Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER V

  THE TITLED GENTLEMEN OF THE TRAVANCORE

  The first and second cutters of the Guardian-Mother were struggling bravelywith the huge billows, but not making very rapid progress, though the galewas in their favor. The eleven men floundering in the water where the wreckhad disappeared under them were provided with life-preservers, it was nowdiscovered, and their chances were somewhat less desperate than they wereat first taken to be. But the waves rudely knocked them about, andsometimes upset them so as to require a struggle to regain their uprightposition.

  "The Blanche is close aboard of us, Captain Ringgold," said Mr. Gaskette."She is running at full speed for a position on our port hand."

  "Very good," replied the commander. "That is the right thing for her to do,if she don't come too near us."

  "She is at a safe distance, sir, and her starboard quarter-boat is mannedand ready to drop into the water."

  "Captain Sharp will do the right thing at the right time," replied thecommander, whose gaze was riveted upon the struggling party in the water.

  "I trust we shall be able to save the whole of them."

  "The chances are good for it," answered the second officer.

  "How is the second cutter doing?" inquired Captain Ringgold.

  "She is doing very well, sir, though she is some distance behind the firstcutter, for she got away from the ship later. Mr. Belgrave is pulling astroke as vigorous as the rest of the crew. The Blanche is coming about,and she will have her starboard boat in the water in a few minutes more."

  As her head swung round to port she stopped her screw, and then backed fora few moments, till she had killed the most of her headway; for CaptainSharp knew better than to drop the boat into the water while the vessel wasmaking sternway. In a very short space of time the six-oar craft waspulling with all the muscle of her British tars for the scene of peril, andnot more than two cables' length astern of the second cutter of theGuardian-Mother.

  Captain Ringgold observed the boats with the most intense interest as theyapproached the unfortunate men in the water. The Blanche came about again,and her other quarter-boat was soon pulling after the first. Possibly therewas some feeling of rivalry among the crews of the boats in the good workin which they were engaged, for they were all putting their utmost vigorinto their oars.

  But no boat appeared to gain on the others, and the one which had startedfirst continued to maintain her advantage till the work of rescuing thesufferers actually began. By this time the action of the waves hadseparated the party, so that they were scattered over a considerablesurface of the breaking billows. Mr. Boulong could see that some of the menin the water were nearly exhausted; for many of them had wasted theirstrength in useless struggles.

  The first cutter was approaching a man who was at the extremity of thewestern wing of the party. He was a European of thirty years or less; andthough his head, hair, and beard were dripping with salt water, there wassomething in his expression, as he bestowed a single glance upon the boatnow close to him, which commanded the respect, and even admiration, of thefirst officer. He was cool and self-possessed in spite of the peril of hissituation, and was observing with painful solicitude the struggles of aperson about ten fathoms from him.

  "Stand by to lay on your oars!" said Mr. Boulong with energy, when thefirst cutter was within a boat's length of the individual. "Hold water!Stand by to haul him in, Knott!" he added to the bow man. "Stern all!"

  These orders were given as the boat came within her length of the man; andKnott was unshipping his oar, when the stranger raised his left hand,pointing to the struggling person he had been observing in spite of thenear approach of the cutter.

  "Save that man first, for he is drowning!" he shouted in tones full ofanxiety, if not positive suffering. "I can take care of myself for a whilelonger."

  Mr. Boulong's vision had taken in the drowning man, and he fully realizedthat the person's situation was desperate, if he was not already hopelesslylost. He had struggled and twisted himself in his involuntary efforts, tillhis life-preserver had worked its way down to his hips, and then itoverthrew him; for he turned a somerset, and disappeared under a comingwave. He had utterly "lost his head," and was like an infant in the fury ofthe billows.

  The men were still backing water with their oars, in obedience to the orderof the officer; but as soon as the oars would go clear of theself-possessed gentleman, Mr. Boulong gave the command to "Give way!" andagain the cutter went ahead.

  It required but a few strokes to give the necessary headway to the boat;and Knott was again ordered to stand by to haul him in. The great waveingulfed and swept over him, and again left him aimlessly battling with thekilling billows. The bowman was in position, and leaned over so far toreach the sufferer, that the officer ordered the next two men to seize himby the legs, to prevent him from being dragged overboard.

  Knott grasped him by his upper garment, and drew his head out of the water.He held on like an excited bulldog, in spite of the erratic vaulting of theboat and the struggles of him whom the deep sea seemed to have chosen asits victim. But the bowman was a muscular seaman of fifty, and he won thevictory over the billows, and hauled the man into the cutter. He was aperson of rather swarthy complexion, dressed in Hindu costume. He waspassed along through the oarsmen to the stern-sheets, where Mr. Boulongproceeded to lift him up with his feet in the air, to free his lungs fromthe salt water he must have imbibed.

  By this time the second cutter came up to the scene, and Scott in commandwondered why the first officer had passed by one man to save another; forin the commotion of the waves he had not been able to realize the conditionof the Hindu, as he appeared to be. But the cool gentleman had beenover-confident; and instead of waiting for one of the boats to pick him up,he had disengaged himself from his life-preserver, and attempted to swim tothe first cutter. Mr. Boulong was so occupied with his treatment of thefirst man rescued, that he did not see him, or hear his shout above thenoise of the savage waves, and had directed the cockswain to steer for thenext man, who seemed to be an older person than either of the others.

  The Hindu had not entirely lost his senses; and when he was disburdened ofthe load of salt water he had swallowed, he looked about him, though stillin a somewhat dazed condition.

  "Dr. Ferrolan!" he exclaimed. "Oh, save him!" He pointed to him as thestern of the boat rose on a billow; and he proved to be the person towardswhom the cockswain was steering the boat. "Where is Lord Tremlyn?" heasked, as he surveyed the surrounding waters. "There!" he screamed wildly,as he pointed over the stern, where the person indicated was swimming forthe first cutter.

  "A ready seaman seized him by the arm."--Page 45.]

  "The other boat is close aboard of him, and will soon pick him up," saidMr. Boulong, turning his attention to one ahead of the cutter.

  As he spoke, a booming billow struck Lord Tremlyn, as the Hindu hadrevealed his name, just as Scott was running his boat up to take him onboard. He was caught just in the comb of the wave, and it upset him, makinghim turn a complete somerset, as his companion had done; but he was masterof himself, and when he came up, he appeared to dive through the crest ofanother billow, and came out close alongside Scott's boat, near the bow. Aready seaman seized him by the arm, and, with the aid of another, hauledhim into the boat, where he was passed into the stern-sheets.

  "Was Sir Modava saved?" he asked, with no little excitement in his manner,as he spit the salt water from his mouth.

  "Don't know him, sir; but they just hauled a man into the first cutter,"replied Scott.

  "Which is the first cutter?" asked Lord Tremlyn, looking about him.

  "The one just ahead of us, sir."

  "Thank God, he is saved!" ejaculated his soaked lordship. "Kindly pull upto her, and let me be sure of it."

  "That is easier said than done, sir. The first cutter has just picked upanother man, and now she is pulling for all she is worth for the next one.I couldn't overhaul he
r if I tried, and just now our business is to savethose in the water," answered the third officer.

  "You are right, Mr. Officer," added Lord Tremlyn, as he seated himself inthe place pointed out to him.

  There were still eight others in the water, and all of them were to thenorth of the boats. Those from the Blanche had noticed this fact, and werepulling in that direction. Mr. Boulong had directed his boat, after takingin Dr. Ferrolan, as the Hindu called him, to the person the farthest to theeastward, leaving the others to be saved by the boats nearer to them.

  It is enough to say that all the wrecked party were saved, without givingthe details of the picking up of each of them. The vessel in which they hadfoundered had entirely disappeared, and nothing was seen belonging to her.Against the head sea all the boats pulled back to the two steamers. Thefirst cutter of the Guardian-Mother had saved three, the second three, andthe two boats of the Blanche had picked up five.

  "Now give three cheers, Mr. Scott," said Louis Belgrave in a low tone, asthe second cutter, ahead of the first on the return, approached the ship."The captain will understand from that we have saved all the party."

  Scott approved the suggestion, and the cheers were given with a will, andrepeated by the crew of the first cutter, not far behind. They werereturned from the ship; and the voices included those who belonged in thecabin, as well as the officers, seamen, and waiters, while the ladies,clinging to the rails of the promenade, vigorously waved theirhandkerchiefs, as the sun rose clear from the eastern waves, though it soondisappeared in the clouds. It was evident to the officers that the gale wasbreaking; or perhaps, as the commander put it, the ship was running out ofit.

  Each of the boats got under the lee in turn; the falls were hooked on, andboth cutters were hoisted up to their davits, as they had come from thescene of their exploits. Mr. Gaskette was directed to get the ship on hercourse again; and Captain Ringgold went aft to welcome the shipwreckedmariners, or whatever they were.

  The seamen assisted the dripping passengers to the deck; and the masculinetenants of the state-cabin crept along the life-lines to take part in thescene, or at least to witness it. As the steamer was headed to theeastward, the second cutter was the first to be hoisted up. The firstperson to be assisted to the deck was Lord Tremlyn, though those who hadsaved him were not yet aware of his quality. The commander extended hishand to him, and it was cordially grasped.

  "I congratulate you, sir, on your escape from the wreck of your ship," saidhe. "I thank God most earnestly that we have been able to save all yourparty. I hope none were lost before we made you out on the wreck."

  "Not one, Captain; and I join with you in reverent gratitude to Him whorules the sea in calm and storm, for our preservation from certain death,which would have been our fate, one and all, but for the care and skillwith which you have worked out our salvation. I thank you and the brave andnoble officers and crews of your boats with all my mind and heart. I speaknot for myself alone, but for all the ship's company of the Travancore, nowgone to the bottom," replied Lord Tremlyn, again grasping the hand of thecommander.

  In a short time the saved from the first cutter joined the others on thepromenade deck, and the Guardian-Mother proceeded on her course to Bombay.

  "Were you the captain of the Travancore, sir?" asked the commander.

  "I am only an amateur sailor," said his lordship; "but I was in command ofthe unfortunate vessel, which was a steam-yacht of small dimensions, in theservice of the Indian government. Ah, Dr. Ferrolan," he continued as thosefrom the first cutter crossed the deck; and he grasped the hand of theperson addressed, "let us thank God first, and then the commander of thisship, that we have been preserved,--all the ship's company, I am informed."

  "I join you most heartily, my Lord," replied the doctor. "Captain----"

  "Captain Ringgold," prompted Mr. Boulong, by whose boat he had been saved.

  "Captain Ringgold, I am your debtor for life;" and he proceeded to expresshis obligations more at length. "Permit me to present to you Lord Tremlyn,a gentleman who came to India on semi-official business."

  "I am happy to know you, Lord Tremlyn," replied the commander; but thetitle did not appear to make a very profound impression upon him.

  "Captain Ringgold, allow me to introduce my particular friend, Sir ModavaRao, a gentleman high in the favor of the Indian government, and I may addof all the native princes."

  "I am very happy to make your acquaintance, Sir Modava," replied thecommander, taking his dusky hand.

  The captain then invited the two titled gentlemen and the doctor of theparty to the cabin, while the two engineers were turned over to Mr.Sentrick, the chief engineer.