George Saint Leger stood upon the poop of his vessel that day, and
watched the tops of the coconut trees on "Treasure Island," as the men
had come to name the place, gradually sink beneath the northern horizon;
for not only had he insured the financial success of the expedition--so
far as human effort could insure it--by gaining possession of an
enormous amount of treasure, but he had placed that treasure beyond the
possibility of loss by the chances of battle and shipwreck at least
until the time should arrive to shape a course for home. Also, having
accomplished these things, he was now absolutely free to prosecute that
object which, in his eyes at least, had been the most important one
connected with the voyage, namely, the search for and deliverance of his
brother Hubert. There was also one other reason why the young captain
rejoiced to find himself once more out of sight of land, and that was
the state of the weather. Shortly after sunset on the previous day he,
in common with others of the ship's company, had noticed a gradual
lessening of the strength of the trade-wind, but everybody had then been
too busy to do more than just casually comment upon it; moreover the
decline had at first been no greater than had been before observed upon
more than one occasion. But the lessening process had continued very
gradually all through the night and was still continuing, to such an
extent indeed that by the time that the last signs of the island's
whereabouts had vanished, the speed of the ship had sunk to a bare four
knots, and that, too, with the wind broad abeam. It was not, however,
the mere softening of the trade-wind that caused George to congratulate
himself upon having secured an offing; it was the aspect of the sky,
which was beginning to awake within him--and Dyer, too, for that
matter--a certain feeling of uneasiness. For the _Nonsuch_ was now
within the limits of the hurricane area, the hurricane season had
arrived--as Hawkins and Drake had learned to their cost just a year
earlier, when, not very far from the spot where the _Nonsuch_ then
floated, their fleet had been caught in and all but destroyed by two of
those devastating storms that, for three months of the year, sweep,
raging, over the face of the Caribbean, leaving death and destruction in
their wake--and there were indications that a change of weather was
impending. The rainy season had long set in, and skies overcast by
great masses of slate-blue cloud surcharged with rain and electricity
were no new thing to the _Nonsuch's_ crew, but the aspect of the sky on
this particular day was of an altogether different character. It had
begun with a paling of the brilliant azure, and had been so gradual that
it was quite impossible to say when it had begun; the only thing certain
was that a change was taking place and that a film of thin, transparent
vapour was overspreading the entire sky and gradually reducing the sun
in its midst to a shapeless blotch of dull yellow, while the wind
continued steadily to decrease in strength. Two hours before the time
of sunset the great luminary had become so completely obscured that all
trace of him was lost; yet nothing in the shape of a cloud was to be
seen, nothing but the veil of colourless vapour which obscured the sky,
yet left the whole expanse of ocean almost unnaturally clear from one
horizon to the other; and all the time the wind was falling, so that
when at length the night suddenly closed down about the ship and she
became enveloped in a darkness that might almost be felt, she had no
more than bare steerage way; while by eight o'clock in the evening even
this was lost, and the _Nonsuch_ lay breathlessly becalmed and slowly
swinging with the low heave of the swell, with her head first this way
and then that. And with the cessation of the wind, the heat, which had
all day been stifling, became so intolerable that the idle crew could no
nothing but lie about the decks, gasping, for to go below was altogether
out of the question.
Thus matters continued until close upon midnight, when a sudden flicker
of sheet-lightning lit up the scene for perhaps a couple of seconds,
revealing a sky packed with clouds of so threatening and portentous an
aspect that Gorge, suddenly smitten with the apprehension that he had
already delayed too long, gave the order for the fore and main topsails
to be close-reefed and all other canvas to be furled with the utmost
expedition possible, and the men, with much grumbling, crept out from
their secluded corners and slowly proceeded to drag their relaxed and
sweating bodies up the rigging. To shorten sail in such opaque darkness
as then enveloped the ship was a lengthy task, and it was nearly one
o'clock in the morning before that task was completed and the exhausted
men were once more down on deck.
It was about half an hour later that there came to the crew of the
_Nonsuch_ the first premonition of a happening so extraordinary and so
gruesome that the historian hesitates to record it, yet, after all, the
story but adds one more to the already innumerable confirmations of the
statement that "truth is stranger than fiction."
The men had distributed themselves here and there about the main deck,
after searching with some care for such spots as were favoured with a
light draught of wind set up by the slow roll of the ship upon the oil-
smooth swell, and had disposed themselves to court sleep, if
peradventure it would visit them and so bring relief from the heat and
closeness of the suffocating night, while the young captain and Dyer,
the pilot, occupied chairs on the poop, where they sat patiently
watching for what might next happen--but it is safe to say, never
dreaming of what that happening was to be, for their thoughts went not a
step beyond the matter of weather.
The night was still intensely dark, so dark indeed that the feeble
glimmer of the low-turned lamp in the main cabin, shining through the
skylight and faintly irradiating the deck planks in its immediate
vicinity was almost irritatingly dazzling, since it effectually blinded
the sight to everything outside the irradiated area, and at length
George rose to his feet with the intention of calling an order to have
the skylight masked by a tarpaulin, when, as he stood upright and his
head rose above the level of the bulwark rail, a faint whiff of a
strange but peculiarly disgusting and offensive odour assailed his
nostrils.
"Phew!" he ejaculated, forgetting all about the tarpaulin in the
sensation of wonder evoked by the strangeness of the effluvium--"what in
the world doth this mean? Dost catch it, Dyer?"
"Catch what?" demanded Dyer, also rising to his feet. "Phew!" he
continued, as the smell struck his nostrils--"Catch it? That do I, with
a murrain on it! Now, what doth this portend? There's no land nearer
to us than our treasure island, and it cometh not thence, I dare swear,
the smell's too strong for that; indeed I'd say that it cometh from
close alongside--and maybe it doth, too; the smell's not unlike to
stinking fish, yet there be something else to it beside. And it 'tis a
dead fish, cap'n, then all I can say is that it's a mighty big one.
Maybe 'tis a dead whale, yet I don't exactly think it. I've passed to
leeward of a dead whale, wi' a cloud o' gulls and what not feedin' upon
un, and the smell was different from this; just so strong, but
different, and if my memory sarves me--even wuss. And if 'twas a whale,
the gulls'd be swarmin' about un, fillin' the air wi' their cries, but I
don't hear a sound. And, as to seein'--well, I wish 'twould come on to
lighten a bit, then us might--"
"Aft there!" came a hail at this moment from the fore deck. "Do 'e
happen to smell anything strange in the air, sir?"
"Ay, ay, we do," answered George; "the odour is strong enough, goodness
knows. Who is it who is hailing?"
"Drew, the bo's'un, sir," came the answer, with a sharpness in it which
effectually prevented its recognition by the two officers upon the poop.
There was a note of alarm in the voice, and it was apparent that the
men who had been endeavouring to sleep had risen to their feet and were
excitedly discussing the phenomenon, for a low murmur of many voices
came floating aft from the forecastle.
"Light a lantern, Drew," ordered George, "bend it on to a rope's end,
and sling it overside. Maybe the light will show us something."
"Ay, ay, sir," floated back the answer, with that faint, elusive
suggestion of sadness in its tone which seems to characterise the human
voice when heard in the midst of the lonely ocean on a night of darkness
and calm. There followed a slight scuffling of feet, another subdued
murmur of voices, a pause of a few moments, then the sharp clink of
flint and steel, a tiny spark of light, and finally the mellow glow of a
ship's lighted lantern.
"Sling it over the bows, to start with," ordered George, "and then, if
you can see nothing, walk slowly aft with it."
Another "Ay, ay," was quickly followed by the disappearance of the
lantern over the fore extremity of the topgallant forecastle, and then
in the faint upward sheen from the lamp the dimly illuminated outline of
the boatswain's face and form appeared, his outstretched right hand
grasping the line to which the lantern was attached, while his left held
the spare coil. His eyeballs gleamed as his gaze went out searching to
its utmost confines the small space of illuminated water, apparently
without result, for he presently began to move slowly aft, pausing for a
short space of time in the foot of the fore-rigging, outside which he
passed. Then, as he paused and the light grew steady, the two men on
the poop caught wavering glimpses of a long line of very faintly lighted
figures leaning over the larboard rail, from the after extremity of the
forecastle to the fore end of the poop, all eagerly scanning the
gleaming, oil-like surface of the water, while here and there one
pointed as though he believed he saw something. But although both
George and Dyer were straining their eyesight to the utmost they could
find nothing to reward their search, nay, even although at that moment a
flicker of sheet-lightning gleamed for an instant along the north-
western horizon. But the ship was at that moment swung with her head to
the south-west, consequently the lightning was on the wrong side of her
to afford any assistance. Moreover, it was no sooner come than it was
gone again, yet not so soon but that George, and perhaps half a dozen
others, raising their heads at the momentary illumination of the sky,
saw, suspended overhead, an enormous mass of black, impending cloud,
with jagged, ragged edges so wonderfully suggesting rent and tottering
rocks about to fall upon and crush the ship and all in her, that quite
involuntarily he uttered a low cry and cringed as though to escape an
expected blow. And at that precise moment, as the young captain cowered
and crouched, he felt a slight movement in the stagnant air about him,
very much as though a great wing had swept immediately over his head so
close that it had all but touched him, indeed he believed that it--
whatever it might have been--_had_ actually touched him, for unless his
imagination had begun to play tricks with him he could have sworn that
he felt the cap on his head move as though it had been grazed by some
passing object.
"What was that?" he gasped, starting back from the rail over which he
had been leaning, and flinging up his hand to his head. "Dyer, did you
see or feel anything?"
"I saw the sky for a second, if that's what you mean; and I don't at all
like the look o't; I've never see'd a sky quite like that avore--"
answered Dyer.
"No, neither have I," interrupted George; "and I like the look of it as
little as yourself. I believe it means that a hurricane is brewing.
But I was not referring to the sky. At the moment when that gleam of
lightning came I fancied that I felt something sweep through the air
just above my head, and--"
"Hush! hark! what be that?" interrupted Dyer in his turn, placing a
restraining hand on George's arm as he spoke, and in the silence that
ensued there came to their ears from behind them a low, intermittent,
grating sound, like--like what? Well, as much like some rough substance
being slowly dragged over the poop rail, immediately behind them, as
anything to which they could compare it.
"Who be you, and what be 'e doin' there?" demanded Dyer, dashing across
the deck. But he was just too late, for a moment before he reached the
rail the sound ceased, and he found nothing. But the horrible odour--
something between putrid fish and decaying seaweed--was stronger than
ever.
"You, bo's'un, haul up thicky lantern and bring un along here, quick,"
yelled Dyer. "Whatever 'tis that's raising this here smell, 'tis
alongside the ship, and 'tis _alive_! And come up here, half a dozen o'
you men down there in the waist--and bring axes wi' ye."
The boatswain quickly hauled up his lantern, and, accompanied by some
ten or a dozen of the bolder spirits among the crew--the latter having
hastily armed themselves with axes and pikes from the racks--hurried up
to the poop, and a few moments later George and Dyer were curiously
examining with the aid of the lantern's feeble light certain fresh
excoriations on the poop rail which looked as though they might have
been produced by a large and very coarse rasp forcibly drawn over it,
while the men with pikes and axes crowded close up behind them, peering
eagerly over their shoulders. They were still thus engaged when there
suddenly flashed up over the rail a long slim, snake-like object, the
precise nature of which it was impossible to determine in the intense
darkness only faintly dissipated by the inefficient light of the
lantern, and while all hands stood gaping dazedly at it the thing curled
in over the rail, lightly touched the boatswain upon the chest, and
instantly with a lightning-like movement coiled itself tightly about his
body, encircling his arms and shoulders.
The man gave vent to a yell of dismay as he felt the coil of the
horrible thing tighten round him, and the next instant screamed, in a
voice hoarse and sharpened by terror:
"He've a-got me! He've a-got me and 's dragging of me overside! Hold
on to me, dear souls, and don't let mun take me. Oh! I be goin'--he'm
squeezin' the very life out o' me--save me, shipmates, save--"
_Crunch_! George had snatched an axe out of the hand of one of the
paralysed seamen near him and, exerting all his strength, had brought it
down upon the writhing, straining thing where it crossed the stout
timber rail of the poop, with the result that the keen blade had
completely severed the thing, and the boatswain, with some eight or nine
feet of the creature still clinging to his body, and the three men who
had seized him in response to his terrified cries, went reeling backward
from the rail and fell together in a heap upon the deck, taking the
lantern with them, which was smashed and extinguished by the fall. At
the same moment a terrific commotion arose in the water alongside,
George received a violent blow which swept him off his feet and flung
him heavily to the deck, and two men shrieked out the startling news
that the thing--whatever it was--had got them and was dragging them
overside, while confusion reigned supreme, not only on the poop, where a
general stampede ensued, but also down on the main deck, where men were
hastily arming themselves in defence from--they knew not what. And the
sickening odour which had first announced the presence of the creature
arose with redoubled strength, pervading the ship from end to end.
For perhaps five or six minutes the confusion and panic aboard the
_Nonsuch_ was of a character to defy description; men rushed, yelling,
hither and thither in the darkness, colliding with each other and
screaming under the impression that the convulsive embrace of their
shipmates was the encircling grip of the unknown monster, heavy blows
resounded here and there upon the deck, as though a giant cable was
threshing the planking, causing the ship to quiver from stem to stern,
the two men actually caught in the coils of the creature were shrieking
horribly as they clung with tenacious grip to the rail over which they
were being inexorably dragged; and over all rose the voice of Dyer
calling for more lanterns.
Then suddenly there came a final despairing shriek from the two
unfortunate men as they were dragged overboard, carrying with them a
length of the stout rail to which they had been desperately clinging,
the smashing blows upon the deck ceased, together with the turmoil in
the water alongside, and presently four men came hesitatingly along the
deck, carrying lighted lanterns. With still greater hesitation they at
length permitted themselves to creep up the poop ladder, when the first
object revealed by the light of their lanterns was the senseless body of
the boatswain, his arms and shoulders still encircled by a snake-like
object of light brownish-grey colour. The poor man had apparently
swooned with terror, or, perhaps, the revulsion of feeling from it when
he felt the sudden relaxation of the awful drag upon his body; and near
him sat the captain upon the planks, bareheaded, his cap having fallen
off, and somewhat ruefully rubbing his aching head where it had come
into violent contact with the deck. He looked dazed, and, upon being
questioned by Dyer, admitted that he believed he had been momentarily
stunned by his fall. And all about him were wet sinuous marks upon the
deck which sufficiently accounted for the furious banging sounds that
had been heard, and which also conclusively demonstrated that the young
captain had experienced an almost miraculous escape from the violent
blows which had rained on the deck all round him.
The first thing done was to set about the restoration of the boatswain,
and this task was undertaken by Chichester, the doctor, while Dyer,
assisted by two of the men who had come aft with the lanterns, proceeded
to free the senseless body from the curious serpent-like thing that
still enwrapped it. And when this was presently done, not altogether
without difficulty due to muscular contraction, Dyer stood for some
moments thoughtfully and somewhat doubtfully regarding the object by the
light of the lanterns. Then he bent down and began to handle it,
turning it over on the deck and spanning its girth with his two hands.
Finally he straightened himself up and, with the outer extremity grasped
in his hand, turned to George and observed:
"Now I know what 'tis, though I'd never ha' believed it if I hadn't seen
it wi' these here two good eyes o' mine. 'Tis the arm of a cuttle-fish;
that's what 'tis, and nothin' else. Feel to the skin of un, cap'n, and
look to the suckers o' mun. I've see'd exactly the same sort o' thing
caught by the fishermen over on the French coast about Barfleur and
Cherbourg, and I've heard that the things--squids, they calls 'em--
actually attacks the boats sometimes and tries to pull the men out o'
them; but they was babies--infants in arms--to this here monster. I've
knowed 'em wi' arms so much as ten or twelve foot long, but the arm that
this belonged to must ha' measured all o' forty foot, and maybe more.
Bring along a couple of they lanterns, two of you, and let's see if the
brute be still alongside."
The men received the order with visible trepidation, and were none too
ready to execute it; but at length Dyer, who was certainly not lacking
in courage, snatched a lantern from one of the men, threw the coils of
the main topgallant brace off the pin, bent the lantern to the end of
it, and climbing into the mizen rigging, lowered it over the side until
it hung close to the surface of the water. But there was nothing to be
seen; and it was now noticed that the exceedingly offensive odour which
had recently pervaded the ship was no longer perceptible, apart from
that which emanated from the severed tentacle, which was promptly hove
overboard. Then the hands were mustered and the roll called, when it
was found that two of the crew were missing, and there could no longer
be a shadow of doubt that two of the ship's company had actually been
dragged off the deck and drowned, if not devoured by the creature!
But the crew of the _Nonsuch_ were not allowed much time wherein to
dwell upon this amazing tragedy, for scarcely had the boatswain been
restored to his senses and conveyed below to his hammock to recover from
the shock of his terrible adventure, when a low, weird, moaning sound
suddenly became audible in the air all about the ship, the canvas of the
close-reefed topsails, which had been flapping monotonously with the
heave and roll of the ship, shivered and slatted violently for a moment,
and a gust of hot wind from the north-west swept wailing over the ship
and was gone. Then with equal suddenness a flash of vivid lightning
rent the sky low down in the northern board, and presently, coincidently
with the muttered booming of distant thunder, another blast of hot wind
struck the ship and swept away to the southward in the wake of the
first. Then, almost before the sound of the second blast had died away
in the distance, there again arose those strange moaning and wailing
sounds in the air, seemingly right overhead, louder and more prolonged
this time, and accompanied by queer shuddering rustlings of the topsails
and momentary scufflings of conflicting draughts of air about the decks.
These conflicting draughts finally resolved themselves into a series of
fitful gusts from the northward, which happily lasted long enough to
enable her crew to get the _Nonsuch's_ bows round, pointing to the
southward, and then, with a screaming roar, the gale rushed down upon
the ship, out from due north, and amid the yelling and piping of the
wind, and the angry hiss of maddened waters suddenly scourged into
white, luminous foam, with the spindrift flying over her in blinding,
drenching showers, the ship gathered way and fled southward like a
frightened thing.
The hurricane--for such it was--blew with appalling violence for exactly
twelve hours, during which the _Nonsuch_ scudded dead before it under
close-reefed topsails, with the canvas straining and tugging until
opinion became divided as to whether the cloth would part company with
the bolt-ropes, or whether, being new and strong, it would uproot the
masts and drag them bodily out of the ship, especially when the crest of
a sea swept roaring and foaming away ahead of her, and her way was
checked as she settled back into the trough. Luckily, neither of these
things happened, for if the canvas was new, so too was the good stout
hemp rigging, which had, moreover, been set up afresh fore and aft,
aloft and alow, after the careening of the ship in that snug little
Trinidad creek; consequently, although the masts bent like fishing-rods
and groaned ominously from time to time in their partners, everything
held, and the ship emerged from the unequal struggle not a penny the
worse, although it must be admitted that her rigging had been stretched
to such an extent that when at length it was relieved of the strain by
the cessation of the gale, it hung loosely in bights that caused the
worthy boatswain to shake his head and mutter to himself.
When at length the gale broke and the wind, veering as it fell,
gradually worked round until it once more became the trade-wind, blowing
out from about due east, the ship had accomplished the record run of her
existence up to that date, Dyer's reckoning showing that the craft had
averaged twelve knots throughout that mad, desperate race, and that it
had swept them to within three hundred and twenty-five miles of their
destination.