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diff --git a/old/64081-8.txt b/old/64081-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b75d031..0000000 --- a/old/64081-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7692 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Morley Ashton, Volume 2 (of 3), by James Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Morley Ashton, Volume 2 (of 3) - A Story of the Sea - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: December 20, 2020 [EBook #64081] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORLEY ASHTON, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - - - MORLEY ASHTON: - - A Story of the Sea. - - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT, - - AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "FAIRER THAN A FAIRY," ETC. - - - - In Three Volumes. - - VOL. II. - - - - LONDON: - TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE STREET, W.C. - 1876. - [All rights reserved.] - - - - - - CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, - CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. - - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER I. - MARIQUITA ESCUDERO - - CHAPTER II. - THE CREW OF THE "HERMIONE" DISCONTENTED - - CHAPTER III. - ROSE AND DR. HERIOT - - CHAPTER IV. - MAN OVERBOARD - - CHAPTER V. - THE LIVID FACE - - CHAPTER VI. - WHAT THE DOCTOR OVERHEARD IN THE FORECASTLE BUNKS - - CHAPTER VII. - MEASURES FOR DEFENCE CONCERTED - - CHAPTER VIII. - THE SAIL TO WINDWARD - - CHAPTER IX. - THE STORM - - CHAPTER X. - THE FOUR CASTAWAYS - - CHAPTER XI. - CAPTAIN HAWKSHAW MAKES A DISCOVERY TO LEEWARD - - CHAPTER XII. - DR. HERIOT'S PATIENTS - - CHAPTER XIII. - CAPTAIN HAWKSHAW's TROUBLES INCREASE - - CHAPTER XIV. - HAWKSHAW TURNS NURSE - - CHAPTER XV. - A BITER BITTEN - - CHAPTER XVI. - DREAD - - CHAPTER XVII. - UNMASKED - - CHAPTER XVIII. - THE EXPULSION - - CHAPTER XIX. - THE MEETING - - CHAPTER XX. - THE CORPSE-LICHT - - CHAPTER XXI. - OUT OF SCYLLA AND INTO CHARYBDIS - - CHAPTER XXII. - FOUR BELLS IN THE DOG-WATCH - - CHAPTER XXIII. - THE CRISIS AT LAST - - CHAPTER XXIV. - HOW THE SHIP BROACHED TO - - CHAPTER XXV. - THE CABIN ATTACKED - - - - - -MORLEY ASHTON. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -MARIQUITA ESCUDERO. - -After the breathless calm of the past day, the heat of the cabin was -intense. The lamp was trimmed and lit by the steward, but the -skylight was still kept open. - -"Awfully hot, Morley, is it not?" said Tom Bartelot, as he threw off -his jacket. - -"Yes; and the heat makes one so thirsty, too!" - -"I can't give you iced champagne, as in the gardens at Rio; but the -steward has bitter beer, beaujolais, and potash water, with grog for -you, Morrison, which I know you prefer; and you, too, Noah, my old -Triton. And now let us to work, and overhaul the old man's papers." - -Morrison, who had been scanning over the manuscript, helped himself -to a glass of grog mechanically, without taking his eyes from the -writing. Noah Gawthrop, who had been specially invited below, in -virtue of the part he had borne in the past day's episode, received a -jorum of stiff grog from the steward, and seated himself near the -bulkhead, uncomfortably, on the extreme edge of a sea-chest, in -preference to the well-cushioned locker, which he evidently -considered too fine for his tarry trousers. - -Morley and Bartelot were each furnished with a glass of beaujolais -and potash water. The stars were visible through the open skylight, -paling away into the blue ether overhead, when Morrison began to -read, translating the recluse's Spanish into tolerable English, as he -made himself master of the subject; the sole interruptions, as he -proceeded, being an occasional interjection from Noah, such as "Dash -my buttons!" "Smite my timbers!" varied by "Darn my eyes! the -ragamuffin! the regular-built old Bluebeard!" followed by a hard slap -of his hand upon his own thigh; though much of what he heard proved a -sore puzzle to him, especially the religious invocations, the -outbursts of remorse, and bitter self-reproaches, which we omit in -the rehearsal of his story. - -The manuscript proceeded thus: - -"I pray the reader hereof, if he be a good Catholic, to say a novena, -or nine days' prayer, for the repose of my sinful soul; and I beg of -the first Christian man who shall give my remains interment to place -a cross at the end of my grave. - -"Let whoever beholds these poor remains profit by the sad spectacle -they exhibit, even as the recluse, Brother Pedro, has sought to -profit by the prayers, penance, and mortification of twenty years -spent in this solitude, while striving to atone for the errors of -forty spent in the world as Don Pedro Zuares Miguel de Barradas. - -"I was a man of fortune in New Spain; my forefathers were of the -purest blood--the boasted blue blood of those who dwelt by the Ebro, -without taint of Goth, of Moor, or Jew--and my more immediate -predecessors, men who came with Hernan Cortez, of Medellin, and -Francis Pizarro, of Troquillo, to conquer the new world which -Columbus had given to Castile and Leon. - -"My direct ancestor, Don Miguel de Barradas, came from San Pedro de -Arlanza, in the district of Burgos. A near kinsman of Hernan Cortez, -he was one of the first who settled on the table-land of Anahuac, -founding one of those powerful families which flourish there, and who -also possess all the sea-coast, from La Vera Cruz to San Luis de -Potosi. - -"In power and right of action, we were free and unfettered, as the -Spanish nobility at home. No agrarian law could there force us to -sell our vast estates, if we neglected to cultivate them; and our -farmers we could harass, oppress, cajole, or expel at our pleasure. - -"Proud of my descent from one of those who conquered Tlascala and -Tenochtitlan in 1521, no man was more vain of his old Castilian -pedigree than I; yet there came a time when I joined the patriots, -and fought for the separation of Peru from the mother country, and, -with my own blood, sought to cement the foundation of the free United -States of South America. - -"Prior to my entering upon that career of usefulness, my objects in -life were very different. - -"I was possessed of vast wealth; I had been well educated and highly -accomplished by my parents, at whose desire I had travelled over all -Europe, and had visited its capitals, to the improvement of my taste, -though but little to the advantage of my morals. - -"I was possessed of a person that was considered handsome. I deemed -myself a model and mirror of honour, and had a spirit ever high and -haughty, but at times crafty and ferocious. My character was full of -inconsistencies; thus, wherever I went, I became involved in quarrels -on frivolous pretexts and points of honour--quarrels, which -invariably ended in duels, and in these I was generally the victor, -whether with sword or with pistol, for I was skilful in the use of -both. - -"Within this shadow was a darker shade! - -"No man's wife or daughter--even were he my best and dearest -friend--could be safe from my artful, insidious, and too often -successful advances; for to see any woman, possessed of even moderate -attractions, was to love her at once. - -"Success in each instance gave new courage and address, and led to -success in others; thus my whole time was spent in weaving plans and -intrigues, and the chief aim of my existence was to feel myself the -conqueror. Thus to flame succeeded flame, so rapid were my fancies, -so insatiable my desires, that I rejoiced in the idea of making three -or four assignations with as many different beauties in one day. - -"Opposition in some, the tears, the reproaches, and the despair of -others, added but piquancy to this pursuit of the innocent and -unwary, while my hand with the small sword was so skilful and steady, -my aim with the pistol so deadly and true, that relations and rivals -sought to punish me in vain, though thrice I escaped miraculously -their attempts at deliberate assassination. - -"Of all whom I deceived none do I mourn more in this time of -repentance and bitterness, than Mariquita Escudero, whose image and -memory fill me yet--even at the distance of many years--with -inexpressible sorrow. - -"She was the only daughter of Miguel Escudero, a worthy old farmer of -mine, near Orizaba--that mighty volcano, whose summit is 1,300 feet -higher than the Peak of Teneriffe, and which serves as a landmark to -all mariners bound for La Vera Cruz. - -"Though tainted, as we deemed it, with the Mexican blood of her -mother, who was an octoroon of a native tribe, Mariquita inherited -from her father good old Castilian blood, and was a girl far -exceeding all whom I had met or known in loveliness and goodness, in -virtue and in purity. - -"She had heard of my evil reputation, and warned by common rumour--it -may be by her parents, or inspired by native modesty--she always drew -her mantilla close, and shunned or avoided me, when I visited Orizaba. - -"Piqued by her coldness and inflamed by her beauty, which was of a -very remarkable kind, I relinquished, or forgot for the time, every -other amour, to engage in this new one, proceeding to work warily, -and with all the subtlety of the fiend I was then. - -"Though I frequently visited the _granja_ (farm) of old Miguel -Escudero, I ceased to notice, save by a casual bow, the presence of -Mariquita; but strove assiduously to gain the friendship of her -brother, Juan, a handsome and high-spirited young man, whom, as he -was a deadly shot and good swordsman, I thought it would be as well -to remove from the vicinity of my operations. - -"I might easily have had him taken off, by distributing a few dollars -among the bandidos of the Barranca Secca; but, though wicked enough, -I was not sufficiently a villain for that, and so preferred to -procure for him a commission as an _alferez_ (ensign) in the guards -of the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, an honour which, being so -unusual, when conferred on the son of a humble _grangero_, or farmer, -filled the soul of Miguel with gratitude, and Juan with pride and joy. - -"Not content with this, I appointed Escudero overseer of all my -estates, with an income of about five hundred pistoles per annum; so -my cold little beauty, the Senora Mariquita, had now a horse and -mounted groom when she went abroad, instead of a mule, as before, and -a barefooted negro runner. - -"These presents--this unwonted patronage--passed well enough as -rewards to an ancient and faithful adherent of our house, for old -Miguel Escudero had been an especial confidant of my father, and was -descended from one of the twenty men-at-arms whom my ancestor, Don -Miguel, had brought from San Pedro de Arlanza in Old Castile. He -regarded me with a friendship, a love, that was almost paternal, and -now pressed me to visit him at the handsome residence which my favour -and bounty had conferred upon him; so I went to spend three months -under the same roof with Mariquita, on the slopes of the vast Pic -d'Orizaba, to hunt the wild cattle, the elks, the buffaloes, and -cabri, and the grisly black bears, in the ever green forests and -lovely savannahs that spread away from thence towards the Rio de -Carraderas; and, nightly, it was my joy to lay the spoils of the -chase at the feet of Mariquita, in compliment to her as the mistress -of her father's house, for such she was--luckily, for the furtherance -of my project, her watchful mother having been recently removed by -death. - -"I now saw more of her than I could ever have done by periodical -visits, and my passion grew greater by our intimacy, for the girl was -a wondrously lovely brunette, though her skin was exceedingly fair. -The form of her hands and feet, the contour of her head, and the soft -luxuriant masses of her ripply black hair, were all perfect; and her -eyes, large, dark, clear, and liquid, were beautiful, and ever -varying in expression. - -"I was too artful, too well trained in the ways of vice, to seem more -than simply pleased with the society of Mariquita. I was -scrupulously attentive to her at table and elsewhere. If she -mounted, my hand and knee were at her service; but when dismounting, -she always preferred the attendance of her father, or her old negro -groom, as if determined that no hand of mine should ever touch her -slender waist. - -"We occasionally accompanied each other on the guitar. Songs of love -were long, long avoided, but they came at last. I remember the first -we ventured on--'Love's First Kiss,' an old song of Burgos, beginning: - - "'A aquel caballero madre.' - -And then came a time, too, when I saw that Mariquita ceased to avoid -me--a time when her cheek flushed palpably, and when her lovely eyes -dilated and sparkled at my approach with emotions of pleasure there -were no concealing. - -"In me she beheld her father's patron and benefactor, her brother's -friend; so gratitude soon led the way to love. - -"I beheld the growth of this secret influence with exultation, yet -never spoke of love. Inspired by my master, the devil, I was too -wary yet to mar my game until she loved me irretrievably and deeply. -My efforts, my passion, were about to be rewarded at last! - -"For good or for evil, to what is a man most indebted for success in -life? To genius, birth, education, or perseverance? To none of -these, but simply to success itself. - -"Alas! she was too young, too tender, and too artless--too full of -keen Spanish and generous Indian impulses, to withstand me; and after -a time I saw that she burned with a passion equal to my own, which I -still pretended to suppress within me, and to veil under an outward -aspect of indifference and respect. - -"'The first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity; in a -girl it is boldness,' says a writer. 'This will surprise, and yet -nothing is more simple: the two sexes have a tendency to approach, -and each assumes the qualities of the other.' - -"This strange analysis of the human heart was fully realised in the -case of Mariquita. - -"One day we were riding at the foot of the vast Cordillera, through -those odoriferous groves, the leaves of which are used for perfuming -the chocolate. We had contrived to miss our black groom, who had -dismounted in a part of the wood, to examine a shoe of his horse; so, -as the atmosphere of noon was intensely hot and breathless, we sought -a shady and sequestered spot, where, under the cool, humid, and -umbrageous forest leaves, the smilax or sarsaparilla roots, the -liquidambar, the choacun root, and the balsam of tolu were growing in -luxuriance, and where the wild cotton tree, and the broad-leaved -tobacco plant, the yellow gourd, and the purple grape, all formed a -jungle together. - -"Languid and panting with the heat of the day, the length of our -ride, and, inspired by the pleasure she now felt in my society, -Mariquita never looked so lovely; and now, when praying that she -would alight, strange to say, I spoke timidly and with a -wildly-beating heart; but, to my surprise, she consented, and held -out her hand with a delightful smile. - -"As I lifted her from the saddle, she threw back her long low veil, -and the heavy masses of her perfumed hair fell upon my cheek. - -"She leant heavily forward in my arms, and, instead of placing her on -the ground, I pressed her tenderly to my breast, with my lips -trembling on her forehead. Then I murmured in her ear: - -"'Mariquita, _mi querida_--Marguerita, my idol--I love you--love you -dearly! Will you pardon me; will you permit it?' - -"She did not reply, but her head sank upon my shoulder, for the -crisis had come! Her lovely face was close to mine, and I felt her -breath upon my cheek. The colour had left hers, for those emotions -which cause some women to blush make others grow pale; but her -half-closed eyes sparkled with passion and joy under their long black -lashes, and her rosy lips were parted by a divine smile. - -"I felt that I had triumphed; that Mariquita, the once proud, cold, -and reserved Mariquita, loved me, for that emotion which had made me -at first seem timid now made her actually bold, and her sweet lips -sought mine, it may be but too readily, in the first glow of her -girlish ardour. - -"She gave me one long and passionate kiss, and then, without -assistance, she sprang from my arms to her saddle, saying, with -mingled smiles and tears: - -"'We have both been foolish--very foolish, Senor Don Pedro, but let -us begone.' - -"'Mariquita, consider the heat--your fatigue!' I urged. - -"'We are some miles from the _granja_, and have first the road to -find,' she replied hurriedly. - -"With her horse's reins and her whip, she had resumed something of -her former self, but the memory of my kisses yet burned upon her brow -and lips. I endeavoured, in vain, to lead the conversation back to -the sudden impulse which the simple act of dismounting had given to -both our hearts. - -"I begged of her to moderate the pace of her horse, as there was -plenty of time for us to reach home; but she would not listen to me, -and seemed to blush with anger now at the memory of what had passed -between us; yet little cared I for that, felt assured that we had -passed the Rubicon, that this beautiful girl loved me, and that the -time I had spent with old Miguel Escudero, in rambling among his -plantations, where the negroes hoed the sugar, planted tobacco, and -gathered the cotton tufts, had not been spent in vain. - -"Mariquita did not avoid me, so for several days after this I never -missed an opportunity, especially when old Senor Escudero was not -present, of pressing my suit, and giving her assurances of my -unalterable love! Unalterable! Oh, _mal hay as tu_, Pedro de -Barradas, into how many charming ears had those same words been -poured, and in the same tender accents, too! - -"But Mariquita, who had become more mistress of herself, always heard -me with composure, and with a bearing unlike that she had exhibited -in the wood; but I could see that the simplest remark, or most casual -tone of my voice, made her heart vibrate with pleasure, and her -colour deepen. - -"One evening we were standing together at an open window, which was -shaded by a vine-covered verandah, and faced the usually flaming -summit of the volcano of Orizaba. It was wonderfully still on that -occasion; a column of thin smoke only ascended from it to the very -zenith. The evening was lovely, and the sun's farewell rays were -gilding the mighty summit of the cone; all was calm and quiet, save -in our hearts, which beat tumultuously. I drew closer to Mariquita, -and as she stood before me, I passed my arms round her, kissed the -back of her delicate neck tenderly, and whispered: - -"'How long shall I speak to you of love, Mariquita?' - -"'As long as you please, Senor Don Pedro,' she replied, with a tender -smile, as she half turned round her head. - -"'Call me Pedro, my beloved one, without the ceremonious don--and -senor, too, oh, fie!' - -"'_Bueno--Pedro mi querida._' - -"'Sweeter still!' I exclaimed, in a low voice. - -"'Well?' - -"'Well, dearest Mariquita; how long shall we speak of love?' - -"'As long as you please.' - -"'Ah! feel how my heart beats. I ask how long in vain?' - -"'Long enough, senor,' said she, with a pretty pout. - -"'_Senor!_' - -"'Yes, senor, unless--unless----' - -She paused. - -"'What?' - -"'You speak of marriage, too,' she replied, suddenly unclasping my -hands, which were tenderly folded round her slender waist. - -"'Do you love me?' - -"'Do I love you?' she repeated, reproachfully, turning her full, -clear, and glorious eyes to mine, while throwing back her veil and -the masses of her silky hair together; 'you know that _I do love -you_, Pedro, fondly, deeply, passionately, for you have won that -which never belonged, and never shall belong, to another--my heart.' - -"'Beloved Mariquita!' I exclaimed, and pressed her to my breast in a -long and mutual embrace, 'and you will be mine--mine?' - -"'At the foot of the altar, Pedro--at the foot of the altar alone,' -she whispered, with a heart that swelled with love, and with dark -eyes steeped in languor. - -"But vain are human resolves, even when made by a heart so pure and -guileless as that of Mariquita, when struggling with a passion so -deep and consuming; for with these very words on her lips she was -yielding; we were alone and undisturbed, and ere the sun's last rays -had faded from the cone of Orizaba, Mariquita had lost her honour! - -* * * * * - -"The hapless Mariquita! She loved me more than ever now. She clung -to me with all the strength of love, of sacrifice, and of despair. - -"For days after this, on her knees, she besought me to marry her. I -would raise her, kiss and console her, and flatter, too--how weary -now the task!--flatter and pacify her, making countless promises and -professions, for I still loved her in my own selfish fashion; but I -shrunk from the idea of marriage with the daughter of one of my own -grangeros--one whose ancestors had been hewers of wood and drawers of -water to mine--a girl, moreover, who had the taint of native blood in -her veins! - -"I, Pedro de Barradas, Knight of Santiago de Compostella, and Lord of -Anahuac, whom the proud daughters of the first men, and of the -noblest houses in New Spain, had failed to lure within the meshes of -matrimony, was not likely to mate with the daughter of Miguel -Escudero, however much I might love her, and however much she might -please my somewhat fastidious eye. - -"I heard her many tender and pathetic entreaties--and once, too, her -wild threats of self-destruction, poniard in hand--that I would save -her from impending shame; but I was pitiless as the ocelot--the -tiger-cat that lurked in the woods of Orizaba--all the more pitiless -that I knew she fondly--yes, madly--loved me. - -"Weary of the endless task of seeking to console one who would not -and could not be consoled, I quitted Orizaba for some months, as we -were planning the revolt against the mother country, a movement which -was to secure to me the captaincy of the great castle of San Juan, de -Ulloa, the citadel of La Vera Cruz, which mounts nearly 200 pieces of -cannon, and is the key of the whole province. - -"During my absence and in the fulness of time, Mariquita had a son, -born in secrecy, amid tears, shame, and sorrow. She baptised it by -the name of Pedro, and sent him to a lonely puebla in the mountains -that overlook the Barranca Secca, to be nursed by one of my people. -This birth, all unknown alike to Miguel Escudero, whom I had -despatched on a political mission towards the shores of the Pacific, -and to his son, Juan, who was now a lieutenant of infantry at the -castle of San Juan de Ulloa. - -"My passion for Mariquita still existed; her love for me was greater -than ever now, and she lived but for me, and in the hope that in -pity, if not for love, I would espouse her still, and these hopes I -was always wicked enough to fan; 'so man wrongs, and time avenges.' - -"Completely in my power, surrounded by my toils, the victim of my -wiles, still loving me dearly and desperately, and still hoping for -the ultimate fulfilment of my thousand protestations, the poor girl -continued to meet me from time to time in a deserted sugar-mill on -the mountains of Orizaba, a secret intercourse that ended fatally for -her and for all, for another son, whom we named Zuares, was born, and -at the same time the whole affair came to the knowledge of Miguel -Escudero, who, though but a humble grangero, had all the pride of -birth, and more than the ideas of spotless honour, honesty, and -female purity, possessed by any grandee of old Castile. - -"The poor old man's horror was beyond all description. - -"To find that his daughter's honour had been lost, his hospitality so -infamously violated, his home disgraced, his prospects ruined, and by -me--ME, whom he had so loved and so respected, as his friend and -benefactor, was a mortal stab too deep to survive, and within an hour -after the revelation came upon him in all its stunning details, poor -Miguel Escudero had ceased to exist. - -"He did not die by his own hand, he was too good and too religious a -man for such a terrible act; but sinking on the floor of his chamber, -he never moved again. He died of autopsy--paralysis of the heart! - -"I was not present at this scene of horror, being, fortunately for -myself, in command of the great castle of San Juan de Ulloa. - -"On the day of Corpus Christi, after having attended mass, I was -walking on that portion of the ramparts which faces the flats of -Gallega, accompanied by some of the officers of my staff, when the -young lieutenant, Juan Escudero, approached to inform me, in a voice -broken with grief, of his father's sudden death, and to request leave -of absence to attend his obsequies. - -"My heart was struck with remorse, and grew sick with shame. I -placed my purse in his hand; I gave him my best horse, and bade him -begone to Orizaba with good speed; but I trembled like a craven in my -soul for the hour of his return. - -"A few days passed, and the young lieutenant came back. - -"I was walking alone on the same ramparts when I saw him steadily -approaching me. He was clad in his uniform, and his silver -epaulettes glittered in the sun. He had a band of crape on his right -arm, and another on the hilt of his sword--a soldier's simple -mourning for a lost parent, and, alas! a lost honour. - -"He came straight up to me; his handsome face, so like the face of -Mariquita, was deadly pale; but the glare of wild hate shone in his -eyes, and his nether lip quivered spasmodically. - -"'Senor Don Pedro de Barradas,' said he, saluting me, ceremoniously, -'I have the honour to confess the many services you have rendered my -family in the days when you were true to yourself and to us. For all -these I beg to thank you. But I have also to confess the many deep -wrongs you have done us, and I here brand you, before God and man, as -a villain and a coward, whom I have vowed to kill like a dog, here on -the ramparts of San Juan de Ulloa!' - -"My heart sank, and my hand trembled. - -"'Senor Teniente--Senor Escudero,' I began, in a rash and vague -attempt to explain or to extenuate; but the brother of Mariquita was -mad with ungovernable fury, and he rushed upon me, sword in hand. - -"I knew that he would kill me without mercy, and that there was -nothing left for me but to defend my life to the utmost, and to do -this all my skill was requisite. - -"I was the best swordsman in La Vera Cruz; but he was twenty years my -junior, young, active, and filled with just rage and indignation. - -"Compelled to stand on my own defence, my sole object was to ward off -his cuts, to parry his thrusts, and to keep him at bay till the -castle guard came to separate us. I sought to disarm, and if driven -to sore extremity to wound him only; but while he was making a -desperate lunge at me, my sword entered his heart. I felt its hot -blood spout upon the blade, and pour through the hilt upon my hand, -as I flung my weapon down in grief and dismay. - -"Juan threw up his hands, and uttered a wild cry. It was -'Mariquita,' as he fell dead on his face, at my feet. - -"Long, long did a horror of these events oppress me. I buried him in -the church of the Augustine Friars, and had one hundred masses sung -for the repose of his soul--oh, who will say one for me!--I would -have made some effort to requite the living victim of my wickedness; -but now retribution came upon me. - -"Mariquita was still living at her father's old _granja_, on the -borders of the Barranca Secca, in shame and seclusion, nursing her -children, Pedro and Zuares, who now bore the dishonoured name of -Barradas, and each of whom had, strange to say, a little red cross, -like that of Santiago, on his left shoulder, where their mother's -hand engraved it, lest the children should be lost. - -"About a month after Juan's death, I was betrayed by some of his -friends into the hands of the troops of his Majesty Ferdinand VII., -and was placed by them on board a vessel for conveyance to Spain, -where an ignominious death as a traitor awaited me. - -"When passing near this isle, a heavy gale came on, and I fell -overboard. In such a sea, to save me was impossible; but a sailor -heard my shriek of despair, and cast over to me a hencoop. - -"God, in his goodness, enabled me to reach it, and after drifting on -the dark ocean for more than an hour, I was cast ashore, and here -have I remained ever since, leading a life of piety and austerity, of -penance and of prayer, in the humble and earnest hope that this -imitation of the holy men of old may atone for the errors I committed -in the world as Don Pedro Zuares Miguel de Barradas. - - "Rueguen a Dios por el." - - -Such was the substance of this strange confession, which we have -written out in a more readable and coherent form than Morrison found -it, and which throws a light on the parentage and origin of the two -dark seamen on board the _Hermione_; and as for the fate of the -hapless Mariquita, the reader has already learned it from Captain -Hawkshaw's unpleasant reminiscence of the Barranca Secca. - -The evening of the next day saw the _Princess_ steering for the -north-western extremity of the island of Tristan d'Acunha. At nine -o' clock, Bartelot ordered a light to be hoisted at the end of the -foretopmast studdingsail boom, and a gun to be fired, as a signal for -a shore boat, which promptly came off from this remarkable place. - -As he wanted fresh water, the captain continued to stand off and on -till dawn next day, when Morley, who had spent the morning watch in -successful fishing, had the gratification of seeing the sun rise on -the isle of Don Tristan d'Acunha. - -Situated far amid the lonely waves of the Southern Atlantic, at the -distance of 1,500 miles from any continent, this lofty island has a -peak of 5,000 feet in height above the level of its beach. At dawn -it seemed like a cone of flame, shaded off by purple tints, and -towering amid a rose-coloured sea, whose depth is so vast that it far -exceeds even the height of Tristan's loftiest peak. - -Two islands are near it: one is named the Inaccessible; the other, -the island of the Nightingale; but they are mere masses of wild -storm-beaten rock, against which the ocean rolls its masses of foam, -and above which, in the amber-tinted sky, a cloud of sea-hens, -petrels, and albatrosses wheel and flutter. - -In the little town which held a British garrison when our imperial -captive pined in St. Helena, there is a mixed population of English -and Portuguese mulattoes, though the isle is described in a recent -gazetteer as being as desolate as when the Cavalier Tristan d'Acunha -traversed the southern sea with his high-pooped caravel, and gave the -place his name, in the first years of the sixteenth century. - -Morley, Gawthrop, and three of the crew went ashore in the jolly-boat -to procure some fresh water and vegetables. Morrison followed in the -quarter-boat; both returned in about an hour, and after what they had -brought off was put on board, they were sent ahead with a warp to tow -the ship off the land, towards which a dangerous current had been -drifting her. - -A fine breeze soon after sprang up; the _Princess_ bore away upon her -course, and ere midnight came down upon the sea, she had bade a last -farewell to the lofty isle of Tristan d'Acunha. - -When next we see her on the ocean, we shall have something to narrate -very different from the hitherto peaceful and prosperous voyages of -Bartelot and his shipmates. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE CREW OF THE "HERMIONE" DISCONTENTED. - -For days Captain Hawkshaw was haunted by the recollection of that -strange episode, the sinking corpse; whose features--seen through the -fevered medium of his own imagination and his guilty -conscience--seemed to assume the likeness of Morley Ashton, as they -went slowly down through the green, translucent sea, after Dr. Leslie -Heriot had attached the cannon-shot to its heels. - -He accounted for the exclamation of horror that escaped him, by -saying to those in the boat that he felt a sudden qualm of sickness, -of disgust, or a giddiness; and his first resource when on board was -to Joe, the captain's steward, for his brandy bottle. - -When he began to reason with himself, however, in a calmer moment, he -perceived the impossibility of the remains being those of Morley -Ashton, as no influence of current, tide, or wind could have drifted -them from the coast of Britain so far through the ocean as the South -Atlantic. - -The idea was absurd--impossible! - -Moreover, the drowned man had not been dead more than a week to all -appearance; and then his hands had grasped a life-buoy, evincing that -he must have fallen overboard from some ship, or been the victim of a -wreck. - -When the impression of that affair began to wear away, his fears of -the two Barradas, and a recollection of the manner in which Pedro, -Bill Badger, the bulky Yankee, and others of the crew had insulted -him, resumed their sway; but after a time he began to take courage. - -"What have I to fear from the Barradas? Nothing!" he would whisper -to himself, as if to gather comfort from the echo of his own -thoughts. "Suppose they denounce me to my friends--to Ethel--I have -simply to deny, and that is all. The story of the -padre--d----nation!--no, I mean of the Barranca Secca--I have already -told, and Master Zuares does not shine in that affair. Even to Ethel -it is nothing new, for I have related it more than once, to increase -her horror of the Barradas when the crisis comes." - -A _crisis_ was coming, which the captain did not quite foresee! - -"Even to Ethel it is nothing new--I can deny, deny, and defy them -all. 'Tis only my word against theirs." - -This was all very well; but ere the voyage ended there occurred -several events, which alike put the captain's courage and resolution -to flight. - -As the _Hermione_ approached the Cape of Good Hope, she encountered -alternate storms and calms, with weather so unusually cold for the -season, that Hawkshaw had a fair excuse for permitting his whiskers -and moustache to resume their wonted aspect of luxuriance, as he had -ceased to hope for concealment on board. - -Though pretty well inured now, by their very protracted voyage, to -the discomforts of ship-life, Ethel and Rose Basset remained a good -deal in the cabin, especially the former, to avoid Hawkshaw's -attention, which were thus repressed by the presence of the captain, -when it was not his watch, of Mr. Quail, or her father, who preferred -to lie reading or lounging on the cabin locker, to facing on deck the -spoon-drift that flew over the lee quarter when the ship was going -free. - -She found Adrian Manfredi, the young Italian mate, a pleasant -companion, for Rose rather absorbed the society of Dr. Heriot. He -was gentlemanly and well bred; he had seen much of the world, and her -preference for him was so decided, that Hawkshaw felt at times a pang -of jealous rage in his heart, which was in no way soothed when, in -the mate's hours of leisure, they took to reading together in -Italian, "I Promessi Sposi," the beautiful novel of Alessandro -Manzoni, from the neat little three-volume edition, printed at Lugano. - -This emotion became all the more bitter after Ethel gave Manfredi a -handsome gold locket, to hold the hair of his little brother, "the -brave boy, Attilio," whose story he told in a previous chapter. - -The young man was no doubt charmed by the beauty and society of a -sweet English girl like Ethel Basset; thus his voice became mellow -and soft whenever he addressed her, and his eyes sparkled with -admiration and pleasure whenever he saw her, but beyond this, no sign -of a deeper emotion escaped him. Perhaps he felt the folly or -futility of encouraging it. - -On the other hand, Ethel's preference for him was greatly induced by -some real or imaginary resemblance which she saw, or thought she saw, -in his features to those of Morley Ashton; though Rose and her father -failed to perceive it, and Hawkshaw, who always trembled in his soul -at the young man's name, treated the idea with angry ridicule. - -The sullenness and other growing peculiarities in the bearing of the -crew had been increasing, so that some would scarcely obey those -orders necessary for the working of the ship. Captain Phillips, -though full of anxiety for the probable issue, resolved to forbear -until a ship of war hove in sight, or until he could dismiss some and -put others in prison, if this state of matters still continued, when -the _Hermione_ hauled up for Table Bay. - -One day Adrian Manfredi had charge of the deck. - -The ship was running nearly fair before a fine topgallant breeze; -there was not much of a sea on, but the sky was lowering, and a great -gray bank of cloud was resting on the ocean to the northward, for -they were encountering regular Cape weather now. - -Manfredi was conversing with Ethel from time to time, and she was -still busy with the last volume of "I Promessi Sposi," when one of -the crew, named Samuel Sharkey, a coarse, square stump of a fellow, -having great misshapen hands, a large and very ugly visage, came -deliberately aft, with a short black pipe in his mouth, and stood -near her, puffing with great coolness, and eyeing her with a very -admiring leer. - -Ethel glanced at him uneasily, and removed to a seat nearer the -taffrail, for there was cool insolence in the man's sinister eyes and -bearing which alarmed her very much. - -On this, Sharkey, the seaman, gave a peculiar whistle, to which Bill -Badger, the tall, ungainly Yankee, who was at the wheel, responded; -and these signals now attracted the attention of Manfredi, who had -been looking aloft, and securing some of the halyards to the -belaying-pins. - -"Hollo, you sir!" said he, "what do you want aft, eh?" - -"None o' your grand airs, Mister Manfreddy," was the sulky response, -"'cos they won't do in this part o' blue water, so I tells you at -once." - -"Take that pipe out of your mouth; remember that you are on the -quarter-deck, and there is a lady here." - -"That is just what brought me aft. Are you chaps and the cabin -passengers a goin' to keep the gals--the old judge's darters--all to -yourselves? I don't mean to offend you, marm; oh, not at all, by no -manner o' means," he continued, making a mock bow to Ethel; "but, -shiver my topsails, if, mayhap, we won't be better acquainted afore -we sights Maddygascar and the gut of the Mosambique Channel--ha, ha!" - -And as he concluded he continued to leer at Ethel. - -"You are drunk, fellow," said Manfredi, who was resolved to keep his -temper, if possible, for the man's words contained in them a -reference to ultimate views sufficiently daring to excite alarm. - -"I am no more a feller than you are, mayhap not so much," replied -Sharkey, taking his huge square hands out of his trousers pockets and -proceeding to clench them very ominously; "and as for being two or -three cloths in the wind, 'taint the six-water grog as we gets aboard -o' this 'ere beastly craft as will make me so." - -"Go forward, I command you, or by Heaven I'll throw you overboard," -said Manfredi, in a hoarse voice. - -"If you want to swim, there may be two as can play at that," -responded the ugly seaman; "but I knows summut easier in seamanship, -and I would advise you to l'arn it." - -"What is it?" - -"To run ten knots an hour right in the wind's eye, with everything -set that will draw, aloft and alow, skyscrapers, moonrakers, and all." - -"My dear Miss Basset, I beg of you to excuse this scene, and permit -me to lead you below," said Manfredi, with an agitated manner, to -Ethel, who had listened to all this with great dismay. - -"My dear, don't do nothin' o' the sort; just stay here and see how -I'll rib-roast him," said Sharkey. - -"Go forward, you gallows lubber!" thundered Manfredi, growing pale -with a passion which he strove to repress, lest he should terrify -Ethel, between whom and this seaman he interposed. - -Sharkey, instead of complying, put his right hand behind him, and -suddenly drew forth a sheath-knife--one of those ugly weapons which -few seamen are now without. Armed with this, he was about to make a -rush at Manfredi, when the latter, quick as thought, and as if he had -anticipated some such catastrophe, snatched up a heavy iron -marlinespike and hurled it full at Sharkey's head, with such force -and unerring aim that he was knocked down, senseless and bleeding, -with a severe wound on the head. - -"Carry the scoundrel forward, and drench him well with salt water, to -bring him to," said Manfredi, while panting with excitement, to the -Barradas and some of the crew who had run aft. He took the knife -from Sharkey's relaxed hand, and threw it into the sea, adding, "I -will serve every man who disobeys me now in the same fashion, and tow -him overboard for twenty knots at the end of a line, if the captain -will allow me." - -"Mayhap as you won't," growled Sharkey, recovering a little, as he -was lifted up by his sulky and muttering messmates; "and if you don't -repent this work _afore to-morrow morning_, you infernal Hytalian, my -name ain't Sam Sharkey!" - -That some general outbreak among the crew was on the _tapis_, and -might have taken place but for his own resolute conduct, Manfredi had -not a doubt. - -With his face covered with blood, the mutineer was carried forward, -and Dr. Heriot (whom Ethel's scream when she beheld the scuffle had -brought on deck) with others, hastened to the forecastle to examine -the wound and have it dressed. - -The marlinespike, an iron instrument that tapers like a pin, and is -used for separating the strands of rope when splicing or marling, had -inflicted a severe wound on the forehead of Sharkey, and the blood -was flowing freely from it. - -He growled and swore, using fearful oaths and threats, while Heriot, -bathed, dressed, and bandaged the gash. Captain Phillips threatened -to have him put in irons till the ship reached Cape Town; but as the -wound was severe, he permitted him to remain in his berth in the -forecastle bunks, where his shipmates remained to console him, and -hear his reiterated threats of revenge. - -Manfredi apologised to Ethel for the alarm he had unwittingly caused -her, but added that no other course was left him but to strike the -ruffian down, to preserve his own life and authority. - -Quiet Mr. Quail made a due entry of the event among his columns of -"remarks" in the ship's log, while Mr. Basset waxed warm at the -affair, and expounded learnedly and as became a new-fledged judge, on -the law relating to merchant seamen, quoting Shee's edition of "Lord -Tenterden," and so forth with great fluency. - -So generous and forgiving was Manfredi, that, at lunch time, he sent -boy Joe, the captain's steward, forward with a tot of brandy to the -patient in the forecastle, and the amiable Mr. Sharkey drank it to -the last drop, with a fearful invocation of curses on the donor's -head, and thereupon dashed the wooden tot in Joe's face. - -Before the first dog-watch the event was apparently forgotten; but it -increased the desire of Captain Phillips to reach Cape Town and get -rid of some of his crew. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -ROSE AND DR. HERIOT. - -Supper was over in the cabin, and the little community there would -soon be separating for the night, or "turning in," as it is -technically named. - -"How brightly the stars are shining," said Rose, as she peeped up -through the skylight. - -"Should you like to go on deck for a moment?" asked Dr. Heriot, in a -low voice, as he hastened to her side. - -"Yes--for a moment only." - -"Take care of chill," said Mr. Basset, warningly. - -"Take care rather of yourself, Miss Rose, and, of all things, take -care of the doctor," said Captain Phillips, laughing. "Manfredi has -charge of the deck; see how she is trimmed aloft. Report to me when -you come down, and then I'll turn in." - -Rose coloured on hearing the captain's bantering tone, as she threw a -shawl over her head and shoulders, took the doctor's ready arm, and -hastened up the companion-stair. - -Ethel smiled sadly at her joyous and girlish sister, for she had seen -how the intimacy between the young doctor and Rose had been ripening; -and she wondered, or speculated on, how they would separate when the -tedious voyage was over. Then she thought of Morley Ashton, and the -fatal blight that had fallen so awfully and mysteriously upon her own -first love. - -"Miss Basset," said Hawkshaw, rising, "would you wish-- - -"To go on deck? Oh, no, thank you," said she hurriedly, anticipating -and replying to his offer without looking up from "I Promessi Sposi." - -Hawkshaw seated himself again, and bit his lip, while that malignant -gleam which filled his eyes at times shot from them covertly and -unseen. - -He made one other effort to engage her in conversation, by saying, in -a low voice, as he stooped over her: - -"Your sad smiles, Ethel, go straight to my heart, with an effect, -believe me, that is cruel--killing!" - -"Why! it seems that 'I can smile, and murder while I smile,' as -Shakespeare says. Is it so?" - -"Bantering--bantering still--even here, when on the verge of -destruction, perhaps!" muttered Hawkshaw, as he drew back with -another fierce but covert gleam in his stealthy eyes, and Ethel never -lifted hers again from her book, until a noise on deck aroused her. - -Rose clung closely and affectionately to the doctor's arm, as they -traversed the quarter-deck towards the taffrail, and turned to look -at the ship, at the sky overhead, through which the wild black scud -was driving, and on the mysterious world of water and of darkness, -through which she was careering under a press of canvas. - -Encouraged by Rose's ready accession to his request, the young man -held her right hand in his, and pressed it tenderly to his heart. - -There was none near them save the man at the wheel; for it was about -the middle of the first watch, or nearer eleven o'clock. - -Rose had a presentiment that a crisis was approaching in her -relations with the young doctor. The somewhat annoying banter of -Captain Phillips, the affectionate warnings of Ethel, and the praises -of him so loudly sung by her old nurse, had all, in a manner, -prepared her for it, as much as the steady and delicate attention he -paid herself. - -Nightly, when Rose retired to rest in that little cabin, which seemed -so small, so very small, the first night they occupied it, Nance -Folgate was wont to chant her praises of the handsome doctor. - -"Lor' a mussy me!--for a Scotchman--he is such a sweet dispositioned -youth, Miss Rose. Oh, yes! now, ain't he, miss? He gives me no end -o' cordials and stuffs when I'm in low spirits, which are often the -case, 'specially when it blows 'ard, and the ship tumbles about. -There is such a modesty in all his words and ways--now, ain't there? -If I was a fine young gal like you, instead o' bein' a poor old -toothless thing, I would love him, that I would, when I saw how much -he loved me--he is such a nice young man, is the doctor. But why -don't you answer, miss?" - -If Rose did not reply to such rhapsodies as these, it was not because -she disagreed with them; but her young heart was wild with pleasure, -and she often affected to be asleep that she might conceal her -flushing cheek on her pillow. But if the young doctor had won over -the old nurse, it was just as he had won over the quiet and -unaffected Mr. Quail, or anyone else, as he was a good obliging -fellow, and fond of doing kind offices for all. So Rose, yielding to -an irresistible impulse, assented to a tête-à-tête on deck, on the -night in question. - -After a silence of some minutes-- - -"How strange it is," said Rose, in her soft, sweet voice, "that amid -the wind which moans through the rigging, I seem to hear the sound of -bells." - -"Bells?" - -"Or is it from the bottom of the sea?" - -"Don't say so, Rose," replied Heriot. - -This sounded strange in both their ears, as he had. never simply -called her "Rose" before; yet the implied familiarity was not without -its novelty and charm. - -"Why may I not say so?" she asked. - -"It is an old superstition of our Scottish sailors that the bells of -wrecks and sunken ships are rung by mysterious hands at the bottom of -the sea, to announce storms and disasters." - -"Ah, but you Scots are so superstitious; you live in a land of omens -and ghosts, predictions and dreams, even in these fast railway times." - -"Yet I would that we were in Scotland now," said Heriot, with a sigh, -as he thought of the doubts and clouds that veiled the future. - -"We?" repeated Rose, inquiringly, while peeping from her hood and -shawl, so that the light of the binnacle lamp fell full on her sweet -young face, and very beautiful the dark-eyed girl looked. - -"Yes, we," reiterated Heriot, whose heart was rushing to his head as -he held, unresisted, her plump little hands in his. "I wish to speak -with you, Rose, to--to--I have so long desired--do you--do you care -for me Rose, dear Rose?" - -"Care for you!" she repeated, faintly. - -"Can you love me, dear, dear Rose, as I love you?" - -"Yes," said Rose, in a whisper, as her head dropped on Heriot's -shoulder, and his lips were pressed on her throbbing brow, for now -the great secret was told, and all her pulses beat with a new, -happiness. - -A few moments of joyous silence followed. Then crossing the deck to -leeward, they were more in obscurity; and fortunately for them, -Manfredi at that moment went forward, so Heriot pressed Rose to his -breast, and said in a low, earnest, and agitated voice: - -"But Rose--my beloved Rose; to what end do I love you?--to what -purpose?--how taught you love to me? We are to land you at the Isle -of France, and then sail on through the Indian Seas--to leave -you--leave you there, for I have no home--no settled abode." - -("Papa's daughters are unlucky in their lovers," thought Rose.) She -replied, however, while tears of apprehension filled her eyes: - -"Why cannot you leave the ship? Sailing with it to and fro must be -very tiresome." - -"Leave it?" - -"Yes, and live with us in the Isle of France." - -"Live with you, Rose?" said Heriot, with sad perplexity. - -"Settle, I mean--at least, while papa is there." - -"I cannot, even if I had the means. I am bound to the owners and to -Captain Phillips, for this voyage at least, unless the _Hermione_ -procures another medical officer." - -"At Singapore?" - -Heriot smiled sadly at Rose's simplicity. - -"Ah, yes--that will be delightful! and if poor dear Morley Ashton, -who is dead, were here with us now, how happy Ethel and we should all -have been!" exclaimed Rose, while nursing herself into a mood of the -most prosperous cheerfulness, as her happy young spirit soared into a -bright world all her own, and Heriot caressingly slipped a ring on -her "engagement" finger, whispering in her ear: - -"It was my mother's, Rose--wear it, at all events, for her sake and -mine." - -Another kiss and the bond was sealed. Then Rose, in a tumult of joy -that could only find vent in tears, hurried below, with her head -inclined on Ethel's bosom, told her of all that had passed between -Leslie Heriot and herself--a pretty little narrative, interspersed -with hesitations, smiles, and blushes, till they were startled by the -wild hubbub that reigned on deck, where a terrible catastrophe had -occurred. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -MAN OVERBOARD. - -A sudden squall, and a sea which heavily swept over the poop with a -shower of blinding spray, that hissed away amidships, had first -driven Rose and Heriot below, and just as they retired hand in hand, -they heard the voice of Manfredi, shouting through the wild blast: - -"Below there! all hands ahoy! come, tumble up to take in sail!" - -Then the men were heard grumbling and swearing as they hurried -half-dressed out of the forecastle bunks, to assist the watch; next -followed the orders "to let go," "haul down," "clew up," amid the -cracking and flapping of the canvas, as the topsails were lowered -almost to the caps; the royals and topgallant sails taken off her; -flying gib and studding sails all in in a twinkling, though for a -time the wind howled fearfully, and the ship careered before its -fierce breath almost on her beam-ends. Little more than steering -canvas was left upon her, for wild and black was the Atlantic squall -that had come suddenly over her, accompanied by torrents of rain, -that rattled on deck, like a tempest of rouncival peas, while ever -and anon the red lightning flashed vividly at the horizon, but still -the brave ship flew on. - -"By the sky to-day I knew we should have a gale to-night," said -Captain Phillips cheerfully, as he donned his storm-jacket of shiny -oilskin, and came on deck. - - "'A mackerel sky and grey mares' tails - Make lofty ships carry lowly sails.' - -A glorious sailor is Manfredi! How smartly he had all the cloth off -her. But we'll need our best umbrellas to-night." - -Suddenly, from the forecastle, through the many wild sounds of the -squall, there came the appalling cry: - -"A man overboard! hard down! hard down!" - -Other shouts followed. - -"Ahoy! heave over the life buoy! mainsail to the wind! clear away a -boat!" - -Captain Phillips grasped his trumpet; Mr. Quail--who had just turned -into his berth with his clothes on, "all standing"--Dr. Heriot, and -Hawkshaw sprang on deck at this new alarm. - -"Hard down with the helm!" cried Phillips; "to the braces, men! let -go, and haul! Back with the mainyard! Ready the starboard quarter -boat, and cut away the life-buoy!" - -The mainsail was speedily laid to the mast, though there was great -danger lest, in such a gale, it might be carried away entirely, and, -in the excitement of the moment, even the most sullen of that -ill-assorted crew worked cheerily and well. - -Alternately the huge ship rose and sank on the mighty rolling waves; -and now the spray flew from stem to stern over her in white and -blinding sheets, plashing over her courses, and hissing under the -arched leaches of the bellying sails. - -Upheaved she rose on the foaming surge one moment, to sink down into -the yawning trough of the sea the next, loose spars, buckets, -handspikes, and everything else adrift, going to leeward, and -overboard. - -A faint but despairing cry came from the waves; another followed, as -the drowning man, struggling hard for existence, rose on the white, -foamy crest of a wave, and then sank for ever into the black and -gaping bosom of the midnight sea. - -Then, after some minutes of the most painful and lingering suspense, -the captain, the doctor, and others, came to the conclusion that all -was over, and that the poor victim must have perished, for it was -found impossible to lower a boat with safety, or with the least hope -of success, in such a sea or squall. - -"Fill the mainyard, Mr. Foster," said the captain to the second mate. -And he sighed bitterly as he spoke, for John Phillips was a kind and -good-hearted man. "God receive the poor fellow! We could do nothing -more. Let the ship lie her course; muster the hands aft, please, and -see who is missing." - -The yard heads were filled; the vessel's bow fell off from the wind, -and there was less strain upon her now, and less spray broke over -her, as she tore through the sea at liberty. - -Aft the mizzenmast the drenched seamen mustered. - -"Boy Joe! steward! bring a lantern," said the captain. - -And now, by its weird light, were to be seen the two dark and sullen -Barradas; Bill Badger, the bulky and insolent Yankee; the square, -squat, and ugly Sharkey, with his head bandaged up; the Messieurs -Brewser, Batter, Cribbit, and others of that remarkable crew. - -"Are all present, Mr. Quail?" asked the captain, as the mate passed -the lantern along the dripping line. - -"All except _one_, sir," replied Mr. Quail, whose face wore a very -ashy hue and alarmed expression. - -"Who is it?" - -"Mr. Manfredi, sir; he is nowhere on deck." - -"'Twas his watch, was it not?" said Phillips, starting. - -"Yes, sir." - -"Good Heavens, can it be?" exclaimed the captain, in an agitated -voice, as the threat of Sharkey occurred to him. "If there has been -foul play to-night, I say woe to the perpetrator of it!" - -Some one now uttered a snorting laugh in the dark. - -"Let us search below," said the doctor, taking the steward's lantern, -and proceeding to examine in person. - -He did so, and soon returned to report that no trace of Adrian -Manfredi could be found, so the crew were dismissed. - -"Who was the person that called out 'Man overboard?'--who saw him -last?" demanded the captain, as they descended to the cabin. - -"I did, sir," said Joe the steward, as he closed the door. "I was -stowing the jib in its netting with Pedro Barradas," he continued, in -a low voice, as if afraid to be overheard. "Mr. Manfredi was -standing on the topgallant forecastle, holding on by a rope and -directing us. Our heads were stooped over our work, when all of a -sudden we heard a cry. On looking one way, I saw him falling into -the sea; on looking another, I saw a man in his shirt-sleeves, armed -with a capstan bar, slipping down into the forecastle bunks." - -"A man?" repeated the listeners. - -"Did he strike him overboard?" asked the captain. - -"We supposed so," replied Joe, in a whisper, and glancing furtively -at the skylight. - -"We." - -"That is, Pedro Barradas and I. He laughed--" - -"The mutinous villain!" - -"And tried to stop me from shouting to put the helm down." - -"Did you see the man's face?" - -"No, sir." - -"Who do you think he was--speak!" said Captain Phillips, perceiving -that Joe, a fat, good-natured fellow, with flabby cheeks, and large -boiled-looking gray eyes, hesitated through fear, "speak!" - -"I am frightened, in this ship, almost to say who I thought he was." - -"In this ship--right! Was it Sharkey, eh?" - -The steward's teeth chattered. He again glanced fearfully at the -skylight, and gave a nod in the affirmative, and the captain struck -his right heel on the floor. - -"There has been murder committed on board to-night; yes, a most foul -murder!" he continued, turning by a mere coincidence to Hawkshaw, -who, on hearing the terrible word, grew deadly pale, and trembled -violently from head to foot. "Would to Heaven that I had only -half-a-dozen good hard-a-weather English seamen to keep this coloured -lot in order. Even Lascars of the lowest caste were better than what -we have!" - -The consternation in the cabin was very great, and the conversation -continued below, and the storm above, till Mr. Quail, with many -unpleasant forebodings, went on deck to relieve the watch at four -o'clock A.M., when the wind began to abate and the sea to go down. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -THE LIVID FACE. - -The event of the night shed a gloom, a horror, over all in the cabin -next day; nor was the alarm in the breasts of Captain Phillips and -his mates in the least soothed, when it was remarked that the cook's -grindstone was kept at work all the forenoon, and a most ominous -sharpening of sheath and clasp-knives went on, while sundry jokes -were uttered audibly about "Mister Manfreddy having gone on a visit -to Mr. David Jones and Old Mother Carey, without his umbrella, too;" -"and the rain a fallin' like Niagary," as Badger, the Yankee, added, -with a diabolical grin. - -The morning sky was gray and cloudy; a heavy sea was still on, and -not a sail was in sight, so Captain Phillips swept the horizon with -his telescope in vain. - -At breakfast Ethel and her sister were informed that Mr. Manfredi had -fallen overboard in the night, and been drowned. No hint of foul -play was given them, at their father's special request; but they wept -and mourned for the poor young fellow, of whom they now recalled to -memory so many pleasing traits and anecdotes; among others, the sad -story of his little brother, Attilio, who had been so savagely shot -by the Austrians at Pistoja. - -His seat at table, his place in the cabin were empty; his face and -form were no longer seen, and his step and voice were no longer heard. - -The suddenness of the catastrophe seemed most difficult of -realisation; and the words of Dana, in a passage of one of his works, -which Dr. Heriot pointed out to Rose, came painfully and truthfully -home to all their hearts. - -"Death is at all times solemn, but never so much so as at sea. A man -dies on shore; his body remains with his friends, and the mourners go -about the streets; but, when a man falls overboard at sea and is -lost, there is a suddenness in the event which gives it an air of -awful mystery. Then at sea you miss a man so much. A dozen men are -shut up together in a little bark upon the wide wide sea, and for -months and months see no forms and hear no voices but their own; but -one is suddenly taken from among them, and they miss him at every -turn. There are no new forms or faces to fill up the gap. There is -always an empty berth in the forecastle, and one more wanting when -the small night-watch is mustered. There is one less to take the -wheel, one less to lay out with you upon the yard. You miss his form -and the sound of his voice--for habit had made them almost necessary -to you, and each of your senses feels the loss." - -"So we shall never see him again--never!" said Ethel, with her eyes -full of tears; "so kind, good, and gentle." - -"And so handsome, too!" added Rose. - -"A better seaman never trod a deck," sighed Mr. Quail. - -"Damnation!" was the singular addendum of Captain Phillips, through -his clenched teeth, when thinking of the secret he had not revealed, -and the crime which, as yet, he dared not attempt to punish. - -So Ethel put past "I Promessi Sposi," which had Manfredi's name -written on the fly-leaf of the first volume, as the relic of a friend -with whom she had spent many happy hours, whom she never more could -see, and on whose vast tomb, the boundless ocean, she almost -shuddered to look--for was not Morley Ashton sleeping there too? - -So the gloomy day passed slowly on, and night came on. - -Retired to their little cabin, Ethel and Rose were disrobing for -rest--Nance Folgate had long since gone to sleep--and now, -relinquishing the sad subject of Manfredi, Rose, with a blush on her -charming face, was detailing to Ethel, for the second time, her -interview with Leslie Heriot, whose ring--containing a large Scottish -pearl, set with diamonds--glittered on the engaged finger of her left -hand. - -"And you are sure that you love him, Rose?" said Ethel, as she took -her sister's face caressingly and affectionately between her soft -hands. - -"Dearly, devotedly," was the energetic reply. "How could I do -otherwise, when he is such a kind, darling fellow--and so handsome -too?" - -"Have you weighed well the probabilities of the future?" - -"What do you mean, Ethel dear?" - -"What papa may think." - -"Oh, Leslie will speak to papa to-morrow, or on the next day, at the -latest." - -Ethel smiled sadly at her sister's confidence. - -"Our voyage will soon be over, dear Rose," said she, shaking her head -seriously. "Once round the Cape of Good Hope, we shall be speedily -at the Isle of France, and then your dream of joy will have an end--a -rough awaking; not so sad or rough as mine, but a gloomy reality, and -a doubtful future, nevertheless." - -Poor Rose's usually merry eyes now filled with large tears, and she -permitted the braids of her fine dark hair, which her slender fingers -were wreathing up for the night, to roll down in unheeded masses over -her bare bosom and back, which shone white as the new-fallen -snowdrift, in the light of the cabin lamp that swung above her. - -"And Jack Page--poor Jack Page!" said Ethel, smiling, to arouse -Rose's spirit; "is he quite forgotten--eh?" - -"Oh bother Jack Page!" replied Rose, crimsoning, and with the -faintest tinge of irritation in her tone, as she proceeded vigorously -to knot up the masses of black hair. "He was a pleasant enough -fellow to flirt with, or play croquet with at Laurel Lodge (dear old -Laurel Lodge! ah, heavens! Ethel, shall we ever see it again?) He -was a good fellow for fishing or sailing on the mere----" - -"And to botanise with, and to gather wild flowers on Cherrywood -Hill," added Ethel, a little maliciously. - -"Yes; but he gave himself such insufferable airs after he became a -rifle volunteer; and as for loving him, I should almost as soon think -of loving your adorer, the gallant Captain Hawkshaw. By-the-by, how -taciturn he has become of late." - -"Perhaps he finds his task a hopeless one," said Ethel, with a -haughty smile. - -"He seems quite changed somehow," said Rose, slipping into bed, "does -he not, Ethel dear? Why don't you speak to me?" added Rose, with -sudden alarm, and springing from her berth, on perceiving her sister -standing pale and motionless, her lips parted, her dark eyes dilated -with terror, and their gaze fixed on the little circular window of -their cabin, which was simply a pane of thick glass, about nine -inches in diameter, framed in an iron ring, and secured by a powerful -bolt. - -Rose gazed in the same direction, and beheld, to her intense dismay, -the whole aperture filled by a human face--a man's apparently--pale, -livid, green, and distorted, as viewed through the coarse crystal, -with large keen eyes, that glared in upon them. - -Whoever the person was that dared thus to violate their privacy, he -occupied a position of extreme peril, for the little window in -question was below the plank sheer of the ship, and considerably -abaft the mizzen chains, so that the eavesdropper must have been -swinging alongside, almost with his heels in the foam that boiled -under the ship's counter. - -Could the sea give up its dead? - -Was it a spectre--Manfredi, or Morley Ashton? - -Such were Rose's first ideas, as she clung in terror to her rigid but -more resolute sister, who sprang forward and vainly attempted with -her delicate hands to wrench round the bolt, and open the little -window; but at that moment a fierce and sardonic smile seemed to -spread over that livid and distorted visage, which instantly -vanished, and then nothing was seen through the aperture but the vast -sea that rolled in the starlight far away. - -"Papa--Nurse Folgate!" screamed Rose; but the old woman slept like -one of the seven sleepers. - -"Hush!" said Ethel, "'twas only some insolent seaman; but we must -prevent a recurrence of this," she added, as she rapidly hung a -species of curtain over the window. "Good heavens, Rose! to think -how often this may have happened before, and we in total ignorance of -it; but the captain shall be told in the morning." - -"Oh, Ethel!" exclaimed Rose, "how terrified I am." - -"Why?" - -"At first I thought it was his ghost." - -"Whose?" - -"Poor Mr. Manfredi's." - -"Nonsense, child!" - -"A ghost on board of a ship, how dreadful that would be! Almost as -bad as a fire, for there would be no escaping from it." - -Inspired by natural emotions of doubt, Ethel opened the door and -peeped out into the great cabin. All was still and quiet there, at -least nothing was heard but the jarring of the rudder in its case, -and of the brass swings of the lamp and tell-tale compass, with the -heavy creaking of the ship's timbers, the backwash under the counter, -and one other sound, to which she had become pretty familiar about -this time--to wit, the profound snoring of Mr. Quail, as he lay at -full length on the cabin locker, with his peacoat spread over him, -and his sou'-wester at hand, ready to relieve the deck when the -middle-watch was called. - -She secured the door, perhaps more carefully than usual. She knelt -down by Rose's side to say her prayers, after which they retired -together, but lay long awake, conversing of that future, the events -of which, happily, they could so little foresee, until they dropped -asleep, Rose with her charming face half pillowed on Ethel's snowy -shoulder. - -All remained still in the ship; but while the two sisters slept with -arms entwined, each "hushed like the callow cygnet in its nest," -anxious hearts were watching over them elsewhere; and they formed the -subject of a somewhat unusual, but animated, discussion among the -seamen--a discussion of which, as yet, they were happily ignorant. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -WHAT THE DOCTOR OVERHEARD IN THE FORECASTLE BUNKS. - -The love he bore Rose, the love that she permitted him to bear, and -which she so fully reciprocated, together with the regard and esteem -he had for the grave, gentle Ethel, and good, easy Mr. Basset, -increased the anxiety with which the young Scotch surgeon beheld the -growing discontent of the crew. - -On deck, he more than once had heard them conferring in most -unpleasant terms about the disappearance of the third mate, and, in -reply to some remark of Sharkey's, Zuares Barradas said, with a -cunning twinkle in his eyes: - -"_Bueno! paso a paso va lejos._" - -"Wot the devil does that mean, shipmate? Avast with your Spanish. -Carn't you speak the queen's English?" - -"Well, it means that 'step by step goes far'. Manfredi is gone; a -little spell and we shall have it all our own way," replied the -Spanish American, as he hitched up his trousers and slunk forward. - -"These rascals are decidedly up to something--or whence all this -skulking about, this whispering in gangs, and knife-sharpening," said -Heriot to the captain. - -"The grindstone has never been idle all day," observed Mr. Quail, who -was looking, as the captain remarked, "rather white about the gills, -in consequence." - -After a long conference in the cabin, Dr. Heriot offered, there being -no moon about the middle of the first night-watch, to creep forward -to the forecastle bunk, where, in defiance of orders, the crew now -kept a light burning after sundown, and endeavour to overhear their -conversation. The duty of acting eavesdropper was not a pleasant, -but, in this instance, a most necessary one. - -The first night Heriot attempted this, he failed to get forward -unseen; but on the second, as the atmosphere, though very cloudy, was -fine, and the ship under easy sail was going large, that is, with the -wind abaft the beam, which careened her slightly to port, Heriot, -armed with a sharp bowie-knife, concealed in his breast, so as to be -ready for any emergency (for if discovered by the watch he might be -sent overboard after poor Manfredi) crept forward on the leeside, -keeping his head close under the bulwarks, and in the shadow. - -The men of the watch were all grouped to windward, smoking with their -backs against the long-boat, and the steersman could see little else -than the lights that glared in the binnacles, and the ship's canvas, -that towered aloft between him and the sky. - -Through the two yolks of dense, thick glass that admitted light to -the forecastle bunks, in which the seamen had their chests and -berths, he could see nothing, save that they had, as usual with them, -in defiance of the captain's order, a lamp or lantern, the light of -which glared as from two bull's-eyes upon the forehatchway, the foot -of the foremast, the gallows-bitts abaft it, the scuttle-butt, and so -forth. - -These two lines of light had the effect of rendering the rest of the -deck dark, thus favouring the purpose of Heriot, who reached unseen -the forecastle, and crept along it, until he found himself close to -the coaming of the scuttle, or small square hatchway, which gave -access thereto, and from whence there ascended into the pure saline -atmosphere of the midnight sea a combination of odours that were -neither of Araby nor of Ind; for more than a dozen of dirty, tarry, -unwashed, and uncombed specimens of those seamen usually denominated -"coloured," the most ruffianly of their class, such, as may be seen -lounging and loafing about the quays and grog-shops of Liverpool and -Birkenhead, were all seated closely round a chest, which was lashed -by ringbolts to the deck, and formed the table, whereon they had -recently supped on scalding-hot "scouse" from a greasy wooden kid; -and the fumes of this savoury mess yet mingled with the tar with -which their clothes were saturated, and the coarse tobacco in which -they were all indulging freely, by means of pipes, quids, and -cigarettes. - -A ship's lantern, in which a candle sputtered, shed a wavering light -through the perforated tin upon the black hair, massive frontal -bones, and square jaw of Pedro Barradas, and on his coarse, -leather-like ears, in which a pair of silver rings were glittering; -on the dark olive face of his brother, Zuares, a villain of a more -pleasing type, only because he was younger and handsomer; on the -cruel, sardonic visage, the keen eyes, hooked nose, and enormous -chin, and tangled elf-locks of Bill Badger, the long-legged and -ungainly Yankee; on the huge head and giant hands of the odious -Sharkey, who sat with his cheeks wedged between his hands, his elbows -planted on the chest, and his eyes that, from under the bloody -bandage encircling his temples, glared at each speaker alternately; -and on all the rest of the ill-selected crew--fell the lantern's dim -uncertain ray, bringing some forward into light, and leaving others -almost in shadow. - -Though quite sober, for as yet they had no means for procuring -alcohol, they generally all spoke at once, and were engaged in an -angry dispute, which, however, they were still cautious enough to -conduct with suppressed voices. - -Pedro Barradas grasped in his left hand an old dice-box, which was -served round with spunyarn, and two suspicious-looking dice were -rattled in it from time to time. - -At the moment that Heriot peeped in, it would seem as if our Spanish -acquaintance suddenly lost his temper. His black eyes filled with -fire, his swarthy cheek grew livid and pale, he showed all his sharp -white teeth like a dog about to bite, and striking his drawn knife -into the lid of the chest, round which they were all grouped, and -with a force of action that made them all shrink back, he uttered a -tremendous oath, and said, in a low, hoarse voice: - -"It is agreed, then, that we take the ship, and make all the people -aft walk the plank. Am I to understand this?" - -"Yes, yes," from all hands was the reply; "and all must walk the -plank to leeward." - -"Except the women," suggested the Canadian seaman, named Bolter. - -"In course we shall keep them!" said Badger, laying a long and dirty -finger on one side of his hawk nose, and closing an eye wickedly; -"and take very partik'lar care o' the darlings, too." - -"We take the ship," resumed Pedro Barradas, speaking good English, -and with an air of authority; "and then we shall run her on her own -account." - -"How?" asked one. - -"In the slaving or piccarooning line, or anything else that comes to -hand." - -"But where to?" asked the Canadian, who seemed a man of doubts. - -"Anywheres, darn your nutmeg of a head!" growled the Yankee; -"anywheres, arter we has had a jolly spree ashore." - -"On what shore, mate?" - -"On the coast ov Africy, in course; but not afore, mate--not afore, I -calc'late." - -"Come, now, I likes this," observed Sharkey, putting in his voice; -"if water and wittles runs short, we may overhaul an Ingeeman, -homeward-bound, or an Australian liner----" - -"With sojers aboard, mayhap," said Bolter; "so what will you dew -then?" - -"Hail or signal for a boat, to be sure, and sink it to leeward with a -cold shot through its ribs. Shout that it has been swamped under the -counter, and to send another, and another, and so knock 'em all on -the head. Then run her aboard, take all out of her--the women, too, -if any--then scuttle or burn her." - -"A game you won't play long athout being overhauled by some cussed -man-o'-war," said the Canadian. "I tell you, mates, the good old -piratical times have been put out o' fashion long since. Even the -slaving business is knocked up by them blazing smoke-jacks and -gun-boats of the African squadron. The sea ain't wot it was, mates, -when old Kidd sailed the _Vulture_ down the Channel with a skull and -marrow-bones flying at his foremasthead." - -"Hooray! I'll ship with you, Barradas," cried another. "Grog for -the drinking, a grab at these gals, and the pick o' the good things -in the passengers' trunks and cabin-lockers." - -"And till that time comes," added Sharkey, "we'll work Tom Cox's -traverse with old Phillips--that we shall. Precious little work -he'll get out of me." - -"But I don't like usin' the knife or plank if they could be done -athout, mates," said the Canadian ponderingly. - -"The Reverend Mr. Ben Bolter, a Methody parson, 'll offer up a -blessin' over the empty mess-kids," sneered the Yankee. - -"_Par todos santos_," growled Pedro Barradas, giving the Canadian a -glance of profound scorn, while Zuares uttered a shrill and ferocious -laugh. - -"I say, cooky," said Sharkey, in a way which he supposed to be very -jocular, "as Ben Bolter don't like the stickin' business, couldn't -you put summut tasty into the mess-kid o' the cabbin passingers, and -pison the whole bilin' o' them? I have known o' such things being -done afore now, mates, and many other things, too, that never -appeared in the ship's log. Have you any Calabar beans aboard?" - -"Yaas," replied the cook, with a regular negro grin, for he was a -black Virginian, named Quaco; "dere's a bagful in de hold. Why?" - -"I have known of a handful, put in a copper of peasoup, doing for a -whole ship's crew afore now." - -"When?" - -"In the Gulf of Florida once, and again among the Coral Islands, in -the Pacific. Aye, aye, mates, I have seen some rum sprees in my -time." - -"And you are likely to see more," added the Yankee, "ere this cussed -old craft gets her anchors over the bows, and her ground-tackle rove. -Ha, ha! But as for the pison, you darned fool, wot of old Basset's -gals? We wants 'em partik'lar, you know. So avast with your Calabar -beans. I guess, mate, you're up a tree, rayther." - -Sharkey was abashed into silence. - -"And that Scotch doctor," said a gaunt, unhealthy-looking seaman, -named Cribbit, who had not yet spoken, and who so frequently required -Heriot's medical aid that he had imbibed half the contents of his -medicine-chest, "must he, too, walk the plank?" - -"In course he must," drawled Bill Badger, stuffing an enormous quid -in the inmost recesses of his capacious mouth. - -"No, no, _demonio_, no!" said the elder Barradas; "we must keep him -alive so long as we want him. We can't physic ourselves, -_companeros_, especially if fever comes aboard, which it is likely to -do if we hug the land." - -"But in physicking us he might poison the whole blessed gang," -suggested the Canadian. - -"No fear of that. We'll have him chained to the mainmast, and if a -man dies in his hands, then _el senor doctor de medicena_ shall be -tipped overboard after the others." - -"Thank you, my Spanish _patrone_," thought Heriot, who had listened -to all this with blood that alternately boiled and curdled; "a -pleasant little medical practice you are likely to find me here!" - -"Mayhap that fellow, Hawkshaw, would join us?" suggested the Canadian -again. - -"He, the white-livered Perro!" exclaimed Pedro, "I long to have my -Albacete knife between his ribs. I'll teach him to play off -quarter-deck airs with me, the God-abandoned Piccaro! Well, is it -agreed that, instead of letting old Phillips haul up for Table Bay, -we keep the ship off the land whether he will or will not take her -before we are abreast of La Tierra de Natal; hug the coast of Africa -after; have a run through the Mozambique Channel, and then stand -right across the Indian Sea for whatever we may overhaul?" - -A unanimous clapping of very hard and very dirty hands responded -heartily to this programme. - -"Now, Pedro, the _dados_ (dice)," said Zuares, impatiently. - -"Yes, mates, the dice!" added the Yankee, setting his chin, which was -like a shoemaker's knife, upon his knees, and clasping his hands over -his ankles, so that he squatted on his hams like a huge baboon. -"Hooray! the old _Herminey_ has been trimmed by the starn since she -saw Dungeness Light; but we'll trim her by the head arter we doubles -the Cape--eh, mates? So now to draw lots for them two pretty -creeturs, as I calculate is just agoin' to bed about this blessed -time. Think o' that, mates! I'm a thorough-bred Yankee--half bull, -half shark, with an uncommon cross of the snake; so I'm blowed if I -can wait almost till we leave Table Bay astarn and bear up towards -Natal. But rattle away, Pedro, my boy!--Captain Pedro that is to be, -I reckon." - -The blood of the young Scotchman grew cold as he listened, longing -for a brace of loaded revolvers, that he might shoot down the whole -band; but the talkative Yankee began his nasal drawling again. - -"How I'd like to have one of 'em under a big palm-tree in some snug -diggin' on the Africy coast, or in a wigwam on the Mozambique, -thatched with leaves, no topsails to reef o' nights, and nothin' to -do all day, but keep on admiring her, and swigging the grog old -Phillips has aboard, or blowing a whiff of 'baccy--eh, mates? -Jeerusalem! that's summut like life, I calculate!" - -"_Morte de Dios!_" swore Pedro Barradas, with a very dark look; "haul -in your slack, and be hanged to you! There are other things than the -two girls worth casting lots for!" - -"Is there really, now?" drawled Badger. I was looking into the -senoras' cabin the other night, and saw them going to bed. I saw -lovely necks and shoulders, and all that; but I saw more, I can tell -you, _companeros_." - -"Smite my timbers!" "Shiver my tawpsails!" "Darn my eyes!" "Oh, -Jeerusalem!" And "What did you see?" asked several all at once. - -"A splendid jewel-case," replied the Spaniard, while an avaricious -gleam sparkled in his dark eyes; "a box with diamond rings for the -ears and fingers; carbuncles, turquoises, and topazes, in bracelets -and necklets, all glittering on the trays of blue and crimson velvet. -So he who loses the girls should have a chance----" - -"Of grabbing the jewels," interrupted Badger; "in course he -should--in course!" - -"Jewels or not," said Zuares Barradas, laughing, while he rolled up a -fresh cigarito, "I'll teach one senora, at least, that it is no -longer here _mira y no totas_, as they say in Minorca." - -"Which means, in your cussed lingo?" asked Bolter. - -"_Look_ at me, but _touch_ me not!" replied the young Spaniard, with -a grin. - -"I'm rayther pertik'lar," observed Mr. Badger, "and I might do -neither one nor t'other, if I wor in Minorky." - -"Ay, mate; but if you saw the Minorca girls in their robazillas of -white lace or silk, pinned under their pretty dimpled chins, and -falling over their shoulders, to be lifted at times by the wind, only -as if to show the low bodice and rounded bosom beneath--_hombre_." - -"Here is a sentimental young villain, with an eye for the -picturesque!" thought Heriot. - -"Now, then, the dados," said Pedro, rattling the dice-box. "I throw -myself first." - -"_Maladetto_, Pedro!" interrupted Zuares. "Content yourself with rum -and plunder; you are too old and crank for either of these girls to -be pleased with you." - -"_Vaya usted al Satanos!_" responded his affectionate elder brother. -"The girls, at all events, are not too young for me to be pleased -with them. I am not more than forty, you son of a burnt castano." - -"Take the old nurse, Pedro--you'll have her a free gift, gratis, all -for nothin', and Badger's blessing into the bargain. If one o' these -gals falls to me," continued the talkative Yankee, "I reckon I must -get shaved by the doctor, and be fixed anew; have my 'air swabbed -down with some o' the cook's slush, and a hextra pull up o' my shirt -collar--eh, mates?" - -Amid the ferocious laughter which these and similar remarks drew -forth, and while the dice-box rattled on the sea-chest lid Dr. Heriot -withdrew, and crept aft, just as he had done forward, by keeping -close under the lee bulwarks. - -Reaching the companion-way unseen, he slipped downstairs, with a -burning brain and aching heart--a heart sick and sore with -apprehension for others rather than for himself; and now, with his -ear tingling with countless coarse oaths, obscenities, and foul -jokes, which, of course, have been omitted in our relation of the -remarkable discussion he had overheard, he sought at once the cabin -of Captain Phillips, to communicate the dreadful game that was on the -_tapis_ in the forecastle of the ill-fated _Hermione_. - -CHAPTER VII. - -MEASURES FOR DEFENCE CONCERTED. - -Though Ethel and Rose had retired to rest, the hour was not late, and -Captain Phillips, Mr. Basset, and Hawkshaw were still lingering over -a glass of wine in the cabin, when Dr. Heriot entered it. - -The pallor of his face, and the excited expression of his eyes, made -them start with exclamations of surprise and inquiry; and their alarm -increased when he filled up a glass with port and drained it, the -crystal rattling against his teeth while he did so. - -"Hallo, doctor, what the deuce is the matter?" asked bluff Captain -Phillips, changing colour, or rather losing it partially. "You have -been forward--eh?" - -"Yes, sir; and have there heard more than enough to confirm our worst -fears." - -Phillips arose, and closed the cabin door. He then summoned from his -berth Mr. Quail (as Mr. Foster, the second mate, had charge of the -deck), and they, together with Mr. Basset and Hawkshaw, heard with -undisguised consternation the result of the doctor's eavesdropping. - -As for Hawkshaw, he had long endured the horrible conviction of -guilt, with the still more gnawing sense or dread of perpetual -suspicion in others. He loved Ethel, yet, as we have said elsewhere, -at times he almost hated her for her coldness to him; but now his -soul was full of terror--terror for her and for himself, as he knew -he would meet with little mercy from the Barradas and their friends. -Retribution for the crime he had committed at Acton Chine was about -to come at last, and he had fallen into a trap of his own devising! - -Neither Captain Phillips nor Mr. Quail were much astonished, though -grieved and alarmed, by Dr. Heriot's tidings; but poor Mr. Basset's -first thought was for his daughters--his young, delicate, and -tenderly-nurtured girls; and already, in his excited imagination, he -beheld them, after his own butchery, in the rude grasp of those -lawless wretches, and subjected to the grossest indignities, far from -help or human aid, upon the lonely sea, and in a floating -hell--indignities the mere idea of which wrung the poor man's heart -with agony. - -To-morrow, to-night, even now, they might be advancing towards the -cabin, intent on assassination and robbery! - -The dread was maddening to the unhappy parent, who made a step -towards his daughters' sleeping place, as if in anticipation, by -thought and deed, to save them from the coming peril. He had no -voice or coherence of thought for a time, and listened like one in a -dream to the discussion or consultation now held by the officers of -the ship. - -After relinquishing his practice as a barrister in London, Scriven -Basset had spent many years of ease and affluence at Laurel Lodge, -and all unused to alarms or excitements, he felt himself totally -destitute of the stamina or courage requisite for facing so sudden -and perilous an emergency. Personal danger he might have confronted, -for he had all the spirit of a gentleman; but at the thought of his -daughters--the graceful and ladylike Ethel, the sweet and playful -Rose--his soul seemed to die within him. - -Cramply Hawkshaw's visage was paler than usual. He remembered the -threats used towards himself, when Pedro Barradas so summarily -appropriated his gold watch, and while trembling for Ethel, he began -to think of means for quitting the ship, for the safety of his own -person, of which--being all the property he possessed--he was rather -disposed to be economical. - -"The accursed--the bloody-minded villains!" exclaimed Captain -Phillips, after a pause, while pacing to and fro. "This comes of -having a coloured crew; and this is why they have been so sullen and -insolent of late." - -"And so lazy at work, too," groaned Mr. Quail. - -"Lazy! they have done little else but take three turns a day round -the long-boat, and then a pull at the scuttle-butt." - -"For weeks there has been no work done," resumed Mr. Quail; "all our -spunyarn and chafing-gear are worn out, and you might as well expect -them to polish the chain-cable, or brighten up the best bower, as -prepare for an emergency, or get the fellows even to wash or mend -their own clothes." - -"If a man-of-war hove in sight, I'd put an end to their sogering!" -said Captain Phillips, still pacing about. "I'd make them toe the -mark, and work the old iron out of them. I'd have them all seized -up, and made spread-eagles of at the gangway, the coloured vermin." - -"A worse lot were never shipped, unless on board a Spanish pirate," -said Mr. Quail, with another groan, as he thought of plump, jolly -Mrs. Quail, and their five little Quails, at that moment, doubtless -all a-bed in their pretty little rose-covered cottage near the -Windmill-hill at Gravesend. - -"Is there not one on whom we could depend?" asked Mr. Basset, in -faltering accents. - -"Not one, sir," replied Captain Phillips; "not one, except Boy Joe, -the steward, and he is not worth much." - -"We are in a desperate situation, certainly," said Heriot. "But I am -most concerned for you and--and your daughters, Mr. Basset." - -Tears started to the lawyer's eyes, and he wrung the young doctor's -readily-proffered hand. - -"And I, too, Mr. Basset, feel for you and your two dear girls--though -perhaps this business may be all talk and sogering; yet I confess it -don't look like it," said the captain. "Thank Heaven I am a -bachelor, and have no one depending upon me but the son of my poor -brother Bill, that was drowned in the Straits of Sunda, and my life -is insured on his account, so that is all right; but these young -ladies----" - -Phillips paused, for Mr. Basset, who was reclining on the cabin -locker, covered his face with his hands, and groaned aloud. - -"We have no time to lose in preparing to meet these rascals," said -Dr. Heriot, with growing confidence. "We must see what arms we can -muster, and endeavour to use them too. D--n it, Captain Phillips, we -must show fight in some fashion, and not all walk the plank without -making some of them walk it also. I have a pair of good rifled -pistols." - -"And I have two six-barrelled revolvers and a fowling-piece," added -the captain. - -"Sixteen shots," said Hawkshaw, brightening a little. "We can -barricade the cabin, and defend it with these against them." - -"We are seven, including myself," said Phillips. - -"Seven?" said Mr. Basset, looking up. - -"Yes, sir; there are the two mates, the doctor, yourself, and I, -Captain Hawkshaw, and Joe the steward." - -"But they are eighteen in number, and armed too." - -"Only with sheath-knives, so far as we know; but then there are -hatchets, cleavers, handspikes, and capstan-bars, with anything else -that will form a weapon." - -"Oh that we were nearer the coast of Africa, that we might all get -into a boat, and quietly leave the ship on a dark night!" said Mr. -Basset, wringing his hands, while Dr. Heriot unlocked a case of -pistols--the parting gift of his class-fellows on his leaving the old -College of King James VI.--and proceeded at once to load and cap -them, after which he put all the ammunition in his pockets. - -"Fear for your girls bewilders you, sir," said Captain Phillips, in a -low voice, to Mr. Basset. "That, perhaps, is natural; but to be -landed on the coast of Africa might not mend matters much with you -and them, if you fell in with some houseless Dutch bushmen or wild -Cape Caffres; and as for me, I shall never quit my ship while a plank -of her holds together." - -"Captain Phillips," said young Heriot, with his teeth clenched, and -his eyes flashing, as he thought of sweet Rose Basset, whose last -kiss seemed yet to linger on his lip, "if they keep quiet until -morning, I have a mind to call forward Pedro Barradas in front of the -crew, tell him what I have overheard, and then, as an example, shoot -him dead before the rest!" - -The captain vehemently opposed this idea as rash, and added: - -"You are very risky for a Scotsman; you would only perish under the -knives and handspikes of the rest, and thus bring destruction the -sooner on us all." - -"Oh, if a man-o'-war would but come in sight!" groaned Mr. Basset. - -"They are seldom so far off the Cape; and we are a good way to the -southward of it already." - -"Could we not sound the crew? All may not be so bad as the -Barradas," said Hawkshaw. - -"They are all alike, confound 'em!" rejoined Captain Phillips, as he -brought from his cabin the two revolvers and the fowling-piece, all -of which he proceeded quietly, but quickly, to load and cap. - -The arms and ammunition were distributed among them, and Hawkshaw -really handled the "six-shooter" like a man who was used to it, and, -doubtless, when in Mexico, his life and his food had frequently -depended on the goodness of his aim. - -"If we only take care and fire steadily, we may dispose of them all -in case of an attack," said Dr. Heriot, who, with the captain, was -the most resolute of the little band. "Our chief aim must be to -prevent a surprise." - -After a council of war, it was arranged that the ladies should be -warned against leaving the cabin or venturing much on deck, and that -they should be kept in ignorance of the why and wherefore. - -That the seven men in the cabin should stand staunchly by each other, -and never undress when lying in their berths, so as to be ready for -instant service. - -That one at a time should hold a strict watch on the companion-way -and cabin door, and that all should keep their arms loaded and their -ammunition constantly about them. - -That as little canvas as possible should be kept no the ship, so that -aloft she might be ready for any sudden emergency, squall, or -catastrophe. - -A large trunk, full of Mr. Basset's law-books (which next morning was -to have been shot into the hold as lumber), was placed near the outer -cabin door, and lashed by one of its handles to a brass ring-bolt, -and so arranged that, sluing round the other end, it effectually -barricaded the sliding-door that opened to the steerage and -companion-ladder. - -To defend this avenue in case of an attack, and so sell their lives -as dearly as possible, or, it might be, to shoot all their assailants -down in succession, were the simple but stern resolutions come to. - -These preliminaries adjusted, the captain, armed with his revolver, -took the first two hours' spell. The rest retired to their various -berths, and lay down with their clothes on, and their weapons beside -them. - -The two hours passed away in silence. - -The captain went on deck, and sent the second mate, Foster, below, in -a not very enviable frame of mind, after hearing what was on the -_tapis_, for, like Mr. Quail-- - - "He, poor fellow! had a wife and children-- - Two things for dying people quite bewildering." - - -So, with a beating and anxious heart, he lay down on a locker, with a -sharp hatchet under him--the only weapon that came to hand. - -The ship was still going large, with the breeze abaft the beam, and -the fore and main studding-sails set. Joe, the steward, was at the -wheel; the light in the forecastle bunks was extinguished now, and -the watch on deck were all grouped, in silence apparently, to leeward -of the long-boat. - -All seemed still for that night, or rather the remainder of the -morning, when the captain warned the miserable Mr. Basset to take the -next "spell," or watch, as sentinel at the cabin door. - -Pale and sleepless, with bloodshot eyes, the poor man received the -loaded revolver, with all the timidity and awkwardness of one who had -never handled such a weapon before, and dreading lest it might -explode of its own accord, like a loaded fire-wheel, and thus shoot -himself and everybody else; but anon the thought of his daughters -nerved his heart and steadied his hand. - -Slowly, as if Time stood still, the minutes passed; and when, as -usual, the ship's bell clanged at each half-hour on deck, it sounded -in his ears and in his soul like the knell of doom! - -So the poor father continued to watch in breathless anxiety; now -pacing the carpeted cabin in miserable restlessness, then seating -himself upon the stern locker, with the revolver on his knee, and his -hands over his face, breathing an unuttered prayer for his darling -daughters; now listening, keenly as a hunted hare, at the door of -their little cabin, to hear their soft, low breathing. Anon, seeking -the companion-way, as if the confined air of the ship stifled him, -and looking up at the mizzen-rigging towering into the starry sky, -where the mizzen-topsail, topgallantsail, and the driver, with the -boom and gaff, spread between him and heaven like a broad gray cloud -of canvas. - -Then the thought of his dead wife, and their once dear happy home in -England far away. - -By a freak of memory, past hours of happiness, of joviality and -frivolity--hours spent amid the flowery and leafy seclusion of Laurel -Lodge, came crowding on him, with faces of friends, their voices, -smiles, and little episodes; the green sunny lawn, the stately chase -of Acton-Rennel, the Norman cross on Cherrytree Hill, and the great -yew that shaded his wife's grave in that quiet old English -churchyard, where he might never lie: all these came before him now, -and he marvelled in his aching breast if the horrors that overhung -him now were not a nightmare, and all a dreadful dream! - -Ethel and Rose, so pure, so fair, so lovely, and so highly bred, to -be in such peril; at the mercy of such men as those who formed the -crew of the _Hermione_, and far from all human succour on the wide, -wide, open sea. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE SAIL TO WINDWARD. - -Under the interlaced crosses of Great Britain--our brave old -union-jack--a very different crew manned that good little ship the -_Princess_, of London, which we last left when dropping the giant -cone of Tristan d'Acunha astern, and bearing on her voyage towards -Tasmania. - -Under Tom Bartelot's command, all went well and prosperously, and his -ship had fine weather and spanking topsail breezes, after leaving the -romantic Isle of Tristan. - -Anxious to be useful and to kill time, Morley Ashton had applied -himself to seamanship, and, in seeking to master all the mysteries -thereof, became the peculiar pupil of old Noah Gawthrop, who -confidently undertook "to make a man and a sailor of him, before they -saw Wan Demon's Land." - -He could soon dip his hands in a bucket of tar without wincing; slush -the mast, from the royal-masthead down, without becoming squeamish; -he could box the compass, take his trick at the helm, and achieve -many clever things, from holding the log-reel upwards to sending down -a royal-yard without mistake or blunder, which Noah told him "was one -of the prime feats of seamanship, which even the queen on the throne -couldn't do." - -The first time he accomplished this, was when a squall was coming on. -Ben Plank had the fore-royal, Noah the main-royal, and Morley the -mizzen. - -His spar was certainly the lightest, with a smaller sail, but he had -it struck and sent down before the others, greatly to the delight of -old Noah, who, with all his ugliness, which was undeniable, was a -genuine salt of the old school--a regular British tar, with his -slouching shoulders and light gait, swinging arms, and half-closed -hands, that were always ready to "tally on" to anything; a comical -twinkle in his eye, and who believed in whistling for wind as truly -as the Turkish skipper who pours oil upon the sea, in the hope that -it may float to Mecca, for the same useful purpose. - -Noah bore on his breast, engraved in gunpowder, a little romance of -his younger days--a sailor and a girl standing on the sea-shore. In -the background (or offing, to speak more correctly) lay a ship, with -her topsails loose, hove-apeak to her anchor, while the smoke from a -gun--the signal for sea--curled over her quarter. Under the male -figure were the initials "N.G.," and under the girl's were--what we -won't say, for in them, lay the pet secret of old Noah's honest -heart. The ship, however, he often pointed to with pride, saying it -was a "lovely pictur' of her Majesty's ship the _Haurora_, of fifty -guns, as was--an ugly smoke-jack now, with a screw-propeller in her -starn." - -The weather was cool, almost cold, at times, and frequently icebergs -were in sight, with their white glistening pinnacles standing sharply -defined against the sky, and shaded off with pale green or purple -tints, that blended with the deep blue of the sea. - -Tom Bartelot's cheerful temperament, his songs and his bonhomie, and -Morrison's queer legends of Scotland and the sea, together with grave -and earnest advice, and confidence in a Providence who ordered all -things for the best, had a good effect upon Morley Ashton's spirits, -which might have sunk, circumstanced as he was, amid the monotony of -a sea voyage, with foreshadowed fears of evil tidings on reaching the -Isle of France, after making a tour so circuitous as Tasmania. - -Ignorant of the unlooked-for detention of the _Hermione_ at the -Canaries, and of the series of foul winds she had encountered, Morley -never doubted that now the Bassets must have reached their -destination, and been installed in their new home; that Mr. Basset -must have entered on his official duties, and if they were -accompanied by one so enterprising as Cramply Hawkshaw, it was -difficult to foretell how Cupid and Fortune--blind deities -both--might reward his perseverance, and thus cast a fatal blight -upon the hopes of our hero who, like a poor "pilgrim of the heart," -or a knight-errant of old, was traversing the sea from shore to shore -in search of a lost love. - -One day, as Morley trod the deck to and fro listlessly, he was -startled by the unusual, or, at least, unexpected cry of-- - -"Land, ho!" - -Telescope in hand, he sprang up the weather-rigging. - -"Land it is, indeed," said Tom Bartelot, shading his eyes with his -hand, and peering over the weather-quarter. - -"What land, Tom?" - -"Diego Alvarez, or Gough's Island. I have been looking out for it -all forenoon. Keep her full and by--full and by, lad," he added to -the steersman; "keep her closer to the wind--see how that foretopsail -shivers." - -This was about six bells (_i.e._, 3 P.M.) on a fine, clear afternoon. -The hill of Gough's Island arose dim and blue upon their weather-bow. - -Discovered long, long ago, by an adventurous Portuguese mariner, who -bestowed upon it its name, it is a lonely and desolate place, covered -with moss and sea-grass, the abode only of sea-elephants and the -fur-seal. It was named anew by Captain Gough, of the _Richmond_, -when on his voyage to China in 1731. - -After leaving it astern, good fortune seemed to abandon the -_Princess_ and her crew. - -A series of foul winds that veered round every point of the compass, -with heavy gusts and squally weather, beset her, and so cloudy was -the sky, that for several days Bartelot and his mate were quite -unable to make an observation--_i.e._, to take the sun's altitude at -noon. - -In one squall the mizzen-topniast was carried away, being broken -right off at the cap, the heel with the fid alone remaining in the -top. - -"So, friend Morley," said Tom, "if this kind of work and these foul -winds continue, we may see the Table Mountain, and have to run into -the bay for fresh water." - -"At the Cape of Good Hope?" - -"Yes. Then if you wish to have a day's run in Lubberland, you may -come ashore with me; and who can say," he added, kindly, on -perceiving how Ashton's countenance fell at the prospect of fresh -delays, "but we may there find a craft bound for the island of Paul -and Virginia, and get your hammock swung aboard of her at once?" - -One day the weather cleared a little, and the sun broke forth a few -minutes before noon. - -Bartelot and Morrison betook them to quadrant, sextant, and chart, -and found they were within some 300 miles of the Cape of Storms. - -After this the sky resumed its sombre and inky hue; the sea was gray, -save where the sun shot his beams like a flood of yellow light -through a rent in the clouds, and lit the waves below with a golden -sheen, long and steadily, about fifteen miles distant on their -weather-bow. - -"Sail, ho!" shouted Ben Plank, who, with some others, was up aloft -taking advantage of this bright blink, to get the spare -mizzen-topmast shipped, with all its hamper and gearing. - -"Where away, Ben?" asked Morley, snatching Tom's telescope from its -brass hooks under the companion-hatch. - -"There, sir, in that streak of light to windward." - -Looming large as coming out of the haze, Morley saw a large, -square-rigged vessel, with all her fore-and-aft canvas set, running -close-hauled on a different current of wind, which did not as yet -affect the _Princess_, and which would probably carry her ahead. - -Her canvas was white as snow, and shone like the outspread wings of a -swan in the bright gleam of sunshine, and in strong relief against -the gray and dusky sky beyond. - -She was visible but for a few minutes--so briefly, indeed, that -Morrison had not time to run the ensign up to the gaff-peak, when she -seemed to dart into the gray obscurity ahead, and to vanish like a -phantom that melted into the sky; but though invisible, it was -evident that the _Princess_, a faster sailer, would soon leave her -far astern. - -In that large square-rigged ship, that spanked along on a taut -bowline, with the white foam curling under her black bows, and flying -over her gilded catheads, how little Morley Ashton imagined that -Ethel Basset--the Ethel of his hopes by day and dreams by night, the -centre around which all his aspirations and his life itself -revolved--was seated side by side with Hawkshaw on one of the -quarter-deck seats, watching, through a fifteen-mile lorgnette, or -racing-glass, the outline of the _Princess_, whose canvas being all -in shadow came blackly out, for a few minutes, from the sombre -atmosphere to leeward, and then melted from their view for ever. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE STORM. - -Varied by occasional torrents of rain, black, cloudy, and squally -skies, the regular "Cape weather" continued after this, and the -_Princess_ was soon running under close-reefed topsails. So -frequently were the reefs taken in and shaken out, that Bill Morrison -said they reminded him of an old Scottish seaman's rhyme: - - "Gif the rain pouirs ere the wind swurl, - Your topsails lowse and gar them furl; - But gif the wind blaws ere pouirs the rain, - Your topsails lowse, and hoist again." - - -Even the gay spirit of Tom Bartelot became depressed by the gloomy -and threatening state of the weather, and he spent nearly his whole -time on deck, or in observing the compasses, the barometer, and state -of the pumps. - -Two days after the strange sail had been seen no the weather-bow, the -glass was still falling, while the sea and wind were rising. - -At seven bells, after taking a hurried breakfast Tom found the wind -increasing to a gale, so he took in the maintopgallantsail, the -second reef of his topsails, and set the mainstaysail. - -By midday he had to summon all hands on deck. - -"Close-reef the topsails, furl mainsail and fore and mizzen-topsail." - -These orders followed each other rapidly. - -Soon after, the _Princess_ was flying through the gloomy sea under a -close-reefed maintopsail and reefed foresail, shipping a great deal -of water the while, and labouring hard, as her pumps worked ill. - -After this, the wind began to die away, the sea went somewhat down, -and then more canvas was spread on the ship; but there were many -indications in the sky and atmosphere which filled Tom and Morrison, -and Gawthrop, too, for he had his nameless nautical instincts, with -anxieties which the younger men of the crew could not fail to -perceive. - -"How's the barometer, Morrison?" was the frequent question. - -"Still falling slowly, sir." - -"What do you think the night will be?" asked Morley. - -"There's a gloom, and a closeness too, indicating thunder." - -"Aye," said Noah Gawthrop, who had the wheel, "the wind and the sea -will make a fine bobbery together in these parts afore the morning -watch, is called." - -"Steward--Ben Plank, get the dead lights shipped," cried Bartelot, -"here comes the squall again! In with all the light sails, Morrison; -hurry forward--'way aloft lads, and lay out on the yards!" - -Thus, by six o'clock, she was again running under close-reefed -topsails and foresail. - -The clouds were banking up in strange, wild, and fantastic forms to -windward; black and sombre, they were altering every moment, -revealing weird-like patches of white and livid sky beyond. At some -parts of the horizon the blended sea and sky had the darkness of -night, while in the zenith there was at times the brightness almost -of noon. - -"I don't like the aspect of all this, Morley," said Bartelot, in a -low voice to his friend; "we are in for a rough, wild night, and I -wish it were well past." - -The wind veered rapidly round half of the compass; sometimes it -seemed to blow from all quarters at once. It came in strong and hot -gusts, while, through the bosom of the black clouds at the horizon, -the red lightning seemed to plunge its seething bolts in the sea, and -to add to the sublime terror of such a scene; the atmosphere was so -sulphurous that, at times, luminous lights like fireballs or meteors -were seen on every masthead, yardarm, and beam-end. - -"Furl the topsails, lower the yards upon the cap, leave nothing set -but the close-reefed foresail," were now Bartelot's orders. - -Morley had never before seen so wild a tempest; but he was now seaman -enough to scramble aloft with the rest, and soon found himself on the -foot-rope, and "laying out" on the arm of the main-yard, and, as he -was first up at the weather-earring, there holding on with all his -strength, for so weird was the scene below, the napping of the -canvas, the snapping of ropes, that cracked like coach-whips in the -bellowing wind, the swaying of the rigging, and the pitching of the -ship, that a terrible nausea came over him, together with a -giddiness, and had not a seaman, named Erwin, who was by his side, -caught him, he might have toppled into the sea, that roared and -seethed below. - -Ben Plank, being a strong fellow, had his post in the slings of the -mainyard, to pack the sail, and make up the bunt, or stow the heavy -middle portion. Soon all was snug aloft; but again the wind changed -so rapidly, that it flew round from the south-east to the north-west, -and then with a mighty sound of rending and tearing, the foresail was -split to ribbons, that flapped and cracked like rifle shots in the -tempest, while the ship, which seemed almost enveloped in lightning -for an instant, was almost thrown on her beam-ends. - -"Stand from under, men--there go the masts!" shouted Bartelot through -his trumpet, and a stunning peal of thunder bellowed over the ocean -at the same moment. - -Then followed a mighty crash, as if the heavens were falling on the -deck, and all shrunk instinctively aside, or stooped downward, as the -three topmasts and jib-boom broke off at the caps, and the _Princess_ -was a wreck in a moment. - -"Hatchets--cut away the hamper to ease the ship!" was now the order, -and, in a short time, the tangled wilderness of yards, masts, -cross-trees and blocks, stays and rigging, on being cut adrift, -whirled out of sight to leeward, carrying with it the unfortunate -seaman Erwin, who had been caught by the body in the bight of a rope. - -By the fall of the mizzen-topniast the starboard quarter-boat was -dashed to pieces, and the other, which was a life-boat, was torn from -its davits and vanished in the darkness like a child's toy, as a -tremendous sea pooped the ship. - -"Tom," gasped Morley, as he clung, half-drowned, or stunned, to a -belaying-pin, "are we indeed lost--do you think all is over?" - -"Nearly so--if this continues long," was the composed reply. "Hold -on, lads, here comes another sea!" - -Now the black waves continued to burst over the vessel with a series -of thundering explosions, as if determined to overwhelm it, till all -around was foam, as white as snow; but though labouring at times with -her gunwale almost under water, her whole deck strewed with fragments -and splinters of timber, bulwarks, buckets, pieces of rope, blocks, -sails, and spars, that were washed to and fro, and while the crew, -knee-deep in this debris, clung to shrouds and belaying-pins, she -rose up buoyantly ever and anon, on the crest of a wave, with all the -water streaming from her, and all the while the wild wind blew in -gusts, and bellowed like an unchained fiend. Amid the terrible scene -another seaman was swept overboard and drowned; the long-boal was -uprooted from its lashings and chocks over the main-hatch, and -carried over the side, by a sea that came right amidships, and tore -away half the starboard-bulwarks, so, fearing that the ship would -founder, Bartelot, with a heavy heart, gave orders to cut away the -lower masts. - -The men were soon at work with sharp axes, and, while keeping afoot -with difficulty under the drenching seas, shipped every moment by the -labouring hull, after cutting through the shrouds and stays, a few -blows at the foot of each mast, readily sent them, in succession, -crashing to leeward, where they vanished amid foam and obscurity. - -Noah Gawthrop had just relinquislied the now useless wheel, when a -wave broke over the quarter, tearing the rudder from its bands, and -dashing the wheel to pieces. - -"All's over with the poor _Princess_, Morley," said Tom, with a -groan; "she won't outlive the night, I fear." - -Morrison now came aft to report that the chain-pump had given way, -the other had become choked, and that water was rising fast in the -well. - -"She's sprung a leak, sir, somewhere about her fore-foot, so it is a -bad look-out for us all," said Plank, the carpenter. - -By this time the bulwarks were all torn away from the stanchions and -timber-heads amidships by the sea, which now made clean breaches over -the entire hull. - -Nothing could be done now by the crew, but to leave the ship to her -fate, and to hold on by whatever offered itself, and wait the event -of the storm abating, or, what seemed much more likely, of the ship -foundering, by settling bodily down into the trough of the sea, and -rising never more. Her cargo, too, sugar and tobacco, were the -reverse of buoyant under the circumstances; so now, Morley, Bartelot, -Morrison, the chief mate, Plank, the carpenter, and old Noah, were -all grouped about the quarter-deck, some holding on by the -timber-heads, others by the stump of the mizzenmast, while the rest -of the crew were grouped forward, where they lashed themselves to the -stump of the foremast, the barrel of the windlass, and gallows-bitts; -but so dark was the night, so terrible the sea, and so loud the wind, -that neither party could see or hear anything of the other. - -Suddenly there was a rending crash! - -An invocation of heaven rose to the lips of all, and a wild, -despairing cry from those in the forecastle reached the ears of our -friends on the quarter-deck. Morley felt the whole ship tremble -beneath his feet, as the entire quarter was burst up, or torn away -from the rest of the hull, and with his companions he found himself -floating on it, as on a species of raft, and up to his neck in water -every moment, while whirled away from the ship, of which they saw no -more, and which, no doubt, went speedily down with all on board. - -Just as this happened, Plank, the carpenter, was swept away, -clutching with despair a fragment of wreck. - -On this frail remnant of the shattered ship, the other four -unfortunates found themselves adrift on that wild, dark midnight sea, -which whirled it to and fro like a cork on the black, tempestuous -waves. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE FOUR CASTAWAYS. - -"Lord have mercy on us!" escaped the lips of all. - -It would seem that, by the strength and violence of the sea, the -entire quarter-deck abaft the mizzen-mast, with a portion of its -bulwarks, the taffrail, some parts of the stern windows and quarter -galleries, had been torn from the ship, and this crazy fragment was -all that intervened between our four friends and eternity. - -Being level with the sea it could not be capsized, which, at least, -was one good property. - -Lashed to such parts of it as were available, the poor victims clung -there in desperation and silence, waiting, and praying in their -hearts that the storm would abate; and now, as if its errand had been -done, its object accomplished in the total destruction of the -unfortunate _Princess_, the gusty wind began to lull gradually, -though the agitated sea rolled high and black as ever. - -As the common saying has it, the waves "ran mountains high;" but it -must be borne in mind, that few waves rise more than ten feet above -the general level of the water, which, when ten more are given for -the trough of the sea, makes the whole height from base to crest -twenty feet--sufficiently high to be terrible in aspect and effect. - -Over the raft of the _Princess_ (for it was little better) those vast -hills of water made a thundering breach every instant, or came -surging up through the apertures, from whence the companion and -skylight had been torn away. - -The taffrail was strong, and it was chiefly to it that Bartelot, -Morley, Morrison, and Gawthrop lashed themselves, for gradually all -that remained of the bulwarks were torn away, and the stump of the -mizzenmast was soon worked or sucked out by the sea. - -There was an appalling sense of loneliness, of dread and desolation, -and of too probable death being near at hand, though, perhaps, all -the more terrible, if it were protracted. - -So the fearful night wore on; the black scud was passing away, the -stars shone out, and the four castaways began to hope that morning -was at hand. Yet, ruthlessly, wave after wave came rolling over -them, each with its high and monstrous head, curling white with snowy -foam, though its sides were black and inky. Then there would be a -roar as of thunder when each burst over the fragment of wreck, -engulfing and half choking the poor dripping wretches who clung to it -in silence and despair. - -But now, as dawn, began to spread rapidly over the east, the sea went -down, and the wind also; the waves ceased to roll over the broken -deck, which floated steadily, and as it rose upheaved on each -successive swell, the occupants cast around them, eager glances from -their bloodshot eyes, in the hope of descrying a sail. - -Dawn came thoroughly in--a cloudy morning, but no sunshine. Ere long -they could see the whole horizon; but there no vestige of a sail was -visible, and now they looked blankly in each other's pallid faces. - -"My poor crew!" said Bartelot, with a thick sob in his throat, but -the exclamation had escaped him many times before; "second-mate, -carpenter, sail-maker, steward, cook, boys, and all--all gone but us, -Morley. Sad--deplorable, is it not?" - -"Do not grieve for what is irreparable," said Morrison. - -"If I saw you, Bill Morrison, my friend Ashton, and my old shipmate -Noah, all safe, I don't care if I were shark-meat this minute," he -resumed, bitterly. - -"Don't say so, Bartelot, my old boy," replied Morley, with an -affectation of spirit he was far from feeling: "you have behaved -bravely, and done all that man could do to save your ship. Take -courage; you have buoyed me up many a day, when my heart had sunk to -zero. Let me try to cheer you in turn." - -"Cheer!" Tom repeated, shaking his head sadly, and still more -bitterly, as he surveyed their home upon the waters. - -"Oh, Heaven! to think of this being a bit of the old _Princess_ we -all loved so well!" groaned Morrison, looking almost affectionately -on the frail planks over which the sea rippled at every heave. - -"Aye, sir," chimed in Noah; "it are odd, but it was a bit of that -same blessed deck, as was holystoned and prayer-booked, swabbed and -squilgeed of a morning till it were white as snow--whiter a'most than -the deck of her Majesty's yacht. I've poured half the sea over that -deck, I have, when the head-pump was rigged for'ard of a morning, and -now what is it, but only a bit of drift-wood, and we a clinging to -it, like four wet barnacles? Lor' help us!" - -"And bless our poor shipmates!" added Bartelot, pointing upwards. - -"They are all gone, sir--found sailors' graves, every one of them," -said Morrison; "the ship would fill, and go down the moment she -parted aft." - -"But you've done your duty, sir," said Noah; "and can clear yourself -of the ship's loss before any naval court in any part of the world. -I only wish we were all afore one this blessed minute, instead o' -drifting about here, without compass, biscuit, or 'bacca." - -Now came the oppressive reflection that they were without food and -without water. - -Morley had read very recently the "Paul Huet" of Eugene Sue, and the -more true story on which his romance is founded--the awful wreck of -the _Medusa_, French frigate, and thus the horrors which her crew -endured upon the raft came vividly and painfully before him now. - -The saline property of the atmosphere, their long and repeated -immersions in the ocean, the quantities of its water they had been -compelled to swallow when the drenching waves broke over them, soon -excited thirst. This longing was increased by heat, when the sun -came forth; but as yet they had no desire for food. - -All their energies were bent on watching the horizon around them, but -no sail appeared; so the wreck continued to float listlessly about, -without making way apparently in any direction. - -A boat they might have rowed in the direction of the Cape of Good -Hope, and though they might have failed to reach the coast, while -minus food and water, they would always have increased their chances -of being picked up by a passing ship, homeward or outward bound; but -on the wreck they were helpless, as if upon a desert rock fixed amid -the sea. - -The first day passed slowly, wearily on, and the sun verged westward -in his course. - -Now night descended on the sea. There was no moon, but the stars -shone clearly and sharply. - -Worn by emotion, by toil, suffering, and lack of sleep, they trusted -to the security of their lashings, and strove to find rest, or -oblivion, in slumber; but a half-wakeful doze was all they could -achieve. Each body lay, to all appearance, torpid; but the anxious -soul slept not, so each had his own keen active thoughts and dreams. - -Tom Bartelot conjured up a certain pretty little English face, whose -smiling blue eyes were associated with many a summer evening walk -among the sylvan scenery of Richmond Park, in the gardens of Kew, and -visits to Hampton Court. - -Morrison's heart was in his old mother's cottage, where he first saw -the light, by the broad waters of the Dee, that roll from the hills -of Crathie and Braemar in "the bonnie north country;" for he had -intended, at the close of another voyage, to go home to Scotland, -with all his earnings and wages, to spend them with her, and for her -only; but all that seemed hopeless now, though the hum of the sea in -his ears, as it rippled against the wreck, suggested the surf that in -boyhood he had seen breaking over the Black Dog of Belhelvie.* - - -* A rock on the Aberdeenshire coast, so named from its appearance at -low water. - - -Poor old Gawthrop, with his grizzled whiskers, and lips baked in dry -salt, dreamt of neither father, mother, nor love--for all who loved -old Noah were dead long ago; but he had a vision of a stiff jorum of - - "Boatswain's grog--just half and half," - -such as he used to get in the _Haurora_, of fifty guns; while Morley -Ashton thought, and dreamed, and murmured to himself of Ethel Basset. - - "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." - - -He had now been long absent from Ethel, and been long mourned by her -as one who was lost to her for ever, and numbered with the dead. And -now death menaced him again! - -He had been saved from destruction by his friend--saved from a death -by starvation, or despair, at Acton Chine; but only to perish with -him here amid the lonely waters of the South Atlantic; for this time -it seemed that he was too surely doomed to die--an idea rendered all -the more bitter by a conviction that Ethel would never, and could -never, know the dark story of his disappearance, for no mortal lips -could tell her save those of Hawkshaw. - -Morley felt that he might perish now; that she would never learn the -true character of his rival; of his own awful escape from Acton -Chine; of his journey to Rio de Janeiro; of his sufferings on the -raft, till relieved by death; of how he had been tossed hither and -thither by fortune's unrelenting hate, and how deeply and devotedly -he loved her. - -By this last misfortune, the wreck, more than all the others, he -might, by dying, leave her to become the wife of Hawkshaw, the -would-be assassin! - -So another night passed over, and the raft, or wreck, still floated -darkly, silently there; and now those who were thereon had ceased to -speak, even in whispers. - -Another day dawned--a day of glorious sunshine; but no food, no -water, no hope came with it; for not a sail was in sight, and their -eyes ached with weariness in searching the faint blue watery line -that marked where the sky and ocean met. - -They were becoming very feeble now, and the cravings of nature were -maddening. - -Their hair was encrusted by salt, as white as hoar-frost, their lips -were baked, their tongues parched. Already they had become gaunt and -white, hollow-cheeked, and old-looking, with eyes bloodshot and wild. - -Their feet and legs were sore and sodden by long immersion in the -brine, and their whole bodies were rendered stiff and weary by the -wet ropes which lashed them to the taffrail--a means of security -which they dared not unloose or relinquish for a moment. - -Ere long they were in a species of delirium. - -Hunger brought its own fantastic and exciting suggestions of -well-cooked viands, of hearty homely dishes, steaming and savoury, -roasts and stews, puddings and pies; but thirst, agonising thirst, -suggested ideas of cool rivers, amid which snows were dissolving; of -lonely mountain tarns, where the brown trout sported under the -broad-leaved water-docks, and where the wild bird swam; of glassy -meres, of crystal rills, that murmured under old oak trees, or shady -drooping willows, with dark green sprays, and water-lilies that -dipped therein; of iced champagne, that effervesced in crystal -goblets; of sparkling hock and seltzer-water; of jolly London stout, -all brown, with its creamy froth; of every impossible luxury that -they had not, and never more might feel upon their cracked lips and -dry, hard, arid tongues! - -A dead bird!--it was a huge albatross, with wings outspread--floated -slowly past them on the glassy oil-like sea, thus indicating a -current that ran eastward. - -They were all too weak to attempt to swim for it; so, wolfishly, with -haggard eyes and longing appetites they watched the wretched carrion -for hours, until it floated out of sight. - -Then three nautilus shells, with purple sails outspread, passed near -them, and, to Morley's excited vision, they seemed like large Roman -galleys, or fairy barges; at a vast distance--such craft as he had -read of in legends of the Rhine, in fairy tales, and knightly ballads. - -And now came Mother Carey's chickens, hopping and tripping about the -wreck, and on the ripples round it--merrily and happily, like brown -sparrows in a farmyard at home. - -About the setting of the sun, they were roused from their -listlessness by the sudden apparition of a large vessel, -barque-rigged--that is, with the fore and mainmasts of a ship and a -mizzen like a schooner's mainmast, with a long spanker-boom--bearing -down towards them. - -There was a fine breeze blowing; she had all her canvas set, and ran -on a taut bowline. - -"A ship! a sail! a sail!" they exclaimed together. - -"Now, blessed be Heaven!" said Tom, "we are saved at last! -Hurrah--hurrah!" - -She was painted a kind of yellowish white; her side chains and -hawse-holes, and all her iron work, looked red and rusty, as if she -had been long in tropical waters. - -With almost inarticulate lips they sought to hail her, and waved -their hands in frantic glee as she came on, with the white foam -curling under her bluff bows, where the old copper was green, and -covered with barnacles. Her side was lined with the faces of her -crew, who seemed to be in earnest conference, and some of whom -gesticulated violently. - -She seemed to be foreign by her build and rig, as well as by the -scarlet and blue shirts and fur caps of her men. - -Now she was close to them, and the white flag, with the black eagle -of Prussia, was hoisted at her gaff peak; now she would certainly be -hove in the wind, with a mainsail laid aback, and have a boat lowered -to relieve them. - -So close was she, that the wheel revolved to keep her away a point or -two, lest she might run the frail wreck under with her bluff bows, as -she sheered past. - -Tom hailed in English "to relieve them from misery--to save them, for -the love of mercy and of God!" - -He spoke imploringly, for a sudden doubt had chilled his heart. - -Hoarsely the hail was responded to in German, and the barque passed -on--on, without lifting tack or sheet, without lowering a boat, or -tossing a single biscuit, to those four men who were all but dying on -the wreck! The Prussian--she was the _Einicheit_, of Dantzic--stood -away on her course, and left Bartelot and his three friends in an -agony of disappointment and despair that bordered on madness!* - - -* For the infamous conduct of this Prussian crew to a Scottish ship -in distress, see any paper of May 26, 1864. - - -With such terrible emotions in their hearts, as no pen could portray, -they saw her slowly diminish in distance, and vanish into the yellow -haze that overspread the evening sea. Then once more night descended -on the world of waters, and again they were alone--more alone, they -felt, than ever, for even their fellow-beings had abandoned them. - -During all that night Morley Ashton was delirious. - -Dreams and thoughts of Acton Chase and woods, that rustled their -green leaves in the soft west wind; of golden fields, of bearded -grain, that waved like yellow billows beneath its breath; of the -voices of the larks that soared aloft into the blue sky, and of the -cushat dove that cooed to its mate in the leafy dingle; the ring of -the village chimes, and of children's merry voices--came strongly to -memory, with the comforts of the land he never more might -tread--English home he never more might see. - -Anon, strange monsters seemed to come out of the starlit bosom of the -glassy deep, to bob and dance, to glare and jabber, with faces green, -white, lilac, and rose-coloured; and all as if to mock their misery. - -These, however, were only seaweed and foambells, or floating blubber, -to which the water gave unusual size and phosphorescent light, while -the sufferers' giddy brains and weakened eyesight lent them wild and -fantastic forms. - -Poor Tom Bartelot must have been quite deranged; for more than once -Morley heard him singing what seemed to be a scrap of his old -drinking song, and his voice sunk into a childish quaver at the -couplet: - - "Oh, deign, ye kind powers, with this wish to comply, - May I always be drinking yet always be dry." - - -Then he suddenly changed his note to a kind of hoarse wail, as he -sang: - - "King Death was a rare old fellow, - He sat where no sun could shine; - He lifted his hand so yellow, - And pledged us in coal-black wine." - - -He soon after became senseless, and hung, as if asleep, drooping, -alas! it might be, dead, in the lashings that secured him to the -taffrail. - -Towards the morning of that terrible night, Morley felt life ebbing -within him, and, as it ebbed, he had a last wild dream--wild, indeed; -but too delicious to be true. - -A long, long time seemed to elapse, but another day had dawned, and a -ship--the false, cruel Prussian barque of yesterday--had returned in -quest of them. She lay to, a boat came off, he heard the rattle of -the fall tackles, and the splash of the water. They were, he -thought, rescued; he felt the lashing that bound his swollen limbs -cut by a seaman's jack-knife, and now kind faces and kind hands were -around him, and gentle voices were murmuring in his ear. - -Cool wine and grateful cordials seemed to be poured between his -parched lips, and then to be suddenly withheld when he would have -imbibed more. - -Oh, the madness of this tantalising and most feverish dream, for -Ethel Basset seemed to be there! - -Ethel, with her sweetly feminine and dear affectionate face, was -bending over him; her lips were close to his, her kiss was on his -cheek; but he could neither respond nor speak, for Hawkshaw's visage, -pale and wrathful, was between them, with knitted brows and glaring -eyes, as he had seen it last, when he fell beneath his hand at Acton -Chine. - -Then he seemed to sleep, to die; for he felt and remembered no more. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -CAPTAIN HAWKSHAW MAKES A DISCOVERY TO LEEWARD. - -On the night the _Princess_ was lost, the _Hermione_ did not escape -the same storm, which probably traversed in a circle all the waters -of the South Atlantic. - -It was no doubt the mere skirt of the tempest which affected her, as -the sky around was clear, and the stars shone brilliantly. - -Her jib was blown out of the bolt-rope and split to ribbons, and she -had her topsails close-reefed. - -"Stow what remains of the jib," ordered Captain Phillips; "into the -netting with it--quick, men; cheerily now, and up with the -foretopmast-staysail." - -As soon as this was done, he added: - -"Go below, the watch, and take a nap if you can, for it may blow -great guns before morning." - -"It is blowing three gales in one as it is," said Mr. Quail. "The -water comes waist-high in the lee-scuppers, and washes right chock -aft to the taffrail." - -The _Hermione_ was tearing through the sea upon the wind, so she -rolled little, but the wild waves came pouring over her catheads and -topgallant forecastle, and over the weather bulwarks, swashing and -plashing their snowy spray far above the level of her main-courser. - -"Who is at the wheel?" asked the captain, who was standing at the -break of the quarter-deck. - -"Badger, the long Yankee," replied Mr. Quail. - -"All seems quiet among these rascals forward; and they worked -cheerily enough to-night." - -"All quiet as yet, sir; but we don't know when their little game may -begin." - -"If they should have changed their minds?" suggested Phillips. - -"No chance of that, sir," said Quail, shaking his head. - -"Or, if the doctor was mistaken?" - -"Impossible, sir," said Quail, shaking his head again--it was under a -cloud of spray this time; "and, even if he was so, we can't mistake -the disappearance of poor Manfredi after Sharkey's ugly threats, and -their mutinous spirit in general. As first mate, I have seen enough -of it to last my time at sea." - -"I am prepared for the worst, at all events," responded Phillips, in -the same low voice, as he instinctively felt for the butt of the -revolver pistol in his breast-pocket, and ascended to the weather -side of the poop. - -Veering round to the south-eastward, the wind was soon dead against -the ship, which laboured hard, though running close-hauled, and, -while beating to windward, her head was many points away from her -proper course. - -She was running fast through the water--ten knots an hour at -least--but was making great leeway. The strain on the -weather-rigging was great; there every shroud, rope, and halyard were -tight as iron wire, while to leeward they were all blown out in wavy -bights and bends, especially at every lurch. - -There was never a lull in the fierce gale, and, with every wave that -burst against her bows, the _Hermione_ seemed to roll, or swerve, -bodily off to leeward. - -On this night poor Mr. Basset was in great mental misery, lest, amid -the tempest, for to such the gale nearly amounted, the crew should -put their nefarious designs in execution; but they had their hands -too full of necessary work to find time for mischief then. - -He twice ventured on deck, but, to the landsman's eye, the aspect of -that wild, stormy sea, visible under a starry and cloudless sky, so -appalled him, that each time he returned to the cabin with such -visible signs of tremor or emotion, that Ethel, who had found the -impossibility of sleeping, and had hastily thrown on her morning -wrapper and shawl, joined him, and sat caressingly by his side. - -Pale, anxious, and lovely she looked in her white-frilled dress; and -now every sound on deck made her father start with agitation. - -"Is the gale increasing, papa?" she asked, for the twentieth time. - -"Undoubtedly it is--but the captain laughs at it, and says his ship -is strong and stout." - -"How soundly dear Rose sleeps amid all this hurly-burly." - -"Bless the poor child--oh yes; but go to bed beside her, darling, we -have little fear to-night--for the ship, at least." - -"Have we aught to fear from the sea, papa?" - -Mr. Basset did not reply. - -"You are silent, papa," resumed Ethel, scanning his features keenly -and affectionately, and patting his cheek with her delicate hand; -"then there is some danger of which you do not tell me. Oh, papa, -what is this you would conceal from me, who, I know, am all the world -to you?" - -"You are, indeed, all the world to me now, Ethel--you and Rose," -replied the poor man, in a broken voice, as his eyes filled, and his -heart swelled with uncontrollable anxiety and emotion; "but there, -dear, there, kiss me, and go to bed; don't waken Rose--let the poor -child sleep while she may." - -And leading Ethel to her cabin, he pushed her gently in, and closing -the door, lay down on the stern-locker to watch, but not to sleep. - -This gale blew steadily for more than eight-and-forty hours, during -which the _Hermione_ carried as little canvas as possible, yet she -made so much leeway as to be blown far to the southward of the -Cape--how far was known only to Captain Phillips and his two mates, -Mr. Quail and Mr. Foster, as they had tacitly agreed to keep the crew -in total ignorance of the ship's working or progress, hoping, by -doing so, to delay, if they could not ultimately frustrate, any dark -plans the intending mutineers had formed. - -During all this gale, which showed no signs of abatement until the -evening of the second day, Ethel and her sister remained in the cabin -with old Nurse Folgate, who, with all her love for them, was -deploring the moment of weakness in which she consented to leave the -leafy seclusion of Acton-Rennel, "to go forth a-voyaging round the -world, nobody knew to where." - -Dr. Leslie Heriot found much to keep him below, too; and thus, by day -and by night, according to the plan formed and already described, -there was always at least one armed man guarding them and the -cabin-door. - -As for poor Mr. Basset, he never quitted the side of his daughters -now, until he saw them into their little cabin for the night; and -Ethel, who soon perceived her father's new solicitude and -affectionate anxiety, was quite at a loss to understand what caused -it. - -None knew how the lots had fallen, or whose cast of the dice had been -highest in the forecastle bunks of the _Hermione_; but many of her -crew, when they came on deck, on the morning subsequent to the -amiable discussion so luckily overheard by Dr. Heriot, bore -unmistakable marks of a conflict, in the shape of blackened eyes, -swollen noses, and, in more than one instance, a slash or stab from a -knife. - -Whatever were the ultimate intentions of these men, matters remained -unchanged on board the ship, the duty of which was carried on -excellently during the gale, for then every man did his duty readily -and cheerfully, either by force of habit, or from the knowledge that -to do so would save themselves much trouble and probable danger. - -No doubt they deemed it better to wait for an opportunity after they -were assured of being past the Cape, when they would seize the ship, -and, as the doctor heard suggested, haul up for the Mozambique -Channel, a very unwise idea on their part, as, in the narrow sea, -they ran the imminent risk of being overhauled by some man-of-war, -homeward bound, or transport full of troops--chances to be avoided in -the open Indian Ocean. - -The tempest had blown them to the westward, and also considerably to -the southward of the Cape, which lies in latitude 33.5.42 South, and -longitude 18.23.15 East. But the morning of the third day came in -clear and calm; there was a gentle breeze from the eastward, and the -ship was running close-hauled, with her port-tacks on board, and -everything set upon her that would draw, even to triangular skysails -and niaintopgallant staysails, so that her hull seemed a mere black -speck under such a cloud of white canvas. - -And the glorious morning sun cast her shadow far along the smooth -ocean to the westward, as she cleft its waters swiftly and steadily -with her gallant prow, from which a white female figure, representing -the _Hermione_ of the classical age, the daughter of Venus and wife -of Cadmus, with Vulcan's golden necklet round her slender throat, -spread her graceful arms above the foam. - -The fourth and fifth days after the gale were serene and lovely in -the extreme. - -There was scarcely need for the watch to rig the head-pump for the -last three mornings; washed by the waves of the recent gale, the -decks were white as snow, and not even a shred or thread of spunyarn -could be seen about the wheels of the carronades, the coamings of the -hatches, or the mouths of the scupper-holes. - -Breakfast over, Rose and Ethel came on deck, and Doctor Heriot -hastened after them with cushions, shawls, and wrappers, for the -morning air in that extreme southern latitude was cold, though clear -and bracing; even an iceberg was visible at the far and blue horizon -to the westward, an object to which Heriot drew the attention of the -sisters, and promptly arranged for them his telescope; but the fair -voyagers had become quite used to such things, so Ethel betook -herself to a novel, and Rose began a piece of crochet (which seemed -like the web of Penelope) in expectation that her lover would sit by -and converse with her. - -Both seemed paler than usual, in consequence of the few days' -confinement below. Their father was anxious still, and the poor man -continued to linger about them, to hover near them, and instinctively -his trembling hand felt for the loaded revolver he carried in secret, -if one of the crew came near his daughters, and his heart beat -quicker if even one glanced to them, for in him he suspected the -winner by the dice-box of the two abhorred Barradas. - -Hawkshaw, whom the young doctor's steady attentions to the sisters -galled and fretted, was up in the fore-rigging, somewhere, looking -out for a sail, as no one on board longed for the appearance of a -ship of war more than he did; so he kept one eye on the horizon, and -another on the quarter-deck, where Ethel and Rose were seated, -chatting and laughing. - -Heriot had carefully examined, capped, and charged anew his revolver, -and placed it in his breast-pocket before he joined them, so the crew -very little suspected how completely all their superiors were -forewarned and forearmed. - -The two girls looked, if possible, lovelier than ever on this, as it -will prove in the sequel, eventful morning, by a species of delicate -pallor induced by the close atmosphere of the cabin; and as young -Heriot gazed into their clear, full, earnest eyes, a fierce, high -spirit swelled up in his heart, and he almost rejoiced that the -terrible circumstances in which they were placed, sailing as it were -with a volcano on board, would give him an opportunity of showing how -dearly he loved Rose Basset, how willing he was to dare, alas! it -might be to die for her! - -Not that he would gain much by the last move, as reflection showed, -and die he might, perhaps, by the hands of some of those ruffians, -before she could be succoured and protected, and then there was acute -agony in the contemplation of what she might endure when he could -neither see nor avenge it. - -"Look, Ethel dear," Rose suddenly exclaimed with girlish delight, -"there is a great swan asleep on the water." - -"A swan here?" queried Ethel. - -"It is an albatross," said the doctor, smiling, "and sleeping sound -enough, certainly. I could almost toss a biscuit on his back." - -There, not twelve yards distant from the ship's side, on the smooth -surface of the sea, was a great albatross, with plumage white as -snow--a bird whose pinions may have measured twelve feet from tip to -tip--fast asleep, and floating with his huge head under his wing. - -Slowly he was upheaved upon each huge glassy swell, and slowly he -sank down into the glassy vale between them, sleeping, as Ethel said, -just as she had seen the swans on Acton Mere at home, and now this -lonely bird was perhaps 300 miles from land. - -When first descried he was upon the weather-bow, and now he was upon -the lee quarter, so rapidly the ship left far astern this great bird -of the "Ancient Mariner," enjoying his nap, all undisturbed, upon the -morning sea. - -Hawkshaw, who was pretty far up the fore-rigging, now drew the -attention of some of the crew, who were at work upon the foreyard, -greasing the sling thereof, reeving new bunt-lines to the foot of the -foretopsail, &c., to a small dark object that was floating on the -water at a great distance, and the discussion that ensued about it -soon caught the attention of the anxious and active Mr. Quail, who -was standing at the break of the quarter-deck, for the _Hermione_ had -a species of half poop, so he descended into the waist and hailed the -talkers. - -"Fore-top there!" - -"Aye, aye, sir," replied Bill Badger and Zuares Barradas. - -"Do you see anything, that you keep such a bright look-out to -leeward, eh?' - -"Yes, sir; there is something in sight," replied Zuares. - -"Something; well, what is it?" - -"The head o' the great sea-sarpent, I rayther reckons it to be," -replied Bill Badger, impudently; "I sees his row o' grinders standing -up above the water." - -"Grinders, you Yankee swab," responded Mr. Quail (under his breath, -however, for the fid-maul and a couple of iron marlinespikes were -lying in the foretop, and one of these might fall out of it, by -accident); "what you call grinders are the timber-heads of a piece of -wreck--if not, I am as green as a cabbage! A piece of wreck in sight -to leeward, sir," he reported down the skylight to Captain Phillips, -who came promptly on deck, telescope in hand. - -"Whereabouts, Mr. Quail?" - -"There, sir; you can see it now under the leach of the forecourse, -when the ship rises--can you make it out?' - -"Wreck it is, Quail; the taffrail and sternpost of a vessel. Ease -her off a bit, Pedro; edge down towards it," said the captain to the -elder Barradas, whose strong hands grasped the handsome, -brass-mounted wheel of the _Hermione_; "we are raising it fast." - -"If there ain't men a-clinging to it, I'm a Dutchman!" shouted -Badger, from the foretop. - -"The fellow is right," said Phillips, politely passing his glass to -Mr. Basset; "human figures are visible on it. Ready the lee quarter -boat, there--clear the fall tackles; keep her on a little just as she -is, Mr. Quail, and then back with the mainyard." - -All the crew crowded to the leeside of the deck now, and their entire -attention was riveted on the piece of drifting wreck which lay like a -log in the water; but towards which they were rapidly bearing down. - -Ere long, four men could be distinctly seen upon it, but whether -alive or dead none could say with certainty, though all surmised the -latter, as they made neither sign nor hail, but remained still, mute, -and passive as the timber-heads to which they were lashed, and which -rose and fell, slowly and sullenly, amid the sunny ripples of that -calm morning sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -DR. HERIOT'S PATIENTS. - -Filled with the interest roused by this new episode, the crew, for a -time, forgot everything in their desire to know what ship this had -been, where she hailed from, to relieve the sufferers, and to learn -all they had undergone; for, even in his worst moods, Jack is always -ready for anything, and the more of novelty it contains, the better -for him. - -The four drooping figures could be distinctly discerned now, with -their heads bare, their faces blanched and pale. Ethel and Rose were -full of commiseration; already their gentle eyes were swimming in -sympathetic tears. The former kept by the side of her father, and -the latter, in her excitement, leant more heavily than usual, -perhaps, on the arm of Dr. Heriot; and even old Nance Folgate had -come out of her berth, and muttering "Lor' a mussy me!" from time to -time, clung with cat-like tenacity to the nettings on the -lee-quarter, to see the castaways, whom, she had no doubt, had been -devouring each other from time to time, till only four were left now. - -"Back with the mainyard," shouted the captain; "to the braces, men; -let go and haul!" - -The lee-braces were cast off the belaying-pins; the weather hauled -in, and the yard was slued round till the sail was laid flat to the -mast; and now the great ship, which had been edged down towards the -piece of wreck, as she lay to, rose and fell with slow, but regular -and impatient heaves, on the swelling ridges of the sea, while, with -a quick revolution of the double-sheaved blocks, the fall-tackle fell -and the quarter-boat vanished from its davits with a splash into the -sea alongside. - -She was speedily manned: Mr. Foster, the second mate, took the -tiller; Bill Badger, the Yankee; Joe, the steward; Quaco, the black -Virginian, and Dr. Heriot (with Rose's entreaties to take care of -himself, ringing in his ears), shipped their oars in the rowlocks, -and she was shoved off. - -"Happy go lucky! here's summut new, at all events," said Bill Badger, -as he made the tough blade of the stroke-oar bend like a willow wand; -for after a long, dull voyage like that of the _Hermione_, varied -only by adverse winds and the loss of a mast at the Canaries--a -voyage in which a few restless and roving spirits are shut up for -many weeks in the small compass of a ship--anything that may serve to -relieve or vary the tedium and monotony of the life they lead is -welcome; hence, a drifting wreck, with its contingent stories, -mysteries, and the surmises it may occasion, is, perhaps, the most -welcome, though least lively adventure they could meet with. - -The proceedings of the boat's crew were watched with deep interest by -those who lined the ship's side, about 500 yards off. - -Mr. Foster pulled round the stern of the wreck, and was seen to stoop -with his face close to the water, as if he was endeavouring to read -(which was the case) the vessel's name, then sunk some feet below the -surface, as the wreck was half submerged. - -Then he sheered the boat alongside, and by the painter it was made -fast to a timber-head; but almost immediately after, for fear of -accidents, this was cast off, and she was simply held on by the -boat-hook. - -Mr. Foster, Dr. Heriot, and another stepped along the piece of -quarter-deck, and were seen to be examining the four men, whom they -relieved from their wet lashings by simply cutting these through with -a slash of Quaco's jack-knife. - -"Evidently, the poor fellows are not dead," said Captain Phillips, -joyfully, as he clapped his fat hands together. - -"How do you know, dear sir?" asked Ethel; "ah, the poor men, I do not -see them move!" - -"They are putting them into the boat to bring them aboard, Miss -Basset. If they had been dead, there would have been little use in -doing that." - -"What would you have done in that case, captain?" asked Mr. Basset. - -"Sunk each of 'em simply, with a round shot at his heels, as we did -the poor fellow whom we found floating with the life-buoy. Mr. -Quail, get some brandy and wine out of the cabin locker--some water, -please, too." - -"Oh, let me assist you, sir," exclaimed Ethel. - -"And me--me too," added Rose, with enthusiasm. - -"Stop, ladies, you'll only lose your footing and get a tumble, -perhaps, the ship is pitching so; better stay where you are, and hold -on by the side netting." - -"Hush!" said Captain Phillips, suddenly; "silence on deck--silence -fore and aft, for Dr. Heriot is hailing the ship, and waving his cap." - -"What is it that he is saying?" asked several, as the doctor's clear -voice came distinctly over the water. - -"Captain Phillips," they heard him cry, "please to request the ladies -to leave the deck." - -"That is plain enough, miss," said Mr. Quail, touching his cap to -Ethel. - -"Why--for what must we go?" said Rose, pouting. - -"You must permit me to lead you below, ladies," said the captain; -"depend upon it, the doctor knows best. There is something there he -does not wish you to see." - -So Ethel, Rose, and the old nurse, to the intense mortification of -the latter, left the deck, and retired to the cabin to wait the event. - -The truth was that the worthy young doctor had found the four -sufferers on the wreck, though not dead, as he fully ascertained on -feeling their pulses, in such a frightful state of prostration and -delirium, that he deemed it better Ethel and Rose should be spared -the shock of their first appearance, and should not witness the -conveyance of them up the ship's side. - -"They are all in the boat now, and now she is shoved off. Give way, -my boys--give way!" shouted the captain, whose kind, ruddy English -face flushed with eagerness. "Lay out on your oars and pull with a -will, for a glass of grog awaits you all." - -To do them justice, the men in the boat needed no incentive; to the -whole length of their arms they bent to their oars, and the boat came -sheering alongside in a twinkling. - -"In larboard oars, out fenders," said Mr. Foster, as he relinquished -the tiller. - -"Into the main-chains there, some of you, and bear a hand to get the -poor fellows on board," said Captain Phillips, jumping down the short -ladder at the break of the quarter-deck, just as four thin and wasted -figures--their tattered clothes sodden and saturated by salt water, -their matted hair encrusted with salt--were handed like children up -the side, passed over the bulwark, and laid on the deck near the -long-boat. - -"Poor fellows, poor fellows! God help them," said Phillips, -commiseratingly, as they seemed quite insensible. Their teeth were -clenched, but their lips were far apart, cracked, parched, and, in -some instances, bleeding. They breathed irregularly, and twitched -their fingers convulsively. - -"They must be your peculiar care for a time, doctor," said Mr. -Basset, as Heriot flung his coat on the deck, and while rolling up -his shirt-sleeves, rushed below to his medicine-chest. - -"Boy, Joe--steward, bring wine and brandy here! Carpenter, get four -comfortable hammocks slung in the 'tween decks; and you, Quaco, my -darkey, get us plenty of hot water from the galley," cried Phillips. - -"Yaas, sar," replied the sable Virginian, as he hastened forward with -a bucket. - -Every one bustled about, and even Sharkey, the sulkiest villain of -that ill-assorted crew, made himself useful in some way, or fancied -that he did so. - -"These men are evidently British seamen," said the captain, as the -doctor stooped over each, and raising his head, poured weak -brandy-and-water, with some medicament therein, down his throat. -"How thirstily they drink! One opens his eyes. All right, my -friend, you'll soon come to," added the kind skipper, as he patted -Morrison on the shoulder. "Now then," said he, "Mr. Quail, get the -quarter-boat hoisted in, and fill the mainyard. Trim the ship to her -course." - -"Very good, sir." - -It was soon done, and the _Hermione_, as she began again to walk -through the water, soon left the piece of wreck astern. - -"Did you make out the name of that unfortunate craft, Mr. Foster?" - -"Yes, sir; but with difficulty." - -"And what was it?" - -Our readers, of course, anticipate the reply. - -"The _Princess_, of London--ship rig evidently, from the side chains, -the double row of dead eyes, and the gearing of the mizzenmast." - -"All right. Now bring up the ship's log." - -The four patients were taken below. A little food, such as might be -made for children, arrowroot with, sherry, and so forth, was given to -them, and greedily they devoured it. They were then stripped, -sponged with warm fresh water, and lifted each into a comfortable -hammock, the active young doctor, Mr. Foster, the captain and -steward, working for them like servants and nurses with hearty -good-will. - -Gentle cordials were then administered, and soon after Heriot -appeared in the cabin with a bright and smiling face, wearing the -happy expression of one who, in doing a good action, has done his -best, to report that they had fallen into a sound sleep, were all -doing well, and would, he hoped, soon be free from danger. - -"It was too bad of you to send us below like children," said Rose. - -"And you think they will recover, doctor?" asked Ethel, interrupting -some playful apology of Heriot's. - -"Recover? Oh yes, and perhaps be with us soon at table, too; so poor -Manfredi's seat may thus be filled. Like Banquo's, it has long been -empty." - -"Oh, Leslie, how can you jest thus?" whispered Rose. - -"I don't jest, dearest," replied the doctor, deprecatingly. "I liked -poor Adrian Manfredi too well to associate his idea now with a jest," -he added, gravely, as he thought of that night in the forecastle -bunks, of the revelations he had heard, and the peril that was yet -unaverted. - -"Have the poor men said anything?" asked Ethel. - -"Not much, Miss Basset, beyond a few indistinct and delirious -mutterings." - -"Could you gather who they were?" - -"No; but they all seem to be seamen, save one." - -"One?" - -"Yes." - -(How little could she dream who _this one was_!) - -"And you are able to distinguish," she resumed. - -"At once--by their hands and general appearance." - -"And this one, who is not a seaman?" - -"Is a pale, and thin--but then he has been starved--and -gentleman-like young man. Though half dead with privation, he made a -whispered apology for the trouble he gave us." - -"Poor fellow!" said Ethel, whose eyes glistened. - -"Where was their vessel from?--how was she lost?--and where was she -lost?" asked Rose. - -"They are past telling all this now," said the doctor, smiling, and -patting Rose's hand; "by to-morrow evening, perhaps, we shall learn -all." - -"I do long so to hear their story--how terrible it must be--quite a -nautical romance; and then, the other poor men of their ship, who -have been drowned!" - -"Yes, Rose," said Ethel, glancing at the captain and mate, who were -each making an entry in his log or journal, "this incident will fill -up an entire page of your diary." - -"How--why?" asked Rose, reddening very perceptibly. - -"For Lucy Page's perusal," said Ethel, with a smile that had a little -mischief, or waggery, in it. - -Rose grew redder, for her diary or journal of the voyage, which she -had begun to keep (from the day she left Laurel Lodge), for the -special perusal of her friend and gossip, Lucy Page, had proved -rather a bore, and had been completely relinquished, as she could not -consistently omit, and yet shrank from recording, memoranda of a -certain little interview with the doctor, being naturally restrained -therefrom by a certain awkwardness, if the eye of Jack Page, now -almost a myth to her, as he has been, perhaps, to the reader, should -peruse them also. - -So Rose had ceased altogether to continue that interesting volume, -which, we may presume, terminated abruptly on that night recorded in -a previous chapter, when she and the doctor took a turn on deck to -view the stars. - -At this moment Cramply Hawkshaw entered the cabin with an expression -of face so scared, so altered, and so unmistakably wretched, that -Ethel surveyed him with surprise; and then, with some commiseration, -she kindly inquired if he was ill? - -He complained of giddiness, and abruptly hastened on deck. - -In fact, our ex-Texan officer had just come from between decks, where -he had been visiting the doctor's patients. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -CAPTAIN HAWKSHAW'S TROUBLES INCREASE. - -Inspired by some emotion beyond curiosity--a feeling which it would -be alike impossible to define or describe, Hawkshaw had gone between -decks to look at the rescued men. - -A man had been left to watch them. He was Bolter, the Canadian, to -whom Dr. Heriot had given strict injunctions that the sleepers were -not to be disturbed to gratify the mere curiosity of the crew; and he -growled out a few words by way of warning to Hawkshaw, who, assuming -a jaunty air, said: - -"Now, my amphibious biped, how are your patients?" - -"None of your names, mister," replied the Canadian, knitting his -brows. - -"You mistake me, my good fellow; I simply wished to know how our new -friends are." - -"Judge for yourself--blow'd if I know," was the sulky rejoinder, as -Bolter replaced a tremendous expectoration (which he shot fairly over -Hawkshaw's shoulder and out at the lee port) by a huge quid; "but -they seemed all goin' forren--out'ard bound, till the doctor hove 'em -up fresh." - -Each was in his hammock sleeping soundly, in that deep, drowsy torpor -which enables even "the famished to escape from the pangs of hunger, -and those who are perishing of thirst to escape for a time from the -agony of the parched throat"--the sleep that covereth a man all over -like a mantle, as honest Sancho Panza said, when, in the fulness of -his heart, he blessed the great inventor thereof. - -On tiptoe Hawkshaw passed from sleeper to sleeper. - -One seemed a brawny and weather-beaten seaman, with grizzled locks, -that were fast becoming gray; his bare and muscular chest was -tattooed blue with gunpowder. This was our old friend Noah Gawthrop. - -The second he looked at was somewhat hard-featured, with a high -forehead, dark, full eyebrows, a well-shaped nose, and one of those -prominent chins which bespeak firmness, decision of character, and -indomitable perseverance. He was the Scotch mate, Bill Morrison. - -The next was a pale, wan lad, whose handsome but attenuated -features---- - -"Gad's fury!" burst from the lips of Hawkshaw, as the sudden -recognition of those features struck a terror into his soul. "He -here! he! Can it be possible?" - -"Hullo, shipmate, what's the row?" said Bolter, looking up from a -sea-chest, on which he was lolling, with his hands in his pockets; -"Vast and belay this gab o' yours, or you'll waken 'em up, which is -clear ag'in the doctor's orders." - -"A mosquito stung me," said Hawkshaw, with a confusion which Bolter's -perceptions were not fine enough to discover. - -"A miskitty in these latitudes!" he exclaimed, mockingly. "I'm not -so jolly green a hand as to believe that; but be off on deck, and -leave me to keep my watch 'athout you. I may say this, though the -ship is yet trimmed by the starn," added the fellow, with an insolent -grimace, for like the rest of the crew, whom the Barradas influenced, -he had a peculiar aversion for Hawkshaw. - -The latter had now shrunk back, scarcely breathing, after assuring -himself that the pale sleeper was indeed Morley Ashton; and then -flashed upon his mind the keen and savage idea of getting him again -removed from his path--by strangling him in his sleep, by putting -poison in his food--and thus to send him out of the world ere his -eyes again fully opened on it, and ere he, Hawkshaw, could be -destroyed by the story he had to tell--by the great crime he had to -reveal. - -From the cabin, as we have told, he went on deck, and, desirous of -avoiding all, of seeking that solitude so impossible to find on board -ship, he ascended into the fore-rigging, and sat there, amid a whirl, -a chaos of thought, endeavouring to consider his prospects and -position now! - -Could he have been mistaken? - -Impossible! The likeness had been too deeply impressed upon his -memory since that awful night at Acton Chine; so he needed not to go -between decks again, and, moreover, he dared not, lest Morley should -awake and recognise him. - -"How came he to escape death at the Chine? How to be sailing on the -sea, and hereabout too?" thought Hawkshaw. "Oh, strange, and most -accursed fatality! But for me, perhaps, we might have passed that -piece of wreck--passed it unseen by all on board; but Fate is -retributive; I was the first to descry, the first to be anxious to -visit it." - -For a moment, but a moment only, there came into his soul a gleam of -joy, with the conviction that he was not, as he had so long -remorsefully considered himself, the destroyer of a fellow-creature. - -His victim--Heaven alone knew how!--had escaped, and was here alive -and safe on board the _Hermione_. The ever-present idea of crime, -with the word that had seemed ever before his eyes, on his lips, and -in his heart--that shone in his dreams like those letters of flame -that flashed on the vision of Belshazzar, could be a terror to him no -longer. - -The proverbs, that "Murder will out;" that "God's retribution will -fall upon a murderer;" the law, that "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by -man shall his blood be shed," would haunt him no more,--for this -crime at least. - -Such were his ideas for a moment; but the next, cold, selfish fear -resumed its sway, and reason showed him that he was yet an assassin -by intent--one whom his intended victim would expose, crush, and -destroy, _if_--what?--he was not anticipated, crushed and destroyed -_first_. - -To Hawkshaw, this waif from the ocean was worse by a thousand degrees -than his _rencontre_ with the two Barradas. - -To avoid the accusations, the shame and contumely that Morley Ashton -could heap upon him, by the exposure of his falsehood, cruelty, and -hypocrisy, he would, happily, now have relinquished even Ethel -Basset, and all he had hoped from her father's patronage in the Isle -of France. He would gladly have fled; but whither could he fly--how, -when, where?--encompassed as he was by the sea? Save in its depth, -there was no escape from this accursed ship, as there was no eluding -his own conscience, in this floating prison, the _Hermione_--how he -loathed the name!--with her crew of foul and treacherous mutineers. - -He had one hope left. Morley might die on getting food. He seemed -so weak when brought on board, that the powers of digestion might be -past, so that death might ensue from mere inanition. - -But then his three companions would probably know his story, and were -certain, if they survived, to reveal all Hawkshaw's guilt. - -In the bitterness of his soul, he contemplated suicide, by slipping -quietly overboard before the fatal recognition and discovery took -place; but then came the fierce thought--if one of us is to perish, -why should not he? and what time so fitting as now, when he is -weak--almost dying? And thus, in his blind desperation, some of his -old Mexican instincts or propensities grew strong within him, and he -conceived the fiendish idea of strangling, or otherwise destroying, -the half-dead lad in the night. - -If marks of violence were found upon him, Hawkshaw knew there were so -many "black sheep" in the forecastle, that one of them would readily -be blamed for the crime. - -A fierce eagerness to put himself in a safe position, to prevent the -discovery that would blight him for ever, now possessed his whole -soul, and, nerving it for the deadly task he had to do, made him long -for the darkness and silence of night, when he resolved to make the -attempt. - -In this pleasant mood of mind, he heard the cabin bell rung by Joe -the steward, announcing dinner, and descending reluctantly from his -perch in the fore-rigging, he went aft and took his seat between -Ethel and Dr. Heriot, who were conversing gaily, while he had all the -misery of having to veil over the secret serpent that gnawed at his -heart, by an outward air of ease, security, and pleasantry, which, -however, was nearly put to flight by Captain Phillips asking if he -had seen the devil in the foretop, he looked so very white about the -gills. - -One portion of the conversation, maintained amid the clinking of -glasses and plates, and the difficulty of balancing wine-glasses -nicely when the ship rolled, was by no means calculated to restore -his equanimity. - -"Miss Basset," said the young doctor, blandly, "I hope you will come -with me, and visit those poor fellows?" - -"Yes, with pleasure. Rose and papa will come too." - -"Well, it will cheer them a bit to see your dear, kind, pretty -faces," said Captain Phillips, bowing to each sister, ere he drained -his glass of sherry. - -"You will quite spoil my girls by flattering them," said Mr. Basset, -laughing. - -"Our good captain is too honest for flattery," resumed Dr. Heriot; -"but, Miss Basset, there is one fellow there who interests me much, -though why I cannot say. Please to look at him well when you see -him. There is something very remarkable about him." - -"Indeed, how, pray?" - -"I judge by his bearing, and the general expression of his face. As -a clever American writer says, of a similar impression, 'His is one -of those cases which are more numerous than supposed by those who -have never lived anywhere but in their own homes, and have never -walked but in one line from their cradles to their graves. We must -leave our straight paths for the by-ways and low places of life, if -we would learn truths by strong contrasts, and in hovels, in -forecastles, and among our own outcasts in foreign lands, see what -has been brought upon our fellow-creatures by accident, hardship, or -vice.' - -"Vice!" repeated Hawkshaw, with a nervous start, and in dread lest -Morley had already discovered himself. - -"Oh, do not misunderstand me. I merely completed the quotation. -Heaven forbid, Mr. Hawkshaw, that I should attribute vice to one so -gentle as my poor patient; but to-morrow, or at latest, next day, you -shall see them, ladies, and I shall have much pleasure in being your -guide between decks." - -Hawkshaw felt as if the doctor was dictating his sentence of -degradation and death; but he strove to preserve an unmoved -countenance, and to affect a pleasant demeanour. - -Then he had to do the honours of the table to Ethel Basset, while his -food seemed to choke him, with the agreeable consciousness that he -whom she still loved, and for whom she still sorrowed, Morley Ashton, -was asleep quietly in his hammock, on the other side of the -after-bulkhead, and scarcely three feet distant from her chair. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -HAWKSHAW TURNS NURSE. - -For that night all went well on board, as Dr. Heriot kept his watch -between decks lest he should be wanted, and the next morning he -reported a great improvement in his four patients, whom food, wine, -and sleep were restoring so fast that he hoped by evening, perhaps, -to learn their names, whence they came, and all about them. - -Hawkshaw started on hearing this. That all the four had been found -dead in their hammocks would have been to him the more welcome -tidings. - -"Aye, doctor, be sure about their names, as we must have them -inserted in the log," said Captain Phillips. "Miss Basset, may we -trouble you to pour out some tea for the poor fellows?" - -Younger than his companions, Morley was the first to recover complete -consciousness for a time on this morning. Naturally strong, lithe, -and active, he had been wont, when ashore, to ride, shoot and fish, -to be a first-rate bowler at cricket, a good hand with foils, gloves, -single-stick, and to indulge in all hardy sports; hence his vigorous -frame was less shaken than those of Bartelot, Morrison, and Noah, who -were his seniors in age. - -The 'tween decks of the _Hermione_ was a clear and airy place. -Through a half-open port to leeward he could see the bright green sea -running past in the morning sunshine; a pleasant breeze came down the -half-grating of the open hatchway, and as the ship was running on a -wind, the hammocks hung steadily. - -The ship's bell clanged on deck; he heard a hoarse voice calling the -watch, and gradually the dream-like events of the past day unfolded -themselves with some coherence, and with a sigh of joy, an unuttered -prayer of gratitude, he closed his eyes again, with the delicious -conviction of being safe and in kind hands. - -Ere long Boy Joe came from the cabin with warm tea and soaked -biscuits for them. - -How little did Morley know whose hands had poured it into the cups! -And now, refreshed, and aware of each other's presence, all swinging -side by side in their hammocks, Bartelot and Morrison began to -converse with him. - -This roused old Noah, who had dozed off to sleep again; so he began -to mutter hoarsely in a dream: - -"All starbowlines ahoy; come, tumble up the larboard watch." - -"What is the matter, Noah?" asked Bartelot. - -"It is that 'ere smatchet of a marine drummer," replied Gawthrop, -looking up vacantly. - -"He is dreaming of the old _Aurora_, of fifty guns," said Morrison, -in a weak voice, quite unlike his own. "Hollo, Noah, old fellow; -you've not unroved your life-lines yet, eh?" - -"No, mate, thank Heaven," he replied, in something of the same -childish treble; "nor you. And you shall see the Black Dog of -Belhelvie yet, as I hopes one of these blessed days to see -Dungeonness Light and the buoy at the Nore." - -"Here, shipmate, drink this, and talk after," said Joe, the steward, -as he held another cup of warm tea (in which a whipped egg was -substituted for milk) to the lips of Noah, who drained it at a -draught, and then looked less wild and more awake. - -"Go ahead, old boy," said Joe, a curly-headed, good-humoured-looking -English lad, as he tucked the blanket about Noah's shoulders; "it is -tea for dunnage, and soft biscuits for ballast just now. By-and-by, -it will be grog and old horse for cargo, eh?" - -"It's the 'tween decks that did it," muttered Noah. "I thought I was -aboard the old _Haurora_ in the Black Sea, with the boatswain ahead -in the dingy, seeing all the yards squared by the lifts and braces." - -Bartelot sank into slumber again, but Morley began to be more lively -and awake, and proceeded to compare with Morrison the notes and -incidents of yesterday, and how they came to be rescued. Their -voices sounded strangely to themselves and to each other, as at times -they sank into husky whispers. - -Morrison had seen much of the world. In the words of his countryman, -a poor sailor too (Falconer, the doomed author of the "Shipwreck"), -he had been in every climate under the sun. - - "Where polar skies congeal the eternal snow, - Or equinoctial suns for ever glow. - Smote by the freezing or the scorching blast, - 'A ship-boy on the high and giddy mast,' - From, regions where Peruvian billows roar - To the bleak coasts of savage Labrador. - From where Damascus, pride of Asian plains, - Stoops her proud neck beneath tyrannic chains, - To where the Isthmus, laved by adverse tides, - Atlantic and Pacific seas divides. - But while he measured o'er the painful race, - In fortune's wild, illimitable chase, - Adversity, companion of his way, - Still o'er the victim hung with iron sway." - - -Morrison was deeply thankful to Providence for his rescue; and on the -first night of their being saved, Morley could remember, through his -dreams, hearing the poor fellow praying very devoutly in his hammock, -and in his own national dialect, which grew all the broader and more -Doric as he communed with God and himself. - -On the afternoon of the day, so pregnant with events of importance to -him personally, Cramply Hawkshaw felt himself impelled, on various -pretences, to keep aloof from those who shared the cabin with him; -for he was in momentary dread that Dr. Heriot, to whom the name of -Morley Ashton had been rendered quite familiar by the confidences of -Rose Basset, would enter, and startle all by announcing who was one -of the four men rescued from the wreck. - -The better to achieve his dastardly project, he volunteered to attend -them on this night between decks; and his offer, though it excited -some surprise, was at once accepted by Dr. Heriot, who gave him -several directions as to the small quantities of food and diluted -wine they were to receive, if they required nourishment. - -So Hawkshaw drank deeply, mixing brandy and sherry, to nerve himself -for the dark purpose he had conceived; and, to conceal his pallor, -his restlessness and wretchedness, he secluded himself in his own -berth, and strove to sleep; but there was no sleep for him. - -Thoughts maddened him, and he muttered to himself inaudibly, while, -with a hot and trembling hand, he wiped the bead-drops from his -aching brow. - -"Why should I waver or shrink now?" he asked himself--not aloud, for -fear of being overheard; "what may I not dare, who have dared -everything, I who have risked all? For the past I have no -compunction now. Another might have done all those things as well as -I, for I did not create myself, neither did I scheme out my own -accursed destiny. Is there a demon within me, or is there one -presiding over me--some fiend, some angel of darkness, whom I cannot -see, but to whose whispers I am compelled to listen? Why does this -wretched boy cross my path again? Why does the sea--why does the -grave--give up its dead, as if to haunt, to tempt, to goad me into -crime on one hand, if I would not lose name, honour, consideration, -respect, and, it may be, Ethel and affluence, on the other? I had -thought to be good, and loyal, and true for her sake, even though she -loves me not; but all in vain. Ethel to marry me? Oh, that would be -like a white moss-rose entwined with the deadly hemlock! Had Heaven -not impelled or abandoned me, and had Hell not allured and prompted -me, perhaps I had not been the creature I find myself to-night. -_Caramba!_ it is a game of desperation between this Ashton and me. -The ball is yet at my foot, and shall I not strike it? Yes, and with -a vengeance, too!" - -Watch after watch was called; the half-hourly bells of the ship -seemed to be rung every five minutes, instead of every thirty. - -The night, solemn and starry, approached more swiftly than he could -have wished; and yet he longed that the fatal time was past--that the -terrible deed he had to do was done. - -Thus he lay on his bed, almost perspiring with mental agony and with -criminal sophistry, gradually nursing himself into the conviction -that the first law of nature--self-protection and -self-preservation--rendered that deed imperative, needful, and -requisite. - -He almost consoled himself by the idea that there was but half a life -to crush out; for was not Morley nearly half dead already? - -Darkness had set in, before he missed daylight, so completely had his -mind and thoughts been abstracted and turned inward; thus he received -a species of electric shock, when the curtain of his berth was -withdrawn by Heriot, who said: - -"Now, then, Mr. Hawkshaw--come, tumble up, old fellow--eight bells -have struck; it is twelve o'clock, and you have not been 'tween decks -yet to look after these men." - -"Twelve--twelve o'clock is it?" he stammered, with confusion, as he -leaped out. - -"Yes, to a minute; the ladies and all have supped and turned in. By -Jove! you've had a long spell in your berth. Can you make your way -forward alone?" - -"Oh yes," replied Hawkshaw, who reeled like a tipsy man, for the ship -was now running before the wind, so she rolled till her lower -studdingsail-booms nearly touched the water. - -"You have your revolver, of course?" - -"Yes," said Hawkshaw, with chattering teeth. - -"Ah! we never know what may happen. By-the-by, I have got the names -of those four sea-waifs; but the captain has gone to bed." - -"And who are they?" asked Hawkshaw, in a faint voice, and half -averting his face. - -Heriot opened his note-book, and drawing nearer the cabin lamp, read: - -"_Thomas Bartelot, late master of the 'Princess,' of London, a_ -300_-ton ship, from Rio last; William Morrison_ (countryman of mine) -_first-mate of the same; Noah Gawthrop, a seaman_----" - -"And the fourth?" asked Hawkshaw, in agony, as Heriot paused. - -"A young cabin passenger. I did not get his name, as the poor fellow -was sound asleep. They are the soul survivors of the ship. Good -night; we have a spanking breeze, and carry topmast stun'sails. Take -my poncho wrapper in addition to your railway rug." - -"Why?" - -"You'll find it cold enough, watching between decks till sunrise." - -"Thanks. Good night," muttered Hawkshaw, through his teeth, which -the poor wretch clenched, to prevent them chattering, so strong were -his emotions, as he passed through the door of the after bulk-head, -and sought his way, by lantern light, to that place which was to be -the scene of his great crime, where, all unconscious of his entrance, -Morley and his three companions were swinging in their hammocks. - -About four hours after this, a cry--almost a yell rang through the -silent ship, startling the watch on deck and the man at the helm, -terrifying Mr. Basset (whose duty it was to watch at the cabin door), -bringing Captain Phillips, Mr. Quail, and Dr. Heriot from their -berths, in dread that the great crisis of the voyage had come, that -the mutineers were in arms; there, too, were Ethel and Rose, in their -white-laced night-dresses, the latter with her rich hair all falling -over her neck, peeping fearfully from their cabin door, while Nurse -Folgate had buried herself under her bed-clothes, for that cry, which -"pierced the night's dull ear," was one of mortal agony, and it -seemed to come from--_between decks_! - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -A BITER BITTEN. - -After leaving the doctor, Hawkshaw, to gather "Dutch courage," took a -last mouthful from his brandy flask, and with his slippers on, stole -softly and stealthily between decks, so softly that his entrance was -unheard by our four friends, whom he found awake, and conversing in -low tones; so he seated himself on a chest, with his face completely -in shadow, and there he remained listening, and scarcely daring to -breathe, for with every roll of the ship the four hammocks swung -regularly to and fro, side by side, from port to starboard, and the -outer one, in which Morley lay, nearly touched the watcher's head at -times. - -The air-port was closed now, and the place was lighted by the feeble -rays of a ship-lantern, which swung from one of the beams. - -In shadow, as we have said, and with a broad tarpaulin hat slouched -over his stealthy cat-like eyes, that flashed with malignant light, -Hawkshaw sat, or crouched, listening, watching, and waiting for the -time that would suit the attempt, eagerly, and all but breathlessly, -and the duration seemed interminable, for he had no watch, his gold -repeater having been so summarily appropriated by Pedro Barradas. - -Morley spoke, and his voice, so long heard only in troubled dreams, -now thrilled through the heart of Hawkshaw, causing sharp pangs of -fear and agony; yet Morley's remark was a very simple one; but his -voice, like the voices of the others, was husky and weak. - -"Oh, the delight of such a cozy bed as this, after all we have -undergone! Eh, Tom!" - -"Yes, Morley, lad," replied Bartelot; "but I should like to know what -craft we are on board of, and for where bound. I quite forgot to ask -the doctor." - -"She's true British at all events, by her build 'tween decks, -captain," said Noah Gawthrop. "Thank God for all his mercies, -'specially to a rough old salt like me. He was very good and kind to -remember a poor old feller like Noah, that he was, when there are so -many younger and better folks to take care of. But I think the -doctor mentioned her name, captain." - -"Her--who?" - -"Why the ship, I mean, sir." - -"Yes--I am sure I heard it; she is the--the--" - -(Hawkshaw trembled as Tom paused, for if the name was uttered in -Morley's hearing, he--the listener--was lost!) "Well, it is strange -that I don't remember; but her skipper's name is Phillips, and she -hails from London. I made out that somehow." - -"I know one Phillips--Bill Phillips, who was lost in the Straits of -Sunda. He was once captain of the brig _Erminia_," said Morrison. - -"_Herminya_!" replied Gawthrop, "that is the name o' the identical -craft as we're aboard of; but she is too large--too broad in the beam -for a brig." - -"I am weary of speaking, mates, and wish to sleep," said Bartelot, -yawning; "here, under a good deck of British oak, we may take a long -spell of it without fear; and yet I can't help thinking of the poor -_Princess_, and all who perished with her. Their faces are always -before me." - -"And that was a waluable cargo o' hers, that was," added Noah, "and a -power o' trouble we took with the sugar and 'bacca casks at Rio. Oh, -lor, to think of all that 'bacca goin' to Davy Jones, and never a -leaf of it being smoked or cut in quids! She was steeved to within a -fathom of her beams, she was; and then we had Californy hides for -dunnage to the hatches--aye, aye, all gone, and I'll never have -another watch-mate like old Ben Plank again!" - -"Poor Ben!" said Morrison; "he'll never more cheer the lads in the -forecastle, or on the watch of a clear night, with the 'Bay of -Biscay' or 'Tom Bowling,' or lead the chant of 'Time for us go,' when -shipping the capstan bars. A better crew than ours never hove up -anchor!" - -With a purpose so cruel and deadly in his mind, it may be imagined -with what exasperation and impatience Hawkshaw listened to a -conversation so trivial, and maintained so drowsily at intervals. He -began to hope they were dropping asleep, when old Gawthrop spoke -again. - -"Oh, warn't that warm tea delicious this morning, captain! I doesn't -think as I'll ever take kindly to grog again, but become a regular -quaker and teetotaller." - -"Not even thumb-grog, Noah, eh--on a wet night, when a shout comes -down the forescuttle, of 'All hands reef topsails!'" said Bartelot -laughing. - -"I am almost afraid to sleep," said Morrison, "for dreams of the -wreck always come with it, and again I seem to find myself up to my -neck in cold salt water. I had often in memory, while we were -drifting about, a story my mother, poor woman! used to tell me, when -I was a laddie at home, and played truant frae the school, and when -she wished to frighten me into good behaviour; so between sleeping -and waking I used to think sometimes I was one of the doomed men she -used to speak of." - -"Doomed, mate; how?" asked Morley, raising his voice; "how were they -so?" - -"It was the belief of some of the seafaring folk who dwell in the -north of Scotland, that those among them who were wicked and sinful -in their lives were roused in the night by the knocking of a skeleton -hand on their cottage doors. The tap sounded like that of a bony or -fleshless hand, though neither the hand or arm of the summoner were -visible to mortal eyes. Compelled by a power they dared not, and -could not resist, those who were so summoned left their snug beds, -their wives and bairns (if they had them), and went, awe-stricken and -sick with horror, down the beach, where at such a time there was -always a heavy sea rolling in white foam, a black scud drifting -overhead and a storm coming on. Compelled by the same mysterious -power that brought them forth, the shivering wretches had to step on -board a long, black, coffin-shaped boat (which was always sunk to its -gunnel in water), and then they shoved off to sea. A grinning skull -formed the figure-head of this grim barge, and human bones the -thole-pins. Then a great dark cloud spread itself like a sail on the -laughing wind, and away they were borne careering into the offing of -the black and midnight sea, from whence there was no return, for -there they had to cruise for ever, like Vanderdecken at the Cape, -until the final day of Doom! Many a time such boats have been seen, -driving past the lighthouse on Buchanness, and the deep caverns of -that tremendous shore, where the sea bellows for ever and -ever--sailing on and on, towards the north, the shrieks of the -despairing mingling with the wind, on a cold winter night, when the -sleet and rain were sowing all the German sea." - -"Such a diabolical story!" exclaimed Morley. - -"Well, that is a lively legend of the north of Scotland," added -Bartelot; "but now silence, mates, and let us to sleep, if we can." - -Before this end, so desirable for the purpose of Hawkshaw, was -attained, he heard the middle-watch called, and the port-tacks were -brought more on board, which showed that the wind was veering upon -the quarter; then all became still, and he heard only the ceaseless -creaking of the timbers, the sound of the sea rushing past, the sway -to and fro of the sleepers' hammocks, and his own half-suppressed -breathing. - -The idea of cutting the head-clew of Morley's hammock, and letting -him fall head-foremost on the lower deck, occurred to Hawkshaw; and -then he preferred the idea of relaxing the clew, so that it might -seem to have given way, and the result of such a fall in Morley's -weak state would certainly kill him, while all the blame of the event -would fall on the carpenter or sailmaker who slung the hammock. - -But Hawkshaw's trembling fingers completely failed to undo the knot -of the clew--one of those mysterious ones which sailors alone can tie -and untie--so he was compelled to relinquish the idea. - -He next approached softly, to assure himself that the four men were -asleep. He opened the lantern, and passed the lighted candle twice -across their faces, which were still wan, pale, and weird in aspect, -after all they had so recently undergone. - -He looked on Morley Ashton last, for it required some courage to do -so steadily, while memories of the past and anticipations of the -future were conflicting in his heart. - -Morning was at hand now, the first sleep of the night was past, and -the four were again in dream-land--chiefly, perhaps, our friend -Morley--in that state which is between sleep and wakefulness. - -Various shades of expression were passing over his handsome, pale, -and gentle face. He muttered at times, too, and gave uneasy moans -and starts, for thought, life, the soul, were still at work. Then -his mouth wore a soft smile, as Ethel's image most likely came before -him; anon, there was a knitted brow and stern compression of the -lips, as some fierce emotion followed; and next there came a gaunt -aspect of despair, with some memory of the floating wreck, all -evincing that, while he slept, the reflections of life were busy amid -that uneasy slumber. - -With bent brows, with haggard cheeks, with eyes that glared snakily -in fear and hate, Cramply Hawkshaw gazed upon his victim; and as his -deadly intent came gushing up in his heart--as his cruelty and wrath -were screwed "to the sticking point," he quietly extinguished the -candle, without perceiving that two eyes close by were watching him -narrowly, with wonder and alarm. - -There was no light now, save that of the stars, which struggled dimly -and uncertainly through a couple of yolks in the deck overhead, and -through the grating of the open hatchway. - -Hawkshaw's heart panted as that of a chased tiger might do, and the -old emotion he felt on that terrible night at Acton Chine--a lust of -cruelty, of vengeance, and destruction--swelled or glowed within him! - -A flame seemed to pass out of his eyes, while a thousand glaring orbs -appeared to fill or pierce the obscurity about him; his breath became -short and difficult, a deafness fell upon his ears, or there came -around him an awful silence, as if the world itself stood still. -Then his hands felt as if endued with a giant's strength as they made -a clutch at Morley's mouth and throat, for he had resolved to -strangle or suffocate him. - -But it was an attempt, and no more, for ere he could achieve his -detestable purpose, he felt his hands seized, and one was grasped as -if by the teeth of some wild animal. - -The bite, with the terror and confusion it occasioned, so bewildered -him, that the wild cry of agony which roused all on board the ship -escaped his lips; he dealt a heavy blow in the dark at some one or -something, he knew not what, and breaking from the strange assailant, -fled, baffled, in consternation, to the after cabin. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -DREAD. - -"What the devil is the matter?" asked Captain Phillips, as he hastily -donned his pea-jacket, and addressed Hawkshaw, who was seated on the -cabin locker, panting with excitement. - -"Did you utter that dismal howl, Captain Hawkshaw?" added Dr. Heriot, -impatiently; "speak, sir, have you lost your voice?" - -"Very nearly, and my senses too," groaned the other, whose cup of -shame and misery was well-nigh full now. - -"What has happened?" - -"Look at my hand!" said Hawkshaw, striving to gain time for -thought--to rally his scattered wits for the coming _dénouement_--for -an explanation, or a bold defiance. - -"Well, what has happened?" - -"It is almost bleeding--bitten." - -"By what--by whom?" asked everyone at once - -"A madman." - -"Mad!" was exclaimed in wild tones by all. - -"Yes," said Hawkshaw, through his clenched teeth, and with a glare in -his eye, that seemed somewhat akin to insanity; "one of those fellows -between-decks--one of those wretches we took off the raft (a curse -upon them all!) has bitten me." - -"But which of them?" asked Heriot, who had now completely attired -himself. - -"Oh, I don't know which, and I care not which," replied the wretched -Hawkshaw, as he rubbed and blew his breath upon his aching digits. - -"And he actually bit you?" - -"Yes; have I not already said so?" - -"What were you doing?" - -"Doing--adjusting the clothes upon him," replied Hawkshaw, after a -pause; "and look you, he has almost bitten my hand to the bone." - -As he spoke he held up his right hand to the cabin lamp, and there -certainly were the marks of a row of teeth distinctly visible, for -Noah Gawthrop had been determined to give Morley's nocturnal -assailant a stamp by which he would know him again. - -"For all that I know, he may have half strangled one of his -companions, in addition to this wild assault upon me," added the -Texan captain, as a sudden thought occurred to him, for in his -confusion he did not know how far he had assaulted Morley. - -Heriot, a very sharp-witted and intelligent fellow, who, at his -native university, had met men from all parts of the world, and had -thus gained a considerable insight of human character, had been -scrutinising Hawkshaw keenly, and something in his manner, or in the -expression of his face, seemed to excite some vague suspicion--Heriot -knew not exactly of what--in his mind. - -"To me this appears like an impossibility," he began; "excuse me -saying so, but what motive----" - -"I know nothing of motives, Dr. Leslie Heriot," interrupted Hawkshaw, -becoming furious and desperate; "but this I know, that I may be -tempted to use my revolver with a vengeance, if I am molested again -by anyone on board this ship; be assured of that." - -At this sudden outburst, Heriot gave a smile of well-bred surprise, -and glanced at the captain, who said: - -"This is a most extraordinary and unaccountable affair, and must be -instantly inquired into. I am sure that the poor fellows looked -quiet enough when I saw them last. Steward--Joe, a lantern--quick! -Come, doctor, Mr. Basset--we'll see to this." - -"Oh, Leslie," cried Rose, "take care, take care!" - -"Oh, papa--dear papa, you, at least, must not go," added Ethel, who -had now put on her morning wrapper, or dressing-gown, and appeared at -the door of her little cabin. - -"Pooh, pooh, Miss Basset, there is not the slightest cause for fear, -my dear girl," said the captain, laughing, as Joe lit a ship-lantern. - -"But the poor man's sufferings may have made him vicious--wild." - -"I'll take care of your papa, ladies; and bite the fellow's head off, -mayhap, if he bites him. Come, Captain Hawkshaw, and show us which -of the four is the culprit, and then, if need be, we shall get the -bilboes ready." * - - -* Iron shackles used on board ship to secure the feet of prisoners. - - -"No, no, I cannot," replied Hawkshaw, with a sullen and hang-dog -expression in his now white and livid face. - -"What--you won't go?" - -"No." - -The captain looked at him with a smile of contempt. - -"Lead the way, captain," said Mr. Scriven Basset, impatiently; for -his ideas of legal prerogative and position were gradually becoming -stronger as he drew near the scene of his future judgeship--the sunny -Isle of France. "I am anxious to see the end of this singular -affair." - -"Oh, most accursed fate!" murmured Hawkshaw, as he sank upon the -stern locker. "All is over with me now!" he added, as Mr. Basset, -the captain, Heriot, and others quitted the cabin, to go forward -between decks, and then every minute that elapsed seemed at least an -hour. - -The cabin appeared to whirl round him like a great revolving -cylinder; there was a confused hum of voices, that seemed to mingle -with the rush of many waters, in his ear. - -Again his former thoughts of suicide occurred to him; but his soul -shrank within him at the idea of self-destruction. A loaded revolver -was close by; he glanced at it with haggard and wistful eyes. One -bullet would enable him to escape the coming shame, and by so doing, -he would gain a triumph--a ghastly victory over them all. - -But then he thought of a suicide's grave in the midnight sea; shot -off a grating to leeward, without even a prayer, and shudderingly he -withdrew his hand, and closing his eyes, muttered, with quivering -lips: - -"No, no--I cannot--I cannot." - -At this moment a soft little hand was laid gently upon his, and -looking up he beheld Ethel Basset. - -Ignorant of all this man's secret life; of his crimes committed in -wild and lawless lands; the wrong and cruelty of which he had been -guilty to herself and to Morley--she surveyed him with something of -pity, and he gazed at her bewildered, and in silence, thinking that -she never looked so lovely as at this terrible moment of his -humiliation and suspense. - -She wore a loose and ample morning wrapper, of white stuff, spotted -with red; it was profusely frilled, and fitted closely round her -delicate throat, and her tapered white arms came softly out from its -wide falling sleeves. A white tasselled cord confined it at the -waist, and she had no ornament about her, save Morley Ashton's ring. - -Turned hastily off her face, and behind her white and handsome ears, -her dark, glossy, and glorious hair fell in a long mass down her -back, and she was knotting it up with her right hand (thus showing to -perfection a smooth white arm and dimpled elbow), while her left, so -soft and small, rested on the hand of Hawkshaw; the hand that only -five minutes before had aimed a death-clutch at the throat of Morley -Ashton. - -She gazed kindly and inquiringly into his pale and agitated face, for -his present wretched and guilty aspect astonished and perplexed her. - -Her colour, always so delicate, was somewhat heightened beyond its -usual roseleaf tint, by the late excitement, and, as we have said, -Hawkshaw, with all his selfishness, with all his guilt and -bloodthirstiness, thought he never beheld her looking so lovely and -so pure as at this, to him, most terrible time. - -She was about to speak, when several footsteps were heard coming -towards the great cabin, on which she retired hastily to her own, and -shut the door. - -"Oh, my God! they are coming to denounce me! Peril--disgrace--ruin, -and no escape but death!" groaned Hawkshaw, covering his eyes with -one hand, while the other fell, by chance--or was it fatality!--on -the cold butt of the loaded revolver. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -UNMASKED. - -The time spent by the captain and his companions in the place where -the four castaways were located must have appeared interminable to -the wretched Hawkshaw, as they remained there fully an hour, for much -had to be inquired into, and much more related and explained. - -Resolved to question, cross-question, sift, and refine, and all -unconscious of the surprise that was awaiting him, Mr. Basset, with -tolerable lawyer-like activity and importance, fussily followed jolly -Captain Phillips, who had one hand stuffed into that pocket of his -pea-jacket which held his revolver, and in the other hand he swung a -ship's lantern. - -To Mr. Basset's unpractised eye, the 'tween decks seemed rather a -dreary den, to say the best of it. It was lower in height, or, to -write more correctly, between beams, than the ship's cabin, and its -furniture was exceedingly simple, consisting only of a small breaker -or gang-cask, and wooden drinking tot, set upon a sea-chest which was -securely lashed to the bulkhead, while a railway rug and poncho -wrapper lay thereby. - -Then his eye caught four queer-looking long bags, that swung by clews -and cleats from the beams longitudinally, and ont of each of the -aforesaid bags a human face was peering, with eyes expressive of -inquiry and interest; but their features could not be discerned, for -all was darkness, or nearly so, except where the light of the lantern -fell. - -"Hallo, my friends," said Captain Phillips, as he held his lantern -up, and took a rapid survey of them all, "so you are awake, I see. -What the deuce has been doing here, that we are all turned up in the -night, or rather the middle of the morning watch, in this way, eh?" - -"I don't understand what it is all about, sir," replied Tom Bartelot; -"but a few minutes ago, in my sleep, I heard a terrible cry." - -"Who was it that bit the gentleman?" asked Phillips, angrily. - -"I did, your honour," replied Noah Gawthrop, looking over the edge of -his hammock, and twitching his grizzled forelock. - -"You--and you acknowledge it!" said the captain, turning towards him -with angry surprise. - -"Yes; and I hope as I have left the marks o' my blessed grinders in -him, that's all." - -"The fellow is mad," said Mr. Basset in an undertone. - -"Do you think so?" - -"Who else would talk thus?" - -"Likely enough, sir," whispered Joe, the steward; "for I heard that -old one this morning saying that he was tormented by a marine -drummer, and shouting for all hands to reef topsails. He seemed to -think himself on board a man-o'-war." - -"A little crazed, perhaps, by recent suffering," suggested Mr. -Basset. "A short sleep may soothe him; but a bite is a serious -offence--a very serious offence." - -"I ain't no more mad than your honour," said Noah, who had overheard -their whispers, and looked up angrily; then he added, in a different -tone, "But--is that you, Captain Phillips--lor' bless you, don't you -mind o' me?" - -"No, I do not," replied the captain, curtly. - -"Not remember old Noah Gawthrop, as sailed for ten year and more with -your brother, Captain Bill, and was wrecked with him in the Straits -of Sunda?" - -"Noah, it is, by Jupiter!" exclaimed Phillips, shaking the old -seaman's hand with genuine warmth. "This is, indeed, strange; 'tis -long since we last met, Noah." - -"Five years ago, if it is a day, since I came home from the West -Ingees, and ran up the Mersey in a old sweating sugar-ship--her -berths aft and bunks for'ard a swarming with bugs and cockroaches, a -crew of Jamaiky darkies, and her lower rigging all alive with -poll-parrots. I see you minds o' me, Captain Phillips--lor' bless -me, in course you does, and know that I am no more mad than yourself, -or my own good captain here, Mr. Thomas Bartelot, of the _Princess_ -as was, poor old craft." - -"Oh, glad to see you, captain," said Phillips, shaking hands with Tom -on this blunt introduction; "and glad too, that we came so -opportunely to save you." - -"Yes," resumed Noah, "I'm the man as saved your nevvy, Master Bill, -when all hands went down in the Straits of Sunda, and I brought the -child home with me, and gave him to yourself, as your honour very -well knows. I was father and mother, dry nurse, and wet nurse, and -everything to that 'ere boy, I was; and many a time I rope's-ended -him, too, for putting plugs o' powder in my 'baccy pipe, or japanning -the starn o' my trousers with new pitch. So you knows me well -enough." - -"Of course I do, Noah, my brave old salt." - -"Of course you does. Ah, sir, your brother, Captain Bill, would -never have been lost, but in passing the straits during a south-east -monsoon, he hugged the coast of Java, with his port tacks aboard, and -so we went bump ashore on a blessed coral reef, where the sea made -clean breaches over us. I made a grab at Master Bill, who was -hauling his pet tom-cat by the tail out o' the wash to leeward, and -then we all crouched under the weather-bulwarks, ready to cut away -the masts, if necessary. But the sea saved us the trouble; for there -came a regular snorer, that carried away the topmasts at the caps, -breaking them sharp off like 'baccy pipes, the midship-house, boats, -and everything went to leeward, while the ship parted, breaking her -back fairly on the reef. I found myself in the dark, swimming away -for the bare life, among sharks and long seaweed, with little Bill -riding on my back like Sinbad's Old Man o' the Sea, and, top of all, -the tom-cat, holding on to Bill with all his claws out. 'Hold on, -you young warmint,' says I, and so he did, until we got ashore, and -next day we were sent off by the Dutch in a queer jigamaree, with a -lateen sail forward, and a dandy in her starn, to a British -man-o'-war, that was bearing through the straits on a taut bowline, -before the same monsoon that finished us off on the coral reef." - -"But why did you bite the man?" asked Captain Phillips, who had -listened with some impatience, returning to the matter in hand. - -"Because he is a pirate, if ever one broke biscuit!' - -"Take care, Noah; he is one of our cabin passengers." - -"I was a watching him, your honour, and I had queer suspicions that -he meant foul play to one of us at least, and so I pretended to -snooze, keeping watch with one eye open, though he did pass the light -twice athwart my face. I saw him, your honour, though he doused the -glim, and I could make out that he was going to strangle--to garotte, -in true Californy style--my shipmate here, young Master Morley -Ashton, who was asleep----" - -"Mr. Morley Ashton!" exclaimed Mr. Basset, in an excited voice, as he -hurried round to the other side of the hammock; "I should like to see -the gentleman who is named so." - -"Surely I should know that voice!" cried Morley, springing up in his -hammock, and almost falling back within it, overwhelmed by -astonishment on finding himself face to face with Mr. Basset--with -the father of Ethel! - -"What is this?--who is this? You, Morley Ashton, on board the -_Hermione_?" exclaimed Mr. Basset, in a gust of genuine bewilderment, -equalled only by that of Morley, who trembled with anticipation and -astonishment, and who felt at his heart a sudden and clamorous joy. -"You one of the four men taken from that melancholy wreck! How came -it to be? Explain--tell me. Good heavens! how? Oh, my poor boy, -Morley, we have long numbered you with the dead, and have mourned for -you as such--none more, believe me, than my dearest girl." - -"Where am I, sir?--what ship is this?" stammered Morley, as a new -light began to break in upon him, while grasping Mr. Basset's hand, -with one arm thrown caressingly round his neck. "Am I on board the -_Hermione_? Has she picked us up--saved us from death?" - -"Yes, sir; this is the _Hermione_, of London," said Captain Phillips, -"too long delayed by contrary winds, and the loss of a mast near the -Canaries." - -"Oh, Morley Ashton," began Mr. Basset, "if you did but know----" - -"Ashton?--Ashton?" interrupted the captain; "are you the gentleman -who was to have sailed with us--who telegraphed for a cabin berth, -and was not forthcoming when we dropped down the river?" - -"I am the same, sir." - -"What came of you? How did you disappear?" - -"I was a victim to the foulest treachery and cowardice!" - -"At the hands of whom?" asked Mr. Basset. - -"Cramply Hawkshaw." - -"What! he whom Gawthrop bit in the dark?" - -"Bit, that I might know him again, your honour, for I warn't strong -enough to grapple with him." - -"And who, he says, attempted to strangle you in your sleep?" asked -Dr. Heriot, coming forward. - -"Hawkshaw here! on board with you--with _her_!" said Morley, in a -faint voice, as certain undefinable, but terrible, suspicions arose -in his mind. - -"Yes; he is with us, a cabin passenger," replied Mr. Basset. - -"Here! here! on board the _Hermione_?" continued Morley, almost -vacantly, for his brain spun round. - -"Yes, sir, in your place," said the captain. - -"Great Heavens!" - -"Your passage was taken out, your berth ready, the money paid; but -you had slipped from your moorings somehow, so he went in your place. -There is nothing very wonderful in that, is there?" - -"He went with Ethel?" said Morley, in a tremulous and imploring voice -to Mr. Basset. - -"He came with me, as the son of my old friend, Tom Hawkshaw, of -Lincoln's Inn, to push his fortune in the Mauritius," said Mr. -Basset, hastily. - -"And Ethel--Ethel?" continued Morley, in a broken voice, while his -eyes filled with tears. - -"Is well, though she has mourned for you deeply," replied Mr. Basset. -"But pray be calm, my poor boy. How terribly agitated you are! Do -not doubt her, or misunderstand me." - -"And I shall see her--see her again?" - -"Very soon--in ten minutes, perhaps." - -"Oh, this is indeed happiness," sighed Morley, sinking back in his -hammock. "Heaven is kind--most singularly merciful to me. But -Hawkshaw--that wretch!" he added, starting up with new energy. "Oh, -Ethel must shun, avoid and loathe him, for she knows not that he is -an assassin!" - -"How an assassin?" - -"Or one who would be such." - -"A regular-built pirate, and no mistake--a rascally Californy -piccaroon!" added Noah, with sundry adjectives, which we feel the -propriety of omitting. - -"Aye, Mr. Basset, as Douglas Jerrold says, 'he is a scoundrel, who -would whet a knife on his father's tombstone to kill his mother.' -Oh, you know him not as I too surely, too truly, and too well know -him, and all of which he is capable." - -"These are severe and sweeping assertions. Explain this enigma--this -most unaccountable affair." - -"You remember, Mr. Basset, the night of my sudden disappearance from -Laurel Lodge?" - -"I shall never forget it. You had gone to Acton station, concerning -a telegram from London." - -"Concerning a berth in this very ship!" - -"Yes." - -"Returning alone, I met Cramply Hawkshaw, who entered into -conversation with me, offered me a cigar, gradually lured me to the -summit of the rocks above the Chine. There we sat listening to the -village chimes in the old church tower, chatting, smoking, and -enjoying the pleasant breeze from the Bristol Channel, till he, -inspired by rivalry, jealousy, and hate, or by some fiendish -combination of them all, at a moment when I was completely off my -guard, by one furious blow struck me over the cliff into the Chine!" - -"The Chine--oh, my God!" said Mr. Basset, in a voice that sank low -with horror. "We came to look for you, Cramply and I, for he said -that he had seen you walking there, and certainly we found marks of a -struggle--the gravel dislodged, and the turf torn. You fell into the -sea of course, but from that height! How--by what miracle did you -escape?" - -"A miracle, a narrow chance indeed! A turf-covered ledge received -me, and there for many, many hours, more than a night and a day, I -remained sleepless, and scarcely daring to move, chilled less perhaps -by the cold sea-breeze than by the horror of drowning if I rolled off -the narrow shelf, of dying slowly by starvation and falling a prey to -the sea-birds at last, till I was saved by my friend Captain -Bartelot, whose vessel passed below me." - -Excited by the memory of all he had undergone, Morley's voice -faltered and grew weak as he spoke. - -"Yes, sir," said Bartelot, striking in, "we chanced to see a human -figure perched up among the gulls and cormorants, so we made a longer -tack close in shore, and sent off a boat's crew, who climbed to the -top of the rocks and hove him the end of a line. He was then towed -up, and being quite insensible, Morrison, my mate, brought him on -board. So, being outward bound--a storm having been signalled by -Admiral Fitzroy, and beginning to break white in the offing, we had -no time for backing and filling, or chopping about the rocky shore at -Acton--I stood right down the Channel, intending to put him aboard -the first suitable ship. We never overhauled any but foreigners, so -we took him with us to Rio. He has often been well-nigh out of his -mind sometimes, sir, about--I may be pardoned mentioning her -name--Miss Basset; but he was in safe hands with me, sir, his old -schoolfellow, Tom Bartelot." - -"A strange and terrible story!" exclaimed Dr. Heriot. - -"Poor Ethel, Morley," said Mr. Basset; "oh, what she has endured, and -in silence, too!" - -"I can know that well, by what I, too, endured. Dear, dear Ethel; -and I shall see her----" - -"So soon as she can be wisely informed of the great surprise, of the -great joy, that await her. But that fellow, Hawkshaw--the fact of -how I have been duped, deluded, and disgraced by the pretended -friendship of such a man, falls like a thunderbolt upon me!" -exclaimed good, easy Mr. Scriven Basset, with more energy than he was -wont to exhibit, "and to think of my poor, sweet, and virtuous girls -being contaminated by the society of such a man, and my secluded home -being polluted by his presence, though sheltered there under the name -of his good and worthy father! Damme! it's enough to make one -suspicious of all mankind!" - -Mr. Basset thrust one hand into his breast, and the other under the -tails of his coat, and trod to and fro the whole length of the -'tween-decks, about twelve feet or so, swelling and reddening with -just ire and indignation. - -Bartelot, Morrison, and Gawthrop added many details corroborating the -remarkable escape of Morley from Acton Chine, and descriptive of his -mental sufferings during the voyage to Rio de Janeiro; and by the -time this interview, so full of stirring interest to all concerned in -it, was over, and the captain and his companions had quitted the -'tween-decks, a new day had dawned, the sun was rising brightly from -the sea, and throwing the shadow of the lofty _Hermione_ far astern -upon the gleaming waters to the westward. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -THE EXPULSION. - -Hawkshaw's hand, as we have stated, fell unconsciously on the loaded -revolver which lay by his side, but was instantly withdrawn. - -He had not the courage to die by his own hand, in the fashion to -which the old Romans were so partial in all their griefs and -difficulties. He looked up with a half-haggard and half-bullying or -defiant expression, as Captain Phillips, Mr. Quail, the doctor, and -Mr. Basset entered the cabin. - -The latter gave him a long, steady, and withering glance, and after -knocking at the door of Ethel's little cabin or state-room, entered -it hastily. Then the varying exclamations of astonishment and joy -which were heard within it sounded as additional knells of -disgrace--they might be those of death to Cramply Hawkshaw; and now, -after surveying him long and sternly, Captain Phillips addressed him -with great deliberation. - -Hawkshaw found himself regarded with horror and aversion, but no -ashes of fire were heaped upon his miserable head, for the good, -jolly captain was the only person who spoke. - -"Sir, give me up that revolver." - -Hawkshaw seemed to be stunned, and did not reply. - -"The revolver, sir; do you hear me?" - -"Why?" - -"Never mind why or wherefore--they matter little now." - -"I thought that we were all armed for a particular purpose." - -Captain Phillips smiled bitterly. - -"Yes," said he; "but you can be no longer trusted with arms on board -my ship." - -"Indeed!" said Hawkshaw, who knew not very well whether to cringe or -bully, and pondered in his desperation. - -"Yes; so surrender your arms. I'm an easy-going fellow, but one who -won't be trifled with, for all that. Your revolver!" - -Hawkshaw reluctantly handed Captain Phillips the loaded weapon. - -"Thank you. Now, sir, I must inform you that we have had a long -interview with the men in the 'tween-decks--those whom you so kindly -undertook to watch, though such a duty was scarcely necessary--and -after the revelations they have made, but chiefly after the account -given of you by Mr. Morley Ashton--you wince at the name, I see--you -can no longer remain in the cabin of the _Hermione_." - -"Revelations! Did I not say that one--one at least--of these men was -mad?" - -"You shall not be sent forward," continued the captain, "among my -crew, however congenial some of their spirits may be." - -"What, then?" asked Hawkshaw, with undisguised alarm. - -"You shall be secluded between decks till the end of the voyage, or -be sent on shore at the first land we make, in the hope that we may -never see you more." - -"At the Cape of Good Hope?" asked Hawkshaw eagerly. - -"I do not mean to touch at the Cape now, as we are so far to the -southward of it," replied the captain, little foreseeing that this -information was to have a fatal influence over all on board. - -"Sir," replied Hawkshaw, gathering courage for a moment, "may I -remind you that my passage to the Isle of France----" - -"Is paid for, you would say?" - -"Yes--_carambi_!" - -"By Mr. Ashton's money. Ha! ha! I have known of a man being -marooned on a rock in the Gulf of Florida--aye, or set adrift on a -hencoop, or in a punt, with three biscuits and a bottle of water, in -the middle of the South Pacific--a poor devil who was far less -criminal than you. I would to Heaven we had never seen you. No ship -with such a thorough-bred rascal on board could hope for a prosperous -voyage; and," continued the captain angrily, as his professional -superstitions came to memory, "the fact of having you with us -sufficiently accounts for the loss of our foremast after passing the -Madeira Isles, for the mysterious loss of poor Manfredi, and the head -winds we have uniformly encountered. Why, damme! we might as well -have had a parson, or an undocked Tom cat aboard. Seclusion from -among us is a punishment slight indeed for the crimes of which you -have been guilty, but chiefly for your double and dastardly attempts -upon the life of that young gentleman. You understand me, sir." - -"I understand only, Captain Phillips, that your mind has been -poisoned by a parcel of infamous falsehoods, which, on the first -shore we make, I shall ram down the throat of him who uttered them -with a pistol-bullet!" - -"I hope the person referred to will not be such a confounded donkey -as to exchange shots with a convicted assassin," replied Phillips. - -"Assassin! I--I--I----" - -Choking with sudden and uncontrollable passion, Hawkshaw sprang up -from the locker, his bloodshot eyes flashing with fire, his face pale -and haggard, the veins of his temples swollen like whipcord, and his -heart stung with the idea that Ethel in her little cabin could hear -all that passed. His voice, husky and inarticulate, failed him, but -his bearing was so threatening that Captain Phillips cocked the -revolver pistol, and said, sternly: - -"If you attempt to strike me, I will shoot you down like a gull. -Quit the cabin this instant, and if you would keep your heels out of -the bilboes, never let me find you aft the break of the quarterdeck." - -Hawkshaw's hands were opened and clenched convulsively, as if his -fingers twitched for an object to grapple with, and on which to vent -the pent-up rage and shame that consumed him; yet he found that he -had no resource but to submit and retire, so he slowly left the -cabin, but with an air of defiance which so ill became him, and so -ill befitted his present predicament, that Phillips, the mate, and -doctor, knew not whether to pity or laugh at him. - -But the whole episode was a painful one, as they could not forget, at -this climax of his humiliation, that this man, so summarily disgraced -and cast forth from among them as an unclean thing, had been for so -many months their companion and associate, their friend, and, to all -appearance, their equal. - -He repaired to the quarter-deck, and the cool breeze that swept over -the morning sea gratefully fanned his flushed face and throbbing -brow. For a time he was blind with rage, and trod mechanically to -and fro over the very cabin wherein Ethel and Rose (now filled with -tumultuous joy by the strange tidings their father had brought them, -were making a hurried toilette); till the appearance of Mr. Quail, -who came to relieve the deck, to call the watch, to change the -helmsman, and have the log hove, recalled the stern order of Captain -Phillips, and, descending the break of the quarter-deck, he went -sullenly forward--a proscribed man. - -As he did so a mocking laugh met his ear. - -It came from Pedro Barradas--who had just relieved the wheel, and -who, being ignorant of the events that had transpired in the cabin, -naturally supposed that Hawkshaw had, as usual, quitted the -quarter-deck to avoid him. - -For a moment this laugh stung him deeply; but many emotions were -conflicting in his breast on this miserable morning, so that he -scarcely felt anger at Barradas. - -He had passed a sleepless night; but no sensation of weariness felt -he, as he clambered into the fore-rigging, and sat there to consider -his position--to watch the inmates of the cabin, and to avoid the -crew, until he could conceal himself somewhere for the night. - -Oh, how he longed for its friendly shadow and concealment--longed for -it, while the beams of the morning sun gilded all the sea, and lit up -the full swelling sails of the _Hermione_. - -Feverish, and madly excited by the many emotions which had convulsed -him since the moment in which he recognised the sleeping Morley -Ashton, and more especially by the terrible and wicked thoughts of -the past night, a longing for vengeance, or victory, rather--victory -at any risk or price--filled his heart, till he nearly became mad, -when thoughts of his rival's safety, restoration, and triumph were -contrasted with his own exposure, expulsion, and disgrace. - -The crew, among whom he dared not venture, would soon learn the whole -story, and, knowing alike their reckless character and their -nefarious projects, he already felt, by anticipation, the sharp -stings of their fierce and brutal mockery, and the coming vengeance -of those he had contemptuously ignored--the Barradas. - -"Why did I not put a bullet through my head before old Phillips took -away my pistol?" thought he. "Had I done so, by this time, perhaps, -I would have been peacefully at rest below the surface of that blue -and shining sea, instead of being perched up here, a moody wretch--a -miserable and disappointed outcast." - -Slowly, slowly the sunny morning wore on. - -He heard Joe the steward's bell--once a welcome sound--rung for -breakfast. The smoking ham and eggs, broiled chicken, tea and -coffee, were borne from the steaming galley, aft to the cabin; he -knew that the whole party, with their familiar faces, would be -assembled at table as usual; and others, too, he shrewdly -anticipated, would be there. Nor was he mistaken; for all the four -castaways were so much better this morning, notwithstanding the -recent disturbance, that they had quitted their hammocks, with the -intention of coming on deck. - -Perhaps they had already begun to feel that necessity which so soon -impresses the sick or ailing on board of ship--the expediency of -getting well as soon as possible (especially in such a ship as the -_Hermione_); for, after a time, there is but little sympathy to spare -for useless hands, either fore or aft; "an overstrained sense of -manliness being the characteristic of seafaring men, or rather of -life on board ship." - -Apart from these considerations, and being bodily better, the -knowledge that Ethel Basset was only separated from him by a few -planks worked a miracle upon Morley Ashton. - -Their sodden and surf-beaten rags had all been thrown overboard, so -Morley was attired from the wardrobe of Dr. Heriot; the others were -supplied by the captain and Mr. Basset; and the appearance of Noah -Gawthrop, when rigged out in a black swallow-tailed dress coat, -belonging to the latter gentleman, with gilt buttons, and lappels of -watered silk, an old crimson velvet waistcoat, an ample pair of dark -tartan trowsers, and a sou'-wester of Mr. Quail's, was unique, and -excited considerable speculation when he came on deck. - -Forgetting his "landlubber-like toggery," with sailor-like instinct, -Noah cast his eyes aloft, and critically surveyed all the rigging, -and a smile, that puckered up the wrinkles of his old face, showed -that the result of his scrutiny was satisfactory. - -His remarkably ill-favoured visage was in no way improved by a patch -of black sticking-plaster, with which Dr. Heriot had covered a cut on -the bridge of his copper-coloured nose, the result of Hawkshaw's -random blow in the matutinal row between decks. - -Descending the break of the quarter-deck, Noah went forward, to get -his breakfast with the crew, concerning whom the officers of the ship -deemed it yet unwise to give him any warning. - -He had considerably recovered his strength, and was eagerly welcomed -by the seamen as he walked forward, and all gathered in a group about -him in the break of the deck at the forecastle bunks, clamorous to -hear his yarn about the loss of his ship--where she was from, where -bound to, what she was loaded with, and so forth--to hear all about -himself, and, though recorded last, not the least exciting topic on -which they wished enlightenment, was the cry that had come from -between decks in the first hour of the morning watch. - -Noah, seated on the barrel of the windlass, with a tin mug of -scalding hot coffee, together with a slice of salt junk, and Quaco's -"plum-duff," after denouncing the tea and arrowroot of Joe the -steward, proceeded to give, in his own fashion, a rambling narrative -of all the recent events in which he had borne a part. - -The words which he uttered did not reach the ear of Hawkshaw, in his -lofty perch; but suddenly all eyes were simultaneously cast aloft to -where he sat near the sling of the foreyard, and Noah threateningly -shook his clenched hand at him, while a roar of mocking laughter from -the crew--that bitter laughter which he so long dreaded--filled his -heart with rage and spite, that he nearly fell from his seat among -his tormentors. - -For a time, it seemed as if all these villainous upturned faces--the -thick, African nose and sausage-like lips of Quaco, the glittering -eyes and olive face of Zuares Barradas, the hideous squat form of -Sharkey--a wretch with the life of Manfredi to atone for--Badger, -with his sunken orbs and great square jaw; Bolter, the -unhealthy-looking Canadian, and all the rest--had been turned into -mocking fiends, who would yet drive him to more desperate deeds, for -he was now expelled, cast forth from among those with whom he had -associated, without a prospect of return, or a hope of retrieving -himself. - -"Is not life altogether a long comedy," says some one, "with Fate for -the stage-manager, and Passion, Inclination, Love, Hate, Revenge, -Ambition, Avarice, by turns, in the prompter's box?" - -Hawkshaw felt bitterly in his soul that his life had been a tragedy, -in which the evil passions alone had played their parts by turns, and -sometimes all together. - -What would the last scene of that tragedy be? - -"Hallo, foretop there!" cried Bill Badger, the tall, lantern-jawed, -and odious Yankee. "Well, capting, I guess you're chawed up rayther. -Thunder and lightning! come, ship with us in the little game we've -got in hand. Jine us; you carn't do better now; and who knows but -you may get your gal with the black shiners, after all?" - -"_El cuchillo primero!_ (My knife first)" said Zuares Barradas, -touching the haft of his Albacete knife with ferocious significance. - -Honest Noah opened his eyes very wide at these singular remarks, -which were followed by another roar of brutal laughter. On this, -Hawkshaw, to get, if possible, beyond the reach of their -conversation, trembling in every limb with rage, and with a strange -blindness coming over his sight, as the old clamorous ferocity -gathered in his soul, while feeling that the mocking words had not -been uttered in vain--as they suggested certain ideas of probable -vengeance on his exposers--proceeded to climb farther up the rigging, -until he perched himself on the fore-crosstrees, his past experience -having made him seaman enough to achieve this. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE MEETING. - -How shall I describe the almost mute meeting between Ethel Basset and -Morley Ashton? or shall I omit it altogether? - -Instinctively, and with proper good taste, all in the cabin left them -to themselves for a time; and even Rose--the saucy and impulsive -Rose--who looked just as Morley had last seen her when playing at -croquet in Acton Chase, with her pretty straw hat, her green zouave -jacket, and tiny bronzed Balmoral boots, after rushing back to give -him one kiss more, tripped upstairs on deck to join the doctor. - -Mr. Basset had managed to break the matter--the vast secret--to Ethel -skilfully and gently, by saying that the wrecked men could afford -some information concerning Morley Ashton; that they knew where he -was, that one had seen him lately, that he was alive and well, and so -forth. Thus there was no scene, no screaming, no fainting for joy, -and certainly no dying of that pleasant emotion. Such a climax as -the latter would have put the narrator of these events very much -about indeed, for, our story being a true one, this little romantic -portion of it dovetails with the rest--rather flatly, perhaps, -because it is _true_. - -For a time neither could exactly "realise" (to use a good -Americanism) that they were reunited--Ethel, that Morley lived; -Morley, that he should so suddenly find himself by the side of her -whom he had been pursuing through the deep, reunited, and on board -the _Hermione_, of London. - -Again and again she fell upon his breast, repeating, in a voice that -was almost breathless, but exquisitely touching: - -"My darling--oh, my darling! can this be possible? Is this reality?" - -Their poor hearts were too full to permit much to be said; nor would -it be fair to them, or interesting to others, to rehearse all the -little that they did say then. But how much had they to ask, to -relate, to explain, and to deplore? - -Morley had undergone so much, he had seen so many strange faces, and -places too--Rio de Janeiro, with bay, mountains, and isles; Tristan -d'Acunha, with its cliffs and mighty cone; Diego Alvarez, with its -sea-elephants and fur seals; the Island of the Hermit, with its -strange story of old Don Pedro de Barradas. He had encountered, -moreover, so many gales of wind, the wreck, with all its contingent -woes and horrors, and so forth, that Laurel Lodge, and Ethel's face, -figure, and whole image had seemed ten years off--at least, ten years -appeared to have elapsed since their sudden separation. - -To poor Ethel the intervening blank had seemed greater, for Morley -had lived with hope, while she had none; and, to understand and -conceive her utter bewilderment, we must bear in mind all she had -undergone. - -The sudden and unaccountable disappearance of Morley, and the -supposed mode of his death (for it was only supposed, after all), had -occasioned a more bitter sorrow, a keener and more protracted agony, -than she could have endured by weeping at his deathbed, and -afterwards knowing that he was at rest in a grave she could see, -where she might plant flowers and drop her tears. - -To have seen him borne forth from Laurel Lodge to Acton churchyard, -amid all the real and paid-for pageantry of woe, would have been -actual contentment, when contrasted with all she had suffered--doubt, -uncertainty, despair! - -Oh, she felt how deeply she must loathe Hawkshaw as the author of all -their woe! - -But now Morley was beside her, with her hands in his, looking -lovingly into her loving eyes, drinking in her murmured words, -sitting close, very close, to her, so this reunion was as stunning -and bewildering in its own way as their separation had been. - -They were dearer to each other now by a thousand degrees than ever -they were before, even after Morley's absence in Africa. - -"It is good sometimes to be absent," says a graceful writer, -truthfully; "better still to be dead, as regards our own -imperfections and our equally imperfect friends. How they rise up -and praise us for virtues we never possessed, and benignly pardon us -for sins we never committed. How tender over our memories grow those -who, living, worried our lives out, and might do so again, if we were -alive, to-morrow." - -They had none of those upbraiding thoughts to recall. Can it be -reality, this happiness? was the uppermost idea in both their minds. - -It was indeed Ethel whose head reclined upon his breast. She was -changed since last they met at peaceful Laurel Lodge, among its -rose-bowers, its giant laurels and stately sycamores; and yet how -lovely she was--lovelier even now than then. - -Long grieving had imparted a sweet Madonna-like sadness to the soft -features; her cheeks were thin, and Morley's affectionate eye could -see two white hairs amid the deep black braiding of the young girl's -head; and he saw, too, that her broad, low brow, had an impress of -care and sorrow--sorrow for him, even now, when her dark eyes were -flashing through their tears of joy. - -It was indeed she, that beloved one, whose name he had so dotingly -murmured to himself a thousand times, in the lonely watches of the -night, when treading the ship's deck under the sparkling stars of the -tropics, when the glorious planets of the Southern Cross--fabled by -the devout mariners of the old Spanish Argosies to be "a brooch taken -from the breast of the blessed _Madre de Dios_"--looked close and -nigh, so close as to cast the ship's shadow on the rolling waters. - -It was she whom he had imagined in those wild dreams by day, when the -dreams of the waking are wilder by far than those of the sleeper. - -She was beside him again, and they were hand in hand as of old, eye -bent on eye, lip meeting lip. Ethel, his own Ethel--after all they -had undergone--was beside him, so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that it -seemed indeed a dream, or like a set scene, the plot or conception of -a sensational romance or playwright--a trafficker in plots, -contrivances, and _situations_. - -It was so, and truth proved stronger than fiction after all! - -And so, forgetful of others, forgetful assuredly of breakfast, till -Joe in the steerage and Quaco in the galley were in despair about the -eggs and coffee, they would have sat till the sun that now shone -through amber clouds so merrily ahead to the eastward had beamed his -farewell rays in crimson through the stern-windows from the westward, -had not Joe's bell, rung vigorously and impatiently for the third -time, brought the whole party, including Mr. Foster, who had no -sympathy whatever for lovers, and who felt famished, having had -charge of the deck since 4 to 8 A.M.--the morning watch--and it was -now half-past 10, alike by his appetite and the captain's chronometer. - -All oblivious of the unhappy wretch who was "chewing the cud of sweet -and bitter fancy" aloft in the fore-crosstrees (where the swaying of -the mast made the rolling of the ship seem so much greater than -below) jovial indeed was the party which assembled at the sound of -Joe's bell, and how curly-headed Joe's honest English face shone as -he handed round coffee and tea, with whipped eggs for cream, or as he -skipped about with hot water, and handed to the ladies preserves in -tin cans, midshipmen's nuts and American biscuits in a silver -bread-barge, a spotless white towel thrown over the sleeve of his -round jacket the while, for Joe was something of a hybrid, half -waiter and half seaman. - -Under the cheering influence of Ethel's presence Morley's features -soon became less haggard, and the keen, hawk-like expression of his -dark eyes--an expression the result of suffering, danger, and of -being long menaced by death--rapidly softened and passed away. - -But with breakfast untasted, or feigning only to partake thereof, -Ethel, pale and feverish, sat like one in a dream. - -For this sudden restoration of Morley to life and to her, as it would -seem from the bosom of the deep--from the greedy waves of that vast -ocean which they had been traversing for more than three months--was -more difficult of realisation than the horror of his disappearance -and of his supposed dreadful death. - -But she, and Rose too, seemed so forgetful of every one present, save -Morley, that worthy young Dr. Leslie Heriot, F.R.C.S.E., actually -envied him--envied the earlier intimacy he could claim with these two -charming sisters, and felt almost jealous of the deep interest they -evinced for our poor waif of the sea. - -"And so you are indeed Miss Ethel Basset?" said Tom Bartelot, -surveying the lovely girl with honest admiration and kindliness, when -he was introduced to her. - -"I am, sir," replied Ethel, smiling at his manner; "and a very old -friend of Mr. Ashton's." - -"I can scarcely regret the loss of my ship, the poor _Princess_" said -Tom, gallantly, "or my own suffering and misfortune, when I consider -that all have been but the means to a happy end." - -"Sir?" said Ethel, blushing a little, and looking down. "You -mean----" - -"That they have been the means of bringing you and my old chum and -schoolfellow, Mr. Ashton, together again," continued Tom, blundering -still more by his straightforward inferences. - -"You are very kind, sir, in saying so," replied Ethel, as her colour -came and went. - -"That poor lad loves you as his very life," continued Tom, warming -with his subject; "aye, far beyond it, for, when compared with you, -he don't value it more than a bit of old rope-yarn! Many an hour has -he walked the deck by my side, speaking of you, and praising you; and -even when he didn't speak, by his silence and his sighs, I knew well -enough that he was thinking all the deeper." - -"My poor Morley?" said Ethel, who heard all this with joyous tears in -her eyes. - -As soon as they came on deck, Noah Gawthrop presented himself in his -peculiar attire, the black dress-coat and crimson vest, and doffing -his sou'-wester at the break of the quarter-deck, twitched his -grizzled forelock, and beckoned Morley. - -"Mr. Ashton," said he, in a stage whisper, "wot's this I hear forward -among that rum lot in the fok'stle?" - -"Really, Noah, I cannot say. What have you heard?" - -"Why, sir, they says as your sweetheart, Miss Basset--she you were -always raving about on the wreck--is aboard o' this here craft." - -"Yes, Noah, she is," replied Morley, laughing. - -"Is that dainty little 'un her?" - -"Which?" - -"She with the pork-pie hat, red stockings, and red cheeks, the -jigamaree jacket, and crinnyline?" said Noah. - -"No; the taller lady." - -"Smite my timbers! A regular-built stunner! Wot a wonderful -coinsiddins!--wot a cannondrum! as the player chaps say, when they go -bouncing about to the fiddles and blue fire!" - -"It is destiny, Noah." - -"Jest wot they says too! Well, I have given over sweethearting now; -but I have shared my pay with many o' that sort o' ware in my time. -The best of 'em all--here's her photograff done in gunpowder by the -cook's mate of the _Haurora_, as we were a working out of the harbour -of Odessa. Many a mouthful of salt-water I've swallowed, and many a -whistling Dick I've heard since that was done," said Noah, pointing -to the tattooing visible on his breast when his check shirt was open. -"But won't you introdooce me as an old shipmate? 'Mornin' marm, -'mornin'," he added, sweeping the deck with his sou'-wester, as Ethel -came frankly forward; "I'm one o' them as took Mr. Ashton off the -cliffs, and sailed with him to Rio Janairey, in South 'Meriky, in the -old _Princess_ as was." - -"Indeed--oh, I am most happy to see you, sir," replied Ethel. - -"Call me Noah, marm--Noah Gawthrop; I ain't used to being sir'd," -said he, smoothing down his gray hair. - -"Well, my good friend Noah," said Ethel, her eyes beaming, as she -presented her little white hand to Gawthrop, who looked at his own -hard palm, rubbed it well on his trousers as if to clean it, and then -shook hers gently and kindly, not crushing it up as the tars do -invariably in the play. - -"Such a dear old thing it is!" said Rose, laughing, as she observed -this interview. - -"I've made a man of him for you, Miss Ethel--I knows your name, you -see; one couldn't be long with Mr. Ashton, keeping watch and watch, -without finding out that--but I have made a man of him for you, marm. -He wasn't worth a tobacco-stopper at first; but I've taught him to -becket a royal, and send it down, yard and all, in a stiff topgallant -breeze, or a regular squall; to slush a mast from the truck-head -downward; to haul out to leeward when on the yard-arm, and if that -ain't summut towards making him a good husband for you, and one as -will, through the voyage of life, keep a firm hand on your rudder, -and trim you nicely by the starn, I don't know wot is." - -Noah's praises and rough congratulations were unintelligible to -Ethel; but as they were calculated to excite laughter, and as some of -his adjectives applicable to the "shark up aloft in the -fore-cross-trees" were neither elegant nor euphonious, he was -speedily sent forward by Tom Bartelot. - -Rose, perceiving that Ethel was deadly pale, for the events of the -morning proved rather too much for her strength, took her below for a -little time, by Mr. Basset's suggestion. Morley affectionately, and -tenderly handed her down the companion-stair--not a glance of his the -while, not an emotion or movement being unnoticed by Hawkshaw, who, -like a hawk, or rather like a tree-tiger robbed of his prey, was -still perched alone in the fore-crosstrees. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -THE CORPSE-LICHT. - -As Morley turned away from the companion, he was confronted by his -old friend Morrison, the mate of the defunct _Princess_. The -Scotsman's honest face was radiant with pleasure, and grasping -Morley's hand, he congratulated him warmly on the sudden change that -a few hours had made in all his plans and prospects. - -"No use in thinking of Tasmania now, or calculating the chances of -finding a ship for the Isle of France, and all that, Mr. Ashton, eh?" -said Morrison, laughing. - -"Thank Heaven, no," said Morley, as they descended the break of the -quarter-deck, and went to windward, near the main-rigging; "so great -has been the alteration in all our affairs, that I can scarcely -believe I was the poor doomed wretch of a few hours ago. Another -night on that wreck would have seen us all dead men, Morrison." - -Then Morley thought how strange it would have been if the ship, with -Ethel on board, had passed the wreck, on board of which he was lying -dead, and there was no voice to inform them of his fate, and the -terrible mystery involving it. - -"And you will be getting married now, Mr. Ashton," said Morrison, -after a pause. - -"Married!" repeated Morley, with astonishment; "where--where--here -upon the open sea?" - -"No; but when we are all landed at the Mauritius, where I shall have -to look out for another ship, and, perhaps, may have to work my way -home before the mast, for home to Scotland I must get somehow; and -before the mast----" - -"You shall never go in that fashion, Morrison, if I can help it; but -as for my being married to Miss Basset"--Morley felt his cheek flush -and his heart flutter at the thought--"that is an event which is -somewhat distant yet, and must be so, till fortune--the old -story--smiles on me." - -"That I am sorry to hear," replied the Scotsman; "what says poor -Robbie Burns, in one of the sweetest of his songs?-- - - "'Oh, why should Fate sic pleasure have, - Life's dearest bonds untwining? - And why sae sweet a flower as love - Depend on fortune's shining?' - -Well, Mr. Ashton, hap what may, though our path in life and our homes -will aye be far apart, I'll never forget the days we have spent -together; and miserable enough some of them have been latterly," -continued Morrison, who was a warm-hearted and impulsive fellow, and -whose keen gray eyes grew moist as he spoke; "and so, as I said, hap -what may, you shall always have the best wishes of poor Bill -Morrison, though a sailor has seldom more to give, unless it be a -quid from his tobacco-box, or a share of his grog on pay-day." - -"Fortune may go and hang herself," said Morley; "she has never -favoured me till now." - -"Perhaps she thought such a good-looking fellow might be left to -shift for himself," replied Morrison, laughing. "I once heard the -song I have just quoted sung by a girl, whose story was a very -strange one. She was separated from her lover by adverse -circumstances, and though they never met again in life, they repose -now in the same grave." - -"Another of your melancholy yarns, Bill?" - -"Well, it isn't lively. Shall I tell it to you?" - -"Yes, please. Miss Basset is still below." - -"I had entered on board the _Clyde_, a Greenock ship bound for -Tasmania. I was but a third mate then, and that post, you know, is -only a trifle better than being before the mast. She had several -emigrants, and among them was a man named Udny, with his wife and a -daughter whom I heard them call Hester. - -"There was with them a good-looking young fellow from the shore, a -shepherd apparently, for he wore a checked tweed suit with a Border -plaid, and a broad blue bonnet. He was evidently not going the -voyage; but he continued to hover about Hester Udny with a sad and -dreary expression of face, and I could see that the girl's eyes were -red and sore with weeping. - -"She was a bonnie, fair-haired Scotch lassie. That the pair were -lovers we could all see, and we knew that they were about to be -separated for ever, perhaps, as her parents, poor and expatriated -cotters, were going to find a new home in Tasmania. The lad was -poorer still, and had to remain behind in the old country. - -"My heart bled for them, and from time to time I could not restrain -the inclination to observe them, as they sat, hand in hand, oblivious -of the noisy throng about them, and the coarse jests of the -cargo-puddlers, dock-porters, and especially of the sailors, each of -whom volunteered to replace her sweetheart on the voyage. - -"Twilight came on as we began to cast off the warps, and were towed -down the river by a tug-steamer, so quickly, that the lights of -Greenock soon twinkled out amid the haze and smoke astern. - -"The sun had set, but the red flush of the departed day lingered -brightly beyond the dark peaks of the Argyleshire mountains that look -down on the Gairloch, the Holy Loch, so solemn and still, and many -another place that I can see in memory yet, and that I often saw in -dreams when we were floating on the wreck. - -"The lad was to go back, among a few other shore people, in the -tug-steamer. I heard the girl sobbing as if her heart would break -when she heard the order given for them to quit the ship, as we were -preparing to cast off the towline and loosening the topsails out of -the bunt. I was sent forward with a gang to cat and fish the best -bower anchor, and hoist it over the bows on board. When again I went -aft, sail had been made on the ship; the tug-steamer had disappeared -in the obscurity astern, and the sad girl was sitting alone, with her -eyes fixed on the lights that glistened in the castle of Dumbarton. - -"We had been for some days at sea before the girl came on deck. She -looked pale, wan, and thin--worn almost to a shadow with mental -suffering and sea-sickness; and the close atmosphere of a crowded -steerage was as poison to one accustomed from infancy to the green -lanes and wooded hills of Cydesdale. All pitied her forlorn -appearance, and even the roughest sailor did not jest with her now. - -"One evening she remained longer on deck than usual. I had the -wheel; the ship was running before the wind with topgallant-sails, -lower and topmast stun'sails set. The air was mild and the stars -shone clearly and brightly amid amber to the westward and the blue in -the zenith. - -"With her head muffled in a plaid, Hester Udny was seated near me; -but I had my attention mostly fixed upon the binnacle. There was -silence fore and aft, and silence on the sea, when I heard the poor -lassie singing to herself in a sweet, low voice, that song of Burns', -and the notes became full of pathos fit the lines: - - "'Oh why should Fate sic pleasure have, - Life's dearest bonds untwining? - And why sae sweet a flower as love - Depend on fortune's shining?' - - -"Suddenly she uttered a cry, and springing to me, grasped my arm. -Her plaid or shawl had fallen back, and her fine golden-coloured hair -was all in disorder; her eyes, which were a deep blue, were -unnaturally bright and dilated, and their gaze was fixed wildly upon -a part of the deck just aft the mainmast. - -"'Sailor--sailor; oh, man, man, do you see that?' she asked, in tones -of terror. - -"'What?' said I. - -"'A flame rising up through the deck, and growing higher every -moment.' - -"'Flame?' I repeated; 'there is no flame.' - -"'Fire--it is not fire; it is the figure of a man--head, shoulders, -arms, and hands--flame, all flame, pale blue, wavering, and -indistinct!' - -"'Nonsense, lassie, you are demented,' said I. - -"'And you don't see it, sailor--you don't see it?' she continued, -wildly. - -"'No, my poor lassie,' said I; 'your eyesight must deceive you.' - -"'Oh, heaven!' she shrieked, in a voice that brought all who were -below tumbling up the hatches as if the ship were going down. 'Can I -be going mad? It is like the figure of my Willie!' - -"She fell senseless on the deck, and was carried below. - -"This alleged apparition caused great speculation, and, as we had -several emigrants from the Western Highlands on board, no small -degree of terror, so that part of the deck abaft the mainmast was -always watched narrowly and suspiciously; but neither flame nor -figure saw we, though Hester afterwards asserted that one of the -watch, who heard her cry, and hastened to assist her, passed -_through_ the figure, which wavered as he did so, but again resumed -its luminous form. - -"A fortnight elapsed before she was brought on deck again; and I must -own to being shocked at the change in her appearance. Her keen blue -eyes seemed unnaturally large and sunken, with dark rings round them, -and her poor, thin, transparent hands trembled as she muffled her -plaid or shawl over her head, when the watch on deck hastened to make -a comfortable seat of old sails for her under the lee of the bulwark. - -"Fearing a repetition of what had occurred before, her father and -mother insisted on taking her below when twilight approached; but, -urged by some undefinable feeling or emotion, she lingered longer -than she should have done. - -"We were now in latitudes where the sun sets quickly, the dusk comes -on as rapidly, and heavily falls the dew. - -"Hester Udny, pale as a spectre, was soon observed to fix her eyes -upon that portion of the deck abaft the mainmast where she had seen -the apparition, with a wild, but steady and deliberate gaze, as if -fascinated; and then, in faint and tremulous accents, she declared -that the figure of flame was again visible, pale and luminous, -sometimes turning from amber to blue, and becoming hazy; that beyond -it, or through it, she could see the line of the ship's bulwark, and -the shrouds of the mainmast, as if it was transparent. - -"To undeceive her, the captain passed and repassed the place, going -each time, as she said, amid her cries, completely through the -figure, unsinged, unhurt, and all unconscious that he was doing so. - -"She swooned, and was carried below again. - -"What added greatly to the strangeness of this phenomenon was the -circumstance that some of the crew, when standing over the spot where -the spectre was alleged to appear, were seized with giddiness, -strange qualms, and even sickness, alike by day or night, and were -ridiculed by those of a less nervous temperament, who never felt any -such sensations, as 'green-horns' and 'fanciful lubbers.' - -"Hester Udny never came on deck again--alive, at least. - -"She remained in bed during the remainder of our voyage, evidently in -a rapid decline, and on the day when we made the south-west cape of -Van Diemen's Land--a high, bold, and rocky promontory--she expired. - -"We were soon within six miles of the land, and her parents begged so -hard that they might be permitted to bury the poor girl ashore, that -our skipper acceded to their request. Assisted by the sailmaker, -they wrapped her up in blankets, and her body was placed on a grating -along the thwarts of the long-boat amidships, with a union-jack -spread over it. No other pall had we, nor could we have found a -better for a heart so true as that poor lassie once possessed; and -there she lay when we entered the mouth of the Derwent river, and -worked against a head wind up D'Entrecasteaux's Channel. - -"I see that I am tiring you, Morley, with this long yarn; but Miss -Basset is still below, and the strangest part is yet to come. - -"We got aground on the western side of the channel, but ran an anchor -out, manned the capstan, and hove the ship off. At half-past nine -that night we came to anchor in thirty-fathom water, off Hobart Town, -fired a gun, and furled our canvas, with the ensign at our gaff-peak -half hoisted, to show that death had boarded us before the harpies of -the custom-house. - -"By daybreak next day I was ordered with a gang to prepare for -breaking bulk, and proceeded to unship the main-hatch prior to -starting the cargo. - -"On removing a bale or two, and a few casks, how great was our horror -to find, just abaft the mainmast, and under that portion of the deck -where Hester Udny had twice seen the figure of flame--a figure -perhaps always there, though invisible to us--the skeleton of a man, -standing quite erect against the after-bulkhead! - -"He was dressed in a gray tweed suit, with a blue bonnet, surmounted -by a red tuft, and a checked Border plaid was over his right -shoulder. All the flesh had dried upon his bones, so that his -clothes hung loosely on him. A few blackened shillings, and a mouldy -letter or two, were found in his pockets, so we at once supposed -that, being unable to pay his passage, the poor fellow had secreted -himself in the hold, little knowing how the cargo would be screwed -and stowed up to the beams, and how hermetically the hatches would be -closed by battens, tarpaulins, and iron bands; and thus he had -perished miserably, unheard, unseen, and unknown--perished of -suffocation, and remained there until he dried into a veritable white -mummy. - -"Our commiseration was greatly increased when we found that the -mouldy green letters were written by Hester Udny, and in the poor -stowaway her parents recognised her lover, Willie, the lad whom we -had all seen hovering about her on the night we hauled out from -Greenock to drop down the Clyde. - -"They were buried ashore, these two ill-starred and unfortunate -lovers, in the burying-ground of the big brick church of Hobart Town, -and the whole ship's company attended the funeral. Jack's a rough -fellow, Mr. Ashton, but I can assure you that, as we lowered their -two plain black coffins into their deep grave, side by side, with a -few fathoms of line, there was not a dry eye among us. - -"And some of the roughest patted the old father on the back, as he -stood dreamily at the head of his daughter's grave, in that far -foreign land--sae far frae the Hills o' Campsie, and wondering if it -could a' be true, and that she was lying there, while tears streamed -down his cheeks, and his white hair waved i' the wind under his auld -blue bonnet." - -It was a peculiarity of Morrison's, that whenever he became -interested, or perhaps more perfectly natural, he always slid into -his old Scottish vernacular. - -"This is a sad story, Morrison; but the luminous figure which the -girl saw--how the deuce do you account for that? She was out of her -mind, of course?" - -"Out of her mind! not at all!" responded the philosophical Scot; "she -was of a delicate temperament, and in a highly nervous and sensitive -state, thus she may or must have seen that which was invisible to us -of a rougher texture--the gaseous light proceeding from the -fermentation, putrescence, and decay of the body beneath the deck--in -short, that which we call in Scotland a corpse-Kent." * - - -* Concerning such appearances, see Baron von Reichenbach's work on -the "Dynamics of Magnetism, Electricity," &c. &c., with notes -thereto, by Dr. John Ashburner. - - -But now to return to our own story. - -A long consultation ensued concerning what was to be done with -Cramply Hawkshaw, and the conclusion come to was simply that he -should be kept in the seclusion, or "Coventry," enjoined by Captain -Phillips, till the vessel reached the Isle of France; and Morley gave -a species of parole, that he would studiously avoid, nor seek in any -way to punish him for the outrage he had formerly committed, or that -which he had latterly attempted. - -So the first day of Morley's re-union with his friends passed merrily -and happily away. - -In honour of the event, Mr. Basset had a case containing some of his -favourite Marcobrumier and sparkling hock hoisted out of the -store-room, and in the cabin that night the wine went round so -freely, that Captain Phillips's merry eyes shone in his head, Tom -Bartelot came out in his favourite drinking-song, and poor Mr. Quail, -all unused to such beverages, when he went up to relieve the deck, at -eight bells, saw two wheels and two steersmen, and the _Hermione_, -tearing through the sea with six masts, and at least seven-and-twenty -crossyards upon her. - -As it came on to blow about midnight, a reef was taken in the -topsails, and forgetting the evil projects broached by his crew on -this occasion Captain Phillips gave a double allowance of grog to the -watch, with pots of hot coffee to those who preferred them--kindness -thrown away, as it proved in the sequel. - -Now that our hero and heroine are safely re-united on board the very -ship in which they were originally to have sailed together, the -reader who is versed in novel-lore may suppose that nothing remains -but for Mr. Basset to bestow his paternal benediction no them in the -true fashion of the "heavy father," and for Hawkshaw, either at once -to be forgiven, no promising to be a good boy for the future, or to -receive condign punishment. - -But, unfortunately, our story is not fictitious, so it ends not here. - -Morley has escaped death, and is again seated by the side of Ethel -Basset, gazing into her quiet, deep, and loving eyes as if he could -do so for ever, and never, never weary, of course; but storms as yet -unthought of, unheard and unseen, are ahead. - -The good ship _Hermione_ lies bravely to her course, now east and by -north: but she carries with her the growing elements of discord, -crime, and misery. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -OUT OF SCYLLA AND INTO CHARYBDIS. - -The little excitement consequent on discovering the piece of wreck, -the rescue of those who were on it, and the speculation caused by the -recent uproar in the night, and the exclusion of Hawkshaw from the -cabin, soon passed over among the crew, who now began to consider -that there were on board four more men to feed, to win over to the -project of Pedro Barradas--a process which seemed doubtful--or to be -got rid of, if the attempt to win them failed. - -The only one with whom they supposed there was a chance of success -was Noah Gawthrop, or "Old Sticking-plaster," as they named him, from -the patch on his nose; and hence Badger, and one or two others, were -deputed to sound him on the subject; but the chief defect in their -plans arose from a doubt of the ship's whereabouts, and whether -Captain Phillips would haul up for Table Bay. - -Some were disposed to enlist Hawkshaw in their daring scheme, or at -least to sound him, too, as a little homicide in no way injured a man -in their estimation; while the misery of Hawkshaw's position on board -might have made him ready to embrace any proposition that came short -of jumping into the sea. - -Neglected, to all appearance forgotten--for who could sympathise with -an assassin?--he had passed the whole of the first day without food -in the fore-rigging. Towards evening Quaco brought him a pot of hot -coffee from the galley, which was a grateful beverage to his parched -throat, and in the twilight he came down stiff, sore, and benumbed, -and walked about amidships. - -There, Joe, the steward, came to say, that when he "wished to go -below, his traps and berth were 'tween decks, where he would have -full leisure to employ his mind in squaring the circle." - -At this jibe he clenched his hands to chastise Joe; but felt too much -crushed to make even the attempt, and turned in silence away. - -On the second or third day after his expulsion from the cabin, when -retiring to his place between decks--the same quarter in which the -four hammocks had been hung--he encountered Miss Basset, and passed -her so closely that he felt her skirts brush against him. - -Though dark and soft, Ethel's eyes were at times keen and piercing, -for they possessed a wonderful power and beauty of expression--a -beauty one may meet with perhaps but once in a lifetime. As she -passed Hawkshaw, she drew aside her skirt, as if to avoid contact, -and hastily cast down her eyes, as if loath to humiliate him, while -her breast heaved, and her cheek grew painfully pale; but in her -eyes, as they flashed beneath their downcast lashes, Hawkshaw could -see the horror, the loathing, and even terror with which his presence -inspired her. - -More humbled than ever by this, though he could have expected nothing -else, he slunk to his place of penance--his prison he deemed it, as -he seldom left it--and casting himself upon the sea-chest, groaned -aloud in rage, in bitterness, and agony of spirit. - -His food was brought to him by Quaco, the black cook; but his -appetite was gone, so each meal was taken away almost untasted. - -"By golly, Massa Hawkshaw, you had better eat and keep strong," said -Quaco, with a grin on his shining face. - -"Why--what the devil is it to you whether I eat or not, you black -thief?" asked Hawkshaw, savagely. - -"Kindness, on'y kindness, massa--yaas, yaas," he replied, grinning -more broadly than ever. - -"I want none, even from you." - -"Dat be bad--dat is; but, golly! don't you know what Pedro Barradas -am up to?" - -"No." - -"He's agoin' to be massa capting." - -"What?" - -"He's agoin' to trim de ship by de starn, he is. Jolly, ain't it! -But there will be no loblolly boys allowed to skulk 'tween decks -arter dat--by golly! no," and, grinning away like an ogre, with his -yellow eyeballs gleaming, his white teeth and angular cheek-bones -shining, Quaco retired with the greasy wooden mess-kid on which he -had brought Hawkshaw some hot lobscouse. - -Quaco's words made his heart beat faster, and set him to think -deeply, and with indescribable agitation. - -The proposed seizure of the ship was again upon the _tapis_. - -Should he acquaint Captain Phillips of it; but perhaps he knew of it -already more fully, and was quite prepared. - -By his silence, Ethel might be destroyed; by speaking in time, she -might be saved; but only saved for Morley Ashton. Damning thought! -The first impulse made him start to his feet, to summon Joe; the -second made him sink back sullenly on the sea-chest again. - -To join those in the cabin was but to serve Morley Ashton and those -who loathed him; to league with the mutineers, whom he dreaded, was -but to sink deeper in disgrace and more hopelessly into crime. - -On shore, he would have gladly fled from them all; but in that -floating prison, the _Hermione_, he had but one resource left--to -join the crew--if he would save his own life. He felt himself -helplessly at the mercy of the Barradas; and, by joining them in the -scuffle or conflict that must precede the capture of the ship, he -might find a fair means of putting a period to Morley Ashton's -existence, if some one else did not anticipate him. Morley he hated -with a tiger-like emotion--a mingled dread and aversion. - -For himself, he might yet have Ethel in his power. Some very daring, -dark, and incoherent thoughts flashed through his mind. He might -have her, in spite of Fate and Fortune, too; and afterwards, when -once on shore, she would feel herself compelled to link her future -life with his. - -The shore--any shore--oh, how he longed for it. - -He felt himself constrained to avoid the deck, save in the night, and -thus to spend the entire day below. - -Secluded there like a felon, avoided like a reptile, he asked -himself, was he really the man of yesterday or the day before?--the -same Cramply Hawkshaw who had sat at table with the Bassets and -officers of the ship, enjoying their society and companionship, as an -equal and friend? - -Was the past, indeed, gone for ever? He was on board the same ship -(how he loathed and cursed every rope in her rigging, every plank in -her hull); he still heard the same daily sounds on deck, the same -voices from time to time, and more than once he had heard Rose -Basset's ringing laugh; there was the same rush of water alongside; -the same moaning of the wind aloft; the same bell clanging the half -hours; all seemed unchanged but he alone! - -He could not bring back the perfect idea of himself, or what he was. - -How bitterly he felt, how impatiently he spurned the restraint -imposed upon him in the circumscribed space of the ship, and longed -for land, any land, as we have said--Africa, even Dahomey, were -welcome--that he might escape and hide himself from all; but chiefly -from the Bassets, before whom he had so successfully glozed over his -secret life and real character by a network of lies, crimes, and -cunning--a network which Morley's sudden appearance had torn aside. - -Right well he knew the light in which all viewed him now--a swindler, -impostor, and worse. - -Unless it lingered in the emotions of envy and wounded self-esteem, -his selfish passion for Ethel had quite evaporated, amid his shame -and humiliation, or was almost merged in his vengeful hate of -Morley--a sentiment rendered all the deeper by the wrongs already -attempted without success. - -So there, between decks, in the scene of his last attempted crime, he -sat and brooded darkly on the past, or scheming out the future; a -trial he did not dread, even if the vessel reached the Isle of -France, and Morley Ashton urged it by an appeal to the civil -authorities. - -There would be but his bare accusation, without a single witness to -support it, so a bare denial was all that was necessary, for well he -knew that no human eye had seen that encounter by the verge of Acton -Chine, in England. - -Then there was a memory of Ethel's loathing attitude and averted -glance lingering like a barbed arrow in his heart. - -"Yes," said he, aloud, "I feel the time at hand when I may requite -hate with deeper hate." - -"_Buenos noches, mi hombre de nada_," ("Good night, my rascal, or man -of nothing") said a voice in his ear, and, starting from his reverie, -he found himself confronted by the tall and muscular figure of Pedro -Barradas. - -It was night now, and the candle flickered dimly in the lantern of -perforated tin, which swung from a beam above, and its downward rays -fell on the dark face and picturesque figure of the South American -seaman, with his crisp locks and coal-black beard, his tawny ears, in -each of which a silver ring was glittering, his loose shirt of dark -blue woollen, open at his breast, on which a cross was tattooed, and -girt at the waist by a Spanish scarlet sash, in which his Albacete -knife was stuck. - -A fierce and malicious grin pervaded his sombre features--such a grin -as one might imagine in the face of a laughing fiend--as he surveyed -the crushed and miserable Hawkshaw, who, being quite unarmed, was not -without emotions of terror and alarm. - -"You scurvy _ladrone_," said Pedro, grinding his strong white teeth, -"when I remember that evening in the Barranca Secca, between Xalappa -and the Puebla de Perote, and the use you made of your lasso, I -wonder what devil prevents me from putting my knife into you." - -Hawkshaw started back, and glanced hopelessly about for a weapon. -Pedro laughed hoarsely; but his merriment did not allay the alarm of -Hawkshaw, who knew that such men as he could jest with their victim -while the knife was piercing his heart. - -"So the air of the cabin has not agreed with you, eh? Well, I -daresay you have been worse lodged and fixed in Texas, where some of -the huts are no better than a _retranche_; but I think you had better -come forward and hitch in with us." - -Hawkshaw still glanced uneasily about him. - -"Demonio! why don't you speak, and be d----d to you?" roared Pedro, -losing his patience, which was never at any time a very extensive -commodity. "Have you lost your lying tongue as well as your wits?" - -"No, Pedro Barradas, I have lost neither." - -"How long it is since I have heard my name on your tongue, -_companero_; not since we were diggers together on the banks of the -Feather River. Speak out--_presto_!" - -"What do you want with me, or require of me?" - -"I am exceedingly anxious to ascertain something of which the crew -have been kept in ignorance for some time past." - -"Something--from me?" asked Hawkshaw, with surprise. - -"Yes." - -"You mean the progress and working of the vessel?" - -"Precisely so; her whereabouts upon the sea." - -"How should I know?" - -"How you should or should not is nothing to me; but, _presto_, no -equivocation," said Pedro, placing his right hand on the haft of his -knife. - -"Then, for the soul of me, I cannot tell you," replied Hawkshaw, with -great earnestness. - -"You must have heard it mentioned, casually or otherwise, in the -cabin. The latitude and longitude, I mean." - -"If so, may I die if I can remember them now." - -Pedro's eyes began to gleam dangerously; but he changed his tactics, -and asked: - -"What does the captain mean to do with you?" - -"Do with me?" stammered Hawkshaw. - -"Yes, _santos_! I spoke plain enough." - -"But I do not understand," said Hawkshaw, evasively. - -"Must I speak more plainly?" - -"If you please." - -"How cursedly polite we are," sneered Pedro. "Well, most illustrious -Senor Caballero, does he mean to maroon you, or hang you?" - -"Neither; and in either case it is not probable he would consult you." - -"Well, _companero_, perhaps he will land you at El Cabo de Bueno -Esparanza?" said Pedro, with more suavity. - -"We are not to touch at the Cape," was the unwary reply. - -"Not to touch at the Cape?" repeated Pedro, so loudly that he might -have been heard in the cabin. - -"No." - -"Why." - -"Simply because I have been given to understand that we are past it." - -"_Por vida del demonio_! Past it, say you?" exclaimed Pedro, as if -communing with himself. - -"One thing, at least, is certain. We are not, I am sorry to say, to -touch at the Cape." - -"And who told you this?" - -"The captain himself." - -Pedro uttered a tremendous Spanish oath, expressive of extreme -astonishment and satisfaction. - -"So--so this cunning old Englander has been keeping us all in the -dark as to where we are?" - -"Exactly." - -"But wherefore?" - -"That I cannot say," said Hawkshaw, evasively. - -"_Morte de Dios_! does he suspect?--does he smell at a rat!" -exclaimed the Spaniard, with a sudden rage; but Hawkshaw remained -silent. "We must be somewhere off the coast of La Tierra de Natal, -and if so, by the ship's steering to-day, the mouth of the Mozambique -Channel should be upon our weather-bow; yet how far distant, none but -the captain and his mates can say," continued Pedro, as if in -communion with himself; but he was wrong in his supposition, for the -ship, at the time he spoke, was about a hundred miles to the -southward of Algoa Bay, which opens between Cape Recife and Cape -Padrone in southern Africa. - -"Listen to me," said Pedro, suddenly, with a savage glare in his -black eyes, a low and husky tone in his deep, sonorous voice, his -right hand on the haft of his knife, and his left planted on -Hawkshaw's shoulder with the grasp of a vice. "We mean to take this -ship, and run her on our own account; but as four new hands have been -added to the officers, will you join us? It is a fair offer--your -only chance of vengeance, too: for, ashore, you will not be worth a -rotten castano." - -"Well--well--I am with you," said Hawkshaw, in a low and husky voice. - -"_Bueno!_ we should fight for the ship whether you were with us or -not. Your hand on it, mate! But first, what terms do you want?" - -"My life, in the first place, to be respected by all, and to be set -ashore on the first land we see, as I am not a seaman." - -"The _first_ land may be a sea-weedy rock, at the mouth of the -Mozambique," said Pedro, with a diabolical grin, as it suggested a -new idea of cruelty. "Your share of plunder?" - -"I seek no plunder. I seek but revenge and liberty." - -"Your hand, then; and let us forget all about the Barranca Secca." - -Pedro grasped in his strong, hard hand the shrinking fingers of -Hawkshaw, thinking the while; - -"This ship once ours, I shall soon make short work of it with _you_, -my fine fellow!" Grinding his teeth, he added aloud, "If you betray -us, woe to you." - -"I am pledged," said Hawkshaw, in a voice like a groan. - -"The cargo is valuable, so we shall go in for a good stroke of -business together." - -"When--when do you make the attempt?" - -"To-morrow night, or the next, at latest." - -"I shall be ready." - -"Then to-morrow evening at four bells, in the second dog-watch, be in -the forecastle bunks, and you will learn all. Till then, companero, -be silent, and _remember_!" - -With another significant touch of his knife-handle, Pedro retired, -leaving Hawkshaw in a very unenviable state of mind. As a bold and -reckless ruffian, the Spanish American valued him little as an ally; -but the chief object of his visit had been attained--information that -the ship, instead of being hauled up for Table Bay, was _past_ it. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -FOUR BELLS IN THE DOG-WATCH. - -All the next day there blew a gale, and Captain Phillips, anxious to -make the most of it, as the wind was fair, squared his yards, with -all that he dared to spread upon them. So sharp was the aforesaid -gale, that on a taut bowline, no vessel could have shown more than a -single sail, perhaps; but the _Hermione_ tore on before the hurrying -blast, with her fore and main courses bellying out before it, and her -three topsails set with a single reef in each. - -Ere long, Captain Phillips was heard to shout: - -"Away aloft, men--shake the reefs out of the topsails--masthead the -yards." - -Cheerfully enough the watch sprang aloft and obeyed the order. And -now the foam flew in white sheets over her sharp bows, rolling aft to -the break of the quarter-deck, from whence it surged forward again, -and gurgled through the scuppers on each side alternately. - -Astern a tremendous sea kept rolling after her, for waves and wind -and all were with her now, and she sped before them at the rate of -eleven knots an hour; thus it required all the strength of Pedro -Barradas and of Noah Gawthrop, who volunteered for it, to hold the -wheel, and steer her steadily. - -Inspirited by the speed with which his brave ship tore along through -foam and spray, Captain Phillips walked briskly to and fro, with his -hands thrust into the pockets of his glazed storm-jacket, a -gutta-percha speaking-trumpet under one arm, and his jolly red face -shining with pleasure and drops of spray, as he glanced alternately -aloft, over the quarter, or at Mr. Quail, who smiled approvingly. - -"Hurrah, old ship!" said he; "now she goes through it! now she walks -along with a will. She smells the Mauritius already, I think." - -"The Bird Islands, or the Mozambique, more likely," muttered Pedro to -Noah. - -"What the devil have we to do with either one or the other?" asked -Noah, with sulky suspicion. - -"There she goes!" continued the captain; "and on she shall crack as -long as her sticks hold together. Mr. Quail, get preventer-braces -reeved; ship tackles on the backstays, haul all taut, and belay." - -All day the gale held on thus, and about nightfall, when it began to -abate into a steady breeze, in which the swinging booms of the lower -studding-sails dipped at times like birds' wings in the brine, the -_Hermione_ must have run more than 120 miles, and she was about that -distance off the most southern portion of the coast of Natal. - -How often had Captain Phillips and Mr. Basset wished to be fairly -round the Cape of Good Hope--to have doubled it, though it was far -away from dear old England; yet it was a necessary feature or point -to be achieved in the voyage. They were fairly round the great Cape -of Storms now, and the vessel's course was east and northerly, with a -calm sea and a fair wind. - -Every one should have been in the highest spirits; but, save Ethel -and Rose, Morley and his three companions, all were cloudy, anxious, -and dull; for Captain Phillips, his officers, and Mr. Basset felt -themselves still menaced by secret dangers. - -During the most of this day Morley had remained below with Ethel. -Rose was working beads on a cigar-case for the doctor, and Tom -Bartelot, with Morrison, remained by choice on deck. - -"Now that we can be of service, Captain Phillips," said Tom, "we must -be allowed to take our turn of duty. I know that sick folks are soon -deemed little better than skulkers aboard ship." - -"How so?" - -"When one has to take a fellow's trick at the helm, another his -look-out aloft, or out upon the booms, a third his watch, and a -fourth something else, they soon weary of him." - -"True," replied Captain Phillips, in a low voice, as they drew near -the break of the deck, and beyond ear-shot of that tall son of -Columbia, Mr. William Badger, who was at the wheel, with his very -long legs, half-cased in very short trousers, placed very far apart; -"but your arrival on board, if a lucky circumstance for you all, has -been rather a godsend to me." - -"Indeed! How? The ship doesn't look short-handed." - -"Ah! here comes Mr. Ashton; and please call your mate here. I have -something to say to you all." - -Tom beckoned Morrison, who had been busy coiling and belaying some of -the running rigging, for the crew had become exceedingly untidy and -neglectful. - -Badger's keen eyes peered from under his beetling brows, as if he -strove to see, what he could not overhear, the conversation that -ensued, when Captain Phillips detailed the secret state of his crew, -and the daring project which the doctor had heard so freely canvassed -in the forecastle. - -Bartelot and Morrison heard the honest captain's narrative with -astonishment and indignation, but Morley with a terror and agony very -much akin to Mr. Basset's, under the same circumstances. - -"In such a state of matters, why did you not haul up for Table Bay, -where some ships of war are sure to be?" asked Bartelot. - -"Such was my intention; but the same hurricane that destroyed your -ship drove mine too far to the southward. That circumstance made us -the means of saving you; but I lost thereby a chance of thinning out, -or altogether dispersing the crew, and shipping another." - -"Aye, aye," observed Morrison; "what between crews of Lascars and -coloured men, Chinese junks and piratical Bornese boats, there are -many craft disappear in these seas, and at Lloyd's the typhoons are -held responsible for all." - -"If that fellow who is at the wheel, and two who are named Barradas, -were quietly overboard, I could manage the rest, I think." - -"Barradas! are they Spaniards?" asked Tom. - -"Spanish South Americans--two of that bad lot who are so often to be -seen loafing about the Liverpool docks." - -"Troublesome hands always." - -"And these two are among the worst--the very worst. They were chums -of that fellow Hawkshaw in Texas and Mexico, at the gold diggings, -and elsewhere, it would appear. They are two brothers, named Pedro -and Zuares--at heart, pirates both." - -"Barradas!" said Morley, striving to remember; "that name seems -familiar to me." - -"Have you forgotten the name of the old hermit--the 'darvish,' as -Noah called him--whom we buried on the island, and whose papers I -read to you?" asked Morrison. - -"Don Pedro Zuares de Barradas," said Bartelot. - -"I remember now. I have his Spanish cross below," said Morley. -"Good Heavens! if these should be his sons! The names are the same. -How singular!" - -"And they were comrades of Hawkshaw, you say, Captain Phillips?" - -"Comrades, or shipmates, or something--nothing good, you may be -assured." - -And now Morley, just as Dr. Heriot joined them, recalled Hawkshaw's -strange story of how the one named Zuares committed--unwittingly, -however--the awful crime of matricide, in the Barranca Secca--that -savage story which he related on a summer evening in Acton Chase, to -the Bassets and Pages; and now, by a strange fatality, their lot was -all cast together within the narrow compass of a single ship, upon -the wide and lonely sea. - -"These are most calamitous tidings," said Morley, in a low and -troubled voice, as he passed his arm through Heriot's, and drew him -aside; "love, they say, laughs at danger; but here, Dr. Heriot, love -may weep," he added, almost with a groan. - -"Hang it, man, call me Heriot--Leslie Heriot, or whatever you like; -but drop the doctor, it sounds so precious stiff, especially -when--when we both love these two girls." - -"Well," said Morley, who, as an Englishman, had his local or national -prejudices, but meant to be complimentary, "for a Scotchman, you are -a nice fellow, Heriot; but--but Ethel and Rose, what are we to do -now?" - -"Fight to the last gasp for them, that is all," replied Heriot, -stoutly. - -While they were conversing thus, Noah Gawthrop approached Captain -Bartelot, and, in his own fashion, began to state that he had heard -some strange hints dropped by the watch at night, by others that -lounged about the windlass-bitts and forecastle; that some of the -crew had been whetting their knives on the carpenter's grindstone, -that all were on the alert, and were, he added, "sartainly up to -summut that looked like squalls, or mischief." - -As an old man-o'-war's man, Noah knew well how unpleasant was the -reputation of being a tale-bearer, and that, if it was bad ashore, it -was deemed ten times worse at sea; but in the _Aurora_ he had -acquired certain ideas of discipline which had never left him, so he -considered that he was only doing his duty in this matter. - -"What do you mean to do, your honour?" he asked of Captain Phillips, -in a husky whisper. - -Phillips gave him a grim smile, and showed the butt of a revolver in -his breast-pocket. - -"Oh, the poor girls below," said Morley. - -"I have perilled my life many times, young gentleman," said -Phillips--"many times on land, but oftener still on the great highway -of waters, and, though scared a bit, I ain't going to be frightened -now; and, believe me, my ship shall not be taken without a scrimmage. -Let these mutinous curs come on and do their worst, I'm ready for -them--life for life, and man to man." - -"Hooray, and the _Haurora_ for ever. Beat to quarters--them's my -sentiments," said Noah, with a voice so loud that long Badger, at the -wheel, craned his scraggy neck to listen, and opened his eyes and -ears very wide indeed. "D----n their limbs! I hopes to see 'em all -with their ears nailed to the mainmast, and here's the fist as will -handle the hammer and nails." - -As he made this unwise exclamation, he stepped aft, to relieve Badger -at the wheel, and that ungainly personage, avoiding the group who -were at the gangway, passed forward to the forecastle, where he at -once informed his colleagues that he "rayther reckoned that old -man-o'-war shark had blowed the whole affair upon them." - -Deeply-muttered oaths and vows of vengeance on poor old Noah were the -immediate result. - -"_Por mi honor!_" exclaimed Pedro, who was polishing the blade of his -knife on the sole of his shoe; "so, so, this is what old -sticking-plaster is up to--eh?" - -"In course, my Spanish gamecock." - -"_El espio y picaro!_ (spy and scoundrel)," said Pedro, grinding his -teeth. - -"The old corksucker!" growled the rest, using in this the most -opprobrious epithet known at sea. - -"He's a old man-o'-war's man, and, I reckon, has got notions o' -discipline, doffing his hat to the quarter-deck, and other darned -nonsense whipped into him, nigger fashion, by the boatswain's cat. -To try gettin' over such fellows is summut like reefing of a -stun'sail, or anythin' else that's next to useless." - -Having delivered himself of this aphorism, Badger proceeded to "darn" -sundry parts of Noah's person, such as his eyes and limbs, and by the -unanimous vote of all he was consigned to very warm latitudes indeed. - -Amid this, the ship's bell struck. It was the appointed time--four -bells in the second dog-watch--and then, pale as a spectre, or -looking like an evil spirit whom the sound had summoned--Cramply -Hawkshaw descended through the scuttle into the little apartment, or -fore-cabin, a close and squalid den, where his appearance was greeted -with shouts of ironical welcome and applause, in which the watch on -deck joined. - -We have already detailed a scene in this unpleasant quarter of the -ship; but have little desire to rehearse another, and so shall be -brief. - -With a mocking grimace on his moustached lip, and a ferocious gleam -in his wild black eyes, Pedro presented Hawkshaw to the crew as a new -_companero amigo_--associate and friend. - -"Hitch in, mates--make room for the capting," said Badger, drawing in -his long, lean, and misshapen legs. "So having 'ad a spell in limbo -aft, you're bound for the bunks forward, eh? Come, Pedro, prodooce -the dev'l's bones--let him have a shy with the ivories. I reckon -he's got an eye on the gals aft, as well as ourselves; and I say, -capting--Jeerusalem! ain't the black eyes o' that oldest gal regular -Broadway shiners!" - -In his misery and rage, Hawkshaw had slunk forward, and joined the -crew with two ideas uppermost in his mind: that he would yet revenge -himself on Morley Ashton, and might also have the haughty Ethel at -his mercy--that she yet might be his, and his only, despite fate, -fortune, and friends, and despite her own aversion for him. - -But when he found himself among this crew of desperadoes, whose -obscene lips bandied about the names of those so pure and gentle, -fair and tender, as Ethel and Rose Basset, the old times of Laurel -Lodge came to memory, and though bad, hardened, and desperate, -Hawkshaw felt his soul die within him. - -But it was too late for receding now! - -Criminal though he was, to find himself the chosen comrade and -companion of these wretches, filled up the full measure of his -misery; but no sympathy can be wasted on him, when we remember the -crimes of which he had been guilty, and the keen suffering he had -caused to Ethel, to Morley, and to others. - -In mockery, and in a pretended spirit of good fellowship, Pedro's -loaded _dados_ were produced from his sea-chest, and they proceeded -again to cast lots for wives among the women in the cabin, amid roars -of laughter, cheers, and other noises, while, to enhance the general -din, Mr. Badger smashed the mess-beef kid, dashed the butter gallipot -to pieces, and danced a hornpipe on the tin bread-barge. - -This noisy laughter was heard distinctly in the cabin. - -"Surely that sounds jolly and well," said Tom Bartelot, as the party -from the deck entered it; "fellows who laugh so loudly cannot mean -much mischief." - -"Ah, you don't know them," said Captain Phillips, in a low voice. - -"Mischief?" said Ethel, looking up inquiringly. - -"What, is it possible that you don't know?" Morley was beginning, -when Mr. Basset placed a finger on his lip warningly. - -Those extremely hilarious sounds in the forepart of the ship were -simply caused by the lots for sweethearts or wives being cast anew. - -Ethel had fallen to Pedro Barradas, thanks to his -peculiarly-constructed dice; Rose fell to the share of Bill Badger; -and Nance Folgate, the old nurse, to Hawkshaw; and hence the yells -and screams of laughter that ascended from the fore-scuttle, and rang -upon the still and starlight night. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -THE CRISIS AT LAST. - -On the morrow, a gale like that we have described carried the ship -still farther on her course; but again, towards evening, the sea and -wind went down together, and a calm and lovely night stole over the -world of waters. - -Morley had intended to speak to the two Barradas about what he -suspected--his knowledge of their secret history. Had he found an -opportunity for doing so, much evil would, perhaps, have been -averted, as he might have exercised a little influence over them; but -one time they were aloft in the rigging, at another, tarring down the -backstays, clapping on chafing gear, or otherwise occupied most of -the day, as they now began to feel a _personal interest_ in the ship; -so no opportunity occurred, and the fatal evening of the intended -mutiny crept on. - -And, notwithstanding that he was a quiet and peaceable man, and -possessed of much of the caution usually attributed to his -countrymen, matters were precipitately brought to a crisis by -Morrison, Tom Bartelot's Scotch mate, as we shall soon have occasion -to show. - -On this night our old friend was at the wheel, as a volunteer; and, -as the atmosphere was singularly calm, Morley and Ethel, Rose and -Heriot, were on deck, sometimes seated in pairs, conversing in low -and confidential tones, or promenading, arm-in-arm, between the break -of the deck and the taffrail. - -Mr. Basset and the captain were smoking near the companion-hatch, Mr. -Quail had turned in below, and the second mate, Foster, had charge of -the ship, whose lofty spread of snow-white canvas shimmered with a -weird effect in the light of the rising moon, which heaved up at the -horizon, the size of three European moons--sublime and vast--to shed -a blaze of silver radiance far across the sea. - -Noah's hints had already made Captain Phillips take in his -studding-sails and royals, so the ship was now running snugly and -easily, under the fore and main-course, topgallant-sails, jib and -spanker. - -Ethel sat silently, with her hands clasped on Morley's left arm, for -the moonlight on the water, the stars above, and his familiar voice, -made her think of home, and the beautiful garden at Laurel Lodge, -with its ribbon-borders of pinks, mignonette, and scarlet geraniums; -its roseries, its gigantic sweet peas, her sister's boasted azaleas, -which Hawkshaw had ridiculed in an evil hour; its avenues of laurels -and stately old sycamores. - -She now drew forth her mother's miniature, which she wore in her -breast, at the end of a slender gold chain. It had been taken in -that dear mother's youth, when she closely resembled Ethel herself. - -Who that surveyed that soft, bright, smiling face, could realise the -idea that it was the image of one who had long been dead, and had -passed away. - -So, as Ethel gazed upon it, her mother's figure, expression of face, -and tone of voice, the embodiment of that gentle friend and loving -mentor, all a mother should be, "the best and most beautiful of -earth's creatures," rose to memory, strangely mingled with -recollections of her death and of her funeral, on a sunny day, in -peaceful Acton churchyard, while the familiar bell tolled solemnly in -the old grey Norman tower, and when the turf looked so green, the -fresh earth so brown, and that awful and mysterious grave, as it -yawned beneath the old yew tree, so deep, so terrible! - -Then there was the reverend rector, her father's dearest friend, -reading the beautiful and impressive service for the faithful -departed, while his voice faltered and his eyes glistened. It was -the last day of an English autumn, when the leaves of the tall oaks -in the Chase, and the foliage of every coppice, were brown and crisp, -and when all the world seemed hushed and still; when even the village -urchins who clambered on the churchyard wall were mute, and sat -uncovered, and no sound stirred the air but the rector's voice, and -the solemn bell that boomed in the time-worn tower, and shook its ivy -leaves. - -So all that sad and mournful day came vividly back and unbidden to -memory now. - -"Mamma, dear, dear mamma! she did so love you, Morley!" said Ethel, -as she closed the miniature, and placed it tenderly in her bosom. - -Inspired by livelier thoughts on the other side of the quarter-deck, -merry Rose Basset and the doctor were leaning over the bulwarks, and -watching the luminous animacula that gleamed in the passing waves. - -In the second chapter of our history, we have related how Mr. Basset -had considered the early engagement between Morley Ashton and Ethel -the mere fancy of a boy and girl--a fancy which separation, or the -spirit of change, might cause to wear away and be forgotten. - -But now, by his most providential restoration, by the strength of -their mutual regard, by what the poor fellow had undergone; by what -Ethel, too, had suffered, and, more than all, by the necessity for -securing her future happiness, he felt himself bound to do the utmost -in his power to advance Morley's interests, when they all reached -their new home in the Mauritius, and a reiterated promise to this -effect had made the young pair supremely happy. - -Rose and the doctor were the next consideration; what was to be done -with them? - -The excitement consequent to recent events; the expected outbreak -among the crew; the discovery of the wreck, its occupants, and their -story, together with Hawkshaw's villainy, had so fully occupied the -attention of all on board, that Heriot had scarcely found an -opportunity for broaching a matter, which Captain Phillips's jokes -had quite prepared our friend, the judge, to have laid before him, -for his earnest consideration and kindly sympathy--neither of which -he had quite made up his mind to accord; but Rose had always flirted -with some one; and when two favourable occasions came to pass, Heriot -was dissuaded by her thoughtlessly saying: - -"Now, don't bother yet, my dear old darling Leslie," for this was her -unromantic style ("a jolly one," the doctor thought it) of addressing -him. - -Mr. Basset would have been blind indeed, had he not seen the growing -intimacy which existed between them; but he had no idea that matters -had proceeded the length of interchanged promises. Neither did he -observe the ring which Rose now wore on her engaged-finger--to wit -(for the information of the uninitiated), the third of the right -hand; and to use a hackneyed phrase, "as fairy" a finger as ever -rejoiced in that pleasant decoration, for among Rose's chief beauties -were her hands, plump, white, and tiny. - -Recent events, we have said, prevented explanations, or any account -of what the doctor's prospects were. - -"Not much, they are, certainly, dear, dear Rose," whispered Heriot, -as they sat together in the moonlight, while the ship still sped -before the wind, with all the reefs out of her topsails. "I have, -one way and another, but 100_l._ a year at present. Had I more, I -would have sought out a snug practice at home, and not roved about as -the surgeon of a sea-going merchantman." - -"Then you would not have met me, sir," said Rose, with waggish -asperity. - -"But I have an uncle, a jolly old fellow, who loves me well, for my -mother was his only sister; and he loves me for that, perhaps, rather -than any merits of my own." - -"My poor modest Leslie! well--and this uncle?" - -"When he dies--distant may the day be when he does so!--I shall come -into 400_l._ per annum more. If at the Isle of France, I could -battle the watch----" - -"Battle what?" - -"Oh, it is an old college phrase; I mean, fight my way into a -practice somehow. With you to cheer me on, we should do very well. -Then, an M.D., to get a practice, must have a wife." - -"Why?" - -"What is the difference between a doctor and a student? 'There is -but a degree between them,' says some one; but until the student has -the magical letters M.D. added to his name, he is nothing, and even -then he will never get the _passepartout_ to private houses, unless -he has a wife; and where could I find one dearer, sweeter, more -playful and joyous, more charming than----" - -"Me, you would say?" - -"Yes." - -Then here, as no one was looking, there followed a sound which made -honest Morrison, who was at the wheel, "prick up his ears," and laugh -quietly to himself in the moonlight. - -A ship, of course, does not offer the lover-like facilities of shady -lanes, green thickets, rosy bowers, or flowery garden walks; but it -produces a thousand occasions for polite attention, amidst its -rolling, tumbling, and pitching about, its extreme discomfort and -peculiarity, which are not given by the solid and immovable earth, -and which the fair dwellers thereon do not require; but it is, -nevertheless, a very awkward place for indulging in little bits of -osculation--a phrase for which I refer my fair reader to her -dictionary, if she knows it not. - -All as yet was quiet in the _Hermione_. - -The embers of discord were still smouldering amid the crew, and the -brave ship flew steadily over the shiny waters of the moonlit sea, -her ghostly shadow falling far across them. - -Inspired by the calm and beauty of the night, Morrison, as he leaned -thoughtfully over the wheel, his left hand grasping an upper spoke, -and his right hand a lower one, thinking, perhaps, of his present -shattered prospects, without ship or funds, his distant home, and his -mother's cottage by the Dee, was singing to himself in a low and -plaintive voice. - -Ethel looked up and listened, though she scarcely knew the language -in which he sang--a portion of a sweet little song (by some local -poet), and which he recalled, as we do now, from memory, though -perhaps he may have heard it from his mother, to whom this brave and -honest fellow was attached, with a devotion that was almost childish. - - "The tear dims my e'e - As I look to heaven hie, - And sigh to be free - Frae want and frae wae; - But I dinna see the road, - For between me and my God - A darkness has come doon, - Like the mist on the brae. - - "The nicht is wearin' past, - The mist is fleein' fast, - And heaven is bricht at last - To the closin' e'e; - In the hollow o' the hill, - The weary feet are still, - And the weary heart is hame - To its ain countrie." - - -At that moment the ship's bell clanged. - -"Stand by to heave the log--relieve the wheel," cried Mr. Foster. - -After considerable delay Badger, the Yankee, came slowly shambling -aft, to "take his trick" at the helm, and at the same time the whole -crew came scrambling noisily up the fore-scuttle, where the watch on -deck joined them, and they gathered in a group about the -windlass-bitts. - -Captain Phillips, Mr. Basset, and Tom Bartelot, exchanged glances of -intelligence and inquiry, while the second named, inspired by some -miserable foreboding, grew deadly pale. - -"You have not hurried yourself, mate," said Morrison. - -"No; didn't intend to, I reckon," drawled the Yankee, in his nasal -twang. - -"Why did you not come aft the moment the bell struck?" - -"Now, stranger," said Badger, in a tone of mock expostulation, "d'ye -wish your few brains blowed out with the cook's bellows, or not, that -you asks questions or gives orders here?" - -"Take the wheel, and take it in silence," said Morrison, haughtily -and sternly; for, although no mate on board the _Hermione_, he still -felt the habit of authority strong within him. - -"I knowed a man at Cape Cod, in the state of Massachusetts," -continued Badger, still delaying, and speaking slowly through his -long nose; "a Scotchman he was, Mr. Morrison, and the very moral o' -you, with a hook nose and chin, that 'ad hold a ginger-nut between -'em, who fed sea-gulls with iron filings, and sold their wings for -steel pens. A 'cute crittur! But, as I said, he was called a -Scotchman, though I calc'lates he was a Yankee Jew of Hirish -parentage." - -"If you don't take the wheel, I'll show you the foretop with a -vengeance, my fine fellow," said Morrison, who could stand anything -but sneers at his country. - -"You're riled a bit, you air, and your monkey's getting up. You've -been too well fed, mate," drawled Badger. "I reckons that at home, -in your own little clearin' of a country, you fed upon fir shavings -and cold water. As for decent junk, reg'lar old hoss, and plum-duff, -I calc'late you never heerd on 'em afore. Now, in this here craft, -as the junk's atrowcious, so that even an 'ungry Scotchman or a blue -shark wouldn't look at it, we mean to have a blow-out to-night in the -cabin, and on the best in the steward's locker too." - -At that moment Mr. Foster, who, with Joe, had been heaving the -log-line, on hearing words, came aft, and took the wheel from the -hands of Morrison, who was trembling with suppressed passion. - -"Go forward, you rascally carrion," said the Scotchman, "or, by the -heavens above us, I soon will make blue sharks' meat of you." - -Badger drew his knife, which gleamed in the moonlight, but at the -same instant he was laid sprawling on the deck by a blow from the -butt-end of a revolver with which Captain Phillips had armed -Morrison, and which the latter swung at the full length of his arm -and with no unsparing hand. - -The cry of rage uttered by Badger was answered by a yell from the -forecastle, and all the crew came rushing aft, armed with knives, -capstan-bars, and some with pistols, which they had hitherto secreted -in their sea-chests. - -"Below, ladies, below--into the cabin, and barricade the door; quick, -quick!" cried Captain Phillips, as Ethel and Rose, to their -astonishment and terror, were hurried, almost thrust down, the -companion-stair. - -Then several pistol-shots were exchanged, and a furious struggle -instantly took place on deck. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -HOW THE SHIP BROACHED TO. - -At the time of this outbreak the _Hermione_ was, as we have stated, -somewhere about 100 miles off the mouth of Algoa Bay, and not, as -Pedro had calculated, near the entrance of the Mozambique Channel. - -Hurried, actually thrust into the cabin by the hands of Morley -Ashton, Dr. Heriot, and others, Ethel and Rose Basset's terror and -astonishment may be imagined; and greatly were these emotions -increased by the sounds they heard on deck--the sudden uproar, the -stamping of feet, as of men engaged in a deadly struggle, the oaths, -imprecations, and occasional discharge of pistols. - -If Captain Phillips and his friends were disagreeably surprised to -find that the crew possessed some four or five old ship pistols, -which they had hitherto kept secretly in their sea-chests, they, on -the other hand, were much more disappointed on discovering that the -officers and passengers were fully prepared for them--alike -forewarned and forearmed; and the sudden appearance of their pistols -and revolvers, as shot after shot flashed from them in the clear -tropical moonlight, baffled the first rush aft of Pedro and his -brother, for most of the crew, following Hawkshaw's prudent example, -suddenly retreated to the forecastle, their own peculiar region and -quarters. - -A ball from Pedro's pistol found a harmless victim, for he shot dead -poor Joe the steward. But at the same moment a ball from Heriot's -revolver grazed the assassin's left ear, tearing a ring out of it, -and as he rushed back with a bewildered air, at first believing -himself to be shot through the head, Morrison followed him past the -long-boat, showering, with a capstan-bar, such blows upon him as -would have prostrated any other man than Barradas, who turned twice -upon his pursuer, to whom he opposed in vain his clubbed pistol and -the blade of his Albacete knife. - -Poor Mr. Foster, who, as related, had taken the wheel from Morrison, -was now assailed by Badger, the long Yankee, who had gathered himself -up from the deck, where he had lain sprawling. - -"Villain!" exclaimed Foster, as he clung to the spokes of the wheel, -which he dared not relinquish lest the ship should bring to by the -lee, and as he glanced the while with irrepressible agitation at the -upheld knife of the wretch who had grasped his collar, and held it at -the full length of his long, lean, muscular left arm. "Villain, -would you lift your knife to me?" - -"Ah, you 'tarnal Britisher, I would choke you like a weasel," hissed -the Yankee through his yellow teeth. - -"Do be quiet, Badger," urged Foster, as he thought of his poor wife -and little ones asleep in their beds at home. "Have you no pity--no -fear?" - -"Nayther, I reckon," snivelled the Yankee. - -"No conscience?" asked Foster, as he felt the grasp tightening on his -collar. - -"Conscience be d----! as we say in Californy. I left my blessed -conscience at Cape Horn long ago. Do you understand that?" said -Badger, ferociously. - -Down came the threatening knife, flashing in the moonshine. Foster -quitted the wheel and leaped aside, leaving the collar of his jacket -in Badger's hand; but the point of the blade gave him a severe slash -on the right shoulder. - -Filled with rage and fear, the second mate broke away, and plunged -down the companion-stair into the steerage in search of a loaded -weapon. Tom Bartelot and Mr. Basset followed him, on the same -errand, and the crew, believing that a fight had begun, once more -made a furious rush aft, and thus, being now minus five of their -number, the captain, with Morley, Heriot, and Noah Gawthrop, found -themselves driven, under a shower of blows and missiles, past the -break of the quarter-deck, and, ultimately, down below, where they -all fell in a heap upon Mr. Quail, who had turned out, half dressed, -on hearing the row on deck. - -The last to effect a retreat was Morrison, who had emptied the six -barrels of his revolver without hitting anyone, but having a -capstan-bar, a weapon to which he was more accustomed, he gave way, -step by step, with his face to the foe; but ultimately he was beaten -down the companion-stair, covered with blood, which flowed from a -wound on his right temple. - -Fighting inch by inch, there is little doubt that, at this crisis, -the crew might have forced an entrance to the cabin, especially if -some had entered by the skylight; but now a yell burst from them, -followed by a tremendous crash, and the sound as of a vast ruin -descending on the deck. - -On Foster abandoning the helm, the ship, which had been running with -a spanking breeze upon her starboard quarter, broached to; by -swinging round, all her sails were taken aback upon the weather-side, -the sudden strain was more than her spars could bear, and the fall of -a maintopmast, which had been sprung (_i.e._, split) in a recent -gale, brought down the fore and mizzen, with all their yards and -hamper, clean off at the cap of each; and thus, in a moment the -beautiful _Hermione_ was a scene of as great a ruin and disorder -aloft as she was below. - -The wilderness of masts, yards, booms, sails, blocks, and gearing -that suddenly descended on their heads somewhat cooled the ardour of -the crew, and severely injured two or three of them; but Pedro, a -thorough seaman, gave instant orders to cut, clear away, and coil up, -while, rushing to the wheel, his powerful hands soon made it revolve; -the _Hermione's_ head fell round, once more the wind came on her -quarter, her fore and main courses, jib, and driver swelled out -before it, and she stood on, but slowly, crippled and shorn of all -her fair proportions. - -This unexpected misfortune to the mutineers gave those whom they had -for a time vanquished and driven below time to gather their energies, -to reload their weapons, consider their position and resources, and -to put in requisition those plans originally formed for the defence -of the cabin, their stronghold, and chiefly of the two Misses Basset. - -The huge trunk, filled with Mr. Basset's law books (which fortunately -came too late on board to be shot with other lumber into the hold) -was slued round, and jammed across the cabin-door, which was further -secured by its usual bolts and fastenings. - -Heriot's pair of pistols, two revolvers, a double-barrelled -fowling-piece, and a sharp hatchet, were their only weapons, but they -had plenty of ammunition, all made up in cartridges, and so they -resolved to expend it to some purpose. - -"My ship! my ship! my poor ship! everything seems to have gone to the -devil aloft," groaned Captain Phillips, in an agony of rage and -mortification. - -"Oh, papa--dear papa--what has happened? What means that dreadful -noise on deck?" asked Ethel and Rose together, as they clung to their -bewildered parent, and saw with alarm their companions' blanched, -flushed, and, in some instances, blood-stained faces. Dr. Heriot and -Morley Ashton were both bleeding; the former from a scalp wound, and -the latter from a cut in the lip. "Oh, papa! tell us what all this -means?" - -"It means that those infernal villains have risen to murder us all, -ladies; but don't be alarmed for all that," said Captain Phillips, as -he reloaded his revolver, while a horrible hurly-burly was heard on -deck, where the crew, under the orders of Barradas the elder, were -cutting away or securing so much of the rigging and spars as might be -useful to them, even to bringing on board the jib-boom, which had -been snapped off at the cap, and hung in the guys at the end of the -whiskers, with the sail drooping in the water; and all the while they -worked amid a storm of oaths, imprecations, and threats. - -Among other things cast adrift was the body of poor Joe, whose -pockets were soon investigated--his pipe, knife, tobacco-box, and a -few coppers appropriated by Messrs. Sharkey and Bolter--after which -they cast him over to leeward with as much indifference as if he had -been a dead gull or bit of "old horse" (_i.e._, mouldy junk). - -Meanwhile, overcome with horror and anxiety for the probable future -of his two daughters, poor Mr. Basset was completely bewildered, and, -for a time, as Captain Phillips said, "had no more pith in him than -an empty sack." Reclined on the stern-locker, he pressed his -daughters to his breast, keeping, as if for protection, an arm round -each, and he exclaimed more than once: - -"Oh God! most merciful of all who show mercy, protect my poor girls." - -"He has committed their protection to you, sir," said Tom Bartelot, -rather impatiently; "only show a little pluck, like the rest of us, -and we shall weather these villains yet--aye, work them to an oil, if -they don't fire or sink the ship." - -"Oh, what new--what sudden horror is this?" exclaimed Ethel, wringing -her hands, and then clasping them over her temples, while she turned -her flashing eyes on each in succession. - -"No sudden 'orror at all, marm," said Noah Gawthrop, as he tightened -his waist-belt, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and looked -everywhere about to spit, but, being in the cabin, restrained the -impulse; "we've known o' the rig they were goin' to run this long -time past." - -"And Hawkshaw?" asked Ethel, shuddering. - -"Is a leader among them," replied Morley, applying a handkerchief to -his bleeding lip. "I never had a better opportunity for clearing off -old scores than to-night, but somehow he never----" - -"Oh, Morley, dear! leave vengeance to other hands," said Ethel, -imploringly. "Dear, dear papa," she added, laying her pale brow on -Mr. Basset's cheek, "and so it was this knowledge--this horrible -dread hanging over you--that has given such a mournful tenderness to -your voice and manner for some time past." - -Her voice, so mellow and thrilling, pierced poor Basset's heart: he -could only answer by his tears. - -"Oh, Morley, love!" said Ethel, in a low, beseeching voice, "say -something to comfort poor papa." - -But Morley could only press Mr. Basset's hand in silence, for, in -fact, the poor fellow knew not what to say. Rose had tied her little -handkerchief round the doctor's head, and it seemed a more agreeable -remedy than the piece of court-plaster he had hastily stuck on his -scar. - -To Ethel the watchful, mysterious, solicitous, and almost sorrowful -regard which her father had so long exhibited towards herself and -Rose was quite accounted for now. - -"Oh, my poor papa--my own papa!" she exclaimed, as she threw her arms -round his neck, and nestled with her lovely face close to his, "I -have no fear of death; I would face it courageously--but you, and -Rose, and Morley. Oh, I fear that the blow which kills me may kill -you all, too, you love me so much--so much more than I have deserved, -dear papa!" - -"Alas, Ethel! it is not death only that I fear for you, my sweet and -innocent lamb--and Rose----" - -"Below there, ahoy!" hailed a hoarse voice down the companion-stair, -after the hurly-burly had somewhat ceased on deck. - -"It is the voice of that villain, Sharkey," said Quail. - -"The murderer of poor Manfredi," added Dr. Heriot. - -"Below there, you swabs and cork-suckers! have you all gone to -sleep?" hailed the squat mutineer. - -"Hollo!" responded Noah, "what do you want, gallows-bird?" - -"We want the two girls. Give them up, and come on deck. Tumble up, -or it will be the worse for every man jack of you." - -"How so, you squab ragamuffin?" asked Captain Phillips. - -"We'll drop down the skylight, and make precious short work with you -all," was the hoarse response. - -"Come on then, one at a time, or all together--we are ready for you," -said Captain Phillips. - -At the same moment the cover of the skylight was roughly wrenched -off, and the chill night wind poured through the cabin, extinguishing -the lamp. - -A noisy and derisive cheer followed. - -"Silence fore and aft. _Por vida del demonio guardad vuestra maldita -garulla_ (_i.e._, "Hold your cursed clack"). Ere long I shall let -you know who is captain of the ship now," cried a deep bass voice -there was no mistaking, and the dark visage of Pedro Barradas was -seen looking down, just as Heriot led Ethel and Rose to their cabin, -when he whispered to them to take courage, and closed the door. -"Surrender, and give up your arms, or I shall set fire to the ship," -added Barradas. - -"What will you gain by doing so?" asked Captain Phillips, feeling -with his fingers if the caps on his revolver were all right, and -taking a full sight at Pedro's head, which he could see above the rim -of the skylight. - -"Gain? Not much, certainly, unless it be vengeance," replied the -Mexican, hoarsely. - -"Vengeance, you miscreant? Of what can you, accuse me? Surely I -never wronged you." - -"I have nearly lost an ear by the hand of one among you." - -"That infliction you brought upon yourself." - -"If you do not surrender in less than twenty minutes, I shall fire -the ship or scuttle her, and then shove off with all the boats, -leaving you to drown like a rat in a trap," continued Pedro. - -"Fool, as well as villain, what purpose would that serve, but to -destroy you all? Do you know how far we are from land?" asked the -captain. - -"I know that we are off the mouth of the Mozambique, and will soon -make the land by steering nor'-nor'-east," replied the mutineer, with -a grin. - -"You are wrong, Pedro Barradas--by Heaven you are! We are only off -the Bay of Algoa." - -"Well, if this wind holds good, and we keep the ship under her -courses and lower studding-sails, we will make the channel soon -enough for our purpose. But ha, ha! Senor Capitano, do you hear -that?" he added, as the sound of axes was heard; "we are starting the -main-hatch to get at the bread and spirit room, so while you starve -here, we shall drink and be jolly." - -Captain Phillips groaned as he heard those sounds, which indicated a -further destruction of the ship; but, taking a sure aim at Pedro, he -fired! The red flash and sharp report of the pistol were followed by -a yell of rage. - -"A miss is as good as a mile," cried Badger, the Yankee; and Pedro, -whose cheek was grazed by the ball, replied by firing into the cabin -a random shot, which lodged in the table; and now, with pistols and -the double-barrelled fowling-piece, there ensued a regular skirmish, -in which our friends, in the dark seclusion of the cabin, had all the -best of it, the mutineers' mode of warfare being simply a waste of -ammunition, as some four or five of them in succession continued to -dart past the open skylight, down which they fired at random. - -Too terrified to weep, Ethel and Rose, clasped in each other's arms, -reclined on their knees against the side of their bed, with poor old -nurse Folgate grovelling on the carpet beside them. - -Every instant they heard the sharp reports of the pistols, and saw -the explosions flashing through the slits in their cabin-door, and -all unaccustomed to the horrors of such an event, they could scarcely -believe that they were not in a dream. - -Who could imagine that such a scene would occur on board of a London -ship? But they knew not the evils that attend a mixed crew. - -Ignorant of the chances and casualties of voyaging on the deep, Ethel -and Rose, but particularly the former, was utterly bewildered by this -terrible episode, in which she found herself and friends involved. -Every shot, every sound, made her heart leap for her father and her -lover. - -She had pictured to herself how, with Morley by her side, she would -tend for life the declining years of her only and beloved -parent--tend him as her mother would have wished her to do. He, on -the other hand, had hoped to tend, watch, guide, and see her and Rose -far on the chequered highway of life; but now it seemed as if they -were all about to be torn from each other--he to suffer a violent and -cruel death, they dishonour and death together. - -Rose! Rose! Poor Ethel's soul shrank within her at this crisis; but -it was more with fear for dear, merry little Rose than for herself. - -For some time the exciting skirmish we have described continued, -without anyone being hit, apparently, either above or below, till -Morley felt someone close by utter a low heavy moan, or sigh, and -then fall suddenly and heavily against him. - -"Quail--Mr. Quail," he exclaimed, "is this you? Are you hurt--are -you hit?" - -It was poor Mr. Quail who, unable to reply, fell on the floor of the -cabin with blood bubbling from his mouth. A lucifer-match was -promptly applied to a candle, a light procured, and the wounded man -was laid on the floor of the captain's state-room, where Dr. Heriot -soon discovered that he was quite dead, being shot in the head by a -common nail, a proof that the ammunition of the enemy above was -running short. - -"My God! Poor Quail--his wife and little ones!" exclaimed honest -Captain Phillips, with deep emotion. "Oh, gentlemen, when will these -horrors end?" - -A low groan from Mr. Basset alone replied, and the features of the -hapless mate soon grew livid and ghastly in the flickering light of -the candle, as the damps and the pallor of death stole over them -together. - -Meanwhile the crash of axes was heard in the hold, where already some -of the mutineers were making their way in search of plunder, through -the cargo, hoping to make a breach in the bulkhead and reach the -store where the ship's provisions and spirits were kept. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -THE CABIN ATTACKED. - -Some of the mutineers now proceeded to throw various missiles, such -as cold shot, ship-buckets, spare or fallen blocks from aloft, the -carpenter's paint-pots, and so forth, into the ship's cabin; but only -in one instance, when Tom Bartelot received a contusion on the -shoulder, from a wooden marline-spike flung at random, did any of -these take effect, as our friends lurked securely, pistol in hand, in -the recesses of the upper stern-lockers, in the berths, and so forth, -but none as yet could foresee where this strife was to end, or who -would first come to terms, before the ship was utterly destroyed, as -it bade fair to be, if this internal war continued. - -Now the voice of Barradas was heard, giving orders to cast loose one -of the carronades on the quarter-deck. - -"What are they about to do with the carronade?" asked Morley, as he -listened intently. - -"Lower it between decks, to fire through the bulkhead," suggested the -old man-o'-war's man, Noah. - -"But have they any round shot?" asked Morley. - -"We have six rounds for each gun round the coaming of the -main-hatch," said Captain Phillips, with a very dejected air; "and -there are plenty more in the hold. Shot are wanted sometimes in the -Indian seas." - -"And the powder?" - -"Is all kept in a little magazine near the taffrail--the powder -required for immediate service, I mean." - -"The gun is cast loose," said Bartelot; "if Noah's idea be their -game, it is all up with us, as they may bowl us to death without -danger of resistance." - -"Unless when they are at work in the hold, we make a sally, regain -possession of the deck, ship on the main-hatch, and smother the whole -brood!" said Phillips, with a more savage emotion than ever before -glowed in his kind and jolly breast. - -A few minutes of painful suspense served to show that the intentions -of the mutineers were quite different. - -They were heard to break open the powder magazine, and load the -carronade, which, with loud yells, and much vociferation, they urged -forward to the rim of the skylight with such force as nearly to break -the framework to pieces, and over it, by using capstan-bars as -levers, they levelled and depressed the gun, by hoisting up the hind -wheels of the carriage, and driving home quoins under the breach, -till the muzzle was at the angle of forty-five degrees, and pointed -almost towards the bulkhead of the little cabin in which Ethel and -Rose were weeping and praying. - -Scarcely a moment was given for question or consideration, ere Quaco, -the black Virginian, came rushing aft from the caboose, with his -sable cheekbones shining, and his yellow eyes aflame, as he -flourished a red-hot poker, which, as an extempore match, he applied -to the touch-hole. - -A sudden and blinding flash, with a cloud of suffocating smoke, -filled all the cabin, and there was a report, or concussion, which -made the ship reel to her centre; a hundred splinters seemed to fly -in every direction, but still no personal danger was done, though the -gun had been charged, not with round shot, but with a bag of nails, -nearly all of which crashed through the centre of the mahogany table, -and lodged in the deck below. - -It was not until the first blink of dawn that those in the cabin knew -this; their first idea being, that a round shot had been sent through -the vessel's bottom; but, mad and furious though the mutineers were, -there was a method in their proceedings, and to utterly destroy the -ship was no part of their daring plan. - -Wailing cries of terror came from the ladies' cabin, and wild and -noisy ones from the old nurse; but no one was hurt there, though all -were nearly stifled by the smoke of the discharge, ere it rose slowly -through the open skylight, and floated away into the still night air. - -As the sailors were withdrawing the gun, taking advantage of its -recoil, a volley of pistol-shots from below whistled about them, and -Dr. Heriot, with a steady aim of the fowling-piece, sent a charge of -buck-shot from both barrels into the face and shoulders of one -fellow, who was immediately borne forward to the care of Quaco, who, -greatly to his own delight, and with all the mingled fun and cruelty -peculiar to his dingy race, proceeded to extract them from the -bleeding wretch, more curiously than skilfully, with the prongs of a -carving-fork. - -They now lashed the gun to its port again, and retired forward, to -consult probably. - -The ship's bell was no longer struck to call the watches, but the man -at the wheel was regularly relieved, and, though sometimes exposed to -shots from the cabin, he was never fired on. Under her courses and -other lower sails, the ship was steered to the north-east, but her -exact course those in the cabin knew not, as the tell-tale compass -had gone to wreck long ago, under the missiles showered so liberally -through the skylight. - -By the sounds that came aft from time to time, it was evident that -the crew were eating, drinking, and making merry in the region of the -forecastle; but the fears of those in the cabin were increased by -this hilarity, which increased the evil chances that overhung the -ship, if a gale came on, and found her with her crew and rigging in -such a state of disorder, and half the main-hatch open! - -As day dawned, and the armed lurkers in the once trim cabin looked -around them, its aspect filled them with exasperation and dismay. - -The mahogany table, polished to perfection by poor Joe, was split, -and literally torn to pieces by the contents of the carronade; and -below it, the planks were thickly sown with nails. All the missiles -we have enumerated, the fire buckets, double and single blocks, -six-pound shot, holystones, and "prayer-books," &c., encumbered the -floor; and there, cold, white, and ghastly, lay the stiffened corpse -of the unfortunate Mr. Quail, with many a spot and patch of blood, -that had dropped from the cuts and scars of his companions. - -Taking advantage of the lull in the hostilities, Morley, Bartelot, -and Noah Gawthrop added all the missiles that strewed the floor to -the barricade behind the cabin-door; Mr. Foster procured more caps -and ammunition for their fire-arms; Heriot prepared plasters and -bandages for their flesh wounds and bruises, while Mr. Basset and the -captain took some wine-and-water, with biscuits, to Ethel, Rose, and -their old attendant, as the only breakfast they had to offer. After -this, unknown to their fair friends in misfortune, Morrison and -Foster made preparations to launch the mortal remains of the poor -mate into the deep. - -No time was there then for prayer or homily. - -The body was simply rolled up in a blanket taken from his own bed, -lashed tight at the head and foot with a piece of rope. To the -ankles were lashed four of the shot with which the rascals on deck -had favoured them; and, opening one of the large windows next the -rudder-case, they permitted the body to drop gently, feet foremost, -into the pale-green water that seethed under the counter. - -It could be seen sinking slowly far down into the depths of the -morning sea, where it vanished; but not soon enough to elude the keen -instinct of some Cape pigeons and albatrosses, which gathered, with -ravening beaks and flapping wings, about the place where the corpse -went down, and where but a few spreading ripples appeared upon the -trough of the rolling waves. - -By her frothy wake astern, the _Hermione_ seemed to be going through -the water at the rate of six knots an hour, for the breeze was fresh -and steady. - -Some cold beef from the locker of poor Joe, and a glass of -brandy-and-water, were served round for breakfast; and none spoke, -though all thought of how they would fare when the last drop of water -in the cabin was gone! - -So passed the noon. - -The ill-fated ship still ran north-eastward, increasing hourly, as -Captain Phillips said, her chances of being overhauled by some -homeward-bound ship--a chance on which their hopes of succour mainly -depended now. - - - -END OF VOL. II. - - - -CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE - - - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Morley Ashton, Volume 2 (of 3), by James Grant - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORLEY ASHTON, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) *** - -***** This file should be named 64081-8.txt or 64081-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/0/8/64081/ - -Produced by Al Haines -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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