Away sailed the Lion, those on board exulting in the rich booty they had
obtained, and looking ere many months had passed by once more to tread
the shores of Old England and to enjoy the wealth they had gotten with
so much toil and danger. Good Master Walker, the minister, did his best
to warn them not to trust to the riches they had acquired, that riches
are apt to take to themselves wings and flee away, and that it in no way
follows that because people possess wealth they will have the power of
enjoying it. These and other similar remarks were received by the
officers and men in general with no good grace, and Master Walker lost
popularity simply because no one could deny the truth of his remarks.
"There is many a slip between the cup and the lip," he added one day,
most greatly to the annoyance of his hearers.
The more conscious people are that a thing may probably come to pass,
the more angry they are, if it is against their wish that it should
happen, when they are told so. Antony Waymouth was no despiser of
gold--or rather the good things of life which gold procures--but he
loved his honour more, and he considered it his duty to go in search of
the commander-in-chief and the rest of the fleet, if haply they might
have reached the rendezvous at Bantam. Waymouth had full experience of
the responsibility of power, though he had able assistants in Raymond
and his first officer, Carlingford. Several of the crew had for many
months shown a mutinous disposition, though the storms to which they had
been exposed, the fights in which they had been engaged, and the
prospect of the attack on the Castle of San Pedro, had prevented any
serious outbreak. Now, however, they loudly expressed their disapproval
of continuing the search for Captain Wood, declaring that he and his
consorts must long since have perished, and that they, having collected
so large an amount of wealth, would be acting like fools to remain out a
day longer than they could help. Round the mess-table by day and during
the watches of the night the only subject of conversation was the way in
which they would spend their wealth when they got on shore. Their
disappointment and anger therefore increased greatly when they found
that the time for their return might be indefinitely delayed. Those
even who had hitherto been obedient began to express themselves in a
mutinous manner, and to hint that the sooner another man was captain the
better it would, be for all hands fore and aft. This state of things
was not unknown to Waymouth and his officers, and it put them on their
guard; but while no overt act was committed, it was impossible to take
active steps to bring about a change. As at first, Peter Hagger, the
boatswain, with his mate and Dick Soper, a seaman, were supposed to be
the ringleaders. Though narrowly watched, nothing could be proved
Against them. The captain's two cabin-boys, Oliver Marston and Alfred
Stanhope, proud of the approval they had before received, determined to
discover, if possible, what was wrong. They had taken Dick Lizard into
their councils, assured that he, at all events, might be depended on.
In spite of all their wealth and their anticipations of the pleasures it
might procure, none of either high or low degree on board could boast of
much enjoyment. The happiest person was Master Walker. He was doing
his duty, and leaving the consequences in the hand of Heaven. The
Island of Java was once more sighted and the Harbour of Bantam entered.
No certain news could there be obtained of Captain Wood. Several large
ships of the Hollanders had, however, visited the place since their
departure, and the people had done their best to spread evil reports of
the English. Waymouth cared little for this, but he vowed, should he
ever come across the Hollanders, he would make them pay for their
slanders, and those who knew him best had no doubt that he would put his
threat into execution. Still his chief desire was to go in search of
his friends, but even this could not be done without delay, for, he
having ordered a survey of the Lion, the carpenters reported that she
must undergo a thorough repair before she would be fit to put to sea.
No man knew better than the bold captain of the Lion how to get into the
good graces of people in power, and he soon gained the confidence and
good-will of the King of Bantam. At the same time he was too wise to
put more confidence in his majesty than was necessary; he therefore
carefully kept concealed from him the amount of wealth the Lion had on
board, and rather let him suppose that he and his company were needy
adventurers who had yet their fortunes to make at the point of their
swords, at the same time that the little they possessed they were ready
to expend liberally. This policy answered so well that the repairs of
the Lion were allowed to proceed without interruption.
One enemy, however, could by no means be kept at a distance. It was the
black fever. While still many necessary repairs were yet to be done, it
made its baneful appearance. Strong men who had boldly confronted the
fiercest foes and the raging storm turned pale when they heard that it
had already carried off six of their shipmates. From that time not a
day passed but two or more died. Every one of the company laboured hard
to get the ship ready for sea, under the belief that they should leave
the fell destroyer behind them. Now the qualities of Master Walker, the
chaplain, shone forth brightly, for while others shrank back from
attending on the plague-stricken, he boldly went among the sick and
attended the dying, giving them spiritual counsel and consolation,
tending them, and administering medicines prescribed by the surgeon.
Full thirty of her brave crew had succumbed to the destroyer, before the
Lion, having been got ready for sea, once more ploughed the waters of
the ocean. Still the fever raged. Gladly would those on board have
given all their wealth to have escaped with health from the
plague-stricken ship. Day after day more and more were called away. A
small number only of those who were attacked survived, but so sick and
weak did they remain that their recovery was hardly expected.
Waymouth had received intimation that some ships, supposed to be
English, had been seen farther to the eastward, and from the description
given, believing them to be Captain Wood's squadron, he steered a course
in that direction. On sailed the Lion on her solitary course. The
Angel of Death still pursued her, continuing to summon one after another
of her crew. Hope of finding his consorts, however, allured the brave
captain on in spite of the ravages of the plague and the warnings given
him of the increasing discontent of the crew.
"I know the varlets, and fear them not," he answered. "I showed them
before who was master, and will show them again to their cost."
Meantime, Peter Hagger, the boatswain, had been biding his time and
strengthening his party by every device he could think of. He well knew
that he was watched, but he strove to throw the captain off his guard by
a frankness of manner, an unusual attention to his duties, and the
strictness with which all orders were obeyed. He appeared to have
succeeded so far as to make Waymouth believe that he had abandoned his
evil designs, and might be trusted. In the fore-part of the ship, far
down in her inward depths, was situated his principal storeroom. There
the light of day had never entered since the huge structure had been put
together, nor had fresh air penetrated. It was redolent of pitchy and
tarry odours, with numerous others of a far from fragrant character. A
large horn lantern hung from a beam above, and shed a sickly light
throughout the chamber. Here, seated on chests and casks, with their
heads bent forward together as if in earnest consultation, were about a
dozen seamen. Their naturally ill-favoured countenances were not
improved by long exposure to the burning sun of the tropics. The
presiding spirit among them was evidently Peter Hagger, the boatswain.
"Are we all agreed, mates?" he asked in his usual gruff voice.
"All," said several. "Provided we take no lives," added others. "The
fever has been doing enough of that work lately among us."
"Dead men tell no tales," observed Hagger.
"If we secure the gold we need fear neither dead nor living men,"
observed one of the men, who, from the tone of his voice, was evidently
of superior education to the rest. "If they were ever to come back
without a stiver in their pockets, who would take their word against
ours, when we are rolling in wealth?"
"But if we don't heave them overboard or run them up to the yard-arm,
what are we to do with them?" was a question put by another speaker.
"Why, land them on a desolate island, or sell them to some of these
Easterns, or put them on board a prize with provisions to take them to
the nearest shore, that would be giving them a fair chance of escape,
and no one need complain," was the remark of a mutineer who had sided
with Hagger.
"That will do," observed the boatswain. "And now, mates, the sooner we
set about this work the better. To my mind there's no time like the
present. Every day we are going farther and farther to the eastward,
and every day getting more and more out of our reckoning. Now d'ye see?
All we've to do is to sail west, and when we get into the longitude of
Bon Esperanza Cape, steer north, and we'll find our way back to Old
England, never fear."
"Ay, ay! with you as captain, Master Hagger," exclaimed several
mutineers, "we shall go straight forward, not be running here and there,
looking into this port and that port, and all to no purpose, to look for
people who have long since gone to Davy Jones's locker. Peter Hagger
for captain! He's the man we want."
Peter Hagger bent forward, for the height of the cabin did not allow him
to stand upright.
"Mates, I take your terms," he said in a low voice. "I've no wish to
injure any man, least of all Master Waymouth, who has good qualities,
I'll allow; but we must have our rights, and if he has lost his wits--as
there's no doubt he has--it is seemly that some better man should take
his place, and as you choose me, mates, why, I'm not the man to gainsay
you."
"All right, Captain Hagger; all right," said several of the men. "But
what is it you would have us do?"
"That's what I was coming to," answered Hagger, still more lowering his
voice till it was only audible to those who put their ears close to his
mouth.
The men talked long and earnestly together, till all their plans seemed
matured. Not only were their plans matured, but they appeared confident
of success. One by one they stole off from their place of meeting.
They had no fear of having been overheard, for, suspecting that such had
before been the case, they had now placed sentries to give notice of the
approach of any one they might suspect. Separating, they went to their
hammocks, and, what may seem strange, all except the arch-mutineer slept
as soundly as if their consciences were free from blame. He could not
rest; for though he believed that he was on the point of obtaining the
object of his desires--the larger portion of the store of wealth
contained in the Lion--yet all the time he was conscious that he had not
the ability to retain command over the lawless band who had selected him
as their leader, nor the knowledge necessary to navigate the ship to an
English port. Still he was determined to persevere in his mad course.
He trusted to chance for the future. The wealth he was resolved to have
at all risks. The following night had been fixed on for the outbreak.
It was the middle watch. The weather even for those latitudes was hot
and close. Many of the officers found their cabins too warm to allow
them to sleep, and had come on deck to endeavour to obtain rest. Some
had thrown themselves down in spots where they were unobserved, and had
gone to sleep. Miles Carlingford had charge of the watch, with the two
young cabin-boys, Stanhope and Marston, under him. The captain,
accompanied by Edward Raymond, after a time came also on deck. Waymouth
cast his eyes round the horizon several times as he slowly paced up and
down with Raymond.
"I like not the look of the midnight sky," he observed to Carlingford;
"I have known black storms, with fury so terrible that scarcely the
stoutest ships could withstand them, spring out of such. We must be on
the watch. With our weakened crew we cannot shorten sail as we were
wont to do, and yet I would not rouse up the men unnecessarily."
"Ay, ay, sir, I'll not let my eyes wink," answered Carlingford; "but I
hope the weather may clear without the storm. Still, there is no
telling in these latitudes what may happen. I would we were out of
them."
"So do I, Master Carlingford, believe me, most heartily," answered the
captain. "I promise you, too, that if in two days we do not discover
the admiral we will shape a course for the Cape of Bon Esperanza; after
recruiting ourselves there we will lose no time in sailing for Old
England."
"It will be a happy time indeed, sir, when we again see the white cliffs
of our native land," remarked Raymond, anxious to keep his chief up to
his intentions. "I would that the crew were made acquainted with your
intentions; it would tranquillise their minds, and banish the discontent
in which they now indulge."
"They will know in good time," answered Waymouth, somewhat angrily. "It
does not do to yield to their fancies, or they will become masters over
those they are bound to obey."
Scarcely had he spoken when from each of the hatchways, which had been
left open on account of the heat, numerous dark forms sprang up, though
so silently that neither did he nor the other officers who were looking
seaward hear or observe them. Like tigers on their prey the men threw
themselves on the knot of officers, who were instantly brought violently
to the deck, and pinioned before they had time to cry out. In vain they
struggled; they were dragged to the guns, to one of which Waymouth,
Carlingford, Raymond, and the two cabin-boys were securely lashed almost
before the rest of the officers on deck had sprung to their feet,
aroused by the cries they made. None had arms; and the rest of the
mutineers, rushing aft, grappled with them, threatening vengeance if
they resisted. Surprised and bewildered by the suddenness of the
attack, scarcely aware by whom it was made, they were easily knocked
down and secured.
The Welsh surgeon, Ap Reece, was below, sleeping soundly in spite of the
heat and the noise, fatigued with his attendance on the sick, who were
still numerous. The shouts and cries of his struggling brother officers
awoke him, and, seizing a rapier and a brace of pistols, which he stuck
in his belt, he was about to spring on deck to their assistance, when it
occurred to him that it would be wiser to ascertain exactly what was
occurring. The words which reached his ears--"Mutiny! mutiny! Help!
help! Loyal men to the rescue!"--showed him clearly the state of the
case.
"The scoundrels will be waiting to knock all who are below on the head
as they come up," he thought to himself; "but I will disappoint them."
Thereon he began to make his way forward, where he was sure of finding
some of the men ready to side with him. There was a passage from one
end of the ship to the other, and at the division between the officers'
quarters and the fore-part a sentry was usually placed, but sickness had
so diminished the numbers of the crew that there were not enough men to
perform any but the most necessary duties. Ap Reece groped his way on
in darkness. He heard some men hallooing out, but it was evident that
they were bound, and could render him no assistance till they were
released. On a sudden a hand grasped his arm.
"Who is this?" said a voice which he recognised as that of honest Dick
Lizard.
"A friend to all hands," answered the surgeon. "I hope that you have
not turned mutineer, Dick."
"No, indeed, I should hope not, sir," replied Dick indignantly; "I have
a guess of what's going on. What can we do to help the officers? All
the true men are bound hand and foot, and I'm the only one who managed
to slip away."
"We won't despair, Dick; are you armed?" asked the surgeon.
"I've a hanger, sir," was the answer.
"Come here and I'll give you some pistols," said Ap Reece. "Now we'll
first loose all the true men, and then make a rush together and release
the captain, if we can find him. With a sword in his hand he'll soon
give good account of the mutineers and bring them to terms."
The surgeon, stepping back, armed Dick as he had promised, and together
they found their way without interruption to the fore-hatch. As they
got their heads up to the coamings they perceived that the scuffling had
ceased, though the voices of a few of the officers were heard upbraiding
the men for their treachery.
"My friends, I beseech you to be silent. Let me speak to these
misguided men," said a voice which they recognised to be that of Master
Walker, the minister. "Mutineers!--for such you are--you are triumphing
now in the success of your scheme, and the fancied possession of all the
wealth this ship contains; but first let me ask you what does it
advantage you now? Nothing. What can it ever advantage you? You can
never enjoy it; for be assured that the vengeance of Heaven will
overtake you sooner or later; even now, wretched men, it is preparing
for you."
"Cease, cease, Master Walker," exclaimed Hagger, stepping up to the
minister. "We wish you no ill; necessity makes us act as we do. We
want to injure no one, but we won't stand opposition, and I for one
cannot be answerable for the consequences."
It is needless to say that this threat was accompanied by numerous oaths
which need not be repeated; in truth, Peter Hagger never spoke without
interlarding his remarks with expressions of that description.
Ap Reece guessed correctly that the appeal of Master Walker would have
no present beneficial effect, and therefore he and Lizard slipped down
below again and made their way to the cabins of some of the inferior
officers whom the latter believed had not joined in the mutiny. Two of
them, the gunner and carpenter, were found lashed in their berths, not
having the slightest conception of what had occurred, and believing that
they were the only sufferers. A few brief words explained matters to
them. Three other men who had positively refused to join the mutiny
were found lashed in different parts of the ship. They were released,
hangers were placed in their hands, and, together, led by Ap Reece, they
sprang on deck and rushed aft to where the officers lay bound, their
principal object being to release Captain Waymouth and then to attack
the mutineers.
As they were on their way, a shout and a loud oath from Hagger, who saw
them coming, called the attention of his followers, the boatswain
throwing himself before the captain at the moment Ap Reece was about
with his hanger to sever the lashings which bound him. The surgeon was
therefore compelled to use his weapon to defend his own life, for the
boatswain, seeing what he was about, attacked him with the greatest
fury, and a desperate combat ensued. Lizard and the other men, foiled
in their attempt to release some of the officers, were fighting for
their lives. Dick and his party were, however, able to keep their
immediate opponents at bay, the chief interest centring between Ap Reece
and the boatswain. Hagger was a huge, powerful man, with around
bullet-head covered by black shaggy hair, and a face of the bull-dog
type. Ap Reece, on the contrary, was a slight active man, but he made
up by activity what he wanted in strength. He, too, had science, which
the boatswain had not, and altogether the combatants were not unevenly
matched. The great strength of the boatswain gave him, however,
somewhat the advantage, as he wisely only stood on the defensive,
allowing the surgeon to exhaust his powers. Ap Reece sprang round and
round him--now he retreated, now he advanced, but to no purpose--Hagger
was not to be betrayed into abandoning his tactics. He waited his
opportunity. It came. The surgeon's foot slipped, and unable to
recover himself, his knees came with great force on the deck. At that
instant a flash of lightning darting from the clouds revealed the
combatants to each other.
"Hagger, I saved your life once when all hope seemed gone," exclaimed Ap
Reece, as the mutineer's weapon was about to descend on his head. "I
don't ask for my life from you or such a one as you. Strike, and add a
gross act of folly to your crimes and madness. But the fever has not
left the ship yet; and the time will come ere long when you and your
comrades in your night's work will want my aid, and will be ready to
give for it all the gold you have got in your possession. Strike, I
say."
The boatswain's hanger was again lifted as if to strike, when one of his
own party sprang forward.
"Hold, hold, Master Hagger," he cried out, interposing his own weapon.
"Our surgeon speaks the truth. We, any one of us, may want doctoring
ere an hour be over, and who's to doctor us an' we trust to Tim
Rosemerry, who swears he knows the whole art, from having served an
apprenticeship for six mouths to a foreign leech in the city of
Westminster? I put it, mates, are we to have a doctor who knows
nothing, or a friend who has set many of us on his legs when we thought
that we were never to walk again?"
"Let the doctor live! let the doctor live!" exclaimed all the men,
surrounding the boatswain, who dropped the point of his weapon.
"Thanks, friends. I accept my life, for I have no wish to lose it,"
said Ap Reece, rising to his feet. "The sick I will doctor as before;
but remember, I will sanction no act of violence or cruelty while I
remain with you."
"Oh, we are all honourable men here," cried several of the men in a
derisive tone, to which remark the surgeon thought it imprudent to
reply.
While this scene was acting, Dick Lizard and his companions were
exchanging blows with the rest of the mutineers; but overwhelmed by
numbers, two were killed, and Dick and another were brought to the deck
badly wounded. Dick had been a general favourite; and although the
mutineers were exasperated with him for the attack he had made on them,
and for the unmeasured abuse he now heaped on their heads, they agreed
he was too good a fellow to be put out of the way, and that if he would
keep a civil tongue in his head, he should live. This was a somewhat
difficult task for honest Dick, though, when his life was offered, like
a wise man he accepted it without thinking it necessary to make any
stipulations.
The mutineers had now decidedly gained the day; the officers were forced
at the sword's point to go below, and each was confined in his own
cabin. The threatening state of the weather made Hagger anxious to
arrange matters. There was no wind, but an ominous swell had got up
which made the ship roll heavily, and loud claps of thunder rattled
through the sky, while vivid flashes of forked lightning darted from the
clouds, hissing like fiery serpents along the surface of the ocean, or
playing round the masts and threatening the Lion with destruction.
Waymouth lay in his cabin, feeling like a chained beast of the forest
eager to be loose, indignant at the treachery practised on him, and
feeling also the probability that the ignorant men who had been guilty
of this act of atrocity would wreck the ship, and involve both
themselves and him and his officers in a common destruction. He knew
that they were totally unaware of the intricacies of the navigation
through which the Lion had got so far to the eastward, and that it would
be impossible for them unaided to retrace their course. He had perhaps
a grim satisfaction in contemplating this, though all his own prospects
of wealth would vanish, and life itself be lost. At length, however,
the very intensity of his feelings overcame him, and he fell asleep.
His sleep was far from refreshing, and his dreams were strangely
troubled. Yet on he slept for some time, he believed. Whenever he felt
himself waking, he forced himself to doze off again rather than awake to
the disagreeable realities of his position. At length, however, the
violent rolling and pitching of the ship roused him completely up. The
roar of the sea, the howling of the wind, the dashing of the waves on
the side of the ship, the rattling of blocks and ropes, and the tramp
and shouts of men overhead, convinced him that the long-expected strife
of the elements had begun. The rolling and pitching and jerking of the
ship became more and more violent, the washing of the water up the sides
and over the deck showed him that the sea was running high, and the way
in which the ship occasionally heeled over showed him that the gale was
blowing furiously. The sounds which reached him from the deck told him
also that efforts were being made to shorten sail.
"The mutinous varlets! Now is the occasion to prove their seamanship,
if they have any," he muttered to himself. "What the idiots will do it
is hard to say, except let the good ship drive on the rocks. What are
they about now? There's not one of them can stow the mainsail properly
but Hagger in a gale like this. They'll capsize the stout ship, or send
the masts over the sides--the idiots!"
Thus he spoke, or rather thought, for some time. The ship plunged on
through the mountainous seas, her timbers creaking and groaning as if
they were about to be torn asunder. The cabin was in obscurity, for all
the hatches were battened down, and not without good reason, for the
foaming seas often broke so completely over the ship that without this
precaution she might have filled and gone bodily down. Waymouth
believed that the day was advancing from the sensations of hunger which
he was beginning to experience. In vain he tried to release himself
from the ropes which bound him. The more he struggled the tighter they
became. Nor could he manage to get his mouth down to any part of the
rope, or he would have tried to gnaw it asunder with his teeth. He
shouted over and over again to his friends in captivity; but though the
sound of his voice reached them, he could not, from the noises in the
interior of the ship, make out what they said in return. They were
evidently as securely bound as he was, and also confined in their
cabins.
"Patience is a virtue, I doubt not, but it is sore difficult to exercise
it just now," he said to himself, with a mocking laugh.
Suddenly the ship heeled over more than ever--there was a loud crash--
the sea seemed with fierce roars to be washing over her--shrieks and
cries of distress reached his ears even where he lay. Again she
righted, and seemed to go tearing on through the ocean as before.
"One or more of our masts have gone," muttered Waymouth. "Well, let
them go; it is but the beginning of the end. The sooner those
scoundrels find out their folly the better. Had we shortened sail as I
was about to do, this disaster would have been avoided."
On, on went the ship, plunging down, again to be lifted up, truly
reeling to and fro like a drunken man. Once more she was pressed down;
another fearful crash followed, and there were piercing shrieks and
cries. Waymouth believed fully that the ship was foundering; but no,
she rose again, and rushed on still more unsteadily than before. On, on
she went. Time was pressing. A hatch was removed for an instant, and a
gleam of light penetrated into the cabin. Again it was obscured, and a
lantern was lighted; three or four men descended. Waymouth heard them
go to his lieutenant's cabin. They were offering him the command, if he
would help them out of their difficulties. An indignant refusal was the
reply.
"Scoundrels that you are, you may all sink with us before I'll take
charge of the ship while the rightful commander remains alive," said
Carlingford.
They then applied to Raymond, who was known to be a good navigator. His
reply was of the same nature. None of the temptations the mutineers
could hold out would induce an officer of any rank acquainted with
navigation to take command. A consultation was then held, and after
some time the mutineers approached the cabin where Waymouth lay. The
light of a lantern flashed on his eyes, and, the door opening, Hagger,
Soper, and other mutineers stood before him.
"What is your pleasure with me, knaves?" he asked in a haughty,
undaunted tone.
"An' please your honour, the ship is driving we know not where, and is
like to strike on some strange rock or island, if she go not down
first," said Hagger, holding his hat in his hand.
"Maybe: it is what I expected," answered Waymouth calmly. "When fools
take the helm, they are certain to steer to destruction."
"An' please your honour, we wish to know whether you will please to take
charge of the ship, and save her and all on board," said Soper humbly.
"Likely enough--to have my throat cut, and the throats of the gentlemen
with me, by you mutinous varlets, when you find the ship in safety,"
answered Waymouth. "No, knaves; you have brought yourselves into this
strait, and you may get out of it as best you may."
"If your honour will take command and save the ship, and overlook our
conduct, we will be obedient in future," said Soper, who acted as
spokesman.
"Seize that man, then, and put him in irons first," answered Waymouth,
casting his glance on Hagger, who clapped his hand on his hanger, as if
about to defend himself, but the rest threw themselves on him, and bore
him in spite of his great strength to the deck.
"Now haste and release my officers, and beg them to come here,"
continued Waymouth, addressing one of the men who was not required to
hold the chief mutineer.
Raymond, Carlingford, Master Walker, Ap Reece, and the other officers
quickly made their appearance, surprised at the turn matters had taken.
In their presence he made the mutineers cast off his fetters, and
ordering Hagger to be bound and secured in a place of safety, he
exclaimed, "Follow me, gentlemen!" and sprang with an elastic step on
deck. The scene which met his eye was, however, far from encouraging.
Two of the masts had gone by the board, and now hung with a mass of
rigging and shattered spars over the sides. Part of the foremast only
was standing, on which the foresail was set, driving the ship on
furiously through the water, while the seas, foaming up on either hand,
threatened to overwhelm her, and sent the masts and spars dashing like
battering-rams against the sides as if about to stave them in. All the
boats were gone or knocked to pieces, and booms and caboose--indeed, the
sea had made a clean sweep of every thing movable on deck. Fearfully,
too, was the number of the crew diminished--not a dozen mutineers
remained alive; the rest had been carried away when the masts fell, or
had been swept off the decks by the raging seas which had broken on
board. The officers and men who had remained faithful outnumbered the
mutineers. It appeared, however, that human skill and courage would be
but of little avail, and that the gallant ship was doomed to
destruction.
"The scoundrels have summoned us too late," said Waymouth to Miles
Carlingford, a sigh, unheard amid the howling of the tempest, for the
first time escaping his bosom. "Howbeit, we'll do what men can do to
save the ship. Summon all hands with axes to clear the wreck of the
masts."
In an instant every man, accustomed to the commanding voice of his
chief, was actively employed. Ropes and broken spars were quickly
severed, and the shattered masts and their heavy rigging were soon
floating away astern. The huge foresail, which had hitherto threatened
to tear the mast out of the ship, was skilfully reefed, and with
somewhat diminished speed the Lion plunged onward through the foaming
ocean. Still the rate at which she drove was far too great for safety,
yet all had been done that could be done, and Waymouth and his followers
resigned themselves like brave believing men to the rule of Him who
rules the universe, and without whose will not a sparrow falls to the
ground. As they tore on, the masts of a tall ship appeared ahead. Her
more lofty spars and masts were snugly housed, and with the little sail
she carried, evenly balanced, she rode hove to nearly head to wind. On,
on drove the Lion. It was feared that she might strike the stranger.
With difficulty this was avoided. People were seen on the stranger's
deck, but no assistance could be expected from them. No flag flew from
her peak. Her nation could not be ascertained; she might be a Hollander
or a Portugal--scarcely English, from the appearance of the people and
her build; certainly not one of Admiral Wood's squadron. The people on
board waved and shouted, but their voices were unheard. A board was
shown, but ere what was written on it could be deciphered the Lion had
driven a long way by. Soon the stranger was lost to sight; no aid could
be hoped for from her. On, on drove the once-gallant Lion, now, a
helpless wreck on the waste of waters. Far from abating, the fury of
the storm increased. Another damage was discovered; the wreck of the
mast had struck the rudder, and now a sea carried it away. Dreadfully
the battered ship laboured through the foaming seas. The well was
sounded. Aghast, the carpenters declared that there were seven feet of
water in the hold.
"To the pumps! to the pumps!" was the cry.
The diminished crew began to labour at the pumps, but weakened by
disease they could hardly gain on the water. Buckets were employed, and
those who could not work at the pumps passed them from hand to hand from
below, but even thus but little progress was made in freeing the ship.
All hands must work. The arch-mutineer Hagger was released from his
shackles, and came to take his spell at the pumps. Without remonstrance
he obeyed, though somewhat sulkily. The sick came from below, but soon
sank overcome with the exertion. Others, too, who had hitherto escaped
were struck by the fever. Those whom the sea had spared disease now
grasped, and the numbers of the crew of the ill-fated Lion began again
fearfully to diminish. Still the gale blew, and still the ship drove
on. At last, the almost unknown Pacific was entered. What land would
bring them up no one could tell.
They had no chart to guide--no knowledge of the unmeasured ocean across
which they were driving. Thus the Lion helplessly pursued her course,
the sport of the raging tempest, and vanished, as it were, into
obscurity.