Ralph Denham's Adventures in Burma: A Tale of the Burmese Jungle Page 4

  CHAPTER IV

  THE RAFT

  What were the occupants of the boats to do? What would become of them?Twenty-six men in boats only meant to accommodate eighteen at most, andthese with but little food or water, no change of clothes, few comfortsof any kind, an insufficiency even of necessaries,--and they were withinthe tropics.

  The sun rose up in fierce majesty, and blazed down upon them like fireitself. Some had no hats, and suffered terribly from this cause. The seawas like molten metal heaving close around them; the crowd impeded allproper use of the oars or sailing gear. Of this last the captain's gighad none.

  The men looked at each other with haggard eyes, despair in their faces.It would require but a slight touch to make them abandon themselves tohopelessness, losing heart altogether, and becoming demoralised.

  They must be induced to do something, to strike a blow for their ownsalvation, or all would be lost.

  Rogers was the right man in the right place here. Out broke his cheerfulvoice--

  "Three cheers for the last of the old _Pelican_, my boys! She diesgloriously after all. No ship-breaker's yard for the gallant old girl!"

  He led the cheers, which were echoed but faintly.

  "'Tis well," pursued he; "'tis a crowning mercy that we are in thecurrent which sets into the Barogna Flats. It will bear us along softlyand well, barring any more cyclones, but it is not likely that we shallhave another of those wild customers now. It has swept over for thetime, anyhow."

  "Will you not make for Diamond Island, sir?" asked Mellish, the firstmate.

  "By all means," said the captain, "if we are able to _make for_anything. But, my good fellow," dropping his voice, "we must take ourchance of getting _anywhere_. In this crowd we cannot hold out long,neither can we pick and choose our course. We can practically onlydrift, and keep up our hearts."

  "We are nearly sure to be met by some ship going into Rangoon," saidMellish, speaking with more certainty than he felt.

  "There is a light on the Krishna Shoal, if we could reach that," saidKershaw, the third mate. "I was in Rangoon on my first voyage, andremember it; a thing like the devil on three sticks instead of two."

  A laugh followed this description of the lighthouse which all the oldsalts knew.

  "Ay, my lad," said the captain cheerily, "we'll make for yourthree-legged devil, and let him take the hindmost."

  "Zur," said old Wills, touching his forelock, "there'm a lot of sparsand timbers afloat, would it not be best to try and draw enough in tomake a catamaran, like az we used to be teached to make for a pinch whenI wor in the navy?"

  "A catamaran!" exclaimed young Kershaw. "Why, man, what good would thatbe so far to sea? You may see them by the dozen off shore, but how doyou propose to make one here?"

  "From timber-heads and greenhorn, zur," replied the old fellow verydemurely.

  "Do you think you can?" asked Rogers, who was thinking too intently tohave noticed this byplay. "The boats are of such different sizes."

  "'Twon't be a fust-class affair, your honour," replied Wills. "Not az ifwe had her blessed Majesty's resources to hand; but Osborn here, he duknaw what I mean so well az any, and I daresay there's others too."

  "Ay!" cried two or three.

  "'Twould give more elbow-room d'ye zee, zur."

  "It would," said the captain; "but you could not do it unless the boatswere nearer of a size, I am convinced."

  "Maybe not, sir," said Mr. Mellish, "but there seem to be a lot of casksamong the wreckage. If we could haul in half a dozen oil hogsheads, andput them three of a side, we might contrive what would relieve bothboats considerably. Then we might leave the big boat to keep thatcompany, and push ahead with the gig to fetch help."

  "Right you be, zur," said Wills.

  There was a coil of rope in the large boat, they made a running noose init, and endeavoured to fling it over some of the coveted casks; but thedifficulty was enormous, partly from want of room in which to work, andpartly from the danger that floating wreckage might swamp their boat,and so destroy their only chance of life.

  Some spars and staves were collected, suitable to the purpose, but thesea was much agitated from the recent cyclone, and the difficulty ofapproaching the hogsheads was apparently insurmountable. The thingsmight have been alive and spiteful, so persistently did they elude everywile.

  Just when the men, utterly disheartened, were inclined to abandon theeffort as hopeless, the noose caught, apparently more by haphazard thanby skill, and a hogshead of oil was drawn alongside.

  In their excitement the men nearly upset the boat, and Rogers had torepress them sternly.

  "Have a care, men, have a care! look at the sharks all about us. Youdon't want to fatten them, do ye?"

  "Broach that cask," cried one among them. "Let the ile out, 'twill calmthe sea."

  "Ay!" said Rogers, "let it out."

  Another hogshead was brought in now, and, strange to say, the oil beingemptied did make the water smoother as far as it reached around them.

  While the men in one boat redoubled their efforts to obtain more ofthese casks, old Wills and his mate Osborn connected the two empty onesby a spar laid across and firmly affixed to each end. They did this atthe imminent risk of their lives, for it was necessary to get upon thespar, in a kneeling position, so as to secure the ropes firmly, and anyslip into the sea would probably have been followed by a rush of whitelight to the spot, and the disappearance of the man, or at least of oneof his members.

  Those in the boats watched anxiously the while, crying out now and then,"'Ware shark!"

  As these alarms were half of them false ones, the old fellows became toowell accustomed to them for more than a passing glance from their work,which became safer for them as the casks were firmly fastened.

  In the meantime a third cask was obtained, but it seemed all butimpossible to attach a fourth. There was one within approachabledistance, but it bobbed a little farther off with each effort to castthe noose over it. Seeing the impunity which had attended the efforts ofWills and Osborn, a man called Whittingham, a strong active youngdaredevil, got upon the spar, and made his careful way out to its farend, rope in hand, coiled up, ready for a cast.

  He worked himself astride the spar with considerable difficulty, for thething was up in the air at one moment, so that the lookers-on expectedto see him flung backwards into the sea; then down the length wouldplunge, as if about to bury itself in some great green cavern, intowhich he must go headlong.

  It was like riding a kicking horse, but the hardy fellow kept his hold,reached the hogshead farthest from the boat, flung the coil, and it fellshort though actually touching the cask.

  Reclaiming the length of cord, Whittingham, in defiance of all prudence,flung himself into the boiling sea and swam towards the coveted object.

  "Come back, man! Come back!" shouted the captain.

  "A shark! A shark!" roared the sailors.

  Whittingham paid no heed, he reached the cask and got the rope aroundit. He had a cord passed round his waist, and prepared to be hauled backby it, when his awful shriek rent the air, and a groan burst from thewhite lips of his comrades.

  A huge shark had rushed swiftly up, and taken the poor fellow's legs offat his middle. The sea was crimsoned with his blood, as his head wasseen turned, with an agonised expression, at sight of the certain deathcome upon him. In another minute the tension of the strong handsrelaxed, and the man's upper half also disappeared from sight.

  Ralph hid his face, trembling with horror.

  But the men knew well that this was the fate which awaited them all didthe boats capsize before rescue arrived, and they redoubled theirefforts to help themselves.

  The fatal cask was drawn in, reddened still with the lifeblood of poorWhittingham, which had splashed all over it, and it enabled Wills andhis assistants to construct a sort of oblong frame, supported at eachcorner by the buoyant empty vessels. Pieces of wood were laid athwart,the short way of the raft, which became safer with each fresh plank asit
was affixed.

  The chief difficulty was to obtain the wherewithal for making theseplanks and timbers secure. There was but very little rope, and only suchnails as clung to the riven timbers, with a few which Wills, like allcarpenters, happened to have in his pocket. The spars and planks wereirregular in length and thickness, neither was it possible to rig upeven a cord run around the raft, or any manner of bulwark wherewith toincrease its safety.

  It could not be navigated by any means, but it could be towed at thestern of the larger boat, and serve to reduce the crush of people there,so as give free scope either to step the mast and sail her, or for themen to use their oars.

  Both boats being thus relieved, the captain's gig would then row away,with a light complement of men, and try to make Diamond Island, uponwhich a pilot station was well known to exist; or the Krishna Shoal,where it was probable that help might be either obtained or signalledfor by those in the lightship.

  With help of the current this was possible, provided the weatherremained calm.

  The question now arose as to who should be transferred to the raft,--whocould best be spared from the boats.

  Mellish must remain in command of the large boat, with Kershaw. Thesecond mate must go with the captain. The four officers must be thusdivided to ensure a head in case of accident to either one among them.

  The crew of the captain's gig must also be retained. They were pickedmen, and the most likely to hold out in case of long-continued exertionor another gale of wind.

  "Uncle," said Ralph, "I will go on the raft. I cannot help in the boat,I do not know enough, but I can make room for a better man."

  "You are right, my boy," said the captain a little huskily. "You are aplucky chap, and your mother shall hear of this if any of us live."

  "I go on the raft, equally of course," said Mr. Gilchrist firmly.

  "Let we go, maister," proposed Wills, usually spokesman for himself andOsborn. "Uz will keep an eye on the young 'un, ef it be only becausehe'm Miss Amy's chield."

  The captain grasped the old fellow's hand in silence, and two of theordinary seamen, of less use than the A.B.'s, were added to the littlegimcrack craft's crew.

  The biscuit was apportioned out to each as far as it went, and the gigparted company from its fellows. When nearly out of sight, the menlifted their oars in the air as a farewell greeting, and the fastgathering shades of night engulfed them.

  Their companions, both in the boat and on the raft, watched theirdisappearance in silence. They were exhausted with the emotions of thelast few days, and the heavy work of the last twenty-four hours. Littlecould be done through the night but wait for the dawn. They set a watch,and each tried to get some rest in turn.

  There had been a question as to whether Kirke should not have gone onthe raft. It would have been fitter for him to have done so than for Mr.Gilchrist, who, always delicate, had recently been so ill. He was aguest, if not a passenger, and should have had the best place.

  He had, however, settled the question for himself, allowing no demur,and the men were grateful to him for so doing. Most of them were marriedmen, with young children or other helpless ones dependent upon them. Thesafety of the raft was bound up in the safety of the boat. If anythinghappened to swamp the boat, the raft was doomed to share the same fate;whereas, were the raft lost, those in the boat still had a chance. Thosewho could work the oars and sails best were the right men to remain init.

  But Kirke was not one of these; neither his strength nor his knowledgemade him as useful as an O. S. would have been, but he claimed his placein the boat as an officer, and there was no time for debate. CaptainRogers let it pass,--perhaps he had his own private reasons for sodoing.

  The men owned no reasons, public or private, for keeping this muchdisliked young man among them; they would far rather have had Ralph ofthe two; and thought that Mr. Gilchrist should have been kept in thebest place.

  They murmured; they made remarks to each other aimed at the selfishapprentice, and which he perfectly understood; while Kershaw openlytaunted him with selfishness and cowardice.

  Kirke maintained a dogged silence, but his brow became more lowering,and his mouth more set in a kind of vicious sullenness every moment.

  So night fell.