CHAPTER XVI.IN IRONS.
Fiveminutes after I had been put in irons, Mr. Triggs and Ned Burton, under a strong guard, were brought down a hatchway ladder just over my head. I was overjoyed to find that they were going to be manacled close to me, for I had not in the least expected such good fortune. As soon as my shipmates’ legs had been secured, and their arms and eyes set free, our guards hung a lantern to the beams, went away, and left us alone.
It was evident that the vessel was going to get under way at once, for there was a great hubbub on deck, and I thought I could distinguish the noise of a windlass and of a cable coming in at the hawse-hole. I knew, too, that the land wind was blowing, and felt sure that the chief would wish to take advantage of it to get clear of the coast before dawn.
Mr. Triggs and Ned were as delighted to see me as I was to see them.
“They didn’t mean to put us together, I suspect,” said the gunner; “but it so happens they’ve got irons only in this part of the ship, and can’t well help themselves.”
“This is an armed vessel,” said I, watching my shipmates’ faces keenly, “and must be a privateer, or perhaps a piratical craft of some kind.”
The gunner started.
“How did you gain that information, youngster?” he asked. “Weren’t you blindfolded?”
Ned was watching me curiously. I was grieved to see by the light of the flickering lantern that his face looked haggard and drawn.
I told them how my bandage had slipped down, and had enabled me to spy to a certain extent upon the doings of our captors.
“That was a slice of luck, and no mistake,” said the gunner, rubbing his hands; “and if ever we succeed in circumventing these villains, your knowledge may prove to be most important.”
“What do you think they’re going to do with us, Mr. Triggs?” I asked.
“I’m just as much puzzled as ever,” answered thegunner. “They want to get a ransom for us, I s’pose, but ’tis the most mysterious business I was ever mixed up in.”
“The owdacious swabs!” put in Ned angrily. “I only hope that our skipper will make a clean sweep of ’em when he hears tell of their little game.”
I condoled with my coxswain as to the vile treatment he had received at the instigation of the mule-driver.
Ned thanked me warmly for my sympathy.
“Of course, I knew you’d feel for me, sir,” he said; “but don’t you trouble your head any more about the matter, but try to forget it. I’d do the same myself, but my back is that stiff and sore I’m blowed if I can.”
“Now just a word or two of advice, if you’ll excuse it,” observed the gunner, “and then we must try to get forty winks, for it’s no good blinking the matter we’re all as tired out and exhausted as we can be. The advice is this:We had better not be seen talking by any one.If any member of the crew comes down on this deck,mum’s the word! Take no notice of any insults or bad treatment.Try to look as if you liked it.Keep your weather eyes lifting, and your ears open,but lookas stupid as owls. Now, good-night, and God bless you both!”
Ten minutes later the gunner and Ned Burton were actually fast asleep. Sailors who have seen as many years of service as they had seem to be able to fall into the arms of Morpheus at a moment’s notice, even under extraordinary conditions.
How I envied my companions in misfortune!
For a long while—or so it seemed to me—sleep would not seal my eyes. The hurried rushing to and fro of men on deck, the creaking and clanking of spars and cables, the subdued shouts of those in command, and the answering hails from the crew—all combined to keep my senses on the alert and to banish slumber. Besides all this, my brain was in a whirl. All the strange adventures of the last twelve hours recurred again and again to my memory, and my anxious thoughts kept dwelling also upon the deadly perils of our present situation, and of the utterly unknown future looming like a gloomy cloud upon the horizon of our lives. I was especially oppressed with the dark foreboding that our shipmates would be unable to discover that we had been torn away from the shores of Cuba. I pictured them anxiously and energetically searchingevery nook and cranny of the valleys and hills in a vain search for us, and utterly ignorant of our real whereabouts.
It was weak and foolish of me to take this pessimistic view of matters, but the reader must kindly remember that I was in a very exhausted and overwrought state.
The waves were dashing against the vessel’s sides; she heeled over slightly under the influence of the land breeze; the noises on deck had ceased. We were under way.
The gentle, almost imperceptible motion of the little craft seemed to lull me to rest, and in a few minutes, in spite of the hard deck, my heavy iron manacles, and still heavier forebodings, I fell into a feverish, restless sleep—rocked in the cradle of the deep.
I was awoke some hours later by feeling a heavy hand upon my chest, and hearing a loud, fierce voice in my ear.