The occupants of the cabin had sat long that night, talking of poor John
Studwick's peaceful end, and then separated, feeling low-spirited and
heavy, as if some fresh trouble were in store; but Bessy had said
good-night to Meldon, with her hands resting lovingly in his, and she
did not shrink away when he pressed his lips to her forehead.
It had been arranged that the remains of the dead should be committed to
the deep next day, and at last all had retired, after the captain and
Dutch had heard the doctor's report of Laure's state, which caused them
some uneasiness, for if he recovered they felt that much trouble was in
store.
But there was not the faintest suspicion of danger: trusty men were at
the look-out and helm, and it had been arranged that Dutch was to take
turns with the doctor and captain to visit the deck during the night,
the doctor having his patient to watch. Then there was Rasp, too, who
would be on the move several times during the night, and all promised
well.
And so the time wore on till Dutch, who had lain down in his clothes,
rose and kissed his sleeping wife as she lay there peacefully dreaming.
All was very still, and on reaching the deck he found the darkness
intense, but, guided by the faint glow from the binnacle lantern, he
went aft to where Lennie was softly crooning to himself some old ditty
about "Coming back to Sairey in the good ship Jane."
"Yes, sir, all right," said the sailor; "the breeze keeps nice and
steady, only it's like sailing in a tar barrel, it's so awful black."
Dutch went forward and found Sam Oakum leaning with his elbows on the
bulwark, matched by his companion on the other side of the bowsprit
gazing straight out ahead.
"Right as nails, sir," said the old sailor, "only I was a thinking,
being a man as never used it, if this here sea looked as black in the
sunshine as it do now, what a fortune a man might make in bottles o'
ink. You might go on filling 'em up, sir, for ever and ever, amen, and
there'd be plenty left to sail the ships in all the same."
"It is black, Sam," said Dutch, "and I often wonder that you sailors are
not afraid of being run down, or of running into some other vessels."
"There's plenty o' room," said Sam, "and as to being afraid, what's the
use? We're too busy. 'Course there is a collision sometimes, but not
often, thank goodness."
"Keep a sharp look-out," said Dutch, turning to go.
"Ay, ay, I'll keep a sharp look-out," said the old fellow. "Lord, it's
ticklish work, sailing with all this silver aboard, and I shall be glad
when we're safe in. How's the prisoner, sir?"
"I'm going down to see," replied Dutch; and going to the hatch, he
descended, to find Rasp sleeping soundly, and the lamp burned down to a
dim light, that did not show the state of the Cuban's berth.
Dutch shook the old diver roughly, and he started up muttering, while,
as the former turned up the lamp, he started with surprise.
"Where is--"
The words had not left his lips when there was a tremendous concussion,
a deafening roar, and the two men were thrown down, to struggle up
again, with the air of the little cabin filled with a strange choking
vapour, which nearly suffocated them before they had staggered up the
steps to sink helplessly on the deck, now covered with burning fragments
which kept showering down.
As Dutch fell, stunned and confused, on the fore part of the deck it
seemed to him that he heard wild shrieks and cries for help from the
direction of the stern cabins, but he was too helpless to comprehend
what had taken place till he heard Oakum speaking to him and shaking his
arm.
"Are you killed, Mr Dutch?" said the old fellow. "Oh, do say you
ain't."
"I don't think I'm hurt, Sam," faltered Dutch, as he struggled to his
feet. "I feel stunned, though," and he clung to the old sailor to keep
from falling backwards.
"Here's poor old Rasp killed," exclaimed Oakum, "and the ship sinking.
Quick, to the boat."
"You're an obstinate old liar," exclaimed Rasp, staggering to his feet.
"I ain't killed. Who's been a-doing of this?"
"Here, quick, Oakum," exclaimed Dutch, who, now that he could think, had
his first thoughts for his wife and friends, "the ship must be going
down. Help me to reach those astern."
"There's no getting to them, if they're alive," exclaimed Oakum; "the
whole of the schooner's blown out amidships."
"Ahoy!" there came a voice from beyond the great black gulf in the
centre of the schooner, which now began to blaze.
"Who's that? Ahoy!" shouted Dutch. "Captain Studwick?"
"Right! Who's with you there?"
"Oakum, Rasp, and one of the men," cried Dutch. "Who's with you?"
"I think all," replied the captain, shouting across the gulf.
"Is my wife--Miss Studwick--safe?" faltered Dutch; and on receiving a
reply in the affirmative, he muttered a prayer of thankfulness.
The question then arose--was the schooner sinking?
"I think not," shouted the captain, for a disposition was shown to get
out the boats. "If she was sinking, she would not begin to blaze like
that down in the hold. It seems to me that the explosion struck
upwards, and that she is sound below--for the present."
And so it proved; for the dynamite had ripped up the deck and snapped
off the mainmast as if it had been the stem of a flower, and it now lay
alongside, with such of its ropes as were out of water blazing.
Not a moment was to be lost, and buckets being brought into requisition,
the flames were attacked, for portions of the wreck below began now to
blaze fiercely. One of the pumps, too, was set to work, and for long
hours nothing was heard but the hissing of the flames as they were
attacked by the water; but all that could be done was to keep them from
increasing, and when at last the morning broke, it was to show two
groups, one forward, the other astern, sullenly drawing buckets of water
and dashing them into a hissing gulf of fire in the centre of the
schooner, from which rose a column of black smoke to spread overhead and
form a cloud like a funeral pall for the unlucky ship.
As the wind wafted the smoke on one side, Dutch waved his hand in token
of encouragement to his wife, who stood with Bessy by the wheel, their
task being to keep the ship's head in one direction, so that the flames
and heated vapour should not be driven astern. But all was done now in
a hopeless duty-driven fashion, for those on board now realised the fact
that it was only a matter of hours before the fire would eat its way
through the side, and the work they tried so hard to do would be
accomplished by the ship sinking beneath the waves.
"It's of no use," said Captain Studwick at last. "Dutch Pugh, Oakum,
lower down that boat and come aft."
This was done in a steady, deliberate manner, although at any moment a
fresh explosion might have taken place, and the schooner gone down. And
into the boat Oakum, Rasp, the sailor, and Dutch lowered themselves,
paddled along the side, and joined their companions in misfortune aft.
As Oakum made fast the painter, and they all stood on the deck, Captain
Studwick exclaimed:
"Where is Laure? We must not leave him to perish."
"Is he not with you?" said Dutch.
"No," said the captain, bitterly.
"Has the poor wretch, then, been blown up in the explosion?"
"Heaven knows," cried Mr Parkley, "but if he is missing, that explains
all. It is his work."
"It was those blowing-up cartridges o' yourn," growled Oakum.
"Of course it was, stupid," snarled Rasp, turning on the old sailor
fiercely, "but the cartridges wouldn't go off by themselves, would
they?"
"You said he was better, doctor," said the captain.
"Yes, so much so that the change was puzzling."
"This was his work, then," cried the captain. "He was well enough to
take some terrible revenge upon us."
"And to perish himself in accomplishing it," said Dutch.
"Don't know that," said the captain. "One of the boats has gone."
"But it may have been destroyed in the explosion."
The captain shook his head and walked to the side where the ropes and
blocks hanging from the davits showed plainly enough that a boat had
been lowered down.
As he pointed to this the diabolical plot was made perfectly manifest,
and its objects saw plainly enough how the villain had compassed their
destruction.
"And I was so deceived," exclaimed the doctor, stamping upon the deck in
his rage. "The scoundrel was ill at first, but the latter part of the
time it was subterfuge. Dutch Pugh, this is my fault. I must go back
to hospital to learn my profession."
"Suppose, gentlemen, we begin to load the boat with necessaries and
construct a raft," said the captain, bluntly. "It strikes me that we
have but little time to spare. Mr Parkley, your silver is going back
to its home at the bottom of the sea."
"Yes," said that gentleman, "and where it will lie, for there seems to
be a curse with it all along."
The boat already launched was as rapidly as possible supplied with
water, cold provisions, compass, and sail; and, as soon as these were
in, Dutch suggested, and his proposal was agreed to, that his wife and
the captain's daughter should be lowered down in--case of any sudden
disposition shown by the ship to sink; but they objected to leave yet
until one sad duty that had to be attended to was done.
A funeral at sea is a sad event, and it was more painful here at such a
time, when it was a question whether before long everyone present would
not have to seek a resting-place in the sea. Below lay the body of poor
John Studwick, just as the doctor and Sam Oakum had arranged it, wrapped
in a piece of sail-cloth, with a few heavy pieces of iron at the feet,
waiting to take its last plunge.
The second boat, only a small one, had also been laden with provisions
and water, so that in case of emergency there was nothing to do but to
leap into one or the other and push off; and though Captain Studwick
proposed making a raft, that was deferred until after the funeral.
It was a solemn scene as the body was reverently brought up from below
and laid by the open gangway. The fire still burned slowly and
steadily, and the smoke rose and floated away like a great black plume
far over the golden water, on whose long swell the schooner rose and
fell as easily as if there was no ruin in her midst. All was perfectly
still and peaceful as, the arrangements having been made, Captain
Studwick stood at the head of the silent, muffled figure, book in hand,
and with trembling voice read the prayers for the dead, while those who
clustered round forgot their sufferings and all dangers as they listened
to the solemn words.
At last the captain stopped and made a sigh, when Sam Oakum gently
raised the end of the hatch upon which the body lay, and with a slight
rustling noise it glided off with a heavy plunge into the sea, Bessy
uttering now a low wail and throwing herself on the deck.
She lay motionless there as, struggling hard to maintain his firmness,
the captain finished the solemn words laid down for such an occasion,
and then, closing the book, he was the stern man of business again. He
gave his orders sharply, and Dutch took his wife in his arms, made fast
a rope round her, and lowered her into the larger boat, Bessy submitting
herself, as Mr Meldon helped, to be lowered to her side.
Mr Wilson and the doctor followed, Oakum and one of the sailors being
the next, so as to take the management of the boat, with orders to push
off and lie at about a hundred yards' distance.
Hester half rose, with outstretched hands, but a word from Dutch
reassured her as he set to with the captain and the rest on board to
lower down such necessaries as the cabin contained to freight the second
boat.
This work had been going on for about half-an-hour; the boat had been
loaded as far as was safe, and coops, spars, rope, casks, and hatches
were being thrown over, with axes and a saw lashed to them, so as to
construct a kind of raft from the boats, whose object was to bear the
heavier portion of their freight, and also to act as a kind of
breakwater in case the sea should roughen, when the boats could lie to
leeward and wait until some vessel hove in sight to rescue them from
their perilous position.
The fire still blazed furiously, melting down the silver, old Rasp said,
and this latter worthy had given a great deal of trouble, from the fact
that he considered that the only thing worth saving was the diving
apparatus. He had strewed the deck with various articles which he had
brought up, only to be peremptorily rejected. And now all left on board
found that their minutes there were numbered; but still they toiled on,
till a warning cry from Oakum in the further boat drew their attention
to a strange hissing noise where the fire burned most fiercely.
"She's sinking," cried Dutch, as the schooner gave a heavy roll.
"Yes, quick! over with you all," cried the captain. Then, with a groan,
"Poor old schooner! she deserved a better fate."
One by one they slid down the rope left ready into the boat, till all
were in save the captain and Dutch, neither of whom would go first.
"Quick, quick!" cried Mr Parkley, "or we shall be sucked down."
"Push off!" roared the captain, who saw their peril; and as they
hesitated he seized the rope and swung himself down, Dutch leaping
headlong into the water at the same moment.
It was a close shave, for as Dutch rose and caught at the boat's gunwale
the oars were dipped and plied manfully, while the schooner blazed now
with suddenly increased fury, as if the flames meant to secure all they
could before the waters seized their prey. The vessel had begun to roll
heavily, and the flames, which had now caught the mizen and fore masts,
were running rapidly up the rigging, starting in tongues of fire from
the tarry ropes, and curling up the masts till they were perfect
pyramids of fire.
Three more heavy rolls succeeded, with the hissing of the fire
increasing to a shriek, when a cloud of steam began to rise, and the
schooner careened over, so that those in the last boat, as they toiled
to get sufficiently far away, could see right down into the burning
hold. This lasted but for a few moments though, and then the burning
masts, with their fluttering sheets of flame, rose up perpendicular, and
with a dive forward the vessel plunged down, there was a rushing sound,
a tremendous explosion as the steam and confined air blew up the stern
deck, and then the hull disappeared, followed slowly by the burning
masts, while the small boat, with all the spars and raft material, was
drawn towards the vortex.
"Pull," shouted Captain Studwick, and the oars bent as every possible
effort was made, but slowly and surely the boat was drawn back towards
where coops and hatches, casks and planks, eddied round for a few
minutes, and then disappeared.
Dutch had been dragged on board, and, like the captain, he helped at an
oar, wondering the while at the power with which they were sucked
towards the whirlpool, round which they at last began to sail.
No earthly power could have saved them had they not been able to delay
their backward progress for a few minutes; as it was, when they neared
the vortex, and over which a barrel was drawn, the bows of the boat were
about to plunge down, but by a tremendous effort. Dutch dragged the
little vessel round, and a succession of fierce tugs sent her once more
away from the centre, and another minute's struggle saved them, for the
waters were less troubled now, and the danger past.
As they lay off, though, they saw very few of the objects selected
return to the surface, and at last, heartsick, but thankful for their
escape, they gave up the idea of the raft as hopeless, and now steadily
rowed to join their consort.