Un capitaine de quinze ans. English Page 4

  CHAPTER III.

  A RESCUE.

  At the sound of Dick's voice all the crew, in a moment, were upon thealert. The men who were not on watch rushed to the deck, and CaptainHull hurried from his cabin to the bows. Mrs. Weldon, Nan, and evenCousin Benedict leaned over the starboard taffrails, eager to get aglimpse of what had thus suddenly attracted the attention of the youngapprentice. With his usual indifference, Negoro did not leave hiscabin, and was the only person on board who did not share the generalexcitement.

  Speculations were soon rife as to what could be the nature of thefloating object which could be discerned about three miles ahead.Suggestions of various character were freely made. One of the sailorsdeclared that it looked to him only like an abandoned raft, but Mrs.Weldon observed quickly that if it were a raft it might be carryingsome unfortunate shipwrecked men who must be rescued if possible.Cousin Benedict asserted that it was nothing more nor less than a hugesea-monster; but the captain soon arrived at the conviction that it wasthe hull of a vessel that had heeled over on to its side, an opinionwith which Dick thoroughly coincided, and went so far as to say that hebelieved he could make out the copper keel glittering in the sun.

  "Luff, Bolton, luff!" shouted Captain Hull to the helmsman; "we will atany rate lose no time in getting alongside."

  "Ay, ay, sir," answered the helmsman, and the "Pilgrim" in an instantwas steered according to orders.

  In spite, however, of the convictions of the captain and Dick, CousinBenedict would not be moved from his opinion that the object of theircuriosity was some huge cetacean.

  "It is certainly dead, then," remarked Mrs. Weldon; "it is perfectlymotionless."

  "Oh, that's because it is asleep," said Benedict, who, although hewould have willingly given up all the whales in the ocean for one rarespecimen of an insect, yet could not surrender his own belief.

  "Easy, Bolton, easy!" shouted the captain when they were getting nearerthe floating mass; "don't let us be running foul of the thing; no goodcould come from knocking a hole in our side; keep out from it a goodcable's length."

  "Ay, ay, sir," replied the helmsman, in his usual cheery way; and by aneasy turn of the helm the "Pilgrim's" course was slightly modified soas to avoid all fear of collision.

  The excitement of the sailors by this time had become more intense.Ever since the distance had been less than a mile all doubt hadvanished, and it was certain that what was attracting their attentionwas the hull of a capsized ship. They knew well enough the establishedrule that a third of all salvage is the right of the finders, and theywere filled with the hope that the hull they were nearing might containan undamaged cargo, and be "a good haul," to compensate them for theirill-success in the last season.

  A quarter of an hour later and the "Pilgrim" was within half a mile ofthe deserted vessel, facing her starboard side. Water-logged to herbulwarks, she had heeled over so completely that it would have beennext to impossible to stand upon her deck. Of her masts nothing was tobe seen; a few ends of cordage were all that remained of her shrouds,and the try-sail chains were hanging all broken. On the starboard flankwas an enormous hole.

  "Something or other has run foul of her," said Dick.

  "No doubt of that," replied the captain; "the only wonder is that shedid not sink immediately."

  "Oh, how I hope the poor crew have been saved!" exclaimed Mrs Weldon.

  "Most probably," replied the captain, "they would all have taken to theboats. It is as likely as not that the ship which did the mischiefwould continue its course quite unconcerned."

  "Surely, you cannot mean," cried Mrs Weldon, "that any one could becapable of such inhumanity?"

  "Only too probable," answered Captain Hull, "unfortunately, suchinstances are very far from rare."

  He scanned the drifting ship carefully and continued,--

  "No, I cannot see any sign of boats here, I should guess that the crewhave made an attempt to get to land, at such a distance as this,however, from America or from the islands of the Pacific I should beafraid that it must be hopeless."

  "Is it not possible," asked Mrs Weldon, "that some poor creature maystill survive on board, who can tell what has happened?"

  "Hardly likely, madam; otherwise there would have been some sort of asignal in sight. But it is a matter about which we will make sure."

  The captain waved his hand a little in the direction in which he wishedto go, and said quietly,--

  "Luff, Bolton, luff a bit!"

  The "Pilgrim" by this time was not much more than three cables' lengthsfrom the ship, there was still no token of her being otherwise thanutterly deserted, when Dick Sands suddenly exclaimed,--

  "Hark! if I am not much mistaken, that is a dog barking!"

  Every one listened attentively; it was no fancy on Dick's part, sureenough a stifled barking could be heard, as if some unfortunate dog hadbeen imprisoned beneath the hatchways; but as the deck was not yetvisible, it was impossible at present to determine the precise truth.

  Mrs Weldon pleaded,--

  "If it is only a dog, captain, let it be saved."

  "Oh, yes, yes, mamma, the dog must be saved!" cried little Jack; "Iwill go and get a bit of sugar ready for it."

  Negoro had approached without being noticed by any one]

  "A bit of sugar, my child, will not be much for a starved dog."

  "Then it shall have my soup, and I will do without," said the boy, andhe kept shouting, "Good dog! good dog!" until he persuaded himself thathe heard the animal responding to his call.

  The vessels were now scarcely three hundred feet apart; the barking wasmore and more distinct, and presently a great dog was seen clinging tothe starboard netting. It barked more desperately than ever.

  "Howick," said Captain Hull, calling to the boatswain, "heave to, andlower the small boat."

  The sails were soon trimmed so as to bring the schooner to a standstillwithin half a cable's length of the disabled craft, the boat waslowered, and the captain and Dick, with a couple of sailors, went onboard. The dog kept up a continual yelping; it made the most vigourousefforts to retain its hold upon the netting, but perpetually slippedbackwards and fell off again upon the inclining deck. It was soonmanifest, however, that all the noise the creature was making was notdirected exclusively towards those who were coming to its rescue, andMrs. Weldon could not divest herself of the impression that there mustbe some survivors still on board. All at once the animal changed itsgestures. Instead of the crouching attitude and supplicating whine withwhich it seemed to be imploring the compassion of those who werenearing it, it suddenly appeared to become bursting with violence andfurious with rage.

  "What ails the brute?" exclaimed Captain Hull.

  But already the boat was on the farther side of the wrecked ship, andthe captain was not in a position to see that Negoro the cook had justcome on to the schooner's deck, or that it was obvious that it wasagainst him that the dog had broken out in such obstreperous fury.Negoro had approached without being noticed by any one; he made his wayto the forecastle, whence, without a word or look of surprise, he gazeda moment at the dog, knitted his brow, and, silent and unobserved as hehad come, retired to his kitchen.

  As the boat had rounded the stern of the drifting hull, it had beenobserved that the one word "Waldeck" was painted on the aft-board, butthat there was no intimation of the port to which the ship belonged. ToCaptain Hull's experienced eye, however, certain details ofconstruction gave a decided confirmation to the probability suggestedby her name that she was of American build.

  Of what had once been a fine brig of 500 tons burden this hopelesswreck was now all that remained. The large hole near the bows indicatedthe place where the disastrous shock had occurred, but as, in theheeling over, this aperture had been carried some five or six feetabove the water, the vessel had escaped the immediate foundering whichmust otherwise have ensued; but still it wanted only the rising of aheavy swell to submerge the ship at any time in a few minutes.

  It did not take many
more strokes to bring the boat close to thelarboard bulwark, which was half out of the water, and Captain Hullobtained a view of the whole length of the deck. It was clear from endto end. Both masts had been snapped off within two feet of theirsockets, and had been swept away with shrouds, stays, and rigging. Nota single spar was to be seen floating anywhere within sight of thewreck, a circumstance from which it was to be inferred that severaldays at least had elapsed since the catastrophe.

  Meantime the dog, sliding down from the taffrail, got to the centrehatchway, which was open. Here it continued to bark, alternatelydirecting its eyes above deck and below.

  "Look at that dog!" said Dick; "I begin to think there must be somebodyon board."

  "If so," answered the captain, "he must have died of hunger; the waterof course has flooded the store-room."

  "No," said Dick; "that dog wouldn't look like that if there were nobodythere alive."

  The dog began to swim slowly and with manifest weaknesstowards the boat.]

  Taking the boat as close as was prudent to the wreck, the captain andDick called and whistled repeatedly to the dog, which after a while letitself slip into the sea, and began to swim slowly and with manifestweakness towards the boat. As soon as it was lifted in, the animal,instead of devouring the piece of bread that was offered him, made itsway to a bucket containing a few drops of fresh water, and beganeagerly to lap them up.

  "The poor wretch is dying of thirst!" said Dick.

  It soon appeared that the dog was very far from being engrossed withits own interests. The boat was being pushed back a few yards in orderto allow the captain to ascertain the most convenient place to getalongside the "Waldeck," when the creature seized Dick by the jacket,and set up a howl that was almost human in its piteousness. It wasevidently in a state of alarm that the boat was not going to return tothe wreck. The dog's meaning could not be misunderstood. The boat wasaccordingly brought against the larboard side of the vessel, and whilethe two sailors lashed her securely to the "Waldeck's" cat-head,Captain Hull and Dick, with the dog persistently accompanying them,clambered, after some difficulty, to the open hatchway between thestumps of the masts, and made their way into the hold. It was half fullof water, but perfectly destitute of cargo, its sole contents being theballast sand which had slipped to larboard, and now served to keep thevessel on her side.

  One glance was sufficient to convince the captain that there was nosalvage to be effected.

  "There is nothing here; nobody here," he said.

  "So I see," said the apprentice, who had made his way to the extremefore-part of the hold.

  "Then we have only to go up again," remarked the captain.

  They ascended the ladder, but no sooner did they reappear upon the deckthan the dog, barking irrepressibly, began trying manifestly to dragthem towards the stern.

  Yielding to what might be called the importunities of the dog, theyfollowed him to the poop, and there, by the dim glimmer admitted by thesky-light, Captain Hull made out the forms of five bodies, motionlessand apparently lifeless, stretched upon the floor.

  One after another, Dick hastily examined them all, and emphaticallydeclared it to be his opinion, that not one or them had actually ceasedto breathe; whereupon the captain did not lose a minute in summoningthe two sailors to his aid, and although it was far from an easy task,he succeeded in getting the five unconscious men, who were all negroes,conveyed safely to the boat.

  The dog followed, apparently satisfied.

  With all possible speed the boat made its way back again to the"Pilgrim," a girt-line was lowered from the mainyard, and theunfortunate men were raised to the deck.

  "Poor things!" said Mrs. Weldon, as she looked compassionately on themotionless forms.

  "But they are not dead," cried Dick eagerly; "they are not dead; weshall save them all yet!"

  "What's the matter with them?" asked Cousin Benedict, looking at themwith utter bewilderment.

  "We shall hear all about them soon, I dare say," said the captain,smiling; "but first we will give them a few drops of rum in some water."

  Cousin Benedict smiled in return.

  "Negoro!" shouted the captain.

  At the sound of the name, the dog, who had hitherto been quite passive,growled fiercely, showed his teeth, and exhibited every sign of rage.

  The cook did not answer.

  "Negoro!" again the captain shouted, and the dog became yet more angry.

  At this second summons Negoro slowly left his kitchen, but no soonerhad he shown his face upon the deck than the animal made a rush at him,and would unquestionably have seized him by the throat if the man hadnot knocked him back with a poker which he had brought with him in hishand.

  The infuriated beast was secured by the sailors, and prevented frominflicting any serious injury.

  "Do you know this dog?" asked the captain.

  "Know him? Not I! I have never set eyes on the brute in my life."

  "Strange!" muttered Dick to himself; "there is some mystery here. Weshall see."