The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" Part 13

"That's just how it is with them, sir. There's upwards of a hundred sail of vessels at anchor round about us at this present minute, without a soul aboard to look after 'em. Deserted by all hands, from the skipper to the cabin-boy, and left to take care of themselves while their crews are away making their fortunes--or trying to make them--at the new gold-fields. And those that aren't absolutely deserted are left with only the cap'n aboard to look after 'em. _Your_ crew'll be leaving you before twenty-four hours are pa.s.sed over their heads--unless they're an unusually steady lot--mark my words if they don't."

"And how long has this state of things existed?" I inquired.

"Oh, ever since the discovery of the new gold-field; and that's--let me see--why, about five months," was the reply. "See that full-rigged ship over there--painted green, with white ports--that's the _Sophie Ellesmere_, of Liverpool. Her crew was the first to desert; and it was only last Thursday that I heard her cap'n saying that he had been ready for sea exactly five months on that day. He has written home to his owners to send him out a crew, and he's expecting 'em by the next steamer; the arrangement being that they're to go straight aboard from the steamer, and up anchor and away. But, bless you, sir, they'll never do it; they'll insist upon having a fling ash.o.r.e, for a few days, after their trip out here; and so sure as they get leave to do that, they'll be off, like all the rest."

"And are there no men to be obtained here in place of the deserters?" I asked.

"Lord bless your soul, no, sir! Why, it's a difficult matter to muster hands enough even to unload or load a ship, with labourer's wages up to a pound a day; and the men who are willing to work even at that figure are either the few long-headed ones who prefer a moderate certainty to the chance of ill luck at the gold-fields, or such poor delicate chaps as can't stand the hardships of camp life. But, as to _sailors_, bless you, sir, there ain't _one_ to be had for love or money. Even those who deserted from the _Sophie Ellesmere_ haven't been up there long enough yet to get tired of the life and to want a change."

"Then I suppose this new gold-field is proving pretty rich?" I hazarded.

"Well, if you are to believe all that the newspapers say about it, there must be gold to be had for the trouble of picking it up, almost," was the reply. "And it is certain that at least one man--a sailor he was, too--managed to sc.r.a.pe together ten thousand pounds' worth of gold in the three months. He and three of his mates worked a claim together, and struck it downright rich when they got down to the gravel; one nugget alone that they brought up weighed fourteen hundred and ninety-seven ounces; and though that was the biggest of the lot, it was only one of many big ones. Of course, a 'find' like that goes the rounds of the newspapers, and is made much of and talked about to that degree that people simply go mad with the gold-fever, and rush off to the fields, absolutely certain that they, too, will be equally lucky."

This was serious news indeed; for, as I was then situated, I could ill afford to have the ship lying idle a single day, to say nothing of such a length of time as five or six months. Should I eventually succeed in recovering the treasure, of course even a year or more of enforced idleness would matter nothing; but it was still quite an open question with me whether I should ever see that treasure or not. I had not a shadow of doubt as to the _bona fides_ of the cryptogram. I felt certain that when that doc.u.ment was penned, the treasure was reposing peacefully in the hiding-place described therein; but how was I to know that it lay there still? The writer of the doc.u.ment may not have been the only person acquainted with the secret of the hiding-place; and, in such a case, the probabilities were in favour of the treasure having been unearthed years before either I or my father opened our eyes upon this world. Or it might even have been stumbled upon accidentally. In short, the prospect of its falling into my hands appeared so uncertain, even now that I had gained the clue to its place of concealment, that I felt it would be impossible for me to regard myself or to act otherwise than as a poor man until I should actually find the treasure in my possession. And then, too, I was naturally anxious and eager to settle the question as to whether the treasure still remained hidden or not.

If it did, well and good; if not--if it was not to be found on the spot indicated in the cryptogram, it certainly would not be found at all; and all that would then remain for me to do would be to dismiss the matter from my mind, as I would a feverish dream, and devote myself, heart and soul, to my profession.

The problem which now presented itself to my mind was, how to induce my crew to remain with me? For _inducement_ it would certainly have to be; I could scarcely have them locked up, or put them in irons during our stay in Sydney in order to insure myself against their desertion! I thought the matter over very carefully, both on that first evening of our arrival in Sydney Harbour, and during the subsequent day, after a visit to my consignees had a.s.sured me that the pilot's story in nowise exaggerated the astounding state of things then prevailing in the port, and at length came to the conclusion that I could do nothing. If they chose to remain, well and good; if they elected to go, I had no power to prevent them.

To my astonishment and gratification, however, they took their leave time after time, and always punctually turned up on board again when it had expired; until, when we had been in the harbour nearly a month, and our cargo was almost out, I began to hope that the fellows really meant to stay by me. Then, getting leave to spend Sunday ash.o.r.e, as usual, every mother's son of them--save the mate and Joe Martin--left me. I, of course, at once communicated with the police authorities, acquainting them with the fact of the desertion; and I also offered a substantial reward for the recovery of the men. But it was of no avail; the rascals had gone clean off; and there I found myself, in the same plight as many another shipmaster, locked up in Sydney Harbour for an indefinite period, with no hope whatever of getting away so long as the rush to the gold-fields lasted.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE NEW CREW.

I had been in this unpleasant plight about three weeks, during which the remainder of the cargo had been discharged, the ship ballasted down to her very best sailing trim, and everything made ready for my trip to the Pacific, when one day, as I was wandering aimlessly about the streets, I encountered Sir Edgar and Lady Desmond, who--after a much longer sojourn up-country than they had intended--had returned to Sydney, and were beginning to think seriously of finding their way back to England. They were palpably and unfeignedly delighted to see me again, although they of course sympathised with me in my misfortune, and insisted upon my dining with them that evening, and afterwards accompanying them to the theatre. I suppose they saw that I needed a little cheering up; and I got it, too; for they were more than kind--their genial frankness of behaviour to me was more that of a brother and sister than of mere acquaintances, or even of the usual run of friends; and when I left them next morning after breakfast--for they insisted on my acceptance of their hospitality for the night--I felt more cheerful than I had done since the desertion of my crew. As I shook hands with Sir Edgar on the hotel steps, he said--

"Now, Saint Leger, we are in no hurry to start for a month or two, you know; and we are all quite as eager as ever we were to see the end of this adventure of yours; so if you should succeed in sc.r.a.ping together a crew within, say, the next two months, you may reckon upon us as pa.s.sengers again--that is, if you would care to have us."

"You are more than kind, Sir Edgar," said I, "and I should be delighted to have you; but you appear to have forgotten that my plans include another visit to China before I point the barque's nose for home, even should I succeed in securing the treasure."

"That does not matter a bit, my dear fellow," he laughed. "As I have already told you, we are in no hurry whatever; and, to tell you the truth, Lady Emily seems to enjoy so much better health when at sea than she does when on sh.o.r.e, that I should welcome any excuse plausible enough to keep her on shipboard for two or three months longer. So, if you should succeed in picking up a crew, let me know at once."

It really seemed as though the reappearance of the Desmonds upon the scene had brought good fortune to me; for when I reached the ship and went on board, Forbes met me at the gangway with quite an unwonted expression of delight upon his face, and said--

"I am glad you have come on board so early, sir; for I have actually had a gang of eleven men alongside, who say they are looking for berths."

"Eleven men! _looking for berths_!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, scarcely crediting my ears. "Where are they?"

"They went off up-town again, unfortunately, when I told them you were not on board," replied Forbes. "But I have the address of the boarding-house at which they are staying, and I told them I would let them know when you could see them."

"My dear fellow," I exclaimed, "be off at once, and say that I shall be on board for the remainder of the day, and can see them at any time.

Or, stay--perhaps I had better look in upon them myself; I can manage to drop in upon them in a casual sort of way, that will have less appearance of eagerness and anxiety than would sending especially for them. What did they look like?"

"Well," admitted Forbes, "they _looked_ as rowdy a set of ruffians as I ever wish to set eyes on; but their manners and mode of speaking were those of fairly decent, respectable men. They said that they had been at the gold-fields for the last seven months, and had scarcely made enough to keep themselves; they were consequently tired of their sh.o.r.e life, and had determined to go to sea again if they could meet with a ship and officers to their liking. They were mightily taken with the barque--as of course any man who knew a ship from a washing-tub would be--swore she was the sweetest-looking craft in the harbour; and, when I mentioned your name, said they had heard of you and wouldn't wish to go to sea under a better man. Altogether, if they are only in earnest as to their desire to go to sea again, I do not think you should find much difficulty in securing them, sir."

"Give me their address," said I, "and I will be off after them at once.

This is not a time for fencing and feigning indifference; the fellows know, as well as you or I do, what a haul they will prove to the man who is lucky enough to secure them, so I will not run any risk of losing them by pretending otherwise. If I can persuade them to ship, I will sail to-morrow, short-handed though we should be. I can take the starboard watch myself; and, for the rest, we shall just have to keep an extra sharp eye upon the barometer and the weather, and be careful to snug down if need be in good time, until we again reach China, when we shall probably be able to get another man or two." So saying, I took the address from Forbes, and forthwith started in search of the men. I found them at length, after a somewhat tedious quest, in a most disreputable-looking boarding-house, situate in the most disreputable part of the town. And I am bound to admit that my first impression of the men was that their appearance was in perfect accord with their surroundings. They most undoubtedly were, as Forbes had said, as rowdy-looking a set of ruffians as one would care to meet. Tough, sinewy desperadoes, swarthy as mulattoes by long exposure to the fierce southern sun, with long, dense, tangled thatches of hair mingling with a thick, neglected growth of beard and whisker that permitted scarcely a feature, save the nose and eyes, to be seen, clad in the remains of the inevitable flannel shirt, cord trousers, and knee-boots, with belts about their waists, in which each man carried his revolver and a formidable bowie-knife; the whole topped off with a soft, broad-brimmed, battered felt hat dashed on to the head in a fashion eloquently suggestive of the utmost extreme of recklessness,--I think I never saw a party of men who, under ordinary circ.u.mstances, I would have been less willing to ship as a crew than these. Yet, when I spoke to them, they answered me respectfully, and there was scarcely more than the merest tinge of that defiant independence of manner that their appearance had prepared me to expect. They told me, as they had told Forbes, that they had been working for something like seven months at the gold-fields, and had met with so little success that they were now almost penniless, a result which they attributed to their lack of experience as miners. One of the party remarked grimly that the life of a miner was even worse than that of a sailor; inasmuch as that, with an equal amount of exposure and harder work, it was no unusual thing for them to be reduced to starvation rations. Seven months' experience of this kind, they said, had satisfied them that they were never intended for gold-miners; and they had accordingly left the fields in a body, and tramped to Sydney, determined to revert to their original occupation of seamen, and agreeing to ship together for home in the first craft that took their fancy.

"But," said I, "I am not going directly to England. I am bound to the Pacific for a cargo of sandal-wood, and thence to China, before seeking a freight to England."

"Oh, well," said the fellow who had const.i.tuted himself the spokesman of the party, "that won't make any great difference. The voyage 'll be so much the longer, and we shall have the more money to take up at the end of it. The chief thing with us is to find a comfortable ship and a good skipper, and we're of opinion that if we ship with you, we shall have both. Ain't that so, mates?"

"Ay, ay, judge; that's so, my bully. Them's our sentiments. Right you are, as usual."

In these and similar terse sentences, the men confirmed the remarks of their companion.

The question of wages was then raised, in respect of which I found their demands far more moderate than I had dared to hope; namely, five pounds ten per month for the seamen and the man who undertook to perform the duties of steward, and six pounds ten per month for the cook; each man to receive an Advance of _two_ months' wages upon signing articles. To this I agreed without demur, and then, anxious to strike while the iron appeared to be hot, I suggested that they should sign articles forthwith. A short consultation among themselves followed this proposal, at the end of which they declared themselves quite willing, but stipulated that they should have twenty-four hours clear after signing, in which to provide themselves with an outfit for the voyage.

To this I also a.s.sented, and we then separated, they to make their way to the shipping-office, and I to hurry down to the barque for the necessary papers and cash prior to joining them there.

It was just noon when, the work of signing the articles and paying the advances having been completed, I jumped into a cab to drive to the hotel at which the Desmonds were staying, to acquaint those good people with my latest stroke of luck. They were out, however, as I felt morally certain they would be; so I left a note for Sir Edgar, and then set about the transaction of such small items of business as were necessary prior to going to sea. This, however, amounted to very little, as I had practically completed all my preparations long before; so by five o' clock in the evening I had cleared everything off my hands, and was once more alongside the ship. Here I found a note from Sir Edgar Desmond awaiting me, in which he acknowledged the receipt of my own epistle, and enjoined me to dine with them without fail that evening. This I did; and the upshot of it all was that they decided to complete the trip with me, despite the poor account I felt constrained to give them of my crew, and announced their intention of joining the ship immediately after lunch on the following day.

As I stretched myself out in my bunk that night, and reflected with a sigh of satisfaction that, if all went well, we should be once more at sea in less than twenty-four hours, the disagreeable suspicion for the first time obtruded itself upon my mind that possibly it might prove after all that I had been the victim of a clever swindle, and that I should never see anything more of any of the men to whom I had handed over two months' advance so confidingly. However, about eleven o'clock the next morning, the first of them--William Rogers, the man whom I had shipped as boatswain--put in an appearance alongside, neatly dressed in a new suit of blue cloth, with cap, shirt, and shoes to match; also a brand-new chest and bundle of bedding; and coming on board, quietly went below and proceeded to arrange his belongings for the voyage. I was agreeably surprised at this man's appearance; for whereas when I had shipped him on the previous day, he was ragged, dirty, and unkempt, he was now well-dressed, clean, and palpably fresh from the hands of the barber. Close upon his heels came Jacob Simpson, the cook, who had likewise undergone a renovating process that materially improved his appearance, although as I looked at the man there was a something about him that I did not quite like. For one thing, he seemed to remind me vaguely of somebody else--though who, I could not for the life of me say--who had left an unpleasant impression upon my mind; and, added to this, he was afflicted with an affection of the voice--the result of bush-fever, he informed me--which permitted him to speak only in a hoa.r.s.e whisper. Next came Peter Gale, the man who had undertaken to perform the functions of steward, though he frankly admitted that he knew little or nothing about the duties of the post. But, since a steward we must have, and this man impressed me as being the most quiet and likely man for the berth, I had chosen him, since he had professed his readiness to try his hand and do his best. From this man I learned the pleasing intelligence that the remainder of the men were following him, and would be on board in about a quarter of an hour; so I introduced him to the lazarette, and directed him to obtain the cook's a.s.sistance to break out a fresh barrel of beef, and get a dinner under way for the crew forthwith. About the time named by the steward, the main body made their appearance and came quietly on board. There were eight of them, namely, Hiram Barr and James Mckinley, Americans; Michael O'Connor, an Irishman; Francois Bourdonnais, a Frenchman; Carl Strauss, a German; Christian Christianssen, a Swede; Pedro Villar, a Portuguese; and James Nicholson (nicknamed "San Domingo," from the island in which he was born), a full-blooded negro. They const.i.tuted a distinctly scratch crew, I was compelled to admit, as I watched them coming on board; but they all understood and spoke English; and although, with all their sprucing up, a few of them still wore a somewhat sinister appearance, every man of them was, for a wonder, perfectly sober, and they all bore themselves in a remarkably decent and orderly manner.

Moreover, the eight last enumerated had all shipped as able seamen. In short, while perhaps they were not a crew that I would have selected from choice, I considered myself marvellously lucky in getting even them, and was more than content.

As soon as they were all aboard and had gone below, I sent word for'ard by the steward that they were to employ the interval until dinner-time in "shaking down," and that after dinner we should proceed to rig out the jib-boom and unmoor the ship preparatory to going to sea. Then, leaving Forbes in charge, I went ash.o.r.e and cleared the ship for the Pacific, paid the harbour and other dues, wrote and posted a few letters, and took lunch. Then down on board again, overtaking the Desmond party on the way; when, having shipped them and their somewhat mult.i.tudinous belongings, the windla.s.s was manned, the cable hove short, the topsails sheeted home and mast-headed, the anchor tripped, and we were off, reaching the open sea just in time to see the sun disappear behind the land as we squared away upon a north-easterly course for d.i.c.k Saint Leger's treasure island.

For a time all went merry as a marriage bell; the weather was simply perfect, with blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and gentle breezes, with charming glimpses of lovely tropical islands, day after day, when we reached the Fiji and Friendly Archipelagos and threaded our way through them. To add to the enjoyment of this time, the men were doing their duty in a manner that ought to have satisfied the most exacting of officers, and behaving with a quietness and steadiness of demeanour that was absolutely unexceptionable. They seemed always willing, and always _content_--a phenomenon that I had never hitherto met with on shipboard for longer than the first week after leaving a port.

I was consequently very much astonished when, one dark night, in the middle watch, when we had been at sea rather over a fortnight, Joe Martin, who was at the wheel, took advantage of a momentary pause I made beside him, to address me in the following terms:--

"Beg pardon, cap'n, but could you make it convenient to pitch into me, and give me a most tremenjious blowin' up, and call me a lot of hard names afore all hands, to-morrow, some time in the second dog-watch, if I was to give you an excuse for so doin'?"

"Blow you up? abuse you? before all hands?" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, as soon as my astonishment would allow me to speak. "Why, what in the name of all that is extraordinary do you mean, Martin?"

"Just exactly what I says, sir," was the reply. "The fact is, there's something brewin' in the fo'c's'le, and I want to get to the bottom of it. But I can't, because the men have got the notion into their heads that I'm a bit of a favourite of yours, and they won't trust me. So I want you to pitch into me, hot and heavy, before all hands, to-morrow; and then I'll turn sulky, and start a good growl, and perhaps then they'll say something to me."

"But I don't understand you, Joe," I protested. "The men are the most quiet, willing, contented, well-behaved set of fellows it has ever been my pleasure to sail with; and do you mean to tell me that they are plotting mischief among themselves?"

"Well, sir, they're plottin' _something_, that's certain; and if it ain't mischief, why do they keep me out of it?" argued Joe.

"How do you know--or rather, what makes you suppose they are plotting?"

I asked.

"Why, they're everlastin'ly whispering together," was the reply. "If you'll only take notice, sir, you'll see that there's never a minute, day nor night, but what two or three of 'em has got their heads together, palaverin'. And if ever I goes near and makes a show of chimin' in, the talk's stopped at once and changed to something else.

And away along in the first dog-watch, for an hour or so, the steward 'll come for'ard, and then they'll all be as thick as thieves together, instead of turnin' in and gettin' their sleep, as honest men should. If it's our eight hours out, our chaps slinks off down into the fo'c's'le out o' my way; and if it's our eight hours _in_, the whole watch except me 'll be on deck until pretty nigh on to four bells. Pretends, they do, that the fo'c's'le's so hot they can't sleep. _I_ don't find it too hot to sleep."

"And how do they behave to you?" I asked.

"Oh, as to that," conceded Joe, "I haven't got no fault to find.

They're all civil and friendly enough, exceptin' cookie; _he_ won't have a word to say to me, or come anigh me if he can help it; and, whatever it is, it's my belief that he's at the bottom of it. But the rest of 'em are all right, only they won't have me in with 'em durin' their confabs."

"Pshaw! my good fellow," I exclaimed, "you have found a mare's nest.

Their 'confabs,' as you call them, relate to nothing worse than their past experiences at the mines, I'll be bound. And the reason why they will not speak about them to you is, most probably, because they think you would not be interested in them."

"Well, sir, maybe you're right," remarked Joe, "but I don't believe you are, all the same, if you'll excuse my sayin' so. There's too much secrecy for everything to be quite right. And, if you don't mind, I should like to try that little experiment I spoke about just now; if there's nothing wrong it won't matter, and if there is, perhaps they'll be inclined to have me in with 'em, if they think I've fallen out of your favour."