The Castaways Read online

  CHAPTER TWO.

  AT SEA--A WRECK IN SIGHT.

  I was awakened at six o'clock the next morning by the men chorussing atthe windlass, and the quick clank of the pawls that showed howthoroughly Jack was putting his heart into his work, and how quickly hewas walking the ship up to her anchor. I scrambled out of my bunk, andtook a peep through the port in the ship's side, to see what the weatherwas like; it was scarcely daylight yet; the glass of the port wasblurred with the quick splashing of rain, and the sky was simply a blotof scurrying, dirty grey vapour. I made a quick mental reference to thecondition of the tide, deducting therefrom the direction of the ship'shead, and thus arrived at the fact that the wind still hung in the samequarter as yesterday, or about south-east; after which I turned inagain, the weather being altogether too dismal to tempt me out on deckat so early an hour. As I did so there was a loud cry or command, thechorussing at the windlass abruptly ceased, and in the silence thattemporarily ensued I caught the muffled sound of the steam blowing-offfrom the tug's waste-pipe, mingled with the faint sound of hailing fromsomewhere ahead, answered in the stentorian tones of Mr Murgatroyd'svoice. Then the windlass was manned once more, and the pawls clankedslowly, sullenly, irregularly, for a time, growing slower and slowerstill until there ensued a long pause, during which I heard the mateencouraging the crew to a special effort by shouting: "Heave, boys!heave and raise the dead! break him out! another pawl! heave!" and soon; then there occurred a sudden wrenching jerk, followed by a shout oftriumph from the crew, the windlass pawls resumed their clanking at arapid rate for a few minutes longer when they finally ceased, and I knewthat our anchor was a-trip and that we had started on our long journey.

  Everybody appeared at breakfast that morning, naturally; there wasnothing to prevent them, for we were still in the river, in smoothwater, and the ship glided along so steadily that some of us wereactually ignorant of the fact of our being under way until made aware ofit by certain remarks passed at the breakfast-table. After breakfast,the weather being as "dirty" as ever, I donned my mackintosh and a pairof sea boots with which I had provided myself in anticipation of suchoccasions as this, and went on deck to look round and smoke a pipe. Afew other men followed my example, among others the general, whopresently joined me in my perambulation of the poop; and I soon foundthat, despite a certain peremptoriness and dictatorial assertiveness ofmanner, which I attributed to his profession, and his position in it, hewas a very fine fellow, and a most agreeable companion, with anapparently inexhaustible fund of anecdote and reminiscence.Incidentally I learned from him that Miss Onslow was the daughter of SirPhilip Onslow, an Indian judge and a friend of Sir Patrick O'Brien, andthat she was proceeding to Calcutta under the chaperonage of LadyKathleen, the general's wife. While we were still chatting together,the young lady herself came on deck, well wrapped up in a long tweedcloak that reached to her ankles, and the general, with an apology to mefor his desertion, stepped forward and gallantly offered his arm, whichshe accepted. And she remained on deck the whole of the morning, withthe wind blustering about her and the rain dashing in her face everytime that she faced it in her passage from the wheel grating to thebreak of the poop, to the great benefit of her complexion. She was theonly lady who ventured on deck that day--for the weather was so thickthat there was nothing to see, beyond an occasional buoy marking out theposition of a sandbank, a grimy Geordie, loaded down to hercovering-board, driving along up the river under a brace of patched andsooty topsails, or an inward-bound south-spainer in tow of a tug; butthis fact of her being the only representative of her sex on deckappeared to disconcert Miss Onslow not at all; she was as absolutelyself-possessed as though she and the general had been in sole possessionof the deck, as indeed they were, so far as she was concerned, for shecalmly and utterly ignored the presence of the rest of us, excepting theskipper, with whom and with the general she conversed with muchvivacity. By the arrival of tiffin-time we had drawn far enough downthe river to be just meeting the first of the sea knocked up by thestrong breeze, and I noticed that already a few of the seats at tablethat had been occupied at breakfast-time were vacant--among them that ofLady O'Brien--but my left-hand neighbour exhibited a thoroughly healthyappetite--due in part, probably, to her long promenade on deck in thewind and the rain. She was still as stately and distant in manner asever, however, when I attempted to enter into conversation with her, andI met with such scant encouragement that ere the meal was half over Idesisted, leaving to the skipper the task of further entertaining her.

  By six o'clock that night we were abreast of the buoy which marksLongnose Ledge, when the pilot shifted his helm for the Elbow, and webegan to feel in earnest the influence of the short, choppy sea, intowhich the _City of Cawnpore_ was soon plunging her sharp stem to theheight of the hawse pipes, to the rapidly-increasing discomfort of manyof the passengers. By seven o'clock--which was the dinner-hour--we werewell round the Elbow, and heading to pass inside the Goodwin and throughthe Downs, with most of our fore-and-aft canvas set; and now we had notonly a pitching but also a rolling motion to contend with; and althoughthe latter was as yet comparatively slight, it was still sufficient toinduce a further number of our cuddy party to seek the seclusion oftheir cabins, with the result that when we sat down to dinner we did notmuster quite a dozen, all told. But among those present was myleft-hand neighbour, Miss Onslow, faultlessly attired, and to allappearance as completely at her ease as though she were dining ashore.The general made a gallant effort to occupy his accustomed seat, but thesoup proved too much for him, and he was compelled to retreat, mutteringsomething apologetic and not very intelligible about his liver. Weremained in tow until the tug had dragged us down abreast the SouthForeland, where she left us, taking the pilot with her; and half an hourlater we were heading down Channel under all plain sail to ourtopgallant-sails.

  When I went on deck to get my after-dinner smoke the prospect was asdreary and dismal as it could well be. It was dark as a wolf's mouth;for the moon was well advanced in her last quarter--which is as good assaying that there was no moon at all--and the thickness overhead notonly obliterated the stars but also rendered it impossible for any oftheir light to reach us; one consequence of which was that when standingat the break of the poop it taxed one's eyesight to the utmost to see asfar as the bows of the ship; the wind was freshening, with frequent rainsqualls that, combined with the intense darkness, circumscribed thevisible horizon to a radius of about half a cable's length on eitherhand; and through this all but opaque blackness the ship was thrashingalong at a speed of fully ten knots, with a continuous crying andstorming of wind aloft through the rigging and in the hollows of thestraining canvas, and a deep hissing and sobbing sound of water alongthe bends, to which was added the rhythmical thunderous roaring of thebow wave, and a frequent grape-shot pattering of spray on the fore deckas the fabric plunged with irresistible momentum into the hollows of theshort, snappy Channel seas. It was black and blusterous, and everythingwas dripping wet; I was heartily thankful, therefore, that it was myprivilege to go below and turn in just when I pleased, instead of havingto stand a watch and strain my eyeballs to bursting point in theendeavour to avoid running foul of some of the numerous craft that wereknocking about in the Channel on that blind and dismal night.

  When my berth steward brought me my coffee next morning he informed me,in reply to my inquiries, that the weather had improved somewhat duringthe night, and that, in his opinion, the temperature on deck was mildenough for me to take a salt-water bath in the ship's head, if Ipleased. I accordingly jumped out of my bunk and, hastily donning mybathing togs, made my way on deck. I was no sooner on my feet, however,than I became aware that the ship was particularly lively. She was onthe port tack, and was heeling over considerably, so much so indeedthat, when she rolled to leeward, to keep my footing without holding onto something was pretty nearly as much as I could well manage. Thenthere was a continuous vibrant thrill pervading the entire fabric,suggestive of the idea that her blood was roused an
d that she wasquivering with eager excitement, which, to the initiated, is anunfailing sign that the ship is travelling fast through the water. Uponreaching the deck I found the watch engaged in the task of washing decksand polishing the brasswork, while Mr Murgatroyd, as officer of thewatch, paced to and fro athwart the fore end of the poop, pausing everytime he reached the weather side of the deck to fling a quick, keenglance to windward, and another aloft at the bending topmasts andstraining rigging.

  For Mr Murgatroyd was "carrying on" and driving the ship quite as muchas was consistent with prudence; the wind, it is true, had moderatedslightly from its boisterous character of the previous day, and was nowsteady; but it was still blowing strong, and had hauled round a point ortwo until it was square abeam; yet, although the lower yards were bracedwell forward, the ship was under all three royals, and fore andmain-topgallant and topmast studding-sails, with a lower studding-sailupon the foremast! She was lying down to it like a racing yacht, withthe foam seething and hissing and brimming to her rail at every leeroll, and the lee scuppers all afloat, while she swept along with theeager, headlong, impetuous speed of a sentient creature flying for itslife. The wailing and crying of the wind aloft--especially when theship rolled to windward--was loud enough and weird enough to fill theheart of a novice with dismay, but to the ear of the seaman it sang asong of wild, hilarious sea music, fittingly accompanied by the deep,intermittent thunder of the bow wave as it leapt and roared, glassysmooth, in a curling snow-crowned breaker from the sharp, shearing stemat every wild plunge of it into the heart of an on-rushing wave. I ranup the poop ladder, and stood to windward, a fathom back from the breakof the poop, where I could obtain the best possible view of the ship;and I thought I had never before beheld so magnificent and perfect apicture as she presented of triumphant, domineering strength and power,and of reckless, breathless, yet untiring speed.

  "Morning, Mr Conyers," shouted Murgatroyd, halting alongside me as Istood gazing at the pallid blue sky across which great masses of cloudwere rapidly sweeping--to be outpaced by the low-flying shreds andtatters of steamy scud--the opaque, muddy green waste of foaming,leaping waters, and the flying ship swaying her broad spaces ofdamp-darkened canvas, her tapering and buckling spars, and hertautly-strained rigging in long arcs athwart the scurrying clouds as sheleapt and plunged and sheared her irresistible way onward in the midstof a wild chaos and dizzying swirl and hurry of foaming spume: "whatthink you of this for a grand morning, eh, sir? Is this breeze goodenough for you? And what's your opinion of the _City of Cawnpore_, now,sir?"

  "It is a magnificent morning for sailing, Mr Murgatroyd," I replied; "amagnificent morning--that would be none the worse for an occasionalglint of sunshine, which, however, may come by and by; and, as for theship, she is a wonder, a perfect flyer--why, she must be reeling off herthirteen knots at the least."

  "You've hit it, sir, pretty closely; she was going thirteen and a halfwhen we hove the log at four bells, and she hasn't eased up anythingsince," was the reply.

  "Ah," said I, "that is grand sailing--with the wind where it is. Butyou are driving her rather hard, aren't you? stretching the kinks out ofyour new rigging, eh?"

  "Well, perhaps we are," admitted the mate, with a short laugh, as heglanced at the slender upper spars, that were whipping about likefishing-rods. "But you know, Mr Conyers, we're _obliged_ to do it;there is so much opposition nowadays, and people are in such a deuce ofa hurry always to get to the place that they are bound to, that the lineowning the fastest ships gets the most patronage; and there's the wholething in a nutshell."

  "Just so; and it is all well enough, in its way--if you don't happen toget dismasted. But I find the morning air rather nipping, so I will getmy bath and go below again. Will you kindly allow one of your men toplay upon me with the head-pump, Mr Murgatroyd?"

  "Certainly, Mr Conyers, with pleasure, sir," answered the mate."Bosun, just tell off a man to pump for Mr Conyers, will ye!"

  The ship was by this time so lively that I was not at all surprised tomeet but a meagre muster at the breakfast-table. Yet, of the fewpresent, Miss Onslow was one, and the soaring and plunging and the wildlee rolls of the ship appeared to affect her no more than if she weresitting at home in her own breakfast-room. She was silent, as usual,but her rich colour, and the evident relish with which she partook ofthe food placed before her, bore witness to the fact that her silencewas due to inclination alone. About an hour after breakfast the younglady made her appearance upon the poop, well wrapped up, and began topace to and fro with an assured footing and an easy, graceful poise ofher body to the movements of the deck beneath her that was, to my mindat least, the very poetry of motion. The skipper and I happened to bewalking together, at the moment of her appearance, and of course we bothwith one accord sprang forward and, cap in hand, proffered the supportof our arms. She accepted that of the skipper with a graciousness ofmanner that was to be paralleled only by the frigid dignity with whichshe declined mine.

  The breeze held strong all that day, and for the five days following,gradually hauling round, however, and heading us, until, with our yardsbraced hard in against the lee rigging, and the three royals and mizzentopgallant-sail stowed, we went thrashing away to the westward against aheavy head-sea that kept our decks streaming as far aft as the mainmast,instead of bowling away across the Bay under studding-sails, as we hadhoped. Then we fell in with light weather for nearly a week, thatenabled all hands in the cuddy to find their sea legs and a good heartyappetite once more, the ship slowly traversing her way to the southward,meanwhile; and finally we got a westerly wind that, beginning gentlyenough to permit of our showing skysails to it, ended in a regular NorthAtlantic gale that compelled us to heave-to for forty-two hours beforeit blew itself out.

  The gale was at its height, blowing with almost hurricane fury, with aterrific sea running, about twenty hours after its development, and wein the cuddy were, with about half a dozen exceptions, seated atbreakfast when, above the howling of the wind, I faintly caught thenotes of a hail that seemed to proceed from somewhere aloft.

  "Where away?" sharply responded the voice of the chief mate from thepoop overhead.

  I heard the reply given, but the noises of the ship, the shriek of thegale through the rigging, and the resounding shock of a sea that smoteus upon the weather bow at the moment, prevented my catching the words;I had no difficulty, however, in gathering, from Mr Murgatroyd'sinquiry, that something had drifted within our sphere of vision,probably another vessel, hove-to like ourselves. A minute or two later,however, Mr Fletcher, the third mate, presented himself at the cuddydoor and said, addressing himself to the skipper:

  "Mr Murgatroyd's respects, sir; and there's a partially dismastedbarque, that appears to be in a sinking condition, and with a signal ofdistress flying, about eight miles away, broad on the lee bow. And MrMurgatroyd would be glad to know, sir, if it's your wish that we shouldedge down towards her?"

  "Yes, certainly," answered Captain Dacre. "Request Mr Murgatroyd to dowhat is necessary; and say that I will be on deck myself, shortly."

  The intelligence that a real, genuine wreck was in sight, with theprobability that her crew were in a situation of extreme peril, sentquite a thrill of excitement pulsating through the cuddy; with theresult that breakfast was more or less hurriedly despatched; and withina few minutes the skipper, Miss Onslow, and myself were all thatremained seated at the table, the rest having hurried on deck to catchthe earliest possible glimpse of so novel a sight as Mr Murgatroyd'smessage promised them.

  As for Dacre and myself, we were far too thoroughly seasoned hands tohurry--the ship was hastening to the assistance of the stranger, andnothing more could be done for the present; and it was perfectly evidentthat Miss Onslow had no intention of descending to so undignified an actas that of joining in the general rush on deck. But that she was notunsympathetic was evidenced by the earnestness with which she turned tothe skipper and inquired:

  "Do you think, Captain, that there are any pe
ople on that wreck?"

  "Any people?" reiterated the skipper. "Why, yes, my dear young lady,I'm very much afraid that there are."

  "You are _afraid_!" returned Miss Onslow. "Why do you use that word?If there are any people there, you will rescue them, will you not?"

  "Of course--_if we can_!" answered the skipper. "But that is just thepoint: _can_ we rescue them? Mr Murgatroyd's message stated that thewreck appears to be in a sinking condition. Now, if that surmise of themate's turns out to be correct, the question is: Will she remain afloatuntil the gale moderates and the sea goes down sufficiently to admit ofboats being lowered? If not, it may turn out to be a very bad job forthe poor souls; eh, Mr Conyers?"

  "It may indeed," I answered, "for it is certain that no boat of ourscould live for five minutes in the sea that is now running. And if thatbarometer,"--pointing to a very fine instrument that hung, facing us, inthe skylight--"is to be believed, the gale is not going to break just_yet_."

  "Oh dear, but that is dreadful!" the girl exclaimed, clasping her handstightly together in her agitation--and one could see, by the whiteningof her lips and the horror expressed in her widely-opened eyes, that heremotion was not simulated; it was thoroughly real and genuine. "I neverthought of that! Do I understand you to mean, then, Captain, that evenwhen we reach the wreck it may be impossible to help those on board?"

  "Yes," answered Dacre; "you may understand that, Miss Onslow. Of coursewe shall stand by them until the gale breaks; and if, when we getalongside, we find that their condition is very critical, some specialeffort to rescue them will have to be made. But, while doing all thatmay be possible, I must take care not to unduly risk my own ship, andthe lives which have been intrusted to my charge; and, keeping thatpoint in view, it may prove impossible to do anything to help them."

  "And you think there is no hope that the gale will soon abate?" shedemanded.

  "I see no prospect of it, as yet," answered the skipper. "The barometeris the surest guide a sailor has, in respect of the weather; and, as MrConyers just now remarked, ours affords not a particle of hope."

  "Oh, how cruel--how relentlessly cruel--the wind and the sea are!"exclaimed this girl whose pride I had hitherto deemed superior to anyother emotion. "I _hope_--oh, Captain, I _most fervently hope_ that youwill be able to save those poor creatures, who must now be suffering allthe protracted horrors of a lingering death!"

  "You may trust me, my dear young lady," answered the skipper heartily."Whatever it may prove possible to do, I will do for them. If they areto be drowned it shall be through no lack of effort on my part to savethem. And now, if you will excuse me, I will leave Mr Conyers toentertain you, while I go on deck and see how things look."

  The girl instantly froze again. "I will not inflict myself upon MrConyers--who is doubtless dying for his after-breakfast smoke," sheanswered, with a complete return of all her former hauteur of manner."I have finished breakfast, and shall join Lady O'Brien on deck."

  And therewith she rose from her seat and, despite the wild movements ofthe ship, made her way with perfect steadiness and an assured footingtoward the ladder or stairs that led downward to the sleeping-rooms, onher way to her cabin.

  "A queer girl, by George!" exclaimed Dacre, as she disappeared. "Sheseems quite determined to keep everybody at a properly respectfuldistance--especially _you_. Have you offended her?"

  "Certainly not--so far as I am aware," I answered. "It is pride,skipper; nothing but pride. She simply deems herself of far too fine aclay to associate with ordinary human pots and pans. Well, she may beas distant as she pleases, so far as I am concerned; for, thank God, Iam not in love with her, despite her surpassing beauty!"

  And forthwith I seized my cap, and followed the captain up the companionladder to the poop.

  Upon my arrival on deck I found that we were under way once more, MrMurgatroyd having set the fore-topmast staysail and swung the headyards; and now, with the mate in the weather mizen rigging to con theship through the terrific sea that was running, we were "jilling" alongdown toward the wreck, which, from the height of the poop, now showed onthe horizon line whenever we both happened to top a surge at the samemoment. The entire cuddy party were by this time assembled on the poop,and every eye was intently fixed upon the small, misty image that atirregular intervals reared itself sharply upon the jagged and undulatingline of the horizon, and I believe that every telescope and opera-glassin the ship was brought to bear upon it. After studying her carefullythrough my own powerful instrument for about ten minutes I made her outto be a small barque, of about five hundred tons register, with herforemast gone at a height of about twenty feet from the deck, hermain-topmast gone just above the level of the lower-mast-head, and hermizenmast intact. I noticed that she appeared to be floating very deepin the water, and that most of the seas that met her seemed to besweeping her fore and aft; and I believed I could detect the presence ofa small group of people huddled up together abaft the skylight upon hershort poop. An ensign of some sort was stopped half-way up the mizenrigging, as a signal of distress; and after a while I made it out to bethe tricolour.

  "Johnny Crapaud--a Frenchman!" I exclaimed to the skipper, who wasstanding near me, working away at her with the ship's telescope.

  "A Frenchman, eh!" responded the skipper. "Can you make out the coloursof that ensign from here? If so, that must be an uncommonly good glassof yours, Mr Conyers."

  "Take it, and test it for yourself," I answered, handing him theinstrument.

  He took it, and applied it to his eye, the other end of the tube swayingwildly to the rolling and plunging of the ship.

  "Ay," he said presently, handing the glass back to me, "French she is,and no mistake! Now that is rather a nuisance, for I am ashamed to saythat I don't know French nearly well enough to communicate with her.How the dickens are we to understand one another when it comes to makingarrangements?"

  "Well, if you can find no better way, I shall be very pleased to act asinterpreter for you," I said. "My knowledge of the French language isquite sufficient for that."

  "Thank you, Mr Conyers; I am infinitely obliged to you. I willthankfully avail myself of all the assistance you can give me," answeredthe skipper.

  The sea being rather in our favour than otherwise, we drove down towardthe wreck at a fairly rapid pace, despite the extremely short sail thatwe were under; and as we approached her the first thing we made out withany distinctness was that the barque was lying head to wind, evidentlyheld in that position by the wreck of the foremast, which, with allattached, was under the bows, still connected with the hull by thestanding and running rigging. This was so far satisfactory, in that itacted as a sort of floating anchor, to which the unfortunate craft rode,and which prevented her falling off into the trough of the sea. Itwould also, probably, to some extent facilitate any efforts that wemight be able to make to get alongside her to take her people off.

  To get alongside! Ay; but how was it to be done in that wild sea? Theaspect of the ocean had been awe-inspiring enough before this forlornand dying barque had drifted within our ken; but now that she was thereto serve as a scale by which to measure the height of the surges, and tobring home to us a realising sense of their tremendous and irresistiblepower by showing how fearfully and savagely they flung and batteredabout the poor maimed fabric, it became absolutely terrifying, as was tobe seen by the blanched faces and quailing, cowering figures of thecrowd on the poop who, stood watching the craft in her death throes.Hitherto the violence of the sea had been productive in them of nothingworse than a condition of more or less discomfort; but now that they hadbefore their eyes an exemplification of what old ocean could do with manand man's handiwork, if it once succeeded in getting the upper hand,they were badly frightened; frightened for themselves, and still morefrightened for the poor wretches yonder who had been conquered in theirbattle with the elements, and were now being done to death by theirtriumphant foe. And it was no reproach to them that they were so; forthe sight upon w
hich they were gazing, and which was now momentarilygrowing plainer to the view, was well calculated to excite a feeling ofawe and terror in the heart of the bravest there, having in mind thefact that we were looking upon a drama that might at any moment become atragedy involving the destruction of nearly or quite a dozen fellowbeings. Even I, seasoned hand as I was, found myself moved to a feelingof horrible anxiety as I watched the wreck through my telescope.

  For the feeling was growing upon me that we were going to be too late,and that we were doomed to see that little crouching, huddling knot ofhumanity perish miserably, without the power to help them. We were bythis time about a mile distant from the wreck; and another seven oreight minutes would carry us alongside. But what might not happen inthose few minutes? Why, the barque might founder at any moment, andcarry all hands down with her. For we could by this time see that thehull was submerged to the channels; and so deadly languid and sluggishwere her movements that almost every sea made a clean sweep over her,fore and aft, rendering her main deck untenable, and her poop but ameagre and precarious place of refuge.

  And even if she continued to float until we reached her, and for sometime afterward, how were her unfortunate people to be transferred fromher deck to our own? One had only to note the wild rush of the surges,their height, and the fierceness with which they broke as they sweptdown upon our own ship, and the headlong reeling and plunging of her asshe met their assault, to realise the absolute impossibility of loweringa boat from her without involving the frail craft and her crew ininstant destruction; and how otherwise were those poor, half-drownedwretches to be got at and saved. Something might perhaps be done bymeans of a hawser, if its end could by any means be put on board thesinking craft; but here again the difficulties were such as to renderthe plan to all appearance impracticable. Yet it seemed to offer theonly imaginable solution of the problem; for presently, as we continuedto roll and stagger down toward the doomed barque, Captain Dacre turnedto me and said:

  "There is only one way to do this job, Mr Conyers; and that is for theFrenchmen to float the end of a heaving-line down to us, by which we maybe able to send them a hawser with a bosun's chair and hauling linesattached. If it is not troubling you too much, perhaps you will kindlyhail them and explain my intentions, presently. I shall shave athwarther stern, as closely as I dare, with my main-topsail aback, so that youmay have plenty of time to tell them what, our plans are, and what wewant them to do."

  "Very well," said I; "I will undertake the hailing part of the businesswith pleasure. Have you a speaking-trumpet?"

  "Of course," answered the skipper. "Here, boy,"--to one of theapprentices who happened to be standing near--"jump below and fetch thespeaking-trumpet for Mr Conyers. You will find it slung from one ofthe deck beams in my cabin."

  Dacre then took charge of the ship in person, conning her from theweather mizen rigging, and sending Murgatroyd for'ard with instructionsto clear away the towing-hawser, and to fit it with a traveller, bosun'schair, and hauling-lines, blocks, etcetera, all ready for sending theend aboard the barque when communication should have been establishedwith her. And at the same time, the boy having brought thespeaking-trumpet on deck, and handed it to me, I stationed myself in themizen rigging, alongside the skipper, for convenience of communicationbetween him and myself.