by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XI
AN EXPEDIENT TO ESCAPE THE ENEMY
Captain Scott had directed Morris to heave up the anchor before heburied himself in his study of the chart in the pilot-house, and to doit in such a manner as not to attract the attention of the Fatime'speople. It was not a very heavy anchor that was required for a craft ofthe size of the Maud, and it had been done very easily and quietly.
Louis went into the pilot-house, where the captain was behind the wheelby this time. He was gazing intently at the conic rock which rose fromthe water a cable's length ahead of him, off a point on the main shore.When he brought the little steamer in to her anchorage in the morning,the lead had been kept going all the time, and he had noted thesoundings on the log-slate at his side. It was now dead low tide, andthe last sounding had given fifteen feet.
"I suppose you have noticed a change in the appearance of the Fatime,Captain Scott," said Louis, as he took his place opposite him.
"What change? I haven't glanced at her. I don't like the looks of her,for she stirs up bad blood in me. I have been trying to be a saint likeyou, Louis, and it is the most difficult enterprise in which I everengaged," replied Scott, as he directed his attention to her. "I don'tsee any change in her."
"Don't you see that gun sticking out through her bulwark?" asked Louis.
"I see it now, but I had not noticed it before," answered the captain."Then Mazagan was not lying when he said that his vessel had been armedsince he took command of her. I suppose I ought to be frightened at theappearance of that twelve-pounder, poking its muzzle out the side of thevessel; but somehow I am not a bit scared," said the captain, with abroader smile on his face than usual.
"But twelve-pound shot are not agreeable missiles to have plumpedthrough the side of the Maud."
"Perhaps not; but the lively little craft is built of extra strength,and she can stand a few of them. I am more concerned about the speed ofthe Fatime than I am about her guns. Of course she has another gun onher starboard side."
"Of course."
"If Mazagan had consulted me in regard to the placing of them, he couldnot have arranged them to suit me any better. But her speed is of moreconsequence than her guns."
"I judge from that, that you intend to run away from her," suggestedLouis.
"Louis," said Captain Scott, looking at his companion with a veryserious expression for him, "there is a recording angel hovering overand around me all the time."
"I suppose every fellow has one near him, to make a note of all histhoughts and actions, though we don't often take notice of hispresence."
"I believe all that, and that we shall be held responsible for all we doand say, and even for what we think," replied Scott.
"A fellow has to keep a guard over his thoughts, for they are thefoundation of his actions."
"But you are taking a higher flight than I am, Louis, and we willoverhaul your idea some other time, when there are no twelve-poundersnear," interposed the captain, as he glanced at the enemy. "My recordingangel is not one of the sort you are thinking about; though,metaphorically speaking, I believe in those to whom you allude. If mywinged spirit, so constantly near me at times like the presentespecially, were to materialize, he would present the photograph ofCaptain Royal Ringgold."
Louis could not help smiling as he imagined the angel described; and hethought the dignified commander made a rather odd-looking etherealbeing.
"I am not making fun of the idea, Louis; the commander seems to be closeaboard of me when there is any doubtful question to be decided by me ascaptain of this craft," continued Scott. "He is looking at me, andwriting down all I do and say, ready to hold me responsible foreverything when I meet him again. He is bigger and more present, so tospeak, just now than ever before. If he knew the situation here at thepresent moment, it would half worry the life out of him, though he wouldbe as dignified as ever."
"You have made a picture of your sense of responsibility; and I am gladyou feel it so keenly," added Louis.
"This is a tight place for a young fellow like me, and I want to do myduty faithfully. If I should follow out my natural, inborn inclination,I should pitch into the Fatime, and open fire upon her officers and crewwith all the rifles and revolvers we could muster. But I don't do thatsort of thing now. I am not the same fellow I was when I came on boardof the Guardian-Mother. Now I shall run away if I get a chance to doso."
"I think you are wise, Captain Scott," added Louis.
"Whatever my recording angel sets down for or against me, he shall notwrite that I tried to get into a fight with that pirate," said thecaptain with a great deal of emphasis.
"You know something about her speed, for we had a little trial of it inthe Strait of Gibraltar."
"We did not beat her in a straight run, and we escaped from her bymanoeuvring and the aid of shoal water," the captain explained. "Idepend upon the same kind of assistance to get out of the presentscrape."
"Then you have a plan in your mind, Captain Scott?" asked Louis.
"I have. I shall do the best I can to get away from the pirate; but wemay not succeed. I have no plan of this bay, only the general chart, onwhich but a few soundings are given. We may be driven into a cornerwhere we shall have to see what virtue there is in our firearms, thoughI hope not."
"If we are compelled to fight, I am confident that every fellow on boardwill stand by you. I shall for one; for I heartily approve the platformon which you stand, Captain Scott," said Louis, giving him his hand.
"I thank you, Louis, with all my heart. You make me stronger than I wasbefore," replied Scott, as he took the offered hand, and warmly pressedit.
The Maud was going ahead at only half speed, blowing off her extrasteam; for she was in condition to make the best effort of herexistence. Morris and Felix were at the bow, wondering what those in thepilot-house found to talk about so long. The water was extremely clear,as they had seen it in the Bahamas, and they were watching the bottom,composed entirely of rocks. Morris occasionally thrust down along-handled boathook whose length he had measured, and it gave himthirteen feet about every time.
With her bunkers full of coal as they had been when she left Alexandria,the Maud drew twelve feet of water, and by this time she had reduced itsix inches. She was approaching the shore, and she could not continuemuch farther. Scott did not explain his plan in detail, and only saidthat he intended to escape if he could. He had a theory in regard to theformation of the bottom of the bay, which had twenty fathoms of water ata distance of a mile from the shore.
He had a theory in regard to the subject which was by no means a novelone, that the bottom of the sea was similar in its features to thesurface of the land. If the face of the country was rugged and uneven,so was the bottom of the sea near it. On Cape Arnauti the hills rose tothe dignity of mountains, and some of the soundings at the entrance ofthe inlet were over a hundred fathoms, which confirmed his theory in itsapplication to this particular locality.
Otherwise stated, Captain Scott believed that if all the water in thebay could be suddenly dried up, the bottom of it would present the sameirregularities as the shore. Doubtless his theory was correct in regardto the great oceans. Islands are only the tops of submarine hills andmountains rising above the surface of the water.
The captain steered the Maud directly towards the shore, while thesteamer was making not over five knots an hour. He kept one eye on therocky cone on the starboard hand, which was an elevation on the enormousledge of half an acre.
"Where's the bottom, Morris?" he called to the first officer when thesteamer was abreast of the cone.
"Thirteen feet down," returned Morris.
"Heave the lead on the port hand, Flix," added the captain very quietly;and he seemed to be still in a brown study.
"Mark under water two," reported the Milesian.
"Give the depth in feet now."
"Thirteen feet, short."
"Keep the lead going."
For about a quarter of a mile farther Scott kept the M
aud moving in thesame direction, with no change in the reports of the soundings. Thegreat ledge could still be seen from the windows of the pilot-house; butsuddenly the color changed to a darker hue. At this point the captainthrew the helm over to port, and changed the course from south-west tonorth-west, a full quarter of a circle. The soundings were continued,and for some time the reports were of deeper water.
Louis had nothing to do on the forecastle, and he returned to thepilot-house, where he stationed himself at the door on the starboardside, where he could look down into the clear water as the others weredoing. The ledge still presented the same appearance; that of a smoothsurface, though with many seams and protuberances upon it.
"You seem to have found a channel inside of the ledge, Captain Scott,"said Louis, after he had watched the indications for some time.
"I thought there must be some kind of an opening on this side of theledge; for on the shore there is a strip of land half a mile widecovered with trees. The channel is all right here; but I would give upall my chances of being appointed to the command of the Guardian-Motherwithin the next ten years, to be assured that it extends out to the deepwater outside the bay," replied Scott, turning around to look at hiscompanion, and thus showing that there was a cloud on his face.
"Don't you believe that it extends the whole length of the ledge?" askedLouis, who could not fail to see the shadow of anxiety that hung overthe expression of the young commander.
"It is no use to believe or disbelieve in a thing you know nothing atall about," replied Scott, as Louis placed himself at the side of thewheel opposite to him, so that he could see his face. "Do I believe itrains in New York City at this moment? What is the use of expressing anopinion about a matter upon which you have no material to base anopinion?"
"Correct, Captain!" exclaimed Louis, laughing. "Many people make foolsof themselves by doing just that thing; but your recording angel neverdoes it. I did not know but you had the means of knowing something aboutit."
"None whatever; there is no law of nature I know of that requires thechannel to reach through to deep water. But there is one circumstancewhich leads me to fear it is 'no thoroughfare' to the deep water."
"What is that, Captain?"
"The present attitude of the Fatime."
"She does not appear to have changed her position or her looks since sheran out that twelve-pounder."
"That is just it!" replied Scott. "If he really intends to bag Mr. LouisBelgrave as his game in this hunt, as I have no doubt he does, he is notgoing to allow me to carry him off in the Maud through this channelwithout doing some kicking and some barking with his twelve-pounders. Heremains there as quietly as though he had you in his cabin already.Mazagan is a sea-captain, and probably has spent most of his lifesailing in these waters. I am afraid he knows more about this channelthan I do, or has a more detailed chart of this bay than mine."
The Maud passed the cone, and continued on her course for a short timelonger. Half a mile more would take her into twenty fathoms of water.
"It would look very hopeful, Louis, if the Fatime were only doing herbest to overhaul us in a chase; but she is like an alligator sunninghimself on the water, she don't move a muscle," said the captain.
"Well, if we have to go back, we shall still have the chance of a racebefore us," suggested Louis.
"I hope so," added Scott.
"Only hope so?" queried Louis.
"That's all," answered the captain, with something like despondency inhis tones and expression.
"Twelve feet and a half!" shouted Morris with emphasis.
"By the mark two! Twelve feet!" shouted Felix.
"Eleven and a half feet!" said Morris.
"Eleven feet!" yelled the Milesian.
Captain Scott rang one bell on the gong to stop her, and then three moreto back her. The boat was lowered into the water, and only seven feet ofwater could be found half a cable's length ahead of the Maud. She couldgo no farther in this direction.