Chapter Seventeen.
The Wreck of the Crusader.
Watching ship from Flagstaff-hill—Ship approaches harbour—Pronounced to be an emigrant ship—Launching boat to assist ship—Ship enters the sound—The emigrant ship in danger—Cutter puts off—The ship anchors near reef—Boat gets alongside—Mrs Clagget’s tongue heard—Passengers lowered into boat—Dangerous passage to the shore—The “Crusader” driven on the reef—Watching wreck from the beach—Harry returns to the wreck—Bill Windy’s brave exploit—Communication established with shore—Sea breaking over ship—Captain Westerway the last to leave—Encampment on the shore—Good hope for the future—Arrival of Ensign Holt—Mutiny among the crew—Mawson ringleader of mutineers—Resolve to build a vessel.
We left Harry Shafto and his companions on the brow of the hill, watching with intense eagerness the ship they had just discovered as she endeavoured to beat up towards the mouth of the harbour.
“They must have seen our hut blazing during the night, and it probably served them as a beacon,” remarked Harry. “What we considered our misfortune was to their advantage.”
“Ay, ay, Mr Shafto, it’s an ill wind that blows no one good,” observed the boatswain. “I only wish she had the wind freer. It will be no easy matter for that big ship, rigged as she is, to beat up this harbour, and when she is inside it is hard to say where she can bring up; for, with the wind shifting and veering about, there is no safe anchorage that I could find for her.”
“She would not attempt to come in here unless she was in distress,” remarked Harry. “And if, as is probable, there are passengers on board, they may be landed here with less danger than on the open coast, even should she get on shore.”
“I should not like to insure her against doing that,” said the boatswain. “Heaven help her and the poor people on board. If the captain knows the place, he would rather have kept out at sea than tried to come in here. See, she is about again, and is standing to the south’ard. Perhaps, after all, he thinks he had better not make the attempt.”