"Breakers! Breakers on the starboard bow." The helm was put
a-starboard, in the hopes of avoiding the reef.
"Breakers! Breakers ahead!" again shouted Jack Windy. "Breakers on the
larboard bow!"
"Grimshaw, come and help Mr Tatham at the helm," shouted Mr Collinson;
and he went forward, scanning the raging, breaking sea ahead.
Soon it seemed as if all around there was a semicircle of white foam,
rising like a lofty wall to impede their progress. Just in one spot
there appeared to be a break. He hurried aft and put the helm to port,
boldly steering the schooner towards it.
Still there was but little hope. Destruction seemed to await the vessel
and all on board. On, on she flew. In another instant there was a
fearful crash, and the masts bent like willow wands. Over they went,
carrying two poor fellows with them, whose death-shriek was heard above
the roar of the breakers. Again the schooner struck. Another sea came
roaring up astern, as if it would wash all from her decks and hurl them
to destruction. The remainder of the crew clung to ring-bolts or
stanchions, or whatever they could grasp. The sea lifted the schooner
and sent her farther on the reef. Again and again she struck, as if
every timber was about to separate. Another sea roared up, and striking
her like a huge hammer, broke her into a thousand fragments, sending
those on board far into the water, clinging to the fragments. Happily
she had been driven almost over the reef, on the inner side of which the
sea was comparatively smooth. Thus those who had been clinging to
portions of the wreck were able to support themselves.
Sunshine Bill had been holding on to a ring-bolt in the deck, and when
the ship broke up, he found himself still doing so, and floating on a
portion of it which had been sent a considerable distance from the reef.
He looked around him to see if any of his shipmates had also escaped
immediate destruction. As far as he could see, the water seemed covered
with pieces of timber, which were torn off from the wreck. Among them
he thought he could distinguish some human forms. He shouted. A voice
answered him: it was that of Tommy Rebow, close to him, floating on a
fragment of the bulwarks.
"Oh! Help me, Bill! Help me! I cannot hold on much longer, and the
piece of wood I have hold of is scarcely enough to keep me afloat."
Bill felt tolerably secure where he was, yet he could not bear the
thoughts of letting Tommy perish if he could help him; so, leaving his
own piece of the wreck, he struck out towards his messmate. He
fortunately had not many yards to go before he got up with Tommy.
"Hold on," he said, "and I'll tow your raft up to mine. I don't want to
run the risk of letting you catch me round the neck as you did the other
day. But cheer up; I don't think we're going to die this time."
With these encouraging words, Bill towed Tommy up to the piece of deck,
which was amply large enough to support them both. Having got on it
himself, he managed, though not without difficulty, to hand Tommy up
also, and there together they clung to the ring-bolt.
"I wonder who else has escaped?" said Bill. "I'll shout out. Listen if
anybody answers."
Even to Tommy, Bill found it necessary to speak very loud, on account of
the roar of the breakers, which seemed even louder on that side of the
reef than on the other.
"Anybody floating away there?" shouted Bill, his shrill voice being
heard above the dull roar of the ocean. "Hark! I hear two or three
voices replying," said Bill. "Let's give them a cheer, to keep up their
spirits; perhaps they will come and join us here. I do hope Mr
Collinson has escaped, and Jack Windy, and poor old Grim, and the other
fellows too. Yes, I am nearly certain that is Jack's voice."
"Is there room for anybody else where you are?"
"Yes!" shouted Bill and Tommy. "Plenty for you, if you will come to
us."
In a short time Jack managed to swim up to the raft. It was very
evident that it had been drifting still farther away from the reef.
They helped Jack up as he reached the raft, considerably exhausted by
his swim.
"We have got inside a lagoon," he observed when he was seated on deck.
"If it had not been for that, we should all have been dead by this time.
But I have some hopes that others may have escaped. Look away down
there to leeward. Can't you see something rising up against the sky?
They look to me like cocoa-nut trees, and I should not be surprised if
there's an island down there, and that, if we are in luck, we shall be
landed on it before the night is over."
Bill thought with Jack that he could see trees.
"Well," he said, "we at all events have to be thankful; but I do hope
Mr Collinson has escaped. What would that poor young lady do if he was
drowned? I should not like to go back to Jamaica to have to tell her.
Dear me! It makes my heart bleed to think of it."
"I can't help thinking that there are some other people down away there,
holding on to other pieces of the wreck," said Jack; "but, you see, the
breakers make such a roar that 'tis hard to hear a hail at any distance.
I only just heard your's and Tommy's squeaking voices, and I was not
half as far off as those pieces of the wreck are. Well, it's an awful
scene. I never saw a vessel go to pieces so quickly before; but then,
to be sure, it's not often a craft gets such tremendous blows as she
did. Nothing made of wood and iron could have held together, I am sure,
on that reef."
While Jack was making these remarks, he was looking out to try and get
some smaller pieces of timber to serve, he said, as paddles. At length
they came up with a floating spar--for it must be understood that they
were moving faster through the water than the other pieces of wreck,
owing to their bodies holding the wind and serving as sails. Jack
managed to secure this prize, and Bill directly afterwards got hold of a
piece of board. As the water was smoother the farther they got away
from the reef, they were the better able to use these paddles, not being
obliged to cling any longer to the ring-bolt. As they advanced, the
shadowy forms of the trees appeared before them, becoming at length
sufficiently distinct to assure them that an island was at no great
distance. A surf, however, broke on the shore, though it did not appear
to be very dangerous. They could just see a sandy beach, a few feet
high only, with a grove of tall trees. At length, hurried on by the
gale, and by their own exertions, the raft reached the beach, when a sea
striking it washed them off, though happily they were thrown
sufficiently high up the sand to enable them to gain their feet and
scramble up out of the way of the succeeding sea.
Sunshine Bill did not forget to whom he was indebted for his
preservation, and falling on his knees, to the surprise of his
companions, he offered up a short thanksgiving for his safety.
"And I am sure we ought to be thankful too," said Jack, imitating his
example.
"And I wish you would just say a word for me," said Tommy. "I am not
much accustomed to pray--I never learnt."
"Oh! Tommy," said Bill, "it doesn't require practice. God doesn't care
about the words. Just thank Him from your heart, and never mind how you
speak your thanks."
"I say, Jack, let us look out and see if we cannot help some of the
other fellows," said Bill, as he rose from his knees. "Maybe they will
come ashore more exhausted than we are, and perhaps not be able to help
themselves out of the water."
Jack and the two boys stood looking out over the lagoon. They could see
the white wall of foam as it rose over the reef, and between it and them
could distinguish several floating objects, but whether human beings or
pieces of the wreck, it was hard to tell.