Old Mary Page 4
such well-armed vessels withour poor 9-pounders, and although he had been most anxious to joinhis shipmates, he was, he afterwards told me, pretty sure that the_Britannia_ would have to strike or be sunk. The first thing he did,however, was to make all of our party comfortable. At the head of thebay there was an empty house, which had been built by the crews of thewhaleships frequenting the Galapagos as a sort of rest-house for the mensent to catch tortoises. To this place he took us, and set the stewardto work to get us something to eat, for Mr. Skinner had sent provisionsand wine ashore. Then he took the ship's money, which amounted to aboutthirteen hundred pounds, and buried it a little distance away from thehouse. I helped him, and when the bags were safely covered up he turnedto me with a smile lighting up his brown face.
"'There, Molly. That's done, and if Mr. Skinner has to strike, and theFrenchmen come here, they'll get nothing but ourselves.'
"By this time it was well on towards the afternoon, and we only hearda cannon shot now and then. Then the sound of the firing ceasedaltogether. We got back to the house and waited--we knew not for what.Poor Mrs. Rossiter, who was a very big, stout woman, had sobbed herselfinto a state of exhaustion, but she tried to brace herself up when shesaw us, and when Robert Eury told her that he had buried the money, shethanked him.
"'Try and save it for my children, Robert I fear I shall not be longwith them. And if I am taken away suddenly I want you to bear witnessthat it was my husband's wish, and is mine now, that Mary here is toshare alike with my son Fred and my daughter Ann. Would to God I hadmeans here to write.'
"Robert tried to comfort her with the assurance that all would be well,when as he spoke we saw a sight at which I, girl of twelve as I was,was struck with terror--the two French ships appeared round the headlandwith the _Britannia_ following with French colours at her peak. Thethree came in together very slowly, and then dropped anchor within acable's length of the beach. The captain's wife looked at them wildlyfor a moment, and then fell forward on her face. She died that night.
"The two French captains treated us very kindly, and they told Robert,who spoke French well, that Mr. Skinner had made a most determinedattempt to board the larger of the two vessels, but was killed by amusket-shot, and that only after thirty of the _Britannia's_ crew hadbeen killed and wounded, and the ship herself was but little more than awreck, did Ohlsen, who was himself terribly wounded by a splinter inthe side, haul down his flag. Then the elder of the two Frenchmen askedRobert which was the child named 'Marie.'
"'This is the child, sir,' said Eury, pointing to me.
"'Then let her come with me and see the gunner of our prize,' said he;'he is dying, and has asked to see her.'
"I was taken on board the Britannia, over her bloodstained decks, andinto the main cabin, where poor Ohlsen was lying breathing his last. Hisface lit up when he saw me, and he drew me to his bosom just as he haddone years before in the open boat off Tahiti. I stayed with him tillthe last, then one of the French privateer officers led me away.
"In the morning Mrs. Rossiter was buried; the French captains allowingsome of the surviving members of the crew of the _Britannia_ to carryher body to her grave. There was a young Spanish woman--the wife of theolder captain--on board the larger of the privateers, and she took careof us three children. I cannot remember her name, but I do remember thatshe was a very beautiful woman and very kind to us, and told us throughan interpreter that we should be well cared for, and some day go home toEngland; and when she learned my own particular story she took me in herarms, kissed, and made much of me.
"About noon the crew of the _Britannia_ were ranged on deck, and theelder of the two French captains called on Robert Eury to step out.
"'This man here,' he said in English, indicating the coloured steward,tells me that you have buried some money belonging to the prize. Whereis it?'
"'I cannot tell you,' replied Robert; 'the captain's wife told me itbelonged to her children and to the little girl Mary.'
"The Frenchman laughed. 'It belongs to us now; it is prize money, mygood boy.'
"Eury looked at him steadily, but made no answer.
"' Come,' said the captain impatiently, 'where is it?'
"'I cannot tell you.'
"The younger of the captains laughed savagely, and stepped up to him,pistol in hand.
"'I give you ten seconds to tell.'
"'Five will do, monsieur,' replied Robert, in French, 'and then you willbe losing five seconds of your time. I shall not tell you. But I shouldlike to say goodbye to my dead captain's children.'
"'The young Frenchmen's face purpled with fury. 'Very well then, youfool!' and he raised his pistol to murder the young man, when the oldercaptain seized his arm.
"'Shame, Pellatier, shame! Would you kill such a brave man in coldblood? Let us be satisfied with getting such a good ship. Surely youwould not shoot him for the sake of a few hundred dollars?'
"'There may be thousands. How can we tell?' replied Pellatier.
"Robert laughed, and then raised his hand in salute to the eldercaptain.
"'Captain Pellatier is right, sir. Madame Melville told me that therewere thirteen hundred pounds in the bags which I have buried. And oncertain conditions I will tell you where to find it.'
"'Name them.'
"'The money is fair prize money. That I admit. But you will never seeit, unless you agree to my conditions, and pledge me your word of honourto observe them honourably. I am not afraid to die, gentlemen.'
"'You are a bold fellow, and ought to have been a Frenchman--but bequick, name the conditions.'
"'Half of the money to be given to these orphan children, whose pitiablecondition should appeal to you. And promise me on your honour as menthat you will land them at Valparaiso, or some other civilised place,from where they may reach England. If you will not make this promise,you can shoot me now.'
"'And what of yourself?' said Pellatier, who was a little dark manwith very ugly monkey-like features; 'you would be the guardian of thismoney, no doubt, my clever fellow.'
"The insulting manner in which he spoke exasperated Eury beyondendurance, and he made as if he would strike the man; but he stoppedsuddenly, and looking contemptuously at the Frenchman uttered the oneword--
"'_Babouin!_'
"It nearly cost him his life, for Pellatier, stung to fury by the loudlaughter of his fellow-captain, again levelled his pistol at the youngman, and again the older captain seized his arm.
"'By Heaven, you shall not harm him!' he cried, amid a murmur ofapplause from the crew. Then addressing Eury he said. I give you mypromise. The children and yourself are under my protection, and when wereach Valparaiso I will put you all on shore.' Then he ordered one ofhis officers to escort Robert ashore and get the money.
"Eury thanked him quietly, and then he turned to Pellatier, and said hewas sorry he used an offensive word to him; but Pellatier received hisapology with a scowl, and turned away. In half an hour Eury returnedwith the officer, carrying the money. It was counted and divided, andit was easy to see that Dupuis, the elder captain, was very pleasedwhen the young man asked him to take charge of the half of the moneybelonging to the Rossiter children and myself.
"The three ships sailed in company for South America a week later. Iremained on board the _Britannia_ together with Robert Eury and sixothers of her original crew, the Rossiter children being taken bythe Spanish lady on board the larger of the privateers, the secondlieutenant of which, with about twenty men, were drafted to the prize.After keeping in close company for four or five days we lost sight ofthe privateers, much to the annoyance of our captain, who was a veryindifferent navigator, as he soon showed by altering his course to E. byS. so as to pick up the coast of South America as soon as possible.This was a most fortunate thing for us, for at daylight on the followingmorning two sail were seen, not five miles distant, and to our intensedelight proved to be English letters of marque--the barque _Centurion_of Bristol and the barque _Gratitude_ of London. They at once closed inupon and engaged us, and althou
gh the Frenchmen made a good fight,they had to strike after a quarter of an hour's engagement, for the_Centurion_ was a very heavily armed ship.
"Her captain was a very old man named Richard Glass. He came on boardthe _Britannia_ and spoke very good-humouredly to the French lieutenant,for on neither side had any one been killed, and he saw that the_Britannia_ was a fine ship. He told the Frenchmen to take the longboat,and as much provisions and water as they liked, and make for the coast,which was less than seventy miles distant. This was soon done, andour former captors parted from us very good friends, every one ofthem coming up and shaking hands with