dangerous navigation and doubtful pilotage—montague is hot, gascoyne sarcastic.
we turn now to the talisman, which, it will be remembered, we left making her way slowly through the reefs towards the northern end of the island, under the pilotage of gascoyne.
the storm, which had threatened to burst over the island at an earlier period of that evening, passed off far to the south. the light breeze which had tempted captain montague to weigh anchor soon died away, and before night a profound calm brooded over the deep.
when the breeze fell, gascoyne went forward, and, seating himself on a forecastle carronade, appeared to fall into a deep reverie. montague paced the quarter-deck impatiently, glancing from time to time down the skylight at the barometer which hung in the cabin, and at the vane which drooped motionless from the mast-head. he acted with the air of a man who was deeply dissatisfied with the existing state of things, and who felt inclined to take the laws of nature into his own hands. fortunately for nature and himself, he was unable to do this.
ole thorwald exhibited a striking contrast to the active, impatient commander of the vessel. that portly individual, having just finished a cigar which the first lieutenant had presented to him on his arrival on board, threw the fag end of it into the sea, and proceeded leisurely to fill a large-headed german pipe, which was the constant companion of his waking hours, and the bowl of which seldom enjoyed a cool moment.
ole having filled the pipe, lighted it; then, leaning over the taffrail, he gazed placidly into the dark waters, which were so perfectly calm that every star in the vault above could be compared with its reflection in the abyss below.
ole thorwald, excepting when engaged in actual battle, was phlegmatic, and constitutionally lazy and happy. when enjoying his german pipe he felt inexpressibly serene, and did not care to be disturbed. he therefore paid no attention to the angry manner of montague, who brushed past him repeatedly in his hasty perambulations, but continued to gaze downwards and smoke calmly in a state of placid felicity.
“you appear to take things coolly, mister thorwald,” said montague, half in jest, yet with a touch of asperity in his manner.
“i always do” (puff) “when the weather’s not warm.” (puff puff.)
“humph!” ejaculated montague, “but the weather is warm just now; at least it seems so to me—so warm that i should not be surprised if a thunder squall were to burst upon us ere long.”
“not a pleasant place to be caught in a squall,” returned the other, gazing through the voluminous clouds of smoke which he emitted at several coral reefs, whose ragged edges just rose to the level of the calm sea without breaking its mirror-like surface; “i’ve seen one or two fine vessels caught that way, just hereabouts, and go right down in the middle of the breakers.”
montague smiled, and the commander-in-chief of the sandy cove army fired innumerable broadsides from his mouth with redoubled energy.
“that is not a cheering piece of information,” said he, “especially when one has reason to believe that a false man stands at the helm.”
montague uttered the latter part of his speech in a subdued earnest voice, and the matter-of-fact ole turned his eyes slowly towards the man at the wheel; but observing that he who presided there was a short, fat, commonplace, and uncommonly jolly-looking seaman, he merely uttered a grunt and looked at montague inquiringly.
“nay, i mean not the man who actually holds the spokes of the wheel, but he who guides the ship.”
thorwald glanced at gascoyne, whose figure was dimly visible in the fore part of the ship, and then looking at montague in surprise shook his head gravely, as if to say—
“i’m still in the dark—go on.”
“can mr thorwald put out his pipe for a few minutes and accompany me to the cabin? i would have a little converse on this matter in private.”
ole hesitated.
“well, then,” said the other, smiling, “you may take the pipe with you, although it is against rules to smoke in my cabin—but i’ll make an exception in your case.”
ole smiled, bowed, and, thanking the captain for his courtesy, descended to the cabin along with him and sat down on a sofa in the darkest corner of it. here he smoked vehemently, while his companion, assuming a rather mysterious air, said in an under tone—
“you have heard, of course, that the pirate durward has been seen, or heard of, in those seas?”
ole nodded.
“has it ever struck you that this gascoyne, as he calls himself, knows more about the pirate than he chooses to tell?”
“never,” replied ole. indeed nothing ever did strike the stout commander-in-chief of the forces. all new ideas came to him by slow degrees, and did not readily find admission to his perceptive faculties. but when they did gain an entrance into his thick head, nothing was ever known to drive them out again. as he did not seem inclined to comment on the hint thrown out by his companion, montague continued, in a still more impressive tone—
“what would you say if this gascoyne himself turned out to be the pirate?”
the idea being a simple one, and the proper course to follow being rather obvious, ole replied with unwonted promptitude—“put him in irons, of course, and hang him as soon as possible.”
montague laughed. “truly that would be a vigorous way of proceeding; but as i have no proof of the truth of my suspicions, and as the man is my guest at present, as well as my pilot, it behoves me to act more cautiously.”
“not at all; by no means; you’re quite wrong, captain; (which is the natural result of being young—all young people go more or less;) it is clearly your duty to catch a pirate anyhow you can, as fast as you can, and kill him without delay.”
here the sanguinary thorwald paused to draw and puff into vitality the pipe which was beginning to die down, and montague asked—
“but how d’you know he is the pirate?”
“because you said so,” replied his friend.
“nay, i said that i suspected him to be durward—nothing more.”
“and what more would you have?” cried ole, whose calm spirit was ruffled with unusual violence at the thought of the hated durward being actually within his reach. “for my part i conceive that you are justified in taking him up on suspicion, trying him in a formal way (just to save appearances) on suspicion, and hanging him at once on suspicion. quite time enough to inquire into the matter after the villain is comfortably sewed up in a hammock with a thirty-pound shot at his heels, and sent to the bottom of the sea for the sharks and crabs to devour. suspicion is nine points of the law in these regions, captain montague, and we never allow the tenth point to interfere with the course of justice one way or another. hang him, or shoot him if you prefer it, at once; that is what i recommend.”
just as thorwald concluded this amiable piece of advice, the deep strong tones of gascoyne’s voice were heard addressing the first lieutenant.
“you had better hoist your royals and skyscrapers, mr mulroy; we shall have a light air off the land presently, and it will require all your canvas to carry the ship round the north point, so as to bring her guns to bear on the village of the savages.”
“the distance seems to me very short,” replied the lieutenant, “and the talisman sails faster than you may suppose with a light wind.”
“i doubt not the sailing qualities of your good ship, though i could name a small schooner that would beat them in light wind or storm; but you forget that we have to land our stout ally mr thorwald with his men at the goat’s pass, and that will compel us to lose time, too much of which has been lost already.”
without reply, the lieutenant turned on his heel and gave the necessary orders to hoist the additional sails, while the captain hastened on deck, leaving thorwald to finish his pipe in peace, and ruminate on the suspicions which had been raised in his mind.
in less than half an hour the light wind which gascoyne had predicted came off the land, first in a series of what sailors term “cats’ paws,” and then in a steady breeze which lasted several hours, and caused the vessel to slip rapidly through the still water. as he looked anxiously over the bow, captain montague felt that he had placed himself completely in the power of the suspected skipper of the foam, for coral reefs surrounded him on all sides, and many of them passed so close to the ship’s side that he expected every moment to feel the shock that would wreck his vessel and his hopes at the same time. he blamed himself for trusting a man whom he supposed he had such good reason to doubt, but consoled himself by thrusting his hand into his bosom and grasping the handle of a pistol, with which, in the event of the ship striking, he had made up his mind to blow out gascoyne’s brains.
about an hour later the talisman was hove-to off the goat’s pass, and ole thorwald was landed with his party at the base of a cliff which rose sheer up from the sea like a wall.
“are we to go up there?” inquired ole in a rueful tone of voice, as he surveyed a narrow chasm to which gascoyne guided him.
“that is the way. it’s not so bad as it looks. when you get to the top, follow the little path that leads along the cliffs northward, and you will reach the brow of a hill from which the native village will be visible. descend and attack it at once, if you find men to fight with—if not, take possession quietly. mind you don’t take the wrong turn; it leads to places where a wild-cat would not venture even in daylight. if you attend to what i have said, you can’t go wrong. good night. shove off.”
the oars splashed in the sea at the word, and gascoyne retained to the ship, leaving ole to lead his men up the pass as he best might.
it seemed as if the pilot had resolved to make sure of the destruction of the ship that night; for, not content with running her within a foot or two of innumerable reefs, he at last steered in so close to the shore that the beetling cliffs actually seemed to overhang the deck. when the sun rose, the breeze died away; but sufficient wind continued to fill the upper sails and to urge the vessel gently onward for some time after the surface of the sea was calm.
montague endeavoured to conceal and repress his anxiety as long as possible, but when at length a line of breakers without any apparent opening presented themselves right ahead, he went up to gascoyne and said in a stern under tone—
“are you aware that you forfeit your life if my vessel strikes?”
“i know it,” replied gascoyne, coolly throwing away the stump of his cigar and lighting a fresh one, “but i have no desire either to destroy your vessel or to lose my life; although, to say truth, i should have no objection, in other circumstances, to attempt the one and to risk the other.”
“say you so?” said montague, with a sharp glance at the countenance of the other, where, however, he could perceive nothing but placid good humour “that speech sounds marvellously warlike, methinks, in the mouth of a sandal-wood trader.”
“think you, then,” said gascoyne, with a smile of contempt, “that it is only your fire-eating men of war who experience bold impulses and heroic desires?”
“nay, but traders are not wont to aspire to the honour of fighting the ships that are commissioned to protect them.”
“truly, if i had sought protection from the warships of the king of england, i must have sailed long and far to find it,” returned gascoyne. “it is no child’s play to navigate these seas, where bloodthirsty savages swarm in their canoes like locusts. moreover i sail, as i have told you before, in the china seas where pirates are more common than honest traders. what would you say if i were to take it into my head to protect myself?”
“that you were well able to do so,” answered montague, with a smile; “but when i examined the foam i found no arms save a few cutlasses and rusty muskets that did not seem to have been in recent use.”
“a few bold men can defend themselves with any kind of weapons. my men are stout fellows not used to flinch at the sound of a round shot passing over their heads.”
the conversation was interrupted here by the ship rounding a point and suddenly opening up a view of a fine bay, at the head of which, embosomed in trees and dense underwood, stood the native village of which they were in search.
just in front of this village lay a small but high and thickly wooded island, which, as it were, filled up the head of the bay, sheltering it completely from the ocean, and making the part of the sea which washed the shores in front of the houses resemble a deep and broad canal. this stripe of water was wide and deep enough to permit of a vessel of the largest size passing through it; but to any one approaching the place for the first time there seemed to be no passage for any sort of craft larger than a native canoe. the island itself was high enough to conceal the talisman completely from the natives until she was within half gunshot of the shore.
gascoyne still stood on the fore part of the ship as she neared this spot, which was so beset with reefs and rocks that her escape seemed miraculous.
“i think we are near enough for the work that we have to do,” suggested montague in some anxiety.
“just about it, mr montague,” said gascoyne, as he turned towards the stern and shouted—
“port your helm.”
“port it is,” answered the man at the wheel.
“steady.”
“back the topsails, mr mulroy.”
the sails were backed at once, and the ship became motionless with her broadside to the village.
“what are we to do now, mr gascoyne,” inquired montague, smiling in spite of himself at the strange position in which he found himself.
“fire away at the village as hard as you can,” replied gascoyne, returning the smile.
“what! do you really advise me to bombard a defenceless place in which, as far as i can see, there are none but women and children?”
“even so!” returned the other, carelessly, “at the same time i would advise you to give it them with blank cartridge.”
“and to what purpose such waste of powder?” inquired montague.
“the furthering of the plans which i have been appointed to carry out,” answered gascoyne somewhat stiffly, as he turned on his heel and walked away.
the young captain reddened and bit his lip, as he gave the order to load the guns with blank cartridge, and made preparation to fire this harmless broadside on the village. the word to “fire” had barely crossed his lips when the rocks around seemed to tremble with the crash of a shot that came apparently from the other side of the island, for its smoke was visible, although the vessel that discharged it was concealed behind the point. the talisman’s broadside followed so quickly, that the two discharges were blended in one.
