by Ian Hay
CHAPTER VIII
A BENEFIT PERFORMANCE
Hughie, having been relieved to a slight extent from sartorialhumiliation, entered upon his engine-room duties forthwith.
The society in which he found himself consisted of Mr. Angus, thechief,--engineers, like gardeners, editors, and Cabinet Ministers, arepractically all Scotsmen,--Mr. Goble, the acting-second (_vice_ Mr.Walsh, sick), and a motley gang of undersized, half-mutinous, whollyvile sweepings of humanity in the form of firemen. Mr. Walsh wassuffering from an intermittent form of malaria contracted years ago inan up-river trip to the pestilential regions round Saigon. Mr. Angus, ahoary-headed and bottle-nosed Dundonian, who could have charmed ascrap-heap into activity, received Hughie with native politeness, andpaid him the compliment of working him uncommonly hard. He explained(with perfect truth) that the only reason why he was not at that momentdriving a Cunarder was a habit of his, viewed by certain owners withregrettable narrowness of vision, of "takin' a drap, whiles." Theconcluding adverb Hughie correctly estimated to mean "whenever I can getanything to drink."
"I canna see what for they should be sae partic'lar aboot it," mused Mr.Angus in recounting the circumstance, "for I haundle her jist as weeldrunk as sober. However, here I am, and there's an end o't. Aiblins it'sjist as weel. I could rin the engines o' ony Cunarder afloat, but I kenfine there's not hauf-a-dozen men in their hale fleet could knock eightknots oot o' the auld Orinoco. There's a kin' o' divinity aboot it, Idoot. A man's pit whaur he's maist wantit."
John Alexander Goble, the acting-second, proved to be a man of greaterdepth and more surprises than his superior. He it was who had thrown thelist shoes to Hughie before the battle with Mr. Gates, which showed thathe was at heart a Sportsman; he had taken the first opportunity ofasking for the return of the same, which showed that he was a Scotsman;but he had found Hughie a better pair of shoes in their stead, togetherwith some garments more suitable than the blue jumper and theorange-and-red pyjama trousers, which showed that he was a goodSamaritan: and a man who is a Sportsman and a Scot and a good Samaritanall rolled into one is an addition to the society of any engine-room.
His face wore an expression of chastened gloom; and if washed and setashore in his native Caledonia, he would probably have received aunanimous invitation to come and glower over the plate in the doorway ofthe nearest Wee Free conventicle. His speech was slow and unctuous: onecould imagine him under happier circumstances conducting family worship,and pausing to elucidate in approved fashion some specially obviouspassage in the evening's "portion," thus: "From the expression, 'amichty man o' valour,' we may gather that the subject of this referencewas a person of considerable stature and undoubted physical courage."
He was habitually and painfully sober, for reasons which Hughie learnedfrom him at a period when they had more leisure to study each other'scharacters. He was ignorant of the first principles of mechanics, butcould be trusted to keep the Orinoco's propeller-shaft revolving at asteady seventy-two to the minute; and he had a gentle compelling waywith refractory firemen which made for sweet reasonableness and generalharmony below stairs, what time Mr. Angus was recovering from one ofthose sudden and regrettable attacks of indisposition which usuallycoincided with the forgetfulness of the steward to lock up the cabinwhisky-bottle.
Hughie berthed in the foc'sle, and was regarded by the Dagoes, Dutchmen,_et hoc genus omne_, with mingled admiration for the manner in which hehad settled Mr. Gates, and mystified surprise that a man capable of sucha feat should be content to live on his own rations and sleep in hisallotted bunk, without desiring to make researches into the respectivesucculence and comfort of his neighbours'.
On the whole Hughie found his life tolerable enough, as the Orinocobutted and grunted her way across the Newfoundland Banks; and heexperienced no pang when the Apulia, spouting smoke from her fourfunnels and carrying his luggage in one of her state-rooms, swept pastthem on the rim of the southern horizon on their third day out. He wasaccustomed to rough quarters, and any new experience of things as theyare was of interest to him. Moreover, he possessed the pricelesspossession of a cast-iron digestion; and a man so blessed can afford tosnap his fingers at most of the sundry and manifold changes of thisworld.
Captain Kingdom and Mr. Gates for the time being held him severelyaloof. The taciturn Mr. Dingle conveyed to him, by means of asurprisingly ingenious code of grunts and expectorations, that providedhe, Hughie,--or Brown, as he was usually called,--was content to go hisway without hunting for trouble, he, Mr. Dingle, was content to go hiswithout endeavouring to supply it. Altogether there seemed to be noreason for doubting that the Orinoco, provided she did not open up andsink like a basket _en route_, would ultimately reach the port ofBordeaux, bringing her sheaves, in the form of Hughie and someunspeakable claret, with her.
But there is more than one way of making money out of the shippingtrade.
One night Hughie was leaning over the taffrail behind the wheel-house atthe stern. It was two o'clock, and the darkness was intensified by aheavy mist. There was almost no wind, and the Orinoco, like adraught-horse which feels the wheels of its equipage upon a tram-line,slid gratefully up and down the lazy rollers with the nearest approachto comfort that she had experienced that voyage.
Hughie was idly watching the phosphorescent wake of the propeller,wondering whether Captain Kingdom had orders to land him in France inhis shirt and trousers or throw him overboard before they got there,when a figure rose up out of the darkness beside him. It was theeasy-going Mr. Allerton.
"Hallo, Percy!" said Hughie. He had soon dropped into the nomenclatureof the foc'sle.
"Look here," said Allerton, in a more purposeful voice than usual; "comealong and look at this boat."
The largest of the three boats carried by the Orinoco lay close by them.She was swung inboard and rested on deck-chocks below the davits. Acanvas cover, one end of which fluttered intermittently in the breeze,roofed her over. Allerton lifted this flap and inserted his hand.Presently there was a splutter and a glimmer, and it became plain thathe was holding a lighted match under the canvas.
"Look!" he whispered.
Hughie peered under the flap. He saw water-barrels, a spirit-keg, andvarious bags and boxes. Then the match went out, and Allerton withdrewhis hand.
The pair retired once more to their shelter behind the wheel-house.
"You saw that?" said Allerton.
"I did. Do they usually keep the boats provisioned on this ship? If so,I don't blame them."
"Not they. Somebody is going for a water-picnic shortly--that's all."
Hughie mused.
"Am _I_ the man, do you think?" he said at length.
"No, I don't think so. There's too much grub for one. Besides the otherboats are provisioned too. It looks as if the ship were to beabandoned."
"But why? There's no reason why she should drop to bits for a long timeyet. Rust is very binding, you know. Probably they keep her provisionedjust in case--"
Allerton wagged his head sagaciously.
"There's more in this than meets the eye," he said. "It is my pleasureand privilege, as you know, to act as steward at present during theregretted retirement of the regular holder of that office, owing toeczema of the hands. (Even Mr. Gates shies at eczema sea-pie!) Nowthere's some mischief brewing in the cuddy, and they're all init--Kingdom, Gates, and Angus. I'm not quite sure about Dingle, becausehe berths forward; but I think he is too. What's more: it's somethingthey can't afford to have given away. Kingdom, who usually keeps Angusvery short of drink at sea, now lets him have it whenever he wants it,and generally speaking is going out of his way to keep him sweet. Thatshows he can't afford to quarrel with him. And when a captain can'tafford to quarrel with a chief engineer whom he hates, it usually meansthat he and the engineer are in together over some hanky-panky which hasits roots in the engine-room. You mark my words, one of these finenights that hoary-headed old Caledonian will open a sea-cock or two andrush
up on deck and say the ship is sinking. It'll be a case of allhands to the boats; the Orinoco will go to her long-overdue andthoroughly deserved rest at the bottom, and the insurance people willpay up and look pleasant."
"H'm," said Hughie; "there seems to be something in what you say. I wishI could keep an eye on the old sinner in the engine-room; but sinceWalsh came back to duty I've no excuse for going there at all now. Itmight almost be worth while to warn Goble. He's a decent chap."
"Who is on duty in the engine-room now?"
"Walsh, I should think. Angus usually makes way for him about eightbells. But I'm not sure. Hark! Do you notice anything about the beat ofthe engines?"
"Not being an expert, can't say I do. They sound a trifle more asthmaticthan usual, perhaps. What's up?"
"Somebody has got the donkey-pump at work," said Hughie. "It may beAngus, after all, monkeying with the water-ballast. Hallo!" He leanedover the stern-rail and peered down. "Do you notice anything unusualabout the propeller?"
"It seems to be kicking up a bit of a dust," said Allerton. "Is it goinground faster, or getting nearer the surface?"
"It's half out of the water," said Hughie. "That means that the old manhas pumped out the after double-bottom tank. Look, we're all down by thehead!"
The two stepped out from behind the wheelhouse and gazed forward. Theflush deck of the Orinoco was undoubtedly running downhill towards thebows.
"What's the game?" inquired Allerton excitedly.
Hughie was thinking. Presently he said:--
"I'm not sure, but his next move should tell us. Either he is trying todrive her nose under and sink her by manipulating the water-ballast,which seems a hopeless job in a flat calm like this, and suicidal if itcomes off; or else he is working up for a scare of some kind, which willfrighten the crew into--Hallo? what's that?"
There was a warning cry from Mr. Dingle, who was standing right forwardin the bows.
"Something right ahead, sir! Looks like--"
There was an answering shout from the bridge, where the captain wasstanding by the wheel, followed by a jangling of telegraph-bells. Nextmoment the Orinoco gave a jar and a stagger, and Hughie and Allertonpitched forward on to their noses.
There were shouts and cries all over the ship, and men came tumbling upthe hatchways.
"We've struck something," gasped Allerton.
"Struck your grandmother!" grunted Hughie, who was sitting up rubbinghis nose tenderly. "That jar came from directly underneath us. It wascaused by Angus reversing his engines without giving the ship time toslow down. I daresay he never even shut off steam. Likely enough he'slifted the engines off their beds. Well, perhaps he had finished withthem anyway. Come along forward."
By this time a frightened crowd had assembled on the deck of theOrinoco, which, lying motionless on the silent sea, artistically tiltedup by the stern,--Hughie began to grasp the inwardness of Mr. Angus'smanoeuvres with the water-ballast,--presented a sufficiently alarmingappearance even on that calm night.
Mr. Dingle and the captain, the one hanging over the bows and the otherstanding in an attitude of alertness on the bridge, were sustainingbetween them a conversation which vaguely suggested to Hughie acarefully rehearsed "cross-talk" duologue between two knockaboutartistes of the Variety firmament--say the Brothers Bimbo in one oftheir renowned impromptu "patter scenes." The resemblance was enhancedby the fact that the "patter" was delivered _fortissimo_ by bothperformers, and each repeated the other's most telling phrases in toneswhich made it impossible for the audience to avoid hearing them.
"What was it?" shouted Bimbo Senior (as represented by Captain Kingdom).
"Lump of wreckage!" roared Bimbo Junior, from a prolonged scrutiny ofthe ship's forefoot.
"Lump of wreckage?" bellowed Bimbo Senior.
"Lump of wreckage!" corroborated Bimbo Junior.
"Of course it _might_ have been ice," suggested Number One, at the topof his voice.
"Might have been ice," replied the conscientious echo.
"Pairsonally I'm inclined tae believe it was jist a wee bit coralisland," interpolated a third voice, with painful and stunningdistinctness. The Chief Engineer had suddenly made his appearance on thebridge.
The captain was obviously much put out. In the first place, coralislands are not plentiful in the North Atlantic, and there are limitseven to the gullibility of an audience composed of foreign deck-handsand half-civilised firemen. Secondly, the axiom that two is company andthree none applies even to cross-talk duologues. Thirdly, Mr. Angus wasexcessively drunk, and consequently the laboriously planned comediettaat present in progress might, owing to his inartistic and uncalled-forintrusion upon the scene, take a totally unrehearsed turn at any moment.
The captain lost no time.
"What report have you from the engine-room, Mr. Angus?" he inquiredloudly and pointedly.
Mr. Angus, suddenly recognising his cue, and realising almost with tearsthat he had been imperilling the success of the entire piece by unseemly"gagging," pulled himself together, returned to his text, and announcedthat the ship was badly down by the head and the stokehold awash.
"There's nothing else for it," yelled the captain resignedly, "but toleave her. Clear away the boats, Mr. Gates!"
Having thus established a good working explanation of the disaster, andincidentally enlisted the entire audience--those members of it, that is,who were not already doing service in the _claque_--as unbiassedwitnesses for the defence in case the insurance company turned nasty,the intrepid commander descended from the bridge to his cabin, tocollect a few necessaries pending the abandonment of his beloved vessel.
Hughie and Allerton surveyed each other.
"Which boat are you going in?" inquired Allerton.
"None," said Hughie.
"Going to stay on board?"
Hughie nodded.
"But she'll sink under our feet."
"I don't believe she's as badly damaged as all that. There's some gameon here."
"I don't suppose she's damaged at all," said Allerton, "but you can besure they won't be such blamed fools as to leave the ship floating aboutto be picked up. Old Angus will let water into her before he leaves, ifhe hasn't started the process already."
"Well, I'm not going in any of those boats," said Hughie. "If theOrinoco sinks, I'll float to Europe on a hen-coop."
"May I have half of it?" said Allerton.
"You may," said Hughie.
And so the S. S. Orinoco Salvage Company, Limited, was floated, and theBoard of Directors entered upon their new duties at once.
By this time the boats had been swung outboard and their provisioningcompleted. They were now lowered from the davits, and the men began totake their places. There was no panic, for the night was calm, and theOrinoco showed no signs of settling deeper. Messrs. Gates and Dinglewere already at their respective tillers. Captain Kingdom and Mr. Anguswere standing by the davits to which the whale-boat was still shackled.Mr. Goble, apparently in no hurry, was leaning over the bulwarks in thedarkness not far from Hughie and Allerton, dispassionately regarding thecrew's preparations for departure. He approached nearer.
"There's a wheen fowk in thae boats," he observed. "I doot we'd be saferon board."
Hughie turned to him and nodded comprehendingly.
"That's my opinion too," he said, "and Percy's. We're thinking ofstaying here."
Mr. Goble regarded him reflectively.
"Is that a fact?" he said. "Weel, I'll bide too."
And so a third member was co-opted on to the Board of Directors.
"We'd better get out of sight," said Hughie. "They won't like leaving usbehind. I think I know a good place to wait. Come along."
The trio slipped round behind the chart-house, passed along a desertedstretch of the deck, and disappeared down the engine-room hatchway.
The engine-room was illuminated by a couple of swinging lanterns. Ablack and greasy flood of water glistened on the iron floor below,filling the crank-pits and covering the prope
ller-shaft. The doorsleading to the stokehold were standing open, and they could see that thefloors there too were flooded, though the water had not reached thelevel of the fire-bars. Owing to the immobility of the ship, its oilysurface was almost unruffled, and the engine-room itself was curiouslyquiet after the turmoil on deck. The fires were burning low, butoccasionally a glowing clinker slipped from between the bars into theblood-red flood beneath, with a sizzling splash. The steam was hissingdiscontentedly in the gauges.
The Salvage Board stood knee-deep in the water of the engine-room.
Hughie picked up a smoky inspection-lamp,--a teapot-like affair with awick in the spout,--lit it, and peered about.
"Now look here," he said, "I don't quite know where this water camefrom, and it doesn't much matter, as no more is coming in at present. Ifthe old man means to sink the ship he will have to come down here to doit. He has probably got some dodge arranged by which he can just turn awheel and open a valve and send her to the bottom. Isn't that the idea,Goble? (I'll explain to you afterwards, Allerton.) My impression is thathe'll pop down and turn the valve on just before he leaves. In that caseone of us must stand by and turn it off again. You two go through intothe stokehold. He's not likely to come in there. If he does, you mustuse your own discretion. I'll wait here, on the far side of thecylinders, up against the condenser. He's not likely to see me, but Ishall be able to watch him and see which valve-wheel he turns on."
The other two obeyed, and Hughie, scrambling across the bed-plates ofthe engines, ensconced himself behind a convenient cross-head, with hisfeet in a flooded crank-pit and his body squeezed back as far aspossible into the shadow of the condenser.
He had not long to wait. Presently cautious feet were heard descendingthe iron ladder, and Mr. Angus, comparatively sober, stepped heavilyinto the flood on the floor.
His first proceeding was to wade to the stokehold end of theengine-room,--Hughie thought at first that he was going right throughinto the arms of Allerton and Goble, and wondered what they would dowith him,--where he began to manipulate the great valve-wheel which keptthe steam imprisoned in the boilers; and presently Hughie could hear theroar of the escape far above his head. This was a purely precautionarymeasure, and could do no harm to any one.
Then Mr. Angus splashed his way to the corner by the donkey-pump, wherethe machinery for controlling the bilge and water-ballast valves wassituated, and began to twist over another wheel. Presently there was agurgling bubbling sound in the bowels of the ship, followed by a slighthissing and whispering on the surface of the water on the engine-roomfloor. The valve was open.
Mr. Angus turned and lurched heavily through the rising flood to theiron ladder. Thirty seconds later a glistening figure crawled out of thecrank-pit and vigorously turned the wheel in the opposite direction. Thegurgling and hissing ceased. The valve was closed.
