With Cochrane the Dauntless Part 6

"Stick your oars in deep and check her way," the mate shouted.

He stood up in the boat when they were within fifty yards of the point where the waves curled over and fell with a roar like thunder on the beach. Two or three waves pa.s.sed under her, then he saw one of greater height approaching.

"Row, lads! row for your lives!"

The wind helping them, they flew forward. The wave rose higher and higher behind them-it looked almost as steep as a wall-and an involuntary cry broke from several of the men as the boat's stern rose up it.

"Row! row!" the mate shouted.

But six strokes were pulled and then the wave fell over with a crash, and in a moment they were shooting along with the speed of an arrow in the midst of a ma.s.s of seething foam.

"Get ready to jump!" the mate shouted.

His voice was lost, but the action which accompanied it was understood.

They were flying up a steep slope, when suddenly the motion became slower, then there was a b.u.mp.

"Hold to her, lads, if you can; every man spring overboard."

For a moment they seemed drawn backwards by the rush of the water, then the boat became fixed, and a moment later the water left them.

"Now, all together before the next wave reaches her."

With a united effort they lifted and ran the boat her own length further up. The next wave barely reached the boat's stern. Before another came she was well up on the sand. Then the mate pointed upwards. The roar of the surf and the howl of the wind would have drowned any words, but his gesture was sufficient. Most of the men had, like their officer, lost their hats, but those who had not done so took them off. Several of them, including Stephen and Joyce, threw themselves on their knees, the others stood with bent heads, and all uttered a fervent thanksgiving for their preservation from what had seemed almost certain death. The mate was the first to move. He went to the side of the boat, and began to take double handfuls of sand, and to throw them into her. The others looked at him in surprise, but he made signs that the wind might lift the boat up, whirl her round, and dash her to pieces; then all set to at the work, which they continued until the boat was half-full of sand. Then the two barrels of water were carried up, together with a bag of biscuits and a bottle of rum from the locker, where a supply was always kept in case of an emergency like the present. They went on beyond the brow of the sand-hill, and ensconced themselves in a hollow at its foot, where they were completely sheltered from the wind. The mate got out his jack-knife, and managed to get the cork out of the bottle, and pouring water from one of the breakers into a tin pannikin that formed part of the boat's equipment, gave a ration of grog to each, and served out a biscuit all round.

As soon as these were eaten and the grog drank, they threw themselves on the sand and were soon fast asleep, utterly worn out with the prolonged strain they had gone through.

When they woke, day was just breaking. The mate was the first to leap to his feet.

"Tumble up, lads," he said, "we must have had twelve hours' sleep. The storm is over."

All were soon at the top of the sand-hill. A heavy sea was still breaking on the sands, but there was scarce a breath of wind, and the sea, though rough and agitated, was no longer covered with white heads, and looked bright in the rosy light. The boat lay where they had left it, securely anch.o.r.ed by the weight of the sand it contained. Their next glance was inland. For a quarter of a mile away the sand covered everything, then a few bushes rose from it; beyond were some stunted trees, and a hundred yards further a thick forest bordered the sandy belt as far as they could see on either hand. It was evidently a large island, for two or three miles away the country rose hill beyond hill, culminating in a jagged mountain dome twenty miles distant.

"Do you know where we are, sir?" Stephen asked, as the mate stood silently looking at the peak.

"No, I wish I did. I have either never seen that hill before, or, if I have, it has been from some other side that gave it quite a different outline. You see, we were nine hours in the gale, and during that time I fancy we must have run nearly a hundred miles; but I do not suppose we are half that distance from the point where we started, for we are sure to have gone round and round several times in the first hour or two. The island we were at, was some fifty or sixty miles from the coast of Sumatra, and possibly it is there that we have been cast ash.o.r.e; but, on the other hand, we may have gone quite in another direction. Anyhow, there is no denying that we are in an awkward fix. It matters little enough which of the islands we have hit upon, the natives are all pirates and scoundrels, and the possession they prize most is a human head. The first thing to do, lads, is to draw the charges from our muskets and pistols and to reload them, then we will have a consultation."

This was done, and then they went down to the boat.

"I half expected it," the mate went on, after examining her; "the shock has started the b.u.t.ts of three planks on one side, and two on the other.

We will get the sand out first and turn her over, bottom upwards."

This was done.

"I think we might make a shift to cobble it up," the mate said. "Some of the wood here is as hard as iron, and we might cut some pegs and fasten the planks into their place again. I don't suppose we shall be able to make them watertight, but we might caulk them up with pitch or gum from some of the trees. But that is not the first thing to think of; it is no use having a boat if we have not food or water to put into her. These biscuits would last us two or three days, and the water, if we are careful, as long again, but that is not enough to start with on a long cruise. The place we have to make for is Timor. Do you think that you could find your way there, Steve, and how far is it?"

"I was looking at the chart the last day I was on board, sir, and I noticed that Timor lay to the south of where we were then, and I should say it was something like six or seven hundred miles away."

"Well, it is of no use starting on such an expedition as that with such a stock of provisions as ours, so I propose that, in the first place, we see what is to be found in the forest. It will be hard if we do not find a supply of fruit. If we can collect a store enough we might venture upon making a start. You see, we must keep well off the land, for if we were made out from any of the coast villages, we should have one of their craft after us in no time; but, in any case, I should say we had better stay here for a week. If the _Tiger_ got safely through that gale, you may be sure the captain will be cruising about looking for us. He has sufficient faith in his boats to feel pretty positive that if we have not been cast ash.o.r.e we are still afloat."

CHAPTER IV.

A RESCUE.

They were soon in the forest. It required care and caution to make their way through the tangled growth of climbing canes and vines. Some of these were armed with terrible thorns, and as they had no hatchets to chop their way through them they were often obliged to make detours to escape these obstacles. Orchids of brilliant colours and fantastic shapes grew thickly on the trees, ants in countless numbers swarmed up and down the trunks, and many an angry exclamation was wrung from the seamen as a bite as sharp as the sting of a wasp told that some of these insects had crawled up the legs of their trousers or made their way down their neck.

"Unless we are going to live on ants," the mate said ruefully as he gave a savage slap at his leg, "it seems to me we are likely to starve, for I have seen nothing whatever to eat since we entered the wood. Even if some of the trees did bear fruit I don't see how we are going to get at it, for one would be eaten alive by these little brutes before we reached the top."

"I vote we turn back, Mr. Towel," one of the men said. "I would rather put to sea and take my chance than keep on being stung by these ants, when there doesn't seem the least hope of our finding anything."

"There doesn't seem much chance here, Nixon. I think we had best get out of the wood and follow the edge along. We may come to some place where it is more open, and may even strike on a stream. If we could do that we might patch up the boat and pull up stream a bit. Anyhow, I don't think it is any use pushing on here. My jacket is torn in a dozen places already by the thorns."

"One of them has nearly taken my eye out," another grumbled; and indeed all were bleeding from the gashes they had received from the thorns. They made their way back carefully, and there was a general exclamation of satisfaction when the light could be seen ahead through the trees. As soon as they were out on the sands shirts were hastily pulled off and a hunt for ants carried out.

"It is lucky the bites don't swell up," Joyce said, "or I should be a ma.s.s of b.u.mps. It is as bad as if one had been attacked by a swarm of bees. Yet there is only a little red spot to show for each bite."

As soon as they had freed themselves from the ants they started along the edge of the forest. After walking for two miles they gave a shout of joy, for a river some fifty yards wide issued from the forest. The sand-hills had hidden it from sight until they were close upon it.

"Thank G.o.d, we sha'n't die of thirst," the mate said. "It will be a hard job to get our boat here, but it has got to be done. Even if we could launch it through the surf there would be no getting in through the rollers on the bar, at least I should not like to try it. So we have got to drag her here somehow. It will be a tough job, but as there seems no chance of getting food in any other way we must undertake it. Hurrah!" he exclaimed suddenly, "there are some cocoa-nut trees on the other side of the river. That settles it. Let us be off back again at once."

They returned in much better spirits than they had before felt. On the way they went a short distance into the forest, and cut off a number of thorns some two inches long and seemingly as hard as iron. They breakfasted on a biscuit, with a full allowance of water, and then set to work at the boat.

The thorns answered their purpose as nails admirably, and the planks soon were securely fastened into their places against the stem; but without nails to clench the planks together, it was evident to them all that the boat would not float five minutes. They stood looking at it discontentedly.

"What is to be done with it?" said Mr. Towel. "Can anyone make a suggestion?"

"I should think, sir," Stephen said, "that if we could get some strong fibre, or some of those thin climbers that barred our way-they were not thicker than string, but there was no breaking them, and I should think that they would do-that with them we could sew the planks together and caulk them afterwards with the threads from a bit of the leg of one of our drill trousers."

"A capital idea, Stephen. At any rate, it would be worth trying."

"I will go and fetch some of those climbers, sir, and some long thorns to make the holes with."

"We may as well all go, Stephen; we have nothing to do here, and at any rate it is cooler in the forest than it is on the sands. We shall want a good stock of thorns, for we are sure to break lots of them in making the holes."

"I have a thing in my knife that will do for that, sir," Joyce said; and he produced from his pocket a knife with many blades, one of them being a long p.r.i.c.ker. "It was given to me the day before we sailed, and I have always wondered what use that thing could ever be. Here is a use for it at last."

"Capital, Joyce! That is just the thing. There is flint and steel, and a tinder-box in the locker, and our best plan will be to make a fire and heat that p.r.i.c.ker of yours red-hot. It would make the work a great deal easier, and there will be less risk of breaking it or of splitting the wood. So now we will collect dry wood and creepers and leave the thorns alone."

This was done; but when they returned to the edge of the forest all agreed that they should lie down there in the shade until the sun had lost its power, for their position being almost on the equator the heat out on the sand was unbearable.

"It will be as well for one to keep a watch, lads," the mate said. "We have seen no signs of natives, but there may be some about. The sun is nearly overhead, so it will be another four or five hours before we can set to work. I will take the first watch. In an hour I will wake Mr.

Joyce; Mr. Embleton will follow him; then you, Nixon; that will take us on till it's time to move."

These arrangements were carried out, and as the sun sank towards the horizon the party went down to the beach. Some rotten wood was crumbled up and a fire quickly made, then the work of boring the holes began, and was kept up all night. As it was necessary to put them very closely together, and the piercer had to be heated two or three times for each hole, two worked by turns while the rest slept, and by sunrise the holes were all finished. Then the work of sewing the planks together began, the boat being turned on its side to allow the string, as they called it, to be pa.s.sed backwards and forwards. In two hours their work was completed.