CHAPTER XV
STARTING THE PUMP
The bush was dim with steamy shade when Austin and Jefferson ploddedalong a little path behind the beach where the oil was stored. It waswith difficulty they made their way, for the soil was firmer there, anda dense undergrowth sprang up among the big cottonwoods which replacedthe mangroves. They were draped with creepers, and here and there anorchid flung its fantastic blossoms about a rotting limb, while the pathtwisted in and out among them and through tangled thickets. It was thenthe hottest part of the afternoon, and save for the soft fall of themen's footsteps everything was still. The atmosphere was very like thatof a Turkish bath, and as Austin stumbled along the perspiration drippedfrom him.
He had toiled strenuously from early dawn until darkness closed down, oflate, and though he had, as yet, escaped the fever, every joint in hisbody ached, and he was limp and dejected with the heat and weariness.His only respite from labour had been the few hours spent on watchbeside the landed oil when his turn came, and he had now come down withtwo of the Spaniards to relieve Jefferson, who was going back to the_Cumbria_. The latter glanced towards a ray of brightness that beat intothe dim green shadow, and here and there flung a patch of brilliancyathwart the great columnar trunks.
"I've been wondering where this trail goes, and it seems to me there'san opening close in front of us," he said. "We'll rest when we getthere, and I don't know that I'll be sorry. You have to choose betweenstewing and roasting in this country, and, when it lets my skin stay onme, I almost think the latter's easier."
Austin felt inclined to agree with him, for they had blundered throughthe shadowy bush for half an hour, and its hot, saturated atmospheremade exertion almost impossible. Still, he said nothing, and in a fewmore minutes they came out upon a glaring strip of sand beside anothercreek. Jefferson stopped a moment, with a little gesture ofastonishment, in the shadow of a palm.
"What in the name of wonder have they been turning that sand over for?"he said.
Austin walked out of the shadow, blinking in the dazzling brightness thecreek flung back, and saw that the sand had certainly been disturbedevery here and there. It seemed to him that somebody had been diggingholes in it and then had carefully filled them up.
"There isn't a nigger village nearer than the one where Funnel-paintlives, or I could have fancied they'd had an epidemic and been buryingtheir friends," he said.
Jefferson shook his head. "They wouldn't worry to bring them here," hesaid. "Still, somebody has been digging since the last wet season, forit seems to me that when the rain comes the creek flows over here."
It occurred to Austin that one or two, at least, of the excavations hadbeen filled in not long ago, but his comrade made no comment when hesuggested it, and they went back together to the shadow of the palm,where Jefferson, sitting down thoughtfully, filled a blackened pipe.
It was several minutes before he broke the silence.
"There is," he said, at length, "a good deal I can't get the hang ofabout the whole affair; but if I knew just how they came to start theplates that let the water in, I'd have something to figure on. You can'tvery well knock holes in an iron steamer's bottom on soft, slimy mud,and I don't know where they could have found a rock here if they wantedto."
"Ah!" said Austin. "Then you think they might have wanted to find one?"
Jefferson again sat silent for almost a minute, and then slowly shookhis head. "I don't know--I've nothing to go upon," he said. "She's noteven an old, played-out boat. Still, it seems to me that a heavilyfreighted steamer, hung up by her nose on the bank, might easily havestarted some of her plates when the waters of the creek subsided. Thenshe'd settle deeper--it's nice soft mud."
"But that would be--after--she went ashore."
"Yes," said Jefferson dryly. "That's the point of it."
Austin looked thoughtful. It had also occurred to him that there was agood deal it was difficult to understand about the stranding of the_Cumbria_, though that, after all, did not appear to concern themgreatly just then.
"What puzzles me is why the salvage men let go," he said. "You see,they're accustomed to this kind of thing, and have money behind them."
Jefferson looked at him with a little smile, and Austin saw that heguessed his thoughts. Jefferson was as gaunt as ever, a fever-wornskeleton of a man, dressed, for the most part, in oil-stained rags,while Austin was quite aware that, so far as outward appearances went,there was very little that was prepossessing about himself. His big felthat hung over his forehead, sodden with grease, and shapeless; his handswere hard and scarred, his nails were broken, and the rent singlet hungopen almost to his waist. All this seemed to emphasise their feebleness,and the fact that there was no money behind them, at least.
"Well," said Jefferson, "that's quite easy. Those salvage men arespecialists, and expect a good deal for the time they put in. Now theytook some oil out of her, but there is reason for believing they werenot sure they'd get the _Cumbria_ off at all, and it would cost a gooddeal to charter a light-draught steamer to come up here. They triedtowing it down to a schooner, and lost a good deal of it on the shoals.Then they towed the schooner in, and had to wait for a smooth surfbefore they could get her out, with no more than sixty tons at that. Thegame wasn't worth while, and the men were going down with fever."
"But the gum?"
"There wasn't a great deal down in the cargo sheets, and, any way, untilthey'd hove the oil out they couldn't come at it."
"You are still sure about the gum yourself?"
Jefferson laughed softly. "I think I am. I don't quite know where it is,but the skipper got it--a good deal of it."
"Still, the steamer would be worth a persistent effort. There was nodoubt about her being there."
"No," said Jefferson, with a little gesture of comprehension. "Now Iknow just what you mean. You're wondering, since those men couldn'theave her off, what's the use of us trying. Well, specialists make theirmistakes now and then, just like other men, and they took it for grantedthat things were normal when they were there. From what I've seen of thesand strips and the marks on the mangrove trunks, I don't think theywere. You see, there's a good deal we don't know about the tides yet,and the Guinea stream doesn't always run quite the same along thiscoast; while, when there's less than usual of the southwest winds thathelp it along, it's quite likely to mean two or three feet less water inthese creeks. Then you can have a wet season that's a little drier thanthe other ones, and it's fresh water here--the tide just backs it up."
"Then you're counting on the present season being a normal one?"
"Yes," said Jefferson quietly. "I've staked all I have on it--and a gooddeal more than that. If it isn't, I might as well have pitched my fortythousand dollars into the sea."
He stopped a moment, and then laid a little grey object in Austin'spalm. "What d'you make of that?"
Austin started as he looked at it. "A pistol bullet!"
"Exactly," said Jefferson. "It has been through the barrel, too; you cansee the score of the rifling. I picked it up along the trail, but Idon't know how long it lay there, or who fired it. Still, the niggersdon't carry pistols. Well, it's about time I was getting back on boardif we're to start the pump to-night."
Austin glanced at him sharply, and noticed that there was a suggestionof tension in his voice, though his face was quiet. It was evident thata good deal would depend upon the result of the first few hours'pumping, for unless it lowered the water there would be littleprobability of their floating the steamer. Neither of them, however,said anything further, and when they went back to the beach where theoil was, Jefferson steamed away in the launch, and Austin, who was leftwith two Canarios, lay down in the shadow of a strip of tarpaulin. TheSpaniards, tired with their morning's labour, went to sleep; and Austin,who filled his pipe several times, found the hours pass very slowly.There was nothing to hold his attention--only glaring sand, dingy, dimgreen mangroves, and tiers of puncheons with patches of whitewashclinging to them. It flung back an intole
rable brightness that hurt hisaching eyes, and he became sensible of a feverish impatience as he laywatching the shadows lengthen.
His thoughts were with Jefferson, who was, no doubt, now getting steamon the locomotive boiler and coupling up the big pump. Unless the latterdid what they expected of it, the toil they had undergone, andJefferson's eight thousand pounds, would have been thrown away. That wasvery evident, but Austin wondered a little at himself as his impatiencegrew upon him, until it was only by an effort he held himself still.
It was not the quarter share Jefferson offered him which had brought himthere, for he realised that even with five thousand pounds he wouldstill be, to all intents and purposes, a poor man, and his life on boardthe _Estremedura_ had, in most respects, been one that suited him. Hehad, in fact, not greatly cared whether the _Cumbria_ could be floatedor not, when he came out, but since then Jefferson's optimism, orsomething that was born of the toil they had undertaken, had laid holdof him, and now he was almost as anxious as his comrade that theirefforts should result in success. In fact, he was feverishly anxious,and felt that if it would gain them anything he would willingly stakehis life on the venture. Then he smiled as he remembered that he had,without quite realising it, done so already.
Still, the long, hot afternoon dragged away, and when the sun dipped,and black darkness closed down upon the creek, the launch came clankingup to the beach. She brought two Canarios as well as Bill, the fireman,and Austin's voice was eager as he greeted the latter.
"Have you got the pump going yet?" he asked.
"No," said Bill. "Tom and Mr. Jefferson was packing something when Icame away. He'd given her a spin, and found the engine blowing at agland."
Austin asked him nothing further, but drove the launch at top speedthrough the blackness that shrouded the misty creek, and walked straightto where Jefferson was standing when he reached the _Cumbria_. The redglow from the open fire-door of the locomotive boiler fell upon him, andthere were signs of tension in his face, while the red trickle from ahand he had apparently injured smeared his torn jacket. Steam wasroaring from a valve beside him, and Austin could scarcely hear him whenhe turned to the donkey-man.
"Shut the fire-door. She'll go now," he said. "I'll let her shake downfor a minute or two, and then we'll give her everything."
He walked forward towards where the light of a lamp fell upon the casingof the pump, which looked like a huge iron drum considerably flattenedin. Then he touched a valve, and the machine became animate with a lowpulsatory wheezing, while something commenced to hum and rattle insideit. The sound swelled into a fierce rhythmic whirring, the great ironcase vibrated, and Austin could feel the rails he leaned on tremble.Jefferson turned and looked at him with a little smile, while he laid ahand, as it were, affectionately upon the pump.
"Yes," he said, "I've made her go, and she's going to earn me eightythousand dollars. She's drawing air just now. Heave your hat down, andsee if she'll take it along."
Austin, who became sensible that a little draught was shaking his ducktrousers, did as Jefferson suggested, and the big felt hat rolled andflopped in a ludicrous fashion along the deck. Then it seemed to springforward into the blackness, and groping after it, he found it glued tothe iron grid which was screwed to the end of a big pipe. It was withsome little difficulty he tore it loose. Then he saw Jefferson swing upone hand.
"Easy, while she's getting her first drink; then, if she's spoutingfull, you can let her hum," he said, and turned to Austin. "Now, comedown with me."
They went down together into the musty hold, and when somebody loweredthe big hose after them, Jefferson, standing upon the ladder, seized therope, and looked up at the Canarios clustering round the hatch above.
"Where's that rake you made?" he said.
It was handed him, and Austin glanced down at the water, which glistenedoilily under the light of a suspended lamp. It was thick with floatinggrease and strewn with fragments of rotten bags.
"Get hold and keep her clear!" said Jefferson, who thrust the rake uponhim, and then waited a moment before he lowered the hose, while Austin,glancing round a moment, could see the faces of the men above them. Theywere intent, and almost as expectant as his comrade's.
Then the big pipe sank with a soft splash, and shook out its loosehalf-coil, as if alive, while it swelled. It grew hard and rigid, andthe dim, oily water swirled and seethed about the end of it. In anothermoment there was a rush of floating objects towards it from the shadows.Strips of bagging, handspikes, clots of oil, and dunnage wood, camethicker and thicker, and Jefferson raised his voice.
"Let her hum!" he said.
The pipe palpitated as it further straightened itself, and now a holeopened in the oily water, and half-seen things came up with a rush fromthe depths of the flooded hold. Hundreds of little black kernels whirledand sank in the swing of the eddy, which grew wider as a deep, resonanthum descended from the deck above. It seemed to Austin that everythingin the hold was coming to the top, but as he watched the bewilderingsuccession of odds and ends that spun amidst the froth, Jefferson'svoice rose harshly.
"It's water she's wanting! Keep her clear!" he said.
Austin contrived to do it for a while, though now and then the whirlingrush of bags and wood almost tore the rake away from him. He was keptbusy for half an hour, while Jefferson stood leaning out from theladder, and steadily watching the water. Then the American swung himselfdown, with his knife in his hand, and scratched the iron at its level.
"We'll know in another hour or two whether we're pumping out the_Cumbria_ or pumping in the creek," he said. "If it's the latter, I'vegot to let up on the contract. I can't undertake to dry out this part ofAfrica."
Then he signed to one of the Canarios. "Come down. Ven aca, savvy, andtake this rake."
They went up together, but as they passed along the deck Jeffersonstopped once more to lay his hand upon the pump. It was running with adull, rumbling roar, and the deck trembled about it.
"She's doing good work," he said. "Now we'll have comida. I daren't goback there for another hour."
They went into the deck-house, where the Spaniard who acted as stewardwas waiting them, but in passing, Jefferson made a sign to Tom, whostood in the glow from the fire-door, with a shovel in his hand.
"All she's worth!" he said.
They ate as a matter of duty, and because they needed all the strengththe climate had left them, but neither had much appetite, and Austinknew that Jefferson was listening as eagerly as he was himself to thedeep, vibrating hum that came throbbing through the open door. It was arelief to both of them to hear, the persistent jingling of a cup thatstood unevenly in its saucer. The pump was running well, but thereremained the momentous question, was it lowering the water? And when themeal was over, Austin glanced at Jefferson as he pushed his plate aside.
"Shall I go down and look?" he asked.
"No," said Jefferson hoarsely. "Any way, if you do, don't come back andworry me. She's full up, fore and after holds and engine room--and thereare things I don't stand very well. We'll give her two hours, and then,if she's doing anything worth while, the scratch I made will be dry."
Austin nodded sympathetically. "Under the circumstances," he said, "twohours is a long while."
Jefferson smiled, a curious, wry smile. "It's hard--the toughest thingone can do--just to keep still; but if I climbed up and down that ladderfor two hours I'd probably break out, and heave somebody into the creek.There are things you have to get over once for all--and do it quick."
"I suppose there are," said Austin. "Still, it's the first time I'vemade the acquaintance of any of them, and I shouldn't have fancied onecould get a thrill of this kind out of a centrifugal pump. There is,however, of course, a good deal at stake."
"Eighty thousand dollars," said Jefferson, "and all the rest of my life.You don't usually get such chances as the _Cumbria_ is giving us twice."
Austin found that he, at least, could not keep still, however he tried,and he went out and paced up and
down the slanted deck, where he fellover things, though he now and then endeavored to talk rationally to Tomthe donkey-man. He did not find the attempt a success, but he saw thathe was not the only one who felt the tension, for the Canarios, in placeof resting, were clustered round the hatch, and apparently staring downthe opening. Jefferson was still in the deck-house each time he passed,a gaunt, grim-faced object, with a lean hand clenched on an unlightedpipe, and at last Austin sat down on the deck beside the pump. He likedto feel the throb of it, but he remembered the half hour he spent therea long while afterwards.
Then Jefferson came out of the deck-house, walking slowly, though Austinfancied it cost him an effort, and they climbed down the laddertogether. The man with the rake stood on the opposite one across thehatch, and Austin felt his heart beat painfully as he raised the lanternhe held and Jefferson stooped down. He straightened himself slowly,though the blood was in his face.
"Dry!" he said hoarsely. "She's lowering it. It's a sure thing, Austin.If the fever doesn't get us we'll see this contract out."
Then he turned, and they went up and back to the deck-house, while anexultant clamour broke out from the Canarios; but Jefferson's lean handquivered a little when he laid it on the table as he sat down.
"If she has started any plates, they're not started much," he said."Now, talk about anything you like, so long as it isn't the _Cumbria_.I've got to slacken down to-night."