"Yes, if we are going to do anything; but our plans seem turned
topsy-turvy. We are close to the bows, where we ought to get up for me
to tackle the gun."
"Yes," whispered Poole, "but if we do that there'll be no chance
afterwards to foul the screw; and that ought to be done, so that we can
get rid of this cable. It will be horribly in the way if we have to row
for our lives."
Fitz pressed his companion's arm sharply, for at that moment there was
another yawn from the gunboat's deck, followed by a muttering grumbling
sound as of two men talking, suggesting that one had woke the other, who
was finding fault. But all sound died out, and then there was the deep
silence once again.
The lads waited till they thought all was safe, while their crew never
stirred, and Poole whispered once more--"Well, what is to be done?"
The next moment Fitz's lips were sending tickling words into the lad's
ear, as he said sharply--
"Mustn't change--stick to our plans. I am going to tell Butters to work
the boat alongside, and then pass her to the stern."
"Hah!" breathed Poole, as he listened for the faint rustle made by his
companion in leaning towards the boatswain and whispering his commands.
The next minute the boat was in motion, being paddled slowly towards the
gunboat in a way the boys did not know till afterwards, for it was as if
the gig as it lay there in the black darkness was some kind of fish,
which had suddenly put its fins in motion, the five men having leaned
sideways, each to lower a hand into the water and paddle the boat along
without a sound.
The darkness seemed to be as black as it could possibly be, but all at
once, paradoxical as it may seem, it grew thicker, for a great black
wall had suddenly appeared looming over the boat, and Poole put out his
hand, to feel the cold armour-plating gliding by his fingers, as the
men, to his astonishment, kept the craft in motion till they had passed
right along and their progress was checked by the gig being laid bow-on
beside the gunboat's rudder; and as soon as the lads could fully realise
their position they grasped the fact that the propeller must be just
beneath the water the boat's length in front of where they sat.
Then silence once again, every one's heart beating slowly, but with a
dull heavy throb that seemed to send the blood rushing through the
arteries and veins, producing in the case of the lads a sensation of
dizziness that was some moments before it passed off, driven away as it
was by the tension and the acute desire to grasp the slightest sound
where there was none to grasp.
Every one was waiting now--as all felt sure that so far they had not
been heard--for the middy's order to commence, while he felt as if he
dared not give it, sitting there and letting the time glide by,
convinced as he was now that the end of the Manilla cable could not be
attached to one of the fans without their being heard, and in
imagination he fancied the alarm spread, and saw his chance of ascending
to the deck and reaching the gun, die away.
Then he started, for Poole pinched his arm, sending a thrill through
him, and as it were setting the whole of his human machine in action.
"Now or never," he said to himself, and leaning forward to the boatswain
he whispered a few words in the man's ear, with the result that a very
faint rustling began, a sound so slight that it was almost inaudible to
him who gave the order; but he could feel the boat move slightly, as it
was held fast beside the rudder, and the next minute when the young
captain of the adventure raised his hand--as he could not see--to feel
how the boatswain was getting on, he touched nothing, for the big sturdy
fellow was already half-way to the bows of the gig.
Fitz breathed hard again, and listened trembling now lest they should
fail; but all was perfectly still save that the boat rocked slightly,
which rocking ceased and gave place to a quivering pulsation, as if the
slight craft had been endowed with life. This went on while the two
lads gazed forward and with their minds' eyes saw the boatswain reach
the bows and join the Camel, while two of the men who had not stirred
from their places held on by the rudder and stern-post, one of them
having felt about till his hand encountered a ring-bolt, into which he
had thrust a finger to form a living hook.
And as the lads watched they saw in imagination all that went on. They
did not hear a sound, either in the bows or from above upon the
gunboat's deck, while the two handy men were hard at work laying out the
rope that was already securely attached to the cable; and then came the
first sound, just after the boat moved sharply, as if it had given a
slight jump.
The slight sound was the faintest of splashes, such as might have been
caused by a small fish, and it was due to the end of the rope slipping
down into the water, while the jump on the part of the boat was caused
by its having been lightened of Chips's weight, for he had drawn himself
upwards by grasping the rudder, across which he now sat astride, to grip
it with his knees. The man wanted no telling what to do. He had
rehearsed it all mentally again and again, and quick and clever of
finger, he passed the rope through the opening between rudder and
stern-post, and drew upon it softly and steadily till he had it taut,
and was dragging upon the cable. Old Burgess was working with him as if
one mind animated the two bodies.
He knew what would come, and waited as the spiral strands of the rope
passed through his hand; and when it began to grow taut he was ready to
raise up the end of the big soft cable, pass it upwards, and hold it in
place, so that it gradually assumed the form of a loop some ten feet
long, and it was the head of that loop that jammed as it was drawn tight
against the opening between stern-post and rudder, and very slowly laced
tightly in position by means of the rope.
But this took time, and twice over Chips ceased working, as if he had
failed; but it was only for a rest and a renewal of his strength, before
he ceased for the third time and made a longer wait. But no one made a
sign; no one stirred, though the two lads sat in agony, building up in
imagination a very mountain of horror and despair branded failure in
their minds, for they could hardly conceive that their plans were being
carried out so silently and so well.
At last Fitz gripped Poole's arm again so as to whisper to him; but the
whisper did not pass, for at that moment, after being perfectly still
for some time, the boat began to pulsate again, for the carpenter was
hard at work once more, his hands acting in combination with those of
the boatswain, for, still very slowly, working like a piece of
machinery, they began to haul upon the cable in the boat. At the first
tightening that cable now seemed to begin to live like some huge
serpent, and creep towards them, the life with which it was infused
coming, however, from the Camel's hands, as, feeling that it was wanted,
he began to pass it along, raising each coil so that it should not touch
against the gunwale of the boat, or scrape upon a thwart.
He too knew what was going on, as between them, the boatswain in the
bows, the carpenter still astride the upper portion of the rudder, they
got up enough of the cable to form another loop, whose head was softly
plunged down into the water, passed under one fan of the great screw and
over another, and then, its elasticity permitting, drawn as tight as the
men could work it.
This feat was performed again, and as final security the boatswain
formed a bight, which he thrust down and passed over the fan whose edge
was almost level with the surface.
Then as the boys sat breathing hard, and fancying that the daylight must
be close at hand, the boat gave another jerk, careening over sideways
towards the rudder, for the carpenter had slowly descended into the
bows, to crouch down and rest.
But the boatswain was still at work, with the Camel now for mate, and
between them they two were keeping up the quivering motion of the gig,
as, slowly and silently, they went on passing the thick soft Manilla
cable over the side, to sink down into the sea until the last of the
long snaky coils had gone.
The announcement of this fact was conveyed to the two lads by the motion
of the boat, Fitz learning it first by feeling his right hand as it hung
over the side begin to pass steadily through the water, which rippled
between his fingers; and as he snatched it out to stretch it forth as
far as he could reach, he for a few moments touched nothing. Then it
came in contact with the sides of the gunboat, and his heart gave a jump
and his nerves thrilled, for he knew that the first act of their
desperate venture was at an end, that the gig was gliding forward,
paddled by the sailors' hands, towards the gunboat's bows, so as to
reach one or other of the hanging anchors, up which he had engaged to
scramble and get on board to do his part, which, now that the other had
been achieved, seemed to be the most desperate of all.
"I shall never be able to go through with it," he seemed to groan to
himself in his despair; but at that moment, as if by way of
encouragement, he felt Poole's hand grip his arm, and at the touch the
remembrance of the skipper's words thrilled through his nerves, to give
him strength.
The next moment he was sitting up firmly and bravely in his place,
tucking up his cuffs as if for the fight, as he softly muttered--
"There is no such word as fail."