CHAPTER XIII
THE HOSTAGES ARE MADE USE OF
On returning to his prison cabin, Fielding communicated the details of his interview with the pirate captain to his companions. One and all agreed that the outlook, unless a warship intervened, looked gloomy, but the news was borne with surprising fortitude.
"I suppose he's bound for the east coast of Greenland," said the sub. "There are hundreds of creeks and inlets where a vessel of this size could lay without fear of discovery; and, beyond a few whalers, there are not many ships in those waters."
"What is the object in going to the Arctic?" asked Cardyke.
"To lie low, and also to economise the oil-fuel," replied Fielding. "To keep the sea means a heavy consumption of stores, and those taken from L'Égalité won't last much more than a month. That's one reason why we are to be marooned. Thirty or forty hostages who won't pay for their keep are bound to make a hole in the commissariat."
"So he means to set us ashore and let us starve to death, or perish with cold?"
"Seems like it; but I'll have a few words to say to the greasy Dago," replied the sub., tapping the revolver with the heel of his right foot. "It's a pity we haven't more cartridges."
"We could hold the cabin for a good while," remarked the mid., tentatively.
"And get starved out in forty-eight hours. Won't do, Cardyke. If things come to the worst, we must sally out, try and release the other unfortunate beings who have fallen into Cervillo's clutches, and sell our lives as dearly as possible. What say you, general?"
"I tink we might capture ship," replied Oki. "Clear dis end, take pistols from arms-rack, and turn this part into castle."
"We'll have a shot at it, at all events," exclaimed Fielding, enthusiastically. "If only we had more ammunition, I'd tackle the job to-night."
"Better wait till we're within the Arctic circle," observed Cardyke.
"Why?"
"Those Spaniards and Italians, to say nothing of the Algerines and the blacks, won't be able to stand the cold as well as we can. They'll be torpid."
"Something in that," agreed Fielding. "But at present it's hot enough for my liking. I vote we turn in."
Shortly after midnight Cardyke awoke to find the two Japs up and about. Hokosuka was kneeling in front of the door with one ear close against the lock, while Oki was standing with a lighted lamp in his hand. Seeing the mid. stir, Oki placed a finger on his lips to enjoin silence and pointed towards Fielding's bunk, indicating that the sub. was to be aroused.
One touch of Cardyke's hand was enough. Fielding opened his eyes, and without uttering a sound, sprang to his feet.
"Mukyima outside!" explained the general.
The two British officers listened. There was a faint scraping in the lock, like a rat gnawing wood. Then Hokosuka whispered a few words, and his compatriot instantly placed the lantern behind a curtain. In the semi-gloom Cardyke saw the door open, a lithe figure glided in, and the door closed gently after him. Then Oki uncovered the lamp, and Mukyima stood revealed to the occupants of the cabin.
The Jap wore nothing but a loin-cloth. From head to foot he was covered with a mixture of oil and soot. In his hands he carried a rifle and two revolvers, while across his shoulder hung a canvas bag filled with cartridges.
The three Japanese conversed in low toner, then Oki turned to his English friends.
"Mukyima has come back not to stop," he explained. "Give sentry-man outside the long sleep, leave cartridges and guns, then go back. Him also lock door again, then no can tell pirates that door was opened."
Fielding and Cardyke nodded approval at Oki's words. Mukyima had contrived to slip away from his prison on the orlop-deck, and, laying hold of the arms and ammunition, made his way aft. On the half-deck all was quiet; the sentry over the cabin door where the prisoners were confined was dozing at his post. The Jap gripped the sentry by the throat, and choked him into insensibility in less than fifteen seconds. This done, he scratched in a peculiar manner on the cabin bulkhead, and Hokosuka, recognising the signal, replied. The lock of the cabin door was picked, and Mukyima rejoined his companions.
It was not his intention to remain. His absence from the orlop-deck would soon be discovered, and the pirates would naturally search the cabin occupied by the Jap's compatriots. So, in less than five minutes from his arrival Mukyima left, the wards of the locks were shot back again, and nothing remained to give rise to suspicion on the part of the pirates with the exception of the body of the luckless sentry. This discovery caused some consternation, but finding the cabin door apparently intact the pirates concluded that their comrade had died from natural causes.
Nevertheless, although Hokosuka sat up all the following night there was no indication of his fellow-countryman's presence without. Mukyima did make a second attempt, but finding two sentries on the half-deck, realised that discretion was the better part of valour, and returned to his place of detention on the orlop-deck.
Fielding and his companions had good cause to be satisfied with the progress made. They had acquired more than enough firearms for each man and a good store of ammunition. Prudence compelled them to refrain from relieving the petty officer who was periodically lowered to inspect the iron bar over the scuttle of another weapon; but, if the worst came to the worst, the courage and resolution of a few well-armed men might achieve wonders against the ill-disciplined mob of international scoundrels who manned the Independencia.
At daybreak on the morning of the third day following the capture of the Duke of Negropont a body of armed men burst into the cabin, and unceremoniously hauled the live prisoners from their berths. Fortunately the hostages made a point of sleeping in their clothes—even their boots—and in consequence their revolvers were safe from observation. The rifles and spare ammunition had been cleverly concealed in a blank recess behind one of the lowermost bunks, and nothing short of another systematic search would result in the discovery of these precious articles. Without a word of explanation Fielding and his companions were marched out and taken up the half-deck accommodation ladder. Expecting that Juan Cervillo had taken it into his head to either coerce the hostages to accept his terms or else to carry out his threat earlier than he had decided to do, Fielding made a sign to his comrades to be on the alert. Should the Spaniard give the word to murder his prisoners, the five were to stoop, draw their revolvers, and open a sudden and unexpected fire upon their captors, Cervillo being especially marked down as a target.
But as soon as the captives reached the upper deck they could see at once the reason for their removal. Less than two miles away, and slightly on the starboard bow, was a United States cruiser. Although considerably smaller than the Independencia, she was by no means daunted by the appearance of her gigantic antagonist. This was to a certain extent to be accounted for by the fact that it was now a matter of general knowledge that the eight 12 in. guns that formed the pirate-cruiser's principal armament were perfectly useless as weapons; but, being heavily armoured, the Independencia had a great advantage over the American vessel, which was of the type known as "protected," or, in other words, having armour over only the most vital parts.
Already the cool, business-like determination of the American cruiser, which Fielding recognised as the almost obsolete Denver, had begun to tell upon the "jumpy" assortment of cosmopolitans who formed the crew of the pirate vessel. Most of the Independencia's quick-firers were manned, but many of the officers and men were running aimlessly hither and thither; some dived below to avoid, if possible, the bursting shells that might at any moment hurtle from the Denver, others besought Juan Cervillo to put the ship about, and seek safety in flight.
But the Spanish captain had set his mind on going northward. He was not wholly without courage, and the presence of an insignificant cruiser would not deter him from his course. The hostages would be exposed on deck. Should the accursed Americans open fire they would blow their compatriots and representatives of Great Britain, France, Holland, and Japan to atoms.
There was no attempt made to clear the Independencia's decks for action. Her fo'c'sle stanchion rails were lined with human beings, each prisoner being secured by the simple device of a cord passing through the links of a chain and the ends fastened to the prisoners thumbs. A few of the hostages, Fielding and Cardyke amongst the number, resisted, but were soon overpowered; while so dubious was Cervillo as to whether this means of securing the Japanese was quite efficient, that he ordered Oki and Hokosuka to be additionally pinioned by means of handcuffs. Luckily no attempt was made to bind the prisoners' legs, otherwise the concealed revolvers might have been discovered.
Cardyke made good use of the occasion by confiding to his nearest companion in misfortune—an American iron merchant and colonel of Kentucky militia—the news of their probable fate should Cervillo succeed in reaching the Arctic Ocean, and the steps that he and his companions had decided upon at the critical moment. The American stoutly asserted his determination to take advantage of any opportunity of joining forces with the British and Japanese captives in a desperate bid for life and freedom.
Nearer and nearer steamed the Independencia at a steady ten knots. The hostages, torn by hopes and fears, could do nothing but keep their attention on the American cruiser, alternately hoping that the Denver would not open fire, or that she would take drastic steps to effect the capture of the modern buccaneer.
On board the Denver all was ready for opening fire. Five of her ten 5 in. guns were trained upon the oncoming pirate, while her six-pounders, working smoothly and easily on the mountings, turned their muzzles to and fro, up and down, as if looking for a vital spot where a shell might burst without injury to the luckless hostages; for by the aid of their glasses the officers of the United States cruiser could easily determine the nature of the callous artifice that Juan Cervillo had adopted.
It was an anxious, nerve-racking time; the men at the pirate vessel's quick-firers kept every available gun trained upon one particular place in the side of the Denver, ready at the order to deliver a simultaneous volley that would in all probability deal the protected cruiser a mortal blow. In return the American cruiser's 5 in. guns would be able to deal a devastating blow at comparatively short range, but she hesitated to begin the conflict owing to the hostages upon the pirate's deck.
Nearer and nearer; now the Independencia was crossing the Denver's bows, barely three hundred yards separating the two vessels. Slowly the guns of both vessels were trained as their relative positions altered, till the pirate-cruiser was almost stern on to the baffled American. Hard-a-starboard went the Denver's helm as she swung round in pursuit of her enemy. Even should she be unable to have her by gun-fire she could at least hang on doggedly in pursuit, calling for assistance till the pirate was hemmed in on every side.
Now that the Independencia was leading, it was a question of flight, not fight. Telegraphing for full speed Cervillo stood upon the after-bridge and made a disdainful gesture towards the ship astern, then at twenty-two knots the pirate-cruiser simply walked away from her antagonist, whose speed, even in her prime, was seven and a half knots less than that of the Independencia.
"Take those men below," ordered the Spanish captain. "It is well I had them on board. They will be more useful still to us very shortly."