DRUMMER’S BABY.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 1, Issue 51, 2 November 1870, Page 7

DRUMMER’S BABY.

Bv Thickesa Tasmania. [From the Australian Journal for October.] Bump, bump; crash, crash- the great unwieldy •hip trying its strength against the sharp, unyielding edges of the treacherous iran rocks, and finding their callous immovability more than a match for her restless struggles. Crash, crash ; bump, bump—every blow redoubling her injuries, and every moment revealing more and more her helplessness and the

of her living freight, as the grey morning lif® grew stronger, and made clear to the cantainWyl officers that the “ Victory ” was a hopeless ■^Teckf

But as the daylight strengthened the gale subsided, and the captain and soldiery agreed to abandon the fFA-foundering vessel, and take

to the boats immediately, for the fiercest wrath of the mighty waves was spent, and not far ■ahead dusky, outline of land. In a moment all was eager excitement on the crowded deck ; soldiers rushed to lend their aid to the willing sailors, as they obeyed the captain’s orders ; women and children—kept below previously by main force, Wailing and shrieking all the night through with terror—now hnrired on deck, clung to the first object they could clutch, and implored to be put into the first boat that was lowered.

Only one individual stood still and composed amidst the uproar ; a man in corporal’s uniform, who grasped a rope in one hand to steady himself during the heavy plunging of the dismasted ship, and held, cradled in the other arm, a young infant. Its long, white gown fluttered up into his face, and the dashing spray damped its skirts, but the man kept it close and warm, and looked sometimes into its placid, slumbering face, then round upon the boiling sea and jagged teeth of the cruel rocks, and held it closer.

All this time there was a fearful yelling between-deoks—a sound as if wild beasts were caged within and howling for their freedom ; and as the rapid tread of many feet was heard rushing along the deck, eager for the first chance of safety, and almost deaf to the voice ■of discipline, the yelling below increased, till it rose in one awful shriek of agony; and the corporal—the only one who appeared to hear or heed that wild cry of supplication, could bear to keep silence no longer. He made his way, holding carefully by the bulwarks for support, lest the infant should be injured, to the spot where one of his superior officers was superintending the removal of some of the women and children from the slippery dismantled deck to the precarious safety of a boat, and, touching his cap, inquired what was to be done with the convicts ?

“ The convicts ?” repeated the officer, with a gesture of astonishment and disdain, as if amazed at the idea of a man having a thought to spare for such worthless lumber when his own life was at stake.

“ The convicts ?” echoed another, who stood assisting to keep hack the rush of miserable, shivering, terrilied creatures who were imploring wildly to bo taken off the wreck—- “ The convicts!” he added, with a dreadful oath, “ let them go to hell in their bunks !” “ To be sure,” said the first, with a scornful laugh, which sounded terribly at variance with the peril in which ho stood, “ that’s their ultimate destination. What’s the odds if we send them there a few years before their time !”

“Don’t be a fool, standing gaping there, Drummer,” said the other, to the anxious-faced corporal. “ Hand that child over the side—some of the women will take it—and look out for your own safety ; you’ll have a chance soon.” “ Thank you, sir,” returned Drummer, respectfully: “I’d rather we took our chance together. I promised my poor wife—- “ Oh ! there, I haven’t time to stay arguing—stand out of the way. ” And he turned his back to his inferior and his eyes to the heavily-laden boat, just in time to see it lifted On the crest of a tremendous wave, and dashed to fragments against the side of the groaning ship, and all the shrieking occupants scattered to the mercy of the boiling sieges. And Drummer hugged his child closer to his aching heart.

The -white, frightened faces on deck grew whiter at this catastrophe, and there was not quite such a scramble lor seats in the second boat. It was sopn crowded, however, with trembling, ahrvrt'king souls, and was rowed, apparently,/to a safe distance, when it struck unseen point of the reef which had been tffieir destruction, filled, and went down before their eyes almost instantly, with all it* ' launching, aim the last met a similar fate.

There was nothing more to be done—every nan must shift for himself. Fortunate he who lad strong, skilful arms to trust to, for yonder yretohed the friendly shore, and the best rimraer, had, apparently, the best chance of le.

(Meanwhile the yelling below increased fourJd, and the maddened wretehes, bolted down, |&ticipating a most horrible death, beat against She hatches that interposed between them and liberty, and supplicated their captors in abjeot terms to allow them t« take their chance with

the rest. But their petitions and cries were 1 alike unheeded, save by two or three of the

military, more fool-hardy than their fellows, who retorted with curses and jibes, and shouted to the caged suppliants, “ We’re going to leave you to drown like rats, and we shall be carousing on shore to-night, while you are tormented in hell.”

There was a fiercer onslaught at the confining bolts upon this fiendish defiance, and Drummer being left almost alone upon the deck—as the soldiers dropped one after the other into the gradually subsiding waves, to escape the final plunge of the fast-sinking vessel—went to the hatchway, and lent his help to the struggling efforts of the prisoners.

A crash—a loud shout—a violent battle for the first step on deck, and the heaving, yelling crowd was free—free to sink or swim, with as much prospect of deliverance as their betters ; who were, most of them, exhausting their last strength in fruitless attempts to grasp floating spars, or beat the o’ermastering waves. The ship made a sudden plunge—her bows sank far below the surface, and her stern was elevated for a few brief moments, and in that space the surging mass leaped with a shriek into the waters, and the “Victory” was deserted—left to settle down, after a few more plunges, quietly beneath the waves, with no living creature on board of her.

Half-andiour afterwards, numbers of planks and spars, wrenched out of the groaning ship, were floating shorewards. One of these passed conveniently close to a convict—a strong swimmer, battling sturdily with the sea. The Spirit of the Storm had been more merciful to him than the brutal soldiery—every one of whom sank to rise n« more ; and the bold swimmer eagerly seized the fresh chance of safety offered him, just as he was growing weak from continuous efforts. He succeeded in seating himself astride the spar, and anxiously watched its course towards the still distant shore.

He had not been long in possession, when the head of a man suddenly appeared above the water but a yard from him, and the owner of the head stretched out an arm and grasped at the spar, as only a drowning man can. He was the ship’s surgeon ; and the convict knew him instantly, in spite of the alteration agony and exhaustion had made in hia once jolly eouutennaoe.

“ How are you, doctor ?” said he, mockingly, pulling hia lank, dripping hair, to the panting object. “ I hope you enjoy your cold bath. Just take your fingers olf, though—l prefer my safety to yours.” And he tried to push the doctor from his hold.

But the half-drowned man held on with unrelaxiug tenacity, and as soon as he found breath, gasped, For God’s sake, Martin, save me !”

“Oh, yes, that’s tine!” returned Martin. “ But an hour ago when I called on you to save me, you bawled out ‘ Go to the devil !’ ” “No I didn’t—l swear 1 didn’t! ’Twasn’t me—’twas Ryder, For the love of God Martin, don’t !” ejaculated the doctor, in despair, as the convict forced him from his hold.

He then clung to the fingers that were pushing bis down to death—clung to them with both hands ; till Martin to save himself, from being dragged down, was obliged to help the doctor up, and let him also get a seat on the spar ; for the unwelcome guest never relaxed his grasp until he was properly seated, and then he clung to the wood, as if he never meant to lot that go. The convict scowled and swore, but the doctor held on, and tried to pacify his powerful enemy. He himself was a short, stout, plethoric man, and he know he had not the smallest chance in a battle with this great brawny creature, but that he was utterly at his mercy.

Martin knew it too, and seemed to gloat over the fact. He took a delight in tantalising the fleeter, with threats of tossing him back into the waves from which he bad barely escaped ; and seeing the poor gentleman’s blind terror, and the desperate manner in vhich he clung to the spar, he worked the frail support about, making it toss up and down, saying tauntingly, “ You see, I can sink you or save you.” “ Ob, do save me, for Heaven’s sake !” implored the terrified gentleman, “and I’ll get you your freedom when. I reach shore. I will, indeed.”

“ Guess you’ll remember your promise when you’re safe on your own two legs again, won’t you?” returned Martin, making a hideous grimace at him. “ I will indeed. You may depend on my word—l swear it—only save me !'’ “ Thereupon the convict desisted from his freaks, which were in reality merely intended to tantilise and terrify ; and the pair relapsed into silence, each occupied with his thoughts, and both watching intently the course of their own frail protection, and that of the numerous portions of the vessels now floating about. They saw at a distance something white on the surface of the water, and not far from it a black speck—the head of a man, swimming for his life. They saw him grasp a plank, and hold by it till h* came close to the white streak, and then he took that—whatever it was—and laid it on the plank, and swam on again. ( To he continued in ovr next I