In all history there have been few more lamentable sights than that of the great and glorious Prince Rupert toiling as a common slave on the row-bank of that Spanish galley. It is true that the Spaniards knew nothing of his rank and position, though their doltishness is proved by their not surmising it from his grand manner and his carriage. But the fact remains that they never so much as guessed at his quality, even when the Holy Office condemned him to the flames as a heretic, and it was his firm command to Stephen Laughan, his secretary and companion in misfortune, that the incognito should be strictly preserved.

"They take me for an English buccaneer," he said, "and I am content with it. I\'d liefer be conscience-free as a slave, than Governor of all the Spanish Colonies on the Main and have to kow-tow to their crafty priests. Moreover, Stephen lad, when I throw back on to the oar-loom, I\'m minded that they\'ve left us the use of our limbs, and that\'s more than might have been. They\'re clever devils with their torturings, and I\'d rather work through life sound as a galley-slave, than sit crippled even in a palace."

So it will be seen that even in this terrible adversity—and on all hands it will be admitted that the galleys is one of the worst of fates—the Prince carried a high spirit: indeed the secretary would not be sure that he did not find some entertainment in the adventure.

The hurry of going on board had been great. Wick and his buccaneers had appeared off the port in two ships with brooms at their mastheads to show that they had cleared the seas, and empty sacks at their yard-arms to hint that they were bent on plunder. Wick it seems had caught a boat load of Spaniards, and had sent them ashore packed with saucy messages which filled the Captain of the Port with rage and fright in equal portions. If Wick had sailed in when he first came up, he would have found the town of La Vela (which is the port of Coro City) practically undefended. But the Spaniards, after their idolatrous fashion thanked many saints that the buccaneers wasted much time in bombast and cautious reconnoitring, and sent for troops from Coro with which they manned La Vela ramparts and batteries, and which they also set on the four galleys which rolled at their moorings in the harbour.

For the motive power of these galleys, slaves of all descriptions were pressed into service and chained to the benches. Not one in six of these wretches had been to sea before, and the odd five were smitten with seasickness before they had barely settled to their work. But the whips of the boatswains who walked up and down the centre gang-plank were a fine restorative to the feebled minded, and, as the event showed, the slaves were quicker to get over their malady than were the soldiers who partook of no such harsh medicine, and who were put on board to form the fighting element.

The horrors of that first night at sea are well-nigh unspeakable. Wick\'s ships had drawn off late in the afternoon, and the galleys, so soon as they were manned, put to sea in inglorious pursuit. As a commencement, the slaves had been chained by ankle-cuffs to traverse-bars which run beneath the seat just in the order in which they chanced to come aboard, and as a consequence, though one oar here and there might be passably handled, the great majority were strained at by wretches who knew no trace of rower\'s craft, and had little stomach just then to learn it. The Spaniards, according to their brutal fashion, thought to teach skill by the sheer lustiness of their whippings; but these gave little real education, and presently when the galley began to swing to the choppy swells of the Caribbean outside La Vela\'s protection, the confusion ended in first one, then another, and then others of the sweeps losing a blade, till she bade fair to be completely unrigged if they kept her without change of arrangement.

In the midst of this devil\'s confusion, with the night come down black about their ears and whistling with wind, and the few lanterns showing a very broken and threatening sea, Prince Rupert, with his whimsical mood, must needs set up a rollicking cavalier\'s song, to which the secretary (with more of loyalty than prudence) lent her more slender tones for a chorus. Three verses rolled out over the charging swells with as full a lilt and gusto as though they had been sung over the wine-cups in merry England, and some half-dozen others of the galley slaves picked up the rhythm. "To hell with the rebels and God save the King!" they sang, and presently the whips of the boatswains began to crack viciously on the backs of the singers.

But the chief boatswain stopped when he came to Rupert, and stood with whip uplifted. There was something in the Prince\'s face at the thought of this last indignity that would have daunted any creature living. "My man," he said, in a terrible voice, "if you touch me with that thong, I will kill you!"

"Pah!" said the fellow, "you are chained!"

"Happily for many on this galley. But desperate men have desperate strength. I tell you freely that if you thong me I\'ll break any irons you have in the ship like pack thread, and I\'ll tear the life from your throat with my teeth. Be not a fool, boatswain. You see me here doing all the work that is put on to this oar. Moreover, as you may see from the swirl of the water, and the buckling of the wood, it is an oar that\'s being shrewdly driven. I mislike the labour heartily enough, but, being a slave, it\'s my pride to be a good slave, and it seems to me I\'ve earned promotion already. I should be captain of this oar instead of being set on as the middle slave of the five who man it."

"You shall be shifted when the watch is changed," said the boatswain, looking at him curiously. "But I\'ll give you a double set of irons as an extra present. You are too free with your threats and schemes, my man, for a healthy slave."

"I am as I am made," said Rupert. "No man can change his nature too suddenly. But being on this galley, I\'ve her welfare at heart like yourself; as I tell you, even a slave can take pride in his work. And let me say to you, Se?or boatswain, you\'ve your rowers wastefully arranged. Your best men are next the rowlocks, or at a cleat in the middle of the loom, ay, or anywhere but where they should be, and that\'s at the oars\' inner ends, next the gangway, where they could put government over the stroke. As a consequence there\'s no evenness. Your timekeeper with his gavel might be beating stroke for the seafowl for all the regularity he\'s causing. And so, although each slave may be working his utmost, no two are getting their weight on it together, and as a consequence the slaves are being strained and tired out, and the galley gathers no weigh. I speak as a seaman, Se?or boatswain, and I tell you plain that if you don\'t alter the disposition of your slaves, it\'s a doubt if we weather the night. You can note for yourself that the breeze is hardening down and the sea\'s worsening."

The boatswain observed that others of the slaves were forgetting their misery in giving ear to Rupert\'s tirade, and he pulled himself together. "Silence there," he shouted. "Hold your saucy tongue, slave, or you\'ll be whipped yet." But what had been said went deeply home to him, for he began looking keenly amongst the benches to see which of the slaves put most skill into the dreadful toil, and when the gavel stopped beating, and the oars were pulled in and their ends tucked under the central gangway, so that the blades reared up clear of the waves, he went aft to the coach and held a close conversation with the captain of the soldiers.

Presently there was a resorting of posts. A gang of the slaves was told off to the pumps, for the galley shipped more seas than was healthy for her digestion, and these were chained there lest they might cheat the Spaniards of their usefulness by jumping overboard. Then there was more unchaining, as those whom the boatswain had marked for watermanship were unlinked from where they chanced to be, and set each to the inner end of a sweep to govern its strokes. The secretary, to her great surprise (having indeed only a maid\'s strength to throw into this dreadful labour), was one of those honoured by promotion, and Rupert, who sat on a row bank two behind her across the gangway, gaily cried out his congratulations.

It seemed that no circumstances could damp the Prince during this adventure: indeed one might almost say that his gaiety was unnatural. For presently when food was served round—wine of the sourest, sodden bread, and stinking dried fish that they call baccalhao—he not only ate his own portion with gusto, but took up also those of the seasick wretches on the bench beside him, and added these scraps also to his meal. "There\'s work to be done for you and me, Master Laughan," he cried cheerily, "and we need victual within our ribs to keep us lusty. Show me none of your daintiness here, Stephen. Eat soundly, keep up a good courage and a sturdy arm, and I promise you shall dine off sweeter victual when the time comes as your reward."

The boatswain, who was still busy making the exchanges, heard his speech, and understood it, although the words were English. "Now you talker," said he threateningly, "have a care, or you\'ll earn something more besides those double irons I\'ve given you already."

"Why, Se?or," said Rupert, "I was but anticipating your kindness and your gratitude. There are slaves and slaves. Surely if we show ourselves to be your best and most valuable slaves, you will give us some small concessions and rewards in return when it comes to the dieting?"

"Your tongue is too long," said the boatswain sourly, "and besides, I don\'t believe that is what you meant, you Englishman."

"Well," said Rupert, "you might call me worse names that don\'t belong to me than Englishman."

The boatswain scowled and turned away to his work, and the slaves tried to get what rest they could where they sat. The deck beneath their feet was covered with unspeakable filth, and even if they had the inclination to lie down upon it, there was no opportunity. Each slave was chained by the ankles to the traverse-bar (or "horse," as it was named) which ran beneath the bench in front, and chained also by wrist-shackles to the cleats on the oar loom. But with the oar-blade a-cock, and the loom drawn in and its end tucked under the gangway, one could snatch rest sitting, with the weary head pillowed on the arms and the oar loom.

But there was a short enough spell of sleep allowed them. The galley fell off into the trough when she had no weigh on her, and with the roll the Spanish soldiers\' stomachs reeled within them. So once more the timekeeper sat down to his table and began monotonously to beat with the gavel, and once more the oars were dipped and swung. The rowers might go on till they burst their souls, so that these doughty warriors were eased. But this time there was a better performance. The captain of each oar—those, that is, who sat at the inner ends—were men of experience, slaves many of them of long standing in the galleys, or men brought up to sea-faring.

"Mine\'s the hardest driving oar in the ship," cried Rupert with strange exultation.

"And mine\'s not the worst," the secretary cried back to him, falling in with her patron\'s mood.

Two others voices chimed in, both English.

"Silly braggarts, do you think you\'re doing all the work in the galley?" cried one.

"Foils," grumbled another. "Why tew more than ye need? There\'s note t\'addle by it."

"Arnidieu," swore Rupert, "I should know you who spoke then."

"\'Appen," said the man, who was at the oar nearest the poop, "I\'ve met a sight o\' folk i\' my time."

"But you should remember one whom you chose to be your matelot, your camerade on the seas, who was to go a-buccaneering afloat whilst you bucanned meat in Hispaniola. Your voice, sir, tells me that you are Master Simpson."

"Aye, I\'m Simpson. And so you\'re——"

"Hush, sir, please. It is my vanity, sir, to keep my name hid whilst I am in this position. But it grieves me to see you in similar plight."

But here speech was cut off. Once more the boatswain came down on to the gang-plank, boiling with anger at all this talk in defiance of discipline, and cutting right and left with his whip on the shoulders of the slaves. Simpson came in for a share, and cursed him lustily for the gift, but the Prince he affected not to have caught. Truly it would have taken a braver man than a galley\'s boatswain to flog Rupert Palatine.

Nothing but constant thonging with that whip kept most of the slaves at their work. The galley laboured heavily in the sea, rolling her outrigged thole-pins under at every lurch, and sea-sickness groaned from all her benches. The reek of her poisoned the gale. The groans from her might have alarmed heaven. And if a ship of the buccaneers had appeared then, her military manning would have surrendered through sheer misery.

But as it was she rode out the night unmolested, and when morning broke, wild and grey, there were Wick\'s ships tossing on a far horizon.

Now beating has its limits, and even the arm of a Spanish boatswain may grow weary after a long night of unbroken flogging. Moreover the other galleys had both dropped astern, and lay without weigh with their oars a-cock. So once more the timekeeper gave the three sharp blows with the gavel which meant a halt, and the slaves thankfully drew in the oars, and thrust the looms underneath the gangway. A ration was served out, but for the most part they were too bone-weary to eat, and dropped incontinently off into slumber. The Prince, however, mastered his meal as before, and the secretary, mindful of his order, made shift to do the same, though indeed her hands were so raw with the rub of the oar, that each morsel was seasoned with her own blood.

For three hours the rest endured, and the sun got up and beat heavily on all the galley held, and then once more the timekeeper beat with his gavel. The other galleys came up and formed into line, sawing over the swells. The whole fleet set off together. They were going out to the attack.

A galley\'s bulwarks are high, and a slave can see nothing except for swift glances that flash past through the oar ports; but a slave\'s ears are correspondingly sharpened, and from orders shouted by the officers, and from chance scraps of talk, those on the row-benches gain some general idea of what is going on.

By degrees they rose the hulls of Wick\'s ships into view, and found that they were hove-to under canvas. They still carried brooms at their mastheads, and the insulting sacks at their yard arms, and further, as if to show their vast contempt for the force which had come out against them, their crews were at the wash-tub, and the rigging was ensigned with strings of fluttering garments hung out to dry. The Spanish officers gritted their teeth with rage at the impertinence, and the boatswain was bidden to whip up more speed out of the slaves.

But it seemed that these buccaneers could do other things besides wash their underwear. For presently when we got within range, down went the strings of fluttering garments, and to each man\'s hand came up his long-barrelled buccaneering piece, with which he fired with diligence and precision. There was no volley firing and there were no wasted bullets. Each buccaneer picked his mark, loosed off, and reloaded. They did not man their own big artillery, but they gave their entire attention to the crews of swaying seasick soldiers that tried to fight the galleys\' heavy guns, and they trundled them over almost as fast as they could be replaced. And meanwhile they got their own ships under weigh, trimming sail so that they preserved an unaltered distance from the galleys. They did not attack, and when the Spaniards at all slackened the engagement, a part of them put down their buccaneering pieces and went back to the washtubs. It was a most exasperating battle, and the officers on the Prince\'s galley were almost beside themselves with mortification.

The buccaneers shot with a fine accuracy, as has been said, but at sea there are always bullets that go astray, and of these the wretched slaves that were chained to the row banks came in for their share. Some were ricochet shots: some found entrance by the oar ports; but when one is wounded, it is but small consolation to know that the hurt was intended for another. A bullet struck between the two hands of Prince Rupert himself, splintering the wood of the oar. A slave that sat next to the secretary was shot through the temple, falling forward over their loom, and the rowing was much impeded before the poor wretch could be unchained, and his body thrown over to the sharks. Altogether there were twelve of the slaves killed or disabled, but it was some comfort to them to know that no less than thirty of their masters were put outside the combat.

The Spaniards raged at this treatment, but they could not alter it, neither could they come to close quarters with the ships of the buccaneers, and in the end the galleys were allowed once more to drift, and the slaves to rest and regain strength for whatever next might be demanded of them. Twice again during that day did they try to force close action, but the only result was loss to themselves, and in the end when night once more swept down upon the sea, the Spaniards on the galley, what between sea nausea, tiredness, and despondency, lay in a state that did little credit to their manhood.

Now it is ill work making slaves from men of the calibre of Prince Rupert, because they weigh at its exact value all that\'s going on, and, resenting their chains very bitterly, are sure to take the first chance of being rid of them. Rupert summed up the situation of the soldiers with much nicety. He summed up also the feelings of the galley\'s mariners.

It is the custom in the Spanish sea service to keep the two businesses of sailing the ship and fighting her coldly apart. The soldier esteems himself far too great a person to touch anything more ungenteel than his weapons. The mariner is looked upon as an inferior creature, fit only to handle ropes, and the tarry things of shipboard, a proper subject to be oppressed at all times, and beaten when he does not please. On our galley there were but few mariners, for she did little work with her sails; but what there were got treatment but slenderly better than that dealt out to the slaves; and though this was the custom of their service, and they had nothing better to look forward to, the Prince with his shrewd wisdom gave full value to the matter, and when night once more wrapped the galley in gloom, he put a plan that he had formed into brisk action.

One of these sailormen who had undergone more ill-usage than the rest, and had been anointed with more than his share of blows, was passing dejectedly along the gangway, and presently lay down where he was to sleep. There was nothing uncommon about this, for the Spaniards deny their mariners the right to go below into the cabins, and force them to harbour under the weather on the open deck, having an idea that this treatment improves their wakefulness.

To this poor fellow, then, who already had rebellion simmering in his heart, Rupert spoke in a whisper, and his clever words soon sapped the wretch\'s loyalty. "Why should he toil like a slave that was a free man himself, and no one whit worse than his masters? Why should he put up with blows that were not earned? Why should he be satisfied with a dog\'s wage and a hog\'s treatment, when he might make a fortune for a move, and live soft ever after?"

The Prince was persuasive enough, and the fellow was openly willing. "Show me a chance," said he, "and you don\'t find me staying as I am much longer."

"Then the thing is simple," said Rupert, "and the less time it\'s put off the better. The key to your fortune is the key of our shackles. You get me that, and I will guarantee execution of the rest."

"I have only your word for it."

"I can offer you a better certificate. Regard my position and my need."

"Ay," said the sailor, "there\'s no questioning that. But is there to be a general killing on this galley, once you slaves get loose? My own mates are men I like, and it would grieve me to see them hurt. They have suffered from the soldiers equally with me."

"There shall be as few killed as I can help. I need all alive for my purposes. And as for your mates, amigo, if they will only bear a hand to help us, the thing will be done more simply. But help or stand aside non-interferent, I swear to you that no sailor on this galley shall be hurt unless he sides in with the soldiers."

"They\'ll not do that last. But I could not say they\'ll join with you till they see you\'ve strong chance of getting the upper hand."

"I ask no better. Let them wait till the game is well started, and then join in with the winning side. So hand me the keys."

"Nay," said the sailor, "you will have to get those for yourself also; but I\'ll go so far as to tell you where they are, and that\'s in the boatswain\'s pocket. I\'ll give you this help, though," said he, and moved across to the other side of the gangway, and coiled up in sleep there.

For the moment Rupert thought the man had been mocking him; but then he saw that the gangway was narrow, that the boatswain traversed it every hour on his official watch, and that the sleeping sailor at the further side would cause him to walk near the other edge, and so within hand-grips of the slaves who wanted the keys. So the Prince sat on his bench well satisfied, and the men near him, who had heard what had been said, waited in silence to get their share of any benefits which might befall. There is no reason to ask the slaves on a galley if they will join an insurrection. That the chance for such a rising may come, let its risks be what they may, is the one hourly prayer of their terrible lives.

The time lingered on with a slowness that was incredible. The slaves in the secret rustled on their uneasy benches and winced as the chains galled them. But still the boatswain came not. It seemed as though the hour for his promenade was twice passed over.

Rupert muttered a jest, that if he came not soon, we should be forced to report him to his superiors for dereliction of duty.

But presently through the gloom these desperate men saw one step from the coach on to the gangway and step towards them. Their muscles grew hardened for the spring, their nerves strung for fierce fighting. And then, lo! here was a deputy sent to do the formal round, whilst the boatswain himself lay sleeping.

So there was the tedious vigil to be endured a second time. But galley slaves can be patient over a disappointment like this, so that there is shrewd prospect of their vengeance coming if only it is waited for long enough. And in due time the boatswain himself came out of the coach, yawning and stretching, and making his way leisurely along the centre of the gangplank.

It was plain that his eyes were heavy with drowsiness, and he saw little. Indeed he was within an ace of the sailor who lay on the gangway sleeping (or pretending to sleep), and only swerved just in time to prevent stumbling over him. He stepped to the edge of the gangway, cursing softly, and the chain on Rupert\'s wrist that fettered it to the oar gave just sufficient play for the man\'s undoing. The Prince grasped his ankle and plucked it smartly from beneath him. The boatswain fell down headlong among the slaves—the slaves whom his whip had so cruelly tortured—and under their vicious handling his natural cries were stifled before they were born. The keys were ripped from his pouch, and passed down the row of benches, and callous, blistered fingers trembled as they fitted them into the locks of the shackles. The sweat of anxiety poured from the slaves during those minutes as they fumbled.

A voice rang out through the rustling night that called for the boatswain. There was no reply. Again the voice called, and this time it was answered by a laugh. Prince Rupert, once more a free man, stepped up on to the gangway. The secretary followed him. They made their way aft to the coach where the officers of the soldiers lived, and other shadowy figures, first by ones and twos, then in mobs, began to move on at their heels. There were no cries, there was no shouting; but the very silence of these ill-used slaves made their onset all the more dreadful. The officers and the soldiers welled out like angry bees from an upturned hive to meet them.

Both Rupert and the secretary were happy enough to filch swords from soldiers that were barely awake, and with hands once more gripped on their accustomed tools, were able to make pretty play. But the great mob of slaves that came on at their heels found no such genteel weapons; contented themselves with stanchions, belaying-pins, balustrading, or anything which offered itself to the first sight; or else raged horribly with bare teeth and talons, as though they had been wild beasts unaccustomed to more human warfare. There was no display of fencing skill. Their one manoeuvre was to rush in to hand-grips and comme............