CHAPTER TWELVE.
DANCE MAKES MISTAKES.
"He's tangled with the line," came in a clear voice, which Markrecognised as Bob's, and a shudder ran through him.
It needs all the strict discipline and long training to preventconfusion even on board a man-of-war, in a time of emergency. Here thedisposition of the men was to run to the ship's side, and shout words ofadvice, but a sharp command or two brought the crew back to order, andthe men rushed to the boat nearest to the spot where the man wasstruggling in the water.
It was a fine, smart young sailor, who had been standing on a stay belowthe bowsprit, holding on with one hand, and straining out to aim a goodthrow at a large fish gliding beneath the bows. He had darted theharpooning "grains" or trident, struck the fish deeply, but frominexperience he had not carefully arranged the line attached to thestaff. The result being that there was a sudden rush on the part of thefish as soon as it was struck, a ring of the line was tightened roundthe man's arm in a firm tangled knot, and he was jerked from his holdand dragged down into the deep water for some distance before he roseagain, struggling wildly and calling for help. He would get his lipsabove water for a moment or two, and then be dragged under again. Thenhe would rise to the surface and shriek for help in tones which thrilledhis hearers.
"Quick, my lads!" roared the first lieutenant. "Bless the man! Whycan't he cut himself loose?"
There was a gurgling cry and silence, as the wheels of the fallschirruped and the boat began to descend; but at that moment there was afresh excitement plainly seen from where Mark had tottered to thebulwark, and stood looking over the side at what seemed to be a movingshadow, far down under the surface, jerked about in a most extraordinarymanner.
He looked round sharply, for there was a loud cry, a babble of tongues,and the shouting of fresh orders, and simultaneously a life-buoysplashed in the sea, near where the man had been dragged down; the boatwas descending and a white figure was seen to leap on to the bulwarksafter a desperate struggle to free itself from those who had held it,and plunge head-first into the darkening waters.
It was the bigger of the two blacks, who had in his insane rage takenadvantage of the confusion and excitement to escape from those who heldhim prisoner and leap overboard, to swim for his liberty.
The loud cries of excitement increased at this fresh development of thetrouble. Two were overboard now; and one of the men who had held theblack had been hurled upon the deck, rose to his knees holding awrenched arm.
"He'll be drowned now," growled the man; "and sarve him right. He's asstrong as a hox."
Mark saw the white-clothed figure strike the surface with a heavyplunge, and go down, make a carve of light beneath the water, and riseagain to shake his black head and strike out for the open sea beforehim, insensible for the moment to everything but the idea of gettingaway. He, poor fellow, in his blind ignorance, knew no more, but beforehe had taken many strokes there was a wild gurgling shriek behind him,as the sailor's head appeared, and the black stopped, turned, and swamback in time to seize the drowning man and hold him up just as he wasdragged under again, the boat which had just kissed the water beingstill far-away, the _Nautilus_ having glided on.
The natural result was that as the fish gave its fierce jerking tug, andthe black held on to the sailor, both were dragged under; but graspingthe difficulty, the black seized the line and made a desperate snatch atit, with sufficient strength to detach the grains, and they both roseagain, with the rescuer swimming strongly, the rescued half drowned,helpless and unable to raise a hand to save himself.
"Hold on! Coming! Swim this way," shouted the officer in charge of theboat; and as Mark looked aft at the actors in this scene, all growingmore distant moment by moment, he heard Bob Howlett's shrill voiceplainly in spite of the distance,--"Hold on, Soup. Coming."
The words sounded incongruous--ridiculous--but the voice influenced theblack, who turned and swam slowly toward them, trying to support hischarge.
"Can you see, Vandean?" said Mr Russell, who had crept to the bulwarksand stood beside the midshipman.
"Yes, but how slow the boat is."
"They are keeping afloat, then--swimming?"
"I think one of them is," said Mark in a whisper.
"Hah!" sighed the young lieutenant, "my eyes are dim and weak. How nearis the boat now?"
"Oh, it must be fifty yards away, and they're going down. The men don'ttry."
"It seems so to us, but they must be rowing their best. Are theygetting near now?"
"I don't think so, and--and I can't see anybody. Oh! how horrible.Pull, pull!"
"Hush?" said Russell. "I can't see, but the boat must be between us andthe men. How was it all?"
"I don't quite understand, but the black seemed to try and save the manoverboard. Don't--don't speak! I want to see. Oh, if I only had aglass. Mine's below."
"Can you see them now?" said Russell, in a faint whisper.
"No, no, this is dreadful," groaned Mark; "they are so far-off, but Ican see the boat. Yes, they are pulling hard now. No; they have ceasedrowing, and two men are standing up now, and--too late--too late."
"Hurray!" came faintly from the distance, where the shades of thefast-falling tropical night had rendered the boat nearly invisible. Thecheer was echoed from on board with a tremendous shout, as the distantcry rose again.
"There, they have saved them, Mr Russell," cried Mark excitedly.
"Hah!" came in a low, deep sigh, as the lieutenant's legs gave waybeneath him, and he would have fallen if it had not been for the suddenaction of Mark, who held the poor fellow's arms pressed down over therail as he called for help.
"What is it?" cried a firm voice from close at hand, and the captainstrode up. "Ah! Mr Russell fainting. Let him go, Mr Vandean. I'lldrop him into this seat."
The captain dragged a cane reclining-chair forward, and lowered thefeeble man gently down.
"There, he will soon come to," said the captain. "He is too weak to beon deck."
"The sight of the men drowning upset him, sir."
"Of course, Mr Vandean. It nearly upset me, who have not been ill.Not a pleasant sight to see our fellow-creatures losing their lives, andnot to be able to help them. Come, Russell, man, this will not do."
The lieutenant looked up at him wonderingly, as he unclosed his eyes.
"Are they saved!" he said, faintly.
"Thank God! Yes," replied the captain; and just then a fresh cheerarose from the cutter, which was being pulled steadily back; the cheerwas answered, and soon after the boat hung from the davits, and Bobcried up excitedly to Mark,--"I say, I saved him this time, old chap."
Then followed a few stern words from the captain, strictly forbiddingfurther fishing except by the older and more experienced hands.
Turning to the first lieutenant, he said in Mark's hearing,--"Now comesthe difficulty. How am I to punish this black for the knife business?He cannot understand a word that is said."
"No; it is difficult," replied the first lieutenant; "but it cannot bepassed over."
"The man evidently meant to escape, but repented on seeing afellow-creature drowning, and saved his life. Well, that's a good traitin his character, Staples. Black and savage though he is, the man musthave good qualities. I'm afraid it was a mistake to keep the two poorfellows on board."
"Hasn't turned out well so far, sir," said the first lieutenant,gruffly. "There, sir, it's for you to settle about the punishment.Something must be done."
"The plus seems to me to balance the minus, Staples," said the captain."I want to do something, but these poor savages cannot understand."Then to the men gathered below, "Look here, my lads, with respect tothis affray--"
"Beg pardon, sir," came from forward.
"Who's that?" said the captain, sternly. "How dare you interrupt!"
"Axing your pardon, sir, Joe Dance, sir, coxswain fust cutter."
"Well, what is it, sir?"
"I only wanted to say, sir,
as I was down below, and I kep' on saying tothe lads, sir, as was a teasing the niggers--"
"The blacks, my man," said the captain, sharply.
"Yes, your honour, the black niggers, sir. `Let 'em bide,' I says;`what's the good o' teasing 'em? You'll only make 'em want to bite.'But they wouldn't take no notice o' what I said, sir, and kep' it uptill the poor chaps turned savage like, and it was hooroar, and all thefat in the fire."
"Stop, sir!" cried the captain, sternly. "Speak plain English, sir."
"Yes, sir; that's what I'm a-trying to do, sir."
"You say that the men were teasing and baiting the two black hands, andyou advised them not to?"
"Well, your honour, it was hardly adwice, because I said I'd shove myfist in someone's eye if he didn't let the poor beggars bide."
Mr Staples uttered a curious sound, and the captain coughed.
"Ah, well, you tried to make them stop their cowardly, unmanly tricks."
"That's it, your honour."
"Then now give me the names of the men who were guilty, and as eachman's name is called let him stand out three paces to the front. Goon."
Joe Dance scratched his head, but did not speak.
"Now, coxswain, speak out. The first man?"
"Adam," whispered Bob to Mark, at whose elbow he now stood, and Markjerked back his elbow into the boy's chest.
"Well, sir, who was the first man?" cried the captain. "Beg pardon,your honour," said Joe Dance, gruffly; "it was down in the fo'c'sle."
"I know that, sir, but I want to know the names."
A faint sound arose as if several men had drawn a deep breath.
"Do you hear me, Dance?" cried the captain.
"Oh yes, your honour."
"He won't tell tales of his messmates," said Bob, with his lips close toMark's ear.
"Silence, Mr Howlett!" cried the captain, sternly. "Now, Dance, thenames?"
"Beg pardon, your honour, but there was only one dip a-going in thelantern, and it didn't give light enough to tell which was your righthand and which was your left."
"The names, sir!" cried the captain, as once more there was the sound ofa deep breath.
"Couldn't give yer one of 'em, sir, unless it was Tom Fillot."
"Hah! Stand out, sir."
"Why, I was taking my trick at the wheel, your honour," cried TomFillot, in tones of protest.
"So you was, messmet," growled Dance; "so you was. There, your honour,"he continued, turning to the captain, "you see how dark it were."
"Try again, sir," said the captain, sternly.
"Dick Bannock," said Dance.
"Which I were o' dooty in my watch, mate," cried the man.
"Ay, so you was, messmet. No, your honour, it were too dark. P'r'aps,"he added, cunningly, "one o' the blacks knows."
Here there was a murmur.
"Silence!" cried the captain, sternly. "I'm afraid I shall have torecall this as a mark against you, Dance, when the time comes forpromotion. It is very plain, sir, that you do know, and will not speak.Hark here, my lads, I am going to pass this over. I cannot punish twoignorant, half-savage men for resenting a cruel attack upon them--crueland cowardly. Go below now, and show me in the future that you have toomuch common sense to play such boys' tricks again. Let the two blacksstep out."
Efforts were made to induce the two Africans to advance, but withoutavail.
"Now, are those men coming aft?" said the captain, sternly; but therewas only a buzzing sound below, and something extremely like a scuffle.
"Beg pardon, sir; they don't understand," said Bob Howlett. "They'dcome up if I spoke to 'em."
"Then go down and send them aft--or no," said the captain, impatiently."I want them to understand that they are pardoned, but that there mustbe no violence again. There, that's enough, Mr Staples. Pipe the menbelow."
"And that's an end of it," whispered Bob Howlett, as soon as the captainwas out of hearing. "I say, Van, wasn't old Joe Dance a trump?"