The Missing Merchantman Part 8

"What do you call that?" demanded Williams, pointing ahead, as soon as he became conscious of Ned's presence beside him.

"Land--unmistakably land!" exclaimed Ned, shading his eyes with his hand to get a clearer view.

"And do you know how far the s.h.i.+p has run during the night?" angrily demanded the mutineer.

"Not far, I should think; perhaps fifty or sixty miles," replied Ned, glancing aloft and away toward the horizon to note the appearance of sea and sky.

"And did you not tell me only last night that we had a clear sea to the eastward of us for something like three hundred miles? Yet there is the land; and if it had happened to blow fresh during the night we should perhaps have run upon it before making it out in the dark. How do you account for your being so strangely out of your reckoning?" sternly asked Williams.

"I am not out of my reckoning," hotly retorted Ned; "and I cannot account for the appearance of that island except upon the supposition that this particular portion of the ocean has never yet been thoroughly examined, and that therefore the island ahead has never been observed and set down on the chart. One thing at all events is certain, and that is that, as I said last night, the chart shows a clear sea a long way ahead of us."

"Bring the chart to me, and let me have another look at it," growled Williams.

Ned produced the chart and spread it out on the deck, when Williams kneeled down and examined it for some time with very evident suspicion, not scrupling at last to hint pretty plainly his impression that Ned had deliberately intended to cast away the s.h.i.+p. Of course Ned indignantly repudiated any such intention, and at length apparently succeeded in partially rea.s.suring Williams, who finally grumbled out; "Well, if what you say be true, the only conclusion we can come to is that yonder island has never yet been visited by civilised beings; and if that is the case it is all the more suitable a spot on which to land some of our useless live lumber. So go aft and tell the pa.s.sengers to pack up their traps at once, as I am about to put them ash.o.r.e. And tell the boatswain to open the after-hatch and to pa.s.s these people's dunnage on deck all ready for sending ash.o.r.e with them. I am quite tired of running about looking for a suitable spot for them, and will look no further. They will have to do the best they can yonder, savages or no savages."

Ned hurried aft to the p.o.o.p, on which the little group of ladies and gentlemen was congregated, and delivered his message, adding:

"I am very glad--in some respects--that you are going, for I may now tell you that unconsciously you have been in some sort acting as hostages for my good behaviour, and I have been dreadfully afraid that some involuntary slip on my part might complicate matters for you. When once you are all safely out of the s.h.i.+p I shall feel more at liberty to take a few risks, if I can see that any good is likely to arise therefrom. I was at first in hopes that Captain Blyth and young Manners would have been put on sh.o.r.e with you, in which case I would have joined you, even if I had had to swim for it; but I am afraid Williams--the scoundrel--intends to land them elsewhere, in which case I am sure it is my duty to stick to the s.h.i.+p so long as they remain on board. But, at all events, I will try to give you the lat.i.tude and longitude of the island before you leave us, for, if I mistake not, you, Mr Gaunt, can navigate?"

"Yes," said Gaunt, "I am a fairly good navigator, and not a bad seaman, in an amateurish sort of way, you know. But do not trouble about the position of the island. I have here," producing his watch, "an excellent chronometer, showing Greenwich time, and books and instruments among my luggage which, with the aid of sun, moon, and stars, will enable me to obtain all the information I need. True, I have no charts; but I have a capital atlas, which will serve our turn, so far as finding our way from place to place is concerned. And now, Ned, whilst we have the opportunity, let me say that we all thoroughly understand the peculiar and difficult position in which you are placed on board here, and that we consider you have conducted yourself admirably and with remarkable discretion from the very commencement of this deplorable business of the mutiny. And if, as is by no means improbable, you should by and by find yourself involved by your involuntary a.s.sociation with these mutineers in a situation of difficulty or peril, we shall be most happy and willing to bear testimony to that effect, if we happen to be in a situation to do so. We shall of course endeavour to escape from our island prison; and should we succeed, our first act on reaching a civilised country will be to make to the authorities a full and detailed report of all the circ.u.mstances of the mutiny, so that a man-of-war may be sent out in quest of the s.h.i.+p. But I think it will be well for _you_ to do the same, for your own sake. You can perhaps manage it by writing an account of the transaction, sealing it up in a bottle, and throwing the bottle overboard when you happen to be in some well-frequented s.h.i.+p track; not forgetting to state in your report the position of the island on which we are landed, as well as that of the spot on which poor Captain Blyth and young Manners may be put on sh.o.r.e. And now, as we may not have another opportunity to say it, good-bye, my dear lad, remain honest and true to your duty, as you have been hitherto, and leave all the rest to G.o.d, who will not allow you to suffer for the faults of others. Good-bye, Ned, and G.o.d bless and guide and deliver you from all evil. Amen."

Gaunt then shook Ned heartily by the hand, after which the others stepped forward one by one and did the same, each saying a hopeful word or two to cheer and encourage him under the pang of parting, which it was evident enough the poor lad felt keenly. Sibylla hung back until all the others, the poor children included, had spoken their farewell, and then she too advanced and held out her hand. She was very pale, and the small shapely trembling hand which Ned grasped in his was icy cold; but however keenly she may have felt the parting under such terrible circ.u.mstances she contrived to maintain at least a semblance of outward composure, though there was a tremor in her voice which she found it quite impossible to control. She murmured a few low half-inarticulate words of farewell, gave Ned's hand a slight involuntary pressure ere she released it, and then hastily retreated to her state-room.

As for poor Ned, on releasing Sibylla's hand he turned and staggered out of the cabin, looking like a man who had been suddenly struck a numbing blow, and feeling as he might have felt had the saloon been a felon's dock in which he had just received his death-sentence. This miserable parting, though he had been constantly expecting it any time within the previous fortnight, and though he honestly believed--as he had said-- that he was glad of it, now seemed to have come upon him with startling suddenness, and it had called up with it an unexpected feeling of bitter anguish for which he was wholly unprepared, and for which he found it difficult to account. It was not, he thought, that he had conceived for these people an exceptionally warm friends.h.i.+p; he had made many friends during his sea-going career for whom he had felt quite as strong a regard, yet when the time for it came he had been able to say farewell with a cheery voice and a comparatively light heart. But now it seemed altogether a different matter; though the sun still shone brilliantly, as of old, and the warm soft wind still roughened the sapphire sea and caused it to laugh and sparkle as joyously as ever, the whole world looked dark, cheerless, and gloomy to him, and he felt as though he had suddenly become the victim of some terrible calamity. In the endeavour to get rid of the horrible feeling of depression which had thus unaccountably seized upon him, Ned went and hunted up the boatswain, and delivered Williams' order respecting the removal of the pa.s.sengers'

baggage from the hold; after which he mounted the p.o.o.p, on which Williams had by this time stationed himself. But, actuated by the new and peculiar feeling which was just then so strongly a.s.serting itself within his breast, the lad could think only of the mysterious island ahead, and of those who were so soon to be landed upon it; and his imagination, powerfully stimulated as it just then was, already pictured the little party abandoned there, and reduced to the most primitive state of self-dependence, given over to battle for their very existence as best they might: houseless, exposed to a thousand perils, and dest.i.tute of even the commonest necessaries of life until such could be provided by their own exertions. There was one--and only one--grain of comfort to brighten the gloomy prospect as it presented itself to Ned's mental vision, which was that Mr Gaunt seemed to be a man of infinite resource; one of those extremely rare individuals who can never be taken wholly by surprise, and who no sooner find themselves confronted by a difficulty than they are ready with a remedy for it. The doctor, too, though a singularly quiet and una.s.suming man, struck Ned as one who, his work once fairly cut out for him, would go manfully through with it.

But what could two men, however resolute, do in the position they would soon occupy, unless well provided with arms, ammunition, and tools?

And, determined to let slip no opportunity to help those in whom he was so strongly interested, the lad turned to Williams and said:

"As I suppose you do not intend to turn these people adrift without arms, or the tools with which to construct for themselves some sort of a shelter, would it not be well to look up a few things for them at once, so that the s.h.i.+p may not be detained in a position of danger when the landing takes place?"

"Arms! tools!" growled Williams. "Who spoke of supplying them with either?"

"n.o.body," answered Ned; "but you cannot surely be thinking of putting them ash.o.r.e without them?"

"Now, supposing that you had the management of this job," snarled Williams, "what would you give them?"

"Well," said Ned, "I should let them have one of those spare topsails out of the sail-room; a couple of rifles apiece, including the women, with plenty of ammunition, two or three axes, a hammer or two, and a few bags of nails."

"Oh! you would, eh?" sneered Williams. "And what use do you suppose all those things would be to them?"

"The sail," said Ned, "would serve them for a tent until they could build a house, the tools would enable them to build the house, and the arms would give them a chance to defend themselves if attacked, as well as to provide themselves with food."

"Well, yes, that's true," answered Williams, rather reluctantly. "Very well," he continued, "go and rout the things out; and let me see them when you have got them together."

Without waiting to give the fellow a chance to change his mind, Ned hurried off, and summoning the boatswain and his gang to his a.s.sistance, soon had the topsail on deck; after which he procured the keys of the arm-chest and selected not ten but a dozen rifles, fitted with bayonets, a goodly stock of ammunition, three new axes with helves complete, a couple of shovels, two hammers, half a dozen bags of nails, mostly large, a coil of inch rope, an adze, and a quant.i.ty of tinware--as less liable to breakage than crockery. And, as a suitable finish to the whole, he topped off with a case which he routed out from the lazarette, and which bore on its side the legend "a.s.sorted tinned meats."

Breakfast was by this time ready; and on its being announced, Williams ordered Ned to take charge of the deck, and, in the event of anything noteworthy occurring, to report to him at once. Ned was by no means sorry to be thus left to himself for a short time; but, fully alive to the exceptional nature of the responsibility laid upon him at that particular moment, deemed his proper position just then to be in the fore-top. And, first procuring his telescope, thither he quickly made his way.

The s.h.i.+p was by this time within about five miles of the land; and the first thing the lad noticed, on reaching his more elevated post, was that the sea was breaking heavily all along the sh.o.r.e. Hailing the boatswain, who was on deck, Ned instructed that functionary to report this circ.u.mstance to Williams, who, in consequence, soon made his appearance on deck again.

"Fore-top, there!" he hailed; "how far are the breakers off the sh.o.r.e?"

"About a mile, I should say," answered Ned.

"Do they look too heavy for a boat to go through them?" was the next inquiry.

"Yes," answered Ned; "there is nothing but white water all along this side of the island."

"Very well," said Williams, "stay where you are, and keep your eyes peeled; we must try the lee side of the island, that's all. Lay aft here, my lads, and man the lee braces. Down with your helm, there, you sir, and let her come by the wind. Brace sharp up, my bullies; we mustn't leave the hooker's bones on yon island if we can help it. Well, there! belay all! How is that, Ned; shall we weather the southernmost point, think ye?"

"Yes," answered Ned, "and plenty to spare, if there is no current to set us to leeward."

The island was now to leeward of the s.h.i.+p, stretching along the horizon on her larboard beam, the northern extremity being well on her quarter, whilst the southern end, with an outlying reef, lay about three points on her lee-bow. Anxious to see and learn as much as possible of the place which was to be the--possibly life-long--abode of those who had suddenly seemed so dear to him, Ned again had recourse to his telescope, with which he forthwith proceeded to carefully scan the island.

It measured, from north to south, about six miles, as nearly as the lad could estimate it; what its measurement might be in the other direction it was not then possible to say. The land was very high, especially toward the centre of the island; and one of the first things which attracted Ned's attention was a remarkable cliff, apparently quite perpendicular, which traversed the island from north to south, seemingly about four hundred feet high, and which sprang sheer out of the ridge of a lofty hill which appeared to form the back-bone, as it were, of the island. This cliff seemed to Ned to divide the island into two distinct parts; for it terminated, both to north and to south, in a terrific precipice falling sheer down to the sea, which foamed and chafed at its base. This gave the island a most peculiar appearance, suggesting the idea that at some distant period of the world's history a mighty convulsion had occurred, rending the rocks violently asunder and forcing a portion of them--namely, that which formed the land in sight--far above the level of the rest. To the eastward, or landward of the remarkable cliff already referred to, Ned could see the steep conical summit of a lofty mountain, apparently about four miles inland; but the cliff was too high to allow of his seeing any other portion of the island beyond it. The land was covered with wood from the base of the cliff clear down to the inner margin of the beach, and, with the aid of his gla.s.s, Ned could detect the feathery fronds of cocoanut and other palms, as well as the less lofty foliage of the useful banana.

Meanwhile, the s.h.i.+p had by this time reached a point which enabled the lad to make out that the long line of breakers which had first attracted his attention inclosed a bay about a mile wide and nearly that depth, the water of which was quite smooth and unbroken inside the inner line of breakers. And whilst examining this bay, with the idea that a knowledge of it might be useful to his friends, Ned's eye was arrested by an object on the inner edge of the reef, and almost in smooth water, which a more careful inspection showed him to be a wreck. This discovery he determined not to report, but to communicate, if possible, to the little party before they were landed. And, to make more certain of being able to do so, he there and then tore a leaf out of his pocket- book and jotted down a few notes respecting his observations, which he thought they might be glad to have.

At length the s.h.i.+p handsomely weathered the most southerly extremity of the island, this proving to be a bold projection in a vertical cliff, the summit of which towered in some places to a height of nearly sixteen hundred feet above the sea. This cliff extended along the whole southern seaboard of the island, towering highest at the point where it met the curious transverse cliff before mentioned, and gradually becoming lower as it neared the eastern end of the island, which now showed itself to be about eleven miles in length from east to west.

With the exception of the mountain, the conical top of which Ned had seen over the summit of the transverse cliff, that cliff seemed to be the highest part of the island; though the rest of it was also hilly, gradually sloping, however, to the eastward until it terminated in a beautiful white sandy beach, on which Ned soon saw that a landing might be effected without difficulty.

As soon as Ned had piloted the s.h.i.+p into a position where she might be hove-to with safety, Williams called him down on deck, on reaching which he was summoned aft.

"Now then!" exclaimed Williams, "let's give this cargo"--pointing to Ned's collection of miscellaneous articles for the pa.s.sengers'

benefit--"an overhaul. You seem quite determined that they shall not want for much, by the look of it."

"Of course not; why should they?" demanded Ned. "They are not going on sh.o.r.e to please themselves, but to please you; and it is only right that they should be supplied with everything necessary to make themselves thoroughly comfortable. They ought not to be allowed to want for _anything_."

Williams admitted that there was some truth in that argument; and, after inquiring what uses certain of the articles were expected to be put to, ordered the boat to be lowered and manned, and everything to be pa.s.sed down into her. When this came to be done, however, there proved to be, with the luggage, too much for one boat; so, rather than incur the delay which would be entailed by the making of a second trip, Williams, with many expressions of dissatisfaction and impatience, ordered the second quarter-boat to be lowered.

At length everything was p.r.o.nounced to be in the boats; and nothing remained but for the pa.s.sengers themselves to pa.s.s down over the side.

They had, previously to this, asked and been refused permission to say farewell to Captain Blyth, there was therefore nothing further to detain them, and Mr Gaunt now advanced to the gangway, where he paused for a moment in order to protest formally against being thus landed in a part of the world from which there seemed little or no hope of their being able to effect their escape. The protest was, of course, utterly ineffectual, as they quite expected it would be--indeed it was only made because they wished it to be clearly understood by all hands that they were not leaving the s.h.i.+p of their own free-will--and when the engineer had finished speaking, all that Williams said in reply was:

"That is all right. And now, as there is a fairish amount of swell running, I would recommend you two gentlemen to go down into the boat first, so as to help the ladies and children down, and to see that none of them fall overboard."

This was such sound advice that the engineer at once followed it, Ned at the same time pressing forward, and, under cover of a pretence of wis.h.i.+ng to shake hands with him for the last time, slipped into his hand the pencil note he had prepared. The transfer was effected un.o.bserved; and the doctor next stepping forward, soon found himself safely in the boat beside his friend. The children were next carefully handed down by Ned; after which, at a sign from Williams, first Mrs Gaunt and then Mrs Henderson followed. There now remained only Sibylla to complete the party; and she was in the act of advancing to the gangway, when--to the unspeakable dismay of those most concerned--Williams, who was standing on the rail, gave the order for both boats to shove off, at the same moment leaping down off the rail on deck. His extraordinary order must have been antic.i.p.ated, so promptly was it obeyed; and before even Gaunt could recover from his momentary surprise, the boats were fifty yards away from the s.h.i.+p and heading for the sh.o.r.e, whilst the cries of the hapless deserted girl rang fearfully out over the water after them.

The feeling of dismay naturally excited in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the unfortunate pa.s.sengers by this singular episode was of the briefest possible duration, and was immediately succeeded by one of vexed astonishment, that by what seemed like a cruel and inexcusably careless oversight, a sensitive girl should have been subjected to even the most temporary alarm; and whilst Mrs Henderson started to her feet with clasped hands and wide-open startled eyes, Gaunt laid his hand on the tiller, and jammed it hard over, as he exclaimed authoritatively:

"Back water, the starboard oars! pull, the port! round with her, men!

You have left Miss Stanhope behind!"

The men, looking surprisedly at each other, proceeded to obey the order, upon which the new second-mate, who was in charge of the boat, started to his feet, and prefacing the inquiry with an oath, demanded:

"Now then, you sodgers, what are you about? Who commands this here boat? Give way, you swabs, and bend your backs to it, too, or there'll be trouble for some of you when you gets back to the s.h.i.+p. It's all right, sir," he continued, addressing Gaunt; "the young lady is to stay where she is. It was all arranged by Williams and a few more of us about half an hour ago, whilst you was all busy packing up your traps in the cabin. The fact is like this here: None of us foremast hands understands anything about navigation, so we've been obliged to press young Ned into the sarvice; and we knows as how his heart ain't in the job, and Williams sort of suspects that he'd play us a scurvy trick if he dared. As long as you was with us he was all right, because, d'ye see, Williams told him that if he played us false you'd be made to suffer for it; but it suddenly struck him just now that when you was all put ash.o.r.e where should we be? So he and two or three more of us had a palaver together, and the long and the short of it is that we decided to keep the young woman with us as a 'hostage,' Williams calls it, whereby we shall keep the whip hand of the lad, as you may say. So all her dunnage was pa.s.sed down into the after-hold again on the quiet, and if there's anything of hers in either of the boats we've got to take it back aboard again. And Williams' very last orders was that I was to be sure to tell you that you wasn't to worry about the young lady, because we've all agreed that she shall be treated as a pa.s.senger with the greatest possible respect, and not be interfered with by anybody."

"Oh, my poor sister--my poor lost sister!" moaned Mrs Henderson, burying her face in her hands as she burst into a pa.s.sion of hysterical tears; and whilst Mrs Gaunt did her best to soothe and comfort her unfortunate friend, Doctor Henderson and the engineer sought by every means in their power to induce the boat's crew to return to the s.h.i.+p and give them an opportunity to try their persuasive powers on Williams, with the object of obtaining Miss Stanhope's release. Their efforts proved utterly vain, the men positively refusing to go back; but hope was not entirely abandoned nor their efforts suspended until they had landed, and the boats were fairly out of ear-shot on their way back to the s.h.i.+p.