In the Eastern Seas.
by W.H.G. Kingston.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE INDIAMAN.
"Well, Thudic.u.mb, I hope by noon we may at last get a glimpse of the sun," said Captain Davenport to his first officer, as they walked the deck of the _Bussorah Merchant_, homeward bound from the East Indies, and at that time rolling on over the long heaving seas of the Atlantic.
The sky was overcast, but ever and anon a gleam of light burst forth amid the clouds, playing on the foaming crest of a wave. It was blowing hard, but had evidently been blowing much harder, of which fact the condition of the Indiaman gave evidence. A portion of the starboard bulwarks were stove in, one of her quarter boats was shattered, and other slight damages were visible.
"We must be ready for him, sir, at all events," said the first officer, looking at his watch. "It is not far off noon now."
"Tell Oliver to bring me my s.e.xtant," said the captain, as the mate descended from the p.o.o.p into his cabin.
Mr Thudic.u.mb soon returned, bringing his own instrument, and followed by a boy with the captain"s. Continuing their walk, they looked anxiously every now and then at the spot in the heavens where they expected the sun to appear. They were accompanied by one who seemed to take as much interest as they did in what was going forward. When they turned, he turned; when they looked up at the sky, he looked up also; balancing himself when the ship rolled as they did, by leaning over to the opposite direction to which she was heeling. He, however, could not have afforded them any a.s.sistance in their observation, for though his eye and the expression of his countenance exhibited much sagacity, he was of the canine species--a large dog--a magnificent-looking fellow, who could, the crew declared, for he was a great favourite with them, do everything but talk--and, they might have added, take a meridional observation, or a lunar.
Mr Thudic.u.mb again looked at his watch. "There he is, sir," he exclaimed at length.
He and the captain stopped in their walk; their s.e.xtants were quickly at their eyes; and there they stood, their feet planted firmly on the heaving deck, in an att.i.tude long practice alone could have enabled them to maintain. A clear s.p.a.ce was seen in the sky, increasing rapidly, and yet not altogether blue, but the vapour which drove across it was not sufficiently thick to prevent the sun"s rays descending upon the sea.
"She has dipped, sir," said the first officer.
"She has," observed the captain.
The sun"s elevation was read off on the index, and the instruments were returned to their cases. The calculation was very quickly worked out on a sc.r.a.p of card.
"Make it noon, Mr Thudic.u.mb," said the captain, as, returning the case to the young cabin-boy, he directed him to take it below. While the captain and his first officer were making their observation, a group of midshipmen had collected on the deck with their quadrants in their hands, doing their best to shoot the sun, but their less experienced eyes could make but little of it in that heavy sea; and when they came to read off their observations, they were somewhat surprised at the wonderful difference which existed among them. Stopping to listen to a few remarks made to them by the captain, they hurried off the deck to deposit their quadrants in places of safety. The dog all the time stood with his feet firmly planted on the deck, watching the captain, as if he fully understood what was going on. Captain Davenport, as he turned, patted him on the head. "You are a wise dog, Merlin," he observed; "but you cannot take an observation yet." Merlin wagged his tail as if he had received a compliment, or, at all events, well pleased at the notice taken of him.
The captain was a tall man of spare figure, his white locks and weather-beaten countenance making him appear considerably older than his firm, yet light and active step, seemed to warrant. His eye, too, was still full of life and fire, and his voice clear and strong, evidence of which had been given when he issued his orders in the late gale, and when, by his prompt.i.tude and decision, he had saved the ship, seemingly on the point of destruction.
Scarcely had eight bells been struck, when the voice of the boatswain from the forecastle was heard shouting, "A vessel on the lee bow, sir!
A dismasted ship! It can be nothing else!"
Captain Davenport went forward, followed by Merlin.
"Where away is she, Mr Tarbox?" he asked of the boatswain.
"There, sir, you will catch her over the b.u.mkin-head," answered the boatswain. "I saw her again just as you stepped on the forecastle. She cannot have gone down in the meantime!"
"I hope not indeed," said the captain, looking out eagerly in the direction towards which the boatswain pointed. At last he too caught sight of a dark object lifted on the top of a sea. "A dismasted ship; no doubt about that," he observed. "We will keep away for her. There are probably people on board, and although it would be a difficult matter to take them off while this sea is running, we may do so if it goes down, as it has been gradually doing since daylight."
The Indiaman stood on, now rising to the summit of a sea, now gliding into the valley below, gradually approaching the dark object which had been discovered. The boatswain had gone aloft, and quickly returned.
"No doubt about it, Captain Davenport. She is a big ship--lost her masts, no doubt, in the gale; and from the way she is rolling, I have a notion she has no small amount of water in her. If we had not sighted her, it is my opinion that those on board would be fathoms down in the ocean, as she will be before another sun rises."
"We will do what we can to save any people on board her," said Captain Davenport. "Get the life-boat ready for lowering, Mr Tarbox."
"Ay, ay, sir; I am ready to go in her," answered the boatswain.
"Perhaps Mr Thudic.u.mb may wish to go, or the second officer; but if not, Tarbox, I would intrust her to you more readily than to anybody."
The news that a dismasted ship was in sight brought all the pa.s.sengers who were below on deck, and numerous gla.s.ses were now turned towards her. No signs, however, of any one being on board were discovered. She was a complete wreck; the masts had gone by the board, the bulwarks were stove in, the caboose and booms and everything on deck had been swept clear away. The Indiaman stood on, pa.s.sing close to leeward of her.
"She is deserted, sir; little doubt about that," said Mr Thudic.u.mb, examining the ship. "The people thought she was going down, and took to their boats. Better have stuck to her in such a sea as they must have had to encounter. Little chance of any boat living."
"Haul the tacks aboard then, Mr Thudic.u.mb; down with the helm," said the captain. "Unless for the sake of rescuing any fellow-creatures, I would not risk a boat to board her, while the sea runs as high as it now does."
As he was speaking, Merlin had been eagerly watching the wreck; and now, stretching out his fore-feet and neck towards her, he uttered a loud mournful howl or wail, which sounded strangely wild and sad to all who heard it.
"What is the matter, Merlin?" asked the captain, bending down and patting the dog"s head.
"That dog has got more sense than many human beings," observed the boatswain. "Now, I should not be surprised but what he knows there is somebody on board that craft--dead or dying, may be--just as well as if he saw them. If I was our skipper, I would not leave that wreck without an overhauling."
Just then a human head was seen issuing from the companion-hatch. It was that of a young boy. He sprang on deck and waved a handkerchief wildly, apparently shouting with all his power, though his voice could not be heard amidst the roaring of the sea and the lashing of the ropes as the ship was luffed up close to the wind. Captain Davenport seized his speaking-trumpet and shouted, "We will keep by you! Do not fear!"
Just then another head was seen. "A young girl!" cried several of those looking on. A mere child she seemed at that distance, her light hair blowing about in the wind.
"Bless them!" said old Tarbox; "I would go to help them if there was twice the sea there is on."
Preparations were now made for heaving the ship to, but the captain was anxious to wait, in the hopes of the sea going down still more before night, when there might be less risk in bringing the people from off the wreck. A great risk under similar circ.u.mstances is run when those on board a ship on fire or likely to sink leap hurriedly in too great numbers into the boat alongside. In many such instances the boat has been swamped, and the lives of all in her sacrificed. Here, such a danger was not likely to occur, as no crew apparently remained on board.
The question, however, was, whether the wreck would float till the sea had sufficiently gone down to enable a boat to board her without risk.
As the ship gradually receded from the wreck, the young boy was seen to lift up his hands imploringly, as if to beg for a.s.sistance. At length the boatswain came aft and addressed the captain.
"If you will let me have the life-boat, sir, there are six hands ready to go in her; and I will undertake to board that craft, and bring off any people we may find alive. To my mind, from the way she rolls, she has not got many hours longer to swim; and if she was to go down, those young people we saw would have to go down in her, and that"s what my eyes would not like to watch."
"No indeed, Tarbox," said the captain. "Mr Thudic.u.mb, what do you say?"
"I was going to volunteer, sir," said the first officer; "but though I yield to no other man on board in the management of a boat, I acknowledge that Tarbox can handle one in a sea better than any man I have ever met with; and on that account, and not because I am afraid of risking my life, I yield to him."
"Thank you, Mr Thudic.u.mb," said the boatswain. "I should have said the same thing of you, sir; but you have a wife and children at home, and it matters little what becomes of old d.i.c.k Tarbox."
Once more the ship was brought up as close as she could be to the wreck, and again being hove to, the life-boat, with the six hands selected by the boatswain, was carefully lowered. And now everybody on board watched her with anxious eyes, as she pulled towards the wreck. The young lad saw her coming, and was observed to be bending down as if to announce the event to some one below. Again the little girl"s head appeared above the deck, but the lad would not allow her to come up further, evidently being afraid of her being jerked overboard--an event but too likely to occur, from the way the ship was rolling. On pulled the boat, now sinking down deep into the trough of the sea, which curled into mountain billows, and seemed about to overwhelm her; now she rose up high on the crest of a wave. Many of those who gazed at her held their breath, scarcely believing that she could possibly live amid the tumult of waters. Slowly she proceeded, guided by the well-practised hand of the old boatswain. She was close to the wreck. Now she seemed to sink far down below the deck, now to rise up, as if the next instant she would be thrown upon it. Could any human being ever manage to gain the wreck from that tossing boat? Yes, yes! a man stands up in the boat. He makes a spring! He has gained the deck, hauling himself up by a rope which he has clutched. He waves off the boat till he is ready to return to her.
d.i.c.k Tarbox was the man. He was seen to leap down the hatchway. For some time he did not appear. What could have become of him? "There he is! there he is!" shouted several voices. He came, bearing a young girl in his arms. The boat again drew near the dismasted ship. Those who looked on held their breath, for how could he manage to convey his burden to the tossing boat? He stood for a minute or more waiting, but not irresolute. His eye was watching the boat. He was calculating the rolling of the ship. He made a signal to one of the men to be ready to receive the girl. Then, quick as lightning, he leaped across the deck, and dropped her--so it seemed--into the man"s arms. The boat again kept away from the ship, and the boatswain disappeared once more down the hatchway.
"He will bring the boy this time!" But no; he came up carrying a far heavier burden--a man wrapped in a cloak, and apparently unable to help himself. d.i.c.k shouted to one of the crew to go aboard and help him.
Together they got the sick man into the boat. The little girl clasped her hands in her anxiety as she saw him lowered down. Sorrowfully she stooped over him, supporting his head in her arms; forgetting, apparently, where she was, and the fearful danger to which she was still exposed. The boy had followed the boatswain, apparently with the intention of leaping into the boat by himself. d.i.c.k was seen to hold him back: then he lifted him in his arms, and, waiting for the right moment, sprang into the boat.
No one on board had watched these proceedings with more apparent eagerness than Merlin; and as the boat came alongside the ship, he ran to the gangway to receive those whom she brought. The little girl was first lifted up the side, and received by the captain, Merlin instantly coming up to lick her hands and attract her attention. She had no thought, however, for any one round her, but endeavoured to look down into the boat to watch her companions. The sick man was next hoisted up; the boy, till he was safe, refusing to leave the boat. He then, aided by d.i.c.k Tarbox, hauled himself up on deck.
"We will carry him aft, and take him at once to my cabin," said the captain. "He looks very ill."
This was done; the young people keeping by the sick man"s side, anxiously gazing on his countenance, apparently scarcely aware where they were, and paying no attention to any one else.
"Is he your father, young gentleman?" asked the captain, as the sick man was placed on the bed.
"Oh yes, yes!" answered the boy. "But can you do nothing for him? He is, I am afraid, very, very ill."