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From Powder Monkey to Admiral: A Story of Naval Adventure, a novel by William H. G. Kingston |
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Chapter 13. The Raft Launched And Voyage Commenced |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTEEN. THE RAFT LAUNCHED AND VOYAGE COMMENCED Could Jack be dead? What could have happened to him? Bill, hurrying forward, knelt down by his side, and lifted up his head. He still breathed. "That's a comfort," thought Bill. "How shall I bring him to? There's not a drop of water here, and I can't carry him as far as the spring." Bill rubbed his friend's temples, while he supported his head on his knee. "Jack! Jack! rouse up, old fellow! What's come over you?" Bill held the candle up to Jack's eyes. Greatly to his joy they opened, and he said, "Where am I? Is that you, Bill! Is it gone?" "I am Bill, and you are in the cavern; but there is nothing to go that I know of. It's all right. Stand up, old fellow, and come along," replied Bill, cheeringly. "Oh, Bill," said Jack, drawing a deep sigh, "I saw something." "Did you?" said Bill; "the something did not knock you down, though." "No; but I thought it would," responded Jack. "That comes of wanting to take what isn't your own," said Bill. "However, don't let's talk about that. If we are to get off with this tide, we must hurry on board as fast as we can. Don't mind the gold; I suppose that's what you came for. Our friends the Turgots will get it, I hope; and they have more right to it than we have." Bill's voice greatly re-assured Jack, who, fancying that he saw one of the ghosts he was afraid of, had fallen down in a sort of swoon. How long it would have lasted if Bill had not come to him it is impossible to say; perhaps long enough to have allowed his candle to be extinguished. Had this happened, he would never have been able to find his way out of the cavern. He, however, with Bill by his side, soon felt like himself again. "Let me just fill my pockets with these gold pieces," he exclaimed. "I have taken so much trouble that I shouldn't like to go away without them." "Perhaps the ghost will come back if you do," Bill could not help saying. "Let them alone. You have got enough already, and we must not stop another moment here." Saying this, he dragged Jack on by the arm. "Come, if we don't make haste, our candles will go out, and we shall not be able to see our way," Bill continued. Jack moved on. He was always ready to be led by Bill, and began to think that he had better not have come for the gold. Bill did not scold him, vexed as he felt at the delay which had occurred. They might still be in time to get on board the wreck and to launch their raft, but it would be broad daylight before they could get to any distance from the shore, and they would then be sure to be seen. Bill only hoped that no one would think it worth while to follow them. Having two lights, they were able to see their way pretty well, though they could not run fast for fear of extinguishing them. Every now and then Jack showed an inclination to stop. "I wish I had got the gold," he muttered. Bill pulled him on. "The gold, I say, would not do us any good. I don't want it for myself, and you have got enough to make your mother independent for the rest of her days." On they went again. Bill was thankful, on reaching the mouth of the cavern, to find that it was still night. It seemed to him a long time since he had quitted the wreck. He did not remember how fast he had gone. They jumped down on the beach, and began to wade towards the wreck, but had to swim some distance. "If we had had our pockets full of gold we could not have done this," observed Bill. "We should have had to empty them or be drowned. We are much better without it." They soon reached the side of the vessel, and climbed up on deck. There was plenty of water alongside to launch the raft, and to get the casks under it. The wind, too, if there were any, was off shore, but here it was a perfect calm. They had one advantage through having waited so long; they were beyond the influence of the wave which breaks even on a weather shore, especially after a gale, although the wind may have changed. The tackles having been arranged, they lost no time in launching their raft, which they did very successfully, easing it with handspikes; and in a couple of minutes it floated, to their great satisfaction, safely alongside. Their first care was to lash the casks under the bottom. This took some time, but they were well repaid by finding the raft float buoyantly on the very surface of the water. The cargo had, however, to be got on board, consisting of the three chests, which, of course, would bring it down somewhat. They lowered one after the other, and lashed them in the positions they had intended. The foremost chest was secured over all by ropes, as that had not to be opened, and was to serve only as a step for their mast; the other two chests were secured by their handles both fore and aft and athwartships, the lashings contributing to bind the raft still more securely together. Daylight had now broken, and they were in a hurry to get on with their work, but this did not prevent them from securing everything effectually. They next had to get their stores into the chests; and lastly they stepped and set up the mast, securing the sail ready for hoisting to the halyards, which had been previously rove. They surveyed their work when completed with no little satisfaction, and considered, not without reason, that they might, in moderate weather, run across Channel, provided the wind should remain anywhere in the southward. They well knew that they must run the risk of a northerly wind or a gale. In the first case, though they need not go back, they could make little or no progress; but then there was always the hope of being picked up by an English craft, either a man-of-war or a merchant vessel. They might, to be sure, be fallen in with by a Frenchman, but in the event of that happening, they intended to beg hard for their liberty. Should a gale arise, as Jack observed, they would look blue, but they hoped that their raft would even weather that out. That it would come to pieces they had no fear; and they believed that they could cling on to it till the sea should again go down. They had put on board a sufficient supply of spare rope to lash themselves to the chests. Jack climbed up for the last time on deck, and handed down the three sweeps, taking a look round to see that nothing was left behind. "All right," he said; "we may shove off now, Bill. You are to be captain, and take the helm, and I'll pull till we get out far enough to find a breeze. It seems to me, by the colour of the sea, that it's blowing in the offing, and we shall then spin merrily along." "All right," said Bill; "cast off, Jack." Jack hauled in the rope which had secured the raft to the wreck, and give a hearty shove against it with his oar, he sent the raft gliding off some way ahead. He then got out the other oar, and standing between the two chests, pulled lustily away. The raft floated even more lightly than they had expected. They had so well noted all the rocks, that they could easily find their way between them, and there was ample space, especially thereabouts where the brig had been driven in. Their progress was but slow, though they worked away with all their might; every now and then looking back to ascertain whether they were observed from the shore. No one, however, could be seen on the cliffs above; and people, unless they had discovered the wreck, were not likely at that early hour to come down to the beach. It took them more than half an hour to get clear of the rocks. When once out on the open sea, they began to breathe more freely. They pulled on and on; still, unless they should get the wind, they could not hope to make much progress. The day was advancing. Bill wetted his finger and held it up. "There's a breeze," he cried out; "hoist the sail, Jack." The sail filled as Bill sheeted it home, and the raft began to glide more rapidly over the water. Jack took in the oars, for he wanted to rest, and there was but little use rowing, though it might have helped the raft on slightly. He could now look about him, and as the two harbours to the east and west opened out, he turned his eyes anxiously towards them. If they were pursued, it would be from one or the other. He had little fear from that on the west, as there was no one likely to trouble himself about the matter; but there were officials living near the larger harbour, and they might think it their duty to ascertain what the small raft standing off shore under sail could be about. "I wish that we had got away a couple of hours ago," said Bill; but he did not remind Jack that it was through his fault they had not done so. He blamed himself, indeed, for having gone to see the Turgots, much as he would have regretted leaving the country without paying them a visit. The farther the raft got from the shore the more rapidly it glided along, the sea being too smooth in any way to impede its progress. Bill's whole attention was taken up in steering, so as to keep the raft right before the wind. Presently Jack cried out, "There's a boat coming out of the harbour. She's just hoisted her sail, and a whacking big sail it is. She's coming after us. Oh! Bill! what shall we do?" "Try to keep ahead of her," answered Bill, glancing round for a moment. "The Frenchmen may not think it worth while to chase us far, even if they are in chase of us, and that's not certain. Don't let us cry out before we are hurt. Get out the oars, they'll help us on a little, and we'll do our best to escape. I don't fancy being shut up again, or perhaps being carried off to a prison, and forced into a dungeon, or maybe shot, for they'll declare that we are escaped prisoners." Jack did not, however, require these remarks to make him pull with all his might; still he could not help looking back occasionally. He was standing up, it should be understood, rowing forward, with the oars crossing, the larboard oar held in the right hand, and the starboard in the left. "The boat's coming on three knots to our one," he cried out. "It won't take her long to be up with us." "Pull away," again cried Bill. "We'll hold on till the Frenchmen begin to fire. If their bullets come near us, it will be time to think whether it will be worth running the risk of being shot." Jack continued to row with might and main, and the raft went wonderfully fast over the water. It was too evident, however, that the boat was in pursuit of them, and in a few minutes a musket ball splashed into the water a short distance astern of the raft. "That shows that they are in earnest," said Jack. "We had better lower the sail, another might come aboard us." "Hold all fast, perhaps they are getting tired of chasing us, and may give it up when they see that we are determined to get away," replied Bill; not that he had much hope that this was the case, but he stuck to the principle of not giving in as long as there was a chance of escape. Jack had plenty of courage, but he did not like being fired at without the means of returning the compliment. Another shot from the boat came whistling close to them. "It's of no use," cried Jack, "we must lower the sail." "If you're afraid, take in the oars and lie down between the chests; you'll run very little risk of being hit there; but for my part, I'll stand at the helm till the boat gets up with us," said Bill. Jack would not do this, but pulled away as stoutly as at first. Presently another shot struck one of the oars, and so splintered it that the next pull Jack gave it broke short off. He was now compelled to take in the other. "The next time the Frenchmen fire they may aim better," he said. "Come, Bill, I'm ready to stand by you, but there's no use being killed if we can help it." "The boat isn't up with us yet," answered Bill. "Till she gets alongside I'll hold on, and maybe at the very last the Frenchmen will give up." "I don't see any hope of that," said Jack. "In ten minutes we shall be prisoners. By-the-bye, I turned all my gold into this chest. If the Frenchmen find it they'll keep it, so I'll fill my pockets again, and they may not think of looking into them, but they're sure to rummage the chest." Saying this, Jack opened the chest, and soon found his treasure, which he restored to his pockets. He asked Bill to take some, but Bill declined on the same ground that he had before refused to appropriate it. Bill again advised Jack to lie down, and, to induce him to do so, he himself knelt on the raft, as he could in that position steer as well as when standing up. Thus they presented the smallest possible mark to the Frenchmen. Shot after shot was fired at them. Their chances of escape were indeed rapidly diminishing. At last the Frenchmen ceased firing. They were either struck by the hardihood of the boys, or had expended their ammunition; but the boat came on as rapidly as before, and was now not half a cable's length from them. "We must lower the sail," cried Bill, with a sigh, "or the Frenchmen maybe will run us down;" and Jack let go the halyards. In another minute the boat was up to them. Besides her crew, there were five soldiers on board. A volley of questions burst from the people in the boat; and all seemed jabbering and talking together. As she got alongside the raft, two men leaped out, and seizing Jack and Bill, hauled them into the boat, while another made fast the raft, ready to tow it back to the harbour. Jack and Bill were at once handed aft to the stern-sheets, where they were made to sit down. Immediately the officer in command of the boat put various questions to them, as to who they were, where they had come from, and where they were going. According to their previous agreement they made no reply, so that their captors might not discover that they understood French; still, as far as Bill could make out, the Frenchmen were not aware that they were the lads who had escaped from the old tower. They had no reason to complain of the way they were spoken of by the Frenchmen, who were evidently struck by their hardihood and determination in their persevering efforts to escape. They remarked to each other that their young prisoners were brave boys, and expressed their satisfaction that they were not hurt. When the officer found, as he supposed, that they could not answer him, he forbore to put any further questions. The crew did not appear to be angry at the long pull that had been given them back; indeed, Jack and Bill suspected, from what they heard, that the seamen, at all events, would not have been sorry if they had escaped altogether. On reaching the landing-place in the harbour, they found a party of soldiers, with an officer, who, from what Bill made out, had sent the boat in pursuit of them. As soon as they stepped on shore the officer began to question them, in the same way as the commander of the boat had done. Bill shrugged his shoulders and turned to Jack, and Jack shrugged his and turned to Bill, as much as to say, "I wonder what he's talking about?" "The lads do not understand French, that is evident," said the officer to a subordinate standing near him; "I shall get nothing out of them without an interpreter. They do not look stupid either, and they must be bold fellows, or they would not have attempted to made a voyage on that raft. I must have a nearer look at it;" and he ordered the boatmen to bring it in close to the shore, so that he might examine it. He again turned to Bill, and said, "What were you going to attempt to cross the Channel on that?" Bill, as before, shrugged his shoulders, quite in the French fashion, for he had learnt the trick from Pierre, who, when he was in doubt about a matter, always did so. "I forgot; the boy doesn't understand French," observed the officer. Bill had some little difficulty in refraining from laughing, as he understood perfectly well everything that was said around him, except when the Frenchmen talked unusually fast. "Let the raft be moored close to the shore, just in its present state," said the officer; "the general may wish to see it. How could the lads have contrived to build such a machine?" The commander of the boat explained that a wreck had occurred on the shore, and that they had evidently built it from the materials they found on board her, but anything further about them he could not say. "Well, then, I'll take them up at once to the general, and the interpreter attached to our division will draw from them all we want to know. Come, lads! you must follow me," he said. "Sergeant, bring the prisoners along with you." On this Jack and Bill found themselves surrounded by the soldiers; and thinking it possible, should they not move fast enough, that their movements might be expedited by a prick from the bayonets, they marched briskly forward, keeping good pace with the men. _ |
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