Adrift on the Pacific: A Boys [sic] Story of the Sea and its Perils

CHAPTER XVIII
A VISIT FROM SHORE

In the meantime Abram Storms was acting the part of a vigilant sentinel at his station on deck.

There was no doubt in his mind that the mutineers were fearful the schooner would sail away and leave them on the lonely coral island, and they were certain, as he viewed it, to make some effort to prevent such a disaster to them. But precisely how this was to be done was a serious question. They knew that the captain, having reached the Coral, had several rifles at command, and would not hesitate to shoot them the instant any attempt was made against him or little Inez, under his charge.

Nothing was more certain than that an unremitting watch would be kept upon the Coral, and, though they might believe there was but the single man there, yet unquestionably he commanded the situation.

“They will try some trick,” muttered the mate; “but I shall have a very small opinion of myself if they win. Pomp Cooper’s affection for Inez led him to interfere, when his interference accomplished a good deal more than he imagined. Ah!”

At that moment the mate heard a ghostly “Halloo!” from the shore, and he recognized the voice as belonging to Pomp.

“Just as I suspected,” said Storms, to himself; “they’re using the negro as a cat’s-paw. Well, I’ll see what they are driving at.”

Imitating the tones of Captain Bergen as closely as possible, the mate shouted:

“What do you want?”

“Am you dere?” was the rather superfluous question.

“Yes.”

“Won’t you let me come on board?”

“What for?”

“I’m sick ob dis business. I hab quarreled wid Redvig an’ Brazzier, an’ I want to jine you an’ git away from dis place.”

Abe Storms was not deceived for a moment by this transparent story. He knew there had been no quarrel, but that the mutineers had planned to get the negro on the schooner with the hope of deceiving the captain and gaining a chance to overpower him when off his guard.

“Come on out here, then,” replied the mate, who quickly determined his course of action.

Almost at the same instant a loud splash was heard, and the head of Pomp was descried in the moonlight, swimming toward the boat. The mate kept himself concealed as much as he could, stepping back when the negro began clambering up the fore-chains. Panting from his exertion, he speedily came over the gunwale upon the deck.

“Yes, cap’in, I’s tired ob dem willains, an’ I’m gwine–Oh! oh! oh!”

At that instant his eyes fell upon the figure of the mate, clad in his diving-armor, with the exception of his face, which was so clearly revealed in the moonlight that there could be no mistaking his identity.

Worse than that, the mate, standing as rigid as iron, had a gleaming revolver pointed straight at him. Pomp sank on his knees in the most abject terror.

“Oh, my heben!” he chattered, clasping his hands, “I t’ought dat you was drowned. Am you sartin dat you ain’t?”

“I am quite well satisfied on that point. But, Pomp, get up; I’ve got a word or two to say to you.”

“I will, I will; but please p’int dat weepon some oder way.”

The mate complied, and the African, somewhat reassured, though still considerably frightened, listened to the words of the man who he supposed was drowned hours before.

“I am alive and well, Pomp, as you can see, and so is the captain, who is taking a short nap in the cabin. We are well armed, as you know–”

“Yas! yas! yas!” chattered the negro.

“And we can sail away in the morning, at the turning of the tide, and leave you here–”

“Dat’s what I want you to do, an’ I’ll go wid you.”

“You can’t go! I know well enough what you came out here for. You thought you would find a chance to get the upper hand of the captain, and would let the other villains on board. There! you needn’t deny it. I understand the matter too well to be deceived.”

“Didn’t I sabe de cap’in’s life?” quavered Pomp, still fearful of the cold, measured tones of the mate.

“You befriended him at a critical moment, and therefore I won’t shoot you, when I have such a good chance to do so. But you have regretted your interference more than once, and you are seeking now to undo all the good you have done. We have it in our power not only to go away, but to bring back a force which shall hang every one of you three, as you deserve to be, but–”

“Oh! oh-o-o-o!”

“But we don’t propose to do it. We are not going away to leave you here. To-morrow we shall have a proposal to offer to your mates, which they will be glad to accept. That is about all I have to say to you.”

CHAPTER XIX
THE DEPARTURE

As Mate Storms said, he had but little more communication to make with the negro.

“You may now swim back to your friends and say that we will be ready to negotiate to-morrow morning. If they will come down to the shore, we will have a talk and arrange the whole business. Now, perhaps, you had better go back.”

Pomp Cooper was quick-witted enough to understand that this utterance was in the nature of a hint for him to depart, and he stood not on the order of his going.

“Good-by, sah,” he called out. “Much obleege fo’ your kindness, dat I shall remember a good while.”

Mate Storms stood motionless, watching him until he was perhaps a hundred feet from the craft, when he said, just loud enough to be heard:

“Sharks are mighty plenty hereabout, and I saw a big one yesterday. Shouldn’t wonder if he has a leg bit off before he gets back.”

Pomp heard the words, and they “disturbed” him, to put it mildly. Evidently he had forgotten the peril to which all persons are exposed in tropical waters, and, as the truth was impressed upon him with such suddenness, he uttered a “whiff” like a porpoise and began swimming with fierce energy toward the shore. In fact, he never put forth so much effort in all his life. The expectation of feeling a huge man-eating monster gliding beneath you when in the water is enough to shake the nerves of the strongest swimmer. He kept diving and swimming as far as he could below the surface, and then came up and continued his desperate efforts until he reached the land, where he joined his companions.

Abe Storms stood looking and listening, his face expanded in a broad smile, when he heard a light laugh at his elbow. Turning his head, he found the captain there.

“I heard your summons to him,” said the captain, by way of explanation, “and I came up to hear what it meant. I must admit, you managed the case well.”

“It might have been worse. My only fear is that the imps won’t believe we honestly intend to hold the conference with them, and offer a compromise.”

“They will find it out at daylight, and meanwhile they can’t help themselves. It is useless for me to stay below, Abe,” added the nervous captain. “There’s too much on my mind to sleep.”

Therefore, the two remained on watch until the sun rose, at which time there was nothing to be seen of the mutineers.

“They’re suspicious,” concluded the mate, who called out, in a loud voice that reached every portion of the island:

“Hello, men! come and show yourselves. We want to have a talk with you!”

A few minutes later Hyde Brazzier appeared on the shore and answered back again. It was deemed best to give the mutineers a proof of their sincerity, and instead, therefore, of holding the conversation from the deck of the schooner, the small boat was lowered, and both the captain and mate entered it and rowed ashore, where all three awaited them, as may be supposed, with some degree of astonishment.

Storms and Captain Bergen were not without some misgivings, and they did not venture unprepared into the lion’s den. Both carried a loaded revolver at command, and in case of an attack the business would have been lively. But it was unreasonable to suppose that our friends would be assailed under the peculiar circumstances. Furthermore, as the parties understood each other, there was no time wasted in reproaches or recriminations, but Captain Bergen came directly to the point.

“This state of things can’t last,” said he; “we are deadly enemies, and we would kill each other on the slightest pretext. The island is too small to contain us all. Either you three or we two must leave before the sun reaches meridian, or we shall go to fighting like caged tigers. Neither can we go away together, for I would not trust any of you again, nor would you trust either of us; therefore, one party must go, and the other must stay–which shall it be? We were prepared to leave, when we reflected that if we should be caught in some of the storms which sweep over this region, the mate and I would hardly be able to manage the schooner, and we are anxious to take care of the little girl, to whom we are greatly attached. There are three of you, all able-bodied seamen, and in case of a tempest you would be able to navigate the Coral. It would be safer, therefore, for you to take the vessel and go to some of the ports, secure assistance and send them after us. We make, therefore, this proposition: We will turn over the schooner to you, on condition that you leave with us such stores as we may choose to take, and that you proceed at once to the nearest of the inhabited Paumotu Islands and send assistance to us. Furthermore, as you know all about the pearl-oysters, we will agree to divide with you. You can take up half of what are on the bed out yonder, and you may carry them away with you, leaving a moiety to us. You are to sail just as soon as the oysters are placed on board. That’s our proposition–what do you say?”

There could be no doubt that the mutineers were astonished by the generosity of the offer, coming, as it did, from those who were in reality masters of the situation.

Had they been a little more cunning, they might have suspected there was something behind it all, which was kept carefully out of sight; but the terms were so good that Brazzier answered, the instant the question was put to him:

“We’ll do it, and carry out our part fair and square.”

“Very well; there’s no need of delay. We’ll bring the schooner inshore and take out what we want, and then turn the craft over to you.”

This amazing programme was carried out to the letter. Captain and mate, accompanied by Pomp, rowed back in the small boat, and the schooner was carefully worked toward the shore.

Abe Storms and Captain Bergen saw that among the possibilities of the future was a long stay on the lonely island, and they therefore prepared for such a contingency, having an eye mainly to securing that which little Inez would be likely to need. Pomp informed the officers that there was a small cabin a short distance away, which had no doubt been put up by the sailors of whom Grebbens had told the captain. It was made of planking that had come ashore from the wreck, and the fact that it had stood so long proved that it must have been built with much skill as well as strength.

It was found just as represented by Pomp–there being two compartments, each a dozen feet or so square, and one of these was so well put together that it seemed to be waterproof. Our friends were greatly surprised and pleased over the discovery, for Grebbens had never said anything about the structure.

The goods from the Coral were carried to this building and deposited in the rear room, which was so tight that one would have almost suffocated had he remained in it during the tropical weather which prevails among the Paumotu Islands most of the time.

The goods stowed there were of a varied assortment, including the three breech-loading rifles, ammunition, tool-chest and contents, a portion of the medicine-chest, some biscuits, cooking utensils, and a trunk of calicoes, linens and materials such as are used in the making of feminine costumes. It was a singular coincidence that Abe Storms had provided a considerable quantity of this before leaving San Francisco, knowing as he did the fondness of savages for such finery, and having a suspicion that it might be turned to good account in the way of barter in some of the South Sea islands. Little did he suspect the use to which it would be put, and thankful indeed was he that it was at his command, when it was so likely to be needed for Inez Hawthorne.

There was a goodly amount of stock, which was transferred to the cabin, the mutineers assisting with the rest, for all felt there was no time to lose. There was mistrust at first, each party seeming to be suspicious of the other, but it soon wore off, and any one looking upon them could not have been made to believe they were deadly enemies.

When the transfer was completed, it was evident that the current was close upon its turn, and unless they should leave the island soon, they would be compelled to wait perhaps twelve or twenty-four hours longer.

Since the sea was very calm, Hyde Brazzier proposed that the schooner should be taken outside and anchored directly over the pearl-oyster bed, so that sail could be hoisted as soon as they were ready. There was a slight risk in the action, but it was done, and after some careful maneuvering the Coral was secured in position.

It looked very magnanimous and somewhat stupid for Abe Storms to volunteer to go down in his coat of armor and scoop the oysters into a huge basket, for the very parties who had tried so hard to drown him when similarly engaged the day before. Nothing, it would seem, could be more absurd, and yet the reader is requested to suspend judgment until he shall have read the following chapter.

All this was done, and in the course of the succeeding two hours fully three-fourths of the oysters scattered over that particular bed were dumped upon the deck of the Coral, and Abe Storms, pretty well exhausted, was pulled to the surface. The captain and mate, with the armor, rowed themselves the short distance ashore in the small boat. The Coral hoisted sail, and, heading out to sea, rapidly sped away over the Pacific.

And all this time the three mutineers felicitated themselves upon the manner in which they had gotten the best of the bargain. And yet, never in all their lives had they been so completely outwitted as they were by Abe Storms and Captain Jack Bergen, as we shall now proceed to show.

CHAPTER XX
HOW DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND

The three mutineers on board the schooner Coral had sailed away and disappeared from view on the face of the vast Pacific, and the captain and mate were left with little Inez alone upon a small, lonely member of the Paumotu Group, in the distant South Seas.

Inez was too young to realize the gravity of the situation, and she ran hither and thither, delighted with her new home, though she found the cabin too warm inside to be comfortable, and she made frequent draughts upon the spring of cool, clear water near which the former residents of the atoll had built the cabin. Then, too, she had found that there was considerable tropical fruit growing in the place, and she made such havoc among it that Captain Bergen felt impelled to caution her, if she should become sick on their hands, she would be apt to fare ill, for they had little medicine at command.

While she was thus engaged, captain and mate were reclining on the ground, in the shade of the palm-trees. They spoke only now and then, but there was a peculiar expression on their faces as they watched the schooner gradually disappearing in the distance, for it was a long while in sight. The time came at last, however, when even their straining vision could not detect the faintest resemblance to a sail in the horizon, though it was still visible, as a matter of course, through their glasses.

“I believe she is gone,” said Storms, looking toward the captain.

“Yes; I see nothing of her.”

“Then it’s about time to shake.”

The two brawny hands clasped, and the friends greeted each other with remarkable cordiality; and, as they did so, they laughed heartily, and the mate almost shouted:

“Captain, but it was a good trick!”

“So it was; and I give you the credit of inventing it. I never would have thought of it.”

“Shake again; and now to work.”

The mate had deposited some of the oysters brought up on the bank, and they were carefully opened. They were eight in number, and there was not found a single pearl among them.

In all probability the entire lot which were carried away upon the schooner were not worth as much as the same quantity of bivalves from Chesapeake Bay. In short, this was not the pearl-oyster bed which had brought the two friends the greater part of the way around the globe. Suspecting–or, rather, knowing–the evil intentions of the mutineers, Abe Storms proposed the ruse, by which the visit was made to the wrong place. The mutineers themselves were outwitted, and, under the belief that they were carrying away a cargo of fabulous wealth, they did not wait to make an examination of the mollusks until they were well out to sea.

When they should open and examine them they were not likely to suspect the trick, but would think that the whole journey was a failure, and the three left on the island were, in reality, worse off than themselves.

And yet the true bed of oyster-pearls remained to be visited.

“It is possible they may suspect something and come back again,” said the mate, “but it is hardly probable.”

“Are they likely to send any friends to take us off?” asked the captain, with a quizzical look.

“Not to any great extent. They will be sure to give us as wide a berth hereafter as possible. In the meantime, I propose that we investigate.”

The two rose to their feet, and, lugging the armor between them, moved off toward a point whose location was as well known to them as if they had spent years upon the atoll.

While they were thus walking, the mate, who was much the better-educated man, said:

“This pearl-hunting is a curious business. Those specimens that I brought up were the genuine species, and yet they have very few or no pearls among them. It must be because the conditions are not favorable for their creation or development, while, at the place we are about to visit, the mollusks are the same, and yet there are conditions existing there which cause an abnormal growth of the precious jewels.”

“Did you make a careful examination of those other oysters?”

“Yes. As I told you, they are genuine, but they have no pearls of any account, the conditions being unfavorable for their formation. You know the pearls grow within the oysters, being composed of slimy secretions deposited around some foreign substance that enters them. It may be that a peculiar action of the tide drives a grain of sand into the mollusks, where we are to visit–though that is all conjecture.”

But Mate Storms, who was only fairly launched out in the discourse upon pearls, was here interrupted by the captain exclaiming:

“This must be the spot.”

The particular bank had been designated so clearly that there could be no mistake, and had the chart, or map, fallen into the hands of the mutineers, they would have discovered the trick played on them in an instant. The spot was a peculiar one where the two friends stopped. Instead of being partly landlocked like the other, it opened out fairly upon the sea, and appeared to be entirely unprotected from the force of the breakers, which boomed against the beach.

It would have been supposed naturally that the true course was for the fishermen to go out in a small boat, and make their explorations from that, but Grebbens had instructed the captain that the formation was so peculiar that nothing would be gained by this course. The shore sank like the side of a wall to a considerable depth, and the oysters lay on the bottom, with some clusters clinging to the rocks, where they could be torn off like sponges.

It can be understood that the work of removing these would be almost impossible for any one excepting a professional diver, unless, as was the case with our friends, he should have some artificial assistance. But for the diving-armor, it is hardly possible that Abe Storms would have made a serious attempt to secure anything, knowing the danger from sharks, and the difficulty of retaining his breath for any extended time below the surface of the water.

It was near the middle of the afternoon when this spot was reached. The sea was calm, but there were signs in the sky ominous of a coming storm, so that the two were anxious to make a beginning without any unnecessary delay. Stooping almost upon their faces, when the swell had receded enough to permit them, they peered down into the crystal depths, and caught shadowy glimpses of the prizes. They saw the craggy clusters, big and brown, clinging to the rocks, while others were outlined on the floor of the bank.

“They’re there, beyond a doubt,” said Storms, “and it now remains to see whether they are worth the gathering. Help me get on this suit.”

Both worked deftly, and it was soon adjusted. The main thing was the breathing apparatus, Storms having some fear that at such a depth the pressure would be so great as to close the pipes, and thus shut out the air. However, the only way to learn was by experiment, and he did not wait. Carefully coiling his pipe, he took the rope in his hand and began descending, the two having arranged the signals so that with ordinary care no accident need result. Captain Bergen held one end of the rope in his hand, ready to draw his friend to the surface the instant he should receive notice that it was necessary.

“It is a long way to the bottom!” exclaimed the captain, standing like the harpooner in a whale-boat, and saw the line steadily paying out.

“It won’t do for him to go much further,” was his conclusion, noticing, with some alarm, that but little more of the hose was left on the ground. “I wish those pearls had fixed themselves not quite–Hello!”

He knew from the instant cessation of the weight on the rope, and the motionless condition of the hose, that the bottom had been reached by Abe Storms, and none too soon, either. Peering carefully into the clear depths, Captain Bergen saw, too, that his mate was attending to business.