Captain John Smith

by C. H. Forbes-Lindsay

One morning the Pasha came into the barn where Smith was alone at work. The malicious Turk fell to sneering at his slave as usual and when the latter, goaded beyond endurance, replied with spirit, the Pasha struck him across the face with a riding whip. Smith’s threshing bat whistled through the air, and at the first blow the brutal Timariot lay dead at the feet of his slave. There was not an instant to be lost. It was by the merest chance that Smith was alone. The overseer might return at any moment. Stripping the body of the slain Pasha and hiding it under a heap of straw, Smith threw off his goat-skin and hurriedly donned the Turkish costume. He loosed the horse which the Turk had ridden to the spot, sprang into the saddle and galloped at random from the place.

Smith’s first impulse was to ride as fast as possible in the opposite direction to Nalbrits, and this he did, continuing his career until night overtook him. He entered a wood at some distance from the road and there passed the hours of darkness. He never failed to keep a clear head in the most critical emergencies and in the haste of departure had not neglected to secure the Pasha’s weapons and to snatch up a sack of corn from the threshing floor. The latter would preserve his life for some time and with the former he proposed to sell it dearly if overtaken. He had no idea as to what direction to take in order to reach a Christian community. Daybreak found him in this condition of perplexity, and he resumed his wandering flight with less impetuosity and a careful regard to avoid every locality that appeared to be inhabited. At a distance his costume might prove a protection, but on closer inspection a beholder could not fail to note the iron collar that proclaimed him a slave.

Smith had ridden about aimlessly for three days and nights, not knowing where he was nor how far from Nalbrits, when he suddenly chanced upon one of the great caravan roads that traversed Asia and connected with the main highways of Europe. He knew that if he followed this road far enough westward he must come eventually into some Christian country, but caution was more necessary than ever, for these were much travelled routes. He concluded to skirt the road by day and ride upon it only after dark. At the close of the fourth day after his escape he came to the meeting point of several crossroads and then learned the peculiar method employed by the people of those parts to direct travellers. The sign posts were painted with various designs to indicate the directions of different countries. For instance, a half moon pointed to the country of the Crim Tartars, a black man to Persia, a sun to China, and a cross—which our hero perceived with joy—distinguished the road leading to the Christian realm of Muscovy, the Russia of today.

After sixteen days’ riding, without encountering a mishap, Smith arrived safely at a Muscovite settlement on the Don where he was warmly received. The galling badge of bondage was filed from his neck and he felt then, but not before, once more a free man. His wants were supplied and he was furnished with sufficient money to enable him to continue his journey in comfort. He proceeded into Transylvania where his old comrades welcomed him as one from the grave, having lamented him as among the dead at Rothenthrum. The Earl of Meldritch was delighted to meet his old captain and “Master of Stratagem” once more and regretted that the existing state of peace prevented their fighting together again. That condition determined our hero to seek service in Africa where he heard that a war was in progress. Before his departure, Prince Sigismund presented him with fifteen hundred ducats, and so he set out with a well-filled purse and a light heart.

Captain Smith journeyed to Barbary in company with a French adventurer who, like himself, cared little where he went so that the excursion held out a prospect of fighting and new experiences. On this occasion, however, they were disappointed in their hope of military service. They found the conditions such as they were not willing to become involved in. The Sultan of Barbary had been poisoned by his wife, and two of his sons, neither of whom had a right to the succession, were contending for the throne. Our adventurers considered this state of things more akin to murder than to war and declined to take any part in it, although they might without doubt have enriched themselves by doing so.

Upon his return to the port of Saffi, Captain Smith found a British privateering vessel in the harbor under the command of a Captain Merham. An acquaintance sprang up between the two which quickly ripened into friendship. One evening, Smith with some other guests was paying a visit to the privateer, when a cyclone suddenly swept down upon them. Captain Merham barely had time to slip his cable before the hurricane struck his ship and drove it out to sea. All night they ran before the wind, and when at length the storm had ceased they were in the vicinity of the Canaries. The Captain wished to “try some conclusions,” after the manner of Captain La Roche on a former occasion, before returning to port. His guests were not averse to the proposal and so he hung about to see what vessels chance might throw in their way.

They were soon rewarded by intercepting a Portuguese trader laden with wine from Teneriffe. This they eased of its cargo and allowed to go its way. The next day they espied two sails some miles distant and proceeded to overhaul them. They did this with such success that they were within small-arm range of the ships before they perceived them to be Spanish men-of-war, either superior to themselves in armament and probably in men. Seeing himself so greatly overmatched, Merham endeavored to escape, and a running fight was maintained for hours. At length, towards sunset, the Spaniards damaged the Britisher’s rigging and coming up with him, boarded from either side. Merham’s ship must have been captured by the enemy, who greatly outnumbered his own men, but whilst the fight on deck was in progress, Captain Smith secured “divers bolts of iron”—cross-bars, probably—with which he loaded one of the guns. The charge tore a hole so large in one of the Spanish ships that it began to sink. At this both the attacking vessels threw off their grappling irons and withdrew.

The Spaniards were busy for two or more hours repairing the breach in their ship and Merham was occupied as long in putting his sailing gear in order, so that he could not profit by the damage to the enemy. When at length he did get under way the Spaniards were in condition to follow and the chase was continued all night. With the break of day the fight was resumed, but not before the Spanish senior officer had offered the British captain quarter if he would surrender. Merham answered this proposal with his cannon and hove to with the intention of fighting it out.

The Spaniards realized that they were no match for the Britisher in gun-play and they therefore lost no time in grappling. A fierce hand to hand conflict ensued and lasted for an hour with varying success, but the odds were beginning to tell against Merham’s men when their captain turned the tide by a clever stratagem. He sent some sailors aloft to unsling the mainsail and let it fall on the top of a number of Spaniards beneath. Whilst these were struggling to get clear of the canvas, about twenty of them were killed. This disheartening occurrence induced the attacking ships to disengage. The cannonading continued on both sides, however, and after a while the Spanish captains once more boarded with all the men available.

Again the combat raged at close quarters for an hour or more and again Merham’s men began to give way under the weight of superior numbers. This time it was Captain Smith who saved the situation by a desperate expedient. A number of Spaniards had gathered near the centre of the ship upon a grating which afforded them the advantage of an elevated station. Beneath this body of the enemy, our hero exploded a keg of powder. This had the effect of blowing about thirty Spaniards off the scene but at the same time it set fire to the ship. The flames sent the boarders scurrying back to their own vessels which sailed to a safe distance.