Having no other log-book than my memory to refer to, I pass over six
days, in which nothing occurred striking enough for my recollection to
retain.
This brought us to Sunday; and on that day at noon we were, as nearly
as I can recall, in 37° north latitude and 50° west longitude.
In round numbers Bermuda lies in latitude 32° and longitude 65°. This
is close enough for my purpose. We had consequently some distance yet
to run before we should _heave to off the coast of Florida_. But we had
for five days carried a strong following wind with us, and were now
(heading west by south half south) driving eight or nine knots an hour
under a fresh wind forward of the port beam.
I own I was very glad to be able to keep well to the norrard of 30°;
for had the north-east trade winds got hold of the ship, I should not
have been able to accommodate the distances run to my scheme so well as
I now could with shifting winds blowing sometimes moderate gales.
The crew continued to behave with moderation. The carpenter, indeed,
grew more coarse and offensive in manner as the sense of his importance
and of his influence over the men grew upon him; and there were times
when Johnson and Fish put themselves rather disagreeably forward; but I
must confess I had not looked for so much decency of behaviour as was
shown by the rest of the men in a crew who were absolute masters of the
vessel.
But all the same, I was not to be deceived by their apparent
tractableness and quiet exterior. I knew but too well the malignant
purpose that underlay this reposeful conduct, and never addressed
them but felt that I was accosting murderers, who, when the moment
should arrive, would watch their victims miserably drown, with horrid
satisfaction at the success of their cruel remedy to remove all chance
of their apprehension.
On this Sunday, old Mr. Robertson came on deck for the first time,
accompanied by his daughter, who had not before been on the poop in the
daytime.
It was my watch on deck; had it been the carpenter's, I should have
advised them to keep below.
What I had feared had now come to pass. Mr. Robertson's memory was
gone. He could recall nothing; but what was more pitiful to see,
though it was all for the best so far as he was concerned, he made no
effort to recollect. Nothing was suggestive; nothing, that ever I could
detect, put his mind in labour. His daughter spoke to me about this
melancholy extinction of his memory, but not with any bitterness of
sorrow.
"It is better," she said, "that he should not remember the horrors of
that shipwreck, nor understand our present dreadful position."
It was indeed the sense of our position that took her mind away from
too active a contemplation of her father's intellectual enfeeblement.
There was never a more devoted daughter, more tender, gentle,
unremitting in her foresight of his wants; and yet, in spite of
herself, the feeling of her helplessness would at times overpower her;
that strong and beautiful instinct in women which makes them turn for
safety and comfort to the strength of men whom they can trust, would
master her. I knew, I felt through signs touching to me as love, how
she looked to me out of her loneliness, out of the deeper loneliness
created in her by her father's decay, and wondered that I, a rough
sailor, little capable of expressing all the tenderness and concern
and strong resolutions that filled my heart, should have the power to
inspirit and pacify her most restless moods. In view of the death that
might await us--for hope and strive as we might, we could pronounce
nothing certain--it was exquisite flattery to me, breeding in me,
indeed, thoughts which I hardly noted then, though they were there to
make an epoch in my life, to feel her trust, to witness the comfort my
presence gave her, to receive her gentle whispers that she had no fear
now; that I was her friend; that she knew me as though our friendship
was of old, old standing!
I say, God bless her for her faith in me! I look back and know that I
did my best. She gave me courage, heart, and cunning; and so I owed my
life to her, for it was these things that saved it.
She exactly knew the plans concerted by the boatswain and myself, and
was eager to help us; but I could find no part for her.
However, this Sunday afternoon, whilst I stood near her, talking in a
low voice, her father sitting in a chair that I had brought from the
cuddy, full in the sun, whose light seemed to put new life into him--I
said to her with a smile--
"If to-night is dark enough, the boatswain must be drowned."
"Yes," she answered, "I know. It will not be too soon, you think?"
"No. I shall not be easy until I get him stowed away in the hold."
"You will see," she exclaimed, "that the poor fellow takes plenty to
eat and drink with him?"
"A good deal more than he wants is already there," I answered. "For the
last three days he has been dropping odds and ends of food down the
fore hatch. Let the worst come to the worst, he had smuggled in enough,
he tells me, to last him for a fortnight. Besides, the water-casks are
there."
"And how will he manage to sleep?"
"Oh, he'll coil up and snug himself away anyhow. Sailors are never
pushed for a bedstead: anything and everything serves. The only part
of the job that will be rather difficult is the drowning him. I don't
know anything that will make a louder splash and sink quickly too, than
a box of nails. The trouble is to heave it overboard without the man
at the wheel seeing me do it; and I must contrive to let him think that
the boatswain is aft, before I raise the splash, because if this matter
is not ship-shape and carried out cleverly, the man, whoever he may be
that takes the wheel, will be set thinking and then get on to talking.
Now, not the shadow of a suspicion must attend this."
"May I tell you how I think the man who is steering can be deceived?"
"By all means."
She fixed her eyes on the sea and said--
"I must ask some questions first. When you come on deck, will it be the
boatswain's or the carpenter's turn to go downstairs?"
"The carpenter's. He must be turned in before I move."
"And will the same man be at the wheel who steered the ship during the
carpenter's watch?"
"No. He will be relieved by a man out of the port watch."
"Now I understand. What I think is that the man who comes to take the
other one's place at the wheel ought to see the boatswain as he passes
along the deck. The boatswain should stand talking with you in full
sight of this man, that is, near the wheel, if the night is dark, so
that he can hear his voice, if he cannot distinguish his face; and when
all is quiet in the fore part of the ship, then you and he should walk
away and stand yonder," pointing, as she spoke, to the creak of the
poop.
I listened to her with interest and curiosity.
"Some one must then creep up and stand beside you, and the boatswain
must instantly slip away and hide himself. The case of nails ought
to be ready in one of those boats; you and the person who takes the
boatswain's place must then go to the boat, and one of you, under
pretence of examining her, must get the box of nails out on to the
rails ready to be pushed over-boards. Then the new-comer must crouch
among the shadows and glide away off the poop, and when he is gone you
must push the box over into the sea and cry out."
"The plot is perfect," I exclaimed, struck not more by its ingenuity
than the rapidity with which it had been conceived. "There is only one
drawback--who will replace the bo'sun? I dare not trust the steward."
"You will trust me?" she said.
I could not help laughing, as I exclaimed, "You do not look like the
bo'sun."
"Oh, that is easily done," she replied, slightly blushing, and yet
looking at me bravely. "If he will lend me a suit of his clothes, I
will put them on."
To spare her the slightest feeling of embarrassment, I said--
"Very well, Miss Robertson. It will be a little masquerading, that
is all. I will give you a small sou'wester that will hide your
hair--though even that precaution should be unnecessary, for if the
night is not dark, the adventure must be deferred."
"It is settled!" she exclaimed, with her eyes shining. "Come! I knew I
should be able to help. You will arrange with the boatswain, and let me
know the hour you fix upon, and what signal you will give me to steal
up on deck and place myself near you."
"You are the bravest girl in the world! you are fit to command a ship!"
I exclaimed.
She smiled as she answered, "A true sailor's compliment, Mr. Royle."
Then with a sudden sigh and a wonderful change of expression, making
her beauty a sweet and graceful symbol of the ever-changing sea, she
cried, looking at her father--
"May God protect us and send us safely home! I dare not think too much.
I hope without thinking. Oh, Mr. Royle, how shall you feel when we are
starting for dear England? This time will drive me mad to remember!"