CHAPTER XVI.
Waterford certainly looked as ugly as ever, if he did not act so. He planked the deck on the weather side, and occasionally glanced at me, as though I was the cause of all the misfortunes that had checkered the calendar of his existence. My party were all forward, as there was nothing to do; for the mate, besides promising the men plum duff and grog, had also given them "watch and watch." Before, he had labored hard to make work for the men; now, he gave them an easy time, and one watch was to be permitted to be below all the time, except when heavy weather required all hands.
The five Spanish and Portuguese sailors were leaning against the fiferail of the mainmast. They had drank their grog, and being in high favor with the mate, were very cheerful. I paid little or no attention to them, for I was obliged to keep my eye steadily on the binnacle. I saw Waterford stop at the foot of the mainmast, and talk with these slave-trading ruffians; but he soon resumed his walk, and took no further notice of them.
The mate, as he came near the wheel, half an hour later, halted, and looked at the spanker.
"Aft here, three of you, and give a pull on the spanker-sheet," said he.
Martino, Gorro, and Grego hastened upon the quarter-deck to obey the order. They cast off the sheet, and gave it a pull.
"Avast—too much," interposed the mate. "Ease off again."
"Ease off," replied Martino; and I observed that they let out the sheet till the sail was in exactly the same position as before.
"Avast; belay!" added the mate. "Take the helm, Gorro."
I looked up with astonishment when I heard this order, for it involved a departure from the ordinary routine of the vessel. The Portuguese took the helm; and while I was waiting for further commands, a pair of hands were placed over my mouth, and I was suddenly and violently borne down upon the deck. In a word, I was garroted after the Spanish fashion. Grego seized me by the legs, and I was unable either to struggle or to cry out. The two men picked me up, and hastened into the cabin with me. Waterford walked forward as far as the mainmast, and that was the last I saw of him. It was evident that none of my shipmates forward had seen the trick played upon me, for they were all behind the house on deck.
My captors bore me to the steerage, where they tied me hand and foot, and made me fast to a stanchion. I began to understand why the mate had been so quiet and peaceful since the row on deck. He had concluded to fight his enemies in detail, instead of in the aggregate. I was helpless now, and my companions in the forecastle did not even know that any misfortune had happened to me. But I was sure they would miss me when the helm was relieved, and I was more afraid that they would go to work rashly than that they would do nothing.
Phil a Prisoner in the Steerage.
Phil a Prisoner in the Steerage.
Phil a Prisoner in the Steerage.
"You'll hold still now, Phil," said Martino.
"I suppose I shall as long as these ropes hold out," I replied.
"You made the trouble, and now you will have to take it. If the men don't want to obey orders now, they will catch pistol balls, instead of plum duff and grog."
"What does the mate mean to do with me?" I asked.
"He means to make you work when we get the niggers on board. You will have to feed them, and clean them out," laughed the Spaniard.
"Come; he is safe where he is now," added Grego.
My persecutors left me alone, and went on deck to report to the mate what they had done. They had certainly done their work well, for my wrists ached, the line was so tight upon them. My situation looked very hopeless; and, after I had tested the strength of the cords that bound me, I felt very much like giving up in despair. But, in the cause of truth and justice, I felt that I had no right to despair. I was one of those upon whom devolved the duty of preventing the Michigan from being turned into a slave ship. We were to act not alone for our own safety and comfort, but in the interests of humanity. God would bless our efforts in his own way, and we were in duty bound to do our best, without regard to consequences.
Though I did not know till afterwards, what followed on deck, I shall relate it now, in the order of the events. Martino and Grego returned to the waist, and reported to the mate that the prisoner was safe. Martino then went forward, and told the men what had happened to me. They had no suspicion of it before, so skilfully and silently had the ruffians done their work. They were shocked and confounded. They immediately took counsel among themselves; and at the suggestion of Baxter, they decided to appear to yield to the circumstances.
While the conference was in progress, the steward went forward with the grog. This time they drank, and Sanderson took my allowance. Every man seemed to be happy and cheerful; and the mate called all hands to brace up the bark; for, as the steamer had not been seen for several hours, it was decided to resume the course. The mate then spoke to the hands, as he had in the forenoon, and they yielded the point. They were willing to make a thousand dollars, and glad to have "watch and watch," plum duff, and grog. The mate was satisfied; and, when the starboard watch came on duty in the second dog watch, he went below. I knew the sound of his step, and I heard him coming towards the steerage.
"Mr. Waterford," said the captain, calling to him from his state-room, which was near the open door leading into the steerage.
"Well, captain," replied the mate.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing now; the men have taken their grog, and promised to do their duty wherever we go."
This was heavy news to me, for I had no reason to doubt the truth of it. If the men drank their grog, I was satisfied in my own mind that they had given up the battle. If they drank liquor they could be won over to almost anything, for the mate could give them enough to make demons of them.
"How are you, Phil?" said Waterford, in a mocking tone, as he entered the steerage.
"As well as usual, excepting these bonds," I replied.
"I have you now where I want you, and I have come down to tell you the news."
"I heard you tell it to the captain just now. It is not necessary to repeat it."
"All right if you know which way the wind blows. You have been the cause of all the mischief on board."
"I am sorry you took so much pains to keep me on board then."
"I have my reasons for all I do. I would rather have six devils than one psalm-singer in my crew. As soon as the men knew you were safe, they caved in, drank their grog like sailors, and now they are willing to do their duty."
"Willing to help you run a cargo of slaves over to Cuba," I repeated.
"Yes; that's just what they are willing to do; and you will be of the same mind before I have done with you."
"I hope not; though I don't know how much I am able to bear."
"Nor I; neither do I care. You shall have enough of it before you are done. But I did not come here to pass compliments with you."
"I did not suspect you of any such intention."
"I'm glad you know me," he continued, seating himself on the steward's berth. "I'm not an angel."
"You needn't have said that."
"Nor are you."
"I am not."
"But when a man uses me well, I am his friend."
"I pity your friend."
"None of your impudence, Phil. It's my next move."
"You said we were not to pass compliments."
"Have a care what you say. I'm not an angel; I'm not a psalm-singer; and I don't pretend to be what I am not."
"You serve the devil, and are proud of your master," I replied, wishing to prove that I was not ashamed of what I had done, nor sorry for it.
"There is no cant about me. You are a thief and a liar, in spite of your cant."
"You are coming to the compliments, after all. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you."
"All men don't speak well of you. I say you are a thief and liar."
"I appreciate the compliment."
"You stole my money, and then lied to me about it."
"I have nothing to say."
"You will have something to say before I am done with you," he added, with a fierce oath, as he sprang to his feet. "You robbed my trunk, and took fifteen hundred dollars in gold from it. Do you know how to speak the truth?"
"I have always succeeded tolerably well in doing so."
"What did you do with the money you took from my trunk?"
"I should feel obliged to speak the truth if I said anything."
"You had better do it. I know that the money I lost was in my trunk when I left my state-room, the day I put you in there."
"I had a similar confidence in regard to my own trunk on a certain occasion," I answered.
"I'm not to be trifled with. I'll give you till to-morrow morning to make up your mind. If you don't tell me then what you did with that money, I'll give you the rope's end every hour till you are willing to answer me."
"I will think of it."
"If you have thrown it overboard, I will throw you over after it."
"What makes you think I threw it overboard?"
"Because I found that the bull's eye in my state-room had been opened."
"Did you lose all the money in your trunk?"
"No; you know I didn't."
"You ought to be thankful that I did not take what did not belong to me. I should have done so if I had suspected to what use that money was to be applied."
"No cant to me!"
"Perhaps you will be willing to own that you stole the money I took from your trunk out of mine."
"I am; I do own it; and in due time it will buy fifteen or twenty niggers, and pay me five hundred per cent."
"Never, if I can help it!"
"You can't help it. I don't believe you were fool enough to throw the money overboard; and you will be glad to tell me where it is within twenty-four hours."
I could not say that I should not; for, between fifteen hundred dollars and being beaten to death, I should certainly choose to give up the former.
"I suppose the money you obtained by forgery in St. Louis will be used in buying negroes."
"Humph, Phil! You grow wise."
"A simple matter; my father wrote me that you were suspected."
"Did he, indeed?"
"He seemed to be interested, and I told him all I knew about it."
"If you are ready to tell me now where the money is, I can give you an easier position for the night, Phil," said he, in gentler tones.
"I am not ready," I replied.
"Think well of it, for I shall do all I say I will," said he, leaving the steerage.
I did not doubt it.