Hurricane Hurry Part 24

"Why, sir, Mr Hurry, do you see, to my mind, the wider berth we give the land the better," he replied, giving his usual hitch to his trowsers. "There's what they calls in these parts a whirlwind or old Harry Cane coming on, or my name is not Nol Grampus."

I was too much afraid that Nol was right, and accordingly stood off the land under all sail, keeping a look-out, however, on the signs of the weather, so as to take in our canvas in time before the gale came on. I had not, notwithstanding this, made good much more than a league when it fell a dead calm. The sails flapped idly against the masts, and the little vessel rolled from side to side, moved by the long, slow, heaving undulations which rolled in from the offing.

"I'm not quite certain that you are right, Grampus, as to the coming whirlwind, but we will shorten sail, at all events," I observed.

"Beg pardon, Mr Hurry, sir; but just do you follow an old seaman's advice, and take all the canvas off her," he answered with earnestness.

"It's doing her no good just now, and we haven't another suit of sails if we lose them. When the wind does come, it is on one before a man has time to turn round and save the teeth being whisked out of his mouth.

Come, my lads, be smart, and hand the canvas," he added, calling to Rockets and the other men.

I was soon very glad that I was not above taking an old seaman's advice.

Scarcely ten minutes had pa.s.sed, during which time the calm had been more profound than ever, when, as suddenly as Grampus had foretold, the whole ocean around us seemed covered with a sheet of seething foam, and the whirlwind, in all the majesty of its strength, struck the vessel, pressing her down till her bulwarks touched the water, and I thought she would have gone over altogether. I sprang to the helm and put it up, while Grampus hoisted the fore-staysail just a foot or so above the deck. Even then the canvas was nearly blown out of the bolt-ropes; so far she felt its power, however, and, her head spinning round as if she had been a straw, away we drove before the hurricane. Where were we driving to was the question. I anxiously consulted the chart. We were in that deep bay in the island of Saint Domingo, with Cape Donna Maria to the southward, and Cape Saint Nicholas to the north, and I saw that a slight variation in the course of the gale might hurl us on the coast, where the chance of our escaping with our lives would be small indeed.

Happily the wind at present came out of the bay, or I believe my ill-found little schooner would have gone to the bottom, as did many a n.o.ble s.h.i.+p about that time. The sea, even as it was, soon became lashed into furious billows, which broke around us in ma.s.ses of foam, which went flying away over the troubled surface of the ocean, covering us as would a heavy fall of snow. Grampus and I stood at the helm, keeping the little vessel as well as we could directly before the gale, but we tumbled about terrifically, and more than once I caught him casting anxious glances over his shoulder astern, as if he expected some of the seas, which came roaring up after us, to break over our decks.

"What do you think of it, Grampus?" said I.

"Why, Mr Hurry, sir, I don't like the look of things," he answered.

"If one of them seas was to fall aboard of us, it would wash every soul of us off the deck, and maybe send the craft in a moment to the bottom.

Still, I don't see as how there is anything we can do more than we are doing. If the schooner was to spring a leak just now, and that's not unlikely, we should be still worse off, so we may be content with things as they are."

I admired Nol's philosophy, though I kept an anxious look-out on the larboard bow, dreading every instant to catch a sight of the sh.o.r.e, past which I knew we should have a narrow shave, even should we be fortunate enough to escape being driven against it. The coolest man on board was Tom Rockets. He kept walking the deck with his hands in his pockets, ready enough, I saw, for action, but certainly not as if a fierce hurricane was raging around him. Now and then he had to pull out his hands to lay hold of the bulwarks as the craft gave a lively roll, or plunged down into the trough of a sea; but as soon as she grew comparatively steady, he began walking away as before.

On we drove. The dreaded coast did not appear. Still I could scarcely hope that we had pa.s.sed it. The wind began to s.h.i.+ft about at last.

Grampus said that it was the termination of the hurricane. Still it might play us a scurvy trick before it was over, and drive us on some inhospitable sh.o.r.e. I began now to look for further signs of the ending of the storm. It got round to the northward, and on we drove till we caught sight of the coast. It was a most unwelcome sight, though, for should the little craft once get within the power of the breakers, which were das.h.i.+ng furiously against it, I could not hope that a single man on board would escape with his life. Even Tom Rockets began to think that the state of things was not so pleasant as it might be. I saw that he had taken his hands out of his pockets, and was holding on with the rest of the people. Away we drove--the threatening sh.o.r.e every minute growing more and more distinct.

"What prospect is there, think you, Grampus, of the hurricane coming to an end?" said I. For from want of anything else to be done I was obliged to keep my tongue going.

"I thought as how it was going to break but just now, Mr Hurry," he answered, casting his eye all round the horizon. "It seems, howsomedever, to have breezed up again, and if it don't s.h.i.+ft before long, there's little chance of the schooner's living, or any of us either for that matter, many hours more."

"We must meet our fate, then, like men, and Christians too, I hope," I answered, looking at him. "We have done all that men can do, I believe."

"Yes, sir, that we have," he replied. "We can do no more, and it isn't the first time Nol Grampus has had to look Death in the face, so I hopes that I shall not shrink from him. Come he will, I know, some day, sooner or later; and it matters little, as far as I can see, if he comes to-day or to-morrow."

"Not if we put our trust in One who is able and willing to save our souls alive," I observed. "That makes all the difference whether death should be feared or welcomed. It is not what we suffer in this world that we should dread, but what we may deserve to suffer in the next; in the same way it is not what we enjoy here, but what we may be able to enjoy through all eternity, that we should long for."

"Very true, sir--very true, Mr Hurry," replied Grampus; "but the worst is, that we don't think of these things till just at such moments as the present, when the flood has done, and the tide of life is fast ebbing away."

Thus we talked on for some time. I felt really with my old friend Nol, that though there we all stood in health and strength, we might soon be removed to behold the glories of the eternal world.

Suddenly Nol looked up. Holding his hand to the wind, and casting his eye on the compa.s.s--

"I thought so, sir," he exclaimed. "There's a s.h.i.+ft of wind. It has backed round again into the eastward."

Such was providentially the case. I took the bearings of the land. We might now hope to drive on clear of it. The sea was, however, getting higher and higher, but the Dolphin proved to be as tight as a cork and as buoyant, and I began to get rid of all my dread of her foundering, provided her masts and rigging did not give way.

Considering the manner in which she was fitted out, however, I did not feel quite easy on that score. Still nothing more could be done, so we had, as best we could, to wait events. At length there was a lull. I expected that it would breeze up again.

"The gale has worn itself out, to my mind, Mr Hurry," observed Grampus, after a careful survey of the sky and sea.

"I am sure I hope so," I answered; "I was getting somewhat tired of it, and so I suspect was the schooner. Sound the well, and see what water she has made."

He sounded the well, and reported three feet.

"I thought so. Rig the pumps, and let us try and get her clear while we can."

All hands pumped away with a will, and soon got her free of water, when the sea went, as it soon did, gradually down. It showed me that the leak had been caused by the way the little vessel had strained herself, and that probably, had she been exposed much longer to the fury of the hurricane, she would have foundered. By night the gale had sufficiently abated to enable me to set a reefed foresail, and once more to haul up on my course. I made but little progress during the night and following day. I was standing along the coast, towards the evening of the next day, with the wind from the northward, when I discovered in-sh.o.r.e of me what I took to be the masts of a vessel just appearing out of the water.

I conjectured that she had been sunk in the hurricane of the previous day, and on the possibility that some of the crew might still be clinging to her rigging, although I was on a lee-sh.o.r.e, I resolved to bear down on her. I pointed her out to Grampus, and asked his opinion.

"No doubt about it, sir," he answered. "There may be some danger to us, I'll allow, especially if it was to breeze up again, but where's the man worthy of the name who refuses to run some danger for the sake of helping his fellow-men in distress? To my mind, sir, let us do what's right, and never mind the consequences."

I've often since thought of the excellence of some of old Grampus'

remarks.

"Up with the helm, then! Ease away the main and head sheets!" I sang out. "We'll run down and have a look at the wreck."

I kept my gla.s.s anxiously turned towards the object I had discovered, in the hopes of seeing some people clinging on to the rigging. As we drew near, I found that only a single mast appeared above water, as well as her bowsprit, and that she had all her canvas set. Not a human being could be seen in any part of the rigging. I got close up to her. She was a sloop of about seventy tons. She had evidently been caught totally unprepared by the hurricane, and every soul on board had been hurried into eternity. Finding that there would be no use in waiting longer near the spot, for there was not the slightest probability that anyone was floating on any part of the wreck in the neighbourhood, I again hauled my wind, and stood to the northward. At ten o'clock at night a fresh gale sprang up, which compelled me once more to bring-to under a reefed foresail. I am thus particular in narrating details of events which led to a most disastrous result. Truly we cannot tell what a day may bring forth. I had fallen in with no merchantmen, which would have been a most suspicious circ.u.mstance, had I not supposed that they might have been lost in the hurricane, or run into port for shelter, otherwise I should have supposed that they had fallen into the power of the cruisers of the enemy. On the 8th I pa.s.sed Cape Nichola Mole, and on the 9th made the island of Heneago, bearing nor'-nor'-east, four leagues. At eight o'clock in the evening I tacked, and stood off-sh.o.r.e, with a fine breeze, with the intention of pa.s.sing in the morning between Heneago and the little Corcases, for the purpose of speaking his Majesty's frigate Aeolus, stationed in that pa.s.sage, and bearing her the information that the war had broken out. At five o'clock of the morning of the 10th, the wind s.h.i.+fting round to the eastward, I tacked, and stood to the northward, through the Corcases. At daybreak Tom Rockets was sent aloft to keep a look-out for any sail which might be in sight.

Soon afterwards he hailed the deck to say that he made out two sail on the lee bow, just appearing above the horizon. I went aloft with my gla.s.s and soon discovered four altogether, one much smaller than the others. She was a schooner, the other three were s.h.i.+ps. I had little doubt that it was a squadron, composed of the Bristol, Lowestoffe, and Niger, with her tender, which were to sail the day after me, and which I expected to fall in with in this neighbourhood. They were still too far-off to make out exactly what they were. I came down, however, with my mind perfectly at ease, and went to breakfast. Grampus, who had charge of the deck while I was below, watched them narrowly, and did not differ with me as to their character. I therefore stood towards them, as I was anxious to communicate with them without delay. My orders directed me to speak all cruisers, and besides, as it may be supposed, I was eager to get the duty I had been sent on accomplished, and to return again to Port Royal.

When I came on deck again, I found that we had drawn considerably nearer the strangers. I scrutinised them again and again. One of them had a high p.o.o.p, and I remembered Captain Lambert's remark to me the day I sailed, that this was one of the marks by which I should know his squadron. I thus stood on boldly towards them. As we drew nearer, I saw Grampus eyeing them narrowly. The expression of his countenance showed me that he had considerable doubt on his mind as to their true character. We had now got within three miles of them.

"What do you think of them, Grampus?" said I, as I took the gla.s.s which I had just before handed to him.

"I don't like their looks, sir," he answered. "That headmost frigate is English--so I take it from the look of her hull and the cut of her canvas--but the others I can't make out by no manner of means. I don't think the 'Bristol' or the 'Lowestoffe' are among them."

I had come to the same conclusion that Grampus had; but I wished to confirm my own opinion by his. We stood on for five minutes longer. My suspicions of the character of the strangers increased.

"We are running into the lion's jaws, I suspect!" I exclaimed; whereat Grampus and Rockets opened their eyes to know what I meant. "Hoist our colours, and let us learn what they are without further delay."

Scarcely had we run our ensign up to the peak than up went the French flag at that of the headmost frigate which at the same time fired a warning gun at us.

"Up with the helm! Ease off the main-sheets! Keep her away!" I exclaimed.

The orders were quickly obeyed, and away we flew with a strong breeze directly before the wind. I had two very good reasons for endeavouring to escape by keeping before the wind. In the first place, a fore-and-aft vessel has generally a great advantage over a square-rigged s.h.i.+p on that point of sailing, and I might otherwise have drawn the enemy's squadron towards the station of the Aeolus. As she was so much inferior in strength to it, she would easily have fallen into their power, especially as, not being aware that war had broken out, she would have been taken by surprise.

As soon as I put up my helm and kept away, the headmost of the strangers crowded all sail in chase, making signals to the rest of the squadron to follow her--undoubtedly not to allow me any prospect of escaping. She fired two or three shot, but she was still too far-off to hit me. All the other vessels hoisted French colours, and any lingering hope I might have retained, that after all I might have been mistaken, and that the strangers were English, now vanished. Still my principle has always been never to give in while life remains, and so I resolved to hold on till I got completely under the enemy's guns, and then, when I found that there was a strong probability of my being sunk, to haul down my colours, but not till then. I had heard of a small vessel escaping even from under the very guns of a big enemy, and I intended not to throw such a chance away. I called my crew aft.

"My men," said I, "I won't ask you to stick to me to the last, because I know you will. Those s.h.i.+ps astern are enemies: we'll do our best to escape from them, and if we are taken and the chance is given us, we'll endeavour to heave our captors into the water, and to re-take the schooner, won't we?"

"Yes, sir, that we will," answered Grampus. "I speak for the rest, because I know their minds, and you are just the man to do the thing if it is to be done."

I told the people that I was gratified at the good opinion they had formed of me, and sent them back to their stations. I did not like the look of things. The chances of escaping were very small, and the prospects of a French prison in the climate of the West Indies was anything but pleasant.

The breeze freshened, and we went tearing away through the smooth blue sea, sending up the white sparkling foam on either side of our bows, and leaving a long line of white astern; but I now sadly felt the want of a square-sail and topsails. Had I possessed them to set, I fancied that I could easily have kept ahead of my pursuers. My gla.s.s was seldom off them, while I also kept it sweeping round ahead in the hopes, though they were not very sanguine, of discovering the British squadron, for which I had at first mistaken the enemy. On we flew, but the sharp line of the horizon on every side was unbroken by the slightest dot or line which might indicate an approaching sail. I watched the enemy. It was soon too evident that they were coming up with us at a speed which sadly lessened our prospects of escape. Still we kept beyond the range of their guns. Unless, however, fortune changed in our favour, this could not long be the case. Gradually I saw the chance of getting away diminis.h.i.+ng, and the conviction forced itself on me that we should all be soon prisoners of war. I called Grampus to me; he was of the same opinion.

"Well, then," said I with a sigh, "our first duty is to destroy all the letters and despatches with which I have been entrusted. Bring them up at once."

Grampus dived below, and returned with the despatches delivered to me by Sir Peter Parker, as well as with some thirty or forty letters from the merchants of Jamaica, addressed to the masters of their privateers cruising off the island, with none of which I had hitherto fallen in. I tied the whole of the doc.u.ments up in a piece of canvas, with a shot in it ready to heave overboard when the last ray of hope had disappeared.

I stamped with rage as I saw my enemies overtaking me; I could not help it. My men, too, eyed them as if they felt that if they had been on board a s.h.i.+p in any way able to cope with such opponents, they would speedily have given a good account of them. I scarcely knew what to wish for. A tornado was the only thing just then likely to serve me.

It might have sent the schooner to the bottom, but if she weathered it, I hoped that I had a chance of escaping from the big s.h.i.+ps, which were very likely to be widely scattered before it.