"Da Silva," he exclaimed, addressing one of his officers, a Spaniard like himself. "I want to speak to you in my cabin."
Side by side the two men walked aft till they reached the after hatchway. It was closed, the bo'sun, in anticipation of bad weather, having given orders for this to be done. In obedience to a hail a dozen seamen came running through the fog-laden atmosphere, and tackles were rove to the heavy steel plates covering the means of communicating with the half-deck and the officers' cabins.
Slowly the metal slab rose till there was a space of nearly three feet between the lid and the coaming. One of the seamen slipped through with the intention of clearing away a chain slung on the underside. As he did so a report rang out. The man clapped his hands to his head and toppled across the framework of the hatchway. Simultaneously the other seamen, alarmed at the noise, hurriedly let go the tackles, and the hatch-cover fell back with a resounding clang.
"Caramba! The prisoners are loose!" exclaimed Cervillo.
By a prematurely fired shot all chances of "rushing" the pirates were thrown away. One of the Frenchmen, with the mercurial excitability of his race, seeing the pirate enter the hatch, had foolishly discharged one chamber of his revolver. Before the men under Hiram B. Rutter's command could rush up the companion ladder the falling of the armoured slab had rendered their attempt absolutely impossible.
"Hang it, man!" exclaimed Fielding, who had hastened to the base of the after ladder on hearing the shot and the clang of the cover. "We've made a hopeless mess of things this time."
Recriminations would have been a mere waste of time. Fielding blamed no one. He knew, however, that an attempt to storm the quarter-deck when the hatch was again removed would be useless, as the pirates would by that time have taken elaborate precautions. As a matter of fact Cervillo had ordered twenty armed men to come aft, while a quick-firing gun was temporarily mounted so that its muzzle gaped menacingly over the aperture leading to the half-deck.
"Yes, Mr. Rutter," continued the sub. "We must sit tight. They can't very well turn us out, neither can we turn them out, so we must make ourselves comfortable as best we can. Luckily our quarters are not so cramped as hitherto, and our circle of acquaintances has widened considerably."
"That's about right, I guess," agreed the American. "We've only to keep our eyes skinned and allow no low-down pirate to get down here, and I reckon we'll come out on top."
Accordingly ten men were stationed at each ladder, ready to pour in a destructive fire should the crew of the cruiser attempt to descend from the quarter-deck. This done, the rest of the involuntary guests were sent to explore the steerage and orlop-decks.