CHAPTER VIII
IN A WILD HAVEN
Fortune has her cycles, whether for good or ill. The _Kansas_, havingrun the gauntlet of many dangers, seemed to have earned an approvingsmile from the fickle goddess. A slight but perceptible veering of thewind, combined with the increasing power of the sun's rays, swept theocean clear of its storm-wraiths. Soon after passing the pillar rock,Courtenay thought he could make out the unwavering outline ofmountainous land amid the gray mists. A few minutes later the wavesracing alongside changed their leaden hue to a steely glitter whichtold him the fog was dispersing. The nearer blue of the ocean carpetspread an ever-widening circle until it merged into a vivid green.Then, with startling suddenness, the curtain was drawn aside on apanorama at once magnificent and amazing.
Almost without warning, the ship was found to be entering the estuaryof a narrow fiord. Gaunt headlands, carved on Titanic scale out of thesolid rock, guarded the entrance, and already shut out the more distantcoast-line. Behind these first massive walls, everywhere unscalable,and rising in separate promontories to altitudes of, perhaps, fourhundred feet, an inner fortification of precipitous mountains flungtheir glacier-clad peaks heavenward to immense heights,--heights which,in that region, soared far above the snow-line. The sun was reflectedwith dazzling brilliancy from their icy summits, and wonderful lightssparkled in rainbow tints on their slopes. Delicate pink deepened torose crimson; pale greens softened into the beryl blue of stupendousglaciers, vast frozen cataracts which flowed down deep and broad cleftsalmost to the water's edge.
Above these color-bands, the dead-white mantle of everlasting snowspread its folds, with here and there a black ridge of granitethrusting wind-cleared fangs high above the far-flung shroud. But, ifthe crests of peak upon peak were thus clothed in white, their baseswore a garment of different texture. Save on the seaward terraces ofstark rock, with their tide-marked base of weed-covered boulders, thedensest vegetation known to mankind imposed everywhere a first barrierto human progress far more unconquerable than the awesome regionsbeyond. Pine forests of extraordinary density crammed each availableyard of space, until the tree-growth yielded perforce to hardier Alpinemoss and lichens. This lower belt of deepest green ranged from fivehundred to one thousand feet in height, as conditions were adverse orfavorable; waterfalls abounded; each tiny glen held its foamingrivulet, rushing madly down the steep, or leaping in fine cascades fromone rocky escarpment to another. Courtenay, after an astounded glanceat the magnitude and solemn grandeur of the spectacle, had eyes fornaught save the conformation of the channel. The change in the windwas caused, he found, by the northerly headland thrusting its giantmass a mile, or more, westward of its twin; but he quickly discovered,from the conformation of the land, that the latter was really theprotecting cape of the inner water-way. He reasoned, therefore, thatthe deep-water channel flowed close to the northern shore until it wasflung off by the relentless rocks to seek the easier inlet behind theopposite point.
He did not know yet whether the ship was entering some unknown straitsor the mouth of a narrow land-locked bay. If the latter, the presenceof the distant glaciers and the nearer torrents warned him of apossible bar, on which the _Kansas_ might be lost within sight of safeanchorage. Not inspired guesswork now, but the skill of the pilot, wasneeded; this crossing the bar in broad daylight was as great a trial ofnerve in its way as the earlier onward rush in the dark.
Wind and sea had abated so sensibly that the Pacific rollers raced onunbroken, and it was no longer a super-human task to make one's voiceheard along the deck.
So the captain aroused Walker with a sharp order:
"Go and see if the donkey-boiler has a good head of steam. We may haveto drop the stream anchor quick, and both bowers as well. IfTollemache is doing his work properly, go forward, and keep a sharplookout for broken water. Clear off the tarpaulins, and be ready tolower away the instant I sing out."
Walker, who had been gazing spellbound at the majestic haven opening upbefore the ship, hurried on his errand. He found Tollemache seated onan upturned bucket, in which the taciturn one had just washed his faceand hands.
"Have you seen it?" demanded Walker, gleefully, while his practisedeyes took in the state of the gages and he overran a number of oil tapswith nimble fingers.
"Seen what?" asked Tollemache, without removing his pipe.
"The land, my bonnie lad. We-ah wunnin' wight in now."
"We've been doing that for hours."
"Yes, but this is diff'went. The'aw's a fine wiv-ah ahead. Have yeev-ah seen the Tyne? Well, just shove Sooth Sheels an' Tynemouth a fewhundwed feet high-ah, an' you've got it. Now, don't twy to talk, oryou might cwack yo' face."
With this Parthian shaft of humor he vanished towards the forecastle,whence the ubiquitous donkey-boiler, through one of its long arms,would shoot forth the stockless anchors at the touch of a lever.Tollemache, who had already glimpsed the coast, strolled out on deckand bent well over the side in order to look more directly ahead. Hecould see one half only of the view, but that sufficed.
"A respite!" he growled to himself. "Penal servitude instead of suddendeath."
And, indeed, this was the true aspect of things, as Courtenaydiscovered when he had successfully brought the ship past three uglyreefs and dropped anchor in the backwater of a small sheltered bay. Hespeedily abandoned the half-formed hope that the _Kansas_ might haverun into an ocean water-way which communicated with Smyth Channel. Therampart of snow-clad hills had no break, while a hasty scrutiny of thechart showed him that the eastern coast of Hanover Island had beenthoroughly surveyed. Yet it was not in human nature that he should notexperience a rush of joy at the thought that, by his own efforts, hehad saved his ship and some, at least, of the lives entrusted to hiscare. He was alone when the music of the chains in the hawse-pipessounded in his ears. The _Kansas_ had plenty of room to swing, but hethought it best to moor her. Believing implicitly now that he wouldyet bring his vessel into the Thames, he allowed her to be carriedround by the fast-flowing tide until her nose pointed seaward, and shelay in the comparatively still water inshore. Then he dropped thesecond anchor and stepped forth from the chart-house. His long vigilwas ended. Some of the cloud of care lifted from his face, and hecalled cheerily to Joey.
"Come along, pup," he said. "Let us sample Dr. Christobal's cookery.You have shared my watch; now you shall share my breakfast. We haveboth earned it."
It was in his mind to knock loudly on Elsie's door and awaken her;therefore he was dimly conscious of a feeling of disappointment when hesaw her, in company with Christobal, leaning over the rail of thepromenade deck, and evidently discussing the weird beauty of the scenespread before her wondering eyes.
The ship was now so sheltered by the shoulder of the southern cape thatthe keen breeze yet rushing in from the sea passed hundreds of feetabove her masts. There was nothing more than a tidal swell on thesurface of the water, in which the heavy-laden vessel rested as in adock. In the new and extraordinary quietude the light thud of thedonkey-engine sounded with a strange distinctness, and Elsie and hercompanion heard Courtenay's approaching footsteps almost as soon as hegained the deck.
Instantly she ran towards him, with hands out-stretched.
"Let me be the first to congratulate you," she cried, her cheeksmantling with a rush of color and her lips quivering with excitement."How wonderful of you to bring the ship through all those awful reefsand things! No; you must not say you have done nothing marvelous. Dr.Christobal has told me everything. Next to Providence, CaptainCourtenay, we owe our lives to you."
Courtenay felt it would hurt her were he to smile at her earnestness.But he did say:
"Surely it is not so very remarkable that I should do my best tosafeguard the ship and such of her passengers and crew as survive lastnight's ordeal."
"I know that quite well. Even I would have striven to help when mylife was at stake. But the really wonderful thing is that you shouldhave guessed an unknown tr
ack in the dark; that you should actually beable to guide a helpless ship through waters so full of dangers that itwould be folly to venture in their midst in broad daylight and withfull steam-power."
Then Courtenay took off his sou'wester, and bowed.
"I had no idea I had such expert critics on board. Is it you,Christobal, who has followed the ship's course so closely?"
"Not I, my dear fellow. Miss Maxwell is only saying what I feel,indeed, but could not have expressed as admirably. Our silent friend,Tollemache, is the man who observes. I was so amazed when I came ondeck half an hour ago that I sought him out, and he told me somethingof the night's later happenings. So I took the liberty of arousingMiss Maxwell from a very sound sleep, but we thought it best not todisturb you by appearing on the bridge until you had done everythingyou had planned."
"I shall never understand how I came to fall asleep," said Elsie. "Iremember feeling very tired; I sat down for a moment, and that endedit. The next thing I heard was a rapping on my door, and Dr.Christobal's voice bidding me hurry if I would see the entrance to theharbor."
The two men exchanged glances. Courtenay laughed, so pleasantly thatit was good to hear.
"Yet there was I up aloft, maneuvering the ship in the firm faith thatDr. Christobal was busy in the cook's galley," said he.
"Ah, we have news for you," cried Elsie. "One of the poor fellows whowas knocked on the head during that terrible fight for the boats wasthe master cook himself. He is better now, and breakfast can be readyin five minutes. I'll go and tell him."
She ran off, and Joey scampered by her side, for he knew quite wellwhere the kitchen lay.
"Bromide is useful at times," murmured Christobal, watching Elsie untilshe had disappeared. Then he turned to Courtenay.
"I suppose you have seen nothing of the boats?"
"No sign whatever. And I could hardly have missed them if they werehere. They may have escaped, but I doubt it. The sea ran very highfor a time, and the _Kansas_ scraped past so many reefs that it wasalmost impossible for each of the three boats to have done the same."
"Even if one or more of them reached land, there is small likelihoodthat they would turn up in this particular bay?"
"That is true, especially if they used their sails. The Chileans whogot away in the life-boats would know sufficient of the coast toendeavor to make a northerly course, while my parting instructions toMalcolm were to keep to the north all the time."
"I wish now that poor Isobel Baring and the others had not left us,"said Christobal sadly.
Courtenay was about to say something, but checked himself. He was notblind to the aspect of affairs which Tollemache had summarized sopithily. It might yet be that those who remained had more to endure.Then Elsie summoned them to breakfast, which was served on deck, as thesaloon had been temporarily converted into a hospital.
Before sitting down, Courtenay paid a brief visit to Mr. Boyle.Christobal told him not to allow the wounded man to talk too much,complete rest for a few hours being essential. But Boyle's pallid facelit up so brightly when the captain stood by his side that it was hardnot to indulge him to some extent.
"Huh," he said, his gruff voice strong as ever. "Christobal was nothumbugging me when he assured me you were all right. Where are we?"
"In a small bay on the east of Hanover Island. I have not taken anyobservations yet, and there is no hurry, old chap. You 'll be out andabout long before we move again."
"Huh. D'ye think so? I know the beggar who knifed me. I 'll take itout of him when I see him."
"You are better off than he, Boyle. Unless he is here with you, Iguess he is rolling on the floor of the Pacific by this time."
Boyle tried to turn and survey his fellow-sufferers; there was the fireof battle in his eye. Courtenay restrained him with a laugh.
"A nice thing I am doing," he cried, "permitting you to talk, andgetting you excited. I believe you would punch the scoundrel now if hewere in the next berth. You must lie quiet, old man; doctor's orders;he says you 're on the royal road if you keep on the easy list for aday or so."'
Boyle smiled, and closed his eyes.
"I heard the anchors go, and then I knew that all was well. You 'rethe luckiest skipper afloat. Huh, the bloomin' _Kansas_ was lost notonce but twenty times."
"Are you in pain, Boyle?" asked Courtenay, placing a gentle hand on hisfriend's forehead.
"Not much. More stiff than sore. It was a knock-out blow of its kind.I can just recall you hauling me out of the scrimmage, and--"
"It will be your turn to do as much for me next time. Try to go tosleep; we'll have you on deck tomorrow."
Courtenay noticed that there were only four other sufferers in thesaloon: Three were firemen injured by the explosion. He had a pleasantword for each of them. The fourth was a sailor, either asleep orunconscious, and Courtenay thought he recognized a severe bruise on theman's left temple where the butt of his revolver had struck hard.
When he returned on deck he learned that two other members of the crew,in addition to the cook, were able to work. Walker had set one toclear up the stokehold; his companion, a fireman, had relieved Mr.Tollemache. Indeed, the latter had gone to his cabin, and was the lastto arrive at the feast, finally putting in an appearance in a new suitand spotless linen.
Christobal protested loudly.
"I thought this was to be a workers' meal," he said. "Tollemache hasstolen a march on us. He is quite a Bond-street lounger in appearance."
"Dirty job, stoking," said Tollemache.
"I seem to have been the only lazy person on board during the night,"cried Elsie.
"Do you know what time it is?" asked Courtenay.
"No; about ten o'clock, I fancy."
"It is not yet half-past four."
The blue eyes opened wide. "Are you in earnest?" she demanded.
He showed her his watch. Then she perceived that the sun had not yetrisen high enough to illumine the wooded crest of the opposite cliff.The snow-clad hills, the blue glaciers, the wonderful clearness ofatmosphere, led her to believe that the day was much more advanced.Land and sea shone in a strange crystal light. None could tell whenceit came. It seemed to her, in that solemn hour, to be the reflectionof heaven itself. By quick transition, her thoughts flew back to theprevious night. Scarce four hours had elapsed since she had waited inthe captain's cabin, amidst the drenching spray and tearing wind, whilehe took Isobel, and Mrs. Somerville, and the shrieking maid to theboat. The corners of her mouth drooped and tears trembled on hereyelashes. She sought furtively for a handkerchief. Knowing exactlywhat troubled her, Courtenay turned to Christobal.
"This island ought to be inhabited," he said. "Can you tell me whatsort of Indians one finds in this locality?"
Christobal frowned perplexedly. During many previous voyages to Europehe had invariably traveled on the mail steamers of smaller draft whichuse the sheltered sea canal formed by the Smyth, Sarmiento, and Messierchannels, the protected water-way running for hundreds of miles to thenorth from the western end of the Straits of Tierra del Fuego, and, insome of its aspects, reminding sailors of the Clyde and the CaledonianCanal.
"I fear I do not know much about them," he said. "Behind those hillsthere one sees a few Canoe Indians; I have heard that they are somewhatlower in the social scale than the aborigines of Australia."
"Are they?" said Courtenay. He looked Christobal straight in the eyes,and the doctor returned his gaze as steadily.
"That is their repute. They live mostly on shellfish. They do notcongregate in communities. A few families keep together, and moveconstantly from place to place. They have a quaint belief that if theyremain on a camping-ground more than a night or two the devil willstick his head out of the ground and bite them. Obviously, the realdevil that plagues them is the continuous wandering demanded by theirsearch for food."
Christobal would have aired such a scrap of interesting knowledge atthe foot of the scaffold, and expected the execut
ioner to listenattentively.
"They are called the Alaculof. They use bows and arrows, with headschipped out of stone or bottle-glass," put in Tollemache.
"Oh, you have been in these parts before?" cried Courtenay, regardinghis compatriot with some interest, while the Spaniard surveyed hisrival doubtfully.
"Yes--was on the _Emu_--wrecked in Cockburn Channel."
Now, the story of the _Emu_ is one of those fierce tragedies which thesea first puts on the stage of life with dire skill, and then proceedsto destroy the slightest vestige of their brief existence. But suchthings leave abiding memories in men's souls, and Courtenay had heardhow twenty-seven survivors, out of a muster-roll of thirty who escapedfrom the wreck, had been shot down by Indians ambushed in the forest.Elsie, whose tears were dispelled by the doctor's amusing summary ofthe Canoe Indians' theological views, was listening to theconversation, so the captain did not carry it further, contentinghimself with the remark:
"That will be useful, if we are compelled to go ashore. You will havesome acquaintance with the ways of our hosts."
Tollemache, having nothing to say, was not given to the use ofunnecessary words. Elsie was conscious of a certain constraint intheir talk.
"Please don't mind me," she said quietly. "I know all about the lossof the _Emu_. If we fall into the hands of the Alaculof tribe, weshall be not only killed but eaten."
She was pouring out a second cup of tea for Walker when she made thisremarkable statement. Her eyes were intent on exact quantities of tea,milk, and sugar, and she passed the cup to the engineer with a smile.Each of the men admired her coolness, but Tollemache, who had beenquietly scrutinizing the nearer hills, gave painful emphasis to thisgruesome topic by exclaiming:
"There they are now: smoke signals."
Sure enough, thin columns of smoke were rising from several points onthe land. It could not be doubted that these were caused by humanagency. They were not visible when the party sat down to breakfast.The appearance of the ship was their obvious explanation, but not acanoe or a solitary figure could be seen, though Courtenay and others,at various times during the day, searched every part of the neighboringshore with field glasses and powerful telescopes.
After an all too brief burst of sunshine, the Land of Storms againjustified its name. Giant clouds came rolling in from seaward. Themountains were lost in mist; the glaciers became sullen, rock-strewnmasses of white-brown ice; the fresh greenery of the forests faded intosomber belts of blackness. Though it was high summer in this desolateregion, heavy showers of hail and sleet alternated with drenching rain.At low-water, though the _Kansas_ floated securely in a depth of twentyfathoms, a yellow current sweeping past her starboard quarter showedhow accurately Courtenay had read the tokens of the inlet. Many aswollen torrent, and, perhaps, one or two fair-sized streams at thehead of the bay, contributed this flood of fresh water.
And, with the evening tide, there were not wanting indications that thegale without had developed a new fury. A solitary albatross, drivenlandward by stress of weather, rode in vast circles above the ship.There was no wealth of bird life in that place of gloom. Though fittedto rear untold millions of gulls and other sea birds, this secludednook was almost deserted; generations of men had devoured all the eggsthey could lay hands on.
To Elsie and the doctor were entrusted the daylight watch on deck andthe care of the sick. For the latter there was not much to be done.The cook undertook to feed them, and Frascuelo, the wounded stevedorewho had been discovered in a state of collapse, soon revived, and waspractically able to look after himself. The others, under Walker'sdirections, were hard at work in the engine-room and stoke-hold, forthere alone lay the chance of ultimate escape.
The two sentinels conversed but little. The outer war of the elementswas disturbing, and Christobal, though unfailingly optimistic in hisspeech, was nevertheless a prey to dark forebodings. Once, they werestartled by the fall of an avalanche, which thundered down a mountainside on the farther shore, and tore a great gap in the belt of treesuntil it crashed into the water. It sent a four-foot wave across thebay, and the _Kansas_ rocked so violently that the men toiling belowraced up on deck to ascertain the cause of the disturbance.
This was the only exciting incident of a day that seemed to beunending. Elsie, worn out by the strain of the preceding twenty-fourhours, and, notwithstanding her brief sleep in the morning, thoroughlyexhausted for want of rest, was persuaded to retire early to her cabin.She lay down almost fully dressed. Somehow, it was impossible to thinkof a state of unpreparedness for any emergency.
She was soon sound asleep. She awoke with a start, with all her nervesa-quiver. Joey was tearing along the deck, barking furiously. Sheheard two men run past her door with ominous haste. Then, after aheart-breaking pause, there was some shooting. Some one, she thoughtit was Courtenay, roared down the saloon companion:
"On deck, all hands, to repel boarders!"
With a confused rush, men mounted the stairs and raced forward. Sheknew that nearly all of those not on watch were sleeping with theinjured men in the saloon, and now she understood the reason. The shipwas being attacked by Indians, and not altogether unexpectedly. Thesavages had stolen alongside in their canoes under the cloak of night.Perhaps they were already on board in overwhelming numbers. Poor girl,she murmured a prayer while she hurriedly drew on her boots and ulster.
There seemed to be no end to the evils which assailed the _Kansas_, andshe dreaded this new terror more than the mad fury of the seas. But,if the men were fighting for their lives and her's, she must help, too.That was clear. She had a weapon, a loaded revolver, which she hadpicked up from beneath a boat's tarpaulin lying on the spar deck. Sheopened her door and peered out. She could not see any one, and therattle of a hail-storm overhead effectually dulled any other noise.But several shots fired again in the fore part of the ship were audibleabove the din of the pelting hail. So she ran that way, with the finecourage of one who fears yet goes on, and her eyes pierced the shadowswith a tense despair in them. For what could so few men do against theunseen watchers who sent up the thirty-four smoke columns she hadcounted?
Ah, trust a woman to read the unspoken thought! Courtenay andChristobal and Tollemache need not have striven to couch their warningsin ambiguous words. Elsie could have told them all that was leftunsaid at breakfast. The ship had fought her own enemies; now thehuman beings she had saved must defend themselves from a foe againstwhom the ship was helpless.