As the Valiant swung about and the warping operations became apparent to the men on the other ships it was assumed by them that, panic–stricken by the fate of their captain, the crew of the brigantine had resolved on flight. From the decks of the Hermes a derisive valedictory cheer rang out. But scarcely had it died away, and just as it was being taken up by the Avenger, it was answered by the roar of ten guns at point–blank range.
The Hermes rocked and shuddered under the impact of that unexpected broadside, and the fierce outcries of her men were mingled with the hoarse voices of the startled sea–birds that rose to circle in alarm.
Blood was on deck again almost before the reverberations had rolled away. He peered through the rising cloud of smoke and smiled. The rudder of the Hermes had been shattered, her mainmast was broken and hung precariously suspended in her shrouds, whilst a rent showed in the bulwarks of her forecastle.
«And now?» quoth Trenam in uneasy excitement.
Blood looked round. They were moving steadily if slowly down the short channel, and were already almost in the open sea. A steady breeze was blowing from the north. «Crowd on sail, and let her run before the wind.»
«They'll follow,» said the young mariner. «Why, so I trust. But not yet awhile. Take a look at their plight.»
It was only the that Trenam understood precisely what Blood had done. With her broken rudder and shattered mainmast, the Hermes, whilst being herself unmanageable, was blocking the way and making it impossible for the raging Easterling to get past her and attack the Valiant.
Trenam perceived and admired, but was still far from easy. «If you've invited pursuit, it's true that you've certainly delayed it. But it will surely come, and we shall be as surely sunk when it does. It's just what that devil Easterling desires.»
«Indeed, and I hope so; and, anyway, I've quickened those same desires of his.»
They had picked up the crew of the longboat, whilst the Indian canoes could be seen making off to the north along the reef. The Valiant was now running before the wind and Gallows Key was dropping swiftly astern. All hands were on deck. From the pooprail, where he leaned beside Trenam, Blood spoke to the man at the whipstaff below.
«Put up the helm. We go about.» Perceiving Trenam's alarm, he smiled. «Quiet you. Have faith in me, and man the larboard guns. They'll not yet have disentagled themselves, and we'll give them a salute in passing. Faith now, ye may trust me. It's by no means the first action I've fought, and I know the fool I'm engaging. It won't have occurred to him that we might have the impudence to return, and I'll wager your share of Morgan's treasure that he won't have so much as opened his ports as yet.»
It fell out as he foretold. When they ran in, close–hauled, they saw that the Hermes had only just been warped aside to give passage to the Avenger, which with sprit–sail, sweeps, and the ebb to assist her, was crawling towards the channel.
Easterling must have rubbed his eyes at this reappearance of the Valiant, which he was imagining in full flight; he must have ground his strong white teeth when she hung there an instant with slatting sails and poured a broadside athwart his decks before going off again on a north–easterly tack. He replied in haste and ineffectively with his chasers, and whilst the mess made by the Valiant's guns was being cleared up, he settled down vindictively to a pursuit which must end in the sinking of the audacious brigantine with every hand aboard.
The Valiant was perhaps a mile away to the northeast when Trenam beheld the Avenger emerge from the narrow roadstead and take the open sea to come ploughing after them with crowded yards. It was a dismaying vision. He turned to Captain Blood.
«And now, Captain? What remains?»
«To go about again,» was the surprising answer. «Bid the helmsman steer for the northernmost point of the Key yonder.»
«That will bring us within range.»
«No matter. We'll run the gauntlet of his fire. At need we can round the point. But I've a notion the need will not present itself.»
They went about, and ran in once more, Blood scanning the rocky coast of the island the while through the telescope. Trenam stood fretful at his elbow.
«What do you look for, Captain?» he wondered with faint hope.
«My Indian friends. They've made good speed. They've gone. All should be well.»
To Trenam it seemed that things would be anything but well. The Avenger had veered a point nearer to the wind, so as to shorten the work of intercepting them. From her forward ports a gun boomed, and a round shot flung up the spray half a cable's length astern of the Valiant.
«He's getting the range,» said Blood indifferently.
«Aye,» agreed Trenam with bitter dryness. «We've let you have your way unquestioned, Captain. But what's to be the end?»
«I fancy it's coming yonder under full sail,» said Captain Blood, and he pointed with the telescope.
Round the northern point of Gallows Key came a great red–hulled ship under a mountain of canvas that gleamed like snow in the noontide sunshine. Veering south as she appeared, she swept majestically on before the wind, a thing of beauty and of power, from gilded beak–head to lofty poop–lantern. She was abeam of the Valiant between the brigantine and island, before the dumbfounded Trenam found his voice, and before the voices of the crew were raised to cheer and cheer again.
Pale with excitement, his eyes sparkling, Trenam swung to Captain Blood. «The Arabella!»
Blood smiled upon him quizzically. «To be sure ye supposed I swam here, or crossed the ocean in a canoe; or may be ye thought I wanted to be chased by Easterling just for the fun of running away and the joy of being drowned at the end of it. Ye hadn't thought about these things maybe. Neither, had Easterling. But he's thinking about them now, so he is. Thinking hard, I dare swear.»
But Easterling was doing nothing of the kind. His wits were paralysed. In the madness of despair, seeing himself beset by that formidable ship, which, moreover, had the weather gauge of him, he attempted to run for shelter back to the harbour from which he had been lured. Once there, with the guns of the Hermes to support his own, he might have held the narrow roadstead against all comers. But he should have known that he would never be allowed to reach it. When he ignored the shot athwart his bows, summoning him to strike his colours, a broadside of twenty heavy guns crashed into his exposed flank, and wrought such damage in it that he was bereft of even the satisfaction of replying. The Arabella, well handled by old Wolverstone, who was in command of her, went promptly about, and at still closer range poured in a second broadside to complete the business. Hard hit between wind and water, the Avenger was seen to be settling down by the head.
A sound like a wail arose from the deck of the Valiant. It startled Blood.
«What is it? What do they cry?»
«The treasure!» Trenam answered him. «Morgan's treasure!»
Blood frowned. «Faith, Wolverstone must ha' forgotten it in his fury.» Then the frown cleared. He sighed and shrugged. «Ah well! It's gone now, so it has. Bad cess to it.»
The Arabella hove to and lowered her boats to pick up the survivors struggling in the water. Easterling, lacking the courage to drown, was amongst them, and by Blood's direction he was brought aboard the Valiant. Thus was the iron driven deep into his soul. But deeper still was it to be driven when he stepped on to the deck of Pike's ship to find himself confronting Captain Blood. It had been no bogey, then, with which Pike's last words had threatened him. He recoiled as if at last, and for once in his life, afraid. The dark eyes smouldered in his grey face with the mingled fury and terror to be seen in those of a trapped animal.