The Island Treasure Part 7

That very afternoon, indeed, the last act that was to blot out poor Sam Jedfoot's memory from the minds of all the hands took place, the skipper ordering the usual auction of the dead man's effects to be held on the fo'c's'le; when, such is the comedy of life, the very men who were so indignant about the captain shooting him a few hours before now cut jokes about the poverty of the darkey's kit, when his sea-chest was opened and its contents put up for sale to the highest bidder!

Sam's banjo led to a spirited compet.i.tion, Hiram Bangs finally succeeding in becoming its purchaser for five dollars, which Captain Snaggs was authorised to deduct from the American sailor's wages-- crediting it to the cook's account, should the dead man's heirs or a.s.signs apply for any balance due to the poor darkey when the ship arrived in port.

The rest of the things only fetched a trifle; and, with the disposal of his goods and chattels, all recollection of the light-hearted Sam, who was once the life of the fo'c's'le, pa.s.sed out of everyone's mind.

Hiram stowed the banjo away in his box, for he could not play it, and had only bought it from its a.s.sociation with its late owner, who used to make him, he said, merry and sad, 'jest as the durned n.i.g.g.e.r liked,'

with the melody he drew from the now silent strings.

And yet, somehow or other, it seemed destined that Sam should not be so soon forgotten, at least by me; for, in the evening, when I took in the cabin dinner and remained to wait at table, in lieu of the steward, who was too much occupied in cooking to come aft, Captain Snaggs brought up the subject again.

He was in high spirits at the manner in which the ship was travelling along, appearing to have quite recovered from his drinking bout; and when I uncovered the dish that I placed before him, he made a joke about it to the first-mate, who, according to custom, shared meals with the skipper in the cuddy and always sat down the same time that he did, the second-mate having to shift by himself, and eat when he had the chance between watches.

"Guess thaar ain't no jalap in this lot, Flinders, hey?" said the captain, with a sn.i.g.g.e.r; "thet thaar cuss of a stooard would be too skeart of my fixin' him same ez I done thet durned n.i.g.g.e.r to try on any games, ye bet!"

"I reckon so, boss," replied the other, with his mouth full, stuffing away in his usual fashion. "Ye potted the c.o.o.n nicely, ye did; an'

sarved him right, too, fur meddlin' with the grub. I thought I wer pizened sure!"

"An' so did I, by thunder!" echoed Captain Snaggs, bringing his fist down with a bang on the table, that almost made Mr Flinders' plate leap out of the 'fiddle' in which it was placed, to prevent it from spilling its contents as the ship rolled. "I did so, by thunder! I sw'ar, or else I wouldn't a' shot the cuss. Them hands furrud thinks I'm going to be sich a durned fool ez to call in at Bahia or Rio, an' make a statement of the case, telling how the n.i.g.g.e.r got overboard; but ye catch me stoppin' at any a port 'fore I drops anchor in 'Frisco. Ye knows better ner thet, Flinders, hey?"

The first-mate sn.i.g.g.e.red sympathetically at this, expressing by a wink his confidence in the skipper's promise to the men; and the two laughed with much heartiness and fellow feeling over the credulity of those who had been so easily satisfied, and gone back to their work, confidently trusting in Captain Snaggs' word and honour.

A little later on, when the rum bottle was produced, the captain alluded to his excess of the night before in the same jocular vein:--

"Must keep a kinder stiffer helm this evenin', Flinders," he observed, helping himself to a tumblerful, and then pa.s.sing on the bottle to the mate; "guess I wer a bit sprung yesterday?"

"Aye, cap, ye hed y'r load," replied Mr Flinders, with a grin; adding, however, in fear of the skipper taking offence: "Not mor'n ye could carry, though. Ye scooted down the companion all right at eight bells."

"Thet's so," said the other; "but, d'ye know, Flinders, I wer flummuxed up inter a heap when I got below, an' saw snakes terrible. I guess I seed, too, thet air durned n.i.g.g.e.r, an' hed a notion he wer come back agen to haunt me--I did so, Flinders, by thunder!"

"Ye must take keer, cap," responded the first-mate to this confession.

"If ye don't draw in a bit ye'll be hevin' the shakes, an' thet 'd never do, I reckon."

"I guess not; but last night I wer kinder overcome with all the muss, an' might jist hev swallerd a drop or so too much, I reckon. Good rum can't hurt nary a one--thet is, in moderation, Flinders, strictly in moderation."

So saying, Captain Snaggs helped himself to another stiff tumblerful; and how many more gla.s.ses he had afterwards I could not say, as he dismissed me just then, telling me I could go forwards when I had cleared away the things--which I did in a jiffy, glad to quit the cabin and its occupants.

On reaching the fo'c's'le, I found that the steward had, as I perceived, told the men of my fright, and so I got finely chaffed about 'Sam's ghost.' The next day I was revenged, though; for, Jones spoiled the crew's dinner, and got so mauled by the indignant sailors that he had to beat a retreat back to the cabin, giving up thus ingloriously his brief tenancy of the galley.

Hiram Bangs was then elected cook in his place by the hands, with whom the captain left the matter, to settle it as they pleased; and, as the good-natured Yankee selected me to be his 'mate' or a.s.sistant, by this means I was relieved of any further a.s.sociation with the Welshman, and released from his tyranny, taking up my quarters thenceforth with the crew forward.

The nor'-westerly wind lasted us right across the Bay of Biscay and down to the Western Islands; and, we were only becalmed for a day or so, with light, variable breezes between the Azores and Madeira, when we picked up the nor'-east trades, which rattled us onward past the Canaries and Cape Verde.

From thence, all went well on board, nothing eventful happening until we were close up with the Equator, in lat.i.tude 7 degrees North, and longitude about 28 degrees West, when, late in the evening of our thirtieth day out, just as the man at the wheel had been relieved, and the port watch, under charge of the first-mate, come on duty at 'eight bells,' I smelt something burning in the forepeak.

Looking to see what was the matter, I noticed a thin column of smoke coming up from the small hatch under the fo'c's'le.

Of course, I went aft at once and told Mr Flinders, who would not believe me at first; but, as one of the other hands followed me up, bringing the same report, he was at length induced to descend the p.o.o.p ladder and go forward to judge for himself whether we had told the truth or not, muttering the while, though, that it was "all a pack o' durned nonsense!"

He did not think this long, however, for hardly had he got beyond the long-boat, when the smoke, which had got much denser while he had been wasting time palavering without taking action, blowing into his face convinced him that the matter was really serious.

All his nonchalance was gone in a moment, as well as his discretion; for, without pausing to consider the effect that any sudden disclosure of the danger might have on the crew by destroying their coolness and pluck, he roared out at the pitch of his voice, as he banged away with the heel of his boot on the deck:

"All hands ahoy! Tumble up thaar! Tumble up! The shep's on fire in the hold!"

CHAPTER SIX.

CAPE HORN WEATHER.

"Je-rusalem!" exclaimed Captain Snaggs, rushing out from the cabin in his night-shirt, having just turned in, and not stopping to dress--as the fluttering white garment and his thin legs showing beneath plainly demonstrated. This I noticed when the ma.s.s of heavy clouds with which the sky was covered overhead shifted for a moment, allowing a stray gleam from the watery moon to light up the deck, and saw the skipper hurrying up to the scene of action, where he was the first to arrive.

"What's all this durned muss about?"

Jan Steenbock answered him. He had not gone below when his watch was relieved, and being attracted by the row, was now preparing for emergencies by rigging a hose on to the head-pump, so that this could be at once pa.s.sed down into the hold if necessary--the first-mate being too frightened to do anything, even to reply to the captain when he spoke.

Indeed, he seemed perfectly paralysed with fear.

"Dere vas shmoke come out vrom ze forepeak," said the second-mate, in his deep guttural tones; "and I zinks dere vas one fire in ze holt.

Mishter Vlinders vas give ze alarm and cal't all hands."

"Guess I heerd thet; an', I reckon, Mr Flinders hed better hev comed an' told me quietly, instead of skearin' everybody into a blue funk!"

snapped out Captain Snaggs, dancing about on his spindleshank legs like a pea on a hot griddle, and dodging the smoke as it puffed in his face, while peering forward to see whence it came. "Hev any of yer chaps ben down below to prospect whaar the durned thing is?"

"It vas in ze forepeak, cap'n," said Jan Steenbock, in response to this question. "I vas zee it meinselfs."

"Is the hose ready?"

"Aye, aye, sir!" shouted back a score of voices, all hands being now on deck and every one forward, save the helmsman and steward--the latter, no doubt, snoozing away comfortably in his bunk, and not troubling himself about the disturbance, thinking, if he thought at all, that the call of the first-mate was only probably to shorten sail, in which case he might just as well remain where he was. "The hose is rigged and the head-pump manned, sir."

"Then let her rip!" shouted the skipper. "Go it, my hearties, an' flood it out. I've hed nary a fire aboard my ship afore; an' I don't want to be burnt out now, I reckon, with all them dry goods an' notions below, by thunder! Put your back into it, ye lubbers, an' let her rip, I tell ye; she's all oak!"

One party of men attended to the pump, Jan Steenbock directing the end of the hose down the half-opened hatch, the lid having been partly slipped off by some one. The captain ranged the rest along the gangway, pa.s.sing the buckets; and these a couple of others standing in the forechains dipped in the sea, hauling them up when full and handing them to those nearest, the skipper clutching hold when they reached him and chucking their contents down below.

The smoke in a minute or two perceptibly diminished in volume; and, presently, only a thin spiral wreath faintly stole up, in lieu of the thick clouds that had previously almost stifled us.

A wild hurrah of triumph burst from the crew; and the second-mate was just about descending into the forepeak, to get nearer the fire and see whether it had been thoroughly put out, when the entire cover of the hatchway was suddenly thrown violently off, and the dripping head and shoulders of a man appearing right under his very nose startled Jan Steenbock so much that he tumbled backward on the deck, although, impa.s.sive as usual, he did not utter a cry.

The captain did though.

"By the jumping Jehosophat!" he yelled out, also hopping back precipitately, with his night-shirt streaming out in the wind, which must have made his legs feel rather chilly, I thought, "who in thunder's thaar?"

"Me," replied a husky voice, the owner whereof coughed, as if he were pretty well suffocated with the smoke and water. "It's all right; it's only me."

"Jee-rusalem!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Captain Snaggs, rather puzzled. "Who's 'me'

I'd like ter know, I guess?"

"Tom Bullover," answered my friend the carpenter, now lifting himself out of the forepeak, when shaking himself like a big Newfoundland dog, he scattered a regular shower bath around. "It's all right below, and there's no fire there no longer."

"An' what in the name of thunder wer ye a-doin' on down thaar, hey?"

asked the skipper, quite flabbergasted at his unexpected appearance, Tom looking like a veritable imp from the lower regions, all blackened and begrimed, for the moon escaping from the veil of vapour that now nearly concealed the entire vault of the heavens just then shone down on us again, throwing a sickly light on the scene. "How kern ye to be down in the forepeak at all, my joker?"