“I will take you and your followers on shore now, Captain Massey,” he said. “Ask no questions, and take no notice of anything you see. While I am with you, you are safe; obey my directions and you will continue so, but I cannot answer for the conduct of the people hereabouts if you venture anywhere by yourself. Your men will carry your chest and their own bags.”
Pompey had entered with O’Harrall, to assist Dan and Tim; taking up Owen’s chest, they followed him and the pirate on deck. Not a man was to be seen on board; the ship appeared to be deserted. A boat was alongside, with two people in her. The Irishmen and Pompey lowered down the chest.
“Come, Massey, bid farewell to the old craft,” said O’Harrall, in the same tone in which he had before spoken; and he went down the side of the ship into the boat.
Owen and his three companions descended after him.
“Shove off,” said the pirate in Spanish; and the crew, obeying, began to pull towards the low shore, which could dimly be distinguished through the obscurity. A few trees rose above it, and here and there at intervals twinkling lights could be perceived, as if proceeding from the huts of the inhabitants.
Owen, as he glanced round, saw at once that the ship lay in the centre of a lagoon of some size, the shores of which were in most parts low; but to the southward, the direction of which he knew by the stars shining brightly from out of the unclouded sky, the ground rose to a considerable height, with what appeared to be cliffs directly above the water. Near the Ouzel Galley lay another large ship, and he guessed that she was the one which had captured her, but he wisely forebore to ask questions.
“You see the sort of place you are in,” said O’Harrall. “It is not one from which you could easily escape, however much you might desire it; but let me advise you not to make the attempt. You would to a certainty be retaken, and I could not save you from the fate to which you would be doomed. I have already shown that I desire to serve you. I could not help capturing the Ouzel Galley, for the signal made by one of your crew showed my people that she was a prize worth taking; although I knew her at once, and guessed that you must be in command, I could not help myself.”
Owen made no reply to these remarks. Bad as a man may be, he generally endeavours to offer some excuse to those he respects. But little further conversation passed till the boat reached the beach. O’Harrall then gave some orders to the men in her, who, as soon as he and his companions had landed, pulled away. The black and the two seamen then, shouldering the chests, followed O’Harrall and Owen, the former conducting them directly inland, passing some groves of cocoa-nut and other trees, and avoiding any of the huts which were scattered about here and there. After they had walked nearly a quarter of a mile, a largish building, which might have been a barn or store, met their gaze, a light gleaming from one end of it.
“Open the door, Mammy; here are your guests,” said O’Harrall, and immediately an old black woman appeared, with a lamp in her hand, which she held up to enable her to scrutinise her visitors.
“All right, massa cappen,” she said. “Glad to see the gen’lemen. I’se take good care ob dem, neber fear.”