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could see a long way farther than the men in the s' p in the cove, and a point of land shut off from them in are of the sea that
was visible from the hill; so when night fell they were still unaware of the sail.
Though he had watched for hours the ship in the cove, the runaway boatswain of the Rose of Devon had discovered no sign
of what nation had sent her out or what trade her men followed; but there came a time when his patience could endure
suspense no longer. He picked his way down to the shore, following the stream from which he had been drinking during his
long watch, and cautiously moved along the edge of the water till he came to the point of land nearest the anchored ship,
whence he could very plainly hear voices on board her. There were lights on the stern and on deck, and through an open port
he got sight of hammocks swinging above the guns on the main deck.
At last he took off the greater part of his clothes and piled them on a rock; then, strapping his dirk to his waist, he waded
silently into the water. Reaching his depth, he momentarily hesitated, but fortifying his resolution with such philosophy as he
could muster, he began deliberately and silently to swim. Letting himself lie deep in the water and moving so slowly that he
raised no wake, he came into the shadow of the ship. It was good to feel her rough planking. We swam aft under the quarter,
and coming to the rudder laid hands on it and rested. Above him he could see, upon looking up, a lighted cabin window.
His own body seemed ponderous as he slowly lifted himself out of water. He raised one hand from the tip of the rudder just
above the tiller to the carving overhead and got grip on a scroll wrought in tough oak. He put his foot on the rudder, and
feeling above him with his other hand seized fast the leg of a carved dragon. Very thankful for the brave ornaments with
which the builder had bedecked the ship, he next got hold of the dragon's snout, and clinging like a fly, unseen and
unsuspected, above the black water that gurgled about the rudder and the hull, he crawled silently up the stern.
Coming thus to the lighted cabin window, he peeked in and found the place deserted. On the table a cloth was laid, and on the
cloth such a dinner service as he could scarce have dreamed of. There were glasses of rare tints, with a few drops of wine left
in them, which glowed like garnets under the bright candles. There were goblets of silver, and even, he believed, of gold.
There were wonderfully delicate plates crusted with gold about the edges. There was an abundance of silver to eat with and a
great decanter, wrought about with gold and precious stones, such as simple folk might not expect to see this side of Heaven.
At the sound of steps, Phil drew back and hung over the water on the great stern of the ship.
A boy came into the cabin and stepped briskly about clearing the table. Voices came down from above -- and they were
speaking in English! What a prize she would have made for the Rose of Devon, Phil thought, and grimly smiled.
"Boy!" a voice bellowed from somewhere in the bowels of the ship.
"Yea, yea, master," cried the boy, and with that he scurried from the cabin like a startled chick.
Phil raised his head and renewed his hold, for he could not cling there forever; yet how to introduce himself on board the ship
was a question that sorely puzzled him. He threw a bare leg over the sill, the more easily to rest, and revolved the problem in
his mind. They were plainly honest Englishmen, and right glad would he have been to get himself in among them. Yet if he
came like a thief in the night, they must suspect him of evil intentions without end. While he thus attacked the problem from
one side and from the other, it occurred to him that the best way was to crawl down again into the water and swim back to the
shore from whence he had come. There, having donned his clothes, he would call for help. Surely there was no one so hard of
heart as to refuse a lad help in escaping from the pirates.
He raised his leg to swing it out of the window again and put his scheme into practice, when he felt -- and it startled him
nearly out of his skin -- a hand lay hold on his ankle.
If you will balance yourself on the outside of any window with one foot over the sill you will find it exceedingly difficult to
pull your foot away from some one inside the window without throwing yourself off the wall, and Phil for the moment was
reluctant to make the plunge. Slowly at first he twisted and pulled, but to no purpose. With waxing vigour he struggled and
yanked and kicked and jerked, but completely failed to get his ankle out of the hand that held it.
It seemed that a gentleman who had been sitting at a little desk, so placed that Phil could not have seen it without thrusting his
head all the way into the cabin, had looked up, and, perceiving- to his mild surprise a naked foot thrust in through the
window, had nimbly arisen, and stepping lightly toward the foot, had seized the ankle firmly at the moment when Phil was
about to withdraw it.
The gentleman marvelled much at what he had discovered and purposed to get at the reason for it. Not only did he succeed
with ease in holding the ankle fast against his captive's somewhat cautious first kicks; he anticipated a more desperate effort
by getting firm hold with both hands, so that when his captive decided to risk all, so to speak, and tried with might and main
to fling himself free and into the water by a great leap, the gentleman kept fast his hold and held the lad by his one leg, who
dangled below like a trapped monkey.
Very likely it was foolish of Philip Marsham to attempt escaping, but as I have said he was of no mind to be caught thus like
a thief entering in the night, and he was so completely surprised that he had no time at all to collect his wits before he acted.
Yet caught he was, and, for a bad bargain, hung by the heels to boot.
"Boy," the gentleman said, and his voice indicated that he had a droll humour, "call Captain Winterton."
The boy, further sounds revealed, who had come silently and in leisure, departed noisily and in haste.
Heavy steps then approached, and a gruff voice cried,
"What devilish sort of game is this"'
"Take his other leg, Charles, and we shall soon have him safe on board. I am not yet prepared to say what sort of game it is,
beyond saying that it is a rare and curious game. Thereupon a second pair of hands closed on Philip Marsham's other ankle,
and, would he or would he not, he was hauled speedily through the cabin window.
"Young man," said the gentleman who had first seized him, "who and what are you, and from whence have you come? "
"I am Philip Marsham, late boatswain of the Rose of Devon frigate. I came to learn from what country this ship had sailed
and to ask for help. I myself sailed from Bideford long since in the Rose of Devon, but, falling into the hands of certain
sailors of fortune who killed our master and took our ship, I have served them for weary months as a forced man. Having at
last succeeded in running away from them, I have come hither by land, as you can see, suffering much on the way, and I ask
you now to have compassion on me, in God's name, and take me home to England."
"Truly," said the gentleman, "those devilish flies have wrought their worst upon him. His face is swelled till it is as thick-
lipped as a Guinea slave's." He spoke lightly and with little thought of Phil's words, for his humour was uppermost in him. He
was in every way the fine gentleman with an eye for the comical, accustomed to having all things done for him and as little
likely to feel pity for this nearly naked youth as to think it wrong that the little cabin boy should stand till morning behind his
chair, lest by chance, desiring one thing or another, he must compromise his dignity by fetching it for himself. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]