Across the Spanish Main: A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen BessCollingwood, Harry
General
Across the Spanish Main: A Tale of the Sea in the Days of Queen Bess
Collingwood, Harry
Adventure stories; Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Sea stories
Roger raised his throbbing head painfully, and tried to look round, but
could nowhere discover the presence of his dear friend. He shouted his
name: "Harry; Harry, where are you?" but there was no reply. Only
somewhere above him he could hear the roar of cannon, hoarse cries of
command, angry shouts, and the trampling feet of many men.
Looking about him, he perceived that he lay in a cabin of some sort,
very richly furnished, but lit by a light so dim that he could only make
out objects in it very indistinctly. There was no port-hole or
sky-light of any description in the apartment, which led him to the
conclusion that he must be in some room far away below the water-line.
This impression was heightened by the fact that exterior noises came to
his ears muffled, as by distance.
In the cabin itself there was no sound, save the gnawing of a rat
somewhere on the floor below him. On the walls he could dimly discern
two or three pictures, and just above his bunk was a portrait of a lady.
There were also several star trophies of weapons arranged at intervals;
and at one end of the cabin--which was of unusually spacious
dimensions--stood a large cabinet or escritoire, one of the drawers of
which had apparently been pulled out hastily, as papers were to be seen
protruding from it, and several documents had fallen to the floor.
Oh, how he wished he might venture to rise from his bunk and make an
investigation of the cabin! But he was afraid to attempt any such
exploit, for his head ached so atrociously, and he felt so deadly sick
and giddy from the anguish of his wound and loss of blood, that he felt
certain if he exerted himself but ever so little he would sink helpless
and insensible to the deck. While thinking thus he abstractedly raised
his hand to his head, and thus discovered that his wound had been
bandaged, evidently by a skilled hand, for the wrappings were all neatly
put on, adjusted, and sewn, instead of being merely tied. This was so
far satisfactory, for it seemed to point to the fact that he had fallen
into friendly hands, although his returning senses, enabled him to come
to the conclusion that he must certainly be aboard a Spanish ship. With
a sigh of relief he was preparing to pull the coverlet over him and lie
down once more, when his ear caught the sound of footsteps approaching.
He was just about to shout to the person or persons, whoever they might
be, and enquire as to where he was, and whether they could afford him
any information as to what had become of Harry, when his quick ear
caught one or two words of the conversation which the unknown persons
were carrying on. It was in Spanish. Then his surmise was a true one,
and he was indeed aboard one of the enemy's ships. With a stifled cry
he flung himself down in the bunk, and pulled the coverlet over him once
again, closing his eyes, and simulating heavy breathing, in the hope of
persuading the new-comers that he was in a deep slumber.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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