Just then a shot was fired from the _Neptune_. Possibly the captain of the gun had lost his nerve; but the shot was well aimed, for it struck the fore mast of the nearest buccaneer.

"A pest take it!" muttered Captain Jeremy, "that will ruin all my plans;" and springing on the p.o.o.p he hailed the _Neptune_, to know why the gun had been discharged.

Fortunately the premature shot was not followed by others, though we expected it would be mistaken for the signal to commence firing; and for ten minutes longer we lay under a heavy fire from all the vessels.

Evidently the buccaneers did not wish to sink us, for they directed their fire princ.i.p.ally at our spars and cordage. Once we were captured they would remove our stores and other valuable gear, and scuttle the ships, so as to leave no trace of their fiendish handiwork. Such has been the fate of many unfortunate merchantmen in West Indian waters, with hardly a fragment left afloat to tell the tale.

"Stand to it, my lads," shouted Captain Jeremy encouragingly. "Spars can be replaced and cordage refitted. They'll get tired of that game ere long. Lie down, all of you."

It was indeed a trying ordeal. We had already lost our foreyard, which had tumbled down across the fo'c'sle, bringing with it a litter of ropes, blocks, and torn canvas. Our spritsail yard, broken in two places, dangled from the bowsprit; while our mainmast was splintered from the futtock-shrouds to within ten feet of the deck.

Several shots had torn gaping holes in our sides, and as a result four more dead men lay on our decks, while nearly a dozen badly wounded were carried below.

Nor was our consort in a better plight. Her fore topmast had been shot away early in the cannonade, her p.o.o.p lanterns and part of the taffrail had disappeared, and several ominous dark holes were visible in her bulging yellow sides.

"How much longer are we to stand this?" asked Touchstone, as he bound his wrist with a kerchief.

"Patience, man, patience!" was Captain Jeremy's only reply, as he calmly surveyed the scene of destruction--the blood-stained deck littered with the p.r.o.ne figures of seamen, whether they were dead, or wounded, or unhurt; and the tangle of shattered spars and cordage--and the smoke-enshrouded outlines of our ferocious attackers.

Ever and anon a shrill cry of pain or an exclamation of rage would be heard, as a ma.s.s of timber dislodged from aloft came hurtling through the air and struck some unfortunate man crouching near the guns; and another limp body would be borne below to add to the steadily growing numbers of our wounded. Yet discipline, iron discipline, prevailed, and were we to win the day we must receive hard knocks with the traditional fort.i.tude of Englishmen.

Ash.o.r.e our stockade, its seaward face hidden by a mask of bushes, also maintained a dignified silence, though in the case of its defenders, they were not put to the same temptation as ourselves.

All at once two men emerged from our main hatchway, dragging with them a great, hulking fellow, whose face was livid with terror.

"'Ere you are, Cap'n," said one of the men. "We found 'im skulking in t'hold."

"And 'e hasn't a scratch on 'im," added the other. "Shall us pitch 'im over the side?"

For the s.p.a.ce of a full minute Captain Jeremy intently regarded the trembling man; then, as the cry arose, "Here they come!" he stepped to the weather bulwarks and looked in the direction of the enemy.

"Pa.s.s the word for the crew to stand to their arms," he said in a low tone to the master gunner; then, returning to where the abject creature still stood cowering, "There's your chance," he remarked quietly, pointing towards the buccaneering craft; "play the man!"

CHAPTER XVIII

"Repel Boarders!"

The three vessels had now ceased firing, and from under their sterns six large boats, crowded with armed men, were being pulled straight towards us with all their rowers' might.

We could see the water foaming at their bows, and hear the splash of the oars as they dipped with rapidity and regularity, while the sun glistened on gun barrel, pike, and cutla.s.s.

Unmolested they pa.s.sed between the two arms of the harbour, then, having drawn into line, they separated, three boats making for each of our vessels.

Suddenly the order was given to open fire. The guns were run out, and the _Golden Hope_ quivered from truck to keelson with the roar of her ordnance. The _Neptune_ followed suit, while the stockade ash.o.r.e added to the din.

The calm water around the boats was transformed into a veritable cauldron, and it seemed impossible that a single boat could remain afloat in that iron hail.

Although taken completely by surprise, the buccaneers were made of stern stuff, and before the smoke cleared away sufficiently to enable us to see the result of our united broadsides, they were swarming up over our tall sides.

"Repel boarders!" thundered Captain Jeremy, waving his cutla.s.s as he sprang to meet the attack. n.o.bly our men responded, and midst the sharp crack of pistols, the groans of the wounded, and the sharp exclamations of fury, cutla.s.s crossed with cutla.s.s and pike encountered pike.

I found myself opposed to a villainous halfcaste, clad only in a pair of drawers, and armed with a large cutla.s.s. In spite of my efforts, for I possessed both skill and strength far beyond my age, I soon found that I had all my work cut out, for my opponent whirled his blade with great force and rapidity. Twice, however, I put in a thrust beneath his guard, wounding him slightly on the hip and on the right shoulder. Yet in spite of this slight advantage I was slowly and surely being driven back, when, tripping over a broken spar, I fell heavily.

Every instant I expected to feel the sweep of the pirate's cutla.s.s, but the blow never came. So I took courage and raised myself on my elbow, and, to my surprise, I found my late antagonist engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the man who had been brought before Captain Jeremy for skulking in the hold.

All sense of fear had apparently left the latter. I heard afterwards that he had received a slight wound in his left arm, and the pain had transformed him into a veritable demon. Shouting, "Let me have a rub at the brutes!" he seized an iron bar, and met the onrushing buccaneers with the utmost fury. Two men had already gone down before his ponderous weapon ere, fortunately for me, he diverted the attention of the mulatto just as he had me at his mercy.

Even as I looked the iron bar crashed past the pirate's uplifted cutla.s.s and, descending on the half-caste's head, stretched him lifeless on the deck; but in the moment of victory a chance pistol shot laid the erstwhile coward over the body of his antagonist.

It seemed at this juncture that the buccaneers would succeed in carrying the _Golden Hope_, till Clemens, the Cornishman whom we had rescued from the Algerine vessel, clambered up the shattered p.o.o.p ladder, and, training one of the swivel guns, which fortunately was loaded, upon the thickest of the press of our enemies, fired a heavy charge of small shot with deadly effect.

Then, headed by Captain Jeremy and the master gunner, our men made a determined rush, and, still contesting every inch of our planks, the buccaneers were forced back over the side.

A hurried glance showed that the _Neptune_ had also succeeded in beating off her attackers, and was already resuming her fire upon the retreating boats.

Without pausing to regain their breath, our men also remanned their guns and poured a destructive broadside on the boats, of which three had been sunk when we first opened fire. Two more disappeared amidst a swirl of shot-torn water, while the sole remaining boat, moving slowly, for most of her oars had been shattered and she was more than half-full, managed by little short of a miracle to regain her parent ship.

But there was no respite for our weary crew, for the three buccaneering craft resumed their fire. It being comparatively feeble, we knew that their guns were now ill-served, and that they were only firing to aid their escape.

"Aim carefully! Wing 'em!" shouted the master gunner, as he pa.s.sed along the line of guns, some, alas! silent for want of a crew. In spite of his cautions, however, our men, elated with their victory, fired rapidly and erratically; but as the buccaneers made haste to sheer off, the mainmast of one came crashing over the side, while the others' spars were in a tottering state.

We could see the discomfited crew of the former vessel attack the wreckage with axes in an attempt to free themselves from the fatal enc.u.mbrance, but ere this could be done their ship drifted on to a shoal.

The remaining vessels were more fortunate. Slowly tacking, they drew beyond range, and having picked up the survivors of their consort who, on finding their vessel aground, had abandoned her, they gained the open sea.

"Man the long-boat and make sure of yonder craft!" shouted Captain Jeremy. "Let go her anchors when you get aboard, or she may float off with the rising tide."

Even as he spoke there was a crashing report, and, clapping his hands to his head, our gallant Captain staggered and fell senseless to the deck.

One of the buccaneers, who had been left for dead on our deck, had treacherously shot him at almost point-blank range.

With a howl of rage some of our men threw themselves upon the villain and dispatched him with their cutla.s.ses, while others hastened to raise Captain Jeremy and bear him into his cabin.

There we found that the wound, though dangerous, might not prove mortal. The bullet had ploughed a furrow just above the temple, and though the place bled profusely, Captain Jeremy soon recovered his senses.

His first thought was of the disabled buccaneering vessel. "Hath the long-boat pushed off yet?" he asked. "No? Then bid them go at once."

"Master Hammond," said Touchstone, on whom the command of the _Golden Hope_ now devolved, "do you take charge of the boat. You know your orders?"

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"Then carry them out--but, hark'ee, mind how you board. Be careful; make sure she is quite deserted, and straightway examine her hold. I know the villains; unless I am much mistaken, they will have left a slow match to the magazine."

Taking my place in the stern sheets, I ordered the boat to give way, feeling highly elated at my first command, yet, withal, having a presentiment that 'twas a hazardous enterprise.

Half-way across the harbour we came upon the shattered bow of one of the pirates' boats floating just awash, while all around were pieces of planks, showing how effectual and destructive our fire had been.