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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 45. Storm Waters |
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_ CHAPTER FORTY FIVE. STORM WATERS In the intervals between the almost incessant peals of thunder Joe Cross informed the lads that the storm had been coming on for the last three hours, faint and distant at first, the merest mutterings, and gradually increasing till it was the terrific tempest now raging. "They must have had it horrid, sir, somewhere, only I don't suppose there's no people. What we had before was nothing to it." "There," cried the doctor, "something must be done to the boat in the way of making it thoroughly secure." "Can't be no securer, sir. We've got her moored head and stern to a tree, and two grapnels down as well." "Capital," cried the doctor. "Well thought of! But we must have the sail and some of the canvas that we have got here spread over the boat to keep the water out." "That's done, sir, as far as the stuff would go, and now I want what we have got up here, before the rain comes." "Down with it at once," said the doctor; and in an incredibly short space of time the tent was struck, what they had ashore was transferred to the boat, and she was covered in as much as was possible. And none too soon, for the party had only just embarked when a few heavy drops of rain came pattering down upon the tightened canvas, soon increasing to quite a deluge, but, with the peculiarity of a tropic storm, just when it was beginning to try the canvas and threatening to soak the interior of the boat, it ceased almost instantaneously, and they sat listening to the rushing sound of the rain as it swept over the forest, rapidly growing more distant till it died away. "Gone!" cried Rodd excitedly. "We didn't want any more troubles, and it would have been dreadful to have been wet through again." "Don't be too hopeful, my boy," said Uncle Paul. "That may only be the advance guard of a far worse storm. It seems too much to think this is the end." "It might be all, sir," said Joe Cross, "for it's been an awful bad 'un, going on for hours in the distance." "Then we shall be having the water rise again," cried Uncle Paul. "Yes, sir; that's what I thought," replied the man, "and why I moored the boat so fast." "Quite right," cried the doctor, "for likely enough we shall be having the water coming down from far away, and we must hold on here at any cost, or we shall be lost again." "What time do you suppose it is, Joe?" asked Rodd. "Wants about a couple of hours to daylight, sir." "Morning!" cried the lads together. "Ah, then it will be easier to bear!" During the rest of the darkness it was evident that the storm had passed over them. There were a few distant mutterings of thunder and little flickerings of lightning which grew fainter and fainter, to die away in the west. The sailors crept out from beneath their awning on to the sand, and were able to announce that the river had only risen a few inches, and the rain that had fallen had rapidly soaked in and drained off, while a pleasant cool air swept briskly over them from the east, heralding a fresh bright dawn, which came at last with all the promise of a glorious day. With some difficulty a fire was started, but once begun the men soon contrived to get up sufficient for the hurried breakfast; the canvas was struck where necessary, and the rest spread to dry in the coming sunshine; and then all being ready for their next start, the doctor consulted with the coxswain, who after a little pressing gave his opinion as to what would be the best course to take. "You see, sir," he said, "I have been thinking that I could get us back to our last camping-place; I mean, before we came here." "Well, that's what we all thought before, Joe," cried Rodd pettishly. "Wait, Rodney, my boy, and let Cross finish," said the doctor. "I've about done, sir," said the man. "What Mr Rodd says is quite true, but he aren't quite got what I mean. You see, sir, when we come up here with the Spanish skipper aboard I sat astarn steering, and when we went away again I had hold of the tiller once more, same as before." "Well, we know that," said Rodd shortly. "Be silent, Rodney!" cried the doctor. "Go on, Cross." "Well, sir, when we come I was looking this 'ere way; when we started back I was looking t'other way. Now it seems to me, now we are going to start again, if instead of sitting astarn and looking straight forward, if I was to go and sit right in the bows and left somebody else to steer while I looked over his head, I should be looking up both sides of the river just as it was when we were coming, and I should see the landmarks again as I saw them when we were coming here, and consekently I should know my way better, and I don't think I should miss the next landing-place again." "Yes, I see what you mean," cried Rodd excitedly. "Why, to be sure, Joe! Don't you see, uncle?" "Yes," cried the doctor. "Quite right, Cross. We will start at once, going as slowly as we can, and we will, all but the steersman, ride backwards, keep a sharp look-out, and help.--What's the matter, Morny?" For the young Frenchman had suddenly started up in the boat, to stand peering in the direction that they were about to take, and held up his hand as if to command silence. "What's that?" cried Rodd, leaping up too. "What?" asked the doctor. "Sounds like distant roaring of some kind of wild beast, sir," said one of the men. "That it aren't, messmate," said Joe, who had also risen to his feet, and stood with his hand behind his ear. "It's another storm coming. Nay, it aren't. It's all bright and clear that way. Why, it's water, gentlemen, coming with a rush from just the way we want to go." "Impossible!" cried the doctor. "Why, it would be against the stream." "I don't care, sir, begging your pardon. I've been in the Trent and the Severn and the Wye. It was only when I was a boy, but I recollect right enough. It's what they used to call a bore, with a great wave of water coming up the river like a flood and washing all before it." "Had we better land?" cried the doctor. "And lose our boat, sir? No. Be smart, my lads. It can't be very far away. All eight of you, oars out, and we must keep our head to it so as we can ride over the big wave and let it pass under us. I don't suppose there will be much of it. It's a sort of flood water coming down from yonder after the storm, and it will soon be over. Don't you worry about it, gentlemen. It will be nothing to a big wave at sea." The men made ready with all the discipline of a trained crew, and heads were turned in the direction of the increasing sound, while it seemed hard to believe, in the midst of the brilliant sunshine, with the smooth river gliding onwards as if to meet the supposed wave, that there could be anything wrong. The expected danger had seemed to be close at hand, but it had been far more distant than the party had supposed, for the roar went on steadily increasing, but with no other suggestion of peril save the noise, though that was enough to make the stoutest-hearted there quail. It seemed an age, but was certainly less than an hour, before the dull heavy roar began to be mingled with a strange crashing and breaking sound which puzzled all, till the coxswain, who was standing up in the bows, boat-hook in hand, announced that it was the breaking of trees and crashing together of their branches as they were being torn up by the roots. "Impossible!" said the doctor impatiently. "Nay, sir, it aren't," said the man. "I don't mean the big trees, but the little 'uns along the banks; and it's getting close here, sir. It's a big flood, that's what it is, coming down from the mountains, for there must be some inland. There! Look yonder. Can't you see the trees beginning to wave? It's just as if a lake had broke loose and was coming sweeping over the country. You, Harry Briggs, hold fast to that tiller. You others, look at your work, and pull. Turn your heads, you lubbers! I'll do all the looking out. And when I say row, every mother's son of you pull for his life." Joe Cross's words were beginning to sound indistinct before he had finished, half-smothered as they were by the increasing roar, as from far down the river a dark line of something could be seen rising some six or eight feet like a huge bank extending right across the river and apparently into the forest on both sides. For as far as eye could reach the trees seemed to be in a strange state of agitation, the lower branches bending towards the party in the boat, as if beneath the blast of a tremendous gale. "Sit fast, boys, every one!" yelled Joe; but he stood upright himself, and the next minute with a wild rush a great bank of water was upon them, seeming to come with a leap and dash, to plunge beneath the boat's bows as if to toss her on high and roll her over and over in the flood. But as it struck them the trained men sat for a moment or two, till in little more than a whisper above the roar of water, Joe Cross's voice was heard to give the order "Pull," when seven balanced oars dipped together, and the bows began to sink. The men got well hold of the water, and after three or four rapid tugs the boat sat level once more upon the surface of the flood, obeyed her helm, and though being carried rapidly along stern on, she shipped very little water, and in a very few minutes the greater peril was passed. The crashing roar and rush of the water was almost deafening, but Joe retained his upright position and signalled with one hand to the steersman, while he followed suit to the rowers, who kept up a steady pull against the furious stream, with the result that now the boat sped on stern foremost at the same rate as the flood. But the frail craft was exposed to endless risks as the water rushed along between the two great walls of verdure which marked out the devious winding course of the river. Time after time they were within an ace of being swept amidst the boughs of some towering tree; at others they were brushing over the tops of the shrub-like growth; and yet amidst the many dangers the crew never flinched, but kept on for hour after hour, head to stream, with the boat always being borne onward along straight reaches and round winding curves which looped and almost doubled back, till at last the violence of the flood grew less, leaving them more and more behind, till the greatest danger was over and the speed at which they glided was reduced to nearly half that of the first rush of the flood. Another hour passed, and they were still gliding on, and now as they were swept into a wider reach, it was plain to see how the whole forest was flooded on either side, apparently to the depth of some six or eight feet, as near as the coxswain could judge. Four times over he had drawn attention to the fact that they were passing the entrances to similar rivers to that down which they sped, one of them being remarkable for the fact that a portion of their stream set right into it, while from the others it glided out in the opposite way. Soon afterwards, with a little clever scheming, the boat was guided into an eddy where the water swirled round comparatively slack; and here her head was turned and she resumed her strange journey onward in the normal way. The men's labour too now had pretty well ceased, only a dip or two of the oars being required occasionally to keep the boat's head straight and make her answer her helm. And now conversation became more general. The danger being evidently over, one man hazarded a joke, something about a near shave, while another said it was a pity because they would have all this 'ere work to go over again. Joe Cross heard the remark, and this started him talking, as he laid down his boat-hook and wiped his streaming face. "Yes, Mr Rodd," he said, "you wanted to come farther up the river, and here you have had it. Well, I suppose when the flood's spread all over it will do same as they always does, begin to drain off again and carry us back. But I am afraid, Dr Robson, sir, that I must give up what I undertook to do." "What?" cried the doctor. "Ride back'ards, sir, and find the way out of this wet cat's-cradle of a place. I am very sorry, sir." "Sorry!" cried the doctor cheerily. "My good fellow, what you have done during the last few hours has earned the lasting gratitude of us all." "Has it, sir?" said the man, staring. "Why?" "Haven't you saved all our lives," cried the doctor, "by your clever management of the boat?" "Oh, that's what you mean, sir! But you must play fair, sir. You mustn't blame me for that. Part on it's my being on board a man-of-war; part on it's due to Captain Chubb. So you must thank him." The doctor smiled, and noting this absence of anxiety, Rodd broke out with-- "I say, uncle, Morny's starving. Isn't it time we had something to eat?" "Oh, Rodd!" cried Morny. "Yes, of course," replied the doctor. "See what you can do, cook, at once. But surely, Cross, some of the men might lay in their oars?" "Yes, sir, and if it goes on like this I don't see that we need let this flood keep on carrying us farther away. There's a nice wind, and not so much washed-out wood afloat. I am thinking I might have the sail hoisted and begin to sail back. But my word, look here: how we are widening out, sir! Look ahead yonder. It's getting 'most like a lake. Perhaps it is one." "No," cried Rodd; "it's the river still. Look yonder at the forest right along the bank." "Yes, sir, but I was looking at the forest on both sides here where we are. Why, we are running into another river. It aren't a lake, but it's ten times as big as this one that we've been spinning along, and-- Well! it's a rum 'un! No; it's unpossible." "What's impossible?" cried Rodd sharply, and all gazed at the sailor, who sat looking forward, holding on by one ear and scratching the other. "Why, this 'ere, Mr Rodd, sir. Just you look, Dr Robson, and see what you think on it." "Of what, my man?" "Why, this 'ere, sir, what I am asking you of. Can't you see, Mr Rodd, sir?" "I can see that we are gliding out of a muddy stream covered with green twigs and great tufts of jungle grass, into a big river flowing right across us and all thick with what seems to be a different-coloured mud." "That's right, sir; and didn't you see that splash, just as far off as you could look?" "No, Joe." "Would you mind lending me that there glass of yourn, sir?" said Joe to the doctor, who passed the little field-glass to the man, whose hands trembled as he focussed it to suit his eye, and he once more stood up in the boat and swept the water as far as he could see. "Thank you, sir," he said, handing it back. "Perhaps you would like to have a look yourself. But it's all right, gentlemen, and my lads. Them's crocs out yonder, and we have been washed out into the big river again with no more trouble; and if we don't see our brig and our schooner again before many hours, why, my name aren't Joe!" _ |
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