Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Conga's Disciples
If Fasquez, Philip, and Maurice had gone to the west of Darden Island, they would have found that the coast there was very different from the coast between Cape Excalibur and Cape Several.
This part of the coast is entirely a precipice, always two hundred feet high, most of it extremely steep, penetrating to the bottom, and constantly battered by furious waves, even in fair weather.
There is no vegetation on the cliff, and there are thousands of seabirds inhabiting the rocky caves on the cliff; the reefs outside the cliff are in arrays, and some of them stretch out to two nautical miles into the sea at low tide.Among these reefs, there are several waterways, which are impossible for anyone except the lightest boat to sail through.Scattered and scattered sandbars, like a carpet, had some sparse aquatic plants growing on them, and the ground was full of shells, which had been crushed to pieces under the tremendous pressure of the tide.
There are countless caves on the cliff. The entrance of the caves is very narrow, and the caves are deep, dry, and dark. Even the wind and rain cannot get in. Even in the spring and autumn equinoxes, those terrible waves cannot flood here. People have to find these caves. , You must climb over mountains and mountains, and climb over many huge rocks and chaotic rocks.There are countless channels leading to the top of the cliff, and climbing is very difficult, but to reach the plateau in the center of the island, you have to climb a peak over 2,000 feet high.The distance in between was at least fifteen miles away.On the whole, this side of the island is much wilder than the east coast beyond Elgow Bay.
Although the west of Starn Island is shaded by the islands of Tierra del Fuego and the Magellan Sea, it is not attacked by the northwest wind, and the turbulent wind and waves along the coast are not inferior to other parts of the island. As for the lighthouse, it is equally necessary to build another lighthouse on the Pacific side, which will be much more convenient for ships sailing around Cape Horn to the La Mer Channel.Perhaps the Chilean government has seen the recent measures of the Argentine government, and this matter is already under consideration.
Having said that, it would be very inconvenient for some people if the lighthouse construction was carried out on the east and west sides of Staten Island at the same time: it turned out that there was a group of pirates lurking near Cape San Basiloma on the island; will be seriously threatened.
A few years ago, these desperadoes landed in the port of Elgow Bay.They found a deep cave on the island, just on the cliff, and this cave gave them a place to live, because few boats came from Darden Island, and the group was very safe living here.
There were twelve of them in a group, and there was a guy named Kanga who was the leader of the robbers, and he had a deputy named Cargante.
These people are all from South America, and five of them are of Argentine or Chilean nationality.The rest are probably people from Fuego, who were recruited by Kanga; they only need to cross the Ramell Strait to reach this island, and the terrain of the island is already familiar to them when they come to the island to fish in the sunny season. Understand.
Cargante was a Chilean; in what city or village he was born, in what family he belonged, no one knew: he was about thirty-five to forty years old, of medium height, muscular, and of great strength; Insidious and cunning by nature, he can do all kinds of bad things.
No one knew anything about the life of this bandit chief, and he never mentioned what nationality he was.
Whether his real name was Conga was not even certain.
What is certain is that his name is well known among the people of the Magellan Sea and Tierra del Fuego.When Captain Dumont Duville sailed to the Strait of Magellan with the Astronaub and the Siri and turned down Pikett Port, it is said that he once brought a Patagonian named by this name on board.But whether Conga is a Patagonian is still a question.He did not have the typical spiky features of the natives, nor their narrow forehead, long eyes, and flat nose; nor was he tall.Nay, there was not in his face the gentle expression so often seen on the faces of the inhabitants of the district.
Conga has a very violent nature.You only have to look at his savage face and you'll know right away.Only part of this face was covered by a beard, which was already grey. Although he was only about forty years old, he was a perfect pirate, a sinister thug, and committed all kinds of crimes in his life. Outside the island, there is nowhere to go to.
But how had they survived since Kanga and his gang had lurked on the island?
This is a little recap.
At that time, Conga and his accomplice Cargante committed a series of crimes. If they were caught by the government, they would have to be hanged. Therefore, they escaped from Bentayarina, the main port in the Strait of Magellan, and finally reached Tierra del Fuego. , get rid of those who pursued.
They lived with the local natives and found out about Starn Island. At that time, there was no such lighthouse shining on the island, so there were the most shipwrecks on the island.Needless to say, the island must be full of debris, some of which must be very valuable.Conga and Cargante therefore devised a plan to organize a group of thieves; they selected two or three of the bandits they knew well in Tierra del Fuego, and they recruited ten other natives of their kind.
A locally built boat transported them across the Strait of La Mer.But even though Conga and Cargante were veteran sailors and had sailed the dangerous waters of the Pacific for many years, the ship encountered an unexpected event: as they were struggling to enter the port of Bale, a gust of wind Swinging them back eastward, the sea was so rough that it carried their skiff up to the rocks at Cape Cornett and sank them.
They had to walk to Elgow Bay.As they expected, the island did not disappoint them.All along the coast between Cape Sanjoen and Cape Several was strewn with glistening debris, old and new, bales and bales all smashed, and boxes full of food for the gang. After eating for several months, the firearms, pistols, and bullets were all packed in iron boxes without any damage, gold bars and silver bars worth tens of millions abandoned by wealthy Australian cargo ships, all kinds of furniture, boards, and slats, and occasionally Saw a few skeletons, but no one survived the repeated crashes.
Of course, this sinister Staten Island had long been known among navigators.As long as a ship is driven on its shore by a storm, it is guaranteed to be completely sunk, and no one will survive.
Kanga and his accomplices did not live in the bay, but lived close to the mouth of the East Bay, which was more in line with their plan, because they could always keep an eye on Cape Sangyan.
Kanga accidentally found a cave, which was so big that it could accommodate all the robbers.The entrance of the cave is covered by a large pile of dense seaweed and seaweed; a cliff in the north of the bay just acts as a screen for it, and the whole area is shielded from the cold wind from the sea.They brought into the cave everything that was useful in the drift, like furniture, bedding, clothes, quantities of canned goods, boxes of biscuits, barrels of brandy and wine.Next to the first cave, they found a second cave, which was used to store valuable treasures picked up on the shore: gold, silver, jewels and the like.
Conga's idea was to lure a ship into the bay in the future, load all this looted property on this ship, and return to the Pacific islands of his early piracy.
So far, he has not encountered a chance to strike, so these desperadoes cannot leave Starn Island.True, their fortunes continued to increase within a two-year period.Other ships were also wrecked here, which made them rich.There have been many wrecks which have indeed been caused by them; a common practice of bandits on those treacherous coasts of the Old and New Worlds, who lure ships into wrecks.When the east wind was raging, as soon as they saw a ship on the island, they lit a fire on the reef at night to lure the ship to sink; He came out and was immediately killed by them.
But this gang of gangsters has always been stuck on the island.Conga had succeeded in luring shipwrecks a few times, but had never led them into the Elgow Bay like he would have managed to wreck the ship.Also, few of the captains knew of the harbor, so that hardly any ships sailed into it of their own accord to anchor.
As the days passed and the cave was nearly filled with treasure, looted from wrecked ships, Kanga and his gang grew impatient.Cargante often talked to his leader about his bad luck.
"Living on an island is like a boat on a leeward shore," Cargante said many times, "and we have a hundred thousand worth of stuff ready to go!"
"Yes," Conga answered him, "we must go, whatever the cost."
"When? What can I do?" Cargante asked him back.
But this question was never answered.
"If things go on like this, we will run out of food," Cargant said again. "Even if the fish in the sea are inexhaustible, the beasts may have to. Also, think about the winter on the island." What a taste! My God! To think we've got to live through these winters!"
What can Conga say in answer?He was always a man of few words.But when he thought of being in such a helpless state, he couldn't help but get angry.
No, there was no way—no way.
The original intention of these pirates was to have a boat come into the bay so that they could be robbed by surprise, but now they had no choice but to settle for the next best thing. As long as a small boat from Fuego came to the east coast, Conga could easily take it away. catch.At that time, even if he didn't go out in person, at least Cargante and a Chilean bandit could use this ship to go to the Strait of Magellan; Farr had come and asked, and they had enough money to buy a ship of one hundred and fifty or two hundred tons, and with the assistance of Cargante and a few sailors, sail to Elgow Bay.As long as the ship is safely in the creek, the sailors can easily deal with it, and then this group of pirates can load all their riches on board and sail to the Solomon Islands or the New Hebrides. .
That was the situation at the time, but the situation suddenly changed fifteen months before our story begins.
In early October 1858, a steamboat flying the Argentine flag appeared off the island and managed to sail into the Elgau Bay.
Kanga and his bandits could tell it was a battleship at a glance, so they didn't dare to attack.They covered up all traces, so that there were no people on the island, and they also concealed the exits leading to the two caves. They hid themselves inland and waited for the ship to leave.
This ship was the San Fe, and the engineer who had been commissioned to design the lighthouse on Starn Island was loaded from Buenos Aires, and the site was chosen.
The Herald only stayed in Elgow Bay for eight days, and then sailed away without finding the lair of Conga and his disciples.
However, Cargante once sneaked to the other side of the creek at night, and he actually found out the purpose of the visit to Darden Island, the boss of the San Fe.
A lighthouse is about to be built in Elgow Bay!
It seemed that these gangsters had no choice but to leave their lair on the island, but in fact, if they could, they would have done so long ago.
So Conga took the only available countermeasure at the moment.He was already familiar with the area around Cape San Basiloma on the west side of the island, and there were other caves in which to hide.Although the intelligence ship left, it will soon load a group of workers to start construction, so he didn't delay a day, and hurriedly moved all the food that would be enough for a year to go there himself. He believed that leaving Holy Sword En There is no danger of being noticed so far away.
But he didn't have time to remove all the things in the two caves; he could only barely remove most of the food, cans, drinks, bedding and clothes, and a few precious items; The cave was blocked, and he left the rest behind.
Five days after the group of desperadoes left, the San Fe reappeared outside the mouth of the Elgo Bay early one morning, and spun down the small river again.Workers and materials are all brought ashore, and once a site is chosen, construction begins.
In this way, Kanga and his disciples were forced to take refuge in Cape Sanji Surama.They get their essential fresh water from a stream formed by melting snow.Fishing and a little hunting allowed them to save the provisions they had shipped before leaving Elgow Bay.
But Conga, Cargante, and the rest of the gang were determined to wait until the lighthouse was finished and the San Fey to leave, not to wait for her to come back three months later to bring the relief.
Conga and Cargante, as we might expect, were always well aware of the situation beyond Elgo Bay, and it took them no trouble to estimate from the rate at which the work was going on when it would be completed.At this time, Kanga deliberately implemented a strategy he had planned for a long time.Now that Elgow Bay had a lighthouse, there was a chance that some ship would sail into the bay; he could attack the ship, kill the crew, and take the ship.
By December, the lighthouse looked almost complete.Those lighthouse men would then be left alone; as soon as the lighthouse cast its first light, Conga would be informed.
For this reason, in the last few weeks, one of the thieves often ran to the top of those peaks to look out; although there was a distance of seven or eight miles in between, the lighthouse was visible from a distance; Kanga ordered them, As soon as the lighthouse lights up, go back and report it immediately.
On the night of December 9, it was Cargante himself who brought the news to Cape San Basuloma.
A few more days passed, and at the beginning of the week just below, Cargante, hunting near Port Balay, shot and wounded a camel, which slipped away and fled to the edge of the rock near the beech woods. , and fell dead where Maurice saw him.From that day on, Fasquez and his companions realized that they were not the only inhabitants of the island, so they took even tighter precautions around Elgow Bay.
Conga decided that day to leave Cape San Basiloma and go back to Cape Sanjoan.The pirates decided to keep all the food stored in the cave, and only carried three or four days' rations on the road. They were determined to seize the food stored at the lighthouse. It was December 22 at this time.
They got up at dawn and walked a familiar mountain road in the center of the island, so that they could cover a third of the way on the first day.
Conga suggested resting a little on the first night, and starting on the second day without waiting for the sun to come out, also walking a third of the way.The third day proceeded in the same way, and thus one could count on arriving at Elgow Bay in the evening.
Conga expected to easily make himself the master of the lighthouse.In the future, there will be plenty of time to bring back all the items he stored at Cape San Sulomo, and they will still be placed in the cave at the entrance of Elgo Bay.
That's all the plan of this sinister pirate.At this point, there is no doubt that he will succeed.But after succeeding, I dare not say whether things are still going smoothly.
Of course, this is because things in the future are out of his control.In the future, we must wait for a boat to enter the Elgow Bay.After the San Fe goes back, it will publicize this port of call to the nautical community.It was then known that the lighthouse now lit the bay, and that a ship, especially a medium-sized ship, would rather sail to Elgow Bay for shelter than to cross the rough and dangerous straits.
Kanga made up his mind that as long as such a boat came, he must get it.In this way he would have the opportunity to escape to the Pacific side, and the many crimes he committed would never be punished by the law.
But all of this must be done before the date that the Xinbao ship is scheduled to come back to help.By the time the letter ship returned, if they had not left, Conga and his gang would be forced to return to Cape San Basuloma.
In that case, their situation will not be as peaceful as before.When Captain Lafaya discovered that the three lighthouse personnel were missing, he would have no hesitation in concluding that the lighthouse personnel had been taken or killed.He will lead a group of people to search on the island.The San Fe will never leave until the island has been searched from beginning to end.How can the bandits escape the search?And if the days are long, how will they survive?If necessary, the Argentine government will send other ships to come.Even if Yuan Jia had a way to get a local boat—this chance was unlikely—there would be people on the sea who would watch him closely, and they would never escape across the strait and sneak into Tierra del Fuego to hide.So when it is still too late, whether these pirates can leave the island or not depends on the mercy of God.
On the evening of the 20th, Conga and Cargante walked along the end of Cape San Gysuloma, talking like sailors, and looking at the sky and the sea.
The weather was fine, with dark clouds rising in the sky.The northeast wind is strong.
It was half past six in the evening.Conga and his gang were preparing to return to their lair when Cargant spoke:
"We're keeping everything in storage at Cape San Basuloma, everyone understands that?"
"Yes," replied Conga, "it will be much easier to move afterwards—when we become masters there, then..."
Conga didn't finish his sentence.He turned his eyes to the side of the sea, and then interrupted himself, saying:
"Look, Cargante! Look over there! Over there—over the corner."
Cargante looked at the sea in the direction he pointed.
"Oh?" he said, "that's right, it's a boat!"
"He looks like she's heading for the island," Conga went on, "and with full sail, for she's headwind."
And that's it, a ship with full sail is dodging left and right, within a mile or two of Cape San Basuloma.
The ship was able to move gradually in spite of the headwind, and it was evident that she would enter the La Mer Strait before dark.
"It's a two-masted ship," said Cargante.
"Yes, a two-masted ship of one hundred and fifty to two hundred tons," replied Conga.
It can be seen that the ship intends to sail towards the channel, and does not want to go around Cape San Basuloma.The only question was whether it would make it before it was completely dark.If the wind dies down, will it be washed by the sea and touch the reef?
All the pirates gathered at the end of Cape San Basiloma.
It was not the first time they had seen a boat approaching Starn Island like this.There are already several such boats that were lured by them with moving lights to crash into the rocks.
At this time, someone proposed to follow the old method.
"No," said Conga, "this two-masted ship must not be sunk. She has a headwind and a headwind, and there is no moon tonight. She will never enter the channel. To-morrow we will meet again." See it out of Cape San Basuloma, then we'll think of another trick."
An hour later, the boat disappeared into the surrounding dense darkness, not a single light in the sea could be seen.
The wind changed direction during the night and turned to the southwest.
Early the next morning, when Kanga and his disciples ran to the seashore, they saw that the boat had run aground on the rocks below Cape San Basiloma.
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