CHAPTER XXXVII.
Felix.—"Now, captain, if you had seen that big boy, would you not have walloped him?"
"Most certainly," said the captain, "but now we must be thinking of more important matters." And as the hot weather set in with more than ordinary vigour, it was very clear that we should not be safe in our caverns, subjected to the earthquakes that generally accompany the heat.
Besides we were getting restless and impatient. If all alone by ourselves, we had meditated getting the better of the pirates—think what wild schemes we now had, with Smart and the captain to help us.
But we must wait until some of them went away in the ships after their usual avocations, as even the bravest amongst us did not hope to conquer them all. They seemed however bent upon making their homes more comfortable before they went, and it was somewhat late in the season when they started in their own vessel, leaving La Luna and half their men behind. These latter were employed in sowing seeds and preparing the ground for fruits and vegetables. We saw but little of the women, as they hardly ever left their side of the island. We now discussed the possibility of dispatching those parties who were left behind, thinking though there were many more than we expected, yet we might get rid of them, and taking possession of La Luna, get off the island at once. A mad scheme it certainly was and nothing but the ardent longing we had to escape made us think of it so confidently.
In the meantime, Smart gained the captain's permission, to "settle" any of the men he might catch in a convenient position, so as to shoot them, without exposing himself or us to risk of discovery. So highly did he appreciate this permission, that he never ceased day or night dodging about and watching these people, and three times he came in with ill-concealed triumph, though he respected our feelings too much to do more than insinuate he had "settled" some one or more. We, in the meanwhile, occupied ourselves in making sacks and putting food into them, ready to start at a moment's warning should a favourable time arrive.
The pirates, we suppose, now began to suspect, from the extraordinary death of three of their men, that the two prisoners were concealed somewhere in the island, and not being able to discover them, or to account for deaths taking place in such different parts of the island, they kept altogether, close to the plantation side, and left the bay entirely to us.
This gave Smart an opportunity of getting to the ship and bringing off a boat, which we concealed by day in a cleft of the rock, but nightly we employed ourselves in running down to the shore with everything we had collected, which Smart and the captain stowed in the ship. We had been at this work about a week, in full confidence and in the highest spirits, our hopes were great, the dangers of the voyage appeared as nothing, all our plans seemed succeeding, when one night, just as we were all creeping up, tired and worn out with our night's work, we heard shriek upon shriek from one of our party.
The strong sonorous voice of the captain shouted to us to get to cover. Smart followed, huddling us all in like sheep, but, dark as it was, we could not see who was missing, and I could not trust my voice to ask. We ran to the inner cavern, and there, by the light of the torch, we missed the darling child, Zoë, and both the maids.
Smart.—"Don't fret, Ma'am, don't fret, no harm is done. We'll have 'em back by the morn. The cap'in and I will just take a step out and look about us, and you, Madam, will be ready to help us, no doubt," turning to Schillie.