"Hang his pistol!" I exclaimed mentally, "perhaps it isn't loaded
again, and he couldn't hit me in the dark.--But he hit Walters and poor
old Neb Dumlow," something within me argued.
"Well," I replied to the imaginary arguer, "if my wound when it comes is
no worse than poor old Neb's, I shan't much mind."
And all the while I could feel that we were moving toward the ship, for
though I could not hear a splash aft nor a ripple of the sea against the
bows, the boat rolled slightly, so that I had to spread my legs apart to
keep my balance.
Oh, how dark it was that night! And how thankful I felt! For saving
that the lights in the cabin shone out, there was no trace of the ship;
nothing ahead but intense blackness, and not a star to be seen.
"I can't see it," I thought. "I hope Bob won't run us bump up against
the hull, and give the alarm."
Then I hugged myself and felt encouraged, for if I could not see the
great ship with her towering masts, and rigging, and sails hanging,
waiting for the breeze which must succeed the long calm, it was not
likely that the keenest-eyed watcher would see our small boat.
"But he may hear it coming," I argued. And then. "Not likely, for I
can't hear a sound myself."
On we went with the round dim light in the ship's side showing a little
plainer; but I noticed, as I stood there buttoning up my jacket tightly,
that the light appeared a little more to my right, which of course meant
that Bob Hampton was steering for the left to where lay the ship's bows.
I tried to make out her outlines, but I could see nothing. I could
hear, though, for from where I guessed the forecastle to be came a song
sung in a very tipsy voice as a man struck up. It sounded dull and
half-smothered, but I heard "Moon on the ocean," and "standing toast,"
and "Lass that loves a sailor." Then there was a chorus badly sung, and
I started, for away to the right where the cabin-light was, I heard a
sound like an angry ejaculation or an oath muttered in the stillness of
the dark night.
"Jarette," I said softly. "Hurrah! He won't hear me climb the stay,
and I can get on deck safely."
Another minute of the slowest possible movement, and I was thinking
whether I ought not after all to take off my jacket; but I felt I was
right in keeping it on, for my shirt-sleeves would have shown light
perhaps if I had been anywhere near a lantern. Then I had something
else to think of, for looming up before me, blacker than the night, was
the hull of the ship, and directly after, as I looked up, there, just
dimly-seen like the faintest of shadows against the sky, was the big
anchor beneath which we were gliding so slowly that we hardly seemed to
stir.
"How well Bob is sculling us!" I thought; and then I looked up,
strained over, made a snatch and touched a great wire rope reaching from
the ship's prow below the water to the bowsprit, to hold it down, flung
up my other hand, gave the boat a good thrust with my feet as I got both
hands well round the rope, and swung my legs up and round the stay, from
which I hung like a monkey on a stick, my head screwed round as I tried
to see my companions, and just dimly seeing a shadow apparently glide
by, leaving me hanging there alone, with the water beneath me, and a
shuddering feeling coming over me for a few moments as I thought of the
consequences that would ensue if I let go.
As I hung there from that taut rope, I felt that if I let go I should be
plunged in the sea, go down ever so far into the terrible black water,
and rise again half-suffocated, my nerve gone, and I should be drowned,
for the occupants of the boat would be out of hearing, and I should
never be able to swim and overtake them, since they would make a long
detour before reaching the stern-windows.
But then I had no occasion to let go. Why should I? And as I climbed I
was ready to laugh at my fears. For I was strong for my age, and active
enough to climb that stay, and I did; halting at last by the
spritsail-yard to listen before mounting to the bowsprit, getting my
feet upon the ropes beneath, and then travelling slowly sideways, till I
was able to rest by the figure-head and look over on to the forepart of
the dark deck.
I was as silent as I possibly could be for fear of encountering a man on
the look-out, but there was no one, and hesitating no longer, I climbed
over and stood upon the deck, thinking how easily the rest might have
reached it too; when there would have been a chance for us to close the
forecastle-hatch once more. For there it was open, a dim light rising
from it to form a very faint halo around; and the men seemed to be all
there, for I could hear the talking, and then an uproarious burst of
laughter, caused by one of them beginning to sing in a drunken tone, and
breaking down at the end of a couple of lines.
There was nothing to fear there, I thought, and after listening I began
to creep along, step by step, close to the starboard bulwark, keeping my
hands thereon for a few paces, till becoming bolder I stepped out more,
but stumbled directly over something big and soft, and went sprawling on
the deck.
I felt that all was over, as I went down noisily, and springing up,
hesitated as to what I should do, but not for long. The fore-shrouds
were close at hand, and feeling for them I drew myself up, ascending
higher and higher as I heard some one coming rapidly from aft till he
was close beneath me, and catching his foot in the same obstacle as had
thrown me, he too went down heavily, and scrambled up, cursing.
My heart throbbed more heavily than before as the voice told me it was
Jarette, though for the moment I did not grasp the fact that his fall
had been my safety. For naturally attributing the noise he had heard to
the object over which he had fallen, he began to kick and abuse and call
the obstacle, in a low tone, all the drunken idiots and dogs he could
lay his tongue to.
"And I run all these risks for such a brute as you," he snarled; "but
wait a little, my dear friend, and you shall see."
I was in hopes he was going away, but he only went to the
forecastle-hatch, where to my horror he called down to the men carousing
below to bring a lantern; and feeling that my only chance was to climb
higher, I crept up step by step, ratline by ratline, till the light
appeared and four men stumbled out on to the deck. Then I stood still,
hugging the ropes and looking down, certain, as everything below was so
plain, that in a few moments I must be seen, perhaps to become a target
for Jarette's bullets.
There on the deck lay the tipsy sailor over whom I had fallen, and about
ten feet away there was another.
"Haul these brutes down below!" said Jarette, fiercely; and in a slow
surly way first one and then the other was dragged to the hatchway and
lowered down, with scant attention to any injuries which might accrue.
So intent was every one upon the task in hand that not an eye was cast
upwards, and it was with a devout feeling of thankfulness that I saw the
man who carried the lantern follow his comrades, the last rays of the
light falling upon Jarette's features as he stood by the hatchway.
"Now then," he said savagely, "no more drinking to-night. There'll be
wind before morning, and you'll have to make sail."
"All right, skipper," said the man with a half-laugh, and he and his
lantern disappeared, while I clung there listening and wondering why
Jarette did not go aft. Could he see me?
Just when I felt as if I could bear the suspense no longer, I heard him
move off, whistling softly, and as soon as I dared I descended and
followed, creeping along step by step, and listening with all my ears
for the faint whistling sound to which he gave vent from time to time.
There it was plainly enough, just abaft the main-mast, and he seemed to
have stopped there and to be looking over the bulwark--I merely guessed
as much, for the sound had stopped, and of course I stopped too.
To my intense satisfaction I found that I was right, for the faint
sibillation began again, and was continued along the deck, till, as I
followed, it paused again, grew louder, and I knew that the scoundrel
was coming back.
But he altered his mind again, turned and went aft--into the saloon, I
thought for a few moments, for the faint whistling ceased, and then
began again high up.
There was no mistaking that. He had mounted to the poop-deck, and was
walking towards the wheel. Young as I was then, I grasped the fact that
the man was restless and worried lest some attempt should be made to
recover the ship, and unable to trust one of his men, he was traversing
the deck uneasily, keeping strict watch himself.
This was bad for my purpose, for it was too dark to see him, and at any
moment I felt he might come upon me, and my attempt be defeated.
But here was an opportunity I had hardly dared to reckon upon, and the
minute his steps died out I hurried to the companion-way, entered, and
saw that there was a dim light in the captain's cabin at the end of the
saloon.
This seemed to prove that my ideas were right, and that Jarette had
taken possession of this cabin now for his own use, and at all hazards I
was about to hurry there, when I caught sight of another faint light on
my right--a mere line of light which came from beneath the cabin-door,
and told me plainly enough that this was the one in which Miss Denning
was kept a prisoner. Whether her brother was there too I could not
tell, for there was not a sound.
I hesitated and stopped, for the inclination was terribly strong upon me
to tap and whisper a word or two about help being at hand. It was not a
minute, but long enough to deprive me of the chance of finding out
whether there were arms in the cabin, for as I hesitated I heard a light
step overhead, and knew that Jarette was returning from his uneasy
round.
The probability was that he would now come into the saloon.
Where should I go! There was not a moment to lose, and my first impulse
was to dart forward into the captain's cabin--a mad idea, for the
chances were that Jarette would come right through the saloon and enter
it. So darting to the side, I felt along it in the dark for the first
cabin-door that would yield, found one directly, and had hardly entered
and drawn to the door when I heard Jarette's step at the companion-way;
and as it happened he came in and along my side of the table, so that at
one moment, as I listened by the drawn-to door, he passed within a few
inches of where I was hiding.
The next minute there was a creaking sound, and the saloon was dimly
lit-up, telling me that our enemy had opened the cabin-door and gone in.
But he did not stay. I heard the clink of a glass, and then a
repetition of the creaking sound, the saloon darkened again, and as I
listened I heard his step returning. This time, though, he did not come
back on my side, but on the other, stopping for a few moments evidently
to listen at the door where his prisoners were confined.
For a moment I thought he meant to go in, but I heard his footsteps
commence again, pass on to the companion, and there they ceased.
This was terrible; for aught I knew he might be standing there listening
as he kept his uneasy watch, and for some minutes I dared not stir.
At last though, to my great delight, I heard a step overhead, and now
without farther hesitation I stepped out, hurried to the cabin at the
end, guided by the light which came through the nearly closed door,
entered, and shut it behind me before looking round.
A lamp hung from the ceiling, there was spirit in a flask, and the
remains of some food upon the table; but what most delighted me was the
sight of three guns lying on a locker near to the cabin-window, which
was wide open, and I felt that I should only have to show myself for the
boat to be rowed beneath.
My first want was a rope or line, my next a supply of ammunition for the
guns, and there was neither.
I felt ready to stamp, with vexation, for I might easily have brought a
line wrapped round me, but neither Mr Brymer nor the others had thought
of this, and unless I could find a fishing-line in one of the lockers, I
felt that I should have to go back on deck.
At that moment I remembered that Captain Berriman had a number of small
flags in one of the lockers--that beneath the window. Four or five of
those tied together would answer my purpose for lowering the guns, and
if tied to the window they would be strong enough for me to slide down.
I lifted the locker-lid, and there they were, quite a bed of them in the
bottom of the great convenient store of objects not in everyday use.
That got over one difficulty, but there was that of the ammunition, and
turning to the locker on my left I looked in that, to find plenty of
odds and ends of provisions, for it had become quite a store-room, but
no cartridges.
"Where can they be?" I muttered, as I stood holding the locker-lid and
gazing round the cabin for a likely spot for Jarette to have stowed them
ready for an emergency, when I heard his step so suddenly overhead that
I started in alarm to leave for my place of concealment, when the lid of
the locker slipped from my hand and fell with a smart rap.
I felt that I was lost--that it would be impossible for me to get to the
cabin and hide before he reached the companion-way, alarmed as he would
be by the sound, and looking frantically round I was for leaping into
the cot and drawing the curtains, but another thought struck me just as
I heard his step, and lifting the lid of the locker beneath the window,
I slipped in upon the flags, and let the cover down and shut me in.
The moment I was lying there in the darkness, the place just seeming big
enough to hold me lying upon my back with my knees drawn up, I felt that
I had done a mad thing, for Jarette would immediately come to the
conclusion that it was the shutting down of a locker which made the
sound, and come straight to the one I was in, open it, and drag me out.
It was too hot, and I could feel that in a few minutes I should be
suffocated if he did not find me. That he had entered the cabin I had
ample proof, for I heard him move something on the table quite plainly,
while directly he came to the locker where I was, and I heard a noise.
It was the thump, thump made by his knees as he got upon the lid to
kneel upon it and look out of the window.
My heart gave a bound; he did not know then that I was hiding there.
But the next moment I was in despair, for the heat was intense, my
breath was coming short and painful, and Jarette made no sign of leaving
what promised to be my tomb.