The Ruined Cities of Zululand Part 34

"Steady lads; out axes, and cut away the wreck."

Not a man moved, for some hundred yards away a monster wave, tipped with white, was rolling furiously towards the brig. The men were stunned by the suddenness of the misfortune.

The first-mate, seeing the imminence of the danger, sprang forward; seizing an axe, he and the missionary, who had quietly followed him, were soon busy cutting away the wreck. Dom Maxara had disappeared.

"Hold on, lads, hold on for your lives," roared the captain, as the great sea struck the brig on her starboard bow, pouring over her decks, and burying her beneath the foam, and then pa.s.sed away astern. "Cut away cheerily," now he shouted, as the bright axes flashed among the tangled ma.s.s of ropes, for their hesitation was over, and the crew, led by the first-mate and the missionary, were now working well.

Two crushed and mangled bodies lay among the broken spars, but there was no time to look to the wounded, for the safety of all depended on the wreck being cleared away, and the brig got before the wind.

"Man the down-haul. Tend the staysail sheet. Let go the halyards.

Haul down," were the rapid words of command shouted by the master, as the main-staysail was hauled down.

Again a heavy sea poured over the brig's bows, but as it pa.s.sed aft, with it went the remains of the fore-topmast, with all its tangled ma.s.s of ropes and blocks. A moment of comparative calm succeeded, and the men lay out on the fore-yard. The close-reefed foresail was set, the stout sail threatening to blow bodily out of the bolt-ropes, as feebly obeying her helm, the brig slowly righted, the sail filled, her bows payed off from the wind, and the dismasted "Halcyon" flew before the gale.

"This is indeed terrible," moaned Isabel, as, supported by her lover, she took her way below, following four of the crew who bore the body of her father to his cabin. Dom Maxara had been nearly dashed overboard as the huge wave broke over the brig, throwing her on her beam ends.

Sorely bruised and shaken he had been unable to rise, and each succeeding wave, as it swept the decks, had rolled him to and fro, surging about among the broken timbers and tangled rigging.

Flash after flash of lightning, instantly followed by peals of thunder, succeeding each other so closely as never to seem to die wholly away, now followed, and all day long the hurricane continued to sweep the face of the Indian Ocean, until, far as the eye could reach, the sea was one boiling ma.s.s of foam.

The brig rolled awfully, and with four men at the wheel, yawed wildly.

The great thing in scudding is to keep the vessel going, with a velocity superior to the following wave. If this be not effected, then she is p.o.o.ped, the seas overtaking and flooding her, whereas if she be not kept dead before the wind, and continually met with the helm when yawing to starboard or port, the scudding vessel broaches to, and down she goes at once.

Towards evening the gale broke, the main-topsail was set closely reefed, and the clank of the chain pumps was heard, in the stillness of the night, telling their own tale. The haze cleared away, the wind gradually fell, and with it the sea, but even yet the brig rolled fearfully.

On deck Hughes and the missionary were working with the men, encouraging them at the pumps, for there is no duty a seaman dislikes more than that. The captain, fairly worn out, had rolled himself in a great coat, and was sleeping heavily, coiled up against the rails of the quarter-deck. His mate was standing near the wheel, and the brig was dragging slowly and heavily through the seas. Above the clear blue sky and the bright stars, and around the ocean, with its surging waves, while on the stillness of the night came the sharp clank of the chain pumps: Towards morning the reefs were shaken out, and Hughes came aft.

"The water is gaining on us," he said, moodily, addressing the mate.

"Had the captain not better be roused?"

"What's the use? we cannot do more than has been done. We shall sight land by daybreak, and I hope run into Port Natal, if the wind holds."

"Have you heard anything of Dom Maxara?" anxiously asked Hughes.

"Nothing; but he got a terrible mauling. When I saw him, he was lying between the pump and the mainmast with his thigh broken."

"Is there any one else hurt?"

"Yes," returned the mate; "poor Stapleton has been severely crushed.

That huge sea dashed them both on deck and stove in all our boats."

"Is not that day breaking, away to the eastward?" asked Hughes.

"Yes; and if the wind will only hold, we shall soon sight the land, for with the leak gaining on us, short-handed, and nearly dismasted, the sooner we make a port the better," answered the mate, as, wearied and moody, the soldier turned, and went below.

Volume 2, Chapter VIII.

THE RAFT.

Through the dim, grey light, Hughes took his way down the companion, entering the brig's little cabin. If things had seemed gloomy on deck, where the cool morning breeze was blowing, and the dying gale moaning through the broken rigging, how much more desolate all seemed here as he paused and looked about him. The hatches were on, the deadlights shipped, and a lamp, with its long wick unsnuffed, swung wildly to and fro. Down the companion came the first faint sickly streaks of the coming day. The soaked carpets, the crimson seats drenched with salt-water, and the broken cabin furniture, were the natural results of the few minutes the brig had been lying on her beam ends. A small table had broken from its lashings and, fetching way, pitched right into a large mirror, and there it lay broken among the shivered gla.s.s. The crew were now so short-handed that the steward was working at the pumps, whose metallic clanking sound was plainly heard all over the vessel.

Pausing a moment as he glanced around, Hughes realised the scene, and then, pa.s.sing on, knocked at the door of a small cabin.

The knock was low and timidly given. It produced no reply, so, turning the handle, he entered.

He stood in the Portuguese n.o.ble's private cabin, and he became at once aware that the injuries which Dom Maxara had received were of a graver character than the mate had led him to suppose. In point of fact, the broken thigh caused by being jammed in between the pump and the brig's mainmast was not all, for several ribs had been broken, by the heavy blocks which had been rolled to and fro, and some severe internal injury had been received. What was even worse was that there was no doctor on board, and so there on the tumbled bed lay the injured n.o.ble, his grey hairs falling on the pillow, while by the bedside, her face buried in the clothes, sat Isabel fast asleep. Several large stains of blood marked the sheet, and the sick man's eyes, though closed, seemed sunken, and the lips deadly white. The morning was breaking fine and calm.

Kneeling down beside her, after carefully closing the door, Hughes pa.s.sed his arm gently round the sleeping girl's waist. She awoke with a start, glancing round her with a terrified look, as she pushed back the long hair from her face and forehead. For a few moments, so deep had been the sleep of fatigue and exhaustion, she knew not where she was or what had happened, but as her startled gaze fell on the narrow bed, the whole of the sorrowful present returned to her. Dom Maxara was breathing very heavily, and with great difficulty.

"Oh, Enrico, how wicked I have been," she exclaimed. "How could I go to sleep?"

"How could you avoid it, dear Isabel, after such a time of mental and bodily fatigues. Has he spoken?" asked Hughes, looking up into her face.

"No, he has never moved, never opened his eyes; but I don't know how long I have been asleep," was the reply. "What is the news on deck? If we could only get him ash.o.r.e, my dear dear father!"

"The gale is completely broken, the sea rapidly falling, and we shall soon have a dead calm, Isabel; but the leak is gaining on us, some plank must be started, and there is ten feet water in the hold."

"Is land far off?" asked the girl, whose face looked pale and careworn.

"If we could only get him to land."

"We have no boats, and no means of landing. The brig is nearly motionless, and will soon be quite so. If we had wind we might run her on the coast; but at present it is only a question of how many hours we can float. The captain talks of a raft."

"Land ho!" was heard shouted on the forecastle.

"Where away?" was asked from the quarter-deck.

"Broad on the starboard bow, sir, nearly ahead."

The shout seemed to rouse the sick man. His eyes opened languidly, and so heavy and stertorous was the breathing, that the clothes rose and fell with the labouring chest.

Dom Maxara had regained consciousness, but it became evident that some severe internal injury had taken place, and that death was not far off.

Isabel leaned over him, and kissed the white lips.

"Land is in sight, dear father; the weather is fine, and we shall soon reach it," she whispered, placing her hand in his.

The old man closed his eyes, and prayed; he then motioned with his hand, and Hughes gave him some teaspoonsful of weak brandy and water.

This revived him, and the cushions being arranged, he managed, though with much pain, to make himself heard.

"I shall never land, my daughter," he said, "never. Isabel, at the foot of my bed you will find a tin case, bring it."

The weeping girl did as she was told without a word.

"Enrico," continued the dying man, slowly and feebly, "all my papers are there. Whatever property I have is left to my daughter. Isabel, I am leaving you fast."

The girl knelt by his side, sobbing bitterly, but without speaking.

A long pause ensued, during which the clank of the chain pumps, the swish of the water, the loud voices on deck, and the stertorous breathing of the dying n.o.ble, mixed with the pa.s.sionate sobs of the sorrow-stricken daughter.