"BREAKERS AHEAD!"
Our chief hope of escaping an unpleasant examination by the pirate
existed in the possibility that we had not been observed from her deck.
Had we had any sail set we could not fail to have been so. Not, we
knew, that so small a craft as ours would be considered worth
overhauling; but in case we might give information of the pirate's
whereabouts, it might be thought expedient to put us out of the way. So
we feared. We therefore watched the progress of the _Mignonne_ and the
brig with intense interest, earnestly hoping that the latter would lead
the pirate a long chase before she was captured, if she could not escape
altogether, which of course we hoped she would. La Roche had certainly
managed to inspire O'Carroll with an extraordinary dread and hatred of
him, for brave and calm in danger as our friend had lately shown himself
to be, he was now completely unnerved, and I saw him crouching down in
the boat as if, even had she been seen, he could have been
distinguished. On sailed the brig; gradually her sails began to
disappear below the horizon. The pirate still continued the chase. For
some time no one in the boat thought of working. We were roused up by
finding that the water was rapidly gaining on us, and we all had to turn
to and pump and bale harder than ever. We were in hopes that after all
the brig might escape, when the boom of a gun came over the water,
followed by another and another. It was too probable that the pirate
had got her within range. Both vessels had now disappeared below the
horizon, at the same time the wind where we were had completely died
away. As far as the pirate was concerned, we began to breathe more
freely; it was not likely that he would again pass near us. But the sun
shone forth from the clear sky with intense heat, roasting our heads and
the brains within them, and making whatever pitch remained between the
planks of our deck bubble up as if it had been boiling. There we lay,
our boat rolling from side to side, without a particle of shade to
shelter us. Our little cabin was like an oven. When we were to rest it
became simply a question whether in making the attempt we should be
roasted on deck or baked below. We had not much time for idleness yet:
though we worked very hard, it was not till nightfall that our rigging
was set up sufficiently to enable us to make sail.
When the sun set there was not a breath of air, while the surface of the
ocean was as smooth as a sheet of glass, though every now and then a
swell rose under the boat's keel, making her roll for ten minutes
afterwards, while it glided slowly away in the distance. The only
sounds were the clank of the pump and the dash of water from the
scuppers or buckets, and an occasional snort of some huge fish, or the
splash it made when plunging down into its liquid home. Thus the hours
of the night passed away. We were so weary and sleepy that the instant
we were relieved from the pump we lay down and were lost in
forgetfulness. The day broke, the sun rose higher and higher, and beat
hotter and hotter, and all around us was the same smooth, glassy ocean.
Now and then the surface was broken by a flight of flying fish as they
rose out of it and darted along through the air, glittering bright in
the sunbeams, like a covey of silver birds.
"Ah, now! if some of you would just have the goodness to come aboard
here, you would serve us nicely for breakfast," exclaimed Trundle, as he
observed them.
He had scarcely spoken when upwards of a dozen out of a large shoal
leaped, or flew rather, right in among us, while as many more passed
clean over the boat. It was a curious coincidence, and at all events
afforded us not only a substantial, but a very delicious meal, cooked by
the skilful hands of Monsieur Jacotot. It put us all in good spirits,
and we began to look at the future in a tolerably hopeful spirit, till
my midshipman brother exclaimed--
"I say, if this sun lasts much longer, what shall we do for grub? The
sea-pie we have brought has gone bad, and I am afraid that the beef and
pork won't keep good many hours out of the brine."
"You may put them in the past instead of the future tense, my boy,"
observed Trundle, who had been examining the lockers; "I doubt if any
stomach with less powers than a shark's could swallow a bit of the meat
we have got on board."
"Then on what have we got to exist till we can reach the shore?" I
asked, with a feeling of serious anxiety.
"Why," answered William, "we have biscuits and half a cheese--at least
we had half when we sailed, but it is rather gone--and a few mangoes,
and bananas, and plantains, and a melon or two, and some tea and coffee,
and sugar. I am afraid we haven't much else, except a cask of water,
and that was rather leaky, like this craft."
"Then let us look to the cask, gentlemen," said O'Carroll. "And don't
throw the meat away, putrid though it may be. The Frenchman may cook it
so as to make it go down, and we don't know how hard we may be pressed
for food."
The water-cask was examined, happily not altogether too late, but a
third of the precious liquid had run out. I said nothing, but sad
forebodings filled my mind. Even with a compass to steer by and a good
breeze to carry us along, we might be several days reaching Port Louis,
or, indeed, any habitable coast we could make. We might be kept out
much longer, and then how could we exist? We could scarcely hope that
another covey of flying fish would come on board, though we might catch
some others if we could manufacture hooks, for I was afraid we had none
on board. This calm might continue for a week, and then we might have
another gale, for we were in the hurricane season. I advised that we
should at once go on an allowance of food and water, a suggestion which
was, of course, adopted. We had no fishing lines or hooks on board; a
bit of an old file was, however, discovered, and with it and a hammer
Jacotot undertook to make some hooks, while Kelson spun some fine yarn
for lines.
"I shall have plenty of time," observed the Frenchman, with a wan smile
and a shrug of the shoulders, "for without the fish I shall have nothing
to cook."
Two days passed, and though the hooks were in use we caught nothing, and
some of the party began to wish that the pirate had picked us up. Two
days more passed: matters had become very serious. Hunger was gnawing
at our insides, and what seemed even worse, thirst was parching our lips
and throats. With the intense heat we were enduring, gallons of water
would scarcely have satisfied us, and we each had but a small wineglass
full three times a day. When that was gone, as long as our fuel lasted
we could get a little water by condensing the steam from our kettle.
Our thirst became intolerable; yet the few drops, we did get kept us, I
believe, alive. I do not wish to dwell on that time. My own sufferings
were great, but they were increased by seeing those of my young brother
and his lighthearted companion, both of them about, as I feared, to pass
away from the world they had found so enjoyable. The sun rose, and set,
and rose again, and each day it appeared to send down its heat with an
increased intensity of strength as we grew weaker and weaker. A new
danger threatened us: we could even now scarcely keep the boat clear of
water; should our strength fail altogether, as seemed but too probable,
she would sink below us. Our lot was that which many poor seamen have
endured, but that did not make it more supportable to us.
Our last particle of food had been eaten, the last drop of water nearly
exhausted. The strongest might endure for a day or two, the weakest
ones must sink within a few hours. Even O'Carroll, strong as he seemed,
was giving way. He sat dull and unconscious, his eyes meaningless, only
arousing himself by a great effort. My brother's head rested on my arm,
and I was moistening his lips with the few drops obtained from the cask.
Suddenly Kelson, who had been gazing round the horizon, started up,
crying out, "A breeze! a breeze! I see it coming over the water!"
I turned my eyes to the west, the direction to which he pointed. There
I saw a dark-blue line quickly advancing towards us. Even already, on
either side, cat's-paws were to be seen just touching the surface, then
vanishing again, once more to appear in a different direction as the
light currents of air, precursors of the main body of the wind, touched
the surface. The effect on our fainting party was magical; even the
poor boys tried to lift up their languid eyes to look around. Another
shout from Kelson a few minutes afterwards roused us all still more. "A
sail! a sail! She's standing this way too!"
Even Jacotot, who had completely given way to despair, started to his
feet at the sound, and, weak though he was, performed such strange
antics expressive of his joy on the little deck that I thought he would
have gone overboard.
"If you've got all that life in you, Mounseer, just turn to at the pump
again and make some use of it, instead of jigging away like an overgrown
jackanapes!" growled out Kelson, who held the poor Frenchman in great
contempt for having knocked under, as he called it, so soon.
Jacotot gave another skip or two, and then, seizing the pump-handle, or
break, as it is called, burst into tears. The two midshipmen and boys
soon relapsed into their former state, while O'Carroll seemed to forget
that relief was approaching, till on a sudden the idea seized him that
the stranger which was now rapidly nearing us was no other than the
_Mignonne_, though she had been last seen in an opposite direction, and
there had been a dead calm ever since. "Arrah! we'll all be murdered
entirely by that thief of the world, La Roche, bad luck to him!" he
cried out, wringing his hands. "It was an unlucky day that I ever cast
eyes on his ugly face for the first time, and now he's after coming back
again to pick me up in the middle of the Indian Ocean, just as a big
black crow does a worm out of a turnip-field!"
In vain I tried to argue him out of the absurdity of his notion. He
turned sharply round on me.
"It's desaving me now ye are, and that isn't the part of a true friend,
Mr James Braithwaite!" he exclaimed. "Just try how he'll treat you,
and then tell me how you like his company."
I saw that there was not the slightest use reasoning with him, but that
it would be necessary to watch him, lest in his frenzy he should jump
overboard. As the dreadful idea came on me that he might do so, I saw
the black fin of the seaman's sworn foe, a shark, gliding toward us, and
a pair of sharp eyes looking wistfully up towards me, so I fancied, as
if the creature considered the leaky boat and its contents a dainty dish
prepared for his benefit. It made me set to work to bale with all the
strength I could muster. Seeing me so employed, O'Carroll for a moment
forgot his mad idea, and followed my example. Often and often I turned
my gaze towards the approaching ship. It seemed even still open to
doubt whether she would pass near enough to observe us.
At length the breeze reached us, and hoisting our sails as well as our
strength would allow, we stood in a direction to come across the course
the stranger was steering. I told Kelson, in a whisper, to assist me in
keeping a watch on O'Carroll, for as we drew nearer the stranger, so did
his uneasiness increase, and he was evidently still under the impression
that she was the dreaded _Mignonne_. William and Trundle looked at her
with lack-lustre eyes. I asked Kelson what he thought she was. "A
small Chinaman, or a store-ship, maybe, sir," he answered. "She's
English, certainly, by the cut of her sails."
"You hear what he says," I observed to O'Carroll. "I think the same
myself. We shall be treated as friends when we get on board."
"Ye are after desaving me, I know ye are," cried the poor fellow,
turning round and giving a reproachful glance at me. "Don't ye see the
ugly villain La Roche himself standing on the cathead ready to order his
crew of imps to fire as soon as we get within range of their guns?"
This notion so tickled Kelson's fancy that he fairly burst into a fit of
laughter, in which I and the rest of the party faintly joined, from very
weakness, for most of them had not heard what was said. Even O'Carroll
himself imitated us. Suddenly he stopped. "It's no laughing matter,
though, let me tell you," he observed gravely, after some time had
elapsed, and the stranger had neared us so that we could see the people
on deck. "But where's La Roche? Oh, I see, he's aft there, grinning at
us as usual." He pointed to a most respectable-looking old gentleman,
who was, I supposed, the master of the ship.
"You are mistaken in that," said I, feeling the importance of keeping
him quiet till he could be got on board. "If that is the _Mignonne_,
she has been captured, and is in possession of a British crew. You'll
see that I am right directly."
The ship was shortening sail as I spoke. We were soon alongside. Even
at a distance our pitiable condition had been observed. We were one
after the other hoisted on deck, for even Kelson could scarcely get up
without help. I gave a hint to the doctor to look after O'Carroll. "I
am right," I remarked to my friend. "If La Roche is on board, he is
safe under hatches; so the best thing you can do is to turn in, and go
to sleep. You want rest more than any of us."
Led by the surgeon, he went quietly below, and I hoped with soothing
medicine and sleep would be soon all to rights again.
The ship proved to be, not what Kelson had supposed, but a vessel with
free emigrants bound out to the rising town of Sydney, in New South
Wales--a colony generally called Botany Bay, established some few years
before, by Captain Phillips of the navy, chiefly with convicts and the
necessary soldiers to look after them. We had just told our tale, and
the passengers had expressed their sympathy for us, when I heard Jacotot
give a loud cry of dismay. On looking over the side the cause was
explained--the masts of our unhappy little craft were just disappearing
under the surface. This was the natural consequence of our neglecting
to pump her out, and the ship, which was going ahead, dragging her
through the water, when of course it rushed in through her open seams
with redoubled speed. Poor Jacotot tore his hair and wrung his hands,
and wept tears of grief for his wretched craft; but he did not gain as
much sympathy as would have been shown him had he been more quiet,
though our new friends congratulated us the more warmly in having got
out of her before she met her fate. Food and rest quickly set most of
us to rights, and the following day William and Trundle and I were able
to take our places at the cabin table with the rest of the passengers.
O'Carroll was kept in bed with fever, though he had got over his idea
that La Roche was on board. The old gentleman he had mistaken for him
proved to be a minister of the gospel, who had been invited to accompany
a party of the emigrants.
We found that things were not going on in at all a satisfactory way on
board. The master had died before the ship reached the Cape: the first
officer, Mr Gregson, who had now charge, was obstinate and
self-opinionated when sober, and he was very frequently intoxicated; the
second was a stupid fellow and no navigator; and both were jealous of
the third, who was a superior, intelligent young man, and in numerous
ways they did their utmost to annoy him. This accounted for the good
ship, the _Kangaroo_, being very much out of her proper course, which
was far to the southward of where she picked us up. Most disastrous
consequences were to occur. William and Trundle told me that they had
been making their observations; that they wondered how the ship had got
thus far, and that they should be much surprised if she got much
farther. A very large proportion of the ships cast away and lives
sacrificed are so in consequence of the habitual intoxication of the
masters and their officers. I venture to make this distinct assertion
from the very numerous instances I have known and heard of. We did not
wish to alarm the passengers, none of whom had been at sea before, and
were not aware of the danger they were running. Had our schooner still
floated, I should have proposed taking her to the first island we could
make and there repairing her. We asked Mr Gregson if he would
undertake to land us at Port Louis, offering him at the same time
payment if he would do so; but he positively refused, declaring that
nothing should induce him to go out of his course, and that we must
stick to the ship and work our passage till she reached her destination.
Believing that, as he was short-handed, his object in detaining us was
to get more hands to work the ship, this we positively refused to do.
"Very well, then, we'll see who is master on board the _Kangaroo_," he
replied, with an oath. "You tell me that three of you belong to a
man-of-war; but I find you in a French boat, and how do I know that you
are not deserters or convicts? and I'll treat you as such if you don't
look out." This conduct was so unexpected, and so different from the
kind way in which we had been treated by the passengers, that we did not
know what to say. We agreed to wait till we could consult O'Carroll;
and Trundle undertook to get a look at the chart the captain was using,
and to try and find out where he had placed the ship. The wind had
hitherto continued very light, so that we had made but little way since
we came on board. The day following the unpleasant conversation I have
described, O'Carroll was so much recovered that he was able to come on
deck. Though Irishmen have not the character in general of being good
seamen, I considered from what I had seen of him that he was an
exception to the general rule. I told him what we had remarked.
"When the time comes I'll see what I can do," he answered; "but it is
ticklish work interfering with such fellows as the present master of
this ship, unless one advises the very thing one does not want done."
"We may soon require the exercise of your skill," I remarked. "It
appears to me that there will speedily be a change in the weather."
"Little doubt about that, and we shall have it hot and strong again
soon," he answered, looking round the horizon.
"Not another hurricane, I hope," said I.
"Not quite sure about that," he answered. "Were I master of this ship I
should make all snug for it; but if I were to advise Gregson to do so,
he'd only crack on more sail to show his superior seamanship. I've had
a talk with the surgeon, McDow, a very decent sort of young fellow, and
so I know the man we have to deal with."
An hour or two after this, the wind had increased to half a gale, and
the _Kangaroo_ was tearing away through the sea with a great deal more
sail than a prudent seaman would have carried. Unfortunately William or
Trundle had remarked that it was much more important to shorten sail on
the appearance of bad weather on board a short-handed merchantman, than
on board a man-of-war with a strong crew. I saw O'Carroll looking
anxiously aloft, and then again to windward. At last he could stand it
no longer.
"You'll let the wind take the topmasts out of the ship if you don't look
out, Captain Gregson," he remarked.
"What business have you to come aboard this ship and to pretend to teach
me?" answered the master, who was more than half drunk. "If you do,
take care. I'll turn you out of her, and let you find your own way
ashore."
While he was speaking a loud crack was heard, and the mizen-topmast was
carried over the side. This made him order the crew aloft to shorten
sail. "You go too, you lazy youngsters!" he exclaimed, seeing William
and Trundle on deck.
They sprung up the rigging without a word of reply. I watched them with
great anxiety, for the masts bent like whips, and I was afraid every
moment to see the main share the fate of the mizen-mast, to the
destruction of all on the yards. Still the master, as if indifferent to
what might happen, was not even looking aloft. The two midshipmen had
just reached the top, and were about to lie along the yard, when
O'Carroll shouted: "Down, all of you; down, for your lives!"
His voice arrested their progress, and two of the men already on the
yards sprang back into the top; but the warning came too late for the
rest. A tremendous squall struck the ship. Over she heeled, till the
lee bulwarks were under water. A loud crash followed. Away went the
main-topmast, and yard, and struggling sail, carrying six human beings
with it. Five were hurled off into the now foaming sea. We saw them
for an instant stretching out their arms, as if imploring that help
which it was beyond our power to give. The ship dashed onward, leaving
them far astern. One still clung to the rigging towing with the spar
alongside. The ship still lay almost on her beam-ends.
O'Carroll saw the possibility of saving the poor fellow. Calling out to
me to lay hold of a rope, one end of which he fastened round his waist,
he plunged overboard. I could scarcely have held it, had not William
and Trundle with Kelson come to my assistance. O'Carroll grasped the
man. "Haul away!" he shouted. In another instant he was on board
again, with the man in his arms. The helm was put up, the ship righted,
the man had got off the foreyard, and away the ship new, with the
fore-topsail wildly bulging out right before the wind. In a few minutes
it was blown from the bolt-ropes in strips, twisted and knotted
together. The mainsail, not without difficulty, was handed, and we
continued to run on under the foresail, the only other sail which
remained entire, and it seemed very probable that that would soon be
blown away.
All this time the terror of the unfortunate passengers was very great--
the more so that it was undefined. They saw the captain, however, every
now and then come into the cabin and toss off a tumbler of strong
rum-and-water, and then return on deck, and shout out with oaths often
contradictory orders. The gale all this time was increasing, until it
threatened to become as violent as the hurricane from which we had
escaped. I could not help wishing that we had not left our leaky little
schooner. We might have reached some land in her. Now we did not know
where we were going, except towards a region of rocks and sandbanks on
which any moment the ship might be hurled. For ourselves it would be
bad enough; but hard indeed for the poor women and children, of whom
there were a dozen or more on board, several of them helpless infants.
As I looked on the man who was thus perilling the lives of his
fellow-creatures by his senseless brutality, I could not help thinking
what a load of guilt rested on his head. His face was flushed, his
features distorted, his eyes rolling wildly, as he walked with irregular
steps up and down the deck, or ever and anon descended to the cabin to
gaze stupidly at his chart, which was utterly useless, and to take a
fresh draught of the liquor which had brought him to that state. Yet he
was a fine, good-looking fellow, and pleasant-mannered enough when sober
and not opposed. I have known several such, who have for years deceived
their owners and others on shore, led by outward appearance, till some
fearful catastrophe has been the result of their pernicious habits.
Night came. The ship continued her mad career through the darkness; the
wind howling and whistling, the loose ropes lashing furiously against
the masts, and the sea roaring around. Below all was confusion.
Numerous articles had broken adrift and were rolling about, the
passengers crouched huddled together in the cabin endeavouring to avoid
them. Mothers pressed their children to their bosoms; the men were
asking each other what was next to happen. The answer came with fearful
import. "Breakers ahead! Breakers ahead!" There was a tremendous
crash, every timber in the ship shook. She was on the rocks.