Chapter XVIII
Was there ever such a voyage! This morning, when I came on deck, I found
nobody at the wheel. It was a startling sight--the great Elsinore, by
the wind, under an Alpine range of canvas, every sail set from skysails
to try-sails and spanker, slipping across the surface of a mild trade-
wind sea, and no hand at the wheel to guide her.
No one was on the poop. It was Mr. Pike's watch, and I strolled for'ard
along the bridge to find him. He was on Number One hatch giving some
instructions to the sail-makers. I awaited my chance, until he glanced
up and greeted me.
"Good morning," I answered. "And what man is at the wheel now?"
"That crazy Greek, Tony," he replied.
"A month's wages to a pound of tobacco he isn't," I offered.
Mr. Pike looked at me with quick sharpness.
"Who is at the wheel?"
"Nobody," I replied.
And then he exploded into action. The age-lag left his massive frame, and he bounded aft along the deck at a speed no man on board could have exceeded; and I doubt if very many could have equalled it. He went up the poop-ladder three steps at a time and disappeared in the direction of the wheel behind the chart-house.
Next came a promptitude of bellowed orders, and all the watch was
slacking away after braces to starboard and pulling on after braces to
port. I had already learned the manoeuvre. Mr. Pike was wearing ship.
As I returned aft along the bridge Mr. Mellaire and the carpenter emerged
from the cabin door. They had been interrupted at breakfast, for they
were wiping their mouths. Mr. Pike came to the break of the poop, called
down instructions to the second mate, who proceeded for'ard, and ordered
the carpenter to take the wheel.
As the Elsinore swung around on her heel Mr. Pike put her on the back
track so as to cover the water she had just crossed over. He lowered the
glasses through which he was scanning the sea and pointed down the
hatchway that opened into the big after-room beneath. The ladder was
gone.
"Must have taken the lazarette ladder with him," said Mr. Pike.
Captain West strolled out of the chart-room. He said good morning in his
customary way, courteously to me and formally to the mate, and strolled
on along the poop to the wheel, where he paused to glance into the
binnacle. Turning, he went on leisurely to the break of the poop. Again
he came back to us. Fully two minutes must have elapsed ere he spoke.
"What is the matter, Mr. Pike? Man overboard?"
"Yes, sir," was the answer.
"And took the lazarette ladder along with him?" Captain West queried.
"Yes, sir. It's the Greek that jumped over at Baltimore."
Evidently the affair was not serious enough for Captain West to be the
Samurai. He lighted a cigar and resumed his stroll. And yet he had
missed nothing, not even the absence of the ladder.
Mr. Pike sent look-outs aloft to every skysail-yard, and the Elsinore
slipped along through the smooth sea. Miss West came up and stood beside
me, searching the ocean with her eyes while I told her the little I knew. She evidenced no excitement, and reassured me by telling me how difficult it was to lose a man of Tony's suicidal type.
"Their madness always seems to come upon them in fine weather or under
safe circumstances," she smiled, "when a boat can be lowered or a tug is
alongside. And sometimes they take life--preservers with them, as in
this case."
At the end of an hour Mr. Pike wore the Elsinore around, and again
retraced the course she must have been sailing when the Greek went over. Captain West still strolled and smoked, and Miss West made a brief trip below to give Wada forgotten instructions about Possum. Andy Pay was called to the wheel, and the carpenter went below to finish his breakfast.
It all seemed rather callous to me. Nobody was much concerned for the
man who was overboard somewhere on that lonely ocean. And yet I had to
admit that everything possible was being done to find him. I talked a
little with Mr. Pike, and he seemed more vexed than anything else. He
disliked to have the ship's work interrupted in such fashion.
Mr. Mellaire's attitude was different.
"We are short-handed enough as it is," he told me, when he joined us on
the poop. "We can't afford to lose him even if he is crazy. We need
him. He's a good sailor most of the time."