The Survivors of the Chancellor: Chapter 37

Chapter 37

CHAPTER XXXVII.

DECEMBER 23rd to 30th--After the storm the wind settled back into
its old quarter, blowing pretty briskly from the north-east.  As
the breeze was all in our favour it was important to make the
most of it, and after Dowlas had carefully readjusted the mast,
the sail was once more hoisted, and we were carried along at the
rate of two or two and a half knots an hour.  A new rudder,
formed of a spar and a good-sized plank, has been fitted in the
place of the one we lost, but with the wind in its present
quarter it is in little requisition.  The platform of the raft
has been repaired, the disjointed planks have been closed by
means of ropes and wedges, and that portion of the parapet that
was washed away has been replaced, so that we are no longer
wetted by the waves.  In fact, nothing has been left undone to
insure the solidity of our raft, and to render it capable of
resisting the wear and tear of the wind and waves.  But the
dangers of wind and waves are not those which we have most to
dread.

Together with the unclouded sky came a return of the tropical
heat, which during the preceding days had caused us such serious
inconvenience; fortunately on the 23rd the excessive warmth was
somewhat tempered by the breeze, and as the tent was once again
put up, we were able to find shelter under it by turns.

But the want of food was beginning to tell upon us sadly, and our
sunken cheeks and wasted forms were visible tokens of what we
were enduring.  With most of us hunger seemed to attack the
entire nervous system, and the constriction of the stomach
produced an acute sensation of pain.  A narcotic, such as opium
or tobacco, might have availed to soothe, if not to cure, the
gnawing agony; but of sedatives we had none, so the pain must be
endured.

One alone there was amongst us who did not feel the pangs of
hunger.  Lieutenant Walter seemed as it were to feed upon the
fever that raged within him; but then he was the victim of the
most torturing thirst, Miss Herbey, besides reserving for him a
portion of her own insufficient allowance, obtained from the
captain a small extra supply of water, with which every quarter
of an hour she moistened the parched lips of the young man, who
almost too weak to speak, could only express his thanks by a
grateful smile.  Poor fellow! all our care cannot avail to save
him now; he is doomed, most surely doomed to die.

On the 23rd he seemed to be conscious of his condition, for he
made a sign to me to sit down by his side, and then summoning up
all his strength to speak, he asked me in a few broken words how
long I thought he had to live?  Slight as my hesitation was,
Walter noticed it immediately.

"The truth," he said; "tell me the plain truth."

"My dear fellow, I am not a doctor, you know," I began, "and I
can scarcely judge--"

"Never mind," he interrupted, "tell me just what you think."

I looked at him attentively for some moments, then laid my ear
against his chest.  In the last few days his malady had made
fearfully rapid strides, and it was only too evident that one
lung had already ceased to act, whilst the other was scarcely
capable of performing the work of respiration.  The young man was
now suffering from the fever which is the sure symptom of the
approaching end in all tuberculous complaints.

The lieutenant kept his eye fixed upon me with a look of eager
inquiry.  I knew not what to say, and sought to evade his
question.

"My dear,boy," I said, "in our present circumstances not one of
us can tell how long he has to live.  Not one of us knows what
may happen in the course of the next eight days."

"The next eight days," he murmured, as he looked eagerly into my
face.

And then, turning away his head, he seemed to fall into a sort of
doze.

The 24th, 25th, and 26th passed without any alteration in our
circumstances, and strange, nay, incredible as it may sound, we
began to get accustomed to our condition of starvation.  Often,
when reading the histories of shipwrecks, I have suspected the
accounts to be greatly exaggerated; but now I fully realize their
truth, and marvel when I find on how little nutriment it is
possible to exist for so long a time.  To our daily half-pound of
biscuit the captain has thought to add a few drops of brandy, and
the stimulant helps considerably to sustain our strength.  If we
had the same provisions for two months, or even for one, there
might be room for hope; but our supplies diminish rapidly, and
the time is fast approaching when of food and drink there will be
none.

The sea had furnished us with food once, and, difficult as the
task of fishing had now become, at all hazards the attempt must
be made again.  Accordingly the carpenter and the boatswain set
to work and made lines out of some untwisted hemp, to which they
fixed some nails that they pulled out of the flooring of the
raft, and bent into proper shape.  The boatswain regarded his
device with evident satisfaction.

"I don't mean to say," said he to me, "that these nails are
first-rate fish-hooks; but one thing I do know, and that is, with
proper bait they will act as well as the best.  But this biscuit
is no good at all.  Let me but just get hold of one fish, and I
shall know fast enough how to use it to catch some more."

And the true difficulty was how to catch the first fish.  It was
evident that fish were not abundant in these waters, nevertheless
the lines were cast.  But the biscuit with which they were baited
dissolved at once in the water, and we did not get a single bite.
For two days the attempt was made in vain, and as it only
involved what seemed a lavish waste of our only means of
subsistence, it was given up in despair.

To-day, the 30th, as a last resource, the boatswain tried what a
piece of coloured rag might do by way of attracting some
voracious fish, and having obtained from Miss Herbey a little
piece of the red shawl she wears, he fastened it to his hook.
But still no success; for when, after several hours, he examined
his lines, the crimson shred was still hanging intact as he had
fixed it.  The man was quite discouraged at his failure.

"But there will be plenty of bait before long," he said to me in
a solemn undertone.

"What do you mean?"  said I, struck by his significant manner.

"You'll know soon enough," he answered.

What did he insinuate?  The words, coming from a man usually so
reserved, have haunted me all night.

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