The Battle and the Breeze by Robert Michael Ballantyne (best summer reads TXT) 📖

man, stepped back, and, looking at Bill, pointed to the cell with his finger, as much as to say, "Go in."

Bill looked at him and at the soldiers for a moment, clenched his fists, and drew his breath short, but as one of the guard quietly brought his musket to the charge, he heaved a sigh, bent his head, and, passing under the low doorway, entered the cell.

"Are we to stop long here, Mister Turnkey?" asked Ben, as he was about to follow.

The man vouchsafed no reply, but again pointed to the cell.

"I've always heered ye wos a purlite nation," said Ben, as he followed his messmate; "but there's room for improvement."

The door was shut, and the two friends stood for a few minutes in the centre of their cell, gazing in silence around the blank walls.

The appearance of their prison was undoubtedly depressing, for there was nothing whatever in it to arrest the eye, except a wooden bench in one corner, and the small grated window which was situated near the top of one of the walls.

"What d'ye think o' this?" asked Ben, after some time, sitting down on the bench.

"I think I won't be able to stand it," said Bill, flinging himself recklessly down beside his friend, and thrusting his hands deep into his trouser pockets.

"Don't take on so bad, messmate," said Ben, in a reproving tone. "Gittin' sulky with fate ain't no manner o' use. As our messmate Flinders used to say, `Be aisy, an' if ye can't be aisy, be as aisy as ye can.' There's wot I calls sound wisdom in that."

"Very true, Ben; nevertheless the sound wisdom in _that_ won't avail to get us out o' _this_."

"No doubt, but it'll help us to bear this with equablenimity while we're here, an' set our minds free to think about the best way o' makin' our escape."

At this Bill made an effort to throw off the desperate humour which had taken possession of him, and he so far succeeded that he was enabled to converse earnestly with his friend.

"Wot are we to do?" asked Bill gloomily.

"To see, first of all, what lies outside o' that there port-hole," answered Ben. "Git on my shoulders, Bill, an' see if ye can reach it."

Ben stood against the wall, and his friend climbed on his shoulders, but so high was the window, that he could not reach to within a foot of it. They overcame this difficulty, however, by dragging the bench to the wall, and standing upon it.

"I see nothin'," said Bill, "but the sky an' the sea, an' the prison-yard, which appears to me to be fifty or sixty feet below us."

"That's not comfortin'," observed Ben, as he replaced the bench in its corner.

"What's your advice now?" asked Bill.

"That we remain on our good behaviour a bit," replied Ben, "an' see wot they means to do with us, an' whether a chance o' some sort won't turn up."

"Well, that's a good plan--anyhow, it's an easy one to begin with--so we'll try it for a day or two."

In accordance with this resolve, the two sailors called into play all the patience, prudence, and philosophy of which they were possessed, and during the three days that followed their incarceration, presented such a meek, gentle, resigned aspect; that the stoniest heart of the most iron-moulded turnkey ought to have been melted; but the particular turnkey of that prison was made of something more or less than mortal mould, for he declined to answer questions,--declined even to open his lips, or look as if he heard the voices of his prisoners, and took no notice of them farther than to fetch their food at regular intervals and take away the empty plates. He, however, removed their manacles; but whether of his own good-will or by order they did not know.

"Now, Ben," said Bill on the evening of the third day, as they sat beside each other twirling their thumbs, "this here sort o' thing will never do. I mean for to make a dash when the turnkey comes in the mornin'; will you help me?"

"I'm yer man," said Ben; "but how d'ye mean to set about it?"

"Well, somewhat in this fashion:--W'enever he opens the door I'll clap my hand on his mouth to stop his pipe, and you'll slip behind him, throw yer arms about him, and hold on till I tie a handkerchief over his mouth. Arter that we'll tie his hands and feet with whatever we can git hold of--his own necktie, mayhap--take the keys from him, and git out the best way we can."

"H'm; but wot if we don't know the right turnin's to take, an' run straight into the jaws of other turnkeys, p'r'aps, or find other doors an' gates that his bunch o' keys won't open?"

"Why, then, we'll just fail, that's all; an' if they should scrag us for it, no matter."

"It's a bad look-out, but I'll try," said Ben.

Next morning this plan was put in execution. When the turnkey entered the cell, Bill seized him and clapped his hand on his mouth. The man struggled powerfully, but Ben held him in a grasp so tight that he was as helpless as an infant.

"Keep yer mind easy, Mounseer, we won't hurt 'e," said Ben, while his comrade was busy gagging him.

"Now, then, lift him into the corner," whispered Bill.

Ben and he carried the turnkey, whom they had tied hand and foot with handkerchiefs and neckties, into the interior of the cell, left him there, locked the door on him, and immediately ran along the passage, turned a corner, and came in sight of an iron grating, on the other side of which sat a man in a dress similar to that of the turnkey they had left behind them. They at once drew back and tried to conceal themselves, but the man had caught sight of them, and gave the alarm.

Seeing that their case was desperate, Bill rushed at the grating with all his force and threw himself heavily against it. The whole building appeared to quiver with the shock; but the caged tiger has a better chance of smashing his iron bars than poor Bill Bowls had. Twice he flung his whole weight against the barrier, and the second time Ben helped him; but their efforts were in vain. A moment later and a party of soldiers marched up to the grating on the outside. At the same time a noise was heard at the other end of the passage. Turning round, the sailors observed that another gate had been opened, and a party of armed men admitted, who advanced with levelled muskets.

Seeing this, Bill burst into a bitter laugh, and flung down the keys with a force that caused the long passage to echo again, as he exclaimed--

"It's all up with us, Ben. We may as well give in at once."

"That's so," said Ben sadly, as he suffered himself to be handcuffed, after which he and his companion in misfortune were conducted back to their cell.


CHAPTER NINE.


BILL AND BEN SET THEIR BRAINS TO STEEP WITH UNCONQUERABLE PERSEVERANCE.

In its slow but steady revolution, the wheel of fortune had now apparently brought Bill Bowls and Ben Bolter to the lowest possible point; and the former of these worthies consoled himself with the reflection that, as things could scarcely get worse with them, it was probable they would get better. His friend disputed this point.

"It's all very well," said Ben, crossing his legs and clasping his hands over his knees, as he swayed himself to and fro, "to talk about havin' come to the wust; but we've not got to that p'int by a long way. Why, suppose that, instead o' bein' here, sound in wind and limb, though summat unfort'nate in regard to the matter o' liberty,--suppose, I say, that we wos lyin' in hospital with our right legs an' mayhap our left arms took off with a round shot."

"Oh, if you go for to _supposin'_," said Bill, "you may suppose anything. Why not suppose at once that we was lyin' in hospital with both legs and arms took off by round shot, an' both eyes put out with canister, an' our heads an' trunks carried away by grape-shot?"

"I didn't suppose that," said Ben quietly, "because that would be the best instead o' the wust state we could come to, seein' that we'd know an' care nothin' about it. Hows'ever, here we are, low enough, an' havin' made an assault on the turnkey, it's not likely we'll get much favour at the hands of the Mounseers; so it comes to this, that we must set our brains to steep, an' see if we can't hit upon some dodge or other to escape."

"That's what we must do," assented Bill Bowls, knitting his brows, and gazing abstractedly at the blank wall opposite. "To git out o' this here stone jug is what I've set my heart on, so the sooner we set about it the better."

"Just so," said Ben. "Well, then, let's begin. Wot d'ye propose fust?"

To this Bill replied that he must think over it. Accordingly, he did think over it, and his comrade assisted him, for the space of three calendar months, without any satisfactory result. But the curious thing about it was that, while these men revolved in their minds every conceivable plan with unflagging eagerness, and were compelled to give up each, after brooding over it for a considerable time, finding that it was unworkable, they were not dispirited, but rather became more intense in their meditations, and ingenious as well as hopeful in their devisings.

"If we could only git hold of a file to cut a bar o' the winder with, an' a rope to let ourselves down with, I think we could manage to git over the walls somehow."

"If we was to tear our jackets, trousers, vests, and shirts into strips, an' make a rope of 'em, it might be long enough," suggested Bill.

"That's so, boy, but as we would be stark naked before we got it finished, I fear the turnkey would suspec' there wos somethin' wrong somehow."

Ben Bolter sighed deeply as he spoke, because at that moment a ray of sunshine shot through the little window, and brought the free fresh air and the broad blue sea vividly to his remembrance. For the first time he experienced a deep sinking of the heart, and he looked at his comrade with an expression of something like despair.

"Cheer up," said Bill, observing and thoroughly understanding the look. "Never say die, as long as there's a--shot--in--"

He was too much depressed and listless to finish the sentence.

"I wonder," resumed Ben, "if the Mounseers treat all their prisoners of war as bad as they treat us."

"Don't think they do," replied Bill. "I've no doubt it's 'cause we sarved 'em as we did when they first put us in quod."

"Oh, if they would only give us summat to do!" exclaimed Ben, with sudden vehemence.

It seemed as if the poor fellow's prayer were directly answered, for at that moment the door opened, and the governor, or some other official of the prison, entered the cell.

"You must vork," he said,