"Why?"
"I don"t know; everything looks odd and strange to me. I don"t feel like the same fellow."
Mollie persisted in her desire to know how the cabin-boy felt, and Noddy found it exceedingly difficult to describe his feelings. Much of the religious impressions which he had derived from the days of tribulation still clung to him. His views of life and death had changed. Many of Bertha"s teachings, which he could not understand before, were very plain to him now. He did not believe it would be possible for him to do anything wrong again. Hopes and fears had been his incentives to duty before; principle had grown up in his soul now. The experience of years seemed to be crowded into the few short days when gloom and death reigned in the vessel.
The Roebuck sped on her way, generally favored with good weather and fair winds. She was a stanch vessel, and behaved well in the few storms she encountered. She doubled Cape Horn without subjecting her crew to any severe hardships, and sped on her way to more genial climes. For several weeks after his recovery, Captain McClintock kept very steady, and Mollie hoped that the "evil days" had pa.s.sed by. It was a vain hope; for when the schooner entered the Pacific, his excesses were again apparent. He went on from bad to worse, till he was sober hardly a single hour of the day. In vain did Mollie plead with him; in vain she reminded him of the time when they had both lain at death"s door; in vain she a.s.sured him that she feared the bottle more than the fever. He was infatuated by the demon of the cup, and seemed to have no moral power left.
The Roebuck was approaching the thick cl.u.s.ters of islands that stud the Pacific; and it was important that the vessel should be skilfully navigated. Mr. Lincoln was a good seaman, but he was not a navigator; that is, he was not competent to find the lat.i.tude and longitude, and lay down the ship"s position on the chart. The captain was seldom in condition to make an observation, and the schooner was in peril of being dashed to pieces on the rocks. The mate was fully alive to the difficulties of his position; and he told Mollie what must be the consequences of her father"s continued neglect. The sea in which they were then sailing was full of islands and coral reefs. There were indications of a storm, and he could not save the vessel without knowing where she was.
"Noddy," said the troubled maiden, after Mr. Lincoln had explained the situation to her, "I want you to help me."
"I"m ready," replied he, with his usual promptness.
"We are going to ruin. My poor father is in a terrible state, and I am going to do something."
"What can you do?"
"You shall help me, but I will bear all the blame."
"You would not do anything wrong, and I am willing to bear the blame with you."
"Never mind that; we are going to do what"s right, and we will not say a word about the blame. Now come with me," she continued, leading the way to the cabin.
"I am willing to do anything that is right, wherever the blame falls."
"We must save the vessel, for the mate says she is in great danger.
There is a storm coming, and Mr. Lincoln don"t know where we are. Father hasn"t taken an observation for four days."
"Well, are you going to take one?" asked Noddy, who was rather bewildered by Mollie"s statement of the perils of the vessel.
"No; but I intend that father shall to-morrow."
"What are you going to do?"
She opened the pantry door, and took from the shelf a bottle of gin.
"Take this, Noddy, and throw it overboard," said she, handing him the bottle.
"I"ll do that;" and he went to the bull"s eye, in Molli"s state-room, and dropped it into the sea.
"That"s only a part of the work," said she, as she opened one of the lockers in the cabin, which was stowed full of liquors.
She pa.s.sed them out, two at a time, and Noddy dropped them all into the ocean. Captain McClintock was lying in his state-room, in a helpless state of intoxication, so that there was no fear of interruption from him. Every bottle of wine, ale, and liquor which the cabin contained was thrown overboard. Noddy thought that the sharks, which swallow everything that falls overboard, would all get "tight;" but he hoped they would break the bottles before they swallowed them. The work was done, and everything which could intoxicate was gone; at least everything which Mollie and the cabin-boy could find. They did not tell Mr. Lincoln what they had done, for they did not wish to make him a party to the transaction.
They were satisfied with their work. The vessel would be saved if the storm held off twelve hours longer. The captain rose early the next morning, and Noddy, from his berth, saw him go to the pantry for his morning dram. There was no bottle there. He went to the locker; there was none there. He searched, without success, in all the lockers and berths of the cabin. While he was engaged in the search, Mollie, who had heard him, came out of her room.
The captain"s hand shook, and his whole frame trembled from the effects of his long-inebriation. His nerves were shattered, and nothing but liquor could quiet them. Mollie could not help crying when she saw to what a state her father had been reduced. He was pale and haggard; and when he tried to raise a gla.s.s of water to his lips his trembling hand refused its office, and he spilled it on the floor.
"Where is all the liquor, Mollie?" he asked, in shaken, hollow tones.
"I have thrown it all overboard," she replied, firmly.
He was too weak to be angry with her; and she proceeded to tell him what must be the fate of the vessel, and of all on board, if he did not attend to his duty. He listened, and promised not to drink another drop; for he knew then, even when his shattered reason held but partial sway, that he would be the murderer of his daughter and of his crew, if the vessel was wrecked by his neglect. He meant to keep his promise; but the gnawing appet.i.te, which he had fostered and cherished until it became a demon, would not let him do so. In the forenoon, goaded by the insatiate thirst that beset him, he went into the hold, which could be entered from the cabin, and opened a case of liquors, forming part of the cargo.
He drank long and deep, and lay down upon the merchandise, that he might be near this demon.
Twelve o"clock came, and no observation could be taken. Mollie looked for her father, and with Noddy"s help she found him in the hold, senseless in his inebriation. Mr. Lincoln was called down, and he was conveyed to his berth. The liquor was thrown overboard, but it was too late; before dark the gale broke upon the Roebuck, and fear and trembling were again in the vessel.
CHAPTER XVI.
NIGHT AND STORM.
Sudden and severe was the gale which came down upon the Roebuck, while her captain was besotted and helpless in his berth. Mr. Lincoln did all that a skilful seaman could do, and while the wind and the waves were the only perils against which the schooner had to contend, there was no serious alarm for her safety. The night had come, and the time had pa.s.sed by when even Captain McClintock could do anything more than the mate.
Mr. Lincoln had kept the "dead reckoning" as well as he could without any knowledge of the currents; and it was evident that the vessel was in a perilous situation, and not far distant from the region of islands and coral reefs. The first hours of the stormy night wore gloomily away, for none knew at what moment the schooner might be dashed to pieces upon some hidden rock.
When the captain revived a little from the stupor of intoxication, he seemed not to heed the situation of the vessel. Taking the cabin lantern, he went into the hold again. His only thought seemed to be of the liquor on which he lived. All the cases that Mollie and Noddy could find had been thrown overboard; but the drunkard overhauled the cargo till he found what he wanted, and taking a bottle of gin to his state-room, he was soon as senseless as the fiery fluid could make him.
Mollie did all that she could do under these trying circ.u.mstances; she prayed that the good Father who had saved them before, would be with them now; and she knew that the strong arm of Omnipotence could move far from them the perils with which they were surrounded. She felt better every time she prayed. But the storm increased in fury, and she knew not the purposes of the Infinite in regard to them.
"I am afraid we shall never see the light of another day, Noddy," said she, as the great seas struck with stunning force against the side of the vessel.
"Why not? We have been out in a worse gale than this," replied Noddy, who felt that it was his peculiar office to keep hope alive in the heart of his gentle companion.
"But we may be in the midst of the rocks and shoals."
"We shall do very well, Mollie. Don"t give it up."
"I don"t give it up; but I am ready for anything. I want to be resigned to my fate whenever it comes."
"Don"t be so blue about it, Mollie. It will be all right with us in the morning."
"You heard what Mr. Lincoln said, and you know we are in great danger."
"Perhaps we are."
"You know we are, Noddy."
"Well, we are; but for all that, the vessel will ride out the gale, and to-morrow you will laugh to think how scared you were."
"I am not scared; I am ready to die. Promise me one thing, Noddy."
"Anything," answered he, promptly.
"You will not blame my father if the vessel is lost. He is insane; he can"t help what he does. He never did so before, and I know he don"t mean to do wrong."