"Thank you, sir; I've no objection," was the response; and we were just
turning away toward the saloon companion when the mate stepped quietly
up to me and said--
"I suppose we may as well rig out the stu'n'sail-booms all ready for
making sail as soon as the pilot has left us? It will be a pity not to
make the most of this fair wind while it lasts."
"Certainly," I replied, somewhat unwillingly; for, truth to tell, I
thought it would be quite time enough to hurry when my poor mother had
gone ashore and we were on the other side of the Bill of Portland.
Roberts, however, evidently regarded the matter from a very different
standpoint from that which I occupied--perhaps he was anxious already to
show off the ship's pace--for, ere I had time to reach the companion,
his voice rang out loud and clear--
"Lay aft here, some of you lads, and rouse out the stu'n'sail gear; the
rest of you slip up aloft and cast loose the larboard fore-topmast and
topgallant stu'n'sail boom, ready for rigging out. Take a line aloft
with you, and send the end down on deck for the gear as soon as you are
ready. Look alive, my hearties!" Then, _sotto voce_, "Yon schooner is
a beauty, and no mistake; but she is not going to be allowed to run away
from this clipper if I can help it!"
So that was the explanation of friend Roberts's impatience! He had been
so long in the _Esmeralda_, and had been so accustomed to beating
everything that had been fallen in with, that he could not endure with
equanimity the sight of even a yacht running away from him. "It is
evident," thought I, "that the grass will have very little chance of
growing on this ship's copper so long as Roberts is mate of her. But I
shall have to keep an eye on the fellow, or perhaps he will be taking
the sticks out of her, or laying her on her beam-ends some day in the
excitement and enthusiasm of a race with something bigger and more
nimble than ourselves."
At length, to Roberts's unconcealed gratification, the pilot went down
over the side and shoved off, and we were left to our own resources.
"Up with your helm and let her pay off!" was now the word; "round-in
upon the starboard main-braces; now your larboard fore-braces; well
there; belay! Now rig out your booms, there, as soon as you are ready,
and let's get some muslin on the little beauty." And forthwith the mate
put in a pleasant hour decking the ship with her larboard
studding-sails, from the royals down. And truly, prepared as I was for
a somewhat out-of-the-way performance on the part of the little craft, I
was astounded at the ease and rapidity with which she overtook and
passed everything near her. The schooner-yacht had managed to slink
away to a distance of some three miles from us during our short
detention while landing the pilot, and by the time that my passengers
had said "good night" and retired to their cabins she was the only craft
ahead of us; and we had been gaining on her fast until her people,
noticing this fact, had begun to pack sail upon her; and now there she
was, straight ahead of us, with her mainsheet eased well off, a gigantic
balloon topsail over her huge mainsail, and an immense square-sail set
forward, with all her larboard studding-sails spread, skimming away
swiftly and easily as a wreath of summer mist over the smooth surface of
the Channel waters. I remained on deck until midnight, when, giving the
second mate a word of caution not to carry his canvas too long in the
event of the breeze freshening--which, however, it gave no indication of
doing--I retired below and turned in with the gratifying feeling that I
was now my own master; that I was working for myself, and should
henceforth reap the direct benefit of my own labour and skill--such as
the latter might be; that, in fact, my fortune was in my own hands, to
make or mar; as it is in the hands of every young man.
The sound of the scrubbing-brushes, as they were set to work at four
bells (six o'clock) next morning, awoke me; and, hastily donning such
garments as were indispensable, I went on deck to take a look round.
The easterly breeze, though it had proved somewhat fitful, had held with
sufficient strength through the night to place us off Selsey Bill, with
the high land of Saint Catherine's Point looming faintly ahead of us
about two points on the starboard bow; and there, too, hauling up for
the inside of the Wight, was our friend the schooner-yacht of the night
before, some two miles inshore of us and about the same distance ahead.
The mate was very busy with the hose, with which he was liberally
sluicing the decks and bulwarks, to say nothing of the bare feet and
legs of those of the crew who in their scrubbing operations happened to
approach within range of him. Of the yacht's existence he was
apparently quite oblivious; at all events, he carefully abstained from
directing his glances in her direction.
"Good morning, Mr Roberts," I exclaimed genially. "So you were unable
to overtake the flyer yonder, after all."
"Good morning, sir," he responded with equal geniality. "(Now then, you
sodgers, stand clear of the hose if you don't want a ducking. Serve you
right, Tom; you'll take warning, perhaps, the next time I give it you.)
The flyer, sir? Oh, you mean the yacht. Well, of course, they have the
pull of us in light weather, such as we've had through the night; but
I'll bet my hat that neither yonder schooner nor e'er a yacht that now
happens to be away there inside the island could look at us in a good,
honest to'gallant breeze. You wait a bit, sir; the little hooker hasn't
had a chance yet to show what she can do. But there's a breeze coming
by-and-by, if I'm any judge of that sky away there to the east'ard; and
then, after we've touched at Weymouth and hauled out again into the wake
of that fleet astarn of us, you'll have a chance to judge of the
_Esmeralda's_ paces when she lays herself out to travel. Now, boys, lay
aft here with your squeegees, and give this poop a drying down!"
It was a glorious morning; the sun, already well above the horizon, just
taking the keen edge off the air, and rendering the pure easterly breeze
soft and balmy without depriving it of any of its bracing and
exhilarating qualities; the sky a magnificent, deep, pure blue overhead,
softening down in tint to warm tender tones of grey as the eye travelled
from the zenith, horizon-ward. Cloud, properly speaking, there was
none, save a few faint streaks here and there of the kind known as
"mares' tails"; but away to the northward and eastward the sky at the
horizon, although it was of a clear pale primrose hue, had that peculiar
indescribable "hardness" of tint that, to the experienced eye, is the
sure forerunner of a good wholesome breeze. That breeze, however, was
yet to come; the wind at the moment being very paltry--little more than
sufficient, indeed, to keep the heavier canvas "asleep," and to send the
barque along at a speed of about five knots. The water was perfectly
smooth, save of course for the ripple caused by the light breeze; but,
so far as swell was concerned, there was absolutely none, the ship
neither pitching nor rolling perceptibly.
In due course my passengers made their appearance on deck, in high glee
at the favourable condition of the weather, and full of compliments as
to the comfort of the sleeping cabins. And indeed it was not difficult
to judge, by their fresh and cheerful looks, that they had enjoyed a
sound and undisturbed night's rest. Even poor Lady Desmond was looking
incomparably more bright and cheerful than had been the case with her a
short day previously, and was already beginning to speak hopefully of
her possible recovery.
As the day wore on, the wind, instead of freshening, as we had expected
from the indications at sunrise, grew more and more paltry; so that it
was rather late on in the afternoon ere we reached Weymouth. The
weather, however, had been undergoing a slow and subtle change all day;
and when we at length rounded to and backed the _Esmeralda's_ mainyard
in the roadstead the sky away to the eastward was overspread by a broad
bank of dirty grey vapour reaching almost to the zenith, the mares'
tails had increased in number and become more strongly defined, and a
thin veil of scarcely perceptible vapour was sweeping steadily athwart
the blue. The horizon to the eastward, too, had become overcast--so
much so, indeed, as to completely obscure Saint Alban's Head; the wind
was beginning to freshen in fitful puffs, and the small surges
occasionally combed and broke into a miniature white cap. All of which
indicated with sufficient clearness that the long-expected breeze was
close at hand, and that, moreover, we should probably have quite as much
of it as we wanted. I accordingly lost no time in lowering the gig, and
getting my mother and her belongings into her; when we shoved off--
leaving the ship in charge of Mr Roberts--and stretched out for the
harbour. My mother seemed a good deal cut up, now that the moment of
parting had drawn so very near, and--poor soul--spent most of the short
time during which we were traversing the space between the ship and the
harbour, with her head on my shoulder, crying softly, and fondling my
disengaged hand in hers. While, as for me, I was--like most sailors--
sadly wanting in eloquence, and could think of nothing better or more
encouraging to say than that I was at last really starting out to seek
my fortune, and that I fully intended to find it ere I returned to her.
Ah me! how little I guessed at the hardship and suffering in store for
me, or the anxiety and anguish of mind that my dear mother was to endure
before we two should meet again!
Landing at the flight of boat-steps near the inner end of the pier, I
put my mother and her baggage into the first fly that presented itself;
kissed her a dozen times; said good-bye hurriedly, and tore myself away;
springing hastily into the stern-sheets of the gig with a final wave of
the hand as the dear soul drove away.
"Give way, men!" I exclaimed huskily; "the breeze is freshening fast,
and I care not how soon we are once more on board the _Esmeralda_!"
The breeze was indeed freshening fast; the thick weather had crept down
the coast until the high land about the Burning Cliff was only dimly
visible; and as we dashed out past the end of the pier, the water in the
bay was all flecked with white. The _Esmeralda_, with royals clewed up,
was halfway across toward Portland Roads; but Roberts was evidently
keeping a sharp lookout, for, judging it to be about time for us to make
our appearance, he had already filled on the ship, and as we rounded the
buoy marking the extremity of the reef on the south side of the harbour,
we saw her fly up into the wind and tack with a rapidity which I had
certainly never before witnessed in a square-rigged ship. The little
beauty worked "as quick as they could swing the yards," as the stroke
oarsman remarked enthusiastically. We paddled gently ahead, leaving to
those on board the task of picking us up; and very neatly and smartly
was it done too, the barque keeping a rap full, and tearing through the
water like a racer, until exactly the right moment, when she flew up
head to wind, shooting into the wind's eye in magnificent style, ranging
up alongside us in the boat and picking us up while still in stays, then
paying off again on the other tack almost before the tackles were hooked
on. Another minute and the gig was once more at the davits; and the
_Esmeralda_, on a taut bowline, and with her royal yards again
mast-headed, was rushing away at a perfectly bewildering pace, on a
course that would enable her to just handsomely weather the outer end of
Portland breakwater, if the little witch continued to eat into the wind
as she was then doing. Roberts was evidently in ecstasies at the ship's
behaviour; his flushed cheek, his sparkling eye, and his quick, restless
movements told me that; but he would have bitten his tongue out, rather
than have suffered himself to be betrayed into any remarks which could
possibly be construed into "fishing for a compliment;" and it was truly
amusing to watch the heroic efforts he made to simulate a cool and
indifferent demeanour. But it was plain enough that he was hungering
for a word of praise to the ship that he had learned to love as though
she were flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone: so I hastened to
gratify the good fellow by eulogising--as indeed I could with the most
perfect honesty--the marvellous weatherly qualities and speed of the
ship, as also the stiffness with which she stood up under her big spread
of canvas. Had I not done so, I verily believe that my reputation as a
seaman would have shrunk very materially in my chief mate's estimation,
instead of increasing, as it immediately did.
The wind being dead fair for the run out of the Channel, we "took our
departure" from the Bill of Portland; and, packing the studding-sails
upon the willing little barkie, passed Ushant at four o'clock the next
morning--a truly wonderful run; but then our patent log showed that we
had been travelling at the rate of a fair, honest fifteen knots from the
moment that we dropped that useful machine overboard off the Bill. This
magnificent breeze followed us up for the next four days, and carried us
into the latitude of Madeira--an almost unprecedented performance; but
it must not be forgotten that it was blowing a whole gale from the
eastward all this time, or well over our larboard quarter, allowing
every thread of canvas to draw to perfection; and, finding that the
barque carried her canvas superbly, I simply let Robert have his way
with her, although I must admit that never before in my experience had I
seen a craft so boldly driven. Then--on the evening of the fifth day
out from Weymouth--the wind rapidly dwindled away to nothing, and left
us rolling heavily on the steep swell that followed us. I concluded
that we had run into the doldrums, or horse latitudes, and that we
should now probably have calms, or light baffling airs until we fell in
with the trade-winds; but on going below to turn in at midnight, I
observed that a very decided fall of the barometer had taken place. I
therefore returned to the deck for a moment and cautioned the second
mate--whose watch it was--to keep a sharp lookout for any sign of a
decided change in the weather; and gave him strict injunctions to call
me immediately that any indication of such change should become
apparent. I had some thought of remaining on deck an hour or two
longer, to personally watch the development of events; but reflecting
that I had been out of my berth for the last eighteen hours, and that,
if we were to have bad weather, it might be some time before I should
have another opportunity to sleep, I decided to go below and get what
rest I could, especially as the sky was at that time perfectly clear,
with the stars shining brilliantly.
A sailor soon gets into the habit of falling asleep the moment his head
touches his pillow, and I was no exception to the rule, although my
newly assumed responsibilities caused me perhaps to sleep more lightly
than before; at all events, I had--even in the short time that we had
been at sea--acquired the faculty of being cognisant of almost
everything that happened on deck, even during the time that I was
asleep; and on this particular night it seemed to me that I had not been
in my berth more than ten minutes--though the time was actually close
upon two hours--when I heard the second mate quietly descending the
saloon staircase, and in another moment his knuckles were cautiously
tapping at the door of my cabin.
"Ay, ay," I answered drowsily; "what is it, Mr Forbes?"
"Sorry to disturb you, sir," was the reply, "but there seems to be
something brewing away down there to the south'ard and west'ard. It's
as black as a wolf's mouth thereaway; and there is a nasty cross swell
getting up, as you may feel for yourself, sir."
"All right," I returned, rolling reluctantly out of my berth; "I will be
on deck in a minute."
I was as good as my word; and upon popping my head outside the companion
I came to the conclusion that I had been called none too soon. There
was absolutely not a breath of air stirring save that created by the
heavy flapping of the canvas as the ship rolled, with a quick, uneasy
motion, almost gunwale-to; and upon interrogating the helmsman I learned
that he had lost all command over the vessel for fully an hour. It was,
as the second mate had said, intensely dark down in the south-western
quarter; and a very brief observation sufficed to demonstrate that the
pall of cloud which hid the heavens in that direction was slowly but
steadily spreading toward the zenith, star after star being blotted out
even as I watched them. The air, too, was close and oppressive as the
breath of an oven; while the surface of the sea was unusually agitated,
the run seeming to come from all points of the compass at once, and to
meet under the ship, causing her to "wallow" so awkwardly that the water
tumbled in over her rail in all directions, now forward, now aft, and
anon in the waist, and on either side with the utmost impartiality. The
water was everywhere of an inky blackness, save along the ship's bends
and where she dipped it in over her rail. This disturbed water looked,
at a short distance, as though it had been diluted with milk; but,
examined closely, it was found to glow with a faint fire, like the
glimmer of summer lightning, with small star-like points of stronger
light thickly scattered through it. The most perfect silence reigned
outside the ship, but on board there was quite a small Babel of sound
storming about us; the creaking of yard-parrels and trusses aloft,
mingled with the loud flap of the canvas to the roll of the ship, the
"cheep" of block-sheaves, the sharp "slatting" of suddenly tautened
gear, and the pattering of reef-points; while on deck there was the
monotonous swish of water washing athwart the planks from side to side,
with the choking gurgle of the water spouting up through the scuppers,
and the heavy splashing sound of the brine as it poured in over the
bulwarks; the whole set to a dismal accompaniment of creaking timbers,
rattling doors, and breaking crockery below.
"How long has the weather been like this, Mr Forbes?" I asked, as my
subordinate stood a few paces apart from me, waiting to hear what I had
to say about the aspect of things in general.
"Well, sir," he replied, "that is not a very easy question to answer.
It has been gathering ever since about half an hour after you went
below; but the change has been going on so imperceptibly that it
scarcely forced itself upon my attention until just before--Ah! did you
hear that, sir?"
A low, faint, weird, moaning sound, scarcely perceptible, had floated to
the ship, causing the mate to interrupt himself suddenly; and at the
same moment a light, evanescent puff of hot air seemed to sweep past us.
"Yes," said I, "I both heard and felt it. We are going to have a heavy
squall, if nothing worse, out of that blackness yonder. Turn the hands
up at once, and let them go to work to strip the ship without loss of
time. Get in all your light flying kites first of all, and stow them
snugly; then brail in your mizzen and stow it; let run your staysail
halliards, and haul up your courses. We will leave nothing spread but
the two topsails and the fore-topmast-staysail; then, let what will
come, we shall be prepared for it."
Forbes hurried away to execute this order, and next moment there came
the sounds of a most unmerciful pounding on the forecastle-head with a
handspike, and the accompanying cry of--
"Hillo there, sleepers; tumble up. All hands shorten sail! Hurry up,
my bullies, or we shall have the squall upon us before we are ready for
it."
The response to this summons was almost instantaneous, and in two or
three minutes the whole crew were at work, under the orders of Mr
Roberts, who had heard, even in his sleep, the distant cry of "All
hands," and had tumbled out without waiting for a more formal summons.
This man I now found to be excellent in such an emergency as the
present; calm, cool, and collected; not hurrying anybody, yet, as it
were, infusing his own energy and vitality into the men by the sharp,
incisive tones of his voice, and putting quicksilver into them by--as it
seemed--the mere exercise of his will. Under such masterful supervision
the work progressed rapidly, and in something over half an hour we had
the ship under her fore and main-topsails (which were patent-reefing)
and the fore-topmast staysail; every other thread being snugly furled,
and the men once more down on deck. The watch was then sent below again
for the short time remaining to them, and I composed myself comfortably
in a capacious wicker chair to abide the issue of events.
The sky had by this time become entirely overcast, from horizon to
horizon, and so intensely dark was it that I was literally unable to see
my hand when I raised it before my eyes, by way of experiment; and, but
for the dim radiance gleaming through the skylight from the turned-down
lamp in the saloon, the faint gleam of light from the binnacle
illumining feebly and in a ghostlike manner the head and shoulders of
the man who lounged beside the useless wheel, and the pale fires
flashing from the water that washed to and fro athwart the deck with the
roll of the ship, it would have been utterly impossible to have moved
from spot to spot save by the aid of one's memory of the various
localities about the ship.
A period of perhaps twenty minutes had elapsed since the retirement of
the watch below at the conclusion of their labours, and I had stolen on
tiptoe to the skylight--doubtless influenced to this stealthy mode of
progression by the profound silence of the night--for the purpose of
again consulting the barometer that swung therein, when I felt a heavy
drop of tepid water fall upon my face. This was followed by another,
and another, and another; and then, with the roar of a cataract, down
came the rain in a perfect deluge, thrashing the surface of the sea into
an expanse of ghostly, lambent, phosphorescent white that quickly spread
apparently to the extreme limits of the horizon, and filling our decks
so rapidly that it became necessary to open the ports fore and aft in
order to free them. This deluge lasted for about five minutes, when it
ceased as abruptly as it had begun; but even that short time had
sufficed to beat the sea down so smooth that the previous violent
rolling of the ship was reduced to a gentle, scarcely perceptible
oscillation.
"Now stand by to let run your fore and main-topsail halliards!" I
cried--a command which was responded to by a prompt "Ay, ay, sir!" from
the forecastle, the pattering of bare feet upon the deck, and the sound
of ropes falling smartly on the planking as the halliard-falls were
lifted off their pins and flung to the deck.
"How is her head?" I inquired of the helmsman.
"West-nor'-west, sir," was the reply.
"Man your starboard fore and main-braces, Mr Forbes," said I to the
second mate, who was standing by the break of the poop, peering
anxiously into the impenetrable gloom.
"Ay, ay, sir! Starboard fore and main-braces, lads. Be smart, now, and
lay the yards fore and aft before the squall breaks upon us!"
The men, who were evidently uneasy, and anxious to be doing anything
rather than spend their time in passive anticipation, sprang to the
braces and hauled the yards smartly round to a cheery "Yo heave ho;"
flattening in until they could get no more.
"Well there, belay!" commanded Forbes. And as he spoke a sudden,
powerful puff of warm air swept athwart the ship and was gone, causing
the topsails to flap violently once, and collapse again. This was
quickly followed by a second puff, heavier and rather less transient
than the last; indeed, it continued long enough to give the ship
steerage-way; for which I was deeply thankful, promptly availing myself
of it to order the helm hard up and get our bows pointed in a
north-easterly direction, so as to place the point in the horizon from
which we expected the squall dead astern of us. This was barely done
when Forbes cried out, in a voice the tones of which curiously expressed
a feeling of mingled alarm and relief--
"Stand by, sir; here it comes at last!"