"The wretches seemed to expect we were coming straight in to them, and they waited for us. And no wonder; for it wasn't till Jacobs came running aft, to tell the mate and me, that, to our horror, we found the canoes had got the rest of the cable fastened somehow or other low down to her cutwater, and were coolly towing us in by it. We could neither cut it nor dispose of them, as at every shot there were plenty more to fill places; while the helm was only enough to steer her, had she been free.
"'Jacobs,' said I, 'for heaven's sake bear a hand with two or three of these heavy shot in a hammock—let's sling it out to the flying-jibboom end, and I'll stand by to drop it fair over them—quick!' Three of us ran out from the bowsprit, with the end of the line, swinging out the weight and hauling it up, till we were nearly over their heads in the foggy gleam from the blaze ashore. The cable tautened fair under us as the blacks gave a stroke ahead together with their paddles, and 'Watch!' I sung out above them, in a voice that made them huddle all three canoes in a lump, peering up at us. 'Let go, my lads,' whispered I, and down went the weight of shot full slap upon them, crash through their gunwales, leaving no more than the bits, with the woolly heads bobbing about in the stream. The second mate whirled round the spokes of the wheel, on deck, and her jib and topsail drawing the breeze right again, she began to stand out toward the middle once more. I watched the glare of the fire sinking back into the blue fog, while the hubbub of wild cries showed that they had taken the alarm, and were pushing off as fast as possible in their canoes from the bank in chase.
"The next thing I saw, two or three minutes after, was the flash of a large gun away on our starboard quarter, flaring out in the mist round the strange schooner herself, as she came swiftly down astern of us, under her two boom-sails and flying-jib, the froth whitening up from her forefoot, and she crushing through amongst the canoes, letting drive at them right and left, flash after flash, and roar after roar—her deck crowded with men, too, amongst whom I thought I could make out the dark Frenchman's broad-leafed Manilla hat. However, the wreaths of thick smoke blew curling from her towards us; and directly after nothing was to be heard but the ripple under our bows, as we went surging toward the river's mouth, with the clear plash upon her copper coming nearer.
"Jacobs and I, as well as the other hand, hung over the boom together for a little to loose the flying-jib, then out of pure weariness, till I sent Jacobs to take the wheel and steer by my signals; for the Indiaman had the full force of current and breeze astern of her, carrying her fast toward the bar, as I guessed; while the second mate let her yaw dreadfully, from fear of going wrong. As for the schooner, we could make out her lights through the fog, the wind bringing us the sound of her cutwater—though probably they couldn't know whereabouts we were; so I hoped she might perhaps go past us in the dark, if she were actually in chase of the Indiaman, as I feared.
"However, the moment the cheep of our flying-jib hanks on the stay was heard as the sail was hoisted, a sharp hail came along the water. 'Hola!' sang out the creaking voice of the little French skipper, who had bamboozled me so at sea. None of us answered, and I ran down the spar to be ready for what might happen, when 'Hola! où êtes-vous?' shouted he again. 'Hullo! the Seringapatam, ahoy!' roared our chief officer himself; to which no sooner had Macleod replied, than we caught three hearty English cheers, and next minute the schooner's canvas was looming up from the yellow glimmer of her lanterns a few fathoms on our starboard quarter—the foam hissing off her sharp bright bows, while she raced up with us. Everyone of us started at the jovial sound of old Rollock the planter's voice, shouting, 'All's right, my boys!' as if he had risen from the dead out of the sea—the schooner slipping easily by, abreast of our high bulwarks; and the crowd of heads from stem to stern, English, French, and Kroomen, gliding past below, for all the world like a dream to most of us, with the light from the lanterns flaring up red under hats, caps, and tarpaulins, and the black shadow of their figures and small-arms thrown high in two clusters on the broad glare over her fore and main boom-sails. 'Have ye actually taken the blackguards, sir?' hailed the Scotch mate; at which a shout of laughter ran from one end of her to the other; while one of the cadets seemingly half-drunk, could be seen staggering aft to the stern as she forged swiftly ahead, just in order to call out, 'Macleod, my old cock, comment vous portez-vous?' The little French master jumped up on the schooner's taffrail, waving his hand politely: 'J'aurai l'honneur pour vous conduire en débouchant, Messieurs!' shouted he; 'follow de light een my starn!'
"In fact, by this time we were already in the suck of the channel, so that longer speaking was out of the question, as the boom of the surf could be heard wide ahead of the ship. Suddenly a broad gleam of light off the sea struck over our starboard bow, beyond the tumbling water upon the bar, and to starboard the rocky headland broke through the fog rolling out with the breeze: the schooner's stern lifted glimmering before our figure-head, and we lost sight of her again, till we had swept safe round the point. Five minutes more, and both Indiaman and schooner were heaving on the waves from the shadow of the high land, the dark-blue swells cresting up all round against a bank of cloud on the horizon, and the long send of the sea to be felt once more under you—the moon rising out of the river, while a fresh breeze blew in the offing, and promised to get a good deal stronger.
"The schooner soon hove to, and before we could have beaten up to her, being to leeward, we saw one boat after another dropped astern or off the side, till the whole five could be made out pulling for the ship; but the minute after they were alongside, she filled away again, standing almost right before the breeze up to north-westward.
"Well, you can fancy the confusion on board of us for a short time, what with questions and explainings, and what with seeing worthy old Rollock again, Ford, Winterton, the Brigadier, and Mrs Brady, after being parted for a number of days in such a way. The young lady Miss Fortescue's meeting with her mother was touching enough to witness, though of course the gentleman had got it all over before; and in fact they seemed to have made pretty merry aboard the French craft, while we were fighting for fair life with those infernal Congo savages. The dead blacks on deck and below had been thrown overboard already, and the Indiaman crowding sail on her course; but I saw the judge for a minute before the round-house door was shut, with his daughter sobbing on his neck; and as soon as the rest met below in the cuddy, a scene was to be found there which one doesn't easily forget—the steward lying in one doorway, dead, with his head smashed by a club; the missionary under the table, still bleeding, though he was alive, and not very much hurt after all. Neither he nor Macleod could tell very well how the thing happened, plain as it was now to me; but the strangest part of it to see, horrid as it seemed at first, was the body of Captain Williamson. His cot had been knocked to the deck, some of the devilish wretches had given his forehead one gash, and his breast another, each fit to kill a man. There was little or no blood, however; his face had a peaceful look on it, almost smiling, you'd have said, by comparison with the poor steward's; and as soon as his eyelids were down, the old seaman appeared to be sleeping yet. For my part, I felt as sure as if I'd seen it, that when the savages struck that body, they might as well have struck at the stars we had seen over the deck.
"Still, when all was cleared away, and the passengers gone tired out to their berths, I couldn't turn in without a walk on the poop beside the planter, to hear something from him—the ship all the time rising on the brisk seas, every stitch of canvas spread, the African coast beginning to drop in the moonshine, and the schooner a dim speck to north-west through the long gleam on the horizon. I found to my great surprise, there was no reason he could think of for the French craft's detaining them, except that the Brigadier had sworn at Bonaparte in the brig's cabin, or else Mrs Brady's having said she would give the world to see him just now at St Helena; in fact she would go through fire and water only to kiss the hand of such a great hero—such an enemy to all Saxons and tyrants, she vowed. But in fact they had been sitting below at the time our boat came aboard, and knew nothing about it; the French master swore to Rollock, and to the chief officer afterwards, he had mistaken my meaning—because I spoke bad French, no doubt; after which the gale came on, and they never saw the Indiaman again till to-night. As for their going into the river, and changing her rig, the little Frenchman said he found a brig's rig didn't suit a schooner's hull. For my part, however, I didn't see how their course for the Isle of France could be north-west. 'By-the-by, though,' added Rollock, 'Mrs Brady made some mystery about the whole affair. She seemed to have a few private discourses with that strange dark-faced passenger of theirs, who, I suspect, had more to do with the vessel than he pretended. But I daresay, Collins, my boy,' said he, laughing, 'she wanted to make us think the foreigner had taken a fancy to her.'
"As we were both going below, I said, 'By-the-way, where is Mr Daniel Snout?—I haven't seen him yet.' 'Ah!' said the planter, turning round, 'where is Daniel, after all! I haven't seen him either, since we left the schooner's deck—no, by Jove! sir, he really hasn't come on board, now I think of it! I recollect we were the last boat, and he wasn't in it, although he was behind me just before I got down.' 'What can the man mean?' said I; and we both stood at the top of the hatchway ladder, looking toward the horizon, at the speck of a schooner. 'By jingo, Collins!' exclaimed the planter, chuckling, 'the Yankee is gone to be a pirate!'"