CHAPTER III
FIRE AT SEA
After this painful episode was over, amidst a succession of calms,varied by light south-west breezes, changing gradually more and more tothe east, the _Pelican of the North_ crossed the line, and proceededupon her way in pleasant weather.
Ralph would have enjoyed this time much but for the pest of cockroacheswhich now swarmed over them and their belongings. These disgustinginsects were of two sorts, one of which had always been troublesome fromthe first, but were now supplemented by a second, not seen much exceptby night, but which crawled about then in such immense numbers, throughthe hours of darkness, as to do great damage. They ran over the cabinfloors, up the walls, were shaken out in showers from the rigging when asail was unfurled; they honeycombed the biscuit, they were found in theboots and shoes, and made life a burden to young Denham, who entertaineda particular aversion to creeping insects.
"How I wish we could find anything which would rid us of these beastlythings?" sighed he one day to Mr. Gilchrist, when the vermin had beenseized with a literary fureur, and eaten out the ink from some noteswhich he had been at considerable pains to compile from a book ofnatural history. "Last night I thought we must have some spiritualiston board, or ghosts, or something uncanny. I was wakened up by the noiseas if everything in the cabin had taken to dancing about in a frolic,till I discovered it was nothing but thousands of these horrid creaturescrawling and rustling about. Some nights I verily believe that they willeat us up bodily."
Mr. Gilchrist laughed.
"Never mind," said he, "we shall be in cooler latitudes soon, and theywill become more torpid, and go back to their holes again. We arenearing the Cape."
"Shall we touch at the Cape? Shall we see the Table Mountain, sir, doyou think?"
"I rather fancy not. From what the captain said the other day, I believethat there are currents there which are apt to be trying to aheavily-laden ship such as ours. Squalls are very prevalent in roundingthe Cape, and I think he will give it a wide berth. We do not needwater, nor have we any particular reason for delaying the voyage byputting in at Cape Town."
"We must be near land, I should think, for there are so many birds aboutnow. Some of them are birds that I never saw before."
"Albatrosses to wit? You do not want to shoot one, do you, and share thefate of the Ancient Mariner?"
"No, not quite that, though if everyone who had done so were to beexposed to a similar fate there would be a good many phantom shipscareering about the high-seas. Lots of the ships that come intoLiverpool have their skins, or their bills, or something on board. Ihave an albatross' bill at home that a sailor gave me. I have a lot ofthings fastened up about the walls of my room. It is easy to get foreigncuriosities in Liverpool, but I left all mine as a legacy to my sisterAgnes, and promised to look out for more when I got to Rangoon, and metwith any chance of sending them home to her."
"It will be a good plan. If you have any ready in time I will take themback for you, and call to see your mother to tell her how you aregetting on, what sort of lodgings you have, and all about you."
"That will be very kind, sir. In that case I will try to shoot one ofthose birds, for they are quite new to me. They are of a blue colour inpart, with a black streak across the top of the wings."
"Those are blue petrels, I believe; birds which are only found insouthern seas. We will try to preserve the skins of one or two withcarbolic powder, though I fear that your friends the cockroaches willget at them."
"Ugh! Don't call them my friends! You should have seen the third mate,Mr. Kershaw, teasing the cook yesterday. Cook came up in the evening fora breath of air, and was leaning over the side looking down at the 'seaon fire' as they call it--it was splendid late last night. Mr. Kershawcame up to him and looked at him very earnestly, first on one side andthen on the other, as if he saw something queer about him. Cook began tosquirm about uncomfortably.
"'What is it, Mr. Kershaw?' asked he. 'Is there anything wrong aboutme?'
"'Oh no, my good fellow, no,' said the mate. 'It only struck me thatcockroaches are a peculiar kind of pets, but it is every man's ownbusiness if he chooses to let them sleep in the folds of his shirt. Doyou always keep them there?'
"'Where, where?' called out the cook, all in a hurry. 'Cockroaches on myshirt? Where?'
"He was trying to see over his shoulder in an impossible kind of way; heput his hands up to his neck and down to his waist at the back; heshuddered, and shook himself, but could not find them; and it was notlikely that he could, for there were none there to be found.
"Mr. Kershaw was pretending to help him, poking at him up and down hisback.
"'Oh, I thought I had them then!--there, under your arm,--no, down yourleg. Dear me! how very active they are. What remarkably fine specimens!They seem to be quite tame; how much you must know about them to livewith them like this, quite in the style of a happy family. They reallyseem to love you. I should not like to keep them about myself though, inthis manner. Do you _always_ have them upon your own person, my friend?'
"At last the cook twigged the joke, for we were all laughing so, but hewas quite cross about it, and flung away muttering something aboutfools, and wishing to knock Mr. Kershaw's head off for him."
Ralph could not help laughing again at the remembrance of the scene, andMr. Gilchrist joined in his merriment.
But soon there was no more time for jokes or laughter, stern realityclaimed all their attention.
Mr. Gilchrist was sitting one day upon a lounging-chair, beneath theshade of an awning, when the captain approached him with anxiety plainlyimprinted on his face.
"How now, Rogers?" said he; "your face is as long as from here tothere!"
"And with good reason too," replied the captain; "I fear that a terriblecalamity has come upon us."
"Why, my good fellow, what can be going to happen now?" cried Gilchrist,alarmed in his turn.
"Fire," said Rogers laconically, but with grave emphasis.
"Fire!" exclaimed both Gilchrist and Ralph at the same instant, staringaround them in perplexity upon the placid sea, the sunny sky, theswelling sails, the pennon idly fluttering on the breeze. "Fire! Where?How?"
For all answer the captain pointed to a few slender spiral coils ofsmoke, issuing from the seams of the deck where the caulking had wornaway.
Mr. Gilchrist looked aghast.
"Do you mean the cargo?" he asked fearfully.
"Even so," said the captain. "It may be only heating from water reachingit during the storm. We are going to open the hatches and see if we canput it out, but I fear that the mischief was done when we loaded thecoal. It was such wet weather while we were taking it on board.Gilchrist," said he, lowering his voice, "if there is anythingparticularly valuable among your things, put it up in small compass, andbe ready for the worst in case we have to take to the boats."
"Do you anticipate such a thing?"
"It is always well to be prepared."
Mr. Gilchrist had many things--books, maps, scientific instruments,collecting cases, a costly binocular microscope with all its appliances,and other articles, nothing having been spared for his equipment; but inthe shock of this surprise he forgot them all, and, springing from hischair, hurried to the scene of action.
The whole crew gathered hastily around to know the worst, and gazed withblanched faces at each other as the hatches were carefully raised.
A universal cry of horror escaped them, when such a cloud of steam andsmoke, with so sulphureous a stench, rushed out, upon vent being givento the hold, that they were driven back gasping for air.
"Good Heavens!" cried Mr. Gilchrist, "there are two thousand tons ofcoal down there! The Lord have mercy upon us!"
"How far are we from land?" asked Ralph.
"I do not know. I suppose that it depends greatly on the wind forcalculating the length of time it will take us to reach it. I believethe captain hoped to make Moulmein in about a week or ten days more."
"Where is that hose?" thundered
the captain. "Bring it here at once.Douche the hold well. Mellish, we must try to jettison the cargo, andmake room for water enough to reach down the hold."
"Right you are, sir!" cried the first mate. "Who volunteers?"
The hardiest men among the crew pressed forward. Two parties werequickly told off, one to relieve the other. The men flew to the pumpsand hose; all was excitement and hurry--not a soul of them flinched.
"Here, give me hold of a bucket," cried Mr. Gilchrist, taking his placein a line of men hauling up sea-water to supplement the volumes from thehose.
Ralph rushed to assist at the pumps. Streams of water poured down thehold; volumes of steam arose, hissing, through the hatchways. It waslong before the bravest of the men could descend, no one could havebreathed in such an atmosphere; and when two leapt into the chasm atlast, they had immediately to be drawn up again, fainting, scorched,choked with the sulphureous fumes.
They were laid on the deck, buckets of water dashed upon them, and theycame, gasping, to themselves.
"'Tis of no use, mates," said they. "The mouth of hell itself could beno fiercer."
It was indeed like looking down the crater of a volcano to glance intothat awful depth--the fire had got complete hold of the coal.
"We must take to the boats, sir," said Mellish.
"Not yet," replied the captain. "We have no security yet from thatcyclone,--did boats fall into its clutches, there is no chance for them.We may skirt it in the barque by God's providence; it blows from thewest'ard quarter, and its tail may help us towards the mainland quickerthan boats would take us. Batten down the hatches, but leave the hoseroom for entrance, and keep up the water as much as we can. Provisionthe boats, and have everything ready to man them quickly when all hopeis over; but we stick to the old girl to the last gasp."
There were two large boats, both capable of holding ten or twelve men;two smaller ones, which could accommodate six or eight each; and thecaptain's gig, usually manned by a similar number.
It would require the whole five to receive all the crew, for itconsisted of twenty seamen, an apprentice, Ralph, a cook, sailmaker,carpenter, boatswain, three mates and the captain,--thirty souls besidesMr. Gilchrist. Even with all the five boats there would be but littlespace to save much of their possessions, but there was the less demandfor this as the men, taking fright at the state of the cargo, refused togo below even for their own kits. Indeed, the stench of sulphur, andrapid spread of the smother, justified them in their fears.
The cook's galley and the storehouses were on deck, the latter in thepoop, close by the captain's cabin, and the former amidships; it wastherefore easy to store the boats with a sufficiency of provision andwater, and Captain Rogers proceeded to tell off the men for each.
He himself must be the last to leave the ship; and equally, of course,must Mr. Gilchrist be considered among the first. He must go in thefirst boat, commanded by Mellish; eight seamen, Kirke, and the carpenterwould form its complement. But Mr. Gilchrist refused.
"No," said he. "I am an interloper here, it is right that I should comelast, and leave these poor fellows to have first chance of their lives.Put a married man in my place, there is no one dependent upon me athome."
"Nay," said Captain Rogers, "you are my charge, I must see you safefirst."
"My good fellow," replied Mr. Gilchrist with determination, "do notwaste time in arguing; I go with you."
"And I too, uncle," said Ralph. "Do not ask me to part from you."
"For you, boy," replied the captain, "right and good, you are as my own,and ought to take risks with me; but for you, Gilchrist, think better ofit."
"Now, Rogers," said Mr. Gilchrist, "why waste time? Don't you know whena man has made up his mind?"
There was indeed a general perception that time was short, the menworked with all their might, and the boats were stored rapidly. Thethree mates and the boatswain were each to command one; the coxswainswere selected from the best of the seamen, and every man was given hisplace, to which he was at once to repair upon a given signal.
Was it wise to wait longer before embarking in them? A dead calm hadfallen, an ominous stillness pervaded the atmosphere, no breeze, not thefaintest sigh, was there to swell the sails, and a brassy sky in thewest received the sinking sun.
And the little coils of smoke grew larger, they writhed up from crackand cranny like snakes, and span and twisted, puffed and swelled, withhorrible sportiveness.
The men worked in silence, casting fearful glances on this side andthat, as they trod those decks which formed so slight a protection forthem from the fiery chasm beneath. They gathered in groups as the nightfell with the rapidity of those latitudes, but they did not talk.
In the quiet they could hear little slippings of the coal, littlereports now and then, and they fancied that a sullen roar might bedistinguished, now gathering volume, then dying away.
The night was very dark,--was it the looming storm or the furnacebeneath them which made the air so oppressive and close? Nothing couldbe done without light, and the suspense was horrible. Every now and thenthe captain, holding a lantern low, swept the decks, examining to seewhether the smoke had increased or lessened. There appeared to be butlittle difference, but such change as there was lay in the direction ofincrease.
Thicker and thicker grew the gloom, blacker and blacker the night,heavier and heavier the sultry air. Then a faint moaning was heard amongthe shrouds, a hissing on the surface of the water, and the cyclonebroke upon them with a cry as of demons rejoicing over their prey.
The vessel gave a shudder like a living creature, then bounded forwards,heeling over from force of the wind in the most perilous manner; everycord straining, every sail swollen to its utmost tension.
It was but the edge of the cyclone, but even that gave them enough todo. The sea boiled around them; great waves tossed the devoted ship ontheir crests, and buried it in their trough, driving it onward with furyall but unmanageable.
Then rose up a wall of water above their heads, it dashed down upon thedecks, and rushed out from the scuppers in foaming streams; and in thenext instant the mainsail was torn from its holdings, the mast gave waywith an awful rending and crash, and beat about to this side and that,to the peril of all around.
"The boats! the boats!" shrieked the men.
"Take to the boats!" shouted Rogers.
They sprang to the davits to loosen the boats, and the howling wind tookthe gear in its teeth and wrenched its supports from their hold,whirling the two first boats away as if they had been feathers.
Floods of water poured over the decks, making their way plentifully downinto the hold through a thousand clefts opened by the straining timbers,and the steam rose in thicker and hotter clouds as they washed away.
Then a lull came,--were they out of the line of the cyclone?
"Cut the ropes of the starboard boats," cried the captain. "We can holdout no longer. 'Tis life or death."
Again was the effort made,--again did failure greet the devoted men; thesmaller boat was swamped at once. Better fortune served them over theothers; the large one and the captain's gig were lowered safely, and themen crowded into them with headlong speed, many throwing themselves intothe seething water in their haste, some to be hauled on board by theircomrades, and more than one to be swept out of sight for ever.
Hardly could the united efforts of the captain, mates, and Mr. Gilchristcontrol the panic: they stood, silent and firm, with set teeth andblanched faces, as the seamen crushed past them and dropped over theside, only endeavouring to withhold them so as to give each his fairchance of escape. Minutes were like hours; the crowd lessened,--criesand shouts for haste rose up from the thronged boats. Captain Rogersturned, caught Ralph by the arm and swung him over the side; Mr.Gilchrist slipped down a rope and was hauled in; Mellish leapt; thecaptain stood alone, the last of all.
He looked hurriedly around--all were gone, his duty done, and he toothrew himself into the gig.
So hampered were the rowers by the mass
of living creatures crushedinto so small a space, that they could hardly manage their oars; theboats were weighted down to the water's edge, and had not the stormspent its fury in that last awful burst, all hope of living in such asea would have been futile.
But the hand of Providence was over them; they shook down into somethinglike order, and rowed away from the doomed ship with all the expeditionthey could raise; and not one moment too soon; for, hardly were they ata safe distance, when, with an awful roar,--a splitting and crashing oftimbers,--an explosion like the crack of doom itself,--the deck wasforced upwards, its planks tossed high in air, as if they were chips, bythe pillar of white steam that rose exultingly into the sky; greattongues of flame shot rapidly up through it, crimson and orange amongrolling volumes of smoke; and the rising sun paled before the glowingfiery mass that reddened the waters far and wide ere it sank into theirbosom, leaving its debris of burnt and blackened wastry floating idly onits surface.
A groan burst from the white lips of the men as the seething ruin thathad been their home for so many weeks disappeared slowly from theirgaze.