The sea dashing over the reef, though spent of its fury, still broke with great force against the hull of the schooner. Her timbers shook and quivered as wave after wave, striking them, rolled on towards the beach, and then came hissing back, covering the surface of the lagoon with a ma.s.s of creaming foam. The coast, as far as could be seen through the ma.s.ses of spray, looked barren and uninviting.
The Frenchmen and blacks, recovering from the alarm which had well-nigh paralysed them, rushed to the boat stowed amidships, and began casting adrift the lashings, and preparing to launch her.
"Keep all fast there!" cried Rayner, as he saw what they were about.
"It will be best to wait till the sea goes down, when we shall be able to get the boat into the water with less risk of her being swamped than at present."
They, however, paid no attention to his orders, and continued their preparations for launching the boat.
When he found that they persisted in their attempts, he urged them to wait till they had collected a supply of provisions, and obtained some fresh water, as it was probable that they might find neither the one nor the other on sh.o.r.e. Calling Fletcher aft to attend to Peek, he and Oliver went into the cabin to collect all the eatables they could find, as also their carpet bags and such other articles as might be useful.
"We must get up some water before the boat shoves off," said Rayner.
"I"ll send one of the men to help you, while I go into the hold to search for casks."
The boat was still on the deck, and there seemed no probability that the Frenchmen and blacks would succeed in launching her.
He was some time below, hunting about for the casks of water.
He had just found a couple, and was about to return on deck to obtain some slings for hoisting them up, when he heard Jack Peek shout out, "Quick, Mr Rayner--quick! the fellows are shoving off in the boat."
Springing on deck, what was his surprise and indignation to see the boat in the water, and all the men in her, including Tom Fletcher!
"What treachery is this?" he exclaimed. "If go you must, wait until we can get our injured shipmate into the boat, and Mr Crofton will be on deck in a moment."
While he was speaking, the man named Brown, who had gone with him below, rushing on deck, leapt into the boat, intending to prevent them from shoving off. Rayner, for the same object, followed him, with a rope in his hand, which he was in the act of making fast, when one of the Frenchmen cut it through, and the boat rapidly drifted away from the side of the vessel.
In vain Rayner urged the people to pull back, and take off Oliver and Jack; but, regardless of his entreaties, one of them, seizing the helm, turned the boat"s head towards the beach. They pulled rapidly away, endeavouring to keep her from being swamped by the heavy seas which rolled up astern. Now she rose, now she sank, as she neared the sh.o.r.e.
"Oliver will fancy that I have deserted him; but Jack Peek knows me too well to suppose that I could have acted so basely," thought Rayner.
"If, however, the boat is knocked to pieces, it will be a hard matter to get back to the wreck. All I can do is to pray to Heaven that the schooner may hold together till I can manage to return on board."
These thoughts pa.s.sed through his mind as the boat approached the beach.
He saw that it would be utterly useless to try and induce the men to return. Indeed, the attempt at present would be dangerous. He again urged the crew to be careful how they beached the boat.
"The moment she touches jump out and try to run her up, for should another sea follow quickly on the first, she will be driven broadside on the beach, and before you can get free of her, you may be carried away by the reflux."
The Frenchmen and blacks, eager to save themselves, paid no attention to what he said. On flew the boat on the summit of a sea, and carried forward, the next instant her keel struck the sand. Regardless of his advice, they all at the same moment sprang forward, each man trying to be the first to get out of the boat. He and Tom Fletcher held on to the thwarts.
On came the sea. Before the men had got out of its influence, two of them were carried off their legs, and swept back by the boiling surf, while the boat, broaching to, was hove high up on the beach, on which she fell with a loud crash, her side stove in. Rayner, fearing that she might be carried off, leaped out on the beach, Tom scrambling after him.
His first thought was to try and rescue the two men who had been carried off by the receding wave. Looking round to see who was missing, he discovered that one of them was a British seaman, the other a Frenchman. He sprang back to the boat to secure a coil of rope which had been thrown into her, and calling on his companions to hold on to one end, he fastened the other round his waist, intending to plunge in, and hoping to seize hold of the poor fellows, who could be seen struggling frantically in the hissing foam. The Frenchmen and blacks, however, terror-stricken, and thinking only of their own safety, rushed up the beach, as if fancying that the sea might still overtake them.
Tom and his messmate alone remained, and held on to the rope. Rayner swam off towards the Frenchman, who was nearest to the sh.o.r.e. Grasping him by the shirt, he ordered Tom and Brown to haul him in, and in a few seconds they succeeded in getting the Frenchman on sh.o.r.e.
Ward, the other seaman, could still be seen floating, apparently lifeless, in the surf--now driven nearer the beach, now carried off again, far beyond the reach of the rope. The moment the Frenchman had been deposited on the sands, Rayner sprang back again, telling Tom and Brown to advance as far as possible into the water.
Rayner, however, did not feel very confident that they would obey his orders, but trusted to his powers as a swimmer to make his way back to the beach. A sea rolled in. He swam on bravely, surmounting its foaming crest. He had got to the end of the rope, and Ward was still beyond his reach. Still he struggled. Perhaps another sea might bring the man to him. He was not disappointed, and grasping the collar of Ward"s jacket, he shouted to Brown and Tom to haul away; but the sea which had brought Ward in rolled on, and Tom, fancying that he should be lifted off his legs, let go the rope and sprang back. Happily, Brown held on, but his strength was not sufficient to drag in the rope. In vain he called on Tom to come back to his a.s.sistance. While tugging manfully away, he kept his feet on the ground, although the water rose above his waist. The next instant the sea bore Rayner and his now lifeless burden close up to where he stood. Rayner himself was almost exhausted, but with the help of Brown, and such aid as Tom was at length, from very shame, induced to give, they got beyond the influence of the angry seas Rayner lost no time in trying to restore the seaman, but with sorrow he found that it was a corpse alone he had brought on sh.o.r.e.
The Frenchman, Jacques Le Duc, having been less time in the water, quickly recovered, and expressed his grat.i.tude to Rayner for having saved him.
"Mais, ma foi! those poltroons who ran off, afraid that the sea would swallow them up, should be ashamed of themselves," he exclaimed. "You had best show your grat.i.tude, my friend, by getting them to a.s.sist us in bringing off my brother officer and the seaman from the wreck," answered Rayner. "I fear that she will not hold together many hours, and unless they are soon rescued they may lose their lives."
"I will try and persuade them to act like men," answered Jacques. "You have twice saved my life, and I feel bound to help you."
Saying this, Jacques, who had been a.s.sisted on his legs by Tom and Brown, staggered after his companions, shouting to them to stop.
On seeing him, they only ran the faster.
"Do you take me for a ghost?" he cried out, "Come back, come back, you cowards, and help the brave Englishman!"
At last they stopped, and Jacques was seen talking to them. In a short time he came back, saying that they declared nothing would induce them to return to the wreck; that the boat, they knew, could no longer float, and that there was no other means of getting off; that if they remained on the sh.o.r.e they should be starved, and that they must hurry away in search of food and shelter before night, which was fast approaching.
"Then we must see what we can do by ourselves," said Rayner. "We cannot allow Mr Crofton and Peek to perish while we have any means of going to their a.s.sistance. I must first see if we can patch up the boat so as to enable her to keep afloat."
On examining her, however, it was discovered that several of the planks on one side were stove in, and that they could not repair her sufficiently to keep out the water. At first Rayner thought of making a raft out of the materials of the boat; but he soon came to the conclusion that he should never be able to paddle it against the seas which came rolling in.
"It must be done," he said to himself. "I have swum as far in smooth water, with no object in view; but strength will be given me. I trust, when I am making an effort to save my fellow-creatures. Crofton might perhaps swim to the sh.o.r.e, but nothing would induce him to leave a shipmate alone to perish."
All this time Oliver and Jack could be seen seated on the deck, holding on to the stanchions to save themselves from being washed away by the seas which, occasionally breaking over her side, poured down upon them.
It of course occurred to Rayner that if Oliver could manage to float a cask, or even a piece of plank secured to the end of a rope, a communication might be established between the wreck and the sh.o.r.e; but as far as he could see, the running rigging and all the ropes had gone overboard with the masts, and the only coil saved was that which had been brought in the boat.
"Go off again I must," he said; "and I want you, my lads, to promise me, should I perish, that you will use every exertion to save the people on the wreck. Fletcher, you know our object in coming on the coast. You must go to the authorities and explain that we had no hostile intentions--that our wish was to land the Frenchmen whose lives we had saved; and if you explain this, I hope that you will all be well treated."
Even Tom was struck by his officer"s courage and thoughtfulness; and he and his messmate promised to obey his orders.
Rayner, having now committed himself to the care of Heaven, prepared to swim off to the wreck. He knew that Oliver would see him coming, and would be ready to help him get on board. Waiting until a sea had broken on the beach, he followed it out, and darting through the next which rolled forward, he was soon a long way from the sh.o.r.e. He found he could swim much better than before, now that he had no rope to carry.
Boldly he struck forward. Happily he did not recollect that those seas swarmed with sharks. On and on he went. Now and again, as a sea rushed over the reef, he was thrown back, but exerting all his strength, he struggled forward. He was nearing the wreck, and could see that Oliver, who was eagerly watching him, had got hold of a short length of rope, with which he stood ready to heave when he should be near enough. But he felt his own strength failing. It seemed almost beyond his power to reach the wreck. Still, it was not in his nature to give in, and making a desperate effort, striking out through the surging waters, he clutched the rope which Oliver hove-to him, and the next instant was clambering on board. Throwing himself down on the deck, he endeavoured to regain his strength, Oliver grasping him tightly with one hand, while he held to the stanchion with the other.
"I knew you would not desert us, Rayner," he said. "But now you have come, how are we to get this poor fellow to the sh.o.r.e? I could not leave him, or I would not have allowed you to risk your life by returning on board. We must try and knock a raft together sufficient to carry Peek, and you and I will swim alongside it, if we cannot make it large enough to hold us all three. There"s no time to be lost, though."
Providentially the wind had by this time decreased, and the tide having fallen, the seas struck with less fury against the wreck, and enabled the two midshipmen to work far more effectually than they could otherwise have done.
Jack begged that he might try and help them, but they insisted on his remaining where he was, lest a sea should carry him off, and he might not have the strength to regain the wreck.
Fortunately the two axes had been preserved, and going below, they found several lengths of rope, though not of sufficient strength to form a safe communication with the sh.o.r.e. They would serve, however, for lashing the raft together.
They quickly cutaway some of the bulkheads. They also discovered below several spars and a grating. By lashing these together they in a short time formed a raft of sufficient size to carry all three. They next made a couple of paddles with which to guide the raft. They were very rough, but they would serve their purpose. It was almost dark by the time the raft was finished.
"I say, I feel desperately hungry, and I daresay so do you, Rayner, after all you have gone through," said Oliver. "I propose that we should have some of the contents of the basket we packed. I left it in the steward"s pantry on the weather side."
"A very good idea," answered Rayner. "Pray get it up. Some food will do Peek good, and enable us all to exert ourselves. I"ll finish this lashing in the meantime."
They were not long in discussing some of the sausages and bread which Oliver produced.
"I feel much more hearty, sir," said Jack, when he had swallowed the food. "I don"t fancy there"s so much the matter with me after all, only my leg and back do feel somewhat curious."
"Come," said Rayner, "we must make the attempt, for we cannot tell what sort of weather we shall have during the night."
With forethought, they had fixed some lashings to the raft with which to secure both Jack and themselves. It floated with sufficient quietness to enable them to place Jack upon it.
"We must not forget the food, though," said Oliver.