The Second String Part 20

Jack was the first to speak, and thanked Jacob for his interesting story. He then told him that Barry Tuxford had empowered them to give him his fair share in whatever they might find, and that he was to tell him he need have no fear on that head.

"You must work in with us," said Jack, "and I am perfectly certain you will be satisfied."

"Barry Tuxford's word is always reliable," said Jacob. "He has faith in me, and I have faith in him. How many divers have you?"

"Twenty," replied Jack.

"We ought to have more. The best plan will be, however, to do the best we can with them, and not send one of the schooners to look for more. If we do that we shall lose time, and sufficient has been wasted already."

"I quite agree with you," said Jack, "we must get to work at once."

"Where do you hail from?" asked Jacob.

"England, have you been there?"

"No, but my father was a fisherman at Brighton, before he came out to Western Australia, many years ago."

"Brighton!" exclaimed Jack. "That is strange. I was living at Brighton when I made up my mind to try my fortunes out here. I know Suss.e.x well, and my best friends live in that county."

"It's marvellous," said Jacob. "Here we are in an unknown spot on the coast of Australia, and we both hail from the same place. Give me your hand, sir, we'll shake on it, and on the success of this trip."

"With all my heart," said Jack, and amidst general hilarity they clasped hands.

CHAPTER THIRTEENTH

_THE DIVERS AT WORK_

It was arranged that Jacob Rank should have charge of the divers and superintend their work, as he knew more about it than any of the others.

Accordingly the men were mustered on the "Heron" and he inspected them.

When he came to Kylis and Miah, the two blacks from Shark's Bay, he looked keenly at them, but they bore the scrutiny well, although they knew Jacob, and had seen him at the Bay.

"What do you think of them?" asked Jack. "Will they do?"

"We shall have to make the best of them," said Jacob. "I prefer Malays, but I have no doubt we can get along with these fellows. Where did you pick the two big men up, they seem in a different cla.s.s to the others?"

"When we put into Shark's Bay, there seemed some likelihood of trouble arising with the fishermen there, and Phil Danks tried to square matters with Amos Hooker."

"Amos Hooker!" exclaimed Rank, "he is a bad lot."

"That is probable, anyway he pacified the men and we tried the bay, but Phil said it was no good our stopping there, as it was about worked out."

"So it is, he's quite right."

"We asked Hooker if he could get us any good divers, and he said it was possible, and he would do his best. As we decided to leave earlier than was expected, he said he could only provide us with two, and they are the men you alluded to," said Jack.

"Amos Hooker supplied them," said Jacob. "I thought I had seen them before, it must have been at Shark's Bay. I wonder why he sent them on board. For some purpose of his own, no doubt, probably to spy out the land. I'll keep a strict watch on them, and if they show any signs of insubordination, they'll get left like I was."

"Manage them in your own way, I leave it entirely in your hands,"

replied Jack.

Early next morning four dinghies, with five divers in each, in charge of Jacob, the two skippers, and Jack Redland were rowed to a spot indicated by Rank, about half way across the bay.

Jack was eager to see how the divers accomplished their work. Rank had the two men from Shark's Bay, and three others in his dinghy, and his lot were the first to go down. The divers stood on the gunwale of the boats, dropped into the water feet foremost, then turned and swam to the bottom.

Jack's dinghy was some distance away, and the five divers in his boat waited for his orders. He pointed to the other dinghies, and by signs indicated they should go down at once. One by one they disappeared overboard, and he watched them swim down until they were out of sight.

He wondered how long they would remain down, and when they would come up. He rowed the dinghy about, and waited. They seemed an incredibly long time under water, and he became uneasy, he did not know the length of time some of these divers remained below.

At last a head bobbed up close to the boat, and a hand grasped the gunwale. Four more heads appeared almost immediately, and Jack rowed the boat to them. Each man had sh.e.l.ls which he dropped into the dinghy, and then drew himself out of the water.

After resting for a few minutes, they went down again, and this diving was repeated throughout the day until the dinghies contained a large quant.i.ty of sh.e.l.ls.

At a given signal from Jacob Rank, they rowed back to the ship, and Jack was rather surprised the divers seemed none the worse for their exertion.

The sh.e.l.ls were handed on board and piled up ready for opening, and then Harry Marton, who had remained on the "Heron," reported supper was ready. There was a general rush, as they were all very hungry after the day's fast, for it was useless to take any food in the dinghies, as it would have been spoilt with the constant wet from the divers bodies, and also the sh.e.l.ls.

Jacob Rank was quite satisfied with the day's work as he looked at the pile of sh.e.l.ls on board the "Heron." They had only twenty divers and it was evident they had seldom come up empty handed, or the heaps would not have been so large.

"We'll start at opening them first thing in the morning," said Jacob.

"You must all take a hand in it, we never allow the divers to open the sh.e.l.ls."

"I fear I shall make a mess of it," said Jack.

"You will soon get into it," replied Jacob. "It's just like opening a large oyster."

"And how do you find the pearls?" asked Jack.

"You'll soon find a pearl if there is one in the sh.e.l.l," replied Jacob.

"Sometimes they are loose, not often, again you may find them in big blisters, but, as a rule, you can see them embedded in the sh.e.l.l, where they look like pimples on the surface. You must keep an exact account of all we find, so that a proper division can be made."

"My friend, Harry Marton, will attend to that," said Jack, "it is more in his line."

"It matters very little who does it as long as it is done," replied Jacob.

They were all tired out with the day's work, and slept soundly until aroused by Jacob Rank. Each man was provided with a large knife, and Jack admired the dexterity with which Jacob severed the muscle of the mollusc when the sh.e.l.l opened, and with the rapidity of a London oyster opener, he sliced the fish out of the sh.e.l.l. This being done, the next thing was to look for pearls.

Jack Redland was clumsy at first, but quickly got into the way of opening and cleaning the sh.e.l.ls, and he felt a strange thrill of excitement as he looked for his first pearl.

It was an old worm eaten encrusted sh.e.l.l he held in his hand, and in it he saw a blister about the size of a penny piece. He was about to smash it when Jacob called out--

"Don't do that; if there is a pearl inside you'll damage it, perhaps crush it to bits. Leave the sh.e.l.l on one side and try another. I will show you how to tap a blister later on."

Jack placed it on one side and forced open another sh.e.l.l, it took him some considerable time, and when his knife slipped, the gaping sh.e.l.l closed sharply and nearly caught his fingers. He forced it again and cut out the fish, as he did so a pearl, the size of a pea, dropped out and he picked it up, at the same time expressing his feelings in a joyful exclamation. The others looked up, and he held it out to Jacob, who examined it carefully.

"Straw coloured," he said, "there are plenty of them, but this is well shaped, it is not a bad pearl at all, I daresay it would bring a tenner."