Part 17 (1/2)
Jack felt that it was so, but said nothing. Suddenly the whole heavens appeared ablaze with fiery meteors, which fell in showers on every side.
”Look look! mercy--what can that be?” cried Adair.
A ma.s.s of fire, of a globular form and deep red hue, appeared high up in the sky, when downward it fell, perpendicularly, not a cable's length from the s.h.i.+p, it seemed, a.s.suming an elongated shape of dazzling whiteness ere it plunged, hissing, into the ocean.
”We may be thankful that ball did not strike us,” observed Jack. ”It would have sent us to the bottom more certainly than Fulton's torpedo, or any similar invention, could have done.”
”I hope that there are no others like it ready to fall on us,” said Terence.
Scarcely a minute had elapsed when the wind fell almost to a calm, its strength being scarcely sufficient to steady the s.h.i.+p. At the same moment the heavens seemed to open and shower down fire, so numberless and rapid were the flashes of the most vivid lightning which played between the clouds and ocean, filling the whole atmosphere with their brilliancy. The captain had put his hand to his mouth to order more sail to be set, when again the hurricane burst forth with renewed fury, howling and shrieking, as Terence declared, like ten legions of demons in the rigging, while the mountain seas, as they clashed with each other, created a roar which almost overpowered the yelling voice of the hurricane. For nearly an hour the hideous uproar continued, until, as if wearied by its last mighty effort, the storm began evidently to abate, although the darkness was even denser than before, while the seas continued tumbling and rolling in so confused a manner that any attempt to steer the s.h.i.+p, so as to avoid them, would have been impossible.
Daylight was looked for with anxiety by all on board, to ascertain the fate of the corvette, the captain eagerly waiting for the moment when he could venture to make sail, that he might stand towards her. Just as the cold grey dawn broke over the leaden-tinted, still tumbling ocean, the wind s.h.i.+fted to the southward. The light increased. The eyes of all on deck were turned towards the spot where it was supposed the corvette would be seen. In vain they looked. She was nowhere visible.
A groan of disappointment escaped their b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Jack and Adair hurried aloft with their gla.s.ses, still in the hopes of discovering her. They swept the whole horizon to the northward from east to west, and every intermediate s.p.a.ce, but not a speck on the troubled waters could they discover which might prove to be the hull of the corvette. ”Poor Alick!
poor Alick!” they both again e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, and descended with sad hearts on deck.
The captain now gave the order to make sail, and under her topsails and courses the frigate began to force her way amid the still rolling billows to the northward. Mr Cherry, and several of the other officers, were speaking of the loss of the corvette as a certainty.
Jack, who could not bear the thought that Murray was indeed gone, declared that he still had some hopes of finding her above water.
”I agree with Rogers,” said the captain, joining them. ”We have made scarcely sufficient allowance for the distance the frigate has drifted during the hurricane. Though I allow that the corvette will have had a hard struggle for it, and that it is too probable she has foundered; yet, as I think that there is a possibility of her being still afloat, I intend to pa.s.s over every part of the sea to which she can have been driven, or any boats or rafts escaping from her can have reached.”
The remarks made by the captain considerably raised the spirits of Jack and Terence. A look-out was sent to the masthead, and they themselves frequently went aloft with their telescopes, in the hopes of catching sight of the missing s.h.i.+p. As the day advanced the light increased, and the wind gradually fell to a moderate breeze. The captain and Mr Cherry, having been on deck during the whole night, had turned in, as had all who could do so. Jack had charge of the watch, and Terence remained with him.
”A lump of something floating away on the starboard bow,” cried the look-out from aloft.
Jack kept the s.h.i.+p towards it. In a short time the object seen was discovered to be a tangled ma.s.s of spars and rigging, evidently belonging to the corvette. As the frigate pa.s.sed close to it the figure of a seaman was perceived in its midst floating, partly in the water and partly supported by a spar, with his face turned upwards, as if gazing at her. Several on board shouted, but no voice replied, no sign was made. Jack, notwithstanding, was about to shorten sail and heave the s.h.i.+p to, that a boat might be lowered to rescue the man, when the corpse--for such it was--turned slowly round and disappeared beneath the waves.
”There goes poor Bill Dawson. He was captain of the main-top aboard the _Tudor_,” observed one of the men. ”I knowed him well, and a better fellow never stepped!”
Jack's heart sank as he saw the wreck of the corvette's masts.
”Surely they could not have floated to any distance from her, and as she is not in sight she must have gone down,” he thought.
The sea was still too rough to attempt taking any of the spars on board, so the frigate stood on as the captain had directed. Ten minutes or more pa.s.sed by, when again the look-out hailed the deck in a cheery voice,--”A sail on the port bow!”
The announcement raised the spirits of every one. Terence hurried aloft, and a mids.h.i.+pman was sent to call the captain, who quickly appeared.
”I thought so,” he exclaimed. ”Depend on it, that is the _Tudor_.”
Some time pa.s.sed before Terence returned on deck. His report confirmed the captain's opinion. He could clearly make out the hull with a small sail set forward. The last reef was shaken out of the topsails, the starboard studding-sails were set, and the frigate dashed after the corvette. The news spread below, the sleepers were awakened, and all hands turned out. The frigate speedily came up with the lately trim little s.h.i.+p, now reduced to a mere battered hulk. From her appearance it was surprising that she should be still afloat. A mast and yard, composed of numerous pieces, had been rigged forward with a royal or some other small sail set on it. The whole of the bulwarks on one side were stove in; not a gun remained, the boats were gone. Many of the crew lay about the deck exhausted with fatigue, and scarcely able to raise themselves, and utter a faint cheer, as the frigate, now shortening sail, approached, while the remainder were labouring hard at the pumps; and by the gush of water flowing from the scuppers, it was evident that they found it a hard matter to keep the s.h.i.+p afloat.
”Shorten sail, Commander Babbicome, and I'll send you a.s.sistance, for I see you require it,” shouted Captain Hemming, with a touch of irony in his tone, as the frigate ranged up alongside.
A hawser had been got ready and pa.s.sed aft; a long line secured to the end was hove on board the corvette, and those who just before seemed scarcely able to stand on their feet hauling on it with right good will; the hawser was pa.s.sed forward, and quickly secured. In the meantime two boats had been lowered, and fifty fresh hands sent from the frigate relieved the worn-out crew of the corvette. Adair had gone in charge of the men, and Murray was the first person he greeted on deck.
”We had given you up for lost, but, thank Heaven, you are safe!”
exclaimed Terence, as he warmly wrung his friend's hand.
”It isn't the first time either that we've had cause to be frightened about each other's safety; and for my part I intend in future, should you or Jack disappear, never to despair of seeing you turn up again alive somewhere or other.”
”We have indeed been very mercifully preserved,” answered Murray, gravely. ”But, my dear Adair, unless we take the greatest care, I very much doubt that the s.h.i.+p can be kept afloat till we reach Port Royal.”