How often it has been said, "Good for man that he does not know what
lies before him." If he did we fear he would face his duty with very
different feelings from those which usually animate him. Certain it is
that if Robin Wright and Sam Shipton had known what was before them--
when they stood one breezy afternoon on the ship's deck, casting glances
of admiration up at the mountain waves of the southern seas, or taking
bird's-eye views of the valleys between them--their eyes would not have
glistened with such flashes of delight, for the fair prospects they
dreamed of were not destined to be realised.
What these prospects were was made plain by their conversation.
"Won't it be a splendid opportunity, Sam, to become acquainted with all
the outs and ins of telegraphy, this laying of lines from island to
island in the China Seas?"
"It will, indeed, Robin,--a sort of compound or alternating
land-and-submarine line. At one time we shall be using palm-trees for
posts and carrying wires through the habitations of parrots and monkeys,
at another we shall be laying them down among the sharks and coral
groves."
"By the way," said Robin, "is it true that monkeys may prove to be more
troublesome to us in these regions than sparrows and crows are at home?"
"Of course it is, my boy. Have you never heard that on some of our
Indian lines, baboons, vultures, and other heavy creatures have
sometimes almost broken down the telegraphs by taking exercise and
roosting on the wires?"
"Indeed, I hope it won't be so with us. At all events, sharks won't be
much tempted, I should fancy, by submarine cables."
"There's no saying, Robin. They are not particular when hungry. By the
way, I saw you talking with unusual earnestness this morning to Jim
Slagg; what was the matter with him?"
"Poor fellow! you'd scarcely believe it, to look at him," replied Robin,
"but the lad is actually home-sick."
"Home-sick! Why, how's that? If we were only a few days out from port,
or even a week or two, I could understand it, but seeing that we are now
drawing near to the China Seas, I should have thought--"
"Oh, that's easily explained," interrupted Robin. "This is his mother's
birthday, it seems, a day that has always been kept with much rejoicing,
he tells me, by his family, and it has brought back home and home-life
with unusual force to him. With all his rough off-handedness, Slagg is
a tender-hearted, affectionate fellow. Somehow he has taken it into his
head that this voyage will be disastrous, and that he will never see his
mother again. I had great difficulty in showing him the
unreasonableness of such a belief."
"No doubt you had. It is unreasonable beliefs that people usually hold
with greatest tenacity," replied Sam, with a touch of sarcasm. "But
tell me, have he and Stumps never once quarrelled since leaving
England?"
"Never."
"I'm amazed--they are so unlike in every way."
"You would not be surprised if you knew them as I do," returned Robin.
"Ever since Slagg gave him that thrashing on board the Great Eastern in
1865, Stumps has been a changed man. It saved him from himself, and he
has taken such a liking to Slagg that nothing will part them. It was
that made me plead so hard for Stumps to be taken with us, because I
felt sure Slagg would not go without him, and although we might easily
have done without Stumps, we could not have got on so well without
Slagg."
"I'm not so sure of that, my boy. Your opinion of him is too high,
though I admit him to be a first-rate youth. Indeed, if it were not so,
he should not be here.--Was that a shark's fin alongside?"
"Yes, I think so. Cook has been throwing scraps overboard, I suppose.--
See, there goes an empty meat-tin."
As he spoke the article named rose into the air, and fell with a splash
in the water. At the same time Jim Slagg was seen to clamber on the
bulwarks and look over.
"Come here--look alive, Stumps!" he shouted.
Stumps, whose proper name, it is but fair to state, was John Shanks,
clambered clumsily to his friend's side just in time to see a shark open
its horrid jaws and swallow the meat-tin.
"Well now, I never!" exclaimed Slagg. "He didn't even smell it to see
if it was to his taste."
"P'r'aps he's swallowed so many before," suggested Stumps, "that he
takes for granted it's all right."
"Well it's on'y flavour; and he has caught a Tartar this time," returned
the other, "unless, maybe, tin acts like pie-crust does on human
vitals."
The low deep voice of the captain was heard at this moment ordering a
reef to be taken in the top-sails, and then it began to strike Robin and
Sam that the breeze was freshening into something like a gale, and that
there were some ominous-looking clouds rising on the windward horizon.
Gazing at this cloud-bank for a few minutes, the captain turned and
ordered the top-sails to be close-reefed, and most of the other sails
either furled or reduced to their smallest size.
He was in good time, and the vessel was ready for the gale, when it
rushed down on them hissing like a storm-fiend.
The good ship bent before the blast like a willow, but rose again, and,
under the influence of able seamanship, went bravely on her course,
spurning the billows from her swelling bows.
"What a thing it is to know that there is a good hand at the helm in
times of danger!" remarked Sam as he and our hero stood under the
shelter of the starboard bulwarks, holding on with both hands to the
rigging, while the rushing waves tossed them on high or let them drop in
the troughs of the seas; "I should feel safe with our captain in any
circumstances."
"So should I," said Robin with enthusiasm, his eyes glistening with
delight as he gazed on the angry ocean.
There was no thought of danger in the mind of any one at that moment. A
good ship, ably commanded, well manned, and with plenty of sea-room,--
what more could be desired? Nevertheless, deadly peril was close at
hand.
That marvellous little creature--which, in the southern seas, builds its
little cell, works its little day and dies, leaving to succeeding
generations of its kind to build their little cells and die, each using
its predecessor's mansion as a foundation for its own, until pile on
pile forms a mass, and mass on mass makes a mountain--the coral insect,
had reared one of its submarine edifices just where the cable-ship
Triton had to pass that day. For ages man had traversed that sea
without passing exactly over that mountain, and even if he had, it would
not have mattered, for the mountain had been always many fathoms below
the surface. But now the decree had gone forth. The conjunction of
events predestined had come about. The distance between the mountain
summit and the ocean surface had been reduced to feet. The Triton rose
on the top of a mighty billow as she reached the fated spot. The coral
peak rose near the bottom of the water-hollow beyond, and down on it the
doomed ship went with an awful crash!
Her speed was checked only an instant, for the top of the rock was
knocked off by the force of the blow, and the ship passed swiftly on,
but there could be no mistaking the significance of that shock. An
involuntary shout of alarm from some,--a gasp, halt of surprise, half of
horror, from others,--then a rush of active effort when the captain gave
orders to man the pumps.
There was urgent need for haste. The mass of coral rock had stuck in
the hole it had made, else had they gone down in a few minutes. As it
was, the water rushed in furiously, so much so that the captain detailed
a party of men to construct a raft, while the rest relieved each other
at the pumps. No doubt he was partly urged to this course by the
consideration that a vessel weighted with telegraph-cables and other
heavy material connected therewith could not float long in a leaky
condition.
"Keep close to me, Robin; we must sink or swim together."
It was Sam who spoke. He was very pale, but his firmly-compressed lips
showed no sign of unmanly fear. Robin, on the contrary, taken by
surprise, and too inexperienced to correctly estimate sudden danger, was
flushed with the feeling that now was the time to do and dare whatever
should be required of him! They went to the pumps together, where
Stumps and Slagg were already at work with many others.
It is surprising how fast and hard men will toil when life depends on
the result. There was a cat-like activity about the carpenter and his
mates as they cut, sawed, lashed, and bolted together the various spars
and planks which formed the raft. In a marvellously short space of time
it was ready and launched over the side, and towed astern by the
strongest cable on board, for the danger of parting from it in such
weather was very great. Knowing this they had lashed some casks of pork
and other provisions to it before launching.
Still they laboured with unflagging resolution at the pumps, for many of
those on board were picked men, whose sense of honour urged them to
strive to the uttermost to save the ship, for it was no ordinary
merchant-man, freighted with an ordinary cargo, which could easily be
replaced as well as insured, but a vessel freighted with those magic
wires which couple continents and unite humanity, whose loss might
delay, though it could not ultimately arrest, the benign and rapid
intercourse of man with man in all parts of the globe.
"Keep your eye on Sam and me," whispered Robin to Jim Slagg, finding
himself alongside that worthy during a spell of rest. "Let us keep
together, whatever happens."
Robin did not quite believe that anything serious was going to happen.
Some spirits find it as difficult to believe in impending disaster as
others find it to believe in continued safety. It seemed so impossible
to Robin, in his inexperience, that the strong and still buoyant vessel
which had borne them so long and bravely should sink! Nevertheless,
like the rest, he laboured with a will.
Slagg took the opportunity to give a similar caution to his friend
Stumps.
"She's sinking, sir," said the carpenter, who had been sounding the
well, to the captain, about an hour later.
"I know it; stand by to have the raft hauled alongside. Knock off now,
lads, there's no use in pumping any more."
The men ceased, with a deep sigh, and by that act the death-warrant of
the cable-ship was signed.
During the next quarter of an hour the crew were busy slipping down the
cable that held the raft. A few ran below to fetch small articles that
they valued, but by that time the vessel was so low in the water, that
there was little time to spare, and the captain began to urge haste.
"Now then, lads, over the side with you," he said, chancing to look at
Sam Shipton as he spoke!
That spirit of heroism which induces men to resolve to be the last to
quit a sinking ship, came over Sam just then, and he shrank back. He
and his chief were in charge of the telegraph apparatus. It would be
disgraceful to quit until all on board had left. He laid his hand on
the strong cable that held the raft and said, "I'll stay to the last,
sir, and cast off the rope, if you'll allow me."
"We don't cast off ropes in such circumstances," replied the captain;
"we cut 'em."
Sam was silenced, but not the less resolved to hold to his point, if
possible. He still held back, while the captain, being busy with the
others, some of whom were rather too eager to go, paid no further
attention to him. Robin, Slagg, and Stumps, recognising Sam as their
leader, fell behind him and kept close.
At last all were on the raft except the captain and the four friends.
"Now, then, come along," said the former, somewhat impatiently.
"After you, sir," said Sam, with a polite bow.
"Overboard, sir!" shouted the captain, in a voice that would brook no
denial, and Sam at once stepped on the bulwark, for he was not naturally
rebellious.
Just as he spoke the rope broke, and the raft fell astern.
"Jump! jump! it's your only chance," cried the captain, at the same
moment springing into the sea.
Sam was on the point of following, when an exclamation from Slagg
checked him. Looking quickly back, he saw that Robin was not there.
Our hero, while modestly standing behind his comrades, had suddenly
remembered that the small bible given him by his mother was lying on the
shelf at the side of his berth. He would have lost anything rather than
that. There was yet time to fetch it, so, without a word, he turned and
sprang below, supposing that he had ample time.
"Robin! Robin!" shouted Sam and Slagg together, at the top of their
voices.
"Coming! coming!" reached them faintly from below, but Robin did not
come. The hasty summons induced him to leap over a chest in returning.
He struck his head violently against a beam, and fell back stunned.
With another wild shout his friends rushed down the companion-hatch to
hasten his movements by force. They found him almost insensible.
Lifting him quickly, they carried, him on deck, and bore him to the
stern of the vessel.
"Robin! Robin!" cried Sam, in an agony of impatience--for the raft was
by that time far astern, besides which the shades of evening were
beginning to descend--"_do_ try to rally. We must swim. We're almost
too late. Can you do it?"
"Yes, yes, I can swim like a duck," cried Robin, rising and staggering
towards the bulwarks.
"But _I_ can't swim at all!" cried Stumps in a voice of horror.
Sam stopped as if suddenly paralysed. Then, laying hold of Robin, held
him back. He felt, as he looked at the dark heaving sea and the now
distant raft, that it was not possible for him and Slagg to save both
their injured and their helpless comrade.
"Too late!" he said in a voice of despair, as he sat down and for a
moment covered his face with his hands. Slagg looked at him with a
bewildered rather than a despairing expression.
"So, we'll have to sink together since we can't swim together," he said
at last, with a touch of reckless vexation, as he gazed at the naturally
stupid and by that time imbecile face of his friend Stumps.
"Come, only cowards give way to despair," cried Sam, starting up. "We
have one chance yet, God be praised, but let's work with a will, boys,
for the time is short."