*THE MATE'S STORY.*
*FROM "THE PLAGUE SHIP."*
(_By kind permission of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge._)
[Mr. Thompson, at one time second mate of the whaling ship _The Two
Brothers_, was telling his three nieces the story of his last voyage in
that ship. At Singapore, on her way home from the South Seas, she had
taken on board, as passengers, a Mr. Williams and his wife and daughter.
Mr. Williams had been working for twenty years among the Papuans as
missionary. On the homeward voyage they had been blown down by a
hurricane among the Malay Islands, and had been attacked by the Malays,
but had beaten them off. Having told the story of that engagement, Mr.
Thompson went on--]
The breeze for the next ten days was steady and favourable. We were
fairly on our way now, and began to hope that our ill-luck was at an
end, and that we were going to make a fast and comfortable homeward run.
Ten days after we had left the island the look-out reported a sail. We
were taking a slight breeze along with us, and we came up fast to the
ship, which was lying becalmed.
"What can she be doing, Mr. Wilson?" the captain said. "She has got
nothing above her topsails, although she must see that we are bringing
down a breeze with us."
"Can't make her out, sir," Mr. Wilson replied. He fetched a glass from
the companion and raised it to his eye. "Her ensign's reversed, sir,"
he exclaimed. "She is in distress somehow."
We bore down to her, and the skipper threw the barque up into the wind
within a hundred yards of her. Till we got close we could not see a
soul on deck, but now a head appeared above the bulwark.
"What's the matter with you?" the captain shouted.
"We have got fever on board. The captain and both mates are dead.
There are only seven of us left alive, and two of them have got it. For
God's sake help us!"
The men had shown themselves brave enough in their fight with the
Malays, but standing as they were by the bulwark, watching the strange
ship, there wasn't one but shrank back when he heard that hail. And well
they might, for when the Indian fever gets on board a ship there is no
saying what may come of it. There were white faces on the poop too, and
I reckon that there wasn't one of us who didn't feel a cold thrill run
through him.
"What's to be done?" the captain said in a low voice, more as if he was
asking the question of himself than us.
At first no one spoke, and then Mr. Williams said:
"Our duty is clear. God has sent us here to their aid, and whatever be
the risk, we must run it; we cannot sail away and leave them to perish."
"It is a terrible choice to have to make," the captain said huskily. "I
am responsible for the lives of all on board this ship, passengers and
crew. I know what these fevers are; they go right through a ship.
There are but seven men alive now on yonder vessel; another day or two
there may not be one. If we have dealings with them, their fate may be
ours."
"We are all in God's hands," the clergyman said quietly. "I have over
and over again risked the lives of my dear ones in His service, and I am
ready to do so again. You agree with me," he said, turning to his wife
and daughter, "that, however great the danger, it is our duty to aid
these poor creatures?"
Mrs. Williams glanced piteously at her daughter, and her lip quivered,
but she bowed her head in assent, while Jane exclaimed:
"Of course, father; who could hesitate for a moment?"