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Nic Revel; A White Slave's Adventures in Alligator Land, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 15. Humpy Dee's Little Threats |
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_ CHAPTER FIFTEEN. HUMPY DEE'S LITTLE THREATS However much he might have been disposed to make a fresh appeal on his companion's behalf, Pete had no opportunity; for, upon the boat being run alongside of a roughly-made wharf, he and the others were hurried out and marched away to a kind of warehouse, and the care of them handed over to some people in authority, by whom they were shut-in, glad of the change from the broiling sun outside to the cool gloom of the interior, lit only by a grated window high up above the door, from which the rays streamed across the open roof, leaving the roughly-boarded floor in darkness. After a few minutes the eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and the men seated themselves upon the empty chests and barrels lying about, Pete securing one for Nic, who sat down mechanically, with his head thrown back so that he could gaze at the light. Pete contented himself with the rough floor, where he half-lay, listening to his companions in misfortune, half-a-dozen yards away, as they talked over their position and wondered where they were to go--to a man keeping aloof from Pete, the traitor they accredited with bringing them to their present state. The men were better informed than Pete had been, his stay in company with Nic and the dislike in which he was held by his old companions having kept him in ignorance of facts which they had picked up from the sailors. And now Pete gradually grasped in full that of which he had previously only had an inkling--that the pick of the prisoners had been reserved for man-o'-war's-men, those who were considered unsuitable having been reserved for handing over to the colonists. This was in accordance with a custom dating as far back as the days of Cromwell, the Protector being accredited with ridding himself of troublesome prisoners by shipping them off to the plantations as white slaves, most of them never to return. "Well," said Humpy Dee aloud, in the course of conversation, "I suppose it means work." "Yes," said another; "and one of the Jacks told me you have to hoe sugar-cane and tobacco and rice out in the hot sun, and if you don't do enough you get the cat." "If any one tries to give me the lash," growled Humpy, "he'll get something he won't like." "They'll hang you or shoot you if you try on any games, old lad," said another of the men. "Maybe, if they can," said Humpy, with a laugh. "Perhaps we may be too many for them. I mean to take to the woods till I can get taken off by a ship." "Ah, who knows?" said another. "I aren't going to give up. Place don't look so bad. See that river as we come up here?" "Of course," growled Humpy. "Well, I dare say there'll be salmon in it, same as there is at home." "Tchah!" cried Humpy; "not here. This is foreign abroad man. You'll get no salmon now." "Well, any fish'll do," said another of the men. "The place don't look bad, and anything's better than being shut down below them decks. 'Nough to stifle a man. I know what I'm going to do, though, along with them as like to join me." "You're going to do what I tells you," said Humpy Dee sourly; "I'm going to be head-man here; and if you don't you'll find yourself wishing you hadn't been born." The man growled something in an undertone, and Humpy made an offer at him as if to strike, causing his companion in misfortune to flinch back to avoid the expected blow. "Look here, boys," said Humpy; "if every one here's going to try to do things on his own hook we shall do nothing, so what you've got to do is to stick by me. We're not going to be sold here like a gang o' black slaves." "But we are sold," said the man who had shrunk away. "Never mind that; we're not going to work, then," said Humpy. "We're going to slip off into the woods, get to that there river, and do something better than spear or bale out salmon. We're going to take the first boat we see and get round to the coast, and then keep along till we find a ship to take us off." "Well, that's what I meant," said the other man. "Then you'll be all right," said Humpy. So far, without paying attention, Pete had heard every word, and his blood began to course faster through his veins at the thought of escaping and helping Nic back to his friends; but, though he strove hard, not another word reached his ears; for Humpy leaned forward and began speaking in a hoarse whisper, his companions bending towards him, as he said with a peculiar intensity: "We've got to get back home, lads, and not stop here to rot in the sun to make money for whoever's bought us; but there's something to do first." "What?" said one of the men, for Humpy Dee had stopped and sat in the gloom, glaring savagely at the farther side of the place. "Wait, and you'll hear," was the reply; and there was another pause, during which Nic uttered a low, weary sigh, and let himself fall sideways, so that his head sank in Pete's lap, and, utterly exhausted, he dropped off to sleep. "You know how it all was," Humpy went on at last. "I aren't going to name no names, but some 'un was jealous-like o' me, and wanting to take the lead always; and, when he found he couldn't, he goes and blabs to the young master yonder. Well, we're not going to take him back--we've not going to tell him how we're going to do it." "Have told him. Spoke loud enough," said the man who had received the rebuff. Humpy leaned towards him, and with a peculiar, savage air, said in a husky whisper: "Look here, mate; there's only room for one to lead here. If you aren't satisfied you can go and sit along with them two and sham sick, like Pete Burge has all through the voyage." "Well, don't bite a man's head off," said the other. "Who wants to lead?" "You do, or you wouldn't talk like a fool. Think I'm one, mates?--think I'm going to do as I said, and let him go and blab, so as to get into favour here? That's just what I don't mean to do." "Then what are you going to do?" said his fellow-prisoner; but for a few moments Humpy only glared at him without speaking. At last, though, he whispered: "I mean for us to go off together and get free; and as for some one else, I mean for us all to give him something to remember us by afore we go." _ |
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