THE CRUISE OF THE FLYING FISH

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 252, 22 October 1907, Page 6

THE CRUISE OF THE FLYING FISH

BY OWEN HALL.

CHAPTER VIL ASHORE ON NEW CALEDONIA. Cap'en Bill stood looking over the bulwarak till the men in the boat had dragged the skipper, half drowned, out of the water. and~ae hail seen the other prisoner handed over the side to keep him company; then he turned away with a shrug of his great shoulders that might have meant either contempt or annoyance. The four men in the boat bent to their oars, and in little more than five minutes, they had reached the beach, where, -witifTittle delay and no ceremony, they discharged the packages they had with them on the beach and then made the skipper and his companion follow their goods. When they were ready to shove off one of them lingered a moment to cut the lashing that bound the hands of the Government agent; then, throwing the knife on the beach ai the skipper's feet, he stepped with a laugh into the boat, and left the two men standing on the shore. "Well hey trouble through them two yet, Cap'en, or my name aint Sam Morgan," were the word 3 I heard as I leaned over the bulwark, staring eagerly at what was going on ashore. Just at that moment 1 saw the agent pick up the knife and cut the lashings from the skipper's wrists. The first use he made of his liberty was to shake his fist at the schooner, shouting something at the same time, of which the only word that reached my ear was "Pirate!" "X,ike enough, Sam Morgan," was the answer to the mate's remark, given in Cap'en Bill's coolest and most careless tone. "Like enough! Anyhow, they won't interfere with this job: an' I ain't a-sayin , but what tney're entitled to their turn neither—an' don't you forget it." He turned away with a short laugh, and walked the deck without anothei word till the boat came alongside. Then he stopped opposite to the place where the mate was still leaning sulkily against the shrouds, and said cheerfully: '■Now Sam, get the boat in board, hoist awaj her jib and lay her head east-south-east; that'll bring us, 1 reckon, about where we want to make our landfall." Without casting a single look behinc him at the men he had marooned, Cap'ei Bill went below, and in three minutes more his orders had been executed, am the nying Fish was leaving the islanc behind." Ine men worked with a will and I thought I noticed that the absence of the skipper had removed s weight from their spirits. The sun wa; beginning to rise from the ocean in sucl a blaze of golden light as made it im possible to look ahead into the blindinj haze, so for once I looked back at thi island we were leaving behind. It wa: the first tropical island I had seen, am though it was very small —only a dot 01 the ocean in fact—it had all the chara of a novelty for mc. The low shore which now lay dazzling white in thi morning sun; the fringe of palms tha lined the beach, and swayed gracefull; to the breeze; 'the margin of - flash inj surf that sparkled and broke in foau on the white coral sand, made a frame •work for the two solitary figures tha seemed to watch us silently as we. lef them behind. "About time ye were looking afte breakfast, youngster?" was the growlinj remark of the mate that roused mc froi my reverie, and sent mc below. M; duties, I thought, to myseslf, as I wen to the pantry, would be lighter thai over, now that the skipper was gone, an once more I found myself wonderin, what Cap'en Bill could have wantei with mc when he brought mc on boarc Could it only have been, as he woul< say, to make a man of mc? I migh even now, have known him better tha: that; but at any rate, ;I was soon i find out. • - Two hours later I had "washed th dishes on deck, and brought-them dowi again as usual, when I was startled a hearing Cap'en Bill's voice calling mc. found him in the cabin, sitting porin; over a paper, which seemed, from the es pression of his face, to be beyond hi comprehension. He greeted mc with : look of relief, as he exclaimed: "Here ye are, youngster; here's some thing in your line, if I ain't mistookleastways, if so be ye can read th Froggie's lingo as well as ye can reel i off in talk." I looked with some curiosity at th sheet of paper, which bore the marks o having passed through many hands, am some not very clean ones, before i reached mc. I saw at a glance that i was "written in French, in a strong clea hand that was easily read in spite o the dirty crumpled condition of th paper. Cap'en Bill looked anxiously a mc as I read it to myself. "You can read the lingo, can't ye youngster?" he said. "I had it wrot< out in English fair and straight afore ever took the job, but somehow it's go: lost, an' I can't make downright sure o the sailin' directions, for I ain't a-sayin as I know much o' the Froggie talk —-no , mc." "Oh, yes, I can read it easily enough.' I said, "but I don't know what it's a] about. I can tell you -what the words mean, if that'll do." "Right ye was. Sonny. You tell zn< the meaning o' the woras, an' I'll tel ye the course to steer. Now then, fir< away." "About latitude 21.42 on the western coast, there occurs a point, lofty, woodec and also perpendicular as it makes itseli to approach the sea. From this poini extends a bay to the southward, opposit« to -which the reef breaks itself sufficiently to allow a boat to -enter. From th< head of the bay a path extends itseii through xae wood twelve* hundred metres till it reaches the top of th range. At this place there is a cottag where French only is spoken. The tri colour, which can be seen from the sea tells of the presence of one who cai give informations Ijet the visitor • as] for Pierre. ,, . S . Cap'en Bin had watched mc with cage eyes as I read, and as I uttered the las word of my translation he broke in wit! I a mighty oath. "Eight ye was, Sonny! Them's th sailin' directions, every word, same a what I had' _them. wrote __put in hones English, afore I went an' lost it.; Ani now, in- coarse, you'll be Tvnntin' to yer beariii's, and-find -out what it's driv in' at ain't- a-sayin\' as I blame ye, neither. Well, then. Sonny, it's thi way, it is. It's about this 'ere chap the; calls Pierre. I ain't a-sayin', mind ye that Pierre's his right name, either, no me—but, anyhow, there's them as want 'im—wants him bad, Sonny, an' don' you forget it neither—and -what's more that's wilKn' to pay handsome ior getin of him out o' this 'ere place, too." .

I looked hard at Cap'en Bill as he «poke, and I began to understand. "Pierre's a convict, then, I -suppose?" I said. "Well, now, come to that, Sonny, I ain't a-sayin' it's just the polite thing to call any gentleman a convict, neither. S'pose "ie ain't' not altogether as free to please himself as you an' mc, "why, that ain't nuthin', that ain't. Least3vays, in this 'ere case it don't matter what they calls him, seem' as how they're only Froggie's, after all's said an' done. W hat we're got to do's to fetch him off—cause for why, ye see, I've ondertook the job." My mother had often spoken to mc about New Caledonia, and I knew something of the shiploads of political prisoners sent out there after the Commune was put down. I think my mother must have sympathised with the communists, for she had often told mc terrible stories of the cruelty shown to the prisoners sent to New Caledonia, and now I jumped to the conclusion that Pierre must be one of the leaders whose friends wanted to have him rescued. I looked at Cap'en Bill, wt~. was staring at the paper again, and i exclaimed: "I'm glad that's what we came for. Mother would have liked mc to help at that." "An' right we was, Sonny. Well I knowed it, when I fetched ye aboard. Now, youngster, are ye game to bear a hand?" I know my face must have flushed at the idea. Bear a hand? I should think I would. Here was the very adventure I had been dreaming about so long. "You give mc the chance, Cap'en Bill, and see!" I answered, looking in his face. Cap'en Bill rose to his feet and laid a hand on my shoulder. "I knowed it," he exclaimed; "I knowed it, the first minute as ever I set eyes on ye in the bush. You'll do, Sonny, you will; and. what's more, theer ain't a bit a' fun goin' in this "ere cruise, but what I'll see ye has yer share —an' don't you forget. ltCap'en Bill bent forward over the table and proceeded for the next ten minutes to give mc instructions. Many a time I had wondered that a man so rough and uneducated as he was should ■ have such a command over men like those rough, reckless sailors, and, still more, that he should have been chosen for any really important undertaking by people on shore. Now I understand it. He had the power of seeing exactly what he wanted done, and he could make other people not only see it, too, but do their very best to carry it out. When at last he had finished,"and put his hand on my shoulder again, saying: "Now, Sonny, you onderstand what 1 want ye to do?" I felt as-if I not only understood him, but that in those few minutes I had grown from a boy into a man. "Yes," I said, "I think I understand. "Right ye was, Sonny ; well be ofi the point by sundown.CHAPTER VIIL I GET NEWS OF PIEBItE. I had never watched the sea as I did that day. Captain Bill evidently didn't cave how little I did in the cabin if only I did the vrork for which he had intended mc from the first, so I spent most of the day on dock in my favourite place under the moving shadow of the jib. The breeze -was more favourable, and rather stronger than it had been, and the Flying Fish seemed inclined to justify net -name as she rose with an elastic rush that was almost a spring from the water, and swept forward with a long skimmjng motion like the dash—half leap and half flight—of her namesake. It was not till the aitemoon was well advanced that my watch was rewarded by the appearance of anything itice ]an<l. The sun had veered to the west, and no longer threw its dazzling glare on the water ahead, and as I shaded by eyes with my hand it seemed to mc tnat at last a soft gray haze like a low banK of cloud was rising where the sea and sky grew mixed. I watched it eagerly for a mile, afraid to believe that what 1 longed for so earnestly was actually in sight, and as I watched it seemed to rl»e and grow, and at last to take tne irregular shape of land. I drew a long breath, and then I shouted in my excitement, "I<and, ahoy!" in a voice that roused bhe sailor who had been nodding drowsily within a few feet of mc, whose duty it was to keep the look-out. The sailors crowded the fore part ol the deck with the excitement that showed they recognised the fact laat th«y were nearing the object of then voyage. I hadn't felt certain before then whether the crew really knew tse object of the expdition on which they had entered so recklessly; but now, as I glanced from face to face, I was sure they knew that the land now rieing in I front was in some way connected with it, -whatever it might be. The land must have been oJ soma height, for it rose slowly, and to my im- —. patience it eeemed as if the bounding ~~ vessel underfoot, in spite of her long flights, and the tumult of flashing water at her bows, was almost standing still. Little by little, however, tbe irregular line of land rose higher, filling in the gaps that had made it look like a succession of islands, and showing in ila heights and hollows the outline ol a bold and broken coast. The sun had sunk low in the ■western sky before we had drawn in with the coast, and were skimming rapidly southwards, at a distance of a mile or two i from the coast. The level sun poured j I floods of light on the rugged points j and densely wooded gullies that ran inland from the shore, and blazed with a fierce white radiance on the fringe of coral beach, crowned with long lines »t feathery «jalms- I had grown .so j interested in the ever-changing features ] of the landscape, which I watched with j breathless admiration, that I started' at ihe.'sound of Cap'en" Bill's voice close behind mc: . .j/- v That'll be the point, Sonny, if I ain't mistook," he said, "an , - -I- ain't a-sayin' ■ but what theer'll be the buntin' as is j just showin , above them trees." J I looked at him eageriy, but he head out to mc the telescope, after adjusting the--focus. "Have a squint thro' that, Sonny," he said, "I ain't a-sayin' but ■what.your eyes are younger tian mine. Up on; the range—thereaway to the southard o' the point." I followed his directions, and at last I made it out clearly. It was not very far from the beach, and I eouH fancy I made out the spots where the track entered the bush at the head of the little bay where the dazzling coral beach ■was shut in by the dark green of the dense mass of leaves that. rose, tier ibove j tier, behind it, ■ |

"Yes, I see it," I said. "I don't think i it* far away." "Eight ye was, yonngster. Now lefs see the sort o' stuff ye're made of, Sonny." " ".' " *fij "" .- In "two minutes more the schooner had been allowed to fall away before the wind, and was running in for the point, and within ten minutes we were running along the reef parallel with the beach, and less than half a mile away. Cap'en Bill watched the long ribbon of white foam that "marked its position through his telescope, till at last he closed it with a sudden snap as he shouted: "Right ye was. I/uff her up. Luff! Now clear away that boat there; and look lively about it too." The schooner came up into the wind, her sails flapping, -while the men who had been standing by-the boai, let her down - smartly into tie water. In another minute Cap'en Bill had hurried mc on board, and with his hand on the rudder was steering for the one dark spot in the white wall of water that flashed and sparkled in the level sunshine between us and the beach. I thought, as I sat and listened, to the endless crash with which the rollers broke on the reef that we should hardly get ashore, hut even as the thought passed throilgh my mind the whaleboat came round with a swing. For one or two seconds we seemed to be tossed helplessly in the eddying surge; then suddenly we were in smooth water and the belt of foam lay behind us. "Give way lads: there ain't a minute to lose," Cap'en Bill shouted, and the men responded so heartily that in another minute we grounded with a rush on the sloping beach, and I looked up to see the tall palms nodding to the breeze. "Now, Sonny," he said, laying a hand on my shoulder kindly, "yell find us here when ye've done the parley-vousin'. So now, up-sail an' lay yer course." I jumpe.d on shore and ran up the beach. It wasn't more than ha.ll a dozen yards, and I turned and looked behind mc when I reached the palms. It was like a picture: a better one than I had ever seen. The sun's last edge was dipping into the ocean; the schooner lay, heaving gently on the long swell beyond the reef; and Cap'en Bill and the sailors sat watching mc from the boat. I waved my hand and plunged into the bush. The path was narrow, and in places rough, but it was never indistinct. ±T had evidently been often used, for -- took mc hardly a minute t o find, and once on it 1 was so hedged in by the luxuriant growth that it would not havi , been easy to get off the track on either side. 1 was young and active, and full of the excitement of my first venture. I pushed on quickly. At first the track led along a gully, the bottom x»f which was a complete thicket of plants and shrubs that made it impossible to tell how deep it was, but after a few minutes of hard walking it began to rise. The undergrowth grew less dense; tall trees spread great branches and glossy leaves overhead; palms shot up high\ in the air, and waved their plumed heads in the breeze; and, over all, and thro' it all, came the warm glow of the sunset sky. It was all new and wonderful, but I knew that I must hurry on. At last the bush grew thin before mc, a-nd ir another minute I came out of the ■woodland track into an opening, which by contrast seemed almost dazzling in its brightness.- 1 was '-welcomed by the barkingi3feJES>r^^ftpg,r : ai«l-as soon as my eyes had grown accustomed to the light I saw that I had reached the place I was in search of. The house—for although it was small it was too good to be called a hut —nestled at the very edge of the thick forest, only a few yards from the spot where I found myself. There was a little enclosure round it that seemed to be cultivated as a garden, and in front of the house there was a tall sapling, lopped of its branches from which there fluttered the poor remains of a ragged tricolour flag. As I reached what seemed to be the gate of the little enclosure, the door of the house ■was opened, and a little old woman with snow-white hair stood in the entrance, shading her face -with her hand. I took off my cap instinctively, as I walked up the little path, and she looked at mc with a strange eager look as I came nearer. Then she suddenly threw up her hands with a despairing gesture, as she exclaimed: "Ah, mon Dieu: it is the messenger who has made himself to arrive at last; but now it is too late. Too late!" "Pierre!" I stammered, "Pierre!" Is it then that he is dead, Madame?" "Not dead! Ah, mon Dieu, not dead!" —and she clasped her thin hands together with a frantic gesture of grief —"Not dead, but gone to that hell—to that place from which, there is no return. It is that he has been sent to Isle de Pines!" "But, madame, it is that we will rescue him," I exclaimed. She looked at mc through her tears, and slowly shook her head. "Ah, no," she said; "none can do that • but the good God! But you speak I French; enter, and I will explain." I followed her in. (To be continued daily).