The Secret of the Sands; Or, The "Water Lily" and her Crew
by Harry Collingwood · English · Gutenberg #35528 · 612,813 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Secret of the Sands; Or, The "Water Lily" and her Crew
Author: Harry Collingwood
Release date: March 8, 2011 [eBook #35528]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35528
Credits: Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET OF THE SANDS; OR, THE "WATER LILY" AND HER CREW ***
Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
The Secret of the Sands
The "Water Lily" and her Crew
By Harry Collingwood
Published by Griffith and Farran, London.
This edition dated 1879.
PREFACE.
The attention of the public has been directed, on more than one occasion
within the last few years, to voyages of a more or less lengthy
character, undertaken in craft of very small tonnage; and a great deal
has been said and written concerning the foolhardiness of such
undertakings. This, however, is more apparent than real, though much
must necessarily depend, in such voyages, on the adventurer's skill as a
seaman and his nerve and self-possession in critical moments. Almost,
if not quite, as much will also depend upon the design, construction,
and equipment of the craft in which such an adventure is undertaken; but
where all these conditions are favourable, the actual danger may be
reduced in quite a surprising degree.
Such voyages, however, if of any considerable length, are sure to abound
in adventure; and, in selecting one as the groundwork of my story, it
has been my aim to endeavour at once to make it interesting and readable
to those who have a liking for the sea and for nautical adventure, and
to convey a few useful hints (gathered from my own experience)
respecting the design and management of small craft, and of the
precautions which are so absolutely necessary in the navigating of them.
But it must be distinctly understood that, in selecting this subject, I
have had no intention whatever of advocating, or recommending, such
voyages, or of underrating the risks which, under the most favourable
circumstances, they involve; my purpose has simply been to combine a
little information with, I hope, a great deal of interest and amusement;
and if my book serves but to while pleasantly away an idle hour or two
for the general reader, or conveys a scrap of useful information to the
young yachtsman, that purpose will be fully accomplished.
Harry Collingwood.
_October_, 1878.
Volume One, Chapter I.
THE WRECK.
It was the last week in the month of November, 18--, when the event
occurred which proved to be the _primum mobile_ of the following
adventures.
The weather, for some days previous, had been unusually boisterous for
the time of year, and had culminated, on the morning on which my story
opens, in a "November gale" from the south-west, exceeding in violence
any previous gale within the memory of "the oldest inhabitant" of the
locality. This is saying a great deal, for I was at the time living in
Weymouth, a most delightful summer resort, where, however, the feelings
are likely to be more or less harrowed every winter by fearful wrecks on
the far-famed and much-dreaded Chesil Beach, which connects the
mis-named _island_ of Portland with the mainland.
We had dined, as usual, at the primitive hour of one o'clock; and with
Bob Trunnion--about whom I shall have more to say anon--I had turned out
under the verandah to enjoy our post-prandial smoke, according to
invariable usage. My sister Ada would not permit us the indulgence of
that luxury indoors, and no conceivable disturbance of the elements
could compel us to forego it altogether.
We were pacing the verandah side by side, quarter-deck fashion, with our
hands behind our backs and our weeds between our teeth, making an
occasional remark about the weather as the sheeted rain swept past us,
and the trees in the distance and the leaf-denuded shrubs in the garden
bowed before the fury of the blast, when a coastguardman, whom I had
occasionally encountered and spoken to in my rambles, came running past,
enveloped in oilskins and topped by a sou'-wester.
As he went by, seeing us, he shouted, "Ship coming ashore in the West
Bay, sir!" and was the next minute at the bottom of the hill, _en
route_, as fast as his legs could carry him, for the town.
Our house was situated in a pleasant suburb called Rodwell; the
high-road which passed our door led direct to the Smallmouth Sands, at
the farther extremity of which was the Chesil Beach; and we conjectured
that the coastguardman had come from the beach along this road to give
notice to the chief officer stationed in the town.
To run indoors, don our foul-weather rigging, and notify my sister that
we were off to the scene of the anticipated wreck, was the work of a
moment. The next we were in the road, inclined forward at an angle of
forty-five degrees against the wind, and staggering slowly ahead in the
direction of the sands. The coastguardman had a fair wind of it, and
was going a good eight knots when he passed us; but just at the top of
the hill, as we were exposed to the full strength of the gale, we did
not forge ahead at more than about one knot. However, matters mended
soon after, for we surmounted the brow of the hill, and began the
descent on the opposite side; here the road took a slight bend, which
brought the wind well abeam; so keeping close under the hedge to
windward of us, we rattled away as fast as we could go.
After nearly an hour's severe exertion we reached the beach. The vessel
which was expected to come on shore was a full-rigged ship, apparently
of about eight hundred or a thousand tons, and evidently a foreigner, by
her build and rig. Some conjectured her to be French, some Spanish, and
others avowed their belief that she was a German; but she was still too
far off, and the weather too thick, to enable any one to form a clear
judgment as to her nationality.
"Whoever she is," said the chief boatman, "the skipper of her is a
downright good seaman, and doesn't intend to lose his ship whilst he can
do anything to save her. He drove into the bay about two hours ago,
sir," said he, turning to me, "and this is the second time that he's
tried to fetch out again; but, Lord! he don't know this place so well as
I do, or he'd be as sartain as I be that she'll never go outside o' the
Bill o' Portland again. The ship don't float that, with her sails
alone, could get out of the bay, once she got into it, with the wind and
tide the way it is now; and afore the tide turns he'll be knocked into
matchwood, or my name's not Joe Grummet. There he comes round again,"
continued the man, who had kept his eye on the vessel all the time he
was speaking; "but it's no good; he's more 'n a mile to leeward of where
he fetched last time, and he'd better give it up and run her ashore
whilst 'tis light enough to get the hands out of her, if so be as it
please God to let any on 'em come ashore alive."
The vessel had, as Grummet remarked, altered her course; running off
rapidly before the wind, and consequently towards the land; and those
who knew nothing about nautical matters would have supposed that her
commander had at length given up the contest, and was about to run her
on shore.
But we knew better. The vessel had merely been kept away in order to
_wear_ her; _staying_ in such a tremendous gale and sea being utterly
out of the question. And as we watched we saw her come slowly to the
wind on the opposite tack; her yards were braced sharp up, her sheets
flattened in, and once more the battle for life was resumed against the
hostile elements.
But it was evident that the noble ship's career was ended. The
operation of _wearing_ had brought her into fearful proximity with the
land; and though she carried reefed mainsail and foresail under
close-reefed topsails, and fore and main topmast staysails, it was
evident that she was driving to leeward at a frightful rate, and that
the period of her existence must now be measured in minutes.
"Now, lads! bear a hand!" shouted Grummet, "and let's signal her to run
in here. The beach is steeper here than anywhere within the next three
or four mile; and if he happens to come in on the back of a sea, he'll
run up pretty near high and dry; and we may get some of the poor souls
ashore alive, and cheat Davy Jones out of the best part of his bargain
this bout, anyway."
A large red bandana handkerchief was produced and seized to the end of a
boat-hook; this extempore flag and staff Grummet took in his hand, and,
proceeding to the summit of the beach, commenced waving it to and fro,
to attract the attention of the people on board the doomed ship. She
was now so close that we could see the two men at her wheel, and a man,
whom we supposed to be the master, standing by the mizen rigging.
Just abaft the mainmast, and huddled together under the shelter of the
weather bulwarks, we could see some seven or eight more of her crew, and
others were doubtless cowering elsewhere out of sight.
Grummet waved his flag energetically from the crest of the beach, and
the coastguardmen busied themselves in making such slight preparations
as were in their power to assist the crew in escaping from the wreck.
Several coils of line had been brought down to the beach; one man who
announced himself to be a good swimmer, had secured an end of the
smallest of these to his waist; he now stood prepared to divest himself
of all his superfluous clothing at a moment's notice, and to attempt the
hazardous experiment of rushing into the boiling surf, to drag out any
poor unfortunate whom he might be able to reach. Others were engaged in
various ways in preparing themselves to render what assistance was in
their power, when a cry from Grummet announced that the crisis had
arrived; on looking up we saw that the stranger's fore-topmast had gone
in the cap; and now hung to leeward, with the topsail and topmast
staysail thrashing to ribbons; the latter threatening at every jerk to
take the bowsprit out of the ship. The foresail was also split from
head to foot; and, even as we looked, the overstrained canvas gave way,
and, fluttering for a moment in the furious gale, parted from the
bolt-ropes, and came flying like a shred of cloud to leeward.
The ship, thus deprived of her head-sail, luffed into the wind: and the
moment that the rest of her canvas shook, away it came also, leaving her
helpless and unmanageable, with the sea sweeping her deck fore and aft.
"Now stand by, men," shouted Grummet, "and each one do his best for the
poor souls; for they were never nearer to death's door than they will be
in another two minutes. If he had run her stem on to the beach they
might have stood a chance; but I fear it is all over with them now, for
she'll come ashore broadside on, and all on us knows what that means."
Fortunately, the catastrophe had happened immediately to windward of
that part of the beach on which we stood; a spot, as Grummet had
observed, where the shipwrecked crew would have a better chance of
reaching the shore alive than they would have had if stranded on any
other part of it for some miles on either side; but the loss of their
sails had rendered the prospect of their escape considerably less than
it would have been had they been able to watch their chance, _sail_ the
ship in on the crest of a wave, and so beach her.
The next half minute or so was one of most intense and painful
excitement to us spectators on shore. Each man moved nearer to the
water, and cast off some article of clothing, or gave a last look to the
line, or a final adjustment to the life-buoy round his waist. For
myself, I had stripped off my jacket and waistcoat, and placed them,
together with my hat, in the hands of my friend Bob, who could not swim;
and I now stood with the end of a line, knotted into a bowline, in my
hand, ready to do anything which the emergency of the moment might
require.
The master of the vessel appeared to be aware of our intention, and the
meaning of the signal which Grummet had shown; and as it was now
impossible to run the ship _stem_ on upon the beach, he did the next
best thing; and waving his hand to the men who, like true seamen, still
stuck to the wheel, they put the helm hard up, that she might come in
stern on.
The manoeuvre was partially successful; but unfortunately she came
ashore between two seas; and the undertow of the one taking her stern,
whilst the succeeding sea struck her bow, she fell broadside-to in an
instant, her three masts went by the board, and the sea made a clean
breach over her.
One poor fellow was seen to leap overboard at the moment that the ship
struck; and half-a-dozen of the men on the beach rushed down into the
water, making frantic efforts to get at him. But he could not swim; and
those who tried to reach him were flung back, bruised and senseless,
upon the beach, only to be dragged away again as the sea receded; and
had it not been for the ropes and life-buoys round their waists, by
which their comrades hauled them on shore, they must have lost their
lives. As it was, one of them, in some way or other, got out of the
life-buoy, and we saw him swept away almost from our very feet.
I was an expert swimmer; and as soon as I saw the poor fellow being
swept away, I slipped my head and shoulders through the bowline knot I
held in my hand, dashed into the surf, and, resorting to my usual
tactics of diving through the breakers, managed to get hold of the man
with one hand, while I raised the other above my head, as a signal to
those on shore to haul away upon their end of the line.
As soon as I felt the line tighten round me, I grasped the man round the
body, and in another moment we were both on the beach, in the arms of
those who had run down to meet us. By these we were dragged up out of
reach of the sea, and, on staggering to my feet, I had the satisfaction
of seeing the man who had jumped overboard from the wreck being hauled
on board again.
Loud were the thanks and praises I received for my conduct in bringing
the other on shore; but without waiting to listen to them, I hastily
explained that I would try to take a line on board the wreck, as, if I
could succeed in this, there might possibly be some chance of saving the
major portion, if not the whole of the crew. Accordingly I dashed into
the surf once more; and at length, after the most superhuman efforts,
though the distance was barely thirty yards, I reached the ship's side,
and was drawn on board by a line which her crew threw to me. The men
crowded round me, rapidly talking in some language which I could not
understand, and looking as much relieved as though I had the power of
taking them all on my back at once, and swimming on shore with them. I
stood for a moment to recover my breath; and at the same time looked
about to see what resources might be at my command. I noticed a towing
hawser coiled away upon what had originally been the deckhouse forward,
but which was now stove in and battered almost out of recognition. An
eye was spliced in one end of this hawser; and taking it up, I signed to
the men to pass it over the stump of the foremast.
They understood me, and, seeing my object in wishing it done, they had
it over in a twinkling; in another moment, they had the heavy coil
capsized, the other end bent on to the line which I had brought on board
with me, and were paying it rapidly over the side.
As I turned to address the master of the vessel, who, I noticed as I was
hauled up the side, was then standing at the break of the poop, issuing
instructions to his crew, I saw him in the act of descending the
poop-ladder, and I stepped towards him. At this moment the ship was
lifted up by a perfect mountain of a sea, and hove over on her
beam-ends; all hands of us were flung violently to leeward; and before
apparently any of us had time to recover our feet, another sea swept
down upon us; there was a terrific--an ear-splitting crash, a wild,
agonised cry, and I found myself clear of the wreck, struggling wildly
for life, with the body of the master within arm's length of me.
He was apparently dead, and floating face downwards; but I grasped him
by the hair, turned him on his back, and struck out for the beach.
Twice were we flung like corks upon the pebbles of the strand, and twice
dragged off into deep water again by the merciless undertow. The first
time I dug my fingers, knees, and the toes of my boots into the pebbles,
in the hope of bringing myself and my senseless charge to an anchor; but
I might as well have attempted to grasp the air. The whole of that
portion of the beach which was exposed to the action of the sea was a
vast moving mass, the shingle being alternately thrown up and sucked
back again in tons, as the water hurled itself high upon the beach and
then rushed back into the foaming abyss.
The second time we were thrown up with such violence that I was stunned;
but the third time the brave fellows on the beach, who had been making
the most frantic efforts to get at us, would take no denial. They
watched their chance, and as they saw us again drifting in two, with
ropes round their waists, rushed into the sea, grasped us, one each,
firmly round the body; and, though they were lifted off their feet and
dragged away to seaward like feathers by the retiring breaker, never let
go their hold until we were hauled up high and dry, clear beyond the
reach of the heaviest wave.
The efforts made to restore me to consciousness were soon successful,
but my fellow-sufferer, the master of the vessel, appeared to be
seriously injured. It was nearly half an hour before the faintest signs
of returning animation were perceived; and when at length consciousness
returned, the poor fellow appeared to be suffering the most excruciating
agony.
As soon as I was once more able to look about me, I found that the wave
which had washed the master and me overboard, had broken the wreck in
two just abaft the mainmast, flinging the stern portion much nearer the
shore, whilst it had turned the other half fairly bottom up,
precipitating, of course, all the poor fellows, who were so busy paying
out the hawser, into the sea. The people on the beach watched eagerly
for their reappearance above water, but not one of them was ever seen
again. It afterwards transpired that there was not a swimmer amongst
the entire crew, which, all told, amounted to fifteen hands.
The intelligence of a wreck had attracted a large concourse of people to
the spot, notwithstanding the discomfort attendant on being abroad in so
violent a gale; and one gentleman had taken upon himself to despatch
omnibuses from the town, well supplied with blankets, etc., for the
relief and benefit of any poor sufferers who might reach the shore
alive. Into one of these vehicles the unfortunate master of the ship
was now placed with the utmost care, a couch being extemporised for him
in the bottom of the 'bus by piling together all the blankets which had
been sent. In spite, however, of the utmost care in driving, the jolts
were frequent, and sometimes rather heavy, and the poor fellow's groans
indicated such intensity of suffering, that by the time we were half way
to town I decided I would take him to my own house, whereby he would be
spared nearly half an hour of anguish.
It fortunately happened that, just as I had come to this resolution, a
gentleman rode up, and learning who we had inside, volunteered his
services. I immediately accepted them, desiring him to ride back to the
town, and despatch to my house the ablest physician he could find. When
the 'bus drew up at our door, the doctor was there in readiness for his
patient, whom we lifted out, apparently in the last stage of exhaustion,
and carried carefully into the house and upstairs into my own room,
where my sister (advertised by Bob, who had made the best of his way
home on foot) had a cheerful fire blazing in the grate, hot water in
abundance, and everything else ready that her womanly sympathy could
suggest.
Volume One, Chapter II.
THE SECRET.
The doctor remained with the sick man more than half an hour; and when I
heard his footstep descending the staircase I went out and met him.
"The poor fellow is sinking rapidly," said he, in reply to my inquiries;
"he has received severe internal injuries, and is bleeding to death
inwardly. I can do nothing, absolutely _nothing_ for him. Keep him
quiet, and humour him as much as you can; excitement of any kind will
only hasten his dissolution." I cheerfully promised to do all I could
for the dying man; and the doctor took his leave, promising to call
again the last thing in the evening.
As soon as the doctor was out of the house I went upstairs and into the
sick-room, where I found the patient in bed, and Bob, with his boots
off, gliding as quietly about the room as a trained hospital nurse,
doing all he could to contribute to the comfort of his charge.
The opening of the door attracted the sick man's attention, and he
feebly turned his head in my direction. As soon as he recognised me, he
beckoned me to approach; and I drew a chair to the side of the bed,
asking him how he felt.
"Like one whose moments are numbered;" replied he in perfectly pure
English, but with a sonorous ring in the articulation of the words,
which betrayed the fact that he was not speaking in his mother tongue.
"Senor," he continued, "I am dying; the doctor has candidly told me so,
though I needed no such assurance from him. The dreadful pangs which
shoot through my tortured frame, are such as no man could long endure
and live. I am a true Catholic, senor, and I would fain see a priest,
or some good man of my own creed; that I may confess, and clear my
guilty soul from the stains which a life of sinful indulgence and
contempt of Heaven's laws has polluted it with. I know there are many
of my faith in England, it may be that there are some in this place.
Know you of any such?"
I replied that there certainly was a Catholic church in the town, but it
was situated at some distance from the house in which he now lay;
consequently it would perhaps be an hour before the priest could be
found and brought to him; "but," added I, "I will send for him
forthwith, and until he arrive I will sit here and keep you company."
So saying, I called Bob on one side, and directed him to proceed, as
quickly as possible, into town, and bring the Reverend Father without a
moment's delay, to the house.
As soon as Bob had departed, I resumed my seat by the bedside.
Extending his burning hand towards me, he clasped mine, and endeavoured
to raise it to his lips. "Senor," said he, "since it is the will of God
that I am to die, I can but bow to that will in submission; but I would
I could have been spared for a few years to testify my gratitude to you
for your brave and noble efforts in behalf of my crew and myself--my
poor people, my poor people," he sobbed--"all, all lost!"
He was silent for nearly five minutes; and I took advantage of the
opportunity to explain to him that what I had done was no more than any
other Englishman would do if he had the power, under similar
circumstances; that such conduct was thought nothing of among our
nation; being regarded as simply a duty which each man owed to every
other, in like circumstances of distress with his own.
"I know--I know," replied he, "the English are as generous as they are
brave; but still I would I had it in my power to express my thanks
otherwise than in words. But I am alone in the world which I am so soon
to leave. Not one have I of my own name or blood to whom I can bequeath
my debt of gratitude; and when my ship went to pieces to-day (she was my
own property, senor), I became a beggar. I have not so much property
left as will pay the expenses of my burial; and here I lie, indebted to
a stranger, and that stranger a foreigner, for the shelter which covers
my dying head, as I soon shall be for the coffin and the grave which
await my lifeless clay."
I was beginning to say something, with the intention of diverting his
mind from so painful a train of thought, when he interrupted me eagerly.
"And yet," continued he, "poor as I am, it is in my power to make you
rich--ay, beyond the utmost scope of your imagination. And I will, I
_will_! Why should I take this secret to the grave with me? In a few
hours I shall be beyond the want of earthly riches, but you, senor, are
young, and look forward to a long life; doubtless, like other men, you
have already indulged in many a bright day-dream which the possession of
wealth would go far to realise. Listen, gentil senor; I must be brief,
for I feel that I have no time to lose. I have been shipwrecked once
before. It is now nearly three years ago since I sailed from Valparaiso
for Canton, whence we were to proceed to Bombay, and so home round the
Cape of Good Hope. I was then chief mate. We met with nothing but
calms for the first three weeks of our passage, after which the weather
changed, and we had a succession of adverse gales until we were within
fifteen degrees of the line. Here we were worse off than ever, for at
one moment we were lying in a glassy calm, and perhaps in five minutes
afterwards were under close-reefed canvas, or possibly bare poles. At
length a furious squall threw the ship on her beam-ends, and we were
compelled to cut away all three of her masts to save her from
foundering. And then the squall settled down into a perfect hurricane,
and we could do nothing but suffer the ship to drive dead before it.
Near midnight we were flung violently to the deck by a tremendous shock.
The ship was on shore, dashing her bottom out upon the rocks. And it
was so dark, senor, that we were unable to see each other. Oh! the
horror of that night; it is as fresh upon me now as it was at the moment
that it happened."
The poor fellow's face was streaming with perspiration. I begged he
would not distress himself by recalling such painful recollections, but
in spite of my remonstrance he continued his story.
"The ship broke up beneath our feet, and I found myself swimming, I knew
not where, in the midst of a quantity of floating wreck, to a piece of
which I clung. I was surrounded on every side by breakers; but not far
from me I could perceive, by the absence of the phosphorescence, that
the water was smooth. I urged myself, and the plank to which I clung,
in that direction, and soon reached the smooth water; after which I
suffered myself to drift. The water was quite warm, and I experienced
no inconvenience whatever from my immersion. After the lapse of perhaps
an hour, possibly more, I felt the ground beneath my feet, and
staggering out of the water, I flung myself upon the dry land, and,
notwithstanding the howling of the wind and the roar of the breakers, I
fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
"When I awoke the sun was beating fiercely down upon my uncovered head;
the sky was cloudless; and a calm had succeeded to the gale of the night
before. I rose to my feet, and on looking about me, discovered that I
had been cast upon one of those coral islands which so thickly stud some
portions of the Pacific. I was--as I am now--the only one who escaped
the wreck alive. The bodies of my shipmates lay scattered along the
shore; and a long and arduous day was spent in burying them where they
lay, in such shallow graves as I could scoop in the sand with the aid of
a piece of splintered plank. The beach was strewed with wreckage which
had been washed over the reef and into the smooth water; and I was
overjoyed to find amongst this the long-boat, perfectly uninjured. In
her I visited the scene of the wreck; and there, after diligent search,
I found the means and a sufficiency of appropriate materials to enable
me to fit her for a lengthened voyage.
"I was more than two months on the island before my preparations were
complete, for life was very enjoyable in that delightful spot, and I
felt in no hurry to get away. At length, whilst walking along the beach
one evening, my attention was attracted to three or four pieces of old,
worm-eaten, weather-worn timber, which I had often noticed before,
projecting above the sand; and curiosity now impelled me to walk up to
and examine them. A careful scrutiny revealed to me that they formed
part of the framework of a ship; and I resolved that I would return the
next day and ascertain whether what I saw was merely a detached piece of
wreck, or whether the entire hull lay there embedded in the sand.
"The next morning I repaired to the spot, armed with a primitive
substitute for a shovel, which I had contrived to manufacture, and an
iron bolt, to serve the purpose of a crow-bar, which I had procured the
previous night by burning it out of a piece of wreck. I had worked for
perhaps an hour, when I reached some planking, which I immediately
recognised as the deck of the ship. This I proceeded to clear of sand,
uncovering the deck in an extending circle from the spot where I had
first encountered it, until I had an area of about fifteen or sixteen
feet laid bare. And now I met with a breach in the deck; so instead of
clearing away further, I began to dig down again; I toiled thus for four
days, senor; by which time? I had discovered that the wreck was that of
a small vessel, of perhaps one hundred and thirty tons (though, small as
she was, she had been built with a full poop); that she was a very
ancient craft indeed; and that her cargo consisted of nothing but
_gold_, senor, that is, with the solitary exception of a strong wooden
box (which, even after so long an interment, offered considerable
resistance to my efforts to open it), containing an assortment of what I
took to be pebbles of different kinds, but which I afterwards found were
unpolished gems. Yes, senor; there lay the gold in ingots, each wrapped
in matting, and each ingot as much in weight as I could well lift. The
matting was decayed in the first three or four tiers, and the metal
discoloured almost to blackness; but towards the centre of the cargo
(which is, probably, not more than twelve tiers deep altogether), the
matting, though so rotten that it crumbled to dust as I touched it, had
preserved the colour of the metal; and there it lay, bar after bar,
gleaming with the dull yellow lustre peculiar to virgin gold.
"I ballasted my boat entirely with ingots; selecting the most
discoloured I could reach, so that they might be less easily
recognisable as gold, and the risk I ran of being ultimately robbed of
them reduced in the same proportion. I also took a few of the pebbles
(as I thought them) out of the box; after which I set to work to cover
in the whole once more. I completed my task by burning down the timbers
which had at first attracted my attention (and which I found were a
portion of her stern frame), so that nothing remained above the surface
of the sand to betray the whereabouts of my treasure. I then carefully
marked the spot in such a manner that I could find it again; and
completed my preparations for departure with all speed.
"I had been at sea ten days, when I was taken ill. Whether it was the
effect of excitement or exposure I know not; but I fell into a raging
fever, which left me almost at the point of death. I was so weak that I
had not strength to crawl to the water-cask; and the feeble efforts I
made to reach it so exhausted me that at length I fell in a swoon to the
bottom of the boat. In this condition I was discovered by a passing
ship, the crew of which took me on board; but, as a smart breeze
happened to be blowing at the time, they would not wait to hoist in my
boat; and she was set adrift with enough gold on board her to have
purchased a principality.
"Regrets were useless, and the loss, heavy as it was, troubled me
little; I knew where to find sufficient to satisfy my utmost needs. At
length I reached home, and, by the merest accident, bethought myself one
day of my pebbles. I suspected they were valuable, or they would not
have been found where they were. Judge of my surprise when I learned
that the four I had left (for I lost the rest somewhere) were worth a
sufficient sum to enable me to do exactly what I wished; viz., buy a
ship of my own. I did so; and was on my way in her to my
treasure-island, when the gale sprung up which has reduced me to my
present condition.
"And now, senor, I am about to put _you_ in possession of such
information as will enable you to find my island. It is in latitude
about--S., and in longitude about--W., as nearly as I had the means of
ascertaining; and is uninhabited, and, I should say, unknown; for during
my entire stay there, I never observed one solitary sign of man's foot
having ever pressed the soil. You will readily recognise the island
from the fact that it has a remarkable isolated group of seven cocoa-nut
trees growing closely together on the extreme northernmost point of the
island. The central tree of this group, and one of the others, bears a
mark (made by the removal of a piece of bark) as large as a man's two
hands. When you have identified these trees, walk away from them,
keeping them _in one_, until you open, clear of the trees on the
southern end of the island, a portion of the reef which you will observe
just rising above the water's edge. When you have done this, you will
be standing, as nearly as possible, immediately above the hole in the
deck of the wreck, through which I burrowed to her golden cargo."
The Spaniard (for such I found him to be) then went on to describe the
manner in which I should find the passage through the reef into the
lagoon, giving me as much information as he could from memory of the
various dangers to be avoided. He had carefully prepared a chart of the
channel before leaving the island; but this was on board the vessel he
had just lost.
I could see that the excitement produced by so much talking was
fearfully reducing his strength, and I more than once endeavoured to
persuade him to postpone the completion of his narrative, but he was
sensible that he had but a short time to live, and so anxious was he to
give me all the information necessary to enable me to discover this
strangely buried treasure, that my endeavour to stop him did more harm
even than the talking, so I was compelled perforce to suffer him to
proceed. And though I felt it my duty to urge him not to excite
himself, I must confess that I was deeply interested to learn how I
might become possessed of the wealth to which he had referred in such
glowing terms; for since it was manifest that he could not live to enjoy
it himself, and as he had declared he had no relative in the world, I
thought I might as well become his heir.
He continued to talk for some time longer, until he had explained to me
everything he could think of which would facilitate my efforts to reach
the buried treasure; and then, with a sigh of mingled exhaustion and
relief, he closed his eyes, and seemed to sink into a half sleep, from
which he roused himself at frequent intervals, to crave the refreshment
of a draught of lemonade.
At length the sound of carriage wheels was heard; and almost immediately
afterwards Bob returned, accompanied by the Catholic priest. The sick
man opened his eyes, and feebly welcomed the good old man who had so
readily answered his appeal for spiritual consolation. I then retired,
leaving them alone to engage in the most solemn rite appertaining to
their religion.
Rather more than an hour elapsed before I was recalled to the sick-room.
When I stood once more at the bedside of the dying Spaniard, I saw that
he had but a few minutes longer to live. He was so weak, the clergyman
said, that it was with the utmost difficulty he had succeeded in
expressing his wish to see me again before he died.
As I drew near his eye brightened, and a faint smile of welcome lighted
up his face. His lips moved, but so faint was the whisper which escaped
them, that I was obliged to bow my face close to his ere I could
distinguish the words. With a painful effort he gasped, "Senor, promise
me that, if you succeed, you will have two hundred masses said for my
soul?"
When I assured him that his request should be faithfully complied with,
the contracted brow relaxed; the expression of anxiety vanished; and in
its place a smile of satisfaction and perfect happiness slowly spread
itself over the pinched and pallid features, where, the next moment, it
was indelibly fixed by the hand of death.
I have dwelt at such length upon this introductory episode of my story
that I must now "turn the hands up and make sail" in earnest, for we
have a voyage of many thousands of miles before us; and, like all
thorough seamen, having once shipped for the voyage, we are impatience
personified until the anchor is atrip, the canvas sheeted home, the
watch set, and the lively little barkie dashing merrily away over the
heaving billows, her snowy canvas gleaming in the setting sun, and the
cliffs of Old England fast fading into purple mist astern.
Volume One, Chapter III.
BOB'S PROPOSITION.
After we had reverently laid the Spaniard to rest in his alien grave, I
gave my friend Bob a full and accurate account of all that had passed,
showing him at the same time the copious notes I had, at the earliest
opportunity, jotted down to assist and refresh my memory in case I
should ever find myself in a position to seek the hidden treasure.
But it is now necessary that I should introduce the _dramatis persona_
who have already cast their shadows on the curtain; and this I will do
with all possible brevity.
"_Place aux dames_." Ada Collingwood, my darling and only sister, was
at this time approaching her seventeenth year, and was a dainty specimen
of lovely girlhood just budding into still lovelier womanhood. Her
figure was petite, promising in due time to develop into the most
faultless perfection of shape: and her laughing blue eyes and rich
profusion of silky golden hair set off to perfection a face which,
perhaps, no one would have dreamed of calling _beautiful_, any more than
they would have dreamed of denying that it was charmingly piquant, and
irresistibly _pretty_. Her temper was equable; she was gifted with a
rich flow of animal spirits, and a keen perception of the ludicrous,
which would have upset the gravity of the most confirmed hypochondriac.
Nevertheless, if occasion required it, her merry ringing laugh could be
hushed, her joyous elasticity of movement could be subdued, and no one
better than she could assume the _role_ of the sick-nurse, or the tender
and sympathising confidante of distress. And lastly, she adored, with a
blind unreasoning idolatry for which there was no excuse, your humble
servant, her unworthy brother.
Of myself, it becomes me not to say very much. I was just turned
twenty-one: six feet high: and vanity whispered, in confirmation of my
sister's energetic and oft-repeated assertions, a trifle more than
moderately good-looking. I was an only son (as my sister was an only
daughter), and I had received my education at the Royal Naval School at
Greenwich, with the understanding that I was to join my father on its
completion, when he would continue and finish what is there so well
begun, thus making me "every inch a sailor."
On leaving school I joined my father (who was master and part owner of a
fine dashing clipper), in the capacity of midshipman, and went some six
or seven voyages with him: on the last of which, or rather a few days
after its termination, I was seized with a violent attack of rheumatic
fever, from which I had not recovered sufficiently to rejoin the ship by
the time that she was once more ready for sea. I was consequently left
at home under Ada's care (my dear mother had been dead some years), to
recover at leisure, and amuse myself as well as I could, until another
voyage should be accomplished, and an opportunity once more offered for
me to repossess myself of my quarters in the old familiar berth. That
opportunity never arrived, for at the time my story opens, my father had
been two years "missing." He sailed from Canton with the first cargo of
the new season's teas, and from the moment that the good ship
disappeared seaward she had never been heard of; not the faintest trace
of a clue to the mystery of her fate having, so far, been discovered.
Bob Trunnion was a middle-aged man, of medium stature, great personal
strength, and no very marked pretensions to beauty; but he was as
thorough an old sea-dog as ever looked upon salt water. His visage was
burnt to a deep brick-red by years of exposure to all sorts of weather;
and his hair and beard, which had once been brown, were now changed to
the hue of old oakum by the same process, except where, here and there,
a slight sprinkling of grey discovered itself. He had been a sailor
almost all his life; having "crept in through the hawse-pipe" when he
was only twelve years old; since when, by close application, and
perseverance, he had gradually worked his way aft to the quarter-deck.
He joined my father's ship as second mate, on the same voyage as I did,
and on the following voyage took the chief mate's, berth, in place of a
man whom my father was compelled to discharge for confirmed drunkenness.
The last time that my poor father passed down Channel, outward-bound,
Bob had the misfortune (as we thought it then), to fall off the poop and
break his arm. It was what the surgeons call a compound fracture, and
certainly looked to be a very ugly one; so, as the ship happened at the
time to be off Saint Alban's Head, my father ran into Weymouth roads,
and sent Bob ashore to our house to be cured, and to bear me company;
shipping in his stead the second mate, and picking up a new second mate
somewhere about the town.
Thus it happened that Bob and I, old shipmates as we were, happened to
be both away from our ship when her mysterious fate overtook her. As
soon as we were both recovered, we sought and obtained berths, always in
the same ship, for short voyages; returning home about once in every six
weeks or two months, with the hope of hearing either that my father had
returned, or that some news had arrived of him. For the last twelve
months we had abandoned the former hope, but the latter would probably
be many years before it finally took its flight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This introduction and explanation are necessary to the understanding of
what is to follow; and now, having fairly weathered them both, we may
take up the thread of the story, and follow it out to the end without
further interruption.
I have already said that I took an early opportunity to give Bob a
detailed account of the Spaniard's revelation to me. This was on the
evening of the day on which we laid the poor fellow in his grave; and I
told my story while we and my sister were seated comfortably round the
fire after tea, with the curtains drawn close, and everything made snug
for the night.
Bob listened with the utmost attention to my story (as did also my
sister), occasionally requesting me to "say that again," as some point
in the narrative was reached which he wished to bear particularly in
mind; and when I had finished he sat for some time staring meditatively
between the bars of the grate.
At length, "Well, Harry, my lad, what do you intend to do?" said he.
"That," replied I, "is just the point upon which I want your advice. If
this story be true--"
"No fear about that," said Bob. "It's true enough. The thing's as
plain and circumstantial as the ship's course when it's pricked off upon
the chart. There ain't a kink in the yarn from end to end; it's all
coiled down as neat and snug as a new hawser in the ropemaker's yard;
and besides, dyin' men don't spin yarns with no truth in 'em, just for
divarsion's sake like."
"Well," said I, "I am disposed, with you, to think that the story _is_
quite true; the man could have no object in telling it if it were not
so. The question is, what is to be done in the matter?"
"Done!" exclaimed Ada, "why, what _should_ be done, Harry, except that
you go to this island, dig up the gold, bring it home, and live like a
gentleman ever afterwards?"
This was Ada's great ambition; that I should be placed in the position
of a gentleman. She had a theory--whence derived I know not--that it
was my destiny to become a man of unbounded means; and that my life was
to be passed in an atmosphere of splendour and luxury only equalled by
that enjoyed by the most favoured heroes of the "Arabian Nights." And
this was an entirely disinterested feeling on her part too; for though
she would often laughingly prophesy what would happen "when I should
become a rich man," I never knew her to utter a word which suggested the
idea that _she_ would in any way be a gainer by my acquisition of
wealth.
"More easily said than done, pet," replied I, patting her soft cheek.
"What is to become of you whilst I am gone?"
"Why, I shall stay here with Mrs Moseley (our housekeeper) until your
return, and be the first to welcome you back," said she.
"Well," replied I, "I think suitable arrangements for your comfort and
safety could be made without much difficulty; but," said I, appealing to
Bob, "how is this gold to be got at and brought home in safety? I have
not the means of purchasing a ship of my own; and if I had, do you think
it would be safe to trust so much treasure with a crew, picked up though
ever so carefully?"
"Ah! now you 'pawls me," replied Bob, rubbing the back of his head
reflectively. "I've sailed with crews as you might ha' trusted with
untold gold, at least I've thowt so at the time I was with 'em; but
mayhap, if temptation was throwed in their way, they mightn't be able to
stand out agin it; there's no gettin' to the bottom o' the heart o' man.
As to the ship, that's easy enough. If you ain't got the cash to
_buy_, you can always _charter_?"
"True," said I, "and if I could _make sure_ of finding a sufficient
number of thorough good men, that is the course I should be inclined to
pursue. Do you think, Bob, that by diligent search we could find some
six or eight really reliable men? The craft need not be a large one,
you know--"
"There you've hit the solution of the enigmy, as the schoolmaster said,"
replied Bob, bringing his clenched fist down upon my knee with an
emphasis which impressed me for the remainder of the evening: "How much
of that gold now do you reckon would make your fortune, lad? you're
pretty good at figures; just cipher it up and let's hear?"
"How much!" exclaimed I; "oh, a very small portion of the whole cargo
would satisfy me if I had it here at this moment."
"How much?" persisted Bob. "Would a _ton_ of it be enough for you,
boy?"
"Yes, indeed," laughed I; "a ton of pure gold--why, what do you suppose
that would be worth, Bob?"
"Hain't much of a idee," replied he.
"A ton of pure gold," said I, "is worth over one hundred thousand
pounds, Bob; I believe one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds is
nearer it's value; though I cannot say for certain."
"Then," said Bob, "if we can manage to get, say, a couple of tons of it
home, you will be satisfied--eh?"
"Perfectly," I replied; "but how do you propose to accomplish this?" for
I saw he had a scheme to bring forward.
"Nothing easier," replied Bob. "Build a little craft big enough to
accommodate the two of us; with room to stow away our grub and water,
and the two tons of gold; and up anchor and away."
"But," said I, "you forget that this island is somewhere in the Pacific.
Such a craft as you speak of would be totally unfit for the voyage we
contemplate."
"Why?" inquired Bob.
"Why?" repeated I, astonished at the question. "Simply because we
should never get across the Bay of Biscay in her, to say nothing of the
remainder of the voyage."
"Why not?" demanded Bob, rather pugnaciously.
"Do you mean to say," I retorted, "that you can sit there and propose in
cold blood such a hair-brained scheme as that we two should undertake a
voyage to the Pacific in a mere _boat_?"
"I do," replied Bob emphatically. "That's a simple way out of all your
difficulties. The craft will be your own; there will be no risk of the
crew rising upon us for the sake of our cargo; and nobody to say `What
are we doing here?' or `What do you want there?' Why, it will be a mere
pleasure trip from end to end, all play and no work, leastways none to
speak on!"
"But, my dear fellow, _do_ be serious," protested I. "You know, as well
as I do, that we should be swamped the first time we fell in with a
capful of wind."
"Maybe we should, if we went to work like a couple of know-nothing
land-lubbers," retorted Bob; "but if we went to work like seamen, as we
are, I should like to know what's to purvent our sailing round the world
if we like! Answer me that."
"Come, Bob, old man, let us hear the full extent of your proposition,"
said I. "I know that, whatever it may be, it will be the proposal of a
thorough seaman, for if any one could carry out the wild scheme you have
suggested, you are the man."
"'Tain't such a very wild scheme neither," replied Bob. "Answer me
this. How many people was saved from the _London_ when she foundered in
the Bay of Biscay?"
"Nineteen, if I remember rightly," replied I.
"Very well; now if a small boat of about twenty-five feet long or
thereabouts, _open_, mind you, from stem to starn, could live twenty
hours with nineteen people in her, as the _London's_ pinnace did, in
weather that the old ship herself couldn't stand up agin, how long will
a full-decked boat of, say, thirty to thirty-five feet long, carefully
constructed, and in good trim, live with only two men in her? And
warn't I," continued he, "nineteen days _alone_ in an open boat in the
South Atlantic; and didn't I make a v'y'ge of a thousand miles in her
afore I struck soundings at Saint Helena?"
This last question referred to an adventure which had befallen Bob in
his younger days, on an occasion when he had been cruelly deserted in a
sinking ship by the rest of the crew, and had made his escape, as
described by himself, after enduring unheard-of suffering.
"Then," questioned I, "you seriously entertain the belief that the
scheme you have suggested is practicable?"
"With ease and comfort," replied Bob. "Now look here, Harry. You can
afford to build a craft such as I have described, and fit her out for
the v'y'ge, and still leave money enough at home to keep sauce-box here"
(indicating Ada, who was to him as the apple of his eye) "comfortable
and happy like till we come back. You've a rare eye for a sea-boat, and
mine ain't bad, for that matter; let's draught her out ourselves, since
it's our own lives as we are going to trust in her; and if we don't turn
out, between us, as pretty a sea-boat as ever floated, why, turn to and
lay me up in ordinary for the rest of my days for a useless old hulk,
that's all. A boat thirty feet long, decked all over, and carefully
designed, _can't_ sink, boy, because we can easily arrange matters so as
to keep her dry inside; she'll ride as light as a gull and as dry as a
bone when big ships is making bad weather of it, and as for the matter
of capsizing, bein' run down, or cast away, why they're dangers as we
are liable to in any ship, and must be guarded against in every craft,
large or small; and our little barkie would carry comfortable all we
should want for the v'y'ge, for we could touch here and there out and
home to make good deficiencies, and we two are men enough to handle her
in all weathers. Rig her as a cutter, boy. I was once't aboard a
cutter yacht in a trip up the Mediterranean, and you've no idea what a
handy rig it is, once you're used to it. And the way them cutters 'll
hug the wind--why 'twould make a difference of nigh on a couple of
thousand miles, out and home, in the length of the passage."
I began to be infected with Bob's enthusiasm. The scheme, which had at
first appeared to me as the very acme of fool-hardiness, now, under the
influence of Bob's eloquence, gradually assumed an appearance of
reasonableness, and a promising prospect of success, which was very
fascinating. Nevertheless, I could not but remember that the proposed
voyage would take us into latitudes subject to the most frightful and
sudden tempests, and I could not help thinking (as I pointed out to Bob)
that our cockle-shell would stand but a poor chance in a cyclone or a
black squall.
"Look here, Harry, my boy," remarked Bob gravely, "as I propose to ship
on this here v'y'ge as chief mate, I ain't likely to forget that there's
such dangers as them you've just mentioned. But suppose you was to cork
up a bottle, or clap the lid on an empty biscuit-tin, and heave 'em
overboard, do you think they'd live through one or t'other? In course
they would, because salt water can't get inside of 'em, and as long as
they keep dry holds they'll float, let the weather be what it will, and
so 'll our craft, for the same reason. And when the weather's too bad
to sail the barkie, we can heave her to, and when it's too bad for that
we can _anchor_ her, my boy, go below, slide on the top of the
companion, and turn in until the weather clears up."
"But," said I, "we cannot anchor in the middle of the Atlantic. Suppose
we should be caught in a cyclone there, for instance?"
"We _can_ anchor _there_, lad, with a _floating_ anchor, which will keep
her head to wind; and with everything snug aloft and on deck, and a
floating-anchor ahead with about sixty fathoms of cable veered out, she
would ride out _in safety_ any gale that ever blew out of the heavens."
This last remark closed the case, and secured a verdict for the
defendant. I _knew_ that every word Bob spoke was literally true, and
the audacity of the enterprise so fascinated me that I resolved on the
spot to undertake it, if it should be found, on going into details, that
a craft, capable of being handled by our two selves, could stow away,
without being overloaded, such provisions, etc., as we should need for
the voyage.
The following morning, immediately after breakfast, I got out my
drawing-board, strained a sheet of paper upon it, and, with Bob at my
side to give me the benefit of his opinion upon every line I traced upon
the paper, set to in earnest to design the little craft in which we
proposed to embark on our adventurous voyage.
Before putting a line upon paper, however, we settled the plan of her
internal arrangements. It was our intention to make her lines as fine
as her respective dimensions would permit; she was to be, in fact, a
small _yacht_. We knew that every vessel with sharp lines must
necessarily be wet, unless the weights she would have to carry were all
concentrated about her midship section, or broadest part, so we decided
that as far as was practicable such should be the arrangement with us;
and we knew that, if we could succeed in this, our barkie might be as
sharp as we could make her, and still be dry and comfortable. We
accordingly prepared a list of our requirements, as far as we could
think of them, calculated the space they and the ballast: would occupy,
and then roughly sketched out the proposed lines. These were altered,
rearranged, and improved upon time after time, until at length we felt
we had got them as near perfection as the dimensions of the boat and our
own knowledge would carry us. And I may as well say at once that
throughout the entire voyage we never had the slightest reason to think
our little vessel could be in any way improved upon by alteration.
It is not probable that so long a voyage as ours will be often
undertaken again in such a very small craft as we accomplished it in;
but there are many men, I have no doubt, who would gladly receive a hint
as to the most advantageous form for a small boat in which they might
safely adventure, alone, or with a friend, a cruise, say round the
British Isles, or across the Channel and along the French coast; and
therefore, as this story is written for the amusement only of such
people as love boats, I think I may venture to trespass so far on my
readers' patience as to give such a hint in the shape of a brief
description of the _Water Lily_, as Ada christened her.
She was, then, thirty-six feet long, and twelve feet beam on the
water-line; but, in designing her midship section, we caused her sides
to swell out boldly _above_ water, so that her greatest beam was
fourteen feet, at a point one foot six inches above the water-line. At
this point her side _tumbled home_ two inches as it was carried upwards
to her deck, and from the same point the side curved quickly inwards and
downwards until it met the water-line, when it swept under water with an
almost imperceptible curve for some distance, and then took a moderately
quick bend downwards to meet her keel. This gave us a vessel in shape
very much like the centre-board model of boat, but with a deep keel, and
consequently great lateral resistance, and space low down in the hull
for the stowage of ballast. We thus secured a _very_ small
displacement, a light buoyant hull, extraordinary stability, and a fair
amount of _power_.
The hull was divided into three compartments by bulkheads with wide
doors which, if necessary, we could close _water-tight_. In the _fore_
compartment we decided to place _nothing_ except the smallest and
lightest cooking-stove we could find. In the midship compartment it was
intended to stow our ballast, water-tank, provisions, the chain-cables,
and in fact everything which we could possibly place there, leaving only
a narrow passage amidships to pass to and fro. The after compartment we
intended to make our cabin, and there we arranged also to sling our
hammocks. It will easily be understood that there was not an inch of
spare room anywhere; but as our lives would be spent almost entirely on
deck, we did not mind that very much.
Having designed our craft, the next question was, who should build her?
Bob was strongly in favour of having her built in the town, so that we
might oversee the laying of every plank, and the driving of every nail;
but I knew there were firms who could safely be trusted to honestly put
the best of work and material into the little vessel without being
watched; and I determined to put her into the hands of a very celebrated
firm of London boat builders.
Accordingly, Bob and I ran up to town, taking my sister with us for a
holiday, and on the morning after our arrival, having seen Ada safely
disposed of for the day with some friends of ours, we two men set out
for the building-yard.
I placed our design in the hands of the principal, telling him at the
same time that we wanted a boat of those dimensions, and, if possible,
built on those lines, and that she was intended to keep at sea in _all_
weathers.
He looked rather surprised at the last stipulation; but after carefully
examining the drawing, and asking us our reasons for certain little
peculiarities of shape, he confessed that, as far as his experience
went, he could frankly say he had never seen a model better adapted for
the purpose.
"And yet, gentlemen," said he, "she will be wonderfully fast, for, in
the first place, her _hull_ is of such a shape that it will offer but a
trifling resistance to forward motion; and, in the next place, these
overhanging top-sides will give her such extraordinary stability, as
soon as she begins to heel over, that you will be able to carry enormous
sails."
We were very glad to hear our own judgment thus confirmed by a man, part
of whose business it was to form a correct opinion with respect to the
points upon which he had touched, and we said as much.
He took a great deal of interest in what must, after all, have been a
very trifling matter to him; and both Bob and I had reason often
afterwards to congratulate ourselves that we had confided the building
of our boat to such good hands.
He proposed that she should be _composite_ built; that is, that for the
sake of lightness and strength combined, her frame should be of steel,
with an inner skin of thin steel plate, and an outer planking of two
thicknesses of mahogany. The ribs were to be arranged _diagonally_,
crossing the keel at an angle of forty-five degrees, and intersecting
each other at right angles, thus converting her entire frame into a sort
of lattice-work girder.
It was arranged that all the fastenings of the inner thickness of
planking should be of iron, whilst the outside planks should be secured
with copper fastenings. The utmost care was exercised (and, as
experience proved, with complete success) to prevent the slightest
approach to galvanic action, and one of the precautions taken was, I
remember well, the painting of the inner planking with melted
india-rubber, which was laid on coat after coat until there was about
one-sixteenth of an inch of the rubber between the outer and inner
planks.
As we did not intend to sail until the following summer, the builder had
about eight months in which to put our little ship together, a
circumstance at Which he expressed great satisfaction, as he said it
would enable him to pick and choose his materials, and put careful work
into her.
We arranged, at the same time, for the construction of a boat to take
with us, as we felt that in the event of any untoward accident
happening, we ought to have something to take to for the saving of our
lives, and we knew also that there would be many occasions when we
should require something to answer the purposes which a boat answers
with regard to a ship.
The designing of this boat was beset by difficulties, all originating in
one, viz., want of space in which to stow her. To think of carrying her
on deck was out of the question, as the deck was not spacious enough, in
the first place, to receive such a boat as we wanted; and even had it
been, there was no chance of its remaining there; it would have been
carried away by the first sea which swept over us. We required
something large enough to carry us both, and a stock of provisions in
addition, so that should it be necessary to abandon the _Water Lily_, we
might hope to reach land, or fall in with a ship. We also wanted
something that should be essentially a _life-boat_, whilst she should
also be very fast. How to obtain all these desiderata, and at the same
time overcome the difficulty in respect to room, we knew not. But,
resolved not to be baffled, we set our wits to work, and at length
schemed out a design of an exceedingly novel character, which proved in
all respects a most brilliant success.
Two hollow steel cylinders, of very thin metal, twenty-six feet long and
one foot diameter in the centre, tapering gradually away to nothing at
each end, were constructed in thirteen lengths of two feet each. These
lengths, being of different diameters, stowed one within the other, thus
taking up very little room indeed. In either end of each length was
inserted a narrow band of metal thick enough to allow of a worm and
screw, so that all the lengths of each cylinder could be screwed
together perfectly water-tight. A light steel framework of simple
arrangement connected the two cylinders together, at a distance of six
feet apart, with their centre lines parallel, and supported, at a height
of two feet above the top of the cylinders a light stage ten feet long
and six feet wide. On the top of the stage, and connected with the
framework, was a step for a mast, and a gammon-iron for a bowsprit, and
underneath the stage was a centre-board which we could lower or raise at
pleasure. A broad rudder, fixed to the after-part of the stage,
completed the design.
We spent a fortnight in London, and, having witnessed the laying of the
_Water Lily's_ keel, and inspected some of the timber which the builder
proposed to use in her construction, I saw Ada safe home again, leaving
Bob in London to look out for a ship, which, when I rejoined him a
couple of days afterwards, he had found.
We shipped in her for a voyage to Constantinople and Trebizond, which
occupied us for eight months, and when we returned to London, on the
termination of this voyage, we found the _Water Lily_ completed, with
the exception of a few finishing touches, which the workmen were then
giving her.
Volume One, Chapter IV.
OUR TRIAL TRIP.
Mr Wood (as we will call him, for the sake of giving the gentleman a
name) took us into his office, and there laid before us a sail draught,
which he had carefully prepared for the guidance of the sailmaker, in
making the _Water Lily's_ sails.
"You have never told me, gentlemen," said he, "_why_ you are having this
little craft built; but the great pains which you have taken in the
preparation of her design, and the whole tenour of your remarks when
giving us the order to build her, impressed me at the time with a
conviction that her destiny is to be something beyond that of most
vessels of her size. As we proceeded with our work, I could not fail to
be struck (as you will perhaps remember I was at my first glance at your
drawing) with the fact, that whilst she is eminently calculated to prove
a wonderfully fine little sea-boat, she is equally certain to develop
most extraordinary sailing powers; and so great is the interest I take
in her that I could not be satisfied with intrusting the preparation of
her sail draught to any other than myself; for I foresee that she will,
in all probability, become a `public character' so to speak, and in that
capacity she will undoubtedly reflect great credit on her builders. I
have therefore calculated, with the utmost nicety, the proportion of her
various sails, so that they may take effect to the greatest advantage;
and this is the result of my labours," producing at the same time the
drawing to which I have referred.
I must confess that, for my own part, I was staggered at the enormous
spread of canvas Mr Wood proposed to pile upon our little boat; but he
declared that she would carry it with the greatest ease. "In fact,"
said he, "I have kept rather _within_ the limit of her powers, bearing
in mind a remark you made to the effect that she would have to keep to
sea _in all weathers_; and so confident am I that she is not
over-sailed, that if you find I am wrong I undertake to bear all the
expense of a new outfit of sails, and the necessary reduction of spars.
With regard to your `boat' (though to my mind she looks much more like
an ingeniously designed _raft_), the idea is so new that I cannot take
it upon myself to utter an opinion about her, though I can see no reason
why she should not be as fast as she undoubtedly is safe."
We sent off the sail-drawing to Lapthorn of Gosport (determined to have
the best made suit of sails it was possible to procure), with
instructions to prepare them without delay, and then started off, by the
first train, to Weymouth.
I found my dear sister safe and well, and more lovely than ever; but her
spirits were subdued by contemplation of the dangers attending the
voyage upon which we were now so soon to embark. The poor girl had been
thinking of little else it seemed during our absence, until the
liveliest alarm had taken the place of that confidence with which she
had viewed the expedition when it was first broached.
But Bob and I had talked matters over together in many a quiet
night-watch, canvassing the various emergencies which might arise, and
the best mode of meeting them; and we were now confident that, with only
the ordinary perils of the ocean to contend with, our adventure was not
only feasible, but that it would certainly be crowned with success. And
so we were well prepared to do battle with Ada's apprehensions, which we
did so vigorously that we at length succeeded in restoring, in a great
measure, the confidence she had lost.
We arranged, after a considerable amount of discussion, that our own
house should be let, furnished as it was, during my absence, and that my
sister should take up her quarters with an aunt who resided on the
Esplanade, Mrs Moseley accompanying her, with unlimited leave of
absence from time to time to visit her own relatives.
These arrangements completed, Bob and I set out for London again, to
superintend the rigging of our boat and to bring her round to Weymouth,
from whence we intended to take our final departure.
On our arrival we found the little craft already in the water, with her
mast stepped and her ballast (which was of lead, cast to fit the shape
of her bottom) in. A portion of her ballast, consisting of a piece of
lead weighing five hundredweight, was let into her keel about the
midship section, and this, with two tons of lead inside, we thought
would prove sufficient, after our "cargo" was stowed. Part of this
cargo we intended to take from London with us, viz., the water-tank,
filled, second suit of sails and flying-kites in the shape of spinnaker,
jib-topsail, square-headed gaff-topsail, etc., also a four-pound rifle
gun, with a stock of powder and shot, and a few percussion shells.
These we decided to take in case of our being obliged to assume a
warlike attitude towards any savages we might come into contact with, as
we had heard that the natives of some of the Pacific islands are
particularly ferocious, and require to be dealt with promptly. We also
provided ourselves with a couple of air-guns of improved construction
and decidedly formidable character, four six-chambered revolving rifles,
and the same number of revolver pistols, also a small but excellent
chest of carpenter's tools, a medicine-chest, etc.
But when these and our boat were all stowed away, there still remained
more room than I expected in our midship compartment, and the little
craft floated with her load-line nearly a foot above the waters edge. I
proposed ballasting her down to her proper depth with sand-bags, but Bob
seemed anxious to test her sail-carrying powers light as she was, urging
that though we should start well down in the water, she would lift as
our provisions grew short; and it was desirable to know by experiment
beforehand how far we could lighten her with safety.
Our sails had arrived, and we proceeded to bend these forthwith, and set
them; as the weather being fine, with light air, a very favourable
opportunity offered for stretching them gently and uniformly. We were
as pleased with these sails as we were with the hull of our little
craft. They were perfect masterpieces of the sailmaker's art, the jibs
being angulated, and the mainsail, square-headed gaff-topsail, and
trysail being made with gored cloths.
This latter arrangement was an extravagant one as to the amount of cloth
used in the making of each sail, but we were more than repaid for it by
the perfection of _set_ in the sails, which stood as flat as boards.
Our storm-sails were made of stout canvas, and the fine-weather ones of
American cotton canvas, a most beautiful material, extremely light, yet
so close woven that not a breath of the faintest breeze was lost, and
they were white as snow.
Our standing rigging was of wire, this being lighter, and offering less
windage than hemp-rigging of the same strength; but, in order to
counteract its rigidity and give play to the spars, we adopted the
expedient of connecting the dead-eyes to the chain-plates by a bolt and
shackle arrangement, interposing a thick india-rubber-washer between the
shackle and the bolt-head. This plan answered most admirably, and I
would strongly recommend it to all users of wire-rigging. I am
confident that, in a fresh breeze and a chopping sea, we gained fully a
knot per hour in speed by it.
Whilst our sails were stretching, Bob and I occupied our time in looking
about us for a few things which we thought we could better obtain in
London than anywhere else. Amongst these was a couple of air mattresses
for our hammocks, which, when fully inflated, were capable of sustaining
the weight of three men each in the water. Another article was a
cooking-stove, the smallest, lightest, and most compact thing of the
kind I ever saw.
It had a boiler capable of heating a quart of water, and an oven large
enough to bake a fowl, with kettle, saucepan, etc., for the top. The
grate proper was filled with fragments of some substance, the name of
which I have forgotten, and underneath the grate was a sliding tray
which held a six-wicked lamp. The lamp being lighted and placed in
position, speedily raised the substance in the grate to a state of
incandescence, and there was our fire, which gave out a tremendous heat
for the size of the grate. As an aid to this stove, and an economiser
of fuel, we purchased also a most extraordinary invention, which was
named the "Norwegian cooking-stove" if I remember rightly.
This was not a stove at all, though it performed the functions of one.
It was simply a _box_, so constructed that it retained all the heat your
dish might happen to contain when placed in it. The mode of operation
was to place your fowl or pie, or what not, in the oven until it was
thoroughly hot through, then take it out, place it in the "Norwegian,"
shut it up for two or three hours, take it out, and lo! your dinner was
cooked to perfection. The fuel which this affair saved us during the
voyage would have bought a dozen of them. We spent a week looking about
for such things as these, and I am confident that, but for the economy
of space which we were able to secure through the aid of these
contrivances, our voyage must have come to a sudden and ignominious
conclusion.
At length we were all ataunto; sails stretched to perfection and
properly bent, our _impedimenta_ all carefully and snugly stowed, and
everything ready for a start. At the instigation and through the
kindness of some yachting friends of mine, I had been introduced to and
was elected a member of the Royal--Yacht Club; so one fine morning
towards the latter end of July we loosed our sails, set them, ran our
Club burgee up to the mast-head and the ensign up to the peak, and made
a start for Weymouth. At the last moment Mr Wood, the builder of our
little craft, came on board, saying that as he had nothing very pressing
for the day, and was curious to see something of the way in which the
_Water Lily_ behaved, he would take a passage with us as far as
Gravesend, if we had no objection.
We were only too pleased to have his company, and of course gave him a
cordial welcome. The moment he came on board we cast off our moorings,
ran up the jib and foresail, and slid rapidly away from the shore. The
wind was moderately fresh from the northward, so we started under
mainsail, foresail, and jib, but with the topmast lowered, as, being in
very light trim, I did not think it advisable to run any risks by
crowding sail upon the barkie.
We found, as I had expected, that on an even keel she was crank, though
hot to the extent I had anticipated; but as she began to heel over her
overhanging topside supported her; so that, as the breeze freshened
(which it did gradually), the more she lay down to it the stiffer she
became.
As our confidence in her stability and sail-carrying powers thus became
established, we grew anxious to try her paces, and forthwith got her
topmast on end, the rigging set up, and put the square-headed
gaff-topsail upon her. This was a very large sail for the size of the
vessel, though, like the mainsail, it was not particularly high in the
_hoist_; but both sails were very much peaked, the gaff-topsail so much
so that the yard was almost straight up and down.
With the setting of our big topsail an immediate and very marked
improvement in speed became manifest. Before this we had been darting
along at a very respectable speed, passing some smart-looking schooners
as though they had been at anchor; but now the little craft fairly
rushed through the water, making it hiss and smoke under her sharp bows,
and leaving a long wake of bubbles behind her. She heeled over still
more of course, but it was with a steady kind of resistance to the force
of the wind which did finally away with any lurking fears we might have
had that we were over-sparred or over-sailed.
We hove our patent log, and found that we were spinning along a good
eight knots through the water; and indeed we came up with, and passed
with ease, several vessels which were being towed down the river. Bob
and I were enchanted, and Mr Wood scarcely less so; and when, shortly
after luncheon, he stepped into the boat which he had hailed to put him
on shore at Gravesend, he said, "I am sure the little craft will come
with credit out of the ordeal through which you are going to put her,
whatever it may be; so, gentlemen, I hope you will favour me on your
return with a full account of your and her adventures."
We took leave of him with a hearty shake of the hand, and a faithful
promise that we would do so (a promise which I intend to fulfil by
sending him a handsomely-bound copy of this "log" as soon as printed);
let draw the fore-sheet, and resumed our course down the river.
We met with no adventure worthy of record on our passage down, unless I
except the amusement we derived from the chagrin of the crew of a French
steamer bound to Havre, who, to their amazement, found that the little
English yacht, by cutting off corners, skimming across shoals, and
similar manoeuvres, was slowly drawing ahead of them; and though, after
passing Sheerness, she gradually crept ahead of us at first, yet as the
wind freshened, and we continued to "carry on" until the water was over
our deck on the lee side half way up to the companion, we actually
overtook and passed her, until, to escape an ignominious defeat, she set
her own sails, and so drew away from us.
By eight o'clock that night we were off the North Foreland, bowling
along at a slashing pace, with our mainsail boomed out to starboard, and
our spinnaker set on the port side, jib and foresail stowed.
It was a glorious summer evening, and there was every prospect of its
being a fine night; the aneroid evinced, if anything, a tendency to
rise, and there was a good slice of the moon left, though he would be
rather late in rising, so we determined to keep going all night.
By ten o'clock we were flying through the Downs; and very ticklish work
it was to thread in and out between the ships at anchor there and those
beating up, without experiencing a jibe, but by dint of a sharp look-out
we did it.
By midnight we were off Dover, and here we took in the spinnaker, jibbed
the boom over to port, and set our jib and foresail. Bob wanted the
spinnaker set again on the starboard side; but I would not agree to
this, as, though we had both been on deck hitherto, he insisted on
taking the middle watch alone, while I went below for a four hours'
sleep, and I did not think it prudent to leave him alone with so large
and unmanageable a sail.
I wanted to take in the gaff-topsail also, but Bob would not hear of
such a thing. He insisted that she was under easy and manageable
canvas, and that there was nothing like making a passage while we had
the opportunity. In this sentiment I fully agreed with him; but still I
thought it better to err on the safe side, at least for the present,
until we had become better acquainted with the capabilities of the
craft. But Bob was obdurate, and at last I had to give in and rest
content with the assurance that he would give me timely warning if it
should become necessary to shorten sail.
When I came on deck at four o'clock I found we were just off Dungeness,
and in the midst of an outward-bound fleet of ships of all sizes and
almost all nations. The wind appeared to have freshened somewhat during
Bob's watch; but the morning was beautifully clear and fine; and, as our
spars seemed to bear with the utmost ease the sail we were carrying, I
thought we might venture to try the effect of a little extra "muslin."
Accordingly, before relieving Bob at the tiller, I roused out our
spinnaker again; and as we had hauled up a couple of points for Beechy
Head just as I came on deck, I got it to the bowsprit-end and set it,
with its sheet led aft to the main-boom end, in place of the jib, which,
with the foresail, I stowed. Bob then went below and turned in, first
giving me strict injunctions to call him at "seven bells," that he might
turn out and prepare breakfast, for it now appeared that he intended to
unite the functions of chief mate and cook and steward, on the voyage we
had just started upon so auspiciously.
The substitution of the spinnaker for the jib and foresail made a very
great difference in our rate of sailing. When I first came on deck I
noticed some distance astern a splendid clipper-ship, bowling along with
every stitch of canvas set that would draw, up to skysails and royal
studding-sails. By the time I had got my spinnaker set she was abreast
of us, about half a mile outside and consequently to leeward. But _now_
she was unable to draw away from us an inch, so great was our speed
through the smooth water; and when Bob came on deck at "seven bells,"
she still lay as nearly as possible in the same position with regard to
us as when he went below.
"Phew!" whistled he, as his eye fell on her, "so the big chap has found
his match, has he, in a craft the size of his own long-boat. My eyes!
Harry, but this here _is_ a little flyer, and no mistake. Why the
post-office people 'll be wanting us to carry their mails for 'em if so
be as they gets to hear on us, eh, lad?"
Closing this remark with a chuckle of intense satisfaction and a leer at
our big neighbour, Bob dived below again; and shortly afterwards a
frizzling sound from forward, and an odour strongly suggestive of bacon
and eggs, which was wafted upwards from the companion, informed me that
he had entered upon the duties of the less dignified but equally
important part of his combined self-appointment.
We made a hearty breakfast off the aforesaid bacon and eggs, with _soft
tack_ laid in the day before, and washed all down with some most
excellent coffee, in the concoction of which beverage Bob was an adept,
and then, as soon as he had washed up, and put matters to rights in his
pantry, and made arrangements for dinner, I went below and turned in
until noon.
When I went upon deck again, I found that the breeze had softened down
very considerably, and we were slipping along barely five knots through
the water. Our big neighbour, the ship, could do nothing with us in
such light airs, and he was now a good six miles astern.
During the afternoon, the wind dropped still more, and by eight o'clock
in the evening we had little more than steerage-way.
The water was absolutely without a ripple; our sails flapped, the
main-boom swung inboard with every heave of the little craft over the
long, gentle undulations of the ground-swell; and the different vessels
in sight were heading to all points of the compass.
It was, to all appearance, stark calm; yet there must have have been a
light though imperceptible air, for on looking over the bows there was a
smooth unbroken ripple stretching away on each side, showing that we
were moving through the water still, though very gently; and the fact
that the little craft answered her helm was additional testimony to the
same effect.
During the night a little air came out from off the land, and we mended
our pace somewhat; but it was not until the following noon that we got
fairly abreast of Saint Catherine's Point.
About eight o'clock the same evening, the wind still being light, we
were abreast of the Needles; about a couple of miles to the westward of
them, and apparently steering pretty nearly the same course as
ourselves, we saw a cutter yacht about our own size.
By midnight we were abreast of Durlstone Head, and had gained so much
upon the other cutter that we could make out that she had a large and
apparently a very merry party on board. Hearty peals of laughter came
frequently across the water towards us from her, and occasionally a
song, generally with a good rattling chorus.
We continued to creep up to her, and at length got abreast of and so
near her that, with the advantage of a good run, an active man might
have leaped from one vessel to the other.
As we ranged up alongside, a most aristocratic-looking man stepped to
leeward, and, grasping lightly with one hand the aftermost shroud, while
with the other he slightly lifted his straw hat in salute, he inquired:
"What cutter is that?"
"The _Water Lily_, Royal--Yacht Club," replied I. "What cutter is
that?"
"The _Emerald_, Royal Victoria," answered our new acquaintance. "You
have a singularly fast vessel under you," continued he; "I believe I may
say she is the first that ever passed me in such weather as this. I
have hitherto thought that, in light winds, the _Emerald_ has not her
match afloat; yet you are stealing through my lee as if we were at
anchor. I presume, by the course you are steering, that you are, like
ourselves, bound to Weymouth. If so, I should like to step on board you
when we arrive, if you will allow me. I am curious to see a little more
of the craft that is able to slip away from us as you are doing, in our
own weather. I am Lord --," he explained, thinking, I suppose, that we
should like to know who it was who thus invited himself on board a
perfect stranger.
I shouted back (for we were by this time some distance ahead of the
_Emerald_) that I should be happy to see his lordship on board whenever
he pleased to come; and then the conversation ceased, the distance
between the two vessels having become too great to permit of its being
continued with comfort.
It was now Bob's watch below; but the night was so very close that he
had brought his bed on deck, and was preparing to "turn in" on the
weather side of the companion for his four hours' sleep. As he arranged
the bedding to his satisfaction, he cast his eyes frequently astern to
the _Emerald_, whose sails gleamed ghostly in the feeble light of the
moon, which, in her third quarter, was just rising.
"By George, Harry," exclaimed he, "if they _Emeralds_ bain't shifting
topsails, I'm a miserable sinner! Ay, there goes his `ballooner' aloft.
His lordship don't like the looks of our tail, seemin'ly; but I doubt
whether, in this light breeze, his big topsail will enable him to catch
us. My eyes! how we _did_ slip through his lee, sure enough! Tell ye
what, Harry lad; that topsail of our'n is a good un--a _rare_ good un
for a reach, and in a moderate breeze; but we ought to have a
`ballooner' for running off the wind in light weather--a whacking big
un, with a `jack' as long as the bowsprit, and a yard as long as the
lower-mast. I'm beginning to think we are under-sparred and
under-sailed."
I could scarcely agree with Bob in this. It is true that in fine
weather we could carry considerably more canvas than we had; but I had a
thought for the heavy weather also, and I knew that as soon as it came
on to blow we should find our present sails quite as large as we could
manage. Nevertheless, I made up my mind that we _would_ have a
balloon-topsail, as the voyage would be a long one, and it was possible
that we might have spells of light winds for days together, when such a
sail could be carried to the utmost advantage.
Notwithstanding the change of topsails, we still continued to creep away
from the _Emerald_, and when we let go our anchor in Weymouth Roads,
about six o'clock the next morning, she was still a good three miles
outside of us; the wind had, in the meantime, fallen away so light, that
it was not until after we had breakfasted that she drifted slowly in and
brought up close to us.
Shortly afterwards, Lord--came on board, accompanied by two or three
friends; and his astonishment was great when he found that we only
mustered two hands, all told. He noticed the absence of a boat from our
decks, and inquired whether we had lost ours, and was still more
astonished when we informed him that it was taken to pieces and stowed
snugly away below.
This led to a request that he might be allowed to see it; and gradually
it all came out that we were bound on nothing less than a voyage to the
Pacific.
He was by no means inquisitive; his questions were merely such as one
yachtsman would naturally put to another. But we knew beforehand that
it would be difficult to conceal the fact that we were not merely
cruising for pleasure; so we had come to the conclusion that it would be
best to put a bold face upon the matter, and state at once that we were
going a long trip; and Bob had proposed that, in the event of any
questions being asked, we should give out that we were going to seek for
some traces of my father.
To this I willingly agreed, as I really meant, if possible, to endeavour
to find some clue to his fate; though I could not help acknowledging to
myself that, if we _did_ make any discoveries, it would be by the merest
accident.
Lord--seemed to be singularly struck with the model of the _Water Lily_;
the only fault he found with her being the deficiency of head-room
below. This fault, however, was inseparable from her peculiar shape,
for, as I have already stated, she had a very shallow body, and a flat
floor; and although she drew seven feet of water aft, her depth below
her platform was entirely taken up with the ballast and water-tank,
leaving only a height of four feet between the top of the platform and
the under side of the beams; she was, in short, an exceedingly small
craft for her tonnage.
We went ashore in his lordship's boat at his invitation; and as I
casually mentioned that I meant on the morrow to put our "boat" together
and give her a trial, he very kindly offered to accompany us in the
_Emerald_.
My sister was, of course, delighted to see us both, and equally
delighted to hear how thoroughly satisfied we were with our little
vessel. It was evident that she had not quite conquered her
apprehensions on the score of our long voyage in so small a craft; but
our eulogiums upon the _Water Lily's_ many good qualities were so
enthusiastic, and the confidence we expressed in her sea-going powers so
thorough, that Ada soon came to regard the voyage as in no degree more
perilous than it would have been if undertaken in a vessel of four or
five hundred tons.
We did not think it necessary to point out to her that we should
probably be exposed to many perils besides those of the sea; and so the
dear girl became satisfied, and learned to contemplate our speedy
departure with comparative equanimity.
The next morning we made arrangements with a boatman for the hire of his
punt during the short time that we intended to remain in Weymouth, as we
wished our tubular boat to come into use only when we had no other to
fall back upon.
Having struck our bargain, Bob and I jumped into the hired punt, and
rowed off to the _Water Lily_, which lay at anchor in the roadstead.
It was necessary to pass close to the _Emerald_ to reach our own craft,
and as we pulled under her stern, Lord--hailed us to know whether we
still intended to make our trial trip, and, if so, how long it would be
ere we should be ready.
I replied that I hoped to be ready in about an hour, whereupon his
lordship jumped into his boat to pay a visit to the post-office, saying
he would be back in time to go out with us.
As soon as we got on board the _Water Lily_, we got our tubes on deck,
screwed the different sections together, and launched them overboard.
The framework connecting the two tubes together, and supporting the
stage or deck, was next fixed; then the deck itself, which was in three
pieces, and so contrived that, when properly put together and laid in
its place, a single bolt secured the whole immovably. Our centre-board
and rudder were soon in their places, and nothing remained but to step
the mast and bowsprit, set up the rigging, bend sails, and be off.
These latter operations took but a very short time, as every device had
been adopted which would facilitate the boat's equipment; and, having
timed ourselves, we found that our boat was ready and under weigh
_within_ an hour of the time at which we had first begun to work at her.
We considered this very smart work, but we hoped to shorten the time
considerably after a little practice.
We took a few turns in the bay, whilst the _Emerald_ was getting under
weigh, and tried a few manoeuvres with perfect success. There was only
one thing about which we had any doubt, and that was whether she would
_stay_ or no. In the smooth water close to the shore (the wind was
strong, from the south-west that day) she tacked beautifully,
head-reaching a long way in stays; and later on in the day we found that
in this respect rough water made very little difference to her, owing to
the peculiar shape of her tubes.
It was blowing a strong breeze from the south-west, as I have already
said, and we took down a reef in our mainsail, whilst the _Emerald_
started under trysail and jib, keeping her mainsail stowed so as not to
run away from us.
We intended to run out round the _Shambles_ light-ship and back; but as
soon as I got clear of the bay, and from under the lee of the _Nothe_, I
hauled sharp upon a wind to test the stability of my craft. To my
astonishment, she did not appear to feel the effect of the wind at all,
except as it tended to urge her through the water. She skimmed along
very fast, but stood quite upright. Under these circumstances we, of
course, shook our reef out and bore up for a run away to leeward.
The _Emerald_ could do nothing with us at this game, much to the chagrin
of her noble owner; so she was obliged to in trysail and set her
mainsail, whilst we hove-to and waited for her. But even after her
mainsail was set we had the advantage of her.
She was a regular racer--long, lean, and deep in the water; whilst we
floated entirely upon the surface, the tubes being exactly half
submerged, as we noticed when we first started. The consequence was
that we skimmed along like a feather, whilst the _Emerald_ had to
displace many tons of water with every foot of progress which she made.
We passed through the opening in the magnificent breakwater which
shelters the roadstead at Portland, and soon afterwards began to feel
the heave of the Channel. Our tube-boat rushed along over the crests of
the waves with a very easy and steady motion, but the _Emerald_ started
rolling; and as we drew farther off the land, and got more into the
influence of the rough water, this rolling motion became so violent that
her boom had to be topped up pretty high to prevent it from dipping and
dragging in the water every time she rolled to leeward.
Bob sat watching her attentively for some time, and at length--
"Aren't this here _Emerald_ the little eight-tonner as took so many
prizes last year in the regattas?" said he.
I replied that she was.
"Well," said he, "we beat her all to nothing in a calm, or next door to
it, last night in the _Lily_, and I'm thinking we could run her under
water in a breeze like this here, with such a jump of a sea as we shall
get when we rounds to on our road back. What's your idee, my lad?"
"I think we could," replied I. "She is so long and narrow that she must
be a regular wet one close-hauled, as I expect we shall see shortly. If
I remember rightly, all her prizes were won in light winds or smooth
water; and though I do not believe we could do anything with her in a
staggering whole-sail breeze in _smooth_ water, I fancy we could give a
good account of her in a Channel match. But you must bear in mind, Bob,
that the _Lily_ is the larger craft of the two."
"That I deny," retorted Bob. "Heavier we may be as to tonnage,
accordin' to the way tonnage is measured; but she's got double our
power. I'll bet my 'lowance of grog for the next month to come that
she's got good seven ton or more of lead stowed away under her cabin
floor; whilst we've got two, besides the trifle in our keel; and
_power_, as you know well, Harry, is what tells in a breeze. Take us
all round, and, in spite of our difference of tonnage, I reckon we're
pretty much of a size, and consequently a very fair match, so far as
that goes. I should like to be alongside of her in the _Lily_ in such a
breeze and such water as this."
By this time we were close to the light-ship, still leading, and in
another minute we shot under her stern and hauled up on the port tack.
We now felt the full strength of the breeze, and I was somewhat alarmed
to find how fresh it was blowing. But we were as stiff as a house, and
could have carried half as much sail again, had there been more to set.
We lowered our centre-board just before hauling up, and now we found
ourselves tearing along in a manner which perfectly astounded me.
Our long, slender, pointed tubes appeared to offer no resistance
whatever to our passage through the water. The motion was delightfully
easy and gentle, the tubes piercing the body of each wave, as it rolled
towards us, without the slightest shock, and lifting us gently and
easily over the cap of it just as it seemed upon the point of coming in
upon our deck. There was not an atom of spray; we were as dry going to
windward as when running free.
With the _Emerald_ it was very different. Her huge mainsail was almost
too much for her now that she was hauled close upon a wind; and as we
looked astern, we could see her taking plunge after plunge, and sending
her sharp bows clear through the seas at every dive, until her jib and
foresail were wet half way up to their heads, whilst her lee-rail was
completely buried in the boiling surge.
Now that we were close-hauled, the _Emerald_ walked up to us, though by
no means so rapidly as might have been expected. There was no
comparison between the powers of the two craft, yet, though we certainly
dropped to leeward a little more than she did, it was _only_ a little;
and the difference in our speeds was very trifling, considering the
great difference in size between the cutter and ourselves.
About a quarter of an hour after we rounded the light-ship, the
_Emerald_ passed us close to windward. She presented a most beautiful
sight, at least to a nautical eye, as she swept by. She was heeling
over to such an extent that the water was up over her deck, on the lee
side, nearly to the skylights and companion; and her immense sails were
driving her so irresistibly through the short, jumping seas, that she
had no time to rise to each as she met it. Her bowsprit plunged deeply
into the advancing wave, her sharp bows cleft it asunder, and then, as
they rose through it, amidst a blinding shower of spray, the water
shipped forward, rushed foaming aft and to leeward like a swollen
mountain torrent, until it mingled with the water which flooded her
decks to leeward.
As soon as she was past us, her crew hauled down a couple of reefs in
her mainsail, and set a smaller jib. This, of course, relieved her very
materially, and, if anything, rather increased than diminished her
speed, as she kept sailing round and round us with ease, until we were
well over towards Weymouth Roads once more, and it had become perfectly
evident that we needed no looking after.
As soon as he was quite satisfied of this, Lord--made the best of his
way to the anchorage, and brought up, having had such a dusting as ought
to have satisfied him for some time to come.
As for Bob and myself, we were as pleased with our novel boat as it was
possible to be. She proved to be a perfect success in every way; and
when we took the tubes to pieces to stow them away, we found that, so
accurately had the joints been made, that not a drop of water had
penetrated to the interior of either.
One alteration, however, we resolved to make, and that was in the size
of the sails. The boat was stiff enough to carry much larger sails than
we had provided for her; and as we did not know but that a time _might_
come when speed would be a matter of the most vital importance to us, we
determined to furnish her with sails as large as it was prudent to
carry.
We also decided to alter her rig somewhat, by substituting what is known
among the initiated as a "sliding gunter" for a gaff-mainsail. This
gives you a mainsail and jib-headed topsail in one, whilst it does away
with the gaff altogether, whereby you obtain a much flatter standing
sail; indeed, when this sail is properly cut (and it is not a difficult
sail to shape), there is nothing to beat it in this respect.
Accordingly, we despatched an order to Lapthorn that night for the new
suit of sails, and also for a balloon-topsail for the _Water Lily_, the
dimensions of which satisfied even Bob, greedy as he was for canvas.
Meantime, the remainder of our stores were ordered, received, and
shipped, and ten days after our arrival in Weymouth Roads we had
everything on board which we could think of as necessary or likely to be
in any degree useful to us on our voyage.
But when all was shipped, we found we had made a mistake somewhere in
our calculations, and not only had rather more room than we expected,
but our little craft still floated rather higher than her regular
load-line. We therefore took in half a ton more lead ballast, which
brought her down to within an inch of her proper trim, and with that we
determined to rest satisfied.
Volume One, Chapter V.
A GALE IN THE BAY OF BISCAY.
On the evening of Wednesday, August 8th, 18--, having wished all our
friends good-bye, and pressed my last kiss upon the lips of my sobbing
sister, I ran hastily down the flight of stone steps before my aunt's
front door, crossed the road, and walked briskly down the Esplanade
until I overtook Bob, who had gone on before me; we then proceeded
together to the New Quay end, found the man of whom we had hired our
punt, paid him his money, and got him to row us on board the _Water
Lily_.
We had arranged to start at daybreak on the following morning; but as we
pulled off to the cutter we remarked that there was a nice little breeze
blowing from the westward, and as the evening was beautifully fine and
clear, with the promise of a brilliant starlight when the night should
have fully set in, the idea occurred to us both that we might just as
well be getting on down Channel at once, as be lying at anchor all
night.
Accordingly, as soon as we got on board, we loosed and set our canvas,
hove up our anchor, and in half an hour afterwards were slipping through
the opening in the Portland Breakwater.
In little more than half an hour after that we were clear of the dreaded
Bill, when, noticing that a small drain of flood-tide was still making,
we hauled our wind on the port tack, and stood in towards Bridport for
an hour; then tacked again, and stood out towards mid-Channel, so as to
obtain the full benefit of the ebb-tide, which by this time had begun to
make.
By "six bells," or seven o'clock, on the following morning we were
abreast the Start, about six miles distant. We stood on until eight
o'clock, when we tacked again towards the land, having now a flood-tide
against us, and had breakfast.
By noon we were in Plymouth Sound, when we made a short leg to the
southward until we could weather Rame Head; then went about once more,
stretched across Whitesand Bay until the ebb-tide began to make again,
and then again hove about and stood to the southward and westward, on
the starboard tack.
At six o'clock that evening we passed the Lizard lighthouse, distant two
and a half miles, and here we _took our departure_.
For the benefit of those who may be ignorant of the meaning of this
expression, I may as well explain that the commander of a vessel _takes
his departure_ from the last _well-known_ point of land he expects to
see before launching into mid-ocean, by noting, as accurately as he
possibly can, its compass-bearing and distance from his ship at a
particular hour.
With these data he is enabled to lay down upon his chart the exact
position of his ship at that hour, and from this spot the _skip's
reckoning_ commences. The courses she steers, and the number of _knots_
or nautical miles (sixty of which are equal to sixty-nine and a half
English miles) she sails every hour, together with certain other items
of information, such as the direction of the wind, the direction and
speed of the currents, if any, which she passes through, and the state
of the weather, the _lee-way_ the ship makes, etc., etc., are all
entered in the log-book; and at noon every day, by means of certain
simple calculations, the ship's position is ascertained from these
particulars.
The entering of all these particulars in the log-book is termed _keeping
the dead reckoning_, and the working out of the calculations just
referred to is called _working up the day's work_.
This, however, only gives the ship's position _approximately_, because
it is difficult to judge _accurately_ of the amount of lee-way which a
ship makes, and it is not at all times easy to detect the presence of
currents, both of which produce a certain amount of deviation from the
apparent course of the ship.
To correct, therefore, all errors of this kind, which are otherwise
impossible to detect when the ship is out of sight of land, various
observations of the sun, moon, or stars are taken, whereby the _exact_
latitude or longitude (or sometimes both together) of the ship at the
moment of observation is ascertained.
This short lesson in navigation over, we will now rejoin the _Water
Lily_, which we left at six p.m. off the Lizard, on the starboard tack.
It was my "eight hours out" that night, and when I took the tiller at
eight o'clock we were dashing along a good honest eight knots, under
whole canvas and a jib-headed gaff-topsail. The night was as fine as
the previous one, but with a little more wind, and we were just
beginning to get within the influence of the Atlantic swell. There was
no sea on, but the long, majestic, heaving swell was sweeping with
stately motion towards the Channel, rising like low hills on either side
of us as our little barkie sank between them, and gleaming coldly, like
polished steel, where the moon's rays fell upon their crests. But the
little _Lily_ sprang gaily onward upon her course, mounting the watery
ridges and gliding down into the liquid valleys with the ease and grace
of a sea-bird, and without throwing so much as a drop of water upon her
deck.
The serenity and beauty of the night, the brilliancy of the stars which
studded the deep purple vault above me, and the gentle murmur of the
wind through the cutters rigging, combined to produce a sensation of
solemnity almost amounting to melancholy within me, and my thoughts flew
back to the beloved sister I had so recently parted with, wondering
whether she was at that moment thinking of me, or whether we should ever
meet again, and, if so, how long hence and under what circumstances; and
so on, and so on, until I was recalled to myself by a sprinkling of
spray upon my cheek, whereupon I awoke, in the first place, to the fact
that the breeze had so far freshened that the _Lily_ was flying through
the water with her lee gunwale pretty well under; and, in the second, to
the knowledge that I had outstayed my watch a good half hour.
I lost no time in calling Bob, and as soon as he came upon deck we got
our gaff-topsail down and our topmast housed.
I then went below and turned in; but I had time, before leaving the
deck, to notice that we went through the water quite as fast (if not a
trifle faster), now that our lee gunwale was just awash, as we did when
it was buried a couple of planks up the deck in water.
When Bob called me at the expiration of his watch, I found, on going on
deck, that the wind had continued to freshen all through the four hours
I had been below, and it was now blowing quite a strong breeze. It had
gradually hauled round to about north-west, too, which brought it well
upon our starboard quarter, and we were flying along at a tremendous
pace, with all our sheets eased well off.
But although by this change we were running _off_ the wind, and
consequently did not feel its full force, I decided to take down a
single reef in the mainsail, and shift the jib; for there was a windy
look in the sky that seemed to promise a very strong blow shortly. I
did not wish to disturb Bob when perhaps about half way through his four
hours' sleep, so I got him to assist me in making my preparations before
he left the deck. And the promise was amply fulfilled as the sun rose
higher in the sky, the wind freshening rapidly, but hauling still
farther round from the northward as it did so.
By the time that Bob came on deck again, at seven bells, to prepare
breakfast, I had my hands full. The sea was fast getting up, and I
began to tremble for my spars and gear. The glass had fallen rather
suddenly, and altogether there seemed to be every prospect of a regular
summer gale.
Bob was of the same opinion as myself in this respect, so we decided to
get everything snug and in readiness for the blow before thinking of
breakfast.
This was rather a ticklish job, for it was now blowing far too strong to
round-to and shorten sail, and it required something more than
freshwater seamanship to get our big mainsail in without getting into
trouble. But Bob seemed perfectly at home. He set the
weather-topping-lift up hand-taut, and took a turn with the lee one;
then dropped the peak of the mainsail until the end of the gaff was
pressing against the lee-lift; triced the tack right up to the throat;
then let run the throat-halliards, and hauled down the throat of the
sail by the tack tripping-line; whilst I rounded in upon the main-sheet.
Then, by lowering away the peak, and carefully gathering in the canvas
as it came down, we got our big sail snugly down without any trouble.
This we carefully stowed and covered up with its coat.
Next, Bob got the jib in, close-reefed the bowsprit, and set the
smallest or _storm_ jib, with its sheet eased well off. I hauled in the
weather fore-sheet until it was just in the wake of the mast, and our
little barkie was then left to take care of herself whilst we got the
trysail bent and set.
This done, we filled away again upon our course, with reduced speed, it
is true, but very comfortably indeed.
It was well we took these precautions when we did, for by noon that day
it had hardened down into a regular summer gale, with a really
formidable sea for so small a craft. Still, we continued to run away
very nearly dead before it, and that too without deviating from our
proper course.
I managed, with the utmost difficulty, in consequence of the violent
motion of the boat, to get an observation at noon, by which I found that
we had run, since six o'clock on the previous evening, a distance of no
less than one hundred and sixty-four miles. This placed us at about the
entrance to the Bay of Biscay, which we were thus running into in a gale
of wind. Still, I did not experience the slightest degree of alarm: our
little craft was behaving beautifully--_angelically_, Bob termed it, and
really it almost merited the expression. As she fell away into the
trough of the sea, our low sails would become almost becalmed under the
lee of the following wave; but as she lifted with it, the wind would
again fill them out, and she would dart away again just in time to
escape the mishap of being _pooped_ by its breaking and hissing crest.
At four p.m. I again succeeded in obtaining an observation, this time
for the longitude. On working it up, we proved to be rather to leeward
of our proper track; so we hauled up a point or so, and at six o'clock
decided to try what she was like when hove-to.
Watching an opportunity, we brought her to the wind on the starboard
tack, first stowing our foresail, and found, to our great delight, that
she rode like a gull. Beyond an occasional shower of spray, she shipped
not a drop of water, although the gale was still increasing, and the sea
rising rapidly.
We took a reef in our trysail, afterwards hoisting the gaff as high as
it would go, so as to avoid, as much as possible, being becalmed in the
trough of the sea, and then we were snug for the night.
Bob was a veteran seaman, and I had been in many a heavy blow before
this--in gales, in fact, to which this was a mere nothing, comparatively
speaking; yet neither of us could help feeling impressed--and for myself
I may say somewhat awe-stricken--at the sublimity of the scene as the
evening closed in. Hitherto, our experiences of gales of wind had come
to us with a good, wholesome ship under our feet; but now we found
ourselves face to face with one in a mere _boat_, little more than a toy
craft. The sea, though nothing like as high as I had frequently seen it
before, now wore a more formidable aspect than I could ever have
believed possible. The hackneyed expression of "running mountains high"
seemed strictly applicable; and I fairly own to having experienced, for,
I believe, the first time in my life, a qualm or two of _fear_ on that
night.
The liquid hills, their foaming ridges as high as the top of our
lower-mast, swept down upon us with an impetuous fury which seemed
irresistible; and the effect was further heightened, as darkness closed
around us, by the phosphorescent glare and gleam of their breaking
crests. But the _Lily_ rose lightly and buoyantly to each as it rushed
down upon her, surmounting its crest in a blinding shower of spray, and
then settling easily into the trough between it and the next one.
The roaring of the gale, too, and the angry hiss of the storm-lashed
waters, contributed their quota to the feeling of awe with which we
looked abroad from our pigmy ark.
But confidence returned after a while, as we watched the ease with which
the little craft overrode the seas; and when I at length turned into my
hammock, it was with a sense of security I could not have believed
possible a couple of hours before.
We hoisted a carefully-trimmed and brilliant lamp well up on our
fore-stay as soon as night closed in, for we were in the track of the
outward-bound ships going to the southward, and should one of these
gentlemen come booming down upon us before the gale during the night, it
would be rather difficult to avoid him.
It was well that we took this precaution, for no less than five passed
us in Bob's watch, and three more in mine, one of them coming near
enough to hail; but what he said it was impossible for me to hear, the
howling of the wind and the hissing of the water so close to me utterly
drowning the words.
I conjectured, however, that it was some inquiry as to whether we wanted
assistance of any kind, and on the strength of this supposition I roared
back at the top of my voice:
"All right; very comfortable."
A figure in the mizzen-rigging waved his hand, and the noble craft (she
looked like an Australian liner, and was carrying topmast and lower
stunsails) swept onward, and was soon afterwards swallowed up in the
darkness and mist.
The falling in with so tiny a craft so far at sea, and in a gale of
wind, and the announcement that she was "all right and very
comfortable," must have been rather a novel experience for them, I
imagine.
About noon next day the gale broke, and by four o'clock the wind had
gone down sufficiently to justify us in making sail and filling away
upon our course once more. This we did by setting our reefed mainsail,
foresail, and Number 2 jib. The wind had continued to haul round too,
and was now pretty steady at about north-east. This rapidly smoothed
the water down, so that we had a comparatively quiet night; and the wind
continuing to drop, we shook out our reefs next morning at eight bells,
and got the big jib and small gaff-topsail upon her.
The evening but one following we got a glimpse of Cape Finisterre about
six o'clock, and this enabled us to corroborate our position. From this
point we shaped a course for Madeira, and after a splendid run of seven
days from the Lizard and eight from Weymouth we arrived at Funchal at
half-past five o'clock on the Wednesday evening following that on which
I took leave of my dear sister.
As Bob was busy below getting tea, and I was stowing the canvas, a
steamer came in with a flag flying, which, on taking a look at it
through the glass, I recognised as the distinguishing flag of the Cape
mail-boats, so I left everything just as it was, dashed down below, and
penned a few hasty lines home, giving a brief outline of our adventures
so far, and taking care not to lay too much stress upon the gale, whilst
I was equally careful to do full justice to the _Water Lily's_ sea-going
qualities, that my sister's apprehensions might be as much allayed as
possible.
As soon as I had finished and sealed the epistle I joined Bob upon deck
to assist him in putting our novel boat together, which done, we pulled
on board the mail-boat, where we were very kindly received; and I gave
my letter into the hands of the captain, who promised (and faithfully
redeemed his promise too) to post it on his arrival home.
I afterwards found that he reported us also, so that the _Water Lily_
duly appeared in the "shipping" columns of the various papers, and my
yachting friends thus got an inkling of our success thus far.
I shall not attempt any description of Madeira, or indeed of any other
of the well-known spots at which we touched. The places have been so
often and so fully described in the many books of travel which have been
written, that any further description, or at all events such description
as I could give, is quite superfluous. It will suffice for me merely to
say that Bob and I spent three days stretching our somewhat cramped
limbs in this most lovely island, and discussing which route we should
take to the Pacific.
We had often discussed this question before; but it was with a feeling
of indifference which precluded our arriving at any definite and
absolute decision upon the matter. It was now, however, time that this
point was settled, as it would affect our course soon after leaving the
island, or, at all events, when we came to the Cape de Verdes.
The eastern route would be much longer than the western; but I felt
disposed to adopt it, in the belief that we should be favoured with much
better weather. I entertained a very wholesome dread of the "Horn"--the
notorious "Cape of Storms." Bob, on the other hand, was all for the
western route.
"I'm willin' to allow," observed he, "that a trip round the Horn ain't
like a day's cruise in the Solent--all pleasuring; but I've knowed ships
to come round under r'yal stunsails, and that more than once. The place
is bad enough; but, like many another thing, not so black as it's
painted. It's got a bad name, and that, we know, sticks to a place or
to a body through thick and thin. I've been round five times, twice
outward-bound and three times homeward, and we always had plenty of
wind; but only once did I round it in a reg'lar gale, and then, had the
_Lily_ been there, I'll lay my grog for the rest of the v'yage she'd
have made better weather of it than the old barkie I was aboard of.
It's risky, I know; but so's the whole trip for that matter, though, so
far, by what I've seen of the little craft, I'd as lieve be aboard _her_
in a gale of wind as I would be in ere a ship that ever was launched.
She's cramped for room, and when you've said that you've said all as any
man can say ag'in her. Besides, see how 'twill shorten the v'yage.
Once round the Horn and you're there, as you may say, or next door to
it. And then, there's `Magellan;' if, when we get down about there,
things don't look promising for a trip round outside of everything, ram
her through the Straits. I've been through 'em once, and an ugly enough
passage it was too, blowing a whole gale; but there's _thousands_ of
places where the _Lily_ would lie as snug as if she was in dock, but
where a large ship dursen't venture for her life."
I yielded, as I generally did in such matters, to Bob's judgment; and it
was settled that the _Water Lily_ should brave Cape Horn with all its
perils. On the fourth day of our stay at Funchal we filled up our
water-tank, made a few additions to our stores (among others, a small
stock of the famous wine produced by the island); and towards evening
stood out to sea again, with our main-boom well garnished with bunches
of bananas and nets of various kinds of fruits; the wind at the time
being light, from about east-south-east, with a fine settled look about
the weather. This lasted us for four days, and ran us fairly into the
"trades," and on the third day following, just as the sun was dipping
beneath the horizon, we sighted Saint Antonio, the westernmost of the
Cape Verde Islands.
The "trades" were blowing very moderately as it happened, and the
weather was as fine as heart could wish, with a nearly full moon into
the bargain, so we were able to carry not only a jib-headed topsail, but
also our spinnaker at the bowsprit-end; and under this canvas the little
beauty made uncommonly short miles of it, tripping along like a rustic
belle going to her first ball. We fell in with several homeward-bound
ships, all of whom we requested to report us on their arrival as "all
well." So fine a run had we from the Cape de Verdes, that on the
morning of the fifth day after sighting them we ran into the "doldrums"
or region of calms and light variable airs which prevail about the line.
Here our light duck did us valuable service, for though the wind soon
fell so light that it became imperceptible to us, and not a ripple
disturbed the glassy surface of the water, by getting our enormous
balloon gaff-topsail aloft we managed to catch enough wind from
_somewhere_ to fan us along at the rate of nearly three knots. True,
the breeze was very variable, our boom being sometimes on one side and
sometimes on the other, sometimes square out (at least as far as the
little air of wind had power to project it), and sometimes hauled close
in as the flaws headed us, and broke us off two or three points one side
or the other of our course. But, in spite of the baffling airs, such
good progress did we make, that by two o'clock that afternoon we were
gliding slowly through a fleet of about forty sail of vessels which were
so completely becalmed that they were heading in all directions, utterly
without steerage-way.
We reported ourselves to such as we passed within hail of, and finally,
about four o'clock, ranged up alongside of and boarded a beautiful
little barque of about three hundred and fifty tons, whose monkey-poop
we saw full of passengers (some of whom were ladies), regarding us with
die utmost curiosity as we approached. She turned out to be from Natal,
bound to London; and her captain (a perfect gentleman both in appearance
and manner) not only promised to report us, but gave us a hearty welcome
on board, and so cordial an invitation to dinner that there was no
resisting it.
Our story, or at least as much of it as we chose to tell (which was
simply that we were taking the cruise partly as an adventure, and partly
with the object of seeking intelligence of my father), was of course
soon drawn out of us; and, naturally enough, it excited the liveliest
astonishment in the minds of our hearers, and soon got all over the
ship. We excited some curiosity on board the other ships too, for no
less than four captains lowered their boats and pulled alongside to
learn where the pigmy cutter had sprung from.
The little craft was regarded with the greatest curiosity and
admiration, especially by the ladies (who are of course good judges of
the model of a vessel), some of them declaring that they would be
_delighted_ (with strong emphasis) to make a voyage in such a little
_darling_ of a yacht.
We mustered quite a strong party at the dinner-table, what with the
regular party, the four visiting captains (who were also pressed to
stay), and our two selves, and a very merry one withal. _We_
contributed to the dessert from our stock on the main-boom; and they
only who have enjoyed it can say what a luxury is fresh fruit on the
line, especially when one has been a long time on board a ship.
The skipper produced unlimited champagne (of which, for a wonder, he
still had a very fair stock) in honour of the occasion, and "a
prosperous voyage, and success to the _Water Lily_" was drunk over and
over again that evening. We kept it up until nearly midnight, the poop
being converted into a ball-room by merely hanging a few lamps in the
mizzen-rigging; the orchestra consisting of one of the seamen, who
played the concertina better than I ever heard it played before or
since.
The weather being as I have described it, with out any signs of a
change, such a departure from the ordinary routine of the ship was
permissible, and I have no doubt everybody on board was glad enough of
an occurrence which gave such an excuse for breaking in upon the
monotony of the voyage.
Tedious enough they must have found it, for it appeared that they had
already been becalmed five days, and had not altered their position as
many miles; and there seemed every prospect of their being becalmed five
days more, for the glass was as steady as if the mercury had been solid.
At last we visitors made signs of moving. The captains of the other
vessels ordered their crews into their boats, and I was just about going
over the side on my way to our small cabin to write a hasty line to Ada
(our kind host having promised to post my letter for me immediately on
his arrival), when a seaman stepped up to me, and with the usual
nautical scrape of the foot and a respectful "Beg pardon, sir,"
intimated a desire to speak to me.
"There's a strange yarn going the rounds of this here craft's fo'c'sle,"
said he, "about your bein' on a sort of v'yage of discovery a'ter your
father, sir."
I said, "Certainly; it was perfectly true."
"Well, sir," said he, "maybe I might be able to help you in your search.
It needs no prophet to tell that you are Captain Collingwood's son,
when a man gets a fair squint at your figure-head, axing your pardon,
sir, for my boldness; and if you'll just give me your word that nothing
I may say shall tell agin me, I'll tell you all I knows about it, and
gladly too; for I sailed with your father, sir, and a kinder skipper or
a better seaman never trod a deck than he was, as I've had good reason
to know."
"_Was_?" exclaimed I, with a sudden sinking of heart.
"And is still, for aught I know, sir; at least I hope so; there's no
reason why he mayn't be still alive," replied the man, fully
understanding all the meaning of my exclamation.
"Thank God for that," replied I fervently. "But why is this strange
pledge required? Surely, fellow, you will not have the temerity to tell
_me_--his son--that he has been the victim of any foul play? If so--"
"Not on my part, sir, I'll take my Bible oath," said he. "What I did I
was _forced_ to do to save my own life. Gladly would I have helped the
skipper if I could; but what can one man do agin a whole ship's crew."
"_Much_, if he have the will," replied I. "I will give no pledge
whatever, beyond this. Tell me your story, and if I find you were
powerless to prevent the evil which I begin to suspect has befallen my
poor father, you have nothing to fear; but if I find that you have in
any way aided--"
"Never, sir. If I could have had my will the skipper would not be
where, I suppose, he is now; but you shall hear all I have to say, and
then judge for yourself whether I could prevent anything that happened
or no."
Volume One, Chapter VI.
THE FATE OF THE "AMAZON."
The man who, in this unexpected manner, brought me intelligence of my
father, belonged to the crew of one of the visiting captains' boats, and
a word or two of explanation was sufficient to procure the delay in the
boat's departure necessary to permit the fellow to tell his story.
In order to be a little more alone, Bob (who was, in a few words, made
acquainted with the facts of the case), the seaman, and I went down over
the side to the _Water Lily's_ deck, when, as soon as we had comfortably
bestowed ourselves, the man thus began:
"You must know, gentlemen, to commence with, that I was shipped, among
others, on board the _Amazon_ at Canton. Dysentery was awful bad among
the crews just at that time, and no less than seven was ashore from our
old barkie bad, when she left. Two chaps run as soon as she got in, and
couldn't be found agin; so there was nine berths in the fo'c'sle to be
filled when she was ready to sail. As I was sayin', I was one of the
new hands shipped. Englishmen was scarce somehow just then, and the
skipper had to take what he could get. Consequence was, he shipped
three Portuguese, a Spaniard, a Greek, two Frenchmen, and a Yankee,
besides myself. The third mate was ashore bad, and the second mate had
died, so the Yankee (who seemed a smartish sort of chap) was made second
mate, and one of the old fo'c'sle men was put into the third mate's
berth. When we got aboard, we found the hatches on, and all ready for a
start, and that same a'ternoon we unmoored, and away we went.
"We was the first ship as went away with any of the new teas, and the
skipper was awful anxious for a quick run home. We carried on night and
day; but the weather was light with us, and we didn't get along half as
such a smart ship ought to ha' done, for she was a reg'lar flyer, as
perhaps you gentlemen both knows.
"Well, we hadn't been out above a week when, whether 'twas worryin' at
the light winds, or what 'twas I can't say, but the poor skipper was
laid on his beam-ends with fever, and it took the chief mate all his
time to prevent his jumping overboard. However, it didn't seem to
matter so much, so far as the ship was consarned, for the Yankee second
mate turned out to be a first-rate navigator, and he in a way took
charge of the craft.
"Well, gentlemen, how it all came about, I can't say, for I never
noticed anything wrong. True, some of the chaps talked a bit queer to
me at times; but I thought 'twas all a bit of a flam; but, howsomever,
one fine night my Yankee gentleman and the new hands takes the ship. At
eight bells in the first watch, the watch below was called; and as soon
as they came on deck three on 'em goes straight over and jines the
mutineers without a word; so it was clear as 'twas all planned afore
among 'em. That left only three whites out of the plot--the Lascars had
all been bribed or frightened into jining in with t'others--and, out of
us three, two was lying on deck, lashed hands and heels together when I
come up through the fore scuttle.
"The minute my foot touched the deck, I was tripped up and secured
before I was fairly awake, and stowed alongside of the two other chaps.
Then my noble Yankee, he steps up and stands in front of us three, and
he says, says he, `Now you chaps, you see how it is; we've got the ship
and we means to keep her; and we've made up our minds to do a little bit
of pirating; make our fortunes; and then cut the sea and live like
gentlemen for the rest of our days ashore. If you've a mind to jine us,
well and good; if not, there's a plank sticking over the bows, and I'll
be obliged to trouble you to take a short walk on it for the benefit of
your constitooshuns. You've got five minutes allowed to make up your
minds.'
"When the time was up, one of the chaps was unlashed, and the Yankee
asks him what he intends to do.
"`I'll walk that--plank, if I must,' says he; `but I hope I'm too honest
to turn my hand to your--pirating,' says he.
"`All right,' says the Yankee; `just as you please; there's no
compulsion; only if you're so confounded honest,' says he, `you'll have
to leave this here ship,' says he, `for we can't afford the room to stow
away sich a bulky article as honesty. That's your road, and a pleasant
passage to ye,' says he, pointin' to the plank.
"Poor Bill--I can see him now, it seems to me--he stood for about half a
minute looking far away into the moonlit sky, thinking of his friends,
maybe, if he had any; and then, without a word, he steps to the rail,
puts his hands upon it, jumps up on to the top of the bulwarks, and next
minute there was a splash alongside, and he was gone.
"T'other chap was then cast adrift, and _he_ was asked the same
question.
"`I've sailed with Bill,' says he, `for nigh on six years, and never
knew a truer-hearted shipmate, or a better seaman,' says he; `and since
it _must_ be, here goes,' says he, `to take our last cruise in company.'
"And he too jumps upon the rail just as Bill did, and, without waitin' a
second, launches himself overboard a'ter him.
"It was now my turn. I'd been thinking matters over in my mind whilst
all this was going on; and I'll confess I found it hard to make up my
mind to die. `Whilst there's life there's hope,' thinks I; `and it can
but come to a launch over the side at last, if the worst comes to the
worst,' so when they asked me what I intended to do, says I, `Tell me,
first of all, what's become of the skipper?' says I.
"`He's below in his bunk,' says the Yankee, `and the mate with him, and
there they're welcome to stay so long as they don't interfere with us,'
says he, `and I'll take good care they don't,' says he. `But what's
that to do with you?'
"`Well,' says I, `I likes the skipper; he's been a good friend to me,
and I couldn't be content to see harm come to him. If you'll promise to
shove him ashore all safe,' says I, `I don't mind taking a hand in your
little game.'
"`Very sensible indeed,' says the Yankee; `you've a darned sight better
notions in your head than they two stupid cusses as has just gone over
the side with nothin' to ballast 'em but their--honesty,' says he; `and
as for the skipper--make your mind easy. We've no grudge agin him; all
we wants is the ship; and now we've got her, we means to put the skipper
and the mate both ashore somewheres where they can be snug and
comfortable like together, but where there'll be no chance of our
hearin' anything more from 'em for the rest of their lives.'
"And that's the way it was all settled," continued the man. "I made up
my mind I'd never do no pirating if I could help it; and I thought maybe
if I stuck to the craft, I might be able to help the skipper a bit
somehow, and if ever I got a chance, why, I'd make a clean run for it,
and I reckoned I should find a way to do that the first port we touched
at.
"Well, as soon as matters was arranged, the Yankee takes the command,
and makes the Greek chief mate; the watches was divided, the course
altered, and away we goes to the east'ard, on the starboard tack, with a
taut bowline and everything set as would draw, from the skysails down.
One hand is told off from each watch to keep a look out in the cabin;
and the steward has his orders to do everything he could for the poor
skipper. He had a hard time of it, poor man, for when he was getting
better, and the truth couldn't any longer be kept from him, the mate
told him what had happened, and the news took him so completely aback
that he got as bad as ever again, and the wonder is that he didn't slip
his cables altogether. However, he managed to hold on to 'em, and at
last the fever left him; but he was that weak he hadn't strength to turn
over in his berth without help.
"All this time we were going to the east'ard, or about east-south-east,
with everything set that the spars would bear. At last, about a month
or maybe five weeks after the mutiny--I didn't keep much account of the
time--we fetches up, all standing, one dark night, upon a coral reef,
before we knowed where we was. There warn't much sea on, and we
happened to touch where there was nearly water enough to float us; so we
bumped and thumped gradually right over the reef into deep water--at
least about ten fathoms--on t'other side. The well was sounded, and we
found five feet of water in the hold; so, as there was land of some sort
close aboard of us, the Yankee rams her straight on to it to save her
from sinking under us.
"When daylight broke, we found ourselves oh the sandy beach of a small
island, with reefs all round us; but a space of about a quarter to half
a mile of clear water everywhere between the reefs and the island.
"The cargo was roused out, and the ship examined, as well as it could be
done, to learn the extent of the damage, for the Yankee talked about
careening her to repair her bottom; but we soon found that the job was
too much for us. So we stayed on the island about a week, fitting out
the launch and the pinnace; and when all was ready, and everything
stowed in the boats that it was thought we should want, we made sail to
the nor'ard and east'ard; not, however, until the rest of the boats had
been destroyed, and the skipper and mate made all snug and comfortable
like in a tent ashore."
"Then you were inhuman enough," exclaimed I, "to leave my poor father,
sick as he was, on a desert island?"
"He was better off there than he would ha' been with us," replied the
man. "The island was a first-rate spot, with cocoa-nuts and bananas,
and lots of other fruits, no end; plenty of fresh water, and the bulk of
the ship's stores to draw from. It was a _lovely_ spot; lots of shade,
pure air, and pretty nigh everything a man could want, what with the
stores, and the fruit, and so on. He _must_ have died, had we taken him
away in the boats, for the sun beat down upon us _awful_, and the heat
was reflected back from the surface of the water to that extent we was
nearly roasted.
"Well, we'd been to sea nigh on to three weeks, and was getting pretty
short of water, though we touched at a couple of islands and filled up
again, on our way, when one evening--there wasn't a breath of air
blowing--we sighted a sail to the nor'ard of us. She was becalmed, like
ourselves.
"The Yankee takes a good long look at her, or at least at her
to'gallants'ls, which was all we could see, and then tells us he'd made
up his mind to have a slap at the chap during the night. We carefully
took her bearings, dowsed our canvas, and pulled leisurely towards her.
At last, when we thought we were beginning to near her, we muffled our
oars, and then paddled on again, both boats within oar's length of each
other.
"We pulled for about an hour, and then waited for some sign of her
whereabouts--for we reckoned we must be close aboard of her--but it was
that dark you couldn't see the length of your nose. After waiting a
goodish spell--none of us speaking a word for fear of giving an alarm--
we hears eight bells struck, somewhere away upon our port quarter.
"We had passed her, so we pulled very quietly round and just paddled in
the direction we thought she was lying. In about five minutes the
Yankee says, `I see her,' says he; and we stopped paddling. The pinnace
was hanging on astern of us, so's we shouldn't lose one another in the
dark; and she was hauled up, the men in her told what to do, and the
ship pointed out to them; and then we pulled away very quietly again.
"By this time we could just make out a dim something towering up in the
darkness, which we knew to be her sails. In another minute our boat was
alongside on her starboard quarter, and the pinnace on her larboard
quarter; we shinned up her low sides, and before the watch on deck could
rub their eyelids open, we had her.
"She turned out to be a little Yankee brig, with a cargo of sandalwood,
and was bound to Canton.
"Some of her crew joined us, the rest--the poor skipper and the first
mate among 'em--was hove overboard, and the sharks had a good meal. She
mounted four sixes, and had a well-stocked arm-chest, so that, with the
arms we brought with us from the old _Amazon_, we was pretty well off.
We mustered a good strong crew too--twenty-nine altogether, counting the
Lascars--so, as the brig was a beautiful model, and, we soon found,
sailed like a witch, our skipper decided to set up for a pirate at once.
"Well, gentlemen, it kept stark calm for two whole days after we'd took
the brig, and Johnson--that was the Yankee's name, Edward Johnson--he
kept us all busy during that time disguising the craft, by painting the
hull and spars afresh, and such like; and the carpenter he was sent over
the starn on a stage to fix a plank over the name, on which he'd carved
a lot of flourishes and such like, and the word _Albatross_, which was
what Johnson had re-christened her, and by the time we'd finished, her
own builder wouldn't have knowed her.
"After everything was finished to his satisfaction, he calls us all aft,
and tells us that he'd been thinking matters over, and he'd decided to
take the ship to Hong-Kong, and get rid of the sandalwood there, and get
a lot of things that was wanted to complete our outfit, and make us fit
for a good long cruise.
"Accordin'ly as soon as the breeze sprang up, away we goes, never
falling in with anything as Johnson thought it worth his while to meddle
with all the way.
"We had a pretty quick run, for the brig sailed quite wonderful; and all
the while I was turning over in my mind how to get away. I intended to
take the first chance as offered, as soon as we got in; but Johnson was
a 'cute chap, none of us was let out of the ship any more'n he could
help, and then only they as he knowed he could trust.
"At last the cargo was out and the ballast in, the brig cleared for the
South Pacific, and everything ready for sailing next morning, and I'd
had no chance to get away, and I was beginning to think things were
looking queer with me. But I didn't give up all hope, for I knowed a
chance _might_ offer at the last minute, if I was but ready to take it.
"Some time during the night I woke up and went on deck for a minute or
two, and found it as black as pitch. There wasn't a soul moving in the
ship. I don't know where the anchor watch was, stowed away asleep
somewheres, likely. Anyhow, _I_ thought to myself that now was my
chance, so, without waiting another minute, I climbs over the bows, and
lets myself quietly down into the water by the cable. As soon as I was
adrift, I lets the tide take me, for I was afraid of makin' so much as a
splash whilst I was near the ship. I drifted astern for about five
minutes, and then struck out. I hadn't taken no bearings, and didn't
know where the shore was; but I saw a few lights, and I shaped a course
for them.
"But after I'd swam about a matter of twenty minutes I found I was
farther away from 'em than I was when I started; and then the thought
flashed into my mind that the tide must be on the ebb, and that I was
going out to sea. I was so took aback that I went under. But I didn't
feel like giving up without I was obliged; so I struggled to the top of
the water again, and then turned over on my back to think matters over a
bit. But I didn't find much encouragement that way; and I was beginning
to think it was all up with me--'specially as I was getting pretty
tired--when I heard a sound some distance away, like a coil of rope hove
down on deck.
"I started to swim in the direction of the sound, and after perhaps
about five minutes I makes out something away on my port bow. I gives a
shout as loud as I could, and that sends me under again; so I soon found
that game wouldn't answer.
"However I stretched out as hard as I could, and got alongside; but
there warn't nothing to take hold of, and she slips past me. I was too
done up to sing out again; but I starts to swim after her, when I
strikes my head against something, and it turns out to be a boat towing
astern. I got hold of the gunnel, and managed somehow to get aboard,
and then down I goes into the bottom of her, too exhausted to do
anything.
"I dropped off to sleep pretty soon, and was only woke up when the chaps
came to hoist their boat in.
"The craft turned out to be a coasting junk, bound to Shanghai, as I
managed to make out, but not another syllable could I understand of
their lingo or they of mine 'twould seem.
"Blest if the very next night we wasn't run down by something or other--
I never knowed what 'twas, for they hadn't the good manners to stop and
pick us up.
"The mainmast of the junk was knocked out of her in the smash, and I
managed to get hold of it and lash myself to it, just in the eyes of the
rigging. The yard happened to be undermost, and so I had a pretty good
berth.
"I floated about on that--spar for four days and nights without a bit or
drop of anything, and then my senses broke adrift, and I knew nothing
more of what happened to me for some time.
"When I came to myself I found I was on board a Dutch ship,
homeward-bound. It turned out that they passed close to my spar, and
seein' me lashed to it they picked me up.
"At least so I made it out; but I knew no Dutch, and there was only one
chap aboard that thought he knowed English; but Lord bless ye,
gentlemen, _I_ couldn't make top nor tail of what he said. I managed to
make out hows'ever that I'd had a narrow squeak of it, and that's about
all.
"By the time I was able to get about on deck again, we was well out in
the Indian Ocean, and everything seemed going on all right; but, as it
turned out, it was all _wrong_, for early one morning we makes land
ahead, the wind bein' light and dead on shore.
"The skipper hauled sharp up on the port tack to try and claw off; but a
current had got hold of us, and away we sagged to leeward, do what we
would, and at last we had to anchor.
"By-and-by the breeze freshened; but we was in a very ugly berth, and
the skipper didn't like to make a move.
"However, we didn't have a chance to settle the matter for ourselves,
for just about sunset the old barkie struck adrift, and, before we could
get the canvas on her, she was in among the rocks and bilged.
"We all got ashore, there bein' no great matter of a sea running, and,
to make a long story short, was made prisoners by the natives. What
become of the rest of the hands I never knowed--they may be there yet
for all I can say. An old chap picked me out, and made a sort of
servant of me, and, on the whole, I had pretty easy times of it. I got
to find out, at last, that I was somewhere on the island of Madagascar.
"I stayed here nigh on two years, I reckon; but at last I got a chance
to steal a canoe and slip off to a small craft that was becalmed in the
offing. She was luckier than the Dutchman, as we got a breeze off the
land about an hour after I boarded her.
"She was bound to the Cape, and there I left her, shipping the very same
day in the craft I now belong to, and sailing for home the same
a'ternoon."
"Well," said I, as soon as the man had finished, "if your story is
true--and I see no reason to doubt it--_you_ at least are blameless as
far as the wrong done to my father is concerned. The only question now
is, whereabouts is the island on which he was left?"
"Ah, sir," replied he, "that's more'n I can tell. I _did_ hear Johnson
mention the latitude and longitude of it once; but I'm blest if I can
remember 'em now."
I was determined, however, to get _some_ clue if possible, however faint
it might be; and I took him into our little cabin, and spread a chart of
the Pacific on the table. Then I got him to recall, as nearly as he
could, the courses and distances steered by the _Amazon_ until the time
of her wreck.
We managed to trace her as far as the north-western extremity of New
Guinea, the man happening to remember hearing Johnson point out some
land in sight as the Cape of Good Hope.
This must manifestly have been the headland of that name on the
north-west coast of New Guinea; but from this point he became
bewildered. He remembered passing a great many islands after sighting
this headland, however, and was of opinion that the average courses
steered were about south-east, and he thought it was nearly a month
afterwards when the ship was lost.
This placed the scene of the wreck on one of the islands in the large
group in which we expected to find our treasure-island.
I questioned the fellow until I found I had extracted really every
particle of information it was in his power to give, and then, after
rewarding him for his information, I let him go.
As soon as he was gone, I wrote a hasty note to my sister, cautiously
conveying to her the intelligence that we had obtained a faint trace of
the _Amazon's_ fate; a trace which, I added, we intended to follow up as
far as we could, and having sealed and addressed my missive, I hurried
up over the barque's side, and placed it in her captain's hands, and
then took leave of him with a hearty shake of the hand and many good
wishes on his part that we might have a safe and pleasant voyage.
It was time we were off, for a gentle breeze was springing up, and all
parties were anxious to avail themselves of it to the utmost extent.
As soon as we had once more got all our light canvas spread, Bob,
instead of turning in as he had a right to do, it being his watch below,
came and sat down beside me, and we began to discuss the strange story
to which we had so lately listened.
"It has enabled me definitely to make up my mind upon one point, which I
will now confess has troubled me not a little," said I, "and that is
your proposal to go round, the `Horn,' Bob. Ever since we settled upon
that route, I have been thinking of the great risks we must run by
adopting such a course, and I really think that, but for this, I should
have hauled sharp up upon the port tack as soon as we fell in with the
south-east trades. _Now_, however, I feel so anxious about my father,
and his condition, that I would incur double the amount of risk, if need
were, in order to reach the Pacific as soon as possible, and, Bob, we
must find _him_ before we give a thought to the treasure."
"Right you are," exclaimed Bob heartily; "and there's my hand upon it,
Harry, my lad. The treasure can wait; but it may be of the greatest
consequence to the skipper to be found as soon as possible. He may be
ill, or tormented by a parcel of cannibal savages, or a thousand things
may be happening to him to make it important for him to have a couple of
trustworthy hands like ourselves added to his crew as soon as may be.
So shove the huzzey's nose as straight for the Cape as she'll look, and
let's get that part of the job over as soon as we can. And as to the
_danger_ of the expl'ite, we'll weather it somehow. The little beauty
has showed us already what she can do, and with a couple of prime
seamen--which I take it no man will deny _we_ are--to handle her, take
my word for it, she'll carry us round as safe as e'er a craft that
floats."
"There's another thing I've been thinking of within the last hour,"
continued I. "We talked of going into Buenos Ayres when we first made
up our minds to take the route round the Horn; but even that short
detention I should now like to avoid if possible. Want of water is
really the only cause which would _compel_ us to call there, though I
confess I should like to write a line to Ada from thence, to let her
know we had safely reached so far--"
"As to the first," interrupted Bob, "I feel no consarn whatever. We are
pretty certain to fall in with heavy rains afore we get very far south;
and if the wind happens to be light we can easily spread one of the
sails so as to catch the water, and one good heavy thunder-shower would
fill our tank for us, and as to letters, why, we shall perhaps have such
another chance as this here that we've just had, and that disposes of
the second difficulty. If we _don't_ get any rain before, there's a
splendid harbour on the southernmost side of the Gulf of Saint Matias,
hereaway on our starboard bow, somewheres about two or three days' sail
to the south'ard of Buenos Ayres, and we can fill up our water there.
I've been into the place once, and a fine snug anchorage it is."
This was a great relief to me, for in my present feverish state of
excitement it seemed to me that any stoppage, unless absolutely
unavoidable, would be more than I could endure.
By this time it was Bob's watch on deck; but I felt that it would be
utterly impossible to sleep if I turned in, so I insisted that he should
go below instead, and, after some argument, he consented.
In about ten minutes more, certain sounds arising through the companion
told me that my friend was too thorough a seaman to be kept awake by
excitement, and I found myself alone and at liberty to indulge in the
new hopes which had so lately been awakened within my breast.
Volume One, Chapter VII.
THE SEA-SERPENT.
The breeze, though it continued light and rather baffling at times,
still held when the sun rose next morning; and on looking astern, I
found that the homeward-bound ships had all disappeared; and of the
outward-bound craft, our light heels had enabled us to get so far ahead
that the topsails of the nearest were already dipping. Of course light
winds and smooth water made exactly our kind of weather; and the
enormous spread of our lighter sails caused the little craft to slip
through the water in quite an extraordinary manner, whenever we could
show them. There was just enough wind to barely ruffle the surface of
the gently swelling ocean, yet our patent log told us we were going
rather over six knots, mainly through the persuasive influence of our
spinnaker and gigantic balloon-topsail.
At noon our observations showed that we were nearly a degree south of
the line; and I began to be sanguine that the breeze we now had would
run us into the trades. In this, however, I was disappointed; for about
sundown the wind fell so light that we barely had steerage-way. All
night long it continued the same, and the greater part of next day; and
for about sixteen hours I considered that we did not advance more than a
knot per hour.
Towards the close of that afternoon, however, when I came on deck to
take the first dog-watch, Bob directed my attention to the appearance of
the sky in the south-eastern quarter, announcing it as his opinion that
there was a look of the trades about it. And so it proved, for the
breeze gradually freshened, and drew more round from the eastward, and
by eight bells we were doing our nine knots, with a nice fresh breeze.
This was doubtless the first of the south-east trade-wind; for by
midnight it had so far freshened that, for the sake of our spars, it
became necessary to take in our spinnaker and balloon-topsail, and to
substitute for them the working jib and our jib-headed topsail. Even
this would have been deemed perilous sail for so tiny a craft by most
persons; but we were by this time thoroughly acquainted with the _Lily_
and knew that she would carry with ease all the canvas that her spars
would bear.
Nothing particular occurred for the next two days. The wind held, and
continued to blow with a force which was, for us, a good, staggering
breeze, but without much sea; and we kept flying to the southward at a
pace which left even my impatience no reason for complaint.
On the second day after getting the breeze, we passed the Brazilian
mail-boat near enough to show our number in the yacht-list, and to ask
him, by signal, to report us "all well."
The next morning it was my watch on deck until noon. Bob had cleared
away the breakfast, carefully washing up everything, and stowing it
away; and had been in his hammock about an hour.
I was enjoying the fresh beauty of the morning, and the exultant feeling
excited by our rapid motion; and picturing to my imagination the delight
with which my father would welcome the appearance of our snowy canvas--
when we should heave in sight, when my visions were dispersed by a loud,
cracking sound like the report of a rifle, from some distance away on
our weather-bow. I looked in that direction, and caught a momentary
glimpse of some distant object whirling in the air, and immediately
afterwards the sound was repeated.
I stood up to get a better view over the low ridges of the sea, and at
the same instant caught sight of what looked like a jet of steam rising
out of the ocean.
"There she blows!" exclaimed I, involuntarily aloud.
Again up whirled the object I had before observed; again it descended,
and again came the rifle-like report I knew in an instant now what it
was. An unfortunate whale had fallen in with his inveterate enemy, a
"thresher," and had been forthwith attacked. I could plainly
distinguish the huge creature plunging along at a great rate, and at an
angle of about forty-five degrees with our course; so that he was
standing in such a direction as would take him across our bows.
From the persistent manner in which he remained at the surface, I came
to the conclusion that he had a second enemy to contend with in the
shape of a sword-fish. Indeed, the way in which he began to plunge
about, soon put the matter almost beyond a doubt I was turning over in
my mind whether I should call Bob to see this sight, when the whale,
with a mighty effort, flung his huge bulk completely out of the water,
to a height of, I should say, fifteen or twenty feet; and, sure enough,
hanging to him was a large sword-fish, with his beak driven deep into
the muscles about the root of the persecuted animal's tail.
I shouted to Bob to come on deck at once, for we had neared each other
so much by this time, that I had an excellent view of the combat. And,
moreover, it struck me that a slight deviation in the course of the
combatants might bring them within extremely unpleasant proximity to the
little _Lily_, and I thought it might be prudent to have Bob on deck.
He was up in an instant, not waiting to perform the almost superfluous
ceremony of dressing, and there we both stood, so intensely absorbed in
the interest of the exciting spectacle that the little craft was almost
left to take care of herself.
The whale had got very nearly straight ahead of us by this time, and not
more than half a mile distant Bob went forward, and stood leaning
against the mast, to get a somewhat better view. Suddenly, the chase
bore sharply up, and dashed away at tremendous speed in exactly the
opposite direction to that which he had been pursuing before. Almost at
the same instant Bob shrieked in a shrill unnatural tone of voice:
"Luff! Harry--luff! round with her for the Lord's sake! Oh, my God!"
Down went the helm, and up flew the little _Lily_ into the wind, and I
was just stooping to let go the head-sheets (which led aft), when I
caught a glimpse of Bob's face, white and drawn with horror, and his
eyes--almost starting out of his head--staring fixedly at something
apparently broad on our starboard bow.
I looked, naturally, in the same direction myself, and never to my dying
day shall I forget the frightful, appalling object which met my gaze.
At a distance of not more than three cables' lengths from us, rushing
through the water at a speed equal to that of a railway train, and
lashing the water into foam with the rapid movement of his huge
convolutions, a monstrous serpent appeared, darting towards the wretched
persecuted whale.
His vast head and fully twenty feet of his body towered nearly erect
above the water, and I believe I am not exaggerating, nay, that I am
_within_ the mark when I say that the remaining portion of his body, to
the tail, was at _least six_ times that length.
His head was shaped much like that of a python, and his enormous jaws,
which he frequently opened, disclosed a formidable array of strong sharp
fangs. His body was of a deep dead brown, broadly marked with irregular
stripes and rings of pale stone-colour; and he emitted a strong musky
odour, which, even at our distance from him, was almost overpowering.
Once, when he was closest to us, he turned his head in our direction,
and for one dread moment he paused, seeming to gather his folds together
as though about to dart upon us, and the bitterness of a frightful death
thrilled through me.
The next instant he sped on once more at still greater speed, and before
another minute passed the whale was overtaken.
The ocean was, for a single instant, lashed into the semblance of a
boiling caldron, we saw a rapid whirling movement of the creature's
enormous coils, and then followed the deep bellowing cries of the
tortured whale, and the crunching sound of its crushing bones.
During the minute or two which had passed since our helm was put down,
the _Lily_ had been lying to on the starboard tack; our head-sheets
still remaining fast on the starboard side.
The seizure of the whale awoke me, as from a horrible nightmare, to the
fearful peril to which we still remained exposed; and I jammed the helm
hard up, and wore the craft sharp round on her heel until dead before
the wind, when I eased off the main-sheet, and we hurried as fast as the
wind would take us away from the spot. As soon as we had got the _Water
Lily_ round, and were fairly running away from our dangerous neighbour,
we both, with one accord, turned a look astern, to ascertain the
condition of things in that quarter.
The serpent and the whale had both disappeared. Doubtless the former
had sunk with his prey to those profound depths which form his usual
habitat, there to enjoy his meal undisturbed.
"Well," at last exclaimed Bob, "I've been knocking about at sea now nigh
on thirty year; and many's the strange sight these good-looking eyes of
mine have looked upon in that time; but this here sarpent beats all.
_I_ never seed the likes of the thing afore, and I don't care if I never
sees it agin. I've heern tell of such things bein' fallen in with,
sartaintly; but I never could meet with a man as had actually seed the
beast with his own eyes; and I put it all down as a yarn for the
marines. But seein' is believin'; and we've had a good look at him, and
no mistake. I'm quite satisfied; I don't want to see no more to make me
a believer in sich things."
"No," replied I; "it was impossible to make any mistake, with such a
view as we obtained of the creature; and I shall henceforward be far
more ready than I have hitherto been to give credit to the accounts
which are occasionally published of such appearances. I do not at all
expect that _we_ shall be believed when we make known our adventure, any
more than others have been; but that will not alter the facts of the
case. The almost universal scepticism with which announcements of such
creatures' appearances are treated is, after all, not very difficult to
account for. They doubtless inhabit only the extreme depths of the
ocean, and are probably endowed with the means of sustaining life whilst
sunk for long periods--if not for an indefinite time--at those depths;
it is easy, therefore (supposing such to be the case) to understand that
it may be quite opposed to the creature's habits to appear at the
surface _at all_; and that, when it does so, it will be--as, indeed, we
have every reason to suppose--at very lengthened intervals; and then,
probably, only in consequence of some unusually disturbing influence.
The opportunities of seeing the reptile must necessarily, under such
circumstances, be extremely few; and it is quite possible, or rather I
should say, very likely, that many of its visits to the upper world have
been entirely unwitnessed. In the present instance, for example, no
eyes but ours were witnesses of the scene which so lately took place;
and had we been but a dozen miles from the spot, it would have passed
unnoticed even by us. And my observation of mankind, Bob, has led me to
the conclusion that the race are extremely sceptical as to the existence
of everything but what is _well_ known."
"Very true, Harry, my lad," returned Bob; "you reels it all off just
like a book, and therein you shows the advantages of larning. I knows
by my own feelin's how difficult 'tis to believe a thing a man don't
understand. But it seems to me, `to return to the practical'--as I've
heard the poor old skipper say--that we might as well haul up on our
course agin now; and I'll go and look after the dinner; for I shall be
afraid to go to sleep agin for the next fortnight; that blamed old
sarpent 'll ha'nt me like a nightmare now, if I so much as shut my eyes
for five minutes."
The sheets were flattened in, and the little craft's jaunty bowsprit
once more pointed southward; whilst Bob dived below, and in a few
minutes more a thin wreath of smoke issuing from the galley-funnel
betrayed his whereabouts, and his occupation.
Suddenly he reappeared at the companion, and with a serious countenance
remarked:
"I say, Harry, lad, I s'pose there's no chance of that devil,"--with a
jerk of the thumb in the direction of our weather quarter--"getting a
sniff of our dinner, and making sail in chase, is there?"
I assured him that, in my belief, there was a strong probability that
the serpent was, at that moment, perhaps _miles_ deep in the ocean,
banqueting royally on the dead whale; and, seeing the reasonableness of
this supposition, he retired, satisfied.
Nothing further occurred that day to disturb us. We continued to bowl
away to the southward; and as we kept our canvas a good rap full, the
little barkie tripped along a good honest nine knots every hour. The
weather was as fine as we could possibly wish, with every appearance of
being thoroughly settled; and there seemed to be a good promise of our
making an exceptionally rapid passage.
It was my eight hours out that night; and when Bob relieved me at
midnight the sky was as clear as a bell; and, though there was no moon,
the stars were shining brilliantly, and with that mellow lustre so
peculiar to the tropics.
Bob declared he was glad to be on deck again, for he had been tormented,
all his watch below, by "that villainous sarpent;" visions of which so
disturbed his restless slumbers that it was a real comfort to have the
craft to look after, and something to occupy his mind, I anticipated no
such disturbing influence myself; for though I candidly confess I was
awfully frightened at the moment, the effect had passed away almost with
the disappearance of the monster; and the cool freshness of the night
breeze had induced a feeling of drowsiness, particularly welcome to a
man about to retire to his hammock.
In less than five minutes I was fast asleep. When I awoke, which I did
without being called, I was surprised to find the sun streaming down
through the skylight; and still more so when I observed that we seemed
to have gone about during the night. The _Water Lily_ was now certainly
on the starboard tack; whereas, when I turned in, we were on the port
tack.
"It _can't_ be a change of wind, here in the heart of the trades,"
thought I. "What can Bob be about? and why has he allowed me to overrun
my watch. Surely the old fellow was not _afraid_ to come below, and
turn in? Hallo! Bob ahoy! what's wrong on deck?" shouted I, springing
out of my hammock.
Just as I did so, I heard the mainsail fluttering, as though the boat
had luffed into the wind; and at the same moment I caught sight, through
the companion-way, of the vacant tiller swinging about.
"Gone forward to shift the jib," thought I; and I jumped on deck to lend
a hand.
_Bob was nowhere to be seen_.
"Good heavens!" exclaimed I, "what dreadful thing has happened?"
I thought of the sea-serpent for one moment, but dismissed the idea the
next, as being both too horrible and too unlikely.
The creature could hardly have approached without giving Bob the alarm,
which I knew he would have instantly communicated to me.
At that moment my eyes fell upon the main-boom, and I missed the
life-buoy which we kept suspended from it in readiness for any sudden
emergency. Bob then had gone overboard, taking the life-buoy with him,
and that too upon an impulse so sudden that there had been no time or
opportunity to arouse me.
The _Lily_ was indeed hove-to, as I had observed when I first awoke; but
it was with _both_ jib and fore-sheet to windward. The probability was
then that, on Bob quitting the helm, she had flown up into the wind
until her head-sails were taken aback, when she would, of course, or
_most probably_, pay off on the opposite tack, and remain hove-to. This
must necessarily have happened _at least_ four hours ago (it was now
eight o'clock), because had Bob been on deck at eight bells, he would,
of course, have called me. And during all this time the boat had been
sailing away from him, not very rapidly it is true, being hove-to, but
probably at a rate of at least three knots an hour. What might not have
happened to the poor fellow in that time? He was a splendid swimmer, I
knew, having acquired the art on our last voyage, and well able to take
care of himself in the water; and there was very little sea on.
Besides, I felt pretty certain he had the life-buoy; and, with its
assistance, I knew he could keep himself afloat in such weather until
worn out with exhaustion from want of food. But there were other perils
than that of drowning; and, if attacked by a shark, what chance had he?
These thoughts flashed through my mind whilst busily employed in taking
the necessary steps to return in search of him, for I had no idea of
continuing the voyage without making such a search, indeed it would have
been impossible. And my chances of success were not so meagre as might
at first sight be supposed.
In the first place, knowing how difficult it would be to see such an
object as a life-buoy, even with a man in it, at any great distance,
from so low an elevation as our deck, I had taken the precaution to have
each buoy fitted with a contrivance for hoisting a signal.
This consisted of a small bundle of jointed rods, which could be put
together like a fishing-rod, and on the topmost of these was a white
flag two feet square. On the buoy itself was firmly lashed a step
similar to the "bucket" (I believe it is called) in which a
carriage-whip is placed when not in use by the driver. The rods, taken
to pieces, were securely lashed in a compact bundle to the buoy, and the
bucket was a fixture. Thus, if Bob had the life-buoy, he also had the
means of indicating his whereabouts, and that, too, at a considerable
distance. And I knew pretty nearly in what direction I ought to steer,
in order to take the most effectual means of finding him.
Whilst hove-to, the _Lily's_ course or drift was, on the whole, as
nearly as possible at right angles to the direction of the wind. It
only remained then to turn her round and keep the wind directly abeam,
and I should be going back pretty nearly over the same ground I had been
traversing since Bob went overboard.
Accordingly, I lost no time in getting the _Lily_ round, when I once
more hove her to, and went aloft to the cross-trees with my glass to see
if the white flag were visible.
A long and anxious scrutiny followed, but without any discovery. I did
not feel any very great disappointment at this, for I thought it very
probable I was too far away to discover so small an object, even with
the aid of my glass.
Once satisfied that it was nowhere to be seen, I quickly descended to
the deck, trimmed the sheets flowing, and away the little craft bounded
over the bright flashing sea.
I stood on for an hour exactly, when I once more hauled the fore-sheet
to windward, and went aloft with my glass again.
My first look was ahead, first with the naked eye, and then with the
glass; but not a speck could I discern to break the monotony of the
blue-grey of the sea, except an occasional curling foam-crest I next
carefully swept the ocean from forward round to windward, thinking I
might have run too far off the wind.
Once or twice I thought I detected a flickering of something white, but
it instantly disappeared again; and I was obliged to believe it was only
the foam of a breaking wave. I was about to descend once more to the
deck, when it occurred to me to take a glance to leeward. I once more
levelled my glass, and swept it over the surface of the sea; but again I
could see nothing. I reluctantly closed it, slung it over my shoulder,
and swung myself off the cross-trees to go down by the mast-hoops, when
my eye was arrested for a moment by what I _knew_ at once to be the
flag.
Almost as I caught sight of it, I lost it again; and as the craft was
constantly falling off or coming up again into the wind, I hardly knew
exactly in what point to look for it. However, I regained by position
upon the cross-trees, levelling my glass, rather inconveniently, on the
fore side of the topmast, to clear the topsail, and presently I caught
it again.
Yes, there it was, sure enough, about three miles dead to leeward; and
what was more, I could not only see the flag, but also the buoy, and Bob
in it. He seemed to be waving his arms about in a most frantic manner,
and making a tremendous splashing, doubtless, I thought, with the view
of making his position more apparent, as, of course, he could see the
cutter, and knew I must be looking for him.
I slipped down on deck, quick as lightning, triced up the main tack just
high enough to enable me to see under the foot of the sail; and squared
dead away before the wind.
Ten minutes afterwards I caught a glimpse of the flag right ahead, as
the boat rose on a sea; and then I edged away, taking room to run up
alongside him on the port tack with my head-sheets to windward. I could
now see Bob away on the port bow, every time the _Lily_ rose on the top
of a wave; and he was still, to my great surprise, splashing away
furiously; and now I caught the sound of his voice, shouting.
"Surely," thought I, "the poor fellow has not become insane through the
dreadful strain to which his nerves have been subjected!"
A minute later the cause of his strange behaviour became apparent. A
dark object of triangular shape appeared, moving in narrow circles round
the spot where poor Bob was floating; disappearing at frequent
intervals, and then the splashing became more frantically vigorous than
ever. It was a shark that was thus blockading Bob, and the splashing
was resorted to to frighten the creature from attacking him.
I carefully measured my distance, and exactly at the right moment jammed
my helm hard down, hauling in the main-sheet as I did so.
The _Lily_ shot into the wind, just clearing the buoy by a
hair's-breadth. I sprang to the rigging, stooped down, and seized Bob's
extended hand with mine as he came alongside, and then, exerting all the
strength I could command, I fairly jerked him out of the water upon
deck, just as the shark had apparently made up his mind to be no longer
denied.
With such impetuosity did he make his rush that his snout rose a good
two feet fairly above our gunwale; and had not the impetus with which I
jerked Bob out of the water been sufficient to fetch him clear inboard,
the shark would have had him after all. As it was, we got a glance into
his open jaws, and at his six rows of teeth, the remembrance of which
makes me shudder to this day.
As the shark disappeared with a savage whisk of the tail, poor Bob
turned to me; his lips quivered convulsively for a moment in an effort
to speak, and then he fell to the deck in a dead faint.
Two or three buckets of water dashed in his face, and a glass of neat
brandy, however, soon restored him, and it was almost pitiful to listen
to the poor fellow's heartfelt and reiterated expressions of gratitude
for his rescue, "Ever since about half an hour after sunrise was that
incarnate devil alongside of me," exclaimed he; "and hadn't it been for
my seeing the cutter's sails, and knowin' as you was on the look-out for
me, I _must_ have give in. Human natur' couldn't hold out agin that
sort of thing for long. And now, I feel that weak and done up, that a
child might pitch me overboard agin, if he was so minded, I do believe."
The life-buoy came aboard again with Bob; so I unshipped the
signal-staff and took it to pieces, made it up in a bundle once more,
stopped it to the buoy, and slung the buoy itself in its old position on
the boom.
The cutter was still hove-to, and I allowed her to remain so, whilst I
went forward to see to the breakfast, Bob meanwhile changing his wet
clothes for dry ones, and hanging the former in the rigging to dry.
I was still busy over the cookery, when Bob came into the forecastle,
and observed:
"I say, Harry, there's that spiteful devil still alongside, and with a
most onchristian longing to make a breakfast off of your old shipmate,
I'll go bail! Couldn't we contrive somehow to put a stopper on his
tormentin' purpensities?"
"Ay, ay, Bob, old man!" replied I; "I think we may manage to do that
without much difficulty. You get one of the air-guns out of the
beckets, whilst I look after this coffee--it's just on the boil--and
we'll try the virtues of cold lead upon his constitution, and the powers
of the gun at the same time."
As soon as I could leave the coffee, I got a piece of pork out of our
small harness cask, and lashed it to a piece of line, whilst Bob, under
my directions, charged the gun. This done, the pork was hung just
outside the taffrail, and full in the shark's view, but not in the
water; and I lay down on deck with the gun ready for my gentleman,
should he make a rush.
This, however, he seemed indisposed to do; eyeing the bait longingly,
but keeping at a respectful distance. Gradually this distance
shortened, however, and he finally ventured close under the boat's
stern, and within about three feet of the pork.
I kept the gun levelled at him, aiming at his eye; and now, having him
so close, and so directly under me, I thought there was little fear of
the bullet being diverted from its proper direction by the water, so I
fired.
The lead sped true; the blood spirted from the creature's eye, and with
a tremendous spring he threw himself backward, only to roll over on his
back with a convulsive writhe or two ere he floated motionless and dead.
"So much for bullyin' honest seamen when they has the misfortin' to walk
overboard," observed Bob, eyeing the carcase with much complacency. "I
shall feel more comfortable like, now I knows as _your_ cruise is over
for good and all."
"Walk overboard, Bob!" exclaimed I. "You surely do not mean to say you
_walked_ overboard?"
"'Twas little else, my lad. But I'll tell ye all about it whilst we're
getting our breakfast stowed under hatches; for I'll be bound you're
longing to hear the rights of the story."
"That indeed I am, old fellow; so come along below, and let us get the
yarn and our breakfasts at once; I am longing for both."
Having taken a look all round, to see that nothing was in sight, we went
below and seated ourselves at the cabin-table, and Bob forthwith
proceeded with his story.
Volume One, Chapter VIII.
BOB'S DREAM.
"You'll maybe remember," commenced Bob, "that when I came upon deck last
night to take my watch, I mentioned that I was glad enough to be out of
my hammock, and away from the tormentin' dreams I'd had of that--
sarpent!
"Well, and I was too--I felt better and calmer like the minute I set
foot upon the deck; and, as soon as you was gone below, I makes myself
comfortable in the chair" (a low deck-chair in which we used frequently
to sit whilst steering), "takes the tiller-rope in my hand, sets the
little craft's course by a star, and starts thinking how pleased the
skipper will be when he sees his son and his old mate turning up some
fine morning at the anchorage which, I doubt not, lies just under his
parlour window.
"I got thinking and thinking, until it seemed to me as I could see the
`old man' as plain as I can see you now, coming down between the trees,
with his hand held out, and his face all smiling and joyful like, and I
steps forward to give him a hearty shake of the fin, when all of a
suddent he changes into that infarnal old sarpent, and at me he comes,
with his eyes glaring, and his jaws wide open.
"You may take your oath, Harry, I warn't long in stays. Round I comes
like a top, and away I scuds dead afore the wind; and he--the sarpent, I
mean--arter me. It seemed to me as the faster I tried to run, the less
headway I made; and presently he was close aboard of me.
"There was a great rock just ahead of me; and I makes a _tremenjous_
jump to get behind it, when whack goes my head agin the main-boom with
that force it fairly stunned me, and afore I could recover myself I lost
my balance, and overboard I goes.
"I felt myself going, and flung out my hands to save myself naterally,
and by that means I managed to get hold of the becket of the life-buoy,
which in course broke adrift from the boom, and came overboard with me.
"Well, I didn't seem to know where I was or what I was doin' for a
minute or two; and then the cold water revived me. I slips my arm
through the buoy, and takes a look round for the cutter.
"I must have run her pretty nigh dead off the wind in my sleep, for I
could see her almost straight to leeward of me, still standin' on, but
comin' slowly to the wind.
"She was a good quarter of a mile away from me, and I thinks as how I
might still have a chance of fetching her agin, if she gets to luffing
into the wind, and losing her way, so I strikes out a'ter her.
"But, Lord bless ye! Harry, you've no idea how the little hussy slips
along, until you comes to be overboard, swimming in her wake.
"It seemed to me as though she'd _never_ come to, and all the while she
was walking away to the tune of a good seven knots.
"At last when I rose on the top of a sea, I sees as she was in stays;
and `All right,' thinks I, `Harry's come on deck and missed me, and he's
comin' back a'ter me.' But I soon saw as she'd run into the wind, and
hove herself to, and that most likely you was still fast asleep in your
hammock.
"I next tried to cut her off by swimming in the direction that she was
heading, but after about half an hour's hard tusslin' I knowed it was no
use; she fore-reached upon me as if I was at anchor. So I give the job
up, and lay-to in the buoy for a rest, for I'd put out all my strength
in chase, and was pretty nigh done up.
"I knowed you'd miss me some time in the morning, and that you'd miss
the buoy too, and I felt sartain that you'd come back to look me up, so
I sets to work to get my signal-pole on end and the flag flyin', all
ready for daylight.
"I watched the little barkie fairly out of sight, and then I began to
feel lonesome like, and I'll own that most oncomfortable thoughts came
into my head about the sea-sarpent; but, strange as you may think it, I
never give a thought to the sharks.
"I thought as day were never going to break agin; but at last I sees it
light up a bit away to the east'ard, and it got grad'ally brighter and
brighter; and presently I sees the sun just showin' above the horizon.
"Then I felt a little bit more cheerful and satisfied like, for I knowed
you'd soon be stirring, and I should have you back on the look-out for
me.
"Of course I gave a good look all round as soon as there was light
enough to see properly; but there warn't so much as a gull in sight, and
away to the nor'ard and east'ard where I knowed you was, the sun dazzled
my eyes so's I couldn't see.
"Well, 'twas just as I'd caught a glimpse, as I thought, of the peak of
the _Lily's_ gaff-topsail, that I sees, about fifty fathom away, the fin
of that--shark scullin' quietly along. I kept pretty still, you may
swear, hoping he'd pass me. But--not he. Down goes his helm, and he
takes a sheer my way, and I thought it was all up with me.
"He ranged up alongside as quiet as you please, hows'ever, and just
dodged round and round me, off and on, as if he didn't quite know what I
was made of.
"I expect it was the flutterin' of the flag overhead as he didn't
understand; but, any way, he kept very quiet and peaceable for a good
long spell, and I was beginnin' to hope he wouldn't have no truck with
me. And, to cheer me up still more, I sees the little _Lily_ coming
back to look for her chief mate.
"If you'll believe me, Harry, I'm of opinion that devil saw you comin'
as well as myself, and that he knowed he'd have to make up his mind
pretty soon, or lose me altogether, for he began to swim round me now
tolerable smart, and presently he makes a dive.
"I'd made up my mind what to do as soon as he took to that game; and I
starts splashing hands and legs all I knowed, and shouting too, like
fury; and presently he comes up again.
"Well, the chap kept me that busy, I hadn't a minute to spare; and when
you ranged up alongside I was that tired out I didn't know how to make
another splash."
"So much for going to sleep in your watch on deck, Master Bob," said I,
as the mate brought his yarn to a conclusion.
"Ay! more shame to me that I should ever have done such a thing,"
replied he, greatly crestfallen; "but I lay the blame of the whole
consarn, from beginnin' to end, on that--sarpent, though no amount of
sarpents will excuse a man fallin' asleep in his watch, more especially
when he has charge of the deck."
"Well," said I, "you have been pretty well punished for your fault, old
man, at all events. But `all's well that ends well;' and I am heartily
glad that you are so well out of the scrape. And now, I shall insist on
your going to your hammock for the rest of the day, and I'll take care
of the craft. In fact she will almost steer herself in this weather, so
I shall manage very well indeed. Only don't have any more dreams which
will cause you to jump overboard, please, for I really cannot afford to
lose you."
The poor old fellow was so exhausted that, though he protested against
the proposed arrangement, I could see he was glad enough to avail
himself of it; and after a feeble attempt at remonstrance, he yielded to
my persuasions, and turned in, and was quickly in a sound refreshing
sleep.
Nothing further of importance occurred for several days to break the
monotony of the voyage.
We continued to make good way to the southward, and ten days after
crossing the line we lost the south-east trade-winds, and ran into a
light southerly breeze. As we still had a very fair quantity of water
on board, and indulged in good hopes of getting rain enough, shortly, to
fill our tank up, without the necessity of putting in anywhere, and as
the chances were very great that, as we got farther to the southward, we
should meet with westerly winds, I determined to stand to the southward
and westward, close-hauled, of course, on the port tack, so that
_should_ the wind come from the westward, as we expected, we should be
in a good weatherly position; whilst, if we were disappointed in the
matter of rain, we should have the land close aboard, and could run in
and fill up.
The southerly wind lasted us a couple of days, and then veered gradually
round to about south-west. As this broke us off considerably from our
course, we hove the cutter about, and were then able to lie about
south-and-by-east, a good rap full. The wind now freshened
considerably, and we had it stronger than at any time since leaving
England, except in the gale in the Bay of Biscay, so that we were
reduced to double-reefed mainsail, reefed foresail, and number three
jib. Under this canvas the little _Lily_ made very excellent weather of
it, though the incessant showers of spray which she threw over herself
necessitated the constant use of our macintoshes whilst on deck, and
this we found extremely inconvenient, from their warmth.
However, as we had been wonderfully favoured in the matter of weather so
far, we had no right to grumble if we were now treated to a few of the
inconveniences of such a voyage as ours. Though still making very good
way, we were not getting on so fast as we had been, our low canvas, and
the heavy sea (for a craft of our size) which began to get up, not
permitting us to do more than our seven knots.
Still, this was remarkably good work, and we ought to have been
perfectly satisfied; but the little barkie had stepped out at such a
rattling pace all the earlier part of the voyage that we could not be
contented with any reduction in speed.
This lasted for five days, and then, about one p.m., the wind suddenly
dropped altogether, and left us tumbling helplessly about without even
steerage-way. The sky had gradually become overcast, and the air
suffocatingly close, and when I went below to look at the aneroid, I
found it had gone back considerably. This might mean only a
thunderstorm, or it might mean something much worse, so we set to work
to prepare for whatever might come. The mainsail was stowed and the
cover put on, the foresail hauled down and unbent, and the trysail bent,
reefed, and stowed, to be set or not as circumstances might require.
As it turned out it was only a thunderstorm, but it was a regular
tropical one whilst it lasted. The rain came down in _sheets_, without
a breath of wind; and we not only filled our tank, but also every
available cask, can, and empty bottle we had on board, and as this was
done long before the rain was over (though the thunderstorm soon passed
off), Bob and I stripped, and enjoyed to our heart's content the
unwonted luxury of a wash from head to foot in the most deliriously soft
water, after which we roused out our dirty clothes, and had a regular
good washing-day.
The rain lasted about three hours, and then cleared away as rapidly as
it had come on, leaving the air beautifully fresh and pure, the sea
beaten down until nothing but a long, lazy swell remained of the late
breeze, and ourselves refreshed beyond description by our soap and water
bath. The sun came out again, clear and strong, drying our washing in
about half an hour, and to complete the good work, a nice, steady wind
from the north-east sprang up, and sent us bowling merrily along upon
our course once more, with all our flying-kites aloft to woo the welcome
breeze, the glass beginning to rise again immediately that the
thunderstorm was over.
Two nights after this, the wind still holding favourable, though rather
fresher, so that our spars had as much as they could do, notwithstanding
our preventer backstays, to bear the strain of our enormous spinnaker
and balloon gaff-topsail, and the little _Water Lily_ flying along at--
as our patent log told us--over thirteen knots, we dashed past a
half-consumed hencoop, a few charred pieces of planking, and some
half-burnt spars, all of which had the appearance of having been but a
short time in the water.
The spars were those of a ship of about a thousand tons; and we came to
the conclusion that it was one of those melancholy cases in which the
good ship, after perhaps successfully battling with a hundred storms, is
made to succumb at last to that terrible foe to seamen, a fire, ignited
by the merest and apparently most trivial of accidents. But the reader
will see, further on, that we had but too good reason to alter this
opinion.
We passed this wreckage about the middle of the second dog-watch, while
Bob and I were discussing the propriety of shortening sail somewhat for
the night; but as the breeze seemed disposed to grow lighter rather than
otherwise, we decided to let everything stand for the present.
When Bob called me at midnight, however, the wind had hauled so far
round from the eastward that it became necessary to shift the spinnaker
to the bowsprit-end; and this we accordingly did.
The wind had fallen much lighter while I was below, it continued to drop
all my watch, and when I turned out next morning there was barely enough
of it to fan us along at about three knots.
As the sun rose higher it died away altogether, and it was as much as we
could do, through the day, to keep the cutter's head in the right
direction. This would have been wearisome work in the tropics; but we
had been out of them for some days, and were getting well to the
southward, and the air began to feel quite fresh and chilly at night; so
much so, indeed, that for the last night or two Bob and I had found our
thick pilot jackets a very great comfort.
At last, by the time that tea was ready, the _Lily_ was "boxing the
compass," having lost steerage-way altogether; so, as our big sails were
no use, we took them in, and stowed them away, not knowing from whence
or how strong the breeze might next come.
We took a good look all round at the weather, and then left the _Lily_
to take care of herself, whilst we went below to our evening meal. This
over, we both went on deck again to smoke our pipes, and have a chat
until eight bells. It may be thought that two men situated as we were
would soon exhaust all available topics of conversation; but this was by
no means the case.
Bob, though he had no education but that pertaining to his profession,
was a profound thinker, and he often amused and sometimes startled me by
the originality of his remarks.
He had knocked about the world a good deal, and had the knack of not
only a quick observation, but also of being able to clearly and
accurately recall what he had seen, and the impressions thereby produced
upon himself.
He was expatiating, on this occasion, on the charms of nature, of which
he was an enthusiastic admirer, the subject having been suggested by the
beauty of the sunset which we had both been watching, and I was
thoroughly enjoying the rugged eloquence with which the scene had
inspired him, when we were startled by a long, low, wailing cry which
rang out upon the still air, apparently not half a dozen fathoms from
us, making our blood curdle and our hair stiffen with, horror at its
unearthly and thrilling cadence.
We looked earnestly and eagerly in the direction from which the cry had
seemed to proceed, but nothing was visible in that or, indeed, in any
other direction.
The sun had set, and the grey of evening was deepening over the glassy
surface of the water; but there was still light enough reflected from
the sky to have enabled us to see any object within sight almost as
distinctly as in broad day, but not an object of any description could
we see, not even a solitary albatross.
We had carefully scanned, as far as was possible, the entire visible
surface of the ocean, and had turned inquiringly towards each other,
when once more rang out that mysterious cry, this time apparently close
under our stern.
We turned, unutterably horror-stricken, in that direction, but there was
_nothing_. Seamen are, as a rule, as brave as lions; but anything
mysterious and unaccountable completely cowes them, and such, I confess,
was now the case with us.
The cry was too sharp and loud to have proceeded from any distance; and
there was no visible explanation of it. It was not repeated a third
time, I am happy to say; and I wish never to hear anything like it
again. What it was, or whence it came, we never knew, and I was, and am
to this day, utterly unable to account for it. I have since been
informed that such sounds have occasionally been heard at sea by others
as well as ourselves, but never with the result of any discovery as to
their origin.
During the next three days we had nothing but light variable winds, and
calms.
On the morning of the fourth day, at daybreak, we made a sail directly
ahead. At this time we had a nice little breeze, and were going about
six knots.
As we neared her, we noticed that she was hove-to, her courses brailed
up, and her topgallant yards on the caps. When close to her, it struck
us that something must be the matter on board, for not a soul could we
see about her decks. The vessel herself too--a full-rigged ship of
about fourteen hundred tons--struck us as being unusually deep in the
water. There being no sea on, we decided to run alongside and board
her, thinking she might possibly prove derelict. We did so,
accordingly, rounding to under her stern, and ranging up alongside on
her lee quarter; having first, however, taken in our gaff-topsail and
lowered our topmast, so as not to foul her rigging.
As we came gently alongside, an exclamation escaped Bob, who was
standing forward, ready to heave a line on board or jump up the side
with it, according to circumstances.
"Here's been some cursed foul play here, by the look of it, Harry,"
exclaimed he; "mutiny and murder, I should judge, by this," pointing to
the scuppers of the ship, from which blood had evidently been flowing,
large semi-coagulated gouts still adhering to the sides of the vessel,
and about the mouths of the scupper-holes. The vessel being, as I have
said, very low in the water, we had no difficulty whatever in boarding
her; both, springing up the side at the same moment, each with the end
of a line in our hands.
Good heavens! what a sight met our horrified gaze as we leaped down upon
the ship's deck!
Some three or four and twenty corpses lay there, with the blood still
slowly oozing in a few instances from wounds in various parts of their
bodies.
The wounds were mostly inflicted by cutlasses and pistol-shots; but two
of the bodies, apparently those of officers, had the heads almost
severed from the trunks, the gashes having been evidently inflicted by a
keener weapon than a ship's cutlass. These bodies had the arms lashed
tightly behind the back.
Too horror-stricken to speak a word, I walked aft, Bob following me, and
entered the cabin, which was on deck, and from which I thought I heard a
groan issuing. On entering, the first object I saw was the body of a
young man, about four and twenty years of age, lying close across the
doorway, and covered with wounds. His left arm was almost completely
cut through; a long gash had laid his forehead open from above the right
temple to the left eyebrow; a pistol-bullet had entered his forehead
nearly fair between the eyes; and blood had evidently flowed copiously
from his right breast. This body lay across three others, dressed in
the usual attire of seamen.
On a sofa, which stretched entirely across the after-part of the cabin,
lay the body of a young and most beautiful girl, her night-dress torn to
shreds, and her fair skin disfigured by deep blue marks, and smeared
with blood, indicating but too clearly that she had been the victim of
most atrocious outrages.
And lastly, under the cabin-table, lay another body, from which, whilst
we stood gazing in speechless horror at these evidences of diabolical
atrocity, a faint groan issued.
Bob assisted me to draw the sufferer from under the table; and we then
saw that he was an old man, grey-haired, and dressed in fine blue cloth
garnished with gilt buttons, and a stripe of gold lace round the cuffs
of the jacket; no doubt the master of the vessel Bob drew the corpse of
the young girl somewhat aside, spreading the table-cover over the body
reverently, to hide the naked limbs; and then, between us, we placed the
wounded man on the sofa.
The cabin had, notwithstanding the ghastly appearance it presented, been
the scene of a wild carouse, for the table was covered with glasses and
wine and spirit bottles, and broken bottles and glasses littered the
floor. I searched among the contents of the table until I found a
bottle only partly empty, and from this I poured out a glass of its
contents, which proved to be port, and managed with considerable
difficulty to get a small quantity of the wine down the wounded man's
throat. The skylight was open, and the air coming down through it in a
coo
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