A splintering crash as of a heavy mass of stone or metal striking full
upon the thwart behind him, while crash again, right upon the first
sound, there was a duller and more crushing noise.
"Here, hi! Hullo! Here, what in the name o' thunder! Ahoy! Help!"
Tom Bodger was standing bolt upright as he uttered these last words,
fully realising what had happened as he stared down at a rugged hole in
the frail planking of the bottom of the boat, up through which the water
was rising like a thick, squat, dumpy fountain.
"What game d'yer call this, Master Aleck? Eh, not there? I seed his
shadder. He must ha' let it fall. Went through like a sixty-four-pound
shot. Master Aleck! Ahoy! Frightened yerself away, my lad? Here,
quick; come and lend a hand--the boat's going down!"
Tom Bodger talked and shouted, but he did not confine himself to words,
for he saw the extent of the emergency. The boat seemed to be filling
rapidly from the salt fount in the middle prior to going down. So,
acting promptly, he hopped on to the next thwart, down into the water in
the bottom, which came above his stumps, and then on to the next thwart
forward and the locker. From here he put one peg on to the bows and
swung himself on to the lowest step, where he could seize the boat's
painter, fastened to a huge rusty ring in the harbour wall.
It was not many moments' work to cast the rope loose, and then he began
to haul the rope rapidly through the ring, just having time to send the
boat's head on to one of the steps under water, and hanging on with all
his might, while the water rose and rose aft, till, with the bows still
resting on the stone step, the after part of the boat was quite
submerged.
As a rule there were fishermen hanging over the rail on the top of the
cliff a couple of hundred yards or so away, men busy with trawl or seine
net on the smacks and luggers, and a score or two of boys playing about
somewhere on the pier; but there was, as Tom Bodger had said, something
going on in the town, and as soon as those ashore had done watching the
man-o'-war's men and seen them row off, there was a steady human current
setting away from the harbour, and not a listening ear to catch the
sailor's hails and pass the word on for help, as he hung on to the
boat's rope with all his might, feeling assured that if he slacked his
efforts she would glide off the slimy stone and go to the bottom.
"I arn't got no breath to waste in hollering," he panted. "Why, there's
a good fathom and a half or two fathom o' water under her keel, and if I
slack out down she'll go. Wants a couple o' boats to back in, one on
each side, and get a rope under her thwarts. They could get her ashore
then. Oh, dear! oh, dear! oh, dear! For him to leave me in charge, and
then come back and find I've sunk her! I warn't asleep, for I was
standin' up at work, so I couldn't ha' dreamed I heard him come, and see
his shadder cast down. No; it's all true enough. But what could he
have had in his hands? I see his shadder plain, with a something held
up in his hands. Paper, didn't he say, he'd come to fetch? Well,
paper's heavy when it's all tight up in a lump, and he must ha' pitched
it down off the pier to save carrying it and to let it come plop, so as
to frighten me, not thinking how heavy it was, and then as soon as he
see the mischief he'd done he squirms and runs away like a bad dog with
his tail between his legs. Why, I wouldn't ha' thought it on him.
"Oh, dear! what a weight she is! If I could only get a turn o' the rope
round anywhere I could hold on easy, but if I move an inch down she'll
go.
"Can't do it!" he groaned; "it's quite impossible. One hitch round the
ring or a catch anywhere else'd do it, but I've got enough to do to hold
on, and if I try any other manoover I shall make worse on it. It's no
good, Tommy, my lad, that there's your job; bite yer teeth hard and hold
on. Bime by it'll be too much for yer, and she'll begin to slide and
slither; but don't you mind, it'll be all right--up'll go your hands
with the rope, and then in they'll go, fingers first, into the ring.
It's big enough to take your pretty little fists as far as yer
knuckleses, and then they'll jam and jam more, and the more they jams
the tighter they'll hold the rope till some 'un comes. Take the skin
off? Well, let it. Sarve it right for not being stuck tighter on to
the hones. Have to grow again, that's all. I arn't going to let Master
Aleck's boat sink to the bottom if I die for it. But, hub, there!
Ahoy! Is everybody dead yonder up town? Why, I'd say bless him now if
I could on'y set a hye on the wery wust o' them boys."
The poor fellow hung on desperately, but he knew from his symptoms that
he could not hold on much longer. The perspiration stood in huge drops
all over his face, and they began to run together and trickle down,
while now a queer thought flashed across his brain, bringing hope for
the moment, but only for his heart to sink lower directly after.
"No, no," he groaned, "I couldn't do it. If I could it'd be just fine;
but who's to hang on with his hands and double hisself up enough to take
aim with both his wooden pegs at once so that they could go right into
that ring and stopper the rope like a cable going through a hawse hole?
"Can't be done, can't be done; but--ahoy there! Dozens on yer hanging
about if yer warn't wanted, and now not a lubber within hail. Ahoy
there! Ship ahoy! Is everyone dead, I say? Ship a-a-hoy-y-y-y!" he
yelled, in a despairing voice.
"Ahoy there! What's the matter? That you, Tom Bodger?"
"Bodger it is, Master Aleck. Here, quick, or I shall have both my hands
off as well as my legs, and you'll have to put me out of my misery
then."
"Why, Tom," cried Aleck, wildly. "What ever--oh!"
The lad wasted no more breath, for he grasped the position as soon as he
reached the head of the steps.
"Can you hold on a minute?"
"I can't, sir, but my fists will," groaned the man, and then in a hoarse
whisper--"Rope!"
"I see," cried Aleck, and he ran back a dozen yards along the pier to
where he could see a coil of small rope for throwing aboard vessels in
rough weather to bring back their looped cables and pass them over the
posts.
He was back again directly, uncoiling it as he came and leaving it
trailing, while, end in hand, he reached the top of the steps, went down
to where the poor fellow hung on, and shouting out words of
encouragement the while, he passed a hand down, got hold of the loose
painter below Bodger's, and with the quick deft fingers of one used to
the sea and the handling of lines he effected a quick firm knotting of
the two ropes.
This done, he made for the next ring hanging from the harbour wall,
passed the fresh rope through, and hauled in all the slack.
"Now, Tom," he cried, "both together--ahoy--ahoy!"
He threw all his strength into the hauling, aided by the man-o'-war's
man's last remaining force; no little either, for despair gave the poor
fellow a spasmodic kind of power, so that the rope passed through the
ring and whizzed and quivered, it was so tight. Then another stay was
found and a hitch taken twice round that before Aleck fastened off, and,
panting heavily, went up a step or two to the assistance of his humble
friend.
"You can let go now, Tom. I have her fast."
"Sure, Master Aleck?"
"Yes, certain. Let go; and mind what you're about, or you'll slip
overboard."
"It's all right, sir," said the man, in a hoarse whisper. "I've let go
now."
"Nonsense! What are you thinking about? You've got hold tight as
ever."
"Nay, I arn't, Master Aleck. I let go when you telled me. I'm on'y
leaning agen the rope to keep from going down into the water."
"Why, Tom, what's the matter with you?" cried Aleck, wonderingly, as he
placed his hands on his companion's. "I tell you that you're holding on
as tight as ever."
"Eh?" said the man, feebly. "No, sir, I arn't; 'strue as goodness I
arn't."
"But you are," cried Aleck, angrily, as he now grasped the full
misfortune to his boat--not the very full, for he was not aware of the
hole in her bottom. "Your fingers are clasped tightly round the rope."
"Are they, sir?"
"Yes."
"'Tarn't my doing then, sir. I hoped and prayed as they might hold on
to the last, and I s'pose that's how it is. Ah-h!"
He uttered a low groan, his eyelids dropped, and his fingers suddenly
became inert, while it needed all the lad's strength to keep the poor
fellow from slipping off the wet steps into the deep water of the
harbour.
"Tom," he shouted; "rouse up, lad. Do you hear?" he cried, frantically,
as he held the man erect, and then in obedience to a sudden flash of
thought forced him back into a sitting position on one of the steps.
"Hah!" he panted. "I couldn't have held you much longer. Hold up, man.
Can't you hear what I say?"
"Eh? Yes, Master Aleck, on'y don't talk so far off like, and--and--tell
'em to leave off ringing them bells in my ears."
Coupled with the loss of the boat, Aleck's first thought was that the
man had been indulging in a sailor's weakness and was the worse for rum;
but a second glance at the ghastly face below him opened the lad's eyes
to the simple truth, and he spoke more gently:
"Feel faint, Tom?"
"Ay, sir, I s'pose it's that. I feel just as I did after that there
cannon ball took off my legs. I'm getting better now you've stopped
that ringing o' the bells in my ears."
"That's right, Tom."
"But is the boat safe, sir? Don't let her go right down."
"She's safe enough so long as the rope doesn't part."
"Then look at her knots, sir. I did teach yer proper. Don't say as
you've tied one as'll slip."
"The rope's all right, Tom."
"Hah!" groaned the man. "Then if you wouldn't mind, sir, just help me
up the other steps and lie me down flat on my back for a minute. I feel
as if that would set me right."
"Come on, then," said Aleck; "but you must help, or we shall both go
overboard."
"I'm a-going to help, sir," said the man, with his voice beginning to
grow stronger. "I think I can keep upright on my pegs again if you'll
lend me a hand. No, hold hard a minute like, sir; there's no room for
two on these bits o' steps. You've got plenty o' slack line, sir?"
"Yes."
"Then pass the end round under my arms and make fast. Then you go atop
and haul, and you can twist the line round a post so as I can't slip."
"Of course," cried Aleck, and following out the poor fellow's
instructions he went up to the pier, passed the rope round the nearest
post, and hauled steadily, while without rising to his feet the poor
fellow hitched himself, after a way he had learned, in a sitting
position by means of his hands, right on to the pier, where once landed
he rolled over with a groan, and fainted dead away.