Lister's Great Adventure

by Harold Bindloss

  CHAPTER IX

  LISTER MAKES GOOD

  _Arcturus'_ holds were empty and a long row of oil puncheons occupiedthe beach, but the men who had dragged the goods from the water wereexhausted by heavy toil in the scorching sun, and some were sick. Thedivers had bolted on plates to cover the holes in the vessel's bilgebefore one fell ill and his mate's nerve went. The heat and poisonousvapors from the swamps had broken his health, and he got a bad jar oneday his air-pipe entangled and the pump-gang dragged him, unconscious,to the top.

  Afterwards, for the most part, Lister undertook the diving, but for longhis efforts to reach the floor of the engine-room were baffled. To crawlacross slanted gratings and down weedy ladders, while air-pipe andsignal-line trailed about the machinery, was horribly dangerous, but hekept it up, although he got slacker and felt his pluck was breaking.Then one afternoon he knew he could not go down again, and he stayedunder water long.

  Brown, standing by the air-pumps, looked at his watch and waitedanxiously. The bubbles broke the surface above the wreck and thesignal-line was slack, but Lister had been down longer than he ought. Hewars not a diver, and the others who knew their job, had come up sooner.Then Brown had other grounds for anxiety. If Lister were beaten, theirchance of floating the wreck was small.

  At length, the bubbles began to move towards the hulk, the ladder shook,and a dull, red reflection shone through the water. Then the copperhelmet broke the surface, rose a few inches, and stopped, and Brown ranto the gangway. Lister was exhausted and his worn-out body could notmeet the change of pressure. They dragged him on board and took off hishelmet and canvas dress. For some minutes he lay like a log, and thenopened his eyes and looked at Brown.

  "Cartwright was on the track!" he gasped. "We can go ahead--"

  The sun was low, but the pitch in the seams was liquid and smeared thehot planks, and Brown pulled Lister into the shade. For a time he wasquiet, but by and by he said, "When the tide falls we'll start the pumpand let her go all night. I must get up and tell Jones to clean thefire."

  "I'll tell him. You stay there until we get some food," Brown replied.

  The cook served the meal on deck, but they had hardly begun when helighted a storm-lamp. As soon as the red sun dipped thick vapor floatedoff from the swamps, the water got oily black, and dark clouds rolledacross the sky. Flickering lightning illumined the tumbling surf andsandy beach, but there was no thunder and the night was calm. The hulkand tug were moored at opposite sides of the wreck, forward of herengine room, and thick wire ropes that ran between them had been draggedback under the vessel for some distance from her bow. The ropes,however, were not yet hauled tight. When the cook took away the platesBrown made a rough calculation.

  "We have caulked all hatches and gratings forward, and stopped theventilators," he said. "I reckon the water will leave the deck longenough for the pump to give her fore-end some buoyancy. If she riseswith the flood tide, well heave the cables aft, until we can get a holdthat will lift her bow from the ground. Then you can pump out the forehold and we'll make a fresh start aft. We'll soon know if Cartwright'snotion is correct."

  "We know _now_; I'll satisfy you in the morning," Lister rejoined andhis confidence was not exaggerated.

  A steamer's hull below her load-line is pierced in places to admit waterfor the condensers and ballast tanks. Lister had found some inlets open,but now they were shut.

  "I'll own old Cartwright's a great man," Brown said thoughtfully. "Whenhe takes on a job he studies things all round. The salvage folks, nodoubt, reckoned on the possibility that the valves were open, but theycouldn't get at the controls and didn't know all Cartwright knew--" Hepaused and added with a laugh: "I wonder how much the other fellows gotfor the job! But it's time we started."

  Lister got up with an effort and went to the pump, which presently beganto throb. The mended engine ran well and the regular splash of water,flung out from the big discharge pipe, drowned the languid rumble of thesurf. The hull shook; shadowy figures crossed the beam of light from thefurnace, and vanished in the dark. Twinkling lamps threw brokenreflections on the water that looked like black silk, lightning flashedin the background, and when the swell broke with phosphorescent sparklesabout the wreck Lister marked the height the pale illumination crept upher plates. She would not lift that tide, but the pump was clearing thehold, and he hoped much water was not coming in. If the leakage was notexcessive, her bow ought to rise when the next tide flowed.

  For some hours he kept his watch, dragging himself wearily about theengine and pump. He had helpers, but control was his, and to an engineera machine is not a dead mass of metal. Lister, so to speak, felt thepump had individuality and temperament, like a spirited horse. Sometimesit must be humored and sometimes urged; it would run faster for a manwhose touch was firm but light than for another. Perhaps he wasfanciful, and he was certainly over-strung, but he imagined the big,rattling machine knew his hand.

  At length when he looked at the gauge glass he found he could not seethe line that marked the water-level. His head swam and his legs shook,and calling a fireman to keep watch, he sat down in the coal. He wantedto get to the awning, out of the dew, but could not, and leaning againstthe rough blocks, he went to sleep.

  In the morning, he knew the fever that bothered him now and then hadreturned. For all that, he must hold out and he began his labor in theburning sun. When the flood tide rippled about the wreck it was obviousthe pump was getting the water down. The bows lifted, and starting thewinches, they hauled aft the ropes. If they could keep it, before longthey might heave her from the sand.

  It was a time of stubborn effort and crushing strain. Some of the menwere sick and all had lost their vigor. The fierce sun had not burnedbut bleached their skin; their blood was poisoned by the miasma the landbreeze blew off at night. For all that, Cartwright's promise was theyshould share his reward and somehow they held on.

  At length, in the scorching heat one afternoon when the flood tide beganto run, they hauled the hulk and tug abaft the wreck's engine-room andmade the great ropes fast. If Lister's calculations were accurate, thepump had thrown out enough water, and the buoyancy of the other craftwould lift the wreck's stern. If not--but he refused to think aboutthis.

  The sea breeze had dropped and the smoke of the engine went straight up.There was not a line on the glittering lagoon. The sea looked likemelted silver; one felt it give out light and heat. The men's eyes achedand the intolerable sun pierced their double hats and dulled theirbrains. When all was ready, they waited and watched the sandy watercreep up _Arcturus'_ plates until the ropes stretched and groaned andthe hulk began to list. On the wreck's other side, the tug's mast andfunnel slanted.

  _Arcturus_ was not yet afloat, and the big wire-ropes, running beneathher bilge, held down the helping craft. The ends were made fast by hemplashings and somebody had put an ax beside the post. For all that,Lister did not think Brown would give the order to cut; he himself wouldnot. If they did not float Arcturus now, she must remain in the sand forgood. He would hold on until the rising tide flowed across the tug.

  In the meantime, he watched the pump. The engine carried a dangerousload and the spouting discharge pipe was swollen. Throbbing andrattling, she fought the water that held _Arcturus_ down. A greasertouched the crosshead-slides with a tallow swab, and a panting firemanthrust a bar through the furnace door. Their skin was blackened by sweatand coal dust; soaked singlets, tight like gloves, clung to their leanbodies. Nobody else, however, was actively occupied. The negroes lay onthe deck and the white men lounged in the shade of the awning. They haddone all that flesh and blood could do, in a climate that breaks thewhite man's strength, and now the tide ought to finish their labor. Butthey did not know, and some doubted.

  The ropes cracked and the hulk's list got sharp. On one side, her deckwas very near the water. She was broad, but if _Arcturus_ did not lift,it was obvious she must soon capsize. Lister opened the engine throttleuntil the valve-wheel would not turn. The cylinders shook, a gland
blewsteam, and the pump clashed and rocked. All the same, he knew himselfridiculous. The extra water the pump lifted would not help much now.They had a few minutes, and then, if nobody cut the ropes, the hulkwould go down.

  The massive oak mooring-post groaned and the deck-seams opened with thestrain; the wire-ropes were rigid; one could see no hint of curve. Thewater touched the hulk's deck and began to creep up. Then it stopped,the hulk shook, and the wreck's long side slowly got upright.

  "She's off!" said Brown hoarsely. Somebody blew the tug's whistle, andone or two shouted, but this was all. They had won a very stubbornfight, but winning had cost them much, and Lister felt their triumph wasstrangely flat. He smiled and owned he would be satisfied to lie downand sleep.

  Brown gave an order; _Terrier's_ propeller splashed noisily, and_Arcturus_ began to move. Somehow it looked impossible, but she wasmoving. They took her slowly and cautiously across the lagoon, and whenthe tide was full put her on the sand. There was much to do yet andLister wondered whether he could hold out until all was done.

  In the evening Montgomery came off on board a boat pulled by four sturdyKroos. He was very thin and haggard, but the fever had left him. Whenhis boat got near, Brown, frowning savagely, went to the rail.

  "What d'you want?" he asked.

  "Let me come on board. If we can't, agree, I'll go back in a fewminutes," Montgomery replied, and climbing the bulwarks, went to theawning and lighted a cigarette.

  "You have floated her, but the job's not finished," he said. "I expectyou mean to bring off the cargo you landed and you'll need a fresh gangof native boys. Well, I can help."

  "You imply you can bother us if we don't agree?" Brown remarked.

  "Something like that! I can certainly make things awkward. However, allI want is to go with you when you open the lazaret where the boxes ofgold were stored."

  "Ah!" said Brown. "I expect you see what your wanting to go indicates?Looks as if you knew something about the wreck."

  "I imagine I do know something," Montgomery admitted quietly. "At thebeginning, I reckoned you would not float her, but in order to run norisk, I meant to hinder you as much as possible. Now I'm beaten, I'mgoing to be frank--"

  He paused and resumed in a low voice: "When I was left control of arespected business house I was young and ambitious. It was plain thehouse had weathered a bad storm, but our fortunes were mending and Ithought they could be built up again. Well, I think I was honest, andwhen one of _Arcturus'_ crew demanded money I got a jar. Since my fatherloaded the ship, I expect you see where the fellow's threats led?"

  "I see the line Cartwright might take," Brown remarked dryly. "If theboxes don't hold gold, he could break you! We have found out enoughalready to give him a strong pull on the boat's last owners. They're inhis power."

  "He won't use his power. Cartwright is not that sort! Besides, thecompany is bankrupt."

  "You are not bankrupt. Do you know what sort Lister and I are?"

  Montgomery smiled. "It's not important. If there is no gold in theboxes, I don't want to carry on the house's business. You can do whatyou like--"

  He stopped for a few moments and Lister began to feel some sympathy. Theman was desperate and had obviously borne much.

  "My staying at the factory was a strain," Montgomery continued. "I wasill and when at length I saw you might succeed, the suspense washorrible. You see, I risked the honor of the house, my marriage, myfortune. All I had and cared about!"

  "Were you to be married?" Lister asked.

  Montgomery signed agreement. "The wedding was put off. While it lookedas if my mended fortune was built on fraud and I had known, and agreedto, the trick, I could not marry a high-principled girl."

  Brown knitted his brows and was quiet for some moments. Then he said,"You are now willing to get us the boys we want and help us where youcan?"

  "That is so," Montgomery agreed.

  "Very well!" said Brown. "We expect to open the lazaret at daybreak andyou can come with us. You had better send off your boat and stop onboard."