A VOICE FROM THE SEA.
The small crew of the Bonita were weary almost to the verge of
exhaustion. Excitement and grief had fatigued them even more than the
long pull in the Sally; therefore all three slept as soundly as if they
had been snugly tucked-up in bed at home, and when the sun came from his
bath in the sea they were yet unconscious that another day had dawned.
When Jim, who was the first to awaken, opened his eyes, he rose suddenly
to a sitting posture with a misty idea that his slumbers had been
disturbed by the sound of a human voice.
It was several seconds before he fully realized where he was; but the
deserted deck of the brig and the Sally upturned on the main hatch soon
brought back to his mind all the strange occurrences of the previous
day, after which he began to speculate whether it was in a dream that he
heard a low, feeble hail of "Brig ahoy!"
Harry and Walter were both asleep, consequently neither of them had
spoken. Rising to his feet he gazed eagerly over the placid ocean, but
without seeing the ardently-longed-for sail.
"I reckon I was dreaming," he said to himself, and then the thought of
their lonely position drove everything else from his mind. "We must be
out of the track of vessels or one would be in sight by this time; and
when the next storm comes up it'll be good-by all hands, for we can't
manage a craft like this in a gale. I ain't sure, but----"
"Brig ahoy! ahoy!"
This time there was no mistake. It was a hail hardly more than a
whisper, but yet so distinct as to prevent any possibility that it was a
trick of the imagination. One would have said it came from the sea
directly beneath the brig's stern, and Jim's face grew pale with fear as
he looked quickly around without seeing so much as a floating timber.
"There's something wrong about this craft," he muttered, "Sailors don't
run away from a sound vessel without a pretty good reason, an' I reckon
she's haunted!"
"Brig ahoy! Help a dying man! Ahoy on board!"
The words were spoken more feebly than before, and Jim, thoroughly
convinced he had heard something supernatural, awakened his companions
by shaking them nervously.
"Get up quick!" he said in a hoarse whisper. "This brig has been hailed
three times, an' there isn't even a fly in sight!"
Harry and Walter were on their feet in an instant gazing around in
bewilderment; but seeing nothing, and after Jim had told his story, he
asked in a voice trembling with fear:
"What shall we do? I'd rather take my chances on the Sally, even if we
are out of sight of land, than stay here another minute. This brig has
got ghosts aboard!"
"I don't hear anything," Harry said, the bright sun and sparkling water
investing the vessel with a sense of life and animation directly at
variance with any supposed supernatural visitations. "You're mistaken,
Jim, that's all."
"Wait a little while," Jim replied, shaking his head gravely as if the
subject was too serious to admit of any discussion.
The boys were destined to be skeptical but a few seconds longer. Before
another moment had passed a low groan was heard as if coming from
beneath their feet, and all three instinctively ran across the deck to
the starboard rail, to put the greatest possible distance between
themselves and the unearthly sound.
This short flight was the one thing needed to reveal the seeming
mystery; for as Jim leaped into the main rigging with the intention of
going aloft, if the ghostly voice was heard again, he involuntarily
glanced downward.
"Look! Look there!" he cried excitedly, pointing toward the water; and,
following with their eyes the direction indicated by his trembling hand,
the boys saw a Whitehall-built boat about twenty feet long made fast to
the main-chains. An oar lashed to one of the thwarts served as a mast,
and fastened to this was a small piece of canvas.
All these details were not at first remarked, for in the bottom, lying
face downward as if dead, was a man. His outstretched hands looked like
claws, so tightly was the skin drawn over the bones, and even though
covered with clothing it could be seen that his body was wasted almost
to a skeleton.
Unaccustomed though Harry and Walter were to such sights, it was not
necessary for Jim to explain that the occupant of the boat was a
shipwrecked sailor in the last stages of starvation. The night had been
calm, and he probably propelled his craft with oars after the wind died
away, making her fast to the main-chains as he uttered the cry which
awakened Jim, and ceasing his appeal for help only when consciousness
deserted him.
It was several moments that the boys stood gazing at these mute
evidences of agony without making any effort to relieve the sufferer,
and then Harry asked:
"Can't we do something to help him? Perhaps instead of being dead he has
only fainted."
"I ought to be kicked for standin' here like a fool!" Jim exclaimed as
he clambered over the side, and an instant later he was lifting the man
to a sitting posture, crying, meanwhile: "Bring some water quick!"
Walter ran into the cabin, all fear of the place having been banished by
the desire to aid the sufferer, and in a few seconds passed a pitcher of
water into the boat.
Jim was an awkward nurse; but his patient had more vitality than was
apparent at the first glance, and before the boy could bathe his face
thoroughly he had revived sufficiently to grasp the pitcher with both
hands, drinking most greedily.
"Don't let him have all he wants!" Harry cried. "I've heard that people
who have been almost starved shouldn't have too much at a time."
Jim tried to wrest the pitcher from the man's desperate clutch, but he
swallowed the liquid more eagerly, and the boy was forced to exert all
his strength in order to accomplish his purpose.
"Wait a bit," he said as he held the vessel behind him. "You can drink
till you bu'st, after a spell, but I reckon Harry's right about takin'
too much just now."
The man looked fiercely at Jim for an instant as if about to spring upon
him and thus obtain that which would quench his burning thirst, and
then, controlling himself with an effort, he asked in a whisper:
"Where are the crew?"
"There ain't any on board. Us three boys are alone. Have you got
strength enough to climb over the rail?"
Instead of answering the question the man attempted to rise to his feet,
but his limbs refused to obey the will, and he sank back on the thwart
as if about to relapse into unconsciousness again.
"Here, drink some more water," Jim cried quickly; and when the sufferer
had swallowed half a dozen mouthfuls eagerly, he shouted to the others:
"Lean over the rail and try to get hold of him!"
At the same moment he lifted the emaciated form--he had often raised
heavier burdens--until those above could seize him under the arms, after
which the remainder of the task was easy of accomplishment.
Harry and Walter carried the sailor to the mattress on the port side,
lying him upon it tenderly; and while they were thus occupied, Jim
climbed on deck once more, running directly to the pantry.
A case of canned soup was among the stores, and without waiting to
select any particular kind he seized one of the tins and carried it to
the galley.
To build so much of a fire as would be sufficient to heat the soup was
but the work of a few moments, and then he carried a bowl full of the
nourishing food aft, saying, as he handed it to the starving man:
"I don't reckon it'll do you any harm to eat this. I'll get a spoon, an'
one of us fellers will feed you."
There was no necessity for any such preparation. The sailor still had
strength enough to raise the bowl to his lips, and in the shortest
possible space of time it had been drained of its contents.
"I s'pose you could pump two or three gallons into him before he'd know
there was anything inside," Jim said in a low tone to Harry as the
sufferer laid back on the pillows with closed eyes. "What'll we do? Give
him some more?"
"Hold on a few minutes and see if he asks for it. I think he's going to
sleep."
Jim went forward again, where he could be alone while thinking over
this addition to their number, and instead of finding relief in the
coming of the stranger it seemed to him as if the matter had grown more
complicated.
"It was tough enough for us before," he said as he went into the galley;
"but what we're goin' to do with a sick man on our hands beats me."
He was not in so much despair as to forget that as yet they had not
breakfasted, however, and he at once set about preparing a reasonably
elaborate meal.
The wind was not sufficient to lift the narrow thread of blue which hung
from the mast-head. The brig rose and fell on the lazy swell, swinging
her bow from one point of the compass to another under the influence of
ocean currents or eddies, and there was nothing to claim Jim's attention
save the culinary duties he had thus voluntarily assumed.
Before breakfast was ready Harry came into the galley for more soup,
explaining that the stranger had awakened and asked for food; and by the
time the invalid was fed again Jim called his companions to partake of
the result of his labors.
The boys talked of little else, while they were eating, save regarding
the man who slumbered on the mattress aft. His coming had temporarily
driven from their minds the sorrow caused by the enforced absence from
home, and in this respect, at least, it was productive of good.
"There's one thing about it," Jim said, when the conversation was ended
with the meal, and they had failed to realize that the shipwrecked man
might be of great assistance in the future, "his boat is a long ways
ahead of the Sally, an' I wouldn't be afraid to sail anywhere in her.
She ought to be hoisted inboard, an' if he's asleep now we'd better try
to hook her on the davit-falls."
The man was asleep, and before washing the breakfast dishes Jim made
preparations for securing the boat, which he rightly believed would be
so valuable when the time came to abandon the Bonita.
This work was by no means easy of accomplishment, even though there was
neither sea nor wind to interfere with the laborers; but it was finally
finished successfully, and the young captain had no slight satisfaction
in the thought that he and his crew were now well prepared for the
worst.
It was two hours past noon before the rescued man awakened again, and
Jim had more soup heated, this time allowing his patient to eat and
drink all he wished.
"Go ahead," he said as he served the food aft, placing a number of
dishes on the house, "for there's plenty aboard to fill up a man twice
your size. Call on us for what you want an' I reckon we can find it."
The sailor was greatly refreshed by this third meal, and when it was
concluded the ghastly look on his face had given place to what appeared
very much like evidence of returning strength.
"Tell me how you boys happen to be on board here alone?" he asked; and
Jim began at once to relate their misadventures, which commenced with
the cruise in the Sally.
"We don't feel very much like stayin' on this vessel, for of course
there's something wrong about her or the crew wouldn't 'a' left
everything behind!" he said in conclusion; "but we couldn't start away
in the Sally, 'cause she leaks so bad. Now that we've got your boat, we
can say good-by to the brig as soon as you're well."
"What's the use of abandonin' a good craft like this?"
"'Cause we can't manage her, an'--an'--Well, to tell the truth, I'm
kinder afraid."
The stranger smiled as if he thought Jim's fears very foolish; but at
the same time he could give no reasonable guess as to why the Bonita had
been abandoned.