The Cruise of the Jasper B.
Page 14
CHAPTER XIV
CLEGGETT STANDS BY HIS SHIP
Cleggett did not fear (or rather, expect, since there was very littlethat Cleggett feared) an attack until well after nightfall.Nevertheless, he began to prepare for it at once. He called the entireship's company aft, with the exception of Miss Medley, who was on dutywith Giuseppe Jones.
"My friends--for I hope we stand in the relation of friends as well asthat of commander and crew--I have every reason to expect that theenemy will make a demonstration in force sometime during the night," hesaid. "We have opposed to us the leader of a dangerous and powerfulcriminal organization. He is, in fact, the president of a crime trust.He will stop at nothing to compass the destruction of the Jasper B. andall on board her. My quarrel with him has become, in a sense, personal.I have no right to ask you to share my risk unless you choose to do sovoluntarily. Therefore, if there is anyone of you who wishes to leavethe Jasper B., let him do it now."
Cleggett paused. But not a man moved. On the contrary, a littlemurmur of something like reproach ran around the semicircle. Theship's company looked in each other's eyes; they stood shifting theirfeet uneasily.
Finally Cap'n Abernethy spoke, clearing his throat with a prefatory hem:
"If you was to ask me, Mr. Cleggett," said the Captain, with less thanhis usual circumlocution, "I'd say the boys here ain't flattered bywhat you've just said. The boys here DOES consider themselves friendsof yours, and if you was anxious to hear my opinion of it I'd sayyou've hurt their feelin's by your way of putting it. Speakin' formyself, Mr. Cleggett, as the nautical commander of this here ship tothe military commander, I don't mind owning up that MY feelin's ishurt."
"Aye, aye, sir," said George the Greek, addressing the nauticalcommander, and the word went from lip to lip.
"Aye, aye, sir," said Dr. Farnsworth, "the Captain speaks for us all."
And the Reverend Mr. Calthrop remarked with a sigh: "You may havecause to doubt my circumspection, Mr. Cleggett, but you have no causeto doubt my courage."
Cleggett was not the sort of man who is ashamed to acknowledge anerror. "Friends," he cried impulsively, "forgive me! I should haveknown better than to phrase my remarks as I did. I would not have hurtyour feelings for worlds. I know you are devoted to me. I call forvolunteers for the perilous adventure which is before us!"
The ship's company stepped forward as one man. As if by magic theatmosphere cleared.
"Now," said Cleggett, smiling back on the enthusiastic faces beforehim, but inexpressibly touched by the fineness of his crew's devotion,"to get to the point. There are seven of us, but there are at least adozen of them. We have, however, the advantage in position, for we canfind cover on the ship, whereas they must attack from the open. Morethan that, we will have the advantage in arms; here is a magazine riflefor each of you, while they, if I am not mistaken, will attack withpistols. We must keep them at a distance, if possible. If they shouldattempt to rush us we will meet them with cutlasses and sabers."
"Mr. Cleggett," said Lady Agatha, rising when he had finished, andspeaking with animation, "will you permit me to make a suggestion?"
She went on, without waiting for an answer: "It is this: Choose yourown ground for this battle! The Jasper B. is now a full-riggedschooner. Very well, then, sail her! At the moment you are attacked,weigh anchor, fight your way to the mouth of the canal, take up aposition in the bay in front of Morris's within easy rifle range andout of pistol shot, and compel the place to surrender on your ownterms!"
As the brilliance of this plan flashed upon her hearers, applause ranaround the room, and Kuroki, who spoke seldom, cried in admiration:
"The Honorable Miss Englishman have hit her head on the nail! Let therebe some naval warfares!"
"You are right," cried Cleggett, catching fire with the idea, "ahundred times right! And why wait to be attacked? Let us carry thewar to the enemy's coast. Crack all sail upon her!--Up with theanchors! We will show these gentry that the blood of Drake, Nelson,and Old Dave Farragut still runs red in the veins of their countrymen!"
"Banzai!" cried Kuroki. "Also Honorable Admiral Togo's veins!"
A good breeze had sprung up out of the northwest while the conferencein the cabin was in progress.
Cleggett was relieved that it was not from the south. There is notmuch room to maneuver a schooner in a canal, and a breeze from thesouth might have sailed the Jasper B. backwards towards Parker's Beach,which would undoubtedly have given the enemy the idea that Cleggett wasretreating. The Jasper B.'s bow was pointed south, and Cleggett wasnaturally anxious that she should sail south.
At the outset a slight difficulty presented itself with regard to theanchors--for although, as has been explained before, the Jasper B. wasa remarkably stable vessel, Cleggett had had the new anchors furnishedby the contractor let down. Having the anchors down seemed, somehow,to make things more shipshape. It appeared that no one of theadventurers was acquainted with an anchor song, and Cleggett, and,indeed, all on board, felt that these anchors should be hoisted to theaccompaniment of some rousing chantey. Lady Agatha was especiallyinsistent on the point.
While they stood about the capstan debating the matter the ReverendSimeon Calthrop hesitatingly offered a suggestion which showed that,while he was a novice as far as the nautical life was concerned, he wasalso a person of resource.
"How many of those present," inquired the young preacher, "know 'OnwardChristian Soldiers'?"
All were acquainted with the hymn; the pastor grasped a capstan bar andstruck up the song in an agreeable tenor voice; they put their backsinto the work and their hearts into the song, and the anchors of theJasper B. came out of mud to the stirring notes of "Onward ChristianSoldiers, marching as to war!"
While they were so engaged the breeze strengthened perceptibly. Lookingtowards the west, Cleggett perceived the sun sinking below the horizon.A long, blue, low-lying bank of clouds seemed to engulf it; for amoment the top of this cloud was shot through with a golden color; thena mass of quicker moving, nearer vapors from the north seemed to leapsuddenly nearer still; to extend itself at a bound over almost a thirdof the sky; in a breath the day was gone; a storm threatened.
The rising wind made the task of getting the canvas on the polesextraordinarily difficult. Cleggett was well aware that the usualmethod of procedure, in the presence of a storm, is rather to take insail than to crack on; but, always the original, he decided in thiscase to reverse the common custom. Ashore or at sea, he neverpermitted himself to be the slave of conventionalities. The Jasper B.had lain so long in one spot that it would undoubtedly take more than acapful of wind to move her. Cleggett did not know when he would getsuch a strong wind again, coming from the right direction, anddetermined to make the most of this one while he had it. Genius partlyconsists in the acuteness which grasps opportunities.
From the struggles of Cap'n Abernethy and the crew with the canvas,which he saw none too clearly through the increasing dusk from his postat the wheel, Cleggett judged that the wind was indeed strong enoughfor his purpose. Yards, sheets and sails seemed to be acting in themost singular manner. He could not remember reading of any parallelcase in the treatises on navigation which he had perused. Every nowand then the Cap'n or one of the crew would be jerked clean off hisfeet by some quick and unexpected motion of a sail and flung into thewater. When this occurred the person who had been ducked crawled outon the bank of the canal again and went on board by way of thegangplank, returning stubbornly to his task.
The booms in particular were possessed of a restless and unstablespirit. They made sudden swoops, sweeps, and dashes in all directions.Sometimes as many as three of the crew of the Jasper B. would beknocked to the deck or into the water by a boom at the same time. ButCleggett noted with satisfaction that they were plucky; they stuckvaliantly to the job. A doubt assailed Cleggett as to the competenceof Cap'n Abernethy, but he was loyal and fought it down.
Finally Cap'n Abernethy hit upon a novel and i
ngenious idea. He tiedstout lines to the ends of the booms. The other ends of these ropes heran through the eyes of a couple of spare anchors. Taking the anchorsashore, he made them fast to the wooden platform which was alongsidethe Jasper B. Then he took up the slack in the lines, pulling themtaut and fastening them tightly.
Thus the booms were held fast and stiff in position, and the crew couldget the canvas spread without being endangered by their strange andunaccountable actions.
This brilliant idea of anchoring the booms to the land would not havebeen practicable had it not been for a whimsical cessation of the wind,a lull such as incident to the coming of spring storms in theselatitudes. While the wind was in abeyance the men got the sailsspread. Then the Captain untied the lines, brought the spare anchorson board, knocked the gangplank loose with a few blows of his ax, andwaited for the wind to resume.
When the wind did blow again it came in a gust which was accompanied bya twinkle of lightening over the whole sky and grumble of thunder. Awhirl of dust and fine gravel enveloped the Jasper B. For a moment itwas like a sandstorm. A few large drops of water fell. The gust wasviolent; the sails filled with it and struggled like kites to be free;here and there a strand of rope snapped; the masts bent and creaked;the booms jumped and swung round like live things; the whole ship frombowsprit to rudder shook and trembled with the assault.
Cleggett, watchful at the wheel, prepared to turn her nose away fromthe bank, but he was astonished to perceive that in spite of herquaking and shivering the Jasper B. did not move one inch forward fromher position. He was prepared for a certain stability on the part ofthe Jasper B., but not for quite so much of it.
With the next gust the storm was on them in earnest. This blast camewith zigzag flashes of lightning that showed the heavens riotous withbattalions of charging clouds; it came with deafening thunder and atorrential discharge of rain. One would have thought the power of thewind sufficient to set a steel battleship scudding before it like awooden shoe. And yet the extraordinary Jasper B., although sheshrieked and groaned and seemed to stagger with the force of the blow,did not move either forward or sidewise.
She flinched, but she stood her ground.
Second by second the storm increased in fury; in a moment it was nolonger merely a storm, it was a tempest. Cleggett, alarmed for thesafety of his masts, now ordered his men to take in sail.
But even as he gave the order he realized that it could no longer bedone. A cloudburst, a hurricane, an electrical bombardment, struck theJasper B. all at once. One could not hear one's own voice. In theglare of the lightning Cleggett saw the rigging tossing in anindescribable confusion of canvas, spars, and ropes. Both masts andthe bowsprit snapped at almost the same instant. The whole chaoticmass was lifted; it writhed in the air a moment, and then it camecrashing down, partly on the deck and partly in the seething waters ofthe canal, where it lay and whipped ship and water with lashingtentacles of wreckage.
But still the unusual Jasper B. had not moved from her position.
Cleggett's men had had warning enough to save themselves. Theygathered around him to wait for orders. More than one of them castanxious glances towards the land. Shouting to them to attack thedebris with axes, and setting the example himself, Cleggett soon sawthe deck clear again, and the Jasper B., to all intents, the same hulkshe had been when he bought her. But such was the fury of the tempestthat even with the big kites gone the Jasper B. continued to shake andquiver where she lay. Speech was almost impossible on deck, but Cap'nAbernethy signed to Cleggett that he had something important to say tohim.
The whole company adjourned to the cabin, and there, shouting to makehimself heard, the Cap'n cried out:
"Her timbers have been strained something terrible, Mr. Cleggett. Sheain't what I would call safe and seaworthy any more. The' don't seemto be any danger of her sailin' off, but that's no sign she can't beblowed over onto her beam ends and sunk with all on board. If you wasto ask me, Mr. Cleggett, I'd say the time had come to leave the JasperB."
The anxiety depicted on the faces of the little circle about him mighthave communicated itself to a less intrepid nature. The old Cap'nhimself was no coward. Indeed, in owning to his alarm he had reallydone a brave thing, since few have the moral courage to proclaimthemselves afraid. But Cleggett was a man of iron. Although thetempest smote the hulk with blow after blow, although both earth andwater seemed to lie prostrate and trampled beneath its unappeasablefury, Cleggett had no thought of yielding.
Unconsciously he drew himself up. It seemed to his crew that heactually gained in girth and height. The soul, in certain greatmoments, seems to have power to expand the body and inform it with thequality of immortality; Ajax, in his magnificent gesture of defiance,is all spirit. Cleggett, with his hand on his hip, uttered thesewords, not without their sublimity:
"Whether the Jasper B. sinks or swims, her commander will share herfate. I stay by my ship!"