Asiatic Breezes Part 6

"Of course I can't tell while she is coming head on; but I cannot make out that she has gained a cable's length upon us."

"Mr. Sentrick and Felipe put our engine in first-rate condition while we were going up and down the Nile; and both of them say the Maud ought to make half a knot better time than before," continued the captain. "I am confident we are fully the equal of the Fatty in speed; and perhaps we could keep out of her way on an emergency. You know we had a little spurt with her in the Strait of Gibraltar. But come into the pilot-house, Louis, for I want to show you something there;" and he led the way.

When both of them were fairly in the little apartment, he pointed to the barometer. If Louis was not much of a sailor, he had learned to read the instrument, and he saw that the mercury had made a decided fall from the last reading.

"I see; and it means bad weather," he replied.

"Flix called my attention to the fall some time ago; and after a look at the chart I decided to alter the course," said the captain, as he pointed out the island of Cyprus on the chart spread out on the falling table over the divan.

"I have no doubt you have done the right thing at the right time, as you always do in the matter of navigation."

"But look at this chart, Louis;" and it almost seemed to him that the captain had fathomed his unuttered thoughts, because he was taking so much pains to explain what he had done, and why he had done it. "The course I gave out at first would have carried the Maud to Cape Gata, on the southern coast of the island."

"I understand it so far."

"The tumble of the barometer opened the matter under a new phase. We should have made Cape Gata about three to-morrow morning, and in my judgment in a smart southerly or south-westerly gale. The cape would afford us little or no shelter, as you can see for yourself; and it would be a very bad place in a heavy blow. Our course is now north north-east half-east for Cape Arnauti, on the north side of the island, where we shall be under the lee of the island, though we have to get forty miles more of westing to make it."

Louis thanked the captain for his lucid explanation. The next morning, in a fresh gale, the Maud was off the cape mentioned.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "IT HAD BEEN A STORMY NIGHT." Page 51.]

CHAPTER VI

A STORMY NIGHT RUN TO CAPE ARNAUTI

It had been a stormy night, though the gale had not been so severe as either of the two the Maud had before encountered on the Mediterranean.

It did not come on to blow hard till about eight bells in the afternoon; and at five o'clock in the morning Captain Scott estimated that the little steamer ought to be off Cape Arnauti; but all the lights of the island were on the south side. He kept her well off sh.o.r.e, where there were neither rocks nor shoals. There was nothing less than twenty fathoms of water a couple of miles from the sh.o.r.e.

The gale had come from the south; and the course of the Maud was only a couple of points from taking it directly aft, so that she was running too nearly before it for the comfort of those on board of her. But she had a little slant, and a close-reefed foresail had been set in the first dog-watch, and she had carried it all night.

The only difficulty about the Maud was her size when it blew hard and there was a heavy sea. She was too small to be at all steady on great waves, though the larger they were the better weather she made of it.

Her worst behavior was in a smart, choppy sea, when the waves were not long, but short and violent. But this was not the kind of a sea she had through the night.

In a heavy sea of any kind she made a good deal of fuss; and being only forty feet long it could not be otherwise. She pitched tremendously, and mixed in a considerable roll every time she rose and fell; and it was not an easy thing for even a sailor to get about on her deck. Life-lines had been extended wherever they were needed, and all the s.h.i.+p's company were used to the erratic ways of the diminutive craft. After all, she was larger than some of the vessels used by the early voyagers to America, some of whose craft were not even provided with decks.

When the Maud was prepared for heavy weather she was as tight as a drum; and while the heavy seas rolled the whole length of her, not a bucketful of them found its way below her deck. The only danger of taking in a dangerous sea was at the scuttle on the forecastle, which was the usual door of admission to the forecastle below, where the two engineers and the cook had their quarters.

The steamer when she made a dive into a sea scooped up a quant.i.ty of water, which she spilled out over the rails, or over the taffrail in the standing-room. The captain had therefore ordered this scuttle to be secured below, so that it could not be removed. Those who had occasion to go below in that part of the vessel were compelled to do so through the fire-room. Though Scott was a bold and brave fellow, and even daring when the occasion required, he was a prudent commander, and never took any unnecessary chances.

But not a person on board had been permitted to "turn in" as the thing was done in moderate weather. The sail on the upper deck required one hand to stand by it all the time, though he was relieved every two hours. The engineers and the cook had broad divans upon which they could take a nap, and the sailing-force had taken turns on the broad sofa in the pilot-house. But Captain Scott had hardly closed his eyes during the night.

From the time the Fatime was found to be headed to the northward, the officers of the Maud had lost sight of her for only a couple of hours, when a bank of fog swept over the sea, just before sundown. But at eight bells her lights had been discovered. At midnight they could still be seen; but the captain and Morris were confident that she had been losing ground, judging by the diminished clearness of the triangle of lanterns as they appeared over the stern of the Maud.

The lights of a vessel following another appear to the latter in this form, with the white, or plain one, at the upper apex of the triangle, the red and the green making the two abreast of each other. They were observed at seven bells in the first watch; but another fog-bank had pa.s.sed over the sea, and at eight bells, or midnight, they could not be seen. Morris and Louis had the first watch. Felix had gone to take his nap in the galley; for Pitts, the cook, had been called into service, and was attending to the reefed sail on the upper deck. Captain Scott had joined him here.

With a rope made fast around his waist, he had been to the standing-room to look out for the triangle of lights on the Fatime. He could not find them; but the fog explained why they were not in sight. It was not a very comfortable position on the hurricane deck, for the spray stirred up at the stern was swept over it. All hands had donned their waterproof caps, with capes to protect the neck, and the oilskin suits they had found on board when the steamer was purchased.

"We have been gaining upon her, Pitts," said the captain, after he had looked attentively into the fog astern for some time. "We may not see her again."

"Perhaps not, sir; but she's a bad penny, and she is likely to turn up again," replied the cook. "But I suppose you will not weep, sir, if you don't see her again."

"I should like to know what had become of her if we don't see her again," added Scott carelessly.

"I suppose that Mustapha Pacha is still on board of her; and I should rather like to see Captain Ringgold pitch him into another muddy gutter, as he did in Gibraltar. But the Guardian-Mother is not with us just now, and that is not likely to happen on this little cruise."

Pitts hinted in this manner that he should like to know something more about the present situation; but the captain was willing to let him form his own conclusions, and he gave him no a.s.sistance in doing so. Eight bells struck on the forecastle; and this was the signal for the mid watch, which consisted of the captain and Felix; and Scott left the upper deck.

Pitts was relieved by Felix; for he could serve as lookout and take charge of the sail at the same time. Morris was the youngest person on board, and he was tired enough to camp down at once on the divan in the pilot-house. The cabin door could not be safely opened, or at least not without peril to the contents of the cabin; for an occasional wave combed over the taffrail, and poured itself upon it.

Louis was not inclined to sleep, and he went on the upper deck to pa.s.s the time with Felix; and the captain asked him to keep a lookout for the pirate. The fog still prevailed, and he could see nothing. He talked with the Milesian for quite two hours, when the time for the relief of the helm came. Just before the four bells struck, the fog disappeared as suddenly as it had dropped down on the sea.

Louis went aft and gazed into the distance; but he could see no triangle of lights, or even a single light in any direction. He made a thorough search, with no other result, and then stood by the sail till the captain came up to take the place of Felix.

"The fog has blown in ahead of us, Louis; but Flix reports that you have not been able to find the lights of the pirate," said Scott.

"Not a sign of them can be made out," replied Louis. "I have looked the sea over in every direction. What does that mean, Captain Scott?"

"It may mean any one of three things, and you have to take your choice among them. The pirate may have foundered in the gale, she may have put about to return to the coast of Egypt, or we may have beaten her so badly in the race of fifteen hours, that she has dropped out of sight astern of us. I don't know much about the Pacha's steamer, though our second engineer told me she was not built to order, as the Maud was, but purchased outright."

"But which of the three results you indicate do you consider the most probable, Captain?"

"The last one I named. This gale has not been heavy enough to wreck any vessel of ordinary strength, so that I cannot believe she has foundered.

Captain Mazagan is working for his little twenty thousand dollars'

reward; and if he has followed us up here with the intention of picking you up on the cruise, I don't believe he would retire from the field without making a bigger effort than he has put forth so far."

"Then, you think he is after me?"

"Don't we know that he is? Not one of the 'Big Four' is so indifferent and careless about the matter as you are yourself, Louis," replied the captain with a good deal of energy. "I still think you ought not to have come with us on this perilous cruise; and I wonder with all my might that Captain Ringgold did not keep you on board of the Guardian-Mother."

"He desired to do so; but I would not stand it. I have not the slightest fear of the Pacha and all his blackguards and pirates," protested Louis.

"Not since Mazagan got his paw upon you, and you slipped out of it only by a lucky chance?" demanded the captain, more as an argument than as a question to be answered. "You got off by the skin of your teeth; and you may thank your stars that you are not shut up at this moment in some dungeon in Mogadore, where they don't ask hard questions as to what has become of troublesome Christians. If the shop had not been invaded by creditors, you would have been conveyed to Rosetta, and taken away on board the pirate. The rest of the party would not have known what had become of you; for we could not find you when we searched for you in Cairo."

"That is all very nice, Captain Scott," replied Louis, laughing out loud. "I would not have given two cents to have the guard of sailors who made things so sad for the Arabs at Gizeh in the cellar with me. Make as much fuss as you may over my danger at this time, I was master of the situation all the while," answered Louis very decidedly.

"Master of the situation!" exclaimed the captain. "You might as well call the trout the master of the situation after he has the hook in his gills. I don't see it in that light."

"I had fired one shot from my revolver, and wounded Mazagan's a.s.sistant in the outrage; and I had five b.a.l.l.s more in the weapon. I think the pirate counted upon the custom-house officers to deprive me of the pistol, or he would not have gone to work just as he did. My shot demoralized the wounded man, and scared his brother the shopkeeper out of his wits. My next shot was for Mazagan; and if he had taken another step in his programme he would not have been in command of that steamer just now."

"Perhaps there were some chances for your aim or your calculations to fail," suggested Scott; "though Flix says you never miss your mark when you shoot."

"Captain Ringgold said so much to me to induce me to remain on board of the Guardian-Mother, that I was tempted to yield the point; but it seemed to me to be cowardly to leave my friends in the face of a possible danger. I told him finally that I considered myself under his command, and if he ordered me to remain on board of the s.h.i.+p, I should obey. He would not do that, and I am here. If there is to be any row on my account I must be in it."

"You have a mind of your own, and you are in condition to have your own way. If your mother had been posted you would not have been here."