CHAPTER XVII
AUSTIN GOES DOWN RIVER
A week had passed without their finding any gum, when one evening Austinstood beside Jefferson in the _Cumbria_'s forecastle. It felt as hot asan oven, though the damp fell in big drops from the iron beams andtrickled down the vessel's unceiled skin, while a smoky lamp supplied itwith insufficient illumination. The faint light showed the hazilyoutlined forms of the men sitting limp and apathetic, now the long day'stoil was over, in the acrid smoke of Canary tobacco, and forced upclearly the drawn face of one who lay beneath it, gazing at Austin witha glitter in his uncomprehending eyes. Behind him other figures occupieda part of the shelf-like row of bunks, but they were mere shapelessbundles of greasy blankets and foul clothing, with only a shock of damphair or a claw-like hand projecting from them here and there to showthat they were human. Jefferson said nothing, but his face was a triflegrim, and he straightened himself wearily when one of the Spaniards roseand moved into the light.
"SeA+-or," he said, with a little deprecatory gesture, "for ourselves weothers do not complain, but these men are very sick, and the medicinesof the SeA+-or Austin do not make them better. One of them is my cousin,another my wife's brother; and there are those in Las Palmas and Galdarwho depend on them. In a week, or, perhaps, a day or two, they die.Something must be done."
There was a faint approving murmur from the rest of the men. They hadworked well, but the excitement of the search for the gum was wearingoff, and the strain had commenced to tell. Jefferson smiled wryly as heglanced at Austin.
"Hadn't you better ask him what can be done?" he said.
The Spaniard flung his arms up when Austin translated this. "Who knows?"he said. "I am only an ignorant sailorman, and cannot tell; but when wecame here the SeA+-or Austin promised us that we should have all that wasreasonable. It is not fitting that men should die and nothing be done tosave them."
"I scarcely think it is," said Austin. "Still, how to set about thething is more than I know. It must be talked over. We may, perhaps, tellyou more to-morrow."
He touched Jefferson's shoulder, and they went out of the forecastle andtowards the skipper's room silently. When they sat down Jefferson lookedhard at him.
"Well?" he said. "Two of them are your men."
Austin made a little sign of comprehension. "I don't remember what Ipromised them. I had trouble to get them, but I certainly told them theplace wasn't a healthy one. That, however, doesn't convey a verysufficient impression to anybody who hasn't been here."
"No," and Jefferson smiled grimly, "I don't quite think it does. Thepoint is that you feel yourself responsible to them, though I don't seewhy you should. A man has to take his chances when he makes a bargain ofthe kind they did."
Austin stretched himself on the settee wearily, and lighted a cigarette.He had been feeling unpleasantly limp of late, and his head and backached that night.
"It's a little difficult to define what a bargain really is," he said."Still, it seems to me that to make it a just one the contractingparties should clearly understand, one what he is selling, and the otherwhat he is buying. In the case in question I knew what I was getting,but I'm far from sure the Canarios quite realised what they might haveto part with."
"That is not the business view."
"I am willing to admit it. I, however, can't help fancying that there isa certain responsibility attached to buying up men's lives for a fewdollars when they're under the impression that it's their labour they'reselling. In fact, it's one that is a little too big for me."
Jefferson sat silent for almost a minute, looking at Austin, who met hisgaze steadily, with his eyes half closed.
"Well," he said, "it isn't the usual view, but there's something to besaid for it. What d'you mean to do?"
"Put the sick men on board the launch and run them out to sea on thechance of picking up a West-coast liner, or--and it might suit just aswell--one of the new opposition boats. From what I gathered at LasPalmas, the men who run them are, for the most part, rather a hard-upcrowd, and you're usually more likely to get a kindness done you by thatkind of people. We have nothing to pay their passage with, you see."
"You might get one oil puncheon into the launch. Still, you have toremember that men who go down with fever along shore often die, insteadof coming round, when they get out to sea."
Austin smiled. "One would fancy that men who stay along shore when theyhave fever, as these fellows have it, die invariably."
Once more Jefferson sat silent a while, gazing at his comradethoughtfully.
"Well," he said, with a little gesture, "I leave the thing to you.After all, it's quite likely that one's dollars aren't worth what youlay out to get them, now and then, but that's certainly not thequestion. The boat's not making the water I expected, but we haven'tfound the gum, and engine room and after hold are still almost full. Theboiler, as you know, has two or three tubes blowing, and we have nothingto stop them with. That means she's wasting half her steam, and as wehave to keep a full head for the pump and winch, the coal's justmelting. By the time we heave her off there will be very little left,and I've no fancy for going to sea short of fuel and being picked up assalvage. It's a point that has been worrying me lately."
"There is coal to be had at Sierra Leone."
"And there are a British Consul and Government authorities. You'reloaded down to the water's edge with Shipping Acts, and the _Cumbria_'sstill upon your register. Do you suppose they are going to let her outagain, as she is, if we once go in there?"
Austin fancied it was scarcely likely. The requirements of the paternalBoard of Trade are, in fact, so onerous that English owners notinfrequently register their ships under another flag; while it occurredto him that consul and surveyor would have a fit of indignant horror ifthey saw how the enactments were complied with on board the _Cumbria_.
"No, sir," said Jefferson. "She's going straight across to Las Palmaswhen she leaves this creek. That's Spanish, and a few dollars go a longway in Spain. Besides, it's not quite certain that we'll leave thecreeks at all this season."
Austin straightened himself suddenly. "What do you mean?"
"Only that I'm not going home without the gum."
There was a little silence, and during it Austin endeavoured to adoptan attitude of resignation. It was his belief that the _Cumbria_ wouldbe floated, or the project given up, when the rains came, that hadanimated him through the toil he had undertaken. Another month or twowould, he had expected, see the task accomplished; but now it might, itseemed, continue indefinitely, and he shrank from the thought of alonger sojourn in the land of shadow. Then, with a little effort, heslowly raised his head.
"To be candid, that is a good deal more than I counted on when I madethe bargain," he said. "Still, I can't well go back on it now. There iscoal to be had in Dakar, too, but it would cost a good deal to bringeven a schooner load here, though we could, per contra, load up oil inher. Have you the money?"
Jefferson drummed with his fingers upon the table. "That's the trouble.I have a little left, but I'm not quite sure I could get it into myhands without the mailing to and fro of signed papers."
"Some of the West-coast mailboats call at Dakar. I might get the coaland a schooner on a bond there. Of course, the people would want a heavyprofit under the circumstances."
"Three or four times as much as they were entitled to, any way," and alittle glint crept into Jefferson's eyes. "Now, it's quite usual for theman who does the work to be glad of the odd scraps the man with themoney flings him for his pains, but it's going to be different with thiscontract. I haven't the least notion of working here to make the otherfellow rich. If we buy the coal it will be at the market value, cashdown. The trouble is, I don't quite know where I'm going to get it."
"Well," said Austin, slowly, "a means of raising it has occurred to me.You see, as seems to have been the case with you, there is money in thefamily, and ethically I really think a little of it belongs to me. Itis not--for several reasons--a pleasant thing t
o ask for it. In fact, Ifancied once I'd have starved before I did so, but it couldn't be harderthan what we have been doing here. One could cable to Las Palmas, and acredit might be arranged by wire with one of the banking agenciesthere."
"Your people would let you have the money?"
Austin laughed, a trifle harshly. "Not exactly out of good-will, but, ifI worded that cable cleverly, they might do it to keep me here. I don'tknow how it is in your country, but in ours they're seldom very proud ofthe poor relation. In fact, some of them would do a good deal to preventhis turning up to worry them. I think there are occasions when a man isalmost warranted in levying contributions of the kind."
Jefferson's eyes twinkled. "You are a curious, inconsequent kind of man.You worry over those Spaniards who have no call on you, and then youpropose to bluff your own people out of their money."
"If I had been one who always acted logically I should certainly nothave been here. As it is, I'll start to-morrow, and wire my kindrelations that, failing a draft for two hundred pounds, I'm coming homein rags by the first steamer. I almost think they'll send the money."
Jefferson stretched out a lean hand suddenly, and laid it on hiscomrade's arm. "It's going to hurt you, but you can't get anything worthwhile without that. You can send them back their money when we get heroff; but if you let anything stop you now you'll feel mean and sorry allyour life."
"Yes," said Austin, "I fancy I should. It's rather a pity, but one can'talways be particular. In the meanwhile, I'll see Tom about the launch."
He went out, and, coming back half an hour later, threw himself down onthe settee, and was fast asleep when Jefferson, who had been busy aboutthe pump, came in and stood a moment looking down on him. Austin's facewas worn, and thinner than it had been when he reached the _Cumbria_;the damp stood beaded on it, and his hair lay wet and lank upon hispallid forehead.
"I guess the raising of that money is going to be about the hardestthing you ever did, but you'll do it," said Jefferson. "I've got thekind of man I want for a partner."
Austin, who did not hear him, slept on peacefully, and steamed away downriver early next morning; while it was late on the second night, and thelaunch was out at sea, when he sat, very wearily, with his hand upon herhelm, looking out across the long, smooth undulations. A half-moon hunglow to the westward, and they came up, heaving in long succession fromunder it, ebony black in the hollows, and flecked with blinks of silverlight upon their backs. Austin only saw the latter, for he was lookinginto the dusky blueness of the east, though it was only by an effort hekept himself awake. During the last few days a feeling of limp dejectionhad been creeping over him.
The launch was steaming slowly, with only a little drowsy gurgle abouther propeller as she swung and dipped to the swell, though she rolleduneasily with the weight of the big oil puncheon high up in her. Bill,the fireman, was crouched, half asleep, beside the clanking engine, andtwo very sick men lay forward beneath a ragged tarpaulin. Though thesurf had been smoother than usual, Austin did not know how he hadbrought them all out across the bar.
There were many stars in the heavens, and by and by, as he blinked atthe soft darkness with aching eyes, he saw one that seemed unusuallylow down and moved a little. Then, shaking himself to attention, he madeout a dim glimmer of green, and became sensible of a faint throbbingthat crept softly out of the silence. He leaned forward and touched thefireman.
"Open her out," he said. "That's a steamboat coming, and it looks as ifshe would go by well to the south."
Bill pulled at a lever, the engine clanked faster, and the launchcommenced to rail more sharply as she lurched over the long undulationswith an increasing gurgle beneath her side. The sea was oily smooth, andshe rolled southwards fast; but the steamer's lights were rising high,and the pounding of engines grew louder in a sharp crescendo, until theycould hear the black water frothing under iron bows. Then the launch'swhistle broke into a shrill scream. There was no answer, and Austinturned to the fireman again.
"Shake her up! There will not be another boat for a week!" he said.
Bill pulled the lever over a little further, and stirred the furnace,and the clanking grew louder, while the launch rolled more violently.When she swung up, Austin saw a strip of dusky hull that swayed andheaved in front of them, and then was suddenly lost to view again.
"She's not one of the mailboats, anyway. They'd be lighted, saloon deckand poop," he said. "It almost looks as if she would get away from us."
Bill opened the whistle full, and left it screaming while he sprang upon the side deck, a black figure holding high a strip of blazing waste.Its red glare streaked the water, and the burning oil dripped from it ina sparkling rain, while Austin felt his heart beat when the man flung itdown with an imprecation. Then a deep, vibratory blast came tremblingacross the glimmering water, and he saw the piled-up foam fall awaybeneath the big iron bows.
"They've seen us," he said. "She's standing by."
Five minutes later the launch lay lurching beneath the steamer's high,black side, while a man leaned out from her slanted bridge above,looking down into her.
"What d'you want?" he said. "I'm not going in for cargo unless it'sworth while. We're tolerably full this trip."
"A passage," said Austin. "There are myself and two sick men. We'regoing to Grand Canary."
"What's the oil for?"
"To cover the ticket."
The skipper appeared to be gazing down at him in astonishment.
"Sixteen pounds' worth, at the most, for three men to Grand Canary! Youhave good nerves," he said.
"I can't go any further, and you see they're very sick."
The skipper was understood to say that his ship was not a severaladjectived hospital, but Austin only smiled, for he was acquainted withthat kind of man, and aware that he was, at least, as likely to do him akindness as an elaborately got up mailboat's skipper.
"Well," he said, "if you won't have us, I'll take them back and burythem. It's tolerably sure to come to that. Two of us will not eat much,any way, and we'll be quite content to sleep on deck."
There was no answer for a moment, and then, as the bridge came slantingdown, the man who leaned out from it laughed.
"It's a puncheon of oil to nothing, and I've been hard up myself," hesaid. "The next thing is, how the devil are you going to get them up?We've stowed away our ladder."
"Then it'll have to be a sling. I'll steady them up when she rises, andsome of your crowd can hand them in."
It was done with difficulty, for the steamer rolled with a disconcertingswing, and then Austin grasped Bill's hand before he went up the rope. Agong clanged sharply, the launch slid astern, and several seamen carriedthe two bundles of foul blankets away. While Austin watched themvacantly a hand fell upon his shoulder, and propelled him into a roombeneath the bridge. Then he heard a harsh voice:
"There isn't any factory I'm acquainted with hereabouts. Where d'you getthat oil from?" it said.
Austin sat down on the settee and blinked at the burly, hard-faced manin front of him.
"I don't know if you'll be astonished, but we really came by itlegitimately," he said. "In fact, we got it out of a strandedsteamer--one we're endeavouring to heave off, you see."
The skipper smiled as comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "Then you'reone of the ---- fools who bought the _Cumbria_?"
"I am. Still, I'm not sure that your opinion of us is quite warrantedyet. If it isn't, you'll get more than the one puncheon for taking usacross. In the meanwhile, I'm a little anxious about those men."
"They're all right. Pills will see to them. We have one. He probablykilled somebody by accident, or did something of that kind, or hewouldn't be here. Directors had a notion we might pick up a fewpassengers. They, however, prefer the liners."
Austin laughed, and the skipper's eyes slowly twinkled. "The fact is, Idon't blame them," he said. "Any way, you will lie down here until theyget you a room in the poop ready."
He went out, and an hour or two later Austi
n was roused by a touch froma fitful sleep. A young man who stooped over him was regarding himintently.
"Put that in your mouth?" he said.
Austin slipped the little glass tube between his lips, and the doctornodded when he passed it back to him.
"Yes," he said, "you have a very promising case of fever coming on. Getup and lean on me; the sooner we pack you between the blankets thebetter."
Austin rose unsteadily, and found that he had some difficulty in walkingwhen they went out upon the slanting deck. He was quite sure of that,but everything else that he did, or was done to him, during the next fewdays, was wrapped in obscurity. Still, he had a hazy notion of thedoctor and another man half dragging him into a little room.