Before the light of the early morning filtered below, we were aroused by the entrance of the liberty crew.
“Youst look at the mess,” cried Bill, staggering down the companion. “Jump below, friend Martin, an’ see the horsepittle they’ve made in this fo’c’sle.”
“Hoot, ye Scandinavian imp, is any one hurt? Mark ye, if there’s any fighting to be done, I’ll do it! Ye ken that? I’ll do it. I’ll do it.” And he followed Bill below, and after him trooped Big Jones, Ernest, and the rest. There was noise enough when we told our yarn of the evening before, and all except Anderson took a peep from the hatch seaward to try and raise the brig, which had cleared during the night. She was out of sight, however, and they came swarming below again, where the surly Swede was thanking the fates the barque had been robbed, and only mourned because none of her officers were killed or wounded.
208Jennings and Jorg, the Finn, were about the only men who had received no hurt from the fracas, except myself. Even Heligoland had received a bad scratch from a stray bullet, and all of Gull’s crew were more or less bruised and banged about by the villains. One of the boat’s crew took a crack over the head that had put him out for many minutes, and another a stab from a knife that rendered his hand useless for the time being. Owing to the darkness, no one had received a bullet from the long skipper’s fire.
Before we had time to speculate upon what we would do, Hawkson’s voice bawled out for all hands, and Henry appeared at the hatch.
We turned out and saw smoke flying from the galley-pipe, and heard the voice of the Doctor singing off the effects of shore grog while he hustled the breakfast. In a few minutes we had eaten, and were manning the windlass to heave short.
There was a gentle breeze blowing, and the topsails were loosened, the canvas falling from the yards and hanging hauled up at the clews, ready to sheet home at the word. Far away seaward, the Desertas--the barren rocks infested only by wild goats--stood out sharply against the southern sky. Nothing white like a royal, however, broke the line of blue, and it was evident that our friend, the brig, had made a good offing during the night, in spite 209of the lack of wind. While Jim and Tom, our two Liverpool cockneys, squeaked out a song, to which Gus and Ernest added their guttural grunts, the starboard watch hove on the windlass brakes, and began to take the slack out of our cable. Before we had taken twenty feet, however, we noticed a boat coming from the shore, and soon recognized Yankee Dan, the trader. In a few minutes he was alongside bawling for Captain Howard. Then he climbed over the side, and, without stopping to pay his fare, started aft.
“It’s a nice mess he’s made ashore,” he said, as Hawkson appeared on the poop. “Don’t he know he’ll have to fight? What’s he afraid of, anyway?”
“Who?” asked the mate.
“The old man, of course. Who else? Hasn’t he insulted that Guinea officer ashore there? Don’t he know he’s playing mighty strange, not showin’ up when time’s called? Where is he?”
“Below,” said Hawkson, “but he’ll be on deck if he hears you, fast enough. What’s the trouble?”
I had reached the starboard quarter gun by this time, and saw a smooth poll, like the knob of a door, poked up the companion.
“Who’s making that racket?” growled a voice, and Howard’s face appeared over the coamings.
“Ain’t you goin’ to meet your man?” bawled the trader.
210“What man, you nigger-thief?” growled Howard.
“I’ll settle with you afterward,” said the trader, coming close to him. “You better attend to one quarrel at a time. Are you goin’ to fight or not? You know the man well enough, the officer you insulted yesterday.”
“Where is he?” growled the old villain.
“On the beach, waitin’ for you. Are ye blind?”
“That’ll do the anchor. Get the small boat ready,” said he to the mate. “I reckon we’ll wait a bit and see what’s up ashore.”
In a moment after, he had disappeared down the companion. Howard came stiffly on deck again, buckling on a cutlass. His face expressed nothing, and, as he went toward the gangway, he called for his steward to bring him a glass of grog. The effect of this was instantaneous.
He limbered up, and, as Holmberg, Bill, and myself brought the boat to the steps, he was pacing fore and aft, cursing at our delay.
“I’ll have my breakfast when I come back,” he growled to Watkins. “No fear, I’ll take the stiffness out of somebody.”
Then he climbed down the side ladder and sprang into the boat, followed by Yankee Dan.
“Shove off!” he growled. Then he turned to the trader. “Where’s this fracas to be, and what’s 211it about? What am I fighting for, you nigger-thief?” And he broke into a high, cackling laugh, while his face hardly changed in expression, his fishy eyes roving in their gaze toward the beach.
We gave way with a will, and were out of hailing distance of the barque before Hicks appeared on deck. I could see him waving, but, as the captain sat with his back facing aft steering, I thought it was little use to call his attention to the matter.
We were heading, under the trader’s guidance, to a spot on the shore out of sight of the town, and in a little cove where there was no surf from the heave of the swell. Here the craft was beached, and we sprang out to drag her up. Then the trader and our skipper stepped ashore. Out from a thicket of laurel sprang a trio of men, all wearing the Portuguese uniform, and then I recognized one of them as the dago officer who had been talking to the trader the evening before, and whom our old captain had cursed so villainously. Under the arm of a younger man was a bunch of swords, such as were used at the time for fencing in the army,--little long, thin blades of the rapier pattern, and sharp as needles.
“Sorry to have kept you folks waitin’ so long,” said Yankee Dan, “but the old man had overslept himself. I reckon he’ll fight fast enough. We’re ready when you say the word.”
212The younger officer passed him the hilts of a couple of rapiers, and politely begged that he try their temper and make a choice.
While he did so, our old skipper tossed aside his ............