For Treasure Bound Part 8

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 pa.s.sed 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 weatherbow. 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 G.o.d!"

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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 ag'in. I've heern tell of such things bein' fallen in with, sartaintly; but I never could meet with a man as had act'ally 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 pa.s.sed 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 ag'in now; and I'll go and look after the dinner; for I shall be afraid to go to sleep ag'in 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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sage.

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 l.u.s.tre 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 antic.i.p.ated no such disturbing influence myself; for though I candidly confess I was awfully frightened at the moment, the effect had pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sistance, 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.