by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VI
A STORMY NIGHT RUN TO CAPE ARNAUTI
It had been a stormy night, though the gale had not been so severe aseither of the two the Maud had before encountered on the Mediterranean.It did not come on to blow hard till about eight bells in the afternoon;and at five o'clock in the morning Captain Scott estimated that thelittle steamer ought to be off Cape Arnauti; but all the lights of theisland were on the south side. He kept her well off shore, where therewere neither rocks nor shoals. There was nothing less than twentyfathoms of water a couple of miles from the shore.
The gale had come from the south; and the course of the Maud was only acouple of points from taking it directly aft, so that she was runningtoo nearly before it for the comfort of those on board of her. But shehad a little slant, and a close-reefed foresail had been set in thefirst dog-watch, and she had carried it all night.
The only difficulty about the Maud was her size when it blew hard andthere was a heavy sea. She was too small to be at all steady on greatwaves, though the larger they were the better weather she made of it.Her worst behavior was in a smart, choppy sea, when the waves were notlong, but short and violent. But this was not the kind of a sea she hadthrough the night.
In a heavy sea of any kind she made a good deal of fuss; and being onlyforty feet long it could not be otherwise. She pitched tremendously, andmixed in a considerable roll every time she rose and fell; and it wasnot an easy thing for even a sailor to get about on her deck. Life-lineshad been extended wherever they were needed, and all the ship's companywere used to the erratic ways of the diminutive craft. After all, shewas larger than some of the vessels used by the early voyagers toAmerica, some of whose craft were not even provided with decks.
When the Maud was prepared for heavy weather she was as tight as a drum;and while the heavy seas rolled the whole length of her, not a bucketfulof them found its way below her deck. The only danger of taking in adangerous sea was at the scuttle on the forecastle, which was the usualdoor of admission to the forecastle below, where the two engineers andthe cook had their quarters.
The steamer when she made a dive into a sea scooped up a quantity ofwater, which she spilled out over the rails, or over the taffrail in thestanding-room. The captain had therefore ordered this scuttle to besecured below, so that it could not be removed. Those who had occasionto go below in that part of the vessel were compelled to do so throughthe fire-room. Though Scott was a bold and brave fellow, and evendaring when the occasion required, he was a prudent commander, and nevertook any unnecessary chances.
But not a person on board had been permitted to "turn in" as the thingwas done in moderate weather. The sail on the upper deck required onehand to stand by it all the time, though he was relieved every twohours. The engineers and the cook had broad divans upon which they couldtake a nap, and the sailing-force had taken turns on the broad sofa inthe pilot-house. But Captain Scott had hardly closed his eyes during thenight.
From the time the Fatime was found to be headed to the northward, theofficers of the Maud had lost sight of her for only a couple of hours,when a bank of fog swept over the sea, just before sundown. But at eightbells her lights had been discovered. At midnight they could still beseen; but the captain and Morris were confident that she had been losingground, judging by the diminished clearness of the triangle of lanternsas they appeared over the stern of the Maud.
The lights of a vessel following another appear to the latter in thisform, with the white, or plain one, at the upper apex of the triangle,the red and the green making the two abreast of each other. They wereobserved at seven bells in the first watch; but another fog-bank hadpassed over the sea, and at eight bells, or midnight, they could not beseen. Morris and Louis had the first watch. Felix had gone to take hisnap in the galley; for Pitts, the cook, had been called into service,and was attending to the reefed sail on the upper deck. Captain Scotthad joined him here.
With a rope made fast around his waist, he had been to the standing-roomto look out for the triangle of lights on the Fatime. He could not findthem; but the fog explained why they were not in sight. It was not avery comfortable position on the hurricane deck, for the spray stirredup at the stern was swept over it. All hands had donned their waterproofcaps, with capes to protect the neck, and the oilskin suits they hadfound on board when the steamer was purchased.
"We have been gaining upon her, Pitts," said the captain, after he hadlooked attentively into the fog astern for some time. "We may not seeher again."
"Perhaps not, sir; but she's a bad penny, and she is likely to turn upagain," replied the cook. "But I suppose you will not weep, sir, if youdon't see her again."
"I should like to know what had become of her if we don't see heragain," added Scott carelessly.
"I suppose that Mustapha Pacha is still on board of her; and I shouldrather like to see Captain Ringgold pitch him into another muddy gutter,as he did in Gibraltar. But the Guardian-Mother is not with us just now,and that is not likely to happen on this little cruise."
Pitts hinted in this manner that he should like to know something moreabout the present situation; but the captain was willing to let him formhis own conclusions, and he gave him no assistance in doing so. Eightbells struck on the forecastle; and this was the signal for the midwatch, which consisted of the captain and Felix; and Scott left theupper deck.
Pitts was relieved by Felix; for he could serve as lookout and takecharge of the sail at the same time. Morris was the youngest person onboard, and he was tired enough to camp down at once on the divan in thepilot-house. The cabin door could not be safely opened, or at least notwithout peril to the contents of the cabin; for an occasional wavecombed over the taffrail, and poured itself upon it.
Louis was not inclined to sleep, and he went on the upper deck to passthe time with Felix; and the captain asked him to keep a lookout for thepirate. The fog still prevailed, and he could see nothing. He talkedwith the Milesian for quite two hours, when the time for the relief ofthe helm came. Just before the four bells struck, the fog disappeared assuddenly as it had dropped down on the sea.
Louis went aft and gazed into the distance; but he could see no triangleof lights, or even a single light in any direction. He made a thoroughsearch, with no other result, and then stood by the sail till thecaptain came up to take the place of Felix.
"The fog has blown in ahead of us, Louis; but Flix reports that youhave not been able to find the lights of the pirate," said Scott.
"Not a sign of them can be made out," replied Louis. "I have looked thesea over in every direction. What does that mean, Captain Scott?"
"It may mean any one of three things, and you have to take your choiceamong them. The pirate may have foundered in the gale, she may have putabout to return to the coast of Egypt, or we may have beaten her sobadly in the race of fifteen hours, that she has dropped out of sightastern of us. I don't know much about the Pacha's steamer, though oursecond engineer told me she was not built to order, as the Maud was, butpurchased outright."
"But which of the three results you indicate do you consider the mostprobable, Captain?"
"The last one I named. This gale has not been heavy enough to wreck anyvessel of ordinary strength, so that I cannot believe she has foundered.Captain Mazagan is working for his little twenty thousand dollars'reward; and if he has followed us up here with the intention of pickingyou up on the cruise, I don't believe he would retire from the fieldwithout making a bigger effort than he has put forth so far."
"Then, you think he is after me?"
"Don't we know that he is? Not one of the 'Big Four' is so indifferentand careless about the matter as you are yourself, Louis," replied thecaptain with a good deal of energy. "I still think you ought not tohave come with us on this perilous cruise; and I wonder with all mymight that Captain Ringgold did not keep you on board of theGuardian-Mother."
"He desired to do so; but I would not stand it. I have not the slightestfear of the Pacha and all his blackguards and pirates,"
protested Louis.
"Not since Mazagan got his paw upon you, and you slipped out of it onlyby a lucky chance?" demanded the captain, more as an argument than as aquestion to be answered. "You got off by the skin of your teeth; and youmay thank your stars that you are not shut up at this moment in somedungeon in Mogadore, where they don't ask hard questions as to what hasbecome of troublesome Christians. If the shop had not been invaded bycreditors, you would have been conveyed to Rosetta, and taken away onboard the pirate. The rest of the party would not have known what hadbecome of you; for we could not find you when we searched for you inCairo."
"That is all very nice, Captain Scott," replied Louis, laughing outloud. "I would not have given two cents to have the guard of sailors whomade things so sad for the Arabs at Gizeh in the cellar with me. Make asmuch fuss as you may over my danger at this time, I was master of thesituation all the while," answered Louis very decidedly.
"Master of the situation!" exclaimed the captain. "You might as wellcall the trout the master of the situation after he has the hook in hisgills. I don't see it in that light."
"I had fired one shot from my revolver, and wounded Mazagan's assistantin the outrage; and I had five balls more in the weapon. I think thepirate counted upon the custom-house officers to deprive me of thepistol, or he would not have gone to work just as he did. My shotdemoralized the wounded man, and scared his brother the shopkeeper outof his wits. My next shot was for Mazagan; and if he had taken anotherstep in his programme he would not have been in command of that steamerjust now."
"Perhaps there were some chances for your aim or your calculations tofail," suggested Scott; "though Flix says you never miss your mark whenyou shoot."
"Captain Ringgold said so much to me to induce me to remain on board ofthe Guardian-Mother, that I was tempted to yield the point; but itseemed to me to be cowardly to leave my friends in the face of apossible danger. I told him finally that I considered myself under hiscommand, and if he ordered me to remain on board of the ship, I shouldobey. He would not do that, and I am here. If there is to be any row onmy account I must be in it."
"You have a mind of your own, and you are in condition to have your ownway. If your mother had been posted you would not have been here."
"We don't know; but I think I have as much influence with my mother asshe has with me. I hardly believe she could or would make me act thepart of a coward."
The subject was dropped there, for it seemed to be exhausted. The nightwore away very slowly, and nothing more was seen of the Fatime's lights.The morning watch came on duty at four o'clock; but the captain did notleave the deck. It was evident to him that the sail had increased thespeed of the Maud, and perhaps that was the reason she had run away fromthe chaser. An hour later, with the dawn of the day, the gale broke.
"Land, ho!" shouted Louis over the forward part of the upper deck, sothat Morris could hear him at the wheel; and the captain rushed out ofthe pilot-house where he had lain down on the divan.
"Where away?" called the first officer.
"Broad on the starboard bow," replied Louis.
"That must be the country south-west of Cape Arnauti," said Scott, afterhe had examined the shore with the glass. "Make the course northnorth-east, Morris," he shouted to the wheelman.
"North north-east!" returned the helmsman.
"There are mountains on this island, some of them nearly seven thousandfeet high; and there is a cluster of them close to the shore here,"added the captain.
It was another hour before they could distinctly make out thesemountains; and by that time the end of the cape could be seen on thebeam. The speed of the Maud had been reduced one-half, and the coursedue east was given out. She followed the land around the cape, and wassoon in smooth water. With the chart before him at the helm, and withMorris heaving the lead, Captain Scott piloted the Maud to the head of aconsiderable bay, where he ordered the anchor to be cast loose, and thenstopped the screw.