Athelstane Ford Page 7

  CHAPTER VII

  _THE SIEGE OF GHERIAH_

  Hardly had the fleet taken up its position, when I saw on the landside a great army of Indians march down to the edge of the river andpitch their camp at the end of the sandy neck, so as to cut off allchance of escape from the defenders of the fort.

  These, as I found out, were Morattoes, the king of that country,though not friendly to the English, having agreed to join them in thisenterprise. Indeed, it appeared that the pirates themselves wererevolted subjects of this king, having their origin in the treacheryof one Angria, the Morattoe admiral, who cast off his allegiance andseized and fortified divers strong places along the coast, where heset up an independent power. For this reason the Morattoes haddespatched an army under their principal general, Ramagee Punt, toassist in extirpating the pirates and regaining their formerdominions.

  As soon as the ships had swung to their anchors I saw a boat put off,bearing a flag of truce, to summon the pirates to yield up theirfastness. But this proposal evidently miscarried, for the boatreturned shortly, without any motions being made towards a surrender.At the same time I saw the gate on the landward side of the fortressopened and a chieftain wearing a rich dress come forth, accompanied bya train of attendants, and cross over the sand spit into theMorattoes' camp, from which he did not return that night.

  This looked to me like a piece of treachery, as though the pirateswere seeking to make terms with their fellow-countrymen behind thebacks of the English. No doubt this transaction bore the same look tothose on board the fleet, for when I came up on deck in the morning tosee if any change had taken place during the night, I was astonishedto see the space between the Morattoes' camp and the sand spit coveredwith tents, in which were about two thousand troops newly landed fromthe fleet, the last of the boats that had put them ashore being thenhalf-way back, and rowing right round the grabs and gallivats, whichwere moored altogether close in under the walls of the fortress. Itwas not difficult for me to guess that this bold exploit was the workof Colonel Clive, who had thus placed himself between his treacherousallies and the enemy, effectually putting a stop to all underhandcommunications between them. And I learned afterwards that but forthis determined action on his part, the fortress would have beendelivered up to Ramagee Punt that very morning, and the Englishexcluded from all share of the prize.

  I saw some messengers pass to and fro between the ships and the land,but nothing seemed to come of it, and finally, about ten o'clock I sawa signal run up on the _Talisman_, and immediately the side of everyship drove forth a vast cloud of smoke across the water, and the airwas shaken by the discharge of at least three hundred guns.

  Now the cowardice of the pirates was made manifest, for instead ofmanning their own fleet, which might have given much trouble if wellhandled, they left it exposed to the British fire, and withdrew behindthe walls of their fort, from which they made a feeble reply to thebroadsides of the squadron. The consequence was that before long oneof the shells from the fleet set fire to a large grab, and the wholeof the pirates' vessels, being made fast side by side, caught firetogether, and were burnt to the water's edge, amid a continual noiseof explosions every time the flames reached a loaded cannon or apowder barrel. Thus was destroyed in a few hours a navy which had forfifty years been the terror of the Malabar coast, and had preyed uponthe commerce of every nation trading in those seas.

  So taken up was I in watching this scene of destruction that I did notat first notice what was happening to the _Fair Maid_. Being anchoredsome way off the other vessels, and further up towards the sand spit,we escaped the damage that had been done to them, but now we attractedthe attention of the British Fleet, and those on board naturallyconsidering us as a prize captured by the pirates, one of the shipsbegan to open fire on us, and sent a ball clean through the deck.

  Up to this time the crew had lain inactive, taking no part in thefight. My cousin had gone ashore into the fort the night before,taking a part of the ship's company with him, and had not returned.The boatswain was left in command, with about twenty men under him,and these now began to see that they were in a trap, being too few tofight the ship to any purpose, while any attempt to land would exposethem to a destructive fire either from the fleet or from Mr. Clive'stroops, which would come along the sand spit to cut them off.

  In this extremity old Muzzy took what was perhaps the boldestresolution any man could have come to. He decided to set sail, andpass right between the fort and the ships, running the gauntlet of thewhole squadron, and thus escape down the river and out to the opensea. The breeze blowing out to sea, as it always does for the firsthalf of the day on this coast, the plan seemed a good one, if oncethey could pass through the fire of the squadron.

  This course commending itself to the crew, the sails were hoistedaccordingly, I lending a hand, for I had no desire either to takerefuge with the pirates or to be sunk where we were; and havingslipped our cable the _Fair Maid_ got under weigh. This proceedingmust have struck surprise into those who were watching us, for thefrigate which had commenced to bombard us at once stopped fire, andwaited to see what we would do. As we had no colours flying, it wasdifficult for them to know what we would be at, or whether we did notmean to surrender. Had we been only concerned with the fleet, our bestcourse might have been to hoist the Union Jack; but in that case wehad to fear the guns of the fort, close under which we meant to pass.

  In this way we got along till we were right in the range of firebetween the ships and the fort, and here for a minute all seemed overwith us and I had fairly given myself up for lost. A whole broadsideof thirty guns was fired right across us, and the only thing thatsaved us from being sunk instantly was our lying so low on the waterthat the bullets, being aimed at the walls of the fort, passed overour heads. As it was they did great damage to the rigging. The maintopmast was shot away, the shrouds were torn to threads, and the gaffof the fore-topsail was badly wounded. Luckily for us the next vesselof the squadron had discharged its broadside just before we came intothe line of fire, and the third merely signalled to know if we wouldsurrender. Old Muzzy refused to answer the signal, and his conduct inthis, and in not using the _Fair Maid's_ own guns, clearly puzzledthose on board the fleet.

  By this time we had begun to round the corner of the rock, and payingaway before the wind to go down the river, presented our stern to theremaining ships of the squadron. One of them gave us a broadside, butit was ill-directed, and only three balls took effect. They had aimedthis time at the hull, luckily for the _Fair Maid_, as she could illhave stood another discharge at her rigging, and though the tiller wasshot away, and some damage was done to the stern, it was not seriousenough to cripple her.

  But just as we were beginning to breathe we were dismayed at suddenlyreceiving a bullet from one of the guns of the fort, which ploughedright into the deck within two feet of where I stood. I looked upastonished, and beheld my cousin Rupert, with the match still in hishand, looking over to watch the effect of his shot. The other men onboard caught sight of him at the same moment, and a howl went up atthis act of cold-blooded treachery. One of the fellows snatched up aloaded musket which lay on the deck, and discharged it at him, and Ihad the satisfaction to see him fall back swiftly, but whetheractually struck by the bullet or no I could not tell.

  Distracted by this unlooked-for attack, we had not noticed a freshdanger from the fleet. But now we perceived that the launch of theAdmiral's own ship, the _Talisman_, had been manned, and was bearingright down on us, the men on board coming with great coolness anddaring right past the guns of the fort. In this they were fortunatelyprotected by the fact that the gunners were all engaged in replying tothe fire of the fleet, which lay anchored above, and we being now pastthe direct line of fire, and out on the middle of the river, thegarrison paid no attention to us. However, the launch would have hadno chance of overtaking us but for the unlucky accident to the tiller,which had made the _Fair Maid_ unmanageable for the moment, and causedher to come up to the wind. They were thus able
to draw very near usbefore the man at the helm had contrived to rig up a makeshift tillerout of a splinter off the gunwale. Just as he began to get the ship'shead round again the launch approached within hailing distance, andbade us surrender.

  Old Muzzy strictly forbidding any reply, they fired a bullet at usfrom a small swivel gun in the bows. Thereupon one of the crew--thesame man who had fired at Rupert--wanted to discharge the _FairMaid's_ stern gun at them; but this the boatswain would not permit.

  "If we're caught running away, they may let us off," he saidprudently; "but if we're caught after firing on the king's uniform,it's hanging for every mother's son of us."

  The men saw the wisdom of this, and now the sails began to drawagain, and give a fair chance of leaving the launch behind. No soonerdid this happen, than I experienced a keen feeling of regret. I hadaided heartily in our escape so far, believing it to be the only thingI could do, but now I thought I saw a chance of being restored to myship I could not resist the temptation. I measured the distancebetween the _Fair Maid_ and the launch with my eye, and, though a poorswimmer, considered I might manage to keep afloat till the launchshould pick me up. I turned round, shook hands with old Muzzy, andbefore he knew what I had in mind, plunged over the side into thewater.

  I heard a cry go up from the crew, who at first thought it was anaccident, my zeal in helping to work the ship having put it out oftheir minds that I was merely a prisoner. However, they had too muchto do in looking after their own escape to give much thought to me;and in the end they got very fairly away, and disappeared outside theriver's mouth.

  In the meantime the launch came on towards me, and then a thinghappened which I may truly say brought my heart into my mouth. For oneof the marines in her, looking on me no doubt as one of the pirates,raised his musket and aimed it directly at my head. The sun was behindme, but fell full upon his face, and I could see the narrowing of hiseye as he took aim, also the flash of the sunlight along the barrel. Ihad made up my mind that I was a dead man, and was even hoping thatmy death would be too swift for me to feel the pain of the wound, whenI saw the gun struck up and heard the voice of Irish Mick crying outin a mixture of terror and laughter--

  "Sure, don't you know him? It's the little purser!"

  The recognition came almost as near killing as saving me, for in theiramazement the men of the launch ceased rowing, and as in my expectancyof death I had lost all power of motion I was like to have beendrowned. However, they rescued me just in time, and welcomed me onboard with a heartiness which did much to make amends for thesuffering I had gone through since I had left their company.

  I told them my story, and had to tell it again to Mr. Griffiths andthe purser when I reached the ship. Mr. Sanders received me coldly,and pronounced that I had been rightly served for hankering after myformer evil companions, but the lieutenant spoke to me more kindly,and praised me for my refusal to join myself to the privateers, orrather pirates, for such they were now openly become.

  I claimed his promise to let me take part in the fighting, to which hewillingly consented; though, indeed, there was but little glory to begained, as the pirates were now so cowed as to have pretty well ceasedto return our fire, and before night they had made some fresh attemptstowards a capitulation.

  It fell through, however, and our bombardment was renewed thefollowing day. The castle was so strong, the walls being hewn in manyplaces out of the solid rock that we were unable to make muchimpression, but luckily if their walls were strong, the hearts of thepirates were too weak to prolong the defence, and it became merely aquestion of whether they should surrender to us or to Ramagee Punt.The Morattoes struggled hard, but Colonel Clive stood at his post likea wall between them and the fort, and after two days the pirates sawthat they had met their master, and opened the gates to him.

  As soon as I knew that Mr. Clive's force would be the first to enter,I took Mr. Griffiths aside, and explained to him that there was anEnglishwoman, in whom I was interested, inside the fortress, and afterI had related the whole story to him he sent me ashore to the camp tolay the case before Mr. Clive.

  That brave man--who was good enough to express his pleasure at seeingme safe again--heard me with great attention. As soon as I had told mystory he turned to his secretary.

  "Mr. Scrafton, you have heard what this young man says. I desire youwill send at once for Angria's envoy, and tell him that if I find onehair of this girl's head has been injured I will hang him from his ownwalls."

  He spoke this in a stern and terrible manner, which imparted some feareven to me. Within an hour the message came back from the pirates'chief that the Colonel's orders should be strictly obeyed.

  This was while the negotiations for the surrender were still inprogress. By the end of the second day's bombardment all was over, andColonel Clive marched into the place at the head of 800 English and1,000 Indian soldiers, who formed his whole army. I was allowed toenter at the same time.

  We found the pirates drawn up inside to the number of severalthousands. In so vast a crowd I could not distinguish the faces of anyof the _Fair Maid_ men, nor was there a sign to be seen of my cousinRupert. Out of a feeling of shame I had concealed from Colonel Clivethat this villain was among the pirates, but I made a strict searchfor him presently all through the place, without any result. I couldonly conclude that he must have been killed during the siege, unlesshe had made his escape in some way not easy to guess.

  As soon as we had passed through the ranks of the pirates, whom Mr.Clive ordered to be disarmed and handed over to their Morattoecountrymen, we came into the inner court of the place, where we foundAngria himself, surrounded by his chief men. He was a tall, handsomeIndian, with a fierce, threatening countenance, surmounted by acrimson turban, which blazed with rich gems. His whole treasure laybeside him, and amounted, when it came to be reckoned up, to L120,000,which was divided among the fleet and army, I getting L6 for my ownshare. It was considered a paltry booty by the men, and some hintedthat the officers had taken more than their portion. There was also adispute between the two services as to the amount of Mr. Clive'sshare, which the army insisted should be equal to a rear-admiral's,while the navy would not allow it to be more than a post-captain's. Inorder to settle the matter Admiral Watson very handsomely offered tomake up the difference out of his own share, which the Colonel withequal handsomeness declined; and so the affair passed off.

  But the greatest prize we gained in that action, to my thinking, wasthe woman whom I found crouched in terror upon the floor of a dark,stifling hut, built against one of the walls of the castle, andexpecting every moment to find herself in the clutches of some savageenemy. For Rupert had cruelly forborne to tell her that the fortresswas besieged by an English fleet, and when I entered the place whereshe was confined, she no doubt believed me to be some marauder of thesame stamp as those among whom she had been kept a prisoner.

  I stepped up beside her with a bursting heart, and laid a hand uponher shoulder.

  "Marian," I said, "I am Athelstane Ford, who has come to set youfree."

  She trembled all over as she gave a quick look up at me, and then rosetottering on to her feet. And when I saw her face, how it was allshrunken from its former roundness, and the colour had gone from hercheeks, and the brightness from her eyes, as she stood there beforeme, with her dress all dishevelled, and her beautiful long hair raggedand wild, the tears started to my eyes, and I swore a deep oath thatif my cousin Rupert ever met me face to face again he should notdepart alive.

  "Athelstane," she said presently, when we had stood gazing at eachother like that for above a minute, "that detestable villain who isyour kinsman has cruelly used me and betrayed me; but I believe youare a true man. Take me to my father, and I will bless the day that Iever saw you first." And before I knew what she would be at, she hadknelt down and kissed my hand, with a passion of weeping, that proud,beautiful creature whom I had last seen in all the glory of her youthand loveliness, the jewel of her native town.

  I raised her up tend
erly, and drew her forth out of that vile place. Aweek later the Admiral carried his fleet back to Bombay; but I had gotmy discharge, and was with Marian on board the sloop _Thetis_, oftwenty-six guns, bound for the river Hooghley with despatches.