Some were already too far gone to benefit by it. They opened their glassy eyes, and allowed their shipmates to pour the water down their parched throats; they seemed to revive for a short time, but soon again sunk, and some even died while the water was trickling over their cracked lips. All this time the raft was constantly surrounded by sharks. The flesh of the first caught was almost exhausted, and, though dried in the sun, had become rather unsavoury.
“Come, my lads, we must have another of those fellows,” cried Hemming, standing up, and supporting himself against the mast. “Can any of you heave the bight of a rope over one of them?”
“I’ll try, sir,” said Dick Needham, kneeling at the edge of the raft, for he had not strength to stand. How changed he was from the stout seamen he had appeared but a few days before. He made several trials in vain. Jack Shark always kept at too great a distance when the rope was thrown. At last one of the seamen took off his shoes, and tucking up his trousers, struck out his leg, and moved it slowly backwards and forwards. The voracious shark saw the tempting bait, and made a dash at it. The seaman drew it in, and as the fish, disappointed of his prize, turned round, whisking up his tail out of the water, Needham adroitly hove the rope over it. As the shark darted off, Dick was very nearly drawn overboard, but the rope tightening, brought up the shark, and as he turned round to ascertain what had got hold of his tail, another rope was thrown over his head, and he was hauled, in spite of his plunges and struggles, on board. A few blows on the spine, near the tail, quickly finished him. He was soon cut up, some part of him was eaten fresh, and the rest was hung up to dry. The men would have thrown what they did not want overboard, but their commander reminded them that bad weather might come on when they could not catch another, and that they should preserve a store for such an event. It was fortunate this forethought was shown, for that very night a strong breeze sprung up, and the frail raft was tossed up and down, till there appeared every chance of its upsetting or being knocked to pieces. Happily more rain came down and refreshed them, and the clouds sheltered them from the scorching rays of the sun, or not one of them would have held out. Sadly were their numbers reduced. Ten Englishmen and the young African chief only now remained alive. Some of them appeared almost at death’s door, and they would have slipped from the raft had not their comrades held them on.
Each of the officers took it in turns to stand up to keep a look-out for a sail or for land. Jack was standing on the top of the cask, holding on by the mast, when his eye fell on a white glittering object to the northward.
“Yes, it is! it is!” he exclaimed; “a sail! a sail! she must be standing this way.” All but the weakest or most desponding turned their anxious eyes in the direction Jack indicated. The sight of some was already too dim to discern her; but others raised a feeble shout, and declared that she was standing close hauled towards them. How eagerly they watched her, till their anxiety became painful in the extreme. Some shouted, “We shall be saved! we shall be saved!” but others moaned out, “No, no, she’ll not see us, she will pass us.” Hemming stood up, watching the approaching vessel. He said nothing. He was not certain that she would near them. One hour of intense anxiety passed. There was very little wind. Another hour glided on.
“Yes, my lads, she is undoubtedly standing this way,” cried Hemming. “But—” and he stopped: “she may be a slaver; and if so, I know not whether we should be better off than we now are.”
“Surely, bad as they may be, they would not leave us,” said Jack.
“Don’t let us be too sure of that. There is nothing too bad for slavers to do,” observed Hemming; “however, let us hope for the best.”
The stranger approached. She had very square yards, very white canvas, and a black hull. If she was not a slaver she looked very like one. Still even if they had wished it they could not have avoided her. On she came. Her course would have taken her somewhat wide of the raft. It was not seen, apparently. Then suddenly her course was altered. Someone on board had made them out. The brig stood towards them. When she was scarcely more than half a mile off, it fell a dead calm. A boat was lowered.
“Those fellows pull in man-of-war’s style,” observed Hemming. “Grant she may be an English cruiser: but I fear not.”
The almost dying seamen endeavoured to cheer, but their weak voices were scarcely heard over the waters. The boat dashed towards them. They could hear the officer in her speaking to his men. It was in Spanish.
“Then they are slavers after all,” cried Jack with a sigh.
He had taken a great antipathy to slavers. To an Englishman no class of men are more hateful. The boat came alongside. The people in her regarded them with looks of commiseration. Well they might have done so; for more wretched-looking beings could scarcely have been seen. Two of them stepped on board the raft, to which they secured a rope, and began towing it towards the brig. Neither Hemming nor any of his companions could speak Spanish, so they asked no questions. They were soon alongside the brig and were handed up on deck. They felt sure that they were going on board a slaver or perhaps a pirate; but what was their surprise to see several officers in uniform on deck, one of whom stepped forward and addressed them in very good English: “You are on board her most Catholic Majesty’s brig the San Fernando. We will not ask how you came into this plight. You shall be taken below, and all possible care shall be bestowed on you.”
Hemming tried in vain to reply to this very kind and polite speech. He pointed to his mouth and signified that he could not speak. The necessity for exertion being over he felt himself completely unnerved.
The officers were conveyed to the captain’s cabin; the men to a sick-bay on deck: and the surgeon, if not very clever, was kind; and what they chiefly wanted was rest and food. Jack and Terence fell asleep, and slept twenty-four hours without waking: so they said. Several days passed, however, before they were able to sit up in their beds. At last they were able to crawl up on deck. It was wonderful then how soon they picked up their strength. Hemming took longer to come round. Dick Needham was about as soon as they were. Two poor fellows died on board, so that eight only of the prize crew ultimately remained alive. The brig they found had come out nominally in search of pirates, and was then bound across to Cuba. The captain was a very gentlemanly man; so were some of the officers, especially the first lieutenant, who spoke English well. One of the sub-lieutenants, or mates, also spoke a little English, so they got on capitally. The captain said he would not go back to Sierra Leone, but would land them at Fernando Po. The brig they found had touched, while they were in bed, at several places along the coast; and what with light winds and baffling winds her progress was much delayed.
“I wonder, Paddy, when we shall ever get on shore again,” said Jack. “I should like to get back to the frigate to let them know that we are not all lost; for I’m afraid that they will be writing home not to expect to see us again, and all that sort of thing; and then all our families will be going into mourning for us.”
“I only hope that they may not hear of the loss of the prize,” said Jack.
When they were able to observe the state of things on board they discovered that the brig was in a very bad state of discipline. The crew were a worthless set of vagabonds, the scum of some Spanish port, pirates, slavers, and cut-throats of all descriptions. The officers tried to get obeyed but could not, and at last seemed to give it up as a bad job; some of them, indeed, were very little better than the men. The brig consequently was constantly getting into irons or being taken aback by careless steering, and it was only wonderful that she had got thus far on her voyage without a serious accident. The captain and first lieutenant, though pleasing in their manners, were evidently not much of seamen, and took their observations in a very careless way. Hemming, on questioning them, found that they had not been to sea for a long time, and, had they not been compelled, would not have come now. They seemed fully aware that things were not as they should be; but they shrugged their shoulders, and said that they could not help it. By this time Hemming, as well as the rest of the people, with the exception of two poor fellows, had almost recovered their strength. The weather had hitherto been fine; but it came on very thick one night, and began to blow hard; but the wind was fair, and the captain, who was in a hurry to get over his voyage, continued to carry on a press of sail. Lieutenant Hemming and the two midshipmen, who did not like the look of things, with the rest of the English, continued on deck.
“Are you certain that you know your exact position?” asked Hemming of the first lieutenant.
He was not indignant, but he laughed and said that the master was a good navigator and that he must be right; Hemming had formed a different opinion. An hour passed. Suddenly Jack and Adair, who were walking together, were startled by a cry from the look-out forward, which they guessed was, as it proved, “Breakers ahead.” They, with Hemming, ran forward to ascertain the state of things, and there they made out, through the darkness on the port bow, a mass of white breakers. No sooner did Hemming see them than he rushed aft to put the helm to port, while the officers on deck were giving different orders. When he got to the wheel he found that it had been put the wrong way, while the yards were being braced up first in one direction, then in another. The next instant the brig struck with a tremendous crash, throwing those on deck off their legs, and those below out of their berths. The following sea lifted the brig nearly her entire length more ahead, jamming her between two rocks, and a third came rushing on board and made a clean sweep of everything on her decks. Jack, and Adair, and Needham were together.
“There are those two poor fellows below, sir; don’t let us forget them,” said the latter.
“Certainly not,” exclaimed Jack and Adair together. They dived below and brought them up, and then followed Hemming and the rest of their shipmates into the main rigging. The authority of the Spanish officers was now completely gone. Not an order was obeyed; indeed, every man seemed to be aware that he must look out for himself, and that there was no one on whom he could depend.
The first sea which came on board washed away several unfortunate wretches; their shrieks and cries for help were heard as they were dashed against the rocks, no one being able to render them the slightest assistance. The greater part of the crew began to collect in the rigging and the tops, and there they seemed to prepare themselves to spend the night. Indeed, dark as it was, it would have been difficult, even with strict discipline, for them to have concerted effectual measures to save themselves. The gale increased, and with it occasionally bright flashes of lightning darted from the black clouds. By their light, as they went zigzagging around them, Jack, whose eyes were the sharpest, thought he discerned close to them a rock, towards which he resolved, should the vessel go to pieces, to endeavour to make his way. He pointed it out to his companions.
“Stick by me, Paddy, you know; as I’m a good swimmer I may be able to lend you a hand,” he sang out to his messmate, who knew full well that he could trust to his help.
Terrific indeed was that night. The roar of the waves as they dashed over the rocks, the howling of the wind in the rigging, the groaning of the hull at each successive blow she received from the seas, mingled with the cries and shrieks of those who had remained on deck, or had fallen from the rigging and been washed overboard, together with the oaths and blasphemies of many of the survivors, mingled in one chaotic and terrific uproar, which stunned and bewildered the senses. Some hours thus passed. At last Hemming’s voice was heard calling them quickly out of the rigging; without hesitating they obeyed him. The brig had heeled over on her side, and her decks were exposed to the full fury of the sea. Scarcely had Jack and Terence descended than the mainmast with a crash went by the board, throwing off many who clung to it and crushing others.
“Follow me, my lads, and we’ll try to get on the rock close aboard us,” shouted Hemming, as he began to clamber, often covered by the seas, which roared up over the ship, along the unstable mast, the extreme end of which just touched the wave-washed rock.
“Come along, Paddy, come along,” cried Jack, as they also endeavoured to work their way in the direction taken by their commander.
* * *
* * *
Chapter Ten.
The lightning flashed brightly, the sea, roaring loudly and wildly, dashed over them, seeming angry at being disappointed of its prey, as the two midshipmen climbed along the mast, till, reaching the very cap of the topmast, they found that it rested on a small rock. Here all the English were collected including the sick men who had been helped along the mast by their messmates. They soon found, however, that the sea broke over the greater portion of the rock, and that even the highest part was wet and slippery with the spray. It was also evident that the wreck considerably broke the fury of the seas, and that when she went to pieces the rock would be untenable. No one, however felt inclined to fold his hands to rest. At length Hemming said that he thought he saw something dark on the opposite side of the rock, and that he observed when the sea washed up it came surging back as it does between two rocks, and that thus he hoped there might be a larger one farther on. They had contrived happily to get hold of the topgallant halyards. Unreeving them, Hemming fastened one end round his waist, and ordered the men to hold the other while he felt his way across the seeming gulf. Jack and Adair strained their eyes eagerly after him as he disappeared in the pitchy darkness among the roaring waters. On he went, they gradually paying out the rope. Suddenly it slackened, and with horror they felt that he was being carried off by the hungry waves. They were about to haul in the rope to try to save his life, when once more it straightened and he seemed to be proceeding as before. At last they felt that the end was being lifted up, and all the slack hauled in. They fancied also that they heard his voice shouting to them, but it came to the teeth of the wind, and they could not understand what was said.
“I will go over and learn what he wants,” cried Jack, guessing that he wished them to join him.
Jack, as he spoke, seized the rope, and grasping it tightly worked his way on, till he found himself surrounded by the foaming sea as it dashed through a passage which he saw evidently separated two rocks. More than once he was plunged over head and ears, but on he went, wading among the rugged rocks, and every instant expecting to be carried off his legs. Often he had to stop to recover his breath. Once he was completely off his legs and had to float on his back, while he worked his way along by the rope. At length he reached the side of a large rock, and by the fact of the lichens growing out of its crevices, he knew that he must be above the reach of the waves. In another minute he found himself alongside Mr Hemming, who congratulated him on getting safe across. They shouted to the other people to join them, but their voices were drowned by the noise of the tempest. At last Jack begged that he might go and hurry them over, and argued that as he was the slightest of the two, he should run less risk of being carried away. Jack seized the rope, and in spite of the waves which washed over him, by stopping every now and then and grasping it with all his might, he succeeded in returning to the spot where his shipmates were collected. Some of the Spanish officers and men were also on the rock, though others were on the forecastle of the brig, and a few still clung to the shattered poop. At that moment a tremendous sea knocked the poop to pieces, and sent most of the wretches who clung to it to destruction, a few only reaching the rock.
