Mother Carey's Chicken Part 38

This altered the shape of the fire, but the ship blazed on, the size of the conflagration seeming less as the distance increased, but still flaming plainly on the horizon, till just at daybreak a low cloud seemed to come sweeping over the sea, borne on a sighing breeze, which faintly rippled the surface, and as this enveloped them the glow astern was blotted out and a soft rain began to fall.

As it grew lighter the rain became more heavy, and at last it came down in a perfect deluge, increasing so in violence that before long one of the men was set to work with the baler emptying the water out that collected under the thwarts.

It was a depressing time, for as the hours pa.s.sed on, the rain never ceased for a moment, but kept on in a regular tropic deluge; while, in spite of food and stimulants, exhaustion and suffering from their wounds told more and more, till one by one the men gave up, and the boat at last drifted with the swift current into which they had been drawn.

A short consultation was held between the heads, and failing observations, it was decided that it would be better to make for the island off which the ship had been becalmed; but even that desperate resolve had now to be given up, for the strength of all seemed gone, and the current set in, as far as they could judge, the opposite direction.

"We can do nothing, major," said the captain at last; "nothing now but trust in G.o.d and hope for the best."

"Amen!" said the major quietly, and he calmly took his turn at the baling, which had now become the one task undertaken, so as to keep the boat clear of water.

Night came slowly as they drifted on, but it came at last--a densely dark night, with the rain still falling; and in spite of their being in the tropics, the cold and suffering, as they all sat in their saturated garments wishing for the cessation of the rain, was terrible; and how those hours next pa.s.sed none seemed to know, for they were utterly stupefied with weariness and exhaustion.

Morning at last, and with the break of day the rain partially ceased, for its violence was not so great, but it kept falling; and now to add to their peril a gusty wind came from astern as the sun began to rise.

It was plain to all on board that if the surface became rough their boat must sink. For she was so heavily-laden that the s.p.a.ce of side above the water was small indeed. Under the circ.u.mstances Captain Strong decided to raise the little lug-sail neatly rolled round its mast, and this latter being stepped, the sail was unfurled, and in a few minutes they were gliding rapidly on, shipping a little water from time to time, but no more than could be easily mastered and kept down.

Where to steer was not in their choice. All that could be done was to keep the gig afloat, and to this the captain and mate directed all their energies.

Food was distributed, and of water they felt no want, their saturated garments having quenched all thirst; but matters seemed to grow worse.

Mr Morgan was delirious, and one of the men lay rambling on about some place in London where he meant to have called.

Morning, noon, evening, and the gig rushing on through the broken water with a thick misty rain all around and no chance of making out their whereabouts.

"Shall we be saved?" said Mrs Strong at last in a whisper as, utterly worn out, the captain came at last and sat down between his wife and son.

"Don't ask, my dear," he said calmly. "We have done, and are doing, all that men can do. The rest must be left."

Night came, a night that was even blacker than that which had pa.s.sed, but the rain did not cease nor the sky clear. Everything a hundred yards away seemed to be so much solid darkness; but, on the other hand, the sea grew no rougher, and the wind sent the boat rapidly along.

It must have been about midnight that, as nearly everyone in the gig were plunged in a stupor-like sleep, the first-mate was steering, the boat gliding swiftly through the broken waves. The major sat on one side and Mark on the other talking from time to time in a low voice.

A calm feeling of despair had settled down among them, and when they did speak it was about some indifferent matter, all shrinking from anything concerning their approaching fate, when Mark, who was stooping to pat the poor wounded dog at his feet, where he lay curled in company with shivering Jack, suddenly laid his hand upon Mr Gregory's arm.

"What's that?" he said in a whisper.

"What? I heard nothing," said the major.

"Silence!" cried the mate sternly; and he listened intently to a low roaring noise.

"Breakers!" he said suddenly. "We are near land."

"Land?" cried Mark.

"Yes, my boy. Oh, if it were day!"

The mate changed the course of the boat directly so as to run off to the left, but at the end of five minutes he altered the course again.

"Breakers there too," he said. "We are between them."

"Well, then, quick!" said the major. "Go about and let's turn back."

"My dear Major O'Halloran," said the mate calmly, "if I attempt to go about, the boat will fill instantly and sink. Our only chance is in keeping on."

As he spoke he resumed the course they had been just taking, and now, rapidly increasing in power, the sound of the waves breaking on rocks could be heard to right and left.

"But you don't know where you are going," said the major.

"No, sir. But it is all I can do. Mark Strong, rouse your father; and, major, be prepared to swim right ahead if anything happens."

"What's the good?" said the major calmly. And then, "Shall I wake them, or let them meet it asleep? I'll wake them," he said; and he crept cautiously to arouse Mrs and Mary O'Halloran, as Mark was rousing his father, his mother waking too.

"Breakers?" said the captain. "Well, I have been expecting it for hours. Can you make anything out, Gregory!"

"No, captain. All's like pitch ahead."

The captain uttered a sigh, and as the rest were roused, and realised what was taking place, they received it all with a dull quiet resignation, as if death would be almost welcome now.

The moments pa.s.sed, and right and left the breakers roared, seeming so near that they fancied they saw them, and then as they rode on all at once there was a roar of breaking water right ahead.

But it was impossible to change the boat's course, and sitting stern and with his teeth set, Mr Gregory bent at the tough ash oar, as the boat refused to swerve a little to the right, where he thought the roar of breakers was less loud.

Then, with a shock which seemed to electrify all on board, the keel struck upon a rock, there was a crushing grating sound, a roar of waters, a wave leaped in, deluging all afresh, and the gig rose high in the air, and then plunged down as if into the depths of the ocean never to rise again.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

HOW HELP CAME IN TIME OF NEED.

The shock was so sudden that the half-awakened and helpless occupants of the boat made no effort to move, but clung to the thwarts of the boat, while the mast, with its heavy rain-saturated sail, snapped off short and fell over the side, dragging by its cords, as the boat rose again after its dive, gliding up a hillock of water, halted for a moment on the summit, and then glided down again.

This was repeated two or three times, and each with less violence, after which, to the surprise and joy of all, the little vessel rose and fell easily as the sea undulated, the officers knowing at once that they had struck upon a reef, which they had but just touched, and then had been carried over it into the calm water of a lagoon, where they rocked peacefully and safely, while only a short distance away the waves were thundering upon the coral rock, and fretting and raging as they roared, apparently wroth at not being able to reach their escaping prey.

"No water to signify," said the mate, as Billy Widgeon and Small baled hard till their dippers sc.r.a.ped the bottom without success.

The captain did not speak, but pressed his wife's hand, while for the first time Mrs O'Halloran displayed emotion by taking her half-numbed child to her breast, and sobbing aloud.

The major did not move, but laid one hand on Mark's knee and gave it a firm grip, sighing hard the while, and then there was silence for a time, as the gig rocked easily in the darkness, while the thunderous roar of the breakers grew less violent; and, instead of being deluged with spray as every billow curved over, there was a sensation as of shelter and warmth which pointed to the fact that the boat must have drifted behind rocks as into some channel; but the intense darkness rendered everything obscure.

"Cheer-ri-ly, mates," said a voice suddenly, as a slight splashing was heard. "We're not a-going to be drowned--dead this here time, for I've just touched bottom with the hitcher."

"Now, my lads," said the captain gravely, "our lives have been spared, thank Heaven! and we are to see the light of another day."

There was again silence, with the m.u.f.fled roar of the breakers farther away than ever, and as the boat rocked away slowly with the same gentle motion, the wet, cold, and misery were forgotten by one after another, the darkness helping, the occupants of the little craft dropped off to sleep, one of the last being Mark.

Cramped, faint, and miserable, the lad woke at last with a start, to lie with his eyes open staring straight up at the blue sunlit sky, his mind for the time being a perfect blank. In fact it was some minutes before he realised that he was in the bottom of the boat, with his head resting upon Bruff's curly coat, and that Jack was huddled up close to him staring down into his face with an inquiring look, which, being interpreted, really meant, Where is the food?

Mark struggled up so painfully that he felt ready to lie down again; but he persevered and knelt in the bottom of the boat, to see as strange a sight as had ever before met his eyes. For, in spite of their cramped positions, every soul on board was sleeping heavily, the men in the bottom of the boat forward making pillows of each other, the tired ladies clinging together in the stern, and the officers amidships--the extreme stern with its limited s.p.a.ce having been left to Mark, Bruff, and the monkey.