Chapter 20

"They didn't go far enough! No sooner had Black Harry placed his foot on the first stair, followed by the other mutineers, than there was a flash and a stunning explosion from below. The captain, who had the quick hearing of a hound, must have caught the sound of their tussling with me on the deck, for he was ready for them with his double-barrelled gun. I saw him distinctly by the flash through the skylight, standing at the foot of the companion, while Gripper, the second officer, was hurrying up behind him through the door leading into the steerage where our berths were. Yes, I saw the captain. He had fired one shot, and stood waiting with the other barrel ready.

"`Come on, you dogs!' I heard him exclaim as he discharged the gun. `There's one dose of slugs, and I've got another handy for you!'

"The men from the sound appeared to shrink back for a second, but the next minute they rushed down in a body; there was a second report of the captain's gun, and I received, unbeknown to him, poor fellow--for he didn't intend it, I know--a slug right in my eye here; and for some time I was in such agony that I didn't know what occurred below, although I heard plenty of shots fired, and the sound of hand-to-hand fighting mingled with oaths, and curses, and cries.

"When I recollected myself again there was Black Harry near me surrounded by only four others, as well as I could see after wiping the blood off my face with part of my arm, which I was able to do by wriggling at my lashings; the rest must have gone under in the scrimmage.

"`Now, you villain,' I heard Black Harry say again in a voice full of spite and anger, `I've got you! Lash him up there in the lee rigging!' says he to his fellow-murderers; and in a trice I saw the poor cap'en, quite pale and exhausted, fixed like a spread eagle in the mizzen shrouds to leeward. `Now, you villain!' says Black Harry again, cocking one of the captain's revolvers which he had ready in his hand, `you said you would riddle us just now if we didn't go aloft after treating us like dogs ever since we came on board your cursed ship! Well, Jarvis, you dog--Cap'en Jarvis, I beg your pardon!--I intend to riddle you now!'

"The cap'en didn't say a word; he only looked at him; but if looks could kill, his would then!

"`You dog!' said Black Harry again, after a stop to see if the captain would speak. `I've got three slugs in my stomach, and you've swore three times at me to-day like a dog--that makes six in all; I intend to send six shots through your vile carcass without killing you if I can help it. You knocked me down on the deck with the butt-end of your pistol, and ordered my body to be taken below by the hands, or else you said you'd throw it overboard. For that outrage I'll take my last revenge, after riddling you like a sieve, by smashing in your skull, and pitching your vile carcass to the sharks--Dog!'

"With that the ruffian fired his first shot with the revolver at his powerless victim. The captain winced slightly, and I saw the bullet had carried off part of one of his ears.

"`Ha!' said Black Harry, `nervous, are you? Here's another fillip for you.'

"But at the same moment the storm, which I had seen brewing up to windward, burst over the ship; and a tremendous wave seemed to flatten me down on the deck, the ring-bolt to which I was lashed preventing me from slipping away. When the rush of water had subsided, and I was able to hold up my head once more, my wounded eye smarting worse than ever, I saw that the mizzen and main masts with part of the foremast had been washed clean away with the shrouds, running-gear, and all their hamper, and, of course, the body of the poor captain, Black Harry, and all his companions in crime had been carried off too in the general wreck.

"How long I remained lashed to the deck of the crippled vessel with the waves dashing over me, the sport of the sea and the mark of the weather, I know not. The first thing I recollect after what appeared to be an eternity of torture, was that I found myself on board the _Saracen_, a screw steamer bound from New York to Southampton, which had sighted the _Gulnare_ tossing at the mercy of the wind and waves, and sent a boat to see whether there was anybody alive on board. I was on board, alive though senseless for a time, and brought to after much kindly solicitude; so, too, was little Peter, the cabin-boy, whom the mutineers had tied up in his bunk in the forecastle, and who was also alive, though nearly starved to death. Besides our two selves, there was no other living thing; but the bodies of Gripper, the second officer, Painter, the boatswain, and those of the mutineers who had not been washed overboard, were found floating about in the cabin, all with the marks of bullet and shot wounds and other injuries, to show that they had come by a violent death after a hard struggle.

"When my senses were to the fore again, naturally I informed my salvors of all that had occurred; and as the cargo of the _Gulnare_ was a valuable one, her hull not very much damaged, and the weather calm and favourable, the captain of the _Saracen_, which had so providentially come across her--and a right good fellow he has been to me!--made up his mind to salvage my old ship if he could."

"And so he towed her in here at Falmouth, and you made your depositions along with the cabin-boy, Peter, the only survivors of the catastrophe, about the facts of the case, for the benefit of the underwriters and the clearance of your own character?"

"Just so, mister," said the man with the shade over his eye, who it strikes me from certain circumstances was of American nationality; "and that's the whole story about `Black Harry,' I guess!"

THE END.