The wind had now increased to a hurricane; it had veered1 to the south-west, and had attained2 a velocity3 little short of ninety miles an hour. On land, the most substantial of erections could with difficulty have withstood its violence, and a vessel4 anchored in a roadstead must have been torn from its moorings and cast ashore5. The memorable6 storm that had devastated7 the Island of Guadaloupe on the 25th of July, 1825, when heavy cannon8 were lifted from their carriages, could scarcely have been more furious, and it was only her mobility9 before the blast and the solidity of her structure that gave the "Pilgrim" a hope of surviving the tempest.
A few minutes after the topsail had been lost, the small jib was carried away. Dick Sands contemplated12 the possibility of throwing out a storm-jib, made of extra strong canvas, as a means of bringing the ship a little more under his control, but abandoned the idea as useless. It was, therefore, under bare poles that the "Pilgrim" was driven along; but in spite of the lack of canvas, the hull13, masts, and rigging, gave sufficient purchase to the wind, and the progress of the schooner14 was prodigiously15 rapid; sometimes, indeed, she seemed to be literally16 lifted from the water, and scudded17 on, scarcely skimming its surface. The rolling was fearful. Enormous waves followed in quick succession, and as they travelled faster than the ship, there was the perpetual risk of one of them catching18 her astern. Without sail, there were no means of escaping that peril19 by increase of speed; the adroit20 management of the helm was the only chance of avoiding the hazardous21 shocks, and even this repeatedly failed.
To prevent his being washed overboard Dick lashed22 himself to his place at the wheel by a rope round his waist, and made Tom and Bat keep close at hand, ready to give him assistance, in case of emergency. Hercules and Actæon, clinging to the bitt, kept watch at the bow. Mrs. Weldon and her party, at Dick's special request, remained inside the stern cabin, although the lady, for her own part, would much rather have stayed on deck; she had, however, yielded to the representation that she would thus be exposing herself to unnecessary danger.
The hatchways were hermetically closed, and it was to be hoped that they would withstand the heavy sea that was dashing over them; only let one of them give way to the pressure, and the vessel must inevitably23 fill and founder24. It was a matter of congratulation that the stowage had been done very carefully, so that notwithstanding all the lurchings of the ship, the cargo26 did not shift in the least.
The heroic young commander had still further curtailed27 his periods of rest, and it was only at the urgent entreaty28 of Mrs. Weldon, who feared that he would exhaust himself by his vigilance, that he was induced to lie down for a few hours' sleep on the night of the 13th.
After Tom and Bat had been left alone at the wheel they were, somewhat to their surprise, joined by Negoro, who very rarely came aft. He seemed inclined to enter into conversation, but found little encouragement to talk on the part either of Tom or his son. All at once a violent roll of the ship threw him off his feet, and he would have gone overboard if he had not been saved by falling against the binnacle.
Old Tom was in a frantic29 state of alarm lest the compass should be broken. He uttered a cry of consternation30 so loud that it roused Dick from the light slumber31 into which he had fallen in the cabin, and he rushed to the deck. By the time he had reached the stern, Negoro had not only regained32 his feet, but had managed successfully to conceal33
[Illustration: Quick as lightning, Dick Sands drew a revolver from his pocket.]
the bit of iron which he had again extracted from beneath the binnacle where he had himself laid it. Now that the wind had shifted to the south-west, it suited his machinations that the magnetic needle should indicate its true direction.
"How now?" asked Dick eagerly; "what is the meaning of all this noise?"
Tom explained how the cook had fallen against the binnacle, and how he had been terrified lest the compass should be injured. Dick's heart sank at the thought of losing his sole remaining compass, and his anxiety betrayed itself in his countenance34 as he knelt down to examine its condition; but he breathed freely as he ascertained35 that the instrument had sustained no damage; by the dim light he saw the needle resting on its two concentric circles, and felt his fears at once relieved; of course, he was quite unconscious of the fact that the removal of the bit of iron had made the magnet change its pointing. The incident, however, excited his misgiving36; although he felt that Negoro could not be held responsible for an accidental fall, the very presence of the man in such a place at such a time perplexed37 him.
"And what brings you here, this hour of the night?" he asked.
"That's not your business," retorted Negoro insolently38.
"It is my business," replied Dick resolutely39; "and I mean to have an answer; what brought you here?"
Negoro answered sullenly40 that he knew of no rule to prevent his going where he liked and when he liked.
"No rule!" cried Dick; "then I make the rule now. From this time forward, I make the rule that you shall never come astern. Do you understand?"
Roused from his accustomed doggedness, the man seemed to make a threatening movement. Quick as lightning, Dick Sands drew a revolver from his pocket.
"Negoro, one act, one word of insubordination, and I blow out your brains!"
Negoro had no time to reply; before he could speak he was bowed down towards the deck by an irresistible41 weight. Hercules had grasped him by the shoulder.
"Shall I put him overboard, captain? he will make a meal for the fishes; they are not very particular what they eat," said the negro, with a grin of contempt.
"Not yet," quietly answered Dick.
The giant removed his hand, and Negoro stood upright again, and began to retreat to his own quarters, muttering, however, as he passed Hercules,-
"You cursed nigger! You shall pay for this!"
The discovery was now made that the wind apparently42 had taken a sudden shift of no less than forty-five degrees; but what occasioned Dick the greatest perplexity was that there was nothing in the condition of the sea to correspond with the alteration43 in the current of the air; instead of being directly astern, wind and waves were now beating on the larboard. Progress in this way must necessarily be full of danger, and Dick was obliged to bring his ship up at least four points before he got her straight before the tempest.
The young captain felt that he must be more than ever on the alert; he could not shake off the suspicion that Negoro had been concerned in the loss of the first compass, and had some further designs upon the second. Still he was utterly44 at a loss to imagine what possible motive45 the man could have for so criminal an act of malevolence46, as there was no plausible47 reason to be assigned why he should not be as anxious as all the rest to reach the coast of America. The suspicion continued, however, to haunt him, and when he mentioned it to Mrs. Weldon he found that a similar feeling of distrust had agitated48 her, although she, like himself, was altogether unable to allege49 a likely motive why the cook should contemplate11 so strange an act of mischief50. It was determined51 that a strict surveillance should be kept upon all the fellow's movements.
Negoro, however, manifested no inclination52 to disobey the captain's peremptory53 order; he kept strictly54 to his own part of the ship; but as Dingo w............