Their’s but to do and die.
The crew of the Leonora had, before now, been [194] ]in affairs where certain shipmates had lost the ‘number of their mess.’ Such experience was nothing new to them. ‘It was all in the day’s work’—one man came back safe and sound, the other ‘went to Davy Jones.’
. . . . . . . . .
Nothing could have been more propitious: the silent, moonless night; the sleeping ocean, dark, waveless—unillumined save by the phosphorescence caused by a leaping fish—the sombre surface in Stygian repose. The Leonora had approached the dread island long after dark, gradually getting closer by long ‘boards.’ For a while the low rhythmic murmur of the unresting surge was the only sound which broke the strange silence, almost oppressive in its completeness. Then, as the boat left the ship’s side noiselessly, and, rowed with muffled oars, approached the shallows of the beach, a weird confused lament, as of wails, moans, and cries of pain, rose through the murky air. Such was the outcome of periodical seizures, with torturing, lancinating pains, which, towards the later hours of the night, occur with dreadful regularity in advanced or hopeless cases. As they increased in distinctness one might have observed a movement as of shuddering fear among the crew, who peered eagerly through the gloom, beyond which lay the dim white beach, with a fringe of plumy palms beyond. Straining his eyes, the quartermaster in the bow observed dark forms wandering, as it appeared to him, along the seashore. Their gait was slow and faltering; with weak, tremulous steps they seemed as though [195] ]doubtful of their ability to reach the point from which to survey the ocean—to look, if better was not to be had, upon the highway to freedom, and that outer world, from which they had been severed once and for ever. They might well have passed for a company of gibbering ghosts on the bank of that dark Lethean stream where earthly joys and sorrows cease.
As the strange band neared the shore, the cries, the moaning, unintelligible chorus seemed to deepen in intensity, and once a scream as of agony unendurable rent the air.
‘Hell’s gate open now, I guess,’ said Hicks; ‘and these are Old Nick’s beach-combers sent to say, “How’d yer like to come to this afore yer time’s up?”’ Here his voice altered at once. ‘Look out, you Maori Jack! here’s our passenger.’
As he spoke, a tall man in a cloak dashed into the sea, and rushed towards the boat, wading above the waist, and holding up his arms beseechingly, while at the same time several of the others made as though to prevent him leaving their party. With a hoarse cry the Maori seized him, and almost lifting him up, dragged him into the boat, while the bow oar descended on the skull of the leading pursuer, who fell back, recovering himself with difficulty. There was no further attempt at capture. ‘Give way, men!’ shouted Hicks; ‘pull for the brig as if she was an eighty-barrel whale.’
The strange passenger sank down as if exhausted, and made no remark or gesture. As the boat foamed up to the Leonora’s side, a [196] ]rope-ladder was let down, up which he—helped by the Maori’s strong grasp—climbed in safety. Once on the deck, he seemed to revive, and commenced to thank the Captain effusively. But he declined converse. ‘You will find refreshment in your cabin, señor! The steward will direct you. It will be better to defer explanations until the morning. Manuel’ (this to the mulatto), ‘see that this gentleman has all that he requires for the night. Adios!’
‘Adios, indeed!’ thought the passenger, who had seen strange things in strange countries, and had picked up Spanish in his wanderings. ‘I feel bewildered for the present; I must clear my brain with sleep, if possible; I have had little enough for the last fortnight.’
The breeze off the land by this time had slightly freshened. Sail was made ‘alow and aloft,’ and as the wavelets commenced to strike and fall off from her bows with increasing volume, the graceful Leonora swept smoothly yet rapidly on her course, at a rate of speed which, if there had been pursuit, gave little chance of her being overhauled.