Joe had stationed himself on the larboard bow with his elbows resting
upon the bulwark and his chin in his hands, gazing straight away to sea,
his eyes fixed a little to the left of the dazzling path of light that
extended from the moon to the schooner.
So intent was he upon something he fancied he saw, that he did not hear
Rodd's approach, and started violently upon being touched.
"All right, sir; not asleep," he cried. "Oh, it's you, Mr Rodd! I
fancied that it was the skipper, who thought he had caught me napping.
Just you look yonder, sir. You are coming fresh to it. I have been
staring till the little flashes of light make my eyes swim. Now then,
just you look about half a cable's length left of that line of light,
and see if you can't see something breaking water there."
Rodd gazed intently in the direction indicated for some little time
without speaking.
"See anything, sir?" said Joe at last. "No."
"That'll do then, sir. It was my fancy. Well, we are having a quiet
night of it, sir. No more signs of that old sea bogy, and like enough
we shan't get a squint at it again."
"I don't suppose we shall now, Joe."
"Sleepy, sir?"
"Not a bit, Joe. Here, I want to speak to you about that thing."
"I am listening, sir. Talk away. Rather queer, warn't it, to come upon
a thing like that just when you didn't expect it?"
"Yes, Joe; and you said something about my not being frightened."
"Yes, sir. You quite capped me."
"Stop a minute, Joe. I want to say something to you."
"All right, sir," cried the sailor, looking wonderingly at the lad, who
was speaking to him in a husky impressive tone.
But Rodd remained speechless, and it was the sailor who broke the
silence.
"I'm a-listening, sir. Heave ahead."
"Yes," cried Rodd desperately. "Look here, Joe; were you making fun of
me?"
"Fun of you? No, sir. It was only my way, just to make things a bit
more cheery, for every one on deck seems to be in the doldrums, all on
account of that great squirmy thing."
"No, no, I don't mean that," cried Rodd. "I mean, making fun of me when
you told the men I wasn't frightened."
"Fun on you? No, sir. Why, it was as I said. You quite capped me, to
see you standing facing that thing without shrinking a bit. I should
have expected to see you frightened to death."
"Then it was because you didn't look well, Joe," said Rodd, in a low
hoarse voice, as he made a brave effort to set himself right with the
man. "I was frightened--so horribly frightened that I couldn't stir."
"Well, and no wonder, sir. Enough to make you. Why, it would have
frightened a brass monkey, let alone a man. Look at Ikey Gregg. I
believe if you'd ha' 'eard him you would have found he was calling
`Mother!' Poor old chap. There aren't no way of proving it, as one
don't know how heavy he was afore, but I believe he melted away a bit.
Why, we was all like it, sir. It was a regular startler and no
mistake."
"Do you mean honestly that all the men were very much frightened?"
"Why, of course, sir. I telled you I was as bad as bad could be, and my
hair stood right up on end--leastwise, it felt as if it did; and I can
tell you this: I didn't feel like that when we were going into action,
and that's saying a good deal, when a fellow didn't know whether the
first sixty-four pounder that was fired wouldn't send its shot right
into his chest. And so you felt regular skeart, did you, sir?"
"Yes, Joe; and it made me ashamed to hear you talking about me to the
men as you did."
"Oh, well, I don't know as it matters, sir. I said just what I thought,
and I rather like to hear what you say, because it seems to brighten me
up a bit."
"Why? How?"
"Oh, because it makes me feel that I wasn't quite such a cur as I
thought I was. There, it's all right, sir, and I suppose it's quite
nat'ral for any one to feel afraid when there's something really worth
feeling afraid on. I dare say we should both be just as bad again if
that thing was to shove its head out of the water again close by here."
"Then you don't think I was such a coward, Joe?"
"You! You a coward! Tchah! Let me hear any fellow say you are, and
I'll hit him in the eye. But there, it's just as if that thing knowed
we were all ready and waiting for it, and so it won't show. I'm
beginning to wish that the skipper would send everybody but the watch
for their spell below; but I don't suppose he will, and so we must make
the best of it. But if I was you, sir, and didn't belong to the crew, I
should just slip off below and turn into my bunk till breakfast-time in
the morning. What do you say?"
"No," said Rodd shortly; and he stopped on deck and watched with the men
till the sun was well on high.
Then the suggestion of breakfast seemed so full of promise that after
partaking thereof he went back on deck, to stand scanning the beautiful
sunlit plain with the glass; but no further glimpse was seen of the
strange monster that day, nor yet during the next six weeks, during
which time they glided into port for fresh provisions twice, the second
time in that of the sunny Canary Islands. There a week was spent in
inspecting the beauties and the wonders of the old volcanic caverns,
before they were well at sea again with the sun daily growing hotter and
sea and sky more beautiful.
Days upon days were spent in exploring the attractions of the Sargasso
Sea, till the doctor cried "Hold! Enough!" For the bottles in the
laboratory were being filled up too fast, and there was too much to do
yet in the farther south, towards which they sailed slowly and steadily
on, till one day a holiday was announced, for the men had been hard at
work rowing here and rowing there, hauling in drag and dredge, sounding
and hoisting, harpooning fish, and busying themselves with the spoil
they dragged on board, while Captain Chubb stumped up and down with his
hands very deep in his pockets, scowling at his sullied deck, and
wearing clouds upon his sun-tanned brow, till Dr Robson bade the men
throw all the rest overboard, this order, for which the skipper had been
impatiently waiting, being immediately supplemented by another, brief
and prompt.
"Buckets! Swabs!"
And then as the slime of mollusc, fish and seaweed was washed away, and
the deck of the schooner rapidly grew white again, the skipper smiled
and entered into a pleasant chat with the tired naturalist and his
nephew.
The men's holiday was spent after the fashion of such holidays, over the
buffoonery enjoyed by the crew, especially in olden days, in crossing
the line; and then it was onward again amidst glorious sunrises and
sunsets, amidst calms and fervent seas that seemed to blaze back the
heat of the sun.
It was all new to Rodd, and all glorious. He was never tired of seeing
the flying-fish skim out of the water to seek safety, scattered by the
pursuit of some bonito or dolphin, watching them till they dipped down
into the smooth surface, as if to gather new strength, and then skim out
again.
The dolphins and bonito were caught, the boy growing skilful in darting
down the harpoon-like "grains," the modern form of Neptune fish-spear.
There were times too when the boy expressed his wonder that in spite of
all the time they had been sailing south, it had been such a rare thing
to meet or overtake another vessel.
"A pretty good proof," the doctor would say, "of the vastness of the
ocean."
"And of how there is plenty of room, uncle, for any number of wonderful
creatures such as we have never seen yet. But are you always going
sailing on like this?"
"Why, aren't you satisfied?" said Uncle Paul.
"Satisfied, uncle? Oh yes, with what we are doing. But I haven't had
nearly enough. I should like to go oil sailing like this for--"
"Ever?" said the doctor dryly.
"Oh no, uncle; I mean for long enough yet. But I say, isn't the world
beautiful?"
"More beautiful, boy, than words can express," replied the doctor
gravely. "But no. Now we are getting into the Southern Tropics I am
thinking of going more to the east and into the great bay, so as to get
within range of the African shores. Perhaps we shall make for the
mouths of one or two of the rivers, and get within soundings where we
can do more dredging. I anticipate some strange discoveries in those
portions of the ocean; but at present we will keep on skimming the
surface and finding what we can."
And so during the next two or three days they went sailing on, and found
something that they had least expected, to Rodd Harding's great wonder
and delight.