The South Sea Whaler Part 13

"Don't be afraid, Miss Alice; don't be afraid, my child," he said soothingly. "There is a big chest not far off, which will serve as a raft for you, and it will support Nub and me while we swim alongside it.

See--see! Nub is going to tackle the shark; and he well knows, depend on it, what he is about. I have heard that the natives in these parts do not fear the creature, terrible as it looks, and I don't see why we should. Come, we will swim towards the chest, and Nub will join us when he has finished off Jack Shark,--which he fully intends doing, depend on that."

The mate, as he spoke, began to swim in the direction of the chest; but he soon found that, having Alice to support, he could make but slow progress; he therefore recommenced treading the water, turning his face towards the shark, that he might be the better able to encounter it should it make a dash at him. He now saw that Nub, having got close to the creature, his long knife in his hand, was swimming up alongside it.

He expected, in another moment, that he would plunge his weapon into the shark's body; but instead of that, what was his surprise to see him suddenly leap on its back and dig the fingers of one hand into its left eye. If the hammer-head had been torpid before, it now made ample amends by its sudden activity; off it darted along the surface, Nub holding up its head to prevent it from diving, while with his right hand he struck his knife with all his might sometimes before him and sometimes behind him, inflicting deep wounds in its back and sides. It seemed surprising that the zygaena could endure them, but its wonderful vitality is well-known--the terrific gashes which Nub inflicted in no way impeding its rapid progress. At first it seemed to be coming towards the mate and Alice; and though it would not have been able to bite them, it might have inflicted a blow which would have stunned them both. Nub, however, managed by hauling at its head to turn it, and it swept by, forming large circles round and round the spot where they floated. Its speed, however, from its loss of blood, began somewhat to diminish, and Nub could evidently guide it with greater ease than at first.

Seeing this, the mate shouted to him, "Steer the brute, if you can, to yonder chest, and bring it up to us as soon as possible."

"Ay, ay, ma.s.sa," answered Nub; "I finish de brute off soon. It not got much more go in him. Cheer up, Missie Alice; I no tink dis a steady horse for you, or I ask you to have a ride on it." [See Note 1.]

This remark did more than anything else to restore Alice's courage, for she knew that the black felt perfectly certain of gaining the victory.

Nub, who had already deprived the monster of sight, continued to dig his knife into its head, guiding it towards the chest, which he thus rapidly reached. He then, turning half round while he held up its head, stuck his knife as far back as he could reach behind him, persevering in his efforts till all movement in its tail had ceased.

"Dere, you go and feed your ugly cousins!" he exclaimed, giving it a last dig,--when, leaping from its back, he threw himself on the top of the chest; while the shark, its life almost extinct, rolled over on its back with its head downwards.

Taking off a lanyard attached to the chest, Nub secured it to the handle at one end, and after resting for a few seconds, again threw himself into the water and struck out for the mate and Alice.

"There, my dear child, I told you so; the brave black has killed the shark, and he will soon have the chest up to us. It will serve as a boat for you," said Mr s...o...b..ok.

"But where is Walter? What has become of the raft?" exclaimed Alice, who had hitherto been unaware of her brother's unhappy condition, and had not noticed that the raft had glided far away from them.

"We must try and overtake Walter as soon as we get you safe on the chest," answered the mate. "It will be a long swim; but we must hope to get something to support ourselves, for I fear that the chest will not hold us all."

"Oh, what can have made Walter sail away again?" asked Alice; and then another thought seemed to strike her, as the mate did not immediately answer. "Oh, tell me, Mr s...o...b..ok," she exclaimed,--"was the raft drawn down by the whale, and has my dear brother been drowned?"

"The raft is all right, and I hope Walter is on it," he answered, after a minute's hesitation. "We may come up with it before long. Don't think any more about it just now. See Nub; he's bringing the chest to us,--and a fine large sea-chest it is too, and by-and-by we will open it, and ascertain what it contains. I suspect that it's a carpenter's chest; though, as it floats high out of the water, it cannot contain many tools, but it may possibly have some which will be useful to us when we get on sh.o.r.e."

"When will that be, do you think?" asked Alice.

"There's no saying exactly, but we will hope for the best," answered the mate evasively. "See, here comes Nub. He will soon be up with us, and we will then begin our voyage."

The mate had no little difficulty in speaking; for, strong as he was, the exertion of treading the water so long was very considerable. He was very thankful when at length Nub got up to them.

"Here is de chest," exclaimed the black. "Now de sooner Missie Alice on de top of it de better." Fortunately there were several turns of rope round the chest, by means of which Nub held to one side, and the mate balancing it, enabled Alice to climb up on the other. He then told her to lie down along it, exactly in the centre, so that it might be as well balanced as possible. "All right, Missie Alice?" asked Nub, looking up at her while he grasped the rope fastened to the chest; the mate, who required a few minutes' rest, supporting himself on the other.

"Yes, I feel very secure," said Alice; "and I only wish that you and Mr s...o...b..ok could get up and sit on it also."

"We should roll it over if we did, and tumble you into the water," said the mate. "It will afford us ample support if we merely hold on by each side. Are you all right, Nub?"

"Yes, yes, Ma.s.sa s...o...b..ok; all right," answered Nub.

"Then off we go," cried the mate; "and I hope that before long we may come up with the raft, or that the captain's boat, or some stranger, may pick us up." Saying this, the mate took hold of one of the beckets which Nub had secured for the purpose, and struck out boldly to the westward.

Only strong swimmers and very determined men could have kept up as they did. It is true that the chest afforded them some support, but they had thus only one hand to swim with; still they made considerable progress, shoving on with their feet and striking out with the hands left at liberty. The wind was fair and the water smooth, or they would have been unable to make any progress. On and on they swam. When the arm they were using for propelling themselves grew weary, they shifted sides; by which they were able to continue their exertions much longer than they would otherwise have done. Alice remained perfectly still, though she now and then spoke to the mate or Nub. The former found it very difficult to answer her questions, as again and again she asked when they should overtake Walter, or how far off the land was likely to be. "Oh, how I wish that we were near enough to see it!" she added.

"It may cheer you to know that when I was on the top of the whale I fancied that I caught sight of some high land away to the westward,"

answered the mate. "It was very faint, and as I felt uncertain, I did not like to run the risk of disappointing you; but I have been thinking over the matter, and am persuaded that it was land. If it was, we shall have a better chance than I had hoped for of reaching it before long."

"You thought dat land, Ma.s.sa s...o...b..ok; so did I. Hurrah! Swim away, boys! swim away! We soon get over de sea!" shouted Nub, endeavouring to raise his own spirits, as well as to encourage Alice. Thus they went on, but the mate could not help secretly feeling that the probability of their escaping was small indeed.

Note 1. The author must express the surprise he felt when he met with the account of Nub's wonderful ride on the zygaena. However, it was too good to be omitted, though he must leave his readers to judge of its probability. He would advise any of them who may visit the new British possession of the Fiji Islands, should they fall in with one of the monsters, not to attempt a similar exploit.

CHAPTER NINE.

VOYAGE ON A CHEST CONTINUED--FIND A CASK ON WHICH NUB AND THE MATE REST--THE RAFT WITH WALTER RETURNS--A SWORD-FISH CAUGHT--A BOAT PICKED UP--WASHED FROM THE RAFT--STORMY NIGHT--TWO RAFTS IN SIGHT.

No two men could have conducted themselves more heroically than did the mate and Nub to save the young girl left under their charge. Neither of them allowed her to discover how weary and exhausted they felt by their prolonged and almost superhuman exertions. Now and then they stopped, and holding on with both hands to the chest, allowed their bodies to float on the water, thus obtaining some relief. The water was so warm that they did not feel any benumbing effects from being so long in it.

After resting for a time, they would again strike out, Nub always commencing with a laugh and a negro song, though he seldom got further than--

"Swim away, boys, swim away; We get to land 'fore end of day."

Then he would cry out, "I tink I smell de flowers and de fruit already."

Mr s...o...b..ok spoke but little, except occasionally a word or two to cheer up Alice. She did not experience the anxieties of her older companions, for it did not, happily, enter her head that they might after all fail to reach the sh.o.r.e. She could not help thinking about Walter, however, and wondering how it was that the raft had run away with him. She kept her eyes ahead, looking out for the land; but though her vision was remarkably keen, she could not discover it. She thought, however, that she could distinguish, far away, the white sail of the raft; and so undoubtedly she could, but she forgot that all the time it was going further and further from them.

The mate had at first had another cause for anxiety. It was that they might be espied and followed by some of the sharks which they had seen in the neighbourhood; but as they got further away from the spot, he began to hope that they had escaped them, and that the creatures were too much occupied with the carca.s.ses of the whale and the zygaena to follow them.

They had thus been going on for two hours or more, when Alice exclaimed, "I see something floating ahead!"

"What is it like?" asked the mate anxiously.

"It seems to me like another chest, or a cask perhaps. If you will lift your head a little out of the water, you will see it clearly."

The mate drew himself up till his head was as high as the chest.

"It's an empty cask," he exclaimed; "and will serve to rest one of us, though it will not a.s.sist us while towing the chest."

They swam towards it, and found that it was a large empty cask--probably one which had floated out of the American whaler which had gone down.

"Now, Mr s...o...b..ok, you get on de cask; you want rest more dan I do,"

said Nub. "But take care dat you not roll round and round. It no easy matter to sit on an empty cask in de water."

The mate tried to do as Nub advised, but he found that the cask would roll round, and that the only way he could rest on it was by throwing himself length-wise along it--though he had considerable difficulty in keeping it steady. He was thus, however, able to regain his strength.

When he found himself somewhat recovered, he resigned his place to Nub, who managed by working his feet on either side to sit across it, holding on to the chest. Scarcely had he taken his seat when he exclaimed,--"Oh, I can smell de flowers and de fruit! Here come de land-breeze; but den it will drive us back faster dan we came along."

Nub was right. In another minute a strong breeze, smelling of the earth, blew in their faces; and the water, which had hitherto been calm, was soon rippled over with small waves, which rapidly increased in height, hissing and bubbling around them. This was excessively trying to the mate, who could with difficulty keep his head above the foam which drove in his face. His heart began to fail him, for while the breeze continued the little hope he ever had of reaching the land must be abandoned. All he could do was to hold on to the chest, which Nub balanced on the opposite side, without attempting to make any progress.

He was, for the first time, beginning to lose hope of saving the little girl, when he was aroused by hearing Nub exclaim--

"Hurrah! here come de raft! De wind catch her sail, and drive her back.

We soon see Ma.s.sa Walter, and I hope he soon see us."

"I see him! I see him!" cried Alice, lifting up her head.

The mate raised himself also; and then, sure enough, he caught sight of the raft skimming along at a rapid rate over the seas.

Whether Walter saw them or not, they could not tell; but they supposed that he had recovered his senses, and was steering the raft,--and that, finding the breeze in his favour, he was endeavouring to reach the spot where he had left them. He might remember the chest and casks and other objects floating about, and believe that they had been able by such means to support themselves. There could be little doubt, by the steady way in which the raft approached, that Walter was at the helm, though, as he was steering a course rather on one side, it was probable that he had not yet discovered them. As the raft drew nearer, Nub exclaimed--