That evening, short though it was--for Harper insisted that we should
all retire early--was the most delightful that I had ever spent,
although everybody would persist in talking of what they termed my
"exploit", the ladies telling me over and over again how profound was
their gratitude to me for saving the life of the being who was
evidently, to them, the most important person in the world, while the
men said all sorts of complimentary and flattering things about my
courage in plunging overboard in such a tremendous sea, and so on, so
that my cheeks were aflame with blushes all the time. But the absolute
sincerity of their gratitude and admiration and the friendly warmth of
their feeling toward me were so transparently evident in everything they
said, that despite the feeling of embarrassment that oppressed me, I was
very happy, the more so that nothing was said or even hinted at
concerning a reward for what I had done. For--perhaps because of my
youth--my pride was intensely sensitive; and while I greatly valued
their gratitude and friendship--and I may as well be frank enough to
add, their admiration--any hint of reward would have wounded my
self-respect to the quick.
In consequence of the doctor's injunction as to our early retirement
that night, we did not adjourn to the drawing-room, as usual, but when
the cloth was removed Mrs Vansittart announced her intention of
remaining with us while we sipped our coffee and Harper and Monroe
smoked their cigars; and Miss Anthea also remained. And it was then
that I learned how very narrow had been the escape of the lad Julius
from drowning.
It appeared that when, owing to the sudden and violent lurch of the
ship, he had been hurled athwart the deck and against the lee rail of
the poop, the impact of his body upon the hard wood was so severe that
the breath was completely knocked out of him, while the pain must have
been so great as practically to paralyse him for the moment and render
him quite unable to do anything to help himself. Hence the probability
was that, once in the water, he would have sunk for good and all, and
that but for my promptitude in diving after him he would never again
have been seen. And when at length he was got aboard, he was so nearly
gone that Harper's skill and resources were taxed to their uttermost for
more than two hours before any sign of returning animation manifested
itself; while it was not until the afternoon was well advanced that the
medico was able to assert with assurance that the lad would recover.
Even so, there was the probability that, with all the care and skilful
treatment he could possibly receive, it would be at least three or four
days before Julius could be up and about again.
According to routine, it was my eight hours out that night; but Harper's
fiat had already gone forth that I was to spend the whole night in my
bunk. Therefore upon leaving the dining-room I at once retired to my
cabin, turned in, and slept soundly until I was called at eight o'clock
on the following morning, when I arose, thoroughly recuperated, and
feeling as well as ever.
The first thing I noticed, while dressing, was that it was a brilliantly
fine morning, for the sunshine was streaming powerfully in through my
port, flooding the cabin with its radiance; and the next thing was that
the ship's motion was easy and buoyant, from which I inferred that the
gale was over and that we had passed beyond the area over which it had
swept. But in this last supposition I was mistaken, as was to appear
later. Still, when I went on deck everything went to justify the
belief, for the sky was cloudless, the wind had sunk to a royal breeze
from the eastward, the sea had gone down, leaving nothing but a long low
northerly swell, and we were reeling off our twelve knots easily and
comfortably, as I learned had been the case ever since midnight.
When I climbed to the poop, Mrs Vansittart was already there, attired
in a fine-weather rig of white, with a white cover on her yachting cap.
She immediately came up to me and, shaking hands, expressed the hope
that I had entirely recovered from the effects of yesterday's ducking
and exertions. Then, as I replied in the affirmative and in return
enquired how her son was progressing, she deftly drew me aft to the
taffrail, out of earshot of Briscoe, the second mate, who was sourly
regarding us both, and said:
"Now, Walter, there is just a word or two that I want to say to you, and
this is as good an opportunity as any to say it. I will not repeat what
I said to you last night in reference to my gratitude to you for saving
dear Julius's life, for I hope I then made it quite clear to you that I
shall always regard myself as under an obligation to you which it will
be quite impossible for me ever adequately to repay. But this is what I
wish you to understand. I have decided that in the interests of good
discipline, and to guard against the possibility of arousing unworthy
jealousy,"--here, whether by accident or design, she allowed her gaze to
rest for a moment upon the second mate's somewhat ungainly figure--"I
shall treat you, while on duty, precisely as I do my other officers,
making no distinction whatever in my behaviour between you and them. I
feel sure that you would prefer it so; would you not? Of course. Very
well, then, that is clearly understood between us; but I thought it best
to mention the matter, so that there shall be no misapprehension.
"And now, as to Julius. The dear boy is very much better, I am thankful
to say; but Dr Harper thinks it is best that he should remain in bed
for to-day at least. I find that he has not the faintest recollection
of what happened to him after he fell into the water until he came to
himself in his bed, so I have told him everything, and made it perfectly
clear to him that he owes his life to you. Of course he is grateful,
and wishes you to go down and see him a little later on in order that he
may personally thank you; but--well--if he should seem not quite so
grateful to you as he ought to be I beg that you will not think badly of
him, Walter. Having been unconscious all the time that he was in the
water, I can quite understand--cannot you?--that he is unable to
appreciate very clearly the awful risk you ran in effecting his rescue,
and the magnitude of his indebtedness to you. And--yes--there is
another thing. He is an only son--and--well, I am beginning to think
that perhaps we have all united together to spoil him a bit, so that,
you see--"
The poor lady was becoming more and more embarrassed with every word she
uttered, I therefore thought it high time to come to her relief; so I
said:
"Dear madam, I beg that you will not distress yourself by attempting any
further explanation. I see exactly how the matter stands; and believe
me, I shall not be in the smallest degree disappointed if I find that
Julius's gratitude is less eloquent in its expression than your own.
After all, he is still very young; he has no knowledge of what actually
happened, except what you have told him; and I doubt very much whether
any boy of his age possesses the capacity to conjure up a very lively
feeling of gratitude for an obligation of which he knows nothing except
from hearsay. Therefore I hope that you will not allow yourself to
worry over any seeming lukewarmness on his part."
"Thank you, Walter; a thousand thanks!" she said, laying her hand upon
my arm. "It is generous of you to feel about it as you do, and it
increases the load of my obligation to you. But I see that you
perfectly understand, so I will say no more about it. As soon as Dr
Harper says you can see Julius, I will send for you."
The interview with Julius took place shortly after six bells in the
forenoon watch, the boy's mother and the doctor being present; and after
what the former had said to me by way of preparation, I was not at all
surprised to find that Master Julius's thanks were expressed in a very
perfunctory, offhand manner, with not much of the ring of sincerity
about them. But I made allowances for him, for I saw that the lad was
still only in the early stage of convalescence; also, it was perfectly
clear that he did not in the least realise the fact that he had all but
lost his life.
The cabin in which he lay was very large, light, airy, and most
beautifully furnished, with every convenience and luxury that the most
fastidious person could possibly desire; and it was quite painful to see
its occupant, on his handsome and capacious brass bedstead, under a most
beautiful embroidered silk coverlet, and surrounded by everything that
heart could wish for, lying there wan, peevish, irritable, dissatisfied
with everybody and everything, seemingly because his doting parents had
gratified his every whim and humoured his every caprice. It was quite
evident that he regarded me with almost if not quite as great distaste
as ever; he even seemed to consider it a grievance that he owed his life
to a despised Britisher; and seeing how acutely his mother was
distressed at his ungracious manner toward me, I contented myself by
saying a few words of sympathy with him on his illness, and brought my
visit to a speedy close.
Five bells in the afternoon watch had just been struck, and I was once
more on duty, when a man who had been sent aloft to attend to some small
matter hailed the deck from the main topsail yard to report that, some
ten miles distant, and broad on our weather beam, there was something
that had the appearance of a dismasted wreck. In reply to this the
skipper, who was on deck, requested Kennedy to take the ship's telescope
up into the main topmast crosstrees and ascertain what the object really
was. This was done; and in due time the mate came down and reported
that the object, as seen through the glass, proved to be a biggish lump
of a craft, either a ship or a barque, totally dismasted, with the
wreckage of her spars still floating alongside, and to all appearance
derelict. We at once hauled our wind, and shortly afterward tacked; and
by eight bells we were up with the wreck and hove to within biscuit-toss
to leeward of the craft. Then Briscoe, the second mate, in charge of
one of the whalers, was sent away to give the derelict--for such she
seemed to be--an overhaul.
The craft was a wooden vessel, of about our own tonnage, painted black
with a broad white ribbon chequered with false ports; she had a Dutch
look about her; and, from her model, was evidently somewhat elderly.
She had been ship-rigged, and from the appearance of the wreckage
alongside had been caught unawares, very probably by the recent
hurricane, and dismasted. She had a short, full poop, and as she rolled
heavily toward us we caught sight of what looked like the shattered
framework of a deckhouse close abaft the stump of her foremast; also,
there were the remains of two boats dangling from davits on her
quarters; from all of which appearances we concluded that she had passed
through a pretty desperate experience.
But what had become of her crew? There had been no sign of them when we
closed with and hailed her, nor had any of them appeared since; yet the
wreckage of the boats hanging from her davits made it difficult for us
to believe that they had abandoned the ship. True, there was no sign of
a longboat such as is usually stowed on the main-hatch of a merchantman,
but we could hardly believe that the crew had taken to her in preference
to the two quarter boats; for after the fall of the spars it would have
been difficult to launch so heavy a boat, unless indeed they had run her
overboard, fisherman fashion, through the wide gap in her bulwarks
amidships on both sides, where not only the planking but also the
stanchions had been swept away.
Shortly after the departure of Briscoe we drifted into a position which
enabled us to get a view of the stranger's stern. This confirmed our
first surmise respecting her origin, for beneath a row of smashed cabin
windows we read the words: "Anna Waarden. Amsterdam."
Briscoe remained aboard the wreck about three-quarters of an hour; and,
upon his return, reported that the craft was derelict, and that there
was nothing to show how the crew had left her, except that it appeared
to have been with the utmost suddenness, for there was no sign of their
having taken anything with them. Even the ship's papers--which he found
in the captain's stateroom and brought away with him--had been left
behind; and that the disaster could only have occurred very recently was
proved by the logbook, which had been entered up to within a few hours
of the moment when the hurricane struck us, while Briscoe had found the
chronometer still going.
He added that he had sounded the well and found barely a foot of water
in it; and that, after careful examination, he had come to the
conclusion that the hull was sound. If Mrs Vansittart would supply him
with a crew, he believed he could fit the craft with a jury rig and take
her into port. The logbook showed that she had sailed from Batavia,
homeward bound for Amsterdam, sixteen days before the date upon which we
fell in with her; while her papers made it clear that she was laden with
a cargo quite rich enough to justify the attempt at salvage. The result
of this report was that Mrs Vansittart summoned the crew aft, explained
to them, through Kennedy, the nature of the second mate's report and his
request to be allowed to salve the hull and cargo, and then called for
volunteers for the job.
The prospect of salvage money proved tempting enough to induce some
twenty men to come forward, of whom Kennedy chose fifteen, including the
boatswain's and carpenter's mates; whereupon the purser was instructed
to make up the men's accounts to date and pay them off. While the first
part of this business--namely, the making up of the accounts--was being
attended to, those who had volunteered went below and packed their kits,
then brought them on deck and threw them into the first cutter, which
Mrs Vansittart gave them, after which they went aboard the Hollander
and got to work.
The arrangement was that if Briscoe found the ship sound, he was, if
possible, to follow us to Colombo. If the yacht should be there upon
his arrival, he was to turn over his salvaged vessel to the proper
authorities, and, with his crew, rejoin the _Stella Maris_. But if for
any reason this plan should be found impracticable, he was to act
according to his own discretion, preferably navigating the ship to the
nearest port at which she could be refitted, and thence taking her home.
Half an hour afterward Grimwood, the purser, reported that he had made
up his accounts and withdrawn from the safe the amount of money required
to pay off the volunteers, whereupon I was ordered to take the whaler,
which was still in the water, veered astern, convey the purser aboard
the other craft, and, while he was engaged upon his business, take a
look round and consult with Briscoe, to determine whether the latter had
all that he was likely to require.
Investigation showed, as was of course to be expected, that the craft
was amply supplied with provisions and water for a long voyage, and also
that both were undamaged, while she was also well found in every other
respect. As soon, therefore, as the purser had finished his task--not
without having some of his accounts disputed--we bade the adventurers
farewell, wished them a safe and prosperous voyage, climbed down into
our boat, and returned to the yacht, which, after I had made my report
to the skipper, filled away and proceeded for Colombo, just as the sun
was dipping below the horizon.
I may mention here that we saw no more of Briscoe and his crew. They
did not turn up at Colombo during our sojourn there; and it was not
until long afterward that I learned that, after a very protracted and
adventurous voyage, the _Anna Waarden_ safely reached Durban, where she
refitted, ultimately arriving safely in Amsterdam.
At ten o'clock in the morning of the fifth day after parting company
with Briscoe, we entered Colombo harbour and came to an anchor in six
fathoms. The boy Julius was by this time sufficiently recovered to show
once more on deck, but his health was still such as to cause his mother
some anxiety; therefore, after anxious consultation with Harper, it was
arranged that he should be taken up to Kandy and given a fortnight's
thorough change of air and scene. The whole party--that is to say, Mrs
Vansittart, her son and daughter, and Monroe--therefore packed up their
traps and went ashore immediately after luncheon; and we saw no more of
them for a full fortnight. At least we saw no more of them down aboard
the yacht; but after they had been gone some three or four days Kennedy
received an invitation to go up to Kandy, to dine and spend the next day
there; and when he returned he brought with him a similar invitation for
me, it being now impossible for us both to be out of the ship together,
since, immediately upon Briscoe's departure, I had been temporarily
promoted to the position of second mate, with the promise of permanent
confirmation in the event of Briscoe not rejoining us. So in my turn,
up I went to Kandy, and enjoyed the trip immensely, being most warmly
received by everybody except Julius, who seemed wholly unable to conquer
his antipathy toward me.
When the party returned to the yacht they were all, Julius included,
looking vastly better for their sojourn among the hills; indeed the boy
appeared better in health than I had ever seen him before, and I thought
there was a shade of improvement in his temper also. They came aboard
about half-past five o'clock in the evening, and, we having been
previously warned by letter, the moment that they stepped in on deck we
hove up our anchor, started our engine, and proceeded to sea, in order
that we might avoid spending the night in the insufferable heat of the
harbour. We kept the engine going until we had rounded Dondra Head and
were heading north, with Adam's Peak square off our port beam, when we
made sail, bound for Calcutta, where we arrived exactly a week later.
We lay at Calcutta a whole month, during which Mrs Vansittart and her
party toured India from end to end, seeing, according to her own
account, everything worth seeing. And while she was thus engaged, we of
the wardroom did our modest best to enjoy ourselves, first of all seeing
everything that was worth seeing in and about the city; and afterward
engaging a native pilot to take us in the motor launch to the
Sunderbunds, where, braving malaria, snakes, and all other perils, we
spent a week shooting, the four of us who constituted the party bagging
seven tigers between us, to say nothing of other and less formidable
game.
From Calcutta we sailed for Moulmein, where we remained four days,
getting a hurried glimpse of Burma and the Burmese; then we sailed for
Singapore, at the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula. But on the
night of our third day out from Moulmein, while we were bowling merrily
along with a spanking wind abeam, reeling off a good twelve knots by the
log, we struck something which we conjectured to be a piece of
practically submerged wreckage; for when we afterwards came to
investigate the matter, the look-out on the forecastle head vowed by all
his gods that, although he was keenly alert, he had seen nothing. The
incident occurred during the middle watch, while Kennedy was in charge,
consequently I was below and asleep at the time. But I was awakened by
the shock, although it was not very severe. Kennedy rushed aft to the
taffrail to see if he could catch a glimpse of the object, whatever it
might be; but although the night was starlit it was too dark to see very
distinctly, and although he imagined that, as he stood there at gaze, he
saw something break water some eight or ten fathoms astern, he could not
be sure.
He wheeled about, and, running forward to the break of the poop, gave
orders to let fly the royal and topgallant halyards and sheets and to
back the mainyard, also instructing the carpenter to sound the pump
well. For a few moments, while these things were doing, there was some
confusion, what with the watch bustling about the decks, and those below
rushing up on deck to see what had happened--among them being Mrs
Vansittart, who appeared on the poop wrapped in a dressing-gown. But
presently the ship was brought to the wind and hove to, and the
confusion began to subside, especially when the carpenter reported that
the ship was making no water.
Mrs Vansittart, apprehensive that we might have run down some small
native craft, ordered our remaining cutter to be lowered and sent me
away in charge to investigate; but after pulling about for more than an
hour I was unable to find anything, and at length returned to the ship
in response to a rocket recall. Meanwhile, the carpenter had been
below, and, after a most careful investigation, had returned with the
report that he could find no indication that the ship had sustained the
slightest damage; consequently, upon my return, the cutter was hoisted
up and sail was again made. But on the morrow, with the arrival of
daylight, the discovery was made that all three blades of our propeller
had been completely shorn off, a mishap which, a little later on,
resulted in landing us in what might have been a very awkward mess.
Possibly this accident may have had the effect of reminding our lady
skipper of something that had all but slipped her memory. Be that as it
may, the loss of our propeller blades had no sooner been discovered than
she issued certain orders, in response to which several heavy cases were
swayed up on deck and opened, with the result that when the sun went
down that night the _Stella Maris_ was an armed ship, sporting two
main-deck batteries of beautiful four-inch quick-firing guns of the most
up-to-date pattern, six of a side, with two one-pound Hotchkisses on her
forecastle, and four Maxims on her poop.