Successful so Far
Snugly hidden in the almost denuded compartment known as the
captain's pantry, Alwyn Burgoyne and Jasper Minalto waited
breathlessly for the impending explosion.
Discussing a hurried plan of action with Captain Blair--a quick
change of programme necessitated by events over which they had no
control--Burgoyne had acted promptly. Taking advantage of the
confusion when the order had been given to abandon ship, the Third
Officer and the faithful Minalto had climbed up the side and
disappeared down the companion ladder without a single member of the
pirate crew having the faintest suspicion of their presence. In the
meantime the men in the life-boat, hurriedly coached by Captain
Blair, had done their part of the business well.
A stout block had been bent to the heel of one of the davits. Through
it was led a three-inch rope, one end being made fast to the
life-boat's middle thwart close up to the knees, while the other was
secured by means of a clove hitch to the crown of the davit. Unless
looked for the rope would easily pass muster as one of the disordered
falls of the davit. The idea was that, when the _Donibristle_ sank,
the strain on the rope would capsize and swamp the life-boat, pinning
her hard and fast against the submerged side of the ship, and that
was what exactly did happen.
The stowaways were confronted by two great and distinct perils. The
pirates engaged in making up the explosive charges were not experts.
They might easily err on the side of generosity when preparing the
quantities, and when the explosion took place the whole ship might go
up instead of down.
The second risk was that the _Donibristle_ might sink in deeper water
than the total height of her hull from keel-plates to the rail. In
that case Burgoyne and Jasper Minalto would be trapped in a metal box
and drowned without the ghost of a chance of saving themselves.
Yet unhesitatingly, though dubious of the result, they had taken the
risk and were awaiting developments.
They could hear the plash of the oars as the boats pushed off, and
the gentle grinding of the life-boat's gunwale as it rubbed against
the rusty iron sides of the ship. Then came an ominous silence as
Black Strogoff raised his hand and gave the signal.
The charges were fired.
Alwyn felt the floor-plates give as the whole fabric of the ship
quivered under the internal impact. A waft of acrid fumes drifted
into the enclosed space.
The two men exchanged glances as if to say, "Well; it's all right so
far, but there's more to come."
The water was surging and hissing along the alley-way. The
pantry-door, burst open by the outside pressure, was flung hard back
against the bulkhead, and in an instant the two men were knee deep in
water.
The level rose to their waists, and still there was no indication
that the ship had settled on the bottom. The level was rising more
slowly now. Without a jar the ship had touched the bed of the channel
and was gradually sinking in the soft sand. Disappear she would
eventually, but for the time being, perhaps for several hours, the
subsidence was barely perceptible.
Then as the _Donibristle_ listed slightly to port the level in the
pantry fell a foot or eighteen inches, leaving the occupants standing
nearly thigh deep in water.
Again they exchanged glances, but this time both men's faces wore a
grin of satisfaction. They even chuckled softly, as they listened to
the ravings of Black Strogoff and the carefully rehearsed
lamentations and explanations of the boat's crew.
Half an hour later all was quiet without, save for the rattle of the
rain upon the exposed portion of the deck. Black Strogoff, his
assistants, and the working-parties had departed, their task
accomplished; but there remained the unpromising prospect of their
returning that afternoon to salve the sunken life-boat.
The downpour was a blessing in disguise. It enabled Burgoyne and his
companion to talk without risk of being overheard by anyone on the
cliff.
"Things'll be a bit more comfortable presently," said Minalto.
"Tide'll be falling."
"Yes," agreed Alwyn. "It was half-ebb when they scuttled her. That
means high-water about seven o'clock. Let's hope it will be a dark
night and not too much wind. You say you know where the two buckets
are stowed?"
Minalto made no reply. He was staring thoughtfully at a corner of the
pantry.
"Anything wrong?" inquired Burgoyne. "You haven't got cramp, I hope?"
"No, sir," replied the man. "It's a mort too warm to give I cramp.
I'm just a-thinkin', sir. See that li'l boiler? Couldn't us get 'en
away an' use 'en for a water-tank?"
Burgoyne jumped at the idea. The "li'l boiler" was in reality a
galvanized iron bin used for storing flour, and would hold about
fifty gallons of water without much chance of its contents spilling
over the top, as it was fitted with a metal lid.
"You're a gem of the first water, Jasper!" exclaimed Burgoyne
enthusiastically. "Come on, let's get it adrift at once. It will be
something to do."
By the aid of broken-off ends of files it was a fairly simple matter
to unscrew the brass clamps. Examination of the tank showed that it
was half filled with mouldy flour.
"Soon clean 'en," declared Minalto. "Then when us gets round t'other
side fill 'en wi' water, and put 'en aboard the boat again."
"Hardly," demurred Burgoyne. "That tank even if only filled to within
two inches of the top would weigh well over four hundredweights. No,
we'll have to leave it in the life-boat and fill it up by means of
the buckets. By Jove! that knocks Angus and his canvas tanks into a
cocked hat. We'll clean it out now. Salt water won't hurt if we wash
it with fresh later on."
The hours dragged wearily on. Both men were hungry and thirsty, for
they had come unprepared for the task on which they were at present
engaged. But at length the darkening gloom in the alley-way announced
that night had drawn in, and the time for strenuous activity was at
hand.
Glad to escape from their cramped quarters, for the rising tide was
beginning to make things far more uncomfortable than before, the two
men emerged from the pantry, dragging their prize after them.
It was now quite dark. The rain had ceased, but the sky was overcast.
A north-easterly breeze was ruffling the waters of the lagoon.
Shorewards there was nothing to denote human occupation. The cliffs
of the secret base rose gaunt and forbidding against the faint loom
of the sky, with no indication to show the hive of piratical industry
that flourished within the limits of those unscaleable precipices.
Very cautiously Burgoyne and his companion crept towards the davit to
which had been made fast the rope pinning down the life-boat. The
manila had shrunk in the wet to such an extent that the clove hitch
had jammed. It was only by using the broken file as a marline spike
that Alwyn succeeded in teasing out the tenacious hitch.
The result though expected was nevertheless startling. The whaler,
under the buoyancy imparted by six large air-tight copper tanks,
bobbed up like a cork, making a splash that might be heard on board
the _Malfilio_ and even by the pirates on shore.
"They'm thinkin' it'll be a girt shark," commented Minalto, as he
slipped over the side with a bucket to bale the boat.
Burgoyne joined him, and in twenty minutes the bottom boards were
figuratively "dry". The exercise also helped to restore the
circulation to the cramped limbs of the two men.
There were oars in the boat. Some thoughtful person had considerately
lashed them down to the thwart so that they had not floated away; but
the question now arose how were the masts and sails to be procured?
"It's too risky making a double trip across the harbour," said
Burgoyne. "One would have been bad enough and we've been spared that.
And there's the _Malfilio_ to be taken into account, although I don't
suppose they'll be so keenly on the look-out as they were when that
vessel was using her searchlight. We'll have to swim for them. They
will tow easily, since they are in canvas covers."
"I'm on, sir," agreed Minalto.
Both men stripped, and wringing out their saturated clothes spread
them over the thwarts of the life-boat. Burgoyne held up the
revolver.
"We'll not be wanting this on this trip," he remarked to his
companion. "I'll hide it in the boat. It's too early to start using
firearms."
Minalto nodded. He quite understood that if detected at this juncture
the revolver would be of no help. Once the boat was ready to leave
the island, then, perhaps, the little weapon might prove to be of
service.
With the skill of experienced swimmers the two men dived noiselessly
overboard and struck out with steady, powerful strokes towards the
mouth of the as yet invisible harbour.
Keeping close to the cliff they rounded the projecting arm. Not only
was the anchorage quiet--the _Malfilio_ had gone. Unknown to Burgoyne
and Minalto the pirate cruiser had proceeded to sea shortly after the
_Donibristle_ had been scuttled.
Changing over from breast-stroke to dog-stroke the swimmers proceeded
slowly until they touched bottom in shallow water, about a hundred
yards from the boat-house. Covering that hundred yards took a full
ten minutes. Twice they threw themselves flat upon the sand--once
when a lump of rock loosened by the rain crashed down from the cliff;
another time when a piece of canvas flapping in the breeze beat a
disturbing tattoo upon the side of one of the huts. In each case,
imagining that they were discovered, the two men lay still with their
hearts thumping violently, until they recovered themselves
sufficiently to resume their way.
At length the mass of the tarred boat-shed loomed up through the
darkness. The door was securely padlocked. That was reassuring, since
it was highly improbable that any of the pirates were asleep within
the building. Nor did Burgoyne waste time in filing through the
padlock, and thus leave traces of his exploit. Cautiously the two men
worked round to the back of the shed. Then Alwyn, standing on
Minalto's broad shoulders, deftly wrenched open the already loosened
weatherboard.
In less than a couple of minutes the life-boat's masts and sails, in
two painted canvas covers, were lying outside the hut. Replacing the
weatherboards Burgoyne climbed down to the ground, and, without a
word being exchanged, the two men shouldered their respective burdens
and retraced their steps.
There was no need to destroy their footprints. Already the sand was
covered with the prints of men's boots and bare feet, for daily the
vicinity of the hut was a scene of activity.
Arriving at the end of the strip of beach, they again took to the
water. The canvas covers with their weighty contents were buoyant,
but Burgoyne soon found that it was a difficult matter to swim and
push the gear in front of him. It was an easier task, though not so
simple to the swimmer, to drag the bundle of masts, spars, and sails
behind him.
But deprived of the slight support afforded by the gear, Alwyn found
that, although it no longer yawed as before, it was a decided
encumbrance by the time half the distance was covered. Apparently
Jasper Minalto found the same thing, for directly they rounded the
bluff at the entrance of the harbour the sailor ranged up alongside
and by the aid of a length of halliard deftly secured the two sets of
gear side by side.
After that progress was quicker and much easier, since each swimmer
could rest one hand and continue striking out with the other; but
their relief was none the less when they arrived alongside the
life-boat.
"We'm making sail, sir?" inquired Minalto, as the pair resumed their
clothes after having lifted the gear into the boat.
Burgoyne thought wistfully of the favourable breeze, and reluctantly
shook his head.
"I'd like to," he replied, "only the canvas would show up too much
even in the darkness. We must row. All ready? Then let go!"
Pushing off from the almost submerged rail of the vessel that had
been their floating home, the twain shipped an oar apiece, having
taken the precaution of muffling the crutches with strips of rag.
Then standing in towards the island they skirted the line of cliffs.
Here they were safe from detection unless, which was most unlikely,
the pirates had posted sentries on the edge of the lofty wall of rock
that completely girded the island. There were, they knew, watchers on
the look-out both by day and by night on the Observation Hill, but
their task was to observe vessels approaching from the offing. The
idea of a boat manned by their captives being navigated inside the
lagoon and close to the precipitous shore never occurred to them, or
if it did they had dismissed it as unworthy of serious consideration.
"There's one way out when the time comes," said Burgoyne, as the
small gap on the south-western side of the reef appeared abeam.
"Right-o, sir," replied Minalto. "I know it, havin had to swim across
'en."
A few minutes later the life-boat rounded the extreme south-westerly
point of the island. It was now that the most dangerous part of this
phase of the operations was threatening; for, having to pass some
distance off the detached rock before entering the west bay, the
little craft would no longer be masked by the cliffs from the pirates
stationed on the Observation Hill.
"Easy--lay on your oars a bit," cautioned Alwyn, as he glanced over
his shoulder in the direction of the look-out post. The rugged
outlines of the hill showed up against the mirky sky, but whether the
boat was so plainly visible as it moved slowly through the calm,
phosphorescent water was a matter unknown to Burgoyne and his
companion. They hoped not and wished themselves farther in shore.
"Give way," ordered Burgoyne.
"Touched wi' my oar, sir," reported Jasper in a low voice. "'Ard
rock, tes."
Evidently the shoal ran out farther than the Third Officer had
thought. The boat had to be backed and the rock given a much wider
berth; all of which took time and kept them longer in sight of the
Observation Hill.
Yet, as the moments slowly passed and no disconcerting flash of a
rifle came from the look-out post, Burgoyne felt his spirits rise.
His immediate goal was within easy distance, and once the boat gained
the shelter of the cliffs ultimate success loomed large upon his
mental horizon.
At length the life-boat's forefoot took the sandy beach close to the
mouth of the cave. Thankfully the two men boated their oars. Only
twice in that eight or nine miles had they rested, and the craft was
a heavy one to pull.
"Stand by her," cautioned Burgoyne as he leapt ashore. "Don't let her
ground too hard. Tide's falling."
As he made his way towards the spot where he expected to find the
lower end of the guide rope, Burgoyne had a nasty shock, for
advancing towards him were three men.