A HEAD ON THE WATER
With her engines in motion and her wheel in the hands of Captain Burke,
the _Summer Shelter_ was in no danger of being run into by the _Dunkery
Beacon_, for she was much the more easily managed vessel.
As soon as they had recovered a moderate command of their senses,
Burdette and Portman hurried below to find out what damage had been
sustained by the yacht; but, although she must have been greatly
strained and might be leaking through some open seams, the tough keelson
of the well-built vessel, running her length like a stiff backbone, had
received and distributed the shock, and although her bowsprit was
shivered to pieces and her cut-water splintered, her sides were
apparently uninjured. Furniture, baggage, coils of rope, and everything
movable had been pitched forward and heaped in disordered piles all over
the vessel. A great part of the china had been broken. Books, papers,
and ornaments littered the floors, and even the coal was heaped up in
the forward part of the bunkers.
Burke gave the wheel to Burdette and came down, when Mrs. Cliff
immediately rushed to him. She was not hurt, but had been dreadfully
shaken in body and mind. "Oh, what are we going to do?" she cried. "They
are wretched murderers! Will they keep on trying to sink us? Can't we
get away?"
"We can get away whenever we please," said Burke, his voice husky and
cracked. "If it wasn't for Shirley, I'd sail out of their sight in half
an hour."
"But we can't sail away and leave Mr. Shirley," said she. "We can't go
away and leave him!"
But little effort was made to get anything into order. Bruised heads and
shoulders were rubbed a little, and all on board seemed trying to get
themselves ready for whatever would happen next. Burke, followed by
Portman, ran to the cases containing the rifles, and taking them out,
they distributed them, giving one to every man on board. Some of the
clergymen objected to receiving them, and expostulated earnestly and
even piteously against connecting themselves with any bloodshed. "Cannot
we leave this scene of contention?" some of them said. "Not with Shirley
on that steamer," said Burke, and to this there was no reply.
Burke had no definite reason for thus arming his crew, but with such an
enemy as the _Dunkery Beacon_ had proved herself to be, lying to a short
distance away, two other vessels, probably pirates, in the vicinity, and
the strong bond of Shirley's detention holding the yacht where she
was, he felt that he should be prepared for every possible emergency.
But what to do he did not know. It would be of no use to hail the
_Dunkery_ and demand Shirley. He had done that over and over again
before that vessel had proved herself an open enemy. He stood with brows
contracted, rifle in hand, and his eyes fixed on the big steamer ahead.
The two other vessels he did not now consider, for they were still some
miles away.
Willy Croup was sitting on the floor of the saloon, sobbing and
groaning, and Mrs. Cliff did not know what in the world was the matter
with her. But Mr. Litchfield knew, and he knew also that it would be of
no use to try to comfort her with any ordinary words of consolation. He
was certain that she had not understood anything that she had said, not
even, perhaps, the order to back the yacht, but the assertion of this
would have made but little impression upon her agitated mind. But a
thought struck him, and he hurried to Burke and told him quickly what
had happened. Burke listened, and could not even now restrain a smile.
"It's just like that dear Willy Croup," said he; "she's an angel!"
"Will you be willing," said Mr. Litchfield, "to come and tell her that
your orders could not have been forcibly and quickly enough impressed
upon the engineer's mind in any other way?"
Without answering, Burke ran to where Willy was still groaning. "Miss
Croup," he exclaimed, "we owe our lives to you! If you hadn't sworn at
the engineer, he never would have backed her in time, and we would all
have been at the bottom of the sea!"
Mrs. Cliff looked aghast, and Willy sprang to her feet. "Do you mean
that, Mr. Burke?" she cried.
"Yes," said he, "in such desperate danger you had to do it. It's like a
crack on the back when you're choking. You were the only person able to
repeat my orders, and you were bound to do it!"
"Yes," said Mr. Litchfield, "and you saved the ship!"
Willy looked at him a few moments in silence, then wiping her eyes, she
said, "Well, you know more about managing a ship than I do, and I hope
and trust I'll never be called upon to back one again!"
Burke and most of the other men now gathered on deck, watching the
_Dunkery Beacon_. She was still lying to, blowing off steam, and there
seemed to be a good deal of confusion on her deck. Suddenly Burke saw a
black object in the water near her starboard quarter. Gazing at it
intently, his eyes began to glisten. In a few moments he exclaimed,
"Look there! It's Shirley! He's swimming to the yacht!"
Now everybody on deck was straining his eyes over the water, and Mrs.
Cliff and Willy, who had heard Burke's cry, stood with the others. "Is
it Shirley, really?" exclaimed Mrs. Cliff. "Are you sure that's his head
in the water?"
"Yes," replied Burke, "there's no mistake about it! He's taking his last
chance and has slipped over the rail without nobody knowing it."
"And can he swim so far?" gasped Willy.
"Oh, he can do that," answered Burke. "I'd steam up closer if I wasn't
afraid of attracting attention. If they'd get sight of him they'd fire
at him, but he can do it if he's let alone!"
Not a word was now said. Scarcely a breath seemed to come or go.
Everybody was gazing steadfastly and rigidly at the swimmer, who with
steady, powerful strokes was making a straight line over the gently
rolling waves towards the yacht. Although they did not so express it to
themselves, the coming of that swimmer meant everything to the pale,
expectant people on the _Summer Shelter_. If he should reach them, not
only would he be saved, but they could steam away to peace and safety.
On swam Shirley, evenly and steadily, until he had nearly passed half
the distance between the two vessels, when suddenly a knot of men were
seen looking over the rail of the _Dunkery_. Then there was a commotion.
Then a man was seen standing up high, a gun in his hand. Willy uttered a
stifled scream, and Mrs. Cliff seized her companion by the arm with such
force that her nails nearly entered the flesh, and almost in the same
instant there rang out from the yacht the report of eight rifles.
Every man had fired at the fellow with the gun, even Burdette in the
pilot house. Some of the balls had gone high up into the rigging, and
some had rattled against the hull of the steamer, but the man with the
gun disappeared in a flash. Whether he had been hit or frightened,
nobody knew. Shirley, startled at this tremendous volley, turned a
quick backward glance and then dived, but soon reappeared again,
striking out as before for the yacht.
"Now, then," shouted Burke, "keep your eyes on the rail of that steamer!
If a man shows his head, fire at it!"
If this action had been necessary, very few of the rifles in the hands
of the members of the late Synod would have been fired, for most of them
did not know how to recharge their weapons. But there was no need even
for Burke to draw a bead on a pirate head, for now not a man could be
seen on the _Dunkery Beacon_. They had evidently been so surprised and
astounded by a volley of rifle shots from this pleasure yacht, which
they had supposed to be as harmless as a floating log, that every man on
deck had crouched behind the bulwarks.
Now Burke gave orders to steam slowly forward, and for everybody to keep
covered as much as possible; and when in a few minutes the yacht's
engine stopped and Shirley swam slowly around her stern, there was a
rush to the other side of the deck, a life preserver was dropped to the
swimmer, steps were let down, and the next minute Shirley was on deck,
Burke's strong arm fairly lifting him in over the rail. In a few moments
the deck of the yacht was the scene of wild and excited welcome and
delight. Each person on board felt as if a brother had suddenly been
snatched from fearful danger and returned to their midst.
"I can't tell you anything now," said Shirley. "Give me a dram, and let
me get on some dry clothes! And now all of you go and attend to what
you've got to do. Don't bother about that steamer--she'll go down in
half an hour! She's got a big hole stove in her bow!"
With a cry of surprise Burke turned and looked out at the _Dunkery
Beacon_. Even now she had keeled over to starboard so much that her deck
was visible, and her head was already lower than her stern. "She'll
sink," he cried, "with all that gold on board!"
"Yes," said Shirley, turning with a weak smile as he made his way to the
cabin, accompanied by Mr. Hodgson, "she'll go down with every bar of
it!"
There was great commotion now on the _Dunkery Beacon_. It was plain that
the people on board of her had discovered that it was of no use to try
to save the vessel, and they were lowering her boats. Burke and his
companions stood and watched for some minutes. "What shall we do!"
exclaimed Mr. Arbuckle, approaching Burke. "Can we offer those
unfortunate wretches any assistance?"
"All we can do," said Burke, "is to keep out of their way. I wouldn't
trust one of them within pistol shot." Now Shirley reappeared on
deck--he had had his dram, and had changed his clothes. "You're right,"
said he, "they're a set of pirates--every man of them! If we should take
them on board, they'd cut all our throats. They've got boats enough, and
the other pirates can pick them up. Keep her off, Burke; that's what I
say!"
There was no time now for explanations or for any story to be told, and
Burke gave orders that the yacht should be kept away from the sinking
steamer and her boats. Suddenly Burdette, from the pilot house, sung out
that there was a steamer astern, and the eyes which had been so
steadfastly fixed upon the _Dunkery Beacon_ now turned in that
direction. There they saw, less than a mile away, a large steamer coming
down from the north.
Burke's impulse was to give orders to go ahead at full speed, but he
hesitated, and raised his glass to his eye. Then in a few moments he put
down his glass, turned around, and shouted, "That's the _Monterey_! The
_Monterey_! and Captain Horn!"