by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER IV
FIRST AND SECOND CUTTERS TO THE RESCUE
It was still but a dim light when the commander appeared on deck. He couldnot have slept more than an hour, but he was as wideawake and active asever before in his life. He had a spyglass in his hand, with which heproceeded to examine the wreck as soon as he had obtained its bearings; forhe never did anything, even under such desperate circumstances as thepresent, until he had first ascertained what was best to be done.
"How long is it since you made out the wreck, Mr. Boulong?" he inquired,still looking through the glass.
"Mr. Scott reported cries from that direction not ten minutes ago, and thelookout aloft hailed the deck a minute or two later," replied the firstofficer.
"Make the course north by east," added the captain.
"North by east, sir," replied Mr. Boulong, mounting the promenade, andgiving the order to the quartermaster through the window. "Steer small tillyou get the course, Bangs."
The captain and the third officer remained on the promenade deck, stillobserving the persons on the wreck, who continued to shout and to dischargetheir firearms till they saw the head of the steamer slowly turned to thenorth, when they appeared to be satisfied that relief was at hand.
"They are in a very dangerous position," said the commander. "I cannot makeout what they are clinging too; but it is washed by the sea at every wave,and they cannot hold out long in that situation. I wonder that all of themhave not been knocked off before this time."
"They must have some strong hold on the thing that floats them, whatever itis, for they are under water half the time," replied Scott, who was alsousing a spyglass. "I can't make out what they are on; but it looks like awhaleback to me, with her upper works carried away."
"There are no whalebacks in these seas," replied the captain.
"But I saw one in New York Harbor; and I have read that one has crossed theAtlantic, going through the Welland Canal from the great lakes."
"They have no mission in these waters, though what floats that party looksvery much like one. Call all hands, Mr. Boulong, and clear away the firstcutter."
By this time the Guardian-Mother was on her course to the northward. Thestorm was severe, but not as savage as it might have been, or as thesteamer had encountered on the Atlantic when she saved the sailing-yachtBlanche from foundering. The ship had been kept on her course for Bombay,though, as she had the gale on the beam, she was condemned to wallow in thetrough of the sea; and stiff and able as she was, she rolled heavily, asany vessel would have done under the same conditions.
The change of course gave her the wind very nearly over the stern, and shepitched instead of rolling, sometimes lifting her propeller almost out ofthe water, which made it whirl like a top, and then burying it deep in thewaves, causing it to moan and groan and shake the whole after part of theship, rousing all the party in the cabin from their slumbers. The ship hadhardly changed her course before Louis came on deck, and was soon followedby Felix McGavonty.
"What's the row, Mr. Scott?" asked the former.
"Are ye's thryin' to shake the screw out of her?" inquired the Milesian,who could talk as good English as his crony, the owner, but whooccasionally made use of the brogue to prevent him from forgetting hismother tongue, as he put it, though he was born in the United States."Don't ye's do it; for sure, you will want it 'fore we get to Bombay."
"Don't you see those men standing upon something, or clinging to whateverfloats them? They are having a close call; but I hope we shall be able tosave them," replied the third officer.
The captain had gone to the pilot-house, from the windows of which thewreck could be seen very plainly, as its distance from the ship was rapidlyreduced. By this time the entire crew had rushed to the deck, and werewaiting for orders on the forecastle. Mr. Boulong, with his boat's crew,had gone to the starboard quarter, where the first cutter was swung in onher davits. The boat pulled six oars, and the cockswain made seven hands.
With these the cutter wad quickly swung out, and the crew took their placesin her, the bowman at the forward tackle, and the cockswain at the after.It was the same crew with which the first officer had boarded the Blanchewhen she was in imminent peril of going down, and he had entire confidenceboth in their will and their muscle. He stood on the rail, holding on atthe main shrouds, ready for further orders.
In the pilot-house, with both quartermasters at the wheel, the captain wasstill observing with his glass the men in momentary peril of being washedfrom their insecure position into the boiling sea. Felix had gone aft withthe first officer, and had assisted in shoving out the first cutter fromthe skids inboard, and Louis had come into the pilot-house with Scott.
"Has any one counted the number of men on the wreck, or whatever it is?"inquired the commander.
"There are eleven of them," promptly replied Scott, who, as an officer ofthe ship, was in his element, and very active both in mind and body.
"Too many for one boat in a heavy sea," added Captain Ringgold. "You willclear away the second cutter, Mr. Scott, and follow Mr. Boulong to thewreck."
"All the second cutters aft!" shouted the third officer from the window;and the crew of this boat rushed up the ladder to the promenade deck, andfollowed the life-line to the davits of the cutter.
"Bargate, who pulls the stroke oar in the second cutter, has the rheumatismin his right arm, and is not fit to go in the boat," interposed Mr.Gaskette, the second officer.
"Let me take his place, Captain Ringgold!" eagerly exclaimed LouisBelgrave.
"Do you think you can pull an oar in a heavy seaway, Mr. Belgrave?" askedthe commander, who always treated the owner with entire respect in thepresence of others, though he called him by his given name when they werealone.
"I know I can!" replied Louis very confidently.
"I do not object, if Mr. Scott is willing."
"I am very willing, for Mr. Belgrave's muscle is as hard as a flint."
"Very well. Hurry up!" added the captain.
Four other men were sent aft to assist in the preparations for putting thesecond cutter into the water; and in as short a time as Mr. Gaskette, whousually went in that boat on important occasions, would have required to doit, the cutter was ready to be dropped into the water when the order wasgiven.
The captain and the second officer continued to watch the party on thewreck, expecting every moment to see some of them swept into the savagewaves that beat against their frail support. The ship went at full speed onher course; for the commander would not waste an instant while the lives ofso many human beings depended upon his action.
"Can you make out what they are clinging to, Mr. Gaskette?" asked thecommander of the only person besides the two quartermasters who remainedwith him in the pilot-house.
"Yes, sir; I am just getting an idea in regard to it, though the thing isawash so that I can hardly make it out," replied the second officer. "Ithink it is the bottom of a rather small vessel, upside down; for I seesomething like a keel. The party have two ropes stretched the whole lengthof the bottom, to which they are clinging."
"You are right; that is plainly the bottom of a vessel, and I wonder thatthe craft has not gone down by this time. How she happens to be in thatsituation, and why she has not sunk, are matters yet to be explained. Goaft, if you please, and see that both cutters are ready to be lowered intothe water, Mr. Gaskette. It is not prudent to go much nearer to the wreck,for the gale may drift us upon it."
The second officer left the pilot-house, and found the crews all seated intheir boats, with everything in readiness to obey the order to lower away;and he reported the fact to his superior.
"Starboard the helm, Bangs, and steer small!" said Captain Ringgold as soonas the officer returned with the information he had obtained.
To "steer small" is to move the rudder very gradually; for if the coursewere suddenly changed a quarter of the circumference of the compass in sucha sea as was then raging, it wou
ld be liable to make the steamer engage insome disagreeable, if not dangerous, antics.
"Steady!" added the captain when the steamer was headed a point south ofwest.
This position brought the starboard side of the ship on the lee; that is,this part of the ship was sheltered from the fury of the wind and thewaves, and it was the proper situation in which to lower a boat into thewater; for on the windward side these two powerful forces would be likelyto stave the cutter against the side of the steamer.
After the commander had struck the gong to stop her, he gave the order tothe second officer to lower the first cutter; and he left the pilot-housefor this purpose. Mr. Boulong was an exceptionally skilful officer in thehandling of a boat in a heavy sea. Watching for the favorable moment, hegave the order to the cockswain and bowman to lower away, with the aid ofthe oarsmen near them.
"Cast off the after fall, Stoody!" said he sharply to the cockswain; andthe order was promptly obeyed. "Cast off your fall, Knott!" he added almostinstantly. "Let fall! Give way!"
A receding wave carried the boat away from the side of the ship, preciselyas Mr. Boulong had calculated. The six oars dropped into the water as one,and the men began to pull, getting a firm hold on the receding wave, whichsent the cutter to a safe distance from the ship. As soon as she was clear,the commander, who had remained in the pilot-house, rang the gong to goahead. When the steamer had gathered sufficient headway, she was broughtabout as cautiously as before.
The second cutter was on the port quarter of the vessel, and this movementplaced the boat under the lee. Mr. Gaskette had remained aft, and when theship had stopped her screw and nearly lost her headway, the captain shoutedto him through his speaking-trumpet, which the roar of the waves and theescaping steam rendered necessary, to "Lower away!"
"Lower away when you are ready, Mr. Scott!" repeated the second officer.
Though Scott was only eighteen years old, he was an intuitive sailor, andhad a good deal of experience for his years. He had never before occupiedhis present position; but his nautical genius, fortified by sundry combatswith wind and waves, made him feel quite at home. As the first officer haddone, he seized the auspicious moment when the retiring wave promised itsefficient aid, and gave the orders to cast off the falls.
The six oars grappled with the water on the smooth side of a great wave,and carried it to the apex of the next billow; and she went off ashandsomely as the first cutter had done. Mr. Gaskette saw these manoeuvressuccessfully accomplished, and then started for the pilot-house, to reportto the captain. On his way he could not help giving an inquiring look atthe manner in which the substitute for Bargate performed his duty.
At eighteen Louis was a healthy, vigorous, athletic fellow, developed by anactive life on the ocean, and weighing one hundred and fifty pounds. In anytrial of strength he was more than the equal of any other member of the"Big Four," as the four young men berthing in the cabin called themselves,borrowing the name from a combination of railroads in the West. He was welltrained as an oarsman, and the second officer was satisfied that he wasdoing his full share of the work.
As Mr. Gaskette reached the pilot-house there was a commotion there, and itwas evident to him that something unlooked for had occurred. He glanced atthe two cutters; but they were all right, and were steadily making theirway to the locality of the wreck.
"The wreck is going down, sir!" exclaimed Bangs with startling energy justbefore the second officer reached the door.
"It is all up with that craft!" added Twist, the other quartermaster.
Captain Ringgold said nothing, but calmly surveyed the men who were nowstruggling in the water. They seemed to be all able to swim; but it was acloser call than they had had before. The two cutters appeared to be theironly possible salvation, and they were still at a considerable distancefrom the scene of peril.
It was a terribly exciting and harrowing spectacle; but the commanderlooked as impassable as ever. He rang the gong for the ship to go ahead;and Mr. Gaskette wondered what he intended to do, though he was not leftmore than a moment in suspense.