The Three Lieutenants Part 59

"This thought made us feel quite unhappy."

"You certainly did lose your chance," observed Jack, "for a steamer which I spoke came down about that time, and you might probably have got on board her."

"I told you so, Gerald," exclaimed Tom, "I was--"

"But it does not matter now," answered Gerald, "all's well that ends well."

"You are right, but it might not have been so had we been shot by those fellows as we were swimming off to the _Supplejack's_ boat," observed Tom. "Well, I suppose you want me to cut my yarn short. As soon as it was dark we lighted our fire, which we should have been puzzled to do, had not Gerald had some fusees in his pocket, which he carries, you will understand, to give a light to any one who wants to smoke a cigar."

"I understand," observed Jack, laughing. "You, of course, Mr Desmond, never dream of smoking one yourself?"

"Only occasionally, sir, and Tom and I had finished all I had when we were captured by the gauchos."

"Our fires burned well," continued Tom, "and we roasted our young capybara to perfection; we only wanted salt and pepper, and an onion or two to make it delicious. As it was, with the addition of a little brown bread we had remaining, we made a good meal, and slept like tops till daylight. One of us, you will understand, regularly kept watch on the river while the other searched for provisions, except when we wanted to catch another young capybara, when we had to a.s.sist each other. We captured the second in the same way we had the first, with our long wands and nooses; we also caught several birds after dark, roosting on the branches of the trees; we were afraid, however, to venture out as far as the plain above to look for partridges, lest we might have been seen by any of the country people or soldiers who might have been on their way to the cliff I spoke of; we found, indeed, that men were constantly on the watch for pa.s.sing vessels, and we should to a certainty have been discovered.

"Our chief exploit was catching the big capybara, which we attempted when we had eaten nearly all her young ones. We were afraid if we took the last, that she might suspect that something was wrong and make off.

We accordingly got up at night, when we thought that she would be asleep, and placed a couple of nooses at the mouth of her hole, securing the end to a part of the root of the tree which rose above the ground.

We then went back to our cave, and roasted the last of the young ones we had caught. As usual, we kept watch by turns: we had become somewhat anxious at night, for we could not help thinking that the smell of our roast pig might attract some keen-scented jaguar to the spot, and I can tell you that the thought of being s.n.a.t.c.hed up at any moment by one of those beasts made us keep our eyes about us, and prevented us from going to sleep. I know it did me, and I am pretty sure that Gerald was not more comfortable in his mind on the subject than I was.

"It was my morning watch, and as soon as daylight returned I called Gerald, and we crept carefully up to the capybara's hole.

"We had not long to wait before we heard her barking, for strange to say, though she was like a pig she did not grunt. She was calling to her solitary young one to get up, I suppose. Presently we felt a pull on one of our lines, and directly afterwards the other was drawn taut.

We gave each of them a jerk, and then springing forward with our sticks, we were just in time before the capybara drew back into her hole to give her a couple of stunning blows on the head. We quickly had her out, and a few more blows deprived her of life. It occurred to us that if we dragged her up to our cave, the track might lead any pa.s.ser-by to it.

We therefore fastened her legs together, and carried her on one of our sticks, the little one following, wondering, I dare say, why its mother had taken to move in so curious a fas.h.i.+on, and not seeming to notice us.

Desmond proposed that we should tame it, but as we could not manage to find it food, we were obliged to kill it. Not being expert butchers, we were employed most of the day in skinning and cutting up the beasts.

Our chief puzzle was to know what to do with the offal. At last we put it into the skin, and carrying it down at night threw it into the river.

In the meantime our cave had the not over-pleasant odour of a butcher's shop in hot weather, while we were in the constant apprehension of a visit from a jaguar. Our regret was that though we had a superabundance of meat we should soon be reduced to short commons, as it was not likely to keep, even when cooked, for more than a couple of days. We had just returned from the river, having accomplished the task I spoke of, and had lighted our fire, when we heard a rustling of the leaves at the entrance, the flames just then blazing up brightly; the next instant we caught sight of the savage-looking head of one of the monsters we dreaded, which had poked its way between the boughs, and was apparently about to spring on us. Desmond instinctively laid hold of the first thing which came to hand. This happened to be one of the capybara's legs which we were about to spit.

"We then seized our sticks to fight for our lives; but the jaguar having caught the tempting morsel, either satisfied with it, or frightened by the bright flames and our sticks, which we flourished in his face, sprang back and bounded away with the meat in his mouth.

"Having repaired our fence, and made it, as we hoped, more secure, we returned to cook and eat our supper. I confess that neither of us felt very comfortable on watch that night, lest the jaguar should come back for a further supply of capybara.

"That was only last night; we little thought at the time how soon our Robinson Crusoe life was coming to an end. Though pleasant in some respects, it was not, as you see, without its drawbacks. Directly the _Supplejack_ hove in sight we recognised her; but having seen the enemy on the top of the cliffs, we were in great doubt whether we should succeed in getting off--it seems, indeed, a wonder to me that we were not killed, and I only hope we feel sufficiently grateful for our preservation."

"I am afraid, Tom, that we are not, and never can be, sufficiently grateful for the mercies shown to us," observed Jack gravely. "If we had not been watched over and taken care of, we should none of us be here at the present moment. Now, as you and Desmond look somewhat sleepy, go and turn in."

Gerald was half asleep already, and Tom having given one or two significant yawns, they were both very glad to obey Jack's order.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

THE SUPPLEJACK REACHES BAXADA DE SANTA FE--PLANS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE FLEET WHEN RETURNING--A NIGHT EXPEDITION TO SURVEY AN ISLAND-- ALARM--MAGNIFICENT EXPLOIT--ROCKET BATTERY PEPPERS THE BATTERIES OF SAN LORENZO TO SOME EFFECT--SQUADRON Pa.s.sES UNHARMED--ESCAPE OF THE BOAT-- MONTE VIDEO REACHED.

The _Supplejack_ continued her course up the river, and the following day got beyond the reach of Rosas' flying artillery. Tom and Gerald, having been well fed during their adventures, were not much the worse for them, and after a good night's sleep were well able to return to their duty. They of course had to repeat their adventures to their own messmates, and Needham and s.n.a.t.c.hblock were also eager to hear all about them.

At last the brig reached Baxadar de Santa Fe, a town of some size, built partly at the foot and partly on the side of a lofty hill, which rises above the river. It is surrounded by corrals, or cattle-farms, where thousands of animals are slaughtered for the sake of their hides and tallow alone, which are s.h.i.+pped from the port. As there are not human mouths sufficient to consume the enormous quant.i.ties of beef, it is thrown away and carried off by vast flocks of gallinasos, caracaras, carrion crows, and other birds of prey, which hover over the country, their appearance and the odour arising from the putrefying flesh making the place far from agreeable. Here the _Supplejack_ found a large fleet of merchantmen, which had been further increased by others which had come down the river. The question was how they all were to get back again to the sea. Two or three steamers, which came up after the _Supplejack_ had suffered by a hot fire, opened on them from the batteries, newly thrown up by Rosas, several officers and men having been killed and wounded. The most formidable batteries were those at San Lorenzo, which were now completed, and it could not be expected that the fleet would be allowed to repa.s.s them without a strong opposition.

Several plans were thought of, the bluejackets and marines might land and storm the batteries, but such an undertaking could only be carried out with great loss of life, as the troops of Rosas were not to be despised, and as the batteries were open in the rear they could not be held without a strong force.

Some weeks were spent at this most undelectable of places, so that everybody was eager to return. No one, however, knew what plan of operation had been determined on. At length the long-looked-for signal was hoisted, and the fleet of men-of-war and merchant-vessels got under weigh and proceeded down the stream. They presented a truly beautiful spectacle, as their clouds of white canvas covered the entire breadth of the river, and certainly never before had so many vessels floated together on its waters.

On the 31st of May they came to an anchor on the Entre Rios sh.o.r.e, about four miles above the formidable batteries of San Lorenzo. Still, no one besides the commander and a few officers entrusted with the secret knew what plan had been determined on. All that the rest were certain of was that a plan had been formed, and should it prove successful that the fleet might escape a severe handling, but otherwise that the guns of San Lorenzo, if well served, might sink or damage every s.h.i.+p in the squadron. Indeed, the deep-water channel, down which the s.h.i.+ps must pa.s.s, was only about three hundred yards from the guns of the enemy, and which from their elevation could send a plunging fire directly down on their decks.

In front of the batteries, about twelve hundred yards from them, was one of an archipelago of islands, extending for some miles along the eastern or Entre Rios sh.o.r.e of the river, covered with trees, brushwood, and reeds. The pa.s.sages between these islands and the eastern sh.o.r.e were much too shallow for the navigation of vessels of any size. Of necessity, therefore, the whole fleet had to pa.s.s under the high cliff of San Lorenzo, crowned by its formidable batteries. The skippers of the merchantmen were quaking in their shoes, believing that the men-of-war must be sent to the bottom and effectually block up the channel, so that they would be caught in a trap and fall into the hands of the tyrant Rosas.

All sorts of reports were flying about; some said that one hundred heavy guns were planted on the top of the cliffs, and that red-hot shot and missiles of all sorts would be showered down on them, but still the commodore kept the plan he proposed to adopt secret. The officers of the men-of-war, however, felt confident that whatever it was, it would most likely succeed.

Terence had returned to his s.h.i.+p: Jack was now alone. He was seated in his cabin, when a lieutenant from one of the steamers came on board:--

"Come, Rogers, you are wanted by the commodore, as you are not only to be let into the secret of the plan, but to a.s.sist in carrying it out."

Jack, highly delighted, jumped up, and buckling on his sword accompanied his brother officer on board the flags.h.i.+p.

The expedition was immediately to start to examine the island in front of the batteries. The plan was simple in the extreme, should shelter be found on the island, it was proposed to plant a rocket battery behind it, and as the s.h.i.+ps came down to throw up showers of rockets into the fort, so as to drive the Spaniards from their guns till the whole fleet had pa.s.sed.

Evening was drawing on, the boat was ready, the English and French commodores, Lieutenant Mackinnon, the designer of the scheme, Jack, and several other officers went in her. The oars were m.u.f.fled, nothing was said above a whisper, and with just sufficient light for them to see their way, they pulled through the narrow pa.s.sages between the islands, completely hidden from the western sh.o.r.e, till they had reached the large one directly opposite the batteries, the dim outline of which they could discern between the trees. Just as the boat's bows touched the oozy bank a loud rustling was heard, and they fully expected that a jaguar was about to spring upon them. The officers drew their swords to defend themselves, for had they ventured to fire a musket or pistol they would have been betrayed. They looked anxiously, not knowing on whom the animal might spring, when greatly to their relief they saw, not a jaguar, but a harmless capybara or water-hog, which plunged into the water and swam to the opposite bank.

The officers now landed, the seniors first stepping on sh.o.r.e, and made their way over swampy ground, through brushwood, to the opposite or western sh.o.r.e of the island, directly under the batteries. They proceeded in silence, crouching down for fear of being perceived, their object being to ascertain what shelter was to be found for the rocket battery which it was proposed to plant.

Greatly to their satisfaction, they discovered that nature, or rather the river itself, when swollen by the rains, had constructed a bank, in every possible way suited for the object in view; indeed it was such, that one hundred men, working for a week, could not have thrown up one to equal it. Everything being thus found as they could wish, they returned to complete the necessary arrangements. Still, of course, not a word of the plan was made known on board the fleet, lest by any means spies might carry it to the ears of Rosas.

The wind was now blowing up the river, so that, even had everything been ready, the fleet of sailing-vessels could not move.

The next night the rocket party, under the command of Lieutenant Mackinnon, the originator of the plan, took their departure in the paddle-box boat of the steamer to which he belonged, consisting of twelve men of the marine artillery, the same number of seamen, and four officers.

Jack, though well inured to danger, could not conceal from himself the risk that must be run, a pistol going off, or the slightest want of caution of the party, might betray them to the enemy, when boats would be sent across to attack them. Though they might make a good fight with their rockets, they would in all probability be cut to pieces before a.s.sistance could reach them. In perfect silence the boat left the s.h.i.+p, few, with the exception of those immediately engaged, being aware where she was going. With m.u.f.fled oars they pulled along the narrow channel amid the reed-covered islands, keeping a lookout lest any of the enemy's boats might be on the watch. Rosas, however, did not suspect their design, and at length, without accident, they reached the spot at the back of the island, which had been fixed on for effecting a landing. It was a little bay, formed by a point of land on one side of it, running out some twenty feet or more into the stream. Close to this point a large willow-tree had fallen into the river; the boat was run in between the branches, which a.s.sisted to conceal her; a number of boughs were also cut and stuck into the sh.o.r.e by her side, some being laid across her, so that she was completely hidden from any pa.s.ser-by.

As soon as this was done, the party commenced landing the rocket-stands and rockets. The men found it very fatiguing, as they had first to cross a swamp, into which they sank up to their knees, and they then had a considerable distance to go over rough and uneven ground, among thick roots and brushwood, till they reached the bank where the rocket-stands were to be planted. All hands, however, worked without a murmur, and soon had the rocket-stands placed and so directed that the rockets might, as they hoped, just clear the top of the batteries, and fall in among the men at the guns.

The work being accomplished, the men, pretty well knocked up, returned to the boat, where, however, a gla.s.s of grog apiece, and some pork and biscuit, soon set them right again. An officer and two men being left to watch the stands and rockets, the rest turned in under a tarpaulin spread over the boat, where they went to sleep. The wind, however, continued blowing up the river, and the fleet could not move. They found that even in daylight they could walk in safety across the island, by crouching down under the bushes till they gained the shelter of the bank. The guards could thus be relieved at stated intervals.

Twenty-eight embrasures, with heavy guns in them, were counted in the forts at the top of the cliffs, instead of the hundred which had been talked of. These, however, if well served, were sufficient to produce fearful damage among the fleet, if not to destroy it entirely. So near were the batteries, that with pocket telescopes the party could distinguish the faces of the people in them. Among others, they discerned General Moncellia, a brother-in-law of Rosas, who drove up in his carriage with four horses and inspected the troops and guns, little suspecting that his enemies were crouching down so near him. The men had, of course, received strict instructions not on any account to show themselves. The second night, while Lieutenant Mackinnon was watching the batteries through his telescope, he observed the sentry suddenly stop and narrowly eye the bank. What was his dismay to find that one of his men had incautiously stepped forward into a spot where he could be seen.

"Hold fast," whispered the Lieutenant, "do not move as you value your life."

The man obeyed, and to his infinite relief the sentry at last moved on.

A few more days pa.s.sed. The officers spent most of the time under the bank while the men lay concealed in the boat. At length, when dawn broke on the morning of the fourth day, to the satisfaction of every one, a fresh steady breeze was blowing down the river. The men were roused up, and eagerly made their way, crouching as before, among the brushwood to the bank. Here they lay down at the foot of the rocket-stands, ready at a preconcerted signal to start up and open their fire. At any moment, had they been discovered, the guns from the battery might have opened on them and blown them to atoms; but, fortunately, the eyes of the enemy were turned up the stream towards the point from whence the s.h.i.+ps were expected to appear. Two guns fired from the flags.h.i.+p was to be the signal that the fleet had got under weigh. About nine AM, the welcome sound reached their ears, a long pole with the flag of Old England fastened at the end was to be planted on the top of the bank, at the elevation of which the first discharge of rockets was to take place. With eager eyes they watched for the appearance of the squadron; the s.h.i.+ps of war were at length seen, the steamers leading, followed by a line of merchantmen, one coming after the other till the sternmost was lost in the distance. It was a grand sight as they came silently gliding on till the leading s.h.i.+ps got within range of the batteries. The instant they did so they commenced firing their sh.e.l.ls with admirable precision. At length the leading s.h.i.+ps reached the channel, which lay between the cliffs and the island; the long-looked-for moment had arrived; the commander of the expedition waved his cap, when Jack, who had charge of the flagstaff, leapt boldly up on the bank and planted it in the ground. The ensign flew out to the breeze: it was the signal for the first discharge of rockets. Up, hissing loudly, they flew, while Jack, taking off his cap, made a polite bow to the enemy, and quickly leapt off the bank under shelter. The rockets curving over the heads of the s.h.i.+ps, two of them pitched into the very centre of the most crowded part of the batteries, completely driving the gunners from their guns, two went over their heads, and two stuck in the cliffs beneath them. The elevation of the rocket-stands which had been wrongly pointed being quickly rectified, they were once more charged, and as soon as the enemy had returned to their guns and were looking along the sights to take aim at the steamers, Lieutenant Mackinnon jumped up on the embankment, thoughtless of how he was exposing himself, and sung out--

"Pepper, lads! pepper! pepper pepper!"

Up flew the rockets with admirable aim, scattering destruction among the men thickly crowded in the batteries.

Those who were not killed deserted their guns. The slaughter among the troops of Rosas must have been terrific. In one minute forty rockets were poured in among them. A still louder sound was then heard, and smoke and flames were seen ascending from the batteries, a rocket had penetrated an ammunition cart, which had blown up, increasing the confusion. All this time the fleet of merchantmen had been gradually approaching. The men-of-war having already pa.s.sed, had taken up a position from which they could throw their sh.e.l.ls into the batteries; so what with the sh.e.l.ls from the s.h.i.+ps' guns, and the flights of rockets, the gunners, even though driven back again and again to their guns, were unable to take aim at the s.h.i.+ps. While the batteries were shrouded by the smoke from the ammunition waggon, the gra.s.s under the bank catching fire, the rocket party were surrounded by so dense an atmosphere that it was impossible for some moments to see what was going forward. The wind, however, soon blew the murky veil aside, when the white sails of the merchantmen, the sun s.h.i.+ning brightly on them, were seen gliding by, flights of rockets being sent up the whole time in rapid succession, till the sternmost s.h.i.+p of the squadron was well out of range of the batteries.

The enemy now directed their fire at the island, aiming at the flagstaff, which, however, was some distance from the rocket party.

Though the shot came plunging down on either side, the flag still waved defiantly in their faces, while the rockets continued to be sent up; but at length the enemy, discovering the point from whence they came, turned their guns in the right direction. The shot, however, either buried themselves in the bank, or flying over the heads of the gallant little band, went bounding away across the island. The signal of recall was now seen flying from the flags.h.i.+p, and the order for decamping was given, the people being directed to scatter as widely as possible, and to make their way as rapidly as they could, without exposing themselves more than was necessary, to the boat.

The men shouldered the rocket-stands, the remaining rockets, and everything belonging to them.