In his turn the first luff peered long and earnestly through the tube.

At length, lowering it from his eye, he said:

"It is rather difficult to speak with absolute a.s.surance, sir, for the sea breaks so violently over her that it is almost impossible to get a sight of the whole of her hull at any given moment; still I am inclined to say that not only is her back broken, but that she has actually parted in two amidships. If you will look at her very carefully I think you will agree with me that her hull shows a distinct twist, and that her after-end has a much heavier list than her bows."

At this moment eight bells struck, and as the midshipman who was to relieve me was already on deck, and as I was pretty nearly wet through with the spray that the frigate was now throwing over herself in drenching showers, I went below to change and to get a cup of hot coffee.

The two succeeding hours, const.i.tuting the first dog-watch, brought a material change for the worse in the condition of the weather; for while the haze had cleared away, enabling us to see the land distinctly to leeward, some six miles distant, the wind had increased to such an extent that sail had been reduced to close-reefed topsails and reefed courses, while the sea had risen in proportion and was now so heavy that the frigate was literally smothering herself forward at every plunge.

The fact was that she was being terribly over-driven; yet the skipper had no alternative. He dared not relieve the ship of another inch of canvas, for we were on a lee-sh.o.r.e, and embayed, the land astern curving out to windward so far that its farthest visible projection bore a full point on our weather quarter, while our charts told us that beyond that point the dreaded Penmarks stretched out still farther to windward.

Moreover it was almost as bad ahead, for although Point du Raz, some seven miles distant, then bore nearly three points on the lee-bow, we knew that stretching out to seaward from that point there was a dangerous reef, with only a comparatively narrow pa.s.sage between it and the equally dangerous reef stretching out to the southward and eastward from the Isle de Seins, and it was an open question whether we should be able to fetch that pa.s.sage and pa.s.s through it. To all appearance Captain Vava.s.sour was perfectly calm and collected, yet he looked decidedly grave, and I thought it seemed rather portentous that the master should be his companion. The latter appeared to be doing most of the talking, and it was clear to see that he at least was distinctly anxious. At length, apparently by way of reply to a few words from the Captain, he went below and, a minute or two later, returned to the deck with his chart under his arm; then, with a long look into the binnacle, he and the skipper pa.s.sed into the cabin together. I immediately seized the opportunity to take a squint myself at the compa.s.s, noting the exact bearing of the point on the lee-bow and the direction in which the ship was heading. Then I went down below into the midshipmen's berth, where Maxwell, the master's-mate, was laboriously endeavouring to translate some French book with the aid of a grammar and a dictionary.

"Here, drop that, Maxwell," I exclaimed, "and let us have a look at your chart, that we may see what the next hour or two has in store for us.

If I am anything of a physiognomist the master is fervently wishing that he was at home with his wife and family to-night, instead of where he is, while the skipper, too, looks anything but cheerful. They have both gone into the cabin, and Trimble has taken his chart with him."

"Well, there is no particular reason why he should not do that, is there?" demanded Maxwell. "And why should he be especially anxious now, more than at any other time? Things are all right on deck, aren't they?"

"Ay," answered I, "up to a certain point they are. But reach down your chart, and produce your parallel ruler and dividers, my hearty; I want to get some sort of notion of what is ahead of us."

"What, are you frightened too, then?" demanded Maxwell, as he pushed away his books and reached up for the chart.

"No, certainly not," answered I. "But it is indisputable that the ship is embayed on a lee-sh.o.r.e, and that it is blowing a whole gale of wind.

If, therefore, there is a prospect of our being obliged to swim for our lives presently, I should like to know it."

"Oh, hang it all, man, it surely is not nearly so bad as that, is it?"

demanded the mate, as he spread the chart out on the table.

"Oh, isn't it?" retorted Gascoigne, another midshipman, who had just come below in time to hear the tail-end of my remark and Maxwell's reply to it. "It is evident that you have not been on deck within the last hour, or you wouldn't say that. Why, man alive, if you would just pull yourself together enough to become conscious of the antics of the hooker you would understand that she is being driven as no ship ought to be driven without good and sufficient cause. There,"--as the frigate plunged dizzily, rolling at the same moment almost over on her beam-ends and quivering violently throughout her whole fabric at the shock of the sea that had struck her, while plates, pannikins, cups and saucers, knives and forks, books, candles, and a heterogeneous a.s.sortment of sundries flew from the racks and shelves with a clattering crash, and const.i.tuted a very pretty "general average" on the deck--"what d'ye think of that, my n.o.ble knight of the s.e.xtant?"

"You just gather up that wreckage, my son, and put the unbroken things back into their places," exclaimed Maxwell. "Also, clap a stopper upon your jawing tackle, younker; you have altogether too much too say, for a little 'un. Here, you Fleming--" to another mid, who was lying upon a locker with his hands clasped under his head by way of a pillow--"rouse and bitt, my hearty, and make yourself useful for once in a way; grab the corners of this chart and hold them down to the table until I give you a spell. That's it. Now then, Delamere, what is it that you want to know?"

"First of all," I said, "p.r.i.c.k off the ship's position as it was a quarter of an hour ago. There is Point du Raz. Very well: when I came below it bore exactly North 3 quarters East by compa.s.s, distant, say, seven miles. Mark off that bearing and distance, to start with."

Maxwell did so, making a little dot with his pencil on the chart.

"There you are," he said. "Now, what next?"

"The ship was heading North-North-West," I said. "What I want to know is, Are we going to weather that point; and, if so, what lies beyond it?"

"Ah!" exclaimed Maxwell, as the critical nature of our situation began to dawn upon him, "I see--or, rather, we shall see in a minute or two.

Gascoigne, were you on deck when the log was last hove? If you were not, you ought to have been, you know, and--"

"I was," interrupted Gascoigne. "She was doing a bare seven, and making two and a half points leeway."

"Whew!" whistled Maxwell; "two and a half points! That's bad. The old girl ought to be ashamed of herself. No self-respecting frigate ought ever to make more than two points leeway."

"Oh, oughtn't she!" jeered Gascoigne. "You just go up on deck and see how every sea that hits her knocks her bodily to leeward, and you'll tell a different story, my friend."

"Well, well, I'll take your word for it this time, young man, just to encourage you a bit, you know. Now, let's see how that works out. How did you say she was heading, Delamere?"

"Nor'-nor'-west," I repeated.

"Nor'-nor'-west," echoed Maxwell, seizing his parallel ruler and applying it to the chart. "And two and a half points of leeway, applied to the right, makes it north, half east; while Point du Raz bears--or bore--north, three-quarters east. Um! It's going to be 'touch and go'

with us, I am afraid, at that rate; for while she will doubtless weather the point itself all right, there is that out-jutting reef, which is as likely as not to bring us up with a round turn."

"And supposing we should be lucky enough to sc.r.a.pe past," I inquired, "is there anything beyond that we need worry about? I am almost certain that I heard the master say something about 'Les Stevenets,' or some such name."

"Les Stevenets," repeated Maxwell--"yes, of course; there they are, about two and a half miles to the nor'-west of the point. But I don't see why old Trimble need worry about them, for if we can't weather them there is plenty of room for us to pa.s.s them to leeward, after having done which we shall have plenty of time to decide upon our next move.

That is our critical point." And he put his finger on Point du Raz.

"I'm going on deck to see how things look."

So saying, Maxwell rolled up his chart, put it and his instruments away, turned up the collar of his jacket, and sprang up the ladder, Gascoigne, Fleming, and I following him.

Upon our arrival the first thing I noticed was that the Captain, the first luff, and the master were all standing together close under the shelter of the weather bulwarks, apparently holding a sort of council of war. The weather, I thought, looked somewhat more promising than it had done when I went below; for the sky to windward had broken, displaying a very wild and stormy sunset, it is true, yet the fact that the heavy, lowering canopy of cloud had broken up at all seemed to indicate that the worst would soon be over. But it was still blowing very heavily, and while the atmosphere was now quite clear of mist, permitting us a view to the extreme confines of the horizon, everything--the wild, tumultuously heaving sea to windward, and the land ahead and to leeward--showed a preternaturally hard outline. Point du Raz was now about three miles distant and bore about a point, or maybe a trifle more on the lee-bow, with the surf breaking furiously upon the reef which projected beyond it, while the leeward extremity of the reef jutting out from the easternmost extremity of the Isle de Seins lay dead ahead, smothered in boiling surf, the pa.s.sage between the two reefs now looking alarmingly narrow. And it was through that pa.s.sage we must win safety!

I was of course on the lee-side of the deck, so I could only catch an occasional disconnected word of what pa.s.sed between the trio to windward, but I presently gathered that the master seemed to be endeavouring to persuade the skipper to wear ship while we still had room enough to execute that manoeuvre; but Captain Vava.s.sour appeared to be objecting, upon the plea that, once on the other side of the point, we had nothing more to fear, whereas, should we wear ship now, we should be heading for the Penmarks as soon as we got round upon the other tack, and should reach them, and be faced with the task of weathering them during the hours of darkness. The skipper, it was evident, was all for grappling with the nearest danger, for the reason that we should at least have light enough to see what we were doing; and Mr Howard seemed to side with him.

"But, sir," remonstrated the master desperately, "have you considered what must inevitably happen if a flaw of wind should come round that point, at the critical moment, and break us off, as it is likely enough to do?"

"Well, n-o," answered the Captain slowly, "I had not thought of that, I must confess, for I do not believe that such a thing is at all likely to happen. But I am very much obliged to you for mentioning it, Mr Trimble, for 'forewarned is forearmed,' and in circ.u.mstances like the present it is our bounden duty to take every possible precaution for the safety of the ship. I am still of opinion that unless something unforeseen--such, for instance, as the occurrence which you have just suggested--should happen, we shall weather the point, and go clear; but, to provide against anything of that sort, Mr Howard," turning to the first luff, "be good enough to see everything ready for club-hauling the ship. Have the best bower-cable ranged, double-bitt it, and stopper it at, say, thirty fathoms. Mr Galway--where is Mr Galway? Mr Delamere, be good enough to find Mr Galway, and say I want him--or--no, tell him that it may be necessary to club-haul the ship, and request him to muster the carpenter and his mates below, ready to cut away the best bower at the instant that I give the word. Then come back to me; I may want you."

"Ay, ay, sir," I answered, touching my hat; and away I went, heading for the second lieutenant's cabin. I met him just coming out, somebody having already pa.s.sed the word that the Captain wanted him. I delivered the skipper's message, received his a.s.surance that all should be ready, and then returned to the quarter-deck.

Presently Mr Howard returned to inform Captain Vava.s.sour that his orders had been carried out.

"Very well, sir," answered the skipper. "Let the men go to their stations for tacking ship. Hands by the best bower-anchor! Oblige me, Mr Howard, by seeing personally that the anchor is all ready for letting go, and also that it is let go on the instant, should I give the order. If at the last moment it should become necessary to club-haul, I will personally take charge. Mr Delamere, find one of the boatswain's mates and station him below at the main hatchway, in such a position that he can see you on deck here, with instructions to wind his call to cut the cable the moment that he receives the signal which I will pa.s.s on to you."

The critical moment was now close at hand; the point which we were endeavouring to weather was less than a mile ahead, and still far enough on the lee-bow to justify the hope that we might yet go clear. But the scene, generally, was of so alarming a character, and our situation was so critical, that even the bravest man there might well have been excused if he failed to regard it altogether without apprehension. For it was now blowing harder than ever, the sea was breaking with absolutely appalling fury on the reef--speaking eloquently of the fate that awaited us all in the event of failure--and the over-driven ship, so heavily pressed down by her canvas that the lee-side of her quarter-deck and waist was all afloat, groaned and complained in every timber as she literally fought her way through the opposing seas, smothering herself forward so completely at every mad plunge that those who were standing by to let go the anchor had been compelled to lash themselves firmly at their posts to avoid being washed overboard. Add to all this the fierce shriek and howl of the wind through the rigging aloft, the groaning of the masts in their partners, and of the main tack, as the ship rolled to windward, the thunderous shocks of the seas as they smote our bows and shattered into blinding sheets of spray that flew as high as the foretop and drenched the lee clew of the topsail, and the sight of the spars bending and whipping to the terrific strain that they were called upon to bear,--remembering, too, that if anything should carry away just then it would mean the utter destruction of the ship and the loss of all hands,--and the reader may be able dimly to picture the feelings that animated the ship's company of the _Europa_ on that occasion.

Even the skipper looked a shade paler than usual as he slowly brought the speaking-trumpet from behind him and prepared to raise it to his lips. We were now so near the reef that we could hear the hollow booming thunder and crash of the sea breaking upon it; its outer extremity was within half-a-cable's length of our lee-bow, and it was evident that, even if all went well, it was going to be "touch and go"

with us, when suddenly the ship came upright and the sails flapped with a report like the discharge of a 32-pounder! That fatal flaw of wind round the Point, which the master had foreseen, had come upon us.

Up went the trumpet to the Captain's lips, and from it issued the bellowing call of--"Hands, 'bout ship! Ready oh, ready! Down helm, quartermaster! Stand by to let go at the word, Mr Howard!"

"Ay, ay, sir!" came the response, faintly heard above the howl of the wind, the thunder of the surf on the rocks to leeward, the heavy "slosh"

of a sea in over the bows, and the hair-raising slatting of the canvas overhead.

The ship, in obedience to her lee-helm, had come up about a point, still forging ahead, and bringing the outer extremity of the reef broad on our lee-bow, when suddenly the canvas, with a terrific report, filled again, and the ship careened to her bearings.

"Up helm, quartermaster, hard up with it, and let her go off again! We shall do it yet, by Jupiter!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the skipper, in a voice that quivered with excitement, while the master, who had been standing close by all the while, sprang to the wheel and lent his strength to put it over.

"Steady the wheel," was the next order, as the ship paid off again, and once more began to gather way; "thus and no nearer, quartermaster; keep her full, and let her go through the water! What are you about, sir?"-- as the ship suddenly griped and the weather leach of the fore-topsail shook.

"It is the undertow--the recoil of the surf from the reef that is hawsing her bows up into the wind, sir," explained the master, as he strained at the wheel, with the sweat trickling down from underneath the rim of his hat. "There--now she falls off again--steady as you go."

As the master let go the wheel, took off his hat, and drew forth a pocket-handkerchief to wipe his streaming visage, the end of the reef drew fair abeam, and so close that I could almost have leaped from the main rigging into the boil of surf that seethed and hissed and swirled about the black fangs of rock that showed here and there above water.

But the danger was over, for as the ship went plunging and surging past one could see how, every time she lifted, she was, as it were, dragged bodily to windward by the strong undertow, and a minute later the reef was astern, but fast working out on the weather quarter, showing quite clearly how exceedingly narrow had been our escape.

"Hold on there with the anchor, Mr Howard!" shouted the skipper. The first lieutenant waved his hand and came aft, wet to the skin, and his clothes streaming with water as though he had been overboard--as indeed he had, to all intents and purposes; for while standing on the forecastle, waiting for the order to let go the anchor, he had been quite as much under water as above it.