Foul Play

by Charles Reade

  CHAPTER XXII.

  AT last Cooper ordered Fenner to hold his jaw, and come aft, and helpsail the boat.

  But the man, being now stark mad, took no notice of the order. Hismadness grew on him, and took a turn by no means uncommon in these cases.He saw before him sumptuous feasts, and streams of fresh water flowing.These he began to describe with great volubility and rapture, smackinghis lips and exulting. And so he went on tantalizing them till noon.

  Meantime, Cooper asked Mr. Hazel if he could sail the boat.

  "I can steer," said he, "but that is all. My right arm is benumbed."

  The silvery voice of Helen Rolleston then uttered brave and welcomewords. "I will do whatever you tell me, Mr. Cooper."

  "Long life to you, miss!" said the wounded seaman. He then directed herhow to reef the sail, and splice the sheet which he had been obliged tocut; and, in a word, to sail the boat; which she did with some littleassistance from Hazel.

  And so they all depended upon her, whom some of them had been forkilling. And the blood-stained boat glided before the wind.

  At two P. M. Fenner jumped suddenly up, and, looking at the sea withrapture, cried out, "Aha! my boys, here's a beautiful green meadow; andthere's a sweet brook with bulrushes. Green, green, green! Let's have aroll among the daisies." And in a moment, ere any of his stiff andwounded shipmates could put out a hand, he threw himself on his back uponthe water, and sunk forever, with inexpressible rapture on hiscorpse-like face.

  A feeble groan was the only tribute those who remained behind couldafford him.

  At three P. M. Mr. Hazel happened to look over the weather-side of theboat, as she heeled to leeward under a smart breeze, and he saw a shellor two fastened to her side, about eleven inches above keel. He lookedagain, and gave a loud hurrah. "Barnacles! barnacles!" he cried. "I seethem sticking."

  He leaned over, and, with some difficulty, detached one, and held it up.

  It was not a barnacle, but a curious oblong shell-fish, open at one end.

  At sight of this, the wounded forgot their wounds, and leaned over theboat's side, detaching the shell-fish with their knives. They broke themwith the handles of their knives, and devoured the fish. They were asthick as a man's finger and about an inch long, and as sweet as a nut. Itseems that in the long calm these shellfish had fastened on the boat.More than a hundred of them were taken off her weather-side, and evenlydivided.

  Miss Rolleston, at Hazel's earnest request, ate only six, and these veryslowly, and laid the rest by. But the sailors could not restrainthemselves; and Prince, in particular, gorged himself so fiercely that heturned purple in the face, and began to breathe very hard.

  That black speck on the horizon had grown by noon to a beetle, and bythree o'clock to something more like an elephant, and it now diffuseditself into a huge black cloud, that gradually overspread the heavens;and at last, about half an hour before sunset, came a peculiar chill, andthen, in due course, a drop or two fell upon the parched wretches. Theysat, less like animals than like plants, all stretching toward theirpreserver.

  Their eyes were turned up to the clouds, so were their open mouths, andtheir arms and hands held up toward it.

  The drops increased in number, and praise went up to Heaven in return.

  Patter, patter, patter; down came a shower, a rain--a heavy, steady rain.

  With cries of joy, they put out every vessel to catch it; they loweredthe sail, and, putting ballast in the center, bellied it into a greatvessel to catch it. They used all their spare canvas to catch it. Theyfilled the water-cask with it; they filled the keg that had held thefatal spirit; and all the time they were sucking the wet canvas, andtheir own clothes, and their very hands and garments on which thelife-giving drops kept falling.

  Then they set their little sail again, and prayed for land to Him who hadsent the wind and rain.