Chapter Five.

Chapter Five.They encounter a Storm at Sea, and reach the Island of Cuba.What had happened to Roger is already known to the reader, and what befell Harry after the explosion on board theMaria Dolorosamay be very shortly recounted.The shock of his plunge into the cold water brought him to his senses in time to prevent him from drowning, and his first thought was to look after Roger; but his friend was nowhere to be seen. He shouted his name in vain for some time, and then started to swim towards his own ship, which lay quite near, in the faint hope that perhaps his friend might have been seen and rescued by her.He made enquiries immediately on reaching the deck of the ship, but could elicit no information as to Roger’s whereabouts, and everybody on board was much too busy with his own work of fighting the three remaining Spanish ships to pay any attention to Harry. But he could not thus easily resign himself to Roger’s loss, and he peered over the lee bulwarks in an endeavour to discover his friend’s body, if it were still afloat.He could, however, see nothing of it, and was beginning to fear that he had indeed lost his dear friend and the companion of his boyhood, when from theGloria del Mundo, the Spanish ship which was nearest to him, he saw a boat lowered, which pulled away in the direction of a floating piece of wreckage which he had not until then noticed. He saw the boat row up close to this wreckage, and take from it a body which appeared to be hanging limply across it; and, looking more intently, he felt almost certain that the body was that of Roger. The boat pulled back to theGloria del Mundo, and was hoisted on board.If the body was indeed that of Roger, then, thank Heaven! he was safe for the time being; but the poor lad was nevertheless still in a very precarious situation, being on board a Spanish ship. Harry could see also that the vessel was in manifest distress, and had apparently not much longer to float.It was some time after this that Cavendish, having at length disposed of his previous antagonist, ordered his ship to be laid alongside theGloria del Mundo, with the object of capturing her out of hand, and making a prize of her before she sank. This was accordingly done, and the crash which Roger had heard, followed by the cries and musketry, was indeed, as he believed, the result of the English vessel being laid alongside and the rush of the English boarders.It goes without saying that Harry was among the first to board, and he immediately commenced his search for Roger, but unluckily began it in a totally different quarter from that in which Roger had been placed.TheGloria del Mundowas soon in the hands of the English, but it was found that she was sinking too fast for them to save her, and the boarders were at once recalled.Harry, however, determined not to leave without his friend, and he was therefore left behind when the Englishmen returned to their own vessel. The grapnels uniting the two ships were cut, and at once the craft began to drift apart, Harry being left on board the Spanish vessel searching for Roger.How he found him and rescued him, obtaining possession of certain documents at the very last moment, and hoisted Roger on deck even as the ship swamped beneath their feet, has already been told.Now, as to the result of the action. Of the two ships first engaged by the English—theMaria Dolorosaand theBuena Vista—the latter had been sunk at the commencement of the action, and the former had blown up.The third ship, theGloria del Mundo, had sunk. TheSalvadorandEl Capitanwere the only two of the Spanish fleet that still remained afloat, and both were fearfully knocked about. TheSalvadorhad lost all her masts, every one of her boats had been smashed to pieces by the gun-fire of the English, and her sides were everywhere perforated with shot-holes. But a prize crew had been put on board her, and was now hard at work patching her up and rendering her seaworthy, rigging jury-masts, cutting away wreckage, and otherwise putting her once more into sailing trim.El Capitanwas in a similar condition. She had still her mizzenmast standing; but otherwise she was as badly damaged as her companion, and was undergoing the same repairs and refit.The Spaniards who had escaped on board theSalvadorandEl Capitanfrom the other vessels, and the crews of the two ships themselves still left alive, had been divided into five batches, one being put on board each ship. This was done by way of precaution, since, thus separated, there was much less likelihood of their attempting to recapture their own ships or take those of the English.The English squadron had suffered almost as badly, for although none of the vessels had been sunk, they were all in a very seriously damaged condition. Cavendish’s vessel, theStag Royal, had lost all her masts, and was in great danger of foundering, her appearance being that of a huge mass of wreckage rather than a ship; but the carpenters were hard at work on her, and were making good her defects as quickly as possible.The other two vessels of the English fleet, theElizabethand theGood Adventure, were not quite so much cut up as the ship of the commodore, but stood in need of a good deal of repair before they would be again serviceable.The English had put prize crews on board the two Spanish ships, sadly depleting the companies of their own ships, and all hands were kept hard at the work of repair, for Cavendish knew that, in the event of a gale springing up, none of the ships would weather it in their existing condition. It was very trying work, too, this patching up of the vessels at sea, and at the best it could be nothing more than a temporary repair. But at last, after three days of incessant toil, all five of the craft were reported as fit to proceed on the voyage. Yet it was agreed that they ought to run for some place where the ships might be beached, careened, and overhauled thoroughly; otherwise they could not be trusted to weather the storms which they would inevitably meet with on their proposed cruising-ground, which was the Caribbean Sea.Cavendish therefore summoned a conclave of the captains of his little squadron in the cabin of the flag-ship, to decide upon some place where they might go to execute the necessary repairs.The charts were got out and laid upon the table; courses were laid off to various places, and the distances thereto measured and calculated; and after some discussion it was decided unanimously that they should run for the West India Islands, trusting that they might meet with no Spanish squadron either on the way or at their rendezvous for overhauling.The place they agreed to make for was the eastern end of the island of Cuba, as this island lay on their direct course for the Caribbean Sea and the coast of Mexico, where they intended to cruise in the hope of picking up some plate-laden galleon from Vera Cruz or Tampico.This island of Cuba was, it is true, a Spanish possession, but it was at this time newly discovered and only very sparsely populated. So, by keeping to the eastern extremity of the island, and maintaining a sharp lookout whilst the ships were in the process of careening, they hoped to avoid any encounter with their enemies until, the ships being properly repaired and once more serviceable, they should find themselves in a position to resume their cruise with a view to the securing of more prizes.The squadron of five ships which they had just beaten had been sent out from Cadiz to intercept Cavendish and prevent him from reaching the Indies, and, being a war fleet, had no treasure on board. The gain to the English consisted, therefore, solely in the acquisition of two more ships for their little fleet; but this was not altogether an unmixed blessing, because, with the obligation to man their extra two vessels, the whole five were now short-handed.Cavendish gave his orders to his captains, which were that the five vessels should make for the eastern end of Cuba, and, if separated, meet at a spot the bearings of which he gave them, about a day’s sail from the island, whence they would proceed in company, so as to arrive at their agreed destination all together.It now remained to appoint two captains to the prizes and put prize crews on board them, and this was soon done. Cavendish appointed the first and second officers of his flag-ship as captains of the two captured Spanish ships, replacing his first officer by the third, a man named Leigh, and appointing Roger to the vacant post of second officer.It had been his intention to promote Harry to a position as officer on one of the captured ships, but the lad begged so hard to be allowed to remain in the same vessel as Roger that Cavendish at last consented, adding that he thought Harry was throwing away an opportunity which might not again occur. So long as he might remain by Roger’s side, however, Harry did not very much care. “Besides,” thought he, “we made a compact to remain always by one another, and I am sure Roger would have stayed with me had I been appointed instead of him.”The signal was now made for all sail possible to be carried, so that they might the sooner reach their rendezvous and begin the work of overhauling and repairs of which they stood in such urgent need. If separated by storm or any other mischance they were to meet at the place agreed upon during the conclave in the cabin of the flag-ship.Sail was made accordingly, and the little squadron, now increased by two ships, but with sadly diminished crews, resumed its voyage.For the first three days all went smoothly, the speed of the whole being regulated by the pace of the slowest vessel in the squadron. On the evening of the third day, however, the weather showed signs of changing. They had been sailing along with a good following breeze, the sky overhead a deep, cloudless, sapphire blue, and the sea smooth enough to relieve them from all uneasiness. Now, however, the sun was sinking toward the horizon like a ball of dull red copper, and the western sky, instead of being clear as previously, was heavy with black clouds that were banking up and threatening to obscure the sun ere it set. Overhead, too, deep violet clouds made their appearance, tinged here and there to lurid red and orange by the rays of the fast-disappearing luminary. The air, moreover, felt dull and heavy, and carried a peculiar odour not unlike brimstone. This singular condition of the atmosphere was not without its effect on the men, who felt listless and disinclined to work. A sense of impending peril seemed to be hanging over all. The wind, too, was gradually dying away, and came fitfully and at intervals in hot, sulphurous puffs. The sea, which had been sparkling in thousands of tiny wavelets in the rays of the sun, began to assume a dark and oily appearance; and a long swell was beginning to make itself felt, causing the sails, as they drooped against the masts, to flap noisily with a sound like the crack of an arquebuse.Gradually the sky grew blacker and more overcast, and the sea assumed the appearance of ink. The five ships of the squadron were all well within sight of one another, and lay motionless save for their uneasy heaving to the swell which was now fast-rising. Having lost steerage-way, they were “boxing the compass”, that is, were heading first in one direction and then in another, their bows slowly swinging until they pointed in various directions. Cavendish was on deck, looking anxiously at the sky, and presently he gave the order to all hands to shorten sail, and hailed the ship lying nearest to him to do the same.The other vessels were lying too far away for a hail to carry, and there was no wind to lift the signal flags if hoisted; but the commodore was relieved to see the remainder of the fleet follow his example. In a few moments the canvas of the whole squadron was seen coming heavily down or being rolled up on the yards; and before very long all the ships were either under bare poles or being snugged down with everything secured ready for any emergency.Cavendish, however, still remained very anxious: and he had cause enough for his anxiety. For his squadron had only recently come through a heavy action, and their timbers were strained; masts had been merely secured in a temporary manner, and the necessary stays and fore and aft preventers had not yet all been rigged; indeed, the process of bending new sails, ropes, etcetera, was still being gone on with although the ships had been got under way at the earliest possible moment. Shot-holes had been only roughly plugged, and in some of the vessels pumping was still being carried on day and night. The two prizes had been knocked about still more badly; in fact the whole squadron was in a very unfit state to encounter even a strong gale, and the coming storm threatened something very much worse than this. But everything was battened down and made as snug as possible, and all that Cavendish could now do was to trust in Providence and hope his ships would survive the tempest, since nothing had been left undone that mortal hands could possibly do.A dull moaning sound at length began to make itself heard, and several hot sulphurous gusts of wind came down out of the north; the blocks overhead creaked, the cordage rattled, and in the heavy silence weird noises made themselves perceptible. Roger and Harry were standing on the poop, exchanging comments on the weather, and Cavendish and his chief officer, Richard Leigh, were in close conversation on the main-deck just below them, glancing anxiously from time to time toward the northward, where the sky had become black almost as midnight.“Look there, Harry,” observed Roger, pointing to the main-topgallant yard; and, looking up, Harry perceived two lambent globes of greenish fire.As he continued looking and wondering what they might be, other weird lights made their appearance on the yard-arms and on the very tops of the masts, presenting a beautiful, but at the same time a very eerie, spectacle. The same phenomenon was to be seen on the spars of every vessel in sight; and as it was by this time very nearly dark (there being scarcely any twilight in these latitudes), the whole squadron had the appearance of being illuminated.“Whatever can it possibly be?” queried Harry; “I have never seen anything like it before.”“I suspect,” returned Roger, “that it is in some way connected with the approaching storm. I have heard sailors speak of those lights as witch-lights, death-gleams, and corposants, and their appearance is said always to foretell disaster. I hope, however, that they do not forebode evil on this occasion, although things are looking decidedly unpleasant just now.”Cavendish, hearing their conversation, looked up, and, observing the apprehension of the two, explained to them that the lights were termed, by the Portuguese navigators, “Lights of Saint Elmo”; and he assured the lads that the lights were not the cause of, but the harbingers of, storm.“I fear, however,” added he, “that we are in for a bad time of it, and you youngsters had better beware lest you be swept overboard when the sea rises; for if anyone is washed over the side during what is coming he will have no chance of being picked up again. So take care, young men!”Suddenly Roger perceived, far away to the north, a line of white, which looked like a thin streak of paint drawn across an ebony background, and the dull moaning noise in the air quickly grew in volume, at the same time becoming more shrill. Roger shouted down a warning to Leigh, who was standing near the wheel, and pointed away in the direction from which the line of white was approaching. Cavendish, who had just walked forward to make sure that all was as it should be, heard the warning, and shouted an order for all on deck to prepare for the outfly, and then, seizing his speaking-trumpet, rushed up on the poop beside the boys, and roared out a warning to the only ship within hail. Then, turning, he told the two lads to get down off the poop on to the main-deck, where they would be sheltered to a certain extent by the high bulwarks of the ship. In obedience to this command they hurried down the starboard accommodation ladder, whilst Cavendish made his way down the one on the port side, and all three reached the deck together.Cavendish then shouted some order to Leigh at the wheel, but whatever it may have been, his words were drowned by the awful shriek and roar of the hurricane as it burst upon them.To Harry and Roger, who had never experienced anything of the kind before, it seemed as though some mighty invisible hand had smitten the ship, throwing her over on to her beam-ends. She heeled down before the blast until it seemed as though she would capsize altogether, while the two boys were precipitated both together across the streaming decks into the lee scuppers, whence they found it impossible to escape owing to the excessive slant of the deck.Leigh was hanging on to the wheel for his life, endeavouring to put the helm hard up, and so turn the ship’s stern to the wind to enable her to run before the gale—the only course possible under the circumstances.Cavendish and a few men in the fore-part of the vessel were meanwhile striving manfully to hoist a staysail and get some way upon the ship, so as to help her to pay off before the sea, and so save her from being pooped by the waves, which were rising higher and higher every moment.At length the stability of the ship prevailed, and she began to right. Then, Roger and Harry, rushing to Leigh’s assistance, helped him to put the helm up, and the ship paid off and began to scud before the wind, while Cavendish, encouraging his little body of men up in the eyes of the ship, managed to get the foresail set, after having had it nearly blown out of the bolt-ropes.Looking astern, the boys saw the huge seas rushing after them, each one threatening to engulf the craft and send her to the bottom; and indeed that would speedily have been her fate had the men not been able to set the small rag of sail, and thus made it possible for her to keep ahead of the waves.The foaming crests of the sea were ablaze with phosphorescence, and appeared to tower above the poop as high as the main-topsail-yard, and the sight of them sweeping along after the ship was positively appalling. The wind now began to increase in violence, literally tearing off the summits of the huge waves and sending them in spindrift hurtling across the deck like showers of shot that cut the face like the lash of a whip. The uproar was terrific, the shrieking and howling of the wind blending with the creaking and straining of the timbers of the labouring ship. Crash succeeded crash aloft, but they could distinguish nothing of what was happening because of the intense blackness. Yet the motion of the ship was becoming steadier, for the reason that the wind was so strong that it was actually beating down the sea.Suddenly the two lads heard a rending and tearing sound, followed by a crash quite close to them, as something weighty smote the deck; and through the fearful din that raged round them there rang out the scream of a man in agony.“Harry,” said Roger, “that is the mizzenmast come down, and it has injured some poor fellow! Let us endeavour to reach him if we can.”And, still holding to each other, they began to feel their way carefully along the deck, which was now encumbered with wreckage.Suddenly Harry cried out, and fell over something, which proved to be the wreck of the fallen mast.“Are you hurt, Harry?” queried Roger.“No, lad,” came the response, “and I think I have found the poor fellow whose scream we heard just now; he seems to have been crushed by the mast as it fell. If you will stoop down here, you will be able to feel his body. Had we but a lever of some kind we might perhaps be able to raise the mast sufficiently to drag him from underneath it.”Roger climbed over the mast and, feeling for Harry, knelt down beside him, where he found the body that Harry had fallen upon when he tripped over the mast.By touch he found that the poor seaman, whoever he was, was pinned down immovably to the deck, the mast lying right across the middle of his body.Roger put his mouth to the ear of the man, and shouted: “Are you badly hurt; and can you move with assistance?”He caught the reply: “Is that you, Master Trevose? I am pinned down by this spar, and I believe my leg is broken; but if you could manage to get the mast raised by ever so little, I believe I could scramble out from under it.”“Can we find a lever anywhere?” shouted Roger.“There are a couple of handspikes in the rack close to you; if you can find these, they will do,” replied the wounded seaman.Roger worked his way to the rack indicated by the man, and fortunately found the handspikes at once. Taking them both, he quickly scrambled back again and handed one to Harry, retaining the other himself.The two lads then prized the points under the mast, and threw all their weight on the shafts, using them as levers. They felt the mast quiver and move slightly.“That’s the way, Master Trevose; one more lift like that and I’ll be out from under,” shouted the man.Roger and Harry again exerted all their strength, the mast rose perceptibly, and they heard a cry of pain from the seaman as he wormed himself from under the spar.“I be out now, Master,” came the voice; “if ye can lift me up and get me below, I’ll thank ye.”One of them supporting him on either side, they raised the unfortunate fellow upright, and with great difficulty assisted him across the deck, and so to the companion-hatch, which they found without trouble, as it was now growing somewhat lighter. The clouds were not quite so thick, and an occasional gleam came from the moon as she was uncovered.They got the man below, Roger taking him on his back down the companion-ladder, while Harry ran for the surgeon. The latter soon made his appearance, and attended to the sufferer, who proved to be an ordinary seaman named Morgan.Having seen the patient off their hands and well attended to, the couple returned to the deck.They found that the wind was lessening every moment, and the clouds were disappearing fast, permitting the moon to shine out fitfully; but the sea, no longer kept down by the pressure of the wind, was rising rapidly.“I think the squall is past its worst, Harry,” said Roger. “What we have to fear now is the sea, which will get worse, I am afraid, ere it goes down—but look there! Merciful Heaven! what is that?” he continued, pointing away over their port quarter with his finger.The inky blackness had lifted somewhat, and they could plainly perceive the hull of one of their own ships, presumably; but her ports were open, and her interior appeared as a glowing furnace, while, even as they looked, tongues of fire spurted up from her deck and began to lick round her masts, and from the hapless vessel a long wail of anguish and despair came floating down the wind.Every eye in the ship was at once turned to the burning vessel, which they presently made out to be, by her rig, theSalvador, one of the two captured Spanish vessels.What seemed to have happened was that the Spanish prisoners confined below had fired the ship before the squall came down, in the hope of being able to overpower their captors in the ensuing confusion, trusting to luck for the opportunity to extinguish the conflagration afterwards. The storm arising after they had set fire to the vessel, however, the wind had fanned the flames until she had become a raging fiery furnace fore-and-aft. And there was no means of affording succour to the miserable men on board her, for the sea was running tremendously high and rising every minute.She was an awful but gorgeous spectacle, presenting the appearance of a floating volcano, vomiting flame and smoke as she rushed along before the wind; but still more awful were the cries and shrieks of agony that were borne to them across the intervening water.Cavendish at once gave orders that his ship should be run as close as possible, compatible with her safety, and this was done; but it was impossible to save her wretched crew, and the rest of the fleet endured the misery of beholding their comrades burn, together with the panic-stricken Spaniards, the authors of the calamity, as many of whom as possible had been released as soon as the fire was discovered.A speedy end, however, came to the appalling tragedy which was taking place before their very eyes; for while they still watched, powerless to save, a terrific explosion occurred, followed by a rain of blazing pieces of timber and, gruesome sight! of portions of human bodies which had been whirled aloft, and now came hurtling down on the decks of the flag-ship. The fire had reached theSalvador’smagazine!This awful spectacle cast a deep gloom over the entire ship’s company.Shortly afterwards, none of the other vessels being in sight, and the sea having moderated somewhat, Cavendish ordered the ship’s course to be altered, and they again bore up for the rendezvous.On the tenth day after the storm they reached, without further adventure, the agreed latitude and longitude, and hove-to, waiting for the remainder of the squadron to make its appearance.Two days later, the first of the other vessels, theElizabeth, made her appearance, and on the same evening, by the light of the tropic stars, the other two joined them.All four remained hove-to until daybreak. Early on the following morning they all got under weigh again, and headed for the land, which now could not be many miles distant.Shortly after noon came the ever-welcome cry from the masthead: “Land ho!”“Where away?” demanded the officer of the watch.“Dead ahead,” answered the lookout.“Keep her as she goes,” ordered Cavendish; and with an ever-lessening wind they glided toward the land that climbed higher and higher above the horizon by imperceptible degrees.By the end of the first dog-watch on that same evening they were close enough to make out the formation of the land; and at length, sighting a bay that looked promising for their purpose, they bore up for it, sounding all the way as they went.As the land opened up, the bay toward which they were heading appeared to offer increasingly advantageous facilities for careening and repairing; and they presently passed in between two low headlands covered with palms, and dropped anchor in the calm inlet in six fathoms of water, at which depth they could clearly see the bottom of sand thickly dotted with shells and broken pieces of coral.At last, after many weary and fateful days, they had reached a haven on the other side of the Atlantic; a haven in one of the islands of those fabled Indies where, if legend was to be believed, gold was to be found more plentifully than iron in England!All hands gazed longingly at the shore; but leave could not be granted that night, as the country was unknown, and although it appeared to be uninhabited, they could not be certain what eventualities might arise. Cavendish, therefore, deemed it better to wait until morning, and then send a strong force on shore to reconnoitre and explore.Meanwhile Roger and Harry went below to their bunks and slumbered, dreaming of the coming morn. Those of the crew who were off duty slept on deck or in their hammocks, as the fancy took them; the anchor watch was set; and thus all hands, waking or sleeping, waited for the morning which should disclose to them this garden of Paradise.

What had happened to Roger is already known to the reader, and what befell Harry after the explosion on board theMaria Dolorosamay be very shortly recounted.

The shock of his plunge into the cold water brought him to his senses in time to prevent him from drowning, and his first thought was to look after Roger; but his friend was nowhere to be seen. He shouted his name in vain for some time, and then started to swim towards his own ship, which lay quite near, in the faint hope that perhaps his friend might have been seen and rescued by her.

He made enquiries immediately on reaching the deck of the ship, but could elicit no information as to Roger’s whereabouts, and everybody on board was much too busy with his own work of fighting the three remaining Spanish ships to pay any attention to Harry. But he could not thus easily resign himself to Roger’s loss, and he peered over the lee bulwarks in an endeavour to discover his friend’s body, if it were still afloat.

He could, however, see nothing of it, and was beginning to fear that he had indeed lost his dear friend and the companion of his boyhood, when from theGloria del Mundo, the Spanish ship which was nearest to him, he saw a boat lowered, which pulled away in the direction of a floating piece of wreckage which he had not until then noticed. He saw the boat row up close to this wreckage, and take from it a body which appeared to be hanging limply across it; and, looking more intently, he felt almost certain that the body was that of Roger. The boat pulled back to theGloria del Mundo, and was hoisted on board.

If the body was indeed that of Roger, then, thank Heaven! he was safe for the time being; but the poor lad was nevertheless still in a very precarious situation, being on board a Spanish ship. Harry could see also that the vessel was in manifest distress, and had apparently not much longer to float.

It was some time after this that Cavendish, having at length disposed of his previous antagonist, ordered his ship to be laid alongside theGloria del Mundo, with the object of capturing her out of hand, and making a prize of her before she sank. This was accordingly done, and the crash which Roger had heard, followed by the cries and musketry, was indeed, as he believed, the result of the English vessel being laid alongside and the rush of the English boarders.

It goes without saying that Harry was among the first to board, and he immediately commenced his search for Roger, but unluckily began it in a totally different quarter from that in which Roger had been placed.

TheGloria del Mundowas soon in the hands of the English, but it was found that she was sinking too fast for them to save her, and the boarders were at once recalled.

Harry, however, determined not to leave without his friend, and he was therefore left behind when the Englishmen returned to their own vessel. The grapnels uniting the two ships were cut, and at once the craft began to drift apart, Harry being left on board the Spanish vessel searching for Roger.

How he found him and rescued him, obtaining possession of certain documents at the very last moment, and hoisted Roger on deck even as the ship swamped beneath their feet, has already been told.

Now, as to the result of the action. Of the two ships first engaged by the English—theMaria Dolorosaand theBuena Vista—the latter had been sunk at the commencement of the action, and the former had blown up.

The third ship, theGloria del Mundo, had sunk. TheSalvadorandEl Capitanwere the only two of the Spanish fleet that still remained afloat, and both were fearfully knocked about. TheSalvadorhad lost all her masts, every one of her boats had been smashed to pieces by the gun-fire of the English, and her sides were everywhere perforated with shot-holes. But a prize crew had been put on board her, and was now hard at work patching her up and rendering her seaworthy, rigging jury-masts, cutting away wreckage, and otherwise putting her once more into sailing trim.El Capitanwas in a similar condition. She had still her mizzenmast standing; but otherwise she was as badly damaged as her companion, and was undergoing the same repairs and refit.

The Spaniards who had escaped on board theSalvadorandEl Capitanfrom the other vessels, and the crews of the two ships themselves still left alive, had been divided into five batches, one being put on board each ship. This was done by way of precaution, since, thus separated, there was much less likelihood of their attempting to recapture their own ships or take those of the English.

The English squadron had suffered almost as badly, for although none of the vessels had been sunk, they were all in a very seriously damaged condition. Cavendish’s vessel, theStag Royal, had lost all her masts, and was in great danger of foundering, her appearance being that of a huge mass of wreckage rather than a ship; but the carpenters were hard at work on her, and were making good her defects as quickly as possible.

The other two vessels of the English fleet, theElizabethand theGood Adventure, were not quite so much cut up as the ship of the commodore, but stood in need of a good deal of repair before they would be again serviceable.

The English had put prize crews on board the two Spanish ships, sadly depleting the companies of their own ships, and all hands were kept hard at the work of repair, for Cavendish knew that, in the event of a gale springing up, none of the ships would weather it in their existing condition. It was very trying work, too, this patching up of the vessels at sea, and at the best it could be nothing more than a temporary repair. But at last, after three days of incessant toil, all five of the craft were reported as fit to proceed on the voyage. Yet it was agreed that they ought to run for some place where the ships might be beached, careened, and overhauled thoroughly; otherwise they could not be trusted to weather the storms which they would inevitably meet with on their proposed cruising-ground, which was the Caribbean Sea.

Cavendish therefore summoned a conclave of the captains of his little squadron in the cabin of the flag-ship, to decide upon some place where they might go to execute the necessary repairs.

The charts were got out and laid upon the table; courses were laid off to various places, and the distances thereto measured and calculated; and after some discussion it was decided unanimously that they should run for the West India Islands, trusting that they might meet with no Spanish squadron either on the way or at their rendezvous for overhauling.

The place they agreed to make for was the eastern end of the island of Cuba, as this island lay on their direct course for the Caribbean Sea and the coast of Mexico, where they intended to cruise in the hope of picking up some plate-laden galleon from Vera Cruz or Tampico.

This island of Cuba was, it is true, a Spanish possession, but it was at this time newly discovered and only very sparsely populated. So, by keeping to the eastern extremity of the island, and maintaining a sharp lookout whilst the ships were in the process of careening, they hoped to avoid any encounter with their enemies until, the ships being properly repaired and once more serviceable, they should find themselves in a position to resume their cruise with a view to the securing of more prizes.

The squadron of five ships which they had just beaten had been sent out from Cadiz to intercept Cavendish and prevent him from reaching the Indies, and, being a war fleet, had no treasure on board. The gain to the English consisted, therefore, solely in the acquisition of two more ships for their little fleet; but this was not altogether an unmixed blessing, because, with the obligation to man their extra two vessels, the whole five were now short-handed.

Cavendish gave his orders to his captains, which were that the five vessels should make for the eastern end of Cuba, and, if separated, meet at a spot the bearings of which he gave them, about a day’s sail from the island, whence they would proceed in company, so as to arrive at their agreed destination all together.

It now remained to appoint two captains to the prizes and put prize crews on board them, and this was soon done. Cavendish appointed the first and second officers of his flag-ship as captains of the two captured Spanish ships, replacing his first officer by the third, a man named Leigh, and appointing Roger to the vacant post of second officer.

It had been his intention to promote Harry to a position as officer on one of the captured ships, but the lad begged so hard to be allowed to remain in the same vessel as Roger that Cavendish at last consented, adding that he thought Harry was throwing away an opportunity which might not again occur. So long as he might remain by Roger’s side, however, Harry did not very much care. “Besides,” thought he, “we made a compact to remain always by one another, and I am sure Roger would have stayed with me had I been appointed instead of him.”

The signal was now made for all sail possible to be carried, so that they might the sooner reach their rendezvous and begin the work of overhauling and repairs of which they stood in such urgent need. If separated by storm or any other mischance they were to meet at the place agreed upon during the conclave in the cabin of the flag-ship.

Sail was made accordingly, and the little squadron, now increased by two ships, but with sadly diminished crews, resumed its voyage.

For the first three days all went smoothly, the speed of the whole being regulated by the pace of the slowest vessel in the squadron. On the evening of the third day, however, the weather showed signs of changing. They had been sailing along with a good following breeze, the sky overhead a deep, cloudless, sapphire blue, and the sea smooth enough to relieve them from all uneasiness. Now, however, the sun was sinking toward the horizon like a ball of dull red copper, and the western sky, instead of being clear as previously, was heavy with black clouds that were banking up and threatening to obscure the sun ere it set. Overhead, too, deep violet clouds made their appearance, tinged here and there to lurid red and orange by the rays of the fast-disappearing luminary. The air, moreover, felt dull and heavy, and carried a peculiar odour not unlike brimstone. This singular condition of the atmosphere was not without its effect on the men, who felt listless and disinclined to work. A sense of impending peril seemed to be hanging over all. The wind, too, was gradually dying away, and came fitfully and at intervals in hot, sulphurous puffs. The sea, which had been sparkling in thousands of tiny wavelets in the rays of the sun, began to assume a dark and oily appearance; and a long swell was beginning to make itself felt, causing the sails, as they drooped against the masts, to flap noisily with a sound like the crack of an arquebuse.

Gradually the sky grew blacker and more overcast, and the sea assumed the appearance of ink. The five ships of the squadron were all well within sight of one another, and lay motionless save for their uneasy heaving to the swell which was now fast-rising. Having lost steerage-way, they were “boxing the compass”, that is, were heading first in one direction and then in another, their bows slowly swinging until they pointed in various directions. Cavendish was on deck, looking anxiously at the sky, and presently he gave the order to all hands to shorten sail, and hailed the ship lying nearest to him to do the same.

The other vessels were lying too far away for a hail to carry, and there was no wind to lift the signal flags if hoisted; but the commodore was relieved to see the remainder of the fleet follow his example. In a few moments the canvas of the whole squadron was seen coming heavily down or being rolled up on the yards; and before very long all the ships were either under bare poles or being snugged down with everything secured ready for any emergency.

Cavendish, however, still remained very anxious: and he had cause enough for his anxiety. For his squadron had only recently come through a heavy action, and their timbers were strained; masts had been merely secured in a temporary manner, and the necessary stays and fore and aft preventers had not yet all been rigged; indeed, the process of bending new sails, ropes, etcetera, was still being gone on with although the ships had been got under way at the earliest possible moment. Shot-holes had been only roughly plugged, and in some of the vessels pumping was still being carried on day and night. The two prizes had been knocked about still more badly; in fact the whole squadron was in a very unfit state to encounter even a strong gale, and the coming storm threatened something very much worse than this. But everything was battened down and made as snug as possible, and all that Cavendish could now do was to trust in Providence and hope his ships would survive the tempest, since nothing had been left undone that mortal hands could possibly do.

A dull moaning sound at length began to make itself heard, and several hot sulphurous gusts of wind came down out of the north; the blocks overhead creaked, the cordage rattled, and in the heavy silence weird noises made themselves perceptible. Roger and Harry were standing on the poop, exchanging comments on the weather, and Cavendish and his chief officer, Richard Leigh, were in close conversation on the main-deck just below them, glancing anxiously from time to time toward the northward, where the sky had become black almost as midnight.

“Look there, Harry,” observed Roger, pointing to the main-topgallant yard; and, looking up, Harry perceived two lambent globes of greenish fire.

As he continued looking and wondering what they might be, other weird lights made their appearance on the yard-arms and on the very tops of the masts, presenting a beautiful, but at the same time a very eerie, spectacle. The same phenomenon was to be seen on the spars of every vessel in sight; and as it was by this time very nearly dark (there being scarcely any twilight in these latitudes), the whole squadron had the appearance of being illuminated.

“Whatever can it possibly be?” queried Harry; “I have never seen anything like it before.”

“I suspect,” returned Roger, “that it is in some way connected with the approaching storm. I have heard sailors speak of those lights as witch-lights, death-gleams, and corposants, and their appearance is said always to foretell disaster. I hope, however, that they do not forebode evil on this occasion, although things are looking decidedly unpleasant just now.”

Cavendish, hearing their conversation, looked up, and, observing the apprehension of the two, explained to them that the lights were termed, by the Portuguese navigators, “Lights of Saint Elmo”; and he assured the lads that the lights were not the cause of, but the harbingers of, storm.

“I fear, however,” added he, “that we are in for a bad time of it, and you youngsters had better beware lest you be swept overboard when the sea rises; for if anyone is washed over the side during what is coming he will have no chance of being picked up again. So take care, young men!”

Suddenly Roger perceived, far away to the north, a line of white, which looked like a thin streak of paint drawn across an ebony background, and the dull moaning noise in the air quickly grew in volume, at the same time becoming more shrill. Roger shouted down a warning to Leigh, who was standing near the wheel, and pointed away in the direction from which the line of white was approaching. Cavendish, who had just walked forward to make sure that all was as it should be, heard the warning, and shouted an order for all on deck to prepare for the outfly, and then, seizing his speaking-trumpet, rushed up on the poop beside the boys, and roared out a warning to the only ship within hail. Then, turning, he told the two lads to get down off the poop on to the main-deck, where they would be sheltered to a certain extent by the high bulwarks of the ship. In obedience to this command they hurried down the starboard accommodation ladder, whilst Cavendish made his way down the one on the port side, and all three reached the deck together.

Cavendish then shouted some order to Leigh at the wheel, but whatever it may have been, his words were drowned by the awful shriek and roar of the hurricane as it burst upon them.

To Harry and Roger, who had never experienced anything of the kind before, it seemed as though some mighty invisible hand had smitten the ship, throwing her over on to her beam-ends. She heeled down before the blast until it seemed as though she would capsize altogether, while the two boys were precipitated both together across the streaming decks into the lee scuppers, whence they found it impossible to escape owing to the excessive slant of the deck.

Leigh was hanging on to the wheel for his life, endeavouring to put the helm hard up, and so turn the ship’s stern to the wind to enable her to run before the gale—the only course possible under the circumstances.

Cavendish and a few men in the fore-part of the vessel were meanwhile striving manfully to hoist a staysail and get some way upon the ship, so as to help her to pay off before the sea, and so save her from being pooped by the waves, which were rising higher and higher every moment.

At length the stability of the ship prevailed, and she began to right. Then, Roger and Harry, rushing to Leigh’s assistance, helped him to put the helm up, and the ship paid off and began to scud before the wind, while Cavendish, encouraging his little body of men up in the eyes of the ship, managed to get the foresail set, after having had it nearly blown out of the bolt-ropes.

Looking astern, the boys saw the huge seas rushing after them, each one threatening to engulf the craft and send her to the bottom; and indeed that would speedily have been her fate had the men not been able to set the small rag of sail, and thus made it possible for her to keep ahead of the waves.

The foaming crests of the sea were ablaze with phosphorescence, and appeared to tower above the poop as high as the main-topsail-yard, and the sight of them sweeping along after the ship was positively appalling. The wind now began to increase in violence, literally tearing off the summits of the huge waves and sending them in spindrift hurtling across the deck like showers of shot that cut the face like the lash of a whip. The uproar was terrific, the shrieking and howling of the wind blending with the creaking and straining of the timbers of the labouring ship. Crash succeeded crash aloft, but they could distinguish nothing of what was happening because of the intense blackness. Yet the motion of the ship was becoming steadier, for the reason that the wind was so strong that it was actually beating down the sea.

Suddenly the two lads heard a rending and tearing sound, followed by a crash quite close to them, as something weighty smote the deck; and through the fearful din that raged round them there rang out the scream of a man in agony.

“Harry,” said Roger, “that is the mizzenmast come down, and it has injured some poor fellow! Let us endeavour to reach him if we can.”

And, still holding to each other, they began to feel their way carefully along the deck, which was now encumbered with wreckage.

Suddenly Harry cried out, and fell over something, which proved to be the wreck of the fallen mast.

“Are you hurt, Harry?” queried Roger.

“No, lad,” came the response, “and I think I have found the poor fellow whose scream we heard just now; he seems to have been crushed by the mast as it fell. If you will stoop down here, you will be able to feel his body. Had we but a lever of some kind we might perhaps be able to raise the mast sufficiently to drag him from underneath it.”

Roger climbed over the mast and, feeling for Harry, knelt down beside him, where he found the body that Harry had fallen upon when he tripped over the mast.

By touch he found that the poor seaman, whoever he was, was pinned down immovably to the deck, the mast lying right across the middle of his body.

Roger put his mouth to the ear of the man, and shouted: “Are you badly hurt; and can you move with assistance?”

He caught the reply: “Is that you, Master Trevose? I am pinned down by this spar, and I believe my leg is broken; but if you could manage to get the mast raised by ever so little, I believe I could scramble out from under it.”

“Can we find a lever anywhere?” shouted Roger.

“There are a couple of handspikes in the rack close to you; if you can find these, they will do,” replied the wounded seaman.

Roger worked his way to the rack indicated by the man, and fortunately found the handspikes at once. Taking them both, he quickly scrambled back again and handed one to Harry, retaining the other himself.

The two lads then prized the points under the mast, and threw all their weight on the shafts, using them as levers. They felt the mast quiver and move slightly.

“That’s the way, Master Trevose; one more lift like that and I’ll be out from under,” shouted the man.

Roger and Harry again exerted all their strength, the mast rose perceptibly, and they heard a cry of pain from the seaman as he wormed himself from under the spar.

“I be out now, Master,” came the voice; “if ye can lift me up and get me below, I’ll thank ye.”

One of them supporting him on either side, they raised the unfortunate fellow upright, and with great difficulty assisted him across the deck, and so to the companion-hatch, which they found without trouble, as it was now growing somewhat lighter. The clouds were not quite so thick, and an occasional gleam came from the moon as she was uncovered.

They got the man below, Roger taking him on his back down the companion-ladder, while Harry ran for the surgeon. The latter soon made his appearance, and attended to the sufferer, who proved to be an ordinary seaman named Morgan.

Having seen the patient off their hands and well attended to, the couple returned to the deck.

They found that the wind was lessening every moment, and the clouds were disappearing fast, permitting the moon to shine out fitfully; but the sea, no longer kept down by the pressure of the wind, was rising rapidly.

“I think the squall is past its worst, Harry,” said Roger. “What we have to fear now is the sea, which will get worse, I am afraid, ere it goes down—but look there! Merciful Heaven! what is that?” he continued, pointing away over their port quarter with his finger.

The inky blackness had lifted somewhat, and they could plainly perceive the hull of one of their own ships, presumably; but her ports were open, and her interior appeared as a glowing furnace, while, even as they looked, tongues of fire spurted up from her deck and began to lick round her masts, and from the hapless vessel a long wail of anguish and despair came floating down the wind.

Every eye in the ship was at once turned to the burning vessel, which they presently made out to be, by her rig, theSalvador, one of the two captured Spanish vessels.

What seemed to have happened was that the Spanish prisoners confined below had fired the ship before the squall came down, in the hope of being able to overpower their captors in the ensuing confusion, trusting to luck for the opportunity to extinguish the conflagration afterwards. The storm arising after they had set fire to the vessel, however, the wind had fanned the flames until she had become a raging fiery furnace fore-and-aft. And there was no means of affording succour to the miserable men on board her, for the sea was running tremendously high and rising every minute.

She was an awful but gorgeous spectacle, presenting the appearance of a floating volcano, vomiting flame and smoke as she rushed along before the wind; but still more awful were the cries and shrieks of agony that were borne to them across the intervening water.

Cavendish at once gave orders that his ship should be run as close as possible, compatible with her safety, and this was done; but it was impossible to save her wretched crew, and the rest of the fleet endured the misery of beholding their comrades burn, together with the panic-stricken Spaniards, the authors of the calamity, as many of whom as possible had been released as soon as the fire was discovered.

A speedy end, however, came to the appalling tragedy which was taking place before their very eyes; for while they still watched, powerless to save, a terrific explosion occurred, followed by a rain of blazing pieces of timber and, gruesome sight! of portions of human bodies which had been whirled aloft, and now came hurtling down on the decks of the flag-ship. The fire had reached theSalvador’smagazine!

This awful spectacle cast a deep gloom over the entire ship’s company.

Shortly afterwards, none of the other vessels being in sight, and the sea having moderated somewhat, Cavendish ordered the ship’s course to be altered, and they again bore up for the rendezvous.

On the tenth day after the storm they reached, without further adventure, the agreed latitude and longitude, and hove-to, waiting for the remainder of the squadron to make its appearance.

Two days later, the first of the other vessels, theElizabeth, made her appearance, and on the same evening, by the light of the tropic stars, the other two joined them.

All four remained hove-to until daybreak. Early on the following morning they all got under weigh again, and headed for the land, which now could not be many miles distant.

Shortly after noon came the ever-welcome cry from the masthead: “Land ho!”

“Where away?” demanded the officer of the watch.

“Dead ahead,” answered the lookout.

“Keep her as she goes,” ordered Cavendish; and with an ever-lessening wind they glided toward the land that climbed higher and higher above the horizon by imperceptible degrees.

By the end of the first dog-watch on that same evening they were close enough to make out the formation of the land; and at length, sighting a bay that looked promising for their purpose, they bore up for it, sounding all the way as they went.

As the land opened up, the bay toward which they were heading appeared to offer increasingly advantageous facilities for careening and repairing; and they presently passed in between two low headlands covered with palms, and dropped anchor in the calm inlet in six fathoms of water, at which depth they could clearly see the bottom of sand thickly dotted with shells and broken pieces of coral.

At last, after many weary and fateful days, they had reached a haven on the other side of the Atlantic; a haven in one of the islands of those fabled Indies where, if legend was to be believed, gold was to be found more plentifully than iron in England!

All hands gazed longingly at the shore; but leave could not be granted that night, as the country was unknown, and although it appeared to be uninhabited, they could not be certain what eventualities might arise. Cavendish, therefore, deemed it better to wait until morning, and then send a strong force on shore to reconnoitre and explore.

Meanwhile Roger and Harry went below to their bunks and slumbered, dreaming of the coming morn. Those of the crew who were off duty slept on deck or in their hammocks, as the fancy took them; the anchor watch was set; and thus all hands, waking or sleeping, waited for the morning which should disclose to them this garden of Paradise.

Chapter Six.How they investigated a certain Cipher and met with some Adventures.Day had scarcely broken next morning ere Harry and Roger tumbled out of their bunks, dressed, and went up on deck, so eager were they once more to be on shore after their many long days at sea.As they came on deck the sun rose in all his tropic grandeur, and transfigured the little inlet—with the ships floating on its bosom, its environment of green palms and tropical verdure, and its golden sands running down to the water’s edge—into a veritable nook of fairyland.For a distance, so far as they could judge, of about three miles the ground appeared to be fairly level, rising very gradually, and thickly covered with tropical foliage. Beyond that there was a range of hills, apparently about a thousand feet high; and beyond these again rose peak after peak of lofty mountains, the bare summits of the tallest glowing like jewels in the brilliant tropical light. Close at hand, on the southern shore of the inlet, lofty cliffs ran sheer down to the water’s edge, where a ledge of rocks ran out some little distance into the bay, and these rocks seemed to be literally honey-combed with caves. On the northern side of the inlet the water shoaled gradually, terminating on a beach of clean yellow sand, which again stretched for some distance above water mark, and was then lost among the bush foliage. Tall coco-nut palms graced the margin of the inlet, and, behind them, trees bearing oranges, guavas, bananas, lemons, mangoes, and various other kinds of tropical fruits could be discerned close at hand. It was in truth a lovely scene that the lads gazed upon that bright morning.There was a moderately good rise and fall of tide, judging from the marks on the beach, and the northern shore was undoubtedly the one that would be chosen by Cavendish for careening his vessels, as the ground sloped steeply but evenly, the sand was firm and hard, and the trunks of the palm-trees would be very useful for securing the hawsers, by means of which they would heave the vessels down on their beam-ends.The sun mounted higher in the clear blue of the heavens as they looked, and all about them rose the sounds of awakening nature. Away back in the woods they could hear the chattering of monkeys; parrots and birds of bright plumage screamed and sang and fluttered among the trees near the beach; and several bright-plumaged flamingoes stalked gravely about the shallows, seeking their morning meal in the limpid water.Presently, too, life on board the vessels was stirring, and the shrill whistle of the boatswain’s pipe roused all hands to their duties. The men came tumbling up from below, and the business of the day commenced.The officers of the ship and the two lads went down presently to breakfast, after which leave to go on shore was granted to several of them, including Roger and Harry.Those who were going ashore quickly determined to make up a party and keep together, because as yet they knew nothing of the country, and there was the chance that it might be inhabited; in which case, if separated, and any savages were in the neighbourhood, the whites might find themselves awkwardly situated.As many of the crew as could be spared were also allowed to go on shore for a few hours before the business of careening and refitting commenced; and, needless to say, they were delighted at the prospect of having a little more space wherein to walk about than the narrow decks of their own ships, and also of being able to get some fresh fruit—of which they stood in great need, scurvy having already appeared among them.After breakfast, therefore, they quickly got the boats over the side, and soon there was a regular procession of them from the vessels to the shore.Once there, the seamen immediately began to gather the fresh fruit, and, collecting a pile of what they most fancied, they lay down beside it, and ate at their ease, their past perils forgotten for the moment, and all of them supremely happy.A few of the more adventurous spirits, however, went off into the woods on a tour of investigation, taking their muskets and bows with them, in the hope of procuring a little fresh meat.Roger and Harry, who had, of course, gone ashore with the first boat-load, stood for a while on the beach at the edge of the water, undecided for the moment what to do first.Harry suggested having a bathe in the limpid water of the little bay, first of all; and indeed it looked so inviting that Roger was not slow in seconding the proposition.Accordingly they soon slipped off their clothes, and were quickly disporting themselves like young dolphins in the water, when Harry, glancing up, saw the ships lying, as it seemed, only some quarter of a mile away, their shapes reflected in the water with such distinctness that it was difficult to say where the substance ended and the shadow began.This apparent proximity of the ships immediately put an idea into both their heads at the same moment, and they both shouted together: “Let us have a race off to theStag Royal.”They laughed that they should have spoken the same words together, and they immediately decided that they would have a wager of a noble on the event.“Are you ready, then, Roger? ’tis a race to theStag Royal; and the first up the ship’s side and on her deck will win the noble,” exclaimed Harry.“Agreed, lad; away we go!” replied Roger.And the two started off, swimming strongly, with a side stroke instead of the breast; for although the former required more power, yet it was the faster stroke, and they reckoned their strength to be quite equal to a much longer distance than that to the ship.But, as is invariably the case, distance viewed over water is deceptive, and by the time that they had done three-quarters of the course both were feeling pretty well fagged out with their unusual exertions, though neither would admit it; and the fact remained that they were swimming much slower than at the start. Suddenly they were startled by a loud hail from the deck of theStag Royal—the ship for which they were making,—in the voice of Cavendish.“Be not frightened, lads, but pull out as fast as you can for the ship; there are sharks coming after you!”Their hearts leapt in their breasts at this startling news, and, looking hurriedly round, they perceived, to their horror, that several black triangular dorsal fins were cleaving the water in their wake, and closing rapidly in upon them.Fortunately the water in the direction in which they were swimming was as yet clear, to all appearance.“Cannot you send a boat, sir? We are nearly exhausted with the swim,” hailed Roger, who was slightly in advance of Harry.“Nay, that I cannot, lad, for all the boats are still on shore. You must swim, and for your lives’ sake swim hard,” answered Cavendish from the deck of the ship.He was leaning anxiously over the bulwarks, and the rail was lined with the faces of the few seamen who were left on board, while two of them had gone down the accommodation ladder and were waiting at the foot, ready to haul the lads in as soon as they were near enough.The men on board now quickly seized whatever missiles they could lay their hands on, and stood ready to bombard the sharks, in the hope of driving them off, if they did not seize the lads before they got within range.As for Harry and Roger, they struck out with the energy of terror; but each felt that he was tiring with every stroke, while the knowledge that at any moment they might feel themselves in the jaws of one of those sea-tigers seemed to paralyse their limbs. Their flesh crept with the horror of the thought.Harry, especially, was showing manifest symptoms of increasing distress; while Roger, resisting the impulse to swim on and reach safety, kept valiantly at his side, encouraging him.“Go on, Roger,” at length gasped Harry; “I am done, and cannot reach the ship. Swim you on and get on board; I will follow if I can.”“Nay, Harry, lad,” answered Roger, “either we both get on board, or—or not; we did not make our compact to break it at the first sign of danger. Do your utmost, and we shall yet get on board all right.”Even in his extremity Harry could not avoid noticing that Roger hesitated when he came to “or—or not;” the brave lad could not bring himself to utter the alternative in words.Before leaving the shore the boys had stripped down to their pantaloons and vests, which they had retained as a makeshift bathing-costume. Now, as luck would have it, Roger invariably wore a belt round his waist, to which was attached a very fine Venetian dagger, slender of blade, sharp as a razor, and very strong.This had been given him by his father as a parting keepsake, and he looked upon it almost as a kind of talisman; he therefore never allowed it to leave his person.Merely by force of habit he had buckled this belt and dagger about him before starting for the swim, and now, in the moment of his deadly danger, he suddenly recollected that he had it on him, and an idea came to him like an inspiration.“Harry, swim you on and reach the ship,” said he. “I am not at all tired, and I have my dagger with me; swim on, and I will swim after you. Argue not, lad, you will but waste your breath; do as I say, and make all haste to the ship.”Harry, knowing that when Roger spoke thus it was useless to argue, did as he was ordered, and struck out for the vessel with such energy as he could muster.For his part, Roger drew his dagger, and held it firmly in his hand; and then, swimming after Harry, began to splash and shout with all his might.The fins, which had by this time come very close to them, paused suddenly and scattered at the unexpected commotion; and a little time was thus gained for the fugitives, who made the utmost of it.The sharks, however, were not so easily to be denied, and presently they began to close in again; by which time Harry was approaching the side of theStag Royal, while Roger was still some distance behind, splashing and shouting vigorously.The fins drew nearer and nearer with deadly determination.Abandoning now the splashing, which was greatly exhausting him, Roger put out all his remaining strength and swam for his life, while, the splashing having ceased, the sharks were after him again at once.It was now a race, not between two boys for a wager of a noble, but between a boy and a school of sharks, with the boy’s life as the stake.The sharks were fast gaining upon Roger, and he and they were as yet quite out of range of the missiles with which the men were ready to pelt the ravenous monsters. But Harry had meanwhile reached the ship and been hauled in and deposited on deck, where he immediately sank down fainting with exhaustion.Then, seeing his friend safe, Roger redoubled his efforts, and the distance between the sharks and him lessened but slightly, while he decreased the distance between himself and the ship very perceptibly.These herculean efforts could not last long, however, and the sharks once more began to draw in upon him.The men on the deck of the ship now shouted, and flung their missiles as far as they could; but the swimmer and the sharks were still too far off for the latter to be frightened by the bombardment.Inch by inch the ravenous fish closed in on the lad.He glanced over his shoulder as he swam, and as he perceived how close the monsters were, the men on board the ship could see, even at that distance, that his face turned livid.The foremost shark was nearly on him now, and there was yet a considerable distance to cover ere he could reach safety.Suddenly the leading fin disappeared, and the watchers knew that the shark had dived, in order the better to seize its prey. Their warning was roared over the water to him, but apparently too late, for with their shout, Roger’s body disappeared!A cry of horror at once went up from the ship, and strong men turned away, unwilling to witness the death of their favourite.Those who still watched, however, almost immediately saw a tremendous disturbance of the water just below the spot where Roger had disappeared; and presently a broad blotch of red stained the blue water of the inlet, while a deep groan went up from the assembled crowd on deck. But the groan quickly changed to a mighty cheer as they saw Roger’s form appear again at some considerable distance nearer the ship, and evidently safe and sound, for he was still swimming strongly. And immediately after, in his rear, the body of the shark rose to the surface, floating on its back, dead! The remainder of the sharks instantly flung themselves upon the carcass, tearing it to pieces, and churning up a bloody froth as they struggled and tore and fought for their share of the spoil.Roger had done the only thing possible to save his life. As the shark dived, so did he, and, swimming below the brute, he had ripped up its belly with several strong slashing blows from his keen dagger, thus effectually ridding himself of one adversary, and trusting that the remainder of the school would wait to devour it—as indeed they had done,—thus giving him a further chance to escape.He was now quite near the ship; but the sharks had quickly disposed of the carcass of their companion, and were again after him. Roger, however, was now within range. So, as the sharks came on in pursuit, they were bombarded with every description of missile upon which the men could lay their hands, a proceeding which checked them slightly, and gave Roger a little more grace.At length, utterly exhausted, the plucky lad reached the foot of the accommodation ladder, but just in time, for, as he was pulled clear of the water, a pair of huge jaws clashed behind him with a sound that made him nearly faint, so suggestive was it of what he had so narrowly escaped.By the time that he reached the deck Harry had fully recovered, and he was the first to grasp Roger’s hand and wring it convulsively as the latter stepped inboard. Harry could find no words wherewith to express his feelings adequately, but the pressure of his hand spoke for him, and Roger felt amply repaid for all he had done.“And now, young gentlemen,” said Cavendish sternly, when the young hero of the adventure had been recovered somewhat by the administration of a liberal dose of rum, “let this be a warning to you never again to go bathing in these seas. You have both had a most miraculous escape, and I for one had given the pair of you up as lost. But, thank Heaven, you are safe after all. Only never let it occur again. But I suppose you will take care of that,” he added with a twinkle in his eye. “Your first experience with Johnny Shark has been enough for you, hasn’t it?”They reassured him on that point, and both then went below to dress. When they were again clothed, Harry said:“And now, how shall we spend the remainder of the day, Roger? I don’t feel like going ashore again to-day, even if we had a boat. The idea of crossing that sheet of water again does not very greatly appeal to me just now.”“I feel pretty much as you do,” replied Roger. “I have had quite enough of the water for to-day. As an alternative, I suggest that we investigate that sheaf of documents that we took out of theGloria del Mundoat the time of the battle. That fellow Alvarez seemed feverishly anxious to find a certain paper, and bitterly disappointed at his failure, so perhaps there may be something of value among them.”So saying, Roger went to his sea-chest, and, having unlocked it, drew out the bundle of papers to which he had referred, and laid it on the table.They ran through most of them without finding anything of interest, those examined proving to be merely papers relating to the provisioning of the ship, and one or two old charts with courses marked off on them.On another chart, however, they found something that claimed a moment’s attention. It was one upon which the position of the Spanish intercepting fleet had been laid down, together with the supposed course that the English vessels would steer, thus proving that they had correctly anticipated the movements of the English. This they put aside, intending to hand it to Cavendish, as it would be of interest to him.“This is probably the document that scoundrel Alvarez was looking for while theGloria del Mundowas sinking,” said Roger, who had related to Harry all that had happened while he was awaiting death in the cabin of the Spanish vessel.“Hardly that,” demurred Harry. “I should think it would be something of much more importance; because, you see, this would not be of much value to him after the action. Let us search further.”They did so, and presently came upon a sheet of rough parchment, which had escaped the search of Alvarez through its having worked its way into a folded chart.They spread it open upon the table, and found that they could make nothing of it, as it appeared to be a mass of figures, and nothing else.“I wonder what on earth this can be,” said Roger. “It seems to be nothing but a lot of figures put down anyhow. I expect it is merely a sheet of scribbling-paper, upon which some rough calculations have been worked. At any rate it is of no importance, and clearly is not what Alvarez was looking for.”“Wait one moment, Roger,” said Harry; “be not over-hasty, lad. I believe this is more important than it looks. May it not be a cipher of some kind? Let us have another look at it.”The document presented the following appearance:—1581.2227 1819 1919 2622 1820 1335 1138 19181717 2020 1618 2727 2722 2222 3811 1819 18161237 2225 1915 1515 2424 2525 1730 2014 14301718 2121 1420 1920 3014 1830 1519 2120 19152018 1030 1440 1614 3019 2017 1028 2226 19302126 1222 1119 1137 1139 1136 1123 2626 12251226 1616 1324 1325 1236 1818 1235 1222 12183118 2725 3113 1334 3217 1324 1424 1335 32121817 2019 1321 2824 1420 2021 1434 2121 32121533 3316 2223 1614 1433 3415 3311 1916 22202525 1715 1423 2322 3314 2414 1517 1816 30191416 1822 1618 2122 1120 2826 2022 1321 14242221 1930 2413 2014 2413 3311 2624 2029 14232512 1915 1614 2611 2319 1713 2320 2925 15192418 1816 1433 2218 1922 1320 1126 1721 29201133 1232 1030 1520 1730 3212 2418 2317 25203017 2117 2023 1220 1321 3311 2015 2517 12221821 1721 2012 3014 2616 2426 1220 2413 18181430 2219 2013 1614 1922 2424 3113 1120 26241730 1721 2212 1320 1419 2311 2410 2124 19181331 1922 2113 2426 2320 1914 2014 3017 25232821 3113 2023 1915 1820 1829 3212 2122 29281919 2221 1620 1616 1416 2428 1816 2318 33112320 1717 2417 2826 2018 2419 2516 1618 2920752626 202122 1519 1420 1924 1320 1820 2325 16251317 2419 2013 2017 2117 2424 2421 1218 18251721 3311 2615 1317 2523 2029 1133 2518 181614 2124 1812 1616 1915 2622 2220 3410 2624 29201720 5 2223 1218 1715 1717 2424 2626 1515 21202021 2020 1717 1818 1720 1930 1816 2122 30191618 1822 1816 2221 1917.Beyond these figures, the paper, which seemed of considerable age, was perfectly blank.The lads gazed earnestly at the mass of figures for some time, trying to fathom its meaning.That a hidden meaning of some kind was attached to it was almost certain, as no sane man would put down a long string of figures to no purpose, or for mere pastime; and if the writer had not intended the meaning to be hidden, he would certainly have used words in preference to a number of mystifying figures.“Roger,” said Harry, “the more I look at this cipher—for cipher I am convinced it is—the more certain do I feel that it is the key to something important or of value. Now, friend, do you notice anything peculiar about these figures?”“I cannot say that I do,” answered Roger, “unless you mean that they are arranged in groups of four.”“Yes, that is certainly so,” agreed Harry; “but there is somewhat else of significance, and that is, that, although they are grouped in fours for the most part, there are two groups of six figures, one of two, and one figure stands alone. These being different from the remainder of the cipher, we may at once set them down as denoting something different from the rest of the writing. I should say that possibly some direction, instruction, or it may even be a compass-bearing, is concealed in these two groups of six figures, while, to my mind, the figures 14 and 5, are to be read as they really are, that is as figures only; for I believe that the remainder of the figures stand for words or letters, as indeed they must, if any sense is to be made of the thing. Yes, the more I study this, the more certain am I that we have found something of value, and this, I am convinced, is the document you told me Alvarez was looking for while you were in the cabin of the sinkingGloria del Mundo.”“By Saint George,” said Roger, “I am inclined to believe you are right, Harry; only I see not how it will benefit us if we cannot translate the cipher, and that seems to me impossible without the key thereto.”“Nothing is impossible, my friend,” retorted Harry. “We have no key, it is true, but by repeated experiments we shall solve the thing eventually, I am sure.”“Let us start trying right now, then,” suggested Roger.“Well, starting from the beginning, let us take the first group of—”“Mr Trevose, hie you on deck, if you please; I want you,” came Cavendish’s voice down the companion at this moment, putting an abrupt end to the operations on the cipher.Leaving Harry to put away the document in safety, Roger ran up on deck, and touched his hat to his captain.“Mr Trevose,” said Cavendish, “one of the boats has just come off from the shore with a load of fresh fruit and vegetables which the men have collected. They have now had a short spell ashore, and it is time for us to be thinking of work again; so I wish you to take this boat and proceed to the shore in her with instructions to Mr Leigh to collect all the men forthwith. Let them bring off as much fruit and vegetables as they can find, but they must not be very long about it. You can take your friend Edgwyth with you, if you will, and while the men are getting fresh provisions together you and he have my leave, after you have delivered my message, to do as you please until all are ready to come off aboard.“And have a care,” added the skipper, “that you two lads do not get into any further scrapes. You had a particularly narrow escape this morning, both of you, and perchance may not get off quite so easily next time.”Roger saluted, and forthwith ran down to inform Harry of his errand; whereupon the two mounted again to the deck and dropped into the boat, which was waiting for them alongside, and were soon being pulled over the water to the shore again.Arrived at the beach, Roger enquired of the few men who were there where Mr Leigh was to be found. None of them seemed to know, but one man said he believed that Mr Leigh had gone in “that” direction—pointing it out with a stubby and tarry forefinger—and had taken a musket, with the intention, he thought, of getting some fresh meat for the pot.The lads at once set off in the direction indicated, pushing their way through tangled underwood, and treading down in their passage many splendid and brilliant flowers, while startled birds, of rainbow plumage, flew out from the branches over their heads.Everywhere stillness reigned supreme, and no sound or sign of any of the men was to be met with. They pushed resolutely forward, however, trying to discover some indication of people having passed that way before. So dense was the undergrowth in many places that Harry and Roger were obliged to draw their swords to cut a passage through it.Presently Roger caught sight of a beautiful orchid on the trunk of a tree just below the first branch, and put forth his hand to gather it. As he did so there was abright green flash, and the lad started back only just in time. There was a swish of steel, and a snake fell to the ground severed in half, yet still writhing horribly.“A thousand thanks!” said Roger. “I owe you my life again, Harry. He would surely have bitten me if you had not been so quick with your sword.”They examined the reptile, which was about six feet long, and of a brilliant green above and light yellow underneath, with the heart-shaped head that betokened an extremely venomous variety. Tossing the two writhing halves of the body into the bush with the point of his sword, and giving a shrug of repugnance, Roger passed on, followed by Harry, with no further desire to pluck orchids, and each taking care to look well about him.Presently they came to a small clearing, and on the opposite side saw an opening in the bush which seemed to suggest that someone had recently passed that way.They crossed the clearing and pushed through the opening on the other side, and, after going about half a mile, heard the report of a gun close to them, followed by a great fluttering of wings, as a host of startled birds flew away from the branches where they had been roosting.A few moments later they came upon Leigh, accompanied by a seaman carrying a large bag, which seemed to be well filled, and gave promise of a few savoury meals in the immediate future.Roger at once gave him Mr Cavendish’s orders to reassemble the men, and then asked him how far he had succeeded in his hunting.“Oh, very well, Roger!” replied Leigh. “I have nearly filled the bag, as you may see, and some of the birds are fine big fellows, and should be excellent eating. At any rate we will sample them at mess this evening. But I must be off and get the men together. As you two have liberty until we start for the ship, you may take this musket and ammunition, if you like, and try to shoot something on your own account. One’s own shooting always tastes best, I am told,” he added with a laugh, as he prepared to return. “But I should not wander too far away, if I were you,” he advised. “We do not know the place as yet, and there may be dangers that we are not aware of; so be careful.”The lads thanked Mr Leigh for the loan of the musket, and the lieutenant disappeared to collect the men, telling the lads that he would sound the trumpet if they were not in sight when it was time to return to the ships.“Now,” said Roger, when Leigh had disappeared, “where are we to go, Harry?”“Do you remember that ledge of rocks that we saw this morning?” asked Harry! “Well, we noticed quite a number of caves among them; what say you to going and having a look at them?”“Agreed, my friend!” said Roger. “But can we get to them, I wonder, from here, without going back to the beach and walking all the way round?”“Oh, yes! I think so,” answered Harry. “I believe I remember how they lie, and in what direction; and if we bear away to the left here it will bring us to them, no doubt.”So the two turned off, and presently found another opening in the brush, through which they went.“It appears to me,” said Roger presently, “as though someone had been along this way before us. See, some of the small branches are broken, and the growth beneath our feet seems to have been recently trodden. I expect we shall find that some of our men have been here before us, perhaps to look at those same caves themselves. If so, we can warn them to return immediately; and if they are in front of us it will give us a little longer, as it will take them some considerable time to get back to the boats from here.”Thus reassured in their own minds—for there was always the danger of savages to consider,—they pressed on, but saw no further signs of the men whom they imagined to be in front of them.“It is possible,” said Harry, his thoughts still dwelling upon the matter, “that if they have gone this way they are still at the caves. Or they may have gone back along the beach; for that, I suppose, is the nearest way of return. And if so, we shall not meet any of them coming this way; but we may overtake them.”They had gone but a little distance farther when Roger looked up suddenly.“Harry, I heard something whistle past my head a moment ago,” said he.“Nonsense!” responded Harry. “What you heard was one of those small creatures they call ‘humming-birds’ flying past your ear.”“I am certain it was not,” retorted Roger. “If it had been, I should have seen as well as heard him, and— why, there it is again!”“Yes, you are right, Roger; I heard it myself that time. I wonder what it can be?” exclaimed Harry.“I don’t know,” said Roger, “but it sounds very queer. Let us push on, or we shall have no time to explore those caves.”They pushed forward for some little distance, and again heard, more than once, the same peculiar sibilant sound, as of something flying past them with great velocity; but they saw nothing, and could not account for the occurrence at all.Suddenly Harry, who was behind, whispered to Roger: “Do not appear to take any notice, Roger, at present; but I distinctly saw the head of a savage peering at us from behind a tree when I turned my head just now, and I believe that what we heard was the sound of arrows flying past us. I should not be greatly surprised to find that there is quite a crowd of natives round us, and the only wonder to me is that we have not yet been hit. Now, we must press on and endeavour to reach the shelter of the caves, and there defend ourselves, if necessary, until assistance comes. It is useless to think of retreating by the way we have come; we should only be ambushed. Ah! I see two more faces looking at us over there in the bush. We had better make haste; but we only need walk a little faster. It will never do to run, or they will see that we have discovered them, and in that case they will attack us at once, and we shall have no chance here. By the way, is that musket loaded?”“Yes,” replied Roger. “It was loaded when Leigh handed it to me; for I remember that, after the discharge we heard which led us to him, he was loading as we came up, and he did not fire again.”“Very well,” said Harry, “we had better for the present trust to our swords; we must reserve the musket until the last. And you had better drop a few more bullets in, so that it will do as much execution as possible when we fire. And I trust to Heaven that the report may bring some of our men up. But it will not do that if we fire now, as they will merely think we are shooting game. If we fire from the caves they will know there is no game there to shoot at, and it may attract their attention.”The two lads now moved as fast as they thought consistent with safety, and, to their great relief, at length perceived an opening in the trees, and got a glimpse of the sea beyond. A few minutes later they emerged on the beach, and found themselves quite close to the caves.Then, having a clear ground, they took to their heels and ran as hard as they could for the nearest cave.As they started to run, a chorus of savage yells broke on their ears, and what they had quite anticipated happened. The natives had at last left cover and were pursuing them at the top of their speed.Roger and Harry, unaccustomed to running in sand, moved but slowly, and the savages gradually began to overhaul them. They were not far from the caves by this time, however, and presently they gained the entrance to one of them some fifty yards ahead of their pursuers.As soon as they were safely inside, Roger turned, and, raising the musket to his shoulder, discharged the piece point-blank into the midst of the nearest group of running savages.It was a lucky discharge, and the extra bullets that they had put in, scattering as they flew, had almost the effect of a round of grape-shot, dropping no fewer than four of the blacks. It did not check their rush, however, and there was no time to reload before the howling, yelling mob were upon them.Roger and Harry had at once taken up positions, one on each side of the entrance to the cave, allowing themselves sufficient room to avoid striking each other with the blades of their long swords, which, with the now useless musket, were all the weapons they had.The savages came at them with a rush, stabbing furiously with their spears, and forced on by those behind, who feared to use their bows and arrows at such close quarters lest they should hit their companions.The long sword-blades, however, rose and fell untiringly, flashing in the sunlight, now parrying a spear-thrust, and anon making a sweeping cut, and with every blow at least one savage had cause to regret his temerity.The natives, however, had numbers on their side, the sound replacing the fallen until quite a heap of dead and wounded began to grow at the entrance to the cave.They were likewise growing chary of those long blades of steel that hewed through shield and spear-haft as though they had been paper.At length one of the natives stooped down and picked up the dead body of a fallen comrade, held it before him as a shield, and rushed toward the defenders of the cave, and as Harry thrust at him he flung the body full upon the sword’s point, where it remained impaled, dragging Harry’s weapon from his grip. The man then lunged savagely with his spear, but Roger’s wary eye was on him, and the fraction of a second before the spear left the fellow’s grasp the sword flashed and fell, and the savage stood looking stupidly for a moment at the arm still grasping the spear, that had fallen at his feet, ere he himself sank, groaning, to the ground.Harry shouted his thanks across to Roger, and drew his sword out of the impaled body with some difficulty, determined not to be so tricked again, and once more the battle went furiously on, the savages surging madly about the cave’s mouth, and the two lads straining every nerve to keep their stronghold inviolate.“I wonder,” gasped Roger, “how long it will be before Leigh collects all the men, and, missing us, sends out a search-party?”“They should all be mustered long before this,” replied his companion. “You must remember that it took us some time to reach this place, and Leigh started to look for the men directly we left him. Hark! there goes the trumpet for our recall, unless I am mistaken. Did you not hear it?”“I think I heard something,” answered Roger. “If it was indeed the trumpet, it means that Leigh has collected all the men and only waits for us; and he will not wait long before sending in search of us, because of the captain’s orders to return on board as quickly as possible. If we could but find time to reload the musket and discharge it again, Leigh might possibly hear the report, and it would show him where to look for us.”“That is true,” agreed Harry. “Now, Roger, leave me to defend the cave-mouth alone, and try to load the piece; the discharge may bring down the men, and if you load, as we did last time, with plenty of bullets, we shall do the enemy some considerable damage at the same time.”It was no time for arguing. Roger therefore did as Harry had suggested, and, leaving the defence of the cave to his friend, grasped the musket and loaded it with frantic haste.Seeing one of the defenders apparently retreating, the natives at once redoubled their onslaught, and spears came whizzing through the air, thick as falling autumn leaves.The long blade, however, still flashed untiringly hither and thither, and the cave remained untaken.“Hasten, Roger!” cried Harry. “I cannot much longer keep these fellows off unaided.”“Coming, lad,” shouted Roger in return.A huge native at this moment forced himself to the front and engaged Harry at close quarters, and, tired as he was, the boy knew his strength must soon fail. He responded gallantly, however, and drove the man back for an instant; but, with a cry like that of a furious beast, the fellow again leapt at him, and, beating down the sword-point, bore the lad to the ground, at once shortening his spear to pin him to the earth.Poor Harry closed his eyes, and for a moment experienced all the bitterness of death. But it was for a moment only. The weight suddenly rolled from his chest, and, opening his eyes, he saw Roger pulling his reeking blade from the savage’s body. Then, dropping his sword, Roger raised the musket to his shoulder and fired into the thick of the group of natives.With the report came a hearty English cheer as Leigh and a couple of dozen well-armed sailors rushed round a bend in the beach.“Lie down! lie down!” roared Leigh, and as the two lads flung themselves to the floor of the cave, a storm of bullets whizzed over them that at once accounted for ten of the savages.Then out came the hangers, and the sailors charged the remaining assailants, who turned resolutely to meet them, while Harry and Roger, rising from the floor of the cave, dashed down on the rear, cutting and slashing and thrusting with right good will, their strength renewed somewhat by a sight of their own countrymen.Thus taken in front and rear, the blacks, seized with sudden panic, broke and fled, followed by another storm of shot from the sailors.“Now,” shouted Leigh, “make for the boats ere they return in overwhelming numbers!”In response to this order the English all went off along the beach at the double, and soon reached the boats, which were not very far away.They embarked forthwith, and were soon once more on board their respective ships.“Well, my boys,” said Cavendish as the inseparables climbed the ship’s side, “this morning’s adventure was not enough for you, it would appear, so you must needs go and get yourselves into another mess. Now, mark my words, you will some day get into a scrape, and one or the other of you will fail to come out again alive!”

Day had scarcely broken next morning ere Harry and Roger tumbled out of their bunks, dressed, and went up on deck, so eager were they once more to be on shore after their many long days at sea.

As they came on deck the sun rose in all his tropic grandeur, and transfigured the little inlet—with the ships floating on its bosom, its environment of green palms and tropical verdure, and its golden sands running down to the water’s edge—into a veritable nook of fairyland.

For a distance, so far as they could judge, of about three miles the ground appeared to be fairly level, rising very gradually, and thickly covered with tropical foliage. Beyond that there was a range of hills, apparently about a thousand feet high; and beyond these again rose peak after peak of lofty mountains, the bare summits of the tallest glowing like jewels in the brilliant tropical light. Close at hand, on the southern shore of the inlet, lofty cliffs ran sheer down to the water’s edge, where a ledge of rocks ran out some little distance into the bay, and these rocks seemed to be literally honey-combed with caves. On the northern side of the inlet the water shoaled gradually, terminating on a beach of clean yellow sand, which again stretched for some distance above water mark, and was then lost among the bush foliage. Tall coco-nut palms graced the margin of the inlet, and, behind them, trees bearing oranges, guavas, bananas, lemons, mangoes, and various other kinds of tropical fruits could be discerned close at hand. It was in truth a lovely scene that the lads gazed upon that bright morning.

There was a moderately good rise and fall of tide, judging from the marks on the beach, and the northern shore was undoubtedly the one that would be chosen by Cavendish for careening his vessels, as the ground sloped steeply but evenly, the sand was firm and hard, and the trunks of the palm-trees would be very useful for securing the hawsers, by means of which they would heave the vessels down on their beam-ends.

The sun mounted higher in the clear blue of the heavens as they looked, and all about them rose the sounds of awakening nature. Away back in the woods they could hear the chattering of monkeys; parrots and birds of bright plumage screamed and sang and fluttered among the trees near the beach; and several bright-plumaged flamingoes stalked gravely about the shallows, seeking their morning meal in the limpid water.

Presently, too, life on board the vessels was stirring, and the shrill whistle of the boatswain’s pipe roused all hands to their duties. The men came tumbling up from below, and the business of the day commenced.

The officers of the ship and the two lads went down presently to breakfast, after which leave to go on shore was granted to several of them, including Roger and Harry.

Those who were going ashore quickly determined to make up a party and keep together, because as yet they knew nothing of the country, and there was the chance that it might be inhabited; in which case, if separated, and any savages were in the neighbourhood, the whites might find themselves awkwardly situated.

As many of the crew as could be spared were also allowed to go on shore for a few hours before the business of careening and refitting commenced; and, needless to say, they were delighted at the prospect of having a little more space wherein to walk about than the narrow decks of their own ships, and also of being able to get some fresh fruit—of which they stood in great need, scurvy having already appeared among them.

After breakfast, therefore, they quickly got the boats over the side, and soon there was a regular procession of them from the vessels to the shore.

Once there, the seamen immediately began to gather the fresh fruit, and, collecting a pile of what they most fancied, they lay down beside it, and ate at their ease, their past perils forgotten for the moment, and all of them supremely happy.

A few of the more adventurous spirits, however, went off into the woods on a tour of investigation, taking their muskets and bows with them, in the hope of procuring a little fresh meat.

Roger and Harry, who had, of course, gone ashore with the first boat-load, stood for a while on the beach at the edge of the water, undecided for the moment what to do first.

Harry suggested having a bathe in the limpid water of the little bay, first of all; and indeed it looked so inviting that Roger was not slow in seconding the proposition.

Accordingly they soon slipped off their clothes, and were quickly disporting themselves like young dolphins in the water, when Harry, glancing up, saw the ships lying, as it seemed, only some quarter of a mile away, their shapes reflected in the water with such distinctness that it was difficult to say where the substance ended and the shadow began.

This apparent proximity of the ships immediately put an idea into both their heads at the same moment, and they both shouted together: “Let us have a race off to theStag Royal.”

They laughed that they should have spoken the same words together, and they immediately decided that they would have a wager of a noble on the event.

“Are you ready, then, Roger? ’tis a race to theStag Royal; and the first up the ship’s side and on her deck will win the noble,” exclaimed Harry.

“Agreed, lad; away we go!” replied Roger.

And the two started off, swimming strongly, with a side stroke instead of the breast; for although the former required more power, yet it was the faster stroke, and they reckoned their strength to be quite equal to a much longer distance than that to the ship.

But, as is invariably the case, distance viewed over water is deceptive, and by the time that they had done three-quarters of the course both were feeling pretty well fagged out with their unusual exertions, though neither would admit it; and the fact remained that they were swimming much slower than at the start. Suddenly they were startled by a loud hail from the deck of theStag Royal—the ship for which they were making,—in the voice of Cavendish.

“Be not frightened, lads, but pull out as fast as you can for the ship; there are sharks coming after you!”

Their hearts leapt in their breasts at this startling news, and, looking hurriedly round, they perceived, to their horror, that several black triangular dorsal fins were cleaving the water in their wake, and closing rapidly in upon them.

Fortunately the water in the direction in which they were swimming was as yet clear, to all appearance.

“Cannot you send a boat, sir? We are nearly exhausted with the swim,” hailed Roger, who was slightly in advance of Harry.

“Nay, that I cannot, lad, for all the boats are still on shore. You must swim, and for your lives’ sake swim hard,” answered Cavendish from the deck of the ship.

He was leaning anxiously over the bulwarks, and the rail was lined with the faces of the few seamen who were left on board, while two of them had gone down the accommodation ladder and were waiting at the foot, ready to haul the lads in as soon as they were near enough.

The men on board now quickly seized whatever missiles they could lay their hands on, and stood ready to bombard the sharks, in the hope of driving them off, if they did not seize the lads before they got within range.

As for Harry and Roger, they struck out with the energy of terror; but each felt that he was tiring with every stroke, while the knowledge that at any moment they might feel themselves in the jaws of one of those sea-tigers seemed to paralyse their limbs. Their flesh crept with the horror of the thought.

Harry, especially, was showing manifest symptoms of increasing distress; while Roger, resisting the impulse to swim on and reach safety, kept valiantly at his side, encouraging him.

“Go on, Roger,” at length gasped Harry; “I am done, and cannot reach the ship. Swim you on and get on board; I will follow if I can.”

“Nay, Harry, lad,” answered Roger, “either we both get on board, or—or not; we did not make our compact to break it at the first sign of danger. Do your utmost, and we shall yet get on board all right.”

Even in his extremity Harry could not avoid noticing that Roger hesitated when he came to “or—or not;” the brave lad could not bring himself to utter the alternative in words.

Before leaving the shore the boys had stripped down to their pantaloons and vests, which they had retained as a makeshift bathing-costume. Now, as luck would have it, Roger invariably wore a belt round his waist, to which was attached a very fine Venetian dagger, slender of blade, sharp as a razor, and very strong.

This had been given him by his father as a parting keepsake, and he looked upon it almost as a kind of talisman; he therefore never allowed it to leave his person.

Merely by force of habit he had buckled this belt and dagger about him before starting for the swim, and now, in the moment of his deadly danger, he suddenly recollected that he had it on him, and an idea came to him like an inspiration.

“Harry, swim you on and reach the ship,” said he. “I am not at all tired, and I have my dagger with me; swim on, and I will swim after you. Argue not, lad, you will but waste your breath; do as I say, and make all haste to the ship.”

Harry, knowing that when Roger spoke thus it was useless to argue, did as he was ordered, and struck out for the vessel with such energy as he could muster.

For his part, Roger drew his dagger, and held it firmly in his hand; and then, swimming after Harry, began to splash and shout with all his might.

The fins, which had by this time come very close to them, paused suddenly and scattered at the unexpected commotion; and a little time was thus gained for the fugitives, who made the utmost of it.

The sharks, however, were not so easily to be denied, and presently they began to close in again; by which time Harry was approaching the side of theStag Royal, while Roger was still some distance behind, splashing and shouting vigorously.

The fins drew nearer and nearer with deadly determination.

Abandoning now the splashing, which was greatly exhausting him, Roger put out all his remaining strength and swam for his life, while, the splashing having ceased, the sharks were after him again at once.

It was now a race, not between two boys for a wager of a noble, but between a boy and a school of sharks, with the boy’s life as the stake.

The sharks were fast gaining upon Roger, and he and they were as yet quite out of range of the missiles with which the men were ready to pelt the ravenous monsters. But Harry had meanwhile reached the ship and been hauled in and deposited on deck, where he immediately sank down fainting with exhaustion.

Then, seeing his friend safe, Roger redoubled his efforts, and the distance between the sharks and him lessened but slightly, while he decreased the distance between himself and the ship very perceptibly.

These herculean efforts could not last long, however, and the sharks once more began to draw in upon him.

The men on the deck of the ship now shouted, and flung their missiles as far as they could; but the swimmer and the sharks were still too far off for the latter to be frightened by the bombardment.

Inch by inch the ravenous fish closed in on the lad.

He glanced over his shoulder as he swam, and as he perceived how close the monsters were, the men on board the ship could see, even at that distance, that his face turned livid.

The foremost shark was nearly on him now, and there was yet a considerable distance to cover ere he could reach safety.

Suddenly the leading fin disappeared, and the watchers knew that the shark had dived, in order the better to seize its prey. Their warning was roared over the water to him, but apparently too late, for with their shout, Roger’s body disappeared!

A cry of horror at once went up from the ship, and strong men turned away, unwilling to witness the death of their favourite.

Those who still watched, however, almost immediately saw a tremendous disturbance of the water just below the spot where Roger had disappeared; and presently a broad blotch of red stained the blue water of the inlet, while a deep groan went up from the assembled crowd on deck. But the groan quickly changed to a mighty cheer as they saw Roger’s form appear again at some considerable distance nearer the ship, and evidently safe and sound, for he was still swimming strongly. And immediately after, in his rear, the body of the shark rose to the surface, floating on its back, dead! The remainder of the sharks instantly flung themselves upon the carcass, tearing it to pieces, and churning up a bloody froth as they struggled and tore and fought for their share of the spoil.

Roger had done the only thing possible to save his life. As the shark dived, so did he, and, swimming below the brute, he had ripped up its belly with several strong slashing blows from his keen dagger, thus effectually ridding himself of one adversary, and trusting that the remainder of the school would wait to devour it—as indeed they had done,—thus giving him a further chance to escape.

He was now quite near the ship; but the sharks had quickly disposed of the carcass of their companion, and were again after him. Roger, however, was now within range. So, as the sharks came on in pursuit, they were bombarded with every description of missile upon which the men could lay their hands, a proceeding which checked them slightly, and gave Roger a little more grace.

At length, utterly exhausted, the plucky lad reached the foot of the accommodation ladder, but just in time, for, as he was pulled clear of the water, a pair of huge jaws clashed behind him with a sound that made him nearly faint, so suggestive was it of what he had so narrowly escaped.

By the time that he reached the deck Harry had fully recovered, and he was the first to grasp Roger’s hand and wring it convulsively as the latter stepped inboard. Harry could find no words wherewith to express his feelings adequately, but the pressure of his hand spoke for him, and Roger felt amply repaid for all he had done.

“And now, young gentlemen,” said Cavendish sternly, when the young hero of the adventure had been recovered somewhat by the administration of a liberal dose of rum, “let this be a warning to you never again to go bathing in these seas. You have both had a most miraculous escape, and I for one had given the pair of you up as lost. But, thank Heaven, you are safe after all. Only never let it occur again. But I suppose you will take care of that,” he added with a twinkle in his eye. “Your first experience with Johnny Shark has been enough for you, hasn’t it?”

They reassured him on that point, and both then went below to dress. When they were again clothed, Harry said:

“And now, how shall we spend the remainder of the day, Roger? I don’t feel like going ashore again to-day, even if we had a boat. The idea of crossing that sheet of water again does not very greatly appeal to me just now.”

“I feel pretty much as you do,” replied Roger. “I have had quite enough of the water for to-day. As an alternative, I suggest that we investigate that sheaf of documents that we took out of theGloria del Mundoat the time of the battle. That fellow Alvarez seemed feverishly anxious to find a certain paper, and bitterly disappointed at his failure, so perhaps there may be something of value among them.”

So saying, Roger went to his sea-chest, and, having unlocked it, drew out the bundle of papers to which he had referred, and laid it on the table.

They ran through most of them without finding anything of interest, those examined proving to be merely papers relating to the provisioning of the ship, and one or two old charts with courses marked off on them.

On another chart, however, they found something that claimed a moment’s attention. It was one upon which the position of the Spanish intercepting fleet had been laid down, together with the supposed course that the English vessels would steer, thus proving that they had correctly anticipated the movements of the English. This they put aside, intending to hand it to Cavendish, as it would be of interest to him.

“This is probably the document that scoundrel Alvarez was looking for while theGloria del Mundowas sinking,” said Roger, who had related to Harry all that had happened while he was awaiting death in the cabin of the Spanish vessel.

“Hardly that,” demurred Harry. “I should think it would be something of much more importance; because, you see, this would not be of much value to him after the action. Let us search further.”

They did so, and presently came upon a sheet of rough parchment, which had escaped the search of Alvarez through its having worked its way into a folded chart.

They spread it open upon the table, and found that they could make nothing of it, as it appeared to be a mass of figures, and nothing else.

“I wonder what on earth this can be,” said Roger. “It seems to be nothing but a lot of figures put down anyhow. I expect it is merely a sheet of scribbling-paper, upon which some rough calculations have been worked. At any rate it is of no importance, and clearly is not what Alvarez was looking for.”

“Wait one moment, Roger,” said Harry; “be not over-hasty, lad. I believe this is more important than it looks. May it not be a cipher of some kind? Let us have another look at it.”

The document presented the following appearance:—

1581.2227 1819 1919 2622 1820 1335 1138 19181717 2020 1618 2727 2722 2222 3811 1819 18161237 2225 1915 1515 2424 2525 1730 2014 14301718 2121 1420 1920 3014 1830 1519 2120 19152018 1030 1440 1614 3019 2017 1028 2226 19302126 1222 1119 1137 1139 1136 1123 2626 12251226 1616 1324 1325 1236 1818 1235 1222 12183118 2725 3113 1334 3217 1324 1424 1335 32121817 2019 1321 2824 1420 2021 1434 2121 32121533 3316 2223 1614 1433 3415 3311 1916 22202525 1715 1423 2322 3314 2414 1517 1816 30191416 1822 1618 2122 1120 2826 2022 1321 14242221 1930 2413 2014 2413 3311 2624 2029 14232512 1915 1614 2611 2319 1713 2320 2925 15192418 1816 1433 2218 1922 1320 1126 1721 29201133 1232 1030 1520 1730 3212 2418 2317 25203017 2117 2023 1220 1321 3311 2015 2517 12221821 1721 2012 3014 2616 2426 1220 2413 18181430 2219 2013 1614 1922 2424 3113 1120 26241730 1721 2212 1320 1419 2311 2410 2124 19181331 1922 2113 2426 2320 1914 2014 3017 25232821 3113 2023 1915 1820 1829 3212 2122 29281919 2221 1620 1616 1416 2428 1816 2318 33112320 1717 2417 2826 2018 2419 2516 1618 2920752626 202122 1519 1420 1924 1320 1820 2325 16251317 2419 2013 2017 2117 2424 2421 1218 18251721 3311 2615 1317 2523 2029 1133 2518 181614 2124 1812 1616 1915 2622 2220 3410 2624 29201720 5 2223 1218 1715 1717 2424 2626 1515 21202021 2020 1717 1818 1720 1930 1816 2122 30191618 1822 1816 2221 1917.

1581.2227 1819 1919 2622 1820 1335 1138 19181717 2020 1618 2727 2722 2222 3811 1819 18161237 2225 1915 1515 2424 2525 1730 2014 14301718 2121 1420 1920 3014 1830 1519 2120 19152018 1030 1440 1614 3019 2017 1028 2226 19302126 1222 1119 1137 1139 1136 1123 2626 12251226 1616 1324 1325 1236 1818 1235 1222 12183118 2725 3113 1334 3217 1324 1424 1335 32121817 2019 1321 2824 1420 2021 1434 2121 32121533 3316 2223 1614 1433 3415 3311 1916 22202525 1715 1423 2322 3314 2414 1517 1816 30191416 1822 1618 2122 1120 2826 2022 1321 14242221 1930 2413 2014 2413 3311 2624 2029 14232512 1915 1614 2611 2319 1713 2320 2925 15192418 1816 1433 2218 1922 1320 1126 1721 29201133 1232 1030 1520 1730 3212 2418 2317 25203017 2117 2023 1220 1321 3311 2015 2517 12221821 1721 2012 3014 2616 2426 1220 2413 18181430 2219 2013 1614 1922 2424 3113 1120 26241730 1721 2212 1320 1419 2311 2410 2124 19181331 1922 2113 2426 2320 1914 2014 3017 25232821 3113 2023 1915 1820 1829 3212 2122 29281919 2221 1620 1616 1416 2428 1816 2318 33112320 1717 2417 2826 2018 2419 2516 1618 2920752626 202122 1519 1420 1924 1320 1820 2325 16251317 2419 2013 2017 2117 2424 2421 1218 18251721 3311 2615 1317 2523 2029 1133 2518 181614 2124 1812 1616 1915 2622 2220 3410 2624 29201720 5 2223 1218 1715 1717 2424 2626 1515 21202021 2020 1717 1818 1720 1930 1816 2122 30191618 1822 1816 2221 1917.

Beyond these figures, the paper, which seemed of considerable age, was perfectly blank.

The lads gazed earnestly at the mass of figures for some time, trying to fathom its meaning.

That a hidden meaning of some kind was attached to it was almost certain, as no sane man would put down a long string of figures to no purpose, or for mere pastime; and if the writer had not intended the meaning to be hidden, he would certainly have used words in preference to a number of mystifying figures.

“Roger,” said Harry, “the more I look at this cipher—for cipher I am convinced it is—the more certain do I feel that it is the key to something important or of value. Now, friend, do you notice anything peculiar about these figures?”

“I cannot say that I do,” answered Roger, “unless you mean that they are arranged in groups of four.”

“Yes, that is certainly so,” agreed Harry; “but there is somewhat else of significance, and that is, that, although they are grouped in fours for the most part, there are two groups of six figures, one of two, and one figure stands alone. These being different from the remainder of the cipher, we may at once set them down as denoting something different from the rest of the writing. I should say that possibly some direction, instruction, or it may even be a compass-bearing, is concealed in these two groups of six figures, while, to my mind, the figures 14 and 5, are to be read as they really are, that is as figures only; for I believe that the remainder of the figures stand for words or letters, as indeed they must, if any sense is to be made of the thing. Yes, the more I study this, the more certain am I that we have found something of value, and this, I am convinced, is the document you told me Alvarez was looking for while you were in the cabin of the sinkingGloria del Mundo.”

“By Saint George,” said Roger, “I am inclined to believe you are right, Harry; only I see not how it will benefit us if we cannot translate the cipher, and that seems to me impossible without the key thereto.”

“Nothing is impossible, my friend,” retorted Harry. “We have no key, it is true, but by repeated experiments we shall solve the thing eventually, I am sure.”

“Let us start trying right now, then,” suggested Roger.

“Well, starting from the beginning, let us take the first group of—”

“Mr Trevose, hie you on deck, if you please; I want you,” came Cavendish’s voice down the companion at this moment, putting an abrupt end to the operations on the cipher.

Leaving Harry to put away the document in safety, Roger ran up on deck, and touched his hat to his captain.

“Mr Trevose,” said Cavendish, “one of the boats has just come off from the shore with a load of fresh fruit and vegetables which the men have collected. They have now had a short spell ashore, and it is time for us to be thinking of work again; so I wish you to take this boat and proceed to the shore in her with instructions to Mr Leigh to collect all the men forthwith. Let them bring off as much fruit and vegetables as they can find, but they must not be very long about it. You can take your friend Edgwyth with you, if you will, and while the men are getting fresh provisions together you and he have my leave, after you have delivered my message, to do as you please until all are ready to come off aboard.

“And have a care,” added the skipper, “that you two lads do not get into any further scrapes. You had a particularly narrow escape this morning, both of you, and perchance may not get off quite so easily next time.”

Roger saluted, and forthwith ran down to inform Harry of his errand; whereupon the two mounted again to the deck and dropped into the boat, which was waiting for them alongside, and were soon being pulled over the water to the shore again.

Arrived at the beach, Roger enquired of the few men who were there where Mr Leigh was to be found. None of them seemed to know, but one man said he believed that Mr Leigh had gone in “that” direction—pointing it out with a stubby and tarry forefinger—and had taken a musket, with the intention, he thought, of getting some fresh meat for the pot.

The lads at once set off in the direction indicated, pushing their way through tangled underwood, and treading down in their passage many splendid and brilliant flowers, while startled birds, of rainbow plumage, flew out from the branches over their heads.

Everywhere stillness reigned supreme, and no sound or sign of any of the men was to be met with. They pushed resolutely forward, however, trying to discover some indication of people having passed that way before. So dense was the undergrowth in many places that Harry and Roger were obliged to draw their swords to cut a passage through it.

Presently Roger caught sight of a beautiful orchid on the trunk of a tree just below the first branch, and put forth his hand to gather it. As he did so there was abright green flash, and the lad started back only just in time. There was a swish of steel, and a snake fell to the ground severed in half, yet still writhing horribly.

“A thousand thanks!” said Roger. “I owe you my life again, Harry. He would surely have bitten me if you had not been so quick with your sword.”

They examined the reptile, which was about six feet long, and of a brilliant green above and light yellow underneath, with the heart-shaped head that betokened an extremely venomous variety. Tossing the two writhing halves of the body into the bush with the point of his sword, and giving a shrug of repugnance, Roger passed on, followed by Harry, with no further desire to pluck orchids, and each taking care to look well about him.

Presently they came to a small clearing, and on the opposite side saw an opening in the bush which seemed to suggest that someone had recently passed that way.

They crossed the clearing and pushed through the opening on the other side, and, after going about half a mile, heard the report of a gun close to them, followed by a great fluttering of wings, as a host of startled birds flew away from the branches where they had been roosting.

A few moments later they came upon Leigh, accompanied by a seaman carrying a large bag, which seemed to be well filled, and gave promise of a few savoury meals in the immediate future.

Roger at once gave him Mr Cavendish’s orders to reassemble the men, and then asked him how far he had succeeded in his hunting.

“Oh, very well, Roger!” replied Leigh. “I have nearly filled the bag, as you may see, and some of the birds are fine big fellows, and should be excellent eating. At any rate we will sample them at mess this evening. But I must be off and get the men together. As you two have liberty until we start for the ship, you may take this musket and ammunition, if you like, and try to shoot something on your own account. One’s own shooting always tastes best, I am told,” he added with a laugh, as he prepared to return. “But I should not wander too far away, if I were you,” he advised. “We do not know the place as yet, and there may be dangers that we are not aware of; so be careful.”

The lads thanked Mr Leigh for the loan of the musket, and the lieutenant disappeared to collect the men, telling the lads that he would sound the trumpet if they were not in sight when it was time to return to the ships.

“Now,” said Roger, when Leigh had disappeared, “where are we to go, Harry?”

“Do you remember that ledge of rocks that we saw this morning?” asked Harry! “Well, we noticed quite a number of caves among them; what say you to going and having a look at them?”

“Agreed, my friend!” said Roger. “But can we get to them, I wonder, from here, without going back to the beach and walking all the way round?”

“Oh, yes! I think so,” answered Harry. “I believe I remember how they lie, and in what direction; and if we bear away to the left here it will bring us to them, no doubt.”

So the two turned off, and presently found another opening in the brush, through which they went.

“It appears to me,” said Roger presently, “as though someone had been along this way before us. See, some of the small branches are broken, and the growth beneath our feet seems to have been recently trodden. I expect we shall find that some of our men have been here before us, perhaps to look at those same caves themselves. If so, we can warn them to return immediately; and if they are in front of us it will give us a little longer, as it will take them some considerable time to get back to the boats from here.”

Thus reassured in their own minds—for there was always the danger of savages to consider,—they pressed on, but saw no further signs of the men whom they imagined to be in front of them.

“It is possible,” said Harry, his thoughts still dwelling upon the matter, “that if they have gone this way they are still at the caves. Or they may have gone back along the beach; for that, I suppose, is the nearest way of return. And if so, we shall not meet any of them coming this way; but we may overtake them.”

They had gone but a little distance farther when Roger looked up suddenly.

“Harry, I heard something whistle past my head a moment ago,” said he.

“Nonsense!” responded Harry. “What you heard was one of those small creatures they call ‘humming-birds’ flying past your ear.”

“I am certain it was not,” retorted Roger. “If it had been, I should have seen as well as heard him, and— why, there it is again!”

“Yes, you are right, Roger; I heard it myself that time. I wonder what it can be?” exclaimed Harry.

“I don’t know,” said Roger, “but it sounds very queer. Let us push on, or we shall have no time to explore those caves.”

They pushed forward for some little distance, and again heard, more than once, the same peculiar sibilant sound, as of something flying past them with great velocity; but they saw nothing, and could not account for the occurrence at all.

Suddenly Harry, who was behind, whispered to Roger: “Do not appear to take any notice, Roger, at present; but I distinctly saw the head of a savage peering at us from behind a tree when I turned my head just now, and I believe that what we heard was the sound of arrows flying past us. I should not be greatly surprised to find that there is quite a crowd of natives round us, and the only wonder to me is that we have not yet been hit. Now, we must press on and endeavour to reach the shelter of the caves, and there defend ourselves, if necessary, until assistance comes. It is useless to think of retreating by the way we have come; we should only be ambushed. Ah! I see two more faces looking at us over there in the bush. We had better make haste; but we only need walk a little faster. It will never do to run, or they will see that we have discovered them, and in that case they will attack us at once, and we shall have no chance here. By the way, is that musket loaded?”

“Yes,” replied Roger. “It was loaded when Leigh handed it to me; for I remember that, after the discharge we heard which led us to him, he was loading as we came up, and he did not fire again.”

“Very well,” said Harry, “we had better for the present trust to our swords; we must reserve the musket until the last. And you had better drop a few more bullets in, so that it will do as much execution as possible when we fire. And I trust to Heaven that the report may bring some of our men up. But it will not do that if we fire now, as they will merely think we are shooting game. If we fire from the caves they will know there is no game there to shoot at, and it may attract their attention.”

The two lads now moved as fast as they thought consistent with safety, and, to their great relief, at length perceived an opening in the trees, and got a glimpse of the sea beyond. A few minutes later they emerged on the beach, and found themselves quite close to the caves.

Then, having a clear ground, they took to their heels and ran as hard as they could for the nearest cave.

As they started to run, a chorus of savage yells broke on their ears, and what they had quite anticipated happened. The natives had at last left cover and were pursuing them at the top of their speed.

Roger and Harry, unaccustomed to running in sand, moved but slowly, and the savages gradually began to overhaul them. They were not far from the caves by this time, however, and presently they gained the entrance to one of them some fifty yards ahead of their pursuers.

As soon as they were safely inside, Roger turned, and, raising the musket to his shoulder, discharged the piece point-blank into the midst of the nearest group of running savages.

It was a lucky discharge, and the extra bullets that they had put in, scattering as they flew, had almost the effect of a round of grape-shot, dropping no fewer than four of the blacks. It did not check their rush, however, and there was no time to reload before the howling, yelling mob were upon them.

Roger and Harry had at once taken up positions, one on each side of the entrance to the cave, allowing themselves sufficient room to avoid striking each other with the blades of their long swords, which, with the now useless musket, were all the weapons they had.

The savages came at them with a rush, stabbing furiously with their spears, and forced on by those behind, who feared to use their bows and arrows at such close quarters lest they should hit their companions.

The long sword-blades, however, rose and fell untiringly, flashing in the sunlight, now parrying a spear-thrust, and anon making a sweeping cut, and with every blow at least one savage had cause to regret his temerity.

The natives, however, had numbers on their side, the sound replacing the fallen until quite a heap of dead and wounded began to grow at the entrance to the cave.

They were likewise growing chary of those long blades of steel that hewed through shield and spear-haft as though they had been paper.

At length one of the natives stooped down and picked up the dead body of a fallen comrade, held it before him as a shield, and rushed toward the defenders of the cave, and as Harry thrust at him he flung the body full upon the sword’s point, where it remained impaled, dragging Harry’s weapon from his grip. The man then lunged savagely with his spear, but Roger’s wary eye was on him, and the fraction of a second before the spear left the fellow’s grasp the sword flashed and fell, and the savage stood looking stupidly for a moment at the arm still grasping the spear, that had fallen at his feet, ere he himself sank, groaning, to the ground.

Harry shouted his thanks across to Roger, and drew his sword out of the impaled body with some difficulty, determined not to be so tricked again, and once more the battle went furiously on, the savages surging madly about the cave’s mouth, and the two lads straining every nerve to keep their stronghold inviolate.

“I wonder,” gasped Roger, “how long it will be before Leigh collects all the men, and, missing us, sends out a search-party?”

“They should all be mustered long before this,” replied his companion. “You must remember that it took us some time to reach this place, and Leigh started to look for the men directly we left him. Hark! there goes the trumpet for our recall, unless I am mistaken. Did you not hear it?”

“I think I heard something,” answered Roger. “If it was indeed the trumpet, it means that Leigh has collected all the men and only waits for us; and he will not wait long before sending in search of us, because of the captain’s orders to return on board as quickly as possible. If we could but find time to reload the musket and discharge it again, Leigh might possibly hear the report, and it would show him where to look for us.”

“That is true,” agreed Harry. “Now, Roger, leave me to defend the cave-mouth alone, and try to load the piece; the discharge may bring down the men, and if you load, as we did last time, with plenty of bullets, we shall do the enemy some considerable damage at the same time.”

It was no time for arguing. Roger therefore did as Harry had suggested, and, leaving the defence of the cave to his friend, grasped the musket and loaded it with frantic haste.

Seeing one of the defenders apparently retreating, the natives at once redoubled their onslaught, and spears came whizzing through the air, thick as falling autumn leaves.

The long blade, however, still flashed untiringly hither and thither, and the cave remained untaken.

“Hasten, Roger!” cried Harry. “I cannot much longer keep these fellows off unaided.”

“Coming, lad,” shouted Roger in return.

A huge native at this moment forced himself to the front and engaged Harry at close quarters, and, tired as he was, the boy knew his strength must soon fail. He responded gallantly, however, and drove the man back for an instant; but, with a cry like that of a furious beast, the fellow again leapt at him, and, beating down the sword-point, bore the lad to the ground, at once shortening his spear to pin him to the earth.

Poor Harry closed his eyes, and for a moment experienced all the bitterness of death. But it was for a moment only. The weight suddenly rolled from his chest, and, opening his eyes, he saw Roger pulling his reeking blade from the savage’s body. Then, dropping his sword, Roger raised the musket to his shoulder and fired into the thick of the group of natives.

With the report came a hearty English cheer as Leigh and a couple of dozen well-armed sailors rushed round a bend in the beach.

“Lie down! lie down!” roared Leigh, and as the two lads flung themselves to the floor of the cave, a storm of bullets whizzed over them that at once accounted for ten of the savages.

Then out came the hangers, and the sailors charged the remaining assailants, who turned resolutely to meet them, while Harry and Roger, rising from the floor of the cave, dashed down on the rear, cutting and slashing and thrusting with right good will, their strength renewed somewhat by a sight of their own countrymen.

Thus taken in front and rear, the blacks, seized with sudden panic, broke and fled, followed by another storm of shot from the sailors.

“Now,” shouted Leigh, “make for the boats ere they return in overwhelming numbers!”

In response to this order the English all went off along the beach at the double, and soon reached the boats, which were not very far away.

They embarked forthwith, and were soon once more on board their respective ships.

“Well, my boys,” said Cavendish as the inseparables climbed the ship’s side, “this morning’s adventure was not enough for you, it would appear, so you must needs go and get yourselves into another mess. Now, mark my words, you will some day get into a scrape, and one or the other of you will fail to come out again alive!”

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