CHAPTER XIX
CERVILLO DESERTS HIS CREW
Midshipman Cardyke was restless under restraint, and during the long periods of inaction was fond of looking out of the port and listening to the swish of the waves against the ship's side. The noise soothed him. To a youngster descended from a long line of naval men the sting of the salt-laden breeze was an alluring quality that would attract him throughout the whole of his career.
While at the open port he happened to look as far astern as the frame of the port permitted. To his surprise he saw a column of smoke just above the horizon.
It was a ship. He instantly awoke Fielding, who was having his "watch below," and informed him of the momentous news. The sub. was out of his bunk in a trice.
"You're right, Cardyke," he said, after a hasty glance in the direction of the vessel. "It's a ship. But what is she—a cruiser?"
"She's heading this way, I think," observed the mid. "And what is more, we are altering our course. See, the relative position of the ship is more on the beam."
"Then it's not a cruiser, worse luck," muttered Fielding, "or the pirate would attempt to sheer off. They're up to some fiendish business, I'll wager. Don't say a word to any of the others just yet. We'll keep on the look-out a little while longer."
The two young officers waited and watched till twilight gave place to night. Presently Hiram B. Rutter strolled up to the open port.
"Having a breath of fresh air?" he inquired, affably.
"Ssh!" exclaimed Fielding, warningly. "There's a vessel over there. You can just see her starboard and masthead lights."
"Strikes me forcibly there are two red lights," said the American.
"So there are. By Jove! The villains are sending up rockets."
High above the Independencia the red glare of an exploded rocket transformed the surface of the surrounding sea into a blaze of dazzling light. Then, vanishing suddenly, the glare left the sub. and his companions blinking in the darkness.
"I know what they are doing," exclaimed Cardyke, excitedly. "They're sending up false signals of distress to lure yonder vessel within their power."
"That's it," assented Fielding. "And now's your chance to make use of your improvised flashing-lamp."
By this time the rest of the hostages were aware of the approach of another vessel, and the ports were literally jammed with human heads. But Mukyima was not content with watching. The active Jap crawled through the narrow port, balanced himself on the sill, then with a like motion drew himself up to the deck. Lying prone behind the casing of a skylight he waited till another rocket had been fired, then, mingling boldly with the pirate crew, made good use of his eyes. Unobserved, he regained the half-deck and told General Oki of what he had seen.
"Pirates get guns ready," explained Oki to Fielding. "Men are ready to capture other ship."
Cardyke had not been idle. All the ports were screened with the exception of one in which he set a lamp. Then using a heavy cabin curtain as a screen, he proceeded to "call-up" the approaching vessel.
"There's the acknowledgment," exclaimed Fielding, as a succession of short, rapid flashes came from the Morse signalling-lamp on the steamer's bridge.
"Stand off; you are——" began the middy, using his improvised shutter as quickly as he was able; but before he had flashed half-a-dozen words a heavy tarpaulin was dropped over the port from above, completely obscuring the light from seaward.
"Where's your knife?" asked the mid. "Lash it to the end of a pole or something and jab a hole through the canvas."
Before the obstructing tarpaulin could be cut through, the Independencia's course was altered till she pointed bows on to the oncoming yacht. Thus the ports on her quarters no longer commanded a view of the strange vessel.
"They've done us," muttered Fielding.
"Perhaps the captain of the vessel will smell a rat, and sheer off," remarked Cardyke.
"I don't know about that. He may think we are only asking him to keep off till daylight, or something of that sort. He would never ignore signals of distress."
"Couldn't we make an attempt to rush the ship and drive those rascals below?"
"I'm afraid not. They've secured the hatches. But we'll get all hands to man the ports and fire their revolvers. That might make the skipper of that packet keep out of danger."
Before the warning could be given a quick-firer was discharged from the cruiser, and with a vicious spurt of flame a shell passed between the steam yacht and the disabled whaler she had in tow, and Juan Cervillo commanded the astonished captain of the steam yacht to heave-to instantly.
The tricked vessel was the Serena, a 300-ton pleasure craft owned by a wealthy Canadian named Rignold. She had fallen in with a whaler Hetty of Boston that had broken her shafting in a gale, and had sustained considerable damage to her spars and rigging, and the owner of the Serena offered to tow the Hetty into St. John's, Newfoundland. The offer had been gratefully accepted; and now both vessels were under the guns of the pirate cruiser Independencia.
Rignold and his captain, officers, and crew were completely astounded. During their cruise in the Arctic they had had no opportunities of receiving the general warning of the presence of the formidable pirate in the North Atlantic. The Serena's skipper, a man of courage and resource, did not lose his head. Imagining that the cruiser was a Government vessel of fishery protection duties, and had compelled his vessel to heave-to for the purpose of making an examination, he promptly ordered the engines to be reversed, at the same time shouting to the Hetty's mate to mind her helm. The whaler, carrying considerable way, over-ran the yacht till brought up by the hawser, eventually swinging round between the Serena and her captor.
"What ship that?" shouted Cervillo,
"Great snakes, that is not a British hail!" ejaculated the Serena's captain; then in reply he bawled, "Steam yacht Serena, of Quebec, with the whaler Hetty in tow. Why are we ordered to heave-to?"
Before Cervillo could reply Fielding shouted in stentorian tones through the port:—
"Clear off at full speed. This vessel is a pirate. Save yourself while there's time."
Had he been given a free hand the yacht skipper would not have hesitated to run the gauntlet of the cruiser's guns, trusting in the darkness to avoid a shot that would send the vessel to the bottom. But there were other considerations. Mr. Rignold, the owner, had a large party of guests on bard, and on that account he was anxious not to be under fire. Moreover, he was too staunch a man to abandon the disabled whaler. He would stand by and take his chance with the Hetty.
"You have to heave-to—that good enough?" bawled the Spanish captain.
"Ay, ay!" was the reply. "But you'll be real sorry for this piece of work."
"We see later," chuckled Cervillo, for the double capture could not have better served his purpose. "Keep where you are till day come. No tricks, or I sink you."
Two hours later it was light enough to make out what the prizes were like. The Serena was a graceful-looking craft with a clipper stern and long, tapering counter. She had two light masts and a single funnel, and was one of many of a type of sea-going yachts that are to be found in every port of the civilised world. The whaler was also of a very ordinary though fast-disappearing type; bluff-bowed, wall-sided, and broad-sterned, and rigged as a brigantine with heavy, well-shrouded masts. Just before the mainmast was a small, black funnel—the only visible sign of the vessel's now useless auxiliary power.
Before taking possession of the two ships Juan Cervillo mustered his men aft.
"You must know, my lads," he began, "what I propose to do. The Independencia is no longer serviceable; her days are nearly finished. Yonder craft are the last prizes she will take. It only remains for us to save ourselves, and as much of the booty as we possibly can. The gold stowed away aft is, I am sorry to say, lost to us. We can only take revenge upon those who have cheated us out of our hard-earned riches. I therefore propose that we place the crew of the yacht on board the whaler. If they manage to fetch port, well and good, if not—that's not our concern. We will then tranship the amount of treasure that is left to us, scuttle the Independencia, and the English officer and his companions can keep guard over the gold at the bottom of the sea. With a nice little yacht like the one yonder we ought to steam southwards without exciting suspicion. Your shares in the spoil will not be as much as we hoped for, but enough to let you live a merry life for some time to come."
The pirates, although regretting the loss of the gold, were not sorry to see the way clear to escape the perils that awaited them, and for the next ten minutes the utmost activity prevailed. The three boats were hauled out, and Da Silva proceeded to board the Serena. It was significant that every man in the boats was a Spaniard, and that nearly all the officers formed part of the boarding-party.
Unceremoniously Mr. Rignold, his guests, and the crew of the yacht were dumped on board the Hetty, and the work of transporting the remainder of the booty from the cruiser to the yacht was put in hand, Cervillo personally superintending the operations. This done, enough provisions to keep the pirates in plenty for another month were added to the Serena's stores. In the midst of the activity some of the crew found time to taunt the captives on the half-deck, telling them gleefully that they were destined for a swift plunge to the bed of the ocean. Three of the Spaniards who had returned in one of the boats also found time for a little diversion. Under Da Silva's orders they moved unostentatiously from gun to gun, removing portions of the delicate mechanism so as to render the weapons harmless.
Everything was now ready for Juan Cervillo's coup.
Ordering a dozen men to maintain a watch over the closed hatchways above the half-deck, he bade the rest of the pirates go below and pack up their belongings.
"Have all your bags ready to lower into the boats by the time I return," he concluded. "I mean to tow the whaler a mile or so to leeward, so that she will not be able to give assistance to the prisoners below. Her boats have been stove in, so there is no chance of her putting off to the rescue of these obstinate dogs."
The men hastened to obey. The engineers, mostly Italians, were told off to get ready to open the sea-cocks and sink the cruiser. Cervillo went over the side, entered the waiting boat, and pulled off to the yacht.
Instead of towing the Hetty clear of the doomed cruiser he promptly gave orders for the hawser to be cut, and at fifteen knots the Serena steamed off, leaving the remainder of the pirates to their fate.
It was the guard on the quarter-deck of the Independencia who first noticed the yacht's apparently erratic behaviour. For a time the men watched the rapidly receding Serena, till the thought flashed through their minds that there was something suspicious. The petty officer in charge, an Italian named Tito, bawled down the nearest hatchway the astonishing news. Quickly the intelligence that the yacht was steaming away spread the length of the lower deck, and seamen and stokers rushed up pell-mell from below.
"We're betrayed!" howled Tito. "Man the guns, and cripple her before she gets out of range."
Hurriedly the guns' crew ran to the quick-firers. The murmur of subdued astonishment rose to a roar of anger and baffled fury when the pirates discovered that the mechanism had been tampered with and the weapons rendered useless. Some of the exasperated seamen, snatching up their rifles, and elevating the back-sights to the utmost capacity, fired an irregular volley at the vessel that was bearing away their treacherous captain and his Spanish confrères. It was a useless act; the yacht was already out of range, and the rattle of the rifles was only suggestive of the last nail driven into the coffin of their dead hopes.