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The Ocean Cat's Paw: The Story of a Strange Cruise, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 38. A Proposed Adventure |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT. A PROPOSED ADVENTURE It was a busy and an anxious day. The brig's guns had been carefully ran to starboard and firmly lashed, and the yards lowered down, her topmasts struck, and all made ready for laying her right over in the mud at low water, so that her spars should be upon the shore. "It wouldn't do to lay her over like this," said the skipper gruffly, "if she were full of cargo. It would mean a bad shifting. But I think we can manage, and I'll risk it. We can easily start her water casks." There was no question of shooting that day, Rodd preferring to stay with his French friend; and the doctor seemed to quite share the Count's anxiety as they watched the proceedings of the sailors while the tide went down. But everything went on admirably. As the water sank a steady strain was kept upon the cables, and by slow degrees the brig careened over towards the land till the newly-repaired side sank lower and lower, and she lay more and more over, till at last the water that had flooded the hold began to flow out with the tide till the beautiful vessel lay perfectly helpless upon her side, with the whole of her keel visible upon the long stretch of mud. Then Captain Chubb, taking hold of a rope which he had made fast to the larboard rail, climbed over on to the brig's side, and steadying himself by the cord, walked right down and stood shaking his head at the ghastly wound which the vessel had received. For after passing right through the hold, the cannon ball had struck upon and shattered one of what are technically called the ship's knees, ripping off a great patch of the planking and tearing through the copper sheathing, which was turned back upon the keel, making a ragged hole several times the size of the fairly clean-cut orifice by which the shot had entered. "You had better come and have a look here, Count," cried the captain--an invitation which was accepted by several of those interested, and in a very short time an anxious group was gathered round the vessel's injury. "Well, sir," said the skipper, in his rough, brusque way; "what do you say to that?" "Horrible!" groaned the Count. "My poor vessel!" And he looked at the captain in despair. "Well, sir," said the latter, "if anybody had told me that I could make a patch with sails over the bottom of your brig so as to keep her afloat as I have, I should have felt ready to call him a fool. It's a wonder to me that you kept her afloat as you did, before you came to us for help." "But now, captain," cried the Count, as his son looked anxiously on, "is it possible, away from a shipyard, to mend this as well as you have done the other injury?" "Well, sir, if we were close to some port I should say, no, certainly not; but seeing where we are, there's only one thing to be done." "Yes? And that--?" cried the Count. "Do it, sir. But it will take some time." The Count made an impatient gesticulation, and then threw his hands apart in a deprecating way, as if he accepted the position in despair. "Yes," he said; "you brave Englishmen, you never give up. You will do it, then?" "Oh yes, sir; we've got to do it; and what do they say? Time and tide wait for no man; so I'll thank you all to clear off and let me and my lads get to work. Only look here, sir; there's going to be no hoisting and lowering here. We shall have to keep the brig lying on her side without any temporary patches, and the tide will have to flow in and out, even if it does some damage to your stores. So while my lads are stripping off the copper, you will keep your men busy with your hatches open to make a pretty good clearance inside, so that we can work in there as well as out here." "Yes, yes," said the Count, who seemed to quite resign himself in full obedience to the skipper's wishes. "But you will use all the speed you can?" "You may trust me for that, sir," said Captain Chubb; for after two or three attempts in the early parts of the proceedings connected with the repairs, and saying Monsieur le Count, the blunt Englishman gave it up in favour of plain straightforward "sir," and stuck to it; while the titled captain seemed to like the Englishman none the less. "Now," said the captain, as he climbed back on to the sloping deck, following the others, "I didn't know that your brig would be so bad as this, but I had my suspicions, and when I have not been busy here I have been casting my eye round for a good crooked bit of timber that would make a ship's knee if I wanted one." "And do you know where there is one?" "Yes," said the skipper; "and I think it will make a very good makeshift, for the wood's as hard as hard. But what wouldn't I give for a good old crooked piece of Devon oak from out of Dartmoor Forest!" Shortly afterwards he had set the carpenter and his mates to strip off the copper sheathing, while he led off Joe Cross and another man about a quarter of a mile away from the river bank to where a huge pollard-like tree was growing at the edge of the forest, all gnarled and twisted in the most extraordinary way. The two lads had followed them, and Rodd looked at the selected tree aghast. "Why, you are never going to set the men to cut down that tree, captain?" he cried. "Why not, my lad? Do you know a better bit?" "Better bit!" cried Rodd. "Why, the men can hardly get through that with those axes. Most likely take them a fortnight--I might say a month." "Ah, well, I don't want it all. I am not going to load up the brig with a cargo of timber. I only want that big dwarf branch from low down there where it starts from close to the root; and you will mind and get that big elbow-like piece as long as you can, Joe Cross." "Ay, ay, sir! Just you mark out what you want, and we'll cut accordin'. Better take all the top off first, hadn't us?" "Why, of course, my lad. One of you use the saw while the other works away with an axe. You quite understand?" "Ay, ay, sir; me and my mate has seen a ship's knee afore now;" and rolling up their sleeves, they soon made the place echo with the blows of the axe, while the rasping harsh sound of the saw seemed to excite a flock of beautifully-plumaged parrots, which began to circle round the head of the tree, before finally settling amongst the branches uttering their sharp screeching cries, and giving vent to croaking barks, as if resenting this attack upon their domain. The carpenter and his men were meanwhile hard at work at the copper sheathing, making such progress that they were busy with their saws, dividing plank and trenail and working their way round the hole by the time the tide had risen sufficiently to drive them back, and then the Count and his party grouped themselves as best they could about their old quarters, looking despondently at what seemed like the beginning of a very hopeless wreck, a good deal of confidence being needed on their part to feel that all would come right in the end. Fortunately the tide during the next two or three days did not rise so high, and good progress was made, while, thanks to the way in which the French crew had worked, the damage done by the water as it flowed in through the gap that was made was principally confined to its leaving a thick deposit of mud. The doctor tried all he could to persuade the Count to take up his abode upon the schooner, and offered to accommodate as many men as he liked to bring with him, but he would not hear of it, and, as Rodd said laughingly to Morny, insisted upon living all upon one side and climbing instead of walking about the deck. Then all at once there was a surprise. It was on the third day, when Joe Cross and his mate had called in the aid of a couple more to help drag the ponderous roughed-out piece of crooked timber to the waterside ready for the carpenter and his men to work into shape with their adzes, and while the latter were slaving away at high pressure to get all possible done before they were stopped by the tide, that, in obedience to a shout from Captain Chubb, all the men of the schooner's crew hurried to their boat to get on board, while those of the brig hurried to their arms ready for any emergency. For coming up with the tide and round a bend of the river, a large three-masted schooner made its appearance with what seemed to be quite a large crew of well-armed men clustering forward, and apparently surprised at seeing that the river had its occupants already there. "What do you make of them, sir?" shouted the skipper through his speaking trumpet. "A foreigner--Spanish, I think," shouted back the Count, after lowering his spy-glass. "Same here, sir. Slaver, I think." The fact of her proving to be a slaver did not mean that an attack was looming in the future, but slaving vessels upon the West Coast of Africa bore a very bad reputation, and the preparations that were rapidly made did not promise much of a welcome. As the stranger drew near it was evident that busy preparations were being made there too, but in his brief colloquy with Uncle Paul the skipper grunted out that he did not think the foreign vessel meant to attack, but to be ready to take care of herself in case the English schooner tried to surprise her and make her a prize. "We ought to have taken the boat," he said, "and gone up. It seems to me that there must be a town up there somewhere--savage town, of course, belonging to some chief, for it aren't likely that there can be three of us all coming out here into this river on a scientific cruise. Two's curious enough, English and French, but a Spaniel won't do at all. For that's what she is, sir, plain enough. Well, if she means fight, sir, you mean business, I suppose?" "Of course," said the doctor sternly; "and I am quite sure that we can depend upon the Count's help." "Ay, ay, sir; but it's a bad job the brig can't manoeuvre at all." "But I should say," said the doctor, "that when these men see how firm we are and well prepared, they will prove peaceable enough." As it proved in a short time after colours had been hoisted, those of the French brig being raised upon a spare spar, the stranger came steadily on in the most peaceable way till the tide had carried her within reasonable distance of the schooner's anchorage, when an order rang out, an anchor was lowered with a splash, and as she swung slowly round, a light boat was dropped from the davits, and a swarthy-looking Spaniard, who seemed to be an officer if not the skipper of the swift-looking raking craft, had himself rowed alongside the schooner. A brief colloquy took place in which questions and answers freely passed, Captain Chubb speaking out frankly as to the object of their mission there, an avowal hardly necessary, for the appearance of the brig with the newly-cut hole, and her position, told its own story. The Spanish skipper, for so he proved to be, was just as free in his announcements as soon as he found that the brig and schooner were friendly vessels, and began to explain that he was on a trading expedition, that there was a king of the country up there, a great black chief, who had a large town, and that he came from time to time with stores to barter, which he always did with great advantage, going away afterwards pretty well laden with palm-oil and sundries, which the blacks always had waiting for his annual visit, these sundries including, he said, with a meaning laugh, ostrich feathers, choice dye woods, ivory, and a little gold. He spoke strongly accented but very fair English, and made no scruple about coming on board the schooner and examining her critically as he talked. "I thought at first, captain, that you had found out my private trading port and were going to be a rival;" whereupon the doctor began chatting freely with him and asking questions about the natural products of the place; and Rodd listened eagerly, drinking in the replies made by the Spanish captain as soon as he thoroughly realised the object of the schooner's visit and the bearing of the doctor's questions. He soon became eagerly communicative regarding the wild beasts that haunted the forests, the serpents that were found of great size, the leopards and other wild cats that might be shot for their skins, the beauty of the plumage of the birds, and above all the wondrous size of the apes that haunted the trees. "There's gold too to be washed out of the soil," he said, looking hard at Rodd; "but don't you touch it. Leave that to the blacks." "Why?" said Rodd. "Because," said the man, shaking a fore-finger at him, upon which was a thick gold ring, "the white men who turn up the wet earth to wash it out get fever." "But," said the doctor, "we have not come gold-hunting. And so there are great apes in these forests? Have you seen them?" "Oh, yes," said the Spanish captain. "I have been coming here for ten years, and never saw another vessel up here before--only the big canoes of the blacks. Why, I could take you into the forest and show you plenty of beautiful birds and flowers, and all kinds of wonders." "But the forest seems to be impassable," put in Rodd. "Yes," said the Spaniard, with a laugh--"to those who don't know their way. Higher up there are small rivers which run into this, where boats can go up and get to where the trees are not all crowded together, but more open like this patch here," he continued, waving his hand to where the forest retired back. "There are sluggish streams where you can wander for days, and camp ashore, and shoot all kinds of things. I used to at one time, when it was all new to me; and I collected skins and sent them to Cadiz and other European cities, where they sold well. But I have given all that up long enough. The black king--bah!--chief--he's only a savage. He makes his people collect the palm-oil and other things for me, and I load up and take them back." "Then you would make a good guide," said the doctor. "I, captain?" said the man eagerly. "Oh yes. A man could not come here for ten years, and stay a month or two each time, without getting to know the country well." "I suppose not. But this is the captain. I am only a doctor, travelling to make discoveries." "Ah, a doctor!" cried the Spaniard eagerly. "Then you will help me and one or two of my men! Yes? I will pay you well." "Oh," said the doctor quietly, "if I can help you, or any one with you who needs assistance, I will do so, of course. I want no pay, but I might ask you to guide me and my nephew here in a little expedition or two into the forest." "Uncle," said Rodd quickly, "we mustn't leave the Count and Morny." "Well, well," said the doctor, "we'll see about that." "I am glad to know you, Senor Medico," said the Spaniard, patting on the stiffness of the formal Don and bowing profoundly, "and I will gladly help you in any way I can. But I am only a poor trader, and glad to do any business I can when I meet a strange ship that has needs. Do you want powder? I see you have guns," he said sharply. "Oh yes," said the doctor. "One never knows what enemies one may meet with among savage people; so we are well-armed, and as you see have a good crew." "Yes, yes," said the Spaniard, looking sharply round. "But I thank you. We have plenty of powder." "So have I," said the Spaniard. "The black chief is always glad to buy it, and guns too. That is my money--that and rum. Those will always buy palm-oil. But I have plenty of ship stores; canvas, oakum, and pitch. You are mending the other ship, I see. Can I sell you some?" "I thank you, no," said the doctor. "We are well supplied, I think, with everything; and in reply, if there is anything you want that we can supply to you I shall be pleased." "Then I should like a few canisters of your good English powder." "Thought you said you'd plenty," said Captain Chubb gruffly. The Spaniard closed his eyes slowly till they were like two narrow slits, and he gave the skipper a meaning nod. "Yes," he said significantly, "I have plenty. It is good for the black man's guns. But if you fired it from yours--pff! It makes much smoke, and the barrel very wet, and the shot do not go too far. But the black men know no better. I do. Ha, ha! You will let me have a few pounds for my own pistols?" "And that long gun of yours too?" said the skipper. "Yes," said the Spaniard. "As your medico says, one never knows what savage people one may meet. It is good too behind a bullet for our friends here in the river. You have seen them?" He put his wrists together with his palms closed, and then slowly opened them widely in imitation of a crocodile's jaws, and closed them with a snap. "Oh yes," said Rodd, "we have met them, and found out how horny their skins are." "Ugh! Beasts!" said the Spaniard. "Last time I was here they swept two of my men out of a boat, and I never saw them more. We caught some fish as we came up the river, at the mouth. _Adios, senores_; I will send you some. We shall meet again. I do not hurry for some days, for I am before my time." "How far is it up to the town?" asked Captain Chubb. "Three days' journey. This is a great river, and the water is deep right up into the country till you reach the mountains, far beyond the town." "Well," said the doctor, "let's go ashore, Rodd, and tell the Count. We didn't bargain for this, eh, captain?" "No," said the skipper gruffly, as he watched the departing boat, after ordering the crew back into their own so as to row the doctor and his nephew to the brig. "Well, Rodd," continued the doctor, "it would be a grand chance for us to have some expeditions with a good guide. What do you think of the Spanish captain?" "Don't like him at all, uncle. There's a nasty, catty, foxy look about him." "A mixture of the feline and the canine, eh, my boy? Well, he must be a bad one! Ah! British prejudice is as strong in you as it is in me." _ |
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