Читать книгу When Shadows Die. A Sequel to "Love's Bitterest Cup" - Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth - Страница 12

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"I will tell you, my girl, though I hate to talk of it. About a month ago I sailed from Havana, bound to London, with a cargo of rum, tobacco and sweetmeats. The weather was fine, and we had a good voyage until we came within four or five days' sail of port. A sail had been following us all day long. We did not know she was following us, nor could we make out by our best glass what she was. She was the only sail in sight. As night closed in she gained on us. That was certain. But still we could not make her out. She did not come near enough for that, for the Kitty is a pretty fast clipper herself. As night darkened we lost sight of the strange sail, without any misgivings. But in the gray of the morning she was alongside of us! Hold on! The devil is getting into me again!" exclaimed the old sea dog, snatching Mr. Force's hat from his head and flinging it with vehemence upon the deck.

"The fortunes of war, captain—the fortunes of war! Be patient!" said Abel Force.

"The fortunes of murder, robbery, arson, piracy! There was no fight!"

"The will of Providence, then."

"The will of the devil! You shan't lay their murders, and robberies, and arsons, and piracies upon Providence! That would be blasphemy! There was no struggle! What could our unarmed little Baltimore clipper do—though every one was a hero—against a pirate ship of twenty-four guns, manned by the desperate offscourings of the galleys and the convict prisons, all armed to the teeth, bristling with pistols, daggers and cutlasses? Nothing at all! They boarded us, walked into us and through us, and made prisoners of our men, took possession of our ship, then put the men into two open boats and sent them adrift, to sink or swim, carried off me and young Roland captives to their own deck, and finally sent off an officer and a detail of their devilish pirates to work the Kitty—and Satan only knows where they carried her and her valuable cargo of rum and tobacco! We parted company then and there. I never saw young Roland after that. I believe he did make some resistance, and was wounded. I saw him bleeding and carried below, and I never saw him again."

Here the captain made an involuntary dash at the earl's cap, but his hand was intercepted by Mr. Force.

"He'll scalp us next," said Wynnette.

"Umph! Umph! Umph!" grunted the captain.

"Oh, Uncle Gideon! Oh, Uncle Gideon!" moaned Rosemary, while Mrs. Force gripped her own hands firmly in silent trouble.

"Don't cry, honey! I believe he is safe enough and will turn up all right. I called them murderers! And, no doubt at all, some of that criminal crew were murderers, and worse than murderers, if such could be! But they did no murder in my sight! They might—had they chosen—they might have massacred all hands aboard the Kitty, but they didn't! They put the men in open boats and set them afloat to take their chance; and then—for some reason well known to himself, but quite unknown to me—Capt. Silver took young Bayard and myself on board the Argente. I said I never saw Roland after he was taken down below, nor did I! But I did not fail to inquire for him. The head devil told me that the young man was all right; that his wound was only skin deep; that his men never killed or wounded men whom they could so easily overpower and capture without bloodshed; and especially in the case of a fine young seaman who might become useful to them."

"Oh, Uncle Gideon! Then they did only take Roland on board to make a pirate of him!"

"Of course they did, my dear; for when I asked to see Roland, Silver told me, with a satanic laugh, that the young man was 'in retreat,' preparatory to entering his novitiate in the holy orders of bold buccaneers, roaring sea rovers, and that no outsiders should have access to him, for fear they might shake his good resolutions and even win him back to the selfish world."

"What a devil!" exclaimed Wynnette.

"Every day I inquired about Roland, and each day I received answers which would have made me believe that the boy was gradually being persuaded to become a pirate—if I had not known that Roland Bayard could never become so perverted."

"No, never, never, never!" firmly declared Rosemary.

"But while Bayard was kept a close prisoner, I had the run of the deck," continued the captain. "One day I asked Silver where he was bound. He told me, with infernal insolence, that he should touch on the coast of England, put me on shore, and then go about his own business. Two days after, we came to anchor on a lonely part of the coast of Cornwall. It was a dark night, and they put me in a boat and took me ashore and left me there, with just two sovereigns in my pocketbook. They had robbed me of thousands, but they left me that much to take me to London. I don't know why, I am sure, that it should sometimes occur to a scoundrel to stop short of the extreme wickedness he might perpetrate! But at all events, Silver did stop short of the crime of leaving me penniless to perish at night on a desolate sea-coast. I passed the night in a solitary fisherman's cottage. In the morning there was not a sign of the Argente to be seen. She had sailed again. I walked to the nearest railway station, distant twelve miles, and there I took the 'Parliamentary' to London—for I had to economize my small funds. I went down to the West India Docks, where I was as well known as the church clock, and saw some of my correspondents, told my story, got all the money I wanted, and took the express to Liverpool; reached there yesterday, engaged a berth, and here I am!"

"Was your ship and cargo insured?" inquired Mr. Force.

"From keel to masthead," answered the skipper. "But that was against fire and water and accidents. Now, I don't know whether being taken by a pirate would be considered as coming under the clause of accidents or not. But, anyway, you know the insurance companies are bound to make a fuss before they pay a cent. They always do."

"Your losses, then, I fear, may be heavy."

"Yes, but not ruinous, even if the insurance companies do not pay, because I have still the Blue Bird that George sails."

"Where is Capt. George now?" inquired Mr. Force.

"In the China seas somewhere if he has not been taken by a privateer. But where is your nephew, Leonidas?" inquired Capt. Grandiere.

"We do not know. We have not heard from Le for many months. When we last heard it was through a letter from him dated on board the United States ship Eagle, then about to sail under sealed orders. We are all, therefore, naturally very anxious," replied Mr. Force.

"Ay! ay! These are anxious times for us all. But, at any rate, the man-of-war is safe from the pirates, who prey only on unarmed merchantmen. Hope the sealed orders were to go after the privateers—that is, pirates."

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of the dinner gong, and passengers began to troop down from the deck to the dining saloon. Seasickness had not yet come on to take away their appetites.

The earl, who had been a silent, though interested, listener to the story of the old skipper, and who had his own private opinion of young Roland Bayard's position in the pirate ship, arose and drew the arm of Rosemary within his own, to take her down to dinner.

Old Capt. Grandiere offered his to Mrs. Force. Mr. Force took his eldest daughter, and Wynnette made a manly bow and took Elva under her protection.

And so they went down to their first dinner on the Asia, and their last for several days, for a more stormy passage than that of the Asia which sailed on that March morning was never weathered by ocean steamer.

After dinner the old skipper went on deck to smoke his pipe alone.

The Forces went down into the ladies' cabin, to look at their staterooms, arrange their effects, and get comfortably settled in their quarters before seasickness should overtake and disable them.

Our party occupied three staterooms in a row, on the right-hand side of the cabin as you entered it from the forward gangway.

Nearest the gangway was the stateroom of Mr. and Mrs. Force; next to that the one of Odalite and Elva; and last of the three was that of Rosemary and Wynnette.

All the three rooms were exactly alike, and each had a door opening into the cabin, and opposite the door a little window looking out on the sea and sky. On the left hand as you entered there was a wide berth at the bottom and a narrow one at the top. On the right hand was the wide sofa. Under the lower berth and under the sofa were deep drawers to hold the sea wardrobe and other effects of the passengers. In the angle between the side of the window and the end of the sofa was a stationary washstand, with all needful accessories. In the angle between the other end of the sofa and the door leading into the cabin was a stationary lamp, locked up in a heavy plate glass box, and carefully lighted and locked up every night, and unlocked and extinguished every morning, by the stateroom steward. The little door of this glass box or closet was in the general cabin, so that the lamp could be attended without intrusion into the stateroom. For the rest, all the fittings of the staterooms were "cabinet finished"; the floor was covered with a thick crimson Brussels carpet; the berths and the windows curtained by crimson satin damask, and the sofa covered with crimson moreen. Under the stationary lamp was a corner bracket of black walnut, with three shelves to hold books, or anything else that could be contained on the limited space.

Below the Forces' quarters was a long row of staterooms exactly like their own, and on the opposite side of the cabin a corresponding row, all occupied by ladies and families who were total strangers to the Forces, and perhaps, in many cases, to each other also.

The ladies' cabin was fitted up very much as most well-appointed steamer cabins are, with handsome carpet, sofas, easy chairs, mirrors, water coolers, and so forth. Down the middle stood a long oval table, at which you could sit and read, or write, or sew, or talk with companions. This table was lighted at night by three large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

The Forces were well pleased with their quarters. And as for the girls, they were always running in and out of each other's rooms, comparing and admiring.

Only Mrs. Force was anxious about the comfort of her invalid brother. His stateroom was in the gentlemen's cabin. She would hear when they should meet at tea whether he were well accommodated.

They had scarcely completed their arrangements when the gong sounded to call the passengers to tea.

They went up to the saloon, where they were joined by the earl and the old skipper. Their party of eight just filled one table, which they thenceforth kept for themselves.

The old skipper was installed at the head of the table and the squire at the foot. Mrs. Force and the earl sat on the right and left of the skipper. This arrangement of the four elders was maintained for the whole of the voyage, but the four young people sat as they pleased.

This table had two waiters, and they were well attended.

In answer to Mrs. Force's questions the earl gave her a good account of his stateroom, adding it was near that of the captain.

After this the whole party went up on deck for a promenade. The setting sun was striking a broad path of glorious light across from the western horizon to the bows of the ship.

"It seems the course of our voyage," said Odalite. "We are sailing toward the setting sun, and just now in its path of flame."

There were many more people on the forward deck; but after the sun had dropped below the horizon the wind gradually freshened and it grew very cold.

Then Mr. Force proposed that they should leave the deck.

They all went down to the saloon and gathered around one of the vacant tables, where the captain entertained them with sea yarns, and even sang a sea song.

There were many other groups of passengers gathered at the other tables, but they were still strangers to our party, when the old skipper began to sing his song with its roaring refrain of:

"Oh! what a row! what a rumpus! and a rioting!

They all endure, you may be sure,

Who—go—to—sea!"

Conversation stopped at all the tables, and all the people turned to listen.

Presently several joined in the chorus and made the saloon ring again with melody.

At the close of the song the singer was loudly applauded; but he excused himself from repeating the experiment.

At ten o'clock supper was served for those who wished it; but as our party were not among that number they left the saloon and retired to their berths, where they were all soon rocked asleep by the motion of the ship.

And so ended their first day out.