STRUCK DOWN
But still the days went on and no wind came--the one thing which, even
now, after they had been becalmed for nearly a week, might have saved
the ship from any fearful calamity that was at last, almost without a
doubt, in store for her. For, according to their reckonings, taken
regularly both by aid of the brilliant sun which still poured down its
vertical rays upon them, and also by the use of a cherub log which
they possessed, as well as the ordinary ones, the current had drifted
them some three hundred miles north, so that they had consequently the
northern coast of Madagascar on their port bow, as well as the Aldabra
Islands, and with Galega, Providence and Farquhar Islands almost
directly ahead of them.
Only--the wind would not come, and the ship lay upon the water as
motionless, except for the current, as though she had been fixed upon
the solid and firm-set earth. And, meanwhile, the blindness which had
seized upon one man after another was still continuing its progress,
and more than half--indeed, three-parts--of the complement of the
_Emperor of the Moon_ were now sightless. Of seventeen sailors, eleven
were down with this terrible, paralysing affliction, as well as one
officer, Mr. Fagg; so that, if now the long-hoped-for breeze should
spring up, there were scarcely enough men in the whole vessel to set
the sails, even including Pooley--who certainly could not go aloft
with safety!--and Charke and Gilbert; while, presuming all of them
could do so and the wind should freshen much, they would undoubtedly
be far from able to take them in again. And then the result must be
swift--undoubted--deadly. The ship would rush to her destruction,
would be beyond all control; she would either go over under the force
of the elements, or be dashed to pieces on some solitary coral island
which she might encounter in her mad, ungovernable flight.
Consequently, there remained but one chance, and one only, for her,
that chance being to forgo the advantage of the wind when it came at
last, and to let her drift under bare poles until they were seen, and
perhaps rescued, by a passing vessel. But, again there arose the fear
in all hearts, as already it had done before--namely, would any other
ship which might encounter them be willing to take on board men in
such a plight as they were, and suffering from a disease that none
could venture to doubt must be contagious?
Meantime, the life in the vessel itself was, possibly, the strangest
form of existence which has prevailed for many a long sea-voyage. For
she was subject to no stress whatever of weather, the elements were
all in favour of her safety, if not her progress; she was comfortable
and easy and well found with everything of the best--since, in the
_Emperor of the Moon_, there was neither rotten pork nor weevily
biscuits for old shellbacks to grumble and curse at and mutiny over,
as those who wish to make the sailor dissatisfied with his lot are too
often fond of representing to be the case--every one was well housed
and well provided with good, wholesome food. Yet, all the same, she
was a stricken ship--stricken, in truth, by the visitation of God;
smitten by the hand of God with a curse which none could understand or
explain. Fortunately, however--if the word Fortune may be used in
connection with those now in her!--this curse seemed to have stopped
at the blindness--though God knows that was bad enough! Death did not
seem to be following after it, nor madness, nor delirium, as had been
the case with the others--certainly as death had been. Those who were
down lay in their berths, blind, it is true; but otherwise there was
nothing else the matter with them; and, since they were ministered to
by those who, up to now, had themselves escaped the visitation, they
did not suffer in any other way.
Bella and Mrs. Pooley were at this time more or less in charge of the
provisions, the latter dealing out the men's rations under the orders
of her husband, while Bella, arrayed in a long white apron which gave
her a charmingly strange appearance in the eyes of all who beheld her,
attended to the meals of those who used the saloon, took her place in
the cook's galley--the unfortunate man being one who was down with the
scourge--and saw to all preparations necessary for their now hastily
devised and uncomfortable meals.
'She's a good 'un,' the six remaining healthy men muttered to
themselves, as they saw her busying herself about the ship, making
soup and broth for them as well as for the after-cabin, and working
indefatigably from morning to night on behalf of all on board, 'a real
good 'un. And this here Navy lieutenant what's to marry her is a lord,
ain't he, Bill?'
'He ain't a lord yet, but he's a-going to be. Ah, well; if we ever all
gets safe into port, her ladyship will know summat about what her
servants ought to be like. Her cooks won't get to windward of her in a
hurry, I'll go bail!'
'If we ever get safely into port!' That was the sentiment which
pervaded all minds on board the _Emperor of the Moon_ at that time.
'If they ever got safely into port!' For all on board began now to
doubt whether they would do so. The eighth day of their being becalmed
had come, even as those forecastle hands discussed the girl's
goodness--with also, in whispers, many an admiring remark on her
beauty and generally trim-built appearance--the eighth day had come
and, suddenly, just as the forenoon watch was over, two more men
suddenly called out together that they were 'struck'--were blind! Two
more, leaving now only four sailors and three officers--counting
Gilbert in place of Fagg--and two helpless women!
'Well,' said the chief mate, coming up to where Gilbert and Bella were
discussing gravely this new affliction, while close by them the usual
business was going on of getting the two fresh cases into their berths
in the forecastle--which was now a lazaretto--'well, this ends it. The
wind may blow as much as it likes now, we shall never be able to make
sail. We must drift about till we are picked up or----' Then, seeing
the look of terror on Bella's face, he refrained from finishing his
sentence, saying instead: 'If we had as many hands to do one man's
work as you have in Her Majesty's service, Lieutenant Bampfyld, we
should still be all right.'
'I don't know,' Gilbert replied coldly, and in a manner which, quite
unknown to himself, he had been gradually adopting of late towards his
unsuspected, would-be rival. 'I don't know. We may have a dozen hands
to do one man's work in our service, as you seem to suggest, and as is
often supposed, yet, all the same, I'd back four of our men and two
young officers to get a lot of sail on a ship of this size, anyhow!'
'They might. Yet, clever as they are, you wouldn't like to back them
for much to furl those sails again if the breeze freshened into a
strong wind, would you?'
'I think so,' said Gilbert, still more coldly. 'At any rate, I'd back
them to have a rare good try.'
'Try!' exclaimed Charke. 'Try! Oh, we can all try! As far as that
goes, I'd have all the blind ones out to put their weight on the
braces while the rest went aloft, if the wind would only come; they
could do that without seeing. And we could try getting the sails off
again if it blew too hard--but I doubt our doing it. Any one can try.'
After which he walked forward to make inquiries about the two fresh
cases of blindness.
'I don't like that man, Bella,' Gilbert said when the other was out of
hearing, 'although he's a smart officer and a gentleman. And I don't
think he likes me.'
For a moment she stood there saying nothing, and with her eyes cast
down on the soft pitch of the seams, which was greasy and seething
under the fierce sun. Then she looked up at her lover and said: 'No
more do I much now, Bertie. In fact, I almost fear him.'
'I wonder if he was ever in love with you?' Bampfyld said, while
remembering, as she spoke, how once, in those delicious days when they
had first acknowledged their own love for one another, she had
jokingly told him that he was not the first sailor who had tried to
woo her. And he recalled, too, the fact that Charke had been
introduced to her mother's house by her uncle, and had been more or
less of a frequent visitor there. 'Was he, Bella?' he continued. 'Was
he the sailor you once told me of who wanted your love?'
'Yes,' she said, gazing up at him with her clear, truthful eyes. 'He
was. He told me so long after I met you. And I believe now--I have
thought so for some time--that he would never have applied for the
position he holds in this ship if uncle hadn't told him that I was
coming in it. He was far too ambitious for such a post when I first
knew him, and aspired to be captain in one of the great liners, and
eventually to be an owner.'
'I'm glad you've told me, darling. Especially as it quite explains his
not liking me over much. Poor chap! I can understand that he should
not do so in the circumstances,' he added, while gazing down on his
sweetheart with such a glowing look of love as to cause her to forget
all their unfortunate surroundings and revel only in her delight at
being so much beloved by him.
'Yet,' Gilbert continued, 'I can't understand his wanting to come into
this ship, even though it would give him three or four months more of
your society. Such a thing as that would have been maddening to
ordinary men--I know it would have been to me! If you had rejected
me--I--I--well, there! I can't say what I should have done; but,
at any rate, I couldn't have borne the torture of being in your
presence--especially if you were on your way to marry another fellow.'
'He is a strange man,' Bella said, 'and although I never loved him, I
cannot help admiring his force of character. His father, a selfish old
man, treated him badly and baulked him of going into your service, yet
he managed to be a sailor in another way, and to enforce respect from
every one. And he is a cultivated man and wonderfully well read.
Still, I don't altogether like his force of character, or rather, the
direction it takes. He told me, on that day at Portsmouth, that he
never faltered in his purpose, and that, when once he had made up his
mind to do a thing or get a thing, he did it, or got it, somehow. I
believe, too, that he meant it as a kind of defiance to me.'
'Did he, though!' exclaimed Gilbert, as now they sat beneath the
awning, at which they had arrived while talking. 'Did he! Well, he
won't get you, anyway, will he? Not while I'm alive, anyhow. If,
however, I were to die----'
But this remark was promptly hushed by Bella, who would not allow her
lover to even finish it, and, as his watch commenced at six o'clock,
he now went below to get an hour or so's rest before that time
arrived, while she still sat on beneath the awning, thinking dreamily
of him alone and of their future--if any lay before them, which now
seemed doubtful, or, at least, very uncertain. Then, suddenly, as thus
she mused, there happened a thing which startled and amazed her so
that she sprang out of her Singapore chair and gazed aft, away down
towards the south. A thing which even she, a landswoman, a girl
originally unacquainted with anything connected with seafaring
matters, had, by now, come to recognise and understand as vital to all
on board that ship. She had felt the back of the straw hat she wore
lifted by a slight warm ripple of air, while, at the same moment, some
of the pages of a book she had left lying on the table were suddenly
turned over swiftly and with a loud rustle.
'It is the breeze,' she muttered, 'the breeze! The wind at last!'
The others on deck had perceived it as quickly as she. At once, those
who were about had sprung into action and thrown off the listlessness
which had pervaded all in the ship since they had been becalmed. In an
instant all was bustle and confusion; the four remaining men who could
see rushing about eagerly. The master came out from where he had been
talking to some of the sufferers, while Charke, running along the
waist, called out: 'Miss Waldron! Miss Waldron! Where is the
lieutenant? We want his services now, at once. Perhaps he, too, can do
as much as any of his own men could if we look alive.'
'I will fetch him directly,' Bella cried, full of excitement, and,
swiftly, she ran down the companion to the saloon on her way to hammer
on Gilbert's cabin-door and awaken him. But, as she reached the place
she stopped, petrified almost and filled with a vague alarm at she
scarcely knew what, while, at the same time, she smothered a shriek
which rose to her lips, and exclaimed in its place: 'Bertie! Bertie!
What is the matter?'
For she saw him standing by the saloon-table gazing at her, smiling
even as he heard her loved voice, yet holding on to the edge with one
hand while, with the other, he felt, as it seemed, cautiously before
him. And again she cried: 'Bertie, what is it? What does it mean?'
Then she heard his voice saying: 'It means, darling, that I too am
struck down. That I too am blind.'