University of Virginia Library

27. CHAPTER XXVII.
Robin Day adopts a desperate resolution, and escapes from the
pirates, with the beautiful Isabel; and what fell out thereupon.

In the meanwhile, Isabel, who caught sight of
me rising from the deck, and grasping for a weapon,
with which, in the madness of the moment, I was
determined to strike her ravisher to the heart, flung
herself, the instant he let her go, into my arms,
wildly calling upon me to kill her: “Kill me—stab
me to the heart—Oh God! you can do nothing else!
—Kill me, and I will die blessing you!” But
Brown, turning from the corpse of his lieutenant,
tore her from my grasp, telling her, with brutal
jocularity, “he was the man to be hugg'd, d—n his
blood;” and — But I heard nothing but the
shrieks of Isabel; whom, despite her frenzied struggles,
grinning with triumph and complacency, he
folded in his blood-stained arms.

Where was the courage which but a moment before
would have armed me for a contest with—for
my death from—Diablillo? I fell upon my knees,
and with the tone of a slave, begged the heartless
caitiff, “for the sake of the mother that bore him,
to do the lady no harm. Her father is rich,” I
cried; “he will ransom her with his fortune!”

“Yes, yes,” cried the poor priest, the chaplain
whom I had seen at the Intendant's table, and who,

displaying a terror but little becoming one of his
holy profession, caught at the prospect of relief;
“As you are Christian men,” he exclaimed piteously,
“do us no harm—do her no harm. Her father is
rich and powerful; he will ransom us—he will ransom
her. Santos Santisimos!—Deus mei!” And
here he fell to praying; while the casera sobbed
from a distance, stretching her hands towards her
young mistress, whom perhaps she had nursed in
infancy, “Oh, mi niña, mi niña—my child, my
child!”

“A priest, d—n my blood!” cried Hellcat, looking
admiringly upon the chaplain. “Why then,
split me, give us a bit of your lingo—say the sarvice,
and splice me to the señorita; for I wish I may be
sunk if I won't marry her.”

“Ransom! ransom!” interrupted many of the
Spaniards, who were evidently better pleased with
the idea of a prize in money, which could be divided
in shares among themselves, than one that must fall
to the lot of their captain only: “The Intendant
is rich, the girl is his only child:—Ransom, ransom!”

“Ay, ay,” quoth Brown: “but, strike my topsails,
I'll marry her first, and ransom her afterwards.
For, d'ye see, sink me, she'll fetch no better price
to-day than to-morrow, and no worse to-morrow
than to day; and the longer I keeps her, the madder
her father will be to have her; and where's the
difference whether she goes back Mrs. Hellcat, or
a plain señorita? I mean to marry her, d'ye see;
and you shall all get drunk at the wedding.”

And with that, the miscreant, still holding his
victim in his powerful grasp, ordered the terrified
priest to “splice away, blast him, and take care to
make short work of it;” and upon the latter, first

timorously remonstrating, and then absolutely refusing
to prostitute the sacred forms of religion to a
purpose at once so farcical and dreadful, he burst
into a furious rage, and would have murdered him
on the spot, but for the interference of the Spaniards;
to whom, though willing enough for any common
murder, the killing of a priest was an impiety not
to be thought of. The spirit even of Hellcat stooped
before the prospect of an universal mutiny; which he
put an end to by yielding his bloody purpose, pretending
that he had threatened his reverence only in
jest.

“But,” said he, “if his holiness won't marry me
in the way of the church, I'll marry myself, d—n
my blood, in a way of my own.”

And thereupon he released the wretched Isabel,
permitting, or, rather, ordering, her to go into the
cabin, to enjoy a reprieve of a few moments, which
he devoted to the yet unfinished business of victory.
As she staggered wildly down the companion-way,
I succeeded for an instant in catching her eye, and
making her a sign—it was but a look—meant to express
that I would save her, or perish with her; and,
indeed, I had suddenly conceived a project, which
though desperate and full of difficulties enough, I was
resolved to attempt in her behalf.

It had been mentioned by Diablillo, that the Querido
was to carry to Cuba invalids from the garrison
of Pensacola; and twenty such invalids were found
below, where some of them had been lying during
the conflict, and whither others, that were not so
helpless, had fled, after yielding some little assistance
to the sailors in the fight. In the first rage of conflict,
three or four of these poor wretches were slain
by pirates, who followed them below; but the murderers
relented, when they found they were killing

men, who, besides being their own countrymen,
were half dead with disease already. And such was
the newborn humanity of the victors, who had
already experienced the power of determination and
unanimity, that they defended the prisoners even
from the fury of Captain Hellcat; who would have
tossed them all into the sea, and with difficulty
agreed to a mode of disposing of them, devised by
the crew, which, while it saved their tender consciences
the guilt of murder, left it very much to be
doubted whether the prisoners should ever survive
to witness against them, as Hellcat swore they would,
in a hall of justice. The brig's longboat was lowered
into the sea, and into this the sickmen were sent,
along with the priest, and the casera, whose withered
looks were her safety—if being placed in the
long boat could be called safety: some friendly hands
threw them an oar or two, a cask of water, and a few
pounds of biscuit; after which, the boat was cut
loose, and they were left upon the wide sea, several
hundred miles, I believe, from any land, to perish of
starvation, or to go to the bottom at the first breath
of the tempest; while the Viper and her prize, the
pirates being pretty equally divided between them,
and Hellcat himself assuming command of the latter,
proceeded, under every sail, and in company, on their
course towards Cuba.

And now began the carouse which was to celebrate
the victory. The pirates called aloud for their grog,
and Hellcat, himself more than half intoxicated
already, called, as I had expected, upon me to mix
it. My commission as surgeon, though it procured
me exemption from the perils and guilt of combat,
did not exempt me from various other duties of a
degrading, and even menial, character, which Brown
took a wanton pleasure in imposing upon me; among

others, the office of cup-bearer and compounder of
strong drink; for he declared, with his usual oaths,
“he saw no reason why I should not mix liquors
as well as medicines, one being as much, and as good,
physic as the other.”

It was upon this degrading office, which I had
submitted to sullenly but without complaint, that
I founded a sudden and desperate project to
relieve the unhappy Isabel: I was resolved to repeat
the experiment I had performed in the household
of Mr. Feverage, to drug the liquor of the
pirates—to drug it deeply too—I cared not if it
should kill some of them, or, indeed, all—and then,
at night, when they were overcome with stupor,
trusting to the jolly boat, hanging upon the Querida's
stern, which I thought I could launch without assistance,
with the rescued Isabel beside me, commit
myself to the waves, in the hope of reaching the
long boat, or, at the worst, of remaining afloat until
picked up by some passing vessel, or thrown upon
some hospitable shore.

To the calm judgment of ease and security, such
a project appears nothing short of madness; but there
was nothing better to be done, and the desperateness
of the scheme was no objection, when no other could
be attempted, or even imagined; and, above all,
where from life having become already burdensome,
I was willing to lose it in the endeavour.

I had every facility for the execution of such an
enterprize, the command of the medicine chest and
the key of the spirit-room, which Brown had committed
to my keeping two days before; and the only
real difficulty which I apprehended, was to disguise
the taste of the laudanum, of which I poured all
there was in the chest into the huge vessel—in fact,
it was a common bucket—in which I mixed the infernal

potion—a mixture of rum, brandy and spirits,
diluted with strong wine, with sugar and spices
added, according to instructions originally given
me by Hellcat for brewing what he called his hell-broth;
but I got over the difficulty by throwing in a
bottle of brandy-bitters, Hellcat's favourite morning
drink, and adding an unusual quantity of spices, by
means of which the peculiar savour of the opium
was entirely concealed.

Nor was any objection made to the novel compound,
when it came to be drunk; on the contrary,
Brown, to whom, as in duty bound, I offered the
first bowl, swearing, upon recognising the taste of
his bitters, “it was the best physic I had ever yet
mixed, d—n his blood,” and the crew also agreeing
that it was excellent. They drank, and drank again
—got drunk, danced, swore, fought, became stupid,
and dropped about the deck, where they fell asleep;
so that in less than two hours, there was not a man
of them all who was not overcome by the drug and
liquor together.

Brown himself was the first to succumb, being,
from his previous draughts, in the best state for receiving
the influence of the narcotic; not to say that
he drank more deeply than any one else, according
to his universal custom. He soon became very
much intoxicated, and his countenance put on a look
of apoplexy; when, declaring, with a brutal jest,
“he must look after his young wife, d—n his blood,”
and bidding his followers drink a rouse to her honour
and health, he staggered down the companion-way
into the cabin, leaning upon my arm for support,
which he was obliged to accept; and which I had
offered, with the full determination to stab him with
his own knife, if that should prove necessary to save
Isabel from his ferocious clutches.

But, happily, no such dreadful act was required
of me: he reeled from the last step, and fell at his
length upon the cabin-floor; where he instantly dropped
fast asleep, snoring, or rather snorting prodigiously.

I looked for Isabel; she had shrunk to the farthest
corner of the little but handsome cabin, where I saw
her on her knees, striving to pray, her cheeks as
white as snow, her lips livid, her whole frame trembling,
her eyes wild with fright, and her hand grasping
a knife, which she had picked up some where in
the cabin, and held as if prepared, at the moment of
extremity, to bury it in the breast of the ravisher,
or her own.

“Fear nothing,” I hastily whispered, “and be in
readiness to follow me at a moment's warning.”

I then immediately left the cabin, and returned
among the bacchanals on deck, to endure their
scurrilous jests upon Hellcat's marriage, as they
called it, and to ply them still further with the
drugged liquor.

It was now night, and my heart was beating
with hope. Every moment added another stupefied
sleeper to the list of my victims; and I might look
the sooner, and the more surely to the period of
escape. Before the orgies began, Hellcat had appointed
a guard of five men to take care of the brig,
during the carouse, ordering them, of course, to
keep sober the while on pain of his high displeasure.
It was necessary to my purpose that they should
drink like the rest; and, fortunately, I found it
no difficult thing to seduce them also into the debauch;
and, by and by, to see four of them laid insensible
on the deck.

The fifth man alone, who was at the wheel,
though he made no scruples of drinking, resisted

the influence of the narcotic, even after every other
miscreant was sound asleep, and I despaired of
bringing him under its power. He was a robust
villain, and one of the basest and cruelest spirits on
board; and the knowledge of his depravity nerved
me to an act, which, though now necessary to my
hopes, I should not otherwise, perhaps, have had
the courage to attempt. I struck him down—it
was a treacherous and unworthy blow, but I could
not help it—I struck him down with a handspike;
and while he lay stunned and powerless, I bound his
hands and feet with a rope I had prepared for the
purpose, and secured a gag in his mouth; so that,
although, when he revived, as he presently did, he
might watch my proceedings, he could neither impede
me in my purpose, nor rouse the others by
his cries. I then lashed the helm, so that the Querida
might continue her course without interruption
during the whole night.

All obstacles were now removed; and with a beating
heart I completed my preparations by putting
into the boat a pair of oars, (there was, it rejoiced me
to find, a sail with its mast, wrapped up, already lying
in her, and also a rudder, a compass, some provisions,
and other things, which I had laid down in
my mind as necessary to provide against every
accident; and I was surprised at the apparent coolnees
and deliberation with which I collected them
in different parts of the vessel, and carried them
through the sleepers to the boat. I satisfied myself,
by a trial at the pulleys, that I could without much
difficulty, let the boat down into the water, by lowering
a little at the bow, and then the stern, and
then at the bow again, and so on; and that there
was no danger of her filling with water in the act,
because the wind was very light, and the brig was

making headway but slowly; and, besides, the sea
was not rough.

I then stole back to the cabin, and found its inmates
as I had left them half an hour before, Hellcat
lying in a stupor on the floor, and Isabel on her
knees, grasping the knife, and looking as if changed
into a statue, her eyes alone retaining the mobility
and wild vivacity of life.

“Fear nothing,” I again muttered—“come with
me; you are saved.”

But she only stared at me more wildly than before,
seeming to be uaconscious of my meaning, and
incapable of any exertion; until, at last, having given
her my hand, and assisted her to rise, she suffered
me to bear her from the cabin to the boat, in which
I placed her; and then cautioning her not to be
alarmed nor to lose her balance, I began to lower
her into the water; a proceeding which, from the
necessity of using a great deal of care, occupied me
a considerable time. As soon as the boat reached
the water, I slipped down by the ropes; and separarating
the hooks by which she was suspended, we
were in a moment floating free in the waves, the
Querida sailing slowly away from us. I seized
upon the oars, which I had previously wrapped
around with bits of canvass, by way of muffles; and
rowing in the opposite direction, the night being
cloudy and very dark, had soon the satisfaction of
losing sight both of the Querida and her consort the
Viper.

And now, dropping the oars, I resolved to spread
the sail, and take advantage of the little breeze that
was blowing, to get as far from the pirates as possible:
but before I did so, I addressed myself to Isabel,
who had not yet spoken a word, and indeed seemed
to have had all her powers of mind frozen within

her, and told her to be of good heart, for the pirates
were now out of sight.

“God be praised!” she exclaimed, and fell upon
her knees in the bottom of the boat, sobbing out an incoherent
prayer; which she interrupted to cry, wildly,
“Are we safe then? and shall we not again fall
into their dreadful hands?”

“We are safe for the present,” I replied; “and I
hope, I trust—nay, I can almost believe—for Providence
that has set us free, will not abandon us—that
we shall never see them more.”

Upon this, the beautiful girl threw herself into my
arms, and clasping me round the neck, exclaimed in
tones of impassioned gratitude and devotion—
“Señor, I will love you, and be your slave! Yes,
yes! Save me but again—God has sent you twice to
rescue me from a villain—save me but again, and
I am yours forever!”

Alas, poor Nanna! How was it possible, at that
moment, to remember that I had once fancied I
adored her? The beauty of the fair Spaniard, the
romantic interest in which I had won a privilege to
treasure her memory, the feelings she had so evidently
cherished in my favor, at Pensacola under
her father's eyes, had more than half turned my
heart and brain already: and it needed scarcely so
devoted a proof of her regard to seal me to the
slavery of affection she so wildly offered. “I will
save you or die,” I cried, folding her in my arms.

“I will die with you—or live to love you for
ever!” she murmured in return: and there, upon the
wild sea, in the midst of peril and distress, we
plighted our faith with equal fervour and artlessness,
and exchanged our vows of eternal affection. With
all the misery of fear and degradation that had lately
borne me to the earth; with all the anxieties and

doubts, the apprehensions of waves, and tempests,
and pirates, which, however I might conceal them
from Isabel, I could not but entertain; I felt, in that
moment, the thrill of happiness, the exquisite elation
that sublimes the lover beyond the low ambition and
the pride of kings.