Fire Island Part 74

They went down over the side and stood directly after examining the lines of the well-made little vessel, which was about the size of a Cornish fishing boat, and now that the greater part of the supports had been knocked away, and she could be seen in all her regularity, compliments were freely given to her builder and architect.

"Well, I'm not ashamed of her, gentlemen," said the mate. "All I'm afraid of is that we shall weaken her a bit in hauling her along over the runners."

"Have you got your runners made?" said Drew.

"Have I got my runners made, sir?" said the mate with a chuckle. "I've got everything ready, grease and all for making 'em slippery, and under her keel a bit of iron as smooth as if it had been polished. Look here!"

He pointed out the curve and finish of the keel, which was so contrived that the vessel was quite on the balance, and a couple of men could easily rock her up and down, while to keep her straight and prevent her lopping over to one side or the other, an ingenious kind of outrigger had been contrived out of a couple of yards, which rested on the ground, and were kept there about four feet from the keel. These two were well pointed and curved up a little in front, and gave the lugger the appearance of riding in a sledge-like cradle.

Moreover, a capstan had been rigged up, half a cable's length away, and as soon as a rope had been attached to a hole low down close to the keel, word was given, the capstan was manned, the sailors gave a cheer as the stout cable secured low down beneath the lugger's bows gradually tightened, strained, and stretched, quivering in the bright morning sunshine, but the vessel did not move. Then a halt was called while the mate re-examined the well-greased runners, and then gave the word for the men to ply their capstan bars once more.

But still she did not move, and a despairing look began to gather upon the mate's brow, till Smith sidled up to Oliver and said,--

"I've jest whispered to Billy Wriggs to go round t'other side, sir, along o' Mr Panton, and if you and me and Master Drew was to do the same here, I dessay we could start her."

"Yes, what are you going to do?" asked Oliver.

"Just ketch hold here, sir, and we'll give her a bit of a rock. Once she's started, away she goes."

As the sailor spoke, he took hold of the yard rigged out on one side to keep the lugger upright, the others did the same on the other side, and as the cable was tightened once more with a jerk, which gave forth a musical deep ba.s.s tw.a.n.g, Smith shouted, "All together!" and with his companions, he began to give the hull a gentle rocking movement from side to side.

Then a tremendous cheer arose, and as every man tugged and strained, the vessel began to move, so little that it was almost imperceptible, and Oliver's heart sank at the thought of two miles to go at that rate; but in less than a minute, as she was rocked a little more, she gained momentum, the men at the capstan strained and cheered, and away she went, slowly and steadily, on and on the whole half cable's length.

"Now right up to the capstan," cried solemn, heavy-looking Wriggs; and as she came to a stand, and the men took out their bars and began cheering again in the glorious sunshine, with the coral rock and sand reflecting the brilliant light, and the rapid tropic growth glowing in its most vivid golden green, the rough sailor took off his straw hat, dashed it down upon the ground, screwed up his face into the most severe of frowns, folding his arms tightly across his chest, he gave a kind of trot round to form a circle, and then turned into the middle, stopped for a moment, gave three stamps and a nod to an imaginary fiddler, and started off in the regular sailor's hornpipe, dancing lightly and well, but as seriously as if his life depended upon the accuracy of his steps.

"Hooroar! Brayvo, Billy!" yelled Smith, bending down and beginning to keep time by giving a succession of ringing slaps on his right thigh, and in an instant the whole crew joined in slapping and cheering, while the mate and his pa.s.sengers joined in the hearty laugh.

"Go it, lad!" "Brayvo, Billy!" "Lay it down, lad!" came in a rugged chorus, and Wriggs danced on with wonderful skill and lightness, putting in all the regular pulling and hauling business right to the very end, which was achieved with the most intense solemnity of manner, amid tremendous applause.

"Capstan!" he shouted as he stopped, and then he was the first to begin loosening the piece of mechanism which had to be taken up and refixed strongly with block and stay a whole cable's length, this time farther on towards the sea.

"Slow work," said the mate, as he turned from superintending to wipe his face and give his companions a nod full of satisfaction; "but we're half a cable's length nearer the lagoon, and if we only did that every day, we should get her afloat in time."

"It's grand," cried Oliver, whose face was streaming from his exertions.

"I feel quite hopeful now."

"Hopeful? Yes," cried Panton. "We shall do it."

"If we are not interrupted," said Drew.

"If we are," said the mate, "we must make a fight for it. There's the watch up in the top to give us warning, and the arms all lie ready. At the first alarm everyone will make for the brig's deck, and I daresay we shall beat our visitors off."

"But when we get farther away?" said Drew.

"Don't let's meet troubles before they're half way," said the mate, smiling. "Perhaps the blacks may never come again. Let's hope not."

"Amen," said Panton, and then everything was forgotten in the business on hand, all trusting to the careful watch kept from the brig, and working like slaves to get the capstan fixed to the bars driven in between crevices in the bed rock, while stays were fixed to blocks of coral, which lay here and there as they had been swept by the earthquake wave.

The consequence was, that by noon, when the great heat had produced exhaustion, the capstan had been moved three times, and, thanks to the level ground, the lugger had glided steadily nearly as many cables'

lengths nearer the sea.

"Do it?" cried the mate, suddenly, as they sat resting and waiting till the men had finished their mid-day meal. "Of course we shall do it."

"Well," said Oliver, laughing, "no one said we shouldn't."

"No," said the mate, "but someone might have thought so."

"Why, you thought so yourself, Mr Rimmer," cried Panton, merrily.

"Yes, I suppose I have been a bit down-hearted about getting her to sea, and it has made me slow over the finishing. But after the way you gentlemen have buckled to, it goes as easy as can be."

"How long do you reckon we shall be?" asked Drew.

"Getting her down, sir? Well, I used to say to myself, if we can manage it in two months I shall be satisfied, but I'm beginning to think about one now."

"Why, we shall do it in a week," cried Oliver.

"A week?" cried the others.

"Well, why not? If we go on as steadily this afternoon and evening as we have this morning, we shall manage to get her along a quarter of a mile, and that's an eighth part of the distance."

"We shall see," said the mate. "We have had all plain sailing so far."

"Yes, but the men get every time more accustomed to the work," said Drew, "and we ought to do more some days."

"Of course," said Panton. "My anxiety is about the blacks."

Work was resumed then, and by dark they all had the satisfaction of feeling that fully five hundred yards of the long portage had been got over, and, as Oliver said, there was no reason whatever why they should not get on quite as far day by day.

There were plenty of rejoicings there that night--"high jinks," Smith called them--but by daylight next morning every man was in his place, and the lugger began to move again.

And so matters went on day after day, in a regular, uneventful way.

There were tremblings of the earth beneath them, and now and then a sharp cracking, tearing sound, as if some portion of the rocky bed below was splitting suddenly open.

At times, too, a heavy report was heard from the direction of the mountain, generally followed by the flight of birds, making in alarm for the south, or the appearance of some little herd of deer, but these matters, like the lurid glow which shone nightly in the clouds above the volcano, had grown so familiar that they ceased to command much attention, and the work went steadily on.

It had to be checked, though, from time to time, for there were occasions when difficulties arose as to the proper fixing of the capstan from the want of hold in the rock, or the failing of blocks to which ropes could be secured, necessitating the driving down of crowbars into some crack in the stone.

At these times, when Mr Rimmer knew almost at a glance that some hours must elapse before the half-dozen for whom there was room to work would complete their task, advantage was taken of the opportunity for a hunting expedition in the nearest patch of forest, or for a party to go down to the lagoon, cross it to the reef, and spend the time with better or worse luck fishing with lines, or collecting the abundant molluscs which formed a dainty addition to their food.

And at last, a month of exactly four weeks from the day they began, the lugger stood up near to the end of the two-mile land voyage, close to the sands, with the cocoa-nut grove beginning on either side, just at the edge of the land which had not been swept by the earthquake wave.

That afternoon there was a desperate fight with the soft, yielding sand, into which the well-worn bearers and blocks used under the lugger's keel kept on sinking so deeply that it seemed as if fresh means must be contrived for getting the boat quite to the water's edge.

"I'm about done," said Mr Rimmer, as he stood with a huge mallet in his hand; "this sand gives way directly. We shall have to get her back and make for the cocoa-nut trees, but I doubt whether they will bear the strain if we get a cable and blocks at work."

"But look here," said Oliver, "I'm not a sailor, but it seems to me--"

He stopped short, and Mr Rimmer looked at him smiling, but Oliver remained silent.