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The South Sea Whaler, a fiction by William H. G. Kingston |
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Chapter 8. The Whale Sinks... |
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_ CHAPTER EIGHT. THE WHALE SINKS--ALICE SUPPORTED BY THE MATE--A HAMMER-HEADED SHARK APPEARS--ALICE'S ALARM--NUB CONQUERS THE HAMMER-HEAD--VOYAGE ON A SEA-CHEST.
The mate and Nub found themselves dragged a considerable way under water; but quickly coming up again, as they were striking out they caught sight of the raft driving before the wind, and poor Alice struggling in the water at some distance from them. Horror-struck at the sight, they swam towards her, their hearts beating with anxiety lest they should not be in time to reach the spot ere she sank beneath the surface, or was seized by one of the ravenous sharks from which Nub had just before so narrowly escaped. Happily the savage creatures had darted down after the whale, eager to seize the strips of blubber which had been cut off its back. So busily were they engaged, that they did not take notice of the human beings thus left to their tender mercies. The mate had been on a part of the whale nearest Alice, and was thus the first to approach her. Seeing the impossibility of reaching the raft, he shouted to Nub and told him to swim after it; he himself intending to assist Alice, who was stretching out her arms and piteously calling to him for help. Walter, who had gone off into a state of dreamy unconsciousness as he lay stretched on the raft, on hearing Alice shriek out at the moment she was dragged into the water, started up, his senses completely bewildered, and instead of lowering the sail, stood waving his hands, and incoherently shrieking out to her to come to him. The mate shouted to him to lower the sail; but he did not understand the order, and continued leaping frantically about the raft, waving his hands and shrieking as before. The consequence was that the raft got further and further away, at a rate which gave but little hope that Nub would overtake it. The mate's brave heart almost died within him at the thought that not his life only, but that of the little girl and Nub, would be sacrificed. Nub was exerting himself to the utmost. Never had he swam so fast. But he soon saw that all his efforts would not enable him to overtake the raft. Again and again he shouted to Walter to lower the sail: Walter only shrieked louder in return, calling him to come to his help--and Nub expected every moment to see him leap into the water, when, in all probability, he would be drowned. Still the brave black persevered. "Lower de sail, Massa Walter, lower de sail!" he shouted; "you all right if you do dat. De mate save Missie Alice, so no fear about her. Lower de sail! Oh, de poor boy gone mad!" In vain Nub shouted; Walter only waved his hands more frantically, till, overcome by terror, he sank down exhausted on the raft, and Nub saw that it would be impossible to overtake it while it continued running at its present speed. The only hope was that the wind might drop, or shift, and bring it back to them. This, however, was barely probable; the breeze was blowing fresh, and the light raft, having now no longer their weight on it, skimmed swiftly over the surface. Still Nub persevered in endeavouring to obey the mate's orders; he was ready to swim on till he sank exhausted. Happily he was as much at home in the water as on shore, and by turning on his back or treading water, or swimming in a variety of other ways, could keep up for several hours together. He turned his head round and saw that the mate had reached Alice and was supporting her in his arms. "De mate swim well, I know, so he keep up de little girl while I go after de raft," he said to himself, and he again made way; but though he swam rapidly, the raft skimmed along at a still faster rate, and had he not even yet trusted to the possibility of either a change of wind or a calm, he would have given up the attempt as hopeless. He thought, too, that Walter might perhaps regain his senses, and do what alone could preserve his own life and that of his friends. Left by himself on the raft, he must inevitably perish as well as they. Inspired by this hope, the gallant black pursued his course undaunted by the recollection of the shoal of ravenous sharks which he knew were in the neighbourhood, or by the want of any object, as far as he could see before him, on which to rest. Fearful as was his condition, it was to become still more terrible. He had just glanced round and shouted to the mate and Alice to keep up their courage, when, as he again turned his face towards the raft, he saw, not twenty fathoms from him, a hideous head, such as the morbid imagination sometimes pictures during a dreadful dream. The front was of immense width, with large, savage eyes glaring out at either side; while below appeared a large mouth, full of formidable teeth; the body, as Nub knew, being in proportion to the size of the head. It was indeed an enormous specimen of the hideous zygaena, or hammer-headed shark, so frequently observed about the coast of the South Sea islands, and scarcely less voracious and formidable than the terrible white shark, the sailor's hated foe. Its body was comparatively slender, but its head was dilated on each side to a prodigious extent,--the form being that of a double-headed hammer, from which it takes the name of "the hammer-headed shark." Nub gazed at the creature, but his courage did not fail him. It had apparently only just come to the surface to gaze about it, and had not yet discovered the human beings floating near. The black had often seen the shark bravely attacked by the natives of Otaheite and other islands, who encounter it fearlessly as they swim off through the raging surf, and never fail to return victorious to the shore. There was no time, however, for consideration, for with a few turns of its tail the monster might be up to him. He had, fortunately, a large, sharp sheath-knife sticking in his girdle; he drew it, and keeping his eye on the shark, he struck out so as to gain a position rather behind the creature's head, which was turned from him. At the same moment that Nub caught sight of the zygaena the mate also saw it; he fully expected that it would dash at the black and seize him in its dreadful jaws. The shark, however, was either of a sluggish nature, or perhaps gorged with food, for its head remained above water without moving from the spot where it had at first appeared. The mate endeavoured to prevent Alice from seeing the hammer-head, but her eyes unfortunately fell on it. "Oh, Mr Shobbrok, what is that dreadful creature?" she cried out. "Will it kill poor Nub? Oh, what can we do! what can we do!" She did not appear to think so much of her own and the mate's danger as of that of the black. The mate, for a moment, was almost unnerved, for he felt his utter inability to defend himself or the little girl should the monster attack them; still, like a brave man, he summoned up all his courage, and considered how he could possibly tackle it and defend Alice. He looked around to see if there was any spar or other floating object near at hand on which he could place her while he fought the shark. Could he find a spar, he would push it in the shark's mouth as it swam towards him; he had likewise his clasp-knife hung round his neck, but the blade, he feared, was too blunt to be of much service; he opened it, however, and held it in his teeth ready to use. As he glanced round he saw the chest which he had observed when on the back of the whale, but it was too far off to be of any avail in the present emergency. In the meantime he had kept a vigilant watch on the hideous hammer-head, to be ready for an encounter should it dart towards him. He had also been watching the proceedings of Nub. He soon saw that the black was manoeuvring to gain an advantage over the shark, which did not appear to observe him. Poor Alice, overcome with terror, had almost fainted in his arms; he urged her to keep up her courage. "Don't be afraid, Miss Alice; don't be afraid, my child," he said soothingly. "There is a big chest not far off, which will serve as a raft for you, and it will support Nub and me while we swim alongside it. See--see! Nub is going to tackle the shark; and he well knows, depend on it, what he is about. I have heard that the natives in these parts do not fear the creature, terrible as it looks, and I don't see why we should. Come, we will swim towards the chest, and Nub will join us when he has finished off Jack Shark,--which he fully intends doing, depend on that." The mate, as he spoke, began to swim in the direction of the chest; but he soon found that, having Alice to support, he could make but slow progress; he therefore recommenced treading the water, turning his face towards the shark, that he might be the better able to encounter it should it make a dash at him. He now saw that Nub, having got close to the creature, his long knife in his hand, was swimming up alongside it. He expected, in another moment, that he would plunge his weapon into the shark's body; but instead of that, what was his surprise to see him suddenly leap on its back and dig the fingers of one hand into its left eye. If the hammer-head had been torpid before, it now made ample amends by its sudden activity; off it darted along the surface, Nub holding up its head to prevent it from diving, while with his right hand he struck his knife with all his might sometimes before him and sometimes behind him, inflicting deep wounds in its back and sides. It seemed surprising that the zygaena could endure them, but its wonderful vitality is well-known--the terrific gashes which Nub inflicted in no way impeding its rapid progress. At first it seemed to be coming towards the mate and Alice; and though it would not have been able to bite them, it might have inflicted a blow which would have stunned them both. Nub, however, managed by hauling at its head to turn it, and it swept by, forming large circles round and round the spot where they floated. Its speed, however, from its loss of blood, began somewhat to diminish, and Nub could evidently guide it with greater ease than at first. Seeing this, the mate shouted to him, "Steer the brute, if you can, to yonder chest, and bring it up to us as soon as possible." "Ay, ay, massa," answered Nub; "I finish de brute off soon. It not got much more go in him. Cheer up, Missie Alice; I no tink dis a steady horse for you, or I ask you to have a ride on it." [See Note 1.] This remark did more than anything else to restore Alice's courage, for she knew that the black felt perfectly certain of gaining the victory. Nub, who had already deprived the monster of sight, continued to dig his knife into its head, guiding it towards the chest, which he thus rapidly reached. He then, turning half round while he held up its head, stuck his knife as far back as he could reach behind him, persevering in his efforts till all movement in its tail had ceased. "Dere, you go and feed your ugly cousins!" he exclaimed, giving it a last dig,--when, leaping from its back, he threw himself on the top of the chest; while the shark, its life almost extinct, rolled over on its back with its head downwards. Taking off a lanyard attached to the chest, Nub secured it to the handle at one end, and after resting for a few seconds, again threw himself into the water and struck out for the mate and Alice. "There, my dear child, I told you so; the brave black has killed the shark, and he will soon have the chest up to us. It will serve as a boat for you," said Mr Shobbrok. "But where is Walter? What has become of the raft?" exclaimed Alice, who had hitherto been unaware of her brother's unhappy condition, and had not noticed that the raft had glided far away from them. "We must try and overtake Walter as soon as we get you safe on the chest," answered the mate. "It will be a long swim; but we must hope to get something to support ourselves, for I fear that the chest will not hold us all." "Oh, what can have made Walter sail away again?" asked Alice; and then another thought seemed to strike her, as the mate did not immediately answer. "Oh, tell me, Mr Shobbrok," she exclaimed,--"was the raft drawn down by the whale, and has my dear brother been drowned?" "The raft is all right, and I hope Walter is on it," he answered, after a minute's hesitation. "We may come up with it before long. Don't think any more about it just now. See Nub; he's bringing the chest to us,--and a fine large sea-chest it is too, and by-and-by we will open it, and ascertain what it contains. I suspect that it's a carpenter's chest; though, as it floats high out of the water, it cannot contain many tools, but it may possibly have some which will be useful to us when we get on shore." "When will that be, do you think?" asked Alice. "There's no saying exactly, but we will hope for the best," answered the mate evasively. "See, here comes Nub. He will soon be up with us, and we will then begin our voyage." The mate had no little difficulty in speaking; for, strong as he was, the exertion of treading the water so long was very considerable. He was very thankful when at length Nub got up to them. "Here is de chest," exclaimed the black. "Now de sooner Missie Alice on de top of it de better." Fortunately there were several turns of rope round the chest, by means of which Nub held to one side, and the mate balancing it, enabled Alice to climb up on the other. He then told her to lie down along it, exactly in the centre, so that it might be as well balanced as possible. "All right, Missie Alice?" asked Nub, looking up at her while he grasped the rope fastened to the chest; the mate, who required a few minutes' rest, supporting himself on the other. "Yes, I feel very secure," said Alice; "and I only wish that you and Mr Shobbrok could get up and sit on it also." "We should roll it over if we did, and tumble you into the water," said the mate. "It will afford us ample support if we merely hold on by each side. Are you all right, Nub?" "Yes, yes, Massa Shobbrok; all right," answered Nub. "Then off we go," cried the mate; "and I hope that before long we may come up with the raft, or that the captain's boat, or some stranger, may pick us up." Saying this, the mate took hold of one of the beckets which Nub had secured for the purpose, and struck out boldly to the westward. Only strong swimmers and very determined men could have kept up as they did. It is true that the chest afforded them some support, but they had thus only one hand to swim with; still they made considerable progress, shoving on with their feet and striking out with the hands left at liberty. The wind was fair and the water smooth, or they would have been unable to make any progress. On and on they swam. When the arm they were using for propelling themselves grew weary, they shifted sides; by which they were able to continue their exertions much longer than they would otherwise have done. Alice remained perfectly still, though she now and then spoke to the mate or Nub. The former found it very difficult to answer her questions, as again and again she asked when they should overtake Walter, or how far off the land was likely to be. "Oh, how I wish that we were near enough to see it!" she added. "It may cheer you to know that when I was on the top of the whale I fancied that I caught sight of some high land away to the westward," answered the mate. "It was very faint, and as I felt uncertain, I did not like to run the risk of disappointing you; but I have been thinking over the matter, and am persuaded that it was land. If it was, we shall have a better chance than I had hoped for of reaching it before long." "You thought dat land, Massa Shobbrok; so did I. Hurrah! Swim away, boys! swim away! We soon get over de sea!" shouted Nub, endeavouring to raise his own spirits, as well as to encourage Alice. Thus they went on, but the mate could not help secretly feeling that the probability of their escaping was small indeed. ------------------ Note 1. The author must express the surprise he felt when he met with the account of Nub's wonderful ride on the zygaena. However, it was too good to be omitted, though he must leave his readers to judge of its probability. He would advise any of them who may visit the new British possession of the Fiji Islands, should they fall in with one of the monsters, not to attempt a similar exploit. _ |
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