CHAPTER FIVE.
HOW WE FOUND JACK PENNY.
The captain's ideas were not quite correct. Certainly the littletrading vessel had been run upon one of the many reefs that spread inall directions along the dangerous coast; but it was not the Malay whowas the guilty party.
As far as I was concerned it seemed to me a good job, for it brought theschooner to a stand-still, so that we could overtake it. No thoughtoccurred to me that the rocks might have knocked a hole in her bottom,and that if a storm came on she would most likely go to pieces.
Very little was said now, for every one's attention was taken up by thethreatened hurricane, and our efforts to reach the schooner before itshould come on.
It was a long severe race, in which we all took a turn at the oars,literally rowing as it seemed to me for our lives. At times it was asif we must be overtaken by the fierce black clouds in the distance,beneath which there was a long misty white line. The sea-birds keptdashing by us, uttering wild cries, and there was overhead an intensesilence, while in the distance we could hear a low dull murmuring roar,that told of the coming mischief.
Every now and then it seemed to me that we must be overtaken by the longsurging line, that it was now plain to see was pursuing us, and Iwondered whether we should be able to swim and save our lives when itcame upon us with a hiss and a roar, such as I had often heard when onthe beach.
"We shall never do it," said one of the men, who half-jumped from hisseat the next moment as the captain leaned forward from where he wasrowing and gave him a sound box on the ears.
"Pull, you cowardly humbug!" he cried. "Not do it? A set of furrinerswouldn't do it; but we're Englishmen, and we're going to do it. If wedon't, it won't be our fault. Pull!"
This trifling incident had its effect, for the men pulled harder thanever, exhausted though they were. It was a struggle for life now, and Iknew it; but somehow I did not feel frightened in the least, but stunnedand confused, and at the same time interested, as I saw the great lineof haze and foam coming on. Then I was listening to the dull roar,which was rapidly increasing into what seemed a harsh yell louder thanthunder.
"Pull, my lads!" shouted the captain, with his voice sounding strangeand harsh in the awful silence around us, for, loud as was the roar ofthe storm, it seemed still afar off.
The men pulled, and then we relieved them again, with the great dropsgathering on our faces in the intense heat; and my breath came thick andshort, till I felt as it were a sense of burning in my chest. Then Igrew half-blind with my eyes staring back at the wall of haze; and then,as I felt that I should die if I strained much longer at that oar, Iheard the captain shout:
"In oars!" and I found that we were alongside the schooner, and closeunder her lee.
There was just time to get on board, and we were in the act of haulingup the boat, when, with an awful whistle and shriek, the storm was uponus, and we were all clinging for life to that which was nearest at hand.
Now, I daresay you would like me to give you a faithful account of myimpressions of that storm, and those of one who went through it from thetime that the hurricane struck us till it passed over, leaving the skyclear, the sun shining, and the sea heaving slowly and without a singlecrest.
I feel that I can do justice to the theme, so here is my faithfuldescription of that storm.
_A horrid wet, stifling, flogging row_.
That's all I can recollect. That's all I'm sure that the doctor couldrecollect, or the captain or anybody else. We were just about drownedand stunned, and when we came to ourselves it was because the storm hadpassed over.
"What cheer, ho!" shouted the captain, and we poor flogged and drenchedobjects sat up and looked about us, to find that the waves had liftedthe schooner off the rocks, and driven her a long way out of her course;that the sails that had been set were blown to ribbons; and finally thatthe schooner, with the last exception, was very little the worse for theadventure.
"She ain't made no water much," said the captain, after going below;"and--here, I say, where's that Malay scoundrel?"
"Down in the cabin--locked in," said an ill-used voice; and I rubbed thesalt-water out of my eyes, and stared at the tall thin figure before me,leaning up against the bulwark as if his long thin legs were too weak tosupport his long body, though his head was so small that it could nothave added very much weight.
"Why, hallo! Who the blue jingo are you?" roared the skipper.
The tall thin boy wrinkled up his forehead, and did not answer.
"Here, I say, where did you spring from?" roared the captain.
The tall thin boy took one hand out of his trousers' pocket with somedifficulty, for it was so wet that it clung, and pointed down below.
The skipper scratched his head furiously, and stared again.
"Here, can't you speak, you long-legged thing?" he cried. "Who areyou?"
"Why, it's Jack Penny!" I exclaimed.
"Jack who?" cried the captain.
"Jack Penny, sir. His father is a squatter about ten miles from ourplace."
"Well, but how came _he_--I mean that tall thin chap, not his father--tobe squatting aboard my schooner?"
"Why, Jack," I said, "when did you come aboard?"
"Come aboard?" he said slowly, as if it took him some time to understandwhat I said. "Oh, the night before you did."
"But where have you been all the time?"
"Oh, down below there," said Jack slowly.
"But what did you come for?"
"Wanted to," he said coolly. "If I had said so, they wouldn't--youwouldn't have let me come."
"But why did you come, Jack?" I said.
"'Cause I wanted," he replied surlily. "Who are you that you're to haveall the fun and me get none!"
"Fun!" I said.
"Yes, fun. Ain't you goin' to find your father?"
"Of course I am; but what's that got to do with fun?"
"Never you mind; I've come, and that's all about it," he said slowly;and thrusting his hands back into his trousers' pockets as fast as thewet clinging stuff would let him, he began to whistle.
"But it arn't all about it," cried the captain; "and so you'll find.You arn't paid no passage, and I arn't going to have no liberties tookwith my ship. Here, where's that Malay chap?"
"I told you where he was, didn't I?" snarled Jack Penny. "Are you deaf?In the cabin, locked in."
"What's he doing locked in my cabin?" roared the captain. "I say, areyou skipper here, or am I? What's he doing in my cabin locked in?"
"Rubbing his sore head, I s'pose," drawled Jack Penny. "I hit him ashard as I could with one o' them fence rails."
"Fence rails!" cried the captain, who looked astounded at the big thinboy's coolness, and then glanced in the direction he pointed beneath thebulwarks. "Fence rails! What do you mean--one of them capstan bars?"
"I don't know what you call 'em," said Jack. "I give him a regularwunner on the head."
"What for, you dog?"
"Here, don't you call me a dog or there'll be a row," cried Jack, risingerect and standing rather shakily about five feet eleven, looking like abig boy stretched to the bursting point and then made fast. "He wasgoing to kill the black fellow with his knife after knocking him down.I wasn't going to stand by and see him do that, was I?"
"Well, I s'pose not," said the captain, who looked puzzled. "Where isthe black fellow? Here, where's Jimmy?"
"Down that square hole there, that wooden well-place," said Jack,pointing to the forecastle hatch. "He slipped down there when theyaller chap hit him."
"Look here--" said the captain as I made for the hatch to look afterJimmy. "But stop a minute, let's have the black up."
Two of the men went below and dragged up poor Jimmy, who was quitestunned, and bleeding freely from a wound on the head.
"Well, that's some proof of what you say, my fine fellow," continued thecaptain, as the doctor knelt down to examine poor Jimmy's head and Ifetched some water to bathe his face. "W
hat did you do next?"
"Next? Let me see," drawled Jack Penny; "what did I do next? Oh! Iknow. That chap was running away with the ship, and I took hold of thatwheel thing and turned her round, so as to come back to you when youkept waving your cap."
"Hah! yes. Well, what then?"
"Oh, the thing wanted oiling or greasing; it wouldn't go properly. Itgot stuck fast, and the ship wouldn't move; and then the storm came. Iwish you wouldn't bother so."
"Well, I _am_ blessed," cried the captain staring. "I should have beenproud to have been your father, my young hopeful. 'Pon my soul Ishould. You are a cool one, you are. You go and run the prettiestlittle schooner there is along the coast upon the rocks, and then youhave the confounded impudence to look me in the face and tell me therudder wants greasing and it stuck."
"So it did!" cried Jack Penny indignantly. "Think I don't know? Iheard it squeak. You weren't on board. The ship wouldn't moveafterwards."
"Here, I say; which are you?" cried the captain; "a rogue or a fool?"
"I d'know," said Jack coolly. "Father used to say I was a foolsometimes. P'r'aps I am. I say, though, if I were you I'd go and tiedown that yaller Malay chap in the cabin. He's as vicious as an old mankangaroo in a water-hole."
"Your father's wrong, my fine fellow," said the captain with a grimsmile; "you ar'n't a fool, for a fool couldn't give such good advice asthat. Here, doctor, p'r'aps you'll lend me one of your shooting things.You can get into your cabin; I can't get into mine."
The doctor nodded, and in the excitement of the time we forgot all aboutour drenched clothes as he went down and returned directly with hisrevolver, and another for the captain's use.
"Thank'ye, doctor," said the captain grimly, cocking the piece. "Idon't want to use it, and I daresay the sight of it will cool our yallerfriend; but it's just as well to be prepared. What! are you coming too?Thought your trade was to mend holes and not make 'em."
"My trade is to save life, captain," said the doctor quietly. "PerhapsI shall be helping to save life by coming down with you."
"P'r'aps you will, doctor. Here, we don't want you two boys."
"We only want to come and see," I said in an ill-used tone; and beforethe doctor could speak the captain laughingly said, "Come on," and wefollowed them down below, the men bringing up the rear, armed with barsand hatchets.
The captain did not hesitate for a moment, but went straight down to thecabin door, turned the key, and threw it open, though all the while heknew that there was a man inside fiercer than some savage beast. Buthad he been a little more cautious it would have saved trouble, for theMalay had evidently been waiting as he heard steps, and as the door wasopened he made a spring, dashed the doctor and captain aside, oversetme, and, as the men gave way, reached the deck, where he ran rightforward and then close up to the foremast, stood with his long knife orkris in his hand, rolling his opal eyeballs, and evidently prepared tostrike at the first who approached.
"The dog! he has been at the spirits," growled the captain fiercely."Confound him! I could shoot him where he stands as easy as could be;but I arn't like you, doctor, I don't like killing a man. Never didyet, and don't want to try."
"Don't fire at him," said the doctor excitedly; "a bullet might befatal. Let us all rush at him and beat him down."
"That's all very fine, doctor," said the captain; "but if we do someone's sure to get an ugly dig or two from that skewer. Two or three ofus p'r'aps. You want to get a few surgery jobs, but I'd rather youdidn't."
All this while the Malay stood brandishing his kris and showing histeeth at us in a mocking smile, as if we were a set of the greatestcowards under the sun.
"Look here, Harriet," cried the captain; "you'd better give in; we'resix to one, and must win. Give in, and you shall have fair play."
"Cowards! come on, cowards!" shouted the Malay fiercely, and he made ashort rush from the mast, and two of the hatchet men retreated; but theMalay only laughed fiercely, and shrank back to get in shelter by themast.
"We shall have to rush him or shoot him," said the captain, rubbing hisnose with pistol barrel. "Now then, you dog; surrender!" he roared; andlowering the pistol he fired at the Malay's feet, the bullet splinteringup the deck; but the fellow only laughed mockingly.
"We shall have to rush him," growled the captain; "unless you can givehim a dose of stuff, doctor, to keep him quiet."
"Oh, yes; I can give him a dose that will quiet him for a couple ofhours or so, but who's to make him take it?"
"When we treed the big old man kangaroo who ripped up Pompey, Caesar,and Crassus," drawled Jack Penny, who was looking on with his hands inhis pockets, "I got up the tree and dropped a rope with a noose in itover his head. Seems to me that's what you ought to do now."
"Look'ye here," cried the captain, "don't you let your father call youfool again, youngster, because it's letting perhaps a respectable oldman tell lies. Tell you what, if you'll shin up the shrouds, and drop abit of a noose over his head while we keep him in play, I won't sayanother word about your coming on board without leave."
"Oh, all right! I don't mind trying to oblige you, but you must mind hedon't cut it if I do."
"You leave that to me," cried the captain. "I'll see to that. There,take that thin coil there, hanging on a belaying-pin."
The tall thin fellow walked straight to the coil of thin rope, shook itout, and made a running noose at the end, and then, with an activitythat surprised me, who began to feel jealous that this thin weak-lookingfellow should have proved himself more clever and thoughtful than I was,he sprang into the shrouds, the Malay hardly noticing, evidentlybelieving that the boy was going aloft to be safe. He looked up at himonce, as Jack Penny settled himself at the masthead, but turned hisattention fiercely towards us as the captain arranged his men as if fora rush, forming them into a semicircle.
"When I say ready," cried the captain, "all at him together."
The Malay heard all this, and his eyes flashed and his teeth glistenedas he threw himself into an attitude ready to receive his foes, his bodybent forward, his right and left arms close to his sides, and his wholeframe well balanced on his legs.
"Ready?" cried the captain.
"All ready!" was the reply; and I was so intent upon the fierce lithesavage that I forgot all about Jack Penny till I heard the men answer.
There was the whizzing noise of a rope thrown swiftly, and in an instanta ring had passed over the Malay's body, which was snatched tight,pinioning his arms to his side, and Jack Penny came down with a rush onthe other side of the fore-yard, drawing the savage a few feet from thedeck, where he swung helplessly, and before he could recover himself hehad been seized, disarmed, and was lying bound upon the deck.
"I didn't mean to come down so fast as that," drawled Jack, rubbing hisback. "I've hurt myself a bit."
"Then we'll rub you," cried the captain joyously. "By George, my boy,you're a regular two yards of trump."
The excitement of the encounter with the Malay being over, there wastime to see to poor Jimmy, who was found to be suffering from a verysevere cut on the head, one of so serious a nature that for some timethe poor fellow lay insensible; but the effect of bathing and bandaginghis wound was to make him open his eyes at last, and stare round forsome moments before he seemed to understand where he was. Thenrecollection came back, and he grinned at me and the doctor.
The next moment a grim look of rage came over his countenance, andspringing up he rushed to where the Malay was lying upon the deck underthe bulwarks, and gave him a furious kick.
"Bad brown fellow!" he shouted. "Good for nothing! Hi--wup--wup--wup!"
Every utterance of the word _wup_ was accompanied by a kick, and theresult was that the Malay sprang up, snatched his kris from where it hadbeen thrown on the head of a cask, and striking right and left made hisway aft, master of the deck once more.
"Well, that's nice," growled the captain.
"I thought them knots wouldn't hold," dra
wled Jack Penny. "He's beenwriggling and twisting his arms and legs about ever since he lay there.I thought he'd get away."
"Then why didn't you say so, you great, long-jointed two-foot rule?"roared the captain. "Here, now then, all together. I'm skipper here.Rush him, my lads; never mind his skewer."
The captain's words seemed to electrify his little crew, and, I ventureto say, his passengers as well. Every one seized some weapon, and,headed by the skipper, we charged down upon the savage as he stoodbrandishing his weapon.
He stood fast, watchful as a tiger, for some moments, and then made adash at our extreme left, where Jack Penny and I were standing; and Ihave no doubt that he would have cut his way through to our cost, butfor a quick motion of the captain, who struck out with his left hand,hitting the Malay full in the cheek.
The man made a convulsive spring, and fell back on the edge of thebulwarks, where he seemed to give a writhe, and then, before a handcould reach him, there was a loud splash, and he had disappeared in thesea.
We all rushed to the side, but the water was thick from the effects ofthe storm, and we could not for a few moments make out anything. Thenall at once the swarthy, convulsed face of the man appeared above thewave, and he began to swim towards the side, yelling for help.
"Ah!" said the skipper, smiling, "that's about put him out. Nothinglike cold water for squenching fire."
"Hi--wup! hi--wup!" shouted Jimmy, who forgot his wound, and danced upand down, holding on by the bulwarks, his shining black face lookingexceedingly comic with a broad bandage of white linen across his brow."Hi--wup! hi--wup!" he shouted; "bunyip debble shark coming--bite umlegs."
"Help!" shrieked the Malay in piteous tones, as he swam on, clutching atthe slippery sides of the schooner.
"Help!" growled the captain; "what for? Here, you, let me have thatthere kris. Hitch it on that cord."
As he spoke the captain threw down the thin line with which the Malayhad been bound, the poor wretch snatching at it frantically; but as hedid so it was pulled away from his despairing clutch.
"I could noose him," drawled Jack Penny coolly. "I've often caughtfather's rams like that."
"Yes, but your father's rams hadn't got knives," said the captaingrimly.
"No, but they'd got horns," said Jack quietly. "Ain't going to drownhim, are you?"
"Not I, boy; he'll drown himself if we leave him alone."
"I don't like to see fellows drown," said Jack; and he left the bulwarksand sat down on the hatchway edge. "Tell a fellow when it's all over,Joe Carstairs."
"Help, help!" came hoarsely from the poor wretch; and my hands grew wetinside, and a horrible sensation seemed to be attacking my chest, as Iwatched the struggles of the drowning man with starting eyes. Forthough he swam like a fish, the horror of his situation seemed to haveunnerved him, and while he kept on swimming, it was with quick wearyingeffort, and he was sinking minute by minute lower in the water.
"For Heaven's sake, throw the poor wretch a rope, captain," said thedoctor.
"What! to come aboard and knife some of us?" growled the captain."Better let him drown. Plenty of better ones than him to be had for apound a month."
"Oh, captain!" I cried indignantly, for my feelings were too much forme; and I seized a rope just as the Malay went down, after uttering adespairing shriek.
"Let that rope alone, boy," said the skipper with a grim smile. "There,he's come up again. Ketch hold!" he cried, and he threw his line sothat the Malay could seize it, which he did, winding it round and roundone arm, while the slowly-sailing schooner dragged him along through thesea. "I'm only giving him a reg'lar good squencher, doctor. I don'twant him aboard with a spark left in him to break out again: we've hadenough of that. Haul him aboard, lads, and shove him in the chainlocker to get dry. We'll set him ashore first chance."
The Malay was hauled aboard with no very gentle hands by the whitesailors, and as soon as he reached the deck he began crawling to thecaptain's feet, to which he clung, with gesture after gesture full ofhumility, as ha talked excitedly in a jargon of broken English andMalay.
"That's what I don't like in these fellows," said Jack Penny quietly;"they're either all bubble or else all squeak."
"Yes; he's about squenched now, squire," said the captain. "Here, shovehim under hatches, and it's lucky for you I'm not in a hanging humourto-day. You'd better behave yourself, or you may be brought up againsome day when I am."
As the captain spoke to the streaming, shivering wretch he made a noosein the rope he held, manipulating it as if he were really going to hangthe abject creature, in whom the fire of rage had quite become extinct.Then the sailors took hold of him, and he uttered a despairing shriek;but he cooled down as he found that he was only to be made a prisoner,and was thrust below, with Jimmy dancing a war-dance round him as hewent, the said dance consisting of bounds from the deck and wavings ofhis waddy about his head.
As the Malay was secured, Jack Penny rose from his seat and walked tothe side of the vessel, to spit into the water with every sign ofdisgust upon his face.
"Yah!" he said; "I wouldn't squeak like that, not if they hung me."
"Well, let's see," cried the captain, catching him by the collar;"hanging is the punishment for stowaways, my fine fellow."
"Get out!" said Jack, giving himself a sort of squirm and shakinghimself free. "You ain't going to scare me; and, besides, you know whatyou said. I say, though, when are we going to have something to eat?"
The captain stared at Jack's serious face for a few moments, and then hejoined with the doctor and me in a hearty laugh.
"I don't well understand you yet, my fine fellow," he said; "perhaps Ishall, though, afore I've done. Here, come down; you do look as if alittle wholesome vittles would do you good. Are you hungry then?"
"Hungry!" said Jack, without a drawl, and he gave his teeth a gnash;"why, I ain't had nothing but some damper and a bottle o' water since Icame on board."