Part 4 (2/2)
”Nor'-nor'-west,” echoed Maxwell, seizing his parallel ruler and applying it to the chart. ”And two and a half points of leeway, applied to the right, makes it north, half east; while Point du Raz bears--or bore--north, three-quarters east. Um! It's going to be 'touch and go'
with us, I am afraid, at that rate; for while she will doubtless weather the point itself all right, there is that out-jutting reef, which is as likely as not to bring us up with a round turn.”
”And supposing we should be lucky enough to sc.r.a.pe past,” I inquired, ”is there anything beyond that we need worry about? I am almost certain that I heard the master say something about 'Les Stevenets,' or some such name.”
”Les Stevenets,” repeated Maxwell--”yes, of course; there they are, about two and a half miles to the nor'-west of the point. But I don't see why old Trimble need worry about them, for if we can't weather them there is plenty of room for us to pa.s.s them to leeward, after having done which we shall have plenty of time to decide upon our next move.
That is our critical point.” And he put his finger on Point du Raz.
”I'm going on deck to see how things look.”
So saying, Maxwell rolled up his chart, put it and his instruments away, turned up the collar of his jacket, and sprang up the ladder, Gascoigne, Fleming, and I following him.
Upon our arrival the first thing I noticed was that the Captain, the first luff, and the master were all standing together close under the shelter of the weather bulwarks, apparently holding a sort of council of war. The weather, I thought, looked somewhat more promising than it had done when I went below; for the sky to windward had broken, displaying a very wild and stormy sunset, it is true, yet the fact that the heavy, lowering canopy of cloud had broken up at all seemed to indicate that the worst would soon be over. But it was still blowing very heavily, and while the atmosphere was now quite clear of mist, permitting us a view to the extreme confines of the horizon, everything--the wild, tumultuously heaving sea to windward, and the land ahead and to leeward--showed a preternaturally hard outline. Point du Raz was now about three miles distant and bore about a point, or maybe a trifle more on the lee-bow, with the surf breaking furiously upon the reef which projected beyond it, while the leeward extremity of the reef jutting out from the easternmost extremity of the Isle de Seins lay dead ahead, smothered in boiling surf, the pa.s.sage between the two reefs now looking alarmingly narrow. And it was through that pa.s.sage we must win safety!
I was of course on the lee-side of the deck, so I could only catch an occasional disconnected word of what pa.s.sed between the trio to windward, but I presently gathered that the master seemed to be endeavouring to persuade the skipper to wear s.h.i.+p while we still had room enough to execute that manoeuvre; but Captain Vava.s.sour appeared to be objecting, upon the plea that, once on the other side of the point, we had nothing more to fear, whereas, should we wear s.h.i.+p now, we should be heading for the Penmarks as soon as we got round upon the other tack, and should reach them, and be faced with the task of weathering them during the hours of darkness. The skipper, it was evident, was all for grappling with the nearest danger, for the reason that we should at least have light enough to see what we were doing; and Mr Howard seemed to side with him.
”But, sir,” remonstrated the master desperately, ”have you considered what must inevitably happen if a flaw of wind should come round that point, at the critical moment, and break us off, as it is likely enough to do?”
”Well, n-o,” answered the Captain slowly, ”I had not thought of that, I must confess, for I do not believe that such a thing is at all likely to happen. But I am very much obliged to you for mentioning it, Mr Trimble, for 'forewarned is forearmed,' and in circ.u.mstances like the present it is our bounden duty to take every possible precaution for the safety of the s.h.i.+p. I am still of opinion that unless something unforeseen--such, for instance, as the occurrence which you have just suggested--should happen, we shall weather the point, and go clear; but, to provide against anything of that sort, Mr Howard,” turning to the first luff, ”be good enough to see everything ready for club-hauling the s.h.i.+p. Have the best bower-cable ranged, double-bitt it, and stopper it at, say, thirty fathoms. Mr Galway--where is Mr Galway? Mr Delamere, be good enough to find Mr Galway, and say I want him--or--no, tell him that it may be necessary to club-haul the s.h.i.+p, and request him to muster the carpenter and his mates below, ready to cut away the best bower at the instant that I give the word. Then come back to me; I may want you.”
”Ay, ay, sir,” I answered, touching my hat; and away I went, heading for the second lieutenant's cabin. I met him just coming out, somebody having already pa.s.sed the word that the Captain wanted him. I delivered the skipper's message, received his a.s.surance that all should be ready, and then returned to the quarter-deck.
Presently Mr Howard returned to inform Captain Vava.s.sour that his orders had been carried out.
”Very well, sir,” answered the skipper. ”Let the men go to their stations for tacking s.h.i.+p. Hands by the best bower-anchor! Oblige me, Mr Howard, by seeing personally that the anchor is all ready for letting go, and also that it is let go on the instant, should I give the order. If at the last moment it should become necessary to club-haul, I will personally take charge. Mr Delamere, find one of the boatswain's mates and station him below at the main hatchway, in such a position that he can see you on deck here, with instructions to wind his call to cut the cable the moment that he receives the signal which I will pa.s.s on to you.”
The critical moment was now close at hand; the point which we were endeavouring to weather was less than a mile ahead, and still far enough on the lee-bow to justify the hope that we might yet go clear. But the scene, generally, was of so alarming a character, and our situation was so critical, that even the bravest man there might well have been excused if he failed to regard it altogether without apprehension. For it was now blowing harder than ever, the sea was breaking with absolutely appalling fury on the reef--speaking eloquently of the fate that awaited us all in the event of failure--and the over-driven s.h.i.+p, so heavily pressed down by her canvas that the lee-side of her quarter-deck and waist was all afloat, groaned and complained in every timber as she literally fought her way through the opposing seas, smothering herself forward so completely at every mad plunge that those who were standing by to let go the anchor had been compelled to lash themselves firmly at their posts to avoid being washed overboard. Add to all this the fierce shriek and howl of the wind through the rigging aloft, the groaning of the masts in their partners, and of the main tack, as the s.h.i.+p rolled to windward, the thunderous shocks of the seas as they smote our bows and shattered into blinding sheets of spray that flew as high as the foretop and drenched the lee clew of the topsail, and the sight of the spars bending and whipping to the terrific strain that they were called upon to bear,--remembering, too, that if anything should carry away just then it would mean the utter destruction of the s.h.i.+p and the loss of all hands,--and the reader may be able dimly to picture the feelings that animated the s.h.i.+p's company of the _Europa_ on that occasion.
Even the skipper looked a shade paler than usual as he slowly brought the speaking-trumpet from behind him and prepared to raise it to his lips. We were now so near the reef that we could hear the hollow booming thunder and crash of the sea breaking upon it; its outer extremity was within half-a-cable's length of our lee-bow, and it was evident that, even if all went well, it was going to be ”touch and go”
with us, when suddenly the s.h.i.+p came upright and the sails flapped with a report like the discharge of a 32-pounder! That fatal flaw of wind round the Point, which the master had foreseen, had come upon us.
Up went the trumpet to the Captain's lips, and from it issued the bellowing call of--”Hands, 'bout s.h.i.+p! Ready oh, ready! Down helm, quartermaster! Stand by to let go at the word, Mr Howard!”
”Ay, ay, sir!” came the response, faintly heard above the howl of the wind, the thunder of the surf on the rocks to leeward, the heavy ”slosh”
of a sea in over the bows, and the hair-raising slatting of the canvas overhead.
The s.h.i.+p, in obedience to her lee-helm, had come up about a point, still forging ahead, and bringing the outer extremity of the reef broad on our lee-bow, when suddenly the canvas, with a terrific report, filled again, and the s.h.i.+p careened to her bearings.
”Up helm, quartermaster, hard up with it, and let her go off again! We shall do it yet, by Jupiter!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the skipper, in a voice that quivered with excitement, while the master, who had been standing close by all the while, sprang to the wheel and lent his strength to put it over.
”Steady the wheel,” was the next order, as the s.h.i.+p paid off again, and once more began to gather way; ”thus and no nearer, quartermaster; keep her full, and let her go through the water! What are you about, sir?”-- as the s.h.i.+p suddenly griped and the weather leach of the fore-topsail shook.
”It is the undertow--the recoil of the surf from the reef that is hawsing her bows up into the wind, sir,” explained the master, as he strained at the wheel, with the sweat trickling down from underneath the rim of his hat. ”There--now she falls off again--steady as you go.”
As the master let go the wheel, took off his hat, and drew forth a pocket-handkerchief to wipe his streaming visage, the end of the reef drew fair abeam, and so close that I could almost have leaped from the main rigging into the boil of surf that seethed and hissed and swirled about the black fangs of rock that showed here and there above water.
But the danger was over, for as the s.h.i.+p went plunging and surging past one could see how, every time she lifted, she was, as it were, dragged bodily to windward by the strong undertow, and a minute later the reef was astern, but fast working out on the weather quarter, showing quite clearly how exceedingly narrow had been our escape.
”Hold on there with the anchor, Mr Howard!” shouted the skipper. The first lieutenant waved his hand and came aft, wet to the skin, and his clothes streaming with water as though he had been overboard--as indeed he had, to all intents and purposes; for while standing on the forecastle, waiting for the order to let go the anchor, he had been quite as much under water as above it.
<script>