Orders were now issued to lay the ship's head nearer the wind for the Cape de Verd, and to bend the cable to the working anchor, that it might be ready for any emergency; and these directions had the unexpected effect of bringing matters to a crisis between our captain and the friends of Antonio.
They assembled in sullen groups about the deck, and clustered out upon the booms, where they muttered and whispered, and frequently pointed to the shore and to the native boats that were paddling into the sandy coves and wooded creeks.
Tom Lambourne, whom Captain Estremera soon discovered to be one of the best seamen on board, had gone below, with one or two more, to rouse the cable out of the tier, when, to his surprise, he found the place filled with Spanish sailors and Lascars, all talking at once, and in full conference with the fettered Cubana!
He was roughly ordered to sheer off and let the cable lie, while one or two drew their knives in a threatening manner.
"They are up to something at last!" said he to Carlton; "so it is high time for the captain and his cabin passengers to look out for a squall, or that old Dutchman's dollars may change hands at the capstan-head before night."
Hislop and I had dined with the captain, and were lingering over some wine of Alicant, fruit, and cigars, listening to a dispute about some very irrelevant matter between the old Governor of Surabaya and Fra Anselmo, when the ship's steward came to say that a sailor wished to speak with us in haste.
Tom was admitted, and bluntly stated at once his conviction that a plot had been laid by Antonio and others to seize the ship and run her ashore. If such were not their intentions, why had they refused to let him bend the cable to the working-anchor?
Hislop hurriedly repeated Tom's statement in Spanish, adding thereto his own ideas and suspicions on the subject.
The old priest and the rich Dutchman became seriously alarmed; while the olive visage of Captain Estremera grew dark as night with anger.
"Ave Maria!" said the priest, closing his snuffbox, and putting it hastily in his pocket.