Part 4 (1/2)
”Bargate, who pulls the stroke oar in the second cutter, has the rheumatism in his right arm, and is not fit to go in the boat,” interposed Mr.
Gaskette, the second officer.
”Let me take his place, Captain Ringgold!” eagerly exclaimed Louis Belgrave.
”Do you think you can pull an oar in a heavy seaway, Mr. Belgrave?” asked the commander, who always treated the owner with entire respect in the presence of others, though he called him by his given name when they were alone.
”I know I can!” replied Louis very confidently.
”I do not object, if Mr. Scott is willing.”
”I am very willing, for Mr. Belgrave's muscle is as hard as a flint.”
”Very well. Hurry up!” added the captain.
Four other men were sent aft to a.s.sist in the preparations for putting the second cutter into the water; and in as short a time as Mr. Gaskette, who usually went in that boat on important occasions, would have required to do it, the cutter was ready to be dropped into the water when the order was given.
The captain and the second officer continued to watch the party on the wreck, expecting every moment to see some of them swept into the savage waves that beat against their frail support. The s.h.i.+p went at full speed on her course; for the commander would not waste an instant while the lives of so many human beings depended upon his action.
”Can you make out what they are clinging to, Mr. Gaskette?” asked the commander of the only person besides the two quartermasters who remained with him in the pilot-house.
”Yes, sir; I am just getting an idea in regard to it, though the thing is awash so that I can hardly make it out,” replied the second officer. ”I think it is the bottom of a rather small vessel, upside down; for I see something like a keel. The party have two ropes stretched the whole length of the bottom, to which they are clinging.”
”You are right; that is plainly the bottom of a vessel, and I wonder that the craft has not gone down by this time. How she happens to be in that situation, and why she has not sunk, are matters yet to be explained. Go aft, if you please, and see that both cutters are ready to be lowered into the water, Mr. Gaskette. It is not prudent to go much nearer to the wreck, for the gale may drift us upon it.”
The second officer left the pilot-house, and found the crews all seated in their boats, with everything in readiness to obey the order to lower away; and he reported the fact to his superior.
”Starboard the helm, Bangs, and steer small!” said Captain Ringgold as soon as the officer returned with the information he had obtained.
To ”steer small” is to move the rudder very gradually; for if the course were suddenly changed a quarter of the circ.u.mference of the compa.s.s in such a sea as was then raging, it would be liable to make the steamer engage in some disagreeable, if not dangerous, antics.
”Steady!” added the captain when the steamer was headed a point south of west.
This position brought the starboard side of the s.h.i.+p on the lee; that is, this part of the s.h.i.+p was sheltered from the fury of the wind and the waves, and it was the proper situation in which to lower a boat into the water; for on the windward side these two powerful forces would be likely to stave the cutter against the side of the steamer.
After the commander had struck the gong to stop her, he gave the order to the second officer to lower the first cutter; and he left the pilot-house for this purpose. Mr. Boulong was an exceptionally skilful officer in the handling of a boat in a heavy sea. Watching for the favorable moment, he gave the order to the c.o.c.kswain and bowman to lower away, with the aid of the oarsmen near them.
”Cast off the after fall, Stoody!” said he sharply to the c.o.c.kswain; and the order was promptly obeyed. ”Cast off your fall, Knott!” he added almost instantly. ”Let fall! Give way!”
A receding wave carried the boat away from the side of the s.h.i.+p, precisely as Mr. Boulong had calculated. The six oars dropped into the water as one, and the men began to pull, getting a firm hold on the receding wave, which sent the cutter to a safe distance from the s.h.i.+p. As soon as she was clear, the commander, who had remained in the pilot-house, rang the gong to go ahead. When the steamer had gathered sufficient headway, she was brought about as cautiously as before.
The second cutter was on the port quarter of the vessel, and this movement placed the boat under the lee. Mr. Gaskette had remained aft, and when the s.h.i.+p had stopped her screw and nearly lost her headway, the captain shouted to him through his speaking-trumpet, which the roar of the waves and the escaping steam rendered necessary, to ”Lower away!”
”Lower away when you are ready, Mr. Scott!” repeated the second officer.
Though Scott was only eighteen years old, he was an intuitive sailor, and had a good deal of experience for his years. He had never before occupied his present position; but his nautical genius, fortified by sundry combats with wind and waves, made him feel quite at home. As the first officer had done, he seized the auspicious moment when the retiring wave promised its efficient aid, and gave the orders to cast off the falls.
The six oars grappled with the water on the smooth side of a great wave, and carried it to the apex of the next billow; and she went off as handsomely as the first cutter had done. Mr. Gaskette saw these manoeuvres successfully accomplished, and then started for the pilot-house, to report to the captain. On his way he could not help giving an inquiring look at the manner in which the subst.i.tute for Bargate performed his duty.