Chapter Five.

Chapter Five.We are marched back to the village—Carried on board the “Vulture”—Sent down below—Tubbs refuses to turn pirate—An unpleasant night—The ship under weigh—Crossing the bar—Allowed to go on deck—At sea—Another night—Attempt to escape a pursuer—Sounds of a fight reach us—We break our way out—The captain attempts to blow up the ship—We stop him and make him prisoner—A party from the frigate on board the pirate—Charley appears—Lieutenant Hallton doubts the vessel being a pirate—Trusts the crew—A pleasant supper—Unpleasantly aroused from sleep by seeing the Lieutenant and Charley in the hands of the pirates—A trick to deceive the frigate—The pirate makes sail and escapes from the frigate.Harry and I trudged along side by side, feeling dreadfully out of spirits at the ill success of our attempt to escape, as also at the thought of the sad fate which had befallen the good-natured Frenchmen. We also could not help considering ourselves in a degree guilty of the death of the three men we had induced to desert, as well as of that of our friends and their attendants. Tubbs tried to cheer us up.“Maybe the blacks would have attacked the Frenchmen whether we had been with them or not,” he observed; “and as for the rest, it is the fortune of war. We tried to escape but failed; better luck next time, say I.”This, however, was but poor consolation, as we could only expect the harshest treatment at the hands of Captain Roderick, even if he did not put us to death. Whether he would do that or not was doubtful. The mate, however, did not seem inclined to ill-treat us, except that we each had to carry a heavy load, while a dozen men were placed behind and on each side of us; but we were allowed to march as we liked, and to converse freely together. Though we had slept the previous night, we were pretty well tired out when a halt was called and preparations made to bivouac. Supper was prepared by the cooks, and we were allowed as large a share as we required. The mate then told us to lie down together, a couple of black fellows with arms in their hands being placed over us.“You’ll not attempt to run,” observed the mate. “I have given orders to these fellows to shoot you if you do; so the consequences be on your own heads.”“No fear of that,” answered Harry. “We’ll promise to sleep as soundly as we can until we are called in the morning.”“One good thing, we’ve not got to keep watch,” observed Tom Tubbs; “and I hope our black guards will keep a look-out for any snake, leopard, or lion who may chance to poke his nose into the camp; although I wish that Mr Pikehead had left us our arms to defend ourselves.”We were too tired to talk much, and I believe we all slept soundly until morning, when we were roused up to breakfast and resume our march. It was late in the day when we reached the village. Fortunately for us, the owner of the house we had formerly occupied was still absent, and the theft committed by the pirates was not discovered. Soon after we arrived Captain Roderick made his appearance, a sardonic smile on his countenance.“You thought to escape me,” he said. “You acted foolishly, and must take the consequences. Had you been shot, your blood would have been on your heads, not on mine. I intend to take good care that you shall not play the same trick again. You will now come on board the ‘Vulture,’ and it is your own fault that you will not be treated with the same leniency that you were before. My crew will see that I do not allow such tricks to be played with impunity. Lash their hands behind them, Pikehead, and bring them along.”The mate, with the aid of three seamen, immediately secured our hands behind our backs, and we were led down, amid the hoots and derisive laughter of the population, to the boat which conveyed us on board the “Vulture.” Having been allowed to stand for some minutes in that condition exposed to the view of the crew, we were ordered down below. As we passed near the main hatchway, we saw that the slave-deck was already crowded with blacks, seated literally like herrings in a tub, as close as they could be packed side by side, with shackles round their necks and legs. Our destination was, however, lower down by the after hatchway. As soon as we were below the deck, our arms were released, and we were able to help ourselves down the narrow ladder which led into the cable-tier. Here, in a space which allowed us room only to sit with our knees together, without being able to stand up or walk about, the mate told us we were to remain.“You may consider yourselves very fortunate, my fine fellows, that worse has not happened to you,” he said. “How you’ll like it if it comes on to blow, and the hatches are battened down, is more than I can say. You’ll get your food though, for the captain doesn’t want to take your lives—he has some scruples about that—nor do I. Indeed, you might have escaped as far as I was concerned, although it was fortunate for you I came, up when I did, or those Ashingo savages would have put you to death as they did your companions.”“We are grateful for the leniency with which we have been treated, but may I ask what the captain intends doing with us?” I said.“Why, I suppose that he intends to sell you two young gentlemen as slaves in the Brazils. He will give your faces and bodies a coating of black, and put you with the rest of the negroes,” answered the mate. “And as for you,” he exclaimed, turning to Tubbs, “you might have been treated as a deserter; and if you don’t sign articles and join us, you will probably have to walk the plank. I say this as a hint to you. If you act wisely, you’ll be set at liberty as soon as we get into blue water.”“You reckon wrongly if you think I’ll join this craft or any other like her,” answered Tubbs stoutly. “I’m ready to take the consequences, for turn pirate I won’t; so you have my answer.”The mate laughed.“Many a fine fellow has said that and changed his tone when he has seen the plank rigged or the yard-arm with a running bowline from it. However, I must not waste words on you. I’ll send you down your suppers, and you must manage to stow yourselves away in the best manner you can think of for sleep. One of you must needs sit up, and he’ll have plenty to do in keeping off the rats and cockroaches, for you’ll be somewhat troubled by them, I suspect.”We thanked the mate for the promise of sending us some supper, and wished him good-night; and I really believe that, as far as his brutalised nature would allow, he intended to be kind to us. Cramped as we were in the hot stifling hold, it was a long time before any one of us could go to sleep. We were, I should have said, left in total darkness; not the slightest gleam of light descending into the part of the hold in which we were confined. At length I was awakened from a tolerable sleep by a noise which betokened that the ship was getting under weigh. I did not like to arouse my companions; but Tubbs, who had been sitting on a locker, started up exclaiming—“Ay, ay! I’ll be on deck in a twinkling.” The blow he gave his head against the beam above him, roused him up. “Bless my heart! I forgot where I was,” he said. “Yes, the ship’s under weigh, no doubt about that, and we shall be out at sea in the course of a few hours if we have the tide and wind with us, and don’t ground on the bar and get knocked to pieces.”After some time Harry awoke. I told him that the ship was running down the river.“Our chance of escape for the present is over, then,” he said with a deep sigh.He had naturally been thinking of home and Lucy and his blighted prospects; so indeed had I. Tubbs, as before, tried to cheer us up by talking on various subjects.“There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip,” he observed. “Although the captain fancies his craft faster than anything afloat, he may catch a tartar in the shape of a British man-of-war before we cross the Atlantic. As to selling us into slavery, I don’t believe he’ll attempt it. He must know that before long we would find means of communicating with a British consul or some other authority, and make our cases known. If he had talked of selling us to the Moors or Turks, the case would have been different. Once among those fellows, we should have found it a hard matter to escape.”“Still he may sell us,” observed Harry; “and perhaps months and years will pass before we can let our friends know where we are.”“Well, well, that’ll be better than having to walk the plank or being run up at the yard-arm,” said Tubbs. “We must not cry out until we are hurt, although I’ll own that I’d rather have more room to stretch my legs in than this place affords. I hope Master Pikehead won’t forget to send us the food he promised; I’m getting rather sharp set already.”Harry and I confessed that we were also feeling very hungry. Even the talking about food gave a new turn to our thoughts. At last we heard the hatch above our heads lifted, and the black steward came down with a bowl of farina and a jug of water. It was the same food the slaves were fed on, but we thought it wise to make no complaint.“It shows that the captain has no intention to starve us,” observed Harry. “However, this is better than mouldy biscuit and rancid pork, such as I have heard say seamen are too often fed upon.”“You’ve heard say the truth, sir,” observed Tubbs. “Often and often I’ve known the whole ship’s company get no better fare than that, with little better than bilge water to drink. If we get enough stuff like this, we shall grow fat, at all events.”The steward, leaving the bowl between us, quickly disappeared up the hatchway. The only light we had was from a bull’s-eye overhead, which enabled us, as Tubbs said, “barely to see the way to our mouths;” we could not, at all events, distinguish each other’s features. Although we could not see, we felt the claws of numerous visitors crawling over us, and smelt them too, and now and then were sensible that a big rat was nibbling at our toes, although, by kicking and stamping, at the risk of hitting each other’s shins, we kept them at bay. Notwithstanding this, we managed to sleep pretty soundly at intervals.Tubbs assured us that the ship was gliding on, although it might be some time before she reached the bar, as it was impossible to judge at what rate she was sailing. Now and then we felt her heel over slightly to starboard, showing that the wind was more abeam, or rather that we were passing along a reach running to the southward; then, when she came up again on an even keel, we knew that we were standing directly to the westward. At last we felt her bows lift, then down she glided, to rise again almost immediately afterwards, while the increased sound of the water dashing on her sides showed us that we were crossing the bar.“There is some sea on, I guess, and I know what it is with these African rivers. Should the wind suddenly shift southward, we may be driven on a rock or sandbank, and we and all on board will have a squeak for life,” observed Tubbs.“I hope not, although anything might be better than being carried into slavery,” observed Harry. “But we ought not to despair. I have been thinking and praying over the matter, and know that God can deliver us if He thinks fit. We must trust Him; I’m sure that’s the only thing to be done. In all the troubles and trials of life. At all times we must do our duty, and, as I say, trust Him; even when bound hand and foot as we are at present, all we can do is still to trust Him.”I heartily responded to Harry’s remark, and so I believe did Tubbs, who, although nothing of a theologian, not even knowing the meaning of the word, was a pious man in his rough way.“Ay, ay, sir,” he said. “I know that God made us, and He has a right to our service; and if we don’t run away from Him and hide ourselves, He’ll look after us a precious deal better than we can look after ourselves. That’s my religion, and it’s my opinion it’s the sum total of all the parsons can tell us.”“Not quite,” said Harry, “although it goes a long way. We are sinners in God’s sight, whatever we are in the sight of men; and if God in His mercy hadn’t given us a way by which we can be made friends to Him and saved from punishment, we should be in a bad condition.”“You are right, sir,” answered Tubbs; “but to my idea that’s all included in what I said.”We sat listening in silence.“We are pretty well over the bar now, and I don’t think we shall be cast away this time,” he observed a few minutes afterwards.That he was right we were convinced by the more regular movement of the vessel, as she slowly rose and fell, moved by the undulations which rolled in towards the coast. We could judge that she was making good way, and Tubbs was of opinion that all sail was set, and that we were standing to the westward. At the time the slaves were fed, we had a bowl of farina brought us, but the man put it down and disappeared again without saying a word. Soon afterwards the mate came down, and told me that I might come on deck for a quarter of an hour to stretch my legs. I was thankful to breathe the fresh air, although there was but little of it, and the ship was almost becalmed. I glanced astern, and could distinguish the shore, although I could no longer make out the mouth of the river. We had, at all events, got a safe offing. When my time was up I was sent below and Harry took my place, and he was succeeded by Tubbs. We were treated, however, with no more consideration than was afforded to the slaves, who were brought up on deck at intervals in the same fashion. The hold felt doubly close and oppressive after the mouthful of fresh air we had enjoyed.The second night of our captivity was even more trying than the first, for the atmosphere of the hold, into which the horrible odour from the slave-deck penetrated, was becoming every hour more and more unendurable. I feared that should we be kept below during the voyage, I, at all events, would sink under it, for I already felt sick almost to death, and my spirits were at a lower ebb than they had ever before reached. Harry was almost in as bad a condition as I was. Tubbs, who had been well seasoned in the close air of forecastles, held out better than we did.“Don’t give way, young gentlemen, whatever you do,” he said very frequently to us. “Cheer up, cheer up! When we get a breeze, some of it will find its way down here perhaps; and if not, I’ll ask the skipper if he wishes to kill us by inches, and I’ll tell him he’ll never land either of us if we are kept shut up in this hold and treated worse than the negroes. They are born to it, as it were, and we are not, and have been accustomed to pure air all our lives.”I did not quite agree with Tubbs as to negroes being born to be shut up in the hold of a slave ship, but I did not just then contradict him. By a faint gleam, like the light of a glow-worm, which came down from overhead, we knew that it was morning, and soon afterwards we felt the ship heel over to larboard, or port as it is now called. In a short time the increasing motion also showed us that the sea had got up. We heard sounds which indicated that sail was being shortened. We stood on, it might have been an hour, on the same tack, when the ship was put about, and now she heeled over more often, and pitched and tumbled about in a way which showed that it was blowing fresh. The cries of the wretched slaves, unaccustomed to the motion, reached our ears, while the tossing stirred up the bilge water and almost stifled us. Two or three hours passed, when the ship became somewhat steadier. Tubbs averred that the helm had been put up, and that we were running before the wind.“There’s something taking place, although I cannot make out just what it is to a certainty; but I’ve a notion that there is some craft in sight which the ‘Vulture’ wants to escape; and if so, I hope she won’t.”“So do I, indeed,” murmured Harry. “I shall die if we remain here much longer.”Another hour of suffering and anxiety passed, when Tubbs roused Harry and me—for we had dropped off in a kind of stupor—by exclaiming—“Holloa! What was that? A shot, or I’m a Dutchman.”As he spoke I distinctly heard the sound of a gun, though it seemed to be at a great distance. We listened with bated breath. Again there came a faint boom, and at the same instant a crash, which told us that the shot had struck the ship.“Hurrah! I thought so,” cried Tom; “there’s a man-of-war in chase of us, and it is pretty evident that the ‘Vulture’ has no wish to engage her, or she would not have been trying to get away, as she has been for some hours past.”We waited now with intense anxiety. We knew that the “Vulture” was a fast craft, and that it was too likely she had just passed within range of her pursuer’s guns, but might escape notwithstanding. Except by the motion of the vessel, we could not possibly judge how we were steering. In spite of the stifling atmosphere, our senses were wide awake. Again there came the sound of a gun. Although the shot did not strike the ship, yet it seemed to us that our pursuer must be nearer. Another and another shot followed. The “Vulture’s” guns were now fired, although I was surprised to find how little noise they appeared to make, and could scarcely believe that they were fired from our deck, had not Tubbs assured us of the fact. Then there came a lull, and we heard a whole broadside fired, the crashing and rending sound showing that the shot had torn through the bulwarks and sides of the ship. The fearful shrieks which rose from the hold made us fear that the miserable slaves had suffered, though perhaps their cries rose from terror as much as from the injuries they had received. A fearful uproar ensued, the roar of the great guns, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of the slaver’s crew, the shrieks and cries of the slaves, the groans of the wounded, the rending and crashing of planks mingled, were well-nigh deafening even to us. Presently there came a crash. The ship seemed to reel, a shudder passed through her whole frame.“They’ve run us aboard,” cried Tubbs, “and maybe the ship with all hands will be sent to the bottom. We must get out of this somehow to try and save our lives. There will be no one on the look-out to stop us.”The boatswain’s exclamations made us fear that probably our last moments were at hand.“We must try and find something to help us to force our way out,” cried Tubbs. “If we cannot get the hatch off, we must make our way through this bulkhead. Hurrah! here’s an iron bar.”As he spoke, Harry and I laid hold of it to be sure that he was not mistaken. How it came there, of course we could not tell.“Now, keep behind me, that I may have room to use it,” he exclaimed.We obeyed and he commenced a furious attack on the bulkhead. The crash which followed showed that he had succeededin driving in some of the planking. He worked away with the fury of despair, fully believing that ere long the ship would be sent to the bottom. The noise he made prevented our hearing what was going forward on deck; indeed, all sounds were undistinguishable by this time.“There is room to pass now,” he cried.He led the way through an opening he had formed. We followed him, but still found that there was another bulkhead before us. He quickly attacked that, and in a few seconds had demolished a sufficient portion to enable us to creep through. We found a ladder, which led, we judged, into the captain’s cabin. We climbed up it, and were just on the point of springing through a skylight which would have led us on to the poop-deck, when we saw Captain Roderick himself enter, a pistol in his right hand and a sword in the other, his countenance exhibiting rage and despair. He did not observe us. Several casks of powder, which had been brought up to be more ready at hand, were piled in one corner of the cabin. He pointed his pistol, his intention was evidently to blow up the ship and all on board. In another moment his desperate purpose would have been effected. As if moved by one impulse, we all three sprang upon him, Tubbs grasping his right wrist and turning the pistol away, the bullet striking the deck above. Mercifully none of the sparks fell on the powder. Tubbs, grasping him by the throat, and throwing himself with his whole force upon him, brought him to the deck, while Harry and I each seized an arm and knelt upon his body to prevent him from rising. Although we exerted all our strength, it was with the greatest difficulty we could keep him down. He seemed now like a wild beast than a human being. He gnashed his teeth and glared fiercely at us.“Be quiet, captain, won’t you?” exclaimed Tubbs. “We have saved you and ourselves from being blown into the air, and you ought to thank us.”The captain made no answer. I looked round for a piece of rope or some means of securing him; for had he been set loose, he would probably have accomplished his purpose, and we, of course, were eager to get on deck and try and save our lives, for we fully believed that the “Vulture” was on the point of sinking. The guns, however, had ceased firing, although there was a stamping overhead, the clashing of hangers, and the occasional sounds of pistols at the further end of the ship.“The man-of-war’s men have gained the after part, and have driven the pirates forward,” observed Tubbs; “we shall soon have some of our people here to help us.”Again the captain gnashed his teeth and made an effort to free himself. “It’s all of no use, captain,” said Tubbs. “I don’t want to take your life, but if you don’t keep quiet, I shall be obliged to draw my knife across your windpipe.”The captain evidently fully believed that the boatswain intended to do what he threatened.“You’ve treated us with less severity than we might have expected, Captain Roderick,” said Harry. “Will you give us your word that you will not again attempt to destroy the ship, or to attack any of the people who have captured her, and we will conduct you into a cabin where you must remain until to-morrow, or until you are set at liberty?” Captain Roderick made no reply.All this time the ship, I should have said, had been rolling and pitching, and it was very evident that she had broken loose from the man-of-war. It might possibly be that the pirates had gained the upper hand, but the appearance of Captain Roderick below convinced us to the contrary. At length the sounds I have described ceased, although there was a continuous tramping of feet overhead, and the rattling of blocks and yards.“They are shortening sail,” observed Tubbs; “we shall soon have some one below to relieve us of this gentleman, and I’m thankful to say I don’t believe the ship’s going down just yet. If he had thought she was, he wouldn’t have taken the trouble to try and blow her up.”We could see Captain Roderick’s eyes glaring at us, but Tubbs held him too tight by the throat to allow him to speak. So violent were his struggles, however, that he nearly got one of his arms loose, on which Tom tightened his grip until the pirate captain was nearly black in the face. In spite of this, giving a sudden jerk, he freed the arm Harry was holding down, when three persons appeared at the door. One was, I saw, a naval officer, by his uniform—the other two, seamen. I shouted to them to come to my assistance, and seeing what we were about, they sprang forward.“Get some rope and lash this man; he is mad, I believe,” I cried out.“Go and get it,” said the officer. One of the sailors sprang on deck, while the two newcomers assisted us in keeping down the infuriated pirate. He was, I fully believed, from the almost supernatural strength he exhibited, mad.The seaman quickly returned with a coil of rope, with which the officer and his men, aided by Tubbs, soon lashed Captain Roderick’s arms and legs in a way which prevented him from moving until he was secured to the mizenmast, which came through the cabin, when we felt that we were safe from his attacks. I had not hitherto looked into the countenance of the officer, nor he into mine. What was my surprise, then, to see a face I well knew.“Charley!” I exclaimed.“Dick!” was the answer. “Can it be you?” and my brother and I grasped each other’s hands. He had grown into a tall young man, and certainly I should not have recognised him by his figure. I was also greatly altered; besides he would not have recognised me in my present condition—my countenance pale, my dress begrimed with dirt, torn, and travel-stained. I introduced Harry and Tubbs to him, and he shook hands with them both. There was no time for talking. He told us that the frigate had lighted the slaver, which had refused to heave to, and had had the audacity to fire at his Majesty’s ship. A gale coming on, as the only means of securing her, the frigate had run the slaver on board, when he with a lieutenant and eight men had leapt down on her deck, expecting to be followed by more of the crew, but, before they had time to spring on board, the ships parted. The slaver’s crew, as he called them, had made a desperate resistance, but a considerable number having been killed and more badly wounded, the survivors had been driven forward and yielded. “Having ceased to resist, the slaver’s crew,” he said, “had promised to assist in shortening sail, and apparently in good faith, having yielded up their arms, set about doing so. We have now got under snug canvas. There is too heavy a sea running to allow of a boat with more hands being sent to our assistance. However, as we have complete mastery of the people, we can do very well without them. Mr Hallton, the second lieutenant of the ‘Rover,’ our frigate, was inquiring for the captain of this craft, when he was told that he must either have been killed or fallen overboard, but one of his crew suggested that he might have gone below. Another then owned that he had heard the captain say, that sooner than fall into the hands of an enemy, he would blow the ship up. On hearing this, Mr Hallton sent me down below to search for him.”“You would have been too late had we not providentially prevented him from executing his mad scheme,” I observed; and I then told him how we had discovered the captain in the very act of attempting to blow up the ship. “But you mistake the character of this craft,” I said; and I briefly told him how she had captured the “Arrow,” and how we had been treated since we fell into Captain Roderick’s hands.“That greatly alters the aspect of affairs,” he observed, looking grave. “If you will come on deck with me, we will inform Mr Hallton. Perhaps he is inclined to treat the crew rather leniently, and to put more confidence in their promises than he would do if he were aware of her real character.”Harry on this desired Tubbs to watch the pirate.“I should be glad to do it, sir, but I should like a sniff of the sea-breeze,” answered Tom. “I want just to pump out all the foul air I’ve got down my throat.”“Well,” said Charley, laughing, “one of my men shall remain instead of you. Noakes, stand by this man, and shoot him through the head if any one approaches to set him free or he manages to cast off the lashings, although he’ll not do that in a hurry, I suspect.”On going on deck, we found Mr Hallton, the second lieutenant of the “Rover,” standing aft, giving directions to heave the dead bodies overboard and to collect the wounded, to attend to whom he summoned several of the most respectable-looking of their shipmates. The “Vulture” had not suffered much in her rigging, and was now hove to under a closely-reefed main-topsail. She rode so easily that I was not aware until then that a heavy sea was running, and had been surprised at Charley telling me that the two ships could not communicate. Charley introduced me to Mr Hallton, and briefly ran over the events of which I had given him an account.“A pirate, do you say she is?” exclaimed the lieutenant. “I must really beg leave to doubt that. She is full of slaves, in the first place, and the captain and his crew very naturally fought to defend their property. But you say, Westerton, that you have found the captain. I will examine him and ascertain the state of the case.”“But my brother here, sir, and Mr Bracewell, and the boatswain of the ‘Arrow,’ aver that they were taken out of their vessel and detained by force on board this ship, and there can be no doubt of her piratical character.”“I beg that you will wait to give your opinion until you are asked for it, Mr Westerton,” answered the lieutenant in a gruff tone. “I say that she’s a slaver, and, as such, being taken full of slaves, we will condemn her. With regard to her piratical character, that has to be proved.”I was very much surprised at the way in which the lieutenant spoke. Charley told me that the report on board was that he himself had served on board a slaver, if not a pirate, in his younger days, and that he was stubborn and ill-tempered in the extreme. “Whether or not he has found any of his old associates on board the craft I cannot say, but I know that the crew gave in very soon when they saw him leading the boarders across the deck. To be sure he fought like a tiger, and cut down several fellows, so that I cannot suppose that he has any great love for them, at all events.”The cries and groans which ascended from the slave-deck soon drew our attention towards it, and Mr Hallton sent Charley with four hands down to ascertain their condition. I accompanied him, having procured a brace of pistols and a hanger, without which I should not have liked to venture among them. A dreadful sight met our eyes. Three or four of the frigate’s shot had entered and swept right across the deck, taking off the heads of not less than eight men in one row, and wounding others on the further side of the ship in another row as if it had gone through diagonally; while the legs of a still greater number had been shot away. Most of the badly wounded were dead, but others were still writhing in agony. I need not picture all the horrors we witnessed. Charley told me to go on deck and obtain assistance. The lieutenant replied that I might take some of the slaver’s crew, but that he could not spare his own men. I went forward to where they were collected, but found only three, to whom Harry and I had rendered some service in dressing their wounds, willing to give themselves any trouble in performing the task. They, however, got tackles rigged, and we hoisted up three and sometimes four bodies together, all dripping with gore, a terrible sight, and then swung them overboard. Even this took some time. The wounded thought that they were to be treated in the same manner, and we had great difficulty in persuading them that we intended to do them no harm, but rather to attend to their hurts. Altogether, fifty men had been killed, or had died from fright, or succumbed directly they were lifted on deck from their wounds. Charley proposed having the survivors up, so that the slave-deck might be washed and cleaned from the mass of gore and filth collected upon it, but Mr Hallton replied that it was perfectly unnecessary, and that if the slaves should break loose, we might have to kill them all, or be ourselves overpowered. This I thought very likely to happen, though I felt that a few might safely be brought up while the part of the deck they had sat upon was cleansed. Harry and I, however, did our best to attend to their wants. We carried down water and supplied a cup to each. They mostly received the water scarcely casting a glance of gratitude towards us; but one man exhibited a marked contrast to this behaviour, and, as I handed him the cup, he exclaimed before drinking it—“Tankee, massa, tankee, massa,” and then quaffed it eagerly, showing how much his parched throat required the refreshing fluid.“Do you understand English?” I asked, thinking perhaps that these were the only words he could speak.“Yes, massa; him talky English, him serve board English ship.”I inquired his name. He told me it was Aboh. I found, however, that although he might understand me, his vocabulary was very limited. I should have liked to have given him another cup of water, but as I knew that the rest of the slaves would consider themselves ill-treated if I favoured one more than another, I refrained from doing so, but I promised to remember him. I then begged that he would speak to his companions, and advise them to be quiet, telling them that we would do everything in our power for their benefit. I heard him shout out what appeared to me to be perfect gibberish, but it had the desired effect, and they at once became far more tranquil than they had hitherto been.Night was now rapidly coming on; the frigate was hove to about half a mile to windward, and, as Tubbs observed to me, both ships appeared to be making very fine weather of it considering the heavy gale blowing. The frigate showed signal lights, and the lieutenant ordered ours to be hoisted in return. Captain Roderick had hitherto remained lashed to the mast, but he could not, without cruelty, be left there all night, and it was necessary to decide what should be done with him. Lieutenant Hallton considered that it would be sufficient to shut him up in one of the cabins and place a sentry over him. Charley suggested that his wrists, at all events, should be placed in irons, as in his savage mood it was impossible to say what he might do. The lieutenant was obstinate.“The man was only acting as he believed right in defending his own ship, and I’m not one to tyrannise over a fallen enemy,” he answered in somewhat a scornful tone.Charley could say no more. The lieutenant went below to look out for a suitable cabin in which to place Captain Roderick—Tubbs, Harry, and I, with three men, accompanied him. To our surprise, we found the pirate quiet enough. His mad fit had apparently passed away.“I am sorry to give you all this trouble,” he said quite calmly. “You young gentlemen will, I hope, return good for evil, and I shall be grateful.”We were, however, not to be deceived by such an address. Charley replied that his orders were to place him in his cabin by himself, and that was better treatment than he might have expected.“Certainly,” answered Captain Roderick, looking quite pleased; “it is a favour I should not have ventured to ask for. If my steward has escaped, I’ll trouble you to tell him I should like some food. He is a good cook, and if you order him, he will prepare supper for you, gentlemen. He knows where all the provisions are stowed and will speedily carry out your directions.”On this being reported to Mr Hallton, he immediately ordered supper to be prepared in the chief cabin.As I moved across the deck, the only difference I could see between the man-of-war’s men and the pirates was, that the former were armed and that the latter were not; but as they still numbered more men than the party from the “Rover,” it struck me that they might easily possess themselves of the means of offence and master their captors. During daylight it was not likely that they would venture to do this, as the frigate would quickly have retaken the ship. I clearly remember this idea passing through my mind. As Harry and I had had nothing but farina for the past three days, and for several hours we had been without food, we were very glad when we were summoned into the cabin. Here we found a really handsome repast spread out, everything secured by “fiddles” and “puddings,” for the ship was tumbling about too much to allow the plates and glasses otherwise to have remained on the table.As Tubbs was a respectable man in his appearance, the lieutenant, with more politeness than might have been expected, invited him to supper. It may be supposed that we all did justice to the meal placed before us. Charley had to go on deck until the lieutenant had finished supper; when he had done so, he went up saying that he would send my brother down to have some food.Charley, however, had to hurry again on deck, as he said Mr Hallton wanted him to keep a look-out. The lieutenant had, considering the time he had been occupied, imbibed no small amount of liquor, though it did not appear to have affected his head.Harry, Tubbs, and I ate our suppers more leisurely. As may be supposed, having obtained but a few winks of sleep the two previous nights, we soon became drowsy Harry proposed turning in.“If we do, we must keep one eye open and our hangers by our sides,” observed Tubbs. “I don’t quite like the freedom of the lieutenant with these buccaneering fellows. If we hadn’t got the King’s ship close to us, they would be playing us some scurvy trick, depend upon that.”As Harry and I could be of no use on deck at night, and Tubbs really required rest, we all lay down, Harry and I each taking a sofa at the further end of the cabin, while Tubbs stowed himself away in a berth which had been occupied by one of the mates who had been killed in the late action. I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard a scuffle, and on looking up, what was my dismay to see two seamen grasping the arms of the lieutenant, who had just before entered the cabin, while two others were hauling Charley along. The sentry, instead of attempting to assist Mr Hallton, presented his musket at us, exclaiming—“If you interfere, gentlemen, I am ordered to shoot you.”As we saw several other men at the entrance of the cabin with muskets in their hands, we knew that resistance was useless. I was indeed too much astonished and confused, suddenly awakened as I had been out of my sleep, to say or do anything. I fancied for some seconds that I was dreaming. Here were the tables turned, and that with a vengeance. It was very evident that the pirates had tampered with the man-of-war’s men, who were probably a bad lot, as was too often the case on board King’s ships in those days, and that thus they had easily been won over. Mr Hallton’s folly and obstinacy had also greatly contributed to enable the pirates to carry out their project. I should have been less surprised had Captain Roderick been at liberty, but, as far as I could then see, he had had no hand in the business. I had good reason to dread the way he would serve us when he once more found himself in command of the ship and that we were in his power, when he would, I feared, wreak his vengeance on our heads for the way we had treated him.These thoughts passed rapidly through my mind. Harry and Tubbs, who had been fast asleep, were awakened by the entrance of the party, and now sat up rubbing their eyes, as much astonished as I had been.Tubbs, who was but partly awake, sprang to his feet and made a step forward as if to interfere, but seeing the sentry pointing his musket at his head, he sat down again.“Well, this is a pretty go,” he exclaimed. “Who commands this ship I should like to know, and then I can settle whether I’ll do duty or turn in and go to sleep again?”“Belay your jaw-tackle, master,” growled out one of the pirates who had advanced into the cabin. “You’re mighty too free with your tongue, fine fellow as you think yourself. A better man than you commands her, and he’ll soon show you whose master.”I must own I cared very little about Mr Hallton, but I felt the deepest anxiety as to how Charley might be treated. I feared the pirates less than I did the “Rover’s” men, who had thus turned traitors to their King and country, for they were too likely to add crime upon crime, and to murder their officers. Had Mr Hallton and Charley been armed, we might have made an effort to release them, but they had both been deprived of their swords and I felt sure that Harry, Tubbs, and I would be unsuccessful, and only make matters worse.The seamen, having now bound the arms of the two officers behind them, led them into an inner cabin, where, shutting the door, they locked and bolted it.“Now, you three, go on deck and help work the ship,” said one of the men, whom I recognised as the third officer of the “Vulture,” but who had slipped into sailor’s clothes, probably to deceive his captors.I could scarcely suppose that all this time Captain Roderick had any hand in the mutiny, for, to the best of my belief, he had been shut up in the cabin, and was still there. The mate teemed to be of the same opinion, for he bade the sentry open the door. He did so, when Captain Roderick was seen stretched on his couch. At the first glance I thought he was dead, but he was only in a deep sleep, so deep that all the noise outside had not aroused him. The mate shook him by the arm, but it had no effect. I was thankful for this, for I dreaded that, should he awake and find us in his power, he might commit some act of violence. Lest he should be awakened, Harry, Tubbs, and I gladly made our escape on deck. I prayed that no harm would be done to Charley, for I felt more anxious about him than about myself. On reaching the deck, I looked out for the frigate, I could just see her light away to windward, but it seemed to me much further off than before. The gale had abated somewhat, but both ships were still hove to. The mate speedily followed us up, and gave orders to the men to bring some long spars to the quarter-deck. He then got a grating, to which he fixed the spars upright, so as to form a cone-shaped structure; then turning it over, he secured some rather shorter spars in the same way, fixing a shot at the point where they united. Inside the points of the upper end, a ship’s lantern was securely hung, when the machine was carefully lowered overboard, the light we had hitherto carried being extinguished. Immediately this was done, the order was given to put the helm up, and the foresail being squared away, we ran before the gale, leaving the light burning at the spot where we had been. There was no doubt about its object; it was to deceive the man-of-war, so that, until the trick was discovered, it was not likely that we should be chased. The hope that I had hitherto entertained that we might, after all, be quickly recaptured, now vanished. The mate assumed the command—the crew seemed willing to obey him. Whether he intended to retain it or not I could not tell, but I thought that he certainly would should he find that Captain Roderick remained as mad as I was convinced he was when he attempted to blow up the ship.As the gale slightly decreased, more sail was made, and before morning the “Vulture” had as much canvas packed on her as she could carry. We were kept on deck pulling and hauling until our arms ached. When dawn broke I looked astern. The frigate was nowhere to be seen.

Harry and I trudged along side by side, feeling dreadfully out of spirits at the ill success of our attempt to escape, as also at the thought of the sad fate which had befallen the good-natured Frenchmen. We also could not help considering ourselves in a degree guilty of the death of the three men we had induced to desert, as well as of that of our friends and their attendants. Tubbs tried to cheer us up.

“Maybe the blacks would have attacked the Frenchmen whether we had been with them or not,” he observed; “and as for the rest, it is the fortune of war. We tried to escape but failed; better luck next time, say I.”

This, however, was but poor consolation, as we could only expect the harshest treatment at the hands of Captain Roderick, even if he did not put us to death. Whether he would do that or not was doubtful. The mate, however, did not seem inclined to ill-treat us, except that we each had to carry a heavy load, while a dozen men were placed behind and on each side of us; but we were allowed to march as we liked, and to converse freely together. Though we had slept the previous night, we were pretty well tired out when a halt was called and preparations made to bivouac. Supper was prepared by the cooks, and we were allowed as large a share as we required. The mate then told us to lie down together, a couple of black fellows with arms in their hands being placed over us.

“You’ll not attempt to run,” observed the mate. “I have given orders to these fellows to shoot you if you do; so the consequences be on your own heads.”

“No fear of that,” answered Harry. “We’ll promise to sleep as soundly as we can until we are called in the morning.”

“One good thing, we’ve not got to keep watch,” observed Tom Tubbs; “and I hope our black guards will keep a look-out for any snake, leopard, or lion who may chance to poke his nose into the camp; although I wish that Mr Pikehead had left us our arms to defend ourselves.”

We were too tired to talk much, and I believe we all slept soundly until morning, when we were roused up to breakfast and resume our march. It was late in the day when we reached the village. Fortunately for us, the owner of the house we had formerly occupied was still absent, and the theft committed by the pirates was not discovered. Soon after we arrived Captain Roderick made his appearance, a sardonic smile on his countenance.

“You thought to escape me,” he said. “You acted foolishly, and must take the consequences. Had you been shot, your blood would have been on your heads, not on mine. I intend to take good care that you shall not play the same trick again. You will now come on board the ‘Vulture,’ and it is your own fault that you will not be treated with the same leniency that you were before. My crew will see that I do not allow such tricks to be played with impunity. Lash their hands behind them, Pikehead, and bring them along.”

The mate, with the aid of three seamen, immediately secured our hands behind our backs, and we were led down, amid the hoots and derisive laughter of the population, to the boat which conveyed us on board the “Vulture.” Having been allowed to stand for some minutes in that condition exposed to the view of the crew, we were ordered down below. As we passed near the main hatchway, we saw that the slave-deck was already crowded with blacks, seated literally like herrings in a tub, as close as they could be packed side by side, with shackles round their necks and legs. Our destination was, however, lower down by the after hatchway. As soon as we were below the deck, our arms were released, and we were able to help ourselves down the narrow ladder which led into the cable-tier. Here, in a space which allowed us room only to sit with our knees together, without being able to stand up or walk about, the mate told us we were to remain.

“You may consider yourselves very fortunate, my fine fellows, that worse has not happened to you,” he said. “How you’ll like it if it comes on to blow, and the hatches are battened down, is more than I can say. You’ll get your food though, for the captain doesn’t want to take your lives—he has some scruples about that—nor do I. Indeed, you might have escaped as far as I was concerned, although it was fortunate for you I came, up when I did, or those Ashingo savages would have put you to death as they did your companions.”

“We are grateful for the leniency with which we have been treated, but may I ask what the captain intends doing with us?” I said.

“Why, I suppose that he intends to sell you two young gentlemen as slaves in the Brazils. He will give your faces and bodies a coating of black, and put you with the rest of the negroes,” answered the mate. “And as for you,” he exclaimed, turning to Tubbs, “you might have been treated as a deserter; and if you don’t sign articles and join us, you will probably have to walk the plank. I say this as a hint to you. If you act wisely, you’ll be set at liberty as soon as we get into blue water.”

“You reckon wrongly if you think I’ll join this craft or any other like her,” answered Tubbs stoutly. “I’m ready to take the consequences, for turn pirate I won’t; so you have my answer.”

The mate laughed.

“Many a fine fellow has said that and changed his tone when he has seen the plank rigged or the yard-arm with a running bowline from it. However, I must not waste words on you. I’ll send you down your suppers, and you must manage to stow yourselves away in the best manner you can think of for sleep. One of you must needs sit up, and he’ll have plenty to do in keeping off the rats and cockroaches, for you’ll be somewhat troubled by them, I suspect.”

We thanked the mate for the promise of sending us some supper, and wished him good-night; and I really believe that, as far as his brutalised nature would allow, he intended to be kind to us. Cramped as we were in the hot stifling hold, it was a long time before any one of us could go to sleep. We were, I should have said, left in total darkness; not the slightest gleam of light descending into the part of the hold in which we were confined. At length I was awakened from a tolerable sleep by a noise which betokened that the ship was getting under weigh. I did not like to arouse my companions; but Tubbs, who had been sitting on a locker, started up exclaiming—

“Ay, ay! I’ll be on deck in a twinkling.” The blow he gave his head against the beam above him, roused him up. “Bless my heart! I forgot where I was,” he said. “Yes, the ship’s under weigh, no doubt about that, and we shall be out at sea in the course of a few hours if we have the tide and wind with us, and don’t ground on the bar and get knocked to pieces.”

After some time Harry awoke. I told him that the ship was running down the river.

“Our chance of escape for the present is over, then,” he said with a deep sigh.

He had naturally been thinking of home and Lucy and his blighted prospects; so indeed had I. Tubbs, as before, tried to cheer us up by talking on various subjects.

“There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip,” he observed. “Although the captain fancies his craft faster than anything afloat, he may catch a tartar in the shape of a British man-of-war before we cross the Atlantic. As to selling us into slavery, I don’t believe he’ll attempt it. He must know that before long we would find means of communicating with a British consul or some other authority, and make our cases known. If he had talked of selling us to the Moors or Turks, the case would have been different. Once among those fellows, we should have found it a hard matter to escape.”

“Still he may sell us,” observed Harry; “and perhaps months and years will pass before we can let our friends know where we are.”

“Well, well, that’ll be better than having to walk the plank or being run up at the yard-arm,” said Tubbs. “We must not cry out until we are hurt, although I’ll own that I’d rather have more room to stretch my legs in than this place affords. I hope Master Pikehead won’t forget to send us the food he promised; I’m getting rather sharp set already.”

Harry and I confessed that we were also feeling very hungry. Even the talking about food gave a new turn to our thoughts. At last we heard the hatch above our heads lifted, and the black steward came down with a bowl of farina and a jug of water. It was the same food the slaves were fed on, but we thought it wise to make no complaint.

“It shows that the captain has no intention to starve us,” observed Harry. “However, this is better than mouldy biscuit and rancid pork, such as I have heard say seamen are too often fed upon.”

“You’ve heard say the truth, sir,” observed Tubbs. “Often and often I’ve known the whole ship’s company get no better fare than that, with little better than bilge water to drink. If we get enough stuff like this, we shall grow fat, at all events.”

The steward, leaving the bowl between us, quickly disappeared up the hatchway. The only light we had was from a bull’s-eye overhead, which enabled us, as Tubbs said, “barely to see the way to our mouths;” we could not, at all events, distinguish each other’s features. Although we could not see, we felt the claws of numerous visitors crawling over us, and smelt them too, and now and then were sensible that a big rat was nibbling at our toes, although, by kicking and stamping, at the risk of hitting each other’s shins, we kept them at bay. Notwithstanding this, we managed to sleep pretty soundly at intervals.

Tubbs assured us that the ship was gliding on, although it might be some time before she reached the bar, as it was impossible to judge at what rate she was sailing. Now and then we felt her heel over slightly to starboard, showing that the wind was more abeam, or rather that we were passing along a reach running to the southward; then, when she came up again on an even keel, we knew that we were standing directly to the westward. At last we felt her bows lift, then down she glided, to rise again almost immediately afterwards, while the increased sound of the water dashing on her sides showed us that we were crossing the bar.

“There is some sea on, I guess, and I know what it is with these African rivers. Should the wind suddenly shift southward, we may be driven on a rock or sandbank, and we and all on board will have a squeak for life,” observed Tubbs.

“I hope not, although anything might be better than being carried into slavery,” observed Harry. “But we ought not to despair. I have been thinking and praying over the matter, and know that God can deliver us if He thinks fit. We must trust Him; I’m sure that’s the only thing to be done. In all the troubles and trials of life. At all times we must do our duty, and, as I say, trust Him; even when bound hand and foot as we are at present, all we can do is still to trust Him.”

I heartily responded to Harry’s remark, and so I believe did Tubbs, who, although nothing of a theologian, not even knowing the meaning of the word, was a pious man in his rough way.

“Ay, ay, sir,” he said. “I know that God made us, and He has a right to our service; and if we don’t run away from Him and hide ourselves, He’ll look after us a precious deal better than we can look after ourselves. That’s my religion, and it’s my opinion it’s the sum total of all the parsons can tell us.”

“Not quite,” said Harry, “although it goes a long way. We are sinners in God’s sight, whatever we are in the sight of men; and if God in His mercy hadn’t given us a way by which we can be made friends to Him and saved from punishment, we should be in a bad condition.”

“You are right, sir,” answered Tubbs; “but to my idea that’s all included in what I said.”

We sat listening in silence.

“We are pretty well over the bar now, and I don’t think we shall be cast away this time,” he observed a few minutes afterwards.

That he was right we were convinced by the more regular movement of the vessel, as she slowly rose and fell, moved by the undulations which rolled in towards the coast. We could judge that she was making good way, and Tubbs was of opinion that all sail was set, and that we were standing to the westward. At the time the slaves were fed, we had a bowl of farina brought us, but the man put it down and disappeared again without saying a word. Soon afterwards the mate came down, and told me that I might come on deck for a quarter of an hour to stretch my legs. I was thankful to breathe the fresh air, although there was but little of it, and the ship was almost becalmed. I glanced astern, and could distinguish the shore, although I could no longer make out the mouth of the river. We had, at all events, got a safe offing. When my time was up I was sent below and Harry took my place, and he was succeeded by Tubbs. We were treated, however, with no more consideration than was afforded to the slaves, who were brought up on deck at intervals in the same fashion. The hold felt doubly close and oppressive after the mouthful of fresh air we had enjoyed.

The second night of our captivity was even more trying than the first, for the atmosphere of the hold, into which the horrible odour from the slave-deck penetrated, was becoming every hour more and more unendurable. I feared that should we be kept below during the voyage, I, at all events, would sink under it, for I already felt sick almost to death, and my spirits were at a lower ebb than they had ever before reached. Harry was almost in as bad a condition as I was. Tubbs, who had been well seasoned in the close air of forecastles, held out better than we did.

“Don’t give way, young gentlemen, whatever you do,” he said very frequently to us. “Cheer up, cheer up! When we get a breeze, some of it will find its way down here perhaps; and if not, I’ll ask the skipper if he wishes to kill us by inches, and I’ll tell him he’ll never land either of us if we are kept shut up in this hold and treated worse than the negroes. They are born to it, as it were, and we are not, and have been accustomed to pure air all our lives.”

I did not quite agree with Tubbs as to negroes being born to be shut up in the hold of a slave ship, but I did not just then contradict him. By a faint gleam, like the light of a glow-worm, which came down from overhead, we knew that it was morning, and soon afterwards we felt the ship heel over to larboard, or port as it is now called. In a short time the increasing motion also showed us that the sea had got up. We heard sounds which indicated that sail was being shortened. We stood on, it might have been an hour, on the same tack, when the ship was put about, and now she heeled over more often, and pitched and tumbled about in a way which showed that it was blowing fresh. The cries of the wretched slaves, unaccustomed to the motion, reached our ears, while the tossing stirred up the bilge water and almost stifled us. Two or three hours passed, when the ship became somewhat steadier. Tubbs averred that the helm had been put up, and that we were running before the wind.

“There’s something taking place, although I cannot make out just what it is to a certainty; but I’ve a notion that there is some craft in sight which the ‘Vulture’ wants to escape; and if so, I hope she won’t.”

“So do I, indeed,” murmured Harry. “I shall die if we remain here much longer.”

Another hour of suffering and anxiety passed, when Tubbs roused Harry and me—for we had dropped off in a kind of stupor—by exclaiming—

“Holloa! What was that? A shot, or I’m a Dutchman.”

As he spoke I distinctly heard the sound of a gun, though it seemed to be at a great distance. We listened with bated breath. Again there came a faint boom, and at the same instant a crash, which told us that the shot had struck the ship.

“Hurrah! I thought so,” cried Tom; “there’s a man-of-war in chase of us, and it is pretty evident that the ‘Vulture’ has no wish to engage her, or she would not have been trying to get away, as she has been for some hours past.”

We waited now with intense anxiety. We knew that the “Vulture” was a fast craft, and that it was too likely she had just passed within range of her pursuer’s guns, but might escape notwithstanding. Except by the motion of the vessel, we could not possibly judge how we were steering. In spite of the stifling atmosphere, our senses were wide awake. Again there came the sound of a gun. Although the shot did not strike the ship, yet it seemed to us that our pursuer must be nearer. Another and another shot followed. The “Vulture’s” guns were now fired, although I was surprised to find how little noise they appeared to make, and could scarcely believe that they were fired from our deck, had not Tubbs assured us of the fact. Then there came a lull, and we heard a whole broadside fired, the crashing and rending sound showing that the shot had torn through the bulwarks and sides of the ship. The fearful shrieks which rose from the hold made us fear that the miserable slaves had suffered, though perhaps their cries rose from terror as much as from the injuries they had received. A fearful uproar ensued, the roar of the great guns, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of the slaver’s crew, the shrieks and cries of the slaves, the groans of the wounded, the rending and crashing of planks mingled, were well-nigh deafening even to us. Presently there came a crash. The ship seemed to reel, a shudder passed through her whole frame.

“They’ve run us aboard,” cried Tubbs, “and maybe the ship with all hands will be sent to the bottom. We must get out of this somehow to try and save our lives. There will be no one on the look-out to stop us.”

The boatswain’s exclamations made us fear that probably our last moments were at hand.

“We must try and find something to help us to force our way out,” cried Tubbs. “If we cannot get the hatch off, we must make our way through this bulkhead. Hurrah! here’s an iron bar.”

As he spoke, Harry and I laid hold of it to be sure that he was not mistaken. How it came there, of course we could not tell.

“Now, keep behind me, that I may have room to use it,” he exclaimed.

We obeyed and he commenced a furious attack on the bulkhead. The crash which followed showed that he had succeededin driving in some of the planking. He worked away with the fury of despair, fully believing that ere long the ship would be sent to the bottom. The noise he made prevented our hearing what was going forward on deck; indeed, all sounds were undistinguishable by this time.

“There is room to pass now,” he cried.

He led the way through an opening he had formed. We followed him, but still found that there was another bulkhead before us. He quickly attacked that, and in a few seconds had demolished a sufficient portion to enable us to creep through. We found a ladder, which led, we judged, into the captain’s cabin. We climbed up it, and were just on the point of springing through a skylight which would have led us on to the poop-deck, when we saw Captain Roderick himself enter, a pistol in his right hand and a sword in the other, his countenance exhibiting rage and despair. He did not observe us. Several casks of powder, which had been brought up to be more ready at hand, were piled in one corner of the cabin. He pointed his pistol, his intention was evidently to blow up the ship and all on board. In another moment his desperate purpose would have been effected. As if moved by one impulse, we all three sprang upon him, Tubbs grasping his right wrist and turning the pistol away, the bullet striking the deck above. Mercifully none of the sparks fell on the powder. Tubbs, grasping him by the throat, and throwing himself with his whole force upon him, brought him to the deck, while Harry and I each seized an arm and knelt upon his body to prevent him from rising. Although we exerted all our strength, it was with the greatest difficulty we could keep him down. He seemed now like a wild beast than a human being. He gnashed his teeth and glared fiercely at us.

“Be quiet, captain, won’t you?” exclaimed Tubbs. “We have saved you and ourselves from being blown into the air, and you ought to thank us.”

The captain made no answer. I looked round for a piece of rope or some means of securing him; for had he been set loose, he would probably have accomplished his purpose, and we, of course, were eager to get on deck and try and save our lives, for we fully believed that the “Vulture” was on the point of sinking. The guns, however, had ceased firing, although there was a stamping overhead, the clashing of hangers, and the occasional sounds of pistols at the further end of the ship.

“The man-of-war’s men have gained the after part, and have driven the pirates forward,” observed Tubbs; “we shall soon have some of our people here to help us.”

Again the captain gnashed his teeth and made an effort to free himself. “It’s all of no use, captain,” said Tubbs. “I don’t want to take your life, but if you don’t keep quiet, I shall be obliged to draw my knife across your windpipe.”

The captain evidently fully believed that the boatswain intended to do what he threatened.

“You’ve treated us with less severity than we might have expected, Captain Roderick,” said Harry. “Will you give us your word that you will not again attempt to destroy the ship, or to attack any of the people who have captured her, and we will conduct you into a cabin where you must remain until to-morrow, or until you are set at liberty?” Captain Roderick made no reply.

All this time the ship, I should have said, had been rolling and pitching, and it was very evident that she had broken loose from the man-of-war. It might possibly be that the pirates had gained the upper hand, but the appearance of Captain Roderick below convinced us to the contrary. At length the sounds I have described ceased, although there was a continuous tramping of feet overhead, and the rattling of blocks and yards.

“They are shortening sail,” observed Tubbs; “we shall soon have some one below to relieve us of this gentleman, and I’m thankful to say I don’t believe the ship’s going down just yet. If he had thought she was, he wouldn’t have taken the trouble to try and blow her up.”

We could see Captain Roderick’s eyes glaring at us, but Tubbs held him too tight by the throat to allow him to speak. So violent were his struggles, however, that he nearly got one of his arms loose, on which Tom tightened his grip until the pirate captain was nearly black in the face. In spite of this, giving a sudden jerk, he freed the arm Harry was holding down, when three persons appeared at the door. One was, I saw, a naval officer, by his uniform—the other two, seamen. I shouted to them to come to my assistance, and seeing what we were about, they sprang forward.

“Get some rope and lash this man; he is mad, I believe,” I cried out.

“Go and get it,” said the officer. One of the sailors sprang on deck, while the two newcomers assisted us in keeping down the infuriated pirate. He was, I fully believed, from the almost supernatural strength he exhibited, mad.

The seaman quickly returned with a coil of rope, with which the officer and his men, aided by Tubbs, soon lashed Captain Roderick’s arms and legs in a way which prevented him from moving until he was secured to the mizenmast, which came through the cabin, when we felt that we were safe from his attacks. I had not hitherto looked into the countenance of the officer, nor he into mine. What was my surprise, then, to see a face I well knew.

“Charley!” I exclaimed.

“Dick!” was the answer. “Can it be you?” and my brother and I grasped each other’s hands. He had grown into a tall young man, and certainly I should not have recognised him by his figure. I was also greatly altered; besides he would not have recognised me in my present condition—my countenance pale, my dress begrimed with dirt, torn, and travel-stained. I introduced Harry and Tubbs to him, and he shook hands with them both. There was no time for talking. He told us that the frigate had lighted the slaver, which had refused to heave to, and had had the audacity to fire at his Majesty’s ship. A gale coming on, as the only means of securing her, the frigate had run the slaver on board, when he with a lieutenant and eight men had leapt down on her deck, expecting to be followed by more of the crew, but, before they had time to spring on board, the ships parted. The slaver’s crew, as he called them, had made a desperate resistance, but a considerable number having been killed and more badly wounded, the survivors had been driven forward and yielded. “Having ceased to resist, the slaver’s crew,” he said, “had promised to assist in shortening sail, and apparently in good faith, having yielded up their arms, set about doing so. We have now got under snug canvas. There is too heavy a sea running to allow of a boat with more hands being sent to our assistance. However, as we have complete mastery of the people, we can do very well without them. Mr Hallton, the second lieutenant of the ‘Rover,’ our frigate, was inquiring for the captain of this craft, when he was told that he must either have been killed or fallen overboard, but one of his crew suggested that he might have gone below. Another then owned that he had heard the captain say, that sooner than fall into the hands of an enemy, he would blow the ship up. On hearing this, Mr Hallton sent me down below to search for him.”

“You would have been too late had we not providentially prevented him from executing his mad scheme,” I observed; and I then told him how we had discovered the captain in the very act of attempting to blow up the ship. “But you mistake the character of this craft,” I said; and I briefly told him how she had captured the “Arrow,” and how we had been treated since we fell into Captain Roderick’s hands.

“That greatly alters the aspect of affairs,” he observed, looking grave. “If you will come on deck with me, we will inform Mr Hallton. Perhaps he is inclined to treat the crew rather leniently, and to put more confidence in their promises than he would do if he were aware of her real character.”

Harry on this desired Tubbs to watch the pirate.

“I should be glad to do it, sir, but I should like a sniff of the sea-breeze,” answered Tom. “I want just to pump out all the foul air I’ve got down my throat.”

“Well,” said Charley, laughing, “one of my men shall remain instead of you. Noakes, stand by this man, and shoot him through the head if any one approaches to set him free or he manages to cast off the lashings, although he’ll not do that in a hurry, I suspect.”

On going on deck, we found Mr Hallton, the second lieutenant of the “Rover,” standing aft, giving directions to heave the dead bodies overboard and to collect the wounded, to attend to whom he summoned several of the most respectable-looking of their shipmates. The “Vulture” had not suffered much in her rigging, and was now hove to under a closely-reefed main-topsail. She rode so easily that I was not aware until then that a heavy sea was running, and had been surprised at Charley telling me that the two ships could not communicate. Charley introduced me to Mr Hallton, and briefly ran over the events of which I had given him an account.

“A pirate, do you say she is?” exclaimed the lieutenant. “I must really beg leave to doubt that. She is full of slaves, in the first place, and the captain and his crew very naturally fought to defend their property. But you say, Westerton, that you have found the captain. I will examine him and ascertain the state of the case.”

“But my brother here, sir, and Mr Bracewell, and the boatswain of the ‘Arrow,’ aver that they were taken out of their vessel and detained by force on board this ship, and there can be no doubt of her piratical character.”

“I beg that you will wait to give your opinion until you are asked for it, Mr Westerton,” answered the lieutenant in a gruff tone. “I say that she’s a slaver, and, as such, being taken full of slaves, we will condemn her. With regard to her piratical character, that has to be proved.”

I was very much surprised at the way in which the lieutenant spoke. Charley told me that the report on board was that he himself had served on board a slaver, if not a pirate, in his younger days, and that he was stubborn and ill-tempered in the extreme. “Whether or not he has found any of his old associates on board the craft I cannot say, but I know that the crew gave in very soon when they saw him leading the boarders across the deck. To be sure he fought like a tiger, and cut down several fellows, so that I cannot suppose that he has any great love for them, at all events.”

The cries and groans which ascended from the slave-deck soon drew our attention towards it, and Mr Hallton sent Charley with four hands down to ascertain their condition. I accompanied him, having procured a brace of pistols and a hanger, without which I should not have liked to venture among them. A dreadful sight met our eyes. Three or four of the frigate’s shot had entered and swept right across the deck, taking off the heads of not less than eight men in one row, and wounding others on the further side of the ship in another row as if it had gone through diagonally; while the legs of a still greater number had been shot away. Most of the badly wounded were dead, but others were still writhing in agony. I need not picture all the horrors we witnessed. Charley told me to go on deck and obtain assistance. The lieutenant replied that I might take some of the slaver’s crew, but that he could not spare his own men. I went forward to where they were collected, but found only three, to whom Harry and I had rendered some service in dressing their wounds, willing to give themselves any trouble in performing the task. They, however, got tackles rigged, and we hoisted up three and sometimes four bodies together, all dripping with gore, a terrible sight, and then swung them overboard. Even this took some time. The wounded thought that they were to be treated in the same manner, and we had great difficulty in persuading them that we intended to do them no harm, but rather to attend to their hurts. Altogether, fifty men had been killed, or had died from fright, or succumbed directly they were lifted on deck from their wounds. Charley proposed having the survivors up, so that the slave-deck might be washed and cleaned from the mass of gore and filth collected upon it, but Mr Hallton replied that it was perfectly unnecessary, and that if the slaves should break loose, we might have to kill them all, or be ourselves overpowered. This I thought very likely to happen, though I felt that a few might safely be brought up while the part of the deck they had sat upon was cleansed. Harry and I, however, did our best to attend to their wants. We carried down water and supplied a cup to each. They mostly received the water scarcely casting a glance of gratitude towards us; but one man exhibited a marked contrast to this behaviour, and, as I handed him the cup, he exclaimed before drinking it—“Tankee, massa, tankee, massa,” and then quaffed it eagerly, showing how much his parched throat required the refreshing fluid.

“Do you understand English?” I asked, thinking perhaps that these were the only words he could speak.

“Yes, massa; him talky English, him serve board English ship.”

I inquired his name. He told me it was Aboh. I found, however, that although he might understand me, his vocabulary was very limited. I should have liked to have given him another cup of water, but as I knew that the rest of the slaves would consider themselves ill-treated if I favoured one more than another, I refrained from doing so, but I promised to remember him. I then begged that he would speak to his companions, and advise them to be quiet, telling them that we would do everything in our power for their benefit. I heard him shout out what appeared to me to be perfect gibberish, but it had the desired effect, and they at once became far more tranquil than they had hitherto been.

Night was now rapidly coming on; the frigate was hove to about half a mile to windward, and, as Tubbs observed to me, both ships appeared to be making very fine weather of it considering the heavy gale blowing. The frigate showed signal lights, and the lieutenant ordered ours to be hoisted in return. Captain Roderick had hitherto remained lashed to the mast, but he could not, without cruelty, be left there all night, and it was necessary to decide what should be done with him. Lieutenant Hallton considered that it would be sufficient to shut him up in one of the cabins and place a sentry over him. Charley suggested that his wrists, at all events, should be placed in irons, as in his savage mood it was impossible to say what he might do. The lieutenant was obstinate.

“The man was only acting as he believed right in defending his own ship, and I’m not one to tyrannise over a fallen enemy,” he answered in somewhat a scornful tone.

Charley could say no more. The lieutenant went below to look out for a suitable cabin in which to place Captain Roderick—Tubbs, Harry, and I, with three men, accompanied him. To our surprise, we found the pirate quiet enough. His mad fit had apparently passed away.

“I am sorry to give you all this trouble,” he said quite calmly. “You young gentlemen will, I hope, return good for evil, and I shall be grateful.”

We were, however, not to be deceived by such an address. Charley replied that his orders were to place him in his cabin by himself, and that was better treatment than he might have expected.

“Certainly,” answered Captain Roderick, looking quite pleased; “it is a favour I should not have ventured to ask for. If my steward has escaped, I’ll trouble you to tell him I should like some food. He is a good cook, and if you order him, he will prepare supper for you, gentlemen. He knows where all the provisions are stowed and will speedily carry out your directions.”

On this being reported to Mr Hallton, he immediately ordered supper to be prepared in the chief cabin.

As I moved across the deck, the only difference I could see between the man-of-war’s men and the pirates was, that the former were armed and that the latter were not; but as they still numbered more men than the party from the “Rover,” it struck me that they might easily possess themselves of the means of offence and master their captors. During daylight it was not likely that they would venture to do this, as the frigate would quickly have retaken the ship. I clearly remember this idea passing through my mind. As Harry and I had had nothing but farina for the past three days, and for several hours we had been without food, we were very glad when we were summoned into the cabin. Here we found a really handsome repast spread out, everything secured by “fiddles” and “puddings,” for the ship was tumbling about too much to allow the plates and glasses otherwise to have remained on the table.

As Tubbs was a respectable man in his appearance, the lieutenant, with more politeness than might have been expected, invited him to supper. It may be supposed that we all did justice to the meal placed before us. Charley had to go on deck until the lieutenant had finished supper; when he had done so, he went up saying that he would send my brother down to have some food.

Charley, however, had to hurry again on deck, as he said Mr Hallton wanted him to keep a look-out. The lieutenant had, considering the time he had been occupied, imbibed no small amount of liquor, though it did not appear to have affected his head.

Harry, Tubbs, and I ate our suppers more leisurely. As may be supposed, having obtained but a few winks of sleep the two previous nights, we soon became drowsy Harry proposed turning in.

“If we do, we must keep one eye open and our hangers by our sides,” observed Tubbs. “I don’t quite like the freedom of the lieutenant with these buccaneering fellows. If we hadn’t got the King’s ship close to us, they would be playing us some scurvy trick, depend upon that.”

As Harry and I could be of no use on deck at night, and Tubbs really required rest, we all lay down, Harry and I each taking a sofa at the further end of the cabin, while Tubbs stowed himself away in a berth which had been occupied by one of the mates who had been killed in the late action. I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard a scuffle, and on looking up, what was my dismay to see two seamen grasping the arms of the lieutenant, who had just before entered the cabin, while two others were hauling Charley along. The sentry, instead of attempting to assist Mr Hallton, presented his musket at us, exclaiming—

“If you interfere, gentlemen, I am ordered to shoot you.”

As we saw several other men at the entrance of the cabin with muskets in their hands, we knew that resistance was useless. I was indeed too much astonished and confused, suddenly awakened as I had been out of my sleep, to say or do anything. I fancied for some seconds that I was dreaming. Here were the tables turned, and that with a vengeance. It was very evident that the pirates had tampered with the man-of-war’s men, who were probably a bad lot, as was too often the case on board King’s ships in those days, and that thus they had easily been won over. Mr Hallton’s folly and obstinacy had also greatly contributed to enable the pirates to carry out their project. I should have been less surprised had Captain Roderick been at liberty, but, as far as I could then see, he had had no hand in the business. I had good reason to dread the way he would serve us when he once more found himself in command of the ship and that we were in his power, when he would, I feared, wreak his vengeance on our heads for the way we had treated him.

These thoughts passed rapidly through my mind. Harry and Tubbs, who had been fast asleep, were awakened by the entrance of the party, and now sat up rubbing their eyes, as much astonished as I had been.

Tubbs, who was but partly awake, sprang to his feet and made a step forward as if to interfere, but seeing the sentry pointing his musket at his head, he sat down again.

“Well, this is a pretty go,” he exclaimed. “Who commands this ship I should like to know, and then I can settle whether I’ll do duty or turn in and go to sleep again?”

“Belay your jaw-tackle, master,” growled out one of the pirates who had advanced into the cabin. “You’re mighty too free with your tongue, fine fellow as you think yourself. A better man than you commands her, and he’ll soon show you whose master.”

I must own I cared very little about Mr Hallton, but I felt the deepest anxiety as to how Charley might be treated. I feared the pirates less than I did the “Rover’s” men, who had thus turned traitors to their King and country, for they were too likely to add crime upon crime, and to murder their officers. Had Mr Hallton and Charley been armed, we might have made an effort to release them, but they had both been deprived of their swords and I felt sure that Harry, Tubbs, and I would be unsuccessful, and only make matters worse.

The seamen, having now bound the arms of the two officers behind them, led them into an inner cabin, where, shutting the door, they locked and bolted it.

“Now, you three, go on deck and help work the ship,” said one of the men, whom I recognised as the third officer of the “Vulture,” but who had slipped into sailor’s clothes, probably to deceive his captors.

I could scarcely suppose that all this time Captain Roderick had any hand in the mutiny, for, to the best of my belief, he had been shut up in the cabin, and was still there. The mate teemed to be of the same opinion, for he bade the sentry open the door. He did so, when Captain Roderick was seen stretched on his couch. At the first glance I thought he was dead, but he was only in a deep sleep, so deep that all the noise outside had not aroused him. The mate shook him by the arm, but it had no effect. I was thankful for this, for I dreaded that, should he awake and find us in his power, he might commit some act of violence. Lest he should be awakened, Harry, Tubbs, and I gladly made our escape on deck. I prayed that no harm would be done to Charley, for I felt more anxious about him than about myself. On reaching the deck, I looked out for the frigate, I could just see her light away to windward, but it seemed to me much further off than before. The gale had abated somewhat, but both ships were still hove to. The mate speedily followed us up, and gave orders to the men to bring some long spars to the quarter-deck. He then got a grating, to which he fixed the spars upright, so as to form a cone-shaped structure; then turning it over, he secured some rather shorter spars in the same way, fixing a shot at the point where they united. Inside the points of the upper end, a ship’s lantern was securely hung, when the machine was carefully lowered overboard, the light we had hitherto carried being extinguished. Immediately this was done, the order was given to put the helm up, and the foresail being squared away, we ran before the gale, leaving the light burning at the spot where we had been. There was no doubt about its object; it was to deceive the man-of-war, so that, until the trick was discovered, it was not likely that we should be chased. The hope that I had hitherto entertained that we might, after all, be quickly recaptured, now vanished. The mate assumed the command—the crew seemed willing to obey him. Whether he intended to retain it or not I could not tell, but I thought that he certainly would should he find that Captain Roderick remained as mad as I was convinced he was when he attempted to blow up the ship.

As the gale slightly decreased, more sail was made, and before morning the “Vulture” had as much canvas packed on her as she could carry. We were kept on deck pulling and hauling until our arms ached. When dawn broke I looked astern. The frigate was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter Six.Morning—The frigate not in sight—Again prisoners—The mate of the “Vulture” takes command—Orders us to do duty as seamen—The lieutenant and Charley kept bound—We go below to sleep—Awakened and see Captain Roderick with pistol in hand approaching the lieutenant and Charley—We spring up, overpower him, and release our friends—Suppose the captain to be mad—A discussion among the crew—Hopes of recovering the ship—The “Vulture” comes to an anchor—A sinking boat gets, adrift—Fearful death of one of the crew—Many of the slaves die—A gale comes on—Dangerous position—Attempt to beat off the land—Driven towards the shore—The ship among the breakers—We set the captain at liberty—The ship strikes—We knock the shackles off the slaves’ limbs—They rush on deck—We form a raft and land the survivors—Return on board and supply ourselves with guns, ammunition, and stores—Regain the shore—The blacks, with one exception, have disappeared.As the day advanced the wind decreased, and the ship closehauled was headed up towards the coast. How far off we were I could not tell, but Tubbs told me he should not consider that we were less than a hundred miles, perhaps more.“So far that’s satisfactory. It is possible that the ‘Rover’ may overtake us,” I observed.“If she finds out the course we have steered, sir; but we had run seventy or eighty miles at least before she was likely to discover the trick the pirates played her. Besides, to tell you the truth, I’d rather she didn’t overtake us. The fellows on board would fight with ropes round their necks, and they would not give in as long as a plank held together, and then we should have to go down with them. I would rather run the chance of getting on shore and making our escape afterwards.”I at once agreed with him, and we made up our minds that it would be well for us to get out of the ship without the risk of another battle. The mate, I observed, remained on deck, issuing all the necessary orders; the boatswain of the “Vulture” and one of the man-of-war’s men, with one of the mutineers, acting as his subordinates. He ordered Harry and me about, treating us like the common seamen, and if we were not as smart as he wished us to be, he sent the boatswain or the mutineer from the “Rover” with a rope’s end to start us. Tubbs at once fell into his ordinary duty of boatswain. The mate, it appeared to me, wished to win him over, and always spoke civilly to him, although he was not very particular in regard to his language when he addressed us. The evening was drawing in, we had been on deck all day. I was, of course, very anxious to know how it fared with poor Charley, who was kept a prisoner below. Whenever Harry or I attempted to leave the deck, the mate called us back and told us to attend to our duty. We got some food, however, for the cook, a good-natured black fellow, gave us some at the caboose, or we should have starved. Still, it was much better than being shut up in the dark hold, and, of course, we wished to avoid being sent below to our former place of confinement. I saw some messes of soup and porridge being cooked and carried into the cabin, and I concluded, therefore, that Lieutenant Hallton and Charley would be fed. Harry and I agreed that it would be wiser for us to obey the orders of the mate as long as he thought fit to issue them.“I shall go and lie down in the cabin,” said Harry to me. “I can but be sent up again, and I have no fancy to go and sleep among the men.”Accordingly, as soon as it grew dark, while the mate was looking another way, we slipped into the cabin, and coiled ourselves up on the sofas we had before occupied. Tired as I was, however, the heat and the cockroaches and the thoughts of our dangerous position kept me awake, although I tried hard to go to sleep. A lamp hung from the deck above, but the part of the cabin where we were was in perfect shade. I had not lain long when I saw the door of Captain Roderick’s cabin open, and out he stepped, looking round him as if trying to recover his scattered senses. Presently he advanced across the cabin, when, by the light which fell upon him, I saw that he held a pistol in his hand; what he was about to do with it I could not tell. To my horror, he opened the door of the cabin in which the lieutenant and Charley were confined. Although he had looked unusually calm as the light fell on his countenance, the moment I saw his movements I felt convinced that he had some evil intention. Springing up, I grasped Harry by the arm, and rushed towards the open door. I could see the lieutenant and Charley standing upright close together, with their arms bound behind them against the opposite bulkhead.“Oh, oh!” exclaimed the captain, fixing his eyes on the lieutenant; “you thought to capture me and hang me at your yard-arm; but the yarn’s not spun nor the bullet cast which is to take my life. I might order you on deck and run you up to the yard-arm before five minutes are over; but I intend to have the satisfaction of shooting you myself.”Lieutenant Hallton, unprincipled man as I believe he was, stood calm and unmoved. Charley was endeavouring to draw his arms out of the ropes which bound them. Twice Captain Roderick lowered his pistol as if he had changed his mind, but still he went on taunting the unfortunate officer. It would have been prudent in the latter to have held his tongue, but instead he went on answering taunt for taunt, rather than endeavouring to calm the rage of the pirate captain, which increased till I feared every instant that he would pull the trigger.Harry and I stood ready to spring upon him, but I saw that in doing so we might run the risk of making him fire the pistol, and bring about the very catastrophe we desired to prevent Charley in the meantime caught sight of us. I made a sign to Harry to get out his knife. I knew that to cut the ropes which bound my brother’s hands would be the work of a moment, and I hoped, by the suddenness of the attack we were about to make, to keep Captain Roderick down until that object was effected. We should then be three to one, or four to one if we saved the lieutenant’s life.Harry understood perfectly what he was to do. One bound would carry him to where the pirate stood. The moment came, I sprang forward, and throwing my arms round his neck, kicked him violently behind the knees. Although I was so much lighter, the effect was what I expected. Down he fell, and his pistol went off, the ball grazing the lieutenant’s forehead. The lashings which held Charley were cut, and he immediately came to my assistance, while Harry performed the same office for the lieutenant without difficulty. The sound of the pistol would, I feared, bring some of the crew down upon us. Fortunately at that moment a strong breeze had struck the ship. The officers were issuing their orders, so that we had hopes we might be undisturbed. No time, however, was to be lost. We quickly lashed the pirate’s arms and legs, and crammed a handkerchief into his mouth. Lieutenant Hallton proposed to throw him overboard, and then, rushing together on deck, to master the officers, and try to recall the crew back to their duty. To the first part of the proposal none of us agreed, but we forthwith dragged the unhappy man back to his cot and lifted him in. He appeared to me to be insensible. At all events, when Charley took the handkerchief out of his mouth, he did not cry out or utter a word, although his eyes glared at us.“We might have put you to death,” said Charley, “but you are safe if you will remain quiet, and not attempt to summon any one to set you free.”The pirate did not reply, and I was doubtful if he understood what was said to him. He must indeed have been surprised at finding himself again a prisoner at the very moment he supposed that he had regained his authority. We had now to decide what to do. We might certainly master one or two officers, but it was a question if the men from the “Rover” would return to their duty, and still less likely that the pirates would yield to our authority. Lieutenant Hallton then suggested that we should drag the pirate up on deck, and, holding a pistol to his head, threaten to shoot him if he did not order the crew to obey us. To this I for one strongly objected.Charley thought that Captain Roderick was perfectly mad, and I also was very unwilling to injure a brother of Mr Trunnion’s, villain as he was.“If he is really mad, he will not know what has happened,” said Charley. “The best thing you can do is to return on deck, and try and negotiate yourself with the mate, who has now the command, and will probably wish to keep it. Tell him that I am your brother, and as he has no one on board who understands navigation, that I shall be happy to assist him in navigating the ship; that we have no wish to inform against him and his men if we obtain our liberty, and that all we request is that he will set us on shore at the first place we touch at.”This seemed the only feasible plan, and Harry and I set off to try and find Tubbs and consult him, while Charley and the lieutenant returned to the cabin in which they had been confined. Harry and I, as agreed on, went on deck.Our absence had not been discovered. Slowly groping now on one side, now on the other, we at length discovered Tubbs. Taking him by the arm, I led him away apart from where any one was standing.“To my mind, sir, the mate will be very much obliged to you for what you have done. He has no wish to give up the command, I can see that; and if you can persuade Captain Roderick—should he come to his senses—that such is the case, we should have him on our side. I suspect, also, that there are two or three of the ‘Rover’s’ men who are sorry for their conduct, and would join us. The truth is, I believe, when Captain Roderick is in his right mind, that he wishes he had a better calling, but when the mad fit comes over him, he goes back to his bad ways.”“That may be true,” I could not help remarking, “but it is no excuse for him; he must have an evilly-disposed mind to have taken to such a calling; he should seek for strength from Heaven to overcome his wicked propensities. Even the worst men at times regret the harm they have done on account of the inconvenience and suffering it has caused them, but the next time temptation is presented they commit the same crime, and so it goes on to the end.”It was settled, therefore, that the next day Harry and I should go boldly up to the mate and speak to him as agreed on, while we were to see that no one in the meantime came down to set the captain at liberty, though, as Tubbs observed, “The mate would take very good care of that.”Soon after this a fresh watch was set, and as we were supposed to be in the first watch, we took the opportunity, accompanied by Tubbs, of again slipping down below. Scarcely had we stowed ourselves away out of sight, than the mate came down and looked into the captain’s cabin. As not a word was spoken by either, we concluded that he had not discovered the state of things; for, locking the door and taking away the key, he returned to his own cabin, which was further forward on the opposite side. Altogether, as must be seen, affairs were in a curious state on board that ship. I at length dropped off to sleep. How long it was after I closed my eyes I know not, when I heard a sound like that of a cable running out Tubbs started up at the same moment. “Why, we have just come to an anchor,” he exclaimed. “We must have been closer in with the land than we supposed.”Harry being awakened, we both stole quietly on deck. The crew had furled sails, the night was perfectly calm, the stars shone brightly overhead. Looking over the larboard side, we saw the shore, a high land with a point running from it, off which we lay. By the ripple of the water against the bows, I knew that a strong current was running, which accounted for the ship having been brought up. Looking forward, I saw that a bright light was burning at the bowsprit end, and presently it was answered by a rocket fired from the shore, which rose high in the air, scattering its drops as it fell. Exclamations of satisfaction escaped the mate and several of the crew who were on deck.“Lower the starboard quarter-boat,” shouted the mate.“She’s well-nigh knocked to pieces, and can’t swim,” was the answer.“Lower the larboard boat.”This was done, and several of the crew jumped into her, but most of them as quickly hauled themselves on board again. She sank beneath their feet, as she too had been injured by the frigate’s shot. The boat getting adrift, one of the men, before he could spring up the side, was drifted away in her, the current of which I have spoken carrying him rapidly astern. The longboat amidships was in a worse condition, being riddled with shot.“I hope that the people on shore will send off to us,” observed the mate; “it’s very certain we cannot get to them until the boats are repaired.”“They’ll not do that in a hurry; for, as it happens, the carpenter and his crew are all killed, and there is not a man on board able to do the work,” I heard Tubbs observe.In the meantime, the cries of the poor fellow in the sinking boat reached our ears, but it was impossible to render him any assistance. Farther and farther he drifted at a rapid rate, until he and the boat were lost sight of, although, we could hear his shouts every minute becoming fainter and fainter. At last there arose a dreadful shriek, which, although from a distance, was piercingly clear.“Poor fellow! Jack shark has got him,” said Tubbs. “There are plenty of those creatures about here, and I was sure that it wouldn’t be long before they had hold of him.”I have not mentioned the poor slaves all this time. The wounded were suffering dreadfully, and since they had again been sent down to the hot slave-deck, several had died. The mate, while waiting for the expected boat, ordered some hands below to overhaul them. Six dead bodies were brought up, which were without ceremony thrown overboard, as if they were so many rotten sheep, and the men reported several more not likely to live out the night. The mate, hardened villain as he was, did not order them to be got rid of, as was sometimes done by slavers to save themselves trouble, and to economise the food the poor creatures might have consumed. He became impatient when, after waiting some time, no boat appeared. The weather, too, although so fine and calm when we brought up, gave indications of a change. The sky was overcast, and heavy undulations began to roll in towards the shore. Though as yet the wind had not increased, our position was becoming dangerous, and I for one wished that we were miles off the coast.“If there’s no harbour into which we can run, we shall be in a bad way,” said Tubbs. “I suspect that the mate doesn’t know of one, or we should have steered in for it at once.”“What had we better do?” I asked.“Do, sir! Why, there’s nothing we can do but ask God to take care of us. If it comes on to blow, as I believe it will, ten to one but that the ship is driven on shore, and with the heavy surf there will be, before many hours are over, breaking on the coast, and the sharks waiting for us outside, there won’t be many who will reach the shore alive. The best swimmers could not help themselves, and that’s all I can say.”I was convinced of the truth of what Tubbs said. That he was right with respect to a gale approaching was soon proved; the wind, bursting suddenly on us, striking the ship, and, although all her sails were furled, making her heel over before it, and at the same time the rollers which came in from the offing increased in height, and we could hear their roar as they broke on the shore to leeward. The ship pitched fearfully into them, and every moment I expected to see the cable part. Should such be the case, I was very sure that not many minutes afterwards all on board would be struggling for their lives. I thought of my brother and the lieutenant, and of the unhappy captain. I intended, should the cable part, immediately to rush below and set them all at liberty. Although the captain had so cruelly ill-treated us, I could not reconcile it to my conscience to allow him to perish without a chance of escaping, which he would do were he left bound hand and foot. I told Harry what I thought of doing.“No doubt,” he said. “Should the captain escape, he would scarcely fail to be grateful to us for saving his life; and if he is drowned notwithstanding, we have done our duty.”The mate, who had been below, now came on deck. He evidently did not like the look of things. Two or three times he went forward and examined the cable, at which the ship seemed to be tugging with all her might as she rose on the summits of the heavy foaming swells. He then got another cable ranged to let go should the first part.“If I were him, I’d get ready to make sail. The sky looks to me as if the wind were coming more to the south’ard; and if so, we may chance to stand off shore should the ship cast the right way.”“I would not hesitate to tell him so,” I observed; “when his life may depend upon it, he may perhaps take your advice, although he will not follow that of any other man.”“At all events, I’ll try it,” said Tubbs; and going up to the mate, he told him what he thought. I had very little hope, however, that the mate would listen to him.“You think yourself a better seaman than I am. Just go and attend to your duty,” was the answer. Not two minutes had elapsed, however, before the mate ordered the crew to stand by the halyards. Presently he shouted, “All hands make sail.”The boatswain went forward, axe in hand, to cut the cable. The topsails, closely-reefed, were let fall, the fore-staysail and jib hoisted.“Cut!” shouted the mate.The ship cast the right way to starboard, the helm was put to port, and she begun to stand off from the shore.“She’ll do it, and we shall have a new lease of life,” observed Tubbs when he rejoined Harry and me; “that is to say, if the wind holds as it is; but if not, the chances of our hauling off the shore are doubtful.”For some minutes the ship stood on with her head to the north-west, all hands anxiously watching the sails, and casting a look every now and then towards the dark outline of the shore, which could be distinguished through the gloom. The current was all this time drifting us to the northward, but it appeared to me that we were getting no farther from the coast. Of that, however, it was difficult to judge by the rate at which we were sailing, as although she might be moving fast through the water, she might really be making but little way over the ground. Tubbs several times went aft to the binnacle.“She has fallen off two points, I’m sorry to say,” he observed; “still it is possible that we may beat off, as the wind may shift again; but I wish that it had kept steady, and we should have done it.”Scarcely, however, had he spoken, when the sails gave a loud flap.“No higher!” shouted the mate to the man at the helm, “or you’ll have her aback.”The helm was put up in time to prevent this danger.On looking over the starboard side, we now saw that the land was broad on the beam, and that we were thus standing almost parallel with the coast, towards which it was too evident that the heavy rollers were gradually setting us. Still it was possible, as Tubbs thought, to keep off the shore until daylight, when the mouth of a river might be discovered and we might run into it; or the wind might again shift, and we should, once more, be able to stand off, and get to a safe distance from the hungry breakers, which we could hear roaring under our lee. I was struck by the change which had come over the crew. Generally, when on deck together, they were shouting and swearing, and exchanging rough jokes or laughing loudly. Now scarcely a man spoke, all stood at their stations turning their gaze towards the shore. It was evident they were fully aware of the dangerous position in which the ship was placed. I asked Tubbs how long he thought the ship could be kept off the land, standing as she was now.“Oh, maybe for half an hour, maybe for less,” he answered. “The current is sending her along at the rate of two or three knots an hour, and we may fall in with some headland which we are unable to weather, or we may find ourselves standing across a wide bay which will lengthen the time before she drives on shore.”“At all events, I will tell my brother and Mr Hallton. It will be wrong to let them remain longer in ignorance of the danger we are in. Perhaps we ought to set the captain at liberty.”“No, no, sir; let him stay until the last, we don’t know what mad things he will do if he comes on deck. Perhaps he will be shooting the mate or one of us. It will be time enough to let him out of the cabin when all chance of saving the ship is gone.”I saw at once the prudence of this, and settled to act accordingly. Taking an opportunity, I slipped below, and found Charley and Mr Hallton asleep. Having roused them up, “I have not got very pleasant information to give you,” I said; and I then told them that Tubbs considered the ship would drive on shore in less than half an hour.Mr Hallton, though supposed to be a brave man, was much more agitated than was Charley.“The ship cast on this abominable coast in less than half an hour!” he exclaimed. “Why, even down here, the sound of the breakers reaches us.”“Well, Dick, if the worst comes to the worst, we must have a struggle for life,” said my brother calmly. “You stick to me, and I’ll do my best to help you. I am well accustomed to the sort of work we shall have to go through, and I hope that we shall manage somehow or other to get on shore.” Of course, they were both unwilling to remain longer below, and as neither the mate nor the crew were likely to interfere, they made up their minds to come on deck with me. I had some hopes that Mr Hallton, who was a first-rate seaman, might devise some means for escaping. I first consulted Charley about setting the captain at liberty, but he thought that it would not be prudent to do so until the last moment, when it would be right to give him a chance of saving his life with the rest of us. We soon gained the deck. Whether Charley or the lieutenant were observed, I could not tell. I waited anxiously to hear what opinion Mr Hallton might offer as to the state of affairs.“If we get much nearer the shore, we must bring up, and perhaps the anchor will hold until the wind moderates. It is the only chance we have of saving the ship. If we were to go about now, we might miss stays, and there is not room to weal without getting perilously close to the breakers,” he observed.At the rate we were sailing, we must have gone over thirty or forty miles from the point where we exchanged signals with the shore, and as most probably the country was inhabited by a different tribe, who might be at enmity with the white men, those of us who might reach the shore would run a great chance of being slaughtered or carried off into slavery. I said as much to Harry and Charley. The same idea had occurred to them.“It may be the case, but we may fall among friends, and we will hope for the best,” observed Charley.Dawn was at length approaching, but there was no abatement of the gale, while it was too clear that we were drifting nearer and nearer to the coast. Every moment I expected to hear the mate give the word to furl the sails and let go the anchor. I suggested to Tubbs that he should advise him to do so.“He would not listen to me; although he may know it is the best thing to be done, he’ll just put off doing it until it’s too late,” he answered.Gradually the coast became more and more distinct, and we could make out the white line of breakers as they burst upon it. We stood watching it with straining eyes, the minutes turned into hours, the ship all the time rushing through the water at a furious rate. Presently a headland appeared on the starboard bow. It seemed impossible that we could weather it. Still the mate issued no order except to the man at the helm.“Luff all you can,” he shouted out; “we don’t want to cast the ship away on that point if we can help it.”In a few minutes—how many I cannot say—we saw the breakers close under our lee, the ship was almost among them, but on she stood. Again the land appeared to recede.“Can there be a harbour in anywhere here?” I asked of Tubbs.“The mate doesn’t think so, or we should be running into it,” was the answer.It was only a small bay across which we were passing. Not a quarter of an hour afterwards another point appeared. As we had succeeded in weathering the first, the mate evidently expected to pass this in the same way.Mr Hallton, convinced that we could not do so, shouted out, “Down with the helm—shorten sail—let go the anchor—let fly everything.”“Who dares give orders on board this ship?” cried the mate.The crew, however, were convinced that the first order was the wisest. The tacks, sheets, and halyards were let go, the stoppers of the cable cut, the helm put down to bring her up to the wind. She pitched into the seas, but the anchor held. The crew now flew aloft to try and gather in the canvas, fluttering wildly in the gale.“In three minutes more we should have been knocking to pieces on the rocks,” observed Mr Hallton. “It is a question whether the anchor will hold now; if it doesn’t, we sha’n’t be much better off.”Scarcely had he spoken when a loud report was heard. “The cable has parted!” shouted several voices.“Let go the last hope.”The anchor so called was let go, and although it brought the ship up in a couple of minutes, it also parted, and the helpless ship now drifted rapidly towards the breakers, which could be seen curling up along the shores of the bay into which we had driven.“Come aft,” said Charley to Harry and me. “The moment the ship strikes the masts will go, and we shall chance to be crushed as they fall.”“The time has come to set Captain Trunnion at liberty,” I said.Charley and I hurried below and burst open the door of the cabin. The unhappy man was still sleeping, with his dog Growler at his feet. Surly as the animal was to others, he was faithful to his master, and he seemed to understand that we had come with no evil intentions, for though he uttered a low bark, he did not attempt to fly at us. By the light of the lamp we saw that the captain had no arms near him. To cut the ropes which bound his limbs was the work of a moment.“Captain Trunnion,” I exclaimed, “we have come to warn you that the ship will be in the midst of the breakers in the course of a minute or two. If you wish to save your life you must come upon deck.”Not, however, until Harry and Charley had shaken him well did he wake up. He gazed around him with a bewildered look.“What is that you say?” he asked.In a few sentences I told him.“Then it is time to look out to save our lives,” he said springing up, apparently quite himself. He looked as cool and composed as he had ever been. We were about to return on deck, when there came a fearful crash overhead, followed by several others. The ship had struck and the masts had all gone together by the board. Shrieks and cries arose, but many of the voices were speedily silenced, as the sea, breaking over the ship, washed several men from the deck into the seething cauldron into which she had been driven. The captain, followed by Growler, sprang up the companion ladder, and we saw no more of them. The cries of the helpless slaves below, uniting in one fearful chorus, overwhelmed the voices of the white crew.“We must set these poor wretches at liberty. It would be a fearful subject of thought if we were to leave them to perish,” observed Charley. “There is a hatch, I know, which leads from the main cabin to the slave-deck, although it is kept closed.”“Ay, ay, sir! But we can’t do it without the instruments,” said Tubbs. Hunting about, he discovered some irons used for the purpose, with which we each supplied ourselves. With this means we soon opened the hatch.There was great risk in the merciful task we were about to perform, but Charley, setting the example, we quickly knocked off the manacles of Aboh and the slaves nearest to us, and, with the assistance of the former, made them understand that they were to perform the same operation to their fellow-captives. Some obeyed, but others rushed immediately on deck. However, we persevered, and, faster than I could have believed it possible, we contrived to set all the slaves free. Many of the poor wretches enjoyed their liberty but for a few seconds, for they were quickly washed off the deck, or were drowned in a vain attempt to reach the shore by swimming. All the time the sea was striking with terrific force against the sides of the ship. The loud crashing sound overhead showed us that her bowsprit and bulwarks and everything on deck was being rapidly carried away.While we were thus engaged daylight appeared, and when we reached the deck we saw that the wind had greatly gone down. Although there were rocks on either side of us, there was a clear piece of sand, on which, could a raft be formed, those who could not swim might land. The blacks were mostly clustered aft, the part least exposed to the fury of the seas. Several persons were in the water, some swimming, others floating apparently lifeless. The greater portion of the crew had disappeared; many had been crushed by the falling masts, others washed overboard, and a few on pieces of wreck were trying to reach the beach One thing was certain, there was no time to be lost, as the ship could not long hold together, lashed as she was by the fury of the seas which rolled in from the ocean. The surviving blacks recognised us when we appeared as the persons who had set them at liberty and we made them understand that if they would remain quiet, we would endeavour to provide the means for enabling them to reach the shore. I thought that among the people clinging to pieces of wreck I saw Captain Trunnion, but I was not certain. The mate had disappeared, and had, I concluded, been washed overboard, and, as far as we could learn, Mr Hallton had shared the same fate. We had reason to be thankful that we had been below, or we also might have lost our lives. We immediately set about forming the raft from some spars which still remained lashed to ring bolts on the deck and from fragments of the bulwarks. Every instant the wind was going down, rendering our task less difficult. The tide too was falling, and as it did so rocks rose out of the water, which further protected us from the fury of the breakers. When the blacks saw what we were about, some of the more intelligent among them offered to assist us. At length a raft capable of holding a dozen people at one time was constructed. We also obtained a rope of sufficient length to reach the shore, so that we might haul it backwards and forwards. This we made the blacks understand that we intended to do, and that we could only take off a certain number at a time. The head men, who had all along held an authority over the rest of their fellow-slaves, now came forward to maintain discipline. By this means only the number which the raft could carry were allowed to descend at a time. As soon as we had a cargo we commenced our passage to the shore, and happily landed all those we had taken on board, who at once squatted down on the beach waiting for their companions. We immediately put back and took in another cargo, and thus we continued going backwards and forwards until we had placed the whole of the slaves on shore.“We must look out for ourselves now,” observed Charley. “I saw some firearms in the cabin; we must secure them, as well as some ammunition, clothes, and provisions. It will not do to trust those black fellows when they at once find themselves at liberty.”Of course we all agreed to Charley’s proposal, and climbing up the side, made our way into the cabin. We each got a fowling-piece or musket, a brace of pistols, and a good supply of ammunition. We also found some dollars, which we stowed away in our pockets.“The money may not be of much use while we are among the savages, but it will come in very handy when we get into a more civilised region,” said Charley. “Hurrah! here are some things which will be of immediate use,” and he produced a boxful of strings of beads of various colours.We each stowed away as many of them as we could carry. Under the circumstances in which we were likely to be placed, they would prove of the greatest value.As the ship it appeared probable would hold together for some time, we hunted about until we found as many things as we could carry likely to be of use. Among others, were a pocket compass, a knife apiece, and other things. Tubbs produced a cooked ham and a box of biscuits, which were divided and put into some canvas bags well suited for the purpose. We were still engaged in our search, when a loud crashing sound reached our ears. We rushed on deck, and found that the sea had made a breach clean through the ship. Fortunately the raft was secured to the after part. We quickly lowered ourselves down on it, and shoved off in time to escape another sea, which came rolling in, and committed further damage, sending fragments of the wreck floating about in the comparatively smooth water between us and the shore. We had great difficulty in avoiding the pieces of timber which were driven towards our frail raft. Every moment it seemed as if we were about to be overwhelmed. On looking towards the beach, we found that the blacks had disappeared, with the exception of one man, who stood ready to assist us in getting on shore. A few more hauls on the raft, and we, with our packs, were able to spring on the sand, the black seizing our hands as we did so, one after the other, and dragging us up out of the seething water, which came foaming up around us.

As the day advanced the wind decreased, and the ship closehauled was headed up towards the coast. How far off we were I could not tell, but Tubbs told me he should not consider that we were less than a hundred miles, perhaps more.

“So far that’s satisfactory. It is possible that the ‘Rover’ may overtake us,” I observed.

“If she finds out the course we have steered, sir; but we had run seventy or eighty miles at least before she was likely to discover the trick the pirates played her. Besides, to tell you the truth, I’d rather she didn’t overtake us. The fellows on board would fight with ropes round their necks, and they would not give in as long as a plank held together, and then we should have to go down with them. I would rather run the chance of getting on shore and making our escape afterwards.”

I at once agreed with him, and we made up our minds that it would be well for us to get out of the ship without the risk of another battle. The mate, I observed, remained on deck, issuing all the necessary orders; the boatswain of the “Vulture” and one of the man-of-war’s men, with one of the mutineers, acting as his subordinates. He ordered Harry and me about, treating us like the common seamen, and if we were not as smart as he wished us to be, he sent the boatswain or the mutineer from the “Rover” with a rope’s end to start us. Tubbs at once fell into his ordinary duty of boatswain. The mate, it appeared to me, wished to win him over, and always spoke civilly to him, although he was not very particular in regard to his language when he addressed us. The evening was drawing in, we had been on deck all day. I was, of course, very anxious to know how it fared with poor Charley, who was kept a prisoner below. Whenever Harry or I attempted to leave the deck, the mate called us back and told us to attend to our duty. We got some food, however, for the cook, a good-natured black fellow, gave us some at the caboose, or we should have starved. Still, it was much better than being shut up in the dark hold, and, of course, we wished to avoid being sent below to our former place of confinement. I saw some messes of soup and porridge being cooked and carried into the cabin, and I concluded, therefore, that Lieutenant Hallton and Charley would be fed. Harry and I agreed that it would be wiser for us to obey the orders of the mate as long as he thought fit to issue them.

“I shall go and lie down in the cabin,” said Harry to me. “I can but be sent up again, and I have no fancy to go and sleep among the men.”

Accordingly, as soon as it grew dark, while the mate was looking another way, we slipped into the cabin, and coiled ourselves up on the sofas we had before occupied. Tired as I was, however, the heat and the cockroaches and the thoughts of our dangerous position kept me awake, although I tried hard to go to sleep. A lamp hung from the deck above, but the part of the cabin where we were was in perfect shade. I had not lain long when I saw the door of Captain Roderick’s cabin open, and out he stepped, looking round him as if trying to recover his scattered senses. Presently he advanced across the cabin, when, by the light which fell upon him, I saw that he held a pistol in his hand; what he was about to do with it I could not tell. To my horror, he opened the door of the cabin in which the lieutenant and Charley were confined. Although he had looked unusually calm as the light fell on his countenance, the moment I saw his movements I felt convinced that he had some evil intention. Springing up, I grasped Harry by the arm, and rushed towards the open door. I could see the lieutenant and Charley standing upright close together, with their arms bound behind them against the opposite bulkhead.

“Oh, oh!” exclaimed the captain, fixing his eyes on the lieutenant; “you thought to capture me and hang me at your yard-arm; but the yarn’s not spun nor the bullet cast which is to take my life. I might order you on deck and run you up to the yard-arm before five minutes are over; but I intend to have the satisfaction of shooting you myself.”

Lieutenant Hallton, unprincipled man as I believe he was, stood calm and unmoved. Charley was endeavouring to draw his arms out of the ropes which bound them. Twice Captain Roderick lowered his pistol as if he had changed his mind, but still he went on taunting the unfortunate officer. It would have been prudent in the latter to have held his tongue, but instead he went on answering taunt for taunt, rather than endeavouring to calm the rage of the pirate captain, which increased till I feared every instant that he would pull the trigger.

Harry and I stood ready to spring upon him, but I saw that in doing so we might run the risk of making him fire the pistol, and bring about the very catastrophe we desired to prevent Charley in the meantime caught sight of us. I made a sign to Harry to get out his knife. I knew that to cut the ropes which bound my brother’s hands would be the work of a moment, and I hoped, by the suddenness of the attack we were about to make, to keep Captain Roderick down until that object was effected. We should then be three to one, or four to one if we saved the lieutenant’s life.

Harry understood perfectly what he was to do. One bound would carry him to where the pirate stood. The moment came, I sprang forward, and throwing my arms round his neck, kicked him violently behind the knees. Although I was so much lighter, the effect was what I expected. Down he fell, and his pistol went off, the ball grazing the lieutenant’s forehead. The lashings which held Charley were cut, and he immediately came to my assistance, while Harry performed the same office for the lieutenant without difficulty. The sound of the pistol would, I feared, bring some of the crew down upon us. Fortunately at that moment a strong breeze had struck the ship. The officers were issuing their orders, so that we had hopes we might be undisturbed. No time, however, was to be lost. We quickly lashed the pirate’s arms and legs, and crammed a handkerchief into his mouth. Lieutenant Hallton proposed to throw him overboard, and then, rushing together on deck, to master the officers, and try to recall the crew back to their duty. To the first part of the proposal none of us agreed, but we forthwith dragged the unhappy man back to his cot and lifted him in. He appeared to me to be insensible. At all events, when Charley took the handkerchief out of his mouth, he did not cry out or utter a word, although his eyes glared at us.

“We might have put you to death,” said Charley, “but you are safe if you will remain quiet, and not attempt to summon any one to set you free.”

The pirate did not reply, and I was doubtful if he understood what was said to him. He must indeed have been surprised at finding himself again a prisoner at the very moment he supposed that he had regained his authority. We had now to decide what to do. We might certainly master one or two officers, but it was a question if the men from the “Rover” would return to their duty, and still less likely that the pirates would yield to our authority. Lieutenant Hallton then suggested that we should drag the pirate up on deck, and, holding a pistol to his head, threaten to shoot him if he did not order the crew to obey us. To this I for one strongly objected.

Charley thought that Captain Roderick was perfectly mad, and I also was very unwilling to injure a brother of Mr Trunnion’s, villain as he was.

“If he is really mad, he will not know what has happened,” said Charley. “The best thing you can do is to return on deck, and try and negotiate yourself with the mate, who has now the command, and will probably wish to keep it. Tell him that I am your brother, and as he has no one on board who understands navigation, that I shall be happy to assist him in navigating the ship; that we have no wish to inform against him and his men if we obtain our liberty, and that all we request is that he will set us on shore at the first place we touch at.”

This seemed the only feasible plan, and Harry and I set off to try and find Tubbs and consult him, while Charley and the lieutenant returned to the cabin in which they had been confined. Harry and I, as agreed on, went on deck.

Our absence had not been discovered. Slowly groping now on one side, now on the other, we at length discovered Tubbs. Taking him by the arm, I led him away apart from where any one was standing.

“To my mind, sir, the mate will be very much obliged to you for what you have done. He has no wish to give up the command, I can see that; and if you can persuade Captain Roderick—should he come to his senses—that such is the case, we should have him on our side. I suspect, also, that there are two or three of the ‘Rover’s’ men who are sorry for their conduct, and would join us. The truth is, I believe, when Captain Roderick is in his right mind, that he wishes he had a better calling, but when the mad fit comes over him, he goes back to his bad ways.”

“That may be true,” I could not help remarking, “but it is no excuse for him; he must have an evilly-disposed mind to have taken to such a calling; he should seek for strength from Heaven to overcome his wicked propensities. Even the worst men at times regret the harm they have done on account of the inconvenience and suffering it has caused them, but the next time temptation is presented they commit the same crime, and so it goes on to the end.”

It was settled, therefore, that the next day Harry and I should go boldly up to the mate and speak to him as agreed on, while we were to see that no one in the meantime came down to set the captain at liberty, though, as Tubbs observed, “The mate would take very good care of that.”

Soon after this a fresh watch was set, and as we were supposed to be in the first watch, we took the opportunity, accompanied by Tubbs, of again slipping down below. Scarcely had we stowed ourselves away out of sight, than the mate came down and looked into the captain’s cabin. As not a word was spoken by either, we concluded that he had not discovered the state of things; for, locking the door and taking away the key, he returned to his own cabin, which was further forward on the opposite side. Altogether, as must be seen, affairs were in a curious state on board that ship. I at length dropped off to sleep. How long it was after I closed my eyes I know not, when I heard a sound like that of a cable running out Tubbs started up at the same moment. “Why, we have just come to an anchor,” he exclaimed. “We must have been closer in with the land than we supposed.”

Harry being awakened, we both stole quietly on deck. The crew had furled sails, the night was perfectly calm, the stars shone brightly overhead. Looking over the larboard side, we saw the shore, a high land with a point running from it, off which we lay. By the ripple of the water against the bows, I knew that a strong current was running, which accounted for the ship having been brought up. Looking forward, I saw that a bright light was burning at the bowsprit end, and presently it was answered by a rocket fired from the shore, which rose high in the air, scattering its drops as it fell. Exclamations of satisfaction escaped the mate and several of the crew who were on deck.

“Lower the starboard quarter-boat,” shouted the mate.

“She’s well-nigh knocked to pieces, and can’t swim,” was the answer.

“Lower the larboard boat.”

This was done, and several of the crew jumped into her, but most of them as quickly hauled themselves on board again. She sank beneath their feet, as she too had been injured by the frigate’s shot. The boat getting adrift, one of the men, before he could spring up the side, was drifted away in her, the current of which I have spoken carrying him rapidly astern. The longboat amidships was in a worse condition, being riddled with shot.

“I hope that the people on shore will send off to us,” observed the mate; “it’s very certain we cannot get to them until the boats are repaired.”

“They’ll not do that in a hurry; for, as it happens, the carpenter and his crew are all killed, and there is not a man on board able to do the work,” I heard Tubbs observe.

In the meantime, the cries of the poor fellow in the sinking boat reached our ears, but it was impossible to render him any assistance. Farther and farther he drifted at a rapid rate, until he and the boat were lost sight of, although, we could hear his shouts every minute becoming fainter and fainter. At last there arose a dreadful shriek, which, although from a distance, was piercingly clear.

“Poor fellow! Jack shark has got him,” said Tubbs. “There are plenty of those creatures about here, and I was sure that it wouldn’t be long before they had hold of him.”

I have not mentioned the poor slaves all this time. The wounded were suffering dreadfully, and since they had again been sent down to the hot slave-deck, several had died. The mate, while waiting for the expected boat, ordered some hands below to overhaul them. Six dead bodies were brought up, which were without ceremony thrown overboard, as if they were so many rotten sheep, and the men reported several more not likely to live out the night. The mate, hardened villain as he was, did not order them to be got rid of, as was sometimes done by slavers to save themselves trouble, and to economise the food the poor creatures might have consumed. He became impatient when, after waiting some time, no boat appeared. The weather, too, although so fine and calm when we brought up, gave indications of a change. The sky was overcast, and heavy undulations began to roll in towards the shore. Though as yet the wind had not increased, our position was becoming dangerous, and I for one wished that we were miles off the coast.

“If there’s no harbour into which we can run, we shall be in a bad way,” said Tubbs. “I suspect that the mate doesn’t know of one, or we should have steered in for it at once.”

“What had we better do?” I asked.

“Do, sir! Why, there’s nothing we can do but ask God to take care of us. If it comes on to blow, as I believe it will, ten to one but that the ship is driven on shore, and with the heavy surf there will be, before many hours are over, breaking on the coast, and the sharks waiting for us outside, there won’t be many who will reach the shore alive. The best swimmers could not help themselves, and that’s all I can say.”

I was convinced of the truth of what Tubbs said. That he was right with respect to a gale approaching was soon proved; the wind, bursting suddenly on us, striking the ship, and, although all her sails were furled, making her heel over before it, and at the same time the rollers which came in from the offing increased in height, and we could hear their roar as they broke on the shore to leeward. The ship pitched fearfully into them, and every moment I expected to see the cable part. Should such be the case, I was very sure that not many minutes afterwards all on board would be struggling for their lives. I thought of my brother and the lieutenant, and of the unhappy captain. I intended, should the cable part, immediately to rush below and set them all at liberty. Although the captain had so cruelly ill-treated us, I could not reconcile it to my conscience to allow him to perish without a chance of escaping, which he would do were he left bound hand and foot. I told Harry what I thought of doing.

“No doubt,” he said. “Should the captain escape, he would scarcely fail to be grateful to us for saving his life; and if he is drowned notwithstanding, we have done our duty.”

The mate, who had been below, now came on deck. He evidently did not like the look of things. Two or three times he went forward and examined the cable, at which the ship seemed to be tugging with all her might as she rose on the summits of the heavy foaming swells. He then got another cable ranged to let go should the first part.

“If I were him, I’d get ready to make sail. The sky looks to me as if the wind were coming more to the south’ard; and if so, we may chance to stand off shore should the ship cast the right way.”

“I would not hesitate to tell him so,” I observed; “when his life may depend upon it, he may perhaps take your advice, although he will not follow that of any other man.”

“At all events, I’ll try it,” said Tubbs; and going up to the mate, he told him what he thought. I had very little hope, however, that the mate would listen to him.

“You think yourself a better seaman than I am. Just go and attend to your duty,” was the answer. Not two minutes had elapsed, however, before the mate ordered the crew to stand by the halyards. Presently he shouted, “All hands make sail.”

The boatswain went forward, axe in hand, to cut the cable. The topsails, closely-reefed, were let fall, the fore-staysail and jib hoisted.

“Cut!” shouted the mate.

The ship cast the right way to starboard, the helm was put to port, and she begun to stand off from the shore.

“She’ll do it, and we shall have a new lease of life,” observed Tubbs when he rejoined Harry and me; “that is to say, if the wind holds as it is; but if not, the chances of our hauling off the shore are doubtful.”

For some minutes the ship stood on with her head to the north-west, all hands anxiously watching the sails, and casting a look every now and then towards the dark outline of the shore, which could be distinguished through the gloom. The current was all this time drifting us to the northward, but it appeared to me that we were getting no farther from the coast. Of that, however, it was difficult to judge by the rate at which we were sailing, as although she might be moving fast through the water, she might really be making but little way over the ground. Tubbs several times went aft to the binnacle.

“She has fallen off two points, I’m sorry to say,” he observed; “still it is possible that we may beat off, as the wind may shift again; but I wish that it had kept steady, and we should have done it.”

Scarcely, however, had he spoken, when the sails gave a loud flap.

“No higher!” shouted the mate to the man at the helm, “or you’ll have her aback.”

The helm was put up in time to prevent this danger.

On looking over the starboard side, we now saw that the land was broad on the beam, and that we were thus standing almost parallel with the coast, towards which it was too evident that the heavy rollers were gradually setting us. Still it was possible, as Tubbs thought, to keep off the shore until daylight, when the mouth of a river might be discovered and we might run into it; or the wind might again shift, and we should, once more, be able to stand off, and get to a safe distance from the hungry breakers, which we could hear roaring under our lee. I was struck by the change which had come over the crew. Generally, when on deck together, they were shouting and swearing, and exchanging rough jokes or laughing loudly. Now scarcely a man spoke, all stood at their stations turning their gaze towards the shore. It was evident they were fully aware of the dangerous position in which the ship was placed. I asked Tubbs how long he thought the ship could be kept off the land, standing as she was now.

“Oh, maybe for half an hour, maybe for less,” he answered. “The current is sending her along at the rate of two or three knots an hour, and we may fall in with some headland which we are unable to weather, or we may find ourselves standing across a wide bay which will lengthen the time before she drives on shore.”

“At all events, I will tell my brother and Mr Hallton. It will be wrong to let them remain longer in ignorance of the danger we are in. Perhaps we ought to set the captain at liberty.”

“No, no, sir; let him stay until the last, we don’t know what mad things he will do if he comes on deck. Perhaps he will be shooting the mate or one of us. It will be time enough to let him out of the cabin when all chance of saving the ship is gone.”

I saw at once the prudence of this, and settled to act accordingly. Taking an opportunity, I slipped below, and found Charley and Mr Hallton asleep. Having roused them up, “I have not got very pleasant information to give you,” I said; and I then told them that Tubbs considered the ship would drive on shore in less than half an hour.

Mr Hallton, though supposed to be a brave man, was much more agitated than was Charley.

“The ship cast on this abominable coast in less than half an hour!” he exclaimed. “Why, even down here, the sound of the breakers reaches us.”

“Well, Dick, if the worst comes to the worst, we must have a struggle for life,” said my brother calmly. “You stick to me, and I’ll do my best to help you. I am well accustomed to the sort of work we shall have to go through, and I hope that we shall manage somehow or other to get on shore.” Of course, they were both unwilling to remain longer below, and as neither the mate nor the crew were likely to interfere, they made up their minds to come on deck with me. I had some hopes that Mr Hallton, who was a first-rate seaman, might devise some means for escaping. I first consulted Charley about setting the captain at liberty, but he thought that it would not be prudent to do so until the last moment, when it would be right to give him a chance of saving his life with the rest of us. We soon gained the deck. Whether Charley or the lieutenant were observed, I could not tell. I waited anxiously to hear what opinion Mr Hallton might offer as to the state of affairs.

“If we get much nearer the shore, we must bring up, and perhaps the anchor will hold until the wind moderates. It is the only chance we have of saving the ship. If we were to go about now, we might miss stays, and there is not room to weal without getting perilously close to the breakers,” he observed.

At the rate we were sailing, we must have gone over thirty or forty miles from the point where we exchanged signals with the shore, and as most probably the country was inhabited by a different tribe, who might be at enmity with the white men, those of us who might reach the shore would run a great chance of being slaughtered or carried off into slavery. I said as much to Harry and Charley. The same idea had occurred to them.

“It may be the case, but we may fall among friends, and we will hope for the best,” observed Charley.

Dawn was at length approaching, but there was no abatement of the gale, while it was too clear that we were drifting nearer and nearer to the coast. Every moment I expected to hear the mate give the word to furl the sails and let go the anchor. I suggested to Tubbs that he should advise him to do so.

“He would not listen to me; although he may know it is the best thing to be done, he’ll just put off doing it until it’s too late,” he answered.

Gradually the coast became more and more distinct, and we could make out the white line of breakers as they burst upon it. We stood watching it with straining eyes, the minutes turned into hours, the ship all the time rushing through the water at a furious rate. Presently a headland appeared on the starboard bow. It seemed impossible that we could weather it. Still the mate issued no order except to the man at the helm.

“Luff all you can,” he shouted out; “we don’t want to cast the ship away on that point if we can help it.”

In a few minutes—how many I cannot say—we saw the breakers close under our lee, the ship was almost among them, but on she stood. Again the land appeared to recede.

“Can there be a harbour in anywhere here?” I asked of Tubbs.

“The mate doesn’t think so, or we should be running into it,” was the answer.

It was only a small bay across which we were passing. Not a quarter of an hour afterwards another point appeared. As we had succeeded in weathering the first, the mate evidently expected to pass this in the same way.

Mr Hallton, convinced that we could not do so, shouted out, “Down with the helm—shorten sail—let go the anchor—let fly everything.”

“Who dares give orders on board this ship?” cried the mate.

The crew, however, were convinced that the first order was the wisest. The tacks, sheets, and halyards were let go, the stoppers of the cable cut, the helm put down to bring her up to the wind. She pitched into the seas, but the anchor held. The crew now flew aloft to try and gather in the canvas, fluttering wildly in the gale.

“In three minutes more we should have been knocking to pieces on the rocks,” observed Mr Hallton. “It is a question whether the anchor will hold now; if it doesn’t, we sha’n’t be much better off.”

Scarcely had he spoken when a loud report was heard. “The cable has parted!” shouted several voices.

“Let go the last hope.”

The anchor so called was let go, and although it brought the ship up in a couple of minutes, it also parted, and the helpless ship now drifted rapidly towards the breakers, which could be seen curling up along the shores of the bay into which we had driven.

“Come aft,” said Charley to Harry and me. “The moment the ship strikes the masts will go, and we shall chance to be crushed as they fall.”

“The time has come to set Captain Trunnion at liberty,” I said.

Charley and I hurried below and burst open the door of the cabin. The unhappy man was still sleeping, with his dog Growler at his feet. Surly as the animal was to others, he was faithful to his master, and he seemed to understand that we had come with no evil intentions, for though he uttered a low bark, he did not attempt to fly at us. By the light of the lamp we saw that the captain had no arms near him. To cut the ropes which bound his limbs was the work of a moment.

“Captain Trunnion,” I exclaimed, “we have come to warn you that the ship will be in the midst of the breakers in the course of a minute or two. If you wish to save your life you must come upon deck.”

Not, however, until Harry and Charley had shaken him well did he wake up. He gazed around him with a bewildered look.

“What is that you say?” he asked.

In a few sentences I told him.

“Then it is time to look out to save our lives,” he said springing up, apparently quite himself. He looked as cool and composed as he had ever been. We were about to return on deck, when there came a fearful crash overhead, followed by several others. The ship had struck and the masts had all gone together by the board. Shrieks and cries arose, but many of the voices were speedily silenced, as the sea, breaking over the ship, washed several men from the deck into the seething cauldron into which she had been driven. The captain, followed by Growler, sprang up the companion ladder, and we saw no more of them. The cries of the helpless slaves below, uniting in one fearful chorus, overwhelmed the voices of the white crew.

“We must set these poor wretches at liberty. It would be a fearful subject of thought if we were to leave them to perish,” observed Charley. “There is a hatch, I know, which leads from the main cabin to the slave-deck, although it is kept closed.”

“Ay, ay, sir! But we can’t do it without the instruments,” said Tubbs. Hunting about, he discovered some irons used for the purpose, with which we each supplied ourselves. With this means we soon opened the hatch.

There was great risk in the merciful task we were about to perform, but Charley, setting the example, we quickly knocked off the manacles of Aboh and the slaves nearest to us, and, with the assistance of the former, made them understand that they were to perform the same operation to their fellow-captives. Some obeyed, but others rushed immediately on deck. However, we persevered, and, faster than I could have believed it possible, we contrived to set all the slaves free. Many of the poor wretches enjoyed their liberty but for a few seconds, for they were quickly washed off the deck, or were drowned in a vain attempt to reach the shore by swimming. All the time the sea was striking with terrific force against the sides of the ship. The loud crashing sound overhead showed us that her bowsprit and bulwarks and everything on deck was being rapidly carried away.

While we were thus engaged daylight appeared, and when we reached the deck we saw that the wind had greatly gone down. Although there were rocks on either side of us, there was a clear piece of sand, on which, could a raft be formed, those who could not swim might land. The blacks were mostly clustered aft, the part least exposed to the fury of the seas. Several persons were in the water, some swimming, others floating apparently lifeless. The greater portion of the crew had disappeared; many had been crushed by the falling masts, others washed overboard, and a few on pieces of wreck were trying to reach the beach One thing was certain, there was no time to be lost, as the ship could not long hold together, lashed as she was by the fury of the seas which rolled in from the ocean. The surviving blacks recognised us when we appeared as the persons who had set them at liberty and we made them understand that if they would remain quiet, we would endeavour to provide the means for enabling them to reach the shore. I thought that among the people clinging to pieces of wreck I saw Captain Trunnion, but I was not certain. The mate had disappeared, and had, I concluded, been washed overboard, and, as far as we could learn, Mr Hallton had shared the same fate. We had reason to be thankful that we had been below, or we also might have lost our lives. We immediately set about forming the raft from some spars which still remained lashed to ring bolts on the deck and from fragments of the bulwarks. Every instant the wind was going down, rendering our task less difficult. The tide too was falling, and as it did so rocks rose out of the water, which further protected us from the fury of the breakers. When the blacks saw what we were about, some of the more intelligent among them offered to assist us. At length a raft capable of holding a dozen people at one time was constructed. We also obtained a rope of sufficient length to reach the shore, so that we might haul it backwards and forwards. This we made the blacks understand that we intended to do, and that we could only take off a certain number at a time. The head men, who had all along held an authority over the rest of their fellow-slaves, now came forward to maintain discipline. By this means only the number which the raft could carry were allowed to descend at a time. As soon as we had a cargo we commenced our passage to the shore, and happily landed all those we had taken on board, who at once squatted down on the beach waiting for their companions. We immediately put back and took in another cargo, and thus we continued going backwards and forwards until we had placed the whole of the slaves on shore.

“We must look out for ourselves now,” observed Charley. “I saw some firearms in the cabin; we must secure them, as well as some ammunition, clothes, and provisions. It will not do to trust those black fellows when they at once find themselves at liberty.”

Of course we all agreed to Charley’s proposal, and climbing up the side, made our way into the cabin. We each got a fowling-piece or musket, a brace of pistols, and a good supply of ammunition. We also found some dollars, which we stowed away in our pockets.

“The money may not be of much use while we are among the savages, but it will come in very handy when we get into a more civilised region,” said Charley. “Hurrah! here are some things which will be of immediate use,” and he produced a boxful of strings of beads of various colours.

We each stowed away as many of them as we could carry. Under the circumstances in which we were likely to be placed, they would prove of the greatest value.

As the ship it appeared probable would hold together for some time, we hunted about until we found as many things as we could carry likely to be of use. Among others, were a pocket compass, a knife apiece, and other things. Tubbs produced a cooked ham and a box of biscuits, which were divided and put into some canvas bags well suited for the purpose. We were still engaged in our search, when a loud crashing sound reached our ears. We rushed on deck, and found that the sea had made a breach clean through the ship. Fortunately the raft was secured to the after part. We quickly lowered ourselves down on it, and shoved off in time to escape another sea, which came rolling in, and committed further damage, sending fragments of the wreck floating about in the comparatively smooth water between us and the shore. We had great difficulty in avoiding the pieces of timber which were driven towards our frail raft. Every moment it seemed as if we were about to be overwhelmed. On looking towards the beach, we found that the blacks had disappeared, with the exception of one man, who stood ready to assist us in getting on shore. A few more hauls on the raft, and we, with our packs, were able to spring on the sand, the black seizing our hands as we did so, one after the other, and dragging us up out of the seething water, which came foaming up around us.

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