The Ocean Waifs Part 48

These speculations occupied them only a few seconds of time. In fact they had pa.s.sed through their minds long before they arrived alongside the gig; for they were but the natural considerations suggested by the presence of the boat.

They were now in possession of a seaworthy craft. It seemed as if Providence had thrown it in their way; and they had no idea of abandoning it. On the contrary, it was the raft which was to be deserted.

If they hesitated about transferring themselves and their chattels from the _Catamaran_ to the gig, it was but for a moment; and that brief s.p.a.ce of time was only spent in considering how they might best accomplish the transfer.

The boat had first to be got into a fit state for their reception; and as soon as they had recovered from the shock caused by that hideous spectacle, the sailor and s...o...b..ll set to work to remove the body out of sight, as well as every trace of the sanguinary strife that must have taken place.

The mutilated corpse was cast into the sea, and sank at once under the surface,--though perhaps never to reach the bottom, for those two ravenous monsters were still hovering around the spot, in greedy expectation of more food for their insatiable stomachs.

The red bilge-water was next baled out of the boat,--the inside timbers cleared of their ensanguined stains, and swilled with clean water from the sea; which was in its turn thrown out, until no trace remained of the frightful objects so lately seen.

A few things that had been found in the boat were permitted to remain: as they might prove of service to the crew coming into possession.

Among these there was not a morsel of food, nor a drop of drinking water; but there was the ship's compa.s.s, still in good condition; and the sailor knew that this treasure was too precious to be parted with: as it would enable them to keep to their course under the most clouded skies.

As soon as the gig was ready to receive them, the "stores" of the _Catamaran_ were transferred to it. The cask of water was carefully hoisted aboard the boat,--as also the smaller cask containing the precious "Canary." The dried fish packed inside the chest, the oars, and other implements were next carried over the "gangway" between the two crafts,--each article being stowed in a proper place within the gig.

There was plenty of room for everything: as the boat was a large one, capable of containing a dozen men; and of course ample for the accommodation of the _Catamaran's_ crew, with all their _impedimenta_.

The last transfer made was the mast and sail, which were "unshipped"

from the _Catamaran_ to be set up on the gig, and which were just of the right size to suit the latter craft.

There was nothing left upon the raft that could be of any use to them on their boat-voyage; and after the mast and sail had been removed, the _Catamaran_ appeared completely dismantled.

As they undid the lashings,--which during the transfer had confined her to the gig,--a feeling of sadness pervaded the minds of her former crew.

They had grown to feel for that embarkation,--frail and grotesque as it was,--a sort of attachment; such as one may have for a loved home. To them it had been a home in the midst of the wilderness of waters; and they could not part from it without a strong feeling of regret.

Perhaps it was partly for this reason they did not at once dip their oars into the water and row away from the raft; though they had another reason for lingering in its proximity.

The mast had to be "stepped" in the gig and the sail bent on to it; and, as it seemed better that these things should be done at once, they at once set about doing them.

During the time they were thus engaged, the boat drifted on with the breeze, making two or three knots to the hour. But this caused no separation between the two crafts; for the same breeze carried the dismantled raft--now lying light upon the water--at the like rate of speed; and when at length the mast stood amidships in the gig, and the sailyard was ready to be hauled up to it, there was scarce a cable's length between them.

The _Catamaran_ was astern, but coming on at a fair rate of speed,--as if determined not to be left behind in that lone wilderness of waters!

CHAPTER NINETY FOUR.

A "SCHOOL" OF SPERM-WHALES.

To all appearance the hour had arrived when they were to look their last on the embarkation that had safely carried them through so many dangers.

In a few minutes their sail would be spread before a breeze, that would impel their boat at a rapid rate through the water; and in a short time they would see no more of the _Catamaran_, crawling slowly after them.

A few miles astern, and she would be out of sight,--once and forever.

Such was their belief, as they proceeded to set the sail.

Little were they thinking of the destiny that was before them. Fate had not designed such a sudden separation; and well was it for them that the _Catamaran_ had clung so closely upon their track, as still to offer them an asylum,--a harbour of refuge to which they might retreat,--for it was not long before they found themselves in need of it.

As stated, they were proceeding to set the sail. They had got their rigging all right,--the canvas bent upon the yard, the halliards rove, and everything except hauling up and sheeting home.

These last operations would have been but the work of six seconds, and yet they were never performed.

As the sailor and s...o...b..ll stood, halliards in hand, ready to hoist up, an exclamation came from little William, that caused both of them to suspend proceedings.

The boy stood gazing out upon the ocean,--his eyes fixed upon some object that had caused him to cry out. Lalee was by his side also, regarding the same object.

"What is it, Will'm?" eagerly inquired the sailor, hoping the lad might have made out a sail.

William had himself entertained this hope. A whitish disk over the horizon had come under his eye; which for a while looked like spread canvas, but soon disappeared,--as if it had suddenly dissolved into air.

William was ashamed of having uttered the exclamation,--as being guilty of causing a "false alarm." He was about to explain himself, when the white object once more rose up against the sky,--now observed by all.

"That's what I saw," said the alarmist, confessing himself mistaken.

"If ye took it for a sail, lad," rejoined the sailor, "you war mistaken.

It be only the spoutin' o' a sparmacety."

"There's more than one," rejoined William, desirous of escaping from his dilemma. "See, yonder's half a dozen of them!"

"Theer ye be right, lad,--though not in sayin' there's half a dozen.

More like there be half a hundred o' 'em. There's sure to be that number, whar you see six a-blowin' at the same time. There be a 'school' o' them, I be bound,--maybe a 'body.'"

"Golly!" cried s...o...b..ll, after regarding the whales for a moment, "dey am a-comin' dis way!"

"They be," muttered the old whalesman, in a tone that did not show much satisfaction at the discovery. "They're coming right down upon us. I don't like it a bit. They're on a 'pa.s.sage,'--that I can see; an' it be dangerous to get in their way when they're goin' so,--especially aboard a craft sich as this un'."

Of course the setting of the sail was adjourned at this announcement; as it would have been, whether there had been danger or not. A school of whales, either upon their "pa.s.sage" or when "gambolling," is a spectacle so rare, at the same time so exciting, as not to be looked upon without interest; and the voyager must be engrossed in some very serious occupation who can permit it to pa.s.s without giving it his attention.

Nothing can be more magnificent than the movements of these vast leviathans, as they cleave their track through the blue liquid element,--now sending aloft their plume-like spouts of white vapour,-- now flinging their broad and fan-shaped flukes into the air; at times bounding with their whole bodies several feet above the surface, and dropping back into the water with a tremendous concussion, that causes the sea to swell into huge foam-crested columns, as if a storm was pa.s.sing over it.

It was the thought of this that came into the mind of the ex-whalesman; and rendered him apprehensive,--as he saw the school of _cachalots_ coming on towards the spot occupied by the frail embarkation. He knew that the swell caused by the "breaching" of a whale is sufficient to swamp even a large-sized boat; and if one of the "body" now bowling down towards them should chance to spring out of the water while pa.s.sing near, it would be just as much as they could do to keep the gig from going upon her beam-ends.

There was not much time to speculate upon chances, or probabilities.

When first seen, the whales could not have been more than a mile distant: and going on as they were, at the rate of ten knots an hour, only ten minutes elapsed before the foremost was close up to the spot occupied by the boat and the abandoned raft.

They were not proceeding in a regular formation; though here and there four or five might have been seen moving in a line, abreast with one another. The whole "herd" occupied a breadth extending about a mile across the sea; and in the very centre of this, as ill-luck would have it, lay the c.o.c.kle-sh.e.l.l of a boat and the abandoned raft.

It was one of the biggest "schools" that Ben Brace had ever seen, consisting of nearly a hundred individuals,--full-grown females, followed by their "calves,"--and only one old bull, the patron and protector of the herd. There was no mistaking it for a "pod" of whales,--which would have been made up of young males just escaped from maternal protection, and attended by several older individuals of their own s.e.x,--acting as trainers and instructors.

Just as the _ci-devant_ whalesman had finished making this observation, the _cachalots_ came past, causing the sea to undulate for miles around the spot,--as if a tempest had swept over, and was succeeded by its swell. One after another pa.s.sed with a graceful gliding, that might have won the admiration of an observer viewing it from a position of safety. But to those who beheld it from the gig, there was an idea of danger in their majestic movement,--heightened by the surf-like sound of their respirations.

They had nearly all pa.s.sed, and the crew of the gig were beginning to breathe freely; when they perceived the largest of the lot--the old bull--astern of the rest and coming right towards them. His head, with several fathoms of his back, protruded above the surface, which at intervals he "fluked" with his tail,--as if giving a signal to those preceding him, either to direct their onward course, or warn them of some threatened danger.

He had a vicious look about him,--notwithstanding his patriarchal appearance,--and the ex-whalesman uttered an exclamation of warning as he approached.

The utterance was merely mechanical, since nothing could be done to ward off the threatened encounter.

Nothing was done. There was no time to act, nor even to think. Almost on the same instant in which the warning cry was heard the whale was upon them. He who had uttered it, along with his companions, felt themselves suddenly projected into the air, as if they had been tossed from a catapult, and their next sensation was that of taking "a tremendous header" into the depths of the fathomless ocean!