Chapter 24

Speed, gallant bark! richer cargo is thine,
Than Brazilian gem, or Peruvian mine;
And the treasures thou bearest thy destiny wait,
For they, if thou perish, must share in thy fate.

PARK

The departure of the boat was excellently timed. Had it left the side of
the ship while the Arabs on the raft were unoccupied, and at a little
distance, it would have been exposed to their fire; for at least a dozen
of those who boarded had muskets; whereas the boat now glided away to
leeward, while they were busy in getting up her side, or were so near the
ship as not to be able to see the launch at all. When Paul Powis, who was
looking astern through a crevice, saw the first Arab on the deck of the
Montauk, the launch was already near a cable's length from her, running
with a fresh and free wind into one of the numerous little channels that
intersected the naked banks of sand. The unusual construction of the boat,
with its enclosed roof, and the circumstance that no one was visible on
board her, had the effect to keep the barbarians passive, until distance
put her beyond the reach of danger. A few muskets were discharged, but
they were fired at random, and in the bravado of a semi-savage state
of feeling.

Paul kept the launch running off free, until he was near a mile from the
ship, when, finding he was approaching the reef to the northward and
eastward, and that a favourable sand-bank lay a short distance ahead, he
put down the helm, let the sheet fly, and the boat's forefoot shot upon
the sands. By a little management, the launch was got broadside to the
bank, the water being sufficiently deep, and, when it was secured, the
females were enabled to land through the opening of a shutter.

The change from the apparent hopelessness of their situation, was so
great, as to render the whole party comparatively happy. Paul and John
Effingham united in affirming it would be quite possible to reach one of
the islands to leeward in so good a boat, and that they ought to deem
themselves fortunate, under the circumstances, in being the masters of a
little bark so well found in every essential. Eve and Mademoiselle
Viefville, who had fervently returned their thanks to the Great Ruler of
events, while in the boat, walked about the hard sand with even a sense of
enjoyment, and smiles began again to brighten the beautiful features of
the first. Mr. Effingham declared, with a grateful heart, that in no park,
or garden, had he ever before met with a promenade that seemed so
delightful as this spot of naked and moistened sand, on the sterile coast
of the Great Desert. Its charm was its security, for its distance from
every point that could be approached by the Arabs, rendered it, in their
eyes, a paradise.