CHAPTER XII.
THE STORY OF A WRECK.
The day which had begun in Sabbath stillness, so far as wind andweather were concerned, was destined to end in a far different manner.The dingey had scarcely reached the drifting vessel when the wind beganto freshen into a decided blow. Clouds rolled up from the southwest,and it grew rapidly darker. Many of the passengers retired to theirstaterooms, but the twins, consumed with anxiety for their father,would not leave the deck, and Lady Moreham, Mr. Lawrence, Bessie, andDwight remained with them, the other ladies being obliged to retire.
Presently, as the group watched, talking in subdued tones, amid theincreasing noise of the coming storm, the watch sang out the glad newsof the captain's boat in sight, and the girls, straining their gazeacross the hillocks of gray-black waters beneath the angry sky, couldsee the tiny thing approaching. Sometimes it seemed fairly swallowedin the trough of the sea, again it rose on the crest, only apparentlyto topple into oblivion the next instant--yet in spite of wind and wavemaking its sure and steady way to the great home ship, and safety.
At length it was alongside, and, amid ringing cheers, the captain cameaboard, wet to the skin, and waving back the eager girls, whose eyeswere wet with tears of relief.
"Don't touch me, daughters; I'll give you a chill. And the first thingnecessary is to see to our rescued man. Come to me presently."
They had just a glimpse of this person as he was carried forward byfour men, but that glimpse was one never to be forgotten. The haggardface, with the dark skin drawn like a mummy's across the prominentbones, the lips stiff and blackened, between which the teeth shonewhitely, the eyes sunken and but half closed, gave it a horribleappearance.
"Oh!" whispered Faith in distressed tones, "Isn't he already dead?"
"Not quite," was the response. "We'll bring him around, I reckon, butit was a close call."
When all duties were discharged and the captain, in dry clothing, satbefore a substantial supper in his own cabin, Joey was sent for thegirls, who gladly joined him without loss of time.
"Sit down," he cried gaily, between big mouth-fills. "I know you arequivering with curiosity--I can see it sticking out all over you. Justlet me fill up this gaping void a little, and then I'll tell you astory that will make your two eyes like stars start from their spheres,and all the rest of it. But now I must eat."
They waited patiently, and presently, leaning comfortably back, withhis third cup of coffee in his hand, he told them what follows:
"We thought, when we reached the sunken, dismasted hull, that of courseshe was abandoned, but concluded to board her, and see if there wasanything of value inside. We made her out to be a tartan, probablywith an Arab, or African, crew and it was evident she had been througha heavy storm, for her masts were washed clean overboard, and herbulwarks stove in. We could not distinguish a soul aboard, and if shehad carried boats they were gone, but as we went down into the hatchwaywe came upon a sight that I wouldn't care for you to see. It was adark 'tween-decks cabin, and the stench, as we descended, was simplyhorrible! At my first step I stumbled over something that sent ashudder through me, and when I lighted a match and looked around thesight made me crawl. Two poor wretches lay there, both dead, as wethought, but after giving them a thorough examination I decided therewas a spark left in this poor fellow, at least, and after working overhim a while we were sure of it. The other could not be revived, so weweighted his feet, and let him slide the plank to his watery grave.But that wasn't all--however I guess I won't tell any more. It'sdownright gruesome, and I've got to go up and take a lookout, for we'relikely to have a wild night."
"Oh yes, yes, father!" they begged. "Don't leave us cut off short likethis. We want to hear it all."
"Well, we managed to find a lantern, so that we could go on with ourinvestigations. Evidently, there had been foul play of some kind, forthe cabin plainly showed signs of a fierce scrimmage. There was bloodon the walls and floor; one or two rusty weapons lay about, and on onewas human hair. I shouldn't have thought to look further, but a cryfrom Tower called me into the bit of an after-cabin, fitted up withbunks, and there lying flat, face downwards and head towards the door,as if she had fallen while running out, was an Arab woman."
"And she was dead?" whispered Hope hoarsely.
"Yes, and in the bunk was her baby, a little thing not many months old.I tell you, it was pitiful!"
"Oh!" breathed Faith, "do you suppose it was left to starve?"
"I'm afraid so. I think the mother heard the fighting and started torun out, leaving her child safely hidden, when her husband wasattacked, but was felled by a blow on the head. We saw the marks."
"Horrible!" Hope covered her eyes, and the captain sprang up.
"I ought not to have told you. It was bad enough to see it myself,hardened as I am. Now I must go. Do you want one of the women to comeand stay with you?"
"No," said both, and he hurried out, but at the door was arrested byHope.
"One question more--did you bury them too, papa?"
"Yes."
"In the same way?"
"Yes."
She drew a long, sighing breath as he disappeared, and turning claspedFaith close with a sob of overwrought feeling. The sisters could nottalk much over the hideous tale. The night was shutting down wild andstormy, and the labored motion of the good steamship already showedthat she was meeting heavier seas than they had yet encountered. Yet,singularly, neither felt seasick, as yet. The intense anxiety untiltheir father's return, and the deep interest in his narration since,had driven all physical feeling from their minds.
But, after a little, Faith said in a hushed voice, "I'm going to bed,Hope. I couldn't talk to anybody in the saloon, and it's too wild tobe on deck, so I might as well.
"I'll go too," said Hope, "but let's just take a look out, at least."
She suddenly turned off the electric switch leaving the cabin in totaldarkness, then drew her sister to the broad swell of windows lookingout upon the forward deck. It was bare enough tonight. All theawnings were closely furled and the chairs stowed away in snug stacks,while not a figure could be seen where all had been light, warmth andcheer, a few hours earlier. Only one or two of the incandescent lightswere on, and beyond that feeble glow there seemed a great void ofdarkness and storm. The gloom shut in the steamer's world as with athick curtain; not a star was visible, but now and then a white swirlof foam gleamed for a second through the murk, and then, with acreaking and groaning as if in pain, the good ship lurched, trembled,and as the wave broke with an indescribable noise, steadied herselfonce more, to plunge onward as fast as steam could force her in theteeth of wind and wave.
Some days later, when the almost perished man had regainedconsciousness and a modicum of strength, the girls were told the restof his story, which I will give you here.
He was first-mate of the "Shiraz," a tartan, which, to be explicit, isa small coasting vessel peculiar to the Mediterranean Sea, usedprincipally for conveying stock, and sometimes other merchandise.This, headed for the Balearics, had shipped a crew at Algiers, thecaptain being forced to take what he could pick up in a hurry. He wasa Corsican, and seems to have been a cruel man, though his mate loyallymade the best of him, and insisted he was a good captain.
But, be that as it might, some failure in rations and water made thecrew surly and ready to break out into open grumbling upon anypretense, so that, when they encountered a fierce squall, and sprung aleak, it was almost impossible to keep them at the pumps, until terrorof their own lives forced them to yield to discipline.
But, though they finally succeeded in stopping the leak, this was notaccomplished until the mainsail had been carried away by the heavy sea,and other injuries sustained. It was a terrible time for all, and thecrew, exhausted and overworked on insufficient food, were only held totheir tasks by the captain and mates standing over them with loadedfirearms.
In some unknown way one of them discovered a hogshead of arrack, theEast In
dian whisky, and, unseen by the officers, they tapped it andsecretly helped themselves.
The fiery, stuff changed them from men into demons, and that night theymutinied. The second mate, who was upon deck, attempted to check theirrush, but was felled with a cutlass and kicked overboard. Next, theymade for the cabin, where the captain and mate were sitting, while theformer's wife and child were asleep in the adjoining apartment.
There was a sharp, desperate encounter in the small space, in whichthey were quickly over-powered. But when the mate was struck senselesshe rolled under the large table, and must have escaped further notice,for after despatching the captain and his screaming wife, the mutineersevidently took at once to the boats, and left the dismasted hulk tofounder with its gruesome freight.
But the storm was over by that time, and it had drifted for two daysand nights, at least, by the mate's reckoning, during which he had lainunconscious, wondrously preserved from death.
What was the fate of the seamen thus deserting no one could tell, butwith men insensate from arrack, even should they have escaped immediatedanger from the sea, they could hardly make port safely in a small openboat.
It was more than probable that the mate was the only one left of theill-fated crew. Captain Hosmer was unable to take the tartan in tow onaccount of the storm, but marked its location to report it at Algiers,that wreckers might be sent to save the cargo and sink the hulk that itshould no longer be a menace and danger to every passing craft.
"How delightful this is!" murmured Faith early next morning, afterhours of storm-tossed uneasiness and dread. "Did you ever hear suchawful noises as we had all night? I'm almost afraid to look, for feareverything is broken in here."
Hope, wide awake in an instant, returned,
"It is astonishingly still now, isn't it? I wonder what it means.Even the engines have stopped--don't you hear?"
"How can I hear stillness?" laughed Faith. "I do perceive that they'vestopped, though. Yes, we must have come safely into portsomewhere--why, I wonder if it is Algiers?"
Hope rose up on one elbow, in some excitement, then gave a cry.
"Why, look at the cage--and where is Texas?" and Faith, rising also,saw that the bottom had dropped out of the parrot's home and lay, withits contents, but not its inmate, upon the floor amid some broken glassand crockery.
"The storm has done it! Where can Texas be? Oh, I hope he is notkilled--"
"Good-morning!" croaked a voice at their very ears, and there, on thethick nickel rim surrounding one of the portholes just above theirheads, perched Texas, dignified and imperturbable as ever.
Both girls broke into laughter, and tried to coax him down, butunvailingly. He sat in a solemn quiet such as he seldom showed in hiscage, and clung to his slippery place with an air that said, "I haveknown trouble and insecurity enough. Now that I have a foothold, pooras it is, I mean to keep it," and though he returned to their coaxingcivil enough responses, he could not be tempted even to perch uponHope's white wrist, which was usually a proud privilege to his birdship.
"Well," she said, giving it up, "I mean to see what has happened andwhere we are at, as those American newspapers put it. We must be safesomewhere, for they are washing down decks just as usual."
"I wonder if father slept a wink all night," said Faith. "If he didn'tthen he is probably resting now, so we must be careful not to disturbhim."
"That's true. I'll be like a mouse!" Hope was hurrying into a pink_robe de chambre_, which the girls best liked to call a pajama, and nowslipped her feet into a pair of little Turkish slippers, all toe andsole, and opening the communicating door, peered into the library. Itwas empty, but her father's tarpaulins, in a heap on the floor, justoutside his stateroom door, showed he was within, so she moved verysoftly across to the broad outlook of windows.
In a minute she went flying back in silent swiftness. "Come, Faith,"she whispered excitedly, "it's the finest thing you ever saw!"
Soon both pajamaed figures were looking with great eyes at the novelscene before them. They found themselves anchored in some large harboramid a forest of shipping, much of it the oddest they had ever seen.Instead of the straight, strong masts they were accustomed to, herewere those that shot up so tall and slender they seemed to bend over oftheir own weight, like a young sapling. To these rapier-like mastswere fastened sails of quaint square shape and dingy hues, or of sharptriangular form, which they learned afterwards were the lateen sailsthey had read of, but never seen. The prows of these small vesselswere all so oddly curved and shaped, while the figureheads suggestednightmare fancies of the brain. Off a little way rose a fine walledcity that seemed made all of marble, at first glance. Just now, inthis early light, it was coldly white like a cemetery, but presentlythe sun shot his first warm beam over the horizon's edge, and lo! atransformation. The towering whiteness now blushed into rosy hues, theblack-green of the foliage lightened to a delicate tint, while bits ofgay colors here and there suggested parks and gardens filled withbloom. The cemetery had become a Palace Beautiful.
The girls gazed a long time, then, a bit chilled, for the night's galehad greatly cooled the air, they crept back, to sleep a while longer,in spite of the well-meant advice of Texas. "Get up, lazyheads!"austerely flung down from the porthole.
All Aboard: A Story for Girls Page 12
