Chapter Six.Kennedy’s Banshee.It was shortly after noon, on our fifth day out from Moulmein, and we were just within the Malacca Strait, when the wind began to fail us; and by two bells in the first dog-watch it had fallen stark calm, and the yacht’s head was slowly boxing the compass. We were close enough in with the land to see from the deck the ridge of the mountain range that forms the backbone, as it were, of the Malay Peninsula, though not the coast line itself; but there were quite a number of islands in sight, some of which were of respectable size, while there were others that could not have had an area of more than a few acres—some of them indeed being scarcely more than rocks. Most of them, however, seemed inhabited, for even on some of the smallest we were able, with the help of our telescopes, to distinguish one or more ramshackle huts, some perched on the top of long, stilt-like poles; also there were at least a hundred small fishing craft in sight, as well as a few proas, probably coasting craft, becalmed like ourselves.“Now,” said Mrs Vansittart, addressing herself to Kennedy and me as we sat upon the poop rail, longing for the sun to go down and leave us the comparative coolness of the night, “here is just where we miss our propeller. If it had not been for that accident I guess we could have started the engine; and we should at least have had the draught caused by the ship’s passage through the water to cool us; whereas we shall have to wait where we are and just simmer until a breeze springs up again. And I guess I see no sign of one as yet, while the glass stands very high. Mr Leigh, do you happen to know whether there is such a thing as a dry dock at Singapore?”“I have never been to Singapore,” I replied, “so I cannot say for certain; but I seem to recollect having heard such a thing mentioned. Does not the Directory say anything about it?”“There now! I declare to goodness that I never thought to look,” exclaimed the lady. “But,” she continued, “I’ll go and do so now; and if there happens to be a dock there big enough to take in this vessel, I guess I will have theStella Marisdocked and cleaned and another propeller fixed. We’ve got a spare one down below; and I guess Mackenzie is man enough to fit it, once we get into harbour, even if there is no dock—though I hope there will be one. I’ll turn up the Directory now, and see what it says;” and therewith she descended to the chart-room, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan as she went.As soon as Mrs Vansittart was fairly out of earshot, Kennedy turned to me and said:“Ever been through here before?”“No,” I replied. “The nearest I have ever been to it was two passages through Sunda on a voyage to and from Canton.”“M–m!” returned Kennedy. “Did annything out of the common happen to ye that voyage?”“N–o, I think not,” said I, trying to remember precisely what, if anything, had happened. “Why do you ask?”“Well,” replied my companion, “chiefly, I think, because yonder’s the Malay coast, and here we are, a valuable ship, becalmed, and helpless because we’ve lost the blades of our propeller.”“Oh! but that is sheer nonsense,” I said. “You are thinking about pirates, I suppose. But, my dear chap, with the incoming of steam, piracy went out, because it no longer paid to be a pirate. You never hear of such a thing in these days.”“Not very often, I admit,” agreed Kennedy. “Yet it was only about a week before we sailed from New York that I read in theHeralda story of a ship being picked up derelict, in this same Strait; and when she was boarded, her crew, consisting of twenty-seven men, were found lying about her decks, murdered; while her main-hatchway was open, and the signs that she had been plundered were as plain as large print.”“Indeed!” I said. “I do not remember hearing anything of that case. Anyhow, it only happens once in a blue moon. And I don’t think that, with our pretty double row of teeth and our Maxims and Hotchkisses for close-quarter fighting, we need be very greatly afraid.”“No,” agreed Kennedy, with a laugh. “I guess ye’re right there, me lad. Wid those guns, and hands enough to fight them, I calculate we are well fixed, and could beat off a whole fleet of proas. But I’m rale sorry that the skipper didn’t think of havin’ them mounted before, so that the men might have had a chance to practise the workin’ of them a bit. An’ there’s another thing—But here comes the skipper; I guess I’ll spake to her about it.”At that moment Mrs Vansittart returned to the poop with the information that, according to the Directory, Singapore possessed a dry dock capable of taking in theStella Maris; and, that being the case, she would have the ship docked and the spare propeller fitted as soon as possible after our arrival.“And a very wise thing, too, ma’am,” agreed Kennedy. “I am only sorry that we haven’t got it shipped this very minute.”“Are you?” returned Mrs Vansittart, looking up sharply as she detected the serious tone of the first mate’s voice. “Why? Any reason in particular?”“Sure!” answered Kennedy. “As I was sayin’ to Leigh a minute ago, yonder is the Malay coast, and here are we, becalmed and unable to move. Now, I don’t want to raise a scare, there’s no need for it, but I hold that it’s better to be ready for a thing, even if it doesn’t happen, than to be caught unprepared. No doubt ye’re well aware, ma’am, that the Malays have the name of bein’ always ready to undertake a piratical job if they think there’s half a chance of ut bein’ successful; and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if anybody was to tell me that hundreds of eyes have been watchin’ us all this afternoon and their owners speculatin’ as to the sort of reception they’d meet with if a few hundred were to come off to us some time durin’ the small hours of the mornin’. Av coorse we may not be here then; a breeze may spring up and carry us far enough away. But then again, it mayn’t, and in my opinion the bettin’ is against it; therefore, if I may be allowed to offer a suggestion, it would be somethin’ like this.“I’d recommend ye to send for Bledsoe, the gunner, and ordher him to tell off crews to every one of these guns. Then let him explain to the captain of each gun how the thing works; and afther he has done that, send him down to the magazine and let him sort out a few rounds of ammunition for each gun and have them handy to send up on deck. Also let each gun be loaded, ready in case of need. If not needed, the charges can easily be withdrawn and sent below again to-morrow, while, if they are, they’ll be ready. Also, it might be quite worth while to have the small arms ready for servin’ out at a moment’s notice.”“My!” exclaimed Mrs Vansittart, “are you quite serious, Mr Kennedy? Because, if you are, it sounds as though we might be in for a real big fight. What do you think, Mr Leigh?”“I fully agree with Mr Kennedy, madam,” said I; “not so much because I anticipate an attack upon the ship, as that I clearly see the force of his argument as to the advantage of preparedness.”“Yes,” agreed Mrs Vansittart; “I guess you are both right, and I will act upon your advice, Mr Kennedy. Please send for the gunner and tell him what to do. I had something of this sort in my mind when I gave the order for those guns to be put on board.”By the promptitude with which Kennedy sent for the gunner, and, when he arrived, mustered the crew, I could clearly see that the good man was distinctly anxious, although I did not believe he had much cause to be so. Still, I quite agreed with him that the wise and proper thing was to be prepared for every possible contingency, and I cheerfully did my share of the work. Fortunately, Bledsoe was an ex-man-o’-war’s-man, and had held a gunner’s warrant in the United States navy; he therefore knew his business from A to Z, and gave us all the help that we needed.First, all hands were mustered and paraded; then a crew was told off to each gun, including the Hotchkisses and Maxims—Kennedy undertaking the supervision of the Hotchkisses, and I that of the Maxims. Bledsoe next took each gun’s crew separately in hand, showed one how to work their weapon, and left them to practise the movements of loading, sighting, firing, and sponging, while he passed on to the next, until both batteries were assiduously engaged in repeating the several motions time after time. Finally he worked his way round to me, explained the mechanism of the Maxim, and showed how the belts of cartridges were fixed and the gun was handled. It was very simple, and I picked the whole thing up in a few minutes, the weapon being to so large an extent automatic. Finally every piece was loaded, ten rounds for each were brought on deck, the covers were put on, and the hands were piped down.It was my eight hours in that night; and by this time it had come to be a regular custom and a recognised thing for me to dine in the saloon on such occasions, that is to say, every other night, the arrangement with regard to Kennedy being similar, so that he and I dined in the saloon on alternate nights, the doctor, the purser, and the two engineers forming the other guests. Thus as soon as our exercise with the guns was over I rushed off below, took a tepid bath, and then dressed for dinner, completing my preparations just in time to respond to the second bugle call. There was some disposition to make merry over Kennedy’s “scare”, as the boy Julius would persist in designating it; but as the lad was the only one who seemed to regard the matter purely from the jocular point of view, the conversation was soon steered in another and more agreeable direction, and we spent a very pleasant evening, breaking up shortly after ten o’clock.Before retiring to my cabin I went up on deck to take a look round. It was a most glorious night, still a breathless calm, the heavens perfectly clear, save for a low cloud bank hanging over the land, the stars shining brilliantly, and a half-moon shedding a soft, mysterious radiance upon the scene powerful enough to enable us to distinguish with tolerable clearness the nearer islands and some half a dozen craft lying becalmed within two miles of us, inshore. The moon would set about midnight; yet even then we should still have the stars, if the night remained clear.Kennedy was seated in a deck chair, with a powerful night glass reposing upon his knees, when I went up on the poop; and he informed me that although he had been keeping a careful watch upon matters inshore, he had seen nothing whatever of a suspicious character.“But then,” he explained, “I didn’t expect to. If those Malays are as ’cute as I take them to be, and are cherishing designs against us, you may bet your bottom dollar that they’ll be careful not to do anything that would appear to us in the least suspicious. I may be a fool, but things look almost too quiet, ashore there, to be wholly satisfactory to me. I would rather see a little more movement, a fishing boat or two coming out, or something like that. Why, I’ve known cases where, a ship bein’ becalmed as we are, widin a few miles of the shore, the natives have come off in scores wid fruit and fish and curios to sell; but those chaps ashore there have kept most religiously away from us. Ah, well! that cloud yonder is risin’—slowly, I admit, still it’s risin’, and I hope it’ll bring a breeze wid it, if it’s only enough to give us steerage way. I don’t like things as they are, not the least little bit.”“Why, man,” I exclaimed, “what is the matter with you to-night? If I didn’t know better I should be almost inclined to think you were afraid!”“Afraid, is ut?” he laughed. “Begorra! what would I be afraid of, in such a ship as this, wid all those beautiful guns and what not to purtect us? No, Leigh, it’s not afraid I am, as you know well; and yet I have a curious feelin’—I can’t describe ut, but it’s a sort of feelin’ of—Howly Sailor!—what in the nation is that? Did ye hear it, boy?”Hear it? I should think so; and so had every other individual on deck, if one might judge by the sudden silence that fell upon the men grouped about the fore deck, followed by an equally sudden fusillade of low, quick ejaculations and the swift rush of bare feet to the rails. It began as a low, weird moan, which rose rapidly to a sort of sobbing wail and culminated in a sharp, unearthly scream that sent cold shivers running down my spine and caused the hairs of my head to bristle upon my scalp. It seemed to come from the water almost immediately under our bows. I saw a little crowd of men spring up the ladder leading to the topgallant forecastle, rush to the rail, and peer eagerly down into the black water. Then one of them straightened up suddenly and hailed:“Poop, there! did ye hear that strange cry, sir?”“Ay, ay,” answered Kennedy, “I heard it right enough. D’ye suppose I’m deaf? What is ut, anyway, that’s makin’ it?”There was a brief but animated confab on the forecastle, and then the voice that had hailed came back:“Can’t see anything anywhere, sir; but the sound seemed to come from away yonder, on the starboard bow.”Instantly there arose a hubbub of protesting voices, one of which, louder than the rest, could be heard exclaiming:“You chump! what d’ye mean by sayin’ that? Don’t ye know the difference between starboard and port? It was away off here to port that the sound came from.”But this assertion in turn was contradicted by the first speaker and his adherents, so that in less than a minute a strenuous argument was proceeding on the forecastle, both parties to which, it seemed to me, were in the wrong.“Ay, ay, there ye are,” commented Kennedy. “Nobody knows where the sound came from. ’Twas thebanshee, me bhoy, that’s what ut was; and some Oirishman aboard this good ship is goin’ to lose the number of his mess shortly.”“Oh, nonsense!” I exclaimed. “You surely do not believe that—”I had got so far with my protest when again the blood-curdling cry rang out over the dark water, this time sounding more distant than before. Once more a clamorous dispute arose on the forecastle as to the direction from which the sound proceeded, for, curiously enough, no two individuals seemed quite agreed upon the point, while even I felt it impossible to make an authoritative statement as to whether the cry arose from ahead or astern. And, in the midst of the discussion, up came the saloon party,en masse, to enquire what was the matter.I was, for some not very definite reason, glad that Kennedy did not again assert hisbansheetheory; he merely stated the facts of the case, leaving the others to draw their own conclusions. The boy, Julius, no sooner heard the chief mate’s statement than he was ready with an explanation. In a high-pitched tone of voice, which could be distinctly heard from one end of the ship to the other, he positively asserted that the cries were those of a sea bird, although I had never in my life heard a sea bird utter such terrible sounds, nor had the men forward, if one might judge by the low, contemptuous laughter from the forecastle with which the assertion was greeted. But although Kennedy demurred, the boy insisted that he was right; he knew all about it, and finally rushed off to his cabin for some book, a certain passage in which, he declared, would support his contention. And I seized the opportunity thus afforded to retire in good order to my own cabin.When I went on deck again, at eight bells, the moon was just on the point of ruddily setting, while the cloud bank which I had noticed earlier in the evening hanging low over the land had risen until its upper edge was almost over our mast-heads, blotting out about half the stars. It was now so dark away to the eastward that nothing whatever could be seen, not even the faintest loom of the nearest islands; while, if it had not been for a faintly glimmering light here and there, we could not have told that there were any craft of any kind in our neighbourhood. There had been no repetition of those strange, weird sounds that had startled us all earlier in the night, so Kennedy informed me; but he was still firmly convinced that they had emanated from the banshee, and when I laughingly tried to argue him out of his conviction he took me up rather sharply with the assertion that, had I been of Irish birth or extraction, I would know better than to make light of the matter. To my amazement, he seemed quite depressed and low-spirited at the mere mention of it, so I quickly dropped the subject and asked him if during his watch he had observed anything to confirm his earlier suspicion that we might possibly be attacked. He admitted that he had not, but added:“I niver expected to see annything so long as the light lasted. It’s now that they’ll be beginnin’ to make a musther if those ginks mane comin’ off to us at all, so for the love o’ Mike keep your eyes skinned and your ears wide open all through your watch. We can keep them off aisily, if we only get warnin’ enough; but if by anny chance they can conthrive to creep up close enough to take us unawares and lay us aboard, they may take the ship through sheer force av numbers.”“Why,” said I, “you talk as though you felt absolutely certain that an attack will be made upon the ship! I can’t understand you a bit to-night, and that’s a fact.”“Faith, boy, I cannot undherstand mesilf,” replied Kennedy, seriously. “I’ve never before felt as I do this blessed night; but somehow Iknowthat something’s goin’ to happen. And then, there’s the banshee—”“Oh,” I interrupted, “banshee be hanged! I thought you were much too sensible a fellow to be moved by superstitions of any kind. Now, take my advice—you’ve got a touch of the sun. Go down to the doc, get him to give you a good stiff dose of quinine, and turn in. You’ll feel a different man when you are roused at eight bells and find that the ship is all right. And as to anything creeping up and taking us unawares, you may trust me to see that nothing of that sort happens. I will keep a bright look-out, never fear.”“Well, I hope ye will, that’s all,” returned Kennedy, as he stepped toward the head of the poop ladder on his way below. “And, by the by, there’s one precaution ye may as well take. Unship the side lights and stow them somewhere handy but where their gleam will not show. They’re quite useless, since we’re becalmed, unless a steamer should happen along, and if she does ye’ll see her lights and hear her propeller in plenty of time to show her where ye are. And mask the skylights, too. Then, maybe, if annybody comes lookin’ for us wid evil intentions, they’ll not find us. Good night—and keep a bright look-out.”With this final caution the first mate took himself off, much to my relief; for, truth to tell, his undisguised anxiety and uneasiness were beginning to get a bit upon my nerves. As soon as he was out of the way I went forward and, in obedience to what I took to be his order, caused the red and green side lights to be unshipped and placed inboard, just inside the topgallant forecastle door, at the same time cautioning the look-outs to keep their eyes skinned, as we were in somewhat dangerous waters. Then I went aft, masked the skylights, and slipped into the saloon for a moment to extinguish all the lights save one, and draw the blinds across the open ports.This task took me less than a couple of minutes, and then I returned to the poop and took a good look round. But I could see nothing except four dim glimmers of light spaced at irregular intervals, which I took to be the lights of the becalmed craft which we had seen inshore of us earlier in the evening. And as for sound, there was nothing to be heard save an occasional faint gurgle of water under the counter when the ship lifted to the almost invisible swell, accompanied by a low flap of canvas aloft, a gentle patter of reef points, or the slight creak of a parral or block sheave; but so breathlessly still was the night that these sounds, faint as they really were, sounded almost appallingly loud. There was not the smallest murmur of subdued talk for’ard, for the watch had curled themselves up in the most comfortable places they could find in order to steal a “caulk”, and I did not attempt to disturb them, knowing that at my first call they would be upon their feet in a moment.To keep myself awake I proceeded to pace the poop to and fro in my rubber-soled shoes, taking care to avoid passing over that portion of the deck which formed the roof of our lady skipper’s stateroom; and while I was thus engaged I nearly collided with a ghostly figure which proved, upon investigation, to be that of Monroe, the tutor parson, in pyjamas and slippers. He explained that he found it too hot to sleep below, so had come up on deck in the hope of being able to cool off a bit prior to having another try. He fell into step alongside me, and began to talk in a low voice, presently turning the conversation to Kennedy and the queerness of his seemingly rooted conviction that we should be attacked. I let him talk on until he appeared to have said all that he had to say upon the subject and was about to go below again, when I said to him:“I am glad that you came up on deck, because it affords me an opportunity to say something that Kennedy’s queer talk has rather forced upon my mind. It is this. If by any chance we should be attacked, will you undertake to see that Mrs Vansittart, her daughter, and the boy are, any or all of them, prevented from coming on deck? Their presence here under such circumstances could be of no possible assistance to us; on the contrary, it would be a distinct hindrance.”“Yes,” acknowledged Monroe; “I see what you mean. But suppose that any of them should take it into their heads to come on deck, how am I to prevent them? I have no authority over them, not even over the boy.”“You must bring your moral suasion to bear upon her, if need be,” I said. “Point out to her that the beating off of a piratical attack—Oh! hang it, what bosh I am talking, to be sure; as though there was the least likelihood of such a thing! The talk of that ass Kennedy seems to have hypnotised me as well as himself! But to return to what I was saying—ifsuch an utterly improbable thing should happen, point out to her that fighting is men’s work, and that the presence of women and children would be worse than useless at such a time. Let her remain below herself, and exercise her authority over that boy of hers to make him stay below also. I don’t suppose that Miss Anthea would need any persuading.”“No,” agreed Monroe; “she is all right, and on the whole a very sensible girl, despite her foolish pride. But let me give you a hint, Leigh. In the event of, as you say, such an exceedingly unlikely thing as an attack occurring, don’t trust too much to my powers of persuasion, but act upon your own responsibility. Lock the door of the drawing-room, and Mrs Vansittart will be unable to get out on deck, however anxious she may be; and then slip down below and lock Master Julius into his cabin; that is all you will need to do. There will probably be a row afterward, but I will back you up by saying that what you did was done by my advice. And now, good night! I feel a trifle cooler than I did, and hope I shall be able to—Hallo! Listen! Did you hear anything?”
It was shortly after noon, on our fifth day out from Moulmein, and we were just within the Malacca Strait, when the wind began to fail us; and by two bells in the first dog-watch it had fallen stark calm, and the yacht’s head was slowly boxing the compass. We were close enough in with the land to see from the deck the ridge of the mountain range that forms the backbone, as it were, of the Malay Peninsula, though not the coast line itself; but there were quite a number of islands in sight, some of which were of respectable size, while there were others that could not have had an area of more than a few acres—some of them indeed being scarcely more than rocks. Most of them, however, seemed inhabited, for even on some of the smallest we were able, with the help of our telescopes, to distinguish one or more ramshackle huts, some perched on the top of long, stilt-like poles; also there were at least a hundred small fishing craft in sight, as well as a few proas, probably coasting craft, becalmed like ourselves.
“Now,” said Mrs Vansittart, addressing herself to Kennedy and me as we sat upon the poop rail, longing for the sun to go down and leave us the comparative coolness of the night, “here is just where we miss our propeller. If it had not been for that accident I guess we could have started the engine; and we should at least have had the draught caused by the ship’s passage through the water to cool us; whereas we shall have to wait where we are and just simmer until a breeze springs up again. And I guess I see no sign of one as yet, while the glass stands very high. Mr Leigh, do you happen to know whether there is such a thing as a dry dock at Singapore?”
“I have never been to Singapore,” I replied, “so I cannot say for certain; but I seem to recollect having heard such a thing mentioned. Does not the Directory say anything about it?”
“There now! I declare to goodness that I never thought to look,” exclaimed the lady. “But,” she continued, “I’ll go and do so now; and if there happens to be a dock there big enough to take in this vessel, I guess I will have theStella Marisdocked and cleaned and another propeller fixed. We’ve got a spare one down below; and I guess Mackenzie is man enough to fit it, once we get into harbour, even if there is no dock—though I hope there will be one. I’ll turn up the Directory now, and see what it says;” and therewith she descended to the chart-room, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan as she went.
As soon as Mrs Vansittart was fairly out of earshot, Kennedy turned to me and said:
“Ever been through here before?”
“No,” I replied. “The nearest I have ever been to it was two passages through Sunda on a voyage to and from Canton.”
“M–m!” returned Kennedy. “Did annything out of the common happen to ye that voyage?”
“N–o, I think not,” said I, trying to remember precisely what, if anything, had happened. “Why do you ask?”
“Well,” replied my companion, “chiefly, I think, because yonder’s the Malay coast, and here we are, a valuable ship, becalmed, and helpless because we’ve lost the blades of our propeller.”
“Oh! but that is sheer nonsense,” I said. “You are thinking about pirates, I suppose. But, my dear chap, with the incoming of steam, piracy went out, because it no longer paid to be a pirate. You never hear of such a thing in these days.”
“Not very often, I admit,” agreed Kennedy. “Yet it was only about a week before we sailed from New York that I read in theHeralda story of a ship being picked up derelict, in this same Strait; and when she was boarded, her crew, consisting of twenty-seven men, were found lying about her decks, murdered; while her main-hatchway was open, and the signs that she had been plundered were as plain as large print.”
“Indeed!” I said. “I do not remember hearing anything of that case. Anyhow, it only happens once in a blue moon. And I don’t think that, with our pretty double row of teeth and our Maxims and Hotchkisses for close-quarter fighting, we need be very greatly afraid.”
“No,” agreed Kennedy, with a laugh. “I guess ye’re right there, me lad. Wid those guns, and hands enough to fight them, I calculate we are well fixed, and could beat off a whole fleet of proas. But I’m rale sorry that the skipper didn’t think of havin’ them mounted before, so that the men might have had a chance to practise the workin’ of them a bit. An’ there’s another thing—But here comes the skipper; I guess I’ll spake to her about it.”
At that moment Mrs Vansittart returned to the poop with the information that, according to the Directory, Singapore possessed a dry dock capable of taking in theStella Maris; and, that being the case, she would have the ship docked and the spare propeller fitted as soon as possible after our arrival.
“And a very wise thing, too, ma’am,” agreed Kennedy. “I am only sorry that we haven’t got it shipped this very minute.”
“Are you?” returned Mrs Vansittart, looking up sharply as she detected the serious tone of the first mate’s voice. “Why? Any reason in particular?”
“Sure!” answered Kennedy. “As I was sayin’ to Leigh a minute ago, yonder is the Malay coast, and here are we, becalmed and unable to move. Now, I don’t want to raise a scare, there’s no need for it, but I hold that it’s better to be ready for a thing, even if it doesn’t happen, than to be caught unprepared. No doubt ye’re well aware, ma’am, that the Malays have the name of bein’ always ready to undertake a piratical job if they think there’s half a chance of ut bein’ successful; and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if anybody was to tell me that hundreds of eyes have been watchin’ us all this afternoon and their owners speculatin’ as to the sort of reception they’d meet with if a few hundred were to come off to us some time durin’ the small hours of the mornin’. Av coorse we may not be here then; a breeze may spring up and carry us far enough away. But then again, it mayn’t, and in my opinion the bettin’ is against it; therefore, if I may be allowed to offer a suggestion, it would be somethin’ like this.
“I’d recommend ye to send for Bledsoe, the gunner, and ordher him to tell off crews to every one of these guns. Then let him explain to the captain of each gun how the thing works; and afther he has done that, send him down to the magazine and let him sort out a few rounds of ammunition for each gun and have them handy to send up on deck. Also let each gun be loaded, ready in case of need. If not needed, the charges can easily be withdrawn and sent below again to-morrow, while, if they are, they’ll be ready. Also, it might be quite worth while to have the small arms ready for servin’ out at a moment’s notice.”
“My!” exclaimed Mrs Vansittart, “are you quite serious, Mr Kennedy? Because, if you are, it sounds as though we might be in for a real big fight. What do you think, Mr Leigh?”
“I fully agree with Mr Kennedy, madam,” said I; “not so much because I anticipate an attack upon the ship, as that I clearly see the force of his argument as to the advantage of preparedness.”
“Yes,” agreed Mrs Vansittart; “I guess you are both right, and I will act upon your advice, Mr Kennedy. Please send for the gunner and tell him what to do. I had something of this sort in my mind when I gave the order for those guns to be put on board.”
By the promptitude with which Kennedy sent for the gunner, and, when he arrived, mustered the crew, I could clearly see that the good man was distinctly anxious, although I did not believe he had much cause to be so. Still, I quite agreed with him that the wise and proper thing was to be prepared for every possible contingency, and I cheerfully did my share of the work. Fortunately, Bledsoe was an ex-man-o’-war’s-man, and had held a gunner’s warrant in the United States navy; he therefore knew his business from A to Z, and gave us all the help that we needed.
First, all hands were mustered and paraded; then a crew was told off to each gun, including the Hotchkisses and Maxims—Kennedy undertaking the supervision of the Hotchkisses, and I that of the Maxims. Bledsoe next took each gun’s crew separately in hand, showed one how to work their weapon, and left them to practise the movements of loading, sighting, firing, and sponging, while he passed on to the next, until both batteries were assiduously engaged in repeating the several motions time after time. Finally he worked his way round to me, explained the mechanism of the Maxim, and showed how the belts of cartridges were fixed and the gun was handled. It was very simple, and I picked the whole thing up in a few minutes, the weapon being to so large an extent automatic. Finally every piece was loaded, ten rounds for each were brought on deck, the covers were put on, and the hands were piped down.
It was my eight hours in that night; and by this time it had come to be a regular custom and a recognised thing for me to dine in the saloon on such occasions, that is to say, every other night, the arrangement with regard to Kennedy being similar, so that he and I dined in the saloon on alternate nights, the doctor, the purser, and the two engineers forming the other guests. Thus as soon as our exercise with the guns was over I rushed off below, took a tepid bath, and then dressed for dinner, completing my preparations just in time to respond to the second bugle call. There was some disposition to make merry over Kennedy’s “scare”, as the boy Julius would persist in designating it; but as the lad was the only one who seemed to regard the matter purely from the jocular point of view, the conversation was soon steered in another and more agreeable direction, and we spent a very pleasant evening, breaking up shortly after ten o’clock.
Before retiring to my cabin I went up on deck to take a look round. It was a most glorious night, still a breathless calm, the heavens perfectly clear, save for a low cloud bank hanging over the land, the stars shining brilliantly, and a half-moon shedding a soft, mysterious radiance upon the scene powerful enough to enable us to distinguish with tolerable clearness the nearer islands and some half a dozen craft lying becalmed within two miles of us, inshore. The moon would set about midnight; yet even then we should still have the stars, if the night remained clear.
Kennedy was seated in a deck chair, with a powerful night glass reposing upon his knees, when I went up on the poop; and he informed me that although he had been keeping a careful watch upon matters inshore, he had seen nothing whatever of a suspicious character.
“But then,” he explained, “I didn’t expect to. If those Malays are as ’cute as I take them to be, and are cherishing designs against us, you may bet your bottom dollar that they’ll be careful not to do anything that would appear to us in the least suspicious. I may be a fool, but things look almost too quiet, ashore there, to be wholly satisfactory to me. I would rather see a little more movement, a fishing boat or two coming out, or something like that. Why, I’ve known cases where, a ship bein’ becalmed as we are, widin a few miles of the shore, the natives have come off in scores wid fruit and fish and curios to sell; but those chaps ashore there have kept most religiously away from us. Ah, well! that cloud yonder is risin’—slowly, I admit, still it’s risin’, and I hope it’ll bring a breeze wid it, if it’s only enough to give us steerage way. I don’t like things as they are, not the least little bit.”
“Why, man,” I exclaimed, “what is the matter with you to-night? If I didn’t know better I should be almost inclined to think you were afraid!”
“Afraid, is ut?” he laughed. “Begorra! what would I be afraid of, in such a ship as this, wid all those beautiful guns and what not to purtect us? No, Leigh, it’s not afraid I am, as you know well; and yet I have a curious feelin’—I can’t describe ut, but it’s a sort of feelin’ of—Howly Sailor!—what in the nation is that? Did ye hear it, boy?”
Hear it? I should think so; and so had every other individual on deck, if one might judge by the sudden silence that fell upon the men grouped about the fore deck, followed by an equally sudden fusillade of low, quick ejaculations and the swift rush of bare feet to the rails. It began as a low, weird moan, which rose rapidly to a sort of sobbing wail and culminated in a sharp, unearthly scream that sent cold shivers running down my spine and caused the hairs of my head to bristle upon my scalp. It seemed to come from the water almost immediately under our bows. I saw a little crowd of men spring up the ladder leading to the topgallant forecastle, rush to the rail, and peer eagerly down into the black water. Then one of them straightened up suddenly and hailed:
“Poop, there! did ye hear that strange cry, sir?”
“Ay, ay,” answered Kennedy, “I heard it right enough. D’ye suppose I’m deaf? What is ut, anyway, that’s makin’ it?”
There was a brief but animated confab on the forecastle, and then the voice that had hailed came back:
“Can’t see anything anywhere, sir; but the sound seemed to come from away yonder, on the starboard bow.”
Instantly there arose a hubbub of protesting voices, one of which, louder than the rest, could be heard exclaiming:
“You chump! what d’ye mean by sayin’ that? Don’t ye know the difference between starboard and port? It was away off here to port that the sound came from.”
But this assertion in turn was contradicted by the first speaker and his adherents, so that in less than a minute a strenuous argument was proceeding on the forecastle, both parties to which, it seemed to me, were in the wrong.
“Ay, ay, there ye are,” commented Kennedy. “Nobody knows where the sound came from. ’Twas thebanshee, me bhoy, that’s what ut was; and some Oirishman aboard this good ship is goin’ to lose the number of his mess shortly.”
“Oh, nonsense!” I exclaimed. “You surely do not believe that—”
I had got so far with my protest when again the blood-curdling cry rang out over the dark water, this time sounding more distant than before. Once more a clamorous dispute arose on the forecastle as to the direction from which the sound proceeded, for, curiously enough, no two individuals seemed quite agreed upon the point, while even I felt it impossible to make an authoritative statement as to whether the cry arose from ahead or astern. And, in the midst of the discussion, up came the saloon party,en masse, to enquire what was the matter.
I was, for some not very definite reason, glad that Kennedy did not again assert hisbansheetheory; he merely stated the facts of the case, leaving the others to draw their own conclusions. The boy, Julius, no sooner heard the chief mate’s statement than he was ready with an explanation. In a high-pitched tone of voice, which could be distinctly heard from one end of the ship to the other, he positively asserted that the cries were those of a sea bird, although I had never in my life heard a sea bird utter such terrible sounds, nor had the men forward, if one might judge by the low, contemptuous laughter from the forecastle with which the assertion was greeted. But although Kennedy demurred, the boy insisted that he was right; he knew all about it, and finally rushed off to his cabin for some book, a certain passage in which, he declared, would support his contention. And I seized the opportunity thus afforded to retire in good order to my own cabin.
When I went on deck again, at eight bells, the moon was just on the point of ruddily setting, while the cloud bank which I had noticed earlier in the evening hanging low over the land had risen until its upper edge was almost over our mast-heads, blotting out about half the stars. It was now so dark away to the eastward that nothing whatever could be seen, not even the faintest loom of the nearest islands; while, if it had not been for a faintly glimmering light here and there, we could not have told that there were any craft of any kind in our neighbourhood. There had been no repetition of those strange, weird sounds that had startled us all earlier in the night, so Kennedy informed me; but he was still firmly convinced that they had emanated from the banshee, and when I laughingly tried to argue him out of his conviction he took me up rather sharply with the assertion that, had I been of Irish birth or extraction, I would know better than to make light of the matter. To my amazement, he seemed quite depressed and low-spirited at the mere mention of it, so I quickly dropped the subject and asked him if during his watch he had observed anything to confirm his earlier suspicion that we might possibly be attacked. He admitted that he had not, but added:
“I niver expected to see annything so long as the light lasted. It’s now that they’ll be beginnin’ to make a musther if those ginks mane comin’ off to us at all, so for the love o’ Mike keep your eyes skinned and your ears wide open all through your watch. We can keep them off aisily, if we only get warnin’ enough; but if by anny chance they can conthrive to creep up close enough to take us unawares and lay us aboard, they may take the ship through sheer force av numbers.”
“Why,” said I, “you talk as though you felt absolutely certain that an attack will be made upon the ship! I can’t understand you a bit to-night, and that’s a fact.”
“Faith, boy, I cannot undherstand mesilf,” replied Kennedy, seriously. “I’ve never before felt as I do this blessed night; but somehow Iknowthat something’s goin’ to happen. And then, there’s the banshee—”
“Oh,” I interrupted, “banshee be hanged! I thought you were much too sensible a fellow to be moved by superstitions of any kind. Now, take my advice—you’ve got a touch of the sun. Go down to the doc, get him to give you a good stiff dose of quinine, and turn in. You’ll feel a different man when you are roused at eight bells and find that the ship is all right. And as to anything creeping up and taking us unawares, you may trust me to see that nothing of that sort happens. I will keep a bright look-out, never fear.”
“Well, I hope ye will, that’s all,” returned Kennedy, as he stepped toward the head of the poop ladder on his way below. “And, by the by, there’s one precaution ye may as well take. Unship the side lights and stow them somewhere handy but where their gleam will not show. They’re quite useless, since we’re becalmed, unless a steamer should happen along, and if she does ye’ll see her lights and hear her propeller in plenty of time to show her where ye are. And mask the skylights, too. Then, maybe, if annybody comes lookin’ for us wid evil intentions, they’ll not find us. Good night—and keep a bright look-out.”
With this final caution the first mate took himself off, much to my relief; for, truth to tell, his undisguised anxiety and uneasiness were beginning to get a bit upon my nerves. As soon as he was out of the way I went forward and, in obedience to what I took to be his order, caused the red and green side lights to be unshipped and placed inboard, just inside the topgallant forecastle door, at the same time cautioning the look-outs to keep their eyes skinned, as we were in somewhat dangerous waters. Then I went aft, masked the skylights, and slipped into the saloon for a moment to extinguish all the lights save one, and draw the blinds across the open ports.
This task took me less than a couple of minutes, and then I returned to the poop and took a good look round. But I could see nothing except four dim glimmers of light spaced at irregular intervals, which I took to be the lights of the becalmed craft which we had seen inshore of us earlier in the evening. And as for sound, there was nothing to be heard save an occasional faint gurgle of water under the counter when the ship lifted to the almost invisible swell, accompanied by a low flap of canvas aloft, a gentle patter of reef points, or the slight creak of a parral or block sheave; but so breathlessly still was the night that these sounds, faint as they really were, sounded almost appallingly loud. There was not the smallest murmur of subdued talk for’ard, for the watch had curled themselves up in the most comfortable places they could find in order to steal a “caulk”, and I did not attempt to disturb them, knowing that at my first call they would be upon their feet in a moment.
To keep myself awake I proceeded to pace the poop to and fro in my rubber-soled shoes, taking care to avoid passing over that portion of the deck which formed the roof of our lady skipper’s stateroom; and while I was thus engaged I nearly collided with a ghostly figure which proved, upon investigation, to be that of Monroe, the tutor parson, in pyjamas and slippers. He explained that he found it too hot to sleep below, so had come up on deck in the hope of being able to cool off a bit prior to having another try. He fell into step alongside me, and began to talk in a low voice, presently turning the conversation to Kennedy and the queerness of his seemingly rooted conviction that we should be attacked. I let him talk on until he appeared to have said all that he had to say upon the subject and was about to go below again, when I said to him:
“I am glad that you came up on deck, because it affords me an opportunity to say something that Kennedy’s queer talk has rather forced upon my mind. It is this. If by any chance we should be attacked, will you undertake to see that Mrs Vansittart, her daughter, and the boy are, any or all of them, prevented from coming on deck? Their presence here under such circumstances could be of no possible assistance to us; on the contrary, it would be a distinct hindrance.”
“Yes,” acknowledged Monroe; “I see what you mean. But suppose that any of them should take it into their heads to come on deck, how am I to prevent them? I have no authority over them, not even over the boy.”
“You must bring your moral suasion to bear upon her, if need be,” I said. “Point out to her that the beating off of a piratical attack—Oh! hang it, what bosh I am talking, to be sure; as though there was the least likelihood of such a thing! The talk of that ass Kennedy seems to have hypnotised me as well as himself! But to return to what I was saying—ifsuch an utterly improbable thing should happen, point out to her that fighting is men’s work, and that the presence of women and children would be worse than useless at such a time. Let her remain below herself, and exercise her authority over that boy of hers to make him stay below also. I don’t suppose that Miss Anthea would need any persuading.”
“No,” agreed Monroe; “she is all right, and on the whole a very sensible girl, despite her foolish pride. But let me give you a hint, Leigh. In the event of, as you say, such an exceedingly unlikely thing as an attack occurring, don’t trust too much to my powers of persuasion, but act upon your own responsibility. Lock the door of the drawing-room, and Mrs Vansittart will be unable to get out on deck, however anxious she may be; and then slip down below and lock Master Julius into his cabin; that is all you will need to do. There will probably be a row afterward, but I will back you up by saying that what you did was done by my advice. And now, good night! I feel a trifle cooler than I did, and hope I shall be able to—Hallo! Listen! Did you hear anything?”
Chapter Seven.Attacked by Pirates.We both halted and listened intently, Monroe with one foot on the top step of the companion, on his way below.“What did you think you heard?” I questioned in a half-whisper.“Well, I can scarcely say,” was the low-spoken reply. “As a matter of fact, I am not sure that I heard anything. I am beginning to think that Kennedy’s stupid talk must have affected us all aft here, more or less, but it certainly seemed to me that while I was bidding you good night just now I caught the faintest suggestion of—Ah! by Jove! there it is again. Did you catch it?”“Yes,” I said, “unless—But no; I don’t believe it was imagination. I thought I heard a sound like the groaning of an oar against a thole pin, some distance off in that direction,” with a flourish of my hand toward the east.“Yes,” agreed Monroe; “that describes the sound exactly. Surely Kennedy’s apprehensions cannot have been well-founded, after all, can they?”“Don’t know in the least,” I returned; “but I guess we shall, very soon now. Meanwhile, since it must be obvious to you that I cannot possibly leave the deck at this juncture, perhaps you will have the goodness to slip down below and do that key-turning trick you suggested to me just now.”“Sure! I will,” answered the parson. “It was my advice, and I will take the responsibility of carrying it out,” and he vanished down the companion way.As he disappeared I went down the poop ladder at a run, hurried forward, and made my way to the forecastle head, where I found the look-out leaning against the guard rail with his arms folded and his chin sunk upon his chest. He was not asleep, for as he heard the light patter of my shoes upon the ladder he straightened himself and turned to see who was coming; but I had a very shrewd suspicion that the stillness of the night had induced in him a condition very much the reverse of alertness.“Is that Johnson?” I demanded sharply.“No, sir,” he replied. “I’m Maguire.”“Then, Maguire,” I said, “I am afraid you have not been keeping quite so wideawake as you ought, considering that it’s your look-out. For instance, have you heard any unusual sounds, such as you ought to have reported, since you came on watch?”“No, sir,” replied the man. “And as to—”“That will do,” I interrupted. “Now, pull yourself together and listen.”We both set ourselves intently to listen, but before half a dozen seconds had passed I heard loud voices—those of Monroe and the boy, and, almost immediately afterward, that of Mrs Vansittart—the parson’s in remonstrance, the boy’s in loud and angry protest, and that of the lady in anxious enquiry. It seemed as though Monroe had somehow mismanaged his rather delicate task, for as I started to go aft again I heard the lad shout, “Iwillgo on deck if I feel like it, and you, Monroe, aren’t going to stop me. And as for the Britisher, do you think I care what he says?” But here Mrs Vansittart cut in with an injunction to Julius to hold his tongue, following it up with an enquiry as to what all the fuss was about. I felt that it was time I took a hand; so, cautioning Maguire to keep a bright look-out and listen for all he was worth, I sprang down the forecastle ladder on my way aft. And as I did so I ran into a couple of men who had just crept out from beneath the launch, evidently curious to learn what the disturbance was about.Halting for a moment, I ordered the two men to rouse the watch quietly, and stand by for an “All hands” call, and then continued on my way aft, meeting the trio just by the foot of the poop ladder. Mrs Vansittart was evidently in something of a temper, for, as I joined the party, she turned sharply and demanded:“Is that Mr Leigh?”“It is, madam,” I replied. “Hush, Julius!” I continued, for the boy also had turned angrily upon me. “Pray stop your outcry, for Heaven’s sake! Silence is of vital importance to us all at this moment, for we may be on the very verge of a crisis. Mr Monroe and I are both of opinion that we very recently heard certain sounds that—”“I know all about that,” interrupted Mrs Vansittart; “Mr Monroe has already explained that to me. What I want to know now is by what right you presumed to instruct him to lock the door of the drawing-room, and so prevent me from coming out on deck?”“Yes,” added the boy, in that high-pitched, clamorous voice of his, which would carry so far over the water on such a night, “and what right have you to order me to be locked in my cabin? Who are you, I should like to know—”“Craft on the port quarter—two of ’em—three—four—a whole fleet of small craft headin’ dead for us!” yelled the look-out at this moment.“Good heavens!” I ejaculated, “then Kennedy’s extraordinary premonition was right after all;” and, unceremoniously quitting the little group under the break of the poop, I rushed forward, shouting:“All hands to general quarters! Throw open the ports. Off with the gun covers; slew the guns, and point them out through the ports. Pass the word for the gunner, and send him aft to me.” Then I turned and went aft again, once more encountering the saloon party, now made complete by the appearance of Miss Anthea, clad, like her mother, in a very becoming dressing-gown.“Madam,” said I, addressing Mrs Vansittart, “there is no time for explanation at this moment, for, unless I am very greatly mistaken, we are about to be attacked by a fleet of pirate craft. But I most earnestly beseech you to retire below, taking your son and daughter with you out of harm’s way. If my suspicions are well-founded, none of you can be of the slightest assistance on deck, while at any moment we may have shot flying about our ears, and—”“Yes,” the skipper agreed, “you are quite right. Mr Leigh is perfectly right, Julius, therefore I order you to go to your cabin at once. And you too, Anthea. Mr Monroe, if Julius will not go quietly, I authorise you to use such force as may be necessary to compel him to go. And when you have seen him safe in his cabin, lock him in, and bring me the key. Now, sir,”—very haughtily to me—“be good enough to accompany me to the poop, and let us see what justification there is for all this sudden alarm and confusion.”It was very evident that the lady was tremendously indignant with me. And at this, when I came to think of it, I was not greatly surprised, for it certainly was a tremendous liberty for a second officer to consent to, much less order, the locking of a skipper and owner in her own cabin. I therefore followed her, very much crestfallen, up the poop ladder, and at once looked away out over the port quarter in search of the supposed pirate fleet.It was at this time so very dark that for several seconds I could see nothing. The moon had set, and the bank of cloud already referred to had overspread more than half the sky; moreover, a mist had come creeping up from the eastward, not dense enough to merit the name of fog, yet sufficiently thick to dim the light of the stars still shining in the western half of the heavens, while it added still more to the darkness which gloomed away to the eastward of us. But presently, down in the midst of the dusky blackness broad on our port quarter, I caught a glimpse of a small, indeterminate shape of still deeper blackness, then another, and another, and another, until I had counted ten of them; and concentrating my gaze intently upon them, I felt sure I could occasionally distinguish a small, evanescent, silvery gleam like that of sea fire stirred into brilliance by the slow passage of a moving object through the water.“Yes,” I exclaimed, pointing, “there they come, ten of them, if not more. Have you any particular orders to give, madam, or will you leave the defence of the ship to Mr Kennedy and me?”“Why, of course I leave it to Kennedy—and you—to do the best you can,” replied Mrs Vansittart. “I know nothing at all about fighting tactics; and I shall not attempt to interfere. Further than that, I shall go below—although I do not like the idea of quitting the deck at the approach of an enemy—for I am sensible enough to recognise that I can do no good up here, and should only be in the way. But, Walter, never, under any circumstances whatever, again dream of turning a key upon me. It was a most unwarrantable liberty, which not even such a crisis as this can justify; and for a few minutes I was really furiously angry with you. But I believe what you did was done with the very best of intentions, so I will say no more about it. Now, here comes Kennedy, so I will just say a word or two to him, and then go. Take care of yourself, my dear boy, and see that you do not get hurt.”There was no time for me to express my gratitude to the lady for her exceeding kindness in thus overlooking what at best could only be described as a serious error of judgment—although, even so, I could not refrain from reminding myself that the fault originated with Monroe—for at that moment the first mate came bounding up the poop ladder, struggling into his jacket as he came.“Whoopee!” he shouted, as he reached the level of the poop. “What did I tell ye, bhoy? Where are the shpalpeens? Show ’em to me—Oh! beg your pardon, ma’am; I didn’t expect to find you here—”“Where did you expect I should be, then, pray, Mr Kennedy?” demanded the skipper. “Hiding in the shaft tunnel, I suppose—”“By the piper! ye might be in a worse place than that same, ma’am. Up here, for instance,” interrupted Kennedy. But Mrs Vansittart was in no mood to discuss that unfortunate subject any further, just then at all events; she therefore cut in upon the first mate’s remarks by saying:“Now, that will do, Mr Kennedy. Please listen to me, for time is pressing. I have just been explaining to Mr Leigh that I know nothing about fighting, therefore I shall leave you and him to do the best you can for our defence, and go below out of the way, since I can be of no use up here. Good night, and take care of yourselves! And let me know when it is all over.” With which the lady took herself off, to our intense relief.“Now, then,” exclaimed Kennedy, turning to me, “where are the cut-throat pirates that I’m afther hearin’ about?”“There they are, less than half a mile off,” I replied, pointing. “They are coming along very slowly, hoping to catch us unawares, perhaps. But, goodness knows, that young rip, Julius, was making noise enough just now to be heard at double that distance, and to show that some of us at least are broad awake.” Then I briefly explained what orders I had so far given, and waited to hear what he had to say.“Have the small arms been served out yet?” he demanded.“Not yet,” I answered. “But they are ready at a moment’s notice.”“Right!” he approved. “Let them be served out at once; a cutlass and a brace of fully loaded automatics to each man, not forgettin’ our noble selves. With these Maxims we shall not need any rifles, I guess.”I turned away to issue this order, when I was met at the head of the poop ladder by Bledsoe, the gunner.“You sent for me, sir?” he asked.“I did, Bledsoe,” said I. “Come up. Mr Kennedy is here, and he may have some orders for you.” Then I turned to Kennedy and said:“Here is the gunner. I sent for him a few minutes ago, thinking you might wish to see him. Also, I had it in my mind to order him to send a few portfires up on deck. It occurred to me that if those fellows insist on closing with us, it would be a good plan to have a hand up in the maintop with some portfires; it would enable us to see what we are doing.”“It would that,” agreed Kennedy; “and we’ll do ut. See to it, Mr Bledsoe, if ye plaise. And ye may also send up some ammunition for the four-inches and Maxims. I guess we’ll not need the Hotchkisses. That’ll do, gunner; let’s have that ammunition quick. Mr Leigh, be good enough to attend to that matther of the shmall arms, and then come back here and take charge of the Maxims. It’s about time we let those ginks know that we’re awake, so I’ll step down to the main-deck and see about throwin’ a shot over ’em.”We descended to the main-deck together, all hands being by that time on deck and at stations; and while I went below to attend to the sending up and distribution of the cutlasses and automatics, Kennedy planted himself in rear of Number 2 gun of the port battery. A minute later the deep, ringing report and jar of the discharge were heard and felt, but with what effect I knew not, being on the deck beneath. A minute later a second gun roared overhead, and while my ears were still ringing with the report I heard the boom of a distant gun, and listened breathlessly for the impact of the shot. I heard nothing, however, so concluded that the missile had flown wide. By the time that our third gun spoke my task below was completed; I therefore snatched at a cutlass, buckled the belt round my waist, took a brace of automatic pistols from the man who was loading them, thrust them into my belt, and rushed up on deck. I encountered Kennedy near the foot of the poop ladder, reported to him what I had done, and received from him the order to go up on the poop and open fire with the Maxims forthwith.“We’ve hit one of thim, and she seems to be sinkin’,” he said; “but the rest of the divvies are comin’ for us like mad, wid their sweeps churnin’ up the wather like the paddles of one av your London tugs. Shtop ’em from layin’ us aboard, if ye can, bhoy. We want no hand-to-hand fightin’ wid thim, for they’ll outnumber us ten to one, I calculate.” He added this last item in a confidential whisper.I dashed up on the poop, and, to my great satisfaction, found both the Maxims manned and well supplied with ammunition. But although it was now easy enough to hear the grind and splash of the sweeps with which the attackers were urging their craft through the water, ay, and even to hear their shouts of encouragement to each other, the darkness and the mist together still combined to render them too indistinctly visible to permit of effective firing from our Maxims. I therefore shouted to Kennedy a suggestion that he should order the man in the maintop to light his portfires, so that we might have light to see what we were about. And Kennedy was in the very act of giving the order when three of the approaching craft fired upon us almost at the same instant; and amomentlater I heard a sharp, splintering crash, followed by a dull, crunching sound below me on the main-deck. One of the enemy’s round shot had got home through our port bulwark, so far as I could judge.I was in a perfect fever of impatience to get additional light, though it were ever so little, and had about made up my mind to open fire with the Maxims without further delay, for the approaching craft were by this time perilously close—not more than two cables’ lengths distant, I believe—when I caught a faint flicker of light from aloft, and the next instant the baleful, blue-white glare of a portfire illuminated the scene and revealed ten small sailing craft foaming down upon us under the impulse of from twelve to sixteen powerfully-manned sweeps apiece. Each craft carried a gun, which looked to be about the calibre of a twelve-pound smooth-bore, mounted in the eyes of her; their decks were crowded with Malays of most ferocious, malignant, and determined aspect, and I caught the gleam and flash of the light from innumerable krisses and rifle barrels as their owners waved them above their heads in savage anticipation of presently getting to close-quarters with us.It was evident that we were confronted with a most formidable and dangerous situation, demanding the utmost promptitude of action, and I at once turned to the crew of the port Maxim, with the command upon my lips to them to open fire, when a cry of horror arose from the gun’s crew on the main-deck immediately below where I was standing, and a man, looking up to me and pointing with his hand, shouted that the mate was killed. Glancing down over the poop rail, I saw the body of poor Kennedy stretched out on the deck in the midst of a pool of blood, with the top of his head shot away, doubtless by the round shot that, a few seconds earlier, I had heard crash through the bulwarks.“Let them have the contents of every gun that will bear!” I shouted. Then turning to the Maxim crews, I added: “Open fire upon them—the nearest craft first; and clear their decks of men, if you can, before they get alongside.”The light was the only thing that our lads—and the pirates too, apparently—had been waiting for, for the next moment the guns of our port battery crashed forth, one after the other, while our port Maxim—the only one of the two that could be brought to bear—started its savage thud-thudding tattoo, and in less than half a minute the ship was enveloped in a cloud of acrid smoke which, hanging motionless in the stagnant air, effectually cloaked the approach of the attacking force, and as effectually prevented anything like accurate shooting.Nor were the enemy one whit behindhand in availing themselves of the assistance afforded by the light of the portfires; indeed, they had rather the best of it, for although the hull of the yacht was speedily enveloped in smoke, the portfire brilliantly illuminated our canvas, and thus afforded them an excellent guide in aiming. And now the round shot began to fly thick and fast, while bullets and slugs hummed and sang about our ears like a swarm of angry hornets. Luckily for us, the aim of the pirates was atrociously bad—probably the fire of our Maxim disconcerted them—and although we afterward found that five round shot had passed through our sails, only one struck our hull, while, by what seemed like a miracle, the bullets all missed our bodies, though in many cases by only the merest hair’s-breadth. For perhaps half a minute the fire of the pirates was maintained with the utmost fury, and then all in a moment it died away to a few desultory shots, which presently ceased.Putting my whistle to my lips, I blew a shrill blast upon it, which I followed up with the order:“Main-deck guns, cease firing!” And as I uttered the words I thought I felt a faint draught of air upon my face. I was not mistaken, for at the same moment the heavy pall of smoke which enveloped us began lazily to shape itself into fantastic wreaths that slowly swept away to the westward, while our lighter canvas rustled gently, and then filled to a small air from the eastward. As it happened, our sails were correctly trimmed, so that all that was needed was just to allow the ship to come up to her proper course when she gathered way.Meanwhile, with the dispersion of the smoke, we were able once more to get a glimpse of the enemy, and that glimpse revealed them to be in full flight. They must have suffered frightfully from our fire before their courage gave way, for of the ten craft which constituted the original attacking force only six were now visible, while every one of these appeared to be more or less in difficulties—three of them, indeed, very much more than less. I perceived that only one of the half-dozen appeared to be working her full complement of sweeps, while another was hobbling off under the impulse of but a single pair. Shells, though they be of but four-inches diameter, are capable of inflicting serious damage when they hit and explode.The breeze, which at first came away as a mere breathing, gained steadily in strength, until the yacht was sliding along at a six-knot pace, and it would have been easy for us to have overtaken our audacious attackers and sunk them out of hand. But I had my doubts as to whether any of them would remain afloat long enough to get back to the small hidden harbour from which they had emerged; while in any case it seemed to me that the rascals had received so severe a punishment that it would be long before they again attempted to attack a seemingly helpless ship. I therefore allowed them to go their way without further molestation, and, boarding the fore and main tacks, brought the ship to her course. This done, I gave orders for the guns to be secured, the charges to be drawn, the unused ammunition to be returned to the magazine, and the small arms to the armourer, and the decks to be cleared up generally.Meanwhile poor Kennedy’s body had been carried forward and laid upon the fore-hatch, covered over with a tarpaulin. Poor chap! I was sincerely grieved at his loss, for he was both a first-rate seaman and a thoroughly stanch messmate. And as, passing round the deck to satisfy myself that all my orders had been satisfactorily executed, I paused for a moment to gaze regretfully at the shrouded form under the tarpaulin, I could not help wondering a little at the memory that he, the only victim, should have been the one to have experienced a premonition, practically amounting to certainty, not only of the encounter, but also, as I now felt convinced, that it would prove fatal to him.Having completed my inspection of the decks, and satisfied myself that everything was all right, I called the boatswain aft to take temporary charge, and then entered the drawing-room, intending to pass through it to the door of Mrs Vansittart’s cabin, to make my report. But on entering the apartment I was surprised to find the lady seated there, fully dressed, and evidently waiting with some impatience for news. As I advanced she rose to her feet and held out her hand to me.“Well, Walter,” she exclaimed, “it is all over—the dreadful fighting, I mean—and you are unhurt. Is it not so?” Then, as I briefly replied in the affirmative, she continued: “But why are you looking so serious? And why have you come to me instead of Mr Kennedy? I most sincerely hope that nothing dreadful has happened.”“We have got off much more easily than at one moment I dared to hope,” I said. “But I grieve to inform you that the fight has cost us the life of one man, and he the man whom we can least of all afford to lose. You will guess at once that I mean poor Kennedy, who was killed by a round shot—the only shot that did any damage worth mentioning.”For a moment Mrs Vansittart seemed scarcely able to credit my news. I believe that up to then she had never quite realised the fact of our peril; but now that one of our men had actually lost his life it was suddenly brought home to her with startling vividness, and she was correspondingly upset. She stared at me unbelievingly, gasped: “What? Neil Kennedy killed? Oh, Walter, you cannot possibly mean it!” and then, as I nodded my head, she sank back into her chair and burst into tears. I thought it best to let her have her cry out in peace, for tears seem to be the natural safety valve of a woman’s emotions; and while she sat there with her face buried in her hands and the tears streaming through her fingers, Miss Anthea, Monroe, and Julius came up from below. Of course they all wanted to know what was the matter, and I was obliged to explain. In the course of the explanation, which took something of the form of a brief narrative of the entire adventure, I happened to remark:“What puzzles me more than anything is how it happened that those fellows were able to find us so accurately on so dark a night. I took the greatest care to mask all our lights effectually; yet when we first sighted them they were heading as straight for us as if we were in plain sight.”“And so we were,” remarked Monroe; “for which we have to thank our young friend Julius, here. When, in obedience to his mother’s command, I took him below to his cabin before the fight began, I not only found the open port of his cabin uncovered, but all three of the electric-lights ablaze, so that the port must have shown up in the dark like a lighthouse. The young gentleman explained to me that he couldn’t sleep because of the heat, and had therefore been reading in bed!”
We both halted and listened intently, Monroe with one foot on the top step of the companion, on his way below.
“What did you think you heard?” I questioned in a half-whisper.
“Well, I can scarcely say,” was the low-spoken reply. “As a matter of fact, I am not sure that I heard anything. I am beginning to think that Kennedy’s stupid talk must have affected us all aft here, more or less, but it certainly seemed to me that while I was bidding you good night just now I caught the faintest suggestion of—Ah! by Jove! there it is again. Did you catch it?”
“Yes,” I said, “unless—But no; I don’t believe it was imagination. I thought I heard a sound like the groaning of an oar against a thole pin, some distance off in that direction,” with a flourish of my hand toward the east.
“Yes,” agreed Monroe; “that describes the sound exactly. Surely Kennedy’s apprehensions cannot have been well-founded, after all, can they?”
“Don’t know in the least,” I returned; “but I guess we shall, very soon now. Meanwhile, since it must be obvious to you that I cannot possibly leave the deck at this juncture, perhaps you will have the goodness to slip down below and do that key-turning trick you suggested to me just now.”
“Sure! I will,” answered the parson. “It was my advice, and I will take the responsibility of carrying it out,” and he vanished down the companion way.
As he disappeared I went down the poop ladder at a run, hurried forward, and made my way to the forecastle head, where I found the look-out leaning against the guard rail with his arms folded and his chin sunk upon his chest. He was not asleep, for as he heard the light patter of my shoes upon the ladder he straightened himself and turned to see who was coming; but I had a very shrewd suspicion that the stillness of the night had induced in him a condition very much the reverse of alertness.
“Is that Johnson?” I demanded sharply.
“No, sir,” he replied. “I’m Maguire.”
“Then, Maguire,” I said, “I am afraid you have not been keeping quite so wideawake as you ought, considering that it’s your look-out. For instance, have you heard any unusual sounds, such as you ought to have reported, since you came on watch?”
“No, sir,” replied the man. “And as to—”
“That will do,” I interrupted. “Now, pull yourself together and listen.”
We both set ourselves intently to listen, but before half a dozen seconds had passed I heard loud voices—those of Monroe and the boy, and, almost immediately afterward, that of Mrs Vansittart—the parson’s in remonstrance, the boy’s in loud and angry protest, and that of the lady in anxious enquiry. It seemed as though Monroe had somehow mismanaged his rather delicate task, for as I started to go aft again I heard the lad shout, “Iwillgo on deck if I feel like it, and you, Monroe, aren’t going to stop me. And as for the Britisher, do you think I care what he says?” But here Mrs Vansittart cut in with an injunction to Julius to hold his tongue, following it up with an enquiry as to what all the fuss was about. I felt that it was time I took a hand; so, cautioning Maguire to keep a bright look-out and listen for all he was worth, I sprang down the forecastle ladder on my way aft. And as I did so I ran into a couple of men who had just crept out from beneath the launch, evidently curious to learn what the disturbance was about.
Halting for a moment, I ordered the two men to rouse the watch quietly, and stand by for an “All hands” call, and then continued on my way aft, meeting the trio just by the foot of the poop ladder. Mrs Vansittart was evidently in something of a temper, for, as I joined the party, she turned sharply and demanded:
“Is that Mr Leigh?”
“It is, madam,” I replied. “Hush, Julius!” I continued, for the boy also had turned angrily upon me. “Pray stop your outcry, for Heaven’s sake! Silence is of vital importance to us all at this moment, for we may be on the very verge of a crisis. Mr Monroe and I are both of opinion that we very recently heard certain sounds that—”
“I know all about that,” interrupted Mrs Vansittart; “Mr Monroe has already explained that to me. What I want to know now is by what right you presumed to instruct him to lock the door of the drawing-room, and so prevent me from coming out on deck?”
“Yes,” added the boy, in that high-pitched, clamorous voice of his, which would carry so far over the water on such a night, “and what right have you to order me to be locked in my cabin? Who are you, I should like to know—”
“Craft on the port quarter—two of ’em—three—four—a whole fleet of small craft headin’ dead for us!” yelled the look-out at this moment.
“Good heavens!” I ejaculated, “then Kennedy’s extraordinary premonition was right after all;” and, unceremoniously quitting the little group under the break of the poop, I rushed forward, shouting:
“All hands to general quarters! Throw open the ports. Off with the gun covers; slew the guns, and point them out through the ports. Pass the word for the gunner, and send him aft to me.” Then I turned and went aft again, once more encountering the saloon party, now made complete by the appearance of Miss Anthea, clad, like her mother, in a very becoming dressing-gown.
“Madam,” said I, addressing Mrs Vansittart, “there is no time for explanation at this moment, for, unless I am very greatly mistaken, we are about to be attacked by a fleet of pirate craft. But I most earnestly beseech you to retire below, taking your son and daughter with you out of harm’s way. If my suspicions are well-founded, none of you can be of the slightest assistance on deck, while at any moment we may have shot flying about our ears, and—”
“Yes,” the skipper agreed, “you are quite right. Mr Leigh is perfectly right, Julius, therefore I order you to go to your cabin at once. And you too, Anthea. Mr Monroe, if Julius will not go quietly, I authorise you to use such force as may be necessary to compel him to go. And when you have seen him safe in his cabin, lock him in, and bring me the key. Now, sir,”—very haughtily to me—“be good enough to accompany me to the poop, and let us see what justification there is for all this sudden alarm and confusion.”
It was very evident that the lady was tremendously indignant with me. And at this, when I came to think of it, I was not greatly surprised, for it certainly was a tremendous liberty for a second officer to consent to, much less order, the locking of a skipper and owner in her own cabin. I therefore followed her, very much crestfallen, up the poop ladder, and at once looked away out over the port quarter in search of the supposed pirate fleet.
It was at this time so very dark that for several seconds I could see nothing. The moon had set, and the bank of cloud already referred to had overspread more than half the sky; moreover, a mist had come creeping up from the eastward, not dense enough to merit the name of fog, yet sufficiently thick to dim the light of the stars still shining in the western half of the heavens, while it added still more to the darkness which gloomed away to the eastward of us. But presently, down in the midst of the dusky blackness broad on our port quarter, I caught a glimpse of a small, indeterminate shape of still deeper blackness, then another, and another, and another, until I had counted ten of them; and concentrating my gaze intently upon them, I felt sure I could occasionally distinguish a small, evanescent, silvery gleam like that of sea fire stirred into brilliance by the slow passage of a moving object through the water.
“Yes,” I exclaimed, pointing, “there they come, ten of them, if not more. Have you any particular orders to give, madam, or will you leave the defence of the ship to Mr Kennedy and me?”
“Why, of course I leave it to Kennedy—and you—to do the best you can,” replied Mrs Vansittart. “I know nothing at all about fighting tactics; and I shall not attempt to interfere. Further than that, I shall go below—although I do not like the idea of quitting the deck at the approach of an enemy—for I am sensible enough to recognise that I can do no good up here, and should only be in the way. But, Walter, never, under any circumstances whatever, again dream of turning a key upon me. It was a most unwarrantable liberty, which not even such a crisis as this can justify; and for a few minutes I was really furiously angry with you. But I believe what you did was done with the very best of intentions, so I will say no more about it. Now, here comes Kennedy, so I will just say a word or two to him, and then go. Take care of yourself, my dear boy, and see that you do not get hurt.”
There was no time for me to express my gratitude to the lady for her exceeding kindness in thus overlooking what at best could only be described as a serious error of judgment—although, even so, I could not refrain from reminding myself that the fault originated with Monroe—for at that moment the first mate came bounding up the poop ladder, struggling into his jacket as he came.
“Whoopee!” he shouted, as he reached the level of the poop. “What did I tell ye, bhoy? Where are the shpalpeens? Show ’em to me—Oh! beg your pardon, ma’am; I didn’t expect to find you here—”
“Where did you expect I should be, then, pray, Mr Kennedy?” demanded the skipper. “Hiding in the shaft tunnel, I suppose—”
“By the piper! ye might be in a worse place than that same, ma’am. Up here, for instance,” interrupted Kennedy. But Mrs Vansittart was in no mood to discuss that unfortunate subject any further, just then at all events; she therefore cut in upon the first mate’s remarks by saying:
“Now, that will do, Mr Kennedy. Please listen to me, for time is pressing. I have just been explaining to Mr Leigh that I know nothing about fighting, therefore I shall leave you and him to do the best you can for our defence, and go below out of the way, since I can be of no use up here. Good night, and take care of yourselves! And let me know when it is all over.” With which the lady took herself off, to our intense relief.
“Now, then,” exclaimed Kennedy, turning to me, “where are the cut-throat pirates that I’m afther hearin’ about?”
“There they are, less than half a mile off,” I replied, pointing. “They are coming along very slowly, hoping to catch us unawares, perhaps. But, goodness knows, that young rip, Julius, was making noise enough just now to be heard at double that distance, and to show that some of us at least are broad awake.” Then I briefly explained what orders I had so far given, and waited to hear what he had to say.
“Have the small arms been served out yet?” he demanded.
“Not yet,” I answered. “But they are ready at a moment’s notice.”
“Right!” he approved. “Let them be served out at once; a cutlass and a brace of fully loaded automatics to each man, not forgettin’ our noble selves. With these Maxims we shall not need any rifles, I guess.”
I turned away to issue this order, when I was met at the head of the poop ladder by Bledsoe, the gunner.
“You sent for me, sir?” he asked.
“I did, Bledsoe,” said I. “Come up. Mr Kennedy is here, and he may have some orders for you.” Then I turned to Kennedy and said:
“Here is the gunner. I sent for him a few minutes ago, thinking you might wish to see him. Also, I had it in my mind to order him to send a few portfires up on deck. It occurred to me that if those fellows insist on closing with us, it would be a good plan to have a hand up in the maintop with some portfires; it would enable us to see what we are doing.”
“It would that,” agreed Kennedy; “and we’ll do ut. See to it, Mr Bledsoe, if ye plaise. And ye may also send up some ammunition for the four-inches and Maxims. I guess we’ll not need the Hotchkisses. That’ll do, gunner; let’s have that ammunition quick. Mr Leigh, be good enough to attend to that matther of the shmall arms, and then come back here and take charge of the Maxims. It’s about time we let those ginks know that we’re awake, so I’ll step down to the main-deck and see about throwin’ a shot over ’em.”
We descended to the main-deck together, all hands being by that time on deck and at stations; and while I went below to attend to the sending up and distribution of the cutlasses and automatics, Kennedy planted himself in rear of Number 2 gun of the port battery. A minute later the deep, ringing report and jar of the discharge were heard and felt, but with what effect I knew not, being on the deck beneath. A minute later a second gun roared overhead, and while my ears were still ringing with the report I heard the boom of a distant gun, and listened breathlessly for the impact of the shot. I heard nothing, however, so concluded that the missile had flown wide. By the time that our third gun spoke my task below was completed; I therefore snatched at a cutlass, buckled the belt round my waist, took a brace of automatic pistols from the man who was loading them, thrust them into my belt, and rushed up on deck. I encountered Kennedy near the foot of the poop ladder, reported to him what I had done, and received from him the order to go up on the poop and open fire with the Maxims forthwith.
“We’ve hit one of thim, and she seems to be sinkin’,” he said; “but the rest of the divvies are comin’ for us like mad, wid their sweeps churnin’ up the wather like the paddles of one av your London tugs. Shtop ’em from layin’ us aboard, if ye can, bhoy. We want no hand-to-hand fightin’ wid thim, for they’ll outnumber us ten to one, I calculate.” He added this last item in a confidential whisper.
I dashed up on the poop, and, to my great satisfaction, found both the Maxims manned and well supplied with ammunition. But although it was now easy enough to hear the grind and splash of the sweeps with which the attackers were urging their craft through the water, ay, and even to hear their shouts of encouragement to each other, the darkness and the mist together still combined to render them too indistinctly visible to permit of effective firing from our Maxims. I therefore shouted to Kennedy a suggestion that he should order the man in the maintop to light his portfires, so that we might have light to see what we were about. And Kennedy was in the very act of giving the order when three of the approaching craft fired upon us almost at the same instant; and amomentlater I heard a sharp, splintering crash, followed by a dull, crunching sound below me on the main-deck. One of the enemy’s round shot had got home through our port bulwark, so far as I could judge.
I was in a perfect fever of impatience to get additional light, though it were ever so little, and had about made up my mind to open fire with the Maxims without further delay, for the approaching craft were by this time perilously close—not more than two cables’ lengths distant, I believe—when I caught a faint flicker of light from aloft, and the next instant the baleful, blue-white glare of a portfire illuminated the scene and revealed ten small sailing craft foaming down upon us under the impulse of from twelve to sixteen powerfully-manned sweeps apiece. Each craft carried a gun, which looked to be about the calibre of a twelve-pound smooth-bore, mounted in the eyes of her; their decks were crowded with Malays of most ferocious, malignant, and determined aspect, and I caught the gleam and flash of the light from innumerable krisses and rifle barrels as their owners waved them above their heads in savage anticipation of presently getting to close-quarters with us.
It was evident that we were confronted with a most formidable and dangerous situation, demanding the utmost promptitude of action, and I at once turned to the crew of the port Maxim, with the command upon my lips to them to open fire, when a cry of horror arose from the gun’s crew on the main-deck immediately below where I was standing, and a man, looking up to me and pointing with his hand, shouted that the mate was killed. Glancing down over the poop rail, I saw the body of poor Kennedy stretched out on the deck in the midst of a pool of blood, with the top of his head shot away, doubtless by the round shot that, a few seconds earlier, I had heard crash through the bulwarks.
“Let them have the contents of every gun that will bear!” I shouted. Then turning to the Maxim crews, I added: “Open fire upon them—the nearest craft first; and clear their decks of men, if you can, before they get alongside.”
The light was the only thing that our lads—and the pirates too, apparently—had been waiting for, for the next moment the guns of our port battery crashed forth, one after the other, while our port Maxim—the only one of the two that could be brought to bear—started its savage thud-thudding tattoo, and in less than half a minute the ship was enveloped in a cloud of acrid smoke which, hanging motionless in the stagnant air, effectually cloaked the approach of the attacking force, and as effectually prevented anything like accurate shooting.
Nor were the enemy one whit behindhand in availing themselves of the assistance afforded by the light of the portfires; indeed, they had rather the best of it, for although the hull of the yacht was speedily enveloped in smoke, the portfire brilliantly illuminated our canvas, and thus afforded them an excellent guide in aiming. And now the round shot began to fly thick and fast, while bullets and slugs hummed and sang about our ears like a swarm of angry hornets. Luckily for us, the aim of the pirates was atrociously bad—probably the fire of our Maxim disconcerted them—and although we afterward found that five round shot had passed through our sails, only one struck our hull, while, by what seemed like a miracle, the bullets all missed our bodies, though in many cases by only the merest hair’s-breadth. For perhaps half a minute the fire of the pirates was maintained with the utmost fury, and then all in a moment it died away to a few desultory shots, which presently ceased.
Putting my whistle to my lips, I blew a shrill blast upon it, which I followed up with the order:
“Main-deck guns, cease firing!” And as I uttered the words I thought I felt a faint draught of air upon my face. I was not mistaken, for at the same moment the heavy pall of smoke which enveloped us began lazily to shape itself into fantastic wreaths that slowly swept away to the westward, while our lighter canvas rustled gently, and then filled to a small air from the eastward. As it happened, our sails were correctly trimmed, so that all that was needed was just to allow the ship to come up to her proper course when she gathered way.
Meanwhile, with the dispersion of the smoke, we were able once more to get a glimpse of the enemy, and that glimpse revealed them to be in full flight. They must have suffered frightfully from our fire before their courage gave way, for of the ten craft which constituted the original attacking force only six were now visible, while every one of these appeared to be more or less in difficulties—three of them, indeed, very much more than less. I perceived that only one of the half-dozen appeared to be working her full complement of sweeps, while another was hobbling off under the impulse of but a single pair. Shells, though they be of but four-inches diameter, are capable of inflicting serious damage when they hit and explode.
The breeze, which at first came away as a mere breathing, gained steadily in strength, until the yacht was sliding along at a six-knot pace, and it would have been easy for us to have overtaken our audacious attackers and sunk them out of hand. But I had my doubts as to whether any of them would remain afloat long enough to get back to the small hidden harbour from which they had emerged; while in any case it seemed to me that the rascals had received so severe a punishment that it would be long before they again attempted to attack a seemingly helpless ship. I therefore allowed them to go their way without further molestation, and, boarding the fore and main tacks, brought the ship to her course. This done, I gave orders for the guns to be secured, the charges to be drawn, the unused ammunition to be returned to the magazine, and the small arms to the armourer, and the decks to be cleared up generally.
Meanwhile poor Kennedy’s body had been carried forward and laid upon the fore-hatch, covered over with a tarpaulin. Poor chap! I was sincerely grieved at his loss, for he was both a first-rate seaman and a thoroughly stanch messmate. And as, passing round the deck to satisfy myself that all my orders had been satisfactorily executed, I paused for a moment to gaze regretfully at the shrouded form under the tarpaulin, I could not help wondering a little at the memory that he, the only victim, should have been the one to have experienced a premonition, practically amounting to certainty, not only of the encounter, but also, as I now felt convinced, that it would prove fatal to him.
Having completed my inspection of the decks, and satisfied myself that everything was all right, I called the boatswain aft to take temporary charge, and then entered the drawing-room, intending to pass through it to the door of Mrs Vansittart’s cabin, to make my report. But on entering the apartment I was surprised to find the lady seated there, fully dressed, and evidently waiting with some impatience for news. As I advanced she rose to her feet and held out her hand to me.
“Well, Walter,” she exclaimed, “it is all over—the dreadful fighting, I mean—and you are unhurt. Is it not so?” Then, as I briefly replied in the affirmative, she continued: “But why are you looking so serious? And why have you come to me instead of Mr Kennedy? I most sincerely hope that nothing dreadful has happened.”
“We have got off much more easily than at one moment I dared to hope,” I said. “But I grieve to inform you that the fight has cost us the life of one man, and he the man whom we can least of all afford to lose. You will guess at once that I mean poor Kennedy, who was killed by a round shot—the only shot that did any damage worth mentioning.”
For a moment Mrs Vansittart seemed scarcely able to credit my news. I believe that up to then she had never quite realised the fact of our peril; but now that one of our men had actually lost his life it was suddenly brought home to her with startling vividness, and she was correspondingly upset. She stared at me unbelievingly, gasped: “What? Neil Kennedy killed? Oh, Walter, you cannot possibly mean it!” and then, as I nodded my head, she sank back into her chair and burst into tears. I thought it best to let her have her cry out in peace, for tears seem to be the natural safety valve of a woman’s emotions; and while she sat there with her face buried in her hands and the tears streaming through her fingers, Miss Anthea, Monroe, and Julius came up from below. Of course they all wanted to know what was the matter, and I was obliged to explain. In the course of the explanation, which took something of the form of a brief narrative of the entire adventure, I happened to remark:
“What puzzles me more than anything is how it happened that those fellows were able to find us so accurately on so dark a night. I took the greatest care to mask all our lights effectually; yet when we first sighted them they were heading as straight for us as if we were in plain sight.”
“And so we were,” remarked Monroe; “for which we have to thank our young friend Julius, here. When, in obedience to his mother’s command, I took him below to his cabin before the fight began, I not only found the open port of his cabin uncovered, but all three of the electric-lights ablaze, so that the port must have shown up in the dark like a lighthouse. The young gentleman explained to me that he couldn’t sleep because of the heat, and had therefore been reading in bed!”
Chapter Eight.A Weird and Startling Experience.The untimely death of poor Kennedy resulted in my being promoted to the position of first mate of theStella Maris, young as I was; while the boatswain, who knew nothing of navigation, but was an excellent seaman, was temporarily given the post of second mate, until someone more suited to the position could be found.At ten o’clock in the morning following our brush with the Malays the hands were mustered for church parade, as on Sundays, and Kennedy’s body was committed to the deep with all solemnity. Monroe read the burial service so impressively that even the lad Julius was visibly affected, while Mrs Vansittart and her daughter—both of them attired in black for the occasion—wept freely. Three days later we arrived in Singapore, and on the following day the yacht was docked for examination and the fitting of the spare propeller.Upon examination the hull was found to be quite undamaged, yet we must have hit the wreckage, or whatever it was that we ran foul of, a pretty severe blow, for not only was the weed completely scoured off the ship’s bottom where contact had occurred, but the anti-fouling composition had also been removed as effectually as though a scraper had been employed.We stayed at Singapore exactly a week, and then, with bottom scraped clean, two fresh coats of anti-fouling composition applied, the outside of the hull, up to the level of the rail, repainted, and our spare propeller fitted, we sailed for Hong-Kong. It was Mrs Vansittart’s intention to ship a second and a third mate at Singapore; but she forbore to do so, no suitable men happening to be available during our stay. The temporary arrangement was therefore allowed to stand a little longer, our lady skipper hoping to find what she required at Hong-Kong.We went to sea in fine weather, and made excellent but uneventful progress during the first four days of the trip. Then, on our fourth night out, when we were in the neighbourhood of the Vanguard Bank, the wind fell light, and finally died away, leaving us becalmed, very much as had happened with us in the Strait of Malacca. This time, however, there was neither land nor craft in sight, and we were therefore under no apprehension of a repetition of our experiences on that occasion. I ought, by the way, to have stated that upon our arrival at Singapore we duly reported our adventure to the authorities, with the result that the British gunboatCormorantwas dispatched to the scene of the outrage. But we were given to understand that it would probably prove exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to lay hands upon the guilty parties; and as a matter of fact we afterwards learned that the only result of theCormorant’svisit to the spot was the discovery of a considerable quantity of wreckage and several dead bodies floating about.As I have said, the wind began to drop late in the afternoon of our fourth day out from Singapore, and by eight bells of the second dog-watch we had lost steerage way. As soon as this happened the matter was reported to Mrs Vansittart, and I enquired whether she wished the engine to be started; but she replied that she was in no especial hurry to reach Hong-Kong, and therefore, as there was no particular reason for pushing on, she would not waste gasoline. The engine was therefore permitted to remain inactive, but we furled all our light canvas, to save wear and tear, and hauled up our courses, leaving the ship under topsails, topgallant sails, and jib.The fact is that none of us quite knew what to make of the weather. The glass stood fairly high, with a rising rather than a falling tendency, yet the sky was hazy without being exactly overcast. Nor, considering where we were, was the weather particularly hot; the atmosphere, however, seemed surcharged with damp, although no rain fell. With the going down of the sun it fell exceedingly dark, for the moon was far advanced in her last quarter, and did not rise until very late—or rather in the early morning—while the haze was thick enough to shut out the light of the stars effectually. The water was smooth, excepting for a low, easterly swell to remind us of the breeze that had died away.It chanced to be my eight hours in that night, and, as had become a firmly-established custom on such occasions, I was dining with the saloon party, with all of whom, excepting Julius, I was now upon excellent terms. Mrs Vansittart had graciously listened to my explanation of, and accepted my apologies for, the colossal liberty I had taken in suggesting that she should be locked in her cabin on the memorable night of the piratical attack upon us; and not only had she freely forgiven me, but I believe that, after I had fully explained the motives which actuated me, she felt almost inclined to admit that I was to a certain extent justified. Possibly she would have admitted this but for the fact that such an admission might have been subversive of discipline. Monroe and I had always got on splendidly together; and even the once haughty Miss Anthea had at length thawed completely, even to the extent of singing duets with me and playing my accompaniments while I sang or fiddled. It was only the boy whom I seemed utterly unable to placate; he had taken a violent dislike to me from the very first, and not even the fact that I had undoubtedly saved his life seemed to make any apparent difference in his attitude toward me.Since leaving Singapore we had resumed our musical evenings after dinner, temporarily interrupted by Kennedy’s death, and we were enjoying ourselves as usual on the evening of which I am now speaking when, while I was playing a violin solo to Miss Anthea’s accompaniment, we were all startled by a sudden but very slight jarring sensation, as though the ship had lightly touched the ground for a moment. I knew that we were in the neighbourhood of the Vanguard, Prince Consort, and Prince of Wales Banks, and although I also knew that, according to our position as determined that afternoon, and the course and distance since run, we ought to be far enough away from them to be perfectly safe, the thought for a moment seized me that in some extraordinary and wholly unaccountable manner we might have been mistaken. Flinging down my violin, I rushed out on deck, closely followed by Mrs Vansittart and Monroe.On reaching the deck I found that the jar had already created quite a small commotion, the boatswain’s watch being all on the alert, while the hands below, awakened by the unaccustomed sensation, were swarming up to learn what had happened. Parker, the boatswain, was shouting for one hand to bring along the hand lead, and to another to bring a lighted lantern.My first glance was over the side; but it was so dark that I could see nothing save a faint gleam under the lighted ports. Then the men with the lead line and lantern came along, and we took several casts of the lead. “No bottom”, was the report; but even while the line was being coiled up after the last cast, the same sensation was again experienced, this time a little stronger. And then, while we were debating what it could possibly mean, one of the hands from forward came along and reassured us.“I know what it is, sir,” he explained. “I’ve felt the very same thing before, and not very far from here, too—while we was lyin’ in Manila harbour. We couldn’t make out what the mischief it was at first; but when the skipper went ashore shortly afterwards they told him that there’d been a slight shock of earthquake.”The explanation seemed quite reasonable and satisfactory, so after some little further talk we returned to the drawing-room and resumed our music. But shortly afterward we were again disturbed twice by recurrences of the same phenomenon; we accordingly gave it up, and I went off to my cabin, debating within myself whether I should change into my working rig or turn in.Finally I decided upon the former alternative, since I did not feel much inclined for sleep, and when I had effected the change I went up on deck, thinking that possibly a spell of fresh air would bring on the desired drowsiness.As I reached the main-deck four bells (ten o’clock) were struck, and the look-out had just responded with the stereotyped cry of “All’s well!” when there occurred another shock, so violent and protracted that some of the hands cried out in terror. It is difficult to gauge the passage of time accurately at such a moment, but I think this shock must have lasted nearly, if not quite, two minutes; and the sensation to which I can most nearly compare it is that of a ship being swept and jolted over the rough surface of a coral reef by a red-hot tide.So strong and so alarming was the shock that it created something almost amounting to panic among the crew, a few of whom, in their alarm, raised a cry to launch the boats; and it was not without some difficulty that they were eventually persuaded that the yacht was quite uninjured, and that they were therefore far safer on her deck than they could possibly be in any boat. I was not greatly surprised at their alarm, for the phenomenon was of so unusual and startling a character that, to confess the truth, I felt my own self-possession a little inclined to “wilt”, as my companions would probably have put it.Meanwhile the saloon party, like everybody else, had rushed on deck in alarm, and were eagerly discussing the occurrence. Monroe assured the two ladies that they need not be in the least degree uneasy, since, strange as the phenomenon might be to us, it was really not so very extraordinary or unusual, especially in the region where we now found ourselves; and he was making good headway in his effort to reassure his audience when suddenly there occurred another and still more violent shock. This was so pronounced that it set the sea all a-quiver with ripples, which seemed to run in the direction of all the points of the compass, crossing and recrossing each other at every conceivable angle with such rapidity that the “shaling” of the water was like that of a strong rapid, while the interlacing—so to speak—of the ripples created a sort of network of miniature breakers, easily visible because of the phosphorescence set up.The jar and jolting of this last shock were so severe that I really began to entertain serious fears as to whether the ship could withstand them. It seemed to me that if the thing continued very long every rivet in her would be shaken or torn out of place, and the entire fabric must fall to pieces; for the deck was now quivering and jolting so violently that, to maintain our footing, we all instinctively clung to the nearest thing we could lay hands upon.I must confess that I was more than a little astonished at the courage manifested by Mrs Vansittart and her daughter. There could be no doubt that they were greatly alarmed, yet they were more self-possessed than any of the rest of us—so much so, indeed, that Mrs Vansittart’s voice was almost steady as she directed me to find Mackenzie and instruct him to start the engine. “I think I should feel more comfortable if we had the ship under command,” she explained.I had just executed this commission and returned to the poop, and the ship was already beginning to gather way, when above the hiss of the agitated water a low rumble became audible, increasing with, inconceivable rapidity to a frightful, deafening roar. The vibrations grew still more violent, and suddenly, with an awful, ear-splitting explosion, we saw a great column of flame shoot high into the air, some two miles away and almost directly ahead of us. It looked for all the world as though a gigantic cannon, planted vertically in the sea, muzzle upward, had been discharged, except that the flash of fire, instead of being only momentary, as in the case of a gun, was continuous. It remained visible for quite ten minutes, and probably endured for a much longer period. The emission of flame was accompanied by a frightful roaring sound, like that of a thousand blast furnaces, intermingled with frequent terrific explosions; and we continued to hear these long after we had lost sight of the fire.At the first outburst of flame I instinctively sprang to the wheelhouse and ordered the dazed and terrified quartermaster to put his helm hard a-port, and let the ship sweep round in a complete half-circle, so that we might get away from the dangerous spot as speedily as possible. But we had hardly begun to turn, in response to our hard-over helm, before dense clouds of steam commenced to rise from the water round about the flame; and these soon obscured it to such an extent that the glare, which at first was almost as strong as daylight, rapidly dwindled until it became merely a great shapeless luminous blotch, growing less and less brilliant until we lost sight of it altogether as we went at full speed ahead away from it. But it was quite a quarter of an hour before we were fairly clear of the extraordinary danger that had so suddenly leaped up in our path; and within the first minute following the explosion great masses of incandescent rock mingled with flaming cinders began to fall about us on all sides, so that I regard it as nothing short of a miracle that none of the larger masses fell upon our decks. Had they done so, we must inevitably have been destroyed. As it was, we were kept busy with the hose for fully half an hour extinguishing the cinders that fell upon our deck.Not the least remarkable circumstance connected with the phenomenon was that soon after we started the pumps the water rapidly became so hot that the men could not bear the contact of it upon their bare feet, and were obliged to don their sea boots hurriedly. At first we were fearful that the dense clouds of steam generated by the flame would spread and overtake us; but we were spared this, for almost immediately a small breeze sprang up, blowing toward the fire, and as we advanced it strengthened until it became quite a stiff breeze. To this circumstance I attribute the fact that none of our sails were set on fire by the falling cinders, for it necessitated the hurried clewing up and furling of all our canvas.For a full hour we travelled south at full speed; and then, having apparently run beyond the limit of the danger zone, we shifted our helm and headed east until daylight, when, perceiving no sign of the eruption, and the wind having drawn round from the eastward, we set our canvas and stopped the engine. A week later we arrived at Hong-Kong without further adventure, and were amazed to learn that nothing was known there of the submarine volcanic outburst—for such, of course, it was—from which we had so narrowly escaped destruction. Nor, although we remained a week in the roadstead, during which several craft arrived from the south, and two from the Philippines, could we learn that any others than ourselves had beheld the phenomenon.Before our arrival at Singapore it had been Mrs Vansittart’s intention to proceed from that port to Manila, she being somewhat curious to see something of the United States’ farthest East possession on our way north. But the United States’ consul at Singapore had very strongly dissuaded her from making such a visit; we therefore skipped the Philippines, and, after spending a week at Hong-Kong, during which the saloon party made a trip to Canton and back, weighed and stood out of the harbouren routefor Yokohama.We had a good run up through the China Sea, doing the trip in ten days from port to port without being obliged to use the engine at all. Arrived in the magical land of the chrysanthemum, our lady skipper “spread herself”, as she graphically expressed it, devoting a full month to the exploration of the country, and returning to the ship loaded down with priceless treasures of porcelain, pictures, carving and lacquer work, mostly designed as presents for her more stay-at-home friends in “little old N’York”, when she should get back. Of course her children went with her, and Monroe, equally of course, “went along” as escort.While Mrs Vansittart and her party were enjoying themselves the crew also had an opportunity to see something of what many regard as the most wonderful country and people in the world, the same generous rule with regard to shore leave prevailing here as elsewhere. For myself, I did not see nearly as much of the country as I should have liked, for it unfortunately happened that at the time of our visit the relations between Japan and the United States were somewhat strained in connection with the settlement of Japanese subjects on United States soil, and the Stars and Stripes was not altogether welcome in Japanese ports. Indeed, within the first week of our arrival in Yokohama harbour we had reason to suspect that a malicious attempt had been made either to damage or to destroy the yacht; and as she was in my charge during the owner’s absence I did not care to leave her for more than a day at a time—and only once as long as that. But of course it must be understood that such ill feeling as undoubtedly existed was only openly manifested by private persons, and those almost entirely of the lower classes. Official Japan was the very essence of politeness and urbanity whenever we came into contact with it.There was just one element of regret for Mrs Vansittart in her visit to Japan, and that was the unfortunate fact that Monroe developed typhoid on the very day of the party’s return to Yokohama, and had to be left behind in hospital. She would most willingly have prolonged her stay until the patient’s recovery; but Harper, our doctor, intervened, pointing out that, since our next cruise was to be among the Pacific Islands, it would be most inadvisable for a person newly recovered from typhoid to accompany us, as a relapse would almost certainly follow; and that the better plan would be to arrange for Monroe’s return home direct by mail boat via ’Frisco. This was accordingly done, Mrs Vansittart making every arrangement for the care and comfort of the patient during his sojourn in Yokohama, and his journey to New York in all ease and comfort afterward, before giving the word for our departure.We hove our anchor out of the mud of Yokohama harbour at ten o’clock on a certain lovely September morning, which, as Mrs Vansittart informed me incidentally, happened to be the anniversary of the yacht’s departure from New York. Starting our engine, we proceeded down Yedo Bay, through Uraga Strait, and so to sea, passing Cape Mela about eight bells in the afternoon watch. Then, to a fine spanking westerly breeze, we set all plain sail and headed south for the Ladrones.I arrive now at a point where, for a space of over two months, I find no entry in my diary of any incident worthy of special mention; this period may therefore be dismissed with the simple remark that it was spent in visiting several of the most interesting islands in the Pacific archipelago.We sailed from Taputeuea, in the Gilbert Group, in the middle of November, and for more than a week we headed west, making good headway on the whole, although there were times when we were detained by vexatious calms, to counterbalance which we “carried on” when the wind favoured us and we had a clear sea ahead.Such happened to be the case on a certain day in the first week of December. We had a slashing easterly breeze behind us, and fine clear weather; and the chart told us that there were no lurking dangers in our path; we therefore gave the yacht the whole flight of studding sails on both sides, and laid ourselves out to make up a little of our lost time. And we were doing so in handsome style, too, for the ship reeled off her fourteen knots hour after hour until the end of the afternoon watch, when the wind suddenly hauled four points to the southward and freshened; and although this shift of wind necessitated our handing our star board studding sails, it gave our fore-and-aft canvas a chance to put in some good work, which it did, the ship’s speed going up to sixteen knots within the next hour. And for a sailing ship, sixteen knots is a very respectable speed, let me tell you, although I can recall more than one occasion when we logged nineteen, and that not only for a brief spell, but for three or four hours at a stretch. Still, sixteen knots is a pretty good pace; and it was an exhilarating sight to watch the rush of the white yacht over that glorious sapphire sea, with every sail accurately set and trimmed and tugging at the beautiful hull like a team of cart horses, the long, weighty swell chasing us, wind-whipped and capped with seething crests of snow-white foam, while the great, glass-smooth bow wave went roaring away on either hand with its hissing and leaping crown of froth sparkling like gems in the rays of the declining sun.I think Mrs Vansittart was never more proud of her beautiful ship than she was on that particular evening, as she stood with me on the poop and critically marked our rush through the water and every perfection of hull, spar, and sail. The yacht was a lovely picture, even as beheld by us from her poop; but I would have given a trifle for the privilege of seeing her as she must have appeared at such a moment from a passing ship, had there been such a craft. But, as it happened, there was not; we had the sea to ourselves, for we chanced just then to be traversing a stretch of water very rarely frequented by craft of any description.It happened to be my eight hours out on that particular night, and when, at eight bells of the first watch, I turned the ship over to Parker, the boatswain, we were still reeling off our sixteen knots, with a fresh, steady breeze from the south-east. It was a dark night, for the moon was only two days old, and had set long ago, while a thin veil of cloud hid most of the stars. Had we been in much-frequented waters I should perhaps have considered it a bit reckless to drive the ship so hard through the darkness; but we were not, and I retired to my cabin with an easy mind, and, undressing at once, tumbled into my bunk and fell sound asleep almost as my head touched the pillow.
The untimely death of poor Kennedy resulted in my being promoted to the position of first mate of theStella Maris, young as I was; while the boatswain, who knew nothing of navigation, but was an excellent seaman, was temporarily given the post of second mate, until someone more suited to the position could be found.
At ten o’clock in the morning following our brush with the Malays the hands were mustered for church parade, as on Sundays, and Kennedy’s body was committed to the deep with all solemnity. Monroe read the burial service so impressively that even the lad Julius was visibly affected, while Mrs Vansittart and her daughter—both of them attired in black for the occasion—wept freely. Three days later we arrived in Singapore, and on the following day the yacht was docked for examination and the fitting of the spare propeller.
Upon examination the hull was found to be quite undamaged, yet we must have hit the wreckage, or whatever it was that we ran foul of, a pretty severe blow, for not only was the weed completely scoured off the ship’s bottom where contact had occurred, but the anti-fouling composition had also been removed as effectually as though a scraper had been employed.
We stayed at Singapore exactly a week, and then, with bottom scraped clean, two fresh coats of anti-fouling composition applied, the outside of the hull, up to the level of the rail, repainted, and our spare propeller fitted, we sailed for Hong-Kong. It was Mrs Vansittart’s intention to ship a second and a third mate at Singapore; but she forbore to do so, no suitable men happening to be available during our stay. The temporary arrangement was therefore allowed to stand a little longer, our lady skipper hoping to find what she required at Hong-Kong.
We went to sea in fine weather, and made excellent but uneventful progress during the first four days of the trip. Then, on our fourth night out, when we were in the neighbourhood of the Vanguard Bank, the wind fell light, and finally died away, leaving us becalmed, very much as had happened with us in the Strait of Malacca. This time, however, there was neither land nor craft in sight, and we were therefore under no apprehension of a repetition of our experiences on that occasion. I ought, by the way, to have stated that upon our arrival at Singapore we duly reported our adventure to the authorities, with the result that the British gunboatCormorantwas dispatched to the scene of the outrage. But we were given to understand that it would probably prove exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to lay hands upon the guilty parties; and as a matter of fact we afterwards learned that the only result of theCormorant’svisit to the spot was the discovery of a considerable quantity of wreckage and several dead bodies floating about.
As I have said, the wind began to drop late in the afternoon of our fourth day out from Singapore, and by eight bells of the second dog-watch we had lost steerage way. As soon as this happened the matter was reported to Mrs Vansittart, and I enquired whether she wished the engine to be started; but she replied that she was in no especial hurry to reach Hong-Kong, and therefore, as there was no particular reason for pushing on, she would not waste gasoline. The engine was therefore permitted to remain inactive, but we furled all our light canvas, to save wear and tear, and hauled up our courses, leaving the ship under topsails, topgallant sails, and jib.
The fact is that none of us quite knew what to make of the weather. The glass stood fairly high, with a rising rather than a falling tendency, yet the sky was hazy without being exactly overcast. Nor, considering where we were, was the weather particularly hot; the atmosphere, however, seemed surcharged with damp, although no rain fell. With the going down of the sun it fell exceedingly dark, for the moon was far advanced in her last quarter, and did not rise until very late—or rather in the early morning—while the haze was thick enough to shut out the light of the stars effectually. The water was smooth, excepting for a low, easterly swell to remind us of the breeze that had died away.
It chanced to be my eight hours in that night, and, as had become a firmly-established custom on such occasions, I was dining with the saloon party, with all of whom, excepting Julius, I was now upon excellent terms. Mrs Vansittart had graciously listened to my explanation of, and accepted my apologies for, the colossal liberty I had taken in suggesting that she should be locked in her cabin on the memorable night of the piratical attack upon us; and not only had she freely forgiven me, but I believe that, after I had fully explained the motives which actuated me, she felt almost inclined to admit that I was to a certain extent justified. Possibly she would have admitted this but for the fact that such an admission might have been subversive of discipline. Monroe and I had always got on splendidly together; and even the once haughty Miss Anthea had at length thawed completely, even to the extent of singing duets with me and playing my accompaniments while I sang or fiddled. It was only the boy whom I seemed utterly unable to placate; he had taken a violent dislike to me from the very first, and not even the fact that I had undoubtedly saved his life seemed to make any apparent difference in his attitude toward me.
Since leaving Singapore we had resumed our musical evenings after dinner, temporarily interrupted by Kennedy’s death, and we were enjoying ourselves as usual on the evening of which I am now speaking when, while I was playing a violin solo to Miss Anthea’s accompaniment, we were all startled by a sudden but very slight jarring sensation, as though the ship had lightly touched the ground for a moment. I knew that we were in the neighbourhood of the Vanguard, Prince Consort, and Prince of Wales Banks, and although I also knew that, according to our position as determined that afternoon, and the course and distance since run, we ought to be far enough away from them to be perfectly safe, the thought for a moment seized me that in some extraordinary and wholly unaccountable manner we might have been mistaken. Flinging down my violin, I rushed out on deck, closely followed by Mrs Vansittart and Monroe.
On reaching the deck I found that the jar had already created quite a small commotion, the boatswain’s watch being all on the alert, while the hands below, awakened by the unaccustomed sensation, were swarming up to learn what had happened. Parker, the boatswain, was shouting for one hand to bring along the hand lead, and to another to bring a lighted lantern.
My first glance was over the side; but it was so dark that I could see nothing save a faint gleam under the lighted ports. Then the men with the lead line and lantern came along, and we took several casts of the lead. “No bottom”, was the report; but even while the line was being coiled up after the last cast, the same sensation was again experienced, this time a little stronger. And then, while we were debating what it could possibly mean, one of the hands from forward came along and reassured us.
“I know what it is, sir,” he explained. “I’ve felt the very same thing before, and not very far from here, too—while we was lyin’ in Manila harbour. We couldn’t make out what the mischief it was at first; but when the skipper went ashore shortly afterwards they told him that there’d been a slight shock of earthquake.”
The explanation seemed quite reasonable and satisfactory, so after some little further talk we returned to the drawing-room and resumed our music. But shortly afterward we were again disturbed twice by recurrences of the same phenomenon; we accordingly gave it up, and I went off to my cabin, debating within myself whether I should change into my working rig or turn in.
Finally I decided upon the former alternative, since I did not feel much inclined for sleep, and when I had effected the change I went up on deck, thinking that possibly a spell of fresh air would bring on the desired drowsiness.
As I reached the main-deck four bells (ten o’clock) were struck, and the look-out had just responded with the stereotyped cry of “All’s well!” when there occurred another shock, so violent and protracted that some of the hands cried out in terror. It is difficult to gauge the passage of time accurately at such a moment, but I think this shock must have lasted nearly, if not quite, two minutes; and the sensation to which I can most nearly compare it is that of a ship being swept and jolted over the rough surface of a coral reef by a red-hot tide.
So strong and so alarming was the shock that it created something almost amounting to panic among the crew, a few of whom, in their alarm, raised a cry to launch the boats; and it was not without some difficulty that they were eventually persuaded that the yacht was quite uninjured, and that they were therefore far safer on her deck than they could possibly be in any boat. I was not greatly surprised at their alarm, for the phenomenon was of so unusual and startling a character that, to confess the truth, I felt my own self-possession a little inclined to “wilt”, as my companions would probably have put it.
Meanwhile the saloon party, like everybody else, had rushed on deck in alarm, and were eagerly discussing the occurrence. Monroe assured the two ladies that they need not be in the least degree uneasy, since, strange as the phenomenon might be to us, it was really not so very extraordinary or unusual, especially in the region where we now found ourselves; and he was making good headway in his effort to reassure his audience when suddenly there occurred another and still more violent shock. This was so pronounced that it set the sea all a-quiver with ripples, which seemed to run in the direction of all the points of the compass, crossing and recrossing each other at every conceivable angle with such rapidity that the “shaling” of the water was like that of a strong rapid, while the interlacing—so to speak—of the ripples created a sort of network of miniature breakers, easily visible because of the phosphorescence set up.
The jar and jolting of this last shock were so severe that I really began to entertain serious fears as to whether the ship could withstand them. It seemed to me that if the thing continued very long every rivet in her would be shaken or torn out of place, and the entire fabric must fall to pieces; for the deck was now quivering and jolting so violently that, to maintain our footing, we all instinctively clung to the nearest thing we could lay hands upon.
I must confess that I was more than a little astonished at the courage manifested by Mrs Vansittart and her daughter. There could be no doubt that they were greatly alarmed, yet they were more self-possessed than any of the rest of us—so much so, indeed, that Mrs Vansittart’s voice was almost steady as she directed me to find Mackenzie and instruct him to start the engine. “I think I should feel more comfortable if we had the ship under command,” she explained.
I had just executed this commission and returned to the poop, and the ship was already beginning to gather way, when above the hiss of the agitated water a low rumble became audible, increasing with, inconceivable rapidity to a frightful, deafening roar. The vibrations grew still more violent, and suddenly, with an awful, ear-splitting explosion, we saw a great column of flame shoot high into the air, some two miles away and almost directly ahead of us. It looked for all the world as though a gigantic cannon, planted vertically in the sea, muzzle upward, had been discharged, except that the flash of fire, instead of being only momentary, as in the case of a gun, was continuous. It remained visible for quite ten minutes, and probably endured for a much longer period. The emission of flame was accompanied by a frightful roaring sound, like that of a thousand blast furnaces, intermingled with frequent terrific explosions; and we continued to hear these long after we had lost sight of the fire.
At the first outburst of flame I instinctively sprang to the wheelhouse and ordered the dazed and terrified quartermaster to put his helm hard a-port, and let the ship sweep round in a complete half-circle, so that we might get away from the dangerous spot as speedily as possible. But we had hardly begun to turn, in response to our hard-over helm, before dense clouds of steam commenced to rise from the water round about the flame; and these soon obscured it to such an extent that the glare, which at first was almost as strong as daylight, rapidly dwindled until it became merely a great shapeless luminous blotch, growing less and less brilliant until we lost sight of it altogether as we went at full speed ahead away from it. But it was quite a quarter of an hour before we were fairly clear of the extraordinary danger that had so suddenly leaped up in our path; and within the first minute following the explosion great masses of incandescent rock mingled with flaming cinders began to fall about us on all sides, so that I regard it as nothing short of a miracle that none of the larger masses fell upon our decks. Had they done so, we must inevitably have been destroyed. As it was, we were kept busy with the hose for fully half an hour extinguishing the cinders that fell upon our deck.
Not the least remarkable circumstance connected with the phenomenon was that soon after we started the pumps the water rapidly became so hot that the men could not bear the contact of it upon their bare feet, and were obliged to don their sea boots hurriedly. At first we were fearful that the dense clouds of steam generated by the flame would spread and overtake us; but we were spared this, for almost immediately a small breeze sprang up, blowing toward the fire, and as we advanced it strengthened until it became quite a stiff breeze. To this circumstance I attribute the fact that none of our sails were set on fire by the falling cinders, for it necessitated the hurried clewing up and furling of all our canvas.
For a full hour we travelled south at full speed; and then, having apparently run beyond the limit of the danger zone, we shifted our helm and headed east until daylight, when, perceiving no sign of the eruption, and the wind having drawn round from the eastward, we set our canvas and stopped the engine. A week later we arrived at Hong-Kong without further adventure, and were amazed to learn that nothing was known there of the submarine volcanic outburst—for such, of course, it was—from which we had so narrowly escaped destruction. Nor, although we remained a week in the roadstead, during which several craft arrived from the south, and two from the Philippines, could we learn that any others than ourselves had beheld the phenomenon.
Before our arrival at Singapore it had been Mrs Vansittart’s intention to proceed from that port to Manila, she being somewhat curious to see something of the United States’ farthest East possession on our way north. But the United States’ consul at Singapore had very strongly dissuaded her from making such a visit; we therefore skipped the Philippines, and, after spending a week at Hong-Kong, during which the saloon party made a trip to Canton and back, weighed and stood out of the harbouren routefor Yokohama.
We had a good run up through the China Sea, doing the trip in ten days from port to port without being obliged to use the engine at all. Arrived in the magical land of the chrysanthemum, our lady skipper “spread herself”, as she graphically expressed it, devoting a full month to the exploration of the country, and returning to the ship loaded down with priceless treasures of porcelain, pictures, carving and lacquer work, mostly designed as presents for her more stay-at-home friends in “little old N’York”, when she should get back. Of course her children went with her, and Monroe, equally of course, “went along” as escort.
While Mrs Vansittart and her party were enjoying themselves the crew also had an opportunity to see something of what many regard as the most wonderful country and people in the world, the same generous rule with regard to shore leave prevailing here as elsewhere. For myself, I did not see nearly as much of the country as I should have liked, for it unfortunately happened that at the time of our visit the relations between Japan and the United States were somewhat strained in connection with the settlement of Japanese subjects on United States soil, and the Stars and Stripes was not altogether welcome in Japanese ports. Indeed, within the first week of our arrival in Yokohama harbour we had reason to suspect that a malicious attempt had been made either to damage or to destroy the yacht; and as she was in my charge during the owner’s absence I did not care to leave her for more than a day at a time—and only once as long as that. But of course it must be understood that such ill feeling as undoubtedly existed was only openly manifested by private persons, and those almost entirely of the lower classes. Official Japan was the very essence of politeness and urbanity whenever we came into contact with it.
There was just one element of regret for Mrs Vansittart in her visit to Japan, and that was the unfortunate fact that Monroe developed typhoid on the very day of the party’s return to Yokohama, and had to be left behind in hospital. She would most willingly have prolonged her stay until the patient’s recovery; but Harper, our doctor, intervened, pointing out that, since our next cruise was to be among the Pacific Islands, it would be most inadvisable for a person newly recovered from typhoid to accompany us, as a relapse would almost certainly follow; and that the better plan would be to arrange for Monroe’s return home direct by mail boat via ’Frisco. This was accordingly done, Mrs Vansittart making every arrangement for the care and comfort of the patient during his sojourn in Yokohama, and his journey to New York in all ease and comfort afterward, before giving the word for our departure.
We hove our anchor out of the mud of Yokohama harbour at ten o’clock on a certain lovely September morning, which, as Mrs Vansittart informed me incidentally, happened to be the anniversary of the yacht’s departure from New York. Starting our engine, we proceeded down Yedo Bay, through Uraga Strait, and so to sea, passing Cape Mela about eight bells in the afternoon watch. Then, to a fine spanking westerly breeze, we set all plain sail and headed south for the Ladrones.
I arrive now at a point where, for a space of over two months, I find no entry in my diary of any incident worthy of special mention; this period may therefore be dismissed with the simple remark that it was spent in visiting several of the most interesting islands in the Pacific archipelago.
We sailed from Taputeuea, in the Gilbert Group, in the middle of November, and for more than a week we headed west, making good headway on the whole, although there were times when we were detained by vexatious calms, to counterbalance which we “carried on” when the wind favoured us and we had a clear sea ahead.
Such happened to be the case on a certain day in the first week of December. We had a slashing easterly breeze behind us, and fine clear weather; and the chart told us that there were no lurking dangers in our path; we therefore gave the yacht the whole flight of studding sails on both sides, and laid ourselves out to make up a little of our lost time. And we were doing so in handsome style, too, for the ship reeled off her fourteen knots hour after hour until the end of the afternoon watch, when the wind suddenly hauled four points to the southward and freshened; and although this shift of wind necessitated our handing our star board studding sails, it gave our fore-and-aft canvas a chance to put in some good work, which it did, the ship’s speed going up to sixteen knots within the next hour. And for a sailing ship, sixteen knots is a very respectable speed, let me tell you, although I can recall more than one occasion when we logged nineteen, and that not only for a brief spell, but for three or four hours at a stretch. Still, sixteen knots is a pretty good pace; and it was an exhilarating sight to watch the rush of the white yacht over that glorious sapphire sea, with every sail accurately set and trimmed and tugging at the beautiful hull like a team of cart horses, the long, weighty swell chasing us, wind-whipped and capped with seething crests of snow-white foam, while the great, glass-smooth bow wave went roaring away on either hand with its hissing and leaping crown of froth sparkling like gems in the rays of the declining sun.
I think Mrs Vansittart was never more proud of her beautiful ship than she was on that particular evening, as she stood with me on the poop and critically marked our rush through the water and every perfection of hull, spar, and sail. The yacht was a lovely picture, even as beheld by us from her poop; but I would have given a trifle for the privilege of seeing her as she must have appeared at such a moment from a passing ship, had there been such a craft. But, as it happened, there was not; we had the sea to ourselves, for we chanced just then to be traversing a stretch of water very rarely frequented by craft of any description.
It happened to be my eight hours out on that particular night, and when, at eight bells of the first watch, I turned the ship over to Parker, the boatswain, we were still reeling off our sixteen knots, with a fresh, steady breeze from the south-east. It was a dark night, for the moon was only two days old, and had set long ago, while a thin veil of cloud hid most of the stars. Had we been in much-frequented waters I should perhaps have considered it a bit reckless to drive the ship so hard through the darkness; but we were not, and I retired to my cabin with an easy mind, and, undressing at once, tumbled into my bunk and fell sound asleep almost as my head touched the pillow.