They had not made over a dozen strokes of their oars,--which they
handled cautiously and in silence, all the while listening intently,--
when their ears were again saluted by sounds similar to those first
heard by little William, and which he had conjectured to be the voice of
a young girl. As before, the utterance was very low,--murmured, as if
repeating a series of words,--in fact, as if the speaker was engaged in
a quiet conversation.
"Shiver my timbers!" exclaimed the sailor, as soon as the voice again
ceased to be heard. "If that bean't the palaver o' a little girl, my
name wur never Ben Brace on a ship's book. A smalley wee thing she seem
to be; not bigger than a marlinspike. It sound like as if she wur
talkin' to some un. What the Ole Scratch can it mean, Will'm?"
"I don't know. Could it be a mermaid?"
"Could it? In course it could."
"But are there mermaids, Ben?"
"Maremaids! Be theer maremaids? That what you say? Who denies there
ain't? Nobody but disbelevin land-lubbers as never seed nothin'
curious, 'ceptin' two-headed calves and four-legged chickens. In coorse
there be maremaids. I've seed some myself; but I've sailed with a
shipmate as has been to a part o' the Indyan Ocean, where there be whole
schools o' 'em, wi' long hair hangin' about their ears an' over their
shoulders, just like reg'lar schools o' young girls goin' out for a walk
in the outskirts o' Portsmouth or Gravesend. Hush! theer be her voice
again!"
As the sailor ceased speaking, a tiny treble, such as might proceed from
the tongue of a child,--a girl of some eight or ten years old,--came
trembling over the waves, in tones that betokened a conversation.
A moment or two elapsed; and then, as if in reply to the words spoken by
the child, was heard another voice,--evidently that of a man!
"If the one be a maremaid," whispered Ben to his companion, "the other
must be a mareman. Shiver my timbers, if it ain't a curious confab!
Moonrakers and skyscrapers! what can it mean?"
"I don't know," mechanically answered the boy.
"Anyhow," continued the sailor, apparently relieved by the reflection,
"_It ain't the big raft_. There's no voice like that little 'un among
its crew o' ruffins; and that man, whosomever he be, don't speak like Le
Gros. I only thought so at first, bein' half asleep.
"If it be a school o' maremaids," pursued he, "theer an't no danger,
even wi' theer men along wi' 'em. Leastwise, I never heerd say there
wur from maremaids more'n any other weemen; an' not so much, I dare ay.
Sartin it bean't the Frenchman, nor any o' that scoundrel crew. Lord o'
mercy! It might be a ship as is passing near us!"
As this thought occurred to the speaker, he raised himself into an erect
attitude, as if to get a better view.
"I'll hail, Will'm," he muttered; "I'll hail 'em. Keep your ears open,
lad; and listen for the answer. _Ship ahoy_!"
The hail was sent in the direction whence the mysterious sounds appeared
to have proceeded. There came no response; and the sailor, after
listening attentively for a second or two, repeated the "Ship ahoy!"
this time in a louder key.
Quick as an echo the words came back, though it could not be an echo.
There are no echoes upon the ocean; besides, the voice that repeated the
well-known phrase was quite different from that of him who had first
pronounced it. Though different both in tone and accent, it was
evidently a human voice; and, as evidently, that of a man. A rude,
rough voice it was; but it is superfluous to say that, to the ears of
Ben Brace and his youthful companion, it sounded sweeter than any music
to which they had ever listened. The words "Ship ahoy!" were soon
succeeded by others, proceeding from the same lips.
"Gorramity!" spoke the strange voice, "who de debbil call dar? Dat
some'dy in de boat? Dat you, Capten? Am it you, Massa Grow?"
"A negro," muttered Ben to his companion. "It's Snowball, the cook. It
can't be anybody but him. In the name o' Neptune how has the darkey got
there? What's he aboard o'? He warn't on the great raft wi' the rest.
I thought he'd gone off in the captain's gig. If that wur so, then it's
the boat that is near us."
"No," replied William, "I'm sure I saw Snowball by the caboose after the
gig had rowed away. As he wasn't with them on the big raft, I supposed
he'd been drowned, or burned up in the ship. Surely, it's his voice?
There it is again!"
"Ship ahoy-hoy-hoy!" once more came the words pealing over the water in
a loud prolonged drawl. "Ship ahoy, some'dy call out dar? What ship am
dat? Am it a ship at all? Or am it some o' de wreck Pandoray?"
"Castaways," responded Ben. "Castaways of the bark _Pandora_, Who
calls? Snowball! Be it you?"
"Dat same chile,--who am you? Am it you, massa Capten,--in de gig?"
"No."
"Massa Grow, den, on de big raff?"
"Neither," responded the sailor. "It's Ben,--Ben Brace."
"Golly! you say so, Massa Brace! How you be dar, unless you on de big
raff?"
"I'm on a raft of my own. Have you one, Snowball?"
"Ya, massa Ben, ya! I make um out o' de wreck an de water-cask."
"Are ye all alone?"
"Not 'zackly dat. The pickaninny be long wi' me,--de cabing gal. You
know de lilly Lalee?"
"Oh! she it be!" muttered Ben, now remembering the little cabin
passenger of the Pandora. "You bean't movin', be you?"
"No," responded Snowball, "lying on de water like a log o' 'hogany wood.
Han't move a mile ebba since de bustin' ob de powder ball."
"Keep your place then. We've got oars. We'll row down to you."
"We--you say we? You got some'dy sides yaself on dat raff?"
"Little Will'm."
"Lilly Willum,--ah? dat ere brave lilly lad. See 'im jess as I go down
in de cabin fo' get de pickaninny. See 'im forrard with axe,--he knock
off de gratin' ob de fore-hatch,--he set all dem 'ere niggas free. It
warn't no use,--not bit good o' dem. Dey all got eat up by de shark, or
dey go down straight to de bottom. Gorramity! how dey s'riek an'
'cream, an' jump overboard into de water!"
Neither the sailor nor Little William paid any heed to the negro's
half-soliloquised narrative, further than to make use of his voice to
guide them through the darkness towards the spot whence it proceeded.
On discovering that it was Snowball who was near, both had turned upon
their own craft, and were now rowing it in the opposite direction to
that in which, but the moment before, they had been so eagerly
propelling it.
As they now pulled to leeward, they had the wind in their favour; and by
the time the negro arrived at the end of his disjointed narrative, they
were within half a cable's length of him, and, through the darkness,
were beginning to distinguish the outlines of the odd embarkation that
carried Snowball and his _protege_.
Just then the lightning blazed across the canopy of heaven, discovering
the two rafts,--each to the other. In ten seconds more they were _en
rapport_, and their respective crews congratulating each other, with as
much joyfulness as if the unexpected encounter had completely delivered
them from death and its dangers!