The sea was up before the boys next morning, and in its own special way
was making the _chasse-maree_ pitch and toss, now rising up one side of
a wave, now gliding down the other; for the wind had risen towards
morning, and was now blowing so hard that quite half the sail hoisted
overnight had had to be taken down, leaving the swift vessel staggering
along beneath the rest.
Vince turned out feeling a bit puzzled and confused, for he did not
quite grasp his position; but the full swing of thought came, with all
its depressing accompaniments, and he roused up Mike to bear his part
and help to condole as well.
Mike, on the contrary, turned out of his bunk fully awake to their
position, and began to murmur at once bitterly as he went on dressing,
till at last Vince turned upon him.
"I say," he said, "it's of no use to make worse of it."
"No one can," cried Mike.
"Oh, can't they? Why, you're doing your part."
"I'm only saying that it's abominable and outrageous, and that I wish
the old lugger may be wrecked. Here, I say, what have you been doing
with my clothes?"
"Haven't touched 'em."
"But you must have touched them. I folded them up, and put them
together, and they're pitched all over the place. Where are my boots?"
"Servant girl's fetched 'em out to clean, perhaps," said Vince quietly.
"Eh? Think so? Well, they did want it.--Get out! I don't see any need
for jeering at our position here. Just as if I didn't know better!
Here, you must have got them on."
"Not I! Even if I wanted to, one of your great ugly boots would be big
enough for both of my feet."
"Do you want to quarrel, Cinder?" said Mike roughly.
"Not here. Isn't room enough. There are your boots, one on each side
of the door in the corners of the cabin."
"Then you must have kicked them there, and--"
Mike did not finish, for the lugger gave such a lurch that the boy went
in a rush against the opposite bulkhead with a heavy bang.
"Didn't kick you there, at all events," said Vince, who was fastening
his last buttons.
"Why, the sea's getting up," said Mike. "Has it been blowing up above?"
"Haven't been on deck, but it has been alarming down here. I had a
horrible job to find my things. They were all over the place."
"How horrid! And what a miserable place to dress in!"
"Better than a sandbank in a seal's hole."
"Oh! don't talk about it."
"Why not? It's over. Deal better off than we have been lately, for we
have got an invitation to breakfast."
"I wish you wouldn't do that, Cinder," said Mike querulously.
"Do what? I didn't do anything."
"Now you're at it again, trying to cut jokes and making the best of
things at a time like this."
"All right: I'm silent, then," said Vince. "Shall I go on deck?"
"Go? what for?"
"Leave you more room to dress."
"It will be very shabby if you do go before I'm dressed. If ever two
fellows were bound to stick together it's us now. Oh dear, how awkward
everything is! I say, there's no danger, is there?" cried Mike, as the
lugger gave a tremendous plunge and then seemed to wallow down among the
waves.
"No, I don't see what danger there can be. Seems a beautifully built
boat, and I daresay Jacques is a capital sailor."
"A scoundrel!" said Mike bitterly.
"Now, _mes enfans_, get up," cried the skipper's voice; and this was
followed by a smart banging at the door, which was opened and a head
thrust in.
"If you sall bose be ill you can stay in bed to-day; but you vill be
better up. Vell, do you feel vairy seek?"
"No, we're all right," said Vince; and soon after the two boys climbed
on deck and had to shelter themselves from the spray, which was flying
across the deck in a sharp shower.
It was a black-looking morning, and the gloom of the clouds tinged the
surface of the sea, whose foaming waves looked sooty and dingy to a
degree, while the boys found now how much more severe the storm was than
they had supposed when below. The men were all in their oilskins, very
little canvas was spread, and they were right out in a heavy, chopping
sea, with no sign of land on any hand.
They had to stagger to the lee bulwarks and hold on, for the lugger
every now and then indulged in a kick and plunge, while from time to
time a wave came over the bows, deluging the deck from end to end.
But before long the slight feeling of scare which had attacked the boys
passed off, as they saw the matter-of-fact, composed manner in which the
men stood at their various stations, while the captain was standing now
beside the helmsman, and appeared to be giving him fresh directions as
to the course he was to steer, with the result that, as the lugger's
head paid off a trifle, the motion became less violent, while her speed
increased.
"Aha!" shouted the captain, as he found them--"not seek yet? Vait till
ve have ze _dejeuner_, and zen ve sall see."
"Oh, we've been to sea before," said Vince rather contemptuously.
"And you like ze sea, _n'est-ce pas_--is it not so?"
"Oh yes; we like the sea," said Vince. "It is good," said the captain,
clapping him on the shoulder. "Zen you sall help me. You say no at ze
beginning, but bah! a boy--two boy like you brave _garcons_--vill not
cry to go home to ze muzzer. It is a fine sing to have a luggar of tree
mast like zis, and you sall bose make you fortune ven I have done."
He nodded and turned away, leaving the boys to stand looking at each
other aghast, and forgetting all about the state of the sea, till a big
wave came over the bows and made them seek for shelter.
They saw but little of the captain that day, except at meal-times, when
he was good-humoured and jocose with them in spite of the fact that the
weather did not mend in the least. Then the next day passed, and the
next, with the wind not so violent, but the sea continued rough, and the
constant misty rain kept them for the most part below. The crew were
civil enough, and chatted with them when they did not ask questions; but
failing to obtain any information from them as to their destination,
Vince agreed with Mike that one of them should ask the captain where
they were going to first. So that evening, when they were sailing
slowly in a north-easterly direction, after being driven here and there
by contrary winds, they waited their opportunity, and upon the captain
coming up to them Vince began at once with,--
"Where are we going to first, captain?"
"Eh? you vant to know?" he said. "Vell, you sall. In zere." The boys
looked sharply in the direction pointed out but could see nothing for
the misty rain which drifted slowly across the sea.
"Where's in there?" said Mike.
"You are not good sailore yet, _mon ami_, or you vould have study our
course. I vill tell you. You look over ze most left, and you vill see
ze land of ze fat, heavy Dutchmans."
"What, Holland?" cried Vince eagerly.
"Yais: you know ze name of ze river and ports?"
"Yes; Amsterdam, Rotterdam," began Vince. "Are we going to one of those
places?"
"Aha! ve sall see. You no ask questions. Some day, if you are good boy
and can be trust, you vill know everysings. Perhaps ve go into ze
Scheldt, perhaps ve make for ze Texel and ze Zuyder Zee, perhaps ve go
noveres. Now you know."
He gave them a peculiar look and left them, and as the rain came on in a
drifting drizzle the boys made this an excuse for going below.
"Mike," said Vince, as soon as they were alone, "got a pencil?"
"No."
"And there is neither pen nor ink."
"Nor yet paper."
"Then we're floored there," said Vince impatiently.
"What did you want to do?"
"Want to do? Why, write home of course, telling them where we were. We
surely could post a letter at the port."
"No: he'll never give us a chance."
"Perhaps not; but we might bribe some one to take the letter."
"What with? I haven't a penny, and I don't believe you have."
Vince doubled his fists and rested his head upon them.
"I tell you what, then: we only gave our word for one day. We must wait
till we are in port, and then swim ashore. Some one would help us."
"If we could speak Dutch."
"Oh dear," said Vince, "how hard it is! But never mind, let's get away.
We might find an English ship there."
Mike shook his head, and Vince set to work inventing other ways of
escaping; but they finally decided that the best way would be to wait
till they were in the river or port, and then to try and get off each
with an oar to help support them in what might prove to be a longer swim
than they could manage.
That evening the weather lifted, and after a couple of hours' sail they
found themselves off a dreary, low-lying shore, upon which a cluster or
two of houses was visible, and several windmills--one showing up very
large and prominent at the mouth of what seemed to be a good-sized
river, whose farther shore they could faintly discern in the failing
evening light.
"We're going up there," said Vince--"that's certain." But just as it
began to grow dark there was a loud rattling, and down went an anchor,
the lugger swung round, and the boys were just able to make out that
they were about a couple of miles from the big windmill.
"Too many sandbanks to venture in," said Vince.
"No; we're waiting for a pilot."
"I believe," said Vince, "he'll wait for daylight and then sail up the
river; and if we don't escape somehow before we're twenty-four hours
older my name isn't Burnet."
Mike said nothing, but he did not seem hopeful; and soon after they were
summoned to the cabin to dinner, where the captain was very friendly.
"Aha! now you see Holland. It is beautiful, is it not? Flat as ze
Dutchman face. Not like your Cormorant Crag, eh? But nevaire mind. It
vas time, and soon ve get butter, bread and milk, ze sheecan, ze potate,
for you hungry boy have eat so much ve get to ze bottom of ze store."
They asked no questions, for they felt that it did not matter. Any land
would do, and if they could escape it would go hard if they did not
avoid recapture.
They were too much excited to sleep for some time that night, lying
listening for the coming of the pilot or for the hoisting of the anchor;
for there was, after all, the possibility of their having anchored till
the tide rose sufficiently for them to cross some bar at the mouth of
the river. But sleep overcame them at last, and they lay insensible to
the fact that about midnight a light was hoisted at the mast-head, which
was answered about an hour after by the appearance of another light in
the mouth of the river--a light which gradually crept nearer and nearer
till about an hour before dawn, when the boys were awakened by a soft
bumping against the lugger's side, followed by a dull creaking, and then
came the hurrying to and fro of feet on the deck overhead.
"Quick, Mike!" cried Vince--"into your clothes. She's sinking!"
As they hurried on a few things, the passing to and fro of men grew
louder; they heard the captain's voice giving orders, evidently for the
lowering of a boat, and the boys tried to fling open the door and rush
on deck.
Tried--but that was all.
"Mike, we're locked in!" cried Vince frantically; and he began to kick
at the door, shouting with Mike for help.
Their appeal was so vigorous that they did not have to wait for long.
There was the sound of the captain's heavy boots as he blundered down
the ladder, and he gave a tremendous kick at the door.
"Yah!" he roared: "vat for you make zat row?"
"The lugger! She's sinking," cried the boys together.
"I com in and sink you," roared the captain. "Go to sleep, bose of
you."
"But the door's locked."
"Yais, I lock him myself. _Silence_!"
Then the lugger was not sinking; but the faint creaking and grinding
went on after the captain had gone back on deck, and the boys stood
listening to the orders given and the hurrying to and fro of men.
"She must be on a rock, Cinder," said Mike, in a half-stifled voice.
"No rocks here. On a sandbank, and they're trying to get her off."
Then there was a rattling and banging noise, which came through the
bulkhead.
"Why, they're taking up the hatches over the hold."
"Yes," said Vince bitterly; "they're thinking more of saving the bales
than of us."
"Down vis you, and pass 'em up," cried the captain; and, for what seemed
to be quite a couple of hours, they could hear the crew through the
bulkhead busy in the hold fetching out and passing up the bales on to
the deck in the most orderly way, and without a bit of excitement.
"Can't be much danger," said Vince at last, "or they wouldn't go on so
quietly as this."
"I don't know," said Mike bitterly; "it must be bad, and they will
forget us at last, and we shall be drowned, shut up here."
"Don't make much difference," said Vince, with a laugh. "Better off
here. Fishes won't be able to get at us and eat us afterwards."
"Ugh! how can you talk in that horrid way at a time like this!"
"To keep up our spirits," said Vince. "Perhaps it isn't so bad. She's
on a bank, I'm sure, and perhaps--yes, that's it--they're trying to
lighten her and make her float."
"They're not," said Mike excitedly. "Why, they're bringing other things
down. You listen here."
Vince clapped his ear to the bulkhead and listened, and made out plainly
enough that for every bale passed up a box seemed to be handed down, and
these were being stacked up against the partition which separated them
from the hold.
"I say, what does it mean?" whispered Mike at last.
"I don't know," replied Vince; "but for certain they're bringing in
things as well as taking them away. Then we must be in port, and
they're landing and loading up again."
"Oh, Cinder! and we can't get ashore and run for it."
"No; he's too artful for us this time. That's why he has locked us up.
Never mind; our turn will come. He can't always have his eyes open."
"Is there any way of getting out?"
"Not now," said Vince thoughtfully; "but we might get one of those
boards out ready for another time. They're wide enough to let us
through."
The soft creaking and grinding sounds went on, but were attributed to
the lugger being close up to some pier or wharf, and the boys stood with
their ears close to the bulkhead, trying to pick up a word now and then,
as the men who were below, stowing the fresh cargo, went on talking
together.
But it was weary work, and led to nothing definite. They knew that the
loading was going on--nothing more.
"Well, we are clever ones," said Vince at last; and he laid hold of the
wooden shutter which let in light and air to the narrow place, but only
let his arm fall to his side again, for it was firmly secured.
"Never mind," he added; "we'll make it all straight yet."
Hours had gone by, and from the bright streaks of light which stole in
beneath and over the door they knew that it was a fine morning; and, as
the dread had all passed away, they finished dressing, and sat in an
awkward position against the edge of the bottom bunk, listening to the
bustle on deck, till all at once it ceased and the men began to clap on
the hatches once again.
Then, as they listened, there came the sound of ropes being cast off,
the creaking and grinding ceased, the captain shouted something, and was
answered from a distance, and again from a greater distance, just as the
lugger heeled over a little, and there came the rattle and clanging of
the capstan, with the heave-ho singing of the men.
"We're under way again, Mike," said Vince; "and there's no chance of a
run for the shore this time."
He had hardly spoken when the heavy tread of the captain was heard once
more, and he stopped at the door to shoot a couple of bolts.
"_Bon jour, mes amis_. You feel youselfs ready for ze brearkfas?"
Vince did not reply, and the captain did not seem to expect it, for he
walked into the cabin, while the boys went on deck, to find that the men
were hoisting sail, while a three-masted lugger, of about the same build
as the one they were on, was a short distance off, making for the mouth
of the muddy river astern. They were about in the same place as they
were in when anchor was cast overnight, and it became evident to the
boys that the noise and grinding they had heard must have been caused by
the two vessels having been made fast one to the other while an exchange
of cargo took place.
"Where next?" thought Vince, as their sails filled in the light,
pleasant breeze of the sunny morning.
He was not long in doubt, for upon walking round by the steersman the
compass answered the question--their course was due south.
"Aha! you take a lesson in box ze compais," said a voice behind them.
"Good: now come and take one, and eat and drink. It is brearkfas time."