The First Mate Part 9

Before our arrival at Singapore it had been Mrs Vansittart's intention to proceed from that port to Manila, she being somewhat curious to see something of the United States' farthest East possession on our way north. But the United States' consul at Singapore had very strongly dissuaded her from making such a visit; we therefore skipped the Philippines, and, after spending a week at Hong-Kong, during which the saloon party made a trip to Canton and back, weighed and stood out of the harbour _en route_ for Yokohama.

We had a good run up through the China Sea, doing the trip in ten days from port to port without being obliged to use the engine at all.

Arrived in the magical land of the chrysanthemum, our lady skipper "spread herself", as she graphically expressed it, devoting a full month to the exploration of the country, and returning to the ship loaded down with priceless treasures of porcelain, pictures, carving and lacquer work, mostly designed as presents for her more stay-at-home friends in "little old N'York", when she should get back. Of course her children went with her, and Monroe, equally of course, "went along" as escort.

While Mrs Vansittart and her party were enjoying themselves the crew also had an opportunity to see something of what many regard as the most wonderful country and people in the world, the same generous rule with regard to sh.o.r.e leave prevailing here as elsewhere. For myself, I did not see nearly as much of the country as I should have liked, for it unfortunately happened that at the time of our visit the relations between j.a.pan and the United States were somewhat strained in connection with the settlement of j.a.panese subjects on United States soil, and the Stars and Stripes was not altogether welcome in j.a.panese ports. Indeed, within the first week of our arrival in Yokohama harbour we had reason to suspect that a malicious attempt had been made either to damage or to destroy the yacht; and as she was in my charge during the owner's absence I did not care to leave her for more than a day at a time--and only once as long as that. But of course it must be understood that such ill feeling as undoubtedly existed was only openly manifested by private persons, and those almost entirely of the lower cla.s.ses.

Official j.a.pan was the very essence of politeness and urbanity whenever we came into contact with it.

There was just one element of regret for Mrs Vansittart in her visit to j.a.pan, and that was the unfortunate fact that Monroe developed typhoid on the very day of the party's return to Yokohama, and had to be left behind in hospital. She would most willingly have prolonged her stay until the patient's recovery; but Harper, our doctor, intervened, pointing out that, since our next cruise was to be among the Pacific Islands, it would be most inadvisable for a person newly recovered from typhoid to accompany us, as a relapse would almost certainly follow; and that the better plan would be to arrange for Monroe's return home direct by mail boat via 'Frisco. This was accordingly done, Mrs Vansittart making every arrangement for the care and comfort of the patient during his sojourn in Yokohama, and his journey to New York in all ease and comfort afterward, before giving the word for our departure.

We hove our anchor out of the mud of Yokohama harbour at ten o'clock on a certain lovely September morning, which, as Mrs Vansittart informed me incidentally, happened to be the anniversary of the yacht's departure from New York. Starting our engine, we proceeded down Yedo Bay, through Uraga Strait, and so to sea, pa.s.sing Cape Mela about eight bells in the afternoon watch. Then, to a fine spanking westerly breeze, we set all plain sail and headed south for the Ladrones.

I arrive now at a point where, for a s.p.a.ce of over two months, I find no entry in my diary of any incident worthy of special mention; this period may therefore be dismissed with the simple remark that it was spent in visiting several of the most interesting islands in the Pacific archipelago.

We sailed from Taputeuea, in the Gilbert Group, in the middle of November, and for more than a week we headed west, making good headway on the whole, although there were times when we were detained by vexatious calms, to counterbalance which we "carried on" when the wind favoured us and we had a clear sea ahead.

Such happened to be the case on a certain day in the first week of December. We had a slashing easterly breeze behind us, and fine clear weather; and the chart told us that there were no lurking dangers in our path; we therefore gave the yacht the whole flight of studding sails on both sides, and laid ourselves out to make up a little of our lost time.

And we were doing so in handsome style, too, for the ship reeled off her fourteen knots hour after hour until the end of the afternoon watch, when the wind suddenly hauled four points to the southward and freshened; and although this shift of wind necessitated our handing our star board studding sails, it gave our fore-and-aft canvas a chance to put in some good work, which it did, the ship's speed going up to sixteen knots within the next hour. And for a sailing ship, sixteen knots is a very respectable speed, let me tell you, although I can recall more than one occasion when we logged nineteen, and that not only for a brief spell, but for three or four hours at a stretch. Still, sixteen knots is a pretty good pace; and it was an exhilarating sight to watch the rush of the white yacht over that glorious sapphire sea, with every sail accurately set and trimmed and tugging at the beautiful hull like a team of cart horses, the long, weighty swell chasing us, wind-whipped and capped with seething crests of snow-white foam, while the great, gla.s.s-smooth bow wave went roaring away on either hand with its hissing and leaping crown of froth sparkling like gems in the rays of the declining sun.

I think Mrs Vansittart was never more proud of her beautiful ship than she was on that particular evening, as she stood with me on the p.o.o.p and critically marked our rush through the water and every perfection of hull, spar, and sail. The yacht was a lovely picture, even as beheld by us from her p.o.o.p; but I would have given a trifle for the privilege of seeing her as she must have appeared at such a moment from a pa.s.sing ship, had there been such a craft. But, as it happened, there was not; we had the sea to ourselves, for we chanced just then to be traversing a stretch of water very rarely frequented by craft of any description.

It happened to be my eight hours out on that particular night, and when, at eight bells of the first watch, I turned the ship over to Parker, the boatswain, we were still reeling off our sixteen knots, with a fresh, steady breeze from the south-east. It was a dark night, for the moon was only two days old, and had set long ago, while a thin veil of cloud hid most of the stars. Had we been in much-frequented waters I should perhaps have considered it a bit reckless to drive the ship so hard through the darkness; but we were not, and I retired to my cabin with an easy mind, and, undressing at once, tumbled into my bunk and fell sound asleep almost as my head touched the pillow.

CHAPTER NINE.

WRECKED!

How long I slept I have no means of knowing. All I can remember is that from a sound, dreamless sleep, I was startled into sudden wakefulness by experiencing a shock of such tremendous violence that my first real consciousness of anything being amiss was caused by me finding myself hurled headlong out of my bunk to the deck of my cabin. I fell so awkwardly that I seemed to land fair upon my right temple, and, after an instant of sharp pain, I forthwith lost all consciousness for a length of time that must have been considerable, although I never had the means to guess it even approximately. But I remember one thing distinctly.

Even as I was in the very act of falling, a terrific rending crash sounded in my ears, and the thought flashed through my brain: "There go the masts by the board!"

The return of consciousness manifested itself in a hazy and quite detached perception that I was being violently shaken by the shoulder; while a voice, pitched in aggrieved and petulant tones--which I presently recognised as those of the lad, Julius--exhorted me to "Wake up!" At first these exhortations produced no particular effect upon me.

I was aware of them, but that was all; they had no definite meaning so far as I was concerned. I did not even trouble to ask myself why I should wake up. Then after a period of silence, during which I perhaps slipped back into unconsciousness, I became aware that water was being vigorously dashed in my face, while Julius's voice resumed its petulant appeal.

"Oh, I say, dash it all! do wake up, Leigh," I heard the boy exclaim.

"Wake up, I tell you! Momma's blocked into her cabin, and Sis and I can't get her out. And you're the only one of the crew left!"

I suppose my wits must have been rea.s.serting themselves by that time, for these words conveyed some sort of definite meaning to me, especially that last statement: "You're the only one of the crew left." The only one of the crew! What crew? Why, of course, the crew of the _Stella Maris_, in which I had some recollection of having spent a very pleasant time. Then, as memory began to work, I recalled the tremendous shock which had hurled me, scarcely awake, out of my bunk, and the jarring, rending crash that had reached my ears in the very act of falling. What did these things mean? I asked myself, and the answer came without much groping for. What could they mean, except that some disaster had overtaken the yacht?

I opened my eyes, and by the light of a rapidly growing dawn perceived, first, that I was still in my own cabin, and secondly, that Julius was bending over me with a water jug in one hand and a tumbler in the other, from the latter of which he had just dashed a quant.i.ty of water in my face. Also I was conscious of a splitting headache, and a burning, smarting sensation in the right temple. I put up my hand, pa.s.sed it over the seat of the pain, and was immediately conscious of an increased smart. As I lowered my hand I looked at it stupidly: it was smeared with blood.

"Oh, that's nothing!" commented the boy, as I looked questioningly at the ruddy stain; "you've cut your forehead a bit, that's all. Thank goodness, you've woke up at last! I thought at first you'd handed in your checks. Now, I say, just get up and come with me to the drawing-room. Momma's somehow pinned in her cabin, and I want you to get her out."

"All right!" I said; "I'll come. But what has happened to the ship?

She seems to be--"

"I dunno," replied the boy. "She's wrecked, that's all that I can tell you. Her three masts are broken; and, exceptin' Momma, 'Thea, and I, you're the only person left."

"The only person left!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, as I staggered to my feet. "Good Heavens, boy, what do you mean?"

"Just exactly what I say," returned Master Julius. "And see here, you,"

he continued aggressively, "don't you dare to call me 'boy' again. I don't like it, and I won't have it. See?"

"Certainly," I replied, with a smile at the lad's astonishing touchiness at such a moment; "I both see and hear. All right! I apologise. And now, what is this you say about your mother? She is jammed in her cabin and can't get out? I will go and attend to her first; and when she has been released I must look into that other matter of the missing crew."

"I guess the first thing you'll do after you've got Momma out of her cabin will be to get my breakfast ready, and don't you forget it!"

retorted the boy.

While we talked I had been hastily dressing, and until I had finished I said nothing. I suppose it was the blow on the head that I had received, coupled with the growing consciousness that some disaster, far more frightful than I had thus far dreamed of, had befallen us, that made me suddenly irritable and short-tempered then. Anyhow, the lad's manner jarred upon me at the moment to such an extent that, as I was about to lead the way through the doorway of my cabin, I halted and turned upon the youngster.

"Look here, my lad," I said. "If what you say is true, that only your mother, your sister, you and I are left aboard this ship, somebody will have to take charge of things, and that somebody will be myself. There will be a mult.i.tude of things to be done, and you will have to lend a hand. And I will see that you do so. Henceforth it will be I who will give orders; and--understand me, my young friend--if I give you an order, you will execute it, or I'll know the reason why. Hitherto, it seems to me, you have been spoiled by too much indulgence; but if this ship proves to be a wreck, as I more than suspect is the case, there will be no more spoiling for you, and I'll see if I cannot make something like a man of you. Now, just turn that saying over in your mind, and don't let me have any more of your nonsense. Now we will go and see what can be done for your mother. Come along!"

For a moment I really thought that the boy meant to strike me, but I kept my eyes steadily staring into his, and presently I saw that I had mastered him, for the moment at all events. The gleam of mingled anger and defiance faded out of his eyes, and he muttered: "All right! let's go."

As we wended our way from my cabin to the drawing-room, abaft which Mrs Vansittart's cabin was situate, I had time to note several matters. The first of these was that the ship was evidently hard and fast aground; for although she rolled slightly from time to time the motion was not continuous like that of a floating ship, but intermittent, with intervals when she did not move at all, but lay motionless with a list to starboard. Also, when she moved, there was a gritty, grinding sound, which at once suggested to me that she was lying upon a bed of coral.

There was also another sound, a b.u.mping sound, accompanied by a perceptible jar of the hull, recurring at frequent and pretty regular intervals, which I set down to the b.u.mping of wreckage alongside. The next thing I observed was that the lee side of the deck was about a foot or more deep in water, showing that a very considerable quant.i.ty must have come below, the greater part of it probably through the hatchways, although some had no doubt come in through the open ports.

Then I went up the hatchway ladder to the main-deck. Heavens! what a picture of wreck and ruin I there beheld! The three hollow steel masts were snapped off close to the deck, and now, with all attached, were over the starboard side, still fast to the hull by the standing and running gear, which lay, a confused raffle of wire and hemp, across the deck. The mizenmast, heel upward, leaned against the side of the p.o.o.p in a slanting position, showing that it had fallen forward as well as sideways; and immediately to leeward, in the water that heaved and seethed round us, rose and fell a tangle of wrecked spars, sails, and rigging. Every inch of the bulwarks, from p.o.o.p to topgallant forecastle on both sides, had disappeared, leaving only the bent and broken steel stanchions standing here and there. The deckhouses were gone, as were every one of the boats except the motor launch, and even she was represented only by a shattered, fragmentary skeleton. Four of the six main-deck guns in the starboard battery were either smashed or missing altogether; and, in short, the whole appearance of the main-deck was such as to suggest that the ship had been repeatedly swept from end to end by a succession of tremendously heavy seas.

All these things I observed during my brief pa.s.sage from the after hatchway to the face of the p.o.o.p. I also observed that no land was in sight from the main-deck; therefore, if we had hit an unknown atoll during the night, it must be so small as to be entirely hidden by the p.o.o.p.

Followed submissively enough by the boy, who now seemed tongue-tied, I pa.s.sed through the cabin into the drawing-room; and it gave me quite a sharp pain to see the dreadful havoc that had been wrought in that splendid apartment since I had left it only a few hours before. For not only had all the ports been left open during the night, for the sake of coolness, but the skylight and companion had both been swept away, and, from the appearance of things, tons of water must have flooded the place. Even now, when it had had time to drain away to a small extent, the lee side of the room was flooded to the depth of fully four feet, and chairs, ottomans, table, grand piano, organ--the latter capsized--in fact, everything movable had settled away to leeward, and now lay in a confused heap in the water. The rich carpet was everywhere sodden, several of the electric-light shades were smashed, two or three of the pictures had fallen; in short, the destruction was practically complete.

And there, in the midst of all the ruin, stood poor little Anthea, a most forlorn and pathetic-looking object.

I hastened toward her with the idea of saying something comforting, though what I could have said I am sure I don't know. Happily, she forestalled me by coming to meet me with outstretched hands.

"Oh! Mr Leigh," she exclaimed, "isn't this just awful! I am so glad you are here, for Momma is in her cabin and can't get out; and Jule and I haven't been strong enough to help her. She says that the wardrobe has fallen across her door, and she cannot move it."

"All right!" I said; "I will see what I can do to help her;" and I moved toward the door in question.

"But don't you think you had better get some of the men to help you?"

demanded the girl. "I guess that wardrobe is a pretty heavy piece of furniture and--But what are you looking at me like that for? And what have you done to your head?"

"Hasn't Julius told you?" I asked, ignoring the last question.

"Told me what?" returned Anthea. Then, without waiting for a reply, she continued. "No, he hasn't told me a thing. In fact, I haven't seen him since he left me nearly an hour ago to get help. Of course I know that we're wrecked, and goodness knows that's bad enough. There's nothing worse than that to tell, is there?"

"I don't know for certain," I said, "but I fear so. Julius says that we three and your mother are all that remain of the entire ship's company; but I pray Heaven that he may be mistaken. However, we will free your mother; and then I will take a good look round. I have scarcely had a chance to see anything yet."

I walked up to the closed door of Mrs Vansittart's cabin, Anthea and Julius accompanying me, and knocked.

"It is Walter Leigh," I cried. "Julius tells me that you are blockaded in your room, madam, and cannot force your way out. May I see what I can do?"

"Pray do, if you please," was the response. "I have been shut up here for hours, terrified and half-drowned, and I want to get out. Have you anybody there to help you?"

"Only Julius," I replied. "But I daresay we can manage, between us."

"I don't believe you can," retorted Mrs Vansittart. "There is a wardrobe right across the door, and it is so heavy that I cannot move it. Still, you may try."