Among the Brigands Page 13

  CHAPTER XII.

  _The Waking of David.--A glorious Scene.--A Temptation.--Davidembarks upon the wide wide Sea.--Youth at the Prow and Pleasure atthe Helm.--A daring Navigator.--A baffled and confoundedNavigator.--Lost! Lost! Lost!--Despair of David.--At the Mercy ofWind and Sea.--The Isle of the Brigands.--The Brigand Chief._

  On the morning of that day David had waked very early, feelingrefreshed with his slumbers, and not at all inclined to prolongthem. The others were all asleep, and the house was silent. As helay he could hear the gentle ripple of the water upon the beach,and feel the sweet, balmy air of morning as it tanned his cheeks.For some little time he lay enjoying his situation, and then jumpedout of bed and went to the window.

  Immediately in front of him lay the Bay of Naples, a dark blueexpanse, with its border of green shores and white cities, overhungby a sky whose hue rivalled that of the sea beneath. The beauty ofthe scene was so exquisite that it called him forth, and unableany longer to remain within doors, he dressed himself and walkedout. On his way out he met no one, for all were still asleep. Hehad to unlock the door to let himself out, and when outside he sawthat the street was as deserted as the interior of the hotel.

  Standing at the door, he saw the eastern sky all ruddy and glowing.The sun was not yet up, but these hues indicated its approach, andannounced that it was at hand. The fertile plains, all covered withvineyards, spread afar, extending from the outskirts of the townto the slopes of the mountains, which in the distance rose upgrandly, their sides covered with groves, and resting in darkshadows. There, too, was Vesuvius, as ever, monarch of the scene;and the smoke that hung over its summit stood revealed in a blackmass against the blue sky.

  David left the hotel, and, after walking a few paces, turned hissteps towards the sea-shore. Here the attractions were greaterthan on the land, for the blue expanse of water spread itself outbefore him, encircled by shores and islands, and all the congregatedglories of the Bay of Naples were there in one view before hiseyes. There was a beach here of fine pebbles, which sloped gentlyinto the water, and upon this beach a number of boats were drawnup. After wandering along the beach for a little distance, Davidentered one of these boats, and sat down. It was a small boat,with: a mast and sail, the latter of which was loosely furled. HereDavid sat and looked out upon the water.

  The glorious scene filled his whole soul with enthusiastic delight.Upon that deep blue surface his eye was attracted by several whitesails far away, that moved to and fro. At that moment it seemed tohim that to move thus over such a sea would be equal to a bird'sflight in the blue of heaven; and as he watched the boats he longedto be in them.

  Suddenly he thought of the boat in which he was. Could he not havea little sail up and down along the shore? True, he did not knowhow to sail a boat, but he could learn; and this seemed as good atime to learn as any other. He did not know the owner, but on hisreturn he could pay him what the excursion might be worth. He couldfloat over this glorious water, and move up and down within easyreach of the shore, so as to land whenever it might be desirable.

  David was not at all an enterprising boy, or an adventurous one.He was essentially quiet, methodical, and conservative. It was notbecause this sail was a risky thing that he tried it, but ratherbecause it seemed so perfectly safe. There was a breeze,--he feltit,--and the progress of the boats, afar off on the water, tantalizedhim and tempted him on. The result was, that without taking muchtime to think about it, David yielded to the inclination of themoment, and pushing the boat from the land into the water, he letloose the sail; and then seating himself in the stern, he preparedto glide over the water.

  About sailing David knew absolutely nothing. He was not evenacquainted with the theory of sailing; nor did he know, how, or onwhat principle, a sail-boat moves. About steering he was equallyignorant, nor did he know how a boat obeys its rudder. But he knewthat the one who sails a boat sits in the stern, and holds thetiller; so David did the same, holding the tiller in his righthand, and the sheets in his left.

  The wind was not very strong, and it happened to be blowing insuch a way that, as he unfurled the sail, it filled at once, andthe boat moved lightly and pleasantly along. The motion filledDavid with delight. He saw himself borne on past the shore, ata gentle rate, and felt that the moment was one of supremehappiness. Thus, holding sheet and tiller, he resigned himselfto the joy of the occasion.

  The wind was moderate, and there was nothing whatever in the movementof the boat to excite the slightest uneasiness. The wavelets dashedpleasantly against the bows, and the course of the boat remainedsufficiently straight to keep her sail filled. David saw thatwhatever the secret of navigation might be, he had unconsciouslystumbled Upon it; and finding that the boat was doing so admirably,he was very careful to hold the tiller straight, and not to moveit to either side. So he leaned back, and luxuriated in the pleasantmotion, and looked up at the deep blue sky that bent above him,and around at the wide expanse of water, the green verdurous hills,the vine-clad meadows, and the purple mountains.

  From time to time he noticed, with satisfaction, that hiscourse ran along the shore, parallel to it, as it appeared.He noticed, however, that he was now farther away from it thanwhen he started; but as yet the distance did not seem excessive;in fact, it seemed on the whole preferable, since it gave hima finer view. Before him the shore ran on until it terminatedon a headland, and David thought that this would be a goodplace to fix as the limit of his voyage.

  Never was any human being more utterly out of place than David inthis sail-boat, and never was any human being more serenelyunconscious of his unfitness. David's frame of mind was one ofcalm, beatific enjoyment. He was quite unconscious of the increaseof the distance between his boat and the shore, which grew greaterevery moment, and equally unobservant of the lapse of time. Intimes of great enjoyment the hours fly quickly by, and in David'shigh exaltation of feeling the time thus fled.

  At length, even in the midst of his happiness, the sober practicalthought obtruded itself of time and space. How long had he beenout? How much time would he have? How far had he gone? He lookedat his watch. To his utter amazement and consternation, he foundthat it was seven o'clock--the time fixed for breakfast. He hadbeen sailing for two hours at least. As to distance, he could notgrapple with that thought, but turned hastily, and looked back.That look gave him but little satisfaction. He could see a line ofwhite at the skirts of the sea; but whether it was Castellamare,or Naples itself, he was unable to guess.

  It was a wide, sharp; and painful awakening from his blissand serene delight, and it was an effectual one. No more placidgliding now; no careless voyaging. Two hours! Seven o'clock!Already they were at breakfast, and waiting for him. They werewondering about his absence. And when could he join themagain? Two hours! If it had taken two hours to come thus far,it would also take fully as much time to go back. Go back?And where should he go, or how could he get back?

  Thus far, David's idea about his course, if he can be said to havehad an idea, was, that it lay along the shore, and that somehow hecould go back as easily as he had come. But now that the necessityfor going back was upon him, he instantly became aware of his utterignorance, for he had not the faintest idea how to turn the boat.There was no time for delay, however. Something had to be done,and that immediately. David knew this much at least, that a boatcould be turned by means of the rudder; so he began to experimentupon this part of the vessel. He palled the rudder towards him.The boat turned, and as it turned the sail began to flap, and toss,and snap, in such a way that he grew exceedingly nervous. Suddenlya puff of wind came, and the sheets where whipped out of hisnerveless hand, while the sail thus loosened blew forward.

  David's heart quaked at this, and he knew not what to do. With somevague idea of bringing the boat back to her former position, andbeginning all over again, he pulled the tiller first to one sideand then to the other; but to his dismay he found that the boat nolonger obeyed it. Then he tried to get possession of the sheetsagain, and, clumsily crawling forward,
he managed to secure them;after which he crawled back to the stern, and clinging to thesheets, began, as well as his nervousness would allow him, to trya series of experiments. First, he pulled the tiller towards him.At this the boat came up to the wind, and resumed her formercourse. But this was the very course on which he did not wishto go; so he pushed the tiller from him. Upon this the boat fellaway; and the flapping, jerking, whipping, and snapping, whichhad so alarmed him before, recommenced, and alarmed him more thanever. For some time he continued this, until at length, as hebrought the boat up to the wind once more, there came a fresherpuff than any which had thus far blown, and the boat lay far overon her side. Terrified out of his wits, David had just senseenough to put her off, and then dropping sheets and tiller, hesank back and looked all around in a panic.

  This puff was the beginning of a somewhat stronger breeze--a breezewhich would have rejoiced the heart of a sailor, but which carriednothing but terror to the heart of David. What to do now he didnot know, nor for some moments did he even think. The wind to hisinexperienced senses seemed a hurricane, and the wavelets seemedformidable waves. For a time he lay paralyzed in the stern, expectingevery instant to be ingulfed; but as the time passed, and his doomwas delayed, he began to recover himself, and think about what heshould do next.

  To him, in his terror and anxiety, the first necessity seemed tobe to get rid of that dangerous sail. As it flapped in the windit seemed to endanger the boat. At all hazards that must be furledor taken down. So once more, by a mighty effort, he crawled forward,and grasping the flying sheets, he drew them in, and tied the sailto the mast, performing, the work in a manner which was very clumsy,yet quite efficient. The upper part of the sail still remainedfree, bagging out a little, like a balloon; but the lower part wastied up in a way that would defy the tempest itself. After thisDavid felt safer, and crawling back, he drew a long breath, andthrew a fearful glance around.

  Some time had been taken up with these experiments in navigation,and as David looked, he saw that the result had been not to bringhim nearer to Castellamare, but to take him farther out from theshore. The nearest land to him now was an island, but what islandhe could not say. As his eyes wandered around, they saw nothingthat was familiar. A mountain appeared over the land astern, andthe smoke on its summit showed that it must be Vesuvius; but ithad a different appearance altogether from that with which he wasfamiliar. He could form no idea of the course which he had taken,and could only guess, in a general way, where Castellamare might be.

  Some time before, he had been troubled at the thought that he wouldkeep his party waiting; but now he had no trouble whatever on thatscore. His only trouble or anxiety was about himself. He felt asthough he was in a position of tremendous danger, and was beingtossed about by pitiless waves, which were hemming him in on everyside, like ravening beasts of prey. In reality the pitiless waveswere scarcely waves at all, the breeze was only moderate, and therewas no possible danger; but David did not know this, and so hesuffered as much as though his imaginary danger was real.

  Meanwhile a portion of the sail had been left loose, as has beensaid, and afforded something for the breeze to act upon. Theconsequence was, that the boat moved along slowly before the wind,and gradually approached the island which David had already noticed.For some time he remained with his eyes fixed upon the land astern,and Vesuvius. When he withdrew them and looked around, the islandwas much nearer. He began to see that he was approaching thatisland, and that before long he would reach it. This prospectexcited in his mind the utmost hope, and all his attention was nowdirected towards that place. The time passed slowly, but it didpass; and at length, about three hours after he had first tried toturn the boat, he found himself so close to the island that hecould step ashore.

  It was now about ten o'clock. The place where David landed was apebbled beach, bordered by rocks, above which grew trees. As heapproached the island he saw houses and people. The houses wereplain and small, and the people seemed laboring in the fields.David's habit of considering all Italian peasants as brigands nowexcited in his mind a fear which brought fresh anxieties. On thislonely island the whole population might be brigands, who wouldtreat him as lawful prey, and from whom he could hope to fare nobetter than those early shipwrecked mariners in these seas aboutwhom he had read and studied so much. He congratulated himself thathis boat had borne him to a sequestered spot like this, where hemight be secure from observation, and have time to look forth andsee what manner of men these island brigands might be.

  And so, full of anxiety, David drew his boat cautiously upon thebeach as far as he could, and secured it; after which he stole upto the shelter of the trees and rocks, so as to reconnoitre. Thetrees grew along the edge of the rocks, which rose above the beach,to a height of about twenty feet, and formed a grove, which wassufficiently dense for David to feel secure from observation. Thegrove ran along the edge of the bank for some distance, bat was ofno great depth; and David, as he peered through the trees, couldsee an opening beyond, and the glimpse of white buildings. Here,then, David found himself close to the dreaded neighborhood of thebrigands of the island, and it was with a feeling of great trepidationthat he recognized the frailty of his present shelter, theinsufficiency of his place of concealment, and the necessity thatthere was of leaving it before long.

  To quit it and communicate with the inhabitants of the place, heplainly saw, could not long be avoided. He had as yet eaten nothing,and already he began to feel the cravings of hunger. He would alsohave to take measures to effect his return to his friends. Hishunger and his desire to get back to his friends alike made himdesperate; and so, after a few minutes of concealment and fearfulinspection of the scene, he began to move forward cautiously, soas to make a more thorough survey of the open ground on the otherside of the grove.

  Stealing forward as noiselessly and as warily as possible, andkeeping himself carefully under the shelter of the heavier foliageand denser underbrush, David worked his way on, and at length foundhimself on the other side of the grove, where he could peer forththrough the leaves of a laurel bush upon the scene.

  He saw here a green meadow, which ran up a moderate declivity tillit reached a house. The house was a small cottage, of simple andneat appearance, and it stood not more than a hundred yards fromthe edge of the grove. Cattle were feeding in the meadow. To theright was a vineyard, and on the left an olive grove. On one sideof the olive grove there ran a row of cactuses, up from the banktowards the house.

  All this David took, in at a glance; but he also saw somethingwhich made his heart, beat quick with excitement and anxiety.

  He saw a man!

  The man was standing in front of the house. He was a big, burly,broad-shouldered, bearded ruffian, with a red shirt, and a slouchingfelt hat. A short pipe was in his mouth, stuck into the mass ofhair which covered the lower part of his face. His hair was long,and dark, and glossy, and curling; falling in rich clusters belowhis broad felt hat. He had gaiters and stout shoes, and was engagedupon a rifle, which he seemed to be cleaning.

  At the sight of this great, big, bearded, Burly, broad-shoulderedruffian, David's' heart gave a great leap, and suddenly seemed tostop beating. He sat as though petrified, crouching low, as thoughto avoid observation.

  This, then, he thought, was what he had feared, and while tryingto avoid the brigands, he had stumbled upon the chief of them all.In that formidable figure he recognized the true brigand style,and in that bearded face, with its bushy eyebrows and slouchinghat, he saw what seemed to him, from that distance, like the ferocityof the implacable Fra Diavolo himself.

  So overwhelmed was he, that for some time he could not move. Atlast he felt a wild impulse to fly. He started back, determiningto seek his boat once more. So hurried was he that he was lesscautious than before, and catching his foot in a long tendril ofsome creeper, he fell. In falling, he struck his hand against somecactus or other thorny plant, and the spine pierced his flesh,causing severe pain. In spite of himself a cry burst from him. Thecry was instantl
y repressed, and David, raising himself, preparedto continue his retreat. But first he looked fearfully around tosee whether his cry had discovered him.

  As he did so his heart sunk within him.

  The brigand chief had heard him!

  He was walking straight towards him!