The Strange Adventures of Eric Blackburn Part 3

"And now, sir, about the watches," remarked Enderby. "Before the night afore last, the mate took the port watch, and I the starboard; but now that the mate's gone, how would it be if I was to take the port and Chips the starboard watch? Would that suit ye, sir?"

"Yes," I said, "that would be an excellent arrangement, I think. By the way, how many do you muster in a watch?"

"Four in each, includin' me and Chips," answered the boatswain.

"Um! none too many, especially considering the part of the world to which you are bound," I remarked. "You will have to keep a sharp eye upon the weather, and call me in good time if you should be in the least doubt as to what you ought to do. Has either of you ever been this way before?"

They had not, it appeared.

"And what about your forecastle crowd?" I asked. "Are they all good, reliable men? Some of them are foreigners, aren't they?"

"Yes," answered Enderby, lowering his voice and drawing me away from the vicinity of the man at the wheel. "Yes, worse luck, our four A.B.s are all foreigners. Not that I've got anything very special to say against 'em. They're good sailor-men, all of 'em; but the fact is, sir, I don't like bein' shipmates with foreigners; I don't like their ways, and some of 'em has got very nasty tempers. There's Svorenssen, for instance-- that big chap with the red hair and beard--he's a Roosian Finn; and he've got a vile temper, and I believe he's an unforgivin' sort of feller, remembers things against a man--if you understand what I mean.

Then there's 'Dutchy', as we calls him--that chap that pushed hisself for'ard when we hoisted in your boat--he's an awk'ard feller to get on with, too; hates bein' ordered about, and don't believe in discipline.

He and Svorenssen will both be in my watch, and I'll see to it that they minds their P's and Q's. The other two aren't so bad; but they'd be a lot better if Svorenssen and Dutchy was out of the ship."

"Ah, well," I said, "we are five Englishmen to four of them. If they should take it into their heads to be insubordinate I have no doubt we shall know how to deal with them. And now, I should like to have a look at the log-book. I suppose you know where it is kept?"

"Yes," answered Enderby, "the skipper used to keep it in his cabin.

Billy'll give it you, and show you all you want to see. He knows where his father kept everything. Oh! and I forgot to mention it, but supper'll be on the table at seven o'clock."

"Righto!" I returned as I wheeled about and headed for the companion.

CHAPTER FOUR.

I TAKE COMMAND OF THE "YORKSHIRE La.s.s."

"Billy, my boy, where are you?" I called, as I entered the cabin.

"Here I am, sir," replied the lad, emerging from what had been his father's state-room. "Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"

Billy Stenson was certainly an amusing and very lovable little chap as he stood there before me, alert and bright-eyed, reminding me somehow of a dog asking for a stick to be thrown into the water, that he may show how cleverly he can retrieve it. If Billy had possessed a tail I am certain that at that moment it would have been wagging vigorously.

"Yes, Billy," I said. "I should like to see the ship's log-book.

Enderby tells me that you know where it is kept, and can find it for me.

And I should like another look at the chart that you showed me a little while ago. Also, if you can put your hand upon that agreement between your father and Mr Barber, I should like to look through it--with any other papers there may be, bearing upon the matter. The story is a very remarkable one, and I feel greatly interested in it."

"Yes, sir," said Billy. "I'll get you the log-book, and the chart, _and_ the agreement. And I think you'd like to see Father's diary too, sir. When he met Mr Barber, and they began to talk about goin' huntin'

for the treasure, he started to keep a diary, writin' down in it everything that Mr Barber told him about it; and there's a drawin' in it that Mr Barber made--a sort of picture of the place, showing how it looked, so that they might know it when they saw it again."

"Ah!" said I. "I should certainly like to see that diary, if you care to show it me. The perusal of it will be most interesting and will probably tell me all that I want to know."

A few minutes later I was seated at the table, with the chart spread open before me, the log-book open, and the diary at hand, ready for immediate reference. The log-book, however, had nothing to do with the story of the treasure; it simply recorded the daily happenings aboard the brigantine and her position every noon, from the date of her departure from London; and the only interest it had for me was that it enabled me to approximate the position of the ship at the moment of the tragedy. It had been written up to four o'clock in the afternoon of the day on which the tragedy had occurred, while the log slate carried on the story up to midnight. A few minutes sufficed to make me fully acquainted with all that I required to learn from the log-book, and I then laid it aside and turned to the diary.

This doc.u.ment was inscribed in a thick ma.n.u.script book, and appeared to have been started about the time when the writer first began seriously to entertain Barber's proposal to join him in a search for the treasure.

It opened with a record of the meeting between Barber and the writer, and set forth at some length the story of Barber's dest.i.tute condition, and what the writer did to ameliorate it. Then followed, in full detail, Barber's story of his adventure culminating in the discovery of the stranded wreck and the chests of treasure stowed down in her run, with the expression of Barber's conviction that the ship had been a pirate. It also recorded at length the steps which Barber had taken to obtain the necessary data from which to calculate the lat.i.tude of the wreck; and it was the ingenuity of the man's methods that at last began to impress upon me the conviction that the story might possibly be true, especially as it was ill.u.s.trated by a sketch--drawn from memory, it is true--showing the appearance of the land from the entrance of the river, very much in the same way that charts are occasionally ill.u.s.trated for the guidance of the seaman.

This story was succeeded by a record of the successive stages by which the negotiations between the writer and Barber advanced, winding up with a final statement that on such and such a date an agreement had been drawn up in duplicate and signed by the contracting parties, whereby Stenson was to bear the entire cost of the expedition--recouping himself, so far as might be, by securing freights along the route, Barber undertaking to discharge the duties of mate during the voyage, without pay; the proceeds of such treasure as might be found to be equally divided between the two men.

The perusal of the diary fully occupied me right up to the moment when the steward entered to lay the table for supper; and when I had finished it I found myself regarding the adventure with very different eyes from those which I had turned upon it to start with. To be perfectly frank, when I first heard the yarn I had not a particle of faith in the existence of the treasure, and quite set down the late skipper as a credulous fool for risking his hard-earned money in such a hare-brained speculation; but after reading the story as set out _in extenso_ and with a very great wealth of detail, I felt by no means sure that skipper Stenson, very far from being the credulous fool that I had originally supposed him to be, might not prove to have been an exceedingly shrewd and wide-awake person. In a word, I had begun to believe in the truth of the story of the treasure, strange and incredible as it had seemed at first hearing.

And this change of view on my part involved a corresponding change in my att.i.tude toward the adventure. My conversation with Enderby and Johnson over the tea-table had left upon my mind the impression that I had been invited by them, as representatives of the entire crew, to act as navigator and a.s.sist in every possible way to secure the treasure, my remuneration for this service to be one share of half the value of the amount of treasure obtained. Now, Barber had expressed the opinion that this value was to be reckoned in _millions_; but, the eight chests notwithstanding, I regarded this estimate as enormously exaggerated, the result, probably, of ignorance of values on Barber's part.

Nevertheless, a.s.suming the value to be very considerably less, say half a million--and I believed it might possibly amount to that--only a very simple calculation was needed to show that if this sum were divided by two, and one of those parts were awarded to Billy, as skipper Stenson's heir, the remaining sum of one quarter of a million divided into eleven equal parts--there being eleven prospective partic.i.p.ants, including myself--would yield to each partic.i.p.ant nearly twenty-three thousand pounds; a sum very well worth trying for. Viewing the matter in all its bearings I finally came to the conclusion that, regarding it merely as a speculation, it might be quite worth my while to throw in my lot with these men.

The project certainly had its allurements, for it must be remembered that I was then young enough to be thoroughly imbued with the spirit of adventure. I was poor, and even the bare possibility of making over twenty thousand pounds in a few months very powerfully appealed to me; and finally, if I rejected this chance and made the best of my way back home, there was the possibility that I might be out of employment for a considerable period, while at best I could hope for nothing better than another billet as fourth officer in a Planet boat. In fine, the more I considered the boatswain's proposal, the better I liked it; but at the same time some inward monitor whispered that it would be wise not to manifest too keen a readiness to fall in with the men's proposals.

While these reflections were pa.s.sing through my mind I noticed that the steward, in laying the table for supper, was laying for one person only--myself. But while this arrangement had its advantages, it also had certain disadvantages which I regarded as outweighing the former. I therefore bade him lay for the boatswain and the carpenter as well; for I had sense enough to recognise the importance of keeping my finger upon the pulse of the crew, so to speak, and I knew that this could best be done by means of little confidential chats with the boatswain and Chips, who were the men's representatives.

The steward presently brought along from the galley the chief ingredients of the supper, consisting of a pot of piping hot cocoa and a dish of steaming "lobscouse", to be followed, he informed me, by a jam tart. Then I sent Billy up on deck to find Enderby and bid him come to supper in the cabin.

During the progress of the meal the conversation was of a general character, consisting chiefly of discussions concerning the weather, the behaviour of the ship under various circ.u.mstances, and the relation of certain not very interesting incidents connected with the voyage. But after we had finished, and Chips had come down to take his supper while Enderby took over the charge of the deck, the boatswain fell into step alongside me as I paced fore and aft, enjoying the unwonted luxury of a pipe.

"There's just one p'int in what was said at tea-time, Mr Blackburn," he remarked, "that I feels a bit hazy about, and that I haven't been able to make quite clear to the men. You remember that when I spoke about you navigatin' the ship for us, you said you'd be willin' to do it _so far as the nearest port_. That's about what it was, isn't it?"

"Yes," I replied. "That is what I said."

"So I thought," concurred the boatswain. "Well, sir," he continued, "do that mean that you're unwillin' to take a hand in this here treasure- huntin' game with us?"

"Oh, as to that," I said, "I really have not had time to consider the matter, as yet. Besides, I do not quite know what it is that you men propose. Let me know that, and I will give the matter my most careful consideration."

"Ay, ay, yes, of course; that's quite right," agreed Enderby. "I'll have a talk to the chaps for'ard, and hear what they've got to say about it. And--about that 'nearest port' that you mentioned, sir, had ye got any particular port in your mind's eye?"

"N-o, I can scarcely say that I had," I returned--"or if I had, it was probably Port Louis, Mauritius. But all my ideas are very hazy thus far, you must understand, for at the present moment I do not know where the ship is, and I shall be unable to discover her position until I can take the requisite sights. Then we will have out the chart, p.r.i.c.k off our position, and discuss the matter further."

"Yes, sir; thank 'e," answered Enderby. "And that'll be some time to- morrow, I s'pose?"

"Certainly," I agreed; "some time to-morrow--unless of course the sky should be obscured by cloud, preventing the taking of the necessary observations. But I think we need not seriously fear anything of that kind."

"No, sir, no; not much fear of that," agreed Enderby; and therewith he trundled away for'ard and joined a little group of men who seemed to be somewhat impatiently awaiting him.

It was a pleasant evening. The sun was on the point of setting, and the western sky was a magnificent picture of ma.s.sed clouds ablaze with the most brilliant hues of gold, scarlet, crimson, and purple, while the zenith was a vast dome of purest, richest ultramarine. A fresh breeze was blowing steadily out from about west-sou'-west, and there was a long and rather high swell, overrun by seas just heavy enough to break in squadrons of creaming foam-caps that would have meant an anxious night for me had I still been adrift in the life-boat. Apart from those white foam-caps the ocean was a wide expanse of deepest sapphire blue, over which the brigantine was rolling and plunging at a speed of fully eight knots, her taut rigging humming like an Aeolian harp with the sweep of the wind through it. For several minutes after Enderby had left me I stood gazing in admiration at the brilliant, exhilarating scene; then, for the mere pleasure of stretching my legs a bit, after being for so long cramped within the confined limits of the life-boat, I started upon a vigorous tramp fore and aft the weather side of the deck, between the wheel grating and the main rigging.

On the following morning, immediately after breakfast, I had a long talk with Enderby, who came aft to lay before me the proposals of the men as to the terms upon which I was to be admitted to partnership in the adventure. These were, in brief, that in consideration of my undertaking the navigation of the ship, I was to receive one-eleventh part of that half of the treasure to be shared among the crew. So far so good; I had no objection to that part of the proposal, but when we came to the question of my status in the ship I learned that the four foreigners insisted upon the brigantine being run upon strictly socialistic lines: there was to be no skipper, no officers, no giving of orders; the ship was to be worked by two committees consisting of the two watches, who were to decide all questions as to making, shortening, or tr.i.m.m.i.n.g sail, while I was to have no authority whatever, no voice in anything except just the determination of the courses to be steered.

"Well," I demanded, "what have you Englishmen to say to such a proposal?"

"Oh, as to that," said Enderby, "me and Chips is dead against it. We knows as it wouldn't work at all. Fancy me sayin': 'Svorenssen, nip up aloft and stow that there to'garns'l!' and him turnin' round and sayin': 'If you wants the to'garns'l stowed, nip up and stow it yourself!' Oh no; it wouldn't never do."

"Of course it would not," I returned. "But what do the other Englishmen think of it?"

"Why, I fancy they don't much care, one way or t'other," answered Enderby. "Ye see, sir, they're an ignorant lot, and can easy be talked over by chaps with the gift of the gab, like Svorenssen and Van Ryn.

They'd be all right if they was left to their selves, and was treated as if they was men and not just dumb cattle at the mercy of a brutal driver; but them Dagoes has a way of talkin' about one man being as good as another that makes ignorant men feel dissatisfied with things the way they are."

"Just so," I returned. "I've been shipmate with that cla.s.s of man before to-day, and I know from experience what mischief socialistic doctrines can work in a ship's forecastle--and elsewhere. Now you can go for'ard and explain to the men that if I am to remain in this ship to navigate her and to find the spot where the treasure is supposed to be, I will have no socialism aboard her. The conditions I insist on are that I am to be skipper; that I am to issue such orders as I may deem necessary for the safety of the ship and the welfare of all hands; and that I am to be obeyed without question or argument of any kind. If the men agree to those conditions, well and good; if not, I shape a course for the nearest port, and leave the ship there."

"Right ye are, sir," returned Enderby; "ye may trust me to put the matter to the chaps in a way that they'll understand; and I don't think as there'll be any trouble to speak of. And if there is, I fancy that me and Chips 'll be able to deal with it."