The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" Part 3

Lady Desmond appeared to be some eight or nine years younger than her husband, and was unquestionably an exceedingly handsome woman. She was perhaps three inches less in height than her husband, but, when standing apart from him, gave one the impression of being the taller of the two, probably because she happened to be very thin and fragile-looking when she first joined the _Esmeralda_. She had evidently only just emerged from a very severe illness, for all her movements were marked by the slowness and languor of one who is still an invalid. She had not a vestige of colour, and her hands, when I saw them ungloved at the dinner table, were attenuated to a degree that was painful to contemplate; but her eyes were magnificent, and her voice, albeit it was weak and low like that of an invalid, was very sweet and sympathetic in tone. I had not been enlightened as to the nature of her illness; but its most marked symptom appeared to be a profound melancholy and depression of spirits which it seemed utterly impossible for her to shake off.

Her sister, Miss Merrivale, was her exact counterpart, except that the latter was the junior by some three or four years, and was, both in form and complexion, the very picture of exuberant health and spirits. She possessed a singularly agreeable and engaging, though high-bred manner; and the patient tenderness with which she studied her invalid sister's whims quickly won my warmest admiration.

Of the two children, the elder was a fine st.u.r.dy boy, about seven years old, named after his father; while the other was a sweet little tot of a girl, about five years old, with the prettiest, most lovable, and confiding ways I had ever beheld in a child. They were both very merry, light-hearted, buoyant-spirited children, but exceedingly well-behaved, very tender and affectionate toward each other; and perfect patterns of obedience while they remembered the parental injunctions laid upon them from time to time; but it must be admitted that their memories in this respect were, like those of most children, a little apt to be short-lived.

And, as to the two maids and the nurse, they impressed me as being very quiet, respectable well-behaved representatives of their cla.s.s, and not at all likely to give me trouble by encouraging any attempts at flirtation on the part of the men. So that altogether I thought I had every reason to congratulate myself upon my first experience in the command of a pa.s.senger-ship.

Then, as to the ship herself. Though it was early yet to form a distinct and definite opinion of her, having had only a few hours'

experience of her under sail, and that, too, in a light breeze and smooth water, still her behaviour under those circ.u.mstances had been such as led me to feel a.s.sured, from past experience, that she was everything a seaman's heart could wish. That she was certain to prove extraordinarily fast I was convinced, even before we had spread a single cloth of canvas, by the ease with which the tug had walked away down the river with her. And after the tug had let go our hawser and left us to our own devices, we had overhauled and pa.s.sed everything in our company with an ease and rapidity that proved her to be a perfect witch in light breezes; while now, when the rest of the fleet were either drifting helplessly with the tide and heading to all points of the compa.s.s, or anchoring to avoid falling foul of something else, we were sneaking along at a good two knots through the water, with the ship under perfect command of her helm.

At length the sounds of the children's happy voices ceased down below: and, a few minutes later, Sir Edgar emerged from the saloon companion.

He paused for a moment to address a cheery remark or two to the little party aft, and then joined me near the break of the p.o.o.p, where I had been standing for some time gazing abstractedly about me in a contented, half-dreamy fashion at our surroundings. He made some conventional remark as to the wonderful calmness and beauty of the evening, and offered me a cigar; upon which, responding to his friendly overtures, I turned, and we proceeded to quietly pace the deck together; the baronet--for such he proved to be--confiding to me, in an easy, chatty manner, the circ.u.mstances that had led to the family undertaking the voyage.

At length, when the dusk of evening had fairly merged into the darkness of night, and the illimitable vault above us had become spangled and powdered with stars innumerable of every magnitude, a delicate sheen appeared on the eastern horizon, glowing faintly and softly at first as the tremulous shimmer of summer lightning, but brightening by imperceptible degrees until it revealed a hitherto invisible bank of fleecy vapour lying low along the horizon's margin, the rounded edges of which it daintily touched here and there with glowing silver. Rapidly, yet with the most subtle mutations, the glow increased in strength and splendour, the colour at the same time deepening to a warm orange hue; and presently, above the upper edge of the cloud-bank, the sharp rim of the moon's broad disc soared into view, ruddy as a shield of burning gold, while simultaneously a wavering line of ruddy gold flashed across the gleaming surface of the water almost to the ship's side. Slowly and majestically, as befits the movements of the stately queen of night, the glowing orb rose clear of the cloud-bank, her orange beams flowing softly into the shadows of the night and revealing here and there in clear but delicate outline the forms and details of craft that had before appeared but as black shapeless blots against the starlit heavens; while the hull and canvas of our craft, that had hitherto worn the aspect of a huge black shadow upon sky and water, now glowed faint but clear in the warm light, with rich touches of ruddy gold here and there where the radiance struck and was reflected from the dew-wetted bulwarks, the glistening spars, the taut rigging, or the polished bra.s.s and gla.s.s about the deck fittings and skylights.

The misty light now revealed to us that we were in the very heart of a fleet numbering some two hundred and fifty sail, most of which were at anchor, many with their canvas more or less snugly stowed; but there were a few--perhaps a dozen in all--on board which the canvas hung in the brails, all ready for sheeting home and hoisting away at a moment's notice. There were also a few--obviously outward-bound, like ourselves--who were--also like ourselves--holding on in the evident hope that with the rising of the moon, or at all events before the turn of the tide, a little breeze might spring up which would obviate the necessity of letting go the mud-hook, with the attendant loss of time and expenditure of labour in getting it again and making sail once more.

It was soon evident that this hope was to be realised, for the moon had scarcely been above the horizon half an hour when a narrow dark line appeared stretching along the horizon beneath her, and gradually widening, until at length a very pretty little easterly breeze reached us, under the influence of which, heeling slightly and coquettishly away from it, the saucy _Esmeralda_ began to slip along, with scarcely more than a ripple at her sharp bows, at the rate of a good honest seven knots.

Impelled by this most welcome breeze, we were soon round the South Foreland and off Dover, where we hove-to to land the pilot. In executing this manoeuvre we pa.s.sed close under the stern of a magnificent topsail schooner-yacht, as large as ourselves, with hull painted a brilliant white, which, in the pale moonlight and with her snow-white canvas, made her look like a beautiful phantom craft. She was getting under way, and had just tripped her anchor and was canting to the southward when we rounded to under her stern; and I noticed Mr Roberts, my chief mate, looking long and admiringly at her as she gathered way and, swinging her fore-yard, glided swiftly, yet with a stately movement, out from among the crowd of craft by which she was surrounded. Turning away at last, as if regretfully, from the contemplation of the n.o.ble vessel, Roberts stamped his foot impatiently, and, striding up to the pilot, demanded--

"I say, Mr Pilot, is there any chance of those mates of yours catching sight of our signals to-night, think ye, or are they keeping a lookout from between the blankets?"

The pilot, whose perfect calmness and indifference were in ludicrous contrast to the mate's impatience, turned slowly round and eyed his questioner deliberately from top to toe before he deigned to answer.

"They will be alongside in less than a minute, mister. They are shut in behind that billy-boy just now; but--Ah, here they come!"

"Lay aft here, one of you," shouted the mate, "and stand by with a line for that boat."

"You will come below and take a gla.s.s of wine or a gla.s.s of grog before you go ash.o.r.e, pilot?"

I asked.

"Thank you, sir; I've no objection," was the response; and we were just turning away toward the saloon companion when the mate stepped quietly up to me and said--

"I suppose we may as well rig out the stu'n'sail-booms all ready for making sail as soon as the pilot has left us? It will be a pity not to make the most of this fair wind while it lasts."

"Certainly," I replied, somewhat unwillingly; for, truth to tell, I thought it would be quite time enough to hurry when my poor mother had gone ash.o.r.e and we were on the other side of the Bill of Portland.

Roberts, however, evidently regarded the matter from a very different standpoint from that which I occupied--perhaps he was anxious already to show off the ship's pace--for, ere I had time to reach the companion, his voice rang out loud and clear--

"Lay aft here, some of you lads, and rouse out the stu'n'sail gear; the rest of you slip up aloft and cast loose the larboard fore-topmast and topgallant stu'n'sail boom, ready for rigging out. Take a line aloft with you, and send the end down on deck for the gear as soon as you are ready. Look alive, my hearties!" Then, _sotto voce_, "Yon schooner is a beauty, and no mistake; but she is not going to be allowed to run away from this clipper if I can help it!"

So that was the explanation of friend Roberts's impatience! He had been so long in the _Esmeralda_, and had been so accustomed to beating everything that had been fallen in with, that he could not endure with equanimity the sight of even a yacht running away from him. "It is evident," thought I, "that the gra.s.s will have very little chance of growing on this ship's copper so long as Roberts is mate of her. But I shall have to keep an eye on the fellow, or perhaps he will be taking the sticks out of her, or laying her on her beam-ends some day in the excitement and enthusiasm of a race with something bigger and more nimble than ourselves."

At length, to Roberts's unconcealed gratification, the pilot went down over the side and shoved off, and we were left to our own resources.

"Up with your helm and let her pay off!" was now the word; "round-in upon the starboard main-braces; now your larboard fore-braces; well there; belay! Now rig out your booms, there, as soon as you are ready, and let's get some muslin on the little beauty." And forthwith the mate put in a pleasant hour decking the ship with her larboard studding-sails, from the royals down. And truly, prepared as I was for a somewhat out-of-the-way performance on the part of the little craft, I was astounded at the ease and rapidity with which she overtook and pa.s.sed everything near her. The schooner-yacht had managed to slink away to a distance of some three miles from us during our short detention while landing the pilot, and by the time that my pa.s.sengers had said "good night" and retired to their cabins she was the only craft ahead of us; and we had been gaining on her fast until her people, noticing this fact, had begun to pack sail upon her; and now there she was, straight ahead of us, with her mainsheet eased well off, a gigantic balloon topsail over her huge mainsail, and an immense square-sail set forward, with all her larboard studding-sails spread, skimming away swiftly and easily as a wreath of summer mist over the smooth surface of the Channel waters. I remained on deck until midnight, when, giving the second mate a word of caution not to carry his canvas too long in the event of the breeze freshening--which, however, it gave no indication of doing--I retired below and turned in with the gratifying feeling that I was now my own master; that I was working for myself, and should henceforth reap the direct benefit of my own labour and skill--such as the latter might be; that, in fact, my fortune was in my own hands, to make or mar; as it is in the hands of every young man.

The sound of the scrubbing-brushes, as they were set to work at four bells (six o'clock) next morning, awoke me; and, hastily donning such garments as were indispensable, I went on deck to take a look round.

The easterly breeze, though it had proved somewhat fitful, had held with sufficient strength through the night to place us off Selsey Bill, with the high land of Saint Catherine's Point looming faintly ahead of us about two points on the starboard bow; and there, too, hauling up for the inside of the Wight, was our friend the schooner-yacht of the night before, some two miles insh.o.r.e of us and about the same distance ahead.

The mate was very busy with the hose, with which he was liberally sluicing the decks and bulwarks, to say nothing of the bare feet and legs of those of the crew who in their scrubbing operations happened to approach within range of him. Of the yacht's existence he was apparently quite oblivious; at all events, he carefully abstained from directing his glances in her direction.

"Good morning, Mr Roberts," I exclaimed genially. "So you were unable to overtake the flyer yonder, after all."

"Good morning, sir," he responded with equal geniality. "(Now then, you sodgers, stand clear of the hose if you don't want a ducking. Serve you right, Tom; you'll take warning, perhaps, the next time I give it you.) The flyer, sir? Oh, you mean the yacht. Well, of course, they have the pull of us in light weather, such as we've had through the night; but I'll bet my hat that neither yonder schooner nor e'er a yacht that now happens to be away there inside the island could look at us in a good, honest to'gallant breeze. You wait a bit, sir; the little hooker hasn't had a chance yet to show what she can do. But there's a breeze coming by-and-by, if I'm any judge of that sky away there to the east'ard; and then, after we've touched at Weymouth and hauled out again into the wake of that fleet astarn of us, you'll have a chance to judge of the _Esmeralda's_ paces when she lays herself out to travel. Now, boys, lay aft here with your squeegees, and give this p.o.o.p a drying down!"

It was a glorious morning; the sun, already well above the horizon, just taking the keen edge off the air, and rendering the pure easterly breeze soft and balmy without depriving it of any of its bracing and exhilarating qualities; the sky a magnificent, deep, pure blue overhead, softening down in tint to warm tender tones of grey as the eye travelled from the zenith, horizon-ward. Cloud, properly speaking, there was none, save a few faint streaks here and there of the kind known as "mares' tails"; but away to the northward and eastward the sky at the horizon, although it was of a clear pale primrose hue, had that peculiar indescribable "hardness" of tint that, to the experienced eye, is the sure forerunner of a good wholesome breeze. That breeze, however, was yet to come; the wind at the moment being very paltry--little more than sufficient, indeed, to keep the heavier canvas "asleep," and to send the barque along at a speed of about five knots. The water was perfectly smooth, save of course for the ripple caused by the light breeze; but, so far as swell was concerned, there was absolutely none, the ship neither pitching nor rolling perceptibly.

In due course my pa.s.sengers made their appearance on deck, in high glee at the favourable condition of the weather, and full of compliments as to the comfort of the sleeping cabins. And indeed it was not difficult to judge, by their fresh and cheerful looks, that they had enjoyed a sound and undisturbed night's rest. Even poor Lady Desmond was looking incomparably more bright and cheerful than had been the case with her a short day previously, and was already beginning to speak hopefully of her possible recovery.

As the day wore on, the wind, instead of freshening, as we had expected from the indications at sunrise, grew more and more paltry; so that it was rather late on in the afternoon ere we reached Weymouth. The weather, however, had been undergoing a slow and subtle change all day; and when we at length rounded to and backed the _Esmeralda's_ mainyard in the roadstead the sky away to the eastward was overspread by a broad bank of dirty grey vapour reaching almost to the zenith, the mares'

tails had increased in number and become more strongly defined, and a thin veil of scarcely perceptible vapour was sweeping steadily athwart the blue. The horizon to the eastward, too, had become overcast--so much so, indeed, as to completely obscure Saint Alban's Head; the wind was beginning to freshen in fitful puffs, and the small surges occasionally combed and broke into a miniature white cap. All of which indicated with sufficient clearness that the long-expected breeze was close at hand, and that, moreover, we should probably have quite as much of it as we wanted. I accordingly lost no time in lowering the gig, and getting my mother and her belongings into her; when we shoved off-- leaving the ship in charge of Mr Roberts--and stretched out for the harbour. My mother seemed a good deal cut up, now that the moment of parting had drawn so very near, and--poor soul--spent most of the short time during which we were traversing the s.p.a.ce between the ship and the harbour, with her head on my shoulder, crying softly, and fondling my disengaged hand in hers. While, as for me, I was--like most sailors-- sadly wanting in eloquence, and could think of nothing better or more encouraging to say than that I was at last really starting out to seek my fortune, and that I fully intended to find it ere I returned to her.

Ah me! how little I guessed at the hardship and suffering in store for me, or the anxiety and anguish of mind that my dear mother was to endure before we two should meet again!

Landing at the flight of boat-steps near the inner end of the pier, I put my mother and her baggage into the first fly that presented itself; kissed her a dozen times; said good-bye hurriedly, and tore myself away; springing hastily into the stern-sheets of the gig with a final wave of the hand as the dear soul drove away.

"Give way, men!" I exclaimed huskily; "the breeze is freshening fast, and I care not how soon we are once more on board the _Esmeralda_!"

The breeze was indeed freshening fast; the thick weather had crept down the coast until the high land about the Burning Cliff was only dimly visible; and as we dashed out past the end of the pier, the water in the bay was all flecked with white. The _Esmeralda_, with royals clewed up, was halfway across toward Portland Roads; but Roberts was evidently keeping a sharp lookout, for, judging it to be about time for us to make our appearance, he had already filled on the ship, and as we rounded the buoy marking the extremity of the reef on the south side of the harbour, we saw her fly up into the wind and tack with a rapidity which I had certainly never before witnessed in a square-rigged ship. The little beauty worked "as quick as they could swing the yards," as the stroke oarsman remarked enthusiastically. We paddled gently ahead, leaving to those on board the task of picking us up; and very neatly and smartly was it done too, the barque keeping a rap full, and tearing through the water like a racer, until exactly the right moment, when she flew up head to wind, shooting into the wind's eye in magnificent style, ranging up alongside us in the boat and picking us up while still in stays, then paying off again on the other tack almost before the tackles were hooked on. Another minute and the gig was once more at the davits; and the _Esmeralda_, on a taut bowline, and with her royal yards again mast-headed, was rushing away at a perfectly bewildering pace, on a course that would enable her to just handsomely weather the outer end of Portland breakwater, if the little witch continued to eat into the wind as she was then doing. Roberts was evidently in ecstasies at the ship's behaviour; his flushed cheek, his sparkling eye, and his quick, restless movements told me that; but he would have bitten his tongue out, rather than have suffered himself to be betrayed into any remarks which could possibly be construed into "fishing for a compliment;" and it was truly amusing to watch the heroic efforts he made to simulate a cool and indifferent demeanour. But it was plain enough that he was hungering for a word of praise to the ship that he had learned to love as though she were flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone: so I hastened to gratify the good fellow by eulogising--as indeed I could with the most perfect honesty--the marvellous weatherly qualities and speed of the ship, as also the stiffness with which she stood up under her big spread of canvas. Had I not done so, I verily believe that my reputation as a seaman would have shrunk very materially in my chief mate's estimation, instead of increasing, as it immediately did.

The wind being dead fair for the run out of the Channel, we "took our departure" from the Bill of Portland; and, packing the studding-sails upon the willing little barkie, pa.s.sed Ushant at four o'clock the next morning--a truly wonderful run; but then our patent log showed that we had been travelling at the rate of a fair, honest fifteen knots from the moment that we dropped that useful machine overboard off the Bill. This magnificent breeze followed us up for the next four days, and carried us into the lat.i.tude of Madeira--an almost unprecedented performance; but it must not be forgotten that it was blowing a whole gale from the eastward all this time, or well over our larboard quarter, allowing every thread of canvas to draw to perfection; and, finding that the barque carried her canvas superbly, I simply let Robert have his way with her, although I must admit that never before in my experience had I seen a craft so boldly driven. Then--on the evening of the fifth day out from Weymouth--the wind rapidly dwindled away to nothing, and left us rolling heavily on the steep swell that followed us. I concluded that we had run into the doldrums, or horse lat.i.tudes, and that we should now probably have calms, or light baffling airs until we fell in with the trade-winds; but on going below to turn in at midnight, I observed that a very decided fall of the barometer had taken place. I therefore returned to the deck for a moment and cautioned the second mate--whose watch it was--to keep a sharp lookout for any sign of a decided change in the weather; and gave him strict injunctions to call me immediately that any indication of such change should become apparent. I had some thought of remaining on deck an hour or two longer, to personally watch the development of events; but reflecting that I had been out of my berth for the last eighteen hours, and that, if we were to have bad weather, it might be some time before I should have another opportunity to sleep, I decided to go below and get what rest I could, especially as the sky was at that time perfectly clear, with the stars shining brilliantly.

A sailor soon gets into the habit of falling asleep the moment his head touches his pillow, and I was no exception to the rule, although my newly a.s.sumed responsibilities caused me perhaps to sleep more lightly than before; at all events, I had--even in the short time that we had been at sea--acquired the faculty of being cognisant of almost everything that happened on deck, even during the time that I was asleep; and on this particular night it seemed to me that I had not been in my berth more than ten minutes--though the time was actually close upon two hours--when I heard the second mate quietly descending the saloon staircase, and in another moment his knuckles were cautiously tapping at the door of my cabin.

"Ay, ay," I answered drowsily; "what is it, Mr Forbes?"

"Sorry to disturb you, sir," was the reply, "but there seems to be something brewing away down there to the south'ard and west'ard. It's as black as a wolf's mouth thereaway; and there is a nasty cross swell getting up, as you may feel for yourself, sir."

"All right," I returned, rolling reluctantly out of my berth; "I will be on deck in a minute."

I was as good as my word; and upon popping my head outside the companion I came to the conclusion that I had been called none too soon. There was absolutely not a breath of air stirring save that created by the heavy flapping of the canvas as the ship rolled, with a quick, uneasy motion, almost gunwale-to; and upon interrogating the helmsman I learned that he had lost all command over the vessel for fully an hour. It was, as the second mate had said, intensely dark down in the south-western quarter; and a very brief observation sufficed to demonstrate that the pall of cloud which hid the heavens in that direction was slowly but steadily spreading toward the zenith, star after star being blotted out even as I watched them. The air, too, was close and oppressive as the breath of an oven; while the surface of the sea was unusually agitated, the run seeming to come from all points of the compa.s.s at once, and to meet under the ship, causing her to "wallow" so awkwardly that the water tumbled in over her rail in all directions, now forward, now aft, and anon in the waist, and on either side with the utmost impartiality. The water was everywhere of an inky blackness, save along the ship's bends and where she dipped it in over her rail. This disturbed water looked, at a short distance, as though it had been diluted with milk; but, examined closely, it was found to glow with a faint fire, like the glimmer of summer lightning, with small star-like points of stronger light thickly scattered through it. The most perfect silence reigned outside the ship, but on board there was quite a small Babel of sound storming about us; the creaking of yard-parrels and trusses aloft, mingled with the loud flap of the canvas to the roll of the ship, the "cheep" of block-sheaves, the sharp "slatting" of suddenly tautened gear, and the pattering of reef-points; while on deck there was the monotonous swish of water washing athwart the planks from side to side, with the choking gurgle of the water spouting up through the scuppers, and the heavy splashing sound of the brine as it poured in over the bulwarks; the whole set to a dismal accompaniment of creaking timbers, rattling doors, and breaking crockery below.

"How long has the weather been like this, Mr Forbes?" I asked, as my subordinate stood a few paces apart from me, waiting to hear what I had to say about the aspect of things in general.

"Well, sir," he replied, "that is not a very easy question to answer.

It has been gathering ever since about half an hour after you went below; but the change has been going on so imperceptibly that it scarcely forced itself upon my attention until just before--Ah! did you hear that, sir?"

A low, faint, weird, moaning sound, scarcely perceptible, had floated to the ship, causing the mate to interrupt himself suddenly; and at the same moment a light, evanescent puff of hot air seemed to sweep past us.

"Yes," said I, "I both heard and felt it. We are going to have a heavy squall, if nothing worse, out of that blackness yonder. Turn the hands up at once, and let them go to work to strip the ship without loss of time. Get in all your light flying kites first of all, and stow them snugly; then brail in your mizzen and stow it; let run your staysail halliards, and haul up your courses. We will leave nothing spread but the two topsails and the fore-topmast-staysail; then, let what will come, we shall be prepared for it."

Forbes hurried away to execute this order, and next moment there came the sounds of a most unmerciful pounding on the forecastle-head with a handspike, and the accompanying cry of--

"Hillo there, sleepers; tumble up. All hands shorten sail! Hurry up, my bullies, or we shall have the squall upon us before we are ready for it."

The response to this summons was almost instantaneous, and in two or three minutes the whole crew were at work, under the orders of Mr Roberts, who had heard, even in his sleep, the distant cry of "All hands," and had tumbled out without waiting for a more formal summons.

This man I now found to be excellent in such an emergency as the present; calm, cool, and collected; not hurrying anybody, yet, as it were, infusing his own energy and vitality into the men by the sharp, incisive tones of his voice, and putting quicksilver into them by--as it seemed--the mere exercise of his will. Under such masterful supervision the work progressed rapidly, and in something over half an hour we had the ship under her fore and main-topsails (which were patent-reefing) and the fore-topmast staysail; every other thread being snugly furled, and the men once more down on deck. The watch was then sent below again for the short time remaining to them, and I composed myself comfortably in a capacious wicker chair to abide the issue of events.

The sky had by this time become entirely overcast, from horizon to horizon, and so intensely dark was it that I was literally unable to see my hand when I raised it before my eyes, by way of experiment; and, but for the dim radiance gleaming through the skylight from the turned-down lamp in the saloon, the faint gleam of light from the binnacle illumining feebly and in a ghostlike manner the head and shoulders of the man who lounged beside the useless wheel, and the pale fires flashing from the water that washed to and fro athwart the deck with the roll of the ship, it would have been utterly impossible to have moved from spot to spot save by the aid of one's memory of the various localities about the ship.