"Well, my lads," cried the captain, "we must try what baling will do, and lightening the ship by every means in our power."
Those who had been working at the pumps, and some others, were now divided into gangs under different officers, and were employed in getting rid of the heaviest things which could be reached. Some hove the guns overboard, others got up the weightier stores, the boatswain"s party being engaged in chopping up the cables and throwing them into the sea.
While my messmates and I were hard at work with the rest, I saw the captain beckon Nettleship to him. They talked for a minute or more.
Directly afterwards Nettleship came to where Tom and I were at work with Larry and some of the men. "The captain has given me charge to try and save some of you youngsters," he said. "Life is sweet, and I won"t deny that I am glad to have the chance of preserving my own with honour. You tell Tom Pim and your boy Larry. I"ll speak to some of our other messmates, and try to pick out a few trusty men who I know are cool hands, and we will try and get a boat into the water. It will be no easy matter,--it may, I warn you, hasten our deaths; but the captain is satisfied that the ship can"t float many hours longer. He argued the point, and showed me that if we don"t get off as he directed, we shall not escape at all, as numbers will be rushing for the boats when they discover that the ship must go down."
Matters were growing rapidly worse. Even now I don"t like to think of that dreadful night which followed. When morning broke, the number of ships in sight had much diminished. The sea raged as furiously as ever, the wind blew with fearful force. All hands had been toiling away.
Nearly every one began to see that our efforts had been in vain. A loud noise was heard like that of an explosion coming from far down in the depths of the ship. The carpenter reported that the water in the hold had blown up the orlop deck. It was very evident that the ship was settling down. Many of the men who had been looked upon as the bravest now gave way to despair, and went below, crying out to their messmates to come and lash them into their hammocks. Other stout fellows were in tears as they thought of their country and those dear to them, whom they were never to see again. Some, though they must have known it would be of no use, were lashing themselves to gratings and small rafts, which they had formed of spars. Larry wanted me to do the same.
"Shure, Mr Terence, you and Mr Pim and I will be able to manage a raft between us, and we"ll get aboard one of the ships in better plight than we are," he said.
I pointed out to him the distance the ships were from us, and the impossibility of reaching one of them. Some of the poor fellows launched their rafts overboard, but were quickly swallowed up by the sea. Even the lieutenants went below; and, strange as it may seem, few of the men remained on deck. Tom Pim and I, however, kept together, with Larry, who would not leave me. Presently Nettleship came up.
"Now is our time, lads, if we"re to save our lives. I have spoken to those whom the captain named, but none of them will come. They shake their heads, and declare it useless."
One of the quarter boats still remained uninjured. We went to her and found six of our men, one of whom was Larry, standing by the falls ready to lower her. Nettleship told us to jump in, there was not a moment to be lost. We found that he had put masts, and sails, and oars, and provisions aboard. Waiting till a sea surged up alongside, he and the men sprang into her.
"Cut, cut!" he cried.
The next instant I found that the boat was some fathoms from the ship.
All was done so rapidly, and it seemed only by a miracle we got clear, that I can scarcely explain how it happened. I looked around, when what was my dismay to find that Tom was not with us. Looking up, I saw him on the deck.
"Leap! leap!" shouted Nettleship, though in the uproar his voice could not have been heard so far. Next instant Tom was in the water, striking out towards us.
"We have already as many aboard as the boat will carry," cried some of the men.
What we had been about had been discovered by our unfortunate shipmates, who were now crowding to the side and shouting to us to return. Several in their fear leaped into the sea, but immediately disappeared. I caught sight of one head still above water. It was Tom Pim.
"Oh, take him in--take him in!" I cried out.
The men were getting out the oars. We were still, it must be understood, under the lee of the ship, or we should instantly have been swamped.
"We must have that lad aboard," exclaimed Nettleship sternly. "I"ll not try to save you if you desert him."
Tom struck out bravely. Larry and I stretched out our arms, and, catching hold of him, hauled him on board the boat. Several others, now leaping into the water, tried to reach us, but, had we attempted to save them, we should to a certainty have perished together.
Nettleship sprang aft to the helm.
"Now, lads, step the mast and hoist the sail," he shouted. "Get out the starboard oars."
In another instant the boat was before the wind, a cable"s length from the ship. We could scarcely believe that we were saved; indeed, every moment it seemed as if the fierce foaming seas would break aboard us and send us to the bottom. I could not resist still looking at the ship, nor could Tom Pim. He presently exclaimed--
"There"s another boat being launched."
We both saw her for a moment, but she presently disappeared.
"She"s gone," cried Tom.
"No--no, there she is," I exclaimed, as I caught sight of her on the summit of a sea, and again she sank out of view. As far as I could make out, there were several people in her, but she had no sail hoisted, and consequently in those foaming seas rising up between us was scarcely visible.
We ran on, steering to the southward. Most of the hands were employed all the time in baling out the water, while Nettleship"s whole attention was engaged in steering the boat, for he well knew that with the slightest want of care she would have filled in an instant. It seemed a wonder, indeed, that she could float in the midst of those foaming seas.
Tom and I still kept looking at the ship.
"She is sinking lower and lower," said Tom.
I hoped that he was mistaken, and that she appeared to be so only because we were getting farther from her.
Not many minutes afterwards, as I looked, a huge sea rolled up towards her.
The next instant Tom cried out, "She"s gone!" I rubbed my eyes. The foaming waters raged over the spot where the old _Cerberus_ had floated; and I knew too well that every one of our helpless shipmates had perished, unless the other boat had got safely off. Their fate might be ours before long, we all knew, though we did not despair.
Nettleship"s first care was to see what provisions we had got. We found that we had but two quart bottles of water, a bag of biscuits, a small ham, a single piece of pork, and three bottles of French cordials.
These he had placed in the stern-sheets, that they might be kept dry, and that none of the men might be tempted to take more than their share.
We might be days, or even weeks, before we were picked up or reached land. Nettleship pointed out to us the importance of husbanding our stores. The afternoon was far gone before we left the ship, and night was now approaching, while the gale had shown no signs of abating.
Humanly speaking, our lives depended on Nettleship"s steering. There was everything to try the skill and nerves of a man; but it was difficult in the darkness to watch the seas coming up so as to avoid those likely to break aboard.
He sat in the stern-sheets like a figure of iron, his countenance fixed, his eyes turned now ahead, now on one, now on the other side. He seldom spoke, for his attention was occupied with the task he had undertaken.
Older seamen had given in, while his courage and resolution had remained unshaken.
I had always liked him, ever since I joined the _Liffy_, but now I admired and respected him above all men, barring my uncle the major, who would, I am sure, have acted in the same way, though he might not have had the nautical skill to steer the boat.
"Stretch yourselves as best you can, youngsters, in the stern-sheets, and go to sleep," said Nettleship; "I intend to steer till daylight, and then let either Hunt or Ray (they were two quartermasters) take the helm."
"But I don"t like to leave you without company," I said.
"Don"t trouble yourself about that, Paddy," he answered; "the seas are my company, and precious rough company they are too; they"ll prevent me nodding."
He laughed at his own remark.
At last Tom and I did as he advised us; indeed, we couldn"t keep our eyes open longer, for we had had no sleep, lashed as we had been to the bulwarks on the previous night.
We both of us slept on right through the night. I awoke with a weary heart-sinking feeling. Dawn was already casting a grey light over the still troubled ocean. Clouds hung thickly overhead; the seas seemed to reach them as they rose up on either side.
There sat Nettleship, wide awake, his hand on the tiller, his eyes wearing a pained expression, as well they might, looking round watching the waves as they hissed up, threatening to overwhelm us. No one was speaking. Most of the men sat with their arms folded and their heads bent down, still fast asleep. I believe that Nettleship had been the only one awake among us during the night.
"The wind has fallen, and the sea has gone down considerably, Paddy," he said, looking at me. "Cheer up, lad; we shall save our lives after all, I believe."
Tom, hearing him speak, awoke.
"I wish you would let me take the helm, Nettleship," he said.
"No, no, Tom! The responsibility is too much to impose on you; I"ll let Hunt steer presently."
First one man woke up, then another, and another; but they all looked round with lack-l.u.s.tre eyes and gloomy countenances. After some time, Tom shouted out that there was a break in the clouds to the eastward.
Just then a ray of bright light streamed across the ocean, tinging the foam-topped seas with a ruddy hue.
"It"s the harbinger of better weather," I said.