Part 61 (1/2)

The answer was a cheer, and then all eyes were directed to the boats, which were coming faster through the water now, till, at a command from the foremost stern-sheets, the men slackened and waited for their consort to come up abreast.

Another command was given, when the oars dipped faster all together, the boats dividing so as to take the schooner starboard and port.

”Not going to summon us to surrender?” said the skipper sharply. ”Very well; but I think we shall make them speak.”

The two boys stood together in the stern, close to the wheel, seeing the boats divide and pa.s.s them on either hand; and then with hearts throbbing they waited for what was to come--and not for long.

Matters moved quickly now, till the boats b.u.mped and grazed against the schooner's sides, two sharp orders rang out as their c.o.xswains hooked on, and then with a strange snarling roar their crews began to scramble up to the bulwarks, and with very bad success. They had not far to go, for the schooner's bulwarks were very low for a sea-going vessel, but here was the main defence, the nets fully ten feet high and very strong--a defence suggestive of the old gladiatorial fight between the Retiarius, or net and trident-bearer, and the Secutor, or sword and s.h.i.+eld-carrying man-at-arms.

There was no firing then; the Spaniards seized the net and began to climb, some becoming entangled, as in their hurry a leg or an arm slipped through, while the defenders dashed at them and brought their capstan-bars into use, crack and thud resounding, sending some back upon their companions, others into the boats, while three or four splashes announced the fall of unfortunates into the water.

Loud shouts came from the boats as the officers urged the men on, and from each an officer in uniform began to climb now and lead, followed by quite a crowd on either side, some of them hacking at the stout cord with their cutla.s.ses, but doing little mischief, crippled as they were by the sharp blows which were hailed down by the schooner's crew, upon hand, foot, and now and then upon some unlucky head.

Chips the carpenter, who was nothing without making some improvement upon the acts of his fellows, made a dash at the officer leading the attacking boat on the starboard side, delivering a thrust with the bar he carried, which pa.s.sed right through the large mesh of the net, catching the Spaniard in the chest and sending him backwards into the boat.

”That's what I calls a Canterbury poke, dear boys,” he cried. ”Let 'em have it, my lads. The beggars look like so many flies in a spider's web; and we are the spiders.”

The shouting, yelling, and struggling did not last five minutes. Man after man succeeded the fallen, and then it was all over, the boats floating back with the current until they were checked by those in command, who ordered the oars out and the men to row. But it was some little time before the confusion on board each could be mastered, and the disabled portions of the crew drawn aside.

”Well done, my lads!” cried the skipper. ”Couldn't be better!”

”Here,” shouted the mate, ”a couple of you up aloft and tighten that net up to the stay. Two more of you get a bit of signal-line and lace up those holes.”

”Ay, ay, sir!” came readily enough, and the men rushed to their duty.

”Think that they have had enough of it?” said Fitz huskily.

”Not they,” replied Poole. ”We shall hear directly what they have got to say.”

He had scarcely spoken before there was a fierce hail from one of the boats, whose commander shouted in Spanish to the skipper to surrender; and upon receiving a defiant reply in his own tongue, the officer roared--

”Surrender, you sc.u.m, or I'll order my men to fire; and as soon as you are my prisoners I'll hang you all, like the dogs you are.”

”Back with you to your s.h.i.+p, you idiot, before you get worse off,” cried the captain sternly. ”Dogs can bite, and when English dogs do, they hold on.”

”Surrender!” roared the officer again, ”or I fire.”

”At the first shot from your boat,” cried the skipper, ”I'll give the order too; and my men from shelter can pick off yours much faster than yours from the open boat.”

”Insolent dog!” roared the officer, and raising a revolver he fired at the skipper, the bullet whistling just above his head.

In an instant Poole's revolver was out, and without aiming he fired too in the direction of the boat. He fired again and again over the attacking party's heads, until the whole of the six chambers were empty, and with the effect of making the Republican sailors cease rowing, while their boats drifted with the current, rapidly increasing the distance.

The order to fire from the boats did not come, but the second boat closed up to the first, and a loud and excited colloquy arose, there being evidently a difference of opinion between the leaders, one officer being for another attack; the second--so the skipper interpreted it from such of the words as he could catch--being for giving up and going back to the gunboat for advice.

And all the time, both boats still in confusion drifted farther and farther away; but at last the fiery leader of the first gained the day; his fellow gave up, and when the order was given to advance once more in the first boat he supplemented it in the second, and a low deep murmur rose up.

”Why, Fitz,” whispered Poole, ”they have had enough of it. The mongrels won't come on.”

”Think so?” whispered back Fitz, gazing excitedly over the stern, while Poole's fingers were busy thrusting in fresh cartridges till his revolver chambers were full.