CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
STUMPS IN DESPAIR--AND BOMBAY IN RAPTURES.
When Mr John Shanks realised the full extent of his loss, his firstimpulse was to seize hold of the nearest passer-by and strangle him; hisnext, to dash down a narrow street close beside him in pursuit of someone; his next, to howl "stop thief!" and "murder!" and his next, tostare into a shop window in blank dismay, and meditate.
Of these various impulses, he gave way only to the last. Hismeditations, however, were confused and unsatisfactory. Turning fromthem abruptly, he hurried along the street at a furious walk, muttering,"I'll go an' tell Slagg." Then, pausing abruptly, "No, I won't, I'll goan' inform the pleece."
Under this new impulse he hurried forward again, jostling people as hewent, and receiving a good deal of rough-handling in return. Presentlyhe came to a dead halt, and with knitted brows and set teeth, hissed,"I'll go and drown myself."
Full of this intention he broke into a run, but, not being acquaintedwith the place, found it necessary to ask his way to the port. Thissomewhat sobered him, but did not quite change his mind, so that when heeventually reached the neighbourhood of the shipping, he was still goingat a quick excited walk. He was stopped by a big and obviouslyeccentric sea-captain, or mate, who asked him if he happened to know ofany active stout young fellow who wanted to ship in a tight little craftabout to sail for old England.
"No, I don't," said Stumps, angrily.
"Come now, think again," said the skipper, in no degree abashed, andputting on a nautical grin, which was meant for a winning smile. "I'mrather short-handed; give good wages; have an amiable temper, a goodcraft, and a splendid cook. You're just the active spirited fellow thatI want. You'll ship now, eh?"
"No, I won't," said Stumps, sulkily, endeavouring to push past.
"Well, well, no offence. Keep an easy mind, and if you should chance tochange it, just come and see me, Captain Bounce, of the Swordfish.There she lies, in all her beauty, quite a picture. Good-day."
The eccentric skipper passed on, but Stumps did not move. He stoodthere with his eyes riveted on the pavement, and his lips tightlycompressed. Evidently the drowning plan had been abandoned forsomething else--something that caused him to frown, then to smile, thento grow slightly pale, and then to laugh somewhat theatrically. Whilein this mood he was suddenly pushed to one side by some one who said--
"The track's made for walkin' on, not standin', young--Hallo!"
It was Slagg who had thus roughly encountered his mate.
"Why, Stumps, what's the matter with yon?"
"Nothing."
"Where 'ave you bin to?"
"Nowhere."
"Who's bin a-frightenin' of you!"
"Nobody."
"Nothin', nowhere, an' nobody," repeated his friend; "that's what Icalls a coorious combination for a man who's as white as a sheet onemoment, and as red as a turkey-cock the next."
"Well, Slagg," said Stumps, recovering himself a little, "the fact is,I've been taken in and robbed."
Hereupon he related all the circumstances of his late adventure to hisastonished and disgusted comrade, who asserted roundly that he was a bigbooby, quite unfit to take care of himself.
"Hows'ever, we must do the best we can for you," he continued, "so comealong to the police-office."
Information of the robbery was given, and inquiries instituted withoutdelay, but without avail. Indeed the chief officer held out little hopeof ultimate success; nevertheless, Slagg endeavoured to buoy up hisfriend with assurances that they must surely get hold of the thief inthe long-run.
"And if we don't," he said to Robin and Sam, during a privateconversation on the subject that same night, "we must just give him eacha portion of what we have, for the poor stoopid has shared our trials,and ought to share our luck."
While Stumps was being thus fleeced in the lower part of the city, Robinand Sam had gone to make inquiries about Mrs Langley, and at theGovernment House they discovered a clerk who had formerly been atSarawak, and had heard of the fire, the abduction of the little girl,and of Mrs Langley having afterwards gone to Bombay; but he also toldthem, to their great regret, that she had left for England six monthsbefore their arrival, and he did not know her address, or even the partof England to which she had gone.
"But," continued the clerk, who was a very friendly fellow, "I'll makeinquiries, and let you know the result, if you leave me your address.Meanwhile you can amuse yourself by paying a visit to that wonderfulship, the Great Eastern, which has come to lay a submarine telegraphcable between this and Aden. Of course you have heard of her arrival--perhaps seen her."
"O yes," replied Robin. "We intend to visit her at once. She is an oldacquaintance of mine, as I was in her when she laid the Atlantic cablein 1865. Does Captain Anderson still command her?"
"No," answered the clerk, who seemed much interested in what Robin said."She is now commanded by Captain Halpin."
That evening Robin tried to console poor Letta in her disappointment atnot finding her mother, and Sam sought to comfort Stumps for the loss ofhis treasure. Neither comforter was very successful. Letta wept inspite of Robin, and Stumps absolutely refused to be comforted!
Next day, however, the tears were dried, and Letta became cheery againin the prospect of a visit to the Great Eastern.
But Stumps was no better. Indeed he seemed worse, and flatly refused toaccompany them on their trip, although all the world of Bombay wasexpected to go.
"Stumps, Stumps, Down in the dumps! Down in the dumps so low--O!"
Sang Jim Slagg as he waved his hand in farewell on quitting the hotel."Good-bye, my boy, and get your spirits up before we return, if youcan."
"I'll try," replied Stumps with a grim smile.
The event which stirred the city of Bombay to its centre at this timewas indeed a memorable one. The connecting of India with England directby a deep-sea cable was a matter of the greatest importance, because theland telegraph which existed at the time was wretchedly worked, passing,as it did, through several countries, which involved translation andre-translation, besides subjecting messages to needless delay on thepart of unbusiness-like peoples. In addition to the brighter prospectswhich the proposed cable was opening up, the presence of the largestship that had ever yet been constructed was a point of overwhelmingattraction, and so great were the crowds that went on board to see themarine wonder, that it was found somewhat difficult to carry on thenecessary work of coaling and making preparations for the voyage.
"Robin," said Sam, an they walked along with Letta between them, "I'vejust discovered that the agent of the Telegraph Construction andMaintenance Company is an old friend of mine. He has been busy erectinga cable landing-house on the shores of Back Bay, so we'll go there firstand get him to accompany us to the big ship."
"Good," said Robin, "if it is not too far for Letta to walk."
The landing-house, which they soon reached, stood near to the "green"where the Bombay and Baroda Railway tumbled out its stream of cottonuntil the region became a very sea of bales. It was a little edificewith a thatched roof and venetian blinds, commanding a fine view of thewhole of Back Bay, with Malabar Point to the right and the governor'shouse imbedded in trees. Long lines of surf marked the position of uglyrocks which were visible at low water, but among these there was apathway of soft sand marked off by stakes, along which the shore-end ofthe cable was to lie.
For the reception of the extreme end of the cable there was provided, inthe cable-house, a testing table of solid masonry, with a wooden top onwhich the testing instruments were to stand; the great delicacy of theseinstruments rendering a fixed table indispensable.
When our friends reached the cable-house, native labourers, inpicturesque Oriental costume, were busy thatching its roof or paintingit blue, while some were screwing its parts together; for the house,with a view to future telegraphic requirements, was built so as to cometo pieces for shipment to still more distant quarters of the globe.
Sam's friend could not go with him, he said, but he would introduce himto a young acquaintance among the working engineers who was going onwith a party in half an hour or so. Accordingly, in a short time theywere gliding over the bay, and ere long stood on the deck of the bigship.
"Oh, Letta!" said Robin, with a glitter of enthusiasm in his eyes, as hegazed round on the well-remembered deck, "it feels like meeting an oldfriend after a long separation."
"How nice!" said Letta.
This "how nice" of the child was, so to speak, a point of greatattraction to our hero. She always accompanied it with a smile so fullof sympathy, interest, and urbanity, that it became doubly significanton her lips. Letta was precocious. She had grown so rapidly insympathetic capacity and intelligence, since becoming acquainted withher new friends, that Robin had gradually come to speak to her about histhoughts and feelings very much as he used to speak to cousin Madge whenhe was a boy.
"Yes," he continued, "I had forgotten how big she was, and she seems tome actually to have grown bigger. There never was a ship like her inthe world. Such huge proportions, such a vast sweep of graceful lines.The chief difference that I observe is the coat of white paint they havegiven her. She seems to have been whitewashed from stem to stern. Itwas for the heat, I fancy."
"Yes, sir, it wor," said a bluff cable-man who chanced to overhear theremark, "an' if you wor in the tanks, you'd 'ave blessed Capt'n Halpinfor wot he done. W'y, sir, that coat o' whitewash made a difference o'no less than eight degrees in the cable-tanks the moment it was putt on.Before that we was nigh stooed alive. Arter that we've on'y binbaked."
"Indeed?" said Robin, but before he could say more the bluff cable-manhad returned to his bakery.
"Just look here," he continued, turning again to Letta; "the great shipsaround us seem like little ones, by contrast, and the little ones likeboats,--don't they?"
"Yes, and the boats like toys," said Letta, "and the people in them likedolls."
"True, little one, and yonder comes a toy steamer," said Sam, who hadbeen contemplating the paying-out gear in silent admiration, "with somerather curious dolls on it."
"Oh!" exclaimed Letta, with great surprise, "look, Robin, look at thehorses--just as if we were on shore!"
Among the many surprising things on board of the big ship, few were morestriking for incongruity than the pair of grey carriage-horses, to whichLetta referred, taking their morning exercise composedly up and down oneside of the deck, with a groom at their heads.
The steamer referred to by Sam was one which contained a large party ofHindu and Parsee ladies and children who had come off to see the ship.These streamed into her in a bright procession, and were soon scatteredabout, making the decks and saloons like Eastern flower-beds with theirmany-coloured costumes--of red, pink, white, and yellow silks andembroideries, and bracelets, brooches, nose-rings, anklets, and othergold and silver ornaments.
The interest taken by the natives in the Great Eastern was naturallygreat, and was unexpectedly illustrated in the following manner.Captain Halpin, anticipating difficulties in the matter of coaling andotherwise carrying on the work of the expedition, had resolved tospecify particular days for sight-seers, and to admit them by ticket, onwhich a small fee was charged--the sum thus raised to be distributedamong the crew at the end of the voyage. In order to meet theconvenience of the "upper ten" of English at Bombay, the charge at firstwas two rupees (about 4 shillings), and it was advertised that the shipwould afterwards be thrown open at lower rates, but to the surprise ofall, from an early hour on the two-rupee day the ship was beset byParsees, Hindus, and Mohammedans, so that eventually, on all sides--onthe decks, the bridge, the paddle-boxes, down in the saloon, outside thecable-tanks, mixed up with the machinery, clustering round the huge redbuoys, and at the door of the testing-room--the snowy robes, and strangehead-dresses, bright costumes, brighter eyes, brown faces, and turbansfar outnumbered the stiff and sombre Europeans. These people evidentlyregarded the Great Eastern as one of the wonders of the world. "Thelargest vessel ever seen in Bombay," said an enthusiastic Parsee, "usedto be the Bates Family, of Liverpool, and now there she lies alongsideof us looking like a mere jolly-boat."
While Sam and his friends were thus standing absorbed by thecontemplation of the curious sights and sounds around them, one of theengineer staff, who had served on board during the laying of the 1866Atlantic cable, chanced to pass, and, recognising Robin as an oldfriend, grasped and shook his hand warmly. Robin was not slow to returnthe greeting.
"Frank Hedley," he exclaimed, "why, I thought you had gone toCalifornia!"
"Robin Wright," replied the young engineer, "I thought you were dead!"
"Not yet," returned Robin; "I'm thankful to report myself alive andwell."
"But you ought to be dead," persisted Frank, "for you've been mourned assuch for nigh a couple of years. At least the vessel in which yousailed has never been heard of, and the last time I saw your family, notfour months since, they had all gone into mourning for you."
"Poor mother!" murmured Robin, his eyes filling with tears, "but, pleaseGod, we shall meet again before long."
"Come--come down with me to the engine-room and have a talk about it,"said Frank, "and let your friends come too."
Just as he spoke, one of the little brown-faced Mohammedan boys fixedhis glittering eyes on an opening in the bulwarks of the ship, throughwhich the water could be seen glancing brightly. That innate spirit ofcuriosity peculiar to small boys all the world over, induced him tocreep partly through the opening and glance down at the sparkling fluid.That imperfect notion of balance, not infrequent in small boys, causedhim to tip over and cleave the water with his head. His Mohammedanrelatives greeted the incident with shrieks of alarm. Robin, who hadseen him tip over, being a good swimmer, and prompt to act, went throughthe same hole like a fish-torpedo, and caught the brown boy by the hair,as he rose to the surface with staring eyes, outspread fingers, and abursting cry.
Rope-ends, life-buoys, and other things were flung over the side; oarswere plunged; boats darted forward; fifty efforts at rescue were made inas many seconds, for there was wealth of aid at hand, and in awonderfully brief space of time the brown boy was restored to hisgrateful friends, while Robin, enveloped in a suit of dry clothes muchtoo large for him, was seated with his friend the engineer down amongthe great cranks, and wheels, and levers, of the regions below.
"It's well the sharks weren't on the outlook," said Frank Hedley, as hebrought forward a small bench for Letta, Sam, and Jim Slagg. "You won'tmind the oily smell, my dear," he said to Letta.
"O no. I rather like it," replied the accommodating child.
"It's said to be fattening," remarked Slagg, "even when taken throughthe nose."
"Come now, let me hear all about my dear mother and the rest of them,Frank," said Robin.
Frank began at once, and, for a considerable time, conversed about thesayings and doings of the Wright family, and of the world at large, andabout the loss of the cable-ship; but gradually and slowly, yet surely,the minds and converse of the little party came round to theall-absorbing topic, like the needle to the pole.
"So, you're actually going to begin to coal to-morrow?" said Sam.
"Yes, and we hope to be ready in a few days to lay the shore-end of thecable," answered the young engineer.
"But have they not got land-lines of telegraph which work well enough?"asked Robin.
"Land-lines!" exclaimed Frank, with a look of contempt. "Yes, theyhave, and no doubt the lines are all right enough, but the peoplethrough whose countries they pass are all wrong. Why, the Governmentlines are so frequently out of order just now, that their dailycondition is reported on as if they were noble invalids. Just listento this," (he caught up a very much soiled and oilednewspaper)--"`Telegraph Line Reports, Kurrachee, 2nd February, 6 p.m.--Cable communication perfect to Fao; Turkish line is interrupted beyondSemawali; Persian line interrupted beyond Shiraz.' And it is constantlylike that--the telegraphic
disease, though intermittent, is chronic.One can never be sure when the line may be unfit for duty. Sometimesfrom storms, sometimes from the assassination of the operators in wilddistricts, through which the land wires pass, and sometimes from thedestruction of lines out of pure mischief, the telegraph is often beatenby the mail."
"There seems, indeed, much need for a cable direct," said Sam, "whichwill make us independent of Turks, Persians, Arabs, and all the rest ofthem. By the way, how long is your cable?"
"The cable now in our tanks is 2375 nautical miles long, but ourcompanion ships, the Hibernia, Chiltern, and Hawk, carry among them 1225miles more, making a total of 3600 nautical miles, which is equal, asyou know, to 4050 statute miles. This is to suffice for thecommunication between Bombay and Aden, and for the connecting of theMalta and Alexandria lines. They are now laying a cable betweenEngland, Gibraltar, and Malta, so that when all is completed there willbe one line of direct submarine telegraph unbroken, except at Suez."
"Magnificent!" exclaimed Robin, "why, it won't be long before we shallbe able to send a message to India and get a reply in the same day."
"In the same day!" cried Sam, slapping his thigh; "mark my words, asuncle Rik used to say, you'll be able to do that, my boy, within thesame hour before long."
"Come, Sam, don't indulge in prophecy. It does not become you," saidRobin. "By the way, Frank, what about uncle Rik? You have scarcelymentioned him."
"Oh! he's the same hearty old self-opinionated fellow as ever. Poorfellow, he was terribly cut up about your supposed death. I reallybelieve that he finds it hard even to smile now, much less to laugh. Asfor Madge, she won't believe that you are lost--at least she won't admitit, though it is easy to see that anxiety has told upon her."
"I wonder how my poor old mother has took it," said Slagg, pathetically."But she's tough, an' can't be got to believe things easy. She'll holdout till I turn up, I dessay, and when I present myself she'll say, `Iknow'd it!'"
"But to return to the cable," said Sam, with an apologetic smile. "Isthere any great difference between it and the old ones?"
"Not very much. We have found, however, that a little marine wretchcalled the teredo attacks hemp so greedily that we've had to invent anew compound wherewith to coat it, namely, ground flint or silica,pitch, and tar, which gives the teredo the toothache, I suppose, for itturns him off effectually. We have also got an intermediate piece ofcable to affix between the heavy shore-end and the light deep-seaportion. There are, of course, several improvements in the details ofconstruction, but essentially it is the same as the cables you havealready seen, with its seven copper wires covered with gutta-percha, andother insulating and protecting substances."
"It's what I calls a tremendious undertakin'," said Slagg.
"It is indeed," assented Frank, heartily, for like all the rest of thecrew, from the captain downwards, he was quite enthusiastic about theship and her work. "Why, when you come to think of it, it'sunbelievable. I sometimes half expect to waken up and find it is all adream. Just fancy. We left England with a freight of 21,000 tons. Theday is not long past when I thought a ship of 1000 tons a big one; whata mite that is to our Leviathan, as she used to be called. We had 5512tons of cable, 3824 tons of fuel, 6499 tons of coal and electricapparatus and appliances when we started; the whole concern, shipincluded, being valued at somewhere about two millions sterling. It mayincrease your idea of the size and needs of our little household when Itell you that the average quantity of coal burned on the voyage out hasbeen 200 tons a day."
"It's a positive romance in facts and figures," said Sam.
"A great reality, you should have said," remarked Robin.
And so, romancing on this reality of facts and figures in many amatter-of-fact statement and figurative rejoinder, they sat there amongthe great cranks, and valves, and pistons, and levers, until thedeclining day warned them that it was time to go ashore.