CHAPTER V
THE REFUGEES
Watts was whimpering some broken excuse to his angry skipper when acoil of stout rope fell on top of the windlass and rebounded to thedeck. More than that, one end of it stretched into the infinity ofdripping rock and flying spray overhead. And it had been thrown byfriendly hands. Though it dangled from some unseen ledge, its purposeseemed to be that of help rather than slaughter, whereas every otheract of the inhabitants of Fernando Noronha had been suggestive ofhomicidal mania in its worst form.
Coke and Hozier recovered the use of their faculties simultaneously.The eyes of the two men met, but Coke was the first to find his voice.
"Salvage, by G--d!" he cried. "Up you go, Hozier! I'll sling the girlbehind you. She can't manage it alone, an' it needs someone withbrains to fix things up there for the rest of us." And he addedhoarsely in Philip's ear: "Sharp's the word. We 'aven't many minutes!"
Philip made no demur. The captain's strong common sense had suggestedthe best step that could be taken in the interests of all. Iris, whowas nearer yielding now that there was a prospect of being rescued thanwhen death was clamoring at her feet among the trembling remains of theship, silently permitted Coke and a sailor to strip off a life-belt andtie her and Hozier back to back. It was wonderful, though hidden fromher ken in that supreme moment, to see how they devised a double slingin order to distribute the strain. When each knot was securelyfastened, Coke vociferated a mighty "Heave away!"
But his powerful voice was drowned by the incessant roar of thebreakers; not even the united clamor of every man present, fifteen alltold, including the drunken chief officer, could make itself heardabove the din. Then Hozier tugged sharply at the rope three times, andit grew taut. Amid a jubilant cry from the others, he and Iris werelifted clear of the deck. At once they were carried fully twenty feetto seaward. As they swung back, not quite so far, and now well abovethe level of the windlass from which their perilous journey hadstarted, a ready-witted sailor seized a few coils of a thin rope thatlay tucked up in the angle of the bulwarks, and flung them acrossHozier's arms.
"Take a whip with you, sir!" he yelled, and Philip showed that heunderstood by gripping the rope between his teeth. It was obvious thatthe rescuers were working from a point well overhanging the recess intowhich the _Andromeda_ had driven her bows, and there might still be theutmost difficulty in throwing a rope accurately from the rock to thewreck. As a matter of fact, no less than six previous attempts hadbeen made, and the success of the seventh was due solely to a favorablegust of wind hurtling into the cleft at the very instant it was needed.The sailor's quick thought solved this problem for the future. Bytying the small rope to the heavier one, those who remained below couldhaul it back when some sort of signal code was established. Atpresent, all they could do was to pay out the whip, and take care thatit did not interfere with Hozier's ascent. They soon lost sight of himand the girl, for the spray and froth overhead formed an impenetrablecanopy, but they reasoned that the distance to be traveled could not begreat; otherwise the throwing of a rope would have been a physicalimpossibility in the first instance.
Once there was a check. They waited anxiously, but there was no signgiven by the frail rope that they were to haul in again. Then theupward movement continued.
"Chunk o' rock in the way," announced Coke, glaring round at thesurvivors as if to challenge contradiction. No one answered. Thesemen were beginning to measure their lives against the life of the wedgeof iron and timber kept in position by the crumbling frame of the ship.It was a fast-diminishing scale. The figures painted on the_Andromeda's_ bows represented minutes rather than feet.
Watts was lying crouched on deck, with his arms thrown round thewindlass. Looking ever for a fresh incursion of rats, he seemed to becheered by the fact that his dreaded assailants preferred the interiorof the forecastle to the wave-swept deck. He was the only man therewho had no fear of death. Suddenly he began to croon a long-forgottensailor's chanty. Perhaps, in some dim way, a notion of his truepredicament had dawned on him, for there was a sinister purport to theverse.
"Now, me lads, sing a stave of the Dead Man's Mass; Ye'll never sail 'ome again, O. We're twelve old salts an' the skipper's lass, Marooned in the Spanish Main, O. Sing hay---- Sing ho---- A nikker is Davy Jones, Just one more plug, an' a swig at the jug, An' up with the skull an' bones."
After a longer and faster haul than had been noticed previously, therope stopped a second time. Everyone, except Watts, was watching thewhip intently. His eyes peered around, wide-open, lusterless. Thepounding of the seas, the grating of iron on rock, left him unmoved.
"Wy don't you jine in the chorus, you swabs?" he cried, and forthwithplunged into the second stanza.
"The _Alice_ brig sailed out of the Pool For the other side of the world, O, An' our ole man brought 'is gal from school, With 'er 'air so brown an' curled, O. Sing hum---- Sing hum---- Of death no man's a dodger, An' we squared our rig for a yardarm jig When we sighted the Jolly Roger."
He grew quite uproarious because the lilting tune evoked neitherapplause nor vocal efforts from the others.
"Lord luv' a duck!" he shouted. "Can't any of ye lend a hand? CheerO, maties--'ere's a bit more----
The brig was becalmed in a sea like glass, An' it gev' us all the creeps, O, Wen the sun went down like a ball o' brass, An' the pirate rigged 'is sweeps----"
"There she goes!" yelled the sailor in charge of the line; he began tohaul in the slack like a madman; Coke's fist fell heavily on thesinger's right ear.
"Wen your turn comes, I'll tie the rope round your bloomin' neck!" hegrowled vindictively, though his eyes continued to search the darkshroud overhead that inclosed them as in a tomb. A dark form loomeddownward through the mist. It was Hozier, alone, coming back to them.A frenzied cheer broke from the lips of those overwrought men. Theyknew what that meant. Somewhere, high above the black rocks and theflying scud, was hope throned in the blessed sunshine. They drew himin cautiously until Coke was able to grasp his hand. They were quickto see that he brought a second rope and a spare whip.
"Two at a time on both ropes," was his inspiriting message. "They'refriendly Portuguese up there, but no one must be seen if a boat is sentfrom the island to find out what has become of the ship. So steplively! Now, Captain, tell 'em off in pairs."
Coke's method was characteristic. He literally fell on the two nearestmen and began to truss them. Hozier followed his example, and tied twoothers back to back. They vanished, and the ropes returned, much morespeedily this time. Four, and four again, were drawn up to safety.There were left the captain, Hozier, and the unhappy Watts, who was nowcrying because the skipper had "set about" him, just for singin' a reelole wind-jammer song.
"You must take up this swine," said Coke to Hozier, dragging Watts tohis feet with scant ceremony. "If I lay me 'ands on 'im I'll betempted to throttle 'im."
Watts protested vigorously against being tied. He vowed that it wascontrary to articles for a chief officer to be treated in such afashion. He howled most dolorously during his transit through mid-air,but was happily quieted by another sharp rap on the head resulting fromhis inability to climb over the obstructing rock.
Before quitting the deck, Hozier helped to adjust the remaining ropearound the captain's portly person. They were lifted clear of thetrembling forecastle almost simultaneously, and in the very nick oftime. Already the skeleton of the ship's hull was beginning to slipoff into deep water. The deck was several feet lower than at themoment of the vessel's final impact against the rocks. Even before thethree reached the ledge from which their rescuers were working, thebridge and funnel were swept away, the foremast fell, the forehold andforecastle were riotously flooded by the sea, and Watts, were hecapable of using his eyes, might have seen his deadly enemies, therats, swarming in hundreds to the tiny platform that still rose abovet
he destroying waves. Soon, even that frail ark was shattered. Whenkeel and garboard stroke plates snapped, all that was left of the_Andromeda_ toppled over, and the cavern she had invaded rang with afierce note of triumph as the next wave thundered in without hindrance.
* * * * * *
It was, indeed, a new and strange world on which Iris looked when ableto breathe and see once more. During that terrible ascent she hadretained but slight consciousness of her surroundings. She knew thatHozier and herself were drawn close to a bulging rock, that hercompanion clutched at it with hands and knees, and thus fended herdelicate limbs from off its broken surface; she felt herself halfcarried, half lifted, up into free air and dazzling light; she heardvoices in a musical foreign tongue uttering words that had the ring ofsympathy. And that was all for a little while. Friendly hands placedher in a warm and sunlit cleft, and she lay there, unable to think ormove. By degrees, the numbness of body and mind gave way to clearerimpressions. But she took much for granted. For instance, it did notseem an unreasonable thing that the familiar faces of men from the_Andromeda_ should gather near her on an uneven shelf of rock strewnwith broken bolders and the litter of sea-birds. She recognized themvaguely, and their presence brought a new confidence. They increasedin number; sailor-like, they began to take part instantly in the workof rescue; but she wondered dully why Hozier did not come to her, nordid she understand that he had gone back to that raging inferno beneathuntil she saw his blood-stained face appear over the lip of theprecipice.
Then she screamed wildly: "Thank God! Oh, thank God!" and staggered toher feet in the frantic desire to help in unfastening the ropes thatbound him to the insensible Watts. One of the men tried to persuadeher to sit down again, but she would not be denied. Her unaccustomedfingers strove vainly against the stiff strands, swollen as they werewith wet, and drawn taut by the strain to which they had beensubjected. Tears gushed forth at her own helplessness. The pain inher eyes blinded her. She shrank away again. Not until Philip himselfspoke did she dare to look at him, to find that he was bending overher, and endeavoring to allay her agitation by repeated assurance oftheir common well-being.
But her distraught brain was not yet equal to a complexity of thought.Watts was lying close to her feet, and it thrilled her with dread andcontempt when Coke bestowed a well-considered kick on his chiefofficer's prostrate form.
"Oh, how dare you?" she cried, indignant as an offended goddess.
"Sorry, miss," said Coke, scowling as if he were inclined to repeat theassault, though he was not then aware of the more strenuous methodadopted by the rock as a sobering agent. "I didn't know you was there.But 'e fair gev' me a turn, 'e did, singin' 'is pot-'ouse crambos w'enwe was in the very jors of death, so to speak."
"He must not sing," she announced gravely, "but really you should notkick him."
"Come, Miss Yorke," broke in Hozier, who was choking back a laugh thatwas nearer hysteria than he dreamed, "our Portuguese friends say wemust not remain here an instant longer than is necessary."
"Yes," said a strange voice, "the sea is moderating. At any moment aboat may appear. Follow me, all of you. The road is a rough one, butit is not far."
The speaker was an elderly man, long-haired and bearded, of whosepersonality the girl caught no other details than the patriarchalbeard, a pair of remarkably bright eyes, a long, pointed nose, and ared scar that ran diagonally across a domed forehead. He turned awaywithout further explanation, and began to climb a natural pathway thatwound itself up the side of an almost perpendicular wall of rock.
Hozier caught Iris by the arm, and would have assisted her, but sheshook herself free. She felt, and conducted herself, like a fractiouschild.
"I can manage quite well," she said with an odd petulance. "Pleaselook after that unfortunate Mr. Watts. I am not surprised that heshould have been frightened by the rats. They terrified me, too. Oh,how awful they were--in the dark--when their eyes shone!"
Her mind had traveled back to the two nights and a day passed in thelazaretto. She sobbed bitterly, and stumbled over a steep ledge. Shewould have fallen were it not for Philip's help.
"Watts is all right," he soothed her. "Two of the men are seeing tohim. And the rats are all gone now. There are none here!"
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure."
"What became of them?"
"They are all--we left them behind on the ship."
Suddenly she clung to him.
"Don't let them send me back to the ship," she implored.
"No, no. You are safe now."
"Of course I am safe, but I dread that ship. Why did I ever come onboard? Captain Coke said he would sink her. I told you----"
"Steady! Keep a little nearer the rocks on your left. The passage isnarrow here."
Hozier raised his voice somewhat, and purposely hurried her. But shewas not to be repressed.
"Poor ship! What had she done that she should be battered on therocks?" she wailed.
"You must not talk," he said firmly, well knowing that if the sailorsand firemen lumbering close behind had not heard her earlier comment itwas due solely to the blustering wind. They were skirting the seawardface of the rocky islet on which they had found salvation. The sun wasblazing at them sideways from a wide expanse of blue sky. The rearguard clouds of the gale were scurrying away over the horizon in frontof their upward path. Somehow, Philip's sailor's brain was befogged.Those clouds must have blown to the northeast. If that were so, whatwas the sun doing in the southeast at this time of the day? It hadhardly budged a point from the quarter in which some fitful gleamsshone when that mad thing happened near the windlass. Thinking he wasstill dizzy from the effects of the blow, which the girl had ascribedto the bursting of a shell, Philip glanced at his watch. It wastwenty-five minutes past eight! Yet he distinctly remembered eightbells being struck while Coke was telling him from the bridge to givethe anchor thirty-five fathoms of cable. Was it possible that they hadgone through so much during those few minutes? If he were reallylight-headed, then sun and clouds and watch were conspiring to keep himso.
Iris, chilled by his stern tone, nevertheless noted his action. Stillunable to concentrate her thoughts on more than one topic, and that tothe exclusion of all else, she asked the time. He told her. Heawaited some expression of surprise on her part, provided it were,indeed, true that only twenty-five minutes had sped since the_Andromeda_ was quietly preparing to drop anchor off South Point. Butshe received his news without comment. She would have been equallyundisturbed if told it was midnight, and that the vessel had goneashore on the coast of China.
Just then the track turned sharply away from the sea. A drywater-course cut deeply into the cliff where torrential rains had foundan upright layer of soft scoria imbedded in the mass of basalt. Theirguide was standing on the sky-line of the cleft, some forty feet abovethem.
"Tell the others to make haste," he said. "This is the end of yourjourney."
It did not strike either Hozier or the girl as being speciallyremarkable that a man should meet them in this extraordinary place andaddress them in good English. Iris, at any rate, gave no heed to thismost amazing fact. She merely observed for the first time that theelderly stranger, while dressed in a beggar's rags, assumed an air ofcommand that was almost ludicrous.
"Who is he?" she asked, being rather breathless now after a steep climb.
"I don't know," said Hozier.
"How absurd!" she gasped. "I--I think I'm dreaming. Why--havewe--come here?"
She heard a coarse chuckle from Coke, not far below.
"Let 'im cough it up," the skipper was saying. "It'll do 'im good.I've seen 'im blind many a time, but 'ow any man could dope 'isself inthat shape in less'n two minutes!---- Well, it fair gives me thego-by!"
Two minutes! Hozier listened, and he was recovering his wits far morerapidly than Iris. Was the skipper, then, in league with natureherself to perplex him? And Watts, to
o? Why did Coke hint so coarselythat he was drunk? He was on the bridge while he, Philip, wasattending to the lead, and at that time the chief officer was perfectlysober.
Iris, once again, was deeply incensed by Coke's brutality.
"Horrid man!" she murmured, but she had no breath left for louderprotest. It was hot as a furnace in this narrow ravine; each upwardstep demanded an effort. She would have slipped and hurt herself manytimes were it not for Hozier's firm grasp, nor did she realize thesheer exhaustion that forced him to seek support from the neighboringwall with his disengaged hand. The man in front, however, was alive totheir dangerous plight. He said something in his own language--for hisEnglish had the precise staccato accent of the well-educatedforeigner--and another man appeared. The sight of the newcomerstartled Iris more than any other event that had happened since the_Andromeda_ reached the end of her last voyage. He wore the uniform ofthose dreadful beings whom she had seen on the island.
She shrieked; Hozier fancied she had sprained an ankle; but before shecould utter any sort of explanation the apparition in uniform was byher side, and murmuring words that were evidently meant to bereassuring. Seeing that he was not understood, he broke into haltingFrench.
"Courage, madame!" he said. "Il faut monter--encore un peu--etdonc--vous etes arrive . . . Ca y est! Voila! Comptez sur moi.Juste ciel, mais c'est affreux l'escalier."
But he worked while he poured out this medley, and Iris was standing onlevel ground ere he made an end. He was a handsome youngster,evidently an officer, and his eyes dwelt on the girl's face with nolack of animation as he led her into a cave which seemed to have beenexcavated from the inner side of a small crater.
"You can rest here in absolute safety, madame," he said. "Permit me toarrange a seat. Then I shall bring you some wine."
Iris flung off the hand which held her arm so persuasively.
"Please do not attend to me. There are wounded men who need attentionfar more than I," she said, speaking in English, since it never enteredher mind that the Portuguese officer had been addressing her in French.
He was puzzled more by her action than her words, but Hozier, who hadfollowed close behind, explained in sentences built on theOllendorffian plan that mademoiselle was disturbed, mademoisellerequired rest, mademoiselle hardly understood that which had arrived,_et voila tout_.
The other man smiled comprehension, though he scanned Hozier with aquick underlook.
"Is monsieur the captain?" he asked.
"No, monsieur the captain comes now. Here he is."
"Mademoiselle, without doubt, is the daughter of monsieur the captain?"
"No," said Hozier, rather curtly, turning to ascertain how Iris haddisposed of herself in the interior of the cavern. It was his firstexperience of a South American dandy's pose towards women, or, to beexact, toward women who are young and pretty, and it seemed to him notthe least marvelous event of an hour crammed with marvels that any manshould endeavor to begin an active flirtation under such circumstances.
He saw that Iris was seated on a camp stool. Her face was buried inher hands. A wealth of brown hair was tumbled over her neck andshoulders; the constant showers of spray had loosened her tresses, andthe unavoidable rigors of the passage from ship to ledge had shaken outevery hairpin. The Tam o' Shanter cap she was wearing early in the dayhad disappeared at some unknown stage of the adventure. Her attitudebespoke a mood of overwhelming dejection. Like the remainder of hercompanions in misfortune, she was drenched to the skin. That physicaldrawback, however, was only a minor evil in this almost unpleasantlyhot retreat; but Hozier, able now to focus matters in fairly accurateproportion, felt that Iris had not yet plumbed the depths of suffering.Their trials were far from ended when their feet rested on the solidrock. There was every indication that their rescuers were refugeeslike themselves. The scanty resources visible in the cave, the intenseanxiety of the elderly Portuguese to avoid observation from the chiefisland of the group, the very nature of the apparently inaccessiblecrag in which he and his associates were hiding--each and all of thesethings spoke volumes.
Hozier did not attempt to disturb the girl until the dapper officerproduced a goatskin, and poured a small quantity of wine into a tincup. With a curious eagerness, he anticipated the other's obviousintent.
"Pardon me, monsieur," he said, seizing the vessel, and his directAnglo-Saxon manner quite robbed his French of its politeness. Then hisvocabulary broke down, and he added more suavely in English: "I willpersuade her to drink a little. She is rather hysterical, you know."
The Portuguese nodded as though he understood. Iris looked up whenHozier brought her the cup. The mere suggestion of something to drinkmade active the parched agony of mouth and throat, but her wry facewhen she found that the liquid was wine might have been amusing if theconditions of life were less desperate.
"Is there no water?" she asked plaintively.
The officer, who was following the little by-play with his eyes,realized the meaning of her words.
"We have no water, mademoiselle," he said. Then he glanced at thegroup of bedraggled sailors. "And very little wine," he added.
"Please drink it," urged Hozier. "You are greatly run down, you know,though you really ought to feel cheerful, since you have escaped withyour life."
"I feel quite brave," said Iris simply. "I would never have believedthat I could go through--all that," and her childish trick of listeningto the booming of the distant breakers told him how vivid was herrecollection of the horrors crowded into those few brief minutes.
"Be quick, please," put in the elderly Portuguese with a tinge ofimpatience. "We have no second cup, and there are wounded men----"
"Give it to them," said Iris, lifting her face again for an instant."I do not need it. I have told you that once already. I suppose youthink I should not be here."
"I am sure our friend did not mean that," said Hozier, looking squarelyinto those singularly bright eyes. He caught and held them.
"I did not mean that the lady should be left to die if that is theinterpretation put on my remark," came the quiet answer. "But it wasan act of the utmost folly to bring a delicate girl on such an errand.I cannot imagine what your captain was thinking of when he agreed toit."
"Wot's that, mister?" demanded Coke. Now that his fit of rage hadpassed, the bulky skipper of the _Andromeda_ was red-faced andimperturbable as usual. The manifold perils he had passed throughshowed no more lasting effect on him than a shower of sleet on thethick hide of the animal he so closely resembled.
"Are _you_ the captain?" said the other.
"Yes, sir. An' I'd like to 'ear w'y my ship or 'er present trip wasn'tfit for enny young leddy, let alone----"
"That is a matter for you to determine. I suppose you know best how toconduct your own business. My only concern is with the outcome of yourrashness. Why did you deliberately sacrifice your ship in that manner?"
The speaker's cut-glass style of English left his hearers in no doubtas to what he had said. During the tense silence that reigned for afew seconds even some among the crew pricked their ears, while Hozierand Iris forgot other troubles in their new bewilderment. There werereasons why the drift of the stranger's words should be laid deeply toheart by three people present. Coke, at any rate, found himself nearera state of pallid nervousness than ever before in the course of avariegated life. It was impossible that he should actually grow pale,but his brick-red features assumed a purple tint, and his fiery littleeyes glinted.
"Wot are you a-drivin' at, mister?" he growled at last, after tryingvainly to expectorate and compromising the effort in a husky gargle.
"Do you deny, then, that you acted like a madman? Do you say that youdid not know quite well the risk you ran in bringing your vessel to theisland in broad daylight?"
Then Coke found his breath.
"Risk!" he roared. "Risk in steamin' to an anchorage an' sendin' aboat ashore for water? There seems to be a lot of mad folk loose justnow on Fernan
do Noronha, but I'm not one of 'em, an' that's as much asI can say for enny of you--damme if it ain't."
Evidently the Portuguese was not accustomed to the direct form ofconversation in vogue among British master mariners. He bent hispiercing gaze on Coke's angry if somewhat flustered countenance, andthere was a perceptible stiffening of voice and manner when he said:
"Who are you, then? Who sent you here?"
"I'm Captain James Coke, of the British ship _Andromeda_, that's 'oo_I_ am, an' I was sent 'ere, or leastways to the River Plate, by DavidVerity an' Co., of Liverpool."
It must not be forgotten that Coke shared with his employer a certainunclassical freedom in the pronunciation of the ship's name; the long"e" apparently puzzled the other man.
"_Andromeeda_?" he muttered. "Spell it!"
"My godfather, this is an asylum for sure," grunted Coke, in a spasm offurious mirth. "A-n-d-r-o-m-e-d-a. Now you've got it. Ain't it up toPortygee standard? A-n-d-r-o-m-e-d-a! 'Ow's that for the bloomin'spellin' bee?"
But Coke's humor made no appeal. The staring, brilliant eyes fixed onhim did not relax their vigilance, nor did any trace of emotion exhibititself in that calm voice.
"You are unlucky, Captain Coke, most unlucky," it said. "I regret mynatural mistake, which, it seems, was shared by the authorities ofFernando do Noronha. You have blundered into a nest of hornets, and,as a result, you have been badly stung. Let me explain matters. I amDom Corria Antonio De Sylva, ex-President of the Republic of Brazil.There is, at this moment, a determined movement on foot on the mainlandto replace me in power, and, with that object in view, efforts arebeing made to secure my escape from the convict settlement in which myenemies have imprisoned me. I and two faithful followers are here inhiding. My friend, Capitano Salvador De San Benavides," and he bowedwith much dignity toward the uniformed officer, "came here two days agoin a felucca to warn me that a steamer would lie to about a mile southof the island to-night. The steamer's name is _Andros-y-Mela_--it israther like the name of your unhappy vessel--so much alike that the_Andromeda_ has been sunk by mistake. That is all."
Coke, listening to this explanation with the virtuous wrath of a knavewho discovers that he has been wrongfully suspected, bristled now withindignation.
"Oh, that's all, is it?" he cried sarcastically. "No, sir, it ain'tall, nor 'arf, nor quarter. Let me tell you that no crimson pirate onGawd's earth can blow a British ship off the 'igh seas an' then do thedancin'-master act, with 'is 'and on 'is 'eart, an' say it was just aflamin' mistake. All! says you? Don't you believe it. There's a lotmore to come yet, take my tip--a devil of a lot, or I'm the biggestlunatic within a ten-mile circle of w'ere I'm stannin', which is givin'long odds to any other crank in the whole creation."
And Coke was right, though he little guessed then why he was sothoroughly justified in assuming that he and the other survivors of the_Andromeda_ had not yet gone through half, or quarter, or more than amere curtain-raising prelude to the strange human drama in which theywere destined to be the chief actors.