"Gentlemen," said the captain of the gun-boat to Mr Hazlit and Edgar as
they sat that morning at breakfast, "it is my intention to run to the
nearest town on the coast--which happens to be Muku--have these pirates
tried and shot, then proceed to Singapore, and perhaps run thence to the
coast of China. I will take you with me if you wish it, or if you
prefer it, will put you on board the first homeward-bound passenger-ship
that we can find. What say you?"
Now, reader, we possess the happy privilege of knowing what Mr Hazlit
and Edgar thought as well as what they said, and will use that privilege
for purposes of our own.
In the first place, Edgar thought he should very much like to hear Mr
Hazlit's views on that subject before speaking. He therefore said
nothing.
The course being thus left clear to him, the merchant thought as
follows:--
"It's very awkward, excessively awkward and vexatious. Here am I, ever
so many thousands of miles away from home, without a single sovereign in
my purse, and without even the right to borrow of the captain, for I
have nothing certainly available even at home--_Some_! Why, I _have_ no
home!"
At this point the poor man's thoughts took form in words.
"Ahem!" he said, clearing his throat, "I am much obliged by your
kindness (`Don't mention it, sir,' from the captain), and should prefer,
if possible, to reach Hong-Kong and ship thence for England. You see, I
have some business friends there, and as I shall have to replenish my
purse before--"
"Oh, don't let that stand in the way," said the captain, promptly, "I
shall be happy to lend what you may require, and--"
"Excuse my interrupting you, captain, and thanks for your obliging
offer," said Mr Hazlit, holding up his large hand as if to put the
suggestion away; "but for reasons that it is not necessary to explain, I
wish to recruit my finances at Hong-Kong."
"And I," said Edgar, breaking in here, "wish to go to the same place,
not so much on my own account as on that of one of my companions, who
has left two very pretty little pieces of property there in the shape of
a wife and a child, who might object to being left behind."
This settled the question, and the breakfast party went on deck.
"Mr Hazlit," said Edgar, "will you walk with me to the stern of the
vessel? I wish to get out of earshot of others."
Mr Hazlit replied, "Certainly, Mr Berrington;" but he thought a good
deal more than he said. Among many other things he thought, "Ah! Here
it comes at last. He thinks this a good time to renew his suit, having
just rendered us such signal assistance. I think he might have waited!
Besides, his saving our lives does not alter the fact that he is still a
penniless youth, and I _will_ not give my daughter to such. It is true
I am a more thoroughly penniless man than he, for these villains have
robbed me and Aileen of our rings, chains, and watches, on which I
counted a good deal,--alas! But _that_ does not mend matters. It makes
them rather worse. No, it must not be! My child's interests must be
considered even before gratitude. I _must_ be firm."
Thought is wondrously rapid. Mr Hazlit thought all that and a great
deal more during the brief passage from the companion-hatch to the
stern-rail.
"I wish to ask you to do me a favour, Mr Hazlit," the young man began.
The merchant looked at him with a troubled expression.
"Mr Berrington, you have been the means of saving our lives. It would
be ungrateful in me to refuse you any favour that I can, _with
propriety_, grant."
"I am aware," continued Edgar, "that you have--have--met with losses.
That your circumstances are changed--"
Mr Hazlit coloured and drew himself proudly up.
"Be not offended, my dear sir," continued the youth earnestly; "I do not
intrude on private matters--I would not dare to do so. I only speak of
what I saw in English newspapers in Hong-Kong just before I left, and
therefore refer to what is generally known to all. And while I
sincerely deplore what I know, I would not presume to touch on it at all
were I not certain that the pirates must have robbed you of all you
possess, and that you must of necessity be in want of _present_ funds.
I also know that _some_ of a man's so-called `friends' are apt to fall
off and fail him in the time of financial difficulty. Now, the favour I
ask is that you will consider me--as indeed I am--one of your true
friends, and accept of a loan of two or three hundred pounds--"
"Impossible, sir,--im--it is very kind of you--very, Mr Berrington--
but, impossible," said Mr Hazlit, struggling between kindly feeling and
hurt dignity.
"Nay, but," pleaded Edgar, "I only offer you a loan. Besides, I want to
benefit myself," he added, with a smile. "The fact is, I have made a
little money in a diving venture, which I and some others undertook to
these seas, and I receive no interest for it just now. If you would
accept of a few hundreds--what you require for present necessities--you
may have them at three or five per cent. I would ask more, but that,
you know, would be usurious!"
Still the fallen merchant remained immovable. He acknowledged Edgar's
pleasantry about interest with a smile, but would by no means accept of
a single penny from him in any form.
Edgar had set his heart upon two things that morning, and had prayed,
not for success, but, for guidance in regard to them.
In the first he had failed--apparently. Not much depressed, and nothing
daunted, he tried the second.
"Captain," he said, pacing up and down by the side of that
black-bearded, black-eyed, and powerful pirate-killer, "what say you to
run back to the spot where you sank the pirates, and attempt to fish up
some of the treasure with our diving apparatus?"
"I've thought of that two or three times," replied the captain, shaking
his head; "but they went down in deep waters,--forty fathoms, at
least,--which is far beyond your powers."
"True," returned Edgar, "but the prow of the pirate-chief was, you know,
run down in only nineteen fathoms, and _that_ is not beyond us."
"Is it not?"
"No, we have already been deeper than twenty fathoms with the dress I
have on board."
"There is only one objection," said the captain, pausing in his walk; "I
have learned from the prisoners that before we came up with them,
Pungarin had had all the money and chief treasure transferred from his
own prow to another, which was a faster boat, intending to change into
it himself, but that after our appearing he deferred doing so until the
fight should be over. If this be true, then the treasure went down in
deep water, and the chiefs prow has nothing in it worth diving for."
"But we are not sure that this story is true; and at all events it is
probable that at least _some_ of the treasure may have been left in
Pungarin's boat," urged Edgar.
"Well, I'll make the trial; but first I must dispose of my prisoners."
So saying, the captain resumed his walk and Edgar went below to look
after his engine, having, in passing, given Rooney Machowl instructions
to overhaul the diving gear and get it into good working order.
This Rooney did with much consequential display, for he dearly loved to
bring about that condition of things which is styled "astonishing the
natives." As the Malays on board, seamen and captives, were easily
astonished by the novelties of the western hemisphere, he had no
difficulty in attracting and chaining their attention to the minutest
details of his apparatus. He more than astonished them!
With the able assistance of Baldwin and Maxwell and Ram-stam, he drew
out, uncoiled, rubbed, examined inch by inch, and re-coiled the
life-line and the air-tube; unscrewed the various pieces--glasses, nuts,
and valves--of the helmet, carefully examined them, oiled them, and
re-fastened them, much to the interest and curiosity of "the natives."
The helmet itself he polished up till it shone like a great globe of
silver, to the intense admiration of "the natives." The pump he took to
pieces elaborately, much to the anxiety of "the natives," who evidently
thought he had wantonly destroyed it, but who soon saw it gradually put
together again, much to their satisfaction, and brought into good
working order. Rooney even went the length of horrifying one or two of
"the natives" by letting one of the heavy shoulder-weights fall on their
naked toes. This had the effect of making them jump and howl, while it
threw the others into ecstasies of delight, which they expressed by
throwing back their heads, shutting their eyes, opening their mouths,
and chuckling heartily.
Aileen and Miss Pritty, in the meantime, lay on the sofas in the cabin,
and at last obtained much-needed refreshment to their weary spirits by
falling into deep, dreamless, and untroubled slumber.
Thus the gun-boat with its varied freight sped on until it reached
Sarawak, where the pirates were sent ashore under a strong guard.
With these our tale has now nothing more to do; but as this cutting
short of their career is not fiction, it may interest the reader to know
that they were afterwards tried by a jury composed half of native chiefs
and half of Europeans, who unanimously found them guilty. They were
condemned to be shot, and the sentence was carried out immediately, in
the jungle, two miles outside of the town. They were buried where they
fell, and thus ended one of the sharpest lessons that had ever been
taught to a band of miscreants, who had long filled with terror the
inhabitants of Borneo and the neighbouring archipelago.
Some idea may be formed of the service done on this occasion--as
estimated by those who were well able to judge--when we say that the
captain of the gun-boat afterwards received, in recognition of his
prowess, a handsome sword and letter of thanks from the Rajah, Sir James
Brooke; a certificate, with a pocket chronometer, from the
Netherlands-Indian Government; a commander's commission from the Sarawak
Government; and letters of grateful thanks from the Resident Governor of
the west coast of Borneo, the Council of Singapore for the Netherlands
Government, and others--all expressive of his gallant conduct in utterly
routing so large a body of pirates, liberating two hundred and fifty
slaves--chiefly of the Dutch settlements--and clearing the Borneon coast
of a curse that had infested it for many years. [See Note 1.]
Having disposed of the pirates, the gun-boat proceeded immediately to
sea, and in a short time reached the scene of her recent victory. It
had previously been proposed to Mr Hazlit that he might remain in
Sarawak, if he chose, during the short period of the gun-boat's intended
absence, but the unfortunate man--owing to financial reasons!--decided
to remain in the vessel.
It happened to be a calm, lovely morning, not unlike that on which the
action had been fought, when they reached the scene of their intended
operations, and began to drag for the sunken prow.
The difficulty of finding it was much greater than had been anticipated,
for the land, although visible, was much too far off to be of any
service as a guide. At last, however, it was discovered; the diving
apparatus was got out; the anchor cast, and Maxwell, being esteemed the
most enduring among the divers, prepared to go down.
"It feels quite like old times, sir, don't it?" said Joe Baldwin to
Edgar Berrington, as he assisted to dress the diver, and manipulated the
various parts of the costume with a fondness that one might feel towards
a favourite dog from which one had been for some time parted.
"It does indeed, Joe," replied Edgar, smiling; "I almost envy Maxwell
the pleasure of a dip--especially in such a clear cool sea in this hot
weather."
"How is he to breathe?" asked Miss Pritty, who with Aileen and her
father, as well as the captain and crew of the gun-boat, watched the
process of robing with as much interest as if they had never before seen
it performed.
"Sure, Miss," observed Rooney Machowl, with great simplicity of aspect,
"he does it by drawin' in an' puffin' out the air through his mouth an'
nose."
"Very true," observed Miss Pritty, with a good-natured smile, for even
she could see that the Irishman was poking fun at her; "but how is air
conveyed to him?"
"It is sent down by means of an air-pump," said Edgar, who took on
himself the duty of explaining.
"Dear me!" returned Miss Pritty, elevating her eyebrows in surprise; "I
always thought that pumps were used only for pumping up water."
"Och! No, Miss," said Rooney, "they're largely used for pumping up beer
in London."
"Now, David, are you all right?" asked Joe.
"All right," said Maxwell, as he rose and shook himself to settle the
weights comfortably on his back and breast.
"Come along then, me boy," said Rooney.
Maxwell went to the side of the vessel, where a rope-ladder had been
prepared, and his two attendants assisted him to get over.
"All right?" asked Joe again, after giving the order to pump, which
Ram-stam commenced with the steady coolness and regularity of a veteran.
"All right," replied Maxwell, who immediately afterwards slowly
disappeared.
After an hour's absence he signalled that he was coming up. In a few
minutes his helmet was seen far down in the depths. Then it emerged
from the surface.
"I want a crowbar," he said on the glass being removed.
"If you'd had on a helmet with a speakin'-tube," observed Rooney, "you
might have said that without comin' up."
"True, lad," growled Maxwell, "but not havin' on a helmet with a
speakin'-toobe, here I am, so please look alive."
"Any sign of treasure?" asked Edgar.
"Not as yet, sir."
The crowbar having been brought, the diver again went down.
For some time all went on quietly, for it was expected that, deep though
the water was, Maxwell's power of enduring pressure would enable him to
remain below for at least two hours, if not longer. After looking for
some time inquiringly at the spot where he had disappeared, most of the
Malays resumed their various duties about the vessel, though a few
remained a little to regard Ram-stam with much interest, as being one
who, in a measure, held the life of a fellow-being in his hands.
Suddenly a loud hissing noise was heard over the side. It sounded to
those on deck as if the great sea-serpent had put his head out of the
sea close alongside and sent a violent hiss into the air.
Joe Baldwin was attending to the air-tube, while Rooney held the
life-line. He looked quickly down.
"The air-pipe's burst!" he shouted, and both he and his comrade, without
a moment's delay, began to haul up the diver as fast as they possibly
could.
That the reader may properly appreciate what had happened, it is
necessary to remind him that at nineteen fathoms Maxwell's body was
subjected to a pressure--from _water_, outside his dress--of about 50
pounds to the square inch, and that to prevent such a tremendous
pressure from crushing in and collapsing all the cavities of his body,
an _equal_ pressure of air had to be _forced_ into his dress, so that
the pressure of water outside the dress was met and counteracted by the
pressure of air inside. This highly condensed air of course tended to
crush the diver, as did the water, but with this important difference,
that the air entered his lungs, wind-pipe, ears, nose, etcetera, and
thus prevented these organs from collapsing, and confined the absolute
pressure to their walls of flesh so to speak, and to the solid muscular
parts of his frame. Maxwell, being a very muscular man and tough, was,
as we have said, able to stand the pressure on these parts better than
many men. When, therefore, the air-tube burst--which it happened to do
at a weak point just a foot or so above water--the diver's dress was
instantaneously crushed tight round him in every part, the air was
driven completely out of it, and also largely out of poor Maxwell's
body!
The moment he appeared at the surface it was seen that he was
insensible, for he swung about by his life-line and tube in a helpless
manner.
Seeing this, Edgar, who had anxiously watched for him, got out on the
ladder and passed the loop of a rope under his arms. It was quickly
done. He was laid on deck and the bull's-eye was unscrewed by Rooney,
who instantly exclaimed, "He's dead!"
"No, he's not; I see his lips move," said Joe Baldwin, aiding Edgar to
unscrew the helmet.
This was soon removed, and a frightful sight was revealed to the
spectators. Maxwell's face and neck were quite livid and swelled out to
an almost bursting extent; blood was flowing profusely from his mouth
and ears, and his eyes protruded horribly, as if they had been nearly
forced out of their sockets.
It is right to observe that the helmet worn by Maxwell on this occasion
was an old-fashioned one which, in the haste of departure from
Hong-Kong, they had taken with them instead of one of their new ones.
Most of the helmets now in use possess a valve which shuts of itself in
the event of the air-tube bursting, and prevents the air from being
crushed out of the dress. A dress full of air will, as we have already
said, keep a man alive for at least five minutes. He has time,
therefore, to reach the surface, so that danger from this source is not
nearly so great as it used to be.
Such restoratives as suggested themselves to the chief onlookers were
applied, and, to the surprise of every one, the diver began to show
signs of returning life. In a few minutes he began to retch, and soon
vomited a large quantity of clotted blood. After a time he began to
whisper a few words.
"Cheer up, my lad," said the captain in a kindly voice, as he went down
on one knee beside the prostrate man; "don't attempt to speak or exert
yourself in any way. You'll be all right in a few days. We'll have
your dress taken off and send you below, where you shall be taken good
care of."
With returning vitality came back Maxwell's inbred obstinacy. He would
not hold his tongue, but insisted on explaining his sensations to his
comrades as they busied themselves taking off his dress--a rather
violent operation at all times, and very difficult in the circumstances.
"W'y messmates," he said, "I hadn't even time to guess wot 'ad 'appened.
Got no warnin' wotsomedever. I just felt a tree-mendous shock all of a
suddent that struck me motionless--as if Tom Sayers had hit me a
double-handed cropper on the top o' my beak an' in the pit o' my
bread-basket at one an' the same moment. Then came an 'orrible pressure
as if a two-thousand-ton ship 'ad bin let down a-top o' me, an' arter
that I remembers nothin'."
It is probable that the poor fellow would have gone on with his
comments, though he spoke with difficulty and in a feeble voice, in
which none of his characteristic gruffness remained, if he had not been
cut short by Joe Baldwin and Rooney Machowl lifting him up and carrying
him below.
Rooney, who carried his shoulders, took occasion to say while on the way
down:--
"David, boy, did ye find anny treasure?"
"No;--see'd nothin'."
"Ow, ow, worse luck!" sighed Rooney.
Maxwell was made comfortable with a glass of weak brandy and water--
hot--and his comrades returned on deck, where they found Edgar
Berrington commencing to put on the diving-dress.
"Goin' down, sir?" inquired Joe.
"Yes. We have fortunately another air-tube, and I want to complete the
work we have begun."
"Is there not a risk," whispered Aileen to her father, "that the same
accident may happen again?"
"Ah, true," answered Mr Hazlit aloud; "the water appears to be very
deep, Mr Berrington. Do you not think it probable that the air-tube
may burst a second time?"
"I think not," replied Edgar, as he sat down to have his helmet affixed
to the dress. "The best made articles are liable to possess flaws.
Even the most perfect railway-wheel, in which the cleverest engineer
alive might fail to detect a fault, may conceal a dangerous flaw. There
is no certainty in human affairs. All we can say is that, when we
consider the thousands of divers who are daily employed all over the
world, accidents of the kind you have just witnessed are not numerous.
If I were to refrain from going down because this accident has occurred,
I might as well refrain evermore from entering a railway-carriage. We
_must_ risk something sometimes in our progress through life, Mr
Hazlit. It was intended that we should. Why were we gifted with the
quality of courage if risk and danger were never to be encountered?"
The screwing on of the bull's-eye put a stop to further remark, and a
few seconds later our hero went over the side, while Ram-stam, smiling
benignant indifference as to the event which had so recently happened,
steadily performed his duty.
As Mr Hazlit and Aileen watched the bubbles that rose in multitudes to
the surface, the former repeated to himself, mentally, "Yes, we must
risk something sometimes in our progress through life." He went on
repeating this until at last he followed it up with the sudden
reflection:--"Well, perhaps I _must_ risk my daughter's happiness in
this youth's hands, even though he _is_ penniless. He seems an able
fellow; will, doubtless, make his way anywhere. At all events it is
quite evident that he will risk his life anywhere! Besides, now I think
of it, he said something about lending me some hundred pounds or so.
Perhaps he is not absolutely penniless. It is quite certain that I am.
Curious sentiment that of his: `We must risk something sometimes.' Very
curious, and quite new--at least exhibited to me in quite a new light."
While Mr Hazlit's mind ran on thus, and his eyes dreamily watched the
bubbles on the surface of the sea, our hero was grubbing like a
big-headed goblin among the wreckage at the bottom.
He moved about from place to place in that slow leaning fashion which
the resistance of water renders unavoidable, but he found nothing
whatever to repay him for his trouble. There were beams and twisted
iron-work, and overturned guns, and a few bales, but nothing that bore
the least resemblance to boxes or bags of money.
One or two large cases he discovered, and forced them open with the
crowbar, which Maxwell had dropped when he was struck insensible, but
they contained nothing worth the labour of having them hoisted up. At
last he was about to leave, after a careful search of more than an hour,
when he espied something shining in a corner of what had once been the
pirate-chief's cabin. He took it up and found it to be a small box of
unusual weight for its size. His sense of touch told him that it was
ornamented with carving on its surface, but the light was not sufficient
to enable him to see it distinctly. His heart beat hopefully, however,
as he hastened as fast as the water would permit out of the cabin, and
then, to his joy he found that it was Aileen Hazlit's jewel-box! How it
came there he could not guess; but the reader partly knows the truth,
and can easily imagine that when the pirate-chief sent his other
valuables to the swift prow, as before mentioned, he kept this--the most
precious of them all--close to his own person to the last, desiring, no
doubt, to have it always under his own eye.
Not troubling himself much, however, with such speculations, Edgar
returned to the cabin, placed the box where he found it, and spent full
half-an-hour more in plying his crowbar in the hope of discovering more
of the pirate's horde. While thus engaged he received two or three
signals to "Come up" from Joe Baldwin, who held his life-line; but he
signalled back "All right--let me alone," and went on with his work.
At last there came the signal "Come up!" given with such a peremptory
tug that he was fain, though unwilling, to comply. Taking the box under
his arm he began to ascend slowly. On gaining the surface he was made
at once aware of the reason of the repeated signalling, for a sudden
squall had burst upon the eastern sea, which by that time, although
perfectly calm below, was tumbling about in waves so large that the
gun-boat was tossing like a cork at her anchor, and it was found to be
almost impossible to work the air-pump. In fact it was only by having
two men stationed to keep Ram-stam on his legs that the thing could be
done!
With some difficulty Edgar was got on board, and the order was
immediately given to weigh anchor.
Expressing great surprise at the state of things he found above water,
and regret that he had not sooner attended to orders, Edgar placed the
box on the deck. Then he unrobed, and drawing on his trousers and a
canvas jacket he issued from behind the funnel--which had been his
robing-room--and went aft, where he found Aileen seated between her
friend Miss Pritty and her father.
"Miss Hazlit," he said with a peculiar smile, "allow me to introduce you
to an old friend."
He held up before her the carved steel box.
"My mother's jewel-case!" she exclaimed, with a look of intense
surprise.
"My--my wife's jewels!" stammered Mr Hazlit, in equal surprise;
"whereon earth--why--how--where--young man, did you find them?"
"I found them at the bottom of the sea," replied Edgar. "It is the
second time, strange to say, that I have had the pleasure of fishing
them up from that vast repository of riches where, I doubt not, many
another jewel-case still lies, and will continue to lie, unclaimed for
ever. Meanwhile, I count myself peculiarly fortunate in being the means
of restoring _this_ case to its rightful owner."
So saying he placed it in the hands of Aileen.
The captain, who had watched the whole scene with quiet interest and a
peculiar curl about his black moustache, as well as a twinkle in his
sharp black eye, uttered a short laugh, thrust his hands into his
pockets, and walked away to give the order that the steamer's head
should be laid precisely "sou', sou'-west, and by south, half-south,"
with a slight--almost a shadowy--leaning in the direction of
"southerly."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. We may as well state here that our information on this subject
was obtained from Captain John Hewat, formerly in command of the steam
gun-boat _Rainbow_,--belonging to Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., Rajah of
Sarawak,--in which he had six years' experience of pirate-hunting in the
eastern seas, and now captain of one of Donald Currie and Company's
magnificent line of Cape steamers. Perhaps we ought to apologise for
thus dragging the gallant captain into fiction, but we trust he will
find that, in regard to his own particular doings, we have stuck pretty
closely to fact.