CHAPTER XIX.

Otago Witness, Issue 875, 5 September 1868, Page 16

CHAPTER XIX.

We return to the cutter said her living freight. After an anxious but brief consultation, it was agreed that their best chance was to traverse as many miles of water as-pos-sible while the wind was fair ; by this means they would increase their small chance of being, picked up, and also of falling in with land, and would, at all events, sail into a lovely climate where intense cold was unknown, and gales of wind uncommon. Mr Hazel advised them to choose a skipper, and give him absolute power, especially over the provisions. They assented to this. He then recommended. Cooper for that post. *But they had not fathomed the sterling virtues of that taciturn seaman ; so they offorod the command to Welch instead. " Me put myself over Sam Cooper !" said he ; "not likely." Then their choice fell upon Michael Morgan. The other sailors' names were Prince, Fenner, and Mackintosh. Mr Hazel urged Morgan to put the> crew and -passengers on short allowance at once, viz. : two biscuits a day and four-table-spoonsful of water ; but Morgan "was a common sailor ; he could not see clearly very far ahead ; and, moreover, his own appetite counteracted this advice j he i dealt out a pound of biscuit and an ounce of ham to each person, night and morning, and a pint of water in the course of the day. Mr Hazel declined his share of the ham, and begged Miss Rolleston, so earnestly, not to touch it, that she yielded a silent compliance. On the fourth day the sailors were all in good spirits, though the provisions were now very low. They even sang,, and spun yarns. This was partly owingto the beauty of the weather. On the fifth day Morgan an3j.omlae.di

that he could only serve out one biscuit r per day ; and this sudden decline caused some dissatisfaction and alarm. Next day the water ran so low, that only a tea-spoonful waa served out night and morning. There were rumors and forebodings. In all heavy trials and extremities some man or other reveals great qualities, that were latent in him, ay, hidden from himself. And this general observation was verified on tlie present occasion, as it had been in the Indian mutiny, and many other crises. Hazel came out. He encouraged the men, out o£ his multifarious stores of learning. He related at length, stories of wrecks and sufferings at sea ; which, though they had long been in print, were most of them new to these poor fellows. He told them, among fhe rest, what the men of the Bona Dea, waterlogged at sea, had suffered— twelve days without any food but a rat and a kitten — yet had all survived. He gave them some details of the "Wager, the Grosvenor, the Corbin, the Medusa ; but, above all, a most minute -account of the Bounty, and Bltgh's wonderful voyage in an open boat, short of provisions. He moralised on this, and showed his fellowsufferers it was discipline and self-denial from the first that had enabled those ■hungry spectres to survive, and to traverse two thousand eight hundred miles of water in those very seas ; and that in spite of "hunger, thirst, disease, and rough weather. By these means he diverted their minds, in some degree, from their own ca'h.mity, and taught them the lesson they most needed. The poor fellows listened with more interest than you could have thoxight possible under the pressure of bodily distress. And Helen Rolleston's hazel eyes dwelt on the narrator with unceasing 'wonder. Yes, learning andf ortitude, strengthened by those great examples learning furnishes, maintained a superiority, even in the middle of the Pacific : and not the rough, sailors -only, but the lady, who had rejected and scorned his love, hung upon the brave student's words : she was compelled to look up, with wonder, to man she had 'hated and despised in her hours 'of ease. On tiie sixth- day the provisions failed entirely. Not a crust of bread ; ndt a drop of water ! At 4 p. m, , several flying fish, driven into the air by the dolphins and cat fish, fell into the sea again near tlie boat, end one'atruck the sail sharply, and fell into the boat. It was divided, aitd devoured raw, in a moment The next morning the -wind fell, end, by noon, the ocean became like glass. Thesiorrors ofs, storm have been often painted ; but who has described, or -can describe, the horrors of a calm, to a'beatload of hungry, -thirsty creatures, whose only • ckances of salvation or relief are wind and rain ? ! The beatiful, remorseless, sky, yr-as one | vault of purple, with a great flaming jewel in the centre, whose vertical rays j struck, and parched, and scorched, the j living sufferers : and blistered, and bakdd the boat itself, so that it hurt their Siot hands to -touch, it : 'the beautiful, remorseless ocean was one sheet of glass, feat glared in their bloodshot eyes, and reflected the intolerable heat of heaven upon these poor wretches, who were gnawed to -death with hunger ; «nd their raging thirst was fiercer still. Towards afternoon of the eighth <day Mackintosh dipped a vessel in sea, •with the manifest intention of <Srinkin,f the salt water. " Stop him !" cried Hazel, in greait agitation ; and the others seized him, and ' .overpowered him : he cursed them, with' such horrible curses, that Miss Rolleston put her fingers in her ears, and shuddered from head to foot. Even this was new to her, to hear foul language. A calm voice rose in tae midst, and said — " Let us pray." There was a dead silence, and Mr Hazel ikneeled down and prayed loud and fervently ; and, while he prayed, the furious -cries subsided for a while, and deep groans only were heard. He prayed for food, for rain, for wind, for patience. The men were not so far gone but they «Quld just manage to say "Amen," He rose from. Ms knees, and gathered the pale faces of ihe men together in one glance, and saw that intense expression of agony, which physical pain cau mould with men's features ; and then he strained his eyes over the brassy horizon, but no cloud, no veil of vapour was visible. Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. "We must be mad," he cried, "to die ; of thirst, with all this water round us." j His invention being stimulated by this idea, and his own dire need, he eagerly scanned everything in the boat, and his ,eye soon lighted on two objects, disconnected in themselves, but it struck him he .could use them in combination. These were a common glass bottle and Miss Rollestorr'fei life-preserving jacket, that served fterfojre, couch. He drew this garment

over his knees, and considered it attentively; then untwisted the "brass nozzle through which the jacket was inflated, and 30 left a tube, some nine inches in length, hanging down from the neck of the garment. He now applied his hreath to the tiibe, and the jacket swelling rapidly proved that the whole recepticle was air-tight. He then allowed the air to escape. Next, he took the "bottle and filled it with water from the sea; then he inserted, with some difficulty, and great care, the neck of the bottle into the orifice of the tube. This done, he detached the wire of the brass nozzle, and whipped the tube firmly round the neck of the bottle. "Now" light a fire/ he cried; "no matter what it coats." The fore thwart was chopped up, and a fire soon spluttered and sparkled, for ten eager haud3 were feeding it ; the bottle was then suspended over it, and, in due course, the salt water boiled and threw off vapour, and the belly of the jacket began to heave and stir. Hazel then threw cold water upon the outside, to keep it rool, and ■while the men eagerly watched the bubbling bottle and swelling ■bag, his spirits rose, and he took occasion to explain that what was now going on under their eyes was, after all, only one of the great processes of Nature, done upon a small scale. "The clouds," said he, " are but vapour drawn from the sea, by the heat of the sun : these clouds are composed of fresh water, and so the ateam we are now raising from salt water will be fresh. "We can't make whisky, or brew beer, lads ; but, thank Heaven, we can brew water ; and it i# worth all other liquors ten times told. " A wild w Hurrah !" greeted these words. But every novel experiment seems doomed to fail, or meet with some disaster. The "water in the bottle had been reduced 'too low, by vaporisation, and the bottle burst suddenly, with a2oud report. That report was followed by a piteous wail. Hazel turned pale at this fatal blow ; but, recovering himself, he said, " That is unfortunate : "but it was a good servant while it lasted ; .give me the baler ; and, Miss Rolieston, can you lend me a thimble ?" The tube of the life-preserver was held over £he baler, -and out trickled a small quantity of pure water, "two thimblesful a-piece. Even that, as 'it passed over their -swollen tongues and parched swallows, was a heavenly relief ; but, -alas, the supply was then exhausted. NVtt day hunger seemed uppermost, j and the men .gnawed ano. chewed their tobacco pouches ; and two -caps, that had been dressed with the iiair on, were divided for food. Noae was given to Mr Hazel or Miss Rolleston ; and this, to do the poor j crea^ares justice, was the 'first instance of injustice or partiality tke sailor-s had shown. The lady, though tormented with hunger, was more magnanimous ; she offered to divide the contents of her little medicine chest ; and tke globules were devoured in <a moment. And. now their tortures were aggravated by the sight of abundance. They drifted over c&ral rocks, at a considerable .depth, but tke water was so exqoiisitely clear that they saw five fathoms down. They discerned small iish drifting over the bottom -, they looked like a driving cloud, so vast^ras their number ; .and every now and then, there was a scurry among them, and porpoises and dog-fish broke in and feasted on them. All this they saw, yet could not catch one of those billions for their lives. Thus they were tantalised as well as starved. The next day was like the last, with . this difference, that tke sufferers could no longer endure their torments in silence. The lady moaned constantly ; the sailors <groaned, lamented, and cursed. The sun baked, and blistered ; and the -water glared. The sails being useless, the sailors rigged them as an awning, and salt water was constantly thrown over them. Mr Hazel took a baler and drenched his .own clothes and Miss Rolleston's upon their bodies. This relieved the hell of thirst in some degree ; but the sailors could not be persuaded to practice it. In the afternoon Hazel took Miss Rolleston's bible from her wasted hands, and read aloud the 42nd Psalm. When he had done, one of the sailors asked him to pass the bible forward. He did so ; and in half an hour the leaves were returned him ; the vellum binding had been cut off, divided, and eaten. He looked piteously at the leaves, and, after a while, fell upon his knees, and prayed silently. He rose, and with Miss Rolleston's consent, offered the men the leaves as well. "It is the Bread of Life for men's souls, not their bodies," said he. "But God is merciful ; I think he will forgive you, for jour need is bitter." Cooper .replied that the binding was man's, but the pages were God's ; and, either for this ov another more obvious

reason, the leaves were declined for food. ' All that afternoon Hazel "was making a i sort of rough spoon out of a fragment of wood. i The night that followed was darker than usual, and about midnight a hand was : laid on Helen Rolleston's shoulder, and a voice whispered, "Hush! say nothing. : I have got something for you." At the same time, something sweet and deliciously fragrant, was put to her lips ; she opened her mouth, and received a spoonful of marmalade. Never did marmalade taste like that before. It dissolved itself like Ambrosia over palate, and even relieved her parched throat in some slight degree by the saliva it excited. Nature could not be resisted ; her body took whatever he gave. But her high mind rebelled. " Oh, how base I am !" said she, and wept. ' " Why, it is your own," said he, soothingly ; " I took it out of your cabin expressly for you." "At least, oblige me by eating some yourself, sir," said Helen, "or (with a sudden burst) I will die ere I touch another morsel !" " I feel the threat, Miss Rolleston ; but I do not need it, for I am very, very hungry. But no ; if I take 'any, I must divide it all with them. But if you will help me unrip the jacket, I will suck the inside — after you." Helen gazed at him, fand wondered at tlie man, and at the strange love which had so bitterly offended her, when she was surrounded by comforts ; but now it extorted her respect. They unripped the jacket, and found some moisture left. They sucked it, and it was a wonderful, an incredible relief to their parched gullets. The next day was a fearful one. Not . a cloud in the sky to give hope of rain ; : the air so light, it only just moved them along ; and the sea [glared, and the sun I i beat on the poor wretches, now tortured into madness with hunger and thirst. ; The body of man, in this dire ex- ; tremity, can suffer internal agony as acute i as any that can be inflicted on its surface by the knife : and the cries, the screams, . the groans, the prayers, the curses, intermingled, that issued from the boat, were !. not to be distinguished from the cries of L men horribly wounded in battle, or [ "writhing lander some terrible operation in • hospitals. Oh, it was terrible and piteous to see , and hear the boat-load of ghastly victims with hollow cheeks, and wild-beast eyes, go groaning, cursing, and shrieking loud, • upon that fair glassy sea, below that purple vault and glorious sun. Towards afternoon, the sailors got together forward, and left Hazel and Miss i Rolleston alone in the stern. This gave ■ him an opportunity of speaking to her : confidentially. He took advantage of it, . and said, " Miss Rolleston, I wish to consult you. Am I justified in secreting the marmalade any longer? There is . nearly a spoonful a-piece." " No," said Helen ; " divide it amongst . them all. Oh, if I had only a woman beside me, to pray with, and cry with, . and die with ; for die we must." " I am not so sure of that," said Haeel, faintly, but with a cool fortitude all his • own. "Experience proves that the human body can subsist a prodigious time i on very little food ; and saturating the clothes with water is, I know, the best ' way to allay thirst. And women, thank heaven, last longer than men, under l privations." ; "1 Siali not last long, sir," said Helen. " " Look at their eyes." i " What do you mean 1" "I mean that those men there are . .going to kill me."