All that day the wind continued to blow with frightful force, and the
sky to wear its menacing aspect. On looking, however, at the barometer
at four o'clock in the afternoon, I observed a distinct rise in the
mercury; but I did not dare to feel elated by this promise of an
improvement; for, as I have before said, the only thing the mercury
foretells is a change of weather, but what kind of change you shall
never be sure of until it comes.
What I most dreaded was the veering of the gale to an opposite quarter,
whereby, a new sea being set running right athwart, or in the eye of
the already raging sea, our decks would be helplessly swept and the
ship grow unmanageable.
A little after eight the wind sensibly decreased, and, to my great
delight, the sky cleared in the direction whence the gale was blowing,
so that there was a prospect of the sea subsiding before the wind
shifted, that is, if it shifted at all.
When Cornish, who had been below resting after a long spell, came on
deck and saw the stars shining, and that the gale was moderating, he
stared upwards like one spell-bound, and then, running up to me, seized
my hand and wrung it in silence.
I heartily returned this mute congratulation, and we both went over
and shook hands with the boatswain; and those who can appreciate the
dangers of the frightful storm that had been roaring about us all day,
and feel with us in the sentiments of despair and helplessness which
the peril we stood in awoke in us, will understand the significance of
our passionate silence as we held each other's hand and looked upon the
bright stars, which shone like the blessing of God upon our forlorn
state.
I was eager to show Mary Robertson those glorious harbingers, and ran
below to bring her on deck.
I found her again in the cabin in which her father lay, bending over
his body in prayer. I waited until she turned her head, and then
exclaimed that the wind was falling, and that all the sky in the
north-west was bright with stars, and begged her to follow me and see
them.
She came immediately, and, after looking around her, cried out in a
rapturous voice--
"Oh, Mr. Royle! God has heard our prayers!" and, in the wildness of her
emotions, burst into a flood of tears.
I held her hand as I answered--
"It was your grief that moved me to pray to Him, and I consider you
our guardian angel on board this ship, and that God who loves you will
spare our lives for your sake."
"No, no; do not say so; I am not worthier than you--not worthier than
the brave boatswain and Cornish, whose repentance would do honour to
the noblest heart. Oh, if my poor father had but been spared to me!"
She turned her pale face and soft and swimming eyes up to the stars and
gazed at them intently, as though she witnessed a vision there.
But though the wind had abated, it still blew a gale, and the sea
boiled and tumbled about us and over our decks in a manner that would
have been terrifying had we not seen it in a greater state of fury.
I sent the steward forward to see if he could get the galley fire to
burn, so as to boil us some water for coffee, for though the ship was
in a warm latitude, yet the wind, owing to its strength, was at times
piercingly cold, and we all longed for a hot drink--a cup of hot coffee
or cocoa being infinitely more invigorating, grateful, and warming than
any kind of spirits drunk cold.
All that the steward did, however, was to get wet through; and this he
managed so effectually that he came crawling aft, looking precisely as
if he had been fished out of the water with grappling-hooks.
I lighted a bull's-eye lamp and went to the pumps and sounded the well.
On hauling up the rod I found to my consternation that there were nine
inches of water in the ship.
I was so much startled by this discovery that I stood for some moments
motionless; then, bethinking me that one of the plugged auger holes
might be leaking, I slipped forward without saying a word to the
others, and, getting a large mallet from the tool-chest, I entered the
forecastle, so as to get into the fore peak.
I had not been in the forecastle since the men had left the ship, and
I cannot describe the effect produced upon me by this dark deserted
abode, with its row of idly swinging hammocks glimmering in the light
shed by the bull's-eye lamp; the black chests of the seamen which they
had left behind them; here and there a suit of dark oilskins suspended
by a nail and looking like a hanged man; the hollow space resonant with
the booming thunder of the seas and the mighty wash of water swirling
over the top-gallant deck.
The whole scene took a peculiarly ghastly significance from the
knowledge that of all the men who had occupied those hammocks and
bunks, one only survived; for four of them we ourselves had killed, and
I could not suppose that the long-boat had lived ten minutes after the
gale had broken upon her.
I made my way over the cable-ranges, stooping my head to clear the
hammocks, and striking my shins against the sea-chests, and swung
myself into the hold.
Here I found myself against the water casks, close against the cargo,
and just beyond was the bulk-head behind which the boatswain had hidden
while Stevens bored the holes.
Carefully throwing the light over the walls, I presently perceived the
plugs or ends of the broom-stick protruding; and going close to them I
found they were perfectly tight, that no sign of moisture was visible
around them.
It may seem strange that this discovery vexed and alarmed me.
And yet this was the case.
It would have made me perfectly easy in my mind to have seen the water
gushing in through one of these holes, because not only would a few
blows of the mallet have set it to rights, but it would have acquainted
me with the cause of the small increase of water in the hold.
Now that cause must be sought elsewhere.
Was it possible that the apprehensions I had felt each time the ship
had taken one of her tremendous headers were to be realised?--that she
had strained a butt or started a bolt in some ungetatable place?
Here where I stood, deep in the ship, below the water-line, it was
frightful to hear her straining, it was frightful to feel her motion.
The whole place resounded with groans and cries, as if the hold had
been filled with wounded men.
What bolts, though forged by a Cyclops, could resist that horrible
grinding?--could hold together the immense weight which the sea threw
up as a child a ball, leaving parts of it poised in air, out of water,
unsustained save by the structure that contained it, then letting the
whole hull fall with a hollow, horrible crash into a chasm between the
waves, beating it first here, then there, with blows the force of which
was to be calculated in hundreds of tons?
I scrambled up through the fore scuttle, and perceiving Cornish smoking
a pipe under the break of the poop, I desired he would go and relieve
the boatswain at the wheel for a short while and send him to me, as I
had something particular to say to him.
I waited until the boatswain came, as here was the best place I could
choose to conduct a conversation.
Beyond all question the wind was falling, and though the ship still
rolled terribly, she was not taking in nearly so much water over her
sides.
I re-trimmed the lamp in my hand, and in a few minutes the boatswain
joined me.
I said to him at once--
"I have just made nine inches of water in the hold."
"When was that?" he inquired.
"Ten minutes ago."
"When you sounded the well before what did you find?"
"Between five and six inches."
"I'll tell you what it is, sir," said he. "You'll hexcuse me sayin' of
it, but it's no easy job to get at the true depth of water in a ship's
bottom when she's tumblin' about like this here."
"I think I got correct soundings."
"Suppose," he continued, "you drop the rod when she's on her beam ends.
Where's the water? Why, the water lies all on one side, and the rod 'll
come up pretty near dry."
"I waited until the ship was level."
"Ah, _you_ did, because you knows your work. But it's astonishin' what
few persons there are as really _does_ know how to sound the pumps.
You'll hexcuse me, sir, but I should like to drop the rod myself."
"Certainly," I replied, "and I hope you'll make it less than I."
In order to render my description clear to readers not acquainted with
such details, I may state that in most large ships there is a pipe that
leads from the upper deck, alongside the pumps, down to the bottom or
within a few inches of the bottom of the vessel. The water in the hold
necessarily rises to the height of its own level in this pipe; and in
order to gauge the depth of water, a dry rod of iron, usually graduated
in feet and inches, is attached to the end of a line and dropped down
the tube, and when drawn up the depth of water is ascertained by the
height of the water on the rod.
It is not too much to say that no method for determining this essential
point in a ship's safety could well be more susceptible of inaccuracy
than this.
The immersed rod, on being withdrawn from the tube, wets the sides of
the tube; hence, though the rod be dry when it is dropped a second
time, it is wetted in its passage down the tube; and as the accuracy
of its indication is dependent on its exhibiting the mark of the level
of water, it is manifest that if it becomes wetted before reaching the
water, the result it shows on being withdrawn must be erroneous.
Secondly, as the boatswain remarked to me, if the well be sounded at
any moment when the vessel is inclined at any angle on one side or the
other, the water must necessarily roll to the side to which the vessel
inclines, by which the height of the water in the well is depressed, so
that the rod will not report the true depth.
Hence, to use the sounding-rod properly, one must not only possess good
sense, but exercise very great judgment.
I held the lamp close to the sounding-pipe, and the boatswain carefully
dried the rod on his coat preparatory to dropping it.
He then let it fall some distance down the tube, keeping it, however,
well above the bottom, until the ship, midway in a roll, stood for a
moment on a level keel.
He instantly dropped the rod, and hauling it up quickly, remarked that
we had got the true soundings this time.
He held the rod to the light, and I found it a fraction over nine
inches.
"That's what it is, anyways," said he, putting down the rod.
"An increase of three inches since the afternoon."
"Well, there's nothen to alarm us in that, is there, Mr. Royle?" he
exclaimed. "Perhaps its one o' my plugs as wants hammerin'."
"No, they're as tight as a new kettle," I answered. "I have just come
from examining them."
"Well, all we've got to do is to pump the ship out; and, if we can,
make the pumps suck all right. That 'll show us if anything's wrong."
This was just the proposition I was about to make; so I went into the
cuddy and sang out for the steward, but he was so long answering that I
lost my temper and ran into the pantry, where I found him shamming to
be asleep.
I started him on to his legs and had him on the main-deck in less time
than he could have asked what the matter was.
"Look here!" I cried, "if you don't turn to and help us all to save our
lives, I'll just send you adrift in that quarter-boat with the planks
out of her bottom! What do you mean by pretending to be asleep when I
sing out to you?"
And after abusing him for some time to let him know that I would have
no skulking, and that if his life were worth having he must save it
himself, for we were not going to do his work and our own as well, I
bid him lay hold of one of the pump-handles, and we all three of us set
to work to pump the ship.
If this were not the heaviest job we had yet performed, it was the most
tiring; but we plied our arms steadily and perseveringly, taking every
now and then a spell of rest, and shifting our posts so as to vary our
postures; and after pumping I scarcely know how long, the pumps sucked,
whereat the boatswain and I cheered heartily.
"Now, sir," said the boatswain, as we entered the cuddy to refresh
ourselves with a drain of brandy and water after our heavy exertions,
"we know that the ship's dry, leastways, starting from the ship's
bottom; if the well's sounded agin at half-past ten--its now half-past
nine--that 'll be time enough to find out if anything's gone wrong."
"How about the watches? We're all adrift again. Here's Cornish at the
wheel, and its your watch on deck."
As I said this, Miss Robertson came out of the cabin where her father
lay--do what I might I could not induce her to keep away from the old
man's body--and approaching us slowly asked why we had been pumping.
"Why, ma'm," replied the boatswain, "it's always usual to pump the
water out o' wessels. On dry ships it's done sometimes in the mornin'
watch, and t'others they pumps in the first dog watch. All accordin'.
Some wessels as they calls colliers require pumpin' all day long; and
the _Heagle_, which was the fust wessel as I went to sea in, warn't the
only Geordie as required pumpin' not only all day long but all night
long as well. Every wessel has her own custom, but it's a werry dry
ship indeed as don't want pumpin' wunce a day."
"I was afraid," she said, "when I heard the clanking of the pumps that
water was coming into the ship."
She looked at me earnestly, as though she believed that this was the
case and that I would not frighten her by telling her so. I had learnt
to interpret the language of her eyes by this time, and answered her
doubts as though she had expressed them.
"I should tell you at once if there was any danger threatened in that
way," I said. "There was more water in the ship than I cared to find in
her, and so the three of us have been pumping her out."
"About them watches, Mr. Royle?" exclaimed the boatswain.
"Well, begin afresh, if you like," I replied. "I'll take the wheel for
two hours, and then you can relieve me."
"Why will you not let me take my turn at the wheel?" said Miss
Robertson.
The boatswain laughed.
"I have proved to you that I know how to steer."
"Well, that's right enough," said the boatswain.
"All three of you can lie down, then."
I smiled and shook my head.
Said the boatswain: "If your arms wur as strong as your sperrit Miss,
there'd be no reason why you shouldn't go turn and turn about with us."
"But I can hold the wheel."
"It 'ud fling you overboard. Listen to its kickin'. You might as well
try to prewent one o' Barclay Perkins' dray hosses from bustin' into
a gallop by catchin' hold o' it's tail. It 'ud be a poor look-out
for us to lose you, I can tell yer. What," continued the boatswain,
energetically, "we want to know is that you're sleepin', and forgettin'
all this here excitement in pleasing dreams. To see a lady like you
knocked about by a gale o' wind is just one o' them things I have no
fancy for. Mr. Royle, if I had a young and beautiful darter, and a
Dook or a Barryonet worth a thousand a year, if that ain't sayin'
too much, wos to propose marriage to her, an' ax her to come and be
married to him in some fur-off place, wich 'ud oblige her to cross the
water, blowed if I'd consent. No flesh an' blood o' mine as I had any
kind o' feeling for should set foot on board ship without fust having
a row with me. Make no mistake. I'm talkin' o' females, Miss. I say
the sea ain't a fit place for women and gells. It does middlin' well
for the likes of me and Mr. Royle here, as aren't afraid o' carryin'
full-rigged ships and other agreeable dewices in gunpowder and Hindian
ink on our harms, and is seasoned, as the sayin' is, to the wexations
o' the mariner's life. But when it comes to young ladies crossin' the
ocean, an' I don't care wot they goes as--as passengers or skippers'
wives, or stewardishes, or female hemigrants--then I say it ain't
proper, and if I'd ha' been a lawyer I'd ha' made it agin the law,
and contrived such a Act of Paleyment as 'ud make the gent as took
his wife, darter, haunt, cousin, grandmother, female nephey, or any
relations in petticoats to sea along with him, wish hisself hanged
afore he paid her passage money."
I was so much impressed by this vehement piece of rhetoric, delivered
with many convulsions of the face, and a great deal of hand-sawing,
that I could not forbear mixing him some more brandy and water, which
he drank at a draught, having first wished Miss Robertson and myself
long life and plenty of happiness.
His declamation had quite silenced her, though I saw by her eyes that
she would renew her entreaties the moment she had me alone.
"Then you'll go on deck, sir, and relieve Cornish, and I'll turn in?"
observed the boatswain.
"Yes."
"Right," said he, and was going.
I added:
"We must sound the well again at half-past ten."
"Aye! aye!"
"I shan't be able to leave the wheel, and I would rather you should
sound than Cornish. I'll send the steward to rouse you."
"Very well," said he. And after waiting to hear if I had anything more
to say, he entered his cabin, and in all probability was sound asleep
two minutes after.
Miss Robertson stood near the table, with her hands folded and her eyes
bent down.
I was about to ask her to withdraw to her cabin and get some sleep.
"Mr. Royle, you are dreadfully tired and worn out, and yet you are
going on deck to remain at the wheel for two hours."
"That is nothing."
"Why will you not let me take your place?"
"Because----"
"Let the steward keep near that ladder there, so that I can call to him
if I want you."
"Do you think I could rest with the knowledge you were alone on deck?"
"You refuse because you believe I am not to be trusted," she said
gently, looking down again.
"If your life were not dependent on the ship's safety, I should not
think of her safety, but of yours. I refuse for your own sake, not for
mine--no, I will not say that. For _both_ our sakes I refuse. I have
one dear hope--well, I will call it a great ambition, which I need not
be ashamed to own: it is, that I may be the means of placing you on
shore in England. This hope has given me half the courage with which
I have fought on through danger after danger since I first brought you
from the wreck. If anything should happen to you now, I feel that all
the courage and strength of heart which have sustained me would go.
Is that saying too much? I do not wish to exaggerate," I exclaimed,
feeling the blood in my cheeks, and lamenting, without being able to
control, the impulse that had forced this speech from me, and scarcely
knowing whether to applaud or detest myself for my candour.
She looked up at me with her frank, beautiful eyes, but on a sudden
averted them from my face to the door of the cabin where her dead
father lay. A look of indescribable anguish came over her, and she drew
a deep, long, sobbing breath.
Without another word, I took her hand and led her to the cabin, and I
knew the reason why she did not turn and speak to me was that I might
not see she was weeping.
But it was a time for action, and I dared not let the deep love that
had come to me for her divert my thoughts from my present extremity.
I summoned the steward, who tumbled out of his cabin smartly enough,
and ordered him to bring his mattress and lay it alongside the
companion ladder so as to be within hail.
This done, I gained the poop and sent Cornish below.