To my surprise before we had been twenty-four hours at sea every one on
board the _Koenig Ludwig_ seemed to have imbibed a measure of our
eagerness, and to be aware that we were not in reality engaged in a
pleasure trip, as had been given out, but in a race against a schooner
which had sailed from the same port nearly forty-eight hours before. As
a matter of fact it was Mr. Leversidge who was responsible for thus
letting the cat out of the bag. Imperative as it was that the strictest
reticence should be observed regarding our errand, his excitement was so
great that he could not help confiding his hopes and fears, under the
pledge of secrecy, of course, to half the ship's company. Fortunately,
however, he had the presence of mind not to reveal the object of our
voyage, though I fear many of them must have suspected it.
It was on the seventh day after leaving Batavia that we reached that
portion of the New Guinea coast where it had been arranged that the
schooner, for which I had telegraphed to Thursday Island, should meet
us. So far we had seen nothing of Peach's boat, and in our own hearts we
felt justified in believing that we had beaten her. Now, if we could
only change vessels, and get to the scene of action without loss of
time, it looked as if we should stand an excellent chance of completing
our business and getting away again before she could put in an
appearance. After careful consideration we had agreed to allow the
steamer to return without us to Java, and when we had done our work to
continue our journey on board the schooner to Thursday Island. Here we
would separate, Leversidge returning with his treasure to England _via_
Brisbane and Sydney, and I making my way by the next China boat to
Hong-Kong, where I intended to lay by for a while on the strength of the
money I was to receive from him. But, as you will shortly see, we were
bargaining without our hosts. Events were destined to turn out in a very
different way from what we expected.
It was early morning--indeed, it still wanted an hour to sunrise--when
the captain knocked at our respective cabins and informed us that we had
reached the place to which it had been arranged in the contract he
should carry us. We accordingly dressed with all possible speed, and
having done so made our way on deck. When we reached it we found an
unusually still morning, a heavy mist lying upon the face of the sea.
The latter, as far as we could judge by the water alongside, was as
smooth and pulseless as a millpond. Not a sound could be heard save the
steady dripping of the moisture from the awning on the deck. Owing to
the fog it was impossible to tell whether or not the schooner from
Thursday Island had arrived at the rendezvous. She might have been near
us, or she might be fifty miles away for all we could tell to the
contrary.
Once we thought we heard the sound of a block creaking a short distance
away to port, but though we hailed at least a dozen times, and blew our
whistles for some minutes, we were not rewarded with an answer.
"This delay is really very annoying," said Mr. Leversidge testily, after
we had tramped the deck together for upwards of an hour. "Every minute
is of the utmost importance to us, for every hour we waste in inaction
here is bringing the other schooner closer. As soon as this fog lifts we
shall have to make up for lost time with a vengeance."
How we got through the remainder of that morning I have only a very
confused recollection. For my own part I believe I put in most of it
with a book lying on the chartroom locker. Mr. Leversidge, on the other
hand, was scarcely still for a minute at a time, but spent most of the
morning running from place to place about the vessel, peering over the
side to see if the fog were lifting, and consulting his watch and
groaning audibly every time he returned it to his pocket. I don't know
that I ever remember seeing a man more impatient.
As soon as lunch was finished we returned to the deck, only to find the
fog as thick as ever. The quiet that was over everything was most
uncanny, and when one of us spoke his voice seemed to travel for miles.
Still, however, we could hear nothing, much less see anything, of the
schooner which was to have taken us on to our destination.
"If this fog doesn't lift soon I believe I shall go mad," said
Leversidge at last, bringing his hand down as he spoke with a smack upon
the bulwarks. "For all we know to the contrary it may be fine where the
wreck is, and all the time we are lying here inactive that rascal
Peach's schooner, the _Nautch Girl_, is coming along hand over fist to
spoil our work for us. I never knew anything so aggravating in my life."
As if nature were regretting having given him so much anxiety, the words
had scarcely left his mouth before there was a break in the fog away to
port, and then with a quickness that seemed almost magical, seeing how
thick it had been a moment before, the great curtain drew off the face
of the deep, enabling us to see the low outline of the cape ten miles or
so away to starboard, and, as if the better to please us, a small vessel
heading towards us from the south-eastward. As soon as I brought the
glass to bear upon her I knew her for the schooner I had cabled to
Thursday Island about. An hour later she was hove-to within a cable's
length of us, and we were moving our traps aboard as expeditiously as
possible. Then sail was got on her once more, the _Koenig Ludwig_
whistled us a shrill farewell, and presently we were bowling across the
blue seas toward our destination at as fine a rate of speed as any man
could wish to see.
For the remainder of that day we sailed on, making such good running of
it that at sunrise on the morning following we found ourselves at the
place for which we had been travelling--namely, the scene of the wreck
of the unfortunate steamship _Monarch of Macedonia_. We were all on deck
when we reached it, and never shall I forget the look of astonishment
that came into Leversidge's face when the skipper sang out some orders,
hove her to, and joined us at the taffrail, saying abruptly as he did
so, "Gentlemen, here we are; I reckon this is the place to which you
told me to bring you."
"This the place!" he cried, as he looked round him at the smooth and
smiling sea. "You surely don't mean to tell me that it was just here
that the _Monarch of Macedonia_ met her cruel fate? I cannot believe
it."
"It's true, all the same," answered the skipper. "That's to say, as near
as I can reckon it by observations. Just take a look at the chart and
see for yourself."
So saying he spread the roll of paper he carried in his hand upon the
deck, and we all knelt down to examine it. In order to prove his
position the skipper ran a dirty thumb-nail along his course, and made a
mark with it about the approximate spot where he had hove the schooner
to.
"Do you mean to say that the unfortunate vessel lies beneath us now?"
asked Mr. Leversidge, with a certain amount of awe in his voice.
"As near as I can reckon it she ought to be somewhere about here,"
returned the skipper, waving his hand casually around the neighbourhood.
And then, taking a slip of paper from the pocket of his coat, he
continued: "Here are the Admiralty Survey vessel's bearings of the rock
upon which she struck, so we can't be very far out."
Following Mr. Leversidge's example we went to the port side and looked
over.
"It seems a ghastly thing to think that down there lies that great
vessel, the outcome of so much human thought and ingenuity, with the
bodies of the men and women who perished in her still on board. I don't
know that I envy you in your task of visiting her, Collon. By the way,
what are the Government soundings?"
"Seventeen fathoms," answered the skipper.
"And you think she is lying some distance out from the rock on which she
struck?"
"I do. The survivors say that as soon as she struck, the officer of the
watch reversed his engines and pulled her off, but before he could get
more than a cable's length astern she sank like a stone."
"I understand. And now, Mr. Collon, your part of the business commences.
When do you propose to get to work? We must not delay any more than we
can help, for the other schooner may be here at any moment."
"I shall commence getting my things together immediately," I answered,
"and, if all goes well, the first thing to-morrow morning I shall make
my descent. It would not be worth while doing so this afternoon."
Accordingly, as soon as our mid-day meal was finished, I had the pumps
and diving gear brought on deck and spent the afternoon testing them and
getting them ready for the work that lay before me on the morrow. By
nightfall I was fully prepared to descend in search of the pearl.
"Let us hope that by this time to-morrow we shall be on our way to
Thursday Island with our work completed," said Leversidge to me as we
leant against the taffrail later in the evening. "I don't know that I
altogether care about thinking that all those poor dead folk are lying
only a hundred feet or so beneath our keel. As soon as we have got what
we want out of her we'll lose no time in packing up and being off."
I was about to answer him, when something caused me to look across the
sea to the westward. As I did so I gave a little cry of astonishment,
for not more than five miles distant I could see the lights of a vessel
coming towards us.
"Look!" I cried, "what boat can that be?"
Mr. Leversidge followed the direction of my hand. "If I'm not mistaken,"
the skipper said, "that is the _Nautch Girl_--Peach's schooner."
"Then there's trouble ahead. What on earth is to be done?"
"I have no notion. We cannot compel him to turn back, and if he finds us
diving here he will be certain to suspect our motive and to give
information against us."
We both turned and looked in the direction we had last seen the vessel,
but to our amazement she was no longer there.
"What does it mean?" cried Leversidge. "What can have become of her?"
"I think I can tell you," said the skipper, "We're in for another fog."
"A fog again," replied the old gentleman. "If that is so we're done
for."
"On the contrary," I said, "I think we're saved. Given a decent
opportunity and I fancy I can see my way out of this scrape."