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We very quickly told him our adventures, and he then informed us that he had played the same trick on the pirates which they had played on Lieutenant Hallton, and that having recaptured the "Arrow" he had carried her safely back to England, and that he had now just arrived on the coast, the only misfortune which had happened to him being the death of a young man who had come out as supercargo.
He is a good cook, and if you order him, he will prepare supper for you, gentlemen. He knows where all the provisions are stowed and will speedily carry out your directions." On this being reported to Mr Hallton, he immediately ordered supper to be prepared in the chief cabin.
On going on deck, we found Mr Hallton, the second lieutenant of the "Rover," standing aft, giving directions to heave the dead bodies overboard and to collect the wounded, to attend to whom he summoned several of the most respectable-looking of their shipmates. The "Vulture" had not suffered much in her rigging, and was now hove to under a closely-reefed main-topsail.
The frigate showed signal lights, and the lieutenant ordered ours to be hoisted in return. Captain Roderick had hitherto remained lashed to the mast, but he could not, without cruelty, be left there all night, and it was necessary to decide what should be done with him. Lieutenant Hallton considered that it would be sufficient to shut him up in one of the cabins and place a sentry over him.
I had some hopes that Mr Hallton, who was a first-rate seaman, might devise some means for escaping. I first consulted Charley about setting the captain at liberty, but he thought that it would not be prudent to do so until the last moment, when it would be right to give him a chance of saving his life with the rest of us. We soon gained the deck.
"Oh, maybe for half an hour, maybe for less," he answered. "The current is sending her along at the rate of two or three knots an hour, and we may fall in with some headland which we are unable to weather, or we may find ourselves standing across a wide bay which will lengthen the time before she drives on shore." "At all events, I will tell my brother and Mr Hallton.
Mr Hallton, though supposed to be a brave man, was much more agitated than was Charley. "The ship cast on this abominable coast in less than half an hour!" he exclaimed. "Why, even down here, the sound of the breakers reaches us." "Well, Dick, if the worst comes to the worst, we must have a struggle for life," said my brother calmly. "You stick to me, and I'll do my best to help you.
Had Mr Hallton and Charley been armed, we might have made an effort to release them, but they had both been deprived of their swords and I felt sure that Harry, Tubbs, and I would be unsuccessful, and only make matters worse. The seamen, having now bound the arms of the two officers behind them, led them into an inner cabin, where, shutting the door, they locked and bolted it.
Mr Hallton, the second lieutenant of the `Rover, our frigate, was inquiring for the captain of this craft, when he was told that he must either have been killed or fallen overboard, but one of his crew suggested that he might have gone below. Another then owned that he had heard the captain say, that sooner than fall into the hands of an enemy, he would blow the ship up.
Mr Hallton, convinced that we could not do so, shouted out, "Down with the helm shorten sail let go the anchor let fly everything." "Who dares give orders on board this ship?" cried the mate. The crew, however, were convinced that the first order was the wisest. The tacks, sheets, and halyards were let go, the stoppers of the cable cut, the helm put down to bring her up to the wind.
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