University of Virginia Library

9. CHAPTER IX.

The young mutineer did not altogether like the manner in which his last
words had been repeated and emphasised, he let it pass without remark
and continued, in a very determined tone as follows:

`My plan is bold, Winter, as you say. It shall be as boldly carried out.
I had a motive in forming this plot. I have not yet resolved. There are in
the run, forty-six thousand dollars in silver!'

`It is a large sum!' said Winter dryly, not without showing his surprise.

`Yes; and it was this that first suggested the idea, what a fine buccaneering
craft this would make. I at once resolved to take passage in her, and
if possible handle this money before it reached Gibralter! To this end I
formed all my plans: took all my steps. You see thus far I have been successful.
I did not reveal to you at Marseilles my intentions, for I was not
sure of you. I am not certain of you now; but I do not fear you even if
you will not join me!'

`Suppose I join you, what reward shall I have?'

`You shall have half the coin and command the brigantine! I will act
as your first! we will however consult together on every movement and enterprize!'

`Give me the command?'

`Yes!'

`And half the gold?'

`Half to a dollar!'

`This is a new light in which to view the matter,' said Frank with a tone
of animation.

`I knew you would not be insensible to these arguments, my dear fellow!'
cried Ellis, pleased and surprised at the sudden change in his manner
and tone. `Yes, you are to have the command. The twenty thousand dollars
will be a fine lump for you too, but not much to one who can win two
hundred thousand in a night at faro!'

Winter's brow darkened. `Do not speak of that; it seems to me like a
a fearful dream! I hope to God I shall never realize it!'

`The twenty thousand pieces we can add to, by selling the brigantine, if
we choose, after we have done with her!'

`There is forty-six thousand dollars, and you speak of twenty thousand
as half of it!'

`The other six thousand I have promised to divide with the six men!'

`Oh, ah! It is right they should share.'

`Then you enter into it?' asked Ellis eagerly.

`I have doubts of success. Don Florio has arms in the cabin; you and I
are without weapons!'

`Come below with me,' said Ellis in a peculiar tone. Frank rose and followed
him.

`What, caballeros, so soon below to turn in?' asked the spanish captain,
as they passed him while he stood leaning upon the companion-way smoking.

`No, Senor. We shall be on deck shortly,' said Ellis. `You must sing
me that song yet you promised, of your own composition.'

`May de buena gana,' he answered laughingly. `I will tune my guitar forit!'

`I will send it on deck by the steward!'

`Gracias, Senor!'

Ellis on entering the cabin, bade a negro lad who was asleep on a rug, to
take his master's guitar on deck; and taking a lamp and conducting Winter
through the cabin into the steerage, he placed his foot upon a large box
near the bulkhead.

`What do you suppose this contains?' he asked in a low, yet exulting
tone of voice.

`A harp!'

`Yes, with hollow iron tubes for strings. It contains twelve muskets!'

`Is your plot so deep?'

`And this?' he said placing his foot upon the next.

`You said a guitar.'

`They are two dozen cutlasses!'

`And what does this square box hold? not books?'

`No. Ball and powder!'

`And this?'

`Twelve pairs of boarding pistols!'

`You do not deceive me?'

`No!'

`I must confess my undisguised surprise, Ellis. I had not suspected any
thing like this. You have shown talent!'

`Ellis smiled and looked gratified. He then led the way back to the cabin.
Here he again addressed Winter, and now in a manner divested of all
doubt or concealment, he was satisfied that Winter would join him. He
did not question but that he had fully entered into the plot with him.

`You see, my dear boy, how nicely every thing is fixed. The men forward,
only wait my signal to rise upon the two men, while you and I bind
the captain and mate. We will shed no blood; we will put them in irons
below and carry them into some out of the way barbor, and put them
ashore. We will then run for Gibralter; ship eighteen more men after
our own heart, and purchase a long thirty-two for midships, which with the
four twelves now on board, will be all we shall want to make us formidable!'

`Where do you intend to cruise first? asked Frank seeing that he passed.

`I thought of running to the coast of the United States, and see if we
couldn't fall in with some of the out-bound packets. They always carry
money.'

`Then you mean fairly to turn pirate?'

`That is a hard name for it Frank. I only mean to do a little fancy corsairing
you know.'

`But then I am to be captain!'

`So you are!'

`But suppose I object to this fancy cruising which seems to take your
fancy so?'

`Why—the—why you know I am to have a voice in the matter too!'

`Then I am to be only nominal captain!'

`No. If you join me, you of course will not object, for you will be in for
it as well as I!'

`That is true! I did not think of that!' There was a slight tone of irony
in his voice. `When do you propose I shall take command of the brigantine?'

`To-night. Every thing favors us. I want to have the affair over, and
off my mind. The Englishmen are getting impatient. Some of them will
betray it unless we act promptly!'

`Then you depend on me?'

`To be sure I do!'

`Very well; you may depend on me,' responded Winter firmly.

`I knew I could!' answered Ellis with animation. `But to tell you the
truth, Frank, I have been doubting you till this very minute. You seemed
to fight shy!'

`It was natural I should wish to know my risks before hand! I did not
like to go forward without feeling my ground.'

`Well it is past the deep mark nine now, and we are both off soundings
for it! I will have the lids of the chests unscrewed and and all ready.'

`At twelve o'clock?'

`Yes, precisely!'

`And what is your signal?'

`The last stroke of eight bells! Soon as it ceases, the men forward will
do their duty, and we aft—

`Do ours. Be assured I shall do mine, Ellis.'

`I dont fear you now, Frank! I knew you were mine! You had a sort
of virtuous moral way with you, but I knew you had the true metal in you
when you should be tried. I am satisfied we are kindred spirits, Frank.
To tell the truth I have had a little grudge against you for one thing and another;
but that is passed! we are friends now!'

Ellis grasped Frank's hand and warmly shook it as if sealing thereby
their compact. `Go on deck, Winter and get Don Florio to sing you his
song. It will keep him from hearing me in the steerage. Keep him busy;
we have but two hours now to the time.

`I will entertain him,' answered Frank, as he ascended to the deck.

Instead of speaking with the captain who was thruming his guitar and
practising his song; he walked aft and paced up and down the deck in
deep thought. At length as if his course had been determined on, he
approached Don Florio.

`Senor captain, do me the favor to let me hear your song. Please to
come aft where your voice will have more swell.'

`Donde esta el Senor Elles?'

`He is engaged in the cabin. I will hear your song in his place!'

`Muy bien Senor,' answered the captain taking his guitar aft.

`Now, Senor I will listen,' said Winter as he seated himself in the very
spot where Ellis had made known to him his plot; Don Florio being close
to him. In a clear manly voice the young captain of the brigantine, then
began his ballad.

When he had ended it, Winter praised it highly and then asked for, and
took his guitar from him and began to thrum the chords; while he was doing
so, he said in a low tone,

`Don Florio you are a brave man; Danger will not alarm you! Be composed
while I inform you of what menaces you and your vessel. I keep
sounding the guitar as you see, that Ellis may suppose I am engaged in
listening to your play. He has just revealed to me a plot to seize your vessel!
Six of the seamen forward are in it. The boxes he brought on board
contain arms. At this moment he is below opening them to supply his men.
He let me into the plot believing I would second him. I have deceived him
into the belief that I shall do so; But I am you see your friend. I join in no
crime of this kind. I will aid you in defeating the plot. Eight bells to-night
is the signal for the rising. Now you know all, Senor.'

Don Florio was confounded; he seemed to be incredulous. But the tone
and air of the young man were too serious not to impress him with the truth
of what he stated.

`Amigo mio!' he cried clasping his hands in his.

`Do not approach me nearer! he may come on deck. If he should suspect
me he would sacrifice us, for the arms and numbers are with him! We
must plot against him!'

`I will be guided by you Senor.'

`Then I think it best for us to let Ellis get every thing ready. I will go below
and aid him to avert suspicion. At a few minutes before the time, we
will be in the cabin; you come down and we will seize and bind him. We
will then with the mate arm ourselves, and the two men aft whose names I
know, who are not in the plot, arm them, and then rush forward and capture
the six mutineers who will be waiting for Ellis to hand them their arms.
We can in this way save the vessel. But first I must have your promise
that Ellis shall be put on shore unharmed. He made me his confidant and
I do not wish him to fall a victim to his trust in me; especially as there will
be no open act of mutiny!'

`A very nice counter-plot, and very kind in Frank to let me off so easily,'
said Ellis to himself as he stepped back from the cabin window, through
which as he leaned out, he had heard every word of their conversation, they
being above the taffrail directly above his head and within a few feet of him;
and he heard more plainly, inasmuch as Winter had turned his face over the
stern while speaking, to prevent being everheard by the helmsman at his post.
It was Ellis's lively suspicions that led him, on hearing them walk aft, to step
back over the steerage, and lean out of the dead-lights, to listen if Winter
was likely to betray him; for notwithstanding his confidence expressed in
him, he had a secret misgiving. He had listened until the song of the Captain
was finished, and satisfied, was turning away to go to his work in the
steerage, when Frank's voice arrested his ear. He then listened attentively,
and was made acquainted with the treachery, or rather the virtue of his friend.
`It is fortunate I overheard, or I should have been finely betrayed,' he said,
with a flashing eye. Now Francis Winter look to thyself!'

He hurried into the steerage, and commenced taking the screws out of the
box containing the pistols. By the time he had opened it, Frank entered the
place. Ellis pretended to be so much engaged in his employment as not to
see him at first.

`If I had been Don Florio you would have been suspected!' said Winter
gaily.

`No. I should have told him I was taking them home on a speculation.
Are you sure he will remain on deck?'

`Yes, he is singing amorous ditties.'

`Then I will load these pistols while you open that box of sabres!'

`That I will do. I think we shall find no difficulty in carrying the plot
through. Don Florio is quite off his guard!'

`He will be taken quite by surprise! The screws turn easy you'll find. I
have loosened them on purpose.'

Frank opened the box of sabres, while Ellis loaded a pair of pistols, showing
the balls to Frank as he put them in. He soon loaded seven pairs, and
wrapping six of them carefully in canvass, he laid the seventh by him upon
the box.

`Now the box of muskets and pikes, Winter!'

Frank bent over to unscrew it, when Ellis, watching his opportunity, leaped
upon, seized him from behind by the throat and hurled him to the deck. Before
he could recover himself, thus taken by surprise, he placed his foot upon
his breast and a cocked pistol to his temples.

`Breathe aloud and you are a dead man! Stir a limb and it is the signal
for your death! I have overheard all, arch-traitor! I know all! I shall profit
by my knowledge.

Frank, regardless of the pistol, made a desperate struggle to throw him off.
Ellis, with a deep oath, struck him heavily with the butt of the pistols over
the temples and laid him senseless upon the deck.

`It is your own fault! But for alarming the captain I would have shot you
through the head. Now,' he said to himself, `now for action! There is not
a moment to loose! If Don Florio should call for Winter, all will be discovered
and the devil will be to pay. Now for these pistols and cutlasses to
my men!'

Taking the bundle of loaded pistols, wrapped in the canvass, and half a
dozen sabres beneath his arm, he passed forward without interruption, save
climbing over a few bales of silks. He came to the bulk-head of the forecastle
and struck against it. As all the men were on deck he was not heard. He
then knocked lightly upon the forcastle deck above his head. There was a
movement of feet, and the next moment he heard a man descending the ladder
into the forecastle.

`Waite!' called out Ellis, in a suppressed tone!

`Aye, it's Smith!'

`Well, either of you! The whole affair is in the wind! What we do must
be done at once! Which plank of the bulkhead did you start?'

`This on the starboard side of the beam. Here we are!' added the man,
thrusting outward the upper end of the plank.

`Here are pistols, Smith—pistols and cutlasses. The pistols are loaded!
said Ellis, laying the weapons down in the opening. `Are the two outers
on deck?'

`Yes!' said Waite, appearing below.

`Get them to come down below, and take care of them with as little fuss
as possible.'

`It's their watch on deck, and besides they are shy of Waite and I.'

`Then you must let them look out for themselves.'

`How did they find it out?'

`By Winter! He turned traitor and told the whole. But I have him safe.
He is knocked on the head for awhile!'

`You should have blown his brains out,' said the man savagely. `If the
Captain knows it, why is he so quiet?'

`It was planned by Winter and him, that things should go on until near
the time, and then they would arm themselves after seizing me and capture
you!'

`And you heard it all?'

`Yes. Now arm yourself and go on deck, hiding your weapons under
the windlass, and wait till you see me on deck. No firing without resistance.
Send the others down to me and I will give them their instructions!'

The two Englishmen then took a brace of pistols and cutlass each, and hiding
them under their jackets, went on deck. In a few minutes, one at a time
the other mutineers appeared, received their instructions, armed themselves,
and returned on deck. One of the `outers,' as Smith had termed the two not
in the conspiracy, having heard the knock under the forward deck, and seen
the Englishmen start, and then soon after go below, had their suspicions already
awakened by previous whisperings among the conspirators, confirmed
that there was mischief brewing. They watched the issue. They then (the
while singing an air to deceive them) saw them ascend to the deck and there
speak aside to the three others, the fourth being at the helm, who one by
one also went below. Watching sharply they detected the point of a cutlass
protruding beneath the jacket of Carlos and glance in the moonbeams.
Interchanging glances, and a word or two, the two men simultaneously
sprang up with a cry as if in answer to an order given from the quarter-deck
and ran aft.

`Did you hear an order?' said the others to one another, seeing them starting
off.

`I heard none, and if I had I would not obey it,' said Waite, doggedly.

`Captain, every man forward is armed!' cried the men in breathless alarm.

`Then I am doubly betrayed!' exclaimed the Captain, believing Winter
had proved treacherous and suffered Ellis to arm the men; that he had
communicated the conspiracy only to prevent suspicion and discovery. He
bade the men follow him and flew below and seized his sword and pistols.
He then dashed into the steerage, where, by the light of the lamp the first
object he saw was Winter, seated upon the deck with blood upon his forehead.
The truth flashed upon his mind!

`All is lost! we are discovered, Captain! Defend your vessel!' he cried
faintly!

He could no where see Ellis, who was just leaving the bulk-head to return,
and believing him on deck, Don Florio rushed to arouse his mate with
the cry of `Motin! Motin! Mutiny! Mutiny!'

The man, a heavy iron-framed Mexican, leaped to the floor and seized his
cutlass. Seeing the Captain run from the steerage, and hearing the cry,

Ellis knew that a crisis had arrived! He hurried along between decks,
with a pistol advanced and entered the cabin! The mate and captain had
already ascended the deck with the fierce cry of

`Muerto a los amotinadores!'

The next moment he was upon the deck! As his foot touched it he saw
the flash and heard the report of pistols and clashing of sabres forward.
He discovered at a glance that the captain and his mate, aided by the two
men, had boldly dashed at the mutineers without giving time for them to
unite! Fearing his party would give back he gave a loud and encouraging
shout and rushed forward, discharged his pistol at the mate as he turned and
advanced upon him. The shot took effect upon his brain! Without a cry
he fell forward heaving his length upon the deck. The captain now attacked
him with courage and skill, perfectly regardless of the others of the mutineers,
whom the two men were bravely keeping at bay.

`Muerto a la Motin!' cried Don Florio, as he struck at him with his sword.

Ellis caught the stroke upon his cutlass, and, drawing his second pistol,
fired and shot him dead! At the same moment the two brave seamen fell
covered with wounds, and five of the mutineers, for one had been run thro'
the body by the Captain, rushed aft with fierce shouts.

`The brigantine is ours!' cried Ellis, waving his cutlass in the air.

`Not if this ball flies true!' cried a voice behind him.

These words were followed by a bright flash and report of a pistol, and a
whizzing ball buried itself in the mainmast close at his ears. He turned and
saw Winter upon deck with a brace of pistols in his hands. At the instant
he beheld him, he discharged the second pistol, and the ball struck his hat
and knocked it to the deck. The mutineers rushed upon him to cut him
down, when Ellis arrested their weapons by interposing his cutlass.

`Let him live! He is ours!'

`He has betrayed us!' fiercely cried the Englishmen.

`If he dies now he cannot feel your revenge! Do you not know that death
will put him beyond your reach! We punish no man by slaying him; for
in killing him we inflict a momentary pain, and then place him beyond the
reach of vengeance. Let him live!'

`Let him live!' they cried savagely. `Live to satisfy our revenge!'

`Bind him, Carlos!'

`Si Senor!' answered the Spaniard, taking him below.

Winter made no resistance. He at once saw that death would be his
doom if he resisted. Life might bring with it escape!

`Now, my men, the brig is ours!' said Ellis, as Frank was led below.—
`You have behaved well. Clear the decks of these bodies! The deep sea
is a wide grave and asks no coffin to hide its dead! Waite, take the helm
and let her fill. She has been heaving herself to see the fray! Give her
nose again!'

The brigantine was once more put on her course, for in the melee the
helmsman had left his post and fled forward to join his associates, leaving
her to steer herself, when she came up into the wind, and as it was blowing
fresh, nearly carried away her top-masts; but in the confusion and tumult
this was disregarded. The mutineers went to work with alacrity to clear
the decks of the bodies of the captain, mate and three men, one belonging
to their own party, and to wash the blood from the planks. In a quarter of
an hour all traces of the conflict were removed. Three of the men now
went forward to assist in working the vessel, leaving Waite at the helm;
while Smith, appointed by Ellis as his mate, remained aft with him. These
regulations were arranged by Ellis with promptness, and obeyed by the
mutineers without a murmur, they all consenting at his suggestion, that the
division of the money should be put off until morning, and that, till then
things should go on as they were.

With the pure beams of the moon silvering the snowy canvass, and plating

the deck with light; with the blue waves dancing and flashing about
her prow, and sparkling in her wake as if her way was upon a sea of diamonds;
with the stars brightly burning afar off in heaven, and the low organ
tones of the wind sweeping over the sea, making a solemn-sounding
harp of her cordage, the brigantine dashed proudly and gloriously on in her
course, as lovely and beautiful to the sight as before this dark deed of blood
was enacted within her!