CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
THE RAFT LAUNCHED AND VOYAGE COMMENCED.
Could Jack be dead? What could have happened to him? Bill, hurryingforward, knelt down by his side, and lifted up his head. He stillbreathed.
"That's a comfort," thought Bill. "How shall I bring him to? There'snot a drop of water here, and I can't carry him as far as the spring."
Bill rubbed his friend's temples, while he supported his head on hisknee.
"Jack! Jack! rouse up, old fellow! What's come over you?"
Bill held the candle up to Jack's eyes. Greatly to his joy they opened,and he said, "Where am I? Is that you, Bill! Is it gone?"
"I am Bill, and you are in the cavern; but there is nothing to go that Iknow of. It's all right. Stand up, old fellow, and come along,"replied Bill, cheeringly.
"Oh, Bill," said Jack, drawing a deep sigh, "I saw something."
"Did you?" said Bill; "the something did not knock you down, though."
"No; but I thought it would," responded Jack.
"That comes of wanting to take what isn't your own," said Bill."However, don't let's talk about that. If we are to get off with thistide, we must hurry on board as fast as we can. Don't mind the gold; Isuppose that's what you came for. Our friends the Turgots will get it,I hope; and they have more right to it than we have."
Bill's voice greatly re-assured Jack, who, fancying that he saw one ofthe ghosts he was afraid of, had fallen down in a sort of swoon. Howlong it would have lasted if Bill had not come to him it is impossibleto say; perhaps long enough to have allowed his candle to beextinguished. Had this happened, he would never have been able to findhis way out of the cavern. He, however, with Bill by his side, soonfelt like himself again.
"Let me just fill my pockets with these gold pieces," he exclaimed. "Ihave taken so much trouble that I shouldn't like to go away withoutthem."
"Perhaps the ghost will come back if you do," Bill could not helpsaying. "Let them alone. You have got enough already, and we must notstop another moment here."
Saying this, he dragged Jack on by the arm.
"Come, if we don't make haste, our candles will go out, and we shall notbe able to see our way," Bill continued.
Jack moved on. He was always ready to be led by Bill, and began tothink that he had better not have come for the gold.
Bill did not scold him, vexed as he felt at the delay which hadoccurred. They might still be in time to get on board the wreck and tolaunch their raft, but it would be broad daylight before they could getto any distance from the shore, and they would then be sure to be seen.Bill only hoped that no one would think it worth while to follow them.
Having two lights, they were able to see their way pretty well, thoughthey could not run fast for fear of extinguishing them.
Every now and then Jack showed an inclination to stop. "I wish I hadgot the gold," he muttered.
Bill pulled him on.
"The gold, I say, would not do us any good. I don't want it for myself,and you have got enough to make your mother independent for the rest ofher days."
On they went again. Bill was thankful, on reaching the mouth of thecavern, to find that it was still night. It seemed to him a long timesince he had quitted the wreck. He did not remember how fast he hadgone. They jumped down on the beach, and began to wade towards thewreck, but had to swim some distance.
"If we had had our pockets full of gold we could not have done this,"observed Bill. "We should have had to empty them or be drowned. We aremuch better without it."
They soon reached the side of the vessel, and climbed up on deck. Therewas plenty of water alongside to launch the raft, and to get the casksunder it. The wind, too, if there were any, was off shore, but here itwas a perfect calm. They had one advantage through having waited solong; they were beyond the influence of the wave which breaks even on aweather shore, especially after a gale, although the wind may havechanged.
The tackles having been arranged, they lost no time in launching theirraft, which they did very successfully, easing it with handspikes; andin a couple of minutes it floated, to their great satisfaction, safelyalongside. Their first care was to lash the casks under the bottom.This took some time, but they were well repaid by finding the raft floatbuoyantly on the very surface of the water.
The cargo had, however, to be got on board, consisting of the threechests, which, of course, would bring it down somewhat. They loweredone after the other, and lashed them in the positions they had intended.The foremost chest was secured over all by ropes, as that had not to beopened, and was to serve only as a step for their mast; the other twochests were secured by their handles both fore and aft and athwartships,the lashings contributing to bind the raft still more securely together.
Daylight had now broken, and they were in a hurry to get on with theirwork, but this did not prevent them from securing everythingeffectually.
They next had to get their stores into the chests; and lastly theystepped and set up the mast, securing the sail ready for hoisting to thehalyards, which had been previously rove.
They surveyed their work when completed with no little satisfaction, andconsidered, not without reason, that they might, in moderate weather,run across Channel, provided the wind should remain anywhere in thesouthward.
They well knew that they must run the risk of a northerly wind or agale. In the first case, though they need not go back, they could makelittle or no progress; but then there was always the hope of beingpicked up by an English craft, either a man-of-war or a merchant vessel.
They might, to be sure, be fallen in with by a Frenchman, but in theevent of that happening, they intended to beg hard for their liberty.
Should a gale arise, as Jack observed, they would look blue, but theyhoped that their raft would even weather that out. That it would cometo pieces they had no fear; and they believed that they could cling onto it till the sea should again go down.
They had put on board a sufficient supply of spare rope to lashthemselves to the chests.
Jack climbed up for the last time on deck, and handed down the threesweeps, taking a look round to see that nothing was left behind.
"All right," he said; "we may shove off now, Bill. You are to becaptain, and take the helm, and I'll pull till we get out far enough tofind a breeze. It seems to me, by the colour of the sea, that it'sblowing in the offing, and we shall then spin merrily along."
"All right," said Bill; "cast off, Jack."
Jack hauled in the rope which had secured the raft to the wreck, andgive a hearty shove against it with his oar, he sent the raft glidingoff some way ahead. He then got out the other oar, and standing betweenthe two chests, pulled lustily away.
The raft floated even more lightly than they had expected. They had sowell noted all the rocks, that they could easily find their way betweenthem, and there was ample space, especially thereabouts where the brighad been driven in.
Their progress was but slow, though they worked away with all theirmight; every now and then looking back to ascertain whether they wereobserved from the shore. No one, however, could be seen on the cliffsabove; and people, unless they had discovered the wreck, were not likelyat that early hour to come down to the beach.
It took them more than half an hour to get clear of the rocks. Whenonce out on the open sea, they began to breathe more freely. Theypulled on and on; still, unless they should get the wind, they could nothope to make much progress. The day was advancing. Bill wetted hisfinger and held it up.
"There's a breeze," he cried out; "hoist the sail, Jack."
The sail filled as Bill sheeted it home, and the raft began to glidemore rapidly over the water.
Jack took in the oars, for he wanted to rest, and there was but littleuse rowing, though it might have helped the raft on slightly.
He could now look about him, and as the two harbours to the east andwest opened out, he turned his eyes anxiously towards them.
If they were pursued,
it would be from one or the other. He had littlefear from that on the west, as there was no one likely to troublehimself about the matter; but there were officials living near thelarger harbour, and they might think it their duty to ascertain what thesmall raft standing off shore under sail could be about.
"I wish that we had got away a couple of hours ago," said Bill; but hedid not remind Jack that it was through his fault they had not done so.He blamed himself, indeed, for having gone to see the Turgots, much ashe would have regretted leaving the country without paying them a visit.
The farther the raft got from the shore the more rapidly it glidedalong, the sea being too smooth in any way to impede its progress.
Bill's whole attention was taken up in steering, so as to keep the raftright before the wind.
Presently Jack cried out, "There's a boat coming out of the harbour.She's just hoisted her sail, and a whacking big sail it is. She'scoming after us. Oh! Bill! what shall we do?"
"Try to keep ahead of her," answered Bill, glancing round for a moment."The Frenchmen may not think it worth while to chase us far, even ifthey are in chase of us, and that's not certain. Don't let us cry outbefore we are hurt. Get out the oars, they'll help us on a little, andwe'll do our best to escape. I don't fancy being shut up again, orperhaps being carried off to a prison, and forced into a dungeon, ormaybe shot, for they'll declare that we are escaped prisoners."
Jack did not, however, require these remarks to make him pull with allhis might; still he could not help looking back occasionally. He wasstanding up, it should be understood, rowing forward, with the oarscrossing, the larboard oar held in the right hand, and the starboard inthe left.
"The boat's coming on three knots to our one," he cried out. "It won'ttake her long to be up with us."
"Pull away," again cried Bill. "We'll hold on till the Frenchmen beginto fire. If their bullets come near us, it will be time to thinkwhether it will be worth running the risk of being shot."
Jack continued to row with might and main, and the raft went wonderfullyfast over the water. It was too evident, however, that the boat was inpursuit of them, and in a few minutes a musket ball splashed into thewater a short distance astern of the raft.
"That shows that they are in earnest," said Jack. "We had better lowerthe sail, another might come aboard us."
"Hold all fast, perhaps they are getting tired of chasing us, and maygive it up when they see that we are determined to get away," repliedBill; not that he had much hope that this was the case, but he stuck tothe principle of not giving in as long as there was a chance of escape.
Jack had plenty of courage, but he did not like being fired at withoutthe means of returning the compliment.
Another shot from the boat came whistling close to them.
"It's of no use," cried Jack, "we must lower the sail."
"If you're afraid, take in the oars and lie down between the chests;you'll run very little risk of being hit there; but for my part, I'llstand at the helm till the boat gets up with us," said Bill.
Jack would not do this, but pulled away as stoutly as at first.
Presently another shot struck one of the oars, and so splintered it thatthe next pull Jack gave it broke short off. He was now compelled totake in the other.
"The next time the Frenchmen fire they may aim better," he said. "Come,Bill, I'm ready to stand by you, but there's no use being killed if wecan help it."
"The boat isn't up with us yet," answered Bill. "Till she getsalongside I'll hold on, and maybe at the very last the Frenchmen willgive up."
"I don't see any hope of that," said Jack. "In ten minutes we shall beprisoners. By-the-bye, I turned all my gold into this chest. If theFrenchmen find it they'll keep it, so I'll fill my pockets again, andthey may not think of looking into them, but they're sure to rummage thechest."
Saying this, Jack opened the chest, and soon found his treasure, whichhe restored to his pockets. He asked Bill to take some, but Billdeclined on the same ground that he had before refused to appropriateit.
Bill again advised Jack to lie down, and, to induce him to do so, hehimself knelt on the raft, as he could in that position steer as well aswhen standing up.
Thus they presented the smallest possible mark to the Frenchmen.
Shot after shot was fired at them. Their chances of escape were indeedrapidly diminishing.
At last the Frenchmen ceased firing.
They were either struck by the hardihood of the boys, or had expendedtheir ammunition; but the boat came on as rapidly as before, and was nownot half a cable's length from them.
"We must lower the sail," cried Bill, with a sigh, "or the Frenchmenmaybe will run us down;" and Jack let go the halyards.
In another minute the boat was up to them.
Besides her crew, there were five soldiers on board.
A volley of questions burst from the people in the boat; and all seemedjabbering and talking together.
As she got alongside the raft, two men leaped out, and seizing Jack andBill, hauled them into the boat, while another made fast the raft, readyto tow it back to the harbour.
Jack and Bill were at once handed aft to the stern-sheets, where theywere made to sit down. Immediately the officer in command of the boatput various questions to them, as to who they were, where they had comefrom, and where they were going.
According to their previous agreement they made no reply, so that theircaptors might not discover that they understood French; still, as far asBill could make out, the Frenchmen were not aware that they were thelads who had escaped from the old tower.
They had no reason to complain of the way they were spoken of by theFrenchmen, who were evidently struck by their hardihood anddetermination in their persevering efforts to escape. They remarked toeach other that their young prisoners were brave boys, and expressedtheir satisfaction that they were not hurt.
When the officer found, as he supposed, that they could not answer him,he forbore to put any further questions.
The crew did not appear to be angry at the long pull that had been giventhem back; indeed, Jack and Bill suspected, from what they heard, thatthe seamen, at all events, would not have been sorry if they had escapedaltogether.
On reaching the landing-place in the harbour, they found a party ofsoldiers, with an officer, who, from what Bill made out, had sent theboat in pursuit of them.
As soon as they stepped on shore the officer began to question them, inthe same way as the commander of the boat had done.
Bill shrugged his shoulders and turned to Jack, and Jack shrugged hisand turned to Bill, as much as to say, "I wonder what he's talkingabout?"
"The lads do not understand French, that is evident," said the officerto a subordinate standing near him; "I shall get nothing out of themwithout an interpreter. They do not look stupid either, and they mustbe bold fellows, or they would not have attempted to made a voyage onthat raft. I must have a nearer look at it;" and he ordered the boatmento bring it in close to the shore, so that he might examine it.
He again turned to Bill, and said, "What were you going to attempt tocross the Channel on that?"
Bill, as before, shrugged his shoulders, quite in the French fashion,for he had learnt the trick from Pierre, who, when he was in doubt abouta matter, always did so.
"I forgot; the boy doesn't understand French," observed the officer.
Bill had some little difficulty in refraining from laughing, as heunderstood perfectly well everything that was said around him, exceptwhen the Frenchmen talked unusually fast.
"Let the raft be moored close to the shore, just in its present state,"said the officer; "the general may wish to see it. How could the ladshave contrived to build such a machine?"
The commander of the boat explained that a wreck had occurred on theshore, and that they had evidently built it from the materials theyfound on board her, but anything further about them he could not say.
"Well, then, I'll take them up at once to the gene
ral, and theinterpreter attached to our division will draw from them all we want toknow. Come, lads! you must follow me," he said. "Sergeant, bring theprisoners along with you."
On this Jack and Bill found themselves surrounded by the soldiers; andthinking it possible, should they not move fast enough, that theirmovements might be expedited by a prick from the bayonets, they marchedbriskly forward, keeping good pace with the men.