I shall never forget the deep anxiety with which I awaited the coming
on of the night, my feverish restlessness, the exultation with which I
contemplated my scheme, the miserable anguish with which I foreboded
its failure.
It was like tossing a coin--the cry involving life or death!
If Stevens detected the stratagem, my life was not worth a rushlight,
and the thoughts of Mary Robertson falling a victim to the rage of the
crew was more than my mind could be got to bear upon.
Stevens came on deck at four o'clock in the afternoon, and that
I might converse with the boatswain without fear of incurring the
carpenter's suspicion, I brought a chart from the captain's cabin and
spread it on the cuddy table, right under the after skylight, and
whilst the boatswain and I hung over it, pretending to be engaged in
calculations, we completed our arrangements.
He was struck with the boldness of Miss Robertson's idea, and said he
would as soon trust her to take part in the plot as any stout-hearted
man. He grinned at the notion of her wearing his clothes, and told me
he'd make up a bundle of his Sunday rig, and leave it out for me to put
into her cabin.
"She'll know how to shorten what's too lengthy," said he; "and you'd
better tell her to take long steps ven she walks, for vimmen's legs
travels twice as quick as a man's, and that's how I alvays knows vich
sex is hacting before me in the theaytre, though, to be sure, some
o' them do dress right up to the hammer, and vould deceive their own
mothers."
"Are the hatches off forrard?"
"You leave that to me, Mr. Royle. That'll be all right."
"What weapon have you got?"
"Only a bar of iron the size of my leg," he answered, grimly. "I
shouldn't like to drop it on my foot by accident."
We brought our hurried conversation to a close by perceiving the
carpenter staring at us stedfastly through the skylight; and whispering
that everything now depended upon the night being dark, I repaired with
my chart to the cabin I occupied.
I noticed at this time that the lid of one of the lockers stood a
trifle open, sustained by the things inside it, which had evidently
been tumbled and not put square again.
This, on inspecting the locker, I found to be the case; and remembering
that here was the bag of silver I had come across while searching for
clothes for old Mr. Robertson, I thrust my hand down to find it. It was
gone. "So, Mr. Stevens," thought I, "this is some of your doing, is it?
A thief as well as a murderer! You grow accomplished." Well, if he had
the silver in his pocket when he quitted the ship, it would only drown
him the sooner, should he find himself overboard. There was comfort in
that reflection, any way; and I should have been perfectly willing that
the silver had been gold, could the rogue's death have been hastened by
the transmutation.
A little before six o'clock, at which hour I was to relieve the
boatswain in order to take charge of the ship through the second
dog-watch, Stevens being in his cabin and all quiet in the after part
of the vessel, I went quietly down the ladder that conducted to
the steerage, this ladder being situated some dozen feet abaft the
mizzen-mast.
All along the starboard side of the ship in this part of her were
stowed upwards of seven hundred boxes of tin-tacks, each box about
twice the breadth and length of this book in your hand, and weighing
pretty heavy. There was nothing else that I could think of that would
so well answer the purpose of making a splash alongside, as one of
these boxes, and which combined the same weight in so handy and
portable a bulk. Anything in wood must float; anything in iron might
be missed. All these things had to be carefully considered, for, easy
as the job of dropping a weight overboard to counterfeit the sound
of a human body fallen into the water may seem, yet in my case the
difficulty of accomplishing it successfully, and without the chance
of subsequent detection, was immense, and demanded great prudence and
foresight.
I conveyed one of these boxes to my cabin, and when four bells were
struck (the hands kept the relief bells going for their own sakes, I
giving them the time each day at noon), I smuggled it up in a topcoat,
and stepped with an easy air on to the poop. The man who had been
steering was in the act of surrendering the spokes to another hand, and
I took advantage of one of them cutting off a piece of tobacco for the
other, which kept them both occupied, to put my coat and the box inside
it in the stern sheets of the port quarter-boat, as though it were my
coat only which I had deposited there out of the road, handy to slip on
should I require it.
The boatswain observed my action without appearing to notice it; and as
he passed me on the way to the cuddy, he said that his clothes would
be ready by eight bells for the lady, and that I should find them in a
bundle near the door.
He would not stay to say more; for I believe that the carpenter had
found something suspicious in our hanging together over the chart, and
had spoken to this effect to his chums among the men; and it therefore
behoved the boatswain and me to keep as clear of each other as possible.
One stroke of fortune, however, I saw was to befall us. The night,
unless a very sudden change took place, would be dark.
The sky was thick, with an even and unbroken ground of cloud which had
a pinkish tint down in the western horizon, where the sun was declining
behind it. The sea was rough, and looked muddy. The wind held steady,
but blew very fresh, and had drawn a trifle further to the southwards,
so that the vessel was a point off her course. The motion of the ship
was very uncomfortable, the pitching sharp and irregular, and she
rolled as quickly as a vessel of one hundred tons would.
As the shadows gathered upon the sea, the spectacle of the
leaden-coloured sky and waves was indescribably melancholy. Some
half-dozen Mother Carey's chickens followed in our wake, and I watched
their grey breasts skimming the surface of the waves until they grew
indistinguishable on the running foam. The look of the weather was
doubtful enough to have justified me in furling the main top-gallant
sail and even single reefing the two topsails; but though this canvas
did not actually help the ship's progress, as she was close to the
wind, and it pressed her over and gave her much leeway, yet I thought
it best to let it stand, as it suggested an idea of speed to the men
(which I took care the log should confirm), and I should require to
make a long reckoning on the chart next day to prove to Stevens that we
were fast nearing the coast of Florida.
At eight o'clock I called Stevens, and saw him well upon deck before I
ventured to enter the boatswain's berth. I then softly opened the door,
and heard the honest fellow snoring like a trooper in his bunk; but
the parcel of clothes lay ready, and I at once took them, and knocked
lightly on Miss Robertson's door.
She immediately appeared, and I handed her the clothes and also my
sou'wester, which I had taken from my cabin after quitting the deck.
"What is to be the signal?" she asked.
"Three blows of my heel over your cabin. There is a spare cabin next
door for you to use, as your father ought not to see you."
"I will contrive that he does not see me," she answered. "He fell
asleep just now when I was talking to him. I had better not leave him,
for if he should wake up and call for me, I should not like to show
myself in these clothes for fear of frightening him; whereas if I stop
here I can dress myself by degrees and can answer him without letting
him see me."
"There is plenty of time," I said. "The bo'sun relieves the carpenter
at midnight. I will join the bo'sun when the carpenter has left the
deck. Here is my watch--you have no means of knowing the time without
quitting your cabin."
"Is the night dark?"
"Very dark. Nothing could be better. Have no fear," I said, handing her
my watch; "we shall get the bo'sun safely stowed below, and with him a
crow-bar. The carpenter will find it rather harder than he imagines to
scuttle the ship. He--I mean the bo'sun--is sound asleep, and snoring
like a field-marshal on the eve of glory. His trumpeting is wonderfully
consoling, for no man could snore like that who forbodes a dismal
ending of life."
I took her hand, receiving as I did so a brave smile from her hopeful,
pretty face, and left her.
Without much idea of sleeping, I lay down under a blanket, but fell
asleep immediately, and slept as soundly, if not as noisily, as the
boatswain, until eleven o'clock.
The vessel's motion was now easier; she did not strain, and was more on
an even keel, which either meant that the wind had fallen or that it
had drawn aft.
I looked through the porthole, to see if I could make anything of the
night, but it was pitch dark. I lighted a pipe to keep me awake,
and lay down again to think over our plot, and find, if I could, any
weakness in it, but felt more than ever satisfied with our plans. The
only doubtful point was whether the fellow who went down to scuttle
the ship would not get into the forepeak; but if the boatswain could
contrive to knock a hole in the bulkhead, he would have the man,
whether he got down through the forecastle or the fore-hatch; and this
I did not question he would manage, for he was very well acquainted
with the ship's hold and the disposition of the cargo.
I found myself laughing once when I thought of the fright the scoundrel
(whoever it might be) would receive from the boatswain--he would think
he had met the devil or a ghost; but I did not suppose the boatswain
would give him much time to be afraid, if he could only bring that
crow-bar, as big as his leg, to bear.
The sounds of eight bells being struck, set my heart beating rather
quickly, and almost immediately I heard Stevens' heavy step coming down
the companion-ladder.
I lay quiet, thinking he might look in, as it would better suit
my purpose to let him think me asleep. He went and roused out the
boatswain, and after a little the boatswain went on deck.
But Stevens did not immediately turn in. I cautiously abstracted the
key, and looked through the keyhole, and observed him bring out a
bottle of rum and a tumbler from the pantry, and help himself to a
stiff glass. He swallowed the fiery draught with his back turned upon
the main-deck, that the men, if any were about, should not see him; and
drying his lips by running his sleeve, the whole length of his arm,
over them, he replaced the bottle and glass, and went to his cabin.
This was now my time. There was nothing to fear from his finding me
on deck should he take it into his head to come up, since it was
reasonable that I, acting as skipper, should at any and all hours be
watching the weather, and noting the ship's course, more particularly
now, when we were supposed to be drawing near land.
Still, I left my cabin quietly, as I did not want him to hear me, and
sneaked up through the companion on tiptoe.
The night was not so pitch dark as I might have expected from the
appearance of it through the port-hole; but it was quite dark enough to
answer my purpose. For instance, it was as much as I could do to follow
the outline of the mainmast, and the man at the wheel and the wheel
itself, viewed from a short distance, were lumped into a blotch, though
there was a halo of light all around the binnacle.
The lamp that was alight in the cuddy hung just abaft the foremost
skylight, and I saw that it would be necessary to cover the glass. So I
stepped up to the boatswain, who stood near the mizzen-mast.
"Are you all ready, bo'sun?"
"All ready."
"Not afraid of the rats?" I said, with a laugh.
"No, nor wuss than rats," he replied. "Has the lady got my clothes on
yet? I _should_ like to see her."
"She'll come when we are ready. That light shining on the skylight must
be concealed. I don't want to put the lamp out, and am afraid to draw
the curtains for fear the rings should rattle. There's a tarpaulin in
the starboard quarter-boat, take and throw it over the skylight whilst
I go aft and talk to the fellow steering. Who is he?"
"Jim Cornish."
He found the tarpaulin, and concealed the light, whilst I spoke to the
man at the wheel about the ship's course, the look of the weather, and
so on.
"Now," said I, rejoining the boatswain, "come and take two or three
turns along the poop, that Cornish may see us together."
We paced to and fro, stopping every time we reached the wheel to look
at the compass.
When we were at the fore end of the poop I halted.
"Walk aft," I said, "and post yourself right in the way of Cornish,
that he shan't be able to see along the weather side of the poop."
I followed him until I had come to the part of the deck that was right
over Miss Robertson's cabin, and there struck three smart blows with
the heel of my boot, at the same time flapping my hands against my
breast so as to make Cornish believe that I was warming myself.
I walked to the break of the poop and waited.
In less time than I could count twenty a figure came out of the cuddy
and mounted the poop ladder, and stood by my side. Looking close into
the face I could see that it was rather too white to be a sailor's,
that was all. The figure was a man's, most perfectly so.
"Admirable!" I whispered, grasping her hand.
I posted her close against the screened skylight, that her figure might
be on a level with the mizzen-mast viewed from the wheel, and called to
the boatswain.
The tone of my voice gave him his cue. He came forward just as a man
would to receive an order.
"She is here," I said, turning him by the arm to where Miss Robertson
stood motionless. "For God's sake get forward at once! Lose no time!"
He went up to her and said--
"I'm sorry I can't see you properly, miss. If this wur daylight I
reckon you'd make a handsome sailor, just fit for the gals to go
dreamin' an' ravin' about."
With which, and waving his hand, the plucky fellow slipped off the poop
like a shadow, and I watched him glide along the main-deck until he
vanished.
"Now," whispered I to my companion, "the tragedy begins. We must walk
up and down that the man steering may see us. Keep on the left side of
the deck; it is higher than where I shall walk, and will make you look
taller."
I posted her properly, and we began to measure the deck.
Anxious as I was, I could still find time to admire the courage of this
girl. At no sacrifice of modesty--no, not even to the awakening of an
instant's mirth in me--was her noble and beautiful bravery illustrated.
Her pluck was so grand an expression of her English character, that no
emotion but that of profound admiration of her moral qualities could
have been inspired in the mind of any man who beheld her.
I took care not to go further than the mizzen-rigging, so that Cornish
should distinguish nothing but our figures; and after we had paraded
the deck awhile I asked her to stand near the quarter-boat in which I
had placed the box.
I then got on to the rail and fished out the box smartly, and stood it
on the rail.
"Keep your hand upon it," said I, "that it may not roll overboard."
With which I walked right up to Cornish.
"Does she steer steady?"
"True as a hair."
"I left my coat this afternoon in one of the quarter-boats. Have you
seen it?"
"No."
"Perhaps it's in the starboard-boat."
I pretended to search, and then drawing close to Miss Robertson, said
quickly--
"Creep away now. Keep close to the rail and crouch low. Get to your
cabin and change your dress. Roll the clothes you are wearing in a
bundle and hide them for the present."
She glided away on her little feet, stooping her head to a level with
the rail.
All was quiet forward--the main-deck deserted. I waited some seconds,
standing with my hand on the box, and then I shoved it right overboard.
It fell just as I had expected, with a thumping splash.
Instantly I roared out, "Man overboard! Down with your helm! The
bo'sun's gone!" and to complete the imposture I bounded aft, cut away a
life-buoy, and flung it far into the darkness astern.
Cornish obeyed me literally; put the helm right down, and in a few
moments the sails were shaking wildly.
"Steady!" I shouted. "Aft here and man the port main-braces! Bear a
hand! the bo'sun's overboard!"
My excitement made my voice resonant as a trumpet, and the men in both
watches came scampering along the deck. The shaking of the canvas, the
racing of feet, my own and the cries of the crew, produced, as you may
credit, a fine uproar. Of course I had foreseen that there would be no
danger in bringing the ship aback. The wind though fresh was certainly
not strong enough to jeopardize the spars; moreover, the sea had
moderated.
Up rushed the carpenter in a very short time, rather the worse, I
thought, for the dose he had swallowed.
"What's the matter! What the devil is all this?" he bellowed, lurching
from side to side as the ship rolled, for we were now broadside on.
"The bo'sun has fallen overboard!" I shouted in his ear; and I had need
to shout, for the din of the canvas was deafening.
"Do you say the bo'sun?" he bawled.
"Yes. What shall we do? is it too dark to pick him up?"
"Of course it is!" he cried, hoarse as a raven. "What do you want to
do? He's drownded by this time! Who's to find him? Give 'em the proper
orders, Mr. Royle!" and he vociferated to the men--"Do you want the
masts to carry away? Do you want to be overhauled by the fust wessel as
comes this road, and hanged, every mother's son of you, because the
bo'sun's fallen overboard?"
I stood to leeward gazing at the water and uttering exclamations to
show my concern and distress at the loss of the boatswain.
Stevens dragged me by the arm.
"Give 'em the proper orders, I tell ye, Mr. Royle!" he cried. "I say
that the bo'sun's drownded, and that no stopping the wessel will save
him. Sing out to the men, for the Lord's sake! Let her fill again, or
we're damned!"
"Very well," I replied with a great air of reluctance, and I advanced
to the poop-rail and delivered the necessary orders. By dint of
flattening in the jib-sheets and checking the main-braces, and brailing
up the spanker and rousing the foreyards well forward, I got the ship
to pay off. The carpenter worked like a madman, bawling all the while
that if the ship was dismasted all hands would certainly be hanged; and
he so animated the men by his cries and entreaties, that more work was
done by them in one quarter of an hour than they would have put into
treble that time on any other occasion.
It was now one o'clock, so it had not taken us an hour to drown the
boatswain, put the ship in irons, and get her clear again.
Stevens came off the main-deck on to the poop, greatly relieved in his
mind now that the sails were full and the yards trimmed, and asked me
how it happened that the boatswain fell overboard.
I replied, very gravely, that I had come on deck at eight bells, being
anxious to see what way the ship was making and how she was heading;
that remembering I had left an overcoat in one of the quarter-boats, I
looked, but could not find it; that I spoke to the boatswain, who told
me that he had seen the coat in the stern sheets of the quarter-boat
that afternoon, and got on to the poop-rail to search the boat; that
I had turned my head for a moment when I heard a groan, which was
immediately followed by a loud splash alongside, and I perceived that
the boatswain had vanished.
"So," continued I, "I pitched a life-buoy astern and sang out to put
the helm down; and I must say, Mr. Stevens, that I think we could have
saved the poor fellow had we tried. But you are really the skipper of
this ship, and since you objected I did not argue."
"There's no use sayin' we _could_ ha' saved him," rejoined Stevens,
gruffly. "I say we couldn't. Who's to see him in the dark? We should
have had to burn a flare for the boat to find us, and what with our
driftin' and their lumpin' about, missing their road, and doing no
airthly good, we should ha' ended in losin' the boat."
He did not notice the tarpaulin spread over the skylight, though I had
an explanation of its being there had he inquired the meaning of it.
He hung about the deck for a whole hour, though I had offered to take
the boatswain's watch, and go turn and turn about with him (Stevens),
and he had a long yarn with the man at the wheel, which I contrived
to drop in upon after awhile, and found Cornish explaining exactly
how the boatswain fell overboard, and corroborating my story in every
particular.
Thus laborious as my stratagem had been, it was, as this circumstance
alone proved, in no sense too laboured; for had not Cornish seen, with
his own eyes, the boatswain and myself standing near the boat just
before I gave the alarm, he would in all probability have represented
the affair in such a way to Stevens as to set him doubting my story,
and perhaps putting the men on to search the ship, to see if the
boatswain _was_ overboard.
He went below at two o'clock.
The sea fell calm, and the wind shifted round to the nor'ard and
westward, and was blowing a steady pleasant breeze at six bells. The
stars came out and the horizon cleared, and looking to leeward I beheld
at a distance of about four miles the outline of a large ship, which,
when I brought the binocular glasses to bear on her, I found under full
sail.
She was steering a course seemingly parallel with our own, and as I
watched her my brains went to work to conceive in what possible way I
could utilize her presence.
At all events, the first thing I had to do was to make sail, or she
would run away from us; so I at once called up the watch.
Whilst the men were at work the dawn broke, and by the clearer light
I perceived that the vessel was making a more westerly course than
we, and was drawing closer to us at every foot of water we severally
measured. She was a noble-looking merchantman, like a frigate with her
painted ports, with double topsail and top-gallant yards, and with
skysails set, so that her sails were a wonderful volume and tower of
canvas.
The sight of her filled me with emotions I cannot express. As to
signalling her, I knew that the moment the men saw me handling the
signal-halliards they would crowd aft and ask me what I meant to do.
I might indeed hail her if I could sheer the _Grosvenor_ close enough
alongside for my voice to carry; but if they failed to hear me or
refused to help, what would be my position? So surely as I raised my
voice to declare our situation, so surely would the crew drag me down
and murder me out of hand.
Presently Fish and Johnson came along the main-deck, and while Fish
entered the cuddy Johnson came up to me.
"Hadn't you better put the ship about?" he said. "You're running us
rather close. The men don't like it."
Seeing that no chance would be given me to make my peril known to the
stranger, I formed my resolution rapidly. I called out to the men--
"Johnson wants to 'bout ship. Yonder vessel can see that we are
making a free wind, and she'll either think we're mad or that there's
something wrong with us if we 'bout ship with a beam wind. Now just
tell me what I am to do."
"Haul us away from that ship--that's all we want," answered one of them.
At this moment the carpenter came running up the poop ladder, with
nothing on but his shirt and a pair of breeches.
"Hallo!" he called out fiercely; "what are you about? Do you want to
put us alongside!"
And he bawled out fiercely--"Port your helm! run right away under her
stern!"
"If you do that," I exclaimed, very anxious now to show how
well-intentioned I was, "you will excite her suspicions. Steady!" I
cried, seeing the ship drawing rapidly ahead; "bring her to again a
point off her course."
Stevens scowled at me, but did not speak.
The crew clustered up the poop ladder to stare at the ship, and I
caught some of them casting such threatening looks at me, that I wanted
no better hint of the kind of mercy I should receive if I played them
any tricks.
"Mr. Stevens," said I, "leave me to manage, and I'll do you no wrong.
That ship is making more way than we are, and we shall have her dead on
end presently. Then I'll show you what to do."
As I spoke, the vessel which we had brought well on the port-bow
hoisted English colours. The old ensign soared gracefully, and stood
out at the gaff-end.
"We must answer her," I exclaimed to the carpenter. "You had better
bend on the ensign and run it up."
I suppose he knew that there could be no mischievous meaning in the
display of this flag, for he obeyed me, though leisurely.
The ship, when she saw that we answered her, hauled her ensign down,
and after awhile, during which she sensibly increased the distance
between us, and had drawn very nearly stern on, hoisted her number.
"Run up the answering pennant," I exclaimed; "it will look civil any
way, and it means nothing."
I pointed out the signal to the carpenter, who hoisted it; but I could
see by his face that he meant to obey no more orders of this kind.
"Steady as she goes!" cried I, to the fellow steering. "A hand let go
the weather mizzen-braces and haul in some of you to leeward."
This manoeuvre laid the sails on the mizzen-mast aback; they at once
impeded our way, nor, being now right ahead of us, could the people on
board the ship see what we had done. The result was the vessel drew
away rapidly, I taking care to luff as she got to windward, so as to
keep our flying jib-boom in a direct line with her stern.
To judge by the way the men glanced at me and spoke to one another,
they evidently appreciated this stratagem: and Stevens condescended to
say, "That's one for her."
"Better than going about," I answered drily.
"They've hauled down them signals," he said, blinking the point I
raised by my remark.
"Yes. She doesn't mean to stop to ask any questions."
The end of this was that in about twenty minutes the ship was three or
four miles ahead of us; so not choosing to lose any more time, I swung
the mizzen-yards, and got the _Grosvenor_ upon her course again.
Stevens went below to put on his coat and cap and boots in order to
relieve me, for it was now four o'clock. The dawn had broken with
every promise of a fine day, and where the sun rose the sky resembled
frost-work, layer upon layer of high delicate clouds, ranged like scale
armour, all glittering with silver brightness and whitening the sea,
over which they hung with a pale, pearly light.
I was thoroughly exhausted, not so much from the want of rest as from
the excitement I had gone through. Still, I had a part to play before
I turned in; so I stuck my knuckles in my eyes to rub them open, and
waited for Stevens, who presently came on deck, having first stopped on
the main-deck to grumble to his crony Fish over his not having had a
quarter of an hour's sleep since midnight.
"I'm growed sick o' the sight o' this poop," he growled to me. "Sick o'
the sight o' the whole wessel. Fust part o' the woyage I was starved
for food. Now, with the skipper overboard, I'm starved for sleep. How
long are we going to take to reach Florida? Sink me if I shouldn't ha'
woted for some nearer coast had I known this woyage wur going to last
to the day o' judgment."
"If it don't fall calm," I answered, "I may safely promise to put you
off the coast of Florida on Friday afternoon."
He thrust his hands into his breeches' pockets, and stared aft.
"I am very much troubled about the loss of the bo'sun," said I.
"Are you?" he responded, ironically.
"He was a civil man and a good sailor."
"Yes; I dessay he was. But he's no use now."
"He deserved that we should have made an effort to save him."
"Well, you said that before, and I said no; and I suppose I know wot I
mean when I says no."
"But won't the crew think me a heartless rascal for not sending a boat
to the poor devil?" I demanded, pretending to lose my temper.
"The bo'sun was none so popular--don't make no mistake; he wasn't one
of----Hell seize me! where are you drivin' to, Mr. Royle? Can't you
let a drownded man alone?" he cried, with an outburst of passion. But
immediately he softened his voice, and with a look of indescribable
cunning, said, "Some of the hands didn't like him, of course; and some
did, and they'll be sorry. I am one of them as did, and would ha' saved
him if I hadn't feared the masts, and reckoned there'd be no use in the
boat gropin' about in the dark for a drownin' man."
"No doubt of that," I replied, in a most open manner. "You know the
course, Mr. Stevens? You might set the fore-topmast stun'-sail
presently, for we shall have a fine day."
And with a civil nod I left him, more than ever satisfied that my
stratagem was a complete success.
I bent my ear to Miss Robertson's cabin as I passed, to hear if she
were stirring; all was still; so I passed on to my berth, and turned in
just as I was, and slept soundly till eight o'clock.