Adventures of Hans Sterk Part 21

"Have you ever seen a man killed before to-day?" inquired the lieutenant. "I will not say it boastingly," replied Hans, "for no man should boast; but I tell you as the truth that in fair fight--fighting for my life, or for my goods, of which I had been robbed--I have shot perhaps as many black men as you have now on board this ship."

"Have you, indeed?" said the lieutenant, his opinion of Hans being thereby much enhanced; "then you have had to fight in Africa?"

"To fight!" said Hans. "Have you not heard of our battles with Moselekatse and Dingaan, and how we defeated them? Have you never heard of Eus, Pretorius, Retief, or Landman?"

"Never heard of one of them," was the calm reply of the lieutenant.

"Are they n.i.g.g.e.rs?"

What would have been Hans' indignant reply to this remark there is no saying, but a shout from the sailors caused the lieutenant and Hans to rush to the hatchway, before approaching which they saw some suspicious-looking smoke rising from the side of the ship.

"What is it?" shouted the lieutenant, as he approached his men.

"The slaves have set the ship on fire, yer honour," replied an old sailor.

"Curse them!" said the lieutenant; "they will destroy themselves and us too."

"The boats will swim, I think, sir," said the sailor, "and we can reach Simon's Bay very soon. We needn't be burnt, unless yer honour thought it a point of duty to be so. Them slaves and slave crew might make the best of a burning ship, and perhaps the sooner we get out of the ship the better for them, as they could then put the fire out."

"And let them re-take the slaver; eh, Roberts? What would the Admiral say to us then, if it were found that the slavers had driven us out by a little smoke?"

"It wouldn't do, yer honour; but the slavers, nor the slaves either, won't stop the flames on this ship, for she's built of pine-wood, and she'll be ablaze from stem to stern in half an hour."

The sailor's remark seemed very likely to be verified, for the ship being, as he said, built of pine-wood, and having been long exposed to the heat of an almost tropical sun, was so dry and inflammable that the fire caught the timbers, and burnt as though it were fed with shavings.

In order to get at the situation of the fire, it would be necessary to go into the hold where the slaves were, and thus it would be necessary to raise the hatch. With above two hundred furious savages, who had just murdered two white men, in the hold, the lieutenant knew no chance existed of putting out a fire, which, whenever it occurs in a ship, requires a thoroughly well-disciplined body of men to be called together in order to put it out. "Take three hands with you, and lower the quarter boats," said the lieutenant to one of the men. "Sterk, will you stay here, and help to guard the hatch? I will put a few things into the boat. We must lose no time, I see; the ship is like tinder."

During the few minutes that the officer was absent, the fire had made great progress, and the yells and shouts from the slaves were almost deafening.

"We must free the slavers from their irons," said the lieutenant. "We must give them a chance. Come along and help me, you two." And with the aid of Hans and a sailor the lieutenant freed the crew of the slaver, and signed to them to follow on deck.

"Now into the two boats, men!" said the officer. "If we have any room, we'll save whoever we can. Stand by to let me in, for I'm going to free the hatch, and let the slaves up. They must have a chance for life, and G.o.d help them! for I see no possibility of human aid being of benefit."

The sailors having hurried into the boats, the lieutenant seized a handspike, and knocking off the fastening of the hatchway, left it so that a very moderate amount of strength would force it up. He then lowered himself into the boat, and ordered the men to pull away a short distance from the slaver, where he purposed watching the struggle that he hoped might take place between the crew and the fire.

"I could do nothing else, I think," said the officer to Hans. "I have the lives of my men under my charge, and if I had waited on board, these slaves would have tried to murder us. Now they have a chance for their lives, but I run a risk now. If the slaver is burnt, and her crew and slaves go down with her, I may be called cruel for having left them to themselves, whilst I saved my own and my men's lives. If the fire is put out, I must again go on board, though we lose half our number in the attempt, or I should never dare show myself to the Admiral. Ah! there's a specimen of the negro's habits."

The slaves, upon being able to raise the hatches, rushed on deck, shouting and yelling like demons. Seeing some of the slaver's crew, who had also come on deck, they rushed at them, and with such weapons as each possessed a fight took place on the deck of the doomed vessel.

Utterly reckless as regards the fire, which was now raging, and illuminating the deck, the two parties fought for revenge and life. The numbers of the negroes soon enabled them to overcome the slaver's crew, who were stiff from their late confinement, and the negroes were consequently masters of the ship. The use they made of this temporary possession was not to endeavour to quell the flames, or in any way to make preparations for their own safety; but, rushing into the cabins, they searched for plunder, and more particularly for drink, which, however, did not consist of any thing more than a few bottles of inferior brandy. For the possession of this brandy terrific struggles took place, handspikes and planking being used for weapons. To view this scene from the boats was like obtaining a temporary view of the imaginary infernal regions on which so many civilised beings delight to enlarge and dwell. The raging fire, which now was catching the rigging, was below the ma.s.s of yelling, dancing, fighting blacks, who seemed only intent on a few minutes' maniac-like orgies.

Standing calm spectators of the scene, Hans observed the Zulus who had been his fellow-prisoners. Though nearly black in colour, these men were unlike the negro in features, and seemed altogether a superior race. Though he had so lately been engaged in combats against the Zulus, yet when Hans saw these men thus calmly awaiting their death, he was desirous of saving them.

"See those men standing near the mast," said Hans: "they are Zulus. I should like, to save their lives."

"How can you do that?" inquired the lieutenant. "Will you let them come in the boat?" inquired Hans.

"Yes, if they can get in; but I cannot allow the boat to go near the slaver: she would be swamped in a minute, and all our lives would be sacrificed."

"I will try to make them understand," said Hans, "if you will help them into the boat if they swim to us." Saying this, Hans called in a shrill voice, "Mena-bo," at which the Zulus started up, and looked eagerly in the direction of the boats, which they could just perceive by aid of the light given by the burning ship. Having thus called their attention to him, Hans called in the Zulu language, "Jump into the water, and swim to me, or the fire will soon kill you."

The Zulus for a few seconds seemed to hesitate, but looking round at the fire, which was rapidly closing round them, the three men stepped on the side of the vessel, and jumped feet first into the sea. In an instant afterwards their heads appeared above water, as they swam rapidly towards the boats, into which they were dragged by the sailors.

"The men are all mad," said one of the Zulus to Hans. "They put fire to the ship to free themselves, and now they will not put water to the fire."

"Are the white men dead?" inquired Hans, referring to the sailors who had been attacked in the hold.

"Yes, and they would be cold by now were they not kept warm by the fire... It is all fire where we were."

The escape of the Zulus had either not been noticed by the negroes, or they supposed it was an act of desperation on the part of these men; for no notice was taken of it, the negroes still continuing their frantic proceedings. The slaver was evidently burning inside more than out.

The flames every now and then shot up, whilst at two places in her hull they had forced a way out. Every now and then there was a hissing sound, as though water had fallen on a red-hot surface, and steam in abundance came up from below; the flames again arose, and after a time the same hissing occurred.

"I believe," said the lieutenant, "the flames have eaten a way through her somewhere, and the water is entering her; that is what causes the steam. It is so; look! she is settling down."

As he thus called attention to the slaver, all eyes were turned to her.

The flames, which had previously risen half-way up her masts, suddenly ceased, whilst a sheet of white steam arose in their stead. The vessel's hull gradually descended; and the boat's crew had but just time to obey the command to "pull and together," and to move the two boats a safer distance from the ship, when the beautifully-modelled slaver, her yelling cargo of demons, and her mutilated bodies, sank together beneath the smooth surface of the ocean. Though she went down gradually till within a few inches of the water's edge, she yet raised a large wave by her submergence, which lifted the boats, and caused them to dance for some minutes. The darkness was fearful after the late glare of the burning ship; and so awful was the sight of this crowd of human beings, hurried into a next existence whilst their spirits were stirred with feelings of murder and rapine, that a dead silence of near a minute prevailed in the two boats, the sailors even being awe-struck at the catastrophe.

The voice of the lieutenant first broke the silence, and it seemed to all a relief to hear a human being speak.

"I will light a lantern, that we may keep together," said the lieutenant, "and to show any poor struggling wretch, who may not have gone to the bottom, that there is help at hand. Keep near us with your boat, Jones, and we'll pull off in ten minutes."

"Ay, ay, sir," was the reply. "There won't be any come up again alive.

A sinking ship takes down her crew with her."

Allowing about fifteen minutes for a chance of saving a life, during which time the lieutenant pulled over the spot beneath which the slaver had sunk, he consulted a compa.s.s which he had placed in the boat, and taking the rudder, directed the men to arrange themselves at the oars, and to commence their long pull towards Simon's Bay.

"If no wind comes against us," said the officer, "and the sea remains smooth, we shall reach Simon's Bay by steady pulling before to-morrow night: so give way, men, and let's make the most of smooth water."

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

OFF IN THE BOATS--THE STORM--A FAIR WIND--A COUNCIL--THEY STEER FOR ISLANDS--LAND.

It was soon found that a lantern was not necessary to enable the second boat to follow that in which were the lieutenant and Hans. The singular and beautiful phosph.o.r.escent light caused by the dipping of the oars and the pa.s.sage of the boat through the water was so brilliant, that even the faces of the crew were visible every now and then to each other, whilst a long star-spangled wake trailed behind the boats, and showed long after, where they had pa.s.sed. To the sailors accustomed to traverse these regions there was nothing new in this sight, though they fully appreciated the advantages of it as a means of keeping a straight course, and of being able to follow the leading boat. To Hans and the Zulus it was a subject of wonder and admiration. The latter in some manner connected it with the burning ship, and seemed to consider that the latter had been the cause of the apparent fire in the water. The attention of the crews of both boats was, however, soon drawn to the brilliancy of the ocean by a shoal of porpoises, which, rushing along near the surface of the water, occasionally rolled half over as they took breath, and again pursued their pathless course.

"We shall have a wind against us before long, I fear," said the lieutenant, "for those porpoises usually go up towards where the wind will blow from."

"Can they feel the wind when in the water, and before it blows?" said Hans.

"I don't know what they feel," replied the lieutenant; "I only know that when they swim in calm weather in any direction, the wind usually comes from that direction in a few hours. Give way, men; we'll near the coast as much as possible before a wind comes, and the current is strongest about ten miles off land."

"What makes this current run down the coast?" inquired Hans. "Water won't run up hill, at least on sh.o.r.e. Is it lower at the Cape than up by Natal?"

"Well I don't know why it is exactly," said the lieutenant; "but it has something to do with the trade winds. As long as I know where the current runs, I am satisfied; I don't trouble myself about why it runs.

Here comes a breeze, and right in our teeth. It must not blow too hard, or we shall have some difficulty in keeping our course."

The sea, which had previously been as calm as a pond, soon became broken even with the slight breeze that was blowing. The wind and current being opposed to each other caused the waves to break more than they otherwise would have done, and seen from the small boat, these waves soon began to appear dangerously large. As the breeze gradually increased, it was found too dangerous to force the boat against the seas, and thus she was obliged to change her direction and go with them.

Orders were given for the men to nail up some tarpaulin round the stem, and to sit close together, so as to keep out as much as possible any water that might otherwise come in as the seas broke over or near the boats. Men were also told off for baling, and thus every precaution was taken to prevent the boats from being swamped.

If the breeze did not freshen, there seemed every probability of the boats keeping afloat; but as a constant wind would for a time cause the seas to increase, the sailors became very anxious, and began to strain their eyes in all directions for the chance of catching sight of a ship or land. The course in which they were was not far out of that of homeward-bound vessels, or those which might be bound from India to the Cape, and thus there was a fair prospect of being picked up. Still the night was so dark that no vessel without lights could be seen, unless within a stone's throw. Thus daylight was anxiously looked for.