The Pirate of the Mediterranean Part 11

He took another turn or so, and then stopped, looking to the northward.

He had, at first, intended again setting all the sail the ship would carry before the wind; but on more critically examining the clouds in that quarter, he determined, for the present, to make no change. The clouds, he observed, were increasing in number, and banking up thickly together, and the first freshness of the morning had given way to an oppressive and heavy air, which seemed to weigh down their spirits. The wind, which had hitherto been so steady, though varying in strength, now dropped considerably, and began to veer about, so as to require the hands constantly at the braces. Bowse fully felt the responsibility of the command intrusted to him, and that the safety and lives of his crew and pa.s.sengers would depend very much on his forethought, judgment, and coolness. He was glad to be alone, to think over what was best to be done under the circ.u.mstances; that a gale was brewing, he felt pretty sure, and that it would come from the southward and east; but whether it would be of long duration, or whether one of those sudden gusts, those short-lived tempests, which occur frequently during summer in the Mediterranean, he could not determine, though he was inclined to think it would be the latter; then, that some vessel, with no good motive, was looking out for the brig, he felt almost certain; though his pride would not allow him to suppose that any one, knowing the armament of the _Zodiac_, would attempt to attack her openly. At the same time this was an additional object of anxiety, and would require caution.

The watch, with bare feet, and trousers tucked up to their knees, with buckets in their hands, were employed in washing decks, and as they splashed the water along the planks, and up the inner sides of the bulwarks, they laughed and jested in very buoyancy of spirits; and played off on each other various little practical jokes, which the presence of the second mate, who superintended and aided in the operation, alone prevented from being of a more boisterous character.

The p.o.o.p deck, where the captain was walking, had already been washed, and the people were now in the waist, and were giving a few more vehement splashes before moving further forward, when Colonel Gauntlett, in his forage cap, a richly flowered dressing-gown, and Turkish slippers, made his appearance at the companion hatch, very nearly receiving a copious shower-bath from the contents of a bucket dashed across the deck at that moment.

"Hillo, my men," he exclaimed, in no very amiable tone. "I thought the ship was wrecked, with all that splashing and scrubbing. One would suppose that the vessel was as dirty as those Augean stables that fellow Hercules had to clean, by all the water you use."

"It's cheaper than pipe-clay, and cleaner, for it's to be had for the taking, and don't leave any dust," muttered Jem Marlin, who was the offender.

"It may be cheap, but it makes a confounded noise, and we have enough of it outside, as it is," answered the colonel, not hearing the reference to pipe-clay. "So I beg in future you won't let quite so much of it play round my head in a morning."

This was said, as he was standing with his body half-way down the companion ladder.

He then observed the master on the p.o.o.p.

"Well, Mr Bowse, anything more of our friend, the _Flying Dutchman_?"

he asked in a jocose tone.

"If you will step up here, I will tell you more about her, sir,"

answered the master; and, thus summoned, the colonel picked his way over the wet deck to where he was standing. "I think it right, Colonel Gauntlett, to tell you, that you may be prepared, that we are going to have a blow of it, shortly; and I want you to look at that brig out there. What do you make of her?"

"Bless me, nothing--I can't even see her," said the colonel. "Do you mean to tell me that you can distinguish what that little black mark is out there?"

"Yes, Colonel Gauntlett, I am certain that yonder object is either a brig or a ship, under her tops'ils, standing to the eastward, and that the other, you see, to the north of her, is a felucca or speronara.

Now, sir, if there is any credit to be placed in the letter we got last night, and in the account the two Sicilians who came on board gave us, and in the warnings we got at Malta, we are likely to fall in with a brig which is no better than she should be, and which is in connection, some way or other, with that same speronara. Now, there is a brig on the same course that we are; yet, for some reason or other, in no hurry to make a pa.s.sage: perhaps, she is waiting for us to come up with her.

Then there floats just such another craft as the speronara, supposing it is not she herself: so, if we are to fall in with a pirate, I cannot help thinking that brig ahead is the vessel. That is one thing I have to mention to you, sir; and please to look to the south'ard and east'ard. The black bank gathering there shows that we shall have a very different time of it to what we had yesterday."

"Well, Mr Bowse, what would you have us do?" exclaimed the colonel, with rather a puzzled look. "Do you wish us to put back?"

"No, Colonel Gauntlett, I have been brought up in a school where it is not the custom to run from any danger men can meet with, when there is a chance of overcoming it," replied the master, with not a little dignity in his tone. "But I thought it my duty to inform you, sir, of what, in my opinion, is likely to occur; and, please Providence, we'll do our best to meet and overcome any dangers which may appear."

"I like your spirit, Bowse, and cordially agree with you," exclaimed the colonel, taking his hand. "Those black clouds may, after all, only indicate a squall; and, as for the pirate, if one falls foul of us I think we snail have no difficulty in handling him."

"I won't deceive you, sir; if you had been as much at sea as I have you would know that those clouds foretell a gale; but such a gale as I hope the _Zodiac_ will weather without straining a timber; and, for the pirate, we must keep our weather eye open, that he does not take us unawares. Perhaps, Providence tends the storm to keep us clear of the pirate. My advice to you, sir, is to warn the young lady and her maid of what is going to happen, and to get everything stowed in your cabin.

I'm just going to turn the hands up to shorten sail."

"I wish I could be of as much use there as I hope to be alongside an enemy; but as I cannot, I will go where I can do some good." Saying which, the colonel returned to the cabin.

"All hands on deck to shorten sail," sang out the master; and ere a minute had pa.s.sed, the senior mate and the watch below were on deck.

The fore-clue-garnets were manned, and the foresail was quickly clewed up, and the men flying aloft, it was securely furled. The topsails were next lowered on the caps, whence they bulged out like big balloons, about to fly away with the masts.

"Man the fore and main tops'il clew-lines and bunt-lines," sung out Bowse, laying his hand on the main. "Away with it, my lads."

The topsails were clewed up, the reef tackles hauled out, and the hands aloft lying in, in as short a time almost as it has taken to describe.

Both sails were close reefed, and again sheeted home. The fore and aft mainsail was then close reefed, the jib hauled down, and fore-topmast staysail hoisted; the royal yards were also sent down, and the brig then, under her smallest working canvas, was prepared to meet the tempest, in whatever way, or from whatever quarter it might come.

CHAPTER TEN.

There is a strong similarity between the aspects of physical nature and those exhibited by man, as an individual, and in the aggregate.

Before any outbreak or great commotion, from the disorganised condition of the moral body, there are observed signs of discontent, murmurings, and complaints, fierce looks and threats--these, at length, disappear, and people seem to be seized with a sudden apathy and indifference, which is as quickly cast aside, and all is rage, havoc, and confusion.

So, likewise, before the coming of a storm, clouds are seen gathering in the horizon, murmurs and growls are heard, then the wind dies away, and a perfect calm, for a short time, succeeds the fury of the tempest, and, in both instances, the more perfect the calm, the more is the subsequent outbreak to be feared.

The wind had gradually died away, till the sea became smooth as gla.s.s, and rose and fell in gentle undulations, which made the vessel roll from side to side, and caused every timber and bulkhead to groan and creak.

It appeared not to have been absolutely necessary to shorten sail so soon; but as there was a dead calm, this was of no consequence, and the most prudent seamanship; as it is, at times, difficult to judge the period a squall my take to travel up to a ship.

The brig still lay with her head a little to the northward of east, and her yards were now braced up on the starboard tack to meet the wind which gave signs of coming from the southward and east. Every preparation was made, and all hands were at their stations, ready to execute any of their commander's orders which the emergency might require, when Ada, wearied of remaining in the hot cabin, came on deck, followed by her little maid; and before Bowse, who was looking to the southward, perceived them, they had gained the p.o.o.p.

"This is no place for you, miss, I am sure," he exclaimed, on seeing her. "You do not know what risk you run. Oh, go below again--go below."

"Why, what is the matter, Captain Bowse?" she replied, laughing, and looking at the calm sea. "My uncle told me that we were to have a tremendous storm, and I do not feel a breath of wind."

"And so we shall, miss," he exclaimed. "You have no time to go below now without a.s.sistance. Hold on by these cleats, and tell your maid to do so too. Here it comes!"

As he spoke, the ma.s.s of clouds which had been collecting to the eastward, and gradually approaching, now came driving up bodily across the sky at a rapid rate--the dark waters below it, hitherto so smooth and calm, presented a sheet of snow-white foam, hissing and bubbling as if it were turned up and impelled onward by some gigantic besom. Ada, as she gazed with feelings of mingled terror and admiration, saw it in one long line near the brig--it reached her side--the white foam flew upwards, curling over them, and the wind, at the same instant, striking her canvas, her tall masts seemed to bend to its fury, and then pressed downwards, the hull heeled over till the lee bulwarks were nearly submerged.

Two strong hands were at the helm, ready to turn it a-weather, should it be necessary to scud; but, in an instant, the gallant ship rose again-- and then, like a courser starting for the race, she shot forward through the boiling cauldron, heeling over till her guns were in the water, but still bravely carrying her canvas. Not a rope nor a lanyard had started--not a seam in her topsails had given, and away she flew on her proper course. The veteran master stood on the p.o.o.p watching for any change or increase of wind. The safety of the ship depended on his prompt.i.tude. The sea was rapidly rising; and this was soon perceptible by her uneasy motion, as she rose and fell to each receding wave, the last always appearing of greater height than its predecessors. Any moment it might be necessary either to keep her away, and, furling everything, to let her drive before the gale under bare poles, or to put her helm down and heave her to, thus to let her lie forging slowly a-head, till the gale had abated. A few minutes only had pa.s.sed since the brig first felt the force of the gale, and the whole sky was now a ma.s.s of dark clouds, and the sea a sheet of white driving foam--out of which lofty waves seemed to lift their angry heads, and to urge each other into increased violence. The wind howled and whistled through the rigging; the spars creaked and bent; and the whole hull groaned with the exertion as she tore onwards. Ada, who had, when the ship heeled over, held firmly on to the weather bulwarks, gazed at the scene, to her, so novel and grand, with intense pleasure, from which fear was soon banished; and little Marianna, having followed the example of her mistress in securing herself, imitated her also in her courage. Indeed, as yet, except that they were rather wetted by the foam which came on board, when the squall first struck the brig, there was no object of terror to alarm them. The moment Bowse could withdraw his attention from the care of the ship, he hurried to a.s.sist Ada and her attendant, and to place them on the seat which surrounded the cabin skylight, where she might enjoy the magnificent spectacle of the tumultuous ocean, without the fatigue of standing, and having to hold on by the bulwarks.

A cloak was thrown round her feet, and as she reclined back in the seat, she declared she felt like an ocean queen in her barge of state, reviewing her watery realms. The colonel's appearance on deck, supported by his man Mitch.e.l.l, whose usual cadaverous countenance looked still more ghastly, drove away the romance in which she was beginning to indulge. He scolded her roundly for venturing on deck without his escort, and insisted on her promising never to do so again, on pain of being compelled instantly to go below.

The mate had returned to his post. The brig behaved beautifully; though she heeled over to the force of the wind, she rose buoyantly to each mountain wave, which reared its crest before her, and though the light spray which the short seas so quickly aroused would fly high above her bows, and come in showers down on her forecastle, little of it found its way aft, and not a sea which struck her came over her bulwarks. Bowse looked delighted and proud at the behaviour of his brig, as he pointed out her good qualities to his pa.s.sengers.

"There's many a craft, which is looked upon as a clipper, won't behave as she does, that I'll answer for," he observed.

He was going on with his panegyrics when his voice became silent, and his eye riveted ahead. The atmosphere, which, when the gale first came on, had been somewhat thick, had now partially cleared, and revealed to him, at the distance of little more than a mile, a large polacca brig hove to on the starboard tack. He instantly summoned his first officer to his side, and pointed out the stranger to him.

"What think you of that fellow, Timmins?" he asked.

The mate took a look at the stranger through his gla.s.s.

"A fine polacca brig, sir, as one can see with half an eye," he answered deliberately; "but more of her I cannot say, as she shows no colours.

We must keep away a little though, sir, or we shall be right down upon her."

"We should--starboard the helm a point my lads," exclaimed the master.

"Steady, that will take us clear, and we shall be near enough to have a look at him. Ah! there goes some buntin' aloft. What colours are they, Timmins?"

"The Austrian ensign, sir," replied the mate. "A black eagle on a white ground, and there flies a pennant at his mast head."

"That's extraordinary indeed," exclaimed the master. "Hoist the ensign there," he shouted. "Austrian or devil, we'll show him that we are not ashamed of our flag, and will not strike it either in a hurry. Come here, Timmins, we mustn't frighten the young lady by what we say. You know the paper dropped on board here last night; now it's my opinion that that's the very brig it speaks about, and the one the felucca's two men tried to persuade us was an Austrian man-of-war. To my eye, she looks fifty times more like a Greek than an Austrian, for all that her colours say. Well, what's your opinion that we ought to do?"

"With respect to her being a Greek, I think she is," answered the mate.

"And if she's a pirate, we ought to do our best to stand clear of her, seeing that we were commissioned to carry merchandise, and not to look after such gentry; but if she comes after us, and we can't get clear of her, that alters the case, sir, and we must stand to our guns and fight her."

"I am glad to hear you say so, Timmins," answered the master, laying his hand on the mate's arm.