"Then stand by, and when I gives the word just you press the trigger,
sir, please. Wait a bit; I don't--Ah! there he is--fire!"
On the instant I pressed the trigger, and as the smoke cleared away I
thought I saw a slight momentary disturbance of the foliage about the
spot at which I had aimed, and then all was still again.
"You got him, sir, as sure as eggs is young chickens!" exclaimed
Murdock, still peering through the glass. "Or, if you didn't actooaly
get him," he amended, "you give him a scare that he won't forget in a
blue moon. Shall I just slip up there, Mr Temple, and see if I can
find anything?"
"Certainly not," I replied severely. "We cannot afford to take any
risks. Besides, what does it matter? No, you remain here, reload that
gun, keep the glass, maintain a bright lookout, and if you see any
savages attempting to sneak down upon the beach, shoot without
hesitation. What I am chiefly afraid of is that they will muster up
there in force, and attempt to overwhelm us with a rush. I am going
below to lend the others a hand."
I found Cunningham, Parsons, and Simpson all working at high pressure
under the bows; for they had of course heard the shot, and did not need
to be told that it indicated the presence of the enemy, though whether
in force or only in the form of a scout none of us could tell. But the
fact that even one of the savages had already made his way across to our
side of the island was spur enough to our energies, and now we worked as
probably none of us had ever worked before, in an endeavour to complete
the cradle, wedge up, and launch the schooner before the enemy should
muster courage enough to charge home upon us. If such a thing as that
last should happen--and it would only mean the loss of a few lives by
the savages--nothing could possibly save us.
I had been down on the beach about five minutes when a slight hissing
sound reached my ear, and the next moment a long, triple-barbed, and
exceedingly formidable-looking spear struck the sand and remained
quivering there within about ten feet of us, and at the same instant
Murdock shouted from above:
"Mr Temple--Mr Temple, sir, I wish you'd come up here and take my
place. They're musterin' up there on top o' the cliff--I can see 'em
movin' about among the bushes--and I ain't ne'er a good enough shot for
the job you've told me off for. If I shoots and misses once or twice
they'll rush us, as sure as you'm alive, sir; while if two or three of
'em was bowled over it might hold 'em back a bit and give us more time.
Come quick, sir, if you please; I believe they'm gettin' ready for a
rush!"
There was sound sense in what the boatswain said: he was not a good
enough shot, or quite cool enough in the handling of firearms, to stop a
rush, and I therefore determined to act on his suggestion. Only
Cunningham was quite as good a shot as myself, if not better; therefore
I turned to him.
"Cunningham," said I, "you hear what Murdock says; and he is right. But
you are the crack shot of the party, so please go up and relieve him at
once. But before he comes down get him to bring up every gun from
below, and our entire stock of cartridges, and make him load every
weapon and place it handy for you. Go at once, please; and remember you
must shoot to kill."
"But, my dear chap--" began Cunningham, and then I cut him short.
"Go at once, sir," I exclaimed sharply. "This is no time for arguing;
and please remember that I command here."
"Right you are, old chap; I understand," he replied, and went without
further ado. And, as he turned to leave, another spear came whizzing
through the air and stuck in the sand exactly where he had been standing
a second earlier. Matters were beginning to look serious, for if the
savages had among them--as they certainly had--men capable of hurling a
spear from the top of the cliff as far as the schooner, one or the other
of us might be hurt or even killed at any moment.
A couple of minutes passed, and I heard the voices of Cunningham and
Murdock as they talked together overhead, showing that the engineer had
taken up his post. Simpson and I were holding a piece of timber in
position, while Parsons secured it, when I suddenly saw a tall savage
step boldly out from among the bushes on top of the cliff, poising a
long spear in his hand. He gave the weapon a preliminary jerk, as
though to test its balance, and then flung it high above his head in the
act of casting. I was about to shout to Cunningham, calling his
attention to the fellow, when a gun cracked sharply out overhead, and
the savage spun round upon his heel, staggered backward, and fell
crashing in among the bushes.
"Good shot!" I shouted. "I say, Cunningham, keep Murdock up there with
you to reload; we can do very well without him down here."
"All right," came the answer; "I will, if you are sure that you don't
need him. Ah, by Jove! there's another of them!"
Cunningham's shot took that fellow in the leg, for we saw him clap his
hand to his right one, just above the knee, and go limping away out of
sight. Apparently the savages believed that the discharge of the weapon
left us temporarily harmless, for another man instantly sprang into view
and hurriedly poised his spear; but Cunningham was too quick for him,
for he, too, dropped and lay still. Then they lay _perdu_ for a few
minutes, during which we, at work upon the cradle, put in some splendid
work.
Suddenly, with a final tap of his hammer, Chips sprang back and tossed
the tool in the air, cleverly catching it by the handle as it fell.
"Finished!" he yelled, on a note of exultation. "Now, Mr Temple and
Simpson, get the mauls, and let's wedge up. It'll have to be a rather
rough-and-ready job, I'm afraid; but once the weight of her is off the
blocks and on to the ways we needn't trouble much. And now, if Mr
Cunnin'ham can spare the bo'sun, he'll be useful to us. Come along,
Sails, you and I'll take the starboard side, while Mr Temple and
Murdock takes the port, and we'll see which gets finished first."
I hailed Cunningham, asking if he could spare Murdock, and he replied
that they were at that moment reloading the whole battery of guns, after
which he would send him down. And presently Murdock came.
"Now then, boatswain," said I, "`wedge up' is the word, so take that
maul and strike with me. Chips and his mate think they can beat us; but
we'll show them a thing or two. Now then, strike!"
Forthwith the air began to resound with the blows of iron on wood, as,
with more or less dexterous strokes, we drove the wedges home, one pair
after another; and in about ten minutes we all met under the little
vessel's counter, our work completed. But the savages evidently
suspected that matters were approaching a crisis; possibly the idea was
suggested to them by the carpenter's triumphant yell of "Finished!" upon
the completion of the cradle, for during that momentous ten minutes
several of them had made desperate efforts to transfix us with their
spears, and as they had now adopted the plan of making the attempt in
groups of half a dozen or more--to all of whom it was manifestly
impossible for Cunningham to attend at the same moment--we four at work
under the schooner's bottom had had two or three exceedingly narrow
escapes.
"Now, Mr Temple," exclaimed the carpenter excitedly, "I'll just take a
look fore and aft under her bottom, to make sure that she's clear
everywhere; and when I sing out `All clear!' will you and the rest
please jump aboard and stand by to cover me with your rifles and protect
me from a rush while I knock away the spur shores and launch the little
hooker? And you might drop a few ropes' ends over the sides, and
especially over the bows, for me to swing aboard by as soon as she
starts to run down the ways. And if them bronze-coloured skowbanks up
on the cliffs there tries to run in upon me with their spears while I'm
down under, give 'em toko; for if I'm hurted afore them spur shores is
knocked away, we may have a lot of trouble yet. Ah! blest if I didn't
think so," as Cunningham's shots cracked out thrice, and two natives
tumbled headlong down the face of the cliff, while a third hurriedly
scrambled back to cover; "they're guessin' that if they don't look sharp
we'll get away from 'em a'ter all, so please keep a keen eye on 'em,
sir."
"Ay, ay, Chips, we will," answered I. "Now, get along with your
inspection, man, as lively as you please, for I see signs of a movement
among them up there. Simpson," to the sailmaker, "jump aboard and lend
Mr Cunningham a hand to reload those guns; and when you have done that,
drop a few ropes' ends over the sides for Chips to climb aboard by."
By the time I had finished speaking the carpenter had crept in under the
schooner's bottom and was hastily yet carefully assuring himself that
the vessel's keel had been everywhere lifted clear of the keel blocks.
Less than three minutes sufficed him to complete his examination, when
he shouted the signal "All clear!" and immediately began to pound upon
the heels of the spur shores with his maul, while Murdock and I made a
dash for the ladder which afforded access to the schooner's deck. But
it was clear that the savages had by this time gained a tolerably
accurate conception of what we were about, and had begun to realise that
unless they acted at once we were likely to slip through their hands
after all; for no sooner did the boatswain and I jump for the ladder
than they set up a fierce yell, and about a hundred of them broke cover
and began to scramble down the cliff face, shouting encouragement to
each other as they swung or sprang from one projection to another,
tossing their spears and war clubs down to the beach beneath, in order
that they might have the use of both hands during their hurried descent.
I naturally expected that Cunningham would open fire upon them
forthwith; but he did not, for he was at the moment busily reloading the
discharged weapons--moreover, it appeared that he had a better plan.
At that moment the savages were moving so rapidly and so erratically as
they swung down the cliff face that accurate shooting would have been
exceedingly difficult; but the instant that the first native reached the
beach and paused for a second to seize a club and a handful of spears
from those which had been cast down from the summit of the cliff, the
engineer, lying prone on the deck, with his weapon resting on the low
rail of the schooner's bulwarks, covered him, and the next instant the
shot rang out and the man toppled over, mortally hit. Then Cunningham
passed the empty weapon back to Simpson, receiving a loaded one in its
stead, and in like manner bowled over the second and third of the
savages who reached the beach. But this could not last long, as I could
easily see upon reaching his side, for the savages were now swarming
down the cliff so rapidly and in such numbers that it was impossible to
load the guns quickly enough to cope with them. As Murdock and I dashed
forward and joined the other two in the eyes of the schooner I saw that
about a dozen of the savages had reached the beach unhurt, and were at
that instant gathering themselves together to make a combined rush.
"Now, lads," said I, "this is where our revolvers are going to come in
useful. Wait until they arrive within twenty yards of us, and then open
upon them with the `barkers'; but don't get excited and fire wild,
whatever you do--we must make every shot tell. And--Hurrah, my
hearties, there go the spur shores!" as I heard them clatter down and
felt a sudden tremor thrill through the schooner. "Now, look out, here
they come! Watch for the men who pause to hurl their spears, and do
your best to bowl them over. She's moving, lads, she's moving! Hurrah!
Another minute and we shall be afloat. Now, look out, and give 'em
beans! Here they come!"
Yes; they were coming with a vengeance, not only the dozen who formed as
it were the vanguard of the rush, but some twenty or thirty more, who in
the course of a few seconds had flung themselves down from the rocks to
the soft, yielding sand below, while others were following down the
cliff face at breakneck speed. They came running and leaping down the
beach in pursuit of the now fast-moving schooner, each man grasping a
single spear in his right hand and three or four more and a war club in
his left, the whole of them yelling like demons. At that moment Chips
appeared under the bows, and the sight of him was greeted by the savages
with a howl of exultation, for they seemed to think that since he was
down on the sand they had him in their power. But the carpenter knew
perfectly well what he was about, and as the stem of the gliding
schooner slid past him he made a spring at her wire bobstay, caught it
first with one hand, then with the other, pulled himself up and flung
his legs over it, and then rapidly hauled himself up it to the bowsprit
end, which he reached just as the schooner plunged into the water, swung
himself astride the spar, and so worked his way inboard. But it was
touch and go with him, for the moment he showed himself about a dozen of
the leading natives pulled up short and prepared to hurl their spears at
him, and I am convinced that but for the hot revolver fire which we
instantly opened upon the daring savages, bowling three of them over and
so seriously disconcerting the aim of the others that they missed,
Master Chips would, even at the last moment, have lost the number of his
mess. But with the plunge of the schooner into the water all danger was
over, for the little craft held her way in the most wonderful fashion,
making so long a stern board into the waters of the bay that she shot
far beyond the extreme range of the savages' spears before she finally
came to rest.
Meanwhile her canvas was all loose and ready for setting; therefore the
moment I felt her to be water borne I dashed aft to the tiller, at the
same time shouting to the others to man the foresail and fore staysail
halyards and hoist away: and by the time the foresail was hoisted the
vessel was beginning to lose sternway, whereupon I jammed her tiller
hard-over to port, and thus canted her with her head to the northward.
This caused her head sails to fill, whereupon she quickly gathered
headway, when, putting the helm hard up, I headed her out to sea, while
the others proceeded to set the jib and mainsail; and within ten minutes
of her first plunge into the water the little _Nautilus_--as we named
her--was clear of the reef and fairly in the open sea.
There were several trifling jobs that we would have preferred to finish
off before proceeding to sea, several articles that we would fain have
carried away from the island with us, had we been afforded the
opportunity; but the presence of the savages of course precluded this,
and therefore the moment that we were under way and clear of the western
extremity of the island we flattened in our sheets, fore and aft, and
proceeded to the northward, close-hauled on the starboard tack on our
way to Honolulu, which was to be our first port of call.
Naturally the first and most engrossing question claiming our attention
was that of the behaviour of our little ship, and we had not been under
way a quarter of an hour before we were all agreed that she far exceeded
our most sanguine expectations; she was a magnificent little sea boat,
riding the long Pacific surges as buoyantly as a gull, very stiff under
her canvas, and extraordinarily fast and weatherly. The only thing that
caused us any concern was that we found she was leaking to a somewhat
alarming extent; but we were quite prepared for that, as she had been
standing so long on the hot beach that her planks had shrunk somewhat,
opening her seams. She "took up" however during the course of the
night, after keeping us busy at the pump for the first three or four
hours of our voyage, and after that we had no further trouble with her.
The island was a mere faint blue smudge on the horizon astern when the
sun when down on the evening of that eventful day, and on the ninth
morning following we safely arrived at Honolulu. Here, thanks to
Cunningham's hundred and forty sovereigns, which he had contrived to
hold on to through all our vicissitudes of fortune, we found ourselves
possessed of money enough to carry us round the Horn and as far as
Baltimore, where we had decided to call on our way home.
We remained in Honolulu four days, making arrangements for our long and
adventurous voyage round the southern extremity of the great American
continent, and then gaily started, disregarding the strenuous warnings
of the many friends made by us during our brief stay. And adventures
enough and to spare we had, enough to fill another book of this size;
but that, as a certain writer has remarked, is another story. It must
suffice me now to say that we reached Punta Arenas, in the Strait of
Magellan, fifty-three days after leaving Honolulu, stayed there two
days, and safely arrived in Baltimore harbour two months, to the day,
after leaving Punta Arenas.
We had a little difficulty in finding "Marthy", the relict of the late
lamented Captain Ephraim Brown, but we found her at last, introduced
ourselves, broke to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's
death, and then unfolded to her the story of the pearls. What between
the news of her loss, and that of the enormous wealth coming to her
through her late husband's good fortune, the poor old soul was driven
nearly crazy for a time; but she was a woman of strong common sense and
a wonderfully practical turn of mind, and in the course of three or four
days she rallied her faculties sufficiently to decide that she would put
the whole of her affairs in the hands of a firm of lawyers of undoubted
integrity, which, we agreed with her, was about the wisest thing she
could do. Accordingly we handed over the pearls to them, leaving them
to arrange the complicated question of duty, etcetera, and left
Baltimore for England after a stay of just a fortnight. During our
sojourn in Baltimore a heavy easterly gale had swept the Atlantic for a
full week; then came a spell of fine weather and moderate westerly
winds, which carried us clean across the "Pond" in twenty-two days, our
arrival at Southampton, "all well", occurring on 27 August, 1864.
Of course I was now a rich man, and did not need to trouble myself about
completing my indentures, or obtaining another berth; but I nevertheless
made a point of reporting myself at the offices in London of the owners
of the _Zenobia_, where I was very cordially received. And here I had
the satisfaction of learning, first, that the _Zenobia's_ longboat had
been picked up within twelve hours by a homeward-bound ship from
Calcutta, thanks to which fortunate circumstance Captain Roberts's life
had been saved--as well as those of all the other occupants of the boat;
and he was now as well as ever, and again in command of his ship, which
had been captured some seven weeks after the occurrence of the mutiny,
following upon an unsuccessful attempt to "hold up" an Australian
clipper, in which attempt Bainbridge, the instigator of the mutiny, had
been shot dead.