Captain Snaggs squinted through the eye-gla.s.s of his instrument for a bit with the s.e.xtant raised aloft, as if he were trying to stare old Sol out of countenance.
"Stop!" he sang out in a voice of thunder. "Stop!"
Then he took another observation, followed by a second stentorian shout of "Stop!"
A pause ensued, and then he roared below to Mr Flinders, asking him what he made it, the feeble voice of the first-mate giving him in return the Greenwich time as certified by the chronometer; when after a longish calculation and measuring of distances on the chart, with a pair of compa.s.ses and the parallel ruler, Captain Snaggs gave his decision in an oracular manner, with much wagging of his goatee beard.
"I guess yo"re about right this journey, Mister Steenbock," he said, holding up the chart for the other"s inspection. "I kalkelate we"re jest in lat.i.tood 0 degrees 32 minutes north, an" longitood 90 degrees 45 minutes west--pretty nigh hyar, ye see, whaar my finger is on this durned spec, due north"ard of the Galapagos group on the Equator. This chart o" mine, though, don"t give no further perticklers, so I reckon it must be Abingdon Island, ez ye says, ez thet"s the furthest north, barrin" Culpepper Island, which is marked hyar, I see, to the nor"-west, an" must be more"n fifty leagues, I guess, away."
"Joost zo," replied Jan Steenbock, mildly complacent at his triumph. "I vas zink zo, and I zays vat I zink!"
The point being thus satisfactorily settled, the men had their dinner, which Hiram and I had cooked in the galley while the anchors were being got out and the skipper was taking his observation of the sun; and then, after seeing that everything was snug in the caboose, I was just about sneaking over the side to explore the strange island and inspect more closely the curious animals I had noticed, when Captain Snaggs saw me from the p.o.o.p and put the stopper on my little excursion.
"None o" y"r skulking my loblolly b"y!" he shouted out. "Jest ye lay aloft an" send down the mizzen-royal. This air no time fur skylarkin"
an" jerymanderin". We wants all hands at work."
With that, I had, instead of enjoying myself ash.o.r.e as I had hoped, to mount up the rigging and help the starboard watch in unbending the sails, which, when they reached the deck, were rolled up by the other watch on duty below, and lowered to the beach over the side, where they were stowed in a heap on the sand above high-water mark.
The lighter spars were next sent down, and then the upper and lower yards by the aid of strong purchases, all being similarly placed ash.o.r.e, with the ropes coiled up as they were loosed from their blocks and fastenings aloft; so, by the time sunset came the ship was almost a sheer hulk, only her masts and standing rigging remaining.
Poor old thing, she was utterly transformed, lying high and dry there, with all her top hamper gone, and shorn of all her fair proportions!
I noticed this when I came down from aloft, the _Denver City_ looking so queer from the deck, with her bare poles sticking up, like monuments erected to her past greatness; but, although I was tired enough with all the jobs I had been on, unreeling ropes, and knotting, and splicing, and hauling, till I hardly knew whether I stood on my head or my heels, I was not too tired to take advantage of the kind offer Hiram made me when I went into the galley to help get the men"s tea ready.
"Ye ken skip, Cholly, an" hev a lark ash.o.r.e, ef ye hev a mind to," said he; "I"ll look arter the coppers."
Didn"t I "skip," that"s all.
I was down the sides in a brace of shakes, and soon wandering at my own sweet will about the beach, wondering at everything I saw--the lava bed above the sand, the tall, many-armed cactus plants, with their fleshy fingers and spikes at the ends, like long tenpenny nails, the giant tortoises, which hissed like snakes as they waddled out of my path-- wondering, aye, wondering at everything!
Hearing the cooing of doves again, as I had done in the morning, I followed the sound, and presently came to a small grove of trees on an incline above the flat lava expanse, to the right of the head of the little bay where the ship was stranded.
Here gra.s.s and a species of fern were growing abundantly around a pool of water, fed from a tiny rivulet that trickled down from the cliff above; and I had no sooner got under the shelter of the leafy branches than I was surrounded by a flock of the pretty grey doves whose gentle cooing I had heard.
They were so tame that they came hopping on my head and outstretched hand, and I was sorry I had not brought some biscuit in my pocket, so that I might feed them.
It was so calm and still in the mossy glade that I threw myself down on the gra.s.s, remaining until it got nearly dark, when I thought it about time to return to the ship, though loth to leave the doves, who cooed a soft farewell after me, which I continued to hear long after I lost sight of them.
I got back to the sh.o.r.e safely without further adventure, until I was close under the ship, when I had a fearful fright from a huge tortoise that I ran against, and which seemed to spit in my face, it hissed at me so viciously.
It must have been four feet high at least, and what its circ.u.mference was goodness only knows, for I could have laid down on its back with ease, as it was as broad as a table.
I did not attempt to do this, however, but scrambled up the ship"s side as quickly as I could, and made my way to the galley, in order to get my tea, which Hiram had promised to keep hot for me.
Outside the galley, though, I met the American, who frightened me even more than the big tortoise had done the minute before.
"Say, Cholly," he cried, his voice trembling with terror, "thet ghost of the n.i.g.g.e.r cook air hauntin" us still; I seed him thaar jest now, a-sottin" in the corner of the caboose an" a-playin" on his banjo, ez true ez I"m a livin" sinner!"
CHAPTER TWELVE.
THE GOLDEN MADONNA.
"My goodness! you don"t mean that, Hiram?" I exclaimed, seeing from his earnest manner that he was not trying to hoax me, but stating what he really believed to be a fact. "When was it that you saw the ghost?"
"Jest on sundown, Cholly, arter the men hed thaar tea an" cleared out, the whole bilin" ov "em, skipper an" all, goin" ash.o.r.e, like ez ye did, sonny, afore "em, to prospect the country an" look at the big turtle an"
other streenge varmint. Thaar warn"t a soul left aboard but thet brute Flinders an" myself; an" he wer so basted by the lickin" ez Jan Steenbock giv him thet he wer lyin" down in the cabin an" pizenin"
hisself with rum to mend matters. But, I wer thet dead beat, with shiftin" gear an" sendin" down yards, thet I wer fit fur nuthin" but ter lean over the gangway an" smoke a pipe afore turnin" in, fur I wer mighty tired out, I wer!"
"You must have been, Hiram," said I, "for, I"m sure I was, and am so still."
"Yes, I wer dead beat, an" thaar I rested agen the gangway, smokin" an"
lookin" at the chaps that wer a-skylarkin" with a big turtle they had capsized on ter his back, so ez he couldn"t make tracks; when all at oncest I thort o" the galley fire a-goin" out an" yer tea, Cholly, ez I promist to keep bilin", an" so I made back fur the caboose. It wer then close on dark, an" a sorter fog beginnin" to spring from seaward afore the land breeze riz an" blew it orf."
"And then," I put in, on his pausing at this point, hanging on his words intently, "what happened then?"
"Lord sakes! Cholly, it kinder makes the creeps come over me to tell you," he replied, with a shudder, while his voice fell impressively. "I wer jest nigh the galley when I heerd a tw.a.n.g on the banjo, same ez poor old Sam used ter giv" the durned thin" afore he began a-playin" on it--a sorter loudish tw.a.n.g, as if he gripped all the strings at oncet; an"
then, ther" come a softer sort o" toonfal "pink-a-pink-a-pong, pong,"
an" I guess I heerd a wheezy cough, ez if the blessed old n.i.g.g.e.r wer clarin" his throat fur to sing--I did, so!"
"Goodness gracious, Hiram!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, breathless with expectation, "you must have been frightened!"
"I wer so," he replied--"I wer so skeart thet I didn"t know what ter dew; but, thinks I, let"s see if anythin"s thaar; an" so I jest look"t round the corner o" the galley through the half-door, an", b"y, thaar I seed Sam a-sottin", ez I sed, an" a-playin" his banjo ez nat"rel ez ever wer!"
"But the banjo wasn"t there last night," I interposed here. "I looked for it almost as soon as we heard the sound of it being played at the time of the earthquake, and I couldn"t see it hanging up over the door where Tom Bullover, you remember, pointed it out to us."
"Wa-all, all I ken say is thet I seed the ghostess with the durned thin"
thaar in his grip. I didn"t wait fur to see no more, I can tell ye, Cholly!"
"What did you do?"
"I jest made tracks for the fo"c"s"le, an" turned inter my bunk, I wer so skeart, till the skipper an" the rest o" the hands came aboard ag"in, when I comed out an" stood hyar a-waitin" fur ye. I ain"t seed Tom Bullover yet; so ye"re the fust I hev told o" the sperrit hauntin" us agen, Cholly."
"Do you think it"s gone yet?" I asked; "perhaps it is still there."
"I dunno," he replied. "P"raps ye"d best go fur to see. I"m jiggered if I will!"
I hesitated at this challenge; it was more than I bargained for.
"It"s all dark now," I said, glancing towards the galley, from which no gleam came, as usual, across the deck, as was generally the case at night-time; "I suppose the fire has gone out?"
""S"pose it air," answered Hiram; "guess it"s about time it wer, b"y, considerin" I wer jest a-going fur to make it up when I seed Sam. I reckon, though, if ye hev a mind fur to look in, ye can get a lantern aft from the stooard. I seed him a-buzzin" round the p.o.o.p jest now, fur he hailed me ez he poked his long jib-boom of a nose up the companion; but, I didn"t take no notice o" the cuss, fur I wer outer sorts like, feelin" right down chawed up!"
"All right," said I, anxious to display my courage before Hiram, his fright somehow or other emboldening me. "I will get a lantern at once and go into the galley."
So saying, I went along the deck aft, pa.s.sing into the cuddy by the door under the break of the p.o.o.p, and there I found Morris Jones, the steward, in the pantry.