CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
PERISHING OF HUNGER AND THIRST.
It was a night of great discomfort, a storm of wind and rain arising,and the day which followed was little if any better, the same weatherconditions prevailing throughout. I continued to scull the boat atintervals all through the day, but it was horribly distressing work, thedistress being aggravated by the knowledge that it was all for so smalla result, since I estimated that by the end of the day we hadaccomplished little more than six miles of progress.
It was about four o'clock that afternoon when my fast-failing energiesreceived a fresh stimulus. I had been wearily toiling at the oar forabout an hour, facing west so that I might be guided in my course by thepale blotch of light which represented the position of the sun, when acry from Julius, who was the only alert member of the party, caused meto turn my head. I saw him pointing eagerly toward the north-easternquarter.
"Aren't those the masts of a ship over yonder, Mr Leigh?" the boyasked, and looking in the direction of his pointing finger I caughtsight, as the boat lifted over a swell, of two microscopic objects whichI at once recognised as a vessel's mast-heads. They stood out fairlyclear against the gloomy background of lowering sky, and after aprolonged scrutiny of them I came to the conclusion that they belongedto a small schooner, some fifteen miles distant--probably one of thecraft that make a business of trading among the islands of the westernand southern Pacific.
"You are right, Julius, they are," I cried eagerly. "Do you feel equalto handling an oar for an hour or two?"
"You bet I do," answered the lad with equal eagerness. "I am equal todoing anything that will help us to get out of this beastly boat and onto a ship once more."
"Right!" I exclaimed. "Come along, then, and let us see what we cando. That craft is only about fifteen miles off, and if this calm willlast long enough we are bound to fetch her," and I hastened to adjustthe rowlocks into position for using both oars.
Meanwhile, our remarks had stirred the rest of the party fromlistlessness into action--they all sat up and looked eagerly at the twotiny pin-points on the horizon; and Mrs Vansittart, climbing down intothe cockpit, exclaimed:
"Yes, I guess that is a ship, all right, and we've got to reach her.I'll help you, Jule; your strength and mine together ought to be equalto Walter's, so between us we shall keep the boat going straight."
But the stewardesses, good plucky girls, would not agree to this. Withone voice they declared that they were not going to sit still and lettheir mistress work; so the end of it was that they arranged to take oneoar, both working at it at once, while Julius volunteered to help me.Presently we had the two mast-heads bearing straight ahead, and the boatmoving through the water at the rate of about three miles an hour, thetwo girls, being perfectly fresh, doing quite as much work as Julius andmyself.
Strenuously we toiled, and when at length the light failed us we hadrisen the craft sufficiently to determine that she was a fore-and-aftschooner. Then our difficulties began, for there were no stars, andwithin ten minutes of the time of sunset it fell pitch-dark, from whichmoment our course was largely a matter of guesswork. The two girls andJulius declared that they were so tired and their hands were so raw thatthey could do no more; whereupon Mrs Vansittart and Anthea took oneoar, while I laboured on at the other. But by this time I, too, wasweak and trembling with exhaustion to such an extent that I couldscarcely lift the blade of my oar out of the water, while my thirst wasso intolerable that at length I was fairly driven to the proposal thatwe should all risk the indulgence in an extra ration of water.
Even this revived me but for a few minutes, and finally I had to confessto a feeling of such dizziness and confusion that I could no longer beresponsible for the course of the boat, and had to beg Mrs Vansittartto assume that duty. The next hour was one of absolute torment to me.My arms felt as though they were about to drop out of their sockets, myback ached intolerably, every breath I drew was like a knife piercing mylungs, my head throbbed as though it would burst, and my eyes weresightless. Then there came a small four-knot breeze out from aboutNorth-North-West, which was too shy a wind for us with our unadjustablesubstitute for a sail; and with the knowledge that unless the schoonerhappened to be bound in our direction we should miss her, and all ourefforts would be thrown away, I dropped insensible in the cockpit and soremained for a full hour or more, despite the efforts of the others torevive me.
When at length I came to myself, a brisk westerly breeze was blowing,and the boat was scudding before it, with Mrs Vansittart at thesteering oar. The moon was just rising, but so little of her light asyet came filtering through the veil of cloud which overspread the skythat it was impossible to see anything more than the faint sheen of herlight upon the briskly rippling surface of the sea; and although wescanned the whole visible horizon in search of a light that shouldindicate the position of the schooner, our search was unrewarded.
To be brief, we saw no more of that schooner. As the night progressedthe wind increased until by morning it was blowing so strongly that wecould do nothing but run before it. Luckily, our craft proved to be anunexpectedly good sea boat, and scudded dry, although her behaviour wasat times so unlike that of the boat of normal model that we weresomewhat puzzled as to what was going to happen next. We scudded allthat day, and the whole of the succeeding night, by which time the windhad raised what was, to us, such a formidable sea that we deemed it wiseto heave to, lest some heavier sea than usual should break aboard andswamp us. With great difficulty and considerable danger to ourselves,we therefore lowered the arrangement of planks that served us as mastand sail combined, and, bending our painter to them, rode to them as toa sea anchor.
By this time I was feeling really ill. Hard work and exhaustion weretelling upon me with increasing severity almost hourly, and now upon thetop of these came bitter anxiety.
My heart ached for my companions, especially the women folk. They didtheir utmost to seem cheerful, but it was pitiable to see the dreadfullanguor of their movements, their hollow cheeks, the dark markings undertheir eyes and, above all, the terrible look of suffering and despairthat was beginning to reveal itself in the eyes themselves. Yet not aword of discouragement or complaint passed their black and crackinglips; they simply lay about, moving as little as possible, and enduredsilently. As for me, I could think of nothing, do nothing to help them.It was horrible!
That gale lasted four interminable days before it blew itself out, whichit did later in the afternoon; and about sunset of the same day weconsumed the last scrap of food that remained to us. Then, with moansof utter despair, those poor dear women crawled into their lair beneaththe deck--to die, as they and I verily believed. As for Julius, he wasnearly as bad as they were, but those last days in the wreck and thenine days in the boat had wrought a miracle in him. All the perversityand selfishness of character that had before distinguished him had gone,and he had come out of the fires of adversity and suffering purged, anew and a right gallant, manly boy--how manly I did not know until sometime afterward, when it came out that, watching me and observing that Itook a trifle less food and water than I served out to others, he hadsurreptitiously returned a portion of his own meagre allowance. Poorboy! so far as usefulness was concerned, he was already as good as dead,for he could do nothing but just lie where he had flung himself down,utterly exhausted, and moan piteously.
Being naturally robust, I still retained a small modicum of strength.This I utilised by hauling in the sea anchor, and, with superhumanexertion, setting it up in place again, not so much with any hope thatit would blow us to land, as that it might attract attention aboard somepassing ship and lead them to bear down upon and rescue us. This lastbit of exertion finished me off, too, and I had not enough strength lefteven to stagger aft to the cockpit; I simply collapsed on the deck andknew no more.
I must have lain thus all through the night, for when at lengthconsciousness returned it was broad day, with the sun about an hour highin a sky of exquisite stainless b
lue. The long hours of unconsciousnessor sleep--perhaps it partook of both--had somewhat restored me, and Isat up, staring about me.
Merciful heaven! were my eyes deceiving me? Had I gone crazy, or waswhat I beheld real? I stared and stared with eyes that seemed to bestarting out of my head, but the vision--if vision it was--remainedstable. There lay a fair island, with trees that seemed to wave gentlyin the brisk morning breeze, and a hill that might almost be termed amountain nearly in its centre. That island was dead to leeward of us,and all that we had to do was to run down to it and land upon it, if Godwould only be merciful enough to allow the fair breeze to last.
With a queer kind of croaking shriek, the memory of which disturbs mysleep even now occasionally, but which I intended to be a yell ofrejoicing, I staggered to my feet, stumbled aft to the cockpit, and halfleaped, half tumbled into it. I shipped the rowlock in the after cleat,got out the steering oar, and, with labour that made me groan and pant,contrived to head the boat toward that glorious vision of an island, forwe had been drifting toward it broadside on. Then I bent down to wherethe lad Julius lay unconscious at my feet, and, shaking him roughly bythe shoulder, called on him to awake, for there was land in sight notmore than four miles away. For some time the poor boy made no responseto my efforts to arouse him, and I began to think that he was dead, whensuddenly he opened his eyes and whispered:
"Land? Land? Who talks of land?"
"I do, my hearty!" I replied. "I--Walter Leigh. Wake up, old chap,and see for yourself!"
"I--I--don't--think--I can," the poor boy gasped. "I--don't seem--to--to--. Can you--help--me--Mr--?"
"Oh, hang the Mister!" I exclaimed. "That's done with, long ago.Here, give me your hand, old man. That's it! Now--heave with a will.That's right--steady, boy!--grip the coaming. There you are! Now then,look straight ahead and tell me what you see."
The boy stared out over the boat's bows for a long minute or more, andnever shall I forget the look of exquisite rapture that gradually grewin his glassy eyes as he stared. Then suddenly down he dropped againinto the bottom of the boat and covered his poor emaciated face with hishands, as he gave vent to a storm of dry, choking sobs.
I stooped and patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.
"There!" I exclaimed soothingly, "that's all right, old man. Cry ifyou want to; but when you've done, slip in and see if you can make yourmother and sister understand that there's land in sight, and that weshall reach it in about two hours."
"Yes, yes, I will," whispered the boy. "It was of them I was thinking."
He got upon his hands and knees and crawled in under the deck, where heremained about five minutes or thereabout. Then he reappeared, his eyeswide with horror.
"Walter," he gasped, "Walter, I can't rouse them. I--I--guess they'redead!"
"Dead!" I croaked. "Oh, no, surely not! It would be too cruel thatthey should have endured so much, only to perish when all that we needis within sight. Take the dipper--there is still a little water left--and see if you can get them to swallow a drop or two; then, if they willtake any at all, give them a good drink--half a dipper each, but nomore, mind you. Tell them that in two hours we shall be ashore on thefairest island God's sun ever shone upon. Go at once, old boy; a fewminutes may make all the difference between life and death. I would gomyself, but I am afraid you are too weak to stand and steer."
"No, no, I'm not," he protested. "I can steer all right. And I'd everso much rather that you went in there than I. You will manage betterthan I could. And--and, Walter, I'm afraid--afraid that I--that theywouldn't wake for me."
I thought I saw what was the matter with the lad; he feared that hismother and sister were dead, and shrank from converting that fear intocertainty. I therefore surrendered the steering oar to him, and,drawing a small quantity of water from the almost empty cask, crept inunder the deck, where I found the four women lying, each by herself, asfar apart from the others as possible, all of them apparently dead. Yetalthough the place smelt close and stuffy enough, I could detect notrace of the taint which, in a hot climate, so quickly betrays thepresence of death, and with renewed hope I proceeded to my task.
I happened to turn to Miss Anthea first, and although the light in therewas too subdued to enable me to distinguish very clearly the ravageswrought by slow starvation, the ease with which I, feeble as I was,raised her poor emaciated form into a semi-sitting posture was eloquentenough. She lay, with closed eyes, quite inanimate in my arms; but uponbending over her I thought I could detect that she still breathed,although I was by no means certain. I dipped my finger in the pannikinof water which I had brought with me, and moistened her dry, crackedlips, repeating the operation two or three times. Presently Idistinctly heard her sigh, and saw that she was making a feeble effortto lick her lips, whereupon I held the pannikin to them and allowed alittle water to trickle into her mouth. This she endeavoured toswallow, but the effort was so painful as to extort a low groan fromher. Then she opened her eyes and looked about her vacantly, as thoughshe did not recognise her surroundings; but when she found me bendingover her she smiled faintly--a smile which strangely gladdened my heart.
"You are feeling better?" I whispered. "Try to swallow a little moreof this water; but hold it in your mouth for a moment or two first, thenI will give you more. Listen: there is land in sight, a most lovelyisland embowered in richest verdure, where I am sure we shall be able toget all the food we need. It is quite near, so near that we shall bethere in about two hours from now. Surely you can hold out two hourslonger if I give you enough water to quench your thirst?"
She smiled again. "Land, do you say?" she whispered. "Land--and food?Oh, yes, I am sure I can; the mere thought of it will sustain me. Butare you sure, Walter--quite sure?"
"Absolutely certain," I answered. "Julius has seen it, too, and issteering the boat straight for it. Now, drink a little more water, andthen let me help you to get into the fresh air. You will feel ever somuch better out there on deck."
She drank again, this time avidly, almost savagely, her small teethclenching on the rim of the pannikin and her poor thin fingers graspingit tightly when I attempted to remove it from her lips. When, knowingthat, in her condition, to drink freely would be hurtful to her, Iforcibly removed the pannikin, the poor girl cried pitifully, andwhispered that I was cruel; but I presently pacified her with thepromise of a little more as soon as she was outside. At last, with lessdifficulty than I had anticipated, I got her out on deck, where, afterthe administration of about a quarter of a pint of water, with just asuspicion of brandy in it, she revived in the most marvellous manner.
Then I went below again, and, pursuing the same tactics with the others,eventually had the happiness to restore them all to animation and getthem out on deck, where they sat feasting their eyes upon the gloriousprospect that was gradually unfolding itself before them. To achievethis result I had to expend the very last drop of water that could becoaxed from the breaker; and as I did so I realised to the full what thetorments of Tantalus must have been. Not a drop had passed my own lipsduring the previous twelve hours, and to witness the ecstasy with whichthe others absorbed the precious liquid was almost more than I couldendure in my then weak state.
As we crept slowly in toward the island we naturally obtained a moredistinct view of its characteristics. Let me try to describe them.From north to south I judged the island to measure a little over eightmiles long. At about a third of its length from the north end thereoccurred a sort of peak, to which the land sloped in every directionfrom its extremities, which seemed to consist of rocky cliffs rangingfrom about forty to perhaps two hundred feet in height, except towardsthe north, where the soil sloped gently down to a white sandy beachabout half a mile in length. Within about a mile and a half of thesouthern extremity there was another elevation, a sort of knoll, andabout a mile further south another knoll, about half the height of itsneighbour. The cliffs were almost black in colour; but above them therewere glimpses o
f most inviting grassy slopes peeping coyly out frombetween great masses of umbrageous trees, among which I felt it would bestrange if we did not find fruit trees of some sort. Indeed, I detectedcertain palms that I was morally certain were coconut palms, while,unless my eyes deceived me, I believed I could also descry foliage thatstrongly suggested the idea of plantain or banana trees. About ahundred yards from the southern extremity of the island, and quitedetached from it, there towered out of the sea a great vertical columnof black rock, like a rugged pillar with a rounded top, which lookedquite inaccessible.
Naturally I headed the boat, in the first instance, for the only bit ofbeach in sight. But when we had arrived within about a mile of theshore I detected a break in the cliffs which seemed to hint at theexistence of a small harbour near the southern part of the island,between the two knolls recently mentioned, and I at once headed the boatfor this spot, finding the wind just free enough to permit us to reachit.