Part 15 (1/2)
CHAPTER EIGHT.
CRUISE IN THE SCHOONER IN SEARCH OF THE MISSING MIDs.h.i.+PMEN--CALL AT SABA AND FIND HIGSON--DISCOVER THE WRECK OF THE DROGHER DESERTED--RETURN UNSUCCESSFUL--THE MIDs.h.i.+PMEN MOURNED AS LOST--THE FRIGATE AND CORVETTE SAIL FOR JAMAICA--A BOY OVERBOARD--A HURRICANE AT SEA--THE CORVETTE DISMASTED--MAN LOST--DANGEROUS POSITION OF CORVETTE--THE FRIGATE PREPARED WEATHERS THE HURRICANE--ANXIETY ABOUT THE CORVETTE--THE FRIGATE'S SEARCH FOR HER.
The next day and the next pa.s.sed--the drogher did not appear, and the two captains became as anxious as were the three lieutenants to ascertain the fate of their mids.h.i.+pmen.
”If you wish to go I will spare you for a few days,” said Captain Hemming to Adair.
Accordingly all three sailed in the _Swordfish_. Having ascertained that the mids.h.i.+pmen intended visiting Barbuda, they first steered for that island. There was a good stiff breeze, and as the _Swordfish_ was a fast craft, she rapidly ran over the thirty miles of water which intervenes between Antigua and its small dependency. It was not, however, all plain sailing, as numerous shoals, reefs, and rocks surround the island mostly below the surface, some only showing their black pates, while from its slight elevation above the ocean at the distance of less than four miles it was scarcely visible. A negro standing on the bowsprit end, and holding on by the stay, piloted the schooner, giving his directions to the man at the helm in a sharp, loud voice--
”Lub ou may--all ou can! steady! starboard. Keep her away! steady! lub, lub, lub, for ou life!” he screamed out, waving his hand to enforce his orders. The schooner just sc.r.a.ped clear of a rock, round which the water hissed and bubbled, and the pilot once more subsided into his ordinary calmness.
”Not a pleasant spot to find under one's lee in a gale of wind on a dark night,” observed Terence. ”It proves, however, that the crew of the drogher must have been sober, or they could not have found their way clear of it.”
The schooner at length came to an anchor, and a messenger was sent off to the overseer, who kindly came down at once and told them that he had seen the drogher outside the reefs, and standing to the westward. He pressed them to remain and partake of such hospitality as he could offer; but eager to pursue their search they declined his invitation, and the schooner was quickly again threading her way amid the shoals out to sea. It was a question whether the drogher had continued her course due west, or had steered northward to Saint Barts, or southward to Saint Eustatia, or Saint Kitts. They finally decided after examining the chart, to stand to the westward, and call off Saba. As they approached the island a fis.h.i.+ng-boat was seen standing out towards the schooner, which was therefore hove to, to let her come alongside.
”I see Higson, and some of the others, but all I fear are not there,”
said Jack, who had been watching the boat through his gla.s.s, in a tone which showed his anxiety. Higson was soon on board. He gave a full account of what had happened.
”I would sooner have lost my own life than allowed any harm to happen to the youngsters,” he added. ”Still I have hopes that they may have escaped. Needham is a prime seaman, and he will have done what was possible to keep the drogher afloat, though they were sadly short-handed, I own. Still if the craft has not foundered, as they had plenty of provisions and water aboard we may expect to see them again, not the worse for their cruise. We have all been on the look-out, hoping to see her beating up to the island. You'll not blame me, Mr Rogers, more than I deserve, and I couldn't help it, you may depend on that.”
The old mate as he spoke well-nigh burst into tears. Jack and the other lieutenants a.s.sured him that they did not see how he could be blamed, and they then set to work to consider what was best to be done. They first compared notes, and agreed as to the course of the hurricane, and calculated the direction in which the drogher must have been driven, and the distance she had probably gone, recollecting that as she had been carried with the wind she must have been exposed to its fury for a much longer time than those on sh.o.r.e.
”If it had not been for that they ought to have made their way back long before this,” observed Jack.
”Perhaps they have gone to Saint Eustatia or Saint Kitts,” remarked Murray.
”I am very sure, sir, that for our sakes they would have done their best to make Saba,” said Higson. ”If they could have helped it they would not have deserted us.”
Jack, as senior officer, had to decide, and he determined, therefore, to steer to the south-west for a couple of days, keeping a bright look-out on either hand, and then to beat back to Antigua, thus going over a wide extent of sea. It would occupy them a week or more, but Captain Hemming they knew would not object to the delay. Captain Quasho and his crew as a punishment were left to find their way back as best they could, and the schooner stood away in the direction proposed. During the day Higson or one of the mids.h.i.+pmen was at the masthead, keeping a look-out on every side. At night sail was shortened, and the schooner stood backwards and forwards, now to the northward, now to the southward, so that no risk might be run of pa.s.sing the drogher in the dark. Three or four vessels were fallen in with, but the same answer was received from all. They had seen nothing of the missing craft. Under other circ.u.mstances they would have been very jolly, for they had a good supply of West Indian delicacies, put on board by the owner of the vessel, and had nothing to do but to eat and smoke when they felt inclined; but they were much too anxious to enjoy themselves.
For another whole day they stood on. Still not a sign of the drogher.
Jack felt greatly inclined to continue the search for a third day. He reflected, however, on the risk of doing so. It would take very much longer beating back, and should light winds prevail they might run short of water and provisions; and though he was ready to undergo any dangers himself, with the prospect of recovering his brother, he had no right, he felt, to expose others to them. There was also the possibility of having to encounter another hurricane, which might try the schooner, capital sea-boat as she appeared to be. The weather had again become threatening--dark clouds collected overhead--the wind fell, and as the little vessel lay roiling her sides under the gla.s.s, like swell, down came the rain, not a mere sprinkling, like that of northern lat.i.tudes, but in a perfect deluge, the huge drops leaping up as they fell, and flooding the deck. Those who could took refuge below; the rest were wet to the skin before they could get on their great coats. Just before sunset a breeze sprang up, and the clouds clearing away left the horizon more defined and distinct even than usual. Jack himself went aloft to take a look round, and consider whether he should haul up at once, and commence the long beat to Antigua, or stand on for a few hours longer.
He had already swept his gla.s.s round on every side when, as he turned it once more towards the south-west, just clear of the setting sun, his eye fell on a dark object almost on the very verge of the horizon. It seemed a mere speck, though it might, he thought, be a dead whale, or a piece of wreck, or only a ma.s.s of floating seaweed. His directions to the man at the helm to steer for it called all hands on deck, and several came aloft--various opinions were expressed. Old Higson was positive that it was part of a wreck of some unfortunate vessel lost in the late hurricane, or the whole hull of a small craft dismasted. The breeze freshened, and hopes were entertained that they might get up to it before darkness settled down over the deep. It could soon be seen from the deck.
”I knew that I was right, and I wish from my soul I wasn't,” exclaimed Higson, as he looked steadily through his gla.s.s. ”That's a small craft on her beam ends, and it's my belief that she's the _Snapper_!”
”I trust not,” said Rogers, who overheard him. ”If she is the _Snapper_, what has become of the poor youngsters?”
”Perhaps they are still clinging to her, sir,” answered Higson. ”I have known men hold out on board a craft in as bad a position as she is in.”
”But they are boys, and must have succ.u.mbed to hunger and thirst, even if they escaped being washed overboard when the craft capsized,”
observed Murray, who was not inclined just then to take a hopeful view of matters.
”I'd trust to my nephew holding out as long as any youngster ever did,”
said Adair. ”The others have not less pluck in them.”
”I see no signal, and as they must have made us out long ago if they were aboard I fear they are gone,” sighed Jack.
”Faith, it's likely enough they have nothing to make one with,” observed Adair. ”I'll not believe they are lost.”