CHAPTER XXXII

MAROONED

As we stood upon the cliffs overlooking the Spanish settlement,
watching, with blank faces, the "Golden Seahorse" sailing seaward under
a foreign flag, it was borne in upon us that we owed our loss to the
treachery of Queen Barreto, who, taking advantage of our absence, had
pirated our vessel. On descending to the town our suspicions were
confirmed. Here we found the settlement abandoned by the Spaniards,
who, before leaving, had imprisoned our crew, bound and gagged, in the
Queen's house. Having released them, we heard from Bantum, our second
officer, the particulars of what had occurred.

"No sooner had you left the town," said he, "than Queen Barreto, with
Pedro de Castro and a swarm of Spaniards, came aboard of us. De Castro
knew where the arms were kept, and, before I could guess what they
intended, they had hoisted their flag at the mizzen, and held
possession of the ship. We put up a fight, but what could we do,
outnumbered as we were--ten to one? We were quickly overpowered and
brought ashore, where they trussed us up and left us as you found us.
Had you not come in time we would certainly have died of thirst and
starvation."

When we had listened to Bantum's account of what had taken place we
could not blame him for the loss of the ship, but Hartog swore a great
oath that, if ever he should meet de Castro again he would reckon with
him in such manner as his base betrayal of us gave warrant. The
ingratitude of this man will be apparent when it is remembered that we
had rescued him from slavery, had admitted him to an equality with our
officers, and had loaded him with favours, for which he repaid us by
stealing our vessel.

It now became necessary to review our situation. Of food and fresh
water we had an abundant supply, and there were dwellings at our
disposal more than enough, for the Spaniards had numbered over two
hundred, while we mustered but thirty. We possessed, however, no arms
or ammunition beyond what we had taken with us upon our expedition to
the caves. The thought of this caused us grave anxiety when we
reflected upon the small force at our disposal should hostile natives,
having discovered our weakness, be tempted to attack us. Repining,
however, would avail us nothing, so, at Hartog's request, I set about
organizing our camp. Hartog himself was so cast down by the loss of our
ship that he seemed incapable of diverting his thoughts from the
catastrophe which ha