CHAPTER XXVII
AUSTIN'S TOAST
An hour had passed since their first meeting, when Austin, Jefferson,and two navy men sat round a little table that had been laid out uponthe _Cumbria_'s bridge deck. It was slightly cooler there than it wasbelow, besides which the mess-rooms reeked with damp and mildew. A lamphung from one of the awning spars above them, and its light fell uponthe men's faces and the remnants of the very frugal meal. The handful ofbluejackets who came up in her had apparently gone to sleep beneath anawning on the flooring of the pinnace, which lay alongside, but a sharpclinking rose from the lighted engine room, where a couple of navalartificers were busy with Tom, the donkey-man. The gunboat's surgeon,who had been round the forecastle, was talking to Austin, while hercommander lay opposite Jefferson, immaculately neat, in a canvas chair.
"Our tale," he said, "is a very simple one. As we didn't seem to bewanted anywhere just now, we moored ship snugly in the bight behind theisland, and decided to get a little painting done. She was getting rustyalong the water-line, and one can't get at it well when she's washingthrough a swell, you know. Under the circumstances, I seized theopportunity to do a little rough surveying. We are expected to pick upany information that may be of use to the Admiralty hydrographers."
Jefferson lay very limply in his chair, but his eyes twinkledappreciatively. "Well," he said, "I guess that would look all right inthe log, but any one who had seen you start surveying would wonder whyyou brought those cases of provisions as well as engine oil and packing,and two or three ingots of bearing metal. We were uncommonly glad to getthem and see the artificers, though I'm not sure your Admiralty wouldapprove of the way you're squandering its stores."
Onslow laughed. "We are not forbidden to offer assistance to any one inwant of it, and the provisions, at least, do not belong to ourparsimonious Lords. In fact, they were handed me at Las Palmas by afriend of yours, on the off chance of our falling in with you. Ofcourse, I could not exactly promise that you would get them, though Ihad reasons for believing the thing was possible."
Jefferson filled a wineglass, and thrust the bottle across the table.
"I think I know the lady's name," he said. "This is the first wine I'vedrunk since I came to Africa, and it will probably be the last until Iget out of it again. To-morrow it's going forward to the sick men in theforecastle. The lady who sent it is not going to mind my passing thekindness on."
"I venture to think she would approve," and Onslow glanced at Austin."In fact, I couldn't quite help a fancy she intended it as apeace-offering. Miss Brown is, as you are probably aware, capable ofconveying an impression without saying anything very definite, and theone I received from her was that she felt she had been a trifle hard onsomebody. I should, of course, not have presumed to mention it had itnot been borne in on me that it was not intended I should keep thatimpression entirely to myself. If I have been mistaken I must apologiseto her and both of you."
Jefferson stood up with the wineglass in his hand, and the others rosewith him.
"This," he said, "is a little out of my usual line, but it's her winewe're drinking, and I can't quite let the occasion pass. 'To Her SereneExcellency, the cleverest woman in the Canaries, who hasn't forgottenus!'"
Austin stood opposite him, a ragged, climate-worn skeleton, with alittle flush in his haggard face, and he looked at the gunboat'scommander.
"My comrade hasn't gone quite far enough," he said. "The Queen, who cando no wrong!"
Then the glasses were emptied, and there was a moment's silence whenthey sat down. Three of them were, after all, somewhat reservedEnglishmen, who had, for once, allowed their thoughts to becomeapparent; and Commander Onslow, who felt that he had, perhaps, exceededhis somewhat delicate commission, was distinctly displeased withhimself. He had had a certain conversation with Mrs. Hatherly, who hadbeen rather frank with him, before he left the Canaries, and theattitude of the ragged adventurer who had proclaimed his unwaveringdevotion to the woman who had sent him there appealed to him, so muchso, in fact, that it made him uncomfortable. It was, he felt, advisableto change the subject.
"Considering everything, it was, perhaps, as well we turned up when wedid. You see, those niggers don't belong to us," he said. "I was, I mayadmit, rather thankful when they disappeared, since it might have made agood deal of trouble if we had taken a hand in. Now you understand that,you may be willing to tell me what you purposed doing with thegiant-powder."
Jefferson laughed grimly. "If you had come five minutes later I'd haveblown half of them to the devil. We, at least, can't afford to beparticular."
"You had, presumably, a reason? I wonder if you have any objections totelling us the rest of it in confidence?"
Jefferson, who lighted a cigar, told him the story, and Onslow lay backin his chair, listening with grave attention, while the surgeon leanedforward with elbows on the table. At last Onslow shook his head.
"It's interesting, exceedingly," he said. "Still, I don't think I'drecommend you to tell it in quite that shape to everybody. It wouldprobably make trouble, and you mightn't find anybody very willing tobelieve you. Things of that kind don't happen now--at least, they're notsupposed to--and I fancy it would prove a good deal more convenient justto mention the simple facts. You bought the steamer stranded, and, withconsiderable difficulty, got her off."
"We had practically decided on doing no more than that already," saidAustin. "Still, I wonder if, now you have heard the story, one could askyour views?"
Onslow smiled drily. "I haven't any, and if I were you, I wouldn't worryabout anything beyond the financial aspect of the affair. Nobody islikely to thank you, and the only men who could tell you what happenedare dead, you know."
Austin saw that Jefferson also recognised that the advice was good, and,changing the subject, he spoke to the surgeon. The latter lookedthoughtful.
"I can't tell you what that man was afflicted with," he said. "There areseveral African diseases we are not acquainted with, and a good many oftheir troubles are supposed to be contagious. Of course, you could applyto the College of Tropical Diseases they've lately started in Liverpool,if you are really interested."
"I am," said Austin. "In fact, I'm very much so, indeed. You see, I hadpractically nothing on, and he got his festering arms round me."
The surgeon looked at him gravely. "I scarcely think you need worry, butif you have to do any rough work I would endeavour to avoid anylacerated bruises, and, as far as possible, keep your skin unbroken."
"It's a little difficult on board this steamer. There are several rawpatches on my arms now."
The surgeon promised to attend to them, but just then Onslow turned toJefferson.
"Have you opened up any of the gum yet?" he asked.
Jefferson said he had not, and was rather anxious to do so, whereuponOnslow and the surgeon offered to accompany him, and they went down theladder together to where the bags still lay upon the forward hatch.
"I shouldn't wonder if you were right about its value," said thesurgeon, when Jefferson held up the lantern one of the Spaniards hadhanded him. "We took a Senegal Frenchman down the coast last trip, andhe had rather a craze upon the subject. There is, I understood from him,a particular gum the niggers find somewhere between here and the head ofthe Niger, for which one could get almost what he liked to ask from themakers of special high-class varnishes. In fact, the man said that oneof them who had been trying it told him that it must be used in certainprocesses whatever its cost might be. The only trouble was that itappeared very difficult to get hold of, except in the smallestquantities; but perhaps your Frenchman had got on the track of it."
Austin tore one of the bags, which were very rotten, across, and thenslit the fibre package beneath it. The surgeon, who stooped beside him,was the first to thrust his hand into the opening.
"The nodules seem very uniform in size," he said, and then stood upsuddenly, with astonishment in his face. "I'm almost afraid thatsomebody has been beforehand with you."
"Wh
at do you mean?" asked Austin, still tearing at the package.
The surgeon turned and gazed hard at Jefferson. "This is certainly notgum. It looks very like an ordinary palm kernel."
He held up a little, round, black object, and Jefferson's face grewgrim, while he clenched one hand. Then he wrenched the knife from Austinand fell on his knees, ripping at the fibre package savagely. It openedbeneath the steel, and when its contents poured out on deck he rose witha little bitter laugh. There was no doubt whatever. They were palmkernels. A curious silence followed, during which Jefferson leanedagainst the rail, looking down upon the bags with expressionless eyes,until he made a little gesture.
"Well," he said, very quietly, "it seems we have had our trouble fornothing. You may as well open the rest of them."
Austin was not sure how he contrived to do it. He felt suddenly limp andfeeble, but holding himself in hand by an effort, he slit the remainingbags, and flooded the deck with kernels. There was nothing else, and thekernels appeared half rotten.
"This must be a little rough on you," said Onslow, with a trace ofawkwardness. "I understand you expected to find more of the stuffyonder."
"I did," said Jefferson. "Funnel-paint can have it now. We have hadabout enough of this country, and if your artificers fancy we couldtrust that starboard boiler, we'll set about raising steam to take herout first thing in the morning."
Onslow made a little gesture of sympathy. "I almost think it is thewisest thing you can do," he said. "In the meanwhile, it is gettinglate, and we have a long trip in front of us to-morrow. I have no doubtyou don't feel much like entertaining anybody just now."
He and the surgeon withdrew to the rooms prepared for them, and whenAustin, who went with them, came back, he stood a moment by the doorwayof the one beneath the bridge which Jefferson now occupied alone. Thelatter looked up at him with half-closed eyes.
"We have the oil and the ship--and that will have to be enough," hesaid, and then straightened himself with a fierce gesture. "Get out, andsleep--if you feel like it. The thing has shaken me, and I'm not sureI'm very well."
Austin went away, but it was almost daylight before sleep came to him,and he had only been on deck an hour when their guests departed in themorning. Jefferson, who bade them good-bye at the gangway, stood leaningon the rail while the pinnace steamed away, and then walked, withcurious heaviness, towards his room. He crawled into his bunk when hereached it, and lay there, while Austin looked down on him with concern.
"I've had the fever on me for quite a while, and at last it has grippedme hard," he said. "I'll probably be raving in an hour or two. Get steamup as soon as you're able, and take her out of the devilish country."
Austin was very busy between his comrade's room, forecastle, andstoke-hold during the rest of that day, and he had very little time forrest at night, but though half the men were sick, and his own limbs wereaching portentously, it was with a little thrill of exultation heclimbed to the bridge early on the following morning. The windlass wasrattling on the forecastle, Wall-eye stood by the winch astern, and thesurfboat was sliding towards the mangroves, where a big wire hawser wasmade fast, in the rain. Austin was not a professional sailor, but hecould handle surfboat and steam launch, and in the good days had sailedhis yacht along the coast at home. He also had confidence in thegrizzled, olive-faced Spaniard who stood gravely behind him, grippingthe steering-wheel.
The anchor came home to the bows at last, somehow the fever-worn men onthe forecastle hove it in; the after winch hammered when he made a sign,and the long, rusty hull moved backwards towards the forest as her headswung slowly round. There was a splash of dripping wire, and he swung upan arm with a cry of "Largo!"
Then the winch rattled furiously, a gong clanged below, and a wild,exultant shouting went up when the _Cumbria_'s engines commenced tothrob. The gaunt, hollow-faced men who stood, dripping, in the rain, hadborne everything but cold, and now they were going home. Austin felt hiseyes grow hazy for a moment as he leaned upon the rails, and then, witha little shake of his shoulders, he fixed his gaze steadily upon themangroves that came sliding back to him ahead. He had, he felt, a taskthat would demand all his attention in front of him.
They slid down stream unchecked until the afternoon, and the _Cumbria_steered handily, which, since there were awkward bends to swing round,was fortunate for all of them; but Austin had misgivings when at lastthey approached one that appeared sharper than the rest, for he couldonly see the close ranks of dingy mangroves in front of him as he gazedinto the rain and mist. The creek was too narrow to swing the steamer toan anchor, and it was evident that if she was to get around the bend atall he most go at it hard, for the yellow stream was running fast withthem, and unless she steamed faster the vessel would not steer. Hesigned to the helmsman, who edged her in near one bank to gain a littleroom; and then set his lips tight as he clenched his telegraph and rangfor full speed ahead. It was consoling to remember that Tom was below,for a good donkey-man is, as a rule, more to be trusted than a juniorengineer.
Ahead, the oily current was sliding through the mangroves as well asamong them, covering all their high-arched roots, and he knew that therewere a good many feet of water there, for the creek was full, and he hadheard of steamers going full tilt into the watery forest at such times.Still he breathed unevenly as he watched the dingy trees slide past oneanother, for the bend was opening very slowly, and there was a longtongue of mangroves close in front of him. The bridge planks weretrembling beneath him now, and he could hear the thud-thud of thehard-driven screw; but the stream seemed to be running very fast at thebend, and, glancing round, he saw something very like fear in the faceof the man who held the wheel. When he looked ahead again the longtongue of mangroves seemed flying towards him.
He strode to the end of the bridge and glanced down at the lift of rustyside. There was a good deal of it above the water, for the _Cumbria_ wasloaded easily, and she was also, he was very glad to remember, light ofdraught. He could not check her with an anchor under foot. She wouldonly swing to it, and that would land her among the mangroves broadsideon. If he backed his propeller he would as surely go ashore, and hisface grew very grim as he made the helmsman a little sign. Since he muststrike the forest, he would strike it fair, as hard as the enginescould drive her, bows on; and he thrust down the telegraph once morefor the last pound of steam.
The throb of plank and rail grew sharper, the trees seemed rushing atthe forecastle, the helmsman gazed forward with drawn face over hismoving wheel, and a shouting broke out on deck. Austin, however, did notmove at all, save when he raised a hand to the helmsman. Once more,easy-going artist as he was, the Berserker fit was upon him, and it waswith a light only one or two of his friends had ever seen there in hiseyes he hurled her full speed at the forest.
She struck it, with a crash that flung two or three of the Spaniardsstaggering, and it crumpled up before her. Mangrove boughs camestreaming down on her grinding forecastle, torn limbs clutched at railand stanchion, and were smashed by them. Mire was whirled aloft by thethudding screw, and Austin, gripping his telegraph, laughed a harshlaugh as he saw that she was going through. How thick that belt of treeswas, or what water flowed among their roots, he did not know, but heremembered that he had found no bottom among them in other places with aboathook, now and then.
In another few moments the white-stemmed trunks fell aside again, andthey drove out once more into clear and swiftly-flowing water. Then theSpaniards howled together, and Austin, twining his hand in the lanyard,unloosed the whistle, and hurled back a great vibratory blast at thebeaten forest. It was, he admitted afterward, a somewhat feeble thing,but he said he felt the occasion demanded something then.
After that they had no great difficulty, and by nightfall they drove herout with sluicing decks over the smoking bar, dipping the bleached androtten ensign to the little white gunboat that lay rolling behind theisland. Then Austin felt a great weight lifted off him as he flunghimself into a canvas chair upon his bridge. There was now o
nly open seain front of them, and he had seen that the big pump could keep the waterdown. He felt that he could contrive by some means to make Las Palmas.