CHAPTER VIII.TURNING THE TABLES.
The first thing to be done was to warn the remainder of the party that the mutineers were close at hand, lest some incautious noise might betray the fact of their being on the key, and to this end Captain Mansfield hurried to the head of the little cove.
Old Andy was the only one awake, and to him the captain whispered:
“The villains who seized theDay Dreamare becalmed within twenty fathoms of the shore. See to it that——”
The darky looked up in alarm, his eyes seemingly starting from their sockets, and he was on the verge of giving vent to a cry of fear when Captain Mansfield seized him by the throat.
“Don’t you dare so much as wink, or I’ll choke the breath out of your body,” he whispered, angrily, and the old man sank to his knees the very personification of terror. “Now listen carefully, and see that you do as I tell you. See to it that there is no noise made here. When the others awake tell them to remain quiet until I return.”
There was no longer any danger that Andy would betray the secret by an incautious move. The threat terrified him even more than the knowledge of the mutineers’whereabouts, and Captain Mansfield retraced his steps to the point where he had left the mate.
During the short time he had been absent the general condition of affairs on the schooner’s deck was changed considerably.
The mutineers had come from below, probably after a night’s debauch, and the sound of angry conversation told that a quarrel was imminent.
“What has happened?” the captain asked Mr. Jenkins, in a whisper.
“I don’t know. They came out of the cabin a few seconds ago, and this row appears to be a continuation of what started below.”
“It will be a fortunate happening for us, if they get into a fight.”
“Possibly,” the mate replied, hesitatingly; “but I fail to see how it is going to be possible for us to accomplish anything without weapons when that crowd are well armed, if they have taken the trouble to search the cabin, which I reckon has been done long before this.”
“We shall find a way out of it, if the calm continues. Give me a chance to get over the bow before they know we’re in the vicinity, and I’ll take the risk of their weapons.”
The discussion on the yacht was fast degenerating into a regular row. The men were talking so loudly that a reasonably good idea of the condition of affairs could be gained by the listeners.
Several of the mutineers were insisting on making this particular key a sort of rendezvous, and demanding thata certain lot of goods (probably something they had saved from theMary and Jane) should be brought here.
Another faction, and among them the leader, wanted to run for the Florida Straits, in order to remain hidden among the keys until search for the yacht should be abandoned. They believed, and with good reason, that Captain Mansfield would not tamely submit to the loss of his vessel, and, since the weather had been favorable for navigation in a small boat, it was more than probable those who had been dispossessed would succeed in reaching Nassau.
Greatly to the disappointment of the two concealed among the foliage on shore, the men did not come to blows, although each instant it seemed as if such would be the case. After squabbling for twenty minutes or more the mutineers appeared to have come to some kind of an understanding, and a quantity of the cabin stores were brought on deck for breakfast.
Each one appeared to be his own cook, and the wastefulness displayed would have brought tears of vexation to Andy’s eyes. A tin of beef, which one fellow opened, was tossed overboard after he had taken out two slices.
A box of biscuit was left on the house that each might help himself, and the greater portion used in firing on a wager at a floating bottle.
This kind of horseplay came to an end finally, and then the half-drunken crew began lowering one of the boats.
“It is possible that our opportunity is near at hand,” Captain Mansfield whispered. “It looks as if some ofthem were coming ashore, and it is time the rest of our party were ready for action. Creep back softly, and send them to me. Then pole our boat as near the mouth of the cove as is safe.”
By a chance as fortunate and unexpected as had been the coming of theDay Dream, all the mutineers but two prepared to go on shore, and, as nearly as Captain Mansfield could judge, each man had armed himself either with a rifle or revolver, thus exhausting the supply of weapons on board.
“It will be nothing more than child’s play now, provided they do not land too near here,” he whispered to himself, and just as the boats pushed off from the schooner, Gil and Nelse crept close to the watcher’s side.
“Is there any chance of our getting the yacht again?” the former asked; but his father motioned for him to be silent.
The remainder of the party came up before the mutineers were half-a-dozen yards from the vessel, and a few moments later Captain Mansfield saw, to his dismay, that the men intended to land directly in front of his hiding-place.
It seemed as if this must be a deathblow to all his plans, and the boys mentally braced themselves for the struggle both believed to be at hand.
The men rowed leisurely, singing and laughing, evidently fancying themselves the only human beings in the vicinity, and the little tender struck the beach not more than a dozen feet from where the anxious ones were concealed.
The bows of the boats were pulled up on the sand to prevent them from drifting away, and then the mutineers pushed straight on into the thicket, probably bent on exploring the key to learn if it would serve them as a rendezvous.
They were making so much noise that the watchers might have conversed in ordinary tones; but Captain Mansfield did not take any such chances, when he whispered to Gil:
“You and Nelse go back to where Jenkins is waiting with the boat. Send him to me, and get on board. Move cautiously down to the very mouth of the cove, and stay there, with oars in the rowlocks, until you see us push one of these crafts from the shore. Then row for the schooner the best you know how.”
This was no time to ask questions, and the orders were obeyed instantly.
Mr. Jenkins was but a short distance away, and when Gil had repeated his father’s instructions the mate hurried off, leaving the boys to carry out their part of the programme unaided.
“Father is probably going to try to get hold of the other two boats,” Gil whispered, as he clambered inboard, “and if the mutineers see us while we are pulling out to the schooner we shall have the chance of learning how it seems to be shot at.”
“I’d rather receive a pretty serious wound than let those scoundrels go off with the yacht again, now there’s a possibility of our gaining possession once more,” Nelse said, and by the time he ceased speaking both were in thelittle craft, each with an oar ready to pull at the first signal.
The voices of the mutineers now sounded from a distance, and it was not likely they could have a view of the water because of the intervening foliage; but yet Captain Mansfield’s party gave no sign of action.
Ten minutes passed, and Gil was beginning to grow alarmed lest his father should wait too long, when a light splash of water was heard, and one of the tenders shot out from the shore with the two sailors rowing and Andy at the helm.
“Now bend to it,” Gil whispered, hoarsely. “Watch to see that one doesn’t pull the other around, for there mustn’t be any wild steering.”
The boys were out of the cove just as the captain and Mr. Jenkins launched the last boat, and all three crafts were dashing over the glassy sea in fine style, sending tiny showers of spray up from their bows, when a loud yell was heard.
The two fellows on the schooner had caught a glimpse of the captain’s party, and were shouting for their friends.
“It’s a question of reaching the other side of the yacht before they heave in sight, or we may come to grief,” Gil said, grimly, as he bent his back to the oar until the ashen blade bent under the vigorous strain.
“Board her over the rail amidships, boys!” Captain Mansfield shouted, and glancing around for the merest fraction of time, Nelse saw that the sailors were steering for the schooner’s bow, while the other boat was being sent toward the stern.
By thus dividing the force, the mutineers would be beset both from front and rear, while Gil and Nelse created diversion on one side, and the struggle could not be long protracted.
The men on the yacht were yelling at the full strength of their lungs, and stood near the bow with handspikes raised ready to fell the first who should attempt to come on board; but they could not guard the stern at the same time, therefore the captain and mate succeeded in clambering over the rail before the fellows were fully aware of their purpose.
The boys had just pulled around theDay Dreamwhen the main body of mutineers burst out of the bushes, and the shower of bullets which they sent, without waiting to take accurate aim, did no injury to any one.
Mr. Jenkins had opened the battle by hurling a handspike with such good effect that the taller sailor was knocked over like a ninepin, and the other, realizing how useless it would be to contend against such odds, leaped into the sea, swimming for dear life as those on the shore continued to discharge their weapons.
“Keep under the rail as much as possible,” Captain Mansfield shouted, as he set the example by crouching where he could get a view of the shore without exposing too much of his body. “They can’t have any very great amount of ammunition, and it isn’t likely either of that crowd has got the nerve to swim out here.”
Andy was the only one who did not follow this suggestion instantly. The old darky was so elated at the completeturning of the tables that it seemed absolutely necessary to give vent in some way to his joy.
He danced around the deck in full view of the angry men on shore, shouting in a sing-song tone:
“Wese done got de bes’ ob dem villyns! Glory to de Lam’! Wese ’board de yacht once mo’! Glory to de Lam’! Wese gwine—— Hi, yi, yi!”
These last exclamations were by no means a portion of his song of triumph; but just at that moment a bullet from one of the rifles had grazed the top of his ear, causing more pain than a really serious wound would have done, and, with a howl of terror, he flung himself down by Captain Mansfield’s side, where he alternately moaned and continued to cry:
“Glory to de Lam’!”