‘There he is—there’s the thief!’ Jerry roared, and we both sprang into the topmast rigging. Holding on by the top-gallant yard, I discerned a black figure, like a shadow, against the light-coloured canvas. All at once I saw its arm move, something bright gleamed through the air, and Jerry shouted—
‘Devil confound him—he has sent his knife into my shoulder,’ and immediately stopped, grasping the shrouds as though he feared to fall. Knowing now that the Portuguese had no knife, I sprang rapidly up the shrouds to grapple with him. Just then, a faint watery glimpse of moonlight fell upon the ship, throwing a great shadow upon the broad sails on the mainmast, and I saw above me, crouched upon the yard, the form of Vasco—his grim face gazing at me, and his hands clenched, as though he was determined to sell his life as dearly as he could. The next moment, we had grappled together—neither of us spoke—but the Portuguese attempted to seize my throat with his teeth; I caught him however by his hair, and wrenched his head backwards, while I sought to gripe his right wrist and so overpower him. But the creature, although he had no strength to cope with me, was as lithe and slippery as an eel, and suddenly striking me a blow between the eyes, which made abundance of lights dance before them—I felt in a moment his cold long fingers twining round my throat, and closing upon my windpipe. In the instinctive struggle for breath, I let go hold of his hair, and at the same instant, a sudden and tremendous swing through the air, as the ship rolled violently below, made me clutch the ropes about me, or I should have been flung off into the sea, like a stone from a sling. At that moment the grasp upon my throat relaxed,—and with a litheness and agility, which were like the qualities of a monkey and a snake united in one creature—the Portuguese slid, as it were, from me, upon the main-royal stay, crawling and worming himself along towards the other mast. But Jerry, who had by this time recovered the first faintness from his cut, kept his eye steadily upon the rogue, for I calling out that he was escaping to the mainmast, the mate replied—‘Ay, ay, I see him:’ and, then, steadily taking aim, the explosion of the pistol re-echoed loudly, from sail to sail, and the Portuguese suddenly dropping his legs from the stay, hung to it by his hands only.
‘Stand from under,’ shouted Jerry, ‘and allow the villain to drop clear. He has stabbed me as he did Shambling Ned.’
Vasco uttered no sound, but he raised his legs again, seeking by a mighty effort to recover his position upon the rope. His feet had, indeed, touched it, when the muscles relaxed again, and he hung as before by his hands, swinging dreadfully with the motion of the ship. All this time, Jerry was clutching the forerigging, not having moved since the knife of the Portuguese struck him. The watch upon deck having been aroused by Jerry’s cries, and the report of the pistol, were running to-and-fro with lanterns, and some of them were ascending the rigging towards us, when Jerry roared out again—
‘Stop—stop, every mother’s son of you, where you are till the fellow falls, and then stand by to pitch him overboard.’
The Portuguese heard this, for he turned round his head to Jerry, and I saw his white teeth, as the wretch grinned in his agony. The mate answered this look with a loud laugh.
‘Some of you there below,’ he cried, ‘go into the great cabin, bring up a flagon of wine—and we’ll drink to the murthering dog’s speedy arrival in hell.’
The Portuguese now let go hold of the rope with his right hand—and then, as if to reserve his strength, hung for awhile with the left. I did not think that the man would have had such endurance in him, but he was of a light weight, and the muscles of his arms were strong.
All this time he never uttered a sound. Jerry, too, held his peace, and the crew below waited in silence, with their lanterns glimmering on deck. There was something very solemn in all this—the struggling and tossing ship—the rigid figures of the seamen—the silence, except for the wind and waves, and the writhing creature waving in the air.
At length, he uttered one loud shrill cry of mortal agony, which echoed again and again between the sails, and immediately afterwards dropped like a stone. I heard the heavy thump with which he crashed down upon the deck. Descending as quickly as I could, I found that Jerry, in spite of his wound, which was, however, only a flesh cut, was standing over the Portuguese, who lay all doubled up where he fell.