Die schwarze Galeere. English Read online

wild friend back, the latterhad dashed to Myga's door against which he pounded with his fist,calling out in a loud voice:

  "Open up! Open up! Open in the name of His Catholic Majesty ofSpain! Open up! Traitors and enemies have sought shelter in thishouse!"

  Immediately there streamed from all sides soldiers, sailors andcitizens of Antwerp towards the door that led to Myga's lodging.The crowd of people grew from one moment to the next. Half indesperation Captain Valani tried to put a stop to the noise beingmade by his crazy friend, but it was already too late. The frontdoor opened and the inhabitants of the building in which Mygalived, a carpenter, a cobbler and a town clerk, along with theirfamilies and companions, a widow with several children, coweredfearfully in their corners, horrified by the thought that one ofthe Dutch rebels must have sought shelter under their roof. Onlya bent very old woman strode bravely forth with a lamp in hertrembling hand in the direction of the intruders and insisted ina screeching voice that no-one had slipped into the house andcertainly not a sea devil from Zeeland. God forbid she shouldgrant protection to any of the sea beggars--had not her husband,her poor departed husband, been thrown from his fishing smackinto the water by those raging pirates and come to a wretchedend? But what good were her asseverations? Nobody listened tothem and the house was full of Spanish soldiers, Italian sailorsand the dregs of the streets. Cries of fear and woe rang outfrom the various dwellings. There were a few beatings-up and acertain amount of harassment accompanied by some plundering.

  "Forward, Antonio! Don't hold back!" cried Leone. "Forwardand upward to a realm of heavenly bliss!"

  He was holding the old woman by the collar and forcing her tolight the way with her lamp making merry threats the while.

  "Cheerfully, cheerfully, little mother! The others are lookingdown below. We are going to look upstairs--forward and don'tbe so prudish. I'm not looking at your calves. Hey, Antonio,don't get left behind, will you?"

  "Leone, for heaven's sake!"

  "Che importanza? Keep going, fair maid. What a rabbit youare, Antonio, when it comes to such a sweet adventure! Whatwould become of you if you didn't have me with you? Well,that seems to be the last step. We've made it! Here, here,Antonello--in the name of the king, open up, open up! Traitorsand beautiful women have hidden themselves away in here. Openup! Open up in the name of the king! In the name of HisCatholic Majesty of Spain, come out of your nest, pretty bird,open up and let us see your sweet rebel heart!"

  With his mouth wreathed in smiles the madman caught the captainby the shoulder and pushed him towards the door, which he threwwide open. The two natives of Genoa stood there dumbfounded,scarcely able to believe their eyes!

  Jan and Myga had been listening to the noise in the streetswith growing apprehension and alarm. When pandemonium finallybroke loose in the house, Myga had begged Jan in desperation tohide.

  But what could happen for both of them to be saved?

  The next minute it was all too late. Leone della Rota hadclimbed the stairs all too quickly.

  In his left arm Jan Norris grasped the unconscious Myga whilehis right hand reached convulsively for naked steel. He didnot know what he had to be about as all presence of mind haddeserted him in those last frightful few seconds. And besideswhat good would any amount of presence of mind have been to him?Jan Norris and Myga van Bergen were lost as far as human reasonwas concerned.

  "In the name of all the devils, what's all this?" cried theGenoese lieutenant. "Well, that's not bad. That's a strangeencounter for sure. That's what I call killing two birds withone stone. Antonio Valani, now you can win your fair dove foryourself. Have you not allowed yourself to dream of having sucha rival? Down with the beggar! To the gallows with him!"

  Genoese swords flew from their scabbards.

  "God protect you, Myga!" shouted Jan Norris, swinging his ownblade. "Get back, you foreign rogues!"

  Uttering the beggars' piercing cry: "Sultan before Pope!" thehelmsman of the black galley eluded the guard of Leone dellaRota's sword, stabbed out and with a cry Antonio Valani, thecaptain of the Andrea Doria turned and stumbled, his swordfalling clattering from his hand and with it Antonio valanihimself. The sea beggar leapt over the body of the Genoan whilea second thrust merely grazed the lieutenant's left shoulder.Sailors from the Andrea Doria invaded the stairs, brandishingtheir ship's knives. A wild and bloody struggle developed ina confined space and all this time Myga van Bergen lay unconsciouson the floor. Spanish and Albanian soldiers added to the turmoil,lamps and torches went out, glimmered on the floor and were re-lit.Few people knew what was really going on and when suddenly the cry:"Fire! Fire!" echoed through the house, the confused throng fledin panic and back down the stairs. Dense choking smoke filled allthe rooms in the house and through it the Genoese sailors draggedtheir mortally wounded captain and the chained sea beggar, JanNorris! Leone della Rota carried the senseless Myga through thesmoke down to the street where a new fight was threatening tobreak out between the sailors of the Andrea Doria and Spanishsoldiers who tried to wrest their prisoner away from the former.But a drumroll proclaimed the arrival of a high-ranking officerto whom Leone reported insofar as the trance-like state he foundhimself in allowed him to. The Spaniard airily expressed theopinion that the best thing would be to carry the wounded captain,the sea beggar and the woman aboard ship, then early the followingmorning all would be ready for the trial and anyway the prisonerdeserved to be hanged from a yardarm as a pirate so that hisimmediate removal to the galleon was, from this point of view too,the most fitting solution to the problem.

  The crowd was thronging round the quayside down below. Torchescast light on the wild procession and projected their flickeringreflections over the wounded Antonio, the unconscious Myga andJan Norris in chains who allowed himself to be dragged along byhis fierce foes apathetically. Still Leone della Rota was holdingMyga in his arms, but without understanding how this had comeabout. Everything was turning around and around in his head. Asif in a dream he carried his light burden on to the galleon.

  In the cabin a place was prepared for the wounded captain. Asurgeon came to examine the injuries of the still unconsciousAntonio and to shake his head over them. Myga van Bergen crouchedin a corner of the cabin with no-one, for the time being, botheringabout her. The helmsman of the black galley was chained to themain mast and his pitiless enemies surrounded him sneering.

  Only late on did the tumult die down in the town, after the firein the burning house behind the sea wall had been extinguished.Earlier it was quiet on board the Andrea Doria. Antonio laymotionless in the place assigned to him and Leone sat equallymotionless next to him while Myga crouched in the darkest, mostfar away corner of the cabin. Over the whole ship scarcely asound could be heard other than the murmur of the river, thenoise of the rigging swaying in the wind and the pacing of thesentry who, with a loaded musket and a slow-burning match walkedup and down before the prisoner chained to the mast and did nottake his eyes off him for an instant.

  At two o'clock in the morning the wind died down completely andeven the creaking noise made by the rigging ceased. It was assilent as the grave aboard the Andrea Doria--a deep silence thatwas suddenly and all the more spinetinglingly broken by a shoutand the noise of a shot.

  Out of the cabin rushed Leone della Rota onto the deck. Fromtheir bunks and hammocks rushed out ordinary sailors.

  The place formerly occupied by the prisoner at the main mast wasempty. The sentry stood there with a smoking musket, castingaround him confused glances, besieged by the questions and theoaths of both officers and crew.

  "There he is, there! Man overboard!" went up the hoarse cryfrom the chest of the dumbfounded man.

  "Where? Where? Where?"

  Everyone rushed to the side of the ship.

  "Down with the boats! Quickly! Quickly!" rapped the lieutenant'scommanding voice.

  It was lively on the Scheldt where lights were shining throughthe night, but the nights are dark in November. A co
rpse headingdownstream was fished out of the water, but it was not that of JanNorris. Going downriver, on both banks, alarm signals were flying,but the efforts of all the ships' boats sent out from Antwerp werein vain.

  Had Jan Norris been rescued? Had he been killed by the waves?

  Who could say?

  But how Myga van Bergen sat up in her corner listening when sheheard that her beloved had burst free from his bonds and jumpedover the side.

  Morning broke, but it brought no news of the sea beggar who hadescaped.

  On the deck of the Andrea Doria Leone della Rota walked backwardsand forwards with arms folded and whispered to himself:

  "If only he hadn't said it! He'll die and it'll be all my fault.Oh Antonio! Poor Antonio! He predicted this. Me as captain ofthe Andrea Doria, himself a corpse at the bottom of