Still with that happy-go-lucky navigation which is one of the features of the Carib Sea, the carrack sailed on, missing the reefs and shallows, coming to no harm in the gales, and in time she came to the harbour of Tortuga, for which she aimed. The buccaneers stood to the guns, firing shot from them in joyous salvos, and caring not one iota where the said shot flew. The carrack fluttered with banners and ancients, and the castle, and the squalid town by the water's edge, and the shipping at anchor quickly hoisted flags in welcome. There is no mistaking the manner of buccaneers returning well laden, and the harpies of Tortuga who live on such are not niggard in showing their joy that more ruffians have come in to be fleeced. Boats put out from the beach manned by vintners and tawdry hussies, each desirous of being first to catch a man, and on the castle of the Governor three trumpets and a drum made desirable music.
There was a fleet of three ships anchored apart from the others in the harbour, and Rupert's eye moistened as he looked upon them. They were the ships of His Majesty Charles II., which had come out to these seas with Rupert as Admiral to gain moneys for the upkeep of the Court at The Hague. They had been pawned to Monsieur D'Ogeron as a ransom for those distressed cavaliers that the accursed Cromwell had sold to the buccaneers. And here they were, out of their period of service, and ready once more to take on board their natural Admiral.
"Shall I round up the carrack amongst the fleet?" asked Master Laughan, who stood at the helm. "It will be a joyful moment for our people when they know who's returned to them."
"Let them keep their joy, then, for another hour or so," said Rupert, "and do you carry on to an anchorage beyond. Seeing for how long a time we've been parted, it is only civil that first I should go up to the castle and pay my respects to Monsieur D'Ogeron. He and I have still an account to settle before I leave this desirable harbour."
So the carrack was brought to an anchor, with her courses roughly brailed and topsails lowered. But there was no attempt at stowing the canvas tidily, as the buccaneers were too keen to get ashore for their organised debauch, and, indeed, were already too drunk to venture aloft and out upon the foot-ropes. So all went off in shore-boats to the beach, and Rupert took the secretary's arm and turned to stroll up to the hill-top, where the castle crouched menacingly over the harbour. The women of the place tried hard with their loathly blandishments to detain them, but Prince Rupert was not the man to heed such tawdry Circes as these, though indeed he declined their invitation civilly, and even with a laughing word. So by degrees they walked up under the baking sunshine, and passed underneath the massive beam of the gateway, where the heads of Monsieur D'Ogeron's most recent enemies grilled under an outrageous sun.
The entrance yard was a mere rat-pit, a trap in which the unfriendly could be shot down without a chance of retaliation. The only entrance door was in the upper story, and the ladder which gave access to this was hauled up with a chain and a pulley. However, after an exacting parley with a sentinel, Monsieur D'Ogeron consented to give audience to his visitors, and, once inside, extended to them his usual coarse amiability. "Mon Prince," he cried, "you have come back to claim your fleet within a week of the day on which it reverts to your command. If one may judge by your clothes, you've been seeing service. I trust that your outlay of courage has brought you a full financial return?"
"So—so," said Rupert.
"Well, try my brew of sangoree. You'll have found by now that this climate breeds a most delicious thirst."
"I thank you, but I will not drink."
The Governor laughed pleasantly. "You still stick to your Old-World courtesies, I see. Now, to me, one drink's as good as another, and I'd not refuse a man's invitation to swallow his sangoree, even if I were going to cut his throat next minute."