The Third Officer: A Present-day Pirate Story

by Percy F. Westerman

  CHAPTER XVIII

  Successful so Far

  Snugly hidden in the almost denuded compartment known as thecaptain's pantry, Alwyn Burgoyne and Jasper Minalto waitedbreathlessly for the impending explosion.

  Discussing a hurried plan of action with Captain Blair--a quickchange of programme necessitated by events over which they had nocontrol--Burgoyne had acted promptly. Taking advantage of theconfusion when the order had been given to abandon ship, the ThirdOfficer and the faithful Minalto had climbed up the side anddisappeared down the companion ladder without a single member of thepirate crew having the faintest suspicion of their presence. In themeantime the men in the life-boat, hurriedly coached by CaptainBlair, had done their part of the business well.

  A stout block had been bent to the heel of one of the davits. Throughit was led a three-inch rope, one end being made fast to thelife-boat's middle thwart close up to the knees, while the other wassecured by means of a clove hitch to the crown of the davit. Unlesslooked for the rope would easily pass muster as one of the disorderedfalls of the davit. The idea was that, when the _Donibristle_ sank,the strain on the rope would capsize and swamp the life-boat, pinningher hard and fast against the submerged side of the ship, and thatwas what exactly did happen.

  The stowaways were confronted by two great and distinct perils. Thepirates engaged in making up the explosive charges were not experts.They might easily err on the side of generosity when preparing thequantities, and when the explosion took place the whole ship might goup instead of down.

  The second risk was that the _Donibristle_ might sink in deeper waterthan the total height of her hull from keel-plates to the rail. Inthat case Burgoyne and Jasper Minalto would be trapped in a metal boxand drowned without the ghost of a chance of saving themselves.

  Yet unhesitatingly, though dubious of the result, they had taken therisk and were awaiting developments.

  They could hear the plash of the oars as the boats pushed off, andthe gentle grinding of the life-boat's gunwale as it rubbed againstthe rusty iron sides of the ship. Then came an ominous silence asBlack Strogoff raised his hand and gave the signal.

  The charges were fired.

  Alwyn felt the floor-plates give as the whole fabric of the shipquivered under the internal impact. A waft of acrid fumes driftedinto the enclosed space.

  The two men exchanged glances as if to say, "Well; it's all right sofar, but there's more to come."

  The water was surging and hissing along the alley-way. Thepantry-door, burst open by the outside pressure, was flung hard backagainst the bulkhead, and in an instant the two men were knee deep inwater.

  The level rose to their waists, and still there was no indicationthat the ship had settled on the bottom. The level was rising moreslowly now. Without a jar the ship had touched the bed of the channeland was gradually sinking in the soft sand. Disappear she wouldeventually, but for the time being, perhaps for several hours, thesubsidence was barely perceptible.

  Then as the _Donibristle_ listed slightly to port the level in thepantry fell a foot or eighteen inches, leaving the occupants standingnearly thigh deep in water.

  Again they exchanged glances, but this time both men's faces wore agrin of satisfaction. They even chuckled softly, as they listened tothe ravings of Black Strogoff and the carefully rehearsedlamentations and explanations of the boat's crew.

  Half an hour later all was quiet without, save for the rattle of therain upon the exposed portion of the deck. Black Strogoff, hisassistants, and the working-parties had departed, their taskaccomplished; but there remained the unpromising prospect of theirreturning that afternoon to salve the sunken life-boat.

  The downpour was a blessing in disguise. It enabled Burgoyne and hiscompanion to talk without risk of being overheard by anyone on thecliff.

  "Things'll be a bit more comfortable presently," said Minalto."Tide'll be falling."

  "Yes," agreed Alwyn. "It was half-ebb when they scuttled her. Thatmeans high-water about seven o'clock. Let's hope it will be a darknight and not too much wind. You say you know where the two bucketsare stowed?"

  Minalto made no reply. He was staring thoughtfully at a corner of thepantry.

  "Anything wrong?" inquired Burgoyne. "You haven't got cramp, I hope?"

  "No, sir," replied the man. "It's a mort too warm to give I cramp.I'm just a-thinkin', sir. See that li'l boiler? Couldn't us get 'enaway an' use 'en for a water-tank?"

  Burgoyne jumped at the idea. The "li'l boiler" was in reality agalvanized iron bin used for storing flour, and would hold aboutfifty gallons of water without much chance of its contents spillingover the top, as it was fitted with a metal lid.

  "You're a gem of the first water, Jasper!" exclaimed Burgoyneenthusiastically. "Come on, let's get it adrift at once. It will besomething to do."

  By the aid of broken-off ends of files it was a fairly simple matterto unscrew the brass clamps. Examination of the tank showed that itwas half filled with mouldy flour.

  "Soon clean 'en," declared Minalto. "Then when us gets round t'otherside fill 'en wi' water, and put 'en aboard the boat again."

  "Hardly," demurred Burgoyne. "That tank even if only filled to withintwo inches of the top would weigh well over four hundredweights. No,we'll have to leave it in the life-boat and fill it up by means ofthe buckets. By Jove! that knocks Angus and his canvas tanks into acocked hat. We'll clean it out now. Salt water won't hurt if we washit with fresh later on."

  The hours dragged wearily on. Both men were hungry and thirsty, forthey had come unprepared for the task on which they were at presentengaged. But at length the darkening gloom in the alley-way announcedthat night had drawn in, and the time for strenuous activity was athand.

  Glad to escape from their cramped quarters, for the rising tide wasbeginning to make things far more uncomfortable than before, the twomen emerged from the pantry, dragging their prize after them.

  It was now quite dark. The rain had ceased, but the sky was overcast.A north-easterly breeze was ruffling the waters of the lagoon.Shorewards there was nothing to denote human occupation. The cliffsof the secret base rose gaunt and forbidding against the faint loomof the sky, with no indication to show the hive of piratical industrythat flourished within the limits of those unscaleable precipices.

  Very cautiously Burgoyne and his companion crept towards the davit towhich had been made fast the rope pinning down the life-boat. Themanila had shrunk in the wet to such an extent that the clove hitchhad jammed. It was only by using the broken file as a marline spikethat Alwyn succeeded in teasing out the tenacious hitch.

  The result though expected was nevertheless startling. The whaler,under the buoyancy imparted by six large air-tight copper tanks,bobbed up like a cork, making a splash that might be heard on boardthe _Malfilio_ and even by the pirates on shore.

  "They'm thinkin' it'll be a girt shark," commented Minalto, as heslipped over the side with a bucket to bale the boat.

  Burgoyne joined him, and in twenty minutes the bottom boards werefiguratively "dry". The exercise also helped to restore thecirculation to the cramped limbs of the two men.

  There were oars in the boat. Some thoughtful person had consideratelylashed them down to the thwart so that they had not floated away; butthe question now arose how were the masts and sails to be procured?

  "It's too risky making a double trip across the harbour," saidBurgoyne. "One would have been bad enough and we've been spared that.And there's the _Malfilio_ to be taken into account, although I don'tsuppose they'll be so keenly on the look-out as they were when thatvessel was using her searchlight. We'll have to swim for them. Theywill tow easily, since they are in canvas covers."

  "I'm on, sir," agreed Minalto.

  Both men stripped, and wringing out their saturated clothes spreadthem over the thwarts of the life-boat. Burgoyne held up therevolver.

  "We'll not be wanting this on this trip," he remarked to hiscompanion. "I'll hide it in the boat. It's too early to start usingfirearms."

>   Minalto nodded. He quite understood that if detected at this juncturethe revolver would be of no help. Once the boat was ready to leavethe island, then, perhaps, the little weapon might prove to be ofservice.

  With the skill of experienced swimmers the two men dived noiselesslyoverboard and struck out with steady, powerful strokes towards themouth of the as yet invisible harbour.

  Keeping close to the cliff they rounded the projecting arm. Not onlywas the anchorage quiet--the _Malfilio_ had gone. Unknown to Burgoyneand Minalto the pirate cruiser had proceeded to sea shortly after the_Donibristle_ had been scuttled.

  Changing over from breast-stroke to dog-stroke the swimmers proceededslowly until they touched bottom in shallow water, about a hundredyards from the boat-house. Covering that hundred yards took a fullten minutes. Twice they threw themselves flat upon the sand--oncewhen a lump of rock loosened by the rain crashed down from the cliff;another time when a piece of canvas flapping in the breeze beat adisturbing tattoo upon the side of one of the huts. In each case,imagining that they were discovered, the two men lay still with theirhearts thumping violently, until they recovered themselvessufficiently to resume their way.

  At length the mass of the tarred boat-shed loomed up through thedarkness. The door was securely padlocked. That was reassuring, sinceit was highly improbable that any of the pirates were asleep withinthe building. Nor did Burgoyne waste time in filing through thepadlock, and thus leave traces of his exploit. Cautiously the two menworked round to the back of the shed. Then Alwyn, standing onMinalto's broad shoulders, deftly wrenched open the already loosenedweatherboard.

  In less than a couple of minutes the life-boat's masts and sails, intwo painted canvas covers, were lying outside the hut. Replacing theweatherboards Burgoyne climbed down to the ground, and, without aword being exchanged, the two men shouldered their respective burdensand retraced their steps.

  There was no need to destroy their footprints. Already the sand wascovered with the prints of men's boots and bare feet, for daily thevicinity of the hut was a scene of activity.

  Arriving at the end of the strip of beach, they again took to thewater. The canvas covers with their weighty contents were buoyant,but Burgoyne soon found that it was a difficult matter to swim andpush the gear in front of him. It was an easier task, though not sosimple to the swimmer, to drag the bundle of masts, spars, and sailsbehind him.

  But deprived of the slight support afforded by the gear, Alwyn foundthat, although it no longer yawed as before, it was a decidedencumbrance by the time half the distance was covered. ApparentlyJasper Minalto found the same thing, for directly they rounded thebluff at the entrance of the harbour the sailor ranged up alongsideand by the aid of a length of halliard deftly secured the two sets ofgear side by side.

  After that progress was quicker and much easier, since each swimmercould rest one hand and continue striking out with the other; buttheir relief was none the less when they arrived alongside thelife-boat.

  "We'm making sail, sir?" inquired Minalto, as the pair resumed theirclothes after having lifted the gear into the boat.

  Burgoyne thought wistfully of the favourable breeze, and reluctantlyshook his head.

  "I'd like to," he replied, "only the canvas would show up too mucheven in the darkness. We must row. All ready? Then let go!"

  Pushing off from the almost submerged rail of the vessel that hadbeen their floating home, the twain shipped an oar apiece, havingtaken the precaution of muffling the crutches with strips of rag.Then standing in towards the island they skirted the line of cliffs.Here they were safe from detection unless, which was most unlikely,the pirates had posted sentries on the edge of the lofty wall of rockthat completely girded the island. There were, they knew, watchers onthe look-out both by day and by night on the Observation Hill, buttheir task was to observe vessels approaching from the offing. Theidea of a boat manned by their captives being navigated inside thelagoon and close to the precipitous shore never occurred to them, orif it did they had dismissed it as unworthy of serious consideration.

  "There's one way out when the time comes," said Burgoyne, as thesmall gap on the south-western side of the reef appeared abeam.

  "Right-o, sir," replied Minalto. "I know it, havin had to swim across'en."

  A few minutes later the life-boat rounded the extreme south-westerlypoint of the island. It was now that the most dangerous part of thisphase of the operations was threatening; for, having to pass somedistance off the detached rock before entering the west bay, thelittle craft would no longer be masked by the cliffs from the piratesstationed on the Observation Hill.

  "Easy--lay on your oars a bit," cautioned Alwyn, as he glanced overhis shoulder in the direction of the look-out post. The ruggedoutlines of the hill showed up against the mirky sky, but whether theboat was so plainly visible as it moved slowly through the calm,phosphorescent water was a matter unknown to Burgoyne and hiscompanion. They hoped not and wished themselves farther in shore.

  "Give way," ordered Burgoyne.

  "Touched wi' my oar, sir," reported Jasper in a low voice. "'Ardrock, tes."

  Evidently the shoal ran out farther than the Third Officer hadthought. The boat had to be backed and the rock given a much widerberth; all of which took time and kept them longer in sight of theObservation Hill.

  Yet, as the moments slowly passed and no disconcerting flash of arifle came from the look-out post, Burgoyne felt his spirits rise.His immediate goal was within easy distance, and once the boat gainedthe shelter of the cliffs ultimate success loomed large upon hismental horizon.

  At length the life-boat's forefoot took the sandy beach close to themouth of the cave. Thankfully the two men boated their oars. Onlytwice in that eight or nine miles had they rested, and the craft wasa heavy one to pull.

  "Stand by her," cautioned Burgoyne as he leapt ashore. "Don't let herground too hard. Tide's falling."

  As he made his way towards the spot where he expected to find thelower end of the guide rope, Burgoyne had a nasty shock, foradvancing towards him were three men.