Having secured several armfuls of varied material, just damp enough to make a good smoke, but not sufficiently so to extinguish a fire, they returned and tossed it on the flames, which Bevan had now succeeded in causing to burn brightly.
“More! get more!” said he; “and look sharp about it! Quick! quick!”
“Yes; all right, Bevan!” laughed Roger; “but what is all this tremendous hurry for? Even if the captain does not now take us off, he will come back for us as soon as he has captured the pirate.”
“Ay, ay; but don’t you see, man,” answered Bevan, forgetting in his excitement the deference due to Roger as his officer,—“don’t you see, man, that the captain’s notion is that the pirate have been here and captured us, and that we are now aboard that there Black Pearl of his’n? He’ll catch her if he can, and bring her to action; but when that’s done there’ll be a great slaughter o’ both sides, and, supposin’ that the schooner isn’t sunk with all hands, Mr Cavendish won’t find us when he boards her. And, not findin’ us, he’ll believe as we have been murdered and throw’d overboard, or else he’ll think that we’re among the dead as’ll be unrecognisable. Then, thinkin’ us dead—for he’ll not dream that it’s been possible for us to have hidden ourselves here and escaped these ruffians—he will continue his v’yage wi’out troublin’ to come back here; and here we shall remain, perhaps till we die. That’s the reason why I’m so anxious to attract their attention afore they runs out o’ sight of us; for, if we’re not seen now, you may depend upon it we may as well make up our minds to remain here for the rest of our lives. What would he be sending all his vessels in pursuit for, if he didn’t believe as we’re aboard that there Black Pearl. Ye see, sir, what I’m thinkin’ about is this. They few barrels of food as we’ve got won’t last us for so very long, even if we goes on short commons. And we can’t always reckon on catchin’ fish and turtle, or gettin’ eggs, and a few months ’d find us in the same plight as was pore William Evans when we first came ashore on this here island. Oh, I pray that they may be keepin’ a sharp lookout aboard they ships!”
The fire was now blazing up bravely, and the castaways industriously continued to toss on damp fuel, so that a dense column of smoke was now ascending high in the air, being sheltered from the wind by the palm-grove just behind them. The three men were careless as to the pirates seeing the smoke now, knowing that even José, with all his reputation for courage and daring, would not venture to return in the teeth of the British squadron, to attempt to secure them; yet they could not help speculating as to what the pirate must be thinking, or what his feelings must be, now that it was borne in upon him that people had been on the island, though he had not found them. He would, of course, be able to make a shrewd guess as to Gomez’s fate, and Roger could picture to himself the fellow’s disappointment and anger. For, having failed to find the papers, in search of which he had returned to the sand-bank, he would almost certainly arrive at the conviction that the unknown people on the island, who had evaded his keen eye in so mysterious a manner, had come into possession of them. To have been so near the recovery of his cherished papers, and yet to have missed them! Roger could picture the man standing on the quarterdeck of the Black Pearl gnashing his teeth in impotent fury, and shaking his fist at the island as he beheld the column of thick smoke rising from it. But for the swiftly-disappearing pirate none of them cared a jot, since were not their own dearly-loved ships near them? And, if God were good, would they not soon be once more treading those white decks that they knew and loved so well? Meanwhile, however, it seemed as though, even after all, there might be a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip; for, despite the smoke-signal that they were sending up, the ships were holding persistently on their course after the pirates.
More fuel was piled on, and the smoke went driving away to leeward in dense clouds. Still there was no response or sign from the ships of its having been seen, while they were now drawing rapidly away from the island.
“I reckon,” said Jake, “that they’re all lookin’ at the chase, aboard they there craft. Why can’t some of ’em take a squint aft at the island? Then they would see us, or the smoke at any rate.”
As if in answer to his complaint, and immediately following upon it, they saw a stream of flags float up from the first vessel—which, as they rightly guessed, was the ship that Mr Cavendish had taken command of as his flag-ship,—and a few moments later the answering signal was displayed from the rearmost vessel, which, evidently obeying the signal, now came round upon the opposite tack, with her bows pointing toward the island.
They were seen! At last they were seen! All their troubles and anxiety and waiting were now over; hurrah! hurrah!! hurrah!!! The three castaways seemed to lose their heads completely. They shouted, leaped into the air, shook hands, and embraced each other, cutting all kinds of capers, and, in short, behaving like very madmen in the reaction of their joy after waiting for so long in suspense. For now all recognised very clearly the truth of what Bevan had said, as to their being seen and rescued now or never. The ship approached rapidly, under the influence of the fresh breeze, seeming literally to grow out of the water, and looking, with her clouds of gaily-painted canvas, like some huge bright-plumaged tropic bird. Presently they saw her yards thrown aback, and she came up into the wind, remaining hove-to until a boat was lowered, and then slowly tacking to and fro opposite them. The watchers on the beach saw the boat lowered down the side, and the men scramble into her; then they saw the sunlight glitter on the oar-blades as they dipped into the water and the boat shot away from the parent vessel’s side. She came rushing toward the beach as fast as the arms of a dozen lusty men could drive her, her coxswain standing up in the stern-sheets and peering eagerly ahead at the island. The foam curled white and high about her stem, showing the great speed at which she was being forced through the water.
Said Bevan to Jake: “The skipper have evidently give his orders that they’re not to waste any time on the road, or in takin’ of us off. Just look you at the speed of that there cutter! I expect, if we could only but see him, that he’s stampin’ up and down his quarterdeck, bitin’ his nails with impatience to be away again a’ter that Black Pearl; and prob’ly swearin’ at this boat’s crew for bein’ a set of lazy lubbers in not puttin’ her through the water faster.” And he laughed.