The Missing Merchantman Part 7

Doctor Henderson appeared to be too thoroughly paralysed with surprise and consternation to say or do anything just then; but Mr Gaunt at once rose to his feet, and, laying his hand kindly on the young fellow's shoulder, said:

"There, don't give way, Ned, I ought not to have spoken so harshly, but I was rather 'taken aback' as you sailors say. Sit down, my lad, and tell us all about it, and then we must see if we cannot devise a means to recover possession of the s.h.i.+p, and restore their freedom to poor Captain Blyth and Mr Manners."

Quickly recovering his self-control, Ned seated himself on the edge of his bunk, and briefly related to his astonished listeners all that had occurred during the preceding night, winding up by saying:

"As to retaking the s.h.i.+p, I am afraid there is scarcely a chance of our succeeding in that, for the entire crew seem to have been completely won over by that fellow Williams, and to be thoroughly united in their determination to try their fortunes as pirates--for that, as I understand it, is what it all amounts to; so you see there are only our three selves against all hands for'ard--for they seem determined to keep poor Captain Blyth and Manners close prisoners until they can be landed somewhere--and what can we three do against so many? Moreover, I have been ordered to particularly impress upon you that, whilst the mutineers are at present extremely averse to bloodshed, anything like a suspicious action on your part will be looked upon as premeditated treachery, _and treated as such_. Those were Williams' very words. So, whilst I shall be only too glad to take my part in any feasible scheme which you may be able to devise, I feel it my duty to warn you that we must all act with the utmost circ.u.mspection."

This announcement made the gentlemen look rather blank again.

"Um!" at length said Mr Gaunt. "The further we advance with this business the more serious does its aspect become. I have no very great fancy just now for being landed anywhere but at Melbourne; nevertheless, as matters now are, I can easily conceive a state of things which would make us glad enough to be all safely quit of the s.h.i.+p, even if we had to leave her for a raft. We must be circ.u.mspect, as you say, Ned, ay, even to the extent of not being seen talking much together. But we will keep our thoughts busy, and if a scheme occurs to either of us that person must contrive an opportunity to communicate it as briefly as may be to the others. Meanwhile, you will be doing good service if you can manage to sound the better-disposed portion of the crew, with a view to ascertaining whether it would be possible to win them back to their allegiance. And now, Henderson, the best thing we can do, I think, will be to return to our respective cabins and break this news as gently as possible to our wives; they _must_ know it--it would be quite impossible to long conceal the fact of the mutiny from them--and we are the most suitable bearers of the intelligence to them. Well, good-bye for the present, Ned, and do not forget that you may depend upon us at any hour of the day or night. Is not that so, Henderson?"

"Yes, certainly, of course," was the reply. "I am too much astonished to say much just now, but I shall not be found wanting when the time for action arrives. Good-bye, Ned!"

And with a cordial shake of Ned's hand, the two quiet, unpretending- looking men filed out and re-entered their respective cabins.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

ANXIOUS DAYS.

Upon learning the news of the mutiny the ladies were, as might be expected, overwhelmed with consternation and dismay, feelings which were intensified when it was further intimated to them, through Ned, that Williams intended henceforward to take up his abode in the cabin, and that he should expect all the pa.s.sengers to favour him with their company at meals, and, in fact, whensoever he might choose to join them.

So impertinent a message naturally excited at the outset a great deal of indignation; but Mr Gaunt--who seemed to rise to the occasion, and who, immediately upon the occurrence of the crisis, instinctively a.s.sumed the direction of affairs--soon brought the little party to reason when they a.s.sembled in the saloon for a hurried conference, by pointing out to them that, for the present, at least, they were quite helpless, and that, therefore, instead of struggling against what was unavoidable, their best plan would be to humour the whims of the mutineers, so long, of course, as they were not too outrageous, and to quietly bide their time in the hope that an opportunity might present itself for turning the tables upon the crew. And he emphasised his proposition by so many convincing arguments that, when breakfast was announced by the steward, the entire party presented themselves at table, the ladies making such a successful effort to conceal their perturbation as to thoroughly astonish Williams when that worthy made his appearance and established himself at the head of the table.

"Good-morning, ladies and gentlemen," said he, making a not ungraceful bow as he seated himself. "Hope you all slept well."

"Thank you," said Mr Gaunt; "yes, I believe we all enjoyed a fairly good night's rest; thanks to our ignorance of what was going forward."

"Ah, yes," answered Williams with a somewhat constrained laugh and an obviously embarra.s.sed manner; "yes, we took the liberty of making a change or two for the better during the night."

"For the better?" repeated Gaunt. "Pray how can you demonstrate that the changes you have effected are for the better?"

"Well, I'll tell you," answered Williams. "I'm glad you've asked, as it gives me an opportunity to explain the why and the wherefore of our acts, and to show you that we are not, after all, quite such villains as I daresay you now think us. First and foremost," he continued, "I suppose I need not point out to gentlemen of your intelligence and experience that sailors--foremast men, that is to say--lead the hardest lives and are the worst paid for it of any set of men living?"

"Well," said Mr Gaunt, "without being prepared to go so far as that I am quite willing to admit that the life of a seaman is a hard one. But what has that to do with your mutiny? In the first place, I suppose you joined the s.h.i.+p voluntarily; and, in the next, it seems to me, from what I have seen, that you have been made as comfortable on board here as was possible under the circ.u.mstances. Your food has been good and sufficient, your quarters are dry, airy, and comfortable, and surely it would be difficult to find more considerate officers than Captain Blyth and his mates?"

"All very true, so far as it goes," answered Williams, "but would _you_ like to be a seaman before the mast?"

"No," said Mr Gaunt, "I frankly admit I should not; otherwise, I suppose I should have been a seaman, and not a civil engineer. But the life was of your own choosing, I presume?"

"Yes, it was, and I don't complain of it," said Williams. "The thing I complain of is, that, seeing what a life of hards.h.i.+p and peril ours is, we do not get paid a half nor a quarter enough. What would be the use of s.h.i.+ps without sailors to man them? We are just as necessary to a s.h.i.+p as her captain; yet look at the difference in his pay and ours! I say it is not fair; it is rank injustice; sailors have just been _robbed_ all these years, and the long and the short of it is that the crew of this s.h.i.+p means to get back part of what has been stolen from them by the dishonesty of s.h.i.+powners."

"But, my good fellow," exclaimed the engineer, "you are taking an altogether wrong view of the question. Admitting that you are as necessary to the s.h.i.+p as her captain, you entirely overlook the important fact that _one_ captain is sufficient for a s.h.i.+p, no matter how large she may be, whilst _one_ seaman alone is of very trifling value; hence the difference in the scale of pay."

It was clear enough from the expression of the mutineer's face that this view of the question had never before been presented to him; he was completely "taken aback," and for a minute or two could find absolutely nothing to say.

"Well!" he exclaimed at last, "it is clear enough that it is no use for an ignorant man like me to try to argue with an educated gentleman like you; you are bound to go to wind'ard of me the very first tack, and I was a fool for attempting it. But there are other matters which, in my opinion, fully justify the step we have taken."

"The fellow may _call_ himself an ignorant man, but his language is that of a person who has enjoyed at least some of the benefits of education,"

thought Gaunt. But he merely said:

"Indeed! May I ask what they are?"

"Certainly. The question is just this. Why should I, and thousands like me, have to work and slave for a bare living, whilst there are others who never do a stroke of work in their whole lives and yet have houses, and land, and money, horses and carriages--in fact, all that heart can wish for? Is this fair, or right, or just?"

"a.s.suredly it is," was the reply, "and so, I think, you will admit, if you will give the matter a moment's consideration. It is not your fault or mine that you and I do not occupy the enviable position in life to which you have just referred; it is the fault, if fault there be, of our ancestors. They did not happen to be money-getters, and therefore, if we wish to enjoy the advantages attendant upon the possession of a fortune, large or small, we must get the fortune for ourselves. Just look at the question for a moment from the millionaire's point of view.

If you happened to possess a fortune would you consider it fair or just that you should be called upon to divide it evenly with everybody worse off than yourself? For that, I fancy, is the idea you have in your mind."

This was another poser which Williams evidently found it wholly impossible to answer. He hung his head in deep and perplexed thought for some minutes, and at length said:

"It is quite impossible for me to argue with you, as I said before; but the long and the short of it is this, we have made our plans, and we intend to carry them out, right or wrong. But you need have no apprehension for yourselves. We have no intention to prey upon private individuals; and though we shall be obliged to land you on some spot from which it will be impossible for you to escape, we will deliver up to you the whole of your private property, and also furnish you with means to protect yourselves and to preserve your lives, so far as we have the power."

And without waiting to discuss the question further, the mutineer rose from the table and beat a somewhat precipitate retreat.

"Had you any hope of convincing the fellow?" asked the doctor, when the little party once more found themselves free to converse unreservedly.

"No, I cannot say I had," answered Gaunt; "but I thought I might so far shake his purpose as to make him hesitate about his future plans, and so give us a little more time in which to act. But it is evident enough that he has no wish to be convinced; if, therefore, we are to do anything we must make our arrangements speedily. Come on deck and have a smoke, old fellow."

The ladies had no fancy for being left alone just then; the entire party, therefore, children included, adjourned to the p.o.o.p. Williams was then standing in the waist talking to the boatswain, to whom he appeared to be giving some instructions; but on observing the movements of the pa.s.sengers he signed to Ned, who was standing near, to follow him, and hastily made his way into the saloon.

"Bring me the captain's charts," he said, as soon as Ned joined him.

The charts were produced; and after carefully looking them over Williams selected a track-chart of the world, which he carefully spread out on the table.

"Now, show me whereabouts we are," he said.

Ned indicated the position of the s.h.i.+p by making a pencil dot on the paper, and a long period of anxious study on Williams' part followed.

"What is the course to the Straits of Sunda?" was the next question.

Ned told him; whereupon Williams left the saloon, and a moment later was heard altering the course of the s.h.i.+p in accordance with Ned's information. He then returned to the saloon, and unrolled a chart of the North Pacific, which he pored anxiously over for fully a quarter of an hour, finally huddling the charts all together in a heap, with the remark, "That will do for the present;" which Ned construed into a token of dismissal, and accordingly left the cabin.

Day followed day with little or no variety, the weather continuing fine all the time, and at length the _Flying Cloud_ arrived within a few days' sail of the Straits of Sunda. Ned now spent on deck every moment he could possibly spare from sleep, as he was not without hopes that hereabout a man-of-war might be fallen in with; and he was resolved that, in such a case, it should go hard but he would make some effort to communicate to her the state of affairs on board.

And, as a matter of fact, they actually did sight a frigate on the day upon which they entered the straits. But Williams was not to be caught napping; he too had evidently contemplated some such possibility, and had taken such precautions as not only rendered it impossible for anyone to make a private signal, but had also arranged such answers to the signals usually made on such occasions that the frigate was completely hoodwinked, and pa.s.sed on her way without attempting to send a boat alongside.

This was a terrible disappointment, not only to Ned but also to Gaunt and the doctor, each of them having confidently reckoned upon a certain deliverance in the event of a man-of-war being fallen in with.

They now recognised that in Williams, whether educated or not, they had a man of no ordinary acuteness to deal with; they realised that, though apparently free as air to act as they pleased, an unceasing watch was being kept upon them, and they felt that henceforth they must not place any dependence upon the hope of help from without. They all, therefore, individually and collectively too, so far as they had opportunity, began to plot and scheme; in the hope of being able to hit upon some plan which might enable them to recover possession of the s.h.i.+p, going even to the perilous length of sounding the least unpromising of the crew in the hope of finding at least a few of them open to either persuasion or bribery. But it was all of no avail. The men proved not only unresponsive but suspicious; and they were also wholly unsuccessful in their efforts to communicate with Captain Blyth, of whom they could not get so much as a sight, much less speech with him.

"It is of no use for us to try any further," at last said Gaunt, when talking matters over with the doctor. "We have tried our best, but Williams is too acute and too strong for us. I have noticed a certain something in his manner within the last day or two which tells me that we are standing on very perilous ground, and we must drop the whole affair before worse comes of it. We must not forget that the women and children have only us to look to for protection in this awful strait; it will never do for us to attempt anything which might result in their being left to the tender mercies of those ruffians forward. The only thing we can now hope for is a speedy and safe deliverance from their clutches by being landed somewhere; and we must pray that they will be induced to land us on some spot where we may not only be able to make ourselves safe, but also to secure the means of living."

Meanwhile the s.h.i.+p pa.s.sed safely through the Straits of Sunda, along the south coast of Borneo, and so into the Java and Flores Seas; Williams maintaining a ceaseless and anxious watch upon Ned as the lad daily p.r.i.c.ked off upon the chart the position of the s.h.i.+p, and frequently altering the course with the evident object of inspecting certain islands, probably to ascertain whether they were suitable for landing his unwelcome guests upon. Several islands were visited, but none of them proved satisfactory. Some were found to be inhabited by savages, whose demonstrations at sight of the s.h.i.+p were so unmistakably hostile that it would have been obviously only murder thinly disguised to have landed any white person there, whilst others seemed deficient in the means of sustaining life. Wandering thus about the ocean a fortnight pa.s.sed away, and Williams began to grow impatient; so much so indeed that he at length proposed landing the pa.s.sengers on the next land seen, let it be what it would. But to this the crew would not agree: they were as yet young in crime, and were determined that, since the pa.s.sengers _must_ be got rid of, they should at least be given a fair chance. A compromise was at length come to, by which it was agreed that the search should be continued for three days longer, after which the unlucky pa.s.sengers were to be landed on the first land seen, there to take their chance. This matter was decided at a council composed of the entire crew, on the evening of a day whereon no less than three islands had been fruitlessly visited; and at the close of the discussion Ned was summoned and the chart consulted. At Williams' request the area already examined was pointed out, and then, after much discussion, a course of due east was decided upon, in order that a new tract of sea might be explored. On this course the chart showed a clear sea for something like three hundred miles ahead of them. Everybody was therefore much astonished when at daybreak next morning land was descried right ahead at a distance of only about ten miles.

The discovery was of course first reported to Williams, who seemed greatly disconcerted by it.

"Call Ned," said he.

Ned was duly summoned, and soon made his appearance on the topgallant- forecastle, upon which Williams had already established himself, and from which advantageous stand-point he was watching the approach of the s.h.i.+p to the land.