Everybody on board experienced a feeling of blank disappointment, as in
vain we looked in the hopes of seeing the royals of the brig appearing
above the trees. Either Van Graoul had miscalculated her distance from
us, or she had taken some other passage; or, as Dick Harper the Yankee
seaman observed, she was in truth the _Flying Dutchman_. At all events
it appeared that we had run into a most dangerous position, to very
little purpose. Should the brig be the pirate, and still be concealed
somewhere in the neighbourhood--if we brought up, she might at night
attack us with her boats; and though we might beat them off, we might
not escape loss, and at the same time be as far from our object as ever.
We had no time for deliberation--our course must now be ahead, so we
stood across the lake-like expanse I have spoken of, where as much
caution as before was necessary; for it was full of reefs, and in
another quarter of an hour we were again threading the labyrinth-like
canals, from which we had before emerged. Every instant I hoped to come
upon the chase, but still as we sailed on she eluded us.
His attention was too much occupied to allow me to keep him in
conversation and I saw he was as much vexed as I was at the escape of
the stranger. Little Ungka seemed the most surprised of any one at
finding himself among trees; but he showed no disposition to quit his
friends on board the schooner, even for the sake of being lord of all he
surveyed. For two hours we stood on; sometimes the channels between the
islands widened, and here we crossed broad sounds, but did not attempt
to go down any of them, as their entrances, Van Graoul said, were full
of dangerous shoals. We glided on; and I began to think that we were
never to be clear of this wooded labyrinth; for, curious and beautiful
as it might be under other circumstances, I wanted once more to have a
clear sight around me.
"Starboard!" cried Fairburn, as our pilot waved his hand on one side,
and the head of the schooner deviated to the left.
"Port!"
"Port it is," repeated the helmsman, and her head turned towards a
channel to the right. The wind now came on her quarter, now on her
beam, according to the turnings of the channels; and I was afraid,
sometimes, that it would come ahead. It, however, never baffled us; and
at length, at the end of a broader passage than usual, the unbroken line
of the horizon appeared before us. The seamen welcomed it almost with a
shout, for few like this sort of navigation. I proposed to Van Graoul
that we should anchor before we emerged altogether from among the
islands, so as to explore them more carefully in the boats, in case the
brig should be still hid among them. Fairburn approved of my idea; and
shortening sail immediately, we brought up in a little bay among the
trees, by which the vessel was completely hid. Fairburn and the second
mate, Barlow, volunteered for this service; and urged me so strongly to
remain on board with Van Graoul that I consented.
Fairburn first pulled out to sea, so that he might take a look all
round; but coming back, he reported that there was no appearance
anywhere of a sail to the southward; so that, if the stranger had gone
through the group, she must have passed out somewhere to the northward.
While the boats were away we sent a hand to watch from the highest tree
at the farthest point of land to the south, if any vessel made her
appearance from among the islands. Hour after hour passed away, and the
boats did not return. The sun went down, and darkness came on; and at
last I began to grow anxious about them. Van Graoul lighted his pipe,
and sat on the deck, puffing away with more energy than usual.
"There is no fear," he remarked. "I did not expect them before morning;
and if the brig is where I advised Fairburn to look for her, there is
better chance of finding her in the dark than in the daylight without
their being discovered."
Of course I could not turn in. Van Graoul and I held each other in
conversation, while we kept a bright look-out on every side. It was the
morning watch, when I heard a hail--it seemed like the voice of a
stranger; it came nearer; there was another hail, and to my great
satisfaction Fairburn and Barlow pulled alongside. They had seen
nothing of the brig; and we were all very much puzzled to know what had
become of her. The next morning we weighed, and stood out to sea.
Never was a brighter look-out kept for a prize than we kept for the
reappearance of the stranger; but to little purpose, beyond convincing
ourselves that there was no probability of her appearing. For two days
we cruised in the neighbourhood of the islands, clear of the reefs, and
at length once more stood on our course.
There was much discussion on board as to what the stranger was--where
she had come from--where she was going--and why, if she was honest, she
ran away from us. The general notion among the crew was that she was
something strange and supernatural.
"If not the _Flying Dutchman_, which could scarcely be the case seeing
the latitude we are in," said Dick Harper with oracular authority,
"she's near akin to the chap, that you may depend on, for no other would
have been for to go for to play us such a trick as he has been doing;
and for that matter, messmates, look ye here--he may be the Dutchman
himself; for if he can cruise about as they say he does, I don't see no
reason why he shouldn't take it into his head just to come down into
these parts to have a look at some of his kindred, instead of knocking
eternally off and about the Cape, which no longer belongs to them, d'ye
see. To my mind, it's just as well we had nothing to do with the
fellow; he'd have played us some scurvy trick, depend on't."
This most philosophical explanation seemed to satisfy the ship's
company; and as the officers had no better one to offer, except that the
stranger had got into the open sea again by some passage unknown to
them, they said nothing on the subject.
It served as a matter of discussion for a long time afterwards. We made
but little progress, for the wind was light, and often it fell almost
calm, while the weather became very hot and sultry.
One morning, when I came on deck, I found that we were lying becalmed.
The sea was as smooth as glass, but it could not be called level; for
ever and anon there came a slow rising swell, which made the little
craft rock from side to side, and the sails flap with a loud irregular
sound against the masts, as if they were angry at having nothing to do,
and wished to remind the wind to fulfil its duty. The sun shone out of
the sky, without a cloud to temper its heat, and its rays made one side
of the ocean shine like molten gold. Every one was suffering more or
less from the lassitude produced by excessive heat; the pitch was
bubbling up from the seams of the deck; a strong, hot, burning smell
pervaded the vessel; the chickens in the hencoops hung their heads and
forgot to cackle; the ducks refused to quack, and sat with their bills
open, gasping for breath; the pig lay down, as if about to yield up the
ghost; and even Ungka, who generally revelled in a fine hot sun, and
selected the warmest place on board, now looked out for a shady spot,
and sat with his paws over his head to keep it cool. The bulkheads
groaned, the booms creaked against the masts, every particle of grease
being speedily absorbed; while, if the hand touched a piece of metal, it
felt as if heated by the fire. Two of the youngsters of the crew were
actually amusing themselves by frying a slice of meat on a bit of tin
exposed to the sun. As one looked along the deck, one could see the
heat-mist playing over every object, on which the eye rested. If it is
hot thus early in the day, what will it become by noon, we thought,
unless a breeze spring up to cool us? However, no breeze did spring up,
and hotter and hotter it grew, if possible, till Dick Harper declared we
should all be roasted, and become a fat morsel for one of the big
sea-serpents which were known to frequent those seas. We got an awning
spread, and breakfasted on deck, for below it was insupportable; and
though we none of us starved ourselves, we were unable to do the ample
justice we generally did to the viands. Van Graoul lighted his pipe,
and leaning back in his chair, watched the smoke, with calm composure,
ascending in a perpendicular column above his nose. Fairburn kept his
eye carefully ranging round the horizon, to look out for any signs of
coming wind; for we could not but suspect that this calm was the
forerunner of a hurricane, or a gale of wind of some sort. I tried to
read; but I found that reading was impossible. It was even difficult to
carry on a conversation with any degree of briskness. Hour after hour
slowly passed away, and there was no change in the weather, when a sound
struck our ears which suddenly aroused us all from our apathy.
"A gun!" exclaimed Fairburn; "and a heavy one too--"
"There's another--and another," we repeated in chorus.
"De pirates of Sooloo or Borneo attacking some merchant vessel,"
observed Van Graoul.
"Can it be the _Emu_ engaged with a man-of-war, by any possibility?" I
asked, my thoughts always naturally recurring to her.
"There are too many guns, and the firing is too brisk for that,"
remarked Fairburn. "More likely some Dutch men-of-war, or perhaps some
of the Company's cruisers engaged with a fleet of prahus."
"Where do you make out the firing to come from?" I asked, rather
puzzled myself to say from what direction the sounds proceeded.
"From the southward," he answered. "Some of the sounds seem so loud,
that if it were night, I should say we ought to see the flashes; but
that arises, I expect, from the peculiar state of the atmosphere."
"I wish we had a breeze, to be able to get up to see what it is all
about," I exclaimed.
"It is one great puzzle," observed Van Graoul sagaciously, as he re-lit
his pipe, and puffed away as before.
Again all was quiet for the space of an hour; and we, of course, fancied
that the engagement had been concluded, and that we should have no
chance of helping our friends. The general opinion was, that a large
force of Malay pirates had been attacked by some European ships of war.
While we were discussing the matter, we were again startled by a louder
report than ever, followed by several others in rapid succession.
"Did you not fancy that you felt the vessel shake under our feet?" I
asked; for, soon after the loudest report, I thought the schooner was
lifted up and let down suddenly, in a very unusual way.
"Yes; if I did not know that we were in deep water, I should have
thought she had struck on a shoal," replied Van Graoul.
"Are you certain that we are in deep water?" asked Fairburn with
emphasis. "We'll see what the lead says."
Van Graoul smiled. "I am not offended, Fairburn, though some might be;
but you'll find I'm right."
"I hope so," replied Fairburn; "but a current might be drifting us
faster than we expected." The lead was hove, deep water was found all
round. "I cannot make it out," exclaimed Fairburn.
"Nor I," said Van Graoul, as he puffed away with his pipe. "Some ship
blown up; or perhaps a score of prahus."
Again the sound of firing was heard rolling away in the distance.
"It must be off Sourabaya, or Lombok, or perhaps as far away as Bali,"
remarked Fairburn, listening attentively. "Sometimes I fancy it comes
from the eastward, and may be away at Combobo, or Floris. Over a calm
sea sounds travel a great distance."
"I cannot help thinking that there must be some engagement on shore
between the Dutch troops and the natives of some of those islands. They
now and then are fond of making a disturbance," said Barlow, the second
mate.
"No, no; there was no chance of anything of the sort," answered Van
Graoul. "That firing, if firing it is, comes from the sea, I tell you."
The evening was now approaching, and still the mystery was not solved.
At distant intervals, we continued to hear the sound of firing; but when
darkness came on, we could nowhere see the flashes of the guns, as we
expected. A light breeze at length sprung up from the eastward; but it
was still hot and oppressive, and it in no way refreshed us. Anxious to
discover, if possible, the cause of the firing, we trimmed sails and
stood to the southward; but with the light air there was blowing we made
but little way. The night appeared very long. I turned in for a couple
of hours, but the heat soon again drove me on deck. When daylight
appeared, we were on the look-out, almost expecting to see some of the
vessels which had been engaged the previous day; but as the sun arose
there was nothing in sight but the deep blue silent sea on three sides,
and to the south the lofty hills of a large island, and at one end the
peaks of a mountain towering over the rest. There was, instead of the
bright, pure, clear atmosphere which generally exists at that hour, a
very peculiar lurid glare, which, as the sun rolled upwards in his
course, increased in intensity, till the sky became of almost a copper
hue. Fairburn had gone aloft with his glass, to satisfy himself more
fully as to there being anything in sight from the point where the
firing had proceeded. He now returned on deck.
"I cannot make it out," he remarked. "After all, I am not so certain
that it was firing we heard. Away to the southward, there is a dense
black cloud which seems rising rapidly, as if it would cover all the
sky."
We looked in the direction he indicated; and there, even while he was
speaking, we observed the approach of a cloud, or rather I should call
it a dense mist, so completely without break of any sort did it occupy
the whole horizon. It looked like an opaque mass of some substance,
borne onward by some invisible power towards us. Van Graoul, whose
equanimity nothing extraordinary could disturb, likened it to the wall
of China painted black, and taking a cruise to the southward.
"Is there any wind in it, do you think?" asked Fairburn. "It does not
seem to ruffle the surface."
"No wind, I think," said Van Graoul; "but better shorten sail; the
canvas does no good."
Such also was Fairburn's opinion, and accordingly the schooner was made
snug to meet the hurricane should it arrive.
The crew were clustering in groups on deck watching the strange
appearance, and in suppressed voices asking each other what it could
mean. The more nervous already began to give way to fear; and the
bravest were not altogether free from apprehension that some awful
catastrophe was about to occur. The Javanese declared that it portended
great convulsions in their country, and perhaps the overthrow of the
ruling powers. Some of the more credulous of the seamen began to
connect it, in some way or other, with the sudden disappearance of the
strange brig.
"I knowed it would be so," muttered Dick Harper. "I never yet heard of
any one coming across those fly-away, never-find-me sort of chaps we met
t'other day, but what was sure to get into mischief afore long."
These, and similar observations, according to the temper and the natural
prejudices of the speakers, by degrees spread an undefined apprehension
of evil among all the crew; and fellows who, I believe, would have faced
any known danger, and struggled manfully with death to the last, were
now full of fear, and ready to be startled at the sound of a gun, or
even the flap of a sail. On came the dark mass, as it approached
assuming a dusky red appearance, which much increased its terrors. In a
short time it covered the whole sky, and a darkness deeper than night
came on. There was only one clear space, just like a gleam of light,
seen at the end of a cavern, and that was away to the eastward, whence
the light wind then blowing came; and even that was growing narrower and
narrower. The darkness increased; the hearts of all of us, I believe,
sunk; the light in the east, our last ray of hope, which till now had
tended somewhat to cheer our spirits, totally disappeared, and we all
began to feel that death, in some horrible, undefined shape, might
speedily be our lot. It was dark before, as dark as night, but still we
might have made out a vessel at the distance of a quarter of a mile; now
we could scarcely see the length of the schooner. We were, when the
darkness began, to the best of our knowledge, some distance from any
land, or reefs, or shoals, and we trusted that no current might be
carrying us towards any dangers, for we were utterly unable to protect
ourselves against them.
The vessel's head was now put about, that we might stand off, the sail
being reduced so as to leave sufficient only to give her steerage way,
that, should any heavy wind overtake us, we might be prepared to receive
it. Our light was utterly unavailing, for darker and darker still grew
the atmosphere, till, without exaggeration, we were unable to see our
hands held up before our faces; and it was through our voices alone that
we were able to recognise each other.
"Is there a chance of any wind?" I asked of Fairburn, near whom I was
standing. I thought how awful a storm would be in such darkness.
"It is possible, I think," he replied. "At the same time, I fear no
storm with this little craft."
We were still in doubt as to the cause of the awful phenomenon which was
taking place, when, as I happened to touch the companion hatch, I found
that it was gritty, as if covered with dust, while our lips and eyes
informed us that a shower of light subtle ashes was falling--the deck
being soon covered with a thick coating of them.
"What do you now think causes the darkness?" demanded Fairburn of Van
Graoul; for we were all three standing together round the companion
hatch.
"One burning mountain. It is Tomboro, in Sumbawa; the land we saw in
the morning away to the south," he replied in his usual calm tone. "I
thought so some time ago; but I said nothing, because I was not
certain."
"A burning mountain!" I exclaimed. "Could ashes have caused the
intense darkness which hangs over us?"
"Oh yes; but we shall have something worse before long," he observed
coolly. "Ah, I thought so, here it comes."
Even while he was speaking, a loud rushing noise was heard--the sea
seemed to be bubbling and foaming up around us, and in an instant the
schooner heeled over to her bulwarks, and appeared to be driving
furiously onward over the water, as if she was about to go over never to
rise again. Fairburn seized his speaking-trumpet, and shouted forth his
orders to the crew. The helm was put up; the after-sail was taken off
the vessel, and the jib shown for an instant.
"She pays off! she pays off!" was shouted by the crew, as her head was
felt to turn away from the wind, and she once more rose on an even keel.
Then on she flew, like a sea-bird before the furious blast, through the
darkness.
"Where are we driving to?" we asked ourselves. "While we had abundance
of sea-room we were safe. Now, who can say what will be our fate?"
Fairburn ordered a lamp for the binnacle; a sickly light was thrown on
the compass. He rushed below. A glance at the chart showed that we
were then driving towards the western end of Sumbawa. Van Graoul and I
followed him.
"Can we weather it and get into Allass Straits?" I asked, as I pointed
to the chart.
The Dutchman shook his head. "There are rocks and islands off there
which we cannot see; we may slip through them by chance, but we must not
reckon on it," he answered.
We returned on deck. The wind blew more furiously than ever, the
darkness also seemed increased. We stood prepared for our fate. We had
done all that men could do. Then I remembered the last words of my kind
guardian, "Never despair, for God is everywhere." I repeated it to my
companions. It gave us courage and confidence, for we felt that we were
in His hands. From mouth to mouth it was passed with reverence along
the decks; and even the rough seamen, unaccustomed to pray, felt its
force and truth. On, on we drove, the water dashed and foamed around
us, the wind howled through the rigging. For an instant there was a
lull, then down again came the blast upon us. The compass told that it
had again shifted, and was now blowing from the north. If it held so,
it would shorten the time before the catastrophe must occur. Every
moment the sea became more agitated, and the broken waves leaped up and
washed over our decks, as if we were running through a troubled race.
"How far-off are we from the shore, think you?" I asked of Fairburn, in
as calm a voice as I could command.
"Still some distance," he replied vaguely. "The wind may shift before
we reach it."
I cannot hope to convey a distinct idea of the inky blackness of the
atmosphere, the howling of the whirlwinds, and the roaring of the waves,
as, utterly unable to help ourselves, we drove furiously onward. In a
few hours, or in a few minutes even, where should we be? Again, before
we could answer the question, the wind changed, with redoubled force it
seemed. It came off the land, whirling us round before it. Its force
seemed to drive back the waves to their proper level. On a sudden,
without a moment's warning, the topsail gave a flap against the mast,
the schooner rocked to and fro in the yet troubled sea, and then all was
still, and the schooner floated calmly, as in a sheltered harbour, on
the water.
"This is wonderful. What is going to occur next?" I exclaimed.
"Perhaps the wind is just taking a rest," observed Van Graoul.
We waited in expectation of again feeling the fury of the blast, and
anxiously looked at the compass to see from what quarter it came. While
our eyes were trying to pierce the darkness, as if we could discover the
coming danger, a bright light burst on them from the south. Never was a
spectacle of a like nature, more awful yet more magnificent, beheld.
The darkness for an instant cleared away, and we saw, but a few miles
distant it seemed, a lofty mountain. From its broad summit there burst
forth three distinct columns of flame. They thus rose to an enormous
height, and then, their summits uniting in one, they seemed to contend
with each other, twisting and intertwining together, till their crests
broke into a mass of fiery foam, and expanded over the heavens. Now and
then a still larger quantity of flame would burst forth, and darting
upwards for many thousand feet, would fall in burning streams to the
earth. Other streams also burst forth and flowed down the sides of the
mountain, till the whole side towards us seemed one mass of liquid fire.
Although we were some miles distant, the light from the burning mountain
cast a lurid glare on the hull and rigging of the schooner; and as we
looked at each other, our faces shone as if formed of some red-hot metal
rather than of flesh, while the whole expanse of sea between us and the
land seemed a mass of molten copper. An artist would have delighted to
paint the wondering countenances of the seamen, some still full of
doubts and fears; the various attitudes in which they stood transfixed;
the many tints of their skins, from the dark hues of the Javanese and
Malays, in their picturesque costume, to the fair colour of the
Europeans, in the ordinary dress in which English and American seamen
delight, now blended into one line.
All this time the loud reports continued to be heard; but knowing their
cause, they no longer appeared to us like those of cannon. Almost as
suddenly as the awful spectacle had been exhibited to our eyes, it was
once more obscured by the dense masses of cinders, and even of stone,
which filled the sky and fell around us.
The wind returned, as before, from the east; and, to avoid the fiery
shower, we stood away to the northward. It was in vain to hope to
escape it altogether. The stones which fell decreased in size, but the
ashes came as thick as before, and the explosions continued at
intervals. To what had at first appeared so terrific, we had now got
accustomed, and the fears even of the most superstitious of the seamen
subsided; but still the Javanese were not to be dissuaded from the
belief that some wonderful change was to take place in the affairs of
their country. We put an awning over the deck to shelter ourselves
somewhat from the ashes; but the finer portion drove under it, and
filled every crevice, while we kept the people constantly employed in
shovelling them overboard. Thus hours passed on, till we began to think
that we should never again see the bright light of the sun.