CHAPTER XXXIV

A WRECK ON THE BERMUDA REEF

Louis Belgrave had become sufficiently accustomed to the motion of the steamer, even in a rough sea, to feel quite at home on deck or in the cabin. The Guardian-Mother had crossed the Gulf Stream while a northerly wind was blowing, and even Captain Ringgold called it “decidedly lumpy.” The young millionaire’s experience in the Maud, and before that in the Blanche, had very nearly made a sailor of him, so far as his ability to handle himself on shipboard was concerned, and he had made some progress in the details of practical seamanship.

The information given him by the captain that the Maud was in sight was like a bolt of electricity shot into the being of Louis. His mother was actually near him again, and his bosom bounded with the violent emotions which agitated him. The commander only made his announcement at the door of the stateroom, and was gone in a moment. The young man was filled with hope that he should soon be in his mother’s arms, and he did not stop to consider the many difficulties that were still in the way.

He dressed himself very hurriedly in his common suit, for he knew not what his next mission in the object of his existence might prove to be. As he had been since the abduction of his mother, he was ready for anything that might come. There were sixteen picked seamen on the forecastle, besides the officers, engineers, and quartermasters. Every person on board comprehended the mission of the Guardian-Mother, for nothing else had been talked about since the young owner came on board of the steamer. All hands were interested in the story told of him and his mother, and there was not a single one of them who was not anxious to assist in the recovery of the lady.

Louis put on his overcoat, and made sure that his revolver was in condition for immediate use, though he hoped there would be no occasion for such a weapon. He hastened on deck as soon as he had made his hurried preparations. The motion of the vessel was more violent than it had been the night before when he left the deck. The air was heavy with moisture, which felt like fog, though he could see none. The wind was directly ahead, and the steamer was pitching smartly in the heavy sea. The wind had gone around to the opposite quarter, and Louis thought it was blowing more than half a gale, as the captain measured it the day before.

“You are getting it rough this morning, Captain Ringgold,” said the owner, as he entered the pilot-house.

“Good-morning, Mr. Belgrave; but I hope you don’t call this very rough,” replied the commander, peering out at the ocean ahead of the vessel.

“Rougher than I have seen it before on this trip,” added Louis. “But I don’t see the Maud.”

“You must have a pair of good nautical eyes to see her under present circumstances; but I have made her out, and I am certain that she is not far ahead of us,” said the commander, levelling his spy-glass at the open window. “I can’t make her out now, for the air is full of streaks of fog, which may settle down upon us, and bury us out of sight.”

“That would be unfortunate,” suggested the owner.

“Perhaps not; it may be a good thing for us. But I am confident that Scoble is heading too far to the westward,” said Captain Ringgold anxiously, though he did not communicate his fears to his owner.

Half a dozen times in the next two hours the fog-banks settled and rose again, but the Maud could be distinctly seen when she was not wreathed in a mantle of vapor. The relative position of the two vessels was now changed, for the commander had headed the steamer farther to the eastward, and the leadsman was sounding all the time, though his response was still “no bottom.” The occasional lift of the fog had revealed the breakers on the reef, twenty-four miles in extent, and about eight north-west of the Bermuda Islands.

“I suppose you know where you are, Captain Ringgold,” said Louis, laughing.

“I do, very well indeed; and I wish that fellow in charge of the Maud knew where he was,” replied the commander, looking more anxious than ever, for the fog had just settled down again on the chase. “We must have passed him by this time, for if he kept his course, he must be two miles to leeward of us.”

“By the mark, fifteen!” shouted the leadsman in a vigorous tone, as though he had important news to tell.

“All right; that settles it, and I know where I am to a hair,” added the commander, as he directed the quartermaster at the wheel to head the steamer to the westward.

From this moment two leads were going all the time, and the reports came rapidly. The water was shoaling all the time, and the engine was reduced to half speed. While it looked as though the fog was lifting again, those in the pilot-house were startled by the boom of a small cannon directly ahead.

“What does that mean, captain?” inquired Louis very anxiously, as he tried to penetrate the fog-bank ahead with his vision.

“It means trouble for some one,” replied the commander, looking quite as anxious as his owner. “Some vessel has evidently gone on the reef.”

“But what vessel?” demanded Louis, almost overcome with an agony of suspense.

“Of course I don’t know; but I am very much afraid it is the Maud,” added Captain Ringgold, his brow wrinkled and his lips compressed.

“Then my poor mother will be lost!” exclaimed Louis, unable to avoid giving way to his emotions.

“That does not follow at all, Mr. Belgrave. If it is the Maud that is in trouble, she cannot be more than a mile from us, and we have a good chance to save all on board of her. But it may be some other vessel, for a great many wrecks occur on these reefs Don’t give up to it, my lad.”

Louis braced himself up to the duty of commanding himself as well as he could; but it was the most difficult task he was ever called upon to perform. Captain Ringgold was very active, and the reports of the leadsmen assisted him a little, as they assured the commander that the steamer was rapidly approaching the perilous reef.

“On deck!” shouted Mr. Gaskette, the second officer, who had been sent aloft on the foremast to report any appearance ahead. “Wreck in sight, sir!”

“What is it?” hailed the captain, who had gone out upon the deck.

“A schooner, hard and fast on the reef, with her foremast gone by the board!” shouted the second officer.

“How does she bear?”

“Dead ahead! She is a topsail schooner, with her foremast alongside.”

“Steady, Spokes. Twist, go out on the forecastle, and fire two guns,” said the captain.

“On deck, sir! The fog is lifting,” added Mr. Gaskette.

“And a half twelve!” cried one of the leadsmen, and the other presently repeated it.

The commander rang one of the engine bells, and spoke through the trumpet to the engineer, directing him to reduce the speed still further. Briggs, the boatswain, was ordered to have two of the life-boats in readiness to lower into the water.

“The fog is lifting again!” shouted Louis, who stood at the open window in the pilot-house. “I can see the vessel, though she don’t look much like the Maud;” and for the moment he dared to hope that it was not she.

“I can see her distinctly now, and I have no doubt she is the Maud,” replied the captain, who was giving his whole attention to the sounding. “You can see her foremast with the yards on it, hanging over the side. She must have ground out the step of her foremast when she went on the rocks. It is all up with her, for she can never get out of that scrape.”

“But my poor mother,” groaned Louis.

“Don’t be alarmed yet, Mr. Belgrave. You can see her people on the deck, and they are all safe so far, I have no doubt whatever. The steamer is not more than half a mile from her, and we can take off her crew and passengers without any difficulty,” replied the commander in assuring tones, which greatly strengthened the owner.

The weather was clearer than at any time before during the morning, and Louis directed the glass in the pilot-house to the wreck. He had no trouble in making out every person on the wreck. His mother, supported by Felix McGavonty, was holding on at the lee side. The hull had evidently twisted around so that she was broadside to the fresh gale, for she could not have gone on the reef in the direction she was now headed. The sea was making a clean breach over her, and she seemed to be smothered in the torrents of white spray that swept across her.

“By the mark, ten!” shouted the leadsmen one after the other.

At this report the captain rang the great gong bell in the engine-room, and the engineer promptly stopped the screw. The wind seemed to be increasing in force, and the sea was very heavy. As soon as the steamer lost her headway, she began to roll violently. The captain started the engine again, brought the ship about, heading her into the wind, and gave her headway enough to keep her up to the sea. Her position became much easier at once.

“Mr. Boulong, you will take charge of the first cutter, and Mr. Gaskette of the second,” continued the captain. “It is low tide, but you must feel your way over the reef. You will find water enough for the boats, and get on the lee side of the wreck. How to get the people into the boats I must leave to your own good judgment, and I will not embarrass you with orders which may not be practicable.”

“In which boat shall I go, Captain Ringgold?” asked the owner earnestly, as the boatswain swung out the davits of the first cutter.

“I can’t advise you to go in either, Mr. Belgrave,” replied the commander seriously.

“I must go, sir!” protested Louis. “Shall I keep away from my mother when she is in peril of her life? I could not do it, captain!”

“I shall send two officers and eight men in the boats, and that will be abundantly sufficient to save every one on the wreck,” argued the captain. “You are not a sailor, and this is a dangerous enterprise, as you can see for yourself.”

“Is it any more dangerous for me than it is for my mother?”

“But it is needless for you to expose yourself, and you can do no good by going in the boat.”

“Where my mother is I must be, Captain Ringgold, and I shall go to her if I have to swim to the wreck,” Louis insisted with all the earnestness of his nature.

“This is your steamer, and these are your boats; and if you are determined to go, I shall say nothing more,” added the commander, when he saw that it was useless to argue the point.

“If it were not my mother in question I would obey you like a child.”

“I do not command you, Mr. Belgrave,” said the captain with a smile. “Mr. Boulong, Mr. Belgrave will go in the first cutter with you, and I need hardly tell you to look out for his safety as well as his mother’s.”

It was not boys’ play to lower the boats into the water, and the second cutter was nearly stove against the side of the ship. Under the immediate direction of the captain the first cutter, with Louis, the first officer and four men, was safely lowered into the water, and shoved off, clear of the side. The boat was like a feather on the bounding billows, and the owner found it necessary to hold on with both hands in the stern sheets, where Mr. Boulong steered the cutter.

The second cutter had more difficulty in getting off, but succeeded in the end, when Mr. Boulong was half-way to the wreck. The boat went over the shoal water, and the bowman caught the rope that was thrown from the Maud. Louis saw that his mother was on her knees in prayer.