Part 13 (1/2)

”Yes; go.”

I did not wait for a second order, you may be sure, but sprang in, and as the _Teaser_ was thrown up in the wind with her sails flapping, it being deemed unsafe to go any nearer to the barque, the little wheels chirrupped, and down we went, to sit the next moment lightly upon a good-sized wave which rose up as if to receive us; the falls were cast off, the oars dropped, and the next minute we glided away towards the stranded vessel.

”Quite a treat to get a bit of an adventure, eh Herrick?” said Mr Brooke.

”Yes, sir. Been slow enough lately.”

”Oh, you need not grumble, my lad. You did have one good adventure. By the way, how are your sore ribs?”

”My ribs, sir? Oh, I had forgotten all about them. But do you think this is the work of pirates, or that the s.h.i.+p has run ash.o.r.e?”

”I'm not sure, my lad, but we shall soon know.”

We sat watching the fine well-built barque, as the men pulled l.u.s.tily at their oars, making the water flash and the distance grow shorter. Then all at once my companion said shortly--

”Pirates.”

”Where, where?” I said eagerly, and my hand went to my dirk.

Mr Brooke laughed, and I saw all the men showing their teeth.

”No, no, my lad,” he said. ”I meant this was the work of pirates.”

”How do you know, sir?”

”Look at those ropes and sheets hanging loose. They have been cut. The barque has not been in a storm either. She has just gone on to the rocks and the fore-topmast evidently snapped with the shock.”

”And the smoke? Is that from the forecastle?”

He shook his head, and stood up in the boat, after handing me the lines, while he remained scanning the vessel attentively.

”Hail her, Jones,” he said to the bowman; and the man jumped up, put his hands to his mouth, and roared out, ”_s.h.i.+p ahoy_!”

This again and again, but all was silent; and a curious feeling of awe crept over me as I gazed at the barque lying there on the reef as if it were dead, while the column of smoke, which now looked much bigger, twisted and writhed as it rolled over and over up from just abaft the broken foremast.

”Steady,” cried the lieutenant; ”the water's getting shoal. Keep a good look-out forward, Jones.”

For all at once the water in front of us, from being smooth and oily, suddenly became agitated, and I saw that we had startled and were driving before us a shoal of good-sized fish, some of which, in their eagerness to escape, sprang out of the water and fell back with a splash.

”Plenty yet, sir,” said the man in the bows, standing up now with the boat-hook. ”Good fathom under us.”

”Right. Steady, my lads.”

We were only about a hundred yards from the barque now, and the water deepened again, showing that we had been crossing a reef; but the bottom was still visible, as I glanced once over the side, but only for a moment, for there was a peculiar saddening attraction about the silent s.h.i.+p, and I don't know how it was, but I felt as if I was going to see something dreadful.

Under the lieutenant's directions, I steered the boat so that we glided round to the other side, pa.s.sing under the stern, and then ran alongside, with the bulwarks hanging over towards us, and made out that the vessel had evidently been in fairly deep water close by, and had been run on to the rocks where two reefs met and closed-in a deep channel.

How are we going to get on board? I asked myself, as I looked upward; but I was soon made aware of that, for right forward there was a quant.i.ty of the top-hamper of the broken mast with a couple of the square sails awash, so that there was no difficulty about scrambling up.

”I don't think there is any one on board, Herrick,” said Mr Brooke, ”but sailors should always be on the _qui vive_. Stay in the boat, if you like.”