"Thank God for that opportunity!" thought I fervently, as O'Gorman said:
"Ask him if he has plenty of provisions and water aboard."
I at once saw the villain's game: he was going to replenish the brig's
stores by plundering the barque, thus rendering it unnecessary to touch
at any port. So, while translating the question to the French skipper,
I took it upon myself to very tersely mention my suspicions, and to
recommend the adoption of any precautionary measures that might suggest
themselves.
"The bulk of my stores is stowed in the after hold," answered the French
skipper, "but there is about enough in the lazarette to carry us to Cape
Town. If they can be persuaded to be satisfied with what is there only,
we shall come to no great harm."
"You hear?" said I, turning to O'Gorman again, quite certain, by this
time, of his inability to understand a single word of French; "they are
very short of provisions, having only sufficient in their lazarette to
carry them to Cape Town."
"Is that all?" demanded the Irishman. "Thin, be jabers, _I'm_ sorry for
thim, for there's a good manny miles bechuxt here and Cape Town, and I'm
afraid they'll be mortial hungry before they get there. For I'm goin'
to help mesilf to everything ateable that the barque carries, and so ye
may tell the skipper--bad cess to him for a mismanagin' shpalpeen! Whoy
didn't he lay in stores enough to carry him to the ind of his v'yage?
And ye may tell him, too, to start all hands to get those stores on deck
in a hurry; our own lads will have enough to do in lookin' afther
everybody, and seein' that none of the Frenchies thries to play anny
tricks wid us."
I translated the gist of these remarks to the French captain, and at the
same time gave him a hint to exhibit a proper amount of righteous
indignation over the robbery; which he did to perfection, wringing his
hands, rumpling his hair, and pacing the deck with the air of a madman
while he poured out anathemas enough upon O'Gorman and his gang to sink
the entire party to the nethermost depths of perdition. Meanwhile, the
French crew, under the supervision of the mates--with Price watching the
operation to see that a clean sweep was made of the lazarette--went to
work to pass the stores on deck; and in less than an hour everything
that the lazarette had contained was safely transferred to the brig, and
stowed away.
While this operation was in progress, O'Gorman made a tour of the
various cabins, compelling the unfortunate passengers to turn out their
trunks before him, and appropriating the whole of their cash, jewellery,
weapons, and ammunition, together with as much of their clothing as
happened to take his fancy. As he executed his self-imposed task with
considerable deliberation, those passengers whose turn was still to come
had plenty of time to meditate upon their coming despoilment, and one of
them--the individual who had so kindly relieved me of my letter--took it
into his head to do me a good turn. Withdrawing quietly to his cabin,
he presently reappeared with a mahogany case, to which he
unostentatiously directed my attention, immediately afterwards laying it
carelessly down in a dark corner of the cabin.
Then he came and stood close beside me, and murmured in my ear:
"A brace of duelling-pistols, with a full supply of ammunition,
monsieur. Since apparently they _must_ go, I would rather that they
should fall into monsieur's hands, if possible. He may perhaps find
them useful some time in the future."
"A thousand thanks, monsieur," returned I, in a whisper. "Should we
ever meet again I will endeavour to repay your kindness with interest."
Then, watching my opportunity, I possessed myself of the case of
pistols, made my way on deck with them, and--thanks to the bustle of
trans-shipping the stores--managed to slip on board the brig with it and
convey it, undetected, to my own cabin. Having done which, I spoke a
reassuring word or two to Miss Onslow--who had retired to her own
cabin--lighted a pipe, and sauntered up on deck again with the most
careless demeanour imaginable.
It was long past midnight by the time that O'Gorman had finished rifling
the barque, by which time he had secured all the provisions out of the
unfortunate craft's lazarette, had taken four brass nine-pounder guns,
two dozen stand of muskets, the same number of cutlasses and boarding
pikes, together with a considerable quantity of ammunition, had emptied
one of the barque's water-tanks, and had robbed them, in addition, of
their two best boats--fine twenty-seven feet gigs--with their whole
equipment. Then, the weather still being stark calm, he compelled the
Frenchmen to hoist out their remaining two boats and to tow the brig
clear of and about a mile distant from the barque. Before that moment
arrived, however, the French skipper contrived to get a hurried word
with me.
"Monsieur," he said, "the contents of your letter have been communicated
to me; and permit me to say that you and Mademoiselle Onslow have the
heartiest sympathy and commiseration of myself and my passengers in your
most unpleasant situation. But, monsieur, I fear I cannot possibly help
you in the way that would doubtless be most acceptable to you--namely,
by receiving you on board my ship. The scoundrels who hold you in their
power would never permit it; and even were it possible for you and
mademoiselle to slip aboard, unperceived, and secrete yourselves, your
absence would be quickly discovered, it would be guessed what had become
of you, and the pirates would assuredly give chase and recapture you--
for the barque, fine ship though she be, certainly _is_ a trifle slow--
and who knows what vengeance the wretches might wreck upon us for having
presumed to abet you in your attempt to escape them? You will perceive,
I am sure, that my duty to my passengers forbids my exposing them to
such a risk. But I shall now call at Cape Town, to replace what those
villains have taken from me; and you may rest assured that I will not
only report the act of piracy that has been perpetrated upon me, but I
will also make known the unfortunate situation of yourself and
mademoiselle, so that your countrymen may be enabled to take such steps
as they may see fit to effect your rescue."
This was as much as I could reasonably hope; and I thanked the skipper
heartily for undertaking even so much as that.
In the early hours of the morning a gentle little air from the
northward--that gradually strengthened to a nice working breeze--sprang
up; and when I went on deck at seven bells the _Marie Renaud_ was out of
sight, and we were alone once more on the tumbling waste of waters.
From that time forward nothing of importance occurred until we arrived
in the longitude of the Horn, our passage of this notorious headland
being accomplished in gloriously fine weather--for a wonder--with half a
gale of wind from the eastward, blowing over our taffrail, to which we
showed every rag that we could set upon the hooker. The actual passage
occurred in the early morning--about six o'clock, according to our dead
reckoning--and upon working out the sights that I had secured after
breakfast for the determination of the longitude, I found that we were
thirty miles to the westward of it, and far enough south to permit of
our shifting our helm for the mysterious island to which we were
supposed to be bound. Accordingly, having verified my figures, and
pricked off the brig's position on the chart, I made my way up on deck,
and informed O'Gorman of the state of affairs.
"So we're actually now in the moighty Pacific, eh?" he exclaimed in high
elation. "Bedad that's good news, annyhow, and we'll cilibrate the
occasion by takin' an exthry tot o' grog all round, and dhrinkin'
shuccess to the v'yage. But, sthop a minute; ye want to know where
ye're to shape a coorse for, now? By the powers, misther, I'll tell ye
that same in a brace of shakes. Let me go and get the paper out o' me
chist, and I'll soon make ye as wise as mesilf."
The fellow hurried away for'ard, and dived below into the forecastle,
from which he soon emerged again, bearing in his hand an oblong
envelope. From this he carefully withdrew a paper, folded lengthwise,
and, opening it, read:
"`Latichood: Two, forty-eight, forty; south. Longitood: One hundred and
forty-four, ten, ten; west. Approach island from nor'-west, and stand
towards it with summit of hill bearin' south-east half-south, which
leads through the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to south a
quarter west for the mouth of the bight'--and that's enough: there's no
call to read the rest to ye," he concluded abruptly.
"As you please," answered I; "I have no desire whatever to know anything
more of the matter than what is absolutely necessary to enable me to
navigate the brig to the spot, and afterwards to make a civilised port
in the shortest possible time. I will, however, have a look at the
chart, and ascertain the particular island to which those figures of
yours refer."
"You might as well bring the chart up on deck, and let me see it: I'd
loike to see just where we're bound to, and how long it'll take us to
git there," remarked O'Gorman.
I accordingly went below, secured the chart, together with a pencil, a
pair of dividers, and a parallel ruler, and took the whole on deck.
Then, spreading the chart open, I pricked off the latitude and longitude
given by O'Gorman, and, to my astonishment, found that the spot was
located in open water.
"I am very much afraid that your information is faulty, O'Gorman," said
I, pointing to the spot. "Do you see that? There is no island shown in
your latitude and longitude. The nearest land to it is the Marquesas
group, and Hiau--the nearest of them--is three hundred and sixty miles
distant from your spot."
O'Gorman stared blankly at the chart for a full minute or more, glared
suspiciously at me for nearly as long; looked at his paper again, to
assure himself that he had made no mistake; and finally rapped out a
string of oaths in his consternation. Then he nipped his profanity
short off as a comforting reflection occurred to him.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, "but this oiland as Oi'm
talkin' about is unbeknownst, so av coorse it won't be drawed on the
chart. That's all right, misther; you navigate the brig to that place,
and you'll find an oiland there, safe enough."
"But, supposing that we do _not_," I suggested; "supposing that your
information happens to be incorrect; what then?"
"Ay, but it _won't_ be," he snarled back; "it'll be correct, and we'll
find the oiland where Oi told ye. And if we don't, why bedad it'll be
the worse for you and the gal, for we'll cruise for it until we find it,
if we has to cruise until the Judgment Day, like the Flyin' Dutchman!"
"All right," I said. "If the island is where you say it is, I will find
it for you, never fear. If it is _not_--well, then it will _not_ be
found; and that is all there is about it."
"Oi tell ye it _will_ be found; it _must_ be found!" shouted O'Gorman,
goaded to fury at the suggestion that perhaps, after all, a dire
disappointment lay in store for him. "If the oiland isn't there, it's
somewheres thereabouts, widin a few miles more or less; and we've got to
find it afore the hooker turns her nose towards home. Now I hopes
that's plain enough for ye."
And, smiting the chart a mighty blow with his clenched fist, he turned
on his heel and walked forward.
It need scarcely be said that after such a dogmatic statement as this I
found my anxiety greatly increased; for I by this time knew the Irishman
well enough to be fully aware that no mule could be more obstinate than
he, and that, having once made up his mind that his island existed, he
would never abandon his search until he had found it--or something that
might pass for it. And I was determined that should our search prove
unsuccessful, I would at once bear up for the Marquesas, and let him
take his choice from among the whole group. Indeed, for a moment I felt
tempted to shape as straight a course as I could for the centre of the
group, without troubling to hunt for O'Gorman's particular island at
all, as I gravely doubted whether it really had an existence outside the
man's own imagination. But, on the other hand, his information was
drawn from a document that, while stained and discoloured with age, had
every appearance--from my casual inspection of it--of being genuine;
and, if so, the island might possibly exist, although uncharted.
Moreover, O'Gorman had not seized the brig and become a pirate merely to
satisfy an idle curiosity as to the accuracy of the document he had
produced; he was going there for a certain definite purpose; to search
for something, probably; and, if so, nothing short of our arrival at
that particular island would satisfy him. So, having laid off the
course upon the chart, I gave it to the helmsman, and called the hands
aft to trim sail.
Of our passage into the solitudes of the Pacific I have nothing to
relate, save that Miss Onslow's demeanour toward me became, if possible,
more perplexing and tantalising than ever. To convey a clear and
accurate idea of her varying moods it would be necessary to relate in
tolerably minute detail the particulars of our daily intercourse
throughout the voyage--a course of procedure which would not only expand
my story far beyond its proper limits, but would also entirely alter its
character--I must therefore content myself with merely stating that I
believe I may, without exaggeration, assert that I never found her upon
any two occasions to behave in a precisely similar manner. She appeared
to regulate her treatment of me by the behaviour of the men. She had
long ago abandoned that almost insolent hauteur of manner that
distinguished her at the outset of our acquaintance; but if the weather
was fine, the wind fair, the men upon their best behaviour--as sometimes
happened--_in_ short, _if_ things were going well with me in other
respects, she invariably kept me at arm's-length by a certain
indefinable, but none the less unmistakable, coolness, indifference, and
distance of manner just sufficiently pronounced to suggest a desire to
be left to herself. But in proportion as difficulties, anxieties, and
vexations arose, so did her manner warm to me until there were times
when it became almost caressingly tender; so that, as my passion for her
grew, I sometimes felt almost tempted to feign an anxiety or a distress
that did not exist, for the mere delight of finding her manner warming
to me. But I take credit to myself that I always resisted the
temptation, fighting against it as a thing to yield to which would be
mean and unmanly on my part.
In this strange and contradictory condition of alternate peace, rendered
insipid by Miss Onslow's coolness, and anxiety converted into happiness
unspeakable by the warmth and tenderness of her sympathy, I carried the
brig toward the spot indicated in O'Gorman's document; and at noon on a
certain day my observations showed that we had arrived within sixty
miles of it. The weather was then brilliantly fine, with a gentle
breeze out from about west-north-west, that wafted the brig along over
the low, long mounds of the Pacific swell at a rate of about five knots;
consequently, if the island happened to be in the position assigned to
it, we ought to reach it about midnight. O'Gorman's desire to be made
acquainted with our exact position daily had been growing ever since we
had shifted our helm after rounding the Horn, beginning as a condition
of languid curiosity, which had strengthened into a state of feverish
restlessness and anxiety that, on the day in question, as soon as I had
conveyed to him the customary information, found vent in an order that a
man should go aloft and maintain a lookout from the topgallant yard
until the island should be sighted, the remainder of the crew being set
to work during the afternoon to rouse out and bend the cables, and to
attend to the various other matters incidental to the approach of a
vessel to a port. He also had the spare spars overhauled and suitable
ones selected for the purpose of erecting tents in conjunction with the
brig's old sails, from all of which I inferred that our stay at the
island--should we happen to find it--would be a somewhat protracted one.
As to the probability of our finding the place, I was exceedingly
doubtful; for although I was well aware that hitherto unknown islands
were still occasionally being discovered in the Pacific, I was equally
well aware that these new islands were almost invariably low, and of
insignificant dimensions, being, in fact, merely coral reefs that have
been gradually lifted above the surface of the ocean; whereas O'Gorman's
document contained mention of a _hill_, and the presence of a hill
argued a probable existence of ages, and a consequently corresponding
likelihood of comparatively early discovery.
But at two bells in the second dog-watch, that night, all doubt was put
an end to by a sudden, startling cry from the lookout on the
fore-topgallant yard of:
"Land ho; right ahead!"
I was on deck at the time, and far from expecting to hear such a cry;
indeed so incredulous was I still that I quite concluded the man had
allowed his imagination to run away with him, and was mistaking the
shoulder of some low-lying cloud for distant land. So I hailed him
with:
"Topgallant yard, there! are you quite sure that what you see is land,
and not a hummock of cloud?"
"Yes, sir," he shouted back; "I'm _quite_ sure of it. I've been
watchin' it growin' for the last quarter of a hour or more, and it
haven't changed its shape the least bit all that time; only growed the
leastest bit bigger and clearer."
Meanwhile, O'Gorman had sprung into the rigging and was by this time
clawing his way over the rim of the top. Another minute, and he was on
the topgallant yard, alongside the other man, peering ahead into the
fast gathering dusk, under the sharp of his hand. He stared at it for a
good five minutes; then, shouting down "It's all right, mates; it's
land, and no mistake!" he swung himself on to the backstay, and came
down on deck by way of it. He no sooner reached the deck than he
plunged into the forecastle, from which he presently emerged again,
bearing in his hand a packet that I presently recognised as his precious
document. He came straight aft to me with it, and said:
"Now, misther, I want ye to get a bit of paper and write down the
directions that Oi'll read out to ye. Oi'm all right in deep wather,
and wid plenty of say-room to come and go upon; but whin it comes to
navigatin' narrow channels, and kapin' clear of the rocks, and takin' a
vessel to her anchorage, bedad I'm nowhere. So I'll be obliged to ask
ye to write down the instructions that Oi've got here, and then ye'll
take command of the brig until she's safe at anchor."
"Very well," I said. "Are the instructions very long?"
"Two or three dozen words 'll cover the lot," answered the Irishman.
"All right," said I; "fire away." And drawing a pencil and paper from
my pocket, I prepared to copy down whatever he might read to me.
"`Approach island from nor'-west,'" began O'Gorman, "`and stand towards
it wid summit of hill bearin' south-east, half-south; which leads
through the passage in the barrier reef. Then haul up to south a
quarter west, for the mouth of the bight at the bottom of the bay.
Stand boldly in until ye come abreast of the big rock at the mouth of
the bight, when clew up and furl everything. Follow the bight until ye
reach the lagoon, when ye may anchor annywhere not closer than a dozen
fadoms of the oiland. The gems'--oh, bedad, but that's another matther
intoirely," he hastily concluded.
"The directions seem explicit enough," said I; "and as no mention is
made of any dangers to be avoided I suppose there are none. All the
same, we shall need daylight for the job of taking the brig to the berth
mentioned, so I shall stand on until four bells in the first watch, and
then heave-to for the remainder of the night. At daylight we will fill
away again and work round to the nor'-west side of the island, when, if
the water happens to be clear, we shall perhaps be able to see the
bottom from aloft, and thus safely pilot the vessel to her anchorage. I
will con her myself from the fore-topmast crosstrees."
At four bells--ten o'clock--that night, the island showed through the
clear darkness upon the horizon as an irregularly-shaped pyramid, with a
peak nearly in the centre of it, rising to a height which I estimated at
about six or seven hundred feet. The island itself was at that time
some ten miles distant, and, measured from end to end, as we then looked
at it, I took it to be about four miles across. We hove the brig to,
and tried a cast first with the hand lead, and then with the deep-sea
lead, but got no bottom, at which I was by no means surprised, as I had
already heard that many of the islands in the Pacific--especially those
of coral formation--rise sheer from the very bottom of the sea.
At daybreak the next morning I was called by the steward, and, dressing,
went on deck, to find that the weather was as it had been all through
the preceding day, namely, a light breeze from the westward, with a
cloudless sky of crystalline clearness overhead, and a long, low
sluggish swell undulating athwart the gently-ruffled surface of the
ocean. The island now bore about four points on our weather quarter,
some sixteen miles distant; so we filled the main-topsail, got way upon
the ship, and hauled up to "full-and-by," when it was found that we
should just handsomely fetch clear of the most leeward point of the
land.
Viewed by the early daylight, the island presented a most attractive
appearance, rising against the background of sky as a picture painted in
an infinite variety of delicate purple tones of shadow, through which,
with the aid of the glass, could be made out the several declivities,
gorges, precipices, and ravines that went to make up the contour of the
country. It was thickly wooded everywhere, seemingly from the water's
edge to within some eighty feet or so of the summit, the latter rising
naked into the clear air. But attractive as it looked under the soft,
subdued light of the early dawn, in the delicate monochrome of distance,
and the absence of direct sunlight, it looked even more beautiful when,
after sunrise, as we approached it more closely, the countless subtle
variations of tint in the foliage, from this in brightest sunlight, to
that in deepest, richest purple shadow, became manifest; and so powerful
an impression did it make upon the men that I overheard them freely
discussing the desirability of making a lengthened sojourn there.
"Yes," said I, when O'Gorman, carried away by his enthusiasm at the
beauty of the place, hinted at such a possibility, "that is all very
well, and sounds very attractive just now; but has it yet occurred to
you that yonder island may be peopled by a race of savages who, if we
give them the opportunity, will gladly make a barbecue of all hands?"
"Phew! begorra, but Oi nivver thought of that!" he ejaculated in sudden
dismay. "Oi'm obliged to ye for the hint, misther. We'll load the guns
and muskets, and make ready generally for the blagguards, if they have
the impidence to be there."
And forthwith he shambled away for'ard, unceremoniously cutting into the
holiday plans that the men were busily concocting, and instructing them
to load the guns and arm themselves in readiness for any emergency that
might arise.
As we stood in toward the land I kept a bright lookout for smoke, for
huts peeping from among the trees, for canoes hauled up on the beach, or
any other indications of the presence of human life on the island, but
could see nothing. At this, however, I was not very greatly surprised,
for although we were on the lee side of the island, the surf was
breaking so heavily all along the shore as to render it impracticable
for canoes. If the island happened to be inhabited, the inhabitants
would probably be found located on its weather side, which, according to
O'Gorman's document, was protected from the surf by a barrier reef, with
a passage through it.
As we stood on it became apparent that the island was nearer five than
four miles long--as I had estimated it to be on the previous night--that
its general trend was from north-east to south-west, and that, if
surveyed and laid down upon the chart, it would present a somewhat flat
and irregular crescent-like plan. The barrier reef sprang from the
north-east extremity of the island, sweeping seaward on the arc of a
circle on its north-western side, and uniting again with the island at
its south-western extremity, forming a lagoon of the same length as the
island, and about three-quarters of a mile wide at its widest point.
The barrier reef, in fact, constituted a magnificent natural breakwater,
upon which the surf eternally broke in a loud, sullen roar of
everlasting thunder, while inside it the water was smooth as a mill
pond, shoaling very gradually from the reef to the shore of the island,
which consisted of a narrow beach of dazzling white sand, bordered by a
fringe of thousands of cocoa-nut palms, the long, plume-like branches of
which swayed gently in the soft, warm morning breeze. It was on this
side of the island, I concluded, that, if anywhere, traces of
inhabitants would be found, and I scanned the shore carefully and
anxiously through the ship's glass in search of such; but nothing of the
kind was to be seen; and I at length closed the telescope with a clash,
relieved to believe that, whatever anxieties there might be awaiting me
in the immediate future, trouble with hostile natives was not to be one
of them.