The Missing Merchantman Part 12

"I don't know," said Sibylla, somewhat ruefully, "a year is a long time, isn't it? However," she continued, rather more cheerfully, "I hope we may not have to wait so long as that; Mr Damerell is wonderfully clever--as well as brave and gentle--and I know he is always thinking of some plan of escape, and he speaks so cheerfully and hopefully that I cannot but believe he will succeed. And if he does not we are still not absolutely helpless. The mutineers are quite as much in Mr Damerell's power as we are in theirs, for he says that not one of them possesses the least knowledge of the science of navigation, and he therefore believes that, for their own sakes, they will be civil to us both."

"Well, you are a plucky girl to keep up your spirits so well, and no mistake!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the skipper admiringly. "I am glad to see it, and shall now be able to say good-bye with an easier mind. Keep up your courage, my dear, and trust in G.o.d; He is as well able to take care of you here as anywhere else, and He will, too, I am convinced. And, after G.o.d, my dear girl, put your trust in Ned; he is a true gentleman and a brave, clever lad. He will outwit those rascals yet, you mark my word; and when he gives them the slip he is not the sort of lad to secure his own safety and run off, leaving you in the lurch, so--"

"Boat's all ready, and waiting, gents, so look alive, please," here interrupted Rogers, poking his head in at the cabin door, and as hastily withdrawing it again.

"Well, then, the time has come for us to say good-bye," resumed the skipper. "I have said pretty nearly all I wanted to say, and the rest is not of much consequence. I am glad I have had the opportunity for this little chat, and more glad than I can say to find you so brave and hopeful. Keep up your courage, my dear young lady; put your trust in G.o.d, and whatever Ted tells you to do, do it at once and without asking any questions, because whenever the moment for action comes, it will be suddenly, unexpectedly, and there will be no time to spare for explanations. And now, good-bye, my dear girl; good-bye, and G.o.d bless you."

In another moment the parting was over, and the two men stood at the gangway, beneath which the boat was lying loaded and manned, and only waiting for them to step into her before shoving off for the sh.o.r.e.

Young Manners at once went down the side and seated himself in the gig's stern-sheets, and Captain Blyth prepared to follow him. As he stood on the rail, however, he turned and faced the men, who had all gathered in the waist to witness his departure, and raised his hand for silence; a signal which was instantly obeyed.

"Just a word or two before we part for ever, men," he said. "You have a n.o.ble s.h.i.+p under your feet, and you are doubtless flattering yourselves that when you have once fairly rid yourselves of my presence, your troubles--whatever they may be--will all be at an end. You are mistaken, however. Until you and I are parted your crime is not irreparable; it is even now not too late for you to repent and make rest.i.tution, and so stave off the punishment which _must_ follow the consummation of your wickedness. You have a n.o.ble s.h.i.+p under you feet, I say; and you probably think that in her you can defy the law, and laugh to scorn the idea of capture. But, men, whether you believe it or not, _there is a G.o.d_ whose power is great enough to overturn your best planned schemes in a moment, and think not that He will allow your sin to go unpunished, or your plans for future crime to prosper. At the moment when you least expect it--when you are feeling most secure--His vengeance will fall upon you as a consuming fire. In His hands I leave you."

And turning his back upon the mutineers, Captain Blyth quietly descended the side-ladder, seated himself alongside Manners, and gave the order to shove oh.

CHAPTER TEN.

REFUGE HARBOUR.

Captain Blyth's valedictory speech was not without its effect upon some at least of the mutineers, who regarded each other with startled eyes, which dumbly but plainly asked the question:

"Is what we are doing worth the risk?"

Williams--who, it need scarcely be said, was one of the hardened ones upon whom the skipper's words produced no impression--saw plainly what was pa.s.sing in the minds of the others, and hastened to annul the effect produced.

"That was a very clever speech of the old man's--very clever," he remarked sardonically. "There was only one fault about it, and that was that he didn't speak the truth. He spoke of our seizure of the s.h.i.+p as a crime. Well, maybe it is, according to the law, but we all know by this time that the laws are made in favour of the rich and against the poor; and we know, too, that law is not justice. For my own part, when I perform an act of justice I don't feel very particular about whether what I am doing is legal or illegal, if it is _just_ it is quite sufficient to satisfy my conscience. The law, s.h.i.+pmates, is nothing--is no safe guide for a man's conscience, for we know that many a wrong, cruel, and unjust act is still perfectly legal--more shame to those that have the making and the powers of the laws in their hands. If you and I had been dealt with _justly_ instead of merely legally, the money that bought this s.h.i.+p and cargo would have gone into our pockets as wages for the toil and hards.h.i.+p, the suffering and danger that we have been daily exposed to, instead of going as profit into the pockets of the merchants. Therefore I maintain that in seizing this s.h.i.+p and her cargo we have acted with strict justice, inasmuch as that we have merely taken possession of what ought in justice to have been ours at the outset--we have repaid ourselves a portion of the wages that we have been defrauded of during the many years that we have followed the sea. Why, mates, is it fair, or reasonable, or just, to ask a man to risk his life every day, as we do, for _three pounds a month_? Why, if our wages were _three pounds a day_ it would not be too much. Reckon that up, you Bill Rogers, for all the years you've been following the sea, and how much will it amount to? Why, a precious sight more than your share of this s.h.i.+p and her cargo. But, lads, we've agreed to have our dues, and we'll have them, too, every penny of them; and if our only way of getting them is by turning pirates, why let the blame rest with those who have driven us to it. Justice is our right, and we will have it, let who will suffer for it, and upon that point we are all agreed. Aren't we, s.h.i.+pmates?"

"Ay, ay, of course we are--certainly, give us justice--give us our just rights, we want no more," murmured the men in response to Williams'

appeal.

"There is only one thing I should like to know," remarked one man timidly, "and that is, how we are going to manage without murder if we're going into the pirating business?"

"Ha! is that you, Tom?" remarked Williams satirically. "You are a cautious one, _you_ are; don't want to run your neck into a noose, eh?

Well, you are quite right, s.h.i.+pmate, quite right. But you need not trouble yourselves, any of you, there will be no murder. I have a plan whereby we can avoid all unpleasantness of that kind, and still make ourselves perfectly secure, and I will explain that plan to you in due time, but not now; there are more important matters claiming my attention at this moment. Where is Ned? Here, Ned, bring out the chart and spread it upon the capstan-head, and you, lads, go to your stations."

Upon which the men retired, their torpid consciences silenced, and themselves more than half convinced of the righteousness of their actions. As for Ned, he muttered to himself as he went off to get the chart:

"Clever fellow--very; a regular sea-lawyer! Wonder who he is, and what he was before he took to the sea? Shall have all my work cut out to get to windward of _him_."

Ned soon returned with the chart, which he spread open upon the capstan- head as desired, when Williams and Rogers approached and regarded the doc.u.ment with looks of the profoundest wisdom.

"A queer-looking spot, isn't it?" remarked Williams to his companion, indicating with a rapid motion of his finger the entire area of ocean lying between Celebes, New Guinea, and the northern coast of Australia.

"Very queer!" a.s.sented Rogers, with a solemnity in keeping with the subject.

Whereupon the pair once more inspected the chart for several minutes with the same look of preternatural wisdom as before, to Ned's intense but covert amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Very well," said Williams at length, as though he had finally settled some knotty point to his complete satisfaction. "Now then, Ned, where are we?"

Ned placed his finger on a blank part of the chart and answered, "Just there."

"Yes," agreed Rogers, profoundly, "that's the very identical spot."

Williams glanced at Rogers with a broad smile of amus.e.m.e.nt, fully aware that the latter understood a chart about as well as he understood Sanscrit, and then turned to Ned with the remark:

"Now the next place we want, Ned, is a good harbour where the s.h.i.+p can ride it out safely in all weathers, where we can heave her down, if need be, to clear the weeds and barnacles off her bottom, and where we can build stores and what not."

"Ah!" remarked Ned. "That is a place which has yet to be found."

"Yes, of course, we know that," a.s.sented Williams sharply. "The question is, where ought we to look for it? Of course you understand it must be a place quite out of the regular track of s.h.i.+ps, and not likely to be visited."

"In that case," said Ned, "I know of no better place to search than our present neighbourhood. You see that the sea all round the spot where we now are is marked 'Unknown,' which means, of course, that very few s.h.i.+ps navigate these waters, and I fancy that such can scarcely be said of many other parts of the ocean except such as lie pretty close to the North and South Poles."

"Very well," said Williams, "in this matter we must trust to you, and we will therefore search this 'unknown' part of the sea. You know best how it should be done, so give your orders, and I will see that they are carried out."

"In that case," said Ned, "my advice is this. The wind is still westerly, and a favourable opportunity is therefore afforded for the prosecution of our search to the eastward. Now, from our main-royal- yard a man can see very nearly twenty miles--far enough, at all events, to make out any land at that distance suitable for your purpose. I would propose, then, that we should work a traverse to the eastward, sailing, say, one hundred miles on north by east a half east course, and then wearing round and sailing two hundred miles on a south by east a half east course. This will enable us to examine a strip of sea two hundred miles wide, whilst our northerly and southerly tracks will never be so far apart but what we _must_ sight any land which happens to lie within that two-hundred-mile-wide belt. I would continue the search for say two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles to the eastward; and then, if you fail to find what you want, we must return and begin a systematic search to the westward, unless indeed you feel inclined to take the risk of venturing into better known waters. At night I would heave the s.h.i.+p to, with her canvas so balanced that she will make no headway; and in this way, I think, we may manage to pretty thoroughly explore the proposed track."

"Yes," said Williams thoughtfully, "that seems a very good plan. What do _you_ think of it, Rogers?"

"Capital!" observed Rogers approvingly; "couldn't be better. If there's any islands about we're bound to find 'em that way."

The man spoke in a tone of such thorough conviction that Williams turned and scrutinised his face, as though wondering whether, perchance, the fellow really happened to dimly understand the matter about which they were talking, but the stolid features revealed nothing; so turning away again with a quick smile, he said:

"Very well, Ned, we will try your plan and see what it leads to. Ah!

here comes the boat; they are just shoving off from the beach. Lay aft here some of you; overhaul those davit-tackles, and then stand by to hoist up the gig."

A quarter of an hour later the boat arrived alongside; she was hoisted up, the main-yards were swung, and the s.h.i.+p glided away on a north by east a half east course.

By sunset the s.h.i.+p, with the wind on her quarter, had run a distance of about fifty miles, when she was brought to the wind and hove-to for the night. At daybreak next morning the quest was resumed; and at noon the s.h.i.+p wore, her appointed distance of one hundred miles being completed.

This mode of procedure was persevered in until noon of the seventh day after that on which they had landed Captain Blyth and Bob Manners, during which interval several islands had been sighted and examined without result, when, at the time named, Ned discovered by observation that the s.h.i.+p was two hundred and five miles north-east by east of the island which was now the home of those unfortunates. He had just completed his observations and calculations when the look-out aloft reported land on the port bow.

Williams went aloft to take a look at the reported land for himself, and invited Ned to accompany him. The journey to the royal-yard was soon accomplished, and the land was seen. It lay on the horizon like a faint grey cloud; indeed so thin and misty-looking was its appearance that an untrained eye would a.s.suredly have mistaken it for a bank of vapour; but its outlines were so sharply-defined, and its shape so unchanging, that the experienced eyes of the gazers recognised it at once for what it was--namely, good solid earth. It was a long distance off, however-- fully forty miles away according to Ned's estimate--and from its spread along the horizon it seemed to be an island of considerable size. The s.h.i.+p was at once headed for it; but it was five bells in the afternoon watch before it became visible from the deck, and at sunset the s.h.i.+p was still six miles distant to the southward of it. By that time, however, it had become apparent that it was an island of some nine or ten miles in length, with a pretty regular height of about four hundred feet above the sea-level; and its appearance was so promising that it was resolved to heave-to the s.h.i.+p for the night and give the place a thorough examination on the following day. The vessel was accordingly hove about, with her head off the sh.o.r.e; sail was shortened to the three topsails, jib, and spanker, the main-yard was laid aback, and then all hands, except the officer of the watch and a couple of hands to look out, were allowed to go below for the night.

At daybreak on the following morning the _Flying Cloud_ was once more hove about and headed for the land under the same canvas which she had carried during the night, one hand being sent into the main-chains with the sounding-lead. Soundings, in twenty-five fathoms, were struck at a distance of about eight miles from the island; and thenceforward the water shoaled pretty regularly up to a mile from the sh.o.r.e, at which point a depth of five fathoms was met with. This was on the south side of the island, about two miles from its westernmost extremity, and abreast of an inlet which had previously been discovered with the aid of the s.h.i.+p's telescope. The vessel was now again hove-to, and, a hasty breakfast having been despatched, the gig was lowered and manned; and Ned, accompanied by Rogers, and supplied with a sounding-line and compa.s.s, was despatched in her to make a thorough examination of the place.

The boat pulled in, and at length entered the inlet, pa.s.sing abruptly from the open sea into the shelter afforded by a bold rocky headland about one hundred and fifty feet in height, round the base of which, and over a short projecting reef, the heavy ground-swell dashed and swirled and seethed in snow-white foam with a hoa.r.s.e, thunderous, never-ceasing roar. This inlet extended in a north-west direction for a distance of a mile and a quarter, its width decreasing from half a mile at the entrance to rather over a quarter of a mile at its inner extremity, with a tolerably regular depth of five and a half fathoms, until within half a mile of its inner end, where the water shoaled to four and a quarter fathoms. The scenery was very striking and beautiful--a sheer precipitous cliff, varying from one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet in height, towering out of the clear translucent water on their larboard hand as they pa.s.sed in, whilst on their starboard hand the ground sloped gently upward from the water's-edge for a distance of about a mile and a half inland, where it cut the sky-line as an undulating ridge some four hundred feet in height. The outer or seaward face of the island was densely wooded, the foliage being of every conceivable shade of green, variegated in places with blossoms or flowers, in some cases snow-white, in others a delicate pink; here a deep rich golden yellow, there a tender blue, yonder a flaming scarlet, and, perhaps a little further on, a deep glowing crimson or an imperial purple. And even on the larboard hand, where the cliff rose sheer from the water, the rocky face was only bare here and there, the rest of the cliff being thickly clothed with vegetation.

Arrived at the inner extremity of the inlet, the occupants of the gig rounded a rocky point on their starboard hand, and found themselves in a large basin, roughly circular in shape, measuring about two and three quarter miles long, by about two miles wide, and completely sheltered from every wind that could possibly blow, being absolutely landlocked.

This basin was formed by a deep indentation in the land on their starboard hand, the sh.o.r.e of which, starting from the rocky point they had just rounded, rapidly rose almost sheer from the water's-edge to about the same height as the precipitous cliff on their left, which it strongly resembled in general configuration, being a steep rocky face densely covered with tropical vegetation, in and out of which, by the way, darted numberless birds of brilliant plumage, whilst monkeys were to be seen here and there gambolling among the branches or staring curiously from some projecting pinnacle of rock at the new arrivals.

This basin, which had a depth of eight fathoms, with a rocky bottom in its centre, terminated, at its inner extremity, in a short pa.s.sage or channel about half a mile wide between two bold rocky bluffs, beyond which another large sheet of water was to be seen; and toward this the gig was headed, the sounding-line being kept busy during the whole progress. As the gig advanced beyond the centre of the first basin, the water was found to shoal gradually, until exactly midway between the two bluffs, a depth of four and a half fathoms only was given by the sounding-line. The bluffs pa.s.sed, the explorers found themselves in a second and much larger basin, also roughly circular in shape, like the first, but measuring about three and a half miles long by about three miles wide. This basin also was perfectly landlocked, the water being smooth as a mill-pond, and its surface scarcely ruffled by the faintest zephyr, though it was blowing moderately fresh outside. The sh.o.r.e all round sloped very gently up from the water's-edge, with a gradually increasing steepness, however, further inland, until just before the culminating ridge was reached the inclination appeared to be quite precipitous, giving indeed to the entire basin some similitude to the interior of a gigantic saucer. The slopes here, at least near the water's-edge, were not quite so densely wooded, the aspect of the landscape being exceedingly park-like, the soil being clothed with a velvety green-sward, thickly dotted with clumps of n.o.ble trees. A thin fringe of sandy beach ran all round the edge of this inner basin, except at its eastern or farther extremity, where the stretch of sand widened out to about the eighth of a mile for fully a mile in length. The deepest part of this basin was found to be at a point about a mile and a quarter inside the two rocky bluffs, and from thence it shelved up very gradually, the four-fathom line being struck at about a mile from the eastern sh.o.r.e. It was now discovered, however, that what had originally been taken for one island was in reality a group of four, two other channels being noted, one at the north-east, and the other at the south- east extremity of the inner basin. These channels were at once examined by the explorers, with the result that they were found to be impa.s.sable, except by boats. Indeed the north-east channel and one arm of the south-east channel--the latter forking into two channels at a mile and a half from its inner extremity--was found to be practically closed, even to boats, by the existence of formidable reefs outside, over which the surf was so heavy that no boat could possibly live in it. There was, moreover, a sandy bar with only one fathom of water on it at the inner extremity of both channels, but that pa.s.sed, the water deepened again, until in the case of the south arm of the south-east channel, another bar was reached, over which, by watching their opportunity, the explorers succeeded in taking their boat safely, when they once more found themselves in the open sea. This act of crossing the bar they discovered, when it was too late, was rather a bad move on their part, for it placed them some three miles to leeward of the s.h.i.+p, in a fresh breeze and roughish water; but they fortunately had the boat's sails with them, and Ned was rather glad than otherwise of an opportunity to discover what the gig could do under canvas and in such circ.u.mstances.

The masts were accordingly stepped and the sails hoisted, and in about an hour and a half they once more found themselves alongside of the _Flying Cloud_, those on board her having failed to sight them until they were close at hand, from the fact that the two craft were hidden from each other by a projecting point of land.

It was past two bells in the afternoon watch when the gig rejoined the s.h.i.+p; and Williams was, of course, all anxiety to learn the result of their protracted exploration. There was but one report that could be made--namely, that the place could not be better adapted for their purpose had it been specially constructed for them; and on hearing this, Williams ordered them to at once get their dinners, announcing his intention of taking the s.h.i.+p in forthwith.

Ned was as usual deputed to act as pilot, and accordingly, as soon as he appeared on deck after getting his dinner in the saloon, all hands were called, and sail was made upon the s.h.i.+p. The wind outside was at about west-south-west, which was a fair wind all the way to the spot Ned had fixed upon for an anchorage, except for the pa.s.sage up the inlet, which trended in a north-westerly direction. This, however, though under ordinary circ.u.mstances it would have made the wind rather shy on that course for a square-rigged vessel, gave Ned no concern, as he had observed when pa.s.sing in with the boat that, owing probably to the height of the cliff on the larboard hand, the wind manifested a tendency to draw up the inlet, and this, when the s.h.i.+p pa.s.sed in, was found to be sufficiently the case to keep all her canvas full. The pa.s.sage to the anchorage occupied a considerable time, in consequence of the scantiness of the wind as soon as the s.h.i.+p pa.s.sed in under the lee of the cliffs, and under other circ.u.mstances it might have been tedious; but in the present case it was quite the reverse, the unaccustomed sight of the lofty verdure-clad hills and cliffs, the variegated tints of the foliage, the rainbow hues of the flowers and blossoms, the gaily-painted birds flitting here and there, and the antics of the monkeys fully occupied the attention of all hands, and interested them so completely that the time pa.s.sed unheeded, and sunset surprised them when still half a mile from their anchorage. Then night fell upon them with the suddenness of the tropics; but the lead was now a faithful guide, and when it announced that the s.h.i.+p had arrived within four and a half fathoms of the bottom the sails were clewed up, the anchor was let go, and the mutineers found themselves at length in a harbour so safe that they might laugh at the winds in their utmost fury.