Jarrold glanced at his niece. She came to his side and stood there proudly.
"Let it be the boat," she said; and Jarrold nodded his head in silent a.s.sent. He seemed crushed and broken by the way in which fate had turned against him in the very hour of his triumph.
CHAPTER x.x.xVII
THE IRONY OF FATE
The _Tropic Queen_ moved majestically through a sapphire sea. It was a perfect tropic night. A dream mist, like a scarf of shimmering, spangled vapor lay over the water. Above, the great, soft stars of the equatorial regions beamed from a sky like blue-black velvet. High above the main mast, like a great lamp, hung the full moon.
Disaster, danger and death seemed miles away, a contingency too remote to be considered. Yet they were close at hand, far closer than any of the sleeping pa.s.sengers dreamed.
The bells chimed the hours and half hours as they slipped by to the steady threshing of the propeller, and the wake of the big ship spread fan-like from her stern in a milky stream that flashed with luminous phosph.o.r.escence.
Suddenly, from the lookout in the crow"s nest came a shout sharp and clear.
"Something dead ahead, sir," was the reply to the inquiring hail from the bridge.
"Can you make it out?"
"Not yet, sir. It"s two points on the starboard bow."
From the bridge night-gla.s.ses were leveled, but the eyes in the crow"s nest made out the nature of the drifting object on the moonlit sea first.
"It"s a boat, sir."
"A boat?"
"Aye, aye, sir. Looks like a ship"s boat."
"Anybody aboard?"
"Can"t just make out yet, sir."
And then a minute later:
"Yes, sir. I see somebody standing up and waving. It"s-it"s a woman, sir."
"Jove," exclaimed Mr. Metcalf, who had the watch. "Schultz, call the captain. Tell him there"s a boat with a woman castaway on board ahead of us."
"Aye, aye," cried the old quartermaster, and hurried off on the errand, leaving the wheel to his mate; for on such a night the ship could be steered almost by a boy.
The captain hastened to the bridge in his pajamas and bath-robe.
"A boat, eh, Metcalf?" he said.
"Yes, sir. A ship"s boat, by the looks of her."
"Order the engines slowed down. Schultz, get the after cutter ready for clearing away."
The old quartermaster"s whistle sang out shrilly, and the watch jumped aft, alert for anything that was in the wind. Like magic, word had flown among the crew of the discovery of the tiny derelict.
"The land"s not more than two hundred miles off," said Metcalf. "It"s possible they"ve drifted out to sea."
"Most probably that is it, unless some disaster has overtaken a ship. At any rate, it couldn"t have come from storm, for we haven"t had any weather to speak of for days."
"By the way, sir, I heard a lot of talk before we left Kingston about earthquake weather. In my opinion, a quiet, still night like this means some sort of a shake. At least, that"s what the natives say."
"Yes; and the gla.s.s has been singularly high. That"s a sign of something in the wind," was the response. "But go aft, Metcalf, and see that they clear that boat properly."
"Yes, sir," and the chief officer hurried off.
He found Colonel Minturn, who had been pacing the deck sleeplessly in his anxiety, beside the boat crew, watching their preparations. Jack, whose watch had just expired, was there, too.
"Something up, eh?" asked the colonel.
"Yes; there"s a drifting boat with a woman in it dead ahead. We"re going to pick her up."
"I wonder if I could go along," said the colonel. "It would be something to relieve this anxiety. It is terrible. I cannot sleep. All I can do is to walk the decks and think."
"I"ll ask the captain," said Mr. Metcalf. "Personally, I have no objections."
He was soon back with the required permission.
"Ready, you"re off duty and I know you like anything like adventure, so if you want to come, get aboard."
"Good!" exclaimed Jack. "Have you any idea what boat it is?"
"Not the least. That makes it all the more interesting. From what we can make out, though, it"s a ship"s boat of some sort."
The big vessel almost ceased to move. Her propeller, driven by the slowly working engines, only made a ripple on the water. The boat was swung over and struck the sea with a gentle splash.
"There they are, men. Give way with a will now," ordered Mr. Metcalf briskly.
The oars struck the water, sending serpents of phosph.o.r.escence over its dark surface. The boat moved swiftly forward toward the other craft, a small white gig apparently.
"There"s the woman," cried Jack. "Look, she"s standing up and waving!"
"There"s a man there, too," cried Mr. Metcalf. "Pull hard, men, the poor devils may have been drifting for days."
"Hold on! We"re coming," cried the colonel encouragingly, forgetting his own troubles in the sight of these two castaways of the sea.
The boats ranged alongside and the crew of the _Tropic Queen"s_ boat seized the gunwale of the other craft, holding them together. Jack stood up and extended his arm to the young woman to aid her on board the liner"s boat.
The next instant a shock, sharp as the sudden sting of a galvanic battery, shook him.