The South Sea Whaler Part 12

"What is it?" asked the mate.

"A sail! a sail!" he shouted, clapping his hands, and dancing frantically about at a great risk of slipping off into the water. The mate and Walter quickly climbed up, anxious to ascertain the truth of Nub's a.s.sertion.

"Dere! dere!" he exclaimed. "To the south. Dere she comes! Missie Alice and Ma.s.sa Walter soon be safe!"

"That's not a ship," observed the mate. "If you look steadily, you will see that it's a long way on this side of the horizon, and but little raised above the water. It would not appear so distinct as it does if it was the topgallant-sail of a ship, hull down. That's the sail of a boat or a raft; and before long it will be near at hand."

Alice eagerly inquired what they were looking at. Walter having told her what the mate said, could with difficulty persuade her to remain on the raft, so anxious was she to climb up to see the object in sight.

The party on the whale's back stood watching the sail; but instead, however, of it coming directly towards them, as they had expected it would do, it was seen, when about a mile off, to be steering a course on which it would pa.s.s them scarcely nearer than it then was. Walter seized the flag out of the whale's back and waved it over his head, shouting at the top of his voice, as did the mate and Nub, to attract attention; but apparently they were not seen, and certainly could not have been heard.

"It is more than I can make out, what they are about," observed Walter.

"They must have caught sight of the whale, and whether that's a boat or a raft, it's surprising that they should not have come nearer to have a look at us. They seem to have a pretty stiff breeze out there, and it would not have taken them much out of their way."

"I am sure that it is a raft," said the mate, "as, with the breeze they have got, and that large sail, a boat would move much faster through the water than they are doing. Depend on it, those are the _Champion's_ people, and they have got some reason for not wishing to communicate with us. I am pretty sure they fancy that this whale was killed by the captain, and that, not finding the ship, he returned to it. I may be wrong, but I think I am not much out in my calculations."

"But suppose you are wrong, and my father is on board the raft, could not we shove off and overtake it?"

"As it is almost dead to windward, we should not have the slightest chance of doing so; and see! they are still holding their course. If they had wished to communicate with us, they would have lowered their sail; and they must see the smoke of the fire, even should they not make out the flag,--though they could scarcely have failed to do that."

"I tink I could swim much faster dan our raft could pull against de wind," said Nub; "supposing de captain on board, den I tell him dat Ma.s.sa Walter and Missie Alice on de whale, and he sure to come."

"You had better not make the attempt, Nub," said the mate. "You will have a long swim before you can reach the raft; and if you fail to do so, you will be exhausted before you can possibly get back."

"Neber fear, Mr s...o...b..ok," he answered. "If I get tired I can rest on one of dose casks, or perhaps I find some spar or piece of timber which keep me up;" and before the mate or Walter could stop him, Nub had slipped off into the sea on the opposite side to that to which the raft was secured, so that Alice did not see him. Nub struck out boldly, and made rapid way. The mate and Walter stood watching him.

"That black is indeed a first-rate swimmer," observed the mate. "Heaven protect the brave fellow."

Nub, however, had not got more than two or three cable's lengths from the whale when he was seen to turn, while he furiously beat the water with his hands and feet, at the same time shouting out loudly.

"Oh, what are those black-looking things moving about on either side of him?" exclaimed Walter.

"Those are sharks' fins," answered the mate. "He must have caught sight of them; and he knows well that, should he get tired, they will attack him."

"O poor Nub! poor Nub! Can he escape them?" exclaimed Walter, wringing his hands and looking the picture of despair. "O Mr s...o...b..ok, can we do nothing to save him?"

"We can only shout and try to frighten the sharks, as Nub is doing,"

answered the mate.

"Oh, I will do that," cried Walter; and he began to shriek and jump frantically about in a way which made the mate begin to feel anxious on his account: still Mr s...o...b..ok himself shouted at the top of his voice, and then bethought him of cutting pieces of blubber and throwing them as far away as possible, in order to attract the savage creatures and to draw their attention off from the black. The plan seemed to succeed, and several of them were seen to dash forward and spring out of the water to catch the blubber before it reached the surface. Nub, meanwhile, was making rapid way towards the side of the whale.

"Now, Walter," said the mate, "do as I have been doing, while I get a harpoon-line ready to haul the black out of the water; but take care, my dear boy, that you don't slip off."

Walter did as the mate told him, still continuing to shriek out as loudly as before. Bending the end of one of the lines to the centre of a spear, Mr s...o...b..ok let it drop into the water, where it floated; while he stood by to haul up Nub as soon as he caught hold of it.

Walter continued in the meantime cutting off pieces of blubber and throwing them towards the head of the whale, and as long as he did so the sharks remained on the watch for the delicious morsels. At length Nub reached the spear, and grasping hold of it, endeavoured to haul himself up; but he was evidently greatly exhausted by his rapid swim, and the dread he had experienced of being seized by one of the monsters swarming around. The mate, who had begun to haul him in, called Walter to his a.s.sistance. They had got the black half out of the water, when they saw several of the dark fins gliding towards him. How poor Walter shouted and shrieked!--while he and the mate hauled away with all their might, every instant dreading to see the savage creatures tear at Nub's legs. With all their strength they hauled away, when, just as Nub's feet were clear of the water, two enormous sharks rose with open mouths above the surface to seize him. Happily they were disappointed, for the creatures in their eagerness rushing against each other, missed their aim, their heads nearly touching the soles of his feet--which, as may be supposed, he quickly drew up; while the mate and Walter, hauling away, got him fairly up to the top of the whale's back. As soon as he was safe, Walter threw his arm around him, exclaiming, "Have the creatures bitten you, Nub? Have you really escaped them? oh, why did you go--oh, why did you go?"

"Yes, Ma.s.sa Walter, I quite safe, neber fear," answered Nub, panting for breath. "Dey no hurt me, though dey would have liked to eat me up as they did the blubber which you and de mate threw to dem; no doubt about dat."

"I am thankful that you have got back safe, Nub," said the mate. "It was a bold attempt, but it would have been a vain one; for I am as sure as I stand here that the captain is not on board the raft out there."

"Oh, where can my father have gone, then?" exclaimed Walter, who was still in a state of unusual excitement, into which, weakened as he was by famine, the alarm he had just experienced had thrown him.

"Your father is in his boat, be a.s.sured of that, Walter," answered the mate calmly; "and now, the sooner you go on the raft and join your sister the better." Still Walter did not go, but again seizing the flag, kept waving it; but the raft glided on, moved by the strong wind, which now reached the part of the ocean on which the whale floated. The mate himself could not help standing to watch it, but it rapidly got farther and farther off. At last, taking Walter's arm, he said, "Come, we must waste no more time here; Nub and I will help you down to the raft."

Walter made no resistance, but allowed himself to be lowered down, the mate and Nub following him. Alice threw her arms around his neck when she saw him, exclaiming,--"What has all that noise been about? I have been so frightened. Why did you not come and tell me?"

The mate briefly explained what had happened; while Walter, with apparent calmness, added a few remarks; and, soothed by his sister's voice, he soon appeared to recover, and Mr s...o...b..ok had no apprehensions about him. The mate told him to lie down and rest, which he at once did. The raft being on the lee side of the whale, he and Nub then hoisted the sail.

"Oh, Ma.s.sa s...o...b..ok, we have forgotten de harpoons!" exclaimed Nub.

"So we have," answered the mate. "In my anxiety about Walter I forgot them."

"Den I go up and get dem," said Nub; and he again climbed up the side of the whale. He had lowered down a couple of harpoons and three spears, when the mate, who had in the meantime cast off the lines which had secured the raft to the whale, in his anxiety to lose no time, sprang up to pull out another spear which had been fixed nearer the tail; Alice, who was standing near him, taking hold of the line still attached to it.

At that moment, from some unknown cause, the monster body began to move, and before either the mate or Nub could descend, over it rolled; while Alice, in her terror still holding on to the line, was lifted from her feet and dragged into the water. The sail, no longer under the lee of the huge carca.s.s, filled, and away glided the raft, leaving the poor little girl, with the mate and Nub at some distance from her, struggling in the water.

Note 1. The author confesses that he has had some difficulty in understanding the descriptions in the old journal from which the tale is taken. From its evident truthfulness and general accuracy, he would not feel justified in altering them. But the ill.u.s.tration beats him, and sets at defiance all the accounts in his books of natural history. He must therefore leave his readers to judge for themselves.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

THE WHALE SINKS--ALICE SUPPORTED BY THE MATE--A HAMMER-HEADED SHARK APPEARS--ALICE'S ALARM--NUB CONQUERS THE HAMMER-HEAD--VOYAGE ON A SEA-CHEST.

The huge monster rolling over, slowly sank head foremost into the depths of the ocean; possibly from the oil in the case by some means or other having escaped, thereby depriving it of its buoyancy--an occurrence which occasionally takes place when, after a hard chase, a whale has been captured, and the victors are about to tow it in triumph to their ship; losing in consequence several hundred pounds worth of oil.

The mate and Nub found themselves dragged a considerable way under water; but quickly coming up again, as they were striking out they caught sight of the raft driving before the wind, and poor Alice struggling in the water at some distance from them. Horror-struck at the sight, they swam towards her, their hearts beating with anxiety lest they should not be in time to reach the spot ere she sank beneath the surface, or was seized by one of the ravenous sharks from which Nub had just before so narrowly escaped. Happily the savage creatures had darted down after the whale, eager to seize the strips of blubber which had been cut off its back. So busily were they engaged, that they did not take notice of the human beings thus left to their tender mercies.

The mate had been on a part of the whale nearest Alice, and was thus the first to approach her. Seeing the impossibility of reaching the raft, he shouted to Nub and told him to swim after it; he himself intending to a.s.sist Alice, who was stretching out her arms and piteously calling to him for help.

Walter, who had gone off into a state of dreamy unconsciousness as he lay stretched on the raft, on hearing Alice shriek out at the moment she was dragged into the water, started up, his senses completely bewildered, and instead of lowering the sail, stood waving his hands, and incoherently shrieking out to her to come to him. The mate shouted to him to lower the sail; but he did not understand the order, and continued leaping frantically about the raft, waving his hands and shrieking as before. The consequence was that the raft got further and further away, at a rate which gave but little hope that Nub would overtake it. The mate's brave heart almost died within him at the thought that not his life only, but that of the little girl and Nub, would be sacrificed. Nub was exerting himself to the utmost. Never had he swam so fast. But he soon saw that all his efforts would not enable him to overtake the raft. Again and again he shouted to Walter to lower the sail: Walter only shrieked louder in return, calling him to come to his help--and Nub expected every moment to see him leap into the water, when, in all probability, he would be drowned. Still the brave black persevered.

"Lower de sail, Ma.s.sa Walter, lower de sail!" he shouted; "you all right if you do dat. De mate save Missie Alice, so no fear about her. Lower de sail! Oh, de poor boy gone mad!"

In vain Nub shouted; Walter only waved his hands more frantically, till, overcome by terror, he sank down exhausted on the raft, and Nub saw that it would be impossible to overtake it while it continued running at its present speed. The only hope was that the wind might drop, or shift, and bring it back to them. This, however, was barely probable; the breeze was blowing fresh, and the light raft, having now no longer their weight on it, skimmed swiftly over the surface. Still Nub persevered in endeavouring to obey the mate's orders; he was ready to swim on till he sank exhausted. Happily he was as much at home in the water as on sh.o.r.e, and by turning on his back or treading water, or swimming in a variety of other ways, could keep up for several hours together.

He turned his head round and saw that the mate had reached Alice and was supporting her in his arms. "De mate swim well, I know, so he keep up de little girl while I go after de raft," he said to himself, and he again made way; but though he swam rapidly, the raft skimmed along at a still faster rate, and had he not even yet trusted to the possibility of either a change of wind or a calm, he would have given up the attempt as hopeless. He thought, too, that Walter might perhaps regain his senses, and do what alone could preserve his own life and that of his friends.

Left by himself on the raft, he must inevitably perish as well as they.

Inspired by this hope, the gallant black pursued his course undaunted by the recollection of the shoal of ravenous sharks which he knew were in the neighbourhood, or by the want of any object, as far as he could see before him, on which to rest. Fearful as was his condition, it was to become still more terrible. He had just glanced round and shouted to the mate and Alice to keep up their courage, when, as he again turned his face towards the raft, he saw, not twenty fathoms from him, a hideous head, such as the morbid imagination sometimes pictures during a dreadful dream. The front was of immense width, with large, savage eyes glaring out at either side; while below appeared a large mouth, full of formidable teeth; the body, as Nub knew, being in proportion to the size of the head. It was indeed an enormous specimen of the hideous zygaena, or hammer-headed shark, so frequently observed about the coast of the South Sea islands, and scarcely less voracious and formidable than the terrible white shark, the sailor's hated foe. Its body was comparatively slender, but its head was dilated on each side to a prodigious extent,--the form being that of a double-headed hammer, from which it takes the name of "the hammer-headed shark."

Nub gazed at the creature, but his courage did not fail him. It had apparently only just come to the surface to gaze about it, and had not yet discovered the human beings floating near. The black had often seen the shark bravely attacked by the natives of Otaheite and other islands, who encounter it fearlessly as they swim off through the raging surf, and never fail to return victorious to the sh.o.r.e. There was no time, however, for consideration, for with a few turns of its tail the monster might be up to him. He had, fortunately, a large, sharp sheath-knife sticking in his girdle; he drew it, and keeping his eye on the shark, he struck out so as to gain a position rather behind the creature's head, which was turned from him. At the same moment that Nub caught sight of the zygaena the mate also saw it; he fully expected that it would dash at the black and seize him in its dreadful jaws. The shark, however, was either of a sluggish nature, or perhaps gorged with food, for its head remained above water without moving from the spot where it had at first appeared. The mate endeavoured to prevent Alice from seeing the hammer-head, but her eyes unfortunately fell on it.

"Oh, Mr s...o...b..ok, what is that dreadful creature?" she cried out.

"Will it kill poor Nub? Oh, what can we do! what can we do!" She did not appear to think so much of her own and the mate's danger as of that of the black.

The mate, for a moment, was almost unnerved, for he felt his utter inability to defend himself or the little girl should the monster attack them; still, like a brave man, he summoned up all his courage, and considered how he could possibly tackle it and defend Alice. He looked around to see if there was any spar or other floating object near at hand on which he could place her while he fought the shark. Could he find a spar, he would push it in the shark's mouth as it swam towards him; he had likewise his clasp-knife hung round his neck, but the blade, he feared, was too blunt to be of much service; he opened it, however, and held it in his teeth ready to use. As he glanced round he saw the chest which he had observed when on the back of the whale, but it was too far off to be of any avail in the present emergency. In the meantime he had kept a vigilant watch on the hideous hammer-head, to be ready for an encounter should it dart towards him.

He had also been watching the proceedings of Nub. He soon saw that the black was manoeuvring to gain an advantage over the shark, which did not appear to observe him. Poor Alice, overcome with terror, had almost fainted in his arms; he urged her to keep up her courage.