For as I looked towards the horizon away to the east, a curious lurid
glow spread upward half-way to the zenith, and for the moment I thought
that in a short time we should see the full-moon come slowly up out of
the sea. But a few moments' reflection told me that we were long past
the full-moon time, and that it would be the last quarter late on in the
night. The sea, too, began to wear a singular aspect, and great frothy
clouds were gathering rapidly in the south. And even as I looked there
was a peculiar moaning sigh, as if a great wind were passing over us at
a great height, though the sea was only just pleasantly rippled, and a
gentle breeze was sweeping us rapidly along and away from the great
junk, which now seemed hazy and distant, while those we had watched so
long were quite out of sight.
"Feel cold?" said Mr Brooke quietly. "I ought to have told you to take
off and wring out your clothes."
"Cold, sir!" I said wonderingly. "I hadn't thought about it; I was so
excited."
"Yes; we had a narrow escape, my lad. It is a lesson in being careful
with these cunning, treacherous wretches. You made sure it was a
trader, Ching?"
"Ching neve' quite su'e--only think so," was the reply, accompanied by a
peculiar questioning look, and followed by a glance over his right
shoulder at the sky.
"No, I suppose not. I ought to have been more careful. They threw
something down at the boat as soon as we had mounted: did they not,
Jecks?"
"Yes, sir; I see it coming. Great pieces of ballast iron, as it took
two on 'em to heave up over the bulwarks. I just had time to give the
boat a shove with the hitcher when down it come. Gone through the
bottom like paper, if I hadn't. But beg pardon, sir, arn't we going to
have a storm?"
"Yes," said Mr Brooke quietly; "I am running for the river, if I can
make it. If not, for that creek we were in last night. Take the
tiller, Mr Herrick," he said, and he went forward.
"Going blow wind velly high. Gleat wave and knock houses down," said
Ching uneasily.
"Yes, my lad; we're going to have what the Jay-pans calls a tycoon."
"No, no, Tom Jecks," I said, smiling.
"You may laugh, sir, but that's so. I've sailed in these here waters
afore and been in one. Had to race afore it with bare poles and holding
on to the belaying-pins. Tycoons they call 'em, don't they, Mr Ching?"
"Gleat blow storm," said Ching, nodding. "Hullicane."
"There you are, sir," said Jecks. "Hurricanes or tycoons."
"Typhoons," I said.
"Yes, sir, that's it, on'y you pernounces it different to me. Don't
make no difference in the strength on 'em," he continued testily, for
his wound was evidently painful, "whether you spells it with a kay or a
phoo. Why, I seed big vessels arterwards, as had been blowed a quarter
of a mile inland, where they could never be got off again."
"Yes, I've heard of that sort of thing," I said. "They ride in on a
great wave and are left behind."
"Lookye here, sir," whispered the coxswain, who seemed to ignore his
wound; "I don't want to show no white feathers, nor to holler afore I'm
hurt, but if I was you, I should ask Mr Brooke to run straight for the
nearest shore--say one o' them islands there, afore the storm comes; you
arn't got no idea what one o' them tycoons is like. As for this boat,
why, she'll be like a bit o' straw in a gale, and I don't want to go to
the bottom until I've seed you made a skipper; and besides, we've got
lots more waspses' nests to take, beside polishing off those three
junks--that is, if they're left to polish when the storm's done."
"Stand up, Mr Herrick," cried the lieutenant. "Look yonder, due north.
What do you see?"
I held the tiller between my knees as I stood up and gazed in the
required direction, but could see nothing for a few minutes in the dusk.
"Can't you see?"
"Yes, sir, now. Small round black cloud."
"Yes, of smoke."
"Ay, ay, sir, I see it," said one of the sailors. "Hooray! it's the
_Teaser_ with the wind blowing hard astern and carrying the smoke of her
funnel right over her and ahead."
"The _Teaser_ or some other steamer; and she's running fast for harbour.
Let's see: those are the Black Gull Islands to port there. Were you
with us when the cutter's crew landed, Jecks?"
"Yes, sir; I rowed stroke-oar, sir."
"To be sure. The second one from the north had the highest ground."
"Yes, sir; but you couldn't land for the surf and the shark-fin rocks,
if you remember."
"Exactly; and we rowed along the south channel till we found a sheltered
sand-cove, where we beached the cutter, and then explored the island.
We must make for that channel, and try to reach it before the storm
comes down. We could not get half-way to the river, and, thank heaven,
the _Teaset_ will soon be in safety."
"No, sir, you couldn't make no river to-night."
"It will be dark too soon."
"Not to-night, sir," said Jecks sturdily.
"Yes, man; there will be no moon."
"No, sir; but in less nor an hour's time the sea 'll be white as milk,
and all of a greeny glow, same as it is some still nights in port.
There won't be no difficulty, sir, about seeing."
"But you think it will be hard to make the channel?"
"I hope not, sir, but I'm afraid so; we can only try."
"Yes, we can only try," said Mr Brooke slowly, as he came and sat
beside me. "And we must try, Herrick--our best. For this is no night
to be out in almost an open boat."
"Then you think there is danger, sir?" I said anxiously.
"No, Herrick," he replied, smiling; "sailors have no time to think of
danger. They have enough to think about without that. We must get in
the lee of that island to-night, and it the storm holds back, and the
little boat spins along like this, we ought to do it."
"And if it doesn't, sir?"
"If it doesn't? Ah, well, we shall see. Stand by, two of you, ready to
lower that sail at a moment's notice."
"Ay, ay, sir," was the ready reply as two of the men changed their
places; and just then I looked at Ching, to see that his face was lit up
by the reflection of the strange light on our right and behind, which
grew more striking, while away before us the land disappeared, and we
were gazing at a bank of clouds of an inky black.
The effect was very curious: behind us the dull coppery glow becoming
fainter minute by minute, as the darkness increased the blackness before
us; and one's instinct seemed to warn one to turn from the black
darkness to sail away towards the light. Tom Jecks took the same idea,
and said, in an irritable whisper, exactly what I thought--
"Seems rum, sir, don't it, sir?--makes believe as that's the best way,
when all the time the wussest looking is the safest."
Just then, after a glance round, Mr Brooke uttered another warning to
the men to be ready, and settled himself down to the tiller.
"Sit fast, all of you; the hurricane may be down upon us at any moment
now."
I looked at him wonderingly, for it was painfully still, though the
darkness was growing intense, and the great junk seemed to have been
swallowed up by the clouds that hung low like a fog over the sea.
"There will be such a turmoil of the elements directly," continued Mr
Brooke in a low voice, but only to me, "that I don't suppose a word will
be heard." Then aloud, "Look here, my lads; I shall try and run the
boat high upon the sands at the top of some breaker. Then it will be
every man for himself. Never mind the boat--that is sure to be
destroyed--but each man try to save his arms and ammunition; and if the
two wounded men are in difficulties, of course you will lend a hand.
Now then, one more order: The moment I say, `Down with the sail,' drag
it from the mast, and two oars are to be out on either side. The wind
will catch them and send us along, and I want them to give a few dips to
get on the top of a roller to carry us in."
"Ay, ay, sir."
"That's all."
His words in that terrible stillness sounded to me as almost absurd, for
the sea was still calm, and save that sighing in the air of which I have
before spoken, there was no further sound; and at last I said to him--
"Do you really think we shall have a hurricane?"
"Look at the sky, my lad," he replied; "and take this as a lesson to one
who will have men's lives depending upon his knowledge and skill some
day. If ever there were signs of an awful night in the Chinese seas, it
is now. Hark at that!"
"Guns! The _Teaser_!" I exclaimed excitedly.
"Heaven's artillery that, my lad," he said solemnly. Then in a whisper,
"Shake hands! I'll help you all I can, Herrick, but heaven knows how we
shall be situated soon."
I felt a strange sensation of awe creep over me, as he gripped my hand
warmly, and then snatched his away, and sat up firm and rigid, turning
his head to the east as all now became suddenly black--so dark that I
could hardly see the men before me and the sail. But still we glided
rapidly on over the long smooth rollers, on and on toward the islands,
which lay a short distance from the mainland.
"It will be all guess work," whispered Mr Brooke. "I am keeping her
head as near as I can guess for the channel, but the breakers will soon
be our only guide."
Then came the heavy roar again, which I had taken for guns, but it did
not cease as before, when it sounded like a sudden explosion. It was
now continuous, and rapidly increasing.
"Thunder?" I asked in a low voice.
"Wind. Tremendous. It will be on us in five minutes."
But even then it seemed impossible, for we were still sailing swiftly
and gently along towards the channel between the islands, and the roar
like distant thunder or heavy guns had once more ceased.
"We shall get to the shore first after all," I whispered.
"No."
At that moment there was a sensation as of a hot puff of air behind us.
It literally struck my head just as if a great furnace door had been
opened, and the glow had shot out on to our necks.
"Here she comes," growled Tom Jecks; "and good luck to us."
And then, as if to carry out the idea of the opened furnace, it suddenly
grew lighter--a strange, weird, wan kind of light--and on either side,
and running away from us on to the land, the sea was in a wild froth as
if suddenly turned to an ocean of milk.
"Down with the sail!" shouted Mr Brooke, who had held on to the last
moment, so as to keep the boat as long as possible under his governance;
and quickly as disciplined men could obey the sail was lowered, and as
far as I could see they were in the act of stowing it along the side,
when it filled out with a loud report, and was snatched from their hands
and gone.
"Any one hurt?"
"No, sir," in chorus.
"Oars."
I heard the rattle of the two pairs being thrust out. Next Mr Brooke's
words, yelled out by my ear--"sit fast!" and then there was a heavy
blow, heavy but soft and pressing, followed by the stinging on my neck
as of hundreds of tiny whips, and then we were rushing along over the
white sea, in the midst of a mass--I can call it nothing else--of spray,
deafened, stunned, feeling as if each moment I should be torn out of my
seat, and as if the boat itself were being swept along like lightning
over the sea, riding, not on heavy water, but on the spray.
Then all was one wild, confusing shriek and roar. I was deafened;
something seemed to clutch me by the throat and try to strangle me; huge
soft hands grasped me by the body, and tugged and dragged at me, to tear
me from my hold; and then, two arms that were not imaginary, but solid
and real, went round me, and grasped the thwart on which I sat, holding
me down, while I felt a head resting on my lap.
I could see nothing but a strange, dull, whitish light when I managed to
hold my eyelids up for a moment, but nothing else was visible; and above
all--the deafening roar, the fearful buffeting and tearing at me--there
was one thing which mastered, and that was the sensation of being
stunned and utterly confused. I was, as it were, a helpless nothing,
beaten and driven by the wind and spray, onward, onward, like a scrap of
chaff. Somebody was clinging to me, partly to save himself, partly to
keep me from being dragged out of the boat; but whether Mr Brooke was
still near me, whether the men were before me, or whether there was any
more boat at all than that upon which I was seated, I did not know. All
I knew was that I was there, and that I was safe, in spite of all the
attempts made by the typhoon to drag me out and sweep me away like a
leaf over the milky sea.
It cannot be described. Every sense was numbed. And if any lad who
reads this were to take the most terrible storm he ever witnessed,
square it, and then cube it, I do not believe that he would approach the
elemental disturbance through which we were being hurled.
There was a rocky shore in front of us, and another rocky island shore
to our left; and between these two shores lay the channel for which we
had tried to make. But Mr Brooke's rule over the boat was at an end
the moment the storm was upon us, and, as far as I could ever learn
afterwards, no one thought of rocks, channel, saving his life, or being
drowned. The storm struck us, and with its furious rush went all power
of planning or thinking. Every nerve of the body was devoted to the
tasks of holding on and getting breath.
How long it lasted--that wild rush, riding on the spray, held as it were
by the wind--I don't know. I tell you I could not think. It went on
and on as things do in a horrible dream, till all at once something
happened. I did not hear it, nor see it, hardly even felt it. I only
know that something happened, and I was being strangled--choked, but in
another way. The hands which grasped my throat to keep me from
breathing had, I believe, ceased to hold, and something hot and terrible
was rushing up my nostrils and down my throat, and I think I then made
some effort with my hands. Then I was being dragged along through water
and over something soft, and all at once, though the deafening,
confusing noise went on, I was not being swept away, but lying still on
something hard.
I think that my senses left me entirely then for a few moments--not
more, for I was staring soon after at the dull light of white water
sweeping along a little way off, and breathing more freely as I
struggled hard to grasp what it all meant, for I did not know. I saw
something dim pass me, and then come close and touch me, as if it sank
down by my side; and that happened again and again.
But it was all very dream-like and strange: the awful, overwhelming,
crushing sound of the wind seemed to press upon my brain so that I could
not for a long time think, only lie and try to breathe without catching
each inspiration in a jerky, spasmodic way.
I suppose hours must have passed, during which I stared through the
darkness at the dull whitish phosphorescent glow which appeared through
the gloom, and died out, and appeared and died out again and again,
passing like clouds faintly illumined in a ghastly way, and all mingled
with the confusion caused by that awful roar. Then at last I began to
feel that the rush of wind and water was passing over me, and that I was
in some kind of shelter; and when I had once hit upon this, I had as it
were grasped a clue. I knew that I was lying on stones, and saw that
rising above me was a mass of rock, which I knew by the touch, and this
stone was sheltering me from the wind and spray.
"We must have reached the shore safely, then," I said to myself, for my
head was getting clearer; "and--yes--no--I was not hurt. We were all
saved, then."
At that point a terrible feeling of dread came over me. I was safe, but
my companions?
The shock of this thought threw me back for a bit, but I was soon
struggling with the confusion again, and I recalled the fact that I had
felt some one touch me as he sank down by my side.
Arrived at this point, I turned a little to look, but all was perfectly
black. I stretched out my hand and felt about.
I snatched it back with a cry of horror. Yes, a cry of horror; for,
though I could not hear it, I felt it escape from my lips. I had
touched something all wet and cold lying close beside me, and I felt
that it was one of my companions who had been cast up or dragged
ashore--dead.
Shivering violently, I shrank away, and stretched out my hand in the
other direction--my left hand now, with my arm numbed, and my shoulder
aching when I moved it, as if the joint had become stiffened and would
not work.
I touched somebody there--something cold and smooth and wet, and drew my
hand away again, when, as it glided over the sand, it touched something
else round and soft and long, and--yes--plaited. It was a long tail.
"Ching!" I ejaculated; and, gaining courage, I felt again in the
darkness, to find that it grew thinner. I tried again in the other
direction, and once more touched the round wet object, which did not
seem so cold, and then the next moment a hand caught mine and held it.