Leonard Lindsay ;

I did not wake until the sun was reasonably high, although but few rays found their way into the curious cove, which by such a lucky chance I had hit. It was, indeed, a sort of natural corridor or aisle: rocks covered with plants and bushes forming great green walls, with tangled trees bending from side to side, and meeting and interlacing above, like a roof, while the floor was limpid water. The air within this natural alcove was of a greenish hue, and the reflection from the water the same. Great numbers of gay-coloured birds fluttered and screamed, rather than sang, amid the boughs; and on almost every projecting stone by the edge of the water stood a great grey crane or heron, watching for the small fish which form its prey. After I had looked my fill, I began to think of breakfast; for, in order to eke out my store, I had gone supperless to bed. So I munched a couple of biscuits, and took a great pull at the sweet, fresh water. There were fruits and vegetables of many kinds growing near, which I feared to meddle with, not knowing their properties. After breakfast, I cast off from my bough, and paddled to and fro in the channel to seek a landing-place. This I was not long in discovering, at the spot where a little runnel of the most transparent water I ever saw in my life came trickling down in a small hollow, or what, in Scotland, we would call a scaur. The sides of the ravine were, it is true, very steep, but they were clothed with matted grass and vegetation, so that I could clamber up without much difficulty. I therefore made my boat fast very carefully, for I knew not what use she might be to me afterwards, and also loaded my gun and hammered the flint, after which I addressed myself to climb to the top of the bank. I found this tolerably hard work; the heat of the sun was excessive, and here there was no sea-breeze to refresh one. Moreover, I did not much like the infinity of creeping and crawling things which, as I made my way upwards, I startled amid the coarse grass and underwood. Great beetles, shining and speckled—writhing creatures, like grey worms, with numberless legs—horrible hairy spiders—and one or two small snakes, all mottled and brindled. Besides, there flew about me, making a tiny buzz, as if they blew small hairy trumpets, hosts of that accursed fly called by the French maranguinnes, and by the English mosquitos, which stung me until I was almost mad,—slapping my face and my hands, and thrashing the air with a leafy branch, but all in vain. At length, after great toil, I stood upon the top of the bank, and felt, to my joy, the cool blast of the strong sea-breeze, which rustled in the bushes, and soon blew away my insect enemies far to leeward. Then, mounting a moderate-sized eminence, I set myself to reconnoitre; and truly I might have deemed that I was in a desert and unpeopled land. Behind me rose great swelling ridges, extending above one another as far as my eye could reach, and all covered with bright green brushwood, with here and there one of the long feathery palm-trees standing up like a steeple over houses. Not many paces in front ran a long fringe, as it were, of waving trees and bushes, marking the extreme edge of the cliff, which sank into the ocean; while beyond this there stretched out the great blue expanse of the sea, speckled here and there with white, as the waves broke, but sailless, and as lonely as the land. The great mountains which we had seen from on board were here invisible, and even the ridges around, as I gazed on them, seemed to move and quiver in the great heat. Notwithstanding pretty humming-birds, less than Jenny Wrens, fluttered about, and there was a mighty chattering, as of armies of parrots and parroquets, which whooped and called to each other from grove to grove.

At first, I felt a kind of sinking at being alone in this great wilderness, but plucking up courage, I set off to trudge along the coast to the eastward. The journey was toilsome in the extreme, for the stunted shrubs were tangled so, that I was ofttimes compelled to cut a passage with my clasp-knife, and the heat made my temples throb and ache strangely. At length, seeing great trees of prodigious size, the skirts of a forest, on my right hand, I made for them, and entering their shade, found better walking, for here was a canopy of leaves which warded off the sun, and also prevented the growth of underwood, the ground being clear, and the air cool, between the vast trunks of these glorious trees. However, I kept upon the edge of the wood, for fear of losing myself, not designing to stray far from the sea. Having marched thus near two hours, I heard a noise, which, as I came nearer, I took to be the yellings of wild animals; so that, somewhat startled, I looked to the priming of my gun, and also gazed around for a tree into which it might be convenient to climb. Meantime, the tumult came nearer, and I imagined it to be of dogs, yet it was rather a savage yelping than the deep bay of hounds. Next I heard a great crashing of branches on the edge of the wood, and making my way there, and mounting a tree, I speedily saw a huge wild boar, as I judged, with great tusks, and his jaws covered with flakes of foam, closely chased by a pack of dogs. These latter were fawn-coloured, with black muzzles; their legs were short, but very brawny; and as I heard no sound or shout of hunters, I concluded, with reason, that the pack before me were descendants of those ferocious bloodhounds brought by the Spaniards into Hispaniola, and other islands, to hunt down the inoffensive Indians, and which, being deserted by their masters, ran wild and multiplied, so that flocks of them assemble, and hunt the cattle and boars for their own support. Meantime, however, the quarry had turned to bay underneath a tree not far from me, and the dogs stood round in a semicircle, yelping at him. At length, one bolder than the rest made a spring, and drove his great jaws, as it seemed to me, into the animal’s flank. This was the signal for a general onset, and, in a moment, the boar, grunting and squeeling hideously, was tumbled on the ground, the ferocious dogs, with jaws and muzzles all blood and froth, tearing and riving its living flesh, so that, in the space of a very few minutes, the creature was not only killed, but well-nigh pulled into morsels. Then the dogs, several of which were hurt, and limped and whined, fell to and ate their fill, after which having gorged themselves to their very throats, they lay down to sleep. Seeing this, I concluded that I could with safety pursue my journey, and accordingly got down from the tree and did so, none of the bloodhounds molesting me.

I walked until the afternoon, still seeing no sign of human life, and then feeling very hungry, and moreover wishing for something more savoury than bread and water, I looked about for game. Many green lizards or guanos were to be seen in the branches, and these the Frenchmen on board the felucca had assured me were good food, but I could not bring my stomach to them, and at length, after several unsuccessful shots, I secured a bird, nearly double the size of our pigeon, on which I determined to dine. Coming to a little rivulet of clear water, with pretty pools, nourishing the most luscious profusion of water-plants, I sat me down, and presently discovered a large duck quackling and nibbling in the herbage. Now, the flesh of a duck I knew, but the bird I had already killed was a stranger to me; so taking a very careful aim at the poor fellow, I fired and sent the bullet—I had no small shot—right through him. But immediately there rose such a loud rustling of wings, and quacking, and screaming, that I was confounded, until, making a few steps in advance, I saw that the rivulet a little above spread into a good-sized weedy pond, which harboured thousands of ducks, and teal, and widgeon, all of which flew away on hearing the report of my piece. Having recovered my game from the water, I set to work, plucked him, and, kindling a fire of dry sticks and leaves, broiled him thereon. The cookery was rough, but I thought the fare capital, only the want of salt annoyed me. Having dined, I jogged on as before, and as evening approached found myself exceedingly fatigued and dispirited at having seen no human being. When the sun went down and the short tropical twilight gave way to night, through which the stars blazed with a fiery lustre, unknown to me until I had crossed the Atlantic, I even began to ponder as to whether I had done well in leaving the ship at all; but speedily shaking off this idle despondency, I wrapped myself up in my blanket, which, in spite of its weight, I had carried strapped tightly on my shoulders, and seasoning my biscuit with a piece of tobacco to chew, made my supper, and slept in the fork of a tree, lying back not uncomfortably among the branches. I awoke once or twice and listened to the low hum and drone of insects, in addition to which a bird, as I judged, uttered from time to time a long mournful cry, sounding like ‘Weep, poor weel,’ which was very melancholy, echoing through that great midnight wilderness. Around me gleamed the little lights of glow-worms, called by the Spaniards Moscas del Fuego. But these extinguished their lamps in the latter part of the night.

I was awake with the sun, at the rising of which a great white fog which lay upon the earth and drenched me, lifted and dispersed. The heat soon dried my clothes, and about nine o’clock, when the sea-breeze whistled through the herbage, I began again my weary march. Not long after, having a good view of the sea from a promontory, I descried almost beneath me, a ship under sail, lying along shore, which, the coast here tending southerly, she could do very well, and yet keep her sails full. She was a two-masted vessel, seemingly very quick, and, plunging over the breasting waves gallantly, soon passed me, steering to the east and keeping fearlessly along the rocks. I found no wild ducks to-day, but, urged by hunger, I shot a monkey; and although the poor creature looked horrible when skinned, his flesh was not unpalatable. Towards the afternoon, I perceived that I was approaching an indented part of the coast, and I saw many ravines down which I could have gone to the sea. Now and then, too, I would get a glimpse of such pretty, shingly and bushy bays as I descried from the felucca, while on the other hand, between the hills, there opened up vistas of great flat green fields, here called savannahs. I had hopes that I was approaching some inhabited place, and ere long I heard faint shouts before me and nearer to the sea. This made me push on vigorously, yet not without caution; and at length, forcing my way through a forest of stunted trees, I caught a glimpse of the figure of a man through the boughs. His back was to me, and I thought he was standing in a low tree, when suddenly a great gust of the sea-breeze came rattling in the wood, and the man swang to and fro with a slow motion, among the waving branches. Immediately a horrid thought seized me, and looking up as I heard a croaking, I saw two great carrion vultures circling in the air. Manning myself, I ran forward, and there, sure enough, was the body of a man hanging from a horizontal branch of a tree, his feet not many inches from the tops of the Guinea grass. I was overpowered with horror; but turning away from the terrible sight, what were my feelings to see two other bodies hanging in a similar manner! Having a little recovered my first natural fright, I looked attentively at these unfortunates. They were all three dressed in the same fashion, with coarse shirts, great jackets or doublets, cut in a square fashion, like the coats of the water-men on the Thames, and pantaloons. What surprised me, however, was the red filthy hue of the garments, as though they had been soaked in blood, and never cleaned or scoured. But then I called to mind what Wright had told me of the hunting dresses of the Buccaneers, and how they took a sort of pride in being disorderly and neglectful of their attire, never washing it from the blood-stains which their occupation plenteously bedaubs them with. The hair and beards of these men were long and matted, and they wore buskins of untanned hide. I looked attentively, but could see no gun or weapon, and the whole matter was a mystery to me. However, it was not a pleasant locality to linger in, so I continued my way, and presently saw a fine wooded bay, with winding shores, lying beneath me, the forest sometimes reaching into the very surf, but in other places leaving beaches of sand, carpeted as it were with a sort of creeping grass of the kind, as I afterwards heard, called Bahama.

Along this bay I skirted, often stopping to look keenly about. At length I saw a boat or canoe, pulled by several persons, paddling across the smooth surface; and observing it disappear beyond a green headland on the opposite side of the bay, my attention was directed thither, and presently I noticed several columns of thin blue smoke rising up above the trees at that very point. I was still gazing at them when the sound of voices smote my ear distinctly, and I had scarce time to conceal myself among the thick brushwood, when near a score of men, some of whom wore gold-laced doublets and seemed officers, came scrambling down towards the water from a point higher up the bay than I had attained. I saw at a glance that they were not Englishmen, being much too swarthy; and as they passed at no great distance, and talked and laughed loudly, I perceived that their language was Spanish, the sound and accent whereof I knew very well. All these men were armed, each with a great bell-mouthed short-barrelled gun, but I observed that three carried, each of them, in addition, a musket of quite another shape. Seeing that they were Spaniards, I was in mortal dread that they might have bloodhounds with them, fiercer even than the wild dogs I had seen, and I drew my strong clasp-knife, determined that, at least, there should be a weasen or so cut before I was worried. Happily, however, the party had no dogs whatever. I held my breath as they were passing, but what was my consternation when the whole body stopped not ten paces from me, while one pointed out to the others the smoke on the other side of the bay. At this, two or three other of the fellows made gestures, by jerking their heads aside and pointing to their necks, as though there were halters round them, and then all laughed. But he who seemed the principal officer restrained them, and taking out a pocket compass, appeared to set, as mariners call it, the direction in which the smoke appeared. Then they all went on together, I cautiously following at a very respectful distance. Their course was to the outer part of the bay, and they proceeded hastily down a steep wooded glen, in which I lost sight of them. Presently, however, I heard them hailing a ship, as I conjectured; and I was right, for having got a little further, I heard the ripple of water, and saw over the trees the rigging and masts of a vessel, which I recognised as the same I had descried at sea early in the morning; and, getting a good vantage-ground, I at last looked down upon her deck, and saw a well-armed ship, full of men. Putting all these circumstances together, I soon concluded that the craft was a Spanish Guarda Costa. Then I thought of the men pointing to the distant smoke, and making motions as though they would hang the people there. In a moment I saw it all. The three executed Buccaneers—the three guns different from the rest carried by the Spaniards—their gestures at sight of the smoke of a little settlement! Doubtless the party belonged to a ship which had come upon the coast to make the usual attacks on the French and English settlers, and they, having caught these three unfortunates in the woods, had hanged them out of hand, and meant to attack the people on the opposite side of the bay, taking them by surprise. This last I inferred from the care with which a sheltering cove had been found to conceal their vessel.

It was now my clear duty to make my way to the opposite side of the bay, to warn the people there, who, being enemies of the Spaniards, must necessarily, by the rule of these seas, be friends of mine. But how to get to them? I knew not how far up the country the bay, or lagoon, extended; to swim across would not have been difficult, but I thought of caymans and sharks, and my heart failed me. Notwithstanding, I made my way to the seaside, and sat down on a large rock. What would I have given now for the skiff I had abandoned! But then, if I had come along the coast in her, I should have been picked up and murdered by the Guarda Costa. So in cruel perplexity I sat until it grew dark. All at once I thought that if the three unhappy Buccaneers who were put to death belonged to the settlement opposite, that they would have brought a canoe to waft them over, which I might find along the shore. This idea gave me fresh vigour, and I ran eagerly along the shingle, climbing from time to time over points of rock which jutted out. Near two hours were wasted in fruitless search, wading through little creeks, and tracing small channels amid the bushes into which the rising tide was flowing, when at length, just as I was despairing, I happily found the object of my search. In a narrow cove, alongside a ledge of rock, floated a light canoe, scooped out of a single tree. I immediately stepped on board, and using the paddle alternately on either side, managed, though I was awkward at first, to make the canoe move in the direction I wished. Crossing the bay, I had enough to do to keep the land wind from blowing me out of my course, and by the time I was two-thirds over, every muscle in my body ached with the unwonted exercise. Paddling on, however, I suddenly saw on the dusky shore a cluster of red dim lights, by which I knew that I had opened the headland behind which the smoke rose, and almost at the same moment I heard behind a faint plash, and the rattle as of arms. I saw at once that I had no time to lose, if, as I guessed, the boats of the Guarda Costa were not far astern. Immediately I redoubled my efforts, making for the lights, and at the same time hailed, ‘Ho! the shore, ahoy.’ Immediately a voice replied, ‘Is that you, Benjamin?’ When I heard the sounds of my own language, my heart leaped to my mouth; and, catching up my musket, I fired it off, shouting, ‘Look out! look out! the Spaniards! the Guarda Costa!’ In an instant there gleamed a great many little lights, as of lanterns carried by people running about on the beach, and I heard the clash of arms and loud hallooings; then the voice I had heard sang out again, ‘Where are they?—who are you?’ But before I could reply the Spaniards suddenly fired two volleys in my direction, the flashes showing two great boats, full of men, and rowing fast. The water near me was torn up by the balls, but none touched the canoe, and the fire was promptly answered by a small piece of artillery ashore, which echoed grandly in the hills, and caused a harsh concert of the wakened birds. Not willing to be between two fires, I paddled hard, and presently ran the canoe on the beach; when I leaped out and found myself in the midst of a group of men, all shouting and cheering in English and French, running to and fro, and fetching and making ready arms,—their muskets, and hangers, and pikeheads gleaming in the sparkle of the lanterns. Directly I splashed through the surf, I shouted that I was a friend and a Scottish sailor, and that the Spaniards were upon us; whereon they gave a loud shout in my honour, and in defiance of the enemy, and fired a straggling volley. This the boats returned briskly, and the Buccaneers, rushing up to their middles in the sea, cried out with desperate imprecations to the Spaniards to come on, swearing they would roast them alive on their grilles de bois, and taunting them with every infamous name, keeping up a spattering irregular fire all the time. However, Jack Spaniard, seeing a warm reception before him, hung off, keeping in the shadow of the little headland. Then two or three canoes were promptly manned, but the men in their eagerness over-crowded them, and fought amongst themselves who should go; so that time was lost, and meantime we heard the dash of oars, as the boats, having failed in their purpose of surprise, pulled away.

When the hubbub was a little abated, I was asked by a dozen persons at once what I was; whereon I recounted that having left, I did not say escaped, from a French ship on the coast, I had travelled hither, and on my way saw the Spaniards, and guessed their intentions. Then I told them of the bodies I had passed hanging from trees, at which they raised a great clamour of cursing; for these, as I had guessed, were their comrades, who had crossed the bay to hunt the day before. Then there was a proposal to man all the canoes, and go and attack the Spaniards; but just as this was acceded to with a loud shout, a light pirogue, which it seems had been fishing down the bay, ran in with the news that the ship had weighed anchor directly her boats returned, and made all sail to sea. On this there was a great groan given for the cowardice of the Don, and the crowd began to disperse.

At this moment a young Englishman came up to me, and asked, with great solicitude, if one of the Buccaneers I had seen hanging was light haired with yellow moustaches. I replied in the affirmative; on which, in words of strong passion and feeling, he swore that he would bitterly revenge on the Spaniards the death of Benjamin, his ‘partner,’ as he called him, and, in short, broke out into a great paroxysm of grief and rage. Meantime, several of the Buccaneers offered me the hospitality of their huts, but my Englishman declared I must go to his, as he was now alone, which the rest consenting to, very cordially shook hands with me, and thanked me in French and English, and then I followed my new friend along the beach to his hut. There were a good many of these, irregularly placed, and beside several there smouldered a slow fire, making the lights I had seen in the bay. Over these fires there were gratings or hurdles of wood, and on them lumps of beef, rudely cut, drying and cooking little by little; great bales and heaps of hides lay about, the perfume exhaling from them not being by any means pleasant, and numbers of dogs howled and barked without ceasing. My conductor led me into a hut built like the others, of wood and clay, and thatched with some sort of thick leaf. The inside was lighted by a smoky lamp, showing two beds of hide with dirty blankets, and a clumsy table. There were shelves all round, whereon were ranged several guns, hangers, and long Spanish knives, with fish and boar-spears, and other weapons. Also I saw a mariner’s compass and some instruments for taking the latitude, so that I rightly guessed my host to be a sailor as well as a hunter. Besides these, there were strewn about, bits of net, canvas, bullock horns, and one or two panthers’ skins were arranged as coverlets for the beds.

My host asked many questions about the Spaniards, while he produced for supper a piece of dried beef, prepared over the slow fire which I had seen, and which being called ‘boucan’ gave to those who make it the name of ‘Buccaneers.’ I found it somewhat tough, but relishing and wholesome. After supper, we had brandy and rum, tempered by water, and while drinking it very sociably, my comrade informed me that he was a native of Cornwall, and that his name was Treveltham; but that here, following a custom which was universal among the Buccaneers, he had changed it for a nickname, or nomme de guerre, by which only he was known to the generality of his comrades. His Christian appellation being Nicholas, he was called Nicky Hamstring, a whimsical appellation, which set me laughing heartily. He had been on the coast since the end of the last rainy season, and liked the life well. The bay on the banks of which we were, he told me, was the estuary of a river called Le Marmousette, and about it there were much wild cattle. The English and the French Buccaneers lived here generally good friends. ‘Not but,’ said he, ‘that sometimes when the rum has gone round, there is not a brawl, and it may be a stick with a knife; but after all the island is big enough for all, and the cattle are many enough for all, and so we love each other, and hate Jack Spaniard.’ While we were talking, we heard loud shouting and singing without, great roaring choruses both in French and English, and oftimes a Lingua Franca, which was a compound of the two, but the burden of all being words of hatred and contempt of the Spaniards. Once or twice I thought the singers would have entered our hut, for the door had neither lock nor bar, but they did not, and as the night wore on, everything became silent except the dogs, who, having been unloosed from their kennels to act as sentinels, growled hoarsely along the beach. Having drunk and talked as much as we chose, we went to bed, I having, indeed, been asleep all through several long stories which Nicky recounted of the exploits and bravery of the Buccaneers, my drowsiness being easily excused to my companion by the long journey I had come that day.