‘Hold—yes, one. You have heard of Don Octavio y St. Jago—every duenna in Madrid knows him to her cost. Well, he and I are close friends; I have writ to him. The letter is in the packet you hold; but one material circumstance I have forgotten. It is an old paction between us, that each should inform the other of all his love passages, so that, as it were, we should mutually act as spurs to each other’s gallantry, and so keep up our reputation.’
The merchant at this shrugged up his shoulders. ‘But,’ quoth he, ‘I thought you deemed the ladies on this side the great ocean no better than savages.’
‘Well, well, my good Davosa, and, if I did, know you not that there may be, for once in a way, a certain savour and tastiness about savagedom which speaks to the palate? Look you, the man palled with nectarines and peaches may well pluck a bramble as he loiters in the field. And so, pray find means to inform my friend that there dwelleth in Carthagena a very ripe, and not altogether untempting bramble, having the shape of a very innocent-hearted and simple-souled damsel, who having rejected one or more of my courtesies, put me in the mind to tame and humble her completely; that unto this end I have gained over her mother, who is a widow and also a fool, believing very firmly in the saints, and a great number of other phenomena, myself among the number; and that—that—in fact I shall impart to him the conclusion of the tale when we meet at Madrid.’
The old man drily promised to observe the message, and then both drunk to the success of the voyage.
‘To-morrow evening, then, you turn your faces eastward?’ said the cavalier.
‘If there be but a breath to clear us of the land, I trust we may say our vespers at sea,’ replied the merchant.
‘And if there be but that same breeze,’ I whispered to myself, ‘you may chance say your matins aboard the Will-o’-the-Wisp.’
Then as the couple walked towards the cabin-stairs, I lowered myself into the shallop in safety, whispering to my comrades the good news I had overheard. They could scarce refrain from shouting, but caution overmastering joy, we pulled swiftly away. To some degree, however, our good fortune had made us bold, and instead of rowing out straight to sea, we made for the principal cluster of ships, as they lay in the line of our progress towards the schooner. We had passed several, when we suddenly heard the dash of several oars, vigorously pulled, close aheap.
‘Santa Maria!’ cried the negro, springing up, for he was terribly frightened at being found with us, ‘Santa Maria—the guard-boat!’
And, true enough, just round the bows of a large tartan came a great launch, impelled by six oarsmen, and with a glitter of arms and lanterns shining out of her. Well, we had hardly time to gasp, when, with a great clamour at our sudden appearance, and all her crew starting up from their oars, the Spanish boat ran right into the starboard quarter of the shallop, hitting us a blow, which well nigh swamped the light craft; the Spaniards roaring out to curse our stupidity in not having got out of the way. For all this, we might have got clear off, they taking us, in the dark and confusion, for one of their own boats, had not Simon Radley shouted out involuntarily a great oath, cursing them for clumsy Spanish thieves, that knew not where they rowed. At this, a Spaniard aboard, who, it seems, knew the sound of our language, cried out—‘Los Ingleses—los Ingleses!’ and straightway our enemies, yelling and screeching like madmen, jumped up with intent to board us. Half-a-dozen pistol shots went off in a minute, as I shouted to my small crew to pull for their lives, and the boat started forward, scraping past the oars of the launch. Just then we gave a loud hurrah, as Englishmen love to do, to show their mettle. The bowman of the Spanish boat made a desperate leap, alighting with a surge on the stern of our shallop. Even while he was in the air, I started up to grapple with him. Our arms grasped each other’s doublets. I felt his hot breath on my cheek. We stood erect but for a moment, twining, as it were, around each other’s limbs, and then both of us, linked with brawny muscles together, fell splash into the sea, amid a great shout, which mingled in my ears with the rushing and gurgling of the water, into which we plunged. For a brief space I thought we must be drowned together, so desperate was the clutch with which we clung round each other’s throats; but rising in a minute to the surface, I found myself amid the blades of the Spanish oars, and, so clinging to them, I fought with my foeman, seeking to cast off his grip. At the same time I looked about for the shallop, but she was not to be seen, having evidently got off clear. And so, when the Spaniards grasped me to haul me into their boat, I fought and struggled desperately, that the shallop might have the greater start, in case they pursued her. At length, however, being mastered, I was dragged into the guard-boat, just as, half an hour before, the negro was dragged aboard the shallop, and cast violently down on my face in the stern sheets, while my hands were fastened behind me. This done, one of my captors gave me a kick, and told me to sit up, which I did, in the centre of a circle of ferocious-looking sailors and soldiers, who all began to question me at once, with the most savage oaths and curses; to all of which I replied never a word, but shook my head, as though quite ignorant of the language. So presently, the officer in command, thinking, no doubt, that it might be so, ordered silence, and then saying that it was useless to chase the small boat in the dark, and that the prisoner must be taken ashore, and given up to the alcaide, bade his men stretch to their oars, which they did; and, presently, passing close by the galleon, my old friend Davosa called out to know what was the matter. The officer who steered answered, that they had come upon an English boat lurking in the harbour, and had captured one of her crew, and that he suspected there were more of the rogues not far off. Then presently, coming to a quay or jetty, they forced me up the slippery steps, and being guarded by two soldiers, each with a drawn sword they marched me away.