Midnight Webs Part 23

I dursn't ask myself the question again, but shoved the raft away, and began to paddle with a piece of board, so as not to be drawn down when the vessel sank. In place of being all bright light, it was now pitch darkness, except just here and there, where pieces of burning wood floated on the water, and then hissed and went out. From being so near, I suppose it was, we escaped anything falling upon us; and feeling pretty safe at last from being drawn down, I was trying to make out the lines of the ship by the smouldering hull beginning again to show a flame here and there, when a husky voice close by shouts out: "Help!

help!"

"Here," I cries, hailing; and the next moment we were lower still in the water, with Bill Smith aboard, and he says, says he: "Tom, I was about done."

"It's only put off another hour or two, Billee," I says. "And where's old Squintums?"

"On your weather-bow," says a gruff voice, and then we went down another two inches with Sam aboard.

Well, there was some comfort in doing one's best to the last; and I began to feel Mr Ward about a bit; but he was coming to fast, and the first thing he wanted to do was to paddle back to the ship; and, thinking that we might pick up some pieces to lash to our raft, I gave way, dangerous as it was, though a very small sight worse than our present position. So we paddled up to the smoking ma.s.s, that I expected would settle down every moment, and then, getting hold of the side rope, Mr Ward and I got on deck.

It was not dark, for there was a little flame here and there, and in some places there was the glow of a lot of sparks, but we hadn't come to look for that; and, as we stood there forward amongst the smoke, I felt my heart heave, as, with a groan that seemed to tear out of his chest, Mr Ward threw himself down by the figure he was looking for.

She seemed to have ran back to throw herself upon her brother's body, and there she was, with her arms round him, and though pieces of burning wood lay all about, she did not seem to have been touched.

It was a sad sight, and in spite of all our troubles, I had a little corner left for the young fellow, who had clasped her in his arms, when he started up with a cry of joy.

"Here--water, Roberts, quick!" he cried; and almost as he spoke, Miss Bell gave a great sigh, and we gently lowered her on to the raft, when, getting hold of a bit of burning bulwark floating near, I squenched it out, and managed to lash it to us, so as to ease one side. Then we paddled slowly away, and lay by waiting for the morning, to get together more fragments, and make a better raft.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER NINETEEN.

Morning came bright as ever, and I gave a bit of a laugh as I saw Mr Ward and Miss Bell sitting tight hold of hands; for, in place of seeming to fear him, she was now looking up to him as if for protection. Sam and Bill, poor chaps, were in a queer state, for when they had reached the boat, Van had struck at them with the boat-hook, till they had turned and swum back; and now they lay on the raft with their poor heads seeming to ask Mr Ward to come and help them; and, with Miss Bell to a.s.sist him, he did all he could for them.

The boats were nowhere in sight; but just about a quarter of a mile from us lay the ship, smoking and burning just a little, her p.o.o.p and midships a deal shattered, main and mizzen gone, and lying alongside, but foremast standing with nearly all the rigging. As to the fore-part, it did not seem much damaged; and, as she hadn't sunk so far, it struck me as she wouldn't sink at all while it kept calm; so, Mr Ward being of my opinion, we paddled our raft back once more. We two got aboard with Mr Tomt.i.t; and what with one of the pumps left rigged, and a bucket or two, we found we got out pretty well every spark and bit of flame we could find; made our examination amongst the black steaming ruin, and found that the powder on board, or whatever it was, must have taken an upward direction, and blown a good half of the deck off. Still, so far as we could see, there was no fear of her sinking; so, clearing a spot forward, we began to think of getting the others aboard.

But, first of all, we got a bit of sailcloth, and laid it over the poor gentleman as lay there stiff and stark, so as not to distress his sister.

Now the fat pa.s.senger had offered to help us, and no doubt would have done his best; but hang me if he could any more mount the side of the Sea-mew than fly. He panted and puffed for a bit, but that was all, and then he sat down again on the raft, puffing and talking to Miss Bell when he could get her to speak, which wasn't often. As for Bill and Sam, poor chaps, they couldn't hold a head up; and I was very glad when we'd got a bit of an awning rigged up, and Miss Bell on board and underneath it.

Next thing to be done was to find some biscuit and water, Mr Ward said, for they'd finished what was in the breaker, the two poor chaps being that thirsty they kept asking for it, and Miss Bell not having the heart to refuse. So Mr Ward said water; but, speaking for myself, I said rum. After a long hunt, we found, just where we should never have thought to see it, a tin of preserved meat, and had a hard fight to open it, but we managed that; and then I was in luck soon after, and turned up a bag of biscuits, half burned and smoked, half sound; while a little hard work laid bare a water-cask, and I filled the breaker.

It was quite warm, that water was, but in our state every drop was so much bottled joy, and after a good hearty draught, I was ready for any amount more work.

So, after forgetting them for some time, I goes up the foremast, and had a good look out for the two boats; but not a sight of them could I see, after a good half-hour's watch; when I came down, and helped Mr Ward and Mr Tomt.i.t to get all the burned wood overboard.

Now, done up as we were, it wasn't reasonable to expect a vast deal of work done; but we kept steadily on till it was dark, when we finished the tin of meat, had a biscuit and some water apiece, settled that I was to keep the first watch; and then, without a mutineer within reach, the others lay down to rest, for we had settled, Mr Ward and me, that Mr Bell should be buried at daybreak.

Well, I took my place, and helped myself to a quid, leaned over the bulwark, and watched the clear bright stars, now in the sky, now as I saw them shining in the water, and then I got asking myself questions about how it was all to end, when I thought I should be more comfortable sitting down. So, picking out a spot, I began to reckon up how long it would be before I must call Mr Ward to relieve me; and then I thought that he'd feel as bad as I did, and want Mr Tomt.i.t to relieve him, and then he'd watch till daybreak, when he'd relieve the birds, and Mr Ward would put a piece of fresh bandage round the turtle-dove's head, and if the fire broke out again, the fat pa.s.senger would cry upon it till Miss Bell boxed his ears, when he'd relieve me, and I should--no, I shouldn't--yes, I should--

I started, saying to myself "I was nearly asleep," when I took a fresh turn at my quid, and Mr Ward asked me if I'd marry him and Miss Bell, and the fat pa.s.senger could give them away, and then go and sit on the raft with me, and sink it down, and down, and down, and always going down, and lower and lower; and instead of its getting darker and darker, it got lighter and lighter, and there seemed a warm glow as from the sun, only it was the water so far down seemed to choke; and I told Mr Ward I didn't think it quite proper, but I'd marry them if the fat pa.s.senger would not give them away, but get out of the way--and--avast, then--avast, then--yes, what?--all right--

"The fire has burst out again!" cried Miss Bell.

And that just while I closed my eyes for half a minute.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY.

You see there's that in a fire, that it never knows when it is beaten: you drive it down in one place, and it comes up in another, just where you least expect it; while, after such a shock as we had had, there was nothing surprising in our feeling as most people do when there's a fire in a ship with a mixed cargo--afraid of an explosion. There were the flames towering up again quite fiercely and always in the most savage way, just out of our reach.

But if the flames could be savage, I felt that I could too, for, you see, I looked upon it as my fault, for sleeping at my post, when I ought to have seen the first flash out. So I got down amongst the smoke and steam, and as they handed me buckets of water, I placed them well, and by degrees we got the fire under again. It was just about daybreak as we turned all the glow and flame into blackness, half hidden by steam; but even then we daren't leave off, for another such outbreak would have made an end of us. Even now, most of the cargo seemed destroyed, and it was cruel work, for everything fought against us except the weather, which certainly did keep clear and calm, or we must have gone to the bottom. But, as I said, it did seem such cruel work to have things, that we were ready to die for the want of, destroyed before our eyes.

We were all worn out; but sooner than run any more risks, we kept on pouring water here and there, till it seemed quite impossible for fire to break out again; and there we were at last with the ship our own, what there was of it; but though there was a good-sized piece of the fore-deck left, and a little round the wheel, the only way to get from stem to starn was by climbing down amongst the burned rubbish, and then making your way through it till you reached the p.o.o.p.

By means of a little hunting about, though, we managed to get at some provisions, and among other things a cask of pork, with the top part regularly cooked. We got at water, too, and some rum; and then it didn't seem to matter, danger or no danger, fire breaking out or mutineers coming back, sleep would have its way, and one after the other we dropped off, the fat pa.s.senger in a corner, and Mr Tomt.i.t with his legs dangling down over the burned hold.

I talked to Miss Bell and Mr Ward afterwards about my having neglected my duty, but they would hardly hear a word about it; and now I found that though we had all slept, Miss Bell had been awake and watching; but now she went into the sort of tent we had rigged her up; and Mr Ward having the same thing in his head as I had, we went and had a talk together, and an hour afterwards we had poor Mr Bell neatly wrapped in a piece of sailcloth, with some iron stanchions and bolts at the feet, and lying decently waiting for Miss Bell to wake again.

She came out of her tent at sundown, looking pale and haggard; and as soon as she saw what we had been about, the tears began to roll down her cheeks, and she came and knelt down by her brother's head and joined her hands.

I did not want the sign Mr Ward made me to do as him and Mr Tomt.i.t did, and there we knelt for some time on that calm, solemn sort of evening, with the ship just gently rolling on what seemed a sea of orange. There wasn't a breath of wind stirring, but all was quiet and peaceful, with only Miss Bell's sobs and the twittering of birds to break the stillness.

I don't think I said so before, but there were a many of the birds escaped the fire, and perched about on the deck and the rigging of the foremast; and when Mr Ward and I had gently lifted the body of the poor gentleman on to a hatch by the side, we drew back, and knelt down again, thinking Miss Bell might like to say a prayer aloud before we gave the body a sailor's funeral, when one of Mr b.u.t.terwell's robin-redb.r.e.a.s.t.s hopped down upon the deck, and then giving a flit, perched right upon the dead man's breast, and burst out into its little sad mournful song, making even my poor old battered heart swell and swell, till I was 'most as bad as the fat pa.s.senger, whose complaint I must have caught. I can't tell you how much there seemed in that little bird's sad song, but it was as if it took you back into the far past, and then again into the future; and weak as the little thing was, it had a strange power over all of us there present.

As if that robin had started them, the sparrows began to twitter just as though at home in the eaves; a thrush, far up on the fore-to'gallant yard, piped out a few notes; and a lark flew up and out over the glorious sea, and fluttered and rose a little way, singing as it went, just as if it were joining with the others in a sort of evening hymn.

And now it was that Mr Ward made a sign to me, just as he'd told me he would; and I got up and went softly to raise the head of the hatch, to let the burden it had on it slowly slip into the golden water. But with a faint cry, Miss Bell started forward, seeing what I meant, and half throwing herself upon the long uncouth canvas-wrapping, she sobbed and cried fit to break her heart.

It was a sad sight, and there was not a man there who did not feel for the poor girl. I felt it so much myself that I was glad to turn away; and there we all waited till the sun dipped down below the waves, lower and lower, till he was gone, and a deep rich purple darkness began to steal over the sea. From golden orange the sky too turned from red to a deep blue, with almost every colour of the rainbow staying where the sun had gone down. Then it grew darker and darker, with star after star peeping down at us, and the smooth sea here and there rippled by a soft breeze that came sighing by.

And now it was that Miss Bell's sobs seemed to have stopped, and, leaning over her, I saw that she had gently slipped away, so that only her poor white arm lay across the body, and when Mr Ward gently lifted it, her head sank lower and lower, and we knew that her grief had been too strong for her, and she had swooned away.

I've been at more than one sailor's funeral, which has a certain sadness about it that seems greater than what, you know ash.o.r.e, but this seemed to me the worst I had ever had to do with. Trouble seemed to have been heaped upon trouble, and though in the heat and excitement of a storm or a fight you often go very near death, yet you don't seem to fear it as you do at a time like this was, when, as I stood over that bit of canvas, it seemed to me that I was nearer to my end than I had ever felt in all the dangers I had been through before.

It was growing darker and darker; the birds had all stopped their twittering, and I was thinking and thinking, when in a slow sad way Mr Tomt.i.t got up, and came and stood over the corpse, and tried to speak, but his voice seemed choked. He went on after a minute or two, though, and said, in a quiet deep voice, a short and earnest prayer, one that I had never seen in a book, nor heard before or since; and in it he prayed the great G.o.d of all people, who had seen the sufferings of this our poor brother, to take him to Himself, even as we committed his poor decaying body to the great deep--the Almighty's great ocean, upon which we poor helpless ones now floated--thanking Him for His preservation of us so far, and praying that His protection might be with us evermore.

And he prayed too that as it had pleased G.o.d to bereave the sorrowing sister, might it please Him to put it into the heart of every man present to be a new brother and protector to the weeping one, even, were it necessary, unto death.

And then there was a great silence fell upon us all; then came a slow grating sound, a soft rustle as I raised the hatch, and a heavy splash in the water, which broke up into little waves and flashes of light, to die away again into darkness.

There was more than one deep sob heard there that night from out of the darkness; and though dark, it was not so black but we could see Miss Bell at Mr Tomt.i.t's feet, holding his hand as he bent over her, and she seeming to be kissing and crying over it.

No one seemed to care to move for a long, long time, but at last Miss Bell's dress rustled softly as she glided away to her tent, and then Mr Tomt.i.t went and leaned over the side. And mind, I do not call him by that name from any disrespect, for, though we had all been ready to laugh at him for his looks and ways, there was not a man there but would have gone and gladly shaken the hand which Miss Bell had kissed; and I felt vexed myself for not feeling before how good a heart the man must have who had so great a love for all of G.o.d's creatures, that he would risk his life even for his birds.

That was a sad, sad night, though the ship seemed lighter now that there was no longer death on board; and I was in such a low miserable state, that I did what seemed to me to be the only thing I could do that night,--I went and sat down beside the fat pa.s.senger.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

We had no time for sadness and sorrow; there was too much to be done. I would not fly a signal at the mast-head, for fear of its bringing back the mutineers; for, though it did not seem likely that it would, I did not wish to run any risk. But with the help of Mr Ward and the others, I set to, and we made a good strong raft, and provisioned it, in case of a change of weather, for, though keeping us up well now, I felt sure that a fresh wind must send the ship to the bottom. All I thought would be of use to us I got on the raft; and I spent a many days lashing on a cask here and a spar there, and even rigged up a little mast with a lug-sail, and had an oar or two for steering. I couldn't get myself away from that raft, feeling to want to make it perfect, which it wasn't at all. But there it was, and the best I could make; and day after day we rolled about in the long gentle swell of the great ocean, looking for something to heave in sight.

There was very little to occupy us beyond looking out, for sailing the ship was out of the question, since, if she had careened over, the water would have come pouring in at one of the rents in her side; so we waited on day after day, during which time it seemed to me that a sort of jealous feeling was springing up between Mr Ward and Mr Tomt.i.t, for Miss Bell used to keep away all she could from the young doctor, and sit and talk hour after hour with Mr Tomt.i.t about his birds. But Mr Tomt.i.t, though he used to look pleased, only looked so in a quiet, sad sort of way, and I used to think that he felt it did not mean anything for him; and he'd go and feed his birds afterwards, and sigh as he did it, and always try to be good friends, as far as he could, with Mr Ward.

It was a fine thing for us that we had a doctor on board, for I believe he saved both Bill Smith's and Sam's lives, poor chaps, for they had been sadly mauled about by the mutineers, and for days and days all they could do was to lie still and talk wildly about things. Sam in particular would rouse us all of a night, by shouting out that Van was striking him. But they both got better by degrees.