"Its just like the grinding old tyrant," he heard Moody mutter at this to another of his gang, "to keep us here on deck when there ain't no need for it!" But Snowball was quick to notice that, when the captain subsequently called out that all the rest of the hands might turn in if they liked, save two or three to keep an anchor-watch, not one of them, in spite of all their grumbling at the hardship of having to stop on deck previously, now stirred to go below. He also saw Moody and some of the others, when the captain was not looking at them, stealthily shift round the bows of the long-boat on to the top of the hatchway, in addition to battening it down on the quiet, so that those who had gone below could not easily get up again, and they would thus have things all in their own hands.
Moody's gang evidently intended to carry out their nefarious plan; but how was he to prevent it?
At last, while the mutineers were watching for their opportunity, he saw his; and at once took advantage of it.
During the excitement that ensued when Mr McCarthy rushed on deck, declaring that the vessel had bilged in to starboard--at which time Captain Dinks at length gave his tardy order to launch the boats-- Snowball crept out of the galley; and making his way aft, entered the saloon.
He was so frightened and confused, and full of what he had heard, that he did not know what to do at first, and this had prevented his speaking to the captain as he should have done; while, when he grew collected again, there was Frank Harness shouting down the companion and Mr McCarthy and the American passenger bolting up on to the poop, and no one to speak to, that he could see, who could do any good. He called out for the steward, but he had disappeared; and the darkey feared that his plan for defeating the schemes of the mutineers would turn out fruitless from his failing to find any one to help him in undertaking it, when all at once he saw Kate Meldrum, for whom he had a profound respect on account of her plucky behaviour during the storm and her kindness to him when he was discovered as a stowaway and so injured in the hold.
"Lor, missy," exclaimed he, "help me sabe ship and capting, and all; or dey all go way and leab us drown on board!"
"Why, what do you mean?" said Kate, who was pale and excited, for she could not help hearing Frank's call for assistance; and was just about proceeding to ascend the companion ladder to see for herself what was going on and if she could be of any aid, when Snowball thus ran against her. "What is the matter on deck; and why do you come here?"
"Dat debbel Bill Moody, an' all him gang in port watch, say dey is goin'
murder capting and go way in long-boat, and leab us drown on board!"
"But won't the other men prevent them?" asked Kate anxiously.
"Dey can't, missy! Dey is down in main-hold; an' Moody shut um under hatchway so dat dey can't get up."
Just then the report of Mr Lathrope's revolver sounded above, and Kate almost screamed; but she controlled herself by a strong effort.
"And what can you or I do to help the captain and the others?" she said as calmly as she could, longing all the while to go above, although her presence there would be useless.
"Dat jus why I come here," replied Snowball eagerly. "We can get down steerage, whar I'se stow away dat time--I knows de place well--clear way traps in de way, and knock down bulkhead; starboard watch come troo de openin' and up on poop; den Moody's gang knock all of a heap, catch it hot, missy! But, really, poah Snowball not able do it all alone down dere!"
Such were the darkey's spasmodic utterances, as they came out in gasps, amidst the sound of the struggle going on on the main-deck and the hoarse cries of those engaged, which could be plainly heard in the cuddy. Kate at once comprehended the situation.
"I see," said she, as eagerly now as Snowball. "There's Mr Adams in his cabin asleep. He was so worn out, I suppose, that he couldn't hear Frank--I mean," she corrected herself blushing unconsciously--"Mr Harness call! Rouse him up at once, and I'll get a light for you to go below."
The darkey did as she told him, although he found it a difficult task to awaken the second mate, who was so fast asleep that he had to be pulled out of his cot before he opened his eyes.
He was already dressed, however, and would have rushed up on deck the moment Kate told him what had occurred had she not laid her hand on his arm and prevented him, pointing out how much better Snowball's plan would result in bringing material assistance to the little party who were still struggling with the mutineers, and fighting desperately, as they could hear.
"Do be quick and go down at once," she pleaded. "A moment's delay may sacrifice a valuable life; and then, it will be all your fault!"
So urged, Mr Adams consented against his will almost; and, following Snowball down into the after hold with the lantern Kate had procured from the steward's pantry, which she found tenantless, Llewellyn having mysteriously vanished out of the saloon, the two proceeded as rapidly as they could to work their way through the packing-cases and casks that were stowed right under the cuddy floor, towards the bulkhead that divided this portion of the ship from the main hold.
Arrived here, Snowball soon recognised the advantage of having Mr Adams along with him; for, in addition to the fact that the second mate, as is usual in merchant vessels, knew where each and every article of the cargo was stowed, he also was acquainted with the circumstance of there being a sliding door in the bulkhead, which the darkey was unaware of and had thought they would have to break it down, which would have been a rather long job.
Consequently, in far less time than either he or Kate had imagined, the imprisoned crew, who had been long aroused by the trampling on deck and the noise of the struggle immediately over their heads, and had been knocking madly at the hatchway cover and trying vainly to lift it up, were released. Eager for the fray, from which they had so long been debarred from taking part, they rushed up through the cuddy and up the companion to the poop, prepared to take summary vengeance on those who had incarcerated them but with what result has been already described.
While Kate was giving this explanation to her father of the course of events below and how the affair was planned--Frank Harness listening to her the while with glistening eyes, and squeezing her hand furtively as he pressed to her side--it was amusing to watch the demeanour of the darkey cook.
His mouth was spread open from ear to ear in one huge grin at the recital of his well-planned scheme for the defeat of the mutineers'
machinations and release of the imprisoned crew. His chest expanded, too, with pride at the praise bestowed on him for his pluck and perspicacity; and when, finally, Ben Boltrope, who, of course, with Karl Ericksen, had remained loyal and been locked down below with the rest of the starboard watch, proposed "three cheers for Snowball," the cook could contain himself no longer, but burst into a loud guffaw, thus taking a prominent part in the demonstration in his own honour.
In the meantime nobody had been idle.
Poor Captain Dinks had been carefully lifted into the saloon, where, on removing his clothes, it was discovered that Moody's stab, although inflicting a dangerous cut across the chest, had touched no vital part, the sufferer's exhaustion proceeding more from loss of blood than from any imminent risk. He was therefore placed in his own cot and the wound strapped up, after which he sank into a feverish sleep, with Kate watching by his side.
Mr Meldrum, who had been urgently asked by Mr McCarthy and Adams to take command of the ship while the captain was incapacitated, a request that the crew heartily endorsed and which Captain Dinks himself confirmed as soon as he recovered consciousness proceeded in the interim to devise the best means he could for saving all on board; and, in the first place, he ordered the men to renew the lashings of the jolly-boat.
This was their sole remaining means of escape, and was now in danger of being washed overboard by the heavy seas that were breaking over the ship in cataracts of foam.
Immediately the mutineers had got away in the long-boat it had come on to blow harder; and, shortly after they were out of sight in the haze that hung over the land, a tremendous squall had swept over the water in the direction they were last seen, the billows mounting so high as they raced by the stranded vessel that it was very problematical whether the boat would ever reach the shore. Mr Meldrum could not help observing that those left on board had much greater chance of saving their lives, in spite of the waves breaking over the ship, which trembled through her frame with the repeated shocks she was subjected to as she was jolted on the rocks as if coming to pieces every minute.
"The poor captain was right after all," said he to Mr McCarthy. "Those scamps in the long-boat had better have waited till morning, as he said.
I don't think they'll ever get to land."
"Nor I, sorr," replied the first mate; "but it sarves them right, bad cess to 'em!"
"Well," said the other, "if they have gone down, they've gone with all their sins on their heads, for they certainly believed that they left us to perish, and did so purposely, too!"
"Jist so, the murtherin' villins!" ejaculated Mr McCarthy.
Mr Lathrope at that moment came up from the cuddy.
"Whar's that sanctimonious cuss of a steward!" inquired he. "I've shouted clean through the hull ship, and I'm durned ef I ken find him to git some grub; for I feels kinder peckish arter that there muss. I guess the critter has sloped with them t'other skunks!"
"We'll muster the hands and see," said Mr Meldrum.
This was soon done; but the steward did not answer to his name--nor could he be found anywhere on board, although parties of the men hunted through every portion of the ship fore and aft for him.
"Snakes and alligators, mister," said the American, "I guess it's jest as I sed, and the slippery coon has skedaddled with the rest of the varmint!"
"Perhaps so," answered Mr Meldrum; "but I think it far more probable that he has accidentally tumbled over the side!" In this belief, it may be added, the stewardess shared, bewailing her loss accordingly, although she was not quite so much overwhelmed with sorrow as might have been imagined to be proper on the loss of a helpmate by those unacquainted with the domestic relations of the pair.
In addition to securing the safety of the jolly-boat, Mr Meldrum ordered preparations to be made for constructing a large raft, upon which an additional stock of provisions, which were brought up from below to replace those taken away by the mutineers in the long-boat, were stowed; but no attempt was made as yet to leave the ship, all hoping that the sea would go down as the tide fell, besides which, they thought that when daylight came they would be able, as Captain Dinks had told them, to "see their way better."
And so they waited in hope till morning should come.
Just before four bells, however, and when the faint light of day was beginning to streak the eastern sky, bringing out in relief the snow- white peaks of some mountains on the mainland, which were a little distance to the left of where the vessel was lying on the reef, a larger wave than any of the rollers that had yet assailed her struck the ship right amidships; and the timbers dividing under the strain, the poor old _Nancy Bell_ broke in two. Still, the two sections of the hull did not immediately separate, the seas apparently losing their force and reserving their powers after delivering such a telling blow.
"I guess, mister," said Mr Lathrope, who took the catastrophe as coolly as he did every other incident of his life apparently, "this air smash is a kinder sort o' notice to quit, hey?"
But Mr Meldrum made no reply. He saw that the end was coming.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
GETTING ASHORE.
Fortunately, the jolly-boat had been safely secured abaft the main hatchway, the very point at which the ship parted amidships; and, being lashed to ring-bolts athwart the deck, close to the break of the poop, the little craft remained uninjured in the general rending of timbers and splintering of planks that ensued when the beams gave way under the strain upon them. The poor _Nancy Bell_, indeed, seemed to fall to pieces in a moment; for, as soon as the keel broke in two and the lower works of the vessel began to separate, the hold opened out like a yawning gulf, dividing the bows and foremost sections from the stern by a wide gap. Through this the sea made a clean breach, washing out the cargo--the waves bearing away such articles as were floatable to leeward, whilst the heavier portion of the freight, after being tossed about and battered out of shape, quickly sank down to the bottom out of sight.
Some of the men had been on the forecastle immediately before this happened; but roused by Mr Meldrum's cry of warning they had just time to escape the inrush of the sea and scramble aft to where the others were grouped together on the poop, which was now considerably elevated above the level of the water, the stern having been gradually forced up more on the rocks as the fore part sank down, until it was now nearly high and dry. This circumstance enabled all hands to proceed all the more expeditiously with the construction of the raft that had been already commenced, and which they had luckily begun here, instead of on the main-deck that had just been broken up, where they would have lashed it together but for the accidental fact of the mizzen jury-mast forming the base of the raft, and their being unable to drag it forward before the keel of the vessel began to give way. The extra quantity of provisions, too, which had been got out of the hold had also remained on the poop; and thus everything providentially was in their favour.
Certainly, their chances of escape now seemed more hopeful!