It was a night of great discomfort, a storm of wind and rain arising,
and the day which followed was little if any better, the same weather
conditions prevailing throughout. I continued to scull the boat at
intervals all through the day, but it was horribly distressing work, the
distress being aggravated by the knowledge that it was all for so small
a result, since I estimated that by the end of the day we had
accomplished little more than six miles of progress.
It was about four o'clock that afternoon when my fast-failing energies
received a fresh stimulus. I had been wearily toiling at the oar for
about an hour, facing west so that I might be guided in my course by the
pale blotch of light which represented the position of the sun, when a
cry from Julius, who was the only alert member of the party, caused me
to turn my head. I saw him pointing eagerly toward the north-eastern
quarter.
"Aren't those the masts of a ship over yonder, Mr Leigh?" the boy
asked, and looking in the direction of his pointing finger I caught
sight, as the boat lifted over a swell, of two microscopic objects which
I at once recognised as a vessel's mast-heads. They stood out fairly
clear against the gloomy background of lowering sky, and after a
prolonged scrutiny of them I came to the conclusion that they belonged
to a small schooner, some fifteen miles distant--probably one of the
craft that make a business of trading among the islands of the western
and southern Pacific.
"You are right, Julius, they are," I cried eagerly. "Do you feel equal
to handling an oar for an hour or two?"
"You bet I do," answered the lad with equal eagerness. "I am equal to
doing anything that will help us to get out of this beastly boat and on
to a ship once more."
"Right!" I exclaimed. "Come along, then, and let us see what we can
do. That craft is only about fifteen miles off, and if this calm will
last long enough we are bound to fetch her," and I hastened to adjust
the rowlocks into position for using both oars.
Meanwhile, our remarks had stirred the rest of the party from
listlessness into action--they all sat up and looked eagerly at the two
tiny pin-points on the horizon; and Mrs Vansittart, climbing down into
the cockpit, exclaimed:
"Yes, I guess that is a ship, all right, and we've got to reach her.
I'll help you, Jule; your strength and mine together ought to be equal
to Walter's, so between us we shall keep the boat going straight."
But the stewardesses, good plucky girls, would not agree to this. With
one voice they declared that they were not going to sit still and let
their mistress work; so the end of it was that they arranged to take one
oar, both working at it at once, while Julius volunteered to help me.
Presently we had the two mast-heads bearing straight ahead, and the boat
moving through the water at the rate of about three miles an hour, the
two girls, being perfectly fresh, doing quite as much work as Julius and
myself.
Strenuously we toiled, and when at length the light failed us we had
risen the craft sufficiently to determine that she was a fore-and-aft
schooner. Then our difficulties began, for there were no stars, and
within ten minutes of the time of sunset it fell pitch-dark, from which
moment our course was largely a matter of guesswork. The two girls and
Julius declared that they were so tired and their hands were so raw that
they could do no more; whereupon Mrs Vansittart and Anthea took one
oar, while I laboured on at the other. But by this time I, too, was
weak and trembling with exhaustion to such an extent that I could
scarcely lift the blade of my oar out of the water, while my thirst was
so intolerable that at length I was fairly driven to the proposal that
we should all risk the indulgence in an extra ration of water.
Even this revived me but for a few minutes, and finally I had to confess
to a feeling of such dizziness and confusion that I could no longer be
responsible for the course of the boat, and had to beg Mrs Vansittart
to assume that duty. The next hour was one of absolute torment to me.
My arms felt as though they were about to drop out of their sockets, my
back ached intolerably, every breath I drew was like a knife piercing my
lungs, my head throbbed as though it would burst, and my eyes were
sightless. Then there came a small four-knot breeze out from about
North-North-West, which was too shy a wind for us with our unadjustable
substitute for a sail; and with the knowledge that unless the schooner
happened to be bound in our direction we should miss her, and all our
efforts would be thrown away, I dropped insensible in the cockpit and so
remained for a full hour or more, despite the efforts of the others to
revive me.
When at length I came to myself, a brisk westerly breeze was blowing,
and the boat was scudding before it, with Mrs Vansittart at the
steering oar. The moon was just rising, but so little of her light as
yet came filtering through the veil of cloud which overspread the sky
that it was impossible to see anything more than the faint sheen of her
light upon the briskly rippling surface of the sea; and although we
scanned the whole visible horizon in search of a light that should
indicate the position of the schooner, our search was unrewarded.
To be brief, we saw no more of that schooner. As the night progressed
the wind increased until by morning it was blowing so strongly that we
could do nothing but run before it. Luckily, our craft proved to be an
unexpectedly good sea boat, and scudded dry, although her behaviour was
at times so unlike that of the boat of normal model that we were
somewhat puzzled as to what was going to happen next. We scudded all
that day, and the whole of the succeeding night, by which time the wind
had raised what was, to us, such a formidable sea that we deemed it wise
to heave to, lest some heavier sea than usual should break aboard and
swamp us. With great difficulty and considerable danger to ourselves,
we therefore lowered the arrangement of planks that served us as mast
and sail combined, and, bending our painter to them, rode to them as to
a sea anchor.
By this time I was feeling really ill. Hard work and exhaustion were
telling upon me with increasing severity almost hourly, and now upon the
top of these came bitter anxiety.
My heart ached for my companions, especially the women folk. They did
their utmost to seem cheerful, but it was pitiable to see the dreadful
languor of their movements, their hollow cheeks, the dark markings under
their eyes and, above all, the terrible look of suffering and despair
that was beginning to reveal itself in the eyes themselves. Yet not a
word of discouragement or complaint passed their black and cracking
lips; they simply lay about, moving as little as possible, and endured
silently. As for me, I could think of nothing, do nothing to help them.
It was horrible!
That gale lasted four interminable days before it blew itself out, which
it did later in the afternoon; and about sunset of the same day we
consumed the last scrap of food that remained to us. Then, with moans
of utter despair, those poor dear women crawled into their lair beneath
the deck--to die, as they and I verily believed. As for Julius, he was
nearly as bad as they were, but those last days in the wreck and the
nine days in the boat had wrought a miracle in him. All the perversity
and selfishness of character that had before distinguished him had gone,
and he had come out of the fires of adversity and suffering purged, a
new and a right gallant, manly boy--how manly I did not know until some
time afterward, when it came out that, watching me and observing that I
took a trifle less food and water than I served out to others, he had
surreptitiously returned a portion of his own meagre allowance. Poor
boy! so far as usefulness was concerned, he was already as good as dead,
for he could do nothing but just lie where he had flung himself down,
utterly exhausted, and moan piteously.
Being naturally robust, I still retained a small modicum of strength.
This I utilised by hauling in the sea anchor, and, with superhuman
exertion, setting it up in place again, not so much with any hope that
it would blow us to land, as that it might attract attention aboard some
passing ship and lead them to bear down upon and rescue us. This last
bit of exertion finished me off, too, and I had not enough strength left
even to stagger aft to the cockpit; I simply collapsed on the deck and
knew no more.
I must have lain thus all through the night, for when at length
consciousness returned it was broad day, with the sun about an hour high
in a sky of exquisite stainless blue. The long hours of unconsciousness
or sleep--perhaps it partook of both--had somewhat restored me, and I
sat up, staring about me.
Merciful heaven! were my eyes deceiving me? Had I gone crazy, or was
what I beheld real? I stared and stared with eyes that seemed to be
starting out of my head, but the vision--if vision it was--remained
stable. There lay a fair island, with trees that seemed to wave gently
in the brisk morning breeze, and a hill that might almost be termed a
mountain nearly in its centre. That island was dead to leeward of us,
and all that we had to do was to run down to it and land upon it, if God
would only be merciful enough to allow the fair breeze to last.
With a queer kind of croaking shriek, the memory of which disturbs my
sleep even now occasionally, but which I intended to be a yell of
rejoicing, I staggered to my feet, stumbled aft to the cockpit, and half
leaped, half tumbled into it. I shipped the rowlock in the after cleat,
got out the steering oar, and, with labour that made me groan and pant,
contrived to head the boat toward that glorious vision of an island, for
we had been drifting toward it broadside on. Then I bent down to where
the lad Julius lay unconscious at my feet, and, shaking him roughly by
the shoulder, called on him to awake, for there was land in sight not
more than four miles away. For some time the poor boy made no response
to my efforts to arouse him, and I began to think that he was dead, when
suddenly he opened his eyes and whispered:
"Land? Land? Who talks of land?"
"I do, my hearty!" I replied. "I--Walter Leigh. Wake up, old chap,
and see for yourself!"
"I--I--don't--think--I can," the poor boy gasped. "I--don't seem--to--
to--. Can you--help--me--Mr--?"
"Oh, hang the Mister!" I exclaimed. "That's done with, long ago.
Here, give me your hand, old man. That's it! Now--heave with a will.
That's right--steady, boy!--grip the coaming. There you are! Now then,
look straight ahead and tell me what you see."
The boy stared out over the boat's bows for a long minute or more, and
never shall I forget the look of exquisite rapture that gradually grew
in his glassy eyes as he stared. Then suddenly down he dropped again
into the bottom of the boat and covered his poor emaciated face with his
hands, as he gave vent to a storm of dry, choking sobs.