"Ain't it time for dinner, daddy, d'ye think?"
"Hold on a bit, lad, I'm goin' to let ye tak' a sleep soon, an' it'll be
best to eat just afore lyin' down."
No more was said, and the rowing was continued until the sun had set,
and the shades of night were beginning to descend on the sea.
"Now, lad, we'll sup," said Stephen, with a hearty air, as he pulled in
his oar.
"Hooray!" cried Billy faintly, as he jumped up and went to the stern,
where his father soon produced the biscuit-bag and measured out the two
small portions.
"Cheatin' again, daddy," cried the Bu'ster with a remonstrative tone and
look.
"No, I ain't," said Gaff sharply, "eat yer supper, you scamp."
Billy obeyed with alacrity, and disposed of his portion in three
mouthfuls. There was a small quantity of rain-water--about half a
pint--which had been collected and carefully husbanded in the
baling-dish. It was mingled with a little spray, and was altogether a
brackish and dirty mixture, nevertheless they drank it with as much
relish as if it had been clear spring water.
"Now, boy, turn in," said Gaff earnestly; "you'll need all the sleep ye
can git, for, if I know the signs of the sky, we'll have more wind afore
long."
Poor Billy was too tired to make any objection to this order, so he laid
his head on a fold of the wet sail, and almost immediately fell asleep.
Gaff was right in his expectation of more wind. About two hours after
sunset it came on to blow so stiffly that he was obliged to awaken Billy
and set him to bale out the sprays that kept constantly washing over the
gunwale. Towards midnight a gale was blowing, and Gaff put the boat
before the wind, and drove with it.
Hour after hour passed away; still there was no abatement in the
violence of the storm, and no relaxation from baling and steering, which
the father and son took alternately every half hour.
At last Billy's strength was fairly exhausted. He flung down the
baling-dish, and, sitting down beside his father, laid his head on his
breast, and burst into tears. The weakness, (for such Billy deemed it),
only lasted a few moments however. He soon repressed his sobs.
"My poor boy," said Gaff, patting his son's head, "it'll be soon over
wi' us, I fear. May the good Lord help us! The boat can't float long
wi' such sprays washin' over her."
Billy said nothing, but clung closer to his father, while his heart was
filled with solemn, rather than fearful, thoughts of death.
Their danger of swamping now became so imminent that Gaff endeavoured to
prepare his mind to face the last struggle manfully. He was naturally
courageous, and in the heat of action or of battle could have faced
death with a smile and an unblanched cheek; but he found it much more
difficult to sit calmly in the stern of that little boat hour after
hour, and await the blow that seemed inevitable. He felt a wild, almost
irresistible, desire to leap up and vent his feelings in action of some
kind, but this was not possible, for it required careful attention to
the helm to prevent the little craft from broaching-to and upsetting.
In his extremity he raised his heart to God in prayer.
While he was thus engaged the roar of the storm increased to such a
degree that both father and son started up in expectation of
instantaneous destruction. A vivid flash of lightning glared over the
angry sea at the moment, and revealed to their horrified gaze a reef of
rocks close ahead, on which the waves were breaking with the utmost
fury. Instant darkness followed the flash, and a deafening peal of
thunder joined in the roar of breakers, intensifying, if possible, the
terrors of the situation.
Gaff knew now that the crisis had certainly arrived, and for the next
few moments he exerted every power of eye and ear in order to guide the
boat into a channel between the breakers--if such existed.
"Jump for'ard, lad," he shouted, "and keep yer eye sharp ahead."
Billy obeyed at once, with the seamanlike "Ay, ay, sir," which he had
acquired on board the whaler.
"Port, port! hard-a-port!" shouted the boy a moment after taking his
place in the bow.
"Port it is," answered Gaff.
Before the boat had time, however, to answer the helm, she was caught on
the crest of a breaker, whirled round like a piece of cork, and,
balancing for one moment on the foam, capsized.
The moment of hesitation was enough to enable Gaff to spring to his
son's side and seize him. Next instant they were buffeting the waves
together.
It is not necessary to remind the reader that Gaff was an expert
swimmer. Billy was also first-rate. He was known among his companions
as The Cork, because of his floating powers, and these stood him in good
stead at this time, enabling him to cling to his father much more
lightly than would have been the case had he not been able to swim.
At first they found it impossible to do more than endeavour to keep
afloat, for the surging of the breakers was so great, and the darkness
so intense, that they could not give direction to their energies. But
the increasing roar of the surf soon told them that they were near the
rocks, and in a few seconds they were launched with tremendous force
amongst them.
Well was it for them at that moment that the wave which bore them on its
crest swept them through a gap in the reef, else had they been
inevitably dashed to pieces. As it was, they were nearly torn asunder,
and Gaff's shoulder just grazed a rock as he was whirled past it; but in
a few seconds they found themselves in comparatively still water, and
felt assured that they had been swept through an opening in the reef.
Presently Gaff touched a rock and grasped it.
"Hold on, Billy my lad!" he exclaimed breathlessly, "we'll be safe
ashore, please God, in a short bit."
"All right, daddy," gasped the boy; for to say truth, the whirling in
the foam had well-nigh exhausted him.
Soon the two were out of the reach of the waves, clinging to what
appeared to be the face of a precipice. Here, although safe from the
actual billows, they were constantly drenched by spray, and exposed to
the full fury of the gale. At first they attempted to scale the cliff,
supposing that if once at the top they should find shelter; but this
proved to be impossible. Equally impossible was it to get round the
promontory on which they had been cast. They were therefore compelled
to shelter themselves as they best might, in the crevices of the exposed
point, and cling to each other for warmth.
It was a long long night to those castaways. Minutes appeared to pass
like hours, and it seemed to them as if night had finally and for ever
settled down on the dreary world. The wind too, although not very cold,
was sufficiently so to chill them, and long before day began to break
they were so much benumbed as to be scarcely able to maintain their
position.
During all this time they were harassed by uncertainty as to the nature
of the rock on which they were cast. It might be a mere barren islet,
perhaps one which the sea covered at high-water, in which case there was
the possibility of their being swept away before morning.
When morning came, however, it revealed to them the fact that they were
upon a small promontory, which was connected by a narrow neck of sand
with the land.
As soon as the light rendered this apparent, Gaff put his hand on
Billy's head and spoke softly to him--
"Now then, lad, look up--ye an't sleepin', sure, are ye?"
"No, daddy, only dozin' and dreamin'," said Billy, rousing himself.
"Well, we must stop dreamin', and git ashore as fast as we can. I think
there's dry land all the way to the beach; if not, it'll only be a short
swim. Whether it's an island or what, I don't know; but let's be
thankful, boy, that it looks big enough to hold us. Come, cheer up!"
To this Billy replied that he was quite jolly, and ready for anything;
and, by way of proving his fitness for exertion, began to crawl over the
rocks like a snail!
"That'll never do," said Gaff with a short laugh; "come, wrestle with
me, youngster."
The Bu'ster accepted the challenge at once by throwing his arms round
his father's waist, and endeavouring to throw him. Gaff resisted, and
the result was that, in ten minutes or so, they were comparatively warm,
and capable of active exertion.
Then they clambered over the rocks, traversed the neck of sand, and
quickly gained the shore.
Ascending the cliffs with eager haste, they reached the summit just as
the sun rose and tinged the topmost pinnacles with a golden hue.
Pushing on towards an elevated ridge of rock, they climbed to the top of
a mound, from which they could obtain a view of the surrounding country,
and then they discovered that their place of refuge was a small solitary
island, in the midst of the boundless sea.