Part 25 (1/2)

Tim Rokens was now ordered to proceed to the sh.o.r.e by means of the rope in order to test it. After this a sort of swing was constructed, with a noose which was pa.s.sed round the cable. To this a small line was fastened, and pa.s.sed to the sh.o.r.e. On this swinging-seat Ailie was seated, and hauled to the rocks, Tim Rokens ”s.h.i.+nning” along the cable at the same time to guard her from accident. Then the men began to land, and thus, one by one, the crew of the _Red Eric_ reached the sh.o.r.e in safety; and when all had landed, Captain Dunning, standing in the midst of his men, lifted up his voice in thanksgiving to G.o.d for their deliverance.

But when daylight came the full extent of their forlorn situation was revealed. The s.h.i.+p was a complete wreck; the boats were all gone, and they found that the island on which they had been cast was only a few square yards in extent--a mere sandbank, utterly dest.i.tute of shrub or tree, and raised only a few feet above the level of the ocean.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE SANDBANK--THE WRECKED CREW MAKE THE BEST OF BAD CIRc.u.mSTANCES.

It will scarcely surprise the reader to be told that, after the first emotions of thankfulness for deliverance from what had appeared to the s.h.i.+pwrecked mariners to be inevitable death, a feeling amounting almost to despair took possession of the whole party for a time.

The sandbank was so low that in stormy weather it was almost submerged.

It was a solitary coral reef in the midst of the boundless sea. Not a tree or bush grew upon it, and except at the point where the s.h.i.+p had struck, there was scarcely a rock large enough to afford shelter to a single man. Without provisions, without sufficient shelter, without the means of escape, and _almost_ without the hope of deliverance, it seemed to them that nothing awaited them but the slow, lingering pains and horrors of death by starvation.

As those facts forced themselves more and more powerfully home to the apprehension of the crew,--while they cowered for shelter from the storm under the lee of the rocky point, they gave expression to their feelings in different ways. Some sat down in dogged silence to await their fate; others fell on their knees and cried aloud to G.o.d for mercy; while a few kept up their own spirits and those of their companions by affecting a cheerfulness which, however, in some cages, was a little forced. Ailie lay s.h.i.+vering in her father's arms, for she was drenched with salt water and very cold. Her eyes were closed, and she was very pale from exposure and exhaustion, but her lips moved as if in prayer.

Captain Dunning looked anxiously at Dr Hopley, who crouched beside them, and gazed earnestly in the child's face while he felt her pulse.

”It's almost too much for her, I fear,” said the captain, in a hesitating, husky voice.

The doctor did not answer for a minute or two, then he said, as if muttering to himself rather than replying to the captain's remark, ”If we could only get her into dry clothes, or had a fire, or even a little brandy, but--” He did not finish the sentence, and the captain's heart sank within him, and his weather-beaten face grew pale as he thought of the possibility of losing his darling child.

Glynn had been watching the doctor with intense eagerness, and with a terrible feeling of dread fluttering about his heart. When he heard the last remark he leaped up and cried--”If brandy is all you want you shall soon have it.” And running down to the edge of the water, he plunged in and grasped the cable, intending to clamber into the s.h.i.+p, which had by this time been driven higher on the rocks, and did not suffer so much from the violence of the breakers. At the same instant Phil Briant sprang to his feet, rushed down after him, and before he had got a yard from the sh.o.r.e, seized him by the collar, and dragged him out of the sea high and dry on the land.

Glynn was so exasperated at this unceremonious and at the moment unaccountable treatment, that he leaped up, and in the heat of the moment prepared to deal the Irishman a blow that would very probably have brought the experiences of the ”ring” to his remembrance; but Briant effectually checked him by putting both his own hands into his pockets, thrusting forward his face as if to invite the blow, and exclaiming--

”Och! now, hit fair, Glynn, darlint; put it right in betwane me two eyes!”

Glynn laughed hysterically, in spite of himself.

”What mean you by stopping me?” he asked somewhat sternly.

”Shure, I mane that I'll go for the grog meself. Ye've done more nor yer share o' the work this mornin', an' it's but fair to give a poor fellow a chance. More be token, ye mustn't think that n.o.body can't do nothin' but yeself. It's Phil Briant that'll s.h.i.+n up a rope with any white man in the world, or out of it.”

”You're right, Phil,” said Rokens, who had come to separate the combatants. ”Go aboord, my lad, an' I'll engage to hold this here young alligator fast till ye come back.”

”You don't need to hold me, Tim,” retorted Glynn, with a smile; ”but don't be long about it, Phil. You know where the brandy is kept--look alive.”

Briant accomplished his mission successfully, and, despite the furious waves, brought the brandy on sh.o.r.e in safety. As he emerged like a caricature of old Neptune dripping from the sea, it was observed that he held a bundle in his powerful grasp. It was also strapped to his shoulders.

”Why, what have you got there?” inquired the doctor, as he staggered under the shelter of the rocks.

”Arrah! give a dhrop to the child, an' don't be wastin' yer breath,”

replied Briant, as he undid the bundle. ”Sure I've brought a few trifles for her outside as well as her in.” And he revealed to the glad father a bundle of warm habiliments which he had collected in Ailie's cabin, and kept dry by wrapping them in several layers of tarpaulin.

”G.o.d bless you, my man,” said the captain, grasping the thoughtful Irishman by the hand. ”Now, Ailie, my darling pet, look up, and swallow a drop o' this. Here's a capital rig-out o' dry clothes too.”

A few sips of brandy soon restored the circulation which had well-nigh been arrested, and when she had been clothed in the dry garments, Ailie felt comparatively comfortable, and expressed her thanks to Phil Briant with tears in her eyes.

A calm often succeeds a storm somewhat suddenly, especially in southern lat.i.tudes. Soon after daybreak the wind moderated, and before noon it ceased entirely, though the sea kept breaking in huge rolling billows on the sandbank for many hours afterwards. The sun, too, came out hot and brilliant, shedding a warm radiance over the little sea-girt spot as well as over the hearts of the crew.