They had yet to find out, however, what these ants were capable of.
It was the water they dreaded most to lose. Without this they must soon sink and perish.
Just one fearful accident I must here record, though I have no intention to pile up horrors.
But in the expectation of rain one night a huge piece of waterproof canvas was spread, or rather hung, by the four corners between as many trees, hammock fashion.
The rain did come.
Water from the casks was at this time served out only in small quant.i.ties, so that the poor mariners were already suffering greatly from thirst. They were overjoyed, therefore, to find their great hammock almost full next morning.
They drank greedily of the apparently pure liquid, although some averred that it tasted bitter.
Alas! it was poisoned!
For in about half an hour afterwards the men were suffering the most excruciating agony.
Luckily, none of the officers had partaken of this water, which must have been poisoned by the copper or some other chemical, with which the canvas had been treated, to render it waterproof.
Before night, although Talbot gave everyone emetics of strong mustard and water, treating them afterwards with wine and spirits, no fewer than four poor fellows were dead. The others got better, but continued weak and ill for weeks.
CHAPTER II.--A WEARY TIME.
Yes, it was indeed a weary time that succeeded the alarming news brought one morning to Captain Talbot. For when the steward went to draw water from a cask, he found the wooden tap leaking, and naturally endeavoured to send it home a little. At the very moment he did so the whole collapsed, and the remains of the ant-eaten staves floated away in dust or little else.
All the other casks were found to be in the same condition, so that the mariners had nothing now to fall back upon except a kind of artificial rain-water well, which they had found on the surface of a rock, and this was most carefully covered over to prevent its evaporation by the rays of the sun.
What a terrible outlook! And no signs were there of further rain, not even the tiniest cloud.
Well might they pray for rain now as did the prophet of old, for if it fell not soon, sad indeed must be the fate of all.
The captain and first mate now held a consultation, and that night it was decided that they should endeavour to build a boat of some kind, and therein sail for the distant mainland.
Pity it was they had not thought of this sooner, for in two hours after the decision had been arrived at, another circular storm arose. Such storms in the Indian Ocean are not infrequent, and terrible they are while they rage.
Rain fell at first and at the latter part of it, otherwise it was a burning hot wind, that caused one to choke and gasp for breath.
Nostrils and lips became dry, the mouth parched, and the eyes were like coals of fire beneath their lids.
On this occasion the sea rose higher than it had done before.
A huge ocean bore, that could be seen even in the uncertain light of the stars, came roaring on towards the rocks, and the spray dashed high over the camp.
Next morning not a timber of the unfortunate _Flora M"Vayne_ was to be seen. She had been sucked backwards with that great tidal wave, and was engulfed in the deeper water farther out.
As ill-luck would have it, most of the carpenter"s tools had been left on board, for until the storm came on--when they had to rush on sh.o.r.e for dear life"s sake--the men had been busy cutting out pieces of plank with which to fashion a boat.
There was not the slightest chance of building such a thing now, and the water grew scarcer and scarcer.
A raft was then thought of, but in the weakened condition of the men for want of water it would take a long time to build.
"There pa.s.sed a weary time. Each throat Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! A weary time!
How glazed each weary eye!"
Once more fell rain. Once more the little rocky tank, which was always left exposed at night, was filled, and once again the men"s eyes brightened.
During the gale of wind that had resulted in the wreck of the _Flora M"Vayne_, the poor monkey had been washed overboard, but old Pen was still here, and so, too, was honest Vike.
They had suffered as much from the want of water as anyone, but to the credit of our heroes be it told, they received their daily water ration.
Old Pen used to waltz with joy when he had taken a drink, but Vike was less demonstrative, only he never failed to lick the hand with loving tongue that served the water out.
But hope rose higher now. That water would last for weeks--would last, perhaps, till water came again. Hope rose to a pitch of excitement that no one who has never known shipwreck, or never known what it is to float a mere hulk upon a breezeless sea, can form any conception of, when, just as the sun leapt red and fiery above the main next morning, a steamer was observed but a few miles away in the west. G.o.d! how the men rushed to the cliff edge, and how wildly they waved their arms, their coats, and shouted. Shouted and shouted until every tongue
"Seemed withered at the root; And they could not speak, no more than if They had been choked with soot".
But all in vain!
The ship pa.s.sed on.
"They cannot have seen us! They cannot have seen us! Lower the flag to half-mast. Light the fire; they will see the smoke."
All this was done.
All this was done in vain. There was not breeze enough to float the flag.
The fire, too, was a failure. No smoke arose, for the flames licked it up.
No wonder the men gazed after the retreating vessel with weary, weary eyes.
Oh, cruel, cruel, to desert us so!
This was all anyone could say.
And now Duncan bethought him of the balloon.
Surely there was some hope left in that.
As they sat under the shade of some dwarf and straggling trees, our three younger heroes, with Captain Talbot and Morgan, they seriously reviewed the whole question of their situation. Not only Duncan, but even Conal and Frank had become somewhat more earnest in their manner of late. Their sufferings had sobered them.
"Boats, and even a raft, are denied us," said Duncan, "and ships do not come."
"No," answered Talbot; "and yet some British cruiser, or even an Arab dhow, is bound to come this way before very long."