CHAPTER V.
THE RESCUE.
JACK was a good swimmer, but he had never swum in a sea like this.
"If I raise my arms, uncle, pull in at once. If I see I cannot reach thespar I sha'n't exhaust myself by going on, but shall come back and takea fresh start. Let me have plenty of rope."
"All right, Jack! we won't check you."
Jack took a header, and swimming hard under water came up some distancefrom the boat.
"He will do it," Tom shouted in Ben's ear. "He is nigh half-way betweenthis and the rope already."
It was, however, a more difficult task than it looked. Had the waterbeen smooth it would have been easy for Jack to swim across the tide tothe spar before he was swept below it, but he found at once that it wasimpossible to swim fast, so buffeted and tossed was he by the sea, whilehe was almost smothered by the spray carried by the wind to the top ofthe waves. He trod water for a moment with his back to the wind, took adeep breath, and then dived again. When he came up he was delighted tosee that he was as near as possible in the line of the spar, which wastowing but a few yards from him. He ceased swimming, and a moment laterthe tide swept him down upon it.
He had before starting fastened a piece of lashing three feet long tothe loop round his chest, and the moment he reached the spar he lashedthis firmly round the rope, and passing one arm round the spar liftedthe other above his head. In a moment he felt the strain of the roperound his chest, and this soon tightened above the water. But Jack feltthat the strain of pulling not only him but the spar through the watermight be too much for it, and rather than run the risk he again wavedhis hand, and as soon as the line slacked he fastened it to the ropefrom the wreck, loosened the hitches round the spar and allowed thelatter to float away. He was half drowned by the time he reached theside of the bawley, for he had been dragged in the teeth of the wind andtide, and each wave had swept clean over his head.
THE RESCUE OF THE PASSENGERS FROM THE WRECK]
At first those on board pulled but slowly, in order to enable him toswim over the top of the waves. But the force of the spray in his facewas so great that he could not breathe, and he waved to them that theymust draw him in at once. As soon as they understood him they pulled inthe rope with a will, and more under than above the water he was broughtto the side of the smack and lifted on board, the wind bringing down thesound of a cheer from those on board the wreck as he was got out of thewater. Ben undid the line round his body, carried him downstairs,wrapped a couple of blankets round him and laid him down on the lockers,and then ran upstairs to assist Tom, who had carried the line forwardand was already hauling it in.
"That is right, Tom. They have got a good strong hawser on it, I see,and there is a light line coming with it to carry the slings."
As soon as the end of the hawser came on board it was fastened to themast. The line by which it had been hauled in was unfastened and tied tothat looped round the hawser, and payed out as those on the deck hauledon it. A minute later two sailors got over the bulwarks, and a woman waslifted over to them and placed in the strong sling beneath thehawser. A lashing was put round her, and then they waved their hands andthe fishermen hauled on the line. In two minutes the woman was on thedeck of the smack; the lashing was unfastened and knotted on to thesling ready for the next passenger, then at Ben's signal that all wasready those on board the wreck hauled the sling back again.
Jack remained between the blankets for a minute or two. He had not lostconsciousness; and as soon as his breath came he jumped up, gave himselfa rub with the blanket, slipped into some dry clothes, and was on deckjust as the woman arrived. She was all but insensible, and directly thesling had started on its return journey Ben carried her on into thefo'castle.
"Jack! set to work and make a lot of cocoa. There are no spirits onboard; but cocoa is better, after all. Put the other kettle on and chuckplenty of wood upon the fire, and as soon as the one that is boiling nowis empty, fill that up again. I should say there are twenty or thirty ofthem, and a pint apiece will not be too much. Take a drink yourself,lad, as soon as you have made it. You want it as much as they do."
Fast the shipwrecked people came along the line. There was not a momentto lose, for the wreck was breaking up fast, and every sea broughtfloating timbers past the bawley.
"It is a good job now, Tom, that we anchored where we did, instead of inthe direct line of the tide, for one of those timbers would stave a holein her bow as if she were a bandbox."
"Aye, that it would, Ben. I thought we had made rather a mess of it atfirst; but it is well that, as you say, we ain't in the line of thedrift."
Nineteen persons were brought on board--the captain being the last tocome along the line. The first four were women, or rather, the first twowere women; the third a girl of ten years old, and the fourth a woman.Then came a middle-aged man, evidently a passenger. Then came tensailors, a steward, two mates, and the captain.
"Is that all?" Ben asked as the captain stepped from the slings.
"I am the last," the captain said. "Thank God all are saved who wereleft on board when you came in sight. We all owe our lives to you andyour men. I had little hope that one of us would live to see the nightwhen we made you out coming towards us. But there is no time to talk.The ship cannot hold together many minutes longer, and when she breaksup in earnest some of the timbers will be sure to come this way."
"I have got the buoy with a length of rope on the chain ready to slip,"Ben said, "and a spar lashed to the hawser. Now, Tom, let the chain out;I will jump below and knock out the shackle. Now, captain, if one or twoof your men will lend us a hand to get up some canvas, we shall be outof it all the sooner. And please get them all except the women out ofthe cabin, and put them aft. We want her head well up for running beforethis sea."
"Now, lads, tumble out and lend a hand," the captain said. "I see youhave got some cocoa here. Well, all who have had a mug come out at once,and let the others get aft as soon as they have had their share. Theladies are all right, I hope?"
"Quite right, captain," one of the men answered, "and begin to feel warmalready; which is natural enough, for this cabin is like an oven afterthe deck of the _Petrel_."
"Now, skipper, do you give the orders," the captain said as Ben took thetiller.
"Run up the foresail and haul in the starboard-sheet. That will bringher head round."
"Now let go the cable and hawser." There was a sharp rattle of chains,and the cry "All free!"
"Slack off that weather-sheet and haul down on the lee-sheet," wasTripper's next order. "Not too much. Have you got the jib hooked on tothe traveller? Out with it, then. Now, up with her. Now man the throatand peak halliards. Up with her. Slack out the main-sheet well, and boomthe sail out with an oar. Trice the main-tack up as far as it will go."
The _Bessy_ was now running almost before the wind. Every moment thegreat waves loomed up high behind her stern, and looked as if they woulddash down upon her deck, but she slipped easily away. The clouds hadbroken up much now, but the wind had in no way abated. A gleam or two ofsunlight made its way through the rifts of the clouds, and threw lightgreen patches upon the gray and angry sea.
"She is a splendid sea-boat this of yours," the captain said. "I wouldhardly have believed such a small craft would have made such goodweather in such a sea."
"There are few boats will beat a bawley," Ben said. "Well handled, theywill live through pretty near anything."
"I can quite believe that. Which of you was it who sprang overboard toget our line?"
"It was not either of us," Ben said. "Neither Tom nor I can swim astroke. It was my nephew Jack--that lad who has just come out of thefo'castle."
"It was a gallant action," the captain said. "I should have thought itwell-nigh impossible to swim in such broken water. I was astonished whenI saw him leap overboard."
"He saw that the spar had drifted with the tide to windward of you andthere was no other way of getting at it."
"I was in hopes of seeing you th
row the lead-line over our line. Youmight have hauled it in that way."
"So we might," Ben agreed, "if we had thought of it, though I doubtwhether we could have cast it so far. Still we ought to have tried. Thatwas a stupid trick, to be sure. I allow I should have thought of it anyother time; but we had had such a dusting in getting up to you that ourbrains must have gone wool-gathering."
"One cannot think of everything," the captain said. "You had your handsfull as it was. Is there anything else I can do at present? If not, Iwill just go below for a minute and see how my wife and the passengersare getting on, and have a cup of that cocoa, if there is any left."
They were now in the Knob Channel, and the sea, although still heavy,was more regular. As they passed the Mouse Light-ship there wereseveral large steamers at anchor there, but it was now a straight rundown to the Nore and they held on.
Ben Tripper had already asked the captain where he would like to belanded. "I can put you either into Sheerness, Southend, or Leigh," hesaid. "Tide is high now, and you can land at any of them withoutdifficulty. But you would get more quickly up to town from Southend orLeigh; and I should recommend our side, because tide will be running outfrom the Medway pretty strong before we get there, and when that is thecase there is a nasty sea at the mouth."
"I think we cannot do better than Leigh," the captain said. "Of course Iam anxious to get on shore as soon as I can to get the women into dryclothes."
"It will not make more than twenty minutes' difference whether you landat Leigh or Southend; and it is much handier for landing at Leigh, andno distance to the inn, where they can get between blankets while theirthings are being dried."
"Then Leigh let it be. A few minutes will make no difference one way orthe other, and if they have not caught cold already they will not do soin that warm cabin."
The wind was blowing far too strongly to admit of conversation, exceptin shouted sentences. Fortunately there was a good supply of tobacco onboard, and the rescued sailors, who had almost all a pipe in theirpockets, had, after the smack was once clear of the broken water,enjoyed the consolation of a smoke.
Accustomed to look down on the water from the high deck of a largeship, they had at first felt some doubt as to the ability of the lowbawley to struggle safely through the towering waves; but as soon asthey saw how well she behaved, and how little water she took over thesides, they felt that all danger was over, and became disposed to lookat things more cheerfully.
The steward had, as soon as he came on board, relieved Jack of hisduties at the galley, and had kept the kettles going; he now served outa second supply of cocoa all round, and hung up as many of the ladies'things as they could dispense with round the fire to dry.
The passenger had remained below with the ladies. He was suffering froma broken leg, having been knocked down and swept along by the sea soonafter the vessel struck. Six of the sailors and two of the mates hadeither been washed overboard or crushed to death when the masts wentover the side.
As they passed the Nore a perfect fleet of steamers and sailing-vesselswere at anchor there. Tide had turned strongly now, and there was anasty heavy choppy sea until the _Bessy_ passed the end of SouthendPier, when she entered comparatively smooth water. In less than half anhour the sails were lowered, and she anchored some fifty yards from thecoast-guard station.
The look-out there had already observed the number of people on herdeck, and had guessed at once that she had taken the crew off a wreck ofsome kind, and as soon as the anchor was dropped their boat camealongside.
The captain had as they neared the shore asked Tripper about inns, andat once sent the crew ashore in charge of the mate, with orders to go tothe "Bell," and to see that they had everything they required, sayingthat he would himself, as soon as the ladies were on shore, go to one ofthe shops and order a supply of clothes to be sent up for them.
The ladies were next taken ashore, and then the injured man carried upand placed in a boat, a stretcher being sent off for him to be laid on.A messenger had been already sent up to the doctor on the top of thehill to come down to the Ship Inn, where the party now went. The ladieshad become so thoroughly warmed by the heat in the little cabin thatthey declined to go to bed, and having been supplied with dry garmentsby the landlady, they were soon comfortable.
The surgeon on his arrival pronounced the fracture of the passenger'sleg, which was a few inches above the ankle, to be a simple one, and notlikely to be attended with any serious consequences whatever. Aftersetting it he bandaged it in splints, and said that although he shouldrecommend a few days' perfect quiet, there was no actual reason why thepatient should not be taken up to London if he particularly wished it.
Ben Tripper had gone with the captain, and a pile of flannel shirts,stockings, guernseys, trousers, and shoes had at once been sent up tothe "Bell." Furious as was the gale, it was possible to speak so as tobe heard in the street of Leigh, and Ben now learned for the first timesome particulars about the wreck.
"The _Petrel_ was a seven hundred ton ship," the captain said, "and onher way home from Australia. She belongs to James Godstone & Son. Thereis no James Godstone now. The son is the passenger you saved; he is theowner of a dozen vessels all about the same size as the _Petrel_. Hiswife and daughter are two of the ladies saved. They went out with us toAustralia. The girl was not strong, and had been recommended a seavoyage.
"I had been married when I was at home last time, and was taking my wifeout with me; so Mr. Godstone arranged that his wife and daughter shouldgo with me. We carried no other passengers; the other woman saved is thestewardess. Mr. Godstone himself did not go out with us, but went acrossby Suez and joined us there for the homeward voyage. We made a fine runhome; and took our pilot on board off Deal. The gale was blowing upthen; but as it looked as if it was coming from the north-east we didnot care about riding it out in the Downs, or going back so as to beunder shelter of the South Foreland.
"It did not come on really heavy till we were nearly off Margate, andthen we got it with a vengeance. Still, as the wind was free, we kepton. Then, as you know, it came on almost pitch dark, and I think thepilot lost his head. Anyhow, as he was one of those who were drowned, weneed not say whether he was to blame or not. I thought we were gettingtoo close to the broken water, and told him so, but he said we were allright. He didn't make allowance enough, I think, for the leeway she wasmaking, and a minute later she struck, and you can guess the rest. Herback broke in a few minutes, and her mizzen went over the side,carrying with it the pilot, my first mate, and six sailors.
"She soon after began to break up at the stern. I cut away the other twomasts to relieve her, but the sea made a clear breach over her. I gotthe ladies and Mr. Godstone, who had been on deck when she struck andgot his leg broken by the first sea which pooped her, forward as soon asI could, and managed to fire one of her guns three times. I had no hopeof rescue coming from shore, but there was a chance of some ship comingup helping us; though how she was to do it I could not see. However,nothing came near until I saw your sail. I expect that any steamerscoming up from the south brought up under the Foreland, while those fromthe north would of course take the Swin. Anyhow, it would have been allover with us had you not come to our rescue. Even when I saw you makingover towards us I had not much hope, for I did not see how you could getclose enough to us to aid us, and I was quite sure that no open boatcould have lived in that broken water."