Chapter Four

 

Quiggins sent Jake out of the engine room about mid-morning.

"I need peace and quiet to figure out what's wrong with this design" he said, " and I'm not going to get it while you and that cat are prancing about knocking things over!"

In truth, Tigertail had dislodged a ball of twine while chasing a rat: Jake had caught the twine in mid-air, but it had been enough to distract the Chief Engineer and earn his wrath

Tigertail liked to ride on Jake's shoulder in a manner similar to the fashion favoured by certain parrot-owning pirates. This inspired comments - some less flattering than others - from other crew members, but most were amused by the way in which they had swiftly become inseparable. So far, their specially close relationship (and the fact that they were able to communicate) remained their secret. Jake had taken it as his responsibility to inform his shipmates of the cat's ‘real' name. Anyone who queried this was simply told that Jake himself had decided to rename the cat. As it happened, most of the crew had never thought of the cat as having a name, and accepted this explanation without protest.

As 'prentice to the Chief Engineer, Jake had come on deck to discover that he was not required to scrub decks, coil ropes or polish brass fittings along with the other lads with whom he had recently shared cramped quarters below stair. He felt a bit guilty sitting idle on the fo'c'sle while the others scurried about their tasks: nonetheless he was determined not to let it show.

For the past three days he'd been constantly at Quiggins' side, snatching a few hours sleep from time to time as the Engineer had tried one variation in engine design after the other, looking to squeeze the ultimate ounce of energy out of the system and give them an edge on speed and manoeuvrability which could be turned to their advantage at sea. In truth, he'd become so engrossed in the process he'd been largely unaware of the passage of day or night. The few times he had ventured on deck for a breath of fresh air, it had been during the cool hours of the night. The warmth of the morning sun on his face soon had him nodding, more than half-asleep.

Tigertail stretched, quivering from tail to whiskers with pleasure, and was about to settle around Jake's shoulders like a courtesan's mink stole. Suddenly he stiffened, and clawed his way to the top of the figurehead Jake was leaning on.

"What is it?" Jake was on his feet in an instant, looking about to see what might have startled his companion.

"Man overboard!" hissed Tigertail.

Jake reached instinctively for the nearest life preserver, scooping it off its post and slinging the rope over his left arm for a free cast, pausing to seek a target.

"Are you sure ..... ?" he began to ask, scanning the unbroken, smooth surface of the water lapping at the ship's prow. Before he could finish the question, a thin wail of terror keened from above and behind him, ending in a splash off the port quarter. Jake was on it in an instant. Casting the belt as close as he could judge to the point of splashdown, he followed it without a thought for his own safety.

He jacknifed to cut cleanly through the water, reaching maximum depth as quickly as possible. He squinted to all sides, searching for his fallen shipmate. Even if he had judged his dive well, it was likely that whoever had fallen was injured, and unable to swim to the surface unaided. Finding him was likely to prove to be a lottery.

He had almost reached the limit of how deep his natural momentum would take him when a dark shape floated before him. Instinctively he grasped at it, knowing that this would be the only chance he had to complete a rescue. He performed a half-tumble to bring his legs below him: placing his hands under the unconscious sailor's armpits he kicked as strongly as he could for the surface.

His lungs felt on fire, close to bursting, when two trails of bubbles arrowed directly at him and his unconscious burden.

Two adult members of the crew materialised, dragging Jake and the unconscious crew member as swiftly as possible back to breathable air and relative safety. Willing hands waited to help him back on board, where he promptly threw up and passed out.

*****

Jake woke to find himself flat on his back. Despite the blanket snugly wrapped around his shoulders, he couldn't stop himself shivering.

Tigertail sat on his chest, staring hard as Jake's eyes fluttered open.

"Mwwwwwwwrawr! Be careful what you tell them!" he managed to say before jumping down as the ship's surgeon approached to check the patient.

Jake wondered vaguely why he might need to be careful of what he said, but forewarned was forearmed. He settled back and tried to make himself appear less alert than he really was: experience had taught him that this tactic often gave the skilled actor an edge which could be turned to his advantage.

Bones wiped a thermometer on an area of his smock which was not as dirty as the rest of it and attempted to poke it up Jake's nose. The smell of rum on his breath warned Jake that this ‘examination' by the ship's doctor might cause more injuries than it cured: he twisted his head to one side just in time. Bones didn't seem to notice Jake's successful manoeuvre, but peered blearily at the thermometer anyway, as if he expected it to yield vital information about Jake.

"Hot rum an' rest!" he mumbled.

A glass of something steaming was placed on a table at the bedside, close enough for Jake to smell the sweet, pungent odour of the rum. Before he could react, Bones scooped it up and emptied it with a satisfied belch.

"I get the rum: you get the rest!" he cackled, cleaning some wax out of his ear with the thermometer. He inspected the results of his excavations before wiping it once more on his stained smock and tucking it out of sight under the greasy mane of dirty hair which covered his ears.

Relieved to have escaped the unwelcome ministrations of the ship's chirugeon so easily, Jake struggled to raise himself onto his elbows. It took some effort: he was still stiff and sore, and his exertions in saving his (still-unknown) shipmate had tired him far more than he would have believed possible. The blanket slipped from his shoulder, and he shivered.

Tigertail appeared from nowhere, landing daintily on his legs and advancing the length of the bed to settle by his ear.

"You've made a name for yourself!" he purred " ... so I'll just remind you that there are .... shall we say, certain things ... which you should remember must not be mentioned when you have visitors. This might be my last chance to speak to you in private for quite some time!"

With a start, Jake realised that Tigertail had simply sat at his side and purred, but he had ‘heard' this warning quite distinctly, word for word, inside his head.

He blinked.

"Are we now ‘talking' without speaking?" he thought at Tigertail, making a conscious effort not to move his lips.

Tigertail licked a paw.

"It seems that way, Jake! I must say I didn't expect this either, but it might save a lot of embarrassment - especially if I don't even have to be in the room with you, but we can test that possibility later: I'm going to stay under the bed where they won't know I'm around, but I can hear what's being said and maybe help you if you need it!"

Suiting action to word, Tigertail fluffed off the bed and scurried underneath at the sound of boots approaching in the corridor.

The visitors were bo'sun Sam Barnacle and Chief Engineer Quiggins (whose lab coat was considerably cleaner than the doctor's gown had been).

"Well done, Jake me lad!" were Sam's first words, accompanied by a sincere hug: Jake all but disappeared in the bo'sun's meaty forearms.

"Young Pete Skinner will live to tell the tale, but he's you to thank for going in after him so promptly. How you picked just the right spot to dive in is little less than a miracle!"
"Lucky I was looking in that direction already before I heard him cry out" muttered Jake, trying to play down any ideas of magic or other influence. The last thing he wanted was for people to suspect that there might have been other forces in play.

"No need for false modesty, boy!" came Quiggins' rejoinder "You did a fantastic thing, and without any care for your own safety! Credit where it's due, I always say, and there's not one of the crew isn't grateful for your actions yesterday ....... "

"Yesterday?" gasped Jake, amazed. He hadn't realised that a full day - possibly more, from the angle of the sunbeams at the window - had passed. Suddenly, he felt hungry. His stomach gave a loud rumble, as if it too had only just discovered that it had been cheated of a full day's rations.

Sam heard this, and laughed heartily.

"Sounds as if your body has more sense than your brain!" he snorted. "We'll be back to speak to you later, once you've had some vittles: can't have our young heroes dying off on us from lack of food .....!"

Right on cue, one of the older 'prentices knocked on the door and staggered in bearing an imposing mountain of hot food and beverages. Jake applied himself with a will, fully determined to do justice to both.

Sam topped up Jake's glass several times as he ate, and encouraged him to recount what he remembered of the rescue dive with a few well-placed questions when the narrative showed signs of faltering.

"D'you have any idea how deep you went, how long you were down there?" Quiggins put in, suddenly "I mean, a few seconds longer and I could have been a 'prentice short: I'll grant I've only had you under my feet a week or so, but at least you know your letters and numbers and you've shown some skill around the engine room .... !"

"Take no notice, young Jake: coming from him, anything less than a curse is to be taken as a compliment!" Sam interposed, turning a mock-scowl on Quiggins which wouldn't have fooled anyone.

"Al the same, you went deep and you found your man, which took some doing!" he said, with a touch of respect in his voice.

"You were in the water so quickly, it was almost as if you knew it was going to happen .... "

"Careful!" came the (totally unnecessary) warning inside his skull.

Jake twisted and sat a trifle straighter to buy a few precious seconds of time for thought.

"It was just luck really, sir: I happened to be sitting near a life preserver and looking in the right direction: I must have grabbed for the ring when I heard Pete's scream, and got it in the right general area. That gave me a target to aim for when I dived after it. I'd no idea how deep I was going, though: I never thought to take a specially deep breath or anything .... "

"Good thing, in a way: a deep breath would have made you float more, and you'd never have made it as deep as you did!" Sam interrupted. Quiggins gave a scientific nod of agreement, but had no further comment to add.

Jake had not realised this, having no scientific knowledge at all. On the other hand, as he reflected later when he was on his own again, it wouldn't have stopped him from making the attempt if he had known.

"The lad's exhausted!" Quiggins said, abruptly. "How am I ever going to get a decent day's work out of him if you keep wittering away at him and keeping him awake?"

He stood, laying a firm hand on Sam's shoulder and turning him towards the door. He took the opportunity to fix Jake with a covert glance behind Sam's back. It seemed to say that he realised there was more in this than met the eye, and that he would make it his business to get to the bottom of it.

The door closed behind them, and Tigertail bounced back onto the bed as soon as it seemed certain that they were not likely to be disturbed by further visitors.

"You managed to avoid all the awkward questions that could have been asked!" he commented, with an approving purr.

"I don't understand why you think it's important that nobody knows how you warned me just before it happened, though!" queried Jake

Think, Jake! If you tell people I warned you, you'll have to tell them how I warned you: and how are you going to explain that except by admitting that we understand each other - which can only lead to further long-winded, time-consuming arguments while you try to convince people that you're not crazy!"

"Did you have any more of a paw in what happened afterwards? I mean, Sam seems to think I dived much deeper than should have been possible, unaided ...." Jake trailed off.

Tigertail seemed suddenly engrossed in the study of the claws on his left front paw.

"Maybe: that's a bit hard to decide, even now!" he admitted, finally, when the silence had become uncomfortably long.Let me put it this way: we cats naturally aren't fond of water - except for my crazy cousins from Turkey, who claim to enjoy swimming!" he added, with a visible shudder of distaste.

"Be that as it may, I really, really wanted to help you in any way possible. I found myself holding my breath for as long as I could while you were under water, and wishing you onwards, if that makes sense!"

"I found I could see a lot better than I thought I would" admitted Jake "And cats are supposed to be able to see better than we can: did you have anything to do with that?"

Tigertail shrugged.

"At one point I seemed to ‘see' some shapes which could have been you swimming and someone else floating in front of you." he said " ... but by that time I'd given up trying to hold my breath!"

Jake suddenly felt sleepy: no doubt a feeling brought on by the combination of a full belly and reaction to the high-octane adrenaline surge which he had needed to survive during his rescue dive. Tigertail turned round two or three times and prepared to settle across Jake's knees.

"Nobody will think it strange if they come in and find me sleeping on your bed: after all, everybody knows that cats will always sleep on anyone who's sick in bed!"

The last thing Jake was aware of as he drifted off to a well-earned sleep was the incongruous sight of flowery curtains flapping in a gentle breeze either side of an open sash window at the end of the bed, just where he expected to see a sealed, round (and most definitely uncurtained) porthole showing a glimpse of summer clouds. For just a few seconds he almost saw a half-remembered room with almost-recognisable furniture identifying it as a boy's private bedroom: but had he ever been so lucky as to have had the luxury of a room of his own?  As sleep overcame him, he decided - regretfully - that this was not possible.