第 22 页

they would have been with us, but were simply turned over and

clinched. We had no means of straightening them out, but we could cut

through the woodwork round them. Setting to work at that, we took it

by turns till we could see the light through the wood; then we left

it to finish after dark. All this time we knew we were under sail by

the rippling of the water along the sides. The men on board were

evidently in high delight at their easy capture, and kicked up so

much noise that there was no fear of their hearing any slight stir we

made below.

"Very carefully we brought packages and bales under the hatchway,

till we built up a sort of platform about four feet below it. We

reckoned that, standing as thick as we could there, and all lifting

together, we could make sure of hoisting the hatchway up, and could

then spring out in a moment.

"Pettigrew still stuck to his plan, and talked us into carrying it

out, both under the fore and aft hatches, pointing out that the two

explosions would scare the crew out of their wits, that some would be

killed, and many jump overboard in their fright. We came to see that

the scheme was really a good one, so set all the crew to carry out

the business, and they, working with stockinged feet, built up a

platform under their hatch, as well as in our den aft. Then we made

holes in two of the kegs of powder, and, shaking a little out, damped

it, and rubbed it into two strips of cotton. Putting an end of a slow

match into each of the holes, we laid the kegs in their places and

waited.

"We made two other fuses, so that a man could go forward, and another

aft, to fire them both together. Two of the men were told off for

this job, and the rest of us gathered under the main hatch, for we

had settled now that if we heard them making any move to open the

hatches we would fire the powder at once, whatever hour it was. In

order to be ready, we cut deeper into the woodwork round the staple

till there was but the thickness of a card remaining, and we could

tell by this how light it was above.

"It don't take long to tell you, but all this had taken us a good

many hours; and so baked were we by the heat down below, and parched

by thirst, that it was as much as I could do to persuade the men to

wait until nightfall. At last we saw the light in the cut fade and

darken. Again the men wanted to be at work, but I pointed out that if

we waited till the crew had laid down on the deck, we might carry it

through without losing a life, but if they were all awake, some of

them would be sure to come at us with their weapons, and, unarmed as

we were, might do us much harm. Still, though I succeeded in keeping

the men quiet, I felt it was hard work to put a stopper on my own

impatience.

"At last even John here spoke up for action.

"'I expect those who mean to sleep are off by this time,' he said.

'As to reckoning upon them all going off, there ain't no hope of it;

they will sit and jabber all night. They have made a good haul, and

have taken a stout ship with a full hold, and five-and-twenty stout

slaves, and that without losing a man. There won't be any sleep for

most of them. I reckon it is two bells now. I do think, Captain, we

might as well begin, for human nature can't stand this heat and

thirst much longer.'

"'All right, John,' I said. 'Now, lads, remember that when the first

explosion comes--for we can't reckon on the two slow matches burning

just the same time--we all heave together till we find the hatch

lifts; then, when the second comes, we chuck it over and leap out. If

you see a weapon, catch it up, but don't waste time looking about,

but go at them with your fists. They will be scared pretty well out

of their senses, and you will not be long before you all get hold of

weapons of some sort. Now, Pettigrew, shove your blade up through the

wood and cut round the staple. Now, Jack Brown, get out that

tinder-box you said you had about you, and get a spark going.'

"Three or four clicks were heard as the sailor struck his flint

against the steel lid of the tinder-box.

"'All right, yer honour,' he said, 'I have got the spark.'

"Then the two hands we had given the slow matches to, lit them at the

tinder-box, and went fore and aft, while as many of the rest of us as

could crowded under the hatch.

"'Are you ready, fore and aft?' I asked.

"The two men hailed in reply.

"'Light the matches, then, and come here.'

"I suppose it was not above a minute, but it seemed ten before there

was a tremendous explosion aft. The ship shook from stem to stern.

There was a moment's silence, and then came yells and screams mixed

with the sound of timbers and wreckage falling on the deck.

"'Now lift,' I said. 'But not too high. That is enough--she is free.

Wait for the other.'

"There was a rush of feet overhead as the Moors ran forward. Then

came the other explosion.

"'Off with her, lads!' I shouted, and in a moment we flung the hatch

off and leapt out with a cheer. There was no fighting to speak of.

The officers had been killed by the first explosion under their

cabin, and many of the men had either been blown overboard or lay

crushed under the timber and wreckage.

"The second explosion had been even more destructive, for it happened

just as the crew, in their terror, had rushed forward. Many of those

unhurt had sprung overboard at once, and as we rushed up most of the

others did the same. There was no difficulty about arms, for the deck

was strewn with weapons. Few of us, however, stopped to pick one up,

but, half mad with rage and thirst, rushed forward at the Moors. That

finished them; and before we got to them the last had sprung

overboard. There was a rush on the part of the men to the scuttle

butt.

"'Take one drink, lads,' I shouted, 'and then to the buckets.'

"It took us a quarter of an hour's hard work to put out the flames,

and it was lucky the powder had blown so much of the decks up that we

were enabled to get at the fire without difficulty, and so extinguish

it before it got any great hold.

"As soon as we had got it out I called a muster. There was only one

missing;--it was Pettigrew, he being the first to leap out and rush

aft. There had been but one shot fired by the Moors. One fellow, as

he leapt on to the rail, drew his pistol from his belt and fired

before he sprang overboard. In the excitement and confusion no one

had noticed whether the shot took effect, for two or three men had

stumbled and fallen over fragments of timber or bodies as we rushed

aft. But now we searched, and soon came on the poor young fellow. The

ball had struck him fair on the forehead, and he had fallen dead

without a word or a cry.

"There was, however, no time to grieve. We had got to re-capture the

barque, which had been but a cable's length away when we rushed on

deck; while we had been fighting the fire she had sailed on,

regardless of the shrieks and shouts of the wretches who had sprung

overboard from us. But she was still near us; both vessels had been

running before the wind, for I had sent John Wilkes to the tiller the

moment that we got possession of the corsair, and the barque was but

about a quarter of a mile ahead.

"The wind was light, and we were running along at four knots an hour.

The Moors on board the _Kate_ had, luckily, been too scared by the

explosion to think of getting one of the guns aft and peppering us

while we were engaged in putting out the fire; and indeed, they could

not have done us much harm if they had, for the high fo'castle hid us

from their view.

"As soon as we had found Pettigrew's body and laid it on the hatch we

had thrown off, I went aft to John.

"'Are we gaining on her, John?'

"'No; she has drawn away a little. But this craft is not doing her

best. I expect they wanted to keep close to the barque, and so kept

her sheets in. If you square the sails, captain, we shall soon be

upon her.'

"That was quickly done, and then the first thing was to see that the

men were all armed. We could have got a gun forward, but I did not

want to damage the _Kate_, and we could soon see that we were

closing on her. We shoved a bag of musket-balls into each cannon, so

as to sweep her decks as we came alongside, for we knew that her crew

was a good deal stronger than we were. Still, no one had any doubt as

to the result, and it was soon evident that the Moors had got such a

scare from the fate of their comrades that they had no stomach for

fighting.

"'They are lowering the boats,' John shouted.

"'All the better,' I said. 'They would fight like rats caught in a

trap if we came up to them, and though we are men enough to capture

her, we might lose half our number.'

"As soon as the boats reached the water they were all pulled up to

the starboard side, and then the helm was put down, and the barque

came round till she was broadside on to us.

"'Down with your helm, John Wilkes!' I shouted. 'Hard down, man!'

"John hesitated, for he had thought that I should have gone round to

the other side of her and so have caught all the boats; but, in

truth, I was so pleased at the thought of getting the craft back

again that I was willing to let the poor villains go, since they were

of a mind to do so without giving us trouble. We had punished them

enough, and the shrieks and cries of those left behind to drown were

ringing in my ears then. So we brought the corsair up quietly by the

side of the _Kate_, lashed her there, and then, with a shout of

triumph, sprang on board the old barky.

"Not a Moor was left on board. The boats were four or five hundred

yards away, rowing at the top of their speed. The men would have run

to the guns, but I shouted,--

"'Let them go, lads. We have punished them heavily enough; we have

taken their ship, and sent half of them to Eternity. Let them take

the tale back to Tunis how a British merchantman re-captured their

ship. Now set to work to get some of the sail off both craft, and

then, when we have got things snug, we will splice the main brace and

have a meal.'

"There is no more to tell. We carried the rover into Gibraltar and

sold her and her cargo there. It brought in a good round sum, and,

except for the death of Pettigrew, we had no cause to regret the

corsair having taken us by surprise that night off Pantellaria."

"That was an exciting business, indeed, Captain Dave," Cyril said,

when the Captain brought his story to a conclusion. "If it had not

been for your good fortune in finding those kegs of powder, and

Pettigrew's idea of using them as he did, you and John might now, if

you had been alive, have been working as slaves among the Moors."

"Yes, lad. And not the least lucky thing was that Pettigrew's knife

and Jack Brown's tinder-box had escaped the notice of the Moors. Jack

had it in an inside pocket sewn into his shirt so as to keep it dry.

It was a lesson to me, and for the rest of the time I was at sea I

always carried a knife, with a lanyard round my neck, and stowed away

in an inside pocket of my shirt, together with a tinder-box. They are

two as useful things as a sailor can have about him, for, if cast

upon a desert shore after a wreck, a man with a knife and tinder-box

may make shift to live, when, without them, he and his comrades might

freeze to death."

CHAPTER IX

THE FIRE IN THE SAVOY

The next evening John Wilkes returned after an absence of but half an

hour.

"Why, John, you can but have smoked a single pipe! Did you not find

your cronies there?"

"I hurried back, Captain, because a man from one of the ships in the

Pool landed and said there was a great light in the sky, and that it

seemed to him it was either a big fire in the Temple, or in one of

the mansions beyond the walls; so methought I would come in and ask

Cyril if he would like to go with me to see what was happening."

"I should like it much, John. I saw a great fire in Holborn just

after I came over from France, and a brave sight it was, though very

terrible; and I would willingly see one again."

He took his hat and cloak and was about to be off, when Captain Dave

called after him,--

"Buckle on your sword, lad, and leave your purse behind you. A fire

ever attracts thieves and cut-throats, who flock round in hopes of

stealing something in the confusion. Besides, as I have told you

before, you should never go out after dark without your sword, even

were it but to cross the road."

Cyril ran upstairs to his room, buckled on his weapon, and ran down

again.

"The Captain is right," John Wilkes said, as he joined him at the

door. "After your two adventures, it would be folly for you to go out

unarmed."

"Oh, I expect they have forgotten about me long ago," Cyril laughed

lightly.

"I don't know," John Wilkes said seriously. "As to Marner's gang, I

think that there is not much fear from them, unless that young rascal

Robert and the scoundrel who was with him have returned from Holland;

and that they are not likely to do for some time to come. But it

would not be in human nature if the man you call John Harvey should

take his defeat without trying to pay you back for that wound you

gave him, for getting Mistress Nellie out of his hands, and for

making him the laughing-stock of his comrades. I tell you that there

is scarce an evening that I have gone out but some fellow passes me

before I have gone twenty yards, and, as he brushes my sleeve, turns

his head to look at me. But yesternight I said to one who so behaved,

'Look here, mate, this is not the first time you have run against me.

I warn you that if it happens again I will crack your head with my