*****
And now I come to Friday.
We were keeping no regular watches. Stevens, ever distrustful of me, was markedly so now that our voyage was nearly ended. He was incessantly up and down, looking at the compass, computing the ship's speed by staring at the passingwater, and often engaged, sometimes on the poop, sometimes on the forecastle, in conversation with Fish, Cornish, Johnson, and others.
He made no inquiries after Mr. or Miss Robertson; he appeared to have forgotten their existence. I also noticed that he shirked me as often as he could, leaving the deck when I appeared, and mounting the ladder the furthest from where I stood when he came aft from the main-deck.
The dawn had broken with a promise of a beautiful day; though the glass, which had been dropping very slowly all through the night, stood low at eight o'clock that morning. The sun, even at that early hour, was intensely hot, and here and there the pitch in the seams of the deck adhered to the soles of one's boots, while the smell of the paint-work rose hot in the nostrils.
There was a long swell, the undulationsmoderate though wide apart, coming from the westward; the clouds were very high, and the sky a dazzling blue, and the wind about north, very soft and refreshing.
The men were quiet, and continued so throughout the day. Many of them, as well as the carpenter, incessantly gazed around the horizon, evidently fearing the approach of a vessel; and some would steal aft and look at the compass, and then go away again.
We were under all plain sail, and the ship, as near as I could tell, was making about five knots an hour, though the log gave us seven, and I logged it seven on the slate in case of any arguments arising.
When I came on deck with my sextant in hand to take sights, I was struck by the intent expressions on the faces of the crew, the whole of whom, even including the cook, had collected on the poop, or stood upon the ladders waiting for me.
When I saw them thus congregated, my heart for a moment failed me.
The tremendous doubt crossed my mind—were they acquainted with the ship's whereabouts? Did they know, had they known all through, that I was deceiving them?
No!
As I looked at them I became reassured. Theirs was an anxiety I should have been blind to misconstrue. The true expression on their faces represented nothing but eager curiosity to know whether our journey were really ended, or whether more time must elapse before they could quit the ship which they had rendered accursed with the crime of murder, and which as I well knew, from what Stevens had over and over again let fall, they abhorred with all the terrors of vulgar conscience.
Having made my observations, I wasabout to quit the poop, when one of the men calledout—
"Tell us what you make it."
"I will when I have worked it out," I replied.
"Work it out here, whilst we looks on."
"Do any of you understand navigation?"
There was no reply.
"Unless you can count," said I, "you'll not be able to follow me."
"Two and two and one makes nine," said a voice.
"What do ye mean by jokin'? You ought to be ashamed o' yourself," exclaimed one of the men. And then there was a blow, and immediately after an oath.
"If you want me to work out these sights in your presence, I'll do so," said I.
And I went below to get the things I required, leaving my sextant on deck to show them that I meant to be honest.
When I returned, they were all around the skylight, gazing at the sextant as though it were an animal; no man taking the liberty to touch it, however.
They came, hustling each other about me as I sat on the skylight working out my figures, and I promise you their proximity, coupled with my notion that theymightsuspect I had been deceiving them, did not sharpen my wits so as to expedite my calculations.
I carried two reckonings in my head—false, and the true; and finding our actual whereabouts to be ninety-eight miles from Bermuda, the islands bearing W.S.W. as straight as a line, I unfolded the chart, and giving them the imaginary longitude and latitude, put my finger upon the spot we were supposed to have reached, exclaiming,
"Now you can see where we are!"
"Just make a small mark there withyour pencil, will you?" said Johnson; "then all hands can have a look."
I did so, and quitted the skylight, surrendering the chart to the men, who made a strange picture as they stood poring over it, pointing with their brown forefingers and arguing.
"There's no question I can answer, is there?" said I to the carpenter.
"Mates, is there anything you want to say to Mr. Royle?" he exclaimed.
"When are we going to heave the ship to?" asked Fish.
"That's for you to answer," I rejoined.
"Well, I'm not for standin' too close in shore," said Fish.
"How fur off do you say is this here Florida coast?" asked Johnson.
"About sixty miles. Look at the chart."
"And every minute brings us nearer," said a man.
"That's true," I replied. "But you don't want to leave the ship before dusk, do you?"
The men looked at each other as though they were not sure that they ought to confide so much to me as an answer to my question would involve. I particularly took notice of this, and felt how thoroughly I was put aside by them in their intentions.
The carpenter said, "You'll understand our arrangements by-and-by, Mr. Royle. How's the wind?"
"About north," said I.
"Mates, shall we bring the yards to the masts and keep the leeches liftin' till we're ready to stop her?"
"The best thing as can happen," said Johnson.
"She'll lie to the west'ards at that, and 'll look to be sailin' properly if a wessel sights her; and she'll make no way neither," said Stevens.
"You can't do better," I exclaimed.
So the helm was put down, and as the men went to work I descended to my cabin.
The steward's head was at the pantry door, and I called to him, "Bring me a biscuit and the sherry."
I wanted neither, but I had something to say to him; and if Stevens saw him come to my cabin with a tray in his hand he was not likely to follow and listen at the door.
The steward put the tray down and was going away, when I took him by the arm and led him to the extremity of the cabin.
"Do you value your life?" I said to him in a whisper.
He stared at me and turned pale.
"Just listen," I continued. "At dusk this evening the men are going to leave the ship in the boats. They are going to scuttle the ship first that she may fillwith water and sink. It is not their intention to take us with them."
"My God!" he muttered, trembling like a freezing man: "are we to be left on board to sink?"
"That is what they mean. But the bo'sun, whom they believe to be drowned, is in the hold ready to kill the man who goes down to scuttle the ship. If we act promptly we may save our lives and get away from the ruffians. There are only three of us, but we must fight as though we were twelve men if it should come to our having to fight. Understand that. When once the men are in the boats no creature among them must ever get on board again alive. Hit hard—spare nothing! If we are beaten, we are dead men; if we conquer, our lives are our own."
"I'll do my best," answered the steward, the expression on whose face, however, wasanything but heroical. "But you must tell me what to do, sir. I shan't know, sir. I never was in a fight, and the sight of blood is terrifying to me, sir."
"You'll have to bottle up your fears. Don't misunderstand me, steward. Every man left on board this ship to drown will look to his companions to help him to save his life. And by all that's holy, if you show any cowardice, if you skulk, if you do not fight like forty men, if you do not stick by my side and obey my words like a flash of lightning, as sure as you breathe I'll put a bullet through your head. I'll kill you for not helping me."
And I pulled out the pistol from my pocket and flourished it under his nose.
He recoiled from the weapon with his eyes half out of his head, andgasped—
"What am I to use, sir?"
"The first iron belaying-pin you cansnatch up," I answered. "There are plenty to be found. And now be off. Not a look, not a word! Go to your work as usual. If you open your mouth you are a dead man."
He went away as pale as a ghost. However, cur as he was, I did not despair of his turning to at the last moment. Cowards will sometimes make terrible antagonists. The madness of fear renders them desperate, and in their frenzy they will do more execution than the brave deliberate man.
I did not remain long off the poop, being too anxious to observe the movements of the crew.
I found the breeze slackening fast, with every appearance of a calm in the hot, misty blue sky, and the glassy aspect of the horizon. The lower sails flapped to every motion of the ship, and lying closeto what little wind there was, we made no progress at all.
The promise of a calm, though favourable to the intentions of the men, in so far as it would keep the horizon clear of sailing ships, and so limit the probability of their operations being witnessed to the chance of a steamer passing, was a blow to me; as one essential part of my scheme, that of swinging the mainyards round, and getting way on the ship, when the men had left her, would be impracticable.
The glass, indeed, stood low, but then this might betoken the coming of more wind than I should want, a gale that would detain the men on the ship, and force them to defer the scheme of abandoning her for an indefinite period.
They had gone to dinner, but were so quiet that the vessel seemed deserted, and nothing was audible but the clank of thetiller-chains and the rattling of the sails against the masts.
Stevens was forward, apparently having his dinner with the men. In glancing through the skylight, I saw Mary Robertson looking up at me. I leaned forward, so that my face was concealed from the man at the wheel—the only person on deck besides myself—andwhispered—
"Keep up your courage, and be ready to act as I may direct."
"I am quite ready," she answered.
"Remain in your cabin," I said, "and don't let the men see you;" for it had flashed upon me that if the crew saw her they might force her to go along with them in the boats.
"I wanted a little brandy for papa," she answered. "He is very poorly and weak, and rambles terribly in his talk."
She turned to hide her tears from me,and prevent me witnessing her struggles to restrain them. She would feel their impotence, the mockery of them at such a time; besides, dear heart, she would think I should distrust her courage if she let me see her weep.
The steward came forward under the skylight as she entered her cabin, andsaid—
"I will fight for my life, sir."
"That is my advice to you."
"I will do my best. I have been thinking of my wife and child, sir."
"Hush!" I cried. "Not so loud. If your courage fails you, there is a girl in that cabin there, who will show you how to be brave. Remember two things—act quickly and strike hard; and for God's sake don't fall to drinking to pull up your nerves. If I find you drunk I will call upon the men to drown you."
And with this injunction I left the skylight.
The men remained a great while in the forecastle, all so quiet that I wondered whether some among them were even now below scuttling the ship. But they would hardly act so prematurely. To be sure, it would take a long time for the ship to fill, bored even in half a dozen places by an auger; but until the evening fell, and they were actually in the boats, they could not be sure that a wind would not spring up to oblige them to keep to the ship.
I remained on deck, never thinking of dinner, watching the weather anxiously.
An ordinary seaman came aft to relieve the wheel; but finding that the ship had no steerage way on her, he squatted himself on the taffrail, pulled out a pipe and began to smoke. I took no notice of him.
Shortly afterwards Stevens came along the main-deck and mounted the poop.
"A dead calm," said he, after sweepingthe horizon with his hand over his eyes, "and blessedly hot."
"Is the ship to be left all standing?" I inquired.
"What do you think?" he replied, with an air of indifference, casting his eyes aloft.
"I should snug her, certainly."
"Why?" he demanded, folding his arms, and staring at me as he leaned against the poop-rail.
"Because, should she drift, and be overhauled by another ship, it will look more ship-shape if she is found snug, as though she had been abandoned in a storm."
"There's something in that," he answered, without shifting his position.
"Shall I tell the men to shorten sail?"
"If you like," he replied, grinning in my face.
I pretended not to observe his odd manner, being very anxious to get in all thesail that I could whilst there were men to do it. So I sang out, "All hands shorten sail!"
The men on the forecastle stared, and burst into a laugh; and one of a group on the main-deck, who were inspecting the provisions for the long-boat, which lay under a tarpaulin,exclaimed—
"Wot's goin' to happen?"
I glanced at the carpenter, who still surveyed me with a broad grin, and walked aft. I was a fool not to have anticipated this. What was it to the crew whether the ship sank with all sails standing or with all sails furled?
I was too restless to go below; but to dissemble my terrible anxiety as well as I could, I lighted a pipe and crouched in the shadow of the mizzen-mast out of the way of the broiling sun.
The breeze had utterly gone. The seawas glassy, and white and long wreaths of mist stood, down in the south, upon the horizon. As I looked at the ship, at her graceful spaces of canvas lowering upon the fine and delicate masts, her white decks, her gleaming brass-work, the significance of the crime meditated by the crew was shocking to me. The awful cold-bloodedness with which they meant to sink the beautiful vessel, with the few poor lives who were to be left defenceless on board, overwhelmed me with horror and detestation. So atrocious an act I thought the Almighty would not surely permit. Could not I count upon His mercy and protection? Remembering that I had not sought Him yet, I pulled off my cap, and without kneeling—for I durst not kneel with the eyes of the men upon me—I mutely invoked His heavenly protection. I pleaded with all the strength of my heart for the sweet and helpless girlwhom, under His divine providence, I had already rescued from one dreadful fate, and whom, under His sure guidance, I might yet preserve from the slow and bitter death which the crew had planned that we should suffer.
It was not until six o'clock that the carpenter ordered the men to get the long-boat over. But just before he called out I had noticed, with a leap of joy in me, that the water out in the north-west was dark as with the shadow of a cloud upon it.
Though this was no more than a cat's paw, and travelled very slowly, I was certain, not only from the indications of the barometer, but from the complexion of the sky, that wind was behind.
The men did not appear to notice it, and when the carpenter sang out the order all hands went to work briskly.
Some ran aloft with tackles, which theymade fast to the starboard fore and main yard-arms; others hooked on tackles to the straps which were already round the tressel-tree and collar of the mainstay. But willingly as they worked, even these preliminary measures ran into a great deal of time, and before they had done, a light breeze had come down on the ship and taken her aback.
The carpenter, seeing this, clapped some hands on to the fore and mizzen braces, and filled the fore and after sails. The ship was therefore hove to with her head at west.
This done, he went to the wheel, put the helm amidship and made it fast; and then went forward again to superintend the work.
I took up my position on the starboard side of the poop, close against the ladder, and there I remained. I scanned the faces of the men carefully, and found all handspresent, including the cook. I thus knew that no man was below in the hold, and it was now my business to watch closely that I might miss the man who should have the job to scuttle the ship.
The breeze died away, but in the same direction whence it had come was another shadow, more defined and extending far to the north.
The men had begun their work late, and as they knew that they had little or no twilight to count upon, laboured hard at the difficult task of raising the long-boat out of her chucks and swinging her clear of the bulwarks.
It was close upon seven o'clock before they were ready to hoist. They took the end of one fall to the capstan on the main-deck, the other they led forward through a block, and presently up rose the boat until it was on a level with the bulwarks. Thenthe yard-arm tackles were manned, the midship falls slacked off, and the big boat sank gently down into the water.
She was brought alongside at once, and three men jumped into her. Then began the process of storing the provisions. This was carried on by five men, while the remaining three came aft, and whilst one got into the quarter-boat, the other two lowered her.
At this moment I missed the carpenter.
I held my breath, looking into the boats and all round.
He was not to be seen.
I strained my ear at the foremost skylight, conceiving that he might have entered the cuddy.
All was silent there.
Beyond the shadow of a doubt, he it was who had planned the scuttling of the ship, and he it was who had left the deck to do it.
It was a supreme moment. I had not contemplated thathewould be the man who should bore the hole. If the boatswain killed him——!
Great God! the hands were on deck—all about us! If he did not return, they would seek him. He was their leader, and they were not likely to quit the ship without him.
The hair stirred on my head; the sweat stood in beads on my face. I bit my lip half through to control my features, and stood waiting for—I knew not what!
The men went on busily provisioning the long-boat, some whistling gay tunes, others laughing and passing jokes, all in good spirits, as though they were going on a holiday expedition.
The shadow on the horizon was broadening fast, and the sun was sinking quickly, making the ocean blood-red with its burning effulgence, and veining the well-greased masts with lines of fire.
What had happened?
Even now, as I thought, was the villain lying dead, with the auger in his hand?
The minutes rolling past seemed eternal.Five, ten, twenty minutes came and went. The sun's lower limb was close against the water-line, sipping the ruby splendour it had kindled. The breeze was now close at hand, but we still lay in a breathless calm, and the sails flapped softly to the tuneful motion of the deep.
Then some of the men who remained on deck went over the ship's side, leaving four of the crew on the main-deck close against the gangway. These men sometimes looked at me, sometimes into the cuddy, sometimes forward, but none of them spoke.
Now the sun was half hidden, and the soft breeze blowing upon the sails, outlined the masts against those which were backed.
Suddenly—and I started as though I had beheld a ghost—the carpenter came round from before the galley, and walked quickly to the gangway.
"Over with you, lads!" he cried.
Like rats leaping from a sinking hull they dropped, one after the other, into the long-boat, the carpenter going last. Their painter was fast to a chain-plate, and they cast it adrift. The quarter-boat was in tow, and in a few minutes both boats stood at some two or three cables' lengths from the ship, the men watching her.
The last glorious fragment of the sinking sun fled, and darkness came creeping swiftly over the sea.
I had stood like one in whom life had suddenly been extinguished—too much amazed to act. Seeing the carpenter return, I had made sure that he had killed the boatswain; but his behaviour contradicted this supposition. Had he been attacked by the boatswain and killed him, would he have quitted the ship without revenging himself upon me, whom he wouldknow to be at the bottom of this conspiracy against his life?
What, then, was the meaning of his return, his collected manner, his silent exit from the ship? Had the boatswain, lying hidden,died? The thought fired my blood. Yes, I believed that he had died—that the carpenter had performed his task unmolested without perceiving the corpse—and that, whilst I stood there, the water was rushing into the ship's hold!
I flung myself off the poop, and bounded forward. In the briefest possible time I was peering down the forescuttle.
"Below there!" I called.
There was no answer.
"Below there, I say, boatswain!"
My cry was succeeded by a hollow, thumping sound.
"Below there!" I shouted, for the third time.
I heard the sounds of a foot treading on something that crunched under the tread.
"I am Mr. Royle. Bo'sun, are you below? For God Almighty's sake answer and let me know that you are living."
"Have the skunks cleared out?" responded a voice, and, stumbling as he moved, the boatswain came under the forescuttle and turned up his face.
"What have you done?" I cried, almost delirious.
"Why, plugged up two on 'em. There's only one more," he answered.
"One more what?"
"Leaks—holes—whatever you call 'em."
So saying, he shouldered his way back into the gloom.
It was now all as clear as daylight to me. I waited some minutes, bursting with impatience and anxiety, during whichI heard him hammering away like a caulker. My fear was that the men would discover that they had omitted to put a compass in the boats, and that they would return for one. There were other things, too, of which they might perceive the omission, and row to the ship to obtain them before she sank.
Just as I was about to cry out to him to bear a hand, the boatswain's face gleamed under the hatchway.
"Have you done?" I exclaimed.
"Ay, ay."
"Is she tight?"
"Tight as a cocoa-nut."
"Up with you, then! There is a bit of a breeze blowing. Let us swing the mainyards and get way upon the ship. They are waiting to see her settle before they up sail. It is dark enough to act. Hurrah, now!"
He came up through the forecastle and followed me on to the main-deck.
Though not yet dark, the shadow of the evening made it difficult to distinguish faces even a short distance off. There was a pretty little wind up aloft rounding the royals and top-gallant sails, and flattening the sails on the mainyards well against the masts.
I stopped a second to look over the bulwarks, and found that the boats still remained at about three cable-lengths from the ship. They had slipped the mast in the long-boat; but I noticed that the two boats lay side by side, four men in the quarter-boat, and the rest in the long-boat, and that they were handing out some of the stores which had been stowed in the quarter-boat, to lighten her.
"We must lose no time, Mr. Royle," exclaimed the boatswain. "How many hands can we muster?"
"Three."
"That'll do. We can swing the mainyard. Who's the third?—the steward? Let's have him out."
I ran to the cuddy and called the steward. He came out of the pantry.
"On to the poop with you!" I cried. "Right aft you'll find the bo'sun there. Miss Robertson!"
At the sound of her name she stepped forth from her cabin.
"The men are out of the ship," I exclaimed. "We are ready to get way upon her. Will you take the wheel at once?"
She was running on to the poop before the request was well out of my mouth.
The boatswain had already let go the starboard main-braces; and as I rushed aft he and the steward were hauling to leeward. I threw the whole weight of mybody on the brace, and pulled with the strength of two men.
"Put the wheel to starboard!" I called out; and the girl, having cast off the lashing with marvellous quickness, ran the spokes over.
"By God, she's a wonder!" cried the boatswain, looking at her.
And so was he. The muscles on his bare arms stood up like lumps of iron under the flesh as he strained the heavy brace.
The great yards swung easily; the topsail, top-gallant, and royal yards came round with the mainyard, and swung themselves when the sails filled.
There was no time to gather in the slack of the lee-braces. I ran to windward, belayed the braces, and raised a loud cry.
"They're after us, bo'sun!—they're after us!"
We might have been sure of that; forif we had not been able to see them we could have heard them: the grinding of the oars in the rowlocks, the frothing of the water at the boat's bows, the cries and oaths of the men in the long-boat, inciting the others to overtake us.
Only the quarter-boat was in pursuit as yet; but in the long-boat they were rigging up the stun'-sail they had shipped, meaning, as they were to windward, to bear down upon us.
There was no doubt that they guessed their scheme had been baffled by discerningthreemen on deck. The carpenter at least knew that old Mr. Robertson was too ill to leave his cabin, and failinghimhe would instantly perceive that a trick had been played; and though he could not tell in that light and at that distance who the third man was, he would certainly know that this third man's presence on boardimplied the existence of a plot to save the ship.
As the boat approached I perceived that she was rowed by four men and steered by a fifth, and presently, hearing his voice, I understood that this man steering was Stevens.
The ship had just got way enough upon her to answer her helm. Already we were drawing the long-boat away from our beam on to the quarter.
I shouted to Miss Robertson "Steady! keep her straight as she is!" for even now we had brought the wind too far aft for the trim of the yards.
"Steward," I cried, "whip out one of those iron belaying-pins, and stand by to hammer away."
We then posted ourselves, the boatswain and the steward at the gangway, and I half-way up the poop ladder, each with aheavy belaying-pin in his hand, ready to receive the scoundrels who were making for the starboard main-chains.
The boat, urged furiously through the water, came up to us hand over fist, the carpenter cursing us furiously, and swearing that he would do for us yet.
I got my pistol ready, meaning to shoot the ruffian the moment he should be within reach of the weapon, but abandoned this intention from a motive of hate and revenge. I knew if I killed him as he sat there in the stern sheets, that the others would take fright and run away; and such was my passion, and the sense of our superiority over them from our position in the ship as against theirs in the boat, that I made up my mind to let them come alongside and get into the chains, so that we might kill them all as a warning to the occupants of the long-boat, who were now coming down upon us before the breeze.
I took one glance at Miss Robertson: her figure was visible by the side of the wheel. She was steering as steadily as any sailor, and, with an emotion of gratitude to God for giving us such help, and her so much courage at this supreme moment, I addressed all my energies to the bloody work before me.
The boat dashed alongside, and the men threw in their oars. The fellow in the bow grabbed hold of one of the chain-plates, passed the boat's painter around it, hauled it short and made it fast with incredible activity and speed. Then pulling their knives out of the sheaths they all came clambering into the main-chains.
So close as they now were, I could make out the faces of the men. One was big Johnson, another Cornish, the third Fish, the fourth, Schmidten.
I alone was visible. The boatswain andthe steward stood with uplifted arms ready to strike at the first head that showed itself.
The carpenter sprang on to the bulwark just where I stood. He poised his knife to stab me under the throat.
"Now, you murderous treacherous ruffian!" I cried at the top of my voice, "say your prayers!"
I levelled the pistol at his head, the muzzle not being a yard away from his face, and pulled the trigger. The bright flash illuminated him like a ray of lightning. He uttered a scream shrill as a child's, but terrific in intensity, clapped his hands to his face, and fell like a stone into the main-chains.
"It is your turn now!" I roared to Johnson, and let fly at him. He was holding on to one of the main shrouds in the act of springing on to the deck. I missedhis head, but struck him in the arm, I think; for he let go the shroud with a deep groan, reeled backwards, and toppled overboard, and I heard the heavy splash of his body as he fell.
But we were not even now three to three, but three to one; for the boatswain had let drive with his frightful belaying-pin at Fish's head, just as that enormous protuberance had shown itself over the bulwark, and the wretch lay dead or stunned in the boat alongside; whilst the steward, who had secreted a huge carving-knife in his bosom, had stabbed the Dutchman right in the stomach, leaving the knife in him; and the miserable creature hung over the bulwark, head and arms hanging down towards the water, and suddenly writhing as he thus hung, dropped overboard.
Cornish, of all five men alone lived. I had watched him aim a blow at the boatswain'sback, and fired, but missed him. But he too had missed his aim, and the boatswain, slueing round, struck his wrist with the belaying-pin—whack! it sounded like the blow of a hammer on wood—and the knife fell from his hand.
"Mercy! spare my life!" he roared, seeing that I had again covered him, having two more shots left.
The steward, capable, now that things had gone well with us, of performing prodigies of valour, rushed upon him, laid hold of his legs, and pulled him off the bulwark on to the deck.
I thought the fall had broken his back, for he lay groaning and motionless.
"Don't kill him," I cried. "Make his hands fast and leave him for the present. We may want him by-and-by."
The boatswain whipped a rope's end round him and shoved him against the rail,and then came running up the poop ladder, wiping the streaming perspiration from his face.
The breeze was freshening, and the boat alongside wobbled and splashed as the ship towed her through the water.
I ran aft and stared into the gloom astern. I could see nothing of the long-boat. I looked again and again, and fetched the night-glass, and by its aid, sure enough, I beheld her, a smudge on the even ground of the gloom, standing away close to the wind, for this much I could tell by the outline of her sail.
"Miss Robertson!" I cried, "we are saved! Yonder is the long-boat leaving us. Our lives are our own!"
"I bless God for His mercy," she answered quietly. But then her pent-up feelings mastered her; she rocked to and fro, grasping the spokes of the wheel, and Iextended my arms just in time to save her from falling.
"Bo'sun!" I shouted, and he came hurrying to me. "Miss Robertson has fainted! Reach me a flag out of that locker."
He handed me a signal-flag, and I laid the poor girl gently down upon the deck with the flag for a pillow under her head.
"Fetch me some brandy, bo'sun. The steward will give you a wine-glass full."
And with one hand upon the wheel to steady the ship, I knelt by the girl's side, holding her cold fingers, with so much tenderness and love for her in my heart, that I could have wept like a woman to see her lying so pale and still.
The boatswain returned quickly, followed by the steward. I surrendered the wheel to the former, and taking the brandy, succeeded in introducing some into her mouth.By dint of this and chafing her hands and moistening her forehead, I restored her to consciousness. I then, with my arm supporting her, helped her into the cuddy; but I did not stay an instant after this, for there was plenty of work to be done on deck; and though we had escaped one peril, yet here we might be running headlong into another, for the ship was under full sail; we had but three men to work her, not counting Cornish, of whose willingness or capacity to work after his rough handling I as yet knew nothing. The glass stood low, and if a gale should spring up and catch us as we were, it was fifty to one if the ship did not go to the bottom.
"Bo'sun," I exclaimed, "what's to be done now?"
"Shorten sail whilst the wind's light, that's sartin," he answered. "But the first job must be to get Cornish out of hislashin's and set him on his legs. He must lend us a hand."
"Yes; we'll do that," I replied. "Steward, can you steer?"
"No, sir," responded the steward.
"Oh, damn it!" exclaimed the boatswain. "I'd rather be a guffy than a steward," meaning by guffy a marine.
"Well," cried I, "you must try."
"But I know nothing about it, sir."
"Come here and lay hold of these spokes. Look at that card—no, by Jove! you can't see it."
But the binnacle lamp was trimmed, and in a moment the boatswain had pulled out a lucifer match, dexterously caught the flame in his hollowed hands and fired the mesh.
"Look at that card," I said, as the boatswain shipped the lamp.
"I'm a lookin', sir."
"Do you see that it points south-east?"
"Yes, sir."
"If those letters S.E. swing to the left of the lubber's point—that black mark there—pull the spokes to the left until S.E. comes to the mark again. If S.E. goes to the right, shove the spokes to the right. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I think I do, sir."
"Mind your eye, steward. Don't let those letters get away from you, or you'll run the ship into the long-boat, and bring all hands on board again."
And leaving him holding on to the wheel with the fear, and in the attitude of a cockney clinging for his life, the boatswain and I walked to the main-deck.
Cornish lay like a bundle against the rail. When he saw us he criedout—
"Kill me if you like; but for God's sake loosen this rope first! It's keepin' my blood all in one place!"
"How do you know we haven't come to drown you?" cried the boatswain in an awful voice. "Don't jaw us about your blood. You won't want none in five minutes."
"Then the Lord have mercy upon my soul!" groaned the poor wretch, and let drop his head which he had lifted out of the scuppers to address us.
"Drownin's too easy for the likes o' you," continued the boatswain. "You want whippin' and picklin', and then quarterin' arterwards."
"We are willing to spare your life," said I, feeling that we had no time to waste, "if you will give us your word to help us to work this ship, and bring her into port if we get no assistance on the road."
"I'll do anything if you'll spare my life," moaned he, "and loose this rope round my middle."
"Do you think he's to be trusted, Mr. Royle?" said the boatswain, in a stern voice, playing a part. "There's a bloodthirsty look on his countinunce, and his eyes are full o' murder."
"Only try me!" groaned Cornish, faintly.
"He wur Stevens' chief mate," continued the boatswain; "an' I think it 'ud be wiser to leave him as he is for a few hours whilst we consider the adwisability of trustin' of him."
"Then I shall be cut in halves," moaned Cornish.
"Well," I exclaimed, pretending first to reflect, "we will try you; and if you act honestly by us you shall have no cause to complain. But if you attempt to play false, we will treat you as you deserve; we will shoot you as we shot your mates, and pitch your body overboard. So you'll know what to expect. Bos'un, cast him adrift."
He was speedily liberated, and the boatswain hoisted him on to his feet, when finding him very shaky, I fetched a glass of rum from the pantry, which he swallowed.
"Thank you, sir," said he, rubbing his wrist, which the boatswain had struck during the conflict. "I'll be honest and do what I can. You may trust me to work for you. This here mutiny belonged to all hands, and was no one man's, unless it were Stevens'; and I'd rather be here than in the long-boat."
"Bo'sun," said I, cutting the fellow short, "the carpenter made the port quarter-boat useless by knocking some planks out of her. We ought to get the boat alongside in board while the water's smooth—we may want her."
"Right you are, Mr. Royle," said he. "Pay us out a rope's end, will you, and I'll drop her under the davits?"
And, active as a cat, he scrambled into the main-chains.
But on a sudden I heard a heavy splash.
"My God!" I cried "he's fallen overboard!" And I was rushing towards the poop when I heard him sing out, "Hallo! here's another!" and this was followed by a second splash.
I got on to the bulwarks and bawled to him, "Where are you? What are you doing? Are you bathing?"
"The deuce a bit," he answered. "It was one o' them blessed mutineers in the main-chains, and here was another in the boat. I pitched 'em into the water. Now then, slacken gently, and belay when I sing out."
In a few moments the boat was under the davits and both falls hooked on. Then up came the boatswain, and the three of us began to hoist, manning first one fall, andthen the other, bit by bit, until the boat was up; but she was a heavy load, with her freight of provisions and water—too precious to us to lose—and we panted, I promise you, by the time she was abreast of the poop rail.
"Mr. Bo'sun," said Cornish, suddenly, "beggin' your pardon—I thought you was dead."
"Did you, Jim Cornish?"
"I thought you was drownded, sir."
"Well, I ain't the fust drownded man as has come to life agin."
"All hands, Mr. Bo'sun, thought you was overboard, lyin' drownded. Youwasoverboard?"
"And do you think I'm going to explain?" answered the boatswain, contemptuously.
"It terrified me to see you, sir."
"Well, perhaps I ain't real arter all.How do you know? Seein' ain't believin', so old women say."
"I don't believe in ghosts; but I thought you was one, Mr. Bo'sun, and so did big Johnson when he swore you was one of the three at the port main-braces."
"Well, I ain't ashamed o' bein' a shadder. Better men nor me have been shadders. I knew a ship-chandler as wos a churchwarden and worth a mint o' money, who became a shadder, and kept his wife from marryin' William Soaper, o' the Coopid public-house Love Lane, Shadwell High Street, by standin' at the foot of her bed every night at eight bells. He had a cast in wun eye, Mr. Royle, and that's how his wife knew him."
"Well, I'll say no more—but my hair riz when you turned an' hit me over the arm. I thought you couldn't be substantial like."
"'Cause you didn't get enough o' mybelaying-pin," rejoined the boatswain, with a loud laugh. "Wait till you turn dusty agin, mate, and then you'll see wot a real ghost can do."
Just then Miss Robertson emerged from the companion. I ran to her and entreated her to remain below—though for an hour only.
"No, no," she answered, "let me help you. I am much better—I am quite well now. I can steer the ship while you take in some of the sails, for I know there are too many sails set if wind should come."
Then, seeing Cornish, she started and held my arm, whispering, "Who is he? Have they come on board?"
I briefly explained, and then renewed my entreaties that she should remain in her cabin; but she said she would not leave the deck, even if I refused her permission to steer, and pleaded so eloquently, holdingmy arm and raising her sweet eyes to my face, that I reluctantly gave way.
She hastened eagerly to take the steward's place, and I never saw any man resign a responsible position more willingly than he.
I now explained to the boatswain that the glass stood very low, and that we must at once turn to and get in all the sail we could hand.
I asked Cornish if he thought he was able to go aloft, and on his answering in the affirmative, first testing the strength of his wrist by hanging with his whole weight to one of the rattlins on the mizzen rigging, we went to work to clew up the three royals.
I knew that the steward was of no use aloft, and never even asked him if he would venture his hand at it, for I was pretty sure he would lose his head and tumble overboard before he had mounted twenty feet,and he was too useful to us to lose right off in that way.
Cornish went up to stow the mizzen-royal, and the boatswain and I went aloft to the main-royal. The breeze was still very gentle and the ship slipping smoothly through the black space of sea; but when we were on the main-royal yard I called the attention of the boatswain to the appearance of the sky in the north-west, for it was lightning faintly in that direction, and the pale illumination sufficed to expose a huge bank of cloud stretching far to the north.
"We shall be able to get the top-gallant sails off her," he said, "and the jibs and staysails. But I don't know how we're going to furl the mainsail, and it'll take us all night to reef the topsails."
"We must work all night," I answered, "and do what we can. Just tell me, whilst I pass this gasket, how you managed in the hold."
"Why," he answered, "you know I took a kind o' crow-bar down with me, and I reckoned on splittin' open the head of the fust chap as should drop through the forescuttle. But turnin' it over in my mind, I thought it 'ud be dangerous to kill the feller, as his mates might take it into their heads to wait for him. And so I determined to hide myself when I heerd the cove comin', and stand by to plug up the holes arter he wur gone."
Here he discharged some tobacco-juice from his mouth, and dried his lips on the sail.
"Werry well; I had my knife with me an' a box o' matches, and werry useful they wos. I made a bit of a flare by combing out a strand of yarns and settin' fire to it, and found wot was more pleasin' to my eye than had I come across a five-pun note—I mean a spare broom-stick, which I foundknockin' about in the coal-hole; and I cut it into pieces and pointed 'em ready to sarve. I knew who ever 'ud come, would use an auger, and know'd the size hole it 'ud cut; and by-and-by, but the Lord knows how long it were afore it happened, I hears some one drop down the forescuttle and strike a match and light a bit o' candle end. I got behind the bulkhead, where there was a plank out, and I see the carpenter wurking away with his auger, blowin' and sweatin' like any respectable hartizan earnin' of honest wages. By-and-by the water comes rushin' in; and then he bores another hole and the water comes through that; and then he bores another hole, arter which he blows out his candle and goes away, scramblin' up on deck. My fingers quivered to give him one for hisself with the end o' my crow-bar over the back of his head. However, no sooner did he clear out than Istruck a match, fits in the bits of broom-stick, and stops the leaks as neatly as he made 'em. I thought they'd hear me drivin' of them plugs in, and that was all I was afraid of. But the ship's none the worse for them holes. She's as tight as ever she wos: an' I reckon' if she gets no more water in her than 'll come through them plugs, she won't be in a hurry to sink."
I laughed, and we shook hands heartily.
I often think over that: the immense height we looked down from; the mystical extent of black water mingling with the far-off sky; the faint play of lightning on the horizon; the dark hull of the ship far below, with the dim radiance of the cuddy lamps upon the skylights; the brave, sweet girl steering us, and we two perched on a dizzy eminence, shaking hands!
Cornish had stowed the mizzen-royal by the time we had reached the deck, and when he joined us we clewed up the fore top-gallant sail, so that we might hand that sail when we had done with the royal.
I found this man quite civil and very willing, and in my opinion he spoke honestly when he declared that he had rather be with us than in the long-boat.
The lightning was growing more vivid upon the horizon; that is, when I looked in that direction from the towering height of the fore-royal yard; and it jagged and scored with blue lines the great volumeand belt of cloud that hung to the sea. The wind had slightly freshened, but still it remained a very gentle breeze, and urged the ship noiselessly through the water.
The stars were few and languishing as you may sometimes have seen them on a summer's night in England when the air is sultry and the night dull and thunderous. All the horizon round was lost in gloom, save where the lightning threw out at swift intervals the black water-line against the gleaming background of cloud.
When we again reached the deck we were rather scant of breath, and I, being unused of late to this kind of exercise, felt the effects of it more than the others.
However, if it was going to blow a gale of wind as the glass threatened, it was very advisable that we should shorten sail now that it was calm; for assuredly three men, even though working for their lives as wewere, would be utterly useless up aloft when once the weather got bad.
We went into the cuddy and took all three of us a sup of rum to give us life, and I then said, "Shall we turn to and snug away aft since we are here?"
They agreed; so we went on the poop and let go the mizzen top-gallant and topsail halliards, roused out the reef-tackles, and went aloft, where we first stowed the top-gallant sail, and then got down upon the topsail-yard.
It was a hard job tying in all three reefs, passing the earrings and hauling the reef-bands taut along the yard; but we managed to complete the job in about half an hour.
Miss Robertson remained at the wheel all this time, and the steward was useful on deck to let go any ropes which we found fast.
"It pains me," I said to the girl, "tosee you standing here. I know you are worn out, and I feel to be acting a most unmanly part in allowing you to have your way."
"You cannot do without me. Why do you want to make your crew smaller in number than it is?" she answered, smiling with the light reflected from the compass card upon her face. "Look at the lightning over there! I'm sailor enough to know that our masts would be broken if the wind struck the ship with all this sail upon her. And what ismywork—idly standing here—compared to yours—you, who have already done so much, and are still doing the work of many men?"
"You argue too well for my wishes. I want you to agree with me."
"Whom have you to take my place here?"
"Only the steward."
"He cannot steer, Mr. Royle; and I assure you the ship wants watching."
I laughed at this nautical language in her sweet mouth, andsaid—
"Well, you shall remain here a little while longer."
"One thing," she exclaimed, "I will ask you to do—to look into our cabin and see if papa wants anything."
I ran below and peeped into the cabin. She had already lighted the lamp belonging to it, and so I was able to see that the old gentleman was asleep. I procured some brandy-and-water and biscuit and also a chair, and returned on deck.
"Your father is asleep," said I, "so you may make your mind easy about him. Here are some refreshments—and see, if I put this chair here you can sit and hold the wheel steady with one hand. There is no occasion to remain on your feet. Keep thatstar yonder—right over the yard-arm," pointing it out to her. "That is as good a guide as the compass for the time being. We need only keep the sails full. I can shape no course as yet, though we shall haul round the moment we have stripped more canvas off her."
I now heard the voices of Cornish and the boatswain right away far out in the darkness ahead, and running forward on to the forecastle, I found them stowing the flying jib.
To save time I let go the outer and inner jib-halliards, and, with the assistance of the steward, hauled these sails down. He and I also clewed up the main top-gallant-sail, took the main tack and sheet to the winch and got them up, rounded up the leechlines and buntlines as well as we could, and then belayed and went forward again. I let go the fore-topsail halliardsand took the ends of the reef-tackles to the capstan, and whilst the two others were tackling the outer jib, the steward and I hauled down the main-topmast staysail, and snugged it as best we could in the netting.
These tasks achieved, I got upon the bowsprit, and gave the two men a hand to stow the jibs.
"Now mates," I cried, "let's get upon the fore-topsail yard and see what we can do there."
And up we went, and in three quarters of an hour, with the help of a jigger, we had hauled out the earrings and tied every blessed reef-point in the sail.
But this was the finishing touch to our strength, and Cornish was so exhausted that I had to help him over the top down the fore rigging.
We had indeed accomplished wonders:close-reefed two of the three topsails, stowed the three jibs, the three royals, two top-gallant sails and staysails. Our work was rendered three times harder than it need have been by the darkness; we had to fumble and grope, and, by being scarcely able to see each other, we found it extremely difficult to work in unison; so that, instead of hauling altogether, we hauled at odd times, and rendered our individual strength ineffectual, when, could we have collectively exerted it, we should have achieved our purpose easily.
"I must sit down for a spell, sir," said Cornish. "I can't do no more work yet."
"If we could only get that top-gallant sail off her," I exclaimed, looking longingly up at it. But all the same, I felt that a whole regiment of bayonets astern of me could not have urged me one inch up the shrouds.
We dragged our weary limbs aft and squatted ourselves near the wheel, I for one being scarcely able to stand.
"Mr. Royle," said Miss Robertson, "will you and the others go down into the cabin and get some sleep? I will keep watch, and promise faithfully to wake you the moment I think necessary."
"Bo'sun," I exclaimed, "do you hear that? Miss Robertson wants us to turn in. She will keep watch, she says, and call us if a gale comes!"
"God bless her!" said the boatswain. "I called her a wonder just now, and I'll call her a wonder again. So she is! and though she hears me speak, and may think me wantin' in good manners, I'll say this—an' tired as I am I'd fight the man now as he stood who'd contradict me—that she's just one o' the best—mind, Jim, I say the best—o' the werry properest kind o'gals as God Almighty ever made, a regular real woman to the eye, and a sailor in her heart. And by the livin' Moses, Jim, if you can tell me now to my face that you would ha' let her sink in this here wessel, I'll chuck you overboard, you willin! so say it!"
"I don't want to say it," muttered Cornish, penitentially. "I never thought o' the lady. I forgot she were on board. Mr. Bo'sun, don't say no more about it, please. I've done my duty I hope, Mr. Royle. I've worked werry hard considerin' my bad wrist. I'd liefer fight for the lady than agin her, now that I see wot she's made of. 'Bygones is bygones,' as the cock as had his eye knocked out in a fight said, when he looked about and couldn't see nothen of it; and if you call me a willin, well and good; I'll not arguey, for I dare say you ain't fur wrong, mate."
"Mr. Royle, you have not answered me. Will you and the others lie down and sleep whilst I watch?"
"Not yet, Miss Robertson. By-and-by, perhaps. We have more work before us, and are only resting. Steward!"
He came from behind the companion, where I think he had fallen asleep.
"Yes, Mr. Royle, sir."
"Cut below and mix all hands a jug of brandy-and-water, and bring some biscuits. Here, bo'sun, is some tobacco. Smoke a pipe. Fire away, Cornish. It's more soothing than sleep, mates."
"The lightning's growin' rayther powerful," said the boatswain, looking astern as he loaded his pipe.
"Don't it look as if it wur settin' away to the eastards?" exclaimed Cornish.
"No," I replied, watching the lurid gleams lighting up the piled-up clouds."It's coming after us dead on end, though slowly enough."
I pulled out my watch and held it close to the binnacle.
"Half-past two!" I cried, amazed at the passage of time. "Upon my word, I didn't think it was twelve o'clock yet. Miss Robertson, I know I cannot induce you to go below; but you must allow me to relieve you for a spell at the wheel. I can sit and steer as well as you. You'll find this grating comfortable."
Saying which I pulled out some flags from the locker, made a kind of cushion for her back, and I then took her chair, keeping the wheel steady with my foot.
There was less wind than there had been half an hour before; enough to give the vessel steerage-way, and that was all.
We were heading S.E., the wind, or what there was of it, upon the port-quarter.There was every promise of a calm falling again, and this I should not have minded, nor the lightning either, which might well have been the play of a passing thunderstorm, had it not been for the permanent depression of the mercury.
The air was very warm, but less oppressive than it had been; the sea black and even, and the heavens with a stooping, murky aspect.
It was some comfort to me, however, to look aloft, and see the amount of canvas we had taken off the ship. If we could only manage to pull up our strength again, we might still succeed in furling the main top-gallant sail, and reefing the topsail before change of weather came.
The steward made his appearance with the spirits and biscuit; and Miss Robertson went below, whispering to me as she passed, that she wished to look at herfather, and that she would return in a few minutes.
"Now that the lady's gone, Mr. Royle," exclaimed the boatswain as soon as she had left the deck, "let's talk over our situation, and think what's to be done."
The steward squatted himself on his hams like a coolie, and posed himself in an attitude of eager attention.
"Quite right, bo'sun," I replied. "I have been thinking during the time we have been at work, and will tell you what my plans are. At noon yesterday—that will be fifteen hours ago—the Bermuda Islands bore as true as a hair west-half-south. We hove to with the ship's head to the norrard and westward, and made some way at that, and taking the run we have made to-night, I allow that if we head the ship west by north we shall make the islands, with anything like a breeze, some time on Monday morning."
"But, if we're just off the coast of Florida," said Cornish, "why couldn't we turn to and run for the West Indie Islands?"
"Which is nearest, I wonders," exclaimed the boatswain, "the West Hindie Islands or the kingdom of Jericho?"
"It's 'ardly a time for jokin'," remonstrated the steward.
"I don't know that I said anything funny," observed Cornish, warmly.
"Well, then, wot do you mean by talking o' the West Hindie Islands?" cried the boatswain.
"Wot do I mean?" retorted the other; "why, wot I says. Here we are off the coast of Floridy——"
"Off the coast o' your grandmother! Shut up, mate, and let Mr. Royle speak. You know nothen about it."
"The Bermudas are nearer to hand than the West Indies," I continued, not choosingto explain. "What we have to do, then, the moment we can use our legs, is to haul the ship round. How is the wind now? N.N.W. Well, she will lie properly. And as soon as ever it comes daybreak, we must run up a signal of distress, and keep it flying. What more can we do?"
"I suppose," said the boatswain, doubtfully, sucking so hard at his pipe that it glowed like a steamer's red light under his nose, "you wouldn't like to wenture on a run to the English Channel, Mr. Royle? It would be airning some kind o' fame, and perhaps a trifle o' money from the owners, if it wur to git about that three hands—well, I'll ax the steward's pardon, and say four—that four hands brought this here blessed ship and her walleyable cargo out o' a rigular knock-down mutiny, all aways up the Atlantic Ocean, into the Henglish Channel, and landed her safe in the WestHindie Docks. I never see my name in print in my life——"
"What's your true name, Mr. Bo'sun?" inquired the steward.
"Joshua, or Jo Forward, young feller; sometimes called Forrard, sometimes Jo, and on Sundays Mister."
"I know a Forward as lives at Blackwall," said the steward.
"Do yer? Well, then, now you knows two. Wot I was sayin', Mr. Royle, was, I never see my name in print in my life, and I should like to see it regular wrote down in the newspapers. Lloyd's is always my weekly pennorth ashore."
He knocked the hot ashes into the palm of his hand, scrutinised it earnestly to see that there was no tobacco left in it, and tossed it away.
"A good deal, sir," said the steward, in a thin voice, "is to be said about the lady wesaved. The saving of her alone, would make 'eros of us in the public mind."
"Wot do you call us—'eros?" exclaimed the boatswain.
"Yes, sir, 'eros!"
"What's the meaning of that word, Mr. Royle?—any relation to earwigs?"
"He means heroes," I replied. "Don't you, steward?"
"I did more than mean it—I said it, sir," exclaimed the steward.
"That's how the Chaneymen talk, and quarrel with you for not followin' of their sense. Wot do you think of my notion, Jim, of sailin' this wessel to England?" said the boatswain.
Cornish made no answer. I saw him, in the pale light diffused around the binnacle, wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, and shift uneasily on his seat. I could scarcely wonder that the boatswain's idea should make him feel uncomfortable.
"Your scheme," said I, "would be a capital one providing that every man of us four had six hands and six legs, and the strength of three big Johnsons, that we could do without sleep, and split ourselves into pieces whenever we had occasion to reef topsails. But, as I am only capable of doing one man's work, and require rest like other weakly mortals, I must tell you plainly that I for one should be very sorry to undertake to work this ship to the English Channel, unless you would guarantee that by dawn this morning we should receive a draft of at least six men out of a passing vessel."
"Well, well," said the boatswain, "it was only a thought; and I don't say it is to be done."
"Not to be thought on—much less done," exclaimed Cornish.
"Don't be too sartin, friend," retortedthe boatswain, turning smartly on him. "'Where there's a will there's a way,' wos a sayin' when I was a lad."