with frantic haste, for it was no longer possible to conceal the fact
that the ship's minutes were numbered, while there were still over a
thousand people aboard. But the discipline was perfect, the work was
going forward smoothly and with no more bustle than if the passengers
were being landed upon a wharf; and if it had not been for the horribly
nervous condition of the foreigners all might have been well. But they
were in just that state of "nerves" when, as the American had suggested,
the smallest scare would act upon them as a spark upon gunpowder; and
the scare presently came, in the form of a small explosion--which might
have been nothing more than the accidental discharge of a revolver
somewhere down in the depths of the ship. Whatever it may have been, it
was enough to turn the scale--to upset the state of delicate, unstable
equilibrium prevailing, and after a momentary glance around them, the
foreigners, nearly three-hundred in number, set up a yell of terror and
hurled themselves in a body upon those who were at work upon the boats.
In a flash, Dick, the American, and half a dozen more were swept out
through the temporary gangway by the maddened crowd, and, before they
fully realised what was happening, found themselves floundering in the
water alongside, while others came hurtling down on all sides. Luckily
for himself, Dick went down straight--and consequently somewhat deep,
and before his descent was checked his presence of mind returned. He
pictured to himself exactly what was happening above him, and struck out
powerfully under water, so as to escape the shower of falling bodies
when he should reach the surface.
The water was bitterly cold, but Dick kept under as long as he could,
swimming straight away from the ship; and when at length he rose he saw
with satisfaction that he was some ten yards distant from her, and well
clear of the struggling mass of men alongside, who were being added to
by dozens, even as he watched.
The next moment another head broke water alongside him, and as it did so
a voice which Dick instantly recognised ejaculated, amidst a fusillade
of coughs and splutterings--
"B-r-r-ur! It's colder'n charity! Darn those Dagos, anyway! It was
cold enough up there on the hurricane deck, but here--ugh!"
"You are right," returned Dick. "It _is_ cold, and no mistake. I hope
those fellows didn't hurt you in their mad rush."
"Nary a hurt," replied Dick's companion. "So it's you, young man, is
it? Good! Say! although it is so tarnation cold down here, I guess
we're better off than the people up there on deck. For now we'll have a
chance to get clear of the ship before she sinks, if we hustle a bit.
See that star over there? I guess we'd better make a bee line for it
and swim for all we're worth; then, if we're lucky we may escape being
dragged down in the vortex; and perhaps we may find a boat to hang on to
until something comes along and picks us up."
Dick agreeing, the pair struck out strongly in the direction of the
star. But, as they swam, their ears were assailed by a veritable
pandemonium of sound aboard the sinking steamer--shouts, yells, screams,
and a regular fusillade of pistol shots, bearing eloquent evidence of
the terrible scenes that were enacting aboard her.
As the two swimmers proceeded the mingled sounds aboard the _Everest_
seemed to swell rather than diminish, to such an extent indeed that
presently the American turned to Dick and gasped, through chattering
teeth--
"S-s-say! s-s-seems to m-me that there's a r-reg-ular pitched b-a-attle
going on aboard there--ugh! G-g-guess w-we're b-b-better off here
th-th-than there--eh?"
"R-r-rather!" stammered Dick back, but he was suffering so intensely
from the icy nip of the water that he felt no disposition to talk, and
simply pushed ahead for all he was worth, hoping that by dint of violent
exertion he might be able to conquer the numbing sensation that was
gradually clogging his movements.
For another ten minutes the pair pressed forward side by side. Then
suddenly Dick's companion ceased his exertions, and, with a groan,
turned over on his back. He managed to stammer a question whether there
were any boats at hand; and upon Dick replying in the negative the
American gasped:
"Then I'm d-d-done. C-cramp all over. C-can't s-swim 'nother s-stroke.
G-good-bye!"
"Good-bye be hanged!" shouted Dick, stirred to new life by his
companion's extremity. "Just y-you lie as y-you are--I'll l-l-look
after you."
And flinging himself on his back, Cavendish gripped the other man firmly
by the collar, and, kicking out vigorously, towed him along. Some five
minutes later the youngster became conscious of a sudden and very
decided fall in the temperature of the water, and looking about in
search of the cause, found himself within a few yards of a large cake of
field ice. There, at all events, was a refuge of a sort--something that
would serve the purpose of a raft, and with a few vigorous strokes he
was alongside it. It was a great slab of field ice, its flat upper
surface not more than six inches above water; and after a tremendous
struggle Dick not only got upon the slab himself but also contrived to
drag his companion up also. Their combined weight seemed to have very
little effect upon the stability of the mass, merely depressing the
adjacent edge perhaps a couple of inches; and, this fact ascertained,
Dick lost no time, but set to work upon the body of the insensible
American, pounding, rubbing, and rolling it with such vigour that not
only did he at length feel the chill departing from his own limbs but
also felt his companion stir and heard him groan.
"Feel better?" demanded Dick. Then, without waiting for a reply, he
added: "If you can only manage to get to your feet and walk about a bit,
we'll soon restore our circulation. Let me give you a lift."
"Wait," gasped the American. "Breast pocket--br-r-randy flask. Take
nip and give me one."
The brandy flask was found, and after applying it to the lips of its
owner, Dick took a mouthful himself before replacing the top. The
effect of the spirit upon their chilled bodies was almost miraculous, a
wave of warmth surged through them, and presently the American was on
his feet, and, with Dick's arm linked in his, was staggering to and fro
upon the surface of the ice. As the stiffness and cramp worked out of
their limbs they were able to increase their pace, until within a few
minutes they were trotting to and fro across the mass and feeling almost
warm once more.
Meanwhile, although the sounds of conflict and confusion aboard the
_Everest_ still floated to the pair, horribly suggesting the awful
scenes that were being enacted on her deck, the ship herself had settled
so deeply in the water that only the lights in the cabins of the
promenade deck and the clusters illuminating the boat deck now marked
her whereabouts, and it soon became apparent that the end was very near.
As a matter of fact it was even nearer than the occupants of the floe
imagined, for as with one accord they paused to glance at the ship in
response to an exceptionally strident outburst of sound, they beheld the
line of lights suddenly incline from the horizontal, saw the slope grow
steadily steeper, and then, as the great mass of the vessel's stern hove
up, an indistinct blur of deeper blackness on the darkness of the night,
the line of lights slid forward and vanished one after another until all
had disappeared, while at the same moment a heartrending wail from
hundreds of throats pealed out across the water, punctuated by a
crackling volley of pistol shots.
"Gone!" ejaculated Dick's companion--and the ejaculation was almost a
groan. "The unsinkable _Everest_, that triumph of human ingenuity which
was finally to insure travellers against every peril of the sea, is
gone, sent to the bottom by a chunk of ice so small that, we may assume,
the look-outs never saw it until it was too late. And with her she has
taken, I suppose, the best part of a thousand people--of whom you and I,
my friend, might have been two, if those tarnation cowardly Dagos had
not knocked us overboard, for which I am obliged to them, although I
wasn't by a long chalk, a quarter of an hour ago. Now I guess we're
just as well off here as those people are in the boats; better, maybe,
for we can at least move about and keep ourselves warm here, whereas--
say! What's that? See, over there! Isn't it a rocket?"
As Dick looked in the direction toward which his companion pointed, he
caught a momentary glimpse of a sudden faint irradiation in the sky,
followed by the appearance of a minute cluster of tiny falling stars.
"Yes," he replied, "that's a rocket all right; and it means that the
_Bolivia_ or one of the other ships is coming up, and is firing rockets
to let us know that help is at hand. But whatever she is, she is a long
way off yet, and probably will not arrive for the next half-hour at
least. So let me recommend another sprint or two across the ice just to
keep the blood moving in our veins."
"Correct again," returned the American, as they started off at a brisk
walk. "But--say!" he continued, turning to Dick and extending his hand,
"we've been so darned busy getting ourselves warm that I haven't yet
found time to thank you for saving my life. But I'll do it now--"
"Saving your life?" ejaculated Dick. "I don't think I understand."
"Oh yes, I guess you do," answered the American. "Or, if you don't, I
calculate I can easily enlighten you. You saved my life, young man,
when you took me in tow out there and navigated me to this desirable ice
floe, and don't you forget it. You may bet your bottom dollar that I
shall not, and there's my hand upon it, stranger. Now, let me introduce
myself. I know who you are all right; you're Mr Cavendish, late fifth
officer of the unsinkable steamship _Everest_, very recently gone to the
bottom. Isn't that right?"
Dick acknowledged the truth of his companion's statement, whereupon the
latter resumed.
"Very good," he said. "Now, I suppose you've never heard of Wilfrid
Earle, of New York, the man who undertook to hunt his way from Cairo to
the Cape--"
"Oh! but of course I have," interrupted Dick. "I've read about you in
the papers--and, come to think of it, I've seen your photograph also in
the papers. Somehow your face seemed familiar when I noticed you a
while ago on the boat deck--"
"Sure!" cut in the other. "That's me--Wilfrid Earle, the eccentric New
Yorker, all right, all right. Only arrived home from Cape Town little
more than a fortnight ago, with a whole caravan load of skins, horns,
tusks, and so on; and now I guess they're about half a mile down, in the
hull of the _Everest_. Gee! Guess you're thinking me a heartless brute
for talking so lightly about the awful thing that's just happened; but,
man, I've got to do it--or else go clean crazy with thinking about it.
Or, better still, not think about it at all, since thinking about it
won't mend matters the least little bit. Say! what are all those little
lights dotted about over there?"
"Oh!" answered Dick, "they are the lights of the _Everest's_ boats.
Each boat was provided with a lantern, in order that they might keep
together, and be the more easily found when the rescuing ships come up."
"Ah!" returned Earle. "A very excellent arrangement. But say! what
about us? We have no lantern. How are we going to make our whereabouts
known? Those boats are a good mile away, and--"
"I don't think we need worry very greatly about that," answered Dick.
"Naturally, the _Bolivia_--or whatever the coming craft may be--will
pick up the people in the boats directly she arrives; but she'll lower
her own boats, too, and send them away to search the sea in the
immediate neighbourhood for people who may be floating about in
lifebuoys or cork jackets. There must be quite a number of them at no
great distance from us--though how long they are likely to survive,
drifting about in the ice-cold water, I should not like to say. But I
think we may take it for granted that, once they have arrived, the
rescuing ships will not quit the scene of the disaster until they have
made quite sure that they have got all the survivors. They will wait
about until daylight comes, without a shadow of doubt."
"Good! it is comforting to hear you say that," returned Earle. "You
see, I don't know much about the sea and sailor ways, and it occurred to
me that those rescuing ships might take it for granted that when they
had recovered the people from the boats, they would have done all that
was possible--and quit. Gee! but it's cold here on this ice. Lucky
that there's no wind, or we should be frozen stiff in half an hour.
We'll have another nip of brandy each; it'll do us both good. Lucky
thing, too, that I had the sense to fill the flask and slip it into my
pocket when I knew what had happened to the ship. I sort of foresaw
some such experience as this, and concluded that a drop of brandy might
be a good thing to have about one's person."
They had their nip and felt all the better for it; but it was necessary
for them to keep moving briskly in order to combat the numbing chill of
their wet clothes, and they resumed their pacing to and fro across their
narrow block of ice.
For a time their conversation was of a desultory and fragmentary
character, for they were both intently watching the progress of the
approaching steamer, which continued to send up rockets until the glow
of the flames from her funnels became clearly visible. Then the display
of rockets suddenly ceased, no doubt because--as Dick surmised--the
lights of the boats had been sighted by the eager look-outs aboard her.
Then her mast-head light came into view, followed, a little later, by
her port and starboard side lights; and at length the dark, scarcely
discernible blotch that represented her hull lengthened out suddenly,
revealing a long triple tier of brightly gleaming ports; and a few
seconds later the roar of steam escaping as her engines stopped, reached
the two watchers on the ice.
"Hurrah!" shouted Dick, "she is among the boats at last and doubtless
picking them up. Now we must keep our ears open listening for the sound
of oars, or hailing, for I'll bet that the skipper will have had his
boats swung out ready for lowering, and their crews standing by, long
ago."
But nearly half an hour elapsed before the welcome sound of oars working
in rowlocks faintly reached their ears, followed quickly by the shrill
note of an officer's whistle.
"At last!" breathed Dick, in tones of profound relief. "Now is our
chance, Mr Earle. We will shout together: `Boat ahoy!' Take the time
from me. Now--one, two, three, Boat ahoy-y-oy!"
The long drawn out "ahoy" had scarcely died on their lips before it was
answered by an equally long blast from the whistle, to which they
responded by repeating the hail at brief intervals, each answering blast
of the whistle telling them that the boat was drawing nearer, until at
length the faint loom of the boat showed in the darkness, and a lantern
was suddenly held high above a man's head. Then they heard a voice
exclaim:
"There they are, sir--two of 'em--on that block of ice!" And a minute
later they were being carefully helped into the stern sheets of the
boat, which was already floating deep with a load of motionless forms
enwrapped in cork jackets. Whether they were living or dead it was
impossible just then to say.
"Any more on the ice?" demanded the officer in charge of the boat.
Then, following Dick's reply in the negative, he continued: "Right!
shove off, bow! pull port! Give way all! Now it's us for the ship.
Put your backs into it, lads. A minute or two may make all the
difference between life and death for some of these poor chaps that
we've fished up. Here, have a sip of brandy, you two. You must be
frozen pretty nearly stiff."
"No brandy, thanks--unless my friend here--Mr Cavendish, fifth officer
of the _Everest_--would care to have another nip. But we've already had
some--filled a flask and slipped it into my pocket when I realised that
the ship was going to sink--and I guess it saved our lives."
Upon Dick also declining "another nip" the officer in charge held out
his hand.
"Glad to make your acquaintance, Mr Cavendish, and to have picked you
up. My name is Urquhart--`chief' of the _Bolivia_. By the way, since
we got your S.O.S. and learned particulars of the smash-up, we've all
been wondering how the mischief you managed to pile up your ship on a
berg, after our warning of this afternoon. Was it thick at the time,
or--how was it?"
"Your warning!" exclaimed Dick. "Did you warn us, then? If so, it is
the first that I've heard of it."
"Oh! we warned you all right," answered Urquhart, "and got your
acceptance of the message."
"The dickens!" ejaculated Dick. "That's very queer. Nobody said a word
to me of any warning having been received. Yet--no, I cannot understand
it. Mr Brown, our `chief,' you know, and some seven or eight more were
down in the ward-room when we hit the berg, and he seemed as much
astonished as any of us. If he had heard anything about it, I think he
would certainly have passed the word round, but--he didn't."
"Ah!" remarked the _Bolivia's_ chief, with deep meaning. "Were you by
any chance trying to break the record?"
"Well," answered Dick, "I believe the skipper had some such idea in his
mind. You see we've had the most perfect weather all the way; little or
no wind, and water like glass; the ship reeling off her
twenty-six-and-a-half knots as steadily as clockwork, and everything
going beautifully. I certainly did get a hint that Captain Prowse would
like to set up a new record--"
"Exactly!" concurred Urquhart, dryly. "That, to my mind, explains
everything. Your skipper got our warning--and simply suppressed it. He
was out after a new record, and was willing to `take a chance,' as the
Americans say. And here is the result--a brand-new ship gone to the
bottom, and, I suppose, hundreds of lives lost. How many did you
muster, all told?"
"I couldn't say, exactly," answered Dick, "but probably not far short of
three thousand."
"Yes; there you are!" commented Urquhart. "Three thousand; and boats
for only about half of 'em. What became of your skipper? Went down
with his ship, I expect."
"I'm afraid so," answered Dick. "In fact, I should not be very greatly
surprised if it should prove that I am the only surviving officer."
"That so? And how did you manage to escape?" demanded Urquhart.
Whereupon Dick launched forth into the full story of the disaster. But
before he had nearly finished, the boat arrived alongside the _Bolivia_,
and her freight, whether living or dead, was quickly passed up on deck
to the waiting doctor, who quickly distributed the units here and there
about the ship, while the boat departed upon a further quest.
Dick and Earle, being both very little the worse for their adventure,
were first taken below and given a hot bath; then they were led to a
vacant passenger cabin, packed in hot blankets, and given a certain
nauseous draught which quickly threw them into a profuse perspiration
and a deep sleep, from which they emerged, some hours later, not a penny
the worse for their adventure.
CHAPTER THREE.
EARLE'S PROPOSITION TO DICK CAVENDISH.
It was the rays of the newly risen sun shining in through the open port
that awakened Dick Cavendish on the morning following his great
adventure. He was occupying the upper bunk in the cabin, and the first
sound to greet his ears was the deep, regular breathing of the still
sleeping Earle in the bunk beneath. Dick, being a sailor, awoke with
all his senses completely about him; the occurrences of the previous
night came back to his memory in a flash, and even before he opened his
eyes he was fully aware that he was in the top berth of one of the
_Bolivia's_ cabins, and that it was the companion of his adventure who
was in the bunk beneath him.
The next thing of which he was aware was the perfect stillness of the
ship, the complete absence of that peculiar tremor due to the throb of
the engines and the beat of the propellers when a ship is under way; and
the thought that the _Bolivia_ was still "standing by" caused him to
open his eyes, rise up in his bunk, and peer through the open port at
his elbow. The picture which then presented itself to his gaze was that
of a brilliant morning, with a sky of turquoise blue faintly streaked
here and there with the merest suggestion of a few mares' tails, a sea
of sapphire blue wrinkling and sparkling under the softest imaginable
breathing of a westerly air of wind, the horizon obscured by a thin veil
of haze that seemed to be already melting in the warmth of the sun, a
great two-funnelled steamer lying motionless about a mile away, with a
film of smoke issuing from her funnels and "feathers" of steam trembling
at the top of her waste pipes, a whole flotilla of boats pulling slowly
and apparently aimlessly hither and thither, and a few masses of ice of
varying dimensions, from small fragments of a square foot in area to a
great berg fully sixty feet high, thinly dotting the surface of the sea.
Presently there came to Dick's ear the sound of a quietly spoken order
out on deck, followed by a subdued stir, accompanied by certain sounds
which the youngster's experience told him was the prelude to the
matutinal rite of scrubbing the decks, succeeded a few minutes later by
the gush and splash of water and the sound of scrubbing brushes
vigorously applied. Then the cabin door opened, and a steward entered
bearing on a tray two cups of steaming coffee and a plate of buttered
biscuits.
"Mornin', sir--mornin', gen'lemen both," remarked this functionary as a
stir in the bottom berth announced that his entry had awakened its
occupant. "Hope you've both slep' well and ain't feelin' none the worse
for last night's happenin's."
"Good morning, steward," answered Dick. "Thank you. Answering for
myself, I slept like a top, and am feeling A1 this morning. I see that
we have not moved during the night, and that the boats are still out.
What ship is that out there on our port beam?"
"That's the _Platonic_, sir. Arrived 'bout three hours ago. And the
_Cotopaxi_--belongin' to your own company--and the _Nigerian_, they're
lyin' about half a mile off to starboard of us. They comed up pretty
near together, 'bout two hours ago, and all of 'em lowered their boats
straight away. Don't know exactly what luck they've had. They've
picked up a good many, I b'lieve, but I'm afraid very few of em'll be
alive after floatin' about so many hours in the cold. Clothes
genle'men? Yes, certainly. They're in the dryin' room. I dessay
they're quite dry by this time. I'll fetch 'em for ye in a brace of
shakes."
"How are the others getting on, steward?" demanded Earle. "You picked
up everybody from the boats, I suppose? What with them and your regular
passengers, the ship must be like a rabbit warren!"
"So she is, sir," grinned the steward. "They're scattered about all
over her. We make up shake-downs for 'em wherever we could find a
blessed inch of space. They're in the smoke-room, the ladies' boodwor,
the lib'ry, the drorin'-room, dinin' saloon, the officers' quarters,
and--why, some of the men is even down in the stokeholds. Oh yes, we
took 'em all aboard, of course. But I expect we shall thin 'em out a
good bit presently. Ye see they was all bound for Noo York, and the
_Platonic_ and _Nigerian_ are both goin' there, so I expect they'll take
the bulk of 'em between 'em. And if there's any as wants to go back
home, the _Cotopaxi_ and us'll take 'em. I haven't heard how they're
feelin' after their spell in the boats, but I reckon they're all right.
That wasn't no very great hardship for 'em, exceptin' for the kiddies.
They was a bit frightened, naterally. And now, if you'll excuse me,
gen'lemen, I'll go and get your clothes, for there'll be a lot to do
presen'ly."
There was. For after the entire area of the surrounding sea had been
carefully swept by the boats until it was ascertained that no more
living or dead were to be found, there came the task of providing
breakfast for everybody, in itself a task of no small magnitude under
the circumstances. And while the meal was in progress, the officers of
the _Bolivia_ were going round among the rescued people, carefully
noting the names of the survivors for transmission to England and
America by wireless. Then followed the gruesome task of identifying
such of the dead as had been found; after which came the separation of
those who wished to go on to New York from those who wished to return to
England, this in turn being followed by the trans-shipment of the
rescued in accordance with the arrangement come to by a council composed
of the captains of the rescuing ships.