CAST AWAY WITH A PYTHON.
When Jack dived overboard he was so unnerved by the sudden apparition of
the fear-frenzied tiger that he rose some distance back of the boat. He
came to the surface just in time to see the slaying of the animal and
hear Mr. Billings' sharp cry of warning.
Before he could attract attention the boats were all pulling at top
speed from the burning ship.
"She's going to blow up!" the words etched themselves on Jack's brain
with the rapidity of a photographic plate.
He saw a convulsive tremor shake the big steel fabric and the despairing
shouts of the men in the stern rang in his ears. At the same moment he
dived and began swimming with all his strength away from the doomed
ship. Suddenly came a shock that even under water seemed to drive his
ear-drums in.
Then he felt himself seized as if in a giant's grip and dragged down,
down, down. His vision grew scarlet. His heart beat as if it must burst
from his frame and his entire body felt as if it was being cruelly
compressed in a monster vise. Jack knew what had occurred: the boilers
of the _Oriana_ had blown up and he was being carried down by the
suction of the hull as it sank.
Just as he felt that he could no longer endure the strain, the dragging
sensation ceased. Like a stone from a catapult Jack was projected up
again to the surface of the sea. The sky, the ocean, everything burned
red as flame as he regained the blessed air and sucked it in in great
lungfulls.
For a moment or so he was actually unconscious. Then, as his normal
functions returned, and his sight grew less blurred, he made out a hatch
floating not far from him. He struck out for this and clambered upon it.
The sea was strewn with the wreckage of the explosion. Beams, skylights,
even charred and blistered metal liferafts floated all about him. But
these did not engross Jack's attention for long after he had cast his
gaze in the direction where the _Oriana_ last lay. There he encountered
an extraordinary sight.
On the surface of the ocean floated the stern section of the sunken
steamer. To it still clung the occupants that he had last seen there.
Jack rubbed his eyes and looked and looked again. Yes, there was no
doubt about it, the after part of the _Oriana_ was still afloat,
although how long it would remain so it was impossible to say.
Jack guessed, and as it afterward transpired, guessed correctly, that
the watertight bulkhead doors, which had automatically been closed all
over the ship when the collision occurred, were sustaining the stern
fragment of the ship on the surface. This part of the _Oriana_, unharmed
by the explosion or the collision, was now floating much as a corked
bottle might be expected to do, excepting, of course, that there was a
marked list to the drifting fragment.[1]
[Footnote 1: The after part of the ill-fated tank steamer _Oregon_, sunk
100 miles off Sandy Hook, in 1913, when, during a severe storm, she
broke in two, floated with the survivors in exactly the manner described
in the _Oriana's_ case.--Author's Note.]
Jack now saw the scattered boats returning to the scene. The man in
command of each was urging the crews on with voice and gesture. Not one
had been harmed, but it was a narrow escape. Jack set up a shout, but
apparently, in the excitement of racing for the floating stern part of
the _Oriana_, he was unnoticed. However, this did not alarm him, for he
was sure of being able to attract attention before long.
A sudden lurch of the hatchway on which he was drifting, and the sound
of a slithering motion as of some heavy body being dragged along some
rough surface, made him turn his head.
What he saw made him almost lose his grip on the hatchway.
[Illustration: What he saw made him almost lose his grip on the
hatchway.]
The hideous flat head and wicked eyes of a huge python faced him. The
great snake, escaping somehow from the catastrophe to the menagerie
ship, had swum for the same refuge Jack had chosen. Now it was dragging
its brilliantly mottled body, as thick as a man's thigh, up upon the
hatchway. The floating "raft" dipped under the great snake's weight,
while Jack, literally petrified with horror, watched without motion or
outcry.
But apparently the snake was too badly stunned by the explosion to be
inclined for mischief. It coiled its great body compactly in gay-colored
folds on the hatch and lay still. But Jack noticed that its mottled eyes
never left his figure.
"Gracious, I can't stand this much longer," thought Jack.
He looked about him for another bit of wreckage to which he might swim
and be free of his unpleasant neighbor. But the débris had all drifted
far apart by this time and his limbs felt too stiffened by his
involuntary dive to the depths of the ocean for him to attempt a long
swim.
Not far off he could see the boats busily transferring the castaways of
the _Oriana_ on board. Supposing they pulled away from the scene without
seeing him? Undoubtedly, they deemed him lost and would not make a
search for him. Warmly as the sun beat down, Jack felt a chill that
turned his blood to ice-water run over him at the thought. Left to drift
on the broad Atlantic with a serpent for a companion and without a
weapon with which to defend himself. The thought was maddening and he
resolutely put it from him.
So far the great snake had lain somnolently, but now, as the sun began
to warm its body, Jack saw the brilliantly colored folds begin to writhe
and move. It suddenly appeared to become aware of him and raised its
flat, spade-shaped head above its coils.
Its tongue darted in and out of its red mouth viciously. Jack became
conscious of a strong smell of musk, the characteristic odor of
serpents.
His mouth went dry with fear, although he was naturally a brave lad, as
we know. A dreadful fascination seemed to hold him in thrall. He could
not have moved a muscle if his life, as he believed it did, depended on
his escape. The hideous head began to sway rhythmically in a sort of
dance. Still Jack could not take his eyes from that swaying head and
darting red tongue. A species of hypnotic spell fell over him. He heard
nothing and saw nothing but the swaying snake.
All at once the head shot forward. With a wild yell Jack, out of his
trance at last, fell backward off the hatch into the water. At the same
instant Mr. Billings' pistol spoke. Again and again he fired it till the
great snake's threshing form lay still in death. Unwilling to give Jack
up for lost, although he feared in his heart that this was the case, the
third officer would not leave the scene till all hope was exhausted.
Sweeping the vicinity with his glasses, he had spied the impending
tragedy on the hatch.
Full speed had been made to the rescue at once and, as we know, aid
arrived in the nick of time. As Jack rose sputtering to the surface
strong hands pulled him into the boat. He was told what had happened.
"A narrow escape," said Mr. Billings, beside whom sat Captain Sanders of
the lost steamer. He looked the picture of woe.
"I owe my life to you, Mr. Billings," burst out Jack, holding out his
hand.
The seaman took it in his rough brown palm.
"That's all right, my lad," he said. "Maybe you'll do as much for me
some day."
And then, as if ashamed even of this display of emotion, he bawled out
in his roughest voice:
"Give way there, bullies! Don't sit dreaming! Bend your backs!"
As the boats flew back toward where the great bulk of the _Columbia_,
her rails lined with eager passengers, rested immobile on the surface of
the ocean, the castaway captain turned a glance backward to the stern of
his ship, which was still floating but settling and sinking fast. It was
easy to guess what his thoughts were.
"That's one of the tragedies of the sea," thought Jack.