Part 3 (1/2)
Onward drove the sloop of war with the three mids.h.i.+pmen on board to certain destruction. ”Heave the guns overboard!” cried Captain Hartland, on the discovery that the last cable had parted. Severe indeed was the pang it caused him to give the order. As the s.h.i.+p rolled, first the starboard, and then the guns on the other side, were cut loose and allowed to run through the ports. With sullen plunges they disappeared in the foaming seas.
”There go all our teeth,” cried Paddy Adair, who even at that awful moment could not refrain from a joke. Even Murray smiled.
”I wish that I were like you, Paddy,” said Jack; ”I couldn't have said that sort of thing just now.”
”Well, but I'm sure that I can't help feeling as if every tooth in my mouth had been hauled out with a huge wrench,” observed Adair. ”There!
there goes the last.”
”We must lighten the s.h.i.+p aft as much as possible, Mr Gale, and make sail on the stump of the foremast, so as to force her up on the beach,”
observed the captain. ”If we can find the beach,” he added in a lower voice.
These orders were promptly obeyed. Every man worked with a will. There was no hurry, no confusion, though all were engaged in the most active exertion. No one seemed to be conscious, while thus at work, that in a few short minutes their fate might be sealed. Meantime, sail being set forward, while the s.h.i.+p headed on towards the sh.o.r.e, Captain Hartland and the master were engaged in looking out, in the hopes of discovering some sandy beach between the rocks, on which they might run the s.h.i.+p.
Still they scarcely expected to find what they were seeking for; yet no one on board would have guessed from their looks what very slight hopes they entertained of success. The work was done; the s.h.i.+p hurried through the raging surf. Still the most perfect discipline prevailed; not a man quitted his station. Here and there a few might be seen loosing their shoe-ties, or getting ready to cast off their flus.h.i.+ng coats; but no other sign was observable that an awful struggle for life and death was about to commence.
”Where are we driving to, Jack?” asked Adair; ”I cannot make out through all this spray.”
”I thought I caught a glimpse of a white patch not much bigger than my hand when we were at the top of the last sea,” answered Rogers. ”I hope it may be sand.”
”Starboard, starboard!” shouted the captain. Three hands were at the helm. The spokes flew quickly round. A little sandy bay appeared; it seemed under the s.h.i.+p's bowsprit; then she was enveloped in a thick cloud of foam; the terrific roar of the surf became deafening. On flew the corvette; a concussion which sent all who had not a secure hold flat on the deck was felt, and the seas came rolling up with tremendous force, heaving her broadside to the beach, and about twenty fathoms from it. Still they did not at first break completely over her; a rock, inside of which she had been judiciously steered, somewhat broke their force.
”We are ash.o.r.e--we are ash.o.r.e!” was the cry, but still every man waited for the captain's orders. He stood calm and collected, with his officers round him. His gla.s.s was in his hand; he was constantly looking through it watching the sh.o.r.e.
”Some people are collecting on the heights, and will soon be down on the beach,” he exclaimed. ”Hold on till they come, my lads, and we may be able to send a line on sh.o.r.e.” This exhortation was not unnecessary, for the seas rolling in constantly struck the vessel with such terrific force, that it appeared she could not possibly hold together, while two or three men, who had incautiously relaxed their hold, were washed overboard and drowned. A beaker or small cask was in the meantime got ready with a line secured to it. The most important object was to form a communication with the sh.o.r.e. It was evident that if a hawser could once be carried between the s.h.i.+p and the beach, the crew might be dragged along it and be saved. As soon as the people began to collect on the beach, the cask with the line attached to it was hove overboard.
All watched its progress with intense anxiety, for all felt that no time was to be lost in getting the hawser on sh.o.r.e. The cask neared the sh.o.r.e, then the wave rolled on, but again coming thundering down the beach, carried it back almost as far as the s.h.i.+p. Again and again the attempt was made, and each time the cask, almost getting within the grasp of the people on sh.o.r.e, was hurled back once more out of their reach.
”I think, sir, I could manage to put the jolly-boat on sh.o.r.e, if you will allow me,” said Mr Wenham, the second lieutenant, addressing the captain.
”The risk is very great, Wenham,” said the captain, shaking him by the hand; ”but go if you think fit.”
”Volunteers for the jolly-boat!” sang out the second lieutenant.
Several men sprang forward; he selected four. The boat was launched into the raging sea, and they leaped into her, carrying a line. With a cheer from their s.h.i.+pmates they shoved off. Rapidly the boat approached the beach, borne onward with a huge wave. Intense was the anxiety of all who watched her. She reached the spot where the sea curled backward in a ma.s.s of raging foam. Down it came upon her. A cry was heard uttered by the Greeks on sh.o.r.e, as well as by the seamen on board. Over went the boat, and all her hapless crew were engulfed. Rolled over and over among the seaweed and ma.s.ses of the tangled rigging and pieces of the wreck, they struggled in vain to gain the sh.o.r.e. One after the other they were swept out to sea and lost. It was evident that none of the other boats would serve to carry the line on sh.o.r.e. Again the experiment was tried with a cask, but failed.
”I say, Murray--Adair,” exclaimed Jack, earnestly, ”do you know, I think that I could do it. I was always a first-rate swimmer, you know, for my size. I'll ask the captain's leave to try.”
”No one in the berth is better able to do it than you are,” replied both his companions.
”Oh Jack, I wish that I could go with you,” cried Murray, as he wrung his hand.
”So do I,” added Adair; ”but I know that I could never swim through that surf.”
No time was to be lost, so Jack Rogers worked his way up to Captain Hartland, and offered to swim on sh.o.r.e with the line. The captain looked very much astonished, and replied that he thought the risk was too great.
”Do let me try, sir,” urged Jack. ”I'm like a fish in the water, I am indeed, sir; and if I don't reach the beach I can but be hauled back again, you know. I've a notion that I could swim through all that foam.
I've done something like it before now.”
”You are a brave fellow, Rogers,” exclaimed Captain Hartland; ”I will not prevent you.” Jack, delighted, began to throw off his clothes, which he handed to Adair and Murray, to prepare for his swim.
”Mr Gale, tend the line carefully, and haul him in if he seems distressed,” said the captain to the first lieutenant. Jack had a belt secured round his body, so that it could not slip off or cut him, and he had the line made fast to it. Watching his opportunity as a wave rolled in, he boldly sprang out on the top of it, and was borne onwards towards the sh.o.r.e with little or no exertion to himself. He wisely reserved all his strength for the last struggle at the end of the trip. Every one watched him with intense interest. Not a word was spoken, but a hundred hands were eagerly held out to him from the sh.o.r.e, to show him the welcome he would receive on landing. Some of the strongest men among the Greeks joined hands and formed a line into the sea, that the outer man might clutch the bold young swimmer if he could get within his reach. Meantime a boat's oar and some line had been cast on sh.o.r.e.
Some of the Greeks, more thoughtful than the rest, had secured the oar to the line, and stood ready to let it float out as Jack approached. He saw the aid prepared, and made towards it. He waited outside the place where the sea which took him in broke into foam, and then, when another sea rolled in, exerting all his strength he dashed forward; but in spite of all his efforts, the undertow was carrying him out again; still he bravely struggled on. He saw the men on sh.o.r.e holding out their hands to him; could he but make head for a distance of two or three more fathoms he would succeed. Another sea rolled in. ”Hurrah, hurrah!”