III
After waiting a moment, Carter went on deck. The sky, the sea, thebrig itself had disappeared in a darkness that had become impenetrable,palpable, and stifling. An immense cloud had come up running over theheavens, as if looking for the little craft, and now hung over it,arrested. To the south there was a livid trembling gleam, faint and sad,like a vanishing memory of destroyed starlight. To the north, as ifto prove the impossible, an incredibly blacker patch outlined on thetremendous blackness of the sky the heart of the coming squall. Theglimmers in the water had gone out and the invisible sea all around laymute and still as if it had died suddenly of fright.
Carter could see nothing. He felt about him people moving; he heardthem in the darkness whispering faintly as if they had been exchangingsecrets important or infamous. The night effaced even words, and itsmystery had captured everything and every sound--had left nothing freebut the unexpected that seemed to hover about one, ready to stretch outits stealthy hand in a touch sudden, familiar, and appalling. Even thecareless disposition of the young ex-officer of an opium-clipper wasaffected by the ominous aspect of the hour. What was this vessel?What were those people? What would happen to-morrow? To the yacht? Tohimself? He felt suddenly without any additional reason but the darknessthat it was a poor show, anyhow, a dashed poor show for all hands. Theirrational conviction made him falter for a second where he stood and hegripped the slide of the companionway hard.
Shaw's voice right close to his ear relieved and cleared his troubledthoughts.
"Oh! it's you, Mister. Come up at last," said the mate of the brigslowly. "It appears we've got to give you a tow now. Of all the rumincidents, this beats all. A boat sneaks up from nowhere and turnsout to be a long-expected friend! For you are one of them friends theskipper was going to meet somewhere here. Ain't you now? Come! I knowmore than you may think. Are we off to--you may just as well tell--offto--h'm ha . . . you know?"
"Yes. I know. Don't you?" articulated Carter, innocently.
Shaw remained very quiet for a minute.
"Where's my skipper?" he asked at last.
"I left him down below in a kind of trance. Where's my boat?"
"Your boat is hanging astern. And my opinion is that you are as uncivilas I've proved you to be untruthful. Egzz-actly."
Carter stumbled toward the taffrail and in the first step he made camefull against somebody who glided away. It seemed to him that such anight brings men to a lower level. He thought that he might have beenknocked on the head by anybody strong enough to lift a crow-bar. He feltstrangely irritated. He said loudly, aiming his words at Shaw whom hesupposed somewhere near:
"And my opinion is that you and your skipper will come to a sudden badend before--"
"I thought you were in your boat. Have you changed your mind?" askedLingard in his deep voice close to Carter's elbow.
Carter felt his way along the rail, till his hand found a line thatseemed, in the calm, to stream out of its own accord into the darkness.He hailed his boat, and directly heard the wash of water against herbows as she was hauled quickly under the counter. Then he loomed upshapeless on the rail, and the next moment disappeared as if he hadfallen out of the universe. Lingard heard him say:
"Catch hold of my leg, John." There were hollow sounds in the boat; avoice growled, "All right."
"Keep clear of the counter," said Lingard, speaking in quiet warningtones into the night. "The brig may get a lot of sternway on her shouldthis squall not strike her fairly."
"Aye, aye. I will mind," was the muttered answer from the water.
Lingard crossed over to the port side, and looked steadily at the sootymass of approaching vapours. After a moment he said curtly, "Brace upfor the port tack, Mr. Shaw," and remained silent, with his face tothe sea. A sound, sorrowful and startling like the sigh of some immensecreature, travelling across the starless space, passed above thevertical and lofty spars of the motionless brig.
It grew louder, then suddenly ceased for a moment, and the taut riggingof the brig was heard vibrating its answer in a singing note to thisthreatening murmur of the winds. A long and slow undulation lifted thelevel of the waters, as if the sea had drawn a deep breath of anxioussuspense. The next minute an immense disturbance leaped out of thedarkness upon the sea, kindling upon it a livid clearness of foam, andthe first gust of the squall boarded the brig in a stinging flick ofrain and spray. As if overwhelmed by the suddenness of the fierce onset,the vessel remained for a second upright where she floated, shaking withtremendous jerks from trucks to keel; while high up in the night theinvisible canvas was heard rattling and beating about violently.
Then, with a quick double report, as of heavy guns, both topsails filledat once and the brig fell over swiftly on her side. Shaw was thrownheadlong against the skylight, and Lingard, who had encircled theweather rail with his arm, felt the vessel under his feet dart forwardsmoothly, and the deck become less slanting--the speed of the brigrunning off a little now, easing the overturning strain of the wind uponthe distended surfaces of the sails. It was only the fineness of thelittle vessel's lines and the perfect shape of her hull that saved thecanvas, and perhaps the spars, by enabling the ready craft to get wayupon herself with such lightning-like rapidity. Lingard drew a longbreath and yelled jubilantly at Shaw who was struggling up against windand rain to his commander's side.
"She'll do. Hold on everything."
Shaw tried to speak. He swallowed great mouthfuls of tepid waterwhich the wind drove down his throat. The brig seemed to sail throughundulating waves that passed swishing between the masts and swept overthe decks with the fierce rush and noise of a cataract. From every sparand every rope a ragged sheet of water streamed flicking to leeward. Theoverpowering deluge seemed to last for an age; became unbearable--and,all at once, stopped. In a couple of minutes the shower had run itslength over the brig and now could be seen like a straight grey wall,going away into the night under the fierce whispering of dissolvingclouds. The wind eased. To the northward, low down in the darkness,three stars appeared in a row, leaping in and out between the crestsof waves like the distant heads of swimmers in a running surf; and theretreating edge of the cloud, perfectly straight from east to west,slipped along the dome of the sky like an immense hemispheric, ironshutter pivoting down smoothly as if operated by some mighty engine. Aninspiring and penetrating freshness flowed together with the shimmerof light, through the augmented glory of the heaven, a glory exalted,undimmed, and strangely startling as if a new world had been createdduring the short flight of the stormy cloud. It was a return to life,a return to space; the earth coming out from under a pall to take itsplace in the renewed and immense scintillation of the universe.
The brig, her yards slightly checked in, ran with an easy motion underthe topsails, jib and driver, pushing contemptuously aside the turbulentcrowd of noisy and agitated waves. As the craft went swiftly ahead sheunrolled behind her over the uneasy darkness of the sea a broad ribbonof seething foam shot with wispy gleams of dark discs escaping fromunder the rudder. Far away astern, at the end of a line no thicker thana black thread, which dipped now and then its long curve in the burstingfroth, a toy-like object could be made out, elongated and dark, racingafter the brig over the snowy whiteness of her wake.
Lingard walked aft, and, with both his hands on the taffrail, lookedeagerly for Carter's boat. The first glance satisfied him that theyacht's gig was towing easily at the end of the long scope of line, andhe turned away to look ahead and to leeward with a steady gaze. It wasthen half an hour past midnight and Shaw, relieved by Wasub, had gonebelow. Before he went, he said to Lingard, "I will be off, sir, ifyou're not going to make more sail yet." "Not yet for a while," hadanswered Lingard in a preoccupied manner; and Shaw departed aggrieved atsuch a neglect of making the best of a good breeze.
On the main deck dark-skinned men, whose clothing clung to theirshivering limbs as if they had been overboard, had finished recoilingthe braces, and clearing the gear. The kassab, after having hung thefore-topsa
il halyards in the becket, strutted into the waist toward arow of men who stood idly with their shoulders against the side of thelong boat amidships. He passed along looking up close at the stolidfaces. Room was made for him, and he took his place at the end.
"It was a great rain and a mighty wind, O men," he said, dogmatically,"but no wind can ever hurt this ship. That I knew while I stood mindingthe sail which is under my care."
A dull and inexpressive murmur was heard from the men. Over the highweather rail, a topping wave flung into their eyes a handful of heavydrops that stung like hail. There were low groans of indignation. A mansighed. Another emitted a spasmodic laugh through his chattering teeth.No one moved away. The little kassab wiped his face and went on in hiscracked voice, to the accompaniment of the swishing sounds made by theseas that swept regularly astern along the ship's side.
"Have you heard him shout at the wind--louder than the wind? I haveheard, being far forward. And before, too, in the many years I servedthis white man I have heard him often cry magic words that make allsafe. Ya-wa! This is truth. Ask Wasub who is a Haji, even as I am."
"I have seen white men's ships with their masts broken--also wreckedlike our own praus," remarked sadly a lean, lank fellow who shiveredbeside the kassab, hanging his head and trying to grasp his shoulderblades.
"True," admitted the kassab. "They are all the children of Satan but tosome more favour is shown. To obey such men on the sea or in a fightis good. I saw him who is master here fight with wild men who eat theirenemies--far away to the eastward--and I dealt blows by his side withoutfear; for the charms he, no doubt, possesses protect his servants also.I am a believer and the Stoned One can not touch my forehead. Yet thereward of victory comes from the accursed. For six years have I sailedwith that white man; first as one who minds the rudder, for I am aman of the sea, born in a prau, and am skilled in such work. And now,because of my great knowledge of his desires, I have the care of allthings in this ship."
Several voices muttered, "True. True." They remained apathetic andpatient, in the rush of wind, under the repeated short flights ofsprays. The slight roll of the ship balanced them stiffly all togetherwhere they stood propped against the big boat. The breeze hummingbetween the inclined masts enveloped their dark and silent figures inthe unceasing resonance of its breath.
The brig's head had been laid so as to pass a little to windward of thesmall islands of the Carimata group. They had been till then hidden inthe night, but now both men on the lookout reported land ahead in onelong cry. Lingard, standing to leeward abreast of the wheel, watchedthe islet first seen. When it was nearly abeam of the brig he gave hisorders, and Wasub hurried off to the main deck. The helm was put down,the yards on the main came slowly square and the wet canvas of themain-topsail clung suddenly to the mast after a single heavy flap. Thedazzling streak of the ship's wake vanished. The vessel lost her wayand began to dip her bows into the quick succession of the running headseas. And at every slow plunge of the craft, the song of the wind wouldswell louder amongst the waving spars, with a wild and mournful note.
Just as the brig's boat had been swung out, ready for lowering, theyacht's gig hauled up by its line appeared tossing and splashing onthe lee quarter. Carter stood up in the stern sheets balancing himselfcleverly to the disordered motion of his cockleshell. He hailed the brigtwice to know what was the matter, not being able from below and in thedarkness to make out what that confused group of men on the poop wereabout. He got no answer, though he could see the shape of a man standingby himself aft, and apparently watching him. He was going to repeat hishail for the third time when he heard the rattling of tackles followedby a heavy splash, a burst of voices, scrambling hollow sounds--and adark mass detaching itself from the brig's side swept past him on thecrest of a passing wave. For less than a second he could see on theshimmer of the night sky the shape of a boat, the heads of men, theblades of oars pointing upward while being got out hurriedly. Thenall this sank out of sight, reappeared once more far off and hardlydiscernible, before vanishing for good.
"Why, they've lowered a boat!" exclaimed Carter, falling back in hisseat. He remembered that he had seen only a few hours ago three nativepraus lurking amongst those very islands. For a moment he had the ideaof casting off to go in chase of that boat, so as to find out. . . .Find out what? He gave up his idea at once. What could he do?
The conviction that the yacht, and everything belonging to her, were insome indefinite but very real danger, took afresh a strong hold of him,and the persuasion that the master of the brig was going there tohelp did not by any means assuage his alarm. The fact only served tocomplicate his uneasiness with a sense of mystery.
The white man who spoke as if that sea was all his own, or as if peopleintruded upon his privacy by taking the liberty of getting wrecked on acoast where he and his friends did some queer business, seemed to him anundesirable helper. That the boat had been lowered to communicate withthe praus seen and avoided by him in the evening he had no doubt. Thethought had flashed on him at once. It had an ugly look. Yet the bestthing to do after all was to hang on and get back to the yacht and warnthem. . . . Warn them against whom? The man had been perfectly open withhim. Warn them against what? It struck him that he hadn't the slightestconception of what would happen, of what was even likely to happen. Thatstrange rescuer himself was bringing the news of danger. Danger from thenatives of course. And yet he was in communication with those natives.That was evident. That boat going off in the night. . . . Carter sworeheartily to himself. His perplexity became positive bodily pain as hesat, wet, uncomfortable, and still, one hand on the tiller, thrown upand down in headlong swings of his boat. And before his eyes, toweringhigh, the black hull of the brig also rose and fell, setting her sterndown in the sea, now and again, with a tremendous and foaming splash.Not a sound from her reached Carter's ears. She seemed an abandonedcraft but for the outline of a man's head and body still visible in awatchful attitude above the taffrail.
Carter told his bowman to haul up closer and hailed:
"Brig ahoy. Anything wrong?"
He waited, listening. The shadowy man still watched. After some time acurt "No" came back in answer.
"Are you going to keep hove-to long?" shouted Carter.
"Don't know. Not long. Drop your boat clear of the ship. Drop clear. Dodamage if you don't."
"Slack away, John!" said Carter in a resigned tone to the elderly seamanin the bow. "Slack away and let us ride easy to the full scope. Theydon't seem very talkative on board there."
Even while he was speaking the line ran out and the regular undulationsof the passing seas drove the boat away from the brig. Carter turneda little in his seat to look at the land. It loomed up dead to leewardlike a lofty and irregular cone only a mile or a mile and a halfdistant. The noise of the surf beating upon its base was heard againstthe wind in measured detonations. The fatigue of many days spent in theboat asserted itself above the restlessness of Carter's thoughts and,gradually, he lost the notion of the passing time without altogetherlosing the consciousness of his situation.
In the intervals of that benumbed stupor--rather than sleep--he wasaware that the interrupted noise of the surf had grown into a continuousgreat rumble, swelling periodically into a loud roar; that the highislet appeared now bigger, and that a white fringe of foam was visibleat its feet. Still there was no stir or movement of any kind on boardthe brig. He noticed that the wind was moderating and the sea going downwith it, and then dozed off again for a minute. When next he opened hiseyes with a start, it was just in time to see with surprise a new starsoar noiselessly straight up from behind the land, take up its positionin a brilliant constellation--and go out suddenly. Two more followed,ascending together, and after reaching about the same elevation, expiredside by side.
"Them's rockets, sir--ain't they?" said one of the men in a muffledvoice.
"Aye, rockets," grunted Carter. "And now, what's the next move?" hemuttered to himself dismally.
He got his answer in th
e fierce swishing whirr of a slender ray offire that, shooting violently upward from the sombre hull of the brig,dissolved at once into a dull red shower of falling sparks. Only one,white and brilliant, remained alone poised high overhead, and afterglowing vividly for a second, exploded with a feeble report. Almost atthe same time he saw the brig's head fall off the wind, made out theyards swinging round to fill the main topsail, and heard distinctly thethud of the first wave thrown off by the advancing bows. The next minutethe tow-line got the strain and his boat started hurriedly after thebrig with a sudden jerk.
Leaning forward, wide awake and attentive, Carter steered. His mensat one behind another with shoulders up, and arched backs, dozing,uncomfortable but patient, upon the thwarts. The care requisite to steerthe boat properly in the track of the seething and disturbed water leftby the brig in her rapid course prevented him from reflecting much uponthe incertitude of the future and upon his own unusual situation.
Now he was only exceedingly anxious to see the yacht again, and it waswith a feeling of very real satisfaction that he saw all plain sailbeing made on the brig. Through the remaining hours of the night he satgrasping the tiller and keeping his eyes on the shadowy and high pyramidof canvas gliding steadily ahead of his boat with a slight balancingmovement from side to side.