Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

The turmoil of that time is indescribable. That sound of "Messenger Ship! Messenger Ship!" was like a thunderbolt from the blue sky to those desperadoes, like a death sentence.The coming of the San Fe means the coming of legal sanction, the coming of punishment; the numerous crimes committed by this group of people have managed to escape. But maybe Cargante could be wrong?The warship that came must be the letter ship of the Argentine Navy?Is it really heading towards Elgow Bay?Maybe it's just going up the Strait of La Mer, or towards Cape Several, to pass the south side of the island, isn't it?

As soon as Conga heard Cargante's call, he ran up the hill and up the stairs of the lighthouse, and in five minutes he was on the platform. "Where's the boat?" he asked. "There; north-northeast." "How far is it?" "About ten nautical miles." "Then it won't carve the Bay before dark." "I can't get there." Conga had snatched the telescope into his hands.He looked at the boatman carefully, without saying a word. There was no doubt that the boat was a steamer, and thick black smoke could be seen belching from its funnels.

And this ship is indeed the letter ship. On this point, neither Kanga nor Cargante has any doubts.During the construction period, they all saw how many times this Argentine warship went back and forth on this island. Also, the ship is heading straight for the harbor here.If the captain meant to sail into the La Mer Strait, he would sail a little west, and if he was planning to pass Cape Several, he would sail a little south. "Yes," Conga finally said, "it is indeed the letter ship." "Damn bad luck keeping us up till now!" exclaimed Cargante, "we'd be in the Pacific by now if these bastards hadn't made trouble twice!"

"What to say!" Conga answered him. "We have to find a way." "What do you think?" "Go out to sea." "when?" "immediately." "But we haven't gone far, and the letter ship will pass the harbor." "Yes; but it'll be out of the harbour." "why?" "Because it can't find a light, it never dares to drive into the creek in the dark." Conga's argument is sound, and Fasquez and John Davies have also thought of it.People on the platform will still see them now, so they will never come out.But in their cramped hiding-place they talked of exactly what the pirate chief had in mind.

By this time the sun was almost setting, and the lighthouse should have been lit long ago.Captain Rafaya couldn't see the lights of the lighthouse. Although Starden Island was already in sight, would he still hesitate to approach it?He could not figure out the reason why the lighthouse was not lit, and he would spend the night outside the mouth.It is true that he had driven into Elgow Sound a dozen times or so, but always in daylight; and now that there was no light to light his way, he dared not venture into the dark harbour.Not only that, since the lighthouse staff did not guard the lighthouse, he must have suspected that something big had happened on the island.

"But if the captain doesn't see land," Fasquez added, "if he drives straight ahead and expects to see the lights any moment, isn't he going to suffer the same fate as the Century? Didn't he To hit the rocks at Cape Sanchouan, too?" John Davies couldn't answer, so he shrugged his shoulders and let it go.What Fasquez said is quite right, such contingencies are possible.Of course, there was no strong wind in sight, so the situation on the San Fe was not the same as that on the Century.But despite this, troubles will still occur. "Let's run to the sea," continued Fasquez, "and we'll be at the end of the Cape in two hours. Maybe there's time to start a fire; tell them there's land."

"No," Davis replied, "it's too late. The letter will be out of the opening in less than an hour." "Then what shall we do?" "Wait!" John Davis replied. It was past six o'clock, and night was beginning to settle over the coast. At this time, those on the Cargante were hurriedly preparing to leave.Kanga intends to risk everything to get the boat out.He was so anxious that he decided to leave the mooring place at once.If you wait until the morning tide and then go out, you will inevitably run into the Xinbao ship. If Captain Lafaya saw the two-masted ship go, he would never let it pass.He would order the ship to stop and question the captain.Sure he said, he wanted to find out why the lighthouse wasn't working.Since the Cargante came from the island, of course it was suspected.When the two-masted ship stopped, Captain Lafaya would come aboard, order Conga to be called, and inspect the crew one by one; then the mere appearance of this group of people would make him suspect that these people were not good people.He would detain the two-masted ship in the creek until he could find out the matter.

The next thing was bad; the captain of the San Fey had lost three lighthouse keepers, whom he must have thought had been attacked and killed.Since the people in this book are planning to escape, could they be the ones who did it?Of course he would. Not only that, there will be other twists and turns. Now that Conga and his bandits could see the San Fe reach off the island, would those who attacked the Cargante twice as she was sailing out see it too?Not only is this possible, but it certainly will be.These hidden enemies would surely watch every movement of the signal ship, and would come to the creek to meet its occupants; and if by chance the third lighthouse keeper was inside—and there was good reason for that—Kon Gaga and his bandits would never get away with it.

Conga had foreseen all this possibility and its consequences, so that the only conclusion he could draw was to sail away at once; and the northerly wind was blowing in his favour, so that all sails could be spread, Drive to the sea overnight.As long as the Cargante can reach the sea, the sea and the sky are open to it.Since the letter ship could not find a light, and at the same time, it was unwilling to go too close to the shore in the dark.At this time, there may still be a long way to go to leave Starn Island. Conga did his best to urge the boat to sail. John Davies and Fasquez had also guessed what the sea turtle was trying to do.I always want to use some method to stop them, but when I find that I can't do anything, I feel very frustrated.

About half-past seven, some of the men whom Cargante ordered to remain ashore also boarded.The crew was all ready, and the small boat was hoisted up immediately, and Kanga ordered the anchor to be weighed. The capstan began to wind up the chain, and Davis and Fasquez heard only the rhythmic rattle of the capstan's teeth. In less than five minutes, the iron anchor was hoisted to the anchor frame and hooked.The two-masted ship started immediately.At this time, the wind had already calmed down, so all the upper and lower sails on the boat were stretched out, not to let the wind go.It came out of the creek slowly and kept in the middle of the harbor so that the wind could be stronger.

After a while, however, navigation became difficult.The tide was now nearly out, and the two-masted ship could not go on the tide; and under the circumstances, and with the wind blowing almost entirely from the side, the ship could hardly make much progress.After another two hours, the high tide will begin, and at that time it will not only be able to move forward, but may also retreat.It would not leave Cape Sanjoen until midnight at least. But it doesn't matter much.As long as the San Fe didn't sail into the harbor, Kanga wouldn't run into it head-on, and if he could wait until the next low tide, he would definitely be able to sail out to sea at dawn. The men on board tried everything possible to keep the Cargante going, but there was another danger in the water, which made them helpless.The hull was blown by the wind and gradually moved towards the south shore of Elgow Bay.Kanga is not very familiar with this side of the coast, but he knows that it is very dangerous, and it is densely packed with reefs.An hour after this happened, he felt that he was very close to the south bank, and it was better to turn the canopy and steer the boat a little more cautiously. However, the wind is very weak, and it becomes even weaker as the night progresses. It is not so easy to turn the awning at this time. But it was very urgent.They pushed down the tiller, taut the jizzen and slackened the jib.However, due to the lack of driving force, the two-masted ship still couldn't turn around and continued to drift towards the south bank. Conga was well aware of the urgency of the situation.Now there was only one way left, and he took it.They put the skiff in the water and six of them jumped out with the hawser and pulled hard until they turned the two-masted ship around and sailed on the starboard side.A quarter of an hour later, it resumed its original route, and finally it was not afraid of being washed by the current to those reefs to the south. But now there is not even a breath of wind; the sails are down and flapping against the mast.It would be a waste of effort for the small canoe to drag the big boat to the mouth of the bay.The most it can do is resist the incoming tide, because the tide has already begun to rise at this time.If you want to go against the tide, it is simply a dream.Was it less than two miles from the creek, and was Conga compelled to drop anchor here? Since the two-masted ship sailed out, John Davies and Fasquez crawled out of the hole and ran to the sea to watch the two-masted ship's actions.When the wind died down completely, the two knew that Kanga had nothing to do but stop the boat and wait for the tide to ebb.But even so, he still had time to get out of the bay before dawn, and he might slip away without anyone noticing. "No! They can't escape!" Fasquez cried out suddenly. "Why can't I escape?" asked John Davies. "You come! You come!" Having said this, Fasquez dragged his companions and ran quickly to the lighthouse. He reckoned that the San Fe must have sailed off the island; perhaps very close, as there was no storm at sea, so there was no great danger.Dare to say that Captain Rafaya must be very surprised because he couldn't find the lights, and would slow down outside the island and wait for the sun to come out. Kanga thought the same way: but he still thought that he was very sure of escaping from the letter ship.As soon as the tide receded into the sea again, the Cargante would sail without any wind, and in less than an hour, she would be in the sea. Once in the sea, Conga stopped moving forward.Even on the calmest of nights, the sea was not entirely without a breath of wind; just a slight breeze was enough to make him flee south by the force of the tide, and drive safely and gracefully along the south bank, even in such a dark day. The night is not uncle.Once around Cape Several, at most seven or eight nautical miles, the two-masted ship would be sheltered by the cliffs along the coast, and there would be nothing to worry about.The only thing to be wary of here is that the letter ship just stops outside the mouth and does not go around Cape Sanchouan. In that case, it is very likely to be seen by the watchmen of the San Fey.If the captain of the Lafaya saw the Cargante sailing out of the harbor, he would stop her and ask the captain of the ship why the lighthouse was out of mystery.It was a steamboat, and if the two-masted boat tried to escape, she would be overtaken by it.There is absolutely no time to hide behind the cliffs along the south bank. It's past nine o'clock.In order to resist the tide, Kanga had to drop anchor and wait for the time for the ebb tide to come.But it would take another six hours.The tide would not help him until three o'clock at night.So the two-masted ship had to stand there against the tide, turning her stern towards the sea.The canoe has been hoisted onto the boat.Kang Jia did this to set off the boat as soon as the preparation time came, without delaying for a minute. Suddenly, the people on board let out an exclamation at the same time, which could be heard almost all around the harbor. A strong light pierced the darkness.The lights on the lighthouse shone brightly, illuminating the entire sea outside the island. "Oh, those rascals! Here they go again!" cried Cargante. "Go ashore!" Kanga roared. Indeed, there is no other way than going ashore to relieve the immediate threat.They had to go ashore with all of them, leaving only a few guards in the boat, and rushed out of the lighthouse yard, and broke into the houses, and hurried up the stairs of the lighthouse, and into the watch-house.Take that lighthouse man, if he has any accomplices, take those accomplices, kill them all, and put out the light.Without lights, if the letter-ship had come into the bay, she would certainly have stalled; if already in the bay, she had no lights to guide her into the creek, and would try to get out again.At least temporarily anchored, waiting for dawn. The canoe was put down.Cargante and a dozen others jumped into the boat with Conga, all armed with rifles, pistols, and long knives.In a little while the men were ashore, and were all running for the lighthouse wall, which was but a mile and a half. They ran this distance for about a quarter of an hour.Everyone greeted each other along the way, and none of them got lost.With the exception of the two men who remained on board, all the bandits had reached below the platform. Indeed, Yogan Davis and Fasquez had already reached the lighthouse.At that time, they thought they would meet no one on the road, so they ran fast, not afraid of being seen; just like that, they staggered up the flat slope and entered the yard.Fasquez's idea was to light the lighthouse again, so that the letter ship could enter the creek before dawn.What he was most worried about was that if the lamp holders and lenses were damaged by Conga, or the equipment failed; The two rushed into the house, entered the aisle, pushed open the stair door, closed the stair door casually, fastened it firmly, then ran up the stairs and entered the observation room. The lamp was not damaged at all, and all the lamps were in their original places, and the wick and oil were all well filled, and they were as intact as when they were extinguished that day.Conga hadn't destroyed the light mechanism; he had only thought of keeping the lighthouse from shining while he remained in Elgow Bay.How could he have thought that one day he would be so anxious to get out of here? But now the lighthouse is shining again.The letter ship can sail to the place where it is originally anchored without any trouble. Under the lighthouse there was a ping-pong-pong attack, and all the bandits were banging on the door, trying to rush to the platform and turn off the light.Everyone is desperately trying to keep the San Fe from arriving.They did not find a single person in the dormitory on Pingpo.There was no room for more than two or three in the watch-room: they would soon subdue them, kill them all, and stop the lighthouse from casting its dangerous beam in the dark. It was said above that the door at the end of the passage was made of thick iron.As long as it is fastened with an iron bolt on this side of the stairs, it will definitely not be able to break open.Even iron rods and axes can't open it.Cargante soon discovered this.After failing to open the door a few times, he returned to the courtyard to find Kanga and the rest of the people. How to do it?Is there any way to get to the top of the lighthouse from the outside?If there is no way, these pirates will have nowhere to go. The only way to escape to the interior of the island is to avoid being caught by Captain Rafaya and his crew.As for going back to the two-masted ship, it was a dead end.Moreover, the time is too late.It is very likely that the letter ship has entered the harbor and is heading for the creek. But if the lights could be extinguished in a few minutes, the San Fe would not be able to go on, but would be forced to turn back; in that case, the two-masted ship might still escape. "Lightning rod!" cried Conga. It turned out that there was an iron post nailed from head to toe outside the lighthouse, and every two or three feet were nailed to the wall with iron rings.If you climb up step by step with your hands, you will definitely reach the platform, and maybe you will catch the people in the observation room by surprise. Conga decided to adopt this life-saving method.Cargante and Fargas lead.The two climbed up to the roof of the attached house first, and then slowly climbed up while holding the lightning rod one after the other, thinking that no one would see them in the dark. Finally, the two climbed outside the platform railing, clinging to the posts of the railing.Now just climb over the railing. Just then, gunshots rang out. It turned out that John Davis and Fasquez had been on guard for a long time. The two pirates were shot in the head, let go of their hands, and fell to the roof, falling to pieces. A scream was heard below the lighthouse, and the letter-ship was coming into the creek.The shrill sound of the ship's siren echoed in the air. At this time, there is only time to escape, and in a few minutes, the San Fe will arrive at the original mooring place. Seeing that there was nothing they could do, Kang Jia and the rest of the people hurried down the slope and fled for their lives to the interior of the island. A quarter of an hour later, when Captain Falaya was anchoring, the retracted lighthouse boat was rowed by someone, and it arrived beside the ship in a few strokes. John Davies and Fasquez boarded the letter ship together.