Jack Derringer

“ To his great satisfaction the cowpuncher found himself in the same watch as Jack Derringer, in which were also Pat, Hollins, the cockney, Curly, the singer of the chanty "Away, Rio," who was a runaway English apprentice, Bedrock Ben, and the disabled Red Bill, the watch being completed by a man who called himself Studpoker Bob.
This last was one of those characters peculiar to Western America, who gain a living by dealing faro and studhorse poker in mining camp saloons. ”

“ I shore wonders it don't exhaust them none, the way they hustles around," observed the cowboy to Jack Derringer, as they reclined lazily on the foc's'le head one afternoon watch below.
"A good time? Not much! Why, the albacore and bonita chase them out of the water, and the bosun-birds swoop down upon them in the air; they spend all their time flying from one enemy into the clutches of another."
"You don't say? It's shore some mean the way Providence cold-decks them fish that-away ”

“ Jack was made to lie down on the blankets under the awning, and all three vied with each other to make him as comfortable as possible.
The blindness made the strong man feel as helpless as a child. Jack's captaincy was over and he became a passenger in the boat, whilst Broncho took his place.
The cowboy, seated in the sternsheets, talked without ceasing in the desire to keep Jack from brooding. He recalled cunningly many a mirth-provoking experience which the two had gone through together in the past, and again and again he had his audience laughing uproariously at some quaint yarn. ”

“ But we ain't out o' the wood yet, for Derringer Jack yonder, who's all the time doin' range-boss an' playin' the leadin' hand with both sand an' savvy, goes buttin' his head agin fate, an' one maunin' emerges outer the racket plumb moon-blind. ”

“ Jack called to the cowpuncher, leaning over and putting his lips close to the other's ear.
"I surmise as how a diamond-hitch ain't needful in these heavenly regions," grunted Broncho to himself as he passed the gasket.
"Don't haul on it with both hands," suddenly cried the rover from the footrope below him. "Keep fast hold of the jackstay with one hand. Never trust a gasket, or one day you'll take a header to the deck."
"You can bet your moccasins I'll be a heap regyardful of what you-alls advises. ”

“ So back they had to go into the midst of the fray, where the two mates, surrounded by a yelling crowd, were fairly making things hum.
"Reg'lar New Orleans style o' towin' out!" gasped the cockney to Jack, as he skipped round the fore-hatch windlass to avoid the boot of Black Davis, whose eyes gleamed like those of a wild beast through blood and matted hair.
"Ho! ye murtherin' baste, ye, I have ye now," cried Pat with a wild Irish yell, and he sprang full on the mate from the top of the house, whence he had climbed by the iron ladder. ”

“ Yet he does, notwithstanding his colour."
[Pg 67]
"But Sam do shine be-e-autiful when he's hot," declared the boy.
This last was too much for Jack; he lay back and roared, whilst Jim's big brown eyes watched him in wonder.
But the men forward were rather huffed by Jack's friendship with the boy.
"Fust time h'I ever see'd the cock o' the foc's'le pal up with the ship's boy," grunted the cockney one day.
"You just be keerful what you say, Hollins," said Red Bill. "I just gave the little nipper a clout on the jaw t'other day for giving me sauce, when up jumps Derringer. ”

“ It was a position sufficient to scare the stoutest heart, and freeze a man's brain into idiocy. Yet his nerve never failed him, whilst the watch clung aloft, shaking with sheer fright, and with wavering eyes stared wildly from the helpless barque to Jack, and from Jack to the swooping demon of a sea, which, roaring and raging in pursuit, lifted its foaming head on a level with their blanched faces. ”

“ Jack listened to this speech with half-shut eyes, and then half muttered to himself:
"Men are a queer kind of beasts and women a queer kind of angels."
"I allow Broncho piles it on too thick," declared old Ben stubbornly, not noticing Jack's remark.
"Bedad!" chimed in Paddy, roused from his book by the miner's deep voice, "but my old woman's after bein' 'the pole o' me tent,' as they say in the Seharey. Her spuds'd make the mouth o' the divil wather sufeecient to put out old Mother Nick's galley-fire."
"Lawd, you surprise me, Pat!" ”

“ Aft sat Jack, the steering-oar in his hand, a boat's compass between his feet, whilst Broncho and Jim reclined at their ease against the stroke thwart, and Tari slumbered peacefully at full length in the bows.
Four days passed thus peacefully, and then the good south-west wind slackened, wavered, and finally died away, leaving the whaleboat floating motionless on the long, never-ceasing Pacific swell.
The sun shone fiercely with an eye-wearying glare; a thickness of steamy mist gathered and obscured the horizon. The atmosphere was heavy and suffocating, with a moist heat ”

“ The card-sharper made no attempt to move from his position, and whilst Jack and Broncho passed the bunt gasket, Hank slid out along the footrope and, grasping the jackstay with his left hand, hit fiercely with his right at the face of the shirker.
There is a grim work sometimes aloft in the raging of a gale, the work of heated blood and feelings overwrought by the cruel stress of the moment.
The gambler flinched from the vicious blows and whimpered miserably. ”

“ If it moderates at all to-night we'll put the horizon between us."
"I'm jest pining to shoot him up some," declared Broncho bloodthirstily.
"Let 'im begin the action," said Bill grimly. "We'll finish it!"
Loyola said nothing, but cowered closer to Jack with big, anxious eyes.
"We'll give him the slip, Lolie, don't you fear," cried the rover heartily.
Slowly the hours passed. The gale continued to blow with unabated vigour, but the whaleboat rode it like a duck.
The castaways sat silent for the most part, and watched the schooner down to leeward with various emotions. ”

“ The Black Adder, though she was pinched up in the wind all she would bear, would not look up as close as the whaleboat, though she went faster through the water.
Jack's arm was now attended to and skilfully bound up by Loyola. A bullet had simply grooved through the flesh—not much more than a graze, but sufficient to cause a good deal of bleeding. ”

“ Over the water came the quaint wild cry of a Mother Carey's chicken, and two or three of these small flitters were perceived hovering around.
"Mebbe there's some island hereabouts with them birds so handy," suggested Broncho, aroused out of his lethargy by the queer note.
"I'm afraid not," replied Jack. "I don't like to hear a Mother Carey's chicken give tongue, though; it generally means a long spell of calm weather."
"Why, oughtn't we to pick up the south-east trades directly?" inquired Jim.
"Never can tell nowadays; we may have more than we want of the doldrums. ”

“ The breaker was empty.
"It may save the boy's life—he's not as strong as us men," pleaded Jack. "It's only his wonderful pluck that's kept him up as long as this; if his nerves go, he's done. We're strong; we can [Pg 199] pull through, but the boy can't. May I give it him—it's his last chance?"
"Why, you durned old chipmunk," broke in Broncho half angrily, "d'you think Tari and I are sech low-down, ornery cattle as to up an' jump Jim's claim that-away." ”

“ Broncho stared; he had only heard the big Britisher addressed as bosun, and did not know his real name, and he also thought that Jack was in like ignorance up to that evening.
There was something going on behind the scenes which he could not even guess at. He was a keen observer, and had noticed the blush on the cheek of his friend.
"He's a hard-cut citizen, is Jack," thought the cowboy. "It takes a lot to jump him offen his gyard."
"Ben," continued Jack, "you're a real white man. I remember her now, poor little thing, and you too." ”

“ Tari and Broncho scrambled up and clambered forward.
After a long look, Tari said quietly,
"Dat am ghost-island!"
"Ghost-island? Precious little ghost about that," asserted Jim confidently.
"It's an atoll, I expect," called Jack from under the awning. "Surely we can't have drifted as far north yet as the Paumotus! By my reckoning the nearest island is over a hundred miles off."
"It's a coral island—I can see the cocoanut trees," the boy sang out excitedly.
"I'm afraid Tari's right, son," said Broncho, after a long scrutiny. "It's a mirage!" ”

“ In the second dog-watch the men would collect on the foc's'le head, and exchange yarns with eager faces and vehement gestures.
Every man forward had seen life in its more unusual phases. Paddy, Hank, Jack, and the cockney had all been shipwrecked more than once; and even Jim had had a strange crop of experiences crowded into his short life.
One evening Jack had just related a yarn of how he had been wounded in an affray in the New Hebrides, when mate of a "blackbirder," as the schooners recruiting Kanaka labour for the Queensland plantations were called. ”

“ Jack, whilst his hurt was being doctored, thought hard. If something were not done soon, Dago Charlie's obstinate perseverance would prevail.
"We'll worry him yet," began the rover.
"Shore, an' euchre him too," said Broncho confidently.
"The wind's light enough now to help us," went [Pg 298] on Jack. "Let's try some short tacking. We can go about three times to his one."
"That's good tactics, sure enough," commented Bill.
"Splendid!" cried Loyola. "Let's start at once."
"Right-oh! Ready about there, Tari. Bill, you ship an oar and help her round. We three will manage the lugsail." ”

“ Tenderly they laid her down in the bottom of the boat and sprinkled water over her face.
"You bruck it too rapid, Jack," observed the bosun's mate slowly. "It's the recoil as knocks a woman."
"I was a cursed, thoughtless fool," groaned Jack, in bitter self-reproach.
"That 'ere put-upon an' hard-pressed gal has the sand an' grit o' forty of us men-folk," declared Broncho, with emphasis. "The way she stands this racket an' plays her hand has me bulgin' with admiration an' respec'."
"Me too!" gulped Jim, with big tears in his eyes. ”

“ Jim started warily for the foc's'le, but the eagle eye of Black Davis was upon him, and he was fairly caught.
"Hyeh, yew kid! What yew doin'? Is this y'r watch on deck or ain't it?" roared the mate from aft.
"Come hyeh, yew whelp!" he bellowed.
Jim went bravely up on to the poop and faced the bully, expecting nothing less than a knockdown; but Black Davis, though boiling with rage, controlled himself with an effort.
Shaking his fist in the boy's face, he burst forth:
"Yew little skunk, I'll half kill yew one o' these days, loafin' an' sodgerin' around! ”

“ Then, giving the little dago a cuff on the ear, he rushed to the break of the poop, bellowing,
"Lee-wheel, hyeh, send a lee-wheel along, Mister Davis, an' send a man to relieve thet dago; he ain't more use than a bad egg."
By the time the yards were squared and the starboard watch allowed to go forward, all but an hour of their watch below had passed.
"Well, Broncho," said Jack with a queer note of gaiety in his voice, as they stripped off their oilskins, "this is something like, eh? This is the weather to wash the mud out of a man and keep his blood from getting sluggish and clogged." ”

“ Rising slowly and somewhat unsteadily to his feet, he peered round the shining horizon; then, dipping a pannikin over the side, he began pouring the refreshing liquid over the three prone forms—first soaking Jim and Broncho as they lay together amidships, and then crawling [Pg 202] forward and performing the like service on Tari.
"T'ank you, my pleni" whispered the tender-hearted Marquesan, pressing his cracked lips to the rover's hand.
Jack's eyes grew very bright at the warm proof of affection.
"Tiakapo, Tari," he said softly in the Gilbert dialect, gripping the Kanaka's brown fist. ”

“ Tari and I will keep the middle watch."
"I ain't tired—I'm as frisky as can be," objected Jim. "I might as well take the first trick now I'm at the wheel."
"And I'm as full of buck as a corn-fed cow-pony," put in Broncho. "You're lookin' some weary an' overplayed yourself, Jack; just you prowl down in your blankets whilst Jim and I deal the game."
"I think we'd better elect a captain first," said the rover casually, "or it'll be a case of too many cooks."
"Bein' as you savvys the game, Jack, I concloods you-alls is elected onanimous; thar shore ain't no candidate for the opposition. ”

“ But up swung the stern of the gallant clipper as, held steady by Jack's cool hand, she ran dead before it, and the great roller rushed by harmless and fell with a deafening clatter upon the flooded maindeck.
In such a sea everything depends upon the helmsman, and the bosun kept handy to the wheel, ready to give his powerful aid should the emergency arise.
But the rolling-stone needed no help—he was thoroughly in his element. A magnificent helmsman, a few spokes either way and he kept the Higgins steady on her course. ”

“ Down went Loyola on her knees beside the wounded man, whilst Broncho snapped hurriedly at the marksman before he resumed his seat.
"Where's he hit?" asked Jack anxiously.
"He's only stunned, I think," replied Loyola, with a long sigh of relief. "The bullet has ploughed a groove through his hair, hardly cutting through the skin."
"Let him lie in the bottom of the boat, Lolie; you can do nothing for him. He'll come to after a bit, and soon be all right," declared Jack.
Dago Charlie was now only pulling leisurely, keeping up with the whaleboat, but taking care not to get any nearer. ”