“Stand back!” he said, and when the men still advanced on him he pulled out his sheath knife.
“Stand back! I’ll kill the first man to lay a hand on me!” he said. He knew himself to be snarling like a wild beast, his teeth bared with the intensity of his feeling, and he knew that he would stand no chance in fight, one against nine.
“Come now, lads,” he said. “We’ll have to make these last. We’ll ration ’em out. Fair divs all round. See how many more you can find.”
The force of his personality asserted itself; so did what remained of the common sense of the crew, and they drew back. Soon three men were kneeling round the hatchway, with the others leaning precariously over them to look over their shoulders.
“There’s one!” croaked a voice.
An arm went down and a coconut was scooped up.
“Give it here,” said Hornblower, and he was obeyed without question; another was already visible, and another after that. They began to pile up at Hornblower’s feet, a dozen, fifteen, twenty, twenty-three of the precious things, before they ceased to appear further.
“With luck we’ll find some more later,” said Hornblower. He looked round the group, and over at Barbara huddled at the foot of the mainmast. “Eleven of us. Half a one each for today. Another half each tomorrow. And I’ll go without for today.”
No one questioned his decision – partly, perhaps, because they were all too anxious to wet their lips. The first coconut was chopped open at the end, with desperate care lest a drop be spilt, and the first man took a drink. There was no chance at all of his drinking more than his half, with everyone grouped round him, and the man destined for the other half snatching it from his lips at every sip to see how far down the surface had sunk. The men forced to wait were wild with eagerness, but they had to wait all the same. Hornblower could not trust them to make a division without fighting or waste unless he was supervising. After the last man had drunk he took the remaining half over to Barbara.
“Drink this, dear,” he said, as at the touch of his hand she blinked awake from her heavy doze. ”
She drank eagerly before she took the nut from her lips.
“You’ve had some, dear?” she asked.
“Yes, dear, I’ve had mine,” said Hornblower steadily.
When he returned to the group they were scraping the thin jelly out from inside the nuts.
“Don’t damage these shells, lads,” he said. “We’ll need ’em when we get a rain-squall. And we’ll put those nuts under Her Ladyship’s guard. We can trust her.”
They obeyed him again.
“We got two more up while you was away, sir,” volunteered one of the men.
Hornblower peered down the hatchway at the litter-covered water. Another idea came up into his mind, and he turned to the steward again.
“Her Ladyship sent a chest of food on board,” he said. “Food in tin boxes. It was put aft here somewhere. Do you know where?”
“It was right aft, sir. Under the tiller ropes.”
“M’m,” said Hornblower.
As he thought about it a sudden motion of the ship tossed the water below up in a fountain through the hatchway. But it ought to be possible to reach that chest, break it open, and bring up its contents. A strong man, able to stay submerged for long periods, could do it, if he did not mind being flung about by the send of the water below.
“We’d have something better to eat than coconut jelly if we got those boxes up,” he said.
“I’ll have a go, sir,” said a young seaman, and Hornblower was inexpressibly relieved. He did not want to go down there himself.
“Good lad,” he said. “Put a line round yourself before you go down. Then we can haul you out if we have to.”
They were setting about their preparations when Hornblower checked them.
“Wait. Look for’rard!” he said.
There was a rain-squall a mile away. They could see it, a vast pillar of water to windward streaming down from the sky, well defined; the cloud was lower whence it fell, and the surface of the sea which received it was a different grey from the rest. It was moving down towards them – no, not quite. The centre was heading for a point some distance on their beam, as everyone could see after a moment’s study. There was an explosion of blasphemy from the grouped hands as they watched.