"Hullo!" exclaimed Captain Miles; "what's the matter?"
"See here!" replied the young sailor, holding up in his hand something
dark and soft looking, with a bit of ribbon fluttering from one end.
"Well, what is it?" repeated the captain.
"My cap," said Jackson solemnly; "and, but for the mercy of God I also
might have been in the same place!"
It gave us all a thrill, I can tell you, the sight of this old cap,
which must have floated off Jackson's head when he dived to escape the
rush of the shark. The brute had swallowed it, no doubt, greedily,
thinking it had got the owner.
As for Jackson himself, when he clambered up over the side again and
came inboard, his face was as white as a table-cloth. I did not hear
him, either, joking about the deck all day afterwards in his usual way;
although the young sailor, besides being the smartest of the hands at
his work, had hitherto been the life of the crew, always laughing and
chaffing the others, as well as being the first to lead a song on the
fo'c's'le of an evening. The startling discovery of his cap in the
shark's stomach, coupled with the reflection that, had not Providence
intervened in his behalf, he might have also been swallowed up, seemed
to have completely sobered him for the time.
The other hands, however, were not much affected by the incident; and,
presently, when the bight of the rope round the shark was unloosed and
the body allowed to drop overboard, Moggridge sang out in a triumphant
voice: "Now we've got rid of Jonah, we'll have a shift of wind at last!"
"Why does the boatswain say that?" I asked Captain Miles. "What had
the shark to do with the weather?"
"Well, you see, my boy," he answered, "sailors are generally
superstitious, and they always think that killing a shark brings good
luck of some sort. Now, the best sort of luck we can have would be a
good stiff south-wester, or something of that sort, to drive us on our
way across the Atlantic, as we have experienced nothing but light
breezes since we left the islands, barely making five hundred miles'
distance from Sombrero. We'll never get to England at this rate in a
month of Sundays."
Unlike most prophecies referring to the weather, which, as a rule, must
generally be made after the event to be correct, that of the old
boatswain, curiously enough, turned out a true one, for, although we had
been only favoured with light winds from the time of Jackson's escape
from the shark and all the while the ill-fated brute followed in our
wake like a phantom of evil, not many hours elapsed after we had
captured the animal before a strong southerly breeze sprang up. This,
shifting round later on more to the westwards, came right astern of the
vessel--thus enabling her to spread studding-sails and sky-sails,
exposing every rag of canvas she could carry from truck to deck.
The wind, too, fortunately, was not a cat's-paw either, like the
shifting airs we had previously had, for it lasted us ten days at one
stretch, carrying us well to the south-east of Bermuda and almost more
than half-way to the Azores.
During all this time, no very remarkable incident occurred on board,
save that, whether owing to change of air or through some deficiency of
their native diet, three out of the half a dozen turtle, which Captain
Miles was hoping to carry home for the lord mayor's banquet, died one by
one. They were hove over the side in the same fashion; and, as I
watched their shelly backs floating astern, I could see flocks of sea-
birds settle down on them, evidently rejoicing in having such an
unexpected feast. A pig, too, was killed one day, supplying us in the
cabin with savoury roast pork, which was an agreeable change from the
salt beef and boiled fowls that were our ordinary fare--although, as the
hen-coops were becoming rapidly untenanted, I should not have much
longer to complain of any monotony of the latter item of our diet, I
thought.
But, if there was nothing to chronicle of any stirring character I
enjoyed the voyage immensely, being as happy as the day was long.
It seemed like paradise to me, sailing on and on before the genial
western wind over the wide blue sea, with an azure sky above unflecked
by a cloud in the daytime and studded with a glorious galaxy of stars at
night that made the heavens look like a casket of jewels.
Before long, I became quite a sailor too, being able to make my way
aloft to the cross-trees without help, and I was learning by familiarity
every rope whose name Moggridge had before taught me; for, when the
captain saw that I was careful through his repeated cautions, and also
had Jackson to look after me, he withdrew the embargo he had placed on
my mounting the rigging. Indeed, he was kind enough to let me do duty
as an "extra hand," as I loved to consider myself, in Mr Marline's
watch, or when he himself was on deck.
Another great delight I had consisted in going out on the bowsprit and
fishing for bonitoes and dolphins with a bit of red or white cloth tied
to a hook, in the same way as one goes "reeling" for mackerel in the
Channel; and many a savoury supper, cooked surreptitiously by Jake in
his friend the cook's caboose, had I on the sly at night in the
fo'c's'le, when Captain Miles thought I had turned in and was snug
asleep in my bunk!
Day after day passed alike, with the exception, of course, of Sundays,
when the captain read prayers on the poop to the hands clustered round,
all dressed out in their best shore clothes, and with the decks
especially holystoned in honour of the day--the ship the while making
some couple of hundred miles every twenty-four hours on her onward way,
while scarcely shifting a sail or altering a brace from week's end to
week's end.
It was getting on towards the end of August, the wind having continued
fair from about the middle of the month and the weather being all that
could be desired; when, one morning, that of our fifteenth day out from
Grenada, I recollect, I noticed that Captain Miles looked rather anxious
after coming on deck, shortly before our breakfast hour, "eight bells,"
according to his usual custom when everything was going on all right.
He first glanced aloft, sailor-like, to see that everything was correct
with the rigging and the sails all drawing, and then he cast an eye
forward, noting the orderly arrangements there; finally, walking across
to the binnacle in order to observe what course the ship was steering,
and asking Mr Marline, who had charge of the morning watch, how she was
going.
"Eight knots good, sir, last heave of the log," promptly said the mate.
"That's all right," observed the captain; "but, I don't like the look
ahead. It seems to me as if there's going to be a change."
"Indeed?" replied Mr Marline; "I haven't noticed anything at all
unusual. The wind has kept steady from the westwards ever since I came
on the poop at four bells, the same as we left it overnight."
"But, the glass is going down, Marline," rejoined Captain Miles; "and
don't you notice the sea is getting a bit cross off our port bow? It
strikes me we'll have a shift of wind presently from the eastwards, if
nothing more. However, we oughtn't to grumble, for ten days of such
fine weather is rather unusual in these latitudes, you know, at this
time of year."
"Yes, certainly," replied the mate; "we've made good use of the time,
too."
"Aye, that we have," replied the captain. "I fixed our position last
night by a couple of lunars."
"And I suppose it corroborates your observation of yesterday, eh?"
"Pretty nearly," said Captain Miles; "calculating for the distance we've
run since, I should think we're somewhere about 30 degrees North and 52
degrees West."
"Well, that's strange!" exclaimed Mr Marline. "We've got to the limit
of the north-east trade without having once the benefit of it from the
day we started, the winds having been south-east and southerly till they
shifted round to the westwards!"
"So they have," said the captain; "still, that has been all the more
lively for us. But I don't like this change brewing up. Look at the
clouds now!"
"Ha, they're getting up at last!" replied the other. "I see you were
right, the change will come from the eastwards."
Up to now it had been a beautifully bright morning, the sky without a
scrap of vapour to obscure its lucent expanse, and the sea lit up with
golden sunshine that made it appear bluer somehow or other; but, even
while Captain Miles and Mr Marline were speaking, a low bank of cloud
arose along the eastern horizon, and this, spreading gradually up
towards the zenith, soon shut out the half-risen sun and his rays,
casting a sombre tinge at the same time on the ocean below.
"All hands shorten sail!" shouted the captain, and the studding-sail
halliards being let go by the run, the _Josephine_, which a moment
before had looked like a bird with outspread wings, had these latter
clipped off in a jiffey, the light sails bagging with the wind like
balloons as they were hauled down; and, soon afterwards, the booms
projecting from the yard-arms on which they had been rigged out, were
sent below and laid with the other spare spars along the bulwarks in the
waist.
While the crew were busy at this task, the strong breeze, which but a
short time before had filled our canvas, gradually died away until there
did not seem to be a puff of air stirring, the larger sails now hanging
loose or else flapping idly against the masts.
Captain Miles, however, did not stop merely at taking in the studding-
sails, for the royals were next furled as well as the topgallant-sails;
and then, under reefed topsails and courses, in addition to her jib and
spanker which were still set, he awaited what the weather might have in
store for his vessel. An experienced seaman, such as he was, when
forewarned, as in the present instance, by a falling barometer, always
prepares for eventualities of the worst possible character, never
leaving anything to chance or neglecting to take proper precautions. By
not doing so many a gallant ship with all hands on board is lost through
the carelessness of bad navigators.
The cloud in the east, meanwhile, rose higher in the heavens, showing a
bit of clear sky for a moment at its base, when it began to travel
towards the ship at great speed, but in a very eccentric fashion,
whirling round and looking as if it were dancing on the surface of the
water.
"I can't make it out," said Mr Marline in a puzzled sort of way.
"There must be a good deal of wind at the back of it; but, why doesn't
it keep a straight course towards us, eh sir?"
"It's a whirlwind, I fancy," replied Captain Miles; "I've seen a good
many in the South Atlantic, near the African coast, although never one
before in these latitudes so far from land."
"Are they dangerous at all, captain?" I asked, rather anxiously.
"No, Tom, not unless you got in the vortex of one, when it might twist
the spars out of a ship perhaps, though I never saw any mischief done by
one myself. Mind your helm," added Captain Miles to the man at the
wheel, whose office at present was a sinecure, for the ship was almost
becalmed and the rudder swaying to and fro from port to starboard as it
listed. "If the wind catches us suddenly we may be taken aback, and I
want you to be ready when I give the word."
This made the sailor who was "taking his trick" all alert, instead of
lounging over the spokes as he had been doing previously, listening to
our talk.
Presently, a quick puff of air came from the west again, and the
_Josephine_ began to gather way; but almost in an instant afterwards the
wind shifted right ahead, coming down with the cloud, and the yards were
at once braced round, the vessel being headed towards the north.
The cloud approached rapidly now on our weather bow; and, as it got
nearer, we could see that its bottom edge, which was attenuated to the
proportions of a slender pillar of vapour, seemed to be united to the
water, the sea, where it joined the surface, being greatly agitated,
foaming up in columns of spray that were circled round and round and
then drawn up in corkscrew fashion into the denser body above.
"Why, it's a water-spout!" exclaimed Mr Marline in great surprise.
"So it is," said the captain, a bit startled and perplexed too. "Look
sharp, Marline, and see to the hatches being battened down and the
scuppers open; for, if the blessed thing bursts immediately overhead, it
will flood our decks with a deluge of water worse than if we had shipped
a heavy sea."
"Aye, aye, sir," answered the other, scuttling down the poop-ladder to
attend to these orders; but he had hardly left the captain's side ere a
terrific gust of wind struck us, coming from the same direction as the
water-spout.
The instant after, the wind shifted round to the opposite quarter, and
then a series of squalls, hot and strong, seemed to assail us from
almost every point of the compass at once.
"Hands shorten sail!" roared out Captain Miles again, using the palms of
his two hands before his mouth for a speaking trumpet. "Be smart, men!
Some of you brail up the spanker here and man the jib downhaul. Right!
Now, away aloft the rest of you; we must have those topsails close-
reefed. Cast-off the halliards--there--cheerily, men; that's the way to
do it!"
No sooner were the hands down from the topsail-yards, however, than he
had them up again to take in the courses, which had already been clewed
up and were now furled; the _Josephine_ lying-to under close-reefed
topsails, with the fore-topmast staysail set to keep her in command of
her helm.
She did not look so gay as she had done earlier in the day, with all her
snowy plumage spread before the favouring breeze; but, she was all the
better prepared to battle with the elements, and now steadily and
sturdily awaited their onset.
The struggle was not long delayed.
Closer and closer came the whirling water-spout, surrounded by columns
of misty spray and accompanied by the fierce wind. The sea was agitated
with violent eddies that rocked the ship to her centre every moment;
and, above the shriek of the constant squalls tearing through the
rigging, and the splash of the boiling water at the foot of the terrible
cloud column, we could distinguish a peculiar hoarse sucking noise, as
if the whole herd of Neptune's horses were drinking their fill, and
letting us know about it, too!