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Adrift on the Pacific: A Boys Story of the Sea and its Perils, a fiction by Edward Sylvester Ellis |
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Chapter 15. The Friend In Need |
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_ CHAPTER XV. THE FRIEND IN NEED There was no excuse for not hearing this warning, for it was uttered in a voice loud enough to reach over the whole extent of the atoll. Both Redvignez and Brazzier were enraged at the interference, and there was an instant of time when the two were on the point of attacking him. But he was a terrible foe for any one to assail, and he would have made warm work, as they well knew, for he was not afraid of the two together. Brazzier was quick to comprehend the situation, and he refrained. "Take away the girl, then," he commanded, "so I can get at him." "I will not leave him," declared Inez, throwing her arms about the neck of the captain, who was rising to his feet. "You mean to hurt him, and you shan't hurt him without hurting me. He has been kind, and he's a good man." "Take her away," commanded Brazzier, with difficulty repressing his anger at the repeated delay. "Oh, Pomp! You won't let him hurt the captain?" pleaded Inez, turning toward him, and ready to throw her arms about his dusky neck, were it not that she was afraid to leave the captain for the moment--he having risen to his feet, while he held her hand and looked at his enemies, panting from his own great exertion, though he did not speak a word. Even in the dreadful peril which enveloped him, he was too proud to ask for mercy from such wretches. But the appeal of Inez to Pomp had produced its effect. When she turned her misty eyes upon him, and pleaded in such piteous tones for mercy, the mouth of the huge African twitched, and any one could see that a hard struggle was going on within. "If you don't keep those bad men from hurting Captain Bergen," she added, in the same impassioned manner, "I'll never speak to you--never, never, never--there!" This was accompanied by a stamp of her tiny foot, and then she burst into weeping--sobbing as if her heart would break. Hyde Brazzier stood irresolute, and seemed on the point of leaping, knife in hand, upon the captain. But the prayer of the innocent child had settled the question, and the sable Hercules sprang in front of the endangered man. "Dis 'ere thing hab gone fur 'nough; let de cap'in alone. If dere's any killin' to be done, why I'm de one dat's gwine to do it." The two mutineers were wild with fury, for this unexpected show of mercy promised to upset the whole scheme they had been hatching for weeks. Both Redvignez and Brazzier protested vehemently, seeking to show that it was imperatively necessary that both the officers should be put out of the way, and that since the mate was gone, it was the sheerest folly to allow the captain to remain. But the words were thrown away. The prayer of little Inez Hawthorne had reached the heart of the gigantic African, and the sight of the child standing there weeping was more than he could bear, although it but served to add to the exasperation of the other two savages. Captain Bergen did not stand mute and motionless during all this rush of events, which really occupied but a few seconds. As soon as he saw the way open, he took the hand of little Inez and began moving in the direction of the schooner, his purpose being to secure refuge upon that if possible. As he moved away he saw Pomp and the two mutineers in conference, for Brazzier and Redvignez at that moment would have given a large share of their prospective wealth for the purpose of disposing finally and forever of the captain. "We have been in mutinies before, Pomp, and the only safe course--and that ain't safe by any means--is to follow the rule that dead men tell no tales." "Dat may be de rule, but it ain't gwine to work in dis case; an' de reason am 'cause de little gal dere don't want it done. You can talk an' argufy fo' fourteen years, but it won't do no good. De only way you can finish up de job am by killin' me fust." The foregoing is the substance of the protests and replies of the two parties to the angry discussion. It so happened, as we have shown, that the African held the balance of power. He was strong and courageous, and he was armed and ready to fight, and they knew it. They did not dare to attack him openly, where the result was so likely to be disastrous to both, and they were compelled to fall in with his scheme of saving the captain, though it can well be understood that it was the most distasteful thing to which they could consent. This discussion lasted but a few minutes; but, as we have said, it was improved by Captain Bergen, who saw that the wisest course for him to pursue was to remove the cause as far as practical. He walked backward a few steps until he was some way off, when he turned about, still holding the hand of Inez in his, and they continued until a number of palm-trees intervened, when he sped so rapidly that the child was kept on a run to maintain her place at his side. She had ceased her crying, but her face and eyes were red, and she was in an apprehensive, nervous and almost hysterical condition from the terrible scene she had witnessed--a scene such as should never be looked upon by one of her tender years. A minute later Captain Bergen caught sight of the trimly-built schooner lying at rest in the lagoon, close to the shore, and his heart gave a throb of hope, that, if he could once secure position on her deck, he would be able to hold his own against the mutineers. During the next few hurried minutes occupied in the passage to the schooner, the conviction had grown upon him that this mercy which had spared his life for a brief while would not be continued. Pomp Cooper would not continue to be his friend after his spasm of affection for Inez should spend itself, and devoid as the African was of intellect, he was likely to understand that the true course of the party who had entered upon the villainy was to make thorough work of it. The captain saw the three men still talking and gesticulating angrily when he reached the schooner. In a twinkling he had lifted Inez upon the deck, and then he sprang after her. He ran into the cabin, reappearing in an instant with the three loaded rifles. "Now," said he, with a sigh of relief, "let them come! I am ready." _ |
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