As we lay there in our boat, only a short distance from the burning
ship, it seemed to me impossible that it could be long before Jarette
and his men discovered us, and came in pursuit. For I felt sure that
they would give us the credit of having been beforehand with them, when
they saw how the stores had been put under contribution; and knowing how
much more easy it would be for them to remove the things from one boat
to another than to obtain them from the ship, we should, if overtaken,
be absolutely stripped. Something to this effect I whispered to Bob
Hampton, but he shook his head.
"Not they, my lad; they're in too much of a scare. Don't suppose
they've got any room in their heads to think about anything just now.
They know fast enough that the poor old ship will soon blow up, and what
they want to do is to get some more prog, and then row off soon as they
can."
I was going to say more, but I had a warning from the mate to be silent,
and I sat there watching the men make a good many tries before they
reached the cabin-window; but how they did it at last I couldn't quite
make out, for they were in the shadow, while all around them spread the
lurid glare cast by the flames which rose from the burning hold.
These seemed to have reached their greatest height soon after the fire
first broke out, and directly the first cask of spirits had burst. Then
the fire went steadily on till it began to wane slightly, when another
cask would explode, and flames rush up again--those great waves of fire
which lapped and leaped, and floated up out of the hold, appearing from
where we lay to lick the sails hanging from the fore and main-masts.
But these never caught, the golden and bluish waves rising steadily and
spreading to starboard and port, and every now and then sending out
detached waves to float on the black night air for a moment or two
before they died out.
It was very terrible and yet beautiful to see the great bursts of flame
gliding up so softly and silently, almost without a sound; there was
every mast and stay glistening in the light, and the sails that were
hanging from the yards transparent, or half darkened on the main and
mizzen-masts, while those on the fore-mast beyond the fire shone like
gold.
I wondered how it was that the sides of the deck did not begin to burn,
crackling, splitting, and sending up clouds of black smoke dotted with
brilliant sparks, as I had once seen at the burning of a coal brig in
Falmouth harbour; but they did not, and the utter stillness of the
night, in that hot calm, which had on and off lasted for days, had so
far saved the masts.
But as I watched, I felt that their turn must come, and that sooner or
later I should be watching them turned into pyramids--all brilliant
glow--till they fell with a crash, hissing and steaming, into the sea.
I pictured all that clearly enough in my mind's eye, feeling in my
expectancy a sensation of awe as the conflagration went on--this gradual
burning of the spirits in the casks, which kept on exploding one by one
with a singular regularity.
And all the time, as I watched, there in the shadow at the stern were
the crew, busily throwing out such stores and necessaries as they could
find.
I said that I could not tell how they managed to reach the cabin-window,
but I suppose they spliced two oars together, and leaned them pole-like
from the boat up toward the cabin-lights, and then one of the most
active must have climbed.
There was a great deal of shouting and talking, and the light in the
cabin enabled us to see them going and coming to the window loaded, and
heaving things down.
By-and-by another boat came into sight, gliding along over the golden
water, and we could see the faces of the men shining in the light as
they gazed at the burning ship, and every now and then we could make out
all they said, Jarette's abuse and orders being quite distinct as they
worked more busily than ever. But still they did not see us, though
whenever they stirred we could plainly make out their actions, and at
times even could distinguish the objects that were brought to the window
and thrown down.
This was more especially the case after the second boat had come from
forward, for several more men had ascended by the rope they had lowered,
and the second cabin-door was opened, so that both the stern-windows
were now illuminated; and as the bigger waves of light floated upward,
every now and then quite a glare struck through the companion-way,
lighting up the saloon, showing the men hurrying here and there, and
then making for the windows to throw something down to their companions
in the boats.
All at once I felt a hot breath on my cheek, and then Bob Hampton's lips
close to my ear.
"They're a-getting a whole jorum o' things, my lad, as won't be much use
to 'em. I'd rather have a cask o' fresh water than one o' them
boat-loads o' odds and ends."
I nodded and watched for a time, and then turned to look aft at the
faces of my companions, all intent upon the strange scene before them,
wondering why Mr Brymer did not give orders for the men to row away
before we were discovered.
But he did not open his lips, and by degrees the reason came. For no
doubt the slightest splash of an oar would have made the water flash,
and drawn Jarette's attention to us where we lay at the edge of the
circle of light shed by the burning ship.
I can give no account of the time occupied by the various events of that
night, for some things are strangely jumbled up in my mind consequent
upon my excited state; but, oddly enough, others stand out bright and
clear as if lit-up by the blaze, and there were moments when the silent
burning and the floating away of those waves of light beyond the busy
black and gold figures at the cabin-window seemed to be part of some
strange dream.
All at once, as the men were hurrying to and fro, one of the
spirit-casks exploded so loudly that I saw them all dash for the
windows. Then came another and another report in such quick succession,
that it was almost like one. There was a tremendous burst of flame,
which floated high up, and I felt that the masts must catch now, and
then the cabin-lights stood cut clear without a figure visible; a burst
of talking, and then a roar of laughter telling that all had safely
reached the boats.
The next minute the Frenchman's voice came clearly to us as he ordered
the men to mount again, and this was answered by a confused clamour.
"You miserable gang of cowards!" shouted Jarette, sharply; and his words
were so clear coming across the water that they might have been spoken a
dozen yards away.
"Why don't you go up yourself?" cried one of the men, evidently from the
next boat.
"Because I order you," he shouted.
"And because you are afraid."
I did not catch what he said, but there was a little stir in one of the
boats, and directly after I saw a figure appear at the window of Captain
Berriman's cabin and begin to climb in.
"There he is," whispered Bob Hampton. "Sarve him right if the boys
rowed away and left him."
I was too much interested in the scene before me to pay much heed to Bob
Hampton's words, and sat watching Jarette, as he turned from the window
and disappeared. Then, directly after, I heard him shout and shout
again, something which sounded familiar, but I could not quite make it
out even when I heard him calling again, but nobody in the boats seemed
to stir.
Bob Hampton grasped the fact though, for he laid his hand on my knee,
and whispered excitedly--
"Why, Mr Dale, sir, he's gone up to fetch Mr and Miss Denning, and he
can't find 'em."
To endorse his words Jarette appeared the next minute at the
stern-windows and cried--
"Did any of you see those passengers?" There was of course a chorus of
Noes, and the man ran back again shouting Mr Denning's name, and we
could hear the banging of cabin-doors. Then I saw the man's shadow as
he came back into the captain's cabin to fetch the lamp, with which he
went back, and, as I judged, ran from cabin to cabin. The next minute
he appeared upon the poop-deck, his figure thrown up by the light and
plainly seen as he ran here and there, and then disappeared, to be seen
at the stern-window.
"They're nowhere about," he cried.
"How rum now, aren't it?" muttered Bob Hampton. "Now I do call that
strange."
"Didn't either of you see them?" shouted Jarette.
"No."
"Did you go into their cabin?"
"No, no."
"They must be somewhere."
"All right then," shouted a voice. "You go and find 'em. We're off."
Jarette was back at the window in an instant.
"Stop!" he cried, in his clear sharp voice.
"Pull away, my lads, we've had enough of this," cried the same voice.
"We don't want to be blowed to bits."
We heard every word clearly, and the hurried splashing of the oars.
"I told you to stop," cried Jarette, authoritatively.
"Pull, lads! She'll bust up directly, and suck us down. Pull!"
"Stop!" roared Jarette again, as the oars, splashed rapidly, and the
boats' heads both appeared in the light, as they left the ship.
"Why, we shall have to save him ourselves," I thought in horror, as
something seemed to rise in my throat, so enraged was I with the
cowardly crew.
There was a sharp report, a wild cry, and a man who was standing upright
in the bows of the first boat toppled over and fell into the sea with a
splash of golden water.
The men ceased rowing.
"One," cried Jarette sharply. "I can hit eleven more without reloading,
for I never miss. There, go on, my lads. I don't ask you to come
back."
A low murmuring sound arose, and we saw that instead of the boats going
on forward they were returning into the shadow once again, as Jarette
shouted aloud mockingly--
"One less to row. Why didn't you pick him up?"
Again the low murmuring growl arose, and my mouth felt hot and dry, as
with eager eyes I vainly searched the surface of the water, just where
there was the plain demarcation between black shadow and the golden
light.
"The wretch!" I thought. "Why don't they rise against him?" But a
fresh current of thought arose, and in a confused way I could not help
thinking that it was fair retaliation. The man who had been shot and
fell into the sea was evidently the one who had incited the two boats'
crews to leave Jarette to a horrible death. Was he not justified in
what he did?
Then as with a strange contraction at my heart I realised the fact that
Jarette's victim had not risen to struggle on the surface of the water,
I could not help feeling what power that man had over his companions,
and what a leader he might have proved had he devoted himself to some
good cause.
By this time the boats were right under the stern, and as I watched the
lighted-up window one moment, the glistening, motionless water the next,
I saw Jarette climb out, rope in hand, and glide down into the darkness.
"How horrible!" I thought, as the cold perspiration gathered on my
face--"only a minute or two, and one of these men living, the next--
dead."
And then I leaped up in the boat and fell back, for from the ship a
terrific rush of flame sprang up skyward, mounting higher and higher,
far above the tops of the masts as it appeared to me; and then, as the
fire curved over in every direction, there was a terrible concussion,
and all instantaneously a short sharp roar as of one tremendous clap of
thunder, cut short before it had had time to roll.