“Of course we will carry food and water and scheidam for ze poor fellows,” said the Dutchman.
Owen accompanied Mynheer Van Wijk down to the harbour, where they found two boats, each manned by eight powerful-looking natives. Jacob Leefkens was evidently a seafaring man by the way in which he received Mynheer Van Wijk’s directions. Owen was thankful when he found himself thus far successful in commencing the search for his shipmates. He had described as minutely as he could the position of the boat when she was upset, and the two Dutchmen arranged their courses accordingly. The boats pulled on and on. Owen thought that they ought to have got up to the spot where he had left his shipmates. He shouted several times as loudly as he could, aided by Mynheer Van Wijk. The wind had risen considerably, and the further they pulled out the higher the sea was running. Owen began to fear that the people might have been washed off the boat, or that perhaps righting, she had filled and gone down. He thought, too, of Langton, and the dangers he might have to encounter. On speaking on the subject to Mynheer Van Wijk the reply was—
“They are not good people down there; they are too fond of cutting off heads, and a white man himself would be looked upon as a prize.”
“I trust such has not been the fate of my friend,” said Owen.
“The natives have probably gone to their huts, and his safety will depend on his not falling in with them,” observed Mynheer Van Wijk.
From time to time Owen continued to shout, so that they should not pass the boat without being discovered. Jacob Leefkens at last rejoined them.
“I am afraid she’s gone to the bottom,” he observed.
“Do not say that, Jacob,” answered Mynheer Van Wijk. “We will search for them until to-morrow night, if we do not find them before.”
This last remark was consolatory to Owen, and thankful he was that he had fallen in with the honest Dutchman. Now the boats rowed further off shore, now pulled along parallel with it. Owen saw that it would have been impossible for Langton to have found the boat, and, having righted her, to have towed her back to the ship.
Again Jacob, shouting from his boat, declared that the boat must have gone down, as not a sign of her appeared.