i had no idea that it was morning already, the night had passed so quickly. the eastern sky was already gray, and although the day bade fair to be an unpleasant one there was already light enough to distinguish land off to starboard; that side of the ship on the tack on which we were then standing, was to leeward. we had run quite near it in the night. it was still too gray to make out much more than the existence of the land itself, but i thought i saw beyond the nearest island others rising.
at any rate, there it was where it ought to be, and i didn’t make any doubt but that it was the island which we had been seeking these long weary months at sea, especially as i recalled the results of the sights which poor captain matthews and i had worked out the afternoon before. i felt no little pride in my navigation, by the way. i had told her that i could find it,[149] and i had done so after sailing halfway round the world.
the observation which i had taken then and which i had checked off later, and which captain matthews had also checked off by his own shot at the sun, had shown us that we were in about the latitude and longitude of the chart where we might hope to sight land, if the island of our search was not purely an imaginary one. it had not been marked on any chart, to be sure, and i had always felt some doubt about it. the whole story was so strange and unreal, something like a story-teller’s romance, that the longer i sailed on the voyage the less real the whole undertaking seemed. with the passing days and the passing leagues i had changed my once confident opinion.
yet i knew that these parts of the ocean had not been well charted, they were very infrequently visited, and there might well be islands here as well as in other parts of the south seas that no one knew anything at all about. i had thus sought to reassure myself, and lo and behold, there it was. i was glad then that i had not spoken of my growing doubts to my lady.
[150]somehow the sight of that land set my pulses beating. if there was land there, why should not the rest of the story be true, why should there not be treasure?
my confidence came suddenly back to me. yes, that must be the island and the treasure must be upon it. i had professed to give up all of my share to the crew for her—nevertheless, i was not insensible to its value if it were there, and i made up my mind if human strength, human wisdom, human cunning, and unbounded devotion could work it out, i would outwit the crew and get all of it for her, although i realized that riches would remove her at once further than ever from me.
what of it! i couldn’t be further from her than i was. she had shown me my presumption and rebuked me properly for it, though indeed she had forgiven me. she was born to be rich and happy and if i could make her the one her friends, old and new, would doubtless make her the other. as for me—well, i could go off on some longer cruise even than this and never come back. nobody would care. i didn’t have much time to think about these things, but the[151] resolution came to my mind then as i set it down here.
the whole crew was on deck. i didn’t see captain matthews’ body about, although i looked hastily for it. i learned later that they had tumbled the poor old man overboard after they had knocked him on the head. he had shot a mutineer before the rest killed him, and he, too, had gone into the sea with the same lack of ceremony—murdered and murderer together to wait the final reckoning. pimball, glibby, and one or two others of the older seamen were on the quarter-deck, the rest being strung along the lee rail in the waist, staring at the island. two good hands were at the wheel. the ship was pitching and laboring heavily and it required two men to hold her up to it.
everything above the topsail yards had been furled, of course, and during the night they had taken a second reef in the topsails. a whole gale was now blowing. the rose of devon was a wet ship in a seaway, and she was making heavy weather out of it. every once in a while a wave would slap her on the weather bow and send a cloud of spray as high as the foreyard, followed[152] by a torrent of water flooding aft. fortunately it was not cold. we were only a few degrees south from the line so the water was warm and nobody minded an occasional ducking.
i noticed one thing with satisfaction. they had evidently not thought it worth while to break open the arms chest or to force the key from me, which they could easily have done, and therefore none of them was armed. the desirability of getting at the arms had not occurred to them, or else, they being so many, and i but one, they had not thought it worth while. at any rate, save their sheath knives, weapons they had none. even captain matthews’ pistols had been thrown over with the body, in their hasty disposition of it.
“well,” i began, as i climbed over the hatch combing and turned aft.
“i sent for you, hampdon,” began pimball insolently, and his failure to ‘mister’ me or to give me any title indicated our present relations—and of course i expressed no resentment over his disrespect—“because o’ that,” he pointed to the leeward toward the island, which we were now sufficiently close to see easily in the growing[153] light, and to which we were rapidly drawing nearer. “what do you make of it?”
“it looks like land,” i said to gain time.
“it is land, of course,” he rejoined impatiently, “but what land?”
“how can i tell?” i answered evasively. “i have never been in these seas before.”
“well, you took a shot at the sun yesterday, didn’t you?”
“certainly.”
“an’ where were we?”
i named a latitude and longitude, not exactly what i had worked out but near enough. for obvious reasons i didn’t want these ruffians to know exactly where we were or to have any accurate information on any subject. he pulled out the chart as i spoke and compared its figures with those i had given them. evidently he could read figures if not letters.
“at any rate,” he said after studying over the map for a little time, “that ain’t far from the p’int we’re makin’ for, is it?”
“no,” i admitted, “not very.”
“do you think that can be it?”
“i can’t tell for certain,” i replied, determined[154] not to commit myself, “until i get another shot at the sun. i should think the latitude about right, but as to the longitude—”
“an’ you can’t git no shot at the sun ’til noon, can you?” unceremoniously put in glibby, casting a long look to the eastward where the sky was thick and cloudy already.
“i can’t even get an observation then unless we have clear weather,” i answered.
“there’ll be no clear weather today, i take it,” said an old seaman, standing with the other two.
“i don’t much think it,” i assented.
“well, what do you advise, then?” asked pimball.
“that we stand on slowly during the day and heave to at night, and if we can’t get a shot at the sun, stay hereabouts until the sky is clear and the sun visible, then we will know just exactly what course to take and just what’s best to be done.”
the advice was so self-evidently good, in fact, the only practicable course, that there was no hesitation in accepting it. pimball, glibby, and the older sailors conferred together for a few[155] minutes and decided that what i had said was sensible. the boatswain stepped up to the horse block, grabbed the trumpet, and shouted his orders. presently the ship was hove to with the island well under her lee, distant perhaps a league and a half or maybe two leagues. personally i should not have hove to a ship so close to a lee shore. i should not have advised it and indeed would have protested against it, had i not suddenly developed a plan, a plan as desperate as ever came into man’s head, but then the situation required desperate remedies. and for the accomplishment of the plan the ship was now in the very best position i could have put her.
there were thirty able-bodied men on that ship, not one of whom could have matched me individually, but collectively i was nothing compared to them. if that were the island for which we had been headed, i did not want to leave it without an inspection. privately i had no doubt but that it was, because, as near as i could calculate from our last observation, it was exactly in the spot where it ought to be, did the parchment tell the truth. as i said before, i prided myself on my navigation and i do still.[156] it was no light thing to sail a ship from england across the whole length of the atlantic, round cape horn and take her up into the tropics and put her just where she ought to be; and i submit that i had a right to be proud.
well, if that were the island, i was minded to desert the ship with my lady, get ashore and trust ourselves to the tender mercies of whatever natives there were rather than stay with the vessel. the savages, if any there were, couldn’t do any more than murder us, and, unless i could shoot her first, the men would eventually treat her, and me too, a deal worse than that. i took no stock in their promises and agreements. once they got the treasure it would follow that they would kill me and take her. so i made up my mind to desert the ship with my mistress just as soon as i could get away from her, and i thought i could. rather the natural savage than the civilized one for us both, i decided. that was my desperate design.
when we got the rose of devon safely hove to, the men all knocked off work at once, leaving the decks in a state of confusion. indeed, save to clear up the gear, there was nothing to do but[157] wait. two or three men were stationed on watch and the rest were given the freedom of the ship. i was in doubt as to what to say about the cabin, but strangely enough nobody made any effort to take advantage of the mastery of the crew to quarter himself there. indeed, their quarters forward were almost as good as ours and they evidently preferred to be together. the ship was generously provisioned and the fare of the men had been unusually good. they did, however, break into the lazarette and help themselves to whatever they liked out of the cabin stores, including a case of bottled spirits.
i looked at that action with very considerable alarm at first, wondering whether it would not be wise or better for me to interfere, lest i should be unable to control them at all when drunk. i decided in the end not to interpose any objections. in fact, i went further in pursuance of my plan and i flatter myself that my design was a brilliant one. from the cabin stores presently i brought out other liquor and let them have as much as they wanted. i even plied them with it, playing the host with much profession of generosity and hearty hospitality. a little[158] liquor would make them ugly and intractable, i reasoned, a great deal would make them drunk, and enough would render them completely helpless. i even joined them in their carousal. it was easy enough to spill my portion and make a pretense at drinking which soon deceived them. they took to the liquor like ducks to the water and voted me a royal good fellow and the prince of pirates. i mixed the raw spirits with very heady wines, too, being much astonished at their capacity, by the way.
the men on watch kept reasonably sober for a time, but even they were not any too abstemious. i saw to that. later on, the cook, who was not yet too drunk, fixed them up a regular banquet out of the cabin stores, and there was no objection to my taking a portion to my lady in the stateroom below, where she needed no urgent entreaty to keep close and remain out of the way.
my communications that long day with my sweet charge were necessarily much intermitted and very short. i did not dare to be long away from the men on deck. i still wore my sword, and searching through the captain’s cabin found two heavy pistols which i carefully charged,[159] concealing them in the deep pockets of my pea jackets. i passed among the men freely, handing out the spirits, opening fresh bottles and bandying rough jests, but took care never to be in any position where i could not command the companion hatch which led to the cabin.
the day did not pass without some altercations and quarrels. one man did endeavor to get below but i was too quick for him. he was one of the most unimportant among the crew and i fetched him a sound buffet which laid him out—he was too drunk to resent it successfully even then—and which was greeted with a roar of laughter by the rest.
“play fair, jack,” yelled pimball drunkenly; he was rather better humored in his cups than out, it seemed; “he has give up his share of the treasure for the girl. let him have her,” of which sentiment the rest of the villains apparently were pleased to approve.
our drift was slowly but surely in the direction of the island. indeed, i think we had made half a league or more to leeward since we had been hove to. from time to time i searched the shore with a glass, seeing that the land was[160] protected and completely enclosed by a reef on that side at least, which agreed with the chart; but the sky continued overcast and the mist grew thicker, so i couldn’t make out much more than that. it was land and that was enough. it was big enough to support life, and i thought that i detected green patches here and there that betokened vegetation, and if so, there must be water and where there was water there was certainly life.
nobody took any care to strike the bells, but when darkness fell i declared noisily that i would go below and turn in. all but the most seasoned and hardy drinkers were by this time dead-drunk. there was evidently some little remembrance of my rank, for no one yet conscious made any objection. pimball, lying supine on the deck, hiccoughed out that he and glibby, who was in no better case, would keep the watches, so far as the ship needed watching. i ventured to suggest that the ship could be left alone without watch at all under the circumstances and he stuttered out a complete agreement over the bottle which he and glibby lovingly shared. the wind had moderated[161] somewhat, although it was still blowing hard. we set no more sail, however, and indeed, unless we wished to drift past the island, it was not necessary, especially as they still kept her hove to. with drunken effusiveness they assured me that they would take care of the ship and i went below, having provided all of them with a fresh supply of drink just before.
i sometimes wonder if i would not have been justified in killing them all while they were rendered thus helpless. but i could not bring myself to such wholesale murder, richly as they deserved it and little as i was inclined to mercy. i also thought of clapping them in irons and stowing them below. but there were not irons enough aboard for that purpose and mistress wilberforce and i could not work the ship unaided; we could not even feed and water our prisoners. yet, if i could have counted on three or four true men’s assistance, i would have risked it. so far as i could judge the whole crew had become thoroughly corrupt. i did not dare to try any of them. no, to abandon the ship was our only chance.
how my little mistress had passed the dragging,[162] anxious hours of that awful day you can better imagine than i can describe. and my occasional visits had scarcely reassured her greatly. yet in an emergency i have never known a woman who had more spirit, who could bear herself more courageously, and i never want to be so loyally or efficiently backed by anyone as she backed me. but i have often observed that it is the waiting that is hardest. it is the standing still and not knowing what is going to turn up, that takes strength out of a strong man and much more out of a nervous woman.
she had left her noon meal practically untouched, and was sitting there in the cabin nervously clutching the pistol, frightened half to death. poor girl, i didn’t blame her. whatever may have been the cause of it she was genuinely glad to see me when i came in and lighted the cabin lanterns.
“oh,” she cried, “i have been in agony the whole day. every sound has caused me to seize this weapon and when i have not been watching the door i have been on my knees praying for you and for myself. i do not think i can stand another day like this.”
[163]“please god, dear lady, you shall not,” i said, smiling reassuringly at her.
“what do you mean? have you a plan?”
“i have. the men are all drunk.”
“i heard them taking the spirits from the rack, and—”
“i gave them all they wanted, and more,” i interposed.
“was that wise?”
“certainly.”
“i don’t understand.”
“a little liquor would have inflamed them, a great deal stupefies them. they are as helpless as logs now, and if i had three good men besides myself i could take the ship. as it is—” i hesitated—“i am here to serve you. i am going to leave the ship and take you with me.”
“but how—when?”
for answer i threw open the stern window of her cabin. on a level with it swung a small boat, a whaleboat. now i had taken occasion during the day to lower that boat little by little, a few inches at a time and then a few inches at another time, as i had opportunity to get near the falls and to manipulate them unobserved, being[164] sheltered by the trunk cabin, of which all the men were forward, and i had succeeded in my purpose without attracting attention, although the risk had been tremendous. of course, i couldn’t lower it clear to the water, but i had brought it down to the level of the cabin windows. its sea lashings were cast off and i had no doubt, if conditions on deck were as i expected them to be, i could lower it all the way later on with impunity.
“what do you mean?” she asked, staring out of the window and into the empty boat.
“i mean that you and i are going to embark in that boat tonight and leave this ship.”
“but where are we going?”
“there is land not a league and a half under our lee. it seems to be the most easterly of a cluster of islands.”
“is it the island we seek, do you think?”
“i have no doubt,” i replied, “if there is such an island, that it will be one of the cluster. we are in exactly the latitude and the longitude of the chart if my calculations are correct.”
“the island was uninhabited when my ancestor was cast away upon it.”
[165]“yes,” said i, “but there may be natives there now, and no savages of the south seas could be more cruel and ruthless than the men on this ship. to be frank with you, i have no doubt that as soon as they are sure that they have reached the island and that my services are no longer necessary to enable them to find the treasure, they will murder me out of hand.”
“and me?”
“they would not be so merciful to you.”
“but wouldn’t they want to keep you to take the ship back?”
“that is an easy matter,” i answered. “all they would have to do would be to lay a course as nearly possible due east and they would bring up on the south american coast, peru, chile, somewhere, it would not make very much difference where, so long as it was near spanish settlements. then they would divide the treasure, wreck the ship, and scatter themselves and their gains. no, my usefulness ends as soon as they determine that yonder is the island and that the treasure is there.”
“let us go,” she said, shuddering.
“i thought you would see it that way,” i replied;[166] “the worst the natives can do, if there are any, is to murder us and i shall always save the last shot—” i paused, i couldn’t bear to say it.
“for me,” she added softly, laying her little hand again upon my arm—and how i loved and prized those little touches, those little evidences of trust and confidence.
i nodded stupidly, speechless as usual.
“what is your plan?” she asked.
“i want you to dress yourself in your stoutest clothes with your heaviest shoes, wrap yourself up in a boat cloak and take with you a few necessaries for your comfort. i will go and rummage the lazarette for provisions, and i will see if i can turn up any more weapons in the captain’s room. i dare not go to the arms chest. it is below in the hold anyway, and i can’t waste the time to hunt it out. we must hurry.”
“why, you said they were insensible.”
“they carry liquor like a line-of-battle ship her tops’ls in a storm,” i answered. “they’ll recover their senses before we know it. i want as long a start as possible, and indeed i must hasten now.”
“wait a moment,” she said. she opened a[167] drawer under her berth and drew out a leather case, which she opened and placed before me. there were two ivory-handled, silver-mounted pistols in it. “they belonged to my father,” she said, “with one of them he—he—” her voice broke. i nodded. i knew what he had done with one of them. she rummaged farther and drew out an exquisite sword, quite unlike my heavy one, but if i could judge anything about weapons, of fine temper and strength and with its hilt studded with diamonds. “this was my father’s, too,” she said, and i recognized it also. it was that i had taken from arcester. i have worn it many times since in the king’s service, for we found it on the ship again, after—but i go ahead of my story!
the pistols were smaller than my huge barkers, better suited for her hand, and to load them from the flasks which accompanied them was the work of a few minutes. i thrust my own heavy weapons back into my belt. i then buckled her two pistols around her waist and bade her have the sword handy also. we might need all these weapons, though i did not think so.
then i left her and went out on deck. the[168] men were in a profound drunken stupor. pimball was sound asleep, glibby was nodding, the lookout aft could hardly keep himself awake and the lookout forward was in much the same condition. the rest of the men were as helpless as logs, like dead men in fact. i made the circuit of the ship. glibby leered at me as i drew abreast of him.
“everyth-th-ing a-all-r-right?” he hiccoughed.
“everything,” i answered shortly, “the old barque doesn’t need much watching tonight, you can see.”
the wind had fallen somewhat and the sea was much calmer.
“w-we w-will g-get a s-s-shot at the s-sun in the m-m-orning,” he continued, “an’ t-then we will s-s-see where w-we are.”
“aye,” said i, “in the morning.” i yawned extravagantly. “i will go and turn in, i think. if you need me, call me.”
he flung a vile suggestion after me which made me want to turn and heave him overboard, but i had to force a laugh as i went below into the cabin. i saw that in a few moments he and[169] the lookouts forward and aft would be like the rest.
the lazarette was well provided and i stocked the boat handsomely, not forgetting compass, lantern, tinder box, and candles. there was not much water, but i emptied some bottles of wine and filled them, although i did not greatly worry on that account because there would be plenty of water undoubtedly on the island. the boat was provided with a mast and sail. i got into her as she swung at the davits and overhauled spar and gear. then i shipped the tiller and presently everything was ready. a final search brought to light a narrow locker in the captain’s room which i forced open, and found to contain a fine fowling piece, a double-barreled shotgun, and a heavy musket with plenty of powder and ball. these i passed into the boat also, with a sharp and heavy axe.
“have you got ready all that you wish to take?” i asked my little mistress when all my own preparations were completed.
“a change of linen, some toilet articles and necessaries, needles and thread,” she answered, holding up her bundle.
[170]“good,” said i. i judged it was about ten o’clock at night. “now do you get into the boat, madam.”
she had not been on the ship for six months without having learned something about it and she instantly asked me,
“but how are you going to lower the boat away?”
“i will have to go up on deck for that,” i said.
“but won’t they see you?”
“i don’t think so, but whether they do or not, we must chance it, but if anything should happen to me, i’ll manage first to lower and then to cut the boat adrift and you will be in god’s hands. i don’t think they will see me and i am going to do my best to see that nothing does happen, but always you will have to trust to him.”
“i do, i do,” she whispered, “and to you.”
there was no irreverence in that, i am sure, and i bowed my head silently, assisting her to take her place in the stern sheets. it was not a large boat, yet she made but a small figure sitting there. then i went on deck. i had a can of oil with me to oil the blocks. it was as i fancied. by that time everybody on the ship[171] was asleep in a drunken stupor and the bottle i had passed to the hard-headed glibby as i had left him had done its work, too. the two lookouts were sleeping with the others. the man forward was sprawled on the deck. i went forward to make sure. the ship was deserted so far as human supervision was concerned.
still, i didn’t neglect any precaution. i oiled the sheaves of the blocks and lowered the boat away carefully inch by inch until it was water-borne. i reassured my mistress by whispered words as i did so. she had had her instructions, and right well she followed them. she had her boat hook out and fended off the minute the boat touched the water. for me to belay the falls and slide down the forward one, to cast off and take my place in the boat was but the work of an instant. the oars had been carefully muffled. although the noise of the waves rendered conversation quite safe we neither of us spoke a word until i had rowed some distance from the ship.
as i pulled away i half regretted that i had not poured the remainder of the oil down the fore hatch and set fire to it. but as i said, i[172] could not bring myself to wholesale murder like that, for drunk as they were none could have escaped. no, the only thing i could do was to leave them, though there came a time when i regretted my squeamishness and was sorry i had not made way with them while i had a chance.
we were very silent for the first ten minutes or so. i think my mistress was saying her prayers, while i rowed as i had never rowed before. i could see the stern cabin lights plainly as we drew away from the ship, although for the rest she was in total darkness, no other lights showing, and so soon as we did get far enough away to render talking advisable i had too much to do to spend any time in discussion. i had to get the mast stepped and the sail spread. fortunately, the breeze was blowing directly northwestward and that was the course we wanted to steer. i suppose it was nearly midnight before we got everything shipshape, my lady bravely helping me with her best efforts, and the little vessel threshed gallantly through the big seas.
the wind had gone down considerably but it was very different on the dinghy to what it had been on the ship and my mistress cowered close[173] beside me, clinging to my arm with that instinctive craving for human contact and for human society which we all feel under such circumstances.
i had carefully taken my bearings during the day, and as i had a good compass on the boat i knew exactly how to steer. fortunately the wind held steady. i laid her course so as to clear the northeast end of the island around which i intended to swing so as to be hidden from the ship at daybreak. of course we would eventually be pursued, but if i could get a long start there might be other islands among which i could choose my refuge. many things might turn up of which a bold man might take advantage. at any rate, i had escaped from them, and the one i loved sat by my side. the clouds had gone, overhead the sky sparkled with tropic stars. we looked to the southern cross and took courage.
we didn’t talk much. i didn’t dare, and, for a wonder, she had nothing to say. i managed the boat, even if i do say it myself, with great skill. i told her after a while that she was safe. no sound had come from the ship and the lights[174] in the cabin, which at first we could see dimly, presently disappeared. our escape had not been discovered. i suggested at last that she should go to sleep. i arranged the boat cloak and blankets and although she had to be much persuaded, i finally prevailed upon her to lie down in the boat, her head by my knees, and thus we sailed on through the night.
