Gascoyne, The Sandal Wood Trader by R. M. Ballantyne

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"Nay; but traders are not wont to aspire to the honor of fighting the
ships that are commissioned to protect them."

"Truly, if I had sought protection from the war-ships of the King of
England, I must have sailed long and far to find it," returned Gascoyne.
"It is no child's play to navigate these seas, where bloodthirsty
savages swarm in their canoes like locusts. Moreover, I sail, as I have
told your before, in the China Seas, where pirates are more common than
honest traders. What would you say if I were to take it into my head to
protect myself?"

"That you were well able to do so," answered Montague, with a smile;
"but when I examined the Foam, I found no arms save a few cutlasses and
rusty muskets that did not seem to have been in recent use."

"A few bold men can defend themselves with any kind of weapons. My men
are stout fellows, not used to flinch at the sound of a round shot
passing over their heads."

The conversation was interrupted here by the ship rounding a point and
suddenly opening up a view of a fine bay, at the head of which,
embosomed in trees and dense underwood, stood the native village of
which they were in search.

Just in front of this village lay a small but high and thickly-wooded
island, which, as it were, filled up the head of the bay, sheltering it
completely from the ocean, and making the part of the sea which washed
the shores in front of the houses resemble a deep and broad canal. This
stripe of water was wide and deep enough to permit of a vessel of the
largest size passing through it; but to any one approaching the place
for the first time, there seemed to be no passage for any sort of craft
larger than a native canoe. The island itself was high enough to conceal
the Talisman completely from the natives until she was within half
gunshot of the shore.

Gascoyne still stood on the fore part of the ship as she neared this
spot, which was so beset with reefs and rocks that her escape seemed
miraculous.

"I think we are near enough for the work that we have to do," suggested
Montague, in some anxiety.

"Just about it, Mr. Montague," said Gascoyne, as he turned towards the
helm and shouted, "Port your helm."

"Port it is," answered the man at the wheel.

"Steady."

"Back the topsails, Mr. Mulroy."

The sails were backed at once, and the ship became motionless, with her
broadside to the village.

"What are we to do now, Mr. Gascoyne?" inquired Montague, smiling in
spite of himself at the strange position in which he found himself.

"Fire away at the village as hard as you can," replied Gascoyne,
returning the smile.

"What! do you really advise me to bombard a defenseless place, in which,
as far as I can see, there are none but women and children."

"Even so," returned the other, carelessly. "At the same time I would
advise you to give it them with a blank cartridge."

"And to what purpose such waste of powder?" inquired Montague.

"The furthering of the plans which I have been appointed to carry out,"
replied Gascoyne, somewhat stiffly, as he turned on his heel and walked
away.

The young captain reddened and bit his lip, as he gave the order to load
the guns with blank cartridge, and made preparation to fire this
harmless broadside on the village. The word to "fire" had barely crossed
his lips when the rocks around seemed to tremble with the crash of a
shot that came apparently from the other side of the island; for its
smoke was visible, although the vessel that discharged it was concealed
behind the point. The Talisman's broadside followed so quickly that the
two discharges were blended in one.

CHAPTER XIII.

DOINGS ON BOARD THE "FOAM."

The nature of this part of our story requires that we should turn back,
repeatedly, in order to trace the movements of the different parties
which cooeperated with each other.

While the warlike demonstrations we have described were being made by
the British cruiser, the crew of the Foam were not idle.

In consequence of the capture of Bumpus by the savages, Gascoyne's
message was, of course, not delivered to Manton, and the first mate of
the sandal-wood trader would have known nothing about the fight that
raged on the other side of the island on the Sunday but for the three
shots, fired by the first lieutenant of the Talisman, which decided the
fate of the day.

Being curious to know the cause of the firing, Manton climbed the
mountains until he gained the dividing ridge,--which, however, he did
not succeed in doing till late in the afternoon, the way being rugged as
well as long. Here he almost walked into the midst of a flying party of
the beaten savages; but dropping suddenly behind a rock, he escaped
their notice. The haste with which they ran, and the wounds visible on
the persons of many of them, were sufficient to acquaint the mate of the
Foam with the fact that a fight had taken place in which the savages had
been beaten; and his knowledge of the state of affairs on the island
enabled him to jump at once to the correct conclusion that the
Christian village had been attacked.

A satanic smile played on the countenance of the mate as he watched the
savages until they were out of sight; then, quitting his place of
concealment, he hurried back to the schooner, which he reached some time
after nightfall.

Immediately on gaining the deck he gave orders to haul the chain of the
anchor short, to shake out the sails, and to make other preparations to
avail himself without delay of the light breeze off the land which his
knowledge of the weather and the locality taught him to look for before
morning.

While his orders were being executed, a boat came alongside with that
part of the crew which had been sent ashore by Gascoyne to escape the
eye of the British commander. It was in charge of the second mate,--a
short, but thick-set, and extremely powerful man, of the name of
Scraggs,--who walked up to his superior the moment he came on board,
and, in a tone somewhat disrespectful, asked what was going to be done.

"Don't you see?" growled Manton; "we're getting ready to sail."

"Of course I see that," retorted Scraggs, between whom and his superior
officer there existed a feeling of jealousy as well as of mutual
antipathy, for reasons which will be seen hereafter; "but I should like
to know where we are going, and why we are going anywhere without the
captain. I suppose I am entitled to ask that much."

"It's your business to obey orders," said Manton, angrily.

"Not if they are in opposition to the captain's orders," replied
Scraggs, firmly, but in a more respectful tone; for in proportion as he
became more mutinous, he felt that he could afford to become more
deferential. "The captain's last orders to you were to remain where you
are; I heard him give them, and I do not feel it my duty to disobey him
at _your_ bidding. You'll find, too, that the crew are of my way of
thinking."

Manton's face flushed crimson, and, for a moment, he felt inclined to
seize a handspike and fell the refractory second mate therewith; but the
looks of a few of the men who were standing by and had overheard the
conversation convinced him that a violent course of procedure would do
him injury. Swallowing his passion, therefore, as he best could, he
said:

"Come, Mr. Scraggs, I did not expect that _you_ would set a mutinous
example to the men; and if it were not that you do so out of respect for
the supposed orders of the captain, I would put you in irons at once."

Scraggs smiled sarcastically at this threat, but made no reply, and the
mate continued:

"The captain did indeed order me to remain where we are; but I have
since discovered that the black dogs have attacked the Christian
settlement, as it is called, and you know as well as I do that Gascoyne
would not let slip the chance to pitch into the undefended village of
the niggers, and pay them off for the mischief they have done to us more
than once. At any rate, I mean to go round and blow down their log huts
with Long Tom; so you can go ashore if you don't like the work."

Manton knew well, when he made this allusion to mischief formerly done
to the crew of the Foam, that he touched a rankling sore in the breast
of Scraggs, who in a skirmish with the natives some time before had
lost an eye; and the idea of revenging himself on the defenseless women
and children of his enemies was so congenial to the mind of the second
mate, that his objections to act willingly under Manton's orders were at
once removed.

"Ha!" said he, commencing to pace to and fro on the quarter-deck with
his superior officer, while the men made the necessary preparations for
the intended assault, "that alters the case, Mr. Manton. I don't think,
however, that Gascoyne would have taken advantage of the chance to give
the brutes what they deserve; for I must say he does seem to be
unaccountably chicken-hearted. Perhaps it's as well that he's out of the
way. Do you happen to know where he is, or what he's doing?"

"Not I. No doubt he is playing some sly game with this British cruiser,
and I dare say he may be lending a hand to the settlers; for he's got
some strange interests to look after there, you know" (here both men
laughed), "and I shouldn't wonder if he was beforehand with us in
pitching into the niggers. He is always ready enough to fight in
self-defense, though we can never get him screwed up to the assaulting
point."

"Aye, we saw something of the fighting from the hilltops; but as it is
no business of ours, I brought the men down, in case they might be
wanted aboard."

"Quite right, Scraggs. You're a judicious fellow to send on a dangerous
expedition. I'm not sure, however, that Gascoyne would thank you for
leaving him to fight the savages alone."

Manton chuckled as he said this, and Scraggs grinned maliciously as he
replied:

"Well, it can't exactly be said that I've _left_ him, seeing that I
have not been with him since we parted aboard of this schooner; and as
to his fightin' the niggers alone, hasn't he got ever so many hundred
_Christian_ niggers to help him to lick the others?"

"True," said Manton, while a smile of contempt curled his lip. "But here
comes the breeze, and the sun wont be long behind it. All the better for
the work we've got to do. Mind your helm there. Here, lads, take a pull
at the topsail halyards; and some of you get the nightcap off Long Tom.
I say, Mr. Scraggs, should we show them the _red_, by way of comforting
their hearts?"

Scraggs shook his head dubiously. "You forget the cruiser. She has eyes
aboard, and may chance to set them on that same red; in which case it's
likely she would show us her teeth."

"And what then?" demanded Manton, "are _you_ also growing
chicken-hearted? Besides," he added, in a milder tone, "the cruiser is
quietly at anchor on the other side of the island, and there's not a
captain in the British navy who could take a pinnace, much less a ship,
through the reefs at the north end of the island without a pilot."

"Well," returned Scraggs, carelessly, "do as you please. It's all one to
me."

While the two officers were conversing, the active crew of the Foam were
busily engaged in carrying out the orders of Manton; and the graceful
schooner glided swiftly along the coast before the same breeze which
urged the Talisman to the north end of the island. The former, having
few reefs to avoid, approached her destination much more rapidly than
the latter, and there is no doubt that she would have arrived first on
the scene of action had not the height and form of the cliffs prevented
the wind from filling her sails on two or three occasions.

Meanwhile, in obedience to Manton's orders, a great and very peculiar
change was effected in the outward aspect of the Foam. To one
unacquainted with the character of the schooner, the proceedings of her
crew must have seemed unaccountable as well as surprising. The carpenter
and his assistants were slung over the sides of the vessel upon which
they plied their screwdrivers for a considerable time with great energy,
but, apparently, with very little result. In the course of a quarter of
an hour, however, a long narrow plank was loosened, which, when stripped
off, discovered a narrow line of bright scarlet running quite round the
vessel, a little more than a foot above the water-line. This having been
accomplished, they next proceeded to the figurehead, and, unscrewing the
white lady who smiled there, fixed in her place a hideous griffin's
head, which, like the ribbon, was also bright scarlet. While these
changes were being effected, others of the crew removed the boat that
lay on the deck, bottom up between the masts, and uncovered a long brass
pivot-gun, of the largest caliber, which shone in the saffron light of
morning like a mass of burnished gold. This gun was kept scrupulously
clean and neat in all its arrangements; the rammers, sponges, screws,
and other apparatus belonging to it were neatly arranged beside it, and
four or five of its enormous iron shot were piled under its muzzle. The
traversing gear connected with it was well greased, and, in short,
everything about the gun gave proof of the care that was bestowed on it.

But these were not the only alterations made in the mysterious schooner.
Round both masts were piled a number of muskets, boarding-pikes,
cutlasses, and pistols, all of which were perfectly clean and bright,
and the men--fierce enough and warlike in their aspect at all times--had
now rendered themselves doubly so by putting on broad belts with pistols
therein, and tucking up their sleeves to the shoulders, thereby
displaying their brawny arms as if they had dirty work before them. This
strange metamorphosis was finally completed, when Manton, with his own
hands, ran up to the peak of the mainsail a bright scarlet flag with the
single word "AVENGER" on it in large black letters.

During one of those lulls in the breeze to which we have referred, and
while the smooth ocean glowed in the mellow light that ushered in the
day, the attention of those on board the Avenger (as we shall call the
double-faced schooner when under red colors) was attracted to one of the
more distant cliffs, on the summit of which human beings appeared to be
moving.

"Hand me that glass," said Manton to one of the men beside him. "I
shouldn't wonder if the niggers were up to some mischief there. Ah! just
so," he exclaimed, adjusting the telescope a little more correctly, and
again applying it to his eye. "They seem to be scuffling on the top of
yonder precipice. Now there's one fellow down; but it's so far off that
I can't make out clearly what they're about. I say, Mr. Scraggs, get the
other glass and take a squint at them; you are further sighted than I
am."

"You're right: they are killin' one another up yonder," observed
Scraggs, surveying the group on the cliffs with calm indifference.

"Here comes the breeze," exclaimed Manton, with a look of satisfaction.
"Now, look alive, lads; we shall be close on the nigger village in five
minutes: it's just round the point of this small island close ahead.
Come, Mr. Scraggs, we've other business on hand just now than squinting
at the scrimmages of these fellows."

"Hold on," cried Scraggs, with a grin; "I do believe they're going to
pitch a fellow over that cliff. What a crack he'll come down into the
water with, to be sure. It's to be hoped the poor man is dead, for his
own sake, before he takes that flight. Hallo!" added Scraggs, with an
energetic shout and a look of surprise; "I say, that's one of _our_ men;
I know him by his striped flannel shirt. If he would only give up
kicking for a second, I'd make out his--Humph! it's all up with him,
now, poor fellow, whoever he is."

As he said the last words, the figure of a man was seen to shoot out
from the cliff, and, descending with ever-increasing grapidity, to strike
the water with terrific violence, sending up a jet of white foam as it
disappeared.

"Stand by to lower the gig," shouted Manton.

"Aye, aye, sir," was the hearty response of the men, as some of them
sprang to obey.

"Lower away!"

The boat struck water, and its crew were on the thwarts in a moment. At
the same time the point of the island was passed, and the native village
opened up to view.

"Load Long Tom--double shot!" roared Manton, whose ire was raised not so
much at the idea of a fellow-creature having been so barbarously
murdered as at the notion of one of the crew of his schooner having been
so treated by contemptible niggers. "Away, lads, and pick up that man."

"It's of no use," remonstrated Scraggs; "he's done for by this time."

"I know it," said Manton, with a fierce oath; "bring him in, dead or
alive. If the sharks leave an inch of him, bring it to me. I'll make the
black villains eat it raw."

This ferocious threat was interlarded with and followed by a series of
terrible oaths, which we think it inadvisable to repeat.

"Starboard!" he shouted to the man at the helm, as soon as the boat shot
away on its mission of mercy.

"Starboard it is."

"Steady!"

While he gave these orders, Manton sighted the brass gun carefully, and,
just as the schooner's head came up to the wind, he applied the match.

Instantly a cloud of smoke obscured the center of the little vessel, as
if her powder magazine had blown up, and a deafening roar went ringing
and reverberating from cliff to cliff as two of the great iron shot were
sent groaning through the air and pitched right into the heart of the
village.

It was this tremendous shot from Long Tom, followed almost
instantaneously by the broadside of the Talisman, that saved the life of
Alice,--possibly the lives of her young companions also; that struck
terror to the hearts of the savages, causing them to converge towards
their defenseless homes from all directions, and that apprised Ole
Thorwald and Henry Stuart that the assault on the village had commenced
in earnest.

CHAPTER XIV.

GREATER MYSTERIES THAN EVER--A BOLD MOVE AND A NARROW ESCAPE.

We return now to the Talisman.

The instant the broadside of the cruiser burst with such violence, and
in such close proximity, on Manton's ears, he felt that he had run into
the very jaws of the lion; and that escape was almost impossible. The
bold heart of the pirate quailed at the thought of his impending fate,
but the fear caused by conscious guilt was momentary; his constitutional
courage returned so violently as to render him reckless.

It was too late to put about and avoid being seen; for, before the shot
was fired, the schooner had already almost run into the narrow channel
between the island and the shore. A few seconds later, she sailed
gracefully into view of the amazed Montague, who at once recognized the
pirate vessel from Gascoyne's faithful description of her, and hurriedly
gave orders to load with ball and grape, while a boat was lowered in
order to slew the ship more rapidly so as to bring her broadside to bear
on the schooner.

To say that Gascoyne beheld all this unmoved would be to give a false
impression of the man. He knew the ring of his great gun too well to
require the schooner to come in sight in order to convince him that his
vessel was near at hand. When, therefore, she appeared, and Montague
turned to him with a hasty glance of suspicion and pointed to her, he
had completely banished every trace of feeling from his countenance, and
sat on the taffrail puffing his cigar with an air of calm satisfaction.
Nodding to Montague's glance of inquiry, he said:

"Aye, that's the pirate. I told you he was a bold fellow; but I did not
think he was quite so bold as to attempt _this_!"

To do Gascoyne justice, he told the plain truth here; for, having sent a
peremptory order to his mate, by John Bumpus, not to move from his
anchorage on any account whatever, he was not a little surprised as well
as enraged at what he supposed was Manton's mutinous conduct. But, as we
have said, his feelings were confined to his breast; they found no index
in his grave face.

Montague suspected, nevertheless, that his pilot was assuming a
composure which he did not feel; for from the manner of the meeting of
the two vessels, he was persuaded that it was as little expected on the
part of the pirates as of himself. It was with a feeling of curiosity,
therefore, as to what reply he should receive, that he put the question,
"What would Mr. Gascoyne advise me to do _now_?"

"Blow the villains out of the water," was the quick answer. "I would
have done so before now, had I been you."

"Perhaps you might, but not _much_ sooner," retorted the other, pointing
to the guns which were ready loaded, while the men stood at their
stations, matches in hand, only waiting for the broadside to be brought
to bear on the little vessel, when an iron shower would be sent against
her which must, at such short range, have infallibly sent her to the
bottom.

The mate of the pirate schooner was quite alive to his danger, and had
taken the only means in his power to prevent it. Close to where his
vessel lay, a large rock rose between the shore of the large island and
the islet in the bay which has been described as separating the two
vessels from each other. Owing to the formation of the coast at this
place, a powerful stream ran between the rock and this islet at low
tide. It happened to be flowing out at that time like a mill-race.
Manton saw that the schooner was being sucked into this stream. In other
circumstances, he would have endeavored to avoid the danger; for the
channel was barely wide enough to allow even a small craft to pass
between the rocks; but now he resolved to risk it.

He knew that any attempt to put the schooner about would only hasten the
efforts of the cruiser to bring her broadside to bear on him. He also
knew that, in the course of a few seconds, he would be carried through
the stream into the shelter of the rocky point. He therefore ordered the
men to lie down on the deck; while, in a careless manner, he slewed the
big brass gun round, so as to point it at the man-of-war.

Gascoyne at once understood the intended maneuver of his mate; and, in
spite of himself, a gleam of triumph shot from his eyes. Montague
himself suspected that his prize was not altogether so sure as he had
deemed it; and he urged the men in the boat to put forth their utmost
efforts. The Talisman was almost slewed into position, when the pirate
schooner was observed to move rapidly through the water, stern foremost,
in the direction of the point. At first Montague could scarcely credit
his eyes; but when he saw the end of the main boom pass behind the
point, he became painfully alive to the fact that the whole vessel
would certainly follow in the course of a few seconds. Although the most
of his guns were still not sufficiently well pointed, he gave the order
to fire them in succession. The entire broadside burst in this manner
from the side of the Talisman, with a prolonged and mighty crash or
roar, and tore up the waters of the narrow channel.

Most of the iron storm passed close by the head of the pirate. However,
only one ball took effect; it touched the end of the bowsprit, and sent
the jib-boom into the air in splinters. Manton applied the match to the
brass gun almost at the same moment, and the heavy ringing roar of her
explosion seemed like a prolonged echo of the broadside. The gun was
well aimed; but the schooner had already passed so far behind the point
that the ball struck a projecting part of the cliff, dashed it into
atoms, and, glancing upwards, passed through the cap of the Talisman's
mizzen-mast, and brought the lower yard, with all its gear, rattling
down on the quarter-deck. When the smoke cleared away, the Avenger had
vanished from the scene.

To put the ship about, and follow the pirate schooner, was the first
impulse of Montague; but, on second thought, he felt that the risk of
getting on the rocks in the narrow channel was too great to be lightly
run. He therefore gave orders to warp the ship about, and steer round
the islet, on the other side of which he fully expected to find the
pirate. But time was lost in attempting to do this, in consequence of
the wreck of the mizzen-mast having fouled the rudder. When the Talisman
at last got under way, and rounded the outside point of the islet, no
vessel of any kind was to be seen.

Amazed beyond measure, and deeply chagrined, the unfortunate captain of
the man-of-war turned to Gascoyne, who still sat quietly on the taffrail
smoking his cigar.

"Does this pirate schooner sport wings as well as sails?" said he; "for
unless she does, and has flown over the mountains, I cannot see how she
could disappear in so short a space of time."

"I told you the pirate was a bold man; and now he has proved himself a
clever fellow. Whether he sports wings or no is best known to himself.
Perhaps he can dive. If so, we have only to watch until he comes to the
surface, and shoot him leisurely."

"Well, he is off; there is no doubt of that," returned Montague. "And
now, Mr. Gascoyne, since it is vain to chase a vessel possessed of such
mysterious qualities, you will not object, I dare say, to guide my ship
to the bay where your own little schooner lies. I have a fancy to anchor
there."

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