Part 22 (1/2)
The first hours of the night were pa.s.sed, as they sat close together to keep themselves warm, watching the bending flagstaff, and listening to the howling of the wind and the roar of the surf as it broke on the rocky sh.o.r.e. Harry did his best to keep the party amused, and got Paul Lizard, who could sing a good song, to strike up a merry stave; and Paul, once set going, was generally loath to stop. His full manly voice trolled forth many a ditty, sounding above the whistling of the storm and the roar of the waves. Then adventures and stories were told, and yarn after yarn was spun, most of which were no novelties to the hearers. The boatswain, who seldom condescended to tell his adventures except to the other warrant officers, narrated several wonderful ones he had gone through; and w.i.l.l.y and Peter could not help being surprised, after encountering so many dangers and hards.h.i.+ps, he should be still living to narrate them. He had been left alone on an iceberg in the Polar seas, when the boat in which he was chasing a whale and all the other hands had been lost. He had been stranded on the coast of Africa, and made captive by the natives; when escaping, he had been nearly torn to pieces by a lion, only managing to scramble up a tree just as the monster's claws were within a few inches of his heels. He had got on board a slaver, which had gone down while being chased by a man-of-war, and had been picked up again just as a shark was about to seize his legs. A s.h.i.+p he had been on board had blown up, when only he and a dozen more had escaped. On another occasion his s.h.i.+p had caught fire, and the crew had to take to their boats. Three times besides he had been wrecked. ”And yet, you see, mates,” he wound up by saying, ”here I am, alive and well, and fit for duty; and if you ask me if I think we are to get out of this place, I tell you. To be sure I do. We are not half as badly off as I have been a score of times.” Encouraged by their officer, the men kept up a brisk conversation till daylight dawned.
The weather appeared to have somewhat moderated, and Harry hoped, as soon as breakfast was over, to be able to launch the boat and return to the settlement. As the party were descending the hill, however, a seal was heard bellowing in the wood. As it was important to secure the supply of meat the animal might afford, they set out in chase. The cry of the creature guided them towards her; but as they advanced, it became evident that she was going away from them. They therefore increased their speed, hoping before long to come up with her.
”May be she has lost her calf; and if so, we must keep a look-out,”
observed Paul Lizard. ”She will prove mighty savage.”
”She is not likely to show fight against half-a-dozen men,” said the boatswain. ”Come along, lads, we have lost a great deal of time already.” At last the bellowing grew louder, and the seal was seen looking about her, wondering perhaps at the unusual sounds which struck her ear.
The boatswain was the first to emerge from the cover of the wood. The creature lifted up its monstrous head, and opening wide its jaws, made a dash at the intruder. So formidable did she appear that the st.u.r.dy boatswain, though he would have faced a human foe without trembling, turned tail and ran for his life. The seal followed, but just then, Paul Lizard coming in sight, she bolted at him, moving over the ground with her flipper-like feet at a rapid rate. Paul, having learned a lesson from experience, dodged behind a tree, and when the seal nearly reached him, sprang on one side, giving her a blow with his club on the nose. It was not sufficiently well dealt, however, to bring her to the ground; and, again catching sight of the boatswain, she once more rushed at him. Imitating Paul's manoeuvre, he managed to escape her charge.
She, however, had fixed her eyes on him, and continued the pursuit, the rest of the party following. Before they could get up with the animal, the boatswain had run a considerable distance in an opposite direction from the flagstaff. Matters were growing serious; for he had well-nigh lost his breath, and the seal was so close to him that he could not venture to turn round and strike at her. w.i.l.l.y and Peter could not help laughing, thinking the matter very good fun, a notion the boatswain in no way shared with them. At last Paul and Tom Wall so distracted her attention that she stopped short, allowing the boatswain to bring up and face about. The three then dashed at her with their clubs, and quickly ended her life.
”Well, mates, we have deserved our dinners, at all events,” exclaimed Paul, as he commenced cutting up the seal. ”Mr Bollard will have gained an appet.i.te for his.”
”I had rather have gained it in a more dignified way,” observed the boatswain, wiping the perspiration from his brow. ”I had no notion one of these brutes would show so much fight.”
”You should have had Tippo Sahib at your heels, sir,” said Paul. ”He showed us yesterday that he was ready enough to fight, and he is twice as savage on sh.o.r.e.”
Some time was occupied in cutting up and packing the seal's flesh, and then, each man carrying a load, they turned their steps towards the Flagstaff-hill. It was past noon before they got back, but Harry still hoped to be able to reach the settlement at nightfall. The fire had to be relighted, and as soon as some of the seal had been cooked and eaten, they hastened down to launch the boat. It took some time to do so; but at length she was got afloat; and, leaving the boatswain and two of the men at the look-out station, Harry and the rest made sail. Though the weather appeared threatening, he was unwilling to abandon his intention.
The wind was contrary, and he had to stand out some way from land to fetch the mouth of the inner harbour. He had just gone about when the wind s.h.i.+fted, and a furious blast from the north-west blew directly in his teeth, making the boat heel over, and nearly capsizing her. The sails were lowered just in time to prevent such a catastrophe, but it soon became evident that it would be a difficult matter to reach the harbour's mouth. The sails, however, being closely reefed, Harry determined to try what could be done. The boat looked up bravely for some time to the gale, but the wind increasing still more, he saw that the attempt was hopeless. The open ocean lay broad on his beam, foaming and raging, and there was now the danger of his being blown out to sea.
The only spot where he could hope to land without losing the boat was the little bay he had just before left. Keeping as close to the wind as he could, he therefore stood towards the sh.o.r.e. Even with the reduced canvas she carried, and all hands sitting up to windward, the boat heeled over fearfully. Harry was at the helm, looking out anxiously through the spray, which beat up in showers over the bows, for the point which formed the northern side of the little bay into which he wished to run. Sometimes the boat's head fell off, and he was afraid that he should be unable to reach it.
”I don't like the look of things,” whispered Peter to w.i.l.l.y; ”what if we don't reach the bay?”
”We may perhaps lose the boat,” answered w.i.l.l.y, ”but I trust that we may be able to scramble on sh.o.r.e somewhere or other.”
At length they got near enough to distinguish Bollard and his companions, who had come down to the beach to a.s.sist them. A fiercer blast than before struck the boat's sail; down she heeled, till the hissing water ran over her gunwale. For a moment Harry feared she would not recover herself. As he put down the helm she once more rose, and in another minute was under the lee of the point; and he steered in towards the only spot of sandy beach which the bay afforded. The sails were hauled down, and all hands stood ready to leap out as she touched the sh.o.r.e. Aided by the next sea which came rolling in, she was run high upon the beach.
”This is indeed unfortunate,” said Harry to the boatswain. ”It is too late to get back to-night, and I am afraid our friends at the settlement will become anxious about us.”
”But they will see it is blowing hard, sir, and that will fully account for the boat not being able to get up the harbour,” answered the boatswain.
Perhaps Harry was thinking that the fierce gale then blowing would only increase the anxiety which some, at all events, of the inhabitants of the settlement would feel on his account.
By the time they reached the hut the day was well advanced. There was still a short time of daylight, however, and the men employed it in cutting a further supply of fuel, that they might keep up a good fire during the night. A stream had been found at the bottom of the hill, from which they replenished their water-casks. Their supper, as on the previous evening, consisted of roast seal and a few roots cooked in the ashes, washed down with tea boiled in an iron bowl which had served as a baler for the boat. The night as it advanced became even more tempestuous than the preceding one. A few bough-tops served to keep them off the damp ground, and on these as many as could find room lay down to sleep, while the rest sat up keeping watch over the fire. Peter Patch finding the flag, which had been hauled down at sunset, wrapped himself up in it--a fortunate circ.u.mstance, as it afterwards proved, although the mids.h.i.+pman's object was of a purely self-interested nature.
No songs were sung that evening, and though a few yarns were spun, they were often wonderfully long-drawn, the drowsy listeners scarcely comprehending the drawling words which struck on their ears. The night pa.s.sed slowly by. They were thankful that the boat had been drawn up on the beach, and placed, as they hoped, in safety, out of the reach of the sea.
The gale increased, thunder roared, and lightning flashed, and the whole harbour, as far as the eye could reach, was lashed into fury.
”I don't like the look of things, Mr Shafto,” observed the boatswain to Harry, who had just sat up to make room for others. ”If the sea was to reach the boat it would soon knock her into splinters. I cannot stand it any longer. With your leave, sir, I'll go and see if she is all safe.”
Saying this, Bollard started up, Paul Lizard following him. In a short time they were heard shouting, and all the party hurried down to join them, Peter Patch, very unwilling to be roused, bringing up the rear, wrapped, to keep himself warm, in the flag which he had appropriated.
They were not a moment too soon. The foaming water had already reached the stern of the boat, and was every now and then lifting her up and letting her fall again on the sandy beach. In a few minutes more she would have been carried away or knocked to pieces. By great exertion they managed to haul her up out of the reach of the surf, though every now and then the water washed up almost round her in a sheet of foam.
As it was high tide, they had hopes she would remain safe during the night. Still, although drenched to the skin, they were unwilling to leave her when so much depended on her preservation. Again and again they tried to drag her further up. They were still standing round her, when w.i.l.l.y, looking towards the hill, exclaimed, ”Why, surely our fire is blazing up brighter than before.”
”Our fire!” cried Harry. ”I am afraid that the hut is in flames! On, lads, we can do no more for the boat, and we may still manage to save the hut.”
The whole party rushed up the hill; but already, as they drew near the top, they saw, to their dismay, that not only the walls, but the roof itself had caught fire. Fanned by the wind, the flames rapidly spread round the building which had cost them so much labour to erect; and so fiercely did the dry gra.s.s with which it was covered burn that they could not approach it. Not without difficulty, indeed, did they save the shrouds of the flagstaff, towards which the wind drove the flames.