Chapter Fifteen.
Making the best of it.
All hands were on deck at the time of the collision; and, with one concentrated cry of alarm which was more a yell than anything else, the men rushed in a body amidships to where the long-boat was stowed.
Captain Dinks, however hesitating and undecided as he had shown himself frequently of late in the navigation of the ship, now all at once brought out in this emergency that courage and capacity for command which he had really at bottom but which had been before dormant.
“Back for your lives, men, to your stations!” he shouted. “Although the bows are stove in, the bulkhead forward will prevent the water from flooding us beyond the fore compartment and give us time to run the ship ashore, when we can all escape. No boat could live in the sea that’s now on; and if it did, it would run a worse chance of being stove in by the ice than our poor vessel had!”
His words made the men hang back, all save Bill Moody and a couple of others, who began casting off the lashings of the longboat; but Mr McCarthy rushing down on the main deck and seizing a capstan bar with which he threatened to brain the first man who resisted the captain’s authority, the unruly ones desisted for the time, slinking forwards grumblingly.
“Carpenter,” called out Captain Dinks, “sound the well and see what damage has been done; and, Mr Adams, send the port watch aft to clear away this top hamper. It is thumping away alongside and may make another breach in our timbers!”
The captain’s apparent calmness, combined with the sense of duty paramount on ship-board, made the men set to work with a will; besides which, they well knew that by acting together in harmony they had a better chance of escape than by any mere individual effort. Mr McCarthy, too, and Adams showed themselves equally as capable as Captain Dinks in lending a hand and encouraging the crew—Frank Harness being not one whit behindhand either; so that, within a very few minutes after the consternation which the catastrophe had caused on its first happening had passed away, all, recovering that equanimity habitual to sailors in almost any predicament or calamity, were engaged in carrying out the orders given them, as coolly as if the Nancy Bell were snug at anchor in some safe harbour. But, in what a sadly different position was she now!
Battered as she had been by the storm in the Bay of Biscay and crippled by the terrible cyclone off the Cape, which had left her tossing rudderless and almost dismasted on the deep, her then condition was favourable in comparison with her present state—that of a complete wreck, with her bows stove in, her masts all carried by the board, and her decks swept fore and aft of everything!
Fortunately, as the mainmast had fallen over the side, it had jammed against the iceberg with which they had collided, so fending off the vessel’s head that she had sheered to starboard and thus passed by the floating mountain; otherwise, probably, the poor Nancy Bell would have been ground down by the pressure of the ice below the surface of the sea. Ben Boltrope, too, returning from forward after a survey of the damage, in accordance with the captain’s command, reported another piece of good news. The bows had been stove in, it was true, and the bulkhead smashed, filling the fore compartment and bringing the ship’s head so much down that it would be almost impossible to sail her even in a smooth sea; but the jury-mast, which had been rigged forward in place of the lost foremast, had gone over on the port bow, instead of falling to the starboard side of the ship like the other masts, and the fore staysail attached to it, dragging overboard, had got sucked into the hole which the iceberg had made, thus stopping the inrun of water to any appreciable extent Ben said that he believed they would be able so to patch up the damaged place in the bows after a time, thanks to this circumstance, that they might hope to make a shift of rigging up a sail again to run the ship ashore with.
“Bravo!” said Captain Dinks on hearing this. “Take what men you like and commence the repairs at once, for there’s no time to be lost Mr Meldrum, what say you to this?”
But, Mr Meldrum had gone below to his daughters, well imagining the state of alarm they would be in and rather surprised that Kate had not already made her appearance on deck. When he reached the cuddy, the reason of her absence was explained.
Poor Florry had met with an accident, the concussion when the ship had struck the iceberg having thrown her out of her berth, cutting her head against the cabin door; and Kate, assisted by Mr Lathrope, was binding up the wound and comforting the sufferer.
“I guess, mister,” said the American, looking up as Mr Meldrum entered the main saloon, “I’ve had to act the good Samaritan, same as your gal did to me when I got jammed together t’other day in my innards agin the wash-stand! We’re fixin’ up the little miss finely. ’Tain’t much of an injoory, I kalkerlate, missy, though thar be a sight of blood, and it’ll soon git closed up agin!”
“Thanks for your kind services,” said Mr Meldrum. “I would have been down before, but was too busy on deck.”
“I know,” replied the other, nodding his head—“helping the captain out of the muss, eh? That wer an allfired smash, though! Done much hurt?”
“Yes,” said Mr Meldrum guardedly, with a glance at the girls; “but the mischief’s over now for the present, though.”
“I see, I see,” whispered Mr Lathrope; “I don’t need nary nother explanation, mister. I hev shed my eye-teeth, I hev, and thar’s no use in skearin’ folks. That madam the Meejur, now, has been going on tree-men-jus, an’ it has ben as much as your gal could kinder dew to get her to quiet down. Jee-rusalem! but she wer goin’ to have the cap’en up on court-martial, an’ the steward tarred and feathered, an’ the Lord knows what! Then, too, ther wer that b’y of hern, squalling like a frog in a fit, the durned young imp, I’d lief have skinned him! If it hadn’t been for your gal, they’d have raised thunder aboard, they would: you oughter be kinder proud, mister, to hev sich a sensible young woman fur yer darter! She warn’t a bit skeart when the shock came; but braced herself up as cool as a cowcumber, and thar she’s ben, keeping them noisy folks quiet, and tendin’ her little siss like a Christian!”
“Indeed I am proud of her,” said Mr Meldrum, gazing at Kate fondly; “but you say nothing about yourself. You’ve been making yourself of use too.”
“Snakes and alligators, mister, I ain’t worth a corn-chuck alongside of your gal! In course, I wer a bit flabbergasted when we collided just now—with one of them hammocks of ice, I guess, hey!”
“Yes,” said Mr Meldrum, “we ran against an iceberg, and a pretty big one too.”
“I thought so,” continued the other. “But you knows me by this time. I never gets upsot by no matter what happens, so I jest fixes on one of them life-belts I always has handy whenever I travels on them high-pressure steamboats we hev on the Mississippi—whar you run the chance of getting busted up regular every trip—and thar I turned out of my cabin slick for anything, so I wer able to help miss, har, in shaking down that dreadful old screech-owl yander, and plaster up little missy arterwards.”
“How’s your arm now?” asked Mr Meldrum kindly.
“Oh, the durned thing’s all right, only a bit stiff. Madam gave it a squoze jist now when I histed her off the floor, whar she got throwed down and wer bellowin’ like a mad bull in fly time. That made the pain grip me agin; but I dessay it’s all right now for a scrimmage if needs be.”
“And where’s Mrs Negus, eh?”
“Thar she is, with that young imp clasped in her arms, sobbin’ her heart out in her cabin; and if you go fur to comfort her, as I did just now, why, she bites your nose off like a crocodile, she dew! She sez we’ll all go to the bottom; and that the cap’en and everybody else have runned the ship ashore just to spite her—she knows, she sez, it’s ben only done fur that!”
And the American laughed with a keen relish of the joke, which no sense of his own peril could subdue.
“She isn’t far out in thinking the ship going down,” said Mr Meldrum gravely. “The vessel has a hole knocked in her bows, through which you might drive an omnibus, and her fore compartment is full of water. We’ll soon have to abandon her, although, I’ve no doubt, she’ll keep afloat for some hours yet. I advise you, Mr Lathrope, to put on the warmest suit of clothes you’ve got, and get together any few little things that may be of use in a boat, as I’m going to do. Kate, my dear,” he added, addressing his daughter, who had been listening attentively while he had been talking to the American, at the same time that she hushed and soothed Florry, who was moaning with pain from her injured head, “you’d better do likewise; and see also to poor Mrs Negus, who appears utterly helpless and unable to look after herself. Where are the steward and stewardess?”
“The stewardess went on deck some time ago, papa, to try and get a cup of tea for Mrs Negus from the galley, and she has not yet returned,” answered Kate; “I think the steward is asleep in his pantry.”
“I thought him too big a coward to keep so quiet when the ship was in any danger,” said her father. “However, he’ll have to rouse up now, whether he likes it or not.”
“Hi, Llewellyn!” shouted he, going up to the door of the pantry, which was closed, and rapping outside with his fist loudly several times.
But there was no answer; so, turning the handle of the lock unceremoniously, he looked within and saw to his astonishment the object of his quest coiled up in a corner of a locker that ran across one side of the pantry, with a heap of blankets drawn tightly over his head.
Mr Meldrum entered and proceeded to shake the human bundle, calling the man again by name; when, after a little while, he disinterred his terrified face from amidst the folds of his coverings, looking as pale as a Niobe in marble.
“Wha–wha–what do you want?” Llewellyn stammered out, with his usual stutter when spoken to sharply.
“Rouse up, man, and turn out at once,” said Mr Meldrum. “What do you mean by hiding yourself here, cowering in a corner like a frightened hound, when the ship’s in danger and there’s work for all hands to do.”
“I thought she was going down, sir, and—and—”
“And you hadn’t the pluck to face your fate like a man, eh!” continued Mr Meldrum, finishing his sentence for him. “But you must know that brave men don’t allow cowards to hamper their movements! Get up at once, sir, and see about raising up all the tinned meats and cabin stores you can fetch out of the steerage. Now, look sharp!”
“Ye–e–es, sir,” replied Llewellyn, crawling unwillingly out of his corner; “but, Cap’en Dinks said—”
“No matter what Captain Dinks said,” interrupted Mr Meldrum, “I’ve got his authority for what I am doing, and order you at once to set about getting the provisions up for the boats. We’ll shortly have to abandon the ship; and, if you don’t obey my orders, you shall be left behind.”
“I’ll do it at once, sir,” answered the steward with alacrity, the threat of being abandoned in the sinking vessel being quite sufficient to expedite his movements; and he at once made for the after hatch to get down into the hold, Mr Meldrum satisfying himself that he had set about the task before leaving him, and then, with a kindly word or two to Kate and Mr Lathrope, going on deck again.
On gaining the poop, Mr Meldrum found that the snow had ceased to fall, the gale having gone down a bit. There was also a clear sky overhead, and a few stars were shining out; but the heavy misty fog still hung over the water, like a curtain, preventing the view of anything beyond a limited range from the sides of the ship, while the sea was extremely rough, the waves being nasty and choppy, as if some current or tideway was working against the wind, causing the rollers to break over the battered bows every now and then in sheets of foam.
However, the outlook was better than he expected; and, besides, he could see, on looking round, that no time had been lost by Captain Dinks and the crew since he had been below.
The wreck of the main-mast and mizzen-mast, with the yards and sails attached, which had been knocking about in the water alongside the ship—bumping against the timbers and threatening a danger almost as bad as the collision—had been cut adrift, the smaller spars being first cast loose and hoisted on board in case of need for jury-masts. The carpenter and some of the hands, meanwhile, had braced up the broken bulkhead with stout beams placed across, so as to prevent it from giving way under the strain and allowing the contents of the fore compartment to flood the main hold; for, it was utterly impossible for the present to clear it of water, although the pumps, which had been kept constantly going, sufficed to keep the rest of the ship pretty free and avert the danger of sinking for a time. It was only a question of time!
The captain was just then overhauling the longboat, which, with the jolly-boat, that had been stowed inside of the former for safety and convenience, were the only two boats that had been left, the others having been washed off the beams at the time that the cook’s caboose had been carried away during the cyclone; and Mr Meldrum, going down on to the main-deck, approached the skipper.
“We’ll have to take to the boats soon,” said the captain, turning round as he came up, “that is, when the sea moderates a bit. I don’t see anything else that can be done—do you?”
“If I were you,” suggested Mr Meldrum, “I would try and run her ashore first and beach her. We’re not far from Kerguelen Land, and though it is now winter time on the island and desolate enough, it would be better our stopping there than wandering about the ocean in the boats, trying to get into the track of the Australian liners, or else making for the Cape, the only place we could steer for.”
“It’s a bad look-out any way,” said the captain despondently.
“Yes, I grant that,” replied the other; “but, if we land there and manage to hold out till September or October, only three months at the outside, a lot of whaling craft generally put into Kerguelen for the seal-fishery about that time, and I daresay we could get one of these to take us to the Cape.”
“Perhaps that would be the best,” said Captain Dinks, reflecting a moment—“but what would you advise now—how are we to get ashore, eh!”
“Why, rig up a jury-mast or two at once and make for the land!” answered Mr Meldrum promptly. “The island must be close to us now to leeward; and with this wind we ought to be able to reach the shore by daybreak, when we would be able to look about us better. It is certainly not the slightest good our remaining here doing nothing till then, for the carpenter tells me, it is only just as much as the men can do to keep down the water by constant pumping, so by the morning they’ll be pretty nigh exhausted and we be no better off. Besides, as you can observe for yourself, it would be madness while that sea is on to try to launch the boats, unless we are absolutely compelled to do so in order to save our lives; whereas, if we run the old craft ashore, we will have the boats for a last chance.”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Captain Dinks, “though I can’t say that I like to leave the poor old thing’s bones to bleach on this outlandish coast. What say you, Mr McCarthy, eh?”
“I agree, sure, with Mr Meldrum, son. He spakes like a sailor; and as he’s a naval officer he ought to know best,” answered the chief mate. Mr Adams and Frank Harness, who were both also admitted to the “council of war,” having given a similar opinion, Mr Meldrum’s advice was immediately acted upon.
Without delay, a small jury-mast was rigged up aft, attached to the stump of the mizzen-mast, and one on the main-deck, close to where the main-mast bitts yet remained, as it was thought better not to step the jury-masts too far forward, for fear of the vessel plunging her bows under. After this, the mizzen-topsail and topgallant-sail, which had been cut off from the yards and saved from the wreck, were hoisted on roughly improvised yards; when, the Nancy Bell being brought round with the wind abeam, was cast loose from the wreckage and headed due east towards the land—in the very direction whence had been heard the sound of breakers, and which all on board had been so anxious to give a wide berth to but so few short hours before. What had been her dire peril was now looked on as a haven of safety!