“The ship!� I cried.
“Yes, you may see it dead ahead.�
Whereat I got to my knees and shaded my eyes, for the sun had not yet set, and stared over the water.
Sure enough, there lay The Rose of Devon. She was still hull down in the shadow, but we could see the masts, that is, what was left of them. The mizzenmast was gone at the deck and the main topmast at the hounds, but the foremast still stood and the fore-topmast. The mainyard was still across, as were the two yards of the foremast. That was all I could make out then.
The island merited no particular description, for it was like hundreds of other South Seas Pacific islands. It was low and hilly and surrounded by a reef, but there was a broad opening through the reef, at least we thought so because the breakers suddenly ceased and there was a long stretch of smooth black water before they began again.
We had no time for many details, and indeed I came instantly to action. The breeze had practically died out and although the earthquake and tidal wave still caused a heavy sea, it was gradually quieting down to long, gentle undulations. I turned aft, unstepped the mast and doused the sail, carefully placing both where they might be of use in an emergency. Then I decided to let the boat drift for a while, until it grew dark enough to enable me to approach the ship without danger of observation.
We made a good meal off the scanty provisions we had left. My mistress was for saving them, but I bluntly pointed out that either we should have plenty in a few hours or be in no need of anything to eat forever after, so we satisfied our hunger and thirst abundantly, and then as it wanted an hour or two of night, I made my lady lie down, using the sail and my waistcoat to soften the planking, and rest in her turn. She obeyed me without question and, in spite of her declaration that she was not tired, I had the satisfaction of seeing in a few minutes that she had fallen asleep.
I sat silently watching her through the hours while the sun sank, while the dusk was followed by darkness, until the stars came out and then I stepped across her, seized the oars and started on my long pull toward the ship. We had drifted southward I opined, but I had taken my bearings carefully by the stars and I knew exactly in what direction to send the dinghy. The noise of the oars in the rowlocks finally awakened my lady. She got to her feet, went aft, took the tiller and, upon my giving her directions, steered a true course for the ship.
I suppose it was close on to nine o’clock when we reached her vicinity. I could not see my watch. We had no means of making a light, if we had dared upon the experiment. The night was dark and moonless and, save for the stars, as black as Egypt was fabled to be. The waves rolling through the opening of the reef and crashing on the shore drowned the noise of the oars in the rowlocks. The tide was in full flood, I judged, in fact just beginning to ebb, and the breeze which had sprung up after sunset was, as usual, offshore, two things greatly to our advantage.
We did not see the ship until we were almost upon her. Suddenly she loomed blackly out of the darkness, like a smudge of soot of darker hue than the rest. There was not a light upon her. I rowed close to her, rounded her counter, and discovered the Jacob’s ladder which usually hung there still in place. I fastened the boat with a turn of the painter around the ladder and belayed it to a cleat aft, drew my sword from my sheath, and then turned for a last word.