The Secret of the Sands Part 4

The subst.i.tution of the spinnaker for the jib and foresail made a very great difference in our rate of sailing. When I first came on deck I noticed some distance astern a splendid clipper-s.h.i.+p, bowling along with every st.i.tch of canvas set that would draw, up to skysails and royal studding-sails. By the time I had got my spinnaker set she was abreast of us, about half a mile outside and consequently to leeward. But _now_ she was unable to draw away from us an inch, so great was our speed through the smooth water; and when Bob came on deck at "seven bells,"

she still lay as nearly as possible in the same position with regard to us as when he went below.

"Phew!" whistled he, as his eye fell on her, "so the big chap has found his match, has he, in a craft the size of his own long-boat. My eyes!

Harry, but this here _is_ a little flyer, and no mistake. Why the post-office people 'll be wanting us to carry their mails for 'em if so be as they gets to hear on us, eh, lad?"

Closing this remark with a chuckle of intense satisfaction and a leer at our big neighbour, Bob dived below again; and shortly afterwards a frizzling sound from forward, and an odour strongly suggestive of bacon and eggs, which was wafted upwards from the companion, informed me that he had entered upon the duties of the less dignified but equally important part of his combined self-appointment.

We made a hearty breakfast off the aforesaid bacon and eggs, with _soft tack_ laid in the day before, and washed all down with some most excellent coffee, in the concoction of which beverage Bob was an adept, and then, as soon as he had washed up, and put matters to rights in his pantry, and made arrangements for dinner, I went below and turned in until noon.

When I went upon deck again, I found that the breeze had softened down very considerably, and we were slipping along barely five knots through the water. Our big neighbour, the s.h.i.+p, could do nothing with us in such light airs, and he was now a good six miles astern.

During the afternoon, the wind dropped still more, and by eight o'clock in the evening we had little more than steerage-way.

The water was absolutely without a ripple; our sails flapped, the main-boom swung inboard with every heave of the little craft over the long, gentle undulations of the ground-swell; and the different vessels in sight were heading to all points of the compa.s.s.

It was, to all appearance, stark calm; yet there must have have been a light though imperceptible air, for on looking over the bows there was a smooth unbroken ripple stretching away on each side, showing that we were moving through the water still, though very gently; and the fact that the little craft answered her helm was additional testimony to the same effect.

During the night a little air came out from off the land, and we mended our pace somewhat; but it was not until the following noon that we got fairly abreast of Saint Catherine's Point.

About eight o'clock the same evening, the wind still being light, we were abreast of the Needles; about a couple of miles to the westward of them, and apparently steering pretty nearly the same course as ourselves, we saw a cutter yacht about our own size.

By midnight we were abreast of Durlstone Head, and had gained so much upon the other cutter that we could make out that she had a large and apparently a very merry party on board. Hearty peals of laughter came frequently across the water towards us from her, and occasionally a song, generally with a good rattling chorus.

We continued to creep up to her, and at length got abreast of and so near her that, with the advantage of a good run, an active man might have leaped from one vessel to the other.

As we ranged up alongside, a most aristocratic-looking man stepped to leeward, and, grasping lightly with one hand the aftermost shroud, while with the other he slightly lifted his straw hat in salute, he inquired:

"What cutter is that?"

"The _Water Lily_, Royal--Yacht Club," replied I. "What cutter is that?"

"The _Emerald_, Royal Victoria," answered our new acquaintance. "You have a singularly fast vessel under you," continued he; "I believe I may say she is the first that ever pa.s.sed me in such weather as this. I have hitherto thought that, in light winds, the _Emerald_ has not her match afloat; yet you are stealing through my lee as if we were at anchor. I presume, by the course you are steering, that you are, like ourselves, bound to Weymouth. If so, I should like to step on board you when we arrive, if you will allow me. I am curious to see a little more of the craft that is able to slip away from us as you are doing, in our own weather. I am Lord --," he explained, thinking, I suppose, that we should like to know who it was who thus invited himself on board a perfect stranger.

I shouted back (for we were by this time some distance ahead of the _Emerald_) that I should be happy to see his lords.h.i.+p on board whenever he pleased to come; and then the conversation ceased, the distance between the two vessels having become too great to permit of its being continued with comfort.

It was now Bob's watch below; but the night was so very close that he had brought his bed on deck, and was preparing to "turn in" on the weather side of the companion for his four hours' sleep. As he arranged the bedding to his satisfaction, he cast his eyes frequently astern to the _Emerald_, whose sails gleamed ghostly in the feeble light of the moon, which, in her third quarter, was just rising.

"By George, Harry," exclaimed he, "if they _Emeralds_ bain't s.h.i.+fting topsails, I'm a miserable sinner! Ay, there goes his 'ballooner' aloft.

His lords.h.i.+p don't like the looks of our tail, seemin'ly; but I doubt whether, in this light breeze, his big topsail will enable him to catch us. My eyes! how we _did_ slip through his lee, sure enough! Tell ye what, Harry lad; that topsail of our'n is a good un--a _rare_ good un for a reach, and in a moderate breeze; but we ought to have a 'ballooner' for running off the wind in light weather--a whacking big un, with a 'jack' as long as the bowsprit, and a yard as long as the lower-mast. I'm beginning to think we are under-sparred and under-sailed."

I could scarcely agree with Bob in this. It is true that in fine weather we could carry considerably more canvas than we had; but I had a thought for the heavy weather also, and I knew that as soon as it came on to blow we should find our present sails quite as large as we could manage. Nevertheless, I made up my mind that we _would_ have a balloon-topsail, as the voyage would be a long one, and it was possible that we might have spells of light winds for days together, when such a sail could be carried to the utmost advantage.

Notwithstanding the change of topsails, we still continued to creep away from the _Emerald_, and when we let go our anchor in Weymouth Roads, about six o'clock the next morning, she was still a good three miles outside of us; the wind had, in the meantime, fallen away so light, that it was not until after we had breakfasted that she drifted slowly in and brought up close to us.

Shortly afterwards, Lord--came on board, accompanied by two or three friends; and his astonishment was great when he found that we only mustered two hands, all told. He noticed the absence of a boat from our decks, and inquired whether we had lost ours, and was still more astonished when we informed him that it was taken to pieces and stowed snugly away below.

This led to a request that he might be allowed to see it; and gradually it all came out that we were bound on nothing less than a voyage to the Pacific.

He was by no means inquisitive; his questions were merely such as one yachtsman would naturally put to another. But we knew beforehand that it would be difficult to conceal the fact that we were not merely cruising for pleasure; so we had come to the conclusion that it would be best to put a bold face upon the matter, and state at once that we were going a long trip; and Bob had proposed that, in the event of any questions being asked, we should give out that we were going to seek for some traces of my father.

To this I willingly agreed, as I really meant, if possible, to endeavour to find some clue to his fate; though I could not help acknowledging to myself that, if we _did_ make any discoveries, it would be by the merest accident.

Lord--seemed to be singularly struck with the model of the _Water Lily_; the only fault he found with her being the deficiency of head-room below. This fault, however, was inseparable from her peculiar shape, for, as I have already stated, she had a very shallow body, and a flat floor; and although she drew seven feet of water aft, her depth below her platform was entirely taken up with the ballast and water-tank, leaving only a height of four feet between the top of the platform and the under side of the beams; she was, in short, an exceedingly small craft for her tonnage.

We went ash.o.r.e in his lords.h.i.+p's boat at his invitation; and as I casually mentioned that I meant on the morrow to put our "boat" together and give her a trial, he very kindly offered to accompany us in the _Emerald_.

My sister was, of course, delighted to see us both, and equally delighted to hear how thoroughly satisfied we were with our little vessel. It was evident that she had not quite conquered her apprehensions on the score of our long voyage in so small a craft; but our eulogiums upon the _Water Lily's_ many good qualities were so enthusiastic, and the confidence we expressed in her sea-going powers so thorough, that Ada soon came to regard the voyage as in no degree more perilous than it would have been if undertaken in a vessel of four or five hundred tons.

We did not think it necessary to point out to her that we should probably be exposed to many perils besides those of the sea; and so the dear girl became satisfied, and learned to contemplate our speedy departure with comparative equanimity.

The next morning we made arrangements with a boatman for the hire of his punt during the short time that we intended to remain in Weymouth, as we wished our tubular boat to come into use only when we had no other to fall back upon.

Having struck our bargain, Bob and I jumped into the hired punt, and rowed off to the _Water Lily_, which lay at anchor in the roadstead.

It was necessary to pa.s.s close to the _Emerald_ to reach our own craft, and as we pulled under her stern, Lord--hailed us to know whether we still intended to make our trial trip, and, if so, how long it would be ere we should be ready.

I replied that I hoped to be ready in about an hour, whereupon his lords.h.i.+p jumped into his boat to pay a visit to the post-office, saying he would be back in time to go out with us.

As soon as we got on board the _Water Lily_, we got our tubes on deck, screwed the different sections together, and launched them overboard.

The framework connecting the two tubes together, and supporting the stage or deck, was next fixed; then the deck itself, which was in three pieces, and so contrived that, when properly put together and laid in its place, a single bolt secured the whole immovably. Our centre-board and rudder were soon in their places, and nothing remained but to step the mast and bowsprit, set up the rigging, bend sails, and be off.

These latter operations took but a very short time, as every device had been adopted which would facilitate the boat's equipment; and, having timed ourselves, we found that our boat was ready and under weigh _within_ an hour of the time at which we had first begun to work at her.

We considered this very smart work, but we hoped to shorten the time considerably after a little practice.

We took a few turns in the bay, whilst the _Emerald_ was getting under weigh, and tried a few manoeuvres with perfect success. There was only one thing about which we had any doubt, and that was whether she would _stay_ or no. In the smooth water close to the sh.o.r.e (the wind was strong, from the south-west that day) she tacked beautifully, head-reaching a long way in stays; and later on in the day we found that in this respect rough water made very little difference to her, owing to the peculiar shape of her tubes.

It was blowing a strong breeze from the south-west, as I have already said, and we took down a reef in our mainsail, whilst the _Emerald_ started under trysail and jib, keeping her mainsail stowed so as not to run away from us.

We intended to run out round the _Shambles_ light-s.h.i.+p and back; but as soon as I got clear of the bay, and from under the lee of the _Nothe_, I hauled sharp upon a wind to test the stability of my craft. To my astonishment, she did not appear to feel the effect of the wind at all, except as it tended to urge her through the water. She skimmed along very fast, but stood quite upright. Under these circ.u.mstances we, of course, shook our reef out and bore up for a run away to leeward.

The _Emerald_ could do nothing with us at this game, much to the chagrin of her n.o.ble owner; so she was obliged to in trysail and set her mainsail, whilst we hove-to and waited for her. But even after her mainsail was set we had the advantage of her.

She was a regular racer--long, lean, and deep in the water; whilst we floated entirely upon the surface, the tubes being exactly half submerged, as we noticed when we first started. The consequence was that we skimmed along like a feather, whilst the _Emerald_ had to displace many tons of water with every foot of progress which she made.

We pa.s.sed through the opening in the magnificent breakwater which shelters the roadstead at Portland, and soon afterwards began to feel the heave of the Channel. Our tube-boat rushed along over the crests of the waves with a very easy and steady motion, but the _Emerald_ started rolling; and as we drew farther off the land, and got more into the influence of the rough water, this rolling motion became so violent that her boom had to be topped up pretty high to prevent it from dipping and dragging in the water every time she rolled to leeward.

Bob sat watching her attentively for some time, and at length--

"Aren't this here _Emerald_ the little eight-tonner as took so many prizes last year in the regattas?" said he.

I replied that she was.

"Well," said he, "we beat her all to nothing in a calm, or next door to it, last night in the _Lily_, and I'm thinking we could run her under water in a breeze like this here, with such a jump of a sea as we shall get when we rounds to on our road back. What's your idee, my lad?"

"I think we could," replied I. "She is so long and narrow that she must be a regular wet one close-hauled, as I expect we shall see shortly. If I remember rightly, all her prizes were won in light winds or smooth water; and though I do not believe we could do anything with her in a staggering whole-sail breeze in _smooth_ water, I fancy we could give a good account of her in a Channel match. But you must bear in mind, Bob, that the _Lily_ is the larger craft of the two."

"That I deny," retorted Bob. "Heavier we may be as to tonnage, accordin' to the way tonnage is measured; but she's got double our power. I'll bet my 'lowance of grog for the next month to come that she's got good seven ton or more of lead stowed away under her cabin floor; whilst we've got two, besides the trifle in our keel; and _power_, as you know well, Harry, is what tells in a breeze. Take us all round, and, in spite of our difference of tonnage, I reckon we're pretty much of a size, and consequently a very fair match, so far as that goes. I should like to be alongside of her in the _Lily_ in such a breeze and such water as this."

By this time we were close to the light-s.h.i.+p, still leading, and in another minute we shot under her stern and hauled up on the port tack.