And with ready officiousness he bustled out of the galley and, walking aft, to the spot where Hampton was lashed up, thrust his hand unceremoniously into the man’s trousers pocket, withdrew a bunch of keys secured together upon a ropeyarn, and offered them to Leslie.
Dick looked at them as they lay in the fellow’s hand.
“There are four keys there, I see,” he said, “What are they?”
“This,” answered Dolan, “is the key of the forecastle hatch. This, the key of the main cabin, which is locked. This is the key of Misther Marshall’s cabin. And this is the key of the irons that’s on the same gentleman’s hands.”
“Very good,” said Leslie. “Now come forward with me, and unlock the forecastle.”
The man obeyed, and presently, in response to Dick’s call, four very decent-looking young fellows came up on deck and stared about them in some bewilderment at the sight of three total strangers on board, and two of the mutineers in bonds. From the forecastle Dick proceeded aft, still with the cook in company, and compelled the latter to unlock first the main cabin in which Reynolds was found confined, then the mate’s cabin, and finally the irons on the latter’s wrists.
The mate of the Minerva, who proved to be a very smart-looking young fellow, with a keen, resolute expression, but drawn and haggard with anxiety, stared in amazement at the apparition of a total stranger in his cabin, who was evidently acting with authority. But Leslie did not leave him much time for wonderment.
“Mr Marshall,” he said, “permit me to introduce myself. My name is Leslie. It has been my misfortune to be cast away on the island, a glimpse of which you have perhaps occasionally caught through your cabin port. I have been on that island nearly ten months, and my preparations for leaving it were practically complete when your vessel entered the lagoon. Naturally, I came off aboard to make the acquaintance of your skipper, and found the man Turnbull in command. Knowing the fellow so well as you must, you will not be surprised to learn that, from what I saw, I quickly guessed there was something very seriously wrong aboard here; and a little judicious investigation soon enabled me to arrive at the actual facts. I am now glad to inform you that, aided by my two companions, I have managed to recover possession of the ship for you, and have much pleasure in turning her over to you. You will find Royston and Hampton, two of the mutineers, securely lashed to the rail, on deck, and doubtless you will lose no time in clapping them in irons. The other three—Turnbull, Burton, and Cunliffe—are prisoners ashore, at present, and if you are disposed to maroon them, they can, of course, remain there, as the island possesses ample resources in the shape of fruit, fish, and water, for their sustenance. But if, on the other hand, you prefer to take them with you, I will bring them off aboard at any time that may be most convenient to you.”
“Thank you, Mr Leslie,” answered Marshall, fervently, as he rose and stretched himself with obvious delight in his recovered freedom, “I am sure I don’t know how I am to express my gratitude for the service that you’ve done me and the owners of this ship. I’m afraid I shall have to leave it to them to do when we get home. But I can repay you in a measure by offering you and your companions a passage to England, which I do now, with the greatest of pleasure. And I’ll do my level best to make the trip comfortable and pleasant for you. As to Turnbull and the other two that you’ve boxed up ashore, of course I must take them along with me and hand them over to the authorities upon our arrival at Capetown, because, d’ye see, they’re all guilty of the murder of poor Cap’n Hopkins. So you can bring them off—or I’ll send ashore for ’em—whenever you like. And now, if you’ve no objection, we’ll go out on deck, for, to tell you the truth, I’m just pining for a breath of fresh air.”
The poor fellow looked about him in amazement when, a minute later, he stood on the barque’s poop and gazed thence at the lovely island, rich in verdure of every conceivable tint of green, and glowing here and there with patches of the vivid scarlet blossoms of the bois-immortelle, the whole bathed in the brilliant sunshine of a tropical day. Nor was he less astonished at the sight of the handsome little cutter lying at anchor close in with the shore. For this was the first time that he had ever been on deck since the day on which the island had been “made” from the barque’s fore-yard; and everything was therefore absolutely new to him, save such slight glimpses as he had been able to catch through the port-hole of his cabin. He was most anxious that Leslie and his two companions should remain on board and take dinner with him; but Dick was by this time quite as anxious to get back ashore and satisfy himself as to Flora’s safe arrival. So a compromise was made, and Marshall, having seen the two mutineers safely clapped in irons, gladly accepted Leslie’s invitation to go ashore and take lunch with him. They were still some distance from the beach when Flora was seen flitting busily about the camp; Leslie’s anxiety therefore on her account was at an end. And, after lunch, while Nicholls and Simpson went blithely to work upon the job of provisioning and watering the cutter, and stowing their several personal belongings on board, Leslie and Marshall took the catamaran and sailed round to the cove, from whence they proceeded to the cave, where they found Turnbull and his two companions still bound hard and fast, and by this time thoroughly subdued. With some difficulty they succeeded in getting the three prisoners down the face of the cliff and aboard the catamaran; and, this done, their transference to the Minerva and their confinement in irons was an easy matter. The owners of the barque had made the grave mistake of sending her to sea without so much as a single weapon of any kind to aid her officers, if need be, to maintain order and discipline among the crew; but this was an omission that Leslie was fortunately in a position to easily remedy by a simple application to the case of firearms that had formed part of the Mermaid’s cargo, and he willingly supplied Marshall with a brace of revolvers and a sufficient quantity of ammunition for all practical purposes. The party from the island—that is to say, Flora, Leslie, Nicholls, and Simpson—accepted a very pressing invitation from Marshall to dine and spend the evening on board the Minerva in celebration of that vessel’s recovery from the mutineers; and before they left again for the shore Captain Marshall made a long entry in the ship’s official log, detailing the circumstances of her seizure and recapture, with full particulars of the part played by the steward in the latter—much to Reynolds’ gratification; and Leslie attached his signature to the entry, in attestation of its truth. Leslie also seized the opportunity to compare the chronometer saved from the Mermaid with those belonging to the Minerva, and was much gratified to find that it was absolutely to be relied upon. They returned to the camp about midnight, and turned in highly elated with the joyous knowledge that on the morrow they would actually be starting for home.