THE PERILS OF CERTAIN ENGLISH PRISONERS

CHAPTER I--THE ISLAND OF SILVER-STORE

It was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-four, that I, Gill Davis to command, His Mark, having then the honour to be aprivate in the Royal Marines, stood a-leaning over the bulwarks of thearmed sloop Christopher Columbus, in the South American waters off theMosquito shore. 

My lady remarks to me, before I go any further, that there is no suchchristian-name as Gill, and that her confident opinion is, that the namegiven to me in the baptism wherein I was made, &c. , was Gilbert. She iscertain to be right, but I never heard of it. I was a foundling child, picked up somewhere or another, and I always understood my christian-nameto be Gill. It is true that I was called Gills when employed atSnorridge Bottom betwixt Chatham and Maidstone to frighten birds; butthat had nothing to do with the Baptism wherein I was made, &c. , andwherein a number of things were promised for me by somebody, who let mealone ever afterwards as to performing any of them, and who, I consider, must have been the Beadle. Such name of Gills was entirely owing to mycheeks, or gills, which at that time of my life were of a raspydescription. 

My lady stops me again, before I go any further, by laughing exactly inher old way and waving the feather of her pen at me. That action on herpart, calls to my mind as I look at her hand with the rings on it--Well!I won't! To be sure it will come in, in its own place. But it's alwaysstrange to me, noticing the quiet hand, and noticing it (as I have done, you know, so many times) a-fondling children and grandchildren asleep, tothink that when blood and honour were up--there! I won't! not atpresent!--Scratch it out. 

She won't scratch it out, and quite honourable; because we have made anunderstanding that everything is to be taken down, and that nothing thatis once taken down shall be scratched out. I have the great misfortunenot to be able to read and write, and I am speaking my true and faithfulaccount of those Adventures, and my lady is writing it, word for word. 

I say, there I was, a-leaning over the bulwarks of the sloop ChristopherColumbus in the South American waters off the Mosquito shore: a subjectof his Gracious Majesty King George of England, and a private in theRoyal Marines. 

In those climates, you don't want to do much. I was doing nothing. Iwas thinking of the shepherd (my father, I wonder?) on the hillsides bySnorridge Bottom, with a long staff, and with a rough white coat in allweathers all the year round, who used to let me lie in a corner of hishut by night, and who used to let me go about with him and his sheep byday when I could get nothing else to do, and who used to give me solittle of his victuals and so much of his staff, that I ran away fromhim--which was what he wanted all along, I expect--to be knocked aboutthe world in preference to Snorridge Bottom. I had been knocked aboutthe world for nine-and-twenty years in all, when I stood looking alongthose bright blue South American Waters. Looking after the shepherd, Imay say. Watching him in a half-waking dream, with my eyes half-shut, ashe, and his flock of sheep, and his two dogs, seemed to move away fromthe ship's side, far away over the blue water, and go right down into thesky. 

"It's rising out of the water, steady, " a voice said close to me. I hadbeen thinking on so, that it like woke me with a start, though it was nostranger voice than the voice of Harry Charker, my own comrade. 

"What's rising out of the water, steady?" I asked my comrade. 

"What?" says he. "The Island. "

"O! The Island!" says I, turning my eyes towards it. "True. I forgotthe Island. "

"Forgot the port you're going to? That's odd, ain't it?"

"It is odd, " says I. 

"And odd, " he said, slowly considering with himself, "ain't even. Is it, Gill?"

He had always a remark just like that to make, and seldom another. Assoon as he had brought a thing round to what it was not, he wassatisfied. He was one of the best of men, and, in a certain sort of away, one with the least to say for himself. I qualify it, because, besides being able to read and write like a Quarter-master, he had alwaysone most excellent idea in his mind. That was, Duty. Upon my soul, Idon't believe, though I admire learning beyond everything, that he couldhave got a better idea out of all the books in the world, if he hadlearnt them every word, and been the cleverest of scholars. 

My comrade and I had been quartered in Jamaica, and from there we hadbeen drafted off to the British settlement of Belize, lying away West andNorth of the Mosquito coast. At Belize there had been great alarm of onecruel gang of pirates (there were always more pirates than enough inthose Caribbean Seas), and as they got the better of our English cruisersby running into out-of-the-way creeks and shallows, and taking the landwhen they were hotly pressed, the governor of Belize had received ordersfrom home to keep a sharp look-out for them along shore. Now, there wasan armed sloop came once a-year from Port Royal, Jamaica, to the Island, laden with all manner of necessaries, to eat, and to drink, and to wear, and to use in various ways; and it was aboard of that sloop which hadtouched at Belize, that I was a-standing, leaning over the bulwarks. 

The Island was occupied by a very small English colony. It had beengiven the name of Silver-Store. The reason of its being so called, was, that the English colony owned and worked a silver-mine over on themainland, in Honduras, and used this Island as a safe and convenientplace to store their silver in, until it was annually fetched away by thesloop. It was brought down from the mine to the coast on the backs ofmules, attended by friendly Indians and guarded by white men; from thenceit was conveyed over to Silver-Store, when the weather was fair, in thecanoes of that country; from Silver-Store, it was carried to Jamaica bythe armed sloop once a-year, as I have already mentioned; from Jamaica, it went, of course, all over the world. 

How I came to be aboard the armed sloop, is easily told. Four-and-twentymarines under command of a lieutenant--that officer's name wasLinderwood--had been told off at Belize, to proceed to Silver-Store, inaid of boats and seamen stationed there for the chase of the Pirates. TheIsland was considered a good post of observation against the pirates, both by land and sea; neither the pirate ship nor yet her boats had beenseen by any of us, but they had been so much heard of, that thereinforcement was sent. Of that party, I was one. It included acorporal and a sergeant. Charker was corporal, and the sergeant's namewas Drooce. He was the most tyrannical non-commissioned officer in HisMajesty's service. 

The night came on, soon after I had had the foregoing words with Charker. All the wonderful bright colours went out of the sea and sky in a fewminutes, and all the stars in the Heavens seemed to shine out together, and to look down at themselves in the sea, over one another's shoulders, millions deep. Next morning, we cast anchor off the Island. There was asnug harbour within a little reef; there was a sandy beach; there werecocoa-nut trees with high straight stems, quite bare, and foliage at thetop like plumes of magnificent green feathers; there were all the objectsthat are usually seen in those parts, and _I_ am not going to describethem, having something else to tell about. 

Great rejoicings, to be sure, were made on our arrival. All the flags inthe place were hoisted, all the guns in the place were fired, and all thepeople in the place came down to look at us. One of those Sambofellows--they call those natives Sambos, when they are half-negro andhalf-Indian--had come off outside the reef, to pilot us in, and remainedon board after we had let go our anchor. He was called Christian GeorgeKing, and was fonder of all hands than anybody else was. Now, I confess, for myself, that on that first day, if I had been captain of theChristopher Columbus, instead of private in the Royal Marines, I shouldhave kicked Christian George King--who was no more a Christian than hewas a King or a George--over the side, without exactly knowing why, except that it was the right thing to do. 

But, I must likewise confess, that I was not in a particularly pleasanthumour, when I stood under arms that morning, aboard the ChristopherColumbus in the harbour of the Island of Silver-Store. I had had a hardlife, and the life of the English on the Island seemed too easy and toogay to please me. "Here you are, " I thought to myself, "good scholarsand good livers; able to read what you like, able to write what you like, able to eat and drink what you like, and spend what you like, and do whatyou like; and much _you_ care for a poor, ignorant Private in the RoyalMarines! Yet it's hard, too, I think, that you should have all the half-pence, and I all the kicks; you all the smooth, and I all the rough; youall the oil, and I all the vinegar. " It was as envious a thing to thinkas might be, let alone its being nonsensical; but, I thought it. I tookit so much amiss, that, when a very beautiful young English lady cameaboard, I grunted to myself, "Ah! _you_ have got a lover, I'll be bound!"As if there was any new offence to me in that, if she had!

She was sister to the captain of our sloop, who had been in a poor wayfor some time, and who was so ill then that he was obliged to be carriedashore. She was the child of a military officer, and had come out therewith her sister, who was married to one of the owners of the silver-mine, and who had three children with her. It was easy to see that she was thelight and spirit of the Island. After I had got a good look at her, Igrunted to myself again, in an even worse state of mind than before, "I'll be damned, if I don't hate him, whoever he is!"

My officer, Lieutenant Linderwood, was as ill as the captain of thesloop, and was carried ashore, too. They were both young men of about myage, who had been delicate in the West India climate. I even took _that_in bad part. I thought I was much fitter for the work than they were, and that if all of us had our deserts, I should be both of them rolledinto one. (It may be imagined what sort of an officer of marines Ishould have made, without the power of reading a written order. And asto any knowledge how to command the sloop--Lord! I should have sunk herin a quarter of an hour!)

However, such were my reflections; and when we men were ashore anddismissed, I strolled about the place along with Charker, making myobservations in a similar spirit. 

It was a pretty place: in all its arrangements partly South American andpartly English, and very agreeable to look at on that account, being likea bit of home that had got chipped off and had floated away to that spot, accommodating itself to circumstances as it drifted along. The huts ofthe Sambos, to the number of five-and-twenty, perhaps, were down by thebeach to the left of the anchorage. On the right was a sort of barrack, with a South American Flag and the Union Jack, flying from the samestaff, where the little English colony could all come together, if theysaw occasion. It was a walled square of building, with a sort ofpleasure-ground inside, and inside that again a sunken block like apowder magazine, with a little square trench round it, and steps down tothe door. Charker and I were looking in at the gate, which was notguarded; and I had said to Charker, in reference to the bit like a powdermagazine, "That's where they keep the silver you see;" and Charker hadsaid to me, after thinking it over, "And silver ain't gold. Is it, Gill?" when the beautiful young English lady I had been so bilious about, looked out of a door, or a window--at all events looked out, from under abright awning. She no sooner saw us two in uniform, than she came out soquickly that she was still putting on her broad Mexican hat of plaitedstraw when we saluted. 

"Would you like to come in, " she said, "and see the place? It is rathera curious place. "

We thanked the young lady, and said we didn't wish to be troublesome;but, she said it could be no trouble to an English soldier's daughter, toshow English soldiers how their countrymen and country-women fared, sofar away from England; and consequently we saluted again, and went in. Then, as we stood in the shade, she showed us (being as affable asbeautiful), how the different families lived in their separate houses, and how there was a general house for stores, and a general reading-room, and a general room for music and dancing, and a room for Church; and howthere were other houses on the rising ground called the Signal Hill, where they lived in the hotter weather. 

"Your officer has been carried up there, " she said, "and my brother, too, for the better air. At present, our few residents are dispersed overboth spots: deducting, that is to say, such of our number as are alwaysgoing to, or coming from, or staying at, the Mine. "

("_He_ is among one of those parties, " I thought, "and I wish somebodywould knock his head off. ")

"Some of our married ladies live here, " she said, "during at least halfthe year, as lonely as widows, with their children. "

"Many children here, ma'am?"

"Seventeen. There are thirteen married ladies, and there are eight likeme. "

There were not eight like her--there was not one like her--in the world. She meant single. 

"Which, with about thirty Englishmen of various degrees, " said the younglady, "form the little colony now on the Island. I don't count thesailors, for they don't belong to us. Nor the soldiers, " she gave us agracious smile when she spoke of the soldiers, "for the same reason. "

"Nor the Sambos, ma'am, " said I. 

"No. "

"Under your favour, and with your leave, ma'am, " said I, "are theytrustworthy?"

"Perfectly! We are all very kind to them, and they are very grateful tous. "

"Indeed, ma'am? Now--Christian George King?--"

"Very much attached to us all. Would die for us. "

She was, as in my uneducated way I have observed, very beautiful womenalmost always to be, so composed, that her composure gave great weight towhat she said, and I believed it. 

Then, she pointed out to us the building like a powder magazine, andexplained to us in what manner the silver was brought from the mine, andwas brought over from the mainland, and was stored here. The ChristopherColumbus would have a rich lading, she said, for there had been a greatyield that year, a much richer yield than usual, and there was a chest ofjewels besides the silver. 

When we had looked about us, and were getting sheepish, through fearingwe were troublesome, she turned us over to a young woman, English bornbut West India bred, who served her as her maid. This young woman wasthe widow of a non-commissioned officer in a regiment of the line. Shehad got married and widowed at St. Vincent, with only a few monthsbetween the two events. She was a little saucy woman, with a bright pairof eyes, rather a neat little foot and figure, and rather a neat littleturned-up nose. The sort of young woman, I considered at the time, whoappeared to invite you to give her a kiss, and who would have slappedyour face if you accepted the invitation. 

I couldn't make out her name at first; for, when she gave it in answer tomy inquiry, it sounded like Beltot, which didn't sound right. But, whenwe became better acquainted--which was while Charker and I were drinkingsugar-cane sangaree, which she made in a most excellent manner--I foundthat her Christian name was Isabella, which they shortened into Bell, andthat the name of the deceased non-commissioned officer was Tott. Beingthe kind of neat little woman it was natural to make a toy of--I neversaw a woman so like a toy in my life--she had got the plaything name ofBelltott. In short, she had no other name on the island. Even Mr. Commissioner Pordage (and _he_ was a grave one!) formally addressed heras Mrs. Belltott, but, I shall come to Mr. Commissioner Pordagepresently. 

The name of the captain of the sloop was Captain Maryon, and therefore itwas no news to hear from Mrs. Belltott, that his sister, the beautifulunmarried young English lady, was Miss Maryon. The novelty was, that herchristian-name was Marion too. Marion Maryon. Many a time I have runoff those two names in my thoughts, like a bit of verse. Oh many, andmany, and many a time!

We saw out all the drink that was produced, like good men and true, andthen took our leaves, and went down to the beach. The weather wasbeautiful; the wind steady, low, and gentle; the island, a picture; thesea, a picture; the sky, a picture. In that country there are two rainyseasons in the year. One sets in at about our English Midsummer; theother, about a fortnight after our English Michaelmas. It was thebeginning of August at that time; the first of these rainy seasons waswell over; and everything was in its most beautiful growth, and had itsloveliest look upon it. 

"They enjoy themselves here, " I says to Charker, turning surly again. "This is better than private-soldiering. "

We had come down to the beach, to be friendly with the boat's-crew whowere camped and hutted there; and we were approaching towards theirquarters over the sand, when Christian George King comes up from thelanding-place at a wolf's-trot, crying, "Yup, So-Jeer!"--which was thatSambo Pilot's barbarous way of saying, Hallo, Soldier! I have statedmyself to be a man of no learning, and, if I entertain prejudices, I hopeallowance may be made. I will now confess to one. It may be a right oneor it may be a wrong one; but, I never did like Natives, except in theform of oysters. 

So, when Christian George King, who was individually unpleasant to mebesides, comes a trotting along the sand, clucking, "Yup, So-Jeer!" Ihad a thundering good mind to let fly at him with my right. I certainlyshould have done it, but that it would have exposed me to reprimand. 

"Yup, So-Jeer!" says he. "Bad job. "

"What do you mean?" says I. 

"Yup, So-Jeer!" says he, "Ship Leakee. "

"Ship leaky?" says I. 

"Iss, " says he, with a nod that looked as if it was jerked out of him bya most violent hiccup--which is the way with those savages. 

I cast my eyes at Charker, and we both heard the pumps going aboard thesloop, and saw the signal run up, "Come on board; hands wanted from theshore. " In no time some of the sloop's liberty-men were already runningdown to the water's edge, and the party of seamen, under orders againstthe Pirates, were putting off to the Columbus in two boats. 

"O Christian George King sar berry sorry!" says that Sambo vagabond, then. "Christian George King cry, English fashion!" His English fashionof crying was to screw his black knuckles into his eyes, howl like a dog, and roll himself on his back on the sand. It was trying not to kick him, but I gave Charker the word, "Double-quick, Harry!" and we got down tothe water's edge, and got on board the sloop. 

By some means or other, she had sprung such a leak, that no pumping wouldkeep her free; and what between the two fears that she would go down inthe harbour, and that, even if she did not, all the supplies she hadbrought for the little colony would be destroyed by the sea-water as itrose in her, there was great confusion. In the midst of it, CaptainMaryon was heard hailing from the beach. He had been carried down in hishammock, and looked very bad; but he insisted on being stood there on hisfeet; and I saw him, myself, come off in the boat, sitting upright in thestern-sheets, as if nothing was wrong with him. 

A quick sort of council was held, and Captain Maryon soon resolved thatwe must all fall to work to get the cargo out, and that when that wasdone, the guns and heavy matters must be got out, and that the sloop mustbe hauled ashore, and careened, and the leak stopped. We were allmustered (the Pirate-Chace party volunteering), and told off intoparties, with so many hours of spell and so many hours of relief, and weall went at it with a will. Christian George King was entered one of theparty in which I worked, at his own request, and he went at it with asgood a will as any of the rest. He went at it with so much heartiness, to say the truth, that he rose in my good opinion almost as fast as thewater rose in the ship. Which was fast enough, and faster. 

Mr. Commissioner Pordage kept in a red-and-black japanned box, like afamily lump-sugar box, some document or other, which some Sambo chief orother had got drunk and spilt some ink over (as well as I couldunderstand the matter), and by that means had given up lawful possessionof the Island. Through having hold of this box, Mr. Pordage got histitle of Commissioner. He was styled Consul too, and spoke of himself as"Government. "

He was a stiff-jointed, high-nosed old gentleman, without an ounce of faton him, of a very angry temper and a very yellow complexion. Mrs. Commissioner Pordage, making allowance for difference of sex, was muchthe same. Mr. Kitten, a small, youngish, bald, botanical andmineralogical gentleman, also connected with the mine--but everybodythere was that, more or less--was sometimes called by Mr. CommissionerPordage, his Vice-commissioner, and sometimes his Deputy-consul. Orsometimes he spoke of Mr. Kitten, merely as being "under Government. "

The beach was beginning to be a lively scene with the preparations forcareening the sloop, and with cargo, and spars, and rigging, and water-casks, dotted about it, and with temporary quarters for the men rising upthere out of such sails and odds and ends as could be best set on oneside to make them, when Mr. Commissioner Pordage comes down in a highfluster, and asks for Captain Maryon. The Captain, ill as he was, wasslung in his hammock betwixt two trees, that he might direct; and heraised his head, and answered for himself. 

"Captain Maryon, " cries Mr. Commissioner Pordage, "this is not official. This is not regular. "

"Sir, " says the Captain, "it hath been arranged with the clerk andsupercargo, that you should be communicated with, and requested to renderany little assistance that may lie in your power. I am quite certainthat hath been duly done. "

"Captain Maryon, " replied Mr. Commissioner Pordage, "there hath been nowritten correspondence. No documents have passed, no memoranda have beenmade, no minutes have been made, no entries and counter-entries appear inthe official muniments. This is indecent. I call upon you, sir, todesist, until all is regular, or Government will take this up. "

"Sir, " says Captain Maryon, chafing a little, as he looked out of hishammock; "between the chances of Government taking this up, and my shiptaking herself down, I much prefer to trust myself to the former. "

"You do, sir?" cries Mr. Commissioner Pordage. 

"I do, sir, " says Captain Maryon, lying down again. 

"Then, Mr. Kitten, " says the Commissioner, "send up instantly for myDiplomatic coat. "

He was dressed in a linen suit at that moment; but, Mr. Kitten startedoff himself and brought down the Diplomatic coat, which was a blue clothone, gold-laced, and with a crown on the button. 

"Now, Mr. Kitten, " says Pordage, "I instruct you, as Vice-commissioner, and Deputy-consul of this place, to demand of Captain Maryon, of thesloop Christopher Columbus, whether he drives me to the act of puttingthis coat on?"

"Mr. Pordage, " says Captain Maryon, looking out of his hammock again, "asI can hear what you say, I can answer it without troubling the gentleman. I should be sorry that you should be at the pains of putting on too hot acoat on my account; but, otherwise, you may put it on hind-side before, or inside-out, or with your legs in the sleeves, or your head in theskirts, for any objection that I have to offer to your thoroughlypleasing yourself. "

"Very good, Captain Maryon, " says Pordage, in a tremendous passion. "Verygood, sir. Be the consequences on your own head! Mr. Kitten, as it hascome to this, help me on with it. "

When he had given that order, he walked off in the coat, and all ournames were taken, and I was afterwards told that Mr. Kitten wrote fromhis dictation more than a bushel of large paper on the subject, whichcost more before it was done with, than ever could be calculated, andwhich only got done with after all, by being lost. 

Our work went on merrily, nevertheless, and the Christopher Columbus, hauled up, lay helpless on her side like a great fish out of water. Whileshe was in that state, there was a feast, or a ball, or an entertainment, or more properly all three together, given us in honour of the ship, andthe ship's company, and the other visitors. At that assembly, I believe, I saw all the inhabitants then upon the Island, without any exception. Itook no particular notice of more than a few, but I found it veryagreeable in that little corner of the world to see the children, whowere of all ages, and mostly very pretty--as they mostly are. There wasone handsome elderly lady, with very dark eyes and gray hair, that Iinquired about. I was told that her name was Mrs. Venning; and hermarried daughter, a fair slight thing, was pointed out to me by the nameof Fanny Fisher. Quite a child she looked, with a little copy of herselfholding to her dress; and her husband, just come back from the mine, exceeding proud of her. They were a good-looking set of people on thewhole, but I didn't like them. I was out of sorts; in conversation withCharker, I found fault with all of them. I said of Mrs. Venning, she wasproud; of Mrs. Fisher, she was a delicate little baby-fool. What did Ithink of this one? Why, he was a fine gentleman. What did I say to thatone? Why, she was a fine lady. What could you expect them to be (Iasked Charker), nursed in that climate, with the tropical night shiningfor them, musical instruments playing to them, great trees bending overthem, soft lamps lighting them, fire-flies sparkling in among them, bright flowers and birds brought into existence to please their eyes, delicious drinks to be had for the pouring out, delicious fruits to begot for the picking, and every one dancing and murmuring happily in thescented air, with the sea breaking low on the reef for a pleasant chorus. 

"Fine gentlemen and fine ladies, Harry?" I says to Charker. "Yes, Ithink so! Dolls! Dolls! Not the sort of stuff for wear, that comes ofpoor private soldiering in the Royal Marines!"

However, I could not gainsay that they were very hospitable people, andthat they treated us uncommonly well. Every man of us was at theentertainment, and Mrs. Belltott had more partners than she could dancewith: though she danced all night, too. As to Jack (whether of theChristopher Columbus, or of the Pirate pursuit party, it made nodifference), he danced with his brother Jack, danced with himself, dancedwith the moon, the stars, the trees, the prospect, anything. I didn'tgreatly take to the chief-officer of that party, with his bright eyes, brown face, and easy figure. I didn't much like his way when he firsthappened to come where we were, with Miss Maryon on his arm. "O, CaptainCarton, " she says, "here are two friends of mine!" He says, "Indeed?These two Marines?"--meaning Charker and self. "Yes, " says she, "Ishowed these two friends of mine when they first came, all the wonders ofSilver-Store. " He gave us a laughing look, and says he, "You are inluck, men. I would be disrated and go before the mast to-morrow, to beshown the way upward again by such a guide. You are in luck, men. " Whenwe had saluted, and he and the lady had waltzed away, I said, "You are apretty follow, too, to talk of luck. You may go to the Devil!"

Mr. Commissioner Pordage and Mrs. Commissioner, showed among the companyon that occasion like the King and Queen of a much Greater Britain thanGreat Britain. Only two other circumstances in that jovial night mademuch separate impression on me. One was this. A man in our draft ofmarines, named Tom Packer, a wild unsteady young fellow, but the son of arespectable shipwright in Portsmouth Yard, and a good scholar who hadbeen well brought up, comes to me after a spell of dancing, and takes measide by the elbow, and says, swearing angrily:

"Gill Davis, I hope I may not be the death of Sergeant Drooce one day!"

Now, I knew Drooce had always borne particularly hard on this man, and Iknew this man to be of a very hot temper: so, I said:

"Tut, nonsense! don't talk so to me! If there's a man in the corps whoscorns the name of an assassin, that man and Tom Packer are one. "

Tom wipes his head, being in a mortal sweat, and says he:

"I hope so, but I can't answer for myself when he lords it over me, as hehas just now done, before a woman. I tell you what, Gill! Mark mywords! It will go hard with Sergeant Drooce, if ever we are in anengagement together, and he has to look to me to save him. Let him say aprayer then, if he knows one, for it's all over with him, and he is onhis Death-bed. Mark my words!"

I did mark his words, and very soon afterwards, too, as will shortly betaken down. 

The other circumstance that I noticed at that ball, was, the gaiety andattachment of Christian George King. The innocent spirits that SamboPilot was in, and the impossibility he found himself under of showing allthe little colony, but especially the ladies and children, how fond hewas of them, how devoted to them, and how faithful to them for life anddeath, for present, future, and everlasting, made a great impression onme. If ever a man, Sambo or no Sambo, was trustful and trusted, to whatmay be called quite an infantine and sweetly beautiful extent, surely, Ithought that morning when I did at last lie down to rest, it was thatSambo Pilot, Christian George King. 

This may account for my dreaming of him. He stuck in my sleep, cornerwise, and I couldn't get him out. He was always flitting about me, dancing round me, and peeping in over my hammock, though I woke and dozedoff again fifty times. At last, when I opened my eyes, there he reallywas, looking in at the open side of the little dark hut; which was madeof leaves, and had Charker's hammock slung in it as well as mine. 

"So-Jeer!" says he, in a sort of a low croak. "Yup!"

"Hallo!" says I, starting up. "What? You _are_ there, are you?"

"Iss, " says he. "Christian George King got news. "

"What news has he got?"

"Pirates out!"

I was on my feet in a second. So was Charker. We were both aware thatCaptain Carton, in command of the boats, constantly watched the mainlandfor a secret signal, though, of course, it was not known to such as uswhat the signal was. 

Christian George King had vanished before we touched the ground. But, the word was already passing from hut to hut to turn out quietly, and weknew that the nimble barbarian had got hold of the truth, or somethingnear it. 

In a space among the trees behind the encampment of us visitors, navaland military, was a snugly-screened spot, where we kept the stores thatwere in use, and did our cookery. The word was passed to assemble here. It was very quickly given, and was given (so far as we were concerned) bySergeant Drooce, who was as good in a soldier point of view, as he wasbad in a tyrannical one. We were ordered to drop into this space, quietly, behind the trees, one by one. As we assembled here, the seamenassembled too. Within ten minutes, as I should estimate, we were allhere, except the usual guard upon the beach. The beach (we could see itthrough the wood) looked as it always had done in the hottest time of theday. The guard were in the shadow of the sloop's hull, and nothing wasmoving but the sea, --and that moved very faintly. Work had always beenknocked off at that hour, until the sun grew less fierce, and the sea-breeze rose; so that its being holiday with us, made no difference, justthen, in the look of the place. But I may mention that it was a holiday, and the first we had had since our hard work began. Last night's ballhad been given, on the leak's being repaired, and the careening done. Theworst of the work was over, and to-morrow we were to begin to get thesloop afloat again. 

We marines were now drawn up here under arms. The chace-party were drawnup separate. The men of the Columbus were drawn up separate. Theofficers stepped out into the midst of the three parties, and spoke so asall might hear. Captain Carton was the officer in command, and he had aspy-glass in his hand. His coxswain stood by him with another spy-glass, and with a slate on which he seemed to have been taking down signals. 

"Now, men!" says Captain Carton; "I have to let you know, for yoursatisfaction: Firstly, that there are ten pirate-boats, strongly mannedand armed, lying hidden up a creek yonder on the coast, under theoverhanging branches of the dense trees. Secondly, that they willcertainly come out this night when the moon rises, on a pillaging andmurdering expedition, of which some part of the mainland is the object. Thirdly--don't cheer, men!--that we will give chace, and, if we can getat them, rid the world of them, please God!"

Nobody spoke, that I heard, and nobody moved, that I saw. Yet there wasa kind of ring, as if every man answered and approved with the best bloodthat was inside of him. 

"Sir, " says Captain Maryon, "I beg to volunteer on this service, with myboats. My people volunteer, to the ship's boys. "

"In His Majesty's name and service, " the other answers, touching his hat, "I accept your aid with pleasure. Lieutenant Linderwood, how will youdivide your men?"

I was ashamed--I give it out to be written down as large and plain aspossible--I was heart and soul ashamed of my thoughts of those two sickofficers, Captain Maryon and Lieutenant Linderwood, when I saw them, thenand there. The spirit in those two gentlemen beat down their illness(and very ill I knew them to be) like Saint George beating down theDragon. Pain and weakness, want of ease and want of rest, had no moreplace in their minds than fear itself. Meaning now to express for mylady to write down, exactly what I felt then and there, I felt this: "Youtwo brave fellows that I had been so grudgeful of, I know that if youwere dying you would put it off to get up and do your best, and then youwould be so modest that in lying down again to die, you would hardly say, 'I did it!'"

It did me good. It really did me good. 

But, to go back to where I broke off. Says Captain Carton to LieutenantLinderwood, "Sir, how will you divide your men? There is not room forall; and a few men should, in any case, be left here. "

There was some debate about it. At last, it was resolved to leave eightMarines and four seamen on the Island, besides the sloop's two boys. Andbecause it was considered that the friendly Sambos would only want to becommanded in case of any danger (though none at all was apprehendedthere), the officers were in favour of leaving the two non-commissionedofficers, Drooce and Charker. It was a heavy disappointment to them, just as my being one of the left was a heavy disappointment to me--then, but not soon afterwards. We men drew lots for it, and I drew "Island. "So did Tom Packer. So of course, did four more of our rank and file. 

When this was settled, verbal instructions were given to all hands tokeep the intended expedition secret, in order that the women and childrenmight not be alarmed, or the expedition put in a difficulty by morevolunteers. The assembly was to be on that same spot at sunset. Everyman was to keep up an appearance, meanwhile, of occupying himself in hisusual way. That is to say, every man excepting four old trusty seamen, who were appointed, with an officer, to see to the arms and ammunition, and to muffle the rullocks of the boats, and to make everything as trimand swift and silent as it could be made. 

The Sambo Pilot had been present all the while, in case of his beingwanted, and had said to the officer in command, five hundred times overif he had said it once, that Christian George King would stay with the So-Jeers, and take care of the booffer ladies and the booffer childs--boofferbeing that native's expression for beautiful. He was now asked a fewquestions concerning the putting off of the boats, and in particularwhether there was any way of embarking at the back of the Island: whichCaptain Carton would have half liked to do, and then have dropped roundin its shadow and slanted across to the main. But, "No, " says ChristianGeorge King. "No, no, no! Told you so, ten time. No, no, no! Allreef, all rock, all swim, all drown!" Striking out as he said it, like aswimmer gone mad, and turning over on his back on dry land, andspluttering himself to death, in a manner that made him quite anexhibition. 

The sun went down, after appearing to be a long time about it, and theassembly was called. Every man answered to his name, of course, and wasat his post. It was not yet black dark, and the roll was only just gonethrough, when up comes Mr. Commissioner Pordage with his Diplomatic coaton. 

"Captain Carton, " says he, "Sir, what is this?"

"This, Mr. Commissioner" (he was very short with him), "is an expeditionagainst the Pirates. It is a secret expedition, so please to keep it asecret. "

"Sir, " says Commissioner Pordage, "I trust there is going to be nounnecessary cruelty committed?"

"Sir, " returns the officer, "I trust not. "

"That is not enough, sir, " cries Commissioner Pordage, getting wroth. "Captain Carton, I give you notice. Government requires you to treat theenemy with great delicacy, consideration, clemency, and forbearance. "

"Sir, " says Captain Carton, "I am an English officer, commanding EnglishMen, and I hope I am not likely to disappoint the Government's justexpectations. But, I presume you know that these villains under theirblack flag have despoiled our countrymen of their property, burnt theirhomes, barbarously murdered them and their little children, and worsethan murdered their wives and daughters?"

"Perhaps I do, Captain Carton, " answers Pordage, waving his hand, withdignity; "perhaps I do not. It is not customary, sir, for Government tocommit itself. "

"It matters very little, Mr. Pordage, whether or no. Believing that Ihold my commission by the allowance of God, and not that I have receivedit direct from the Devil, I shall certainly use it, with all avoidance ofunnecessary suffering and with all merciful swiftness of execution, toexterminate these people from the face of the earth. Let me recommendyou to go home, sir, and to keep out of the night-air. "

Never another syllable did that officer say to the Commissioner, butturned away to his men. The Commissioner buttoned his Diplomatic coat tothe chin, said, "Mr. Kitten, attend me!" gasped, half choked himself, andtook himself off. 

It now fell very dark, indeed. I have seldom, if ever, seen it darker, nor yet so dark. The moon was not due until one in the morning, and itwas but a little after nine when our men lay down where they weremustered. It was pretended that they were to take a nap, but everybodyknew that no nap was to be got under the circumstances. Though all werevery quiet, there was a restlessness among the people; much what I haveseen among the people on a race-course, when the bell has rung for thesaddling for a great race with large stakes on it. 

At ten, they put off; only one boat putting off at a time; anotherfollowing in five minutes; both then lying on their oars until anotherfollowed. Ahead of all, paddling his own outlandish little canoe withouta sound, went the Sambo pilot, to take them safely outside the reef. Nolight was shown but once, and that was in the commanding officer's ownhand. I lighted the dark lantern for him, and he took it from me when heembarked. They had blue lights and such like with them, but keptthemselves as dark as Murder. 

The expedition got away with wonderful quietness, and Christian GeorgeKing soon came back dancing with joy. 

"Yup, So-Jeer, " says he to myself in a very objectionable kind ofconvulsions, "Christian George King sar berry glad. Pirates all be blowna-pieces. Yup! Yup!"

My reply to that cannibal was, "However glad you may be, hold your noise, and don't dance jigs and slap your knees about it, for I can't abear tosee you do it. "

I was on duty then; we twelve who were left being divided into fourwatches of three each, three hours' spell. I was relieved at twelve. Alittle before that time, I had challenged, and Miss Maryon and Mrs. Belltott had come in. 

"Good Davis, " says Miss Maryon, "what is the matter? Where is mybrother?"

I told her what was the matter, and where her brother was. 

"O Heaven help him!" says she, clasping her hands and looking up--she wasclose in front of me, and she looked most lovely to be sure; "he is notsufficiently recovered, not strong enough for such strife!"

"If you had seen him, miss, " I told her, "as I saw him when hevolunteered, you would have known that his spirit is strong enough forany strife. It will bear his body, miss, to wherever duty calls him. Itwill always bear him to an honourable life, or a brave death. "

"Heaven bless you!" says she, touching my arm. "I know it. Heaven blessyou!"

Mrs. Belltott surprised me by trembling and saying nothing. They werestill standing looking towards the sea and listening, after the reliefhad come round. It continuing very dark, I asked to be allowed to takethem back. Miss Maryon thanked me, and she put her arm in mine, and Idid take them back. I have now got to make a confession that will appearsingular. After I had left them, I laid myself down on my face on thebeach, and cried for the first time since I had frightened birds as a boyat Snorridge Bottom, to think what a poor, ignorant, low-placed, privatesoldier I was. 

It was only for half a minute or so. A man can't at all times be quitemaster of himself, and it was only for half a minute or so. Then I upand went to my hut, and turned into my hammock, and fell asleep with weteyelashes, and a sore, sore heart. Just as I had often done when I was achild, and had been worse used than usual. 

I slept (as a child under those circumstances might) very sound, and yetvery sore at heart all through my sleep. I was awoke by the words, "Heis a determined man. " I had sprung out of my hammock, and had seized myfirelock, and was standing on the ground, saying the words myself. "Heis a determined man. " But, the curiosity of my state was, that I seemedto be repeating them after somebody, and to have been wonderfullystartled by hearing them. 

As soon as I came to myself, I went out of the hut, and away to where theguard was. Charker challenged:

"Who goes there?"

"A friend. "

"Not Gill?" says he, as he shouldered his piece. 

"Gill, " says I. 

"Why, what the deuce do you do out of your hammock?" says he. 

"Too hot for sleep, " says I; "is all right?"

"Right!" says Charker, "yes, yes; all's right enough here; what should bewrong here? It's the boats that we want to know of. Except for fire-flies twinkling about, and the lonesome splashes of great creatures asthey drop into the water, there's nothing going on here to ease a man'smind from the boats. "

The moon was above the sea, and had risen, I should say, some half-an-hour. As Charker spoke, with his face towards the sea, I, lookinglandward, suddenly laid my right hand on his breast, and said, "Don'tmove. Don't turn. Don't raise your voice! You never saw a Maltese facehere?"

"No. What do you mean?" he asks, staring at me. 

"Nor yet, an English face, with one eye and a patch across the nose?"

"No. What ails you? What do you mean?"

I had seen both, looking at us round the stem of a cocoa-nut tree, wherethe moon struck them. I had seen that Sambo Pilot, with one hand laid onthe stem of the tree, drawing them back into the heavy shadow. I hadseen their naked cutlasses twinkle and shine, like bits of the moonshinein the water that had got blown ashore among the trees by the light wind. I had seen it all, in a moment. And I saw in a moment (as any manwould), that the signalled move of the pirates on the mainland was a plotand a feint; that the leak had been made to disable the sloop; that theboats had been tempted away, to leave the Island unprotected; that thepirates had landed by some secreted way at the back; and that ChristianGeorge King was a double-dyed traitor, and a most infernal villain. 

I considered, still all in one and the same moment, that Charker was abrave man, but not quick with his head; and that Sergeant Drooce, with amuch better head, was close by. All I said to Charker was, "I am afraidwe are betrayed. Turn your back full to the moonlight on the sea, andcover the stem of the cocoa-nut tree which will then be right before you, at the height of a man's heart. Are you right?"

"I am right, " says Charker, turning instantly, and falling into theposition with a nerve of iron; "and right ain't left. Is it, Gill?"

A few seconds brought me to Sergeant Drooce's hut. He was fast asleep, and being a heavy sleeper, I had to lay my hand upon him to rouse him. The instant I touched him he came rolling out of his hammock, and upon melike a tiger. And a tiger he was, except that he knew what he was up to, in his utmost heat, as well as any man. 

I had to struggle with him pretty hard to bring him to his senses, panting all the while (for he gave me a breather), "Sergeant, I am GillDavis! Treachery! Pirates on the Island!"

The last words brought him round, and he took his hands of. "I have seentwo of them within this minute, " said I. And so I told him what I hadtold Harry Charker. 

His soldierly, though tyrannical, head was clear in an instant. Hedidn't waste one word, even of surprise. "Order the guard, " says he, "todraw off quietly into the Fort. " (They called the enclosure I havebefore mentioned, the Fort, though it was not much of that. ) "Then getyou to the Fort as quick as you can, rouse up every soul there, andfasten the gate. I will bring in all those who are at the Signal Hill. If we are surrounded before we can join you, you must make a sally andcut us out if you can. The word among our men is, 'Women and children!'"

He burst away, like fire going before the wind over dry reeds. He rousedup the seven men who were off duty, and had them bursting away with him, before they know they were not asleep. I reported orders to Charker, andran to the Fort, as I have never run at any other time in all my life:no, not even in a dream. 

The gate was not fast, and had no good fastening: only a double woodenbar, a poor chain, and a bad lock. Those, I secured as well as theycould be secured in a few seconds by one pair of hands, and so ran tothat part of the building where Miss Maryon lived. I called to herloudly by her name until she answered. I then called loudly all thenames I knew--Mrs. Macey (Miss Maryon's married sister), Mr. Macey, Mrs. Venning, Mr. And Mrs. Fisher, even Mr. And Mrs. Pordage. Then I calledout, "All you gentlemen here, get up and defend the place! We are caughtin a trap. Pirates have landed. We are attacked!"

At the terrible word "Pirates!"--for, those villains had done such deedsin those seas as never can be told in writing, and can scarcely be somuch as thought of--cries and screams rose up from every part of theplace. Quickly lights moved about from window to window, and the criesmoved about with them, and men, women, and children came flying down intothe square. I remarked to myself, even then, what a number of things Iseemed to see at once. I noticed Mrs. Macey coming towards me, carryingall her three children together. I noticed Mr. Pordage in the greatestterror, in vain trying to get on his Diplomatic coat; and Mr. Kittenrespectfully tying his pocket-handkerchief over Mrs. Pordage's nightcap. I noticed Mrs. Belltott run out screaming, and shrink upon the groundnear me, and cover her face in her hands, and lie all of a bundle, shivering. But, what I noticed with the greatest pleasure was, thedetermined eyes with which those men of the Mine that I had thought finegentlemen, came round me with what arms they had: to the full as cool andresolute as I could be, for my life--ay, and for my soul, too, into thebargain!

The chief person being Mr. Macey, I told him how the three men of theguard would be at the gate directly, if they were not already there, andhow Sergeant Drooce and the other seven were gone to bring in theoutlying part of the people of Silver-Store. I next urged him, for thelove of all who were dear to him, to trust no Sambo, and, above all, ifhe could got any good chance at Christian George King, not to lose it, but to put him out of the world. 

"I will follow your advice to the letter, Davis, " says he; "what next?"

My answer was, "I think, sir, I would recommend you next, to order downsuch heavy furniture and lumber as can be moved, and make a barricadewithin the gate. "

"That's good again, " says he: "will you see it done?"

"I'll willingly help to do it, " says I, "unless or until my superior, Sergeant Drooce, gives me other orders. "

He shook me by the hand, and having told off some of his companions tohelp me, bestirred himself to look to the arms and ammunition. A properquick, brave, steady, ready gentleman!

One of their three little children was deaf and dumb, Miss Maryon hadbeen from the first with all the children, soothing them, and dressingthem (poor little things, they had been brought out of their beds), andmaking them believe that it was a game of play, so that some of them werenow even laughing. I had been working hard with the others at thebarricade, and had got up a pretty good breastwork within the gate. Drooce and the seven men had come back, bringing in the people from theSignal Hill, and had worked along with us: but, I had not so much asspoken a word to Drooce, nor had Drooce so much as spoken a word to me, for we were both too busy. The breastwork was now finished, and I foundMiss Maryon at my side, with a child in her arms. Her dark hair wasfastened round her head with a band. She had a quantity of it, and itlooked even richer and more precious, put up hastily out of her way, thanI had seen it look when it was carefully arranged. She was very pale, but extraordinarily quiet and still. 

"Dear good Davis, " said she, "I have been waiting to speak one word toyou. "

I turned to her directly. If I had received a musket-ball in the heart, and she had stood there, I almost believe I should have turned to herbefore I dropped. 

"This pretty little creature, " said she, kissing the child in her arms, who was playing with her hair and trying to pull it down, "cannot hearwhat we say--can hear nothing. I trust you so much, and have such greatconfidence in you, that I want you to make me a promise. "

"What is it, Miss?"

"That if we are defeated, and you are absolutely sure of my being taken, you will kill me. "

"I shall not be alive to do it, Miss. I shall have died in your defencebefore it comes to that. They must step across my body to lay a hand onyou. "

"But, if you are alive, you brave soldier. " How she looked at me! "Andif you cannot save me from the Pirates, living, you will save me, dead. Tell me so. "

Well! I told her I would do that at the last, if all else failed. Shetook my hand--my rough, coarse hand--and put it to her lips. She put itto the child's lips, and the child kissed it. I believe I had thestrength of half a dozen men in me, from that moment, until the fight wasover. 

All this time, Mr. Commissioner Pordage had been wanting to make aProclamation to the Pirates to lay down their arms and go away; andeverybody had been hustling him about and tumbling over him, while he wascalling for pen and ink to write it with. Mrs. Pordage, too, had somecurious ideas about the British respectability of her nightcap (which hadas many frills to it, growing in layers one inside another, as if it wasa white vegetable of the artichoke sort), and she wouldn't take thenightcap off, and would be angry when it got crushed by the other ladieswho were handing things about, and, in short, she gave as much trouble asher husband did. But, as we were now forming for the defence of theplace, they were both poked out of the way with no ceremony. Thechildren and ladies were got into the little trench which surrounded thesilver-house (we were afraid of leaving them in any of the lightbuildings, lest they should be set on fire), and we made the bestdisposition we could. There was a pretty good store, in point of amount, of tolerable swords and cutlasses. Those were issued. There were, also, perhaps a score or so of spare muskets. Those were brought out. To myastonishment, little Mrs. Fisher that I had taken for a doll and a baby, was not only very active in that service, but volunteered to load thespare arms. 

"For, I understand it well, " says she, cheerfully, without a shake in hervoice. 

"I am a soldier's daughter and a sailor's sister, and I understand ittoo, " says Miss Maryon, just in the same way. 

Steady and busy behind where I stood, those two beautiful and delicateyoung women fell to handling the guns, hammering the flints, looking tothe locks, and quietly directing others to pass up powder and bulletsfrom hand to hand, as unflinching as the best of tried soldiers. 

Sergeant Drooce had brought in word that the pirates were very strong innumbers--over a hundred was his estimate--and that they were not, eventhen, all landed; for, he had seen them in a very good position on thefurther side of the Signal Hill, evidently waiting for the rest of theirmen to come up. In the present pause, the first we had had since thealarm, he was telling this over again to Mr. Macey, when Mr. Maceysuddenly cried our: "The signal! Nobody has thought of the signal!"

We knew of no signal, so we could not have thought of it. 

"What signal may you mean, sir?" says Sergeant Drooce, looking sharp athim. 

"There is a pile of wood upon the Signal Hill. If it could belighted--which never has been done yet--it would be a signal of distressto the mainland. "

Charker cries, directly: "Sergeant Drooce, dispatch me on that duty. Giveme the two men who were on guard with me to-night, and I'll light thefire, if it can be done. "

"And if it can't, Corporal--" Mr. Macey strikes in. 

"Look at these ladies and children, sir!" says Charker. "I'd sooner_light myself_, than not try any chance to save them. "

We gave him a Hurrah!--it burst from us, come of it what might--and hegot his two men, and was let out at the gate, and crept away. I had nosooner come back to my place from being one of the party to handle thegate, than Miss Maryon said in a low voice behind me:

"Davis, will you look at this powder? This is not right. "

I turned my head. Christian George King again, and treachery again! Sea-water had been conveyed into the magazine, and every grain of powder wasspoiled!

"Stay a moment, " said Sergeant Drooce, when I had told him, withoutcausing a movement in a muscle of his face: "look to your pouch, my lad. You Tom Packer, look to your pouch, confound you! Look to your pouches, all you Marines. "

The same artful savage had got at them, somehow or another, and thecartridges were all unserviceable. "Hum!" says the Sergeant. "Look toyour loading, men. You are right so far?"

Yes; we were right so far. 

"Well, my lads, and gentlemen all, " says the Sergeant, "this will be ahand-to-hand affair, and so much the better. "

He treated himself to a pinch of snuff, and stood up, square-shoulderedand broad-chested, in the light of the moon--which was now very bright--ascool as if he was waiting for a play to begin. He stood quiet, and weall stood quiet, for a matter of something like half-an-hour. I tooknotice from such whispered talk as there was, how little we that thesilver did not belong to, thought about it, and how much the people thatit did belong to, thought about it. At the end of the half-hour, it wasreported from the gate that Charker and the two were falling back on us, pursued by about a dozen. 

"Sally! Gate-party, under Gill Davis, " says the Sergeant, "and bring 'emin! Like men, now!"

We were not long about it, and we brought them in. "Don't take me, " saysCharker, holding me round the neck, and stumbling down at my feet whenthe gate was fast, "don't take me near the ladies or the children, Gill. They had better not see Death, till it can't be helped. They'll see itsoon enough. "

"Harry!" I answered, holding up his head. "Comrade!"

He was cut to pieces. The signal had been secured by the first pirateparty that landed; his hair was all singed off, and his face wasblackened with the running pitch from a torch. 

He made no complaint of pain, or of anything. "Good-bye, old chap, " wasall he said, with a smile. "I've got my death. And Death ain't life. Isit, Gill?"

Having helped to lay his poor body on one side, I went back to my post. Sergeant Drooce looked at me, with his eyebrows a little lifted. Inodded. "Close up here men, and gentlemen all!" said the Sergeant. "Aplace too many, in the line. "

The Pirates were so close upon us at this time, that the foremost of themwere already before the gate. More and more came up with a great noise, and shouting loudly. When we believed from the sound that they were allthere, we gave three English cheers. The poor little children joined, and were so fully convinced of our being at play, that they enjoyed thenoise, and were heard clapping their hands in the silence that followed. 

Our disposition was this, beginning with the rear. Mrs. Venning, holdingher daughter's child in her arms, sat on the steps of the little squaretrench surrounding the silver-house, encouraging and directing thosewomen and children as she might have done in the happiest and easiesttime of her life. Then, there was an armed line, under Mr. Macey, acrossthe width of the enclosure, facing that way and having their backstowards the gate, in order that they might watch the walls and preventour being taken by surprise. Then there was a space of eight or ten feetdeep, in which the spare arms were, and in which Miss Maryon and Mrs. Fisher, their hands and dresses blackened with the spoilt gunpowder, worked on their knees, tying such things as knives, old bayonets, andspear-heads, to the muzzles of the useless muskets. Then, there was asecond armed line, under Sergeant Drooce, also across the width of theenclosure, but facing to the gate. Then came the breastwork we had made, with a zigzag way through it for me and my little party to hold good inretreating, as long as we could, when we were driven from the gate. Weall knew that it was impossible to hold the place long, and that our onlyhope was in the timely discovery of the plot by the boats, and in theircoming back. 

I and my men were now thrown forward to the gate. From a spy-hole, Icould see the whole crowd of Pirates. There were Malays among them, Dutch, Maltese, Greeks, Sambos, Negroes, and Convict Englishmen from theWest India Islands; among the last, him with the one eye and the patchacross the nose. There were some Portuguese, too, and a few Spaniards. The captain was a Portuguese; a little man with very large ear-ringsunder a very broad hat, and a great bright shawl twisted about hisshoulders. They were all strongly armed, but like a boarding party, withpikes, swords, cutlasses, and axes. I noticed a good many pistols, butnot a gun of any kind among them. This gave me to understand that theyhad considered that a continued roll of musketry might perhaps have beenheard on the mainland; also, that for the reason that fire would be seenfrom the mainland they would not set the Fort in flames and roast usalive; which was one of their favourite ways of carrying on. I lookedabout for Christian George King, and if I had seen him I am much mistakenif he would not have received my one round of ball-cartridge in his head. But, no Christian George King was visible. 

A sort of a wild Portuguese demon, who seemed either fierce-mad or fierce-drunk--but, they all seemed one or the other--came forward with the blackflag, and gave it a wave or two. After that, the Portuguese captaincalled out in shrill English, "I say you! English fools! Open the gate!Surrender!"

As we kept close and quiet, he said something to his men which I didn'tunderstand, and when he had said it, the one-eyed English rascal with thepatch (who had stepped out when he began), said it again in English. Itwas only this. "Boys of the black flag, this is to be quickly done. Takeall the prisoners you can. If they don't yield, kill the children tomake them. Forward!" Then, they all came on at the gate, and in anotherhalf-minute were smashing and splitting it in. 

We struck at them through the gaps and shivers, and we dropped many ofthem, too; but, their very weight would have carried such a gate, if theyhad been unarmed. I soon found Sergeant Drooce at my side, forming ussix remaining marines in line--Tom Packer next to me--and ordering us tofall back three paces, and, as they broke in, to give them our one littlevolley at short distance. "Then, " says he, "receive them behind yourbreastwork on the bayonet, and at least let every man of you pin one ofthe cursed cockchafers through the body. "

We checked them by our fire, slight as it was, and we checked them at thebreastwork. However, they broke over it like swarms of devils--theywere, really and truly, more devils than men--and then it was hand tohand, indeed. 

We clubbed our muskets and laid about us; even then, those twoladies--always behind me--were steady and ready with the arms. I had alot of Maltese and Malays upon me, and, but for a broadsword that MissMaryon's own hand put in mine, should have got my end from them. But, was that all? No. I saw a heap of banded dark hair and a white dresscome thrice between me and them, under my own raised right arm, whicheach time might have destroyed the wearer of the white dress; and eachtime one of the lot went down, struck dead. 

Drooce was armed with a broadsword, too, and did such things with it, that there was a cry, in half-a-dozen languages, of "Kill that sergeant!"as I knew, by the cry being raised in English, and taken up in othertongues. I had received a severe cut across the left arm a few momentsbefore, and should have known nothing of it, except supposing thatsomebody had struck me a smart blow, if I had not felt weak, and seenmyself covered with spouting blood, and, at the same instant of time, seen Miss Maryon tearing her dress and binding it with Mrs. Fisher's helpround the wound. They called to Tom Packer, who was scouring by, to stopand guard me for one minute, while I was bound, or I should bleed todeath in trying to defend myself. Tom stopped directly, with a goodsabre in his hand. 

In that same moment--all things seem to happen in that same moment, atsuch a time--half-a-dozen had rushed howling at Sergeant Drooce. TheSergeant, stepping back against the wall, stopped one howl for ever withsuch a terrible blow, and waited for the rest to come on, with such awonderfully unmoved face, that they stopped and looked at him. 

"See him now!" cried Tom Packer. "Now, when I could cut him out! Gill!Did I tell you to mark my words?"

I implored Tom Packer in the Lord's name, as well as I could in myfaintness, to go to the Sergeant's aid. 

"I hate and detest him, " says Tom, moodily wavering. "Still, he is abrave man. " Then he calls out, "Sergeant Drooce, Sergeant Drooce! Tellme you have driven me too hard, and are sorry for it. "

The Sergeant, without turning his eyes from his assailants, which wouldhave been instant death to him, answers. 

"No. I won't. "

"Sergeant Drooce!" cries Tom, in a kind of an agony. "I have passed myword that I would never save you from Death, if I could, but would leaveyou to die. Tell me you have driven me too hard and are sorry for it, and that shall go for nothing. "

One of the group laid the Sergeant's bald bare head open. The Sergeantlaid him dead. 

"I tell you, " says the Sergeant, breathing a little short, and waitingfor the next attack, "no. I won't. If you are not man enough to strikefor a fellow-soldier because he wants help, and because of nothing else, I'll go into the other world and look for a better man. "

Tom swept upon them, and cut him out. Tom and he fought their waythrough another knot of them, and sent them flying, and came over towhere I was beginning again to feel, with inexpressible joy, that I hadgot a sword in my hand. 

They had hardly come to us, when I heard, above all the other noises, atremendous cry of women's voices. I also saw Miss Maryon, with quite anew face, suddenly clap her two hands over Mrs. Fisher's eyes. I lookedtowards the silver-house, and saw Mrs. Venning--standing upright on thetop of the steps of the trench, with her gray hair and her dark eyes--hideher daughter's child behind her, among the folds of her dress, strike apirate with her other hand, and fall, shot by his pistol. 

The cry arose again, and there was a terrible and confusing rush of thewomen into the midst of the struggle. In another moment, something cametumbling down upon me that I thought was the wall. It was a heap ofSambos who had come over the wall; and of four men who clung to my legslike serpents, one who clung to my right leg was Christian George King. 

"Yup, So-Jeer, " says he, "Christian George King sar berry glad So-Jeer aprisoner. Christian George King been waiting for So-Jeer sech long time. Yup, yup!"

What could I do, with five-and-twenty of them on me, but be tied hand andfoot? So, I was tied hand and foot. It was all over now--boats not comeback--all lost! When I was fast bound and was put up against the wall, the one-eyed English convict came up with the Portuguese Captain, to havea look at me. 

"See!" says he. "Here's the determined man! If you had slept sounder, last night, you'd have slept your soundest last night, my determinedman. "

The Portuguese Captain laughed in a cool way, and with the flat of hiscutlass, hit me crosswise, as if I was the bough of a tree that he playedwith: first on the face, and then across the chest and the wounded arm. Ilooked him steady in the face without tumbling while he looked at me, Iam happy to say; but, when they went away, I fell, and lay there. 

The sun was up, when I was roused and told to come down to the beach andbe embarked. I was full of aches and pains, and could not at firstremember; but, I remembered quite soon enough. The killed were lyingabout all over the place, and the Pirates were burying their dead, andtaking away their wounded on hastily-made litters, to the back of theIsland. As for us prisoners, some of their boats had come round to theusual harbour, to carry us off. We looked a wretched few, I thought, when I got down there; still, it was another sign that we had foughtwell, and made the enemy suffer. 

The Portuguese Captain had all the women already embarked in the boat hehimself commanded, which was just putting off when I got down. MissMaryon sat on one side of him, and gave me a moment's look, as full ofquiet courage, and pity, and confidence, as if it had been an hour long. On the other side of him was poor little Mrs. Fisher, weeping for herchild and her mother. I was shoved into the same boat with Drooce andPacker, and the remainder of our party of marines: of whom we had losttwo privates, besides Charker, my poor, brave comrade. We all made amelancholy passage, under the hot sun over to the mainland. There, welanded in a solitary place, and were mustered on the sea sand. Mr. AndMrs. Macey and their children were amongst us, Mr. And Mrs. Pordage, Mr. Kitten, Mr. Fisher, and Mrs. Belltott. We mustered only fourteen men, fifteen women, and seven children. Those were all that remained of theEnglish who had lain down to sleep last night, unsuspecting and happy, onthe Island of Silver-Store. 

CHAPTER III {1}--THE RAFTS ON THE RIVER

We contrived to keep afloat all that night, and, the stream runningstrong with us, to glide a long way down the river. But, we found thenight to be a dangerous time for such navigation, on account of theeddies and rapids, and it was therefore settled next day that in futurewe would bring-to at sunset, and encamp on the shore. As we knew of noboats that the Pirates possessed, up at the Prison in the Woods, wesettled always to encamp on the opposite side of the stream, so as tohave the breadth of the river between our sleep and them. Our opinionwas, that if they were acquainted with any near way by land to the mouthof this river, they would come up it in force, and retake us or kill us, according as they could; but that if that was not the case, and if theriver ran by none of their secret stations, we might escape. 

When I say we settled this or that, I do not mean that we plannedanything with any confidence as to what might happen an hour hence. Somuch had happened in one night, and such great changes had been violentlyand suddenly made in the fortunes of many among us, that we had gotbetter used to uncertainty, in a little while, than I dare say mostpeople do in the course of their lives. 

The difficulties we soon got into, through the off-settings and point-currents of the stream, made the likelihood of our being drowned, alone, --to say nothing of our being retaken--as broad and plain as thesun at noonday to all of us. But, we all worked hard at managing therafts, under the direction of the seamen (of our own skill, I think wenever could have prevented them from oversetting), and we also workedhard at making good the defects in their first hasty construction--whichthe water soon found out. While we humbly resigned ourselves to goingdown, if it was the will of Our Father that was in Heaven, we humbly madeup our minds, that we would all do the best that was in us. 

And so we held on, gliding with the stream. It drove us to this bank, and it drove us to that bank, and it turned us, and whirled us; but yetit carried us on. Sometimes much too slowly; sometimes much too fast, but yet it carried us on. 

My little deaf and dumb boy slumbered a good deal now, and that was thecase with all the children. They caused very little trouble to any one. They seemed, in my eyes, to get more like one another, not only in quietmanner, but in the face, too. The motion of the raft was usually so muchthe same, the scene was usually so much the same, the sound of the softwash and ripple of the water was usually so much the same, that they weremade drowsy, as they might have been by the constant playing of one tune. Even on the grown people, who worked hard and felt anxiety, the samethings produced something of the same effect. Every day was so like theother, that I soon lost count of the days, myself, and had to ask MissMaryon, for instance, whether this was the third or fourth? Miss Maryonhad a pocket-book and pencil, and she kept the log; that is to say, sheentered up a clear little journal of the time, and of the distances ourseamen thought we had made, each night. 

So, as I say, we kept afloat and glided on. All day long, and every day, the water, and the woods, and sky; all day long, and every day, theconstant watching of both sides of the river, and far ahead at every boldturn and sweep it made, for any signs of Pirate-boats, orPirate-dwellings. So, as I say, we kept afloat and glided on. The daysmelting themselves together to that degree, that I could hardly believemy ears when I asked "How many now, Miss?" and she answered "Seven. "

To be sure, poor Mr. Pordage had, by about now, got his Diplomatic coatinto such a state as never was seen. What with the mud of the river, what with the water of the river, what with the sun, and the dews, andthe tearing boughs, and the thickets, it hung about him in discolouredshreds like a mop. The sun had touched him a bit. He had taken toalways polishing one particular button, which just held on to his leftwrist, and to always calling for stationery. I suppose that man calledfor pens, ink, and paper, tape, and scaling-wax, upwards of one thousandtimes in four-and-twenty hours. He had an idea that we should never getout of that river unless we were written out of it in a formalMemorandum; and the more we laboured at navigating the rafts, the more heordered us not to touch them at our peril, and the more he sat and roaredfor stationery. 

Mrs. Pordage, similarly, persisted in wearing her nightcap. I doubt ifany one but ourselves who had seen the progress of that article of dress, could by this time have told what it was meant for. It had got so limpand ragged that she couldn't see out of her eyes for it. It was sodirty, that whether it was vegetable matter out of a swamp, or weeds outof the river, or an old porter's-knot from England, I don't think any newspectator could have said. Yet, this unfortunate old woman had a notionthat it was not only vastly genteel, but that it was the correct thing asto propriety. And she really did carry herself over the other ladies whohad no nightcaps, and who were forced to tie up their hair how theycould, in a superior manner that was perfectly amazing. 

I don't know what she looked like, sitting in that blessed nightcap, on alog of wood, outside the hut or cabin upon our raft. She would haverather resembled a fortune-teller in one of the picture-books that usedto be in the shop windows in my boyhood, except for her stateliness. But, Lord bless my heart, the dignity with which she sat and moped, with herhead in that bundle of tatters, was like nothing else in the world! Shewas not on speaking terms with more than three of the ladies. Some ofthem had, what she called, "taken precedence" of her--in getting into, orout of, that miserable little shelter!--and others had not called to paytheir respects, or something of that kind. So, there she sat, in her ownstate and ceremony, while her husband sat on the same log of wood, ordering us one and all to let the raft go to the bottom, and to bringhim stationery. 

What with this noise on the part of Mr. Commissioner Pordage, and whatwith the cries of Sergeant Drooce on the raft astern (which weresometimes more than Tom Packer could silence), we often made our slow waydown the river, anything but quietly. Yet, that it was of greatimportance that no ears should be able to hear us from the woods on thebanks, could not be doubted. We were looked for, to a certainty, and wemight be retaken at any moment. It was an anxious time; it was, indeed, indeed, an anxious time. 

On the seventh night of our voyage on the rafts, we made fast, as usual, on the opposite side of the river to that from which we had started, inas dark a place as we could pick out. Our little encampment was soonmade, and supper was eaten, and the children fell asleep. The watch wasset, and everything made orderly for the night. Such a starlight night, with such blue in the sky, and such black in the places of heavy shade onthe banks of the great stream!

Those two ladies, Miss Maryon and Mrs. Fisher, had always kept near mesince the night of the attack. Mr. Fisher, who was untiring in the workof our raft, had said to me:

"My dear little childless wife has grown so attached to you, Davis, andyou are such a gentle fellow, as well as such a determined one;" ourparty had adopted that last expression from the one-eyed English pirate, and I repeat what Mr. Fisher said, only because he said it; "that ittakes a load off my mind to leave her in your charge. "

I said to him: "Your lady is in far better charge than mine, Sir, havingMiss Maryon to take care of her; but, you may rely upon it, that I willguard them both--faithful and true. "

Says he: "I do rely upon it, Davis, and I heartily wish all the silver onour old Island was yours. "

That seventh starlight night, as I have said, we made our camp, and gotour supper, and set our watch, and the children fell asleep. It wassolemn and beautiful in those wild and solitary parts, to see them, everynight before they lay down, kneeling under the bright sky, saying theirlittle prayers at women's laps. At that time we men all uncovered, andmostly kept at a distance. When the innocent creatures rose up, wemurmured "Amen!" all together. For, though we had not heard what theysaid, we know it must be good for us. 

At that time, too, as was only natural, those poor mothers in ourcompany, whose children had been killed, shed many tears. I thought thesight seemed to console them while it made them cry; but, whether I wasright or wrong in that, they wept very much. On this seventh night, Mrs. Fisher had cried for her lost darling until she cried herself asleep. Shewas lying on a little couch of leaves and such-like (I made the bestlittle couch I could for them every night), and Miss Maryon had coveredher, and sat by her, holding her hand. The stars looked down upon them. As for me, I guarded them. 

"Davis!" says Miss Maryon. (I am not going to say what a voice she had. I couldn't if I tried. )

"I am here, Miss. "

"The river sounds as if it were swollen to-night. "

"We all think, Miss, that we are coming near the sea. "

"Do you believe now, we shall escape?"

"I do now, Miss, really believe it. " I had always said I did; but, I hadin my own mind been doubtful. 

"How glad you will be, my good Davis, to see England again!"

I have another confession to make that will appear singular. When shesaid these words, something rose in my throat; and the stars I lookedaway at, seemed to break into sparkles that fell down my face and burntit. 

"England is not much to me, Miss, except as a name. "

"O, so true an Englishman should not say that!--Are you not wellto-night, Davis?" Very kindly, and with a quick change. 

"Quite well, Miss. "

"Are you sure? Your voice sounds altered in my hearing. "

"No, Miss, I am a stronger man than ever. But, England is nothing tome. "

Miss Maryon sat silent for so long a while, that I believed she had donespeaking to me for one time. However, she had not; for by-and-by shesaid in a distinct clear tone:

"No, good friend; you must not say that England is nothing to you. It isto be much to you, yet--everything to you. You have to take back toEngland the good name you have earned here, and the gratitude andattachment and respect you have won here: and you have to make some goodEnglish girl very happy and proud, by marrying her; and I shall one daysee her, I hope, and make her happier and prouder still, by telling herwhat noble services her husband's were in South America, and what a noblefriend he was to me there. "

Though she spoke these kind words in a cheering manner, she spoke themcompassionately. I said nothing. It will appear to be another strangeconfession, that I paced to and fro, within call, all that night, a mostunhappy man, reproaching myself all the night long. "You are as ignorantas any man alive; you are as obscure as any man alive; you are as poor asany man alive; you are no better than the mud under your foot. " That wasthe way in which I went on against myself until the morning. 

With the day, came the day's labour. What I should have done--withoutthe labour, I don't know. We were afloat again at the usual hour, andwere again making our way down the river. It was broader, and clearer ofobstructions than it had been, and it seemed to flow faster. This wasone of Drooce's quiet days; Mr. Pordage, besides being sulky, had almostlost his voice; and we made good way, and with little noise. 

There was always a seaman forward on the raft, keeping a bright look-out. Suddenly, in the full heat of the day, when the children were slumbering, and the very trees and reeds appeared to be slumbering, this man--it wasShort--holds up his hand, and cries with great caution: "Avast! Voicesahead!"

We held on against the stream as soon as we could bring her up, and theother raft followed suit. At first, Mr. Macey, Mr. Fisher, and myself, could hear nothing; though both the seamen aboard of us agreed that theycould hear voices and oars. After a little pause, however, we united inthinking that we _could_ hear the sound of voices, and the dip of oars. But, you can hear a long way in those countries, and there was a bend ofthe river before us, and nothing was to be seen except such waters andsuch banks as we were now in the eighth day (and might, for the matter ofour feelings, have been in the eightieth), of having seen with anxiouseyes. 

It was soon decided to put a man ashore, who should creep through thewood, see what was coming, and warn the rafts. The rafts in the meantimeto keep the middle of the stream. The man to be put ashore, and not toswim ashore, as the first thing could be more quickly done than thesecond. The raft conveying him, to get back into mid-stream, and to holdon along with the other, as well is it could, until signalled by the man. In case of danger, the man to shift for himself until it should be safeto take him on board again. I volunteered to be the man. 

We knew that the voices and oars must come up slowly against the stream;and our seamen knew, by the set of the stream, under which bank theywould come. I was put ashore accordingly. The raft got off well, and Ibroke into the wood. 

Steaming hot it was, and a tearing place to get through. So much thebetter for me, since it was something to contend against and do. I cutoff the bend of the river, at a great saving of space, came to thewater's edge again, and hid myself, and waited. I could now hear the dipof the oars very distinctly; the voices had ceased. 

The sound came on in a regular tune, and as I lay hidden, I fancied thetune so played to be, "Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--George--King!Chris'en--George--King!" over and over again, always the same, with thepauses always at the same places. I had likewise time to make up my mindthat if these were the Pirates, I could and would (barring my being shot)swim off to my raft, in spite of my wound, the moment I had given thealarm, and hold my old post by Miss Maryon. 

"Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--George--King!"coming up, now, very near. 

I took a look at the branches about me, to see where a shower of bulletswould be most likely to do me least hurt; and I took a look back at thetrack I had made in forcing my way in; and now I was wholly prepared andfully ready for them. 

"Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--George--King! Chris'en--George--King!"Here they are!

Who were they? The barbarous Pirates, scum of all nations, headed bysuch men as the hideous little Portuguese monkey, and the one-eyedEnglish convict with the gash across his face, that ought to have gashedhis wicked head off? The worst men in the world picked out from theworst, to do the cruellest and most atrocious deeds that ever stained it?The howling, murdering, black-flag waving, mad, and drunken crowd ofdevils that had overcome us by numbers and by treachery? No. These wereEnglish men in English boats--good blue-jackets and red-coats--marinesthat I knew myself, and sailors that knew our seamen! At the helm of thefirst boat, Captain Carton, eager and steady. At the helm of the secondboat, Captain Maryon, brave and bold. At the helm of the third boat, anold seaman, with determination carved into his watchful face, like thefigure-head of a ship. Every man doubly and trebly armed from head tofoot. Every man lying-to at his work, with a will that had all his heartand soul in it. Every man looking out for any trace of friend or enemy, and burning to be the first to do good or avenge evil. Every man withhis face on fire when he saw me, his countryman who had been takenprisoner, and hailed me with a cheer, as Captain Carton's boat ran in andtook me on board. 

I reported, "All escaped, sir! All well, all safe, all here!"

God bless me--and God bless them--what a cheer! It turned me weak, as Iwas passed on from hand to hand to the stern of the boat: every handpatting me or grasping me in some way or other, in the moment of my goingby. 

"Hold up, my brave fellow, " says Captain Carton, clapping me on theshoulder like a friend, and giving me a flask. "Put your lips to that, and they'll be red again. Now, boys, give way!"

The banks flew by us as if the mightiest stream that ever ran was withus; and so it was, I am sure, meaning the stream to those men's ardourand spirit. The banks flew by us, and we came in sight of the rafts--thebanks flew by us, and we came alongside of the rafts--the banks stopped;and there was a tumult of laughing and crying, and kissing and shaking ofhands, and catching up of children and setting of them down again, and awild hurry of thankfulness and joy that melted every one and softened allhearts. 

I had taken notice, in Captain Carton's boat, that there was a curiousand quite new sort of fitting on board. It was a kind of a little bowermade of flowers, and it was set up behind the captain, and betwixt himand the rudder. Not only was this arbour, so to call it, neatly made offlowers, but it was ornamented in a singular way. Some of the men hadtaken the ribbons and buckles off their hats, and hung them among theflowers; others had made festoons and streamers of their handkerchiefs, and hung them there; others had intermixed such trifles as bits of glassand shining fragments of lockets and tobacco-boxes with the flowers; sothat altogether it was a very bright and lively object in the sunshine. But why there, or what for, I did not understand. 

Now, as soon as the first bewilderment was over, Captain Carton gave theorder to land for the present. But this boat of his, with two hands leftin her, immediately put off again when the men were out of her, and keptoff, some yards from the shore. As she floated there, with the two handsgently backing water to keep her from going down the stream, this prettylittle arbour attracted many eyes. None of the boat's crew, however, hadanything to say about it, except that it was the captain's fancy. 

The captain--with the women and children clustering round him, and themen of all ranks grouped outside them, and all listening--stood tellinghow the Expedition, deceived by its bad intelligence, had chased thelight Pirate boats all that fatal night, and had still followed in theirwake next day, and had never suspected until many hours too late that thegreat Pirate body had drawn off in the darkness when the chase began, andshot over to the Island. He stood telling how the Expedition, supposingthe whole array of armed boats to be ahead of it, got tempted intoshallows and went aground; but not without having its revenge upon thetwo decoy-boats, both of which it had come up with, overhand, and sent tothe bottom with all on board. He stood telling how the Expedition, fearing then that the case stood as it did, got afloat again, by greatexertion, after the loss of four more tides, and returned to the Island, where they found the sloop scuttled and the treasure gone. He stoodtelling how my officer, Lieutenant Linderwood, was left upon the Island, with as strong a force as could be got together hurriedly from themainland, and how the three boats we saw before us were manned and armedand had come away, exploring the coast and inlets, in search of anytidings of us. He stood telling all this, with his face to the river;and, as he stood telling it, the little arbour of flowers floated in thesunshine before all the faces there. 

Leaning on Captain Carton's shoulder, between him and Miss Maryon, wasMrs. Fisher, her head drooping on her arm. She asked him, withoutraising it, when he had told so much, whether he had found her mother?

"Be comforted! She lies, " said the Captain gently, "under the cocoa-nuttrees on the beach. "

"And my child, Captain Carton, did you find my child, too? Does mydarling rest with my mother?"

"No. Your pretty child sleeps, " said the Captain, "under a shade offlowers. "

His voice shook; but there was something in it that struck all thehearers. At that moment there sprung from the arbour in his boat alittle creature, clapping her hands and stretching out her arms, andcrying, "Dear papa! Dear mamma! I am not killed. I am saved. I amcoming to kiss you. Take me to them, take me to them, good, kindsailors!"

Nobody who saw that scene has ever forgotten it, I am sure, or ever willforget it. The child had kept quite still, where her brave grandmammahad put her (first whispering in her ear, "Whatever happens to me, do notstir, my dear!"), and had remained quiet until the fort was deserted; shehad then crept out of the trench, and gone into her mother's house; andthere, alone on the solitary Island, in her mother's room, and asleep onher mother's bed, the Captain had found her. Nothing could induce her tobe parted from him after he took her up in his arms, and he had broughther away with him, and the men had made the bower for her. To see thosemen now, was a sight. The joy of the women was beautiful; the joy ofthose women who had lost their own children, was quite sacred and divine;but, the ecstasies of Captain Carton's boat's crew, when their pet wasrestored to her parents, were wonderful for the tenderness they showed inthe midst of roughness. As the Captain stood with the child in his arms, and the child's own little arms now clinging round his neck, now roundher father's, now round her mother's, now round some one who pressed upto kiss her, the boat's crew shook hands with one another, waved theirhats over their heads, laughed, sang, cried, danced--and all amongthemselves, without wanting to interfere with anybody--in a manner neverto be represented. At last, I saw the coxswain and another, two veryhard-faced men, with grizzled heads, who had been the heartiest of thehearty all along, close with one another, get each of them the other'shead under his arm, and pommel away at it with his fist as hard as hecould, in his excess of joy. 

When we had well rested and refreshed ourselves--and very glad we were tohave some of the heartening things to eat and drink that had come up inthe boats--we recommenced our voyage down the river: rafts, and boats, and all. I said to myself, it was a _very_ different kind of voyage now, from what it had been; and I fell into my proper place and station amongmy fellow-soldiers. 

But, when we halted for the night, I found that Miss Maryon had spoken toCaptain Carton concerning me. For, the Captain came straight up to me, and says he, "My brave fellow, you have been Miss Maryon's body-guard allalong, and you shall remain so. Nobody shall supersede you in thedistinction and pleasure of protecting that young lady. " I thanked hishonour in the fittest words I could find, and that night I was placed onmy old post of watching the place where she slept. More than once in thenight, I saw Captain Carton come out into the air, and stroll aboutthere, to see that all was well. I have now this other singularconfession to make, that I saw him with a heavy heart. Yes; I saw himwith a heavy, heavy heart. 

In the day-time, I had the like post in Captain Carton's boat. I had aspecial station of my own, behind Miss Maryon, and no hands but hers evertouched my wound. (It has been healed these many long years; but, noother hands have ever touched it. ) Mr. Pordage was kept tolerably quietnow, with pen and ink, and began to pick up his senses a little. Seatedin the second boat, he made documents with Mr. Kitten, pretty well allday; and he generally handed in a Protest about something whenever westopped. The Captain, however, made so very light of these papers, thatit grew into a saying among the men, when one of them wanted a match forhis pipe, "Hand us over a Protest, Jack!" As to Mrs. Pordage, she stillwore the nightcap, and she now had cut all the ladies on account of hernot having been formally and separately rescued by Captain Carton beforeanybody else. The end of Mr. Pordage, to bring to an end all I knowabout him, was, that he got great compliments at home for his conduct onthese trying occasions, and that he died of yellow jaundice, a Governorand a K. C. B. 

Sergeant Drooce had fallen from a high fever into a low one. TomPacker--the only man who could have pulled the Sergeant through it--kepthospital aboard the old raft, and Mrs. Belltott, as brisk as ever again(but the spirit of that little woman, when things tried it, was not equalto appearances), was head-nurse under his directions. Before we got downto the Mosquito coast, the joke had been made by one of our men, that weshould see her gazetted Mrs. Tom Packer, _vice_ Belltott exchanged. 

When we reached the coast, we got native boats as substitutes for therafts; and we rowed along under the land; and in that beautiful climate, and upon that beautiful water, the blooming days were like enchantment. Ah! They were running away, faster than any sea or river, and there wasno tide to bring them back. We were coming very near the settlementwhere the people of Silver-Store were to be left, and from which weMarines were under orders to return to Belize. 

Captain Carton had, in the boat by him, a curious long-barrelled Spanishgun, and he had said to Miss Maryon one day that it was the best of guns, and had turned his head to me, and said:

"Gill Davis, load her fresh with a couple of slugs, against a chance ofshowing how good she is. "

So, I had discharged the gun over the sea, and had loaded her, accordingto orders, and there it had lain at the Captain's feet, convenient to theCaptain's hand. 

The last day but one of our journey was an uncommonly hot day. Westarted very early; but, there was no cool air on the sea as the day goton, and by noon the heat was really hard to bear, considering that therewere women and children to bear it. Now, we happened to open, just atthat time, a very pleasant little cove or bay, where there was a deepshade from a great growth of trees. Now, the Captain, therefore, madethe signal to the other boats to follow him in and lie by a while. 

The men who were off duty went ashore, and lay down, but were ordered, for caution's sake, not to stray, and to keep within view. The othersrested on their oars, and dozed. Awnings had been made of one thing andanother, in all the boats, and the passengers found it cooler to be underthem in the shade, when there was room enough, than to be in the thickwoods. So, the passengers were all afloat, and mostly sleeping. I keptmy post behind Miss Maryon, and she was on Captain Carton's right in theboat, and Mrs. Fisher sat on her right again. The Captain had Mrs. Fisher's daughter on his knee. He and the two ladies were talking aboutthe Pirates, and were talking softly; partly, because people do talksoftly under such indolent circumstances, and partly because the littlegirl had gone off asleep. 

I think I have before given it out for my Lady to write down, thatCaptain Carton had a fine bright eye of his own. All at once, he dartedme a side look, as much as to say, "Steady--don't take on--I seesomething!"--and gave the child into her mother's arms. That eye of hiswas so easy to understand, that I obeyed it by not so much as lookingeither to the right or to the left out of a corner of my own, or changingmy attitude the least trifle. The Captain went on talking in the samemild and easy way; but began--with his arms resting across his knees, andhis head a little hanging forward, as if the heat were rather too muchfor him--began to play with the Spanish gun. 

"They had laid their plans, you see, " says the Captain, taking up theSpanish gun across his knees, and looking, lazily, at the inlaying on thestock, "with a great deal of art; and the corrupt or blundering localauthorities were so easily deceived;" he ran his left hand idly along thebarrel, but I saw, with my breath held, that he covered the action ofcocking the gun with his right--"so easily deceived, that they summonedus out to come into the trap. But my intention as to future operations--"In a flash the Spanish gun was at his bright eye, and he fired. 

All started up; innumerable echoes repeated the sound of the discharge; acloud of bright-coloured birds flew out of the woods screaming; a handfulof leaves were scattered in the place where the shot had struck; acrackling of branches was heard; and some lithe but heavy creature spranginto the air, and fell forward, head down, over the muddy bank. 

"What is it?" cries Captain Maryon from his boat. All silent then, butthe echoes rolling away. 

"It is a Traitor and a Spy, " said Captain Carton, handing me the gun toload again. "And I think the other name of the animal is ChristianGeorge King!"

Shot through the heart. Some of the people ran round to the spot, anddrew him out, with the slime and wet trickling down his face; but hisface itself would never stir any more to the end of time. 

"Leave him hanging to that tree, " cried Captain Carton; his boat's crewgiving way, and he leaping ashore. "But first into this wood, every manin his place. And boats! Out of gunshot!"

It was a quick change, well meant and well made, though it ended indisappointment. No Pirates were there; no one but the Spy was found. Itwas supposed that the Pirates, unable to retake us, and expecting a greatattack upon them to be the consequence of our escape, had made from theruins in the Forest, taken to their ship along with the Treasure, andleft the Spy to pick up what intelligence he could. In the evening wewent away, and he was left hanging to the tree, all alone, with the redsun making a kind of a dead sunset on his black face. 

Next day, we gained the settlement on the Mosquito coast for which wewere bound. Having stayed there to refresh seven days, and having beenmuch commended, and highly spoken of, and finely entertained, we Marinesstood under orders to march from the Town-Gate (it was neither much of atown nor much of a gate), at five in the morning. 

My officer had joined us before then. When we turned out at the gate, all the people were there; in the front of them all those who had beenour fellow-prisoners, and all the seamen. 

"Davis, " says Lieutenant Linderwood. "Stand out, my friend!"

I stood out from the ranks, and Miss Maryon and Captain Carton came up tome. 

"Dear Davis, " says Miss Maryon, while the tears fell fast down her face, "your grateful friends, in most unwillingly taking leave of you, ask thefavour that, while you bear away with you their affectionate remembrance, which nothing can ever impair, you will also take this purse of money--farmore valuable to you, we all know, for the deep attachment andthankfulness with which it is offered, than for its own contents, thoughwe hope those may prove useful to you, too, in after life. "

I got out, in answer, that I thankfully accepted the attachment andaffection, but not the money. Captain Carton looked at me veryattentively, and stepped back, and moved away. I made him my bow as hestepped back, to thank him for being so delicate. 

"No, miss, " said I, "I think it would break my heart to accept of money. But, if you could condescend to give to a man so ignorant and common asmyself, any little thing you have worn--such as a bit of ribbon--"

She took a ring from her finger, and put it in my hand. And she restedher hand in mine, while she said these words:

"The brave gentlemen of old--but not one of them was braver, or had anobler nature than you--took such gifts from ladies, and did all theirgood actions for the givers' sakes. If you will do yours for mine, Ishall think with pride that I continue to have some share in the life ofa gallant and generous man. "

For the second time in my life she kissed my hand. I made so bold, forthe first time, as to kiss hers; and I tied the ring at my breast, and Ifell back to my place. 

Then, the horse-litter went out at the gate with Sergeant Drooce in it;and the horse-litter went out at the gate with Mrs. Belltott in it; andLieutenant Linderwood gave the word of command, "Quick march!" and, cheered and cried for, we went out of the gate too, marching along thelevel plain towards the serene blue sky, as if we were marching straightto Heaven. 

When I have added here that the Pirate scheme was blown to shivers, bythe Pirate-ship which had the Treasure on board being so vigorouslyattacked by one of His Majesty's cruisers, among the West India Keys, andbeing so swiftly boarded and carried, that nobody suspected anythingabout the scheme until three-fourths of the Pirates were killed, and theother fourth were in irons, and the Treasure was recovered; I come to thelast singular confession I have got to make. 

It is this. I well knew what an immense and hopeless distance there wasbetween me and Miss Maryon; I well knew that I was no fitter company forher than I was for the angels; I well knew, that she was as high above myreach as the sky over my head; and yet I loved her. What put it in mylow heart to be so daring, or whether such a thing ever happened beforeor since, as that a man so uninstructed and obscure as myself got hisunhappy thoughts lifted up to such a height, while knowing very well howpresumptuous and impossible to be realised they were, I am unable to say;still, the suffering to me was just as great as if I had been agentleman. I suffered agony--agony. I suffered hard, and I sufferedlong. I thought of her last words to me, however, and I never disgracedthem. If it had not been for those dear words, I think I should havelost myself in despair and recklessness. 

The ring will be found lying on my heart, of course, and will be laidwith me wherever I am laid. I am getting on in years now, though I amable and hearty. I was recommended for promotion, and everything wasdone to reward me that could be done; but my total want of all learningstood in my way, and I found myself so completely out of the road to itthat I could not conquer any learning, though I tried. I was long in theservice, and I respected it, and was respected in it, and the service isdear to me at this present hour. 

At this present hour, when I give this out to my Lady to be written down, all my old pain has softened away, and I am as happy as a man can be, atthis present fine old country-house of Admiral Sir George Carton, Baronet. It was my Lady Carton who herself sought me out, over a greatmany miles of the wide world, and found me in Hospital wounded, andbrought me here. It is my Lady Carton who writes down my words. My Ladywas Miss Maryon. And now, that I conclude what I had to tell, I see myLady's honoured gray hair droop over her face, as she leans a littlelower at her desk; and I fervently thank her for being so tender as I seeshe is, towards the past pain and trouble of her poor, old, faithful, humble soldier. 

FOOTNOTES

{1} Dicken's didn't write the second chapter and it is omitted in thisedition. In it the prisoners are firstly made a ransom of for thetreasure left on the Island and then manage to escape from the Pirates.