Accidents generally happen instantaneously; people are in safety one
moment, the next there is a sudden awakening to the fact that something
dreadful has happened. It was so here in the coming darkness of night.
Almost before the two lads had realised more than the fact that
something black was approaching there was a loud rushing noise, a crash,
and shock, as the boat was struck a tremendous blow on the side, whirled
round, sucked under water, and then all was blackness, choking,
strangling sensations, and a horrible sense of dread.
Dick, fresh from London, did not understand what was the matter. For
one moment he had an idea that the boat had been attacked by a monstrous
whale; the next moment that and every other idea was washed out of him
by the dark waters, which ran up his nose and thundered in his ears, as
they made him gasp for breath.
How long this lasted he could not tell, before he found himself on the
surface, confused and helpless, amidst a sheet of foaming, swirling
waters.
"Can you swim?" some one shouted in his ear.
"Ye-es--a--lit-tle," panted Dick.
"Steady then, steady, lad. Slow--slow--take in a reef. You'll drown
yourself like a pup if you beat the water that how."
Influenced by the stronger will and the stern order, Dick, who had been
striking out with all his might, calmed down and began to swim steadily,
but with a great dread seeming to paralyse his limbs, while Josh, who
was by him, shouted, "_Ahoy_!"
"Ahoy!" came faintly from a distance, in the direction where the black
cloud had resolved itself into the form of a great screw steamer with
star-like lights visible here and there.
"Here away, lad," shouted back Josh. "They haven't seen us," he added
to Dick.
"What--what was it?" panted Dick, who was swimming more steadily now.
"Big steamer--run us down--ain't seen us--no good to shout," cried Josh.
"Steady, lad, steady. We've got to swim ashore."
"Josh, ahoy! Where's young master?" came out of the darkness. And now
as Dick grew a little calmer, he fancied he saw pale lambent flashes of
light on the water a little distance away.
"Here he be," shouted back Josh. "Steady, boy, steady! Don't tire
yourself like that," he added again to Dick.
The latter tried hard to obey, as he now became aware that at every
stroke he made the water flashed into pale golden light; tiny dots of
cold fire ran hither and thither beneath the surface, and ripples of
lambent phosphorescent glow fell off to right and left.
At the same moment almost, he saw, beyond the star-like lanthorns of the
steamer, the twinkling lights of the village, apparently at a tremendous
distance away, while one strong bright star shed a long ray of light
across the water, being the big lamp in the wooden cage at the end of
the harbour pier.
"Avast there, Will!" shouted Josh again; "let's overhaul you, and keep
together. Seen either o' the buoys?"
"No."
"Why don't they swim ashore?" thought Dick. "Never mind the buoys. Oh!
I shall never do it."
A cold chilly feeling of despair came over him, and he began to beat the
water more rapidly as his eyes fixed themselves wildly on the far-off
lights, and he thought of his father and brother, perhaps waiting for
him on the pier.
"Swim slowly," cried another voice close by; and Dick's heart gave a
leap. "It's a long way, but we can do it."
"Can you?" panted poor Dick, who was nearly exhausted. "How far is it?"
"About two miles, but the tide's with us."
"I can't do it," panted Dick, "not a hundred yards."
"Yes, you can," said Will firmly. "Only just move your arms steady, and
let the tide carry you along. Josh," he said more loudly, "keep close
here."
"Ay, lad, I will," replied the fisherman; and the calm, confident tones
of his companions, who spoke as if it were a matter of course to swim a
couple of miles, encouraged the lad a little; but his powers and his
confidence were fast ebbing away, and it was not a matter of many
minutes before he would have been helpless.
For even if the sea had been perfectly smooth, he was no experienced
swimmer, his efforts in this direction having been confined to a dip in
the river when out on fishing excursions, or a bit of a practice in some
swimming-bath at home. But the sea was not perfectly smooth, for the
swift tide was steadily raising the water into long, gently heaving
waves, which carried the swimmers, as it were, up one minute to the top
of a little ridge, and then sank them the next down, down, out of sight,
into what seemed to be profound darkness whenever the pier light was
blotted out.
"I--I--can't keep on," panted Dick at last, with a piteous cry. "Tell
father--"
He could say no more, for, striking out feebly, he had allowed his mouth
to sink beneath the surface, and breathing in a quantity of strangling
water he began to beat the surface, and then felt himself seized.
Involuntarily, and with that natural instinct that prompts the drowning
to cling to anything they touch, Dick's hands clutched despairing at the
stout arm that came to his help, but only to feel himself shaken off and
snatched back, so that his face was turned towards the stars.
"Float! Hold still! Hands under water!" a voice yelled in his ear; and
half stunned, half insensible, he obeyed, getting his breath better at
times, at others feeling the strangling water sweep over his face.
It was a time of great peril, but there was aid such as neither Josh nor
Will had counted upon close at hand.
"I'll keep him afloat till I'm tired," Josh had said hoarsely, "and then
you must have a turn. You can manage to make the shore, can't you?"
"Yes," said Will; "but we--we mustn't leave him, Josh."
"Who's going to?" growled Josh fiercely. "You keep aside me."
They swam on, every stroke making the water flash, and the
phosphorescence, like pale golden oil, sweep aside and ripple and flow
upon the surface. The sky was now almost black but quite ablaze with
stars, and the big lamp at the pierhead sent its cheery rays out, as if
to show them the way to go, but in the transparent darkness it seemed to
be miles upon miles away, while the sturdy swimmers felt as if they got
no nearer, toil as they might.
"I'm going to give him over to you, lad," said Josh in his sing-song
voice, for he had calmed down now. "I'll soon take him again, lad,
but--"
"Hooray, Josh!" cried back Will; and he struck off to the left.
"What is it, lad?"
"Boat! the boat!"
Josh wrenched himself up in the water, and looked over Dick, to see,
dimly illumined by the golden ripples of the water, the outline of the
boat, flush with the surface, its shape just seen by the
phosphorescence, and he bore towards it.
"T'other side, Will, lad," cried Josh as he swam vigorously over the few
intervening yards, half drowning Dick by forcing his head under water
again and again; but as he reached the boat's side, which was now an
inch or two above, now the same distance below, he drew the lad flat on
the surface, passed his hands beneath him, got hold of the gunwale, and
half rolled Dick in, half drew the boat beneath him.
"Mind he don't come out that side, lad," shouted Josh.
"Ay, ay!" And then Will held on by one side of the sunken boat, while
Josh held on the other.
So slight was the buoyancy of the filled boat that the slightest touch
in the way of pressure sent it down, and Dick could have drowned as
easily there as in the open sea, but that, feeling something hard
beneath him, a spark of hope shot to his brain, and he began to struggle
once more.
"Keep still," shouted Will. "Lie back with your head on the gunwale;"
and Dick obeyed, content to keep his face just above water so that he
might breathe.
"It arn't much help, but it are a bit of help, eh, lad?" panted Josh.
"Way oh! Steady!"
"Yes, it is a rest, Josh," panted back Will, whose spirits rose from
somewhere about despair-point to three degrees above hope; but in his
effort to get a little too much support from that which was not prepared
to give any, he pressed on the gunwale at his side, and sent it far
below the surface, drawing from Josh the warning shout, "Way oh!
Steady!"
The slightest thing sent the gunwale under--in fact, the pressure of a
baby's hand would have been sufficient to keep it below the surface; but
the experienced swimmers on either side knew what they were about, and
after seeing that Dick's face was above water, and without any
consultation, both being moved by the same impulse, they threw
themselves on their backs beside the sunken boat, one with, his head
towards her stem, the other head to stern, and after a moment's pause
each took hold of the gunwale lightly with his left hand, his right
being free, and then they waited till they began to float upward.
"Ready, lad?" said Josh.
"Ready," cried Will.
"Both together, then."
Then there was a tremendous splashing as each turned his right-hand into
a scoop and began to throw out the water with a skilful rapid motion
somewhat similar to the waving of the fin of a fish; and this they kept
up for quite five minutes, when Josh shouted again:
"Easy!"
There was not much result. They had dashed out a tremendous quantity of
water, but nearly as much had flowed in again over the sides, as in
their efforts they had sometimes dragged down the gunwale a little.
Besides which a little wave had now and then broken against one or the
other and sent gallons of water into the boat.
Still they had done something, and after a rest Josh cried again:
"Ready? Go ahead."
Once more the splashing began, the water flying out of the boat like
showers of liquid gold; and just when the hand-paddles were in full play
the boat began to move slightly, then a little more. Neither Josh nor
Will knew why, for they could not see that it sank a little lower for a
few minutes and then began to rise.
"Hooray!" cried Josh hoarsely. "Well done, young un; out with it.
Hooray! Oh, look at that!"
He had just awakened to the fact that Dick had come to himself
sufficiently to alter his position, and was lending his aid by scooping
out the water with both hands till a wave came with a slight wash and
half demolished all their work.
"Keep on," shouted Will; and once more the splashing went forward at a
tremendous rate.
A handful of water, or as much as it will throw, out of a full boat is
not much; but when three hands are busy ladling with all their might a
tremendous amount of water can be baled out, and so it was, that when
the balers rested again there were three inches of freeboard, as sailors
call it, and the next wave did not lessen it a quarter of an inch.
"Ready again?" cried Josh. "Go ahead, youngster."
The splashing went on once more; and now both Will and Josh could
support themselves easily by holding on to the gunwale, the boat
increasing in buoyancy every moment, while three hands scooped out the
water with long and vigorous well-laden throws.
It became easier for Dick too now, for he found that he could sit
astride one of the thwarts, holding on in position by twisting his legs
beneath; and this gave him power to use both hands, which he joined
together and scooped out the water in pints that became quarts, gallons,
and bucketsfull.
"Hooray!" cried Josh with a cheer, and there was a few minutes' rest.
"A mussy me! it's child's play now. Look here; s'pose you roll out now
and take my place. No: go out on Will's side and hold on by him while I
get in."
Dick shivered at the idea. It seemed so horrible to give up his safe
position and trust to the sea once more. But he did not hesitate long.
Taking tight hold of the bulwark, he literally rolled over the side and
let himself down into the sea, with the phosphorescence making his body,
limbs, and feet even, visible like those of his companion. But there
was no time to study the wonders of Nature then, or even look at the way
in which the keel of the boat was illumined by myriads of golden points.
"Hold on! Steady! Keep her down!" cried Josh; and then, as the two
lads clung to the gunwale they were raised right up, as there was a
wallow and a splash; the opposite side went down so low that it began to
ship water, but only for a moment; Josh had given a spring, and rolled
in over the side.
"Now, then, leave him there, Will, lad, and work round, by her starn.
I'll soon have some of the water out now."
He began feeling about as he spoke with his hands beneath the thwarts
forward, and directly after he uttered a cry of joy.
"Here she be," he said, tearing out the half of a tin bucket that had
held the bait. "Now we'll do some work."
As he spoke he began dipping and emptying, pouring nearly a gallon of
water over the side at every turn; and in ten minutes, during which he
had laboured incessantly, he had made such a change that he bade Will
come in.
"Now you can bale a bit," he said. "My arms are about dead."
Will climbed in and took the bucket, scooping out the water with all his
might, while Josh bent over Dick.
"You're 'bout perished, my lad. Come along."
He placed his hands under Dick's arm-pits, and though he said that his
own arms were about dead he hoisted the boy in almost without an effort,
and then left him to help himself, while he resumed baling with his
hands, scooping out the water pretty fast, and each moment lightening
the little craft.
"Good job we'd no stone killicks aboard, Will," he said, "or down she'd
have gone."
"There's the buoys too wedged forward," said Will; "they have helped to
keep her up."
"'Bout balanced the creepers," said Josh. "It's a question of a pound
weight at a time like this. There, take it steadily, my lads. We're
safe now, and can see that the tide's carrying of us in. Lights look
bigger, eh?"
"Yes," said Will, who was working hard with his baler. "Where shall we
drive ashore?"
"Oh! pretty close to the point," cried Josh. "I say, youngster, this is
coming fishing, eh?"
"Oh! it is horrible," said Dick, piteously.
"Not it, lad," cried Josh. "It's grand. Why, we might ha' been
drownded, and, what's wuss, never washed ashore."
Dick shivered as much from cold as misery, and gazed in the direction of
the lights.
"Wonder what steamer that was as run us down!" said Josh, as the vessel
he used to bale began now to scrape the wood at the bottom of the boat.
"French screw," replied Will. "An English boat would have kept a better
look-out. Why, you are cold!" he added, as he laid his hand on Dick.
"Ye-es," said the latter with a shudder. "It is horribly cold. Shall
we ever get ashore?"
"Ashore! yes," cried Josh. "Why, they'd be able, 'most to hear us now.
Let's try."
Taking a long breath, he placed both hands to his cheeks, and then gave
vent to a dismal hail--a hail in a minor key--the cry of the sailor in
dire peril, when he appeals to those on shore to come to his help, and
save him from the devouring storm-beaten sea.
"Ahoy--ah!" the last syllable in a sinking inflexion of the voice a few
seconds after the first.
Then again:
"Ahoy--ah!"
He went on baling till no more water could be thrown out, and the boat
drifted slowly on with the tide.
Away to their left there rose the lamp-lit windows and the pier light.
Lower down, too, were a couple of dim red lamps, one above the other,
telling of the little dock; but no answer came from the shore.
"There's sure to be some one on the cliff, Josh; hail again," said Will.
"Ay, if we had a flare now, we should bring out the life-boat to fetch
us in," cried Josh. "Why, Will lad, we shall be taken a mile away from
the town, and perhaps out to sea again. I wish I had an oar."
"Ahoy--ah!"
Then again and again; and still there was no response, while they
drifted slowly on over the sea, which looked to Dick, as he gazed down
into its depths, alive with tiny stars, and these not the reflections of
those above.
"Ahoy--ah!" shouted Josh again, with all the power of his stentorian
lungs.
"They're all asleep," he growled; "we shall have to drift ashore and
walk home. If I only had one oar I'd scull her back in no time. Ahoy--
ah!"
Still no response, and the boat floated on beneath the wondrous starry
sky, while every time those in the boat made the slightest movement a
golden rippling film seemed to run from her sides, and die away upon the
surface of the sea.
"She brimes a deal," said Josh, in allusion to the golden water; and
then, leaping up, he began to beat his breast with his arms; "I'm
a-cold!" he exclaimed. "Now, then; let's have a try;" and, placing his
hands to his face once more, he uttered a tremendous hail.
"Ahoy--ah!"
Long drawn out and dismal; and then Dick's heart gave a quick hopeful
leap, for, from far away, and sounding faint and strange, came an
answering hail, but not like Josh's dismal appeal. It was a sharp,
short, cheery "_Ahoy_!" full of promise of action.
"They've heard us at last!" cried Will eagerly. "That's the coastguard,
and they'll come off in their gig, as it's so smooth."
"I say," said Josh, in his low sing-song way; "haven't I put it too
strong? They'll think somethin' 'orrid's wrong--that it's a wreck, or
somethin' worse."
"Let them!" cried Will. "It's horrible enough to be afloat in an open
boat in the dark without oar or sail. Hail again, Josh."
"Ahoy--ah!" cried the fisherman once more, and an answer came back at
once. Then another and another.
"They'll soon get a boat," cried Will. "You listen."
"But they'll never find us in the dark!" cried Dick dismally.
"Oh, won't they!" cried Josh; "they'd find us if we was only out in a
pork tub. Lor' a mussy me, youngster, you don't know our Cornish lads!"
"We shall keep on hailing now and then," said Will, whose teeth were
chattering in spite of his cheery tones.
"Ahoy--oy--oy!"
Very distinct but very distant the shouting of a numerous crowd of
people; and now, like the tiniest and faintest of specks, lights could
be seen dancing about on the shore, while all at once, one star, a vivid
blue star, burst out, burning clear and bright for a few minutes, making
Dick gaze wonderingly ashore.
"Blue light," said Will.
"To hearten us up a bit, and say the boat's coming!" cried Josh.
"Ahoy--ah! Let 'em know which way to row."
Josh shouted from time to time, and then Will gave a shout or two; and
there were answering shouts that seemed to come nearer, and at last
plain enough there was the light of a lanthorn rising and falling
slowly, telling of its being in a boat that was being propelled by stout
rowers.
"Why, my father's sure to be in that boat!" cried Dick suddenly. "He'll
have been frightened about me, and have come off to see."
"Shouldn't wonder," said Josh. "I should if I had a boy."
"You shall hail when they get nearer," said Will. "They couldn't hear
you yet."
"I wish he could!" cried Dick. "He'll have been in such trouble. Oh, I
know!"
He had suddenly remembered a little silver whistle that was attached to
his chain, and placing it to his lips he blew upon it a shrill
ear-piercing scream.
"There, I knew he would be!" cried Dick joyously; and he gave Will a
hearty clap upon the shoulder in the eagerness of his delight. For from
far away, where the dim light rose and fell upon the waters, there came
an answering shrill chirruping whistle.
Then Dick gave two short whistles.
Two exactly similar came in response.
"I knew he would be," cried Dick; "but he'll be very angry, I suppose."
"Uncle Abram will be there too, I should say," said Will quietly.
"Why, your father won't be angry, my lad," said Josh after a few
minutes' thought. "If he be it'll be with Josh, which is me, for not
keeping a bright lookout. He can't row you for being run down, for you
wasn't neither captain nor the crew. Hillo! ahoy--ah!" he answered in
return to a hail.
"I say!" said Dick suddenly; "the lights are going the other way."
"Right, my lad; and so they have been this quarter hour past."
"Why's that?" said Dick.
"Because the tide's ebbing fast."
"And what does that mean?" cried Dick.
"As if they didn't overhaul us we should be carried out to sea."
"But will they find us, Will?"
"No fear of that. See how plain the light's getting. Ahoy--ah! ahoy--
ah! They're not above a quarter of a mile away."
Soon after the dipping of the oars could be seen as they threw up the
lambent light in flashes, while an ever-widening track of sparkling
water was plain to the eyes. Then the voices came asking questions.
"Ahoy! Who's aboard there?"
"Young gent Dick!" yelled Josh back.
"Who else?"
"Will Marion!"
"Who else? Is that Josh?"
"Ahoy, lad!"
"Hurrah!" came from the boat three times, and the oars made the water
flash again as they were more vigorously plied.
"That's your sort, Master Dick!" cried Josh. "That's Cornish, that is!
They chaps is as glad at finding us as--as--as--"
"We should be at finding them," said Will.
"Ay; that's it!"
And so it seemed, for a few minutes more and the boat was alongside, and
the wet and shivering fishers were seated in the stern-sheets, wrapped
in oilskins and great-coats, their boat made fast behind, and Dick's
hand tight in that of his father, who said no word of reproach; while,
after a long pull against tide, with the boat towing behind, they were
landed at the head of the little harbour, where a crowd of the
simple-hearted folk, many having lanthorns, saluted them with a hearty
cheer, and any amount of hospitality bright have been theirs.
For these dwellers by the sea, who follow their daily toil upon the
treacherous waters, are always ready with their help, to give or take in
the brotherly way that has long been known in the fishing villages upon
the Cornish shores.