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Hostages
THE WATCH aboard the Royal James challenged us as we made fast
by the larboard side-ladder, and when we climbed over the bulwarks
to the deck Master Martin flashed a lanthorn in our faces with a gust
of oaths in his absurdly gentle tones.
 By the             , but I hoped  twas that   
   Flint come a-seekin mischief, he complained.
 Where is Captain Murray? I answered.
 In his cabin.
And in the same mild manner he continued to his men:
 To your stations. Remember cap n s orders. Now these two are
aboard, ye ll fire at any boat that approaches and challenge afterward.
The negro lackeys stood aside as we came to the cabin entrance
under the poop; the door was open. Down the dark tunnel of the
companionway with its stateroom doors on either hand Peter and I
could see my great-uncle sitting at the table in the main cabin, a glass
of wine at his elbow, a chart spread out before him. He raised his
head as we entered.
 You were cheated of your sport, I conclude, he greeted us. The
watch informed me a half-hour since they had heard no shots ashore.
I recounted briefly our conversation with Flint and the determi-
nation Peter and I had reached in consequence. He nodded agree-
ment with it.
 You did quite right, Robert. Peter did not exaggerate the dangers
inherent in the situation.
 You appear not to feel any too safe yourself, I answered sarcas-
tically, with sentinels posted on your decks ordered to shoot into any
approaching boat.
 I do not, he assented with perfect equanimity.  Tis true I should
be surprized did our confrères of the Walrus undertake to assault us,
but I have had too much experience with desperate men, especially
120 PORTO BELLO GOLD
when they are under the influence of liquor, to discount the possi-
bility of their adopting any atrocious idea which might enter their
heads.
 Do you mean that you live in perpetual fear of treachery from
Flint s crew?
He considered the question, sipping at his wine.
 Perpetual is too strong a word for the occasion, he decided at
length. Let us say rather that the experience to which I have previ-
ously referred has taught me that under certain circumstances such
as the license practised after the tedium of a long voyage a band of
men who recognize no authority save the strong arm may be induced
to excesses they would not otherwise attempt.
 Then we don t shoodt no goats? asked Peter sorrowfully.
 On the contrary, friend Peter.We most certainly shall.  Tis not only
a question of securing you the opportunity of sport which I promised
you, but of varying the diet of my crew, with an eye to maintaining
all hands in good health at a time when we can not afford incapac-
ity.Tomorrow morning I shall be occupied in organizing the work of
careening the ship, so that her bottom may be cleaned; but in the
afternoon we will take a party of beaters to aid us and arrange a
battue in the Continental fashion. By that time, I anticipate, Captain
Flint will have returned to his senses recovered from his debauch,
in other words. If he has not 
He shrugged, and I gathered that the contingency would not be a
happy one for Flint.
 You will excuse me, he went on, if I return to my studies. I have
much upon my mind.
We bade him good night and went to our staterooms,weary enough
from the unwonted exercise of rowing. As I shut my door I noted
that he was measuring distances in the Caribbean with calipers and
jotting figures upon the margin of the chart.
In the morning, as he had said, all hands were occupied with the
task of careening the ship. In the first place she was to be hauled
over to starboard to expose her larboard bottom, and all her guns and
movable stores and heavy equipment were shifted to starboard to
give her a list on that side. Then her yards were cockbilled to keep
them clear of the water, and heavy cables were run from her masts
PORTO BELLO GOLD 121
to the shore, looped around trees and carried back aboard, and the
crew by main force, a few inches or a foot at a time, canted her over.
The tide, as it dropped, aided them by bedding the keel in the estu-
ary s soft mud floor, and gradually the James came to assume a most
lopsided appearance.
 Twas when the work had gone so far and was proceeding satis-
factorily that my great-uncle bade Martin tell off a dozen hands who
were good shots and call away the longboat.
 I marvel that you dare to leave the James in this defenseless con-
dition, I said to him as the longboat pulled off up the anchorage past
the silent bulk of the Walrus.  If there was danger last night 
  there need not necessarily be danger this afternoon, he inter-
rupted.  Tis all quiet ashore, and I doubt if there is a man sufficiently
sober aboard the Walrus to carry a carton of powder from the mag-
azine.
 But by evening they ll ha slept it off, I insisted.
 True, and with it their lust for bloodshed for the time being, at
any rate. Our problem then will be to turn Flint s mind to some under-
taking which will divert his attention and occupy him until we need
no longer be concerned for his whimsies.
We landed south of the first river, below where Flint s party had
held their carouse, and proceeded inland through a wooded valley,
with hills rising to right and left of us and the Spyglass towering in
the distance.The day was very clear, and the mountain s summit was
a gray cone against the blue of the sky.A soft wind whispered in the
trees; the beat of the surf came to us faintly; the severity of the sun
was tempered by the shade; and the pine-mast was springy to our
feet. Even our sullen, hangdog escort of seamen became almost cheery
under the influence of their changed surroundings, and with the sight
of their first goat they began to whoop and shout like schoolboys.
Murray, despite his age, was as spry as the youngest of us, and he
never wasted a shot.
At his suggestion we turned north along the lower flanks of the
Spyglass, circled the intervening hills foot-hills they might be
called crossed the headwaters of the first river, traversed another
patch of forest and forded the second river at a point where it ran
shallow and clear between two of the marshy stretches which were
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its distinguishing characteristic.This route brought us over to the east-
ern side of the island some distance north of the hillock Peter and I
had visited the preceding evening, and when I remarked this fact my [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]