The crew of the _Wild Wave_ had been a happy one. Discipline had been
good, although every indulgence had been allowed the men, and all were
fond of their officers. There was a silent hand-clasp all round, and
then some of the sailors followed the officers to the boat.
As they did so they knew well that the order was given merely to keep
them employed, for that the chance of anyone being washed ashore and
reaching it alive through the tremendous surf was small indeed. As they
cut away the boat's cover they looked round, and a low cry broke from
several of them. The ship was close to the broken water.
Every man clung to something and awaited the shock. In a few seconds it
came. As she descended a wave there was a tremendous shock, followed
instantaneously by a crash as the foremast went over the bow. Another
and another, accompanied each time with the sound of rending timbers.
"Cut away the lashings of the boat!" the captain shouted, drawing his
knife and setting the example. As he did so he touched Jack and pointed
into the bottom of the boat. The lad understood him. He was to put in
the plugs, which at ordinary times were left out to allow any rain-water
to escape as it fell. Jack in turn touched Arthur, and the two climbed
into the boat to replace the plugs.
As they did so a fiercer gust than usual struck the vessel. The
lashings of the long-boat had just been cut, and the gale seized it and
raised it in the air as if it had been made of paper. Jack and Arthur
uttered a cry, and involuntarily clung for life to the thwarts. Over
and over they were whirled. Confused, giddy, scarce knowing what had
happened, they clung on. It was a sort of nightmare, and how long it
lasted they knew not. Presently there was a terrific crash, and they
knew no more.
When Jack opened his eyes he lay for some time wondering where he was
and what had become of him. There were stars in the sky overhead, but
the light was stealing over it, and he felt that it was daybreak. There
was a loud, dull, roaring sound in his ears--a sound he could not
understand, for not even a breath of wind fanned his cheek.
At last slowly the facts came to his mind. There had been a great storm,
the vessel was among the breakers, he had got into the long-boat with
Arthur to put in the plugs, they had been lifted up and blown away--and
then suddenly Jack sat upright.
It was light enough for him to see that he was still in the boat, but
its back was broken and its sides staved in. Around him was a mass of
tangled foliage, and close beside him lay Arthur Hill, the blood slowly
oozing from a terrible gash in his forehead. Jack leaned over and raised
him, and loudly shouted his name in his ear. With a sigh Arthur opened
his eyes.
"What is it, Jack?" he asked feebly.
"We are saved, old man. We have been blown right ashore in the boat,
and we have both got shaken and hurt a bit; but, thank God, we are both
alive."
"Where are we?" Arthur asked, looking round.
"As far as I can see," Jack replied, "we are in the middle of a grove of
trees that have been blown down by the gale, and the leaves and branches
have broken our fall; otherwise we must have been smashed up. We must
have been lying here for the last ten hours. It was just about six
o'clock when we struck, for I looked at the clock in the cabin the last
time we were down there; and as the sun will be up before long, it must
be getting on for five now. Now, let us try to get out of this."
With the greatest difficulty, for they were still weak and terribly
shaken, the boys made their way through the tangle of trees and
branches, into which they had so providentially fallen. Both uttered an
exclamation of surprise as they reached the edge of the wood: the sea
was nearly half a mile away! A tremendous surf was still breaking, and
for a quarter of a mile out a band of white breakers extended along the
shore. There were no signs of the _Wild Wave_.
*THE FLOOD IN PINE-TREE GULCH.*
*FROM "TALES OF DARING AND DANGER."*
[A lad known as White-faced Dick in a mining camp in California had
received much rough kindness from a miner called Red George. Heavy rain
had fallen among the hills, and the channel, through which the stream
running through the valley had been diverted, was insufficient to carry
away the water that came down. Dick, who was a weakly lad altogether
unfitted for the rough work of mining, had made up his mind to go east
to his native village.]
As he was sitting thinking it over his thoughts came back to Pine-tree
Gulch, and he started to his feet. Could he be mistaken? Were his eyes
deceiving him? No; among the stones and boulders of the old bed of the
Yuba there was the gleam of water, and even as he watched it he could
see it widening out. He started to run down the hill to give the alarm,
but before he was half-way he paused, for there were loud shouts, and a
scene of bustle and confusion instantly arose.
The cradles were deserted, and the men working on the surface loaded
themselves with their tools and made for the high ground, while those at
the windlasses worked their hardest to draw up their comrades below. A
man coming down from above stopped close to Dick, with a low cry, and
stood gazing with a white scared face. Dick had worked with him; he was
one of the company to which Keel George belonged.
"What is it, Saunders?"
"They are lost," the man replied. "I was at the windlass when they
shouted up to me to go up and fetch them something from the huts. They
had just struck the gold rich."
Dick understood at once. Red George and his mates were still in the
bottom of the shaft, ignorant of the danger which was threatening them.
"Come on," he cried; "we shall be in time yet," and at the top of his
speed dashed down the hill, followed by Saunders.
"What is it, what is it?" asked parties of men mounting the hill.
"Red George's gang are still below!"
Dick's eyes were fixed on the water. There was a broad band now of
yellow with a white edge down the centre of the stony flat, and it was
widening with terrible rapidity. It was scarce ten yards from the
windlass at the top of Red George's shaft when Dick, followed closely by
Saunders, reached it.
"Come up, mates; quick, for your lives! The river is rising; you will be
flooded out directly. Every one else has gone!"
As he spoke he pulled at the rope by which the bucket was hanging, and
the handles of the windlass flew round rapidly as it descended. When it
had run out Dick and he grasped the handles.
"All right below?"
An answering call came up, and the two began their work, throwing their
whole strength into it. Quickly as the windlass revolved, it seemed an
endless time to Dick before the bucket came up, and the first man
stepped out. It was not Red George. Dick had hardly expected it would
be. Red George would be sure to see his two mates up before him, and
the man uttered a cry of alarm as he saw the water, now within a few
feet of the mouth of the shaft.