CHAPTER XXVII

The Mutiny of the _Neptune_

Having carried out my instructions, I directed the boat's crew to row back to the sh.o.r.e, and having secured the little craft and removed her oars, the men followed me to the stockade.

It was now night, but the open s.p.a.ce within the palisade was lit by the glare of a huge fire. Seated around on upturned casks, or sprawling on the ground, were as many of the crews of both brigs as could be spared, besides the garrison of the stockade; and, to my surprise, I recognized Joe Clemens, who had been sent ash.o.r.e, presumably ill with the ague, and also the four men who ought, according to the list of names, to have been keeping watch on board the _Neptune_.

Having reported myself to Captain Jeremy, I walked over to where Clemens was seated, and asked him how he felt.

"Never better in my life, Master Hammond," was his astonishing reply; from which, coupled with the fact that the other absentees from the _Neptune_ were not ashamed to be seen away from their posts, I concluded that 'twas all part and parcel of Captain Jeremy's plans.

The casks of spirits had been broached, and with rousing song the men, to use Captain 'Enery's expression, "let themselves go". The firelight gleamed on their bronzed, hearty features, and cast fantastic shadows upon the encircling wooden fence, where, like ghostly shapes against the dark sky, stood the sentinels who had been posted to keep watch while their comrades feasted and caroused.

The air was thick with the reek of burning logs and the odour of strong waters.

Yet, in contrast to the general festivity, Captain Jeremy and his officers maintained the strictest abstinence, though they applauded with the rest as a ballad went well, or joined in a volley of chaff when a seaman broke down in a partly forgotten song.

Frequently the Captain would slip quietly away and mount the parapet, whence he would gaze steadfastly across the harbour to where the anchor lamps of the two ships glimmered like stars on the point of setting.

It was well after midnight ere the fire had burnt itself low, and the glowing embers played on the faces of men who were too tired even to join in a chorus.

"My lads," exclaimed Captain Jeremy, "'tis too late to return on board. Make yourselves as comfortable as you can here, and report yourselves to me to-morrow at eight bells."

"Three cheers for Captain Miles!" shouted a hoa.r.s.e voice, and the men, having expended their last remaining energy in paying this tribute to their popular chief, trooped off to rest in the barrack-like shelters that had been erected for the comfort of the little garrison.

When all was quiet, Captain Jeremy, 'Enery, Silas Touchstone, and I walked down to the beach, followed by the boat's crew, and were rowed off to the _Golden Hope_.

"Turn in now, Master Clifford," said Captain Jeremy, as we gained the deck; "you must be tired out with the day's excitement and the night's revelry."

He had donned his thick peajacket, so I knew that, though he had not slumbered on the previous night, he meant to keep on deck. Something was in the wind.

Tired as I was, I could not sleep. For hours I lay awake, listening to the dull roar of the breakers on the reef and the periodical notes of the ship's bell, which, with faithful precision, were repeated on board the _Neptune_; while, borne on the soft air, as the land breeze blew across the bay, I could distinguish the "All's well" of the men on guard at the stockade.

Overhead I could hear a measured tramp, as the two captains paced the deck, for they had left the quarter-deck and were patrolling the p.o.o.p, talking in earnest tones, though their words were inaudible.

Six bells! Would sleep never come? I sprang out of my bunk, and walking over to one of the open stern ports, I leant out.

Grey dawn was beginning to glimmer in the east, and with it came the moaning of a rising wind. Barely distinguishable against the pale night mists, I could see the outlines of the _Neptune_. Did my eyes deceive me? Her sails had been shaken loose and were being sheeted home.

The footsteps overhead were still. The captains had ceased their monotonous walk. Had they, too, noticed the mysterious and unauthorized manoeuvre?

Even as I watched I heard the splash of the cut cable, and, listing over to the now stiff breeze, the _Neptune_ began to forge ahead.

I waited no longer; but rushed on deck, and gained the p.o.o.p just as Captain Jeremy hailed, in a voice like the bellowing of a bull:

"What are ye up to, ye rascals? Heave-to, I say, or I'll sink you!"

Still the _Neptune_ came on, moving with increasing pace as she drew farther from the lee of the land.

"Below there," shouted the master gunner, "stand to your guns!"

The newly awakened members of our scanty crew pa.s.sed through the fore hatchway in all states of clothing. They needed no second bidding, but, rushing to the guns, began to load.

Suddenly one of the gunlayers gave an exclamation of angry surprise.

"Spiked!" he shouted, with an oath.

"Same here," announced another, and a hasty examination revealed the unpleasant fact that every gun on the starboard side had an iron nail wedged into the touch-hole and broken off short.

Silas Touchstone disappeared, only to return with a box of armourer's tools. If anything was to be done it must be done speedily, for the _Neptune_ was now close to our quarter.

"Oh, for a single gun!" exclaimed Captain 'Enery. "We could wing her now."

Then, to my unspeakable dismay, I saw, gripping the weather-p.o.o.p rail of the _Neptune_, the figure of my enemy, Ned Slater. He had proved his words concerning his friends on the ship by taking possession of her, thanks to the aid of the mutineers.

The light was now sufficiently strong to distinguish the hideous leer of insolent triumph on his features..

"Farewell, Captain Miles!" he shouted. "A thousand thanks for having handed over the _Madre_ treasure, to say nothing of having provided the means to find the way out," and with an ostentatious flourish he displayed the well-known chart.

"May you be much beholden to it, you villain!" returned Captain Jeremy, and, laying hold of a musket, he fired at the double-dyed rogue.

Now, in all my experience I had never known Captain Jeremy to miss his mark at that comparatively short distance, and I fully expected to see the murderous thief fall dead on the deck. But the bullet went wide, so wide indeed that Slater never so much as ducked his head, which he would a.s.suredly have done had it 'scaped him narrowly.

"Try again, Cap'n," came the taunting cry.

"I'll be even with you yet," shouted Captain Jeremy, as he proceeded to reload his piece.

Meanwhile our men worked their hardest to run one of the larboard guns over to the other side, but owing to the shortage of hands and the enc.u.mbered state of our decks 'twas evident that the _Neptune_ would be well out of range ere a single gun was in position to open fire.

Having pa.s.sed well ahead of us, the disloyal brig smartly starboarded her helm and stood out for the open sea, followed by a desultory cannonade from the stockade, which, however, did little or no harm, though it proved that the men were fairly alert, in spite of their overnight carouse.

"She's off, right enough," exclaimed one of the men.

"And the treasure with her!" shouted another, in a paroxysm of rage.

"Where's my share now? All lost! All lost!"

"Peace, you fool!" said Captain Jeremy sternly.

"If you have lost your share, have I not lost far more? Wait and see."

CHAPTER XXVIII

The Fate of the Mutineers