Part 9 (1/2)

Suddenly he reappeared at the companion, and with a serious countenance remarked:

”I say, Harry, lad, I s'pose there's no chance of that devil,”--with a jerk of the thumb in the direction of our weather quarter--”getting a sniff of our dinner, and making sail in chase, is there?”

I a.s.sured him that, in my belief, there was a strong probability that the serpent was, at that moment, perhaps _miles_ deep in the ocean, banqueting royally on the dead whale; and, seeing the reasonableness of this supposition, he retired, satisfied.

Nothing further occurred that day to disturb us. We continued to bowl away to the southward; and as we kept our canvas a good rap full, the little barkie tripped along a good honest nine knots every hour. The weather was as fine as we could possibly wish, with every appearance of being thoroughly settled; and there seemed to be a good promise of our making an exceptionally rapid pa.s.sage.

It was my eight hours out that night; and when Bob relieved me at midnight the sky was as clear as a bell; and, though there was no moon, the stars were s.h.i.+ning brilliantly, and with that mellow l.u.s.tre so peculiar to the tropics.

Bob declared he was glad to be on deck again, for he had been tormented, all his watch below, by ”that villainous sarpent;” visions of which so disturbed his restless slumbers that it was a real comfort to have the craft to look after, and something to occupy his mind, I antic.i.p.ated no such disturbing influence myself; for though I candidly confess I was awfully frightened at the moment, the effect had pa.s.sed away almost with the disappearance of the monster; and the cool freshness of the night breeze had induced a feeling of drowsiness, particularly welcome to a man about to retire to his hammock.

In less than five minutes I was fast asleep. When I awoke, which I did without being called, I was surprised to find the sun streaming down through the skylight; and still more so when I observed that we seemed to have gone about during the night. The _Water Lily_ was now certainly on the starboard tack; whereas, when I turned in, we were on the port tack.

”It _can't_ be a change of wind, here in the heart of the trades,”

thought I. ”What can Bob be about? and why has he allowed me to overrun my watch. Surely the old fellow was not _afraid_ to come below, and turn in? Hallo! Bob ahoy! what's wrong on deck?” shouted I, springing out of my hammock.

Just as I did so, I heard the mainsail fluttering, as though the boat had luffed into the wind; and at the same moment I caught sight, through the companion-way, of the vacant tiller swinging about.

”Gone forward to s.h.i.+ft the jib,” thought I; and I jumped on deck to lend a hand.

_Bob was nowhere to be seen_.

”Good heavens!” exclaimed I, ”what dreadful thing has happened?”

I thought of the sea-serpent for one moment, but dismissed the idea the next, as being both too horrible and too unlikely.

The creature could hardly have approached without giving Bob the alarm, which I knew he would have instantly communicated to me.

At that moment my eyes fell upon the main-boom, and I missed the life-buoy which we kept suspended from it in readiness for any sudden emergency. Bob then had gone overboard, taking the life-buoy with him, and that too upon an impulse so sudden that there had been no time or opportunity to arouse me.

The _Lily_ was indeed hove-to, as I had observed when I first awoke; but it was with _both_ jib and fore-sheet to windward. The probability was then that, on Bob quitting the helm, she had flown up into the wind until her head-sails were taken aback, when she would, of course, or _most probably_, pay off on the opposite tack, and remain hove-to. This must necessarily have happened _at least_ four hours ago (it was now eight o'clock), because had Bob been on deck at eight bells, he would, of course, have called me. And during all this time the boat had been sailing away from him, not very rapidly it is true, being hove-to, but probably at a rate of at least three knots an hour. What might not have happened to the poor fellow in that time? He was a splendid swimmer, I knew, having acquired the art on our last voyage, and well able to take care of himself in the water; and there was very little sea on.

Besides, I felt pretty certain he had the life-buoy; and, with its a.s.sistance, I knew he could keep himself afloat in such weather until worn out with exhaustion from want of food. But there were other perils than that of drowning; and, if attacked by a shark, what chance had he?

These thoughts flashed through my mind whilst busily employed in taking the necessary steps to return in search of him, for I had no idea of continuing the voyage without making such a search, indeed it would have been impossible. And my chances of success were not so meagre as might at first sight be supposed.

In the first place, knowing how difficult it would be to see such an object as a life-buoy, even with a man in it, at any great distance, from so low an elevation as our deck, I had taken the precaution to have each buoy fitted with a contrivance for hoisting a signal.

This consisted of a small bundle of jointed rods, which could be put together like a fis.h.i.+ng-rod, and on the topmost of these was a white flag two feet square. On the buoy itself was firmly lashed a step similar to the ”bucket” (I believe it is called) in which a carriage-whip is placed when not in use by the driver. The rods, taken to pieces, were securely lashed in a compact bundle to the buoy, and the bucket was a fixture. Thus, if Bob had the life-buoy, he also had the means of indicating his whereabouts, and that, too, at a considerable distance. And I knew pretty nearly in what direction I ought to steer, in order to take the most effectual means of finding him.

Whilst hove-to, the _Lily's_ course or drift was, on the whole, as nearly as possible at right angles to the direction of the wind. It only remained then to turn her round and keep the wind directly abeam, and I should be going back pretty nearly over the same ground I had been traversing since Bob went overboard.

Accordingly, I lost no time in getting the _Lily_ round, when I once more hove her to, and went aloft to the cross-trees with my gla.s.s to see if the white flag were visible.

A long and anxious scrutiny followed, but without any discovery. I did not feel any very great disappointment at this, for I thought it very probable I was too far away to discover so small an object, even with the aid of my gla.s.s.

Once satisfied that it was nowhere to be seen, I quickly descended to the deck, trimmed the sheets flowing, and away the little craft bounded over the bright flas.h.i.+ng sea.

I stood on for an hour exactly, when I once more hauled the fore-sheet to windward, and went aloft with my gla.s.s again.