
+foremast and the mainmast of the galleon had been shattered.
+Turnpenny's shot had cut away the shrouds of the foremast, causing this
+to snap off, and struck the mainmast fair and square.  The enemy's
+decks were smothered under a medley of spars and rigging; it was clear
+that the galleon was out of action, and already the _Mirandola_ was
+rapidly drawing away.  This her crew perceived, and the air was rent
+with a tremendous shout of triumph.
+
+But their exultation was short-lived.  Half a minute later Amos came up
+the hatchway and hurried aft.
+
+"Sir, there be three terrible rents in the hull below water.  I feared
+as much when I felt the shots strike the vessel.  The galleon's masts
+must have fallen just as the knaves were a-firing, and so the most of
+her shots struck us low."
+
+"Can we stop the leaks?"
+
+"I fear, I fear!  But we'll try."
+
+In a few minutes a sail was lowered over the side, and at the same time
+two of the men ran below and tried to stop the leaks from within.  But
+in spite of all efforts the water gained, and in the course of half an
+hour it was plain to all on board that the vessel must founder unless
+she could be run ashore in time.
+
+While the men were still doing their best to check the inrush of the
+water, Dennis and Turnpenny went forward to calculate their chances.
+
+"'Tis a good ten mile away," said Turnpenny, "and we be going slower
+every minute."
+
+"True.  But see, the other vessel yonder, that might have cut us off,
+has altered her course.  She is standing to her consort's aid."
+
+"God be praised for that, but I fear we shall be water-logged in no
+long time, and then she can overhaul us at her ease.  In an hour we
+must take to the jollyboat.  'Tis a God's mercy that was not smashed up
+like the long-boat."
+
+"Then we'll put our stores aboard her at once, so that we lose no time
+when the moment comes.  And I do not give up hope, even now, of running
+the bark ashore."
+
+But in half an hour it was clear that the case was hopeless.  The men
+came running from below with the news that the water was gaining more
+and more rapidly; the vessel was settling down; her motion had almost
+ceased.  And the situation was rendered the more alarming by the fact
+that during this half-hour the uninjured galleon, having found
+apparently that her consort was in no immediate danger of sinking, had
+again altered her course and was now in hot pursuit.  It was to be a
+race to the shore.
+
+The jolly-boat had already been stored with provisions, water, and a
+number of calivers with their ammunition.  At the last moment Dennis
+and Turnpenny brought from below the bags of pearls from the cabin in
+which they had been locked.  Then Dennis ordered the boat to be
+lowered, the crew quickly went down the side and entered her.  Two of
+the men had been so badly hurt by the enemy's shot that they had to be
+lowered into the boat.  Fenton was dead, so that the whole effective
+company now numbered only nine men.  The wounded men were laid in the
+bows, Dennis took the tiller, and the remaining eight gave way with a
+will, knowing that hanging would be their mildest fate if they fell
+again into the enemy's hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Juan the Maroon
+
+It was now past midday, and the sun's rays beat down upon them with
+cruel power.  Yet none of them was glad when the wind freshened,
+bringing a touch of coolth; for it filled the sails of the vessel in
+chase, which loomed ever larger and larger in their wake.  The land
+appeared to be very close, but to Dennis's anxious eyes it scarcely
+seemed to grow closer.  For mile after mile the rowers toiled on in the
+sweltering heat.  Dennis ventured to leave the tiller for a few moments
+to give them water when they flagged.  One of the men collapsed, and
+Dennis crawled to his thwart and took his oar, bidding him go to the
+tiller.  So the chase went on, until, when the boat was still more than
+a mile from land, the enemy began to fire.  The mere sight of the shots
+splashing in the sea astern stirred the wearied rowers to renewed
+efforts.  When, after a few minutes, a shot fell immediately in their
+wake, sending up a terrific burst of spray, their energy seemed to be
+doubled again.
+
+[Illustration: "A shot fell immediately in their wake."]
+
+Dennis now had his back to the shore.  It could not, he thought, be
+more than half a mile away: how far would the enemy venture to follow
+them?  Surely she would not come much farther, at the imminent risk of
+running aground on a shoal.  He saw a man at the chains taking
+soundings.  Then suddenly the vessel was thrown into the wind, and she
+fired the whole of her broadside, in the hope, no doubt, that at least
+one shot would strike the target.  The men were so played out that they
+were not able even to raise a feeble cheer when they found that they
+had escaped scot-free.  Any gladness they may have felt was
+extinguished as soon as the smoke cleared away and the enemy perceived
+that they had failed to hit the boat.  The galleon had hove to: the
+Spaniard was lowering her boats; and in a few minutes all three,
+long-boat, cock-boat, and jolly-boat, crowded with men, came sweeping
+across the water.
+
+But they were as yet half a mile away; looking over his shoulder Dennis
+judged that his boat was now within less than a quarter-mile of the
+shore.  Calling cheerfully to the men for a final spurt, he bade the
+steersman run them aground on the first shoal or spit of land that
+presented itself.  A minute later the boat was brought up with a jerk.
+The men flung down their oars and began with desperate haste to gather
+up some of the stores and the weapons.
+
+"Billy Hawk, take the treasure," said Turnpenny.
+
+But Biddle was too quick for him.  Hawk managed to secure one of the
+goatskin bags; Biddle seized the two others.  There was no time to make
+any alteration.  Trembling with their exertions, the men were
+staggering up the beach, some loaded with articles from the boat, some
+carrying the two wounded men.  Amos, remaining till the last, drove a
+boat anchor through the bottom and hastened after the others.  But the
+Spaniards' boats, fully manned with crews fresh and vigorous, had sped
+over the water at a tremendous rate, and it seemed to Dennis, looking
+back and marking how near they were to land, that after all he and his
+party stood but a poor chance of getting away.  In the three boats
+there were at least sixty well-armed men.  It was clearly their
+intention to run ashore and continue the pursuit on land.  Within half
+an hour they must be upon them.
+
+There was only a few yards of beach.  The thick vegetation came down
+almost to the water's edge.  It was a wild part of the shore; not a
+path was to be seen through the undergrowth, and beyond rose the
+forest.  But the foremost of the fugitives had struck out a way for
+themselves through the plants, and Dennis and Turnpenny hurried along,
+bringing up the rear.
+
+The fugitives were greatly impeded by the necessity of carrying the
+wounded men and the stores.  Even when they reached the forest, where
+there was less undergrowth, their pace must be slower than that of the
+Spaniards, who had only their arms to carry.  And to avoid them was
+quite impossible, for the Spaniards were not unused to tracking runaway
+slaves, and would not fail to follow up the broad trail left by the
+party.
+
+"'Tis vain to go farther," said Dennis to Amos, as they hastened on.
+"We must be caught.  And we shall need all the poor remnant of our
+strength.  Yonder is a thick clump of bush where with our calivers we
+may perchance give pause to the enemy.  I will run on and tell our
+comrades ahead to betake themselves thither."
+
+"Ay, do so, though meseems 'tis but to stay for our death.  You be
+lighter of foot than me.  I will go into the thicket and there hide."
+
+Dennis ran forward, but had not gone far when he found the two wounded
+men lying on the ground, deserted by their bearers.  The rest of the
+party had disappeared.  Part of the stores also had been abandoned.
+Clearly the men had bolted, perhaps in panic fright at some noise in
+the forest, perhaps--Dennis saw in a flash the explanation.  Among the
+things abandoned there was no sign of the bags of treasure.  Even at
+this critical moment Jan Biddle's cupidity had got the better of all
+other feelings, and he had made off with the booty and his fellow
+mutineers.
+
+Dennis bent over the wounded men.  One was past help; the shock of
+being left to his fate had hastened the end that was probably in any
+case inevitable.  The other man Dennis helped to bring back to where
+Amos had taken up his position.
+
+"Where be Billy Hawk, then?" said Turnpenny, when Dennis had acquainted
+him with what had happened.  "He had one of the bags of pearls.
+Od-rat-en for a traitorous faggett!"
+
+But his attention was immediately diverted from Billy Hawk's
+shortcomings by the sight of the enemy making their way through the
+trees.  Dennis and the mariner had no hope of saving themselves.  They
+two could not contend long with numbers so overwhelming.  But they were
+resolved not to surrender.  They knew well--Amos by experience, Dennis
+by the tales he had heard--what their fate would be as captives.  Their
+whole aim was to sell their lives as dearly as might be.  Amos had
+already kindled matches for their calivers.  These as they burnt gave
+out an acrid smoke, which was bound to attract the attention of the
+Spaniards if they came near.  Confident of their immense superiority in
+point of numbers, even if the whole band of fugitives stood up against
+them, the enemy were pressing forward without caution.  Dennis for a
+moment debated with himself whether to fire on them or let them pass.
+He owed nothing to Jan Biddle and the mutineers.  Twice had they
+behaved treacherously towards him; they would receive no more than
+their deserts if he allowed the Spaniards to go by unmolested.  But
+then he reflected that after all some of the fugitives were his
+fellow-countrymen; all had been miserable slaves; and what he had
+learned of the Spaniards' dealings with those in their power made him
+regard them as enemies of mankind.
+
+Turnpenny for his part had no scruples.  To him, as to the majority of
+the Englishmen of his time, the Spaniard was a hateful oppressor, who
+appropriated the riches of the New World in order to set the nations of
+the Old by the ears.  Even if he had not suffered personally at their
+hands, the whole race of Spaniards was in his eyes no better than
+vermin.  So when Dennis gave the word, he levelled his caliver with
+right good will at the body of men that presented so easy a target, as
+they came hurrying through the forest.  The two fired together; one man
+fell; the rest halted, looking about them with an air of fright that
+set Dennis mightily wondering.  While they hesitated, Amos and he
+reloaded with what haste they might, and had not completed that
+troublesome process when the enemy, plucking up courage, advanced again
+in somewhat more extended order, firing as they marched.  Bullets
+pattered on the tree trunks all around.  Dennis had come scatheless
+through the action at sea, but now he felt a burning pang in his
+forearm, and saw that the sleeve of his doublet was singed.  But at the
+same moment he heard a deep sigh from the wounded man who lay at his
+feet.  The poor wretch had again been hit.  There was no time to attend
+either to him or to his own wound, for the Spaniards, taking heart at
+the cessation of the fire from the copse, were preparing to make a rush.
+
+By this time both Dennis and Turnpenny had reloaded, and stood waiting
+to make a last stand against what they felt must be an irresistible
+attack.  To their amazement, however, just when they were expecting to
+hear the order to charge, they saw that a number of the enemy had swung
+round, and were facing towards the coast, the direction in which they
+had come.  Next moment there was a yell from among the trees: "Yo peho!
+yo peho!"  The strange cry was taken up at point after point, until the
+whole surrounding forest seemed to ring with fierce whoops and
+battle-cries.  Then they caught sight of dark figures flitting among
+the trees beyond the Spaniards, who had now clearly given up the idea
+of advancing, and were crowded in a serried mass to meet another foe.
+There was the sharp crackle of fire-arms, followed by the twang of
+bow-strings.  A long arrow whizzed past Dennis's ear, perilously close.
+The newcomers had formed, as it appeared, an immense semicircle about
+the Spaniards; several of these had fallen, and the semicircle seemed
+to be drawing ever closer.
+
+"The maroons!  O Jaykle!" whispered Turnpenny.
+
+Driven together now into a compact body, the Spaniards fired a volley.
+Before the smoke had cleared away, from all around the maroons, dusky
+forms clad in smocks that reached their knees, were among them.  Then
+began a desperate hand-to-hand fight.  The Spaniards, in their turn
+outnumbered by three to one, were wielding their swords with the
+courage of despair against the javelins of their furious yelling enemy,
+striving to break through the ring.
+
+"Yo peho! yo peho!"  The maroon war-cry rose ever fiercer and fiercer.
+It was an affair of a few minutes.  Half of the Spaniards were on the
+ground; the survivors broke and scattered, some speeding towards the
+copse, forgetful that their first check had come from thence.
+Turnpenny levelled his caliver and fired at the foremost of them.
+
+"Shoot 'em, sir!" he cried to Dennis, who had hesitated, feeling some
+compunction.  "Shoot 'em, or we shall have the maroons in upon us, and
+they will not stop to ask our names."
+
+Dennis fired.  The Spaniards broke away to the left, and dashed into
+the forest, pursued hotly by the exultant maroons.  Seeing that the
+tide had passed them by, Turnpenny stepped out into the open and,
+raising his arms, shouted "Amigos!" at the top of his voice to the
+maroons within hail.  One or two let fly their arrows at him; some were
+about to fire; but a big fellow among them called loudly to them in a
+tongue that the Englishman did not understand.
+
+"My heart, 'tis Juan!" cried Turnpenny, and as the man advanced towards
+them Dennis recognised the leader of the maroons he had rescued on the
+island--the man who had with Amos supported the ladder for his climb
+into Fort Aguila.
+
+Juan shook hands with them with every sign of delight.  While the
+others continued the pursuit, he explained to Amos that his attention
+had been attracted by the sound of firing at sea, and from a point some
+distance along the coast he had watched, from among the trees, the race
+in the boats.  Never loath to seize a chance of striking a blow at the
+hated Spaniards, he had hurried with his comrades along the fringe of
+forest.  He was overjoyed to think that the men whom his sudden
+onslaught had saved were his old friends and the leaders of the attack
+on Fort Aguila.  He invited them to accompany him to his village deep
+in the forest, and wound a horn to recall his comrades.  Within a few
+minutes they were all assembled.  The Englishmen recognized among them
+some who had been with them at the attack on the fort.  Soon they were
+on the march.  They took no prisoners; it was not the maroons' way to
+spare any Spaniard who fell into their hands.  Four of them carried the
+twice-wounded sailor, but ere they had gone far he succumbed to his
+hurts, and they buried him under leaves in the forest.
+
+An hour's march brought them to the maroons' village, built on a
+hillside circled by a narrow river.  It was surrounded by a broad dyke,
+and a mud wall ten feet high.  It had one long street and two cross
+streets, very clean and tidy; and the huts of mud and wattle, thatched
+with palm-leaves, and with doors of bamboo, were kept with a neatness
+that surprised the Englishmen, who mentally contrasted them with the
+dirty cottages of labourers at home.  Juan made them very welcome,
+supplying them with a feast of wild hog, turkeys, oranges and other
+pleasant fruits.
+
+"I'feck, it be a dinner fit for a lord," said Turnpenny, appreciatively.
+
+He related the events that had brought them to the straits in which
+Juan had found them.  When the maroon learnt that some of their party
+had deserted with the treasure, he despatched a band of his men to
+follow them up.  And then he told his visitors a piece of news that
+mightily cheered them.  El Draque, he said, the Dragon, the great
+English sea-captain, had lately raided Nombre de Dios, the port whence
+the great treasure fleets were wont to sail for Spain.  Then he had
+disappeared.  The Spaniards were in a state of nervous dread.  So bold,
+so sudden were his movements, that not a settlement on the coast but
+lived in constant terror of his appearance.  The very mystery that
+surrounded him, their ignorance of his whereabouts, added to the fear
+his name inspired.
+
+"They do not know where he is," said Juan, with a chuckle; "but I know.
+He is a long day's march from this place, in a little harbour that no
+passing ship can spy.  And there he waits till he can swoop like a
+jaguar on the dogs of Spain."
+
+"My heart, it be joyful tidings!" said Turnpenny.  "I knew Master
+Francis would come again to these shores, to have a proper tit-for-tat
+for the base dealings of the Spaniards at St. John d'Ulua.  Good-now,
+sir, shall we take a journey and see the worthy captain, and
+peradventure join with him in spoiling the knaves?"
+
+"With all my heart, Amos," replied Dennis.  "Without doubt Juan will
+furnish us with a guide."
+
+Turnpenny spoke to the maroon.
+
+"Better than that!" he said, after a brief colloquy.  "He says he will
+e'en come himself with a party.  Master Francis, he says, does hurt to
+no woman nor unarmed man; he is kind to the maroons; and not a man of
+them but loves him and would serve him to the death.  Ay sure, a noble
+man is Master Francis, that loves God and hates the Spaniards; and Ise
+warrant we could do naught better than join ourselves to him.
+Crymaces!  he will list with a ready ear to the tale of our adventures."
+
+"'Twill be overlong for the captain," said Dennis, with a smile.  "But
+I would fain see him and speak with him, for he may perchance spare a
+vessel to go and seek for our poor comrades penned up in Maiden Isle."
+
+"God-a-mercy, I had a'most forgotten, sir.  True, there be Tom
+Copstone, and Hugh Curder, and Ned Whiddon all lone and lorn.  Master
+Francis will help us to save them, or he be no true man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Drake's Camp
+
+Early in the afternoon of the second day thereafter, Dennis and
+Turnpenny, with Juan and a company of maroons, came to the outskirts of
+a large clearing at a little recess of the shore.  A bark and three
+trim little pinnaces lay rocking in a secluded roadstead.  Neatly
+thatched huts of the maroons' pattern bordered the clearing.  At one
+end of it stood two archery butts at which men were shooting; a smith
+was lustily plying his sledge at an anvil; and in the middle, on a
+stretch of sward, two stalwart bearded figures were disporting
+themselves at a game of bowls.
+
+"I'fegs, 'tis very like home," said Turnpenny.  "'Tis Master Francis
+himself, as I live, and Master John Oxnam, a gallant soul; and there be
+Master Ellis Hixom, the captain his man, and a very worthy gentleman.
+And Bob Pike, busy with the rum bowl--a good man, when not betoatled
+with the drink.  And O cryal! lookeedesee, sir; Bob hath a monkey at
+his elbow, and hang me if he be not teaching the poor beast the taste
+of rum.  Oh Bobby, Bobby, the drink will be your undoing, an ye have
+not a care.  They spy us, sir; 'tis a right merry sight, good-now, and
+warming to the heart."
+
+A maroon came from among the company to meet them.  He greeted Juan
+warmly, looking with surprise and curiosity at his white companions.
+Then they advanced into the clearing.  Bob Pike, a red-faced mariner,
+sitting on a tub, looked up as they approached, and raised his bowl
+unsteadily, singing--
+
+  "Let us laugh, and let us quaff,
+  Good drinkers think none ill a.
+
+Welcome, Haymoss; I know not where be coom from but here be a sup for
+'ee, comrade.
+
+  Let us trip, and let us skip,
+  And let us drink our fill a.
+
+Why, what ha' taken the wink-a-puss?"
+
+His exclamation was occasioned by a surprising action on the part of
+the monkey that had been crouching at his feet.  With a chatter of
+delight the animal had sprung up and was bounding on all fours towards
+Dennis.  Next moment it was on his shoulder, stroking his cap with its
+paw.
+
+"Fi, Mirandola," said Dennis, with a laugh, "hast forgot my admonitions
+to soberness?  Has all thy philosophy and my instruction not steeled
+thee against temptation?"
+
+
+  "My thirst to staunch, I fill my paunch
+  With jolly good ale and old,"
+
+sang Bob Pike; "though in truth it be new rum, for ale, under this sky,
+would turn as sour as whey.  Good-now, Haymoss, come and take a sup
+with me, soul.
+
+  I drink to you with all my heart
+  If you will pledge me the same."
+
+
+"Stint it, stint it, Robert Pike," said the elder of the two players,
+looking up.  "You'll be but a buddled oaf an you go this gait.  But
+odds-an-end, who be this?"
+
+"An Englishman of Devon, so please you, captain," said Dennis, doffing
+his cap.
+
+"Out of sky, or earth, or sea, for I swear you are not of my company?"
+
+"Out of earth and sea, sir, newly come to bid you my duty."
+
+"And that is Amos Turnpenny, an I be not in a maze.  We will finish our
+game anon, Jack," he added, turning to Oxnam, "for there is a tale
+hangs by this.  Come, young sir, methinks I know your face, though
+rabbit me if I can mind the when or the where of seeing it."
+
+"It was on an occasion like to this, sir," said Dennis.  "You were at
+play with Sir Martin Blunt on Plymouth Hoe when----"
+
+"Stay, I mind it well, and you were the youth that beat me!  I was in
+somewhat of a dander, to be sure.  Are you of Sir Martin's party?  Sure
+I looked for him months agone to join me, and wanting him has not been
+to my comfort.  Is he at hand?"
+
+"Alas, sir, Sir Martin has been at the bottom of the sea the washing of
+many a tide.  I alone am left of all his company."
+
+"God rest his soul!  He was a right good man.  But tell me, then, how
+it chanced that you alone escaped.  And what brings you here in company
+with this ancient mariner?  Furthermore, what strange affinity hast
+thou with this monkey, who is friends with that besotted knave alone,
+and that only for the love of liquor?"
+
+"Mirandola and I are old friends, sir.  How he comes to this place it
+passes my wit to guess; but he was my sole companion and friend on the
+island whereon by God's mercy I was cast alive, in the same storm that
+wrecked the _Maid Marian_ and swallowed all my dear comrades.  There I
+spent many a day and night without sight of human face or sound of
+human voice, until Spaniards came purposing to cut logwood, with slaves
+of whom Amos was one, the only white man.  He had the good hap to
+escape their hands----"
+
+"Nay, captain," Amos broke in; "it was not good hap, but the wit and
+spunk of Master Hazelrig.  He saved us from the knaves, and led us to
+the taking of their vessel, in the which we purposed to sail away; but
+the knave captain blew it up with powder; wherefore it was we came to
+the main in a canow of the maroons' devising, and did take that strong
+fort and fastness of Aguila, where----"
+
+"Stay, stay!" cried Drake.  "Ods my life, this your tale makes my
+noddle buzz with amaze.  What is this about Fort Aguila?"
+
+"Why, sir, 'tis as I say," replied Turnpenny.  "We did sail to it in
+the canow, which ran aground and was stove in.  But we mounted those
+walls by a ladder, and crept upon the fort by night, and drew out of
+their dungeon all my comrades--Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder and Tom
+Copstone, and nigh a score more.  And we dealt the knave Spaniards many
+a dint, and took the fort, and blew up the towers, and sailed right
+merrily away in their own vessel with great store of pearls and pieces
+of eight.  And the vessel was named in the Spanish tongue _Our Lady of
+Baria_, but Master Hazelrig he could not abide the Papist name, and
+called her by the very name he had afore bestowed on this heathen
+beast, Mirandola to wit, whereas I would liever have called her Susan
+or Betty----"
+
+"Jack, is 't not a midsummer night's dream?  A very mingle-mangle of
+madness!  Tell on; I have a soft ear for mariners' tales."
+
+"I' fegs, 'tis no mariner's tale, sir, but very truth.  We sailed away,
+but the morn after, when it was mizzly, we spied a vessel that straight
+gave chase, and but for the little small harbour of Maiden Isle,
+whereinto we ran and lay hid and so diddled that knavish vessel, we had
+e'en fallen again into those cruel hands."
+
+"When shall we laugh, Jack?" cried Drake, smiting his thigh and loosing
+a mighty roar that caused the archers to pause, and drew the smith from
+his anvil, and at last brought the whole company crowding round.  "Why,
+friend Amos, that knavish vessel was my own tight bark the _Pascha_
+yonder, and 'twas I myself that chased thee, ay, and would have caught
+thee, too, but for the huffling of the wind.  If 'twas thou handling
+the vessel 'twas a mighty good piece of seamanship.  And mine was a
+knavish vessel, good-now!  Ho! ho! 'tis a merry world."
+
+"Be jowned if Ned Whiddon thinks so, or Hugh Curder, or Tom Copstone!
+There they be, poor souls, marooned on that same island, which indeed
+we took and named Maiden Isle for behoof of her gracious Majesty.  We
+fled from that craft which in our thought was a knavish vessel of
+Spain, and remained a night and a day to refresh ourselves, intending
+to sail thence on the morrow.  But one of our company, Gabriel Batten,
+a quiet good soul, but somewhat of a drumble-drone, did go astraying
+after simples, and when the time came for us to embark, ods-fish, he
+was not with us.  In that night, Jan Biddle, a man of Belial, made off
+with our vessel; but Master Hazelrig spied her ere she ran clear, and
+we swam to her and clomb aboard, and were vumped topsy-versy by those
+knavish mutineers.  But they loosed us when she had made an offing, and
+right well it was for them, for we were chased by three galleons of
+Spain, and hardly escaped ashore in our jolly-boat.  And then be jowned
+if Jan Biddle and his villainous crew did not skip off hippety-hoppety
+with the treasure we got with our pains at Fort Aguila----"
+
+"Aha!  I owe you a grudge for that, Master Hazelrig," cried Drake.  "I
+had heard of the pearl-fishery, and was e'en chasing you, supposing
+your craft was a merchant vessel out of Venta Cruz or Cartagena, to
+inquire somewhat of the defences of that same fort.  I came by chance
+to the place, and lo! it was a ruin.  You beat me at bowls, young sir;
+art minded, meseems, to beat me at other games."
+
+"Truly, sir, had I but known you were in these seas, I would surely
+have joined myself to your company, with your good leave, and served
+you with all diligence."
+
+"Wilt serve me now, lad?"  Drake shot a keen glance at him.  "I am
+preparing a sore dint for the Spaniards, and have but few men for the
+job.  Wilt join me?"
+
+"I could desire nothing better," said Dennis, with a flush of pleasure;
+"but----"
+
+"Say on; let me hear your but."
+
+"Some half a score of Englishmen, the comrades of Amos, lie marooned on
+yonder island, sir; and we came hither, when we heard of your presence,
+to beg a vessel to go and fetch them off.  Methinks one of the pinnaces
+yonder----"
+
+"Knavish vessels, good-now!"
+
+"Crymaces, sir, will 'ee remember that against me?" Amos broke in.  "A
+man must say what a' thinks, but thinkin' don't alter what is.  'Twas
+your vessel; then 'twas no knave."
+
+"Save as the Spaniards think it so.  Well, I would fain help Englishmen
+in so hard a case, but at this present I cannot spare a pinnace; nay, I
+cannot even spare a man.  Yet when the matter I spoke of is brought to
+an end, and falls out to our liking, I will go myself to that island
+and bring off your comrades; for in truth I have a mind to see the
+haven into which you fled and so 'scaped my knavish tricks.  Methinks
+it should prove a secret and comfortable place for myself.  In brief, I
+give you my word.  Now, what say you to my proposal."
+
+"Sir, I am yours," said Dennis, "and I thank you for your good will."
+
+"Ay, and me likewise," said Turnpenny, "and Ise warrant a man of my
+muscle can do summat against those villain dons--lookeedesee!"
+
+He exhibited the knotty muscles of his arms with a simple vanity that
+set Drake and Oxnam a-laughing.
+
+"But not the monkey," added Drake, as the animal chattered in concert.
+"He is prone to utter his voice out of season, and an indiscreet cry
+might be the undoing of my purpose, and me."
+
+"How comes the monkey here, sir?" asked Dennis.  "We brought him with
+us from the island; indeed, he would not be left; but he deserted us
+some ten miles beyond Fort Aguila, and I supposed he had gone among his
+kind and thought never to see him again."
+
+"Why, we found him among the ruins of that fort, and meseems he saw
+some likeness between Bob Pike and Turnpenny----"
+
+"God forbid!" cried Amos earnestly.
+
+"In muscle, not in manners," said Drake laughing.  "Howbeit, he hitched
+himself on to Pike, and hath accompanied us ever since, and I trow not
+what Pike will say if the beast transfers his allegiance.  But
+good-now, the sun goes down; 'tis time to make our evening devotions
+and then to supper.  Methinks you, Master Hazelrig, have good cause to
+render thanks to the Almighty Father for the wondrous things He hath
+wrought in your behoof; and we have great plenty of fish, fowls,
+rabbits and the like, which, I doubt not, will be comfortable fare to
+you after your late privations.  Come with me to my hut: I would hear
+of your adventures more at leisure."
+
+And thus Dennis became one of the company of Francis Drake.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A Raid through the Forest
+
+Though Dennis had accepted Drake's offer on the spur of the moment, he
+saw no reason to repent when he talked the matter over with Amos next
+day.  The rescue of their comrades on the island was indeed deferred;
+but it was impossible to attempt that rescue without a suitable vessel
+and a due equipment of men and stores; and since the men had plenty of
+food on Maiden Isle, the delay of a few weeks would make no serious
+difference to them, unless--and this possibility gave Dennis some
+concern--they were molested by Spaniards.  He hoped, however, that if
+an enemy did appear on the island the men would have sufficient warning
+to give them time to take refuge in the cave, where with good luck they
+might remain concealed until the danger had passed.
+
+Before the day was out Dennis had made acquaintance with the members of
+the little company at Port Diego, as it had been called.  From Ellis
+Hixom, Drake's right-hand man, he learnt something of their adventures
+since they left Plymouth in May, only a month after the _Maid Marian_
+set sail.  Early in July they had arrived at Port Pheasant, a secret
+anchorage discovered by Drake on a former voyage, and so named by him
+"by reason of the great store of those goodly fowls which he and his
+company did daily kill and feed on in that place."  On the 20th they
+sailed for Nombre de Dios, and a week later made a night attack on that
+unhealthy town, which once or twice in the year emerged into importance
+when the galleons came there from Cartagena to take in their cargoes of
+gold and silver sent for shipment by the governor of Panama.
+
+The moon was rising as they stood in for the shore; but Drake, finding
+that his men were full of superstitious terror of the night, persuaded
+them that it was the dawn of day.  They landed on the sands, beneath a
+battery, and only a few yards from the houses which were built on the
+shore, with the forest behind.  The single sentry was slumbering, but
+he was roused by the sound of their climbing up the redoubt, and fled
+to give the alarm in the town.  They spiked the six big guns in the
+fort, but ere they had finished they heard the great bell of the town
+church booming out; drums beat in the narrow street; it seemed that
+there was warm work before the little band of fifty.
+
+Drake divided his men into three parties; one of twelve to guard the
+boats, the second of sixteen, with his brother John and John Oxnam, to
+enter by the east gate of the market-place; while himself, with about a
+score, would march in at the other end to the sound of drum and
+trumpet, with torches glaring at the end of their pikes.  He gave the
+men orders to make all possible noise, so as to delude the garrison
+into the belief that his force was stronger than it really was.
+
+The market-place was crowded with a mob of mingled soldiers and
+citizens when Drake and his men entered with great clatter from the
+side nearest the sea.  The intrepid band was met by a hot volley, to
+which they replied with their calivers and a flight of arrows; then,
+not waiting to reload, they charged with a fierce shout, to do the rest
+of the business with pike and sword.  As the same moment Oxnam and his
+company dashed in at the other side with a great blast of trumpets.
+The Spaniards, scared by the noise and the torches, still more by the
+knowledge that El Draque was among them, did not stay to fight the
+matter out, but flung down their weapons and rushed away in disorderly
+flight along the road leading through the forest to Venta Cruz.
+
+Drake re-formed his men, and, under the guidance of Spaniards he had
+captured, made for the governor's house, where the mule trains from
+Panama were unloaded.  The door was wide open, and by the light of a
+torch the Englishmen saw a vast pile of silver bars standing in the
+passage.  But Drake had learnt that in the King's treasure-house on the
+eastern side lay a goodly store of gold and jewels, far more than they
+could carry.  Accordingly he would not allow the men to break their
+ranks and despoil the governor, but led them back to the market-place
+to prepare for the more serious work.
+
+Meanwhile the men on guard at the beach, hearing the din, and seeing by
+the light of the torches men running this way and that in the streets,
+began to be alarmed, especially when they learnt from the negroes who
+had joined them that the garrison had been newly strengthened.  In
+their panic they sent word to Drake that the pinnaces were in danger of
+being taken.  Drake had no sooner sent his brother and John Oxnam to
+allay their fears and assure them that all was well when a terrific
+thunder-storm burst upon them, wetting their bowstrings and the charges
+of their guns.  They ran for shelter to a shed at the western end of
+the King's treasure-house, and there, while they repaired the damage,
+the men began to mutter among themselves of the peril they were in, and
+some talked of flight.  As soon as the storm had ceased, Drake, seeing
+that the adventure was in jeopardy unless he led the men to action,
+ordered Oxnam to take a party to break open the treasure-house while he
+held his ground in the market-place.
+
+But, unknown to the men, he had been severely wounded in the leg at the
+first onset, and fell faint from loss of blood.  He perceived that some
+of his men had already laden themselves with plunder from the houses
+and booths in the market-place, and knew that they would be glad of any
+excuse to get away to the boats.  It was no longer possible to hide his
+wound, and the men, seeing it, begged him to return to the boats, and
+paid no heed to his entreaty that they would leave him to fend for
+himself and possess themselves of the treasure so nearly within their
+grasp.  The possibility of losing their captain took all the heart out
+of them.  They carried him hastily down to the beach, got aboard the
+boats, and shoved off just as dawn was breaking.  It was a
+disappointing end to the expedition; but only one man of them, a
+trumpeter, had been killed, and they were all glad enough to get off so
+lightly.
+
+Since then they had cruised up and down the coast, capturing Spanish
+vessels here and there, and making themselves a terror to the whole
+Main.  They had suffered many losses, by sickness and in fight; John
+Drake had been killed in leading a mad attack on a frigate; but small
+as the company was, every man was now cheerful in the expectation of
+gaining great plunder in the approaching expedition to Panama.  Dennis
+and Turnpenny were welcome recruits, and none were more eager than they
+to set off with the great captain, and go whithersoever he might lead.
+
+[Illustration: Map to illustrate the adventures of Drake in 1572-73]
+
+One day, about a week after their arrival at the camp, Drake called his
+men together in council, and unfolded to them his daring plan.  The
+Spanish treasure fleet, he had learnt, had arrived at Nombre de Dios,
+and was awaiting there the consignments of gold and jewels which were
+brought by long mule trains across the isthmus from Panama.  He
+purposed to ambush one of these trains in a lonely spot on the north
+road.  Solemnly he placed before the men the dangers of the expedition.
+They had a march of sixty miles before them, through poisonous jungles
+and fever-haunted swamps.  It was an enterprise for none but hardy and
+courageous men, ready to endure labour and fatigue without murmuring.
+
+Of his original company he had only forty-two left.  Some of these were
+sick, others were required to guard the ships; and when Drake had
+weeded out the least fit of the rest, he had only eighteen Englishmen
+for the adventure.  To those he added thirty maroons, making a little
+company of forty-eight all told.  Dennis observed with admiration how
+carefully all things were prepared.  The men were provided with spare
+boots, so that they might not go footsore and be troubled by the
+jiggers of the jungles and the leeches of the swamps.  The bows were
+all re-fitted, the arrows and fire-arms cleaned and scoured; large
+stores of dried meat and biscuit were packed in bundles; and bottles
+were filled with wine and rum, for it was unsafe to drink the water of
+the rivers.
+
+It was a bright February day, Shrove Tuesday, when the adventurous band
+set out, the ships in the harbour dipping their colours and the
+trumpeters sounding "a loath to depart."  The Englishmen carried
+nothing but their weapons, the baggage being strapped to the shoulders
+of the stalwart maroons.  They marched in the coolest part of the
+morning, from sun-rise to ten, when they paused for dinner.  Soon after
+noon they were afoot again, and at four halted for the night, the
+maroons building for them with extraordinary rapidity little huts of
+grass and palm-leaves, where they ate their supper over cheerful
+wood-fires, beguiling the evening hours with song and talk.  It was a
+new life for Dennis, and full of strange charm.  He spent many an hour
+in the company of Drake and Oxnam, listening with a boyish admiration
+to their talk, revelling in their tales of fight and adventure.
+
+The great captain exercised a wonderful fascination upon him.  Drake
+was at this time little more than thirty years old, below the medium
+height, but with brawny limbs and a broad chest.  Brown hair clustered
+close on a bullet-shaped head; his beard grew thick and strong; his
+face was ruddy and pleasant to look upon; and the honesty of his soul
+spoke out of his large, round blue eyes.  His voice was clear and
+musical, and he had a natural eloquence, set off by the burr of his
+native speech.  Nothing impressed Dennis more than to hear the Captain,
+every night at sunset, recite the evening prayers and collects
+bare-headed among his men assembled.  "By Thy great mercy defend us
+from all perils and dangers of this night"--there was something very
+real and earnest in the petition, uttered in the shade of the forest
+where wild animals dwelt, and in a country where every man was a foe.
+There was no doubt about the reality of Drake's religion; and it was
+part of his simple belief that he was chosen of God to scourge a
+pestilent enemy of mankind.
+
+The order of the march was the same every day.  Four maroons led the
+way, marking a trail by flinging broken branches or bundles of leaves
+upon the ground.  Then came twelve more maroons, followed at an
+interval by Drake and his eighteen Englishmen, and two maroon chiefs.
+The rear was brought up by the rest of the maroons.
+
+After four days' tramping through swampy woods, much entangled with
+undergrowth, steaming with heat and infected with noisome odours, they
+entered a pleasanter country, where the trees grew larger, and with
+branches so thickly interlaced that they were defended from the sun's
+rays and found their path less obstructed by creeping plants.  The
+ground rose gradually, and Pedro, the maroon chief, told Drake that on
+the summit of the ridge they were ascending, half way across the
+isthmus, there grew an immense tree from which he could descry the
+North Sea whence he had come and the South Sea whither he was going.
+At ten o'clock on the eighth day of their march they came to the place,
+and while the dinner was being got ready, Drake went with Pedro to the
+tree of which he had spoken.  Ascending big steps cut on the bole, they
+reached, near the top, a pleasant thatched arbour, large enough to seat
+a dozen men.  The sky was clear; no haze blanketed the view; and
+looking forth, Drake caught, thirty miles away, the sparkle of the
+southern ocean on which no English boat had sailed.  The soul of the
+great mariner was strangely moved: he fell on his knees, and "besought
+Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in
+an English ship on that sea."  Then he called up Oxnam and others of
+his company, and told them of his desire and prayer.  Dennis never
+forgot the scene in that shady bower at the tree-top: the kindling face
+of the sturdy captain, his shining eyes, the fervency of his speech.
+
+They went on again, and in two days more reached the wide savannah,
+with grass as high as corn, and great herds of black cattle.  Now and
+then they got a glimpse of Panama, the city of their dream, and by and
+by, when they were near enough to see the ships riding at anchor in the
+roadstead, Drake called a halt: they had come within touch of danger
+and must walk warily.  Resting in a grove some three miles from the
+city, Drake sent one of the maroons, dressed like a negro of Panama,
+into it as a spy an hour before dark.  He was to find out on what
+night, and at what hour, the mule train set out with its precious
+burden for Nombre de Dios.  He had learnt from Pedro that the first
+stage of the journey, from Panama to Venta Cruz, was always performed
+by night, because by day the open plain was scorched by the sun.  But
+the second stage, from Venta Cruz to Nombre de Dios, was accomplished
+by day, the road lying among cool shaded woods.  It was clear that the
+first stage offered the best chances of a successful ambush, and Drake
+had resolved to intercept the treasure-train between Panama and Venta
+Cruz.
+
+The spy returned sooner than he was expected.  From old acquaintances
+in the city he had learnt that a train was to start that very night,
+its departure being expedited because a Spanish hidalgo, the treasurer
+of Lima, was in haste to reach a ship waiting at Nombre de Dios to
+convey him to Spain.  His train consisted of fourteen mules, of which
+eight were laden with gold and one with jewels.  Two other trains, of
+fifty mules each, would follow, with provisions for the fleet and a
+quantity of silver.
+
+Within an hour of the receipt of this news, Drake and his men were
+afoot on the road for Venta Cruz, some twelve miles away.  Before
+starting, the English men all put their shirts on outside their other
+garments, so that they might have some means of telling friend from foe
+in the darkness.  When they had marched about half the distance, two of
+the maroons, going ahead as scouts on the narrow track between long
+grass, detected the smell of a burning match, and creeping stealthily
+on, guided by the scent, and the now audible sound of snoring, came
+upon a Spanish sentry fast asleep by the roadside.  In a trice they
+pounced on him; they stuffed a gag into his gaping mouth, put out his
+match, tied his arms to his sides, and haled him back to the main body.
+This danger removed, Drake divided his band into two companies.  One of
+these, under John Oxnam and Pedro the maroon, he stationed in long
+grass fifty paces from the road; with the other he went to the same
+distance on the other side, posting them so that, if it came to a
+fight, their fire would not harm their comrades.  He gave strict orders
+that no man should stir from his post, but that all should maintain
+perfect quiet, and, if any travellers should come from the direction of
+Venta Cruz, that these were to be allowed to pass without molestation.
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny were placed among Oxnam's party, and lay side by
+side in the grass.  The night was so dark, and the stalks so long, that
+they could scarcely see each other, much less any other of their
+company.  For a time all was quiet; nothing was heard but the faint
+critch of insects among the herbage.  But by and by Dennis caught a
+slight murmur from some point near at hand.  He lifted his head to
+listen.  Yes, it was certainly a man mumbling.  Then he heard a
+glug-glug, as of liquid poured from a narrow-necked vessel, and
+immediately afterwards a deep sigh of contentment.  Again there was
+silence; but after a while another glugging and another sigh.
+
+"Begorz!" whispered Turnpenny, "'tis some bosky lubber a-puddling of
+aqua vitae.  St!  Here be bells a-coming, on the neck of moyles, Ise
+warrant.  St!"
+
+The sound came from the direction of Venta Cruz: evidently a train was
+returning to Panama.  Almost immediately afterwards there came a
+fainter tinkle on the other side; the treasurer of Lima was on the
+road, but he would not reach the ambush until the train from Venta Cruz
+had passed.
+
+Nearer came the sound, growing now into a loud clanging.  Dennis held
+his breath.  The Venta Cruz party was to be allowed to pass; it would
+meet the other travellers, and give them the word that all was well.
+But what was this?  Some one was rustling in the grass near him; some
+one was moving forward; and, peeping up, Dennis saw an Englishman, as
+he knew by his shirt, creeping towards the road through the long
+stalks, and a maroon following.
+
+At this moment his ears caught the sound of a horse trotting.  He could
+not see the road; the men who had gone through the grass were also out
+of sight; but suddenly the trot changed into a gallop, and he heard the
+horse clattering at a furious rate down the road.  His heart gave a
+jump; he felt a hot flush surge through him: the rider, whoever he was,
+had been startled, and was now doubtless dashing on to warn the coming
+train.  Who could the fool be who had so flagrantly disobeyed the
+captain's orders?  Had he been so mad as to expose himself, in his
+shirt over-all, to the view of the horseman?  Turnpenny was as wrathful
+as Dennis.
+
+"Be jowned if I don't deal en a whap in the niddick," he whispered,
+"as'll make en twine like an angle-twitch."
+
+The sound of the hoofs died away, and Dennis expected that the clanging
+of the bells would cease also, and all be brought to nought.  To his
+surprise there was no change: the bells drew nearer and nearer; now he
+heard men's voices; and then, with a suddenness that made him jump, a
+shrill whistle-blast rose high above all other sounds.  It was the
+signal for the attack.  Dennis and the sailor rushed through the grass;
+on all sides white-clad forms rose from their lurking-places and made
+towards the road with a cheer.  They sprang at the muleteers, toppled
+them over, and without a shot fired the long line of mules was in the
+raiders' hands.
+
+With many a laugh and jest the sailors hauled the packs from the backs
+of the mules and slit them with their hangers.  But soon the mirth was
+turned to melancholy.
+
+"Od-rat-en, what have we here?" cried Turnpenny, lifting a soft mass on
+the end of his weapon.  "Bless my bones if it bean't a bunch of yokey
+sheep's wool!"
+
+"And here 'tis nought but dried meat as tough as leather."
+
+"Ay, where be the goold, where be the goold?" cried Robert Pike,
+breaking from the grasp of a maroon.  "Cap'n said there was nugs o'
+goold as big as goose-eggs, and be jowned if I can see a farden's
+worth!"
+
+"And the gewgaws for the rory-tory madams o' Spain--where be the
+gewgaws?" cried another of the seamen.  "Here, you codger"--seizing one
+of the muleteers--"where be the gewgaws adiddled to?"
+
+He shook the man till he gasped for breath, then hauled him before
+Drake, who had come into the midst of the enraged sailors.  He bade the
+muleteer speak.  The man told how the horseman, trotting by with a page
+at his stirrup, had been startled to see a ghost-like figure rise out
+of the grass at the side of the track, and galloped on to warn the
+treasurer.  Superstitious as the Spaniards were, they knew so much of
+the daring of El Draque that the treasurer did not for a moment doubt
+he had to deal, not with a ghost, but with a very real and substantial
+enemy.  The warning had reached him just in time.  He drew his mules,
+bearing the treasure, to the side of the road to allow the train of
+merchandise to pass; the loss of food and wool could be endured
+patiently if the gold and jewels were saved.  Then, when the din ahead
+confirmed his suspicions of an ambush, he turned the mules' heads back
+towards Panama and slipped away.
+
+Here was a pretty end to the adventure from which all had hoped so
+much!  Loud was the outcry against the wretched man whose rashness had
+had so untoward an effect.  While Drake took hurried counsel with Oxnam
+and Pedro the maroon, the men went about growling, accusing each other,
+threatening terrible punishment for the offender.  Of them all none was
+louder or more vehement than Robert Pike.
+
+"An I catch the knave," he shouted, "Ise fulsh en, Ise thump en, Ise
+larn en a thing or two as the wink-a-puss won't forget."
+
+But as he spoke he lurched towards Amos, who caught him by the collar
+as a sudden suspicion dawned.
+
+"Be jowned if I don't b'lieve 'twas 'ee, Bob Pike!  You hawk-a-mouth
+knave, I smell 'ee, I do.  You been puddling aqua vitae, dang my
+buttons an you bean't.  You bandy-legged piggish lubby, you, 'ee'll
+fulsh en, will 'ee? and thump en, will 'ee? and larn the wink-a-puss a
+thing or two, will 'ee?  The Old Smoker take 'ee for a lubberly knave
+and a jackass."
+
+"And 'ee for a gabbing rant-a-come-scour!" retorted Pike, when he got
+his breath.  "What be 'ee jowering at me for?  I only supped a little
+small drop to keep me awake, and when I heard the moyles a-coming,
+od-rabbit-en, thinks I, Ise nab the first; and when I got to the road,
+'twas no moyle, but a fine horse and rider, and I rose up to see what
+he was, and a knave maroon pulled me down and sat upon me like to
+squeeze out my vitals, and so the villain Spaniard got away."
+
+"You bosky knave, I'll----"
+
+But what Turnpenny would have done remained untold, for at this moment
+Drake called all the men together.
+
+"'Tis no good crying over spilt milk, my lads," he said.  "An we do not
+shift for ourselves betimes, we shall have all the Spaniards of Panama
+upon us pell mell.  To go back the way we came is a four leagues march;
+we all be wearied and for-done, and meseems 'twere better to go forward
+two leagues into the forest.  True, the town of Venta Cruz stands in
+the way, but 'tis better, methinks, to encounter our enemies while we
+have strength remaining than to be encountered and chased when we be
+worn out with weariness.  We will e'en eat our suppers while we may;
+there be great store of meat and drink in the mule-packs; then will we
+mount upon these beasts, so that we do not weary ourselves with
+overmuch marching.  And then, if God will, we will ding a blow at the
+enemy for our honour; and mark 'ee, my lads, we are disappointed of a
+most rich booty; but surely God would not that it should be taken, for
+that, by all likelihood, it was well gotten by that treasurer, and not
+by evil courses."
+
+And, taking what comfort they could from their captain's explanation,
+they set off on mule back as soon as supper was over, and came in an
+hour to the woods a mile out of Venta Cruz.  There they dismounted.
+Drake bade the muleteers remain out of harm's way, and led the men over
+a cobbled road ten feet broad, running between great walls of
+vegetation.
+
+Following his custom, Drake sent forward two of the faithful maroons to
+reconnoitre.  They came back with news that, half a mile farther on,
+the enemy were hidden in the thickets; they had heard the rustle of
+their movements and smelled the pungent smoke of their matches.
+
+"Let no man fire till after the enemy hath dealt us a volley," said
+Drake; "methinks they will first parley with us."
+
+He led them quietly forward.  A few minutes later a dark form appeared
+on the darker road.
+
+"Hoo!" came a voice.
+
+"Halloo!" replied Drake.
+
+"What nation are you?" called the man in Spanish.
+
+"Englishmen."
+
+"In the name of the King of Spain my master," cried the captain, "I
+charge you to yield, avouching on the word of a gentleman soldier that
+I will deal with you most courteously."
+
+"Come on, my lads," quietly said Drake, taking a few quick steps
+forward.  Aloud he cried: "For the honour of the Queen of England, my
+mistress, I must have passage this way."
+
+At the same moment he fired his pistol.  The Spaniards in ambush,
+mistaking the shot for a signal from their own officer, poured in a
+volley.  Drake blew his whistle, and instantly his men sent a
+spattering shower of bullets and arrows into the brushwood, following
+it up with a charge.  The Spaniards bolted like hares, and at Drake's
+command the maroons of his party swarmed forward to cut the enemy off
+from a stronger position in the rear, shouting their terrifying
+war-cry, "Yo peho!  Yo peho!"  Back went the Spaniards, scurrying along
+to the shelter of the town, the maroons leaping and dancing after them
+as their manner was in war, the seamen not far behind, adding to the
+uproar with English yells.  Within a few yards of the town wall the
+enemy attempted to rally, posting themselves across the road and in the
+woods on both sides.  But the maroons swept upon their flanks, Drake
+and his men charged full at the centre.  For a few moments the place
+rang with the clash of sword and pike and the cries of the combatants.
+Then as one man the Spaniards wheeled about and scampered through the
+open gates of the town, with Drake's whole party at their heels.  On
+they went into the streets, seamen and maroons, thrusting and slashing
+without pause or respite, yet strictly observing their captain's
+injunction to spare women and unarmed men.  In five minutes they were
+masters of the town.
+
+For little over an hour the men ran hither and thither, gathering what
+spoils they could in the shape of articles easily carried.  Then, just
+as dawn was breaking, and they were snatching a hasty breakfast before
+departing, a dozen horsemen dashed in at the Panama gate.  Not until
+they were within point-blank range of the musketeers whom Drake had
+posted there did they perceive that the town was in the enemy's hands.
+The sentries fired; half of the horsemen fell; the rest fled back
+hastily into the forest.  But Drake feared they were the advance guard
+of a larger force.  It was dangerous to delay.  He whistled his men
+together; and in a few minutes they marched out of the town with their
+spoils, some little compensation for the lost treasure of the mule
+train.
+
+The toils and sufferings of that homeward march lived long in the
+memories of Dennis and Turnpenny.  Drake forced the pace unmercifully,
+anxious to get back to his ship.  Food ran short; he would not stay to
+hunt wild hog or deer.  Several of the men had been wounded; there was
+no time to tend their wounds.  Their clothes were torn to tatters;
+their boots, even the extra pairs, had given way, and they were driven
+to bind their feet with rags.  The faithful maroons served them nobly,
+carrying all the burdens, building huts for their rest at night,
+bearing upon their shoulders some of the seamen who were too exhausted
+and footsore to tramp any longer.  A maroon went forward to warn the
+waiting company of their approach.  On the afternoon of the 23rd of
+February, three weeks after they had started on the expedition, they
+tottered out of the forest towards the beach, just as the pinnace, sent
+by Ellis Hixom to take them off, scudded inshore.  There on the
+glistening sand the little company of men, haggard, worn-out,
+half-famished, raised their husky voices in a psalm of thanksgiving,
+praising God because they saw their pinnace and their fellows again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+Maiden Isle Again
+
+As they sailed back in the pinnace to the secret haven, the weary
+adventurers were surrounded by their comrades, and feasted their ears
+with wondrous tales of what had befallen them.  Ellis Hixom also had a
+story to tell.  A few days after the departure of the company, there
+had staggered into the clearing three men in the last stage of
+exhaustion.  Two were English, one French.  They were pitiable objects,
+their eyes bright with fever, their cheeks haggard with famine, their
+feet blistered and bleeding from long wandering in the woods.  Each man
+carried a bag of pearls.
+
+And they told a pitiful story.  They had escaped, they said, from
+captivity in Nombre de Dios, and set out with three comrades, bearing
+plunder from the houses of their captors.  It was well known along the
+coast that Drake was somewhere in hiding, and they marched eastward,
+hoping by good hap to light upon his encampment.  But as they rested
+one night, the leader had overheard a plot on the part of three of the
+men to slay the rest and make off with the booty.  Fearing that if it
+came to a fight he and his two comrades would stand but little chance
+against the others, who were men of exceeding great strength and
+ferocity, the three had slipped away in the darkness and had since been
+tramping for days through the forest, unable to find sufficient food,
+and subsisting on berries and mushrooms.  Once they had almost stumbled
+into a village of maroons, and fled for their lives, dreading lest they
+should be taken for Spaniards and slain before the error was discovered.
+
+"And where are they now?" asked Drake.
+
+"On the _Pascha_, sir," replied Hixom, "where they are slowly
+recovering of their calentures."
+
+"And the name of the leader?"
+
+"Jan Biddle, by his own account a skilful mariner and----"
+
+"Ay, I have heard tell of him," interrupted Drake with a grim smile.
+"Master Hazelrig," he added, calling Dennis up, "I learn that the
+captain of your mutineers waits your judgement on my vessel."
+
+He repeated what Hixom had told him.
+
+"What is the name of the other Englishman, Master Hixom?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Dick Rackstraw, methinks.  The Frenchman's name is Michel Barren."
+
+"Then what has become of our comrade Billy Hawk, I wonder?  Biddle and
+his crew deserted from us with the treasure, when we came ashore in our
+boat.  Billy Hawk went after them; I fear me there has been foul play."
+
+"We will enquire into that matter when we gain our haven," said Drake,
+"and see what Master Biddle has to say for himself."
+
+As soon as he reached the haven, Drake boarded the _Pascha_ and called
+Biddle and his companions before him.  He listened patiently to the
+man's wild tale, then sent a boat ashore to bring off Dennis and
+Turnpenny.  Biddle's jaw dropped when he saw them come over the side.
+He attempted to bluster it out, but Drake cut him short.
+
+"You are a foul liar and a mutineer," he said sternly.  "Art a murderer
+also?  What didst thou to Billy Hawk thy comrade?  Answer to the point,
+villain."
+
+"Afore God, sir, I know nought of him.  With me came but four men, and
+two of those lie dead in the forest, of a strange sickness that got
+hold of them after that they had drunken of the water of a certain
+river.  Of Billy Hawk I saw nor heard nought."
+
+"My poor comrade!" said Turnpenny.  "I fear me he be gone or alost."
+
+"These are your men," said Drake, turning to Dennis.  "The punishment
+of mutiny is death.  Do with them as you list."
+
+"I would fain leave them in your hands, sir," replied Dennis.  "For me,
+I would not that any man should die."
+
+"I will consider of it.  Have them put in irons and carried below."
+
+Next day he decided, on Dennis's intercession, to content himself with
+holding the men closely confined in the vessel.  The bags of pearls
+were taken from them and handed to Dennis and Turnpenny.  And ere the
+day was out Robert Pike was sent to join them.  Drake had learnt of the
+mischievous part the man had played, which had resulted in the failure
+of his attack on the mule trains.
+
+"A little darkness and solitude may teach him to refrain from the
+bottle," he said.
+
+The enterprise had so nearly succeeded that when Drake declared he
+would make the attempt again, as soon as the time came for another
+convoy of treasure to cross the isthmus, every man of his company
+eagerly besought him for a place in the expedition.  But Dennis
+reminded him of his promise to lend him a pinnace in which to sail to
+Maiden Isle and bring off his comrades.
+
+"I will hold to my word," said Drake.  "You and your brawny henchman
+have suffered less than the most of my men, by reason, I wot, of your
+being inured to hardships on your island.  Some days must needs pass
+before we are ready to attempt other enterprises.  The island is but a
+day's sail, you said?"
+
+"Ay, sir, and with good hap we should return on the second day, or the
+third at most."
+
+"Then take the _Minion_ pinnace, and good hap go with you.  You will
+need men.  Choose out eight according to your mind, and a few maroons
+also.  Juan was with you, I bethink me; he will doubtless serve you
+right faithfully.  In sooth, I shall be mighty rejoiced to have with me
+the dozen men you go to find, for if they be in spirit and body like to
+you and your henchman, they will be most serviceable when I make my
+next journey to Panama.  I would go fetch them myself, as I had
+purposed, but that our preparations demand my presence here."
+
+Next day, then, the _Minion_ pinnace sailed out of the little haven
+with a crew of eight Englishmen and five maroons, three of whom were
+the men who had accompanied Dennis from the island.  Mirandola also was
+on board.  He had disappeared when Dennis set off with Drake to cross
+the isthmus, but had evidently kept a watch on the settlement, for the
+day after they returned he came out of the forest and attached himself
+to his old master with demonstrations of delight.  A brisk breeze was
+blowing off shore; the pinnace was a first-rate sailer; by midday they
+were in sight of the island, and in the afternoon they rounded the
+shoulder of the cliff, Turnpenny steering the vessel into the gully.
+
+Dennis, standing in the bows, caught sight of a group of men beyond the
+pool, near his sheds.  They were partly hidden by the foliage, and when
+they saw the strange vessel making straight towards them, with the
+evident intention of coming to an anchorage, they took to their heels
+and disappeared.
+
+"Poor souls! they take us for Spaniards," said Turnpenny.  "I warrant
+they be most desperately in the dumps.  'Tis nigh a month since we
+departed hence."
+
+The pinnace dropped anchor beside the _Maid Marian_, and the men went
+ashore.
+
+"Blow a blast," said Dennis to one of the men, who carried a trumpet,
+"with notes that will be familiar to their ears."
+
+As the shrill notes rang out, he stepped ahead of the men, with
+Mirandola on his shoulder.  Before long a man appeared among the trees
+far up the chine.
+
+"Hallo hoy!" shouted Turnpenny.  "Be that you, Tom Copstone?  Come,
+comrade, never be afeard.  We've come to take 'ee off, poor soul, and
+bring 'ee to Master Drake, who will make us all rich with much gold and
+treasure.  Come, my hearts, Ned Whiddon, and Hugh Curder, and all."
+
+Turnpenny's well-known voice was more successful than the trumpet's
+notes in banishing the men's mistrust.  Soon they came hasting down the
+gully, Copstone leading.
+
+"I said it!  I knew it," he cried, as he approached.  "'You and me,
+Haymoss'--the blessed words stayed in my noddle, and I knew 'ee would
+come back somewhen, dear soul.  But we be in piteous case.  'Tis a long
+ninny-watch we ha' kept, and hope was wellnigh drownded, sir.  We could
+not make it out; we was mazed, every man of us; but you be come back,
+praise be to God."
+
+He told how the disappearance of the _Mirandola_ had filled them first
+with consternation, then with bitter rage.  Some of the men declared
+that they had been decoyed to the island; that they had been betrayed
+and deserted for the sake of the treasure.  From the first Copstone and
+Whiddon had absolutely refused to believe that Dennis and Turnpenny had
+wilfully left them; Hugh Curder, indeed, had made a shrewd guess at
+what had actually happened; but the rest clung to their first notion,
+gave way to bursts of rage and reviling, and as the days passed,
+settled down into a state of moody despair.
+
+Copstone had tried to induce them to fit out the _Maid Marian_ for sea,
+but he had found it impossible to whip up enough energy among them.
+They had some reason for their reluctance, inasmuch as, the stores of
+the _Maid Marian_ having been put aboard the _Mirandola_, there was no
+provision for a long voyage.  The fruits of the island would spoil in a
+week or so, whereas if they clung to the island they were at least sure
+of finding a sufficient subsistence.  But they had been troubled even
+on this point, for some of the men fell ill through recklessly eating
+fruits and berries without first ascertaining whether they were fit for
+food, and with broken health their spirits had been still further
+depressed.
+
+"Poor souls!" said Turnpenny.  "'Ee do look a wangery and witherly
+crew.  But 'ee be all here, all twelve, not a man lacking?  My heart!
+where be Gabriel Batten?"
+
+"He never come back!"
+
+"Never come back!  What do 'ee mean?"
+
+"We looked for en, up along and down along, but nary a crim of him did
+we see."
+
+"Ay, and another be gone, too," said Hugh Curder.  "But a sennight
+agone, poor Joe Toogood vanished out of our sight, and we never seed
+him again."
+
+"Be there devils upon the island, Haymoss?" asked Ned Whiddon,
+anxiously.  "Be there pixies that lead poor souls into some ditch or
+quagmire, where they be swallowed quick in the pluffy ground?  Once we
+was bold mariners all, but now we be poor timorsome creatures, afeard
+when the wind soughs in the trees."
+
+Dennis remembered the boa-constrictor from whose clammy coils he had
+saved the monkey that now sat upon his shoulder.
+
+"'Twas no sprites nor pixies, comrades," he said.  "Without doubt they
+came unawares upon a big serpent that charmed them first with his fiery
+eyes, and then swathed them in his fearsome coils till he had crushed
+the life out of them.  Poor souls! poor souls!"
+
+"But now 'tis time to be merry, lads," said Amos quickly, "for here we
+be, and our pinnace yonder is named the _Minion_, the same as the bark
+that Captain Hampton handled so cunningly at St. John d'Ulua; and we be
+goin' to take 'ee all back to Master Drake, who lies by a secret haven,
+in little small huts built by the maroons; and there be archery butts,
+and a smith's anvil, and other such homely things.  And we have seen
+wondrous things, my lads--the blue south sea beyond, and the treasure
+town, and Master Drake be set on leading us forth to adventure for gold
+and jewels beyond price.  'Tis time to be merry, souls!"
+
+And catching the infection of his cheery good-will, Hugh Curder flung
+his hat in the air and began--
+
+  Ill is the weather that bringeth no gain,
+    Nor helps good hearts in need.
+
+
+Dennis had transferred to the _Mirandola_--now, alas! at the bottom of
+the sea--the greater part of the _Maid Marian's_ stores that he kept in
+his sheds; but there was a goodly remnant still in the cave, and this
+he determined to put on board the _Minion_ and carry to Port Diego.
+The afternoon was too far advanced for the work to be completed that
+night; so he determined to sleep on the island and make an early start
+next morning.  As soon as it was light he sent a number of Turnpenny's
+old comrades in different directions across the island to get a supply
+of fresh fruit, while the men he had brought from the mainland set
+about carrying the stores from the cave to the pinnace.
+
+They had not been long at the work, however, when Ned Whiddon came
+hurrying back.
+
+"God-a-mercy, sir," he cried, "we have spied a crew of strangers on the
+south shore, and in the offing two vessels at anchor.  They be all clad
+and armed in the Spanish fashion, and when they set eyes on us they
+gave chase, and but that we know the island now as well as we know the
+lanes to home, none of us would have 'scaped."
+
+Other men came in while he was speaking.  Dennis trembled for the fate
+of those who had gone towards the northern shore and had not yet
+returned.
+
+"'Tis ill news indeed," he said.  "Run, Curder, after the men that have
+gone northward, and warn them that Spaniards are here to trouble us,
+lest they have not already discovered it.  Comrades," he added,
+addressing the men about him, whose countenances bespoke their
+alarm--"comrades, we must take counsel together.  What think you, Amos,
+we should do?"
+
+"Why, sir, we should steal out in the pinnace as soon as our men be
+back along, leaving these stores, and thread a way betwixt the reefs to
+nor'ward; for the knaves could not follow us save in their boats."
+
+"Ay, sir," said Copstone, "that be the true way of it.  God send the
+tide be high enough to serve."
+
+"Then get aboard and make all ready to depart.  Amos, look to all
+things, and make the rest of our comrades to embark as they arrive.  I
+will run to the top of the cliff to spy if the coast be clear."
+
+But on reaching the spot whence he had often before looked so longingly
+and vainly for a sail, he made a most unwelcome discovery.  About a
+mile to the south-west of the island lay a large vessel, which, since
+she was busily engaged in signalling, was clearly a consort of the two
+ships that Whiddon had seen.  Keeping well under cover, Dennis raced
+along to a point half a mile south, whence the whole southern offing
+was visible.  There were the two vessels; and, even as he looked, a
+boat was lowered from the nearest of them, rapidly filled with men, and
+was rowed towards the beach.
+
+The sight was enough to cause the boldest heart to quake.  If the
+pinnace ran out of the gully, she would have to pass within half a mile
+of the ship, for the tide was low, and even the little _Minion_ drew
+too much water to make her way northward until she had run at least
+half a mile out to sea.  This would bring her under the guns of the
+third vessel, and the Spaniards must be poor marksmen indeed if they
+failed to hit her at this range.
+
+He was beginning to retrace his steps when Turnpenny came up hurriedly.
+
+"We be all aboard, sir, save yourself and Nick Joland.  Have 'ee seen
+him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He be but late better of a fever, as Tom telled me; pray he be not
+swooned."
+
+At this moment they heard loud shouts to their right.  Running down
+through the trees, careful not to expose themselves, they saw four
+Spaniards chasing this very Nick Joland, a thin cadaverous-looking man
+whose stumbling gait betrayed his weakness.  He was making almost in a
+straight line for a large bignonia bush that stood alone at the end of
+the narrow clearing just below where the two men were watching.
+
+With one accord Dennis and Turnpenny stole to the bush and dropped down
+behind it.
+
+"Let Joland pass," whispered Dennis; "then we can tackle the knaves as
+they come up."
+
+"Without arms?" replied Turnpenny.
+
+Dennis nodded.  In a few moments the fugitive, panting hard, ran past
+the bush.  The four Spaniards, running in a body, were close at his
+heels.
+
+"Now!" Dennis whispered.
+
+They sprang out with a yell, and though they were unarmed, the odds
+were not utterly against them, for the Spaniards were startled by this
+unexpected onset.  A single blow from Turnpenny's sledge-hammer fist
+stretched one of them senseless on the ground.  Dennis felled his man,
+but his arm was less powerful, and the Spaniard began dizzily to regain
+his feet while Dennis grappled with another.  As he rose he reeled just
+within reach of Turnpenny's arm.  Catching him round the middle, the
+seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard, who was making
+furiously at him with drawn sword, Their heads collided with a terrific
+thud, and down they fell on the grass together.
+
+[Illustration: "The seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard."]
+
+Meanwhile Dennis had come to grips with the third man, a heavy and
+muscular fellow, who had only been prevented by the suddenness of the
+onslaught from using his sword, which he was unable in the surprise of
+the moment to shorten before Dennis was within his guard.  Dropping the
+weapon, he strove to crush his antagonist by sheer strength.  But
+Dennis was a wrestler.  He neatly tripped the Spaniard, who fell,
+dragging his opponent with him.  With a tremendous effort, he heaved
+himself uppermost and pinned Dennis to the ground.  His hand was
+already on Dennis's throat when suddenly a bright object hurtled
+through the air, striking him with terrific force on the side of the
+head.  His grip relaxed, he fell with a groan upon Dennis, the object
+that had struck him clattering to the ground.
+
+Dennis was up in a moment.  The strange missile was the headpiece of
+one of the Spaniards.  It had fallen from his head in the tussle, and
+been picked up by Nick Joland, who, seeing the diversion in his favour,
+had hurried up at the critical moment in time to save Dennis from
+strangulation.
+
+"Dead as door-nails!" said Turnpenny succinctly, seeing Dennis glance
+at the Spaniards on the ground.  "'Tis a terrible heave-up, sir; we
+were best to run back along to our comrades in the pinnace, for there
+be gashly work afore us.  And we will take these knaves' swords and
+calivers.  Crymaces! there be more running towards us, and a round
+dozen; we durst not bide their coming.  We have but bare time to get
+back to the chine.  Stir your stumps, Nick Joland; we can't save 'ee
+twice, man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A Fight on the Cliffs
+
+The three doubled back towards the chine, which was little more than
+half a mile away.  The Spaniards saw them ere they disappeared among
+the trees, and followed with loud shouts, quickening their pace when
+they reached the spot where their comrades lay.  But the Englishmen,
+knowing the ground, came in good time to the edge of the gully, where a
+steep and winding path led down to the ledge on which the huts were
+built.  From the summit the ledge was not visible.
+
+"Shall we run down at once, or give them a taste of their own lead
+first?" asked Dennis, halting for a moment.
+
+"Give the knaves a taste, to be sure," replied Amos.  "They know not
+how many we be, nor can they see through the trees; and we must needs
+check them, to give us time to acquaint our comrades with what is
+toward, and set our defences in order."
+
+While speaking he had kindled the matches taken from the Spaniards.
+The calivers were already loaded.  Crouching behind the thick bushes
+that lined the edge of the gully, they fired when they caught sight of
+the Spaniards advancing among the trees.  Two of the enemy fell; the
+rest halted; and while they stood considering whether to advance, the
+three Englishmen hurried down the path, guessing that the Spaniards
+would hardly venture to follow while they were ignorant of the size of
+the force with which they had to deal.
+
+Arriving at the ledge, Turnpenny gave a hail to the men on the deck of
+the pinnace, bidding them leave the vessel and bring their arms and
+ammunition with them.  They had been much alarmed by the continued
+absence of their leaders, and by the sound of the shots, and asked
+anxiously, when they reached the ledge, what was to be done.  Dennis
+rapidly told them what he had seen from the summit of the cliff, and
+how for the present the Spaniards had been checked, and then, taking
+Turnpenny and two or three of the others aside, began to concert a plan
+of defence.
+
+The position was naturally a strong one.  The ledge was accessible only
+by the narrow path from the cliff-top, and by a few yards of steep
+ascent from the base of the gully.  It was protected from attack from
+above by the overhanging cliff; it could only be assaulted from below
+if the enemy got into the bed of the gully, either by coming in boats
+round the shoulder of the cliff, or by clambering down the sides
+inland.  The gully was forty yards across; the opposite bank was steep
+and much overgrown with vegetation, trees and bushes growing thick to
+the very edge.  Down the middle ran the stream from the marsh, very
+shallow after a season of dry weather.  On their own side the defenders
+could pick off the enemy if they came to attack them along the narrow
+path; they were only in danger if the Spaniards took post on the summit
+of the cliff opposite, and they could not reach that spot except by
+making a long circuit about the marsh in which the stream took its
+rise, or by clambering down the southern bank some distance up-stream,
+wading through the water and climbing the other side.  This would be a
+matter of an hour or two at least--an invaluable respite which Dennis
+resolved to make the most of.
+
+He sent one of the maroons up the path to keep watch on the enemy, and
+another to cross the gully, clamber up the opposite face, and hide
+among the trees there to give notice of an approach from the
+north-east.  The other maroons, with several of the Englishmen, he set
+to fortify the extremity of the ledge with a wall of branches, so that
+the party might be screened from gunshot on the far side.  Turnpenny,
+with the strongest of the mariners, went down to the pinnace, and at
+the cost of great exertion brought up the falcon and rabinets which
+formed, with the addition of a saker, her armament.  The saker was a
+muzzle-loader weighing more than half a ton, and too cumbrous to be
+hauled up the steep cliff; but the falcon was less than half that
+weight, and the two rabinets weighed only three hundred pounds apiece.
+The falcon was seven feet long, had a bore of two and a half inches,
+and threw a shot of three pounds weight, with a similar weight of
+powder.  The rabinet was only two and a half feet in length, its bore
+was one inch, and its shot weighed only half a pound.  Both guns had a
+point-blank range of from a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty
+yards, and, mounted on the ledge, in embrasures of the extemporized
+wall, they would prove very effective weapons of defence.
+
+While the guns were being hauled into position, others of the men
+brought buckets of water, filled at the cliff stream, and emptied them
+into the casks which during the months spent on the island by Dennis
+and the sailors had been depleted of the stores they had held when
+brought from the hold of the _Maid Marian_.  Two casks still remained
+full of cider, but this having gone sour in the heat, it was poured
+away, the casks were swilled out, and re-filled with water.  It was
+fortunate that a pure spring welled in the cliff, for the water of the
+rivulet draining the marsh was unfit for drinking.
+
+All the men worked with a will.  They knew not as yet how many the
+enemy numbered, but since there were three vessels, of which each, if
+fully manned, might contain from forty to seventy men, they had to
+reckon with a force that might be from a hundred and twenty to more
+than two hundred strong.  The odds were tremendously against them.  All
+told, they numbered only twenty-six, of whom six were maroons.  But
+they had only two courses open to them: to fight, and at least sell
+their lives dearly, or to yield, and be shot or hanged or haled away to
+a slavery worse than death.  Not one of them hesitated in his choice.
+
+As a last resort, Dennis had the cave to fall back upon; but he was
+loath to retire to it until he had made a good fight at the gully, for
+while, from the ledge on which his hut stood, he could command the
+entrance of the gully, and to some extent protect the pinnace, the cave
+was deeper in the cliff and out of sight, and however strenuously the
+party might defend itself there, the pinnace would then be at the mercy
+of the enemy.  It was true that, even if the pinnace were carried away
+or destroyed, a canoe could be dug out by the maroons, so that they
+would still have a means of leaving the island; but Dennis was
+determined to sail the _Minion_ back to Port Diego and to Francis Drake.
+
+Midday came, and passed.  The maroons had finished their wall; the guns
+were mounted and charged; the water-casks were filled: and still there
+was no sign of the enemy.  But the scouts had not returned, and Dennis
+began to feel somewhat uneasy.  What were the Spaniards doing?
+
+"Have we left aught undone, think you?" he said to Turnpenny, as they
+sat on upturned tubs eating their dinner.
+
+"Nowt, sir, as I can see.  But methinks 't'ud be well to withdraw the
+muzzles of our guns somewhat.  If the knaves come on t'other side and
+spy them, they may sheer off and seek some other way of troubling us;
+and I would that they came to close quarters here, where we can strike
+them down."
+
+"'Tis good counsel.  Not perceiving the guns they will be the more
+emboldened to attack us, and 'twere well we have occasion to teach them
+a sound lesson."
+
+Accordingly the guns were withdrawn so that their muzzles did not
+project from the other side of the wall.  Hardly had this been done
+when the nose of a boat was seen shooting round the shoulder of the
+cliff.
+
+"Lookeedesee!" cried Turnpenny.  "The knaves that followed us did
+assuredly go back to their comrades and tell them of the gully and the
+path downwards, and they have sent their cock-boat to spy the place
+from the sea."
+
+"Let us keep out of sight and watch what they do," said Dennis.
+
+The boat, filled with armed men, came under full sweep of oars up the
+entrance to the gully.  When it was still some distance from the
+pinnace the men rested on their oars, and one rose in the bows to look
+about him.  For some time he saw nothing to indicate that the place was
+defended, and his fellows in the boat began to talk over the situation,
+the sound of their voices coming clearly to the men behind the wall.
+Then, as the boat again moved towards the pool, some one in it suddenly
+caught sight of the barricaded ledge, and the voices broke out once
+more in eager discussion.  The upshot of this was that they came to the
+conclusion that the pinnace had been abandoned to her fate, and with a
+shout of triumph they bent lustily to their oars and came on with the
+evident intention of securing the vessel.
+
+But they were now within range of the calivers of the defenders.  At a
+sign from Dennis eight of the men stepped forward to the wall, lit
+their matches, and, resting the weapons on the top, fired when he gave
+the word.  Several of the oarsmen were seen to fall back; the boat came
+to a stop; and while the Spaniards were hesitating whether to advance
+or retreat, eight more men sent a hot volley among them, working havoc
+in the crowded boat.  Cries of pain were now mingled with their shouts;
+the defenders heard a loud word of command; and the rowers began to
+back water so as not to present the side of the boat to the hidden
+marksmen.  When the boat was out of danger it swung round on the
+current, and in a few minutes disappeared past the shoulder of the
+cliff.
+
+Scarcely was it out of sight when the maroon who had been sent up the
+cliff to the south came running down the path.  He reported that he had
+stealthily spied upon the Spaniards who had been baffled when Dennis
+and Turnpenny vanished over the edge; they had returned to the southern
+shore, where they rejoined a larger party which had assembled there.  A
+council had been held on the beach; horns were sounded, no doubt to
+recall scattered bands who had been ranging the island in other
+directions; more men had been sent off from the ships; and the whole
+force, numbering, as near as he could guess, nearly two hundred men,
+had set off with matches already lighted, marching northward.
+Moreover, the third vessel, which had been lying off the south-western
+shore, was working slowly up the coast.
+
+"'Twas from her, without doubt, the boat put off that we have lately
+routed," said Dennis.  "The men aboard will tell what they have seen.
+What will be the upshot, think you, Amos?"
+
+"Be jowned if I can tell, sir.  My counsel is, let the maroon go back
+and spy upon them.  An the knaves march directly northward they will
+come upon the gully just above us, and methinks, however stout they be,
+they will not dare to come down the path, where we can shoot them man
+by man."
+
+It was done as he suggested.  Within half an hour the maroon came back
+with the news that the boat had been run ashore on low ground to the
+west: many wounded men had been lifted out of it; and the majority of
+the Spaniards had hastened across country to rejoin the marching force.
+It halted while a consultation was held; then the march was resumed,
+but this time in a more easterly direction, which would bring them to
+the gully at a point about midway between the ledge and the morass,
+where the banks were sufficiently low and the stream sufficiently
+shallow to permit them to cross without difficulty.
+
+"They be coming about to fire down at us from t'other side," said
+Turnpenny.
+
+"Over the wall," added Copstone.
+
+"We can fire back," said Whiddon.
+
+"Zuggers! but twenty of us cannot keep two hundred in check," said Hugh
+Curder, anxiously.
+
+"Say you so?" said Dennis.  "Master Drake with but few more did assault
+and take a whole town.  The Spaniards have learnt the worth of an
+English mariner; they will not approach us rashly.  And they know not
+the ground as we know it.  'Twill be a matter of time to cross the
+gully and climb the bank and creep along through the trees on the
+further side until they face us here.  There is--you know it well--a
+space on the opposite cliff where the trees grow somewhat thin: a space
+which the knaves must cross an they wish to gain the edge.  Might we
+not ensconce ourselves on the hither border of that space, and fire
+upon them as they come?  We are not able, 'tis true, a poor twenty, to
+withstand the fervent assault of two hundred; but we can assuredly
+delay them, and teach them somewhat to respect us, and give time withal
+for our wall to be increased in height; meseems it is lower than is
+proper.  What say you, lads; shall we do this?"
+
+"But how get back to this our fort, sir?" asked one of Drake's men.
+"We must fall back before them if they push on, and then methinks they
+might drive us over the brink, so that we fall headlong to the bottom,
+and break in pieces."
+
+"Nay, Wetherall," replied Dennis.  "We would take two, or even three,
+calivers apiece, whereby we twenty become sixty, and I warrant me we
+could do so much damage among them that they would pause ere they
+resolved to bring it to a push.  And while they paused, we should have
+time to scramble down through the trees and shrubs, and up this side
+again, and come to our wall, mayhap, before they won to the edge.
+Assuredly we can do them more hurt yonder than if we wait until they
+stand in serried mass face to face with us above.  Shall we do it,
+lads, for the honour of England?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," shouted the men, fired by his enthusiasm and confidence;
+and Hugh Curder began to troll--
+
+  "And hey for the honour of old England,
+    Old England, Old England!"
+
+
+The move was instantly begun.  Dennis bade four of the maroons weave
+more branches into the wall.  The rest of the men, with two loaded
+calivers apiece--three were found to be too cumbrous a load--followed
+Dennis down the cliff, forded the stream on rocks just above the pool
+where the pinnace and the _Maid Marian_ lay, and clambered up the
+opposite cliff by a zigzag path, assisting themselves by the branches
+and projecting roots of trees.  Arriving at the summit, they waited
+only to light their matches, then hurried forward through the
+undergrowth to the edge of the somewhat open space which the enemy must
+cross.  Each man posted himself behind a convenient tree.  For two
+hundred yards in their front there were only a few scattered trees and
+bushes.  Dennis wished there were time to fell these and so deprive the
+enemy wholly of cover; but even if they could have been cut down, there
+was no means at hand of dragging them away, and they would give less
+protection if left erect than if they lay lengthwise across the space.
+
+About half an hour after they had thus taken up their positions, the
+maroon who had previously been sent across the gully as a scout came
+running back to announce that the enemy were approaching.  They were
+marching with great caution, the soldiers blowing on their smouldering
+matches to keep them alight.  Dennis ordered the maroon to post himself
+behind a tree, and the little party waited in breathless silence for
+the enemy to appear.
+
+At last one or two men could be seen among the trees on the other side
+of the clearing.  They halted, evidently waiting for the main body to
+appear before they moved across.  Dennis took advantage of the interval
+to whisper his orders to the men.  If the enemy did not come on in a
+mass, and at the charge, only alternate men were to fire the first
+volley, then, if they had time, to reload their pieces, still having
+the second loaded caliver in reserve.
+
+In a few minutes the gleam of the Spaniards' headpieces and
+shoulder-plates was seen as they joined the advance scouts among the
+trees.  Then, as it were out of the leafy wall, some twenty men marched
+resolutely forward in closed ranks, clearly without any suspicion that
+the woods beyond were occupied.  Dennis waited until they were half-way
+across the open space, then he sounded the "Hoo! hoo!" which was the
+maroons' signal in wood fighting.  The calivers flashed from the belt
+of trees; several of the enemy fell; the rest, startled and confused by
+this sudden and unexpected attack, rushed back instantly upon the main
+body, while the men who had fired began in all haste to reload.
+
+But they had no time to complete the priming of their weapons.  A shout
+was heard from beyond the clearing.  Immediately afterwards a tall
+Spaniard, whom his dress marked out as an officer, dashed forward at
+the top of his speed, carrying a short heavy pistol of the kind known
+to Englishmen as "daggs."  With a yell the whole body followed at his
+heels.  For a moment it seemed to Dennis that nothing could stay the
+rush; he and his little party must be overwhelmed.  But he called aloud
+to his men to hold their fire until the Spaniards should come within
+point-blank range.  One man, Nick Joland, in sheer nervousness, fired
+wildly before the proper time; but the rest, being old mariners who had
+borne a part in many a scrimmage before, had sufficient self-command to
+obey his orders.
+
+On came the Spaniards, and some of the waiting Englishmen knew them to
+be trained soldiers, infantrymen reputed the finest in the world.  But
+none of the seamen quailed.  They knew what was at stake.  When the
+enemy were within forty paces Dennis gave the word.  Twenty calivers
+sped forth their deadly missiles, and every shot took effect.  Even the
+splendid courage and discipline of the Spanish soldiery was unequal to
+the strain put upon it.  Twenty of them lay writhing or motionless upon
+the ground; the mass behind recoiled, and fled to cover, some to the
+few trees and shrubs that dotted the open space, others to the thick
+wood beyond.
+
+Among those who had been struck down was the gallant captain.  He had
+just risen on one knee when one of his men sprang from the shattered
+ranks to his assistance.  Reckless of consequences, the brave fellow
+rushed to the middle of the clearing, fully exposed to the marksmen,
+and, lifting the wounded officer, carried him bodily among the trees.
+His courage drew a great cheer from the Englishmen, not one of whom
+raised his weapon to shoot.
+
+"My heart, 'tis a brave lad," roared Turnpenny; "and withal a mighty."
+
+The advance had been checked; the enemy had disappeared; but the voice
+of another officer was heard haranguing the men.  Soon bullets began to
+spatter among the trees behind which the Englishmen lurked, and there
+were signs that the Spaniards were spreading out with the object of
+taking them in flank.  It was time to retreat if they were not to be
+cut off.  The enemy's movement would take some time,--after their check
+they would hesitate to make another direct attack across the clearing;
+and Dennis hoped to be able to clamber down the cliff and regain the
+ledge before the Spaniards discovered that their opponents had
+disappeared.  The word was passed quietly along the line; the men
+snatched up their weapons; and running fleetly to the edge, leapt,
+rolled, swung themselves down with all possible haste.
+
+They had crossed the stream and were half-way up the opposite side when
+the movement was seen by one of a flanking party of the Spaniards.  A
+loud cry proclaimed his discovery of their flight; he fired his
+caliver, and Hugh Curder gave a yell; the bullet had struck his foot.
+But by the time other Spaniards had come to the brink of the cliff,
+and, kneeling down, fired across the gully, the whole party had reached
+the ledge, and dropped down panting behind the wall, where for the
+moment they were safe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+Bombarded
+
+Bullets pattered upon the wall and the cliff behind; but Dennis and his
+men, lying low, took no hurt, and made no reply to the Spaniards' fire.
+This presently ceased, and Dennis, peering with caution through one of
+the embrasures in the wall, saw the summit of the opposite cliff lined
+with the enemy, who were clearly examining the position with careful
+interest, and discussing it with animation.  At length, firing one or
+two shots as by way of farewell, they withdrew from the edge and
+disappeared among the trees.
+
+"God be praised for all his mercies," said Amos, rising to his feet.
+"But I know not what is to be the end of this."
+
+"Nor I," said Dennis.  "'Tis not to be believed they have left us
+altogether, but rather that they have retired to consider of the next
+move.  They can do us no hurt from the cliff yonder except they bring
+great guns from their ships to bombard us.  Nor can they assault us
+from below, for the ascent is steep, and however bold they may be, they
+will not come up merely to be shot at.  We must e'en wait and be ready."
+
+"Ay, and think on Jan Biddle and what his villainous knavery has
+brought us to.  But for him we should by this be snug in Plimworth,
+a-kissing of our wives and little ones--those that have them.  Ah!
+sweet Margery Tutt!  What a power of mischief one base villain can do!"
+
+The day passed in quietude, the men cleaning their weapons and still
+further strengthening the wall.  The tide rose in the gully, gently
+dandling the pinnace as she lay at anchor in the pool.  Many a longing
+glance was cast at the little craft, many a sigh broke from the breasts
+of the mariners as they saw in imagination the dear cliffs of England,
+which even the most confident among them scarcely hoped ever to behold
+again.
+
+Darkness fell.  Nothing was heard save the rumble of the surf beyond
+the entrance of the gully, and the lapping of the waves against the
+base of the cliffs.  Looking seawards, in the starlight Dennis saw the
+mouth of the little harbour like a deep blue cleft in the blackness.
+He had just divided the company into watches, to keep guard over the
+ledge while the others slept, when Juan the maroon caught his arm and
+pointed to a small dark patch at the bottom of the cleft.  It seemed to
+be moving towards them.  At the same time there was a series of flashes
+from the cliff opposite; bullets flew among them, one hitting Ned
+Whiddon in the arm.  Instantly all the men sank below the level of the
+wall, and Dennis, crouching close against it, looked through one of the
+embrasures at that dark object slowly approaching up the gully, looming
+larger every moment.
+
+The meaning of it had already flashed upon him.  A boat, perhaps the
+same as had appeared earlier in the day, was coming in to cut out the
+pinnace.  The outbreak of firing from the cliff was intended to mask
+the movement and deter the defenders from interfering.
+
+"You see their cunning," said Dennis to Turnpenny, who had crept to his
+side.  "By day they would not dare come within the range of our
+calivers; they know that by night we can but fire at random, and
+endamage them little."
+
+"My heart, but we must save the pinnace!" said Turnpenny.  "She is all
+our hope and salvation."
+
+"Not all, Amos," replied Dennis.  "You forget the canoe which the
+maroons built for us; they will build another.  But I am not content to
+lose the _Minion_; how could we face Master Drake and confess we had
+lost her?  I would fain save her, but how?"
+
+"Ah, if we had but torches to light the scene!" said Tom
+Copstone--"like to those we had at Fort Aguila yonder."
+
+"Thanks for that word!" cried Dennis.  "Quick, Amos, into the shed!  I
+bethink me there are barrels of oil that we did not place aboard the
+_Mirandola_.  Broach one, man; tear some of your garments into rags and
+plentifully soak them in the oil.  These we will light and fling down
+into the pool."
+
+Skipping back from the wall, Turnpenny and Copstone went into the shed
+and crept back in less than two minutes with armfuls of drenched rags.
+These they kindled and threw hastily over into the pool below.  The
+enemy opposite poured in a hotter fire, but the little company kept
+close and none was hit.  The device was not a moment too soon.  By the
+light of the blazing rags it could be seen that the Spaniards had
+swarmed on board the pinnace, hauled up her anchor, and fastened her
+head rope to their boat.  She was indeed already moving slowly towards
+the sea.
+
+"Fire, my lads!" cried Dennis.  "Let them not all escape."
+
+Half a dozen of the men leapt forward, and, heedless of the enemy's
+bullets, discharged their calivers at the men on the deck of the
+pinnace.  Cries proclaimed that some at any rate had hit the mark; but
+in an instant afterwards the _Minion's_ deck was clear, the Spaniards
+having sprung overboard or gone below.  Still the vessel slowly
+receded.  As she was between the towing-boat and the ledge, the rowers
+were protected from the Englishmen's bullets, and they uttered a
+derisive yell as foot by foot they drew the vessel nearer the sea.
+
+"The falconet, Amos!" cried Dennis.  "'Tis time to use our ordnance."
+
+"But we be too high, sir.  I cannot lower the muzzle so as to bear on
+the pinnace."
+
+"You will be able to do that as she draws nearer the shoulder of the
+cliff.  Lay the gun in readiness."
+
+"Zuggers, sir, but if I hit the poor little craft 'twill smash her."
+
+"I care not.  If we cannot keep her whole, neither shall the Spaniards
+have her whole.  Lay the gun, man."
+
+"My heart, and so I will, and the knaves shall have a plumper,
+od-rat-en!"
+
+The entrance to the gully was dimly lit by the burning rags floating in
+the wake of the pinnace.  Amos had shoved the gun through the
+embrasure, and, with his eye along its upper surface, watched the
+little vessel as she floated on towards the open sea.  The firing
+opposite had now ceased; it was as though the Spaniards, sure of
+success, disdained to waste more powder and shot.  Apparently they were
+watching the departing pinnace with so much interest that they had not
+observed the muzzle of the falconet projecting from the wall.
+
+The vessel was now at the very entrance of the gully.  In another half
+minute she would round the shoulder of the cliff and disappear.  But
+before that half minute was past there was a flash from the ledge; a
+round shot flew seawards; and next moment there were shrieks from the
+Spaniards who, now that they were out of range of the defenders' small
+arms, had again come on deck.  The shot had struck the vessel square
+astern.  Her rudder was shattered; she swung round on the tide, and in
+another instant ran aground on a shoal and stuck fast.
+
+A mighty cheer rose from the ledge when the men saw the effect of
+Turnpenny's shot.
+
+"'Twas famous, Haymoss," cried Copstone.  "Man, 'twas a thumping twack!"
+
+And Hugh Curder in his glee lifted up his voice:
+
+  "Then next the blacksmith he came in,
+  And said 'Twas mighty hot!'"
+
+
+"Smother you!" cried Turnpenny.  "Think of the little poor craft
+yonder; 'tis like striking a 'ooman, and goes to my heart."
+
+"But 'ee'd do that in kindness, Haymoss," said Copstone.  "See, the
+knaves cannot pull her off; she be firm on the rocks, and with the tide
+falling they'll never move her.  They'll think twice before they try
+that same device again."
+
+An angry volley from the cliff opposite set them all scurrying again to
+cover behind the wall.  It proved as Copstone had said.  After vainly
+endeavouring for some time to haul the pinnace from the shoal, the
+occupants of the boat cast off the rope and disappeared.  The flames of
+the burning rags went out one by one; black darkness settled over the
+gully; quietness reigned all around; and leaving three men to keep the
+first watch, the rest drew their garments around them and sought sleep,
+wondering what the coming day might have in store.
+
+Dennis passed a miserable night.  He could not share the childlike
+elation which Turnpenny's successful shot had produced in the minds of
+the mariners.  He felt that this enemy was not to be baulked; every
+little set-back would only strengthen the Spaniards' resolve to crush
+their opponents; and by this time they could be in no doubt how small
+was the company resisting them.  His head ached with thinking before he
+fell asleep, and when he woke, before dawn, it was with throbbing
+temples and anxious heart.
+
+And when he got up and looked towards the sea, he felt his spirit die
+within him; for there, just past the shoulder of the cliff and some
+distance out to sea, lay one of the enemy's vessels, moored at a point
+which he had fondly believed to be unapproachable by any craft of her
+size.  She had been descried by the men of the last watch, but the
+meaning of the move was not clear to them as it was instantly to him.
+The ledge was just within range of her guns, for although the shoulder
+of the cleft hid the pool from any vessel in the main channel, it was
+just within sight from the spot to which the enemy's vessel had worked.
+
+"Jaykle! the skipper must be rare and bold," cried Turnpenny.
+
+"And a mariner of right good skill," said Dennis.
+
+But their admiration was turned to grave alarm when, with a roar, the
+whole of the vessel's broadside was suddenly fired, and the round shot
+came hurtling up the gully.  To reply was impossible.  The small guns
+on the ledge were too light to carry the distance.  And there was
+nothing to be hoped for from bad marksmanship on the enemy's part.  The
+first discharge had no effect except to displace masses of rock and
+earth from the cliff below the ledge.
+
+"They cannot raise their muzzles high enough to hit the ledge," cried
+Turnpenny in delight.
+
+But this fond hope was shattered at the next broadside.  One shot
+struck the hut; another tore a great gap in the wall; a third chipped
+off large pieces of rock; several men were wounded.
+
+"Our wall is vain now," said Dennis.  "Another shot will tear it away,
+and we shall have no defence against the calivers of the enemy when
+they again appear on the cliff.  Ah! and there they come.  We must run
+for the cave, Amos; 'tis our last refuge.  Lead the men thither; let
+them carry our arms and munitions, and what water and stores they can.
+I and Copstone and one or two more will strive to make reply to the
+enemy while aught of our wall remains."
+
+Bullets were already falling on the ledge.  Led by Turnpenny, most of
+the men, loaded with things, scuttled along the face of the cliff into
+the thicket that half concealed the mouth of the cave.  Dennis with
+three companions fired back at the opposite cliff; but in a few minutes
+another volley of round shot came crashing up the gully, and scarcely a
+man on the ledge but was wounded by splinters of rock, though none was
+directly hit by the shot.  It was hopeless to cling to the position
+longer.
+
+"Follow me, lads," cried Dennis; and, rushing down the ledge to where
+it widened and was overgrown with bushes, he and his comrades joined
+the others safely in the cave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+The Leaguer of Skeleton Cave
+
+"Save us all!" cried Turnpenny, "we be like rats in a trap."
+
+"The knaves cannot get at us, for this present at least," said Copstone.
+
+"True, not without being well whopped; but they can block up the
+entrance, and keep us mewed up until we must either yield or starve, or
+perish of thirst."
+
+"Keep a good heart," said Dennis, cheerfully.  "We will not yield or
+starve yet.  Since I set sail from England in the _Maid Marian_ yonder
+many a marvellous thing has befallen me.  I met a countryman when I had
+given up hope!  Why may not things we do not foresee happen again?"
+
+"Ay, true," said one of Drake's men; "and perchance Master Francis
+himself may come to our aid."
+
+"That is but a poor chance," said Dennis.  "It were better we trust in
+God and our own wit.  We are safe at present; let us see what shelter
+our cave affords; I confess I have not hitherto fully explored it."
+
+Lighting a torch, he walked inwards, with two or three of the men, and
+found after a few yards that the floor sloped slightly downwards, and
+that the cave widened out on both sides, so that, if the enemy
+discovered it, and fired into the opening, the inmates could find
+shelter out of the line of fire.  The air was close, but as it did not
+become oppressive so soon as Dennis expected, he was tempted to believe
+that there was a hole somewhere in the roof which served to ventilate
+the cave.  But though he looked carefully along the whole vault, which
+extended for some thirty yards into the cliff, he found no such
+opening, and concluded that the comparative freshness of the air was
+due merely to the spaciousness of the cave and the width of its mouth.
+
+The day wore away in quiet.  Careful watch was kept at the opening, and
+occasionally Spaniards were seen moving up and down the gully and on
+the opposite cliff; but no assault was made, and it seemed as though
+the enemy was content to wait until hunger and thirst had done their
+work.  An inspection of the stores showed that there was only two days'
+food; all the water they had was contained in three buckets; and this,
+in that climate, and the state of excitement to which the men were
+wound up, was but a pitiful supply if the investment was to be
+protracted.  Especially was it unfortunate seeing that several men were
+wounded, some seriously.  Their injuries were dressed as carefully as
+possible with the limited appliances at hand; but in the course of the
+day one poor fellow died, and was solemnly buried in a grave dug with
+their weapons in the floor.
+
+Among the occupants of the cave was Mirandola.  The monkey had taken
+refuge in a tree while the fighting was in progress, and Dennis thought
+that the poor animal would certainly flee to the woody interior of the
+island, far away from the din and turmoil.  But at nightfall the monkey
+stole into the cave, and attached himself to Dennis, whom he followed
+about like a shadow.
+
+The hours of darkness dragged slowly along.  Almost as soon as it was
+light, a round shot came crashing into the opening, scattering stones
+and earth in all directions.  The Spaniards' inaction during the
+previous day was explained: they had evidently brought from the vessel
+in the offing a gun, perhaps more than one, and mounted it on the
+opposite cliff.  The effect of the shot, which luckily harmed no one,
+was to send the men in all haste to the sides of the cave.  But the
+crash and the smoke made Mirandola shriek with fright.  He ran deeper
+into the cave, and when Dennis, with a torch, followed to soothe his
+terror, he discovered that the poor beast had taken refuge on the top
+of an irregular pillar of rock that stood out from the wall about three
+quarters of the way from the entrance.  He tried to coax the monkey to
+descend, but without avail.  The top of the pillar being beyond his
+reach, he called Turnpenny, and, climbing on to the mariner's broad
+shoulders, reached up to seize the monkey.  But Mirandola retreated and
+disappeared.
+
+"The beast is deaved, to be sure," said Turnpenny, "and lacks his
+little wit.  Let him bide, sir."
+
+"Nay, he has been our partner so long that I am not willing to lose
+him, and he will surely be stifled if we do not bring him nearer the
+opening.  Hoist me, Amos."
+
+He swarmed to the top of the rock, the sailor handing up the torch
+after him.  It took a few moments to become accustomed to the
+blackness, and in the red flickering light he failed to see any sign of
+the monkey.  But he perceived with surprise that the pillar did not
+abut immediately on the wall, as he had supposed.  Behind it he saw
+what appeared to be a deep black hole, which seemed deeper when he
+inserted his torch.  Into this Mirandola, his nerves completely
+unstrung by the shattering explosion, must have run for refuge.
+
+Dennis crawled in, and holding the torch over his head, was still more
+amazed to find that he had come to the entrance of a second cave,
+apparently larger than the first.  The floor of it was many feet below
+him: he hesitated to risk a dislocation of his ankle if he sprang down;
+so he retreated, and called to Turnpenny, informing him of his
+discovery.
+
+"Sling up a rope," he said; "you and Copstone keep a firm hold upon it
+on your side, while I let myself down on the other side and see what is
+beyond."
+
+Lowering himself through the aperture, he found the monkey sitting on
+the floor.
+
+"Come, Mirandola," he said, "you taught me the merits of some of the
+fruits of this island; hast more to teach me, old friend?  Let us go on
+together."
+
+He found that the floor of this cave also inclined downwards, and he
+went very cautiously, lest he should come unawares upon a chasm and
+fall headlong to his doom.  The atmosphere was damp and close, but not
+foul, and as he proceeded he saw by the flickering of the torch that
+there was a slight current of air.  No wall blocked his way, but by and
+by the cave narrowed and the roof came lower, and he had to stoop, and
+at last to crawl, to avoid knocking his head.  He had still not reached
+the end of what was now a tunnel, when the torch went out.  For a
+moment he hesitated whether to go on in the darkness; then, deciding
+that it was not worth while to run any risks when he could procure
+another light within a few minutes, he hurried back, got another and a
+larger torch, and asked Turnpenny to accompany him.
+
+The two together came to the spot where the first torch had been left,
+and went on.  The rough irregular fissure grew no narrower, but its
+slope became steeper at every yard.
+
+"God-a-mercy, it likes me not!" murmured Turnpenny, who was filled with
+superstitious fears in face of the unknown.  "Meseems we be going down
+into the very bowels of the earth, or mayhap lower.  Dost fear no
+goblins?  Dost not think we may come upon the Old Smoker?"
+
+"Never a whit, Amos.  Why, man, the floor here is wet.  Touch it with
+your hand.  And as I live, here are seaweeds and shells!  And look;
+surely that is a glint of light yonder that comes not from our torch.
+Here is a very pool; duck your head, man; I gave mine a rare crack just
+then, the roof comes so low.  Crawl after me.  I smell the sea, Amos;
+and ah! look! here we are on the shore.  Have a care; we must not be
+spied."
+
+Crawling actually through the water, they found themselves on the shore
+at a point not far north of the spot where Dennis had first opened his
+eyes on the island.  The hole in the cliff was almost hidden by the
+overhanging plants.  Mirandola had halted; to go through water was not
+to his taste.  Cautiously raising themselves, Dennis and Turnpenny
+parted the screening leaves and looked out to sea.  There, a little
+distance out, was the vessel that had fired on them.  The tide was low;
+she had had to shift her position further into the main channel.  In
+the little bay which here indented the shore a boat lay on the sand,
+two Spaniards leaning against its side, keeping guard over it, no
+doubt, while their comrades were engaged in investing the cave.
+
+"One thing is plain," whispered Dennis; "here at least is a way of
+retreat should we no longer be able to remain in our cave.  And when
+water fails, we can creep out by the hole in the night time, and fill
+our buckets at one of the rills that trickle from the cliff."
+
+"Ah! that is something, sir," said Turnpenny, "but I would fain knock
+those knaves yonder on the head and take their boat.  We might then
+make a shift to row away from this isle."
+
+"A good wish, Amos, but hard to come by.  We could not do it in
+daylight, and methinks the Spaniards would not do us the grace to leave
+their boat here on the shore for us to make free with at night.  But
+assuredly we can keep a better watch on them here than from the cave
+above, where we cannot show a head but with great peril; let us
+therefore return and send one of the maroons hither as a sentinel."
+
+There was great excitement among the men when they were told of this
+discovery.  Though it seemed impossible that the passage to the sea
+could avail them much, the knowledge that it was open to them gave just
+that dash of comfort which is all the world to men in extremity.  And
+when, as the day wore on, the enemy's guns began to play regularly on
+the mouth of the cave, and brought down in front of it great masses of
+the cliff above, they did not get into a state of panic, but almost
+gaily made air-holes through the loosely piled earth with their
+weapons, chuckling at the thought that the besiegers were no doubt
+flattering themselves with the supposition that the hapless garrison
+was being gradually entombed.
+
+But it seemed to Dennis that an attempt should be made to turn this
+strange discovery to account.  Clearly it was possible to leave the
+cave, but supposing they all made their way to the shore, what then?
+They might take to the woods in the centre of the island, and for a
+time, perhaps, elude the enemy; but it would only be a matter of days
+before they must be hunted down.  They could not, a mere handful, risk
+a stand-up fight against a force six or seven times their number.  And
+it was in the highest degree unlikely that the enemy would leave any of
+their boats on shore during the night.  Still, there was just a chance
+that a boat might be so left, and Dennis arranged that Juan the maroon
+should go before dark to the exit on the shore, to see what he could
+discover of the Spaniards' arrangements, and then to steal up the cliff
+and learn how they encamped during the night.
+
+The night was still young when the maroon returned.  He had seen the
+boat put off, conveying officers to the vessel.  Then, waiting until it
+was dark, he had climbed the cliff, and found that the enemy had formed
+a camp on the summit immediately above the ledge, at some little
+distance from the brink.  No pickets were posted; the Spaniards had
+evidently recognized the hopelessness of any attempt to escape either
+up or down the gully.
+
+Juan had then crept round to the northern cliff, and discovered that
+the two guns which had played on the cave during the day were left in
+charge of two men.  Dennis was somewhat surprised that the main camp of
+the enemy had not been made there instead of on the southern cliff,
+until he remembered that only on the latter were there springs of fresh
+water.
+
+"'Tis as I feared, you see," he said to Turnpenny.  "The boat returns
+to the ship at night--just as the boat was wont to return to your
+lumber-ship.  It was but a poor hope, and that is dashed."
+
+"And so 'tis.  The only thing that we poor souls could do would be to
+crawl out by the hole, and fetch a long compass to the cliff yonder
+where the guns be, and blow them up for the knaves.  If there be but
+two men guarding them, 't'ud be no hard feat."
+
+Dennis did not reply.  He seemed to have fallen into a brown study.
+
+"I'se warrant I could do it, with Tom Copstone and Juan, and maybe
+another of the maroons.  'T'ud not save us, to be sure, but 't'ud at
+least give the knaves a turn, od rabbit en!"
+
+"Amos," said Dennis with apparent inconsequence, "if you were a Spanish
+officer----"
+
+"God forbid, sir!" interrupted the seaman, fervently.
+
+"It is impossible, I own.  Still, if you were a Spanish officer aboard
+that vessel yonder, and in the blackest hour of night you heard a great
+uproar on this island, and saw the flashing of guns, what would you do?"
+
+"I'fecks, I would think there was a rare randy afoot, and straightway
+lower a boat and come with all speed ashore to lend a hand."
+
+"And you, Copstone,--what would you do?"
+
+"Come with Haymoss, to be sure, sir.  You and me, Haymoss----"
+
+"The words of my dream again, sir!" cried Amos in excitement.  "There
+be summat in your mind, sir; tell it out, and, souls all, lend an ear."
+
+And then Dennis unfolded a scheme which Juan's report and Turnpenny's
+suggestion had set working in his mind.  For some minutes the little
+group around him hung breathlessly upon his quiet words; then Turnpenny
+exclaimed--
+
+"We'll do it, we will so, and be jowned if the knaves will not wish
+themselves anywhere but on Maiden Isle.  Come, my hearts, the sky is
+black and lowering: 'tis the very time o' night for our intent, and
+with God's help we will prosper in our doings."
+
+And then the rough seaman fell on his knees, and with clasped hands
+recited the prayer for help in time of need, and every man of the
+little company responded with a low fervent "Amen!"
+
+Half an hour later, Turnpenny, with Copstone, Juan, and a second
+maroon, bade farewell to his comrades and clambered down into the
+second cave.  When they were on the farther side of the dividing rock,
+their weapons, with four belts packed full of grape shot from the
+stores of the _Maid Marian_, were handed down to them, and after a
+final "God speed!" from Dennis they started on the way to the sea.
+
+An hour passed--an hour during which the rest of the company sat in
+hushed expectancy, scarcely speaking a word.  One of the maroons had
+pushed his way through the heap of loose earth piled at the mouth of
+the cave, and crawled stealthily to the ledge, where he crouched amid
+the ruins of the sheds.  Presently, from the opposite cliff, came a
+slight booming sound like the cry of a night beetle.  The maroon,
+invisible in the black shade of the cliff, crept back to the cave.
+Immediately afterwards the whole company, man by man, crossed into the
+inner cave, the two men most seriously wounded being lifted up one side
+of the pillar, and lowered gently down the other.  Dennis leading, with
+Mirandola close behind, they made their way by torch-light down the
+sloping floor, then, extinguishing the torch, crawled out at the narrow
+aperture, and, after Dennis had taken a careful look round, stood up, a
+silent band of twenty-one, on the sea-shore.  The two men whose wounds
+forbade exertion were left in a sheltered spot below the bank; then the
+rest followed Dennis up through the vegetation, in single file.  It was
+so dark that no man could see the man before him, but each one grasped
+the caliver of the man ahead, thus guiding themselves through the
+jungle.
+
+Up they went, quietly, almost as surely as if it were broad daylight,
+for Dennis knew every foot of the way, which he had trodden many times
+since that day long before when he had begun his exploration of the
+island.  Winding in and out, he came at length by a long circuit to the
+high ground approaching the southern bank of the gully.  And there he
+halted.  Through the trees before him he saw the watch-fires, dying
+low, of the enemy encamped on the clearing beyond.  All was silent.  If
+any sentinels were awake, they were not conversing.  The camp was as
+quiet as though it were an abode of the dead.
+
+Suddenly the deep silence was broken by the boom of a beetle.  It died
+away.  So natural a sound was it that the Spanish sentinels, if any
+were on guard, would never have suspected that it came from the throat
+of a maroon.  Even Dennis's company might have been deceived had they
+not known that the sound had been made by one of themselves, the maroon
+at their leader's side.
+
+Scarcely had it died away when two sharp cracks rent the air from some
+point beyond the camp.  Then came an instant change over the scene--a
+change which Amos and Tom Copstone had fired to bring about.  A loud
+cry rang out in the camp, followed by a din of many voices and the
+clash of arms.  Some one cast fuel on one of the fires, and the flame,
+leaping up, shone on a camp in commotion; men were hurrying this way
+and that, calling to their fellows excitedly.  What was this that had
+disturbed their slumbers?  Was some one signalling to them from the
+vessel out at sea?  Could it be that El Draque had sailed up out of the
+night?
+
+Into the midst of this noise and confusion broke a shattering sound,
+the roar of a piece of ordnance.  Then the din was redoubled, and with
+the astonished cries of some were mingled the shrieks and groans of
+wounded men.  Still Dennis and his little band stood motionless amid
+the trees, but every man now held a lighted match.  Another deep
+reverberating roar thundered forth, with more cries and yells in the
+camp.  Amos and his comrades had disposed of the men guarding the guns,
+and had turned these upon the enemy.
+
+"Now!" cried Dennis.
+
+Then a mighty shout broke from the throats of the little company, and
+with the roar of lusty British seamen mingled the weird "Yo peho! yo
+peho!" of the maroons.  A volley flashed from the muzzles of nineteen
+calivers, and nineteen men dashed forward towards the camp, shouting
+like a hundred.  On they rushed through the trees into the clearing.
+"Yo peho! yo peho!"  And with yells of panic fear the Spaniards, like a
+flock of sheep, ran and ran and ran, helter-skelter, flinging their
+arms away, tumbling over one another, falling, rising again, pelting
+headlong through the woodland towards the marsh.
+
+Again the guns on the opposite cliff thundered, but the shots did not
+now come plunging into the camp.  How were the Spaniards, scared out of
+their wits, to know that Turnpenny and Copstone were now firing into
+the gully, lest they should hit their comrades?  But in a few moments
+there was no risk of this, for Dennis wheeled about and led his men at
+a mad scamper down by the way they had come, never stopping until,
+bathed in sweat, panting for breath, they stood on the sea-shore, at
+the place from which they had started.
+
+And now Dennis looked again towards the sea, and strained his ears to
+catch a sound he expected.  Would his expectation be fulfilled?  Would
+Fortune favour him?  Would the Spanish officers aboard the ship do as
+Copstone and Turnpenny in their place would have done--lower boats in
+all haste and come to the aid of their comrades in peril?  None knew
+the anxiety that troubled Dennis in those minutes of waiting.  If the
+Spaniards were poltroons, if they were scared by the sudden outbreak
+and feared to venture shorewards in the dark, his bold scheme would
+fail, and then what the end would be he hardly dared to think.  It was
+with real agony of soul he listened, listened for the sweep of oars.
+
+Hark!  On the silence of the sea comes a thud, a measured beat, growing
+in loudness, drawing near.  As yet he can see nothing, but his comrades
+hear the sound; their hearts leap at it; they can scarcely check a
+shout of joy.  On comes the boat; they hear the splash of oars, and
+voices, and by and by the grating of a keel.  They wait in panting
+silence.  Men are wading through the water; arms clash; a loud voice
+gives an order; and now a score of dark forms can be seen running up
+the beach, making for the very path lately traversed by the nineteen.
+The men, lurking beneath the bank, hold their breath; Dennis feels as
+though his very heart-beats must be heard; but the Spaniards pass, and
+disappear, and are now hasting up towards the camp.  The sound of their
+footsteps dies away; Dennis can scarcely bear to wait, so eager is he
+to pursue his scheme to the end.  At last he gives the word, and
+eighteen men rush after him, noiselessly on the sand, towards the boat,
+a hundred yards away.
+
+The two Spaniards left on guard catch sight of the running men when
+they are half way across the beach.  Why should they suspect that these
+are not their comrades who lately parted from them?  What has happened?
+They are nervous, unstrung.  "What is it?" they cry; but the words are
+choked in their throats, for two men have sprung upon them, and next
+moment they lie stunned on the sand.  Four men return and bring their
+wounded comrades with what haste they may.  Then lusty arms shove the
+boat from the shoal; nineteen men leap in after the two; the oars are
+out, and the boat's head points towards the vessel lying at anchor.
+
+But it pauses as it comes level with the shoulder of the cliff.  The
+four bold fellows who have so manfully played their part beyond the
+gully are not forgotten.  And but a few moments after the boat has
+stopped, four figures come swimming out with mighty strokes, and are
+hauled aboard, dripping wet, but exultant.  Again the oars strike the
+water and the boat moves out to sea.  A dark hull looms up in front.
+Dennis whispers an order; all the oars are shipped but two; and the
+boat goes slowly, with no sign of haste.  A voice hails it from the
+deck.  "All's well!" calls Juan.  The boat is now under the vessel's
+quarter: a lamp is slung over the bulwark to guide the returning crew;
+a rope is thrown out to steady her; and Turnpenny begins to clamber up
+by the battens.  Before Dennis reaches the deck he hears a cry, then a
+heavy thud, and as he springs aboard he sees Amos with a prostrate
+Spaniard between his legs.  Up they go, all twenty-five; only a dozen
+of the vessel's crew are left on board; and the long pent-up excitement
+of maroons and British mariners bursts forth in a shout of triumph; the
+ship is theirs.
+
+"Heave up the anchor, my hearts!" cried Turnpenny.  "Loose the
+mainsail, Tom; the wind serves."
+
+"Stay, Amos," said Dennis, "we must not forget the pinnace.  We cannot
+return to Master Drake without her."
+
+"Nor shall not," replied the seaman; "but we'll first give the knavish
+vessels yonder a taste of our lead, an ye will but give us leave."
+
+"A right good notion, Amos, if we can win to them at this low tide."
+
+"That we can, sir; trust me."
+
+With her courses set, and Turnpenny at the helm, the vessel stood out
+half a mile until all danger of striking a shoal was past; then she was
+headed southward.  Meantime Dennis superintended the loading of all her
+ordnance, five guns on each side.  Soon they saw the dark hulls of the
+two Spanish vessels anchored off the south-west corner of the island.
+
+"There's room enough betwixt 'em, sir, for us to pass and rake 'em with
+a broadside.  Not a man aboard 'em will suppose this craft is manned by
+any but their own comrades, nor will they know better till they hear
+our popguns."
+
+As they approached, a voice hailed them from the vessel on the port
+side, asking the meaning of the uproar lately heard.
+
+"A fight ashore, but it is now over," sang out Juan the maroon.
+
+The _Minion_ came between the two vessels.  So confident was Turnpenny
+in the unpreparedness of the Spaniards that he hove to, not a dozen
+yards separating the ships on either side.  The guns were manned; the
+matches, already lighted, were screened from observation; then, at the
+word, the five guns on the starboard side belched forth their heavy
+charges of round shot.  Almost before the roar had died away the
+gunners rushed to the larboard.  Again there was a mighty thunder and
+crash as the shots raked the hapless vessel.  Through the cloud of
+smoke the adventurous bark was got under way.  In a few minutes she ran
+clear; Turnpenny put the helm down, and she beat up against the wind
+until she reached her former anchorage westward of the gully.
+
+Then Dennis, with Turnpenny and a dozen men, got into the boat which
+had followed astern at the end of a rope, and rowed for the entrance
+between the cliffs.  There was no guard over the pinnace.  The
+Spaniards who had been surprised in their camp had fled to the other
+side of the island.  Even those who had lately landed, hearing the
+thunder of the guns to the south, had rushed inland, believing that El
+Draque, the terror of their coasts, had suddenly come upon them.
+Unmolested, Dennis and some of his party landed on the rocks.
+Turnpenny made a rapid inspection of the pinnace.
+
+"Her stern works be sore battered and her rudder shivered to
+splinters," he said, "but she will take no water, a' b'lieve.  With a
+strong pull we will have her off, sir."
+
+The rope by which the Spaniards had attempted to tow her was still
+fixed.  Under the haulage of twelve sturdy mariners she was slowly
+shifted; she floated; and in twenty minutes lay alongside the Spanish
+vessel.
+
+Then, the men giving a parting cheer that echoed and re-echoed from the
+shore, the ship stood away under full sail with the pinnace riding
+merrily astern.  And when morning broke the long coast-line of the
+mainland was already in sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+The Mule Trains
+
+"No Bobby Pike this time," whispered Turnpenny to Dennis, as they lay
+eating their supper amid the scrub a mile or more south of Nombre de
+Dios.  "And with all my soul I hope the Frenchmen be sober men, for to
+fail of our purpose now through any frowardness would break Master
+Drake his noble heart and send me into a decline."
+
+"Hush!" returned Dennis, in a voice equally low.  "List to the church
+bells, Amos, and the clatter of the hammers.  Does it not mind you of
+home--the church on the cliff, and the busy carpenters in the docks
+below?  My soul yearns for home, Amos."
+
+"Ay, and so do I.  But I would fain return home with full hands--money
+enough to buy a little fishing craft, and a cottage by the sea.  'Tis
+five year and more since I sailed in the _Jesus_ out of Plimworth
+Sound, and there was Margery Tutt a-waving her little handkercher to
+me, thinking, poor soul, to see me again within a twelvemonth.  And I
+warrant the pretty maid counted the days and went to every wedden in
+church, to larn the fearsome promises word by word, so that she might
+not fail when we should come to stand afore holy pa'son.  'With all my
+worldly goods I thee endow': so it runs for the man to say, and here I
+be, five year after, with not so much worldly goods as I had then,
+saving some few pearls; and I warrant some knavish land-lubber has come
+along and snatched up my little Margery, and I'll find her a bowerly
+'ooman that has clean forgot poor Haymoss Turnpenny.  Ah me!  I be sick
+of adventures, be jowned if I bean't."
+
+"Be of good cheer, Amos.  If Fortune stand our friend, we shall have
+more gold and silver than we can bear away before this night be ended;
+and then Master Drake will sail away home, and who knows?--Margery may
+be looking for you even yet.  'Twas seven years that Jacob served for
+Rachel."
+
+"Ay, but always within arm's length.  I warrant he kept an eye on the
+wench.  There was never a thousand leagues of sea betwixt him and the
+maid.  Od-rat-en, if I find Margery have changed her name with any
+lubberly chaw-bacon, dang me if I don't deal en a clout he'll remember,
+good-now, I will."
+
+Turnpenny relapsed into silence, brooding on his melancholy forebodings.
+
+It was the night of March 31.  Some forty men lay in the scrub
+overlooking Nombre de Dios, awaiting the clang of mule-bells that would
+announce the approach of a treasure train from Venta Cruz.  Half of
+them were French, for a week or two before, as Drake and his men were
+sportively pitching stones at the land crabs on the beach, a ship came
+down from the west, whose captain proved to be a French Huguenot named
+Le Testu, with a company of some seventy men and boys.  They were
+perishing for want of water.  Having obtained from Drake, ever generous
+to adventurers like himself, the supplies they needed, they prepared to
+join themselves to him, in the hope of obtaining some share of Spanish
+gold.
+
+Drake hesitated to admit the Frenchmen to a partnership, for he had but
+thirty-one men left, and feared that the seventy would claim too large
+a portion of the booty if his projected attack on the mule-train should
+succeed.  But the matter was compromised by Captain Le Testu joining
+Drake with twenty men.  These, with fifteen Englishmen and a few
+maroons, sailed in two of Drake's pinnaces for the mouth of the
+Francisco river, fifteen miles from Nombre de Dios.  The rest of the
+company were left at a secret spot in charge of one Richard Doble.
+When the river mouth was made, Drake sent a few maroons back with the
+pinnaces, ordering them to remain in hiding with Doble and to return in
+four days' time to take off the adventurers.
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny were among those who accompanied Drake in the
+_Minion_.  They had won great praise from him for their exploits in
+Maiden Isle and their capture of the Spanish ship, whose stores of food
+and ammunition were very welcome.  The damage to the pinnace was
+speedily repaired, Drake saying with a laugh that had she been rendered
+unseaworthy he would have pinioned Dennis between decks and kept him
+there until they dropped anchor in Plymouth Sound.
+
+The adventurers were encamped on rising ground above the town.  Taking
+a lesson from the previous failure, the men spoke in the lowest of
+whispers, even though they were a mile away from the track.  All
+through the night they heard the clatter of hammers from the bay, where
+the Spanish shipwrights, avoiding the heat of the day, were preparing
+the ships of the treasure fleet for sea.  The ambuscaders were grimly
+resolved that the cargoes should be less by the weight of a good many
+tons of silver and gold.
+
+The hours passed too slowly for the impatient adventurers.  But at
+length, a little before dawn, they heard a faint tinkle of bells afar
+in the woods, and soon the maroon scouts came in with the news that
+three trains, numbering nearly two hundred mules in all, were
+approaching from Venta Cruz.  Such good fortune was unlooked for; and
+though the scouts reported that the trains were escorted by soldiers,
+not a man gave a thought to the odds against them.  Instantly they all
+seized their calivers and bows and arrows, and hastened to the
+trackway, where, as before, they posted themselves in the long grass on
+either side.
+
+On came the mules, their bells jangling and clanging in musical
+discord.  In the grass lurked the raiders, silent--though Turnpenny
+gave Dennis a nudge and whispered, "'Tis All Fools' Day!"  Suddenly
+there sounded a blast from Drake's whistle; the men started up, and,
+sending a volley of bullets and arrows at the Spanish infantrymen that
+guarded the convoy, made straight for the heads of the leading mules.
+Nothing loath to rest a while, the mules behind lay down contentedly on
+the ground.  But the soldiers, who had blown on their matches as they
+marched, to keep them alight, rallied in a group and fired back at the
+assailants.  A maroon was killed outright: Captain Le Testu fell
+seriously wounded; but the rest, kneeling down and supporting their
+weapons on the prostrate mules, briskly returned the fire; then,
+springing up before the enemy could reload, charged upon them with
+fierce cries and drove them helter-skelter towards the town.
+Immediately afterwards two men came rushing up to Turnpenny.
+
+"Be jowned if it bean't Billy Hawk and fat Baltizar!" he cried in
+astonishment.  "Oh Billy, poor soul, what a scarecrow 'ee do look!  Get
+out, you jelly!" he cried to Baltizar, speeding him with a kick.  "You
+be fat as butter; all is well with 'ee; get 'ee to the town after your
+masters, and thank God your oily carcass be not left to fatten the
+land.--Billy, dear heart, what hath happed to thee?"
+
+Hawk told his story while Turnpenny and the other seamen, selecting the
+mules that bore the heaviest loads, with nimble fingers cast off their
+packs, unstrapped them, and helped themselves to the precious
+contents--bars and quoits of solid gold, and silver uncountable.  He
+had followed Biddle and the other mutineers in the hope of persuading
+them to return to their duty; but they had soon fallen upon him, robbed
+him of his bag of pearls, and left him bound in the forest.  There he
+had been found by some fugitives from the routed Spaniards, who carried
+him to their vessel, and conveyed him to Nombre de Dios.  Believing him
+to be one of Drake's men, they tortured him to make him confess where
+his captain's secret haven was, which he stedfastly refused to do; and
+since then he had been kept in slavery, drudging as a muleteer between
+Nombre de Dios and Panama.
+
+"God be praised we have found 'ee!" cried Turnpenny.  "You shall come
+back with us, and I'll give 'ee a share of all my treasure."
+
+The raiders did up in bundles and bestowed about their persons as much
+as they could stagger under, and set to work to bury what they could
+not carry in the burrows of landcrabs and under the great trunks of
+fallen trees.  For two hours they toiled on; then, hearing the clatter
+of hoofs from the direction of the town, they seized their booty and
+made off to the woods.  Up came a troop of horse; but when they reached
+the mules they halted, for they heard in the woods the "Yo peho!" of
+the maroons, and shrank from engaging those terrible forest fighters.
+Staggering under the weight of their treasure, the raiders tramped with
+what haste they might through the jungle.  They had not gone far when
+Captain Le Testu lay down groaning; weak from loss of blood, he could
+go no farther.  Two of his men volunteered to stay with him, and help
+him on after he had rested.  The others hurried on, and after
+struggling through the forest for two days and nights, drenched by
+terrible rainstorms, burnt black by the torrid heat, reached their
+landing-place on the bank of the Francisco River.
+
+It was four days since they had left it; the pinnaces should have been
+there awaiting them; but not a sign of them met their hungry eyes.
+Instead, seven Spanish pinnaces were observed rowing from the island,
+where the maroons had been ordered to shelter with Richard Doble.  The
+drenched and footsore raiders were aghast.  Had their enemies captured
+the pinnaces, and slain their comrades?  Were they to be imprisoned in
+this swampy jungle, with no means of sailing or rowing away to Fort
+Diego?  Loud murmurs, cries of despair, curses at being deserted, broke
+from the seamen.  They cried out that they were betrayed; that the
+Spaniards would fall on them and overwhelm them; that they would never
+see home again.  Drake expostulated with them; the maroons offered to
+lead them the sixteen days' journey overland, and promised, if the
+ships proved indeed to be taken, to give them shelter in their
+villages.  But the men cried out the more; some threw down the treasure
+they had dared so much to win; some began to cry out against their
+leader himself.
+
+Then Drake showed the stuff of which he was made.
+
+"Silence, you knaves!" he cried.  "Am I any whit better off than you?
+Is this a time to yield to craven fear?  Nay, but rather to pluck up
+heart and play the man.  If the Spaniards have in truth taken our
+pinnaces, which God forbid, yet they must have time to search them,
+time to examine the mariners, and, if they compel them by torture to
+confess where our ships are, time to execute their resolution after it
+is determined.  Before all these times be taken, we may get to our
+ships if ye will.  We may not hope to go by land, for that the journey
+is too long and the ways too foul.  But we may surely go by water.
+Look at the trees here rolling down upon the flood, thrown down by the
+storms that beset us so sorely.  May we not build ourselves a raft, and
+put ourselves to sea?  I will be one; who will be the others?"
+
+"That will I," said Dennis, stepping forward.
+
+"And I too, good-now," cried Turnpenny.
+
+"Nay, Master Hazelrig, you I will leave to command these timid rascals
+if ill befall me; but Amos I will take, and go fetch those laggard
+pinnaces."
+
+Then the maroons, taking hands and forming into a line, stepped into
+the river and intercepted the trees as they came down on the torrent.
+With their hatchets they lopped off the branches; they bound the trunks
+together with leathern thongs taken from the mules, and with tendrils
+of creepers from the jungle.  A stout sapling was reared as a mast, and
+with his own hands Turnpenny rigged up a biscuit sack for a sail, and
+fashioned a crutch in which another sapling might serve as a rudder.
+The raft being now ready, Drake selected two of the Frenchmen who could
+swim well to accompany him and Turnpenny.  The four men stepped on to
+the frail craft, and as she was hauled off over the bar at the river
+mouth, Drake cried out:
+
+"Be of good cheer, my hearts.  If it please God I put my foot in safety
+aboard my frigate, I shall, God willing, by one means or other get ye
+all aboard, in despite of all the Spaniards in the Indies."
+
+And the seamen, with new hope born within their breasts, sped their
+gallant captain with a cheer.
+
+"My heart, 'twas a fearsome voyage!" said Turnpenny, relating the
+adventure to Dennis afterwards.  "We sat inches deep in water, holding
+on for very life, and the sea came tumbling aboard, swingeing us to the
+armpits at every surge of the waves.  We scudded along before the wind,
+but though 'twas strong, it scarce tempered the great heat; and what
+with the parching of the sun, and what with the beating of the salt
+water, we had all of us our skins much fretted away.  We had sailed for
+six hours, and were making our third league, when God gave us the sight
+of two pinnaces bearing towards us.  'God be praised!' cried our
+captain; 'there is now no cause to fear.'  But the sky was become dark,
+and the men on the pinnaces as they laboured towards us, the wind
+driving the spray into their eyes, did not perceive us; and the gale
+being exceedingly fierce, they bore up to the lee of a point of land,
+and vanished from our sight.  Whereupon our captain ran ashore to
+windward of the headland, and being mightily enraged for that the
+knaves had not obeyed his command to wait us at the river, he was
+minded to play a trick on them and turn their hearts sick with very
+fear.  So when we did land, we ran in great haste towards where the
+pinnaces were at anchor, making such speed as if we had been chased by
+the enemy.  My heart! their eyes were astare with fear when they espied
+us.  They hauled us aboard their boats, crying out, this one and that,
+'Where be our comrades?'  'How fares it with them?' and other such
+questions, to all which our Captain in a cold voice did answer only
+'Well!'  Whereupon they began to lament with tears, crying out that
+verily their dear comrades were dead or in captivity.
+
+"Our captain for a space looked sternly upon them in their misery.  But
+then, being willing to rid all doubts and fill them with joy, he took
+from out his shirt a quoit of gold, and bade them praise God, for their
+comrades were safe and had of that treasure enough and for all.  Then
+he commanded them to get their anchors up, for that he was resolved
+that very night to come back to the river.  And we rowed hard through
+the darkness and in the teeth of the gale, and here we be, with
+blistered skins indeed, but sound men and hearty."
+
+Dennis had collected the men on the shore, and built a fire to keep
+their spirits up.  With great joy they heard their comrades hailing
+them as the vessels came up out of the dark, and they begged Drake's
+forgiveness for their mutinous murmurs.  As soon as day dawned they
+embarked; the pinnaces ran before the wind, picked up Richard Doble in
+his frigate, and before noon arrived safely at Port Diego.  The
+treasure was carried on shore, and in the middle of the smooth open
+space, amidst cries of wonderment from those who had not had a part in
+the adventure, Drake weighed the gold and silver on the steward's
+meat-scales, delivering to the Frenchmen the half agreed upon.  These
+then sailed away westward, to get news of their ill-fated captain.
+
+Drake was not easy in mind about Le Testu.  It was pitiful to think of
+him wounded and left with only two of his men deep in the woods.  So
+while his vessel, the _Pascha_, too foul to be easily fitted for the
+voyage home, was being stripped to equip the Spanish frigate Dennis had
+captured, he prepared to lead an expedition in search of the French
+Captain.  But his men raised such an outcry at his leaving them that he
+gave the command to Oxnam, contenting himself with accompanying them to
+the Francisco River.
+
+Oxnam had not gone far up stream when a haggard figure emerged
+tottering from the reeds, and falling on his knees, burst into tears
+and thanked God that help had come.  Not many minutes after Drake had
+left him and his comrade with Captain Le Testu, some Spanish
+arquebusiers came upon them.  The Captain bade the two men flee, and
+they ran off in haste, carrying their treasure.  But the Spaniards gave
+chase, and this man, fearing that, burdened as he was, he must be
+overtaken, flung away his possessions one after another.  Among them
+was a box of jewels, and this his comrade, cupidity getting the better
+of his fear, stopped to pick up.  The delay was fatal.  He was caught
+and carried away with the captain.  The other fugitive was not farther
+pursued; he reached the river after wandering for several days, during
+which he had seen a great host of near two thousand Spaniards and
+negroes searching for the treasure that had been buried.
+
+Hearing this, Oxnam was not willing to return until he had seen whether
+anything was left.  The Spaniards had dug up the ground over nearly a
+square mile; but Oxnam found in the crab-holes a small quantity of
+gold, with silver weighing about five hundred pounds.  Loaded with
+this, his men returned to their pinnace, and came merrily back to Port
+Diego.
+
+Now all thoughts turned longingly homewards.  The value of the treasure
+taken from the Spaniards was near �50,000, and it was not to be
+supposed that so great a loss would be accepted by them with
+equanimity.  Before long ships of war would doubtless be fitted out to
+punish this audacious sea-rover who had made himself a terror
+throughout the Main, and Drake thought it but prudent to get away with
+his booty before his little band was overwhelmed.  He still needed a
+vessel to serve as victualler to the frigate in which he purposed to
+sail for England.  With his usual daring he set off for the mouth of
+the Grande river, running right under the guns of Cartagena.  In the
+middle of the night he chased and boarded a frigate that endeavoured to
+slip past him to the west, and, returning to his secret haven with his
+prize, he unloaded her cargo of maize, hens, hogs, and wild honey, and
+prepared for the voyage home.
+
+All hands were set to break up the pinnaces, which had been brought in
+sections from England and were now, after a year's sailing, past
+further service.  Their timbers were burned on the beach; their
+ironwork was given to the maroons.  The two Spanish frigates were
+overhauled, their keels cleared of barnacles, their spars and rigging
+put in good repair, their holds filled with a plentiful store of food.
+Then, when all was ready, Drake invited Pedro, the maroon chief, and
+three of his best men to choose some reward for their good and loyal
+services.  Pedro took a great fancy to a splendid scimitar which had
+been given to Drake by Captain Le Testu and had once belonged to the
+King of France.  Drake would rather he had chosen something else, but
+he handed over the weapon with a good grace, and accompanied it with a
+present of silk and fine cloth for the maroons' wives.  Pedro was so
+much delighted that he begged Drake to accept four wedges of gold in
+return, which the Captain threw into the common stock, saying it was
+only just that those who had shared with him the dangers and hardships
+of the adventures should share also in the full profits.
+
+Dennis did not part from Juan without giving him a token of his thanks
+and a memento of their common adventures.  He had lost almost all that
+he had saved from the _Maid Marian_; with the _Mirandola_ it had fallen
+into the hands of the Spaniards; and the division of the spoils of the
+mule-train would not be made until they reached Plymouth.  But he had
+always kept the sword of Sir Martin Blunt, and this he gave to Juan,
+who received it with great satisfaction.
+
+On the 17th of July the company went aboard the two frigates; the
+anchors were heaved, all sail was set, and the little craft stood out
+to sea.  The flag of St. George flew at their maintops; silk streamers
+and ensigns dipped down to the water; a parting salute was fired; the
+trumpeters blew a blast; and the English mariners shouted a farewell
+cheer to the maroons gathered on the beach.  Down in the hold lay Jan
+Biddle, repenting in darkness, it is to be hoped, his treacherous
+conduct.  He alone of the company had no treasure to rejoice in; Drake
+had sternly decreed that he should go home empty-handed, a prisoner
+throughout the long voyage.
+
+High up in the rigging sat a monkey, blinking and chattering, wondering
+perhaps into what further perils his adventurous master would lead him.
+
+"There is our Maiden Isle," said Dennis to Turnpenny, as they sailed
+merrily northward.  "My vice-royalty was but brief; and methinks 'tis
+but a poor jewel in the crown of Queen Bess.  Yet will it be a precious
+jewel in my memory, for there I found a true friend in thee, Amos, and
+we two have been enabled by God's providence to do somewhat for our
+countrymen in distress."
+
+"Good-now, Master Hazelrig," said Drake, coming up to them; "art
+wishing to return and set up a monarchy on yonder small isle?"
+
+"Nay, sir, it is already bespoke for our gracious queen, though meseems
+the sovereignty belongs rightly to Mirandola, who now sits aloft, with
+a most forlorn and wistful look."
+
+"Well, my lad, maybe you and I shall live to see Her Majesty's sway
+extend over all these islands, and far beyond.  Meantime, what think
+'ee is my dearest wish at this moment?"
+
+"I know not, sir."
+
+"Why," said Drake, with a smile, "'tis to bowl at the jack once more on
+Plymouth Hoe."
+
+
+
+
+Conclusion
+
+Little more than three weeks later, on Sunday, August 9, 1573, about
+noon, the congregation in St. Andrew's church at Plymouth was startled
+into wakefulness by the booming of guns.  The vicar was in the midst of
+his sermon, and the good people were torn between their desire not to
+offend the worthy parson and their longing to see what was happening at
+the harbour.  A few minutes passed; then a whisper began to run through
+the church: "Master Drake is home again!"  One looked at another;
+anxious eyes were cast at the high pews where the gentry sat; then,
+careless what squire or parson might think, by ones and twos and threes
+the people stole from the church, and, when once outside, set off
+running with all their might to the harbour.  And before they got there
+a merry peal of bells rang out behind them.  The ringers in the belfry,
+knowing, we must suppose, that their vicar was an easy man, a patriot,
+and a Devonian to boot, were handling the ropes most lustily.
+
+The two little frigates had just dropped anchor, and the men were
+putting off in boats.  On shore men shouted, women wept and waved
+handkerchiefs, boys yelled and dodged among their elders; but nobody
+minded hustling and knocks, for was not Master Drake home again?
+Deafening cheers rent the air as he landed; hundreds thronged around
+him to clasp his hand.
+
+"Good-now, dear friends," he said with a laugh as he passed through:
+"ye'll do me more hurt than the Spaniards ever did."
+
+"Huzzay! huzzay!  Spaniards be jowned!  What have 'ee got in thikky
+ships, Master Drake?"
+
+"Where be Bobby Pike?" cried a buxom dame with half a dozen children
+clinging to her skirts.
+
+"Here I be, Mally," cried the seaman, catching her in his arms, "and
+i'fecks, I'll be sober for ever more, my lass."
+
+"On my soul and body there be Ned Whiddon, and Tom Copstone, and Hugh
+Curder, and Billy Hawk!" cried several voices in the crowd.  "Huzzay!
+huzzay! we never thought to see 'ee more."
+
+"And Haymoss Turnpenny!  Od's my life, what a day for Margery Tutt!"
+
+And when Dennis, with Mirandola on his shoulder, returning glance for
+glance with interest, got clear of the press, he saw Amos marching
+along with a girl on each arm, his ruddy face beaming like the rising
+sun.
+
+"Why, Amos," said Dennis, "are there two Margerys?"
+
+"My heart, I know a score!" cried Amos.  "But this be Margery Tutt,
+sir, thikky wench on my left.  Loose my arm, lass, and drop a curtsey
+to Master Hazelrig, for 'ithout him I'd never have been here this day.
+She've waited for me, sir, bided single for my sake, and there's no
+landlubber to whop after all.  T'other wench be Tom Copstone's Joan;
+his mother's most terrible jealous, and she've got a hold of Tom now;
+so 'You and me, Haymoss!' he sings out, and I've got his Joan under
+convoy till the old 'ooman 's done a-kissing of him.  Margery, lass, if
+'ee be willing, I'll go up along and see pa'son this very day and ax en
+to call us next Sunday, for I've gold and silver and pearls, lass, and
+won't they become your little plum neck!  Master Hazelrig, I do pity
+'ee, I do so.  Bean't there a lass to welcome 'ee?  Good-now, bear up,
+for 'ee be but a stripling yet."
+
+And then he was borne away by the crowd, and Dennis saw him no more
+that day.
+
+
+Dennis found himself, when the treasure was divided, the possessor of
+�2,000 in money in addition to the pearls he had got at Fort Aguila.
+He devoted a goodly sum to the erection of a monument in his parish
+church to the memory of Sir Martin Blunt and the other adventurers who
+had sailed in the _Maid Marian_ eighteen months before.  A smaller
+amount sufficed for a stone over the grave of Mirandola, who died in
+the following winter.  The greater part of the money Dennis gave into
+the hands of John Holles, his steward, who received it with all due
+gravity, expressing the hope that his young master had had his fill of
+adventuring and would now remain at home.
+
+For a time Dennis was content to live in his rambling old house at
+Shaston.  But four years later, learning that Drake was fitting out
+five ships for a voyage round the world, he asked to be allowed to join
+the expedition at his own charge.  His offer was accepted, and he
+shared in the joys and sorrows, the failures and successes, of that
+three years' voyage.  With closer intercourse he admired the great
+Captain more and more; and Drake on his part came to regard him with
+peculiar affection.  During the five years spent on shore after his
+return, Sir Francis, as he now was, paid many visits to the house at
+Shaston, and often played bowls with Dennis on the lawn behind.
+
+In 1585, when Drake went out to the West Indies with a direct
+commission from the Queen, Dennis was of his company.  He was one of
+the first to enter the town of St. Domingo when it was assaulted; and
+in the subsequent attack on Cartagena he was seriously wounded.  To his
+great disappointment, he had not fully recovered in time to take part
+in the famous expedition to Cadiz, when Drake "singed the King of
+Spain's beard."  But next year, when all England was stirred at the
+news that the long-expected Armada was at last approaching, Dennis
+joined Drake on the _Revenge_, and had his part in the work of fighting
+in the Channel and the North Sea.
+
+At the conclusion of this year Dennis, now in his thirty-fourth year,
+married the daughter of a neighbouring squire.  Her name happened to be
+Margery.  Soon after the marriage Dennis took her to Plymouth on a
+visit to his old comrade Amos Turnpenny, who was now blest with a
+family of five boys and five girls.
+
+"Do 'ee mind, sir," said Amos with a twinkling eye--"do 'ee mind the
+day when we landed, and you axed me whether there were two Margerys?
+Seems as if there be, sir; ay, and more; your madam be one, and my
+'ooman be two, and my darter yonder be three, and Tom Copstone's darter
+be four, and I shouldn't be mazed if there was five some day.  'A good
+name,' says the Book, 'is rayther to be chosen than great riches.'
+Margery be a good name, to be sure--a better name than Mirandola, poor
+fond beast!  Next to Margery comes _Anne Gallant_, and that be my
+second darter yonder."
+
+Dennis Hazelrig became a man of weight in his county.  His wife and
+little daughter--the fifth Margery--dissuaded him from joining Drake
+and Hawkins in their fatal expedition to the Main in 1594, and he found
+an outlet for his energies in organizing the yeomanry of Devon.
+
+When James the First came to the throne Dennis received the honour of
+knighthood.  None of his old friends was more delighted than Amos
+Turnpenny, who was by this time nearly eighty, and a hale old
+grandfather.
+
+"Ay, I says to Tom Copstone when I heard the news, 'Tom,' says I,
+'we've a king again now, my lad, though by all I hear tell he bean't so
+proper a man as King Hal.  But he do have his good points too.  What be
+fust thing 'ee done, think 'ee?'  'Be jowned if I know,' says Tom.  (He
+do have common ways o' speech, poor soul!)  'Why, 'fecks,' says I, 'he
+bin and made Master Hazelrig a noble knight, and we must call en Sir
+Dennis to's face for ever more.'  'Well,' says Tom, 'we won't mind
+that,--night or day,' says he--'you and me, Haymoss?'  And be jowned if
+they were not the very words of my dream!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's With Drake on the Spanish Main, by Herbert Strang
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+
+Project Gutenberg's With Drake on the Spanish Main, by Herbert Strang
+
+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: With Drake on the Spanish Main
+
+Author: Herbert Strang
+
+Illustrator: Archibald Webb
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2012 [EBook #38795]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH DRAKE ON THE SPANISH MAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<br /><br /><br />
+<a id="img-cover.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-cover.jpg" alt="Cover art" />
+<br /><br /><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-front.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-front.jpg" alt="&quot;The Spaniard swung round.&quot;" />
+<br />
+&quot;The Spaniard swung round.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<h1>
+<br /><br /><br />
+WITH DRAKE ON THE
+<br />
+SPANISH MAIN
+</h1>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<br />
+BY
+</p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+<br />
+HERBERT STRANG
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<br /><br />
+ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY ARCHIBALD WEBB
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<br /><br /><br />
+LONDON
+<br />
+HENRY FROWDE
+<br />
+HODDER &amp; STOUGHTON
+<br />
+1908
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+<br /><br /><br />
+OXFORD: HORACE HART
+<br />
+PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+<br /><br />
+Copyright, 1907, by the BOBBS MERRILL COMPANY in the
+<br />
+United States of America
+</p>
+
+<h3>
+<br /><br /><br />
+PREFACE
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+The romancer, in choosing as the setting for a tale the period of a man
+who looms large in history, finds himself on the horns of a dilemma.
+He cannot place his fictional near his historical hero without either
+dwarfing the former until the young reader ceases to find him
+interesting, or robbing the latter of some of the glamour with which
+history invests him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the following pages I have tried to meet the difficulty by making
+Francis Drake the presiding genius of the story.  The deeds of Dennis
+Hazelrig are akin to those of Drake; the same spirit of adventure
+dominates them: and when, in the course of the story, the real and the
+fictitious personages meet, it is, I trust, without loss of dignity to
+either.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+HERBERT STRANG.
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+<br /><br /><br />
+CONTENTS
+<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER I
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap01">JETSAM</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER II
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap02">SEA-GIRT</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER III
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap03">A WRECK&mdash;AND MIRANDOLA</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER IV
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap04">SALVAGE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER V
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap05">THE EDGE OF THE MARSH</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER VI
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap06">THE SPANISH WHIP</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER VII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap07">AMOS TURNPENNY</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER VIII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap08">HALF-PIKES AND MACHETES</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER IX
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap09">AMOS TELLS HIS STORY</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER X
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap10">THE MAROONS BUILD A CANOE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XI
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap11">THE MAIN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap12">BENEATH THE WALLS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XIII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap13">THE TAKING OF FORT AGUILA</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XIV
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap14">VAE VICTIS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XV
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap15">A LONG CHASE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XVI
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap16">JAN BIDDLE, MASTER</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XVII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap17">THE DEMI-CULVERIN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XVIII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap18">JUAN THE MAROON</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XIX
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap19">DRAKE'S CAMP</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XX
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap20">A RAID THROUGH THE FOREST</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XXI
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap21">MAIDEN ISLE AGAIN</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XXII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap22">A FIGHT ON THE CLIFFS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XXIII
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap23">BOMBARDED</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XXIV
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap24">THE LEAGUER OF SKELETON CAVE</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+CHAPTER XXV
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+<a href="#chap25">THE MULE TRAINS</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#chap26">CONCLUSION</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+<br /><br /><br />
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-front.jpg">
+"The Spaniard swung round"</a>  <i>Frontispiece</i>.  <a href="#p78"><i>See p.</i> 78</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-040.jpg">
+Map of Maiden Isle
+</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-065.jpg">
+Dennis saves Mirandola
+</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-099.jpg">
+"Captain singled out Captain"
+</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-188.jpg">
+"The sailor threw up his left hand to ward off the attack"
+</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-256.jpg">
+"A shot fell immediately in their wake"
+</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-280.jpg">
+Map to illustrate Drake's adventures
+</a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#img-306.jpg">
+"The seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard."
+</a>
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap01"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER I
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Jetsam
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Daybreak!  But, eastward, no glory of dawn.  Black thundrous clouds
+roll sullenly across a livid sky, riven at moments by pale zigzags of
+flame.  Rain tumbles in cascades.  League upon league of white-crested
+waves chase one another in fury, hissing, roaring as they hurl
+themselves upon a stubborn shore, only to be broken and thrown back
+into the seething turmoil.  The wind outstrips them, shrieking as it
+cleaves a way through the massed foliage, in mad haste to reach the
+mainland and smite the yielding tops of Darien's palms and pines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shelving sandy beach is strewed with the jetsam of the storm.
+Here, a tangled heap of seaweed, left by a breaker when, spent with its
+own rage, it falls back baffled.  There, a log of wood, hard by
+nameless creatures of the sea, destroyed by the fury of their own
+element.  And here, high up the strand, beneath a bank overgrown with
+large-leaved plants, lies a human form, huddled, motionless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The waves do not touch it now; the storm has exhausted itself; the tide
+is ebbing.  Minute by minute the sea becomes less boisterous; the strip
+of sand widens; the rain ceases.  By and by the sun breaks through the
+eastern sky, and, gathering strength, disperses the lingering clouds
+and flings his radiance over the scene.  His beams, falling aslant
+through a gap in the cliffs, strike upon the draggled form on the sand;
+it stirs slightly, stretching itself as a leaf uncurls.  At last, when
+the air quivers with heat, and all things lie under a shimmering haze,
+Dennis Hazelrig heaves a sigh, opens his eyes, and looks amazedly about
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His eyes close; for some minutes he remains still; then he lifts
+himself slightly, falls back with a gasp, and lies again as one dead.
+But Nature is recovering under the beneficent rays.  Pigeons are cooing
+in the branches above; parrots are screaming; insects drone their
+burden; and when a mosquito, adventuring forth, alights on a human
+cheek, and tastes, Dennis is stung once more into consciousness.  He
+starts up, brushes the marauder away, staggers to his feet, and, to
+prevent himself from falling, clutches at a tuft of grass in the
+overhanging bank.  Its thin blade-like edge draws blood from his hand,
+and he looks at the red stain as at some strange phenomenon.  Then he
+laughs huskily, checks the sound as though it too is unfamiliar, and
+laughs again&mdash;a short sobbing laugh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Certes, I am alive!" he mutters.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+An hour or two passed before Dennis ventured once more to try his
+tottering legs.  The sun's heat had dried his clothes, which, as he
+ruefully observed, had been so rent by the buffeting waves that they
+hung upon him precariously.  But in the same genial warmth his strength
+was returning, and though all his body ached, he could now move without
+a stagger.  Catching sight of some clams near him, he was conscious of
+a vast emptiness within, and felt for the clasp-knife which he was wont
+to wear slung about his waist.  It still hung upon its chain.  He had
+opened and eaten, ravenously, a dozen of the shellfish before he
+realized that after all his thirst exceeded his hunger, and he looked
+round for a spring of fresh water.  He walked some paces along the
+shore, groaning with every movement, until his ear caught the musical
+ripple of a stream, and he saw a rivulet flowing across the sand from a
+narrow water-course in the cliff.  In an instant he was down on his
+knees, drinking his fill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Refreshed with the draught, he rose and began to consider.  He was
+alive: that was the first thing.  It seemed marvellous to him.  The
+tornado had ceased.  Looking round, he could hardly believe that the
+sea now so calm was the same sea which, but a few hours before, had
+been a raging monster.  As far as the eye could scan it stretched away,
+shimmering in the sunlight, only a white crest here and there giving
+sign of its late disturbance.  Not a sail broke the line of the
+horizon.  What had become of the <i>Maid Marian</i> and her crew and his
+companion adventurers on board?  Had they, had any of them, been cast
+ashore like himself, on some other part of this strange coast?  If he
+had escaped, why not others?  There was something cheering in the
+thought, and instinctively he braced himself for a search when,
+remembering that awful night&mdash;the amazing suddenness of the blast that
+struck the bark, rending the sails like ribands, snapping the mainmast
+like a reed, the tumultuous waves, the crashing thunder, the bursts of
+lightning, the deluge that poured down from the heavens&mdash;as he
+remembered these battling elements he shuddered involuntarily; could it
+be otherwise than by a miracle that he had survived?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He lived over again his last conscious moments.  The mainmast had gone
+by the board.  He heard the hoarse shout of Miles Barton the master,
+calling upon the men to cut away the wreckage.  He was with them at the
+task, struggling to keep his feet, when the gallant vessel staggered
+under the onslaught of a tremendous sea, and he was swept off her deck.
+He heard cries all around him, but could see nothing for the darkness
+and the blinding rain.  Striving to keep his head above water, he felt
+his strength failing, so puny was it against the might of the
+passionate waves, when he encountered a floating spar, and clung to it
+with the tenacity of despair.  After that he knew nothing.  His grip
+must have relaxed, for the spar was not near him when he awoke to
+consciousness on the beach.  Yet it seemed that this had been his
+salvation.  He must have held to it until near the shore; then some
+mountainous breaker had torn him away and hurled him to the spot where
+he had lately opened his eyes again upon the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hapless bark!  It was scarcely possible that she had survived the
+hurricane.  And what of the souls on board with him?  What of Miles
+Barton, the bluff sea-dog her master, and his cheery crew, and the
+score of gallant gentlemen who had sailed out of Plymouth Sound but two
+months before, gay, high-hearted adventurers for the Spanish Main?
+Where was Sir Martin Blunt, the blithe captain of the band, and Philip
+Masterton, and Harry Greville, and Francis Tring, all young men of
+mettle, whom Dennis was proud to call his friends, and who, though but
+little his elders in years, had seen and done things in the great world
+that made him burn with envious admiration?  Alas! he could not but
+fear that the sea had swallowed them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But then again came the thought: might not Fortune have befriended them
+too?  Why imagine the worst?  And Dennis thrust sad thought from his
+mind; hope was not dead.  His meal had given him strength to search,
+and search he would.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked about him.  The sandy beach was narrow.  It was overhung by
+cliffs of varying height, in parts merely a low bank, in parts reaching
+an altitude of perhaps forty or fifty feet.  They were covered with the
+dense vegetation of the tropics.  Some distance to the north of where
+he stood the receding tide had left bare a long ledge of massive rock,
+running up into the highest part of the cliff.  To the south the shore
+was less rocky, and within half a mile curved round to the east.  It
+was in this direction that he decided to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he had not walked far along the glistening sand when he suddenly
+bethought himself.  Signs of life there had yet been none, save the
+cries of birds from the trees above him.  But what if he came upon a
+fishing village, and found himself among enemies&mdash;the wild red men of
+whom he had heard, the Spaniards of whose terrible deeds returning
+navigators made such grim tales for the winter nights at home?  Where
+was he?  On some shore of the Caribbean Sea, he made no doubt, for only
+the day before, when the <i>Maid Marian</i> was sailing merrily westward,
+Sir Martin had declared, and old Miles had borne him out, that but a
+few more days would bring them to the point where they expected to meet
+other adventurers who had preceded them on the same quest for
+excitement and gain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Dennis halted as one dazed when the full sense of his calamity was
+borne in upon him.  He was alone!&mdash;alone!  There might be, for all he
+knew, thousands of people almost within hail of him; but he was none
+the less alone, for they would be of another race, speaking another
+tongue, unfriendly, hostile.  He sat down on a smooth rock and, resting
+his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands, stared moodily out
+to sea.  Between him and all that he held dear stretched this wide
+ocean for thousands of miles.  In utter hopelessness he wondered why it
+had not swallowed him up with all his comrades, instead of casting him
+here, a battered miserable body.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The mood passed.  He had escaped the perils of the sea, not by his own
+strength, but by the hand of Providence.  If perchance he had more to
+fear from man than from nature&mdash;why, it behoved him, an English boy,
+and a Devon boy to boot, to face his destiny with a stout heart.  After
+all, he was of the same stuff as Master Walter Raleigh and Master
+Francis Drake and many another bold man of Devon.  He could not think
+that any one of them, in his situation, would give way to black
+despair; and, lifting his aching body from the shore, he walked on: he
+would at least learn somewhat of his surroundings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The beach, he found, bore gradually to the left, so that he could see
+but a short distance ahead.  Still he encountered no signs of life,
+save here and there a scuttling crab, and the rank plant growths above
+him, whence now and again a bird fluttered out and wheeled screaming
+about his head, and then soared clattering into the foliage.  Soon he
+tired of this monotonous tramping over sand, which appeared to lead no
+whither; and observing at length a cleft in the rocks, whence a shallow
+stream swiftly poured itself upon the beach, he bethought himself he
+might more quickly make a discovery if he pushed his way up the
+water-course, which must by and by lead to higher ground.  He turned in
+obedience to this impulse, waded through the stream, that wound this
+way and that between banks thickly covered with vegetation, and after
+what seemed an eternity to his aching limbs, found himself upon a cliff
+overlooking the sea.  His wandering had brought him by a circuit to a
+point north of the spot where he had awoke to consciousness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cliff on which he stood was much higher than the surrounding
+country.  To right and left the ground shelved downwards, and he now
+perceived that the coast on both sides had an inward trend; that, in
+fact, the cliff was also a promontory.  Turning round, he found that
+his view was blocked by the trees except in one direction, where a
+sudden dip in the ground gave him an outlook over several miles.  And
+there, surely, at the far end of the vista, was the sea again.  For the
+first time the suspicion occurred to him that he had been cast upon an
+island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He went to the farthest point of the cliff to scan more carefully the
+horizon.  Looking across the sea, which from the beach had seemed an
+unbroken plain, he now saw in the far distance several dark vague
+shapes rising a little above the surface.  These must be islands.  To
+the north, somewhat nearer to him, and somewhat more definite, were
+similar forms, which seemed to grow in size during the hour or more he
+watched them, no doubt owing to the fall of the tide.  Far to the south
+he descried a long dark bar upon the horizon; this must be land, many
+miles away, probably the mainland.  His view to the east being almost
+entirely shut out by the foliage, he could feel no certainty that his
+suspicion was justified; but he felt a stirring of interest and
+excitement now: supposing it were indeed an island, how did the
+discovery bear upon his lot?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once more he turned and gazed along the valley at whose end he saw the
+sea.  It could not be many miles away; perhaps in an hour or so he
+could reach it.  The island, apparently, was not a large one, so that
+he could not go far without meeting its inhabitants.  He looked around
+for any signs of habitation&mdash;a roof-top, a column of smoke; but there
+was none.  Next moment he reflected that, if the island were small, it
+would not take him long to make its circuit and search every yard of
+the beach for tracks of his late comrades&mdash;of the <i>Maid Marian</i> too.
+Still cherishing a hope that some might have survived like himself, he
+set off to descend the cliff towards the beach, every downward step
+racking his bruised limbs and strained joints.  When he gained the
+beach, he once more tramped southward, his eagerness lending him speed.
+He passed the water-course up which he had struck inland, and soon
+after came upon scattered articles of wreckage, among them the broken
+topmast of the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  With a sigh for his lost comrades he
+passed on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun had risen high in the heavens, and Dennis was fain to rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'm a poor battered hulk," he said aloud, finding some little solace
+in the sound of his voice, "and hungry&mdash;how hungry I am!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked around for food, spied some shell-fish and ate them raw,
+quenching the ensuing thirst at another stream that rippled down from
+the interior.  The feeling of nervousness lest he should encounter
+strangers again took hold upon him, and he felt a desire to hide.  He
+found himself casting uneasy, almost terrified glances around him from
+the nook in which he was now resting, somewhat sheltered from the sun's
+fierce rays.  Then, conquering the feeling, he rose again to continue
+his search of the beach.  He must by and by, he thought, come upon some
+quay or harbour.  When he should see it, he would halt and consider his
+course of action: whether to advance and risk the meeting with
+strangers, or to retreat until with recovered strength and a clearer
+mind he could prepare himself for what might be in store.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he proceeded, he noticed that the jungle frequently approached to
+within a few feet of the mass of weed that marked high-water.  At one
+spot he discovered, almost buried in the sand, the worm-eaten
+stern-post of a vessel.  He could distinguish one or two letters of her
+name.  Many a ship, he doubted not, had been wrecked on this coast,
+many a hapless wight had been cast up by the tide, alive or dead.  By
+and by he came, on the southern side of the island, to high cliffs, and
+he set about scaling that which offered the easiest ascent, to obtain a
+view of sea and land from this point of vantage also.  It was densely
+wooded, and as he mounted he heard, besides the cries of startled
+birds, other sounds that struck uncannily upon his ear.  In his
+weakened state any new note in these sounds set his nerves tingling,
+and more than once he stopped, and could scarcely prevent himself from
+turning and speeding back to the beach, where at least there was
+nothing to cause him fresh tremors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Near the top of the cliff the wood thinned away somewhat, and when he
+reached its highest point he found himself on a stretch of greensward.
+Northward the ground sloped gently down to a clump of trees, of a
+species unknown to him, tall, with slender trunks, which it seemed to
+him he could climb as easily as the masts on the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  He
+made his way to them, half minded to swarm up the tallest of the group,
+so that from its summit he might gain a view, possibly, over the whole
+island, and solve the question that troubled him&mdash;whether somewhere
+upon it there was a settlement of men.  Only when he reached the foot
+of the trunk did he remember his weakness.  He stood leaning against
+it, and gazing up its length felt that at present his muscles were
+incapable of the feat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All at once his eyes became fixed in his head.  Travelling to the top,
+where a mass of foliage crowned the towering stem, they had lighted
+upon a face, that seemed to be peering at him from between the leaves.
+The feeling of fright that had before almost paralysed him seized him
+again.  But next moment he laughed aloud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ninny that I am!" he murmured.  "Afraid of a monkey!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked again.  The monkey, a large long-tailed specimen of its kind,
+was gazing at him gravely, with a look so human that it reminded him of
+his old schoolmaster at Winchester.  With the sportive instinct of a
+boy&mdash;Dennis was not yet seventeen&mdash;he stooped, picked up a stout piece
+of fallen branch, and flung it upward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stir, Sir Monkey!" he cried.  "I hail thee as the lord of this island!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wood struck the branch on which the monkey was perched.  Chattering
+angrily, it flung its long arms around the branch above, and swung
+itself up, resting there, blinking and showing its teeth at this
+unmannerly intruder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A big fellow indeed!" said Dennis to himself.  "I will not climb.  If
+the beast is angered, as he seems, he would be no mean foe in his high
+perch.  I'll not try a bout with you, Sir Monkey.  For this time,
+farewell!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he went on, smiling a little as he became conscious that the
+meeting with the monkey had cheered him.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap02"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER II
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Sea-Girt
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Besides the birds, and the ground animals which he heard at times
+scurrying through the undergrowth, the sole inhabitant of the island
+that Dennis had yet discovered was a monkey.  Though he was beginning
+to suspect that his fears of encountering hostile human folk had been
+needless, he still felt a timid reluctance to leave the coast-line for
+the interior; and having given up for the present his idea of climbing
+a tree to obtain a wider view, he contented himself with walking to the
+top of the cliff, to continue his observations from that point.  His
+native courage was returning; yet, as he mounted the cliff, he moved
+for the most part under cover of the trees; the dread of possible
+enemies still made him wary, though every now and then he forgot his
+precautions, only remembering them again when the sense of his
+loneliness forced itself upon him, or when he was momentarily startled
+by a sudden sound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Panting a little from his exertions when he gained the summit,
+conscious of his bodily weakness, of bruised limbs and strained sinews,
+he looked eagerly around.  Eastward stretched an illimitable expanse of
+sea; he scanned it longingly, yet doubtfully, for while it was from
+that quarter, or from the channel between the island and the mainland,
+that he might hope for rescue from a friendly ship, it was thence also
+that he might be descried perchance by an enemy.  He sat down on the
+grass, once more yielding to the heavy sense of forlornness, and
+thinking sadly of his lost companions.  How long he remained there he
+knew not; his mind wandered a little: he thought afterwards that he had
+probably slept, for he suddenly awoke to the consciousness of a gnawing
+hunger.  He had walked far, and the few shell-fish he had picked up on
+the shore gave but meagre sustenance.  Stiff and cramped, he rose to
+search again for food.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was nothing edible in his immediate neighbourhood.  The trees
+sprang to a lofty height, and bore no fruit.  Plucking up his courage,
+he made his way slowly down the slope towards the middle of the island.
+The vegetation grew thicker as he proceeded; there was no path or road;
+all was a wild tangle.  At first he saw nothing wherewith to ease his
+pangs; never in his life had he taken a thought for his next meal; it
+was a new experience.  Often enough at home he had plucked fruits as
+they grew; he remembered with a strange homesick feeling many a boyish
+depredation upon neighbouring orchards, out of sheer mischief, not from
+a longing for food.  But there were no apple-trees or plum-trees here.
+And when at last he came upon a broad-leaved tree upon which grew huge
+clusters of a yellowish fruit, in shape like monstrous pea-pods, he
+hesitated, wondering whether this might not be one of those evil trees
+of which he had heard, one taste of which would turn his skin black,
+and fire him with a raging thirst, and afflict him with a madness whose
+end was death.  But his natural appetite would not be gainsaid.  With
+hope and misgiving mingled he at last stretched up his hand and plucked
+one of the tempting pods, and stripped off the skin, and nibbled a
+morsel of the soft fruit within.  It was delicious; but so was the
+devil's fruit of mariners' tales&mdash;the more delicious the more
+poisonous.  Somewhat anxiously he waited; there was no change in the
+colour of his skin; he watched it through the rents of his tattered
+garments; and indeed it seemed to him that any change would be for the
+better, for he perceived for the first time that he was already black
+and blue with bruises.  He bit off another and a larger piece; then,
+with the ravenous haste of one long fasting, he let prudence fly, and
+ate the whole fruit, and another, and another, until he saw with
+surprise and qualms that his feet were encircled by a ring of empty
+skins.  But he felt astonishingly refreshed and invigorated; he must
+eat one more; and thus, timorously and recklessly, he made acquaintance
+with the banana.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of water for drink there was abundance.  He drank gladly at a stream,
+and wandered on.  It was strange that he no longer felt alone.  He saw
+no man, nor any trace of one; he had become accustomed now to the
+rustle of birds and the swish of four-footed creatures moving amid the
+greenwood; what then caused him to look apprehensively around?  What
+was this odd feeling of expectation that possessed him?  There was
+nothing to account for it, and by and by the nervousness which had left
+him during his search for food returned in greater force.  It was not
+lessened when he suddenly became aware that the sun was setting.
+Darkness, he knew, would soon envelop him, and there came with a rush
+upon his mind the memory of his early childhood, when night, with its
+silence, its blackness, had filled him with terror.  He felt that a
+night in the solitude of these unfamiliar trees would be unbearable,
+and, guiding himself by the sunset glow, he hurriedly plunged through
+the jungle towards the shore.  There, under the open sky, he could feel
+more at ease.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His course brought him to the beach on the southern side, where, in the
+morning, he remembered having seen, though in his despondency he had
+not heeded, a number of half-rotten staves of casks.  These might, he
+thought, serve him for making a rude shelter.  He soon found the spot,
+and then noticed, what had escaped his dazed observation before, that
+close by the staves there lay a medley of stripped branches.  Had some
+one, at some time, built himself of these materials a shelter in that
+very place?  He gathered the stuff together and rigged up a crazy hut,
+such as he had seen erected by shepherds on the moors of Devon.  The
+day had been hot, but he knew from his experience on shipboard that the
+nights were cold; already he felt a sharpness in the air, and shivered
+in his tatters.  The hut would defend him somewhat from the chill of
+night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another fear seized upon him with the approach of dark.  His mind had
+been so occupied with thoughts of human enemies that the possibility of
+the island harbouring wild beasts had not, in the daylight, occurred to
+him.  The darkness, he knew, brought forth small and great beasts; and
+he remembered with a shudder the tales told him by one of the hardy
+adventurers on board the <i>Maid Marian</i>&mdash;of packs of wild dogs that
+scoured these tropic woods, devouring sleeping men; of the hideous
+cayman, that lurked upon the shore, and, having swallowed
+hundredweights of stones to increase its heaviness, seized upon some
+unwary creature, and dragged it down into the watery depths, to feast
+upon it at leisure.  All wild beasts, he had heard, were afraid of
+fire; he had his flint and steel, secure in a leather pouch upon his
+girdle; but he had no dry timber; the sodden wood of the staves and
+branches of which he had built his hut would be useless, and he shrank
+from issuing forth into the now darkening woods to find material that
+would serve.  He comforted himself with the recollection that not once
+during his tramp around the island had he seen any animal larger than a
+hare, save the monkey; and he resigned himself to make the best of what
+he feared would be a cheerless night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dark fell rapidly, again he had that strange feeling that he was
+not alone.  He went to the entrance of the hut, where he had drawn some
+of the worm-eaten branches, strung together with a few creepers, across
+as a door.  Peering out, he saw nothing but the darkened cliffs and the
+sea, heard nothing but the wash of the surf, the rustle of the breeze,
+and the soft tones of wood-pigeons.  He returned to the rear of the
+cabin, where he had strewed leaves for his couch.  As he lay back upon
+it and looked up to the roof he started, and instinctively seized a
+branch for protection: above him shone two greenish eyes peeping
+through one of the many gaps.  His hasty movement disturbed the
+watcher, and Dennis heaved a sigh of relief as he heard a shrill
+chattering above, and knew it for the gibber of a monkey.  Springing up
+he dashed out of the cabin to drive the intruder away.  He was just in
+time to see the monkey springing up the nearest tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was long before he fell asleep.  Then his rest was fitful and
+disturbed, not only through his over-wrought nerves, but by the
+nocturnal cries of creatures in the forest, and the attentions of
+insects, which nipped and stung with importunate malice.  In spite even
+of them, however, he slept; and when with the rising of the sun they
+betook their satiated bodies elsewhere, he lay till the morning was
+drawing towards noon in the sound sleep of exhausted nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Opening his eyes upon bright day, he was tempted by the smoothness of
+the sea to bathe.  When he flung off his clothes he laughed to see the
+parti-coloured patches on his skin.  Blue, and yellow, and black, the
+bruises reminded him of his battering in the storm, and his laughter
+turned to sighing as he thought once more of his comrades and their
+hapless fate.  But in the physical joy of swimming he again plucked up
+heart, and he left the stinging water with a most healthy hunger.  The
+recollection of his feast of fruit drew him into the woodland.  He
+wandered long before he lighted upon the banana grove, and though, in
+the course of roaming, he saw other fruit-bearing trees, he resisted
+for the present the temptation to climb and taste; when once his hunger
+was appeased by the fruit he knew, he could more safely make an
+experiment on the unknown.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He saw, too, many animals which had escaped his notice previously.
+There were hedgehogs, and tortoises, and giant spiders, and scorpions
+to which he gave a wide berth; but he caught no glimpse of any
+four-footed beast to cause him dread, and having by this time made up
+his mind that there were no human beings on the island, he went more
+fearlessly, with a readier eye to note the features of his new abode.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Happening once to halt and glance back he saw, perched in the branches
+of a tree not many yards away, a monkey.  Was it the same, he wondered,
+as that which had peered at him out of the tree he had thought of
+climbing, and pried upon him in his humble cabin?  It seemed to be of
+the same size; it had spindly limbs and a long slender tail; but
+probably there was a colony of the strange creatures on the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good morrow, Sir Monkey," he said, again finding a pleasure in the
+sound of his voice.  "Are you lonely too?  You were not, surely, cast
+like me upon this island, far away from kith and kin.  You have a wise
+and solemn look: what secrets do you harbour in that shallow skull of
+yours?  And what do you think of me, I wonder, when you look at me with
+those cunning little eyes?  I wish you could speak, for here am I
+prating to myself like an old gossip of eighty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he moved on it was very soon clear that the monkey was dogging him.
+He amused himself by putting the matter to the test.  When he sat down,
+the monkey stopped, and remained almost perfectly still, partially
+concealing itself among the leaves.  When Dennis rose and went on his
+way the monkey followed, springing from branch to branch with amazing
+dexterity, always keeping at a distance.  Dennis became interested,
+fascinated, as he watched the movements of the agile creature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Truly, Sir Monkey," he said, "I begin to wish I had a tail."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as the day wore on, and the monkey kept pace with him wherever he
+went, he began to find in its presence something of the comfort of
+human companionship.  Once, as he sat resting under a tree, the broken
+skin of a fruit he had eyed longingly fell within a couple of yards of
+him, and looking up he saw the monkey sucking with relish at another of
+the same kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aha! my fine fellow," said Dennis, "you have something of a man about
+you, and mayhap what is good for you is good for me too."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And he climbed a tree on which the pale yellow fruit was hanging, and
+plucked one, and made a wry mouth at his first taste of the tartish
+lime.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the day passed in aimless yet not unprofitable wandering.  Warned
+by his experience of the previous night, he resolved to prepare his
+shelter somewhat earlier.  Where should it be?  He was determined not
+to go back to the cabin, for the insects had plagued him there
+unmercifully, and he could only ward them off by means of a fire.  But
+flame by night and smoke by day rising from the shore would assuredly
+provoke curiosity among the crew of any passing ship; and since, of the
+vessels likely to pass in these latitudes, the most would undoubtedly
+be Spaniards, he was loath to attract visitors who might prove so
+eminently undesirable.  Yet, as he knew from his experience in woods at
+home, the insects would be even more numerous inland than at the shore.
+A fire he must have, and it struck him that if he could find, somewhere
+in the middle of the island, a sheltered hollow, he might safely kindle
+there a few sticks, trusting that the over-arching foliage would
+prevent a glow in the sky, and that the smoke, in the night-time, would
+pass unobserved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About a mile from the edge of the eastern cliff was a spring whence a
+little stream flowed westward.  At its source but an inch or two wide,
+it gathered volume on its winding course, and Dennis, tracking it,
+wondering by what circuit it would finally reach the sea, discovered
+that it ran at length into a somewhat extensive marsh.  He knew nothing
+about rainfall and land drainage, but being a lad of some powers of
+observation and reasoning, he was not long in coming to the conclusion
+that the marsh collected as in a cup the water that fell on the
+surrounding high ground during such torrential rains as had fallen on
+the night of the storm.  It was clear that there must be an outlet, or
+the marsh would be a lake, and this outlet he found amid thick
+undergrowth towards the western cliff near which he had been thrown by
+the sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Penetrating the dense jungle, he discovered that the outflow poured
+through a channel some three feet deep.  Only a small stream now
+trickled down its centre; the banks were sandy and dry, and the
+interlaced foliage so arched it over, that Dennis decided he might rest
+in it secure from observation, and even run the risk of kindling a fire
+at night.  It seemed scarcely necessary to bring the staves of his
+cabin over several miles of difficult country to this spot; the trees
+themselves formed a sufficient shelter; but with his clasp-knife he
+cleared away some of the undergrowth, and lopped off a few low-growing
+branches to make a little enclosure; and by the time the natural shade
+deepened at the approach of night, he had fenced in a few square yards
+and scooped out a hollow in the middle for his fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the time he was working the monkey watched every movement from a
+branch overhead.  Dennis was not at first aware of the animal's
+presence, so closely hidden was it by the foliage.  Only when he struck
+a spark from his flint, and after some ineffectual attempts succeeded
+in blowing up a flame, did the monkey reveal its hiding-place by a
+little gibber of amazement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So ho! my friend," cried Dennis, looking up vainly.  "You haunt me
+like a familiar.  Have you never seen a fire?  Do not let your
+curiosity tempt you too far, for, much as I value your company, I had
+rather you remained at your present comfortable distance until I know
+you a little better.  Play the sentinel, Sir Monkey, if you will."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis felt very well satisfied with his contrivance as he sat by the
+fire, eating a supper of bananas before laying himself down on a bed of
+leaves.  The smoke defended him somewhat from the insect pests; the
+warmth was comforting; and the cheerful glow gave him a sense of
+homeness and well-being.  He fed the fire more than once during the
+night, waking, it seemed, when the diminished heat warned him that the
+fuel needed replenishing, And when he awoke from his longest spell of
+sleep the dawn was stealing through the trees, birds were cooing,
+whistling, chattering overhead, and the monkey, on a low branch, was
+watching him with unalterable gravity.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap03"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER III
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+A Wreck&mdash;and Mirandola
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Dennis, as he made his breakfast, pondered deeply on the situation,
+taking the monkey in to his confidence.  "Could we change parts, Sir
+Monkey&mdash;if I were you, and you were Dennis Hazelrig, what would you do?
+This is your island: we will call it yours; I am your guest.  You seem
+to be a solitary creature like myself: are you miserable, I wonder?
+Does your loneliness trouble you?  There is food for us both: it is so
+warm that for the present, at least, I need no more clothes than you;
+neither of us will starve.  How old are you?  You look wise enough to
+be very old.  Am I to remain on this island until I have a beard as
+long and white as Sir Parson's at home?  Oh, you cannot understand what
+I say, for all your wise look: you cannot know what a wretched mortal I
+am.  What can I do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monkey only blinked at him, and plucked a dark plum-like fruit from
+the bough and munched it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a time Dennis sat listless, feeling too wretched even to move from
+the spot.  Then he got up and made his way back to the cliff.  He stood
+on the summit, scanning the whole circumference of the shining sea.
+Not a sail was in sight.  He scarcely knew whether he was disappointed
+or not.  Supposing a vessel hove into view, he durst not try to attract
+the attention of some one on board.  If it were English it would be
+welcome as a spar to a drowning man.  If it were Spanish, he might as
+well jump into the maw of some sea monster.  Yet how could he discover
+its nationality without at the same time betraying his presence?
+Several times during that third day he climbed to the same spot, and
+looked out with the same eagerness; not one glimpse did he catch of a
+white wing upon the water; and he always turned away with the same
+uncertainty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He spent hours in roaming, as aimlessly as before, along the beach and
+through the woodland.  Coming in the course of the day to the cliff
+near which he had been cast ashore, he remembered that hitherto he had
+not made a complete circuit of the island; the beach northward appeared
+to be barred by huge masses of rock.  In his present mood he had no
+curiosity to see what lay beyond; he supposed indeed that, if he did
+care to clamber toilsomely over the barrier, he would simply arrive at
+a point of the beach which he had already reached from the other side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But later in the day, when the tedium of inaction had become
+unbearable, he started to explore the lower course of the streamlet on
+whose bank he had slept.  He found that the channel gradually widened,
+the banks growing higher as he neared the sea.  By and by he came upon
+a wide pool on whose rim a mass of seaweed lay rotting in the sun, and
+stooping out of sheer curiosity he dipped his finger and, tasting,
+discovered that the water was salt, as he had supposed.  Clearly at
+high tide the sea came thus far up the gully.  The entrance was as yet
+hidden from him by the jutting shoulder of the cliff, but he could hear
+now the light rumble of surf upon the beach, and he went on, feeling
+some curiosity to learn whereabouts on the shore he would arrive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He had taken but a few more steps when, rounding the projecting cliff,
+he came upon a scene which petrified him with astonishment.  Docked in
+the sand, lying over on her side, was the battered hulk of a two-masted
+vessel.  Her stern was somewhat towards him, and he read, painted
+there, the word <i>Maid</i>; but so familiar was he with her lines that he
+needed not the rest of the name; this was in very truth the wreck of
+the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  Of her two masts only the stumps remained: her
+deck, inclined towards him, was littered with a medley of rigging; her
+rudder was gone, part of her bulwarks torn away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was an uncanny look about the hapless vessel as she lay there on
+the sandy beach, at the head of a small bay bounded by the cliffs on
+either side.  Dennis felt just such a thrill as he might have felt had
+he come suddenly upon the body of a friend.  The solitude, the silence,
+intensified by the rustling wash of the surf, the background of
+boundless sky and ocean, combined to affect him with a sense of
+desolation.  He felt a shrinking reluctance to approach, and when he
+had conquered this and stood beneath the vessel's quarter, it was some
+time before he summoned up the resolution to climb on board.  Then he
+mounted slowly, hesitatingly, by the aid of a loose shroud, holding his
+breath as if fearful of disturbing a sleeper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All was intensely still.  Multitudinous insects were crawling this way
+and that among the litter of rigging: save for these there was no sign
+of life&mdash;where for two months as merry a company as ever trod deck had
+talked and laughed and jested.  Dennis felt a lump in his throat as he
+recalled the little incidents of the voyage: quarter-staff bouts with
+old Miles Barton, wrestling matches with Harry Greville, sword-play
+sometimes with the captain himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hatchways were battened down.  He shrank from going below.  Evening
+was drawing on; he would leave the wreck now, and return in the
+morning.  And as he set his foot once more on the beach, and began to
+retrace his steps up the gully, he saw the monkey grinning at him from
+a tree on the cliff, and was surprised to find how pleasant and
+consoling was the creature's company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hard on his discovery of the wreck came another discovery.  Retracing
+his way up the chine, he noticed a green ledge on the cliff, some few
+feet above his head, on the right-hand side.  The thought occurred to
+him to rest there for a little; he could reach it by an easy climb.
+When he gained the ledge, he found that it ran back for a longer
+distance than he had supposed below.  At its further end grew a wild
+mass of bushes and trees, some of which bore a plum-like fruit that he
+had seen the monkey eating with enjoyment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He went to pluck some of the fruit, and penetrating a little way into
+the thicket, he suddenly perceived that the bushes appeared to grow
+across an opening in the rock.  He pulled the strands aside, and looked
+into the dark entrance of a cave.  The discovery interested him.  Might
+he not find here a better lodging than the rude shelter he had made on
+the bank of the stream?  It was far above high-water mark, and
+conveniently placed for refuge, being accessible landwards only by the
+rocky channel, and wholly hidden from observation at sea.  Yet he
+paused before stepping into the cave.  Might it not be a wild beast's
+lair?  True, he had seen no animals which he could have any cause to
+fear, but at this moment of overstrung nerves he felt a child's dread
+of the dark.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A proper adventurer, in good sooth!" he said to himself.  "The skirts
+of a nurse would befit me better than an island in the Spanish Main."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And without more ado he took a step forward and entered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The daylight was quenched within a few feet of the opening.  Striking a
+spark from his flint, he kindled a mass of dried grass he had stowed in
+his pouch for this purpose, and started as the brief flame lit the
+interior, for there, almost at his feet, lay a human skeleton.
+Incontinently he dropped his torch and fled,&mdash;scoffing, when once more
+in the free air, at his lack of courage.  But the wish to make this his
+abode was vanished.  He had no fancy to consort with skeletons, and
+besides, the damp and musty atmosphere of the cave was unpleasant.
+Without delay he set off to regain his former resting-place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These new discoveries had introduced a disturbing element into his life
+on the island.  Uninhabited as it apparently was now, clearly it had
+not always been so.  What was the history of that skeleton?  Were there
+others further within the cave?  It was not the remains of a castaway,
+for not even in the fiercest hurricane could the sea penetrate so far.
+Had some poor wretched fugitive fled there for refuge from a human
+enemy, and been slain or starved?  These questions kept him wakeful
+long that night, and haunted him even while he slept.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With morning light he thought less of the cave and more of the wreck.
+The <i>Maid Marian</i> had left Plymouth well equipped with stores; the
+hatchways had been battened down in the storm, and unless the sea had
+poured in through holes stove in her sides, there must be below decks a
+considerable quantity of materials that would prove serviceable if his
+stay on the island was to be lengthened.  As soon as he had finished
+his breakfast he set off to return to the chine.  It was no surprise to
+him now to observe the monkey following, like an attendant lackey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, Sir Monkey," he said, with an attempt at gaiety, "let us go
+together and inspect our treasure trove."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He felt again a strange sense of awe as he climbed into the vessel's
+waist, and trod her planks delicately.  But remarking that her position
+had been shifted slightly by the incoming tide during the night, and
+that little streams of water were escaping from holes on to the sand,
+he reflected that it behoved him to lose no time if he wished to secure
+her contents, for any day a tempest might spring up and shatter the
+hulk irretrievably.  Gulping down the timidity that still troubled him,
+he climbed to the quarter-deck, and went forward through the broken
+doorway into the main cabin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The floor was littered with the possessions of his dear lost comrades.
+Here was Harry Greville's sword; near it a pistol-case that had
+belonged to Philip Masterton.  He stepped over these and other relics
+and entered the captain's cabin beyond.  Here, too, all was ruin and
+disorder.  Garments, instruments of navigation, an ink-horn, trumpets,
+a drum, Sir Martin's arms and breastplate, the big leather-bound book
+in which he wrote his diary of the voyage, lay pell-mell on the floor.
+Dennis could hardly bear to look upon these mementoes of the lost, and
+he soon turned his back on them and returned to the open part of the
+vessel, where he sat for a time, given up to melancholy brooding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last he rose, threw off the oppression, and ventured to force up the
+main hatch forward of the mainmast and descend.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-040.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-040.jpg" alt="Insulae Virginis Charta" />
+<br />
+Insulae Virginis Charta
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even now he could not bear to remain long below.  He explored the whole
+length of the vessel in sections, returning at short intervals to
+breathe the fresh air and enjoy the cheerful sunlight.  On one of these
+occasions he was amused to see that his faithful attendant had now
+ventured to quit the security of its tree, and was sitting on a rock
+within a few yards of the vessel, an interested spectator.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His inspection of the contents of the vessel fully rewarded him.  In
+the steward's store abaft the mainmast he found a large number of
+utensils&mdash;an iron pease-pot, a copper fish-kettle, a skimmer, several
+wooden ladles, a gridiron, a frying-pan, a couple of pipkins, a
+chafing-dish, a fire-shovel, a pair of bellows, trays, platters,
+porringers, trenchers, drinking-cans, two well-furnished tinder-boxes,
+candles, and candlesticks.  There were casks of beer and wine, great
+boxes of biscuits, bags of oatmeal, pease, and salt, whole sides of
+home-cured bacon, several cheeses, a tierce of vinegar, jars of honey
+and sugar, flasks of oil, pots of balsam and other salves, a pledget
+for spreading plasters, a pair of scissors, and several rolls of linen,
+these last evidently provided for the exigencies of fighting.  In the
+carpenter's store forward there were hammers, awls, chisels, files, a
+saw, hundreds of nails, both sixpenny and fourpenny.  In the armoury
+were half-pikes, cutlasses, muskets, with bandoliers, rests, and
+moulds, calivers, barrels of gunpowder and tar, and leaden bullets,
+such as were to be bought at Plymouth six pounds for threepence.  And
+as to the other appurtenances of a well-found ship, Dennis was almost
+bewildered by the quantity of them&mdash;bolts, and chains, and pulleys,
+buckets, mops, sand-glasses, horn lanterns, faggots for fuel,
+fishing-nets, articles of apparel, things for trade and barter: the
+list would fill a page or two.  And he rejoiced exceedingly to find
+that all were in good condition, even the cheeses: there could not be
+even a rat on board to commit depredations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Surveying this great and substantial store, Dennis rubbed his head in
+puzzlement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis a month's work," he said ruefully, "and for one pair of hands.
+The grave and reverend signor yonder will scarce assist, I trow,
+indeed, 'tis to be feared he may be thievishly inclined, and needs must
+I bestow the goods skilfully.  Well, to it; time and tide, they say,
+waits for no man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He began by carrying the biscuits and other perishables from the hold
+to the bulwarks, where he rigged up a running tackle, and lowered the
+bags and boxes to the sand beneath.  So intent was he upon his task
+that it was with a start of surprise and alarm he noticed that the tide
+was flowing in, and had almost reached the vessel.  Threatened with the
+loss of the precious stores, he was hard put to it to drag and carry
+and roll them up the beach beyond the reach of the waves, and the sun
+was far down towards the western horizon before he had them high and
+dry.  By this time the sea was several feet deep around the vessel, and
+the thought struck him: what if the wreck were to float away on the
+tide and all the remaining salvage be snatched from him?  So grave a
+misfortune must be prevented.  At once he swam out to the ship, and
+securely fastening to the stump of the broken mast one of the stout
+cables he found below, he again plunged into the sea, and in a little
+had wound the other end about two sturdy trees growing out from the
+cliff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the wreck remained in its present position it was desirable that
+he should have his lodging close by.  There was no shelter on the shore
+itself, nor did the cliff promise a comfortable abiding place; and his
+thoughts returned to the cave, which was a good deal nearer than the
+spot where he had rested the previous night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among the things he had brought ashore were a lantern, a tinder-box,
+and a candle.  Fortified with a light, he entered the cave with less
+tremor than on the previous evening, and looked about him.  The cave
+was deep: his light did not reach the further extremity.  The roof was
+damp and green with moss.  There was the skeleton, stretched on the
+rocky floor.  By its side, as he now saw, lay a hatchet of curious
+shape: a little beyond were some coloured beads.  But within the circle
+of light he discovered no other remnants of humanity; these were not
+very terrible after all, and he might have taken up his abode there but
+for the fusty, humid atmosphere.  He gave up the idea of sleeping in
+the cave, but made for himself, just outside and across the entrance, a
+couch of cloaks taken from the wreck.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before settling himself for the night, he returned to the base of the
+cliff, opened with the hatchet one of his precious boxes of biscuits,
+and taking a handful, sat on a flat rock to make an unaccustomed
+supper.  He had barely eaten a mouthful when he saw a brown figure leap
+from somewhere above his head, swoop on the still open box, clutch one
+of the biscuits, and spring away with a long chatter of delight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah, knave!" he exclaimed, "my prophetic soul avouched that your
+gravity cloaked an evil bent.  You are a thief, Sir Monkey.  But I do
+not grudge you the biscuit; your constancy in attendance merits some
+reward.  A toothsome morsel, is it not?  It pleases me to see your
+pleasure, and&mdash;yes, I have it!  You are my sole companion on this
+island; why should we not be friends?  You must learn a rightful
+humility, to be sure.  Regarding me as the dispenser of luxuries, will
+you not love me, with the respectful love of a dependent?  Come, let us
+see."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rising from his seat in time to forestall a second application to the
+biscuit box, he went to it, took half a dozen, shut down the lid, and
+returned to the rock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now, Mirandola," he said&mdash;"I name you Mirandola for your wisdom, not
+your larceny&mdash;here in my hand I hold one of the twice-cooked, the
+fellow of the one you found so delectable.  Come and take it, and give
+thanks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the animal sat motionless on its branch, grinning and gibbering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You do me wrong to suspect me," Dennis went on.  "Well, this is to
+prove my good faith."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He flung the biscuit on to the sand a few yards away, and laughed
+quietly to see what ensued.  The monkey chattered volubly with
+excitement, swung itself to a lower branch, then back to its former
+perch, where it sat for a moment blinking and grinning.  Then it
+descended with extraordinary rapidity to the foot of the tree, crouched
+behind the trunk while a man might count ten, and with frantic haste,
+as though fearful its courage would not endure, it darted on all fours
+across to the biscuit, looking in its movements like a gigantic spider.
+Seizing the delicacy, it sped back to the tree, squatted on the lowest
+branch, and set its jaws right merrily to work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is your first lesson, Mirandola," said Dennis, placing the
+remaining biscuits in his pouch, in full sight of the animal.  "The
+second begins at once; it enjoineth patience."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And heedless of the loud outcry made by the monkey when it saw these
+choice comestibles disappear, Dennis returned to his couch, and laid
+himself down for the night.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap04"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IV
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Salvage
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Rising with the sun, Dennis set about making a more careful examination
+of the hull of the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  The leaks in her timbers were rather
+more serious than he had supposed.  Clearly they would prevent her from
+drifting out to sea on the tide, but they would also render her final
+break-up inevitable in the event of a violent storm from the
+north-west.  There were signs on the face of the cliff that at times
+the waves dashed over the narrow beach of sand against the wall of rock
+beyond.  In these latitudes, as the fate of the <i>Maid Marian</i> proved,
+storms arose without warning, and with incredible swiftness; and it
+behoved Dennis to make all speed in saving the ship's stores.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At low tide on this day, and on many that followed, he worked hard at
+his task.  He rigged up a block and pulley in the waist, by means of
+which he was able to hoist casks and other heavy objects up the
+hatchways and lower them over the side of the vessel.  It was more
+difficult to convey them from the vessel to a place of safety beyond
+the reach of the tide.  At first he tried to haul them by a rope, but
+finding soon that he succeeded only in working up a ridge of sand which
+rendered haulage exhausting and in some cases impossible, he bethought
+himself of the device of employing rollers, such as he had seen used by
+fishermen on the beach at home.  It was an easy matter, with the tools
+now at hand, to lop off and strip some straight boughs suited to his
+purpose, and upon these he brought, slowly and not without pains, the
+bulkier goods to safe harbourage.  The tide always rose about the
+vessel too soon for his impatience; but the work was arduous, the
+intervals were really needed for rest, and they gave opportunities of
+furthering his acquaintance with the monkey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His relations with Mirandola, indeed, were placed on a sound and
+satisfactory footing long before he had emptied the hull.  The biscuits
+were invaluable.  At intervals, now long, now short, he would throw one
+towards the monkey, which watched all his doings at the wreck day by
+day with unfailing regularity.  Little by little he diminished the
+length of his throw, until, on the third day after his first lesson,
+Mirandola had gained sufficient confidence to approach him to within a
+few inches.  On the fourth day, after keeping the monkey waiting longer
+than usual, Dennis took a biscuit from his pouch, held it for a moment
+between his fingers, then put it back again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is time, Mirandola," he said, "that your education was completed.
+You are, I verily believe, as wise as a serpent; will you not believe
+that I am harmless as a dove?  This is the same biscuit I stowed but
+now in my pouch; it is for you; it is yours if you will take it
+mannerly.  No, I will not cast it on the sand; it is more seemly to
+take it from my hand, and, I do assure you, it will be no less
+relishable.  Come, then, dear wiseacre; have I ever deceived you?  Show
+a little confidence in your true friend and well-wisher."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He held forth the biscuit, with an alluring smile.  Mirandola cocked
+his head on one side, gazed at this dispenser of delectable things with
+a searching solemnity, and then crawled forward with watchful eye,
+dubiously halting more than once.  At length he came to Dennis's feet,
+and sat up, with so gravely sad an expression that Dennis found it hard
+not to laugh.  Then, thrusting up his long arm, he made a grab at the
+biscuit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not so, Mirandola," said Dennis, holding it beyond the monkey's reach.
+"Manners maketh man; assuredly they will not mar monkeys.  Ape the
+gentle philosopher your namesake; be courteous and discreet.  Now, once
+more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He lowered the biscuit slowly, keeping his eyes on the creature's face.
+But with a suddenness that took him aback, Mirandola raised himself on
+his hind legs, flung out an arm, and, before Dennis could withdraw it,
+held the biscuit in his skinny paw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wellaway!" laughed Dennis.  "I may keep my breath to cool my porridge,
+for all the effect my words have upon your savage nature."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, to his surprise, the monkey came to him again, and held out his
+hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You shall not be disappointed," he said.  "Not for the world would I
+reject your advances.  Here is a biscuit, and with this, shall we say,
+our friendship is sealed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And it was not long before Mirandola would sit upon his knee, and take
+food from his hand with all mannerliness; and, its distrust gone,
+showed itself to be as affectionate and devoted as a dog.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis availed himself in other ways of the hours when the tide
+interrupted his labour with the stores.  There was no lack of planking
+and tarpaulin in the vessel; these he utilized in building on the
+ledge, and near a fresh spring that ran out of the cliff, a little hut
+about two trees that grew near enough together to form uprights for his
+roof.  Then he erected two small sheds close by, wherein to shelter his
+goods from the weather.  At first he fumbled with the unfamiliar tools,
+not omitting to pinch his fingers as he hammered in the nails.  But he
+soon acquired a certain dexterity, and was indeed mightily pleased with
+his handiwork.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every now and again he made a trip across the island, to discover
+whether any vessels were in sight.  Once or twice he descried a sail on
+the horizon; once, indeed, he felt some excitement and anxiety as he
+saw a bark under full sail bearing straight, as he thought, for the
+shore.  But in this he was mistaken; the vessel altered her course, and
+Dennis, watching her diminishing form, hardly knew whether to be glad
+or sorry.  He was in truth too busy for self-commiseration: work filled
+his days, unbroken sleep his nights.  His feeling of loneliness had
+almost entirely passed away, for Mirandola was his inseparable
+companion, and it pleased his fancy to talk to the monkey as to a human
+being.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So engrossing had his labour been that he had taken no account of the
+passage of time.  It came upon him with a shock, once, that the
+unnumbered days were flitting away.  The idea that he was doomed to
+grow old upon this island, and linger out his years in endless
+solitude, struck his imagination with a chill, and set him climbing the
+cliff in a kind of frenzy, to scan once more the wide horizon for a
+sail.  If at that moment a vessel had hove in sight, he would have
+flown a flag, fired a musket, to attract attention, reckless what crew
+it bore, so deep was his yearning to see a fellow man.  When the fit
+passed, it left him with a new desire.  Never yet had the possibility
+occurred to him of leaving the island.  Could he construct a raft, or
+build a boat&mdash;nay, was there a chance of making the <i>Maid Marian</i>
+herself, battered as she was, seaworthy?  The absurdity of attempting
+to navigate single-handed a bark of near a hundred tons set him
+laughing; but the idea suggested a new outlet for his energy, just at
+the time when the conclusion of his salvage work had bereft him of
+occupation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He became fired with the purpose of saving the vessel.  The weather
+hitherto had been perfect; but sooner or later a storm must come, and
+then the ship would be ground to splinters against the cliff.  Was it
+possible to float her?  He had unloaded what he imagined to be a good
+many tons of stores; thus lightened, could she be moved?  If he could
+succeed in floating her, whither could she be taken?  His tour of the
+island had failed to discover any harbour; there was little to gain and
+much to lose by allowing himself to drift about aimlessly in such a
+hulk.  Suddenly an idea struck him.  Would it not be possible to devise
+some means of floating her up the gully, round the shoulder of the
+cliff?  Her draught was not great: at high tide the water was deep
+enough to carry her many yards beyond her present position, to a point
+where she would be at once invisible from the open sea and protected
+from the weather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the next fall of the tide he made a thorough inspection of the
+wreck.  It was easy to find the leaks, for at every ebb the water that
+had entered the vessel at the flood gushed out in tiny cascades.  Many
+a time he had seen ships careened and caulked in the dockyard at
+Plymouth.  He had plenty of rope of which to make oakum, and of tar
+more than enough to meet his needs; in his search through the vessel he
+had lighted on no caulking iron, but a long nail would serve, and it
+should go hard with him, he thought, but he would make the old hulk
+sound and seaworthy ere many days were gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He found an unexpected assistant in Mirandola.  He had teased out but
+an inch or two of rope when the monkey squatted down by his side and
+began with his strong nimble fingers to copy him, looking up in his
+face with an air of such busy importance that Dennis was fain to lie
+back and laugh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By my troth, Sir Mirandola," he said, "this is friendship indeed.  And
+you outdo me, on my soul; you pick two inches to my one.  'Tis not the
+daintiest of work for fingers untrained to it, and if it pleases you,
+why, I will e'en leave it to you, and admire this unwonted usefulness
+in a philosopher."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he found that when he ceased, the monkey ceased also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor knave!" he said.  "You see not the end.  'Tis but an apish trick
+after all.  Well, God forbid that I should judge your motive; I am
+thankful for your help, and we will work together."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between them the two collaborators soon had a fine heap of oakum ready
+for use, and a couple of days' hard work at low tide sufficed to caulk
+all the seams.  Mirandola's share in this second part of the job gave
+Dennis more amusement.  The busy creature solemnly dabbed tar on sound
+parts of the timbers, and chattered with disgust when he discovered
+that the stuff clung to his hairy skin, defying all his efforts to get
+rid of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I' faith, I named you more fittingly than I wot," quoth Dennis.
+"Pico, your illustrious namesake, was a gentleman of rare and delicate
+taste.  Touch pitch and thou art defiled.  But a little turpentine,
+mayhap, will cleanse the outward spots; and as for your inward
+hurt&mdash;what think you of a spread of honey on your biscuit?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mirandola thought nobly of the new delicacy, and came in time to look
+for honey whenever he had imitated Dennis with more than usual energy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The leaks having been well caulked, Dennis proceeded to pump the water
+from the lower parts of the hold.  He awaited the next high tide with
+great eagerness.  To his joy the vessel floated, and rode fairly
+upright on her keel.  The tide carried her several yards up the beach,
+leaving her again high and dry at the ebb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Dennis now found himself faced by a difficulty.  He wished to get
+the vessel round the shoulder of the cliff, so that the tide might
+carry her up the chine to the pool below his hut and sheds.  The
+distance was barely eighty yards, but he had noticed, from the movement
+of a log floating some little way out, that the set of the current was
+from north to west; so that if once she were allowed to float free, and
+felt the force of the current, she would probably drift away in the
+opposite direction from what he desired.  On the other hand, if she
+were driven too high on the beach, she might stick so firmly in the
+sand that it would be impossible to move her, and then she would lie at
+the mercy of the first north-west gale.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His little nautical knowledge was at first at a loss.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mirandola, your speechless wisdom is of no avail," he said ruefully,
+as he sat at his fire one evening, feeding the monkey with pease
+porridge.  "You and I are both landsmen; unlike you, I adventured
+forth, to gain gold, and fight the don Spaniards, if so the fates
+should ordain.  Here is never a Spaniard to fight, and as for gold, the
+wealth of Croesus would not at this moment benefit me a jot.  If I had
+been bred to the sea, now, I should not be at this pass."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But long cogitation, and another visit to the ship, determined a course
+of action.  The windlass, he discovered, was uninjured, and though it
+was very stiff, he could still manage to turn it.  A big jagged rock
+jutted out from the cliff near the shoulder round which the vessel must
+be warped.  To this rock he carried a rope from the stump of the
+mainmast and securely fastened it.  This would prevent the vessel from
+drifting out to sea.  Then, with a hatchet from the ship's stores he
+cut a number of thick branches from the trees along the gully, and
+pitching them into the pool floated them one by one on to the beach
+alongside the wreck.  There was plenty of rope on board to fashion
+these into a stout raft, on to which, with the aid of the windlass, he
+lowered a kedge anchor just sufficiently heavy to hold the vessel in a
+calm.  It was a matter of some difficulty to get the anchor so evenly
+adjusted on the raft that the latter would not turn turtle; but after
+some patient manoeuvring Dennis arranged it squarely in the centre, and
+when the tide came in the whole floated with a fair appearance of
+stability.  Then with a long pole Dennis cautiously punted the raft out
+beyond the gully, paying out as he went a stout cable, connecting the
+anchor with the windlass.  Some thirty yards beyond the gully, at a
+point near enough in shore to be beyond the reach of the current, he
+prepared to drop the anchor.  It was too heavy for him even to move;
+the only plan that suggested itself was to bring about what he had up
+to that moment been most anxious to prevent&mdash;the raft must now be
+intentionally upset.  One by one he cut away the lashings of the
+outermost logs on the seaward side.  At last he felt by the movement of
+the raft that only his own weight prevented the crazy structure from
+turning over.  He slid from the raft into the sea; the far side sank
+and the anchor slipped over and went with a thud to the bottom.  Then
+the raft righted itself, and Dennis scrambled aboard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rest was easy.  When the tide ebbed it carried the wreck inch by
+inch towards the anchor, for with the aid of the windlass Dennis was
+able to keep the cable constantly taut, while at the same time he paid
+out the rope connecting the vessel with the shore.  A couple of tides
+brought him in this way up to the anchor; then, transferring the shore
+cable to a stout tree some distance up the gully, he slacked off the
+kedge line when the tide was running up, and allowed the wreck to be
+carried shorewards.  In this way the <i>Maid Marian</i> floated slowly up
+the gully on the flood, and another couple of tides brought her within
+a few yards of the pool, which he designed for her permanent harbourage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below this there was a narrow bar that threatened to baulk him.  At low
+tide, indeed, he had to shovel away a large amount of sand in the
+middle of the channel, and once came near losing his temper with
+Mirandola, who, with well-meant industry, and a quite innocent
+pleasure, set about scooping back the sand as it was dug out.  But the
+animal tired of this fatiguing amusement; the difficulty was overcome;
+and when at last the vessel rode gently into the little natural harbour
+below the hut, Dennis hailed the success of his long toil with a
+cheerful "Huzza!" and broached a cask of sack.  Of this indulgence he
+partly repented, for the monkey seized upon the empty can when he laid
+it down, and drained it greedily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, no, my friend," said Dennis, gravely.  "Wine maketh glad the heart
+of man; I do not read that it is anywise a drink for brutes.  And all
+your philosophy would not reconcile me to a drunken Mirandola.  'Be not
+among wine-bibbers,' says the wisest of kings and men; I bethink me he
+says also, 'My son, eat thou honey, for it is good!'  You shall have
+honey, my venerable son."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap05"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER V
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Edge of the Marsh
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+During his operations about the wreck, Dennis had noticed that the
+monkey showed a strange aversion for the sea.  At low tide, when the
+vessel was high and dry, he quite cheerfully accompanied his benefactor
+on board; but as a rule, when he saw the tide rolling in, he chattered
+angrily, swarmed down the side of the vessel, and posted himself at the
+nearest point above high-water mark.  Only on the one occasion, when he
+mounted the windlass, did he remain on deck when the tide was at flood;
+there he seemed to regard himself as out of reach of the waves.  Dennis
+wondered whether the dread of the sea was a characteristic of the
+monkey tribe, or whether Mirandola had at some time suffered a
+sea-change which it was determined not to repeat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He took endless pleasure in studying the amiable creature; and when,
+his work with the ship being finished, he began once more to take
+lengthy strolls across the island, he drew a new delight from the
+companionship of the monkey.  The friendship being so firmly
+established, Mirandola showed off his accomplishments with a freedom he
+had not displayed when he regarded this newcomer with distrust and
+suspicion.  Dennis laughed to see his antics in the trees.  He would
+curl his long tail about a branch, and swing to and fro with manifest
+enjoyment.  Sometimes, clutching a banana with one hand, he would pick
+another with one foot, and hold a third to his mouth with the second
+hand.  Sometimes when he saw Dennis holding his forehead in a brown
+study, he would rub his long gaunt arms over his own brow with a
+wistful look that brought a smile to the lad's face.  He was amiability
+itself, and showed genuine distress when Dennis took occasion to scold
+him for some piece of inconvenient prankishness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now that his thoughts were no longer engrossed with his salvage work,
+Dennis more often speculated on his future.  The prospect was not very
+encouraging.  Supposing he could carry out his half-formed purpose of
+building a boat, what chance was there of surviving a voyage across the
+ocean in a vessel that, untrained as he was in handicraft, must
+necessarily be a clumsy thing?  And unless he could risk an ocean
+voyage he felt that he had better remain where he was.  No European
+nation but the Spaniards and the Portuguese had settlements on the
+American coast.  What might be expected at the hands of the Spaniards
+he knew full well.  Had he not heard from the lips of one Master John
+Merridew fearsome tales of their treachery and cruelty?  John Merridew
+had sailed with Captain John Hawkins to the West Indies, with Master
+Francis Drake as one of the company.  Forced by foul weather into the
+port of St. John de Ulua, the Captain made great account of a certain
+Spanish gentleman named Augustine de Villa Nueva, and used him like a
+nobleman.  Yet this same Augustine, sitting at dinner one day with the
+Captain, would certainly have killed him with a poniard which he had
+secretly in his sleeve, had not one John Chamberlain espied the weapon
+and prevented the foul deed.  And recalling Merridew's narrative,
+Dennis wondered what had become of those hundred poor wretches who,
+when victuals ran short, and the ship's company were driven to eat
+parrots and monkeys and the very rats that swarmed in the hold,
+preferred to shift for themselves on shore, rather than starve on
+ship-board.  In imagination he saw that touching scene, when the
+General, as Merridew called Captain Hawkins, gave to each man five
+yards of cloth, embraced them in turn, counselled them to serve God and
+love one another; and thus courteously bade them a sorrowful farewell,
+promising, if God sent him safe to England, to do what he could to
+bring home such as remained alive.  That Captain Hawkins would fulfil
+his promise Dennis believed; but how many of those Englishmen were
+still living?  He reflected that he at least had food and present
+safety; compared with theirs his lot was a king's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he was not to escape misfortune altogether.  One day the storm he
+had so long been expecting broke over the island, hurling great seas
+into the mouth of the chine, threatening to dash the <i>Maid Marian</i>
+against the rocks or sweep her out into the ocean.  In the midst of
+pelting, blinding rain Dennis strove to ensure her safety.  She
+wrenched at her anchor; every moment he feared lest her mooring ropes
+should be snapped; he could do little but keep a watch on the
+fastenings.  And while he was thus watching, a roaring flood passed
+through the gully from the plateau above, swamping his hut, washing
+away some of his hardly-won stores; and the fierce blast tore off the
+roof of one of his sheds, exposing its contents to all the fury of the
+weather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day he did what he could to repair the damage.  Fortunately much
+of his perishable goods was contained in stout boxes which he always
+kept securely fastened, and the things he lost were those he could best
+spare.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the afternoon of that day, he went across to the opposite side of
+the island, as he was wont to do at intervals, to take a look-out from
+the high cliff there.  He wondered whether the storm had cast any other
+ill-fated vessel upon the shore.  But, scanning the whole horizon, he
+saw nothing but league upon league of restless sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Our solitude is not to be disturbed, Mirandola," he said to the
+monkey, "for which let us be thankful.  Or ought we to deplore it?  I
+wish you could speak, my friend, and tell me something of your history.
+Are you the last of your race, I wonder?  Well, so am I.  I have no
+kith nor kin; nor, as it appears, have you.  I have a humble estate in
+an island&mdash;to be sure, somewhat larger than this.  Now I come to think
+of it, this island is yours; it is a mark of nobility of soul&mdash;or is it
+poverty of spirit?  I cannot say&mdash;that you do not regard me as a
+supplanter.  Good Holles, my steward, would not brook the intrusion of
+any adventurer on my lands.  Heigh ho!  How fares the old fellow, I
+wonder?  How he shook his old head when I acquainted him with my
+purpose to join Sir Martin Blunt in his voyage to the Spanish Main!
+'God save you, sir!' said he, and asked whether he should sell my
+whippets!  One thing I know, Mirandola: that if it please God to bring
+me safe home in season, Holles will give me a faithful account of his
+stewardship.  Let me think I am your steward, good my friend.  And now
+let us return to our honey-pot."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the way back, Dennis struck somewhat to the left of his usual path,
+to skirt the marsh on its south-western instead of its north-eastern
+side.  It was far larger in area than when he had first seen it; its
+outlet was too narrow to carry off the surplusage due to the tremendous
+rains.  Dennis was picking his way around the oozy edge, letting his
+thoughts travel back to the pleasant land of Devon, when suddenly he
+was brought up short by the sight of a mark in the soft earth, the
+strangeness of which mightily surprised and perplexed him.  Parallel
+with his own tracks there ran for a few yards a faint ribbon-like
+track&mdash;such a track as might be made by a large cart wheel that had
+rested very lightly on the surface.  It was a single track: following
+its course, he found that it disappeared into the water, just as he had
+seen the mark of a cart wheel disappear into a roadside horse-pond at
+home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked around.  There was nothing to account for the mark.  He
+scouted the idea that it had been actually made by a wheel; a vehicle
+must have been drawn by animals, and there were no hoof-marks to match.
+With all his puzzling he could find no explanation, and though he
+looked warily about him as he went on his way, with some return of his
+old feeling of nervousness, he saw no sign to suggest that the island
+had been visited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a day or two before he again found himself near the marsh.  He
+had been fishing from the base of the high cliff that formed his usual
+look-out.  A kind of natural pier of broken rock jutted out from the
+cliff seawards, and the deep water on each side was the favourite
+resort at high tide of shoals of small fish, which chose it, he
+supposed, because the depth was not great enough for the ground sharks
+that sometimes made their appearance off the shore, and the little fish
+could disport themselves there in security.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Carrying his catch on a string&mdash;enough for his own dinner, for
+Mirandola would not touch it&mdash;he passed again by the brink of the
+marsh, and once more was puzzled by the wheel-like track which he had
+seen before and been unable to explain.  The marsh had somewhat shrunk
+in the interval; the receding water had left more of the track visible:
+and the outer soil having been baked hard by the sun, the strange
+imprint was clearer and more definite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It occurred to Dennis now to attempt to trace the mark in the opposite
+direction, away from the point where it disappeared in the water.  It
+speedily grew fainter as he came to harder soil, and he lost it
+altogether where it entered undergrowth which had no doubt been
+partially submerged when the marsh was at its highest.  But after some
+search he found it again where it emerged from the rank vegetation, and
+from that point he traced it with little difficulty, for it kept fairly
+close to the margin of the lake.  Its resemblance to the track of a
+wheel had now ceased; not even the most rickety of carts, driven by a
+drunken tranter on a Devonshire lane, could have made such erratic
+movements as must have caused this shallow winding mark on the soil.
+Dennis followed its curves with persistent curiosity, not unmixed with
+a vague uneasiness.  Mirandola accompanied him, springing lightly from
+bough to bough of the trees nearest the edge of the marsh, descending
+with extraordinary quickness and loping along the ground where gaps
+intervened, or the fringe of the woodland belt took a trend inwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length the tracking came perforce to an end.  Again the trail
+disappeared into the water, and Dennis halted, feeling a little vexed
+that his patience was, after all, to bear no fruit.  He looked round
+for Mirandola.  The monkey had disappeared, exploring, no doubt,
+thought Dennis, a close-packed thicket that came within a few yards of
+the morass, having apparently crowded out all nobler trees save one
+slender cedar which, dominating the undergrowth, seemed taller than it
+really was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis was about to give up the problem as hopeless and go on his way,
+when suddenly he heard Mirandola chattering in a manner that was new to
+him.  The moment after, the monkey sprang from the thicket into the
+tree, and climbed with frantic speed to the very top, where he sat
+gibbering and shaking with terror.  Dennis, wondering what had
+perturbed him, took a step forward, then started back in a cold shiver.
+A huge serpent was rearing itself from the midst of the undergrowth and
+winding its coils about the trunk of the tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mirandola on the topmost branch had now ceased his chattering, and
+clung, watching the monster with dilated eyes.  The poor creature was
+helpless.  To descend from his perch would have been fatal; there was
+no other tree at hand to which it might escape.  Indeed, under the
+fascination of the serpent's baleful eyes, as it slowly drew its
+immense coils up the trunk, the monkey lost all power of motion; and
+Dennis himself, even with the thicket between him and the monster, felt
+a sort of chill paralysis as he watched its sinister movements.  For
+half a minute he stood rooted to the spot; then, making an effort to
+throw off this dire oppression, he tried to think of some means of
+helping the monkey.  At that moment of danger, he was conscious for the
+first time of the strength of his affection for the animal whose
+companionship had done so much to relieve the awful solitude of the
+island.  Unless he intervened, Mirandola was doomed, and the thought of
+losing Mirandola filled him with a fierce longing to slay this monster
+that was crawling inch by inch towards its prey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His first impulse was to run back to his hut for the gun he kept there
+ready loaded; but slow as the serpent's progress was, before he could
+return to the spot the tragedy would have ended.  Then he remembered
+how the reptiles in the woods at home were killed.  A blow on the
+vertebrae crippled them; could he cripple this huge creature, which
+even yet had not heaved all its length into the tree?  His only weapon
+was the sailor's clasp-knife which he always carried at his girdle.  He
+opened it impulsively, then hesitated.  If he failed to hit the
+vertebrae, and dealt only a flesh wound, he might perchance save the
+monkey, but could he then save himself?  He knew nothing of a boa
+constrictor's power of movement; yet his instinct told him that, if
+once enfolded in those monstrous coils, he must inevitably be crushed
+to death.  But he could not stand and see his pet mangled and devoured:
+the serpent, moving deliberately, as though aware of its victim's
+paralysis, was not yet beyond his reach.  Springing through the
+undergrowth, he marked a spot some distance from the reptile's tail.
+The serpent heard his approach, and turned its head slowly in his
+direction; but a second later Dennis drove his knife with all his force
+at the centre of the sleek round mass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next moment he was thrown sprawling on the ground, by a flick of the
+tail as the upper part of the serpent's body writhed convulsively under
+the blow.  He jerked himself to his feet and leapt away through the
+undergrowth in panic fear.  A few steps brought him to open ground, and
+then, crushing down his nervous terror, he looked back.  The coils were
+slipping down the tree, and in a moment it was clear that the serpent's
+power was gone; its huge bulk moved uncontrollably: its motor force was
+destroyed.  Dennis ventured to enter the thicket again.  When the
+serpent reached the ground, it writhed as he had seen injured eels and
+earthworms writhe, but its movements were all involuntary; Mirandola
+was saved.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-065.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-065.jpg" alt="&quot;Dennis saves Mirandola.&quot;" />
+<br />
+&quot;Dennis saves Mirandola.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The monkey was now chattering volubly, but still clung to his perch.
+Clearly he would not venture to descend while his enemy moved.  For
+some time Dennis watched it; then, feeling that he must put an end to
+its maimed life, he hurried away to fetch his gun.  A bullet in the
+head: and the reptile lay motionless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even then some little time elapsed before Mirandola yielded to Dennis's
+persuasive calls and slid, still somewhat nervously, to the ground.  He
+avoided the reptile's body, and scampered away with shrill cries to the
+open.  When Dennis overtook him, the monkey sprang upon his shoulder,
+and so they returned to the hut.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this thrilling experience Dennis felt somewhat less at ease in
+his peregrinations of the island.  He had come to think that he had
+nothing to fear there so long as it was unvisited by men.  But the
+thickets that gave hiding to one huge reptile might harbour many more.
+Henceforth he walked more warily, and never ventured far from his hut
+without a gun.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap06"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VI
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Spanish Whip
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Dennis had given up the idea of building a boat as a means of escape
+from the island; but now that time again hung heavy on his hands, he
+reverted to it as a refuge from the tedium of idleness.  It promised to
+give him much labour, for, unless he stripped the planking from the
+<i>Maid Marian</i>, he must needs fell trees for himself, and prepare his
+timbers as well as his unskill could devise.  The trees of the island
+were for the most part unknown to him; and he was not aware of the
+Indian practice of hollowing out a cedar trunk with fire or hatchet.
+In his wanderings he now began to take note of the different species,
+with a view to selecting one that would best suit his tools.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day, when he was strolling through the woodland on this errand, he
+was amazed, and not a little alarmed, to hear, from some spot far to
+his right, what seemed to him to be the ring of axes.  He halted,
+incredulous.  The island, he was assured, had no other inhabitant; yet
+he could not be mistaken; the sound of tree-felling reminded him of
+home, and he felt a sudden deep yearning for the combes and holts of
+far-off Devon.  But this feeling was immediately quelled by a sense of
+danger.  Who were these woodcutters?  No friends, he was sure; he had
+given up hope of finding friends upon these remote coasts.  And if not
+friends, discovery by these spelt death to him, or slavery to which
+death would be preferable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was minded to turn about and seek safety in his hut.  Built upon the
+edge of the chine, it could only be discovered by careful exploration
+of the woodland, and the chine was all but invisible from the sea.
+There he might remain in hiding, with a fair chance that he would not
+be found.  But this first impulse passed.  He felt an overmastering
+curiosity to see who these visitors were.  Whence had they come, he
+wondered?  Why, if they came from the distant mainland, had they
+crossed the sea?  He could not suppose that wood was lacking upon the
+shores of the great continent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slowly, with infinite caution, he began to thread his way towards the
+sound.  There were open spaces amid the woodland; these he durst not
+cross, but kept always in the shelter of the trees.  He dreaded lest
+Mirandola should betray him by a cry; but the monkey leapt from bough
+to bough almost noiselessly, as if he too had taken alarm from the
+unwonted sound.  A few weeks before, Dennis himself would have found it
+difficult to make his way through the woods and the undergrowth without
+giving signs of his presence by the snapping of twigs or the rustle of
+parting foliage; but the abiding sense of danger which had oppressed
+him during his earlier passages across the island had bred in him a
+wariness of movement that was now almost as instinctive as in the wild
+creatures whose lives depended on their caution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Guiding himself by the sounds, he was drawn towards a grove of trees
+that lay about two hundred yards from the southern beach.  Only a day
+or two before he had struck his hatchet into one of them, and concluded
+from its soft white sappy rind that it would not provide fit timber for
+his boat.  Yet it was clearly these trees upon which the unseen woodmen
+were at work.  He stole forward, and coming to a dense fringe of
+undergrowth beyond which the grove lay, he edged his way into the
+thicket, and very stealthily pressed the foliage aside until he got a
+view of what was doing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The trees grew somewhat far apart, and across a fairly open space he
+saw the strangers whose unexpected presence was causing him such
+concern.  Five men, stripped to the waist, were hard at work with axes.
+Four of them had dusky skins of reddish hue; the fifth, a short,
+thickset, brawny man, the muscles of whose arms showed like great
+globes, was clearly a white man, though his hands and arms were stained
+a bright scarlet quite different from the red duskiness of southern
+natives, or the red-brown caused by exposure to sun and wind.  As they
+moved, the five men clanked the chains that fettered their ankles to
+stout logs of wood.  A little apart stood three men looking on,
+laughing and talking together in a tongue strange to Dennis.  They were
+big swarthy fellows, with soft wide-brimmed hats, each decked with a
+feather, brown leather doublets and hose, and long boots.  Each bore a
+caliver and a whip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun was high in the heavens, its beams beating down through the
+trees upon the unprotected backs of the toilers.  Sweat was pouring
+from them.  The trees were thick, some at least two yards in
+circumference; to cut them through needed no slight exertion.  The
+white labourer paused to draw his arm across his reeking brow.  Then
+one of the watchers strolled across from the tree against which he had
+been lolling, and raising his whip, brought the thong with a stinging
+cut across the back of the slave who had dared to intermit his labours.
+A red streak showed livid on the white skin.  For a moment it seemed to
+Dennis, watching the scene, that the victim was about to turn upon his
+assailant with the axe, his sole weapon.  An expression of deadly rage
+writhed the features of his red, bearded face.  His grip tightened upon
+the axe.  But he controlled his impulse with an effort.  The warder
+laughed brutally, flung a taunt, and cracked his whip in the air in
+challenge and menace.  Sullenly the woodman resumed his task, and his
+persecutor, with another laugh, turned and rejoined his companions,
+applauded by their grins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis felt himself stung to anger.  This swarthy ruffian, he doubted
+not, was a Spaniard, a subject of King Philip, once the consort of an
+English queen.  It was not a pleasant introduction to the race
+dominating the Americas.  Apparently Mirandola liked them no better
+than he, for at the first sight of the strangers the monkey had fled
+away.  Dennis found him a good quarter-mile distant when, taking
+advantage of an interval during which the Spaniards ate and drank, and
+the flagging toilers rested, he strode away to a banana grove to
+refresh himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He watched the group till near sundown.  Several trees having been
+felled, the men proceeded to hack off the branches and to chip away the
+white rind.  Then the strange scarlet colour of their arms and hands
+was explained.  The heart of the trees was a brilliant red.  As the
+rind was stripped off, the Spaniards drew near and examined the core,
+and under their direction the labourers cut and trimmed certain
+selected logs.  The work was still unfinished when the sun went down,
+and the leader of the Spaniards gave the word for returning to the
+shore.  The logs were struck off the slaves' ankles and replaced by
+manacles; then they set off.  Dennis followed them at a safe distance,
+and when he came within view of the sea, there was a small vessel
+riding at anchor some little distance off shore, and the slaves were in
+the act of dragging a row boat through the white surf.  In this they
+all put off, and darkness covered them up as they regained the ship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis returned to his hut, joined by the monkey on the way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here is food for thought, Mirandola, my friend," he said.  "No fire
+for us to-night!  Are you acquainted with don Spaniards and their ways?
+You kept a wide berth: have you too suffered at their hands?  Who is
+the poor wretch the ruffian lashed?  By his looks he would pass for an
+Englishman: I hope he is not of English breed.  Yet I hope he is: what
+do you make of that, Mirandola?  I protest I love your wise and
+friendly countenance; but there is something warming to the heart in
+the sight of one of my own kind, if such he be.  We must be up betimes,
+my friend; maybe the morrow will give us assurance."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thinking over the incident before he slept, Dennis wondered why the
+party had returned to the ship.  If the purpose of their visit was to
+obtain any quantity of this strange red wood, doubtless they had
+several days' work before them; why had they not camped on shore?
+Perhaps they felt that the slaves were safer on board; perhaps, too,
+they did not care to weaken the ship's company during the hours of
+night.  It was a small vessel; probably there was not a large number of
+Spaniards aboard; but doubtless they were all armed like the three who
+had come ashore, and their slaves, being fettered, would need but a few
+to control them.  Dennis hoped that when they returned next day they
+would not make too thorough a search for similar groves elsewhere in
+the island, for if they should discover his hut, he had little doubt
+they would seek to impress him into the hapless gang.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His sleep was restless.  Many times he woke with a start and sprang up
+trembling, feeling that the Spaniards were on his track.  At daybreak
+he was on his way towards the western shore, and took up his position
+in the same thicket, the leafy screen being almost impenetrable.  The
+monkey was with him now; but when his ears caught first the measured
+thud of oars, then the clank of chains drawing nearer, Mirandola
+chattered angrily, sprang into a tree, and disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party came into view: five slaves, three Spaniards.  The former
+were, to all appearance, the same as those Dennis had seen on the
+previous day; but it seemed to him that their armed guards were
+different; probably the men of the ship took it in turns to come
+ashore.  But if the individuals were different, their methods were much
+the same.  Indeed, before Dennis had been watching the work many
+minutes, he had reason to know that the warders of to-day were even
+more ingeniously brutal than those of yesterday.  The first thing he
+noticed was a change in their manner of rendering their slaves
+harmless.  One of them carried a large wooden mallet; the others had
+between them iron staples with sharp-pointed ends.  These staples they
+drove one by one with the mallet into the boles of the five trees
+selected for the day's operations.  Secured to each staple was one end
+of a long chain, the other end of which was fastened to the captive's
+ankle band.  Thus the hapless woodmen were fettered not merely by the
+logs of wood, as on the previous day, but by chains that bound them to
+the very trees they were to cut down.  The staples were driven into the
+trunks below the line of the cleft to be made; but the chains, though
+long, seemed to Dennis scarcely long enough to enable the men to escape
+crushing should the trees happen to fall the wrong way.  That was a
+chance which evidently did not trouble the guards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis wondered why this additional precaution had been taken to ensure
+the safe custody of the wretched men.  Had they shown signs of mutiny?
+It would not be surprising after the treatment of the previous day.
+Certainly the ingenious device lightened the task of surveillance, for
+the wood-cutters, however exasperated, could not turn upon their guards
+until they had forced out the staples with their axes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The three Spaniards threw themselves down at some distance from the
+slaves and lolled negligently against the trees.  The wood-cutters
+plied their axes, sturdily, monotonously, never speaking, their faces
+expressing nothing but a sullen despair.  Dennis fixed his eyes on the
+white man, and felt an eager longing to hear him speak.  One word would
+be enough to show whether he was indeed an Englishman.  But the man was
+as silent as the rest, and nothing was heard save the ring of the axes
+and the voices of the Spaniards conversing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five trees lay upon the ground; the warders rose to drive the staples
+into others.  It appeared that time hung heavy on their hands.  Some
+demon of mischief suggested to one of them a means of obtaining a
+little diversion.  His proposal was received with shouts of laughter by
+his companions.  Dennis did not understand what was said, but the
+meaning was soon made plain.  The three men drew lots with three twigs
+of unequal length, and placed themselves by the side of three
+slaves&mdash;the white man and two Indians&mdash;as fate determined.  Again they
+drew lots, and proceeded to fasten their men to three new trees.  The
+other two Indians were set to strip the trunks already felled.  It was
+soon evident that the Spaniards' amusement was to be had at the expense
+of the wood-cutters.  They pooled a number of pieces of eight; the
+Spaniard whose man first felled his tree was to take the stakes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The three men set to work, the warders standing over them with their
+whips.  The faces of the Indians wore their wonted look of dull apathy;
+but Dennis saw the lips of the white man tighten, and a grim scowl
+darken his brow.  The sport commenced.  Excited by their gamble, the
+Spaniards urged on their men with loud cries.  For some minutes the two
+Indians smote the trees with feverish energy; the white man plied his
+axe with measured strokes, neither slower nor faster than before.  The
+warders became more and more excited, and from cries proceeded to
+blows.  One of the Indians flagged, and to stimulate him the Spaniard
+behind dealt him a savage blow with his whip, and the poor cowed wretch
+laid on with greater vigour.  Hidden in the bush Dennis nervously
+clutched his sword and felt the blood surge into his cheeks.  Fine
+sport, indeed!  The other Spaniards, not to be outdone, began to
+belabour the backs of their men also, and Dennis, seeing great weals
+rise on the bare flesh, could scarcely control the impulse to dash at
+all costs from his hiding-place to the aid of the suffering men.  He
+saw the face of the white man pale beneath the sun-tan and the red
+stains; perchance the Spaniard would have had a qualm if he had seen
+the fury his features expressed.  But he did not see it; with callous
+levity he shouted, and brought his whip down with a sickening crack
+upon the broad red-streaked back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, with a suddenness that took Dennis's breath away, the white man's
+pent-up rage burst its bounds.  At the end of his endurance, he swung
+round with a nimbleness surprising in a man of his bulk, and flung his
+axe with unerring aim at his tormentor.  The man fell among the logs.
+In a second, before the other Spaniards had time to recover from the
+shock of this unheard-of audacity, one of the Indians at work on the
+fallen tree hurled his weapon at the warder nearest him, and struck him
+headlong to the ground.  The third man had sufficient command of his
+wits to take to his heels and scamper away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wood-cutters were between him and the shore, and the direction of
+his flight was towards the thicket in which Dennis stood, all tingling
+with the excitement of this amazing change of scene.  He gripped his
+sword; but the Spaniard stopped short within a few yards of the bushes,
+uttered a furious oath, and turning about, kindled his match, preparing
+to shoot at the slaves, who were hacking with frenzied haste at the
+staples that held them to the trees.  The two Indians who were free
+were hobbling towards the woodland on the other side, appalled by their
+own temerity.  Dennis heard the Spaniard chuckle as he raised his
+caliver.  The man knew full well that, even if the woodmen succeeded in
+breaking loose, he would have time to shoot them down one by one,
+hobbled as they were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<a id="p78"></a>
+Dennis could no longer remain inactive.  An enemy of the Spaniards,
+whatever his colour, was a friend of his.  He could not see the poor
+wretches slaughtered.  For an instant he thought of kindling his own
+match and firing at the Spaniard, who was within easy range.  Then,
+changing his mind, he pushed aside the bushes, sprang into the open,
+and leapt over the ground with the lightness of a panther.  The
+Spaniard heard his movements and swung round; Dennis saw the startled
+look of terror in his eyes.  Taken aback, he had no time to ward off
+the musket stock of this assailant who had sprung as it were out of the
+earth.  His cry of alarm was stifled in his throat, and under the blow
+dealt him with all the force of honest rage he dropped senseless to the
+ground.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap07"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Amos Turnpenny
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Dennis felt his limbs tremble as he stepped round the fallen body and
+went forward.  The white man and the biggest of the Indians had already
+released themselves, and stood as though rooted to the ground with
+amazement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I am a friend," cried Dennis, while still separated by some yards from
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, that's a true word!" gasped the white man, and Dennis
+thrilled with joy as he heard the broad accent of a south-countryman.
+"A friend, true; and a blessed word to Haymoss Turnpenny's ears."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They gripped hands, and looked each other squarely in the face.  There
+was a lump in Dennis's throat, and a mist of tears in the elder man's
+eyes.  Then Turnpenny glanced over his shoulder with a sudden access of
+fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We bean't safe," he muttered, and there was a world of terror in his
+gesture and tone.  "They'll find us, and then 'twill be hell-fire.  Can
+'ee hide us?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us first release that black man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sure, fellow creature, although black.  I'll do it, in a trice."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He walked towards the trees where the last man was still struggling to
+force out the staple.  At this moment Dennis saw one of the others, who
+had released his feet from the hobbling logs, springing past him with
+uplifted axe, the fire of fury in his eyes.  Turning, he noticed that
+the Spaniard he had felled was moving.  He had but just time to dash
+after the man and prevent him from butchering his prostrate enemy.  The
+Indian drew back in surprise, and Dennis stood on guard until the
+Englishman joined him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bean't he killed dead?  Why didn't 'ee kill him, lad?  T'others be
+dead as door nails, and won't trouble you nor me no more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll let this fellow live; he may be useful to us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why didn't 'ee kill him with your sword or caliver?  He's vermin, as
+they be all."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, his back was towards me," said Dennis.  "Besides, a shot would
+have alarmed his comrades on the ship."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The ship!" repeated the man, looking round again with fear in his
+eyes.  "The ship!  They'll find us!  We are rats in a trap!  Lord save
+us all!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, we must think of something.  Can you speak to these men?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, in some sort.  Not in their own tongue, 'tis monkey-talk to me.
+Ah! look at 'em, poor knaves."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians had fallen upon the provisions brought by the Spaniards for
+their own consumption, and were devouring them ravenously.  Turnpenny
+called to them in a husky whisper, as though fearful of his own voice
+reaching the ears of an enemy.  Then, taking the dazed Spaniard with
+them, the woodcutters, hobbled by the logs, made off across the island,
+led by Dennis to the watercourse at the further end of which his hut
+stood.  Within half a mile of that spot he halted, and got the
+Englishman to tell the others to remain there until rejoined.  With
+Turnpenny he hastened on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God be praised I was able to help you," he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, but I fear me 'tis to your own undoing.  They will come ashore,
+and catch 'ee, and flay 'ee alive."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me, how many men are left on the bark?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ten, lad, all armed to the teeth.  Sure they will land when we don't
+go aboard at night.  They will hunt us down.  This time to-morrow we'll
+be dead men, or worse than dead."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pluck up heart," said Dennis.  "There are six of us; I have arms for
+all; we can post ourselves at a place of our own choice, and make a
+good defence, I warrant you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!  But what will be the use?  Say we beat them off, 'twill be
+like as if we tried to stem the waves.  With a fair breeze the mainland
+is but a day's sail, and there the Spaniards swarm like cockroaches in
+a hold.  I tell 'ee, lad, whoever ye be, we be dead men!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I've been nearer death," said Dennis quietly.  "Look!  There is my
+hut.  I was cast up on this shore from a wreck: I have been here
+several weeks, months&mdash;I know not: it has pleased God to keep me alive
+here, alone on this island, and I believe there is hope for us all."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Amen! ... My heart!  There's a sheer hulk in the pool yonder."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, all that's left of the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  But I will tell you my
+story anon.  Come away into the hut, and let us talk of what we can do
+to save ourselves from the Spaniards."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they entered the hut, the Englishman drew back with a startled cry.
+Perched on a cask sat Mirandola.  He chattered angrily at the sight of
+a stranger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My one friend on the island, and a faithful comrade," said Dennis.  "A
+gentle soul; he will do you no harm."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A friend, say you?  'Tis against nature to be friends with a
+spider-monkey.  And I be fair mazed; it do seem all a dream, only in
+the offing yonder there be a real ship, and, say what 'ee will, I be
+afeard."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll first file off these clogging hobbles.  And what say you to a
+mug of beer?  It has come far; I have not broached the cask, and maybe
+'tis still drinkable."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!  I never thought to taste beer or cider again.  'Twill
+comfort my nattlens, sure, and I was once a good man at a tankard."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fetters were soon struck off; a mug of beer was drawn, and drained
+at a gulp; but Turnpenny was still ill at ease.  He went to the
+entrance of the hut and looked nervously up and down the gully,
+listening with head cocked aside.  Dennis could not guess at the
+terrible past which had made this stout English mariner as timid as a
+child.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us get back to the black men," he said, knowing from his own
+experience the value of action in banishing sad thoughts.  "Are they
+Indians of America?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Maroons, sir, half Injun, half negro; lusty fighters, and faithful
+souls when they do love 'ee."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll knock off their chains and give them arms.  What can they use?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not muskets, nor harquebuses, but anything that will dint a blow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Half-pikes and swords, then.  For yourself, take your pick."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, it do give me heart to handle a cutlass again.  Here's a fine
+blade, now, and a musket&mdash;give me a harquebus; I could shoot once, but
+my arm is all of a wamble now.  Lookeedesee!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He raised the heavy weapon to his shoulder and tried to steady it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"See!  Shaking like a man with the palsy," he said, his nervousness
+returning.  "I be no more good than a bulrush."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pish, man!" said Dennis cheerily.  "You are overwrought; your arm is
+tired with wielding the axe.  An hour's rest will set you up.  Come,
+bring the file and the weapons; we must see that the others are not
+scared in our absence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The four maroons had remained on the spot where they had been left,
+keeping guard over the Spaniard, who had now quite recovered from his
+blow.  They eyed Dennis with a wide stare, and fell silent when he
+approached, seeming scarcely to comprehend the wonderful good fortune
+that had befallen them.  The removal of their fetters and the gift of
+arms struck them as a crowning mercy; they grovelled upon the ground as
+in the act of worship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They take 'ee for a magician, sir," said Turnpenny.  "'Tis marvellous
+to their simple poor minds.  All the world be full of spirits to them;
+a storm at sea be the stirring of witches, and the Spaniards be devils.
+My heart!" he exclaimed suddenly, "the fear has took me again!  When
+they do miss the sound of the axes they will jealous summat wrong, and
+then they'll come and we'll be all dead men."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Cheer up!" said Dennis.  "'Tis easy to cure that.  Two of the men can
+set-to upon the trees again, and one can steal to the shore and keep an
+eye on the ship, and acquaint us if he sees any stirring there."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But what of the Spaniard, lad?  'Tis then only one maroon to watch
+him, and 'tis not enough.  If so be the knave be left to himself, he'll
+run to the beach and give the alarm."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll stop that, too.  When he has had a portion of food, we will gag
+and bind him, and all will be well."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Spaniard was secured, the whole party returned to the scene of
+the tree-felling, and while one of the men went stealthily forward to
+spy upon the ship, two others plied their axes upon the fallen trunks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis, more alert of mind than the sailor, foresaw that the trick
+could have only a temporary success.  When the time came for the
+wood-cutting party to return to the vessel, their non-appearance would
+awaken suspicion among the Spaniards on board.  Believing the island to
+be uninhabited, they would not guess what had happened; it would not
+even occur to them as possible that cowed and unarmed slaves would have
+courage enough to turn on their masters, much less overcome them.  But
+if the party did not return at nightfall, the captain would certainly
+send some of his men to discover the cause.  Of all men the Spaniards
+were the most superstitious; when they landed, their very superstitions
+would put them on their guard.  Their approach would be cautious; they
+would probably discover the escaped slaves before these could strike at
+them effectively; and then, when the inevitable fight came, the party
+of six, of whom only two could use firearms, and one had partially lost
+his nerve, would stand a poor chance against men armed cap-�-pie and
+doubtless inured to the practice of warfare.  Besides, even if the
+landing party could be taken by surprise and routed, the sound of the
+combat would alarm the Spaniards still remaining on the ship.  They
+would sail away, and in a few days return in overwhelming strength.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis was at first staggered by the difficulties and perils of the
+situation, and he dared not consult with Turnpenny until the sailor had
+regained his courage.  For the present the important thing was to keep
+him employed, so as to turn his thoughts from anything that would feed
+his fears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must bury these two knaves," said Dennis, glancing at the bodies of
+the Spaniards.  "You and I can do that.  Your name, I bethink me,
+is&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Turnpenny, by nature, Haymoss by the water o' baptism, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Haymoss?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sure, a religious good name, sir; a' comes betwixt Joel and
+Obydiah somewheres after the holy psa'ms.  Born at Chard, sir, in
+Zummerzet, but voyaged to Plimworth when that I was a little tiny boy,
+and served 'prentice aboard the <i>Seamew</i>&mdash;master, John Penworthy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis had heard only the first sentence of this string of facts.  He
+was in the very act of stooping to dig a grave with one of the maroons'
+big axes, when there flashed into his mind an idea which set him aglow
+with hope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, friend Amos," he said, so quietly that none could have suspected
+his inward eagerness, "think you not we may strip the outer garments
+from these knaves before we bury them?  Your back would be the better
+for a covering, and this leathern doublet would well beseem you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, sir, but I never donned a stranger's coat yet.  I be English
+true blue, and though the Spaniard's doublet might span my back,
+'twould irk my feeling mind, sir!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To please me, Amos.  I would fain you covered your arms&mdash;the red is
+too like blood, and we may see enough of that ere we be many hours
+older."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To Dennis's gratification the sailor did not again blench at the
+suggestion of a fight with the Spaniards.  He laughed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!  'Tis easy to see you be a new man in this new world, sir.
+The stains of logwood don't worrit me; 'tis a noble dye, you must own,
+and many's the noble garment that has been dyed for a Spaniard's madam
+out o' the logwood I've cut.  But since it offends your innocent eye,
+I'll e'en don the knave's coat afore I put him out o' sight in earth
+too good for him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Overjoyed at the man's recovered spirits, Dennis hastened, as they went
+on with their task, to press his advantage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are two enemies the less, Amos&mdash;nay, three, counting the knave we
+have in pound among the trees yonder.  What say you to our making a
+shift to put a few more in the same case?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What mean you, sir?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me, what people hath the ship yonder, besides the ten Spanish
+knaves of whom you spoke?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, as a true man I answer, a black cook&mdash;no maroon, but a swart
+fat knave from the Guinea coast; and three maroons, who fell sick, or
+rather were well-nigh beat to death, in an island over against the
+continent yonder we visited on the same errand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And they are gyved, as you were?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All but the cook.  He goes free, but, my heart! 'tis little he gains
+by it.  He is every man's football and whipping-boy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why then do the Spaniards remain aboard the ship when there are so few
+slaves to guard?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis first because they be idle knaves, who would never do a hand's
+turn save by necessity.  Item, because they be but poor seamen, and
+need a dozen to handle a craft, only forty ton burden, that three
+true-born Englishmen could sail into the devil's jaws.  Item, because
+the spot where she lies at anchor is ill-protected; 'tis rather an open
+roadstead than a bay, and if a squall should come up sudden, as 'tis
+nature in this meridian, they'd need all the lubbers' work to get a
+fair offing."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So three true-born Englishmen are a match for a dozen base cullies of
+Spain?  Is that your thought, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, at musket, pike, or quarter-staff; there's never a doubt on it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Think you two, then, are a match for ten?  The balance turns a little
+in favour of the Spaniards; by right proportion it should be two to
+eight; but mayhap four maroons on t'other scale would even the odds."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny desisted from his work, and a shadow of his former fear came
+upon his face.  Dennis did not allow time for the fit to lay hold of
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is advantage to him who strikes first," he went on, quietly.
+"If we wait, assuredly we shall have to fight against heavy odds.  But
+if we assume a bold part, and jump the risks, we may gain all the
+vantage of surprise, and enforce it with that English blood you hold so
+high in estimation, to say naught of English thews and sinews.  Why,
+man, that stout arm of yours would fell an ox."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, sir," said the simple mariner, bending his arm to raise the
+muscle, and looking at the knotty protuberance with great complacency;
+"I ha' done desperate deeds of strength in my time.  But, heart alive!
+do 'ee think to capture the ship?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I think of venturing for it; and, unless I be mightily mistaken, Amos
+Turnpenny is not the man to turn his back on a venture of that kind."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not by nature, sir," said the man, uneasiness struggling with simple
+vanity in his mind.  "By nature I be as bold as a lion.  But the lion
+in the story was meshed in with ropes, and could do no harm to a silly
+mouse; and for four year past, sir, the ropes of mischance have held my
+spirit in thrall, wherefore it is that&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That you are afraid?  Nonsense!  You are the lion; I am the mouse.
+Let us say that I, by good luck, have gnawed those confining ropes
+asunder, and now, on this island, you are free of mind as of limb, and
+a man of heart and vigour."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny flung down his axe and fairly jumped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!" he cried, gleefully; "'tis the very marrow of the tale!  I
+be free, free!  For four year I have forgot the word.  Sound of limb,
+straight of eye, with all my five wits, praise God above!  Speak your
+thought, sir; Haymoss Turnpenny is your man."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap08"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER VIII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Half-Pikes and Machetes
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+The Spaniards had by this time been buried.  The two maroons were still
+hacking at the trees.  Nothing had been reported by the man on the
+look-out.  Glancing at the sun, Dennis guessed that it was still two or
+three hours from setting.  But for interruptions there would be ample
+time to develop his plan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come beneath the shade," he said to Turnpenny.  "There is much to be
+said and done.  If perchance a man lands from the ship, we must take
+him prisoner.  If several come, we must fight them at the gully.  If
+they lie secure, and we are undisturbed, we shall capture their vessel
+this night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I believe it, sir, partly; I'd believe it more firm if I understood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give me your judgement on my plan.  At sunset we will haul some logs
+down to the shore and push off in the boat, as if we were the Spaniards
+with their slaves.  You and I will rig ourselves in the doublets and
+hose of the two yonder; it will go hard with us if, in the dark, we do
+not mislead the Spaniards into security.  We will mount into the
+vessel, and if luck favour us we shall be masters of the craft before
+the Spaniards have awakened to the danger."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A noble plan, but fearsome," said Turnpenny, shaking his head.  "We
+shall be two short, sir.  We rig up as Spaniards, you and me; granted;
+but the knaves on deck will see two Spaniards instead of three, and
+they will want to know what has become of Haymoss Turnpenny."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will take our prisoner.  Then they will see three Spaniards, and if
+they then miss Amos Turnpenny, let them suppose that the sailor man has
+turned troublesome, and been left on the island, to bring him to a
+reasonable humility."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sure, that unties the knot.  But I would not give a groat for my
+chance of seeing Plimworth Sound again if the knaves spy the head of
+Haymoss sticking out o' the Spanish doublet.  The captain, he be a man
+of desperate fight; no miserable dumbledore is he; 'tis a word and a
+blow with him; I've seed him kill a man of his own breed for no more
+than a wry word."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must trust to our disguise, and the dark."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But the maroons, sir; they'll be of no use 'ithout weapons, and if
+they climb aboard with naked steel in their hands, 'tis all over with
+us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You and I will mount first."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That would put the knaves on guard at once.  'Tis always us poor
+slaves that come over side last into the boat and go first out of it,
+so as never to give us no chance of making off.  They need not be
+afeard; whither could poor miserable wretches escape away?  But there
+it is."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, Amos, we must accept the wonted course, though I would fain go
+first, with you at my elbow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is my very own thought, sir.  No white man can trust a black un in
+the deadly breach.  But be jowned if I see any ways o' they maroons
+getting aboard with arms in their hands."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nor I.  Mayhap an idea will enter our conceits anon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!  There be another thing I had clean forgot.  We have ta'en
+their irons off."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must put them on again.  We will not fail for the sake of a clank."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, but there's the rub, sir.  The maroons will show fight if we
+attempt that same.  Poor souls!  Having no language and no intellecks
+to speak of, they'll not understand the main of our intent.  They will
+suppose 'tis but a change of masters, and I fear me my few words o'
+Spanish will not suffice to set their minds at ease."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You made them understand you a while ago; you must try again.  But a
+word more.  I judge the sun is grown far on the west; 'twill soon be
+time to put our fortunes to the hazard.  And, lest our dallying here
+waken the suspicions of the Spaniards, let us don these articles of
+apparel e'en now, and fix on the irons, and then go down to the shore,
+the maroons hauling the stripped logs thitherwards.  The ropes are
+handy here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What, sir, haul logs in the very sight of the knaves?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, do we not wish to deceive them?  If they see two Spaniards
+marshalling the black men, cracking their whips, moreover, will they
+not believe 'tis their comrades, bent on finishing the work this night?
+'Tis growing towards dusk; the vessel lies out too far for them to mark
+our lineaments; 'twill lull them into a fool's security."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And so it will.  I will presently go speak to the maroons with my
+tongue, and, seeing that the poor mortals lack understanding, with my
+fingers and my eyes and my ten toes if the case do require it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis watched the sailor somewhat anxiously.  It would be a stroke of
+rank ill-fortune if they refused to have their manacles replaced.
+Everything depended on their docility.  To his joy, after some minutes
+of gesticulation, Turnpenny came back, his broad face beaming with
+conscious self-esteem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if I haven't done it easy!" he said.  "I spoke 'em plain,
+and to make all clear, I put my two hands together, with one finger
+pointing aloft: that stood for yonder vessel.  Then I pointed to this
+doublet, and to yours, and set my face to a most wondrous frown, by the
+which they understood that you and me pass for Spaniards.  A firk with
+my cutlass did signify our warlike intent, a thrust of my arms forth
+and back pictured the sweep of oars; and, to make an end o't, they
+understand our fixed purpose and are keen set to lend us their aid."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Admirably contrived!" said Dennis.  "Now, while I bring the Spaniard
+to bear us company, do you replace the irons and fasten ropes about the
+logs.  Darkness will steal upon us unawares and prevent the first part
+of our contriving."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Dennis returned to the gully to fetch the Spaniard, he saw that
+Mirandola was keeping pace with him through the trees.  Since the event
+of the morning the monkey had held himself aloof, as if scared by the
+presence of so many strange men.  Dennis halted and called to him, but
+the animal blinked and made no movement to descend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah, Mirandola," said Dennis, as he walked on, "even the wisest of us
+have our failings.  Jealousy, my friend, is a canker.  I love thee none
+the less because I have a new friend.  Will you not believe it?  Is
+there not room for both&mdash;Turnpenny and Mirandola?  If we succeed in
+this enterprise, you and Amos must be made at one."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some little while later, in the growing dusk, the four maroons were
+hauling a heavy log out from the undergrowth that fringed the sea.
+Dennis and Turnpenny urged them with rough cries and persistent
+cracking of their whips.  As soon as they came within view of the
+vessel the ropes were cast off, and they all made their way back.  When
+they returned with a second log, there came a faint hail from the
+vessel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, ay, 'od rot you!" shouted Turnpenny indistinctly in response,
+knowing that at the distance his voice could not be recognized.
+"Belike 'tis a call to us to embark, sir," he said to Dennis.  "Mark
+you, they called us; no man dare say they did not call us; and if they
+do not like us when we appear, 'tis not because we are not proper men."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The logs were laid alongside of those brought down the previous day;
+then the men released the boat's moorings, and hauled her off the shoal
+where she lay into water deep enough to float her.  By this time it was
+almost dark, and the number of men who clambered into the boat could
+not easily be counted on board the vessel, nor would it be noticed that
+the maroons hoisted each a large bundle.  At the last moment Dennis had
+decided not to encumber the boat with the captive Spaniard.  He had
+thought of using the man to reply in Spanish to any hail from the
+vessel during the passage from the shore; but this might be attended
+with danger if the Spaniard should have courage enough to risk the
+inevitable penalty should he raise his voice to warn his comrades.
+Accordingly he was left on shore, gagged and bound, in a spot where he
+might easily be discovered by the Spaniards next day if the enterprise
+failed.  There were no wild beasts to molest him, and the place chosen
+was remote from the haunts of the boa constrictor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The maroons pulled steadily towards the silent vessel, lying low in the
+water some two hundred yards off shore.  Already a lamp had been lit
+aboard.  Every member of the little party in the boat was tense with
+anticipation.  Not a word was spoken.  The silence would cause no
+wonderment among the Spaniards on the vessel; a party of free negroes
+might have filled the air with their babblement; but the maroons
+partook of the reserve of the Indian race, and, living, as they did, in
+a state of deadly feud with the Spaniards, they nourished a deep silent
+longing for vengeance in their hearts.  Besides, these men were cowed
+slaves, and, after the hard day's toil they were supposed to have
+undergone, no one would have expected them to be talkative or merry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stroke by stroke the boat drew nearer to the ship.  At length a voice
+hailed it, and a flare was kindled in the waist of the vessel for its
+guidance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why do you return so late?" came the question in Spanish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny answered in passable Spanish, but in a muffled tone&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wait till we come aboard."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few seconds later the boat came beneath the vessel's side and was
+made fast.  The biggest of the maroons&mdash;he who had flung his axe at the
+Spaniard&mdash;got up and clambered aboard.  On his back he bore a huge load
+of bananas.  Close to his clanking heels swarmed a second man; before
+the first was well over the bulwarks a third was beginning the ascent,
+each carrying a similar bundle.  The fourth man had but just set his
+foot on the rope ladder that hung over the side when there came to the
+ears of Dennis and the sailor, nervously awaiting their turn, the sound
+of altercation above.  One of the Spaniards had bestowed a kick upon
+the foremost of the slaves, and, laughing loud, grabbed at the load of
+fruit upon his back.  The maroon, instead of dropping his burden and
+cowering away, as was the wont of slaves, held firmly to it, and
+stepped back to avoid the Spaniard's clutch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You hound!" cried the man, with an oath, and snatched a knife from his
+belt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, to his utter amazement, the maroon let his load fall indeed,
+contriving as he did so to rip out of it a shortened half-pike which
+was cunningly concealed there.  The light of the torch fell on the
+naked steel.  With a loud cry of rage the Spaniards who had been
+lolling on the vessel's side sprang towards the slave, cursing his
+audacity, shouting to their supposed comrades in the boat below to ask
+the meaning of this unheard-of act of mutiny.  But he stood his ground,
+glaring upon them, holding his weapon to ward them off.  And now at his
+side his three fellow-slaves were ranged, their bundles lying at their
+feet, glistening half-pikes in their hands.  Yelling with fury the
+Spaniards, armed at the moment only with their knives, pressed forward
+to teach these mutineers a lesson.  What access of madness had seized
+them?  Where was the abject look of terror with which they usually
+shrank from their masters?  What could the men in charge have been
+about?  The Spaniards rushed to the fray with the violence of wrath and
+outraged bewilderment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this first moment the fight was not unequal.  The six Spaniards who
+had been on deck found that with their knives they could not come to
+close quarters with the four stalwart maroons wielding half-pikes.  The
+latter, moreover, had kicked off the fetters loosely set about their
+ankles, and moved with freedom.  And while the Spaniards were shouting
+for their comrades in the cabin and, as they supposed, in the boat
+below to come to their aid, the numbers of the mutineers were suddenly
+augmented.  At the first sound of the scuffle, Dennis and Turnpenny,
+each armed with a cutlass, had sprung on to the ship, the former by the
+ladder behind the last maroon, the latter, with a sailor's agility,
+leaping up to the gunwale and hauling himself over.  When they reached
+the deck they found the Spaniards dancing round the little group of
+slaves, who were keeping them at bay with valorous lunges of their
+weapons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No sooner had the two Englishmen joined the combatants than they found
+that they had now the whole ship's company to reckon with.  A huge
+Spaniard rushed from the main cabin behind the maroon, a machete in one
+hand, a pistol in the other.  There was a flash, a sharp barking sound;
+one of the slaves staggered and fell.  Other Spaniards came headlong
+out, in their haste not pausing to bring fire-arms.  From the
+forecastle ran one of the sick maroons.  The instant his eyes took in
+the scene, he snatched up a belaying pin from the deck and, weak as he
+was, threw himself into the m�l�e.  Now had come the chance for which
+he had so long hungered, and his black blood seethed as he rushed to
+pay off old scores.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was hot work then amidships that narrow vessel.  Cutlass and pike
+were matched, not for the first time, against the long Spanish knife.
+Under the disadvantage of surprise the Spaniards, though they
+outnumbered their assailants, were not so effectively armed for the
+fray.  The maroons laid about them doughtily; they knew how terrible a
+weapon was the knife at close quarters, and their whole purpose was to
+hold their masters off and cripple them if they could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The big Spaniard who had rushed first from the cabin and fired at the
+maroon found himself immediately afterwards engaged with a lithe young
+man who, though clad in a Spanish doublet, was certainly not a
+fellow-countryman of his.  Instinctively, as it seemed, captain singled
+out captain.  Dennis made a vigorous cut at him, but the blade was
+fouled by the shrouds above his head, and the blow, losing half its
+force, was easily warded off by the Spaniard's machete.  He sprang
+back; if his opponent had been a little nimbler Dennis would have been
+at his mercy; but the Spaniard was gross with idleness and good living;
+heavy of movement he failed to seize his advantage, though in the lunge
+his knife cut the lad's doublet, and gashed his sword arm in the
+recovery.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-099.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-099.jpg" alt="&quot;Captain singled out Captain.&quot;" />
+<br />
+&quot;Captain singled out Captain.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis was scarcely conscious of his wound.  At this fierce moment his
+practice on the deck of the <i>Maid Marian</i> served him well.  To attempt
+a second cut would have been to give another opening.  He shortened his
+arm and gave point.  The Spaniard was no tyro.  With a turn of the
+wrist he parried the thrust, which was aimed low, but could not prevent
+the blade from entering his shoulder.  He staggered and reeled back
+towards the doorway of the cabin, and the two men immediately behind
+him rushed into the fight.  Turnpenny meanwhile had been engaged in a
+similar duel, and by the sheer force of his bulk had borne his opponent
+to the deck.  Side by side Dennis and he faced their new assailants.
+One of these, a long sinewy fellow, had an amazing dexterity with his
+knife, and a most perplexing nimbleness of movement.  Dennis kept him
+at bay only by the length of his cutlass.  For a few moments there was
+brisk work around the mast.  Making a sweeping cut, Dennis somewhat
+overreached himself, and it would have gone ill with him had not
+Turnpenny, who had run a second man through, perceived his danger in
+the nick of time.  Springing forward, he pierced the fellow to the
+heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three of the Spaniards had now fallen.  The rest, who had barely held
+their own against the maroons, were stricken with fear when they saw
+their comrades' fate.  Two of them sprang overboard; the remaining
+four, finding the three maroons now reinforced by the Englishmen,
+rushed back after their captain into the cabin, and, before they could
+be overtaken, slammed-to the door and shot the bolt.  Dennis snatched
+up a belaying pin and brought it with all his force against the door,
+but made no impression on its stout timbers.  There was a roar and a
+flash close to his ear; he felt his cheek singed; one of the Spaniards
+had fired through a loophole in the cabin wall.  The moment after,
+there was another flash from a loophole on the other side, and one of
+the maroons uttered a cry of pain.  In the open waist of the vessel the
+little party had no protection from musket fire; the loopholes had
+doubtless been pierced against the contingency of such an assault as
+this, and nothing but the darkness could prevent the Spaniards in the
+cabin from bringing down a man at every discharge.  They had the whole
+armoury of the ship to draw upon; there was no means of checking their
+fire; and realizing the situation Dennis called on Turnpenny and the
+rest to seek cover.  Some found shelter just forward of the mainmast;
+two swarmed on to the poop, and, climbing to the edge of its break,
+held themselves ready with their half-pikes to attack any one
+attempting a sortie from the cabin.  Dennis and the sailor, picking up
+the calivers they had laid down when they boarded the vessel, dropped
+down behind a coil of rope towards the forecastle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!" exclaimed Turnpenny, as he primed his weapon.  "'Twas brisk
+work, and not the end neither."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They are run to earth, Amos, 'tis true, got away like foxes.  Our case
+is not too good.  We are baulked, my friend."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir.  With all the victuals and munitions abaft, the knaves have
+the better of us.  We cannot get at them; say we made endeavour to
+scuttle the ship, they could shoot us afore we got away."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And there are sick maroons in the forecastle, I bethink me you said.
+I would fain save them alive.  We must do something to bring the knaves
+to an engagement.  There are five of them now.  With time to recover
+themselves somewhat, and fortify themselves with food, they can if it
+so please them lie low till morning light, then sally out upon us with
+arms loaded, several pistols apiece, and we, fasting, would be of a
+surety overmatched."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and we cannot feed ourselves even on that noble store of bananas,
+for they lie athwart the very course of bullets from the cabin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Could we smoke them out?  Could we blow the door in?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With a sufficiency of powder, but the magazine is beneath the cabin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is there none elsewhere?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, now I do mind me, the boatswain hath a vast relish for wild fowl,
+and is never loath to go a-shooting on shore.  'Tis like he hath a
+little secret store."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then I will go rummage the forecastle.  Do you bide here, Amos, and
+keep ward over my caliver until I return."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the party boarded the vessel, there had been a dim light in the
+forecastle.  It was now extinguished.  Dennis went in through the open
+entrance; then, feeling safe from the enemy's bullets, he took a candle
+from his pouch and having lit it, held it above his head.  He shrank
+back, startled for the moment.  The pale flame had fallen full on the
+face of a big negro, crouching in the corner of an upper bunk.  A
+second glance assured him that he had nothing to fear; the black face
+was sickly with terror.  In a flash Dennis remembered the negro cook of
+whom Amos had spoken.  As cook, being allowed a certain freedom of
+movement about the vessel, the man would probably know where the
+boatswain kept his powder, and search might be unnecessary.  Dennis
+called to him; the negro only showed more of the whites of his eyes.
+Dennis beckoned him with his finger; he only cowered and groaned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis to be main force then, you white-livered rascal!" cried Dennis,
+and, setting down his candle, caught the man by his waist-band and
+began to haul his oily mass out of the bunk.  "You gibber more
+brutishly than Mirandola; come, or I'll shake your fat bulk to a jelly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not without labour he lugged the negro forth, and dragged him aft to
+the place where Amos was crouching.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here's a fat knave that's like to dissolve with fright," he said.  "I
+do not understand his monkey-talk; speak to him, Amos.  Ask of him what
+we need to know, and tell him we intend him no harm, and will certainly
+not expect such a craven to fight."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir, 'tis Baltizar the cook, and a very whey-blooded knave.  I'll
+ferret it out of him, trust me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He took some minutes in his scraps of Spanish to make the man
+understand what was required of him.  When he understood, the negro
+became very voluble.  He said that the boatswain did indeed keep a
+small jar of powder in his sea-chest, but there was a much larger
+quantity concealed among the ship's stores under hatches.  It had been
+placed there by the mate&mdash;"the long knave I spitted," Amos
+explained&mdash;who was accustomed to do a little private trading with the
+natives of the mainland, and had destined the powder as a bribe for
+certain pearl-fishers of the coast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is it in the fore-peak?" asked Dennis, remembering where he had found
+powder on the <i>Maid Marian</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, worse luck!" replied Turnpenny, after questioning the man.  "'Tis
+in the lazaretto, and the hatchway being but a few feet from the break
+of the poop, we cannot come at it 'ithout running the hazard of a shot
+from the cabin."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis darker now; could I not risk the deed?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The knaves med not see you, 'tis true; but you could not knock out the
+battens 'ithout raising a din, and they would know your whereabouts,
+and not all on 'em would miss your carcase.  Be jowned if I'd like to
+see 'ee make the venture."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Releasing the negro, Dennis crouched again behind the coil of rope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must find a way to get that powder," he said.  "A mariner like you,
+Amos, ought to be fertile in devices.  Come, set your brains on the
+rack."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I be afeard they be soft wi' four years' misery, but I'll rouse 'em.
+If I had but the second sight, now, like the old witch as lived within
+a cable-length o' my grandad's hut on the moors!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Amos had done his brains an injustice.  He had not pondered many
+minutes before he exclaimed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!  We have them on the hip!  We'll e'en shin up the shrouds
+and lower the mainsail.  She's furled on the yards, but we can unreeve
+her 'ithout noise, and when she's down, she'll be a barricade betwixt
+the mainmast and the break o' the poop, and not a knave of them can see
+what is toward in the waist."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis applauded the notion, and the two instantly set about their
+task.  Crawling to the starboard side, they crept along by the rope
+netting that replaced in the waist the wooden bulwarks which bounded
+the decks, and reached the shrouds of the mainmast unperceived by the
+enemy in the cabin.  To swarm up was the work of a few moments to
+Turnpenny, and Dennis was little less expert, having practised himself
+on the <i>Maid Marian</i> in many details of the mariners' duties.  Gaining
+the yards, they cast off the robands, made the buntlines fast, then,
+easing the earings, lowered away by the buntlines and the clew-garnets.
+Scarcely five minutes after they had left the shelter of the rope-coil,
+a wall of canvas shut the waist from the view of the Spaniards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had barely finished their task when two musket-shots rang out, and
+two holes were cut in the sail.  Clearly the enemy was on the alert.
+There was no time to be lost.  Turnpenny knocked out the battens as
+quickly as possible, and lifting the hatch, disclosed a small ladder
+leading down into the lazaretto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will go down," said Dennis, "being of less bulk than you, Amos."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He climbed nimbly down, struck a light, and after a little search
+discovered a jar of powder among a miscellaneous collection of ship's
+stores.  Hoisting the jar up, he gave it into the hands of Turnpenny,
+climbed up again, and returned with the sailor to the coil of rope, to
+be out of harm's way while they went on with their preparations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If we fire the whole jar we shall of a surety sink the ship," said
+Dennis; "and that I am loath to do.  We must needs make a petard; but
+how?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That cook knave shall find us a tin vessel, or I'll firk him," said
+Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He went into the forecastle.  Dennis heard a brisk exchange of bad
+Spanish; then the sailor returned, with a small canister out of which
+he poured a heap of peppercorns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Most admirable!" said Dennis, who had meanwhile forced off the top of
+the jar.  Making a hole in the rim of the canister near the lid, he
+filled the vessel with powder and firmly closed it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's our petard, Amos.  Now to place it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That be my job, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, no, we go shares in this work.  'Twas your idea to lower the sail.
+I carry less flesh than you, and therefore can go more lightly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But mayhap I be surer footed on the plank, being a mariner of forty
+year."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I doubt it not, yet the deed shall be mine."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Carrying the canister, and in the pouch slung at his neck a handful of
+powder for the train, he crept to the side of the vessel, ran lightly
+along the gangway by the rope netting, and lifting a corner of the
+sail, stood between it and the wall of the cabin.  Then he dropped on
+hands and knees, and wormed his way forward until he touched the wall,
+following it along until he reached the door.  Being beneath the line
+of loopholes, he was in no danger so long as he moved quietly; but at
+the slightest sound the enemy would fling open the door and give him
+his quietus before help could reach him from beyond the barricade.  He
+might have felt still more confident had he known that Turnpenny had
+crept along after him, and was waiting at the corner of the sail, ready
+to spring to his aid in case of need.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Feeling with his hand for the middle panel of the door, Dennis laid the
+canister down close against it.  To ensure that the hole he had made in
+it, to connect with the train of powder, should rest upon the planks
+and not turn over, he pressed a slight dent in the rim.  Then he crept
+backwards the way he had come, laying close to the cabin wall a train
+of powder from his pouch, not stinting the quantity, so that there
+might be no gaps in the line.  He drew a breath of relief when he came
+once more to the further side of the canvas and stood erect.  There was
+not a gust of air stirring; the confined space between the sail and the
+cabin was hot and stuffy; and what with holding his breath during the
+minutes his task had occupied, and the strain upon his nerves, he had
+felt almost suffocated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He said not a word when he found Turnpenny awaiting him, but placed his
+finger on his lips and motioned the man to return.  The charge having
+been laid in safety, it remained to arrange a course of action when the
+door should be blown in.  While the sail was still lowered it would be
+impossible to dash forward into the cabin.  The screen was no longer
+required now that there was no further need for the open hatchway; to
+remove it might indeed put the enemy on their guard, but they could not
+know what to expect, and there would be no time after the explosion to
+hoist the sail, even if it were possible to spare men for the task.  So
+Turnpenny volunteered to replace the hatch and hoist and bend the sail,
+work which he would do more quickly and expertly than Dennis.  It was
+then necessary to communicate with the maroons, for to attack the cabin
+in less than full strength, against superior weapons, would be to court
+disaster.  A loud whisper reached the men who had taken shelter behind
+some tackle forward of the mainmast, and brought them crawling to their
+leaders.  It was not so easy to attract the attention of the two men
+who had shinned up the poop, and to whom, though they had probably seen
+Dennis as he crawled beneath the sail, he had not dared to make a sign.
+The difficulty was removed by a word from Turnpenny to one of the
+maroons.  The man made a strange clicking in his throat, and within a
+couple of minutes his comrades had crept noiselessly along the port
+side of the vessel, and the party was complete.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With great solemnity and many repetitions the sailor exhausted his
+small stock of Spanish in explaining what was required of them.  They
+were all to charge together the instant after the petard had done its
+work.  If the force of the explosion proved sufficient to blow in the
+door, they would dash through into the cabin and engage the enemy hand
+to hand.  If, on the other hand, the door should be only partially
+shattered&mdash;as Turnpenny pointed out, there was no calculating on the
+precise effect of a charge of gunpowder&mdash;two men were to break it in
+with a short spar unrigged for a battering ram.  Dennis counted on
+gaining a few moments while the Spaniards recovered from the surprise
+and shock of the explosion.  In that brief interval it might be
+possible for him and Turnpenny to find the loopholes in the cabin wall
+and thrust the muzzles of their calivers through.  By the time they had
+fired the door would be burst in, and then it would be a fight to the
+death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the occupants of the cabin had felt any wonder or misgiving at the
+manipulation of the sail, there was nothing during the pause to give
+them either explanation or reassurance.  They might have suspected that
+the intention of lowering the sail was to screen an approach to the
+hatchway; but as, according to Baltizar the cook, the jar of powder had
+been appropriated by the mate secretly, and he was now dead, it would
+never have occurred to them that their enemy would seek there anything
+but food.  Otherwise they would assuredly have made some effort, beyond
+the firing of two random shots, to avert their fate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was absolute silence when Turnpenny had concluded his whispered
+instructions to the maroons.  The vessel rocked gently, almost
+imperceptibly; the tide was on the turn.  Dennis crept once more to the
+gangway by the rope netting, stole along on bare feet, and stooped with
+a beating heart to apply the match which Turnpenny had made for him.
+It had an inch or two to burn before it reached the train of powder;
+and he stood back against the side, out of danger from the explosion,
+ready to rush across to the nearest loophole when the moment came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly a line of flame shot like a lightning flash across the planks.
+In an instant there was a deafening crash, and though each man of the
+attacking party knew what was coming, and was beyond reach of actual
+harm, they were all somewhat dazed by the explosion.  But it was only
+for the fraction of a second.  Then Dennis and Turnpenny sprang
+forward, one on each side of the cabin entrance, towards the loopholes
+whose position they had marked in the previous fight.  For a few
+moments they were baffled by the blinding smoke, but finding the holes
+almost simultaneously, they thrust in the muzzles of their weapons, and
+fired at random into the cabin.  A muffled cry from within announced
+that one or other of the shots had taken effect, but the next instant
+there was a roar as the Spaniards discharged their muskets together at
+the gaps rent in the door by the explosion.  At the time the Englishmen
+knew not whether any man was hit, for, dropping their calivers, they
+seized their cutlasses, and, just as the spar carried by two lusty
+maroons levelled the shattered door, they dashed at the opening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The light from a horn lantern hanging in its gimbals struggled with the
+smoke that filled the room.  Dennis stumbled over a body that lay
+across the entrance.  He had barely recovered his footing when he was
+amazed to hear a frenzied shriek from the further end of the cabin, and
+two men rushed forward with uplifted hands, shouting again and again a
+single word which, being Spanish, he did not understand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart! they cry for quarter!" cried Turnpenny, as much amazed as
+Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the maroons who had carried the spar, either not understanding
+or not heeding the wild despairing cry, thrust at the foremost Spaniard
+with a half-pike, and the wretch fell forward, hurling Dennis to the
+floor and doubly blocking the entrance.  Dennis threw the man off and
+scrambled to his feet; but before he could take a step forward there
+was a second explosion, louder and more shattering than the first, and
+when he recovered his dazed senses he found himself lying at the fore
+end of the waist, twenty feet away from the cabin.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap09"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER IX
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Amos Tells his Story
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+"Body o' me!  Will 'ee squall like babbies?  Make for the boat, you
+howling knaves!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then Turnpenny launched into a tirade of Spanish abuse, which came
+somewhat more trippingly from his lips than sentences of sound
+instruction.  Dennis rose, and staggered towards the sailor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God be praised!  I feared you were dead, sir.  The knave has blowed up
+the powder magazine, and in five minutes by the clock the ship will
+tottle down by the stern.  These black rascals were howling like souls
+in bale, in the stead of swinging overboard into the boat while there
+is time.  Come away, sir; the craft will sink to the bottom or ever we
+gain the island."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bruised and sore, dropping blood from his untended wound, Dennis
+hastened with Amos to the side, and was in the act of following the
+maroons into the boat when he suddenly remembered the two sick men in
+the forecastle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll be with you anon," he cried, hurrying across the waist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What a murrain!" muttered Amos, scrambling back and running after him.
+"Shall we drown for a brace of savages!  Wilful!  Wilful!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He reached the forecastle in time to see Dennis hauling from his bunk
+the fat negro, who lay there huddled and shivering with terror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Make the fat fool understand!" cried Dennis, shoving the cook into
+Amos's arms.  Then he hurried to the further end, where the maroons lay
+in a stupor of fright.  Having no words to acquaint them with their
+peril, he sought to move them by signs; but the men gazed at him in
+fear, regarding him doubtless as a new oppressor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Amos, leave that lump of jelly and come hither," he shouted.  The
+sailor bawled a word or two in Spanish, and sped the negro towards the
+side with a kick.  Then he made haste to join Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The wretches are helpless," said the boy.  "We must carry them&mdash;fair
+and softly, Amos."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir, an you will; but our case is parlous; I fear me our leisure
+will not serve."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No delay, then.  Hoist this fellow upon my back; do you bring the
+other.  We cannot suffer the knaves to drown."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They staggered forth with their burdens, Dennis foremost.  As he
+stumbled towards the side he caught sight of a man crawling slowly from
+the direction of the cabin.  The man called to him feebly, but Dennis
+did not pause until he had reached the gangway by the netting, where he
+laid the maroon down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Call to his fellows below there to assist him into the boat," he cried
+to Amos.  "There is a man yet alive; we must save him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Beseech you let the knave drown," returned the sailor.  "'Tis a
+pestilent Spaniard&mdash;a meal for sharks.  Be jowned if the lad be not a
+mere dunderpate," he grumbled, as he lowered his burden into the hands
+of the men below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Dennis had hastened to meet the wounded man, who groaned
+miserably as he dragged his limbs along.  Half supporting, half
+carrying him, Dennis brought him to the side just as the second maroon
+had been bestowed safely in the boat.  Turnpenny, still growling under
+his breath, helped to lift the Spaniard down.  Then the boat was cast
+off, and the men rowed for the shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Canst see any sign of the knaves that leapt overboard?" said Dennis,
+looking around.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never a hair," replied Turnpenny, "Sure they be swallowed quick by the
+sharks, and there's an end."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis shuddered.  It was his first acquaintance with the tragedy of
+adventure on the Spanish Main, and his unschooled heart turned sick at
+the thought of the terrible fruit his scheme had borne.  He gazed at
+the dark form of the vessel that was gradually fading into the night.
+The poop was already under water.  He had not foreseen this end to his
+enterprise; the rapid sequence of events had bewildered him.  What had
+caused the second explosion?  Had the magazine been fired by accident?
+What a mercy it was that he and all his party had not been blown to
+atoms!  He could not but feel a poignant pity for the poor wretches who
+had thus suddenly met their doom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boat grounded on the shoals.  He sprang into the water and assisted
+Turnpenny and the maroons to carry the helpless men to the fringe of
+grass, and to haul the boat up the beach.  Then he turned once more to
+look at the vessel.  No longer was her dark form outlined against the
+starlit sky; she had gone down, leaving no trace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Joining the men on the stretch of greensward where they were assembled,
+he suddenly heard the shrill voice of Mirandola close at hand, and next
+moment felt the touch of the animal's paw upon his arm.  The monkey had
+followed the party at a distance when they came down to the shore in
+the dusk, and sat forlorn on the grass, watching the boat that carried
+his master away.  Could the poor beast think human thoughts, Dennis
+wondered, as he felt its body trembling against his?  Had it believed
+that it was deserted by the being who had treated it with kindness?
+Certainly it showed clear signs of gladness now, and its joy at
+recovering its one friend had vanquished its dislike and suspicion of
+the rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here we be, sir, ten martal souls," said Turnpenny, "reckoning
+Baltizar, who in sooth is more like a jellyfish than a man.  What be us
+to do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We cannot tramp across the island in the dark, Amos.  What say you to
+camping in the logwood grove?  'Tis nigh at hand, and we can lie there
+with fair comfort until the dawn."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With all my heart.  'Twill be a drier bed than those villanous knaves
+yonder can boast."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor wretches!  How came it that the magazine blew up, think you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know not, sir.  I will ask the knave you brought last from the
+vessel&mdash;a deed of merciful madness."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He spoke a few words to the wounded prisoner, while the maroons who had
+formed the wood-cutting party conveyed their sick comrades to the
+grove.  The man replied in feeble accents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"This was the manner of it, sir," said Amos, after a minute or two.
+"The captain being sore wounded, and two killed outright, the other
+knaves, seeing how that they stood in danger of being sliced by our
+bilbos, did incontinently call upon him to render up the vessel, hoping
+thereby to come off with their lives.  But the captain, a tall man and
+of a good spirit, did resolutely refuse to yield to their entreaties,
+swearing that he would with his own hand blow up the vessel rather than
+deliver it to heretics and dogs of English.  Straightway he passed into
+his own cabin, and made fast the door; which seeing, and knowing that
+what he had said, that would he perform, the knaves began to whoop and
+hallo for quarter.  Then did the captain, as 'tis to be supposed, make
+into the after cabin and fire his pistol into the magazine, and so
+dealt the ship that mighty blow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And this man&mdash;who is he?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A man of Portingale, sir, not of Spain, and so somewhat nearer grace.
+He thanks you and all the saints that he remains alive, though his
+limbs be maimed withal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us convey him softly to the grove; on the morrow we will look to
+his wounds and bind them up with balsam and other salves from the
+wreck."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Marry, you use him too gently.  'Tis like warming a snake in your
+bosom; and, since charity begins at home, we will look to our own hurts
+first."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the party was settled as comfortably as possible in the grove,
+Dennis and the sailor disposed themselves side by side to sleep.  But
+both were wakeful, for all their fatigue.  They lay for a time in
+silence, each fearful of disturbing the other; but Dennis, hearing at
+last a long pent-up groan from his companion, asked what ailed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thinking, sir&mdash;old thoughts of home."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I have been minded to ask you of your history, Amos, but we have had
+other matters to speak of.  How came you to be a prisoner of the
+Spaniards?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis a tale long in the telling, sir, but I will give 'ee the drift of
+it.  I were a young cockerel of twelve when I ran away to sea.  It kept
+a-calling me; night and day I heard the sound; and when I could no
+longer endure it, I went and joined myself ship-boy to a worthy mariner
+o' Plimworth.  Afterwards he made me his prentice, and so a mariner I
+have been from that day to this.  Ay, 'twas a brave life for a man, in
+the days of King Hal, lad.  I mind me I were but rising seventeen when
+the French king took a conceit to invade England.  My heart! he had
+reason enough, for King Hal had before sent a power to capture
+Boolonny, on the French coast, which they did, and burnt it with fire.
+The French king would have his tit for tat, and he gathered a great
+power and a mighty fleet to strike at Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I was rising seventeen, as I said, and gunner's mate aboard the <i>Anne
+Gallant</i>, a noble galleass.  The fleet made a brave show, lying off
+Spithead, and I was hot to show my mettle; 'twas my first fight, by the
+token, and sure 'twas a famous fight.  The <i>Anne Gallant</i> and others of
+her sort, with the shallops and rowing-pieces, did so handle the French
+galleys that our great ships in a manner had little to do.  The only
+hurt we suffered was the breaking of a few oars.  We anchored for the
+night, as did the French fleet, we hoping to come at them in the
+morning; but when daylight broke, hang me if the French were anywhere
+to be seen, and though we gave chase they got away and ran into their
+ports.  But a little after, the <i>Anne Gallant</i>, with three other
+galleasses and four pinnaces, was set upon off Ambletoosy by eight
+great galleys.  There was great shooting betwixt us; we drew alongside
+of the <i>Blancherd</i> galley in the smoke, and leaping aboard her, we took
+her captive, with two hundred and thirty pikemen and musketeers, and a
+hundred and forty rowers.  Master King Francis got the wrong pig by the
+ear when he tackled King Harry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah me and well-away!  That was over twenty-five year ago.  I served
+many years on merchantmen, under many a master, good and bad.  I made
+one voyage to the Guinea coast with Master Hawkins, and five year ago,
+being about to set sail to the Indies for to trade slaves with the
+Spaniards, he sent for me and made me boatswain aboard his own great
+ship, the <i>Jesus of Lubeck</i>, of 700 tons.  Marry, 'twas a goodly
+squadron that sailed out of Plimworth Sound.  Besides the <i>Jesus</i>,
+there was the <i>Minion</i> of Captain Hampton, the <i>William</i> and <i>John</i>,
+all great ships, and three smaller vessels, of the which Master Francis
+Drake commanded the <i>Judith</i>.  Hast ever set eyes on Master Francis?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, indeed, once only&mdash;this very year, in Plymouth, some months before
+I sailed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I warrant he was stout and brave, and as 'twere a raging fire
+against the Spaniards, making ready to chastise the villanous traitors
+and promise-breakers: was it not so, good-now?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, to say sooth, when I saw him he seemed to have no thought of
+Spaniards: his whole mind was set on a game at the bowls, and he was
+some little put out when he failed of winning."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Master Francis put out over such a trifle?  Why, believe me, with
+these very eyes I saw him warp his bark clear when beset by Spanish
+fire-ships and battered by Spanish guns, with as serene a countenance
+as he were sailing a shallop for pleasure on the Plym.  Master Francis
+put out for losing at the bowls!  Tush, lad!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nevertheless 'tis true, for I was there present, and saw and heard it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God-a-mercy!" ejaculated Turnpenny.  "And what was the manner of it?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Master Drake came to two gentlemen bowling on the Hoe, and one of
+them, being summoned away, left the other to play out the game with the
+Captain.  He was beat, as I said, and being well conceited of his
+skill, he was for a moment vexed.  Then he laughed, and clapped his
+hand on the shoulder of the other&mdash;a stripling he was&mdash;and said: 'A rub
+for me, my lad; 'twas a rare game, and I thank thee.'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, that was true Master Francis: he is ever gall and honey mingled.
+Art then of Plimworth, sir?  As you love me, your name?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dennis Hazelrig, of Shaston."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Of Shaston?  I was never there.  I will mind of your name.  You be
+gentle, I know by your speech, and Dennis Hazelrig do sound richer to
+the ear than plain Haymoss Turnpenny, but&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, man, to your story," interrupted Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir, then I must make a tack.  I was at Plimworth, a' b'lieve,
+when the name of Master Drake set me out o' my true course.  Well, the
+ships I named, great and small, sailed right merrily out o' the Sound
+o' Plimworth; 'twas a day of October, I mind me, the very season o'
+gales.  We had a deal of buffeting afore we made the coast of Guinea,
+and a deal of hard knocks afore we took on board our store o' negroes
+for to sell to the Spaniards of the Main."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"To sell?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why yes, sir; that is Captain Hawkins his trade; and knowing now
+myself what it is to be a slave, I have a fellow feeling for the poor
+knaves, black as they be, and bought and sold like cattle.  Well, 'twas
+near six month afore we came to the Indies and did some traffic among
+the islands.  Then by ill hap, as we sailed for Cartagena, we were
+caught in a most violent and terrible storm, the which battered us
+mightily for the space of four days; in sooth, we feared we should go
+to the bottom.  The <i>Jesus</i> was dealt with most sorely, her rudder
+shaken, and all her seams agape.  Then, coasting along Florida, we ran
+into the jaws of another tempest, the which drave us into the bay of
+Mexico.  There we sought a haven, and moored our ships in the port
+called St. John d'Ulua, where we landed, and our General made proposals
+of traffic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The next day did we discover a fleet of thirteen ships open of the
+haven, and soon we spied a pinnace making towards us.  There was in her
+a man bearing a flag of truce, and he came aboard the <i>Jesus</i>,
+demanding of what country we were.  I mind we laughed at the knave; he
+swelled himself out like a turkey-cock.  Our General made answer that
+we were the Queen of England her ships, come for victuals for our
+money, and that if the Spanish General would enter, he should give us
+victuals and other necessaries and we would go out on the one side of
+the port, the while the Spaniards should come in on the other.  But it
+had so fell out that with their fleet there came a new viceroy of the
+Spanish king, and he was mightily put out by our General's reply,
+thinking it something saucy from an Englishman with so small a fleet.
+The proud knave returned for answer that he was a viceroy with a
+thousand men, and would ask no man's leave to enter.  Our General
+laughed, and set us laughing too when he said: 'A viceroy he may be,
+but so am I.  I represent my Queen, and am as good a viceroy as he; and
+as for his thousand men, I have good powder and shot, and they will
+take the better place, I warrant him.'"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A right proper answer," said Dennis.  "And what then?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Master Viceroy gave in, and swore by king and crown he would
+faithfully perform what our General demanded, and thereupon hostages
+were given on both sides.  The villanous knave!  Our General chose out
+five proper gentlemen and sent them aboard the Spanish admiral; but the
+viceroy, stuffed with fraud and deceit, rigged up five base swabbers in
+costly apparel and sent them to our General, as if they were the finest
+gentlemen of Spain.  Yet did we use them right royally, deeming it to
+be an act of courtesy and good troth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then their ships came with great bravery into the port, and there was
+great waste of powder in firing salutes, as the manner is at sea.  But
+'twas not long afore our General became doubtful of their dealings.  So
+did we all, for with my own eyes I saw them, when they moored their
+ships nigh ours, cut out new ports in the sides, and plant their
+ordnance towards us.  'So ho!' says I, 'there be trickery and
+hugger-mugger in brew.'  Our master, one Bob Barrett, chanced to be
+well skilled in the Spanish tongue, and him our General sent aboard
+their admiral to know the meaning of these same doings.  The base
+villains set poor Bob under guard in the bilbows, and we had scarce
+seen that mark of their knavery when they sounded a trumpet, and
+therewith three hundred of them sprang aboard the <i>Minion</i> from the
+hulk alongside.  My heart!  Many a time afore had I seen the blazing of
+our General's wrath, but never so fierce as it blazed then.  His eyne
+were like two coals of fire as he called to us in a loud voice.  I mind
+his very words.  'God and St. George!' cried he.  'Upon those
+traitorous villains, my hearts, and rescue the <i>Minion</i>; and I trust in
+God the day shall be ours.'  And with that, with a great shout we leapt
+out of the <i>Jesus</i> into the <i>Minion</i>, and laid on those deceitful
+knaves, and beat them out; and a shot out of the <i>Jesus</i> fell plump
+into the poop of the Spanish vice-admiral, and the most part of three
+hundred of the villanous knaves were blown overboard with powder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It was a good sight to see Captain Hampton of the <i>Minion</i> cut his
+cables and haul clear by his stern-fasts, the while his gunners poured
+round shot into the vice-admiral that rode ablaze.  But there was but
+four of us to their thirteen.  The Spaniards came about us on every
+side, and began to fire on us with brass ordnance from the land.  My
+heart!  'Twas hot work for us when we scrambled back on to the <i>Jesus</i>
+as the <i>Minion</i> sheered away.  Being so tall a ship we could not haul
+her clear.  She had five shot through her mainmast; her foremast was
+struck in sunder with a chain-shot, and her hull moreover was
+wonderfully pierced.  Our General gave orders that we should lay her
+alongside of the <i>Minion</i> till dark, and then take out her victuals and
+treasure and leave that noble vessel.  A right true man is Captain
+Hawkins.  In the midst of that noise and smoke he called to Samuel his
+page for a cup of beer, and it was brought to him in a silver cup; and
+he drank to us all and called to the gunners to stand by their ordnance
+lustily like men.  He had no sooner set the cup out of his hand but a
+demi-culverin shot struck away the cup, and a cooper's plane that stood
+by the mainmast, and ran out on the other side of the ship; the which
+nothing dismayed our General, for he ceased not to encourage and cheer
+us.  I hear his voice in my ears now.  'Fear nothing!' he cries, 'for
+God, who hath preserved me from this shot, will also deliver us from
+these traitors and villains.'
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But on a sudden we perceived that the Spaniards had loosed two
+fireships against us.  The men of the <i>Minion</i> were in such a taking
+with fear of those monsters that they bided not the outcome, nor did
+they heed their captain's commands, but in a mighty haste made sail.
+The <i>Jesus</i> being then alone,&mdash;for the <i>Angel</i> was sunk and the
+<i>Swallow</i> taken, and Master Drake had warped the little <i>Judith</i>
+clear&mdash;our General cried to us to spring upon the <i>Minion</i> ere her
+sails could draw, which he himself did.  As I made to do his bidding,
+my heart! there came toppling on my head a portion of the main topsail
+cross-tree, and struck me senseless withal.  When something of my wits
+returned to me, there was I, amid a score of wounded and captive
+fellows, on the deck of the noble <i>Jesus</i>, and a mob of Spaniards
+around; sure she must have been built under an evil star."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And what befell you then?" asked Dennis, eagerly, for Turnpenny had
+fallen silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God-a-mercy, sir, the fear takes me when I think on't!  They hauled me
+ashore, with certain others of our men, and hanged us up by the arms
+upon high posts, until the blood gushed out at our finger-ends.  'Tis
+by the merciful providence of God alone I am yet alive, carrying about
+with me (and shall to my grave) the marks and tokens of their barbarous
+cruel dealings.  'Tis by the same wondrous grace I 'scaped handling by
+the Inquisition, that hath devoured many of my poor comrades.  My heart
+and my reins cry and groan for the terror and pain of their sufferings.
+God have mercy on us all!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Overcome by the recollection of what ensued upon his capture by the
+Spaniards, Turnpenny went by turns hot and cold and was unable to
+continue his story.  Many times during the night Dennis was woke from
+his own troubled slumbers by a cry from his companion, upon whom, now
+that the time of action had ceased, his former sickly terror seemed to
+have returned with double force.  Both were heartily glad when morning
+came, and with the new day the necessity of facing their new situation.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap10"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER X
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Maroons Build a Canoe
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+The events of twenty-four hours had wrought a surprising change in
+Dennis's circumstances.  The solitude of the island had suddenly become
+peopled.  No longer would Mirandola be his sole comrade and confidant.
+He was inexpressibly glad of the company of a fellow-countryman; the
+presence of a group of men of strange races was somewhat embarrassing.
+Besides Turnpenny, there were now on the island the Spaniard who had
+been left pinioned on the shore, and the wounded Portuguese rescued
+from the sinking ship, three survivors of the wood-cutting party, three
+sick comrades, and the fat negro cook; in all a community of eleven.
+Small as it was, after his loneliness Dennis felt it to be a crowd.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His first care on waking in the morning was to liberate the bound
+Spaniard, and to bring salves from his store for dressing the wounds of
+the Portuguese, and of his party; his own wounds proved to be slight.
+While absent on this errand he left Turnpenny in charge of the rest,
+and found when he returned that the sailor had already spread a
+delectable breakfast, having set the maroons to gather from the trees
+not merely bananas, but several other fruits which Dennis himself, in
+his dread of eating something poisonous, had not yet ventured to taste.
+When the wounded man and the sick maroons, who were still bewildered by
+their good fortune, had been attended to, he held a consultation with
+Turnpenny.  As a result of this he decided to keep the whereabouts of
+his hut and the existence of the stores a secret from the white men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They be all villains and traitors," said Turnpenny; "we must e'en keep
+them prisoners, and give them into the ward of the maroons.  Wherefore
+I say, let the maroons build them a hut a mile or more away from your
+dwelling.  They are idle knaves, and having been so long time slaves,
+they will be well content to do nothing but keep watch and ward over
+those that once were their masters.  And as for their food, there is
+enough on the island for a whole city."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And what of us, my friend?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, here we be, two Englishmen, a thousand leagues or more away
+from home, but a few leagues from the mainland, where Spaniards rule
+the roast, and like to be discovered any day if another logwood party
+come ashore.  'Tis not in reason we could do with them what, by the
+mercy of God and your own ready wit, sir, we did with the knaves
+yesternight; and if we be found, there's naught afore us but death or
+chains; and for myself, I'd liever die than endure such things as I
+have suffered since the fight at St. John d'Ulua."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why then, good Amos," said Dennis with a smile, "it does seem we must
+cast lots who shall be king of this island, and the other shall be
+chancellor, and we will put in practice in our governance the ideas of
+the incomparable Sir Thomas More, who, though a Papist, did set forth
+in his <i>Utopia</i> most worthy and admirable schemes of ruling a society
+of men."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know naught of Sir Thomas More or what you call Utopia; and as for
+king and chancellor, I am but poor Haymoss Turnpenny, that cannot read
+nor write and have never had the ruling of more than a crew of
+mariners.  Call yourself king an 'ee please, sir; but methinks 'twould
+be more fit and commendable if we seized upon this island in the name
+of our sovereign lady Queen Bess."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A right loyal notion, and one that we will put in act.  But then we
+must give it a name."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sure, and what better name than Maiden Isle, after that same
+gracious lady?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So it shall be, and I here proclaim Elizabeth, by the grace of God
+queen of England, France, and Ireland, queen of Maiden Isle on the
+Spanish Main.  But this is idle mockery, Amos.  We are not builders of
+empires, but poor castaways, doomed to linger out our lives in what is
+after all a desert, or else in painful servitude.  There is nothing for
+laughter here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then they fell to talking of their chances of one day escaping from
+the island and seeing the fair shores of England again.  It could only
+be by being taken off by an English ship, or by setting off themselves
+and risking the perilous voyage across the Atlantic.  The latter
+alternative seemed beyond the bounds of possibility.  The <i>Maid
+Marian</i>, even if they could make her hull seaworthy and repair her
+shattered spars and rigging, would need a crew to navigate her, and the
+maroons were not sailor men.  To build a smaller craft capable of the
+long voyage was an enterprise beyond their powers.  Turnpenny could
+make a shift to navigate a vessel, but he had no practical skill in
+ship-building.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other alternative seemed equally unlikely, Dennis learnt from the
+sailor that the island on which they had so strangely met was situated
+deep in the Sound of Darien.  It was less than a hundred and fifty
+miles from Cartagena, the capital of the Spanish Main, to the east, and
+about the same distance from Nombre de Dios to the west; but the trend
+of the coast caused vessels to stand out some distance to sea in
+passing, and thus the island was little likely to be touched at by
+chance visitors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One other course occurred to Dennis, only to be dismissed when he
+mentioned it to Turnpenny.  It was to build a boat capable of conveying
+them to the mainland, and to take refuge among the Indians or the mixed
+race of Cimaroons or maroons who had settlements at various parts of
+the coast.  But Turnpenny pointed out that this would expose them to
+the risk of being caught by the Spaniards, who were constantly at war
+with the natives, and would at the same time quite ruin the chances of
+getting into touch with an English vessel.  While they remained on the
+island there was always the bare possibility of some English or
+Huguenot adventurer coming within reach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Faced by the prospect of an indefinite sojourn on the island, they had
+only to make the best of it.  Turnpenny explained to the maroons the
+plan arranged for them, and they accepted it without demur.  The
+prisoners were sullen and resentful, perforce submissive, not a little
+distrustful of their guards, from whom they had deserved no kindness.
+Baltizar the fat negro was given the task of supplying the party with
+food, partly from the natural resources of the island, partly from the
+stores of the <i>Maid Marian</i>, which Dennis resolved to share,
+economically, with the rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A spot about a mile from the chine was chosen as the site of the
+shelters for the maroons and their prisoners.  Having set the men at
+work, Dennis returned with Turnpenny to his own hut.  Mirandola no
+longer showed any jealousy of the presence of a third party; apparently
+he had been cured of it by fright at the prospect of being deserted.
+Turnpenny, on his part, before the day was out was so much amused at
+the animal's antics that he lost his first disgust.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!" he exclaimed, when, work for the day being over, the monkey
+sat on a tub, happily feasting on biscuits and honey: "if 'tis wise
+looks do make a chancellor, sure the beast be the properest chancellor
+to your king, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You look pretty wise yourself, Amos," said Dennis, laughing.  "We had
+resolved that the sovereignty of this island belongs to our lady Queen
+Bess; say then that I am her viceroy, and you my chamberlain; and for
+Mirandola, why, let us make him our jester."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Day followed day uneventfully.  Dennis made a still more thorough
+exploration of the island in Turnpenny's company, and had his eyes
+opened to many things which had formerly escaped him.  Passing the spot
+where he had saved Mirandola from the boa constrictor, he mentioned the
+incident, and remarked that he had seen no other reptiles in the course
+of his wanderings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis because you knew not where to look," said Turnpenny.  "The snakes
+in this new world be cunning; 'wise as serpents,' says the Scripture,
+and a true word.  They dress their skins so as to look like the trees
+they live in; 'twould puzzle Solomon himself in all his wisdom and
+glory to say which is tree and which is the coil of a snake."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And as they passed through the thickest woods, which Dennis had
+prudently refrained from entering, the sailor drew his attention more
+than once to snakes of various kinds whose coils were almost
+indistinguishable from the trunks of trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once he plucked some fruit from a kind of palm, and, pressing it,
+squeezed out a juice as black as ink.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is a good sight," cried Dennis gladly.  "I found in the cabin of
+the <i>Maid Marian</i> a store of paper and quills, but the ink was all
+spilled, and I had nothing wherewithal to write.  So I have lost count
+of the days, and know not whether I have been on this isle weeks or
+months.  Now I can make a journal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not so neither!  This juice is good to write withal, but the marks
+disappear within the ninth day, and the paper is as white as if it had
+never been written on.  'Tis no matter, indeed; we should be none the
+happier for seeing the tale of our days."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day Dennis showed Turnpenny the cave in the cliff, which hitherto
+he had refrained from revealing.  The sailor attentively examined the
+trinkets which Dennis had found on the floor beside the skeleton and
+carefully collected.  He pronounced them to be such ornaments as were
+worn by the natives of the mainland, and made no doubt that the
+skeleton was that of some Indian or maroon done to death by brutal
+persecutors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis got him to continue the story of his life, never yet resumed
+since his first night on the island.  He had been sent, he said, among
+a gang of prisoners from St. John d'Ulua to Cartagena and thence to a
+place on the coast somewhat south of Cartagena, where the governor had
+a pearl fishery.  It was defended by a fort, garrisoned by some fifty
+Spaniards.  Expecting reprisals from Hawkins for the treacherous
+treatment he had received, the governor had ordered the fort to be
+strengthened, and dispatched several of his able-bodied prisoners to
+assist in the work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I think of my dear comrades rotting in the dungeons of Porto
+Aguila&mdash;for so 'tis named.  There was Ned Whiddon, and Hugh Curder, and
+Tom Copstone, and a dozen more, and for all I know they are there even
+now, toiling all day, with many stripes from the villanous whips, and
+groaning all night in most foul and noisome dungeons.  Ah! the tales I
+could tell would make your skin creep and your hair to stand on end.
+Why, what think 'ee they do if the tale of work seem to them not
+sufficient?  They tie the poor wretch to a tree, and take thorns of the
+prickle palm, and put them into little pellets of cotton dipped in oil,
+and stick them in the side of the miserable captive, as thick as the
+bristles of a hedgehog.  This alone causes a most fierce torment, but
+they are not content therewith.  They set the oiled cotton afire, and
+call on the poor wretch, with loud despitous laughs, to sing in the
+midst of his torment, and if he cries out in the agony of pain they out
+upon him for a base miserable coward and villain.  With my own eyes I
+have seen the foul deed, and many more which it is shame to tell of."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How came it that you got aloose?" asked Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, it happened in this wise.  The treasure of pearls fished up from
+the sea-bottom at that place was wont to be conveyed to Cartagena every
+month by ship.  One day the vessel sent with this intent came into the
+port wonderfully battered by a storm, the which had nigh stripped her
+of all rigging and had moreover washed half her crew overboard.  The
+garrison at the fort being soldiers, and there being no other mariners
+at hand, the Spanish captain moreover being fearful of the governor's
+wrath if the treasure should be delayed, he sent half a dozen or more
+of his slaves, French and English, aboard that vessel to work her back
+to the capital city.  My heart!  I well nigh wept for joy when I heard
+what was in store, for I bethought myself that of a surety we mariners,
+French and English, might seize upon that vessel on the voyage and sail
+her at our pleasure.  But it was as if the knave had seen to the very
+heart of my intent, for when we mounted on ship-board, there were
+Spanish soldiers set over us, two for one, and with the Spanish crew
+they were as three to one, and they armed.  My device was come to
+naught.  We did each man his best to lengthen out that voyage, if
+perchance we might fall in with an English vessel and acquaint them
+with our case; but never a sail did we see till we made the harbour of
+Cartagena, and all our hopes were dashed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then it came to pass that, being a handy man and a stout, I was sold
+for money to the master and owner of a ship employed in the traffic of
+timber&mdash;that same vessel that lies a fathom deep yonder.  At sea I was
+a mariner; ashore, being stout of the arms, I was made to ply an axe on
+the trees, as you yourself saw.  'Tis three year or more since I fell
+prisoner at St. John d'Ulua, and six months since I last set eyes on my
+comrades at Porto Aguila, and I fear me I shall never see them more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why think you they be even now there?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, because the Spaniards be all knaves, and there is no truth
+nor faithfulness in them, not one.  The Captain of that place was the
+Governor of Cartagena his own son.  A son, one med think, would be
+loving and obedient unto his father, but 'tis not so among these dogs
+of Spain.  Why, body o' me! in the stead of doing diligently the thing
+his father commanded, this young roisterer must needs build him a
+house, and thereto he used the labourers sent him with intent to
+strengthen the fort, and when I came from that place the house was got
+but a little above the ground, and was not like to be finished for a
+full year."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Might not other labourers be hired from Cartagena?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I trow not.  The Spaniards are so scared and daunted by the descents
+of venturers' ships upon their coasts that they are looking to their
+fortresses throughout the Spanish Main.  By long and large 'tis more
+like the prisoners will be conveyed back to Cartagena for to build new
+forts there.  But this will not be yet, for the Governor of Cartagena
+holds the pearl-fishery in dear affection, and he will not bring the
+men thence until he has assurance that all is done as he commanded.
+No, truly, I believe they be still at Porto Aguila, my dear
+mate-fellows, and though I praise God for His infinite goodness and
+mercy in bringing me safe into this haven and out of the hands of those
+wicked men, I mourn in my heart for Hugh Curder, and Tom Copstone, and
+Ned Whiddon, and other my comrades; God save them!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many a time in the succeeding days did Amos relate incidents in the
+life of the prisoners at Porto Aguila that made Dennis's blood run
+cold.  He now began to understand the deep and fierce hatred of the
+Spaniards that filled the hearts of adventurers who had returned from
+expeditions to the American coast.  The same consuming desire for
+humbling and punishing the proud Spaniards burnt in his veins, and he
+chafed at the idleness to which he was enforced on this remote island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the other inhabitants of Maiden Isle were living what
+appeared to be a contented life.  With abundance of food, and nothing
+to do, the maroons enjoyed, as Dennis thought, conditions that answered
+to their idea of bliss.  He was therefore a little surprised one day to
+hear the unwonted sound of wood-felling, and to find, when he came to
+the spot, four of the men plying their axes lustily upon a huge cedar.
+They desisted when he approached, with something of a guilty air that
+puzzled him.  They had shown themselves very amiable companions,
+grateful for their rescue from their taskmasters.  He could only
+suppose that even they had begun to weary of idleness, and had resorted
+to their former occupation of log-cutting from no other motive than the
+desire to kill time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Turnpenny shook his head when Dennis suggested this explanation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It do seem to me there be another meaning in it, sir.  'Tis their
+intent, a' b'lieve, to make unto themselves a canow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But they have no skill to do it, nor fit implements, Amos."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bless your eyes, sir, you do not know them.  Wait a while, and if that
+be not their purpose, never trust Haymoss Turnpenny."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Letting a few days pass, Dennis went again one morning with the sailor
+to the scene of the tree-felling.  The huge trunk had already begun to
+take shape as a canoe at least twenty-five feet long.  The men were
+diligently working at it, some with axes, others with fire.  Its
+interior had been partly hollowed out, the wood and pith burnt away,
+and the charred sides scraped with the hatchets.  It was clear that
+within a few days the tree would become a vessel which, whether
+navigable or not, would certainly float.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis a pretty piece of work," said Dennis to Turnpenny.  "Ask them
+whereto they design it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny spoke a few words in Spanish.  The answer was surprising.
+One of the maroons, a man whom the others seemed to have elected as
+their leader, threw down his hatchet and fell on his knees.  Then, in a
+strange jargon which the sailor had much ado to understand, he gave
+voice to the sentiments and aspirations of himself and his comrades.
+They were sick of solitude.  They had homes upon the mainland; and
+yearned to see again their relatives and comrades, to return to their
+settlement, to share in its life, to seek opportunities of revenging
+themselves on their oppressors.  And so they were making this canoe, in
+which they would sail over the sea.  They were not ungrateful for the
+kindnesses showered upon them by the white men; indeed, to show their
+gratitude, they would take them with them, having first killed the two
+prisoners.  Their spokesman on his knees besought the white men to
+yield to their desire, and come with them.  They would supply all their
+needs, and follow them with all obedience, if they would lead them
+against the Spaniards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell him to get up," said Dennis.  "This is a matter we must think
+upon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis and Turnpenny held by and by a serious consultation.  They felt
+that they were in a somewhat awkward predicament.  The maroons' desire
+to regain their friends was natural and reasonable, but their departure
+would deprive the white men of valuable allies.  And what of the two
+prisoners?  Turnpenny would not have hesitated to kill them, but Dennis
+shrank from that course.  They might allow the maroons to carry them
+off; but then the Spaniards would either be butchered as soon as the
+canoe was out of reach, or they would probably be held as hostages and
+exchanged for natives held captive by the Spaniards on the mainland.
+In that case they would certainly report the presence of two white men
+on the island and the assault upon the lumber boat; a search party
+would be the result, and Dennis and his companion would be slaughtered
+or carried away into slavery.  On the other hand, if the maroons were
+allowed to depart, leaving the prisoners on the island, the burden of
+keeping watch over them would prove a constant source of anxiety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The canoe is all but finished," said Dennis.  "We must let them finish
+it.  To forbid them, poor knaves, would be cruel."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And vain, to boot," said Turnpenny, "for if we took their axes from
+them, they would use bits of sharp rock.  The Indians have hollowed out
+such canows with instruments of flint from the beginning of the world."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must let them go, then.  For ourselves, I see not at present our
+course; but we can provide against the worst hap by conveying our
+stores, secretly and by night, to Skeleton Cave; 'tis a good
+hiding-place, not like to be easily discovered, and we know not what
+necessity may drive us to make it our habitation."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The transfer of the stores occupied two nights.  Mirandola accompanied
+the two men as they went to and fro between the sheds and the cave,
+clinging so closely to them that it seemed as if he had some intuition
+of changes to come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"By my soul," said Turnpenny with a laugh, "he be as faithful as a dog."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And whatever may chance, we will not leave you, Mirandola," said
+Dennis.  "Shall I forget the days when you were the only friend of my
+solitude?  Would you could speak, for assuredly I would ask your
+counsel on this pass to which we are come."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They went daily to the clearing to watch the progress of the canoe.  As
+yet they had given no answer to the maroons; but these were working
+very diligently at the task, having apparently inferred from the
+silence of the white men that at least nothing would be done to prevent
+their making use of the vessel.  Dennis and Turnpenny talked over the
+situation again and again; but their thoughts followed the same weary
+round.  At one moment they were almost resolved to throw in their lot
+with the maroons and voyage with them to the mainland; the next they
+shrank from this course as throwing away what seemed their only chance
+of ultimate rescue&mdash;the chance of being found some day by an English
+vessel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The problem weighed more heavily on Dennis than on Turnpenny.  Compared
+with his former sufferings, it was to the sailor a slight matter.
+Dennis, lying sleepless at night, envied his friend the soundness of
+his slumbers.  The mariner snored as peacefully on his canvas couch in
+the corner of the hut as though he were on a feather bed at home.  To
+Dennis the hours of darkness passed wearisomely.  He thought of all
+that had happened since he sailed with light heart from Plymouth Sound,
+and wondered sometimes whether his comrades had not perchance been
+happier in meeting swift death in the storm.  Then he upbraided himself
+for his ingratitude to the Providence which had preserved his life and
+health, and given him the companionship of a fellow countryman.  He
+contrasted, too, his lot with that of Turnpenny's mates on the
+mainland, dragging out a miserable existence of slavish toil.  He
+recalled the sailor's stories of the tortures they endured&mdash;and then
+suddenly, one night, there flashed upon his mind a possibility which,
+in his preoccupation with his own plight, had never yet occurred to
+him.  The maroons would shortly leave the island; had Providence
+arranged this as an opportunity for helping the hapless Englishmen in
+the Spaniards' power?  If Turnpenny and he should accompany the black
+men, might they not find, at some time or other, a means of rescuing
+the prisoners&mdash;Ned Whiddon, Hugh Curder, Tom Copstone, and the rest?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The idea set Dennis throbbing with a new hope, a new aim.  Slaves
+sometimes escaped; the maroons themselves were the offspring of negroes
+who had made off from the Spanish settlements and formed alliances with
+the native Indians of the woods.  Their communities were constantly
+being recruited: what if the sailor and he should cast in their lot
+temporarily with the men about to embark, and watch for opportunities
+of communicating with the distressed Englishmen!  Even if they never
+found a means of reaching home, it would still be something to the good
+if their comrades were got out of the hands of their oppressors.  At
+the worst they might form a settlement of their own, and live free,
+though in exile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The idea took complete possession of Dennis.  He felt no desire to
+sleep.  For a moment he was tempted to wake Turnpenny and put the
+question to him; instead, he got up, and stole quietly from the hut, to
+think it over more fully under the open sky.  He walked down to the
+shore, and, sitting on a rock, looked over the sea and pondered the
+matter to the soft accompaniment of the washing tide.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was clear that the Spaniards of the mainland had no suspicion that
+the island was inhabited, or they would long since have visited it.
+They might be off their guard.  From what Turnpenny had told him he
+knew the indolence of their temperament&mdash;the unlikelihood of their
+taking precautions against problematical dangers.  Unless directly
+threatened by the vessels of adventurers like Hawkins and Drake, they
+might be expected to ply their trade&mdash;manage their pearl fisheries,
+work their mines&mdash;without great vigilance.  True, they had recently set
+about strengthening their defences; but probably the season of panic
+had passed; it was years since Hawkins had troubled them.  It had
+already been proved what a determined few could do; if he, with
+Turnpenny and the six maroons, could safely reach the mainland, might
+they not bide their time until, Fortune assisting them, they found some
+means of bringing off the prisoners, or at least of striking a blow in
+their cause?  Surely it was better to make the attempt than to rust in
+idleness on the island, waiting on a chance that might perhaps never
+come, and always exposed to the risk of discovery by the Spaniards.
+The more Dennis thought, the more his imagination was captivated by the
+idea, and when he at last returned to the hut he was resolved to broach
+the subject to Turnpenny as soon as he should wake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he came to the entrance the sailor's voice hailed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be that you, sir?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yes.  I could not sleep, and went for a walk on the shore."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I had but just waked, all of a sweat, and shaking like a leaf."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, what ailed you?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A dream, sir.  Do 'ee believe as dreams come true?  My old grandam was
+wont to say they go by contraries; dream of a weddin', she would say,
+sure there would be a funeral.  And she was a wise woman; ay, sure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know not, Amos.  We read in Scripture of dreams that most wondrously
+came true.  'Twas in a dream that Solomon asked of God an understanding
+heart, the which was promised to him with riches, and honour, and
+length of days; and Solomon lived long in the land, and became the
+richest and wisest of kings.  Scripture was written for our
+instruction, Amos, and I would liever believe in Holy Writ than in the
+old wives' tales of a score of grandams.  But what then was your dream?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, if it be not sin to speak it, I was standing alone in a
+waste place, and on a sudden the voice of Tom Copstone spoke out of the
+air, and said, 'You and me, Haymoss; you and me, my heart!'  And while
+I was wondering in my simple mind what those words might mean, there
+was a thick smoke, and a roar as of thunder, and I stood dazed, and the
+fear came upon me.  And then the smoke lifted, and I saw old Tom with
+'s head all bloody, and Hugh Curder behind him, and behind him again I
+saw you, sir, and Ned Whiddon, and, God a-mercy! my very own self, as I
+ha' seen myself time and again in the glass, but sore battered and
+misused.  And I thought sure 'twas my ghost, and the fear of it woke me
+up, and I rose all panting and trembling, and cried to 'ee, and when
+there was no answer I broke into a sweat, remembering my grandam's
+words."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, 'tis all safe.  I also have had a dream, Amos, and yet I did not
+sleep.  And 'tis to tell you my dream I am here now.  Mayhap it will
+fit yours; God in His mercy send that both yours and mine come true!"
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap11"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XI
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Main
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+The dawn of day found Dennis and Turnpenny discussing the scheme which
+was born of the night's meditation.  Remembering his bitter experience
+of bondage among the Spaniards, and oppressed by his superstitious fear
+that his dream portended some calamity, the sailor at first refused
+point-blank to consider Dennis's suggestion.  But by and by, when
+Dennis had shown him how light had been his sufferings, after all, by
+comparison with those of his comrades, and had declared his belief that
+the strange coincidence of the dream with his own imaginings was an
+augury of good, Turnpenny's better feelings got the upper hand of his
+timorousness, and he threw himself with ardour into a consideration of
+the project.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as it was light, he asked Dennis to lead him to the very spot
+where the idea had occurred to him.  And there, in the little bay
+beneath the chine, he became the bold-hearted English sailor again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart! we're a-going to do it," he said.  "See here, sir."  He
+began with the end of a half-pike to mark out a rough plan on the dry
+sand.  "Here be the fort.  Here be the don Captain's new house; the
+foundations were no more than laid when I was hauled away on ship
+board.  Here, at this angle, be the rooms of the guard; in the cellars
+beneath my poor comrades lie and groan o' nights.  In this quarter be
+the pearl-fishers, penned up like cattle when their work is done.  And
+here, under the guns of the fort, be the little harbour, with a quay of
+planking.  Nor'ard, a mile or more, is the fishery, where the black
+knaves have to dive for the baubles, and woe betide 'em if they do not
+bring up enough to please their masters."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And think you you could pilot us to the place, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I've never a doubt of it.  Twice have I sailed to it in direct course
+from Cartagena, and many's the time I have passed it in the lumber
+ship.  'Tis true I am not so skilled in the landmarks from this side as
+from the side of Cartagena; nathless I be a ninny, not worth the name
+of mariner, an I be not able to lay a course thitherwards without
+losing my bearings."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is the country thereabout?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, for the most flat and forest clad.  Behind the fort there is
+a hill, fairish high.  Once on a time 'twas covered with trees, but a
+great stretch of the forest was of late burned black by a fire; I mind
+it well, for the shape of the black patch is like to a monstrous
+cayman, upwards of a mile long.  'Tis a famous landmark, and clear to
+the eyes a great way off at sea.  Let me but spy that, and I warrant I
+will steer any bark to it on a straight furrow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, then, Amos, it does seem that with good luck we can make a
+landing somewhere on the coast, and then it shall go hard with us but
+we can, by taking thought, devise some plan whereby we may release your
+comrades from their chains.  But we cannot do it without help from the
+maroons; think you they would be willing to lend us aid?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!  Do but promise them a share of the Spaniards' treasure, and
+they will be hot to have at them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But the fishery belongs to the Governor of Cartagena, you said.
+Imprimis, we are not pirates; nor indeed is there like to be a great
+hoard of pearls at Porto Aguila, for they will be sent, no doubt, for
+safety to Cartagena."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Bless your bones, sir, I warrant there be more kept at Porto Aguila
+than be sent to Cartagena.  The Captain, truly, is the Governor's son;
+but every Spaniard is a shark, and would rob his grandam's grave were
+he not afeard of ghosts.  And as for being pirates, when 'tis Spaniards
+in question I would be a pirate without the tenth part of a scruple,
+for 'tis certain the fishery was filched from the Indians; they be the
+Spaniards' jackals."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, let us go to the maroons and put the case to them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis need have had no doubt as to the men's reception of his
+proposal.  To begin with, they were frankly delighted that the white
+men would accompany them.  They had often talked among themselves about
+the young lord, as they called him, who had led the attack on the
+Spaniards' vessel, and they were agreed that his presence in the canoe
+would serve them as a talisman.  Then, even without the prospect of
+plunder from the Spaniards' treasure-house, they nourished a bitter
+resentment against their old oppressors, and were ready to embrace any
+opportunity of striking a blow at them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We are the servants of the young lord," said their spokesman to
+Turnpenny, "we will do whatever he bids."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ask them if they know the region."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reply was in the negative.  None of them had ever been engaged in
+the pearl fishery; most of them hailed from the neighbourhood of Nombre
+de Dios.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then our whole dependence is on you, Amos," said Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir, and it do daunt me somewhat.  In a bark, or a shallop, or
+e'en a longboat, I could have great comfort; but a canow, sir&mdash;a mere
+tree-trunk hollowed out, wi' no ribs nor planks, no spars nor other
+gear; 'tis a fearsome and wonderful craft, with a crazy look."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But the maroons are wont to handle such craft, you told me.  They will
+navigate her; you will but have to cry the course."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, sir, but no master mariner that hath any manhood in him will be
+content to govern a craft being ignorant of its true nature.  Yonder
+monkey would be as fit."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah!  We must take Mirandola.  The poor beast would, I verily believe,
+break his poor heart did we leave him here in loneliness again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Leave the knave prisoners to bear him company, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, no.  Besides that it would be a poor compliment to Mirandola
+himself, it would have some spice of danger for us.  Left to themselves
+in freedom, the men would of a surety signal to any passing ship, the
+which being in all likelihood Spanish, the report of our doings would
+soon be spread abroad through all the coast, and a hue and cry would be
+raised after us.  We must bring them along with us.  Trust me, they
+shall have no chance then of giving the alarm to the enemy, and 'tis
+not unlike, indeed, they may serve us as hostages."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I fear me they'll be the Jonahs in our marvellous craft."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"An ill comparison, Amos.  Jonah fled from his duty, and by reason of
+his wrongdoing peril came upon the mariners.  The similitude does not
+hold."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That be a great comfort, sir, in especial for that there be no whales
+as I know on in these waters, but only sharks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In answer to a question from Turnpenny, the head man of the maroons
+said that the canoe would be ready to take the water within a week.
+But he added that since the young lord had agreed to make the voyage
+with them, they were willing to remain a little longer on the island,
+in order to give careful finishing touches to the craft and ensure its
+thorough seaworthiness.  Dennis thanked them, through the sailor, for
+this mark of consideration, and resolved to use the interval in
+teaching them the use of the caliver.  He could not foresee what might
+ensue upon their landing; they would be at a disadvantage if they had
+no other arms with which to meet the Spaniards than axes and pikes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly, he presented each of them with a caliver from the stores
+he had placed in Skeleton Cave, and for a certain portion of each day
+Turnpenny and he instructed them in marksmanship, choosing for their
+practice ground the deepest part of the chine, whence the noise of
+firing was least likely to be heard out at sea.  The first experiments
+were disheartening, and at the same time amusing.  At the kick of the
+cumbrous weapons the men flung them down in alarm, crying out that they
+were possessed with evil spirits.  But their timidity was by degrees
+overcome; and when Dennis, in addition to practising them at fixed
+targets, rigged up a canvas figure which he suspended on two parallel
+ropes across the chine and ran from side to side by means of pulleys,
+they entered with some zest into the sport.  At first the figure made
+many journeys to and fro without receiving a single hit; but within a
+week the marksmanship had improved astonishingly, and there was not a
+man of them but might be trusted to hit a moving object at fairly short
+range.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Amos, not content to trust the navigation of the canoe
+entirely to the maroons and their paddles, had busied himself in
+rigging up a mast with small sails taken out of the <i>Maid Marian</i>.
+When he at last pronounced the vessel ready, several kegs of water and
+boxes of biscuits were rolled down to the beach near at hand, and the
+party awaited only a favourable wind to launch their craft.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some days there had been a dead calm, and when at length a light
+breeze sprang up it blew in shore.  The natives grew impatient, and
+begged to be allowed to proceed with their paddles alone.  But this
+Turnpenny stoutly refused.  With a voyage of thirty or forty miles
+before them it was needful to spare the men as much as possible, lest
+when they reached the mainland they should be worn out, and unfit to
+cope with the labours and perhaps the struggles that awaited them.
+Turnpenny scanned the sky with a seaman's eye, in some fear lest the
+wind when it came should prove too boisterous for this strange craft,
+which he still looked on with distrust.  One morning, however, he
+announced that a fresh breeze had sprung up from the north-west,
+promising to increase in force as the day wore on.  No time was lost.
+The canoe was carried down to the beach and moored in shallow water;
+the stores were lifted aboard; then the two prisoners, pale with
+apprehension, and Baltizar the cook, were conveyed to the vessel on the
+backs of three stalwart maroons, and last of all Dennis and Turnpenny
+prepared to wade out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the proceedings at the beach the monkey had remained perched in
+a tree, watching everything with many signs of excitement.  At the last
+moment Dennis turned and called to the animal; but it merely gibbered
+and blinked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, Mirandola," said Dennis, coaxingly, "we cannot go without you.
+I fear me you feel a declension from your high estate, when you were
+the sole partner of my solitude; but believe me, I still hold you in
+dear affection.  Come then, and let your grave and reverend presence
+dignify this our enterprise."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the monkey refused to budge, and Dennis remembered the aversion he
+had always shown to the sea.  He walked towards the tree in which the
+animal sat, holding forth his hand, using every blandishment; then,
+when all was of no avail, and Turnpenny called to him from the canoe to
+leave the unnatural creature, he turned and stepped into the water.  He
+had just laid his hand on the side of the canoe, preparing to leap in,
+when he heard a shrill cry, and saw the monkey spring down with amazing
+celerity and run on all fours towards him across the sand, uttering
+sounds of entreaty.  It was as if Mirandola had to the last refused to
+believe that his master was leaving him, and now that he could doubt no
+longer, had overcome his horror of the sea and resolved to brave the
+discomforts of the voyage.  He reached the brink of the water and
+scampered up and down, as though seeking a dry path to the boat.  It
+was impossible to resist his pleading cries.  Dennis returned; the
+monkey with a squeal of delight sprang upon his shoulder; and so
+entered the canoe, a trembling passenger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The maroons shoved off; Turnpenny ran up his sail; and the craft moved
+into deep water.  For some minutes the natives kept their paddles
+busily employed, until, drawing out of the lee of the island, the
+vessel felt the full force of the breeze and began to scud merrily over
+the rippling sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!" cried Turnpenny, "'tis a wondrous neat little craft.  I was
+wrong; I own it free; and if the wind holds she will make good sailing
+and bring us ere many hours are gone to the coast where we desire to
+be."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Too soon, if I mistake not," said Dennis.  "It will not be well for us
+to make the shore before dark; we may be spied from the land.  In
+truth, we run a great risk, Amos.  Our sail will not escape the eyes of
+the look-out of any vessel whose track we may chance to cross."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, sir, there be risks great and manifold.  But we must e'en hope
+for the best.  The maroons have rare good eyes; and if perchance they
+catch sight of a vessel, I will run down the sail afore they can spy
+us, and we will lie snug until the coast be clear."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After two hours' sailing the coast hove into sight as a long blue bar
+upon the horizon.  At midday Turnpenny lowered the sail, for it was
+clear that at the rate the vessel was going she would run into view
+from the shore long before it would be safe to attempt a landing.
+While the crew were eating their dinner of fruit and biscuits one of
+the men cried out that he saw a sail.  Turnpenny took a long look in
+the direction the man pointed out, Dennis watching his face in keen
+anxiety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"All's well, sir," said the sailor at length.  "She be coasting along
+towards Cartagena; in an hour she will be clean out of sight, and we're
+so low in the water that no natural eye will see us, the sail being
+down."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They lay gently rocked by the waves until, after a good look round, he
+judged it safe once more to hoist the sail.  An hour afterwards he
+declared that he recognized a headland which was no more than three
+leagues from Porto Aguila.  The vessel's head was pointed direct for
+the land, but the wind dropping somewhat, they were still a long way
+from shore when the sun went down and the swift darkness of the tropics
+descended upon them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We dursn't try to land in the dark," growled Turnpenny.  "This craft
+of ours is only fit for fair weather and easy harbourage, and not
+knowing the little crinkles o' the coast, t'ud be nowt but a miracle if
+we 'scaped being stove in."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But there will be a moon to-night, I think?" replied Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, a little tiny one, like the horn of a cow.  Maybe she will give
+light enough to guide us to a creek.  We must e'en wait for her rising."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had no means of telling the time, and the maroons grew so restless
+that, while it was still dark, Turnpenny ordered them to paddle
+cautiously along the shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis a creek I be looking for," he said to Dennis, "where we can run
+the canow with a fair chance of hiding it when day breaks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How far are we from the fort?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I cannot tell.  I fear me I have overshot the mark with being over
+cautious."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is impossible, Amos.  At least it is an error on safety's
+side.&mdash;Hist! what was that?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His ears had caught a slight splash at no great distance shorewards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nowt to make 'ee uneasy, sir," replied Turnpenny.  "'Twas without
+doubt a cayman slipping off into deep water; and by the token, 'tis a
+guide for us, for the reptile haunts the banks of rivers, and sure the
+very creek we be looking for will be somewheres anigh here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The men drove the canoe a little nearer in shore, and in a few minutes
+Turnpenny, who was in the bows peering intently ahead, whispered that
+he did indeed see the opening of a creek.  Soon the canoe entered a
+fairly wide water-way, much obstructed with reeds, and darkened by the
+dense and high vegetation on either bank.  Now and again, through a gap
+in the foliage, the late rising moon shed a wan mysterious light upon
+their course.  As the canoe moved slowly and stealthily up the creek,
+Dennis was conscious of a strange home-sickness.  How many times had he
+rowed by night on little tree-shaded creeks and river-mouths in far-off
+Devon!  The deep shadows, the narrow paths of ghostly light, the
+silence, rendered only the more intense by the incessant croaking of
+frogs, lent a charm to the adventure that almost eclipsed its peril.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The creek made several curves within a short distance, and Turnpenny,
+speaking in a whisper, said that they had now come far enough to escape
+notice from the sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis well, my friend; and now, say: shall we land, or shall we rather
+remain in the canoe for the rest of the night?  I give my voice for
+landing.  We are packed here as close as biscuits, and I would fain
+stretch my limbs, and moreover get a little to windward of some of
+these our companions."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I warrant the maroons would liever stay in the canow, sir; and I own I
+myself am somewhat chary of landing in the dark.  I know summat o'
+these forest lands, and there be fearsome wild creatures in 'em, the
+like of which you never saw in Maiden Isle yonder.  There be wild hogs,
+of a surety, and monstrous wild cats that climb like monkeys, and see
+in the dark, and will pounce on a man and carry him off afore he can
+twink an eyelid.  And as for these our bedfellows, my heart! there be
+worse ashore&mdash;muskeeties, and sandflies, and ants in armies, that crawl
+aneath your clothes, and nip your arms and neck, and make themselves
+most pestilent ill neighbours.  And we cannot light a fire to scare
+them away, for savage as they be, whether four foot or six foot, they
+be gentle and mild by comparison with the two-footed enemies the fire
+would bring on our tracks."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will lie by till morning, then, and pray the night be not
+disturbed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The maroons were unmistakably glad when this decision was communicated
+to them.  To their minds the mere darkness was awful, and when to this
+were added the manifold dangers of the forest, they would rather have
+faced an army of Spaniards than camp unprotected among the trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party spent a restless, uncomfortable night in their cramped
+quarters.  Yet in his wakeful moments Dennis found some pleasure in
+watching the fire-flies darting hither and thither on the shore, and in
+listening to the continuous drone of insects, that seemed to his ears a
+pleasant lullaby.  Once a goat-sucker clattered heavily past, uttering
+its weird cry; now and again he was amused by the question, "Who are
+you?" shouted from the trees, and recognized it as the cry of some
+nameless bird.  As morning drew on, these sounds were replaced by
+others.  Macaws screeched from the tree-tops, toucans barked like
+puppies, tree-frogs whistled and boomed, and at intervals the whole
+neighbourhood reverberated with long howls which Turnpenny said were
+the morning song of red howler monkeys.  As morning began to dawn, and
+these signs of forest life multiplied, Dennis noticed that Mirandola
+was becoming much excited; and when the canoe was run ashore under a
+towering mora tree, the monkey sprang nimbly to land, chattering with
+delight, and in an instant was springing up into the foliage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor knave!" said Dennis.  "It seems we have brought him home, Amos.
+Would that we too were restored, whole and happy, to our friends!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God-a-mercy, do 'ee forget Hugh Curder, and Tom Copstone, and Ned
+Whiddon, poor souls?  Do 'ee have more respect for the feelings of a
+heathen monkey?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, nay, you mistake me," said Dennis, smiling at the sailor's honest
+indignation.  "I do not forget them.  By God's mercy we are here in
+safety, and ere long I hope to have all your friends to join our little
+company.  Now, master mariner, what is to be our course?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, we must first go and spy out the land."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Through the forest?  How shall we find our way?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Imprimis, this creek runs eastward of the bluff I steered by.
+Wherefore 'tis our first business to lay our course westward and cut
+off that headland, as you might say."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But can you be sure of setting your course aright?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's the sun above us, and we may catch a glimpse of him here and
+there among the trees.  And 'tis certain we shall encounter brooks
+wandering like lost children in the forest; only though they do seem
+lost, we know, being men, and in our right minds, that they be running
+all the while to the sea.  By this and by that we'll come at the place
+we steer for."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And who shall go on this inland voyage of discovery?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, you and me, sir.  God-a-mercy, the very words of my dream!  'You
+and me, Haymoss, you and me!'  'Tis a good sign, for sure.  The maroons
+shall lie hid in the creek, and keep ward over the prisoners."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But can we trust them?  Will they not, having arrived on the mainland,
+act after their own devices and depart?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis a risk, in truth; but I will speak to them with all gravity, and
+bring to their mind the Spaniards' treasure, and the stripes they
+suffered in bondage.  We will see if there be faith in their black
+blood."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a conversation with the maroons, Turnpenny announced that they
+had agreed to remain in the creek until nightfall.  If the white men
+had not returned then, they would hold themselves free to act as they
+pleased.  Then Dennis and the sailor set off on their scouting
+expedition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the edge of the forest the trees grew fairly wide apart, and the
+canopy above admitted a few rays which lay as bright spots on the floor
+of dead leaves.  But as the two adventurers proceeded the forest became
+thicker and thicker, until they walked in a dim twilight.  Well covered
+with vegetation as Maiden Isle had been, Dennis had never imagined
+anything like the dense woodland through which he was now slowly making
+his way.  It steamed with moisture; the din of early morning had given
+place to a mysterious stillness; birds and animals were quiet or
+asleep; and if the silence was broken at rare moments by the long howl
+of a monkey, the melancholy sound did but enhance the impression of
+utter solitude.  Turnpenny led the way with great wariness; his former
+experiences of forest life warned him of dangers that might lie in
+wait&mdash;a slumbering jaguar which their footfall might disturb, a snake
+so cunningly marked that it was indistinguishable from the tree about
+which it was coiled.  Several times he halted, in doubt of his
+bearings.  Once, when he confessed himself beaten, he climbed with a
+mariner's agility a towering trunk, and declared when he descended that
+from its top he had caught a glimpse of the open sea and so learnt the
+general direction in which to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They came at length to a narrow open space, where apparently trees had
+been felled at no very distant date.  Turnpenny was pointing out a
+hairy sloth hanging under a branch like a nest of termites, when Dennis
+touched him on the arm and bade him look across the glade.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is it?" he whispered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Methinks the figure of a man, moving among the trees."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though he had spoken under his breath, it almost seemed that his words
+had been overheard, for the figure halted, then instantly turned
+sideways and vanished from their sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must after him," said Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and catch him, or there is an end to our venture and us.  He is
+alone, for he made no sound, and if he had companions near by he would
+surely have summoned them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Without further pause Dennis ran across the glade, and plunged into the
+forest on the other side, taking the southerly direction in which he
+had seen the figure disappear.  He had not gone far before he heard the
+rustle and crash of some one forcing his way through the undergrowth;
+clearly the fugitive was not a good runner, or he would have been out
+of earshot before this.  Dennis quickened his step, guided always by
+the sound, ever increasing in loudness.  At length he again caught a
+glimpse of the man, labouring ahead; he gained on him, and was within a
+few yards when the runaway suddenly turned, and Dennis halted and
+swerved aside just in time to evade a spear hurled straight at him.  It
+whizzed through the air, flew harmlessly by, and struck with a twang a
+tree trunk, where it hung quivering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next moment Dennis sprang forward and closed with the man.  He had no
+time to take note of him, save that he was more than common tall.  But
+it struck him with surprise that he met with no real resistance.  The
+man staggered under the impact; the two rolled on the leaf-strewn
+ground; and in an instant Dennis was uppermost.  He scarcely needed the
+Devonian trick of wrestling to maintain his advantage; his opponent was
+already spent.  Holding him down, Dennis raised himself at arm's length
+to recover breath and take stock of the fugitive.  He was struck by the
+glare of inextinguishable hate in the man's haggard eyes.  Helpless as
+he was, there was no yielding in his mien; it was weakness, not fear or
+cowardice, that had made him such an easy captive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few moments Turnpenny came up breathless.  Seeing that Dennis held
+the man firmly down, he did not offer to assist, but halted and threw a
+keen glance at the prisoner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God-a-mercy!" he exclaimed, suddenly.  "'You and me, Haymoss!'  'Tis
+the dream come true.  'Tis Tom Copstone, 'tis very Tom!  Sir, let him
+up; 'tis my dear comrade, my messmate in the <i>Jesus</i>.  Oh, Tom, what a
+piece of work is this!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis was amazed at the alteration in the man's expression.  The
+fierce blaze of his blood-shot eyes was quenched in a mist of tears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Haymoss! dear Haymoss!" he murmured, and seemed like to swoon away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny was by this on his knees beside his old comrade.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, Tom, to see thee in this sorry plight!" he exclaimed, pitifully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He raised the prostrate figure.  Copstone did indeed present a sorry
+spectacle.  His clothes were completely in tatters, he was emaciated
+almost to a skeleton; his hair and beard hung long, straggling and
+matted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Tell me, Tom, me and this true friend, what has brought 'ee to this
+fearsome pass."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I ran away; 'tis three months since.  Three, I say, but I cannot tell;
+maybe 'tis four or five.  I ran away from those devils; 'twas more than
+flesh and blood could endure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But whither, whither, Tom?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I had hope to fall in with a friendly folk&mdash;maroons or Indians; for
+such hate the Spaniards, and whoso hates the Spaniards must be a friend
+to me.  But I found none, and I had perforce to take to the forest, and
+here I made shift to keep body and soul together with the fruits of the
+earth.  Then I was stricken with the forest fever, and lay for nights
+and days shivering and burning by turns."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Take time, dear Tom," said Turnpenny, noticing the other's gasps.  "We
+be true friends."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And here is wine from my store," said Dennis, producing a flask.  "It
+will refresh you."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man drank gratefully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I marvel," added Turnpenny, "that 'ee be still alive in this
+fearsome place of wild beasts.  Verily the Almighty has kept a guard
+over you, even as He defended Daniel in the den of lions."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis true; yet I did what I could for myself.  Come and see."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He led them through the forest, winding in and out among the trees in a
+manner that seemed to the others nothing short of marvellous, until he
+came to a great trunk in which there were notches cut, from a point
+near the base to the lowest branch.  By these notches he climbed up,
+Dennis and Turnpenny following in turn.  The steps ceased when the
+bough was reached; then he ascended some twenty feet through foliage
+until he arrived at a little hut, formed of branches cunningly
+intertwined, with a roofing of thatch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, 'tis a pleasant and delectable mansion!" said Turnpenny,
+looking admiringly at the leafy structure.  "And did 'ee fashion it
+with your own hands, Tom?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No," replied the man, with a smile.  "Here I found it, as it is.  It
+was made, I doubt not, by Indians, in the time before the Spaniards set
+foot on these shores.  'Twas here I lay when the fever was heavy upon
+me, and I thought to die.  Oh! how good it is to see your face,
+Haymoss; but what brings 'ee, old friend, to this dreadful place, and
+how got you free from the hands of the oppressor?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas the deed of this gentleman, a man of Devon, Tom, that was cast
+on an island yonder in the Main, and by wit and courage loosed me from
+bondage."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He told the whole story, to the great wonderment of his friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And now we be here to help Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder and others of
+our messmates in the fort," he said, in conclusion.  "By God's mercy we
+will snatch them, too, from the house of bondage, and make them free
+men once more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and I will help.  The sight of 'ee has done me a world of good;
+the Lord has put a new song in my mouth.  I will lead you.  I know this
+forest in and out, Haymoss, for though I be by rights but a simple
+mariner, I am made now into a woodsman.  For why?  'Cos otherwise I
+should have been a dead man.  The spear I threw but now,&mdash;God be
+praised it failed of its mark, sir! and I bethink me 'tis still
+sticking in the tree&mdash;has served me in good stead many a time and oft.
+'Twas the only thing I brought away with me, and without it long ere
+this the birds would ha' picked my bones."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Think 'ee thou'rt strong enough to lead us to the fort, Tom?" asked
+Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sure, and 'tis a good time, i' the heat o' the day, when the
+Spaniards be mostly asleep.  We'll e'en go at once.  What be the name
+of this true friend?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis Master Dennis Hazelrig, Tom, and a' come from Shaston, and has
+changed a word with Master Drake."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah, Master Drake be a rare fine man and mariner.  I warrant he hath
+not forgot the base dealings o' the knaves at St. John d'Ulua, and in
+my bondage I looked for the day when he should come with a mighty power
+and do unto them what they had done to us, and more also.  But I could
+not wait, Haymoss, I could not wait; and now we be met, and Master
+Hazelrig, and you and me, Haymoss&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, the very words of my dream!  Ay, Tom, you and me and Master
+Hazelrig, we three, will do what men may do to succour Hugh Curder and
+Ned Whiddon, and other our dear comrades in distress."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap12"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Beneath the Walls
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Tom Copstone leading, the party of three swiftly made their way through
+the woodland.  Their mark was the south-western angle of the fort; that
+was the quarter, said Copstone, whence it might be most safely
+reconnoitred.  The ground rose gradually as they proceeded, and after
+walking for what must have been several miles they came upon a large
+open space which had evidently been cleared by fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis the black cayman on the hill above the fort," whispered Turnpenny
+to Dennis.  "You mind, sir?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, the landmark of which you made mention."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Skirting the upper side of the clearing for a few hundred yards, being
+careful to remain slightly within the edge of the forest, they arrived
+at a spot where, while themselves concealed, they had an uninterrupted
+view of the country before them.  There was a thin belt of woodland
+beyond the clearing, but the hill then dipped somewhat steeply, and
+through this dip they saw the fort which held so many bitter memories
+for the sailors, and the sea stretching out beneath it, a vast
+shimmering plain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis bigger than I deemed likely," said Dennis, "the garrison being
+but fifty, if I remember right."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, sir," said Copstone, "there be but fifty Spaniards, but there be
+Indians and maroons within the walls as well, the slaves and
+pearl-fishers to wit.  Aforetime, as I have heard tell, the fishers
+lived in huts around; but about six year ago a French vessel bore
+suddenly down upon the place.  The Spaniards, some twenty or thirty
+then, had no warning, and the Frenchmen had an easy job to carry off
+all the treasure that the captain had stored up, and in the tumult a
+great part of the fishers made off and were never seen more.
+Thereafter the Governor of Cartagena gave command that the fort should
+be strengthened and the workers lodged within: you can see the huts
+ranged along inside by the wall."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas shutting the door after the steed was stolen," said Dennis, with
+a smile.  "Now let me print the lines of the settlement upon my memory."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fort was a rough square in shape, with a round tower at each
+corner.  In the centre of the enclosure was a long low house, with a
+veranda, which Copstone explained was the Commandant's new house, but
+lately finished.  Close by was a smaller house, occupied by the captain
+of the garrison, and beyond this a row of still smaller buildings,
+devoted to the Spanish troops.  From their elevated position they could
+see that on the eastern side the fort was bounded by a stream which
+appeared to wash the wall; but Copstone said that between the wall and
+the stream was a level walk, about twelve feet wide, where the officers
+were accustomed to promenade in the cool of the evening.  The one gate
+of the fort was cut in the eastern wall, and it led immediately to a
+narrow pier running into the river, where the vessels were loaded and
+unloaded.  Between the pier and the mouth of the stream a small
+two-masted bark now lay at anchor; there was safe harbourage, and this
+vessel probably awaited its cargo of pearls to be conveyed to
+Cartagena, having brought provisions thence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The northern wall, Copstone said, was built on a rocky cliff about
+thirty feet high, washed at high tide by the sea, which swept round the
+north-eastern angle, and formed, with a series of broken rocks and
+boulders, an effective defence to a great part of the western wall.
+The southern face of the fort was hidden from the spectators by the
+intervening trees, but between it and this belt of woodland was an open
+space some two hundred and fifty yards wide, cleared with the object of
+depriving possible assailants of cover.  About a mile to the right was
+the scene of the pearl-fishing, and the fishers were at that moment to
+be seen at work, diving from canoes, in each of which, said Copstone,
+were two Spaniards fully armed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And where be our dear comrades, Torn?" asked Turnpenny.  "In my time
+they were lodged in underground dungeons hewn out of the rock beneath
+the south-east tower yonder."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And there they be still, poor souls," said Copstone.  "Ah! many's the
+hour I've spent in the selfsame dungeons, groaning with the pain of the
+stripes made by their whips on my bare back."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And 'twas thence 'ee fled, Tom?  I marvel how 'ee broke out o' that
+strong-fast place."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, never a soul has broken out of they dungeons.  It was in this
+wise with me.  One day a fearsome storm blew up without a minute's
+warning.  The harbour yonder, that is wont to be safe, was a seething
+whirlpool then, and a bark that lay beside the pier, laden with a
+treasure of pearls in readiness for the voyage, was dashed hither and
+thither by the fury of the waves until she was like to be battered into
+splinters.  There was a cry for all hands to save her, and we were
+driven out of the gate to do what we could.  The sky was black as
+pitch, though 'twas an hour or two from sunset; and in the midst of
+that coil, covered by the darkness, I dropped down over the embankment
+wall, clinging on with my hands, and so worked myself along till I came
+to the extremity of the walk, fearing every moment lest a wave should
+come and sweep me away.  But by the mercy of God I came safe to the end
+of the walk, where the round tower juts out&mdash;you mind, Haymoss?&mdash;its
+foundations being struck into jagged rocks, with many a cleft in
+between.  There I refuged myself till the night came, beat upon by the
+waves till the breath was well-nigh battered out of my body.  But
+there, a drenched mortal, I clung until the tempest fell to a calm, and
+in the darkness I got me away to the woods."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart! 'twas a deed of daring and peril," said Turnpenny.  "But
+list!  What be adoing down yonder?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The silence below was suddenly broken by the ringing sound of picks.
+Men were apparently at work on the face of the fort nearest the
+observers.  The labourers were out of sight, and Copstone confessed
+himself unable to guess what their task might be.  The fort seemed
+complete; for a month before Copstone's escape the work had indeed been
+hurried on in response to urgent orders from Cartagena, where the
+Governor desired more men to assist in his own defences.  His commands
+resulted in the prisoners being treated with increased brutality, and
+Copstone said that it was a stock joke with the Spanish garrison that
+by the time they had done with the captives at Porto Aguila there would
+be little work left in them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For an hour or more the three men stood scanning the fort and its
+surroundings, until Dennis felt that every detail was firmly graven
+upon his mind.  Then, as they had a long journey back to the boat, and
+it was desirable that they should reach their companions before the
+fall of night, they set off to return to the creek.  Copstone knew it
+well; under his guidance the others took a short cut through the
+forest, that saved them, he said, more than a mile, and the short
+tropical twilight had only just begun when they arrived at the canoe.
+The maroons had not been disturbed during their absence.  One of the
+Spaniards, who recognized the creek, had tried to persuade the natives
+to set them at liberty, promising them a rich reward.  But they had no
+faith in him or any of his race, and their answer was to make his bonds
+more secure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Knowing that they were several leagues from the fort, with a long
+wooded hill between them, the sailors agreed that it would be safe to
+kindle a fire on shore, beside which they might camp for the night
+without molestation by insects.  But they had little sleep.  The three
+sat long over the fire, Copstone relating incidents in his prison life
+that made the blood of his hearers boil with rage and indignation.
+With the good food given him from the stock they had brought, and the
+companionship of his countrymen, he had already become a very different
+being from the famished solitary creature they had met in the forest;
+and when, fired with passionate hatred of the Spanish oppressors and
+with pity for their hapless prisoners, Dennis and Turnpenny vowed that
+they would go through with their enterprise, no matter at what cost,
+Copstone declared himself heart and soul with them, and only longed for
+the moment of action to come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it was not enough to be full of zeal.  The greatest courage and
+determination would not suffice alone to achieve their object.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We are but ten against fifty," said Dennis, "and one of the ten a fat
+negro whom the sight of a bare blade would cause to shake like a jelly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Leave him out, sir," said Turnpenny.  "He would squeal like a stuck
+pig if his finger were pinched."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There are but nine of us, then, and what can nine do against fifty?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If all the nine were men of Devon like Tom Copstone and me," said
+Turnpenny, "we would face fifty don Spaniards and beat 'em too.  But
+you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as the saying is, and
+you can't turn a negro or maroon into a true fighting man that will
+never say die.  Men of their sort cannot play a losing game, though
+they be full of courage if things go well with them."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I fear me even nine men of Devon could not fight a pitched battle
+against five times their number, whether Spaniards or other.  But 'tis
+not my purpose to approach the walls with a trumpet and deliver a
+defiance.  Our only chance is by surprising the fort in the darkness,
+and so taking them at a disadvantage.  How stands it then, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, it stands clean topsy-versy, which is to say it is by no
+means possible.  The walls, as you did yourself see, be too high to
+leap over, and the gate be shut and bolted and barricadoed by night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But is it watched?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That I know not.  Do 'ee know, Tom?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay; afore dark all the prisoners be thrust into the dungeons, and
+kept fast in ward until morning light."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And do they set a guard over the dungeons?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not as I know, sir.  What would be the good?  The doors be strong and
+clamped with iron; the guard house be just above; and we was all so
+worn with toil and so sick at heart that nary one of us ever had the
+spirit to attempt a sally.  When they had us fast in the dungeons,
+there they might leave us, with never a fear but we would be safe
+bound."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Methinks that same security would forbid them to keep a watch
+seawards.  The sea washes the north side of the fort, you said?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir, and even at high tide there is no draught for a vessel of
+more than twenty tons burden, so they need fear no attack thence.
+True, they might keep a watch on the harbour when a vessel lies there;
+but 'tis years since any enemy has appeared, and with the dons 'tis out
+of sight, out of mind, I trow."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, does not that favour us?  Grant we cannot scale the walls, nor
+force the gate, we may still approach the fort from the sea by night,
+without risk of being discovered, and that is the very thing that we
+must do.  This night is too far spent for us to make any attempt in
+that quarter.  We must possess our souls in patience for yet another
+day, and truly that is not amiss, for it will give us leisure to spy
+once more upon the fort.  Think you 'tis possible to come where we may
+view the north side?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is but one way; to make a circuit as we lately did, and go
+further through the woods, and creep down at dusk to the rocks, when
+the work for the day is over and we are not like to be seen by the
+Spaniards who keep ward over the fishers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is what we will do, then.  And now, since we know not what the
+day may bring forth to try our strength, let us get what sleep we can,
+and so fortify ourselves."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But for many hours Dennis lay awake, thinking over the next day's
+doings.  Up with the dawn, he set the maroons to cut from the trees a
+number of light tough poles, and these Copstone and Turnpenny, with
+seamen's skill, quickly fashioned into a rough but serviceable ladder.
+It was made to taper from bottom to top in three sections, the first
+seven feet long, the second five feet, and the last, four.  The first
+and second were lashed together with some spare rope brought in the
+canoe, but the supply gave out when this was done, and Dennis was at a
+loss for material to fasten the second and third sections together.
+The headman of the maroons speedily made good the deficiency.  Going
+into the forest, he soon returned with long pliable tendrils of a
+creeper called bejuca that grew plentifully among the undergrowth, and
+these, when cut into short lengths, formed lashings as strong as could
+be desired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greater part of the morning was spent in constructing and testing
+the ladder.  After the midday meal Dennis and the sailors again made
+their way through the forest to their former place of espial, waited
+until they saw the canoes return with the pearl fishers, and then, in
+the late afternoon, crept down the hillside westward of the fort until
+they came to the rocks on the shore.  From their new position they were
+able to glance along the northern wall of the fort.  The tide was on
+the turn, and it was clear from the masses of seaweed and the waterworn
+appearance of the rocks on which the wall was built that at high water
+the base of the escarpment would be washed by the waves, as Copstone
+had said.  Having formed a careful mental picture of the place, Dennis
+gave the word for return, and they reached their camping ground just
+before dark, as on the previous evening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arrangements were at once made for their expedition.  Turnpenny
+estimated that the distance by water from the mouth of the creek to the
+fort was about ten miles.  It was desirable to start early if the
+paddlers were not to be overtired when the serious work of the night
+began.  Dennis was in some doubt what to do with the prisoners, but
+after consultation with the sailors he decided to leave them behind in
+the charge of the cook and one of the maroons.  He deplored the
+necessity of thus diminishing his little party, but it was clearly
+impossible to trust the guardianship of the prisoners to Baltizar
+alone.  That flabby and chicken-hearted negro was desperately afraid of
+being left.  He feared the prisoners, although they were securely
+pinioned; still more he feared the wild beasts of the forest.
+Turnpenny "gave him a piece of his mind," as he said, and his language
+was none the less forcible because he eked out his scanty vocabulary of
+Spanish with racy expressions in his own vernacular.  He called
+Baltizar a slack-twisted nollypate, a wambling dumbledore, an
+ell-and-a-half of moidered dough, mingling with his expletives an
+instruction to keep up the fire if he wished to scare the beasts away,
+and a warning that the Spaniards, if they were allowed to escape, would
+certainly kill him first.  And to guard against the danger that the
+prisoners might work upon his fears and persuade him to loose their
+bonds, the maroon chosen to remain with him was told, in his hearing,
+that if he had any conversation with the two men he was instantly to be
+knocked on the head.  Watching the negro's expression, Dennis felt
+pretty sure that he would prove a most zealous jailor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The night was still young, the moon had not yet risen, when the canoe
+floated silently seawards down the creek.  The little party of three
+white men and five maroons was not hilarious; every man knew that he
+had taken his life in his hands.  But neither were they down-hearted,
+for seven of them had the recollection of a night adventure which had
+wonderfully succeeded against great odds; and though the odds this time
+were immeasurably in favour of the enemy, and the task was infinitely
+more difficult, the very magnitude of what they had set themselves to
+do fired them with eagerness and hope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sections of the ladder had been unlashed, and were safely bestowed,
+with the rope and the tendrils, in the sides of the canoe.  In his
+ignorance of the coast, Dennis ordered the paddlers to put some
+distance out to sea before heading the canoe westward, so as to avoid
+any rocks or shoals that might lie in wait for the frail craft.  The
+wind was north-east, and as there was only the faint illumination of
+the stars, the sail was run up during the first part of the voyage.
+But when they rounded the headland that lay between the creek and the
+fort, Turnpenny took in the sail, lest by some unlucky chance it should
+be observed from the shore, and bade the maroons paddle slowly, for
+they wished to arrive at the fort when the tide was high, a little
+before dawn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slowly as they paddled, however, the fort loomed up on the shore a good
+hour before they had intended to draw in.  None of the party had any
+means of telling the time; but Turnpenny, experienced in reading the
+heavens on many a silent night on the deep, guessed it pretty
+accurately by the horn of the moon just peering above the horizon.  To
+delay their arrival a little, Dennis ordered the men to rest on their
+oars, and for an hour the canoe rocked gently on the swelling tide.
+The pause would have been even longer had not Dennis perceived that the
+inaction bred a certain nervous restlessness in the maroons&mdash;an ill
+mood in which to face the coming ordeal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, shortly after four in the morning, the nose of the canoe was
+turned towards the fort, and the vessel crept in dead silence towards
+the line of white foam that showed where the tide was lapping the wall.
+It was still half a musket-shot distant when its progress was arrested
+with a suddenness that threw the paddlers heavily forward.  Recovering
+themselves, they backed water lustily, but without avail; the canoe was
+fast on a rock.  Instantly three of the men slipped gently overboard to
+lighten the vessel, kicking their legs busily to ward off any ground
+sharks that might be adventuring in the neighbourhood.  In a few
+moments the canoe slid off the rock, the men clambered back to their
+places, and the paddling was resumed.  But it was soon discovered that
+the shock had torn a hole in the vessel's side; she was filling fast;
+and by the time she came beneath the wall of the fort she was wellnigh
+waterlogged.  Not a man of the party ventured to speak a word; but from
+the glances they gave one another it was clear that they realized what
+the accident meant for them.  Nothing but complete success could now
+save them, for if the attempt on the fort failed, it would certainly be
+impossible to escape on this leaking vessel, and they must fall an easy
+prey to their enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One after another they quietly left the canoe, carrying the climbing
+apparatus, and their calivers and ammunition, which had fortunately
+lain on the raised stern of the vessel and had escaped a wetting.  They
+found themselves on the rocks, in two or three feet of water.
+Turnpenny and Copstone gave their weapons into the charge of two of the
+maroons while they carefully lashed the two longer sections of the
+ladder together.  Meanwhile Dennis was scanning the wall above him with
+the object of finding a suitable spot against which to plant the
+ladder.  In spite of Copstone's belief that the fort was not
+sentinelled, Dennis had taken the precaution to land a little to the
+west of the tower at the angle, thinking that the sentry, if one were
+posted there, would probably be taking shelter under the eastern
+parapet.  But so far as he could see in the dim light the line of the
+wall was unbroken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the top, however, a battlement slightly overhung it.  To Dennis,
+gazing up, this battlement seemed terribly far off, and his heart sank
+as he felt that the ladder would certainly not be long enough.  But it
+was possible that the apparent height was deceptive; at any rate the
+attempt must be made.  Accordingly, Turnpenny and Copstone, as he had
+previously arranged with them, planted the ladder beneath the wall
+while he mounted.  The first steps were easy, but when he came near the
+top he was seized with a momentary dizziness and had to pause before he
+ventured to take another upward step.  He climbed very slowly: he was
+now close against the wall, with nothing to cling to, and he maintained
+his balance only by pressing forward until he was almost flat against
+the smooth surface.  He reached the last rung; it was impossible to
+ascend another inch; and the top of the wall was still, it appeared, at
+least twelve feet above him.  Even if the third section of the ladder
+was added, the coping would be still utterly beyond his reach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a position in which many a bold fellow might have despaired,
+and, for a little, Dennis did feel dismay and a touch of compunction
+for having brought the men below into what appeared to be a hopeless
+case.  But it is such moments as these that prove the grit of a man's
+character.  Dennis was no weakling; and as he stood and leant against
+that wall, shrouded by the night, he set his teeth and vowed that by
+hook or crook he would ere long be upon the other side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He looked up and around, to see if there were any notches or seams by
+means of which he could scale the wall.  The moon was creeping round
+the sky, and now threw a little more light on the scene.  Letting his
+eye travel slowly over every foot of the surface from left to right, he
+suddenly caught sight of what seemed to be a hole in the wall, some
+distance to his right, several feet above him, and a yard or so below
+the parapet.  It flashed upon him that this must be a gun embrasure;
+was it possible, he wondered, to make his way in by that?  Carefully
+descending the ladder, he told the sailors in a whisper what he
+proposed; they quickly lashed on the last section, and shifted the
+ladder until it stood immediately below the dark patch which at this
+distance the embrasure appeared to be.  Then Dennis mounted again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once more he was disappointed.  At the imminent risk of falling
+backwards he crept up to the highest point, but even then he found he
+could but just touch the lower edge of the hole.  He had not sufficient
+grip on the smooth sill of it to pull himself up: he could not raise
+himself high enough to peep through.  He wondered whether Copstone, who
+stood nearly a head taller, would have better success; but remembering
+the man's privations he thought it scarcely possible that he would have
+nerve enough to mount on this frail ladder, which bent dangerously
+beneath his weight now that the last section was added, without
+becoming dizzy and toppling down.  Was there any conceivable manner in
+which the ladder could be still further lengthened?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Down he crept again and held another whispered consultation with the
+two men.  At first neither was able to make a suggestion.  They stood
+looking at one another in perplexity.  Then suddenly Turnpenny,
+forgetting himself in his excitement, uttered an exclamation in a tone
+which sent a shiver down Dennis's back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hush, man!" said Dennis in a warning whisper.  "What is it?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah, I must talk gentle," said Turnpenny.  "Of a sudden I thought of
+muscles and sinews, and the power of a strong back.  Me and the headman
+of the maroons&mdash;not so strong as me, to be sure, but yet with mighty
+shoulders of his own&mdash;me and him betwixt us can raise the ladder aloft,
+and hold it firm while you mount, and then without doubt you'll be high
+enough to peep through the port-hole and see all that may be seen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Art sure you can do it, Amos?" asked Dennis, eagerly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, look at this!" he returned, bending his arm until the muscle
+showed like a globe of iron.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Without more ado, Turnpenny and the maroon hoisted the ladder, and, one
+on either side of it, supported it with their shoulders.  Then Dennis
+climbed on to Copstone's back, thence to the ladder, and began the
+ascent.  The ladder was more tremulous than ever, and Dennis felt a
+flutter at the heart as he came nearer and nearer to the top.  But the
+stalwarts below did not yield an inch, and Dennis crawled up and up
+until at length his head came to the level of the embrasure, and with
+one more step he found himself able to rest his arms in it.  To his joy
+the embrasure was empty: the gun had evidently been withdrawn; and
+taking this as a good omen&mdash;surely it indicated great security on the
+part of the garrison!&mdash;he hoisted himself up and wriggled into the
+aperture.  Then, breathless, with a hurrying pulse, he crouched to
+consider his next move.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap13"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Taking of Fort Aguila
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+During the morning, while the ladder was being made, Dennis had talked
+over with the sailors the plan of action he proposed to adopt should
+they succeed in entering the fort undetected.  The first thing was to
+silence the sentry, if sentry there was.  It was quite clear, from the
+fact of having been undisturbed hitherto, that no careful look-out was
+kept; but Dennis did not forget Copstone's suggestion that a sentry
+might be napping behind the parapet, and it must be his first business
+to assure himself on this point before giving the signal for his
+companions to make the ascent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He crouched motionless in the embrasure, listening.  It had been
+pierced for only a short gun&mdash;a minion or falconet perhaps; and
+doubtless within three feet of him was a stone walk extending for the
+whole length of the wall.  All was still; there was not a sound to show
+that, within the enclosure, a hundred human beings were crowded,
+masters and slaves.  But looking through the embrasure Dennis saw a few
+lights twinkling in the centre of the fort, and he guessed that some at
+least of the enemy were awake.  However great their security, it had
+seemed incredible to him that the place should be left wholly
+unguarded, even if only to provide against turbulence on the part of
+the slaves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a few moments Dennis ventured to crawl towards the inner end of
+the embrasure, where he might get a view of the whole enclosure.  The
+thin light of the moon fell on the brightly painted walls of the
+commandant's house in the centre; there was no light in the windows; no
+doubt the se�or capitan was fast asleep.  But a beam of light came from
+a building somewhat to the right; this was presumably the officers'
+quarters.  The huts along the western wall, in which the slaves slept,
+were all in darkness.  On the farther side of the enclosure, in the
+round tower beneath which the prisoners were confined, another light
+shone forth; somebody was awake there.  But not a sound stirred the
+heavy moist air of the tropical night.  If there were sentries upon the
+walls, they were certainly not pacing up and down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Waiting another minute or two, Dennis ventured to peep round the corner
+of the embrasure.  He could scan the whole length of the walk from
+tower to tower; no sentry was in sight, but he saw the gun below him a
+little to his right.  Taking courage from the silence, he slipped out
+of the hole, and groped his way on bare feet toward the tower at the
+north-east angle.  Every now and again he paused to listen, and at
+last, when he came within a few yards of the tower, he heard a sound of
+deep regular breathing hard by.  Evidently some one was asleep.  He
+stole along by the parapet in the deep shadow cast by the moon, until
+he saw, huddled in the corner between the tower and the wall, the form
+of a man.  He halted to consider.  Should he go forward and pounce on
+the sentry, risking the sound of a struggle if he attempted to gag him,
+or a cry if he struck at him with his sword and failed to kill him
+outright?  It went against the grain to slay a sleeping man, and the
+sentry was apparently so fast asleep that it seemed possible for the
+rest of the party to climb up without disturbing him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But there might be a sentry at the other end.  Leaving the man in
+peace, Dennis stole back again, went on hands and knees where the gun
+necessitated his coming for a moment into the moonlight, then rose and
+groped his way along beneath the parapet as before.  There was no
+sentinel, asleep or awake, in this direction.  With more confidence now
+in the chances of a safe ascent he returned once more to the embrasure,
+and, taking from his pocket a thin piece of creeper, he paid this out
+through the aperture.  He soon felt a slight tug from below.  He waited
+until he felt a second tug, then gently pulled the creeper towards him.
+To the end of it a stout line was attached&mdash;a part of his salvage from
+the wreck of the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  This he quickly secured to the heavy
+gun, and having strained on the rope to convince himself that the
+fastening would hold, he gave the signal by another tug to his comrades
+below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he crawled into the embrasure, and, leaning out, saw Amos swarming
+with a seaman's nimbleness up the rope.  Giving him a hand when he came
+within reach, Dennis helped to haul him into the embrasure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What about the calivers?" he whispered, for the sailor had come up
+unarmed, lest a clank of steel against the wall should attract
+attention.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We've tied 'em up in our shirts, sir.  Haul on the rope and we'll have
+'em up in a trice."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bundle was quickly raised and brought into the embrasure without a
+sound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's a sentry asleep by the tower yonder," whispered Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Did 'ee not kill him?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No, you could not kill a sleeping man, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I warrant I could, though I'd liever not.  But we must do summat with
+the knave."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He sleeps sound."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Maybe, but any moment he might waken, and then t'ud be all over with
+us.  A sailor's knot and a mouthful of shirt will make all snug."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Very well.  We must go quietly."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soft-footed as cats they stole to the careless sentinel, still drawing
+the long regular breath of placid slumber.  Suddenly the sound changed
+to a low choking gurgle: Turnpenny had nimbly slipped a strip of his
+shirt into the man's open mouth.  In two minutes he lay straight on his
+back, his arms and legs firmly bound with lengths of the flexible
+tendril.  Then the two intruders moved swiftly back to the embrasure,
+and signalled to the waiting men that it was safe for them to ascend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tom Copstone and two of the maroons came up in turn.  Then there was a
+hitch.  The remaining three men stood helpless on the rocks, afraid to
+attempt a feat which had never come within their experience.  There was
+a moment's delay: then Turnpenny slipped down the rope, hitched a loop
+around one of the men, abusing him under his breath as a
+good-for-nothing land-lubber, and signalled to the others to haul him
+up.  The two others were brought up in the same way, not without some
+bumps against the wall; then Turnpenny again came up hand over hand,
+and the little party of eight stood complete beside the gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart! 'tis a famous doing!" said Turnpenny mopping his sweating
+brow.  "'You and me, Haymoss,' as I heard in my dream."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next step also had been pre-arranged.  Copstone, as the man most
+familiar with the fort enclosure, was to lead four of the maroons to
+the quarters of the garrison, dash into the outer room where the
+fire-arms would probably be kept, and hold the Spaniards in play while
+Dennis and his companions made a rush for the round tower beneath which
+were the dungeons.  The Spaniards would no doubt be asleep in the inner
+room, and, suddenly disturbed from their slumbers, they might be
+expected to hesitate before attacking five well-armed men who stood
+guard over their muskets.  It was scarcely likely that more than one or
+two would at this dead hour of night be in the outer room where the
+light was, and Copstone and his men might be safely trusted to account
+for them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You must give us a minute, Tom," said Amos, "seeing that we have the
+greater way to go."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, indeed," said Dennis, "our entrances should fall together.  You
+know the way, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sure, and have good reason to."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, then, Copstone will wait until we have had time to reach the
+tower, then he will perform his part."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This conversation had passed in whispers.  All having been arranged,
+they crept down the steps from the battlement to the courtyard, and
+while Copstone and his four dusky companions stood in the shadow of the
+stairway, the other three, with rapid, noiseless steps, ran towards the
+light in the farther corner.  The courtyard was covered with grass,
+except for a small stone-paved space around the buildings in the
+centre; and Turnpenny, who was leading, kept to the grass, even though
+their bare feet might make no sound on the stones.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they had covered little more than a third of the distance, and had,
+indeed, not yet come level with the buildings, when all three were
+suddenly startled by a low deep growl on the right, from the
+neighbourhood of the commandant's house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Crymaces!  I had forgot the Captain's dog!" whispered Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had instinctively halted and turned in the direction of the sound.
+A dark form, still growling, was rushing over the stone court towards
+them.  It made direct for Turnpenny.  The sailor threw up his left hand
+to ward off the attack, but the beast was so large, and came against
+him with such momentum, that he reeled under the impact, and the sword
+he held raised in his right hand was almost wrenched from his grasp.
+Dennis was swinging forward to his comrade's assistance when he saw
+that no help was needed.  The hound had impaled itself on Turnpenny's
+sword.  Amos gasped with relief as he shook himself free; then,
+whispering "They'll have heard the beast's growls," he set off at full
+speed for the round house, the two others following close at his heels.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-188.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-188.jpg" alt="&quot;The sailor threw up his left hand to ward off the attack.&quot;" />
+<br />
+&quot;The sailor threw up his left hand to ward off the attack.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They dashed straight for the doorway, which was faintly lit by a light
+in the guard-room to the right of the passage.  In a quarter-minute
+they were inside; five seconds more brought them to the door of the
+room, which they reached just as three Spaniards were leaving the table
+at which they had been dicing, curious, no doubt, to discover the cause
+of the dog's uneasiness.  They were unarmed; their weapons indeed lay
+on a bench at the further end of the room; clearly the dog's growls had
+caused them no real alarm, and no other sounds could have reached them.
+Consequently they stood stock-still, petrified with amazement, when
+they saw two white men and a maroon with naked swords rush almost
+noiselessly into the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Surrender, villains!" cried Amos, pointing his sword full at the first
+man's throat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His tone, backed by the sight of the three blades, helped to clear
+their scattered wits.  With fine presence of mind, the man farthest
+from the door snatched a goblet from the table and hurled it straight
+at Turnpenny, stooping then to seize his sword that lay on the bench
+behind.  But he had taken only a single step when the maroon, with a
+cry of fury, flung himself clean across the table, and drove his weapon
+through the man's body.  The other two, less quick-witted and less
+courageous than their hapless comrade, shrank back and held up their
+hands, crying aloud for mercy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Down on your knees, dogs!" shouted Turnpenny.  "To the passage, Juan!"
+he said to the maroon.  "Stand by the door opposite."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While Amos unstrung his caliver and lit his match, Dennis swept the
+Spaniards' weapons from the bench out of their reach.  Scarcely had
+this been done when the door on the opposite side of the passage
+opened, showing a room dimly lighted by a candle-lamp, and eight or ten
+Spaniards who had been roused from sleep by the noise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is this?" cried one of them, fumbling with his sword as he came
+to the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Juan, the maroon, stood on no ceremony, but promptly transfixed him,
+and he fell like a log across the doorway.  His comrades immediately
+behind recoiled in panic; but were pushed forward by the men in the
+rear, who had not seen what had happened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stand, you villains!" called Turnpenny, from the opposite doorway.  "I
+will shoot any man of you that lifts a finger."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shut the door!" cried one of the men behind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But this was impossible; the door opened outwards, and none could reach
+it without stepping over the body of the man whom the maroon had
+killed.  They well knew that the first who ventured across the
+threshold would meet with the same fate, and every man of them shrank
+from the risk.  Dim as the light was, Turnpenny recognized the features
+of men under whose whips he had many times writhed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fling down your sword, Hernando," he cried to the foremost of them.
+The man hesitated.  "Down with it, or you are a dead man," roared the
+seaman, and there was an accent in his voice that boded ill for the
+Spaniard if he should delay.  His sword fell with a clatter on the
+stone floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now yours, Fernan, and yours, Manuel," and as these obeyed the curt
+command the rest waited no bidding, but cast their weapons from them
+and cried for quarter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Out with you, into the guard-room," shouted Turnpenny.  "Have a care,
+Juan; let none escape."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The big maroon stood in the passage with his back towards the outer
+gate, and the sight of his ferocious look and his formidable sword was
+enough.  The Spaniards tumbled over each other like a flock of sheep as
+they surged into the room, where Dennis stood ready to cut down any who
+attempted resistance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah, 'tis you, Jos�," cried Turnpenny, following the last into the
+room.  "Where are your keys?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The warder edged away, seeking to hide behind his comrades.  At a sign
+from Turnpenny the maroon sprang after him and hauled him back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Your keys, rascal!" cried Turnpenny, and the cold barrel of the
+caliver within an inch of his ear jogged his memory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mercy!  I will fetch them," he said, hastily.  The maroon followed him
+as he ran back into the room opposite, and in a few seconds he returned
+with his heavy bunch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lock 'em in, sir," said Turnpenny, handing his weapon to Juan.  "I be
+going with this villain to loose the prisoners."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He caught the terrified warder by the shoulder and pushed him into the
+passage, where he turned to the right towards the stairway leading to
+the dungeons.  Down he bundled him, neck and crop, and forced him to
+find the key among his bunch and throw open the door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis me, comrades," he cried jubilantly into the dark space, "'tis me,
+your old comrade, Haymoss Turnpenny, come to free 'ee from this cursed
+hole.  Be you there, Ned Whiddon?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, ay," came the amazed answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you, Hugh Curder?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, Haymoss, here I be."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come out, my hearts.  Ah, I hear the chains clanking on your poor
+legs.  'Tis not for long, dear comrades.  Come out; this villain warder
+will ungyve ye; then do the same with the rest of the comrades and
+follow up aloft.  We have arms for 'ee there, dear hearts.  God be
+praised you be alive!  Jos�, you villain, loose their fetters.  Ned, I
+will leave him with 'ee; keep an eye on him."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving the cowed Spaniard in the safe hands of Whiddon and Curder,
+Turnpenny hastened back to rejoin Dennis, who had locked the door upon
+the others, and piled their arms against the wall of the passage.  Then
+the three rushed out into the open, and raced at breakneck pace across
+the courtyard to the main buildings, whence came the sounds of
+desperate conflict&mdash;shots, cries, and the clash of steel.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Copstone, waiting impatiently with the four maroons at the foot of the
+wall until the others should have reached the far corner of the
+enclosure, heard the growl of the commandant's dog, and guessed, from
+the sudden silence that followed, what had happened.  Instantly he led
+his men with a rush towards the main building, where the light
+indicated that some at least of the garrison were awake.  They reached
+the spot just as the door was thrown open and a man stepped across the
+threshold, whistling for the dog.  Copstone sprang upon him, and
+toppled him over, and was then dashing past him into the house when he
+perceived that a group of at least half a dozen Spaniards were coming
+towards the door, alarmed by the sound of the scuffle.  Copstone darted
+back; the maroons fired their calivers into the doorway; groans
+proclaimed that some of the shots had told.  But there were resolute
+spirits among the garrison; in a few seconds they came pouring out,
+and, catching sight of the maroons, evidently believed that they had
+nothing worse than an outbreak of the native labourers to contend with.
+Shouting with fury, they pressed forward, slashing with their swords,
+and forced the assailants into the narrow space between the wall of
+heir quarters and the commandant's house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Dennis and his comrades came breathless upon the scene, Copstone
+and his party were hemmed in by a crowd of infuriated Spaniards
+outnumbering them by seven to one.  The Spaniards had had no time to
+light the matches for their muskets; the maroons had had no time to
+reload; and both attacked and attackers were laying about them
+doughtily with their swords.  Whatever the timidity of the maroons in
+captivity, there was no doubt about their courage when fighting for
+their lives against odds.  Aided somewhat by the darkness, which made
+it difficult to distinguish foe from friend, they were cutting and
+thrusting vigorously with their backs against the wall, encouraged by
+the voice of Copstone, who mingled with English words of cheer a few
+Spanish exclamations he had picked up during his imprisonment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But steadily as they fought, it would have gone ill with them had not
+the arrival of Dennis and the others caused a momentary relaxation of
+the pressure upon them.  The three dashed with a resounding cheer upon
+the rear of the Spaniards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stand to it, my hearts!" bellowed Turnpenny.  "You and me, Tom
+Copstone, you and me!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three Spaniards fell at the first onset.  Before the rest had recovered
+from their surprise, before they had any idea of how small the
+reinforcement was, three more suffered the same fate.  In the
+confusion, Dennis and his men dashed right through the cordon and
+ranged themselves alongside the doughty five.  Then the Spaniards,
+finding that their rear was no longer attacked, realized that their
+enemy had received but a slight accession of strength, and returned to
+the fight with redoubled energy.  For some time it was cut and thrust
+almost at random, and many shrewd blows were dealt on both sides.  So
+sudden and surprising had the attack been that the Spaniards had had no
+time to collect their wits and resort to strategy.  It had not occurred
+to them to get at the rear of their enemy over the wall.  Again and
+again they rushed headlong upon the little party; but the maroons and
+Copstone had taken new courage from the presence of Dennis and the
+others.  Turnpenny was in the centre of the line, Dennis at the extreme
+right, Juan the maroon at the left next to Copstone.  Again and again
+they flung back the furious assault, and ever and anon above the din of
+the combat rose the inspiriting battle-cry of Turnpenny, "You and me,
+Tom Copstone, you and me!" and the answering shout, "You and me,
+Haymoss; good cheer, my heart!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But eight men, however bold and stout-hearted, could not long contend
+with an enemy at least four times their number.  Scarce a man of them
+but was bleeding from several wounds.  The exertions and excitements of
+the night had made inroads upon their strength even before the fight
+began, while the Spaniards were at no such disadvantage; some of them,
+indeed, had risen fresh from sleep.  Gradually the blows of the lesser
+force weakened.  The Spaniards could not all attack them at the same
+time, so confined was the area of conflict; but when any of their
+number fell out, from wounds or fatigue, there were new men to take
+their places.  For the others there was no such relief.  Each one of
+them had to meet a succession of Spaniards.  Dennis felt his strength
+giving way.  He was not conscious of having been wounded, but he could
+now scarcely hold his sword from sheer weariness.  And he felt that
+things were going badly with his comrades.  Two of the maroons at his
+left had fallen, whether killed or merely wounded he could not tell.
+He still heard the ringing voice of Turnpenny, but his heart sank as he
+realized that in a few more minutes he, at any rate, would no longer
+have the force to respond.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, when he felt with a kind of frenzied despair that it was
+impossible he should strike another blow, there fell upon his ears a
+new sound from the front&mdash;from some point beyond the crowd of
+Spaniards.  Surely there was an English ring in those cheers; it was no
+mere Spanish yell.  It was coming nearer, swelling into a roar.  A few
+seconds later, the ring of steel by which the little party was
+encircled seemed to be burst asunder; then the Spaniards broke and
+scattered in all directions, fleeing helter-skelter before knives and
+swords wielded with the terrible might of vengeance by the hands of a
+score of men who had but lately lain cowed and crushed in their
+dungeons.  Little mercy they deserved; little they found.  Ned Whiddon,
+Hugh Curder, and many another hunted them into the four corners of the
+courtyard; the tables were turned, and the freed prisoners smote and
+spared not.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap14"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIV
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Vae Victis
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+The intention of Dennis had been to release the prisoners and then make
+for the bark that lay alongside the quay.  She was only of some fifty
+tons burden; her crew would not be a large one; and it ought to be a
+comparatively easy matter to overpower the men on board and warp the
+vessel clear before the discomfited Spaniards could recover from their
+confusion and make an organized attack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he had not reckoned on the rapidity with which events had moved,
+and the impossibility of communicating his design to the men who had
+been released.  They had scattered in all directions in pursuit of the
+Spaniards; Copstone and the maroons were carried away by the lust of
+vengeance, and, wounded as they were, had rushed away with the rest;
+and Dennis found that only Turnpenny was left at his side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were elements of peril in the situation.  Some of the Spaniards
+had swarmed over the wall of the officers' quarters.  If they found
+efficient leadership they might yet rally and prove a very formidable
+enemy.  Dennis and the seaman held a hurried consultation.  They were
+unarmed save for their swords; they had left their calivers in the
+passage of the round tower, and the weapons were no doubt now in the
+hands of two of the released prisoners.  Adventurous as they both were,
+it seemed the height of folly and rashness to attempt, they two alone,
+to cope with unknown numbers beyond the wall.  While they were still
+perplexed as to the best course to follow, they heard a roar and a
+crash from the direction of the commandant's house, followed by a babel
+of cries.  Running round, they found that the maroons, headed by
+Copstone, had blown open the door of the house, and were hunting
+through it in the darkness for the man under whose authority they had
+suffered so many grievous wrongs.  There were only four rooms; it was
+the work of a few minutes to ransack them thoroughly; not a trace of
+the commandant or his household could be discovered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if they bean't stolen a march on us," cried Turnpenny, "and
+made for the harbour first!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us after them at once, then.  If they get away ours will be a bad
+case indeed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Calling to the half-dozen men who were at hand, Turnpenny led the way
+at a great pace to the gate in the eastern wall of the fort.  It was
+locked.  Almost beside himself with baffled rage, the seaman threw his
+great bulk against the timbers; but they were stout, and even his
+weight failed to force the lock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is there no other way out?" asked Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not as I knows on.  Where be Tom Copstone?  Hey, my heart, be there
+any other way out o' this yard?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, there be a postern in the nor'-east tower."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The words were scarcely out of his mouth before Dennis dashed towards
+the tower, the others following him with a rush.  The door at the foot
+of the tower was open; he sprang up the spiral stairway three steps at
+a time, and almost broke his head against the postern door, that opened
+inwards and blocked the way.  The dawn was bursting in the eastern sky,
+and Dennis looked eagerly out.  The postern faced the sea, and the
+harbour and quay were hidden from him by the circumference of the
+tower; but he spied a rope ladder dangling from the opening to the
+narrow footway below.  It was clear that the commandant and his party,
+while the combat was at its height, had slipped out of the house and
+made their escape by this exit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time Turnpenny and half a dozen others were crowding the narrow
+staircase.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They have made for the bark," cried the seaman, "and if there be true
+mariners aboard she'll be warped clear and out to sea."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"She is not there yet.  We have one chance.  Copstone, run back to the
+gate; blow up the lock and lead as many of your comrades as you can
+find hot foot along the quay, in case it be still possible to seize the
+vessel.  Amos, can we train the fort guns on the mouth of the harbour?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sure, and I'll do it, being once gunner's mate aboard the <i>Anne
+Gallant</i>."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I can aid you; God be praised that Sir Martin practised us
+venturers in the usage of ordnance in the <i>Maid Marian</i>."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He slammed-to the postern door, freeing the stairway, and rushed up to
+the narrow open archway leading on to the battlements, stumbling in the
+dim light over the prostrate body of the gagged sentry as he leapt
+through.  Vaulting on to the parapet, he looked down at the quay to see
+how the men were faring.  A cry of bitter mortification burst from his
+lips as he saw the bark slowly moving towards the sea.  Her sails were
+hoisted on the mainmast, and filling with the light westerly breeze; a
+group of officers, among whom the commandant was easily distinguished,
+crowded her deck, in addition to the crew; and there was not one of
+Dennis's party or the prisoners in sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But at that moment there was a loud explosion; the gate fell with a
+crash; and a crowd of men, white and black, headed by Copstone, rushed
+out on to the quay.  They roared with fury when they saw that they were
+too late.  Those of them who had loaded calivers ran along the quay,
+firing ineffectually at the moving vessel.  They were answered with a
+volley from her decks, and two maroons fell, shouts from the Spaniards
+acclaiming the lucky shots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Turnpenny had now taken his post at the nearest gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Body o' me, sure 'tis a saker taken from the Jesus herself!" he cried
+joyfully.  "And here be powder and round shot and stone shot, and a
+half circle for the sighting.  Haymoss Turnpenny be no true man an he
+do not send a good un plump into the midst of the knaves."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But none knew better than Turnpenny that, at any considerable distance,
+it was easier to miss than to hit.  Seeing that it was impossible to
+depress the gun so as to get a shot at the vessel until she had drawn
+clear of the harbour, he ran to the ordnance on the northern wall, and
+loaded them in readiness in case his first shot missed.  Meanwhile
+Dennis had spied the muzzle of a demi-culverin projecting from the roof
+of the round tower, and summoning to his assistance a white man who was
+among his party, he ran up and began with all haste to load the gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before he had finished, there was a flash and a roar from Turnpenny's
+saker just below.  The Spaniards on deck, who the moment before had
+been laughing at the futile shots from the men on the quay, skipped
+down the companion way with exceeding nimbleness.  Dennis looked
+eagerly for the result of the shot.  That something had been carried
+away was clear from the clattering noise on board and the rush of the
+crew towards the stern-works; but neither the fore nor the mainmast had
+been hit, and the vessel still glided seawards.  Turnpenny growled with
+rage, and ran to the next gun, from which, however, it would be useless
+to fire until the bark had come quite out from the harbour mouth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis's heart leapt within him as he saw that the course of the vessel
+would bring her in a few seconds within range of his gun.  Now was his
+chance of showing how he had profited by Sir Martin's lessons in
+gunnery.  How ardently he hoped that the bore was true and the windage
+not too great to spoil his aim!  He waited with lighted match until,
+sighting with the gunner's half-circle&mdash;the quadrant with which every
+piece of ordnance was equipped&mdash;he knew that the Spaniard was well
+within range.  He applied the match and sprang forward to the very edge
+of the parapet to watch the effect of his shot.  There was a sound of
+rending and splitting from the deck; and through the smoke he saw the
+mainmast collapse with all its rigging.  A great shout from the
+battlements and from the crowd below acclaimed the famous shot.  There
+had been no time to run up a sail on the foremast; the vessel lost way;
+and the crew, having been deserted by the officers, huddled into the
+forecastle, leaving several of their number prone upon the deck.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the motion of the vessel ceased, two of the Spaniards rushed up
+the companion-way and called on the crew frantically to hoist the
+foresail.  But in vain.  The men were helpless with terror.  And while
+the Spaniards were storming and gesticulating, Turnpenny, exerting his
+immense strength, hauled round the eight-foot minion which had been
+removed from the embrasure by which the intruders had entered the fort,
+and next moment a carcass crammed with case-shot plumped amidships of
+the hapless bark, and the Spaniards, cowering from the flying
+splinters, scuttled down the companion-way&mdash;all but one fellow, bolder
+than the rest.  The vessel had swung round a little, so that her
+stern-chaser, a culverin twelve feet long, pointed full at the fort.
+It was already loaded.  The Spaniard, with a shout of defiance, altered
+the elevation of the gun, lit a match, and applied it to the
+touch-hole.  A round shot crashed through the embrasure from which
+Turnpenny had fired, scattering a shower of stone-chips around, and
+dealing wounds among the group who were watching and assisting the
+seaman to reload.  The crashing sound brought the Spaniards again from
+below, and they began feverishly to clean out and reload the piece.
+But another shot from Dennis's gun fell plump into the round-house on
+the half-deck; and now the Spanish commandant, perceiving that the men
+on the quay had sprung into the fishers' canoes that lay alongside, and
+were making direct to board his vessel, saw that the game was up, and,
+raising his arms aloft, shouted that he surrendered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Go and board her," cried Dennis to Turnpenny.  "I'll stay by the guns
+in case he meditates treachery."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The seaman hurried away with a mixed crowd of maroons and white men.
+In a few minutes he was pulling lustily for the vessel.  Dennis, with
+gun loaded, watched him climb the side and receive the Spaniard's
+sword.  Then a hawser was fixed to the headboards, and the vessel was
+towed back to the quay side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis hastened down.  The crestfallen commandant with all his men was
+brought ashore and escorted to his house, where they were left under
+guard.  Hugh Curder, with three other seamen, was placed in charge of
+the vessel, and then Dennis re-entered the fort-enclosure with
+Turnpenny and the rest, eager to see, now that day had fully dawned,
+what had happened during his absence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He could not repress a shudder as he saw the ground strewn with dead
+and wounded men; and he was horrified to observe that some of the
+slave-fishers had broken out of their huts, and were moving about the
+court-yard, giving the finishing stroke to the wounded of their late
+masters who were yet alive.  Dennis sent Ned Whiddon among them to put
+a stop to this ruthless butchery; then his intervention was called for
+at the round tower from which the prisoners had been released.  A group
+of them, headed by a big ruffianly seaman, had burst open the door of
+the room in which the unarmed Spanish guards had been locked, and were
+beginning a work of butchery there when Dennis, with Turnpenny and a
+few others, rushed to the scene.  Dashing into the room, Dennis sprang
+at the ringleader just as he was thrusting at a Spaniard who had thrown
+himself down on his knees and was pleading for mercy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hold, knave!" he cried, hauling the man away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Zounds! and who be you?" shouted the fellow, recovering himself and
+lunging furiously at Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'll teach 'ee, Jan Biddle!" roared Turnpenny.  Seizing the man, he
+lifted him as though he were a child and hurled him over his head in
+true Devonian style.  Biddle's head struck the floor with a loud thud,
+and he lay as one killed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Souse him, my hearts!" cried Turnpenny.  "The saucy knave!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And in a few minutes a plentiful drenching from a water-butt at the
+door brought some glimmering of sense into the man's bruised noddle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the Spaniards who had survived the fight and escaped from
+their pursuers, had barricaded themselves in the officers' quarters,
+where they were unmolested while the majority of their late prisoners
+were on the quay.  The victory could not be considered complete while
+they remained shut up, for they no doubt had arms and ammunition at
+their disposal.  Some of the victors were for blowing up the house and
+all in it; but Dennis and Turnpenny dissuaded them from this, and
+declared for insisting on unconditional surrender.  To obtain this they
+made use of the captive commandant.  At Dennis's suggestion, Turnpenny
+put the case to him, pointing out how hopeless was the position of his
+men, and promising to spare their lives if they surrendered at once.
+The commandant was then led to the officers' house between two men with
+drawn swords, and after a few minutes' colloquy the men agreed to hand
+over their weapons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis meanwhile collected his whole party.  They were a very ragged
+regiment.  None was quite so tattered as Tom Copstone, but all were
+dirty, unkempt, unshorn, bearing many marks of toil and suffering, as
+well as the more recent marks of fight.  Of the five maroons who had
+scaled the fort wall two were dead; the rest were all wounded.  Not one
+of the little band had escaped unhurt.  Dennis had several gashes in
+his arms.  Turnpenny's big face was disfigured with cuts and bruises,
+while Copstone, who had fought with utter recklessness, seemed to have
+borne a charmed life, so many were his wounds.  The released prisoners
+had come off best.  With the exception of the two men shot down from
+the vessel, one being killed and the other badly wounded, they had
+escaped with a few scratches.  They were a wild, rough lot, and Dennis
+wondered, as he looked them over, whether they would show themselves
+amenable to discipline.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Spaniards having been disarmed and locked in the house, Turnpenny
+constituted himself master of the ceremonies.  After a brief talk with
+Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder, his special friends, he said to Dennis&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here we be, sir, masters of the fort, twenty-two all told, five being
+French.  We must needs have a captain, and that be you, for 'tis all
+owed to your wit, and we pay you our humble duty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thank 'ee, Amos, but I will not be captain save by the wish of all.
+Methinks 'tis an office for one older in years."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if it be, sir.  Comrades, list while I tell the tale of
+these rare doings."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He related to the crowd the story of his rescue from the Spaniards on
+the island, the capture of the lumber-ship, the voyage in the maroons'
+canoe, and all that had happened since.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And now, comrades," he concluded, "I ax 'ee, who so fit to be our
+captain as Master Dennis Hazelrig, of Shaston in Devon?  We owe our
+lives to him, and there be many a thing to face afore we get across the
+thousand leagues to home.  Who but him shall be our captain?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The election was ratified with a great shout.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thank 'ee, comrades," said Dennis.  "'Tis not a post I covet;
+willingly would I serve under an older man, my good friend Amos, to
+wit.  But I accept your choice.  One thing I say.  There may be more
+fighting before us; if we fight, let us fight like Englishmen, not like
+savages, and treat our enemies according to the manner of civilized
+nations.  Do you agree to that?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, ay!" shouted the men,&mdash;all but Jan Biddle, whose growling protests
+were howled down by the rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then it is mine to choose my lieutenant.  You are all good men and
+true, but 'tis my misfortune I am not so well acquainted with you as I
+hope to be.  But I know Amos Turnpenny, and you know him also; and&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I crave your pardon, sir," said Amos, interrupting; "I was gunner's
+mate twenty-five year ago on the noble <i>Anne Gallant</i>, and four year
+ago boatswain on Captain Hawkins his <i>Jesus</i>, and methinks the rank of
+boatswain befits my stature and my fancy both; and if I may be so bold,
+I say let these our comrades, good men and true, as you yourself did
+say, choose among themselves two to serve as mates aboard the vessel."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A wise speech," said Jan Biddle.  "There be good mariners among us;
+ay, and some of us are skilled in the manage of greater vessels than
+the poor bark yonder.  Let us then do as Amos says, and choose who
+shall come next to our noble captain."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"So be it," said Dennis, with a glance at Amos.  "Choose then, and we
+will abide the choice."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was clear that Jan Biddle expected the election to one of the posts
+to fall upon himself.  He could not hide his chagrin when by general
+consent Ned Whiddon and a man of quiet appearance named Gabriel Batten
+were selected.  Dennis on his part was glad that Biddle was to remain a
+simple member of the crew; he disliked the man's overbearing manner and
+the shifty look in his eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These matters having been settled, he explained that his purpose was to
+sail away as soon as the vessel could be got ready, and steer a course
+for England.  It was needful to make haste, for the sound of the firing
+might have been heard on Spanish ships at sea, and even now an enemy
+might be making for the spot.  The first thing was to inspect the
+vessel at the quay and see what damage had been done.  He asked the two
+mates and Turnpenny to accompany him to the ship for this purpose.
+Meanwhile he suggested that the others, with the assistance of the
+natives, should give those who had been killed burial in the sea, and
+he dispatched two of the maroons to the creek where they had left
+Baltizar and one of their comrades in charge of the two prisoners, to
+acquaint them with what had happened and bring them to the fort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Boarding the Spanish vessel, he found that the mainmast was a complete
+ruin; it would be necessary to replace it.  This Ned Whiddon said would
+be no difficult matter.  A couple of men could soon fell a tall and
+slender cedar in the woods, and though it was not advisable to spend
+much time in trimming it, a few hours' work would suffice to fit it for
+its use.  Luckily the step was uninjured, and there was plenty of sound
+rope on board from which to form new stays.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The deck had been a good deal knocked about by the shots from the fort,
+but the damage done was not such as to render the vessel unnavigable as
+soon as the mast should be stepped and the rigging repaired.  Ned
+Whiddon undertook to carry out the necessary work with the assistance
+of men of his choice, and went back to the fort with Batten to make a
+beginning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis and Turnpenny examined the vessel from stem to stern above and
+below decks.  In the captain's cabin they found a number of small bags
+which on being opened they discovered to be full of pearls.  The
+commandant had evidently not come empty-handed from the fort.  There
+were also several chests containing pieces of eight, and in the hold
+were twenty odd jars filled with gunpowder, and more than a hundred
+jars of wine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis my counsel to fling 'em overboard as soon as it be dark," said
+Amos.  "'Tis a goodish time since my comrades have tasted strong
+liquor, and I fear me with such plenty they might drink until they were
+drunken and fit for nought.  And Jan Biddle with wine in him would be
+no less than a madman."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay.  Tell me, Amos, what know you of that same loud-tongued mariner?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, I know little.  He do say he be an Englishman, and one time
+second mate on a Dutch privateer; but what be the truth of it none can
+say.  He speaks the French and Dutch tongues as readily as English, and
+has suffered at the hands of the Spaniards even more than most, by
+reason of his unruly tongue.  He is loved by none, but hath a certain
+power over men; and I rejoice that he is not chosen for mate aboard
+this vessel."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I like not his looks.  Your comrades have done wisely, I trow, in
+rejecting him.  And now, what think you of the chances of our purposed
+voyage, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!  I warrant we can sail her merrily across the great ocean,
+and with favouring winds may hope to see the blessed shores of England
+in a matter of two months.  And my soul hungers for the sight of the
+old cliffs.  By the mercy of God, who hath marvellously prospered our
+doings, we will yet again come to haven in our dear native land."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will new christen her for luck, Amos.  Her present name&mdash;I cannot
+say the words&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"<i>Nuestra Se�ora del Baria</i>&mdash;a papist name, sir, 'Our Lady of'&mdash;I know
+not what.  What name shall we give her?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What say you to <i>Mirandola</i>?  Our comrade the monkey has without doubt
+gotten him away to the woods, and there, mayhap, found old friends of
+his kind.  I hold the beast in affection, Amos, and would fain keep him
+in remembrance."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The <i>Mirandola</i> it shall be, sir; 'tis a fair sounding name, and, if I
+may speak my mind, befits a tight little craft somewhat better than a
+heathen monkey.  Though i' fecks, I'd liever call her by a plainer
+name; yet it shall be as you say."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And now, a matter that troubles me, Amos: what shall we do with the
+Spaniards our captives?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if I would let the knaves trouble me.  Let 'em loose afore
+we sail.  There is much food, I doubt not, in the fort, and abundance
+in the woods around.  The knaves will not starve; t'ud be no great loss
+if they did; and belike a vessel will come to this place ere many days
+be past, and then they can tell the tale, with raging and cursing that
+will harm us not a jot."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It shall be done.  And it will be well, I trow, to raze the fort to
+the ground.  It has been built with the blood and sweat of our
+comrades; to destroy it will be a just reprisal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and make the knaves to dismantle it with their own hands.  I would
+fain scourge their naked backs as they have scourged mine, many's the
+time."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the ordnance?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Burst it asunder.  Why should we leave it sound to belch its shot,
+mayhap, on English craft some day?  God-a-mercy, 'twas a famous shot of
+yours, sir, that sent the mainmast by the board, and I don't grudge it
+'ee that your aim was truer than mine.  'Tis twenty-five year since I
+served the ordnance on the <i>Anne Gallant</i>."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I had good practice on the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  But you have not forgot
+your cunning, Amos, and I warrant if we have occasion to use the piece
+here in the stern you will make good firing.  Now 'tis time to return
+to the fort; I would not that Jan Biddle should stir up the rage of our
+people against those unhappy Spaniards, and 'tis not unlike, we being
+absent, he may do so."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, 'tis meet we trust not Jan Biddle overmuch.  Let us go, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They found on returning that Ned Whiddon had already gone into the
+forest with two or three men to fell a tree for the mast.  While he was
+absent on this errand Dennis set part of his company to collect all the
+Spaniards' small arms and pile them in readiness for conveyance to the
+vessel, others to ram excessive charges of powder into the guns, and a
+third gang to superintend the Spaniards in their enforced task of
+dismantling the fort.  Great charges of powder, of which there was an
+ample store, were placed in barrels in each of the round towers, to be
+fired at the last moment, for Dennis did not wish to risk an explosion,
+which must be heard many miles away, until he was on the point of
+sailing out on the <i>Mirandola</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The work of preparation was continued throughout the day, with brief
+pauses for meals.  Ned Whiddon and his party toiled with such right
+good will that he was able to announce, at nightfall, that after a
+little more work in the morning the new mast would be ready for
+stepping.  This was especially good news, for in view of the possible
+arrival of a Spanish vessel Dennis could not feel secure until the
+<i>Mirandola</i> was fairly out at sea.  As soon as it was dark, Turnpenny
+and Copstone went down to the vessel, and flung overboard the whole
+store of wine save a few jars which they kept for emergencies.  The
+Spaniards, of whom about thirty had survived the fight, were again shut
+up in the houses of the commandant and the officers, and Dennis
+arranged that a careful watch should be kept through the night.  Then,
+tired out with his long labours, he gladly threw himself upon a couch
+in one of the towers, and slept soundly until the dawn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the morning, as he went round the battlements with Turnpenny to see
+that the guns had all been crammed with bursting charges, he was seized
+with a whim to preserve two of them and carry them home to England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Me thinks they would make rare trophies for our folks to marvel at,"
+he said to Amos with a smile.  "What say you, Amos?  Would not one look
+exceeding well on the Hoe at Plymouth?  And I think not Holles, my
+steward, who is keeping my little place at Shaston warm for me till I
+attain to man's estate,&mdash;I think not even he, puritan as he is, would
+find cause why one should not stand at my gates."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A rare conceit, sir.  Pray you one be the saker stolen by the knaves
+from the <i>Jesus</i>; t'other might be the demi-culverin you fired so
+famously.  They'd be good ballast aboard, moreover; pearls are of
+greater price than weight; and there be room enough and to spare in the
+hold."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With some trouble the two pieces were lowered over the battlements to
+the quay and hoisted aboard the vessel, where Ned Whiddon and his crew
+were already at work stepping the mast and overhauling the rigging.  By
+midday Whiddon declared with pride that the <i>Mirandola</i> was ready for
+sea.  A great cheer greeted the announcement.  No time was lost in
+carrying stores, water, arms, and ammunition on board.  When all was
+safely stowed, Dennis, with Turnpenny as interpreter, had a final
+interview with the commandant, to whom he made known his intention of
+blowing up the towers of the fort, but leaving the buildings in the
+centre of the enclosure intact.  He said also that the native
+pearl-fishers, with the maroons, had elected to coast along the shore
+in their canoes until they reached a settlement of their own people.
+Being well provided with arms, they could defend themselves against
+pursuit even if there should be any disposition on the part of the
+Spaniards to attempt to capture them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, one after another, the guns were fired and burst to atoms by
+means of long trains of powder.  Last of all the charges in the towers
+were exploded, and as the masonry toppled and fell after each
+thunderous roar, the little company greeted the destruction with a
+storm of cheers.  When Dennis and his comrades turned their backs on
+the place and went aboard the <i>Mirandola</i>, they left the once
+stronghold a heap of ruins, amid which the Spaniards were already
+moving about in desolation and despair.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap15"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XV
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+A Long Chase
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+The <i>Mirandola</i> was towed out of the little harbour by maroons and
+Indians in their canoes, and beat out to sea against a
+nor'-nor'-easterly wind.  Thanks to Ned Whiddon and his comrades the
+bark was in capital trim, and the crew, now after many days free men
+afloat, were at the top of cheerfulness and jollity.  The long voyage
+home had no terrors for them.  They were all sturdy mariners,
+accustomed to adventure their lives on the deep.  They had hardly
+weathered the headland to the east and stood away for the mouth of the
+gulf before Hugh Curder began to troll a ditty:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Lustily, lustily, let us sail forth;<br />
+The wind trim doth serve us, it blows from the north,<br />
+All things we have ready, and nothing we want,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To furnish our ship that rideth hereby;<br />
+Victuals and weapons they be nothing scant,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Like worthy mariners ourselves we will try.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lustily, oh lustily!"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, 'tis good to hear to 'ee, Hugh!" cried Turnpenny.  "And I do wish
+we had a crowdy-kit aboard, for I mind me Tom Copstone can ply the bow,
+and a merry tune would set our feet a-jog.  To it again, Hugh; open
+your thropple, man, and we'll bear our burden, every man of us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Hugh Curder, after "hawking and spitting," as he said, because his
+"wynd-pipe" was "summat scrannied for want o' use," struck up again:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Her flags be new trimmed, set flaunting aloft&mdash;&mdash;"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Not so," interrupted Ned Whiddon.  "We bean't got no flags."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pegs! 'tis in the ditty, Ned," cried Turnpenny.  "None but a
+ninny-hammer would look for sober truth in a ditty.  Heed him not,
+Hugh; to it again."
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Her flags be new trimmed, set flaunting aloft,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Our ship for swift swimming, oh she doth excel;<br />
+We fear no enemies, we've escaped them oft;<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Of all ships that swimmeth she beareth the bell.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lustily, oh lustily.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"And here is a master excelleth in skill,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And our master's mate he is not to seek;<br />
+And here is a boatswain will do his good will,<br />
+And here is a ship-boy, we never had leak."<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lustily, oh lustily."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"You be the ship-boy, Hugh, seeing you be the youngest of us," said
+Whiddon.  "And you've a proper breast for a singing-boy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now the last stanzo, Hugh," cried Turnpenny.  "'If fortune then fail
+not,'&mdash;but my scrimpy voice murders it.  Sing up, man."
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"If fortune then fail not, and our next voyage prove,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We will return merrily and make good cheer,<br />
+And hold all together as friends linked in love,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The cans shall be filled with wine, ale, and beer,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lustily, oh lustily."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis not worth a crim," growled Jan Biddle, when the song was ended.
+"'Wine, ale, and beer'&mdash;where is it?  I'd give a week o' life for a
+gallon o' home-brewed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and what then!" said Gabriel Batten.  "Sing the song of ale, Hugh."
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Back and side go bare, go bare,<br />
+Both foot and hand go cold&mdash;&mdash;"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, not that one; 'tis over long, and 'll make us too drouthy.
+Seeing we have no ale, 't'ud be cruel to sing the praises of it so
+feelingly.  Nay, sing the ditty that serves for warning; 'twill better
+fit our case."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hugh Curder began:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Ale makes many a man to make his head have knocks;<br />
+And ale makes many a man to sit in the stocks;<br />
+And ale makes many a man to hang upon the gallows&mdash;"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Oh, shut his mouth!" cried Biddle testily.  "We'll all be glumping if
+we list to such trash.  Hallo for the wind to change, for with this
+nor'-easter blowing we'll never get clear of the coast."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The vessel was indeed making slow progress, beating out against the
+strong wind.  Dennis, though elected Captain, had little to do with the
+actual handling of the ship: in those days the captain was not always a
+navigator.  But the <i>Mirandola</i> was in good hands.  Both Whiddon and
+Batten were practised seamen, and in seamanship, as distinguished from
+navigation, Turnpenny was incomparable.  They had found in the cabin a
+chart of the coast and the neighbouring sea, by means of which they
+avoided the shoals and made without mishap towards the mouth of the
+gulf.  Dennis and Turnpenny examined the chart carefully to see if they
+could distinguish the island they had named Maiden Isle.  Several small
+islands were marked on it as mere dots without names, and they could
+not for a long time decide which of them was Maiden Isle; but Turnpenny
+at last fixed on one of them, and his conjecture was proved to be
+correct in the evening.  Whiddon had set the course by Turnpenny's
+suggestion, and just before dark the vessel skirted the south-eastern
+corner of the island where he and Dennis had met so strangely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Looking at the chart, Dennis wondered how the <i>Maid Marian</i> had escaped
+wrecking a dozen times during the hurricane that finally cast her up on
+the western shore.  There was marked a good open channel for vessels of
+any draught south and south-east of the island, but, as he had guessed,
+the sea to the north and west was practically unnavigable except by
+small craft.  The <i>Mirandola</i> gave the island a wide berth in passing;
+the wind was freshening, and there were signs of heavy weather.  Dennis
+felt a little regret at leaving the island unvisited, and abandoning
+the relics of his friends which he had saved from the wreck; but, like
+every member of his party, he was eager to lose sight of this hostile
+coast, and to gain the wide ocean where, given good luck, they would be
+secure from Spanish molestation and have nothing to fear but the
+ordinary chances of a long voyage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They made little headway that night.  Anxious as they were to run out
+of the main track of Spanish commerce, they felt the necessity of
+choosing a safe rather than a short course, and especially of avoiding
+the network of reefs and islands to leeward.  In the blackest hours of
+the night, indeed, they lay to, Turnpenny remarking that it was better
+to lose a little time than to run the risk of losing the vessel by a
+too bold navigation of unfamiliar seas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This caution proved to be justified, for the wind shifted in the night;
+and when at break of day the <i>Mirandola</i> again got under way they found
+that she had drifted dangerously near an island which, being very
+small, was not marked on the chart.  A light haze lay over the sea, but
+it lifted soon, and then vast excitement was aroused on board when the
+look-out shouted that he descried, under the lee of the island, a
+vessel under full sail.  Turnpenny took a long look at her, and
+declared that she was a bark somewhat larger than the Mirandola, though
+at the distance&mdash;near four miles, he thought&mdash;it was impossible to be
+sure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Of what nation is she?" asked Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No mortal man could say," returned Amos; "but 'tis a hundred to one
+she be a Spaniard, and we must either fight or run."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Think you she will see us, being so small a vessel?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"None can tell that either.  We must look to the worst.  True, we have
+the weather-gage of her; but soon or late she will overhaul us if she
+gives chase.  She has a look of speed, or I be no mariner.  'Tis
+certain we cannot fight her; our armament will not suffice;
+furthermore, from her size I reckon her crew be three or four times
+ours, and our men have no mind to be captured and cast again into a
+Spanish dungeon."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We must e'en run then," said Dennis with a sigh.  "That means we must
+put about?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, and 'tis somewhat in our favour, for you perceive the wind has
+shifted in the night to west-sou'-west, and belike we can sail
+close-hauled better than she can."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whiddon accordingly put the vessel about, and set the course so that
+she could keep the island between herself and the stranger.  But in the
+course of the next hour it was clear that the <i>Mirandola</i> had not
+escaped notice.  The stranger had weathered the island and was
+manifestly standing in pursuit.  The crew of the <i>Mirandola</i> watched
+her anxiously.  They were but twenty-two all told, five of them being
+French: and although they were all stout mariners with no lack of
+native courage, the remembrance of their past sufferings did not
+incline them to run risks.  For some time it was doubtful whether the
+pursuing vessel was or was not gaining; but as the day wore on it
+became clear that the <i>Mirandola</i> was being outsailed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis a piece of rare good luck we had the wind against us last night,"
+said Turnpenny, "for in a straight chase in the open we should have no
+chance against the critter, whereas if we get back among these islands
+we may give her the slip."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"If we do not strike a reef and founder," replied Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here Turnpenny tried a device that he had often seen practised on the
+<i>Anne Gallant</i>.  He ordered two men to go up to the cross-trees with a
+pulley-block; they rove a line through, and, hoisting up buckets of
+water, saturated all the canvas.  Then he put all the men on to the lee
+braces, and so got the vessel to lie a point nearer the wind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two manoeuvres considerably increased her speed, but in spite of
+all that seamanship could do or devise the gap between the vessels
+sensibly diminished; the pursuer loomed ever larger down to leeward.
+Then Jan Biddle began to show himself in his true colours.  Dennis had
+noticed that the man had attached to himself a group of the wilder
+spirits among the crew, who with an ill grace went about the duties
+assigned to them by Whiddon, and upon whom, indeed, the mate called as
+seldom as possible.  When it became clear that the <i>Mirandola</i> was
+being surely overhauled, these men were observed in close talk beneath
+the break of the poop.  By and by Biddle swaggered forward, followed by
+seven or eight of his comrades, to where Whiddon and Turnpenny stood,
+forward of the mainmast.  Batten was at the helm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Art mad, Ned Whiddon?" cried Biddle in a hectoring tone.  "Dost think
+thou'rt a mariner?  Crymaces! if we trust to thee we'll be laid by the
+heels in the hold of yonder craft ere night."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Couldst do better, think 'ee?" asked Whiddon quietly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Better?  Who but a slin-pole would have done as 'ee have done?
+There's but one way to scape out of the clutches of the Spaniards, and
+that is to put the helm down, come about, and run for it.  This craft
+is better running free than close-hauled."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Know a fool by his folly," said Turnpenny.  "Rule your saucy tongue,
+Jan Biddle, and offer not to teach your betters."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Who be you to talk of betters, Amos Turnpenny&mdash;a sluddering rampallian
+like you?  An you will take no counsel we'll e'en see to the manage of
+the vessel ourselves.  Here, comrades, this be enough of these joulter
+heads; let go the sheets; I will put the helm down and we'll go round
+on the other tack: we'll have no fools over us, to bring us to harm."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But before one of the malcontents could step forward to do his bidding,
+Turnpenny threw his arms around Biddle, lifted him clean off his feet,
+and flung him against the bulwarks, where he lay stunned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I'll serve any man likewise that dares to raise his voice in
+mutiny.  Get about, you villains, and 'ware lest you be clapped in
+irons and set awash in the bilge."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis had hastened to Turnpenny's side at the first sign of
+altercation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When the chase is over we will deal with these fellows," he said
+quietly.  "Meanwhile, Amos, is not that our Maiden Isle on the lewside
+ahead?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Surely it is, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Think you not 'twould serve us best to run in among the reefs
+thereabouts?  The bark could not follow us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, but we might strike and run aground any moment, and lose our
+vessel and our lives withal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, but we are being surely overhauled, and meseems 'twere better to
+take the risk of running aground than to fall into the hands of the
+Spaniards.  There is a chance of our threading a way through, whereas
+the stranger, being of greater draught, would not venture her bottom
+among these uncharted shoals."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Verily 'tis a wise thought&mdash;if there be time.  What think 'ee, Ned?
+Yonder, mark 'ee, is the isle whereon Master Hazelrig and I lived
+secure for a matter of weeks, with food in plenty.  Think 'ee there be
+time to make the shallows afore the Spaniard comes within shot of us?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, there be time enough, but I fear me we should wreck our craft."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There be no other way, Ned.  And I warrant me I could make a shift to
+steer a safe course inshore, because 'twas on the south side of the
+isle we landed from the timber ship, and there, i' fecks, be her
+masts&mdash;see, Ned, standing out a little above the sea."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then do 'ee take the helm, Haymoss, and God save us all."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Clearly the course of the <i>Mirandola</i> was being closely watched on the
+pursuing vessel, for when, tacking in obedience to the helm, she made
+direct for the south of the island, there came a puff of smoke from the
+side of the bark, and a shot plumped into the sea about two
+cable-lengths astern.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas over hurrisome, master don," said Turnpenny with a chuckle; "and
+call me a Dutchman if 'ee ever get to closer range."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He ran the little vessel cleverly inshore and steered past the wreck of
+the timber ship.  Then it occurred to Dennis that there must be a
+practicable channel not far to the west, or the <i>Maid Marian</i> would
+have gone aground in the hurricane long before she did.  At his
+suggestion the <i>Mirandola</i> was kept on her course for half a mile
+beyond the southernmost point of the island.  Then, as there was no
+time to take soundings, she was put before the wind, with the object of
+gaining the north of the island, where Dennis knew that if the pursuer
+drew as much water as from her size seemed likely, there was little
+chance of her being able to follow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The confident bearing of Dennis and Turnpenny had a cheering influence
+on the crew.  Even Jan Biddle, who had now recovered from his blow, and
+his cronies seemed no longer inclined to quarrel with the handling of
+the vessel.  The pursuer was now out of sight, hidden by the bend of
+the shore.  The <i>Mirandola</i> was making excellent sailing before the
+wind, and Dennis hoped that if she could elude the Spaniard until dark,
+there might be a good chance of her escaping any further attentions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pursuer came in sight again just as the <i>Mirandola</i> was approaching
+the rocky ridge which had been a barrier to Dennis's exploration of the
+shore on his first day on the island.  He was rejoiced to see that in
+wearing she had lost a little.  Then a sudden idea struck him.  Beyond
+the ridge was the entrance to the gully, and up the gully the broad
+pool in which the <i>Maid Marian</i> lay.  Would not the best course after
+all be to play a trick on the pursuer?  Why not try to run into the
+pool?  When the <i>Mirandola</i> had once rounded the shoulder of the cliff
+she would again be almost out of sight; if she could run into the gully
+the pursuers would almost certainly suppose that she had fled round the
+northern side of the island; and safe in the pool, she might lie there
+until the chase had been given up.  He mentioned his idea to Amos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if it bean't a right merry notion," cried the mariner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But none knew better the difficulty of steering the vessel safely into
+the gully.  There was no time for consideration.  If once she passed
+the entrance the vessel could not beat back again before the pursuer
+came within range.  The slightest failure in Turnpenny's seamanship
+would run the bark on the rocks.  But the old mariner knew the gully.
+With set lips and a deep indentation between his brows he stood at the
+helm and gave his orders to the men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stand by the halliards," he cried, "and let go the moment I say the
+word."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was important to have plenty of way on the vessel, for the instant
+she came to the headland the wind would be taken out of her canvas.
+Easing the helm gently over, Turnpenny called to the men to let go as
+the ship rounded the point; in a few moments the canvas was all taken
+in, and with the way on her she glided up the gully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Within ten minutes from the time when the notion first occurred to
+Dennis the <i>Mirandola</i> lay side by side with the wreck of the <i>Maid
+Marian</i> in the pool, invisible from the open sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mum's the word," said Turnpenny when the anchor had been dropped.
+"Muzzle your jaws for a while.  Master Hazelrig and me we knows this
+island, and we'll mount the cliff yonder and see what the don Spaniard
+makes of us now."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving the men to swim ashore if they chose, Dennis and Turnpenny
+sprang overboard, soon found their footing, and scrambled up the rocks
+and the cliff, keeping well under cover.  When they reached the top
+they saw the pursuer about three miles distant.  She had shortened
+sail, and was evidently inclined to give the coast a wider berth than
+the <i>Mirandola</i> had done.  It was growing dusk when she came level with
+the gully, standing about a mile from the shore.  Her movements for a
+time were erratic; clearly the people on board distrusted the waters
+round the island, and were somewhat perplexed as to the course taken by
+the fugitive.  At length they decided apparently to abandon the
+pursuit, for she stood to windward, and the two watchers breathed again.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap16"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVI
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Jan Biddle, Master
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+"God be praised!" said Turnpenny, fervently; "we have escaped out of
+the hands of the enemy."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And we find ourselves once more on Maiden Isle, the which I never
+thought to set foot on more.  I am glad of it, Amos, for now that we
+have a bark fit to carry us over the sea, I would fain take with us
+certain things that belonged to my dear comrades.  They will be
+cherished by their sorrowing folks at home."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, the sight of such belongings of the dead and gone do have a
+morsel of comfort in it.  And moreover we can take some of your stores,
+for though our own monkey ship be not ill provided, yet the victuals be
+Spanish, and 'twill make new men of our comrades to give 'em a rasher
+of bacon now and again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, but why monkey ship, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, I cannot put my tongue to the name your fancy gave the
+vessel, and to my thinking it is not to compare with <i>Anne Gallant</i>,
+and <i>Jesus</i>, and <i>Minion</i>, and other craft I have served aboard, to say
+nothing of the <i>Susans</i> and <i>Bettys</i> that are well beknown in Plimworth
+Sound."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, have your way.  To my ears <i>Mirandola</i> hath a pleasant sound,
+and it will always keep me in mind of my good friend.  But 'tis time we
+returned to our comrades."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they reached the entrance of the chine they found that the crew
+had all come ashore, save one or two who were curiously examining the
+wreck of the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  They could not refrain from shouting a
+glad "Huzza!" when they learnt that the pursuing vessel was standing
+away.  Jan Biddle and one of his cronies had been rummaging in Dennis's
+hut and sheds, finding little to reward them, however, almost
+everything having been transferred to Skeleton Cave.  Night was drawing
+on apace, and though some of the crew were for setting sail in the
+darkness, the majority agreed with Dennis that it would be better to
+defer their departure until the following night.  This plan would give
+them a whole day's rest; it would render it less likely that the
+pursuer would be still in the neighbourhood; and it would enable them
+to carry more water on board, which was desirable in view of the
+possibility of a protracted voyage.  Dennis and Amos decided to occupy
+their old hut; the men were given their choice of the sheds, now all
+but empty, and the huts erected by the maroons near the logwood grove.
+They all declared for sleeping ashore rather than on board ship, Hugh
+Curder and Gabriel Batten, however, volunteering to remain on deck as a
+night watch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day, after the stores and things which Dennis wished to take home
+had been transferred from the cave to the vessel, and several barrels
+of fresh water from the spring in the cliff had been placed in her
+hold, the men broke up into little groups and wandered about the
+island, revelling in their liberty and in the abundance of fruit which
+they could have for the picking.  Several times Dennis went to the
+cliff top on one side and Amos on the other side of the island to scan
+the horizon for a sail, but neither saw any sign of one.  In the
+afternoon Dennis ventured to sound Sir Martin's trumpet as a signal of
+recall, and the men came dropping back in ones and twos and threes in
+anticipation of departure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tide was at flood, and Dennis had just given the order to go
+aboard, when Tom Copstone suddenly exclaimed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Zuggers!  Where be Gabriel Batten?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is he not here?" asked Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not the ghost of him," said Amos, looking round on the company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He were always a ninny-hammer," cried Jan Biddle angrily.  "Never did
+I know such a man for simples and other trash.  Sure he be roaming
+somewheres with his nose to the ground, trying to smell out some herb
+that will heal a scratch or cure a distemper."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Blow up the trumpet for en," suggested Copstone; "Gabr'el be a vitty
+lad&mdash;none the worse for not being made so rampageous as 'ee, Jan
+Biddle, for all he do go wool-gathering at whiles."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Biddle glared at the speaker, but said no more.  Hugh Curder, being the
+man with the brazen lungs, blew a loud blast on the trumpet which set
+the cliffs and the chine reverberating.  They waited; the wanderer must
+have gone far indeed if he was out of earshot of that strident blare.
+But as time went on, and he did not appear, Dennis began to be somewhat
+vexed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas thoughtless of the man," he said; "already is the tide beginning
+to ebb, in two hours it will be impossible to embark this night, and
+that entails upon us the loss of another day."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Embark without him," growled Biddle.  "What is he that he should keep
+a score of good men waiting his pleasure?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, nay," said Dennis.  "We cannot leave him here.  You have had your
+sufferings and sorrows, from the like of which God save us all; but is
+there a man of you that hath dwelt alone upon an island, spending
+nights and days without the sight of a face, or the sound of a voice?
+That have I done, and not willingly shall I subject a man to a like
+solitude.  There is still a little space during which the tide will
+serve.  Let us scatter in parties, some going this way, some that, and
+halloo; perchance some of us may light on our comrade."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The suggestion was adopted; only Jan Biddle and his few particular
+friends went about the search grudgingly.  But though the men scoured
+the island from shore to shore, and kept up the quest to the very verge
+of nightfall, long after the tide had run so low that the idea of
+setting sail till next day had to be abandoned, they discovered no
+trace of the straggler, and returned weary and irritable when the
+trumpet recalled them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He may come in by and by," said Dennis cheerfully.  "If not we must
+e'en take up the search in the morning.  We shall have a whole day
+wherein to pursue it.  Let us now get our supper and commend ourselves
+and our comrades to God."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Odspitikins!" cried Jan Biddle.  "What did I say!  What a captain is
+this!  Here be we, twenty-one souls, raped up here for one slummaking
+micher not worth a varden."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart!" shouted Amos, "you were best keep a still tongue in your
+noddle, Jan Biddle, or with the captain's leave I'll clap 'ee in irons
+the instant we go aboard, and keep 'ee under hatches for a sluddering
+mutineer&mdash;ay, and larrap 'ee first, I warrant 'ee."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Biddle's experience of the strength of Turnpenny's arm did not
+encourage him to repeat his protest; but when the supper was spread on
+the rocks above the pool, he carried off his portion to a place apart,
+and nursed his wrath among a small group of his comrades who followed
+him.  The malcontents numbered eight in all, and four of these were
+Frenchmen, with whom Biddle could converse freely in their own tongue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again they slept ashore, except the two who had been selected to keep
+watch on the vessel.  The precaution seemed hardly necessary, for it
+was unlikely that a hostile ship would appear in the night; but
+Turnpenny had suggested that it was well to keep up the customs
+observed at sea.  The men chosen for this night's watch were two steady
+fellows named William Hawk and Luke Fenton.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis lay awake for some time, talking with Amos about the missing
+man.  Though he had maintained a cheerful composure before the crew, he
+was in reality not a little vexed at the delay caused by the
+thoughtlessness of Gabriel Batten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is it true, what Biddle said," he asked, "about Batten's madness for
+gathering simples?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, 'tis true.  He be a vitty lad, as Tom Copstone said, and a good
+seaman, quiet withal; but he has a maggot, and 'tis that, without a
+doubt, that has led him aroaming.  There be a time for everything, and
+though I do not deny that Gabriel's skill in simples has ofttimes
+served us well, 'tis not to be wondered at that the men make a pucker
+about it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, we must find him to-morrow.  We cannot sail away without him;
+why, there is not even a Mirandola here now to bear him company."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if I don't ballirag en to-morrow for his hanticks,
+od-rat-en!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis passed a restless night, waking often, to wonder what had become
+of the wanderer.  He resolved to set out himself as soon as dawn broke,
+and take advantage of his knowledge of the island to search thoroughly.
+Finding himself unable to sleep again, he got up while the chine was
+still in darkness, and walked to the edge of the cliff overlooking the
+pool.  In the gloom he could just see the dark form of the <i>Maid
+Marian</i>; but then he started, rubbed his eyes, looked again, and felt a
+shock of amazement when he realized that the other vessel was no longer
+there.  Next moment it flashed upon him that she must have dragged her
+moorings and floated away on the very last of the ebb-tide, and the
+fact that no alarm had been given seemed to show that the watchers had
+fallen asleep, overcome by the sweltering heat of the tropical night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Calling to Amos, he set off at full speed down the cliff towards the
+opening of the gully, narrowly escaping a serious fall in the darkness.
+He was much relieved to see, on rounding the shoulder of the cliff, the
+dark hull of the vessel in front of him.  The tide was so low that it
+was marvellous she had floated so far without grounding, and the
+thought that she might strike a reef and cause further delay while
+repairs were made prompted a vigorous shout, to waken the neglectful
+watch ere it was too late.  But there came no answering hail from the
+vessel; and fearing that, even if she did not run aground, the men on
+board might not have sufficient seamanship to bring her back in safety,
+he dived into the water and struck out in her wake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he did so, he heard footsteps behind him, two or three voices, and
+the sound of another splash.  Evidently some one had followed him.  The
+<i>Mirandola</i> was moving very slowly; the motion of the tide was indeed
+almost imperceptible, and Dennis, being a good swimmer, soon came under
+her counter.  Catching hold, by a happy chance as he thought, of a rope
+that had formed her mooring cable, he swarmed hand over hand up the
+side and on to the deck.  But no sooner had his feet touched the planks
+than two figures sprang towards him, a blanket was thrown over his
+head, and before he could utter a sound he was flung down, gagged, and
+pinioned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even through the thick folds of the blanket Dennis was able to hear a
+great scuffling on board within a few seconds of his own discomfiture.
+Then all was still, except for the muffled tones of his captors'
+voices.  He could not hear what they said, but it was not long before
+he knew from the greater motion of the vessel that they must have
+hoisted sail.  Not for a moment did he doubt the meaning of it all.
+Who but Jan Biddle and his fellow malcontents would have had the daring
+to run off with the vessel?  The man was a ruffian in looks, and Dennis
+had already had several evidences of his turbulent spirit.  And, lying
+helpless and half smothered on the deck, he did not have to seek far
+for the motive of the act.  It was not merely chagrin at being denied a
+rank; the man knew that there were pearls in the hold, a valuable
+treasure, and his treachery was prompted by cupidity.  He had supposed,
+Dennis suspected, that as a simple mariner among the crew he would get
+but a small portion of the treasure when it should be divided, and
+persuaded some of the men to make this attempt to secure the whole.
+Angry as he was, Dennis could not withhold a certain admiration for the
+man's daring; and then he fell a-wondering why he had not been struck
+on the head and killed outright; a ruffian like Biddle would hardly
+have spared him from any feeling of compunction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How long Dennis lay half stifled under the blanket he could not tell.
+Hours seemed to have passed when it was at last removed, and he could
+breathe freely.  And there, beside him, lay Amos Turnpenny, gagged like
+himself.  Jan Biddle and several of his comrades stood over them,
+grinning with malicious triumph.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Pegs, Captain," said the man, "you do seem betoatled.  Thought the
+vessel had broke a-loose, I reckon.  And so she had&mdash;eh, comrades?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ho! ho!" laughed the men, vastly appreciating their leader's joke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now, we be eight, young master captain,&mdash;stout fellows, but a small
+crew for this vessel.  You be in our power, you and Haymoss too, for
+all he be a rare fustilugs; and down a-hold lie Bill Hawk and Luke
+Fenton, that kept but a ninny-watch, to be sure.  Wherefore we be
+twelve all told, enough for the manage of this craft.  Haymoss will not
+be boatswain, to be sure, nor you captain; I be captain; boatswain is
+French Michel yonder; but 'ee can take your choice,&mdash;help to work this
+vessel, or walk the plank.  Now I will loose your gags, and you and
+Haymoss can talk the matter out, and when ye've made up your minds
+we'll unbind 'ee, or tumble 'ee overboard, according."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Left to themselves, Dennis and Turnpenny were not long in deciding on
+their course of action.  They were at present outnumbered; they had to
+accept the inevitable.  Their assistance would be very valuable in the
+working of the vessel, and Biddle, in spite of his assured bearing, was
+by no means so confident in his seamanship and skill as he tried to
+make himself appear.  After his treacherous conduct he had no reason to
+suppose that Turnpenny would lift a finger to make good his
+deficiencies; on the other hand it was not to the interest of the
+prisoners that the ship should come to grief through mishandling, and
+Biddle knew that in extremity Turnpenny's instinct of seamanship would
+forbid him to hold aloof.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But while Dennis and the mariner agreed that they had no choice but to
+accept the position with what grace they might, they resolved to bide
+their time for getting the vessel again under their control and
+returning to the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My poor comrades and me be parted again," said Amos, with a sigh.
+"'Tis true it will not be so bad for them upon the island as 'twas for
+us.  But there they be, and there they must bide until we can fetch 'em
+off."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And mayhap the Spaniards will land before we can get back to them, and
+then God help the poor fellows.  There is little chance we two can
+overpower these eight villains; we can but hope on."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having acquainted Biddle with their decision, they were cast loose, and
+sat beneath the break of the poop watching their captors' attempts at
+navigation.  The vessel had rounded the easternmost point of the island
+and was running before a south-south-westerly wind.  But it made little
+progress; as the day wore on the breeze died away, and the island was
+still in sight as the sun gradually sank in the western sky.  The
+mutineers cast somewhat anxious glances around, as if fearing that the
+comrades they had betrayed might even now find some means of following
+them.  But as the island gradually faded into the dusk their spirits
+rose, and having broached one of the few jars of wine which had been
+left in the cabin, they began to boast of the success of their trick.
+Biddle even acquainted the prisoners with the manner in which it had
+been carried out.  In the darkness they had surprised the watch on
+board, and cut the cable mooring the vessel to a tree at the side of
+the gully; then seven of them had lowered the jolly-boat and in it
+towed the ship past the shoulder of the cliff until the sails caught
+the wind and it was carried free of the shore.  He told Dennis
+exultantly that if he had swum out three or four minutes earlier the
+plot would have been defeated, for only he was then on board, at the
+helm.  But just before Dennis scrambled on board the others had
+clambered up by the fore chains, and his cry and plunge having been
+heard, there had been time to arrange for his reception.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The crescent moon, which had somewhat favoured the attack on the fort,
+had now increased in size, and threw a thin silvery light upon the sea.
+Biddle, among a little group of his comrades, was still recounting his
+achievement for the benefit of Dennis and Turnpenny when the look-out
+shouted that he spied a vessel to windward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What care I for a vessel to windward!" cried the man.  "We'll give her
+the slip in the dark.  I, Jan Biddle, be captain now; ay, what did Hugh
+Curder sing t'other day?
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Here is a master excelleth in skill,<br />
+And our master's mate he is not to seek.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+That be Dick Rackstraw, Haymoss, a merry soul, not a glumping galliment
+like 'ee.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+And here is a boatswain will do his good will&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+not you, Haymoss; you be boatswain no longer; 'tis French Michel, a
+deal better man.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+And here is a ship-boy&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+why, hang me if we won't make a ship-boy of our noble captain,
+comrades.  'Tis a stripling, to be sure, and I warrant will be none the
+worse for a smitch o' tar on his fingers.  Ees, we'll make him
+ship-boy, we will so.  Ho! ho!
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+And here is a ship-boy&mdash;&mdash;"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+But his mirth and the gleeful shouts of the others were suddenly
+checked when the look-out cried that he saw a second, and then a third
+vessel.  Biddle sprang up with an oath and ran to the taffrail.  What
+he saw did not lessen his alarm.  The three strangers were coming up on
+a broad front, half a mile between them.  They were evidently bringing
+a freshening breeze with them, for they had not been visible when
+darkness first fell.  It was clear to a mariner's eye that the bark
+would have to show her best sailing powers if she was to escape.  She
+had been sailing under foresail and mainsail only, but now in frantic
+haste the crew, in obedience to Biddle's orders, set the topsails and
+the topgallants.  But before the effect of this was apparent the
+approaching ships had crept up within gun range.  It was not long in
+doubt whether they had seen the <i>Mirandola</i>, and were making straight
+for her.  A flash was seen from the bows of one of the vessels; a few
+seconds afterwards a muffled roar was heard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Blank charge!" said Turnpenny to Dennis.  "'Tis a word of warning."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Biddle only shouted a defiant curse.  The bark was now feeling the full
+force of the wind, and was making good headway.  It appeared likely
+that, running before the wind, she could hold her own with the
+strangers.  A minute later another gun was fired, and this time with no
+harmless intent, for there was a great splash in the water a little
+ahead of the <i>Mirandola</i> on the starboard side.  After a short
+interval, a third discharge shook the air, and the mutineers raised an
+exultant shout when they saw the splash some distance astern.  It was
+clear that, if the guns had been fired with the same elevation, the
+chase was drawing away.  The dropping of a fourth and fifth shot still
+farther astern left no room for doubt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What say you now, master boatswain as was!" cried Biddle,
+triumphantly.  "Bean't Jan Biddle as good a mariner as Haymoss
+Turnpenny?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here be a master excelleth in skill."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart! it be a true saying, don't halloo till 'ee be out o' the
+wood," said Amos, grimly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Zuggers! but you be a molkit, Haymoss, a molly-caudle to be sure.  Go
+aft, Haymoss, and cuddle the ship-boy and say your prayers."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny raised his arm to strike the insolent fellow, but Dennis
+whispered him to let it pass; there was nothing to be gained by a fight
+at the present moment, even supposing they prevailed against the odds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hour after hour the chase continued.  The moon went down, but still the
+three vessels could be seen in the dim starlight.  Clearly the
+<i>Mirandola</i>, good sailor as she was, could not shake them off.  Biddle
+ceased to boast; his blustering confidence was changing to dismay, for
+he now perceived that though he had drawn further and further away from
+the vessel that had fired, her consort to windward was becoming more
+clearly visible.  He had not reckoned on so obstinate a chase;
+moreover, being unable to read a chart, he had no idea whither the
+vessel was heading.  There was no chance of doubling.  To alter the
+course would be to lose time, and allow the persistent pursuer to make
+up on her.  She seemed indeed to be gradually decreasing the distance
+between them, though the other two were out of sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the chase went on through the hours of darkness, and daybreak showed
+two vessels far astern, but the third without doubt creeping up slowly
+but surely.  Biddle, weary with the long night's work, was in a sullen
+rage; the other men watched the pursuer with undisguised terror; Dennis
+and Turnpenny, holding themselves aloof, looked on with curiosity and
+something of amusement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Jan Biddle be no fool," said Turnpenny once.  "I could not have
+handled the craft better myself.  But 'tis not an end."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, when the spirits of the crew were depressed to the lowest, an
+early morning mist settled down upon the sea, blotting the pursuer from
+sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Jaykle! 'tis a mercy!" cried Biddle, rousing himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He instantly changed the course of the vessel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll fool them this mizzly morn," he said.  "Mum's the word now,
+comrades."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dead silence was maintained on board, and for some hours the bark made
+steady headway through the mist.  Dennis could not but admire the
+mutineer's fine recklessness.  Without any sure knowledge of his
+bearings he held the vessel steadily to the wind, though she might at
+any moment strike a coral reef or even run aground on one of the
+innumerable islets that studded the gulf.  He was bent only on escaping
+the dreaded grip of the Spaniards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length the fog began to clear, dissipated by the increasing heat of
+the mounting sun.  The crew strained their eyes through the eddying
+mist, to assure themselves that the pursuer, as they hoped, had been
+deluded by the change of course.  But they were appalled, and looked
+from one to another with a gasp of dismay, when they saw, less than
+half a league distant, a large Spanish galleon holding exactly the same
+course as themselves.  Far down on the southern horizon another sail
+could be seen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What I'd have done myself," said Turnpenny to Dennis.  "The Spanish
+skipper be no fool neither.  When the mist came down he guessed the
+manoeuvres of Master Jan, and afore he was closed in by it he had time
+to signal the others to make off, one east, t'other sou'east, while he
+held on the same course, thereby making sure that we'd still be in
+sight of one or other of 'em when the mist lifted.  Ah! lookeedesee,
+sir; there's a flag a-running up the galleon's forepeak.  'Tis a signal
+to the others to come and join the chase.  Be jowned if Jan Biddle
+han't got to run the race all over again!"
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap17"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Demi-Culverin
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Jan Biddle's face was the image of despairing rage when he saw how he
+had been outwitted.  But he stuck gamely to the helm.  The <i>Mirandola</i>
+was now carrying every stitch of canvas possible; her only chance, and
+that but a slight one, was to fly on before the wind.  Dennis was
+tingling with excitement.  Here was the bark, cutting through the water
+at a spanking rate; there the larger galleon, speeding after her under
+press of sail, and two other vessels equally large coming up from the
+south.  He had forgotten that he was a prisoner&mdash;forgotten everything
+but the fact that the implacable enemy was at his heels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly he saw the galleon luff up in the wind, and noticed a lift of
+the foresail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now she's at us!" cried Amos at his elbow, scarcely less excited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the bows of the galleon came a spout of white smoke, blown back
+amid the sails and rigging, and disappearing in a long wispy trail to
+leeward.  The report of the gun followed close, and the shot plumped
+into the sea less than twenty yards astern.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if it do not put me in mind of brave doings on the <i>Anne
+Gallant</i>" said Turnpenny.  "'Twas well aimed; an they get our range,
+'tis heigh for our pearls and pieces of eight!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A second shot came, falling about the same distance short of the mark.
+A third and fourth followed at intervals, neither hitting the vessel,
+each failure greeted with a yell from the crew, who seemed now to have
+lost their terror in the sheer excitement of the chase.  On swept the
+gallant <i>Mirandola</i>, showers of spray flashing over her bows, her
+slender masts swaying and creaking under the stress of her bellying
+canvas.  Then a shot whistled over the masthead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Too high, too high!" shouted Amos.  "She's got our range now, to a
+surety; would they but depress the gun and our cockle-shell would be
+shivered to splinters.  Jan Biddle be a better man than I took him for;
+see the sinews of his arms as he grips the helm.  My heart! but he be a
+mazy Jack to think he can 'scape that tantarabobs.  Ah!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His final exclamation was occasioned by the effect of another shot from
+the enemy's bow-chaser.  It struck the taffrail, and cast up a huge
+splinter which flew straight across the poop.  Next moment Jan Biddle
+was stretched senseless beside the helm, and the helm taking charge,
+the ship ran off before the wind.  The crew were aghast.  Biddle was
+their captain, but he was more; he was the soul of their enterprise.
+Without him they were as a flock of sheep.  Not a man of them was fit
+to direct.  Some cried out for surrendering; the bolder spirits howled
+them down, swearing it were better to sink with the ship than to return
+to the servitude from which they had but lately escaped.  When Biddle
+fell, Amos, with the instinct of the mariner, had rushed towards the
+unmanned helm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sir, 'tis our turn," he called to Dennis.  "Let us do what we can to
+save this vessel, and od-rabbit the mutineers!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He leapt to the helm, seized it in his iron grip, and brought the ship
+once more to the wind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"See!" said Dennis at his side.  "Yonder streak on the horizon is
+surely the mainland.  Is not our only chance to win the coast?  We
+cannot escape by mere sailing, but there will be shallows amid which
+perchance we may slip away as at Maiden Isle.  Shall we not attempt it,
+Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, ay, sir.  We'll run inshore, and methinks I know a trick will help
+us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment another shot fell and ploughed up the deck, striking up
+a shower of splinters in all directions.  Again arose cries for
+surrender; but Dennis shouted to the frantic men:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Amos is at the helm.  Trust to him.  Remember what he did at the fort.
+Never surrender to the dogs of Spain.  We will 'scape them even yet."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At his words they plucked up heart; all they wanted was a leader; and
+when Turnpenny declared that land was in sight, and that he'd be jowned
+if he didn't cheat the don Spaniards, they answered with a cheer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Outclassed as the <i>Mirandola</i> was in sailing before the wind, it
+occurred to Amos that she might show to better advantage in working to
+windward.  Accordingly he altered her course a few points.  The
+immediate effect was that the enemy gained a little, and with a broader
+target succeeded twice in hulling the vessel.  Apparently the shots did
+little damage, for she still rode the waters buoyantly, and after some
+time, to the joy of the crew, it was seen that the gap between the two
+ships was sensibly widening.  But now a more serious danger threatened
+the gallant bark.  The second of the enemy's vessels, which was some
+distance to windward when the mist lifted, was rapidly making towards a
+point where she might intercept the <i>Mirandola</i> and drive her back
+towards the galleon which she had just escaped.  Turnpenny's seamanship
+was capable of no more.  To tack would have been to run into the lion's
+jaws; to bear up would have been equally hopeless; all he could do was
+to stand on, and possibly weather the vessel ahead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He explained the difficulty to Dennis, who was still at his side.
+Dennis knew no trick of navigation that would meet the case; but
+racking his wits to find some means of helping the hardy mariner, he
+suddenly asked himself whether it were not possible to use one of the
+guns he had brought as trophies from the fort.  They were big guns,
+quite disproportionate to so small a vessel as the <i>Mirandola</i>.  To
+fire them might do more damage to her than to the enemy.  But it was a
+moment when something might well be risked, and he mentioned his idea
+to Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good-now, 'tis a brave notion!" cried the mariner.  "Do 'ee grab the
+helm, sir; head her straight for the coast; Ise warrant 'ee I'll soon
+give the villain a mouthful of iron."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amos rushed amidships, called all the crew about him, set some of them
+to rig up the tackle blocks by which the weapons had been lowered into
+the hold, and himself knocked off the hatch and descended.  His first
+proceeding was to unloose William Hawk and Luke Fenton, the two men who
+had been surprised by the mutineers, and had since lain side by side in
+no enviable state of mind or body.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Od rabbit 'ee for a brace of numskulls!" he exclaimed.  "Get 'ee up
+and come show a leg, now."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With their assistance he slung the demi-culverin by its pomelion, and
+the men above hoisted it to the deck; the carriage followed, then its
+ammunition, and Amos set about mounting it.  There was no time to lug
+it to the quarter-deck.  Amos ordered the men to place the carriage,
+consisting of two "cheeks" or side-pieces held together by thick
+cross-pieces of wood, on the waist; then the cannon was slung on to it,
+the clamps were fixed over the trunnions, and a quoin was driven under
+the gun to prevent it from sagging towards the breech.  When mounted on
+the fort it had not been secured by breechings, but Amos quickly made
+ready a length of stout rope, fastened one end to the gun, and clinched
+the other to ring-bolts in the vessel's side.  This would check the
+recoil when the gun was fired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amos was now in his element.  He had not been for nothing gunner's mate
+aboard the <i>Anne Gallant</i> twenty-five years before.  He lost no time in
+loading the piece with round shot; then, all being ready, he ran back
+to instruct Dennis how to bring the vessel round when he gave the word.
+He found that Biddle, who had merely been stunned by the flying
+splinter, was now sitting with his back against the taffrail, watching
+these proceedings in a sullen envy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The Spaniard will draw closer when we yaw, sir," said Amos, "but that
+we cannot help; and 'tis a mercy we are out of range of her bow-chaser."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Is she not beyond range of our gun, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nare a bit, sir.  Our demi-culverin is bigger, I'se warrant, than any
+gun she has aboard.  Point-blank her range be a hundred fathoms; but I
+reckon I can hit the knave at six hundred at the least.  Put the helm
+down when I call, and then I'll send an apple aboard will be ill to
+digest."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He returned to the gun, and sang out to Dennis; he put the helm down,
+the vessel yawed, and when she lay broadside to the pursuer, Amos
+carefully laid the piece, aiming directly at the fore-mast.  He waited
+till the vessel rose on the next wave, then gave the word to William
+Hawk, who stood by the breech with lighted match.  The match was
+applied; there was a deafening roar, followed by a sound of rending;
+the <i>Mirandola</i> quivered from stem to stern; and through the smoke it
+was seen that the gun had jumped clean out of the carriage and was
+lying against the step of the mainmast.  Amos ran to it in haste,
+fearing that it might have burst in the discharge.  But it was
+uninjured.  Several planks amidships had been started; the mainmast was
+heavily scored; and a number of round shot were rolling about the
+waist.  Amos shouted to the men to remount the gun and sponge it out,
+while he ran to the side to see what the effect of the shot had been,
+calling to Dennis to put the helm up again and head the vessel on her
+former course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The smoke had cleared away, and Amos saw that the pursuer had gained
+considerably, and was still coming on apparently undamaged.  But a few
+minutes later he uttered a shout of glee.  There was a bustle in the
+forepart of the Spanish ship; men were crowding to the gunwale; and
+Amos perceived that they were letting a sail down over the side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I hit her betwixt wind and water," he cried to Dennis.  "They are
+letting down a sail to stop the leak.  True, I aimed at the foremast,
+but she rose somewhat quicker than I did guess and so 'scaped with a
+hulling."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But she has gained on us, Amos.  The hurt she has suffered does not
+abate her speed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Truly, so it is, but I will give her another so soon as the gun is
+righted, and call me a joulter-head an I do not deal her such a blow
+that she'll tottle like a man fair buddled."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis called to Luke Fenton to take the helm, while he went forward to
+scan the horizon for the hazy streak which he had taken, half an hour
+before, for the shore-line.  He had barely reached the cut-water when
+he heard the roar of a gun and the sound of a crashing blow.  For an
+instant the vessel's head fell off, and turning hastily he saw Jan
+Biddle rushing to the helm.  A round shot from the enemy's bow-chaser
+had fallen smack upon the poop, smashing the binnacle, and killing poor
+Fenton instantly.  Only Biddle's prompt action had saved the ship from
+yawing and presenting her broadside to the pursuer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seeing that the helm was in safe hands, Dennis turned once more and
+glanced anxiously towards the shore, which was now beginning to loom
+large to windward.  Was it possible, he wondered, to reach it before he
+could be cut off by the second Spanish vessel?  He measured the
+distance with his eye, and his heart sank as he perceived that, if she
+held her present course, the Spaniard could not fail to run across the
+bows of the <i>Mirandola</i> long before she could gain the coast.  It
+seemed that he must choose between surrendering and fighting against
+heavy odds.  But certainly one ship would be easier to deal with than
+two; might not another fortunate shot from the demi-culverin cripple
+the vessel in chase, and so enable the <i>Mirandola</i> to get away from one
+of her pursuers?  Dennis did not forget that there was still a third
+vessel somewhere to leeward, but she was at present out of sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time the gun had been righted and reloaded.  Dennis hastened to
+rejoin Amos.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shall I take the helm again, or leave it to Biddle?" he asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fegs, I say leave it to him, and do 'ee take the match, sir.  I'se
+warrant 'ee'd be quicker than Billy Hawk.  Biddle will port the helm
+when I give the word; he hates you and me, but he hates the Spaniards
+worse."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This time the gun had been loaded with chain shot.  At a hail from
+Amos, Biddle put the helm down, the vessel swung round, and as soon as
+she was broadside to the enemy Amos carefully laid the gun, loosening
+the quoin, and thereby elevating the muzzle, which he pointed straight
+for the pursuer's foremast.  But the enemy was now more alert.  At the
+first sign of the <i>Mirandola</i> yawing the galleon began to swing round
+by the stern, so that the two vessels came broadside on within a few
+moments of each other.  Those few moments gave time for Amos to resight
+his gun.  Dennis stood ready, match in hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now!" said the mariner, as the <i>Mirandola</i> sank on the roll while the
+galleon rose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gun spoke.  Only a second or two later it seemed to the crew of the
+<i>Mirandola</i> that the end of all things must have come.  With a
+thunderous roar the whole broadside of the enemy burst upon them.  Some
+of the enemy's shots passed clean over the smaller vessel; her masts
+almost miraculously escaped harm, but her hull was struck in half a
+dozen places, and her long-boat splintered to atoms.  And the big gun,
+breaking loose from its extemporized breechings, recoiled obliquely
+across the waist, smashed through the forecastle, and plunged with a
+resounding splash into the sea.  Some of the men were groaning in pain;
+the Frenchmen were flat on their faces beseeching their saints; Dennis
+found himself in a heap by the break of the poop; for the moment Amos
+was not to be seen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis picked himself up and peered through the smoke to see whether
+the enemy had suffered any hurt.  To his joy he saw that both the
+foremast and the mainmast of the galleon had been shattered.
+Turnpenny's shot had cut away the shrouds of the foremast, causing this
+to snap off, and struck the mainmast fair and square.  The enemy's
+decks were smothered under a medley of spars and rigging; it was clear
+that the galleon was out of action, and already the <i>Mirandola</i> was
+rapidly drawing away.  This her crew perceived, and the air was rent
+with a tremendous shout of triumph.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But their exultation was short-lived.  Half a minute later Amos came up
+the hatchway and hurried aft.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sir, there be three terrible rents in the hull below water.  I feared
+as much when I felt the shots strike the vessel.  The galleon's masts
+must have fallen just as the knaves were a-firing, and so the most of
+her shots struck us low."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Can we stop the leaks?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I fear, I fear!  But we'll try."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few minutes a sail was lowered over the side, and at the same time
+two of the men ran below and tried to stop the leaks from within.  But
+in spite of all efforts the water gained, and in the course of half an
+hour it was plain to all on board that the vessel must founder unless
+she could be run ashore in time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the men were still doing their best to check the inrush of the
+water, Dennis and Turnpenny went forward to calculate their chances.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis a good ten mile away," said Turnpenny, "and we be going slower
+every minute."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True.  But see, the other vessel yonder, that might have cut us off,
+has altered her course.  She is standing to her consort's aid."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God be praised for that, but I fear we shall be water-logged in no
+long time, and then she can overhaul us at her ease.  In an hour we
+must take to the jollyboat.  'Tis a God's mercy that was not smashed up
+like the long-boat."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then we'll put our stores aboard her at once, so that we lose no time
+when the moment comes.  And I do not give up hope, even now, of running
+the bark ashore."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in half an hour it was clear that the case was hopeless.  The men
+came running from below with the news that the water was gaining more
+and more rapidly; the vessel was settling down; her motion had almost
+ceased.  And the situation was rendered the more alarming by the fact
+that during this half-hour the uninjured galleon, having found
+apparently that her consort was in no immediate danger of sinking, had
+again altered her course and was now in hot pursuit.  It was to be a
+race to the shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The jolly-boat had already been stored with provisions, water, and a
+number of calivers with their ammunition.  At the last moment Dennis
+and Turnpenny brought from below the bags of pearls from the cabin in
+which they had been locked.  Then Dennis ordered the boat to be
+lowered, the crew quickly went down the side and entered her.  Two of
+the men had been so badly hurt by the enemy's shot that they had to be
+lowered into the boat.  Fenton was dead, so that the whole effective
+company now numbered only nine men.  The wounded men were laid in the
+bows, Dennis took the tiller, and the remaining eight gave way with a
+will, knowing that hanging would be their mildest fate if they fell
+again into the enemy's hands.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap18"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XVIII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Juan the Maroon
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+It was now past midday, and the sun's rays beat down upon them with
+cruel power.  Yet none of them was glad when the wind freshened,
+bringing a touch of coolth; for it filled the sails of the vessel in
+chase, which loomed ever larger and larger in their wake.  The land
+appeared to be very close, but to Dennis's anxious eyes it scarcely
+seemed to grow closer.  For mile after mile the rowers toiled on in the
+sweltering heat.  Dennis ventured to leave the tiller for a few moments
+to give them water when they flagged.  One of the men collapsed, and
+Dennis crawled to his thwart and took his oar, bidding him go to the
+tiller.  So the chase went on, until, when the boat was still more than
+a mile from land, the enemy began to fire.  The mere sight of the shots
+splashing in the sea astern stirred the wearied rowers to renewed
+efforts.  When, after a few minutes, a shot fell immediately in their
+wake, sending up a terrific burst of spray, their energy seemed to be
+doubled again.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-256.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-256.jpg" alt="&quot;A shot fell immediately in their wake.&quot;" />
+<br />
+&quot;A shot fell immediately in their wake.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis now had his back to the shore.  It could not, he thought, be
+more than half a mile away: how far would the enemy venture to follow
+them?  Surely she would not come much farther, at the imminent risk of
+running aground on a shoal.  He saw a man at the chains taking
+soundings.  Then suddenly the vessel was thrown into the wind, and she
+fired the whole of her broadside, in the hope, no doubt, that at least
+one shot would strike the target.  The men were so played out that they
+were not able even to raise a feeble cheer when they found that they
+had escaped scot-free.  Any gladness they may have felt was
+extinguished as soon as the smoke cleared away and the enemy perceived
+that they had failed to hit the boat.  The galleon had hove to: the
+Spaniard was lowering her boats; and in a few minutes all three,
+long-boat, cock-boat, and jolly-boat, crowded with men, came sweeping
+across the water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they were as yet half a mile away; looking over his shoulder Dennis
+judged that his boat was now within less than a quarter-mile of the
+shore.  Calling cheerfully to the men for a final spurt, he bade the
+steersman run them aground on the first shoal or spit of land that
+presented itself.  A minute later the boat was brought up with a jerk.
+The men flung down their oars and began with desperate haste to gather
+up some of the stores and the weapons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Billy Hawk, take the treasure," said Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Biddle was too quick for him.  Hawk managed to secure one of the
+goatskin bags; Biddle seized the two others.  There was no time to make
+any alteration.  Trembling with their exertions, the men were
+staggering up the beach, some loaded with articles from the boat, some
+carrying the two wounded men.  Amos, remaining till the last, drove a
+boat anchor through the bottom and hastened after the others.  But the
+Spaniards' boats, fully manned with crews fresh and vigorous, had sped
+over the water at a tremendous rate, and it seemed to Dennis, looking
+back and marking how near they were to land, that after all he and his
+party stood but a poor chance of getting away.  In the three boats
+there were at least sixty well-armed men.  It was clearly their
+intention to run ashore and continue the pursuit on land.  Within half
+an hour they must be upon them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was only a few yards of beach.  The thick vegetation came down
+almost to the water's edge.  It was a wild part of the shore; not a
+path was to be seen through the undergrowth, and beyond rose the
+forest.  But the foremost of the fugitives had struck out a way for
+themselves through the plants, and Dennis and Turnpenny hurried along,
+bringing up the rear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fugitives were greatly impeded by the necessity of carrying the
+wounded men and the stores.  Even when they reached the forest, where
+there was less undergrowth, their pace must be slower than that of the
+Spaniards, who had only their arms to carry.  And to avoid them was
+quite impossible, for the Spaniards were not unused to tracking runaway
+slaves, and would not fail to follow up the broad trail left by the
+party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis vain to go farther," said Dennis to Amos, as they hastened on.
+"We must be caught.  And we shall need all the poor remnant of our
+strength.  Yonder is a thick clump of bush where with our calivers we
+may perchance give pause to the enemy.  I will run on and tell our
+comrades ahead to betake themselves thither."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, do so, though meseems 'tis but to stay for our death.  You be
+lighter of foot than me.  I will go into the thicket and there hide."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis ran forward, but had not gone far when he found the two wounded
+men lying on the ground, deserted by their bearers.  The rest of the
+party had disappeared.  Part of the stores also had been abandoned.
+Clearly the men had bolted, perhaps in panic fright at some noise in
+the forest, perhaps&mdash;Dennis saw in a flash the explanation.  Among the
+things abandoned there was no sign of the bags of treasure.  Even at
+this critical moment Jan Biddle's cupidity had got the better of all
+other feelings, and he had made off with the booty and his fellow
+mutineers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis bent over the wounded men.  One was past help; the shock of
+being left to his fate had hastened the end that was probably in any
+case inevitable.  The other man Dennis helped to bring back to where
+Amos had taken up his position.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Where be Billy Hawk, then?" said Turnpenny, when Dennis had acquainted
+him with what had happened.  "He had one of the bags of pearls.
+Od-rat-en for a traitorous faggett!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But his attention was immediately diverted from Billy Hawk's
+shortcomings by the sight of the enemy making their way through the
+trees.  Dennis and the mariner had no hope of saving themselves.  They
+two could not contend long with numbers so overwhelming.  But they were
+resolved not to surrender.  They knew well&mdash;Amos by experience, Dennis
+by the tales he had heard&mdash;what their fate would be as captives.  Their
+whole aim was to sell their lives as dearly as might be.  Amos had
+already kindled matches for their calivers.  These as they burnt gave
+out an acrid smoke, which was bound to attract the attention of the
+Spaniards if they came near.  Confident of their immense superiority in
+point of numbers, even if the whole band of fugitives stood up against
+them, the enemy were pressing forward without caution.  Dennis for a
+moment debated with himself whether to fire on them or let them pass.
+He owed nothing to Jan Biddle and the mutineers.  Twice had they
+behaved treacherously towards him; they would receive no more than
+their deserts if he allowed the Spaniards to go by unmolested.  But
+then he reflected that after all some of the fugitives were his
+fellow-countrymen; all had been miserable slaves; and what he had
+learned of the Spaniards' dealings with those in their power made him
+regard them as enemies of mankind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny for his part had no scruples.  To him, as to the majority of
+the Englishmen of his time, the Spaniard was a hateful oppressor, who
+appropriated the riches of the New World in order to set the nations of
+the Old by the ears.  Even if he had not suffered personally at their
+hands, the whole race of Spaniards was in his eyes no better than
+vermin.  So when Dennis gave the word, he levelled his caliver with
+right good will at the body of men that presented so easy a target, as
+they came hurrying through the forest.  The two fired together; one man
+fell; the rest halted, looking about them with an air of fright that
+set Dennis mightily wondering.  While they hesitated, Amos and he
+reloaded with what haste they might, and had not completed that
+troublesome process when the enemy, plucking up courage, advanced again
+in somewhat more extended order, firing as they marched.  Bullets
+pattered on the tree trunks all around.  Dennis had come scatheless
+through the action at sea, but now he felt a burning pang in his
+forearm, and saw that the sleeve of his doublet was singed.  But at the
+same moment he heard a deep sigh from the wounded man who lay at his
+feet.  The poor wretch had again been hit.  There was no time to attend
+either to him or to his own wound, for the Spaniards, taking heart at
+the cessation of the fire from the copse, were preparing to make a rush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time both Dennis and Turnpenny had reloaded, and stood waiting
+to make a last stand against what they felt must be an irresistible
+attack.  To their amazement, however, just when they were expecting to
+hear the order to charge, they saw that a number of the enemy had swung
+round, and were facing towards the coast, the direction in which they
+had come.  Next moment there was a yell from among the trees: "Yo peho!
+yo peho!"  The strange cry was taken up at point after point, until the
+whole surrounding forest seemed to ring with fierce whoops and
+battle-cries.  Then they caught sight of dark figures flitting among
+the trees beyond the Spaniards, who had now clearly given up the idea
+of advancing, and were crowded in a serried mass to meet another foe.
+There was the sharp crackle of fire-arms, followed by the twang of
+bow-strings.  A long arrow whizzed past Dennis's ear, perilously close.
+The newcomers had formed, as it appeared, an immense semicircle about
+the Spaniards; several of these had fallen, and the semicircle seemed
+to be drawing ever closer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The maroons!  O Jaykle!" whispered Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Driven together now into a compact body, the Spaniards fired a volley.
+Before the smoke had cleared away, from all around the maroons, dusky
+forms clad in smocks that reached their knees, were among them.  Then
+began a desperate hand-to-hand fight.  The Spaniards, in their turn
+outnumbered by three to one, were wielding their swords with the
+courage of despair against the javelins of their furious yelling enemy,
+striving to break through the ring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Yo peho! yo peho!"  The maroon war-cry rose ever fiercer and fiercer.
+It was an affair of a few minutes.  Half of the Spaniards were on the
+ground; the survivors broke and scattered, some speeding towards the
+copse, forgetful that their first check had come from thence.
+Turnpenny levelled his caliver and fired at the foremost of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shoot 'em, sir!" he cried to Dennis, who had hesitated, feeling some
+compunction.  "Shoot 'em, or we shall have the maroons in upon us, and
+they will not stop to ask our names."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis fired.  The Spaniards broke away to the left, and dashed into
+the forest, pursued hotly by the exultant maroons.  Seeing that the
+tide had passed them by, Turnpenny stepped out into the open and,
+raising his arms, shouted "Amigos!" at the top of his voice to the
+maroons within hail.  One or two let fly their arrows at him; some were
+about to fire; but a big fellow among them called loudly to them in a
+tongue that the Englishman did not understand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, 'tis Juan!" cried Turnpenny, and as the man advanced towards
+them Dennis recognised the leader of the maroons he had rescued on the
+island&mdash;the man who had with Amos supported the ladder for his climb
+into Fort Aguila.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Juan shook hands with them with every sign of delight.  While the
+others continued the pursuit, he explained to Amos that his attention
+had been attracted by the sound of firing at sea, and from a point some
+distance along the coast he had watched, from among the trees, the race
+in the boats.  Never loath to seize a chance of striking a blow at the
+hated Spaniards, he had hurried with his comrades along the fringe of
+forest.  He was overjoyed to think that the men whom his sudden
+onslaught had saved were his old friends and the leaders of the attack
+on Fort Aguila.  He invited them to accompany him to his village deep
+in the forest, and wound a horn to recall his comrades.  Within a few
+minutes they were all assembled.  The Englishmen recognized among them
+some who had been with them at the attack on the fort.  Soon they were
+on the march.  They took no prisoners; it was not the maroons' way to
+spare any Spaniard who fell into their hands.  Four of them carried the
+twice-wounded sailor, but ere they had gone far he succumbed to his
+hurts, and they buried him under leaves in the forest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An hour's march brought them to the maroons' village, built on a
+hillside circled by a narrow river.  It was surrounded by a broad dyke,
+and a mud wall ten feet high.  It had one long street and two cross
+streets, very clean and tidy; and the huts of mud and wattle, thatched
+with palm-leaves, and with doors of bamboo, were kept with a neatness
+that surprised the Englishmen, who mentally contrasted them with the
+dirty cottages of labourers at home.  Juan made them very welcome,
+supplying them with a feast of wild hog, turkeys, oranges and other
+pleasant fruits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'feck, it be a dinner fit for a lord," said Turnpenny, appreciatively.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He related the events that had brought them to the straits in which
+Juan had found them.  When the maroon learnt that some of their party
+had deserted with the treasure, he despatched a band of his men to
+follow them up.  And then he told his visitors a piece of news that
+mightily cheered them.  El Draque, he said, the Dragon, the great
+English sea-captain, had lately raided Nombre de Dios, the port whence
+the great treasure fleets were wont to sail for Spain.  Then he had
+disappeared.  The Spaniards were in a state of nervous dread.  So bold,
+so sudden were his movements, that not a settlement on the coast but
+lived in constant terror of his appearance.  The very mystery that
+surrounded him, their ignorance of his whereabouts, added to the fear
+his name inspired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They do not know where he is," said Juan, with a chuckle; "but I know.
+He is a long day's march from this place, in a little harbour that no
+passing ship can spy.  And there he waits till he can swoop like a
+jaguar on the dogs of Spain."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, it be joyful tidings!" said Turnpenny.  "I knew Master
+Francis would come again to these shores, to have a proper tit-for-tat
+for the base dealings of the Spaniards at St. John d'Ulua.  Good-now,
+sir, shall we take a journey and see the worthy captain, and
+peradventure join with him in spoiling the knaves?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"With all my heart, Amos," replied Dennis.  "Without doubt Juan will
+furnish us with a guide."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny spoke to the maroon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Better than that!" he said, after a brief colloquy.  "He says he will
+e'en come himself with a party.  Master Francis, he says, does hurt to
+no woman nor unarmed man; he is kind to the maroons; and not a man of
+them but loves him and would serve him to the death.  Ay sure, a noble
+man is Master Francis, that loves God and hates the Spaniards; and Ise
+warrant we could do naught better than join ourselves to him.
+Crymaces!  he will list with a ready ear to the tale of our adventures."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twill be overlong for the captain," said Dennis, with a smile.  "But
+I would fain see him and speak with him, for he may perchance spare a
+vessel to go and seek for our poor comrades penned up in Maiden Isle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God-a-mercy, I had a'most forgotten, sir.  True, there be Tom
+Copstone, and Hugh Curder, and Ned Whiddon all lone and lorn.  Master
+Francis will help us to save them, or he be no true man."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap19"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XIX
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Drake's Camp
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Early in the afternoon of the second day thereafter, Dennis and
+Turnpenny, with Juan and a company of maroons, came to the outskirts of
+a large clearing at a little recess of the shore.  A bark and three
+trim little pinnaces lay rocking in a secluded roadstead.  Neatly
+thatched huts of the maroons' pattern bordered the clearing.  At one
+end of it stood two archery butts at which men were shooting; a smith
+was lustily plying his sledge at an anvil; and in the middle, on a
+stretch of sward, two stalwart bearded figures were disporting
+themselves at a game of bowls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'fegs, 'tis very like home," said Turnpenny.  "'Tis Master Francis
+himself, as I live, and Master John Oxnam, a gallant soul; and there be
+Master Ellis Hixom, the captain his man, and a very worthy gentleman.
+And Bob Pike, busy with the rum bowl&mdash;a good man, when not betoatled
+with the drink.  And O cryal! lookeedesee, sir; Bob hath a monkey at
+his elbow, and hang me if he be not teaching the poor beast the taste
+of rum.  Oh Bobby, Bobby, the drink will be your undoing, an ye have
+not a care.  They spy us, sir; 'tis a right merry sight, good-now, and
+warming to the heart."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A maroon came from among the company to meet them.  He greeted Juan
+warmly, looking with surprise and curiosity at his white companions.
+Then they advanced into the clearing.  Bob Pike, a red-faced mariner,
+sitting on a tub, looked up as they approached, and raised his bowl
+unsteadily, singing&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Let us laugh, and let us quaff,<br />
+Good drinkers think none ill a.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Welcome, Haymoss; I know not where be coom from but here be a sup for
+'ee, comrade.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Let us trip, and let us skip,<br />
+And let us drink our fill a.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Why, what ha' taken the wink-a-puss?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His exclamation was occasioned by a surprising action on the part of
+the monkey that had been crouching at his feet.  With a chatter of
+delight the animal had sprung up and was bounding on all fours towards
+Dennis.  Next moment it was on his shoulder, stroking his cap with its
+paw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fi, Mirandola," said Dennis, with a laugh, "hast forgot my admonitions
+to soberness?  Has all thy philosophy and my instruction not steeled
+thee against temptation?"
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"My thirst to staunch, I fill my paunch<br />
+With jolly good ale and old,"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+sang Bob Pike; "though in truth it be new rum, for ale, under this sky,
+would turn as sour as whey.  Good-now, Haymoss, come and take a sup
+with me, soul.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+I drink to you with all my heart<br />
+If you will pledge me the same."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+"Stint it, stint it, Robert Pike," said the elder of the two players,
+looking up.  "You'll be but a buddled oaf an you go this gait.  But
+odds-an-end, who be this?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"An Englishman of Devon, so please you, captain," said Dennis, doffing
+his cap.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Out of sky, or earth, or sea, for I swear you are not of my company?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Out of earth and sea, sir, newly come to bid you my duty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And that is Amos Turnpenny, an I be not in a maze.  We will finish our
+game anon, Jack," he added, turning to Oxnam, "for there is a tale
+hangs by this.  Come, young sir, methinks I know your face, though
+rabbit me if I can mind the when or the where of seeing it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It was on an occasion like to this, sir," said Dennis.  "You were at
+play with Sir Martin Blunt on Plymouth Hoe when&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stay, I mind it well, and you were the youth that beat me!  I was in
+somewhat of a dander, to be sure.  Are you of Sir Martin's party?  Sure
+I looked for him months agone to join me, and wanting him has not been
+to my comfort.  Is he at hand?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Alas, sir, Sir Martin has been at the bottom of the sea the washing of
+many a tide.  I alone am left of all his company."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God rest his soul!  He was a right good man.  But tell me, then, how
+it chanced that you alone escaped.  And what brings you here in company
+with this ancient mariner?  Furthermore, what strange affinity hast
+thou with this monkey, who is friends with that besotted knave alone,
+and that only for the love of liquor?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Mirandola and I are old friends, sir.  How he comes to this place it
+passes my wit to guess; but he was my sole companion and friend on the
+island whereon by God's mercy I was cast alive, in the same storm that
+wrecked the <i>Maid Marian</i> and swallowed all my dear comrades.  There I
+spent many a day and night without sight of human face or sound of
+human voice, until Spaniards came purposing to cut logwood, with slaves
+of whom Amos was one, the only white man.  He had the good hap to
+escape their hands&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, captain," Amos broke in; "it was not good hap, but the wit and
+spunk of Master Hazelrig.  He saved us from the knaves, and led us to
+the taking of their vessel, in the which we purposed to sail away; but
+the knave captain blew it up with powder; wherefore it was we came to
+the main in a canow of the maroons' devising, and did take that strong
+fort and fastness of Aguila, where&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stay, stay!" cried Drake.  "Ods my life, this your tale makes my
+noddle buzz with amaze.  What is this about Fort Aguila?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, 'tis as I say," replied Turnpenny.  "We did sail to it in
+the canow, which ran aground and was stove in.  But we mounted those
+walls by a ladder, and crept upon the fort by night, and drew out of
+their dungeon all my comrades&mdash;Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder and Tom
+Copstone, and nigh a score more.  And we dealt the knave Spaniards many
+a dint, and took the fort, and blew up the towers, and sailed right
+merrily away in their own vessel with great store of pearls and pieces
+of eight.  And the vessel was named in the Spanish tongue <i>Our Lady of
+Baria</i>, but Master Hazelrig he could not abide the Papist name, and
+called her by the very name he had afore bestowed on this heathen
+beast, Mirandola to wit, whereas I would liever have called her Susan
+or Betty&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Jack, is 't not a midsummer night's dream?  A very mingle-mangle of
+madness!  Tell on; I have a soft ear for mariners' tales."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I' fegs, 'tis no mariner's tale, sir, but very truth.  We sailed away,
+but the morn after, when it was mizzly, we spied a vessel that straight
+gave chase, and but for the little small harbour of Maiden Isle,
+whereinto we ran and lay hid and so diddled that knavish vessel, we had
+e'en fallen again into those cruel hands."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"When shall we laugh, Jack?" cried Drake, smiting his thigh and loosing
+a mighty roar that caused the archers to pause, and drew the smith from
+his anvil, and at last brought the whole company crowding round.  "Why,
+friend Amos, that knavish vessel was my own tight bark the <i>Pascha</i>
+yonder, and 'twas I myself that chased thee, ay, and would have caught
+thee, too, but for the huffling of the wind.  If 'twas thou handling
+the vessel 'twas a mighty good piece of seamanship.  And mine was a
+knavish vessel, good-now!  Ho! ho! 'tis a merry world."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if Ned Whiddon thinks so, or Hugh Curder, or Tom Copstone!
+There they be, poor souls, marooned on that same island, which indeed
+we took and named Maiden Isle for behoof of her gracious Majesty.  We
+fled from that craft which in our thought was a knavish vessel of
+Spain, and remained a night and a day to refresh ourselves, intending
+to sail thence on the morrow.  But one of our company, Gabriel Batten,
+a quiet good soul, but somewhat of a drumble-drone, did go astraying
+after simples, and when the time came for us to embark, ods-fish, he
+was not with us.  In that night, Jan Biddle, a man of Belial, made off
+with our vessel; but Master Hazelrig spied her ere she ran clear, and
+we swam to her and clomb aboard, and were vumped topsy-versy by those
+knavish mutineers.  But they loosed us when she had made an offing, and
+right well it was for them, for we were chased by three galleons of
+Spain, and hardly escaped ashore in our jolly-boat.  And then be jowned
+if Jan Biddle and his villainous crew did not skip off hippety-hoppety
+with the treasure we got with our pains at Fort Aguila&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Aha!  I owe you a grudge for that, Master Hazelrig," cried Drake.  "I
+had heard of the pearl-fishery, and was e'en chasing you, supposing
+your craft was a merchant vessel out of Venta Cruz or Cartagena, to
+inquire somewhat of the defences of that same fort.  I came by chance
+to the place, and lo! it was a ruin.  You beat me at bowls, young sir;
+art minded, meseems, to beat me at other games."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Truly, sir, had I but known you were in these seas, I would surely
+have joined myself to your company, with your good leave, and served
+you with all diligence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Wilt serve me now, lad?"  Drake shot a keen glance at him.  "I am
+preparing a sore dint for the Spaniards, and have but few men for the
+job.  Wilt join me?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I could desire nothing better," said Dennis, with a flush of pleasure;
+"but&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Say on; let me hear your but."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Some half a score of Englishmen, the comrades of Amos, lie marooned on
+yonder island, sir; and we came hither, when we heard of your presence,
+to beg a vessel to go and fetch them off.  Methinks one of the pinnaces
+yonder&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Knavish vessels, good-now!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Crymaces, sir, will 'ee remember that against me?" Amos broke in.  "A
+man must say what a' thinks, but thinkin' don't alter what is.  'Twas
+your vessel; then 'twas no knave."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Save as the Spaniards think it so.  Well, I would fain help Englishmen
+in so hard a case, but at this present I cannot spare a pinnace; nay, I
+cannot even spare a man.  Yet when the matter I spoke of is brought to
+an end, and falls out to our liking, I will go myself to that island
+and bring off your comrades; for in truth I have a mind to see the
+haven into which you fled and so 'scaped my knavish tricks.  Methinks
+it should prove a secret and comfortable place for myself.  In brief, I
+give you my word.  Now, what say you to my proposal."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sir, I am yours," said Dennis, "and I thank you for your good will."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and me likewise," said Turnpenny, "and Ise warrant a man of my
+muscle can do summat against those villain dons&mdash;lookeedesee!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He exhibited the knotty muscles of his arms with a simple vanity that
+set Drake and Oxnam a-laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But not the monkey," added Drake, as the animal chattered in concert.
+"He is prone to utter his voice out of season, and an indiscreet cry
+might be the undoing of my purpose, and me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"How comes the monkey here, sir?" asked Dennis.  "We brought him with
+us from the island; indeed, he would not be left; but he deserted us
+some ten miles beyond Fort Aguila, and I supposed he had gone among his
+kind and thought never to see him again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, we found him among the ruins of that fort, and meseems he saw
+some likeness between Bob Pike and Turnpenny&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God forbid!" cried Amos earnestly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In muscle, not in manners," said Drake laughing.  "Howbeit, he hitched
+himself on to Pike, and hath accompanied us ever since, and I trow not
+what Pike will say if the beast transfers his allegiance.  But
+good-now, the sun goes down; 'tis time to make our evening devotions
+and then to supper.  Methinks you, Master Hazelrig, have good cause to
+render thanks to the Almighty Father for the wondrous things He hath
+wrought in your behoof; and we have great plenty of fish, fowls,
+rabbits and the like, which, I doubt not, will be comfortable fare to
+you after your late privations.  Come with me to my hut: I would hear
+of your adventures more at leisure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And thus Dennis became one of the company of Francis Drake.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap20"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XX
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+A Raid through the Forest
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Though Dennis had accepted Drake's offer on the spur of the moment, he
+saw no reason to repent when he talked the matter over with Amos next
+day.  The rescue of their comrades on the island was indeed deferred;
+but it was impossible to attempt that rescue without a suitable vessel
+and a due equipment of men and stores; and since the men had plenty of
+food on Maiden Isle, the delay of a few weeks would make no serious
+difference to them, unless&mdash;and this possibility gave Dennis some
+concern&mdash;they were molested by Spaniards.  He hoped, however, that if
+an enemy did appear on the island the men would have sufficient warning
+to give them time to take refuge in the cave, where with good luck they
+might remain concealed until the danger had passed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the day was out Dennis had made acquaintance with the members of
+the little company at Port Diego, as it had been called.  From Ellis
+Hixom, Drake's right-hand man, he learnt something of their adventures
+since they left Plymouth in May, only a month after the <i>Maid Marian</i>
+set sail.  Early in July they had arrived at Port Pheasant, a secret
+anchorage discovered by Drake on a former voyage, and so named by him
+"by reason of the great store of those goodly fowls which he and his
+company did daily kill and feed on in that place."  On the 20th they
+sailed for Nombre de Dios, and a week later made a night attack on that
+unhealthy town, which once or twice in the year emerged into importance
+when the galleons came there from Cartagena to take in their cargoes of
+gold and silver sent for shipment by the governor of Panama.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The moon was rising as they stood in for the shore; but Drake, finding
+that his men were full of superstitious terror of the night, persuaded
+them that it was the dawn of day.  They landed on the sands, beneath a
+battery, and only a few yards from the houses which were built on the
+shore, with the forest behind.  The single sentry was slumbering, but
+he was roused by the sound of their climbing up the redoubt, and fled
+to give the alarm in the town.  They spiked the six big guns in the
+fort, but ere they had finished they heard the great bell of the town
+church booming out; drums beat in the narrow street; it seemed that
+there was warm work before the little band of fifty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drake divided his men into three parties; one of twelve to guard the
+boats, the second of sixteen, with his brother John and John Oxnam, to
+enter by the east gate of the market-place; while himself, with about a
+score, would march in at the other end to the sound of drum and
+trumpet, with torches glaring at the end of their pikes.  He gave the
+men orders to make all possible noise, so as to delude the garrison
+into the belief that his force was stronger than it really was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The market-place was crowded with a mob of mingled soldiers and
+citizens when Drake and his men entered with great clatter from the
+side nearest the sea.  The intrepid band was met by a hot volley, to
+which they replied with their calivers and a flight of arrows; then,
+not waiting to reload, they charged with a fierce shout, to do the rest
+of the business with pike and sword.  As the same moment Oxnam and his
+company dashed in at the other side with a great blast of trumpets.
+The Spaniards, scared by the noise and the torches, still more by the
+knowledge that El Draque was among them, did not stay to fight the
+matter out, but flung down their weapons and rushed away in disorderly
+flight along the road leading through the forest to Venta Cruz.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drake re-formed his men, and, under the guidance of Spaniards he had
+captured, made for the governor's house, where the mule trains from
+Panama were unloaded.  The door was wide open, and by the light of a
+torch the Englishmen saw a vast pile of silver bars standing in the
+passage.  But Drake had learnt that in the King's treasure-house on the
+eastern side lay a goodly store of gold and jewels, far more than they
+could carry.  Accordingly he would not allow the men to break their
+ranks and despoil the governor, but led them back to the market-place
+to prepare for the more serious work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the men on guard at the beach, hearing the din, and seeing by
+the light of the torches men running this way and that in the streets,
+began to be alarmed, especially when they learnt from the negroes who
+had joined them that the garrison had been newly strengthened.  In
+their panic they sent word to Drake that the pinnaces were in danger of
+being taken.  Drake had no sooner sent his brother and John Oxnam to
+allay their fears and assure them that all was well when a terrific
+thunder-storm burst upon them, wetting their bowstrings and the charges
+of their guns.  They ran for shelter to a shed at the western end of
+the King's treasure-house, and there, while they repaired the damage,
+the men began to mutter among themselves of the peril they were in, and
+some talked of flight.  As soon as the storm had ceased, Drake, seeing
+that the adventure was in jeopardy unless he led the men to action,
+ordered Oxnam to take a party to break open the treasure-house while he
+held his ground in the market-place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, unknown to the men, he had been severely wounded in the leg at the
+first onset, and fell faint from loss of blood.  He perceived that some
+of his men had already laden themselves with plunder from the houses
+and booths in the market-place, and knew that they would be glad of any
+excuse to get away to the boats.  It was no longer possible to hide his
+wound, and the men, seeing it, begged him to return to the boats, and
+paid no heed to his entreaty that they would leave him to fend for
+himself and possess themselves of the treasure so nearly within their
+grasp.  The possibility of losing their captain took all the heart out
+of them.  They carried him hastily down to the beach, got aboard the
+boats, and shoved off just as dawn was breaking.  It was a
+disappointing end to the expedition; but only one man of them, a
+trumpeter, had been killed, and they were all glad enough to get off so
+lightly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since then they had cruised up and down the coast, capturing Spanish
+vessels here and there, and making themselves a terror to the whole
+Main.  They had suffered many losses, by sickness and in fight; John
+Drake had been killed in leading a mad attack on a frigate; but small
+as the company was, every man was now cheerful in the expectation of
+gaining great plunder in the approaching expedition to Panama.  Dennis
+and Turnpenny were welcome recruits, and none were more eager than they
+to set off with the great captain, and go whithersoever he might lead.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-280.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-280.jpg" alt="Map to illustrate the adventures of Drake in 1572-73" />
+<br />
+Map to illustrate the adventures of Drake in 1572-73
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day, about a week after their arrival at the camp, Drake called his
+men together in council, and unfolded to them his daring plan.  The
+Spanish treasure fleet, he had learnt, had arrived at Nombre de Dios,
+and was awaiting there the consignments of gold and jewels which were
+brought by long mule trains across the isthmus from Panama.  He
+purposed to ambush one of these trains in a lonely spot on the north
+road.  Solemnly he placed before the men the dangers of the expedition.
+They had a march of sixty miles before them, through poisonous jungles
+and fever-haunted swamps.  It was an enterprise for none but hardy and
+courageous men, ready to endure labour and fatigue without murmuring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of his original company he had only forty-two left.  Some of these were
+sick, others were required to guard the ships; and when Drake had
+weeded out the least fit of the rest, he had only eighteen Englishmen
+for the adventure.  To those he added thirty maroons, making a little
+company of forty-eight all told.  Dennis observed with admiration how
+carefully all things were prepared.  The men were provided with spare
+boots, so that they might not go footsore and be troubled by the
+jiggers of the jungles and the leeches of the swamps.  The bows were
+all re-fitted, the arrows and fire-arms cleaned and scoured; large
+stores of dried meat and biscuit were packed in bundles; and bottles
+were filled with wine and rum, for it was unsafe to drink the water of
+the rivers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a bright February day, Shrove Tuesday, when the adventurous band
+set out, the ships in the harbour dipping their colours and the
+trumpeters sounding "a loath to depart."  The Englishmen carried
+nothing but their weapons, the baggage being strapped to the shoulders
+of the stalwart maroons.  They marched in the coolest part of the
+morning, from sun-rise to ten, when they paused for dinner.  Soon after
+noon they were afoot again, and at four halted for the night, the
+maroons building for them with extraordinary rapidity little huts of
+grass and palm-leaves, where they ate their supper over cheerful
+wood-fires, beguiling the evening hours with song and talk.  It was a
+new life for Dennis, and full of strange charm.  He spent many an hour
+in the company of Drake and Oxnam, listening with a boyish admiration
+to their talk, revelling in their tales of fight and adventure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great captain exercised a wonderful fascination upon him.  Drake
+was at this time little more than thirty years old, below the medium
+height, but with brawny limbs and a broad chest.  Brown hair clustered
+close on a bullet-shaped head; his beard grew thick and strong; his
+face was ruddy and pleasant to look upon; and the honesty of his soul
+spoke out of his large, round blue eyes.  His voice was clear and
+musical, and he had a natural eloquence, set off by the burr of his
+native speech.  Nothing impressed Dennis more than to hear the Captain,
+every night at sunset, recite the evening prayers and collects
+bare-headed among his men assembled.  "By Thy great mercy defend us
+from all perils and dangers of this night"&mdash;there was something very
+real and earnest in the petition, uttered in the shade of the forest
+where wild animals dwelt, and in a country where every man was a foe.
+There was no doubt about the reality of Drake's religion; and it was
+part of his simple belief that he was chosen of God to scourge a
+pestilent enemy of mankind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The order of the march was the same every day.  Four maroons led the
+way, marking a trail by flinging broken branches or bundles of leaves
+upon the ground.  Then came twelve more maroons, followed at an
+interval by Drake and his eighteen Englishmen, and two maroon chiefs.
+The rear was brought up by the rest of the maroons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After four days' tramping through swampy woods, much entangled with
+undergrowth, steaming with heat and infected with noisome odours, they
+entered a pleasanter country, where the trees grew larger, and with
+branches so thickly interlaced that they were defended from the sun's
+rays and found their path less obstructed by creeping plants.  The
+ground rose gradually, and Pedro, the maroon chief, told Drake that on
+the summit of the ridge they were ascending, half way across the
+isthmus, there grew an immense tree from which he could descry the
+North Sea whence he had come and the South Sea whither he was going.
+At ten o'clock on the eighth day of their march they came to the place,
+and while the dinner was being got ready, Drake went with Pedro to the
+tree of which he had spoken.  Ascending big steps cut on the bole, they
+reached, near the top, a pleasant thatched arbour, large enough to seat
+a dozen men.  The sky was clear; no haze blanketed the view; and
+looking forth, Drake caught, thirty miles away, the sparkle of the
+southern ocean on which no English boat had sailed.  The soul of the
+great mariner was strangely moved: he fell on his knees, and "besought
+Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in
+an English ship on that sea."  Then he called up Oxnam and others of
+his company, and told them of his desire and prayer.  Dennis never
+forgot the scene in that shady bower at the tree-top: the kindling face
+of the sturdy captain, his shining eyes, the fervency of his speech.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They went on again, and in two days more reached the wide savannah,
+with grass as high as corn, and great herds of black cattle.  Now and
+then they got a glimpse of Panama, the city of their dream, and by and
+by, when they were near enough to see the ships riding at anchor in the
+roadstead, Drake called a halt: they had come within touch of danger
+and must walk warily.  Resting in a grove some three miles from the
+city, Drake sent one of the maroons, dressed like a negro of Panama,
+into it as a spy an hour before dark.  He was to find out on what
+night, and at what hour, the mule train set out with its precious
+burden for Nombre de Dios.  He had learnt from Pedro that the first
+stage of the journey, from Panama to Venta Cruz, was always performed
+by night, because by day the open plain was scorched by the sun.  But
+the second stage, from Venta Cruz to Nombre de Dios, was accomplished
+by day, the road lying among cool shaded woods.  It was clear that the
+first stage offered the best chances of a successful ambush, and Drake
+had resolved to intercept the treasure-train between Panama and Venta
+Cruz.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The spy returned sooner than he was expected.  From old acquaintances
+in the city he had learnt that a train was to start that very night,
+its departure being expedited because a Spanish hidalgo, the treasurer
+of Lima, was in haste to reach a ship waiting at Nombre de Dios to
+convey him to Spain.  His train consisted of fourteen mules, of which
+eight were laden with gold and one with jewels.  Two other trains, of
+fifty mules each, would follow, with provisions for the fleet and a
+quantity of silver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Within an hour of the receipt of this news, Drake and his men were
+afoot on the road for Venta Cruz, some twelve miles away.  Before
+starting, the English men all put their shirts on outside their other
+garments, so that they might have some means of telling friend from foe
+in the darkness.  When they had marched about half the distance, two of
+the maroons, going ahead as scouts on the narrow track between long
+grass, detected the smell of a burning match, and creeping stealthily
+on, guided by the scent, and the now audible sound of snoring, came
+upon a Spanish sentry fast asleep by the roadside.  In a trice they
+pounced on him; they stuffed a gag into his gaping mouth, put out his
+match, tied his arms to his sides, and haled him back to the main body.
+This danger removed, Drake divided his band into two companies.  One of
+these, under John Oxnam and Pedro the maroon, he stationed in long
+grass fifty paces from the road; with the other he went to the same
+distance on the other side, posting them so that, if it came to a
+fight, their fire would not harm their comrades.  He gave strict orders
+that no man should stir from his post, but that all should maintain
+perfect quiet, and, if any travellers should come from the direction of
+Venta Cruz, that these were to be allowed to pass without molestation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis and Turnpenny were placed among Oxnam's party, and lay side by
+side in the grass.  The night was so dark, and the stalks so long, that
+they could scarcely see each other, much less any other of their
+company.  For a time all was quiet; nothing was heard but the faint
+critch of insects among the herbage.  But by and by Dennis caught a
+slight murmur from some point near at hand.  He lifted his head to
+listen.  Yes, it was certainly a man mumbling.  Then he heard a
+glug-glug, as of liquid poured from a narrow-necked vessel, and
+immediately afterwards a deep sigh of contentment.  Again there was
+silence; but after a while another glugging and another sigh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Begorz!" whispered Turnpenny, "'tis some bosky lubber a-puddling of
+aqua vitae.  St!  Here be bells a-coming, on the neck of moyles, Ise
+warrant.  St!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sound came from the direction of Venta Cruz: evidently a train was
+returning to Panama.  Almost immediately afterwards there came a
+fainter tinkle on the other side; the treasurer of Lima was on the
+road, but he would not reach the ambush until the train from Venta Cruz
+had passed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nearer came the sound, growing now into a loud clanging.  Dennis held
+his breath.  The Venta Cruz party was to be allowed to pass; it would
+meet the other travellers, and give them the word that all was well.
+But what was this?  Some one was rustling in the grass near him; some
+one was moving forward; and, peeping up, Dennis saw an Englishman, as
+he knew by his shirt, creeping towards the road through the long
+stalks, and a maroon following.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment his ears caught the sound of a horse trotting.  He could
+not see the road; the men who had gone through the grass were also out
+of sight; but suddenly the trot changed into a gallop, and he heard the
+horse clattering at a furious rate down the road.  His heart gave a
+jump; he felt a hot flush surge through him: the rider, whoever he was,
+had been startled, and was now doubtless dashing on to warn the coming
+train.  Who could the fool be who had so flagrantly disobeyed the
+captain's orders?  Had he been so mad as to expose himself, in his
+shirt over-all, to the view of the horseman?  Turnpenny was as wrathful
+as Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if I don't deal en a whap in the niddick," he whispered,
+"as'll make en twine like an angle-twitch."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sound of the hoofs died away, and Dennis expected that the clanging
+of the bells would cease also, and all be brought to nought.  To his
+surprise there was no change: the bells drew nearer and nearer; now he
+heard men's voices; and then, with a suddenness that made him jump, a
+shrill whistle-blast rose high above all other sounds.  It was the
+signal for the attack.  Dennis and the sailor rushed through the grass;
+on all sides white-clad forms rose from their lurking-places and made
+towards the road with a cheer.  They sprang at the muleteers, toppled
+them over, and without a shot fired the long line of mules was in the
+raiders' hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With many a laugh and jest the sailors hauled the packs from the backs
+of the mules and slit them with their hangers.  But soon the mirth was
+turned to melancholy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Od-rat-en, what have we here?" cried Turnpenny, lifting a soft mass on
+the end of his weapon.  "Bless my bones if it bean't a bunch of yokey
+sheep's wool!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And here 'tis nought but dried meat as tough as leather."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, where be the goold, where be the goold?" cried Robert Pike,
+breaking from the grasp of a maroon.  "Cap'n said there was nugs o'
+goold as big as goose-eggs, and be jowned if I can see a farden's
+worth!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the gewgaws for the rory-tory madams o' Spain&mdash;where be the
+gewgaws?" cried another of the seamen.  "Here, you codger"&mdash;seizing one
+of the muleteers&mdash;"where be the gewgaws adiddled to?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He shook the man till he gasped for breath, then hauled him before
+Drake, who had come into the midst of the enraged sailors.  He bade the
+muleteer speak.  The man told how the horseman, trotting by with a page
+at his stirrup, had been startled to see a ghost-like figure rise out
+of the grass at the side of the track, and galloped on to warn the
+treasurer.  Superstitious as the Spaniards were, they knew so much of
+the daring of El Draque that the treasurer did not for a moment doubt
+he had to deal, not with a ghost, but with a very real and substantial
+enemy.  The warning had reached him just in time.  He drew his mules,
+bearing the treasure, to the side of the road to allow the train of
+merchandise to pass; the loss of food and wool could be endured
+patiently if the gold and jewels were saved.  Then, when the din ahead
+confirmed his suspicions of an ambush, he turned the mules' heads back
+towards Panama and slipped away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here was a pretty end to the adventure from which all had hoped so
+much!  Loud was the outcry against the wretched man whose rashness had
+had so untoward an effect.  While Drake took hurried counsel with Oxnam
+and Pedro the maroon, the men went about growling, accusing each other,
+threatening terrible punishment for the offender.  Of them all none was
+louder or more vehement than Robert Pike.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"An I catch the knave," he shouted, "Ise fulsh en, Ise thump en, Ise
+larn en a thing or two as the wink-a-puss won't forget."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as he spoke he lurched towards Amos, who caught him by the collar
+as a sudden suspicion dawned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if I don't b'lieve 'twas 'ee, Bob Pike!  You hawk-a-mouth
+knave, I smell 'ee, I do.  You been puddling aqua vitae, dang my
+buttons an you bean't.  You bandy-legged piggish lubby, you, 'ee'll
+fulsh en, will 'ee? and thump en, will 'ee? and larn the wink-a-puss a
+thing or two, will 'ee?  The Old Smoker take 'ee for a lubberly knave
+and a jackass."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And 'ee for a gabbing rant-a-come-scour!" retorted Pike, when he got
+his breath.  "What be 'ee jowering at me for?  I only supped a little
+small drop to keep me awake, and when I heard the moyles a-coming,
+od-rabbit-en, thinks I, Ise nab the first; and when I got to the road,
+'twas no moyle, but a fine horse and rider, and I rose up to see what
+he was, and a knave maroon pulled me down and sat upon me like to
+squeeze out my vitals, and so the villain Spaniard got away."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You bosky knave, I'll&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But what Turnpenny would have done remained untold, for at this moment
+Drake called all the men together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis no good crying over spilt milk, my lads," he said.  "An we do not
+shift for ourselves betimes, we shall have all the Spaniards of Panama
+upon us pell mell.  To go back the way we came is a four leagues march;
+we all be wearied and for-done, and meseems 'twere better to go forward
+two leagues into the forest.  True, the town of Venta Cruz stands in
+the way, but 'tis better, methinks, to encounter our enemies while we
+have strength remaining than to be encountered and chased when we be
+worn out with weariness.  We will e'en eat our suppers while we may;
+there be great store of meat and drink in the mule-packs; then will we
+mount upon these beasts, so that we do not weary ourselves with
+overmuch marching.  And then, if God will, we will ding a blow at the
+enemy for our honour; and mark 'ee, my lads, we are disappointed of a
+most rich booty; but surely God would not that it should be taken, for
+that, by all likelihood, it was well gotten by that treasurer, and not
+by evil courses."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And, taking what comfort they could from their captain's explanation,
+they set off on mule back as soon as supper was over, and came in an
+hour to the woods a mile out of Venta Cruz.  There they dismounted.
+Drake bade the muleteers remain out of harm's way, and led the men over
+a cobbled road ten feet broad, running between great walls of
+vegetation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Following his custom, Drake sent forward two of the faithful maroons to
+reconnoitre.  They came back with news that, half a mile farther on,
+the enemy were hidden in the thickets; they had heard the rustle of
+their movements and smelled the pungent smoke of their matches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let no man fire till after the enemy hath dealt us a volley," said
+Drake; "methinks they will first parley with us."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He led them quietly forward.  A few minutes later a dark form appeared
+on the darker road.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hoo!" came a voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Halloo!" replied Drake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What nation are you?" called the man in Spanish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Englishmen."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"In the name of the King of Spain my master," cried the captain, "I
+charge you to yield, avouching on the word of a gentleman soldier that
+I will deal with you most courteously."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come on, my lads," quietly said Drake, taking a few quick steps
+forward.  Aloud he cried: "For the honour of the Queen of England, my
+mistress, I must have passage this way."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the same moment he fired his pistol.  The Spaniards in ambush,
+mistaking the shot for a signal from their own officer, poured in a
+volley.  Drake blew his whistle, and instantly his men sent a
+spattering shower of bullets and arrows into the brushwood, following
+it up with a charge.  The Spaniards bolted like hares, and at Drake's
+command the maroons of his party swarmed forward to cut the enemy off
+from a stronger position in the rear, shouting their terrifying
+war-cry, "Yo peho!  Yo peho!"  Back went the Spaniards, scurrying along
+to the shelter of the town, the maroons leaping and dancing after them
+as their manner was in war, the seamen not far behind, adding to the
+uproar with English yells.  Within a few yards of the town wall the
+enemy attempted to rally, posting themselves across the road and in the
+woods on both sides.  But the maroons swept upon their flanks, Drake
+and his men charged full at the centre.  For a few moments the place
+rang with the clash of sword and pike and the cries of the combatants.
+Then as one man the Spaniards wheeled about and scampered through the
+open gates of the town, with Drake's whole party at their heels.  On
+they went into the streets, seamen and maroons, thrusting and slashing
+without pause or respite, yet strictly observing their captain's
+injunction to spare women and unarmed men.  In five minutes they were
+masters of the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For little over an hour the men ran hither and thither, gathering what
+spoils they could in the shape of articles easily carried.  Then, just
+as dawn was breaking, and they were snatching a hasty breakfast before
+departing, a dozen horsemen dashed in at the Panama gate.  Not until
+they were within point-blank range of the musketeers whom Drake had
+posted there did they perceive that the town was in the enemy's hands.
+The sentries fired; half of the horsemen fell; the rest fled back
+hastily into the forest.  But Drake feared they were the advance guard
+of a larger force.  It was dangerous to delay.  He whistled his men
+together; and in a few minutes they marched out of the town with their
+spoils, some little compensation for the lost treasure of the mule
+train.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The toils and sufferings of that homeward march lived long in the
+memories of Dennis and Turnpenny.  Drake forced the pace unmercifully,
+anxious to get back to his ship.  Food ran short; he would not stay to
+hunt wild hog or deer.  Several of the men had been wounded; there was
+no time to tend their wounds.  Their clothes were torn to tatters;
+their boots, even the extra pairs, had given way, and they were driven
+to bind their feet with rags.  The faithful maroons served them nobly,
+carrying all the burdens, building huts for their rest at night,
+bearing upon their shoulders some of the seamen who were too exhausted
+and footsore to tramp any longer.  A maroon went forward to warn the
+waiting company of their approach.  On the afternoon of the 23rd of
+February, three weeks after they had started on the expedition, they
+tottered out of the forest towards the beach, just as the pinnace, sent
+by Ellis Hixom to take them off, scudded inshore.  There on the
+glistening sand the little company of men, haggard, worn-out,
+half-famished, raised their husky voices in a psalm of thanksgiving,
+praising God because they saw their pinnace and their fellows again.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap21"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXI
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Maiden Isle Again
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+As they sailed back in the pinnace to the secret haven, the weary
+adventurers were surrounded by their comrades, and feasted their ears
+with wondrous tales of what had befallen them.  Ellis Hixom also had a
+story to tell.  A few days after the departure of the company, there
+had staggered into the clearing three men in the last stage of
+exhaustion.  Two were English, one French.  They were pitiable objects,
+their eyes bright with fever, their cheeks haggard with famine, their
+feet blistered and bleeding from long wandering in the woods.  Each man
+carried a bag of pearls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And they told a pitiful story.  They had escaped, they said, from
+captivity in Nombre de Dios, and set out with three comrades, bearing
+plunder from the houses of their captors.  It was well known along the
+coast that Drake was somewhere in hiding, and they marched eastward,
+hoping by good hap to light upon his encampment.  But as they rested
+one night, the leader had overheard a plot on the part of three of the
+men to slay the rest and make off with the booty.  Fearing that if it
+came to a fight he and his two comrades would stand but little chance
+against the others, who were men of exceeding great strength and
+ferocity, the three had slipped away in the darkness and had since been
+tramping for days through the forest, unable to find sufficient food,
+and subsisting on berries and mushrooms.  Once they had almost stumbled
+into a village of maroons, and fled for their lives, dreading lest they
+should be taken for Spaniards and slain before the error was discovered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And where are they now?" asked Drake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"On the <i>Pascha</i>, sir," replied Hixom, "where they are slowly
+recovering of their calentures."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And the name of the leader?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Jan Biddle, by his own account a skilful mariner and&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, I have heard tell of him," interrupted Drake with a grim smile.
+"Master Hazelrig," he added, calling Dennis up, "I learn that the
+captain of your mutineers waits your judgement on my vessel."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He repeated what Hixom had told him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"What is the name of the other Englishman, Master Hixom?" asked Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dick Rackstraw, methinks.  The Frenchman's name is Michel Barren."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then what has become of our comrade Billy Hawk, I wonder?  Biddle and
+his crew deserted from us with the treasure, when we came ashore in our
+boat.  Billy Hawk went after them; I fear me there has been foul play."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We will enquire into that matter when we gain our haven," said Drake,
+"and see what Master Biddle has to say for himself."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as he reached the haven, Drake boarded the <i>Pascha</i> and called
+Biddle and his companions before him.  He listened patiently to the
+man's wild tale, then sent a boat ashore to bring off Dennis and
+Turnpenny.  Biddle's jaw dropped when he saw them come over the side.
+He attempted to bluster it out, but Drake cut him short.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You are a foul liar and a mutineer," he said sternly.  "Art a murderer
+also?  What didst thou to Billy Hawk thy comrade?  Answer to the point,
+villain."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Afore God, sir, I know nought of him.  With me came but four men, and
+two of those lie dead in the forest, of a strange sickness that got
+hold of them after that they had drunken of the water of a certain
+river.  Of Billy Hawk I saw nor heard nought."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My poor comrade!" said Turnpenny.  "I fear me he be gone or alost."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"These are your men," said Drake, turning to Dennis.  "The punishment
+of mutiny is death.  Do with them as you list."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I would fain leave them in your hands, sir," replied Dennis.  "For me,
+I would not that any man should die."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will consider of it.  Have them put in irons and carried below."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day he decided, on Dennis's intercession, to content himself with
+holding the men closely confined in the vessel.  The bags of pearls
+were taken from them and handed to Dennis and Turnpenny.  And ere the
+day was out Robert Pike was sent to join them.  Drake had learnt of the
+mischievous part the man had played, which had resulted in the failure
+of his attack on the mule trains.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A little darkness and solitude may teach him to refrain from the
+bottle," he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The enterprise had so nearly succeeded that when Drake declared he
+would make the attempt again, as soon as the time came for another
+convoy of treasure to cross the isthmus, every man of his company
+eagerly besought him for a place in the expedition.  But Dennis
+reminded him of his promise to lend him a pinnace in which to sail to
+Maiden Isle and bring off his comrades.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I will hold to my word," said Drake.  "You and your brawny henchman
+have suffered less than the most of my men, by reason, I wot, of your
+being inured to hardships on your island.  Some days must needs pass
+before we are ready to attempt other enterprises.  The island is but a
+day's sail, you said?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir, and with good hap we should return on the second day, or the
+third at most."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then take the <i>Minion</i> pinnace, and good hap go with you.  You will
+need men.  Choose out eight according to your mind, and a few maroons
+also.  Juan was with you, I bethink me; he will doubtless serve you
+right faithfully.  In sooth, I shall be mighty rejoiced to have with me
+the dozen men you go to find, for if they be in spirit and body like to
+you and your henchman, they will be most serviceable when I make my
+next journey to Panama.  I would go fetch them myself, as I had
+purposed, but that our preparations demand my presence here."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next day, then, the <i>Minion</i> pinnace sailed out of the little haven
+with a crew of eight Englishmen and five maroons, three of whom were
+the men who had accompanied Dennis from the island.  Mirandola also was
+on board.  He had disappeared when Dennis set off with Drake to cross
+the isthmus, but had evidently kept a watch on the settlement, for the
+day after they returned he came out of the forest and attached himself
+to his old master with demonstrations of delight.  A brisk breeze was
+blowing off shore; the pinnace was a first-rate sailer; by midday they
+were in sight of the island, and in the afternoon they rounded the
+shoulder of the cliff, Turnpenny steering the vessel into the gully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis, standing in the bows, caught sight of a group of men beyond the
+pool, near his sheds.  They were partly hidden by the foliage, and when
+they saw the strange vessel making straight towards them, with the
+evident intention of coming to an anchorage, they took to their heels
+and disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor souls! they take us for Spaniards," said Turnpenny.  "I warrant
+they be most desperately in the dumps.  'Tis nigh a month since we
+departed hence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pinnace dropped anchor beside the <i>Maid Marian</i>, and the men went
+ashore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Blow a blast," said Dennis to one of the men, who carried a trumpet,
+"with notes that will be familiar to their ears."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the shrill notes rang out, he stepped ahead of the men, with
+Mirandola on his shoulder.  Before long a man appeared among the trees
+far up the chine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hallo hoy!" shouted Turnpenny.  "Be that you, Tom Copstone?  Come,
+comrade, never be afeard.  We've come to take 'ee off, poor soul, and
+bring 'ee to Master Drake, who will make us all rich with much gold and
+treasure.  Come, my hearts, Ned Whiddon, and Hugh Curder, and all."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny's well-known voice was more successful than the trumpet's
+notes in banishing the men's mistrust.  Soon they came hasting down the
+gully, Copstone leading.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I said it!  I knew it," he cried, as he approached.  "'You and me,
+Haymoss'&mdash;the blessed words stayed in my noddle, and I knew 'ee would
+come back somewhen, dear soul.  But we be in piteous case.  'Tis a long
+ninny-watch we ha' kept, and hope was wellnigh drownded, sir.  We could
+not make it out; we was mazed, every man of us; but you be come back,
+praise be to God."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He told how the disappearance of the <i>Mirandola</i> had filled them first
+with consternation, then with bitter rage.  Some of the men declared
+that they had been decoyed to the island; that they had been betrayed
+and deserted for the sake of the treasure.  From the first Copstone and
+Whiddon had absolutely refused to believe that Dennis and Turnpenny had
+wilfully left them; Hugh Curder, indeed, had made a shrewd guess at
+what had actually happened; but the rest clung to their first notion,
+gave way to bursts of rage and reviling, and as the days passed,
+settled down into a state of moody despair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Copstone had tried to induce them to fit out the <i>Maid Marian</i> for sea,
+but he had found it impossible to whip up enough energy among them.
+They had some reason for their reluctance, inasmuch as, the stores of
+the <i>Maid Marian</i> having been put aboard the <i>Mirandola</i>, there was no
+provision for a long voyage.  The fruits of the island would spoil in a
+week or so, whereas if they clung to the island they were at least sure
+of finding a sufficient subsistence.  But they had been troubled even
+on this point, for some of the men fell ill through recklessly eating
+fruits and berries without first ascertaining whether they were fit for
+food, and with broken health their spirits had been still further
+depressed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Poor souls!" said Turnpenny.  "'Ee do look a wangery and witherly
+crew.  But 'ee be all here, all twelve, not a man lacking?  My heart!
+where be Gabriel Batten?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He never come back!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never come back!  What do 'ee mean?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We looked for en, up along and down along, but nary a crim of him did
+we see."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and another be gone, too," said Hugh Curder.  "But a sennight
+agone, poor Joe Toogood vanished out of our sight, and we never seed
+him again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be there devils upon the island, Haymoss?" asked Ned Whiddon,
+anxiously.  "Be there pixies that lead poor souls into some ditch or
+quagmire, where they be swallowed quick in the pluffy ground?  Once we
+was bold mariners all, but now we be poor timorsome creatures, afeard
+when the wind soughs in the trees."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis remembered the boa-constrictor from whose clammy coils he had
+saved the monkey that now sat upon his shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas no sprites nor pixies, comrades," he said.  "Without doubt they
+came unawares upon a big serpent that charmed them first with his fiery
+eyes, and then swathed them in his fearsome coils till he had crushed
+the life out of them.  Poor souls! poor souls!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But now 'tis time to be merry, lads," said Amos quickly, "for here we
+be, and our pinnace yonder is named the <i>Minion</i>, the same as the bark
+that Captain Hampton handled so cunningly at St. John d'Ulua; and we be
+goin' to take 'ee all back to Master Drake, who lies by a secret haven,
+in little small huts built by the maroons; and there be archery butts,
+and a smith's anvil, and other such homely things.  And we have seen
+wondrous things, my lads&mdash;the blue south sea beyond, and the treasure
+town, and Master Drake be set on leading us forth to adventure for gold
+and jewels beyond price.  'Tis time to be merry, souls!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And catching the infection of his cheery good-will, Hugh Curder flung
+his hat in the air and began&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ill is the weather that bringeth no gain,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Nor helps good hearts in need.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis had transferred to the <i>Mirandola</i>&mdash;now, alas! at the bottom of
+the sea&mdash;the greater part of the <i>Maid Marian's</i> stores that he kept in
+his sheds; but there was a goodly remnant still in the cave, and this
+he determined to put on board the <i>Minion</i> and carry to Port Diego.
+The afternoon was too far advanced for the work to be completed that
+night; so he determined to sleep on the island and make an early start
+next morning.  As soon as it was light he sent a number of Turnpenny's
+old comrades in different directions across the island to get a supply
+of fresh fruit, while the men he had brought from the mainland set
+about carrying the stores from the cave to the pinnace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had not been long at the work, however, when Ned Whiddon came
+hurrying back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God-a-mercy, sir," he cried, "we have spied a crew of strangers on the
+south shore, and in the offing two vessels at anchor.  They be all clad
+and armed in the Spanish fashion, and when they set eyes on us they
+gave chase, and but that we know the island now as well as we know the
+lanes to home, none of us would have 'scaped."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other men came in while he was speaking.  Dennis trembled for the fate
+of those who had gone towards the northern shore and had not yet
+returned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis ill news indeed," he said.  "Run, Curder, after the men that have
+gone northward, and warn them that Spaniards are here to trouble us,
+lest they have not already discovered it.  Comrades," he added,
+addressing the men about him, whose countenances bespoke their
+alarm&mdash;"comrades, we must take counsel together.  What think you, Amos,
+we should do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, sir, we should steal out in the pinnace as soon as our men be
+back along, leaving these stores, and thread a way betwixt the reefs to
+nor'ward; for the knaves could not follow us save in their boats."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, sir," said Copstone, "that be the true way of it.  God send the
+tide be high enough to serve."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then get aboard and make all ready to depart.  Amos, look to all
+things, and make the rest of our comrades to embark as they arrive.  I
+will run to the top of the cliff to spy if the coast be clear."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But on reaching the spot whence he had often before looked so longingly
+and vainly for a sail, he made a most unwelcome discovery.  About a
+mile to the south-west of the island lay a large vessel, which, since
+she was busily engaged in signalling, was clearly a consort of the two
+ships that Whiddon had seen.  Keeping well under cover, Dennis raced
+along to a point half a mile south, whence the whole southern offing
+was visible.  There were the two vessels; and, even as he looked, a
+boat was lowered from the nearest of them, rapidly filled with men, and
+was rowed towards the beach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sight was enough to cause the boldest heart to quake.  If the
+pinnace ran out of the gully, she would have to pass within half a mile
+of the ship, for the tide was low, and even the little <i>Minion</i> drew
+too much water to make her way northward until she had run at least
+half a mile out to sea.  This would bring her under the guns of the
+third vessel, and the Spaniards must be poor marksmen indeed if they
+failed to hit her at this range.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was beginning to retrace his steps when Turnpenny came up hurriedly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We be all aboard, sir, save yourself and Nick Joland.  Have 'ee seen
+him?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"No."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"He be but late better of a fever, as Tom telled me; pray he be not
+swooned."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment they heard loud shouts to their right.  Running down
+through the trees, careful not to expose themselves, they saw four
+Spaniards chasing this very Nick Joland, a thin cadaverous-looking man
+whose stumbling gait betrayed his weakness.  He was making almost in a
+straight line for a large bignonia bush that stood alone at the end of
+the narrow clearing just below where the two men were watching.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With one accord Dennis and Turnpenny stole to the bush and dropped down
+behind it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let Joland pass," whispered Dennis; "then we can tackle the knaves as
+they come up."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Without arms?" replied Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis nodded.  In a few moments the fugitive, panting hard, ran past
+the bush.  The four Spaniards, running in a body, were close at his
+heels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now!" Dennis whispered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They sprang out with a yell, and though they were unarmed, the odds
+were not utterly against them, for the Spaniards were startled by this
+unexpected onset.  A single blow from Turnpenny's sledge-hammer fist
+stretched one of them senseless on the ground.  Dennis felled his man,
+but his arm was less powerful, and the Spaniard began dizzily to regain
+his feet while Dennis grappled with another.  As he rose he reeled just
+within reach of Turnpenny's arm.  Catching him round the middle, the
+seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard, who was making
+furiously at him with drawn sword, Their heads collided with a terrific
+thud, and down they fell on the grass together.
+</p>
+
+<p class="capcenter">
+<a id="img-306.jpg"></a>
+<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-306.jpg" alt="&quot;The seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard.&quot;" />
+<br />
+&quot;The seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Dennis had come to grips with the third man, a heavy and
+muscular fellow, who had only been prevented by the suddenness of the
+onslaught from using his sword, which he was unable in the surprise of
+the moment to shorten before Dennis was within his guard.  Dropping the
+weapon, he strove to crush his antagonist by sheer strength.  But
+Dennis was a wrestler.  He neatly tripped the Spaniard, who fell,
+dragging his opponent with him.  With a tremendous effort, he heaved
+himself uppermost and pinned Dennis to the ground.  His hand was
+already on Dennis's throat when suddenly a bright object hurtled
+through the air, striking him with terrific force on the side of the
+head.  His grip relaxed, he fell with a groan upon Dennis, the object
+that had struck him clattering to the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis was up in a moment.  The strange missile was the headpiece of
+one of the Spaniards.  It had fallen from his head in the tussle, and
+been picked up by Nick Joland, who, seeing the diversion in his favour,
+had hurried up at the critical moment in time to save Dennis from
+strangulation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Dead as door-nails!" said Turnpenny succinctly, seeing Dennis glance
+at the Spaniards on the ground.  "'Tis a terrible heave-up, sir; we
+were best to run back along to our comrades in the pinnace, for there
+be gashly work afore us.  And we will take these knaves' swords and
+calivers.  Crymaces! there be more running towards us, and a round
+dozen; we durst not bide their coming.  We have but bare time to get
+back to the chine.  Stir your stumps, Nick Joland; we can't save 'ee
+twice, man."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap22"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+A Fight on the Cliffs
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+The three doubled back towards the chine, which was little more than
+half a mile away.  The Spaniards saw them ere they disappeared among
+the trees, and followed with loud shouts, quickening their pace when
+they reached the spot where their comrades lay.  But the Englishmen,
+knowing the ground, came in good time to the edge of the gully, where a
+steep and winding path led down to the ledge on which the huts were
+built.  From the summit the ledge was not visible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Shall we run down at once, or give them a taste of their own lead
+first?" asked Dennis, halting for a moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Give the knaves a taste, to be sure," replied Amos.  "They know not
+how many we be, nor can they see through the trees; and we must needs
+check them, to give us time to acquaint our comrades with what is
+toward, and set our defences in order."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While speaking he had kindled the matches taken from the Spaniards.
+The calivers were already loaded.  Crouching behind the thick bushes
+that lined the edge of the gully, they fired when they caught sight of
+the Spaniards advancing among the trees.  Two of the enemy fell; the
+rest halted; and while they stood considering whether to advance, the
+three Englishmen hurried down the path, guessing that the Spaniards
+would hardly venture to follow while they were ignorant of the size of
+the force with which they had to deal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arriving at the ledge, Turnpenny gave a hail to the men on the deck of
+the pinnace, bidding them leave the vessel and bring their arms and
+ammunition with them.  They had been much alarmed by the continued
+absence of their leaders, and by the sound of the shots, and asked
+anxiously, when they reached the ledge, what was to be done.  Dennis
+rapidly told them what he had seen from the summit of the cliff, and
+how for the present the Spaniards had been checked, and then, taking
+Turnpenny and two or three of the others aside, began to concert a plan
+of defence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The position was naturally a strong one.  The ledge was accessible only
+by the narrow path from the cliff-top, and by a few yards of steep
+ascent from the base of the gully.  It was protected from attack from
+above by the overhanging cliff; it could only be assaulted from below
+if the enemy got into the bed of the gully, either by coming in boats
+round the shoulder of the cliff, or by clambering down the sides
+inland.  The gully was forty yards across; the opposite bank was steep
+and much overgrown with vegetation, trees and bushes growing thick to
+the very edge.  Down the middle ran the stream from the marsh, very
+shallow after a season of dry weather.  On their own side the defenders
+could pick off the enemy if they came to attack them along the narrow
+path; they were only in danger if the Spaniards took post on the summit
+of the cliff opposite, and they could not reach that spot except by
+making a long circuit about the marsh in which the stream took its
+rise, or by clambering down the southern bank some distance up-stream,
+wading through the water and climbing the other side.  This would be a
+matter of an hour or two at least&mdash;an invaluable respite which Dennis
+resolved to make the most of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He sent one of the maroons up the path to keep watch on the enemy, and
+another to cross the gully, clamber up the opposite face, and hide
+among the trees there to give notice of an approach from the
+north-east.  The other maroons, with several of the Englishmen, he set
+to fortify the extremity of the ledge with a wall of branches, so that
+the party might be screened from gunshot on the far side.  Turnpenny,
+with the strongest of the mariners, went down to the pinnace, and at
+the cost of great exertion brought up the falcon and rabinets which
+formed, with the addition of a saker, her armament.  The saker was a
+muzzle-loader weighing more than half a ton, and too cumbrous to be
+hauled up the steep cliff; but the falcon was less than half that
+weight, and the two rabinets weighed only three hundred pounds apiece.
+The falcon was seven feet long, had a bore of two and a half inches,
+and threw a shot of three pounds weight, with a similar weight of
+powder.  The rabinet was only two and a half feet in length, its bore
+was one inch, and its shot weighed only half a pound.  Both guns had a
+point-blank range of from a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty
+yards, and, mounted on the ledge, in embrasures of the extemporized
+wall, they would prove very effective weapons of defence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the guns were being hauled into position, others of the men
+brought buckets of water, filled at the cliff stream, and emptied them
+into the casks which during the months spent on the island by Dennis
+and the sailors had been depleted of the stores they had held when
+brought from the hold of the <i>Maid Marian</i>.  Two casks still remained
+full of cider, but this having gone sour in the heat, it was poured
+away, the casks were swilled out, and re-filled with water.  It was
+fortunate that a pure spring welled in the cliff, for the water of the
+rivulet draining the marsh was unfit for drinking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the men worked with a will.  They knew not as yet how many the
+enemy numbered, but since there were three vessels, of which each, if
+fully manned, might contain from forty to seventy men, they had to
+reckon with a force that might be from a hundred and twenty to more
+than two hundred strong.  The odds were tremendously against them.  All
+told, they numbered only twenty-six, of whom six were maroons.  But
+they had only two courses open to them: to fight, and at least sell
+their lives dearly, or to yield, and be shot or hanged or haled away to
+a slavery worse than death.  Not one of them hesitated in his choice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a last resort, Dennis had the cave to fall back upon; but he was
+loath to retire to it until he had made a good fight at the gully, for
+while, from the ledge on which his hut stood, he could command the
+entrance of the gully, and to some extent protect the pinnace, the cave
+was deeper in the cliff and out of sight, and however strenuously the
+party might defend itself there, the pinnace would then be at the mercy
+of the enemy.  It was true that, even if the pinnace were carried away
+or destroyed, a canoe could be dug out by the maroons, so that they
+would still have a means of leaving the island; but Dennis was
+determined to sail the <i>Minion</i> back to Port Diego and to Francis Drake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Midday came, and passed.  The maroons had finished their wall; the guns
+were mounted and charged; the water-casks were filled: and still there
+was no sign of the enemy.  But the scouts had not returned, and Dennis
+began to feel somewhat uneasy.  What were the Spaniards doing?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Have we left aught undone, think you?" he said to Turnpenny, as they
+sat on upturned tubs eating their dinner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nowt, sir, as I can see.  But methinks 't'ud be well to withdraw the
+muzzles of our guns somewhat.  If the knaves come on t'other side and
+spy them, they may sheer off and seek some other way of troubling us;
+and I would that they came to close quarters here, where we can strike
+them down."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis good counsel.  Not perceiving the guns they will be the more
+emboldened to attack us, and 'twere well we have occasion to teach them
+a sound lesson."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly the guns were withdrawn so that their muzzles did not
+project from the other side of the wall.  Hardly had this been done
+when the nose of a boat was seen shooting round the shoulder of the
+cliff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Lookeedesee!" cried Turnpenny.  "The knaves that followed us did
+assuredly go back to their comrades and tell them of the gully and the
+path downwards, and they have sent their cock-boat to spy the place
+from the sea."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Let us keep out of sight and watch what they do," said Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boat, filled with armed men, came under full sweep of oars up the
+entrance to the gully.  When it was still some distance from the
+pinnace the men rested on their oars, and one rose in the bows to look
+about him.  For some time he saw nothing to indicate that the place was
+defended, and his fellows in the boat began to talk over the situation,
+the sound of their voices coming clearly to the men behind the wall.
+Then, as the boat again moved towards the pool, some one in it suddenly
+caught sight of the barricaded ledge, and the voices broke out once
+more in eager discussion.  The upshot of this was that they came to the
+conclusion that the pinnace had been abandoned to her fate, and with a
+shout of triumph they bent lustily to their oars and came on with the
+evident intention of securing the vessel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they were now within range of the calivers of the defenders.  At a
+sign from Dennis eight of the men stepped forward to the wall, lit
+their matches, and, resting the weapons on the top, fired when he gave
+the word.  Several of the oarsmen were seen to fall back; the boat came
+to a stop; and while the Spaniards were hesitating whether to advance
+or retreat, eight more men sent a hot volley among them, working havoc
+in the crowded boat.  Cries of pain were now mingled with their shouts;
+the defenders heard a loud word of command; and the rowers began to
+back water so as not to present the side of the boat to the hidden
+marksmen.  When the boat was out of danger it swung round on the
+current, and in a few minutes disappeared past the shoulder of the
+cliff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely was it out of sight when the maroon who had been sent up the
+cliff to the south came running down the path.  He reported that he had
+stealthily spied upon the Spaniards who had been baffled when Dennis
+and Turnpenny vanished over the edge; they had returned to the southern
+shore, where they rejoined a larger party which had assembled there.  A
+council had been held on the beach; horns were sounded, no doubt to
+recall scattered bands who had been ranging the island in other
+directions; more men had been sent off from the ships; and the whole
+force, numbering, as near as he could guess, nearly two hundred men,
+had set off with matches already lighted, marching northward.
+Moreover, the third vessel, which had been lying off the south-western
+shore, was working slowly up the coast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas from her, without doubt, the boat put off that we have lately
+routed," said Dennis.  "The men aboard will tell what they have seen.
+What will be the upshot, think you, Amos?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if I can tell, sir.  My counsel is, let the maroon go back
+and spy upon them.  An the knaves march directly northward they will
+come upon the gully just above us, and methinks, however stout they be,
+they will not dare to come down the path, where we can shoot them man
+by man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was done as he suggested.  Within half an hour the maroon came back
+with the news that the boat had been run ashore on low ground to the
+west: many wounded men had been lifted out of it; and the majority of
+the Spaniards had hastened across country to rejoin the marching force.
+It halted while a consultation was held; then the march was resumed,
+but this time in a more easterly direction, which would bring them to
+the gully at a point about midway between the ledge and the morass,
+where the banks were sufficiently low and the stream sufficiently
+shallow to permit them to cross without difficulty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They be coming about to fire down at us from t'other side," said
+Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Over the wall," added Copstone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We can fire back," said Whiddon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Zuggers! but twenty of us cannot keep two hundred in check," said Hugh
+Curder, anxiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Say you so?" said Dennis.  "Master Drake with but few more did assault
+and take a whole town.  The Spaniards have learnt the worth of an
+English mariner; they will not approach us rashly.  And they know not
+the ground as we know it.  'Twill be a matter of time to cross the
+gully and climb the bank and creep along through the trees on the
+further side until they face us here.  There is&mdash;you know it well&mdash;a
+space on the opposite cliff where the trees grow somewhat thin: a space
+which the knaves must cross an they wish to gain the edge.  Might we
+not ensconce ourselves on the hither border of that space, and fire
+upon them as they come?  We are not able, 'tis true, a poor twenty, to
+withstand the fervent assault of two hundred; but we can assuredly
+delay them, and teach them somewhat to respect us, and give time withal
+for our wall to be increased in height; meseems it is lower than is
+proper.  What say you, lads; shall we do this?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But how get back to this our fort, sir?" asked one of Drake's men.
+"We must fall back before them if they push on, and then methinks they
+might drive us over the brink, so that we fall headlong to the bottom,
+and break in pieces."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, Wetherall," replied Dennis.  "We would take two, or even three,
+calivers apiece, whereby we twenty become sixty, and I warrant me we
+could do so much damage among them that they would pause ere they
+resolved to bring it to a push.  And while they paused, we should have
+time to scramble down through the trees and shrubs, and up this side
+again, and come to our wall, mayhap, before they won to the edge.
+Assuredly we can do them more hurt yonder than if we wait until they
+stand in serried mass face to face with us above.  Shall we do it,
+lads, for the honour of England?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, ay, sir," shouted the men, fired by his enthusiasm and confidence;
+and Hugh Curder began to troll&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"And hey for the honour of old England,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Old England, Old England!"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+The move was instantly begun.  Dennis bade four of the maroons weave
+more branches into the wall.  The rest of the men, with two loaded
+calivers apiece&mdash;three were found to be too cumbrous a load&mdash;followed
+Dennis down the cliff, forded the stream on rocks just above the pool
+where the pinnace and the <i>Maid Marian</i> lay, and clambered up the
+opposite cliff by a zigzag path, assisting themselves by the branches
+and projecting roots of trees.  Arriving at the summit, they waited
+only to light their matches, then hurried forward through the
+undergrowth to the edge of the somewhat open space which the enemy must
+cross.  Each man posted himself behind a convenient tree.  For two
+hundred yards in their front there were only a few scattered trees and
+bushes.  Dennis wished there were time to fell these and so deprive the
+enemy wholly of cover; but even if they could have been cut down, there
+was no means at hand of dragging them away, and they would give less
+protection if left erect than if they lay lengthwise across the space.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About half an hour after they had thus taken up their positions, the
+maroon who had previously been sent across the gully as a scout came
+running back to announce that the enemy were approaching.  They were
+marching with great caution, the soldiers blowing on their smouldering
+matches to keep them alight.  Dennis ordered the maroon to post himself
+behind a tree, and the little party waited in breathless silence for
+the enemy to appear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last one or two men could be seen among the trees on the other side
+of the clearing.  They halted, evidently waiting for the main body to
+appear before they moved across.  Dennis took advantage of the interval
+to whisper his orders to the men.  If the enemy did not come on in a
+mass, and at the charge, only alternate men were to fire the first
+volley, then, if they had time, to reload their pieces, still having
+the second loaded caliver in reserve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few minutes the gleam of the Spaniards' headpieces and
+shoulder-plates was seen as they joined the advance scouts among the
+trees.  Then, as it were out of the leafy wall, some twenty men marched
+resolutely forward in closed ranks, clearly without any suspicion that
+the woods beyond were occupied.  Dennis waited until they were half-way
+across the open space, then he sounded the "Hoo! hoo!" which was the
+maroons' signal in wood fighting.  The calivers flashed from the belt
+of trees; several of the enemy fell; the rest, startled and confused by
+this sudden and unexpected attack, rushed back instantly upon the main
+body, while the men who had fired began in all haste to reload.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they had no time to complete the priming of their weapons.  A shout
+was heard from beyond the clearing.  Immediately afterwards a tall
+Spaniard, whom his dress marked out as an officer, dashed forward at
+the top of his speed, carrying a short heavy pistol of the kind known
+to Englishmen as "daggs."  With a yell the whole body followed at his
+heels.  For a moment it seemed to Dennis that nothing could stay the
+rush; he and his little party must be overwhelmed.  But he called aloud
+to his men to hold their fire until the Spaniards should come within
+point-blank range.  One man, Nick Joland, in sheer nervousness, fired
+wildly before the proper time; but the rest, being old mariners who had
+borne a part in many a scrimmage before, had sufficient self-command to
+obey his orders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On came the Spaniards, and some of the waiting Englishmen knew them to
+be trained soldiers, infantrymen reputed the finest in the world.  But
+none of the seamen quailed.  They knew what was at stake.  When the
+enemy were within forty paces Dennis gave the word.  Twenty calivers
+sped forth their deadly missiles, and every shot took effect.  Even the
+splendid courage and discipline of the Spanish soldiery was unequal to
+the strain put upon it.  Twenty of them lay writhing or motionless upon
+the ground; the mass behind recoiled, and fled to cover, some to the
+few trees and shrubs that dotted the open space, others to the thick
+wood beyond.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among those who had been struck down was the gallant captain.  He had
+just risen on one knee when one of his men sprang from the shattered
+ranks to his assistance.  Reckless of consequences, the brave fellow
+rushed to the middle of the clearing, fully exposed to the marksmen,
+and, lifting the wounded officer, carried him bodily among the trees.
+His courage drew a great cheer from the Englishmen, not one of whom
+raised his weapon to shoot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, 'tis a brave lad," roared Turnpenny; "and withal a mighty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The advance had been checked; the enemy had disappeared; but the voice
+of another officer was heard haranguing the men.  Soon bullets began to
+spatter among the trees behind which the Englishmen lurked, and there
+were signs that the Spaniards were spreading out with the object of
+taking them in flank.  It was time to retreat if they were not to be
+cut off.  The enemy's movement would take some time,&mdash;after their check
+they would hesitate to make another direct attack across the clearing;
+and Dennis hoped to be able to clamber down the cliff and regain the
+ledge before the Spaniards discovered that their opponents had
+disappeared.  The word was passed quietly along the line; the men
+snatched up their weapons; and running fleetly to the edge, leapt,
+rolled, swung themselves down with all possible haste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had crossed the stream and were half-way up the opposite side when
+the movement was seen by one of a flanking party of the Spaniards.  A
+loud cry proclaimed his discovery of their flight; he fired his
+caliver, and Hugh Curder gave a yell; the bullet had struck his foot.
+But by the time other Spaniards had come to the brink of the cliff,
+and, kneeling down, fired across the gully, the whole party had reached
+the ledge, and dropped down panting behind the wall, where for the
+moment they were safe.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap23"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXIII
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+Bombarded
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+Bullets pattered upon the wall and the cliff behind; but Dennis and his
+men, lying low, took no hurt, and made no reply to the Spaniards' fire.
+This presently ceased, and Dennis, peering with caution through one of
+the embrasures in the wall, saw the summit of the opposite cliff lined
+with the enemy, who were clearly examining the position with careful
+interest, and discussing it with animation.  At length, firing one or
+two shots as by way of farewell, they withdrew from the edge and
+disappeared among the trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God be praised for all his mercies," said Amos, rising to his feet.
+"But I know not what is to be the end of this."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nor I," said Dennis.  "'Tis not to be believed they have left us
+altogether, but rather that they have retired to consider of the next
+move.  They can do us no hurt from the cliff yonder except they bring
+great guns from their ships to bombard us.  Nor can they assault us
+from below, for the ascent is steep, and however bold they may be, they
+will not come up merely to be shot at.  We must e'en wait and be ready."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and think on Jan Biddle and what his villainous knavery has
+brought us to.  But for him we should by this be snug in Plimworth,
+a-kissing of our wives and little ones&mdash;those that have them.  Ah!
+sweet Margery Tutt!  What a power of mischief one base villain can do!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day passed in quietude, the men cleaning their weapons and still
+further strengthening the wall.  The tide rose in the gully, gently
+dandling the pinnace as she lay at anchor in the pool.  Many a longing
+glance was cast at the little craft, many a sigh broke from the breasts
+of the mariners as they saw in imagination the dear cliffs of England,
+which even the most confident among them scarcely hoped ever to behold
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Darkness fell.  Nothing was heard save the rumble of the surf beyond
+the entrance of the gully, and the lapping of the waves against the
+base of the cliffs.  Looking seawards, in the starlight Dennis saw the
+mouth of the little harbour like a deep blue cleft in the blackness.
+He had just divided the company into watches, to keep guard over the
+ledge while the others slept, when Juan the maroon caught his arm and
+pointed to a small dark patch at the bottom of the cleft.  It seemed to
+be moving towards them.  At the same time there was a series of flashes
+from the cliff opposite; bullets flew among them, one hitting Ned
+Whiddon in the arm.  Instantly all the men sank below the level of the
+wall, and Dennis, crouching close against it, looked through one of the
+embrasures at that dark object slowly approaching up the gully, looming
+larger every moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The meaning of it had already flashed upon him.  A boat, perhaps the
+same as had appeared earlier in the day, was coming in to cut out the
+pinnace.  The outbreak of firing from the cliff was intended to mask
+the movement and deter the defenders from interfering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You see their cunning," said Dennis to Turnpenny, who had crept to his
+side.  "By day they would not dare come within the range of our
+calivers; they know that by night we can but fire at random, and
+endamage them little."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, but we must save the pinnace!" said Turnpenny.  "She is all
+our hope and salvation."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Not all, Amos," replied Dennis.  "You forget the canoe which the
+maroons built for us; they will build another.  But I am not content to
+lose the <i>Minion</i>; how could we face Master Drake and confess we had
+lost her?  I would fain save her, but how?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah, if we had but torches to light the scene!" said Tom
+Copstone&mdash;"like to those we had at Fort Aguila yonder."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Thanks for that word!" cried Dennis.  "Quick, Amos, into the shed!  I
+bethink me there are barrels of oil that we did not place aboard the
+<i>Mirandola</i>.  Broach one, man; tear some of your garments into rags and
+plentifully soak them in the oil.  These we will light and fling down
+into the pool."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Skipping back from the wall, Turnpenny and Copstone went into the shed
+and crept back in less than two minutes with armfuls of drenched rags.
+These they kindled and threw hastily over into the pool below.  The
+enemy opposite poured in a hotter fire, but the little company kept
+close and none was hit.  The device was not a moment too soon.  By the
+light of the blazing rags it could be seen that the Spaniards had
+swarmed on board the pinnace, hauled up her anchor, and fastened her
+head rope to their boat.  She was indeed already moving slowly towards
+the sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Fire, my lads!" cried Dennis.  "Let them not all escape."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half a dozen of the men leapt forward, and, heedless of the enemy's
+bullets, discharged their calivers at the men on the deck of the
+pinnace.  Cries proclaimed that some at any rate had hit the mark; but
+in an instant afterwards the <i>Minion's</i> deck was clear, the Spaniards
+having sprung overboard or gone below.  Still the vessel slowly
+receded.  As she was between the towing-boat and the ledge, the rowers
+were protected from the Englishmen's bullets, and they uttered a
+derisive yell as foot by foot they drew the vessel nearer the sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The falconet, Amos!" cried Dennis.  "'Tis time to use our ordnance."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But we be too high, sir.  I cannot lower the muzzle so as to bear on
+the pinnace."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"You will be able to do that as she draws nearer the shoulder of the
+cliff.  Lay the gun in readiness."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Zuggers, sir, but if I hit the poor little craft 'twill smash her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I care not.  If we cannot keep her whole, neither shall the Spaniards
+have her whole.  Lay the gun, man."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, and so I will, and the knaves shall have a plumper,
+od-rat-en!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The entrance to the gully was dimly lit by the burning rags floating in
+the wake of the pinnace.  Amos had shoved the gun through the
+embrasure, and, with his eye along its upper surface, watched the
+little vessel as she floated on towards the open sea.  The firing
+opposite had now ceased; it was as though the Spaniards, sure of
+success, disdained to waste more powder and shot.  Apparently they were
+watching the departing pinnace with so much interest that they had not
+observed the muzzle of the falconet projecting from the wall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The vessel was now at the very entrance of the gully.  In another half
+minute she would round the shoulder of the cliff and disappear.  But
+before that half minute was past there was a flash from the ledge; a
+round shot flew seawards; and next moment there were shrieks from the
+Spaniards who, now that they were out of range of the defenders' small
+arms, had again come on deck.  The shot had struck the vessel square
+astern.  Her rudder was shattered; she swung round on the tide, and in
+another instant ran aground on a shoal and stuck fast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A mighty cheer rose from the ledge when the men saw the effect of
+Turnpenny's shot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Twas famous, Haymoss," cried Copstone.  "Man, 'twas a thumping twack!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And Hugh Curder in his glee lifted up his voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Then next the blacksmith he came in,<br />
+And said 'Twas mighty hot!'"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Smother you!" cried Turnpenny.  "Think of the little poor craft
+yonder; 'tis like striking a 'ooman, and goes to my heart."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"But 'ee'd do that in kindness, Haymoss," said Copstone.  "See, the
+knaves cannot pull her off; she be firm on the rocks, and with the tide
+falling they'll never move her.  They'll think twice before they try
+that same device again."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An angry volley from the cliff opposite set them all scurrying again to
+cover behind the wall.  It proved as Copstone had said.  After vainly
+endeavouring for some time to haul the pinnace from the shoal, the
+occupants of the boat cast off the rope and disappeared.  The flames of
+the burning rags went out one by one; black darkness settled over the
+gully; quietness reigned all around; and leaving three men to keep the
+first watch, the rest drew their garments around them and sought sleep,
+wondering what the coming day might have in store.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis passed a miserable night.  He could not share the childlike
+elation which Turnpenny's successful shot had produced in the minds of
+the mariners.  He felt that this enemy was not to be baulked; every
+little set-back would only strengthen the Spaniards' resolve to crush
+their opponents; and by this time they could be in no doubt how small
+was the company resisting them.  His head ached with thinking before he
+fell asleep, and when he woke, before dawn, it was with throbbing
+temples and anxious heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when he got up and looked towards the sea, he felt his spirit die
+within him; for there, just past the shoulder of the cliff and some
+distance out to sea, lay one of the enemy's vessels, moored at a point
+which he had fondly believed to be unapproachable by any craft of her
+size.  She had been descried by the men of the last watch, but the
+meaning of the move was not clear to them as it was instantly to him.
+The ledge was just within range of her guns, for although the shoulder
+of the cleft hid the pool from any vessel in the main channel, it was
+just within sight from the spot to which the enemy's vessel had worked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Jaykle! the skipper must be rare and bold," cried Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And a mariner of right good skill," said Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But their admiration was turned to grave alarm when, with a roar, the
+whole of the vessel's broadside was suddenly fired, and the round shot
+came hurtling up the gully.  To reply was impossible.  The small guns
+on the ledge were too light to carry the distance.  And there was
+nothing to be hoped for from bad marksmanship on the enemy's part.  The
+first discharge had no effect except to displace masses of rock and
+earth from the cliff below the ledge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"They cannot raise their muzzles high enough to hit the ledge," cried
+Turnpenny in delight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But this fond hope was shattered at the next broadside.  One shot
+struck the hut; another tore a great gap in the wall; a third chipped
+off large pieces of rock; several men were wounded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Our wall is vain now," said Dennis.  "Another shot will tear it away,
+and we shall have no defence against the calivers of the enemy when
+they again appear on the cliff.  Ah! and there they come.  We must run
+for the cave, Amos; 'tis our last refuge.  Lead the men thither; let
+them carry our arms and munitions, and what water and stores they can.
+I and Copstone and one or two more will strive to make reply to the
+enemy while aught of our wall remains."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bullets were already falling on the ledge.  Led by Turnpenny, most of
+the men, loaded with things, scuttled along the face of the cliff into
+the thicket that half concealed the mouth of the cave.  Dennis with
+three companions fired back at the opposite cliff; but in a few minutes
+another volley of round shot came crashing up the gully, and scarcely a
+man on the ledge but was wounded by splinters of rock, though none was
+directly hit by the shot.  It was hopeless to cling to the position
+longer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Follow me, lads," cried Dennis; and, rushing down the ledge to where
+it widened and was overgrown with bushes, he and his comrades joined
+the others safely in the cave.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap24"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXIV
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Leaguer of Skeleton Cave
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+"Save us all!" cried Turnpenny, "we be like rats in a trap."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The knaves cannot get at us, for this present at least," said Copstone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"True, not without being well whopped; but they can block up the
+entrance, and keep us mewed up until we must either yield or starve, or
+perish of thirst."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Keep a good heart," said Dennis, cheerfully.  "We will not yield or
+starve yet.  Since I set sail from England in the <i>Maid Marian</i> yonder
+many a marvellous thing has befallen me.  I met a countryman when I had
+given up hope!  Why may not things we do not foresee happen again?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, true," said one of Drake's men; "and perchance Master Francis
+himself may come to our aid."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That is but a poor chance," said Dennis.  "It were better we trust in
+God and our own wit.  We are safe at present; let us see what shelter
+our cave affords; I confess I have not hitherto fully explored it."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lighting a torch, he walked inwards, with two or three of the men, and
+found after a few yards that the floor sloped slightly downwards, and
+that the cave widened out on both sides, so that, if the enemy
+discovered it, and fired into the opening, the inmates could find
+shelter out of the line of fire.  The air was close, but as it did not
+become oppressive so soon as Dennis expected, he was tempted to believe
+that there was a hole somewhere in the roof which served to ventilate
+the cave.  But though he looked carefully along the whole vault, which
+extended for some thirty yards into the cliff, he found no such
+opening, and concluded that the comparative freshness of the air was
+due merely to the spaciousness of the cave and the width of its mouth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day wore away in quiet.  Careful watch was kept at the opening, and
+occasionally Spaniards were seen moving up and down the gully and on
+the opposite cliff; but no assault was made, and it seemed as though
+the enemy was content to wait until hunger and thirst had done their
+work.  An inspection of the stores showed that there was only two days'
+food; all the water they had was contained in three buckets; and this,
+in that climate, and the state of excitement to which the men were
+wound up, was but a pitiful supply if the investment was to be
+protracted.  Especially was it unfortunate seeing that several men were
+wounded, some seriously.  Their injuries were dressed as carefully as
+possible with the limited appliances at hand; but in the course of the
+day one poor fellow died, and was solemnly buried in a grave dug with
+their weapons in the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among the occupants of the cave was Mirandola.  The monkey had taken
+refuge in a tree while the fighting was in progress, and Dennis thought
+that the poor animal would certainly flee to the woody interior of the
+island, far away from the din and turmoil.  But at nightfall the monkey
+stole into the cave, and attached himself to Dennis, whom he followed
+about like a shadow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hours of darkness dragged slowly along.  Almost as soon as it was
+light, a round shot came crashing into the opening, scattering stones
+and earth in all directions.  The Spaniards' inaction during the
+previous day was explained: they had evidently brought from the vessel
+in the offing a gun, perhaps more than one, and mounted it on the
+opposite cliff.  The effect of the shot, which luckily harmed no one,
+was to send the men in all haste to the sides of the cave.  But the
+crash and the smoke made Mirandola shriek with fright.  He ran deeper
+into the cave, and when Dennis, with a torch, followed to soothe his
+terror, he discovered that the poor beast had taken refuge on the top
+of an irregular pillar of rock that stood out from the wall about three
+quarters of the way from the entrance.  He tried to coax the monkey to
+descend, but without avail.  The top of the pillar being beyond his
+reach, he called Turnpenny, and, climbing on to the mariner's broad
+shoulders, reached up to seize the monkey.  But Mirandola retreated and
+disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The beast is deaved, to be sure," said Turnpenny, "and lacks his
+little wit.  Let him bide, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, he has been our partner so long that I am not willing to lose
+him, and he will surely be stifled if we do not bring him nearer the
+opening.  Hoist me, Amos."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He swarmed to the top of the rock, the sailor handing up the torch
+after him.  It took a few moments to become accustomed to the
+blackness, and in the red flickering light he failed to see any sign of
+the monkey.  But he perceived with surprise that the pillar did not
+abut immediately on the wall, as he had supposed.  Behind it he saw
+what appeared to be a deep black hole, which seemed deeper when he
+inserted his torch.  Into this Mirandola, his nerves completely
+unstrung by the shattering explosion, must have run for refuge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis crawled in, and holding the torch over his head, was still more
+amazed to find that he had come to the entrance of a second cave,
+apparently larger than the first.  The floor of it was many feet below
+him: he hesitated to risk a dislocation of his ankle if he sprang down;
+so he retreated, and called to Turnpenny, informing him of his
+discovery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sling up a rope," he said; "you and Copstone keep a firm hold upon it
+on your side, while I let myself down on the other side and see what is
+beyond."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lowering himself through the aperture, he found the monkey sitting on
+the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come, Mirandola," he said, "you taught me the merits of some of the
+fruits of this island; hast more to teach me, old friend?  Let us go on
+together."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He found that the floor of this cave also inclined downwards, and he
+went very cautiously, lest he should come unawares upon a chasm and
+fall headlong to his doom.  The atmosphere was damp and close, but not
+foul, and as he proceeded he saw by the flickering of the torch that
+there was a slight current of air.  No wall blocked his way, but by and
+by the cave narrowed and the roof came lower, and he had to stoop, and
+at last to crawl, to avoid knocking his head.  He had still not reached
+the end of what was now a tunnel, when the torch went out.  For a
+moment he hesitated whether to go on in the darkness; then, deciding
+that it was not worth while to run any risks when he could procure
+another light within a few minutes, he hurried back, got another and a
+larger torch, and asked Turnpenny to accompany him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two together came to the spot where the first torch had been left,
+and went on.  The rough irregular fissure grew no narrower, but its
+slope became steeper at every yard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God-a-mercy, it likes me not!" murmured Turnpenny, who was filled with
+superstitious fears in face of the unknown.  "Meseems we be going down
+into the very bowels of the earth, or mayhap lower.  Dost fear no
+goblins?  Dost not think we may come upon the Old Smoker?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Never a whit, Amos.  Why, man, the floor here is wet.  Touch it with
+your hand.  And as I live, here are seaweeds and shells!  And look;
+surely that is a glint of light yonder that comes not from our torch.
+Here is a very pool; duck your head, man; I gave mine a rare crack just
+then, the roof comes so low.  Crawl after me.  I smell the sea, Amos;
+and ah! look! here we are on the shore.  Have a care; we must not be
+spied."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Crawling actually through the water, they found themselves on the shore
+at a point not far north of the spot where Dennis had first opened his
+eyes on the island.  The hole in the cliff was almost hidden by the
+overhanging plants.  Mirandola had halted; to go through water was not
+to his taste.  Cautiously raising themselves, Dennis and Turnpenny
+parted the screening leaves and looked out to sea.  There, a little
+distance out, was the vessel that had fired on them.  The tide was low;
+she had had to shift her position further into the main channel.  In
+the little bay which here indented the shore a boat lay on the sand,
+two Spaniards leaning against its side, keeping guard over it, no
+doubt, while their comrades were engaged in investing the cave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"One thing is plain," whispered Dennis; "here at least is a way of
+retreat should we no longer be able to remain in our cave.  And when
+water fails, we can creep out by the hole in the night time, and fill
+our buckets at one of the rills that trickle from the cliff."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ah! that is something, sir," said Turnpenny, "but I would fain knock
+those knaves yonder on the head and take their boat.  We might then
+make a shift to row away from this isle."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A good wish, Amos, but hard to come by.  We could not do it in
+daylight, and methinks the Spaniards would not do us the grace to leave
+their boat here on the shore for us to make free with at night.  But
+assuredly we can keep a better watch on them here than from the cave
+above, where we cannot show a head but with great peril; let us
+therefore return and send one of the maroons hither as a sentinel."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was great excitement among the men when they were told of this
+discovery.  Though it seemed impossible that the passage to the sea
+could avail them much, the knowledge that it was open to them gave just
+that dash of comfort which is all the world to men in extremity.  And
+when, as the day wore on, the enemy's guns began to play regularly on
+the mouth of the cave, and brought down in front of it great masses of
+the cliff above, they did not get into a state of panic, but almost
+gaily made air-holes through the loosely piled earth with their
+weapons, chuckling at the thought that the besiegers were no doubt
+flattering themselves with the supposition that the hapless garrison
+was being gradually entombed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it seemed to Dennis that an attempt should be made to turn this
+strange discovery to account.  Clearly it was possible to leave the
+cave, but supposing they all made their way to the shore, what then?
+They might take to the woods in the centre of the island, and for a
+time, perhaps, elude the enemy; but it would only be a matter of days
+before they must be hunted down.  They could not, a mere handful, risk
+a stand-up fight against a force six or seven times their number.  And
+it was in the highest degree unlikely that the enemy would leave any of
+their boats on shore during the night.  Still, there was just a chance
+that a boat might be so left, and Dennis arranged that Juan the maroon
+should go before dark to the exit on the shore, to see what he could
+discover of the Spaniards' arrangements, and then to steal up the cliff
+and learn how they encamped during the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The night was still young when the maroon returned.  He had seen the
+boat put off, conveying officers to the vessel.  Then, waiting until it
+was dark, he had climbed the cliff, and found that the enemy had formed
+a camp on the summit immediately above the ledge, at some little
+distance from the brink.  No pickets were posted; the Spaniards had
+evidently recognized the hopelessness of any attempt to escape either
+up or down the gully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Juan had then crept round to the northern cliff, and discovered that
+the two guns which had played on the cave during the day were left in
+charge of two men.  Dennis was somewhat surprised that the main camp of
+the enemy had not been made there instead of on the southern cliff,
+until he remembered that only on the latter were there springs of fresh
+water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"'Tis as I feared, you see," he said to Turnpenny.  "The boat returns
+to the ship at night&mdash;just as the boat was wont to return to your
+lumber-ship.  It was but a poor hope, and that is dashed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And so 'tis.  The only thing that we poor souls could do would be to
+crawl out by the hole, and fetch a long compass to the cliff yonder
+where the guns be, and blow them up for the knaves.  If there be but
+two men guarding them, 't'ud be no hard feat."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis did not reply.  He seemed to have fallen into a brown study.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'se warrant I could do it, with Tom Copstone and Juan, and maybe
+another of the maroons.  'T'ud not save us, to be sure, but 't'ud at
+least give the knaves a turn, od rabbit en!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Amos," said Dennis with apparent inconsequence, "if you were a Spanish
+officer&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God forbid, sir!" interrupted the seaman, fervently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"It is impossible, I own.  Still, if you were a Spanish officer aboard
+that vessel yonder, and in the blackest hour of night you heard a great
+uproar on this island, and saw the flashing of guns, what would you do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I'fecks, I would think there was a rare randy afoot, and straightway
+lower a boat and come with all speed ashore to lend a hand."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And you, Copstone,&mdash;what would you do?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Come with Haymoss, to be sure, sir.  You and me, Haymoss&mdash;&mdash;"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"The words of my dream again, sir!" cried Amos in excitement.  "There
+be summat in your mind, sir; tell it out, and, souls all, lend an ear."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then Dennis unfolded a scheme which Juan's report and Turnpenny's
+suggestion had set working in his mind.  For some minutes the little
+group around him hung breathlessly upon his quiet words; then Turnpenny
+exclaimed&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We'll do it, we will so, and be jowned if the knaves will not wish
+themselves anywhere but on Maiden Isle.  Come, my hearts, the sky is
+black and lowering: 'tis the very time o' night for our intent, and
+with God's help we will prosper in our doings."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then the rough seaman fell on his knees, and with clasped hands
+recited the prayer for help in time of need, and every man of the
+little company responded with a low fervent "Amen!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half an hour later, Turnpenny, with Copstone, Juan, and a second
+maroon, bade farewell to his comrades and clambered down into the
+second cave.  When they were on the farther side of the dividing rock,
+their weapons, with four belts packed full of grape shot from the
+stores of the <i>Maid Marian</i>, were handed down to them, and after a
+final "God speed!" from Dennis they started on the way to the sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An hour passed&mdash;an hour during which the rest of the company sat in
+hushed expectancy, scarcely speaking a word.  One of the maroons had
+pushed his way through the heap of loose earth piled at the mouth of
+the cave, and crawled stealthily to the ledge, where he crouched amid
+the ruins of the sheds.  Presently, from the opposite cliff, came a
+slight booming sound like the cry of a night beetle.  The maroon,
+invisible in the black shade of the cliff, crept back to the cave.
+Immediately afterwards the whole company, man by man, crossed into the
+inner cave, the two men most seriously wounded being lifted up one side
+of the pillar, and lowered gently down the other.  Dennis leading, with
+Mirandola close behind, they made their way by torch-light down the
+sloping floor, then, extinguishing the torch, crawled out at the narrow
+aperture, and, after Dennis had taken a careful look round, stood up, a
+silent band of twenty-one, on the sea-shore.  The two men whose wounds
+forbade exertion were left in a sheltered spot below the bank; then the
+rest followed Dennis up through the vegetation, in single file.  It was
+so dark that no man could see the man before him, but each one grasped
+the caliver of the man ahead, thus guiding themselves through the
+jungle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Up they went, quietly, almost as surely as if it were broad daylight,
+for Dennis knew every foot of the way, which he had trodden many times
+since that day long before when he had begun his exploration of the
+island.  Winding in and out, he came at length by a long circuit to the
+high ground approaching the southern bank of the gully.  And there he
+halted.  Through the trees before him he saw the watch-fires, dying
+low, of the enemy encamped on the clearing beyond.  All was silent.  If
+any sentinels were awake, they were not conversing.  The camp was as
+quiet as though it were an abode of the dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly the deep silence was broken by the boom of a beetle.  It died
+away.  So natural a sound was it that the Spanish sentinels, if any
+were on guard, would never have suspected that it came from the throat
+of a maroon.  Even Dennis's company might have been deceived had they
+not known that the sound had been made by one of themselves, the maroon
+at their leader's side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely had it died away when two sharp cracks rent the air from some
+point beyond the camp.  Then came an instant change over the scene&mdash;a
+change which Amos and Tom Copstone had fired to bring about.  A loud
+cry rang out in the camp, followed by a din of many voices and the
+clash of arms.  Some one cast fuel on one of the fires, and the flame,
+leaping up, shone on a camp in commotion; men were hurrying this way
+and that, calling to their fellows excitedly.  What was this that had
+disturbed their slumbers?  Was some one signalling to them from the
+vessel out at sea?  Could it be that El Draque had sailed up out of the
+night?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Into the midst of this noise and confusion broke a shattering sound,
+the roar of a piece of ordnance.  Then the din was redoubled, and with
+the astonished cries of some were mingled the shrieks and groans of
+wounded men.  Still Dennis and his little band stood motionless amid
+the trees, but every man now held a lighted match.  Another deep
+reverberating roar thundered forth, with more cries and yells in the
+camp.  Amos and his comrades had disposed of the men guarding the guns,
+and had turned these upon the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Now!" cried Dennis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then a mighty shout broke from the throats of the little company, and
+with the roar of lusty British seamen mingled the weird "Yo peho! yo
+peho!" of the maroons.  A volley flashed from the muzzles of nineteen
+calivers, and nineteen men dashed forward towards the camp, shouting
+like a hundred.  On they rushed through the trees into the clearing.
+"Yo peho! yo peho!"  And with yells of panic fear the Spaniards, like a
+flock of sheep, ran and ran and ran, helter-skelter, flinging their
+arms away, tumbling over one another, falling, rising again, pelting
+headlong through the woodland towards the marsh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again the guns on the opposite cliff thundered, but the shots did not
+now come plunging into the camp.  How were the Spaniards, scared out of
+their wits, to know that Turnpenny and Copstone were now firing into
+the gully, lest they should hit their comrades?  But in a few moments
+there was no risk of this, for Dennis wheeled about and led his men at
+a mad scamper down by the way they had come, never stopping until,
+bathed in sweat, panting for breath, they stood on the sea-shore, at
+the place from which they had started.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now Dennis looked again towards the sea, and strained his ears to
+catch a sound he expected.  Would his expectation be fulfilled?  Would
+Fortune favour him?  Would the Spanish officers aboard the ship do as
+Copstone and Turnpenny in their place would have done&mdash;lower boats in
+all haste and come to the aid of their comrades in peril?  None knew
+the anxiety that troubled Dennis in those minutes of waiting.  If the
+Spaniards were poltroons, if they were scared by the sudden outbreak
+and feared to venture shorewards in the dark, his bold scheme would
+fail, and then what the end would be he hardly dared to think.  It was
+with real agony of soul he listened, listened for the sweep of oars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hark!  On the silence of the sea comes a thud, a measured beat, growing
+in loudness, drawing near.  As yet he can see nothing, but his comrades
+hear the sound; their hearts leap at it; they can scarcely check a
+shout of joy.  On comes the boat; they hear the splash of oars, and
+voices, and by and by the grating of a keel.  They wait in panting
+silence.  Men are wading through the water; arms clash; a loud voice
+gives an order; and now a score of dark forms can be seen running up
+the beach, making for the very path lately traversed by the nineteen.
+The men, lurking beneath the bank, hold their breath; Dennis feels as
+though his very heart-beats must be heard; but the Spaniards pass, and
+disappear, and are now hasting up towards the camp.  The sound of their
+footsteps dies away; Dennis can scarcely bear to wait, so eager is he
+to pursue his scheme to the end.  At last he gives the word, and
+eighteen men rush after him, noiselessly on the sand, towards the boat,
+a hundred yards away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two Spaniards left on guard catch sight of the running men when
+they are half way across the beach.  Why should they suspect that these
+are not their comrades who lately parted from them?  What has happened?
+They are nervous, unstrung.  "What is it?" they cry; but the words are
+choked in their throats, for two men have sprung upon them, and next
+moment they lie stunned on the sand.  Four men return and bring their
+wounded comrades with what haste they may.  Then lusty arms shove the
+boat from the shoal; nineteen men leap in after the two; the oars are
+out, and the boat's head points towards the vessel lying at anchor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it pauses as it comes level with the shoulder of the cliff.  The
+four bold fellows who have so manfully played their part beyond the
+gully are not forgotten.  And but a few moments after the boat has
+stopped, four figures come swimming out with mighty strokes, and are
+hauled aboard, dripping wet, but exultant.  Again the oars strike the
+water and the boat moves out to sea.  A dark hull looms up in front.
+Dennis whispers an order; all the oars are shipped but two; and the
+boat goes slowly, with no sign of haste.  A voice hails it from the
+deck.  "All's well!" calls Juan.  The boat is now under the vessel's
+quarter: a lamp is slung over the bulwark to guide the returning crew;
+a rope is thrown out to steady her; and Turnpenny begins to clamber up
+by the battens.  Before Dennis reaches the deck he hears a cry, then a
+heavy thud, and as he springs aboard he sees Amos with a prostrate
+Spaniard between his legs.  Up they go, all twenty-five; only a dozen
+of the vessel's crew are left on board; and the long pent-up excitement
+of maroons and British mariners bursts forth in a shout of triumph; the
+ship is theirs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Heave up the anchor, my hearts!" cried Turnpenny.  "Loose the
+mainsail, Tom; the wind serves."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Stay, Amos," said Dennis, "we must not forget the pinnace.  We cannot
+return to Master Drake without her."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nor shall not," replied the seaman; "but we'll first give the knavish
+vessels yonder a taste of our lead, an ye will but give us leave."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A right good notion, Amos, if we can win to them at this low tide."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That we can, sir; trust me."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With her courses set, and Turnpenny at the helm, the vessel stood out
+half a mile until all danger of striking a shoal was past; then she was
+headed southward.  Meantime Dennis superintended the loading of all her
+ordnance, five guns on each side.  Soon they saw the dark hulls of the
+two Spanish vessels anchored off the south-west corner of the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There's room enough betwixt 'em, sir, for us to pass and rake 'em with
+a broadside.  Not a man aboard 'em will suppose this craft is manned by
+any but their own comrades, nor will they know better till they hear
+our popguns."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they approached, a voice hailed them from the vessel on the port
+side, asking the meaning of the uproar lately heard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"A fight ashore, but it is now over," sang out Juan the maroon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The <i>Minion</i> came between the two vessels.  So confident was Turnpenny
+in the unpreparedness of the Spaniards that he hove to, not a dozen
+yards separating the ships on either side.  The guns were manned; the
+matches, already lighted, were screened from observation; then, at the
+word, the five guns on the starboard side belched forth their heavy
+charges of round shot.  Almost before the roar had died away the
+gunners rushed to the larboard.  Again there was a mighty thunder and
+crash as the shots raked the hapless vessel.  Through the cloud of
+smoke the adventurous bark was got under way.  In a few minutes she ran
+clear; Turnpenny put the helm down, and she beat up against the wind
+until she reached her former anchorage westward of the gully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Dennis, with Turnpenny and a dozen men, got into the boat which
+had followed astern at the end of a rope, and rowed for the entrance
+between the cliffs.  There was no guard over the pinnace.  The
+Spaniards who had been surprised in their camp had fled to the other
+side of the island.  Even those who had lately landed, hearing the
+thunder of the guns to the south, had rushed inland, believing that El
+Draque, the terror of their coasts, had suddenly come upon them.
+Unmolested, Dennis and some of his party landed on the rocks.
+Turnpenny made a rapid inspection of the pinnace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Her stern works be sore battered and her rudder shivered to
+splinters," he said, "but she will take no water, a' b'lieve.  With a
+strong pull we will have her off, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rope by which the Spaniards had attempted to tow her was still
+fixed.  Under the haulage of twelve sturdy mariners she was slowly
+shifted; she floated; and in twenty minutes lay alongside the Spanish
+vessel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, the men giving a parting cheer that echoed and re-echoed from the
+shore, the ship stood away under full sail with the pinnace riding
+merrily astern.  And when morning broke the long coast-line of the
+mainland was already in sight.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap25"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+CHAPTER XXV
+</h3>
+
+<h4>
+The Mule Trains
+</h4>
+
+<p>
+"No Bobby Pike this time," whispered Turnpenny to Dennis, as they lay
+eating their supper amid the scrub a mile or more south of Nombre de
+Dios.  "And with all my soul I hope the Frenchmen be sober men, for to
+fail of our purpose now through any frowardness would break Master
+Drake his noble heart and send me into a decline."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Hush!" returned Dennis, in a voice equally low.  "List to the church
+bells, Amos, and the clatter of the hammers.  Does it not mind you of
+home&mdash;the church on the cliff, and the busy carpenters in the docks
+below?  My soul yearns for home, Amos."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, and so do I.  But I would fain return home with full hands&mdash;money
+enough to buy a little fishing craft, and a cottage by the sea.  'Tis
+five year and more since I sailed in the <i>Jesus</i> out of Plimworth
+Sound, and there was Margery Tutt a-waving her little handkercher to
+me, thinking, poor soul, to see me again within a twelvemonth.  And I
+warrant the pretty maid counted the days and went to every wedden in
+church, to larn the fearsome promises word by word, so that she might
+not fail when we should come to stand afore holy pa'son.  'With all my
+worldly goods I thee endow': so it runs for the man to say, and here I
+be, five year after, with not so much worldly goods as I had then,
+saving some few pearls; and I warrant some knavish land-lubber has come
+along and snatched up my little Margery, and I'll find her a bowerly
+'ooman that has clean forgot poor Haymoss Turnpenny.  Ah me!  I be sick
+of adventures, be jowned if I bean't."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be of good cheer, Amos.  If Fortune stand our friend, we shall have
+more gold and silver than we can bear away before this night be ended;
+and then Master Drake will sail away home, and who knows?&mdash;Margery may
+be looking for you even yet.  'Twas seven years that Jacob served for
+Rachel."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, but always within arm's length.  I warrant he kept an eye on the
+wench.  There was never a thousand leagues of sea betwixt him and the
+maid.  Od-rat-en, if I find Margery have changed her name with any
+lubberly chaw-bacon, dang me if I don't deal en a clout he'll remember,
+good-now, I will."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Turnpenny relapsed into silence, brooding on his melancholy forebodings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the night of March 31.  Some forty men lay in the scrub
+overlooking Nombre de Dios, awaiting the clang of mule-bells that would
+announce the approach of a treasure train from Venta Cruz.  Half of
+them were French, for a week or two before, as Drake and his men were
+sportively pitching stones at the land crabs on the beach, a ship came
+down from the west, whose captain proved to be a French Huguenot named
+Le Testu, with a company of some seventy men and boys.  They were
+perishing for want of water.  Having obtained from Drake, ever generous
+to adventurers like himself, the supplies they needed, they prepared to
+join themselves to him, in the hope of obtaining some share of Spanish
+gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drake hesitated to admit the Frenchmen to a partnership, for he had but
+thirty-one men left, and feared that the seventy would claim too large
+a portion of the booty if his projected attack on the mule-train should
+succeed.  But the matter was compromised by Captain Le Testu joining
+Drake with twenty men.  These, with fifteen Englishmen and a few
+maroons, sailed in two of Drake's pinnaces for the mouth of the
+Francisco river, fifteen miles from Nombre de Dios.  The rest of the
+company were left at a secret spot in charge of one Richard Doble.
+When the river mouth was made, Drake sent a few maroons back with the
+pinnaces, ordering them to remain in hiding with Doble and to return in
+four days' time to take off the adventurers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis and Turnpenny were among those who accompanied Drake in the
+<i>Minion</i>.  They had won great praise from him for their exploits in
+Maiden Isle and their capture of the Spanish ship, whose stores of food
+and ammunition were very welcome.  The damage to the pinnace was
+speedily repaired, Drake saying with a laugh that had she been rendered
+unseaworthy he would have pinioned Dennis between decks and kept him
+there until they dropped anchor in Plymouth Sound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The adventurers were encamped on rising ground above the town.  Taking
+a lesson from the previous failure, the men spoke in the lowest of
+whispers, even though they were a mile away from the track.  All
+through the night they heard the clatter of hammers from the bay, where
+the Spanish shipwrights, avoiding the heat of the day, were preparing
+the ships of the treasure fleet for sea.  The ambuscaders were grimly
+resolved that the cargoes should be less by the weight of a good many
+tons of silver and gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hours passed too slowly for the impatient adventurers.  But at
+length, a little before dawn, they heard a faint tinkle of bells afar
+in the woods, and soon the maroon scouts came in with the news that
+three trains, numbering nearly two hundred mules in all, were
+approaching from Venta Cruz.  Such good fortune was unlooked for; and
+though the scouts reported that the trains were escorted by soldiers,
+not a man gave a thought to the odds against them.  Instantly they all
+seized their calivers and bows and arrows, and hastened to the
+trackway, where, as before, they posted themselves in the long grass on
+either side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On came the mules, their bells jangling and clanging in musical
+discord.  In the grass lurked the raiders, silent&mdash;though Turnpenny
+gave Dennis a nudge and whispered, "'Tis All Fools' Day!"  Suddenly
+there sounded a blast from Drake's whistle; the men started up, and,
+sending a volley of bullets and arrows at the Spanish infantrymen that
+guarded the convoy, made straight for the heads of the leading mules.
+Nothing loath to rest a while, the mules behind lay down contentedly on
+the ground.  But the soldiers, who had blown on their matches as they
+marched, to keep them alight, rallied in a group and fired back at the
+assailants.  A maroon was killed outright: Captain Le Testu fell
+seriously wounded; but the rest, kneeling down and supporting their
+weapons on the prostrate mules, briskly returned the fire; then,
+springing up before the enemy could reload, charged upon them with
+fierce cries and drove them helter-skelter towards the town.
+Immediately afterwards two men came rushing up to Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be jowned if it bean't Billy Hawk and fat Baltizar!" he cried in
+astonishment.  "Oh Billy, poor soul, what a scarecrow 'ee do look!  Get
+out, you jelly!" he cried to Baltizar, speeding him with a kick.  "You
+be fat as butter; all is well with 'ee; get 'ee to the town after your
+masters, and thank God your oily carcass be not left to fatten the
+land.&mdash;Billy, dear heart, what hath happed to thee?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hawk told his story while Turnpenny and the other seamen, selecting the
+mules that bore the heaviest loads, with nimble fingers cast off their
+packs, unstrapped them, and helped themselves to the precious
+contents&mdash;bars and quoits of solid gold, and silver uncountable.  He
+had followed Biddle and the other mutineers in the hope of persuading
+them to return to their duty; but they had soon fallen upon him, robbed
+him of his bag of pearls, and left him bound in the forest.  There he
+had been found by some fugitives from the routed Spaniards, who carried
+him to their vessel, and conveyed him to Nombre de Dios.  Believing him
+to be one of Drake's men, they tortured him to make him confess where
+his captain's secret haven was, which he stedfastly refused to do; and
+since then he had been kept in slavery, drudging as a muleteer between
+Nombre de Dios and Panama.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"God be praised we have found 'ee!" cried Turnpenny.  "You shall come
+back with us, and I'll give 'ee a share of all my treasure."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The raiders did up in bundles and bestowed about their persons as much
+as they could stagger under, and set to work to bury what they could
+not carry in the burrows of landcrabs and under the great trunks of
+fallen trees.  For two hours they toiled on; then, hearing the clatter
+of hoofs from the direction of the town, they seized their booty and
+made off to the woods.  Up came a troop of horse; but when they reached
+the mules they halted, for they heard in the woods the "Yo peho!" of
+the maroons, and shrank from engaging those terrible forest fighters.
+Staggering under the weight of their treasure, the raiders tramped with
+what haste they might through the jungle.  They had not gone far when
+Captain Le Testu lay down groaning; weak from loss of blood, he could
+go no farther.  Two of his men volunteered to stay with him, and help
+him on after he had rested.  The others hurried on, and after
+struggling through the forest for two days and nights, drenched by
+terrible rainstorms, burnt black by the torrid heat, reached their
+landing-place on the bank of the Francisco River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was four days since they had left it; the pinnaces should have been
+there awaiting them; but not a sign of them met their hungry eyes.
+Instead, seven Spanish pinnaces were observed rowing from the island,
+where the maroons had been ordered to shelter with Richard Doble.  The
+drenched and footsore raiders were aghast.  Had their enemies captured
+the pinnaces, and slain their comrades?  Were they to be imprisoned in
+this swampy jungle, with no means of sailing or rowing away to Fort
+Diego?  Loud murmurs, cries of despair, curses at being deserted, broke
+from the seamen.  They cried out that they were betrayed; that the
+Spaniards would fall on them and overwhelm them; that they would never
+see home again.  Drake expostulated with them; the maroons offered to
+lead them the sixteen days' journey overland, and promised, if the
+ships proved indeed to be taken, to give them shelter in their
+villages.  But the men cried out the more; some threw down the treasure
+they had dared so much to win; some began to cry out against their
+leader himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Drake showed the stuff of which he was made.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Silence, you knaves!" he cried.  "Am I any whit better off than you?
+Is this a time to yield to craven fear?  Nay, but rather to pluck up
+heart and play the man.  If the Spaniards have in truth taken our
+pinnaces, which God forbid, yet they must have time to search them,
+time to examine the mariners, and, if they compel them by torture to
+confess where our ships are, time to execute their resolution after it
+is determined.  Before all these times be taken, we may get to our
+ships if ye will.  We may not hope to go by land, for that the journey
+is too long and the ways too foul.  But we may surely go by water.
+Look at the trees here rolling down upon the flood, thrown down by the
+storms that beset us so sorely.  May we not build ourselves a raft, and
+put ourselves to sea?  I will be one; who will be the others?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"That will I," said Dennis, stepping forward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I too, good-now," cried Turnpenny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, Master Hazelrig, you I will leave to command these timid rascals
+if ill befall me; but Amos I will take, and go fetch those laggard
+pinnaces."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the maroons, taking hands and forming into a line, stepped into
+the river and intercepted the trees as they came down on the torrent.
+With their hatchets they lopped off the branches; they bound the trunks
+together with leathern thongs taken from the mules, and with tendrils
+of creepers from the jungle.  A stout sapling was reared as a mast, and
+with his own hands Turnpenny rigged up a biscuit sack for a sail, and
+fashioned a crutch in which another sapling might serve as a rudder.
+The raft being now ready, Drake selected two of the Frenchmen who could
+swim well to accompany him and Turnpenny.  The four men stepped on to
+the frail craft, and as she was hauled off over the bar at the river
+mouth, Drake cried out:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Be of good cheer, my hearts.  If it please God I put my foot in safety
+aboard my frigate, I shall, God willing, by one means or other get ye
+all aboard, in despite of all the Spaniards in the Indies."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the seamen, with new hope born within their breasts, sped their
+gallant captain with a cheer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, 'twas a fearsome voyage!" said Turnpenny, relating the
+adventure to Dennis afterwards.  "We sat inches deep in water, holding
+on for very life, and the sea came tumbling aboard, swingeing us to the
+armpits at every surge of the waves.  We scudded along before the wind,
+but though 'twas strong, it scarce tempered the great heat; and what
+with the parching of the sun, and what with the beating of the salt
+water, we had all of us our skins much fretted away.  We had sailed for
+six hours, and were making our third league, when God gave us the sight
+of two pinnaces bearing towards us.  'God be praised!' cried our
+captain; 'there is now no cause to fear.'  But the sky was become dark,
+and the men on the pinnaces as they laboured towards us, the wind
+driving the spray into their eyes, did not perceive us; and the gale
+being exceedingly fierce, they bore up to the lee of a point of land,
+and vanished from our sight.  Whereupon our captain ran ashore to
+windward of the headland, and being mightily enraged for that the
+knaves had not obeyed his command to wait us at the river, he was
+minded to play a trick on them and turn their hearts sick with very
+fear.  So when we did land, we ran in great haste towards where the
+pinnaces were at anchor, making such speed as if we had been chased by
+the enemy.  My heart! their eyes were astare with fear when they espied
+us.  They hauled us aboard their boats, crying out, this one and that,
+'Where be our comrades?'  'How fares it with them?' and other such
+questions, to all which our Captain in a cold voice did answer only
+'Well!'  Whereupon they began to lament with tears, crying out that
+verily their dear comrades were dead or in captivity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Our captain for a space looked sternly upon them in their misery.  But
+then, being willing to rid all doubts and fill them with joy, he took
+from out his shirt a quoit of gold, and bade them praise God, for their
+comrades were safe and had of that treasure enough and for all.  Then
+he commanded them to get their anchors up, for that he was resolved
+that very night to come back to the river.  And we rowed hard through
+the darkness and in the teeth of the gale, and here we be, with
+blistered skins indeed, but sound men and hearty."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis had collected the men on the shore, and built a fire to keep
+their spirits up.  With great joy they heard their comrades hailing
+them as the vessels came up out of the dark, and they begged Drake's
+forgiveness for their mutinous murmurs.  As soon as day dawned they
+embarked; the pinnaces ran before the wind, picked up Richard Doble in
+his frigate, and before noon arrived safely at Port Diego.  The
+treasure was carried on shore, and in the middle of the smooth open
+space, amidst cries of wonderment from those who had not had a part in
+the adventure, Drake weighed the gold and silver on the steward's
+meat-scales, delivering to the Frenchmen the half agreed upon.  These
+then sailed away westward, to get news of their ill-fated captain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Drake was not easy in mind about Le Testu.  It was pitiful to think of
+him wounded and left with only two of his men deep in the woods.  So
+while his vessel, the <i>Pascha</i>, too foul to be easily fitted for the
+voyage home, was being stripped to equip the Spanish frigate Dennis had
+captured, he prepared to lead an expedition in search of the French
+Captain.  But his men raised such an outcry at his leaving them that he
+gave the command to Oxnam, contenting himself with accompanying them to
+the Francisco River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oxnam had not gone far up stream when a haggard figure emerged
+tottering from the reeds, and falling on his knees, burst into tears
+and thanked God that help had come.  Not many minutes after Drake had
+left him and his comrade with Captain Le Testu, some Spanish
+arquebusiers came upon them.  The Captain bade the two men flee, and
+they ran off in haste, carrying their treasure.  But the Spaniards gave
+chase, and this man, fearing that, burdened as he was, he must be
+overtaken, flung away his possessions one after another.  Among them
+was a box of jewels, and this his comrade, cupidity getting the better
+of his fear, stopped to pick up.  The delay was fatal.  He was caught
+and carried away with the captain.  The other fugitive was not farther
+pursued; he reached the river after wandering for several days, during
+which he had seen a great host of near two thousand Spaniards and
+negroes searching for the treasure that had been buried.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hearing this, Oxnam was not willing to return until he had seen whether
+anything was left.  The Spaniards had dug up the ground over nearly a
+square mile; but Oxnam found in the crab-holes a small quantity of
+gold, with silver weighing about five hundred pounds.  Loaded with
+this, his men returned to their pinnace, and came merrily back to Port
+Diego.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now all thoughts turned longingly homewards.  The value of the treasure
+taken from the Spaniards was near �50,000, and it was not to be
+supposed that so great a loss would be accepted by them with
+equanimity.  Before long ships of war would doubtless be fitted out to
+punish this audacious sea-rover who had made himself a terror
+throughout the Main, and Drake thought it but prudent to get away with
+his booty before his little band was overwhelmed.  He still needed a
+vessel to serve as victualler to the frigate in which he purposed to
+sail for England.  With his usual daring he set off for the mouth of
+the Grande river, running right under the guns of Cartagena.  In the
+middle of the night he chased and boarded a frigate that endeavoured to
+slip past him to the west, and, returning to his secret haven with his
+prize, he unloaded her cargo of maize, hens, hogs, and wild honey, and
+prepared for the voyage home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All hands were set to break up the pinnaces, which had been brought in
+sections from England and were now, after a year's sailing, past
+further service.  Their timbers were burned on the beach; their
+ironwork was given to the maroons.  The two Spanish frigates were
+overhauled, their keels cleared of barnacles, their spars and rigging
+put in good repair, their holds filled with a plentiful store of food.
+Then, when all was ready, Drake invited Pedro, the maroon chief, and
+three of his best men to choose some reward for their good and loyal
+services.  Pedro took a great fancy to a splendid scimitar which had
+been given to Drake by Captain Le Testu and had once belonged to the
+King of France.  Drake would rather he had chosen something else, but
+he handed over the weapon with a good grace, and accompanied it with a
+present of silk and fine cloth for the maroons' wives.  Pedro was so
+much delighted that he begged Drake to accept four wedges of gold in
+return, which the Captain threw into the common stock, saying it was
+only just that those who had shared with him the dangers and hardships
+of the adventures should share also in the full profits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis did not part from Juan without giving him a token of his thanks
+and a memento of their common adventures.  He had lost almost all that
+he had saved from the <i>Maid Marian</i>; with the <i>Mirandola</i> it had fallen
+into the hands of the Spaniards; and the division of the spoils of the
+mule-train would not be made until they reached Plymouth.  But he had
+always kept the sword of Sir Martin Blunt, and this he gave to Juan,
+who received it with great satisfaction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the 17th of July the company went aboard the two frigates; the
+anchors were heaved, all sail was set, and the little craft stood out
+to sea.  The flag of St. George flew at their maintops; silk streamers
+and ensigns dipped down to the water; a parting salute was fired; the
+trumpeters blew a blast; and the English mariners shouted a farewell
+cheer to the maroons gathered on the beach.  Down in the hold lay Jan
+Biddle, repenting in darkness, it is to be hoped, his treacherous
+conduct.  He alone of the company had no treasure to rejoice in; Drake
+had sternly decreed that he should go home empty-handed, a prisoner
+throughout the long voyage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+High up in the rigging sat a monkey, blinking and chattering, wondering
+perhaps into what further perils his adventurous master would lead him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"There is our Maiden Isle," said Dennis to Turnpenny, as they sailed
+merrily northward.  "My vice-royalty was but brief; and methinks 'tis
+but a poor jewel in the crown of Queen Bess.  Yet will it be a precious
+jewel in my memory, for there I found a true friend in thee, Amos, and
+we two have been enabled by God's providence to do somewhat for our
+countrymen in distress."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good-now, Master Hazelrig," said Drake, coming up to them; "art
+wishing to return and set up a monarchy on yonder small isle?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Nay, sir, it is already bespoke for our gracious queen, though meseems
+the sovereignty belongs rightly to Mirandola, who now sits aloft, with
+a most forlorn and wistful look."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Well, my lad, maybe you and I shall live to see Her Majesty's sway
+extend over all these islands, and far beyond.  Meantime, what think
+'ee is my dearest wish at this moment?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"I know not, sir."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why," said Drake, with a smile, "'tis to bowl at the jack once more on
+Plymouth Hoe."
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><a id="chap26"></a></p>
+
+<h3>
+Conclusion
+</h3>
+
+<p>
+Little more than three weeks later, on Sunday, August 9, 1573, about
+noon, the congregation in St. Andrew's church at Plymouth was startled
+into wakefulness by the booming of guns.  The vicar was in the midst of
+his sermon, and the good people were torn between their desire not to
+offend the worthy parson and their longing to see what was happening at
+the harbour.  A few minutes passed; then a whisper began to run through
+the church: "Master Drake is home again!"  One looked at another;
+anxious eyes were cast at the high pews where the gentry sat; then,
+careless what squire or parson might think, by ones and twos and threes
+the people stole from the church, and, when once outside, set off
+running with all their might to the harbour.  And before they got there
+a merry peal of bells rang out behind them.  The ringers in the belfry,
+knowing, we must suppose, that their vicar was an easy man, a patriot,
+and a Devonian to boot, were handling the ropes most lustily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two little frigates had just dropped anchor, and the men were
+putting off in boats.  On shore men shouted, women wept and waved
+handkerchiefs, boys yelled and dodged among their elders; but nobody
+minded hustling and knocks, for was not Master Drake home again?
+Deafening cheers rent the air as he landed; hundreds thronged around
+him to clasp his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Good-now, dear friends," he said with a laugh as he passed through:
+"ye'll do me more hurt than the Spaniards ever did."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Huzzay! huzzay!  Spaniards be jowned!  What have 'ee got in thikky
+ships, Master Drake?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Where be Bobby Pike?" cried a buxom dame with half a dozen children
+clinging to her skirts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Here I be, Mally," cried the seaman, catching her in his arms, "and
+i'fecks, I'll be sober for ever more, my lass."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"On my soul and body there be Ned Whiddon, and Tom Copstone, and Hugh
+Curder, and Billy Hawk!" cried several voices in the crowd.  "Huzzay!
+huzzay! we never thought to see 'ee more."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"And Haymoss Turnpenny!  Od's my life, what a day for Margery Tutt!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And when Dennis, with Mirandola on his shoulder, returning glance for
+glance with interest, got clear of the press, he saw Amos marching
+along with a girl on each arm, his ruddy face beaming like the rising
+sun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Why, Amos," said Dennis, "are there two Margerys?"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"My heart, I know a score!" cried Amos.  "But this be Margery Tutt,
+sir, thikky wench on my left.  Loose my arm, lass, and drop a curtsey
+to Master Hazelrig, for 'ithout him I'd never have been here this day.
+She've waited for me, sir, bided single for my sake, and there's no
+landlubber to whop after all.  T'other wench be Tom Copstone's Joan;
+his mother's most terrible jealous, and she've got a hold of Tom now;
+so 'You and me, Haymoss!' he sings out, and I've got his Joan under
+convoy till the old 'ooman 's done a-kissing of him.  Margery, lass, if
+'ee be willing, I'll go up along and see pa'son this very day and ax en
+to call us next Sunday, for I've gold and silver and pearls, lass, and
+won't they become your little plum neck!  Master Hazelrig, I do pity
+'ee, I do so.  Bean't there a lass to welcome 'ee?  Good-now, bear up,
+for 'ee be but a stripling yet."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And then he was borne away by the crowd, and Dennis saw him no more
+that day.
+</p>
+
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis found himself, when the treasure was divided, the possessor of
+�2,000 in money in addition to the pearls he had got at Fort Aguila.
+He devoted a goodly sum to the erection of a monument in his parish
+church to the memory of Sir Martin Blunt and the other adventurers who
+had sailed in the <i>Maid Marian</i> eighteen months before.  A smaller
+amount sufficed for a stone over the grave of Mirandola, who died in
+the following winter.  The greater part of the money Dennis gave into
+the hands of John Holles, his steward, who received it with all due
+gravity, expressing the hope that his young master had had his fill of
+adventuring and would now remain at home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a time Dennis was content to live in his rambling old house at
+Shaston.  But four years later, learning that Drake was fitting out
+five ships for a voyage round the world, he asked to be allowed to join
+the expedition at his own charge.  His offer was accepted, and he
+shared in the joys and sorrows, the failures and successes, of that
+three years' voyage.  With closer intercourse he admired the great
+Captain more and more; and Drake on his part came to regard him with
+peculiar affection.  During the five years spent on shore after his
+return, Sir Francis, as he now was, paid many visits to the house at
+Shaston, and often played bowls with Dennis on the lawn behind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1585, when Drake went out to the West Indies with a direct
+commission from the Queen, Dennis was of his company.  He was one of
+the first to enter the town of St. Domingo when it was assaulted; and
+in the subsequent attack on Cartagena he was seriously wounded.  To his
+great disappointment, he had not fully recovered in time to take part
+in the famous expedition to Cadiz, when Drake "singed the King of
+Spain's beard."  But next year, when all England was stirred at the
+news that the long-expected Armada was at last approaching, Dennis
+joined Drake on the <i>Revenge</i>, and had his part in the work of fighting
+in the Channel and the North Sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the conclusion of this year Dennis, now in his thirty-fourth year,
+married the daughter of a neighbouring squire.  Her name happened to be
+Margery.  Soon after the marriage Dennis took her to Plymouth on a
+visit to his old comrade Amos Turnpenny, who was now blest with a
+family of five boys and five girls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Do 'ee mind, sir," said Amos with a twinkling eye&mdash;"do 'ee mind the
+day when we landed, and you axed me whether there were two Margerys?
+Seems as if there be, sir; ay, and more; your madam be one, and my
+'ooman be two, and my darter yonder be three, and Tom Copstone's darter
+be four, and I shouldn't be mazed if there was five some day.  'A good
+name,' says the Book, 'is rayther to be chosen than great riches.'
+Margery be a good name, to be sure&mdash;a better name than Mirandola, poor
+fond beast!  Next to Margery comes <i>Anne Gallant</i>, and that be my
+second darter yonder."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dennis Hazelrig became a man of weight in his county.  His wife and
+little daughter&mdash;the fifth Margery&mdash;dissuaded him from joining Drake
+and Hawkins in their fatal expedition to the Main in 1594, and he found
+an outlet for his energies in organizing the yeomanry of Devon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When James the First came to the throne Dennis received the honour of
+knighthood.  None of his old friends was more delighted than Amos
+Turnpenny, who was by this time nearly eighty, and a hale old
+grandfather.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Ay, I says to Tom Copstone when I heard the news, 'Tom,' says I,
+'we've a king again now, my lad, though by all I hear tell he bean't so
+proper a man as King Hal.  But he do have his good points too.  What be
+fust thing 'ee done, think 'ee?'  'Be jowned if I know,' says Tom.  (He
+do have common ways o' speech, poor soul!)  'Why, 'fecks,' says I, 'he
+bin and made Master Hazelrig a noble knight, and we must call en Sir
+Dennis to's face for ever more.'  'Well,' says Tom, 'we won't mind
+that,&mdash;night or day,' says he&mdash;'you and me, Haymoss?'  And be jowned if
+they were not the very words of my dream!"
+</p>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's With Drake on the Spanish Main, by Herbert Strang
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+Project Gutenberg's With Drake on the Spanish Main, by Herbert Strang
+
+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: With Drake on the Spanish Main
+
+Author: Herbert Strang
+
+Illustrator: Archibald Webb
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2012 [EBook #38795]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH DRAKE ON THE SPANISH MAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: "The Spaniard swung round."]
+
+
+
+
+
+WITH DRAKE ON THE
+
+SPANISH MAIN
+
+
+BY
+
+HERBERT STRANG
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR BY ARCHIBALD WEBB
+
+
+
+LONDON
+
+HENRY FROWDE
+
+HODDER & STOUGHTON
+
+1908
+
+
+
+
+OXFORD: HORACE HART
+
+PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1907, by the BOBBS MERRILL COMPANY in the
+
+United States of America
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The romancer, in choosing as the setting for a tale the period of a man
+who looms large in history, finds himself on the horns of a dilemma.
+He cannot place his fictional near his historical hero without either
+dwarfing the former until the young reader ceases to find him
+interesting, or robbing the latter of some of the glamour with which
+history invests him.
+
+In the following pages I have tried to meet the difficulty by making
+Francis Drake the presiding genius of the story.  The deeds of Dennis
+Hazelrig are akin to those of Drake; the same spirit of adventure
+dominates them: and when, in the course of the story, the real and the
+fictitious personages meet, it is, I trust, without loss of dignity to
+either.
+
+HERBERT STRANG.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+JETSAM
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SEA-GIRT
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A WRECK--AND MIRANDOLA
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SALVAGE
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE EDGE OF THE MARSH
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE SPANISH WHIP
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AMOS TURNPENNY
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HALF-PIKES AND MACHETES
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+AMOS TELLS HIS STORY
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE MAROONS BUILD A CANOE
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE MAIN
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BENEATH THE WALLS
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE TAKING OF FORT AGUILA
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+VAE VICTIS
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A LONG CHASE
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+JAN BIDDLE, MASTER
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE DEMI-CULVERIN
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+JUAN THE MAROON
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+DRAKE'S CAMP
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A RAID THROUGH THE FOREST
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+MAIDEN ISLE AGAIN
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A FIGHT ON THE CLIFFS
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+BOMBARDED
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE LEAGUER OF SKELETON CAVE
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE MULE TRAINS
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+LOI
+"The Spaniard swung round"  _Frontispiece_.  _See p._ 78
+
+Map of Maiden Isle
+
+Dennis saves Mirandola
+
+"Captain singled out Captain"
+
+"The sailor threw up his left hand to ward off the attack"
+
+"A shot fell immediately in their wake"
+
+Map to illustrate Drake's adventures
+
+"The seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard."
+ELOI
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Jetsam
+
+Daybreak!  But, eastward, no glory of dawn.  Black thundrous clouds
+roll sullenly across a livid sky, riven at moments by pale zigzags of
+flame.  Rain tumbles in cascades.  League upon league of white-crested
+waves chase one another in fury, hissing, roaring as they hurl
+themselves upon a stubborn shore, only to be broken and thrown back
+into the seething turmoil.  The wind outstrips them, shrieking as it
+cleaves a way through the massed foliage, in mad haste to reach the
+mainland and smite the yielding tops of Darien's palms and pines.
+
+The shelving sandy beach is strewed with the jetsam of the storm.
+Here, a tangled heap of seaweed, left by a breaker when, spent with its
+own rage, it falls back baffled.  There, a log of wood, hard by
+nameless creatures of the sea, destroyed by the fury of their own
+element.  And here, high up the strand, beneath a bank overgrown with
+large-leaved plants, lies a human form, huddled, motionless.
+
+The waves do not touch it now; the storm has exhausted itself; the tide
+is ebbing.  Minute by minute the sea becomes less boisterous; the strip
+of sand widens; the rain ceases.  By and by the sun breaks through the
+eastern sky, and, gathering strength, disperses the lingering clouds
+and flings his radiance over the scene.  His beams, falling aslant
+through a gap in the cliffs, strike upon the draggled form on the sand;
+it stirs slightly, stretching itself as a leaf uncurls.  At last, when
+the air quivers with heat, and all things lie under a shimmering haze,
+Dennis Hazelrig heaves a sigh, opens his eyes, and looks amazedly about
+him.
+
+His eyes close; for some minutes he remains still; then he lifts
+himself slightly, falls back with a gasp, and lies again as one dead.
+But Nature is recovering under the beneficent rays.  Pigeons are cooing
+in the branches above; parrots are screaming; insects drone their
+burden; and when a mosquito, adventuring forth, alights on a human
+cheek, and tastes, Dennis is stung once more into consciousness.  He
+starts up, brushes the marauder away, staggers to his feet, and, to
+prevent himself from falling, clutches at a tuft of grass in the
+overhanging bank.  Its thin blade-like edge draws blood from his hand,
+and he looks at the red stain as at some strange phenomenon.  Then he
+laughs huskily, checks the sound as though it too is unfamiliar, and
+laughs again--a short sobbing laugh.
+
+"Certes, I am alive!" he mutters.
+
+
+An hour or two passed before Dennis ventured once more to try his
+tottering legs.  The sun's heat had dried his clothes, which, as he
+ruefully observed, had been so rent by the buffeting waves that they
+hung upon him precariously.  But in the same genial warmth his strength
+was returning, and though all his body ached, he could now move without
+a stagger.  Catching sight of some clams near him, he was conscious of
+a vast emptiness within, and felt for the clasp-knife which he was wont
+to wear slung about his waist.  It still hung upon its chain.  He had
+opened and eaten, ravenously, a dozen of the shellfish before he
+realized that after all his thirst exceeded his hunger, and he looked
+round for a spring of fresh water.  He walked some paces along the
+shore, groaning with every movement, until his ear caught the musical
+ripple of a stream, and he saw a rivulet flowing across the sand from a
+narrow water-course in the cliff.  In an instant he was down on his
+knees, drinking his fill.
+
+Refreshed with the draught, he rose and began to consider.  He was
+alive: that was the first thing.  It seemed marvellous to him.  The
+tornado had ceased.  Looking round, he could hardly believe that the
+sea now so calm was the same sea which, but a few hours before, had
+been a raging monster.  As far as the eye could scan it stretched away,
+shimmering in the sunlight, only a white crest here and there giving
+sign of its late disturbance.  Not a sail broke the line of the
+horizon.  What had become of the _Maid Marian_ and her crew and his
+companion adventurers on board?  Had they, had any of them, been cast
+ashore like himself, on some other part of this strange coast?  If he
+had escaped, why not others?  There was something cheering in the
+thought, and instinctively he braced himself for a search when,
+remembering that awful night--the amazing suddenness of the blast that
+struck the bark, rending the sails like ribands, snapping the mainmast
+like a reed, the tumultuous waves, the crashing thunder, the bursts of
+lightning, the deluge that poured down from the heavens--as he
+remembered these battling elements he shuddered involuntarily; could it
+be otherwise than by a miracle that he had survived?
+
+He lived over again his last conscious moments.  The mainmast had gone
+by the board.  He heard the hoarse shout of Miles Barton the master,
+calling upon the men to cut away the wreckage.  He was with them at the
+task, struggling to keep his feet, when the gallant vessel staggered
+under the onslaught of a tremendous sea, and he was swept off her deck.
+He heard cries all around him, but could see nothing for the darkness
+and the blinding rain.  Striving to keep his head above water, he felt
+his strength failing, so puny was it against the might of the
+passionate waves, when he encountered a floating spar, and clung to it
+with the tenacity of despair.  After that he knew nothing.  His grip
+must have relaxed, for the spar was not near him when he awoke to
+consciousness on the beach.  Yet it seemed that this had been his
+salvation.  He must have held to it until near the shore; then some
+mountainous breaker had torn him away and hurled him to the spot where
+he had lately opened his eyes again upon the world.
+
+Hapless bark!  It was scarcely possible that she had survived the
+hurricane.  And what of the souls on board with him?  What of Miles
+Barton, the bluff sea-dog her master, and his cheery crew, and the
+score of gallant gentlemen who had sailed out of Plymouth Sound but two
+months before, gay, high-hearted adventurers for the Spanish Main?
+Where was Sir Martin Blunt, the blithe captain of the band, and Philip
+Masterton, and Harry Greville, and Francis Tring, all young men of
+mettle, whom Dennis was proud to call his friends, and who, though but
+little his elders in years, had seen and done things in the great world
+that made him burn with envious admiration?  Alas! he could not but
+fear that the sea had swallowed them.
+
+But then again came the thought: might not Fortune have befriended them
+too?  Why imagine the worst?  And Dennis thrust sad thought from his
+mind; hope was not dead.  His meal had given him strength to search,
+and search he would.
+
+He looked about him.  The sandy beach was narrow.  It was overhung by
+cliffs of varying height, in parts merely a low bank, in parts reaching
+an altitude of perhaps forty or fifty feet.  They were covered with the
+dense vegetation of the tropics.  Some distance to the north of where
+he stood the receding tide had left bare a long ledge of massive rock,
+running up into the highest part of the cliff.  To the south the shore
+was less rocky, and within half a mile curved round to the east.  It
+was in this direction that he decided to go.
+
+But he had not walked far along the glistening sand when he suddenly
+bethought himself.  Signs of life there had yet been none, save the
+cries of birds from the trees above him.  But what if he came upon a
+fishing village, and found himself among enemies--the wild red men of
+whom he had heard, the Spaniards of whose terrible deeds returning
+navigators made such grim tales for the winter nights at home?  Where
+was he?  On some shore of the Caribbean Sea, he made no doubt, for only
+the day before, when the _Maid Marian_ was sailing merrily westward,
+Sir Martin had declared, and old Miles had borne him out, that but a
+few more days would bring them to the point where they expected to meet
+other adventurers who had preceded them on the same quest for
+excitement and gain.
+
+And Dennis halted as one dazed when the full sense of his calamity was
+borne in upon him.  He was alone!--alone!  There might be, for all he
+knew, thousands of people almost within hail of him; but he was none
+the less alone, for they would be of another race, speaking another
+tongue, unfriendly, hostile.  He sat down on a smooth rock and, resting
+his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands, stared moodily out
+to sea.  Between him and all that he held dear stretched this wide
+ocean for thousands of miles.  In utter hopelessness he wondered why it
+had not swallowed him up with all his comrades, instead of casting him
+here, a battered miserable body.
+
+The mood passed.  He had escaped the perils of the sea, not by his own
+strength, but by the hand of Providence.  If perchance he had more to
+fear from man than from nature--why, it behoved him, an English boy,
+and a Devon boy to boot, to face his destiny with a stout heart.  After
+all, he was of the same stuff as Master Walter Raleigh and Master
+Francis Drake and many another bold man of Devon.  He could not think
+that any one of them, in his situation, would give way to black
+despair; and, lifting his aching body from the shore, he walked on: he
+would at least learn somewhat of his surroundings.
+
+The beach, he found, bore gradually to the left, so that he could see
+but a short distance ahead.  Still he encountered no signs of life,
+save here and there a scuttling crab, and the rank plant growths above
+him, whence now and again a bird fluttered out and wheeled screaming
+about his head, and then soared clattering into the foliage.  Soon he
+tired of this monotonous tramping over sand, which appeared to lead no
+whither; and observing at length a cleft in the rocks, whence a shallow
+stream swiftly poured itself upon the beach, he bethought himself he
+might more quickly make a discovery if he pushed his way up the
+water-course, which must by and by lead to higher ground.  He turned in
+obedience to this impulse, waded through the stream, that wound this
+way and that between banks thickly covered with vegetation, and after
+what seemed an eternity to his aching limbs, found himself upon a cliff
+overlooking the sea.  His wandering had brought him by a circuit to a
+point north of the spot where he had awoke to consciousness.
+
+The cliff on which he stood was much higher than the surrounding
+country.  To right and left the ground shelved downwards, and he now
+perceived that the coast on both sides had an inward trend; that, in
+fact, the cliff was also a promontory.  Turning round, he found that
+his view was blocked by the trees except in one direction, where a
+sudden dip in the ground gave him an outlook over several miles.  And
+there, surely, at the far end of the vista, was the sea again.  For the
+first time the suspicion occurred to him that he had been cast upon an
+island.
+
+He went to the farthest point of the cliff to scan more carefully the
+horizon.  Looking across the sea, which from the beach had seemed an
+unbroken plain, he now saw in the far distance several dark vague
+shapes rising a little above the surface.  These must be islands.  To
+the north, somewhat nearer to him, and somewhat more definite, were
+similar forms, which seemed to grow in size during the hour or more he
+watched them, no doubt owing to the fall of the tide.  Far to the south
+he descried a long dark bar upon the horizon; this must be land, many
+miles away, probably the mainland.  His view to the east being almost
+entirely shut out by the foliage, he could feel no certainty that his
+suspicion was justified; but he felt a stirring of interest and
+excitement now: supposing it were indeed an island, how did the
+discovery bear upon his lot?
+
+Once more he turned and gazed along the valley at whose end he saw the
+sea.  It could not be many miles away; perhaps in an hour or so he
+could reach it.  The island, apparently, was not a large one, so that
+he could not go far without meeting its inhabitants.  He looked around
+for any signs of habitation--a roof-top, a column of smoke; but there
+was none.  Next moment he reflected that, if the island were small, it
+would not take him long to make its circuit and search every yard of
+the beach for tracks of his late comrades--of the _Maid Marian_ too.
+Still cherishing a hope that some might have survived like himself, he
+set off to descend the cliff towards the beach, every downward step
+racking his bruised limbs and strained joints.  When he gained the
+beach, he once more tramped southward, his eagerness lending him speed.
+He passed the water-course up which he had struck inland, and soon
+after came upon scattered articles of wreckage, among them the broken
+topmast of the _Maid Marian_.  With a sigh for his lost comrades he
+passed on.
+
+The sun had risen high in the heavens, and Dennis was fain to rest.
+
+"I'm a poor battered hulk," he said aloud, finding some little solace
+in the sound of his voice, "and hungry--how hungry I am!"
+
+He looked around for food, spied some shell-fish and ate them raw,
+quenching the ensuing thirst at another stream that rippled down from
+the interior.  The feeling of nervousness lest he should encounter
+strangers again took hold upon him, and he felt a desire to hide.  He
+found himself casting uneasy, almost terrified glances around him from
+the nook in which he was now resting, somewhat sheltered from the sun's
+fierce rays.  Then, conquering the feeling, he rose again to continue
+his search of the beach.  He must by and by, he thought, come upon some
+quay or harbour.  When he should see it, he would halt and consider his
+course of action: whether to advance and risk the meeting with
+strangers, or to retreat until with recovered strength and a clearer
+mind he could prepare himself for what might be in store.
+
+As he proceeded, he noticed that the jungle frequently approached to
+within a few feet of the mass of weed that marked high-water.  At one
+spot he discovered, almost buried in the sand, the worm-eaten
+stern-post of a vessel.  He could distinguish one or two letters of her
+name.  Many a ship, he doubted not, had been wrecked on this coast,
+many a hapless wight had been cast up by the tide, alive or dead.  By
+and by he came, on the southern side of the island, to high cliffs, and
+he set about scaling that which offered the easiest ascent, to obtain a
+view of sea and land from this point of vantage also.  It was densely
+wooded, and as he mounted he heard, besides the cries of startled
+birds, other sounds that struck uncannily upon his ear.  In his
+weakened state any new note in these sounds set his nerves tingling,
+and more than once he stopped, and could scarcely prevent himself from
+turning and speeding back to the beach, where at least there was
+nothing to cause him fresh tremors.
+
+Near the top of the cliff the wood thinned away somewhat, and when he
+reached its highest point he found himself on a stretch of greensward.
+Northward the ground sloped gently down to a clump of trees, of a
+species unknown to him, tall, with slender trunks, which it seemed to
+him he could climb as easily as the masts on the _Maid Marian_.  He
+made his way to them, half minded to swarm up the tallest of the group,
+so that from its summit he might gain a view, possibly, over the whole
+island, and solve the question that troubled him--whether somewhere
+upon it there was a settlement of men.  Only when he reached the foot
+of the trunk did he remember his weakness.  He stood leaning against
+it, and gazing up its length felt that at present his muscles were
+incapable of the feat.
+
+All at once his eyes became fixed in his head.  Travelling to the top,
+where a mass of foliage crowned the towering stem, they had lighted
+upon a face, that seemed to be peering at him from between the leaves.
+The feeling of fright that had before almost paralysed him seized him
+again.  But next moment he laughed aloud.
+
+"Ninny that I am!" he murmured.  "Afraid of a monkey!"
+
+He looked again.  The monkey, a large long-tailed specimen of its kind,
+was gazing at him gravely, with a look so human that it reminded him of
+his old schoolmaster at Winchester.  With the sportive instinct of a
+boy--Dennis was not yet seventeen--he stooped, picked up a stout piece
+of fallen branch, and flung it upward.
+
+"Stir, Sir Monkey!" he cried.  "I hail thee as the lord of this island!"
+
+The wood struck the branch on which the monkey was perched.  Chattering
+angrily, it flung its long arms around the branch above, and swung
+itself up, resting there, blinking and showing its teeth at this
+unmannerly intruder.
+
+"A big fellow indeed!" said Dennis to himself.  "I will not climb.  If
+the beast is angered, as he seems, he would be no mean foe in his high
+perch.  I'll not try a bout with you, Sir Monkey.  For this time,
+farewell!"
+
+And he went on, smiling a little as he became conscious that the
+meeting with the monkey had cheered him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Sea-Girt
+
+Besides the birds, and the ground animals which he heard at times
+scurrying through the undergrowth, the sole inhabitant of the island
+that Dennis had yet discovered was a monkey.  Though he was beginning
+to suspect that his fears of encountering hostile human folk had been
+needless, he still felt a timid reluctance to leave the coast-line for
+the interior; and having given up for the present his idea of climbing
+a tree to obtain a wider view, he contented himself with walking to the
+top of the cliff, to continue his observations from that point.  His
+native courage was returning; yet, as he mounted the cliff, he moved
+for the most part under cover of the trees; the dread of possible
+enemies still made him wary, though every now and then he forgot his
+precautions, only remembering them again when the sense of his
+loneliness forced itself upon him, or when he was momentarily startled
+by a sudden sound.
+
+Panting a little from his exertions when he gained the summit,
+conscious of his bodily weakness, of bruised limbs and strained sinews,
+he looked eagerly around.  Eastward stretched an illimitable expanse of
+sea; he scanned it longingly, yet doubtfully, for while it was from
+that quarter, or from the channel between the island and the mainland,
+that he might hope for rescue from a friendly ship, it was thence also
+that he might be descried perchance by an enemy.  He sat down on the
+grass, once more yielding to the heavy sense of forlornness, and
+thinking sadly of his lost companions.  How long he remained there he
+knew not; his mind wandered a little: he thought afterwards that he had
+probably slept, for he suddenly awoke to the consciousness of a gnawing
+hunger.  He had walked far, and the few shell-fish he had picked up on
+the shore gave but meagre sustenance.  Stiff and cramped, he rose to
+search again for food.
+
+There was nothing edible in his immediate neighbourhood.  The trees
+sprang to a lofty height, and bore no fruit.  Plucking up his courage,
+he made his way slowly down the slope towards the middle of the island.
+The vegetation grew thicker as he proceeded; there was no path or road;
+all was a wild tangle.  At first he saw nothing wherewith to ease his
+pangs; never in his life had he taken a thought for his next meal; it
+was a new experience.  Often enough at home he had plucked fruits as
+they grew; he remembered with a strange homesick feeling many a boyish
+depredation upon neighbouring orchards, out of sheer mischief, not from
+a longing for food.  But there were no apple-trees or plum-trees here.
+And when at last he came upon a broad-leaved tree upon which grew huge
+clusters of a yellowish fruit, in shape like monstrous pea-pods, he
+hesitated, wondering whether this might not be one of those evil trees
+of which he had heard, one taste of which would turn his skin black,
+and fire him with a raging thirst, and afflict him with a madness whose
+end was death.  But his natural appetite would not be gainsaid.  With
+hope and misgiving mingled he at last stretched up his hand and plucked
+one of the tempting pods, and stripped off the skin, and nibbled a
+morsel of the soft fruit within.  It was delicious; but so was the
+devil's fruit of mariners' tales--the more delicious the more
+poisonous.  Somewhat anxiously he waited; there was no change in the
+colour of his skin; he watched it through the rents of his tattered
+garments; and indeed it seemed to him that any change would be for the
+better, for he perceived for the first time that he was already black
+and blue with bruises.  He bit off another and a larger piece; then,
+with the ravenous haste of one long fasting, he let prudence fly, and
+ate the whole fruit, and another, and another, until he saw with
+surprise and qualms that his feet were encircled by a ring of empty
+skins.  But he felt astonishingly refreshed and invigorated; he must
+eat one more; and thus, timorously and recklessly, he made acquaintance
+with the banana.
+
+Of water for drink there was abundance.  He drank gladly at a stream,
+and wandered on.  It was strange that he no longer felt alone.  He saw
+no man, nor any trace of one; he had become accustomed now to the
+rustle of birds and the swish of four-footed creatures moving amid the
+greenwood; what then caused him to look apprehensively around?  What
+was this odd feeling of expectation that possessed him?  There was
+nothing to account for it, and by and by the nervousness which had left
+him during his search for food returned in greater force.  It was not
+lessened when he suddenly became aware that the sun was setting.
+Darkness, he knew, would soon envelop him, and there came with a rush
+upon his mind the memory of his early childhood, when night, with its
+silence, its blackness, had filled him with terror.  He felt that a
+night in the solitude of these unfamiliar trees would be unbearable,
+and, guiding himself by the sunset glow, he hurriedly plunged through
+the jungle towards the shore.  There, under the open sky, he could feel
+more at ease.
+
+His course brought him to the beach on the southern side, where, in the
+morning, he remembered having seen, though in his despondency he had
+not heeded, a number of half-rotten staves of casks.  These might, he
+thought, serve him for making a rude shelter.  He soon found the spot,
+and then noticed, what had escaped his dazed observation before, that
+close by the staves there lay a medley of stripped branches.  Had some
+one, at some time, built himself of these materials a shelter in that
+very place?  He gathered the stuff together and rigged up a crazy hut,
+such as he had seen erected by shepherds on the moors of Devon.  The
+day had been hot, but he knew from his experience on shipboard that the
+nights were cold; already he felt a sharpness in the air, and shivered
+in his tatters.  The hut would defend him somewhat from the chill of
+night.
+
+Another fear seized upon him with the approach of dark.  His mind had
+been so occupied with thoughts of human enemies that the possibility of
+the island harbouring wild beasts had not, in the daylight, occurred to
+him.  The darkness, he knew, brought forth small and great beasts; and
+he remembered with a shudder the tales told him by one of the hardy
+adventurers on board the _Maid Marian_--of packs of wild dogs that
+scoured these tropic woods, devouring sleeping men; of the hideous
+cayman, that lurked upon the shore, and, having swallowed
+hundredweights of stones to increase its heaviness, seized upon some
+unwary creature, and dragged it down into the watery depths, to feast
+upon it at leisure.  All wild beasts, he had heard, were afraid of
+fire; he had his flint and steel, secure in a leather pouch upon his
+girdle; but he had no dry timber; the sodden wood of the staves and
+branches of which he had built his hut would be useless, and he shrank
+from issuing forth into the now darkening woods to find material that
+would serve.  He comforted himself with the recollection that not once
+during his tramp around the island had he seen any animal larger than a
+hare, save the monkey; and he resigned himself to make the best of what
+he feared would be a cheerless night.
+
+The dark fell rapidly, again he had that strange feeling that he was
+not alone.  He went to the entrance of the hut, where he had drawn some
+of the worm-eaten branches, strung together with a few creepers, across
+as a door.  Peering out, he saw nothing but the darkened cliffs and the
+sea, heard nothing but the wash of the surf, the rustle of the breeze,
+and the soft tones of wood-pigeons.  He returned to the rear of the
+cabin, where he had strewed leaves for his couch.  As he lay back upon
+it and looked up to the roof he started, and instinctively seized a
+branch for protection: above him shone two greenish eyes peeping
+through one of the many gaps.  His hasty movement disturbed the
+watcher, and Dennis heaved a sigh of relief as he heard a shrill
+chattering above, and knew it for the gibber of a monkey.  Springing up
+he dashed out of the cabin to drive the intruder away.  He was just in
+time to see the monkey springing up the nearest tree.
+
+It was long before he fell asleep.  Then his rest was fitful and
+disturbed, not only through his over-wrought nerves, but by the
+nocturnal cries of creatures in the forest, and the attentions of
+insects, which nipped and stung with importunate malice.  In spite even
+of them, however, he slept; and when with the rising of the sun they
+betook their satiated bodies elsewhere, he lay till the morning was
+drawing towards noon in the sound sleep of exhausted nature.
+
+Opening his eyes upon bright day, he was tempted by the smoothness of
+the sea to bathe.  When he flung off his clothes he laughed to see the
+parti-coloured patches on his skin.  Blue, and yellow, and black, the
+bruises reminded him of his battering in the storm, and his laughter
+turned to sighing as he thought once more of his comrades and their
+hapless fate.  But in the physical joy of swimming he again plucked up
+heart, and he left the stinging water with a most healthy hunger.  The
+recollection of his feast of fruit drew him into the woodland.  He
+wandered long before he lighted upon the banana grove, and though, in
+the course of roaming, he saw other fruit-bearing trees, he resisted
+for the present the temptation to climb and taste; when once his hunger
+was appeased by the fruit he knew, he could more safely make an
+experiment on the unknown.
+
+He saw, too, many animals which had escaped his notice previously.
+There were hedgehogs, and tortoises, and giant spiders, and scorpions
+to which he gave a wide berth; but he caught no glimpse of any
+four-footed beast to cause him dread, and having by this time made up
+his mind that there were no human beings on the island, he went more
+fearlessly, with a readier eye to note the features of his new abode.
+
+Happening once to halt and glance back he saw, perched in the branches
+of a tree not many yards away, a monkey.  Was it the same, he wondered,
+as that which had peered at him out of the tree he had thought of
+climbing, and pried upon him in his humble cabin?  It seemed to be of
+the same size; it had spindly limbs and a long slender tail; but
+probably there was a colony of the strange creatures on the island.
+
+"Good morrow, Sir Monkey," he said, again finding a pleasure in the
+sound of his voice.  "Are you lonely too?  You were not, surely, cast
+like me upon this island, far away from kith and kin.  You have a wise
+and solemn look: what secrets do you harbour in that shallow skull of
+yours?  And what do you think of me, I wonder, when you look at me with
+those cunning little eyes?  I wish you could speak, for here am I
+prating to myself like an old gossip of eighty."
+
+As he moved on it was very soon clear that the monkey was dogging him.
+He amused himself by putting the matter to the test.  When he sat down,
+the monkey stopped, and remained almost perfectly still, partially
+concealing itself among the leaves.  When Dennis rose and went on his
+way the monkey followed, springing from branch to branch with amazing
+dexterity, always keeping at a distance.  Dennis became interested,
+fascinated, as he watched the movements of the agile creature.
+
+"Truly, Sir Monkey," he said, "I begin to wish I had a tail."
+
+And as the day wore on, and the monkey kept pace with him wherever he
+went, he began to find in its presence something of the comfort of
+human companionship.  Once, as he sat resting under a tree, the broken
+skin of a fruit he had eyed longingly fell within a couple of yards of
+him, and looking up he saw the monkey sucking with relish at another of
+the same kind.
+
+"Aha! my fine fellow," said Dennis, "you have something of a man about
+you, and mayhap what is good for you is good for me too."
+
+And he climbed a tree on which the pale yellow fruit was hanging, and
+plucked one, and made a wry mouth at his first taste of the tartish
+lime.
+
+Thus the day passed in aimless yet not unprofitable wandering.  Warned
+by his experience of the previous night, he resolved to prepare his
+shelter somewhat earlier.  Where should it be?  He was determined not
+to go back to the cabin, for the insects had plagued him there
+unmercifully, and he could only ward them off by means of a fire.  But
+flame by night and smoke by day rising from the shore would assuredly
+provoke curiosity among the crew of any passing ship; and since, of the
+vessels likely to pass in these latitudes, the most would undoubtedly
+be Spaniards, he was loath to attract visitors who might prove so
+eminently undesirable.  Yet, as he knew from his experience in woods at
+home, the insects would be even more numerous inland than at the shore.
+A fire he must have, and it struck him that if he could find, somewhere
+in the middle of the island, a sheltered hollow, he might safely kindle
+there a few sticks, trusting that the over-arching foliage would
+prevent a glow in the sky, and that the smoke, in the night-time, would
+pass unobserved.
+
+About a mile from the edge of the eastern cliff was a spring whence a
+little stream flowed westward.  At its source but an inch or two wide,
+it gathered volume on its winding course, and Dennis, tracking it,
+wondering by what circuit it would finally reach the sea, discovered
+that it ran at length into a somewhat extensive marsh.  He knew nothing
+about rainfall and land drainage, but being a lad of some powers of
+observation and reasoning, he was not long in coming to the conclusion
+that the marsh collected as in a cup the water that fell on the
+surrounding high ground during such torrential rains as had fallen on
+the night of the storm.  It was clear that there must be an outlet, or
+the marsh would be a lake, and this outlet he found amid thick
+undergrowth towards the western cliff near which he had been thrown by
+the sea.
+
+Penetrating the dense jungle, he discovered that the outflow poured
+through a channel some three feet deep.  Only a small stream now
+trickled down its centre; the banks were sandy and dry, and the
+interlaced foliage so arched it over, that Dennis decided he might rest
+in it secure from observation, and even run the risk of kindling a fire
+at night.  It seemed scarcely necessary to bring the staves of his
+cabin over several miles of difficult country to this spot; the trees
+themselves formed a sufficient shelter; but with his clasp-knife he
+cleared away some of the undergrowth, and lopped off a few low-growing
+branches to make a little enclosure; and by the time the natural shade
+deepened at the approach of night, he had fenced in a few square yards
+and scooped out a hollow in the middle for his fire.
+
+All the time he was working the monkey watched every movement from a
+branch overhead.  Dennis was not at first aware of the animal's
+presence, so closely hidden was it by the foliage.  Only when he struck
+a spark from his flint, and after some ineffectual attempts succeeded
+in blowing up a flame, did the monkey reveal its hiding-place by a
+little gibber of amazement.
+
+"So ho! my friend," cried Dennis, looking up vainly.  "You haunt me
+like a familiar.  Have you never seen a fire?  Do not let your
+curiosity tempt you too far, for, much as I value your company, I had
+rather you remained at your present comfortable distance until I know
+you a little better.  Play the sentinel, Sir Monkey, if you will."
+
+Dennis felt very well satisfied with his contrivance as he sat by the
+fire, eating a supper of bananas before laying himself down on a bed of
+leaves.  The smoke defended him somewhat from the insect pests; the
+warmth was comforting; and the cheerful glow gave him a sense of
+homeness and well-being.  He fed the fire more than once during the
+night, waking, it seemed, when the diminished heat warned him that the
+fuel needed replenishing, And when he awoke from his longest spell of
+sleep the dawn was stealing through the trees, birds were cooing,
+whistling, chattering overhead, and the monkey, on a low branch, was
+watching him with unalterable gravity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A Wreck--and Mirandola
+
+Dennis, as he made his breakfast, pondered deeply on the situation,
+taking the monkey in to his confidence.  "Could we change parts, Sir
+Monkey--if I were you, and you were Dennis Hazelrig, what would you do?
+This is your island: we will call it yours; I am your guest.  You seem
+to be a solitary creature like myself: are you miserable, I wonder?
+Does your loneliness trouble you?  There is food for us both: it is so
+warm that for the present, at least, I need no more clothes than you;
+neither of us will starve.  How old are you?  You look wise enough to
+be very old.  Am I to remain on this island until I have a beard as
+long and white as Sir Parson's at home?  Oh, you cannot understand what
+I say, for all your wise look: you cannot know what a wretched mortal I
+am.  What can I do?"
+
+The monkey only blinked at him, and plucked a dark plum-like fruit from
+the bough and munched it.
+
+For a time Dennis sat listless, feeling too wretched even to move from
+the spot.  Then he got up and made his way back to the cliff.  He stood
+on the summit, scanning the whole circumference of the shining sea.
+Not a sail was in sight.  He scarcely knew whether he was disappointed
+or not.  Supposing a vessel hove into view, he durst not try to attract
+the attention of some one on board.  If it were English it would be
+welcome as a spar to a drowning man.  If it were Spanish, he might as
+well jump into the maw of some sea monster.  Yet how could he discover
+its nationality without at the same time betraying his presence?
+Several times during that third day he climbed to the same spot, and
+looked out with the same eagerness; not one glimpse did he catch of a
+white wing upon the water; and he always turned away with the same
+uncertainty.
+
+He spent hours in roaming, as aimlessly as before, along the beach and
+through the woodland.  Coming in the course of the day to the cliff
+near which he had been cast ashore, he remembered that hitherto he had
+not made a complete circuit of the island; the beach northward appeared
+to be barred by huge masses of rock.  In his present mood he had no
+curiosity to see what lay beyond; he supposed indeed that, if he did
+care to clamber toilsomely over the barrier, he would simply arrive at
+a point of the beach which he had already reached from the other side.
+
+But later in the day, when the tedium of inaction had become
+unbearable, he started to explore the lower course of the streamlet on
+whose bank he had slept.  He found that the channel gradually widened,
+the banks growing higher as he neared the sea.  By and by he came upon
+a wide pool on whose rim a mass of seaweed lay rotting in the sun, and
+stooping out of sheer curiosity he dipped his finger and, tasting,
+discovered that the water was salt, as he had supposed.  Clearly at
+high tide the sea came thus far up the gully.  The entrance was as yet
+hidden from him by the jutting shoulder of the cliff, but he could hear
+now the light rumble of surf upon the beach, and he went on, feeling
+some curiosity to learn whereabouts on the shore he would arrive.
+
+He had taken but a few more steps when, rounding the projecting cliff,
+he came upon a scene which petrified him with astonishment.  Docked in
+the sand, lying over on her side, was the battered hulk of a two-masted
+vessel.  Her stern was somewhat towards him, and he read, painted
+there, the word _Maid_; but so familiar was he with her lines that he
+needed not the rest of the name; this was in very truth the wreck of
+the _Maid Marian_.  Of her two masts only the stumps remained: her
+deck, inclined towards him, was littered with a medley of rigging; her
+rudder was gone, part of her bulwarks torn away.
+
+There was an uncanny look about the hapless vessel as she lay there on
+the sandy beach, at the head of a small bay bounded by the cliffs on
+either side.  Dennis felt just such a thrill as he might have felt had
+he come suddenly upon the body of a friend.  The solitude, the silence,
+intensified by the rustling wash of the surf, the background of
+boundless sky and ocean, combined to affect him with a sense of
+desolation.  He felt a shrinking reluctance to approach, and when he
+had conquered this and stood beneath the vessel's quarter, it was some
+time before he summoned up the resolution to climb on board.  Then he
+mounted slowly, hesitatingly, by the aid of a loose shroud, holding his
+breath as if fearful of disturbing a sleeper.
+
+All was intensely still.  Multitudinous insects were crawling this way
+and that among the litter of rigging: save for these there was no sign
+of life--where for two months as merry a company as ever trod deck had
+talked and laughed and jested.  Dennis felt a lump in his throat as he
+recalled the little incidents of the voyage: quarter-staff bouts with
+old Miles Barton, wrestling matches with Harry Greville, sword-play
+sometimes with the captain himself.
+
+The hatchways were battened down.  He shrank from going below.  Evening
+was drawing on; he would leave the wreck now, and return in the
+morning.  And as he set his foot once more on the beach, and began to
+retrace his steps up the gully, he saw the monkey grinning at him from
+a tree on the cliff, and was surprised to find how pleasant and
+consoling was the creature's company.
+
+Hard on his discovery of the wreck came another discovery.  Retracing
+his way up the chine, he noticed a green ledge on the cliff, some few
+feet above his head, on the right-hand side.  The thought occurred to
+him to rest there for a little; he could reach it by an easy climb.
+When he gained the ledge, he found that it ran back for a longer
+distance than he had supposed below.  At its further end grew a wild
+mass of bushes and trees, some of which bore a plum-like fruit that he
+had seen the monkey eating with enjoyment.
+
+He went to pluck some of the fruit, and penetrating a little way into
+the thicket, he suddenly perceived that the bushes appeared to grow
+across an opening in the rock.  He pulled the strands aside, and looked
+into the dark entrance of a cave.  The discovery interested him.  Might
+he not find here a better lodging than the rude shelter he had made on
+the bank of the stream?  It was far above high-water mark, and
+conveniently placed for refuge, being accessible landwards only by the
+rocky channel, and wholly hidden from observation at sea.  Yet he
+paused before stepping into the cave.  Might it not be a wild beast's
+lair?  True, he had seen no animals which he could have any cause to
+fear, but at this moment of overstrung nerves he felt a child's dread
+of the dark.
+
+"A proper adventurer, in good sooth!" he said to himself.  "The skirts
+of a nurse would befit me better than an island in the Spanish Main."
+
+And without more ado he took a step forward and entered.
+
+The daylight was quenched within a few feet of the opening.  Striking a
+spark from his flint, he kindled a mass of dried grass he had stowed in
+his pouch for this purpose, and started as the brief flame lit the
+interior, for there, almost at his feet, lay a human skeleton.
+Incontinently he dropped his torch and fled,--scoffing, when once more
+in the free air, at his lack of courage.  But the wish to make this his
+abode was vanished.  He had no fancy to consort with skeletons, and
+besides, the damp and musty atmosphere of the cave was unpleasant.
+Without delay he set off to regain his former resting-place.
+
+These new discoveries had introduced a disturbing element into his life
+on the island.  Uninhabited as it apparently was now, clearly it had
+not always been so.  What was the history of that skeleton?  Were there
+others further within the cave?  It was not the remains of a castaway,
+for not even in the fiercest hurricane could the sea penetrate so far.
+Had some poor wretched fugitive fled there for refuge from a human
+enemy, and been slain or starved?  These questions kept him wakeful
+long that night, and haunted him even while he slept.
+
+With morning light he thought less of the cave and more of the wreck.
+The _Maid Marian_ had left Plymouth well equipped with stores; the
+hatchways had been battened down in the storm, and unless the sea had
+poured in through holes stove in her sides, there must be below decks a
+considerable quantity of materials that would prove serviceable if his
+stay on the island was to be lengthened.  As soon as he had finished
+his breakfast he set off to return to the chine.  It was no surprise to
+him now to observe the monkey following, like an attendant lackey.
+
+"Come, Sir Monkey," he said, with an attempt at gaiety, "let us go
+together and inspect our treasure trove."
+
+He felt again a strange sense of awe as he climbed into the vessel's
+waist, and trod her planks delicately.  But remarking that her position
+had been shifted slightly by the incoming tide during the night, and
+that little streams of water were escaping from holes on to the sand,
+he reflected that it behoved him to lose no time if he wished to secure
+her contents, for any day a tempest might spring up and shatter the
+hulk irretrievably.  Gulping down the timidity that still troubled him,
+he climbed to the quarter-deck, and went forward through the broken
+doorway into the main cabin.
+
+The floor was littered with the possessions of his dear lost comrades.
+Here was Harry Greville's sword; near it a pistol-case that had
+belonged to Philip Masterton.  He stepped over these and other relics
+and entered the captain's cabin beyond.  Here, too, all was ruin and
+disorder.  Garments, instruments of navigation, an ink-horn, trumpets,
+a drum, Sir Martin's arms and breastplate, the big leather-bound book
+in which he wrote his diary of the voyage, lay pell-mell on the floor.
+Dennis could hardly bear to look upon these mementoes of the lost, and
+he soon turned his back on them and returned to the open part of the
+vessel, where he sat for a time, given up to melancholy brooding.
+
+At last he rose, threw off the oppression, and ventured to force up the
+main hatch forward of the mainmast and descend.
+
+[Illustration: Insulae Virginis Charta]
+
+Even now he could not bear to remain long below.  He explored the whole
+length of the vessel in sections, returning at short intervals to
+breathe the fresh air and enjoy the cheerful sunlight.  On one of these
+occasions he was amused to see that his faithful attendant had now
+ventured to quit the security of its tree, and was sitting on a rock
+within a few yards of the vessel, an interested spectator.
+
+His inspection of the contents of the vessel fully rewarded him.  In
+the steward's store abaft the mainmast he found a large number of
+utensils--an iron pease-pot, a copper fish-kettle, a skimmer, several
+wooden ladles, a gridiron, a frying-pan, a couple of pipkins, a
+chafing-dish, a fire-shovel, a pair of bellows, trays, platters,
+porringers, trenchers, drinking-cans, two well-furnished tinder-boxes,
+candles, and candlesticks.  There were casks of beer and wine, great
+boxes of biscuits, bags of oatmeal, pease, and salt, whole sides of
+home-cured bacon, several cheeses, a tierce of vinegar, jars of honey
+and sugar, flasks of oil, pots of balsam and other salves, a pledget
+for spreading plasters, a pair of scissors, and several rolls of linen,
+these last evidently provided for the exigencies of fighting.  In the
+carpenter's store forward there were hammers, awls, chisels, files, a
+saw, hundreds of nails, both sixpenny and fourpenny.  In the armoury
+were half-pikes, cutlasses, muskets, with bandoliers, rests, and
+moulds, calivers, barrels of gunpowder and tar, and leaden bullets,
+such as were to be bought at Plymouth six pounds for threepence.  And
+as to the other appurtenances of a well-found ship, Dennis was almost
+bewildered by the quantity of them--bolts, and chains, and pulleys,
+buckets, mops, sand-glasses, horn lanterns, faggots for fuel,
+fishing-nets, articles of apparel, things for trade and barter: the
+list would fill a page or two.  And he rejoiced exceedingly to find
+that all were in good condition, even the cheeses: there could not be
+even a rat on board to commit depredations.
+
+Surveying this great and substantial store, Dennis rubbed his head in
+puzzlement.
+
+"'Tis a month's work," he said ruefully, "and for one pair of hands.
+The grave and reverend signor yonder will scarce assist, I trow,
+indeed, 'tis to be feared he may be thievishly inclined, and needs must
+I bestow the goods skilfully.  Well, to it; time and tide, they say,
+waits for no man."
+
+He began by carrying the biscuits and other perishables from the hold
+to the bulwarks, where he rigged up a running tackle, and lowered the
+bags and boxes to the sand beneath.  So intent was he upon his task
+that it was with a start of surprise and alarm he noticed that the tide
+was flowing in, and had almost reached the vessel.  Threatened with the
+loss of the precious stores, he was hard put to it to drag and carry
+and roll them up the beach beyond the reach of the waves, and the sun
+was far down towards the western horizon before he had them high and
+dry.  By this time the sea was several feet deep around the vessel, and
+the thought struck him: what if the wreck were to float away on the
+tide and all the remaining salvage be snatched from him?  So grave a
+misfortune must be prevented.  At once he swam out to the ship, and
+securely fastening to the stump of the broken mast one of the stout
+cables he found below, he again plunged into the sea, and in a little
+had wound the other end about two sturdy trees growing out from the
+cliff.
+
+While the wreck remained in its present position it was desirable that
+he should have his lodging close by.  There was no shelter on the shore
+itself, nor did the cliff promise a comfortable abiding place; and his
+thoughts returned to the cave, which was a good deal nearer than the
+spot where he had rested the previous night.
+
+Among the things he had brought ashore were a lantern, a tinder-box,
+and a candle.  Fortified with a light, he entered the cave with less
+tremor than on the previous evening, and looked about him.  The cave
+was deep: his light did not reach the further extremity.  The roof was
+damp and green with moss.  There was the skeleton, stretched on the
+rocky floor.  By its side, as he now saw, lay a hatchet of curious
+shape: a little beyond were some coloured beads.  But within the circle
+of light he discovered no other remnants of humanity; these were not
+very terrible after all, and he might have taken up his abode there but
+for the fusty, humid atmosphere.  He gave up the idea of sleeping in
+the cave, but made for himself, just outside and across the entrance, a
+couch of cloaks taken from the wreck.
+
+Before settling himself for the night, he returned to the base of the
+cliff, opened with the hatchet one of his precious boxes of biscuits,
+and taking a handful, sat on a flat rock to make an unaccustomed
+supper.  He had barely eaten a mouthful when he saw a brown figure leap
+from somewhere above his head, swoop on the still open box, clutch one
+of the biscuits, and spring away with a long chatter of delight.
+
+"Ah, knave!" he exclaimed, "my prophetic soul avouched that your
+gravity cloaked an evil bent.  You are a thief, Sir Monkey.  But I do
+not grudge you the biscuit; your constancy in attendance merits some
+reward.  A toothsome morsel, is it not?  It pleases me to see your
+pleasure, and--yes, I have it!  You are my sole companion on this
+island; why should we not be friends?  You must learn a rightful
+humility, to be sure.  Regarding me as the dispenser of luxuries, will
+you not love me, with the respectful love of a dependent?  Come, let us
+see."
+
+Rising from his seat in time to forestall a second application to the
+biscuit box, he went to it, took half a dozen, shut down the lid, and
+returned to the rock.
+
+"Now, Mirandola," he said--"I name you Mirandola for your wisdom, not
+your larceny--here in my hand I hold one of the twice-cooked, the
+fellow of the one you found so delectable.  Come and take it, and give
+thanks."
+
+But the animal sat motionless on its branch, grinning and gibbering.
+
+"You do me wrong to suspect me," Dennis went on.  "Well, this is to
+prove my good faith."
+
+He flung the biscuit on to the sand a few yards away, and laughed
+quietly to see what ensued.  The monkey chattered volubly with
+excitement, swung itself to a lower branch, then back to its former
+perch, where it sat for a moment blinking and grinning.  Then it
+descended with extraordinary rapidity to the foot of the tree, crouched
+behind the trunk while a man might count ten, and with frantic haste,
+as though fearful its courage would not endure, it darted on all fours
+across to the biscuit, looking in its movements like a gigantic spider.
+Seizing the delicacy, it sped back to the tree, squatted on the lowest
+branch, and set its jaws right merrily to work.
+
+"That is your first lesson, Mirandola," said Dennis, placing the
+remaining biscuits in his pouch, in full sight of the animal.  "The
+second begins at once; it enjoineth patience."
+
+And heedless of the loud outcry made by the monkey when it saw these
+choice comestibles disappear, Dennis returned to his couch, and laid
+himself down for the night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Salvage
+
+Rising with the sun, Dennis set about making a more careful examination
+of the hull of the _Maid Marian_.  The leaks in her timbers were rather
+more serious than he had supposed.  Clearly they would prevent her from
+drifting out to sea on the tide, but they would also render her final
+break-up inevitable in the event of a violent storm from the
+north-west.  There were signs on the face of the cliff that at times
+the waves dashed over the narrow beach of sand against the wall of rock
+beyond.  In these latitudes, as the fate of the _Maid Marian_ proved,
+storms arose without warning, and with incredible swiftness; and it
+behoved Dennis to make all speed in saving the ship's stores.
+
+At low tide on this day, and on many that followed, he worked hard at
+his task.  He rigged up a block and pulley in the waist, by means of
+which he was able to hoist casks and other heavy objects up the
+hatchways and lower them over the side of the vessel.  It was more
+difficult to convey them from the vessel to a place of safety beyond
+the reach of the tide.  At first he tried to haul them by a rope, but
+finding soon that he succeeded only in working up a ridge of sand which
+rendered haulage exhausting and in some cases impossible, he bethought
+himself of the device of employing rollers, such as he had seen used by
+fishermen on the beach at home.  It was an easy matter, with the tools
+now at hand, to lop off and strip some straight boughs suited to his
+purpose, and upon these he brought, slowly and not without pains, the
+bulkier goods to safe harbourage.  The tide always rose about the
+vessel too soon for his impatience; but the work was arduous, the
+intervals were really needed for rest, and they gave opportunities of
+furthering his acquaintance with the monkey.
+
+His relations with Mirandola, indeed, were placed on a sound and
+satisfactory footing long before he had emptied the hull.  The biscuits
+were invaluable.  At intervals, now long, now short, he would throw one
+towards the monkey, which watched all his doings at the wreck day by
+day with unfailing regularity.  Little by little he diminished the
+length of his throw, until, on the third day after his first lesson,
+Mirandola had gained sufficient confidence to approach him to within a
+few inches.  On the fourth day, after keeping the monkey waiting longer
+than usual, Dennis took a biscuit from his pouch, held it for a moment
+between his fingers, then put it back again.
+
+"It is time, Mirandola," he said, "that your education was completed.
+You are, I verily believe, as wise as a serpent; will you not believe
+that I am harmless as a dove?  This is the same biscuit I stowed but
+now in my pouch; it is for you; it is yours if you will take it
+mannerly.  No, I will not cast it on the sand; it is more seemly to
+take it from my hand, and, I do assure you, it will be no less
+relishable.  Come, then, dear wiseacre; have I ever deceived you?  Show
+a little confidence in your true friend and well-wisher."
+
+He held forth the biscuit, with an alluring smile.  Mirandola cocked
+his head on one side, gazed at this dispenser of delectable things with
+a searching solemnity, and then crawled forward with watchful eye,
+dubiously halting more than once.  At length he came to Dennis's feet,
+and sat up, with so gravely sad an expression that Dennis found it hard
+not to laugh.  Then, thrusting up his long arm, he made a grab at the
+biscuit.
+
+"Not so, Mirandola," said Dennis, holding it beyond the monkey's reach.
+"Manners maketh man; assuredly they will not mar monkeys.  Ape the
+gentle philosopher your namesake; be courteous and discreet.  Now, once
+more."
+
+He lowered the biscuit slowly, keeping his eyes on the creature's face.
+But with a suddenness that took him aback, Mirandola raised himself on
+his hind legs, flung out an arm, and, before Dennis could withdraw it,
+held the biscuit in his skinny paw.
+
+"Wellaway!" laughed Dennis.  "I may keep my breath to cool my porridge,
+for all the effect my words have upon your savage nature."
+
+Then, to his surprise, the monkey came to him again, and held out his
+hand.
+
+"You shall not be disappointed," he said.  "Not for the world would I
+reject your advances.  Here is a biscuit, and with this, shall we say,
+our friendship is sealed."
+
+And it was not long before Mirandola would sit upon his knee, and take
+food from his hand with all mannerliness; and, its distrust gone,
+showed itself to be as affectionate and devoted as a dog.
+
+Dennis availed himself in other ways of the hours when the tide
+interrupted his labour with the stores.  There was no lack of planking
+and tarpaulin in the vessel; these he utilized in building on the
+ledge, and near a fresh spring that ran out of the cliff, a little hut
+about two trees that grew near enough together to form uprights for his
+roof.  Then he erected two small sheds close by, wherein to shelter his
+goods from the weather.  At first he fumbled with the unfamiliar tools,
+not omitting to pinch his fingers as he hammered in the nails.  But he
+soon acquired a certain dexterity, and was indeed mightily pleased with
+his handiwork.
+
+Every now and again he made a trip across the island, to discover
+whether any vessels were in sight.  Once or twice he descried a sail on
+the horizon; once, indeed, he felt some excitement and anxiety as he
+saw a bark under full sail bearing straight, as he thought, for the
+shore.  But in this he was mistaken; the vessel altered her course, and
+Dennis, watching her diminishing form, hardly knew whether to be glad
+or sorry.  He was in truth too busy for self-commiseration: work filled
+his days, unbroken sleep his nights.  His feeling of loneliness had
+almost entirely passed away, for Mirandola was his inseparable
+companion, and it pleased his fancy to talk to the monkey as to a human
+being.
+
+So engrossing had his labour been that he had taken no account of the
+passage of time.  It came upon him with a shock, once, that the
+unnumbered days were flitting away.  The idea that he was doomed to
+grow old upon this island, and linger out his years in endless
+solitude, struck his imagination with a chill, and set him climbing the
+cliff in a kind of frenzy, to scan once more the wide horizon for a
+sail.  If at that moment a vessel had hove in sight, he would have
+flown a flag, fired a musket, to attract attention, reckless what crew
+it bore, so deep was his yearning to see a fellow man.  When the fit
+passed, it left him with a new desire.  Never yet had the possibility
+occurred to him of leaving the island.  Could he construct a raft, or
+build a boat--nay, was there a chance of making the _Maid Marian_
+herself, battered as she was, seaworthy?  The absurdity of attempting
+to navigate single-handed a bark of near a hundred tons set him
+laughing; but the idea suggested a new outlet for his energy, just at
+the time when the conclusion of his salvage work had bereft him of
+occupation.
+
+He became fired with the purpose of saving the vessel.  The weather
+hitherto had been perfect; but sooner or later a storm must come, and
+then the ship would be ground to splinters against the cliff.  Was it
+possible to float her?  He had unloaded what he imagined to be a good
+many tons of stores; thus lightened, could she be moved?  If he could
+succeed in floating her, whither could she be taken?  His tour of the
+island had failed to discover any harbour; there was little to gain and
+much to lose by allowing himself to drift about aimlessly in such a
+hulk.  Suddenly an idea struck him.  Would it not be possible to devise
+some means of floating her up the gully, round the shoulder of the
+cliff?  Her draught was not great: at high tide the water was deep
+enough to carry her many yards beyond her present position, to a point
+where she would be at once invisible from the open sea and protected
+from the weather.
+
+At the next fall of the tide he made a thorough inspection of the
+wreck.  It was easy to find the leaks, for at every ebb the water that
+had entered the vessel at the flood gushed out in tiny cascades.  Many
+a time he had seen ships careened and caulked in the dockyard at
+Plymouth.  He had plenty of rope of which to make oakum, and of tar
+more than enough to meet his needs; in his search through the vessel he
+had lighted on no caulking iron, but a long nail would serve, and it
+should go hard with him, he thought, but he would make the old hulk
+sound and seaworthy ere many days were gone.
+
+He found an unexpected assistant in Mirandola.  He had teased out but
+an inch or two of rope when the monkey squatted down by his side and
+began with his strong nimble fingers to copy him, looking up in his
+face with an air of such busy importance that Dennis was fain to lie
+back and laugh.
+
+"By my troth, Sir Mirandola," he said, "this is friendship indeed.  And
+you outdo me, on my soul; you pick two inches to my one.  'Tis not the
+daintiest of work for fingers untrained to it, and if it pleases you,
+why, I will e'en leave it to you, and admire this unwonted usefulness
+in a philosopher."
+
+But he found that when he ceased, the monkey ceased also.
+
+"Poor knave!" he said.  "You see not the end.  'Tis but an apish trick
+after all.  Well, God forbid that I should judge your motive; I am
+thankful for your help, and we will work together."
+
+Between them the two collaborators soon had a fine heap of oakum ready
+for use, and a couple of days' hard work at low tide sufficed to caulk
+all the seams.  Mirandola's share in this second part of the job gave
+Dennis more amusement.  The busy creature solemnly dabbed tar on sound
+parts of the timbers, and chattered with disgust when he discovered
+that the stuff clung to his hairy skin, defying all his efforts to get
+rid of it.
+
+"I' faith, I named you more fittingly than I wot," quoth Dennis.
+"Pico, your illustrious namesake, was a gentleman of rare and delicate
+taste.  Touch pitch and thou art defiled.  But a little turpentine,
+mayhap, will cleanse the outward spots; and as for your inward
+hurt--what think you of a spread of honey on your biscuit?"
+
+Mirandola thought nobly of the new delicacy, and came in time to look
+for honey whenever he had imitated Dennis with more than usual energy.
+
+The leaks having been well caulked, Dennis proceeded to pump the water
+from the lower parts of the hold.  He awaited the next high tide with
+great eagerness.  To his joy the vessel floated, and rode fairly
+upright on her keel.  The tide carried her several yards up the beach,
+leaving her again high and dry at the ebb.
+
+But Dennis now found himself faced by a difficulty.  He wished to get
+the vessel round the shoulder of the cliff, so that the tide might
+carry her up the chine to the pool below his hut and sheds.  The
+distance was barely eighty yards, but he had noticed, from the movement
+of a log floating some little way out, that the set of the current was
+from north to west; so that if once she were allowed to float free, and
+felt the force of the current, she would probably drift away in the
+opposite direction from what he desired.  On the other hand, if she
+were driven too high on the beach, she might stick so firmly in the
+sand that it would be impossible to move her, and then she would lie at
+the mercy of the first north-west gale.
+
+His little nautical knowledge was at first at a loss.
+
+"Mirandola, your speechless wisdom is of no avail," he said ruefully,
+as he sat at his fire one evening, feeding the monkey with pease
+porridge.  "You and I are both landsmen; unlike you, I adventured
+forth, to gain gold, and fight the don Spaniards, if so the fates
+should ordain.  Here is never a Spaniard to fight, and as for gold, the
+wealth of Croesus would not at this moment benefit me a jot.  If I had
+been bred to the sea, now, I should not be at this pass."
+
+But long cogitation, and another visit to the ship, determined a course
+of action.  The windlass, he discovered, was uninjured, and though it
+was very stiff, he could still manage to turn it.  A big jagged rock
+jutted out from the cliff near the shoulder round which the vessel must
+be warped.  To this rock he carried a rope from the stump of the
+mainmast and securely fastened it.  This would prevent the vessel from
+drifting out to sea.  Then, with a hatchet from the ship's stores he
+cut a number of thick branches from the trees along the gully, and
+pitching them into the pool floated them one by one on to the beach
+alongside the wreck.  There was plenty of rope on board to fashion
+these into a stout raft, on to which, with the aid of the windlass, he
+lowered a kedge anchor just sufficiently heavy to hold the vessel in a
+calm.  It was a matter of some difficulty to get the anchor so evenly
+adjusted on the raft that the latter would not turn turtle; but after
+some patient manoeuvring Dennis arranged it squarely in the centre, and
+when the tide came in the whole floated with a fair appearance of
+stability.  Then with a long pole Dennis cautiously punted the raft out
+beyond the gully, paying out as he went a stout cable, connecting the
+anchor with the windlass.  Some thirty yards beyond the gully, at a
+point near enough in shore to be beyond the reach of the current, he
+prepared to drop the anchor.  It was too heavy for him even to move;
+the only plan that suggested itself was to bring about what he had up
+to that moment been most anxious to prevent--the raft must now be
+intentionally upset.  One by one he cut away the lashings of the
+outermost logs on the seaward side.  At last he felt by the movement of
+the raft that only his own weight prevented the crazy structure from
+turning over.  He slid from the raft into the sea; the far side sank
+and the anchor slipped over and went with a thud to the bottom.  Then
+the raft righted itself, and Dennis scrambled aboard.
+
+The rest was easy.  When the tide ebbed it carried the wreck inch by
+inch towards the anchor, for with the aid of the windlass Dennis was
+able to keep the cable constantly taut, while at the same time he paid
+out the rope connecting the vessel with the shore.  A couple of tides
+brought him in this way up to the anchor; then, transferring the shore
+cable to a stout tree some distance up the gully, he slacked off the
+kedge line when the tide was running up, and allowed the wreck to be
+carried shorewards.  In this way the _Maid Marian_ floated slowly up
+the gully on the flood, and another couple of tides brought her within
+a few yards of the pool, which he designed for her permanent harbourage.
+
+Below this there was a narrow bar that threatened to baulk him.  At low
+tide, indeed, he had to shovel away a large amount of sand in the
+middle of the channel, and once came near losing his temper with
+Mirandola, who, with well-meant industry, and a quite innocent
+pleasure, set about scooping back the sand as it was dug out.  But the
+animal tired of this fatiguing amusement; the difficulty was overcome;
+and when at last the vessel rode gently into the little natural harbour
+below the hut, Dennis hailed the success of his long toil with a
+cheerful "Huzza!" and broached a cask of sack.  Of this indulgence he
+partly repented, for the monkey seized upon the empty can when he laid
+it down, and drained it greedily.
+
+"No, no, my friend," said Dennis, gravely.  "Wine maketh glad the heart
+of man; I do not read that it is anywise a drink for brutes.  And all
+your philosophy would not reconcile me to a drunken Mirandola.  'Be not
+among wine-bibbers,' says the wisest of kings and men; I bethink me he
+says also, 'My son, eat thou honey, for it is good!'  You shall have
+honey, my venerable son."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+The Edge of the Marsh
+
+During his operations about the wreck, Dennis had noticed that the
+monkey showed a strange aversion for the sea.  At low tide, when the
+vessel was high and dry, he quite cheerfully accompanied his benefactor
+on board; but as a rule, when he saw the tide rolling in, he chattered
+angrily, swarmed down the side of the vessel, and posted himself at the
+nearest point above high-water mark.  Only on the one occasion, when he
+mounted the windlass, did he remain on deck when the tide was at flood;
+there he seemed to regard himself as out of reach of the waves.  Dennis
+wondered whether the dread of the sea was a characteristic of the
+monkey tribe, or whether Mirandola had at some time suffered a
+sea-change which it was determined not to repeat.
+
+He took endless pleasure in studying the amiable creature; and when,
+his work with the ship being finished, he began once more to take
+lengthy strolls across the island, he drew a new delight from the
+companionship of the monkey.  The friendship being so firmly
+established, Mirandola showed off his accomplishments with a freedom he
+had not displayed when he regarded this newcomer with distrust and
+suspicion.  Dennis laughed to see his antics in the trees.  He would
+curl his long tail about a branch, and swing to and fro with manifest
+enjoyment.  Sometimes, clutching a banana with one hand, he would pick
+another with one foot, and hold a third to his mouth with the second
+hand.  Sometimes when he saw Dennis holding his forehead in a brown
+study, he would rub his long gaunt arms over his own brow with a
+wistful look that brought a smile to the lad's face.  He was amiability
+itself, and showed genuine distress when Dennis took occasion to scold
+him for some piece of inconvenient prankishness.
+
+Now that his thoughts were no longer engrossed with his salvage work,
+Dennis more often speculated on his future.  The prospect was not very
+encouraging.  Supposing he could carry out his half-formed purpose of
+building a boat, what chance was there of surviving a voyage across the
+ocean in a vessel that, untrained as he was in handicraft, must
+necessarily be a clumsy thing?  And unless he could risk an ocean
+voyage he felt that he had better remain where he was.  No European
+nation but the Spaniards and the Portuguese had settlements on the
+American coast.  What might be expected at the hands of the Spaniards
+he knew full well.  Had he not heard from the lips of one Master John
+Merridew fearsome tales of their treachery and cruelty?  John Merridew
+had sailed with Captain John Hawkins to the West Indies, with Master
+Francis Drake as one of the company.  Forced by foul weather into the
+port of St. John de Ulua, the Captain made great account of a certain
+Spanish gentleman named Augustine de Villa Nueva, and used him like a
+nobleman.  Yet this same Augustine, sitting at dinner one day with the
+Captain, would certainly have killed him with a poniard which he had
+secretly in his sleeve, had not one John Chamberlain espied the weapon
+and prevented the foul deed.  And recalling Merridew's narrative,
+Dennis wondered what had become of those hundred poor wretches who,
+when victuals ran short, and the ship's company were driven to eat
+parrots and monkeys and the very rats that swarmed in the hold,
+preferred to shift for themselves on shore, rather than starve on
+ship-board.  In imagination he saw that touching scene, when the
+General, as Merridew called Captain Hawkins, gave to each man five
+yards of cloth, embraced them in turn, counselled them to serve God and
+love one another; and thus courteously bade them a sorrowful farewell,
+promising, if God sent him safe to England, to do what he could to
+bring home such as remained alive.  That Captain Hawkins would fulfil
+his promise Dennis believed; but how many of those Englishmen were
+still living?  He reflected that he at least had food and present
+safety; compared with theirs his lot was a king's.
+
+But he was not to escape misfortune altogether.  One day the storm he
+had so long been expecting broke over the island, hurling great seas
+into the mouth of the chine, threatening to dash the _Maid Marian_
+against the rocks or sweep her out into the ocean.  In the midst of
+pelting, blinding rain Dennis strove to ensure her safety.  She
+wrenched at her anchor; every moment he feared lest her mooring ropes
+should be snapped; he could do little but keep a watch on the
+fastenings.  And while he was thus watching, a roaring flood passed
+through the gully from the plateau above, swamping his hut, washing
+away some of his hardly-won stores; and the fierce blast tore off the
+roof of one of his sheds, exposing its contents to all the fury of the
+weather.
+
+Next day he did what he could to repair the damage.  Fortunately much
+of his perishable goods was contained in stout boxes which he always
+kept securely fastened, and the things he lost were those he could best
+spare.
+
+In the afternoon of that day, he went across to the opposite side of
+the island, as he was wont to do at intervals, to take a look-out from
+the high cliff there.  He wondered whether the storm had cast any other
+ill-fated vessel upon the shore.  But, scanning the whole horizon, he
+saw nothing but league upon league of restless sea.
+
+"Our solitude is not to be disturbed, Mirandola," he said to the
+monkey, "for which let us be thankful.  Or ought we to deplore it?  I
+wish you could speak, my friend, and tell me something of your history.
+Are you the last of your race, I wonder?  Well, so am I.  I have no
+kith nor kin; nor, as it appears, have you.  I have a humble estate in
+an island--to be sure, somewhat larger than this.  Now I come to think
+of it, this island is yours; it is a mark of nobility of soul--or is it
+poverty of spirit?  I cannot say--that you do not regard me as a
+supplanter.  Good Holles, my steward, would not brook the intrusion of
+any adventurer on my lands.  Heigh ho!  How fares the old fellow, I
+wonder?  How he shook his old head when I acquainted him with my
+purpose to join Sir Martin Blunt in his voyage to the Spanish Main!
+'God save you, sir!' said he, and asked whether he should sell my
+whippets!  One thing I know, Mirandola: that if it please God to bring
+me safe home in season, Holles will give me a faithful account of his
+stewardship.  Let me think I am your steward, good my friend.  And now
+let us return to our honey-pot."
+
+On the way back, Dennis struck somewhat to the left of his usual path,
+to skirt the marsh on its south-western instead of its north-eastern
+side.  It was far larger in area than when he had first seen it; its
+outlet was too narrow to carry off the surplusage due to the tremendous
+rains.  Dennis was picking his way around the oozy edge, letting his
+thoughts travel back to the pleasant land of Devon, when suddenly he
+was brought up short by the sight of a mark in the soft earth, the
+strangeness of which mightily surprised and perplexed him.  Parallel
+with his own tracks there ran for a few yards a faint ribbon-like
+track--such a track as might be made by a large cart wheel that had
+rested very lightly on the surface.  It was a single track: following
+its course, he found that it disappeared into the water, just as he had
+seen the mark of a cart wheel disappear into a roadside horse-pond at
+home.
+
+He looked around.  There was nothing to account for the mark.  He
+scouted the idea that it had been actually made by a wheel; a vehicle
+must have been drawn by animals, and there were no hoof-marks to match.
+With all his puzzling he could find no explanation, and though he
+looked warily about him as he went on his way, with some return of his
+old feeling of nervousness, he saw no sign to suggest that the island
+had been visited.
+
+It was a day or two before he again found himself near the marsh.  He
+had been fishing from the base of the high cliff that formed his usual
+look-out.  A kind of natural pier of broken rock jutted out from the
+cliff seawards, and the deep water on each side was the favourite
+resort at high tide of shoals of small fish, which chose it, he
+supposed, because the depth was not great enough for the ground sharks
+that sometimes made their appearance off the shore, and the little fish
+could disport themselves there in security.
+
+Carrying his catch on a string--enough for his own dinner, for
+Mirandola would not touch it--he passed again by the brink of the
+marsh, and once more was puzzled by the wheel-like track which he had
+seen before and been unable to explain.  The marsh had somewhat shrunk
+in the interval; the receding water had left more of the track visible:
+and the outer soil having been baked hard by the sun, the strange
+imprint was clearer and more definite.
+
+It occurred to Dennis now to attempt to trace the mark in the opposite
+direction, away from the point where it disappeared in the water.  It
+speedily grew fainter as he came to harder soil, and he lost it
+altogether where it entered undergrowth which had no doubt been
+partially submerged when the marsh was at its highest.  But after some
+search he found it again where it emerged from the rank vegetation, and
+from that point he traced it with little difficulty, for it kept fairly
+close to the margin of the lake.  Its resemblance to the track of a
+wheel had now ceased; not even the most rickety of carts, driven by a
+drunken tranter on a Devonshire lane, could have made such erratic
+movements as must have caused this shallow winding mark on the soil.
+Dennis followed its curves with persistent curiosity, not unmixed with
+a vague uneasiness.  Mirandola accompanied him, springing lightly from
+bough to bough of the trees nearest the edge of the marsh, descending
+with extraordinary quickness and loping along the ground where gaps
+intervened, or the fringe of the woodland belt took a trend inwards.
+
+At length the tracking came perforce to an end.  Again the trail
+disappeared into the water, and Dennis halted, feeling a little vexed
+that his patience was, after all, to bear no fruit.  He looked round
+for Mirandola.  The monkey had disappeared, exploring, no doubt,
+thought Dennis, a close-packed thicket that came within a few yards of
+the morass, having apparently crowded out all nobler trees save one
+slender cedar which, dominating the undergrowth, seemed taller than it
+really was.
+
+Dennis was about to give up the problem as hopeless and go on his way,
+when suddenly he heard Mirandola chattering in a manner that was new to
+him.  The moment after, the monkey sprang from the thicket into the
+tree, and climbed with frantic speed to the very top, where he sat
+gibbering and shaking with terror.  Dennis, wondering what had
+perturbed him, took a step forward, then started back in a cold shiver.
+A huge serpent was rearing itself from the midst of the undergrowth and
+winding its coils about the trunk of the tree.
+
+Mirandola on the topmost branch had now ceased his chattering, and
+clung, watching the monster with dilated eyes.  The poor creature was
+helpless.  To descend from his perch would have been fatal; there was
+no other tree at hand to which it might escape.  Indeed, under the
+fascination of the serpent's baleful eyes, as it slowly drew its
+immense coils up the trunk, the monkey lost all power of motion; and
+Dennis himself, even with the thicket between him and the monster, felt
+a sort of chill paralysis as he watched its sinister movements.  For
+half a minute he stood rooted to the spot; then, making an effort to
+throw off this dire oppression, he tried to think of some means of
+helping the monkey.  At that moment of danger, he was conscious for the
+first time of the strength of his affection for the animal whose
+companionship had done so much to relieve the awful solitude of the
+island.  Unless he intervened, Mirandola was doomed, and the thought of
+losing Mirandola filled him with a fierce longing to slay this monster
+that was crawling inch by inch towards its prey.
+
+His first impulse was to run back to his hut for the gun he kept there
+ready loaded; but slow as the serpent's progress was, before he could
+return to the spot the tragedy would have ended.  Then he remembered
+how the reptiles in the woods at home were killed.  A blow on the
+vertebrae crippled them; could he cripple this huge creature, which
+even yet had not heaved all its length into the tree?  His only weapon
+was the sailor's clasp-knife which he always carried at his girdle.  He
+opened it impulsively, then hesitated.  If he failed to hit the
+vertebrae, and dealt only a flesh wound, he might perchance save the
+monkey, but could he then save himself?  He knew nothing of a boa
+constrictor's power of movement; yet his instinct told him that, if
+once enfolded in those monstrous coils, he must inevitably be crushed
+to death.  But he could not stand and see his pet mangled and devoured:
+the serpent, moving deliberately, as though aware of its victim's
+paralysis, was not yet beyond his reach.  Springing through the
+undergrowth, he marked a spot some distance from the reptile's tail.
+The serpent heard his approach, and turned its head slowly in his
+direction; but a second later Dennis drove his knife with all his force
+at the centre of the sleek round mass.
+
+Next moment he was thrown sprawling on the ground, by a flick of the
+tail as the upper part of the serpent's body writhed convulsively under
+the blow.  He jerked himself to his feet and leapt away through the
+undergrowth in panic fear.  A few steps brought him to open ground, and
+then, crushing down his nervous terror, he looked back.  The coils were
+slipping down the tree, and in a moment it was clear that the serpent's
+power was gone; its huge bulk moved uncontrollably: its motor force was
+destroyed.  Dennis ventured to enter the thicket again.  When the
+serpent reached the ground, it writhed as he had seen injured eels and
+earthworms writhe, but its movements were all involuntary; Mirandola
+was saved.
+
+[Illustration: "Dennis saves Mirandola."]
+
+The monkey was now chattering volubly, but still clung to his perch.
+Clearly he would not venture to descend while his enemy moved.  For
+some time Dennis watched it; then, feeling that he must put an end to
+its maimed life, he hurried away to fetch his gun.  A bullet in the
+head: and the reptile lay motionless.
+
+Even then some little time elapsed before Mirandola yielded to Dennis's
+persuasive calls and slid, still somewhat nervously, to the ground.  He
+avoided the reptile's body, and scampered away with shrill cries to the
+open.  When Dennis overtook him, the monkey sprang upon his shoulder,
+and so they returned to the hut.
+
+After this thrilling experience Dennis felt somewhat less at ease in
+his peregrinations of the island.  He had come to think that he had
+nothing to fear there so long as it was unvisited by men.  But the
+thickets that gave hiding to one huge reptile might harbour many more.
+Henceforth he walked more warily, and never ventured far from his hut
+without a gun.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+The Spanish Whip
+
+Dennis had given up the idea of building a boat as a means of escape
+from the island; but now that time again hung heavy on his hands, he
+reverted to it as a refuge from the tedium of idleness.  It promised to
+give him much labour, for, unless he stripped the planking from the
+_Maid Marian_, he must needs fell trees for himself, and prepare his
+timbers as well as his unskill could devise.  The trees of the island
+were for the most part unknown to him; and he was not aware of the
+Indian practice of hollowing out a cedar trunk with fire or hatchet.
+In his wanderings he now began to take note of the different species,
+with a view to selecting one that would best suit his tools.
+
+One day, when he was strolling through the woodland on this errand, he
+was amazed, and not a little alarmed, to hear, from some spot far to
+his right, what seemed to him to be the ring of axes.  He halted,
+incredulous.  The island, he was assured, had no other inhabitant; yet
+he could not be mistaken; the sound of tree-felling reminded him of
+home, and he felt a sudden deep yearning for the combes and holts of
+far-off Devon.  But this feeling was immediately quelled by a sense of
+danger.  Who were these woodcutters?  No friends, he was sure; he had
+given up hope of finding friends upon these remote coasts.  And if not
+friends, discovery by these spelt death to him, or slavery to which
+death would be preferable.
+
+He was minded to turn about and seek safety in his hut.  Built upon the
+edge of the chine, it could only be discovered by careful exploration
+of the woodland, and the chine was all but invisible from the sea.
+There he might remain in hiding, with a fair chance that he would not
+be found.  But this first impulse passed.  He felt an overmastering
+curiosity to see who these visitors were.  Whence had they come, he
+wondered?  Why, if they came from the distant mainland, had they
+crossed the sea?  He could not suppose that wood was lacking upon the
+shores of the great continent.
+
+Slowly, with infinite caution, he began to thread his way towards the
+sound.  There were open spaces amid the woodland; these he durst not
+cross, but kept always in the shelter of the trees.  He dreaded lest
+Mirandola should betray him by a cry; but the monkey leapt from bough
+to bough almost noiselessly, as if he too had taken alarm from the
+unwonted sound.  A few weeks before, Dennis himself would have found it
+difficult to make his way through the woods and the undergrowth without
+giving signs of his presence by the snapping of twigs or the rustle of
+parting foliage; but the abiding sense of danger which had oppressed
+him during his earlier passages across the island had bred in him a
+wariness of movement that was now almost as instinctive as in the wild
+creatures whose lives depended on their caution.
+
+Guiding himself by the sounds, he was drawn towards a grove of trees
+that lay about two hundred yards from the southern beach.  Only a day
+or two before he had struck his hatchet into one of them, and concluded
+from its soft white sappy rind that it would not provide fit timber for
+his boat.  Yet it was clearly these trees upon which the unseen woodmen
+were at work.  He stole forward, and coming to a dense fringe of
+undergrowth beyond which the grove lay, he edged his way into the
+thicket, and very stealthily pressed the foliage aside until he got a
+view of what was doing.
+
+The trees grew somewhat far apart, and across a fairly open space he
+saw the strangers whose unexpected presence was causing him such
+concern.  Five men, stripped to the waist, were hard at work with axes.
+Four of them had dusky skins of reddish hue; the fifth, a short,
+thickset, brawny man, the muscles of whose arms showed like great
+globes, was clearly a white man, though his hands and arms were stained
+a bright scarlet quite different from the red duskiness of southern
+natives, or the red-brown caused by exposure to sun and wind.  As they
+moved, the five men clanked the chains that fettered their ankles to
+stout logs of wood.  A little apart stood three men looking on,
+laughing and talking together in a tongue strange to Dennis.  They were
+big swarthy fellows, with soft wide-brimmed hats, each decked with a
+feather, brown leather doublets and hose, and long boots.  Each bore a
+caliver and a whip.
+
+The sun was high in the heavens, its beams beating down through the
+trees upon the unprotected backs of the toilers.  Sweat was pouring
+from them.  The trees were thick, some at least two yards in
+circumference; to cut them through needed no slight exertion.  The
+white labourer paused to draw his arm across his reeking brow.  Then
+one of the watchers strolled across from the tree against which he had
+been lolling, and raising his whip, brought the thong with a stinging
+cut across the back of the slave who had dared to intermit his labours.
+A red streak showed livid on the white skin.  For a moment it seemed to
+Dennis, watching the scene, that the victim was about to turn upon his
+assailant with the axe, his sole weapon.  An expression of deadly rage
+writhed the features of his red, bearded face.  His grip tightened upon
+the axe.  But he controlled his impulse with an effort.  The warder
+laughed brutally, flung a taunt, and cracked his whip in the air in
+challenge and menace.  Sullenly the woodman resumed his task, and his
+persecutor, with another laugh, turned and rejoined his companions,
+applauded by their grins.
+
+Dennis felt himself stung to anger.  This swarthy ruffian, he doubted
+not, was a Spaniard, a subject of King Philip, once the consort of an
+English queen.  It was not a pleasant introduction to the race
+dominating the Americas.  Apparently Mirandola liked them no better
+than he, for at the first sight of the strangers the monkey had fled
+away.  Dennis found him a good quarter-mile distant when, taking
+advantage of an interval during which the Spaniards ate and drank, and
+the flagging toilers rested, he strode away to a banana grove to
+refresh himself.
+
+He watched the group till near sundown.  Several trees having been
+felled, the men proceeded to hack off the branches and to chip away the
+white rind.  Then the strange scarlet colour of their arms and hands
+was explained.  The heart of the trees was a brilliant red.  As the
+rind was stripped off, the Spaniards drew near and examined the core,
+and under their direction the labourers cut and trimmed certain
+selected logs.  The work was still unfinished when the sun went down,
+and the leader of the Spaniards gave the word for returning to the
+shore.  The logs were struck off the slaves' ankles and replaced by
+manacles; then they set off.  Dennis followed them at a safe distance,
+and when he came within view of the sea, there was a small vessel
+riding at anchor some little distance off shore, and the slaves were in
+the act of dragging a row boat through the white surf.  In this they
+all put off, and darkness covered them up as they regained the ship.
+
+Dennis returned to his hut, joined by the monkey on the way.
+
+"Here is food for thought, Mirandola, my friend," he said.  "No fire
+for us to-night!  Are you acquainted with don Spaniards and their ways?
+You kept a wide berth: have you too suffered at their hands?  Who is
+the poor wretch the ruffian lashed?  By his looks he would pass for an
+Englishman: I hope he is not of English breed.  Yet I hope he is: what
+do you make of that, Mirandola?  I protest I love your wise and
+friendly countenance; but there is something warming to the heart in
+the sight of one of my own kind, if such he be.  We must be up betimes,
+my friend; maybe the morrow will give us assurance."
+
+Thinking over the incident before he slept, Dennis wondered why the
+party had returned to the ship.  If the purpose of their visit was to
+obtain any quantity of this strange red wood, doubtless they had
+several days' work before them; why had they not camped on shore?
+Perhaps they felt that the slaves were safer on board; perhaps, too,
+they did not care to weaken the ship's company during the hours of
+night.  It was a small vessel; probably there was not a large number of
+Spaniards aboard; but doubtless they were all armed like the three who
+had come ashore, and their slaves, being fettered, would need but a few
+to control them.  Dennis hoped that when they returned next day they
+would not make too thorough a search for similar groves elsewhere in
+the island, for if they should discover his hut, he had little doubt
+they would seek to impress him into the hapless gang.
+
+His sleep was restless.  Many times he woke with a start and sprang up
+trembling, feeling that the Spaniards were on his track.  At daybreak
+he was on his way towards the western shore, and took up his position
+in the same thicket, the leafy screen being almost impenetrable.  The
+monkey was with him now; but when his ears caught first the measured
+thud of oars, then the clank of chains drawing nearer, Mirandola
+chattered angrily, sprang into a tree, and disappeared.
+
+The party came into view: five slaves, three Spaniards.  The former
+were, to all appearance, the same as those Dennis had seen on the
+previous day; but it seemed to him that their armed guards were
+different; probably the men of the ship took it in turns to come
+ashore.  But if the individuals were different, their methods were much
+the same.  Indeed, before Dennis had been watching the work many
+minutes, he had reason to know that the warders of to-day were even
+more ingeniously brutal than those of yesterday.  The first thing he
+noticed was a change in their manner of rendering their slaves
+harmless.  One of them carried a large wooden mallet; the others had
+between them iron staples with sharp-pointed ends.  These staples they
+drove one by one with the mallet into the boles of the five trees
+selected for the day's operations.  Secured to each staple was one end
+of a long chain, the other end of which was fastened to the captive's
+ankle band.  Thus the hapless woodmen were fettered not merely by the
+logs of wood, as on the previous day, but by chains that bound them to
+the very trees they were to cut down.  The staples were driven into the
+trunks below the line of the cleft to be made; but the chains, though
+long, seemed to Dennis scarcely long enough to enable the men to escape
+crushing should the trees happen to fall the wrong way.  That was a
+chance which evidently did not trouble the guards.
+
+Dennis wondered why this additional precaution had been taken to ensure
+the safe custody of the wretched men.  Had they shown signs of mutiny?
+It would not be surprising after the treatment of the previous day.
+Certainly the ingenious device lightened the task of surveillance, for
+the wood-cutters, however exasperated, could not turn upon their guards
+until they had forced out the staples with their axes.
+
+The three Spaniards threw themselves down at some distance from the
+slaves and lolled negligently against the trees.  The wood-cutters
+plied their axes, sturdily, monotonously, never speaking, their faces
+expressing nothing but a sullen despair.  Dennis fixed his eyes on the
+white man, and felt an eager longing to hear him speak.  One word would
+be enough to show whether he was indeed an Englishman.  But the man was
+as silent as the rest, and nothing was heard save the ring of the axes
+and the voices of the Spaniards conversing.
+
+Five trees lay upon the ground; the warders rose to drive the staples
+into others.  It appeared that time hung heavy on their hands.  Some
+demon of mischief suggested to one of them a means of obtaining a
+little diversion.  His proposal was received with shouts of laughter by
+his companions.  Dennis did not understand what was said, but the
+meaning was soon made plain.  The three men drew lots with three twigs
+of unequal length, and placed themselves by the side of three
+slaves--the white man and two Indians--as fate determined.  Again they
+drew lots, and proceeded to fasten their men to three new trees.  The
+other two Indians were set to strip the trunks already felled.  It was
+soon evident that the Spaniards' amusement was to be had at the expense
+of the wood-cutters.  They pooled a number of pieces of eight; the
+Spaniard whose man first felled his tree was to take the stakes.
+
+The three men set to work, the warders standing over them with their
+whips.  The faces of the Indians wore their wonted look of dull apathy;
+but Dennis saw the lips of the white man tighten, and a grim scowl
+darken his brow.  The sport commenced.  Excited by their gamble, the
+Spaniards urged on their men with loud cries.  For some minutes the two
+Indians smote the trees with feverish energy; the white man plied his
+axe with measured strokes, neither slower nor faster than before.  The
+warders became more and more excited, and from cries proceeded to
+blows.  One of the Indians flagged, and to stimulate him the Spaniard
+behind dealt him a savage blow with his whip, and the poor cowed wretch
+laid on with greater vigour.  Hidden in the bush Dennis nervously
+clutched his sword and felt the blood surge into his cheeks.  Fine
+sport, indeed!  The other Spaniards, not to be outdone, began to
+belabour the backs of their men also, and Dennis, seeing great weals
+rise on the bare flesh, could scarcely control the impulse to dash at
+all costs from his hiding-place to the aid of the suffering men.  He
+saw the face of the white man pale beneath the sun-tan and the red
+stains; perchance the Spaniard would have had a qualm if he had seen
+the fury his features expressed.  But he did not see it; with callous
+levity he shouted, and brought his whip down with a sickening crack
+upon the broad red-streaked back.
+
+Then, with a suddenness that took Dennis's breath away, the white man's
+pent-up rage burst its bounds.  At the end of his endurance, he swung
+round with a nimbleness surprising in a man of his bulk, and flung his
+axe with unerring aim at his tormentor.  The man fell among the logs.
+In a second, before the other Spaniards had time to recover from the
+shock of this unheard-of audacity, one of the Indians at work on the
+fallen tree hurled his weapon at the warder nearest him, and struck him
+headlong to the ground.  The third man had sufficient command of his
+wits to take to his heels and scamper away.
+
+The wood-cutters were between him and the shore, and the direction of
+his flight was towards the thicket in which Dennis stood, all tingling
+with the excitement of this amazing change of scene.  He gripped his
+sword; but the Spaniard stopped short within a few yards of the bushes,
+uttered a furious oath, and turning about, kindled his match, preparing
+to shoot at the slaves, who were hacking with frenzied haste at the
+staples that held them to the trees.  The two Indians who were free
+were hobbling towards the woodland on the other side, appalled by their
+own temerity.  Dennis heard the Spaniard chuckle as he raised his
+caliver.  The man knew full well that, even if the woodmen succeeded in
+breaking loose, he would have time to shoot them down one by one,
+hobbled as they were.
+
+Dennis could no longer remain inactive.  An enemy of the Spaniards,
+whatever his colour, was a friend of his.  He could not see the poor
+wretches slaughtered.  For an instant he thought of kindling his own
+match and firing at the Spaniard, who was within easy range.  Then,
+changing his mind, he pushed aside the bushes, sprang into the open,
+and leapt over the ground with the lightness of a panther.  The
+Spaniard heard his movements and swung round; Dennis saw the startled
+look of terror in his eyes.  Taken aback, he had no time to ward off
+the musket stock of this assailant who had sprung as it were out of the
+earth.  His cry of alarm was stifled in his throat, and under the blow
+dealt him with all the force of honest rage he dropped senseless to the
+ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Amos Turnpenny
+
+Dennis felt his limbs tremble as he stepped round the fallen body and
+went forward.  The white man and the biggest of the Indians had already
+released themselves, and stood as though rooted to the ground with
+amazement.
+
+"I am a friend," cried Dennis, while still separated by some yards from
+them.
+
+"My heart, that's a true word!" gasped the white man, and Dennis
+thrilled with joy as he heard the broad accent of a south-countryman.
+"A friend, true; and a blessed word to Haymoss Turnpenny's ears."
+
+They gripped hands, and looked each other squarely in the face.  There
+was a lump in Dennis's throat, and a mist of tears in the elder man's
+eyes.  Then Turnpenny glanced over his shoulder with a sudden access of
+fear.
+
+"We bean't safe," he muttered, and there was a world of terror in his
+gesture and tone.  "They'll find us, and then 'twill be hell-fire.  Can
+'ee hide us?"
+
+"Let us first release that black man."
+
+"Ay, sure, fellow creature, although black.  I'll do it, in a trice."
+
+He walked towards the trees where the last man was still struggling to
+force out the staple.  At this moment Dennis saw one of the others, who
+had released his feet from the hobbling logs, springing past him with
+uplifted axe, the fire of fury in his eyes.  Turning, he noticed that
+the Spaniard he had felled was moving.  He had but just time to dash
+after the man and prevent him from butchering his prostrate enemy.  The
+Indian drew back in surprise, and Dennis stood on guard until the
+Englishman joined him.
+
+"Bean't he killed dead?  Why didn't 'ee kill him, lad?  T'others be
+dead as door nails, and won't trouble you nor me no more."
+
+"We'll let this fellow live; he may be useful to us."
+
+"Why didn't 'ee kill him with your sword or caliver?  He's vermin, as
+they be all."
+
+"Well, his back was towards me," said Dennis.  "Besides, a shot would
+have alarmed his comrades on the ship."
+
+"The ship!" repeated the man, looking round again with fear in his
+eyes.  "The ship!  They'll find us!  We are rats in a trap!  Lord save
+us all!"
+
+"Come, we must think of something.  Can you speak to these men?"
+
+"Ay, in some sort.  Not in their own tongue, 'tis monkey-talk to me.
+Ah! look at 'em, poor knaves."
+
+The Indians had fallen upon the provisions brought by the Spaniards for
+their own consumption, and were devouring them ravenously.  Turnpenny
+called to them in a husky whisper, as though fearful of his own voice
+reaching the ears of an enemy.  Then, taking the dazed Spaniard with
+them, the woodcutters, hobbled by the logs, made off across the island,
+led by Dennis to the watercourse at the further end of which his hut
+stood.  Within half a mile of that spot he halted, and got the
+Englishman to tell the others to remain there until rejoined.  With
+Turnpenny he hastened on.
+
+"God be praised I was able to help you," he said.
+
+"Ay, but I fear me 'tis to your own undoing.  They will come ashore,
+and catch 'ee, and flay 'ee alive."
+
+"Tell me, how many men are left on the bark?"
+
+"Ten, lad, all armed to the teeth.  Sure they will land when we don't
+go aboard at night.  They will hunt us down.  This time to-morrow we'll
+be dead men, or worse than dead."
+
+"Pluck up heart," said Dennis.  "There are six of us; I have arms for
+all; we can post ourselves at a place of our own choice, and make a
+good defence, I warrant you."
+
+"My heart!  But what will be the use?  Say we beat them off, 'twill be
+like as if we tried to stem the waves.  With a fair breeze the mainland
+is but a day's sail, and there the Spaniards swarm like cockroaches in
+a hold.  I tell 'ee, lad, whoever ye be, we be dead men!"
+
+"I've been nearer death," said Dennis quietly.  "Look!  There is my
+hut.  I was cast up on this shore from a wreck: I have been here
+several weeks, months--I know not: it has pleased God to keep me alive
+here, alone on this island, and I believe there is hope for us all."
+
+"Amen! ... My heart!  There's a sheer hulk in the pool yonder."
+
+"Ay, all that's left of the _Maid Marian_.  But I will tell you my
+story anon.  Come away into the hut, and let us talk of what we can do
+to save ourselves from the Spaniards."
+
+As they entered the hut, the Englishman drew back with a startled cry.
+Perched on a cask sat Mirandola.  He chattered angrily at the sight of
+a stranger.
+
+"My one friend on the island, and a faithful comrade," said Dennis.  "A
+gentle soul; he will do you no harm."
+
+"A friend, say you?  'Tis against nature to be friends with a
+spider-monkey.  And I be fair mazed; it do seem all a dream, only in
+the offing yonder there be a real ship, and, say what 'ee will, I be
+afeard."
+
+"We'll first file off these clogging hobbles.  And what say you to a
+mug of beer?  It has come far; I have not broached the cask, and maybe
+'tis still drinkable."
+
+"My heart!  I never thought to taste beer or cider again.  'Twill
+comfort my nattlens, sure, and I was once a good man at a tankard."
+
+The fetters were soon struck off; a mug of beer was drawn, and drained
+at a gulp; but Turnpenny was still ill at ease.  He went to the
+entrance of the hut and looked nervously up and down the gully,
+listening with head cocked aside.  Dennis could not guess at the
+terrible past which had made this stout English mariner as timid as a
+child.
+
+"Let us get back to the black men," he said, knowing from his own
+experience the value of action in banishing sad thoughts.  "Are they
+Indians of America?"
+
+"Maroons, sir, half Injun, half negro; lusty fighters, and faithful
+souls when they do love 'ee."
+
+"We'll knock off their chains and give them arms.  What can they use?"
+
+"Not muskets, nor harquebuses, but anything that will dint a blow."
+
+"Half-pikes and swords, then.  For yourself, take your pick."
+
+"Ay, it do give me heart to handle a cutlass again.  Here's a fine
+blade, now, and a musket--give me a harquebus; I could shoot once, but
+my arm is all of a wamble now.  Lookeedesee!"
+
+He raised the heavy weapon to his shoulder and tried to steady it.
+
+"See!  Shaking like a man with the palsy," he said, his nervousness
+returning.  "I be no more good than a bulrush."
+
+"Pish, man!" said Dennis cheerily.  "You are overwrought; your arm is
+tired with wielding the axe.  An hour's rest will set you up.  Come,
+bring the file and the weapons; we must see that the others are not
+scared in our absence."
+
+The four maroons had remained on the spot where they had been left,
+keeping guard over the Spaniard, who had now quite recovered from his
+blow.  They eyed Dennis with a wide stare, and fell silent when he
+approached, seeming scarcely to comprehend the wonderful good fortune
+that had befallen them.  The removal of their fetters and the gift of
+arms struck them as a crowning mercy; they grovelled upon the ground as
+in the act of worship.
+
+"They take 'ee for a magician, sir," said Turnpenny.  "'Tis marvellous
+to their simple poor minds.  All the world be full of spirits to them;
+a storm at sea be the stirring of witches, and the Spaniards be devils.
+My heart!" he exclaimed suddenly, "the fear has took me again!  When
+they do miss the sound of the axes they will jealous summat wrong, and
+then they'll come and we'll be all dead men."
+
+"Cheer up!" said Dennis.  "'Tis easy to cure that.  Two of the men can
+set-to upon the trees again, and one can steal to the shore and keep an
+eye on the ship, and acquaint us if he sees any stirring there."
+
+"But what of the Spaniard, lad?  'Tis then only one maroon to watch
+him, and 'tis not enough.  If so be the knave be left to himself, he'll
+run to the beach and give the alarm."
+
+"We'll stop that, too.  When he has had a portion of food, we will gag
+and bind him, and all will be well."
+
+When the Spaniard was secured, the whole party returned to the scene of
+the tree-felling, and while one of the men went stealthily forward to
+spy upon the ship, two others plied their axes upon the fallen trunks.
+
+Dennis, more alert of mind than the sailor, foresaw that the trick
+could have only a temporary success.  When the time came for the
+wood-cutting party to return to the vessel, their non-appearance would
+awaken suspicion among the Spaniards on board.  Believing the island to
+be uninhabited, they would not guess what had happened; it would not
+even occur to them as possible that cowed and unarmed slaves would have
+courage enough to turn on their masters, much less overcome them.  But
+if the party did not return at nightfall, the captain would certainly
+send some of his men to discover the cause.  Of all men the Spaniards
+were the most superstitious; when they landed, their very superstitions
+would put them on their guard.  Their approach would be cautious; they
+would probably discover the escaped slaves before these could strike at
+them effectively; and then, when the inevitable fight came, the party
+of six, of whom only two could use firearms, and one had partially lost
+his nerve, would stand a poor chance against men armed cap-a-pie and
+doubtless inured to the practice of warfare.  Besides, even if the
+landing party could be taken by surprise and routed, the sound of the
+combat would alarm the Spaniards still remaining on the ship.  They
+would sail away, and in a few days return in overwhelming strength.
+
+Dennis was at first staggered by the difficulties and perils of the
+situation, and he dared not consult with Turnpenny until the sailor had
+regained his courage.  For the present the important thing was to keep
+him employed, so as to turn his thoughts from anything that would feed
+his fears.
+
+"We must bury these two knaves," said Dennis, glancing at the bodies of
+the Spaniards.  "You and I can do that.  Your name, I bethink me,
+is----"
+
+"Turnpenny, by nature, Haymoss by the water o' baptism, sir."
+
+"Haymoss?"
+
+"Ay, sure, a religious good name, sir; a' comes betwixt Joel and
+Obydiah somewheres after the holy psa'ms.  Born at Chard, sir, in
+Zummerzet, but voyaged to Plimworth when that I was a little tiny boy,
+and served 'prentice aboard the _Seamew_--master, John Penworthy."
+
+Dennis had heard only the first sentence of this string of facts.  He
+was in the very act of stooping to dig a grave with one of the maroons'
+big axes, when there flashed into his mind an idea which set him aglow
+with hope.
+
+"Well, friend Amos," he said, so quietly that none could have suspected
+his inward eagerness, "think you not we may strip the outer garments
+from these knaves before we bury them?  Your back would be the better
+for a covering, and this leathern doublet would well beseem you."
+
+"True, sir, but I never donned a stranger's coat yet.  I be English
+true blue, and though the Spaniard's doublet might span my back,
+'twould irk my feeling mind, sir!"
+
+"To please me, Amos.  I would fain you covered your arms--the red is
+too like blood, and we may see enough of that ere we be many hours
+older."
+
+To Dennis's gratification the sailor did not again blench at the
+suggestion of a fight with the Spaniards.  He laughed.
+
+"My heart!  'Tis easy to see you be a new man in this new world, sir.
+The stains of logwood don't worrit me; 'tis a noble dye, you must own,
+and many's the noble garment that has been dyed for a Spaniard's madam
+out o' the logwood I've cut.  But since it offends your innocent eye,
+I'll e'en don the knave's coat afore I put him out o' sight in earth
+too good for him."
+
+Overjoyed at the man's recovered spirits, Dennis hastened, as they went
+on with their task, to press his advantage.
+
+"You are two enemies the less, Amos--nay, three, counting the knave we
+have in pound among the trees yonder.  What say you to our making a
+shift to put a few more in the same case?"
+
+"What mean you, sir?"
+
+"Tell me, what people hath the ship yonder, besides the ten Spanish
+knaves of whom you spoke?"
+
+"Why, sir, as a true man I answer, a black cook--no maroon, but a swart
+fat knave from the Guinea coast; and three maroons, who fell sick, or
+rather were well-nigh beat to death, in an island over against the
+continent yonder we visited on the same errand."
+
+"And they are gyved, as you were?"
+
+"All but the cook.  He goes free, but, my heart! 'tis little he gains
+by it.  He is every man's football and whipping-boy."
+
+"Why then do the Spaniards remain aboard the ship when there are so few
+slaves to guard?"
+
+"'Tis first because they be idle knaves, who would never do a hand's
+turn save by necessity.  Item, because they be but poor seamen, and
+need a dozen to handle a craft, only forty ton burden, that three
+true-born Englishmen could sail into the devil's jaws.  Item, because
+the spot where she lies at anchor is ill-protected; 'tis rather an open
+roadstead than a bay, and if a squall should come up sudden, as 'tis
+nature in this meridian, they'd need all the lubbers' work to get a
+fair offing."
+
+"So three true-born Englishmen are a match for a dozen base cullies of
+Spain?  Is that your thought, Amos?"
+
+"Ay, at musket, pike, or quarter-staff; there's never a doubt on it."
+
+"Think you two, then, are a match for ten?  The balance turns a little
+in favour of the Spaniards; by right proportion it should be two to
+eight; but mayhap four maroons on t'other scale would even the odds."
+
+Turnpenny desisted from his work, and a shadow of his former fear came
+upon his face.  Dennis did not allow time for the fit to lay hold of
+him.
+
+"There is advantage to him who strikes first," he went on, quietly.
+"If we wait, assuredly we shall have to fight against heavy odds.  But
+if we assume a bold part, and jump the risks, we may gain all the
+vantage of surprise, and enforce it with that English blood you hold so
+high in estimation, to say naught of English thews and sinews.  Why,
+man, that stout arm of yours would fell an ox."
+
+"True, sir," said the simple mariner, bending his arm to raise the
+muscle, and looking at the knotty protuberance with great complacency;
+"I ha' done desperate deeds of strength in my time.  But, heart alive!
+do 'ee think to capture the ship?"
+
+"I think of venturing for it; and, unless I be mightily mistaken, Amos
+Turnpenny is not the man to turn his back on a venture of that kind."
+
+"Not by nature, sir," said the man, uneasiness struggling with simple
+vanity in his mind.  "By nature I be as bold as a lion.  But the lion
+in the story was meshed in with ropes, and could do no harm to a silly
+mouse; and for four year past, sir, the ropes of mischance have held my
+spirit in thrall, wherefore it is that----"
+
+"That you are afraid?  Nonsense!  You are the lion; I am the mouse.
+Let us say that I, by good luck, have gnawed those confining ropes
+asunder, and now, on this island, you are free of mind as of limb, and
+a man of heart and vigour."
+
+Turnpenny flung down his axe and fairly jumped.
+
+"My heart!" he cried, gleefully; "'tis the very marrow of the tale!  I
+be free, free!  For four year I have forgot the word.  Sound of limb,
+straight of eye, with all my five wits, praise God above!  Speak your
+thought, sir; Haymoss Turnpenny is your man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Half-Pikes and Machetes
+
+The Spaniards had by this time been buried.  The two maroons were still
+hacking at the trees.  Nothing had been reported by the man on the
+look-out.  Glancing at the sun, Dennis guessed that it was still two or
+three hours from setting.  But for interruptions there would be ample
+time to develop his plan.
+
+"Come beneath the shade," he said to Turnpenny.  "There is much to be
+said and done.  If perchance a man lands from the ship, we must take
+him prisoner.  If several come, we must fight them at the gully.  If
+they lie secure, and we are undisturbed, we shall capture their vessel
+this night."
+
+"I believe it, sir, partly; I'd believe it more firm if I understood."
+
+"Give me your judgement on my plan.  At sunset we will haul some logs
+down to the shore and push off in the boat, as if we were the Spaniards
+with their slaves.  You and I will rig ourselves in the doublets and
+hose of the two yonder; it will go hard with us if, in the dark, we do
+not mislead the Spaniards into security.  We will mount into the
+vessel, and if luck favour us we shall be masters of the craft before
+the Spaniards have awakened to the danger."
+
+"A noble plan, but fearsome," said Turnpenny, shaking his head.  "We
+shall be two short, sir.  We rig up as Spaniards, you and me; granted;
+but the knaves on deck will see two Spaniards instead of three, and
+they will want to know what has become of Haymoss Turnpenny."
+
+"We will take our prisoner.  Then they will see three Spaniards, and if
+they then miss Amos Turnpenny, let them suppose that the sailor man has
+turned troublesome, and been left on the island, to bring him to a
+reasonable humility."
+
+"Ay, sure, that unties the knot.  But I would not give a groat for my
+chance of seeing Plimworth Sound again if the knaves spy the head of
+Haymoss sticking out o' the Spanish doublet.  The captain, he be a man
+of desperate fight; no miserable dumbledore is he; 'tis a word and a
+blow with him; I've seed him kill a man of his own breed for no more
+than a wry word."
+
+"We must trust to our disguise, and the dark."
+
+"But the maroons, sir; they'll be of no use 'ithout weapons, and if
+they climb aboard with naked steel in their hands, 'tis all over with
+us."
+
+"You and I will mount first."
+
+"That would put the knaves on guard at once.  'Tis always us poor
+slaves that come over side last into the boat and go first out of it,
+so as never to give us no chance of making off.  They need not be
+afeard; whither could poor miserable wretches escape away?  But there
+it is."
+
+"Well, Amos, we must accept the wonted course, though I would fain go
+first, with you at my elbow."
+
+"It is my very own thought, sir.  No white man can trust a black un in
+the deadly breach.  But be jowned if I see any ways o' they maroons
+getting aboard with arms in their hands."
+
+"Nor I.  Mayhap an idea will enter our conceits anon."
+
+"My heart!  There be another thing I had clean forgot.  We have ta'en
+their irons off."
+
+"We must put them on again.  We will not fail for the sake of a clank."
+
+"Ay, but there's the rub, sir.  The maroons will show fight if we
+attempt that same.  Poor souls!  Having no language and no intellecks
+to speak of, they'll not understand the main of our intent.  They will
+suppose 'tis but a change of masters, and I fear me my few words o'
+Spanish will not suffice to set their minds at ease."
+
+"You made them understand you a while ago; you must try again.  But a
+word more.  I judge the sun is grown far on the west; 'twill soon be
+time to put our fortunes to the hazard.  And, lest our dallying here
+waken the suspicions of the Spaniards, let us don these articles of
+apparel e'en now, and fix on the irons, and then go down to the shore,
+the maroons hauling the stripped logs thitherwards.  The ropes are
+handy here."
+
+"What, sir, haul logs in the very sight of the knaves?"
+
+"Ay, do we not wish to deceive them?  If they see two Spaniards
+marshalling the black men, cracking their whips, moreover, will they
+not believe 'tis their comrades, bent on finishing the work this night?
+'Tis growing towards dusk; the vessel lies out too far for them to mark
+our lineaments; 'twill lull them into a fool's security."
+
+"And so it will.  I will presently go speak to the maroons with my
+tongue, and, seeing that the poor mortals lack understanding, with my
+fingers and my eyes and my ten toes if the case do require it."
+
+Dennis watched the sailor somewhat anxiously.  It would be a stroke of
+rank ill-fortune if they refused to have their manacles replaced.
+Everything depended on their docility.  To his joy, after some minutes
+of gesticulation, Turnpenny came back, his broad face beaming with
+conscious self-esteem.
+
+"Be jowned if I haven't done it easy!" he said.  "I spoke 'em plain,
+and to make all clear, I put my two hands together, with one finger
+pointing aloft: that stood for yonder vessel.  Then I pointed to this
+doublet, and to yours, and set my face to a most wondrous frown, by the
+which they understood that you and me pass for Spaniards.  A firk with
+my cutlass did signify our warlike intent, a thrust of my arms forth
+and back pictured the sweep of oars; and, to make an end o't, they
+understand our fixed purpose and are keen set to lend us their aid."
+
+"Admirably contrived!" said Dennis.  "Now, while I bring the Spaniard
+to bear us company, do you replace the irons and fasten ropes about the
+logs.  Darkness will steal upon us unawares and prevent the first part
+of our contriving."
+
+As Dennis returned to the gully to fetch the Spaniard, he saw that
+Mirandola was keeping pace with him through the trees.  Since the event
+of the morning the monkey had held himself aloof, as if scared by the
+presence of so many strange men.  Dennis halted and called to him, but
+the animal blinked and made no movement to descend.
+
+"Ah, Mirandola," said Dennis, as he walked on, "even the wisest of us
+have our failings.  Jealousy, my friend, is a canker.  I love thee none
+the less because I have a new friend.  Will you not believe it?  Is
+there not room for both--Turnpenny and Mirandola?  If we succeed in
+this enterprise, you and Amos must be made at one."
+
+Some little while later, in the growing dusk, the four maroons were
+hauling a heavy log out from the undergrowth that fringed the sea.
+Dennis and Turnpenny urged them with rough cries and persistent
+cracking of their whips.  As soon as they came within view of the
+vessel the ropes were cast off, and they all made their way back.  When
+they returned with a second log, there came a faint hail from the
+vessel.
+
+"Ay, ay, 'od rot you!" shouted Turnpenny indistinctly in response,
+knowing that at the distance his voice could not be recognized.
+"Belike 'tis a call to us to embark, sir," he said to Dennis.  "Mark
+you, they called us; no man dare say they did not call us; and if they
+do not like us when we appear, 'tis not because we are not proper men."
+
+The logs were laid alongside of those brought down the previous day;
+then the men released the boat's moorings, and hauled her off the shoal
+where she lay into water deep enough to float her.  By this time it was
+almost dark, and the number of men who clambered into the boat could
+not easily be counted on board the vessel, nor would it be noticed that
+the maroons hoisted each a large bundle.  At the last moment Dennis had
+decided not to encumber the boat with the captive Spaniard.  He had
+thought of using the man to reply in Spanish to any hail from the
+vessel during the passage from the shore; but this might be attended
+with danger if the Spaniard should have courage enough to risk the
+inevitable penalty should he raise his voice to warn his comrades.
+Accordingly he was left on shore, gagged and bound, in a spot where he
+might easily be discovered by the Spaniards next day if the enterprise
+failed.  There were no wild beasts to molest him, and the place chosen
+was remote from the haunts of the boa constrictor.
+
+The maroons pulled steadily towards the silent vessel, lying low in the
+water some two hundred yards off shore.  Already a lamp had been lit
+aboard.  Every member of the little party in the boat was tense with
+anticipation.  Not a word was spoken.  The silence would cause no
+wonderment among the Spaniards on the vessel; a party of free negroes
+might have filled the air with their babblement; but the maroons
+partook of the reserve of the Indian race, and, living, as they did, in
+a state of deadly feud with the Spaniards, they nourished a deep silent
+longing for vengeance in their hearts.  Besides, these men were cowed
+slaves, and, after the hard day's toil they were supposed to have
+undergone, no one would have expected them to be talkative or merry.
+
+Stroke by stroke the boat drew nearer to the ship.  At length a voice
+hailed it, and a flare was kindled in the waist of the vessel for its
+guidance.
+
+"Why do you return so late?" came the question in Spanish.
+
+Turnpenny answered in passable Spanish, but in a muffled tone--
+
+"Wait till we come aboard."
+
+A few seconds later the boat came beneath the vessel's side and was
+made fast.  The biggest of the maroons--he who had flung his axe at the
+Spaniard--got up and clambered aboard.  On his back he bore a huge load
+of bananas.  Close to his clanking heels swarmed a second man; before
+the first was well over the bulwarks a third was beginning the ascent,
+each carrying a similar bundle.  The fourth man had but just set his
+foot on the rope ladder that hung over the side when there came to the
+ears of Dennis and the sailor, nervously awaiting their turn, the sound
+of altercation above.  One of the Spaniards had bestowed a kick upon
+the foremost of the slaves, and, laughing loud, grabbed at the load of
+fruit upon his back.  The maroon, instead of dropping his burden and
+cowering away, as was the wont of slaves, held firmly to it, and
+stepped back to avoid the Spaniard's clutch.
+
+"You hound!" cried the man, with an oath, and snatched a knife from his
+belt.
+
+Then, to his utter amazement, the maroon let his load fall indeed,
+contriving as he did so to rip out of it a shortened half-pike which
+was cunningly concealed there.  The light of the torch fell on the
+naked steel.  With a loud cry of rage the Spaniards who had been
+lolling on the vessel's side sprang towards the slave, cursing his
+audacity, shouting to their supposed comrades in the boat below to ask
+the meaning of this unheard-of act of mutiny.  But he stood his ground,
+glaring upon them, holding his weapon to ward them off.  And now at his
+side his three fellow-slaves were ranged, their bundles lying at their
+feet, glistening half-pikes in their hands.  Yelling with fury the
+Spaniards, armed at the moment only with their knives, pressed forward
+to teach these mutineers a lesson.  What access of madness had seized
+them?  Where was the abject look of terror with which they usually
+shrank from their masters?  What could the men in charge have been
+about?  The Spaniards rushed to the fray with the violence of wrath and
+outraged bewilderment.
+
+At this first moment the fight was not unequal.  The six Spaniards who
+had been on deck found that with their knives they could not come to
+close quarters with the four stalwart maroons wielding half-pikes.  The
+latter, moreover, had kicked off the fetters loosely set about their
+ankles, and moved with freedom.  And while the Spaniards were shouting
+for their comrades in the cabin and, as they supposed, in the boat
+below to come to their aid, the numbers of the mutineers were suddenly
+augmented.  At the first sound of the scuffle, Dennis and Turnpenny,
+each armed with a cutlass, had sprung on to the ship, the former by the
+ladder behind the last maroon, the latter, with a sailor's agility,
+leaping up to the gunwale and hauling himself over.  When they reached
+the deck they found the Spaniards dancing round the little group of
+slaves, who were keeping them at bay with valorous lunges of their
+weapons.
+
+No sooner had the two Englishmen joined the combatants than they found
+that they had now the whole ship's company to reckon with.  A huge
+Spaniard rushed from the main cabin behind the maroon, a machete in one
+hand, a pistol in the other.  There was a flash, a sharp barking sound;
+one of the slaves staggered and fell.  Other Spaniards came headlong
+out, in their haste not pausing to bring fire-arms.  From the
+forecastle ran one of the sick maroons.  The instant his eyes took in
+the scene, he snatched up a belaying pin from the deck and, weak as he
+was, threw himself into the melee.  Now had come the chance for which
+he had so long hungered, and his black blood seethed as he rushed to
+pay off old scores.
+
+There was hot work then amidships that narrow vessel.  Cutlass and pike
+were matched, not for the first time, against the long Spanish knife.
+Under the disadvantage of surprise the Spaniards, though they
+outnumbered their assailants, were not so effectively armed for the
+fray.  The maroons laid about them doughtily; they knew how terrible a
+weapon was the knife at close quarters, and their whole purpose was to
+hold their masters off and cripple them if they could.
+
+The big Spaniard who had rushed first from the cabin and fired at the
+maroon found himself immediately afterwards engaged with a lithe young
+man who, though clad in a Spanish doublet, was certainly not a
+fellow-countryman of his.  Instinctively, as it seemed, captain singled
+out captain.  Dennis made a vigorous cut at him, but the blade was
+fouled by the shrouds above his head, and the blow, losing half its
+force, was easily warded off by the Spaniard's machete.  He sprang
+back; if his opponent had been a little nimbler Dennis would have been
+at his mercy; but the Spaniard was gross with idleness and good living;
+heavy of movement he failed to seize his advantage, though in the lunge
+his knife cut the lad's doublet, and gashed his sword arm in the
+recovery.
+
+[Illustration: "Captain singled out Captain."]
+
+Dennis was scarcely conscious of his wound.  At this fierce moment his
+practice on the deck of the _Maid Marian_ served him well.  To attempt
+a second cut would have been to give another opening.  He shortened his
+arm and gave point.  The Spaniard was no tyro.  With a turn of the
+wrist he parried the thrust, which was aimed low, but could not prevent
+the blade from entering his shoulder.  He staggered and reeled back
+towards the doorway of the cabin, and the two men immediately behind
+him rushed into the fight.  Turnpenny meanwhile had been engaged in a
+similar duel, and by the sheer force of his bulk had borne his opponent
+to the deck.  Side by side Dennis and he faced their new assailants.
+One of these, a long sinewy fellow, had an amazing dexterity with his
+knife, and a most perplexing nimbleness of movement.  Dennis kept him
+at bay only by the length of his cutlass.  For a few moments there was
+brisk work around the mast.  Making a sweeping cut, Dennis somewhat
+overreached himself, and it would have gone ill with him had not
+Turnpenny, who had run a second man through, perceived his danger in
+the nick of time.  Springing forward, he pierced the fellow to the
+heart.
+
+Three of the Spaniards had now fallen.  The rest, who had barely held
+their own against the maroons, were stricken with fear when they saw
+their comrades' fate.  Two of them sprang overboard; the remaining
+four, finding the three maroons now reinforced by the Englishmen,
+rushed back after their captain into the cabin, and, before they could
+be overtaken, slammed-to the door and shot the bolt.  Dennis snatched
+up a belaying pin and brought it with all his force against the door,
+but made no impression on its stout timbers.  There was a roar and a
+flash close to his ear; he felt his cheek singed; one of the Spaniards
+had fired through a loophole in the cabin wall.  The moment after,
+there was another flash from a loophole on the other side, and one of
+the maroons uttered a cry of pain.  In the open waist of the vessel the
+little party had no protection from musket fire; the loopholes had
+doubtless been pierced against the contingency of such an assault as
+this, and nothing but the darkness could prevent the Spaniards in the
+cabin from bringing down a man at every discharge.  They had the whole
+armoury of the ship to draw upon; there was no means of checking their
+fire; and realizing the situation Dennis called on Turnpenny and the
+rest to seek cover.  Some found shelter just forward of the mainmast;
+two swarmed on to the poop, and, climbing to the edge of its break,
+held themselves ready with their half-pikes to attack any one
+attempting a sortie from the cabin.  Dennis and the sailor, picking up
+the calivers they had laid down when they boarded the vessel, dropped
+down behind a coil of rope towards the forecastle.
+
+"My heart!" exclaimed Turnpenny, as he primed his weapon.  "'Twas brisk
+work, and not the end neither."
+
+"They are run to earth, Amos, 'tis true, got away like foxes.  Our case
+is not too good.  We are baulked, my friend."
+
+"Ay, sir.  With all the victuals and munitions abaft, the knaves have
+the better of us.  We cannot get at them; say we made endeavour to
+scuttle the ship, they could shoot us afore we got away."
+
+"And there are sick maroons in the forecastle, I bethink me you said.
+I would fain save them alive.  We must do something to bring the knaves
+to an engagement.  There are five of them now.  With time to recover
+themselves somewhat, and fortify themselves with food, they can if it
+so please them lie low till morning light, then sally out upon us with
+arms loaded, several pistols apiece, and we, fasting, would be of a
+surety overmatched."
+
+"Ay, and we cannot feed ourselves even on that noble store of bananas,
+for they lie athwart the very course of bullets from the cabin."
+
+"Could we smoke them out?  Could we blow the door in?"
+
+"With a sufficiency of powder, but the magazine is beneath the cabin."
+
+"Is there none elsewhere?"
+
+"Why, now I do mind me, the boatswain hath a vast relish for wild fowl,
+and is never loath to go a-shooting on shore.  'Tis like he hath a
+little secret store."
+
+"Then I will go rummage the forecastle.  Do you bide here, Amos, and
+keep ward over my caliver until I return."
+
+When the party boarded the vessel, there had been a dim light in the
+forecastle.  It was now extinguished.  Dennis went in through the open
+entrance; then, feeling safe from the enemy's bullets, he took a candle
+from his pouch and having lit it, held it above his head.  He shrank
+back, startled for the moment.  The pale flame had fallen full on the
+face of a big negro, crouching in the corner of an upper bunk.  A
+second glance assured him that he had nothing to fear; the black face
+was sickly with terror.  In a flash Dennis remembered the negro cook of
+whom Amos had spoken.  As cook, being allowed a certain freedom of
+movement about the vessel, the man would probably know where the
+boatswain kept his powder, and search might be unnecessary.  Dennis
+called to him; the negro only showed more of the whites of his eyes.
+Dennis beckoned him with his finger; he only cowered and groaned.
+
+"'Tis to be main force then, you white-livered rascal!" cried Dennis,
+and, setting down his candle, caught the man by his waist-band and
+began to haul his oily mass out of the bunk.  "You gibber more
+brutishly than Mirandola; come, or I'll shake your fat bulk to a jelly."
+
+Not without labour he lugged the negro forth, and dragged him aft to
+the place where Amos was crouching.
+
+"Here's a fat knave that's like to dissolve with fright," he said.  "I
+do not understand his monkey-talk; speak to him, Amos.  Ask of him what
+we need to know, and tell him we intend him no harm, and will certainly
+not expect such a craven to fight."
+
+"Ay, sir, 'tis Baltizar the cook, and a very whey-blooded knave.  I'll
+ferret it out of him, trust me."
+
+He took some minutes in his scraps of Spanish to make the man
+understand what was required of him.  When he understood, the negro
+became very voluble.  He said that the boatswain did indeed keep a
+small jar of powder in his sea-chest, but there was a much larger
+quantity concealed among the ship's stores under hatches.  It had been
+placed there by the mate--"the long knave I spitted," Amos
+explained--who was accustomed to do a little private trading with the
+natives of the mainland, and had destined the powder as a bribe for
+certain pearl-fishers of the coast.
+
+"Is it in the fore-peak?" asked Dennis, remembering where he had found
+powder on the _Maid Marian_.
+
+"No, worse luck!" replied Turnpenny, after questioning the man.  "'Tis
+in the lazaretto, and the hatchway being but a few feet from the break
+of the poop, we cannot come at it 'ithout running the hazard of a shot
+from the cabin."
+
+"'Tis darker now; could I not risk the deed?"
+
+"The knaves med not see you, 'tis true; but you could not knock out the
+battens 'ithout raising a din, and they would know your whereabouts,
+and not all on 'em would miss your carcase.  Be jowned if I'd like to
+see 'ee make the venture."
+
+Releasing the negro, Dennis crouched again behind the coil of rope.
+
+"We must find a way to get that powder," he said.  "A mariner like you,
+Amos, ought to be fertile in devices.  Come, set your brains on the
+rack."
+
+"I be afeard they be soft wi' four years' misery, but I'll rouse 'em.
+If I had but the second sight, now, like the old witch as lived within
+a cable-length o' my grandad's hut on the moors!"
+
+But Amos had done his brains an injustice.  He had not pondered many
+minutes before he exclaimed--
+
+"My heart!  We have them on the hip!  We'll e'en shin up the shrouds
+and lower the mainsail.  She's furled on the yards, but we can unreeve
+her 'ithout noise, and when she's down, she'll be a barricade betwixt
+the mainmast and the break o' the poop, and not a knave of them can see
+what is toward in the waist."
+
+Dennis applauded the notion, and the two instantly set about their
+task.  Crawling to the starboard side, they crept along by the rope
+netting that replaced in the waist the wooden bulwarks which bounded
+the decks, and reached the shrouds of the mainmast unperceived by the
+enemy in the cabin.  To swarm up was the work of a few moments to
+Turnpenny, and Dennis was little less expert, having practised himself
+on the _Maid Marian_ in many details of the mariners' duties.  Gaining
+the yards, they cast off the robands, made the buntlines fast, then,
+easing the earings, lowered away by the buntlines and the clew-garnets.
+Scarcely five minutes after they had left the shelter of the rope-coil,
+a wall of canvas shut the waist from the view of the Spaniards.
+
+They had barely finished their task when two musket-shots rang out, and
+two holes were cut in the sail.  Clearly the enemy was on the alert.
+There was no time to be lost.  Turnpenny knocked out the battens as
+quickly as possible, and lifting the hatch, disclosed a small ladder
+leading down into the lazaretto.
+
+"I will go down," said Dennis, "being of less bulk than you, Amos."
+
+He climbed nimbly down, struck a light, and after a little search
+discovered a jar of powder among a miscellaneous collection of ship's
+stores.  Hoisting the jar up, he gave it into the hands of Turnpenny,
+climbed up again, and returned with the sailor to the coil of rope, to
+be out of harm's way while they went on with their preparations.
+
+"If we fire the whole jar we shall of a surety sink the ship," said
+Dennis; "and that I am loath to do.  We must needs make a petard; but
+how?"
+
+"That cook knave shall find us a tin vessel, or I'll firk him," said
+Turnpenny.
+
+He went into the forecastle.  Dennis heard a brisk exchange of bad
+Spanish; then the sailor returned, with a small canister out of which
+he poured a heap of peppercorns.
+
+"Most admirable!" said Dennis, who had meanwhile forced off the top of
+the jar.  Making a hole in the rim of the canister near the lid, he
+filled the vessel with powder and firmly closed it.
+
+"There's our petard, Amos.  Now to place it."
+
+"That be my job, sir."
+
+"No, no, we go shares in this work.  'Twas your idea to lower the sail.
+I carry less flesh than you, and therefore can go more lightly."
+
+"But mayhap I be surer footed on the plank, being a mariner of forty
+year."
+
+"I doubt it not, yet the deed shall be mine."
+
+Carrying the canister, and in the pouch slung at his neck a handful of
+powder for the train, he crept to the side of the vessel, ran lightly
+along the gangway by the rope netting, and lifting a corner of the
+sail, stood between it and the wall of the cabin.  Then he dropped on
+hands and knees, and wormed his way forward until he touched the wall,
+following it along until he reached the door.  Being beneath the line
+of loopholes, he was in no danger so long as he moved quietly; but at
+the slightest sound the enemy would fling open the door and give him
+his quietus before help could reach him from beyond the barricade.  He
+might have felt still more confident had he known that Turnpenny had
+crept along after him, and was waiting at the corner of the sail, ready
+to spring to his aid in case of need.
+
+Feeling with his hand for the middle panel of the door, Dennis laid the
+canister down close against it.  To ensure that the hole he had made in
+it, to connect with the train of powder, should rest upon the planks
+and not turn over, he pressed a slight dent in the rim.  Then he crept
+backwards the way he had come, laying close to the cabin wall a train
+of powder from his pouch, not stinting the quantity, so that there
+might be no gaps in the line.  He drew a breath of relief when he came
+once more to the further side of the canvas and stood erect.  There was
+not a gust of air stirring; the confined space between the sail and the
+cabin was hot and stuffy; and what with holding his breath during the
+minutes his task had occupied, and the strain upon his nerves, he had
+felt almost suffocated.
+
+He said not a word when he found Turnpenny awaiting him, but placed his
+finger on his lips and motioned the man to return.  The charge having
+been laid in safety, it remained to arrange a course of action when the
+door should be blown in.  While the sail was still lowered it would be
+impossible to dash forward into the cabin.  The screen was no longer
+required now that there was no further need for the open hatchway; to
+remove it might indeed put the enemy on their guard, but they could not
+know what to expect, and there would be no time after the explosion to
+hoist the sail, even if it were possible to spare men for the task.  So
+Turnpenny volunteered to replace the hatch and hoist and bend the sail,
+work which he would do more quickly and expertly than Dennis.  It was
+then necessary to communicate with the maroons, for to attack the cabin
+in less than full strength, against superior weapons, would be to court
+disaster.  A loud whisper reached the men who had taken shelter behind
+some tackle forward of the mainmast, and brought them crawling to their
+leaders.  It was not so easy to attract the attention of the two men
+who had shinned up the poop, and to whom, though they had probably seen
+Dennis as he crawled beneath the sail, he had not dared to make a sign.
+The difficulty was removed by a word from Turnpenny to one of the
+maroons.  The man made a strange clicking in his throat, and within a
+couple of minutes his comrades had crept noiselessly along the port
+side of the vessel, and the party was complete.
+
+With great solemnity and many repetitions the sailor exhausted his
+small stock of Spanish in explaining what was required of them.  They
+were all to charge together the instant after the petard had done its
+work.  If the force of the explosion proved sufficient to blow in the
+door, they would dash through into the cabin and engage the enemy hand
+to hand.  If, on the other hand, the door should be only partially
+shattered--as Turnpenny pointed out, there was no calculating on the
+precise effect of a charge of gunpowder--two men were to break it in
+with a short spar unrigged for a battering ram.  Dennis counted on
+gaining a few moments while the Spaniards recovered from the surprise
+and shock of the explosion.  In that brief interval it might be
+possible for him and Turnpenny to find the loopholes in the cabin wall
+and thrust the muzzles of their calivers through.  By the time they had
+fired the door would be burst in, and then it would be a fight to the
+death.
+
+If the occupants of the cabin had felt any wonder or misgiving at the
+manipulation of the sail, there was nothing during the pause to give
+them either explanation or reassurance.  They might have suspected that
+the intention of lowering the sail was to screen an approach to the
+hatchway; but as, according to Baltizar the cook, the jar of powder had
+been appropriated by the mate secretly, and he was now dead, it would
+never have occurred to them that their enemy would seek there anything
+but food.  Otherwise they would assuredly have made some effort, beyond
+the firing of two random shots, to avert their fate.
+
+There was absolute silence when Turnpenny had concluded his whispered
+instructions to the maroons.  The vessel rocked gently, almost
+imperceptibly; the tide was on the turn.  Dennis crept once more to the
+gangway by the rope netting, stole along on bare feet, and stooped with
+a beating heart to apply the match which Turnpenny had made for him.
+It had an inch or two to burn before it reached the train of powder;
+and he stood back against the side, out of danger from the explosion,
+ready to rush across to the nearest loophole when the moment came.
+
+Suddenly a line of flame shot like a lightning flash across the planks.
+In an instant there was a deafening crash, and though each man of the
+attacking party knew what was coming, and was beyond reach of actual
+harm, they were all somewhat dazed by the explosion.  But it was only
+for the fraction of a second.  Then Dennis and Turnpenny sprang
+forward, one on each side of the cabin entrance, towards the loopholes
+whose position they had marked in the previous fight.  For a few
+moments they were baffled by the blinding smoke, but finding the holes
+almost simultaneously, they thrust in the muzzles of their weapons, and
+fired at random into the cabin.  A muffled cry from within announced
+that one or other of the shots had taken effect, but the next instant
+there was a roar as the Spaniards discharged their muskets together at
+the gaps rent in the door by the explosion.  At the time the Englishmen
+knew not whether any man was hit, for, dropping their calivers, they
+seized their cutlasses, and, just as the spar carried by two lusty
+maroons levelled the shattered door, they dashed at the opening.
+
+The light from a horn lantern hanging in its gimbals struggled with the
+smoke that filled the room.  Dennis stumbled over a body that lay
+across the entrance.  He had barely recovered his footing when he was
+amazed to hear a frenzied shriek from the further end of the cabin, and
+two men rushed forward with uplifted hands, shouting again and again a
+single word which, being Spanish, he did not understand.
+
+"My heart! they cry for quarter!" cried Turnpenny, as much amazed as
+Dennis.
+
+One of the maroons who had carried the spar, either not understanding
+or not heeding the wild despairing cry, thrust at the foremost Spaniard
+with a half-pike, and the wretch fell forward, hurling Dennis to the
+floor and doubly blocking the entrance.  Dennis threw the man off and
+scrambled to his feet; but before he could take a step forward there
+was a second explosion, louder and more shattering than the first, and
+when he recovered his dazed senses he found himself lying at the fore
+end of the waist, twenty feet away from the cabin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+Amos Tells his Story
+
+"Body o' me!  Will 'ee squall like babbies?  Make for the boat, you
+howling knaves!"
+
+And then Turnpenny launched into a tirade of Spanish abuse, which came
+somewhat more trippingly from his lips than sentences of sound
+instruction.  Dennis rose, and staggered towards the sailor.
+
+"God be praised!  I feared you were dead, sir.  The knave has blowed up
+the powder magazine, and in five minutes by the clock the ship will
+tottle down by the stern.  These black rascals were howling like souls
+in bale, in the stead of swinging overboard into the boat while there
+is time.  Come away, sir; the craft will sink to the bottom or ever we
+gain the island."
+
+Bruised and sore, dropping blood from his untended wound, Dennis
+hastened with Amos to the side, and was in the act of following the
+maroons into the boat when he suddenly remembered the two sick men in
+the forecastle.
+
+"I'll be with you anon," he cried, hurrying across the waist.
+
+"What a murrain!" muttered Amos, scrambling back and running after him.
+"Shall we drown for a brace of savages!  Wilful!  Wilful!"
+
+He reached the forecastle in time to see Dennis hauling from his bunk
+the fat negro, who lay there huddled and shivering with terror.
+
+"Make the fat fool understand!" cried Dennis, shoving the cook into
+Amos's arms.  Then he hurried to the further end, where the maroons lay
+in a stupor of fright.  Having no words to acquaint them with their
+peril, he sought to move them by signs; but the men gazed at him in
+fear, regarding him doubtless as a new oppressor.
+
+"Amos, leave that lump of jelly and come hither," he shouted.  The
+sailor bawled a word or two in Spanish, and sped the negro towards the
+side with a kick.  Then he made haste to join Dennis.
+
+"The wretches are helpless," said the boy.  "We must carry them--fair
+and softly, Amos."
+
+"Ay, sir, an you will; but our case is parlous; I fear me our leisure
+will not serve."
+
+"No delay, then.  Hoist this fellow upon my back; do you bring the
+other.  We cannot suffer the knaves to drown."
+
+They staggered forth with their burdens, Dennis foremost.  As he
+stumbled towards the side he caught sight of a man crawling slowly from
+the direction of the cabin.  The man called to him feebly, but Dennis
+did not pause until he had reached the gangway by the netting, where he
+laid the maroon down.
+
+"Call to his fellows below there to assist him into the boat," he cried
+to Amos.  "There is a man yet alive; we must save him."
+
+"Beseech you let the knave drown," returned the sailor.  "'Tis a
+pestilent Spaniard--a meal for sharks.  Be jowned if the lad be not a
+mere dunderpate," he grumbled, as he lowered his burden into the hands
+of the men below.
+
+Meanwhile Dennis had hastened to meet the wounded man, who groaned
+miserably as he dragged his limbs along.  Half supporting, half
+carrying him, Dennis brought him to the side just as the second maroon
+had been bestowed safely in the boat.  Turnpenny, still growling under
+his breath, helped to lift the Spaniard down.  Then the boat was cast
+off, and the men rowed for the shore.
+
+"Canst see any sign of the knaves that leapt overboard?" said Dennis,
+looking around.
+
+"Never a hair," replied Turnpenny, "Sure they be swallowed quick by the
+sharks, and there's an end."
+
+Dennis shuddered.  It was his first acquaintance with the tragedy of
+adventure on the Spanish Main, and his unschooled heart turned sick at
+the thought of the terrible fruit his scheme had borne.  He gazed at
+the dark form of the vessel that was gradually fading into the night.
+The poop was already under water.  He had not foreseen this end to his
+enterprise; the rapid sequence of events had bewildered him.  What had
+caused the second explosion?  Had the magazine been fired by accident?
+What a mercy it was that he and all his party had not been blown to
+atoms!  He could not but feel a poignant pity for the poor wretches who
+had thus suddenly met their doom.
+
+The boat grounded on the shoals.  He sprang into the water and assisted
+Turnpenny and the maroons to carry the helpless men to the fringe of
+grass, and to haul the boat up the beach.  Then he turned once more to
+look at the vessel.  No longer was her dark form outlined against the
+starlit sky; she had gone down, leaving no trace.
+
+Joining the men on the stretch of greensward where they were assembled,
+he suddenly heard the shrill voice of Mirandola close at hand, and next
+moment felt the touch of the animal's paw upon his arm.  The monkey had
+followed the party at a distance when they came down to the shore in
+the dusk, and sat forlorn on the grass, watching the boat that carried
+his master away.  Could the poor beast think human thoughts, Dennis
+wondered, as he felt its body trembling against his?  Had it believed
+that it was deserted by the being who had treated it with kindness?
+Certainly it showed clear signs of gladness now, and its joy at
+recovering its one friend had vanquished its dislike and suspicion of
+the rest.
+
+"Here we be, sir, ten martal souls," said Turnpenny, "reckoning
+Baltizar, who in sooth is more like a jellyfish than a man.  What be us
+to do?"
+
+"We cannot tramp across the island in the dark, Amos.  What say you to
+camping in the logwood grove?  'Tis nigh at hand, and we can lie there
+with fair comfort until the dawn."
+
+"With all my heart.  'Twill be a drier bed than those villanous knaves
+yonder can boast."
+
+"Poor wretches!  How came it that the magazine blew up, think you?"
+
+"I know not, sir.  I will ask the knave you brought last from the
+vessel--a deed of merciful madness."
+
+He spoke a few words to the wounded prisoner, while the maroons who had
+formed the wood-cutting party conveyed their sick comrades to the
+grove.  The man replied in feeble accents.
+
+"This was the manner of it, sir," said Amos, after a minute or two.
+"The captain being sore wounded, and two killed outright, the other
+knaves, seeing how that they stood in danger of being sliced by our
+bilbos, did incontinently call upon him to render up the vessel, hoping
+thereby to come off with their lives.  But the captain, a tall man and
+of a good spirit, did resolutely refuse to yield to their entreaties,
+swearing that he would with his own hand blow up the vessel rather than
+deliver it to heretics and dogs of English.  Straightway he passed into
+his own cabin, and made fast the door; which seeing, and knowing that
+what he had said, that would he perform, the knaves began to whoop and
+hallo for quarter.  Then did the captain, as 'tis to be supposed, make
+into the after cabin and fire his pistol into the magazine, and so
+dealt the ship that mighty blow."
+
+"And this man--who is he?"
+
+"A man of Portingale, sir, not of Spain, and so somewhat nearer grace.
+He thanks you and all the saints that he remains alive, though his
+limbs be maimed withal."
+
+"Let us convey him softly to the grove; on the morrow we will look to
+his wounds and bind them up with balsam and other salves from the
+wreck."
+
+"Marry, you use him too gently.  'Tis like warming a snake in your
+bosom; and, since charity begins at home, we will look to our own hurts
+first."
+
+When the party was settled as comfortably as possible in the grove,
+Dennis and the sailor disposed themselves side by side to sleep.  But
+both were wakeful, for all their fatigue.  They lay for a time in
+silence, each fearful of disturbing the other; but Dennis, hearing at
+last a long pent-up groan from his companion, asked what ailed him.
+
+"Thinking, sir--old thoughts of home."
+
+"I have been minded to ask you of your history, Amos, but we have had
+other matters to speak of.  How came you to be a prisoner of the
+Spaniards?"
+
+"'Tis a tale long in the telling, sir, but I will give 'ee the drift of
+it.  I were a young cockerel of twelve when I ran away to sea.  It kept
+a-calling me; night and day I heard the sound; and when I could no
+longer endure it, I went and joined myself ship-boy to a worthy mariner
+o' Plimworth.  Afterwards he made me his prentice, and so a mariner I
+have been from that day to this.  Ay, 'twas a brave life for a man, in
+the days of King Hal, lad.  I mind me I were but rising seventeen when
+the French king took a conceit to invade England.  My heart! he had
+reason enough, for King Hal had before sent a power to capture
+Boolonny, on the French coast, which they did, and burnt it with fire.
+The French king would have his tit for tat, and he gathered a great
+power and a mighty fleet to strike at Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
+
+"I was rising seventeen, as I said, and gunner's mate aboard the _Anne
+Gallant_, a noble galleass.  The fleet made a brave show, lying off
+Spithead, and I was hot to show my mettle; 'twas my first fight, by the
+token, and sure 'twas a famous fight.  The _Anne Gallant_ and others of
+her sort, with the shallops and rowing-pieces, did so handle the French
+galleys that our great ships in a manner had little to do.  The only
+hurt we suffered was the breaking of a few oars.  We anchored for the
+night, as did the French fleet, we hoping to come at them in the
+morning; but when daylight broke, hang me if the French were anywhere
+to be seen, and though we gave chase they got away and ran into their
+ports.  But a little after, the _Anne Gallant_, with three other
+galleasses and four pinnaces, was set upon off Ambletoosy by eight
+great galleys.  There was great shooting betwixt us; we drew alongside
+of the _Blancherd_ galley in the smoke, and leaping aboard her, we took
+her captive, with two hundred and thirty pikemen and musketeers, and a
+hundred and forty rowers.  Master King Francis got the wrong pig by the
+ear when he tackled King Harry.
+
+"Ah me and well-away!  That was over twenty-five year ago.  I served
+many years on merchantmen, under many a master, good and bad.  I made
+one voyage to the Guinea coast with Master Hawkins, and five year ago,
+being about to set sail to the Indies for to trade slaves with the
+Spaniards, he sent for me and made me boatswain aboard his own great
+ship, the _Jesus of Lubeck_, of 700 tons.  Marry, 'twas a goodly
+squadron that sailed out of Plimworth Sound.  Besides the _Jesus_,
+there was the _Minion_ of Captain Hampton, the _William_ and _John_,
+all great ships, and three smaller vessels, of the which Master Francis
+Drake commanded the _Judith_.  Hast ever set eyes on Master Francis?"
+
+"Ay, indeed, once only--this very year, in Plymouth, some months before
+I sailed."
+
+"And I warrant he was stout and brave, and as 'twere a raging fire
+against the Spaniards, making ready to chastise the villanous traitors
+and promise-breakers: was it not so, good-now?"
+
+"Well, to say sooth, when I saw him he seemed to have no thought of
+Spaniards: his whole mind was set on a game at the bowls, and he was
+some little put out when he failed of winning."
+
+"Master Francis put out over such a trifle?  Why, believe me, with
+these very eyes I saw him warp his bark clear when beset by Spanish
+fire-ships and battered by Spanish guns, with as serene a countenance
+as he were sailing a shallop for pleasure on the Plym.  Master Francis
+put out for losing at the bowls!  Tush, lad!"
+
+"Nevertheless 'tis true, for I was there present, and saw and heard it."
+
+"God-a-mercy!" ejaculated Turnpenny.  "And what was the manner of it?"
+
+"Why, Master Drake came to two gentlemen bowling on the Hoe, and one of
+them, being summoned away, left the other to play out the game with the
+Captain.  He was beat, as I said, and being well conceited of his
+skill, he was for a moment vexed.  Then he laughed, and clapped his
+hand on the shoulder of the other--a stripling he was--and said: 'A rub
+for me, my lad; 'twas a rare game, and I thank thee.'"
+
+"Ay, that was true Master Francis: he is ever gall and honey mingled.
+Art then of Plimworth, sir?  As you love me, your name?"
+
+"Dennis Hazelrig, of Shaston."
+
+"Of Shaston?  I was never there.  I will mind of your name.  You be
+gentle, I know by your speech, and Dennis Hazelrig do sound richer to
+the ear than plain Haymoss Turnpenny, but----"
+
+"Come, man, to your story," interrupted Dennis.
+
+"Ay, sir, then I must make a tack.  I was at Plimworth, a' b'lieve,
+when the name of Master Drake set me out o' my true course.  Well, the
+ships I named, great and small, sailed right merrily out o' the Sound
+o' Plimworth; 'twas a day of October, I mind me, the very season o'
+gales.  We had a deal of buffeting afore we made the coast of Guinea,
+and a deal of hard knocks afore we took on board our store o' negroes
+for to sell to the Spaniards of the Main."
+
+"To sell?"
+
+"Why yes, sir; that is Captain Hawkins his trade; and knowing now
+myself what it is to be a slave, I have a fellow feeling for the poor
+knaves, black as they be, and bought and sold like cattle.  Well, 'twas
+near six month afore we came to the Indies and did some traffic among
+the islands.  Then by ill hap, as we sailed for Cartagena, we were
+caught in a most violent and terrible storm, the which battered us
+mightily for the space of four days; in sooth, we feared we should go
+to the bottom.  The _Jesus_ was dealt with most sorely, her rudder
+shaken, and all her seams agape.  Then, coasting along Florida, we ran
+into the jaws of another tempest, the which drave us into the bay of
+Mexico.  There we sought a haven, and moored our ships in the port
+called St. John d'Ulua, where we landed, and our General made proposals
+of traffic.
+
+"The next day did we discover a fleet of thirteen ships open of the
+haven, and soon we spied a pinnace making towards us.  There was in her
+a man bearing a flag of truce, and he came aboard the _Jesus_,
+demanding of what country we were.  I mind we laughed at the knave; he
+swelled himself out like a turkey-cock.  Our General made answer that
+we were the Queen of England her ships, come for victuals for our
+money, and that if the Spanish General would enter, he should give us
+victuals and other necessaries and we would go out on the one side of
+the port, the while the Spaniards should come in on the other.  But it
+had so fell out that with their fleet there came a new viceroy of the
+Spanish king, and he was mightily put out by our General's reply,
+thinking it something saucy from an Englishman with so small a fleet.
+The proud knave returned for answer that he was a viceroy with a
+thousand men, and would ask no man's leave to enter.  Our General
+laughed, and set us laughing too when he said: 'A viceroy he may be,
+but so am I.  I represent my Queen, and am as good a viceroy as he; and
+as for his thousand men, I have good powder and shot, and they will
+take the better place, I warrant him.'"
+
+"A right proper answer," said Dennis.  "And what then?"
+
+"Why, Master Viceroy gave in, and swore by king and crown he would
+faithfully perform what our General demanded, and thereupon hostages
+were given on both sides.  The villanous knave!  Our General chose out
+five proper gentlemen and sent them aboard the Spanish admiral; but the
+viceroy, stuffed with fraud and deceit, rigged up five base swabbers in
+costly apparel and sent them to our General, as if they were the finest
+gentlemen of Spain.  Yet did we use them right royally, deeming it to
+be an act of courtesy and good troth.
+
+"Then their ships came with great bravery into the port, and there was
+great waste of powder in firing salutes, as the manner is at sea.  But
+'twas not long afore our General became doubtful of their dealings.  So
+did we all, for with my own eyes I saw them, when they moored their
+ships nigh ours, cut out new ports in the sides, and plant their
+ordnance towards us.  'So ho!' says I, 'there be trickery and
+hugger-mugger in brew.'  Our master, one Bob Barrett, chanced to be
+well skilled in the Spanish tongue, and him our General sent aboard
+their admiral to know the meaning of these same doings.  The base
+villains set poor Bob under guard in the bilbows, and we had scarce
+seen that mark of their knavery when they sounded a trumpet, and
+therewith three hundred of them sprang aboard the _Minion_ from the
+hulk alongside.  My heart!  Many a time afore had I seen the blazing of
+our General's wrath, but never so fierce as it blazed then.  His eyne
+were like two coals of fire as he called to us in a loud voice.  I mind
+his very words.  'God and St. George!' cried he.  'Upon those
+traitorous villains, my hearts, and rescue the _Minion_; and I trust in
+God the day shall be ours.'  And with that, with a great shout we leapt
+out of the _Jesus_ into the _Minion_, and laid on those deceitful
+knaves, and beat them out; and a shot out of the _Jesus_ fell plump
+into the poop of the Spanish vice-admiral, and the most part of three
+hundred of the villanous knaves were blown overboard with powder.
+
+"It was a good sight to see Captain Hampton of the _Minion_ cut his
+cables and haul clear by his stern-fasts, the while his gunners poured
+round shot into the vice-admiral that rode ablaze.  But there was but
+four of us to their thirteen.  The Spaniards came about us on every
+side, and began to fire on us with brass ordnance from the land.  My
+heart!  'Twas hot work for us when we scrambled back on to the _Jesus_
+as the _Minion_ sheered away.  Being so tall a ship we could not haul
+her clear.  She had five shot through her mainmast; her foremast was
+struck in sunder with a chain-shot, and her hull moreover was
+wonderfully pierced.  Our General gave orders that we should lay her
+alongside of the _Minion_ till dark, and then take out her victuals and
+treasure and leave that noble vessel.  A right true man is Captain
+Hawkins.  In the midst of that noise and smoke he called to Samuel his
+page for a cup of beer, and it was brought to him in a silver cup; and
+he drank to us all and called to the gunners to stand by their ordnance
+lustily like men.  He had no sooner set the cup out of his hand but a
+demi-culverin shot struck away the cup, and a cooper's plane that stood
+by the mainmast, and ran out on the other side of the ship; the which
+nothing dismayed our General, for he ceased not to encourage and cheer
+us.  I hear his voice in my ears now.  'Fear nothing!' he cries, 'for
+God, who hath preserved me from this shot, will also deliver us from
+these traitors and villains.'
+
+"But on a sudden we perceived that the Spaniards had loosed two
+fireships against us.  The men of the _Minion_ were in such a taking
+with fear of those monsters that they bided not the outcome, nor did
+they heed their captain's commands, but in a mighty haste made sail.
+The _Jesus_ being then alone,--for the _Angel_ was sunk and the
+_Swallow_ taken, and Master Drake had warped the little _Judith_
+clear--our General cried to us to spring upon the _Minion_ ere her
+sails could draw, which he himself did.  As I made to do his bidding,
+my heart! there came toppling on my head a portion of the main topsail
+cross-tree, and struck me senseless withal.  When something of my wits
+returned to me, there was I, amid a score of wounded and captive
+fellows, on the deck of the noble _Jesus_, and a mob of Spaniards
+around; sure she must have been built under an evil star."
+
+"And what befell you then?" asked Dennis, eagerly, for Turnpenny had
+fallen silent.
+
+"God-a-mercy, sir, the fear takes me when I think on't!  They hauled me
+ashore, with certain others of our men, and hanged us up by the arms
+upon high posts, until the blood gushed out at our finger-ends.  'Tis
+by the merciful providence of God alone I am yet alive, carrying about
+with me (and shall to my grave) the marks and tokens of their barbarous
+cruel dealings.  'Tis by the same wondrous grace I 'scaped handling by
+the Inquisition, that hath devoured many of my poor comrades.  My heart
+and my reins cry and groan for the terror and pain of their sufferings.
+God have mercy on us all!"
+
+Overcome by the recollection of what ensued upon his capture by the
+Spaniards, Turnpenny went by turns hot and cold and was unable to
+continue his story.  Many times during the night Dennis was woke from
+his own troubled slumbers by a cry from his companion, upon whom, now
+that the time of action had ceased, his former sickly terror seemed to
+have returned with double force.  Both were heartily glad when morning
+came, and with the new day the necessity of facing their new situation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The Maroons Build a Canoe
+
+The events of twenty-four hours had wrought a surprising change in
+Dennis's circumstances.  The solitude of the island had suddenly become
+peopled.  No longer would Mirandola be his sole comrade and confidant.
+He was inexpressibly glad of the company of a fellow-countryman; the
+presence of a group of men of strange races was somewhat embarrassing.
+Besides Turnpenny, there were now on the island the Spaniard who had
+been left pinioned on the shore, and the wounded Portuguese rescued
+from the sinking ship, three survivors of the wood-cutting party, three
+sick comrades, and the fat negro cook; in all a community of eleven.
+Small as it was, after his loneliness Dennis felt it to be a crowd.
+
+His first care on waking in the morning was to liberate the bound
+Spaniard, and to bring salves from his store for dressing the wounds of
+the Portuguese, and of his party; his own wounds proved to be slight.
+While absent on this errand he left Turnpenny in charge of the rest,
+and found when he returned that the sailor had already spread a
+delectable breakfast, having set the maroons to gather from the trees
+not merely bananas, but several other fruits which Dennis himself, in
+his dread of eating something poisonous, had not yet ventured to taste.
+When the wounded man and the sick maroons, who were still bewildered by
+their good fortune, had been attended to, he held a consultation with
+Turnpenny.  As a result of this he decided to keep the whereabouts of
+his hut and the existence of the stores a secret from the white men.
+
+"They be all villains and traitors," said Turnpenny; "we must e'en keep
+them prisoners, and give them into the ward of the maroons.  Wherefore
+I say, let the maroons build them a hut a mile or more away from your
+dwelling.  They are idle knaves, and having been so long time slaves,
+they will be well content to do nothing but keep watch and ward over
+those that once were their masters.  And as for their food, there is
+enough on the island for a whole city."
+
+"And what of us, my friend?"
+
+"Why, sir, here we be, two Englishmen, a thousand leagues or more away
+from home, but a few leagues from the mainland, where Spaniards rule
+the roast, and like to be discovered any day if another logwood party
+come ashore.  'Tis not in reason we could do with them what, by the
+mercy of God and your own ready wit, sir, we did with the knaves
+yesternight; and if we be found, there's naught afore us but death or
+chains; and for myself, I'd liever die than endure such things as I
+have suffered since the fight at St. John d'Ulua."
+
+"Why then, good Amos," said Dennis with a smile, "it does seem we must
+cast lots who shall be king of this island, and the other shall be
+chancellor, and we will put in practice in our governance the ideas of
+the incomparable Sir Thomas More, who, though a Papist, did set forth
+in his _Utopia_ most worthy and admirable schemes of ruling a society
+of men."
+
+"I know naught of Sir Thomas More or what you call Utopia; and as for
+king and chancellor, I am but poor Haymoss Turnpenny, that cannot read
+nor write and have never had the ruling of more than a crew of
+mariners.  Call yourself king an 'ee please, sir; but methinks 'twould
+be more fit and commendable if we seized upon this island in the name
+of our sovereign lady Queen Bess."
+
+"A right loyal notion, and one that we will put in act.  But then we
+must give it a name."
+
+"Ay, sure, and what better name than Maiden Isle, after that same
+gracious lady?"
+
+"So it shall be, and I here proclaim Elizabeth, by the grace of God
+queen of England, France, and Ireland, queen of Maiden Isle on the
+Spanish Main.  But this is idle mockery, Amos.  We are not builders of
+empires, but poor castaways, doomed to linger out our lives in what is
+after all a desert, or else in painful servitude.  There is nothing for
+laughter here."
+
+And then they fell to talking of their chances of one day escaping from
+the island and seeing the fair shores of England again.  It could only
+be by being taken off by an English ship, or by setting off themselves
+and risking the perilous voyage across the Atlantic.  The latter
+alternative seemed beyond the bounds of possibility.  The _Maid
+Marian_, even if they could make her hull seaworthy and repair her
+shattered spars and rigging, would need a crew to navigate her, and the
+maroons were not sailor men.  To build a smaller craft capable of the
+long voyage was an enterprise beyond their powers.  Turnpenny could
+make a shift to navigate a vessel, but he had no practical skill in
+ship-building.
+
+The other alternative seemed equally unlikely, Dennis learnt from the
+sailor that the island on which they had so strangely met was situated
+deep in the Sound of Darien.  It was less than a hundred and fifty
+miles from Cartagena, the capital of the Spanish Main, to the east, and
+about the same distance from Nombre de Dios to the west; but the trend
+of the coast caused vessels to stand out some distance to sea in
+passing, and thus the island was little likely to be touched at by
+chance visitors.
+
+One other course occurred to Dennis, only to be dismissed when he
+mentioned it to Turnpenny.  It was to build a boat capable of conveying
+them to the mainland, and to take refuge among the Indians or the mixed
+race of Cimaroons or maroons who had settlements at various parts of
+the coast.  But Turnpenny pointed out that this would expose them to
+the risk of being caught by the Spaniards, who were constantly at war
+with the natives, and would at the same time quite ruin the chances of
+getting into touch with an English vessel.  While they remained on the
+island there was always the bare possibility of some English or
+Huguenot adventurer coming within reach.
+
+Faced by the prospect of an indefinite sojourn on the island, they had
+only to make the best of it.  Turnpenny explained to the maroons the
+plan arranged for them, and they accepted it without demur.  The
+prisoners were sullen and resentful, perforce submissive, not a little
+distrustful of their guards, from whom they had deserved no kindness.
+Baltizar the fat negro was given the task of supplying the party with
+food, partly from the natural resources of the island, partly from the
+stores of the _Maid Marian_, which Dennis resolved to share,
+economically, with the rest.
+
+A spot about a mile from the chine was chosen as the site of the
+shelters for the maroons and their prisoners.  Having set the men at
+work, Dennis returned with Turnpenny to his own hut.  Mirandola no
+longer showed any jealousy of the presence of a third party; apparently
+he had been cured of it by fright at the prospect of being deserted.
+Turnpenny, on his part, before the day was out was so much amused at
+the animal's antics that he lost his first disgust.
+
+"My heart!" he exclaimed, when, work for the day being over, the monkey
+sat on a tub, happily feasting on biscuits and honey: "if 'tis wise
+looks do make a chancellor, sure the beast be the properest chancellor
+to your king, sir."
+
+"You look pretty wise yourself, Amos," said Dennis, laughing.  "We had
+resolved that the sovereignty of this island belongs to our lady Queen
+Bess; say then that I am her viceroy, and you my chamberlain; and for
+Mirandola, why, let us make him our jester."
+
+Day followed day uneventfully.  Dennis made a still more thorough
+exploration of the island in Turnpenny's company, and had his eyes
+opened to many things which had formerly escaped him.  Passing the spot
+where he had saved Mirandola from the boa constrictor, he mentioned the
+incident, and remarked that he had seen no other reptiles in the course
+of his wanderings.
+
+"'Tis because you knew not where to look," said Turnpenny.  "The snakes
+in this new world be cunning; 'wise as serpents,' says the Scripture,
+and a true word.  They dress their skins so as to look like the trees
+they live in; 'twould puzzle Solomon himself in all his wisdom and
+glory to say which is tree and which is the coil of a snake."
+
+And as they passed through the thickest woods, which Dennis had
+prudently refrained from entering, the sailor drew his attention more
+than once to snakes of various kinds whose coils were almost
+indistinguishable from the trunks of trees.
+
+Once he plucked some fruit from a kind of palm, and, pressing it,
+squeezed out a juice as black as ink.
+
+"That is a good sight," cried Dennis gladly.  "I found in the cabin of
+the _Maid Marian_ a store of paper and quills, but the ink was all
+spilled, and I had nothing wherewithal to write.  So I have lost count
+of the days, and know not whether I have been on this isle weeks or
+months.  Now I can make a journal."
+
+"Not so neither!  This juice is good to write withal, but the marks
+disappear within the ninth day, and the paper is as white as if it had
+never been written on.  'Tis no matter, indeed; we should be none the
+happier for seeing the tale of our days."
+
+One day Dennis showed Turnpenny the cave in the cliff, which hitherto
+he had refrained from revealing.  The sailor attentively examined the
+trinkets which Dennis had found on the floor beside the skeleton and
+carefully collected.  He pronounced them to be such ornaments as were
+worn by the natives of the mainland, and made no doubt that the
+skeleton was that of some Indian or maroon done to death by brutal
+persecutors.
+
+Dennis got him to continue the story of his life, never yet resumed
+since his first night on the island.  He had been sent, he said, among
+a gang of prisoners from St. John d'Ulua to Cartagena and thence to a
+place on the coast somewhat south of Cartagena, where the governor had
+a pearl fishery.  It was defended by a fort, garrisoned by some fifty
+Spaniards.  Expecting reprisals from Hawkins for the treacherous
+treatment he had received, the governor had ordered the fort to be
+strengthened, and dispatched several of his able-bodied prisoners to
+assist in the work.
+
+"And I think of my dear comrades rotting in the dungeons of Porto
+Aguila--for so 'tis named.  There was Ned Whiddon, and Hugh Curder, and
+Tom Copstone, and a dozen more, and for all I know they are there even
+now, toiling all day, with many stripes from the villanous whips, and
+groaning all night in most foul and noisome dungeons.  Ah! the tales I
+could tell would make your skin creep and your hair to stand on end.
+Why, what think 'ee they do if the tale of work seem to them not
+sufficient?  They tie the poor wretch to a tree, and take thorns of the
+prickle palm, and put them into little pellets of cotton dipped in oil,
+and stick them in the side of the miserable captive, as thick as the
+bristles of a hedgehog.  This alone causes a most fierce torment, but
+they are not content therewith.  They set the oiled cotton afire, and
+call on the poor wretch, with loud despitous laughs, to sing in the
+midst of his torment, and if he cries out in the agony of pain they out
+upon him for a base miserable coward and villain.  With my own eyes I
+have seen the foul deed, and many more which it is shame to tell of."
+
+"How came it that you got aloose?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Why, it happened in this wise.  The treasure of pearls fished up from
+the sea-bottom at that place was wont to be conveyed to Cartagena every
+month by ship.  One day the vessel sent with this intent came into the
+port wonderfully battered by a storm, the which had nigh stripped her
+of all rigging and had moreover washed half her crew overboard.  The
+garrison at the fort being soldiers, and there being no other mariners
+at hand, the Spanish captain moreover being fearful of the governor's
+wrath if the treasure should be delayed, he sent half a dozen or more
+of his slaves, French and English, aboard that vessel to work her back
+to the capital city.  My heart!  I well nigh wept for joy when I heard
+what was in store, for I bethought myself that of a surety we mariners,
+French and English, might seize upon that vessel on the voyage and sail
+her at our pleasure.  But it was as if the knave had seen to the very
+heart of my intent, for when we mounted on ship-board, there were
+Spanish soldiers set over us, two for one, and with the Spanish crew
+they were as three to one, and they armed.  My device was come to
+naught.  We did each man his best to lengthen out that voyage, if
+perchance we might fall in with an English vessel and acquaint them
+with our case; but never a sail did we see till we made the harbour of
+Cartagena, and all our hopes were dashed.
+
+"Then it came to pass that, being a handy man and a stout, I was sold
+for money to the master and owner of a ship employed in the traffic of
+timber--that same vessel that lies a fathom deep yonder.  At sea I was
+a mariner; ashore, being stout of the arms, I was made to ply an axe on
+the trees, as you yourself saw.  'Tis three year or more since I fell
+prisoner at St. John d'Ulua, and six months since I last set eyes on my
+comrades at Porto Aguila, and I fear me I shall never see them more."
+
+"Why think you they be even now there?"
+
+"Why, sir, because the Spaniards be all knaves, and there is no truth
+nor faithfulness in them, not one.  The Captain of that place was the
+Governor of Cartagena his own son.  A son, one med think, would be
+loving and obedient unto his father, but 'tis not so among these dogs
+of Spain.  Why, body o' me! in the stead of doing diligently the thing
+his father commanded, this young roisterer must needs build him a
+house, and thereto he used the labourers sent him with intent to
+strengthen the fort, and when I came from that place the house was got
+but a little above the ground, and was not like to be finished for a
+full year."
+
+"Might not other labourers be hired from Cartagena?"
+
+"I trow not.  The Spaniards are so scared and daunted by the descents
+of venturers' ships upon their coasts that they are looking to their
+fortresses throughout the Spanish Main.  By long and large 'tis more
+like the prisoners will be conveyed back to Cartagena for to build new
+forts there.  But this will not be yet, for the Governor of Cartagena
+holds the pearl-fishery in dear affection, and he will not bring the
+men thence until he has assurance that all is done as he commanded.
+No, truly, I believe they be still at Porto Aguila, my dear
+mate-fellows, and though I praise God for His infinite goodness and
+mercy in bringing me safe into this haven and out of the hands of those
+wicked men, I mourn in my heart for Hugh Curder, and Tom Copstone, and
+Ned Whiddon, and other my comrades; God save them!"
+
+Many a time in the succeeding days did Amos relate incidents in the
+life of the prisoners at Porto Aguila that made Dennis's blood run
+cold.  He now began to understand the deep and fierce hatred of the
+Spaniards that filled the hearts of adventurers who had returned from
+expeditions to the American coast.  The same consuming desire for
+humbling and punishing the proud Spaniards burnt in his veins, and he
+chafed at the idleness to which he was enforced on this remote island.
+
+Meanwhile the other inhabitants of Maiden Isle were living what
+appeared to be a contented life.  With abundance of food, and nothing
+to do, the maroons enjoyed, as Dennis thought, conditions that answered
+to their idea of bliss.  He was therefore a little surprised one day to
+hear the unwonted sound of wood-felling, and to find, when he came to
+the spot, four of the men plying their axes lustily upon a huge cedar.
+They desisted when he approached, with something of a guilty air that
+puzzled him.  They had shown themselves very amiable companions,
+grateful for their rescue from their taskmasters.  He could only
+suppose that even they had begun to weary of idleness, and had resorted
+to their former occupation of log-cutting from no other motive than the
+desire to kill time.
+
+But Turnpenny shook his head when Dennis suggested this explanation.
+
+"It do seem to me there be another meaning in it, sir.  'Tis their
+intent, a' b'lieve, to make unto themselves a canow."
+
+"But they have no skill to do it, nor fit implements, Amos."
+
+"Bless your eyes, sir, you do not know them.  Wait a while, and if that
+be not their purpose, never trust Haymoss Turnpenny."
+
+Letting a few days pass, Dennis went again one morning with the sailor
+to the scene of the tree-felling.  The huge trunk had already begun to
+take shape as a canoe at least twenty-five feet long.  The men were
+diligently working at it, some with axes, others with fire.  Its
+interior had been partly hollowed out, the wood and pith burnt away,
+and the charred sides scraped with the hatchets.  It was clear that
+within a few days the tree would become a vessel which, whether
+navigable or not, would certainly float.
+
+"'Tis a pretty piece of work," said Dennis to Turnpenny.  "Ask them
+whereto they design it."
+
+Turnpenny spoke a few words in Spanish.  The answer was surprising.
+One of the maroons, a man whom the others seemed to have elected as
+their leader, threw down his hatchet and fell on his knees.  Then, in a
+strange jargon which the sailor had much ado to understand, he gave
+voice to the sentiments and aspirations of himself and his comrades.
+They were sick of solitude.  They had homes upon the mainland; and
+yearned to see again their relatives and comrades, to return to their
+settlement, to share in its life, to seek opportunities of revenging
+themselves on their oppressors.  And so they were making this canoe, in
+which they would sail over the sea.  They were not ungrateful for the
+kindnesses showered upon them by the white men; indeed, to show their
+gratitude, they would take them with them, having first killed the two
+prisoners.  Their spokesman on his knees besought the white men to
+yield to their desire, and come with them.  They would supply all their
+needs, and follow them with all obedience, if they would lead them
+against the Spaniards.
+
+"Tell him to get up," said Dennis.  "This is a matter we must think
+upon."
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny held by and by a serious consultation.  They felt
+that they were in a somewhat awkward predicament.  The maroons' desire
+to regain their friends was natural and reasonable, but their departure
+would deprive the white men of valuable allies.  And what of the two
+prisoners?  Turnpenny would not have hesitated to kill them, but Dennis
+shrank from that course.  They might allow the maroons to carry them
+off; but then the Spaniards would either be butchered as soon as the
+canoe was out of reach, or they would probably be held as hostages and
+exchanged for natives held captive by the Spaniards on the mainland.
+In that case they would certainly report the presence of two white men
+on the island and the assault upon the lumber boat; a search party
+would be the result, and Dennis and his companion would be slaughtered
+or carried away into slavery.  On the other hand, if the maroons were
+allowed to depart, leaving the prisoners on the island, the burden of
+keeping watch over them would prove a constant source of anxiety.
+
+"The canoe is all but finished," said Dennis.  "We must let them finish
+it.  To forbid them, poor knaves, would be cruel."
+
+"And vain, to boot," said Turnpenny, "for if we took their axes from
+them, they would use bits of sharp rock.  The Indians have hollowed out
+such canows with instruments of flint from the beginning of the world."
+
+"We must let them go, then.  For ourselves, I see not at present our
+course; but we can provide against the worst hap by conveying our
+stores, secretly and by night, to Skeleton Cave; 'tis a good
+hiding-place, not like to be easily discovered, and we know not what
+necessity may drive us to make it our habitation."
+
+The transfer of the stores occupied two nights.  Mirandola accompanied
+the two men as they went to and fro between the sheds and the cave,
+clinging so closely to them that it seemed as if he had some intuition
+of changes to come.
+
+"By my soul," said Turnpenny with a laugh, "he be as faithful as a dog."
+
+"And whatever may chance, we will not leave you, Mirandola," said
+Dennis.  "Shall I forget the days when you were the only friend of my
+solitude?  Would you could speak, for assuredly I would ask your
+counsel on this pass to which we are come."
+
+They went daily to the clearing to watch the progress of the canoe.  As
+yet they had given no answer to the maroons; but these were working
+very diligently at the task, having apparently inferred from the
+silence of the white men that at least nothing would be done to prevent
+their making use of the vessel.  Dennis and Turnpenny talked over the
+situation again and again; but their thoughts followed the same weary
+round.  At one moment they were almost resolved to throw in their lot
+with the maroons and voyage with them to the mainland; the next they
+shrank from this course as throwing away what seemed their only chance
+of ultimate rescue--the chance of being found some day by an English
+vessel.
+
+The problem weighed more heavily on Dennis than on Turnpenny.  Compared
+with his former sufferings, it was to the sailor a slight matter.
+Dennis, lying sleepless at night, envied his friend the soundness of
+his slumbers.  The mariner snored as peacefully on his canvas couch in
+the corner of the hut as though he were on a feather bed at home.  To
+Dennis the hours of darkness passed wearisomely.  He thought of all
+that had happened since he sailed with light heart from Plymouth Sound,
+and wondered sometimes whether his comrades had not perchance been
+happier in meeting swift death in the storm.  Then he upbraided himself
+for his ingratitude to the Providence which had preserved his life and
+health, and given him the companionship of a fellow countryman.  He
+contrasted, too, his lot with that of Turnpenny's mates on the
+mainland, dragging out a miserable existence of slavish toil.  He
+recalled the sailor's stories of the tortures they endured--and then
+suddenly, one night, there flashed upon his mind a possibility which,
+in his preoccupation with his own plight, had never yet occurred to
+him.  The maroons would shortly leave the island; had Providence
+arranged this as an opportunity for helping the hapless Englishmen in
+the Spaniards' power?  If Turnpenny and he should accompany the black
+men, might they not find, at some time or other, a means of rescuing
+the prisoners--Ned Whiddon, Hugh Curder, Tom Copstone, and the rest?
+
+The idea set Dennis throbbing with a new hope, a new aim.  Slaves
+sometimes escaped; the maroons themselves were the offspring of negroes
+who had made off from the Spanish settlements and formed alliances with
+the native Indians of the woods.  Their communities were constantly
+being recruited: what if the sailor and he should cast in their lot
+temporarily with the men about to embark, and watch for opportunities
+of communicating with the distressed Englishmen!  Even if they never
+found a means of reaching home, it would still be something to the good
+if their comrades were got out of the hands of their oppressors.  At
+the worst they might form a settlement of their own, and live free,
+though in exile.
+
+The idea took complete possession of Dennis.  He felt no desire to
+sleep.  For a moment he was tempted to wake Turnpenny and put the
+question to him; instead, he got up, and stole quietly from the hut, to
+think it over more fully under the open sky.  He walked down to the
+shore, and, sitting on a rock, looked over the sea and pondered the
+matter to the soft accompaniment of the washing tide.
+
+It was clear that the Spaniards of the mainland had no suspicion that
+the island was inhabited, or they would long since have visited it.
+They might be off their guard.  From what Turnpenny had told him he
+knew the indolence of their temperament--the unlikelihood of their
+taking precautions against problematical dangers.  Unless directly
+threatened by the vessels of adventurers like Hawkins and Drake, they
+might be expected to ply their trade--manage their pearl fisheries,
+work their mines--without great vigilance.  True, they had recently set
+about strengthening their defences; but probably the season of panic
+had passed; it was years since Hawkins had troubled them.  It had
+already been proved what a determined few could do; if he, with
+Turnpenny and the six maroons, could safely reach the mainland, might
+they not bide their time until, Fortune assisting them, they found some
+means of bringing off the prisoners, or at least of striking a blow in
+their cause?  Surely it was better to make the attempt than to rust in
+idleness on the island, waiting on a chance that might perhaps never
+come, and always exposed to the risk of discovery by the Spaniards.
+The more Dennis thought, the more his imagination was captivated by the
+idea, and when he at last returned to the hut he was resolved to broach
+the subject to Turnpenny as soon as he should wake.
+
+As he came to the entrance the sailor's voice hailed him.
+
+"Be that you, sir?"
+
+"Yes.  I could not sleep, and went for a walk on the shore."
+
+"I had but just waked, all of a sweat, and shaking like a leaf."
+
+"Why, what ailed you?"
+
+"A dream, sir.  Do 'ee believe as dreams come true?  My old grandam was
+wont to say they go by contraries; dream of a weddin', she would say,
+sure there would be a funeral.  And she was a wise woman; ay, sure."
+
+"I know not, Amos.  We read in Scripture of dreams that most wondrously
+came true.  'Twas in a dream that Solomon asked of God an understanding
+heart, the which was promised to him with riches, and honour, and
+length of days; and Solomon lived long in the land, and became the
+richest and wisest of kings.  Scripture was written for our
+instruction, Amos, and I would liever believe in Holy Writ than in the
+old wives' tales of a score of grandams.  But what then was your dream?"
+
+"Why, sir, if it be not sin to speak it, I was standing alone in a
+waste place, and on a sudden the voice of Tom Copstone spoke out of the
+air, and said, 'You and me, Haymoss; you and me, my heart!'  And while
+I was wondering in my simple mind what those words might mean, there
+was a thick smoke, and a roar as of thunder, and I stood dazed, and the
+fear came upon me.  And then the smoke lifted, and I saw old Tom with
+'s head all bloody, and Hugh Curder behind him, and behind him again I
+saw you, sir, and Ned Whiddon, and, God a-mercy! my very own self, as I
+ha' seen myself time and again in the glass, but sore battered and
+misused.  And I thought sure 'twas my ghost, and the fear of it woke me
+up, and I rose all panting and trembling, and cried to 'ee, and when
+there was no answer I broke into a sweat, remembering my grandam's
+words."
+
+"Well, 'tis all safe.  I also have had a dream, Amos, and yet I did not
+sleep.  And 'tis to tell you my dream I am here now.  Mayhap it will
+fit yours; God in His mercy send that both yours and mine come true!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The Main
+
+The dawn of day found Dennis and Turnpenny discussing the scheme which
+was born of the night's meditation.  Remembering his bitter experience
+of bondage among the Spaniards, and oppressed by his superstitious fear
+that his dream portended some calamity, the sailor at first refused
+point-blank to consider Dennis's suggestion.  But by and by, when
+Dennis had shown him how light had been his sufferings, after all, by
+comparison with those of his comrades, and had declared his belief that
+the strange coincidence of the dream with his own imaginings was an
+augury of good, Turnpenny's better feelings got the upper hand of his
+timorousness, and he threw himself with ardour into a consideration of
+the project.
+
+As soon as it was light, he asked Dennis to lead him to the very spot
+where the idea had occurred to him.  And there, in the little bay
+beneath the chine, he became the bold-hearted English sailor again.
+
+"My heart! we're a-going to do it," he said.  "See here, sir."  He
+began with the end of a half-pike to mark out a rough plan on the dry
+sand.  "Here be the fort.  Here be the don Captain's new house; the
+foundations were no more than laid when I was hauled away on ship
+board.  Here, at this angle, be the rooms of the guard; in the cellars
+beneath my poor comrades lie and groan o' nights.  In this quarter be
+the pearl-fishers, penned up like cattle when their work is done.  And
+here, under the guns of the fort, be the little harbour, with a quay of
+planking.  Nor'ard, a mile or more, is the fishery, where the black
+knaves have to dive for the baubles, and woe betide 'em if they do not
+bring up enough to please their masters."
+
+"And think you you could pilot us to the place, Amos?"
+
+"I've never a doubt of it.  Twice have I sailed to it in direct course
+from Cartagena, and many's the time I have passed it in the lumber
+ship.  'Tis true I am not so skilled in the landmarks from this side as
+from the side of Cartagena; nathless I be a ninny, not worth the name
+of mariner, an I be not able to lay a course thitherwards without
+losing my bearings."
+
+"What is the country thereabout?"
+
+"Why, sir, for the most flat and forest clad.  Behind the fort there is
+a hill, fairish high.  Once on a time 'twas covered with trees, but a
+great stretch of the forest was of late burned black by a fire; I mind
+it well, for the shape of the black patch is like to a monstrous
+cayman, upwards of a mile long.  'Tis a famous landmark, and clear to
+the eyes a great way off at sea.  Let me but spy that, and I warrant I
+will steer any bark to it on a straight furrow."
+
+"Well, then, Amos, it does seem that with good luck we can make a
+landing somewhere on the coast, and then it shall go hard with us but
+we can, by taking thought, devise some plan whereby we may release your
+comrades from their chains.  But we cannot do it without help from the
+maroons; think you they would be willing to lend us aid?"
+
+"My heart!  Do but promise them a share of the Spaniards' treasure, and
+they will be hot to have at them."
+
+"But the fishery belongs to the Governor of Cartagena, you said.
+Imprimis, we are not pirates; nor indeed is there like to be a great
+hoard of pearls at Porto Aguila, for they will be sent, no doubt, for
+safety to Cartagena."
+
+"Bless your bones, sir, I warrant there be more kept at Porto Aguila
+than be sent to Cartagena.  The Captain, truly, is the Governor's son;
+but every Spaniard is a shark, and would rob his grandam's grave were
+he not afeard of ghosts.  And as for being pirates, when 'tis Spaniards
+in question I would be a pirate without the tenth part of a scruple,
+for 'tis certain the fishery was filched from the Indians; they be the
+Spaniards' jackals."
+
+"Well, let us go to the maroons and put the case to them."
+
+Dennis need have had no doubt as to the men's reception of his
+proposal.  To begin with, they were frankly delighted that the white
+men would accompany them.  They had often talked among themselves about
+the young lord, as they called him, who had led the attack on the
+Spaniards' vessel, and they were agreed that his presence in the canoe
+would serve them as a talisman.  Then, even without the prospect of
+plunder from the Spaniards' treasure-house, they nourished a bitter
+resentment against their old oppressors, and were ready to embrace any
+opportunity of striking a blow at them.
+
+"We are the servants of the young lord," said their spokesman to
+Turnpenny, "we will do whatever he bids."
+
+"Ask them if they know the region."
+
+The reply was in the negative.  None of them had ever been engaged in
+the pearl fishery; most of them hailed from the neighbourhood of Nombre
+de Dios.
+
+"Then our whole dependence is on you, Amos," said Dennis.
+
+"Ay, sir, and it do daunt me somewhat.  In a bark, or a shallop, or
+e'en a longboat, I could have great comfort; but a canow, sir--a mere
+tree-trunk hollowed out, wi' no ribs nor planks, no spars nor other
+gear; 'tis a fearsome and wonderful craft, with a crazy look."
+
+"But the maroons are wont to handle such craft, you told me.  They will
+navigate her; you will but have to cry the course."
+
+"True, sir, but no master mariner that hath any manhood in him will be
+content to govern a craft being ignorant of its true nature.  Yonder
+monkey would be as fit."
+
+"Ah!  We must take Mirandola.  The poor beast would, I verily believe,
+break his poor heart did we leave him here in loneliness again."
+
+"Leave the knave prisoners to bear him company, sir."
+
+"No, no.  Besides that it would be a poor compliment to Mirandola
+himself, it would have some spice of danger for us.  Left to themselves
+in freedom, the men would of a surety signal to any passing ship, the
+which being in all likelihood Spanish, the report of our doings would
+soon be spread abroad through all the coast, and a hue and cry would be
+raised after us.  We must bring them along with us.  Trust me, they
+shall have no chance then of giving the alarm to the enemy, and 'tis
+not unlike, indeed, they may serve us as hostages."
+
+"I fear me they'll be the Jonahs in our marvellous craft."
+
+"An ill comparison, Amos.  Jonah fled from his duty, and by reason of
+his wrongdoing peril came upon the mariners.  The similitude does not
+hold."
+
+"That be a great comfort, sir, in especial for that there be no whales
+as I know on in these waters, but only sharks."
+
+In answer to a question from Turnpenny, the head man of the maroons
+said that the canoe would be ready to take the water within a week.
+But he added that since the young lord had agreed to make the voyage
+with them, they were willing to remain a little longer on the island,
+in order to give careful finishing touches to the craft and ensure its
+thorough seaworthiness.  Dennis thanked them, through the sailor, for
+this mark of consideration, and resolved to use the interval in
+teaching them the use of the caliver.  He could not foresee what might
+ensue upon their landing; they would be at a disadvantage if they had
+no other arms with which to meet the Spaniards than axes and pikes.
+
+Accordingly, he presented each of them with a caliver from the stores
+he had placed in Skeleton Cave, and for a certain portion of each day
+Turnpenny and he instructed them in marksmanship, choosing for their
+practice ground the deepest part of the chine, whence the noise of
+firing was least likely to be heard out at sea.  The first experiments
+were disheartening, and at the same time amusing.  At the kick of the
+cumbrous weapons the men flung them down in alarm, crying out that they
+were possessed with evil spirits.  But their timidity was by degrees
+overcome; and when Dennis, in addition to practising them at fixed
+targets, rigged up a canvas figure which he suspended on two parallel
+ropes across the chine and ran from side to side by means of pulleys,
+they entered with some zest into the sport.  At first the figure made
+many journeys to and fro without receiving a single hit; but within a
+week the marksmanship had improved astonishingly, and there was not a
+man of them but might be trusted to hit a moving object at fairly short
+range.
+
+Meanwhile Amos, not content to trust the navigation of the canoe
+entirely to the maroons and their paddles, had busied himself in
+rigging up a mast with small sails taken out of the _Maid Marian_.
+When he at last pronounced the vessel ready, several kegs of water and
+boxes of biscuits were rolled down to the beach near at hand, and the
+party awaited only a favourable wind to launch their craft.
+
+For some days there had been a dead calm, and when at length a light
+breeze sprang up it blew in shore.  The natives grew impatient, and
+begged to be allowed to proceed with their paddles alone.  But this
+Turnpenny stoutly refused.  With a voyage of thirty or forty miles
+before them it was needful to spare the men as much as possible, lest
+when they reached the mainland they should be worn out, and unfit to
+cope with the labours and perhaps the struggles that awaited them.
+Turnpenny scanned the sky with a seaman's eye, in some fear lest the
+wind when it came should prove too boisterous for this strange craft,
+which he still looked on with distrust.  One morning, however, he
+announced that a fresh breeze had sprung up from the north-west,
+promising to increase in force as the day wore on.  No time was lost.
+The canoe was carried down to the beach and moored in shallow water;
+the stores were lifted aboard; then the two prisoners, pale with
+apprehension, and Baltizar the cook, were conveyed to the vessel on the
+backs of three stalwart maroons, and last of all Dennis and Turnpenny
+prepared to wade out.
+
+During the proceedings at the beach the monkey had remained perched in
+a tree, watching everything with many signs of excitement.  At the last
+moment Dennis turned and called to the animal; but it merely gibbered
+and blinked.
+
+"Come, Mirandola," said Dennis, coaxingly, "we cannot go without you.
+I fear me you feel a declension from your high estate, when you were
+the sole partner of my solitude; but believe me, I still hold you in
+dear affection.  Come then, and let your grave and reverend presence
+dignify this our enterprise."
+
+But the monkey refused to budge, and Dennis remembered the aversion he
+had always shown to the sea.  He walked towards the tree in which the
+animal sat, holding forth his hand, using every blandishment; then,
+when all was of no avail, and Turnpenny called to him from the canoe to
+leave the unnatural creature, he turned and stepped into the water.  He
+had just laid his hand on the side of the canoe, preparing to leap in,
+when he heard a shrill cry, and saw the monkey spring down with amazing
+celerity and run on all fours towards him across the sand, uttering
+sounds of entreaty.  It was as if Mirandola had to the last refused to
+believe that his master was leaving him, and now that he could doubt no
+longer, had overcome his horror of the sea and resolved to brave the
+discomforts of the voyage.  He reached the brink of the water and
+scampered up and down, as though seeking a dry path to the boat.  It
+was impossible to resist his pleading cries.  Dennis returned; the
+monkey with a squeal of delight sprang upon his shoulder; and so
+entered the canoe, a trembling passenger.
+
+The maroons shoved off; Turnpenny ran up his sail; and the craft moved
+into deep water.  For some minutes the natives kept their paddles
+busily employed, until, drawing out of the lee of the island, the
+vessel felt the full force of the breeze and began to scud merrily over
+the rippling sea.
+
+"My heart!" cried Turnpenny, "'tis a wondrous neat little craft.  I was
+wrong; I own it free; and if the wind holds she will make good sailing
+and bring us ere many hours are gone to the coast where we desire to
+be."
+
+"Too soon, if I mistake not," said Dennis.  "It will not be well for us
+to make the shore before dark; we may be spied from the land.  In
+truth, we run a great risk, Amos.  Our sail will not escape the eyes of
+the look-out of any vessel whose track we may chance to cross."
+
+"True, sir, there be risks great and manifold.  But we must e'en hope
+for the best.  The maroons have rare good eyes; and if perchance they
+catch sight of a vessel, I will run down the sail afore they can spy
+us, and we will lie snug until the coast be clear."
+
+After two hours' sailing the coast hove into sight as a long blue bar
+upon the horizon.  At midday Turnpenny lowered the sail, for it was
+clear that at the rate the vessel was going she would run into view
+from the shore long before it would be safe to attempt a landing.
+While the crew were eating their dinner of fruit and biscuits one of
+the men cried out that he saw a sail.  Turnpenny took a long look in
+the direction the man pointed out, Dennis watching his face in keen
+anxiety.
+
+"All's well, sir," said the sailor at length.  "She be coasting along
+towards Cartagena; in an hour she will be clean out of sight, and we're
+so low in the water that no natural eye will see us, the sail being
+down."
+
+They lay gently rocked by the waves until, after a good look round, he
+judged it safe once more to hoist the sail.  An hour afterwards he
+declared that he recognized a headland which was no more than three
+leagues from Porto Aguila.  The vessel's head was pointed direct for
+the land, but the wind dropping somewhat, they were still a long way
+from shore when the sun went down and the swift darkness of the tropics
+descended upon them.
+
+"We dursn't try to land in the dark," growled Turnpenny.  "This craft
+of ours is only fit for fair weather and easy harbourage, and not
+knowing the little crinkles o' the coast, t'ud be nowt but a miracle if
+we 'scaped being stove in."
+
+"But there will be a moon to-night, I think?" replied Dennis.
+
+"True, a little tiny one, like the horn of a cow.  Maybe she will give
+light enough to guide us to a creek.  We must e'en wait for her rising."
+
+They had no means of telling the time, and the maroons grew so restless
+that, while it was still dark, Turnpenny ordered them to paddle
+cautiously along the shore.
+
+"'Tis a creek I be looking for," he said to Dennis, "where we can run
+the canow with a fair chance of hiding it when day breaks."
+
+"How far are we from the fort?"
+
+"I cannot tell.  I fear me I have overshot the mark with being over
+cautious."
+
+"That is impossible, Amos.  At least it is an error on safety's
+side.--Hist! what was that?"
+
+His ears had caught a slight splash at no great distance shorewards.
+
+"Nowt to make 'ee uneasy, sir," replied Turnpenny.  "'Twas without
+doubt a cayman slipping off into deep water; and by the token, 'tis a
+guide for us, for the reptile haunts the banks of rivers, and sure the
+very creek we be looking for will be somewheres anigh here."
+
+The men drove the canoe a little nearer in shore, and in a few minutes
+Turnpenny, who was in the bows peering intently ahead, whispered that
+he did indeed see the opening of a creek.  Soon the canoe entered a
+fairly wide water-way, much obstructed with reeds, and darkened by the
+dense and high vegetation on either bank.  Now and again, through a gap
+in the foliage, the late rising moon shed a wan mysterious light upon
+their course.  As the canoe moved slowly and stealthily up the creek,
+Dennis was conscious of a strange home-sickness.  How many times had he
+rowed by night on little tree-shaded creeks and river-mouths in far-off
+Devon!  The deep shadows, the narrow paths of ghostly light, the
+silence, rendered only the more intense by the incessant croaking of
+frogs, lent a charm to the adventure that almost eclipsed its peril.
+
+The creek made several curves within a short distance, and Turnpenny,
+speaking in a whisper, said that they had now come far enough to escape
+notice from the sea.
+
+"'Tis well, my friend; and now, say: shall we land, or shall we rather
+remain in the canoe for the rest of the night?  I give my voice for
+landing.  We are packed here as close as biscuits, and I would fain
+stretch my limbs, and moreover get a little to windward of some of
+these our companions."
+
+"I warrant the maroons would liever stay in the canow, sir; and I own I
+myself am somewhat chary of landing in the dark.  I know summat o'
+these forest lands, and there be fearsome wild creatures in 'em, the
+like of which you never saw in Maiden Isle yonder.  There be wild hogs,
+of a surety, and monstrous wild cats that climb like monkeys, and see
+in the dark, and will pounce on a man and carry him off afore he can
+twink an eyelid.  And as for these our bedfellows, my heart! there be
+worse ashore--muskeeties, and sandflies, and ants in armies, that crawl
+aneath your clothes, and nip your arms and neck, and make themselves
+most pestilent ill neighbours.  And we cannot light a fire to scare
+them away, for savage as they be, whether four foot or six foot, they
+be gentle and mild by comparison with the two-footed enemies the fire
+would bring on our tracks."
+
+"We will lie by till morning, then, and pray the night be not
+disturbed."
+
+The maroons were unmistakably glad when this decision was communicated
+to them.  To their minds the mere darkness was awful, and when to this
+were added the manifold dangers of the forest, they would rather have
+faced an army of Spaniards than camp unprotected among the trees.
+
+The party spent a restless, uncomfortable night in their cramped
+quarters.  Yet in his wakeful moments Dennis found some pleasure in
+watching the fire-flies darting hither and thither on the shore, and in
+listening to the continuous drone of insects, that seemed to his ears a
+pleasant lullaby.  Once a goat-sucker clattered heavily past, uttering
+its weird cry; now and again he was amused by the question, "Who are
+you?" shouted from the trees, and recognized it as the cry of some
+nameless bird.  As morning drew on, these sounds were replaced by
+others.  Macaws screeched from the tree-tops, toucans barked like
+puppies, tree-frogs whistled and boomed, and at intervals the whole
+neighbourhood reverberated with long howls which Turnpenny said were
+the morning song of red howler monkeys.  As morning began to dawn, and
+these signs of forest life multiplied, Dennis noticed that Mirandola
+was becoming much excited; and when the canoe was run ashore under a
+towering mora tree, the monkey sprang nimbly to land, chattering with
+delight, and in an instant was springing up into the foliage.
+
+"Poor knave!" said Dennis.  "It seems we have brought him home, Amos.
+Would that we too were restored, whole and happy, to our friends!"
+
+"God-a-mercy, do 'ee forget Hugh Curder, and Tom Copstone, and Ned
+Whiddon, poor souls?  Do 'ee have more respect for the feelings of a
+heathen monkey?"
+
+"Nay, nay, you mistake me," said Dennis, smiling at the sailor's honest
+indignation.  "I do not forget them.  By God's mercy we are here in
+safety, and ere long I hope to have all your friends to join our little
+company.  Now, master mariner, what is to be our course?"
+
+"Why, sir, we must first go and spy out the land."
+
+"Through the forest?  How shall we find our way?"
+
+"Imprimis, this creek runs eastward of the bluff I steered by.
+Wherefore 'tis our first business to lay our course westward and cut
+off that headland, as you might say."
+
+"But can you be sure of setting your course aright?"
+
+"There's the sun above us, and we may catch a glimpse of him here and
+there among the trees.  And 'tis certain we shall encounter brooks
+wandering like lost children in the forest; only though they do seem
+lost, we know, being men, and in our right minds, that they be running
+all the while to the sea.  By this and by that we'll come at the place
+we steer for."
+
+"And who shall go on this inland voyage of discovery?"
+
+"Why, you and me, sir.  God-a-mercy, the very words of my dream!  'You
+and me, Haymoss, you and me!'  'Tis a good sign, for sure.  The maroons
+shall lie hid in the creek, and keep ward over the prisoners."
+
+"But can we trust them?  Will they not, having arrived on the mainland,
+act after their own devices and depart?"
+
+"'Tis a risk, in truth; but I will speak to them with all gravity, and
+bring to their mind the Spaniards' treasure, and the stripes they
+suffered in bondage.  We will see if there be faith in their black
+blood."
+
+After a conversation with the maroons, Turnpenny announced that they
+had agreed to remain in the creek until nightfall.  If the white men
+had not returned then, they would hold themselves free to act as they
+pleased.  Then Dennis and the sailor set off on their scouting
+expedition.
+
+At the edge of the forest the trees grew fairly wide apart, and the
+canopy above admitted a few rays which lay as bright spots on the floor
+of dead leaves.  But as the two adventurers proceeded the forest became
+thicker and thicker, until they walked in a dim twilight.  Well covered
+with vegetation as Maiden Isle had been, Dennis had never imagined
+anything like the dense woodland through which he was now slowly making
+his way.  It steamed with moisture; the din of early morning had given
+place to a mysterious stillness; birds and animals were quiet or
+asleep; and if the silence was broken at rare moments by the long howl
+of a monkey, the melancholy sound did but enhance the impression of
+utter solitude.  Turnpenny led the way with great wariness; his former
+experiences of forest life warned him of dangers that might lie in
+wait--a slumbering jaguar which their footfall might disturb, a snake
+so cunningly marked that it was indistinguishable from the tree about
+which it was coiled.  Several times he halted, in doubt of his
+bearings.  Once, when he confessed himself beaten, he climbed with a
+mariner's agility a towering trunk, and declared when he descended that
+from its top he had caught a glimpse of the open sea and so learnt the
+general direction in which to go.
+
+They came at length to a narrow open space, where apparently trees had
+been felled at no very distant date.  Turnpenny was pointing out a
+hairy sloth hanging under a branch like a nest of termites, when Dennis
+touched him on the arm and bade him look across the glade.
+
+"What is it?" he whispered.
+
+"Methinks the figure of a man, moving among the trees."
+
+Though he had spoken under his breath, it almost seemed that his words
+had been overheard, for the figure halted, then instantly turned
+sideways and vanished from their sight.
+
+"We must after him," said Turnpenny.
+
+"Ay, and catch him, or there is an end to our venture and us.  He is
+alone, for he made no sound, and if he had companions near by he would
+surely have summoned them."
+
+Without further pause Dennis ran across the glade, and plunged into the
+forest on the other side, taking the southerly direction in which he
+had seen the figure disappear.  He had not gone far before he heard the
+rustle and crash of some one forcing his way through the undergrowth;
+clearly the fugitive was not a good runner, or he would have been out
+of earshot before this.  Dennis quickened his step, guided always by
+the sound, ever increasing in loudness.  At length he again caught a
+glimpse of the man, labouring ahead; he gained on him, and was within a
+few yards when the runaway suddenly turned, and Dennis halted and
+swerved aside just in time to evade a spear hurled straight at him.  It
+whizzed through the air, flew harmlessly by, and struck with a twang a
+tree trunk, where it hung quivering.
+
+Next moment Dennis sprang forward and closed with the man.  He had no
+time to take note of him, save that he was more than common tall.  But
+it struck him with surprise that he met with no real resistance.  The
+man staggered under the impact; the two rolled on the leaf-strewn
+ground; and in an instant Dennis was uppermost.  He scarcely needed the
+Devonian trick of wrestling to maintain his advantage; his opponent was
+already spent.  Holding him down, Dennis raised himself at arm's length
+to recover breath and take stock of the fugitive.  He was struck by the
+glare of inextinguishable hate in the man's haggard eyes.  Helpless as
+he was, there was no yielding in his mien; it was weakness, not fear or
+cowardice, that had made him such an easy captive.
+
+In a few moments Turnpenny came up breathless.  Seeing that Dennis held
+the man firmly down, he did not offer to assist, but halted and threw a
+keen glance at the prisoner.
+
+"God-a-mercy!" he exclaimed, suddenly.  "'You and me, Haymoss!'  'Tis
+the dream come true.  'Tis Tom Copstone, 'tis very Tom!  Sir, let him
+up; 'tis my dear comrade, my messmate in the _Jesus_.  Oh, Tom, what a
+piece of work is this!"
+
+Dennis was amazed at the alteration in the man's expression.  The
+fierce blaze of his blood-shot eyes was quenched in a mist of tears.
+
+"Haymoss! dear Haymoss!" he murmured, and seemed like to swoon away.
+
+Turnpenny was by this on his knees beside his old comrade.
+
+"Oh, Tom, to see thee in this sorry plight!" he exclaimed, pitifully.
+
+He raised the prostrate figure.  Copstone did indeed present a sorry
+spectacle.  His clothes were completely in tatters, he was emaciated
+almost to a skeleton; his hair and beard hung long, straggling and
+matted.
+
+"Tell me, Tom, me and this true friend, what has brought 'ee to this
+fearsome pass."
+
+"I ran away; 'tis three months since.  Three, I say, but I cannot tell;
+maybe 'tis four or five.  I ran away from those devils; 'twas more than
+flesh and blood could endure."
+
+"But whither, whither, Tom?"
+
+"I had hope to fall in with a friendly folk--maroons or Indians; for
+such hate the Spaniards, and whoso hates the Spaniards must be a friend
+to me.  But I found none, and I had perforce to take to the forest, and
+here I made shift to keep body and soul together with the fruits of the
+earth.  Then I was stricken with the forest fever, and lay for nights
+and days shivering and burning by turns."
+
+"Take time, dear Tom," said Turnpenny, noticing the other's gasps.  "We
+be true friends."
+
+"And here is wine from my store," said Dennis, producing a flask.  "It
+will refresh you."
+
+The man drank gratefully.
+
+"And I marvel," added Turnpenny, "that 'ee be still alive in this
+fearsome place of wild beasts.  Verily the Almighty has kept a guard
+over you, even as He defended Daniel in the den of lions."
+
+"'Tis true; yet I did what I could for myself.  Come and see."
+
+He led them through the forest, winding in and out among the trees in a
+manner that seemed to the others nothing short of marvellous, until he
+came to a great trunk in which there were notches cut, from a point
+near the base to the lowest branch.  By these notches he climbed up,
+Dennis and Turnpenny following in turn.  The steps ceased when the
+bough was reached; then he ascended some twenty feet through foliage
+until he arrived at a little hut, formed of branches cunningly
+intertwined, with a roofing of thatch.
+
+"My heart, 'tis a pleasant and delectable mansion!" said Turnpenny,
+looking admiringly at the leafy structure.  "And did 'ee fashion it
+with your own hands, Tom?"
+
+"No," replied the man, with a smile.  "Here I found it, as it is.  It
+was made, I doubt not, by Indians, in the time before the Spaniards set
+foot on these shores.  'Twas here I lay when the fever was heavy upon
+me, and I thought to die.  Oh! how good it is to see your face,
+Haymoss; but what brings 'ee, old friend, to this dreadful place, and
+how got you free from the hands of the oppressor?"
+
+"'Twas the deed of this gentleman, a man of Devon, Tom, that was cast
+on an island yonder in the Main, and by wit and courage loosed me from
+bondage."
+
+He told the whole story, to the great wonderment of his friend.
+
+"And now we be here to help Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder and others of
+our messmates in the fort," he said, in conclusion.  "By God's mercy we
+will snatch them, too, from the house of bondage, and make them free
+men once more."
+
+"Ay, and I will help.  The sight of 'ee has done me a world of good;
+the Lord has put a new song in my mouth.  I will lead you.  I know this
+forest in and out, Haymoss, for though I be by rights but a simple
+mariner, I am made now into a woodsman.  For why?  'Cos otherwise I
+should have been a dead man.  The spear I threw but now,--God be
+praised it failed of its mark, sir! and I bethink me 'tis still
+sticking in the tree--has served me in good stead many a time and oft.
+'Twas the only thing I brought away with me, and without it long ere
+this the birds would ha' picked my bones."
+
+"Think 'ee thou'rt strong enough to lead us to the fort, Tom?" asked
+Turnpenny.
+
+"Ay, sure, and 'tis a good time, i' the heat o' the day, when the
+Spaniards be mostly asleep.  We'll e'en go at once.  What be the name
+of this true friend?"
+
+"'Tis Master Dennis Hazelrig, Tom, and a' come from Shaston, and has
+changed a word with Master Drake."
+
+"Ah, Master Drake be a rare fine man and mariner.  I warrant he hath
+not forgot the base dealings o' the knaves at St. John d'Ulua, and in
+my bondage I looked for the day when he should come with a mighty power
+and do unto them what they had done to us, and more also.  But I could
+not wait, Haymoss, I could not wait; and now we be met, and Master
+Hazelrig, and you and me, Haymoss----"
+
+"My heart, the very words of my dream!  Ay, Tom, you and me and Master
+Hazelrig, we three, will do what men may do to succour Hugh Curder and
+Ned Whiddon, and other our dear comrades in distress."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Beneath the Walls
+
+Tom Copstone leading, the party of three swiftly made their way through
+the woodland.  Their mark was the south-western angle of the fort; that
+was the quarter, said Copstone, whence it might be most safely
+reconnoitred.  The ground rose gradually as they proceeded, and after
+walking for what must have been several miles they came upon a large
+open space which had evidently been cleared by fire.
+
+"'Tis the black cayman on the hill above the fort," whispered Turnpenny
+to Dennis.  "You mind, sir?"
+
+"Ay, the landmark of which you made mention."
+
+Skirting the upper side of the clearing for a few hundred yards, being
+careful to remain slightly within the edge of the forest, they arrived
+at a spot where, while themselves concealed, they had an uninterrupted
+view of the country before them.  There was a thin belt of woodland
+beyond the clearing, but the hill then dipped somewhat steeply, and
+through this dip they saw the fort which held so many bitter memories
+for the sailors, and the sea stretching out beneath it, a vast
+shimmering plain.
+
+"'Tis bigger than I deemed likely," said Dennis, "the garrison being
+but fifty, if I remember right."
+
+"True, sir," said Copstone, "there be but fifty Spaniards, but there be
+Indians and maroons within the walls as well, the slaves and
+pearl-fishers to wit.  Aforetime, as I have heard tell, the fishers
+lived in huts around; but about six year ago a French vessel bore
+suddenly down upon the place.  The Spaniards, some twenty or thirty
+then, had no warning, and the Frenchmen had an easy job to carry off
+all the treasure that the captain had stored up, and in the tumult a
+great part of the fishers made off and were never seen more.
+Thereafter the Governor of Cartagena gave command that the fort should
+be strengthened and the workers lodged within: you can see the huts
+ranged along inside by the wall."
+
+"'Twas shutting the door after the steed was stolen," said Dennis, with
+a smile.  "Now let me print the lines of the settlement upon my memory."
+
+The fort was a rough square in shape, with a round tower at each
+corner.  In the centre of the enclosure was a long low house, with a
+veranda, which Copstone explained was the Commandant's new house, but
+lately finished.  Close by was a smaller house, occupied by the captain
+of the garrison, and beyond this a row of still smaller buildings,
+devoted to the Spanish troops.  From their elevated position they could
+see that on the eastern side the fort was bounded by a stream which
+appeared to wash the wall; but Copstone said that between the wall and
+the stream was a level walk, about twelve feet wide, where the officers
+were accustomed to promenade in the cool of the evening.  The one gate
+of the fort was cut in the eastern wall, and it led immediately to a
+narrow pier running into the river, where the vessels were loaded and
+unloaded.  Between the pier and the mouth of the stream a small
+two-masted bark now lay at anchor; there was safe harbourage, and this
+vessel probably awaited its cargo of pearls to be conveyed to
+Cartagena, having brought provisions thence.
+
+The northern wall, Copstone said, was built on a rocky cliff about
+thirty feet high, washed at high tide by the sea, which swept round the
+north-eastern angle, and formed, with a series of broken rocks and
+boulders, an effective defence to a great part of the western wall.
+The southern face of the fort was hidden from the spectators by the
+intervening trees, but between it and this belt of woodland was an open
+space some two hundred and fifty yards wide, cleared with the object of
+depriving possible assailants of cover.  About a mile to the right was
+the scene of the pearl-fishing, and the fishers were at that moment to
+be seen at work, diving from canoes, in each of which, said Copstone,
+were two Spaniards fully armed.
+
+"And where be our dear comrades, Torn?" asked Turnpenny.  "In my time
+they were lodged in underground dungeons hewn out of the rock beneath
+the south-east tower yonder."
+
+"And there they be still, poor souls," said Copstone.  "Ah! many's the
+hour I've spent in the selfsame dungeons, groaning with the pain of the
+stripes made by their whips on my bare back."
+
+"And 'twas thence 'ee fled, Tom?  I marvel how 'ee broke out o' that
+strong-fast place."
+
+"Nay, never a soul has broken out of they dungeons.  It was in this
+wise with me.  One day a fearsome storm blew up without a minute's
+warning.  The harbour yonder, that is wont to be safe, was a seething
+whirlpool then, and a bark that lay beside the pier, laden with a
+treasure of pearls in readiness for the voyage, was dashed hither and
+thither by the fury of the waves until she was like to be battered into
+splinters.  There was a cry for all hands to save her, and we were
+driven out of the gate to do what we could.  The sky was black as
+pitch, though 'twas an hour or two from sunset; and in the midst of
+that coil, covered by the darkness, I dropped down over the embankment
+wall, clinging on with my hands, and so worked myself along till I came
+to the extremity of the walk, fearing every moment lest a wave should
+come and sweep me away.  But by the mercy of God I came safe to the end
+of the walk, where the round tower juts out--you mind, Haymoss?--its
+foundations being struck into jagged rocks, with many a cleft in
+between.  There I refuged myself till the night came, beat upon by the
+waves till the breath was well-nigh battered out of my body.  But
+there, a drenched mortal, I clung until the tempest fell to a calm, and
+in the darkness I got me away to the woods."
+
+"My heart! 'twas a deed of daring and peril," said Turnpenny.  "But
+list!  What be adoing down yonder?"
+
+The silence below was suddenly broken by the ringing sound of picks.
+Men were apparently at work on the face of the fort nearest the
+observers.  The labourers were out of sight, and Copstone confessed
+himself unable to guess what their task might be.  The fort seemed
+complete; for a month before Copstone's escape the work had indeed been
+hurried on in response to urgent orders from Cartagena, where the
+Governor desired more men to assist in his own defences.  His commands
+resulted in the prisoners being treated with increased brutality, and
+Copstone said that it was a stock joke with the Spanish garrison that
+by the time they had done with the captives at Porto Aguila there would
+be little work left in them.
+
+For an hour or more the three men stood scanning the fort and its
+surroundings, until Dennis felt that every detail was firmly graven
+upon his mind.  Then, as they had a long journey back to the boat, and
+it was desirable that they should reach their companions before the
+fall of night, they set off to return to the creek.  Copstone knew it
+well; under his guidance the others took a short cut through the
+forest, that saved them, he said, more than a mile, and the short
+tropical twilight had only just begun when they arrived at the canoe.
+The maroons had not been disturbed during their absence.  One of the
+Spaniards, who recognized the creek, had tried to persuade the natives
+to set them at liberty, promising them a rich reward.  But they had no
+faith in him or any of his race, and their answer was to make his bonds
+more secure.
+
+Knowing that they were several leagues from the fort, with a long
+wooded hill between them, the sailors agreed that it would be safe to
+kindle a fire on shore, beside which they might camp for the night
+without molestation by insects.  But they had little sleep.  The three
+sat long over the fire, Copstone relating incidents in his prison life
+that made the blood of his hearers boil with rage and indignation.
+With the good food given him from the stock they had brought, and the
+companionship of his countrymen, he had already become a very different
+being from the famished solitary creature they had met in the forest;
+and when, fired with passionate hatred of the Spanish oppressors and
+with pity for their hapless prisoners, Dennis and Turnpenny vowed that
+they would go through with their enterprise, no matter at what cost,
+Copstone declared himself heart and soul with them, and only longed for
+the moment of action to come.
+
+But it was not enough to be full of zeal.  The greatest courage and
+determination would not suffice alone to achieve their object.
+
+"We are but ten against fifty," said Dennis, "and one of the ten a fat
+negro whom the sight of a bare blade would cause to shake like a jelly."
+
+"Leave him out, sir," said Turnpenny.  "He would squeal like a stuck
+pig if his finger were pinched."
+
+"There are but nine of us, then, and what can nine do against fifty?"
+
+"If all the nine were men of Devon like Tom Copstone and me," said
+Turnpenny, "we would face fifty don Spaniards and beat 'em too.  But
+you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as the saying is, and
+you can't turn a negro or maroon into a true fighting man that will
+never say die.  Men of their sort cannot play a losing game, though
+they be full of courage if things go well with them."
+
+"I fear me even nine men of Devon could not fight a pitched battle
+against five times their number, whether Spaniards or other.  But 'tis
+not my purpose to approach the walls with a trumpet and deliver a
+defiance.  Our only chance is by surprising the fort in the darkness,
+and so taking them at a disadvantage.  How stands it then, Amos?"
+
+"Why, sir, it stands clean topsy-versy, which is to say it is by no
+means possible.  The walls, as you did yourself see, be too high to
+leap over, and the gate be shut and bolted and barricadoed by night."
+
+"But is it watched?"
+
+"That I know not.  Do 'ee know, Tom?"
+
+"Nay; afore dark all the prisoners be thrust into the dungeons, and
+kept fast in ward until morning light."
+
+"And do they set a guard over the dungeons?"
+
+"Not as I know, sir.  What would be the good?  The doors be strong and
+clamped with iron; the guard house be just above; and we was all so
+worn with toil and so sick at heart that nary one of us ever had the
+spirit to attempt a sally.  When they had us fast in the dungeons,
+there they might leave us, with never a fear but we would be safe
+bound."
+
+"Methinks that same security would forbid them to keep a watch
+seawards.  The sea washes the north side of the fort, you said?"
+
+"Ay, sir, and even at high tide there is no draught for a vessel of
+more than twenty tons burden, so they need fear no attack thence.
+True, they might keep a watch on the harbour when a vessel lies there;
+but 'tis years since any enemy has appeared, and with the dons 'tis out
+of sight, out of mind, I trow."
+
+"Well, does not that favour us?  Grant we cannot scale the walls, nor
+force the gate, we may still approach the fort from the sea by night,
+without risk of being discovered, and that is the very thing that we
+must do.  This night is too far spent for us to make any attempt in
+that quarter.  We must possess our souls in patience for yet another
+day, and truly that is not amiss, for it will give us leisure to spy
+once more upon the fort.  Think you 'tis possible to come where we may
+view the north side?"
+
+"There is but one way; to make a circuit as we lately did, and go
+further through the woods, and creep down at dusk to the rocks, when
+the work for the day is over and we are not like to be seen by the
+Spaniards who keep ward over the fishers."
+
+"That is what we will do, then.  And now, since we know not what the
+day may bring forth to try our strength, let us get what sleep we can,
+and so fortify ourselves."
+
+But for many hours Dennis lay awake, thinking over the next day's
+doings.  Up with the dawn, he set the maroons to cut from the trees a
+number of light tough poles, and these Copstone and Turnpenny, with
+seamen's skill, quickly fashioned into a rough but serviceable ladder.
+It was made to taper from bottom to top in three sections, the first
+seven feet long, the second five feet, and the last, four.  The first
+and second were lashed together with some spare rope brought in the
+canoe, but the supply gave out when this was done, and Dennis was at a
+loss for material to fasten the second and third sections together.
+The headman of the maroons speedily made good the deficiency.  Going
+into the forest, he soon returned with long pliable tendrils of a
+creeper called bejuca that grew plentifully among the undergrowth, and
+these, when cut into short lengths, formed lashings as strong as could
+be desired.
+
+The greater part of the morning was spent in constructing and testing
+the ladder.  After the midday meal Dennis and the sailors again made
+their way through the forest to their former place of espial, waited
+until they saw the canoes return with the pearl fishers, and then, in
+the late afternoon, crept down the hillside westward of the fort until
+they came to the rocks on the shore.  From their new position they were
+able to glance along the northern wall of the fort.  The tide was on
+the turn, and it was clear from the masses of seaweed and the waterworn
+appearance of the rocks on which the wall was built that at high water
+the base of the escarpment would be washed by the waves, as Copstone
+had said.  Having formed a careful mental picture of the place, Dennis
+gave the word for return, and they reached their camping ground just
+before dark, as on the previous evening.
+
+Arrangements were at once made for their expedition.  Turnpenny
+estimated that the distance by water from the mouth of the creek to the
+fort was about ten miles.  It was desirable to start early if the
+paddlers were not to be overtired when the serious work of the night
+began.  Dennis was in some doubt what to do with the prisoners, but
+after consultation with the sailors he decided to leave them behind in
+the charge of the cook and one of the maroons.  He deplored the
+necessity of thus diminishing his little party, but it was clearly
+impossible to trust the guardianship of the prisoners to Baltizar
+alone.  That flabby and chicken-hearted negro was desperately afraid of
+being left.  He feared the prisoners, although they were securely
+pinioned; still more he feared the wild beasts of the forest.
+Turnpenny "gave him a piece of his mind," as he said, and his language
+was none the less forcible because he eked out his scanty vocabulary of
+Spanish with racy expressions in his own vernacular.  He called
+Baltizar a slack-twisted nollypate, a wambling dumbledore, an
+ell-and-a-half of moidered dough, mingling with his expletives an
+instruction to keep up the fire if he wished to scare the beasts away,
+and a warning that the Spaniards, if they were allowed to escape, would
+certainly kill him first.  And to guard against the danger that the
+prisoners might work upon his fears and persuade him to loose their
+bonds, the maroon chosen to remain with him was told, in his hearing,
+that if he had any conversation with the two men he was instantly to be
+knocked on the head.  Watching the negro's expression, Dennis felt
+pretty sure that he would prove a most zealous jailor.
+
+The night was still young, the moon had not yet risen, when the canoe
+floated silently seawards down the creek.  The little party of three
+white men and five maroons was not hilarious; every man knew that he
+had taken his life in his hands.  But neither were they down-hearted,
+for seven of them had the recollection of a night adventure which had
+wonderfully succeeded against great odds; and though the odds this time
+were immeasurably in favour of the enemy, and the task was infinitely
+more difficult, the very magnitude of what they had set themselves to
+do fired them with eagerness and hope.
+
+The sections of the ladder had been unlashed, and were safely bestowed,
+with the rope and the tendrils, in the sides of the canoe.  In his
+ignorance of the coast, Dennis ordered the paddlers to put some
+distance out to sea before heading the canoe westward, so as to avoid
+any rocks or shoals that might lie in wait for the frail craft.  The
+wind was north-east, and as there was only the faint illumination of
+the stars, the sail was run up during the first part of the voyage.
+But when they rounded the headland that lay between the creek and the
+fort, Turnpenny took in the sail, lest by some unlucky chance it should
+be observed from the shore, and bade the maroons paddle slowly, for
+they wished to arrive at the fort when the tide was high, a little
+before dawn.
+
+Slowly as they paddled, however, the fort loomed up on the shore a good
+hour before they had intended to draw in.  None of the party had any
+means of telling the time; but Turnpenny, experienced in reading the
+heavens on many a silent night on the deep, guessed it pretty
+accurately by the horn of the moon just peering above the horizon.  To
+delay their arrival a little, Dennis ordered the men to rest on their
+oars, and for an hour the canoe rocked gently on the swelling tide.
+The pause would have been even longer had not Dennis perceived that the
+inaction bred a certain nervous restlessness in the maroons--an ill
+mood in which to face the coming ordeal.
+
+At last, shortly after four in the morning, the nose of the canoe was
+turned towards the fort, and the vessel crept in dead silence towards
+the line of white foam that showed where the tide was lapping the wall.
+It was still half a musket-shot distant when its progress was arrested
+with a suddenness that threw the paddlers heavily forward.  Recovering
+themselves, they backed water lustily, but without avail; the canoe was
+fast on a rock.  Instantly three of the men slipped gently overboard to
+lighten the vessel, kicking their legs busily to ward off any ground
+sharks that might be adventuring in the neighbourhood.  In a few
+moments the canoe slid off the rock, the men clambered back to their
+places, and the paddling was resumed.  But it was soon discovered that
+the shock had torn a hole in the vessel's side; she was filling fast;
+and by the time she came beneath the wall of the fort she was wellnigh
+waterlogged.  Not a man of the party ventured to speak a word; but from
+the glances they gave one another it was clear that they realized what
+the accident meant for them.  Nothing but complete success could now
+save them, for if the attempt on the fort failed, it would certainly be
+impossible to escape on this leaking vessel, and they must fall an easy
+prey to their enemies.
+
+One after another they quietly left the canoe, carrying the climbing
+apparatus, and their calivers and ammunition, which had fortunately
+lain on the raised stern of the vessel and had escaped a wetting.  They
+found themselves on the rocks, in two or three feet of water.
+Turnpenny and Copstone gave their weapons into the charge of two of the
+maroons while they carefully lashed the two longer sections of the
+ladder together.  Meanwhile Dennis was scanning the wall above him with
+the object of finding a suitable spot against which to plant the
+ladder.  In spite of Copstone's belief that the fort was not
+sentinelled, Dennis had taken the precaution to land a little to the
+west of the tower at the angle, thinking that the sentry, if one were
+posted there, would probably be taking shelter under the eastern
+parapet.  But so far as he could see in the dim light the line of the
+wall was unbroken.
+
+At the top, however, a battlement slightly overhung it.  To Dennis,
+gazing up, this battlement seemed terribly far off, and his heart sank
+as he felt that the ladder would certainly not be long enough.  But it
+was possible that the apparent height was deceptive; at any rate the
+attempt must be made.  Accordingly, Turnpenny and Copstone, as he had
+previously arranged with them, planted the ladder beneath the wall
+while he mounted.  The first steps were easy, but when he came near the
+top he was seized with a momentary dizziness and had to pause before he
+ventured to take another upward step.  He climbed very slowly: he was
+now close against the wall, with nothing to cling to, and he maintained
+his balance only by pressing forward until he was almost flat against
+the smooth surface.  He reached the last rung; it was impossible to
+ascend another inch; and the top of the wall was still, it appeared, at
+least twelve feet above him.  Even if the third section of the ladder
+was added, the coping would be still utterly beyond his reach.
+
+It was a position in which many a bold fellow might have despaired,
+and, for a little, Dennis did feel dismay and a touch of compunction
+for having brought the men below into what appeared to be a hopeless
+case.  But it is such moments as these that prove the grit of a man's
+character.  Dennis was no weakling; and as he stood and leant against
+that wall, shrouded by the night, he set his teeth and vowed that by
+hook or crook he would ere long be upon the other side.
+
+He looked up and around, to see if there were any notches or seams by
+means of which he could scale the wall.  The moon was creeping round
+the sky, and now threw a little more light on the scene.  Letting his
+eye travel slowly over every foot of the surface from left to right, he
+suddenly caught sight of what seemed to be a hole in the wall, some
+distance to his right, several feet above him, and a yard or so below
+the parapet.  It flashed upon him that this must be a gun embrasure;
+was it possible, he wondered, to make his way in by that?  Carefully
+descending the ladder, he told the sailors in a whisper what he
+proposed; they quickly lashed on the last section, and shifted the
+ladder until it stood immediately below the dark patch which at this
+distance the embrasure appeared to be.  Then Dennis mounted again.
+
+Once more he was disappointed.  At the imminent risk of falling
+backwards he crept up to the highest point, but even then he found he
+could but just touch the lower edge of the hole.  He had not sufficient
+grip on the smooth sill of it to pull himself up: he could not raise
+himself high enough to peep through.  He wondered whether Copstone, who
+stood nearly a head taller, would have better success; but remembering
+the man's privations he thought it scarcely possible that he would have
+nerve enough to mount on this frail ladder, which bent dangerously
+beneath his weight now that the last section was added, without
+becoming dizzy and toppling down.  Was there any conceivable manner in
+which the ladder could be still further lengthened?
+
+Down he crept again and held another whispered consultation with the
+two men.  At first neither was able to make a suggestion.  They stood
+looking at one another in perplexity.  Then suddenly Turnpenny,
+forgetting himself in his excitement, uttered an exclamation in a tone
+which sent a shiver down Dennis's back.
+
+"Hush, man!" said Dennis in a warning whisper.  "What is it?"
+
+"Ah, I must talk gentle," said Turnpenny.  "Of a sudden I thought of
+muscles and sinews, and the power of a strong back.  Me and the headman
+of the maroons--not so strong as me, to be sure, but yet with mighty
+shoulders of his own--me and him betwixt us can raise the ladder aloft,
+and hold it firm while you mount, and then without doubt you'll be high
+enough to peep through the port-hole and see all that may be seen."
+
+"Art sure you can do it, Amos?" asked Dennis, eagerly.
+
+"Why, sir, look at this!" he returned, bending his arm until the muscle
+showed like a globe of iron.
+
+Without more ado, Turnpenny and the maroon hoisted the ladder, and, one
+on either side of it, supported it with their shoulders.  Then Dennis
+climbed on to Copstone's back, thence to the ladder, and began the
+ascent.  The ladder was more tremulous than ever, and Dennis felt a
+flutter at the heart as he came nearer and nearer to the top.  But the
+stalwarts below did not yield an inch, and Dennis crawled up and up
+until at length his head came to the level of the embrasure, and with
+one more step he found himself able to rest his arms in it.  To his joy
+the embrasure was empty: the gun had evidently been withdrawn; and
+taking this as a good omen--surely it indicated great security on the
+part of the garrison!--he hoisted himself up and wriggled into the
+aperture.  Then, breathless, with a hurrying pulse, he crouched to
+consider his next move.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+The Taking of Fort Aguila
+
+During the morning, while the ladder was being made, Dennis had talked
+over with the sailors the plan of action he proposed to adopt should
+they succeed in entering the fort undetected.  The first thing was to
+silence the sentry, if sentry there was.  It was quite clear, from the
+fact of having been undisturbed hitherto, that no careful look-out was
+kept; but Dennis did not forget Copstone's suggestion that a sentry
+might be napping behind the parapet, and it must be his first business
+to assure himself on this point before giving the signal for his
+companions to make the ascent.
+
+He crouched motionless in the embrasure, listening.  It had been
+pierced for only a short gun--a minion or falconet perhaps; and
+doubtless within three feet of him was a stone walk extending for the
+whole length of the wall.  All was still; there was not a sound to show
+that, within the enclosure, a hundred human beings were crowded,
+masters and slaves.  But looking through the embrasure Dennis saw a few
+lights twinkling in the centre of the fort, and he guessed that some at
+least of the enemy were awake.  However great their security, it had
+seemed incredible to him that the place should be left wholly
+unguarded, even if only to provide against turbulence on the part of
+the slaves.
+
+After a few moments Dennis ventured to crawl towards the inner end of
+the embrasure, where he might get a view of the whole enclosure.  The
+thin light of the moon fell on the brightly painted walls of the
+commandant's house in the centre; there was no light in the windows; no
+doubt the senor capitan was fast asleep.  But a beam of light came from
+a building somewhat to the right; this was presumably the officers'
+quarters.  The huts along the western wall, in which the slaves slept,
+were all in darkness.  On the farther side of the enclosure, in the
+round tower beneath which the prisoners were confined, another light
+shone forth; somebody was awake there.  But not a sound stirred the
+heavy moist air of the tropical night.  If there were sentries upon the
+walls, they were certainly not pacing up and down.
+
+Waiting another minute or two, Dennis ventured to peep round the corner
+of the embrasure.  He could scan the whole length of the walk from
+tower to tower; no sentry was in sight, but he saw the gun below him a
+little to his right.  Taking courage from the silence, he slipped out
+of the hole, and groped his way on bare feet toward the tower at the
+north-east angle.  Every now and again he paused to listen, and at
+last, when he came within a few yards of the tower, he heard a sound of
+deep regular breathing hard by.  Evidently some one was asleep.  He
+stole along by the parapet in the deep shadow cast by the moon, until
+he saw, huddled in the corner between the tower and the wall, the form
+of a man.  He halted to consider.  Should he go forward and pounce on
+the sentry, risking the sound of a struggle if he attempted to gag him,
+or a cry if he struck at him with his sword and failed to kill him
+outright?  It went against the grain to slay a sleeping man, and the
+sentry was apparently so fast asleep that it seemed possible for the
+rest of the party to climb up without disturbing him.
+
+But there might be a sentry at the other end.  Leaving the man in
+peace, Dennis stole back again, went on hands and knees where the gun
+necessitated his coming for a moment into the moonlight, then rose and
+groped his way along beneath the parapet as before.  There was no
+sentinel, asleep or awake, in this direction.  With more confidence now
+in the chances of a safe ascent he returned once more to the embrasure,
+and, taking from his pocket a thin piece of creeper, he paid this out
+through the aperture.  He soon felt a slight tug from below.  He waited
+until he felt a second tug, then gently pulled the creeper towards him.
+To the end of it a stout line was attached--a part of his salvage from
+the wreck of the _Maid Marian_.  This he quickly secured to the heavy
+gun, and having strained on the rope to convince himself that the
+fastening would hold, he gave the signal by another tug to his comrades
+below.
+
+Then he crawled into the embrasure, and, leaning out, saw Amos swarming
+with a seaman's nimbleness up the rope.  Giving him a hand when he came
+within reach, Dennis helped to haul him into the embrasure.
+
+"What about the calivers?" he whispered, for the sailor had come up
+unarmed, lest a clank of steel against the wall should attract
+attention.
+
+"We've tied 'em up in our shirts, sir.  Haul on the rope and we'll have
+'em up in a trice."
+
+The bundle was quickly raised and brought into the embrasure without a
+sound.
+
+"There's a sentry asleep by the tower yonder," whispered Dennis.
+
+"Did 'ee not kill him?"
+
+"No, you could not kill a sleeping man, Amos?"
+
+"I warrant I could, though I'd liever not.  But we must do summat with
+the knave."
+
+"He sleeps sound."
+
+"Maybe, but any moment he might waken, and then t'ud be all over with
+us.  A sailor's knot and a mouthful of shirt will make all snug."
+
+"Very well.  We must go quietly."
+
+Soft-footed as cats they stole to the careless sentinel, still drawing
+the long regular breath of placid slumber.  Suddenly the sound changed
+to a low choking gurgle: Turnpenny had nimbly slipped a strip of his
+shirt into the man's open mouth.  In two minutes he lay straight on his
+back, his arms and legs firmly bound with lengths of the flexible
+tendril.  Then the two intruders moved swiftly back to the embrasure,
+and signalled to the waiting men that it was safe for them to ascend.
+
+Tom Copstone and two of the maroons came up in turn.  Then there was a
+hitch.  The remaining three men stood helpless on the rocks, afraid to
+attempt a feat which had never come within their experience.  There was
+a moment's delay: then Turnpenny slipped down the rope, hitched a loop
+around one of the men, abusing him under his breath as a
+good-for-nothing land-lubber, and signalled to the others to haul him
+up.  The two others were brought up in the same way, not without some
+bumps against the wall; then Turnpenny again came up hand over hand,
+and the little party of eight stood complete beside the gun.
+
+"My heart! 'tis a famous doing!" said Turnpenny mopping his sweating
+brow.  "'You and me, Haymoss,' as I heard in my dream."
+
+The next step also had been pre-arranged.  Copstone, as the man most
+familiar with the fort enclosure, was to lead four of the maroons to
+the quarters of the garrison, dash into the outer room where the
+fire-arms would probably be kept, and hold the Spaniards in play while
+Dennis and his companions made a rush for the round tower beneath which
+were the dungeons.  The Spaniards would no doubt be asleep in the inner
+room, and, suddenly disturbed from their slumbers, they might be
+expected to hesitate before attacking five well-armed men who stood
+guard over their muskets.  It was scarcely likely that more than one or
+two would at this dead hour of night be in the outer room where the
+light was, and Copstone and his men might be safely trusted to account
+for them.
+
+"You must give us a minute, Tom," said Amos, "seeing that we have the
+greater way to go."
+
+"Ay, indeed," said Dennis, "our entrances should fall together.  You
+know the way, Amos?"
+
+"Ay, sure, and have good reason to."
+
+"Well, then, Copstone will wait until we have had time to reach the
+tower, then he will perform his part."
+
+This conversation had passed in whispers.  All having been arranged,
+they crept down the steps from the battlement to the courtyard, and
+while Copstone and his four dusky companions stood in the shadow of the
+stairway, the other three, with rapid, noiseless steps, ran towards the
+light in the farther corner.  The courtyard was covered with grass,
+except for a small stone-paved space around the buildings in the
+centre; and Turnpenny, who was leading, kept to the grass, even though
+their bare feet might make no sound on the stones.
+
+But they had covered little more than a third of the distance, and had,
+indeed, not yet come level with the buildings, when all three were
+suddenly startled by a low deep growl on the right, from the
+neighbourhood of the commandant's house.
+
+"Crymaces!  I had forgot the Captain's dog!" whispered Turnpenny.
+
+They had instinctively halted and turned in the direction of the sound.
+A dark form, still growling, was rushing over the stone court towards
+them.  It made direct for Turnpenny.  The sailor threw up his left hand
+to ward off the attack, but the beast was so large, and came against
+him with such momentum, that he reeled under the impact, and the sword
+he held raised in his right hand was almost wrenched from his grasp.
+Dennis was swinging forward to his comrade's assistance when he saw
+that no help was needed.  The hound had impaled itself on Turnpenny's
+sword.  Amos gasped with relief as he shook himself free; then,
+whispering "They'll have heard the beast's growls," he set off at full
+speed for the round house, the two others following close at his heels.
+
+[Illustration: "The sailor threw up his left hand to ward off the
+attack."]
+
+They dashed straight for the doorway, which was faintly lit by a light
+in the guard-room to the right of the passage.  In a quarter-minute
+they were inside; five seconds more brought them to the door of the
+room, which they reached just as three Spaniards were leaving the table
+at which they had been dicing, curious, no doubt, to discover the cause
+of the dog's uneasiness.  They were unarmed; their weapons indeed lay
+on a bench at the further end of the room; clearly the dog's growls had
+caused them no real alarm, and no other sounds could have reached them.
+Consequently they stood stock-still, petrified with amazement, when
+they saw two white men and a maroon with naked swords rush almost
+noiselessly into the room.
+
+"Surrender, villains!" cried Amos, pointing his sword full at the first
+man's throat.
+
+His tone, backed by the sight of the three blades, helped to clear
+their scattered wits.  With fine presence of mind, the man farthest
+from the door snatched a goblet from the table and hurled it straight
+at Turnpenny, stooping then to seize his sword that lay on the bench
+behind.  But he had taken only a single step when the maroon, with a
+cry of fury, flung himself clean across the table, and drove his weapon
+through the man's body.  The other two, less quick-witted and less
+courageous than their hapless comrade, shrank back and held up their
+hands, crying aloud for mercy.
+
+"Down on your knees, dogs!" shouted Turnpenny.  "To the passage, Juan!"
+he said to the maroon.  "Stand by the door opposite."
+
+While Amos unstrung his caliver and lit his match, Dennis swept the
+Spaniards' weapons from the bench out of their reach.  Scarcely had
+this been done when the door on the opposite side of the passage
+opened, showing a room dimly lighted by a candle-lamp, and eight or ten
+Spaniards who had been roused from sleep by the noise.
+
+"What is this?" cried one of them, fumbling with his sword as he came
+to the door.
+
+Juan, the maroon, stood on no ceremony, but promptly transfixed him,
+and he fell like a log across the doorway.  His comrades immediately
+behind recoiled in panic; but were pushed forward by the men in the
+rear, who had not seen what had happened.
+
+"Stand, you villains!" called Turnpenny, from the opposite doorway.  "I
+will shoot any man of you that lifts a finger."
+
+"Shut the door!" cried one of the men behind.
+
+But this was impossible; the door opened outwards, and none could reach
+it without stepping over the body of the man whom the maroon had
+killed.  They well knew that the first who ventured across the
+threshold would meet with the same fate, and every man of them shrank
+from the risk.  Dim as the light was, Turnpenny recognized the features
+of men under whose whips he had many times writhed.
+
+"Fling down your sword, Hernando," he cried to the foremost of them.
+The man hesitated.  "Down with it, or you are a dead man," roared the
+seaman, and there was an accent in his voice that boded ill for the
+Spaniard if he should delay.  His sword fell with a clatter on the
+stone floor.
+
+"Now yours, Fernan, and yours, Manuel," and as these obeyed the curt
+command the rest waited no bidding, but cast their weapons from them
+and cried for quarter.
+
+"Out with you, into the guard-room," shouted Turnpenny.  "Have a care,
+Juan; let none escape."
+
+The big maroon stood in the passage with his back towards the outer
+gate, and the sight of his ferocious look and his formidable sword was
+enough.  The Spaniards tumbled over each other like a flock of sheep as
+they surged into the room, where Dennis stood ready to cut down any who
+attempted resistance.
+
+"Ah, 'tis you, Jose," cried Turnpenny, following the last into the
+room.  "Where are your keys?"
+
+The warder edged away, seeking to hide behind his comrades.  At a sign
+from Turnpenny the maroon sprang after him and hauled him back.
+
+"Your keys, rascal!" cried Turnpenny, and the cold barrel of the
+caliver within an inch of his ear jogged his memory.
+
+"Mercy!  I will fetch them," he said, hastily.  The maroon followed him
+as he ran back into the room opposite, and in a few seconds he returned
+with his heavy bunch.
+
+"Lock 'em in, sir," said Turnpenny, handing his weapon to Juan.  "I be
+going with this villain to loose the prisoners."
+
+He caught the terrified warder by the shoulder and pushed him into the
+passage, where he turned to the right towards the stairway leading to
+the dungeons.  Down he bundled him, neck and crop, and forced him to
+find the key among his bunch and throw open the door.
+
+"'Tis me, comrades," he cried jubilantly into the dark space, "'tis me,
+your old comrade, Haymoss Turnpenny, come to free 'ee from this cursed
+hole.  Be you there, Ned Whiddon?"
+
+"Ay, ay," came the amazed answer.
+
+"And you, Hugh Curder?"
+
+"Ay, Haymoss, here I be."
+
+"Come out, my hearts.  Ah, I hear the chains clanking on your poor
+legs.  'Tis not for long, dear comrades.  Come out; this villain warder
+will ungyve ye; then do the same with the rest of the comrades and
+follow up aloft.  We have arms for 'ee there, dear hearts.  God be
+praised you be alive!  Jose, you villain, loose their fetters.  Ned, I
+will leave him with 'ee; keep an eye on him."
+
+Leaving the cowed Spaniard in the safe hands of Whiddon and Curder,
+Turnpenny hastened back to rejoin Dennis, who had locked the door upon
+the others, and piled their arms against the wall of the passage.  Then
+the three rushed out into the open, and raced at breakneck pace across
+the courtyard to the main buildings, whence came the sounds of
+desperate conflict--shots, cries, and the clash of steel.
+
+
+Copstone, waiting impatiently with the four maroons at the foot of the
+wall until the others should have reached the far corner of the
+enclosure, heard the growl of the commandant's dog, and guessed, from
+the sudden silence that followed, what had happened.  Instantly he led
+his men with a rush towards the main building, where the light
+indicated that some at least of the garrison were awake.  They reached
+the spot just as the door was thrown open and a man stepped across the
+threshold, whistling for the dog.  Copstone sprang upon him, and
+toppled him over, and was then dashing past him into the house when he
+perceived that a group of at least half a dozen Spaniards were coming
+towards the door, alarmed by the sound of the scuffle.  Copstone darted
+back; the maroons fired their calivers into the doorway; groans
+proclaimed that some of the shots had told.  But there were resolute
+spirits among the garrison; in a few seconds they came pouring out,
+and, catching sight of the maroons, evidently believed that they had
+nothing worse than an outbreak of the native labourers to contend with.
+Shouting with fury, they pressed forward, slashing with their swords,
+and forced the assailants into the narrow space between the wall of
+heir quarters and the commandant's house.
+
+When Dennis and his comrades came breathless upon the scene, Copstone
+and his party were hemmed in by a crowd of infuriated Spaniards
+outnumbering them by seven to one.  The Spaniards had had no time to
+light the matches for their muskets; the maroons had had no time to
+reload; and both attacked and attackers were laying about them
+doughtily with their swords.  Whatever the timidity of the maroons in
+captivity, there was no doubt about their courage when fighting for
+their lives against odds.  Aided somewhat by the darkness, which made
+it difficult to distinguish foe from friend, they were cutting and
+thrusting vigorously with their backs against the wall, encouraged by
+the voice of Copstone, who mingled with English words of cheer a few
+Spanish exclamations he had picked up during his imprisonment.
+
+But steadily as they fought, it would have gone ill with them had not
+the arrival of Dennis and the others caused a momentary relaxation of
+the pressure upon them.  The three dashed with a resounding cheer upon
+the rear of the Spaniards.
+
+"Stand to it, my hearts!" bellowed Turnpenny.  "You and me, Tom
+Copstone, you and me!"
+
+Three Spaniards fell at the first onset.  Before the rest had recovered
+from their surprise, before they had any idea of how small the
+reinforcement was, three more suffered the same fate.  In the
+confusion, Dennis and his men dashed right through the cordon and
+ranged themselves alongside the doughty five.  Then the Spaniards,
+finding that their rear was no longer attacked, realized that their
+enemy had received but a slight accession of strength, and returned to
+the fight with redoubled energy.  For some time it was cut and thrust
+almost at random, and many shrewd blows were dealt on both sides.  So
+sudden and surprising had the attack been that the Spaniards had had no
+time to collect their wits and resort to strategy.  It had not occurred
+to them to get at the rear of their enemy over the wall.  Again and
+again they rushed headlong upon the little party; but the maroons and
+Copstone had taken new courage from the presence of Dennis and the
+others.  Turnpenny was in the centre of the line, Dennis at the extreme
+right, Juan the maroon at the left next to Copstone.  Again and again
+they flung back the furious assault, and ever and anon above the din of
+the combat rose the inspiriting battle-cry of Turnpenny, "You and me,
+Tom Copstone, you and me!" and the answering shout, "You and me,
+Haymoss; good cheer, my heart!"
+
+But eight men, however bold and stout-hearted, could not long contend
+with an enemy at least four times their number.  Scarce a man of them
+but was bleeding from several wounds.  The exertions and excitements of
+the night had made inroads upon their strength even before the fight
+began, while the Spaniards were at no such disadvantage; some of them,
+indeed, had risen fresh from sleep.  Gradually the blows of the lesser
+force weakened.  The Spaniards could not all attack them at the same
+time, so confined was the area of conflict; but when any of their
+number fell out, from wounds or fatigue, there were new men to take
+their places.  For the others there was no such relief.  Each one of
+them had to meet a succession of Spaniards.  Dennis felt his strength
+giving way.  He was not conscious of having been wounded, but he could
+now scarcely hold his sword from sheer weariness.  And he felt that
+things were going badly with his comrades.  Two of the maroons at his
+left had fallen, whether killed or merely wounded he could not tell.
+He still heard the ringing voice of Turnpenny, but his heart sank as he
+realized that in a few more minutes he, at any rate, would no longer
+have the force to respond.
+
+At last, when he felt with a kind of frenzied despair that it was
+impossible he should strike another blow, there fell upon his ears a
+new sound from the front--from some point beyond the crowd of
+Spaniards.  Surely there was an English ring in those cheers; it was no
+mere Spanish yell.  It was coming nearer, swelling into a roar.  A few
+seconds later, the ring of steel by which the little party was
+encircled seemed to be burst asunder; then the Spaniards broke and
+scattered in all directions, fleeing helter-skelter before knives and
+swords wielded with the terrible might of vengeance by the hands of a
+score of men who had but lately lain cowed and crushed in their
+dungeons.  Little mercy they deserved; little they found.  Ned Whiddon,
+Hugh Curder, and many another hunted them into the four corners of the
+courtyard; the tables were turned, and the freed prisoners smote and
+spared not.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Vae Victis
+
+The intention of Dennis had been to release the prisoners and then make
+for the bark that lay alongside the quay.  She was only of some fifty
+tons burden; her crew would not be a large one; and it ought to be a
+comparatively easy matter to overpower the men on board and warp the
+vessel clear before the discomfited Spaniards could recover from their
+confusion and make an organized attack.
+
+But he had not reckoned on the rapidity with which events had moved,
+and the impossibility of communicating his design to the men who had
+been released.  They had scattered in all directions in pursuit of the
+Spaniards; Copstone and the maroons were carried away by the lust of
+vengeance, and, wounded as they were, had rushed away with the rest;
+and Dennis found that only Turnpenny was left at his side.
+
+There were elements of peril in the situation.  Some of the Spaniards
+had swarmed over the wall of the officers' quarters.  If they found
+efficient leadership they might yet rally and prove a very formidable
+enemy.  Dennis and the seaman held a hurried consultation.  They were
+unarmed save for their swords; they had left their calivers in the
+passage of the round tower, and the weapons were no doubt now in the
+hands of two of the released prisoners.  Adventurous as they both were,
+it seemed the height of folly and rashness to attempt, they two alone,
+to cope with unknown numbers beyond the wall.  While they were still
+perplexed as to the best course to follow, they heard a roar and a
+crash from the direction of the commandant's house, followed by a babel
+of cries.  Running round, they found that the maroons, headed by
+Copstone, had blown open the door of the house, and were hunting
+through it in the darkness for the man under whose authority they had
+suffered so many grievous wrongs.  There were only four rooms; it was
+the work of a few minutes to ransack them thoroughly; not a trace of
+the commandant or his household could be discovered.
+
+"Be jowned if they bean't stolen a march on us," cried Turnpenny, "and
+made for the harbour first!"
+
+"Let us after them at once, then.  If they get away ours will be a bad
+case indeed."
+
+Calling to the half-dozen men who were at hand, Turnpenny led the way
+at a great pace to the gate in the eastern wall of the fort.  It was
+locked.  Almost beside himself with baffled rage, the seaman threw his
+great bulk against the timbers; but they were stout, and even his
+weight failed to force the lock.
+
+"Is there no other way out?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Not as I knows on.  Where be Tom Copstone?  Hey, my heart, be there
+any other way out o' this yard?"
+
+"Ay, there be a postern in the nor'-east tower."
+
+The words were scarcely out of his mouth before Dennis dashed towards
+the tower, the others following him with a rush.  The door at the foot
+of the tower was open; he sprang up the spiral stairway three steps at
+a time, and almost broke his head against the postern door, that opened
+inwards and blocked the way.  The dawn was bursting in the eastern sky,
+and Dennis looked eagerly out.  The postern faced the sea, and the
+harbour and quay were hidden from him by the circumference of the
+tower; but he spied a rope ladder dangling from the opening to the
+narrow footway below.  It was clear that the commandant and his party,
+while the combat was at its height, had slipped out of the house and
+made their escape by this exit.
+
+By this time Turnpenny and half a dozen others were crowding the narrow
+staircase.
+
+"They have made for the bark," cried the seaman, "and if there be true
+mariners aboard she'll be warped clear and out to sea."
+
+"She is not there yet.  We have one chance.  Copstone, run back to the
+gate; blow up the lock and lead as many of your comrades as you can
+find hot foot along the quay, in case it be still possible to seize the
+vessel.  Amos, can we train the fort guns on the mouth of the harbour?"
+
+"Ay, sure, and I'll do it, being once gunner's mate aboard the _Anne
+Gallant_."
+
+"And I can aid you; God be praised that Sir Martin practised us
+venturers in the usage of ordnance in the _Maid Marian_."
+
+He slammed-to the postern door, freeing the stairway, and rushed up to
+the narrow open archway leading on to the battlements, stumbling in the
+dim light over the prostrate body of the gagged sentry as he leapt
+through.  Vaulting on to the parapet, he looked down at the quay to see
+how the men were faring.  A cry of bitter mortification burst from his
+lips as he saw the bark slowly moving towards the sea.  Her sails were
+hoisted on the mainmast, and filling with the light westerly breeze; a
+group of officers, among whom the commandant was easily distinguished,
+crowded her deck, in addition to the crew; and there was not one of
+Dennis's party or the prisoners in sight.
+
+But at that moment there was a loud explosion; the gate fell with a
+crash; and a crowd of men, white and black, headed by Copstone, rushed
+out on to the quay.  They roared with fury when they saw that they were
+too late.  Those of them who had loaded calivers ran along the quay,
+firing ineffectually at the moving vessel.  They were answered with a
+volley from her decks, and two maroons fell, shouts from the Spaniards
+acclaiming the lucky shots.
+
+But Turnpenny had now taken his post at the nearest gun.
+
+"Body o' me, sure 'tis a saker taken from the Jesus herself!" he cried
+joyfully.  "And here be powder and round shot and stone shot, and a
+half circle for the sighting.  Haymoss Turnpenny be no true man an he
+do not send a good un plump into the midst of the knaves."
+
+But none knew better than Turnpenny that, at any considerable distance,
+it was easier to miss than to hit.  Seeing that it was impossible to
+depress the gun so as to get a shot at the vessel until she had drawn
+clear of the harbour, he ran to the ordnance on the northern wall, and
+loaded them in readiness in case his first shot missed.  Meanwhile
+Dennis had spied the muzzle of a demi-culverin projecting from the roof
+of the round tower, and summoning to his assistance a white man who was
+among his party, he ran up and began with all haste to load the gun.
+
+Before he had finished, there was a flash and a roar from Turnpenny's
+saker just below.  The Spaniards on deck, who the moment before had
+been laughing at the futile shots from the men on the quay, skipped
+down the companion way with exceeding nimbleness.  Dennis looked
+eagerly for the result of the shot.  That something had been carried
+away was clear from the clattering noise on board and the rush of the
+crew towards the stern-works; but neither the fore nor the mainmast had
+been hit, and the vessel still glided seawards.  Turnpenny growled with
+rage, and ran to the next gun, from which, however, it would be useless
+to fire until the bark had come quite out from the harbour mouth.
+
+Dennis's heart leapt within him as he saw that the course of the vessel
+would bring her in a few seconds within range of his gun.  Now was his
+chance of showing how he had profited by Sir Martin's lessons in
+gunnery.  How ardently he hoped that the bore was true and the windage
+not too great to spoil his aim!  He waited with lighted match until,
+sighting with the gunner's half-circle--the quadrant with which every
+piece of ordnance was equipped--he knew that the Spaniard was well
+within range.  He applied the match and sprang forward to the very edge
+of the parapet to watch the effect of his shot.  There was a sound of
+rending and splitting from the deck; and through the smoke he saw the
+mainmast collapse with all its rigging.  A great shout from the
+battlements and from the crowd below acclaimed the famous shot.  There
+had been no time to run up a sail on the foremast; the vessel lost way;
+and the crew, having been deserted by the officers, huddled into the
+forecastle, leaving several of their number prone upon the deck.
+
+When the motion of the vessel ceased, two of the Spaniards rushed up
+the companion-way and called on the crew frantically to hoist the
+foresail.  But in vain.  The men were helpless with terror.  And while
+the Spaniards were storming and gesticulating, Turnpenny, exerting his
+immense strength, hauled round the eight-foot minion which had been
+removed from the embrasure by which the intruders had entered the fort,
+and next moment a carcass crammed with case-shot plumped amidships of
+the hapless bark, and the Spaniards, cowering from the flying
+splinters, scuttled down the companion-way--all but one fellow, bolder
+than the rest.  The vessel had swung round a little, so that her
+stern-chaser, a culverin twelve feet long, pointed full at the fort.
+It was already loaded.  The Spaniard, with a shout of defiance, altered
+the elevation of the gun, lit a match, and applied it to the
+touch-hole.  A round shot crashed through the embrasure from which
+Turnpenny had fired, scattering a shower of stone-chips around, and
+dealing wounds among the group who were watching and assisting the
+seaman to reload.  The crashing sound brought the Spaniards again from
+below, and they began feverishly to clean out and reload the piece.
+But another shot from Dennis's gun fell plump into the round-house on
+the half-deck; and now the Spanish commandant, perceiving that the men
+on the quay had sprung into the fishers' canoes that lay alongside, and
+were making direct to board his vessel, saw that the game was up, and,
+raising his arms aloft, shouted that he surrendered.
+
+"Go and board her," cried Dennis to Turnpenny.  "I'll stay by the guns
+in case he meditates treachery."
+
+The seaman hurried away with a mixed crowd of maroons and white men.
+In a few minutes he was pulling lustily for the vessel.  Dennis, with
+gun loaded, watched him climb the side and receive the Spaniard's
+sword.  Then a hawser was fixed to the headboards, and the vessel was
+towed back to the quay side.
+
+Dennis hastened down.  The crestfallen commandant with all his men was
+brought ashore and escorted to his house, where they were left under
+guard.  Hugh Curder, with three other seamen, was placed in charge of
+the vessel, and then Dennis re-entered the fort-enclosure with
+Turnpenny and the rest, eager to see, now that day had fully dawned,
+what had happened during his absence.
+
+He could not repress a shudder as he saw the ground strewn with dead
+and wounded men; and he was horrified to observe that some of the
+slave-fishers had broken out of their huts, and were moving about the
+court-yard, giving the finishing stroke to the wounded of their late
+masters who were yet alive.  Dennis sent Ned Whiddon among them to put
+a stop to this ruthless butchery; then his intervention was called for
+at the round tower from which the prisoners had been released.  A group
+of them, headed by a big ruffianly seaman, had burst open the door of
+the room in which the unarmed Spanish guards had been locked, and were
+beginning a work of butchery there when Dennis, with Turnpenny and a
+few others, rushed to the scene.  Dashing into the room, Dennis sprang
+at the ringleader just as he was thrusting at a Spaniard who had thrown
+himself down on his knees and was pleading for mercy.
+
+"Hold, knave!" he cried, hauling the man away.
+
+"Zounds! and who be you?" shouted the fellow, recovering himself and
+lunging furiously at Dennis.
+
+"I'll teach 'ee, Jan Biddle!" roared Turnpenny.  Seizing the man, he
+lifted him as though he were a child and hurled him over his head in
+true Devonian style.  Biddle's head struck the floor with a loud thud,
+and he lay as one killed.
+
+"Souse him, my hearts!" cried Turnpenny.  "The saucy knave!"
+
+And in a few minutes a plentiful drenching from a water-butt at the
+door brought some glimmering of sense into the man's bruised noddle.
+
+Meanwhile the Spaniards who had survived the fight and escaped from
+their pursuers, had barricaded themselves in the officers' quarters,
+where they were unmolested while the majority of their late prisoners
+were on the quay.  The victory could not be considered complete while
+they remained shut up, for they no doubt had arms and ammunition at
+their disposal.  Some of the victors were for blowing up the house and
+all in it; but Dennis and Turnpenny dissuaded them from this, and
+declared for insisting on unconditional surrender.  To obtain this they
+made use of the captive commandant.  At Dennis's suggestion, Turnpenny
+put the case to him, pointing out how hopeless was the position of his
+men, and promising to spare their lives if they surrendered at once.
+The commandant was then led to the officers' house between two men with
+drawn swords, and after a few minutes' colloquy the men agreed to hand
+over their weapons.
+
+Dennis meanwhile collected his whole party.  They were a very ragged
+regiment.  None was quite so tattered as Tom Copstone, but all were
+dirty, unkempt, unshorn, bearing many marks of toil and suffering, as
+well as the more recent marks of fight.  Of the five maroons who had
+scaled the fort wall two were dead; the rest were all wounded.  Not one
+of the little band had escaped unhurt.  Dennis had several gashes in
+his arms.  Turnpenny's big face was disfigured with cuts and bruises,
+while Copstone, who had fought with utter recklessness, seemed to have
+borne a charmed life, so many were his wounds.  The released prisoners
+had come off best.  With the exception of the two men shot down from
+the vessel, one being killed and the other badly wounded, they had
+escaped with a few scratches.  They were a wild, rough lot, and Dennis
+wondered, as he looked them over, whether they would show themselves
+amenable to discipline.
+
+The Spaniards having been disarmed and locked in the house, Turnpenny
+constituted himself master of the ceremonies.  After a brief talk with
+Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder, his special friends, he said to Dennis--
+
+"Here we be, sir, masters of the fort, twenty-two all told, five being
+French.  We must needs have a captain, and that be you, for 'tis all
+owed to your wit, and we pay you our humble duty."
+
+"Thank 'ee, Amos, but I will not be captain save by the wish of all.
+Methinks 'tis an office for one older in years."
+
+"Be jowned if it be, sir.  Comrades, list while I tell the tale of
+these rare doings."
+
+He related to the crowd the story of his rescue from the Spaniards on
+the island, the capture of the lumber-ship, the voyage in the maroons'
+canoe, and all that had happened since.
+
+"And now, comrades," he concluded, "I ax 'ee, who so fit to be our
+captain as Master Dennis Hazelrig, of Shaston in Devon?  We owe our
+lives to him, and there be many a thing to face afore we get across the
+thousand leagues to home.  Who but him shall be our captain?"
+
+The election was ratified with a great shout.
+
+"Thank 'ee, comrades," said Dennis.  "'Tis not a post I covet;
+willingly would I serve under an older man, my good friend Amos, to
+wit.  But I accept your choice.  One thing I say.  There may be more
+fighting before us; if we fight, let us fight like Englishmen, not like
+savages, and treat our enemies according to the manner of civilized
+nations.  Do you agree to that?"
+
+"Ay, ay!" shouted the men,--all but Jan Biddle, whose growling protests
+were howled down by the rest.
+
+"Then it is mine to choose my lieutenant.  You are all good men and
+true, but 'tis my misfortune I am not so well acquainted with you as I
+hope to be.  But I know Amos Turnpenny, and you know him also; and----"
+
+"I crave your pardon, sir," said Amos, interrupting; "I was gunner's
+mate twenty-five year ago on the noble _Anne Gallant_, and four year
+ago boatswain on Captain Hawkins his _Jesus_, and methinks the rank of
+boatswain befits my stature and my fancy both; and if I may be so bold,
+I say let these our comrades, good men and true, as you yourself did
+say, choose among themselves two to serve as mates aboard the vessel."
+
+"A wise speech," said Jan Biddle.  "There be good mariners among us;
+ay, and some of us are skilled in the manage of greater vessels than
+the poor bark yonder.  Let us then do as Amos says, and choose who
+shall come next to our noble captain."
+
+"So be it," said Dennis, with a glance at Amos.  "Choose then, and we
+will abide the choice."
+
+It was clear that Jan Biddle expected the election to one of the posts
+to fall upon himself.  He could not hide his chagrin when by general
+consent Ned Whiddon and a man of quiet appearance named Gabriel Batten
+were selected.  Dennis on his part was glad that Biddle was to remain a
+simple member of the crew; he disliked the man's overbearing manner and
+the shifty look in his eyes.
+
+These matters having been settled, he explained that his purpose was to
+sail away as soon as the vessel could be got ready, and steer a course
+for England.  It was needful to make haste, for the sound of the firing
+might have been heard on Spanish ships at sea, and even now an enemy
+might be making for the spot.  The first thing was to inspect the
+vessel at the quay and see what damage had been done.  He asked the two
+mates and Turnpenny to accompany him to the ship for this purpose.
+Meanwhile he suggested that the others, with the assistance of the
+natives, should give those who had been killed burial in the sea, and
+he dispatched two of the maroons to the creek where they had left
+Baltizar and one of their comrades in charge of the two prisoners, to
+acquaint them with what had happened and bring them to the fort.
+
+Boarding the Spanish vessel, he found that the mainmast was a complete
+ruin; it would be necessary to replace it.  This Ned Whiddon said would
+be no difficult matter.  A couple of men could soon fell a tall and
+slender cedar in the woods, and though it was not advisable to spend
+much time in trimming it, a few hours' work would suffice to fit it for
+its use.  Luckily the step was uninjured, and there was plenty of sound
+rope on board from which to form new stays.
+
+The deck had been a good deal knocked about by the shots from the fort,
+but the damage done was not such as to render the vessel unnavigable as
+soon as the mast should be stepped and the rigging repaired.  Ned
+Whiddon undertook to carry out the necessary work with the assistance
+of men of his choice, and went back to the fort with Batten to make a
+beginning.
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny examined the vessel from stem to stern above and
+below decks.  In the captain's cabin they found a number of small bags
+which on being opened they discovered to be full of pearls.  The
+commandant had evidently not come empty-handed from the fort.  There
+were also several chests containing pieces of eight, and in the hold
+were twenty odd jars filled with gunpowder, and more than a hundred
+jars of wine.
+
+"'Tis my counsel to fling 'em overboard as soon as it be dark," said
+Amos.  "'Tis a goodish time since my comrades have tasted strong
+liquor, and I fear me with such plenty they might drink until they were
+drunken and fit for nought.  And Jan Biddle with wine in him would be
+no less than a madman."
+
+"Ay.  Tell me, Amos, what know you of that same loud-tongued mariner?"
+
+"Why, sir, I know little.  He do say he be an Englishman, and one time
+second mate on a Dutch privateer; but what be the truth of it none can
+say.  He speaks the French and Dutch tongues as readily as English, and
+has suffered at the hands of the Spaniards even more than most, by
+reason of his unruly tongue.  He is loved by none, but hath a certain
+power over men; and I rejoice that he is not chosen for mate aboard
+this vessel."
+
+"I like not his looks.  Your comrades have done wisely, I trow, in
+rejecting him.  And now, what think you of the chances of our purposed
+voyage, Amos?"
+
+"My heart!  I warrant we can sail her merrily across the great ocean,
+and with favouring winds may hope to see the blessed shores of England
+in a matter of two months.  And my soul hungers for the sight of the
+old cliffs.  By the mercy of God, who hath marvellously prospered our
+doings, we will yet again come to haven in our dear native land."
+
+"We will new christen her for luck, Amos.  Her present name--I cannot
+say the words--"
+
+"_Nuestra Senora del Baria_--a papist name, sir, 'Our Lady of'--I know
+not what.  What name shall we give her?"
+
+"What say you to _Mirandola_?  Our comrade the monkey has without doubt
+gotten him away to the woods, and there, mayhap, found old friends of
+his kind.  I hold the beast in affection, Amos, and would fain keep him
+in remembrance."
+
+"The _Mirandola_ it shall be, sir; 'tis a fair sounding name, and, if I
+may speak my mind, befits a tight little craft somewhat better than a
+heathen monkey.  Though i' fecks, I'd liever call her by a plainer
+name; yet it shall be as you say."
+
+"And now, a matter that troubles me, Amos: what shall we do with the
+Spaniards our captives?"
+
+"Be jowned if I would let the knaves trouble me.  Let 'em loose afore
+we sail.  There is much food, I doubt not, in the fort, and abundance
+in the woods around.  The knaves will not starve; t'ud be no great loss
+if they did; and belike a vessel will come to this place ere many days
+be past, and then they can tell the tale, with raging and cursing that
+will harm us not a jot."
+
+"It shall be done.  And it will be well, I trow, to raze the fort to
+the ground.  It has been built with the blood and sweat of our
+comrades; to destroy it will be a just reprisal."
+
+"Ay, and make the knaves to dismantle it with their own hands.  I would
+fain scourge their naked backs as they have scourged mine, many's the
+time."
+
+"And the ordnance?"
+
+"Burst it asunder.  Why should we leave it sound to belch its shot,
+mayhap, on English craft some day?  God-a-mercy, 'twas a famous shot of
+yours, sir, that sent the mainmast by the board, and I don't grudge it
+'ee that your aim was truer than mine.  'Tis twenty-five year since I
+served the ordnance on the _Anne Gallant_."
+
+"And I had good practice on the _Maid Marian_.  But you have not forgot
+your cunning, Amos, and I warrant if we have occasion to use the piece
+here in the stern you will make good firing.  Now 'tis time to return
+to the fort; I would not that Jan Biddle should stir up the rage of our
+people against those unhappy Spaniards, and 'tis not unlike, we being
+absent, he may do so."
+
+"Ay, 'tis meet we trust not Jan Biddle overmuch.  Let us go, sir."
+
+They found on returning that Ned Whiddon had already gone into the
+forest with two or three men to fell a tree for the mast.  While he was
+absent on this errand Dennis set part of his company to collect all the
+Spaniards' small arms and pile them in readiness for conveyance to the
+vessel, others to ram excessive charges of powder into the guns, and a
+third gang to superintend the Spaniards in their enforced task of
+dismantling the fort.  Great charges of powder, of which there was an
+ample store, were placed in barrels in each of the round towers, to be
+fired at the last moment, for Dennis did not wish to risk an explosion,
+which must be heard many miles away, until he was on the point of
+sailing out on the _Mirandola_.
+
+The work of preparation was continued throughout the day, with brief
+pauses for meals.  Ned Whiddon and his party toiled with such right
+good will that he was able to announce, at nightfall, that after a
+little more work in the morning the new mast would be ready for
+stepping.  This was especially good news, for in view of the possible
+arrival of a Spanish vessel Dennis could not feel secure until the
+_Mirandola_ was fairly out at sea.  As soon as it was dark, Turnpenny
+and Copstone went down to the vessel, and flung overboard the whole
+store of wine save a few jars which they kept for emergencies.  The
+Spaniards, of whom about thirty had survived the fight, were again shut
+up in the houses of the commandant and the officers, and Dennis
+arranged that a careful watch should be kept through the night.  Then,
+tired out with his long labours, he gladly threw himself upon a couch
+in one of the towers, and slept soundly until the dawn.
+
+In the morning, as he went round the battlements with Turnpenny to see
+that the guns had all been crammed with bursting charges, he was seized
+with a whim to preserve two of them and carry them home to England.
+
+"Me thinks they would make rare trophies for our folks to marvel at,"
+he said to Amos with a smile.  "What say you, Amos?  Would not one look
+exceeding well on the Hoe at Plymouth?  And I think not Holles, my
+steward, who is keeping my little place at Shaston warm for me till I
+attain to man's estate,--I think not even he, puritan as he is, would
+find cause why one should not stand at my gates."
+
+"A rare conceit, sir.  Pray you one be the saker stolen by the knaves
+from the _Jesus_; t'other might be the demi-culverin you fired so
+famously.  They'd be good ballast aboard, moreover; pearls are of
+greater price than weight; and there be room enough and to spare in the
+hold."
+
+With some trouble the two pieces were lowered over the battlements to
+the quay and hoisted aboard the vessel, where Ned Whiddon and his crew
+were already at work stepping the mast and overhauling the rigging.  By
+midday Whiddon declared with pride that the _Mirandola_ was ready for
+sea.  A great cheer greeted the announcement.  No time was lost in
+carrying stores, water, arms, and ammunition on board.  When all was
+safely stowed, Dennis, with Turnpenny as interpreter, had a final
+interview with the commandant, to whom he made known his intention of
+blowing up the towers of the fort, but leaving the buildings in the
+centre of the enclosure intact.  He said also that the native
+pearl-fishers, with the maroons, had elected to coast along the shore
+in their canoes until they reached a settlement of their own people.
+Being well provided with arms, they could defend themselves against
+pursuit even if there should be any disposition on the part of the
+Spaniards to attempt to capture them.
+
+Then, one after another, the guns were fired and burst to atoms by
+means of long trains of powder.  Last of all the charges in the towers
+were exploded, and as the masonry toppled and fell after each
+thunderous roar, the little company greeted the destruction with a
+storm of cheers.  When Dennis and his comrades turned their backs on
+the place and went aboard the _Mirandola_, they left the once
+stronghold a heap of ruins, amid which the Spaniards were already
+moving about in desolation and despair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A Long Chase
+
+The _Mirandola_ was towed out of the little harbour by maroons and
+Indians in their canoes, and beat out to sea against a
+nor'-nor'-easterly wind.  Thanks to Ned Whiddon and his comrades the
+bark was in capital trim, and the crew, now after many days free men
+afloat, were at the top of cheerfulness and jollity.  The long voyage
+home had no terrors for them.  They were all sturdy mariners,
+accustomed to adventure their lives on the deep.  They had hardly
+weathered the headland to the east and stood away for the mouth of the
+gulf before Hugh Curder began to troll a ditty:
+
+  "Lustily, lustily, let us sail forth;
+  The wind trim doth serve us, it blows from the north,
+  All things we have ready, and nothing we want,
+    To furnish our ship that rideth hereby;
+  Victuals and weapons they be nothing scant,
+    Like worthy mariners ourselves we will try.
+          Lustily, oh lustily!"
+
+
+"Oh, 'tis good to hear to 'ee, Hugh!" cried Turnpenny.  "And I do wish
+we had a crowdy-kit aboard, for I mind me Tom Copstone can ply the bow,
+and a merry tune would set our feet a-jog.  To it again, Hugh; open
+your thropple, man, and we'll bear our burden, every man of us."
+
+And Hugh Curder, after "hawking and spitting," as he said, because his
+"wynd-pipe" was "summat scrannied for want o' use," struck up again:
+
+  "Her flags be new trimmed, set flaunting aloft----"
+
+
+"Not so," interrupted Ned Whiddon.  "We bean't got no flags."
+
+"Pegs! 'tis in the ditty, Ned," cried Turnpenny.  "None but a
+ninny-hammer would look for sober truth in a ditty.  Heed him not,
+Hugh; to it again."
+
+  "Her flags be new trimmed, set flaunting aloft,
+    Our ship for swift swimming, oh she doth excel;
+  We fear no enemies, we've escaped them oft;
+    Of all ships that swimmeth she beareth the bell.
+          Lustily, oh lustily.
+
+  "And here is a master excelleth in skill,
+    And our master's mate he is not to seek;
+  And here is a boatswain will do his good will,
+  And here is a ship-boy, we never had leak."
+          Lustily, oh lustily."
+
+
+"You be the ship-boy, Hugh, seeing you be the youngest of us," said
+Whiddon.  "And you've a proper breast for a singing-boy."
+
+"Now the last stanzo, Hugh," cried Turnpenny.  "'If fortune then fail
+not,'--but my scrimpy voice murders it.  Sing up, man."
+
+  "If fortune then fail not, and our next voyage prove,
+    We will return merrily and make good cheer,
+  And hold all together as friends linked in love,
+    The cans shall be filled with wine, ale, and beer,
+          Lustily, oh lustily."
+
+
+"'Tis not worth a crim," growled Jan Biddle, when the song was ended.
+"'Wine, ale, and beer'--where is it?  I'd give a week o' life for a
+gallon o' home-brewed."
+
+"Ay, and what then!" said Gabriel Batten.  "Sing the song of ale, Hugh."
+
+  "Back and side go bare, go bare,
+  Both foot and hand go cold----"
+
+
+"Nay, not that one; 'tis over long, and 'll make us too drouthy.
+Seeing we have no ale, 't'ud be cruel to sing the praises of it so
+feelingly.  Nay, sing the ditty that serves for warning; 'twill better
+fit our case."
+
+Hugh Curder began:
+
+  "Ale makes many a man to make his head have knocks;
+  And ale makes many a man to sit in the stocks;
+  And ale makes many a man to hang upon the gallows--"
+
+
+"Oh, shut his mouth!" cried Biddle testily.  "We'll all be glumping if
+we list to such trash.  Hallo for the wind to change, for with this
+nor'-easter blowing we'll never get clear of the coast."
+
+The vessel was indeed making slow progress, beating out against the
+strong wind.  Dennis, though elected Captain, had little to do with the
+actual handling of the ship: in those days the captain was not always a
+navigator.  But the _Mirandola_ was in good hands.  Both Whiddon and
+Batten were practised seamen, and in seamanship, as distinguished from
+navigation, Turnpenny was incomparable.  They had found in the cabin a
+chart of the coast and the neighbouring sea, by means of which they
+avoided the shoals and made without mishap towards the mouth of the
+gulf.  Dennis and Turnpenny examined the chart carefully to see if they
+could distinguish the island they had named Maiden Isle.  Several small
+islands were marked on it as mere dots without names, and they could
+not for a long time decide which of them was Maiden Isle; but Turnpenny
+at last fixed on one of them, and his conjecture was proved to be
+correct in the evening.  Whiddon had set the course by Turnpenny's
+suggestion, and just before dark the vessel skirted the south-eastern
+corner of the island where he and Dennis had met so strangely.
+
+Looking at the chart, Dennis wondered how the _Maid Marian_ had escaped
+wrecking a dozen times during the hurricane that finally cast her up on
+the western shore.  There was marked a good open channel for vessels of
+any draught south and south-east of the island, but, as he had guessed,
+the sea to the north and west was practically unnavigable except by
+small craft.  The _Mirandola_ gave the island a wide berth in passing;
+the wind was freshening, and there were signs of heavy weather.  Dennis
+felt a little regret at leaving the island unvisited, and abandoning
+the relics of his friends which he had saved from the wreck; but, like
+every member of his party, he was eager to lose sight of this hostile
+coast, and to gain the wide ocean where, given good luck, they would be
+secure from Spanish molestation and have nothing to fear but the
+ordinary chances of a long voyage.
+
+They made little headway that night.  Anxious as they were to run out
+of the main track of Spanish commerce, they felt the necessity of
+choosing a safe rather than a short course, and especially of avoiding
+the network of reefs and islands to leeward.  In the blackest hours of
+the night, indeed, they lay to, Turnpenny remarking that it was better
+to lose a little time than to run the risk of losing the vessel by a
+too bold navigation of unfamiliar seas.
+
+This caution proved to be justified, for the wind shifted in the night;
+and when at break of day the _Mirandola_ again got under way they found
+that she had drifted dangerously near an island which, being very
+small, was not marked on the chart.  A light haze lay over the sea, but
+it lifted soon, and then vast excitement was aroused on board when the
+look-out shouted that he descried, under the lee of the island, a
+vessel under full sail.  Turnpenny took a long look at her, and
+declared that she was a bark somewhat larger than the Mirandola, though
+at the distance--near four miles, he thought--it was impossible to be
+sure.
+
+"Of what nation is she?" asked Dennis.
+
+"No mortal man could say," returned Amos; "but 'tis a hundred to one
+she be a Spaniard, and we must either fight or run."
+
+"Think you she will see us, being so small a vessel?"
+
+"None can tell that either.  We must look to the worst.  True, we have
+the weather-gage of her; but soon or late she will overhaul us if she
+gives chase.  She has a look of speed, or I be no mariner.  'Tis
+certain we cannot fight her; our armament will not suffice;
+furthermore, from her size I reckon her crew be three or four times
+ours, and our men have no mind to be captured and cast again into a
+Spanish dungeon."
+
+"We must e'en run then," said Dennis with a sigh.  "That means we must
+put about?"
+
+"True, and 'tis somewhat in our favour, for you perceive the wind has
+shifted in the night to west-sou'-west, and belike we can sail
+close-hauled better than she can."
+
+Whiddon accordingly put the vessel about, and set the course so that
+she could keep the island between herself and the stranger.  But in the
+course of the next hour it was clear that the _Mirandola_ had not
+escaped notice.  The stranger had weathered the island and was
+manifestly standing in pursuit.  The crew of the _Mirandola_ watched
+her anxiously.  They were but twenty-two all told, five of them being
+French: and although they were all stout mariners with no lack of
+native courage, the remembrance of their past sufferings did not
+incline them to run risks.  For some time it was doubtful whether the
+pursuing vessel was or was not gaining; but as the day wore on it
+became clear that the _Mirandola_ was being outsailed.
+
+"'Tis a piece of rare good luck we had the wind against us last night,"
+said Turnpenny, "for in a straight chase in the open we should have no
+chance against the critter, whereas if we get back among these islands
+we may give her the slip."
+
+"If we do not strike a reef and founder," replied Dennis.
+
+Here Turnpenny tried a device that he had often seen practised on the
+_Anne Gallant_.  He ordered two men to go up to the cross-trees with a
+pulley-block; they rove a line through, and, hoisting up buckets of
+water, saturated all the canvas.  Then he put all the men on to the lee
+braces, and so got the vessel to lie a point nearer the wind.
+
+The two manoeuvres considerably increased her speed, but in spite of
+all that seamanship could do or devise the gap between the vessels
+sensibly diminished; the pursuer loomed ever larger down to leeward.
+Then Jan Biddle began to show himself in his true colours.  Dennis had
+noticed that the man had attached to himself a group of the wilder
+spirits among the crew, who with an ill grace went about the duties
+assigned to them by Whiddon, and upon whom, indeed, the mate called as
+seldom as possible.  When it became clear that the _Mirandola_ was
+being surely overhauled, these men were observed in close talk beneath
+the break of the poop.  By and by Biddle swaggered forward, followed by
+seven or eight of his comrades, to where Whiddon and Turnpenny stood,
+forward of the mainmast.  Batten was at the helm.
+
+"Art mad, Ned Whiddon?" cried Biddle in a hectoring tone.  "Dost think
+thou'rt a mariner?  Crymaces! if we trust to thee we'll be laid by the
+heels in the hold of yonder craft ere night."
+
+"Couldst do better, think 'ee?" asked Whiddon quietly.
+
+"Better?  Who but a slin-pole would have done as 'ee have done?
+There's but one way to scape out of the clutches of the Spaniards, and
+that is to put the helm down, come about, and run for it.  This craft
+is better running free than close-hauled."
+
+"Know a fool by his folly," said Turnpenny.  "Rule your saucy tongue,
+Jan Biddle, and offer not to teach your betters."
+
+"Who be you to talk of betters, Amos Turnpenny--a sluddering rampallian
+like you?  An you will take no counsel we'll e'en see to the manage of
+the vessel ourselves.  Here, comrades, this be enough of these joulter
+heads; let go the sheets; I will put the helm down and we'll go round
+on the other tack: we'll have no fools over us, to bring us to harm."
+
+But before one of the malcontents could step forward to do his bidding,
+Turnpenny threw his arms around Biddle, lifted him clean off his feet,
+and flung him against the bulwarks, where he lay stunned.
+
+"And I'll serve any man likewise that dares to raise his voice in
+mutiny.  Get about, you villains, and 'ware lest you be clapped in
+irons and set awash in the bilge."
+
+Dennis had hastened to Turnpenny's side at the first sign of
+altercation.
+
+"When the chase is over we will deal with these fellows," he said
+quietly.  "Meanwhile, Amos, is not that our Maiden Isle on the lewside
+ahead?"
+
+"Surely it is, sir."
+
+"Think you not 'twould serve us best to run in among the reefs
+thereabouts?  The bark could not follow us."
+
+"True, but we might strike and run aground any moment, and lose our
+vessel and our lives withal."
+
+"Ay, but we are being surely overhauled, and meseems 'twere better to
+take the risk of running aground than to fall into the hands of the
+Spaniards.  There is a chance of our threading a way through, whereas
+the stranger, being of greater draught, would not venture her bottom
+among these uncharted shoals."
+
+"Verily 'tis a wise thought--if there be time.  What think 'ee, Ned?
+Yonder, mark 'ee, is the isle whereon Master Hazelrig and I lived
+secure for a matter of weeks, with food in plenty.  Think 'ee there be
+time to make the shallows afore the Spaniard comes within shot of us?"
+
+"Ay, there be time enough, but I fear me we should wreck our craft."
+
+"There be no other way, Ned.  And I warrant me I could make a shift to
+steer a safe course inshore, because 'twas on the south side of the
+isle we landed from the timber ship, and there, i' fecks, be her
+masts--see, Ned, standing out a little above the sea."
+
+"Then do 'ee take the helm, Haymoss, and God save us all."
+
+Clearly the course of the _Mirandola_ was being closely watched on the
+pursuing vessel, for when, tacking in obedience to the helm, she made
+direct for the south of the island, there came a puff of smoke from the
+side of the bark, and a shot plumped into the sea about two
+cable-lengths astern.
+
+"'Twas over hurrisome, master don," said Turnpenny with a chuckle; "and
+call me a Dutchman if 'ee ever get to closer range."
+
+He ran the little vessel cleverly inshore and steered past the wreck of
+the timber ship.  Then it occurred to Dennis that there must be a
+practicable channel not far to the west, or the _Maid Marian_ would
+have gone aground in the hurricane long before she did.  At his
+suggestion the _Mirandola_ was kept on her course for half a mile
+beyond the southernmost point of the island.  Then, as there was no
+time to take soundings, she was put before the wind, with the object of
+gaining the north of the island, where Dennis knew that if the pursuer
+drew as much water as from her size seemed likely, there was little
+chance of her being able to follow.
+
+The confident bearing of Dennis and Turnpenny had a cheering influence
+on the crew.  Even Jan Biddle, who had now recovered from his blow, and
+his cronies seemed no longer inclined to quarrel with the handling of
+the vessel.  The pursuer was now out of sight, hidden by the bend of
+the shore.  The _Mirandola_ was making excellent sailing before the
+wind, and Dennis hoped that if she could elude the Spaniard until dark,
+there might be a good chance of her escaping any further attentions.
+
+The pursuer came in sight again just as the _Mirandola_ was approaching
+the rocky ridge which had been a barrier to Dennis's exploration of the
+shore on his first day on the island.  He was rejoiced to see that in
+wearing she had lost a little.  Then a sudden idea struck him.  Beyond
+the ridge was the entrance to the gully, and up the gully the broad
+pool in which the _Maid Marian_ lay.  Would not the best course after
+all be to play a trick on the pursuer?  Why not try to run into the
+pool?  When the _Mirandola_ had once rounded the shoulder of the cliff
+she would again be almost out of sight; if she could run into the gully
+the pursuers would almost certainly suppose that she had fled round the
+northern side of the island; and safe in the pool, she might lie there
+until the chase had been given up.  He mentioned his idea to Amos.
+
+"Be jowned if it bean't a right merry notion," cried the mariner.
+
+But none knew better the difficulty of steering the vessel safely into
+the gully.  There was no time for consideration.  If once she passed
+the entrance the vessel could not beat back again before the pursuer
+came within range.  The slightest failure in Turnpenny's seamanship
+would run the bark on the rocks.  But the old mariner knew the gully.
+With set lips and a deep indentation between his brows he stood at the
+helm and gave his orders to the men.
+
+"Stand by the halliards," he cried, "and let go the moment I say the
+word."
+
+It was important to have plenty of way on the vessel, for the instant
+she came to the headland the wind would be taken out of her canvas.
+Easing the helm gently over, Turnpenny called to the men to let go as
+the ship rounded the point; in a few moments the canvas was all taken
+in, and with the way on her she glided up the gully.
+
+Within ten minutes from the time when the notion first occurred to
+Dennis the _Mirandola_ lay side by side with the wreck of the _Maid
+Marian_ in the pool, invisible from the open sea.
+
+"Mum's the word," said Turnpenny when the anchor had been dropped.
+"Muzzle your jaws for a while.  Master Hazelrig and me we knows this
+island, and we'll mount the cliff yonder and see what the don Spaniard
+makes of us now."
+
+Leaving the men to swim ashore if they chose, Dennis and Turnpenny
+sprang overboard, soon found their footing, and scrambled up the rocks
+and the cliff, keeping well under cover.  When they reached the top
+they saw the pursuer about three miles distant.  She had shortened
+sail, and was evidently inclined to give the coast a wider berth than
+the _Mirandola_ had done.  It was growing dusk when she came level with
+the gully, standing about a mile from the shore.  Her movements for a
+time were erratic; clearly the people on board distrusted the waters
+round the island, and were somewhat perplexed as to the course taken by
+the fugitive.  At length they decided apparently to abandon the
+pursuit, for she stood to windward, and the two watchers breathed again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+Jan Biddle, Master
+
+"God be praised!" said Turnpenny, fervently; "we have escaped out of
+the hands of the enemy."
+
+"And we find ourselves once more on Maiden Isle, the which I never
+thought to set foot on more.  I am glad of it, Amos, for now that we
+have a bark fit to carry us over the sea, I would fain take with us
+certain things that belonged to my dear comrades.  They will be
+cherished by their sorrowing folks at home."
+
+"True, the sight of such belongings of the dead and gone do have a
+morsel of comfort in it.  And moreover we can take some of your stores,
+for though our own monkey ship be not ill provided, yet the victuals be
+Spanish, and 'twill make new men of our comrades to give 'em a rasher
+of bacon now and again."
+
+"Ay, but why monkey ship, Amos?"
+
+"Why, sir, I cannot put my tongue to the name your fancy gave the
+vessel, and to my thinking it is not to compare with _Anne Gallant_,
+and _Jesus_, and _Minion_, and other craft I have served aboard, to say
+nothing of the _Susans_ and _Bettys_ that are well beknown in Plimworth
+Sound."
+
+"Well, have your way.  To my ears _Mirandola_ hath a pleasant sound,
+and it will always keep me in mind of my good friend.  But 'tis time we
+returned to our comrades."
+
+When they reached the entrance of the chine they found that the crew
+had all come ashore, save one or two who were curiously examining the
+wreck of the _Maid Marian_.  They could not refrain from shouting a
+glad "Huzza!" when they learnt that the pursuing vessel was standing
+away.  Jan Biddle and one of his cronies had been rummaging in Dennis's
+hut and sheds, finding little to reward them, however, almost
+everything having been transferred to Skeleton Cave.  Night was drawing
+on apace, and though some of the crew were for setting sail in the
+darkness, the majority agreed with Dennis that it would be better to
+defer their departure until the following night.  This plan would give
+them a whole day's rest; it would render it less likely that the
+pursuer would be still in the neighbourhood; and it would enable them
+to carry more water on board, which was desirable in view of the
+possibility of a protracted voyage.  Dennis and Amos decided to occupy
+their old hut; the men were given their choice of the sheds, now all
+but empty, and the huts erected by the maroons near the logwood grove.
+They all declared for sleeping ashore rather than on board ship, Hugh
+Curder and Gabriel Batten, however, volunteering to remain on deck as a
+night watch.
+
+Next day, after the stores and things which Dennis wished to take home
+had been transferred from the cave to the vessel, and several barrels
+of fresh water from the spring in the cliff had been placed in her
+hold, the men broke up into little groups and wandered about the
+island, revelling in their liberty and in the abundance of fruit which
+they could have for the picking.  Several times Dennis went to the
+cliff top on one side and Amos on the other side of the island to scan
+the horizon for a sail, but neither saw any sign of one.  In the
+afternoon Dennis ventured to sound Sir Martin's trumpet as a signal of
+recall, and the men came dropping back in ones and twos and threes in
+anticipation of departure.
+
+The tide was at flood, and Dennis had just given the order to go
+aboard, when Tom Copstone suddenly exclaimed--
+
+"Zuggers!  Where be Gabriel Batten?"
+
+"Is he not here?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Not the ghost of him," said Amos, looking round on the company.
+
+"He were always a ninny-hammer," cried Jan Biddle angrily.  "Never did
+I know such a man for simples and other trash.  Sure he be roaming
+somewheres with his nose to the ground, trying to smell out some herb
+that will heal a scratch or cure a distemper."
+
+"Blow up the trumpet for en," suggested Copstone; "Gabr'el be a vitty
+lad--none the worse for not being made so rampageous as 'ee, Jan
+Biddle, for all he do go wool-gathering at whiles."
+
+Biddle glared at the speaker, but said no more.  Hugh Curder, being the
+man with the brazen lungs, blew a loud blast on the trumpet which set
+the cliffs and the chine reverberating.  They waited; the wanderer must
+have gone far indeed if he was out of earshot of that strident blare.
+But as time went on, and he did not appear, Dennis began to be somewhat
+vexed.
+
+"'Twas thoughtless of the man," he said; "already is the tide beginning
+to ebb, in two hours it will be impossible to embark this night, and
+that entails upon us the loss of another day."
+
+"Embark without him," growled Biddle.  "What is he that he should keep
+a score of good men waiting his pleasure?"
+
+"Nay, nay," said Dennis.  "We cannot leave him here.  You have had your
+sufferings and sorrows, from the like of which God save us all; but is
+there a man of you that hath dwelt alone upon an island, spending
+nights and days without the sight of a face, or the sound of a voice?
+That have I done, and not willingly shall I subject a man to a like
+solitude.  There is still a little space during which the tide will
+serve.  Let us scatter in parties, some going this way, some that, and
+halloo; perchance some of us may light on our comrade."
+
+The suggestion was adopted; only Jan Biddle and his few particular
+friends went about the search grudgingly.  But though the men scoured
+the island from shore to shore, and kept up the quest to the very verge
+of nightfall, long after the tide had run so low that the idea of
+setting sail till next day had to be abandoned, they discovered no
+trace of the straggler, and returned weary and irritable when the
+trumpet recalled them.
+
+"He may come in by and by," said Dennis cheerfully.  "If not we must
+e'en take up the search in the morning.  We shall have a whole day
+wherein to pursue it.  Let us now get our supper and commend ourselves
+and our comrades to God."
+
+"Odspitikins!" cried Jan Biddle.  "What did I say!  What a captain is
+this!  Here be we, twenty-one souls, raped up here for one slummaking
+micher not worth a varden."
+
+"My heart!" shouted Amos, "you were best keep a still tongue in your
+noddle, Jan Biddle, or with the captain's leave I'll clap 'ee in irons
+the instant we go aboard, and keep 'ee under hatches for a sluddering
+mutineer--ay, and larrap 'ee first, I warrant 'ee."
+
+Biddle's experience of the strength of Turnpenny's arm did not
+encourage him to repeat his protest; but when the supper was spread on
+the rocks above the pool, he carried off his portion to a place apart,
+and nursed his wrath among a small group of his comrades who followed
+him.  The malcontents numbered eight in all, and four of these were
+Frenchmen, with whom Biddle could converse freely in their own tongue.
+
+Again they slept ashore, except the two who had been selected to keep
+watch on the vessel.  The precaution seemed hardly necessary, for it
+was unlikely that a hostile ship would appear in the night; but
+Turnpenny had suggested that it was well to keep up the customs
+observed at sea.  The men chosen for this night's watch were two steady
+fellows named William Hawk and Luke Fenton.
+
+Dennis lay awake for some time, talking with Amos about the missing
+man.  Though he had maintained a cheerful composure before the crew, he
+was in reality not a little vexed at the delay caused by the
+thoughtlessness of Gabriel Batten.
+
+"Is it true, what Biddle said," he asked, "about Batten's madness for
+gathering simples?"
+
+"Ay, 'tis true.  He be a vitty lad, as Tom Copstone said, and a good
+seaman, quiet withal; but he has a maggot, and 'tis that, without a
+doubt, that has led him aroaming.  There be a time for everything, and
+though I do not deny that Gabriel's skill in simples has ofttimes
+served us well, 'tis not to be wondered at that the men make a pucker
+about it."
+
+"Well, we must find him to-morrow.  We cannot sail away without him;
+why, there is not even a Mirandola here now to bear him company."
+
+"Be jowned if I don't ballirag en to-morrow for his hanticks,
+od-rat-en!"
+
+Dennis passed a restless night, waking often, to wonder what had become
+of the wanderer.  He resolved to set out himself as soon as dawn broke,
+and take advantage of his knowledge of the island to search thoroughly.
+Finding himself unable to sleep again, he got up while the chine was
+still in darkness, and walked to the edge of the cliff overlooking the
+pool.  In the gloom he could just see the dark form of the _Maid
+Marian_; but then he started, rubbed his eyes, looked again, and felt a
+shock of amazement when he realized that the other vessel was no longer
+there.  Next moment it flashed upon him that she must have dragged her
+moorings and floated away on the very last of the ebb-tide, and the
+fact that no alarm had been given seemed to show that the watchers had
+fallen asleep, overcome by the sweltering heat of the tropical night.
+
+Calling to Amos, he set off at full speed down the cliff towards the
+opening of the gully, narrowly escaping a serious fall in the darkness.
+He was much relieved to see, on rounding the shoulder of the cliff, the
+dark hull of the vessel in front of him.  The tide was so low that it
+was marvellous she had floated so far without grounding, and the
+thought that she might strike a reef and cause further delay while
+repairs were made prompted a vigorous shout, to waken the neglectful
+watch ere it was too late.  But there came no answering hail from the
+vessel; and fearing that, even if she did not run aground, the men on
+board might not have sufficient seamanship to bring her back in safety,
+he dived into the water and struck out in her wake.
+
+As he did so, he heard footsteps behind him, two or three voices, and
+the sound of another splash.  Evidently some one had followed him.  The
+_Mirandola_ was moving very slowly; the motion of the tide was indeed
+almost imperceptible, and Dennis, being a good swimmer, soon came under
+her counter.  Catching hold, by a happy chance as he thought, of a rope
+that had formed her mooring cable, he swarmed hand over hand up the
+side and on to the deck.  But no sooner had his feet touched the planks
+than two figures sprang towards him, a blanket was thrown over his
+head, and before he could utter a sound he was flung down, gagged, and
+pinioned.
+
+Even through the thick folds of the blanket Dennis was able to hear a
+great scuffling on board within a few seconds of his own discomfiture.
+Then all was still, except for the muffled tones of his captors'
+voices.  He could not hear what they said, but it was not long before
+he knew from the greater motion of the vessel that they must have
+hoisted sail.  Not for a moment did he doubt the meaning of it all.
+Who but Jan Biddle and his fellow malcontents would have had the daring
+to run off with the vessel?  The man was a ruffian in looks, and Dennis
+had already had several evidences of his turbulent spirit.  And, lying
+helpless and half smothered on the deck, he did not have to seek far
+for the motive of the act.  It was not merely chagrin at being denied a
+rank; the man knew that there were pearls in the hold, a valuable
+treasure, and his treachery was prompted by cupidity.  He had supposed,
+Dennis suspected, that as a simple mariner among the crew he would get
+but a small portion of the treasure when it should be divided, and
+persuaded some of the men to make this attempt to secure the whole.
+Angry as he was, Dennis could not withhold a certain admiration for the
+man's daring; and then he fell a-wondering why he had not been struck
+on the head and killed outright; a ruffian like Biddle would hardly
+have spared him from any feeling of compunction.
+
+How long Dennis lay half stifled under the blanket he could not tell.
+Hours seemed to have passed when it was at last removed, and he could
+breathe freely.  And there, beside him, lay Amos Turnpenny, gagged like
+himself.  Jan Biddle and several of his comrades stood over them,
+grinning with malicious triumph.
+
+"Pegs, Captain," said the man, "you do seem betoatled.  Thought the
+vessel had broke a-loose, I reckon.  And so she had--eh, comrades?"
+
+"Ho! ho!" laughed the men, vastly appreciating their leader's joke.
+
+"Now, we be eight, young master captain,--stout fellows, but a small
+crew for this vessel.  You be in our power, you and Haymoss too, for
+all he be a rare fustilugs; and down a-hold lie Bill Hawk and Luke
+Fenton, that kept but a ninny-watch, to be sure.  Wherefore we be
+twelve all told, enough for the manage of this craft.  Haymoss will not
+be boatswain, to be sure, nor you captain; I be captain; boatswain is
+French Michel yonder; but 'ee can take your choice,--help to work this
+vessel, or walk the plank.  Now I will loose your gags, and you and
+Haymoss can talk the matter out, and when ye've made up your minds
+we'll unbind 'ee, or tumble 'ee overboard, according."
+
+Left to themselves, Dennis and Turnpenny were not long in deciding on
+their course of action.  They were at present outnumbered; they had to
+accept the inevitable.  Their assistance would be very valuable in the
+working of the vessel, and Biddle, in spite of his assured bearing, was
+by no means so confident in his seamanship and skill as he tried to
+make himself appear.  After his treacherous conduct he had no reason to
+suppose that Turnpenny would lift a finger to make good his
+deficiencies; on the other hand it was not to the interest of the
+prisoners that the ship should come to grief through mishandling, and
+Biddle knew that in extremity Turnpenny's instinct of seamanship would
+forbid him to hold aloof.
+
+But while Dennis and the mariner agreed that they had no choice but to
+accept the position with what grace they might, they resolved to bide
+their time for getting the vessel again under their control and
+returning to the island.
+
+"My poor comrades and me be parted again," said Amos, with a sigh.
+"'Tis true it will not be so bad for them upon the island as 'twas for
+us.  But there they be, and there they must bide until we can fetch 'em
+off."
+
+"And mayhap the Spaniards will land before we can get back to them, and
+then God help the poor fellows.  There is little chance we two can
+overpower these eight villains; we can but hope on."
+
+Having acquainted Biddle with their decision, they were cast loose, and
+sat beneath the break of the poop watching their captors' attempts at
+navigation.  The vessel had rounded the easternmost point of the island
+and was running before a south-south-westerly wind.  But it made little
+progress; as the day wore on the breeze died away, and the island was
+still in sight as the sun gradually sank in the western sky.  The
+mutineers cast somewhat anxious glances around, as if fearing that the
+comrades they had betrayed might even now find some means of following
+them.  But as the island gradually faded into the dusk their spirits
+rose, and having broached one of the few jars of wine which had been
+left in the cabin, they began to boast of the success of their trick.
+Biddle even acquainted the prisoners with the manner in which it had
+been carried out.  In the darkness they had surprised the watch on
+board, and cut the cable mooring the vessel to a tree at the side of
+the gully; then seven of them had lowered the jolly-boat and in it
+towed the ship past the shoulder of the cliff until the sails caught
+the wind and it was carried free of the shore.  He told Dennis
+exultantly that if he had swum out three or four minutes earlier the
+plot would have been defeated, for only he was then on board, at the
+helm.  But just before Dennis scrambled on board the others had
+clambered up by the fore chains, and his cry and plunge having been
+heard, there had been time to arrange for his reception.
+
+The crescent moon, which had somewhat favoured the attack on the fort,
+had now increased in size, and threw a thin silvery light upon the sea.
+Biddle, among a little group of his comrades, was still recounting his
+achievement for the benefit of Dennis and Turnpenny when the look-out
+shouted that he spied a vessel to windward.
+
+"What care I for a vessel to windward!" cried the man.  "We'll give her
+the slip in the dark.  I, Jan Biddle, be captain now; ay, what did Hugh
+Curder sing t'other day?
+
+  Here is a master excelleth in skill,
+  And our master's mate he is not to seek.
+
+That be Dick Rackstraw, Haymoss, a merry soul, not a glumping galliment
+like 'ee.
+
+  And here is a boatswain will do his good will----
+
+not you, Haymoss; you be boatswain no longer; 'tis French Michel, a
+deal better man.
+
+  And here is a ship-boy----
+
+why, hang me if we won't make a ship-boy of our noble captain,
+comrades.  'Tis a stripling, to be sure, and I warrant will be none the
+worse for a smitch o' tar on his fingers.  Ees, we'll make him
+ship-boy, we will so.  Ho! ho!
+
+  And here is a ship-boy----"
+
+
+But his mirth and the gleeful shouts of the others were suddenly
+checked when the look-out cried that he saw a second, and then a third
+vessel.  Biddle sprang up with an oath and ran to the taffrail.  What
+he saw did not lessen his alarm.  The three strangers were coming up on
+a broad front, half a mile between them.  They were evidently bringing
+a freshening breeze with them, for they had not been visible when
+darkness first fell.  It was clear to a mariner's eye that the bark
+would have to show her best sailing powers if she was to escape.  She
+had been sailing under foresail and mainsail only, but now in frantic
+haste the crew, in obedience to Biddle's orders, set the topsails and
+the topgallants.  But before the effect of this was apparent the
+approaching ships had crept up within gun range.  It was not long in
+doubt whether they had seen the _Mirandola_, and were making straight
+for her.  A flash was seen from the bows of one of the vessels; a few
+seconds afterwards a muffled roar was heard.
+
+"Blank charge!" said Turnpenny to Dennis.  "'Tis a word of warning."
+
+Biddle only shouted a defiant curse.  The bark was now feeling the full
+force of the wind, and was making good headway.  It appeared likely
+that, running before the wind, she could hold her own with the
+strangers.  A minute later another gun was fired, and this time with no
+harmless intent, for there was a great splash in the water a little
+ahead of the _Mirandola_ on the starboard side.  After a short
+interval, a third discharge shook the air, and the mutineers raised an
+exultant shout when they saw the splash some distance astern.  It was
+clear that, if the guns had been fired with the same elevation, the
+chase was drawing away.  The dropping of a fourth and fifth shot still
+farther astern left no room for doubt.
+
+"What say you now, master boatswain as was!" cried Biddle,
+triumphantly.  "Bean't Jan Biddle as good a mariner as Haymoss
+Turnpenny?
+
+  Here be a master excelleth in skill."
+
+
+"My heart! it be a true saying, don't halloo till 'ee be out o' the
+wood," said Amos, grimly.
+
+"Zuggers! but you be a molkit, Haymoss, a molly-caudle to be sure.  Go
+aft, Haymoss, and cuddle the ship-boy and say your prayers."
+
+Turnpenny raised his arm to strike the insolent fellow, but Dennis
+whispered him to let it pass; there was nothing to be gained by a fight
+at the present moment, even supposing they prevailed against the odds.
+
+Hour after hour the chase continued.  The moon went down, but still the
+three vessels could be seen in the dim starlight.  Clearly the
+_Mirandola_, good sailor as she was, could not shake them off.  Biddle
+ceased to boast; his blustering confidence was changing to dismay, for
+he now perceived that though he had drawn further and further away from
+the vessel that had fired, her consort to windward was becoming more
+clearly visible.  He had not reckoned on so obstinate a chase;
+moreover, being unable to read a chart, he had no idea whither the
+vessel was heading.  There was no chance of doubling.  To alter the
+course would be to lose time, and allow the persistent pursuer to make
+up on her.  She seemed indeed to be gradually decreasing the distance
+between them, though the other two were out of sight.
+
+So the chase went on through the hours of darkness, and daybreak showed
+two vessels far astern, but the third without doubt creeping up slowly
+but surely.  Biddle, weary with the long night's work, was in a sullen
+rage; the other men watched the pursuer with undisguised terror; Dennis
+and Turnpenny, holding themselves aloof, looked on with curiosity and
+something of amusement.
+
+"Jan Biddle be no fool," said Turnpenny once.  "I could not have
+handled the craft better myself.  But 'tis not an end."
+
+Then, when the spirits of the crew were depressed to the lowest, an
+early morning mist settled down upon the sea, blotting the pursuer from
+sight.
+
+"Jaykle! 'tis a mercy!" cried Biddle, rousing himself.
+
+He instantly changed the course of the vessel.
+
+"We'll fool them this mizzly morn," he said.  "Mum's the word now,
+comrades."
+
+Dead silence was maintained on board, and for some hours the bark made
+steady headway through the mist.  Dennis could not but admire the
+mutineer's fine recklessness.  Without any sure knowledge of his
+bearings he held the vessel steadily to the wind, though she might at
+any moment strike a coral reef or even run aground on one of the
+innumerable islets that studded the gulf.  He was bent only on escaping
+the dreaded grip of the Spaniards.
+
+At length the fog began to clear, dissipated by the increasing heat of
+the mounting sun.  The crew strained their eyes through the eddying
+mist, to assure themselves that the pursuer, as they hoped, had been
+deluded by the change of course.  But they were appalled, and looked
+from one to another with a gasp of dismay, when they saw, less than
+half a league distant, a large Spanish galleon holding exactly the same
+course as themselves.  Far down on the southern horizon another sail
+could be seen.
+
+"What I'd have done myself," said Turnpenny to Dennis.  "The Spanish
+skipper be no fool neither.  When the mist came down he guessed the
+manoeuvres of Master Jan, and afore he was closed in by it he had time
+to signal the others to make off, one east, t'other sou'east, while he
+held on the same course, thereby making sure that we'd still be in
+sight of one or other of 'em when the mist lifted.  Ah! lookeedesee,
+sir; there's a flag a-running up the galleon's forepeak.  'Tis a signal
+to the others to come and join the chase.  Be jowned if Jan Biddle
+han't got to run the race all over again!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The Demi-Culverin
+
+Jan Biddle's face was the image of despairing rage when he saw how he
+had been outwitted.  But he stuck gamely to the helm.  The _Mirandola_
+was now carrying every stitch of canvas possible; her only chance, and
+that but a slight one, was to fly on before the wind.  Dennis was
+tingling with excitement.  Here was the bark, cutting through the water
+at a spanking rate; there the larger galleon, speeding after her under
+press of sail, and two other vessels equally large coming up from the
+south.  He had forgotten that he was a prisoner--forgotten everything
+but the fact that the implacable enemy was at his heels.
+
+Suddenly he saw the galleon luff up in the wind, and noticed a lift of
+the foresail.
+
+"Now she's at us!" cried Amos at his elbow, scarcely less excited.
+
+From the bows of the galleon came a spout of white smoke, blown back
+amid the sails and rigging, and disappearing in a long wispy trail to
+leeward.  The report of the gun followed close, and the shot plumped
+into the sea less than twenty yards astern.
+
+"Be jowned if it do not put me in mind of brave doings on the _Anne
+Gallant_" said Turnpenny.  "'Twas well aimed; an they get our range,
+'tis heigh for our pearls and pieces of eight!"
+
+A second shot came, falling about the same distance short of the mark.
+A third and fourth followed at intervals, neither hitting the vessel,
+each failure greeted with a yell from the crew, who seemed now to have
+lost their terror in the sheer excitement of the chase.  On swept the
+gallant _Mirandola_, showers of spray flashing over her bows, her
+slender masts swaying and creaking under the stress of her bellying
+canvas.  Then a shot whistled over the masthead.
+
+"Too high, too high!" shouted Amos.  "She's got our range now, to a
+surety; would they but depress the gun and our cockle-shell would be
+shivered to splinters.  Jan Biddle be a better man than I took him for;
+see the sinews of his arms as he grips the helm.  My heart! but he be a
+mazy Jack to think he can 'scape that tantarabobs.  Ah!"
+
+His final exclamation was occasioned by the effect of another shot from
+the enemy's bow-chaser.  It struck the taffrail, and cast up a huge
+splinter which flew straight across the poop.  Next moment Jan Biddle
+was stretched senseless beside the helm, and the helm taking charge,
+the ship ran off before the wind.  The crew were aghast.  Biddle was
+their captain, but he was more; he was the soul of their enterprise.
+Without him they were as a flock of sheep.  Not a man of them was fit
+to direct.  Some cried out for surrendering; the bolder spirits howled
+them down, swearing it were better to sink with the ship than to return
+to the servitude from which they had but lately escaped.  When Biddle
+fell, Amos, with the instinct of the mariner, had rushed towards the
+unmanned helm.
+
+"Sir, 'tis our turn," he called to Dennis.  "Let us do what we can to
+save this vessel, and od-rabbit the mutineers!"
+
+He leapt to the helm, seized it in his iron grip, and brought the ship
+once more to the wind.
+
+"See!" said Dennis at his side.  "Yonder streak on the horizon is
+surely the mainland.  Is not our only chance to win the coast?  We
+cannot escape by mere sailing, but there will be shallows amid which
+perchance we may slip away as at Maiden Isle.  Shall we not attempt it,
+Amos?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir.  We'll run inshore, and methinks I know a trick will help
+us."
+
+At this moment another shot fell and ploughed up the deck, striking up
+a shower of splinters in all directions.  Again arose cries for
+surrender; but Dennis shouted to the frantic men:
+
+"Amos is at the helm.  Trust to him.  Remember what he did at the fort.
+Never surrender to the dogs of Spain.  We will 'scape them even yet."
+
+At his words they plucked up heart; all they wanted was a leader; and
+when Turnpenny declared that land was in sight, and that he'd be jowned
+if he didn't cheat the don Spaniards, they answered with a cheer.
+
+Outclassed as the _Mirandola_ was in sailing before the wind, it
+occurred to Amos that she might show to better advantage in working to
+windward.  Accordingly he altered her course a few points.  The
+immediate effect was that the enemy gained a little, and with a broader
+target succeeded twice in hulling the vessel.  Apparently the shots did
+little damage, for she still rode the waters buoyantly, and after some
+time, to the joy of the crew, it was seen that the gap between the two
+ships was sensibly widening.  But now a more serious danger threatened
+the gallant bark.  The second of the enemy's vessels, which was some
+distance to windward when the mist lifted, was rapidly making towards a
+point where she might intercept the _Mirandola_ and drive her back
+towards the galleon which she had just escaped.  Turnpenny's seamanship
+was capable of no more.  To tack would have been to run into the lion's
+jaws; to bear up would have been equally hopeless; all he could do was
+to stand on, and possibly weather the vessel ahead.
+
+He explained the difficulty to Dennis, who was still at his side.
+Dennis knew no trick of navigation that would meet the case; but
+racking his wits to find some means of helping the hardy mariner, he
+suddenly asked himself whether it were not possible to use one of the
+guns he had brought as trophies from the fort.  They were big guns,
+quite disproportionate to so small a vessel as the _Mirandola_.  To
+fire them might do more damage to her than to the enemy.  But it was a
+moment when something might well be risked, and he mentioned his idea
+to Turnpenny.
+
+"Good-now, 'tis a brave notion!" cried the mariner.  "Do 'ee grab the
+helm, sir; head her straight for the coast; Ise warrant 'ee I'll soon
+give the villain a mouthful of iron."
+
+Amos rushed amidships, called all the crew about him, set some of them
+to rig up the tackle blocks by which the weapons had been lowered into
+the hold, and himself knocked off the hatch and descended.  His first
+proceeding was to unloose William Hawk and Luke Fenton, the two men who
+had been surprised by the mutineers, and had since lain side by side in
+no enviable state of mind or body.
+
+"Od rabbit 'ee for a brace of numskulls!" he exclaimed.  "Get 'ee up
+and come show a leg, now."
+
+With their assistance he slung the demi-culverin by its pomelion, and
+the men above hoisted it to the deck; the carriage followed, then its
+ammunition, and Amos set about mounting it.  There was no time to lug
+it to the quarter-deck.  Amos ordered the men to place the carriage,
+consisting of two "cheeks" or side-pieces held together by thick
+cross-pieces of wood, on the waist; then the cannon was slung on to it,
+the clamps were fixed over the trunnions, and a quoin was driven under
+the gun to prevent it from sagging towards the breech.  When mounted on
+the fort it had not been secured by breechings, but Amos quickly made
+ready a length of stout rope, fastened one end to the gun, and clinched
+the other to ring-bolts in the vessel's side.  This would check the
+recoil when the gun was fired.
+
+Amos was now in his element.  He had not been for nothing gunner's mate
+aboard the _Anne Gallant_ twenty-five years before.  He lost no time in
+loading the piece with round shot; then, all being ready, he ran back
+to instruct Dennis how to bring the vessel round when he gave the word.
+He found that Biddle, who had merely been stunned by the flying
+splinter, was now sitting with his back against the taffrail, watching
+these proceedings in a sullen envy.
+
+"The Spaniard will draw closer when we yaw, sir," said Amos, "but that
+we cannot help; and 'tis a mercy we are out of range of her bow-chaser."
+
+"Is she not beyond range of our gun, Amos?"
+
+"Nare a bit, sir.  Our demi-culverin is bigger, I'se warrant, than any
+gun she has aboard.  Point-blank her range be a hundred fathoms; but I
+reckon I can hit the knave at six hundred at the least.  Put the helm
+down when I call, and then I'll send an apple aboard will be ill to
+digest."
+
+He returned to the gun, and sang out to Dennis; he put the helm down,
+the vessel yawed, and when she lay broadside to the pursuer, Amos
+carefully laid the piece, aiming directly at the fore-mast.  He waited
+till the vessel rose on the next wave, then gave the word to William
+Hawk, who stood by the breech with lighted match.  The match was
+applied; there was a deafening roar, followed by a sound of rending;
+the _Mirandola_ quivered from stem to stern; and through the smoke it
+was seen that the gun had jumped clean out of the carriage and was
+lying against the step of the mainmast.  Amos ran to it in haste,
+fearing that it might have burst in the discharge.  But it was
+uninjured.  Several planks amidships had been started; the mainmast was
+heavily scored; and a number of round shot were rolling about the
+waist.  Amos shouted to the men to remount the gun and sponge it out,
+while he ran to the side to see what the effect of the shot had been,
+calling to Dennis to put the helm up again and head the vessel on her
+former course.
+
+The smoke had cleared away, and Amos saw that the pursuer had gained
+considerably, and was still coming on apparently undamaged.  But a few
+minutes later he uttered a shout of glee.  There was a bustle in the
+forepart of the Spanish ship; men were crowding to the gunwale; and
+Amos perceived that they were letting a sail down over the side.
+
+"I hit her betwixt wind and water," he cried to Dennis.  "They are
+letting down a sail to stop the leak.  True, I aimed at the foremast,
+but she rose somewhat quicker than I did guess and so 'scaped with a
+hulling."
+
+"But she has gained on us, Amos.  The hurt she has suffered does not
+abate her speed."
+
+"Truly, so it is, but I will give her another so soon as the gun is
+righted, and call me a joulter-head an I do not deal her such a blow
+that she'll tottle like a man fair buddled."
+
+Dennis called to Luke Fenton to take the helm, while he went forward to
+scan the horizon for the hazy streak which he had taken, half an hour
+before, for the shore-line.  He had barely reached the cut-water when
+he heard the roar of a gun and the sound of a crashing blow.  For an
+instant the vessel's head fell off, and turning hastily he saw Jan
+Biddle rushing to the helm.  A round shot from the enemy's bow-chaser
+had fallen smack upon the poop, smashing the binnacle, and killing poor
+Fenton instantly.  Only Biddle's prompt action had saved the ship from
+yawing and presenting her broadside to the pursuer.
+
+Seeing that the helm was in safe hands, Dennis turned once more and
+glanced anxiously towards the shore, which was now beginning to loom
+large to windward.  Was it possible, he wondered, to reach it before he
+could be cut off by the second Spanish vessel?  He measured the
+distance with his eye, and his heart sank as he perceived that, if she
+held her present course, the Spaniard could not fail to run across the
+bows of the _Mirandola_ long before she could gain the coast.  It
+seemed that he must choose between surrendering and fighting against
+heavy odds.  But certainly one ship would be easier to deal with than
+two; might not another fortunate shot from the demi-culverin cripple
+the vessel in chase, and so enable the _Mirandola_ to get away from one
+of her pursuers?  Dennis did not forget that there was still a third
+vessel somewhere to leeward, but she was at present out of sight.
+
+By this time the gun had been righted and reloaded.  Dennis hastened to
+rejoin Amos.
+
+"Shall I take the helm again, or leave it to Biddle?" he asked.
+
+"Fegs, I say leave it to him, and do 'ee take the match, sir.  I'se
+warrant 'ee'd be quicker than Billy Hawk.  Biddle will port the helm
+when I give the word; he hates you and me, but he hates the Spaniards
+worse."
+
+This time the gun had been loaded with chain shot.  At a hail from
+Amos, Biddle put the helm down, the vessel swung round, and as soon as
+she was broadside to the enemy Amos carefully laid the gun, loosening
+the quoin, and thereby elevating the muzzle, which he pointed straight
+for the pursuer's foremast.  But the enemy was now more alert.  At the
+first sign of the _Mirandola_ yawing the galleon began to swing round
+by the stern, so that the two vessels came broadside on within a few
+moments of each other.  Those few moments gave time for Amos to resight
+his gun.  Dennis stood ready, match in hand.
+
+"Now!" said the mariner, as the _Mirandola_ sank on the roll while the
+galleon rose.
+
+The gun spoke.  Only a second or two later it seemed to the crew of the
+_Mirandola_ that the end of all things must have come.  With a
+thunderous roar the whole broadside of the enemy burst upon them.  Some
+of the enemy's shots passed clean over the smaller vessel; her masts
+almost miraculously escaped harm, but her hull was struck in half a
+dozen places, and her long-boat splintered to atoms.  And the big gun,
+breaking loose from its extemporized breechings, recoiled obliquely
+across the waist, smashed through the forecastle, and plunged with a
+resounding splash into the sea.  Some of the men were groaning in pain;
+the Frenchmen were flat on their faces beseeching their saints; Dennis
+found himself in a heap by the break of the poop; for the moment Amos
+was not to be seen.
+
+Dennis picked himself up and peered through the smoke to see whether
+the enemy had suffered any hurt.  To his joy he saw that both the
+foremast and the mainmast of the galleon had been shattered.
+Turnpenny's shot had cut away the shrouds of the foremast, causing this
+to snap off, and struck the mainmast fair and square.  The enemy's
+decks were smothered under a medley of spars and rigging; it was clear
+that the galleon was out of action, and already the _Mirandola_ was
+rapidly drawing away.  This her crew perceived, and the air was rent
+with a tremendous shout of triumph.
+
+But their exultation was short-lived.  Half a minute later Amos came up
+the hatchway and hurried aft.
+
+"Sir, there be three terrible rents in the hull below water.  I feared
+as much when I felt the shots strike the vessel.  The galleon's masts
+must have fallen just as the knaves were a-firing, and so the most of
+her shots struck us low."
+
+"Can we stop the leaks?"
+
+"I fear, I fear!  But we'll try."
+
+In a few minutes a sail was lowered over the side, and at the same time
+two of the men ran below and tried to stop the leaks from within.  But
+in spite of all efforts the water gained, and in the course of half an
+hour it was plain to all on board that the vessel must founder unless
+she could be run ashore in time.
+
+While the men were still doing their best to check the inrush of the
+water, Dennis and Turnpenny went forward to calculate their chances.
+
+"'Tis a good ten mile away," said Turnpenny, "and we be going slower
+every minute."
+
+"True.  But see, the other vessel yonder, that might have cut us off,
+has altered her course.  She is standing to her consort's aid."
+
+"God be praised for that, but I fear we shall be water-logged in no
+long time, and then she can overhaul us at her ease.  In an hour we
+must take to the jollyboat.  'Tis a God's mercy that was not smashed up
+like the long-boat."
+
+"Then we'll put our stores aboard her at once, so that we lose no time
+when the moment comes.  And I do not give up hope, even now, of running
+the bark ashore."
+
+But in half an hour it was clear that the case was hopeless.  The men
+came running from below with the news that the water was gaining more
+and more rapidly; the vessel was settling down; her motion had almost
+ceased.  And the situation was rendered the more alarming by the fact
+that during this half-hour the uninjured galleon, having found
+apparently that her consort was in no immediate danger of sinking, had
+again altered her course and was now in hot pursuit.  It was to be a
+race to the shore.
+
+The jolly-boat had already been stored with provisions, water, and a
+number of calivers with their ammunition.  At the last moment Dennis
+and Turnpenny brought from below the bags of pearls from the cabin in
+which they had been locked.  Then Dennis ordered the boat to be
+lowered, the crew quickly went down the side and entered her.  Two of
+the men had been so badly hurt by the enemy's shot that they had to be
+lowered into the boat.  Fenton was dead, so that the whole effective
+company now numbered only nine men.  The wounded men were laid in the
+bows, Dennis took the tiller, and the remaining eight gave way with a
+will, knowing that hanging would be their mildest fate if they fell
+again into the enemy's hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+Juan the Maroon
+
+It was now past midday, and the sun's rays beat down upon them with
+cruel power.  Yet none of them was glad when the wind freshened,
+bringing a touch of coolth; for it filled the sails of the vessel in
+chase, which loomed ever larger and larger in their wake.  The land
+appeared to be very close, but to Dennis's anxious eyes it scarcely
+seemed to grow closer.  For mile after mile the rowers toiled on in the
+sweltering heat.  Dennis ventured to leave the tiller for a few moments
+to give them water when they flagged.  One of the men collapsed, and
+Dennis crawled to his thwart and took his oar, bidding him go to the
+tiller.  So the chase went on, until, when the boat was still more than
+a mile from land, the enemy began to fire.  The mere sight of the shots
+splashing in the sea astern stirred the wearied rowers to renewed
+efforts.  When, after a few minutes, a shot fell immediately in their
+wake, sending up a terrific burst of spray, their energy seemed to be
+doubled again.
+
+[Illustration: "A shot fell immediately in their wake."]
+
+Dennis now had his back to the shore.  It could not, he thought, be
+more than half a mile away: how far would the enemy venture to follow
+them?  Surely she would not come much farther, at the imminent risk of
+running aground on a shoal.  He saw a man at the chains taking
+soundings.  Then suddenly the vessel was thrown into the wind, and she
+fired the whole of her broadside, in the hope, no doubt, that at least
+one shot would strike the target.  The men were so played out that they
+were not able even to raise a feeble cheer when they found that they
+had escaped scot-free.  Any gladness they may have felt was
+extinguished as soon as the smoke cleared away and the enemy perceived
+that they had failed to hit the boat.  The galleon had hove to: the
+Spaniard was lowering her boats; and in a few minutes all three,
+long-boat, cock-boat, and jolly-boat, crowded with men, came sweeping
+across the water.
+
+But they were as yet half a mile away; looking over his shoulder Dennis
+judged that his boat was now within less than a quarter-mile of the
+shore.  Calling cheerfully to the men for a final spurt, he bade the
+steersman run them aground on the first shoal or spit of land that
+presented itself.  A minute later the boat was brought up with a jerk.
+The men flung down their oars and began with desperate haste to gather
+up some of the stores and the weapons.
+
+"Billy Hawk, take the treasure," said Turnpenny.
+
+But Biddle was too quick for him.  Hawk managed to secure one of the
+goatskin bags; Biddle seized the two others.  There was no time to make
+any alteration.  Trembling with their exertions, the men were
+staggering up the beach, some loaded with articles from the boat, some
+carrying the two wounded men.  Amos, remaining till the last, drove a
+boat anchor through the bottom and hastened after the others.  But the
+Spaniards' boats, fully manned with crews fresh and vigorous, had sped
+over the water at a tremendous rate, and it seemed to Dennis, looking
+back and marking how near they were to land, that after all he and his
+party stood but a poor chance of getting away.  In the three boats
+there were at least sixty well-armed men.  It was clearly their
+intention to run ashore and continue the pursuit on land.  Within half
+an hour they must be upon them.
+
+There was only a few yards of beach.  The thick vegetation came down
+almost to the water's edge.  It was a wild part of the shore; not a
+path was to be seen through the undergrowth, and beyond rose the
+forest.  But the foremost of the fugitives had struck out a way for
+themselves through the plants, and Dennis and Turnpenny hurried along,
+bringing up the rear.
+
+The fugitives were greatly impeded by the necessity of carrying the
+wounded men and the stores.  Even when they reached the forest, where
+there was less undergrowth, their pace must be slower than that of the
+Spaniards, who had only their arms to carry.  And to avoid them was
+quite impossible, for the Spaniards were not unused to tracking runaway
+slaves, and would not fail to follow up the broad trail left by the
+party.
+
+"'Tis vain to go farther," said Dennis to Amos, as they hastened on.
+"We must be caught.  And we shall need all the poor remnant of our
+strength.  Yonder is a thick clump of bush where with our calivers we
+may perchance give pause to the enemy.  I will run on and tell our
+comrades ahead to betake themselves thither."
+
+"Ay, do so, though meseems 'tis but to stay for our death.  You be
+lighter of foot than me.  I will go into the thicket and there hide."
+
+Dennis ran forward, but had not gone far when he found the two wounded
+men lying on the ground, deserted by their bearers.  The rest of the
+party had disappeared.  Part of the stores also had been abandoned.
+Clearly the men had bolted, perhaps in panic fright at some noise in
+the forest, perhaps--Dennis saw in a flash the explanation.  Among the
+things abandoned there was no sign of the bags of treasure.  Even at
+this critical moment Jan Biddle's cupidity had got the better of all
+other feelings, and he had made off with the booty and his fellow
+mutineers.
+
+Dennis bent over the wounded men.  One was past help; the shock of
+being left to his fate had hastened the end that was probably in any
+case inevitable.  The other man Dennis helped to bring back to where
+Amos had taken up his position.
+
+"Where be Billy Hawk, then?" said Turnpenny, when Dennis had acquainted
+him with what had happened.  "He had one of the bags of pearls.
+Od-rat-en for a traitorous faggett!"
+
+But his attention was immediately diverted from Billy Hawk's
+shortcomings by the sight of the enemy making their way through the
+trees.  Dennis and the mariner had no hope of saving themselves.  They
+two could not contend long with numbers so overwhelming.  But they were
+resolved not to surrender.  They knew well--Amos by experience, Dennis
+by the tales he had heard--what their fate would be as captives.  Their
+whole aim was to sell their lives as dearly as might be.  Amos had
+already kindled matches for their calivers.  These as they burnt gave
+out an acrid smoke, which was bound to attract the attention of the
+Spaniards if they came near.  Confident of their immense superiority in
+point of numbers, even if the whole band of fugitives stood up against
+them, the enemy were pressing forward without caution.  Dennis for a
+moment debated with himself whether to fire on them or let them pass.
+He owed nothing to Jan Biddle and the mutineers.  Twice had they
+behaved treacherously towards him; they would receive no more than
+their deserts if he allowed the Spaniards to go by unmolested.  But
+then he reflected that after all some of the fugitives were his
+fellow-countrymen; all had been miserable slaves; and what he had
+learned of the Spaniards' dealings with those in their power made him
+regard them as enemies of mankind.
+
+Turnpenny for his part had no scruples.  To him, as to the majority of
+the Englishmen of his time, the Spaniard was a hateful oppressor, who
+appropriated the riches of the New World in order to set the nations of
+the Old by the ears.  Even if he had not suffered personally at their
+hands, the whole race of Spaniards was in his eyes no better than
+vermin.  So when Dennis gave the word, he levelled his caliver with
+right good will at the body of men that presented so easy a target, as
+they came hurrying through the forest.  The two fired together; one man
+fell; the rest halted, looking about them with an air of fright that
+set Dennis mightily wondering.  While they hesitated, Amos and he
+reloaded with what haste they might, and had not completed that
+troublesome process when the enemy, plucking up courage, advanced again
+in somewhat more extended order, firing as they marched.  Bullets
+pattered on the tree trunks all around.  Dennis had come scatheless
+through the action at sea, but now he felt a burning pang in his
+forearm, and saw that the sleeve of his doublet was singed.  But at the
+same moment he heard a deep sigh from the wounded man who lay at his
+feet.  The poor wretch had again been hit.  There was no time to attend
+either to him or to his own wound, for the Spaniards, taking heart at
+the cessation of the fire from the copse, were preparing to make a rush.
+
+By this time both Dennis and Turnpenny had reloaded, and stood waiting
+to make a last stand against what they felt must be an irresistible
+attack.  To their amazement, however, just when they were expecting to
+hear the order to charge, they saw that a number of the enemy had swung
+round, and were facing towards the coast, the direction in which they
+had come.  Next moment there was a yell from among the trees: "Yo peho!
+yo peho!"  The strange cry was taken up at point after point, until the
+whole surrounding forest seemed to ring with fierce whoops and
+battle-cries.  Then they caught sight of dark figures flitting among
+the trees beyond the Spaniards, who had now clearly given up the idea
+of advancing, and were crowded in a serried mass to meet another foe.
+There was the sharp crackle of fire-arms, followed by the twang of
+bow-strings.  A long arrow whizzed past Dennis's ear, perilously close.
+The newcomers had formed, as it appeared, an immense semicircle about
+the Spaniards; several of these had fallen, and the semicircle seemed
+to be drawing ever closer.
+
+"The maroons!  O Jaykle!" whispered Turnpenny.
+
+Driven together now into a compact body, the Spaniards fired a volley.
+Before the smoke had cleared away, from all around the maroons, dusky
+forms clad in smocks that reached their knees, were among them.  Then
+began a desperate hand-to-hand fight.  The Spaniards, in their turn
+outnumbered by three to one, were wielding their swords with the
+courage of despair against the javelins of their furious yelling enemy,
+striving to break through the ring.
+
+"Yo peho! yo peho!"  The maroon war-cry rose ever fiercer and fiercer.
+It was an affair of a few minutes.  Half of the Spaniards were on the
+ground; the survivors broke and scattered, some speeding towards the
+copse, forgetful that their first check had come from thence.
+Turnpenny levelled his caliver and fired at the foremost of them.
+
+"Shoot 'em, sir!" he cried to Dennis, who had hesitated, feeling some
+compunction.  "Shoot 'em, or we shall have the maroons in upon us, and
+they will not stop to ask our names."
+
+Dennis fired.  The Spaniards broke away to the left, and dashed into
+the forest, pursued hotly by the exultant maroons.  Seeing that the
+tide had passed them by, Turnpenny stepped out into the open and,
+raising his arms, shouted "Amigos!" at the top of his voice to the
+maroons within hail.  One or two let fly their arrows at him; some were
+about to fire; but a big fellow among them called loudly to them in a
+tongue that the Englishman did not understand.
+
+"My heart, 'tis Juan!" cried Turnpenny, and as the man advanced towards
+them Dennis recognised the leader of the maroons he had rescued on the
+island--the man who had with Amos supported the ladder for his climb
+into Fort Aguila.
+
+Juan shook hands with them with every sign of delight.  While the
+others continued the pursuit, he explained to Amos that his attention
+had been attracted by the sound of firing at sea, and from a point some
+distance along the coast he had watched, from among the trees, the race
+in the boats.  Never loath to seize a chance of striking a blow at the
+hated Spaniards, he had hurried with his comrades along the fringe of
+forest.  He was overjoyed to think that the men whom his sudden
+onslaught had saved were his old friends and the leaders of the attack
+on Fort Aguila.  He invited them to accompany him to his village deep
+in the forest, and wound a horn to recall his comrades.  Within a few
+minutes they were all assembled.  The Englishmen recognized among them
+some who had been with them at the attack on the fort.  Soon they were
+on the march.  They took no prisoners; it was not the maroons' way to
+spare any Spaniard who fell into their hands.  Four of them carried the
+twice-wounded sailor, but ere they had gone far he succumbed to his
+hurts, and they buried him under leaves in the forest.
+
+An hour's march brought them to the maroons' village, built on a
+hillside circled by a narrow river.  It was surrounded by a broad dyke,
+and a mud wall ten feet high.  It had one long street and two cross
+streets, very clean and tidy; and the huts of mud and wattle, thatched
+with palm-leaves, and with doors of bamboo, were kept with a neatness
+that surprised the Englishmen, who mentally contrasted them with the
+dirty cottages of labourers at home.  Juan made them very welcome,
+supplying them with a feast of wild hog, turkeys, oranges and other
+pleasant fruits.
+
+"I'feck, it be a dinner fit for a lord," said Turnpenny, appreciatively.
+
+He related the events that had brought them to the straits in which
+Juan had found them.  When the maroon learnt that some of their party
+had deserted with the treasure, he despatched a band of his men to
+follow them up.  And then he told his visitors a piece of news that
+mightily cheered them.  El Draque, he said, the Dragon, the great
+English sea-captain, had lately raided Nombre de Dios, the port whence
+the great treasure fleets were wont to sail for Spain.  Then he had
+disappeared.  The Spaniards were in a state of nervous dread.  So bold,
+so sudden were his movements, that not a settlement on the coast but
+lived in constant terror of his appearance.  The very mystery that
+surrounded him, their ignorance of his whereabouts, added to the fear
+his name inspired.
+
+"They do not know where he is," said Juan, with a chuckle; "but I know.
+He is a long day's march from this place, in a little harbour that no
+passing ship can spy.  And there he waits till he can swoop like a
+jaguar on the dogs of Spain."
+
+"My heart, it be joyful tidings!" said Turnpenny.  "I knew Master
+Francis would come again to these shores, to have a proper tit-for-tat
+for the base dealings of the Spaniards at St. John d'Ulua.  Good-now,
+sir, shall we take a journey and see the worthy captain, and
+peradventure join with him in spoiling the knaves?"
+
+"With all my heart, Amos," replied Dennis.  "Without doubt Juan will
+furnish us with a guide."
+
+Turnpenny spoke to the maroon.
+
+"Better than that!" he said, after a brief colloquy.  "He says he will
+e'en come himself with a party.  Master Francis, he says, does hurt to
+no woman nor unarmed man; he is kind to the maroons; and not a man of
+them but loves him and would serve him to the death.  Ay sure, a noble
+man is Master Francis, that loves God and hates the Spaniards; and Ise
+warrant we could do naught better than join ourselves to him.
+Crymaces!  he will list with a ready ear to the tale of our adventures."
+
+"'Twill be overlong for the captain," said Dennis, with a smile.  "But
+I would fain see him and speak with him, for he may perchance spare a
+vessel to go and seek for our poor comrades penned up in Maiden Isle."
+
+"God-a-mercy, I had a'most forgotten, sir.  True, there be Tom
+Copstone, and Hugh Curder, and Ned Whiddon all lone and lorn.  Master
+Francis will help us to save them, or he be no true man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Drake's Camp
+
+Early in the afternoon of the second day thereafter, Dennis and
+Turnpenny, with Juan and a company of maroons, came to the outskirts of
+a large clearing at a little recess of the shore.  A bark and three
+trim little pinnaces lay rocking in a secluded roadstead.  Neatly
+thatched huts of the maroons' pattern bordered the clearing.  At one
+end of it stood two archery butts at which men were shooting; a smith
+was lustily plying his sledge at an anvil; and in the middle, on a
+stretch of sward, two stalwart bearded figures were disporting
+themselves at a game of bowls.
+
+"I'fegs, 'tis very like home," said Turnpenny.  "'Tis Master Francis
+himself, as I live, and Master John Oxnam, a gallant soul; and there be
+Master Ellis Hixom, the captain his man, and a very worthy gentleman.
+And Bob Pike, busy with the rum bowl--a good man, when not betoatled
+with the drink.  And O cryal! lookeedesee, sir; Bob hath a monkey at
+his elbow, and hang me if he be not teaching the poor beast the taste
+of rum.  Oh Bobby, Bobby, the drink will be your undoing, an ye have
+not a care.  They spy us, sir; 'tis a right merry sight, good-now, and
+warming to the heart."
+
+A maroon came from among the company to meet them.  He greeted Juan
+warmly, looking with surprise and curiosity at his white companions.
+Then they advanced into the clearing.  Bob Pike, a red-faced mariner,
+sitting on a tub, looked up as they approached, and raised his bowl
+unsteadily, singing--
+
+  "Let us laugh, and let us quaff,
+  Good drinkers think none ill a.
+
+Welcome, Haymoss; I know not where be coom from but here be a sup for
+'ee, comrade.
+
+  Let us trip, and let us skip,
+  And let us drink our fill a.
+
+Why, what ha' taken the wink-a-puss?"
+
+His exclamation was occasioned by a surprising action on the part of
+the monkey that had been crouching at his feet.  With a chatter of
+delight the animal had sprung up and was bounding on all fours towards
+Dennis.  Next moment it was on his shoulder, stroking his cap with its
+paw.
+
+"Fi, Mirandola," said Dennis, with a laugh, "hast forgot my admonitions
+to soberness?  Has all thy philosophy and my instruction not steeled
+thee against temptation?"
+
+
+  "My thirst to staunch, I fill my paunch
+  With jolly good ale and old,"
+
+sang Bob Pike; "though in truth it be new rum, for ale, under this sky,
+would turn as sour as whey.  Good-now, Haymoss, come and take a sup
+with me, soul.
+
+  I drink to you with all my heart
+  If you will pledge me the same."
+
+
+"Stint it, stint it, Robert Pike," said the elder of the two players,
+looking up.  "You'll be but a buddled oaf an you go this gait.  But
+odds-an-end, who be this?"
+
+"An Englishman of Devon, so please you, captain," said Dennis, doffing
+his cap.
+
+"Out of sky, or earth, or sea, for I swear you are not of my company?"
+
+"Out of earth and sea, sir, newly come to bid you my duty."
+
+"And that is Amos Turnpenny, an I be not in a maze.  We will finish our
+game anon, Jack," he added, turning to Oxnam, "for there is a tale
+hangs by this.  Come, young sir, methinks I know your face, though
+rabbit me if I can mind the when or the where of seeing it."
+
+"It was on an occasion like to this, sir," said Dennis.  "You were at
+play with Sir Martin Blunt on Plymouth Hoe when----"
+
+"Stay, I mind it well, and you were the youth that beat me!  I was in
+somewhat of a dander, to be sure.  Are you of Sir Martin's party?  Sure
+I looked for him months agone to join me, and wanting him has not been
+to my comfort.  Is he at hand?"
+
+"Alas, sir, Sir Martin has been at the bottom of the sea the washing of
+many a tide.  I alone am left of all his company."
+
+"God rest his soul!  He was a right good man.  But tell me, then, how
+it chanced that you alone escaped.  And what brings you here in company
+with this ancient mariner?  Furthermore, what strange affinity hast
+thou with this monkey, who is friends with that besotted knave alone,
+and that only for the love of liquor?"
+
+"Mirandola and I are old friends, sir.  How he comes to this place it
+passes my wit to guess; but he was my sole companion and friend on the
+island whereon by God's mercy I was cast alive, in the same storm that
+wrecked the _Maid Marian_ and swallowed all my dear comrades.  There I
+spent many a day and night without sight of human face or sound of
+human voice, until Spaniards came purposing to cut logwood, with slaves
+of whom Amos was one, the only white man.  He had the good hap to
+escape their hands----"
+
+"Nay, captain," Amos broke in; "it was not good hap, but the wit and
+spunk of Master Hazelrig.  He saved us from the knaves, and led us to
+the taking of their vessel, in the which we purposed to sail away; but
+the knave captain blew it up with powder; wherefore it was we came to
+the main in a canow of the maroons' devising, and did take that strong
+fort and fastness of Aguila, where----"
+
+"Stay, stay!" cried Drake.  "Ods my life, this your tale makes my
+noddle buzz with amaze.  What is this about Fort Aguila?"
+
+"Why, sir, 'tis as I say," replied Turnpenny.  "We did sail to it in
+the canow, which ran aground and was stove in.  But we mounted those
+walls by a ladder, and crept upon the fort by night, and drew out of
+their dungeon all my comrades--Ned Whiddon and Hugh Curder and Tom
+Copstone, and nigh a score more.  And we dealt the knave Spaniards many
+a dint, and took the fort, and blew up the towers, and sailed right
+merrily away in their own vessel with great store of pearls and pieces
+of eight.  And the vessel was named in the Spanish tongue _Our Lady of
+Baria_, but Master Hazelrig he could not abide the Papist name, and
+called her by the very name he had afore bestowed on this heathen
+beast, Mirandola to wit, whereas I would liever have called her Susan
+or Betty----"
+
+"Jack, is 't not a midsummer night's dream?  A very mingle-mangle of
+madness!  Tell on; I have a soft ear for mariners' tales."
+
+"I' fegs, 'tis no mariner's tale, sir, but very truth.  We sailed away,
+but the morn after, when it was mizzly, we spied a vessel that straight
+gave chase, and but for the little small harbour of Maiden Isle,
+whereinto we ran and lay hid and so diddled that knavish vessel, we had
+e'en fallen again into those cruel hands."
+
+"When shall we laugh, Jack?" cried Drake, smiting his thigh and loosing
+a mighty roar that caused the archers to pause, and drew the smith from
+his anvil, and at last brought the whole company crowding round.  "Why,
+friend Amos, that knavish vessel was my own tight bark the _Pascha_
+yonder, and 'twas I myself that chased thee, ay, and would have caught
+thee, too, but for the huffling of the wind.  If 'twas thou handling
+the vessel 'twas a mighty good piece of seamanship.  And mine was a
+knavish vessel, good-now!  Ho! ho! 'tis a merry world."
+
+"Be jowned if Ned Whiddon thinks so, or Hugh Curder, or Tom Copstone!
+There they be, poor souls, marooned on that same island, which indeed
+we took and named Maiden Isle for behoof of her gracious Majesty.  We
+fled from that craft which in our thought was a knavish vessel of
+Spain, and remained a night and a day to refresh ourselves, intending
+to sail thence on the morrow.  But one of our company, Gabriel Batten,
+a quiet good soul, but somewhat of a drumble-drone, did go astraying
+after simples, and when the time came for us to embark, ods-fish, he
+was not with us.  In that night, Jan Biddle, a man of Belial, made off
+with our vessel; but Master Hazelrig spied her ere she ran clear, and
+we swam to her and clomb aboard, and were vumped topsy-versy by those
+knavish mutineers.  But they loosed us when she had made an offing, and
+right well it was for them, for we were chased by three galleons of
+Spain, and hardly escaped ashore in our jolly-boat.  And then be jowned
+if Jan Biddle and his villainous crew did not skip off hippety-hoppety
+with the treasure we got with our pains at Fort Aguila----"
+
+"Aha!  I owe you a grudge for that, Master Hazelrig," cried Drake.  "I
+had heard of the pearl-fishery, and was e'en chasing you, supposing
+your craft was a merchant vessel out of Venta Cruz or Cartagena, to
+inquire somewhat of the defences of that same fort.  I came by chance
+to the place, and lo! it was a ruin.  You beat me at bowls, young sir;
+art minded, meseems, to beat me at other games."
+
+"Truly, sir, had I but known you were in these seas, I would surely
+have joined myself to your company, with your good leave, and served
+you with all diligence."
+
+"Wilt serve me now, lad?"  Drake shot a keen glance at him.  "I am
+preparing a sore dint for the Spaniards, and have but few men for the
+job.  Wilt join me?"
+
+"I could desire nothing better," said Dennis, with a flush of pleasure;
+"but----"
+
+"Say on; let me hear your but."
+
+"Some half a score of Englishmen, the comrades of Amos, lie marooned on
+yonder island, sir; and we came hither, when we heard of your presence,
+to beg a vessel to go and fetch them off.  Methinks one of the pinnaces
+yonder----"
+
+"Knavish vessels, good-now!"
+
+"Crymaces, sir, will 'ee remember that against me?" Amos broke in.  "A
+man must say what a' thinks, but thinkin' don't alter what is.  'Twas
+your vessel; then 'twas no knave."
+
+"Save as the Spaniards think it so.  Well, I would fain help Englishmen
+in so hard a case, but at this present I cannot spare a pinnace; nay, I
+cannot even spare a man.  Yet when the matter I spoke of is brought to
+an end, and falls out to our liking, I will go myself to that island
+and bring off your comrades; for in truth I have a mind to see the
+haven into which you fled and so 'scaped my knavish tricks.  Methinks
+it should prove a secret and comfortable place for myself.  In brief, I
+give you my word.  Now, what say you to my proposal."
+
+"Sir, I am yours," said Dennis, "and I thank you for your good will."
+
+"Ay, and me likewise," said Turnpenny, "and Ise warrant a man of my
+muscle can do summat against those villain dons--lookeedesee!"
+
+He exhibited the knotty muscles of his arms with a simple vanity that
+set Drake and Oxnam a-laughing.
+
+"But not the monkey," added Drake, as the animal chattered in concert.
+"He is prone to utter his voice out of season, and an indiscreet cry
+might be the undoing of my purpose, and me."
+
+"How comes the monkey here, sir?" asked Dennis.  "We brought him with
+us from the island; indeed, he would not be left; but he deserted us
+some ten miles beyond Fort Aguila, and I supposed he had gone among his
+kind and thought never to see him again."
+
+"Why, we found him among the ruins of that fort, and meseems he saw
+some likeness between Bob Pike and Turnpenny----"
+
+"God forbid!" cried Amos earnestly.
+
+"In muscle, not in manners," said Drake laughing.  "Howbeit, he hitched
+himself on to Pike, and hath accompanied us ever since, and I trow not
+what Pike will say if the beast transfers his allegiance.  But
+good-now, the sun goes down; 'tis time to make our evening devotions
+and then to supper.  Methinks you, Master Hazelrig, have good cause to
+render thanks to the Almighty Father for the wondrous things He hath
+wrought in your behoof; and we have great plenty of fish, fowls,
+rabbits and the like, which, I doubt not, will be comfortable fare to
+you after your late privations.  Come with me to my hut: I would hear
+of your adventures more at leisure."
+
+And thus Dennis became one of the company of Francis Drake.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+A Raid through the Forest
+
+Though Dennis had accepted Drake's offer on the spur of the moment, he
+saw no reason to repent when he talked the matter over with Amos next
+day.  The rescue of their comrades on the island was indeed deferred;
+but it was impossible to attempt that rescue without a suitable vessel
+and a due equipment of men and stores; and since the men had plenty of
+food on Maiden Isle, the delay of a few weeks would make no serious
+difference to them, unless--and this possibility gave Dennis some
+concern--they were molested by Spaniards.  He hoped, however, that if
+an enemy did appear on the island the men would have sufficient warning
+to give them time to take refuge in the cave, where with good luck they
+might remain concealed until the danger had passed.
+
+Before the day was out Dennis had made acquaintance with the members of
+the little company at Port Diego, as it had been called.  From Ellis
+Hixom, Drake's right-hand man, he learnt something of their adventures
+since they left Plymouth in May, only a month after the _Maid Marian_
+set sail.  Early in July they had arrived at Port Pheasant, a secret
+anchorage discovered by Drake on a former voyage, and so named by him
+"by reason of the great store of those goodly fowls which he and his
+company did daily kill and feed on in that place."  On the 20th they
+sailed for Nombre de Dios, and a week later made a night attack on that
+unhealthy town, which once or twice in the year emerged into importance
+when the galleons came there from Cartagena to take in their cargoes of
+gold and silver sent for shipment by the governor of Panama.
+
+The moon was rising as they stood in for the shore; but Drake, finding
+that his men were full of superstitious terror of the night, persuaded
+them that it was the dawn of day.  They landed on the sands, beneath a
+battery, and only a few yards from the houses which were built on the
+shore, with the forest behind.  The single sentry was slumbering, but
+he was roused by the sound of their climbing up the redoubt, and fled
+to give the alarm in the town.  They spiked the six big guns in the
+fort, but ere they had finished they heard the great bell of the town
+church booming out; drums beat in the narrow street; it seemed that
+there was warm work before the little band of fifty.
+
+Drake divided his men into three parties; one of twelve to guard the
+boats, the second of sixteen, with his brother John and John Oxnam, to
+enter by the east gate of the market-place; while himself, with about a
+score, would march in at the other end to the sound of drum and
+trumpet, with torches glaring at the end of their pikes.  He gave the
+men orders to make all possible noise, so as to delude the garrison
+into the belief that his force was stronger than it really was.
+
+The market-place was crowded with a mob of mingled soldiers and
+citizens when Drake and his men entered with great clatter from the
+side nearest the sea.  The intrepid band was met by a hot volley, to
+which they replied with their calivers and a flight of arrows; then,
+not waiting to reload, they charged with a fierce shout, to do the rest
+of the business with pike and sword.  As the same moment Oxnam and his
+company dashed in at the other side with a great blast of trumpets.
+The Spaniards, scared by the noise and the torches, still more by the
+knowledge that El Draque was among them, did not stay to fight the
+matter out, but flung down their weapons and rushed away in disorderly
+flight along the road leading through the forest to Venta Cruz.
+
+Drake re-formed his men, and, under the guidance of Spaniards he had
+captured, made for the governor's house, where the mule trains from
+Panama were unloaded.  The door was wide open, and by the light of a
+torch the Englishmen saw a vast pile of silver bars standing in the
+passage.  But Drake had learnt that in the King's treasure-house on the
+eastern side lay a goodly store of gold and jewels, far more than they
+could carry.  Accordingly he would not allow the men to break their
+ranks and despoil the governor, but led them back to the market-place
+to prepare for the more serious work.
+
+Meanwhile the men on guard at the beach, hearing the din, and seeing by
+the light of the torches men running this way and that in the streets,
+began to be alarmed, especially when they learnt from the negroes who
+had joined them that the garrison had been newly strengthened.  In
+their panic they sent word to Drake that the pinnaces were in danger of
+being taken.  Drake had no sooner sent his brother and John Oxnam to
+allay their fears and assure them that all was well when a terrific
+thunder-storm burst upon them, wetting their bowstrings and the charges
+of their guns.  They ran for shelter to a shed at the western end of
+the King's treasure-house, and there, while they repaired the damage,
+the men began to mutter among themselves of the peril they were in, and
+some talked of flight.  As soon as the storm had ceased, Drake, seeing
+that the adventure was in jeopardy unless he led the men to action,
+ordered Oxnam to take a party to break open the treasure-house while he
+held his ground in the market-place.
+
+But, unknown to the men, he had been severely wounded in the leg at the
+first onset, and fell faint from loss of blood.  He perceived that some
+of his men had already laden themselves with plunder from the houses
+and booths in the market-place, and knew that they would be glad of any
+excuse to get away to the boats.  It was no longer possible to hide his
+wound, and the men, seeing it, begged him to return to the boats, and
+paid no heed to his entreaty that they would leave him to fend for
+himself and possess themselves of the treasure so nearly within their
+grasp.  The possibility of losing their captain took all the heart out
+of them.  They carried him hastily down to the beach, got aboard the
+boats, and shoved off just as dawn was breaking.  It was a
+disappointing end to the expedition; but only one man of them, a
+trumpeter, had been killed, and they were all glad enough to get off so
+lightly.
+
+Since then they had cruised up and down the coast, capturing Spanish
+vessels here and there, and making themselves a terror to the whole
+Main.  They had suffered many losses, by sickness and in fight; John
+Drake had been killed in leading a mad attack on a frigate; but small
+as the company was, every man was now cheerful in the expectation of
+gaining great plunder in the approaching expedition to Panama.  Dennis
+and Turnpenny were welcome recruits, and none were more eager than they
+to set off with the great captain, and go whithersoever he might lead.
+
+[Illustration: Map to illustrate the adventures of Drake in 1572-73]
+
+One day, about a week after their arrival at the camp, Drake called his
+men together in council, and unfolded to them his daring plan.  The
+Spanish treasure fleet, he had learnt, had arrived at Nombre de Dios,
+and was awaiting there the consignments of gold and jewels which were
+brought by long mule trains across the isthmus from Panama.  He
+purposed to ambush one of these trains in a lonely spot on the north
+road.  Solemnly he placed before the men the dangers of the expedition.
+They had a march of sixty miles before them, through poisonous jungles
+and fever-haunted swamps.  It was an enterprise for none but hardy and
+courageous men, ready to endure labour and fatigue without murmuring.
+
+Of his original company he had only forty-two left.  Some of these were
+sick, others were required to guard the ships; and when Drake had
+weeded out the least fit of the rest, he had only eighteen Englishmen
+for the adventure.  To those he added thirty maroons, making a little
+company of forty-eight all told.  Dennis observed with admiration how
+carefully all things were prepared.  The men were provided with spare
+boots, so that they might not go footsore and be troubled by the
+jiggers of the jungles and the leeches of the swamps.  The bows were
+all re-fitted, the arrows and fire-arms cleaned and scoured; large
+stores of dried meat and biscuit were packed in bundles; and bottles
+were filled with wine and rum, for it was unsafe to drink the water of
+the rivers.
+
+It was a bright February day, Shrove Tuesday, when the adventurous band
+set out, the ships in the harbour dipping their colours and the
+trumpeters sounding "a loath to depart."  The Englishmen carried
+nothing but their weapons, the baggage being strapped to the shoulders
+of the stalwart maroons.  They marched in the coolest part of the
+morning, from sun-rise to ten, when they paused for dinner.  Soon after
+noon they were afoot again, and at four halted for the night, the
+maroons building for them with extraordinary rapidity little huts of
+grass and palm-leaves, where they ate their supper over cheerful
+wood-fires, beguiling the evening hours with song and talk.  It was a
+new life for Dennis, and full of strange charm.  He spent many an hour
+in the company of Drake and Oxnam, listening with a boyish admiration
+to their talk, revelling in their tales of fight and adventure.
+
+The great captain exercised a wonderful fascination upon him.  Drake
+was at this time little more than thirty years old, below the medium
+height, but with brawny limbs and a broad chest.  Brown hair clustered
+close on a bullet-shaped head; his beard grew thick and strong; his
+face was ruddy and pleasant to look upon; and the honesty of his soul
+spoke out of his large, round blue eyes.  His voice was clear and
+musical, and he had a natural eloquence, set off by the burr of his
+native speech.  Nothing impressed Dennis more than to hear the Captain,
+every night at sunset, recite the evening prayers and collects
+bare-headed among his men assembled.  "By Thy great mercy defend us
+from all perils and dangers of this night"--there was something very
+real and earnest in the petition, uttered in the shade of the forest
+where wild animals dwelt, and in a country where every man was a foe.
+There was no doubt about the reality of Drake's religion; and it was
+part of his simple belief that he was chosen of God to scourge a
+pestilent enemy of mankind.
+
+The order of the march was the same every day.  Four maroons led the
+way, marking a trail by flinging broken branches or bundles of leaves
+upon the ground.  Then came twelve more maroons, followed at an
+interval by Drake and his eighteen Englishmen, and two maroon chiefs.
+The rear was brought up by the rest of the maroons.
+
+After four days' tramping through swampy woods, much entangled with
+undergrowth, steaming with heat and infected with noisome odours, they
+entered a pleasanter country, where the trees grew larger, and with
+branches so thickly interlaced that they were defended from the sun's
+rays and found their path less obstructed by creeping plants.  The
+ground rose gradually, and Pedro, the maroon chief, told Drake that on
+the summit of the ridge they were ascending, half way across the
+isthmus, there grew an immense tree from which he could descry the
+North Sea whence he had come and the South Sea whither he was going.
+At ten o'clock on the eighth day of their march they came to the place,
+and while the dinner was being got ready, Drake went with Pedro to the
+tree of which he had spoken.  Ascending big steps cut on the bole, they
+reached, near the top, a pleasant thatched arbour, large enough to seat
+a dozen men.  The sky was clear; no haze blanketed the view; and
+looking forth, Drake caught, thirty miles away, the sparkle of the
+southern ocean on which no English boat had sailed.  The soul of the
+great mariner was strangely moved: he fell on his knees, and "besought
+Almighty God of His goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in
+an English ship on that sea."  Then he called up Oxnam and others of
+his company, and told them of his desire and prayer.  Dennis never
+forgot the scene in that shady bower at the tree-top: the kindling face
+of the sturdy captain, his shining eyes, the fervency of his speech.
+
+They went on again, and in two days more reached the wide savannah,
+with grass as high as corn, and great herds of black cattle.  Now and
+then they got a glimpse of Panama, the city of their dream, and by and
+by, when they were near enough to see the ships riding at anchor in the
+roadstead, Drake called a halt: they had come within touch of danger
+and must walk warily.  Resting in a grove some three miles from the
+city, Drake sent one of the maroons, dressed like a negro of Panama,
+into it as a spy an hour before dark.  He was to find out on what
+night, and at what hour, the mule train set out with its precious
+burden for Nombre de Dios.  He had learnt from Pedro that the first
+stage of the journey, from Panama to Venta Cruz, was always performed
+by night, because by day the open plain was scorched by the sun.  But
+the second stage, from Venta Cruz to Nombre de Dios, was accomplished
+by day, the road lying among cool shaded woods.  It was clear that the
+first stage offered the best chances of a successful ambush, and Drake
+had resolved to intercept the treasure-train between Panama and Venta
+Cruz.
+
+The spy returned sooner than he was expected.  From old acquaintances
+in the city he had learnt that a train was to start that very night,
+its departure being expedited because a Spanish hidalgo, the treasurer
+of Lima, was in haste to reach a ship waiting at Nombre de Dios to
+convey him to Spain.  His train consisted of fourteen mules, of which
+eight were laden with gold and one with jewels.  Two other trains, of
+fifty mules each, would follow, with provisions for the fleet and a
+quantity of silver.
+
+Within an hour of the receipt of this news, Drake and his men were
+afoot on the road for Venta Cruz, some twelve miles away.  Before
+starting, the English men all put their shirts on outside their other
+garments, so that they might have some means of telling friend from foe
+in the darkness.  When they had marched about half the distance, two of
+the maroons, going ahead as scouts on the narrow track between long
+grass, detected the smell of a burning match, and creeping stealthily
+on, guided by the scent, and the now audible sound of snoring, came
+upon a Spanish sentry fast asleep by the roadside.  In a trice they
+pounced on him; they stuffed a gag into his gaping mouth, put out his
+match, tied his arms to his sides, and haled him back to the main body.
+This danger removed, Drake divided his band into two companies.  One of
+these, under John Oxnam and Pedro the maroon, he stationed in long
+grass fifty paces from the road; with the other he went to the same
+distance on the other side, posting them so that, if it came to a
+fight, their fire would not harm their comrades.  He gave strict orders
+that no man should stir from his post, but that all should maintain
+perfect quiet, and, if any travellers should come from the direction of
+Venta Cruz, that these were to be allowed to pass without molestation.
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny were placed among Oxnam's party, and lay side by
+side in the grass.  The night was so dark, and the stalks so long, that
+they could scarcely see each other, much less any other of their
+company.  For a time all was quiet; nothing was heard but the faint
+critch of insects among the herbage.  But by and by Dennis caught a
+slight murmur from some point near at hand.  He lifted his head to
+listen.  Yes, it was certainly a man mumbling.  Then he heard a
+glug-glug, as of liquid poured from a narrow-necked vessel, and
+immediately afterwards a deep sigh of contentment.  Again there was
+silence; but after a while another glugging and another sigh.
+
+"Begorz!" whispered Turnpenny, "'tis some bosky lubber a-puddling of
+aqua vitae.  St!  Here be bells a-coming, on the neck of moyles, Ise
+warrant.  St!"
+
+The sound came from the direction of Venta Cruz: evidently a train was
+returning to Panama.  Almost immediately afterwards there came a
+fainter tinkle on the other side; the treasurer of Lima was on the
+road, but he would not reach the ambush until the train from Venta Cruz
+had passed.
+
+Nearer came the sound, growing now into a loud clanging.  Dennis held
+his breath.  The Venta Cruz party was to be allowed to pass; it would
+meet the other travellers, and give them the word that all was well.
+But what was this?  Some one was rustling in the grass near him; some
+one was moving forward; and, peeping up, Dennis saw an Englishman, as
+he knew by his shirt, creeping towards the road through the long
+stalks, and a maroon following.
+
+At this moment his ears caught the sound of a horse trotting.  He could
+not see the road; the men who had gone through the grass were also out
+of sight; but suddenly the trot changed into a gallop, and he heard the
+horse clattering at a furious rate down the road.  His heart gave a
+jump; he felt a hot flush surge through him: the rider, whoever he was,
+had been startled, and was now doubtless dashing on to warn the coming
+train.  Who could the fool be who had so flagrantly disobeyed the
+captain's orders?  Had he been so mad as to expose himself, in his
+shirt over-all, to the view of the horseman?  Turnpenny was as wrathful
+as Dennis.
+
+"Be jowned if I don't deal en a whap in the niddick," he whispered,
+"as'll make en twine like an angle-twitch."
+
+The sound of the hoofs died away, and Dennis expected that the clanging
+of the bells would cease also, and all be brought to nought.  To his
+surprise there was no change: the bells drew nearer and nearer; now he
+heard men's voices; and then, with a suddenness that made him jump, a
+shrill whistle-blast rose high above all other sounds.  It was the
+signal for the attack.  Dennis and the sailor rushed through the grass;
+on all sides white-clad forms rose from their lurking-places and made
+towards the road with a cheer.  They sprang at the muleteers, toppled
+them over, and without a shot fired the long line of mules was in the
+raiders' hands.
+
+With many a laugh and jest the sailors hauled the packs from the backs
+of the mules and slit them with their hangers.  But soon the mirth was
+turned to melancholy.
+
+"Od-rat-en, what have we here?" cried Turnpenny, lifting a soft mass on
+the end of his weapon.  "Bless my bones if it bean't a bunch of yokey
+sheep's wool!"
+
+"And here 'tis nought but dried meat as tough as leather."
+
+"Ay, where be the goold, where be the goold?" cried Robert Pike,
+breaking from the grasp of a maroon.  "Cap'n said there was nugs o'
+goold as big as goose-eggs, and be jowned if I can see a farden's
+worth!"
+
+"And the gewgaws for the rory-tory madams o' Spain--where be the
+gewgaws?" cried another of the seamen.  "Here, you codger"--seizing one
+of the muleteers--"where be the gewgaws adiddled to?"
+
+He shook the man till he gasped for breath, then hauled him before
+Drake, who had come into the midst of the enraged sailors.  He bade the
+muleteer speak.  The man told how the horseman, trotting by with a page
+at his stirrup, had been startled to see a ghost-like figure rise out
+of the grass at the side of the track, and galloped on to warn the
+treasurer.  Superstitious as the Spaniards were, they knew so much of
+the daring of El Draque that the treasurer did not for a moment doubt
+he had to deal, not with a ghost, but with a very real and substantial
+enemy.  The warning had reached him just in time.  He drew his mules,
+bearing the treasure, to the side of the road to allow the train of
+merchandise to pass; the loss of food and wool could be endured
+patiently if the gold and jewels were saved.  Then, when the din ahead
+confirmed his suspicions of an ambush, he turned the mules' heads back
+towards Panama and slipped away.
+
+Here was a pretty end to the adventure from which all had hoped so
+much!  Loud was the outcry against the wretched man whose rashness had
+had so untoward an effect.  While Drake took hurried counsel with Oxnam
+and Pedro the maroon, the men went about growling, accusing each other,
+threatening terrible punishment for the offender.  Of them all none was
+louder or more vehement than Robert Pike.
+
+"An I catch the knave," he shouted, "Ise fulsh en, Ise thump en, Ise
+larn en a thing or two as the wink-a-puss won't forget."
+
+But as he spoke he lurched towards Amos, who caught him by the collar
+as a sudden suspicion dawned.
+
+"Be jowned if I don't b'lieve 'twas 'ee, Bob Pike!  You hawk-a-mouth
+knave, I smell 'ee, I do.  You been puddling aqua vitae, dang my
+buttons an you bean't.  You bandy-legged piggish lubby, you, 'ee'll
+fulsh en, will 'ee? and thump en, will 'ee? and larn the wink-a-puss a
+thing or two, will 'ee?  The Old Smoker take 'ee for a lubberly knave
+and a jackass."
+
+"And 'ee for a gabbing rant-a-come-scour!" retorted Pike, when he got
+his breath.  "What be 'ee jowering at me for?  I only supped a little
+small drop to keep me awake, and when I heard the moyles a-coming,
+od-rabbit-en, thinks I, Ise nab the first; and when I got to the road,
+'twas no moyle, but a fine horse and rider, and I rose up to see what
+he was, and a knave maroon pulled me down and sat upon me like to
+squeeze out my vitals, and so the villain Spaniard got away."
+
+"You bosky knave, I'll----"
+
+But what Turnpenny would have done remained untold, for at this moment
+Drake called all the men together.
+
+"'Tis no good crying over spilt milk, my lads," he said.  "An we do not
+shift for ourselves betimes, we shall have all the Spaniards of Panama
+upon us pell mell.  To go back the way we came is a four leagues march;
+we all be wearied and for-done, and meseems 'twere better to go forward
+two leagues into the forest.  True, the town of Venta Cruz stands in
+the way, but 'tis better, methinks, to encounter our enemies while we
+have strength remaining than to be encountered and chased when we be
+worn out with weariness.  We will e'en eat our suppers while we may;
+there be great store of meat and drink in the mule-packs; then will we
+mount upon these beasts, so that we do not weary ourselves with
+overmuch marching.  And then, if God will, we will ding a blow at the
+enemy for our honour; and mark 'ee, my lads, we are disappointed of a
+most rich booty; but surely God would not that it should be taken, for
+that, by all likelihood, it was well gotten by that treasurer, and not
+by evil courses."
+
+And, taking what comfort they could from their captain's explanation,
+they set off on mule back as soon as supper was over, and came in an
+hour to the woods a mile out of Venta Cruz.  There they dismounted.
+Drake bade the muleteers remain out of harm's way, and led the men over
+a cobbled road ten feet broad, running between great walls of
+vegetation.
+
+Following his custom, Drake sent forward two of the faithful maroons to
+reconnoitre.  They came back with news that, half a mile farther on,
+the enemy were hidden in the thickets; they had heard the rustle of
+their movements and smelled the pungent smoke of their matches.
+
+"Let no man fire till after the enemy hath dealt us a volley," said
+Drake; "methinks they will first parley with us."
+
+He led them quietly forward.  A few minutes later a dark form appeared
+on the darker road.
+
+"Hoo!" came a voice.
+
+"Halloo!" replied Drake.
+
+"What nation are you?" called the man in Spanish.
+
+"Englishmen."
+
+"In the name of the King of Spain my master," cried the captain, "I
+charge you to yield, avouching on the word of a gentleman soldier that
+I will deal with you most courteously."
+
+"Come on, my lads," quietly said Drake, taking a few quick steps
+forward.  Aloud he cried: "For the honour of the Queen of England, my
+mistress, I must have passage this way."
+
+At the same moment he fired his pistol.  The Spaniards in ambush,
+mistaking the shot for a signal from their own officer, poured in a
+volley.  Drake blew his whistle, and instantly his men sent a
+spattering shower of bullets and arrows into the brushwood, following
+it up with a charge.  The Spaniards bolted like hares, and at Drake's
+command the maroons of his party swarmed forward to cut the enemy off
+from a stronger position in the rear, shouting their terrifying
+war-cry, "Yo peho!  Yo peho!"  Back went the Spaniards, scurrying along
+to the shelter of the town, the maroons leaping and dancing after them
+as their manner was in war, the seamen not far behind, adding to the
+uproar with English yells.  Within a few yards of the town wall the
+enemy attempted to rally, posting themselves across the road and in the
+woods on both sides.  But the maroons swept upon their flanks, Drake
+and his men charged full at the centre.  For a few moments the place
+rang with the clash of sword and pike and the cries of the combatants.
+Then as one man the Spaniards wheeled about and scampered through the
+open gates of the town, with Drake's whole party at their heels.  On
+they went into the streets, seamen and maroons, thrusting and slashing
+without pause or respite, yet strictly observing their captain's
+injunction to spare women and unarmed men.  In five minutes they were
+masters of the town.
+
+For little over an hour the men ran hither and thither, gathering what
+spoils they could in the shape of articles easily carried.  Then, just
+as dawn was breaking, and they were snatching a hasty breakfast before
+departing, a dozen horsemen dashed in at the Panama gate.  Not until
+they were within point-blank range of the musketeers whom Drake had
+posted there did they perceive that the town was in the enemy's hands.
+The sentries fired; half of the horsemen fell; the rest fled back
+hastily into the forest.  But Drake feared they were the advance guard
+of a larger force.  It was dangerous to delay.  He whistled his men
+together; and in a few minutes they marched out of the town with their
+spoils, some little compensation for the lost treasure of the mule
+train.
+
+The toils and sufferings of that homeward march lived long in the
+memories of Dennis and Turnpenny.  Drake forced the pace unmercifully,
+anxious to get back to his ship.  Food ran short; he would not stay to
+hunt wild hog or deer.  Several of the men had been wounded; there was
+no time to tend their wounds.  Their clothes were torn to tatters;
+their boots, even the extra pairs, had given way, and they were driven
+to bind their feet with rags.  The faithful maroons served them nobly,
+carrying all the burdens, building huts for their rest at night,
+bearing upon their shoulders some of the seamen who were too exhausted
+and footsore to tramp any longer.  A maroon went forward to warn the
+waiting company of their approach.  On the afternoon of the 23rd of
+February, three weeks after they had started on the expedition, they
+tottered out of the forest towards the beach, just as the pinnace, sent
+by Ellis Hixom to take them off, scudded inshore.  There on the
+glistening sand the little company of men, haggard, worn-out,
+half-famished, raised their husky voices in a psalm of thanksgiving,
+praising God because they saw their pinnace and their fellows again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+Maiden Isle Again
+
+As they sailed back in the pinnace to the secret haven, the weary
+adventurers were surrounded by their comrades, and feasted their ears
+with wondrous tales of what had befallen them.  Ellis Hixom also had a
+story to tell.  A few days after the departure of the company, there
+had staggered into the clearing three men in the last stage of
+exhaustion.  Two were English, one French.  They were pitiable objects,
+their eyes bright with fever, their cheeks haggard with famine, their
+feet blistered and bleeding from long wandering in the woods.  Each man
+carried a bag of pearls.
+
+And they told a pitiful story.  They had escaped, they said, from
+captivity in Nombre de Dios, and set out with three comrades, bearing
+plunder from the houses of their captors.  It was well known along the
+coast that Drake was somewhere in hiding, and they marched eastward,
+hoping by good hap to light upon his encampment.  But as they rested
+one night, the leader had overheard a plot on the part of three of the
+men to slay the rest and make off with the booty.  Fearing that if it
+came to a fight he and his two comrades would stand but little chance
+against the others, who were men of exceeding great strength and
+ferocity, the three had slipped away in the darkness and had since been
+tramping for days through the forest, unable to find sufficient food,
+and subsisting on berries and mushrooms.  Once they had almost stumbled
+into a village of maroons, and fled for their lives, dreading lest they
+should be taken for Spaniards and slain before the error was discovered.
+
+"And where are they now?" asked Drake.
+
+"On the _Pascha_, sir," replied Hixom, "where they are slowly
+recovering of their calentures."
+
+"And the name of the leader?"
+
+"Jan Biddle, by his own account a skilful mariner and----"
+
+"Ay, I have heard tell of him," interrupted Drake with a grim smile.
+"Master Hazelrig," he added, calling Dennis up, "I learn that the
+captain of your mutineers waits your judgement on my vessel."
+
+He repeated what Hixom had told him.
+
+"What is the name of the other Englishman, Master Hixom?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Dick Rackstraw, methinks.  The Frenchman's name is Michel Barren."
+
+"Then what has become of our comrade Billy Hawk, I wonder?  Biddle and
+his crew deserted from us with the treasure, when we came ashore in our
+boat.  Billy Hawk went after them; I fear me there has been foul play."
+
+"We will enquire into that matter when we gain our haven," said Drake,
+"and see what Master Biddle has to say for himself."
+
+As soon as he reached the haven, Drake boarded the _Pascha_ and called
+Biddle and his companions before him.  He listened patiently to the
+man's wild tale, then sent a boat ashore to bring off Dennis and
+Turnpenny.  Biddle's jaw dropped when he saw them come over the side.
+He attempted to bluster it out, but Drake cut him short.
+
+"You are a foul liar and a mutineer," he said sternly.  "Art a murderer
+also?  What didst thou to Billy Hawk thy comrade?  Answer to the point,
+villain."
+
+"Afore God, sir, I know nought of him.  With me came but four men, and
+two of those lie dead in the forest, of a strange sickness that got
+hold of them after that they had drunken of the water of a certain
+river.  Of Billy Hawk I saw nor heard nought."
+
+"My poor comrade!" said Turnpenny.  "I fear me he be gone or alost."
+
+"These are your men," said Drake, turning to Dennis.  "The punishment
+of mutiny is death.  Do with them as you list."
+
+"I would fain leave them in your hands, sir," replied Dennis.  "For me,
+I would not that any man should die."
+
+"I will consider of it.  Have them put in irons and carried below."
+
+Next day he decided, on Dennis's intercession, to content himself with
+holding the men closely confined in the vessel.  The bags of pearls
+were taken from them and handed to Dennis and Turnpenny.  And ere the
+day was out Robert Pike was sent to join them.  Drake had learnt of the
+mischievous part the man had played, which had resulted in the failure
+of his attack on the mule trains.
+
+"A little darkness and solitude may teach him to refrain from the
+bottle," he said.
+
+The enterprise had so nearly succeeded that when Drake declared he
+would make the attempt again, as soon as the time came for another
+convoy of treasure to cross the isthmus, every man of his company
+eagerly besought him for a place in the expedition.  But Dennis
+reminded him of his promise to lend him a pinnace in which to sail to
+Maiden Isle and bring off his comrades.
+
+"I will hold to my word," said Drake.  "You and your brawny henchman
+have suffered less than the most of my men, by reason, I wot, of your
+being inured to hardships on your island.  Some days must needs pass
+before we are ready to attempt other enterprises.  The island is but a
+day's sail, you said?"
+
+"Ay, sir, and with good hap we should return on the second day, or the
+third at most."
+
+"Then take the _Minion_ pinnace, and good hap go with you.  You will
+need men.  Choose out eight according to your mind, and a few maroons
+also.  Juan was with you, I bethink me; he will doubtless serve you
+right faithfully.  In sooth, I shall be mighty rejoiced to have with me
+the dozen men you go to find, for if they be in spirit and body like to
+you and your henchman, they will be most serviceable when I make my
+next journey to Panama.  I would go fetch them myself, as I had
+purposed, but that our preparations demand my presence here."
+
+Next day, then, the _Minion_ pinnace sailed out of the little haven
+with a crew of eight Englishmen and five maroons, three of whom were
+the men who had accompanied Dennis from the island.  Mirandola also was
+on board.  He had disappeared when Dennis set off with Drake to cross
+the isthmus, but had evidently kept a watch on the settlement, for the
+day after they returned he came out of the forest and attached himself
+to his old master with demonstrations of delight.  A brisk breeze was
+blowing off shore; the pinnace was a first-rate sailer; by midday they
+were in sight of the island, and in the afternoon they rounded the
+shoulder of the cliff, Turnpenny steering the vessel into the gully.
+
+Dennis, standing in the bows, caught sight of a group of men beyond the
+pool, near his sheds.  They were partly hidden by the foliage, and when
+they saw the strange vessel making straight towards them, with the
+evident intention of coming to an anchorage, they took to their heels
+and disappeared.
+
+"Poor souls! they take us for Spaniards," said Turnpenny.  "I warrant
+they be most desperately in the dumps.  'Tis nigh a month since we
+departed hence."
+
+The pinnace dropped anchor beside the _Maid Marian_, and the men went
+ashore.
+
+"Blow a blast," said Dennis to one of the men, who carried a trumpet,
+"with notes that will be familiar to their ears."
+
+As the shrill notes rang out, he stepped ahead of the men, with
+Mirandola on his shoulder.  Before long a man appeared among the trees
+far up the chine.
+
+"Hallo hoy!" shouted Turnpenny.  "Be that you, Tom Copstone?  Come,
+comrade, never be afeard.  We've come to take 'ee off, poor soul, and
+bring 'ee to Master Drake, who will make us all rich with much gold and
+treasure.  Come, my hearts, Ned Whiddon, and Hugh Curder, and all."
+
+Turnpenny's well-known voice was more successful than the trumpet's
+notes in banishing the men's mistrust.  Soon they came hasting down the
+gully, Copstone leading.
+
+"I said it!  I knew it," he cried, as he approached.  "'You and me,
+Haymoss'--the blessed words stayed in my noddle, and I knew 'ee would
+come back somewhen, dear soul.  But we be in piteous case.  'Tis a long
+ninny-watch we ha' kept, and hope was wellnigh drownded, sir.  We could
+not make it out; we was mazed, every man of us; but you be come back,
+praise be to God."
+
+He told how the disappearance of the _Mirandola_ had filled them first
+with consternation, then with bitter rage.  Some of the men declared
+that they had been decoyed to the island; that they had been betrayed
+and deserted for the sake of the treasure.  From the first Copstone and
+Whiddon had absolutely refused to believe that Dennis and Turnpenny had
+wilfully left them; Hugh Curder, indeed, had made a shrewd guess at
+what had actually happened; but the rest clung to their first notion,
+gave way to bursts of rage and reviling, and as the days passed,
+settled down into a state of moody despair.
+
+Copstone had tried to induce them to fit out the _Maid Marian_ for sea,
+but he had found it impossible to whip up enough energy among them.
+They had some reason for their reluctance, inasmuch as, the stores of
+the _Maid Marian_ having been put aboard the _Mirandola_, there was no
+provision for a long voyage.  The fruits of the island would spoil in a
+week or so, whereas if they clung to the island they were at least sure
+of finding a sufficient subsistence.  But they had been troubled even
+on this point, for some of the men fell ill through recklessly eating
+fruits and berries without first ascertaining whether they were fit for
+food, and with broken health their spirits had been still further
+depressed.
+
+"Poor souls!" said Turnpenny.  "'Ee do look a wangery and witherly
+crew.  But 'ee be all here, all twelve, not a man lacking?  My heart!
+where be Gabriel Batten?"
+
+"He never come back!"
+
+"Never come back!  What do 'ee mean?"
+
+"We looked for en, up along and down along, but nary a crim of him did
+we see."
+
+"Ay, and another be gone, too," said Hugh Curder.  "But a sennight
+agone, poor Joe Toogood vanished out of our sight, and we never seed
+him again."
+
+"Be there devils upon the island, Haymoss?" asked Ned Whiddon,
+anxiously.  "Be there pixies that lead poor souls into some ditch or
+quagmire, where they be swallowed quick in the pluffy ground?  Once we
+was bold mariners all, but now we be poor timorsome creatures, afeard
+when the wind soughs in the trees."
+
+Dennis remembered the boa-constrictor from whose clammy coils he had
+saved the monkey that now sat upon his shoulder.
+
+"'Twas no sprites nor pixies, comrades," he said.  "Without doubt they
+came unawares upon a big serpent that charmed them first with his fiery
+eyes, and then swathed them in his fearsome coils till he had crushed
+the life out of them.  Poor souls! poor souls!"
+
+"But now 'tis time to be merry, lads," said Amos quickly, "for here we
+be, and our pinnace yonder is named the _Minion_, the same as the bark
+that Captain Hampton handled so cunningly at St. John d'Ulua; and we be
+goin' to take 'ee all back to Master Drake, who lies by a secret haven,
+in little small huts built by the maroons; and there be archery butts,
+and a smith's anvil, and other such homely things.  And we have seen
+wondrous things, my lads--the blue south sea beyond, and the treasure
+town, and Master Drake be set on leading us forth to adventure for gold
+and jewels beyond price.  'Tis time to be merry, souls!"
+
+And catching the infection of his cheery good-will, Hugh Curder flung
+his hat in the air and began--
+
+  Ill is the weather that bringeth no gain,
+    Nor helps good hearts in need.
+
+
+Dennis had transferred to the _Mirandola_--now, alas! at the bottom of
+the sea--the greater part of the _Maid Marian's_ stores that he kept in
+his sheds; but there was a goodly remnant still in the cave, and this
+he determined to put on board the _Minion_ and carry to Port Diego.
+The afternoon was too far advanced for the work to be completed that
+night; so he determined to sleep on the island and make an early start
+next morning.  As soon as it was light he sent a number of Turnpenny's
+old comrades in different directions across the island to get a supply
+of fresh fruit, while the men he had brought from the mainland set
+about carrying the stores from the cave to the pinnace.
+
+They had not been long at the work, however, when Ned Whiddon came
+hurrying back.
+
+"God-a-mercy, sir," he cried, "we have spied a crew of strangers on the
+south shore, and in the offing two vessels at anchor.  They be all clad
+and armed in the Spanish fashion, and when they set eyes on us they
+gave chase, and but that we know the island now as well as we know the
+lanes to home, none of us would have 'scaped."
+
+Other men came in while he was speaking.  Dennis trembled for the fate
+of those who had gone towards the northern shore and had not yet
+returned.
+
+"'Tis ill news indeed," he said.  "Run, Curder, after the men that have
+gone northward, and warn them that Spaniards are here to trouble us,
+lest they have not already discovered it.  Comrades," he added,
+addressing the men about him, whose countenances bespoke their
+alarm--"comrades, we must take counsel together.  What think you, Amos,
+we should do?"
+
+"Why, sir, we should steal out in the pinnace as soon as our men be
+back along, leaving these stores, and thread a way betwixt the reefs to
+nor'ward; for the knaves could not follow us save in their boats."
+
+"Ay, sir," said Copstone, "that be the true way of it.  God send the
+tide be high enough to serve."
+
+"Then get aboard and make all ready to depart.  Amos, look to all
+things, and make the rest of our comrades to embark as they arrive.  I
+will run to the top of the cliff to spy if the coast be clear."
+
+But on reaching the spot whence he had often before looked so longingly
+and vainly for a sail, he made a most unwelcome discovery.  About a
+mile to the south-west of the island lay a large vessel, which, since
+she was busily engaged in signalling, was clearly a consort of the two
+ships that Whiddon had seen.  Keeping well under cover, Dennis raced
+along to a point half a mile south, whence the whole southern offing
+was visible.  There were the two vessels; and, even as he looked, a
+boat was lowered from the nearest of them, rapidly filled with men, and
+was rowed towards the beach.
+
+The sight was enough to cause the boldest heart to quake.  If the
+pinnace ran out of the gully, she would have to pass within half a mile
+of the ship, for the tide was low, and even the little _Minion_ drew
+too much water to make her way northward until she had run at least
+half a mile out to sea.  This would bring her under the guns of the
+third vessel, and the Spaniards must be poor marksmen indeed if they
+failed to hit her at this range.
+
+He was beginning to retrace his steps when Turnpenny came up hurriedly.
+
+"We be all aboard, sir, save yourself and Nick Joland.  Have 'ee seen
+him?"
+
+"No."
+
+"He be but late better of a fever, as Tom telled me; pray he be not
+swooned."
+
+At this moment they heard loud shouts to their right.  Running down
+through the trees, careful not to expose themselves, they saw four
+Spaniards chasing this very Nick Joland, a thin cadaverous-looking man
+whose stumbling gait betrayed his weakness.  He was making almost in a
+straight line for a large bignonia bush that stood alone at the end of
+the narrow clearing just below where the two men were watching.
+
+With one accord Dennis and Turnpenny stole to the bush and dropped down
+behind it.
+
+"Let Joland pass," whispered Dennis; "then we can tackle the knaves as
+they come up."
+
+"Without arms?" replied Turnpenny.
+
+Dennis nodded.  In a few moments the fugitive, panting hard, ran past
+the bush.  The four Spaniards, running in a body, were close at his
+heels.
+
+"Now!" Dennis whispered.
+
+They sprang out with a yell, and though they were unarmed, the odds
+were not utterly against them, for the Spaniards were startled by this
+unexpected onset.  A single blow from Turnpenny's sledge-hammer fist
+stretched one of them senseless on the ground.  Dennis felled his man,
+but his arm was less powerful, and the Spaniard began dizzily to regain
+his feet while Dennis grappled with another.  As he rose he reeled just
+within reach of Turnpenny's arm.  Catching him round the middle, the
+seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard, who was making
+furiously at him with drawn sword, Their heads collided with a terrific
+thud, and down they fell on the grass together.
+
+[Illustration: "The seaman flung him bodily at the fourth Spaniard."]
+
+Meanwhile Dennis had come to grips with the third man, a heavy and
+muscular fellow, who had only been prevented by the suddenness of the
+onslaught from using his sword, which he was unable in the surprise of
+the moment to shorten before Dennis was within his guard.  Dropping the
+weapon, he strove to crush his antagonist by sheer strength.  But
+Dennis was a wrestler.  He neatly tripped the Spaniard, who fell,
+dragging his opponent with him.  With a tremendous effort, he heaved
+himself uppermost and pinned Dennis to the ground.  His hand was
+already on Dennis's throat when suddenly a bright object hurtled
+through the air, striking him with terrific force on the side of the
+head.  His grip relaxed, he fell with a groan upon Dennis, the object
+that had struck him clattering to the ground.
+
+Dennis was up in a moment.  The strange missile was the headpiece of
+one of the Spaniards.  It had fallen from his head in the tussle, and
+been picked up by Nick Joland, who, seeing the diversion in his favour,
+had hurried up at the critical moment in time to save Dennis from
+strangulation.
+
+"Dead as door-nails!" said Turnpenny succinctly, seeing Dennis glance
+at the Spaniards on the ground.  "'Tis a terrible heave-up, sir; we
+were best to run back along to our comrades in the pinnace, for there
+be gashly work afore us.  And we will take these knaves' swords and
+calivers.  Crymaces! there be more running towards us, and a round
+dozen; we durst not bide their coming.  We have but bare time to get
+back to the chine.  Stir your stumps, Nick Joland; we can't save 'ee
+twice, man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A Fight on the Cliffs
+
+The three doubled back towards the chine, which was little more than
+half a mile away.  The Spaniards saw them ere they disappeared among
+the trees, and followed with loud shouts, quickening their pace when
+they reached the spot where their comrades lay.  But the Englishmen,
+knowing the ground, came in good time to the edge of the gully, where a
+steep and winding path led down to the ledge on which the huts were
+built.  From the summit the ledge was not visible.
+
+"Shall we run down at once, or give them a taste of their own lead
+first?" asked Dennis, halting for a moment.
+
+"Give the knaves a taste, to be sure," replied Amos.  "They know not
+how many we be, nor can they see through the trees; and we must needs
+check them, to give us time to acquaint our comrades with what is
+toward, and set our defences in order."
+
+While speaking he had kindled the matches taken from the Spaniards.
+The calivers were already loaded.  Crouching behind the thick bushes
+that lined the edge of the gully, they fired when they caught sight of
+the Spaniards advancing among the trees.  Two of the enemy fell; the
+rest halted; and while they stood considering whether to advance, the
+three Englishmen hurried down the path, guessing that the Spaniards
+would hardly venture to follow while they were ignorant of the size of
+the force with which they had to deal.
+
+Arriving at the ledge, Turnpenny gave a hail to the men on the deck of
+the pinnace, bidding them leave the vessel and bring their arms and
+ammunition with them.  They had been much alarmed by the continued
+absence of their leaders, and by the sound of the shots, and asked
+anxiously, when they reached the ledge, what was to be done.  Dennis
+rapidly told them what he had seen from the summit of the cliff, and
+how for the present the Spaniards had been checked, and then, taking
+Turnpenny and two or three of the others aside, began to concert a plan
+of defence.
+
+The position was naturally a strong one.  The ledge was accessible only
+by the narrow path from the cliff-top, and by a few yards of steep
+ascent from the base of the gully.  It was protected from attack from
+above by the overhanging cliff; it could only be assaulted from below
+if the enemy got into the bed of the gully, either by coming in boats
+round the shoulder of the cliff, or by clambering down the sides
+inland.  The gully was forty yards across; the opposite bank was steep
+and much overgrown with vegetation, trees and bushes growing thick to
+the very edge.  Down the middle ran the stream from the marsh, very
+shallow after a season of dry weather.  On their own side the defenders
+could pick off the enemy if they came to attack them along the narrow
+path; they were only in danger if the Spaniards took post on the summit
+of the cliff opposite, and they could not reach that spot except by
+making a long circuit about the marsh in which the stream took its
+rise, or by clambering down the southern bank some distance up-stream,
+wading through the water and climbing the other side.  This would be a
+matter of an hour or two at least--an invaluable respite which Dennis
+resolved to make the most of.
+
+He sent one of the maroons up the path to keep watch on the enemy, and
+another to cross the gully, clamber up the opposite face, and hide
+among the trees there to give notice of an approach from the
+north-east.  The other maroons, with several of the Englishmen, he set
+to fortify the extremity of the ledge with a wall of branches, so that
+the party might be screened from gunshot on the far side.  Turnpenny,
+with the strongest of the mariners, went down to the pinnace, and at
+the cost of great exertion brought up the falcon and rabinets which
+formed, with the addition of a saker, her armament.  The saker was a
+muzzle-loader weighing more than half a ton, and too cumbrous to be
+hauled up the steep cliff; but the falcon was less than half that
+weight, and the two rabinets weighed only three hundred pounds apiece.
+The falcon was seven feet long, had a bore of two and a half inches,
+and threw a shot of three pounds weight, with a similar weight of
+powder.  The rabinet was only two and a half feet in length, its bore
+was one inch, and its shot weighed only half a pound.  Both guns had a
+point-blank range of from a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty
+yards, and, mounted on the ledge, in embrasures of the extemporized
+wall, they would prove very effective weapons of defence.
+
+While the guns were being hauled into position, others of the men
+brought buckets of water, filled at the cliff stream, and emptied them
+into the casks which during the months spent on the island by Dennis
+and the sailors had been depleted of the stores they had held when
+brought from the hold of the _Maid Marian_.  Two casks still remained
+full of cider, but this having gone sour in the heat, it was poured
+away, the casks were swilled out, and re-filled with water.  It was
+fortunate that a pure spring welled in the cliff, for the water of the
+rivulet draining the marsh was unfit for drinking.
+
+All the men worked with a will.  They knew not as yet how many the
+enemy numbered, but since there were three vessels, of which each, if
+fully manned, might contain from forty to seventy men, they had to
+reckon with a force that might be from a hundred and twenty to more
+than two hundred strong.  The odds were tremendously against them.  All
+told, they numbered only twenty-six, of whom six were maroons.  But
+they had only two courses open to them: to fight, and at least sell
+their lives dearly, or to yield, and be shot or hanged or haled away to
+a slavery worse than death.  Not one of them hesitated in his choice.
+
+As a last resort, Dennis had the cave to fall back upon; but he was
+loath to retire to it until he had made a good fight at the gully, for
+while, from the ledge on which his hut stood, he could command the
+entrance of the gully, and to some extent protect the pinnace, the cave
+was deeper in the cliff and out of sight, and however strenuously the
+party might defend itself there, the pinnace would then be at the mercy
+of the enemy.  It was true that, even if the pinnace were carried away
+or destroyed, a canoe could be dug out by the maroons, so that they
+would still have a means of leaving the island; but Dennis was
+determined to sail the _Minion_ back to Port Diego and to Francis Drake.
+
+Midday came, and passed.  The maroons had finished their wall; the guns
+were mounted and charged; the water-casks were filled: and still there
+was no sign of the enemy.  But the scouts had not returned, and Dennis
+began to feel somewhat uneasy.  What were the Spaniards doing?
+
+"Have we left aught undone, think you?" he said to Turnpenny, as they
+sat on upturned tubs eating their dinner.
+
+"Nowt, sir, as I can see.  But methinks 't'ud be well to withdraw the
+muzzles of our guns somewhat.  If the knaves come on t'other side and
+spy them, they may sheer off and seek some other way of troubling us;
+and I would that they came to close quarters here, where we can strike
+them down."
+
+"'Tis good counsel.  Not perceiving the guns they will be the more
+emboldened to attack us, and 'twere well we have occasion to teach them
+a sound lesson."
+
+Accordingly the guns were withdrawn so that their muzzles did not
+project from the other side of the wall.  Hardly had this been done
+when the nose of a boat was seen shooting round the shoulder of the
+cliff.
+
+"Lookeedesee!" cried Turnpenny.  "The knaves that followed us did
+assuredly go back to their comrades and tell them of the gully and the
+path downwards, and they have sent their cock-boat to spy the place
+from the sea."
+
+"Let us keep out of sight and watch what they do," said Dennis.
+
+The boat, filled with armed men, came under full sweep of oars up the
+entrance to the gully.  When it was still some distance from the
+pinnace the men rested on their oars, and one rose in the bows to look
+about him.  For some time he saw nothing to indicate that the place was
+defended, and his fellows in the boat began to talk over the situation,
+the sound of their voices coming clearly to the men behind the wall.
+Then, as the boat again moved towards the pool, some one in it suddenly
+caught sight of the barricaded ledge, and the voices broke out once
+more in eager discussion.  The upshot of this was that they came to the
+conclusion that the pinnace had been abandoned to her fate, and with a
+shout of triumph they bent lustily to their oars and came on with the
+evident intention of securing the vessel.
+
+But they were now within range of the calivers of the defenders.  At a
+sign from Dennis eight of the men stepped forward to the wall, lit
+their matches, and, resting the weapons on the top, fired when he gave
+the word.  Several of the oarsmen were seen to fall back; the boat came
+to a stop; and while the Spaniards were hesitating whether to advance
+or retreat, eight more men sent a hot volley among them, working havoc
+in the crowded boat.  Cries of pain were now mingled with their shouts;
+the defenders heard a loud word of command; and the rowers began to
+back water so as not to present the side of the boat to the hidden
+marksmen.  When the boat was out of danger it swung round on the
+current, and in a few minutes disappeared past the shoulder of the
+cliff.
+
+Scarcely was it out of sight when the maroon who had been sent up the
+cliff to the south came running down the path.  He reported that he had
+stealthily spied upon the Spaniards who had been baffled when Dennis
+and Turnpenny vanished over the edge; they had returned to the southern
+shore, where they rejoined a larger party which had assembled there.  A
+council had been held on the beach; horns were sounded, no doubt to
+recall scattered bands who had been ranging the island in other
+directions; more men had been sent off from the ships; and the whole
+force, numbering, as near as he could guess, nearly two hundred men,
+had set off with matches already lighted, marching northward.
+Moreover, the third vessel, which had been lying off the south-western
+shore, was working slowly up the coast.
+
+"'Twas from her, without doubt, the boat put off that we have lately
+routed," said Dennis.  "The men aboard will tell what they have seen.
+What will be the upshot, think you, Amos?"
+
+"Be jowned if I can tell, sir.  My counsel is, let the maroon go back
+and spy upon them.  An the knaves march directly northward they will
+come upon the gully just above us, and methinks, however stout they be,
+they will not dare to come down the path, where we can shoot them man
+by man."
+
+It was done as he suggested.  Within half an hour the maroon came back
+with the news that the boat had been run ashore on low ground to the
+west: many wounded men had been lifted out of it; and the majority of
+the Spaniards had hastened across country to rejoin the marching force.
+It halted while a consultation was held; then the march was resumed,
+but this time in a more easterly direction, which would bring them to
+the gully at a point about midway between the ledge and the morass,
+where the banks were sufficiently low and the stream sufficiently
+shallow to permit them to cross without difficulty.
+
+"They be coming about to fire down at us from t'other side," said
+Turnpenny.
+
+"Over the wall," added Copstone.
+
+"We can fire back," said Whiddon.
+
+"Zuggers! but twenty of us cannot keep two hundred in check," said Hugh
+Curder, anxiously.
+
+"Say you so?" said Dennis.  "Master Drake with but few more did assault
+and take a whole town.  The Spaniards have learnt the worth of an
+English mariner; they will not approach us rashly.  And they know not
+the ground as we know it.  'Twill be a matter of time to cross the
+gully and climb the bank and creep along through the trees on the
+further side until they face us here.  There is--you know it well--a
+space on the opposite cliff where the trees grow somewhat thin: a space
+which the knaves must cross an they wish to gain the edge.  Might we
+not ensconce ourselves on the hither border of that space, and fire
+upon them as they come?  We are not able, 'tis true, a poor twenty, to
+withstand the fervent assault of two hundred; but we can assuredly
+delay them, and teach them somewhat to respect us, and give time withal
+for our wall to be increased in height; meseems it is lower than is
+proper.  What say you, lads; shall we do this?"
+
+"But how get back to this our fort, sir?" asked one of Drake's men.
+"We must fall back before them if they push on, and then methinks they
+might drive us over the brink, so that we fall headlong to the bottom,
+and break in pieces."
+
+"Nay, Wetherall," replied Dennis.  "We would take two, or even three,
+calivers apiece, whereby we twenty become sixty, and I warrant me we
+could do so much damage among them that they would pause ere they
+resolved to bring it to a push.  And while they paused, we should have
+time to scramble down through the trees and shrubs, and up this side
+again, and come to our wall, mayhap, before they won to the edge.
+Assuredly we can do them more hurt yonder than if we wait until they
+stand in serried mass face to face with us above.  Shall we do it,
+lads, for the honour of England?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," shouted the men, fired by his enthusiasm and confidence;
+and Hugh Curder began to troll--
+
+  "And hey for the honour of old England,
+    Old England, Old England!"
+
+
+The move was instantly begun.  Dennis bade four of the maroons weave
+more branches into the wall.  The rest of the men, with two loaded
+calivers apiece--three were found to be too cumbrous a load--followed
+Dennis down the cliff, forded the stream on rocks just above the pool
+where the pinnace and the _Maid Marian_ lay, and clambered up the
+opposite cliff by a zigzag path, assisting themselves by the branches
+and projecting roots of trees.  Arriving at the summit, they waited
+only to light their matches, then hurried forward through the
+undergrowth to the edge of the somewhat open space which the enemy must
+cross.  Each man posted himself behind a convenient tree.  For two
+hundred yards in their front there were only a few scattered trees and
+bushes.  Dennis wished there were time to fell these and so deprive the
+enemy wholly of cover; but even if they could have been cut down, there
+was no means at hand of dragging them away, and they would give less
+protection if left erect than if they lay lengthwise across the space.
+
+About half an hour after they had thus taken up their positions, the
+maroon who had previously been sent across the gully as a scout came
+running back to announce that the enemy were approaching.  They were
+marching with great caution, the soldiers blowing on their smouldering
+matches to keep them alight.  Dennis ordered the maroon to post himself
+behind a tree, and the little party waited in breathless silence for
+the enemy to appear.
+
+At last one or two men could be seen among the trees on the other side
+of the clearing.  They halted, evidently waiting for the main body to
+appear before they moved across.  Dennis took advantage of the interval
+to whisper his orders to the men.  If the enemy did not come on in a
+mass, and at the charge, only alternate men were to fire the first
+volley, then, if they had time, to reload their pieces, still having
+the second loaded caliver in reserve.
+
+In a few minutes the gleam of the Spaniards' headpieces and
+shoulder-plates was seen as they joined the advance scouts among the
+trees.  Then, as it were out of the leafy wall, some twenty men marched
+resolutely forward in closed ranks, clearly without any suspicion that
+the woods beyond were occupied.  Dennis waited until they were half-way
+across the open space, then he sounded the "Hoo! hoo!" which was the
+maroons' signal in wood fighting.  The calivers flashed from the belt
+of trees; several of the enemy fell; the rest, startled and confused by
+this sudden and unexpected attack, rushed back instantly upon the main
+body, while the men who had fired began in all haste to reload.
+
+But they had no time to complete the priming of their weapons.  A shout
+was heard from beyond the clearing.  Immediately afterwards a tall
+Spaniard, whom his dress marked out as an officer, dashed forward at
+the top of his speed, carrying a short heavy pistol of the kind known
+to Englishmen as "daggs."  With a yell the whole body followed at his
+heels.  For a moment it seemed to Dennis that nothing could stay the
+rush; he and his little party must be overwhelmed.  But he called aloud
+to his men to hold their fire until the Spaniards should come within
+point-blank range.  One man, Nick Joland, in sheer nervousness, fired
+wildly before the proper time; but the rest, being old mariners who had
+borne a part in many a scrimmage before, had sufficient self-command to
+obey his orders.
+
+On came the Spaniards, and some of the waiting Englishmen knew them to
+be trained soldiers, infantrymen reputed the finest in the world.  But
+none of the seamen quailed.  They knew what was at stake.  When the
+enemy were within forty paces Dennis gave the word.  Twenty calivers
+sped forth their deadly missiles, and every shot took effect.  Even the
+splendid courage and discipline of the Spanish soldiery was unequal to
+the strain put upon it.  Twenty of them lay writhing or motionless upon
+the ground; the mass behind recoiled, and fled to cover, some to the
+few trees and shrubs that dotted the open space, others to the thick
+wood beyond.
+
+Among those who had been struck down was the gallant captain.  He had
+just risen on one knee when one of his men sprang from the shattered
+ranks to his assistance.  Reckless of consequences, the brave fellow
+rushed to the middle of the clearing, fully exposed to the marksmen,
+and, lifting the wounded officer, carried him bodily among the trees.
+His courage drew a great cheer from the Englishmen, not one of whom
+raised his weapon to shoot.
+
+"My heart, 'tis a brave lad," roared Turnpenny; "and withal a mighty."
+
+The advance had been checked; the enemy had disappeared; but the voice
+of another officer was heard haranguing the men.  Soon bullets began to
+spatter among the trees behind which the Englishmen lurked, and there
+were signs that the Spaniards were spreading out with the object of
+taking them in flank.  It was time to retreat if they were not to be
+cut off.  The enemy's movement would take some time,--after their check
+they would hesitate to make another direct attack across the clearing;
+and Dennis hoped to be able to clamber down the cliff and regain the
+ledge before the Spaniards discovered that their opponents had
+disappeared.  The word was passed quietly along the line; the men
+snatched up their weapons; and running fleetly to the edge, leapt,
+rolled, swung themselves down with all possible haste.
+
+They had crossed the stream and were half-way up the opposite side when
+the movement was seen by one of a flanking party of the Spaniards.  A
+loud cry proclaimed his discovery of their flight; he fired his
+caliver, and Hugh Curder gave a yell; the bullet had struck his foot.
+But by the time other Spaniards had come to the brink of the cliff,
+and, kneeling down, fired across the gully, the whole party had reached
+the ledge, and dropped down panting behind the wall, where for the
+moment they were safe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+Bombarded
+
+Bullets pattered upon the wall and the cliff behind; but Dennis and his
+men, lying low, took no hurt, and made no reply to the Spaniards' fire.
+This presently ceased, and Dennis, peering with caution through one of
+the embrasures in the wall, saw the summit of the opposite cliff lined
+with the enemy, who were clearly examining the position with careful
+interest, and discussing it with animation.  At length, firing one or
+two shots as by way of farewell, they withdrew from the edge and
+disappeared among the trees.
+
+"God be praised for all his mercies," said Amos, rising to his feet.
+"But I know not what is to be the end of this."
+
+"Nor I," said Dennis.  "'Tis not to be believed they have left us
+altogether, but rather that they have retired to consider of the next
+move.  They can do us no hurt from the cliff yonder except they bring
+great guns from their ships to bombard us.  Nor can they assault us
+from below, for the ascent is steep, and however bold they may be, they
+will not come up merely to be shot at.  We must e'en wait and be ready."
+
+"Ay, and think on Jan Biddle and what his villainous knavery has
+brought us to.  But for him we should by this be snug in Plimworth,
+a-kissing of our wives and little ones--those that have them.  Ah!
+sweet Margery Tutt!  What a power of mischief one base villain can do!"
+
+The day passed in quietude, the men cleaning their weapons and still
+further strengthening the wall.  The tide rose in the gully, gently
+dandling the pinnace as she lay at anchor in the pool.  Many a longing
+glance was cast at the little craft, many a sigh broke from the breasts
+of the mariners as they saw in imagination the dear cliffs of England,
+which even the most confident among them scarcely hoped ever to behold
+again.
+
+Darkness fell.  Nothing was heard save the rumble of the surf beyond
+the entrance of the gully, and the lapping of the waves against the
+base of the cliffs.  Looking seawards, in the starlight Dennis saw the
+mouth of the little harbour like a deep blue cleft in the blackness.
+He had just divided the company into watches, to keep guard over the
+ledge while the others slept, when Juan the maroon caught his arm and
+pointed to a small dark patch at the bottom of the cleft.  It seemed to
+be moving towards them.  At the same time there was a series of flashes
+from the cliff opposite; bullets flew among them, one hitting Ned
+Whiddon in the arm.  Instantly all the men sank below the level of the
+wall, and Dennis, crouching close against it, looked through one of the
+embrasures at that dark object slowly approaching up the gully, looming
+larger every moment.
+
+The meaning of it had already flashed upon him.  A boat, perhaps the
+same as had appeared earlier in the day, was coming in to cut out the
+pinnace.  The outbreak of firing from the cliff was intended to mask
+the movement and deter the defenders from interfering.
+
+"You see their cunning," said Dennis to Turnpenny, who had crept to his
+side.  "By day they would not dare come within the range of our
+calivers; they know that by night we can but fire at random, and
+endamage them little."
+
+"My heart, but we must save the pinnace!" said Turnpenny.  "She is all
+our hope and salvation."
+
+"Not all, Amos," replied Dennis.  "You forget the canoe which the
+maroons built for us; they will build another.  But I am not content to
+lose the _Minion_; how could we face Master Drake and confess we had
+lost her?  I would fain save her, but how?"
+
+"Ah, if we had but torches to light the scene!" said Tom
+Copstone--"like to those we had at Fort Aguila yonder."
+
+"Thanks for that word!" cried Dennis.  "Quick, Amos, into the shed!  I
+bethink me there are barrels of oil that we did not place aboard the
+_Mirandola_.  Broach one, man; tear some of your garments into rags and
+plentifully soak them in the oil.  These we will light and fling down
+into the pool."
+
+Skipping back from the wall, Turnpenny and Copstone went into the shed
+and crept back in less than two minutes with armfuls of drenched rags.
+These they kindled and threw hastily over into the pool below.  The
+enemy opposite poured in a hotter fire, but the little company kept
+close and none was hit.  The device was not a moment too soon.  By the
+light of the blazing rags it could be seen that the Spaniards had
+swarmed on board the pinnace, hauled up her anchor, and fastened her
+head rope to their boat.  She was indeed already moving slowly towards
+the sea.
+
+"Fire, my lads!" cried Dennis.  "Let them not all escape."
+
+Half a dozen of the men leapt forward, and, heedless of the enemy's
+bullets, discharged their calivers at the men on the deck of the
+pinnace.  Cries proclaimed that some at any rate had hit the mark; but
+in an instant afterwards the _Minion's_ deck was clear, the Spaniards
+having sprung overboard or gone below.  Still the vessel slowly
+receded.  As she was between the towing-boat and the ledge, the rowers
+were protected from the Englishmen's bullets, and they uttered a
+derisive yell as foot by foot they drew the vessel nearer the sea.
+
+"The falconet, Amos!" cried Dennis.  "'Tis time to use our ordnance."
+
+"But we be too high, sir.  I cannot lower the muzzle so as to bear on
+the pinnace."
+
+"You will be able to do that as she draws nearer the shoulder of the
+cliff.  Lay the gun in readiness."
+
+"Zuggers, sir, but if I hit the poor little craft 'twill smash her."
+
+"I care not.  If we cannot keep her whole, neither shall the Spaniards
+have her whole.  Lay the gun, man."
+
+"My heart, and so I will, and the knaves shall have a plumper,
+od-rat-en!"
+
+The entrance to the gully was dimly lit by the burning rags floating in
+the wake of the pinnace.  Amos had shoved the gun through the
+embrasure, and, with his eye along its upper surface, watched the
+little vessel as she floated on towards the open sea.  The firing
+opposite had now ceased; it was as though the Spaniards, sure of
+success, disdained to waste more powder and shot.  Apparently they were
+watching the departing pinnace with so much interest that they had not
+observed the muzzle of the falconet projecting from the wall.
+
+The vessel was now at the very entrance of the gully.  In another half
+minute she would round the shoulder of the cliff and disappear.  But
+before that half minute was past there was a flash from the ledge; a
+round shot flew seawards; and next moment there were shrieks from the
+Spaniards who, now that they were out of range of the defenders' small
+arms, had again come on deck.  The shot had struck the vessel square
+astern.  Her rudder was shattered; she swung round on the tide, and in
+another instant ran aground on a shoal and stuck fast.
+
+A mighty cheer rose from the ledge when the men saw the effect of
+Turnpenny's shot.
+
+"'Twas famous, Haymoss," cried Copstone.  "Man, 'twas a thumping twack!"
+
+And Hugh Curder in his glee lifted up his voice:
+
+  "Then next the blacksmith he came in,
+  And said 'Twas mighty hot!'"
+
+
+"Smother you!" cried Turnpenny.  "Think of the little poor craft
+yonder; 'tis like striking a 'ooman, and goes to my heart."
+
+"But 'ee'd do that in kindness, Haymoss," said Copstone.  "See, the
+knaves cannot pull her off; she be firm on the rocks, and with the tide
+falling they'll never move her.  They'll think twice before they try
+that same device again."
+
+An angry volley from the cliff opposite set them all scurrying again to
+cover behind the wall.  It proved as Copstone had said.  After vainly
+endeavouring for some time to haul the pinnace from the shoal, the
+occupants of the boat cast off the rope and disappeared.  The flames of
+the burning rags went out one by one; black darkness settled over the
+gully; quietness reigned all around; and leaving three men to keep the
+first watch, the rest drew their garments around them and sought sleep,
+wondering what the coming day might have in store.
+
+Dennis passed a miserable night.  He could not share the childlike
+elation which Turnpenny's successful shot had produced in the minds of
+the mariners.  He felt that this enemy was not to be baulked; every
+little set-back would only strengthen the Spaniards' resolve to crush
+their opponents; and by this time they could be in no doubt how small
+was the company resisting them.  His head ached with thinking before he
+fell asleep, and when he woke, before dawn, it was with throbbing
+temples and anxious heart.
+
+And when he got up and looked towards the sea, he felt his spirit die
+within him; for there, just past the shoulder of the cliff and some
+distance out to sea, lay one of the enemy's vessels, moored at a point
+which he had fondly believed to be unapproachable by any craft of her
+size.  She had been descried by the men of the last watch, but the
+meaning of the move was not clear to them as it was instantly to him.
+The ledge was just within range of her guns, for although the shoulder
+of the cleft hid the pool from any vessel in the main channel, it was
+just within sight from the spot to which the enemy's vessel had worked.
+
+"Jaykle! the skipper must be rare and bold," cried Turnpenny.
+
+"And a mariner of right good skill," said Dennis.
+
+But their admiration was turned to grave alarm when, with a roar, the
+whole of the vessel's broadside was suddenly fired, and the round shot
+came hurtling up the gully.  To reply was impossible.  The small guns
+on the ledge were too light to carry the distance.  And there was
+nothing to be hoped for from bad marksmanship on the enemy's part.  The
+first discharge had no effect except to displace masses of rock and
+earth from the cliff below the ledge.
+
+"They cannot raise their muzzles high enough to hit the ledge," cried
+Turnpenny in delight.
+
+But this fond hope was shattered at the next broadside.  One shot
+struck the hut; another tore a great gap in the wall; a third chipped
+off large pieces of rock; several men were wounded.
+
+"Our wall is vain now," said Dennis.  "Another shot will tear it away,
+and we shall have no defence against the calivers of the enemy when
+they again appear on the cliff.  Ah! and there they come.  We must run
+for the cave, Amos; 'tis our last refuge.  Lead the men thither; let
+them carry our arms and munitions, and what water and stores they can.
+I and Copstone and one or two more will strive to make reply to the
+enemy while aught of our wall remains."
+
+Bullets were already falling on the ledge.  Led by Turnpenny, most of
+the men, loaded with things, scuttled along the face of the cliff into
+the thicket that half concealed the mouth of the cave.  Dennis with
+three companions fired back at the opposite cliff; but in a few minutes
+another volley of round shot came crashing up the gully, and scarcely a
+man on the ledge but was wounded by splinters of rock, though none was
+directly hit by the shot.  It was hopeless to cling to the position
+longer.
+
+"Follow me, lads," cried Dennis; and, rushing down the ledge to where
+it widened and was overgrown with bushes, he and his comrades joined
+the others safely in the cave.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+The Leaguer of Skeleton Cave
+
+"Save us all!" cried Turnpenny, "we be like rats in a trap."
+
+"The knaves cannot get at us, for this present at least," said Copstone.
+
+"True, not without being well whopped; but they can block up the
+entrance, and keep us mewed up until we must either yield or starve, or
+perish of thirst."
+
+"Keep a good heart," said Dennis, cheerfully.  "We will not yield or
+starve yet.  Since I set sail from England in the _Maid Marian_ yonder
+many a marvellous thing has befallen me.  I met a countryman when I had
+given up hope!  Why may not things we do not foresee happen again?"
+
+"Ay, true," said one of Drake's men; "and perchance Master Francis
+himself may come to our aid."
+
+"That is but a poor chance," said Dennis.  "It were better we trust in
+God and our own wit.  We are safe at present; let us see what shelter
+our cave affords; I confess I have not hitherto fully explored it."
+
+Lighting a torch, he walked inwards, with two or three of the men, and
+found after a few yards that the floor sloped slightly downwards, and
+that the cave widened out on both sides, so that, if the enemy
+discovered it, and fired into the opening, the inmates could find
+shelter out of the line of fire.  The air was close, but as it did not
+become oppressive so soon as Dennis expected, he was tempted to believe
+that there was a hole somewhere in the roof which served to ventilate
+the cave.  But though he looked carefully along the whole vault, which
+extended for some thirty yards into the cliff, he found no such
+opening, and concluded that the comparative freshness of the air was
+due merely to the spaciousness of the cave and the width of its mouth.
+
+The day wore away in quiet.  Careful watch was kept at the opening, and
+occasionally Spaniards were seen moving up and down the gully and on
+the opposite cliff; but no assault was made, and it seemed as though
+the enemy was content to wait until hunger and thirst had done their
+work.  An inspection of the stores showed that there was only two days'
+food; all the water they had was contained in three buckets; and this,
+in that climate, and the state of excitement to which the men were
+wound up, was but a pitiful supply if the investment was to be
+protracted.  Especially was it unfortunate seeing that several men were
+wounded, some seriously.  Their injuries were dressed as carefully as
+possible with the limited appliances at hand; but in the course of the
+day one poor fellow died, and was solemnly buried in a grave dug with
+their weapons in the floor.
+
+Among the occupants of the cave was Mirandola.  The monkey had taken
+refuge in a tree while the fighting was in progress, and Dennis thought
+that the poor animal would certainly flee to the woody interior of the
+island, far away from the din and turmoil.  But at nightfall the monkey
+stole into the cave, and attached himself to Dennis, whom he followed
+about like a shadow.
+
+The hours of darkness dragged slowly along.  Almost as soon as it was
+light, a round shot came crashing into the opening, scattering stones
+and earth in all directions.  The Spaniards' inaction during the
+previous day was explained: they had evidently brought from the vessel
+in the offing a gun, perhaps more than one, and mounted it on the
+opposite cliff.  The effect of the shot, which luckily harmed no one,
+was to send the men in all haste to the sides of the cave.  But the
+crash and the smoke made Mirandola shriek with fright.  He ran deeper
+into the cave, and when Dennis, with a torch, followed to soothe his
+terror, he discovered that the poor beast had taken refuge on the top
+of an irregular pillar of rock that stood out from the wall about three
+quarters of the way from the entrance.  He tried to coax the monkey to
+descend, but without avail.  The top of the pillar being beyond his
+reach, he called Turnpenny, and, climbing on to the mariner's broad
+shoulders, reached up to seize the monkey.  But Mirandola retreated and
+disappeared.
+
+"The beast is deaved, to be sure," said Turnpenny, "and lacks his
+little wit.  Let him bide, sir."
+
+"Nay, he has been our partner so long that I am not willing to lose
+him, and he will surely be stifled if we do not bring him nearer the
+opening.  Hoist me, Amos."
+
+He swarmed to the top of the rock, the sailor handing up the torch
+after him.  It took a few moments to become accustomed to the
+blackness, and in the red flickering light he failed to see any sign of
+the monkey.  But he perceived with surprise that the pillar did not
+abut immediately on the wall, as he had supposed.  Behind it he saw
+what appeared to be a deep black hole, which seemed deeper when he
+inserted his torch.  Into this Mirandola, his nerves completely
+unstrung by the shattering explosion, must have run for refuge.
+
+Dennis crawled in, and holding the torch over his head, was still more
+amazed to find that he had come to the entrance of a second cave,
+apparently larger than the first.  The floor of it was many feet below
+him: he hesitated to risk a dislocation of his ankle if he sprang down;
+so he retreated, and called to Turnpenny, informing him of his
+discovery.
+
+"Sling up a rope," he said; "you and Copstone keep a firm hold upon it
+on your side, while I let myself down on the other side and see what is
+beyond."
+
+Lowering himself through the aperture, he found the monkey sitting on
+the floor.
+
+"Come, Mirandola," he said, "you taught me the merits of some of the
+fruits of this island; hast more to teach me, old friend?  Let us go on
+together."
+
+He found that the floor of this cave also inclined downwards, and he
+went very cautiously, lest he should come unawares upon a chasm and
+fall headlong to his doom.  The atmosphere was damp and close, but not
+foul, and as he proceeded he saw by the flickering of the torch that
+there was a slight current of air.  No wall blocked his way, but by and
+by the cave narrowed and the roof came lower, and he had to stoop, and
+at last to crawl, to avoid knocking his head.  He had still not reached
+the end of what was now a tunnel, when the torch went out.  For a
+moment he hesitated whether to go on in the darkness; then, deciding
+that it was not worth while to run any risks when he could procure
+another light within a few minutes, he hurried back, got another and a
+larger torch, and asked Turnpenny to accompany him.
+
+The two together came to the spot where the first torch had been left,
+and went on.  The rough irregular fissure grew no narrower, but its
+slope became steeper at every yard.
+
+"God-a-mercy, it likes me not!" murmured Turnpenny, who was filled with
+superstitious fears in face of the unknown.  "Meseems we be going down
+into the very bowels of the earth, or mayhap lower.  Dost fear no
+goblins?  Dost not think we may come upon the Old Smoker?"
+
+"Never a whit, Amos.  Why, man, the floor here is wet.  Touch it with
+your hand.  And as I live, here are seaweeds and shells!  And look;
+surely that is a glint of light yonder that comes not from our torch.
+Here is a very pool; duck your head, man; I gave mine a rare crack just
+then, the roof comes so low.  Crawl after me.  I smell the sea, Amos;
+and ah! look! here we are on the shore.  Have a care; we must not be
+spied."
+
+Crawling actually through the water, they found themselves on the shore
+at a point not far north of the spot where Dennis had first opened his
+eyes on the island.  The hole in the cliff was almost hidden by the
+overhanging plants.  Mirandola had halted; to go through water was not
+to his taste.  Cautiously raising themselves, Dennis and Turnpenny
+parted the screening leaves and looked out to sea.  There, a little
+distance out, was the vessel that had fired on them.  The tide was low;
+she had had to shift her position further into the main channel.  In
+the little bay which here indented the shore a boat lay on the sand,
+two Spaniards leaning against its side, keeping guard over it, no
+doubt, while their comrades were engaged in investing the cave.
+
+"One thing is plain," whispered Dennis; "here at least is a way of
+retreat should we no longer be able to remain in our cave.  And when
+water fails, we can creep out by the hole in the night time, and fill
+our buckets at one of the rills that trickle from the cliff."
+
+"Ah! that is something, sir," said Turnpenny, "but I would fain knock
+those knaves yonder on the head and take their boat.  We might then
+make a shift to row away from this isle."
+
+"A good wish, Amos, but hard to come by.  We could not do it in
+daylight, and methinks the Spaniards would not do us the grace to leave
+their boat here on the shore for us to make free with at night.  But
+assuredly we can keep a better watch on them here than from the cave
+above, where we cannot show a head but with great peril; let us
+therefore return and send one of the maroons hither as a sentinel."
+
+There was great excitement among the men when they were told of this
+discovery.  Though it seemed impossible that the passage to the sea
+could avail them much, the knowledge that it was open to them gave just
+that dash of comfort which is all the world to men in extremity.  And
+when, as the day wore on, the enemy's guns began to play regularly on
+the mouth of the cave, and brought down in front of it great masses of
+the cliff above, they did not get into a state of panic, but almost
+gaily made air-holes through the loosely piled earth with their
+weapons, chuckling at the thought that the besiegers were no doubt
+flattering themselves with the supposition that the hapless garrison
+was being gradually entombed.
+
+But it seemed to Dennis that an attempt should be made to turn this
+strange discovery to account.  Clearly it was possible to leave the
+cave, but supposing they all made their way to the shore, what then?
+They might take to the woods in the centre of the island, and for a
+time, perhaps, elude the enemy; but it would only be a matter of days
+before they must be hunted down.  They could not, a mere handful, risk
+a stand-up fight against a force six or seven times their number.  And
+it was in the highest degree unlikely that the enemy would leave any of
+their boats on shore during the night.  Still, there was just a chance
+that a boat might be so left, and Dennis arranged that Juan the maroon
+should go before dark to the exit on the shore, to see what he could
+discover of the Spaniards' arrangements, and then to steal up the cliff
+and learn how they encamped during the night.
+
+The night was still young when the maroon returned.  He had seen the
+boat put off, conveying officers to the vessel.  Then, waiting until it
+was dark, he had climbed the cliff, and found that the enemy had formed
+a camp on the summit immediately above the ledge, at some little
+distance from the brink.  No pickets were posted; the Spaniards had
+evidently recognized the hopelessness of any attempt to escape either
+up or down the gully.
+
+Juan had then crept round to the northern cliff, and discovered that
+the two guns which had played on the cave during the day were left in
+charge of two men.  Dennis was somewhat surprised that the main camp of
+the enemy had not been made there instead of on the southern cliff,
+until he remembered that only on the latter were there springs of fresh
+water.
+
+"'Tis as I feared, you see," he said to Turnpenny.  "The boat returns
+to the ship at night--just as the boat was wont to return to your
+lumber-ship.  It was but a poor hope, and that is dashed."
+
+"And so 'tis.  The only thing that we poor souls could do would be to
+crawl out by the hole, and fetch a long compass to the cliff yonder
+where the guns be, and blow them up for the knaves.  If there be but
+two men guarding them, 't'ud be no hard feat."
+
+Dennis did not reply.  He seemed to have fallen into a brown study.
+
+"I'se warrant I could do it, with Tom Copstone and Juan, and maybe
+another of the maroons.  'T'ud not save us, to be sure, but 't'ud at
+least give the knaves a turn, od rabbit en!"
+
+"Amos," said Dennis with apparent inconsequence, "if you were a Spanish
+officer----"
+
+"God forbid, sir!" interrupted the seaman, fervently.
+
+"It is impossible, I own.  Still, if you were a Spanish officer aboard
+that vessel yonder, and in the blackest hour of night you heard a great
+uproar on this island, and saw the flashing of guns, what would you do?"
+
+"I'fecks, I would think there was a rare randy afoot, and straightway
+lower a boat and come with all speed ashore to lend a hand."
+
+"And you, Copstone,--what would you do?"
+
+"Come with Haymoss, to be sure, sir.  You and me, Haymoss----"
+
+"The words of my dream again, sir!" cried Amos in excitement.  "There
+be summat in your mind, sir; tell it out, and, souls all, lend an ear."
+
+And then Dennis unfolded a scheme which Juan's report and Turnpenny's
+suggestion had set working in his mind.  For some minutes the little
+group around him hung breathlessly upon his quiet words; then Turnpenny
+exclaimed--
+
+"We'll do it, we will so, and be jowned if the knaves will not wish
+themselves anywhere but on Maiden Isle.  Come, my hearts, the sky is
+black and lowering: 'tis the very time o' night for our intent, and
+with God's help we will prosper in our doings."
+
+And then the rough seaman fell on his knees, and with clasped hands
+recited the prayer for help in time of need, and every man of the
+little company responded with a low fervent "Amen!"
+
+Half an hour later, Turnpenny, with Copstone, Juan, and a second
+maroon, bade farewell to his comrades and clambered down into the
+second cave.  When they were on the farther side of the dividing rock,
+their weapons, with four belts packed full of grape shot from the
+stores of the _Maid Marian_, were handed down to them, and after a
+final "God speed!" from Dennis they started on the way to the sea.
+
+An hour passed--an hour during which the rest of the company sat in
+hushed expectancy, scarcely speaking a word.  One of the maroons had
+pushed his way through the heap of loose earth piled at the mouth of
+the cave, and crawled stealthily to the ledge, where he crouched amid
+the ruins of the sheds.  Presently, from the opposite cliff, came a
+slight booming sound like the cry of a night beetle.  The maroon,
+invisible in the black shade of the cliff, crept back to the cave.
+Immediately afterwards the whole company, man by man, crossed into the
+inner cave, the two men most seriously wounded being lifted up one side
+of the pillar, and lowered gently down the other.  Dennis leading, with
+Mirandola close behind, they made their way by torch-light down the
+sloping floor, then, extinguishing the torch, crawled out at the narrow
+aperture, and, after Dennis had taken a careful look round, stood up, a
+silent band of twenty-one, on the sea-shore.  The two men whose wounds
+forbade exertion were left in a sheltered spot below the bank; then the
+rest followed Dennis up through the vegetation, in single file.  It was
+so dark that no man could see the man before him, but each one grasped
+the caliver of the man ahead, thus guiding themselves through the
+jungle.
+
+Up they went, quietly, almost as surely as if it were broad daylight,
+for Dennis knew every foot of the way, which he had trodden many times
+since that day long before when he had begun his exploration of the
+island.  Winding in and out, he came at length by a long circuit to the
+high ground approaching the southern bank of the gully.  And there he
+halted.  Through the trees before him he saw the watch-fires, dying
+low, of the enemy encamped on the clearing beyond.  All was silent.  If
+any sentinels were awake, they were not conversing.  The camp was as
+quiet as though it were an abode of the dead.
+
+Suddenly the deep silence was broken by the boom of a beetle.  It died
+away.  So natural a sound was it that the Spanish sentinels, if any
+were on guard, would never have suspected that it came from the throat
+of a maroon.  Even Dennis's company might have been deceived had they
+not known that the sound had been made by one of themselves, the maroon
+at their leader's side.
+
+Scarcely had it died away when two sharp cracks rent the air from some
+point beyond the camp.  Then came an instant change over the scene--a
+change which Amos and Tom Copstone had fired to bring about.  A loud
+cry rang out in the camp, followed by a din of many voices and the
+clash of arms.  Some one cast fuel on one of the fires, and the flame,
+leaping up, shone on a camp in commotion; men were hurrying this way
+and that, calling to their fellows excitedly.  What was this that had
+disturbed their slumbers?  Was some one signalling to them from the
+vessel out at sea?  Could it be that El Draque had sailed up out of the
+night?
+
+Into the midst of this noise and confusion broke a shattering sound,
+the roar of a piece of ordnance.  Then the din was redoubled, and with
+the astonished cries of some were mingled the shrieks and groans of
+wounded men.  Still Dennis and his little band stood motionless amid
+the trees, but every man now held a lighted match.  Another deep
+reverberating roar thundered forth, with more cries and yells in the
+camp.  Amos and his comrades had disposed of the men guarding the guns,
+and had turned these upon the enemy.
+
+"Now!" cried Dennis.
+
+Then a mighty shout broke from the throats of the little company, and
+with the roar of lusty British seamen mingled the weird "Yo peho! yo
+peho!" of the maroons.  A volley flashed from the muzzles of nineteen
+calivers, and nineteen men dashed forward towards the camp, shouting
+like a hundred.  On they rushed through the trees into the clearing.
+"Yo peho! yo peho!"  And with yells of panic fear the Spaniards, like a
+flock of sheep, ran and ran and ran, helter-skelter, flinging their
+arms away, tumbling over one another, falling, rising again, pelting
+headlong through the woodland towards the marsh.
+
+Again the guns on the opposite cliff thundered, but the shots did not
+now come plunging into the camp.  How were the Spaniards, scared out of
+their wits, to know that Turnpenny and Copstone were now firing into
+the gully, lest they should hit their comrades?  But in a few moments
+there was no risk of this, for Dennis wheeled about and led his men at
+a mad scamper down by the way they had come, never stopping until,
+bathed in sweat, panting for breath, they stood on the sea-shore, at
+the place from which they had started.
+
+And now Dennis looked again towards the sea, and strained his ears to
+catch a sound he expected.  Would his expectation be fulfilled?  Would
+Fortune favour him?  Would the Spanish officers aboard the ship do as
+Copstone and Turnpenny in their place would have done--lower boats in
+all haste and come to the aid of their comrades in peril?  None knew
+the anxiety that troubled Dennis in those minutes of waiting.  If the
+Spaniards were poltroons, if they were scared by the sudden outbreak
+and feared to venture shorewards in the dark, his bold scheme would
+fail, and then what the end would be he hardly dared to think.  It was
+with real agony of soul he listened, listened for the sweep of oars.
+
+Hark!  On the silence of the sea comes a thud, a measured beat, growing
+in loudness, drawing near.  As yet he can see nothing, but his comrades
+hear the sound; their hearts leap at it; they can scarcely check a
+shout of joy.  On comes the boat; they hear the splash of oars, and
+voices, and by and by the grating of a keel.  They wait in panting
+silence.  Men are wading through the water; arms clash; a loud voice
+gives an order; and now a score of dark forms can be seen running up
+the beach, making for the very path lately traversed by the nineteen.
+The men, lurking beneath the bank, hold their breath; Dennis feels as
+though his very heart-beats must be heard; but the Spaniards pass, and
+disappear, and are now hasting up towards the camp.  The sound of their
+footsteps dies away; Dennis can scarcely bear to wait, so eager is he
+to pursue his scheme to the end.  At last he gives the word, and
+eighteen men rush after him, noiselessly on the sand, towards the boat,
+a hundred yards away.
+
+The two Spaniards left on guard catch sight of the running men when
+they are half way across the beach.  Why should they suspect that these
+are not their comrades who lately parted from them?  What has happened?
+They are nervous, unstrung.  "What is it?" they cry; but the words are
+choked in their throats, for two men have sprung upon them, and next
+moment they lie stunned on the sand.  Four men return and bring their
+wounded comrades with what haste they may.  Then lusty arms shove the
+boat from the shoal; nineteen men leap in after the two; the oars are
+out, and the boat's head points towards the vessel lying at anchor.
+
+But it pauses as it comes level with the shoulder of the cliff.  The
+four bold fellows who have so manfully played their part beyond the
+gully are not forgotten.  And but a few moments after the boat has
+stopped, four figures come swimming out with mighty strokes, and are
+hauled aboard, dripping wet, but exultant.  Again the oars strike the
+water and the boat moves out to sea.  A dark hull looms up in front.
+Dennis whispers an order; all the oars are shipped but two; and the
+boat goes slowly, with no sign of haste.  A voice hails it from the
+deck.  "All's well!" calls Juan.  The boat is now under the vessel's
+quarter: a lamp is slung over the bulwark to guide the returning crew;
+a rope is thrown out to steady her; and Turnpenny begins to clamber up
+by the battens.  Before Dennis reaches the deck he hears a cry, then a
+heavy thud, and as he springs aboard he sees Amos with a prostrate
+Spaniard between his legs.  Up they go, all twenty-five; only a dozen
+of the vessel's crew are left on board; and the long pent-up excitement
+of maroons and British mariners bursts forth in a shout of triumph; the
+ship is theirs.
+
+"Heave up the anchor, my hearts!" cried Turnpenny.  "Loose the
+mainsail, Tom; the wind serves."
+
+"Stay, Amos," said Dennis, "we must not forget the pinnace.  We cannot
+return to Master Drake without her."
+
+"Nor shall not," replied the seaman; "but we'll first give the knavish
+vessels yonder a taste of our lead, an ye will but give us leave."
+
+"A right good notion, Amos, if we can win to them at this low tide."
+
+"That we can, sir; trust me."
+
+With her courses set, and Turnpenny at the helm, the vessel stood out
+half a mile until all danger of striking a shoal was past; then she was
+headed southward.  Meantime Dennis superintended the loading of all her
+ordnance, five guns on each side.  Soon they saw the dark hulls of the
+two Spanish vessels anchored off the south-west corner of the island.
+
+"There's room enough betwixt 'em, sir, for us to pass and rake 'em with
+a broadside.  Not a man aboard 'em will suppose this craft is manned by
+any but their own comrades, nor will they know better till they hear
+our popguns."
+
+As they approached, a voice hailed them from the vessel on the port
+side, asking the meaning of the uproar lately heard.
+
+"A fight ashore, but it is now over," sang out Juan the maroon.
+
+The _Minion_ came between the two vessels.  So confident was Turnpenny
+in the unpreparedness of the Spaniards that he hove to, not a dozen
+yards separating the ships on either side.  The guns were manned; the
+matches, already lighted, were screened from observation; then, at the
+word, the five guns on the starboard side belched forth their heavy
+charges of round shot.  Almost before the roar had died away the
+gunners rushed to the larboard.  Again there was a mighty thunder and
+crash as the shots raked the hapless vessel.  Through the cloud of
+smoke the adventurous bark was got under way.  In a few minutes she ran
+clear; Turnpenny put the helm down, and she beat up against the wind
+until she reached her former anchorage westward of the gully.
+
+Then Dennis, with Turnpenny and a dozen men, got into the boat which
+had followed astern at the end of a rope, and rowed for the entrance
+between the cliffs.  There was no guard over the pinnace.  The
+Spaniards who had been surprised in their camp had fled to the other
+side of the island.  Even those who had lately landed, hearing the
+thunder of the guns to the south, had rushed inland, believing that El
+Draque, the terror of their coasts, had suddenly come upon them.
+Unmolested, Dennis and some of his party landed on the rocks.
+Turnpenny made a rapid inspection of the pinnace.
+
+"Her stern works be sore battered and her rudder shivered to
+splinters," he said, "but she will take no water, a' b'lieve.  With a
+strong pull we will have her off, sir."
+
+The rope by which the Spaniards had attempted to tow her was still
+fixed.  Under the haulage of twelve sturdy mariners she was slowly
+shifted; she floated; and in twenty minutes lay alongside the Spanish
+vessel.
+
+Then, the men giving a parting cheer that echoed and re-echoed from the
+shore, the ship stood away under full sail with the pinnace riding
+merrily astern.  And when morning broke the long coast-line of the
+mainland was already in sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+The Mule Trains
+
+"No Bobby Pike this time," whispered Turnpenny to Dennis, as they lay
+eating their supper amid the scrub a mile or more south of Nombre de
+Dios.  "And with all my soul I hope the Frenchmen be sober men, for to
+fail of our purpose now through any frowardness would break Master
+Drake his noble heart and send me into a decline."
+
+"Hush!" returned Dennis, in a voice equally low.  "List to the church
+bells, Amos, and the clatter of the hammers.  Does it not mind you of
+home--the church on the cliff, and the busy carpenters in the docks
+below?  My soul yearns for home, Amos."
+
+"Ay, and so do I.  But I would fain return home with full hands--money
+enough to buy a little fishing craft, and a cottage by the sea.  'Tis
+five year and more since I sailed in the _Jesus_ out of Plimworth
+Sound, and there was Margery Tutt a-waving her little handkercher to
+me, thinking, poor soul, to see me again within a twelvemonth.  And I
+warrant the pretty maid counted the days and went to every wedden in
+church, to larn the fearsome promises word by word, so that she might
+not fail when we should come to stand afore holy pa'son.  'With all my
+worldly goods I thee endow': so it runs for the man to say, and here I
+be, five year after, with not so much worldly goods as I had then,
+saving some few pearls; and I warrant some knavish land-lubber has come
+along and snatched up my little Margery, and I'll find her a bowerly
+'ooman that has clean forgot poor Haymoss Turnpenny.  Ah me!  I be sick
+of adventures, be jowned if I bean't."
+
+"Be of good cheer, Amos.  If Fortune stand our friend, we shall have
+more gold and silver than we can bear away before this night be ended;
+and then Master Drake will sail away home, and who knows?--Margery may
+be looking for you even yet.  'Twas seven years that Jacob served for
+Rachel."
+
+"Ay, but always within arm's length.  I warrant he kept an eye on the
+wench.  There was never a thousand leagues of sea betwixt him and the
+maid.  Od-rat-en, if I find Margery have changed her name with any
+lubberly chaw-bacon, dang me if I don't deal en a clout he'll remember,
+good-now, I will."
+
+Turnpenny relapsed into silence, brooding on his melancholy forebodings.
+
+It was the night of March 31.  Some forty men lay in the scrub
+overlooking Nombre de Dios, awaiting the clang of mule-bells that would
+announce the approach of a treasure train from Venta Cruz.  Half of
+them were French, for a week or two before, as Drake and his men were
+sportively pitching stones at the land crabs on the beach, a ship came
+down from the west, whose captain proved to be a French Huguenot named
+Le Testu, with a company of some seventy men and boys.  They were
+perishing for want of water.  Having obtained from Drake, ever generous
+to adventurers like himself, the supplies they needed, they prepared to
+join themselves to him, in the hope of obtaining some share of Spanish
+gold.
+
+Drake hesitated to admit the Frenchmen to a partnership, for he had but
+thirty-one men left, and feared that the seventy would claim too large
+a portion of the booty if his projected attack on the mule-train should
+succeed.  But the matter was compromised by Captain Le Testu joining
+Drake with twenty men.  These, with fifteen Englishmen and a few
+maroons, sailed in two of Drake's pinnaces for the mouth of the
+Francisco river, fifteen miles from Nombre de Dios.  The rest of the
+company were left at a secret spot in charge of one Richard Doble.
+When the river mouth was made, Drake sent a few maroons back with the
+pinnaces, ordering them to remain in hiding with Doble and to return in
+four days' time to take off the adventurers.
+
+Dennis and Turnpenny were among those who accompanied Drake in the
+_Minion_.  They had won great praise from him for their exploits in
+Maiden Isle and their capture of the Spanish ship, whose stores of food
+and ammunition were very welcome.  The damage to the pinnace was
+speedily repaired, Drake saying with a laugh that had she been rendered
+unseaworthy he would have pinioned Dennis between decks and kept him
+there until they dropped anchor in Plymouth Sound.
+
+The adventurers were encamped on rising ground above the town.  Taking
+a lesson from the previous failure, the men spoke in the lowest of
+whispers, even though they were a mile away from the track.  All
+through the night they heard the clatter of hammers from the bay, where
+the Spanish shipwrights, avoiding the heat of the day, were preparing
+the ships of the treasure fleet for sea.  The ambuscaders were grimly
+resolved that the cargoes should be less by the weight of a good many
+tons of silver and gold.
+
+The hours passed too slowly for the impatient adventurers.  But at
+length, a little before dawn, they heard a faint tinkle of bells afar
+in the woods, and soon the maroon scouts came in with the news that
+three trains, numbering nearly two hundred mules in all, were
+approaching from Venta Cruz.  Such good fortune was unlooked for; and
+though the scouts reported that the trains were escorted by soldiers,
+not a man gave a thought to the odds against them.  Instantly they all
+seized their calivers and bows and arrows, and hastened to the
+trackway, where, as before, they posted themselves in the long grass on
+either side.
+
+On came the mules, their bells jangling and clanging in musical
+discord.  In the grass lurked the raiders, silent--though Turnpenny
+gave Dennis a nudge and whispered, "'Tis All Fools' Day!"  Suddenly
+there sounded a blast from Drake's whistle; the men started up, and,
+sending a volley of bullets and arrows at the Spanish infantrymen that
+guarded the convoy, made straight for the heads of the leading mules.
+Nothing loath to rest a while, the mules behind lay down contentedly on
+the ground.  But the soldiers, who had blown on their matches as they
+marched, to keep them alight, rallied in a group and fired back at the
+assailants.  A maroon was killed outright: Captain Le Testu fell
+seriously wounded; but the rest, kneeling down and supporting their
+weapons on the prostrate mules, briskly returned the fire; then,
+springing up before the enemy could reload, charged upon them with
+fierce cries and drove them helter-skelter towards the town.
+Immediately afterwards two men came rushing up to Turnpenny.
+
+"Be jowned if it bean't Billy Hawk and fat Baltizar!" he cried in
+astonishment.  "Oh Billy, poor soul, what a scarecrow 'ee do look!  Get
+out, you jelly!" he cried to Baltizar, speeding him with a kick.  "You
+be fat as butter; all is well with 'ee; get 'ee to the town after your
+masters, and thank God your oily carcass be not left to fatten the
+land.--Billy, dear heart, what hath happed to thee?"
+
+Hawk told his story while Turnpenny and the other seamen, selecting the
+mules that bore the heaviest loads, with nimble fingers cast off their
+packs, unstrapped them, and helped themselves to the precious
+contents--bars and quoits of solid gold, and silver uncountable.  He
+had followed Biddle and the other mutineers in the hope of persuading
+them to return to their duty; but they had soon fallen upon him, robbed
+him of his bag of pearls, and left him bound in the forest.  There he
+had been found by some fugitives from the routed Spaniards, who carried
+him to their vessel, and conveyed him to Nombre de Dios.  Believing him
+to be one of Drake's men, they tortured him to make him confess where
+his captain's secret haven was, which he stedfastly refused to do; and
+since then he had been kept in slavery, drudging as a muleteer between
+Nombre de Dios and Panama.
+
+"God be praised we have found 'ee!" cried Turnpenny.  "You shall come
+back with us, and I'll give 'ee a share of all my treasure."
+
+The raiders did up in bundles and bestowed about their persons as much
+as they could stagger under, and set to work to bury what they could
+not carry in the burrows of landcrabs and under the great trunks of
+fallen trees.  For two hours they toiled on; then, hearing the clatter
+of hoofs from the direction of the town, they seized their booty and
+made off to the woods.  Up came a troop of horse; but when they reached
+the mules they halted, for they heard in the woods the "Yo peho!" of
+the maroons, and shrank from engaging those terrible forest fighters.
+Staggering under the weight of their treasure, the raiders tramped with
+what haste they might through the jungle.  They had not gone far when
+Captain Le Testu lay down groaning; weak from loss of blood, he could
+go no farther.  Two of his men volunteered to stay with him, and help
+him on after he had rested.  The others hurried on, and after
+struggling through the forest for two days and nights, drenched by
+terrible rainstorms, burnt black by the torrid heat, reached their
+landing-place on the bank of the Francisco River.
+
+It was four days since they had left it; the pinnaces should have been
+there awaiting them; but not a sign of them met their hungry eyes.
+Instead, seven Spanish pinnaces were observed rowing from the island,
+where the maroons had been ordered to shelter with Richard Doble.  The
+drenched and footsore raiders were aghast.  Had their enemies captured
+the pinnaces, and slain their comrades?  Were they to be imprisoned in
+this swampy jungle, with no means of sailing or rowing away to Fort
+Diego?  Loud murmurs, cries of despair, curses at being deserted, broke
+from the seamen.  They cried out that they were betrayed; that the
+Spaniards would fall on them and overwhelm them; that they would never
+see home again.  Drake expostulated with them; the maroons offered to
+lead them the sixteen days' journey overland, and promised, if the
+ships proved indeed to be taken, to give them shelter in their
+villages.  But the men cried out the more; some threw down the treasure
+they had dared so much to win; some began to cry out against their
+leader himself.
+
+Then Drake showed the stuff of which he was made.
+
+"Silence, you knaves!" he cried.  "Am I any whit better off than you?
+Is this a time to yield to craven fear?  Nay, but rather to pluck up
+heart and play the man.  If the Spaniards have in truth taken our
+pinnaces, which God forbid, yet they must have time to search them,
+time to examine the mariners, and, if they compel them by torture to
+confess where our ships are, time to execute their resolution after it
+is determined.  Before all these times be taken, we may get to our
+ships if ye will.  We may not hope to go by land, for that the journey
+is too long and the ways too foul.  But we may surely go by water.
+Look at the trees here rolling down upon the flood, thrown down by the
+storms that beset us so sorely.  May we not build ourselves a raft, and
+put ourselves to sea?  I will be one; who will be the others?"
+
+"That will I," said Dennis, stepping forward.
+
+"And I too, good-now," cried Turnpenny.
+
+"Nay, Master Hazelrig, you I will leave to command these timid rascals
+if ill befall me; but Amos I will take, and go fetch those laggard
+pinnaces."
+
+Then the maroons, taking hands and forming into a line, stepped into
+the river and intercepted the trees as they came down on the torrent.
+With their hatchets they lopped off the branches; they bound the trunks
+together with leathern thongs taken from the mules, and with tendrils
+of creepers from the jungle.  A stout sapling was reared as a mast, and
+with his own hands Turnpenny rigged up a biscuit sack for a sail, and
+fashioned a crutch in which another sapling might serve as a rudder.
+The raft being now ready, Drake selected two of the Frenchmen who could
+swim well to accompany him and Turnpenny.  The four men stepped on to
+the frail craft, and as she was hauled off over the bar at the river
+mouth, Drake cried out:
+
+"Be of good cheer, my hearts.  If it please God I put my foot in safety
+aboard my frigate, I shall, God willing, by one means or other get ye
+all aboard, in despite of all the Spaniards in the Indies."
+
+And the seamen, with new hope born within their breasts, sped their
+gallant captain with a cheer.
+
+"My heart, 'twas a fearsome voyage!" said Turnpenny, relating the
+adventure to Dennis afterwards.  "We sat inches deep in water, holding
+on for very life, and the sea came tumbling aboard, swingeing us to the
+armpits at every surge of the waves.  We scudded along before the wind,
+but though 'twas strong, it scarce tempered the great heat; and what
+with the parching of the sun, and what with the beating of the salt
+water, we had all of us our skins much fretted away.  We had sailed for
+six hours, and were making our third league, when God gave us the sight
+of two pinnaces bearing towards us.  'God be praised!' cried our
+captain; 'there is now no cause to fear.'  But the sky was become dark,
+and the men on the pinnaces as they laboured towards us, the wind
+driving the spray into their eyes, did not perceive us; and the gale
+being exceedingly fierce, they bore up to the lee of a point of land,
+and vanished from our sight.  Whereupon our captain ran ashore to
+windward of the headland, and being mightily enraged for that the
+knaves had not obeyed his command to wait us at the river, he was
+minded to play a trick on them and turn their hearts sick with very
+fear.  So when we did land, we ran in great haste towards where the
+pinnaces were at anchor, making such speed as if we had been chased by
+the enemy.  My heart! their eyes were astare with fear when they espied
+us.  They hauled us aboard their boats, crying out, this one and that,
+'Where be our comrades?'  'How fares it with them?' and other such
+questions, to all which our Captain in a cold voice did answer only
+'Well!'  Whereupon they began to lament with tears, crying out that
+verily their dear comrades were dead or in captivity.
+
+"Our captain for a space looked sternly upon them in their misery.  But
+then, being willing to rid all doubts and fill them with joy, he took
+from out his shirt a quoit of gold, and bade them praise God, for their
+comrades were safe and had of that treasure enough and for all.  Then
+he commanded them to get their anchors up, for that he was resolved
+that very night to come back to the river.  And we rowed hard through
+the darkness and in the teeth of the gale, and here we be, with
+blistered skins indeed, but sound men and hearty."
+
+Dennis had collected the men on the shore, and built a fire to keep
+their spirits up.  With great joy they heard their comrades hailing
+them as the vessels came up out of the dark, and they begged Drake's
+forgiveness for their mutinous murmurs.  As soon as day dawned they
+embarked; the pinnaces ran before the wind, picked up Richard Doble in
+his frigate, and before noon arrived safely at Port Diego.  The
+treasure was carried on shore, and in the middle of the smooth open
+space, amidst cries of wonderment from those who had not had a part in
+the adventure, Drake weighed the gold and silver on the steward's
+meat-scales, delivering to the Frenchmen the half agreed upon.  These
+then sailed away westward, to get news of their ill-fated captain.
+
+Drake was not easy in mind about Le Testu.  It was pitiful to think of
+him wounded and left with only two of his men deep in the woods.  So
+while his vessel, the _Pascha_, too foul to be easily fitted for the
+voyage home, was being stripped to equip the Spanish frigate Dennis had
+captured, he prepared to lead an expedition in search of the French
+Captain.  But his men raised such an outcry at his leaving them that he
+gave the command to Oxnam, contenting himself with accompanying them to
+the Francisco River.
+
+Oxnam had not gone far up stream when a haggard figure emerged
+tottering from the reeds, and falling on his knees, burst into tears
+and thanked God that help had come.  Not many minutes after Drake had
+left him and his comrade with Captain Le Testu, some Spanish
+arquebusiers came upon them.  The Captain bade the two men flee, and
+they ran off in haste, carrying their treasure.  But the Spaniards gave
+chase, and this man, fearing that, burdened as he was, he must be
+overtaken, flung away his possessions one after another.  Among them
+was a box of jewels, and this his comrade, cupidity getting the better
+of his fear, stopped to pick up.  The delay was fatal.  He was caught
+and carried away with the captain.  The other fugitive was not farther
+pursued; he reached the river after wandering for several days, during
+which he had seen a great host of near two thousand Spaniards and
+negroes searching for the treasure that had been buried.
+
+Hearing this, Oxnam was not willing to return until he had seen whether
+anything was left.  The Spaniards had dug up the ground over nearly a
+square mile; but Oxnam found in the crab-holes a small quantity of
+gold, with silver weighing about five hundred pounds.  Loaded with
+this, his men returned to their pinnace, and came merrily back to Port
+Diego.
+
+Now all thoughts turned longingly homewards.  The value of the treasure
+taken from the Spaniards was near L50,000, and it was not to be
+supposed that so great a loss would be accepted by them with
+equanimity.  Before long ships of war would doubtless be fitted out to
+punish this audacious sea-rover who had made himself a terror
+throughout the Main, and Drake thought it but prudent to get away with
+his booty before his little band was overwhelmed.  He still needed a
+vessel to serve as victualler to the frigate in which he purposed to
+sail for England.  With his usual daring he set off for the mouth of
+the Grande river, running right under the guns of Cartagena.  In the
+middle of the night he chased and boarded a frigate that endeavoured to
+slip past him to the west, and, returning to his secret haven with his
+prize, he unloaded her cargo of maize, hens, hogs, and wild honey, and
+prepared for the voyage home.
+
+All hands were set to break up the pinnaces, which had been brought in
+sections from England and were now, after a year's sailing, past
+further service.  Their timbers were burned on the beach; their
+ironwork was given to the maroons.  The two Spanish frigates were
+overhauled, their keels cleared of barnacles, their spars and rigging
+put in good repair, their holds filled with a plentiful store of food.
+Then, when all was ready, Drake invited Pedro, the maroon chief, and
+three of his best men to choose some reward for their good and loyal
+services.  Pedro took a great fancy to a splendid scimitar which had
+been given to Drake by Captain Le Testu and had once belonged to the
+King of France.  Drake would rather he had chosen something else, but
+he handed over the weapon with a good grace, and accompanied it with a
+present of silk and fine cloth for the maroons' wives.  Pedro was so
+much delighted that he begged Drake to accept four wedges of gold in
+return, which the Captain threw into the common stock, saying it was
+only just that those who had shared with him the dangers and hardships
+of the adventures should share also in the full profits.
+
+Dennis did not part from Juan without giving him a token of his thanks
+and a memento of their common adventures.  He had lost almost all that
+he had saved from the _Maid Marian_; with the _Mirandola_ it had fallen
+into the hands of the Spaniards; and the division of the spoils of the
+mule-train would not be made until they reached Plymouth.  But he had
+always kept the sword of Sir Martin Blunt, and this he gave to Juan,
+who received it with great satisfaction.
+
+On the 17th of July the company went aboard the two frigates; the
+anchors were heaved, all sail was set, and the little craft stood out
+to sea.  The flag of St. George flew at their maintops; silk streamers
+and ensigns dipped down to the water; a parting salute was fired; the
+trumpeters blew a blast; and the English mariners shouted a farewell
+cheer to the maroons gathered on the beach.  Down in the hold lay Jan
+Biddle, repenting in darkness, it is to be hoped, his treacherous
+conduct.  He alone of the company had no treasure to rejoice in; Drake
+had sternly decreed that he should go home empty-handed, a prisoner
+throughout the long voyage.
+
+High up in the rigging sat a monkey, blinking and chattering, wondering
+perhaps into what further perils his adventurous master would lead him.
+
+"There is our Maiden Isle," said Dennis to Turnpenny, as they sailed
+merrily northward.  "My vice-royalty was but brief; and methinks 'tis
+but a poor jewel in the crown of Queen Bess.  Yet will it be a precious
+jewel in my memory, for there I found a true friend in thee, Amos, and
+we two have been enabled by God's providence to do somewhat for our
+countrymen in distress."
+
+"Good-now, Master Hazelrig," said Drake, coming up to them; "art
+wishing to return and set up a monarchy on yonder small isle?"
+
+"Nay, sir, it is already bespoke for our gracious queen, though meseems
+the sovereignty belongs rightly to Mirandola, who now sits aloft, with
+a most forlorn and wistful look."
+
+"Well, my lad, maybe you and I shall live to see Her Majesty's sway
+extend over all these islands, and far beyond.  Meantime, what think
+'ee is my dearest wish at this moment?"
+
+"I know not, sir."
+
+"Why," said Drake, with a smile, "'tis to bowl at the jack once more on
+Plymouth Hoe."
+
+
+
+
+Conclusion
+
+Little more than three weeks later, on Sunday, August 9, 1573, about
+noon, the congregation in St. Andrew's church at Plymouth was startled
+into wakefulness by the booming of guns.  The vicar was in the midst of
+his sermon, and the good people were torn between their desire not to
+offend the worthy parson and their longing to see what was happening at
+the harbour.  A few minutes passed; then a whisper began to run through
+the church: "Master Drake is home again!"  One looked at another;
+anxious eyes were cast at the high pews where the gentry sat; then,
+careless what squire or parson might think, by ones and twos and threes
+the people stole from the church, and, when once outside, set off
+running with all their might to the harbour.  And before they got there
+a merry peal of bells rang out behind them.  The ringers in the belfry,
+knowing, we must suppose, that their vicar was an easy man, a patriot,
+and a Devonian to boot, were handling the ropes most lustily.
+
+The two little frigates had just dropped anchor, and the men were
+putting off in boats.  On shore men shouted, women wept and waved
+handkerchiefs, boys yelled and dodged among their elders; but nobody
+minded hustling and knocks, for was not Master Drake home again?
+Deafening cheers rent the air as he landed; hundreds thronged around
+him to clasp his hand.
+
+"Good-now, dear friends," he said with a laugh as he passed through:
+"ye'll do me more hurt than the Spaniards ever did."
+
+"Huzzay! huzzay!  Spaniards be jowned!  What have 'ee got in thikky
+ships, Master Drake?"
+
+"Where be Bobby Pike?" cried a buxom dame with half a dozen children
+clinging to her skirts.
+
+"Here I be, Mally," cried the seaman, catching her in his arms, "and
+i'fecks, I'll be sober for ever more, my lass."
+
+"On my soul and body there be Ned Whiddon, and Tom Copstone, and Hugh
+Curder, and Billy Hawk!" cried several voices in the crowd.  "Huzzay!
+huzzay! we never thought to see 'ee more."
+
+"And Haymoss Turnpenny!  Od's my life, what a day for Margery Tutt!"
+
+And when Dennis, with Mirandola on his shoulder, returning glance for
+glance with interest, got clear of the press, he saw Amos marching
+along with a girl on each arm, his ruddy face beaming like the rising
+sun.
+
+"Why, Amos," said Dennis, "are there two Margerys?"
+
+"My heart, I know a score!" cried Amos.  "But this be Margery Tutt,
+sir, thikky wench on my left.  Loose my arm, lass, and drop a curtsey
+to Master Hazelrig, for 'ithout him I'd never have been here this day.
+She've waited for me, sir, bided single for my sake, and there's no
+landlubber to whop after all.  T'other wench be Tom Copstone's Joan;
+his mother's most terrible jealous, and she've got a hold of Tom now;
+so 'You and me, Haymoss!' he sings out, and I've got his Joan under
+convoy till the old 'ooman 's done a-kissing of him.  Margery, lass, if
+'ee be willing, I'll go up along and see pa'son this very day and ax en
+to call us next Sunday, for I've gold and silver and pearls, lass, and
+won't they become your little plum neck!  Master Hazelrig, I do pity
+'ee, I do so.  Bean't there a lass to welcome 'ee?  Good-now, bear up,
+for 'ee be but a stripling yet."
+
+And then he was borne away by the crowd, and Dennis saw him no more
+that day.
+
+
+Dennis found himself, when the treasure was divided, the possessor of
+L2,000 in money in addition to the pearls he had got at Fort Aguila.
+He devoted a goodly sum to the erection of a monument in his parish
+church to the memory of Sir Martin Blunt and the other adventurers who
+had sailed in the _Maid Marian_ eighteen months before.  A smaller
+amount sufficed for a stone over the grave of Mirandola, who died in
+the following winter.  The greater part of the money Dennis gave into
+the hands of John Holles, his steward, who received it with all due
+gravity, expressing the hope that his young master had had his fill of
+adventuring and would now remain at home.
+
+For a time Dennis was content to live in his rambling old house at
+Shaston.  But four years later, learning that Drake was fitting out
+five ships for a voyage round the world, he asked to be allowed to join
+the expedition at his own charge.  His offer was accepted, and he
+shared in the joys and sorrows, the failures and successes, of that
+three years' voyage.  With closer intercourse he admired the great
+Captain more and more; and Drake on his part came to regard him with
+peculiar affection.  During the five years spent on shore after his
+return, Sir Francis, as he now was, paid many visits to the house at
+Shaston, and often played bowls with Dennis on the lawn behind.
+
+In 1585, when Drake went out to the West Indies with a direct
+commission from the Queen, Dennis was of his company.  He was one of
+the first to enter the town of St. Domingo when it was assaulted; and
+in the subsequent attack on Cartagena he was seriously wounded.  To his
+great disappointment, he had not fully recovered in time to take part
+in the famous expedition to Cadiz, when Drake "singed the King of
+Spain's beard."  But next year, when all England was stirred at the
+news that the long-expected Armada was at last approaching, Dennis
+joined Drake on the _Revenge_, and had his part in the work of fighting
+in the Channel and the North Sea.
+
+At the conclusion of this year Dennis, now in his thirty-fourth year,
+married the daughter of a neighbouring squire.  Her name happened to be
+Margery.  Soon after the marriage Dennis took her to Plymouth on a
+visit to his old comrade Amos Turnpenny, who was now blest with a
+family of five boys and five girls.
+
+"Do 'ee mind, sir," said Amos with a twinkling eye--"do 'ee mind the
+day when we landed, and you axed me whether there were two Margerys?
+Seems as if there be, sir; ay, and more; your madam be one, and my
+'ooman be two, and my darter yonder be three, and Tom Copstone's darter
+be four, and I shouldn't be mazed if there was five some day.  'A good
+name,' says the Book, 'is rayther to be chosen than great riches.'
+Margery be a good name, to be sure--a better name than Mirandola, poor
+fond beast!  Next to Margery comes _Anne Gallant_, and that be my
+second darter yonder."
+
+Dennis Hazelrig became a man of weight in his county.  His wife and
+little daughter--the fifth Margery--dissuaded him from joining Drake
+and Hawkins in their fatal expedition to the Main in 1594, and he found
+an outlet for his energies in organizing the yeomanry of Devon.
+
+When James the First came to the throne Dennis received the honour of
+knighthood.  None of his old friends was more delighted than Amos
+Turnpenny, who was by this time nearly eighty, and a hale old
+grandfather.
+
+"Ay, I says to Tom Copstone when I heard the news, 'Tom,' says I,
+'we've a king again now, my lad, though by all I hear tell he bean't so
+proper a man as King Hal.  But he do have his good points too.  What be
+fust thing 'ee done, think 'ee?'  'Be jowned if I know,' says Tom.  (He
+do have common ways o' speech, poor soul!)  'Why, 'fecks,' says I, 'he
+bin and made Master Hazelrig a noble knight, and we must call en Sir
+Dennis to's face for ever more.'  'Well,' says Tom, 'we won't mind
+that,--night or day,' says he--'you and me, Haymoss?'  And be jowned if
+they were not the very words of my dream!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's With Drake on the Spanish Main, by Herbert Strang
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 20:11:10 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-14 20:11:10 -0700
commit	d518ea7904006dbccdc75fe1df5d42487cfe9e5f (patch)
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