The Last Cruise of the Spitfire/Chapter 18
CHAPTER XVIII.
I AM PUT IN IRONS.
I was thoroughly dismayed. All the plans the lawyer and myself had laid were now useless. He was left behind and I was on board little better than a prisoner. Bitterly I regretted not having taken the chances of getting ashore without being observed. Of what use now was all my information against Captain Hannock and his confederates? In an hour we would be far out at sea, and then the chances of doing anything to save myself would be small indeed.
Suddenly the idea of jumping overboard and swimming ashore entered my mind. We could not be far from the dock, and anything was better than to stay aboard the doomed Spitfire.
No sooner had the idea suggested itself than I undertook to put it into execution. I raised the trap and crawled up into the forecastle. No one was there, and I sneaked to the deck.
As I had surmised, the dock was not over a quarter of a mile away, if indeed it was as far. I was a fair swimmer, and without hesitation I ran to the rail with the full intention of jumping overboard.
"Hi, you rascal, come back! Stop him, somebody!"
It was Captain Hannock's voice, and it made me run faster than ever. I gained the rail, and in another moment would have been over.
"Hi, Crocker! Why don't you stop the lad!"
The next instant I felt a hand on my collar, and I was drawn forcibly back.
"Let me go!" I cried, and twisted with might and main to free myself.
"Not so lively, my hearty!" said Crocker. "The captain says you are to stay aboard."
And despite my struggles he held me until the others came.
But now I was thoroughly desperate, not knowing what would happen if I was carried to sea. I continued my struggles even after Captain Hannock's hand was placed on my arm.
This enraged the captain and he looked around for a rope's end with which to beat me into submission.
Seeing a chance, I made another struggle, and this time succeeded in breaking loose from Crocker and gaining the rail before they could catch me again.
Splash! I was over the side and into the water.
I had taken as good a dive as possible, and now I remained under water as long as my breath would allow. Consequently, when I again came to the surface I was all of a hundred feet behind the Spitfire. I lost no time in striking out for the shore.
But weighed down as I was by my clothing, my progress was slow. Realizing how I was encumbered, I paused long enough to pull off my coat and vest and kick off my shoes, and then I struck out once more.
In the mean time Captain Hannock was letting forth a flood of vile language at everything and everybody. He wanted to know who had aided me to escape and he threatened to shoot me if I did not turn around and swim back.
The threat rather alarmed me, but as I did not see any firearm in his hand I paid no heed to it, but kept on, until the distance between me and the schooner was considerable.
But now, to my chagrin, I saw the sails on the schooner being lowered. Then I heard the captain give the command to lower the boat.
Desperately I struck out for the shore, still so far away. I knew I could not make land, but I was in hope that I might get close enough to summon assistance. There were a number of boats, both large and small, moving about, and why should I not be able to find some one upon one of these ready to assist me?
"Help! Help!" I began to cry at the top of my voice.
"He's calling for help!" I heard Crocker exclaim. "He'll have somebody from shore at hand soon!"
"Man the boat, quick!" returned Captain Hannock. "We've only got a couple of minutes to reach him in!"
Crocker and the captain sprang into the boat and two sailors at once followed. Then two pairs of oars dropped into the water and the row-boat left the stern of the schooner.
I continued to swim, but my hopes of escape were rapidly leaving me. I was still too far away from any of the shore-boats for their occupants to hear my cries, and no one but those on the schooner and the schooner's boat seemed to be looking in my direction.
A few minutes more and the boat dashed up beside me. I dove out of sight, but the keen eyes of Crocker kept sight of me and when I once more arose he put out his hand and caught me by the ear.
"Come aboard!" he cried, sharply.
"Haul him in by the ear if he won't come!" roared Captain Hannock. "We can't afford to waste time on him. The sooner we get away from this harbor the better."
"That's so," returned Crocker, and he gave my ear a tremendous pull. "Are you coming?" he demanded.
"Yes; don't yank my ear off," I replied, for the way he was treating me hurt not a little.
"Then come aboard at once."
He continued to pull my ear, and one of the sailors caught me by the left hand. So seeing it was useless to resist any longer, I clambered over the side.
On the way after me the party in the boat had picked up my coat and vest, and these Captain Hannock now threw towards me.
"Put them on and behave yourself," he said, briefly. "Pull for the schooner, boys."
I donned the garments and sat down on the forward seat. The captain sat close beside me, and during the return to the vessel his watchful eyes did not once leave me.
We were soon on deck once more, and then without warning Captain Hannock burst forth into a perfect storm of anger.
He sprang at me and struck me a cruel blow in the mouth that almost knocked me off my feet.
"That's the way to treat him," put in Crocker, "Lay it to him good, Captain."
"You brute!" I cried.
"Shut up!" cried Captain Hannock; and then he turned away to give orders to the sailors to hoist sail again.
"You'll catch it now," went on Crocker to me.
"I don't care," I returned, recklessly.
"You don't, eh?"
"No, I don't. Do your worst!"
And I would say no more to him.
Presently the sails went up once more and again the Spitfire moved away from the distant shore. With the fading away of the land my last hope appeared to desert me.
Then Captain Hannock again approached me.
"How did you get loose?" demanded the skipper of the Spitfire, as he hurried up, red with rage.
"That's my business," was my reply. "You have no right to keep me on board."
"I'll put you in irons. Crocker, get the irons, I'll show the cub who's boss here!"
In a minute the handcuffs had been placed upon my wrists.
"We've lost one man; I don't intend to lose two," said the captain. "Take him below."
I thought I was to be pitched again into the hold, but this time I was mistaken. Lowell led me to a small room situated in the extreme bow.
"You'll spend a day or two here," he said, as he locked me in. "Perhaps when you come out you won't be so disrespectful to your superiors."
The room was not as bad as the hold had been, there being a little light and ventilation. At one end was a small bench, and on this I sat down.
I was left entirely to myself. Evidently all the sailors had been forbidden to come near me. Hour after hour went by, yet no one appeared.
I wondered why Tony Dibble did not manage to send me word of some kind. I did not know that the honest old sailor was at this minute on the dock at New Bedford, speculating on what had become of the Spitfire.
At length towards evening Lowell came with a tray of food which he set down on the floor of my prison.
"You want to make the most of it," he said, as he walked away. "It has got to last you till tomorrow noon."
The food was not of the best and daintiest kind, but I was hungry, and even at the risk of starving later on I ate nearly the whole of it. He had also brought along a pitcher of water, and of this I took a deep draught.
I sat for a long time meditating over my situation, but could make nothing out of it. As affairs had turned, I must make the best of whatever came.
I sat awake long after dark, but finally my eyes grew heavy and then I went to sleep on the bench until morning.
All the forenoon was passed in solitude. To one unaccustomed to this the experience is terrible. How I longed to have even a cat or dog to talk to! But neither one nor the other was on board.
When Lowell came at noon I asked him how long my confinement was to continue.
"Until you are ready to do your duty," he said; and not another word would he utter.
The day passed slowly, and the night was to me a restless one. What was going on in the cabin and on deck? Were Captain Hannock and Lowell getting ready to carry out their nefarious plan?
I regretted not having taken one of the other sailors into my confidence. But which of them could I trust?
By this time I had made up my mind that Dibble was not on board. Probably he had gone on a hunt for Mr. Ranson and been left behind.
I tried in vain to attract the attention of one of the men as he passed. Either he did not see me or else he did not dare to come near. If only some of them knew!
About four o'clock I fell asleep. I slept for some hours, and would have continued doing so had not a wild cry suddenly brought me to my feet.
"Fire! Fire!"
It was a fearful cry—doubly fearful on a ship hundreds of miles from land and my face blanched as I sprang to my feet.
Could it be possible—was the Spitfire in flames?
"Fire! fire!" came that dreadful cry once more.
Then came loud voices issuing orders and the rush of the sailors' feet.
In vain I tried to catch sight of some one. The men, in a perfect panic, rushed hither and thither, but no one paid any attention to me.
"On deck there!" I heard Lowell shout.
"Where is the fire?" burst from half a dozen throats in chorus.
"In the hold it is one mass of flames!"
"Can't we put it out?" questioned one of the sailors.
"No, the fire has gained too much headway for that."
"But we might try."
"It won't do, I tell you. We must get out a boat and leave the schooner. Ten minutes more and it will be too late."
"What, as bad as that!" came back with a groan. "Can't we save her nohow?"
"No, I tell you, idiot! I've been on board a burning vessel before. Man the jolly-boat, and lose no time!"
"Yes, yes, the jolly-boat!" ejaculated half a dozen, and then I heard another rush.
I was terribly alarmed. Captain Hannock's foul plot had been put into execution. What would the end be?
I was almost stunned by my discovery. I paced up and down my cell like a madman, but all to no purpose.
"Hurry up, men!" I heard Captain Hannock exclaim. "Don't be an hour in doing five minute's work! Use your strength!"
"Ay! ay! sir! No time to lose, that's a fact."
And the crew of the Spitfire hurried their preparations even more than before.
"Never mind your things, boys, save your lives. We may have an explosion, and then it will be too late."