CHAPTER SIX.
WE FIND THE LAUNCH.
How long I remained unconscious I don't know, but it must have been atleast half an hour, I should say; for when at length I came round Ifound myself lying, bound hand and foot, on the deck, along with such ofmy crew as had not been killed in the defence of the ship, while the_Wyvern_ was hove-to under topsails, with her hatches off, and a regularmob of the dirty, greasy Spaniards swarming round the main hatchway andhoisting out the cargo that another gang was breaking out down below.They had hoisted out all our boats, too, I soon found, and were usingthem to transfer such goods as they required to the brigantine--all,that is to say, except the long-boat, which, for some reason that I didnot then understand, was lying unused in the starboard gangway. Theytook their time over the job of picking and choosing from among thestuff that we carried, but I noticed that all the while they had a handaloft on the main-royal yard keeping a lookout. They kept at it untilit was too dark to see what they were about, and then they left us, oneboat remaining alongside for fully twenty minutes after the rest hadgone, while some of her people were busy down below. At length,however, they shoved off as well, leaving me and my people lying on thedeck trussed up like so many chickens. Two or three minutes later Iheard some orders given, immediately followed by the cheeping of blocksand the creaking of yard parralls, by which I knew that they werefilling upon the brigantine and leaving us.
"I could not understand why they had left us all there, alive, but boundhand and foot as we were. I suspected some villainy, however, and myfirst idea was that they had set the barque on fire. But I could notdetect any smell of burning, and then the thought came to me thatperhaps they had scuttled her, intending us to go down with the ship.The idea of either fairly made my blood run cold, I can tell you; but itstirred me up too, and I went to work to see if I could work my handsfree. I might just as well have tried to fly; the scoundrels had madesure work of me, and no mistake. Then I sang out to the others to tryif they could work themselves adrift; and after a bit first one and thenanother answered that it was no use, they were lashed altogether toosecurely.
"`Well, lads,' says I, `if none of us can work ourselves free, I'mafraid it's all up with us; for my notion is that those Spanish devilshave scuttled the ship, and if so it won't be so very long before she'llfounder, taking us with her.'
"That set the men muttering among themselves, and presently the man thatwas lying nearest me said--
"`If you can manage to work your way near enough to me, sir, for me toget a feel of your lashings with my fingers, I'll see what I can dotowards loosenin' of 'em for yer.'
"`All right, my lad,' says I, `I will!' No sooner said than done. Iworked and wriggled myself up alongside of him somehow, and presently Ifelt his fingers fumbling about with my lashings. This particular chap,I ought to tell you, was uncommonly clever with his fingers, especiallyin the matter of handling rope; and sure enough, in about twentyminutes, I'm blessed if he hadn't worked those lashings so loose that Ipresently managed to slip my hands clear of 'em altogether. The momentthat I was free I set to work to chafe my fingers and get the life backinto them,--for they had lashed me so tight that I had lost all feelingin my hands,--and as soon as I was able to tell once more that I'd got acomplete set of fingers, I whipped a knife out of my pocket and cut thelashings off my feet, after which I went the round of the party, cuttingthem adrift as quick as I could. Then, while they were getting thebenumbed feeling out of their limbs, I swung myself down through theopen hatchway to investigate. It was as I had feared; they had scuttledthe ship, for already there was something like three feet of water inthe hold. You may be sure I didn't waste much time down below aftermaking that discovery; I just scrambled up on deck again as quick asever I could, and told the men what had happened. The barque was boundto go, of course,--we could do nothing to keep her afloat,--so I jumpedto the side to see after the boats. They were gone, all but the long-boat, which, as I told you just now, was lying in the starboard gangway.I crossed the deck to take a look at her, and then saw why the pirateshad left her there unused; she was stove in on the starboard side, herplanks being crushed and her timbers broken over a space measuring somesix feet by two. As she was then she would not float two minutes; shewould have filled the moment we dropped her into the water. But whenChips came to overhaul her he had a notion that he could patch her upenough to make her carry us. As a matter of fact, it rested betweenthat and the whole lot of us drowning; for the barque was filling sofast that there was no time for us to put a raft together. So thecarpenter fetched his tools and went to work there and then, the rest ofus lending a hand and fetching things as Chips sung out for them. Firstof all, he gently coaxed the broken timbers and planking back into theirplaces, as nearly as he could get them; then he got a couple of stripsof canvas big enough to cover the hole, one of which he dressed withtallow on both sides, working the grease well into the fabric. Then,with small, flat-headed tacks, spaced close together, he nailed thisfirst piece of canvas over the hole, allowing it plenty of overlap.Then he took the other piece of canvas,--which was cut an inch largereach way than the first piece,--tarred it well, and strained it tightlyover the first piece. Then he cut a third piece of canvas, which hefixed over the hole on the _inside_ of the boat, nailing the bottom andtwo ends of the canvas so that it formed a sort of pocket. Then he gota lot of oakum, which he first soaked in tar and then stuffed into thispocket arrangement until it was packed as tightly as it was possible topack it. This was to keep the broken planks and timbers in place. Andfinally he nailed up the top of the pocket, declaring, as he flung downhis tools, that the boat was now ready for hoisting out. And it washigh time, too, for by the time that the job was finished the barque hadsettled to her chain-plates, and was liable to go down under our feet atany moment. Accordingly, we hooked on the tackles, and, watching theroll of the ship, managed to hoist out the boat and get her into thewater without accident. Then we hurriedly pitched into her a couple ofbreakers of water and such provisions as we could lay our hands upon,--and that wasn't much, for by this time the cabin was all afloat and thelazarette under water,--and tumbled over the side into her, I onlywaiting long enough behind the others to secure the ship's papers andthe chronometer. We shoved off in a hurry, I can tell you, for while Iwas securing those few matters that I've just mentioned the poor oldhooker gave an ugly lurch or two that told me her time was up; and, sureenough, we hadn't pulled above fifty fathoms away from her when down shewent, stern-first.
"Our first anxiety was, of course, as to the carpenter's repairing job;but we soon found that we needn't greatly trouble ourselves about that.There was just a draining of water that somehow worked its way through,but a few minutes' spell with the baler about once an hour wassufficient to keep the boat fairly dry and comfortable. All the same, Iwasn't very keenly anxious for a long boat voyage in such a craft asthat, so we shaped a course to the west'ard, hoping to fall in with andbe picked up by an outward-bounder of some sort. But not a blessed saildid we see for seven mortal days, until we sighted your upper canvaslast night, and pulled so as to cut you off. And if you hadn't pickedus up, I believe we should all have been dead by this time, for ourprovisions soon ran out; and when it was too late, we discovered thatboth our breakers were full of _salt_ instead of fresh water!"
Such was the tragic story related by the skipper of the ill-fated_Wyvern_, a story that was replete with every element necessary for theweaving of a thrilling romance; yet it was told baldly and concisely,without the slightest attempt at embellishment; told precisely as thoughto be attacked by pirates, to have one's ship rifled and scuttled, one'sboats stolen, and then to be left, bound hand and foot on deck, tohelplessly perish, were one of the most ordinary and commonplaceincidents imaginable. Truly, they who go down to the sea in ships, anddo business on the great waters, meet with so many extraordinaryexperiences, and see so many strange and unaccountable sights, that thecapacity for wonder is soon lost, and the most astonishing an
d--toshore-abiding folk--incredible occurrences are accepted as a matter ofcourse.
During the whole of that day we continued to make short tacks towindward as before, with half the watch aloft on the look out; butnothing was sighted, and at nightfall we again hove-to, maintaining ourposition as nearly as possible in the same spot until the next morning.
With the first sign of daylight I sent aloft the keenest-sighted man wehad on board, that he might take a good look round ere we filled uponthe schooner to resume our disheartening search. So eager was I, thatwhen the man reached the royal yard, the stars were still blinkingoverhead and down in the western sky, and it was too dark to see to anygreat distance. But the dawn was paling the sky to windward, and as thecold, weird, mysterious pallor of the coming day spread upward, andwarmed into pinkish grey, and from that into orange, and from orange toclearest primrose, dyeing the weltering undulations of the low-runningsea with all the delicate, shifting tints of the opal, I saw the fellowaloft suddenly rise to his feet and stand upon the yard, with one armround the masthead to steady himself against the quick, jerky plunges ofthe schooner, while he shielded his eyes with the other hand, as hesteadfastly gazed into the distance to windward.
"Royal yard, there, do you see anything?" I hailed eagerly; and thesudden ecstasy of renewed hope which sprang up within my breast nowfully revealed to me how nearly I had been driven to the confines ofdespair by the long-protracted non-success of the search upon which Ihad so confidently entered.
"I ain't quite sure, sir," was the unsatisfactory reply that came downto me; "it's still a trifle dusky away out there, but I thought just nowthat--ay, there it is again! There's _something_ out there, sir, aboutsix or seven mile away, but I can't yet tell for certain whether it's aboat or no; it's somewheres about the size of a boat, sir."
"Keep your eye on it," I answered. "I will get the glass and have alook for myself."
So saying, I went hastily to the companion, removed the ship's telescopefrom the beckets in which it hung there, and quickly made my way aloft.
"Now," said I, as I settled myself upon the yard, "where is the object?"
"D'ye see that long streak of light shootin' up into the sky from behindthat bank of cloud, sir?" responded the man. "Well, it's about half ap'int, or maybe nearer a p'int, to the south'ard of that."
"Ah, I see it!" ejaculated I, as I caught sight for a moment of a small,scarcely distinguishable speck that appeared for an instant and thenvanished again, apparently in the hollow between two waves. A fewseconds later I caught it again, and presently I had it dancingunsteadily athwart the field of the instrument. But even then I wasunable to definitely settle whether it was or was not a boat; as the manat my side had remarked, it looked like a boat, it was about the size ofa boat, as seen nearly end-on, but there was no indication of life ormovement about it; it seemed to be floating idly to the run of the seas.Just at this moment the sun's upper limb flashed into view over theedge of the cloud-bank, darting a long gleam of golden radiance athwartthe heaving welter to the schooner, and I looked again, half expectingto catch the answering flash of wet oar-blades; but there was nothing ofthe kind to be seen. Undoubtedly, however, there was _something_ outthere,--something that might prove to be a boat,--and I determined togive it an overhaul without loss of time. So, carefully noting itsbearing and distance, and cautioning the lookout not to lose sight of itfor an instant, I descended to the deck and straightway gave thenecessary orders for making sail and beating up to it.
The object being nearly dead to windward, it was a full hour before wereached it, but little more than half that time sufficed to satisfy usthat it really was a boat, and a further quarter of an hour establishedthe fact that it was none other than the _Althea's_ launch; but my heartwas full of foreboding as I observed that, although we fired gun aftergun to attract attention, there was no answering sign of life to bediscovered on board her, although from the moment when she becamevisible from the deck, either Lindsay or I kept the telescope constantlybearing upon her. Yet the depth at which she floated in the watershowed that she was not empty. Lindsay suggested that her crew mighthave been taken out of her by some craft that had fallen in with her,and that the reason why she floated so deep was that she was half-fullof water. But I could not agree with this view; there was a buoyancy ofmovement about her as she rose and fell upon the surges, which wasconvincing proof to my mind that she was loaded down with something muchmore stable than water.
At length, when we had drawn up to within a cable's length of her, theman on the royal yard sang out that there were people in her, but thatthey were all lying down in the bottom of the boat, and appeared to bedead.
"We shall have to pick her up ourselves," said I to Lindsay. "Let onehand stand by to drop into her from the fore chains with a rope's-end aswe bring her alongside. Lay your topsail aback, Mr Lindsay, and letyour jib-sheet flow, if you please."
And as I sprang up on the rail to con the schooner alongside, Lindsaygave the necessary orders.
With the topsail aback, and the mainsheet eased well off, the schoonerwent drifting slowly down toward the launch, that, as we now approachedher, looked old, battered, and weather-stained almost out ofrecognition. We steered so as to shave past her close to windward, andas she came drifting in under our fore chains, the man who was waitingthere with a rope's-end dropped neatly into her, and, springing lightlyalong the thwarts into the eyes of her, deftly made fast the rope to theiron ring bolt in her stem. Then he turned himself, and looked at theghastly cargo that the boat carried, and as he gazed he whitened to thelips, and a look of unspeakable horror crept into his eyes as heinvoluntarily thrust out his hands as though to ward off the sight ofsome dreadful object. And well he might, for as I gazed down into thatfloating charnel-house I turned deadly sick and faint, as much at whatmet my sight as at the horrible odour that rose up out of her and filledmy nostrils. The boat seemed to be full of dead, lying piled upon oneanother, as though they had been flung there; yet the first glanceassured me that some of those who were on board her, on the night when Iparted company in the gig, were now missing. The captain and the doctorwere lying side by side in the stern-sheets; the rest of the ill-fatedparty were lying heaped one upon the other, or doubled up over thethwarts in the other part of the boat. The two masts were standing, butthe sails were lowered and lay, unfurled, along the thwarts, on top ofthe oars and boathook. There was no trace of food of any kind to beseen, and the water-breakers were without bungs, and to all appearanceempty.
So ghastly and repulsive was the sight which the boat presented, thatour people hung in the wind for a moment or two when I ordered them tojump down into her and pass the bodies up over the side; but theyrallied at once and followed me when I led the way. The skipper and thedoctor were both lying upon their faces, and as I raised the former andturned him over, it is difficult to say which shocked me most, whetherthe startling ease with which I lifted his wasted body, or the sight ofhis withered, drawn, and shrunken features--which were so dreadfullyaltered that for a moment I was doubtful whether it really was or wasnot the body of Captain Harrison that I held in my arms. I passed himup out of the boat without difficulty, and then did the same with thedoctor. It struck me that the latter was not quite dead, and I sang outto Lindsay to get some _very_ weak brandy and water and moisten the lipsof each man as he was passed up on deck; for if life still lingered inany of them, it might be possible to save them even now by judicious andcareful treatment. Ten of our inanimate shipmates we singled out aspossibly alive, but with the rest the indications of dissolution were sounmistakable that I deemed it best not to interfere with them, but tocover the bodies with a sail, weight it well down with ballast pigs, andthen pull the plug out of the boat and cast her adrift, after readingthe burial service over the poor relics of humanity that she contained.
That, however, was a duty that might be deferred until _we_ had attendedto those who had been passed up out of her as possibly alive; wetherefore dropped her under the
stern, and allowed her to tow at thefull scope of a complete coil of line, while we devoted ourselves to thetask of attempting to resuscitate the other ten. As I had suspected,the doctor proved to be alive, for after diligently painting his blueand shrivelled lips for about a quarter of an hour with a feather dippedin weak brandy and water, his eyelids quivered, a fluttering sigh passedhis lips, followed by a feeble groan, and his eyes opened, fixingthemselves upon Lindsay and myself in a glassy, unrecognising stare.
"Water! water, for the love of God!" he murmured in a thick, dry, huskywhisper.
I raised his head gently and rested it against my shoulder, whileLindsay held the pannikin of weak grog to his lips. For a few secondshe seemed to be incapable of swallowing, then, like a corpse galvanisedinto the semblance of life, he suddenly seized the edge of the pannikinbetween his clenched teeth as in a vice, and held it until he haddrained it to the dregs. Luckily, there were but two or three spoonfulsleft in it, or--as he afterwards assured me--that draught would probablyhave been his last.
"Ah!" he ejaculated, with a sigh of unspeakable relief, "nectar! nectar!Give me more." Adding quickly, "No, no; not yet, not yet! A singleteaspoonful every five minutes! Oh, my God, what anguish! Why did Inot die? Is that Courtenay, or am I dreaming? Where is the captain?"
I whipped off my jacket and placed it under his head, as I allowed himto sink gently back on the deck, for at this moment Lindsay whispered tome that the captain was coming round, and I turned to render whatassistance I could. Captain Harrison's eyes were now open, but it wasperfectly plain to us both that his wandering glances were as yet devoidof recognition; and it was not until some ten minutes later that hebegan to evince some understanding of who we were and what had happened.His first inquiry was after the well-being of those who had been withhim in the boat, and to this I felt constrained to give an evasive butencouraging reply, as he was so terribly weak that I feared the effectupon him of a straightforward answer giving the actual state of thematter. We got him and the doctor down below and put them to bed asquickly as possible, and by the time that this was done the other eightpoor souls had also been successfully brought round, when they too wereconveyed below and made as comfortable as circumstances would permit.This done, we disposed of the dead with all due reverence, and thenresumed our search to windward with renewed hope arising out of thehappy discovery of the launch.
It was drawing well on toward eight bells in the afternoon watch thatday when the man whom. I had stationed in the cabin to keep an eye uponthe captain and the doctor came up on deck with the news that both werenow awake, and that the captain wished to see me. I at once obeyed thesummons, and was greatly rejoiced to find that both of my patients weremuch stronger, and wonderfully the better in every way for their longsleep. They lost no time in explaining that they were ravenouslyhungry; whereupon I sent word forward to the galley, and in less thanfive minutes both were busily engaged in disposing of a bowl of strongbroth, prepared from two of the small remaining stock of chickens thatwe had found on board the schooner when we took her.
The moment that the soup had disappeared the captain began to ask mequestions, in reply to which I gave him a succinct account of ouradventures from the moment when we parted company from the rest of theboats; and when I had finished he paid me a high compliment upon what hewas pleased to term the skill and judgment that I had displayedthroughout. He then recounted what had befallen the launch, from whichI learned that the entire flotilla of boats had remained together--thefaster boats accommodating their pace to the slower craft--until caughtin the tail-end of the hurricane,--which with them only reached thestrength of a moderate gale,--when they were perforce compelled toseparate, from which time the launch had seen none of the others again.It appeared that the launch, deeply loaded as she was, suffered verynearly as much as we in the gig did; the few in her who were capable ofdoing any work having their hands full in keeping her above water. Thesea had broken over them heavily, all but swamping them upon severaloccasions, and destroying the greater part of their provisions, so thatwithin three days after the cessation of the gale they found themselveswithout food and face to face with starvation. Then followed a terriblestory of protracted suffering, ending in many cases in madness anddeath, of fruitless effort to work the heavy boat, and finally of utterhelplessness, despair, and--oblivion. The captain informed me that hehad little hope that any of the other boats had outlived the gale, butbelieved that if they were still afloat they would be found some fortymiles or so to the northward and eastward of where we had fallen in withthe launch.
In that direction therefore we continued our search, scouring the wholeocean thereabout over an area of fully one hundred miles square, but wefound none of the other boats; and at length, when we had been cruisingfor a full week, the captain, who by this time was rapidly regainingstrength, reluctantly gave the order for us to desist and bear up forJamaica. And I may as well here mention that none of the other boatswere ever again heard of, there being little doubt that they allfoundered during the gale.