AN EXPEDIENT TO ESCAPE THE ENEMY
Captain Scott had directed Morris to heave up the anchor before he
buried himself in his study of the chart in the pilot-house, and to do
it in such a manner as not to attract the attention of the Fatimé's
people. It was not a very heavy anchor that was required for a craft of
the size of the Maud, and it had been done very easily and quietly.
Louis went into the pilot-house, where the captain was behind the wheel
by this time. He was gazing intently at the conic rock which rose from
the water a cable's length ahead of him, off a point on the main shore.
When he brought the little steamer in to her anchorage in the morning,
the lead had been kept going all the time, and he had noted the
soundings on the log-slate at his side. It was now dead low tide, and
the last sounding had given fifteen feet.
"I suppose you have noticed a change in the appearance of the Fatimé,
Captain Scott," said Louis, as he took his place opposite him.
"What change? I haven't glanced at her. I don't like the looks of her,
for she stirs up bad blood in me. I have been trying to be a saint like
you, Louis, and it is the most difficult enterprise in which I ever
engaged," replied Scott, as he directed his attention to her. "I don't
see any change in her."
"Don't you see that gun sticking out through her bulwark?" asked Louis.
"I see it now, but I had not noticed it before," answered the captain.
"Then Mazagan was not lying when he said that his vessel had been armed
since he took command of her. I suppose I ought to be frightened at the
appearance of that twelve-pounder, poking its muzzle out the side of the
vessel; but somehow I am not a bit scared," said the captain, with a
broader smile on his face than usual.
"But twelve-pound shot are not agreeable missiles to have plumped
through the side of the Maud."
"Perhaps not; but the lively little craft is built of extra strength,
and she can stand a few of them. I am more concerned about the speed of
the Fatimé than I am about her guns. Of course she has another gun on
her starboard side."
"Of course."
"If Mazagan had consulted me in regard to the placing of them, he could
not have arranged them to suit me any better. But her speed is of more
consequence than her guns."
"I judge from that, that you intend to run away from her," suggested
Louis.
"Louis," said Captain Scott, looking at his companion with a very
serious expression for him, "there is a recording angel hovering over
and around me all the time."
"I suppose every fellow has one near him, to make a note of all his
thoughts and actions, though we don't often take notice of his
presence."
"I believe all that, and that we shall be held responsible for all we do
and say, and even for what we think," replied Scott.
"A fellow has to keep a guard over his thoughts, for they are the
foundation of his actions."
"But you are taking a higher flight than I am, Louis, and we will
overhaul your idea some other time, when there are no twelve-pounders
near," interposed the captain, as he glanced at the enemy. "My recording
angel is not one of the sort you are thinking about; though,
metaphorically speaking, I believe in those to whom you allude. If my
winged spirit, so constantly near me at times like the present
especially, were to materialize, he would present the photograph of
Captain Royal Ringgold."
Louis could not help smiling as he imagined the angel described; and he
thought the dignified commander made a rather odd-looking ethereal
being.
"I am not making fun of the idea, Louis; the commander seems to be close
aboard of me when there is any doubtful question to be decided by me as
captain of this craft," continued Scott. "He is looking at me, and
writing down all I do and say, ready to hold me responsible for
everything when I meet him again. He is bigger and more present, so to
speak, just now than ever before. If he knew the situation here at the
present moment, it would half worry the life out of him, though he would
be as dignified as ever."
"You have made a picture of your sense of responsibility; and I am glad
you feel it so keenly," added Louis.
"This is a tight place for a young fellow like me, and I want to do my
duty faithfully. If I should follow out my natural, inborn inclination,
I should pitch into the Fatimé, and open fire upon her officers and crew
with all the rifles and revolvers we could muster. But I don't do that
sort of thing now. I am not the same fellow I was when I came on board
of the Guardian-Mother. Now I shall run away if I get a chance to do
so."
"I think you are wise, Captain Scott," added Louis.
"Whatever my recording angel sets down for or against me, he shall not
write that I tried to get into a fight with that pirate," said the
captain with a great deal of emphasis.
"You know something about her speed, for we had a little trial of it in
the Strait of Gibraltar."
"We did not beat her in a straight run, and we escaped from her by
manoeuvring and the aid of shoal water," the captain explained. "I
depend upon the same kind of assistance to get out of the present
scrape."
"Then you have a plan in your mind, Captain Scott?" asked Louis.
"I have. I shall do the best I can to get away from the pirate; but we
may not succeed. I have no plan of this bay, only the general chart, on
which but a few soundings are given. We may be driven into a corner
where we shall have to see what virtue there is in our firearms, though
I hope not."
"If we are compelled to fight, I am confident that every fellow on board
will stand by you. I shall for one; for I heartily approve the platform
on which you stand, Captain Scott," said Louis, giving him his hand.
"I thank you, Louis, with all my heart. You make me stronger than I was
before," replied Scott, as he took the offered hand, and warmly pressed
it.
The Maud was going ahead at only half speed, blowing off her extra
steam; for she was in condition to make the best effort of her
existence. Morris and Felix were at the bow, wondering what those in the
pilot-house found to talk about so long. The water was extremely clear,
as they had seen it in the Bahamas, and they were watching the bottom,
composed entirely of rocks. Morris occasionally thrust down a
long-handled boathook whose length he had measured, and it gave him
thirteen feet about every time.
With her bunkers full of coal as they had been when she left Alexandria,
the Maud drew twelve feet of water, and by this time she had reduced it
six inches. She was approaching the shore, and she could not continue
much farther. Scott did not explain his plan in detail, and only said
that he intended to escape if he could. He had a theory in regard to the
formation of the bottom of the bay, which had twenty fathoms of water at
a distance of a mile from the shore.
He had a theory in regard to the subject which was by no means a novel
one, that the bottom of the sea was similar in its features to the
surface of the land. If the face of the country was rugged and uneven,
so was the bottom of the sea near it. On Cape Arnauti the hills rose to
the dignity of mountains, and some of the soundings at the entrance of
the inlet were over a hundred fathoms, which confirmed his theory in its
application to this particular locality.
Otherwise stated, Captain Scott believed that if all the water in the
bay could be suddenly dried up, the bottom of it would present the same
irregularities as the shore. Doubtless his theory was correct in regard
to the great oceans. Islands are only the tops of submarine hills and
mountains rising above the surface of the water.
The captain steered the Maud directly towards the shore, while the
steamer was making not over five knots an hour. He kept one eye on the
rocky cone on the starboard hand, which was an elevation on the enormous
ledge of half an acre.
"Where's the bottom, Morris?" he called to the first officer when the
steamer was abreast of the cone.
"Thirteen feet down," returned Morris.
"Heave the lead on the port hand, Flix," added the captain very quietly;
and he seemed to be still in a brown study.
"Mark under water two," reported the Milesian.
"Give the depth in feet now."
"Thirteen feet, short."
"Keep the lead going."
For about a quarter of a mile farther Scott kept the Maud moving in the
same direction, with no change in the reports of the soundings. The
great ledge could still be seen from the windows of the pilot-house; but
suddenly the color changed to a darker hue. At this point the captain
threw the helm over to port, and changed the course from south-west to
north-west, a full quarter of a circle. The soundings were continued,
and for some time the reports were of deeper water.
Louis had nothing to do on the forecastle, and he returned to the
pilot-house, where he stationed himself at the door on the starboard
side, where he could look down into the clear water as the others were
doing. The ledge still presented the same appearance; that of a smooth
surface, though with many seams and protuberances upon it.
"You seem to have found a channel inside of the ledge, Captain Scott,"
said Louis, after he had watched the indications for some time.
"I thought there must be some kind of an opening on this side of the
ledge; for on the shore there is a strip of land half a mile wide
covered with trees. The channel is all right here; but I would give up
all my chances of being appointed to the command of the Guardian-Mother
within the next ten years, to be assured that it extends out to the deep
water outside the bay," replied Scott, turning around to look at his
companion, and thus showing that there was a cloud on his face.
"Don't you believe that it extends the whole length of the ledge?" asked
Louis, who could not fail to see the shadow of anxiety that hung over
the expression of the young commander.
"It is no use to believe or disbelieve in a thing you know nothing at
all about," replied Scott, as Louis placed himself at the side of the
wheel opposite to him, so that he could see his face. "Do I believe it
rains in New York City at this moment? What is the use of expressing an
opinion about a matter upon which you have no material to base an
opinion?"
"Correct, Captain!" exclaimed Louis, laughing. "Many people make fools
of themselves by doing just that thing; but your recording angel never
does it. I did not know but you had the means of knowing something about
it."
"None whatever; there is no law of nature I know of that requires the
channel to reach through to deep water. But there is one circumstance
which leads me to fear it is 'no thoroughfare' to the deep water."
"What is that, Captain?"
"The present attitude of the Fatimé."
"She does not appear to have changed her position or her looks since she
ran out that twelve-pounder."
"That is just it!" replied Scott. "If he really intends to bag Mr. Louis
Belgrave as his game in this hunt, as I have no doubt he does, he is not
going to allow me to carry him off in the Maud through this channel
without doing some kicking and some barking with his twelve-pounders. He
remains there as quietly as though he had you in his cabin already.
Mazagan is a sea-captain, and probably has spent most of his life
sailing in these waters. I am afraid he knows more about this channel
than I do, or has a more detailed chart of this bay than mine."
The Maud passed the cone, and continued on her course for a short time
longer. Half a mile more would take her into twenty fathoms of water.
"It would look very hopeful, Louis, if the Fatimé were only doing her
best to overhaul us in a chase; but she is like an alligator sunning
himself on the water, she don't move a muscle," said the captain.
"Well, if we have to go back, we shall still have the chance of a race
before us," suggested Louis.
"I hope so," added Scott.
"Only hope so?" queried Louis.
"That's all," answered the captain, with something like despondency in
his tones and expression.
"Twelve feet and a half!" shouted Morris with emphasis.
"By the mark two! Twelve feet!" shouted Felix.
"Eleven and a half feet!" said Morris.
"Eleven feet!" yelled the Milesian.
Captain Scott rang one bell on the gong to stop her, and then three more
to back her. The boat was lowered into the water, and only seven feet of
water could be found half a cable's length ahead of the Maud. She could
go no farther in this direction.