Mother Carey's Chicken Part 7

"Yes, it does now," said the first-mate. "Here, Billy Widgeon, Small, you come and try."

The boatswain and the little sailor both lay down in different places on the cases and bales and listened, but only to rise up and declare that the sound came from quite a different direction.

"Hang it all!" cried the first-mate; "it isn't a question of amount of cargo to unstow, but of time before we get at the miserable wretch.

Now, what right has a man to come and hide down here, and upset the whole cargo and crew!"

"My dear Gregory," cried the second-mate, "do let's begin somewhere."

"Yes, but where, my lad--where? Listen again. There, it's further in-- ever so much."

"Sounds like it," a.s.sented the second-mate. "Here, stop your noise!"

This last was consequent upon a dismal howl uttered by Bruff, who felt himself aggrieved at being left alone.

"Here, here!" cried Mark excitedly, and, raising his hands, he took the dog as he was pa.s.sed down by the sailors. "Stop a minute, Mr Gregory, my dog will smell him out."

"Bravo, boy!" cried the first-mate, as Bruff was set down, no light-weight, on the stowed-in cargo. "Good dog, then!"

"Hush!" cried Mark, whose heart was beating painfully.

"Silence there!" cried Mr Small.

"Now, Bruff, old boy, listen."

There was utter silence for quite a minute, and then, as the chill of dread deepened, and it seemed as if the hidden man had fainted, the moaning arose once more, but certainly more feebly.

Mark was kneeling and holding Bruff with a hand on each side of the collar, and as the piteous moan arose the dog uttered a sharp bark.

"Good dog, then! Find him, boy!" cried Mark; and as the moaning continued, the dog went scuffling and scratching over the cargo, snuffing here and there, and uttering a bark from time to time.

"No, no, not there," cried the second-mate.

"Let the dog be," said the first; and the result was that Bruff suddenly stopped a dozen yards away from them toward the forecastle, and began scratching and barking loudly.

"It can't be there," said Small, creeping over the packages till he was beside the dog, and then quieting him as he listened. "Yes; it is!" he cried. "You can hear him as plain as plain."

The first-mate came to his side, and confirmed the a.s.sertion; the second-mate endorsed his brother officer's opinion; and now began the terrible task of dragging out the closely fitted-in lading of the ship, so as to work right down to where the poor wretch had concealed himself.

It seemed to Mark's uninitiated eyes to be a task which would take days, but the men set-to with willing hands under the first-mate's guidance, and package after package was hauled out by main force, and sent on to the deck above, till quite a cutting was formed through the cargo.

Every now and then the work was stopped for one of the officers to listen, and make sure that they were working in the right direction, and this precaution was not without its results in the saving of labour, for the faint moanings, more plainly heard now that a portion of the cargo was removed, seemed to be a little more to their right.

Mark Strong's first sensation, after the dog had thoroughly localised the place of the man's imprisonment, was a desire to go right away, to get off the ship and go ash.o.r.e, where he could be beyond hearing of those terrible moans; but directly after he found himself thinking that it would be very cowardly, worse still that the chief mate and this Mr Morgan would look upon him as being girlish. The result was that he crept along over the top of the cargo on his hands and knees to just beyond the place where the men were working, and seating himself there, with Bruff between his legs, he watched the progress of the search.

It was a curious experience to a lad fresh from school, and the aspect of the place added to the horror of knowing that a fellow-creature was perhaps dying by inches beneath the sailors' feet. Where he sat the beams and planks of the lower deck were only about four feet above his head, and to right, left, and behind him all was thick darkness, faintly illumined by the yellow light of a couple of swinging lanthorns, which shed a curious ghastly halo all around; sixty feet away was the great hatch, down which came the light of day; and between this and where Mark sat, the dark figures of the busy sailors were constantly on the move in a way that looked weird in the extreme. Now, half of them were out of sight fastening the hooks and loops of the tackle to some bale; then there was a loud "yoho-ing," and, with creaking and rasping, the great package was dragged away into the patch of daylight, which it darkened for a few moments, and then disappeared to the deck.

For the first few minutes Mr Gregory--"Old Greg," as the sailors called him--stormed and raved about the labour and waste of time; but soon after he was at work as energetically as any man in the crew, and in the intervals of a great package being secured he kept coming to where Mark sat with his dog.

"Rough work this, my lad, isn't it?" he said every time, and as he spoke his hand went unconsciously to Bruff's head to rub and pat it.

Then he was off again, giving orders which package to take next, and securing the loops of the rope-tackle himself.

"Now, all together my lads," he shouted, and away went the load.

It was dreary work, and yet full of excitement, for the men toiled on with terrible energy, for there was the knowledge that though a great deal of cargo had been removed, the moans of the poor wretch were being heard less plainly.

It was Mr Morgan who now came to where Mark was seated, and he too began to pat and rub Bruff's head.

"No, my lad," he said, in answer to a question, "we can do no more than we are doing. If we got more hands at work they would be in each other's way."

He was panting with exertion as he spoke, and began to wipe his brow.

"It's a horrible set out. The man must have been mad to hide himself there."

"But you'll get him out?"

"Yes, we shall get him out," said the young officer; "but I'm growing sadly afraid that he'll die from sheer fright before we reach him."

"But you will keep on?"

"Keep on, my lad! Yes, if we have to empty the hold. Why, what sort of savages do you think us?"

He hurried away, and after a lapse Mr Gregory came.

"Help? no, my boy--poor old doggie then! Good old man!--no, you can't help. If I set you to hold a lanthorn, you'd be in somebody's way. We can't half of us work as it is, for want of room. It's a sad job."

As he spoke he kept on caressing Bruff, who rolled his stupid great head from side to side with evident enjoyment, while, in spite of the horror of what was going on, Mark could not help a feeling of satisfaction at the way in which his dog was growing in favour.

One hour--two hours--three hours must have gone by, and still the men toiled on at their fearfully difficult task, one which seemed to grow more solemn as they went on.

"Can't hear a sound, my lad," said the first-mate; "and I think we'll try the dog again. Come along, old chap."

Mark loosened his hold on the dog, and he followed the mate and was lifted down into the great cavernous hole the men had made, while a lanthorn was held so that they could watch his proceedings.

Bruff did not leave them long in doubt, but began snuffing at one side, close to the end, following it up by scratching and whining.

"That'll do," shouted the first-mate hoa.r.s.ely. "Come, my lad. That's it. Good old dog, then!"

He lifted Bruff out and pa.s.sed him up to Mark, who leaned over and listened as in the midst of a deep silence Mr Gregory slapped the side of a case.

"Now, then, where are you?" he shouted.

There was no reply; and he shouted again and again, but without effect.

"At it you go, my lads," he said, drawing in his breath with a hiss.

"He must be in here; the dog says so."

"Ay, ay, sir!" rose in chorus, and the task was resumed with fresh energy, and but for the careful management of the two officers there must have been a fresh mishap, the sailors being rather reckless and ready to loosen packages whose removal would have caused the sides of the heaps to come crumbling down in a cargo avalanche, to cause disaster as well as delay.

Another hour had pa.s.sed and Bruff had been had down four more times, always after his fashion to show where the man they sought must be, but still there was no result to their task, and Mark felt a blank sensation of despair troubling him, for he could see that the first-mate was beginning to lose faith in the dog's instinct, though there had for long enough past been nothing to prove that he was wrong, not so much as a sigh being heard.