Midnight Webs Part 22

STORY TWO, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

Now you might have thought that, under all circ.u.mstances, these four pa.s.sengers would have been as thick as possible together; but no; Mr Bell seemed to have an idea of what Mr Ward's feelings were, and though polite and pleasant, that was all; and though Miss Bell never showed a sign of giving him a friendly look, I couldn't help thinking that she did not quite dislike the young doctor.

That evening we had an amba.s.sador from the fore-cabin in the shape of the fat pa.s.senger, who brought a message to say that they wanted water below. We let him come up after they had knocked at the hatch for some time, but all we could do was to pa.s.s him on with the message to Van, who swore out something, but would give no farther answer; while as to going back, the messenger would not think of that. And our force was strengthened, so Mr Ward said, but I only thought of the meat tins and biscuit.

Night again, and we set our watch, wondering whether we should get through it alive, for it was like living over one of those volcanoes, I thought. There might be an explosion at any time; and though I didn't make any show of my trouble, I was a good deal worried; and as for them as had been wounded, they seemed suffering as much as me.

Mr Ward had the first watch, with Bill Smith and Mr Tomt.i.t; and when he woke me up, it was from a pleasant dream of home. But he reported all right; and with Sam Brown and Mr Bell for my mates, we began the second watch.

I said Mr Bell, but really it was his sister, for the poor chap seemed to me to be sinking, though, with the bravest of hearts, he fought against all of it, and held up to the last.

I'd been talking cheerfully to Miss Bell about there being safe to be a vessel cross our course next day, when suddenly she seized my hand, held it tightly, and pointed to something rising slowly up from the cabin skylight. Sam Brown must have seen it at the same moment, for he left the wheel, and the vessel fell off before the wind.

"What's that?" whispered Miss Bell; and do you think I could speak? Not a word; for there, slowly making itself known, was an enemy which I had never counted upon seeing, and I couldn't help giving a groan, as I felt that now we should be beaten indeed.

Accident, or done on purpose, I could not tell, but the ship was on fire, and the smoke in a steady column rolling slowly up, while I had hardly roused up the sleeping men, before, with a shout, Van, closely followed by Bra.s.sey and the other two, came over the p.o.o.p on to the deck.

Fighting seemed no good, after what was taking place before us;--our enmity seeming quite small now before this trouble,--and besides, what was the use of having a struggle for what would probably be burned to the water's edge in the course of an hour or two; so giving way, we slowly backed up under the bulwarks, leaving the mutineers free to act as they pleased.

It was a bad plan, for the first thing they did was to loosen the men in the forksel, when out they came yelling and savage, but only to stand and stare for a few moments at the smoke rolling up through the tarpaulin, which now began to blaze.

That it was an accident, was now plain enough, for, taking no notice of us, they began, in a hurried sort of way, to draw buckets of water and throw over it; then two men got to one of the pumps, but what they did seemed a mere nothing. Then a panic seemed to seize them, and throwing down the buckets, they began busily to get one of the boats ready, throwing in a compa.s.s and anything they could lay hands on, some fetching rum and biscuit up out of the cabin, and all in a hurried frightened way, as if not a moment was to be lost, and they might expect the ship to blow up any minute.

All at once Mr Ward darts forward, shouting, "Lend a hand here, and we shall save her yet!" and for the next quarter of an hour no one would have thought there had been a mutiny, for we were all working away side by side against what was an enemy to both parties; and bucket after bucket was poured into the burning hole, but with no more effect than if the buckets had been thimbles.

The fire and smoke came rolling up, and rising higher and higher, while, as if to fan the flames, a sharp wind blew seemingly from all four quarters at once, making the flames roar again; and first one and then another threw his bucket into the fire, and began running below for provisions to put in the two boats.

I think Mr Ward was the last man to drop his bucket; and that was when the flames had risen and risen in a column of fire to lick the rigging, and then began leaping from rope to rope, and sail to sail, till the mizen was one blaze of light, brightening the sea far and wide, till it looked like so much golden oil, without a ripple upon it anywhere.

They soon had one boat lowered, and were busy over the other, getting in everything that they thought would be useful, we all helping; and it was in this boat that Van seemed to intend going; for, letting Bra.s.sey take charge of the other, and telling him to push off and lay-to, he kept back four of his party, and helped with a will.

All at once I missed Mr Tomt.i.t; but he appeared directly after; and I knew what he had been doing--letting loose his birds; and there were the poor little things fluttering about, and uttering strange cries, as they circled round and round the flames, some only to scorch themselves and fall in; but, as he said, it was better to set them free, than leave them there in their cages to be burned.

At last the boat seemed to contain all that could be put in, and Van's four men were waiting, when the fat pa.s.senger, who was all in a tremble, stepped forward to get down; but Van shoved him back, saying, "Ladies first;" and, crossing to where Miss Bell was kneeling beside her brother, he caught her roughly round the waist, lifted her, and made towards the side, when she shrieked out to me to save her.

"Best go in the boat, miss," I had half said, when, like as I supposed she did, I seemed to see through Van's designs, and stepping forward, there was a short scuffle, and I had the panting bird tight in my arms; while, before any one could take a step to stay him, Van slipped over the side into the boat, and stood up in her, shaking his fist at us, and laughing, like a demon as he was, as he told us to "burn and be d.a.m.ned."

It was hard to realise it at first; but there were both boats rowing slowly away, plainly to be seen in the golden light shed by the flames; and we eight souls, one a fair delicate woman, left to burn upon that roaring furnace of a ship.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

I don't care who the man may be, but it is a hard struggle for any one to see two roads open to him, the first leading to life, and the second to a horrible death, and for him to force himself to take the last one.

I'm not going to blame Sam, nor I ain't a-going to blame Bill Smith. It was only natur's first law, when Sam says to me just one word, and give his head a nod seaward. "Hot!" says he; and he took a header off the ship's side, and strikes out towards the last boat. Then, "Come along, matey," says Bill; and he takes his header, and swims arter the boat-- and that was two gone. As for Mr Tomt.i.t, he was so taken up with his poor birds, that he didn't seem to care a bit about hisself, till I goes up to him and says:

"Hadn't you better try and make the last boat, sir?"

"Make the boat, my man?" he says in a puzzled sort of way. "No; I don't think I could make a boat."

"Swim arter it, then," I says.

"No," he says mournfully; "I can't swim a stroke."

"More shame for you," I says. And then I felt so savage, that I goes up to the fat pa.s.senger as was sitting crying on the deck of course, and I says, says I, giving him a sharp kick:

"Get up," I says, "will you! You're always a-crying."

"O, Mr Roberts," he says, blubbering like a calf--"O, Mr Roberts, to come to this!"

"Go overboard, then," I says savagely; "for now you've pumped all that hot water out of your hold, you can't sink."

Now all this time the fire was roaring away, and sending a glow in all directions for far enough round, while the sparks kept on dropping like a shower. It was a beautiful sight in spite of the horror; and I couldn't help looking at it a minute, till I turned round and saw Mr Ward standing quite still, looking down upon Miss Bell, who was on her knees by her brother's side. But as I was looking, she got up pale and quiet, and looked first at me, and then at Mr Ward, and then she says quickly:

"Why do you both waste time? Why do you not swim after the boat?"

"And you?" said Mr Ward in a slow husky way.

She did not answer, only turned for a moment towards where her brother lay with his head on a cushion, and pointed to him with a sad smile, and then, holding out her hand to me as she sank upon her knees again by her brother's side, she said:

"G.o.d bless you, Mr Roberts! Good-bye."

I took her pretty little white hand, and kissed it, and then stood back; for she held out her hand to Mr Ward; and he took it and kissed it, and then sank on his knees by her side, holding her hand tightly; and when she said once more, "Go!" he only smiled and kissed her hand again.

It was so still, in spite of the fluttering roar of the flames, that I could hear every word he said, as he almost whispered to her: "Eady, darling, I'll never leave you."

The next moment her face was down in her other hand, and I could see that she was sobbing, so, feeling all wet-eyed myself, I turned away, when if there wasn't that fat pa.s.senger blubbering away more than ever!

"Get up, will you," I says; "I never did see such a thundering swab in my life as you are." But all he says was: "O, Mr Roberts!"

All at once I heard Miss Bell give a great cry; and, turning round, I saw that Mr Bell had started up, and she was clinging to him: then he held out his hand to Mr Ward; but before he could take it, the poor fellow fell back. He was free of his trouble.

Now you know I wouldn't have cared if that there fat pa.s.senger would only have kept out of my way; but there, the more trouble one was in, and the more he was wanted out of the way, the more he piped his eye, and got just where you didn't want him. He always was a nuisance from the day he first came on board, and to make it more aggravating, he would look just as if he was made on purpose to kick.

"Why won't you get out of the way?" I says; for all this time I'd been turning over in my own mind a way to get out of the burning, if we could, and there was that great fat chap a-sitting on a hencoop that I wanted.

"O, Mr Roberts!" he whines again. And he cries: "O, look there!"

And I did look, when, if there wasn't my two poor mates just coming up to the last boat--we could see it plainly; and if one brute didn't fire at 'em, and another stand up with the boat-hook in his hand, ready to sh.o.r.e the first one under.

"G.o.d help 'em," I says, "for I can't;" and then, Mr Ward helping me, we got a couple of loose spars overboard, and some rope to lash with, and a couple of hencoops; and as fast as Mr Ward, and Tomt.i.t, and the fat pa.s.senger, who seemed to have been warmed into life by the fire--as fast as they lowered the stuff down, I, who was over the side, lashed it together, to make something like a raft.

I couldn't do much; there wasn't time, for the fire gained upon us; and now there was no one at the helm, the ship had swung round so that the smoke and flame all came our way. I felt, too, that it was only to make life last another day or two, for there was no getting at any prog, as there wasn't a sc.r.a.p of anything in the forksel; for I went down to see when I first thought of the raft. However, I shouted to them to lower down the water-breaker by the foremast, and they did, and then Mr Tomt.i.t came over the side, and the fat pa.s.senger rolled down somehow, and I shook my head, for the raft went low on his side. And now there was only Mr Ward and Miss Bell to come, and partly by coaxing, partly by dragging, he had got the poor girl to the side, when she turned her head to take another look, as I thought, of the poor fellow lying dead there; and as Mr Ward stood there holding her, the pair showing out well in the bright light of the burning ship, I could not help thinking what a n.o.ble-looking couple they made, and then I shouts: "Lower away, sir;" when, as if startled by my words, Miss Bell darted away from Mr Ward, when in a moment there came a roar as of thunder, the raft heaved and cracked under us, and beat against the side of the ship, while something seemed to strike me down, so that I lay half-stunned upon the grinding coops and spars.

But I contrived to get on my knees, struggling from under some heavy weight, and then, every moment getting clearer, I understood that the ship had blown up, and that Mr Ward must have been dashed from the gangway, and fallen on to me.

And Miss Bell?