Chapter VII: Part 7

A tolerably fast vessel for her size, and in fair sailing trim, as she was only half-loaded--being unable to complete her cargo at Beyrout, whence her going out of her way, as it were, to Smyrna from thence--the _Muscadine_, with the good breeze she had at starting, which had subsequently increased into a very favourable wind, strong, but not too strong to prevent her carrying all plain sail, had made such use of her legs, as sailors say, that she had by this time run over 500 miles from her point of departure, and before morning the captain expected they would sight the southernmost point of Rhodes, and be able to enter the channel between that island and Scarpanto.

He had therefore issued strict injunctions about a sharp lookout being kept forward, stationing one of the English crew in each watch there for that purpose--as he said he didn't believe in any foreigner's eyesight where a ship was concerned--just when he was leaving the deck, which was shortly before Tom and Charley, giving orders at the same time that he should be called as soon as anything was perceived; and these instructions Tom, as the second officer, passed on, as in duty bound, to Mr Tompkins when he relieved him, the first mate receiving them, as he now invariably did any statement from his junior, with a characteristic grunt!

There is really no other word in the English language to express the meaning of the ejaculative sound he made, which signified, equally, acquiescence, approval, disapproval, or anything.

It was now midnight.

The captain, Tom and Charley, and one of the English hands who acted as steward, were down below asleep aft, and three English sailors and four Greeks were supposed to be in the same somnolent condition in the foc's'le; and, on deck, were the first mate and four more Englishmen, one of whom was on duty as lookout forward, and another taking his turn at the wheel; while four of the foreigners and the remaining two British seamen lounged about the waist, or stood grouped around the mainmast-bitts amidships, attentive to the orders of the officer of the watch, who, being not in the best of tempers, as usual, did not let them long remain idle for a spell.

That was the situation when the first mate called out, after glancing at his watch, to "make it eight bells;" and almost at the same moment the lookout man forward sang out lustily, in a voice that rang through the ship, "Land ho!"

Whether it was the sound of the ship's bell that gave the signal, evidently preconcerted beforehand, or the cry that land was in sight, only the Greek sailors knew; but, at all events, it roused them in a second to action, for with a fierce cry the four foreigners who were amidships rushed on the two Englishmen that shared their watch, drawing their knives and stabbing them desperately as they fell upon them.

"Murder! Help!" sang out the poor Jack tars; but, though caught unawares, they made a hard fight for their lives, one, a north-countryman, although stabbed in several places, snatching up a capstan bar and braining the Greek nearest him like a bullock.

At the same time, the four other Greeks who were down below in the forecastle and supposed to be sleeping, crept up the hatchway forward, slipping on the cover as they got on deck, and went to the assistance of their companions, who, being thus reinforced, made short work of the two Englishmen, who presently sank senseless on the deck which was weltering with their gore, and then rushed aft in a body, brandishing their knives and shouting like demons.

Mr Tompkins showed himself the coward he was, as Tom had anticipated; for, after hammering on the top of the cabin skylight to rouse those below, with a belaying pin he had grasped hold of at the sight of the struggle in the waist, he incontinently scuttled up the mizzen shrouds, displaying an agility of which one would have never thought him capable. The steersman followed his example; while the lookout man forward, hearing the yells and groans of his comrades, and seeing what was up, took refuge in the foretop, thus leaving the seven remaining Greeks, one or two of whom had suffered in the fray, practically masters of the ship, which was yawing about like a drunken man, and backing and filling as she veered this way and that without any guidance or control, nobody being at the helm.

Two of the Greeks placing themselves on either side of the cabin hatch to give a warm reception to the captain and the rest of the Englishmen whom the noise had fully wakened up, for they were heard stirring below, the remainder distributed themselves in the rigging, and started an exciting hunt after the three who had sought safety aloft.

The steersman was the first caught, and the sweep of a knife blade across the rope end by which he had lowered himself from the extreme tip of the mizzen yard-arm, sent him dropping into the sea with a faint despairing scream; but, the first mate and lookout man led them a fine dance, up the shrouds on one side and down on the other, and shifting from the mizzen to the mainmast, and from that to the foretop again by sliding down the stays, or catching hold of the falls and halliards when the pursuit grew too hot--until both parties, the hunters and the hunted alike, paused for a moment to draw breath.

As they did so, the two Englishmen who were now together in the mizzen-top, and the Greeks who were ascending the shrouds on either hand--the former looking down on the quarter-deck below them, and the latter gazing towards the land that had just been sighted--uttered as if in chorus an exclamation of joy, the echo of which from the others seemed to bewilder both the Greeks and Englishmen.

It was a curious coincidence, the opposite causes for the gratulation on either side coming together as it were, but so it was.

At the very moment the mutineers had stopped in their murderous chase of the first mate and the remaining British sailor, Captain Harding, holding a revolver in each hand, came up through the cabin skylight, as if propelled by some hidden machinery below--Tom, Charley, and the steward, all armed to the teeth, jumping up after him.

"Death to the traitorous scoundrels!" exclaimed Captain Harding, levelling the revolver in his right hand at one of the Greeks who remained by the companion, paralysed by the unexpected appearance of those below from a quarter he had never imagined, while he was looking out for them in a different direction.

A flash. Bang! and the man fell dead in his tracks; while Tom gave the other Greek sentry a wipe over the head with a cutlass, which also sent him to the deck.

Just then, however, the felucca, which had been lost sight of so suddenly, and which no one had seen approaching the ship but the desperadoes aloft, and even they only at the end of the struggle--seemed to start up out of the deep in some mysterious fashion close to the _Muscadine_, and sheered alongside, with a triumphant cheer from the brutal-visaged ruffians who lined her deck that made Tom and Charley's blood run cold!

STORY TWO, CHAPTER FIVE.

CONQUERED, NOT BEATEN!

The situation had assumed a new phase.

Inspirited by the proximity of the pirate craft, with their comrades on board, the Greek sailors in the rigging, abandoning their pursuit of the first mate and the lookout man--a brave fellow named Jack Bower--began to descend the ratlins rapidly, with the view of making an onslaught on the captain and the others that were in possession of the quarter-deck, Jack, however, following closely after them now without a trace of fear, resolving to aid his fellow-countrymen in making a stand, although he had given them leg-bail when he stood alone against them, as the first mate had abandoned him at the wheel the moment the Greeks rushed aft, and even now remained trembling in the mizzen-top, instead of backing up Jack, and taking the mutineers in the rear as they scrambled down the shrouds without looking behind them.

The courage of the latter, however, did not suffice to take them very far.

The foremost man had hardly descended two steps, when "crack!" went Captain Harding's revolver; and, reeling backwards, his hands cleaving the air vainly for a hold, the Greek sailor toppled over into the sea with a splash, and sank like a stone to the bottom, dead as a herring!

Another would have followed suit, for the captain had recocked his pistol, and was in the act of taking aim, when a stern, commanding voice exclaimed, in accents that rang through the ship--

"Hold!"

Captain Harding, without lowering his weapon, looked hastily forward from whence this unexpected summons appeared to come; and there he saw a sight which might well make even a courageous man quail. The felucca had been run alongside the _Muscadine_ forward, under cover of the mainsail, her bow right under the ship's counter, and a crowd of fierce, bearded ruffians were pouring on board as fast as they could clamber up the side, led by a tall, athletic fellow, dressed rather better than themselves, with a crimson sash folded round his waist, who was so much in advance of his villainous crew that he was close upon the group on the quarter-deck before they were almost conscious of his presence. It was his voice, the voice and face of the man who had accosted Tom and Charley in the Turk Mohammed's coffee-house at Beyrout, and whom they at once now recognised again, that had arrested the action of the captain-- although only for an instant, as, undismayed by the numbers now opposed to him, and conscious that his little band and himself must be defeated in the long run, and meet their death in the struggle, he shifted his aim, and pointed his revolver without hesitation at the leader.

"Hold!" repeated the pirate chief again in warning accents, before the captain could fire. "Another shot, and I won't answer for your lives!"

"And who are you, sir, who dares to attack a peaceful merchant vessel on the high seas in this fashion?" demanded Captain Harding, without faltering, and still keeping his pistol levelled at the head of the other, who faced it with the utmost sangfroid, although he could perceive that the English sailor's blood was up and his finger trembling on the trigger.

"One who dares anything and everything, and never embarks in any enterprise unless he has weighed the consequences and can carry it through to a successful termination!" replied the desperado, with an assumption of stern dignity that was in harmony with his stalwart form and reckless air. "But, come," he continued, sinking his tone of bravado, and speaking in the same easy, polite manner which Charley had specially noticed when he addressed Tom and himself in the khan--a manner that showed a very considerably greater amount of breeding than could have been expected from a common seaman,--"you must see that you are powerless to resist us."

"There are six of us," interrupted Captain Harding, "and we can at all events make a fight for it!"

"To what purpose?" retorted the other. "You are six, truly; but two of your party are boys, and one a coward who wouldn't be of much help"-- glancing as he spoke from Tom and Charley, who stood beside the captain prepared to aid him to their last breath, upward to the mizzen-top, where the craven-faced Tompkins stood, looking down too much frightened to stir.

"Well, what then?" said the captain, impatiently. "Be quick with your palaver or I'll fire."

"You'll do so at your peril," retorted the other. "Captain Harding, you are a brave man, or I wouldn't waste so many words on you or spare your life. You are powerless to resist us, as I said before, for you are but six in number, including your boys and that cur aloft; you have three other men down in the foc's'le, but they cannot join you. We are fifty. Show yourselves, my lads," he cried to his followers, who instantly ranged themselves, across the _Muscadine_ four deep, exhibiting their full strength, which was even more than he had stated.

"You see!" said the pirate chief, complacently. "Look, and count them."

"I see that we're outnumbered by a gang of cut-throats," said Captain Harding, bitterly.

"Gently, my friend," said the other, suavely. "Some of my men understand English like myself, and might not relish your compliments, although, as a man of the world, I can make excuses for you--ah--want of tact; yes, that's the word, is it not?"

"Cease your humbugging, sir, and come to the point," said the captain, trying to curb his anger, which he could hardly control in the face of the pirate's cynical impertinence. Had it not been for the sake of the boys by his side he would have let drive at the scoundrel at once, and risked his fate.

"That's just what I am about to do," said the other coolly, not one whit put out of his even temper apparently. "You confess you are outnumbered? Good! I, on my part, do not wish for any further bloodshed, if I can effect my purpose without it. Besides which, I have conceived quite an affection for you and those young gentlemen there, whom I first had the pleasure of meeting at Beyrout. Good morning, signors," he interposed, taking off his Greek cap and bowing politely to Tom and Charley. "It is morning, for it's nearly one o'clock now. I hope I see you well? But to resume, captain. As I said, there's no further necessity for our fighting that I can see. You have killed three of my men, whom I considerately placed on board your ship before she left port so as to get possession of her without any bloodshed at all, although the fates willed otherwise; and we, I believe, six of yours; so in losses we may, perhaps, have the advantage of you, although that fellow there"--pointing to the Greek sailor Tom had cut down with his cutlass--"won't be worth much more to me, and that gives you only two more than ourselves in the casualty list. But I won't grumble. I'm satisfied to cry quits, and call a truce to hostilities."

"And, after that?" said the captain.--"I don't suppose you attacked us for nothing!"

"Your remark," said the pirate, smiling, "does credit to your good sense. I am not in the habit, strange to say, even in these heroic days, of doing anything for nothing. Am I, Calchas?" he added, turning to a ferocious-looking villain at his right hand.

The man evidently did not understand him, as he spoke still in English for the benefit of the captain's party; but he grinned in sympathy with the smile on the pirate chief's face--such a cruel, crafty smile as it was!

"You have got possession of the ship," said Captain Harding; "what more do you want, if you don't wish to murder us like the rest of my poor crew?"

"My dear sir, you certainly use very strong language; and I can't say I like it," said the pirate, playing carelessly with the handle of a long yataghan that was thrust through his crimson sash. "Murder is a nasty word, which should not really be mentioned in the company of gentlemen! Your men fell in fair fighting."

"Yes, when they were taken unawares by a pack of traitors," put in the captain hotly. The other's cool assurance was more than he could stomach.

"Pray don't interrupt me," said the pirate. "It is, to say the least of it, rude. But, now to business. I have possession of your ship, you say? That is true without doubt; now, my difficulty is, how to utilise that possession; and here, Captain Harding, I shall have to claim your assistance--"

"You may claim away till doomsday," said the captain with grim humour; "but as to my giving it, that's quite a different matter."

"Allow me to finish my sentence," continued the other--"claim your assistance in return for the lives of yourself and the remainder of your crew. Else, I shall be extremely sorry, but circumstances will compel my wishing you all a speedy adieu."

And the cold-blooded desperado drew his hand across his throat and then pointed to the water over the ship's side, in a very suggestive way.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Captain Harding curtly.

"Nothing very alarming, or calculated to wound your honourable feelings," replied the pirate. "I simply want you to remain in command of your vessel."

The bluff, honest sailor stared at the other in amazement; he couldn't make out "what he was driving at," as he said to himself.

"In ostensible command of the ship, that is," said the pirate, correcting his previous expression. "I, of course, shall be virtually master, but you will navigate her under my orders, and answer--likewise under my directions--any curious questions that may be put to us from passing vessels as to our destination and so on."

"Why, you want me, John Harding, to sail under false colours, and help you to make away with the ship as I've sailed in, man and boy, ever since I smelt salt water, not to speak of betraying my owners and their interests. I'll see you--a--a--shot first!"

As he spoke the captain pulled the trigger of his revolver, and would have settled all the pirate's chances of present and future booty if he had not with a rapid movement of his quickly-drawn yataghan struck up the muzzle of the weapon, causing the bullet to expend itself in the air harmlessly, although it went uncommonly close to the head of the trembling Tompkins above, who was waiting for a peaceful arrangement of the situation before he descended.

On the shot being fired, the main body of the pirates rushed forward, and would have annihilated the captain and the two lads, had not their chief stopped them with some harsh word of command, at which they immediately fell back again.

"I bear no malice, Captain Harding," said the pirate chief, with a magnanimous air, "and I'll forgive your attempt on my life, especially as the bullet missed its mark. I will also, as you have such scruples of conscience, excuse you from acting still as the captain of this vessel, and promote your chief officer--I believe the gentleman is up aloft--to that post. I've no doubt he will prove more accommodating, particularly when I place my reasons strongly before him. But I have not done with you yet, captain. I shall want you presently below with reference to the ship's papers and cargo. So now put down your weapons, and order your men to disarm. I will save your lives, I promise."

"Boys, we must submit; we're in their power, and they are too strong for us," said Captain Harding, turning to Tom and Charley. "I don't suppose they'll murder us now in cold blood; we must trust their word for it-- the word of a pirate," he added aloud, with bitter scorn.

"And you can trust it," replied the pirate chief proudly. "The word of Demetri, the Corsair of Chios, is known to be as sacred as his name is feared in the Aegean Sea."

"By Jingo!" exclaimed the captain, looking from Tom to Charley, and back again to the pirate chief. "Demetri, the corsair! Why, that's the very man that Mohammed told you about at Beyrout, and whom I would not believe in."

And the honest old fellow seemed to reproach himself for not paying more heed to the boys' story.

"The same, at your service," said the corsair, as he had better be called now. "Now lay down your arms, and I shall treat you as prisoners on parole."

"And you promise that we shall go free?" said Captain Harding, pleading for terms, although he felt that they were vanquished.

"Yes, when I've done with you. Look sharp! Time is pressing, and I cannot answer for my men much longer," said Demetri.

So Captain Harding, Tom, and Charley, and the steward, laid on the deck the weapons with which they had hastily armed themselves when below as soon as the noise of the outbreak reached them, when they were instantly picked up by one of the Greeks, who stepped forward for the purpose by his leader's orders.

"We are now at your mercy," said the captain. "I don't mind about myself, but, Corsair, or whatever you are, spare the poor boys and my remaining men."

"Their lives are safe, I tell you," said the other impatiently. "Have I not given my word? But call your other men down," he added, pointing to Jack Bower, who was still half-way up the rigging, and Tompkins in the mizzen-top.

Captain Harding summoned them, and Jack Bower at once obeyed his orders; but the first mate refused to budge, saying, that as he was no longer master of the ship, he was not compelled to carry out his directions, especially if doing so jeopardised his life.

"The cowardly rascal!" exclaimed the captain, hardly knowing whether to laugh or to be angry; but Mr Tompkins was really so paralysed with terror that he had not the faintest idea of what he was saying, "I'll soon make him obey me," said the corsair, cocking the captain's revolver, which he had taken from him, and pointing it at the frightened occupant of the top above his head. "If you are not on deck by the time I count five, you, first officer, or whatever you call yourself, I'll fire, and you'll descend to Davy Jones's locker quicker than it will take you to come down the rigging! One--two--three--"

"Stop, sir, good gentleman, stop, and I'll come down," faltered out Mr Tompkins, roused from his fright more by the corsair's action than his words, for a pointed pistol has a wonderfully persuasive way of its own; and, with hesitating feet, he slowly descended the ratlins and placed himself beside the captain, who looked at him first contemptuously, and then turned his back, muttering between his teeth--

"If I had had a man in charge of the watch, or even one of these boys, we would never have been put in this position."

"You are wrong there," said the corsair, "for we would have attacked you all the same."

"Never mind," retorted the captain bravely. "But we would not have been unprepared, and you would have had a tussle to get on board, instead of things being made easy for you."

"Have your own way in that," replied the other, shrugging his shoulders, as he gave some unintelligible order to his men, ten of whom slipped forward, placing themselves on either side of the captain and the two lads, and the other Englishmen, with the exception of the chief mate-- two Greeks to each of them. "I'm sorry, captain," continued the corsair, "but I am compelled to put you and your countrymen to some little inconvenience, lest you should be tempted to escape, when it would be the worse for you."

And, at another word of command, all the hands of the whole party were securely lashed behind their backs.

"As for you," said the corsair, speaking more harshly than he had yet done, as he turned to Tompkins, "if you dare move without my permission, you are a dead man! Stop there, and if any vessel hails you as we pass into the archipelago, mind you answer correctly as if you were still pursuing your original voyage, for we are going for a time in the same course. I shall hear you, so beware!"

And he waved his sharp yataghan before the first mate's eyes in a way which he did not at all relish, although he took the hint as it was intended.

The corsair now gave the man whom he had sent to the helm after the parley was over, some directions as to the steering of the _Muscadine_, which was then entering the channel between Rhodes and Scarpanto, nearly about the very time that poor Captain Harding had expected, although under strangely different circumstances; after which, he motioned the captain to precede him down the companion, while he told the others to remain where they were on deck until he returned, enforcing his order by placing a guard over them.

"We'll now go below, captain, and overhaul the ship's papers, as I suggested to you just now," said the corsair in a politely peremptory tone; and the captain, seeing no help for it, and no object to be gained by opposing the wish of his captor, obeyed the veiled order, the two descending to the cabin, where they remained some time, whether in argument or in conference of course those who were on deck could not guess, although both Tom and Charley would have bet their last sixpence that the corsair did not get much voluntary information out of their skipper.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER SIX.

A SELL FOR THE PIRATE.

Acting apparently under instructions previously given, the felucca, after transferring a large portion of her men to the merchant ship, proceeded some distance ahead of her, as if not to cause any suspicions by her propinquity should any vessel pass by them in their passage through the channel. But she still remained close enough to be signalled by her commander should her nearer presence be needed.

When the pirate chief and Captain Harding returned on deck from their visit below, Tom and Charley could see, from the fierce looks of the one and the stolidly stubborn expression of the other, that their private interview had not been of the most agreeable nature, and they soon learned the reason.

"I have been deceived, duped, despoiled of my just dues," exclaimed the corsair frantically, as he gained the deck, speaking in English as if for the special benefit of the two lads and their unfortunate fellow-countrymen; "and had it not been for my sacred word which I never break once I have given it, overboard you should go, every one, with your throats cut!"

"But," said Captain Harding, "we have not deceived you as to the value of the ship and cargo. If anybody is to be blamed, you must look to those agents and spies you employ who have misinformed you."

"Silence!" shouted out the other, foaming with passion. "You are a miserable set of impostors, you English! How could I tell that a big vessel like this would only be half-loaded with a lot of trumpery stuff that's not worth the freight; and that her captain had hardly a piastre to bless himself with? And yet you English people boast of your wonderful wealth. I call it a scandalous imposition, wasting my time in this way, and the lives of my men, for nothing."

And he stamped his feet in his rage as he walked to and fro.

Charley could hardly refrain from laughing at the pirate chief going on in this way about being taken in. As he whispered to Tom, when he had the chance, it reminded him of the pickpocket who had stolen a watch, complaining of being hardly used because the article turned out to be pinchbeck!

"If you like to let us go, I will give you a bond for the estimated value of the ship and cargo," said Captain Harding, wishing to pacify the man--who now appeared capable of going any lengths in his fury--for he did not place much credence in his loudly vaunted promise of saving their lives.

His suggestion, however, only seemed to add fuel to the fire.

"Yes, and a nice fool I should be to present it for payment, and have the police upon me. Do you take me for an addle-pated idiot? I tell you what I will do. I will burn your miserable old hulk of a ship, and its rotten cargo; and you and she can roast together!"

"And your pledged word as to our lives?" said the captain.

"I told you I wouldn't take them, and my word is good, although I spared your life simply because I might want your signature. But if the ship catches fire, and you unfortunately cannot escape from her, of course it will not be my fault--don't you see?"

And the corsair gave a malignant laugh, that disclosed his real disposition better than words, and convinced the Englishmen of the futility of appealing to him for pity.

It was now broad daylight, and the _Muscadine_ was working up to windward of the cluster of small islands that lie to the northward of Scarpanto, having just weathered the channel that separates it from Rhodes, when the topmasts of a ship could be seen rounding the headland nearest them.

"It's one of our cruisers, boys," whispered Captain Harding, whose keen eyes had distinguished a pendant flying from the main-truck of the new-comer.--"We are saved! we're saved!"

The pirate captain, however, had ears as quick as the captain's eyes were keen.

"Gag that babbler," he cried to his men--in Greek of course--"and the two boys as well, and bundle them down into the cabin. Stay! take those men also, and serve them the same," pointing to the steward and Jack Bower and the other three seamen.

All the Englishmen were hurried below without any unnecessary delay, with the exception of Mr Tompkins, whom the corsair next addressed, presenting the captain's cocked revolver as he did so, and pressing the cold steel muzzle of the pistol against his right temple.

"You coward!" said he with a thrilling hiss on his tongue like a serpent's; "your life trembles in the balance. If that vessel now approaching hails us, and you do not answer correctly, as I have already warned you, this bullet goes through your brain. Do you hear?"

"I hear. I--I--I--hear," faltered out the first mate, while the perspiration stood out in great beads of fright on his forehead.

The vessel in front came nearer and nearer; and presently she rounded-to under the _Muscadine's_ stern, the old well-known Union Jack of Old England floating up to the masthead the while, and a hearty voice hailing the merchantman through a speaking-trumpet from her quarter-deck, not half a cable's length away, in true nautical fashion--

"Ship ahoy! What ship is that?"

The corsair was standing by the side of Mr Tompkins, close by the taffrail. Before Captain Harding had been taken below he had removed his uniform cap and monkey-jacket, and put them on himself, so that he might pass for one of the ship's officers, and he had likewise directed the majority of his men to lie down on the deck, lest their numbers might create suspicion.

As the stranger vessel approached nearer with the intention of speaking, as he could understand, he lowered the revolver which he had held for more than a minute pressed against the first mate's forehead. But he had it still in his hand, as the trembling Tompkins was aware, ready for action, only that its muzzle was now touching his side instead of his temple.

"Now, answer correctly," whispered the corsair in the mate's ear, in a fierce thrilling whisper that penetrated through every fibre of his body, when the hail of the British man-of-war rang out in the air.--"Answer as I told you, or you are a dead man, if fifty English frigates were alongside!"

STORY TWO, CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE LAST OF THE OLD SHIP.

It was not an English frigate, as might have been supposed, from the observation of the pirate chief, but one of those despatch vessels that we usually keep in eastern waters in attendance on our Mediterranean fleet; and being a steamer, of course she could arrest her progress, and remain in proximity to the _Muscadine_ without the necessity of laying-to like a sailing-ship, or any trouble save slacking speed.

"Answer," repeated the corsair sternly, still in the same melodramatic whisper, enforcing his order with a dig of the revolver barrel in Tompkins' side.

"The _Mus_--" began the mate in faltering accents. But another savage dig of the pistol improved his articulation, and he shouted out, as loud almost as if he had a speaking-trumpet like the officer who had hailed them.

"The _Muscadine_ of Bristol," he cried with all the power of his lungs, "from Beyrout to Smyrna with assorted cargo."

"Any news from the Levant?" was the next query from the ship-of-war. "Stop, I'll send a boat aboard."

This, however, was the last thing which the corsair desired, and he impressed some whispered instructions rapidly on Mr Tompkins, with the assistance again of the pistol barrel; and that worthy spoke equally rapidly, to prevent the other vessel from lowering a boat, which they were on the point of doing, as they could hear the men piped away by the boatswain's call for the purpose.

"Fever very bad at Beyrout," sang out the first mate, again, inspired by his tutor. "Had to leave half crew in hospital! Short-handed! Can you lend us a few men? Who shall we report as having met us?"

This answer at once arrested the intention of the commander of the despatch vessel, and prevented his sending a boat to them--as the corsair had surmised it would, from the fear of his bluejackets catching the infection, Syrian fevers being as much dreaded in the Mediterranean as the plague--for the reply shouted back was an apology for non-communication or help.

"Sorry for you, but cannot spare any men! You'll have to go into quarantine at Smyrna. Report _H.M.S. Batrachia_, from the Dardanelles to Malta."

And then, in obedience to the orders of the officer on the bridge, the despatch vessel circled round again on her way; and putting on full steam was soon lost to sight in a cloud of black smoke far-away to leeward.

To the captain and two lads below it was the keenest agony to hear the welcome hail of the English steamer followed by the mate's prevaricating reply, when they were certain that but one single word as to the real truth of the case would have summoned their countrymen to their rescue, and ensured the punishment of their lawless captors.

Of course they knew that Mr Tompkins had acted under intimidation, having been compelled to give the answers he did and prevented from calling for assistance; but both Tom and Charley would have died rather than have sacrificed the chance of their comrades' escape through any morbid fear as to their own personal safety.

They could not speak to each other, being gagged, and having a couple of assassin--looking scoundrels mounting guard over them in addition, as they lay where they were thrown down on the floor of the main cabin; but their eyes said, as plainly as eyes could speak, the thoughts that were uppermost in the mind of each--a feeling of disappointment at the hope of a rescue being so rudely dispelled when it looked so imminent, and a sense of disgust at the disgraceful cowardice of the mate.

It may seem strange that the corsair, who had spared the lives of the captain and the remainder of the crew of the _Muscadine_, and appeared really on such jovial terms with his prisoners up to the moment of his going below with Captain Harding to look at the ship's papers, should all at once change his demeanour and come out in his true colours; but, the matter is easy enough of explanation.

The corsair had been led to think that the merchant ship was freighted with a valuable cargo of silk and tobacco, the bulk of which he could have readily transferred to the felucca, as they were handy of shipment; consequently, when he found out that the vessel was only half-loaded with wine and fruit, which would require considerable storage room, and be then almost valueless in the only markets he could command, his rage knew no bounds. Added to this, Captain Harding, acting under a sense of duty to his owners, had concealed the fact of his possessing a considerable sum of money on board in drafts on bankers at Smyrna; while the pirate chief, supposing that he did have money, looked to find it in specie, and was correspondingly disappointed a second time. And thus it was that he was sorry at having spared the lives of the Englishmen after the fray had occurred; although he regretted that he had planned the capture of the ship at all, and placed himself and his companions in peril for a prize that was uncommonly like the king of Siam's present of a white elephant to one he meant to ruin; for it was useless to him, and he could not destroy the vessel or abandon it where she was, in the regular waterway of communication between the cities of the East, for fear of her being discovered, and he and his band of desperadoes pursued before they had ensured their safety by flight. He wished now to get rid of the ship, and secure whatever of her cargo he could carry away-- for his men must have some booty to repay their trouble and risk; but he must seek some out-of-the-way spot first, where he might unload her, and then, as he told his prisoners, burn her--and them, too, as far as he cared--to destroy all traces of his handiwork and the possibility of detection. Had he not thought it worth his while, he would certainly never have attacked the vessel.

To tell the truth, the corsair was in a quandary; so, when the smoke of the man-of-war steamer had melted into the air, he summoned Captain Harding and the rest on deck again, and having their gags removed, interrogated them once more.

"You say, captain," said he, knitting his brows and looking the skipper straight in the eyes, to see whether he was telling the truth, "that you have no money, beyond the few piastres and two or three English sovereigns I saw in your desk in the after cabin?"

The honest seaman could not tell a lie even to an enemy and a robber as this man was--at least, not unblushingly; so, unlike his usual way, he could not face his questioner, but gazed down on the planking of the deck as he spoke.

"No--that is, yes," replied the captain hesitatingly: it was very different to his round, bluff way of bringing out his sentences with an honest straightforwardness.

"You had better be careful," said the other in a threatening manner. "It is strange that you should be bound to Smyrna for more cargo, and not have the wherewithal to purchase it with! Have you got any more money or not? Reflect, it is the last time I shall ask you the question."

Mr Tompkins stood by unbound, while his fellow-prisoners had their hands bound behind their backs, and their legs likewise tied. He thought it a mark of the higher consideration in which he was held, whereas the corsair considered he wasn't worth the trouble of binding, being one who would not have the pluck to help himself or his fellows. Unbound he was, however; and, anxious to ingratiate himself further with those in power, the mate up and spoke, heedless of Captain Harding's angry exclamation to hold his tongue, and the boys' cries of "Shame!"

"The captain forgets," Mr Tompkins said, addressing himself to the corsair. "He might not have hard cash, but he has a draft, I know, on a firm at Smyrna."

"Oh-ho!" exclaimed the pirate chief, a gleam of triumphant satisfaction passing over his face for an instant, and then vanishing as he again confronted the captain sternly.

"I thought an Englishman's word was his bond through the world," he said in a scornful tone, which made the captain redden as his conscience accused him of having told an untruth, or at all events, of having been guilty of an evasion.

"It wasn't my money," he said, as if to extenuate his previous denial.

"Then you have got a draft, such as this fellow speaks of?" continued the corsair, pointing contemptuously with his foot at the mate, with a kick.

"Yes," said the captain.

"Where is it?"

"In a note-book in the pocket of that coat of mine you've got on," said Captain Harding, with a gesture at the borrowed monkey-jacket which the other still wore.

"Oh, thanks! Then it is quite handy," said the corsair, clapping his hand in the breast-pocket of the appropriated garment, and producing a thick Russian leather wallet, which he proceeded to open with nervous hands.

"Respect my private papers," said the captain, as the other fumbled amidst a mass of memoranda and other documents. "There is only one draft there, and nothing else valuable, I pledge you my word."

"Honour?" asked the other.

"On my honour there is not," replied Captain Harding with dignity. "I never said that when you asked me about money in the cabin; so, you may believe me."

"I do believe you, captain," said the pirate chief with a light laugh, which might have been caused by the sight of a banker's draft which he unfolded at the moment, as much as by his words. "I give you the credit of not being able to tell a lie with any spirit, as you tried to do just now. Here are your papers; this will be enough for me." And he then read out the draft, which ran as follows:--

"From Bracegirdle, Pollyblank, and Company, Ship and Insurance Agents, Birchin Lane, London, to Miguel, Mavrocordato, and Thomasson, Freres, Fruit Merchants and General Shippers, Smyrna, 17th March, 1881. At three days' sight pay to John Harding, master of the ship _Muscadine_, or order, the sum of one thousand five hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling. Value received.

"1575 pounds, 0 shillings 0 pence. Bracegirdle, Pollyblank and Co."

"This is a very nice little sum of money," said the corsair complacently, restored to all his previous good humour; "a very nice little sum of money!"

"Wait till you get it," said Captain Harding gruffly, by no means pleased at the other's satisfaction.

"Oh, I shall get it easily enough," replied the corsair airily. "You've only to put your signature to it, and the thing's done."

"When I sign it," said the captain, pointedly.

"Ah! my dear captain, there will be no bother about that, when I ask you politely," retorted the pirate chief, with a significant look, which did not have the slightest effect on the brave sailor--indeed it only made him smile.

"We will see," was all he said in reply, but his determined expression of face added the rest.

"I can wait," answered the other; "so we will not argue the point, for at present I have got more pressing matters to attend to."

A signal was then made to the felucca, which had kept the ship in sight all the while, although close in to the land, and apparently proceeding on a coasting-voyage, and having nothing to do with the other vessel; and then, the course of the _Muscadine_ was altered and she bore up for the Cyclades.

"I have no further dread of meeting any of your floating bull dogs," said the pirate chief affably, as if in explanation of his motives. "And none of the French cruisers are up here now; they are all too busy in Tunisian waters. So, I may as well shift your cargo, captain, at the back of one of the little islands we are coming to, where we can lie by unseen without any interference."

During the whole of that day, the ship was steered amongst a parcel of shoals, which made poor Captain Harding tremble for her safety, albeit she was taken out of his control; and, towards nightfall, she was brought to anchor in sixteen fathoms, under the lea of a rocky cliff that projected up into a peak on one of the tiny islets by which they were encircled. Here, the felucca having followed them, the pick of her cargo was removed to the smaller craft--a few bales of silk, some tobacco, and a good portion of wine; the cases of dried fruit being left untouched, as taking them to any of the Greek ports with the idea of finding a market for their contents, as the corsair well knew, would have been like carrying coals to Newcastle.

Then, the Englishmen, who had been well treated all the day in the matter of food and drink--some books even were brought up by the orders of the leader from the cabin, for them to read, his courtesy and attention were so great--were removed to the felucca, being followed by the Greek sailors; Captain Harding and the others subsequently witnessing the melancholy sight of the ill-fated _Muscadine_ sinking at her anchors, for she had been scuttled in several places after the selected goods had been transferred to the pirate's own vessel, which remained on the spot till the other disappeared beneath the waves.

"I should have liked to have burnt her, as I said I would do," observed the corsair, as the _Muscadine_ went down bows foremost, "all standing," with a graceful plunge; "but I was afraid of attracting notice. However, she is safe now at the bottom, at all events; and sunken ships, like dead men, tell no tales!"

Captain Harding made no reply.

His heart was too full at seeing his ship, which he regarded almost like a living thing, so recklessly destroyed before his eyes; it was the ship which he had first gone to sea in as a boy, and which it had been the ambition of his life to command. It was too much, and turning his head away as the tips of her spars sank from view, he wiped away a tear from his eye with the back of his horny hand.

Nothing that the pirates had done hitherto affected him like this.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER EIGHT.

AMONGST THE BRIGANDS.

As soon as the _Muscadine_ had succumbed to her ill fate so tragically, the felucca made sail at once from the place, steering north, as well as Captain Harding could make out; for neither he nor the boys were allowed to look at the compass, and they none of them spoke to Tompkins since his betrayal of the captain's trust, although he could probably have told them, for he "appeared to be hail fellow well met" with his captors, as Charley said.

The night passed, and again another day and night, without anything noteworthy happening, the swift craft sailing at racehorse speed, and always in the same direction, to the best of their belief, as if towards some fixed destination; but the corsair did not enlighten them, and, indeed, did not address them during the interval.

Towards the evening of the second day on which they were on board her, the felucca drew near land, from which she held off and on until the shades of night covered her movements, when she approached close to the shore, and a boat was lowered over her side.

The pirate chief then, for the first time since the _Muscadine_ disappeared under the waters of the Aegean Sea, addressed Captain Harding and his companions, who had found the time of their captivity hang wearily on their hands, although they were virtually free to walk about on board their prison-house, with the exception of speaking to any of the crew or looking at the compass, both of which were interdicted, with significant threats whenever they tried to evade the prohibition.

"Now, captain," said the corsair, with an oily smile, which sat worse upon his countenance than a frown, "I will thank you to sign this order," producing the skipper's bank-draft, and a pen and ink all ready for the purpose. "Just sign it, and I will put you and your brother Englishmen ashore at once."

"Where are we?" asked the captain.

"On the coast of Greece," was the answer, "not far from Salonica, where I am going with the felucca to dispose of my cargo," with a naive candour which made Charley Onslow laugh outright.

"His cargo, indeed," he whispered to Tom. "You have often talked of my Irish impudence, but, bedad, that beats Banagher."

"Be quiet," replied Tom; "you'll only get us into a row."

But the leader of the pirates took no heed of the interruption; he was too busy about the money order.

"Come, sign," he repeated to the captain.

"And suppose I don't?" said he.

"Then you and your companions will be imprisoned in the mountains until you do, up to a certain period--until I have time to complete my business at Salonica, that is--and if, on my return from thence, you still continue obdurate, why, then all of you had better say your prayers--" completing his sentence with an emphatic gesture which could not be misunderstood.

The captain was obstinate. He thought that now they were near a well-known port, and in comparatively civilised regions, the pirate chief would not dare to carry out his threat, and after a time, if he only held out, would be satisfied with the share of booty he had already secured, particularly, as from some remarks which he casually let fall when the cargo was being shifted, it had turned out to be more valuable than he had anticipated.

Once he had made up his mind, nothing would make the captain budge an inch from the position he had taken up. He could be as obstinate as a mule when he liked.

"I refuse to sign the draft, and you may whistle for the money," he said doggedly.

"You better had," urged the other. "I only advise you for your own good. Those brigand friends of mine in the mountains, who will be your jailers, are a rough lot, and not to be trifled with."

"I will see you hanged first!" shouted out the captain, out of all patience, and he then closed his lips together tightly to show that he did not intend saying another word.

"Absit omen," quoted the corsair; "hanging is a ticklish subject. Polydori," turning to one of the Greeks, "take charge of these Englishmen, with ten others of your best men. Your lives will answer for theirs until you give them into Mocatto's keeping. You know the rendezvous, where to meet him and his band. Captain, and young gentlemen, adieu! May you be of a more practical mind when I see you again, which will not be long."

And, with these words, the corsair took leave of the captives, who, after being gagged again, and having their hands all tied behind them-- including Tompkins this time, much to the boys' satisfaction--were put into the boat that lay alongside, and rowed ashore, under a strong guard, with the Greek Polydori at their head.

It was a change of scene from their cooped-up quarters on board the felucca; but after they had had a toilsome march, uphill all the way, through mountainous defiles and along the roughest of paths, they wished themselves back again in their floating prison.

Arrived at a cross-turning surrounded by a thicket of stunted shrubs, the leader of the guard that accompanied them cried a halt, uttering a shrill and prolonged whistle, which was presently repeated from the hills above.

An approaching footstep was then heard, and a challenge, to which Polydori replied with some password, after which there was a long colloquy between him and the stranger.

They were then ordered to resume their march, although they had been walking two hours since they had quitted the shore, Polydori and the stranger leading the column, with the prisoners in the centre and the other guards in the front and rear. In this manner they proceeded until the unfortunate captives were ready to drop with fatigue, while their board ship shoes were worn into shreds by the stones and prickles of the path they had traversed, and their feet all bleeding and torn.

"I can't go a step farther!" exclaimed Tom, dropping in his footsteps. "Good-bye all."

But the guards prodded him with their knives, and made him rise again. So he tottered along, until the column, marching in a sort of military order, and passing numerous sentinels, who challenged the leaders, and stopped them till they gave the countersign, entered suddenly on a large encampment of men, squatting on the ground amidst a circle of fires. There were no tents nor waggons to bear out the illusion, but otherwise the scene resembled a bivouac of some expeditionary force.

The brigands, as the English readily guessed these gentry to be, were some forty or more in number, and were principally Greeks and Albanians, clad in their picturesque dress--a short sleeveless jacket, coarse gaiters and shoes, a kilt of some rough texture, and a fez; while across their chests they carried a cartridge belt, and around their waist a sash, in which were stuck pistols and knives, not forgetting the long yataghan, that hung to their sides in the same fashion as they had noticed with the crew of the pirate felucca.