CHAPTER EIGHT.
JONAS WEBB.
We were a long time regaining our lost ground. I remember at lengthfinding the ship gliding over huge glass-like billows, which camerolling slowly and majestically, as if moved upwards and onwards by someunseen power, with deep, broad valleys between them, into which the shipsinking, their sides alone bounded the view from her deck ahead andastern. On the right rose however, above them, a high, rocky headland,which the third mate told Miss Kitty, as she stood on the deck gazing atthe shore, was Cape Horn.
"I could fancy it some giant demigod, the monarch of these wateryrealms," she observed. "He looks serene and good-tempered at present;but how fearful must be these mighty waves when he is enraged, andfierce storms blow across them."
"You are indeed right, Miss Kitty," he answered; "and for my part, onsuch occasions, I prefer giving his majesty a wide berth and keeping outof sight of his frown. Provided the ship is sound, and the rigging wellset up, we have little dread of these vast waves. A short chopping seais far more dangerous. However, we shall soon be round the `Cape,' andthen I hope for your sake we shall have fine weather and smooth water."
She stood for some time holding on to a stanchion, gazing at the sceneso strange to her eyes.
The captain coming on deck to satisfy himself that all was going onproperly, the mate stepped forward to attend to some duty. As theformer's rubicund visage disappeared beneath the companion-hatch, MrFalconer returned aft.
"I have been thinking, Edward, that I was wrong to give the reins to myfancy, as I did just now," said Kitty, in her sweet, artless way. "Ishould have remembered that He who made the world governs the wideocean--the tides and currents move at His command, and He it is who bidsthe waters be at rest, or sends the whirlwind sweeping over them. Ifeel that it is wrong, even in poetry, to assign to beings of theimagination the power which alone belongs to Him. Do you understandme?"
"Yes, though I should not have thought you wrong," answered the youngofficer, gazing at her with admiration. "But I do understand you, and Iam sure that you are right. God is a jealous God, and cannot of courseadmit of any detraction from His authority by the creatures He hasformed. I see that every form of idolatry, whether the idol beworshipped or not, must be offensive to Him--whether men assign Hispower to others, or attempt to approach Him in prayer through themediation of saints or angels, when He has told them to draw near to thethrone of grace according to the one way He has appointed."
It may seem strange that I should have recollected this conversation.In truth, I did not, and it was not till many years afterwards that Iwas told of it. Indeed, I may confess once for all, that had I notpossessed the advantage of communicating with some of the principalactors, I should have been unable to describe many of the events whichoccurred at that period of my existence. I remember, however, thecaptain, and his amiable consort, Mrs Podgers, and the snappish cruelway she spoke to sweet Miss Kitty and Edward Falconer. She appeared,indeed, to detest him, and took every opportunity of showing her dislikeby all sorts of petty annoyances. He bore them all with wonderfulequanimity, perhaps for Kitty's sake, perhaps because he despised theirauthor. Sometimes, when he came on deck after dining in the cabin, hewould burst into a fit of laughter, as if enjoying a good joke, andwould continue to smile when Kitty appeared with a look of vexation andpain on her countenance, supposing he must have been annoyed beyondendurance.
We had just doubled the Cape, when another sail was seen crossing ourcourse, now rising up against the clear sky, now sinking so low thatonly her upper canvas was visible. We approached each other, when thestranger made a signal that she would send a boat aboard us. We alsohove-to, and began gracefully bowing away at each other, as if the shipswere exchanging compliments. A seaman with his bag stepped on boardwhen the boat came alongside, and offered to remain, if the captainwould receive him as a volunteer. The mate who came in the boat, sayinghe was an experienced hand, and had been in the Pacific several years,the captain at once accepted his services. We gave the mate the lastnews from England and several newspapers, and he, in return, offered totake any letters our people might have ready to send home. In a shorttime we each filled, and stood on our respective courses.
From what the mate had said, our captain was eager to have a talk withthe new-comer, Jonas Webb by name. The latter said he had gone out manyyears before in a South Sea whaler, and when on her homeward voyage hehad exchanged into the ship he had just left, then outward-bound. Bothships had been very successful in fishing and making prizes, and he hadsaved a great deal of money. Not content with what he had got, hewished to make more. He had been all along the coast, and knew everyport. Among other pieces of information, he told the captain that twoSouth Sea whalers, captured by the Spaniards, lay in the Bay ofConception, and advised that they should be cut out, declaring that itmight easily be done, as the harbour was unguarded by forts. I don'tthink Captain Podgers was fond of fighting, but he was of money, and hebelieved that by getting hold of these two ships, he should make morethan by catching a score of whales.
After this, both fore and aft, the only talk was about the proposedundertaking. Miss Kitty looked very grave, but though she knew thecaptain would take very good care to remain safe on board, she guessedthat Edward Falconer would be sent on the expedition; and, though hemade light of it, he had observed that Jonas Webb was wrong with regardto the place being unfortified. Captain Podgers had got angry, anddeclared that the man, an experienced old sailor, who had just come fromthence, must know more than a young fellow, as he was, could do. MrsPodgers, with a sneer, also remarked that perhaps he would rather nothave any fighting, lest he might get a cut across his face, and spoilhis beauty, or the smell of gunpowder would make him faint.
I am sure that the third mate was as brave as steel, and did not think abit about his good looks; but the sting, somehow or other, struck deeperthan most of her venomed darts.
Hoisting American colours, we stood in towards an island off the Bay ofConception. Here heaving to, as night closed in, four of the boats weremanned under charge of the three mates and the boatswain. Jonas Webband Dick went in Mr Falconer's boat.
Those who remained on board anxiously watched for their return,expecting, as the night was light, to see them towing out their prizes.
Some hours passed by, when the rattle of musketry and the boom of greatguns came over the calm waters.
"Why, that fellow Webb mast have deceived me!" exclaimed the captain,stamping about the deck in a state of agitation. "Falconer was right.There will be more glory, as he will call it, than profit in theexpedition. Bah! I cannot afford to lose men."
Eager eyes were looking out for the expected ships. They did notappear, but at last first one boat and then another was seen emergingfrom the gloom.
"Well, gentlemen, what has become of the whalers?" exclaimed thecaptain, as the two first mates stepped on deck.
"The Spaniards peppered us too hotly to enable us to tow them out, sir,and the wind afforded no help," was the answer. "I am afraid MrFalconer's boat, too, has got into a mess--he had taken one of thewhalers, but would not leave his prize, though I suspect several of hismen were killed or wounded."
"Was Mr Falconer himself hit?" asked Mrs Podgers, who had come up tohear the news.
"I cannot say, ma'am," answered the first mate. "His boat must havebeen terribly mauled, and I am afraid that she must have been sunk, orthat her crew must have been taken prisoners. I cannot otherwiseaccount for his not following us."
I had hold of Miss Kitty's hand. I felt it tremble; she seemed to begasping for breath.
"You should have gone back and looked for them," said the captain, whohad judgment enough to know that the third mate was one of the bestofficers in the ship.
"Oh! do, do so!" exclaimed Miss Kitty, scarcely aware of what she wassaying. "It was cowardly and cruel to leave them behind."
"Not far wrong," growled the captain, who, if not brave himself, wishedhis subordi
nates to fight well--as has been the case with other leadersin higher positions.
The mates were returning to their boats when the shout was raised thatthe fourth boat was appearing. She came on slowly, as if with acrippled crew. Kitty leaned against the bulwarks for support.
"Send down slings; we have some wounded men here," said a voice which Irecognised as Dick's.
"Let the others go first," said another voice. "They are more hurt thanI am."
Miss Kitty sprang to the gangway and looked over. Three men werehoisted on board; one especially was terribly injured--it was JonasWebb. The last who appeared was Mr Falconer.
"I am only wounded in the shoulder, though I am faint from loss ofblood," he said, in a feeble voice. He spoke so that Kitty might hearhim. "We should have got the prize with more help."
Kitty ran to his side to assist him along the deck, not caring what MrsPodgers or anybody else might say to her. The exertion, however, wastoo much for him; and if Dick and another man had not held him up, hewould have fallen, for Kitty's slight frame could scarcely havesupported him. He was taken to his cabin, and after the doctor hadattended to the other men he allowed him to examine his wound.
I have not before mentioned our doctor. The men used to say he was onlyfit for making bread pills, and they, poor fellows, had better means offorming an opinion of his skill than I had. After his visit, MrFalconer would not let him dress his wound, though he did manage to getout the bullet. It was dressed, however, and Kitty used to say that Iwas the doctor. I know that I went every day into the cabin with herand Dick, and that we used to put lotions and plaster on his poorshoulder. Mrs Podgers declared that it was very indelicate in her todo so, but Kitty replied that if women were on board ship, it was theirduty to attend to the wounded.
We visited the other men who were hurt, especially poor Jonas Webb; butKitty confessed that his injuries were beyond her skill--indeed, itseemed wonderful that, mangled as he was, he should continue to live on.
The miscarriage of the expedition was owing also to him. Mr Falconerhad gallantly carried the prize, got the Spaniards under hatches, andtaken her in tow, when, on passing the batteries, Webb's pistol wentoff. This drew the attention of the garrison to the boat, and theyimmediately opened a hot fire. Webb was the first struck, and soonafterwards several of the other men were hit. Mr Falconer, who hadremained on deck, on this let himself down into the boat to assist inpulling, and, in spite of the hot fire, would have continued doing so,had not the Spaniards broken loose, and, getting hold of some muskets onboard, began firing at the boat. Mr Falconer, on being himselfwounded, cut the painter, and the boat escaped without further injury.
Dick was very angry with the other officers, and did not mind expressinghis opinion of them. I never saw him so put out. He felt much for poorWebb, and I heard him declare that he was very doubtful about MrFalconer's recovery. If he died, what would become of poor Miss Kitty?