Part 10 (1/2)
After a longer and faster haul than had been noticed previously, the rope stopped a second time. Everyone, except Watts, was watching the whip intently. His eyes peered around, wide-open, l.u.s.terless. The pounding of the seas, the grating of iron on rock, left him unmoved.
”Wy don't you jine in the chorus, you swabs?” he cried, and forthwith plunged into the second stanza.
”The _Alice_ brig sailed out of the Pool For the other side of the world, O, An' our ole man brought 'is gal from school, With 'er 'air so brown an' curled, O.
Sing hum---- Sing hum---- Of death no man's a dodger, An' we squared our rig for a yardarm jig When we sighted the Jolly Roger.”
He grew quite uproarious because the lilting tune evoked neither applause nor vocal efforts from the others.
”Lord luv' a duck!” he shouted. ”Can't any of ye lend a hand? Cheer O, maties--'ere's a bit more----
The brig was becalmed in a sea like gla.s.s, An' it gev' us all the creeps, O, Wen the sun went down like a ball o' bra.s.s, An' the pirate rigged 'is sweeps----”
”There she goes!” yelled the sailor in charge of the line; he began to haul in the slack like a madman; c.o.ke's fist fell heavily on the singer's right ear.
”Wen your turn comes, I'll tie the rope round your bloomin' neck!” he growled vindictively, though his eyes continued to search the dark shroud overhead that inclosed them as in a tomb. A dark form loomed downward through the mist. It was Hozier, alone, coming back to them.
A frenzied cheer broke from the lips of those overwrought men. They knew what that meant. Somewhere, high above the black rocks and the flying scud, was hope throned in the blessed suns.h.i.+ne. They drew him in cautiously until c.o.ke was able to grasp his hand. They were quick to see that he brought a second rope and a spare whip.
”Two at a time on both ropes,” was his inspiriting message. ”They're friendly Portuguese up there, but no one must be seen if a boat is sent from the island to find out what has become of the s.h.i.+p. So step lively! Now, Captain, tell 'em off in pairs.”
c.o.ke's method was characteristic. He literally fell on the two nearest men and began to truss them. Hozier followed his example, and tied two others back to back. They vanished, and the ropes returned, much more speedily this time. Four, and four again, were drawn up to safety.
There were left the captain, Hozier, and the unhappy Watts, who was now crying because the skipper had ”set about” him, just for singin' a reel ole wind-jammer song.
”You must take up this swine,” said c.o.ke to Hozier, dragging Watts to his feet with scant ceremony. ”If I lay me 'ands on 'im I'll be tempted to throttle 'im.”
Watts protested vigorously against being tied. He vowed that it was contrary to articles for a chief officer to be treated in such a fas.h.i.+on. He howled most dolorously during his transit through mid-air, but was happily quieted by another sharp rap on the head resulting from his inability to climb over the obstructing rock.
Before quitting the deck, Hozier helped to adjust the remaining rope around the captain's portly person. They were lifted clear of the trembling forecastle almost simultaneously, and in the very nick of time. Already the skeleton of the s.h.i.+p's hull was beginning to slip off into deep water. The deck was several feet lower than at the moment of the vessel's final impact against the rocks. Even before the three reached the ledge from which their rescuers were working, the bridge and funnel were swept away, the foremast fell, the forehold and forecastle were riotously flooded by the sea, and Watts, were he capable of using his eyes, might have seen his deadly enemies, the rats, swarming in hundreds to the tiny platform that still rose above the destroying waves. Soon, even that frail ark was shattered. When keel and garboard stroke plates snapped, all that was left of the _Andromeda_ toppled over, and the cavern she had invaded rang with a fierce note of triumph as the next wave thundered in without hindrance.
It was, indeed, a new and strange world on which Iris looked when able to breathe and see once more. During that terrible ascent she had retained but slight consciousness of her surroundings. She knew that Hozier and herself were drawn close to a bulging rock, that her companion clutched at it with hands and knees, and thus fended her delicate limbs from off its broken surface; she felt herself half carried, half lifted, up into free air and dazzling light; she heard voices in a musical foreign tongue uttering words that had the ring of sympathy. And that was all for a little while. Friendly hands placed her in a warm and sunlit cleft, and she lay there, unable to think or move. By degrees, the numbness of body and mind gave way to clearer impressions. But she took much for granted. For instance, it did not seem an unreasonable thing that the familiar faces of men from the _Andromeda_ should gather near her on an uneven shelf of rock strewn with broken bolders and the litter of sea-birds. She recognized them vaguely, and their presence brought a new confidence. They increased in number; sailor-like, they began to take part instantly in the work of rescue; but she wondered dully why Hozier did not come to her, nor did she understand that he had gone back to that raging inferno beneath until she saw his blood-stained face appear over the lip of the precipice.
Then she screamed wildly: ”Thank G.o.d! Oh, thank G.o.d!” and staggered to her feet in the frantic desire to help in unfastening the ropes that bound him to the insensible Watts. One of the men tried to persuade her to sit down again, but she would not be denied. Her unaccustomed fingers strove vainly against the stiff strands, swollen as they were with wet, and drawn taut by the strain to which they had been subjected. Tears gushed forth at her own helplessness. The pain in her eyes blinded her. She shrank away again. Not until Philip himself spoke did she dare to look at him, to find that he was bending over her, and endeavoring to allay her agitation by repeated a.s.surance of their common well-being.
But her distraught brain was not yet equal to a complexity of thought.
Watts was lying close to her feet, and it thrilled her with dread and contempt when c.o.ke bestowed a well-considered kick on his chief officer's prostrate form.
”Oh, how dare you?” she cried, indignant as an offended G.o.ddess.
”Sorry, miss,” said c.o.ke, scowling as if he were inclined to repeat the a.s.sault, though he was not then aware of the more strenuous method adopted by the rock as a sobering agent. ”I didn't know you was there.
But 'e fair gev' me a turn, 'e did, singin' 'is pot-'ouse crambos w'en we was in the very jors of death, so to speak.”
”He must not sing,” she announced gravely, ”but really you should not kick him.”
”Come, Miss Yorke,” broke in Hozier, who was choking back a laugh that was nearer hysteria than he dreamed, ”our Portuguese friends say we must not remain here an instant longer than is necessary.”
”Yes,” said a strange voice, ”the sea is moderating. At any moment a boat may appear. Follow me, all of you. The road is a rough one, but it is not far.”