Adrift in a Boat, Page 3

  CHAPTER THREE.

  WHERE WERE THEY?--RAW FISH--SLEEP--THE BRIG WITHOUT A CREW--AN AGEDCHRISTIAN.

  The gale continued blowing harder than ever, and had not the boat beenbuilt especially to encounter heavy seas, she would very soon have beenswamped. It was only by careful steering, indeed, that this could beavoided, while the two boys took it by turns to bail out the water whichoccasionally came in over the gunwale in rather alarming quantities.Still they did not lose courage. They, however, grew very hungry, andbegan to look wistfully at the hamper of fish.

  "I wish we had a stove of some sort, that we might cook some of thesefish," said David, holding up a mackerel. "I am getting fearfullyravenous."

  "Just scrape off the scales and take out the inside of one of them, andhand it to me," answered Harry, who was steering. "I have seen seameneat raw fish, and raw meat too, and the islanders in the South Seas Iknow do, so we must if we are not to starve."

  David prepared the fish as directed, during the intervals of bailing.Still he could not bring himself to eat any. Harry's inside was moreseasoned. A midshipman's berth in those days did not allow of anysqueamishness.

  "Just pour a little water into the tin mug, it will help it down," hesaid, after he had taken a few mouthfuls of the fish.

  They had found a tin mug, with a jar of fresh water. They husbanded thewater carefully, and David poured out very little, lest it should bejerked out of the mug as the boat was tossed about. Harry dipped thebits of fish into the water before eating them. It took away somewhatof the raw taste, he fancied. Still he very soon came to an end of hismeal.

  "I shall do better another time," he observed, putting the remainder ofthe fish down by his side, and drinking up the water.

  David sat for some time very silent, bailing out the water. At last helooked into the basket and took out a fish, which he began to scrapewith his knife. He held it in one hand while he bailed with the other,then he scraped a little more, and finally cleaned the fish completely.He looked at it, his lips curled, as is often the case when a person isabout to take nauseous physic. A pang came into his inside. He couldstand the hunger no longer, and, putting the fish between his teeth, hebegan to gnaw away at a great rate. He far outdid Harry. When thewater rose to the side of the boat, he dipped the fish into it. Itadded to the flavour, and made it more digestible. The boys werethankful that there was not much risk of their starving as long as thefish kept good and the water lasted. It was not food that would keepthem in health for any length of time; yet it stopped the pangs ofhunger, and that was a great thing. All this time they were looking outfor some abatement in the gale, but not a break appeared in the mass ofdark lead-coloured clouds which formed a canopy above their heads,reaching down to the horizon on every side.

  "Whereabouts do you think we are?" asked David, after a long silence.

  Harry thought for some time.

  "Somewhere in the chops of the British Channel, to the westward ofScilly, I fear," he answered. "Possibly, if the wind shifts to thesouthward, we may get driven up the Irish Channel, and then it will be atremendous time before we get home; I may be wrong, but I fear not."

  "That's what I think too," said David. "I wish that the old man wassensible. We might consult him what to do."

  Old Jefferies, however, continued in the same unconscious state asbefore. They had some hope of getting assistance from any vessels whichmight pass them, but though they saw a number at a distance glidingquickly by, not one came near them. On they drove, further and furtherthey feared from land. Again darkness came on. They were very drowsy,but they feared, should they yield to sleep, that the boat would beswamped. Harry had, he said, more practice in keeping awake, so heinsisted that David should lie down on one of the thwarts and take anhour's rest, while he could steer and bail out at the same time.

  "I can manage it," answered David, with a yawn, stretching himself outon a seat, and in less than half a minute he was sound asleep.

  Poor Harry had very hard work to keep awake. He could not venture toremain sitting. More than once his eyes closed. Phantom shapes passedbefore his eyes, strange sounds came into his ears, shrieks, cries, andgroans; sometimes he heard, he thought, shouts from afar. His brainswam round. In another instant he would have lost all consciousness.He had to spring to his feet, and to bail away with one hand while heheld the tiller with the other. He would not venture to sit down again;indeed, the high, green, rolling, froth-topped seas, by which he wassurrounded, were sufficient to keep him awake. At last, putting downthe skid, he looked at his watch. It was past six o'clock. David hadslept more than his allotted hour, and yet he could scarcely bringhimself to awake him.

  "Poor fellow, he is not so accustomed to this sort of work as I am," hesaid to himself. "After that long swim, too, he requires rest, and hadit not been for his courage I should no longer have been in this world.I'll try and keep awake a little longer."

  Harry did his best to do as he intended. He kept moving his feet, hetalked aloud, he sang even. He looked at old Jefferies. He thought hewas nodding his head and answering him, but he could not make out whatwas said. At last he felt that, if David did not wake up and come tohis relief, he should drop down, and the boat would broach to, and theywould all be drowned.

  "David! David!" he tried to cry out, but his tongue seemed to cleave tothe roof of his mouth. Still he kept the tiller in his hand, strivingsteadily. He made one more effort. "David! help! help!" he shouted.David's mind was far away in his father's garden, with his sisters andsweet Mary Rymer. He was telling them about Harry being in danger, buthe had forgotten he was with his friend. At last he heard himselfcalled. He started up, and was just in time to seize the tiller, whichHarry had that instant let slip from his grasp, as he sank down to thebottom of the boat. In another second of time the boat would havebroached to. The gloom of evening was coming on rapidly, and there wasbut a dreary prospect for poor David. He still felt very sleepy, andhad almost as much difficulty in keeping awake as before. He managed todrag Harry to one side, and to place some of the nets under his head asa pillow, but no moving had the effect of rousing him up. David felt ashe had never felt before; sitting there, the only being conscious ofexternal affairs in that lone boat, running on amidst those hugebillows. As long as the gale continued, on the boat must go, he wellknew, or run almost the certainty of being swamped. The short sleep hehad enjoyed had refreshed him, and he thought that he should now be ableto keep awake. He felt very hungry, though. No wonder! Most peoplewould have been hungry who had eaten nothing but raw fish during upwardsof twenty-four hours. He, however, would now have been very glad to getsome more raw fish, but he could not reach the hamper, and he dared notleave the helm for an instant. There was a locker under where he sat.He had just bailed out the boat, when stooping down, he put his hand in,and, feeling round, discovered to his great joy a large piece of bread,the best part of a quartern loaf. It was very stale, but he was notinclined to be particular. Never had he tasted bread so sweet. Hetook, though, only a small portion, as he did not like to eat morewithout having Harry to share it with him, or old Jefferies, if he couldbe aroused. The bread, with a little fresh water, greatly revived him.He thought, indeed, that he should be able to keep awake all the night,if Harry should sleep on. He tried his best. He stood up, then hebailed, but as much less water came into the boat than before, he hadbut little to do in that way. He tried to sing and whistle, but thetunes were somewhat melancholy. The wind was certainly decreasing, andthe sea going down. "I must wake up Harry, and then, if we can butmanage to rig a fore and aft sail, we might haul our wind, and stand tothe north-east," he said to himself. "But which is the north-east, Iwonder? The wind may have changed, and there is not a break in theclouds. Without a compass, how can we find our way? If the cloudsclear away, the stars would help us--at least, I suppose Harry knows allabout them. I wish that I did. But I was lazy, and to this moment amnot quite certain as to the look of the Polar
Bear. I remember that theNorth Star is in that. However, we could not do much yet, and, with herbeam to the sea, the boat would not be steady enough to rig our mastproperly. We must wait patiently till morning. Dear me, how heavy myhead feels! They must be all wondering what has become of us at home.I hope they don't think we are lost. That is the worst part of thebusiness. It will not be pleasant to live upon raw fish for very long,but I suppose that it will keep us alive, and probably we shall fall inwith some vessel or other, which will tow us home. That will be verynice. What a pleasant picnic we had, and Harry to come home just intime, and Mary Rymer, and what a dear--oh! how pleasant--how--" PoorDavid was asleep. No wonder, after having been awake for so many hours,and only just a little more than one hour's rest on a hard plank. Hestill held the tiller, and instinctively moved it to or from him, as hefelt the boat inclined to broach to. His eyes, indeed, were not quiteclosed, so that in reality he saw the seas as they rolled before him,and perhaps steered almost as well as he had done before. Meantime theold man remained in a state of stupor, and Harry slept as soundly as a"church door," or rather as midshipmen are generally supposed to do.Thus the boat must have gone on for hours. Happily, the wind and seawere going down, or it would have been a serious matter to the boys. Itwill be understood that, after an easterly gale in the Channel, the seagoes down more rapidly than after a westerly one, when there has been acommotion across the whole sweep of the Atlantic. Suddenly a loudconcussion and a continued grating sound made both David and Harry startto their feet, and they saw what seemed a huge black mass towering abovethem. What could it be?

  "A ship! a ship!" shouted Harry. "Heave a rope here!"

  No one answered. As the boat was slowly rubbing by the side of the ship(for Harry was right in his conjecture), he found a rope hangingoverboard. With the activity of a seaman he secured the end round thefore-thwart of the boat, while David hauled down the sail--not that thatwas of any consequence, as the wind had fallen almost to a calm. AgainHarry, joined by David, shouted loudly, but no one answered.

  "I believe the ship is abandoned," he observed. "Yes, I am sure she is,for I see no masts. She is not quite so large, either, as I thought atfirst--a brig probably. However, we shall soon have daylight, and knowall about it."

  The dawn was already breaking, but no roseate hue was seen in the sky,to indicate the position of the rising sun. Although the sea had gonedown greatly, still the boat struck heavily every now and then againstthe vessel, as she rolled slowly from side to side. There was, indeed,great danger that she would be stove in, if not altogether swamped. Theboys, therefore, agreed that the sooner they could get on board thebetter.

  "We shall find some food, at all events; and if we can get nothing more,we may shove off again," observed David.

  "Oh! I hope we shall get much more than that," exclaimed Harry, in aconfident tone. "What do you think of a compass, and sail, and spars,and rigging for our boat, and if so we shall without difficulty be ableto find our way home. Hurrah! what do you think of that?"

  "I did not fancy that we were likely to be so fortunate," answeredDavid. "To think that we should have run directly against a ship out inthe ocean here! What shall we do now?"

  "Why, get on board ourselves, and then hoist the old man up," answeredHarry. "We must not leave him in the boat, lest she should get stovein."

  The boys quickly scrambled up the ship's side. Both her masts weregone, and the bowsprit had been carried away, with a considerableportion of the bulwarks, when the masts fell, and all her boats andcaboose. Altogether she had a very forlorn appearance, while there wasno sign of a human being on board. Their first care was to get up theold man. Harry leaped down into the cabin of the brig, and instantlyreturned with a long horsehair sofa cushion. "We must pass straps roundthis, and parbuckle him up," he observed. Fortunately a davit remained.To this they secured a tackle, and David, jumping into the boat to passthe cushion under old Jefferies, they soon had him up safe on deck.They then, having got up the hamper of fish, with the bread and the jarof water, veered the boat away with a hawser astern. They were now ablefor the first time to attend to the old man. They examined his head,and finding where he had been struck, bathed the place with water, andthey also poured a few drops of water down his throat. This seemed torevive him greatly, and at last they thought that they might leave him,to examine the vessel. The cold dull grey light of the early morningenabled them to do so. The brig had not long been deserted, and greatwas their satisfaction to find all sorts of things to eat on board--biscuits, and even soft bread, though it was rather stale, and a box ofeggs, and bacon and cheese, and even some cooked meat, and there werealso melons, and oranges, and dried figs, and grapes, and other fruits,which showed that she had probably come from a warm country, where thesefruits grew; indeed, they afterwards learned from some papers theyfound, that she was the _Fair Ianthe_, and was from the Mediterranean,homeward bound. While Harry and David were examining one of thelockers, they felt something moving against their legs. They lookeddown, and saw a fine white cat, which by her movements, and the pleasedpurrs she gave when she saw that she was noticed, seemed to welcomethem.

  "She must be a fairy, or the good genius of the ship," exclaimed David."Or, if she is a mere mortal cat, she must be very hungry, as I am sureI am, so let us go up and breakfast on deck, and try and get the old manto eat something."

  "Do you know, I think that he would do much better down below, if wecould take off his wet things, and put him to bed," observed Harry.

  To this David agreed, and, after they had eaten a little bread, for theywould not give themselves time to take more, they contrived, withconsiderable exertion, to lower old Jefferies into the cabin, and to puthim into bed. This done, they lighted a fire in the cabin stove, andmade tea and boiled some eggs, and did some rashers. They wisely, also,took off their own wet things, which they hung up to dry, while they puton some clothes which they found in the cabin. What a hearty breakfastthey made!--and if it had not been for the thoughts of the poor lad whohad gone overboard, and the anxiety of their friends, they would havepronounced themselves very jolly. As it was, it cannot be said thatthey were very unhappy. At last they contrived to get old Jefferies toswallow some tea, and a little substantial food, for which he seemedmuch the better, and in a few minutes they had the satisfaction ofseeing him drop off into a sound sleep.

  Harry and David returned to their meal, for they still felt somewhathungry. They soon began to nod, and at last David's head dropped on thetable.

  "I shall be off too, if I don't jump on deck and look after the boat,and see how the weather is," said Harry. He found the boat secure, butthe weather very dull and far from promising, though there was then butlittle wind. He scanned the horizon. Not a sail was in sight, andunless with a stronger breeze than then blew, none could approach forsome time to come. On examining the vessel he thought that there was nodanger of her sinking; indeed, except that she had lost her mast, hecould not make out why she had been deserted. He judged by the way sherolled that she was slightly leaking, and had made some water. "We'llpump her out by and by, and she will be all right till we get a fairbreeze to return home," he thought to himself. "Perhaps we may carryher in, and obtain salvage. That would be very fine, better than allthe prize-money I am likely to make for a long time to come." Such werethe ideas that floated through his mind as he returned to the cabin. Acomfortable-looking bed invited him to rest, and rousing up David for amoment, he made him crawl half asleep into another. Both of them inhalf a second were soundly sleeping, and had the tempest again arisen,they would not probably have awakened then.

  Very different would have been the case had Harry been a captain, butthe cares and responsibilities of midshipmen are light, and theirslumbers sound. Hours passed by, when they both started up, hearing avoice crying out, "Where am I? What has happened? Ah me! ah me!" Itwas old Jefferies who spoke. They went to him. He had returned toconsciousness, and now remembered the los
s of his grandson. They didtheir best to comfort the old man. They felt that they had beenremotely the cause of the lad's death. "No fault of yours, younggentlemen," he answered to a remark one of them had made; "it was God'swill to call the boy home. We must never murmur at what God chooses todo. He knows what's best for us. Ah, if you had heard Mr Wesleypreach, as I often have, you'd understand these things better than youdo, perhaps." They were glad to let him talk on, as the doing so seemedto divert his mind from his grief. He told them much about the greatpreacher, and among other things that he was never stopped by weatherfrom keeping an appointment, and that though wet through, with his highboots full of water, he would deliver his message of love to anassembled congregation before he would change his garments.

  While they were all asleep the fire had gone out. They relighted it,and cooked an abundance of their fish, and spread their table with it,and several other things they had discovered. They little knew how thetime had gone by, and were therefore greatly surprised to find darknessagain coming on. The two lads hurried on deck, followed by oldJefferies. The sky was still obscured. No land was in sight, and onlytwo or three sails could be observed in the far distance. They watchedthem, but they were steering away from the ship. It was evidently toolate, even if old Jefferies had been strong enough, to leave her thatday. They therefore made up their minds to pass another night on board,and to leave early the next day.

  "If the sky is clear we may do so," observed Harry. "But I have huntedeverywhere, and can find no compass; so that unless we can see thestars, we shall be unable to steer a right course. If we venture tomake the attempt, we may perhaps find ourselves far away in theAtlantic, and never be able to return."