The first mate on hearing my report also went aloft, and on his return corroborated it. I confess that I felt somewhat uneasy at the sight of these vessels. They might be peaceable traders, but they might be pirates, who, should they find us becalmed, might try to obtain a rich booty such as our vessel would afford them.
I was surprised that my uncle and the captain took the matter so coolly.
I watched the strangers until they were no longer to be seen from the deck. After some time we again hauled up and stood on our course to the eastward. Later in the day, on going aloft, I again caught sight of the prahus, as I believed them to be, but as they were very low in the water, they were scarcely visible to any but a sharp pair of eyes, such as I possessed.
In the afternoon I was taking a turn on deck with Mr Blyth, the captain and first mate being below, and the third mate in charge of the brig, when I observed a small cloud coming up on the port bow.
"There"s wind in that cloud, I"m sure," I said to my companion. "I"ll point it out to the mate, for he doesn"t seem to see it." I did so.
"That"s all you know about the matter, youngster," he answered in a scornful tone.
"We shall be taken aback if we don"t shorten sail, and I don"t know what will happen," I remarked to Blyth, when I rejoined him. "I have a good mind to run down and tell the first mate."
Scarcely had I said this, and was about to spring down the companion-hatch, when Mr Ling sang out--
"Ready, about ship!"
The helm was put down, the yards were being braced round, and the brig"s head brought to the wind, when, as I looked up, I saw every sail aback.
At that moment I heard the voice of the captain, who had just come on deck, shouting, "All hands shorten sail and save ship," but the order was given too late. The squall I had seen coming up just then struck her, and in one moment, with a fearful crash, the main-mast fell. I should have been crushed had I not by tumbling head first down the hatchway avoided it; the next instant the foremast followed, and the bob-stays giving way, dragged the bowsprit on board. The moment the crash was heard the first mate sprang up the companion-ladder shooting me with his head on deck again. I looked round expecting to see many of the crew killed. My eye first fell on Mr Blyth, who was holding on by a stanchion, and apparently uninjured. The second mate, too, excepting a blow on the shoulder, had escaped, while of the crew, though they looked very much astonished, not a man was seriously hurt. Several of them, indeed, who had been below, had only rushed up on hearing the crash of the falling masts. They were gazing with open eyes on the utterly dismantled state of the brig, lately so taunt and trim, waiting for the captain"s orders what to do. But what had become of him? He was nowhere to be seen. At first I feared that he had been knocked overboard, but as I looked about I caught sight of a man"s legs sticking out from under a ma.s.s of sails and rigging. Knowing that it must be the captain, I ran to drag him out, calling on Blyth to a.s.sist me.
We soon got him free, but he did not move; we feared that he was dead.
At Blyth"s suggestion, with the help of two of the men, we carried him below and placed him on his bed.
Greatly to our relief he in a short time began to show signs of life.
"He will soon come round," said Blyth; "I will watch him, so do you go on deck, Harry, where I am sure you will be wanted, and tell the first mate how he is getting on."
I hurried up, and reported the captain"s state to my uncle.
"Thank heaven!" he exclaimed; "I had no wish to take his place, but I must attend to the work before us--we have plenty of it."
He then turned round to the bewildered crew--
"We must first haul in all the gear trailing overboard, my lads, and then get up jury-masts," he shouted out, hurrying along the deck to examine the state of things forward.
Having got the spars and rigging on board, we commenced unbending the sails and unreefing and coiling away the ropes. As we got the yards free we stowed them amidships, that we might use those of them which were most suitable for jury-masts. The wind had in the meantime been increasing, and the sea was getting up. All we could do was to keep the vessel before it, while we laboured hard to rig a jury-mast forward that we might, as soon as possible, get sail on the brig to steady her. She was now rolling fearfully, and it was with difficulty even that we could keep our feet. I looked out more than once in the direction where I had seen the prahus, fearing that should they discover our present defenceless condition they might attack us, for although we might fight our guns it would be at a great disadvantage.
The gale blew harder and harder. I had not heard for what port the first mate intended to steer, though I of course knew that he would endeavour to make one as soon as possible, either Sarawak or Singapore; but as the gale was at present blowing us away from both of them until we could get up jury-masts and haul our wind it would be impossible to reach either the one or the other. There were numerous dangers in the way which would at all events have to be encountered.
We were moving sluggishly on amid the fast rising seas, when I saw an object in the water, still at a considerable distance ahead. Now it appeared on the summit of a sea, now it sank into a hollow. It looked so much like the wreck of a vessel that I reported it to the first mate.
"Maybe some unfortunate craft capsized by the squall, a fate which might have been ours had not the masts given way," he observed. "We"ll endeavour to keep close to her in case any of the crew may have escaped and be clinging to the wreck."
As we got nearer I jumped up on the forecastle, when I saw that the object was a vessel of some sort, but not an European craft. She was a prahu, probably one of the fleet we had before seen. In a short time I perceived that there was some one on board clinging to the stern, which was the highest part out of water.
I at once told the first mate. He and the second mate held a short consultation as to the best means of rescuing the person--pirate as he might be, we could not leave him to perish.
Some spars had been lashed to the stump of the foremast on which a royal had been set, and this enabled us to have the brig somewhat under command. Ropes were got ready to heave to the man. The boatswain, who took the helm, steered the vessel so as to pa.s.s close to the wreck without the danger of running her down. Immediately the brig"s side touched her a rope was hove to the man, who was standing up ready to catch it.
"Haul away!" he shouted, as he clutched it firmly, and several willing hands being ready to haul him in. The next instant he was on board the brig, while the wreck, bounding off from us, dropped aft, about, it seemed, to plunge beneath the foaming seas.
"Why, my lad, who are you?" asked the first mate, who had a.s.sisted him on board.
"I am an Englishman," was the answer of the stranger, but he in vain tried to say more.
"Though you are pretty well sun-burnt, you have an Englishman"s face sure enough, though you seem to have lost the use of your tongue."
"Long, long time no talk English," replied the man, who seemed to understand pretty clearly what was said to him. We had too much to do, however, to spend time in asking him questions.
Before night we had some spars lashed to the stump of the main-mast, which enabled us to set a little after sail and bring the vessel to.
It was of the greatest importance not to run further eastward. Happily the wind shifted, and getting the vessel"s head round we steered for Singapore. The gale, too, began to abate, and the sea to go down, so that we were able to carry on our work with less difficulty than had before been the case. The dangers in our course were numerous, but we hoped, by constant vigilance, to avoid them.
CHAPTER THREE.
We had an anxious time of it as we made our way back to Singapore, between islands innumerable and coral reefs below water, on which it was often with difficulty we avoided running. The first mate was seldom off the deck, and Crowfoot, the boatswain, showed that he did not boast without justice of his seamanship.
It is on such occasions that a sailor has an opportunity of proving what he is made of. The wind continued fair and the weather fine, or our difficulties would have been greatly increased. The less I say of the second mate the better. Uncle Jack did not trust him, and while it was his watch on deck constantly sent me up, or made an excuse for running up himself to see how matters were going on. He insisted also on taking his share in attending on our poor captain, who remained in his berth unable to move, and, as we feared, in a very precarious state. Blyth and I a.s.sisted in nursing him, but the second mate, through whose carelessness the brig had been dismasted and the captain injured, refused to take the slightest trouble to help us--indeed, he kept out of the cabin altogether. The young man we had rescued from the Malay prahu gradually regained his recollection of English, but from the first he showed an unwillingness to talk about himself, and I observed that he kept aloof as much as possible from the crew. When I asked his name he said it was Ned Light, that he had been wrecked somewhere to the eastward, and, narrowly escaping with his life, had been taken prisoner by the pirates, who had kept him ever since in bondage. He appeared to be more ready to talk to little Jem than to any one else, and the two were constantly together. When I tried to find out from the boy what account Ned gave of himself, Jem was remarkably reticent. At length, however, one day he said, "He seems to be afraid of some of the men, sir. He thinks that they intend to do him harm, but I cannot find out why he has got that idea into his head. I told him that he might trust you and the first mate, but he only answers, "Better not talk.""
All had gone well in consequence of the constant watchfulness and untiring efforts of the first mate, when, as we were within about four days" sail of our destination, while rigging out a boom on which to set a square sail, one of our best hands, d.i.c.k Mason, fell overboard. The brig was running about four knots through the water, and as Mason could swim well, no one felt much apprehension about his safety. The sails were instantly clewed up, and the only boat which had escaped injury was at once lowered. Ned and I, with Crowfoot, the boatswain, and two other hands jumped into her and pulled away towards our shipmate, who was striking out boldly to meet us. Before the boat was lowered, however, the brig had run some distance, and we had a considerable way to go.
Just as I was going down the side I saw a black fin rising above the surface, pa.s.sing close under the stern. The boatswain I knew had seen it too, for he urged us to use our utmost exertions to reach Mason, and sang out to him to keep splashing about with all his might. We did our best, making the oars bend again. We were within half a cable"s length of the poor fellow, when a fearful shriek reached our ears. I instinctively turned round just in time to see his head disappear beneath the bright surface. There was a ripple where he went down, and as we got up to the spot and looked into the depths of the ocean we could see a struggling human form surrounded by a ruddy tinge, and the glittering white of the shark"s lower jaws. Ned, who was in the bows, plunged down his boat-hook, but Mason"s hands were already far below the point he could reach. The next instant the shark had disappeared with its prey.
All hope of recovering even the body of our poor shipmate was gone, and we returned with sad hearts on board.
"He is a great loss to us," remarked the boatswain. "He was one of the men I could always trust, and that"s more than I can say of some of the rest."
"But Tim Howlett and Trinder are smart hands, surely?" I observed.
"They may be, but I don"t like their goings on. If others trust them, it"s more than I do."
"I am sorry to hear you say that of the men," I remarked. "I fancied that they were about the best men we have on board."
"You haven"t seen as much of them as I have, or you wouldn"t say that of them," replied the boatswain.
"I"ll give a hint to the first mate of what you think," I said.
"No use in doing that. He generally has his weather eye open, but he"s too generous to believe evil of a man unless he has strong proof. You must leave him to find the matter out for himself."
At last we sighted the island of Singapore. Instead, however, of bringing up before the town we made a signal for three boats, which towed us into the new harbour. There we came to an anchor close to the sh.o.r.e, and were able to refit much more rapidly than we could have done in any other place. Our crew generally laboured away from sunrise to sunset without complaining. But Howlett and Trinder grumbled at the additional work they had to perform. The second mate seemed always out of humour, and went about his duty in a listless fashion, frequently abusing the men without any cause for so doing. The captain, who was getting better, would not allow himself to be taken on sh.o.r.e to the hospital, a.s.serting that he was much more comfortable on board with Mr Radburn, Blyth, and me to look after him, than he should be there. We, however, persuaded him to let us send for a doctor, who came, and, greatly to our relief, a.s.sured us that he was going on favourably, although it might be a long time before he would be able to attend to his duty on deck. The first mate had asked Ned if he would enter in place of Mason, but he did not--as I thought he would have been glad to do--accept the offer.
I spoke to him, advising him to remain, a.s.suring him that he would be well treated.
"The first mate and boatswain are kind to me, but I think, sir, I had better ship on board another vessel homeward-bound," he replied.
I asked him, however, to remain a day or two, which he agreed to do.
Next morning, when the hands were mustered for work, Howlett and Trinder were not to be found. I was sent on sh.o.r.e to look for them, it being supposed that they were not far off, but after a long search I had to return on board and say that I could not find them. There was a creek a little way off lined with mangrove bushes. The captain therefore directed Mr Blyth and me to take one of the boats and pull up it with four hands, all of us well-armed, thinking that the deserters might have concealed themselves somewhere on its banks, hoping to get an opportunity of making their way over to Singapore.
We had got a short distance up the creek when I saw a vast number of dark objects hanging to the bows of the mangrove trees.