The Three Admirals Part 57

The master in his boat led the way, sounding as he went, until the entrance was nearly gained. Twelve feet were found, which shallowed to eight, the greatest depth over the bar. As the boats got in closer Green observed a person at the end of the point, dressed in a conical goat-skin cap, with jacket and trousers of the same material, who had been watching them closely and waving vehemently. The master, having performed the first part of his duty, steered in the direction towards which the stranger was pointing. As the boat touched the beach he sprang out, and the instant afterwards, instead of seeing a stranger, what was his surprise and delight to find his hand grasped by Gerald Desmond.

"How, by all that's wonderful, did you come here?" exclaimed the master.

"We had long given you up for lost."

"I was afraid so," answered Desmond. "And, faith, I had some idea myself that I was lost, for here I've been for many a long month, with only two companions who escaped with me from the wreck of the Dutch ship which brought me thus far. But, tell me, did the _Stella_ escape with my uncle and the rest of the party on board?" Green relieved Desmond's mind on that point, and astonished him not a little by adding that Captain Adair commanded the ship outside. "And who are your companions?" asked the master.

"An honest Dutch lad--Rip Van Winkle, as I call him--who was wrecked with me, and our faithful dog Snarley. They set off this morning to bring in a couple of goats to be sacrificed for your entertainment. I saw you coming in last night, and I suspected that you were an English man-of-war. You may, therefore, judge of my disappointment this morning when I found that you had disappeared. Though I guessed the truth, that you had been blown off again and would steam back, sometimes the horrible thought would occur to me that the ship had gone down; but, if such was the case, I hoped that some boats would have escaped and come on sh.o.r.e."

Desmond expressed his great satisfaction on receiving the information that his uncle Terence was captain of the ship which had in so extraordinary a manner been driven for refuge towards the very rock on which he had been wrecked.

"We very nearly met with the fate you supposed, and as the ship's bottom somewhat resembles a sieve, such must be her destiny if we cannot manage to get her over the bar at high water. At all events, we must run her on it, for as the men are well-nigh worn out, she cannot be kept afloat many hours longer," added Green.

"The sooner that's done the better, then," answered Desmond, "for should the gale blow heavily, either on or off this sh.o.r.e, and provisions and stores not have been saved, we may all quickly be reduced to starvation.

Rip and I have found enough to eat with the aid of our fishing-lines, but the ship's company will be an over-abundant population for our small kingdom."

"But I am eager, Desmond, to know how you reached this said 'small kingdom' of yours," said Green.

"I'll tell you all about it as we pull off," answered Gerald, "though I am anxious to see my uncle's honest face again and to learn how things have gone on at home--whether any other claimant has taken possession of my t.i.tle and estate. Poor fellow! he won't bless this island, whatever you do, for having afforded me shelter, though it may be a mighty long time before I get back to old Ireland to disappoint him and to delight the heart of our old friend, Counsellor McMahon, who will be fancying that all his toil and trouble have been thrown away, while his purse too will have suffered not a little. I have often wished that I possessed the means of tranquillising his mind on that point."

"From what Captain Adair has said, I don't think the counsellor has ever given up the idea of your safety," answered the master, "but you will hear all about it very soon."

This conversation took place as the boat was returning to the ship, after Desmond had exchanged greetings with the first lieutenant.

"Well," exclaimed Jos, "'it's an ill wind that blows n.o.body good,' and although I'm sorry enough to lose the ship, yet finding you goes a long way towards reconciling me to her fate, especially as I have not to pay for her."

Adair expressed himself in somewhat similar language on seeing his nephew, Saint Maur.

"I was sure that you would turn up one day or other, Gerald," he said, "and so was the counsellor, and I don't mind the court-martial and all the bother I shall have to go through, now that I have found you.

Although I am anxious enough to hear how you came here, I have too much to do just now to listen to you."

Such, indeed, was the case. Before an attempt could be made to carry the ship over the bar, everything possible must be got out of her. The boats were immediately lowered and loaded with provisions and canvas for forming tents. All hands worked away with a will, young Lord Saint Maur turning to with as much energy as the rest, officers and men pulling and hauling away at the ropes. To land the stores more rapidly, Adair directed the carpenter to construct several rafts, which would be serviceable as long as the sea continued smooth, but which would be most untrustworthy should it come on to blow.

Lord Saint Maur gave the satisfactory intelligence that he had found three large boats on the island, which had apparently been left by a party who had been there for the purpose of catching whales, but for some reason or other had gone without having had time to remove them.

He considered that they could be quickly repaired. He accordingly, accompanied by the carpenter's crew, returned on sh.o.r.e, and soon after mid-day, he and the men sent to a.s.sist him brought them off. They were soon loaded and on their way back to the sh.o.r.e. Not a moment was lost.

The marines were at once landed to help unload the boats and carry the cargoes to the spot selected for the proposed encampment on the right side of the entrance, where there was a level s.p.a.ce of some size at no great distance above the water. Desmond's companion, Rip Van Winkle, had, in the mean time, brought in a couple of goats, which he had killed and prepared for the refreshment of the boats' crews. No one, however, had time to do more than "fist" a piece and run back with it to the boat.

Not until it became too dark to see the entrance did the boats cease plying backwards and forwards, and even then the crew on board were engaged in hoisting up articles of all sorts from the hold, to be discharged at daybreak. The night was calm, and every hope was entertained that the next day a large portion of stores and provisions might be landed, as well as the ammunition and some of the guns. A careful watch was kept, but the greater portion of the officers and crew turned in to obtain that rest they so much needed. Those not actually on the look-out were engaged in pumping as before, for although the water ran in less furiously than at first, it would very soon otherwise have gained its previous ascendancy. Strange that men should sleep so soundly in a sinking ship, for sinking she was, slowly though gradually, and any relaxation of the efforts necessary to keep her afloat would have proved their doom. Several times during the night Captain Adair turned out, too anxious to sleep soundly. As morning approached, he feared, from the appearance of the sky, that the weather would change.

His nephew, who had slept on board, joined him.

"I don't think we need fear that as yet," he observed. "I've watched the appearance of the weather ever since I landed, for every day I have been on the look-out in the hopes of seeing a ship pa.s.sing and being able to attract her attention. Not long ago a vessel hove in sight, but the weather came on very bad, and although she made an attempt to near the rock, she was driven off again, and I saw no more of her."

Captain Adair was cheered up by Saint Maur's remarks. No sooner had the first streak of dawn appeared in the sky, than he roused up all hands, and the boats, which had been hoisted up, were lowered and immediately loaded with the stores which had been got ready the previous night. The other boats came off from the sh.o.r.e, and now as fast as they could load and unload they pa.s.sed backwards and forwards between the harbour and the ship. To save the long pull, Captain Adair determined, by Saint Maur's advice, to carry her closer in. Steam was got up, and the anchor being hove from the bottom, she stood towards the sh.o.r.e.

As the day advanced the wind, hitherto coming off the land, shifted and began to blow much stronger than before, while a white line of surf formed across the mouth of the harbour. The boats, however, continued to pa.s.s through it, although not without risk of being swamped, while their crews on each occasion got their jackets well wetted. No one thought of that or any other danger or inconvenience. Their great object was to land stores and provisions sufficient to last them as many weeks or months, it might be, as they were to stay there, for all well knew that the old ship must go to the bottom or be knocked to pieces, unless run safely over the bar and beached inside the harbour. She had still a good store of coals on board. This was sacked and sent on sh.o.r.e, a small quant.i.ty only remaining, little above what was required to carry the ship over the bar. Night put an end to their labours.

Besides the marines, several officers and men had been landed. As on the previous night, while part of the crew slept, the rest worked the pumps and kept a look-out.

It had just gone one bell in the middle watch, when Tommy Pratt knocked at the door of the captain's berth, and in a hurried tone exclaimed, "The wind is blowing hard; dead on sh.o.r.e, sir. Mr Green says the ship is drifting towards the land."

Adair sprang on deck. As he listened to the sound of the wild breakers and watched the ma.s.ses of foam which appeared through the darkness leaping over the rocks, he saw that if the ship was drifting she must very soon be dashed on the wild coast under her lee. He immediately ordered steam to be got up. Small as was the amount of coal left on board, it must be employed to get the ship out of danger, when she must be carried to a safer anchorage, and some more coal brought back from the sh.o.r.e.

Some time elapsed, however, before steam could be got on her. She was riding to the wind with her stern to the sh.o.r.e, instead of, as before, with her head to it. Adair and Saint Maur anxiously paced the deck, watching the rocks under their lee. Every instant the wind was increasing. The roar of the breakers sounded louder, while ma.s.ses of foam could be seen flying in sheets over the rocks.

At length the engineer announced that steam was got up, and the engines being put in motion, the cable was slipped and the still sinking ship steamed away from the only place which could afford her refuge in her last extremity. Still, with the sea there was breaking on the sh.o.r.e, she would to a certainty strike, and in all probability many of those on deck would be washed away, while she herself would be exposed to the full force of the waves, when ere long she would go to pieces. Adair addressed the crew, urging them to renewed exertions at the pumps. All day long she continued under steam, with her head to the wind, though still making but little way. The captain saw the importance of waiting until the spring tides, when, lightened as she was, he hoped that she would get across the bar.

That day was one of great suspense. There was too much sea for the boats to be got out, and should the bad weather continue, the coal on board would be exhausted, and she, perfectly helpless, would be driven to a distance from the land, and might be unable to regain it under sail. Saint Maur did his best to cheer up his uncle.

"I have escaped so many dangers, when I thought that all hope was gone, that I cannot say I feel as anxious as you do," he observed. "I have remarked that the wind here never blows long together from one quarter.

We may have it fine and calm again to-morrow."

"I pray Heaven it may," said Adair, in a more melancholy tone than he had yet spoken in. However, to his officers and crew he kept up the same cheerful aspect as he had done all along.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

LORD SAINT MAUR NARRATES HIS ADVENTURES--CARRIED OFF BY THE DUTCHMAN-- ILL-TREATED--DRUNKEN SKIPPER AND MATES--RIP VAN WINKLE AND SNARLEYOW-- SHIP STRIKE, ON A REEF--CREW DESERT HER--SAINT MAUR, RIP, AND SNARLEY GET INTO THE LONG-BOAT--SHIP GOES DOWN--REMAIN UNDER THE LEE OF THE REEF ALL NIGHT--MAKE SAIL IN THE MORNING--NO WATER--VIRGINIA ISLAND REACHED-- BOAT CAPSIZED ON THE BAR--SAINT MAUR AND RIP SAVED BY SNARLEY--THEIR LIFE ON THE ISLAND--WATER FOUND--GOAT'S FLESH--THE EMPRESS SEEN APPROACHING THE ISLAND--PREPARATIONS FOR CROSSING THE BAR--AWFUL SUSPENSE--SHIP STEAMS ON--STRIKES WITH A CRASH ON THE BAR--MORE STORES LANDED--THE JOLLIES ALARMED BY A JET OF STEAM--SAILS SEEN IN THE DISTANCE.

"By-the-by, I never told you how I came to be playing Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday on yonder barren rock," observed Saint Maur, as he and his uncle paced together the deck of the _Empress_.

"You remember the night I was hooked off the yacht by a stranger which ran us down, and, as I thought, sent you to the bottom. I leave you to judge in what a state of fear and anxiety I was left. From the way the fellows talked when I got on board, I discovered that they were Dutchmen. I rushed aft to the skipper and entreated him to heave to and lower his boats to try and pick up any of you who might be floating, but he either did not understand me or would not. When I ran to the helm, intending to put it down, that he might the better comprehend my meaning, he and his mates held me back. I pitched into one fellow and knocked him over, and was about to treat the other in the same way, when the skipper with his big fist hit me a blow on the head which brought me to the deck.

"When I came to my senses it was broad daylight, and I knew that long before that time, if the yacht had gone down, you must all of you have lost your lives. I believe the Dutchman intended to apologise for having treated me in so unceremonious a fashion, but, as I could not understand a word he said, I am not sure. He behaved, however, afterwards, far better than I should have expected from the way our acquaintance had commenced. I was never a very good hand at picking up languages, so that it was some time before I could make myself even imperfectly understood by any one on board. Strange to say, not a man among them spoke a word of English. I wanted the skipper to put into some port, but he replied that, 'Out of his course he would not go for me or any man.' I then begged him, chiefly by signs, that should we fall in with a homeward-bound ship, to put me on board of her. He nodded his head and let me understand that, providing it was during calm weather, he should have no objection, and advised me meanwhile to console myself with his schiedam, of which he had a plentiful supply.

Both he and his mates indulged in it pretty largely, I found. I expected that he would touch at the Cape, but to my disgust he ran to the south'ard, in order to fall in with the westerly trades, and I found that he intended to touch nowhere until he reached Batavia.

"This was anything but consolatory, besides which I had no one to talk to, and not a book on board I could read. I tried hard to make out the few Dutch books he had on board, and used to ask him or the mates, or indeed any of the men I found at hand, to p.r.o.nounce the words, when I tried to discover their meaning. I believe, had the voyage lasted longer, I should have learned to speak and read Dutch fluently; but, as the skipper was drunk half his time, and the mates the other two quarters, I could not get much out of them. The only fellow who really was of use was young Rip Van Winkle. He took a liking to me, as I did to him, from the first, and I often saved him from many a cuff and kick which he was wont to receive from the crew. He was, I confess, a sort of 'dirty d.i.c.k' on board, and so he would have continued had I not taught him to clean himself; and now he is as fond of washing as any one, except when the weather is cold, then he rather objects to it, and falls back into his bad habits. My only companion besides Rip was a large dog--no great beauty--whom I called Snarleyow, from being unable to p.r.o.nounce his Dutch name, and he took to it, as he did to me, immediately, and always came when so called. I treated him as a friend, whereas, from the skipper downwards, he was accustomed to receive more kicks than ha'pence, except from poor Rip, and consequently had no great affection for his masters.

"Besides my anxiety about you, and my disappointment at not being able to take advantage of the new position into which, through Counsellor McMahon, I was placed--not that that weighed very much with me--I could not help feeling anxious about the way in which the ship was navigated.

Being unable to understand the Dutch books, I could not myself work out the reckonings, though frequently I took an observation, to keep my hand in.

"I once only had a chance of communicating with England. We sighted a British ship, and as by that time I had picked up enough Dutch to use the signal-book, I hoisted the signals 'British officer on board; heave to for him.' I thought when the skipper saw the other ship heave to that he would do the same, but it was blowing hard, and he obstinately refused to lift tack or sheet or lower a boat, and you can just fancy how I felt when I saw the homeward-bound vessel standing away from us.

From the temperature of the weather I now suspected that we had got a very long way to the south, when it came on to blow hard. The Dutchman shortened sail, as he generally did when there was any wind, and continued the course on which he was steering. The old ship, though a tub, was a good sea boat, and I had no reason to fear danger, provided she did not run her stem into an iceberg or strike any rocks or reefs.

Blow high, blow low, the skipper walked the deck with his hands in his pockets and a huge meerschaum in his mouth, looking as composed as usual?

"One night I was about turning in, when I felt the ship strike. Of course I sprang on deck, where I was followed by the skipper and the first mate, the second mate having the watch. The crew were singing out that we were lost.

"'Do not be afraid, boys!' cried the skipper, calling for a light for his pipe, and thrusting his hands into his pockets. 'She'll drive over it. Another hand to the helm. Keep all standing!'

"I knew, by the thickness of his voice, that he was half seas over, for he never exhibited his state in any other way, except when he sank down under the table. Still, I hoped from his composure that he knew where we were, and that we should sc.r.a.pe clear of the sand-bank over which the sea was breaking with fearful force. Several seas, indeed, nearly p.o.o.ped us; but we surged forward, touching occasionally in a way which threatened to split the ship into fragments; but she held together wonderfully. The men, however, had not the same hope that I had; for I saw them gathering on either side, near the boats, taking the falls in their hands, ready to lower them with or without orders.

"Rip came up to me. 'What's going to happen, mynheer?' he asked.

"'The ship will probably go to the bottom or get knocked to pieces; but we may perhaps escape the danger, and so at last reach Batavia,' I answered. 'Whatever happens, stick by me, Rip, and you can lend me a hand whenever I want it, and I may perhaps save you.'

"Scarcely, however, had I spoken than the ship struck with far greater force than before, the fore and main masts going by the board, but falling clear of the deck. Still she went on; but the carpenter sounded the well, and found that the water was rushing in at a rate which precluded all possibility of keeping the ship afloat. She had gone over the edge of the reef, which rose on the starboard bow, high above the water, and broke the force of the sea. Springing aft, I put down the helm, which the man had deserted, and she rounded to under the lee of the rocks.

"The crew instantly began lowering the boats. The skipper and his first mate tumbled into one, and they with several of the men shoved off; while the second mate took possession of the other, with the rest of the crew, leaving Rip and me still on deck. So overcrowded were they, that I saw they were both likely to go down; and I determined to take my chance in the ship, which I thought, having a light cargo on board, might possibly float long enough to enable us to build a raft. The two boats quickly disappeared in the darkness, without provisions or water, which the men in their hurry forgot to take, while the skipper and his first mate were too drunk to think of it. I bethought me of examining the boat amidships, which I feared might have been crushed by the falling mast; but fortunately it had escaped. I told Rip to cut the lashings clear, reminding him that our lives depended on it--to see that not a rope remained attached to the vessel's deck. I jumped in, followed by Rip and Snarley, who had been left on board with us, and whose instinct showed him that the boat was likely to prove the only ark of safety. The oars, as well as the masts and sails, were stowed in her, with a couple of hen-coops, our last surviving pig, and a variety of other articles. Rip was about to heave the pig overboard, when I stopped him, and told him to hunt about for the plug-hole, which he had just time to stop with a bung, when I saw the water rushing over the deck. The ship did not go down immediately; and I suspect that, had all hands remained on board, we might have kept her afloat until daylight, at all events.

"We got out the oars to shove the boat clear the instant the water rushed over the deck. I do not think I ever experienced a more anxious moment in my life. At last a sea came sweeping along, round the reef, and lifted us clear, right above the bulwarks, and free of the masts and spars still hanging over the side. We pulled away for our lives, and just saw the masts dragged down as the ship went to the bottom. The mizzenmast remained the last above water. We pulled under the lee of the reef; but, having no anchor, we were compelled to hold her in her position by paddling all night. When morning broke, no land was in sight; but as the wind was from the westward, I judged that our safest plan was to steer to the northward, when we might either fall in with some ship, or make Java, or the western coast of Australia, should we not sight any island on the way. We had a small cask of water in the boat, and three empty casks, put there to be out of the way. My hope was that we should be able to fill these with rain water before we got into a more northern lat.i.tude, where we were likely to meet with a ship.

The reef off which we lay ran half a mile from north to south above the water; how much further below it I could only judge by the line of white foam which extended as far as the eye could reach. As this was a place no ship was likely to approach, the sooner we got out of its lat.i.tude the better. The wind having moderated, we accordingly made sail and stood to the eastward.