Part 8 (1/2)
”And now as tothe boats to turn to ard They are all fitted with bottoular bottom-board in the stern-sheets is suspended over the lee side aths of line bent on to two of the corners, the arrangeo to ard, although their speed ive the plan a trial; so get your bottoentlemen, if you please, soed”
So saying, the skipper exhibited the long-boat's board, fitted to serve as a lee-board, and forthwith dropped it over the side, secured by a couple of stout lanyards, the other ends of which were made fast to the boat's thwarts It appeared to require but little arranging, the leeway of the boat pressing it close to her side, and retaining it there in its proper position The other boats were not long in following the skipper's exaet the lee-boards into action, and then the squadron hauled its wind, with the object of beating back to the neighbourhood of the shi+p The value of Captain Chesney's idea soon becah to ard to enable us to fetch the shi+p on the next tack But we did not go about; for just at that tie, suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace of her late presence but a dense cloud of radually swept away to leeward astern of us
The boats were on the starboard tack, and were kept so throughout the day, that being the leg upon which we could do best with the wind as it then was; and at noon an observation of the sun was secured which, the skipper having his chronometer and charts with him, showed that ere eleven miles nearer to our destination than we had been e left the shi+p This was no great slice out of a distance of more than seven hundredinto consideration the distance that we had lost during the night As for the passengers, particularly the woood spirits, seee rather as a pleasure-trip than the seriousto freshen, it at length beca-boat and ourselves to haul down a reef, in order that we ht not outsail and run away from the remainder of the flotilla But, despite everybody's most strenuous efforts, the boats manifested a decided disposition to become widely scattered, and it was only by the faster sailers heaving-to occasionally that the sluggards were enabled to keep in coress that just before sunset the long-boat again displayed the signal to close, and e had done so the skipper infor powers of the several boats, he withdrew his prohibition as to parting company, and that from that moment each boat would be at liberty to do the best that she could for herself And it appeared to me that this was ainto account the long distance to be traversed, the deterress of the entire squadron by that of the slowest boatof the period of exposure and privation for those in the faster boats
Sail was accordingly -boat and ourselves; and when darkness closed down upon the scene, the gig was leading by about half aout astern, at distances varying from three-quarters of a mile to twice as far
It must not be supposed that, on this first day in the boats, the novelty of our situation caused us to feel indifferent to the possibility of a sail heaving in sight; on the contrary, one man in each boat was told off for the especial purpose of keeping a look-out; and I, for one, felt it to be a serious hted; for, to tell the whole truth, I regarded the possibility of our reaching either Corvo or the Canaries asfor our eventual rescue veryin with a shi+p and being picked up
About eight bells of the second dog-watch the wind, which had been gradually freshening all day, freshened stillup occasionally in so squally a fashi+on that I deeht it had beco clouded over, with a thick and rather dirty look to ard, while the wind ca, we had our work cut out at tiunwale above water Moreover, a short, steep, choppy sea had been raised that proved very trying to us, the boat driving her sharp ste frequent heavy showers of spray over herself, that not only drenched us all to the skin, but also necessitated the continuous use of the baler Fortunately, ere not very greatly crowded; so that, despite the weight of our party and that of our provisions and water, the boat was fairly buoyant, and we shi+pped nothing heavier than spray; but ht of the poor wo-boat, and pictured to myself their too probable piteous condition of cold and wet and rew steadily worse; and th dawned upon us, hove-to under close-reefed canvas, with a strong gale blowing, and a high, steep, and dangerous sea running And there was every prospect that there orse to come, for the sun rose as a pale, wan, shapeless blot of sickly light, faintly showing through a veil of diht-coloured patches of tattered scud, that swept athwart the louring sky at a furious rate, while the sea had that greenish, turbid appearance that is often noticeable as a precursor of bad weather
None of the other boats were anywhere near us, so far as could beon a thwart, steadying hi for them, when he suddenlyout his right ar vehemently, as he yelled:
”Sail ho! a couple of points on the lee bowl A shi+p, sir, steerin'
large, under to'gallant-sails!”
”Let et a look at her,” answered I, as I clawedwith consternation as I did so, that, despite the continuous baling that had been kept up, the water was fully three inches deep in the bottom of the boat, and that the lower tier of our provisions was, in consequence,first carefully pointed out to er, climbed down off the thwart and so made room for me to take his place, which I immediately did Yes; there she was, precisely as the allant-sails She was fully seven--h rather on our lee bow at thejust then come to--was in reality still a trifle to ard of us Of course it was utterly useless to hope that we could, by any means at our disposal, attract her attention at that distance; but as I looked ally at her, and noticed that she did not appear to be travelling very fast, it occurred toup and running away to leeward, upon a course converging obliquely upon her oe ht at least be able to approach her nearly enough to ht, for even though, in the event of failure, we should find ourselves in the end many miles more distant from Corvo than we then were, I attached but little ier than ever that our only hope of deliverance lay in being picked up, rather than in our being able to reach the Azores, or any other land Noting carefully, therefore, the bearings of the stranger, and especially the fact that she appeared to be running dead to leeward, with squared yards, I ain, took the tiller, watched for a favourable opportunity, and succeeded in getting the gig before the ithout shi+pping very much water Once fairly before the wind, the boat was able to bear a considerably greater spread of canvas than while hove-to; indeed an increase of sail immediately becaht and overrun, or pooped, by the sea; moreover we had to catch that shi+p, if we could We therefore shook out a couple of reefs, and then went to breakfast; treating ourselves to as good adouble-ended, and modelled somewhat after the fashi+on of a whale-boat, scudded well and no longer shi+pped any water; our condition, therefore, was greatly iale, as ere, the strength of the as not so severely felt, nor did the chill of the blast penetrate our saturated clothing so cruelly as while ere hove-to Our clothes gradually dried upon us, we baled out the boat, and in the course of an hour or so began to experience so a return to co and distance of the strange sail was ascertained, and our spirits rose as, with every observation, the chances of our ulti Another result of these observations, however, was the unwelco at a considerably faster pace than we had at first credited her with; and that only the nicest and ard to our own course would enable us to close with her
That in itself, however, was not sufficient to occasion us any very grave anxiety, for we had the whole day before us; and e had th of the wind
Unhappily there was only too ht happen, if, indeed, it was not in process of happening already; for the sky astern was rapidly assu a blacker, wilder appearance, while it was unquestionable that the sea was increasing in height and breaking more heavily This last was a serious misfortune for us in a double sense; for, on the one hand, it increased the danger of the boat being pooped, while on the other ital every tireatly did this retard us that at length, despite the undeniable fact that the gale was increasing, we shook out our last reef and atte under whole canvas And for a short tih my heart was in my mouth every time that, as the boat soared upward to the crest of a sea, the blast struck her with a furious sweep, filling the sail with a jerk that threatened to take the-to and capsizing But it would not do; it was altogether too dangerous an experier a question of skill in the handling of the boat, ere te disaster, for the as freshening rapidly, so we had to haul down a reef again, and even after we had done this we seemed to be scarcely any better off than before
Meanwhile, however, in the midst of our peril and anxiety we had the satisfactory assurance that ere steadily nearing the shi+p; for we had risen her until, when both she and the gig happened to be simultaneously hove up on the crest of an unusually heavy sea, we could catch a glimpse not only of the whole of her canvas, but also of the sweep of her rail throughout its length, and we ht notice our tiny sail and call attention to it Nay, there was just a possibility that this had happened already, for we presently becaallant-sails Of course thismore than mere ordinary precaution on the part of a co any of his spars; but it ht also point to the conclusion that a ht by somebody, and that the officer of the watch, while sceptical of belief, had shortened sail for a tiation But whichever it ht happen to be, it ilad and thankful accordingly
The question now uppermost in our minds hether we had or had not been seen by anyone on board the shi+p Some of us felt convinced that we had--the wish, doubtless, being father to the thought; but, for ly doubtful For, as a rule--to which, however, some most shameful and dastardly exceptions have coer to help their distressed brethren, even at the cost of very great personal inconvenience and peril; and, knowing this, I believed that, had only a ht, steps would at once have been taken on board the shi+p to further test the matter Soet a more extended view of the ocean's surface; nay, it was by no ht have taken the duty upon himself, and have searched the ocean with the aid of a telescope, in either of which cases we should soon have been discovered; when the sight of a sale and an already extreerous sea would doubtless have resulted in the shi+p hauling her wind to our rescue Nothing of the kind, however, happened, and we continued our perilous run to leeward upon a course that was slowly converging upon that of the shi+p, with a feeling of growing doubt and angry despair at the blindness of those ere pursuing rapidly displacing the high hopes that had been aroused in our hearts at the first sight of that thrice-welcome sail
The shi+p held steadily on her way, and all that we could do was to follow her, with the wind s down upon uswave, as it overtook us, curled its angry, hissing crest ly above the stern of the deeply-laden boat
It was a wild, reckless, desperate bit of boat-sailing; and the conviction rapidly grew upon us all that it could not last er, we should soon be compelled to abandon the pursuit, or succumb to the catastrophe that h to attract the attention of those blind bats yonder, all th our desperate race had carried us to within about two and a half liht ere both at the sae of a sea, there was no perceptible indication whatever that we had been seen by anybody aboard her There was no truck, and no flag-halliard fitted to thea signal; but even if we had possessed such means they would probably have been useless, because if the sleepy lubbers had not noticed our sail, the exhibition of a co would hardly be likely to attract their attention
We were still in the midst of an anxious discussion as to e could possibly do to make ourselves seen, when an end came to our pursuit A furious squall of wind and rain swooped down upon us, there was a crash, and the mast thwart, unable to endure the additional strain thrown upon it, gave way, the mast lurched forward and went over the bow, sails and all, and at the same moment an unusually heavy sea overtook us, broke in over the boat's stern, and filled her half-way to the thwarts
I thought now that it was all over with us; fully expecting that the next sea would also break aboard, completely swaonising moments, and then to vanish for ever; yet with the never-slu instinct of self-preservation, I put the tiller hard over as the crest of the wave swept forward, and then frantically threw out an oar over the stern, hich to sweep the boat round head to sea Hoas achieved I know not to this day, but so furious a strength did I throw intoot the boat so far round that, when the next wave met us, the bluff of her starboard boas presented to it, and although more water came aboard, it was not sufficient to very materially enhance the peril of our situation Meanwhile the rest of the occupants seized the baler, a bucket that soh to throw into the boat when preparations were beingIndia, in fact, that ca for their lives
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE SHADOW OF DEATH
The one clean over the bows into the water, and would in all probability have been lost to us but for the fact that the shrouds still held; and, this being the case, the boat rode to the her stem-on to the sea Her trim was such that her boere considerablyto do with the fact that, although the sea was now higher and er broke into her Du mast, with the sails attached, served in some erous energies upon, and after discussing the matter a little further it was determined to submit our theory to the test of experily unbent, and the an to shi+p water; moreover, an oar over the stern at once became necessary to keep her bows on to the sea This experi more than a mere fancy, and we at once went to work to further test it There were six oars in the boat, and another portion of her equipth We securely lashed together the whole six of the oars and the mast, with the sails still attached, in a sort of bundle, by the , and when everything had been made secure we veered away the painter until the whole of it was out, and the bundle of oars and what-not was floating about five fatho the gig's bows on to the sea, and a comparatively short period of observation sufficed to convince us that the arrangement did indeed serve also as an appreciable protection to the boat By the time that this was done the rain had nearly ceased, and presently it cleared up to leeward, revealing the shi+p once more, under double-reefed topsails, now broad on our larboard quarter and hopelessly beyond all possibility of being overtaken, even had we dared to resume the chase, which, after our recent experience, and in the face of the terrible weather, none of us drea
It was a cruelly bitter disappointment to us all to reflect that we had been so near to the possibility of rescue, and yet hadnotes ofinvoked upon the heads of the creho ought to have seen us, but apparently did not