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diff --git a/21088.txt b/21088.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d45068 --- /dev/null +++ b/21088.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8518 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The White Squall, by John Conroy Hutcheson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The White Squall + A Story of the Sargasso Sea + +Author: John Conroy Hutcheson + +Illustrator: J. Schonberg + +Release Date: April 15, 2007 [EBook #21088] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE SQUALL *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The White Squall, by John Conroy Hutcheson +________________________________________________________________ +Tom is a thirteen year-old whose father is a Naval Officer on +the half-pay list. This dates the events, for Tom has read two +of Captain Marryatt's books, which were published in the 1830s, +while his father would have been recalled to duty in time for +the Crimean War, so we'll put the date down as the 1840s. + +The action starts in the West Indies, where Tom's father has +bought a property. Tom has an accident on his way to meet his +father on the way from a short visit to another island. Tom is to +be sent to an English school, and on his recovery he is taken +down to the harbour, and put in charge of a ship's Captain. + +The journey back to England has every misadventure that can be +thought of, including a White Squall, which we would probably +today call a Line Squall. The vessel is capsized. How do they +recover it? + +Eventually they arrive in England. And that is the end of the +story, which really is an introduction to ships for young +persons of about thirteen years of age. + +It isn't too long, and you'll enjoy it. +________________________________________________________________ + +THE WHITE SQUALL, BY JOHN CONROY HUTCHESON + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +MOUNT PLEASANT. + +"Jake!" + +"Dat me, Mass' Tom." + +"Have you heard the gun fire yet?" + +"Golly, no, Mass' Tom." + +"Then you must go up the hill at once and see whether the mail steamer +has been signalled or not. She ought to have been in sight by now; for, +she's been expected since early this morning, and we're all anxious +about the news from England." + +"All right, Mass' Tom, me go for see, suah." + +"Look alive then, Jake, and lose no more time in starting. Let me just +see how quickly you can get up to the Battery and back again; and mind, +Jake, if the packet should be in, you can saddle my pony when you return +for me to ride into town." + +"Berry well, Mass' Tom. I'se spec, railly for true, um go dere in brace +of shakes, an' back 'gain hyar 'fore dat lazy ole niggah Pomp fetch him +cutlash out o' stable an' go in bush to cut him guinea-grass for de +hosses. Golly, dat so, Mass' Tom--see if um don't for suah, yah, yah!" + +Jake broke off into a huge guffaw, as he shouted out these hurried words +in high glee, laughing with all that hearty abandon which was such a +strong characteristic of his genuine African nature. Such was the +intensity of his merriment, indeed, that he opened his wide red-lipped +mouth almost from ear to ear, disclosing a brilliant set of shining +teeth, whose ivory whiteness contrasted conspicuously with the jetty +blackness of his sable skin. The willing fellow then went off on his +mission at a slinging jog-trot, evidently determined to make his promise +good of outstripping his more lethargic rival Pompey, whom he was +absurdly jealous of and ever eager to surpass in every way he could. + +I watched him on his onward way from the raised terrace, laid out as an +ornamental garden, in front of our square, one-storied, shingle-roofed, +verandah-encircled West Indian home--which lay nestled in a gorgeous +wealth of tropical foliage and was perched half-way up the side of a +mountain peak that protected it from hurricane blasts in the rear; and, +I could see Jake spinning rapidly along the winding carriage drive, +bordered with cocoa-nut trees and grou-grou palms in lieu of the oaks +and elms of old England. In another second, ere the sound of his merry +chuckle had ceased to re-echo in the distance, he had passed through the +swing-gate that gave admittance to the grounds. + +The lawn sloped downwards from the house, following the curve of the +hill, and was studded with orange-trees, whose golden fruit peeped +through their shining green leaves, shaddocks, and mangosteen, with many +a stately palmiste rearing its tall feathery head above the others; +while, in addition, the wild locust, or iron-wood tree, the mammee +apple, the pomme-rose and the guava bush flourished between huge blocks +of stone, with flat table surfaces and of probable volcanic origin, that +seemed to have been thrown at random upon the surface of the grassy +expanse, where they now rested, monoliths of the past. + +As the gate swung back upon its hinges with a clang, Jake's woolly head, +surmounted by the veriest wisp of a ragged red handkerchief, disappeared +behind the thick and impenetrable hedge of thorny cactus and spike- +guarded prickly-pear that inclosed the plantation, separating it from +the main-road forming its boundary and leading, some four miles or so +beyond, over mountain and gully to Saint George's, the capital town of +Grenada, the most southern of the group of the Windward Islands--a spot +where the earlier days of my rather adventurous life were passed and +which is endeared to me by all the vivid associations of youth, the fond +recollections of memory. + +Our place was aptly named "Mount Pleasant," and well do I remember every +salient feature of it--the forest of lofty silk-cotton trees, bordered +on the left by a row of the curious _bois immortel_, with its blood-red +branches that had blossomed into flowers; the mountain slope covered +with green waving guinea-grass at the back; and in front the park-like +lawn already described. To the right was a long range of negro huts and +stabling; and, beyond these again the kitchen-garden or "provision +ground," prolific of sweet-potatoes, yams, and tanias, with plantain and +banana trees laden with pendent bunches of their sausage-shaped fruit +and hedged round with pine-apples. Stretching away still further in the +distance was the cocoa plantation, a sea of verdure, interspersed with +the darker green foliage of the nutmeg and wax-like clove-tree. Here +reigned in all its majesty the bread-fruit tree, with broad serrated +leaves, like a gigantic horse-chestnut, sheltering the more fragile +trees that grow only beneath its shadow, and acting as the "mother of +the cocoa"--el madre del cacao--as the Spaniards call it. + +But, I wish to go back now to the memorable day when Jake set off so +briskly on his errand to see if the English mail steamer had arrived, +leaving me on the terrace in front of our house wondering, as he speeded +on his way, whether the packet was in sight; and, if she had been +signalled, trying to surmise what news she would bring. + +I was really very anxious about the matter, and I will tell you the +reason why. + +My father was an officer of the royal navy, who found it a hard thing, +with an increasing family, to make both ends meet in the mother country +on his half-pay. At last, sick of waiting for active employment afloat +during the long stagnation in the service occasioned by the interregnum +of peace that lasted almost from Waterloo up to the time of the Crimean +war, he determined, like Cincinnatus, to "beat his sword into a +ploughshare." In other words, he abandoned the fickle element on which +he had passed the early days of his manhood and emigrated to the West +Indies, to see whether he might not improve his fortunes by investing +what little capital he had in a coffee and cocoa plantation in the +island where my scene opens. A couple of months or so before, he had +taken a trip across the Atlantic to arrange some money matters with his +London agent, and we were now expecting his return by every mail. +Beyond this, my father had more than half-hinted that, as soon as he got +back to Grenada, he would send me over to England in my turn to go to +school, when, most likely, I would have to bid adieu to my West Indian +home for good and all; for, my fervent desire was to follow in dad's +footsteps and enter the navy as soon as I was able to pass the admiralty +examination--a desire to which dad, in spite of the scurvy way in which +he had been treated by an ungrateful country, did not say nay, his +ambition being that I should succeed where he failed if possible, for he +was a true sailor and hankered after the sea yet. + +It was not surprising, therefore, that I was so eager to learn whether +the packet had come in, albeit her arrival would naturally bring to an +end the little brief authority which I had been so proud to assume +during dad's absence as the protector of my mother and sisters, besides +being regarded by all the negro hands as "um lilly massa of um +plantashun." Really, I esteemed myself at that period to be a most +important and highly dignified person, being only a boy of thirteen +years old then, and small-grown for my age at that! + +Jake had scarcely been out of sight five minutes when I began to look +out for his return. My impatience, indeed, quite got the better of my +reason, for I ought to have known well enough, if I had only considered, +that he could not have yet half accomplished the journey to the signal +station on Richmond Hill, much less thought even of coming back, the +willing darkey being as unable as anyone else to annihilate distance or +space! + +It was a terribly hot day, being close on to the noontide hour, the +thermometer under the shade of the verandah where I stood marking over a +hundred degrees; while, goodness only knew what it was out in the open, +where the sun's blistering rays produced such intense heat that the +paintwork of the green jalousie shutters outside the windows of the +house fairly frizzled up in liquid blotches! + +The air, too, was oppressively close and warm, just as when the door of +an oven is opened in one's face, not a breath of wind stirring to +agitate the still atmosphere; but, neither did this fact, nor did the +blazing power of the glowing orb of day, which looked like a globe of +fire in the centre of the heavens, affect the wild luxuriance of nature +at Mount Pleasant. + +As I gazed around, everything appeared to be invigorated instead of +prostrated by the high temperature. + +This seems to be the natural order of things in the tropics, that is, in +respect of everything and everyone accustomed to broiling weather, like +hot-house flowers and coloured gentry of the kidney of Jake and his +sable brethren, whose ancestors, having been born under the sweltering +equator, handed down to their descendants constitutions of such a nature +that they seem fairly to revel in the heat, and appear to be all the +healthier and happier the hotter it is! + +Ruby-throated humming-birds, with breasts of burnished gold, fluttered +about the garden on the terrace in front of me in dainty flight, or else +poised themselves in mid-air opposite the sweet-smelling blossoms of the +frangipanni, their little wings moving so rapidly as to make them appear +without motion; broad-backed butterflies, with black stripes across +their yellow uniforms, floated lazily about, purposelessly, doing +nothing, as if they could not make up their minds to anything; and the +scent of heliotropes and of big cabbage roses, that blossomed in +profusion on trees larger than shrubs, almost intoxicated the senses. +The eye, too, was charmed at the same time by the pinky prodigality of +the "Queen of Flowers," and the purple profusion of the convolvulus, +their colours contrasting with the soft green foliage of the bay-tree; +while great masses of scarlet geranium, and myriad hues of different +varieties of the balsam and Bird of Paradise plant were harmonised by +the snowy chastity of the Cape jessamine and a hundred other sorts of +lilies, of almost every tint, which encircled a warm-toned hibiscus, +that seemed to lord it over them, the king of the floral world. + +I was watching a little procession of "umbrella ants," as they are +called, that were promenading across the marble flooring of the +verandah, each of the tiny insects carrying above its head a tinier +piece of the green leaf of some plant, apparently for the purpose of +shielding itself from the sun, for they held up their shades just in the +same way as a lady carries her parasol; when, all at once, I heard a +heavy step outside, advancing along the terrace from the direction of +the stables. + +Without turning my head, or consulting watch or clock--or, even without +looking up at the scorching sun overhead, had my eyes been sufficiently +glare-proof to have stood the ordeal--I knew who the intruder was, and +could have also told you that it was exactly mid-day. + +Why?--you may ask perhaps. + +You will learn in a moment. + +The heavy footstep came a pace nearer, and then paused; when, looking +round, I beheld an old negro, with a withered monkey-like face, clad in +the ordinary conventional costume of an African labourer in the West +Indies. His dress consisted of a loose pair of trousers and shirt of +blue cotton check; and, on the top of his white woolly head was fixed on +in some mysterious fashion a battered fragment of a straw hat, just of +the sort that would be used by an English farmer as a scarecrow to +frighten off the birds from his fields. + +This was Pompey, Jake's rival; and, as he politely doffed his ragged +head-gear with one hand, in deference to my dignity as "the young +massa," he held out to me with his other paw a wine-glass whose foot, if +ever it had one, had been broken-off at some remote period of time. + +I knew what Pompey wanted as well as he did himself, but for my own +amusement, and in order to hear him make his usual stereotyped +announcement, I asked him a leading question. + +"Well, what is it?" I said. + +"U'm come, rum!" was his laconic rejoinder--nothing more, but the +sentence was sufficiently expressive. + +Every day of the week, with the exception of Sundays, it had been always +Pompey's privilege to have a quartern of rum served out to him, as if he +were on board ship, at twelve o'clock, the ordinary grog-time; and, +punctually at that hour every day, in the wet season or dry, he never +failed to come up to the house for his allowance, bringing with him the +footless wine-glass to receive the grateful liquor. His appearance, +consequently, was an unfailing token that the sun had crossed the zenith +and that it was time to "make it eight bells." + +Unlike the majority of his dark-complexioned brethren, who are generally +loquacious in the extreme, Pompey was singularly reticent of speech, +never varying this parrot-like formula of his when coming at twelve +o'clock for his daily stimulant, without which he would never set about +his afternoon work. + +"U'm come, rum!" was all he would say ever since he had been taken over +by my father with the other belongings of the plantation; and, as he was +an old "hand," the former proprietor related, and had always been +similarly indulged with a quartern of rum at mid-day as far back as he +could recollect, old Pompey--and precious old he must have been by this +reckoning--had evidently grown into the habit, so that it was part of +himself. + +Entering the house through one of the low window-less windows which +opened out on to the verandah, like the ports in the side of a ship-- +ventilation being everything in the tropics and closed doors and shut-up +rooms unheard of, as everybody was free to walk in and out of the +different apartments just as they pleased--I soon brought out a case- +bottle from the sideboard where it stood handy for the purpose. Then, +filling the old darkey's footless wine-glass, which he held with a +remarkably steady hand considering his age, he tossed off the contents +without drawing breath, the fiery liquor disappearing down his throat +with a sort of gurgling "gluck, gluck," as if it had been decanted into +the capacious orifice, Pompey not even winking once during the +operation. + +"Tank you, Mass' Tom," said he, when he had sucked in the last drop; +when, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he stalked off across +the terrace again towards the stable to fetch his cutlass to cut the +guinea-grass for the horses, according to his usual habit at this time +of day. This Jake well knew, by the bye, when he said he thought he +would be able to return from his mission before the old fellow should +have started, Pompey being as regular as clockwork in his movements, +carrying out his daily routine most systematically. + +I did not expect to see him again until later on in the afternoon on his +return from the mountain at the back of the house, laden with a bale of +provender for the stable, which he had charge of; but, what was my +surprise a few minutes afterwards, to see him hurrying up again to the +house, without his customary companion the cutlass and in a state of +great excitement most unaccountable in one generally so phlegmatic. + +"Hullo, Pompey! what's the matter now?" I called out as he began to +ascend the steps leading up to the terrace, his boots coming down with a +heavy stamp on the marble surface. He was a most peculiar old fellow; +for, unlike again most of the negroes, who only wear any foot covering +on Sundays, when they torture themselves horribly by squeezing their +spreading toes into patent leather pumps if they can get them by hook or +by crook, the old darkey invariably stalked about in a tall pair of +Wellington boots that made him walk as gingerly as a cat with its paws +in walnut shells. + +"Hey, Mass' Tom, look smart," he sang out in response. "Um big 'guana +down by de stable; come quick an' bring 'tick an' we kill him togedder!" + +An iguana? This was something to make one excited; for, harmless though +the reptile is, one does not come across one everyday. Besides, it is +capital eating, tasting just like a chicken, and that of the tenderest: +you could not tell the difference between the two when well cooked. + +Catching up a thick stick, I was after Pompey in a minute, forgetting +alike the heat of the sun's rays in the open--although but a short +period before I had been forced to retreat under the shade of the +verandah--and my anxious watch for Jake with news of the mail steamer, +about whose delay I had been so impatient. + +I soon overtook the darkey, who never could make much headway in his +boots. They were so big for him that I believe his feet used to have a +quiet walk inside them on their own account! + +"Where's the 'guana?" I said. + +"Just dere, Mass' Tom," he replied, pointing with one of his lean, bony, +mottled fingers, the black colour of which seemed to have been worked +off them by years of rough usage. + +"Where?" I repeated, for I could not see the animal as yet anywhere. + +"Dere, on manure heap--see?" + +"Yes, I see now," I replied, as, getting nearer to the stables, I +noticed something on the top of a mound of straw rubbish. It was a +creature like a gigantic lizard, some five or six feet long and as broad +about the head as a decent-sized pig. + +"Yah, yah, dere he is, dere he is!" shouted out Pompey. "Golly, Mass' +Tom, he am big 'guana, too! Give me de 'tick, and dis niggah will soon +'top um runnin' 'way." + +The green-looking creature had been basking in the sun, enjoying itself +all the more, probably, from the warmth of the manure heap on which it +lay; but now, on our nearer approach, it raised its serpent-like head +and, puffing out its creamy throat, grew in an instant to double its +former size, while the beautiful iridescent colouring of its skin became +more conspicuous. + +Pompey raised the stick I had handed to him, and the iguana, as if +likewise springing to arms to resist attack, elevated a sort of spiny +fringe, resembling a mane, that reached from the crest of its head to +the shoulders. At the same time, it slung round its tail, in crocodile +fashion, as if to give a blow with it to its assailant. + +The old darkey, however, was not frightened at the motion. Stepping up +to the animal's side, he gave it one smart stroke on the nose, whereupon +the iguana was incontinently settled, turning over on its back a second +afterwards. The brightness at once faded from its green and gold skin, +while the rich cream-coloured throat changed to a dirty-white in the +hues of death, in the same way that a dolphin alters its colour when +taken from its native element. + +"Guess um well kill' now, nohow," said Pompey grimly, taking up the +animal by the tail; but it was such a big one that he couldn't lift it, +so he had to drag it along the ground towards the quarters of himself +and the other negroes. Here it would, I knew, ere long be skinned and +dressed in a very savoury way, known only to African cooks, when a +portion of the banquet would be sent in anon to "the big house," for the +kindly acceptance of the white folks there--my mother, and sisters, and +myself--elegantly dished up in plantain leaves with red peppers for +dressing. + +While I stood for a second watching old Pompey making off with his prey +in high good-humour, looking in the distance, as he climbed the slope of +the hill up to the huts, uncommonly like a lean monkey dragging away a +centipede, the intense glare of the tropical noontide, of which I was +for the moment oblivious, changed in an instant to a deep gloom +resembling the blackness of night. It seemed as if some interposing +body had suddenly been placed between the sun and the earth. + +Then came a tremendous crash of thunder, like the sound of heaven's dome +breaking in, it was so fearfully loud and awesome; and the reverberating +roar was accompanied by a vivid flash of forked lightning, whose zigzag +stream struck a tall tamarind-tree standing in front of me, splintering +the trunk from top to bottom with a scrunching noise like that made in +rending timber! + +I turned and ran back to the house for shelter as fast as I could, +anticipating what was coming, such storms being of frequent occurrence +in the tropics after exceptional heat and when there is no wind to +agitate the pent-up air; but, ere I could ascend the half dozen steps +leading up to the terrace, the rain-cloud overhead burst and a sheet of +water came down as if poured over the side of some giant reservoir in +the sky, wetting me to the skin by the time I had gained the shelter of +the verandah. + +My mother was just coming out of the drawing-room to see where I was, +when Jake came up racing behind me, shouting out at the pitch of his +voice, above the sound of the sluicing rain, "De packet am in, Mass' +Tom! De packet am in!" + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +"MORE HASTE, WORSE SPEED." + +"Hurrah!" I shouted out. + +I was so overjoyed at hearing Jake's announcement that the long-expected +mail steamer had at last arrived that I was utterly oblivious of my +soaking condition, although I had been so completely drenched in the +brief space of time that had elapsed before I could get under shelter +from the shower, that the water was now trickling down my dripping +garments and running out of my boots. "Look alive, old fellow," I added +to the willing darkey, who was in an equally moist state, his black skin +glistening as if it had received a fresh coating of Japan varnish. +"Saddle my pony at once, for I must go into town, as I told you!" + +"But, Tom," interposed my mother at this juncture, "you cannot start in +all this rain. See how wet you are already, dear, and it is still +pouring down, worse than ever!" + +"Oh, never mind that, mother, it will stop soon," I rejoined hastily, +mortally afraid of her putting an embargo on my contemplated expedition +to Saint George's. "I will go in and change my things, and long before +I'm ready it'll be fine again, you'll see! Besides, you know, dad may +have come by the steamer, and he'll be expecting me to meet him and want +Dandy to ride home on. Jake can take him down along with me, so as to +be on the safe side, eh?" + +"Well, well, my dear, I suppose you must have your way," said my mother, +whom this last argument of mine, in respect of my father's possible +arrival, seemed to convince against her will, for she made no further +demur to my setting out, in spite of the weather. + +This very material point being satisfactorily arranged in my favour, as +Jake could see with half an eye, he having waited to learn whether my +orders were to be carried out or not, the darkey now hurried off to the +stables to execute them with a cheerful grin on his ebony face, fearing +the rain as little as he did the burning rays of the mid-day sun; while +I scurried off to my room upstairs to shift my wringing clothes and put +on another suit of white flannel, which is the ordinary wear of all +sensible people in tropical countries--just as it is becoming the +fashion over here in summer, especially for fellows who go in for +cricket and other athletic games provocative of perspiration. + +I had judged well of the climate and been a true weather prophet; for, +albeit I was pretty sharp in dressing, long ere I could get below again +the rain suddenly ceased falling, and, in another moment or so, the sun +was shining down as potently as it had done before the thunder-storm, +from an absolutely cloudless sky, whose burnished blue arc was only +suggestive of heat and glare as usual. + +When I stood under the verandah once more, awaiting Jake with the +horses, I noticed that the marble pavement of the terrace in front had +dried up already, while the earth of the flower-beds scarcely looked +damp. As previously, lots of humming-birds, displaying their rainbow +plumage to the best advantage, were flitting here and there between the +shrubs, in pursuit of the myriads of flies and other insects that had +come out for an airing after the shower, some of the tiny feathered +mites poising themselves before some opening bud or blossom, or else +peering into its interior, with their little wings moving at the rate of +ten thousand bird-power per minute and creating a little halo of +variegated light around them. + +The industrious ants, too, had reformed their parasol procession, which +the temporary deluge had seriously disorganised; and, but that several +solemn-looking blackbirds, of a larger species than the yellow-billed +variety familiar to us in England, were now hopping about on the lawn +under the orange-trees, digging up worms, and that a stray drop or two +of crystal glittered on the petals of the roses like diamonds, or +reflected the sunshine from the trumpet bells of the lilies, while there +was a greener tint on the vegetation around, one could hardly have +imagined that it had rained at all! + +Still, there was a perceptible coolness in the air now noticeable that +was most refreshing after the suffocating heat, which I had found so +oppressive an hour agone; and, this tempered tone of the atmosphere +brought out more vividly the fragrant scent of the frangipanni and +languid perfume of the jessamine, the whole atmosphere without being +redolent of their mingled odours, harmoniously blended together in sweet +unison, like a regular pot-pourri! + +The showery avalanche, besides cooling and sweetening the air with the +balmy breath of the flowers which its influence extracted, left also +other evidence of its effect behind. This was especially apparent in +the swelling torrent of muddy water, drained from the slopes of the +mountain-side above the house and now impetuously rushing down an +impromptu gully which the flood had scooped out for itself across the +grounds, following the course of the carriage drive almost up to the +entrance-gate, where the suddenly-created cataract, diverging into a +hollow to the left, made another exit for itself through the cactus +hedge into the cocoa plantation beyond. + +Jake was much longer in getting the horses saddled than I had expected; +and I had to shout out for him more than once before he came up to the +steps of the terrace with the especial animals he had charge +of--"Prince," my pony, a skittish little bay from the Spanish main; and +"Dandy," a sturdy dapple-grey Canadian roadster, that in appearance was +quite the reverse of what his name would imply. The old horse, however, +was as sound and steady as a veteran drum-major and thoroughly reliable; +and my father prized him highly, always riding him from choice and not +minding any chaff about his charger's looks. + +On advancing to mount Prince, our darkey groom seemed put out about +something, I noticed; but, before I could put any question to him or ask +the reason of his being so tardy in bringing out the horses, he burst +out full of his grievance. + +"I tole um so, Mass' Tom, tole um so!" he exclaimed. + +"Why, what is the matter?" I inquired, rather surprised. + +"Golly, matter 'nuff for dis chile," grumbled Jake. + +"You savvy I tell you, Mass' Tom, I'se come back from de hill 'fore Pomp +get him cutlash to cut um guinea-grass, hey?" + +"Yes, so you did, Jake," I said sympathisingly, remembering his boast +when setting out. + +"I'se right den, massa!" + +"Indeed?" I responded. + +"Iss, Mass' Tom. Belieb me, dat lazy ole niggah not cut guinea-grass, +not do nuffin'!" said Jake indignantly, thinking and hoping that Pompey +would receive a rating. + +"Oh, he caught a 'guana before the rain came on, and that prevented him +from going to cut the grass," I explained. + +Jake looked astounded. + +"Hey, Pomp catch him 'guana?" he asked. + +"Yes," said I. "He killed it in the stable-yard, and has gone to cook +it." + +This immediately fired Jake's jealousy. It was, to him, just like +adding insult to injury on his rival's park. It seemed like poaching on +his special domain. + +"What, Mass' Tom, he catchee 'guana, for suah?" + +"Yes, in the corner there," I answered, pointing out the exact place +with the twisted rattan, or "supple Jack," which I used for a riding- +whip and held loosely in my hand. + +"Dat for true, right on de mush heap dar?" repeated Jake, apparently +unable to realise the fact of the other's success in the chase. + +"He did," I said briefly; and then, wishing to end the colloquy, I +jumped on Prince's back, whereupon my skittish pony, as I had trained +him to do on my once mounting, immediately started off at a brisk canter +down the carriage drive. So Jake had perforce to bestride Dandy and +follow after me, without having the pleasure of calling Pompey to +account for his misdeeds before we started--as he evidently expected and +most decidedly wished to have done I've no doubt. + +Jake was very angry. + +This was not so much because the other darkey had omitted cutting the +guinea-grass, which, of course, the horses would not now require until +we returned from town, as from the circumstance of Pompey having had the +chance of exhibiting his prowess in respect of the iguana. Jake was +evidently much dissatisfied with the whole proceeding; and I could hear +him muttering anathemas against his rival as he trotted behind me +through the grounds, and out at the entrance-gate into the main-road +beyond. + +"Golly, dat most mystiferous, nohow!" I heard him ejaculate after a bit +as he got nearer up to me. "I'se spec dat 'guana one big fool let Pomp +grab him. Nebber mine! Me catchee big manacou byme-bye; an' dat heap +betterer dan nasty fat-face 'guana. Say, Mass' Tom, um like manacou?" + +"I can't tell you, Jake," I replied. "I have never yet tasted one." + +"Den you jest wait an' see. Dey is splendiferous, Mass' Tom, an' beat +cock-fightin'. Golly, I get you one, two, tree, five manacou to-morrer, +dat ebber so nicer dan dat poor trash ob 'guana dat hangman tief Pomp +catchee, you jest wait an' see!" + +"All right, Jake," I said kindly, to appease his jealous feelings; for, +he was very fond of me and thought that his rival had eclipsed him in my +estimation. "I will come with you to-morrow, if my father doesn't want +me, and then we'll hunt for manacous up the mountain." + +This promise delighted him, and very soon Jake regained his customary +good-humour, satisfied with having prospectively outshone Pompey; for, +he presently broke out with one of his happy African laughs, which told +me as plainly as words the little unpleasantness of the past was now +dismissed from his thoughts. + +As we rode on, at first downwards and then up a steep hillside again, +the path winding by the edge of a precipice most of the way, we came +across further traces of the force of the recent storm. Large trees +were at one place stretched across the road, their massive trunks having +been rended by the lightning; while the sudden deluge of rain had +channelled little streams through the red clay. These coursed along +like so many independent rivulets, right under our horses' hoofs, +rippling onward light-heartedly, until they came to one of the many +broad ditches or gullies, that intersected our track at intervals, the +contents of which they swelled to such an extent that we frequently had +great difficulty in fording them, the water reaching quite up to +Prince's girths, and the current being so strong as to almost sweep him +off his legs. + +The scenery on either hand was grand. + +On the right, plantations of cocoa and nutmeg trees stretched up the +slopes of hills, which all converged towards a central mountain peak +that overtopped all the rest by many hundred feet. This was crowned by +the extinct crater of a volcano, now filled with water and known as Le +Grand Etang. On the left, were valleys and gorges of the richest green, +with here and there a tall silk-cotton tree or graceful palm elevating +itself above the other wood-nymphs, the smoke of charcoal burners +dotting the landscape from amid the thickest part of the forest growth +of green with curling wreaths of grey. + +We soon reached a wide plateau just above Government House, where the +best view in the whole island was to be obtained, above which towered +the old battery on Richmond Hill, armed with obsolete and worm-eaten +thirty-two pounders, once deemed sufficient protection for the Carenage +or harbour below, which it commanded. Fort George, another +fortification equally powerless nowadays either for attack or defence, +lay on the right; and looking beyond, over a series of terraces of +villas and gardens, and negro provision grounds, the open sea could be +seen stretching away to the Boccas of the Gulf of Paria and the Serpent +Passage which divides the island of Trinidad from the main coast of +British Guiana. + +I could see, on arriving at this point, the English mail steamer coaling +at the jetty below, with gangs of negroes and negresses busily engaged +going to and fro along the wharf, carrying baskets of fuel on their +heads; so, setting spurs to Master Prince, I made him race down the road +as if a drove of wild bulls were after him, heedless of every obstacle +in my path and only intent on reaching the quay. + +"Top, Mass' Tom, 'top!" shouted out Jake behind me, putting Dandy into a +heavy trot. "De road am berry slippy, an' you go one big fall soon!" + +But, Jake's caution was all in vain, for the steamer was there, and the +passengers had probably already landed with my father amongst them, so +there was every reason for my hastening on quickly. + +I did not waste time, I can assure you! + +Cantering past groups of coloured people of every hue, from the palest +copper tint up to the jettiest black, all returning to their huts in the +hills after disposing of their market produce for the day and each +giving me the customary patois greeting, "Bon j'u', massa, ken nou'?" as +I raced by them; past cottage doors and overseers' houses I went on at +full speed, until I came to a long street that sloped down with a +gradient like that of one of those sharp-pointed, heavy-gabled roofs of +Queen Anne's time. + +Even this, however, did not arrest my headlong course. + +I was much too anxious to get below to the harbour side before the +coaling of the steamer should be completed and the vessel start off +again on her intercolonial trip amongst the islands to deliver her mails +from Europe; and so, deaf to all my darkey attendant's prayers and +expostulations, I hit poor Prince over the head with my supple jack and +galloped as if a drove of wild bulls was after me down the dangerous +incline, which was paved with smooth slippery fixed boulders to make it +all the more treacherous to a horse's hoofs unless rough-shod. + +"Golly, Mass' Tom, you break um neck for suah," I heard the terrified +Jake call out far away in my rear; but I could not have stopped then +even had I wished, Prince having too much "way" on him. + +"Come on!" I cried. "Come on!" + +These were the last words I remember uttering, for at that moment, the +pony, with me clinging to his back with might and main, was tearing down +the slope at a terrific pace; and then, just as we were passing the +school-house at the corner of the market-place, some boys who were +outside suddenly set up a loud yell at something or other. + +This frightened Prince so that he shied. + +The pony bounded up in the air first like a goat, lifting all his legs +from the ground at once in true buck-jumper fashion, after which he came +to a dead halt as if he had been shot; and then, placing his fore-feet +straight out before him he sent me flying over his head right through +the window of a little shop opposite with such force that I was picked +up insensible. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +CONVALESCENT. + +The first face I saw when I came to myself was that of my father. He +was bending over me and looking very anxious. I think he had been +crying. + +"Better, Tom?" he said softly, as if afraid of making a noise and +frightening me back into unconsciousness--everything seeming to be +strangely still around me! + +"Oh, I'm all right," I answered joyfully, much pleased at seeing him. +"Why, how did you come here?" and I tried to get up from the sofa on +which I discovered that I Was lying. But it was only an attempt, for I +fell back again in a heap, feeling pain all over me. It seemed just as +if I had been broken into little pieces and somebody was now separating +the bits! + +"Bress de Lor', him 'peak again!" I heard Jake ejaculate, and then I +noticed his black face behind dad's, while there was another gentleman +there too. The latter now took hold of my hand and felt my pulse, I +suppose, although he didn't ask me to put out my tongue, as he generally +did when he came up to Mount Pleasant specially to prescribe for me! + +"Hallo, Doctor Martin!" I exclaimed, recognising him. "What's the +matter with me? I can't rise, or move my legs, or do anything." + +"You confounded young rascal!" he rejoined in his hearty voice, "a nice +mess you have got yourself into, alarming us all in this way. What do +you mean by galloping down Constitution Hill as if you were after a pack +of foxhounds? It's a mercy you haven't broken every bone in your body." + +"Poor Prince isn't hurt, is he?" I asked abruptly, without answering +him directly. + +"No, Mass' Tom," eagerly cried out Jake, glad of saying something to me +in order to show his sympathy; "he berry well, no scrape um knees or +nuffin', he--" + +"There, that will do," said Doctor Martin, interrupting the flow of the +good-natured darkey's eloquence, "you mustn't agitate Master Tom now; +he's in a very critical state, and any excitement is bad for him. You'd +better go and see after the horses." + +"Me no want agg-agg-tate um, Mass' Doctor," pitifully expostulated Jake, +almost blubbering at the accusation of his possibly wanting to do me +harm, "I'se only glad to hear him 'peak again, dat all;" and he went out +of the room quite crest-fallen. + +"Oh, doctor!" I cried, but then, all at once, a sort of sick sensation +came over me. Dad and Doctor Martin seemed to be waltzing round me, +with the furniture and everything else following suit, and I fainted +away again, I fancy; although I could hear their whispering voices, as +of people who were far away in the distance. Then, there was a blank. + +When I next opened my eyes, strange to say, I was in my own little bed +at home, with my mother sitting by my side. + +I felt very weak, and one of my arms was tied up in bandages, while my +other limbs didn't seem to belong to me; but, at first, I had no +recollection of what had happened. + +I could not imagine what was the reason for my being laid up like that; +and, seeing my mother there, I fancied for the moment that I had +overslept myself, as was frequently the case, and that she had come to +call me for breakfast. + +"Why, mother," I said, "I'm sorry I'm so late." + +"You've been ill, Tom," she replied soothingly, without referring to my +laziness as I expected; "I'm glad, though, you're recovering at last." + +"Hi!" I exclaimed, much astonished. + +"Yes, my dear, very ill," she repeated. + +"Dear me! and for how long?" I asked, in wonder still. + +"Well, it is more than three weeks since you were brought here, dear; +but take this now, Tom," she added, before telling me anything further, +putting her arm round me and lifting me up in a sitting position, so as +to be better able to swallow something in a wine-glass which she held to +my lips. + +"Medicine, eh?" I said, making a wry face. + +"Yes, dear, but it doesn't taste badly," she whispered coaxingly. +"Besides, Tom, if you won't take it the doctor says you are not to be +allowed to speak, and of course I shall not be able to answer your +questions." + +This settled the point; so I at once tossed off the draught she handed +me, which, although slightly bitter, was not nearly as nasty as I +thought it would have been, having a wholesome horror of doctor's +mixtures. The draught, at all events, put fresh vigour into me. It +certainly gave me strength to speak again as soon as I had gulped it +down, for I was fidgeting to know what had occurred. + +"Now, mother," I said, "tell me all about it. I can't be quiet till you +do. Have I had the fever again, or what?" + +I may mention in explanation of this question of mine that, the year +before, I had been confined to bed with a sharp attack of a sort of +tertian ague, which is the scourge of most tropical countries. This was +the only illness I had ever suffered from in my young life; so, I +thought now that my old enemy had paid me another visit. + +"No, dear, you have not had the fever," she answered. "Do you forget +all about going to town to meet your father, and how your pony threw you +over his head at the foot of Constitution Hill?" + +Thereupon the whole thing flashed back upon my mind in an instant. + +"But how did I get here?" I inquired, puzzled at this part of the +affair. "I remember now about my tumble, and seeing dad and Doctor +Martin at some place in Saint George's, with old Jake crying behind +them, but I don't recollect anything else." + +"My boy," said my mother seriously, her lips trembling as she spoke, +"you've had a very narrow escape from an awful death! Do you know that +had you fallen on your head in the street when Prince pitched you over, +nothing could have saved your life? As it was, you got your left arm +broken and face cut, besides which you have been suffering from a slight +concussion of the brain, Doctor Martin says. It is the latter which has +made you insensible for so long a time. At one time, indeed, we all +despaired of you!" + +"Really!" I exclaimed, drawing a long breath of dismay at this +catalogue of my injuries. + +"Yes, really, Tom," said she; "it is a wonder to me that you are now +lying here in your right senses again." + +"But how did I get home, mother?" I asked, pressing my inquiries so as +to learn every incident of the accident. + +"Well, dear, being unconscious, and as moving you could not affect your +head much, Doctor Martin thought you would recover sooner if removed to +the fresh country air of Mount Pleasant than if you were allowed to +remain in the stifling atmosphere of the town. So you were brought up +here, borne on the very sofa on which you were placed when they picked +you up after your fall, four negroes acting as your palanquin bearers." + +"Jake was one, I bet!" I here put in, interrupting her. "I am sure he +wouldn't have let anyone else carry me if he could help it." + +"Oh, yes, Jake assisted," she said; "and I gave him a fine scolding, +too, afterwards, for allowing you to ride down that hill at such a pace. +It was a mercy you were not killed outright!" + +"It wasn't his fault, mother," I interposed at this point. Really, I +was not going to let poor Jake be blamed for my obstinacy! "I made +Prince gallop into the town as hard as I could, in spite of all he could +say, for I was anxious to get down to the wharf before the passengers +had landed from the steamer. I wished to be the first to meet dad." + +"And you've found out now, Tom, the truth of the old proverb, `more +haste, worse speed,' eh, my dear?" + +"Yes, mother," I said with a laugh, "I never got there at all. But, dad +came all right, for I saw him, you know. Where is he?" + +"He'll be here presently," she replied; "he has been very anxious about +you, and has sat up every night with you." + +"I'm very sorry," I said; but then, feeling about my face and head with +the solitary hand I was now only able to move, I noticed something +strange. "Why, hullo, mother!" I cried out, "what is the matter with +the top of my head--where is my hair gone? All seems so smooth!" + +She couldn't help laughing--I suppose it was at my comical look of +mingled astonishment and perplexity. + +"It had to be shaved off when you were delirious, Tom," she said with a +smile; "you feel funny without it, no doubt, but it will soon grow +again, my boy." + +"Oh dear, oh dear!" I exclaimed lugubriously; "I suppose I will be bald +and have to wear a wig, like old Mr Bunting! My arm, too, mother, +hurts awfully! and I can't move it at all." + +"Never mind, Tom, it might have been worse, you know," she said in her +quiet soothing way. "You ought to thank God for sparing your life, +instead of grumbling at what your own recklessness has produced. +However, my dear boy, you'll soon pull round and be yourself again if +you will only keep quiet and obey all the doctor's directions." + +"But, mother, it's a terrible task for me to keep quiet," I cried in +such a serious manner that I made her laugh again. + +"No doubt it is," she said, "but you must learn to do it if you wish to +get well again; and, Tom, I can't help reminding you that your being +laid up now has greatly interfered with our plans. Your father wished +to have sold the estate, and for us all to go home to England. Indeed, +but for your accident we would have gone by the last packet." + +This was news with a vengeance! It almost made me jump out of bed, +crippled as I was, and my mother had to put her hand on my shoulder to +restrain me. + +"What! sell Mount Pleasant?" I ejaculated. + +"Yes," she replied. + +"And all of us go home together, instead of my being sent to England +alone to school?" I continued. + +"That was what your father thought of," said my mother in answer to this +question of mine; "but your illness has made him alter his mind +somewhat, as you will learn when you are able to get up and move about. +You must now, dear, remain quiet, and not excite yourself; otherwise, +your recovery will be retarded and that will worry your father more." + +"All right, mother, I promise to be good," I said resolutely, nestling +down amongst the pillows which had been comfortably fixed around me, and +trying to be as still as a mouse. "I will do all that you and the +doctor tells me, if you'll only make me well again." + +"That's my brave boy," she murmured softly, smoothing my poor hairless +head with her gentle hand in such a caressing way that it made me feel +drowsy, and in another minute I had dropped off into a sound sleep. I +did not wake again until some hours afterwards, when I was so refreshed +and hungry that I was able to demolish a large basin of jelly-like +chicken broth with some thin toast, which did me much good. + +From that time I gradually got better; but my recovery was very slow, on +account of the thorough shaking I had received from my fall, and it was +quite another fortnight before I was able to be moved downstairs and +allowed to sit in the verandah, where the fresh breezes from the sea and +the scent of the flowers on the terrace completed my cure. + +For some days even after this, however, I had to keep perfectly quiet, +in accordance with the orders of Doctor Martin, who feared that I had +sustained some injury to my spine in addition to my other contusions. +This suspicion of his turned out, fortunately for me, to be groundless; +but the rest he enjoined was very much out of keeping with my buoyant +and excitable nature, which was fidgety in the extreme. + +Still, this period of convalescence was by no means irksome to me on the +whole, for I had plenty wherewith to occupy my attention and my sisters +for companions, little Totty, the youngest, never being so happy as when +with me. + +In order the better to amuse me, and make me remain in a recumbent +position, dad rigged up an Indian grass hammock for me beneath the shade +of one of the large silk-cotton trees by the side of the house; and here +I used to swing at my ease for hour after hour, looking at the bright- +coloured humming-birds flitting about and watching the busy "Jack- +Spaniards," as the wild bees or hornets of the tropics are locally +styled, building their clay nests under the eaves of the verandah, just +in the same way as the sand-martens make their habitations at home. + +I also read a great deal, for a kind neighbour luckily lent me at this +time a couple of odd volumes of Captain Marryat's works, so that I had +now the pleasure of gloating over the wonderful history of Mr +Midshipman Easy, besides enjoying the strange episodes of Peter Simple's +eventful career. Both of these books were previously unknown to my +boyish ken, and I need hardly say how entrancing I found them. Even +now, after the lapse of so many years, I cannot hear the titles of +either mentioned, without my memory taking me back in a moment to the +garden of my old island home in the West Indies--the very perfume of the +frangipanni and jessamine being almost perceptible to my vivid +imagination, while my fancy pictures the scene around, and my listening +ear catches the faint rustle of the wind through the tops of the cabbage +palms! + +Once, I recollect, when lazily rocking to and fro in my hammock, I saw a +large armadillo crawl out from amidst the brushwood under the trees, he +having probably come down from his cave somewhere up in the mountains +for change of air. This animal is something like a tortoise, only ever +so much bigger; and as the negroes esteem them very good eating, saying +they are better than turtle, I at once gave Jake a hail to let him know +of the arrival of the strange visitor, when my darkey hastened speedily +to the spot, securing the armadillo without much difficulty. Jake was +all the more delighted with his prize from the fact that my accident had +prevented me from going manacou hunting with him as I had promised. He +argued that the armadillo would serve as a set-off to Pompey's iguana, +which had been constantly "thrown in his teeth," as it were, ever since +his rival had killed it in my presence, the one capture neutralising the +other. + +It may be wondered that I introduce all these little details of my +illness and subsequent recovery, but, "there's a reason in everything, +even in the roasting of eggs," says the proverb; and, when it is +considered that, had it not been for my accident, dad and mother with my +sisters and myself would all have gone to England in the mail steamer +together, instead of my essaying the voyage alone in a sailing ship, +these incidents are naturally relevant, quite apart from the strong +impression they made upon me at the time, as but for what occurred I +should have nothing of any importance to tell with reference to my +subsequent adventures when alone on the Atlantic. + +However, to make a long story short, I may briefly state that, after a +pretty long interval of lying still, Doctor Martin said one day that I +might get up and move about; when the change from inaction to action had +such an improving effect on me that, within a very short space, I was +myself again--although, perhaps, a much paler and thinner sort of Tom +Eastman than "the young rascal," as the doctor persisted in naming me, +"who tried to break his neck by galloping down Constitution Hill, but +couldn't because it was so tough!" + +All this while, dad had said nothing to me either about selling the +estate or of my going home to school; but one morning when I was able +again to mount on the back of poor Prince, who had grown quite fat +during his long stay in the stable, he told me that I might accompany +him, if I liked, to Grenville Bay, on the other side of the island. Dad +said that there was a large merchant vessel lying off there, loading +sugar from one of the plantations, and he wished to consult the captain +about sending home some bags of cocoa in her. He added, that we would +probably have to go off to her in a boat. + +This was about a week after the doctor had released me from my hammock- +prison; so, as I had not as yet had a canter on Prince since my unlucky +escapade, it may be imagined with what delight I prepared for the +excursion, as, independently of the pleasure of a long country ride with +dad, who was one of the jolliest companions anybody could be out with, I +had never been on board a real ship before. I had frequently observed +vessels at a distance from the shore, when anchored in the Carenage, as +the harbour of Saint George is called, or else sailing round the coast +inwards or outwards bound, but had never inspected one closely. + +"Golly, Mass' Tom, dis sight am good for sore eyes!" cried Jake, +laughing from ear to ear with joy at seeing me well again. "Me nebber +fought you ebber lift leg ober Prince again!" + +"Oh, I'm all right," I said gleefully, jumping into the saddle in my old +style, the pony going off instanter at a canter in his customary way. + +"Take care, Tom, take care!" cried my mother after me anxiously; so, to +ease her alarm at my venturing too much for one who had so recently been +an invalid, I reined in Prince, and as soon as dad had mounted Dandy, we +started away at a steady jog-trot, Jake following up close behind the +heels of the horses, with which he could at any time keep pace when put +to it, even when we went at a gallop. + +Dear me! I shall never forget that ride. + +Part of our way was past a wide stretching extent of primeval forest +that clothed the mountain-side with green. Here were wonderful +specimens of trees, some of which would rival the oaks of England--aye, +even those in Windsor great park! There was the sandbox, whose seeds +are contained in an oval pod about the size of a penny roll; which when +dry bursts like a shell, scattering its missiles about in every +direction; the iron-wood tree, which turns the edge of any axe, and can +only be brought low by fire; the caoutchouc-tree with its broad leaves +and milk-white sap, the original source from which all our waterproof +garments are made. Besides these were a host of others, such as the +avocado pear, soursop, sapodilla, and sapota, all of which, in addition +to their size and grand appearance, bear excellent fruit. But it would +have puzzled anyone to explore this almost impenetrable forest growth +without the aid of a cutlass to clear the path; for, tall vines, like +ship's cordage, hung from the limbs of the trees and knitted their +branches together in the most inextricable fashion, the lianas rooting +themselves down into the earth and then springing up again for fresh +entanglements, in the same way as the banyan-tree of India spreads +itself. + +This was the outlook from one side only of our route. On the other were +to be seen patches of sugar-cane, planted with almost mathematical +regularity and looking like so many fields of some gigantic species of +wheat; green plantations of cocoa, with their ripe yellow fruit showing +out between the leaves, similar to that of ours at Mount Pleasant; and +several detached gardens, where the negro squatters were cultivating +their yams and tanias, or else preparing their farina for cassava from +the root of the manioc plant. The process consisted in first squeezing +out, by means of an old sack and a heavy stone for a press, the viscid +juice, which is a strong poison--the same, indeed, with which the Caribs +used to tip their arrows in the old days of the aborigines--and then +baking the flour on a griddle over a charcoal fire. + +Passing through this varied scenery on either hand, our road led +presently downwards through a series of valleys, clothed with vegetation +and smiling in flowers. We crossed now and again some little stream +rippling along over its pebbly bed, wherein were crawfish and tiny +things like whitebait playing amongst the water-cresses that grew over +the banks; until, at last, we reached a wide horse-shoe bay facing the +wide blue sea, that stretched out to the distant horizon, laving its +silver sand with happy little waves that seemed to chuckle with a murmur +of pleasure as they washed the shore in rhythmical cadence. + +There was but a single vessel here, and she was riding at anchor out in +the offing some two miles from land, looking quite lonesome by herself +in the distance. + +She was a barque of some four or five hundred tons, with a broad, bluff- +bowed hull that rose well out of the water on account of her not having +completed loading her cargo. There was a long row of white ports along +her side; and, as she rolled with the motion of the ground-swell, now +setting inshore with the wind, she showed her bright copper sheathing +almost to her keel. + +"Is that the ship, dad?" I asked my father, gazing at her with longing +eyes and wondering how we were to reach her. + +"Yes, Tom, that's the vessel I told you of, and we must now see about +getting aboard if we can," said he, preparing to dismount from his +horse, whose bridle Jake had already taken hold of. + +"And what's her name, dad?" I then inquired, jumping down from Prince's +back as I spoke and giving the reins also in charge of our darkey groom. + +"The _Josephine_ of London," he replied in regular ship-shape fashion; +"Captain Miles, master and part owner." + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE "JOSEPHINE." + +"What!" I exclaimed joyfully; "Captain Miles! That jolly old fellow +who came out to Mount Pleasant last year and showed me how to make a +kite?" + +"The same," replied dad. "But remember, Tom, he's not much over my age; +and I do not by any means call myself an old man yet! Besides, he and I +are friends of long standing, and you should not speak of him so +disrespectfully." + +"Oh, dad, I didn't mean that, and I beg his pardon, I'm sure," I +interposed hastily at this. "What I wished to express was, that I +thought him so nice and pleasant, that I was very glad to have the +chance of seeing him again!" + +"My dear boy, I know what you meant," said dad kindly, with his usual +bright smile, the sight of which eased my mind in a minute. "However, +Tom," he added quizzingly, "we must now see about getting out to the old +fellow." + +But this was sooner said than done. + +There was the ship, it was true, and there were we on the shore looking +at her; but, there between us stretched an expanse of nearly two miles +of blue water, which we certainly could not cross by swimming, although +dad was a pretty good hand at that, and had made me, too, a fair adept +in the art for my years. + +How to reach the vessel, therefore, was the question. + +Dad tried waving his handkerchief to attract the attention of those on +board; but the crew of the _Josephine_ appeared to be all asleep, for +nobody took any notice of the signal. Foiled in this hope, dad turned +round to me again with a puzzled expression on his face, as if wondering +what he should do next, though of course I could not suggest anything. + +Just then Jake, who had been looking at my father very attentively all +this while, as if "taking stock" of his movements, so to speak, suddenly +burst into one of his huge guffaws. + +"Yah, yah, massa, golly you no see for suah!" he cried out in an ecstasy +of enjoyment at what he considered a rare joke. "You am look de wrong +way. Look dere, look dere!" + +"Look where?" asked dad, not quite making out what particular direction +Jake especially wished to draw his attention to, for the darkey was +whirling one of his arms round him like a windmill to each point of the +compass in turn; and, but that he had the bridles of the horses slung +over his other arm, he would probably have gesticulated as frantically +also with that. + +"Dere, dere--t'oder way, massa," repeated Jake, nodding his woolly head +as he laughed and showed his teeth, this time indicating the extreme +left of the bay, to which our backs had been turned; but where, on our +now looking, we noticed a little jetty running out into the sea, with a +boat putting off from it towards the ship. + +"Oh!" ejaculated dad; "what a stupid I am, to be sure!" + +Dad's exclamation made Jake break out afresh into a loud cachinnation. + +"Golly, dis chile can't 'tand dat," he shouted. "Massa um 'tupid, massa +um 'tupid, yah, yah!" and he almost doubled himself in two with +merriment, his hearty laughter being so contagious that both dad and I +could not help joining in. So there were we all chuckling away at a +fine rate at the idea of our not noticing either the jetty or the boat +before. We had been so blindly anxious to reach the _Josephine_ that we +had looked in every direction but the right one for the means of getting +on board her! + +After a bit, dad was the first to recover his composure. + +"Well, Tom," said he, "the best thing we can do now will be to ride +round the bay to the point where that boat has started out from. I +think I can see another craft of some sort lying alongside the jetty; +and, I daresay, we'll be able to get out to the vessel if we go there." + +As he spoke he mounted Dandy again, while I jumped up nimbly on Prince's +back; and, in another moment we were cantering along the sandy beach +towards the point in question, with Jake running behind holding on to +Dandy's tail, and still laughing to himself in high glee. + +On approaching the jetty, it looked much bigger than it had appeared to +be in the distance. It was a long wooden pier, indeed, that projected +some hundred yards or so into the sea, and it had a crane at the end for +hoisting and lowering the heavy hogs-heads of sugar. Dozens of these +were ranged along its length awaiting shipment, and a gang of negroes +were busily engaged under a white overseer in stowing some of them into +the launch of the _Josephine_, which was moored right under the crane. +The name of the vessel was painted in white letters on the stern of the +boat, which was turned towards us as we rode up so that we could easily +see it. + +On dad's telling the overseer what he wanted, we learnt that Captain +Miles was on board his vessel, and that the launch would be going out to +her as soon as she was loaded; so we had nothing to do now but to wait +until she had taken in as many casks of sugar as she could carry. + +To me, this delay was not very tedious; for, as the overseer made the +negroes "hurry up" with their task, I was much amused with the brisk way +in which they trundled the huge hogs-heads along, running them up to the +pier-head, slinging them to the chains of the crane, and then lowering +them down into the launch. There was much creaking of cog-wheels and +cheerful, "Yo-heave-hoing!" from the men in the boat below, as they +stowed them away in the bottom of the craft as easily as if they were +only so many tiny little kegs, the darkeys joining in the sailors' +chorus with much good-humour. + +Bye and bye the job was finished, when, room having been reserved for +dad and myself in the stern-sheets, the seaman in charge of the boat +told us to jump in. + +Then, some of the negro gang coming on board also to help man the long +oars, which, like sweeps, were ranged double-banked along the sides of +the launch, she was pulled away slowly from the jetty out towards the +_Josephine_ in the offing, Jake, who had been left ashore to mind the +horses, casting longing looks of regret after us. He, too, would have +dearly liked to have gone off to the ship. + +It was heavy work, even with the aid of the sweeps, rowing such a +distance under the broiling mid-day sun, for there was no breeze to aid +the boat's progress through the water, and the heavy ground-swell that +was rolling in to the land of course greatly retarded the rowers. Every +moment the launch plunged almost bows under into the hollow of the sea, +then rising again suddenly as the waves passed under her keel, her stern +sinking down level with the surface at the same time and her prow being +high in the air. I thought it somewhat dangerous at first, but dad and +the other men took it so coolly that I was soon reassured and quite +enjoyed the motion. + +It seemed ever so much nicer than swinging to me; for the up and down +movement was as regular as clockwork, in rhythmical harmony with the +undulations of the unbroken billows that swept in, one after another, in +measured succession from seaward--pursuing their onward course until +they broke on the curving shore of the bay, inside of us, with a dull +low roar, like that of some caged wild animal kept under restraint and +unable to exert its full strength. + +After an hour's hard pulling, the boat got alongside the ship at last, +but the vessel floated so high out of the water that I could not help +wondering how we should ever be able to climb on board; for the square +portholes, which were the only openings in her massive wall-like sides +that I could see, were far above the level of the launch, even when the +swelling surge lifted us up every now and then on the top of a heaving +roller. + +Dad, however, quickly solved the difficulty. At once catching hold of a +couple of side lines which hung down from above, he swung himself +dexterously on to a projecting piece of wood, like the bottom rung of a +ladder, fixed to the hull of the vessel, and stepping from this to +another cleat above he went up the side as easily as if he were +ascending an ordinary staircase, soon gaining the deck overhead and +disappearing from my view. + +"My eye!" ejaculated the sailor beside me in the boat, surprised at +dad's familiarity with such a nautical procedure. "I am blessed if that +there gentleman ain't an old hand at it." + +"You're right, my man," said I proudly, "my father was an officer in the +navy once." + +"Guessed so," replied the sailor laconically. "I've been an old man-o'- +war's man myself and thought I knew the cut of his jib!" + +I could not imitate dad's example, though, for all that; so, they had to +hoist me in like a cask of sugar, as I was not able to get up the side. +I confess I was mightily pleased to find myself landed, presently, safe +and sound on the poop of the _Josephine_ by the side of dad and Captain +Miles, both of whom seemed much amused at my rather ignominious entry on +board the vessel. Really, I must have looked very funny with my legs +dangling in the air when run up at the end of the derrick! + +"Well, youngster, how did you like being strung up at the yard-arm?" +said Captain Miles, who had still a broad grin on his face. "Not many +fellows have been bowsed up in that fashion and cut down so speedily!" + +"No," observed dad. "I'm glad, though, that mode of execution to which +you refer is now altogether abolished in the service; but I'm afraid, +captain, Tom does not understand your allusion." + +"Oh, yes, I do, dad," said I, fresh from the pages of Mr Midshipman +Easy, and knowing all about the summary system of punishment in vogue in +the old days on board ship. "Captain Miles meant hanging." + +"So I did, youngster," replied that worthy cheerily; "but you seem none +the worse for your experience of the operation." + +"I didn't like it, however, captain," said I, a little bit put on my +dignity by being laughed at. "The next time I come on board I intend to +mount up the side-ladder the same as dad did." + +"That's right, my lad, so you shall," rejoined the jolly old fellow. +"But, come below now both of you and have some luncheon. It has gone +eight bells, and as I feel a trifle peckish, I daresay you're pretty +much the same." + +While saying this Captain Miles descended the poop-ladder, and, +beckoning dad and I to follow him, ushered us into the cabin below, +where we found a very appetising meal laid out. It seemed just as if we +had been expected and that preparations had been made for our +entertainment. + +Dad passed a remark about this, but the captain laughed it off. + +"Oh, it's nothing," he said. "Harry, my steward, thought he would make +a spread, I suppose, because I told him I felt hungry just now. It is +only our ordinary fare, though; for, when we're in harbour like this now +and have the chance of getting fresh grub, we always keep a good table. +At sea, after a spell, we've got to rough it on salt junk frequently." + +"Not like what we poor fellows had to put up with in the service," +observed dad, shrugging his shoulders with a grimace. + +"Ah, we in the mercantile marine know how to enjoy ourselves," said +Captain Miles with a satisfactory chuckle. "You naval chaps are +something like what the niggers say of white folks that have come down +in the world out here, and try to keep up appearances without means. +You have `poor greatness, with dry rations,' hey?" + +"That's true enough," replied dad; and then we all set to work with our +knives and forks, demolishing, in less than no time, a grilled fowl and +some delicious fried flying-fish, with the accompaniment of roast +buttered yams and fresh plantains. + +I don't know when I ever had such a jolly tuck out. The long ride after +my forced quietness at home, and the sea air, combined with my novel +surroundings--I was so overjoyed at being on board a ship, and having a +meal in a real cabin, the very height of my ambition and what I had +often longed for--gave me a tremendous appetite. It was the first +really hearty meal I had eaten since my illness. + +"Well, Eastman," said Captain Miles presently to dad, "I suppose you've +come about the youngster. Do you want me to take him home with me this +voyage, eh?" + +Of course I pricked up my ears on hearing this question; but dad did not +satisfy my curiosity, although he noticed that I almost jumped up in my +seat and was all attention. + +"No," replied he, evading the subject, "I wanted to see you about +shipping some cocoa. I've got a good lot ready, and you may as well +take it as anybody else." + +"Oh, I see," rejoined the captain, winking in a confidential way at dad, +as if they had some secret between them. "We can talk over the bills of +lading and so on, while the youngster has a run round to see what a ship +is like, eh?" + +"Yes," said dad; and turning to me he added, "You would like to go over +the _Josephine_, would you not, Tom, now you are on board her?" + +"Rather!" I replied, delighted at the idea, but still wondering what +the captain had meant about "taking me home." + +There was evidently something on the tapis. + +"All right, my hearty, so you shall," said Captain Miles. "The +boatswain will take you round and show you the ropes, while your father +and I have a chat about business matters." + +He then called Harry the steward, and directed him to give me in charge +of Moggridge the boatswain, with instructions to show me everything that +was to be seen alow and aloft in the vessel; whereupon the two of us +went out of the cabin together, leaving the captain and dad to have an +uninterrupted chat over their cigars. + +Moggridge turned out to be the very sailor who had been in charge of the +launch which had brought us off to the ship; so, from the fact of his +knowing that dad had formerly been in the navy, and that I wished to +enter the same glorious service, we were soon on the most confidential +terms, the good-natured fellow going out of his way to make me +thoroughly acquainted with all the details of the _Josephine_. He first +took me down to the hold, where I saw the hogs-heads of sugar being +stowed, the casks being packed as tightly as sardines in a tin box. We +then went through the ship fore and aft between the decks, from the +forecastle to the steward's pantry. After this the boatswain completed +his tour of instruction by showing me how to climb the rigging into the +main-top, telling me the names and uses of all the ropes and spars; so +that, by the time he had ended, my head was in a state of bewildered +confusion, with shrouds and sheets, halliards and stays, stun'-sail +yards and cat-heads, bowsprits, and spanker booms, all so mixed up +together that it would have puzzled me to discriminate between any of +them and say off-hand which was which! + +However, the boatswain and I parted very good friends when he took me +back to the cabin on the termination of our inspection of the ship--he +promising to teach me how to make a reef-knot and a running-bowline the +next time I came on board, and I shaking hands with him as a right good +fellow whom I would only be too glad to meet again under any +circumstances. + +Dad and I stopped with Captain Miles until late in the afternoon; when, +the glare of the sun having gone off, we were rowed ashore in the +captain's gig. My friend Moggridge took charge of us, and a crew of +hardy sailors made the boat spin ashore at a very different rate of +speed to that which the heavy old launch displayed on our trip out to +the vessel with the sugar hogs-heads. + +Jake met us at the jetty with the horses, which he had put up in the +stables of the adjoining plantation during our absence; and as we rode +along the shore of the bay homeward, the sun was just setting, while a +nice cool wind came down from the mountains, making it much nicer than +it had been in the earlier part of the day. Skirting the bay, we could +see the _Josephine_ in the distance gradually being shut in by a halo of +haze, a thick mist generally rising up from the sea at nightfall in the +tropics through the evaporation of the water or the difference of +temperature between it and the atmospheric air. + +If our ride out to Grenville Bay had been jolly in the morning, our +journey back was simply splendid. + +Almost as soon as the solar orb sank down below the horizon, which it +did just before we turned away from the shore, the masts and spars of +the _Josephine_, and each rope of her rigging, were all lit up by the +sinking rays of light, their last despairing flash before their +extinguishment in the ocean. At the same time, the hull of the vessel +and every projecting point in the coast-line of the bay stood out in +relief against the bright emerald-green tint of the sea. A moment +afterwards, the darkness of night descended suddenly upon us like a vast +curtain let down from heaven. + +But it was not dark long. + +As we passed our way up the climbing mountain path that led back to +Mount Pleasant, our road--bordered on the one side by the dense +vegetation of the forest, which seemed as black as ink now, and hedged +in on the other by a precipice--was made clear by the light of the +stars. These absolutely came out _en masse_ almost as we looked upwards +at them. I noticed, too, that the sky seemed to be of some gauzy +transparent material like ethereal azure, and did not exhibit that solid +appearance it has in England of a ceiling with gold nails stuck in it +here and there at random; for, the "lesser orbs of night" in the tropics +look as if they were floating in a sea of vapour. They appear a regular +galaxy of beauty and splendour, and so many glorious evidences of the +great Creator's handiwork. + +Every now and then, also, the air around us was illuminated with sparks +of green-coloured flame, while the woods seemed on fire from a thousand +little jets that burst out every second from some new direction, +lighting up the sombre gloom beneath the shade of the forest trees. + +One could almost imagine that there was a crowd of fairies going before +us, each carrying a torch which he waved about, now above his head, and +then around lower down, finally dashing it to the ground with those of +his comrades, as is the custom at the torchlight processions of the +students in Germany on some festal night. As dad and I trotted along +towards home, the sparks of flame appeared now rising, now falling, +vanishing here, reappearing there, finally converging into a globe, or +"set piece," as at a pyrotechnic display, and then dispersing in +spangles of coruscation like a fizzed-out firework. + +This beautiful effect, one of the wonders of a night in the West Indies, +was caused by the fireflies. Of these insects there are two distinct +species, one really a small fly which seems to be perpetually on the +wing, flitting in and out in the air always, and never at rest; while +the other is a species of beetle that is only seen in woody regions, +where it takes up a more stationary position, like the glowworm over +here. This latter has two large eyes at the back of its head, instead +of in front in their more natural place; and these eyes, when the insect +is touched, shoot forth two strong streams of greenish light, something +like that produced by an electric dynamo, while, at the same time, the +entire body of the "firefly," or beetle, becomes as incandescent as a +live coal. + +The light which even one of these little creatures will give out is so +great that I have often seen dad, just for the sake of the experiment, +read a bit out of a newspaper on a dark evening with a firefly stuck in +a wine-glass for a candle! + +For some time we jogged along silently; but just when we were nearing +Mount Pleasant I could not help asking dad what Captain Miles had meant +by that question he had asked him about taking me for a voyage. + +I had been dying to know what the remark referred to ever since I had +overheard it, but waited, thinking that dad would tell me of his own +accord; so now, as he didn't speak, I had to brave the ordeal of the +inquiry. + +"He wanted to take you home to England to school, Tom," replied dad +briefly in an absent sort of way, as if his thoughts were amongst the +fireflies. + +"Really?" said I hesitatingly--"and--" + +"And, I have not quite made up my mind in the matter yet, Tom. Besides +which, there's your mother to be consulted," interposed dad, answering +my second question before I could put it. + +"And if mother does not mind, you will let me go, then, in the +_Josephine_ with Captain Miles, eh, dad?" I asked anxiously. + +"I didn't say so, did I?" said dad quizzingly. + +"But you meant it, dad, you meant it, I know," cried I exultantly. +"Hurrah, I am so glad! I am so glad!" + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +GOOD-BYE TO GRENADA! + +"Are you really so glad to leave us all?" said dad somewhat +reproachfully, as I could judge from his tone of voice; for, although +the stars and fireflies illumined the landscape sufficiently for us to +see our way, the light was too dim for me to observe the expression of +his face. + +"Oh no, dad, not that," I cried out almost with a sob at such an +insinuation. "You know, you said I was to go to England this year to +school; and, if I must, why I would rather sail in Captain Miles' vessel +than any other." + +"All right, Tom, I did not think you quite so heartless as your +exclamation implied," replied dad, still speaking in a sad tone; "but +it's only the way of the world, my boy. Young birds are always anxious +to leave the parent nest, and you are no exception, I suppose, to the +rule." + +I did not make any answer to this. I could not speak, for my heart was +too full. + +Presently we arrived at the entrance to Mount Pleasant, when Jake rushed +forward and opened the gate leading into the grounds, and we proceeded +up the carriage drive towards the house in silence, the moon, which was +just rising over the tops of the mountains beyond, lighting up the +garden on the terrace in front and making it look like a dream of +fairyland. The flowers and foliage shone out in relief as if tipped +with silver against the dark background of the house; while the cool +evening breeze was scented with the fragrance of the frangipanni and +jessamine, now smelling more strongly than in the daytime, in addition +to which I could distinguish the lusciously sweet perfume of the night- +blooming cereus, a plant that only unfolds its luscious petals after +sunset. + +The whole scene lives in my memory now! + +"Say, Mass' Tom," whispered Jake to me as he took hold of Prince's +bridle on my dismounting to lead him away to the stables along with +Dandy. "I'se heard what you 'peak jus' now to Mass' Eastman. Um railly +goin' leabe de plantashun for true, hey?" + +"Yes," said I. "I am to go to England in the _Josephine_, that big ship +we saw to-day, if my mother consents." + +"Den, I go too!" replied Jake impressively. + +"Nonsense!" cried I, laughing at this determination of his. "Captain +Miles won't take you." + +"Won't him, dough--me 'peak to him byme-by, an' you see den!" + +"You can speak if you like," I replied in an off-hand way as he went +away with the horses; while I ascended the terrace steps and proceeded +into the house to hear what mother had to say on the subject of my going +away. + +I found, however, when I got in, that dad had already told the news; and +it came out presently that the matter had really all been arranged +beforehand. + +My father, I heard now, had received an offer to sell his plantation, as +my mother told me, but my illness had prevented him from closing with +it; and so the opportunity had slipped. Consequently, as he would still +have to remain at Mount Pleasant for possibly an indefinite time, he had +made up his mind to adhere to his original plan and send me home to +school without further delay. He and my mother had settled to arrange a +passage for me with their old friend Captain Miles even before we +started on our ride to Grenville Bay, dad and the captain having seen +each other in the town and spoken about the matter previously, fixing +the very day of our visit, as the substantial luncheon we had on board +showed. + +Now, therefore, that my inclinations chimed in with dad's views and +arrangements, the thing was finally settled; and it may be imagined what +a state of mind my mother and sisters were in about my going. They +hugged and kissed me as if I were going to start that very minute! + +Dad said that the _Josephine_ would complete loading her cargo at +Grenville Bay in about a week or ten days. She would then call round at +Saint George's for orders, and I should have to go on board at a +moment's notice, as she might sail almost immediately. + +The next few days were all hurry and bustle, everybody being busy in +preparing my traps--my mother and sisters seeing to my outfit, and the +negro servants, with all of whom I was a great favourite, contributing +all sorts of little presents, some of the most unwieldy and useless +character, which they thought would either add to my comfort during the +voyage or were absolutely necessary for "de young massa agwine to +England!" + +But, at last, all my belongings, useful and useless alike, were packed +up; and one fine morning in August--I remember well, it was the day +after my birthday--a regular procession set out from Mount Pleasant, +consisting of my mother and dad and my sisters, not omitting myself, the +hero of the occasion. + +We were all mounted on horseback; for no wheeled vehicle could overcome +the engineering difficulties of the mountain road, rugged as it was and +intersected by wild gullies and little brawling streamlets at intervals, +the latter sometimes only bridged by a narrow plank, as I have mentioned +before. + +To a stranger, our cavalcade would have presented quite an imposing +appearance, as behind the mounted portion of the procession came a +string of negroes, headed by old Pompey, carrying the three large trunks +and odd boxes containing my paraphernalia, those whose services were not +absolutely required to carry anything volunteering to go with the rest +in order to see me off. + +I had been so excited all along with the idea of going to school, which +I was looking forward to as something awfully jolly from the description +I had read about other boys' doings in books--for I was utterly ignorant +of what English life really was--that up to now I had scarcely given a +thought to anything else, never realising the terrible severance of all +the dear home ties which my departure would bring about. + +But, when I mounted Prince for the last time, as I suddenly recollected +all at once, and gazed round at my old home, which I was probably about +to bid good-bye to for ever, my feelings overcame me. At that moment I +would gladly have stopped behind, sacrificing even the pleasure I +anticipated from my voyage in the _Josephine_, and all that the future +might have in store for me, rather than desert so summarily the scenes +of my childhood and all the loved members of the home circle. + +Dad noticed my emotion and he recalled me to myself. + +"Come on, Tom," he said kindly but firmly, "you must be a man now, my +boy! Be brave; for if your poor mother sees you crying she will break +down utterly, and I'm sure you would not like that." + +This speech of his made me stifle my sobs; and, although I couldn't get +out any words to answer him, I swallowed something hard that was +sticking in my throat. Then, putting Prince in a canter, I rode up to +the side of my mother, who was in front with Baby Tot. + +By that time I had regained my composure and was able to talk and make +fun with my little sister, who, not knowing, of course, the purport of +our expedition, thought it was a party of pleasure got up especially for +her gratification. She was in a state of supreme delight, crowing and +chuckling away in the greatest possible glee, every now and then putting +up her little rosebud of a mouth to be kissed by mother and me. + +Jake, I observed, looked very serious as he ran along by the side of +Prince, resting one of his hands on my pony's flanks, as was his habit +when he accompanied me out riding. The other negroes, who were carrying +my luggage down to town on their heads, in their customary fashion of +bearing all burdens whether light or heavy, were laughing and jabbering +together like a parcel of black crows; but he never spoke a word either +to his dark-complexioned brethren or to me, exhibiting such a striking +contrast to his ordinary demeanour that even dad noticed it and asked +him the reason, wondering what was the matter with him. + +"Me not berry well, massa," however, was all the answer he could get out +of Jake; but the faithful fellow looked at me so wistfully whenever I +caught his eye that I recalled what he had said about wishing to go in +the ship with me, on the night when we returned from Grenville Bay. + +He had not alluded to the subject since, though, so I really thought he +had forgotten it; and now, as he did not appear inclined to talk, I +believed it best to let him alone, not wishing to hurt his feelings by +dwelling on the impossible. + +I could see that he was much put out about something; so I came to the +conclusion that his change of manner, so unlike his usual light-hearted +merry self, was due to his grief at parting with me, he having been my +constant companion ever since I had been able to toddle about, when my +father first settled down on the plantation, at which time I was only a +little five-year-old boy and he a darkey stripling. + +There was no racing down the road now at breakneck speed, like that time +when in my hurry to meet dad I had come to grief some two months +previously. Our cavalcade went on at a sober respectable pace, reaching +the town in about an hour and a half from our start. + +As we were passing by the bend in the road, opposite Government House, +whence there was such a good view of the harbour below, Jake spoke to me +for the first time during the journey. + +"Dar am de ship, Mass' Tom!" he said, pointing out the _Josephine_ lying +out in the anchorage under Fort Saint George. + +She was looking much smarter and trimmer, I thought, than when I had +first cast eyes on her in Grenville Bay; for her sails were partly +loosed, making her have the appearance of an ocean bird ready to be on +the wing. I noticed, too, that she floated lower in the water, having +evidently taken in a lot more cargo since I had been on board. + +When we reached the lower part of the town by the harbour side, after +descending the perilously steep Constitution Hill, dad escorted us all +to a famed establishment close by, known as "Jenny Gussett's Hotel," and +kept by a gigantic coloured woman nearly seven feet high, where all the +passengers by the mail steamers who had no friends in the island, used +invariably to put up. Here, after ordering an early dinner, dad took me +out with him to call on a shipping agent at whose place of business he +had agreed to meet Captain Miles, leaving my mother and sisters with +their crowd of darky attendants at the hotel until we should come back. + +The captain was punctual to his appointment like most sailors. + +"Ha, Eastman," he said when dad and I entered the agent's store, "you're +just in the nick of time. I was only speaking of you a minute ago to +our friend here. Got the youngster I see." + +"Yes, here he is," replied dad. + +"That's all right then," said Captain Miles. "How are you, Master Tom-- +glad to go to sea, eh?" + +"Well--" I stammered hesitatingly, not liking to tell an untruth. + +"Oh, I know," said he interrupting me. "Sorry to leave mother and the +girls, I suppose? Never mind, my boy, these partings must come some +time or other, and the sooner they are over the better. I shall start, +Eastman," he added, turning to dad, "late in the afternoon, as soon as +the wind sets off the land; so, you'd better send the boy aboard when +the sun begins to sink. My boat is now waiting at the end of the wharf +to take his traps." + +"Thanks, Miles," replied my father; "but, won't you come round with us +to Jenny Gussett's Hotel and have some lunch? My wife will be glad to +see you." + +"Oh, has she come in to town to see the youngster off?" asked the +captain. + +"Yes, we all rode in," answered dad. "The whole kit of us are here." + +"All right; I'll come then, as soon as I've finished arranging matters +and signing bills of lading with my agent here," said Captain Miles +cordially, adding, with one of his knowing winks to dad, "I've no doubt +your missis wants to give me all sorts of directions about young Master +Hopeful, eh?" + +"You might be further out in your guess," rejoined dad with a laugh; and +presently the three of us went back to the hotel together, it being near +the hour at which dad had ordered our early dinner, or luncheon, to be +got ready. + +The time soon slipped by at our meal, which none of us seemed to enjoy +very much save the captain, who, of course, was not affected by any sad +thoughts of parting, the same as dad and mother and I and my sisters +were--that is excepting Baby Tot, for she looked still upon the whole +thing as a joke and continued in the best of spirits. + +When we rose from table, mother got hold of Captain Miles and began +whispering earnestly to him, something about me, I was certain; so, in +order not to overhear their conversation, I went towards the open door +leading into a wide passage-way that terminated in the usual verandah +common to all West Indian houses. The hotel, however, did not command +such a pretty prospect as ours at Mount Pleasant, for it looked on to +the street, which could be gained by descending a short flight of steps +at the end of the alcove. + +But, would you believe it, hardly had I reached the verandah, when, +there on the top step I saw old Pompey standing in an attitude of great +expectancy, with his footless wine-glass in hand, the same as was his +habit at home on the plantation, although it was more than two hours +past his usual grog-time! + +No sooner had I appeared than out came his stereotyped formula: + +"Hi, Mass' Tom! um come rum." + +I felt sad enough at the moment, but the sight of Pompey with his wine- +glass, and his quaint well-known way of expressing himself, made me +burst into a fit of laughter which brought out dad from the dining-room. + +"Hullo, Tom, what's the matter?" he cried. "Ah, I see! Why, Pompey, +you old rascal, you're past your time," he added, catching sight of the +old negro at the end of the verandah. "What do you mean by coming for +your grog at four bells, eh? I suppose, though, as Master Tom's going +away we must let you have it." + +So saying, dad went back into the dining-room, bringing out presently a +tumbler filled with something which he handed to Pompey, the old darkey +swallowing the contents with his usual gusto, and, needless to say, +without any very great amount of exertion. + +"There," said dad when Pompey returned the empty glass with a bow and +scrape, "go and tell the others that Master Tom wants to say good-bye, +as he will start in a minute or two, and that he wishes them to come +round and drink his health too." + +Pompey thereupon shuffled off awkwardly in his boots, returning soon +with two of the other negroes who had come down with us from the +plantation. These now had each a glass of wine in honour of my +departure, Pompey managing to come in for an extra one on the sly by the +artful way in which he looked at me and showed his footless measure. + +"But where is Jake?" asked dad suddenly, after the darkeys had emptied +their glasses. + +"Me no see him," replied Pompey, acting as spokesman for the rest. +Indeed, on this occasion he seemed to abandon his customary taciturnity, +for he wished me "um berry fine v'y'ge, Mass' Tom," when drinking my +health. + +"Not seen him!" repeated dad, much surprised. "Where can he be?" + +"Dunno, massa. He put him Dandy an' Prince in 'table an' den him say um +feel berry bad, an' go way." + +"Poor fellow, he may be really ill! I must look after him," said my +father putting on his hat and proceeding round to the stables; but as he +could see nothing of Jake he soon returned, for the afternoon was +getting on and it was time to have my luggage carried down to the boat +of the _Josephine_ as well as for me to see about going on board also. + +While my trunks were being taken to the wharf by Pompey and the other +two darkeys, I had to pass through the painful ordeal of bidding +farewell to my mother and sisters. The less I say about this the +better! + +Baby Tot could not grasp the idea that I was really going away from her +until the very last moment, when, seeing the others overcome with +emotion, especially my mother, who was crying as if her heart would +break, my little sister clung round my neck so tightly that dad had to +unclasp her tiny fingers one by one before she would release her hold of +me. + +As for my mother's last kiss and her broken words, telling me always to +fear God and be good, whatever might betide, I can never forget them. + +At length the parting was over, when dad calling me in a husky voice to +come along, I proceeded with him down to the wharf, where the +_Josephine's_ boat was lying alongside the steamboat landing-stage, +waiting for me to start. + +Here another farewell had to be taken of old Pompey and the negro +servants who had brought my traps from the hotel; but, strange to say, I +could see nothing of Jake, so I had to commission one of the others to +say good-bye to him for me. + +At the last moment, too, Doctor Martin came up and gave me one of his +hearty hand-shakes, bidding me "always tell the truth and shame the +devil," pointing out at the same time that he had sent down a lot of +fresh cocoa-nuts for me that had been stowed in the ship's boat with my +luggage. He thought they would "come in handy," he said, for assuaging +my thirst during the hot weather I might expect before getting out of +the tropics. Then came the final wrench of dear old dad's last embrace +and sad God-speed, after which the boat shoved off from the shore, +bearing me, almost heart-broken, with all my belongings out to the +_Josephine_, which anchored at the mouth of the harbour with her blue +peter flying, her sails loosed, and every sign of departure. + +"Cheer up, my sonny!" said Moggridge, my old friend the boatswain, as I +sat in the stern of the boat with my face buried in my hands, for I had +not the courage to look back at those I was leaving; "I thought you were +a reg'lar chip of the old block, and your father told you mind, sir, to +be a man." + +These words put me on my mettle, so I picked up a bit and waved my +handkerchief to dad, whom I could see standing still gazing after me; +and, when the boat got alongside the vessel, I clambered up the side- +ladder instead of allowing myself to be hoisted in as before. + +"That's your sort," said Moggridge, who followed me up closely, in order +that he might catch me should I tumble back. He also helped me into the +entry port and on to the deck of the _Josephine_, where I found Captain +Miles waiting to receive me. + +"Ha, here you are at last, youngster!" he cried out in welcome. "I +thought you were never coming out, and that we would have to start +without you. Wind and tide, you know, wait for neither man or boy! +Hoist in his traps, boatswain," he added to Moggridge, "and be as sharp +as you can about it too, for the breeze is just beginning to come off +the land." + +I may here mention a meteorological fact that Captain Miles subsequently +explained to me. He said that this regular alternation of the sea and +land breeze in warm latitudes, as in the tropics generally, when the +wind blows for so many hours in the day on and off-shore, is owing to +the different powers for the radiation and absorption of heat possessed +by land and water, so that when the day temperature is highest on the +land the alternating breezes will be stronger, and _vice versa_. During +the day, to illustrate this fact, the radiation of the sun's heat on the +land causes the air to expand and so rise from the surface, which, +creating a vacuum, the air from the sea rushes in to fill the void. At +night this process is reversed, for, while the surface of the soil will +frequently show in the West Indies during the daytime a temperature of a +hundred and twenty degrees and more under the meridian sun, the +thermometer will sink down in the evening to fifty or sixty degrees; +whereas, the sea, being a bad radiator and its temperature rarely +exceeding eighty degrees, even at the hottest period of the day, it is +alternately colder and warmer than the land, and the direction of the +wind accordingly oscillates between the two. The minimum temperature +being at a little before sunrise in the early morning and the maximum +somewhere about two o'clock in the afternoon, the change of these +breezes usually occurs at some little time after these hours, the one +lulling and the other setting in in due rotation--that is, of course, +near the coast, for out in the open sea their effect is not so apparent. + +In August, which is one of the "hurricane months" of the tropics, when +the _Josephine_ left Grenada on her voyage to England, the winds are +more variable, blowing at odd and uncertain times; so, there was every +reason for Captain Miles' taking advantage of the first cat's-paw of air +off the land now, as otherwise, perhaps, he might not have been able to +make an offing before morning, when he would lose the advantage of the +current amongst the islands towards Saint Vincent, where he had to call +in for some puncheons of rum and coffee to complete his cargo. + +Under the direction of Moggridge, the crew made short work of hoisting +in my traps and innumerable boxes, including the cocoa-nuts Doctor +Martin had sent down for me, all of which Captain Miles ordered to be +taken into the cabin he allotted to me on the starboard side of the ship +near his own; and then, the boat itself was hauled on board by the +derrick amidships which had been used for getting in the cargo, there +being no davits at the side as in a man-of-war. + +After seeing this operation satisfactorily accomplished, I went up the +poop-ladder and walked aft to the side of Captain Miles, who was now +busy about getting the vessel under weigh. + +"Hands up anchor!" he roared out with a stentorian shout, and +immediately there was a bustle forward of the men with much thumping of +their feet on the planks and a clanking of the chain as the windlass +went round under their sturdy hands. Mr Marline, the first mate, I +noticed, had charge of the crew engaged in heaving, while Moggridge went +on the forecastle to see that everything was clear for catting and +fishing the anchor as soon as it was run up out of the water and the +stock showed itself above the bows. + +"Clink, clank! clink, clank!" came the measured rattle as the slack of +the cable was wound round the windlass and carried along the deck to the +chain locker; and then, after another spell of hard heaving, Moggridge +sang out, "Swings clear, sir!" + +"All right," responded Captain Miles, jumping up on a hen-coop by the +taffrail so as to make his voice go further, as well as to command a +clear view of all that was going on, "Hands, make sail!" + +On hearing this order those of the crew who were not engaged at the +windlass swarmed up the rigging and threw off the gaskets of the +foresail and mainsail, while a couple of hands ran out on the bowsprit +and unloosed the lashings of the jib, the topsails having been dropped +before I came on board. + +"Man the topsail halliards!" then sang out the captain, and with a +cheery cry the yards were run up with a will and the halliards then +belayed. + +"Sheet home!" was the next command, whereupon the sails were stretched +out to their full extent, swelling out before the off-shore wind; and +one of the men, by the captain's orders, now going to the helm, a few +turns of the spokes brought the vessel's head round. + +"Now, look alive there forward and heave up the anchor!" shouted Captain +Miles. + +In another minute the stock of the kedge showed above the bows, when the +catfalls being stretched along the deck, and laid hold of by Moggridge, +the rest of the crew tacking on after him, the flukes were run up to the +cat-head to a rhythmical chorus in which all hands joined, the men +pulling with a will as they yelled out the refrain-- + +"Yankee John, storm along! Hooray, hooray, my hearties! Pull away, +heave away, Hooray, hooray, my hearties! Going to leave Grenada!" + +The clew-garnet blocks now rattled as the main-sheet was hauled aft, +when, the broad sail filling, the _Josephine_ paid off before the wind; +and shortly afterwards she was making her way to leeward towards Saint +Vincent, passing almost within a stone's throw of Fort Saint George, as +she cleared the northern point of the harbour and got out to sea. + +The jib and flying-jib were now hoisted as well as the topgallant-sails +and spanker, to get as much of the breeze as we could while it lasted, +so that the vessel began to make fair progress through the water; and +the hands under the superintendence of the two mates were then set to +work coiling down ropes and getting in the slack of the sheets as well +as making things ship-shape amidships, where the deck was still littered +with a good deal of cargo that had not yet been properly stowed. + +I was all this time standing by the side of Captain Miles on the poop, +alternately looking at the men jumping about the rigging like monkeys +and at the fast-receding shore, which, as soon as the sun set, became +dimmer and dimmer in the distance, until it was at length finally shut +out from my gaze by a wall of mist. + +"Fo'c's'le ahoy, there!" sang out Captain Miles presently, when it began +to grow dusk. + +"Aye, aye, sir!" responded the voice of Moggridge, the boatswain, from +forward. + +"Keep a good look out, my man, ahead, or we may be running down some of +those coasting craft inward bound." + +"Aye, aye, sir, I'm on the watch myself," sang out Moggridge; but hardly +had he given this answer than, all at once, he cried out suddenly in a +louder tone, "Hard a-port, hard a-port! There's something standing +across our bows." + +The man at the wheel immediately put the helm up, letting the head of +the vessel fall off from the wind; but, at the same instant, there came +a sudden crash ahead, followed by a loud yell. + +"Gracious heavens!" cried out Captain Miles, rushing forwards to the +forecastle, where several of the hands had also hurried on hearing the +cry of the boatswain--I going after the captain in my turn to see what +was the matter, dreading some fearful disaster. + +There were several short and quick exclamations, amidst which I saw, in +the dim light, Moggridge in the act of heaving a rope overboard towards +some dark object in the water. + +"Hooray, he's got it and has clutched hold!" I then heard somebody say. +"The line has fallen just over his shoulders, and he has got the bight +of it." + +"Haul him in gently!" cried the captain. "Pull easy--so!" + +Next I saw a couple of the seamen bending over the side, and in another +moment they helped a dripping figure to scramble on to the deck; when, +as I pressed nearer to see who the rescued person was, I heard a well- +known voice exclaim, in tones of earnest thankfulness and joy: + +"Bress de Lor', I'se safe!" + +It was Jake, the very last person in the world, most certainly, whom I +could have expected to meet on board the _Josephine_, if I had guessed a +hundred times! + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +THE CAPTAIN'S COW. + +"Why, Jake!" I cried out. "How have you contrived to come here?" + +"Am dat you, Mass' Tom?" he answered catching sight of me behind the +captain. "Golly, I tole you so; I'se tole you I come 'board ship wid +you somehow or nudder. Who 'peak de trute now, hey? golly, yah, yah, +I'se so berry glad!" and the poor faithful fellow commencing with one of +his hearty African laughs ended in his voice breaking into a sob of joy +that evidently came from the bottom of his heart. + +From hearing his words Captain Miles immediately began to "smell a rat," +as the saying goes. + +"You impudent black rascal!" he said, half in joke, pretending to be +angry, and yet partly in earnest. "What the dickens do you mean by +shipping yourself aboard my vessel in this fashion without leave or +license?" + +"I'se come for to go wid Mass' Tom," answered Jake meekly. + +"But how did you get off from the shore and overhaul the ship?" +continued Captain Miles, pursuing his inquiries, the hands around +meanwhile commencing to nudge one another and exchange grins as the +colloquy waxed warm between the two principal performers. + +"I tell you for true, massa, beliebe me," said Jake earnestly. "Dis +forenoon wen I see Mass' Tom agwine I'se go down to de warf an' dere I +see um lilly boat lyin' widout nobody a-mindin' it; so I'se jump in and +row out ob de harbor an' git roun' by de ole fort till I see de ship +make sail. Den I'se pull, an' pull, an' pull, like de debbel, to come +up wid you, an' I tinks I nebber reach de bessel, wen, jus' as I'se git +'longside an' cotch you up, de ship gib one big lurch an' squash in de +boat, wen I'se trown in water an' you fish um out; dere, massa, dat's de +trute, s'help me!" + +"Lucky for you you didn't go squash, too," observed the captain grimly. +"But, was there no one else with you?" + +"No, massa, only me," replied Jake. + +"Thank God for that!" said Captain Miles fervently. "I was afraid I had +run down one of those fishing sloops from Cariacou, and that all hands +were drowned but you. Whose boat was it?" + +"Dunno, massa, I'se tell you," answered Jake with great nonchalance, +apparently giving but little thought to the little craft whose broken +timbers were now floating away, far astern of us. + +"Well, you're a cool hand anyway!" exclaimed Mr Marline the first mate +drily, whereat Moggridge and the rest of the crew burst into a general +shout of merriment. In this even the captain himself could not help +joining, although he still tried to preserve a grave demeanour before +Jake, as if annoyed at his coming on board. + +Jake, however, was much hurt at being laughed at; and he went on now to +justify his conduct with such native dignity that those who had been +making fun of him before seemed almost ashamed of their ill-judged +ridicule. + +"I'se know Mass' Tom ebber since he was lilly pickaninny, an' I lub +him," he said, speaking with a feeling and earnestness which no one +would have thought of his possessing, and uttering the words in a thick +choked voice. "I took de boat 'cause de boat was dere; but if dere was +no boat, I'd hab swam off to de ship, for I'se boun' to go were Mass' +Tom go, an' if he go in ship I'se go too!" + +"But, my poor fellow," put in Captain Miles kindly to him, "your young +master does not want a servant to wait on him on board the _Josephine_, +and we haven't room for any idlers. I shall have to put you ashore at +Saint Vincent, from whence you'll be easily able to get a passage back +home again." + +"For de Lor' sake don't do dat, Massa Cap'en!" implored Jake, utterly +overwhelmed at such an unexpected downfall of his hopes, falling on his +knees on the deck and holding up his hands in the most supplicating +manner. "Only let dis poah nigger go wid you an' Mass' Tom an' he do +any ting you want." + +"But, what can you do?" said Captain Miles, who, I could see, was +relenting. He really had no idea of carrying out the stern intention +which his words implied. "We've got no horses to groom here." + +"Ah, you dunno all I can do, Massa Cap'en," replied the darkey eagerly, +rising again to his feet now, all animation. "'Fore I go wid Mass' +Eastman, I'se help my fadder in fishin'-boat, an' know how to make sail +an' reef an' steer. You jus' try dis chile an' see!" + +"Very good, we will try you," said Captain Miles good-humouredly. "But, +mind, my darkey friend, you'll have to work for your passage!" + +"All right, Massa Cap'en, me work safe 'nuff. See now, I'se handy boy +aboard ship!" So saying, Jake at once scrambled up the rigging and in a +minute or two was away up in the foretop, waving his arms about and +shouting with laughter in great glee. + +"Yah, yah!" he cried. "I'se go higher, if um like." + +"No, that will do now," sang out Captain Miles, "you can come down and +go and warm yourself, after your wetting, by the galley fire, where +you'll find another darkey to keep you company. You must enter his name +in the list of the crew, Mr Marline," added the captain, turning to the +first mate; "and see, too, about messing him in the fo'c's'le. I +daresay we'll make something out of him during the voyage." + +During this little interlude, the _Josephine_ had been making away from +Grenada with the land breeze, aided by a current setting to the westward +at the rate of a couple of knots an hour; so that, by the time it got +dark, we had sunk the island to windward, Captain Miles having caused +the royals to be hoisted, in order to take every advantage of the light +air, for we had to make the best of a north-east course on the starboard +tack. + +Towards nine o'clock, however, the wind freshened, and as the navigation +was rather ticklish, we being not yet in the open sea, the lighter +canvas had to be taken in, the vessel proceeding during the remainder of +the night under double-reefed topsails, courses, topgallant-sails, and +her jib and spanker--for, these could be easily handed in case of any +sudden shift of wind, which frequently veers round without warning under +the lee of the land. + +I, of course, only learnt all this afterwards, picking up my nautical +knowledge by degrees from my old friend Moggridge, who took me under his +tuition, promising to make a sailor of me ere the voyage was over, for I +was told to turn in by Captain Miles at nine o'clock, when the lights +were put out in the cabin. + +In the morning, when I came on deck again, we were off Saint Vincent; +but, as the current and wind were both against us, although our port was +well in sight we had to beat up to make the harbour, not dropping our +anchor until late in the afternoon. + +It was a beautiful spot, for we lay as it were in a circle of mountains, +the tall Souffriere with its volcano peak overtopping them all. + +Although we arrived late, Captain Miles did not lose any time in +shipping his cargo of rum, going on shore immediately in his gig, which +was still hanging to the davits astern, not having been taken on board +with the other boats before leaving "my island," as I always call +Grenada. Soon afterwards, a couple of heavy launches manned by negroes +and each stored with several big puncheons came off to us, the rum being +at once hoisted in and lowered away into the hold--the operation being +achieved in less time nearly than I can describe it, for it was +necessary for us to be off again by nightfall to take advantage of the +land breeze; or else we might be detained at Saint Vincent another day. + +Besides the puncheons of rum another piece of cargo was brought on +board. This subsequently caused quite a little commotion as well as +giving us all a good deal of entertainment. + +Our new freight was a cow. + +Captain Miles, you must know, was a bit of a gourmand, liking to have +good eating and drinking when he could get them; and, as he was +particularly fond of coffee with plenty of milk in it, he always carried +a cow with him in his different voyages. + +During his last trip from home, however, his old milk purveyor had died; +and, as such animals are rather scarce in the West Indies, he was not +able to procure one either for love or money at Grenada, and was at a +complete nonplus till we got to Saint Vincent. + +Here, fortunately, or unfortunately as it happened eventually for the +poor cow, the captain heard at the last moment of a fine Alderney which +a planter was anxious to dispose of, and had brought down to the town to +send off to Barbadoes, hoping to find a market there for her. Captain +Miles, therefore, at once closed with the planter, and the last of the +launches conveying the rum puncheons to the _Josephine_ brought off in +addition this cow. + +But, taking an animal of this sort away from the shore, and out to a +ship lying some distance from the land is one thing, and getting it on +board is another! This the captain found presently, when, having +completed all his business ashore and cleared the last of his cargo, he +was rowed out in his gig to regain the vessel. He had intended making +sail the moment he stepped on the deck again; but, instead of finding +everything stowed and the anchor tripped ready for the _Josephine_ to +start on his arrival, he saw that her cable was still out, while the +barge containing the cow was yet alongside. + +Captain Miles was awfully angry. Everybody could see this; as he +ordered the men in the gig to row her astern, and in a very harsh tone +of voice, as he scuttled up the side-ladder and turned into the main- +deck port; hook on the falls ready for hoisting her up again to the +davits. + +"Mr Marline!" he cried out to the first mate when he reached the deck, +"what is the meaning of this? I expected you'd have been all ready to +sail, and here is that launch alongside yet and the cargo not aboard!" + +"All the rum's in, sir," replied Mr Marline quietly, for he was a dry +old stick and seldom said a word more than necessary. + +"But the cow, man, the cow!" retorted the captain. "Why is she not +hoisted inboard as well?" + +"We couldn't manage her, sir," replied Mr Marline with a sly grin. +"The brute butts everybody that comes near her." + +"Why didn't you sling her?" inquired Captain Miles. + +"We tried to, but couldn't," said the mate. "She kicks so that she +tumbled back twice and nearly went into the sea." + +"Oh, you're all a parcel of nincompoops!" exclaimed the captain quite +roused at this. "I'll show you how a seaman can manage it!" With that, +catching hold of the side lines, he went down the ladder again like +winking and into the launch alongside. + +Here, the cow, which looked even more enraged than Captain Miles, stood +in the centre of the boat, with the negroes who had pulled out the live +load from shore, standing up in the bows and on the gunwales, so as to +be out of the reach of the infuriated animal, which every now and then +made a rush at some black leg or other, making the owner yell out and +try to avoid the butt. + +"Pass down a whip with a spare bit of canvas," sang out the captain, +sitting down in the stern-sheets; and on receiving these articles he set +to work to make a sort of broad belt to pass under the cow's stomach, in +the same way as is done with horses about to be shipped on board +transports when cavalry regiments are embarking. + +When he had made the sling to his satisfaction, satisfying himself that +it was strong enough by attaching it to his own person and then making +the crew haul him up, his sixteen stone weight being some criterion to +go by, he ordered those at the derrick to lower him down again; and +then, with a halter all ready, which he threw over the animal's head, he +advanced bravely towards the cow to arrange the belt under her body, +thinking he could do it easily enough. + +Mrs Brindle, however, was too quick for him. + +Tossing off the rope bridle like a piece of straw, she lowered her head, +and catching the captain in the stomach sent him head over heels +backwards into the bottom of the boat, where one of the thwarts only +prevented her from pursuing him further, which she would most +undoubtedly have done judging by her vicious look. + +At that moment, Jake, who had been looking over the side of the ship, +seeing what had happened and anxious to be of service, slid down the +whip-tackle into the boat. Arrived here his first task was to pick up +Captain Miles, after doing which he took hold of the canvas belt the +captain had prepared and dropped in his confusion at the unexpected +assault. + +"You let dis niggah try, Massa Cap'en," he said. "I'se able to ride any +wild hoss, and tinks I can settle de rampagious animile." + +"All right, fire away," replied Captain Miles, rather out of breath from +his tumble as well as from the punch the cow had given him "right in the +wind." + +Jake thereupon, shoving the other darkeys away, climbed on to the +gunwale of the launch. Then, advancing gingerly until he was right +opposite the cow, and seizing a good opportunity, he jumped suddenly on +her back. In a moment or so, he cleverly fixed the slings round her; +while one of the other negroes, emboldened by his success, threw a noose +over her head, which kept her from plunging about any longer, or at all +events, from butting at everybody as she had done previously. + +"By Jingo, you're a smart fellow!" exclaimed Captain Miles with much +gusto. "You're worth all the rest of those stupid lubbers of mine +boiled down together! Haul away now, Mr Marline," he added, looking +up; "I think we've fixed the cow this time." + +He was right; for, as soon as the hands on board manned the derrick and +turned the winch handle the poor animal was raised in the air, kicking +out spasmodically all the while, and wondering, no doubt, how she lost +hold of her footing. When she had been hoisted high enough to clear the +bulwarks, the derrick was then swung inboard and the cow lowered safely +on the deck. + +The empty launch with the negroes was now cast-off, and preparations +made for raising the anchor again and making sail. + +However, this was not the end of the cow episode by any means; for, as +luck would have it, all Captain Miles' hopes of milk with his coffee +during the voyage home to England were soon summarily dispelled, the +career of the animal which was to have supplied the lacteal fluid having +terminated most unexpectedly. + +All hands being busy getting the ship under weigh, the animal had been +left standing for the time where she had been set down in the waist, the +sling being unloosed from her and the end of the halter, which Jake had +put over her head when she had been secured, tied to the mainmast +bitts--so as to prevent her moving until the long-boat amidships, which +was to form her quarters, should be made ready for her reception. + +Then, when the canvas of the _Josephine_ was once more spread to the +breeze and the vessel was working out from Saint Vincent, Captain Miles +told the steward to serve dinner in the cabin, it being now near sunset +and long past the usual hour for that meal, which was generally on the +table at "eight bells," or four o'clock in the afternoon. + +I went into the cabin with the captain and second mate, Mr Marline +being left in charge of the poop; and, presently, I could see through +the sliding-doors leading from the main-deck into the cuddy, which were +of course left wide open, as we were still in the tropics, the steward +Harry, a freckle-faced mulatto of the colour of pale ginger, bringing in +a tureen of soup from the cook's galley forward. + +As he passed by close to where the cow was tethered, whether the smell +of the savoury compound aroused the animal's hunger, or because Harry, +coming too near, reminded her of the recent indignities to which she had +been subjected, the cow all at once made a plunge at him with her head. + +Harry sheered off, spilling a portion of the soup; and he was so +frightened that he ran full speed with the remainder into the cabin. + +He was not, however, quick enough for Mrs Brindle; for the sudden dive +she made, throwing her whole might on the halter, caused the rope to +snap like a piece of pack-thread. The next instant, the cow made a +plunge after the mulatto steward, giving him a lift by the stern-post as +he was entering the cuddy door which pitched him right on to the cabin +table, where he fell amidst all the plates and dishes. There was a +terrible smash, all the dinner things coming to grief, as well as the +soup tureen, which he still held in his hands, the boiling contents +passing over the second mate's head, and scalding his face, besides +making him in a pretty pickle. + +"Oh Lord, oh Lord, I'm blinded!" screamed Davis, the thick pea-soup +having gone into his eyes; while the captain had scarcely time to use +his favourite ejaculation, "By Jingo!" before the cow, which had +followed up her successful attack on the steward by galloping after him +into the cabin, catching the arm-chair that Captain Miles was ensconced +in sideways, started the lashings that held it to the deck, hurling the +terrified occupant in a heap in the corner--the captain being utterly +ignorant of the cause of the whole catastrophe, for he was sitting with +his back to the door and so had not seen the steward's somersault nor +the approach of the animal like I did from the beginning of the affair. + +As for me, being on the other side of the table, I escaped any harm, +although I immediately bolted into the steward's pantry near me, where, +shutting the half-door, I looked out from this coign of vantage +surveying the scene of havoc which the cabin presently presented, for +the cow tossed about everything she could reach bellowing like one of +the wild bulls of Bashan all the while. + +The steward had fainted away, from fright I believe; and he lay +stretched on the table as if he were practising swimming in Doctor +Johnson's fashion. As for Davis, the second mate, he had his face bent +down in his hands, apparently unmindful of everything but his own pain, +but Captain Miles speedily sprang to his feet and was starting to attack +the cause of the uproar with one of the broken legs of his chair when +just at that moment Mr Marline poked his nose down the open skylight +from the poop above. + +"What's the matter?" he asked suavely. "What is all the row about?" + +"Come down and see," said Captain Miles savagely. "Talk of a bull in a +china-shop; why, that would be child's play to a cow in a cabin!" + +Mr Marline burst out laughing at this, and so too did Captain Miles +himself as soon as he had spoken the words, while I couldn't help +joining in, it was all so funny. Then the first mate came down with two +or three of the hands to remove the violent animal, which had now jammed +itself under Captain Miles' own cot in his private sanctum beyond the +cuddy. + +But, Mrs Brindle was not so easily dislodged, one of the sailors having +to get through the stern port in order to raise the cot while the other +men pulled at her legs. + +She was evidently determined not to be moved against her will; for, on +being lugged out again into the main cabin, she quickly shook off the +grasp of her captors, cantering out of the sliding-doors, with her tail +in the air, bellowing still furiously and butting at those in her way. + +Her course was soon arrested, however. As she bounded forwards along +the deck she came to the open hatchway leading to the hold, where +tumbling down on top of the rum puncheons, before anyone could +interpose, she broke her neck instanter. + +"It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," says the old proverb, the +truth of which was exemplified in this instance. If the captain lost +his milk, the crew gained a plentiful supply of fresh meat by the +accident, faring sumptuously for many days afterwards on roast beef and +all sorts of delicate dishes which Cuffee concocted out of the carcass +of the unfortunate animal. + +"I wouldn't have lost her for twenty pounds!" said Captain Miles on the +poop later on, when he and the first mate were talking over the strange +way in which the thing all happened. + +"Humph!" observed Mr Marline slyly in his dry way; "I think she gave +you one or two on account before she performed the happy despatch, eh?" + +"Funny dog!" exclaimed Captain Miles, giving him a dig in the ribs by +way of acknowledging the allusion to the thumps poor Brindle had treated +him to, before she came on board and after; and, there, the matter +ended, as far as everybody was concerned, the steward recovering from +his fainting fit, and the eyes of Davis the second mate being none the +worse as it turned out for their deluge of hot pea-soup, while the +damages in the cabin were soon repaired. Only the poor cow came to +grief! + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +AMONGST THE ISLANDS. + +In spite of all Captain Miles' endeavours to effect an early start from +Saint Vincent, we were not really able to weather the island that +evening until many hours after our anchor was tripped and all plain sail +made. + +This was not due, however, either to the delay caused in hoisting the +obstreperous cow on board or to the embarrassing episode that occurred +after she was shipped. It was entirely owing to the failure of our +moving spirit the wind; for we lay becalmed until morning under the lee +of the giant Souffriere, whose dark shadow prevented the land breeze +from reaching the vessel, while the next day was far advanced before we +could gain an offing so as to take advantage of the light airs that then +sprang up from seaward. But, then, the _Josephine_, bellying out her +canvas, bore away on her voyage. + +The wide gulf of sea which we were traversing--named after the +aboriginal Caribs who ruled over its domain lang syne, and hedged in +from the Atlantic Ocean by the semicircular group of the Lesser +Antilles, or "Windward Islands" of the West Indies--presents great +difficulties to the navigators of sailing ships; as, while the wind +throughout its extent blows almost constantly in one direction, a series +of cross currents set in another, making it a hard task for even +experienced seamen to preserve a straight course towards any particular +point when going to windward, the result of which is that "the longest +way round," as in other matters pertaining to shore life, is frequently +"the shortest way home!" + +Taking up the chart casually, a novice would imagine that our direct +route from our port of departure to the English Channel would be +indicated by a line drawn between the two points and passing through the +Azores; but, a sailor accustomed to tropical latitudes would know that, +however feasible this might appear in theory, we could not possibly have +adopted such a course. It would have presupposed, in the first case, +our possessing the ability to sail straight in the teeth of the north- +east trade wind, and, in the second case, that we took no account of the +influence of the equatorial current, the stream of which setting +westwards into the Caribbean Sea, would have drifted as so far to +leeward that at the end of the day's run we must have been pretty nearly +where we started from, any progress we made ahead being neutralised by +the action of the stream carrying us in a lateral direction. + +For these reasons, all navigators up to their work, when making the +passage home from the West Indies and _vice versa_, instead of fighting +against the forces of nature as some old seamen of the past used to do, +now make both winds and tides run harmoniously in their favour by +meeting them half-way, so to speak. Captain Miles, in our instance, +therefore, did not wear out his crew by trying to beat to windward in +order to get to the open Atlantic immediately. On the contrary, he kept +his vessel well away to leeward, shaping a course for Saint +Christopher's, so as to pass afterwards through the Anegada Channel, +between the Virgin Islands, and reach the ocean in that way. In other +words, following the example of the ready-witted Irishman who drove an +obstinate pig to market by pulling him back by the tail, he deliberately +steered to the north-west while really wanting to go to the north-east. +But, circuitous as such a route looked, the captain was in the end a +gainer by it; for, not only did he keep the wind well abeam of the ship +all the way on the starboard tack, but he had the additional advantage +of having the strong north-westerly current in his favour in lieu of +trying to work against it. + +During this portion of our voyage the weather was beautifully fine, the +sky being of a clear transparent opal tint without a cloud and the sea +of the purest ultramarine blue, with little merry dancing wavelets +occasionally flecking its changing surface into foam. + +The air, too, was balmy, and not unpleasantly warm, a fine healthy +breeze blowing, which filled our good ship's sails, so that they +expanded to the furthest limits of the bolt-ropes, speeding her on her +way at the rate of some eight knots an hour, as rising and falling she +surged through the sparkling water and left a foaming wake astern that +spread out in the shape of a fan behind her track, widening until it was +lost in the distance. + +When I mentioned my going to visit the _Josephine_ as she lay at anchor +while taking in cargo at Grenville Bay, I think I said that I had never +before been in a vessel. This, however, was not strictly accurate, for +when dad came out to the West Indies from England with my mother and +sisters some few years previously, I, of course, accompanied them; and +as we had to cross the Atlantic in order to reach Grenada, and there was +no other mode of overcoming the three thousand odd miles of ocean that +lay between us and our destination except by our adventuring the passage +in the ordinary way, I was then really for the first time taken on board +a ship. But it must be remembered that I was only at that period a tiny +baby about the size of my little sister Tot; and, therefore, my +recollections of the time being rather hazy, my first real experiences +of the sea and all the incidents of the voyage came upon me with all +that novelty and interest which unfamiliarity alone can produce. It is, +nevertheless, only right that I should make this correction of my former +mis-statement, for I wish to give a true and impartial account of all +that happened to me from first to last. I am not "spinning a yarn" +merely, as sailor's say, but telling a true story of my life with all +its haps and mishaps. + +Now, therefore, as the _Josephine_ dashed along, all was new and strange +to me; the limitless expanse of blue water shimmering in the summer sun, +with flocks of flying-fish rising in the air occasionally to seek refuge +from their enemies of the deep, only to fall back again below the +surface after a short curving flight, to avoid the grey pelicans +hovering above to attack them there; the fresh bracing breeze, which +blew in my face so exhilaratingly; the swaying motion of the vessel that +gave a lurch now and then, heeling over when the wind took her suddenly +on the quarter as she rose on the swell; the whistling of the cordage +and creaking of timbers and rattling of blocks, combined with the cheery +yo-ho-hoing of the sailors as they slacked a sheet here and tightened a +brace there. Really, I was so pleased, excited, and delighted with the +whole scene and its surroundings that it seemed as if I were in the ship +of a dream sailing on an enchanted sea! + +Presently there arose out of the deep on our starboard bow the Pitons of +Saint Lucia, two twin conical rocks like the Needles, only ever so much +bigger, being over three thousand feet in height. They were festooned +from base to summit with beautiful evergreen foliage; and the entrance +to the harbour of the island was to be seen within and beyond these +outlying sentinels, stretching up inland towards a mass of purple +mountains from a beach of yellow sand. + +Next, we passed to the leeward of Martinique; and, then, towards sunset +of the same day, as we approached Saint Kitts, islet after islet jumped +up out of the sea in front of us, to the right hand and to the left. +They were all misty at first, but changed their colours from slaty grey +to green as we approached them nearer, although their shape was all +pretty much the same--tall sugar-loaf peaks surrounded by verdure +sloping down in graceful curves to the water's edge, the surf breaking +against the shore of those to leeward in clouds of spray, while the +waves washed the rocky feet of those on the windward side without a +ripple. + +When the sun disappeared below the western horizon, Montserrat, Redonda, +Nevis, Saint Christopher, and Saint Eustatius were all in sight around +us; and, just at ten o'clock at night, when the moon was at the full, +lighting up the scene with its silvery beams as brightly almost as if it +were day, we passed between Saint Eustatius and the island of Saba. We +approached the latter within two miles, but when its north point bore +west we steered for Dog Island, clearing the reefs somewhere about the +middle watch. + +Soon after sunrise next morning we weathered Sombrero, the last of the +Antilles, and thus got fairly out into the Atlantic, leaving the West +Indies behind us as we hauled our wind and bore away for the Azores-- +although a long stretch of ocean had to be crossed ere we might hope to +reach this half-way port on our voyage. + +But I have not yet described our ship and those on board. + +The _Josephine_ was an old-fashioned barque of about five hundred tons +burden, built with a high poop and a topgallant forecastle, "or +fo'c's'le," as seamen call it. + +She was a roomy vessel, possessing great breadth of beam, which made her +a staunch sea-boat in rough weather, for she could tumble about as much +as she pleased without causing much damage to her timbers or risk of her +stability; and this roominess, besides, allowed good accommodation aft +for a large number of passengers, although in this instance I was the +single solitary "landsman" aboard--that is, if a young shaver of +thirteen can be dignified with such a high-sounding title! + +Her officers and crew consisted of eighteen hands all told; and amongst +the former Captain Miles, her master, a sturdy old sea-dog of forty-five +or thereabouts, is entitled to be the first described. He had a broad +honest face, with a pair of bushy, reddish-brown mutton-chop whiskers, +for, unlike the sailors of to-day, the captain was always clean shaven +as to his chin and upper lip, esteeming a moustache an abomination, +"which only one of those French Johnny Crapaud lubbers ever think of +wearing." + +The next officer in rank after Captain Miles was Mr Marline, the first +mate, a thin wiry north countryman, with a lot of latent fun and dry +humour in him; and then came Davis, the second mate, a thick-set bull- +necked dark-haired Welshman, not more than twenty-four or five years of +age. He had been promoted from the foremast on account of his +predecessor having died on the passage out. Davis was a very good +seaman and up to his work; otherwise, his education being sadly +deficient, as even I, a boy, could perceive, and his temper and +disposition being none of the best, he was certainly not very well +fitted to command those with whom he had formerly associated as an +equal. + +My old friend Moggridge, the boatswain, and Adze, the carpenter, +completed the list of those in authority; and, besides these, must be +enumerated Cuffee, the king of the cook's galley; Jake, who had been put +on the muster-roll as an ordinary hand; Harry, the captain's tawny +mulatto steward; and ten able seamen--the finest and strongest of all +these being Jackson, a smart young Cornishman hailing from Plymouth, who +stood some six feet two in his stockings and gloried in such a broad +pair of shoulders that he was worth any three of the other hands put +together. + +To complete the description of our ship, the lower portion of our cargo, +stowed in the ground tier of the hold above the dunnage, was sugar and +coffee, with some odd bags of cocoa from my father's plantation to make +weight; but our chief freight, fortunately for us, as you will learn +later on, was rum. The puncheons containing this were packed as tightly +as possible fore and aft the ship above the heavy produce, reaching up +amidships to the level of the main hatch, all the spaces between being +so compactly filled in with the lighter samples of cargo that not even a +cockroach could have squeezed itself in sideways. + +In the waist of the vessel on the upper deck, ranged along the inside of +the bulwarks on either hand, from the entrance to the cabin under the +break of the poop to right away forwards just abaft the foremast, was a +row of water-casks. A couple of these had their tops sawn off +lengthwise and contained several live turtle which Captain Miles was +hopeful of carrying home safely in time for the next ensuing banquet at +the Mansion House on lord mayor's day, an enterprising ship's chandler +in the Minories having given him an order to that effect before he left +England on his voyage out to the West Indies. In a similar way, against +the sides of the poop were fixed what looked at first sight to be +benches for sitting down upon, but which on closer inspection I +discovered to be hen-coops,--their occupants projecting their long necks +and heads therefrom, in much perplexity evidently at their strange fate +in being thus brought to sea; for, as was the case with myself, this was +their first experience of what life on board ship was like, and the +exigencies of the cabin table would most probably cause it to be their +last! + +It was not until the fourth day after we had set sail from Grenada that +I was able to note all these particulars. Up to that time I had been +too much interested with the moving panorama around me to notice things +inboard; and, besides, the motion of the _Josephine_, when she got +lively in the seaway amongst the islands, produced an uneasy feeling +which led me ere long to retire below and bewail my old home and those +from whom I had been so ruthlessly severed with greater grief than I had +felt before. I suffered from that fearful nausea which Father Neptune +imposes as a penance on the majority of his votaries, and it was +wonderful how very melancholy the sensation made me. + +However, I struggled gallantly against the fell foe, and, one morning, I +crawled out of my bunk early, just as the men began to wash down the +decks, the first work of the day aboard ship. This was shortly after we +had cleared the island of Sombrero, and when the _Josephine_ was working +her way out to sea. + +At first I stopped in the waist, near the entrance to the cabin, but +Davis, the second mate, who stood with his trousers tucked up showing +his bare feet and legs, superintending the hands sluicing the water +about from the hose attached to the head pump out on the forecastle, +told me politely to sheer off, as they wanted no idlers in the way; so, +I ascended the poop-ladder, and was commiserating the poor fowls in the +hen-coops along the rails, when Captain Miles, who was standing close to +the helmsman at the wheel, addressed me. + +"Hallo, Master Tom," said he, "got your sea-legs again?" + +"Yes, captain," I replied, "I'm all right now, thank you." + +"Beginning to feel peckish, eh?" + +"Not very," said I, for I was qualmish still, although the fresh air had +considerably revived me even in the short time since I had come out of +the close cabin. + +"Ah, but you must eat, though, my boy," observed Captain Miles kindly, +giving me a kindly pat on the back. "An empty stomach is the worst +thing in the world to voyage on. Why, you haven't hardly eaten a bite +since the other evening when that poor cow knocked our dinner all into +the middle of next week! Never mind, though, breakfast will be ready at +eight bells, and we'll see whether we can't get some lining upon your +ribs, my little skillygalee." + +"I have already asked Jake to get me a cup of coffee, sir," I said in +reply to this; but, before the captain could answer me again, we both +had our attention drawn to the deck below. There seemed to be some sort +of commotion going on in the cook's galley away forward, for all the men +had their faces turned in that direction, and they were laughing as if +at some good joke. + +"Waist ahoy, there!" shouted out Captain Miles, going to the edge of the +break of the poop and looking down. "What's the row forward?" + +"Hanged if I know, sir," answered Davis somewhat surlily, adding more +gruffly still to the hands around him, "Here, you lazy lubbers, lay +along to your work, or I'll give you something else to grin about!" + +"You need not haze the men like that for nothing," said the captain +sharply, muttering something under his breath about "setting a beggar on +horseback, and he'll ride to the--" + +However, his further words were cut short by a loud shout of laughter +from the men all together, as if with one accord; and then the commotion +in the cook's galley increased, for I could now distinguish the sound of +some violent altercation, voices being raised in anger, mingled with the +noise of shuffling feet and the crash of crockery-ware. + +"By Jingo, they're going it!" exclaimed Moggridge, who stood in the +waist immediately below us. "They'll be like the Kilkenny cats, and +leave only their tails behind!" + +"What's the matter?" again asked Captain Miles. "Anybody fighting, eh?" + +"Yes, sir," said the boatswain, "the two niggers. They've been at it in +the caboose ever since we began to wash down decks." + +"Then it's high time to stop them," cried the captain darting towards +the poop-ladder with the intention of ending the fray, whatever it was. + +But, before he could descend two steps, the half-door of the galley +burst open outwards with a crash, when two dark figures, locked in a +tight embrace and pommelling one another with immense fury, came rolling +out upon the deck. They then scrambled and tumbled into the lee +scuppers, where they continued to struggle still, unmindful of the foot +deep or more of water, into which they were suddenly plunged, that was +swishing to and fro with the motion of the ship. + +"You take dat now," I heard Jake's voice say excitedly. "I mash um face +well." + +"An' you take dat, you hangman tief," cried the other with equal +earnestness. "Golly, I gib you gosh!" + +Then came the thud of blows, easily distinguishable above the splashing +of the refuse water that had accumulated to leeward from the sluicing of +the decks, with the convulsive movements of two pairs of arms and legs +mingled together in a confused mass--one woolly head being occasionally +uplifted above the other and immediately as quickly dragged down again. +The crew all the while screamed with laughter, enjoying the combat with +the utmost relish, and without attempting to interfere in any way +between the angry antagonists. + +"Stop the rascals, stop them!" sang out Captain Miles, jumping down into +the waist and hurrying to the scene of action. "They'll either kill or +drown each other!" + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +POOR JACKSON. + +As soon as the seamen heard the captain's words, uttered as they were in +a tone which they well knew from experience was meant to be obeyed, +several of them at once rushed to where the two darkeys were still +struggling in the lee scuppers; when Jackson, the tall young sailor whom +I had already noticed for his smartness, stepping forward in advance of +the others and stooping down at the same time, lifted up the combatants +on to their feet, holding one in each hand as easily as if the two big +negroes had been only little dolls. + +"Be quiet, I tell 'ee," he cried, giving Cuffee, the cook, who was the +most obstreperous, a shake as he clutched him by the back of his woolly +head in the same way as a terrier holds a rat; "be quiet, I tell 'ee, or +I'll pitch you overboard!" + +So saying, and emphasising the threat by raising Cuffee at arm's length, +to the level of the bulwarks, he dragged the irate pair along to where +Captain Miles was standing by the mainmast bitts, there setting them +down before him for judgment. + +"Now, you quarrelsome black rascals!" exclaimed the captain confronting +them, "what the dickens do you mean by kicking up all this bobbery? I +don't allow any fighting aboard my ship." + +"It ain't me, Mass' Cap'en," said Jake eagerly, "it's dat nasty niggah +dere dat make all de muss 'bout nuffin' at all!" + +"Dat one big lie," retorted the other scornfully. "He come 'teal de +coffee out ob de coppers, an' w'en I 'peak to him like gen'leman he hit +um in the eyeball, him." + +"Belieb me, Mass' Cap'en, I'se no tief," said Jake indignantly, drawing +himself up and looking very much as if he were going to pitch into +Cuffee again. "I'se only go in de galley to get um coffee for Mass' +Tom, an' I'se ax dat poor trash dere to gib um cup in de most perliteful +way as um please; an' I no sooner done dis dan he catch um crack wid one +big ladle on de shin--golly, um hurt now! Den, ob course, I hit um back +in brace ob shakes, an' we go down in rough an' tumble togedder." + +"My, what big 'tory!" exclaimed the cook in apparent amazement at Jake's +mendacity. "Me go forrud to clean de fis' for breakfus, an' w'en um +come back in galley, dere I see dat hangman tief takin' de coffee, an' +den--" + +"Then you had a scuffle together, I suppose," interposed Captain Miles, +interrupting Cuffee's further harangue at this point. "Well, well, as +far as I can see you were both in the wrong. Jake, you had no business +to enter the cook's galley without his leave, or touch anything there, +for remember he's as much captain of the caboose as I am on the poop." + +"Golly, Mass' Cap'en, me no go dere afore widout Cuffee ax me," put in +Jake as Captain Miles made a pause in his lecture. + +"Well, don't you do it again," continued the captain. "And as for you, +Cuffee, I'd advise you not to be so handy with your soup-ladle again in +striking your brother darkey, before ascertaining what he wants when he +comes to your galley, and who sent him. There, my fighting cocks, you'd +better shake hands now and make friends, as the row's all over!" + +This the two at once did, with much grinning and showing of their ivory +teeth; and they then went away forwards again together on the most +amicable terms, albeit arguing good-humouredly as to which of them had +got the best of the fray. Jake believed that he had come off with +flying colours, while Cuffee persisted that he was the conqueror, the +upshot of the matter being that Jackson, to whom they referred the +knotty question, decided that it was "six for one and half a dozen for +the other." With this Solomon-like settlement of the difficulty both +were quite satisfied and were sworn chums ever after. I, indeed, was +the only loser by the little difference between the two, having to go +without my coffee until the proper breakfast hour, "eight bells," when, +possibly, I enjoyed my meal all the more from not getting anything +before. + +Towards mid-day, we had sunk the land entirely to the westwards, the +ship being then on the wide-spreading ocean, with not a thing in sight +but water--"water everywhere!" + +In front, in rear, to right, to left, all around was one expanse of +blue, like a rolling valley, as far as the eye could reach, while the +sky above was cloudless and the wind blowing steadily, a little to the +southward of east, right on our starboard beam as we steered north- +eastwards. + +We were not altogether alone, however, for the ubiquitous flying-fish +were springing up every now and then from the azure deep, taking short +flights from one wave crest to another, or else entangling themselves in +the rigging of the ship, and then falling a gasping prey on the deck for +Cuffee bye and bye to operate upon in his galley, whence they would +emerge again fried into a savoury dish for the cabin table at dinner- +time. + +Bonitoes and albacore also played round our bows, and the many-hued +dolphin could be seen disporting himself astern in our wake; while, at +one time, a large grampus swam for some considerable period abreast of +the vessel, as if showing how easily he could keep pace with us and +outstrip us too when he pleased, for, later on in the afternoon, he +darted away and was soon lost to sight. I had now got over all the +effects of sea-sickness, a hearty breakfast having restored my +equilibrium, thus enabling me to enjoy all that was going on around. +The captain especially claimed my attention when he "took the sun" at +noon, an operation which I watched with the most absorbed interest; and +I found out afterwards the use of the sextant, and the way in which the +difference between the ship's mean time and that of the chronometer +below in the cabin--which showed what the hour was at Greenwich--enabled +Captain Miles to tell almost to a mile on the chart what was our +position with regard to our longitude, our latitude being "worked out" +in a different fashion. + +Then, there was the heaving of the log at stated intervals to ascertain +the speed of the ship through the water, and the constant trimming of +the sails; for more canvas was piled on as the breeze fell light during +the afternoon, as we wanted everything spread that could draw in order +to catch the slightest breath of wind there was. + +Oh, yes, there was plenty to see for a novice like me! The _Josephine_ +was fresh out of port, and there were lots of things that had to be done +to make her ship-shape for the long voyage before her; and, besides, had +there been nothing else for the hands to do beyond taking their trick at +the wheel and attending to the braces--the ordinary routine of their +duty with a fair wind such as we had--the captain and first mate would +have felt bound to find them something to keep their minds from +mischief. Sailors are never allowed a minute to be idle on a vessel at +sea save on Sundays, and then they find work for themselves, as a rule, +in the way of mending their clothes and putting their chests in order. + +I noticed this device on Captain Miles's part to provide employment for +the men when he came on deck after luncheon; when, seeing some of the +seamen lounging about in the waist, he immediately set them to pump out +the bilge. This, however, did not occupy them very long, the ship being +pretty dry; for, after a thick dirty stream of ill-smelling water, mixed +with a portion of molasses, leakage from the casks of sugar below, had +poured into the scuppers for a few minutes, the pumps sucked, thus +showing that the hold was clear down to the well bottom. + +A second washing-down decks followed, to efface the traces of the nasty +bilge-water; and then, Captain Miles looked about for another task to +keep the hands busy. + +"How is she going?" he asked Mr Marline, who had just seen to the +heaving of the log, the man assisting him having not quite yet reeled in +the line. + +"Six knots, sir," answered the chief mate. + +"By Jingo! that'll never do with this breeze," said the captain. "We +must get the starboard stunsails on her." + +"All right, sir," responded Mr Marline; and thereupon a couple of men +went aloft to reeve the studding-sail halliards through the jewel blocks +at the end of the yard-arms, while others stood below preparing the +tackle and getting the booms ready, with tacks rove for hoisting, sail +after sail being speedily packed on in addition to the canvas we were +already carrying. + +The log was then hove again, and a couple more knots of way somewhat +pleased the captain; but, a moment afterwards, seeing that the hands +were out of work once more, he thought of a fresh task for them. + +"Mr Marline," he sang out presently, as he paced up and down the poop, +eyeing the spars aloft and then casting his eyes forward. + +"Aye, aye, sir," was the prompt answer from the chief mate, who was +standing by the taffrail behind the man at the wheel, looking aloft to +see how the sails drew and then glancing round the ship occasionally, in +a similar sailor-like way to the captain. + +"What say you to getting the anchors aboard and unshackling the cables, +eh? I don't think we shall want to use them again now before we get +into soundings, and she seems a little down by the head." + +"All right, sir," said the mate. "I'll go forwards and see to the job +at once. Here, you idlers," he added as he descended the poop-ladder, +"spring up there on the fo'c's'le and see about getting the anchors +inboard!" + +This operation, I may explain, is generally undertaken soon after a ship +leaves harbour and clears the channel when outwards bound across seas; +for, not only do the anchors interfere with the vessel's sailing trim +from their dead weight hanging over the bows, even when properly catted +and fished, but they are a great deal in the way. In addition to this, +the ship is liable to take in water through the hawse-holes, which can +be plugged up, of course, when the cable chains are unshackled, although +not before. As we had been, however, up to this time navigating the +narrow passages between the clustering islands of the Caribbean Sea and +the dangerous reefs in their vicinity, where we might have had occasion +possibly to anchor at any moment should the wind fail us and the cross +currents near the land peril the safety of the ship, the anchors had +been left still ready for instant service; but, now that we were in the +open sea, we would have no necessity for having recourse to their aid +until we fetched our home port, so they might just as well be stowed +away till then. + +"May I go, too, and see what they are doing, Captain Miles?" I asked as +Mr Marline and the crew scampered forwards. + +"Yes, my boy," he said kindly. "Only, mind you don't get into any +danger! I promised your father, you know, to look after you." + +"Oh, I'll take care," I replied with a joyous laugh at getting the +permission; and, away I followed the others to the forecastle, where I +had been longing to go ever since the early morning, when, it may be +remembered, Davis ordered me back to the poop on my attempting to pass +forwards as I first came out of the cabin. + +If it was jolly watching the progress of the ship from aft, it was ever +so much more delightful from my new coign of vantage; for, as she dived +her head and parted the waves with her bows, the water dashed up on +either side in a column of spray like a fountain. The sunlight falling +on this refracted the most beautiful prismatic colours, a perfect +rainbow being formed to leeward which was ever being broken up and then +arching itself anew into a sort of emerald and orange halo in front of +the vessel's prow. + +From where I stood on the knight heads, in the centre of the forecastle, +just under the shadow of the bellying sails, the sea appeared much +nearer to me, swelling up to the lee-rail as the _Josephine_ tore along +through it in ploughing her course onward; and yet, the outlook conveyed +a better idea of its vastness than when I was on the poop aft and more +elevated above the surface level, for the immense plain of water, in +constant surging motion--now flat as a meadow, now ridged with curling +waves as far as the eye could reach, and then again scooped out into a +wide hollow valley covered over with yeasty foam, looking as if a giant +custard had been poured over it--extended to where the curving horizon +met the sky-line in the distance, our ship, in comparison with the +limitless expanse, being only as it were a tiny cork, floating on the +ocean of blue and blown along as lightly before the wind! + +The fore-staysail, which had only recently been hoisted when the +studding-sails were set, being now found to be in the way of getting in +the anchors, as it prevented the hands from working freely, Mr Marline +ordered the downhaul to be manned as soon as the halliards were cast- +off. The sail was then loosely stowed for a while, and a double- +purchase block and tackle rigged up in its place on the stay. + +Mr Marline then sang out to Moggridge to cast-off the shank painter +securing the best bower to the starboard side of the ship, this being +the easiest anchor of the two to handle, for it was to windward, clear +of the sheets of the head-sails; whereupon, the lifting gear being +attached, the ponderous mass of metal was soon hoisted up above the cat- +head and swayed inboard by means of a guy-line fastened to one of the +flukes. + +The command was then given to lower away, when, the anchor being +deposited on the deck of the forecastle, it was made snug close to the +foremast bitts, so that it could not shift its new moorings as the +vessel rolled. + +The chain-cable was next unshackled from the ring in the anchor-stock +and rattled down into the locker in the fore-peak; after which, the +starboard hawse-hole was plugged up to prevent any water from finding +its way below through the orifice. Thus, in a very little time, half +the task the captain had set the men to do was accomplished, the seamen +working with a will and singing cheerily as they laid on to the falls of +the tackle, "yo-ho-heaving" all together, and pulling with might and +main. + +The other anchor, however, being to leeward, was a little more difficult +to manage, for it was submerged every now and then as the ship canted +over, pitching her bows into the sea and splashing the spray up over the +yard-arm; but, sailors are not soon daunted when they have a job on +hand, and soon the shank painter of this was also cast-off and the +purchase tackle made fast. + +"Hoist away, men!" cried Mr Marline. + +"Run away with the falls, you lubbers," echoed Moggridge, who was as +busy about the matter as the first mate and doing two men's work +himself; but, although the usual chorus was raised, and the sailors +tugged away with all their strength, the anchor would not budge from its +resting-place on the cat-head. + +"The tackle has fouled the jib-sheet," said Jackson, who had been +pulling like a horse at the rope's end, and now looked over the side to +see what prevented them from lifting the port bower. "Shall I get over +and clear it, sir?" + +"Aye, do," replied the mate; when Jackson got over the bows in a jiffey, +holding on with one hand while he used the other to disentangle the +purchase tackle, and not minding a bit the water, which rose up as high +as his neck when the ship dipped. + +"Haul away, it's all clear now!" he called out presently; and he was +just stepping inboard again when, the _Josephine_ suddenly luffing up to +the wind, the jib flapped, and, the sheet knocking the poor fellow off +his balance, he tumbled backwards into the sea, without having time even +to utter a cry. + +"Man overboard!" shouted Mr Marline at the top of his voice. + +For a moment, the wildest confusion seemed to reign throughout the +vessel, the hands scurrying to the side; and looking over into the sea +below, where we could see Jackson's head bob up for an instant; but as +we gazed down he was drifted rapidly astern and quickly lost to sight in +the trough of the waves. + +The hubbub, however, only lasted an instant; for almost as soon as the +mate's shout had been heard aft, Captain Miles's voice rang through the +vessel in brief words of command, sharp and to the point. + +"Stand by, men," he cried. "Hands 'bout ship!" + +The crew at once jumped toward the braces, singing out "Ready, aye, +ready," as they cast them off, some going to the lee-sheets to haul in +there. + +"Helm's a-lee!" then came from aft, followed by the orders "Tacks and +sheets!" and "Mainsail haul!" when, the _Josephine's_ bows paying off +under the influence of the tacked head-sails, the yards were swung round +in a trice; and, within less than five minutes the vessel was retracing +the same track she had just gone over in quest of the missing man. + +A man was sent up in the foretop, while Captain Miles himself ran up the +ratlines of the mizzen shrouds to look out; and, at the same time, +preparations were made for lowering the gig, which fortunately was still +slung from the davits astern, not having been yet housed inboard with +the other boats amidships--that being the next job the captain intended +seeing to after the anchors were got in. + +I, of course, was as much excited as anyone, and remained on the +forecastle, looking out eagerly for any sign of Jackson, although I +could not see him anywhere. I believe I was so confused with the ship +having gone round on the opposite tack, in order to go back on her +course, that I hardly knew in which direction to look for the +unfortunate man, for what had before been ahead of the ship was now +necessarily astern from her reversing her position. + +In another minute, however, the look out in the foretop discerned +Jackson, and he hailed the deck at once. + +"There he is! there he is!" he sang out. + +"Where?" cried Captain Miles impatiently. + +"About four cables' length off the weather bow. I can see his head +quite clear above the wash of the sea; and he seems swimming towards +us." + +"All right then, keep your eye on him, so as to pilot us! Mr Marline," +continued Captain Miles, "lower the boat at once with four hands; we +can't go close enough without it to the poor fellow, for we are to +leeward of him." + +"Aye, aye, sir," replied the chief mate, who had gone aft and was seeing +to the falls of the boat; which presently, with himself in the stern- +sheets and four hands to pull the oars, was lowered down all standing, +the helmsman "luffing up" at the proper moment, so that the way of the +ship might be arrested to prevent the gig being upset before getting on +an even keel in the sea, it being a rather ticklish thing to launch a +boat from a vessel under sail. + +Luckily, however, the manoeuvre was safely accomplished without any +mishap, the fall tackles being unhitched the instant the gig touched the +water; and then, the boat's crew shipping their oars without delay, she +was pulled off to windward of us in the direction indicated by the look +out man in the foretop, who with his hand extended pointed the course to +be steered. + +The _Josephine_ meanwhile gathered way again slowly and followed astern +of the boat, although somewhat more to leeward, the wind being almost in +her teeth and the ship having to sail close-hauled. + +After a little time--for we had run nearly half a mile before going +about and some minutes were consumed in getting the ship round on the +opposite tack--we approached the spot where the accident had occurred; +then, all of us could see Jackson plainly from the deck. + +He was swimming grandly; now rising up on the top of a rolling wave, and +then, as he surmounted this, sinking for a moment from sight in the +hollow of the next, but making steady progress towards the ship all the +while. Every now and again, too, he lifted one of his hands out of the +water on commencing his stroke, as if to tell us he was all right and in +good heart, noticing that we were coming to his rescue. The boat, the +while rowed ahead of us as fast as the men in her could pull, putting +their backs into the oars with all their strength, although making for +the gallant swimmer in a slanting course to that of the _Josephine_. + +Nearer and nearer we sailed, but much more slowly than all hands on +board could wish, for the breeze was very light; nearer and nearer the +gig approached Jackson, until we could see the very expression of his +face. + +He was actually grinning, and appeared from the movement of his mouth +once when on top of a roller, to shout out some chaffing exclamation to +us, seeming to regard the whole thing as a huge joke; and, Captain Miles +was just about issuing some order about backing the main-topsail in +order to heave the ship to, so as to get him and the boat aboard again, +when, all at once, our anticipated joy at welcoming the poor fellow was +turned into dismay by a startled cry from Jake, who was standing up in +the weather rigging near me. + +"Golly, Mass' Tom!" he yelled out, loud enough for all to hear him, his +black face changing nearly to a sickly sea-green colour with horror and +consternation. "Dere's one big shark swimmin' right ahind de poor +buckra. O Lor', O Lor', he jus' up to him now!" + +At this time the ship was not quite a cable's length from the +unfortunate man, who was about a point off our port bow; while the gig +couldn't have been half that distance away from him; and, no sooner had +Jake's startling announcement of the shark's proximity alarmed us all at +the new and terrible peril threatening the swimmer, than the crew, led +by Captain Miles, shouted out a concentrated cry of warning. "Ahoy! +Look out! Shark!" + +The words came out almost simultaneously, as it uttered by one voice, +thrilling through the air with their fearful meaning, when, hardly had +the sounds died away than we could see that Mr Marline and those in the +gig with him heard us; for, recognising the urgency of the case, they +redoubled their exertions to reach Jackson in time, so as to frustrate +the intentions of his terrible antagonist. They seemed to put fresh +steam in their oars, pulling all they knew against the choppy sea and +wind, both of which were against them, counteracting their efforts and +pressing the boat back as they urged it forwards. + +From the fact, however, of our being to leeward of him and the wind +bearing our shout away, Jackson unfortunately did not appear to hear us. +At all events, he made no sign in response whatever, still swimming +onwards in the direction of the ship, but leisurely, as if ignorant of +any new source of danger. + +Captain Miles grew intensely excited, as, indeed, we all were by this +time; so, jumping up on the poop bulwarks and holding on to the mizzen +shrouds, he repeated the cry of warning, all hands taking it up as +before in one hoarse shout. + +"Shark! shark! Look out, man alive! He's now close in upon you, and +coming up fast astern!" + +This time Jackson caught our hail, but still, evidently mistook its +import. He thought we only called to him by way of encouraging him to +strike out more vigourously for the ship, and he waved his hand in +acknowledgment of the signal; then he breasted the waves anew in fine +style, although taking it quite easy as if thoroughly confident in +himself and not a bit alarmed. + +The reason he made for the _Josephine_ was that he did not perceive the +boat, which he had not seen lowered; and, besides this, it was every now +and then hidden from view as it sank down between the ridges of the +rollers, while, in addition, his face was turned in the opposite +direction to that in which the little craft was approaching him. + +The captain was in a perfect agony. + +"Shark! shark!" he again screamed, more than cried, out. "For heaven's +sake, strike out, man, or you're lost!" + +Then, all at once, Jackson appeared to grasp the meaning of the warning; +and, looking behind him hurriedly, he caught sight of the cruel monster +that was swimming after him, stroke by stroke and ready to sheer up +alongside when it thought the proper opportunity had arrived for seizing +its prey. + +It must have given the poor fellow an awful sensation! + +He could not but have realised the fearful doom that possibly awaited +him; for we could, in a moment, even at that distance, notice his face +change--a terror-stricken look coming over it in place of its previously +buoyant expression. The brave fellow, however, uttered never a word, +but only continued swimming on towards us in grim desperation. + +"Pull, Marline, for God's sake, pull!" shouted out Captain Miles to the +mate and those with him in the boat; but, although the men made the +water churn up over the bows of the gig in their mad haste to urge it +forwards, the relentless shark was quicker in its movements and crept up +closer to poor Jackson. + +It was close in his rear, while the boat was yet thirty or forty yards +away; and then, like a flash of lightning, we saw the monster's gleaming +white stomach as it threw itself over on its back and opened its wide +maw lined with rows of serrated teeth. + +"My God!" exclaimed Captain Miles, turning away his head, "they are too +late!" + +A sympathetic groan of anguish ran through the ship, and I could not +help bursting into tears as I jumped down from the gangway, not daring +to watch the end of the tragedy; but I thought I heard one agonised +scream from the poor fellow, which must have escaped his lips just as +the cruel teeth of the shark gripped its unresisting victim, telling +that all was over. + +After this, for one single moment, there was a still silence as of death +around me, the men appearing to hold their very breaths in excess of +emotion. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +A WATER-SPOUT. + +Then, the next instant, a wild frenzied roar of joy echoed fore and aft +the ship, making the _Josephine_ quiver almost down to her bottom +timbers. + +"Hooray!" + +I could scarcely believe my ears; but, as I looked up in surprise and +wonder I caught sight of Jake's ebony face all aglow with delight, his +eyes rolling about like a vessel in a heavy seaway and his mouth +expanded from ear to ear. He was evidently about to indulge in one of +his usual huge guffaws when especially highly pleased and unable to +contain himself, as he evidently was now. + +"Golly, dat splendiferous!" he cried out in ecstasy. "Um beat cock- +fightin' nohow!" + +"Bravo, well done!" I heard Captain Miles's voice exclaim also at the +same time, with a joyous heartiness utterly indescribable. + +"Why, what has happened, Jake?" I asked, quite puzzled. + +"Wat happen', eh, Mass' Tom? I tell um sharp! De sailor man lick de +shark arter all! Him dibe under de fis; as um go to grab him; an' den, +dey catch de nasty debbil one big crack wid um boat-hook, an' pull Mass' +Jackson into der boat. Golly, I'se so berry glad, Mass' Tom! I'se +a'most cry wid joy, for true." + +And then, not content with this expression of his feelings, the +sympathetic darkey, sliding down from the rigging where he had been +perched, looking on at the terribly exciting scene taking place a moment +before in the water, tumbled himself over on the deck in paroxysms of +merriment, perfectly unable to restrain himself and keep still. + +When I now looked over the side of the ship, which by this time was +hove-to, the gig, with Jackson seated in the stern-sheets by Mr +Marline, was close under the port quarter, and the rescued swimmer with +those who had saved him in the nick of time were just preparing to come +on board. + +Presently, Jackson and the mate mounted the side-ladder amidst a perfect +ovation from the crew, all hands cheering like mad and pressing forwards +to shake the fist of him whom they had never expected to see again. +After this the gig was veered astern and hoisted up once more to the +davits, and the _Josephine_, bearing round and filling her sails, again +resumed her north-east course on the starboard tack. The job of making +the port anchor snug inboard was completed later on, when the men had +sobered down somewhat from the excitement which had reigned through the +ship from the moment Jackson had first fallen overboard--it having been +an awfully anxious time throughout his peril by drowning, his +hairbreadth escape from the shark, and his ultimate rescue. + +Later on, Moggridge told me how the poor fellow escaped from the very +jaws of death. + +Jackson, he said, when he became aware of being pursued by the +bloodthirsty monster, instead of losing his presence of mind, as most +men would have done under the circumstances, remained perfectly calm and +collected, having once before had an encounter with a shark in his +native element. + +He swam on steadily towards the ship, apparently unmindful of his enemy; +but, he carefully kept his weather eye opened, and when he saw the brute +going to turn on his back in order to make a snatch at him, he at once +dived under the shark's body, thus circumventing his attack. Before the +monster could recover itself and make a fresh onslaught, Moggridge said, +the chief mate caught it a pretty tidy whack over the head with a boat- +hook, while Jackson was hauled into the gig at the same time by the +other men. + +It was a wonderful escape, however, and nothing else was talked of on +board for days after. + +Strange to say, too, the shark, as if determined not to be easily balked +of its prey, followed the ship steadily; and this fact, of course, kept +the incident fresh in our minds, even if we had been at all inclined to +forget it, the hideous creature's bottle-like fin ever perceptible in +our wake being a constant reminder! + +"He's bound to hab somebody for suah," said the captain's mulatto +steward Harry, who by the way was the person who had given out that +agonised shriek which I had fancied to be poor Jackson's death knell. +"Shark nebber follow ship for nuffin'!" + +"No," observed Captain Miles grimly; "this beggar sha'n't at all events, +if I know it!" and he paced up and down the poop, as if revolving the +matter in his mind. + +This was the third day after the affair had happened, and the captain +was quite incensed at the shark's pertinacity; for, morning, noon, and +night, whenever we logged over the side, there could be seen the sea- +pirate's long sinewy body, floating under our stern and always keeping +pace with the ship whether she was going fast or slow--although, as we +had little or no wind, the latter was generally the case. + +"I fancy, Mr Marline," said the captain, soon after replying to Harry's +rather frightened observation, the mulatto being very timid and of a +cowardly nature, as the fact of his fainting when the cow invaded the +cabin would readily tell--"I say, Mr Marline, I think it's time for us +to give that joker down there a lesson, eh?" + +"Perhaps you'll find him too artful to take a hook, cap'en," answered +the mate. "He seems to me an `old sojer,' from the look of him and the +regularity of his movements. Just see him now looking up, as if +listening to what we were saying!" + +"Well, we'll try him anyway," said Captain Miles, telling Moggridge to +bring the shark hook aft, as he wished to attempt the capture of our +unwelcome attendant. + +"Aye, aye, sir," replied the boatswain, going forwards and presently +returning with a large steel hook, much about the same size as those +they use in butchers' shops for hanging meat on. A piece of chain was +attached to this by a swivel instead of rope or a line, which, although +good enough for other fish, the saw-like teeth of the monster of the +deep would quickly have bitten through. + +"Is the tackle all sound?" asked the captain. + +"Aye, aye, sir; sound enough to catch a whale," responded Moggridge, +proceeding to bait the hook with a four-pound piece of salt pork which +completely concealed the barbs; and then, a stout half-inch rope having +been fastened on to the end of the chain, the whole apparatus was thrown +overboard close to where the shark was patrolling the water under our +stern. + +He sheered off a bit on hearing the splash; but afterwards soon swam up +to where the baited hook was towing in our wake, smelling at it +cautiously as if to see whether it was advisable for him to bolt the +savoury morsel or not. Then, with a disdainful swish of his screw-like +tail, he turned round in the water and resumed his station further +astern, as if he saw through our attempt to entrap him, and despised it. + +"I thought so," said Mr Marline. "He's too old a bird to be caught by +chaff. You won't hook him in a blue moon!" + +"Don't you be too cocksure of that," retorted Captain Miles. "Sharks, I +have noticed, frequently resemble cats in the way they will nibble at a +bait, and pretend they don't care about it, when all the while they are +dying to gobble it down--just in the same manner as you'll observe +pussy, if you offer her a nice bit of meat, will sniff and turn away her +head as if rejecting the morsel with disdain, affecting to make you +believe it beneath her notice, only the next moment to abstract it slily +from your hand, glad enough to get it! You'll see presently, Mr +Marline, that our friend there will go at the pork again, I'll bet +anything." + +"All right, cap'en," replied Mr Marline. "I only hope, I'm sure, that +your anticipation will prove correct;" but, from the sly quizzical smile +on his face and the dry way in which he spoke, I don't think the mate +believed in our hooking the ugly brute, all the same. + +After a little time, I noticed two small fishes coming up towards the +bait and poking their pointed noses into it as if taking observations, +and I called Captain Miles's attention to them. + +"Oh, that's a good sign," said he. "Those are pilot-fish, which always +accompany his majesty Mr Shark in the way of _aides-de-camp_, as you +call those smart gentlemen in gay uniforms who are usually seen prancing +about the general at a review of troops ashore. Whenever you see the +little chaps, the shark himself is never far off, for they precede him +as his scouts to warn him of danger as well as tell him if there's +anything worth grabbing in the offing. If it wasn't for them I believe +he'd fare rather badly, as his own sight is bad--fortunately for poor +fellows that fall in the water in the way Jackson did t'other day!" + +"But, captain," I remarked, "they must be very bad guides if they do not +tell the shark about the hook." + +"Aye," he replied; "something like `the blind leading the blind,' eh? +Still, you know Moggridge has taken care that the bait carefully +conceals the snare within, and the pilot-fish are none the wiser. See +them now!" + +As I watched, I noticed first one and then the other of the little fish +smell at the piece of pork, making their observations apparently, after +which they swam back to the side of the shark, where they remained for a +moment on either side of his snout, as if they were making their report +upon the tempting object and giving their master all particulars. + +Then the shark, with a fluke of his tail, also advanced closer to the +bait, which just then, by a twist of the rope attached to it, the +boatswain jerked away. + +This was enough for Master Shark, who, thinking he was going to lose the +coveted morsel, at once sheered alongside of it, turning over on his +back and opening his terrible-looking cavern of a mouth in the same way +I had seen him do when he tried to catch poor Jackson. The recollection +of that made me shudder all over! + +The next moment the monster had bolted both bait and hook, as well as a +couple of feet of the chain; but when he turned to sheer off again he +was "brought up with a round turn," as sailors say, by the rope +tightening suddenly, the jerk almost making him turn a somersault in the +water. + +He was not altogether captured yet, however, and his struggles to get +free were tremendous. Really, his jaws must have been pretty tough to +have not given way under the furious flings and writhings he made to +release himself; for the strong half-inch manilla rope that held him +tethered was stretched like a fiddle-string, its strands all quivering +with the strain upon it. + +First to one side of the ship and then to the other the brute bounded in +turns, making the sea boil around him like a whirlpool, until finally, +after half an hour's fight of it, he gave in and lay quiet, although not +dead yet by any means. + +As soon as the shark began to flounder about, I noticed that the pilot- +fish went away, leaving him alone in his extremity; and on my mentioning +this to Mr Marline he took the opportunity of pointing a moral for my +especial benefit. + +"It's just the way in the world, Master Tom," said he. "Foolish +companions lead many a young fellow into a scrape; but as soon as they +see him in the mess into which they were the means of inveigling him, +they scuttle off, abandoning him to his fate and probably laughing at +his troubles too." + +"Aye," put in Captain Miles, wishing also to improve the occasion; "and +if that shark had not been so madly impetuous in rushing at the hook he +would never have been caught; in the same way as somebody told me of a +certain young gentleman, who, not looking before he leaped, as the +proverb says, and only thinking of the end he had in view, galloped down +a hill and came to grief--getting a tumble which laid him up for weeks!" + +"Oh, Captain Miles," said I, "you don't think I'm a shark, do you?" + +"Well, not quite so bad as that, youngster," he replied with one of his +cheery laughs; "but, quite as impetuous sometimes, eh, Master Tom?" + +I made no answer to this thrust, knowing there was some truth in it, my +mother having frequently to call me over the coals for doing things on +the spur of the moment, which, as she was aware, I always regretted +afterwards. + +This thoughtless impulse is a great fault, as I know to my cost; for, it +has led me into many a scrape--sometimes to the danger of my life! + +While we were talking the shark was still struggling in the water; but +when he grew tolerably composed, only an occasional splash of his tail +showing that he yet lived, the men began to make preparations for +hauling him on board. + +The bight of a rope was made into a running knot and hove round the body +of the animal; when, the men hauling away with a will at the other end +of the line, which was passed through a snatch-block hung in the +rigging, the captive was soon bowsed up to the mizzen chains. + +No sooner, however, was he got out of the water than the hampered +monster appeared to be imbued with fresh vitality, lashing his tail +about and splintering the wood-work of the bulwarks as if it had been +brown paper; but when the slip-knot was drawn tighter this controlled +his frantic movements a bit, and Jackson, who was allowed precedence of +the rest of the sailors from his previous acquaintance with the savage +brute, then advanced with a sharp butcher's knife, which he had borrowed +from the cook, in order to give his old enemy his quietus. + +Taking care not to get within reach of either the jaws or ponderous tail +of the shark, he leaned over the side of the ship and stabbed it in the +neck; after which, with two long slashing cuts he severed the head, +which quickly splashed down into the sea under the counter, sinking to +the bottom at once from the mere weight of the bone it contained. +Jackson then proceeded, by the captain's orders, to rip open the +animal's stomach; but it was found to contain nothing digestible but the +piece of pork which had led to the brute's capture, the shark evidently +having been lately on short allowance. + +When, however, Jackson extracted the hook from the bait, he started back +suddenly as if he had received a blow, clutching hold of the shrouds to +steady himself. + +I thought he was going to faint. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Captain Miles; "what's the matter?" + +"See here!" replied the young sailor, holding up in his hand something +dark and soft looking, with a bit of ribbon fluttering from one end. + +"Well, what is it?" repeated the captain. + +"My cap," said Jackson solemnly; "and, but for the mercy of God I also +might have been in the same place!" + +It gave us all a thrill, I can tell you, the sight of this old cap, +which must have floated off Jackson's head when he dived to escape the +rush of the shark. The brute had swallowed it, no doubt, greedily, +thinking it had got the owner. + +As for Jackson himself, when he clambered up over the side again and +came inboard, his face was as white as a table-cloth. I did not hear +him, either, joking about the deck all day afterwards in his usual way; +although the young sailor, besides being the smartest of the hands at +his work, had hitherto been the life of the crew, always laughing and +chaffing the others, as well as being the first to lead a song on the +fo'c's'le of an evening. The startling discovery of his cap in the +shark's stomach, coupled with the reflection that, had not Providence +intervened in his behalf, he might have also been swallowed up, seemed +to have completely sobered him for the time. + +The other hands, however, were not much affected by the incident; and, +presently, when the bight of the rope round the shark was unloosed and +the body allowed to drop overboard, Moggridge sang out in a triumphant +voice: "Now we've got rid of Jonah, we'll have a shift of wind at last!" + +"Why does the boatswain say that?" I asked Captain Miles. "What had +the shark to do with the weather?" + +"Well, you see, my boy," he answered, "sailors are generally +superstitious, and they always think that killing a shark brings good +luck of some sort. Now, the best sort of luck we can have would be a +good stiff south-wester, or something of that sort, to drive us on our +way across the Atlantic, as we have experienced nothing but light +breezes since we left the islands, barely making five hundred miles' +distance from Sombrero. We'll never get to England at this rate in a +month of Sundays." + +Unlike most prophecies referring to the weather, which, as a rule, must +generally be made after the event to be correct, that of the old +boatswain, curiously enough, turned out a true one, for, although we had +been only favoured with light winds from the time of Jackson's escape +from the shark and all the while the ill-fated brute followed in our +wake like a phantom of evil, not many hours elapsed after we had +captured the animal before a strong southerly breeze sprang up. This, +shifting round later on more to the westwards, came right astern of the +vessel--thus enabling her to spread studding-sails and sky-sails, +exposing every rag of canvas she could carry from truck to deck. + +The wind, too, fortunately, was not a cat's-paw either, like the +shifting airs we had previously had, for it lasted us ten days at one +stretch, carrying us well to the south-east of Bermuda and almost more +than half-way to the Azores. + +During all this time, no very remarkable incident occurred on board, +save that, whether owing to change of air or through some deficiency of +their native diet, three out of the half a dozen turtle, which Captain +Miles was hoping to carry home for the lord mayor's banquet, died one by +one. They were hove over the side in the same fashion; and, as I +watched their shelly backs floating astern, I could see flocks of sea- +birds settle down on them, evidently rejoicing in having such an +unexpected feast. A pig, too, was killed one day, supplying us in the +cabin with savoury roast pork, which was an agreeable change from the +salt beef and boiled fowls that were our ordinary fare--although, as the +hen-coops were becoming rapidly untenanted, I should not have much +longer to complain of any monotony of the latter item of our diet, I +thought. + +But, if there was nothing to chronicle of any stirring character I +enjoyed the voyage immensely, being as happy as the day was long. + +It seemed like paradise to me, sailing on and on before the genial +western wind over the wide blue sea, with an azure sky above unflecked +by a cloud in the daytime and studded with a glorious galaxy of stars at +night that made the heavens look like a casket of jewels. + +Before long, I became quite a sailor too, being able to make my way +aloft to the cross-trees without help, and I was learning by familiarity +every rope whose name Moggridge had before taught me; for, when the +captain saw that I was careful through his repeated cautions, and also +had Jackson to look after me, he withdrew the embargo he had placed on +my mounting the rigging. Indeed, he was kind enough to let me do duty +as an "extra hand," as I loved to consider myself, in Mr Marline's +watch, or when he himself was on deck. + +Another great delight I had consisted in going out on the bowsprit and +fishing for bonitoes and dolphins with a bit of red or white cloth tied +to a hook, in the same way as one goes "reeling" for mackerel in the +Channel; and many a savoury supper, cooked surreptitiously by Jake in +his friend the cook's caboose, had I on the sly at night in the +fo'c's'le, when Captain Miles thought I had turned in and was snug +asleep in my bunk! + +Day after day passed alike, with the exception, of course, of Sundays, +when the captain read prayers on the poop to the hands clustered round, +all dressed out in their best shore clothes, and with the decks +especially holystoned in honour of the day--the ship the while making +some couple of hundred miles every twenty-four hours on her onward way, +while scarcely shifting a sail or altering a brace from week's end to +week's end. + +It was getting on towards the end of August, the wind having continued +fair from about the middle of the month and the weather being all that +could be desired; when, one morning, that of our fifteenth day out from +Grenada, I recollect, I noticed that Captain Miles looked rather anxious +after coming on deck, shortly before our breakfast hour, "eight bells," +according to his usual custom when everything was going on all right. + +He first glanced aloft, sailor-like, to see that everything was correct +with the rigging and the sails all drawing, and then he cast an eye +forward, noting the orderly arrangements there; finally, walking across +to the binnacle in order to observe what course the ship was steering, +and asking Mr Marline, who had charge of the morning watch, how she was +going. + +"Eight knots good, sir, last heave of the log," promptly said the mate. + +"That's all right," observed the captain; "but, I don't like the look +ahead. It seems to me as if there's going to be a change." + +"Indeed?" replied Mr Marline; "I haven't noticed anything at all +unusual. The wind has kept steady from the westwards ever since I came +on the poop at four bells, the same as we left it overnight." + +"But, the glass is going down, Marline," rejoined Captain Miles; "and +don't you notice the sea is getting a bit cross off our port bow? It +strikes me we'll have a shift of wind presently from the eastwards, if +nothing more. However, we oughtn't to grumble, for ten days of such +fine weather is rather unusual in these latitudes, you know, at this +time of year." + +"Yes, certainly," replied the mate; "we've made good use of the time, +too." + +"Aye, that we have," replied the captain. "I fixed our position last +night by a couple of lunars." + +"And I suppose it corroborates your observation of yesterday, eh?" + +"Pretty nearly," said Captain Miles; "calculating for the distance we've +run since, I should think we're somewhere about 30 degrees North and 52 +degrees West." + +"Well, that's strange!" exclaimed Mr Marline. "We've got to the limit +of the north-east trade without having once the benefit of it from the +day we started, the winds having been south-east and southerly till they +shifted round to the westwards!" + +"So they have," said the captain; "still, that has been all the more +lively for us. But I don't like this change brewing up. Look at the +clouds now!" + +"Ha, they're getting up at last!" replied the other. "I see you were +right, the change will come from the eastwards." + +Up to now it had been a beautifully bright morning, the sky without a +scrap of vapour to obscure its lucent expanse, and the sea lit up with +golden sunshine that made it appear bluer somehow or other; but, even +while Captain Miles and Mr Marline were speaking, a low bank of cloud +arose along the eastern horizon, and this, spreading gradually up +towards the zenith, soon shut out the half-risen sun and his rays, +casting a sombre tinge at the same time on the ocean below. + +"All hands shorten sail!" shouted the captain, and the studding-sail +halliards being let go by the run, the _Josephine_, which a moment +before had looked like a bird with outspread wings, had these latter +clipped off in a jiffey, the light sails bagging with the wind like +balloons as they were hauled down; and, soon afterwards, the booms +projecting from the yard-arms on which they had been rigged out, were +sent below and laid with the other spare spars along the bulwarks in the +waist. + +While the crew were busy at this task, the strong breeze, which but a +short time before had filled our canvas, gradually died away until there +did not seem to be a puff of air stirring, the larger sails now hanging +loose or else flapping idly against the masts. + +Captain Miles, however, did not stop merely at taking in the studding- +sails, for the royals were next furled as well as the topgallant-sails; +and then, under reefed topsails and courses, in addition to her jib and +spanker which were still set, he awaited what the weather might have in +store for his vessel. An experienced seaman, such as he was, when +forewarned, as in the present instance, by a falling barometer, always +prepares for eventualities of the worst possible character, never +leaving anything to chance or neglecting to take proper precautions. By +not doing so many a gallant ship with all hands on board is lost through +the carelessness of bad navigators. + +The cloud in the east, meanwhile, rose higher in the heavens, showing a +bit of clear sky for a moment at its base, when it began to travel +towards the ship at great speed, but in a very eccentric fashion, +whirling round and looking as if it were dancing on the surface of the +water. + +"I can't make it out," said Mr Marline in a puzzled sort of way. +"There must be a good deal of wind at the back of it; but, why doesn't +it keep a straight course towards us, eh sir?" + +"It's a whirlwind, I fancy," replied Captain Miles; "I've seen a good +many in the South Atlantic, near the African coast, although never one +before in these latitudes so far from land." + +"Are they dangerous at all, captain?" I asked, rather anxiously. + +"No, Tom, not unless you got in the vortex of one, when it might twist +the spars out of a ship perhaps, though I never saw any mischief done by +one myself. Mind your helm," added Captain Miles to the man at the +wheel, whose office at present was a sinecure, for the ship was almost +becalmed and the rudder swaying to and fro from port to starboard as it +listed. "If the wind catches us suddenly we may be taken aback, and I +want you to be ready when I give the word." + +This made the sailor who was "taking his trick" all alert, instead of +lounging over the spokes as he had been doing previously, listening to +our talk. + +Presently, a quick puff of air came from the west again, and the +_Josephine_ began to gather way; but almost in an instant afterwards the +wind shifted right ahead, coming down with the cloud, and the yards were +at once braced round, the vessel being headed towards the north. + +The cloud approached rapidly now on our weather bow; and, as it got +nearer, we could see that its bottom edge, which was attenuated to the +proportions of a slender pillar of vapour, seemed to be united to the +water, the sea, where it joined the surface, being greatly agitated, +foaming up in columns of spray that were circled round and round and +then drawn up in corkscrew fashion into the denser body above. + +"Why, it's a water-spout!" exclaimed Mr Marline in great surprise. + +"So it is," said the captain, a bit startled and perplexed too. "Look +sharp, Marline, and see to the hatches being battened down and the +scuppers open; for, if the blessed thing bursts immediately overhead, it +will flood our decks with a deluge of water worse than if we had shipped +a heavy sea." + +"Aye, aye, sir," answered the other, scuttling down the poop-ladder to +attend to these orders; but he had hardly left the captain's side ere a +terrific gust of wind struck us, coming from the same direction as the +water-spout. + +The instant after, the wind shifted round to the opposite quarter, and +then a series of squalls, hot and strong, seemed to assail us from +almost every point of the compass at once. + +"Hands shorten sail!" roared out Captain Miles again, using the palms of +his two hands before his mouth for a speaking trumpet. "Be smart, men! +Some of you brail up the spanker here and man the jib downhaul. Right! +Now, away aloft the rest of you; we must have those topsails close- +reefed. Cast-off the halliards--there--cheerily, men; that's the way to +do it!" + +No sooner were the hands down from the topsail-yards, however, than he +had them up again to take in the courses, which had already been clewed +up and were now furled; the _Josephine_ lying-to under close-reefed +topsails, with the fore-topmast staysail set to keep her in command of +her helm. + +She did not look so gay as she had done earlier in the day, with all her +snowy plumage spread before the favouring breeze; but, she was all the +better prepared to battle with the elements, and now steadily and +sturdily awaited their onset. + +The struggle was not long delayed. + +Closer and closer came the whirling water-spout, surrounded by columns +of misty spray and accompanied by the fierce wind. The sea was agitated +with violent eddies that rocked the ship to her centre every moment; +and, above the shriek of the constant squalls tearing through the +rigging, and the splash of the boiling water at the foot of the terrible +cloud column, we could distinguish a peculiar hoarse sucking noise, as +if the whole herd of Neptune's horses were drinking their fill, and +letting us know about it, too! + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +DISRATED. + +I can't say what the rest felt; but I know that I, for one, was +frightened when I heard that strange gurgling noise and saw the great +black thing, spinning round like a teetotum and swirling up the water, +coming down on our ship as if to overwhelm her! + +The squalls, which succeeded each other from different directions in +rapid sequence, were even more dangerous than the water-spout; but +Captain Miles was too good a seaman to be easily beaten, even by the +most adverse circumstances. + +Telling off some of the best hands to the fore and main-braces on either +side, so that these could be let go or hauled taut in an instant as the +wind shifted, thus necessitating the vessel changing her tack with +similar rapidity, he went to the helm himself; and from this point, with +the assistance of Moggridge, he conned the ship as coolly as if he were +in charge of a yacht trying to weather the mark-boat in a race so as to +get to windward of her competitors! + +The captain was trying to make as much northing as he could, as well as +endeavouring to run out of reach of the water-spout, which latter, +although it gyrated about in the water so queerly and seemed moving +every way at once, came up more from the eastwards, travelling to the +south of west apparently; and, expert seaman that he was, in spite of +the veering wind, which backed round every moment, he gallantly +manoeuvred so as to gain his object--sailing ahead between the squalls, +as it were. + +"Ready about!" he would call out one minute, when the main-topsail was +backed and the fore-yard swung round; and, almost as soon as this was +done and the weather braces handed, the cry "'bout ship!" was again +repeated, when the _Josephine_ was brought once mere back to her +previous bearings. + +Such tackings and beatings about, surely, no ship ever underwent before +in so short a time! + +"By Jingo, he's a sailor every inch of him!" I heard one of the old +hands of the crew murmur in admiration as he pulled in with a will the +weather braces for about the sixth time in as many minutes; and, truth +to say, I could not help sharing the feeling of respect all the crew had +for our captain, who, easy-going as he was generally in fine weather, +letting the first mate then attend to the working of the ship, he was +"all there," as they said, when the necessity for prompt action in any +emergency called for exertion and made him show himself in his true +colours. + +But, struggle to outstrip it as much as he might, the water-spout came +nearer and nearer to us, bearing down still broadside-on upon the ship. +As I stood close to the captain and Moggridge, who alone were on the +poop besides myself, Mr Marline and Davis the second mate being in the +waist, looking after the men at the braces amidships, I noticed that the +pillar of cloud became more transparent in proportion as it decreased in +size from the upper portion, until it seemed almost perfectly so at the +lower extremity where it touched the sea. I observed, too, that a small +inner column of equal diameter, looking like a glass tube, went up the +middle. This, evidently, was the water which was being sucked up into +the mass of vapour above as if by a syphon. + +Fortunately, just as it seemed almost touching the ship, when the +whirling waves round its base made us oscillate from side to side, the +_Josephine_, heeling over to her chain-plates from a sudden rush of wind +that appeared to accompany it, the portentous column of vapour darted +off almost at right angles to its former course; and then, the cloud, +having taken up more of the sea-water than it could contain, burst with +a loud hissing sort of report, the contents falling around us in the +form of a heavy downpour of rain which sluiced our decks down, but +happily did no further damage. + +"Thank God!" exclaimed Captain Miles reverently, taking off his cap and +looking upwards in grateful recognition of the providential care that +had watched over and protected us from the fearful peril which had +threatened us; and his thanksgiving was participated in by more than one +other, I knew, for I could see Moggridge's lips moving in silent prayer, +while I felt inclined to fall on my knees, my heart was so full of joy +and gladness at our narrow escape. + +I was overpowered with a feeling of wonder and awe. + +Strangely enough, there seemed some strong connection between the water- +spout and the wind; for, no sooner had the column of vapour broken up, +than the heavy clouds dispersed away to leeward. The sun then came out +again, and the squally weather calmed down to a gentle breeze from the +south-east that enabled us to haul round again on our proper course, the +ship presently being covered anew with canvas and the reefs in the +topsails shaken out. + +When all danger was over, though, the whole thing puzzled me very much. + +"What is a water-spout?" I asked Captain Miles later on in the evening +after dinner, as he was having a quiet cigar on the poop before turning +in. I saw that he then looked inclined for a chat, and thought it a +good opportunity to seek for information. + +He answered my question in the Irish way, by asking me another. + +"Did you ever see a whirlwind when you were at Grenada, Tom?" he +inquired. + +"Yes," I replied, "I recollect a long time ago noticing one at Mount +Pleasant once, and wondering at the way in which all the loose straw in +the stable-yard was circled round and round, as if in a funnel, and then +drawn up into the sky." + +"Well, then," said Captain Miles, "the celebrated Dr Franklin has +demonstrated, if I recollect aright, that a whirlwind on land, and a +water-spout at sea, arise from similar general causes, and may be +considered one and the same thing." + +"But, what is the cause of them?" I asked now. + +"The action of opposing atmospheric currents, Tom, if you can understand +what I mean. Two contrary winds meet: a vortex therefore ensues; and, +any cloud that happens to be between these opposing currents of air at +the time is condensed into a conical form and turned round with great +celerity. This whirling motion drives from the centre of the cloud all +the particles of vapour contained in it; consequently, a vacuum is +thereby produced in the body of it; and, as nature abhors a vacuum in +every case, the water of the sea lying below the overhanging mass is +carried up, in centrifugal fashion, and in a sort of way by capillary +attraction, into the vacant centre of the cloud cylinder." + +"Why does it not stop there?" said I. "That one just now burst." + +"Ah, that fellow was like a greedy boy who has eaten too much, and has +to disgorge after he has filled his little stomach too full! But, some +water-spouts carry their contents on to the land, where, when the clouds +have been attracted by mountains or some lofty object, they may do great +damage by wrecking houses and inundating the country for miles round. +At sea, they are not half so dangerous, having plenty of room there to +expend themselves without effecting much injury, except a ship should be +right beneath them when they fall to pieces." + +"Do you think, sir," I then inquired, "that one would have sunk us, if +it had burst over the _Josephine_?" + +"Well, I hardly know, Tom," answered Captain Miles reflectively. +"Although it looked terrific enough at one time, I am not inclined to +believe now that it would have been attended with any very serious +calamity to our ship, had even the whole quantity of water it contained +fallen on our decks. If you recollect, I ordered beforehand the hatches +to be battened down and the scuppers in the waist cleared. Besides, the +cylinder or spiral column of vapour, you observed, was very like a glass +tube in the centre of the water-spout, and this coming in contact with +our masts and rigging it would have been at once broken, when the +surrounding air rushing into the vacuum to restore the atmospheric +equilibrium, the torrent of water would have been forced sideways +instead of descending perpendicularly, coming down merely as a heavy +tropical shower, similar to those you have been well acquainted with in +Grenada. I have heard of some vessels being damaged by water-spouts, +but I have never come across anyone who happened to be on board one of +them at the time, so I rather fancy the tale was one of those generally +`told to the marines.'" + +So, laughing it off, the captain finished his little scientific lecture +at this point, while I went below to my bunk, wishing to get undressed +before Harry the steward came to douse the light in the cabin, which he +always did sharp to time. + +If the water-spout did us no actual damage it certainly served as a very +bad omen. It took away the favourable breezes, which, before its advent +on the scene, had sped the _Josephine_ so gaily on her way home to +England; and the weather for some days afterwards was not nearly so +pleasant, tedious calms and contrary winds preventing our making the +rapid passage Captain Miles anticipated from our good running at the +beginning of the voyage. + +We were now in the region between the regular trade-winds and what are +termed "the anti-trades or passage winds," above the tropic of Cancer. +This is a particular portion of the ocean between the parallels known to +sailors as the "Horse Latitudes," where there is generally a lull met +with in the currents of air that elsewhere reign rampant over the sea; +and, once arrived within the precincts of this blissful zone, the ship +tossed about there for a week at a stretch, hardly making a mile towards +her wished-for goal--only rocking restlessly on the bosom of the deep. + +There is nothing so irksome as calm weather at sea, to those at all +events whose duty lies upon the waters and who do not go on shipboard +for mere pleasure. + +So long as the wind blows, whether favourably or not, there is something +to do. If it be fair, there is the cheering prospect of counting the +number of knots run when the log is hove, and knowing that one is +getting each hour so much nearer one's destination; while, if King +Aeolus be unpropitious, there is all the excitement of fighting against +his efforts to delay the vessel, and the proud satisfaction of making +way in spite of adverse breezes. + +But, in a calm, nothing can be done excepting to wait patiently, or +impatiently, for the wind to blow again; and, consequently, all is +dreary stagnation and dead monotony--the captain ever pacing the poop in +not the best of tempers, with the men idling about the decks, or else +occupied in the unexciting task of unreeving rope yarn, to keep their +hands from mischief, and, perhaps, polishing up the ring-bolts as a last +resource! + +Under such circumstances, it is not at all to be wondered that the crew +of a vessel usually get discontented; and, should her officers be in the +least inclined to be tyrannical, an ill feeling is produced which +sometimes leads to an outbreak. + +Hardly a single mutiny ever occurred on a ship at sea save in calm +weather; at other times the hands have too much to do even to grumble, +in the way that sailors love to do ashore, comparing their nautical +experience to "a dog's life"--albeit they never give up the sea all the +same! + +On board the _Josephine_, however, all went along pleasantly enough, +although we were becalmed and the seamen, had plenty of leisure time for +airing their grievances. + +Captain Miles, it is true, did not come on deck looking jolly and +beaming with good-humour, as he used to do when we were bowling along +before a stiff breeze; but he was not a bit cantankerous, and if there +was no legitimate work to occupy the crew with, he did not go out of his +way unnecessarily to "haze" them by inventing new sorts of tasks, as a +good many other masters of vessels are in the habit of doing in similar +cases. As for Mr Marline, he was of a most even disposition, taking +all things that came with his usual equanimity and never giving a rough +word to anyone. + +Davis, the second mate, whom I have already mentioned as having been +promoted from the fo'c's'le, was a very different sort of man; for, +being without education and any good principle, he took advantage of his +position, whenever the captain's eye was not upon him, to bully those +with whom he had previously associated on an equality. He was "very +much above them now," he thought, and showed it as it was in the nature +only of a low-minded fellow to do. + +Like most "Jacks in office," he was always trying to assert his +position; and, as a natural result, he was not by any means in good +favour with the men, who resented his overbearing way all the more from +the fact of their having formerly been hail-fellow-well-met with him, +which of course they could not readily forget, if he did. + +Still, things went on pretty smoothly on board while the calm lasted, +despite the little roughnesses which the second mate's way of evincing +his authority produced--and which I could not avoid noticing, for I'm +sure he used to be "down" on me whenever he had a chance of calling me +to account for going where I had no business to, as I confess I +sometimes did, although I used to be encouraged by the men, and Mr +Marline would wink at my escapades. We all found it terribly dull, +though; for, even the fish were too lazy to come to the surface to be +caught, and so we were deprived therefore of our old pastime of angling +for them from the bowsprit in the afternoons and evenings. + +Day after day, the _Josephine_ rolled her hull from port to starboard +and then back again to port on the tumid sea, which, save throbbing with +a dull heavy swell, had now lost all its life and action:--day after day +we looked in vain for a breeze from sunrise to sunset; day after day our +watchful longing was all in vain; there, day after day, for over a week, +we rolled and lay! + +Captain Miles used to come up regularly on the poop at noon to take the +sun, from a sense of duty; but it was almost a useless task, as we +hardly varied a mile in our position from the commencement of the calm, +the vessel remaining close in with the fiftieth parallel of longitude +and in latitude thirty-two North. + +Mr Marline liked to chaff the captain about this, telling him that his +sextant wanted polishing up a bit and that the glasses were wrong. +However, that all went for nothing with his chief, who well knew where +the fault lay, fully understanding that the instrument was not to blame; +but, as regularly as he brought out the sextant he used to laugh at Mr +Marline's stereotyped joke. + +As related in Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner":-- + + "Day after day, day after day + We stuck, nor breath nor motion; + As idle as a painted ship + Upon a painted ocean!" + +Had it not been for the two darkeys, Jake and Cuffee, I don't know what +we should have done for fun. + +These comical fellows were a constant source of amusement to us; for, +although they did not come to fisticuffs again, they were always +quarrelling and making friends afterwards in the oddest way possible. +Their disputes usually arose from some little trifle concerning their +order of precedence, each being highly jealous of his dignity, and +resenting in a moment any fancied slight or want of proper respect on +the part of the other. + +When Jake came on board in the summary way in which he "took his +passage" at the beginning of our voyage, of course he had no wardrobe, +or anything to wear save what he stood up in when he emerged dripping +from the sea after the capsize of the boat in which he had come off to +the ship. Captain Miles, however, had given him some cast-off slops, +and the hands forward had also rigged him out from their chests, so that +in a short time he made a very presentable appearance. This was +especially the case on Sunday's, when his dress was most conspicuous, +Master Jake being something of a dandy like most negroes, and anxious to +take the shine out of his fellows. + +Somehow or other Cuffee the cook got jealous of this feature in his +brother darkey's character. + +On week-days he did not mind submitting to any slight superiority Jake +might have over him in his sailor-like rig; but one Sunday the latter +donned an old blue coat that had been presented to him by Mr Marline. +It was ornamented with brilliant brass buttons, and the effect was +completed by a bright bandana handkerchief which he had begged from me, +and this, contrasting with a white shirt and duck trousers, made his +toilet so thoroughly effective that Cuffee was greatly aggrieved. + +"You tink youself one fine gen'leman now, I s'pose?" he said, with a +snort of indignation, when Jake went down into the waist in all this +grand array after prayers on the poop. "Fine fedders make fine birds, +yah, yah!" + +"Me tinks what I like," replied Jake nonchalantly, proceeding forward to +the topgallant forecastle, where he sat down in such a lordly manner +that Cuffee, unable to stand it any longer, hurriedly went into his +caboose and bringing out a bucket of dirty water pitched it over Jake +with much heartiness, sousing him from head to foot. + +"Dere, you big fool of niggah, take dat!" he cried triumphantly. "Guess +dat'll take de shine out ob your ole coat, wid yer grandy airs an' +bumptiousness!" + +The men on the fo'c's'le shouted with laughter, and Jake rushed to +resent the affront; but they held him back until his temper evaporated, +and then the two made it up somehow, for afterwards I saw that Jake was +enjoying a savoury mess of lobscouse which Cuffee had cooked for him in +amends for the bucket of greasy water. + +Jake, however, paid out the cook for the indignity a little later on; +for, when Cuffee came up on the forecastle while the hands were there +yarning in the evening, he gave him the cold shoulder. + +"Wat for you come hyar?" he asked the poor cook. "Dis is de place for +sailor man, not for de idlers aboard. You go back inter yer ole +caboose, cookee!" + +There was another laugh at this, and Captain Miles hearing what had been +said, every word being distinctly audible on the poop, began speaking to +Mr Marline about the imitative habits of negroes. + +"They are just like monkeys," he said; "and, in dress and in language +will copy anyone they think superior to them, no matter how ridiculous +their imitation may be--a sort of burlesque of the original." + +"Yes," replied Mr Marline. "Jake, I have noticed, has taken Jackson +for his model on week-days. Have you observed how he copies him in +every particular?" + +"Well, he couldn't have a better study for a thorough sailor," said the +captain, adding, to my great delight, for I was very proud of poor Jake, +who was faithful to me to the death; "and the darkey, mind you, Marline, +has studied Jackson to good effect, for he's already a smart seaman. +He's as quick aloft as anyone on board when any sudden call comes." + +"He's all that," answered Mr Marline heartily; "but I was going to +observe, that, while Jake copies Jackson for his week-day model, he +tries to imitate you on Sundays." + +"Me!" exclaimed Captain Miles bursting into a loud laugh. "You, you +mean, with that swell blue coat that you gave him, and which you used, +no doubt, to win all the ladies' hearts with ashore, when it was in its +prime!" + +"Oh, no," retorted the mate, smiling too. "When Jake has got his Sunday +rig on, he walks up the poop-ladder to prayers with all your dignity. +Why, anyone would take him to be the skipper of the ship!" + +"Talking of prayers and niggers," said Captain Miles at this point, +turning the conversation, as he thought the mate was having a sly poke +at him, "I heard one day a little time back a rather good yarn about two +darkeys, and, as it was told by a clergyman at a missionary meeting, I +don't suppose there can be any great harm in the story." + +"Well, heave ahead with it," interposed Mr Marline. + +"You see," began the captain, "these two niggers--we'll call them Josh +and Quashee for shortness--happened to be in a boat which got drifted +out to sea accidentally, from the tow-rope slipping or something else; +and, they didn't know their danger till suddenly they found themselves +far from land, with no oars in the boat and no means of getting to shore +again. To make matters worse, too, the sea began to get up on account +of the wind rising." + +"I wish it would do so now," said Mr Marline with much emphasis. + +"So do I," returned Captain Miles with equal heartiness; "but, as there +isn't any chance of that as far as I can see, I may as well go on with +my story." + +"Do, sir," said the other. + +"Well, then," continued the captain, "as soon as Josh and Quashee +realised their peril, of course they got into a great funk; but, after +puzzling their brains as to the best means of getting back, and shouting +themselves hoarse in calling for help, they gave up the thing as a gone +case, sitting down on the thwarts and bewailing their fate. Josh, the +younger negro, however, had the most go in him, and presently he roused +up. + +"`Say, Quashee,' he asked of the other, `can you pray, sonny?' + +"`No, Josh,' replied Quashee gloomily. `I nebber learnt, nohow.' + +"`Can you sing hymn, den?' questioned his brother in misfortune again. + +"`No, Josh,' answered the other still more gloomily. `Um can't pray, +can't sing hymn, can't do nuffin'!' + +"`Den,' said Josh as if a brilliant idea had suddenly struck him, `we +must hab collection--must do sumfin' to git out ob dis hole, an' I know +when dey don't pray or sing in de chapel dey always hab collection; so +we'll hab one now!'" + +"I wouldn't mind betting," observed Mr Marline, when he had done +laughing at this anecdote, "that the clergyman who related the story did +it as a sort of introduction for `passing round the hat' at the very +meeting where you heard it!" + +"That's just precisely what he did!" replied Captain Miles, joining in +the other's laugh; "and, it was a very good introduction to a +collection, too, I think!" + +It was on a Sunday evening that the little fracas between Jake and +Cuffee occurred. This squabble terminated amicably enough; but the next +day, Monday, a bit of a real row happened on board, which did not end +quite so agreeably to one of the persons concerned. + +It was a blazing hot day, with the sun like a ball of fire in the +heavens above and the sea steaming below with the heat. The atmosphere +was close and hazy, making it so stifling that one could hardly breathe +freely--just exactly the sort of weather, in fact, that is met with on +the West Coast of Africa at the mouths of some of those pestilential and +swampy rivers there that have been the death of so many gallant officers +and seamen annually sent to the station for the purpose of putting down +the slave-trade and protecting greedy traders in their pursuit of palm- +oil and gold dust! + +During the afternoon of this day, when the sun was about its hottest, +making the pitch melt and ooze out from the seams of the deck planking, +Davis, who had charge of the starboard watch, came up from below to +relieve Mr Marline. + +He was late in coming to his post, and I could see he had been drinking, +a habit he had lately taken to indulging in, especially after the calm +set in; and, as he mounted the poop-ladder, he certainly did not look +particularly amiable, for his dark eyes were glaring and his tumbled +hair gave him a most ferocious appearance. + +The men were mostly doing nothing, lying along the waist under what +shelter they could find from the fiery rays of the scorching sun; for, +although there was an awning over the poop, there was nothing forwards +to shield them from the heat unless they crouched under the lee of the +bulwarks and water-casks. + +Davis didn't like to see them taking it easy in this fashion, so, +catching hold of a marlinespike which someone had left on top of the +cabin skylight, he began rapping the rail at the break of the poop with +it. + +"Come, rouse up there, you lubbers!" he cried. "I'm not going to allow +any caulking in my watch, no matter what the first mate chooses to let +you do. Tumble up!" + +The men stretched themselves and rose up grumbling, whereupon Davis +pitched upon Jackson, who had been asleep under the long-boat and was +the last to show a leg, not hearing the second mate's call until a +messmate awoke him. + +"Hi, you, Jackson!" he roared out. "I'll give you something to cure +your laziness! I'll haze you, I will, you hound! Get a bucket of +grease from the cook's caboose and slush the mainmast down." + +"I'm no hound, sir!" retorted Jackson angrily, drawing himself up to his +full height and flaring up angrily at Davis' uncalled-for abuse. "The +mast doesn't need slushing; it was only done over the day before +yesterday." + +"What, you dare to answer me, you mutinous dog!" roared out Davis, +raised to a pitch of fury by the seaman not recognising, as he thought, +his authority as second mate and officer of the watch. "I tell you +what, you shall slush that mast down from the main-truck to the bitts; +and look sharp about it, too, or I'll make you!" + +"Make me!" repeated Jackson scornfully. "I'd like to see you lay a +finger on me!" + +Davis fairly foamed at the mouth with passion at this, the more +particularly as the other men, grouped below in the waist, were +sniggering and passing sly jokes from one to another about the affair. + +He started to go down the poop-ladder, brandishing the marlinespike +savagely, with the evident intention of attacking Jackson and trying to +compel him to obey his orders, utterly unnecessary and vindictive as +they were; but, what from having been drinking heavily of late and the +fresh air and exposure to the sun having increased the intoxicating +effect of the rum which he doubtless had just swallowed before coming on +deck to take charge of the watch, he reeled off the ladder as soon as he +got to the bottom--falling down all of a heap right in front of the +cabin door at the very moment that Captain Miles, who had been roused up +by the altercation, was coming out to see what all the noise was about. + +"Mr Davis!" cried the captain sternly. "What is the matter?" + +The second mate scrambled to his feet, but he could not hold himself +steady and he only muttered some utterly incomprehensible words, his +power of speech vanishing with his equilibrium. + +"I dunno, canshay," he murmured helplessly. + +"Faugh!" exclaimed Captain Miles in accents of the deepest disgust. +"The man is dead drunk. Take him away at once to the fo'c's'le some of +you. He doesn't come into my cabin again if I know it!" + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +BAD WEATHER. + +Later on in the afternoon, some couple of hours or so after he had been +carried into the forecastle, Davis, sobered down by his rest, came aft +again. He did not, however, enter the cabin or go up on the poop, but +remained hanging about the waist, as if uncertain what to do, evidently +"smelling a rat," as the saying goes. + +Captain Miles was prepared for this, Moggridge, the boatswain, who had +made many voyages with him, and in whom he placed implicit trust, having +related all that had occurred; so, although he saw Davis approach, he +waited a while till the watch was relieved, when, advancing to the break +of the poop, he hailed the whilom second mate below. + +"Davis!" he cried, "I have got something to say to you." + +The other had lost all his defiant air now and looked very sheepish and +crest-fallen--so much so, indeed, that he seemed unable at first to +answer the captain. + +"Yes, sir," said he at last, looking up and then dropping his eyes again +in an instant, unable to stand the captain's straightforward glance. + +"I'm sorry to have to say," continued Captain Miles, speaking slowly and +distinctly, so that every word he uttered was heard fore and aft the +ship, "that you, a responsible officer of this vessel, came on duty +three hours ago in a state of intoxication. The fault would have been +bad enough in one of the ordinary hands, but is doubly so in a man +having charge of the lives of those on board and the safety of the ship +and cargo. Besides, it is not merely on a single occasion that you have +so grossly behaved, as I have noticed of late that you have been several +times under the influence of liquor." + +"But, Captain Miles, sir," interrupted Davis at this point. However, +the captain soon silenced him. + +"Hear me out, sir," he cried, his voice getting sterner and more +energetic. "Not only have you given way to that cursed habit of drink, +but you have also, I have perceived--for I've had my eye upon you when +you have little known it--exercised your authority over the crew in a +most unmanly and tyrannical fashion. Now, I have always prided myself +on the fact of my ship being a comfortable one, and I have never found a +hand who has sailed with me once objecting to ship for a second voyage +if I wanted him. This I have achieved by treating the men as I would +wish to be treated myself, and not by bullying and hazing them +unnecessarily as you have done repeatedly, especially this afternoon +when you relieved the port watch." + +The captain paused here a moment, and I declare I felt quite ashamed for +Davis being thus spoken to before all the men; but he did not seem to +mind it much, for he began to resume his old bumptious manner, shrugging +his shoulders in a careless way and glaring round at the listeners as if +he would have liked to eat them. + +"I was drunk then," was all he said, however, in extenuation of the last +offence with which the captain had charged him. + +"That is no excuse for your conduct," replied Captain Miles; "in my +opinion it rather puts it in a worse light. I have nothing further to +add, save that I deeply regret ever having promoted you from your +station forwards. You are a good sailor, I'll say that for you, but you +haven't got the sort of stuff in you that officers are made of! The +only thing I can now do, to atone for my error of judgment in mistaking +my man, is to send you back again to your old place in the fo'c's'le, +where I think you'll find yourself far more at home than you were on the +poop. Davis, you are no longer second mate of the _Josephine_! I +disrate you on account of your unfitness for the post, and you will now +return to your former rating, as I have restored your name to the list +of the crew. You will be in Mr Marline's watch, and I hope you'll do +your duty as well as you used before I brought you aft." + +He did not say any more; and Davis, without answering a single word, +slunk forwards towards the forecastle, anxious, apparently, to hide +himself from observation. Although he had tried to brave it out when +the captain first began to speak to him, even his hardened nature had to +succumb before the contemptuous looks of the men he had so long bullied, +the more especially as they now openly displayed their joy at his +abasement. + +Thus ended the first act of the little drama; and I then noticed that +Captain Miles turned to Mr Marline, with whom he exchanged a short +whispered conversation. After this he advanced again to the break of +the poop, and hailed for a second time the lower deck. + +"Jackson!" he called out. + +"Aye, aye, sir!" instantly responded the stalwart young Cornishman, +coming out from amidst the others who had gathered in a cluster in the +waist to watch the progress of the row between the captain and Davis. + +Jackson quite overtopped the rest of the crew by a foot; and, as he +walked up to the foot of the poop-ladder, with his fine head thrown well +back on his broad shoulders, he seemed afraid of looking no man in the +face--presenting a marked contrast to his late antagonist, whom he +passed on his way aft. + +"I have summoned you, Jackson," began Captain Miles--speaking out +distinctly as before, so that all hands could hear--"to inform you that +Mr Marline and myself think you are the best man on board to fill the +vacant post of second mate just vacated by Davis. I have been told of +your recent altercation with that person when he was in authority over +you; but, taking into consideration your previous good conduct and +prompt obedience to the orders of myself and Mr Marline on all +occasions, as well as your general proficiency as an able seaman, we +have not allowed this little matter to affect our decision, and I have +no doubt you will in future discharge your duty as ably as an officer of +the ship as you have hitherto done as a foremast hand. You had better, +therefore, move your chest aft and take the second cabin next to the +steward's pantry, hitherto occupied by Davis, whom I have just disrated +and sent to fill your place in the fo'c's'le. Men," added the captain, +raising his voice a little higher, "you will please consider _Mister_ +Jackson to be the second mate of the _Josephine_, and treat him +respectfully as such." + +No one seemed more surprised at the ending of the affair than the newly- +promoted foremast hand. + +Twirling his cap in his two hands and fidgeting first on one leg and +then on the other, he looked the very picture of confusion. + +When he was told to come forwards, he expected no doubt to have been +called to account for his insubordination, whereas here he was actually +selected to fill Davis's billet! + +He couldn't make it out at all, and stared open mouth upwards at the +poop unable to utter a word of thanks or anything. + +"Come up here, Mr Jackson," said Captain Miles kindly, seeing how +dumbfounded he looked; wherefore, the modest fellow, actually blushing +at the unexpected honour bestowed on him, mounted the poop-ladder in a +much more gingerly fashion than he would have done if he had been told +to take his trick at the wheel or exercise some sailor's job aft. +However, as soon as he got alongside the captain and Mr Marline, they +both shook hands with him, in order to give him a proper welcome to his +new station, and the steward singing out a few minutes afterwards that +dinner was ready, he was invited down into the cabin to "christen" his +promotion, as it were, by partaking of that meal, in token of his being +admitted to a social equality with his superior officers. + +I may add, too, that if his sudden rise in rank was unexpected, Jackson +did not take long to settle down to his new duties, proving himself ere +long a much better officer in every way than his predecessor. The men, +too, were not in the least jealous of his being placed over them, but +executed his orders with alacrity; for, he exercised his authority +judiciously, remembering his former position--albeit he was ever a rigid +and impartial disciplinarian. + +"After a storm comes a calm," says the old adage, but the reverse of +this axiom holds equally good at sea. + +It was so, at all events, in our instance; for, after our ten days of +stagnation on the rolling ocean, a change came almost as suddenly as the +calm had set in, the weather breaking towards the close of the very day +that had witnessed the downfall of Davis and Jackson's elevation to the +dignity of the poop. + +Every evening during the continuance of the calm, as I think I have +mentioned, the sun went down below the horizon like a ball of fire, +while a thick misty fog afterwards enveloped the sea; but this day when +we came on deck after dinner, about the middle of the second dog watch, +the sky, for a wonder, was quite clear, and the glorious orb sank to +rest with some of that old splendour of his which I had noticed when we +were threading our way amongst the islands. Long after he had +disappeared, too, from view the heavens were lit up with a ruby radiance +which was reflected below in the water, making it look like a crimson +ocean. + +"We're going to have a change at last, Marline," said Captain Miles +rubbing his hands together. "It is better late than never!" + +"Aye," responded the first mate who stood by the binnacle; "the +question, though, is, what change?" + +"Hang it, man," exclaimed the captain testily, "anything is preferable +to this confounded calm." + +"Well, I don't quite agree with you there," said Mr Marline drily; +"there is such a thing as changing for the worse. Have you looked at +the glass, eh?" + +"'Pon my word, I have not once glanced at it this evening! Dear me, +what on earth could I have been thinking of?" ejaculated the captain in +a sort of apologetic way, darting down instantly below to consult his +unfailing guide, the barometer, which I suppose he had looked at so +vainly for many days past that he had given up the instrument as +incorrigible. + +In another moment, however, he was on deck again, rubbing his hands as +triumphantly together as before. + +"Pooh, nonsense, Marline!" he cried, "you're an old croaker, saying that +the change would possibly be for the worse! Why, the glass is rising, +man, rising steadily; and, I've no doubt we'll have a splendid breeze +ere nightfall, and glorious weather." + +"All right, sir, we'll see," was the mate's cautious answer. + +Meanwhile, the after-glow faded out of the sky and the stars began to +come out in batches, especially to the north-west, where they shone as +bright as diamonds, blinking and twinkling with various colours as one +looked at them steadfastly, and seeming ever so much larger than usual. + +A faint stir in the air also became perceptible, and the idle sails, +that had so long flapped against the yards lazily only with the roll of +the ship as she lurched to port or starboard with the ocean swell, were +crumpled out a bit, as if they half felt inclined to expand their folds; +but there was not wind enough for this, so they presently flattened +themselves again, determined, apparently, to take it easy. + +The time then came to set the first watch, from eight to midnight, of +which Jackson, now, as second mate, took charge, when the captain went +below, saying he was going to turn in early, so as to be ready when the +breeze came, giving strict instructions to be called as soon as any +change was apparent. Mr Marline, however, did not go below; so I +remained on the poop with him and Jackson, the two walking up and down +the deck and talking together while I stood by. + +The sky was wonderfully clear now, the firmament being studded with the +greater constellations, and myriads of the lesser lights of the night +powdering the heavens with their golden dust everywhere. + +But this was not for long. + +Shortly before nine o'clock a peculiar moaning noise came over the sea. +It was like a sort of hushed sob of pain, resembling somewhat the sound +of a number of voices wailing in chorus in the far distance. + +"What is that?" asked I of Mr Marline in alarm. + +"I'm sure I can't tell you, my boy," he replied; "I don't think I ever +heard such a queer noise before. If we were off the banks of +Newfoundland, I should think it a fog-horn blowing somewhere about. +But, we're several hundred miles to the southward of Cape Race and the +night is too clear for fogs. It is one of those mysterious voices of +the sea that are for ever reminding the sailor that, no matter how wise +he may think himself, he does not know everything!" + +"I imagine it's the wind coming, sir," observed Jackson deferentially, +after listening to what Mr Marline had said. "When I was once on a +voyage in the China Seas I noticed just such a sound before we had a +thundering typhoon upon us, giving us hardly time to clew up." + +"Perhaps you're right," said the first mate; but after giving a glance +up and around the sky, and noticing that the stars still shone out from +the blue empyrean, he added, "there does not seem much chance of a gale +now, though." + +"We'll see, sir," laughed Jackson, paraphrasing Mr Marline's +observation to the captain. "We'd just as clear a night off Hainan, +when our blow came on there at a moment's notice!" + +"All right, we'll see," replied Mr Marline, using his stock phrase, and +the two continued to walk up and down chatting about other matters, +while I went and sat down close to the taffrail, looking out over the +sea and wondering what the moaning sound of the ocean meant. I let my +imagination wander over the old stories I had heard of the mermaids +below, and how they sang their weird songs of lament whenever a storm +was coming, anticipating the shipwrecks that would follow and the +invasion of their coral caves by the bodies of drowned mortals, over +whom they are said to weep tears of pearl; and, in the flickering light +of the stars, that seemed to come from underneath the purple deep and +not be shining down from above, I almost fancied I could distinguish the +sirens looking up at me from below the water with sad faces, as they +combed their long weed-like tresses and raised their wailing croon. + +Presently, however, I observed the star reflections suddenly disappear +from view; and then, the water grew greyer and greyer, until I was +hardly able to see it at all under the stern of the vessel, a hazy +obscurity enveloping all below and around. + +I roused myself with a start, thinking this effect was produced by the +gloom of night, and that I had fallen asleep while weaving my quaint +fancies anent the mermaidens; but a couple of sharp strokes of the +ship's bell sounding through the still air at that moment told me it was +only nine o'clock. I then recognised the fact that I must seek some +other reason for the sombre tone of the sea, as I knew well enough that +the little beacons in the sky that had before lit it up, were not in the +habit of drawing on their hatches until it was pretty nearly time for +the sun to set about getting up for his day's work, unless something out +of the common was going to happen. + +Looking up, therefore, I was surprised to see a dense black cloud now +covering over the heavens like a pall. + +It must have crept up from somewhere almost instantaneously; for, twenty +minutes before, the sky was clear and bright, while now it was totally +obscured from the horizon to the zenith, the angel of darkness seeming +to be treading over the face of the deep. + +Just then, away ahead on the starboard bow to the eastwards, a window +appeared to be opened for an instant in the dense veil, from which a +vivid flash of lightning came forth, making the darkness even more +visible as the cloud closed up again. + +"Shall I go and hail Captain Miles now, sir?" I heard Jackson ask Mr +Marline near me, although I could not clearly make out either of them in +the thick gloom--indeed, I could not see to the other side of the deck, +or perceive the mizzen-mast even. + +"No, I hardly think there's any need yet," I distinguished Mr Marline's +voice say in reply. "It's only a flash of lightning--nothing to make a +fuss about, for there isn't a breath of wind stirring yet." + +"It's coming though," the other rejoined. "I can smell it." + +"You've a better nose than I have then," said Mr Marline with a laugh; +but, he had hardly got out the words, when there came a terrific crash +of thunder right overhead, sounding so fearfully near and grand and +awful, that it seemed as if the roof of heaven had broken in! + +I jumped up at once from my seat and went towards the binnacle, where +Jackson and Mr Marline were standing; for, although I wasn't actually +afraid of the thunder, still one likes to be by the side of some one +else when it peals out so dreadfully, the sense of companionship +lessening the fear of danger, I suppose. + +"Hullo, Master Tom, not turned in yet?" cried Mr Marline, seeing me by +the light from the compass and appearing to be very much surprised at my +not having gone below to bed. + +"No, sir," I said. "I stopped up to wait for the wind." + +"Ah, I'm afraid you'll have to wait longer," he replied. "This'll be +nothing but a tropical thunder-storm, and probably we won't have the +ghost of a breeze after it has gone over." + +"I think differently, sir, begging your pardon," said Jackson, +interposing at this point; "and, if you don't mind, Mr Marline, I'd +like to have the lighter sails taken off her, in case it comes on to +blow." + +"All right, please yourself, my dear sir; you're in charge of the deck," +answered the first mate drily. "Though, mind you, I think you're giving +yourself trouble for nothing. I wouldn't, however, call the captain +till we really know whether we're going to have a squall or not." + +"Very well, sir," said Jackson, "I won't call him; but I'll have the +upper canvas in, for it's just as well to be on the safe side, +especially as I do think we're in for something." + +"With all my heart," replied Mr Marline cheerfully, seeing that Jackson +was timid about exercising his new authority against his opinion, +although he appeared to feel strongly in the matter. "Have in the rags +by all means. I daresay it will save some trouble bye-and-by." + +"Very well, I will," said the other; and, calling the starboard watch, +who were idling about and having a quiet caulk in the waist, he soon +made them set about reducing the _Josephine's_ canvas--there being no +necessity yet for summoning "all hands," as there was not a breath of +air stirring, while the sea had hushed its monotonous roll, calming down +to the quiet of a mill-pond. + +Previously to this, the ship had been under all plain sail, so as to be +ready for the wind when it chose to visit us again; but, in a very short +time, under Jackson's supervision and sharp, rapid orders, the courses +were clewed up, the flying-jib hauled down, the topgallant-sails furled, +and the spanker brailed up. In this half-dressed rig the vessel was now +prepared to meet any sudden squall; while, should a favourable breeze +come, sail could readily be added on--a much easier job to accomplish +than that of taking in canvas in a gale! + +In the interim, although no further thunder was heard, and we only saw +the one vivid flash of forked lightning that had accompanied the fearful +peal which made me vacate my seat by the taffrail, the heavens grew +blacker and blacker, the darkness settling down on the ship so that one +could hardly see one's hand even if held close to the face; but, after a +bit, a meteor-like globe of electric light danced about the spars and +rigging, making the faces of all those aft look ghastly with its pale +blue glare. They seemed just as if they were dead. + +A second or two later, some heavy warning drops of rain, as big as +saucers, fell on the deck, with a dull splashing noise; and while we +were all waiting with some anxiety for what was to be the outcome of all +this atmospheric disturbance, Captain Miles ascended the poop-ladder, +his face being distinctly illumined by the meteor, which was apparently +at that moment hovering about the slings of the main-yard. + +The captain had been roused out by the sound of the men's feet busily +trampling about the decks and the hauling of the ropes, as the main +topgallant halliards and sheets were cast-off and the clew-lines and +bunt-lines manned during the operation of taking in sail, so he came up +expecting to find that the long-wished-for breeze had overhauled us; but +he only saw, instead, the vessel as motionless on the water as when he +went below, albeit now almost denuded of her canvas. + +After glancing round the ship, whose every outline was brought out in +relief by the meteoric light, he warmly praised Jackson for his +precaution in reducing sail. + +"You've done quite right," he said, "only you haven't quite gone far +enough, my boy. I think we'd better have the courses furled and the +topsails reefed. We're in hurricane latitudes and this is the very +month for them. I don't like the sky at all." + +"Watch, ho!" thereupon shouted Jackson. "Up you go and furl the +mainsail." + +This was soon accomplished, after which there was a scurry up the +ratlines forward and the foresail followed suit, and thus, the topsail +halliards were let go and the yards dropped on the caps for the men to +lay out and double reef the upper sails, when they were again hoisted up +only about a third of their former size, and looking like slabs of board +against the masts, everything being hauled taut. + +"We'll have it soon now," said Captain Miles--"hark!" + +As he spoke, there was a rumbling noise in the distance, approaching +nearer and nearer every second, and then, there came another deafening +roar of thunder right over our heads, followed by a deadly zigzag sheet +of lightning, not a flash, that lit up the whole sky. + +"Look sharp and batten down the hatches, the rain is close on the heels +of that, I know," cried the captain; but the men had hardly time to +execute his order ere the heavens seemed to open and a deluge of water +fell on to the ship, as if some reservoir above had suddenly burst. It +literally swept down like a cataract, and almost beat me down to the +deck with its force. + +It hardly lasted a minute, but in that brief spell it filled the +scuppers just as if we had shipped a heavy sea, of course wetting us all +to the skin. + +Next there was heard the same moaning noise along the surface of the +ocean that we had heard at first, and then, as the rain stopped, a +terrific gust of wind from the south-east caught us just abaft the beam, +the ship heeled over until her yard-arms dipped, and we thought she was +going to "turn turtle," or capsize. + +"Hard up with the helm!" screamed out Captain Miles, Mr Marline jumping +to the spokes of the wheel at the same time to help the man steering, +when, fortunately, the _Josephine_ payed off handsomely, righting again +at the same moment, to our great relief. + +"Brace up the yards!" then shouted the captain; and, in another instant, +the vessel was dashing along madly towards the north-west, scudding +before the rapidly risen gale, even with the little canvas she carried, +at a greater rate of speed than she had ever attained with every sail +set. She was going twelve knots, good, and increasing her velocity +apparently each moment, the sea not yet having had time to get up and +nothing interfering with her progress through the water, although the +wind shrieked and howled destruction after her as it urged her along. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +THE TAIL-END OF A HURRICANE. + +Immediately the sudden blast of wind struck the ship, the meteor-like +ball of fire, which had previously hovered about our rigging lighting up +the dense gloom of the atmosphere, suddenly disappeared, leaving us for +a moment in darkness; but this was only for a brief spell, as the gale-- +at the same time that it forced us to cut and run before its tremendous +impulse, scudding away to the north-west at right angles to what should +have been our proper course, which was to the northwards and eastwards-- +dispelled in a very short time the overhanging mass of vapour that +shrouded the sky. The clouds cleared away, as if by magic, disclosing +the blue vault of heaven open above us for the stars to shine down at +their will; while the moon presently coming out, the ocean was displayed +in all its vastness to the extreme limits of the horizon. + +But, what a different scene was now presented to our gaze to that which +we had looked upon but an hour agone! + +Then, the sea, with the exception of a faint throbbing swell as if +proceeding from the deep breathing of Neptune below the surface, seeming +to rise and fall with rhythmical regularity, was calm and still, +unbroken by even the tiniest ripple; now, as far as the eye could reach, +it was all life and motion, the billows leaping up and tossing their +heads, crowned with wreaths of curling spray and growing larger and +larger each moment in volume as they dashed onward madly before the +wind. + +The ocean coursers seemed, indeed, like a pack of hounds pursuing the +ship, gnashing their teeth in surf as they missed their prey, and then +gathering themselves up again together to renew the chase, rolling +against each other, boiling in eddies, clashing, dashing, swelling, +breaking in sheets of foam, and presenting one seething mass of moving +waters. + +Nothing is so wonderful as this sudden getting up of the sea after a +spell of calm weather. + +It is like the sudden uprising of a giant in his wrath--one moment it is +sleeping quietly, the next far and wide it is in a state of mad +commotion, threatening destruction to those who brave the perils of the +deep. + +The _Josephine_ sped bravely before the gale, unmindful of the stormy +billows blustering after her, her speed enabling her easily as yet to +outstrip the rollers, although she was only scudding under close-reefed +topsails. She was not too heavily laden; and, being a good sea-boat, +she rose easily on the lift of the waves, almost skimming the surface +like one of Mother Carey's chickens, and jumping, as it were, from +billow to billow as the wind urged her onward. + +"If we keep on long like this," observed Mr Marline grimly to the +captain, "we'll soon lose all our easting, and have to begin our voyage +over again!" + +"Never mind that," cheerfully answered Captain Miles. "The gale will +only drive us into the Gulf Stream at the worst; and then, we'll have +the assistance of the easterly current there in making our way home, +when we have the chance of bearing up on our course again. We won't +lose much in the end, you'll see." + +"All right, we'll see," said Mr Marline. "But, don't you think, sir, +we may be running into the worst part of the gale?" + +"No, Marline, no; I don't believe that," replied the other. "You'll see +that it will blow itself out presently and calm down to a steady breeze, +when we'll be able to haul our wind, making that fair for us." + +"Don't you notice, though, captain," urged the mate, "that those clouds +also sheer off in a contrary direction, showing that the upper currents +of air are not affected by this wind at all--a proof that it is a sort +of cyclone or hurricane?" + +"And if so," retorted Captain Miles, "it began in the south-east, where +it is still blowing from; so, when it veers, it will be to the south and +west, making a fair wind for us, as I said before." + +"Very good; you know best, sir," said Mr Marline in a way that showed +he was still unconvinced. + +But the captain had not done with his reasons yet. + +"Just consider, Marline," he continued, "we couldn't very well wear the +ship now with this thundering wind and following sea, or try and heave +her to--the only thing left for us to do if we don't scud. Indeed, I +think we must get some more sail on her as it is; for those rollers are +getting too heavy and gaining on us, and, if we don't keep ahead of +them, why, they'll poop us, that's all!" + +"Do you think the masts will stand it, sir?" queried the first mate, +glancing aloft, where the spars were bent like whips and the rigging as +taut as fiddle-strings. + +"Stand it? Of course they will," replied the captain. "I'll back them +to stand anything, if the stays only hold." + +"And I'll guarantee that they will not carry away," retorted Mr +Marline, who had specially seen to the setting up of the rigging and was +confident of the job being well done, being rather proud of his +handiwork. + +"Well, then, we'll have the mainsail on her," said the captain, to put +an end to the discussion. "You'd better go and rouse up the other +watch, Mr Jackson; it will be a rough bit of work, I fancy." + +The second mate then went forwards, shouting, "All hands, ahoy!" and, +shortly afterwards, the men were clustering in the shrouds, making their +way as well as they could against the force of the wind, up the ratlines +to the main-yard, the whole watch being employed on the job so as to get +it done quickly. + +As they lay out along the foot-rope they were almost blown away; but, +holding on "by the skin of their teeth," they managed to cast-off the +gaskets, when, the clew-lines and bunt-lines being let fly, the huge +sail at once bellied out in puckered folds, banging about as if it would +soon thump the mast out of the ship. + +"Now, tumble down smart, men!" cried the captain. "Look alive and bring +the sheets to the capstan." + +Then, in a few more minutes, foot by foot, the clew-garnet blocks +rattling the while like a lot of tin kettles, the ends of the mainsail +were hove in nearer the deck, when it became fairly distended before the +powerful breeze, which, catching it now full, seemed to make the +_Josephine_ leap out of the water as if she were going to fly--although, +the next instant, she dived down with a heavy plunge forwards that sent +a great green sea right over her bows on to the forecastle, whence it +poured down like a cataract into the waist, flooding the main-deck and +floating aft everything movable into the cabin. + +We had already two men at the wheel, a vessel running before the wind +being always more unmanageable than when sailing close-hauled or on a +bowline; but this additional sail-power made the ship yaw and break off +so continuously that two more hands had to come and help the others in +the steering. It was ticklish work; for, if she were once allowed to +broach to, one of the pursuing waves would soon leap over the taffrail, +and then it would be a case for us! + +The rest of the crew, too, were set to work rigging up relieving tackle, +in case the tiller ropes should part; for, one moment the stern would be +lifted high out of the water and the next sunk in the trough of the sea, +causing a great strain on the rudder, which banged from port to +starboard every instant, causing constant work in putting the helm up +and down so as to preserve a straight course. + +Preventer stays were also set up to take away some of the leverage from +the masts, everything being made as snug as possible under the +circumstances; and so, we drove on before the gale, going wheresoever it +liked, until, as the captain said, it had time to blow itself out-- +although there did not seem any early prospect of this at present! + +During all the bustle that was going on, I had managed to remain on deck +unperceived; but now that matters had calmed down and nothing more +urgent called for attention, Captain Miles, looking round the poop, +caught sight of me. + +"Hullo, Tom!" he cried, "what are you doing here? You ought to have +been in your bunk hours ago." + +"I only stopped up to see the storm," I said. "Mr Marline saw me on +deck some time since and said I might remain." + +"Did he? Well, then, it's all over now, and there'll be nothing fresh +till morning; so you can go below like a brace of shakes." + +With these words, he hustled me off the poop, good-naturedly, not losing +sight of me until he had seen me go down the ladder and into the cabin-- +much against my inclination, I must confess, as I wanted to see all that +was going on. + +Of course, as I had to go down, there was no use in my not turning in +when I got there; but I stayed awake for a long time, listening to the +thumping of the sea against the sides of the ship and the creaking of +the timbers; while my cot swayed to and fro, hoisting me up to the deck +planking one second, and then almost capsizing me on to the floor, until +I at last sank to rest, wearied out with the motion and longing for the +morning to come. + +Harry, the steward, awakened me quite late. + +"Here, you sah, Mass' Tom, rouse up!" he sang out close to my ears, +making me jump out of my bunk in a brace of shakes. "It am gone eight +bells an' break-fuss ready long time." + +Captain Miles had already had his early meal, I found, when I had +dressed and got out into the cabin saloon; so, after making a hurried +repast, for I was anxious to see how the ship was getting on, I followed +him on deck. + +The sea looked awful! + +Far and wide, it was covered with broken waves and sheets of foam, the +huge billows fighting and struggling together in mad turmoil; while the +wind shrieked as it tore through the vessel's cordage and almost blew me +back as I essayed to mount up the poop-ladder. + +The _Josephine_ was still plunging on before the gale, as I had last +seen her the night before, only that the mainsail had been torn away, +although the tattered fragments were left clinging round the yard-arms, +one or two longer pieces streaming out like pennants from the leech at +each end of the spar, and some other strips had clung to the fore- +rigging as they were blown away. + +The foretop-sail had been furled, and the ship was driving on with only +her close-reefed main-topsail set; but preparations were being made as I +got on deck for hoisting the mizzen staysail, so that we might more +easily bring her head round to the wind in case of its showing any sign +of shifting. + +This, however, was but a last resource, which could only be adopted in +the extreme peril of being taken aback. There is no more ticklish +operation than that of wearing a ship in a heavy sea where there is a +strong following wind; and Captain Miles, for one, I could see, intended +to let the vessel drive on as long as the gale lasted, unless it should +try to head us, when of course he would have no alternative left but +that of laying-to. + +He did not seem a bit uneasy as yet, though; for he greeted me quite +cheerily when I at last managed to clamber up on the poop and make my +way aft to where he was standing, holding on to everything I could +clutch to maintain my footing. The ship was rolling from side to side +like a porpoise, and the wind nearly blew the hair off my head, my cap +having gone away to leeward the first step I took up the ladderway on +emerging from the cabin after breakfast. + +"Well, Master Tom!" the captain shouted in my ear, the noise being so +great that it almost required a speaking trumpet to make anyone hear at +a great distance--"how do you like this weather, eh?" + +"A jolly sight better than the calm," I said joyously. The wind seemed +to get in my head and make me excited in a similar way as it is supposed +to affect cats; for I felt inclined to sing with glee as I braced myself +up against the blast and clung to the binnacle rail, surveying the wild +scene around in a perfect frenzy of delight. Sea and sky were mingled +together; and the ship presented a grand spectacle as she nobly +struggled against and overcame the combined strength of the elements +trying to vanquish her efforts at escape! + +"A good breeze is certainly better than a calm, Tom," observed Mr +Marline in response to my jubilant remark; "but, it all depends what +sort of a wind it is, for, if it blows your vessel the wrong way, the +question arises whether the former state of things be not preferable." + +"Belay that sea-lawyering, Marline," interposed Captain Miles. "I never +saw such a fellow for taking a gloomy view of everything! Here we were +rolling about in a calm for days upon days as if they would never end, +while now we are bowling away before a brisk south-easter; and yet you +are not happy!" + +"But in what direction are we going, eh, captain?" slyly inquired Mr +Marline. + +"A point or two off our course, I admit," replied the other; "but still +we are going, and that is the great thing. We are not lying still like +a log on the ocean." + +"How far have we run, sir, do you think, since last night?" I asked +Captain Miles when Mr Marline made no further attempt at conversation. + +"I shall take a sight of the sun presently, my boy," he answered, with +one of his odd winks, giving a quizzical glance at Mr Marline, as if +telling me he thought he had shut him up for the time; "then I shall be +better able to tell you. However, as we've been running twelve knots an +hour good since four bells in the first watch, we ought to have made +over a hundred miles or so from our last stopping place." + +"And where shall we get to if we continue running on the same as now?" +I next inquired, thinking of what Mr Marline had said. + +"To the Banks of Newfoundland, I suppose, if the same wind holds; but, +I'm of opinion that we'll have a change as soon as we fetch the Gulf +Stream, when we shall be able to shape a straight course for the +Channel." + +"And what is the Gulf Stream, captain?" I then asked. + +"Bless the boy!" he exclaimed, "I never saw such a chap for questions; +why, you're almost as bad as Mr Marline! Well, if you must know, the +Gulf Stream, or `Florida Current' as it is frequently called, is +something very like a river of warm water, some eighty to three hundred +miles wide, flowing through the surrounding ocean from the Gulf of +Mexico to Europe in a circular nor'-east by east direction. Starting +from between the Dry Tortugas and Cuba, it skirts the eastern shores of +the United States, then passing across the Atlantic to the south of the +Banks of Newfoundland, where it branches off into two currents in mid +ocean, near the Azores. One of these streams steers north, along the +shores of Norway, while the other leg sweeps onward to the English +Channel, circling round the Bay of Biscay and then pursuing a southerly +course along the Spanish coast until it meets the great equatorial +current coming up from the south Atlantic. Uniting now with this, the +double current flows back westwards to the place of its birth, only to +renew its onward course again from the Caribbean Sea." + +"But what causes it?" I said. + +"Well, that is a disputed point," replied the captain. "One authority +says that the Gulf Stream `is caused by the motion of the sun in the +ecliptic,' and I think there is a good deal of reason in this. Another +philosopher puts it down to the influence of the anti-trade and passage +winds blowing from the west to the east along the zone in which the +stream travels; and I think much might be said about that argument, +especially as the westerly current south of the tropic of Cancer is +undoubtedly caused by the trade-wind. A third scientific gentleman +ascribes the stream to the fact, that the earth being a globe, the water +on the equator is higher than that of the tropics, and the lower stratum +of fluid circles round constantly in its endeavour to reach into the +bigger volume beyond its reach; but I can't say much for this theory +myself, Tom." + +"But how do you know the Gulf Stream from the rest of the ocean?" I +here asked. + +"As easily as you can distinguish a marlinespike from a capstan-bar," +answered Captain Miles. "It is not only bluer than the surrounding +water, through which it flows, as I've told you, like a river, but it is +also several degrees warmer; for, when a ship is close to the stream and +sailing in the same direction in which it is running, a bucket of water +dipped from the sea on one side of the vessel will show an appreciable +difference of temperature to that procured from the other. Besides, my +boy, there's the Gulf-weed to tell you when you are within the limits of +the current; however, you'll see lots of the weed by and by, no doubt, +before we finish our voyage." + +"You said, captain," I observed, "that the great currents of the ocean +are produced by the trade-winds?" + +"Undoubtedly," he replied. "Blowing with regular force on the surface +of the sea, they cause it to move in the same direction in which they +are travelling; and, this motion once acquired, the ocean stream keeps +up its course far beyond where its original propelling power directly +acted upon it. The `Great Equatorial Current' is produced by the south- +east trade, the Gulf Stream, as I've just explained to you, by the +western or passage winds; and the branch of the latter current that +skirts the British Isles and Southern Europe, until it falls in again +with the northern portion of the Equatorial Current, by the north-east +trade-winds. Thus, the circle is completed, the water being ever in +motion round the centre of the tropic of Cancer, just in the same way as +the winds of this region are." + +"But what causes the trade-winds?" I next asked. + +"You young rascal!" said Captain Miles, shaking his fist at me in a +jocular manner, "I'll have you keel-hauled if you utter another +question! I will answer you this one, however--but it is the last time, +though, mind that! The sun, my lad, is the source of the winds of the +globe, as it is the prime agent of heat and life. The atmospheric air +being heated by the solar orb at the equator, where its force is +necessarily the greatest, ascends. This creates a vacuum, which the +surrounding air hastens to fill, causing thus a constant indraught from +both the north and south towards the equator; and the fact of the +opposing winds meeting at this point produces those very calms which vex +us poor mariners. There, Master Tom, that's all I can tell you; for, I +must see about my sextant now to consult the great luminary we have been +talking of, so as to see where our scudding has taken us to." + +Captain Miles's mission after his sextant, however, was a vain quest to- +day, for a mass of fleeting clouds were continually passing to and fro +across the zenith, obscuring the heavens so much that not a single peep +of the sun could be had either at noon or later on. + +The wind now, too, began to come in violent gusts, striking the ship +every now and then with a force that seemed to bury her in the water; +while the sea got rougher and rougher, looking as angry as it was +possible to conceive. + +Presently, with a loud report, the main-topsail split in half, and then +the pieces blew away bit by bit ahead of the ship like paper kites, the +useful foretop-sail which had been again set in the afternoon being now +the only sail left on her; but, still, on she plunged through the waste +of waters as madly as ever, the sky getting more and more overcast as +the day wore on, and a heavy bank of blue-black clouds gathered together +right in front, to the north-west, whither we were trending. + +"Don't you think, captain," said Mr Marline, who had returned to the +poop after having a short rest below--he having remained on deck while +the captain had turned in during the early part of the morning watch--"I +say, don't you think we're running into the very jaws of the gale +again?" + +"It certainly looks like it," replied Captain Miles shaking his head. +"We must try and lay her to, if we can, though I dread the job! See to +the hands being ready to set that mizzen staysail; it will help her head +round when we ease off the yards." + +This sail had been bent all ready the night before, and now with great +difficulty was hoisted; but then came a greater difficulty, that of +getting the ship about--for, what with the gusty wind and the heavy sea +it was a very perilous proceeding, the vessel running the risk of being +pooped as well as broaching-to. + +"We'll have to wear her!" said the captain, after thinking over the +matter a bit. "Send a hand or two forwards to see to the fore-staysail, +so as to be ready for hoisting it when I give the word!" + +Jackson, to whom this latter order was addressed, immediately went +forwards on the forecastle, accompanied by a couple of other men; +although the three found it a serious matter to escape the thick green +seas the vessel took in over her bows as she dived into the trough of +the waves, washing the decks fore and aft. After a struggle, however, +they managed to climb out to their station, getting the fore-staysail +ready to haul up as the captain had commanded, although he only meant to +use it in case the topsail carried away as we wore ship, which was very +possible. + +Then, watching our opportunity when the _Josephine_ was rising on the +crest of a gigantic wave that had rolled up astern to poop her, but had +fortunately instead passed underneath her keel, the helm was put up and +the fore-yards easied round. + +She answered the rudder; but one sea came in over her quarter just when +she was fully exposed to the side force of the wind. Luckily, however, +everything held; and, as the foretop-sail got gradually taken aback the +mizzen staysail drew, casting her stern round, so that her head at last +faced the wind and sea. The vessel plunged fearfully, but held her own +grandly, not falling off again as we all expected. + +"By Jingo, she's a beauty!" exclaimed the captain in high delight at the +success of the manoeuvre. "I never saw a ship behave better in my life! +I was frightened of her at one time, I confess." + +"So was I," said Mr Marline, much relieved by our now being hove-to and +better prepared to meet any change of wind. "She's all right now, +though!" + +He had spoken too quickly, however, "counting his chickens before they +were hatched," according to the old proverb; for, no sooner had he got +out the words than for one single instant the gale lulled, coming to a +dead stand-still, and the very next moment it began to blow from the +exactly opposite direction--the storm proceeding now from the north-west +quadrant instead of the south-east, and the headquarters of our fresh +assailant being the thick bank of black clouds we had noticed in front +of our previous position before wearing ship low down on the horizon. + +We had evidently only got round in the very nick of time. + +Otherwise, there is little doubt that the _Josephine_, meeting the wind +from this new quarter full butt, would have been taken aback. Now, from +her change of position it struck her aft, making her scud again before +it as she had previously done--strangely enough causing her to retrace +the very same course she had just passed over, in almost a straight +line! + +"Square away the yards!" shouted out Captain Miles, while the men at the +wheel shifted the helm to prevent the vessel from broaching-to; and, in +another moment we were pitching and tossing through the choppy head-sea +which we had now to meet, the ship rolling from side to side, and +tumbling about like a whale in its death flurry, as she raced on ahead +again before the stiff north-western blast. + +"Well!" exclaimed Captain Miles presently, "of all the sudden changes of +wind I ever encountered on the ocean, this beats everything! It has +literally jumped round the compass." + +"I fancy it is the tail-end of the hurricane," said Mr Marline. "It is +a very lucky thing we wore ship in time." + +"Lucky, you call it?" rejoined Captain Miles gravely, eyeing the +foremast anxiously the while, fearful of anything being carried away, +when we would be left to the mercy of the cruel waves. "Man alive, it +is only through the mercy of Providence that we are not now sunk fathoms +deep below the sea!" + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +ON OUR BEAM-ENDS. + +Up to now, although we had experienced bad weather for two days and the +special gale before which we were driving had lasted some eighteen hours +at a stretch, no serious accident had happened on board, the _Josephine_ +being as sound and staunch in every way as when she left port, with the +exception of losing her mainsail and having her rigging, perhaps, rather +tautly stretched. + +The galley fire had been put out once or twice by the heavy seas which +we took in over the bows, but Cuffee, with the cordial co-operation of +his brother darkey, Jake, was easily able to light this again; and the +men, having their rations regularly and little or no work to do--save +taking their trick at the wheel, when four would have to go on duty +together at once--had nothing to grumble at. Everything, indeed, +proceeded comfortably enough while the ship was scudding first one way +and then the other--"doing diagonals," as it were, across her latitudes! + +Down below in the cabin all had been what sailor's term "a hurrah's +nest" ever since the gale began, the loose water knocking about the +decks having washed all sorts of odds and ends together and kept us +always wet; while the rolling of the vessel from side to side, like a +pendulum, as she ran before the wind had smashed most of the crockery- +ware and glasses in the steward's pantry, besides causing the benches +round the saloon table and the chairs to fetch away from their lashings. + +For days past, our meals had resembled amateur picnics more than +anything else--whenever we were able to get them, that is, the old +regularity of breakfast and lunch and dinner being completely abolished; +for the captain and Mr Marline and myself had to take odd snacks and +stray bites at various hours whenever opportunity and appetite allowed +their indulgence. + +Harry, the steward, was at his wit's end to get things in proper +keeping. + +No sooner had he cleared up one batch of breakages and made matters +ship-shape than over would sway the _Josephine_ hard to port; when, bang +would go something else, undoing in one instant the work of hours of +labour in putting the place below in order. + +"Lor' a mussy, me nebber get tings right nohow!" he would exclaim, +setting to work again; and then, a sea would come floating in over the +combings of the cabin bulkhead, tumbling him over and washing him aft +amidst the debris, almost drowning the man before he could fish himself +up again and set to his task anew. His toil, like that of Sisyphus, was +ever being renewed when on the verge of completion. + +To me, however, all these little disagreeables seemed immensely jolly; +so, whenever the captain or Mr Marline or Harry happened to get +capsized in this way down in the cabin during the day, it sent me at +once into fits of merriment, the fact of my being washed off my feet as +well only adding to the enjoyment of the joke, for I could grin quite as +much with my own head in the scuppers and my mouth full of water as I +would when the others were similarly situated. + +"Bless the boy!" Captain Miles said. "He's a regular sailor. He +laughs at everything." + +And so I did; especially one afternoon, when a sea coming in suddenly so +jammed Mr Marline inside an arm-chair, whose seat had given way, that +the watch had to be called below to extricate him. The mate took the +matter with great good-humour, I may add, only saying to me, "Ah, never +mind, Master Tom, we'll see who'll laugh best bye and bye." + +Jake used to sneak down on the sly to put my bunk in order so that I +might be more comfortable, having, like most pure negroes, a thorough +contempt for the mulatto steward. He believed him quite incapable of +looking after me properly. + +"Him only poor trash, Mass' Tom," he would say to me; "he can't do +nuffin', I'se like to come an' look after um cabin for young massa, when +I'se in watch below." + +Then, the good-natured fellow would scrub away energetically at the +floor, deluged with water, and fix up things straight for me; making the +place far more neat and tidy in five minutes than Harry the mulatto +could have done if he had been all day over the job. He eclipsed the +steward in his own line, while proving himself as good as any seaman in +the ship. + +Jake was a handy chap, indeed, all round, for he was of very +considerable assistance to Cuffee in the galley when the stormy weather +interfered with the cooking; so, Captain Miles did not object to his +coming to look after me in this way. He "winked at it," as he said. + +During the evening of the day on which the wind shifted round to the +north-west, the sky somewhat cleared and the night was fine and +starlight; but the gale seemed to blow with all the greater vehemence as +the clouds dispersed. It increased to the strength of a hurricane +towards one o'clock in the morning, when, the fore-topsail and mizzen +staysail blowing away, the ship had to content herself with running +under bare poles, careering through the water faster than ever. She had +certainly never realised such speed since she had been launched. + +I was awake when Captain Miles came down at this time to consult the +barometer, and I could hear what he said to Jackson, who had accompanied +him below for something or other, the two talking together just outside +my bunk. + +"I'm sure I can't make it out at all," the captain said in rather a +hopeless way. "Here's the glass keeping as high as possible, and yet +the gale shows no token of lessening. What can it mean?" + +"These cyclones are queer things, sir," responded Jackson. "I was in +two while in a China trader, and sha'n't forget them in a hurry." + +"I could understand it," continued Captain Miles as if reasoning with +himself, "keeping on like this if we were in the Gulf of Mexico now, for +it looks like what they call a norther there; but I've never heard of +one of those winds being met in the Atlantic." + +"It's something out of the common, sir," observed Jackson. "It's a +cyclone, or hurricane, if I ever was in one, and I don't see as how we +can do better than we are doing, sir." + +"Well, we simply can't," said the captain. "We are running before it as +hard as we can with only our bare sticks showing, for the vessel won't +stand a rag of sail; so, it is utterly impossible to lay to and brave it +out." + +"Quite so, sir," responded the other. "All we can do is to carry on and +trust to running out of it into calm weather. We ought to have made a +long stretch to the southwards by now." + +"So we have, Jackson," said Captain Miles. "We're now, I fancy, pretty +well back where we lay so long in the calm, although perhaps a trifle +more to the eastwards; but, if we run on much further, I'm sure I don't +know where we'll bring up!" + +There the conversation ended and I went off to sleep soon afterwards, +although the creaking of the timbers and roar of the sea sounded +terrific, making noise enough to drown the sound of everything else. I +couldn't hear a footstep on the deck above me--all was hushed but the +terrible turmoil of the elements. + +I got up about six o'clock. I knew the hour by striking a match and +looking at a little watch my father had given me just before I left +home; for, it was all dark in the cabin, the ports and scuttles being +closed and the dead-lights in the stern being up, while the doors in the +bulkheads were drawn to, so as to keep out the sea from rushing in when +a wave came over the forecastle. + +Opening one of the sliding panels with some difficulty and pushing it +back far enough for my body to get through, I emerged on the main-deck, +thence managed to scramble on the poop, where the captain and Mr +Marline were standing as well as Jackson, all holding on to the rigging. +None of the officers had turned in all night, but I noticed that none +of the hands were visible except the men at the helm, the captain +allowing the rest to keep snug in the forecastle until they were wanted, +for heavy seas were washing over the rails every now and then or coming +in from the bows and sweeping the ship fore and aft, so there was no use +in exposing the men unnecessarily when there was nothing really for them +to do, as was the case now--no sail being set and only the wheel having +to be attended to. + +Ahead, astern, to the right hand and to the left, the sea was nothing +but a mass of foam, while the air was thick with flying scud that was +chopped off the heads of the great rolling waves every instant and +whirled to leeward by the wind. This seemed sometimes actually to beat +down the water and make it level with its tremendous strength, the +billows springing up, after each gust, like india-rubber balls that had +been pressed flat and then suddenly released, for they spirted up into +the air, flinging their crests aloft one brief moment only to be +decapitated the next by the sweeping scythe-like blast. + +Far and wide, the ocean presented a magnificent picture of awful +grandeur and howling desolation. + +Above, the sky was of a dull leadenish hue, and there was nothing +anywhere to be seen beyond sky and water save the poor _Josephine_ +tearing along through the chaotic maelstrom, labouring and groaning +heavily as she rolled from side to side, dipping her yard-arms from time +to time with each lurch, with the wind shrieking and whistling the most +wonderful harp music through the rigging--nothing to be seen but the +restless, roaring, heaving sea stretching away, like a boiling cauldron +of soap-suds, to where the gloomy heavens met the angry horizon. + +At mid-day, more from curiosity than anything else, as we had lost all +track of our dead reckoning, Captain Miles had the log hove, when it was +found that the vessel under her bare poles was going close on fourteen +knots an hour. The force of the wind on her hull and spars was quite +sufficient alone to achieve this speed, for the yards were braced square +and the helm kept as steady amidships as the send of the waves would +allow and the four men in charge of the spokes could manage. + +And so, we continued all that day and night, the gale still keeping up +to the same pitch when the fourth morning broke, with never a sign of +cessation, while the sea was, if possible, rougher than before, causing +us to ship the water over our bows continually. + +Captain Miles was fairly cornered. + +"I tell you what, Marline," he said towards the afternoon, "I don't +think there is now any possible chance of the wind backing again; so, as +she's taking in such a lot over the bows, we must try and get some sail +on her, to rise out of the trough of the sea." + +"I don't believe the mast will stand a rag, should we be able to hoist +without its being blown to pieces," replied the first mate despondingly. + +He seemed to have lost all heart, unlike the captain and Jackson, who +were both still brave and cheerful, keeping up the spirits of the men. +These latter, I could see, were beginning to lose their courage too, +going about their duties with a sort of dogged stubbornness unlike their +old ready way. + +"Well, we'll try it at any rate. But, first, we must see to securing +the masts. Get up a spare hawser and we'll rig a fresh stay round the +head of the foremast, and then we'll set the foresail. That will lift +her bows out of the water, if it only holds." + +So saying, Captain Miles yelled out for the watch below, and the men +presently came out from the forecastle, Davis, the whilom second mate, +along with them, the lot shambling unwillingly along the deck to the +galley, where they clustered in a body. + +"Now, men," said the captain, "we must try and get some sail on the +ship, or else we'll have all our timbers crushed in forwards by these +seas; who'll volunteer to go aloft and help stay the foremast? It's +risky work, and I don't like to order anyone to go." + +Not a soul spoke in answer for a minute or so, and then Davis stepped +out a pace in front of the others. + +For a moment I was lost in admiration of what I conceived to be his +pluck; but, the next instant, I perceived I had been too hasty in +jumping at this conclusion. + +"What do you take us for, Cap'en Miles?" Davis sang out sullenly. "Do +you think that men are dogs to waste their lives for nothing? Why don't +you go aloft yourself, if you are so anxious about the job?" + +Captain Miles turned quite white, as he always did when his temper was +up. He was then ready to dare anything, like most men of a deep nature. + +"So I will, you mutinous scoundrel!" he cried; and he was just making +his way down the poop-ladder to go forwards, when Jackson, almost +jumping over his head, outstripped him, being down in the waist and up +to the loiterers in a jiffey. + +"Come on, you cowards!" the brave fellow exclaimed, clambering up into +the fore-rigging and making for the top. "Who's man enough to follow +me?" + +There was no lack of volunteers now. + +First one, and then another, scrambled likewise into the shrouds and +climbed up after Jackson, only Davis being left below in his glory out +of the whole watch. + +Even he too was following; but, on Jackson shouting out something about +his "not wanting any lubbers to help him," Davis sneaked back into the +forecastle. + +The others then set to work vigorously, rousing up the end of a spare +hawser, which had been coiled round the mainmast bitts, and securing it +round the foremast head. The ends of this stout rope were then hauled +aft and made fast to the main-chains on either side, when, a purchase +being rigged up and brought to the capstan, the hawser was hove taut-- +thus serving as a double preventer stay, to support the great strain +there would be on the foremast when the fore course should be set, the +mast even now bending before the gale although no sail was as yet on it. + +"Now, men, loose the foresail!" shouted Captain Miles, much pleased with +the sharp way in which the task had been accomplished through the men's +promptitude. "Mind, though, and come down as soon as you've done it, +for one doesn't know what may happen!" + +"Aye, aye, sir, all right," sang out Jackson in reply; and under his +orders the gaskets were quickly cast-off and the bunt dropped, when the +men shinned down the rigging and ran the sheet aft, the sail blowing out +like a big white cloud over the forecastle before the tacks could be +belayed. + +Fortunately, while taking in sail on the night of the thunder-storm, +Jackson had caused the foresail to be reefed before being clewed up, and +this precaution now stood us in good stead, as, instead of its being +spread to its full extent, only a portion of the sail was exposed to the +wind. This, however, was quite sufficient; for, small as it was, it +tugged at the restraining ropes like a giant endeavouring to free +himself from his bonds, flying out from the yards with spasmodic jerks +and pulling at the mast in a way that showed that, if the spar had not +had additional support, it would probably have been torn bodily away out +of the ship. + +The _Josephine_, though, soon felt the difference of having the sail on +her; for, instead of now bowing to the seas and taking them in over her +head, she rose buoyantly, dashing along, of course, with greater speed +than before. + +Captain Miles was quite triumphant over it. + +"There, Marline, what do you think of that?" he said, rubbing his hands +with much gusto. "Didn't I tell you so?" + +"Yes, sir, so you did," answered the other; "but we'll wait and see how +long it lasts." + +"Bah! it will last our turn," said the captain, with a laugh at Mr +Marline's obstinate retention of his own opinion. "Anyhow, it has eased +the ship already." + +"It hasn't eased the steering, though," retorted the mate. "We'll want +six men at the helm if she goes on jumping like this. She's worse than +a kangaroo now." + +"Better leap over the waves than under them, having a ton of green water +come over our bows every minute. Steady, there!" + +"Steady it is, sir," replied Moggridge, who was acting as quartermaster. + +"Keep her so, and mind to let her off when she seems inclined to broach +to. I think we've seen the worst of it now, and can pipe down to +dinner." + +"I'm sure I sha'n't be sorry to have a fair mouthful to-day," said Mr +Marline with a melancholy smile. "I haven't known what a good square +meal was since the gale began, and think I could do justice to one now." + +"So could I," replied the captain; and he went below to give Harry the +steward some especial orders on the subject, the result being that the +last pair of fowls occupying the nearly tenantless hen-coops were +removed screaming to the cook's galley, to reappear an hour afterwards +on the cabin table at the first regular dinner we were able to sit down +to together for four days. The ship, although racing on still before +the gale, was now riding more easily and rolling less, while no heavy +seas came dashing aft from the forecastle to wash us all up in a heap +pell-mell into the stern-sheets, as had hitherto been the case at meal- +times--a moving mass of legs and arms, crockery-ware, savoury dishes, +and table furniture in general! + +When I again went on deck, the ship was going beautifully, tearing +through the water like a racehorse and parting the waves on either side +of her bows as if she were veritably ploughing the deep, the crests of +the sea rising in foam over the fore-yard and floating in the air in the +shape of spindrift and spray far astern. + +The sky, too, had somewhat lost its leaden hue, clearing towards the +zenith, where one or two odd stars could be seen occasionally peeping +down at us through the storm rack that flew overhead like scraps of +fleecy wool. This cheery prospect told us to be of good courage, +leading us to hope that if we only waited patiently we might expect fine +weather bye and bye. + +At nine o'clock, the greater portion of the heavens was quite +unobscured, the moon shining out, although looking pale and watery and +with a big burr round her that showed the still unsettled condition of +the atmosphere; the wind, strange to say, continuing to blow with almost +as great force from the north-west as when it began, nearly forty-eight +hours before. + +"I'm afraid we're going to have a nasty night of it," said Captain +Miles, who had just then come up from below with his sextant. "Still, +I'm glad to see our old friend the moon again, however greasy she may +look. I haven't been able to take an observation since Monday; so we'll +see what a lunar may do in the way of fixing our position." + +Just then, there was a break in the haze that had caused the watery +appearance of the fair orb of night; and Captain Miles, taking advantage +of the opportunity, took his angles, a sight of two of the +constellations also helping his calculations, and giving him data to +work upon. He then went down to his cabin again to work out the +reckoning. + +"Guess where we are, Marline?" he said when he came up for the second +time. "I don't think you'll be able to tell within a degree!" + +"Somewhere between the forties, I should think, with all this scudding +about north and south," replied the other. + +"Well, I make it that we're just about 33 degrees 10 minutes North, and +41 degrees West longitude. What do you think of that, eh?" + +"Never!" exclaimed the first mate. + +"But, it's true enough," returned Captain Miles. "I assure you I've +tested my reckoning in every way, those star altitudes enabling me to +correct my lunars. Yes, Marline, you see we did not lose so much by +carrying on to the north as you fancied we would; and this blustering +north-wester has now taken us almost eight hundred miles in the very +direction we wanted to go. If we had lain to, as you wanted at first, +we should now have been considerably to the southward of our position, +and would probably have had to beat up northwards again; whereas now, as +soon as the gale is blown out, we'll be right in the trades for home." + +"And won't we touch the Gulf Stream, then?" I asked. + +"No, my boy, thank goodness, we're a long way from that; but if you're +anxious to see the Gulf-weed I told you about, we're now in its native +home, a region called the Sargasso Sea." + +"The Sargasso Sea!" I repeated. "I never heard of that before." + +"No, I don't suppose you have," replied Captain Miles in answer to my +implied question. "It is a name applied to a calm expanse of the ocean +between the Gulf Stream and the Equatorial Current, and is called so +from the _Sargassum_, or Gulf-weed, which is continually found floating +there--that is, when the wind is not too strong, as now, to blow it +elsewhere. You'll see plenty of the stuff as soon as the gale lulls, +which it must do now, I think, in a very few hours." + +"Are you going to carry on still before it, sir?" asked Mr Marline. + +"Of course," answered the captain. "The ship is sailing easily and not +straining herself, as she would do if lying-to; and we can't run into +any harm following the same course till morning. I intend to work the +gale in the same way as a friend of mine once treated a runaway horse. +It first started off to please itself, and then he made it keep up its +pace to please him; so, as the wind has chosen to blow us along at its +own sweet will all this time, it shall now drive the ship at my +pleasure. What do you say, Master Tom, eh?" + +"I say it's a very good plan, captain," I replied laughing. + +"Well, my boy, I'll tell you of another good plan, and that is to go +below and turn in, as I purpose doing. Mr Marline," added the captain +to the first mate, "please take the first watch. I'll relieve you at +midnight; I don't think there'll be any change before then." + +With these words, Captain Miles, who had been on deck almost +continuously now for two days and nights, went down to the cabin to have +a couple of hours of much-needed repose; and taking his hint as an +order, good-humouredly as it was spoken, I followed him at once. + +Nor was I anything loth either to go to my bunk; for I had eaten a +hearty dinner which made me feel drowsy. After I had turned in, too, +there being no excitement to keep me awake, and the ship being quite +safe, there being now every prospect of the gale coming soon to an end, +I slept like a top--Harry the steward having to wake me again next +morning to tell me that breakfast was ready, and coming twice to shake +my bunk before I would turn out. + +When I subsequently went on deck, I could soon see that the weather had +altered for the better. + +Although the sea was still rough, the clouds had cleared away from the +sky entirely, not a speck of hazy vapour being discernible anywhere, +while the sun was shining down brightly and warmly, enlivening the whole +scene around and making the ocean, in spite of its still rough +condition, almost look pleasant; the white wreaths of spray, broken-off +by the wind from the tops of the waves, glistening with the prismatic +hues of the rainbow as they were tossed up in the air on clashing billow +meeting billow. + +On board the ship, also, matters had considerably improved, only two men +being required at the helm in place of four, for the vessel was ever so +much more easy to steer; and, I could see preparations being made in the +waist for bending a new main-topsail and mizzen staysail in place of +those that had been blown away when we were in the vortex of the +hurricane. + +It was a difficult job getting the remains of the old main-topsail off +the yard, the wind blowing still with great force and the men having to +hold on with all their might. But, after an hour's labour, the task was +accomplished, and then the new piece of canvas was sent up into the top +by the halliards, where, after being bent and close-reefed, it was +sheeted home and the yard hoisted up again, spreading the sail. + +The mizzen staysail followed suit; and then, seeing that the ship bore +the pressure pretty well, Captain Miles ordered the fore-topmast +staysail to be hoisted. This brought the _Josephine_ more up to the +wind, the vessel now sailing with it about a couple of points abaft the +beam. + +She heeled over tremendously, burying all the lee bulwarks under water, +with the sea rushing along her channels like a mill-race; but, she held +to it bravely, and we all congratulated ourselves on having weathered +the storm and carried out Captain Miles's boast of making the gale serve +his purpose, thus turning a foul wind into a fair one. + +Towards mid-day, the captain took an observation, which amply +corroborated his lunars of the previous evening, we being found to be in +32 degrees North latitude and 40 degrees West longitude, the slight +difference between this and his former reckoning being due to the +distance we had run during the night. + +The wind still held up, however, and although we were carrying more +canvas than we really ought to have had on the ship in such a gale, +Captain Miles was just thinking of setting the spanker and bending a new +fore-topsail, when, as if it had been all at once shut off from its +source, the strong north-western wind in a moment ceased to blow. + +At this time there was not a single cloud on the horizon anywhere, the +sky being absolutely clear and beautifully blue; but I noticed something +like a white wall of water on our port bow advancing towards the +_Josephine_. + +The sight resembled an enormous wave raised up to twenty times the +height of those in our more immediate vicinity. + +"Look, Mr Marline!" I cried. "What is that there to the left?" + +He glanced where I pointed, and so did Jackson, the latter singing out +the moment he caught sight of the wave to the two men at the wheel, who +were Davis and a German sailor, "Down with the helm--sharp!" + +"Hullo! what's the matter?" exclaimed Captain Miles, hearing the order +and raising himself up from the cabin skylight where he had been bending +over his log-book, in which he had been jotting down an entry. "What's +up now?" + +"Something uncommonly like a white squall, sir," hurriedly explained +Jackson. "It's coming down fast on us from windward, and will be on us +in a jiffey. Down with the helm sharp, don't you hear?" he called out a +second time to the helmsmen. + +Captain Miles, quite startled now, looked round, and seeing the great +wave of water, now quite close, borne before the coming wind, repeated +the order to put down the helm more sharply still, adding also to the +watch on duty: + +"Cast-off the topsail sheets and let everything go by the run!" + +Whether Davis heard the order to let the ship's head fall off and +wilfully disobeyed it, on account of its coming from Jackson, whom he +hated, or whether he was paralysed with terror at the approach of this +new danger, after our having passed through all the perils of the +cyclone, no one could say; but he not only did not turn the spokes of +the wheel himself, but he absolutely prevented the other man from doing +so. + +Seeing the vessel did not answer the helm, the captain and Jackson +together darted aft, dragging away Davis and fiercely jamming the wheel +down as hard as they could. + +The movement, however, came too late. + +Before the _Josephine's_ bows could pay off, a terrific blast of wind, +worse than anything that had yet assailed her, struck her sideways. +Over she was borne to leeward, dipping and dipping until her yard-arms; +and then, the tops of her masts, touching the water, becoming gradually +immersed as the ship canted. + +At the same moment, too, with a loud double report, the foresail and +main-topsail blew out of the bolt-ropes, floating away in the distance. +But this relief, great as it was, did not right the ship, for the huge +white wave, following the gust, forced her over still more on her side; +and, in less time than I have taken to tell of the occurrence, the +_Josephine_ was on her beam-ends and every soul on board struggling in +the water for dear life. + +"Hole on, Mass' Tom, hole on!" I heard Jake's voice cry somewhere, as I +sank beneath the rocking surges that were in an instant cresting over +the poop. "Hole on, Mass' Tom, hole on!" + +I tried to battle with the sea, but it bore me down, and down, and down. + +And then--I felt I was drowning! + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +IN DIRE PERIL. + +Jake's voice seemed ever so far away in the distance, and there was a +confused sort of humming, buzzing noise in my ears; while some heavy +weight on the top of my head appeared to be pressing me down, although I +struggled frantically to free myself. + +It was all in vain, though. + +I was whirled round and round in an eddy of the sea; and soon my efforts +ceased. + +Then, all at once, when almost the sense of suffocation had passed, I +felt a hand grasp my collar at the back of my neck; and, oh, gracious +heaven! I was dragged above the surface and drew once more a breath of +air. I took in a gulp of water with this; but, in spite of the water, +the air was the sweet essence of life and I breathed again! + +I had been in a dream before--a terrible dream; now I came to myself, +and my recollection returned. + +The buzzing sounds that had previously echoed through my brain resolved +themselves into the hoarse shouts of the crew of the _Josephine_; the +exclamations of the sailors being mingled with the roaring, crashing +break of the waves as they washed over the wreck, and the creaking and +rending of the timbers of the poor ship, while, nearer yet to me, I +could distinguish the cheering cry of faithful Jake: + +"Hole up, Mass' Tom, um got um safe now. Hole up an' take good breff; +we'se all right, an' ebberybody safe!" + +At the same moment that he spoke Jake lifted me up on something which I +could feel with my feet, and I opened my eyes. + +At first, I was almost blinded by the sea-water which had got into them, +and the salt spray which continually dashed over my head; but, in a +minute or two, I was able to see where I was and grasp the situation. + +The ship was lying over on her starboard side, with her decks submerged +up to the hatches, and her masts horizontal on the surface of the sea; +but, the whole of her port side was clear out of the water, and, +although the waves were breaking over this, still the major part of the +quarter and a portion of the poop were almost high and dry in the +intervals between the following rollers that ever and anon swept up to +their level. + +On this after part of the ship, Jake had managed to clamber up, lugging +me along with him; and, as I looked round, I could recognise Captain +Miles and Mr Marline, as well as several others of the hands, who had +sought such a vantage-ground of safety. + +Away forwards, the _Josephine_ was completely buried in the huge billows +that were constantly surging over her; but here, too, clinging on to the +main-chains was another group of sailors, amongst whom I could make out +the tall figure of Jackson, with Cuffee and Davis close beside him. + +Captain Miles perceived me almost as soon as I saw him. + +"Ah, there you are, Tom!" he cried. "Thank God you are not lost! I +made a hard grab at you when the ship heeled over, but missed you; and +thought that the skylight hatch carried you away overboard when it +lifted." + +"Me watchee him sharp, sah," explained Jake. "I'se see de squall comin' +an' run aft for tell, an' den I clutch hole Mass' Tom, an' here we is!" + +"You've saved your young master then," exclaimed the captain; "so, Tom, +you've got to thank the darkey instead of me! But, how many of us have +escaped?" + +As he said this, Captain Miles glanced about and appeared to be +reckoning up the list of the crew on his fingers, for I could see his +lips move. + +"Marline, you're all right, eh?" he went on presently, speaking out +aloud. + +"Oh, yes, I'm here, thanks to Providence," said the first mate with +almost a sob in his voice. It told better than words his gratitude to +the power on high that had preserved him. + +"And Jackson, I see, with Davis and Cuffee," continued the captain, +running through the names of the survivors as far as he could make them +out. + +"There's Adze, the carpenter, too, in the main-chains, with those two +German sailors, Hermann and Gottlieb; while there are five more of the +hands alongside me," said Mr Marline looking round, too, and taking +stock. + +"But, where's Moggridge?" asked Captain Miles, missing the boatswain at +that moment and not seeing him anywhere. I felt my heart sink at the +thought that he was gone. + +"Here I am, your honour," however, sang out the old fellow, climbing up +over the stern gallery. "I almost lost the number of my mess; but I've +managed to cheat Davy Jones this time." + +"That makes, with Master Tom here, just sixteen souls, out of eighteen +we had on board, all told," said the captain. "Anybody seen the +steward?" + +"No, he isn't here, poor fellow," replied Mr Marline. "He was below in +his pantry at the time the squall struck us, and must have been drowned +before he could scramble out." + +"There's only one other, then, missing," said the captain. "Count the +hands again, Marline." + +The first mate did this; and, then, it was found, on hailing Jackson in +the main-chains--the sea at present making a breach between us and +dividing our forces--that the other sailor was a man named Briggs, who +had been ailing for some days past. He had been in his bunk in the +forecastle when the ship capsized, so his fate was almost as certain as +that of Harry, the mulatto steward. + +All things considered, though, it was a great mercy, from the sudden +nature of the calamity, that so many of us should have been saved. But +for the fact of the accident having occurred in the afternoon, when the +majority of the hands were fortunately on deck aft, many more lives +would undoubtedly have been lost. + +However, albeit temporarily preserved from the peril of a watery grave, +our outlook, clustered there together on the outside of the partly- +submerged vessel, was a very sorry one; for, the sea was still running +high, and the waves were breaking over us in sheets of foam, and, +although the sun was shining down and the air was comparatively warm, +this made us feel most uncomfortable. Besides, the continual onslaught +of the rolling billows necessitated our holding on to everything we +could get a grip of, to prevent ourselves from being washed away. + +We had to lie along the side of the ship, grasping the mizzen rigging, +which attitude was a very wearying one; for, the sea would lift us up as +the swell surged by, and then, we had to take a fresh grip, our feet +sliding down the hull as the billow retired and the vessel sunk down in +the hollow. + +"I say, Marline," called out the captain presently, "as you are nearest +the signal halliards, do you think you can manage to run them clear?" + +"I'll try, sir," answered the other; and Moggridge, who had now crept +alongside the mate, helping him, the two contrived to haul out the rope +in question. + +"Now, who's got a knife handy?" next inquired Captain Miles. + +There was half a dozen replies to this question; but, ere the article +wanted could be passed along, the old boatswain had drawn out his from +his waistband by means of the lanyard slung round his neck, and was +busily employed in cutting up the signal halliards into short lengths of +about a fathom each. + +"Ah, I see you guessed what I was after," said the captain noticing +this. "If we lash ourselves to the rigging here, it will save us a +world of exertion and trouble, besides leaving our hands free for other +purposes." + +"Aye, aye, sir, I know'd what you want," responded Moggridge, and +passing down the pieces of rope as he cut them off, all of us were +pretty soon well secured from being washed away, each man helping to tie +up his neighbour in turn. + +"Golly, massa, dis am a purdicafirment!" ejaculated Jake, grinning as +usual, and with his ebony face shining with the spray; "I'se 'gin feel +want grub--um precious hungry." + +"I am afraid that'll not be our only want, my poor fellow," said Captain +Miles in a melancholy voice; but rousing himself a minute afterwards he +added more cheerfully, "Wait till the sea gets down, and then we'll try +to improve our condition. I wonder, though, how these other fellows are +getting on in the chains amidships? Jackson, ahoy!" + +"Hullo, sir," came a faint hail in answer, from amid the breaking seas +further on ahead of us, where only a black spot of a head could be seen +occasionally emerging from the mass of encircling foam. + +"Are you all right there?" sang out the captain. + +"We're alive, sir; but nearly tired out," replied Jackson in a low weak +tone. + +"Can't you try, man, to work your way aft and join us," urged Captain +Miles, comprehending how exhausted the young seaman and his companions +there must be. "There's plenty of room here for all of us, and you'll +not be so much worked about by the sea." + +"The waves are too strong for us, sir," cried out the other, but his +voice now seeming to have a little more courage in it, for he added +after a bit, "I think we can manage it, though, if you will make fast +the bight of the topsail sheet and heave the end to us. It will serve +us to hold on by as we pass along the bulwarks." + +"All right, my hearty," answered Captain Miles, he and a couple of the +sailors beside him doing as Jackson had suggested. + +Then, the captain himself, undoing his lashings, seized one of the brief +intervals in which the after part of the hull rose above the sea; when, +standing on his feet, while his legs were held by the two sailors, he +hove the end of the rope towards Jackson, who, clutching hold of it, +secured it to the main-shrouds, whence it was stretched taut to the +mizzen rigging, thus serving as a sort of life-line by which the men +could pass aft. + +When this was done, the men with Jackson in the main-chains crept +cautiously along the bulwarks, half in and half out of the water, +clutching on to the topsail sheet hand over hand, soon joined us on the +quarter galley--the young second mate being the last to leave, waiting +until his comrades were in safety. + +The passage from the one place to the other was perilous in the extreme; +for, the waves surged up sometimes completely over the poor fellows' +heads, when they had once abandoned their footing and had only the frail +swaying rope to support them against the wash of the water. They were +roughly oscillated to and fro, hove up out of the sea one minute and +lowered down again into it the next. + +It was a wonder some of them did not fall off, getting sucked under the +keel of the ship; but, gripping the life-line with a clutch of +desperation, their passage across the perilous bridge was at last safely +accomplished, when the entire sixteen of us, including my own humble +self, were at length gathered together in one group on the counter-rail +below the bend of the poop. The new-comers were then lashed to the +mizzen rigging like the rest of us, and we all waited with what hope and +patience we could for the sea to calm down. + +By this time, it was late in the afternoon; and, presently, the sun sank +down away to the west in his ocean bed, surrounded by a radiant glow of +crimson and gold that flashed upward from the horizon to the zenith. + +The wind had died away too, the last violent squall which had been so +disastrous to the _Josephine_, having been the expiring blast of the +hurricane; so, although, as I've said, the sea still continued to run +high, the waves rolled by more regularly and with an equal pulsation, as +if Father Neptune was rocking himself gradually to sleep. The old +tyrant was evidently; exhausted with the mad rioting in which he had +recently been indulging, and the thrashing which the gale had given him! + +There was no sleep for us, however, excepting such hasty little +droppings off into brief forgetfulness that our worn-out bodies gave way +to for an instant; for we were constantly being roused up, almost as +soon as our wearied eyelids had closed, by the sudden rush of the spent +wash of some broken wave wetting our already wet garments. This +banished all thoughts of repose; and, when the darkness of night came +on, it was cold and dreary in the extreme, the hours seeming to drag out +to the length of a lifetime. + +Poor faithful Jake lay close to me so as to protect me as much as +possible from the wash of the sea; and I found out, when morning light +came once more to cheer us, that he had actually stripped off a guernsey +vest, which Captain Miles had given him to save him from exposure on the +night of the thunder-storm, and had fastened this round my shoulders in +order to keep me warm! + +I shall never forget Jake's thoughtful action, I believe, as long as I +live, for it made a great impression on me when I discovered such a +striking proof of his devotion; and, as I now retrace the incidents of +the past, the incident stands out prominently in evidence of a negro's +brotherly love. + +Why, his black skin always seemed white to me ever after. Aye, although +born an African, his heart was truer than that of many a European, whose +complexion is only a trick of colour! + +During the night we were all silent; but, when the sun rose in the east, +flooding the sea with the rosy tint of dawn, hope came back to us and +our tongues were unloosed--the more especially as the force of the waves +had considerably lessened, hardly a scrap of spray being now washed over +us, while the blows of the billows against the side of the ship were no +longer heard. + +The sea really was calming down at last. + +God was watching over us! + +"Say, captain," said Mr Marline, who was the first to bestir himself, +"do you think there's any prospect of our righting the ship?" + +The captain was asleep, I believe, for the first mate had to repeat his +question twice before he could get an answer. + +"I'm sure I hope so," at last sleepily muttered Captain Miles, with a +portentous yawn--"only wait till the swell calms down and we'll see +about it." + +"But it is calm now," rejoined the other. + +"Then wake me again when it is calmer," replied Captain Miles; and then, +he turned on his side and proceeded with his nap as coolly as if he were +comfortably tucked up in his nice swinging cot in the cabin. + +"Well!" exclaimed Mr Marline, "of all the cool, self-possessed men I +ever met in my life, you beat the lot!" + +He was talking to himself, but the hands heard him, and there was a +general snigger all round, the captain's very composure having given +confidence to all. The men believed that he would not have taken things +so quietly unless he had some sure hope of our speedy release from such +a precarious position. + +"He is a rare brave un," put in Moggridge. "I've sailed with him man +and boy for many a v'y'ge afore this, and I allers found him the same, +calm and plucky in danger, and keeping a stiff upper lip when in perils +that frighten other folk. Captain Miles, sir, is a man as a sailor +should be proud to sail under--that's what I says!" + +"Eh, what, what?" murmured the captain, half waking up on hearing his +name spoken, and lifting his head from between his clasped hands. + +"I was a-saying, sir, as how you knew what's what," replied the +boatswain, "and I don't know of any other man I'd say sich of." + +"Belay that," said Captain Miles, rousing up now and rubbing his eyes. +"Ah, it's morning, I see! Well, Mr Marline, and how goes it?" + +"As well as can be expected under the circumstances," answered the +other. + +"Bother circumstances," rejoined the captain; "we must make the best of +them we can. Now, let us see what's to be done." + +"Do you think we can right her, sir?" asked the mate repeating his old +query. + +"Right her? yes, certainly, if we can cut away the masts. She's not +water-logged, and all sound below, I fancy, as far as I can see; for the +hatches have been battened down since Monday." + +"But she's rather down by the head, sir," said Mr Marline, as the two +rose on their feet and proceeded to look round the vessel as well as +they could from the top of the poop bulwarks, whence they surveyed her +position and surroundings. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Captain Miles, "the fore-peak must have been left open +when those spare sails were got out, so that she has taken in some water +there. Never mind, though, there's a stout bulkhead separating the +compartment from the main hold, and, if there's no leak below, we'll be +all right." + +"But, the masts have been working the decks all this time," suggested +the mate, "and if the sea has got in through the straining of the +timbers we must sink in time." + +"Sink your grandmother, Marline!" retorted the captain, "you forget that +our main cargo is rum, which is ever so much lighter than water, and +more buoyant. As long as we have that below we'll float, never you +fear! But, the job is to cut away the masts if we can; she'll never +right, of course, till that is done. A pity your rigging was so well +set up, Marline! If the sticks had only gone by the board when the +squall struck us we'd be all right now." + +"I don't know that, captain," replied the other. "If the masts had been +badly stayed they would have gone in the height of the hurricane; and +then, where would we be now?" + +"Not in the Sargasso Sea, I fancy," said Captain Miles with a hearty +laugh. "But we can't do anything yet, though, till the sea has gone +down more. Men," he added, "keep your pecker up! Providence having +watched over us thus far will now not desert us, I am confident, and +we'll yet weather on Mr Marline's circumstances!" + +All hands gave a cheer at this hopeful speech, and the sun having by +this time dried our soddened clothes besides warming us, we began to +feel more comfortable and easy, the captain's words giving us fresh +courage. + +Towards noon, however, the heat brought on a most terrific thirst, which +was all the more painful from our not seeing any chance of relieving it; +for, although, like the "ancient mariner," we saw "water, water +everywhere," there was not a drop of the wholesome fluid, as far as we +knew, that we could drink. + +In this dire calamity, Jackson proved our guardian angel. + +"I say, captain," he called out, after climbing along the bulwarks down +into that part of the waist of the ship which was clear of the sea, +letting himself swing down by the end of the topsail halliards which +were belayed to the side, "there's one of the water-casks lashed here +that did not fetch away to leeward with the rest when she canted over; +and it's full too. If anyone has got a hat, or anything that I can draw +off the water in, I will start the bung and we can all splice the main- +brace." + +"Hurrah!" shouted Captain Miles. "That's the best news I have heard for +many a day. Here, Marline, pass him down my wide-awake. Mind how you +drive out the bung, Jackson, and have something ready to close up the +hole again; or else, all the contents of the cask will be wasted 'fore +the hands are served round." + +"I'll take care, sir," replied the young seaman, who had now turned the +end of the topsail halliards into a bight round his body, so that he +could swing down in front of the water-cask and yet have his hands free. + +Then, taking out a marlinespike, which had caught in the rigging somehow +or other, he managed, after several blows on either side of the cask, to +start the bung. This, from the position in which the ship was lying, +was now horizontal instead of perpendicular; so, as soon as it came out, +the water flowed at once into the captain's wide-awake hat, which +Jackson had under the bung-hole, stopping up this again with the cork as +soon as the hat was full. + +Mr Marline was bending down from the bulwarks above him to receive the +strange jug when the other handed it up to him, and he passed it on to +Captain Miles, who allowed me to have the first drink. + +It tasted like nectar--better than any draught I had ever had before or +since! + +Captain Miles himself then took a gulp of the grateful contents of his +old hat, passing it on to Moggridge; and, when emptied, as it very soon +was, the wide-awake was filled and refilled by Jackson until every man +had satisfied his thirst--the last to enjoy the water which he had been +the means of procuring being the brave young seaman himself, just in the +same way as he had been the last to quit the post of danger when helping +his shipmates out of the main-chains. + +Quenching our thirst gave us all new life; so, later on in the +afternoon, Captain Miles set the men to work casting off the ropes as +best they could with the idea of freeing the masts. However, we could +do nothing without an axe, for no man had anything handier than his +clasp-knife, which naturally was of no use in helping to cut away the +cordage and heavy spars that kept the ship down on her beam-ends. + +What was to be done? + +We were all in a dilemma, one man suggesting one thing, and another +proposing a fresh plan for getting rid of the masts; when, Adze, the +carpenter, who had said nothing as yet, spoke for the first time. + +"I left a large axe o' mine," he said quietly, as if saying nothing +particularly worthy of notice--"I left a large axe o' mine in my bunk in +the fo'c's'le; and if ary a one can git down theer, he'll find it on the +top side to his starboard hand as he goes in." + +"But, the fo'c's'le's full of water," said Mr Marline, "and a man must +be a good diver to creep in there and get the axe under eight or twelve +foot of sea! Besides, I daresay it will have been washed away from +where Adze put it in his bunk, the lurch of the ship having shifted +everything to leeward." + +"It war to leeward already in the top bunk, I tell 'ee," rejoined the +carpenter; "an', bein' that heavy, I spec's it's theer right enough. +Only I can't dive, nor swim above water for that matter, so it's no use +my going after it." + +"I'll go, massa captain," shouted out Jake, who had been listening +eagerly to this conversation. "I'se dibe like porpuss an' swim like +fiss." + +"I know that," said Captain Miles laughing. "I recollect the way you +came aboard my ship. But you can try if you like, darkey. If you find +that axe, you'll be the saving of all of us, and give a fair return for +your passage, my hearty!" + +Jake did not need any further persuasion. + +Making his way along the bulwarks, he clambered on to the main rigging, +now lying flat across the capsized vessel, until he came to a clear +space between the mainmast and the forecastle, from whence the boats and +cook's galley had been washed away. Jumping into the water at this +point, he swam towards the spot where he thought the entrance to the +forecastle should lie, for the sea was washing about forward, and +nothing to be seen above the surface but a small portion of the port +bulwarks near the dead-eyes of the fore-shrouds and a bit of the port +cat-head. + +Jake then dived below the water, disappearing from our view for a few +seconds that seemed interminable as we waited. + +"I hope he hasn't come to grief," said Captain Miles anxiously. "So +many things have been carried away and jumbled up in a mass there +forwards, that the poor fellow might get fixed in and be drowned, +without the chance of saving himself." + +But his alarm was quite unnecessary, Jake rising above the water in +another moment and scrambling up into the main rigging, in a very +hurried manner, as if something was pursuing him. + +His face as he turned it towards us was almost green | with fright, and +we could hear his teeth chattering | with fear and cold combined. + +"Well," sang out Captain Miles, "I'm glad to see you out of that hole +alive. But, what's the matter, my man? have you got the axe?" + +"N-n-n-no, Mass' Cap'en," stuttered Jake, making his way aft again along +the bulwarks, "got no axe nor nuffin'. Dere am duppy or de debbil in de +fo'c's'le. Bress de Lor', dis pore niggah only sabe him life an'--dat +all!" + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +A GLEAM OF HOPE. + +"You one big fool!" Cuffee, the cook, screamed out at hearing Jake's +startling announcement, which made us all laugh in spite of our anxiety. +"How can duppy come in de daylight, hey? You only see yer own black +face in water, an' tink um debbil." + +"Duppy," I may explain, is the negro's common name for what they call a +ghost, or anything uncanny. + +However, paying no attention to his brother darkey's reasoning as to the +impossibility of such a nocturnal visitor appearing under the searching +rays of the sun, Jake stoutly maintained his own opinion. + +"Dere was sumfin' white dere, I swar," he said, as soon as he had +secured his footing on the bulwarks again, well out of the water. "I +see sumfin' white an' cold, an' he grab me by um leg." + +"That must have been poor Briggs's body floating about in the +fo'c's'le," observed Captain Miles. "I forgot to tell him of it before +he dived down. Hi, Jake," he added speaking out louder, "you needn't be +afraid. I know what it was you saw." + +"D'ye, massa?" said Jake somewhat distrustfully, as if only half +believing this. "Golly, it um berry mysteferious. I'se tink--; but, +Jerrybosalum, look dar, Mass' Cap'en, look dar!" he suddenly exclaimed, +his voice again changing to a tone of intense horror, while he looked +the picture of abject terror, his eyeballs rolling and his teeth +chattering as before. "Duppy come catchee me, for suah! Dere he am +comin' up wid him long claw--dere he am--dere he am!" + +We all rose up on the side of the bulwarks, as if with one accord, +looking in the direction to which Jake's trembling hand pointed, where, +between the meshes of the rigging away forward in front of the mainmast +we could dimly discern a long sinuous greenish-white body gradually +rising to the surface of the water that covered the lower part of the +deck. + +The mysterious thing seemed to make after the negro, although no +apparent movement was perceptible, while its colour became more luminous +as it got nearer. + +Jackson was closer than any of us to Jake; and, as he stood up in the +main-chains to help the negro up, he perceived what the object was that +had frightened him, for he could see down into the water clear of the +rigging, which somewhat hampered our view. + +"Why, it's a shark!" he called out. "It is a big fellow too--larger +than the brute that nearly tackled me the other day." + +"A shark, Massa Jackson, for true, hey?" said Jake, turning round to +assure himself of the fact; and, then, seeing his pursuer to be of no +supernatural origin, as he had supposed, but only one of the ordinary, +if ugly, denizens of the deep, his alarm disappeared instanter and he +burst into a fit of laughing--his African nature being as susceptible as +that of a child, his moods varying in a moment. + +"Yah, yah," he roared, "me no 'fraid ob shark; I'se tink him ider one +duppy or de debbil, for suah, when um touch me on de shin-bone!" + +"I'se tole you so, Jake," said Cuffee with great contempt. "You'se +nebber see duppy in de daylight. You'se only big fool to tink so." + +"Berry well," rejoined the other, "you hab your 'pinion an' I hab mine! +If you was down dar in water jus' now, an' see dat long ting snouzle by +um leg, lookin' so white an' drefful, I guess you'se frit too!" + +If Jake, however, was now pleased at seeing his fancied ghost turn out +to be a shark, this was more than we were. Captain Miles could hardly +conceal his chagrin. + +"Confound the hideous brute!" he exclaimed. "He's the very last visitor +I cared to see. He will prevent any further attempt being made to get +that axe out of the fo'c's'le--if it is there, as Adze says." + +"It's theer sure enough, cap'en," put in the carpenter hearing this +remark. "I wish I could only swim and I'd precious soon fetch it +myself!" + +"All right, Adze, I don't doubt your word," said the captain +apologetically; "but the shark has put an embargo on it now at any +rate." + +"I'm afraid it just has," observed Mr Marline, to whom Captain Miles +had really been speaking when the old carpenter overheard him. "You +can't expect any sensible man to dive into the water when such a nasty +sort of neighbour is close at hand. I wouldn't like to venture, for +one, I confess; and I don't think I'm a very great coward." + +"No, Marline, no; I'll answer for that," replied the captain warmly. +"Your worst enemy wouldn't accuse you of any want of pluck, and really I +should not' care about undertaking the job either, for that matter." + +Jake, though, wanted to make another effort to recover the axe, his +courage rising with the emergency, especially as he could notice how +disappointed we all were. + +"Me nebber mind shark," he cried, drawing out a long clasp-knife which +he carried in his belt, and opening the blade, which he now brandished +about in a most ferocious way, showing how he would make mincemeat of +the sea-pirate if it attacked him. "I'se not 'fraid ob him one lilly +bit. I tell you wat, I'se gib him goss if um kick up any bobbery wid +me!" + +So saying, he was preparing to plunge again into the water, when Captain +Miles ordered him to refrain, having to repeat his command twice before +the brave fellow would stop from making the venture. + +"No, Jake," said the captain, "I can't allow you to risk your life in +such a foolhardy way for what may be only a wild-goose chase. Wait +awhile and see if the brute is going to remain here. Perhaps, too, +there may be some more of his comrades about; they generally hunt in +couples in stormy weather." + +"All right, massa, me wait an' see," responded Jake submissively, +sitting down on the bulwarks again; and then, we all watched the shark +to see what he would do, and whether, as the captain had suggested, +there were any more of his species about, coming up to help him in +keeping us prisoners. + +Unfortunately, Captain Miles's fears proved but too well founded. Very +shortly afterwards, no less than three other sharks appeared, hovering +about the stern of the ship and swimming immediately under the counter, +where we were clustered together, as if keeping guard over us. The one +that had pursued Jake took up his station within the interior part of +the submerged vessel, patrolling backwards and forwards in the water +that covered the deck of the poop up to the mizzen-mast. This fellow, +the first in the field, seemed to say to us grimly, "You sha'n't escape +me here, at all events!" + +"Oh, Captain Miles!" I cried. "The sharks are going to wait until we +drop off into the sea one by one, and then they will eat us all!" + +"Not a bit of it, my boy," said he hopefully, to cheer me up. "They'll +soon be tired out and will then swim away and leave us to see about +righting the ship. Don't think of them, Tom; they can't touch any of us +where we are." + +"But how long can we stop like this?" I asked despairingly. + +"Long enough to bother the sharks," he replied. "They haven't pluck +enough to wait when they see they've got no chance; for, they're born +cowards at heart, as all sneaking things are!" + +Jake also sidled up to me at the same time and somewhat restored my +equanimity, saying in his light-hearted way, "Golly, Mass' Tom, we kill +um all first wid um knife 'fore dey touch you!" + +The afternoon waned on; so, as the sharks exhibited no signs of yet +leaving us, and the evening was closing in, Captain Miles ordered the +men to lash themselves again to the rigging for fear of their tumbling +off in the night and so falling a prey to the brutes--otherwise, there +was no great need of the precaution, for the sea was almost now calm, +the waves having quite ceased to break. Only a heavy swell lifted the +ship up at intervals, letting her roll down again, and swaying gently to +and fro with a gentle rocking motion which would have sent us all to +sleep but for the hunger which now kept us awake with a nasty, gnawing +pain at the pit of our stomachs. + +Our thirst was appeased, Jackson having swung himself down to the water- +cask and served out another drink all round shortly after the sharks had +made their appearance, as they could not approach near enough to the +waist of the ship to interfere with his movements, the deck there being +clear of water. But, oh, we did feel hungry! + +"I believe I could a'most eat anything now," said Moggridge plaintively, +chewing away at a piece of leather which he had torn off one of his +boots. + +"Only hold out and we'll get something soon," replied the captain, who +tried nobly to keep up the spirits of the men. "We've got water, and +that is more than many a poor fellow has had when in as bad a plight as +ours. Let us be thankful for what we have got and for having our lives +spared so far! To-morrow, if the sea be calm, as there is every reason +to hope it will be, we'll probably be able to fetch something out of the +cabin; while, if the worst comes to the worst, I've no doubt we'll be +able to pick up some crabs and shell-fish from the Gulf-weed floating +around." + +"Right you are, sir," said Moggridge, ashamed of having spoken. "I see +lots of the stuff about us now." + +"Is that the Gulf-weed you told me about, captain?" I asked, pointing +to some long strings of what looked like the broken-off branches of +trees, with berries on them, that were washing past the hull of the +_Josephine_ on the top of the rolling swell. + +"Yes, Tom, we're now in the Sargasso Sea, its own especial home. +Indeed, this region is especially so called on account of the +`Sargassum,' or weed, in the Portuguese tongue. You ask Mr Marline and +he'll tell you all about it, being learned in such matters." + +The first mate, however, did not wait for me to question him. + +Taking the captain's observation as a hint to say something to occupy +the attention of the men and myself, and so keep us from thinking of the +sharks and our painful position, he proceeded to narrate all he knew +about this curious marine fungus. He had a good deal to say, too, for +Mr Marline was a well-read man and took a great interest in all matters +of science. + +It was certainly a very novel situation in which to give a lecture, but +the sailors were glad enough to listen to anything to make the time +pass. They were very attentive auditors, even Jake appearing +interested, although he could not have understood much of what he heard. + +"The Sargasso, or weedy, Sea," said Mr Marline, "so called from the +berries, like grapes, `sarga' in Portuguese, extends from about the +eleventh parallel of latitude to 45 degrees north, and from 30 degrees +west longitude to the Bermudas, and even further west, so that we are +about in the middle of it now. Almost the entire portion of this space +of the ocean is covered by a peculiar species of sea-weed, termed by +botanists the `fucus natans,' which is found nowhere else in any great +abundance except in the Gulf Stream, which, skirting along the edge of +the Sargasso Sea, bears away portions of the floating substance in its +progress from the Gulf of Florida eastwards. The western current to the +south of this region also sometimes detaches masses of the weed; but its +main habitat is the Sargasso Sea, where, there being no eddies or +streams either way and little or no wind generally, the sargassum +accumulates in great masses, presenting frequently the aspect of an +immense marine meadow." + +"I think, sir," I interposed at this point, "I read once in the Life of +Columbus, that, when on his first voyage beyond seas from Spain, his +sailors almost mutinied and wanted him to put back on account of their +fancying they could never pass through the weed?" + +"They did," replied Mr Marline. "The men thought Columbus had sold his +soul to the spirits of evil, and that they were in an enchanted sea, but +the brave old Genoese navigator surmounted their fears in the end! I +can better, perhaps, explain, Tom, the reason for the weed accumulating +so hereabouts, by likening, as Maury did, the Atlantic Ocean to a basin. +Now, if you put a few small pieces of cork or any other light substance +into a basin, and move your hand round it so as to give the water it +contains a circular motion, the bits of cork will be found to float to +the centre and remain there. Well, here, the Gulf Stream is the +circular motion of our great basin, while the Sargasso Sea is the +centre, and it is in consequence of the continual current circling round +it that the weed stops there in such quantities--as you will see most +likely in a day or two, when the ocean gets rested after the great storm +we have had, which has somewhat put things out of their proper trim." + +"And does the weed grow to the bottom?" I asked. + +"Bottom? Why, there are no soundings here under four miles, and it +would take a pretty long root to stretch to such a depth! No, the +sargasso weed floats and lives on the surface. When examined closely, +it is found to have an oblong narrow serrated leaf of a pale yellow +colour, resembling somewhat in form a cauliflower stripped of its +leaves, the nodules being composed of a vast number of small branches, +about half an inch long, which shoot out from each other at a sharp +angle, and hence multiply continually towards the outer circumference of +the plant, each extreme point producing a round seed-vessel like a +berry. A great number of little crabs, barnacles, and small shell-fish +are generally found attached to the weed, as Captain Miles mentioned +just now when he said we might find something to eat amidst the branches +of it in an emergency. It is wonderful sometimes to see with what +regularity the weed is arranged across the ocean when the wind blows. +It looks then exactly like a meadow does after it has been fresh mown +and the grass is left upon it in long swathes by the scythe at equal +distances apart." + +"There, Master Tom," put in Captain Miles here, "I think you know now +all that Mr Marline can tell you about the Sargasso Sea and the weed to +be found there. It's about time we all turned in now for the night, for +the sun has set and it will soon be dark. Have all you men," he called +out aloud, "lashed yourselves securely?" + +"Aye, aye, sir," they answered one by one, Moggridge coming last. + +"Then good night, and good cheer, my lads!" he cried. "Keep your +peckers up, and to-morrow morning. I daresay, we'll see our way out of +this predicament. I don't think it is going to blow any more, so you +may compose yourselves to rest as cosily, my lads, as if you were in +your bunks here, without fear of anything much troubling you, for the +sharks can't harm you!" + +The sun had set by this time and the evening grew gradually dark, for +there was no moon, as the heavens were overcast; but still, the wind did +not get up again, and the motion of the ship being easy enough we lay +along the side of the ship very comfortably, most of the men soon +falling asleep, and I soon following their example. + +It must have been towards morning, for a dim sort of light was beginning +to be perceptible in the east, we were wakened up by a terrible yell. + +A moment afterwards a heavy splash sounded in the water alongside. + +"Good heavens! what is that?" cried Captain Miles, starting up and +trying to peer through the darkness, so as to see who was missing. +"Anyone gone overboard?" + +"Yes, sir," answered Jackson's voice presently, as if he had waited to +reconnoitre, "it is one of the German sailors, poor Hermann. He has +probably slipped his lashings and slid down the side. I'm afraid the +sharks have taken him, for he has never called out once!" + +"Poor fellow!" exclaimed the captain, raising a hail. + +"Hi, hullo!" + +But, there came no response; and so, Jackson's surmise must have been +correct. The man had evidently fallen in his sleep, through the +slipping of the rope which had secured him to the rigging; and he must +either have been drowned at once or fallen a victim to the maw of one of +the sharks, whose movements we could hear in the water still below us. + +The accident, however, wakened us all up thoroughly, and we waited +anxiously for daylight. + +When this came, however, a terrible scene was enacted before our eyes. + +No sooner had the rising sun lit up the ocean and enabled us all to see +each other distinctly, than I noticed Davis, who was close to Jackson, +staring at him in a most peculiar manner. + +I never saw in anyone before such a fixed steady glare! + +The man seemed out of his senses or bewildered by something, for his +eyes moved about strangely, although with a savage gleam in them, while +his hair appeared to bristle up. + +"Well, what is the matter?" said Jackson at length, after enduring his +gaze for a moment or two, waiting for the other to speak. "Do you want +water? Shall I get you some?" + +This apparently broke the spell which was upon the wretched man, whose +constitution had been much enfeebled by his drinking habits--making him +thus less able to contend against the exposure and privations | we had +been subjected to than the rest of us. + +The minute Jackson spoke, he uttered a queer sort of half-groan, half- +shriek; and having previously, I suppose, untied the rope with which he +had been lashed to the rigging, he made a dash at the second mate with +both his hands, trying to grip his throat and strangle him. + +"You devil!" he cried, foaming at the mouth with passion, "you've taken +my place and brought me to this." + +Jackson easily repulsed his struggles to do him any injury; but, before +he and the other sailors could secure the madman, he sprang to his feet +and, shouting out something which we could not distinguish, jumped right +down among the group of sharks that were still swimming about under the +stern. + +There was a heavy plunge, followed by a wild scurrying to and fro in the +water of the moving fins; and, a moment after, when the sea had got +still again, a circle of blood on the surface alone told of the unhappy +man's fate. + +The incident saddened us all very much, taking away our hopeful thoughts +and courage alike; so we waited on listlessly for what we now believed +must shortly be our own doom, not a soul speaking a word or even looking +at his neighbour for some time afterwards. + +Jackson was the first to recover himself. + +The sight of the cruel sharks under the ship's counter and the memory of +our two shipmates, whom they had already devoured, appeared to prey on +his mind and make him furious. + +"I can't stand this any longer," he cried. "I must try and kill one of +these brutes, captain, or die in the attempt!" + +Captain Miles thought he had gone out of his senses too and spoke +soothingly to him; but Jackson soon showed that if he had become insane +there was a method in his madness. + +Rising on his feet, he walked on the top of the bulwarks to the main- +shrouds, and clambering out on his hands and knees along these, made his +way to where a long wooden handspike, that had been used for heaving +round the windlass, was floating under the rigging. + +Picking up this and cutting off a good length of the topsail halliards, +he came back to where we all were, and proceeded to make a running noose +at the end of the rope. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Captain Miles, not quite certain yet +of Jackson's sanity. + +"I'm going to try to get one of the sharks to come close enough to give +him a taste of this handspike," said the stalwart young fellow, drawing +himself up to his full height, and looking round with a determined +expression on his face that I had never seen there before. "If I can +only get them all to come to the inside of the ship, I shall do for one +or two, I know." + +"Golly, Massa Jackson, me help you wid um knife," exclaimed Jake, +entering with much animation in the other's project. "S'pose we fiss +for um wid sumfin', so as make um swim roun' t'oder side ob ship, hey?" + +"That's a good idea," said Captain Miles, and he offered Jake his hat to +use as a bait, but the darkey shook his head at this. + +"No, tankee, Mass' Cap'en, I'se got sumfin' better nor dat," he +exclaimed, pulling off the guernsey with which he had sheltered me the +first night we were exposed on the wreck. "Dis do ebber so much +betterer. Shark smell um, an' tink he hab dis niggah, yah, yah!" + +As he laughed, he tied one end of a bit of the signal halliards, which +he had used to lash himself to the rigging, to the guernsey, lowering it +down to a short distance above the surface of the water, where he kept +it dangling. + +One of the sharks rose towards it, another coming up soon after in its +train; and then Jake kept continually shifting the rope round that +portion of the taffrail of the poop which was above the sea, the sharks +following in chase of the deceptive bait until he had lured them round +to the inside part of the ship to join the one who was still on sentry +there. + +This was just what Jackson wanted; so he now proceeded to climb out +along the mizzen rigging until he reached the point where the sea lapped +it, when he arranged his running noose underneath, tying the loose end +of the rope to the shrouds in a double hitch. + +Jake then manoeuvred the baited line nearer to where the second mate had +stationed himself, climbing out into the mizzen rigging too; when, as +the leading shark turned over on its back and bit at the guernsey, +Jackson slipped the running knot over its tail, pulling the noose in so +that it held tightly. Then, seizing the handspike, he began belabouring +the monster in a way that must pretty well have astonished its weak +nerves, Jake the while stabbing it in the tail-end of the body with his +long-bladed knife. + +There was a terrific scuffle in which the water was tossed high in the +air; but, after a minute or two, the shark broke the rope and managed to +get away, although it was so seriously injured that it still remained on +its back, and a quantity of blood poured out from the wounds it had +received. + +This made the crippled animal's comrades set upon it, tearing it to +pieces between them; and, while they were gorging themselves with the +dissevered carcass, Jake dived into the sea under the fierce creatures, +stabbing them wherever he could with such effect that his onslaught +frightened the whole lot away--not a shark being visible in the vicinity +within a few minutes after the commencement of the fray! + +"Jerryboosalum!" exclaimed Jake, when, presently, he emerged all +dripping and triumphant from the blood-stained waters. "We pay out dem +debbels for ebberybody now. You nebber see dem come back hyar agin, +I'se bet." + +Nor did we. + +There was no doubt of the rapacious brutes having been finally scared +away. + +"You're a couple of brave fellows," cried Captain Miles when the two +avengers climbed back in again on to the poop bulwarks, after thus +carrying the war into Egypt, routing the foes that had kept us so long +prisoners, and prevented us from doing anything towards righting the +ship. "Now, I think, we can make another attempt to find that axe of +the carpenter's in the fo'c's'le, if you are not too tired, Jake, to go +in after it again?" + +"Bress you, no, Mass' Captain, me no tire' at all! Me get axe in brace +ob shakes, if um dar," answered the willing fellow, laughing and showing +his shining ivory teeth as he opened his mouth from ear to ear; and, +almost as soon as he had uttered the words, he ran along the bulwarks +towards the fore part of the ship, scrambled out into the main rigging, +and dived into the sea immediately over the opening into the forecastle, +at the same spot where he had previously gone down. + +Once, twice, he came up to the surface again to take breath after a +lengthened stay under the water; but, each time he rose with empty +hands. + +A third time he reappeared, still unsuccessful; and then we began to +give up hope, although watching him all the while with the most intense +anxiety. + +None spoke a word, hardly daring to move. + +Our interest in his actions was keen to intensity! + +Our fate seemed trembling in the balance. + +Once more he dived. + +This was the fourth time he had ventured beneath the sea in his search +for the coveted weapon, which was to free the ship from the cumbersome +masts and top-hamper that kept her down on her beam-ends. + +Unless we got the axe we would never be able to right her again; and we +all regarded this dive of Jake's as the last chance, although we did not +exchange a syllable--our looks expressed our thoughts. + +Jake now remained longer below than he had yet done, so we feared some +mishap had befallen him; but, just as Jackson was preparing to dive down +into the water that covered the forecastle, to see what had become of +him, the plucky darkey popped up above the surface, holding something in +one hand as he swam with the other towards the main rigging. + +Our hearts beat high with expectation. + +In another minute, Jake had mounted into the shrouds, when our suspense +was quickly relieved; for, no sooner had he clambered near enough to the +ship's side to get a support for his feet, than he raised himself erect. + +"Golly, Mass' Cap'en," he sang out in feeble accents, being now pretty +well exhausted with his repeated efforts, "I'se got him at last! I'se +got him at last!" + +At the same time, he lifted up whatever it was he held in his hand, and +tried to wave it round his head in token of his victory. + +It was Adze's axe. + +"Hooray!" shouted Captain Miles at the extreme pitch of his voice, and +the responsive cheer we raised in chorus might have been heard more than +a mile away. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +RIGHTING THE SHIP. + +"Now, men!" cried out Captain Miles, when our excitement had calmed down +a little, "we've got the axe; but, the next thing we have to do is to +use it, so as to release the ship as soon as we can. I think, my lads, +I ought to have the first turn." + +So saying, taking the axe from Jake, he made a slash at the end of the +hawser which had been rigged up over the head of the foremast, when, the +strands being cut through after a couple of heavy strokes, the rope +parted, curling up like a whip and flying up in the air with a pretty +sharp report. + +"Now, Mr Marline, it's your turn," said the captain, having thus set an +example in commencing the work; and then, the first mate, nothing loth, +attacked the main-shrouds, severing them clear to the chain-plates, when +he handed over the axe to Jackson, who also did wonders with the weapon +towards clearing away the heavy rigging that had so long resisted the +efforts of the men with their clasp-knives. + +The sea by this time was quite calm, thus greatly facilitating our +labour; but, from our not having had any food for two days, all hands +were very weak, and it took them a much longer time to free the ship of +all her rope hamper and cordage than they would have achieved the task +in if they had possessed their proper strength. It was, therefore, +quite late on in the afternoon when the rigging on the port side was all +detached, although Jake had recovered the axe at noon, and we had set to +work immediately afterwards. + +This, however, was only a preliminary to the real labour that lay before +us--that of cutting away the masts, a much more serious matter. + +The ship, it must be recollected, was lying completely over on her +starboard side, with all her spars extended horizontally flat along the +surface of the sea, which washed up to the hatches; so that, even +amidships, the water was too deep for the men to have stood on the deck, +even if they could have found foothold; there. Away ahead, the bows +were completely submerged right up to the fore-chains, the ocean swell +washing right through the _Josephine_ fore and aft, right up to the +poop. + +Luckily, however, the upper portion of the mainmast bitts projected out +of the water, so, Jackson, climbing down on to these and supporting +himself as well as he could by balancing his body with his feet | +extended outwards straddle-ways, commenced to slash away at the mast +here; while the rest of the men, under Mr Marline's directions, +proceeded to clear away the rigging and unreeve those ropes which they +were able to reach, in order to leave the spar clear for Jackson to work +upon it freely. + +It was a terribly tough job, though, the young seaman having to waste a +part of each blow in the water that covered the foot of the mast. This +neutralised his efforts, but he could not help it, for the axe splashed +in the sea before touching the wood. + +After a short spell, Jackson, quite feeble from hunger and exhaustion, +had to give in, when Moggridge took his place, chopping vigorously at +the mast as long as he was able. Then, another sailor took a turn at +it, and so on, until each had had his go; when Jackson, rested a bit and +refreshed by a long drink of water, began anew, making the chips of the +hard wood fly as well as the sea, which he splashed up at every stroke +the spray going into his eyes and almost blinding him. + +All the men worked with the greatest perseverance in spite of their weak +state; and, just before sunset, when the mast was about half cut +through, it gave signs of at length yielding, sundry sharp cracks being +heard as its natural buoyancy forced it to rise, the different purchases +that previously held it to the deck being also now severed. + +"Bravo, men, one spell more all round, and we'll have the spar loose!" +cried Captain Miles, going down into the waist himself to head this last +attack, and taking a longer turn with the axe than anyone. + +Blow after blow was then rained upon the heel of the mast, all working +with fresh courage and determination as the ponderous piece of timber +gave way before their efforts, a wide gaping hole having been now made +in it by the axe. + +"Look out and stand clear!" shouted Jackson, catching on to the same old +sling he had rove out of the topsail halliards by which he had lowered +himself from the bulwarks, and swinging himself out of danger. "It's +coming at last!" + +At the same moment, a scrunching, wrenching sound was heard, followed by +a long, loud crack; and then, up floated the mainmast cut off close to +the deck, although still attached to the ship by the rigging on the +starboard side--which could not be reached, of course, at present, being +under water, and the sea covering it to the depth of ten or twelve feet. + +The effect of this relief to the ship was at once apparent, the forward +portion of the wreck sensibly rising out of the sea, and the top of the +forecastle being now visible, as well as the whole of the port bulwarks +up to the cat-head on that side; while the main-deck below us, and the +upper portion of the poop, became slanting at an angle towards the water +on the starboard, instead of being almost perpendicular to it as before, +thus showing that the centre of gravity was changed and the vessel +recovering her stability. + +"Bravo, men!" exclaimed Captain Miles joyously, delighted at such +confirmatory proofs that his hopes of righting the _Josephine_ were not +unduly sanguine. "As soon as we get the foremast clear she'll come up +all standing, never fear! Can't you see how the poor thing is trying +hard to free herself now?" + +As the portion of the floating mast that was inboard now rose out of the +water as far as the main-top, a party of the men with Moggridge +scrambled on to it and began cutting away the various cross ropes, +halliards, clew-lines, and so on, that held it to the fore and mizzen +spars. The yards had now floated too, although the upper portion of the +mainmast bearing their weight, as it slewed over, pressed on the +starboard bulwarks, remaining in that position from the calmness of the +sea, which had not motion enough to drift it away. + +"If only a slight breeze would spring up now, so as to rouse a little +more swell, we'd float clear of this wreck," observed Mr Marline. +"Half the weight of the mast still tends to keep the ship down to +leeward." + +"Ah, we don't want it rough yet," said the captain. "The foremast is +the main thing to get rid of now; and, unless the sea keeps still, we'll +never manage to cut that away, for it is still more under water than the +mainmast was." + +"I forgot that," replied the mate; and then, both went along the +bulwarks forwards to where Jackson was beginning operations at the other +spar. + +If the mainmast had proved stubborn and unyielding, this was twenty +times more so, the great difficulty being that there was no vantage- +ground to be had, in the shape of a firm footing, from whence to ply the +axe. + +"It's no use, sir," said Jackson, when the captain had come abreast of +the spot where he was standing, in the fore-rigging, trying vainly to +reach the mast below. "I can't even touch the timber, much less make a +blow at it!" + +"Well, all that can be done," replied Captain Miles, "is to lighten it +as much as possible. Cut away what rigging you are able to lay hands +on, and if the sea gets up in the night it may work free." + +"All right, sir," said Jackson; so, he and the gang with him went to +work with a will, slashing here and there at the cordage connecting the +mast with the port side of the ship. + +Meanwhile, Jake had been very busy, proving himself quite as useful as +the rest. + +Swimming like a fish he had gone into the sea near the wreck of the +mainmast; and, with that long knife of his, which had done so much +damage to the sharks, he began cutting away the fastenings of the +topgallant-yard, although leaving the lee-braces intact, so that the +spar could be hauled in by and by. + +Moggridge was on the mast, too, and, with his gang of men, was operating +on the tressel-trees to free the lower yard; so that, before it was +dark, the whole stick of the mainmast was nearly clear. Only the +shrouds and stays on the starboard side now held it to the hull; and, +consequently, when it felt inclined to shift its position athwart ship +it could easily do so. + +Jackson, and those with him forward, having now done as much as they +could to cast-off the foremast gear, Captain Miles hailed them to come +aft. + +"I think," said he, "if we can only contrive to cut away the mizzen, and +a breeze springs up, as there seems every prospect of from these clouds +to windward, then, through the greater buoyancy now possessed by the +ship amidships and astern, the foremast will go of its own accord. At +all events, we can try it; for, as you say, there isn't any chance of +our getting rid of it by any unaided efforts of our own." + +The lighter spars that Jake and Moggridge had detached were now hauled +in and made into a sort of raft, upon which Jackson and the whole lot of +the crew clambered, proceeding to attack the mizzen-mast, the lower part +of which spar was just out of the water. + +Slash, bang went the axe with a will, wielded by hands nerved with all +the strength of desperation, each man cutting away as long as he could, +and then another hand taking his turn. Even I was busy with a knife, +sawing away at the thick ropes, and doing what I could to help the +others. + +The mizzen, being of considerably less diameter than the mainmast, took +a much less time to conquer; so, soon it gave way with a splintering +crash, the jagged heel floating up in the same way as the other, and +working about freely as the rigging was severed so that it could easily +pass overboard. + +"Now, men, we may cry a spell," said Captain Miles when the task was +accomplished. "Nothing more can be done now. We must wait for a breeze +to clear away the wreck, when, I've no doubt, the ship will right +again." + +"I'm sure I hope so, dear captain!" said I fervently. "Do you think she +really will?" + +"Not a doubt of it, my boy," he answered. "She would have never come up +so far if she had meant to stop on her beam-ends. See, now! Why, I can +almost stand up here on the poop, the deck has risen so much already. +By the morning, I hope she'll be right end uppermost again." + +"But, how about our lodging for the night?" suggested Mr Marline. "If +we lie along the bulwarks, in the same way as before, and the ship +rights suddenly in the night, we'll be all thrown in the water." + +"I have thought of that," said Captain Miles. "We'll brace up this raft +of spars here close in under the bulwarks inboard, and then we'll be on +the safe side of the hedge if she comes up while we're napping! Let us +have another drink of water now, Jackson, my lad, and turn in for the +night, for I've no doubt you're all pretty tired. I'm sorry I can't +pipe down to supper." + +"You are not more sorry than I am," put in Mr Marline drily. "I could +eat with the greatest gusto the skeleton of my grandmother's cat now!" + +This speech of his had the very effect he wished of making the men laugh +at their privation. Judging by my own feelings, they must have felt +terribly hungry and empty; for, instead of two days, it seemed two years +since I had tasted food. + +I was fairly famishing! + +There was no chance yet, however, of our getting anything to eat; so, in +accordance with Captain Miles's directions, preparations were now made +for our accommodation during the night, as the evening was beginning to +close in and darkness to settle down on the face of the deep, veiling +the waste of waters from the gaze of us poor shipwrecked fellows. + +The loose spars detached from the masts were hauled up lengthwise along +the bulwarks on the inner side of the poop, where they were lashed +securely so as to form a sort of shelf; and, on this, all hands now +settled themselves as comfortably as they could--Captain Miles with Mr +Marline and myself being on the after part of the structure, while +Jackson with the others bunked down nearer the break of the poop; but, +each man was separately tied, for greater precaution, in case of the sea +getting up again and the waves breaking over the vessel. + +While we had been moving about exerting ourselves, the sense of hunger +had not been so apparent, although all experienced its gnawing pain in a +greater or less degree; but now, resting quietly, doing nothing and +having to bear all the suspense of waiting for what might turn out +possibly to be only an uncertainty on the morrow, the ravenous feeling +that assailed us became almost unbearable, several of the men moaning +and groaning in their sleep. + +As for myself, I know that when I dozed off in fragmentary snatches of +sleep I dreamed of all sorts of splendid banquets, with nice dishes such +as I had often tasted in the West Indies when dad gave a dinner-party; +only to waken up in the still darkness and hear the melancholy wash of +the sea surging up against the ship's hull, with the creaking noise the +masts made as they surged to and fro on the swell. + +Up to midnight, as far as we could tell the time, no breeze came; but, +towards morning, a slight wind arose, when the sea became agitated, as +we could hear from the sound of it breaking over the hull forwards, the +ends of the masts worked to and fro more boisterously, grinding against +the starboard bulwarks and tearing the timbers away bit by bit. + +"Ah!" I heard Captain Miles say, as if talking to himself, "this is our +chance if it only does not get too rough." + +The sound of his voice woke up Gottlieb, the remaining German sailor, +who was lying near Jake, the latter being next me as usual. + +This man had taken the loss of his countryman a good deal to heart. Our +hardships, besides, had affected his health; for, all of us noticed how +ill he looked during the day when working at clearing away the masts. + +"I vas die!" he now exclaimed. + +"Dying? Nonsense, my man, not a bit of it," cried Captain Miles. "Keep +up your courage, and you'll be worth a hundred dead men yet." + +"Ach nein, I vas die, I knows," replied the other, speaking solemnly in +deep low tones. + +His German accent and mode of speech seemed to come out more strongly +now than I had noticed before; and it flashed across my mind how I had +once read somewhere that, when a man is at his last, though he may have +lived amongst strangers for years and spoken a foreign tongue, he will +then naturally go back to the language and thoughts of his own country. + +"Shall I get you some water?" asked Jackson, who was also awake and +heard what Gottlieb had said. + +"Nein--no. I want not water, not nothing," returned the other. +"Listen, I've got to tell you sometings before I vas die. I did not +speak before for fear to make mischief. You remember my poor frients +Hermann?" + +"Aye," said Captain Miles, now keenly attentive. "Poor fellow, he fell +overboard and got caught by the sharks." + +"Dat is what I vant explain," painfully whispered the German, his voice +failing him. "Hermann vas not fall overboard. He vas throwed over." + +"Thrown over! How--by whom?" exclaimed the captain quite startled. + +"He vas throw over by Davis--he one bad man." + +"Davis?" cried Captain Miles, all of us eagerly listening. + +"Ye-es. Davis, he grab holt of poor Hermann and say, `ah, you rascal, +Jackson, I have you now,' and den he pitch him over the side. Poor +Hermann, he give one yell, for he vas sleep and not awaken yet, and den +dere vas a splash and de sharks swallow him up!" + +"Good heavens, man!" cried Captain Miles, "why did you not tell us of +this before?" + +"I vas afraid, and de man is now dead too; so I did not speak," answered +the other slowly. + +"Yes, he's dead and gone to his account! I suppose we need not talk +about him any more," said the captain, deeply moved, adding a minute +after, as if unable to keep his emotion to himself, "But, he was a +scoundrel! I say, Jackson, you had a lucky escape from him last night!" + +"Thank God, sir, yes," replied the young seaman. "He took a grudge to +me from the first, before ever you promoted me, and that, of course, +made him hate me afterwards more than ever. I did not think, though, he +would have tried to take my life. I suppose that was the reason he +looked so very strangely when he tried to clutch me before he jumped +into the sea?" + +"Not a doubt of it," said Mr Marline. "He seemed thunderstruck, I +know, for I particularly noticed his look. He must have been surprised +at seeing you there alive, when he thought he had already settled you +for good and all!" + +"Well, he has met his own punishment," answered Jackson; "and I do not +bear him any ill-will now--or ever did for that matter. Let him rest." + +"Aye," said Captain Miles; "but, how's Gottlieb going on--are you +better, my man?" + +But, there was no answer to the captain's question; and Jackson, bending +over the German sailor, found his heart had ceased to beat, his body +already becoming cold. + +"Golly, Mass' Cap'en," called out Jake, "him 'peak de trute dat time, +suah, him dead as door-nail!" + +This news made everyone silent, each man thinking how soon his own time +might come; and we anxiously awaited the morning. + +During the sad episode that had occurred the wind had risen, beginning +to blow pretty strongly from the westwards. The sea, too, had got up, +for short choppy waves were dashing against the stern of the ship and +throwing their broken wash over us. This made our situation less +comfortable than it had been previously, our worn-out bodies and hunger- +stricken frames not being able to stand the exposure so well now as at +first. + +The masts, also, were grinding against the bulwarks and making a +horrible din, the crunching of the timber work and splintering noise of +the planks almost deadening the noise of the sea and preventing us from +hearing each other speak. Not that we felt much inclined for +conversation, answering for myself; for, I was chilled to the bone from +the cool evening air penetrating my wet clothes, which got more and more +saturated as the waves came over the poop, while I was faint with hunger +and exhausted from want of sleep. + +Thus the weary night passed, the sky being clouded over so that even the +lights of heaven could not shine down to cheer us up; and, to add to the +bitterness of our unhappy plight, our hearts were full of the untimely +end of poor Gottlieb, the German sailor who had passed away so suddenly +from amongst us, and the shocking disclosure he had made just before his +tired spirit sought eternal rest, of the treachery of Davis--whose +terrible fate, in front of our very eyes, seemed a just judgment for his +murder of Hermann and foiled vengeance on Jackson, the latter of whom +had evidently only escaped with his life through the wretched man's +mistake. + +At last, when it seemed as if we could hold out no longer, a faint gleam +appeared in the east lighting up the horizon, and morning dawned +gloomily upon us; but, a heavy mist hung over the sea and it took the +rays of the rising sun a long time to pierce through this, albeit there +was light enough for us to survey the scene around. + +The ocean now, instead of rising and falling with the sullen swell that +had given motion to it the day before, was covered with short broken +waves that rolled up from the westwards with the wind, dashing against +the partly-submerged vessel and throwing clouds of spray over those +portions of the hull above the surface of the water, a large share of +which we also came in for. + +This motion of the sea, we could perceive, had considerably altered the +position of the masts that had been cut away, for they were rolling over +and grinding down the starboard bulwarks, the inboard ends working +themselves gradually fore and aft the ship, the lee side of which had +risen quite a couple of feet higher out of the water during the night. + +"Another good wave or two will send all that hamper adrift," said +Captain Miles, looking round and calculating our chances. + +"Yes," replied Mr Marline, "they are coming from the right direction +too, for if they broke over us abeam, then the foremast could not free +itself. Now it possibly may, from the leverage it has against the +fo'c's'le." + +"You're right," said the captain; "and here comes a good-sized roller +that may finish the job. Look out, lads, and hold on!" + +Onward, as we gazed astern, came a large green sea, with a white angry +crest, swelling larger and larger as it got nearer, until it almost hung +above the poop before breaking. + +"Hold on, lads, hold on!" cried the captain, repeating his previous +warning, when, with a dull thud the mass of water broke, covering us all +with a sheet of foam that drenched us through and through, almost swept +us away from our lashings--the spars that supported us being lifted up +from the deck and then dropped again as suddenly. + +At the same time, there was a heavy crash heard forward, and the ship +lurched as if she were going to founder. She quivered all over, and her +timbers creaked and groaned. + +Next, she rolled heavily more over to starboard, as the wave which had +broken over us sped onwards, washing the waist and forecastle; and then, +with another great crash the mizzen and mainmasts rolled into the sea, +and the port side of the ship that was under water rose up clear. + +The foremast, which had broken away when we heard that great crash +forwards had been snapped off just below the slings of the fore-yard, +and had followed its companions overboard, although still towed +alongside by the stays and starboard rigging that also held the other +spars; and, the next instant, with an upward bound the _Josephine_ +righted. At the same moment, the water that had filled the cabin and +waist and forecastle poured out on either side through the scuppers and +broken bulwarks; while the sunken part of the poop and lower deck rose +high and dry again as we looked on, hardly believing that what we had so +anxiously awaited and striven for had come to pass at last. + +"Thank God!" exclaimed Captain Miles in a voice faltering with emotion; +while several of the men, quite unnerved, burst into tears. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +"A BAKER'S DOZEN." + +"Do you know what day it is?" observed Captain Miles presently, as we +were all busily engaged freeing ourselves from the lashings that held us +to the spars, preparing to stand on the deck once more in an upright +position and stretch our sadly cramped legs, our movements for so many +hours having been much restricted. + +"No," replied Mr Marline, taking the question to himself as he stamped +his feet vigorously to restore the circulation of the stagnant blood. +"I have lost all count nearly of time during this awful week!--Saturday, +is it not--or Monday?" + +"You are a little behind in one guess and too far ahead in the other!" +said the captain quietly. "It is Sunday, the seventh day since our +trials began." + +"Well," responded the other; "it is a lucky day for us, whatever it may +be, sir. I confess I never expected such a fortunate ending as this to +our sad misfortunes. I had made up my mind that we must go to the +bottom; and pretty soon too, after the wind rose again!" + +"I hoped for the best," answered Captain Miles, shaking himself like a +big Newfoundland dog, and stepping gingerly along the poop as if half +afraid to walk. "I never despaired even in our darkest hour; and I'm +glad to say I didn't, for I trusted in Providence! But come," he added, +with all his old brisk manner restored in a moment, smiling cheerfully, +"we must see about getting things ship-shape around us; for it would be +a poor return for the mercy we have received to sit down idly now and do +nothing to help ourselves. Look alive, men, there's plenty to see to!" + +There was; so much, indeed, that it almost seemed a puzzle where to +begin. + +Our first consideration was the masts, which were still attached to the +hull by all the starboard rigging, and were banging against that side of +the vessel with each send of the sea, threatening to knock the lower +timbers in; so, a working party being quickly organised under the +indefatigable Jackson, the axe was called into use again and the +remaining shrouds cut away, the fore and main-braces being passed round +the stump of the foremast, which stood some twenty feet or so from the +deck, in order to prevent the span from going adrift when the shrouds +parted. + +The lee rigging, tautened by the strain of the masts dependent from it, +was soon severed; and then, the ship being more buoyant, floated away +some yards leeward--the spars veered out to the length of the braces, +serving as a sort of breakwater and keeping the waves from coming in +over the bows as she tended, for her stern at once coming round caused +her to ride easily, head to wind, just as if she were anchored. + +"Now, men," cried Captain Miles when this was managed, and no pressing +danger stared us in the face, "we must now see whether we can't get up +anything to eat from the after-hold. I daresay you fellows feel a bit +hungry, eh?" + +You should have only seen the look on every face when he said this! + +The very idea of food made all ravenous; and it was as much as Captain +Miles could do to prevent the hands from rushing in a body into the +cabin. + +The men seemed inclined to eat him when he put out his hand to stop +them. + +"Take it coolly!" he sang out, pushing one or two back that had pressed +forwards. "I will see that you've not long to wait. Jake, you know +your way below, I believe?" + +"Iss, massa," replied the darkey with a broad grin. "Harry bery often +sen' me down to get stores when um busy." + +"Ah, the poor fellow, I had forgotten him," ejaculated the captain, +entering the cabin at once and going towards the steward's pantry; but +he had to pick his steps carefully, the place being heaped up with a +variety of things that had been swept out of the different berths by the +sea, and were washing up and down for more than two days. + +As Captain Miles had surmised, the mulatto had been drowned inside the +little apartment devoted to his use; for there his body was now found, +the colour of the skin nearly white through the action of the water. +The corpse was brought out and laid reverently under the break of the +poop by a couple of sailors whom the captain called into the cabin for +the purpose; after which he and Jake then proceeded to unfasten the +hatches leading down into the after-hold in search of provisions for the +living, there being plenty of time to attend to the obsequies of the +dead later on when our more urgent needs were supplied. + +Cuffee the cook during this interval had gone forward to look after his +old galley; and loud was his lament to find it washed away, its weight +having parted the strong lashings that secured it to the ring-bolts in +the deck when the ship capsized. + +"Boderation!" he exclaimed. "How can um cook w'en dere's nuffin' to +cook, an' no place to cook in?" + +"Belay that grumblin' o' yourn, darkey," cried old Moggridge, who had +been poking about amongst a heap of the debris of ropes and broken spars +and gear that were piled in a heap between the windlass bitts and the +top of the topgallant forecastle. "I do believe your blessed old +caboose hasn't been washed overboard arter all! Here it is, only on its +beam-ends like the ship was an hour ago; but I daresay all your pots and +pans are all right inside." + +"Golly, bosun, does you mean dat?" exclaimed Cuffee, going up quickly to +where Moggridge was standing, inspecting the mass of heterogeneous +things that had fetched up in the corner, consisting of a portion of one +of the anchor-stocks, the men's clothes and traps washed out from their +bunks, mess-tins, and all sorts of stray dunnage. "You tell me de +galley am right an' safe, for true, hey?" + +"Why, there it is, you ugly varmint! Can't you see it for yourself?" +retorted the old seaman, rather nettled at having his word doubted. + +"Lor' a mussy, dere it am!" ejaculated Cuffee, highly delighted when his +own eyes confirmed the fact. "Golly, Bosun, we can cook sumfin' now!" + +"I don't know how you're going to manage that as it stands," said +Moggridge sarcastically. "Strikes me you'd better see about rigging it +up properly first!" + +"I'se spec' you'll help, Massa Bosun," hinted the darky cook in an +obsequious way; "you clebber man, Massa Moggridge, an' knows how to +bowse tings up." + +"Oh, yes; I don't want any of your blarney now, Cuffee. I fancy we're +all hungry enough to eat anything raw when we gets it, without botherin' +about cooking to-day at any rate!" + +A grunt of assent came from all the hands standing by at this remark; +and I then turned round to see what Captain Miles and Jake were about in +the cabin. I had not yet entered that apartment, the finding of the +steward's dead body having scared me away. The pallid corpse looked so +ghastly and terrible! + +As I turned to go to the after portion of the vessel I was almost afraid +that I should see the dead body of the steward again; but on reaching +the entrance to the cabin I noticed a tarpaulin covering it in the +corner, and I went hastily by, turning my face away, and bolting within +the swing doors. + +Here, if the jumble of miscellaneous odds and ends under the break of +the forecastle had struck me as strange, the confusion was ever so much +worse; for, nothing having been washed out, the entire furniture of +every separate berth, as well as of the main saloon, were mixed together +in one indistinguishable mass--clothes, books, food and crockery-ware, +perishable and imperishable goods alike, all mingled in one inharmonious +whole. + +Blankets, bedding, and pillows were piled on the chairs and benches that +had surrounded the centre table, which article, with its legs +upstanding, was jammed into the captain's own sanctum, half in and half +out, like the cow had been; while the fragments of plates and dishes, +coffee-pots and glass-ware of all description, were scattered on the +floor in every direction. Captain Miles's sextant and the tell-tale +compass, that used to hang from the middle of the ceiling of the deck +above, reposed peaceably together on the top of a double Gloucester +cheese. Every variety of eatable was mixed up higgledy piggledy with +articles for table use, and all sorts of known and unknown garments. + +My trunk had not escaped the general destruction, the new outfit with +which I had been provided being all spoilt; while some pictures and +various cherished mementoes of my old West Indian home shared the fate +of Mr Marline's wardrobe and the captain's kit. + +Indeed, the sea had performed its scouring work so well, that it would +have puzzled a wiser man than Solomon to have decided what was each +individual's personal property, the whole having been thrown together +like one of the odd lots at an auction sale. + +After surveying the medley for a few moments, my attention was attracted +to Captain Miles and Jake, the latter of whom was down within the store- +room under the hatch in the stern-sheets, only his woolly head +projecting, handing up several tins of potted meats and bags of biscuit +to the captain; while the latter was placing these as he received them +on a clear space of the deck from which he had swept the broken refuse +away, checking off the things as Jake ferreted them out from below, his +head bobbing down and up again each moment. + +"There," said Captain Miles, as I came up to the two; "three bags of +biscuit, four seven-pound tins of boiled mutton, two tins of preserved +vegetables, one ham, one cheese, six pounds of coffee, and one firkin of +butter. I think that will do. But, where is the sugar I told you to +get out, Jake?" + +"Here he am," replied the darkey, handing another bag up. "Dat's fine +sugar, sah, for de cabin table." + +"And where is the other sort?" asked the captain. + +"Um here too; but cask too big for dis chile to lift." + +"Then you must get out more in something smaller, for the men's coffee +in the morning," said Captain Miles. "I don't want them to be treated +differently to myself, and I know I like sugar in mine." + +"Yah, yah, massa too good," laughed Jake; but he proceeded to obey the +captain's orders, and another bag was soon added to the pile on the +floor of the cabin awaiting distribution. + +"Now, Tom," said Captain Miles to me, "run and call in a couple of the +hands to take out their rations. I'm going to serve out the grub at +once, and we may as well all eat together." + +It should be mentioned that all these preparations, although I have +taken so long to describe them, did not take up much time, the captain +knowing from his own feeling that the men were all starving, and not +keeping them an instant longer without food than he could help. + +On receipt of his order, therefore, I hastened away, returning almost +immediately with one of the sailors and Cuffee, who asserted his right +of coming for the food; but, while I was absent Jake had procured a +knife that was used for opening the tins of preserved meat out of the +steward's pantry, where, from its being hung on a hook, it had escaped +being lost among the other debris. With this useful little article he +now proceeded to take off the tops of the cases containing the boiled +mutton, Cuffee and his assistant parcelling the same out under the +captain's eye. + +The cabin table had been set upon its legs again and the provisions +placed upon it, when the men being ordered to file in, Captain Miles +distributed a small portion of the meat with a couple of biscuits to +each. He advised them to eat slowly and moderately, saying that if they +did otherwise they would feel very badly afterwards, on account of +having gone so long without food. + +Mr Marline and Jackson and myself were also rationed out in similar +fashion, each and all of us, irrespective of position, being treated on +an equality and Captain Miles himself only taking the same quantity that +he gave us; then, when all had thus broken their fast, the men were +dismissed and allowed to carry off away forward the greater portion of +the provisions that had been got out for them, although with strict +injunctions still to eat sparingly, at all events on this first day of +their tasting any nourishment. They were likewise told to be careful +not to drink too much water, Jackson, who had charge of the cask, being +ordered to use discretion. + +"We are only thirteen all told now aft--a baker's dozen, men," said the +captain, "and I wish to carry you home in good health with me to +England; so, mind what you are after, for my sake if not for your own! +We have weathered the gale, and stuck to the ship though bottom upwards, +for nigh on three days, braving the perils of the deep in the way of +sharks and such like; consequently I think it would be hard lines on me +if I couldn't fetch you safe into port in the end." + +"You're a real good sort, Cap'en Miles, that's what you are!" cried +Moggridge--acting as spokesman for the rest by general consent +apparently, for the others gave a subdued sort of cheer that seemed to +intimate their acquiescence in his remarks--"and I thinks as how we'd be +no better nor brute beasts if we weren't to act as how you advises, eh, +lads?" + +"Aye, aye," chorused the rest affirmatively. + +"That's all right then," said Captain Miles. "You can see I don't want +to stint you, for I've only given you these few supplies to carry you on +until we can get to the ship's stores in the main hold. You may go +forward now, and I'd recommend you to get out all your duds and hang 'em +out to dry as soon as you can, so as to have a shift bye and bye, and +that'll do you as much good as the grub." + +The hands then retired from the cabin, leaving only the captain and Mr +Marline and I there, Jackson going out into the waist too, in order to +draw some water and serve it out by the captain's directions. + +"Oh, Captain Miles!" I exclaimed when we were thus left together, "all +my clothes are spoilt." + +"And oh, Master Tom!" he retorted, "how about my poor chronometers? +They've stopped and will never go again, I suppose, till they've been +put in dry dock in London and had a thorough overhaul, salt water not +agreeing with their constitutions as it does with some folk. By Jove, +though, Marline, I never thought of that before. I shall be puzzled how +to get my longitude bye and bye, I fancy." + +"My old watch is going, sir," said the mate. "I set it by the ship's +time before our capsize, and it goes pretty correctly, for I didn't +forget to wind it up all the time we were spread-eagling on the +bulwarks." + +"You didn't?" cried the captain. "You're a wonderful fellow, Marline, +and you ought to be Archbishop of Canterbury or something! You say you +set it by the ship's time on Thursday?" + +"I don't know what day it was, sir, but it was the last time you took +the sun," replied the other. + +"Then, at that time, I recollect, we were in 32 degrees north latitude +and 40 degrees west longitude. Ha, humph, I see! That will give us +pretty well the time at Greenwich, with a little deduction. It's all +right, Marline, I have it. Mind, though, you don't let the old turnip +run down." + +"Turnip, indeed!" exclaimed Mr Marline in pretended indignation, +winking at me. "Just you hear him, Master Tom!" + +"Well, well, I beg its pardon and yours," said the captain laughing; +"but, let us get out of this disgraceful hole and go out on deck to see +what the weather is like. Jake!" + +"Iss, massa," replied the darkey, who, I forgot to mention, remained +behind when the rest of the crew went forwards. + +"I'm going to make you steward in poor Harry's place," said Captain +Miles. + +"Iss, massa," responded Jake, greatly pleased at the honour thus +bestowed on him, and making a low how with a scrape back of his left +foot, according to negro etiquette, in acknowledgment of the favour. + +"Look out, my lad, and make matters snug here as well as you can. You +may call in your brother darkey the cook to help you, if you like." + +"Golly, massa, me do him much betterer own self," replied Jake grinning +hugely. "Dat Cuffee bery lazy sometimes." + +"Well, well, that's like the pot calling the kettle black, I fancy," +said Captain Miles smiling. "However, you can please yourself, and get +any of the hands you may want to assist in lifting back the bunks and so +on in their proper places--some of the things may be too heavy for you. +At all events, make the saloon presentable before we come down again, +and swab up the deck." + +"That's a willing fellow," he added to Mr Marline, as we went out and +mounted the poop-ladder. "I never saw a negro so handy, so plucky, and +so willing." + +"Thank you, Captain Miles," I said, taking the compliment to myself, as +having a sort of family ownership in Jake. + +"Why, what have you got to do with it, Tom Eastman?" he asked in his +humorous way, poking fun at me. + +"Well, captain, I don't think you'd ever have seen him on board if it +hadn't been for me," I retorted. + +"You're right there, but I'll thank you for his passage-money, then, +Master Tom," said he, laughing at his joke and I too joining in, our +wonderful good fortune having restored all our spirits amazingly. + +The sun now came out and the day became bright and cheerful, with a +gentle soft breeze blowing from the south-west which was just sufficient +to curl the crests of the waves and make the sea sparkling, the heavy +waves of the morning having lessened considerably and the whole expanse +of the ocean dancing before our eyes in the warm light of the noontide. + +"I see," observed Mr Marline, "the hands have quickly acted on your +advice about drying their clothes." + +"Aye, poor fellows; and time enough, too, for they haven't had a dry rag +on them, I believe, since last Monday." + +"You forget you have been in the same plight," replied the other, as we +looked at the long strings of shirts and trousers and guernsey frocks +hanging from ropes that were stretched from the stump of the foremast +across the deck forwards, all fluttering in the wind and making the ship +look as if she were dressed with bunting in honour of some royal +birthday. + +"And so have you too, Marline, as well as this young shaver," returned +the captain good-humouredly; "but I was not thinking of ourselves; for, +we're both young fellows, like Master Tom here, and able to brave +anything. Hasn't the ship suffered, though, poor old thing!" he added +as he glanced sympathetically over her and saw all the damage, which, +first the gale, and then our subsequent cutting away of the masts, had +effected. + +"Aye, she doesn't look as trim as when she left port," said Mr Marline. + +Nor did she by a long way! + +The mizzen and mainmasts had been cut down close to the deck, while the +butt-end of the foremast stood up only some twenty feet or so above the +forecastle--a jagged broken piece of timber, with the stays and other +ropes stretching away from its head to the wreck of the spars tumbling +about in the sea in front of us. The bowsprit alone remained intact of +all our sticks, the gale having even spared the jib-boom; while the +martingale and dolphin striker, with the shrouds on either side of the +projecting spar were still all standing. + +Looking inboards, the helm and steering apparatus were undamaged, as was +also the binnacle, although this had a severe list to starboard; but, +the skylight in the centre of the poop had been swept away, as well as a +portion of the bulwarks on the side that had been under water, the +rasping of the mizzen-mast having sawn them off flush with the deck. + +This was the case, too, below in the waist, where the starboard timbers +had been carried away nearly to the fore-chains, which probably had +acted as a buffer and stayed further destruction in that direction; and +it was only owing to this that the galley and pump-box had been saved, +as otherwise both would have been swept overboard along with the dunnage +I had noticed collected under the lee of the forecastle. + +"Well, we mustn't grumble," said Captain Miles after meditating a bit +over the damage with a serious face. "Our lives have been spared and +the ship floats; so, there you have two things to the good, to balance +our account on the other side of the ledger!" + +"You're right, sir," replied Mr Marline; "but have you sounded her yet +to see if we have shipped much water?" + +"Aye, I did that a long time ago, while you were dreaming," said the +captain with a chuckle. "Old Adze the carpenter saw to the matter as +soon as we righted. She has taken in very little in the main hold; but +the fore-peak is full, as I thought, through some careless fellow not +putting on the hatch and battening it down again after we got up these +new sails. However, we can't see about clearing it out yet, for the +pumps are smashed and it will take Adze all day to-morrow to get them in +working order again. Besides, I don't want the men to do more than is +absolutely necessary to-day, for it is Sunday, as I told you before; and +we ought, in more ways than one, considering all we have gone through, +to observe it as a day of rest." + +"I quite agree with you, sir," replied Mr Marline; "and if I had not +thought so, you would have seen me long ere this on the fo'c's'le, +getting up a jury-mast or something." + +"Let you alone for that," said Captain Miles. "But, Marline," he added +the next moment, "there is one thing we must do presently. I thought it +best to leave it until sunset, before letting all hands turn in and have +a good night's rest; and that is--" + +"To bury the steward," suggested the other. + +"You've guessed rightly," said he; "so now, as I see the men taking in +their clothes, which are by this time dry enough, I should fancy, from +their exposure to the sun and wind, I think I'll give them a hail." + +This he did; and bye and bye, as the orb of day sank below the sea, the +body of Harry, tied up in a piece of tarpaulin and with a heavy piece of +chain-cable attached to the feet to make it sink, was committed to the +deep, Captain Miles reading the impressive burial service, for those +lost at sea, out of a prayer-book which he had recovered from the debris +of the cabin and put in his pocket for the purpose. + +This was our religious observance of the day. It was a great contrast +to the prayers on the poop which we had on the previous Sunday, when the +ship, in all the glory of her fine proportions, with her lofty masts +towering into the skies, was rolling on the calm bosom of the ocean, +with her idle sails spread vainly to the breeze that would not come; +now, she was but a battered and dismantled hulk. The breeze we had +wished for had come at last and waxed into a strong wind, which had +ultimately developed into the hurricane that had done all the mischief-- +the final result of which was the present burial of our drowned comrade! + +"Lads," cried Captain Miles when he had finished reading the service and +the body had disappeared below the surface of the restless sea, "you can +go and turn in now, all that like. Mind, you have a good caulk until +early to-morrow morning, when you'll have to rouse out sharp, all hands, +for there be lots to be done!" + +We who were on the poop also went below soon afterwards to the cabin, +where we found that Jake had cleared out all the debris and arranged the +place so neatly that one would scarcely have imagined it had ever been +in the state of confusion we noticed when first entering it. + +Our bunks, too, were all arranged comfortably, with dry blankets spread +in each; and I know that I, for one, was so glad to lie down on anything +like a bed again after the two nights' exposure outside the ship, that I +dropped off to sleep the moment I turned into my cot--the remark the +captain had made about our being now thirteen in number, or a "baker's +dozen," running in my head as a refrain to my dreams, although my rest +was not in any way disturbed. The baker's dozen, however, made me think +of bread on my waking up in the morning; for, I felt more hungry then +than on the previous day, when the first morsel of food I tasted almost +choked me. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +WE BEAT UP FOR THE AZORES. + +It was early dawn when the unwonted sound of feet bustling about over my +head on the deck, which I had not heard now it seemed for an +unconscionable length of time, roused me up to the realisation of our +having at last been relieved from our terrible peril and the privations +we had suffered whilst the ship was on her beam-ends. + +Oh, what joy it was to think we were all safe on board the _Josephine_ +again! + +Hunger, one of the most painful of the sufferings we had experienced, +and indeed the one which I felt the most of any, was now banished +completely to the realms of the past; and I had presently trustworthy +evidence of this, Jake appearing at the door of my cabin and bringing in +a steaming bowl of coffee and some biscuits, as a sort of "little +breakfast" before the larger and more substantial meal was ready--the +galley being already fixed up properly and Cuffee having resumed his +culinary duties with all his paraphernalia in train. + +When I got out on the poop, I noticed that the hands had not been idle +while I was sleeping, so much already having been accomplished in the +way of restoring the ship to an effective condition that the men must +have set to work long before daylight, I was certain. + +Moggridge was just going down the poop-ladder as I mounted it, on his +way forward to execute some order Captain Miles had given him. + +"Fine morning, Master Tom," he said. + +"It is," I responded, "a regular jolly one; but, how busy you all are!" + +"Aye, aye, young master, we can't afford to wait when there's so much to +be done and so precious little time to do it in." + +And then he was off in a jiffey. + +Captain Miles was sitting on the port bulwarks, which were intact, +polishing up his sextant. + +"Good morning, captain," I said. + +"Morning," he answered absently, so much engrossed with one of the eye- +pieces of the instrument that he couldn't even look up. + +I felt like the idle little boy in the story-book, who went and asked, +first, the horse to play with him, and then, when that sagacious animal +refused to accede to his request, on the plea of having his master's +business to attend to, he tried to induce various other quadrupeds to +come and amuse him, only to meet with a constant refusal--the idle boy +having in the end to go to work himself, finding idleness, without +companions to share it, the reverse of pleasure. + +Everybody on board seemed too much engrossed with some task in hand to +attend to me; even Jake, when I went below again, could hardly spare me +a word, for he was intent on polishing up the saloon table again, trying +to efface the effects of its long immersion in the water from the +surface of the mahogany--a somewhat vain task, I may add, as the wood +never recovered its original tone. + +I then went forwards, only to see the men there working like bees. Not +a soul even raised his head to glance at me as I passed by. + +Adze, the carpenter, was up to his ears in the pump casing, which he had +fixed again over the well amidships, after first taking out the valves +and fitting new suckers to them. Cuffee, too, was blowing away at the +galley fire till his black face looked like that of a red Indian; and, +as for Mr Marline, he was in his element, as he always was when +overseeing anything connected with the rigging of the ship, enjoying +himself to his heart's content in setting up a jury-mast to take the +place of our broken foremast. He had made the men lash the topmast and +topgallant-mast to the fragment left of the original spar, securing it +with back-stays and preventers on the port and starboard sides before +getting up the shrouds. These latter, of course, would have now to be +reduced, in order to suit the diminished height of the new mast, whereon +the topsail-yard would have to do duty for the old fore-yard, and the +topgallant one be transferred into a topsail-yard. + +Mr Marline seemed rather proud of his handiwork; so, this made him more +conversational than anyone I had yet tried to talk to. + +"Ha, Tom," he said, "you're just in time to see us cross our yards +again--not a bad job, eh?" + +"No, sir," I replied; "have you been long over it?" + +"Ever since daylight." + +"And have all of you been equally busy?" I asked. + +"Bless you, yes! As for Cuffee, he roused out poor Moggridge early in +the middle watch, to help him to fix the galley, bribing him with the +promise of some hot coffee. That started the hands; for, the boatswain +must needs hail Adze to see after the pumps, and hearing them stirring +about, I came on deck and employed the idlers in getting the spars +alongside, as the sea was as calm as a pond. Then, I set them to work +unreeving the gear and making things snug for setting up our jury-masts, +of which this is the first--a downright seamanlike piece of work I call +it." + +"So it is, sir," said I to please him, seeing him looking up at the new +foremast admiringly; "and, I suppose, Mr Marline, when you've finished +rigging this, you'll begin setting up a new mainmast." + +"Aye, my boy, and a mizzen too after that! You shall see the old +barquey spreading her canvas bravely again before I have done with her." + +Presently, Adze called out that he had made the pumps act at last. + +This brought down Captain Miles from the poop; when, a party of the +sailors at once setting to work, the bilge-water soon rose from below +and flowed in a stream in the scuppers. + +Half an hour's spell served to make the pumps suck dry, showing that the +main hold of the ship was clear; and, seeing this, the captain turned +round and hailed Mr Marline with a triumphant shout. + +"There, Marline," he cried, "what do you think of that, eh? Who was +right and who was wrong?" + +"Well, sir, you were a true prophet this time," replied the first mate +equally well pleased at the result, although it went against his own +prognostication; "I only hope you'll get the fore-peak free as easily; +for, then, we'll float on an even keel." + +"All right, my boy, so we will," said Captain Miles; and he then ordered +the hands to bend the end of the hose down into the forepart of the ship +below that part of the forecastle where the men bunked, the other end of +the hose being attached to the pump cylinder. + +This job was a heavier one than that of clearing the main hold, the men +having to be relieved in spells; but, after several hours' hard work, +the bows of the ship were sensibly lightened of the extra water ballast +we had carried here, and by the afternoon this part of the vessel was +also clear. + +Meanwhile, however, Jake had announced that breakfast was ready and on +the cabin table. This was the first hot meal we had had the chance of +partaking of now for four days, and it may be imagined with what gusto +we all enjoyed it I should add that, Captain Miles, liking good living +himself, took care that the men all round had an equally good spread, +sharing his own private stores liberally, so that those in the +forecastle fared as sumptuously as we did. + +The captain did this out of his own innate good nature; but, had he been +generous merely as an act of policy, it could not have served him in +better stead, the sailors working all the afternoon and far into the +night with all the greater willingness in setting the ship to rights as +a return for the kindness he had displayed. None wanted driving to make +them stick to their several tasks. + +Mr Marline had believed that when the fore-peak was clear of water the +_Josephine_, which until then had her bows almost level with the sea, +would have recovered her proper floatation; but, although her head now +rose, she displayed a decided list to starboard that became the more +apparent as her head became elevated more and more. + +"Some of the cargo must have shifted," said Captain Miles; and with him, +true sailor as he was, to discover a fault was to suggest a remedy. + +"We must take off the battens of the main hatch," he cried. "Mr +Marline, stop rigging those sticks for a bit. It is far more important +for our stowage to be true before we take any more of the heavy spars on +board; for, if we meet with any bad weather, we may turn the turtle +again and not come out of it so cleverly as we managed on the first +occasion!" + +"All right, sir," replied the mate, ordering the hands under his orders +on the forecastle to move aft, where, under the captain's directions, +the hatches were taken off and the cargo exposed to view. + +A pair of shears were then rigged up over the hold, on which a running +tackle with blocks and falls was rigged; when, after several puncheons +of rum had been hoisted out, it was found that the lover tier of the +cargo had lurched over at the time the ship careened. + +It took many hours to alter the arrangement of the sugar casks below, +the rum having to be all hoisted on deck first; but, the hands working +zealously, the job was at last accomplished, the ship soon afterwards +righting properly, with her deck now horizontal to the plane of the +water instead of being at an angle with it as before. + +The puncheons of rum were then again lowered down and stowed securely +and the hatches put on again. The men after this ceased their toils for +the day, it being close on to sunset. + +On the third day, the rigging of the jury foremast was completed and the +head-gear all attached to it, new sails being bent to the yards in the +place of those that had been blown away. Fresh halliards and running +ropes were also rove, so that on an emergency, if the wind arose +suddenly, we could have made sail on the one mast, and thus made a shift +of battling with the elements. + +Fortunately, however, the weather remained beautifully calm, only a +slight breeze springing up for a short time during the first hours of +the morning watch. The light wind had hardly sufficient power to give +motion to the bull of the vessel, and so the task of setting up the +other masts and rigging was satisfactorily proceeded with. + +The mainmast caused the greatest trouble, the remains of the heel having +first to be taken out; although Mr Marline luckily thought of this when +we were re-stowing the cargo on the previous day. Otherwise, we would +have had a second sorting out of the contents of the hold. + +The shears used for raising the rum puncheons not being strong enough to +lift the mainmast, which was a very heavy piece of timber weighing +several hundredweights, the main and fore-yards, with the mizzen +topmast, were set up as a triangle over the place where the spar had to +be stepped--the ends of the yards being fixed firmly against the +bulwarks on either side and lashed together at the top. This "crab" was +then raised in the air by a tackle and purchase, the falls of which were +brought to the capstan and run up by the crew as if they were weighing +anchor. + +Then, the mainmast was slung just about its balancing centre and hauled +inboard through the broken bulwarks--which had not yet been restored on +purpose until all the spars were hoisted in. + +The falls were now again manned; and, the sailors heaving away with one +of their animating choruses, up went the spar in the air above the +vacant hole in the deck from where the old part of the heel had been +removed--guys being belayed on either side to make it drop in true when +it was right over the place for its reception. + +It did not take long to fix it now perpendicularly; although, as the +spar had been severed some feet from the deck, the new end of it was +more slender than the old, and so required packing round with pieces of +wood driven in by mallets to make it secure. + +Next, the standing rigging was set up after being first shortened; and +Adze had a good deal of blacksmith's work to do in making fresh bolts +and eyes, converting Cuffee's galley into a temporary forge for this +purpose. All the ropes and blocks having been carefully collected +beforehand and sorted, this labour did not consume half the time that +one would have thought. + +On the fifth day, the mizzen-mast was also got back into its place. + +Then the yards were crossed and sails bent on the mainmast; and the +_Josephine_ appeared to show nearly as much top-hamper as she did before +the gale, only that all the masts were much shorter than before, the +foremast especially being only an apology for the former spar. + +However, the change made a wonderful improvement in the appearance of +the ship; and when the broken bulwarks were patched up, which was done +on the last day of the week, she was herself again. + +On the Sunday that followed the righting of the ship we had our prayers +on the poop as usual, Captain Miles returning especial thanks to the +great Ruler of the deep for all the mercies we had received; and, as a +fair wind sprung up in the evening of the same day from the south, we +set sail once more, moving away from the spot where we had been +refitting. + +"I don't think," said Captain Miles, "that we've drifted twenty miles +either way since this day week; for there's no current hereabout, and +we've had little or no wind." + +"We're then still about the centre of the Sargasso Sea," observed Mr +Marline. + +"Aye," responded the other; "so Master Tom will have ample opportunities +within the next fortnight or so for studying all you told him about the +Gulf-weed, for I've no doubt we'll presently pass through lots of it." + +"Shall you shape a straight course for the Channel, sir?" asked the +first mate, looking at his watch as he did so in a very self-satisfied +sort of way, it seemed. + +"You may well observe that time-piece of yours carefully," said the +captain with a sigh, although he smiled as he spoke. "On that little +article depends all our navigation--that is, until we meet with some +passing vessel to correct our reckoning, and I don't suppose we shall +come across many of these, for we're out of the track of all voyaging +over this part of the Atlantic save those homeward-bound from the Cape. +I intend to make for Flores, the westernmost island of the Azores, as +we're short of water; besides, by my pursuing that course we shall get +up into the trades, and bye and bye fetch the Gulf Stream, which will +render our passage shorter to the Channel." + +"Very well, we'll see," said Mr Marline, unconsciously using his old +stereotyped form of answer to almost everything. + +"I believe," cried Captain Miles laughing, "that if anybody asked you to +accept a thousand pounds you'd reply, `I'll see about it!'" + +"You just try me and see," replied the first mate drily to this remark, +joining in the captain's laugh; but I noticed that the other did not +take up the offer. + +Through our detention by the calm, in addition to the scurrying to and +fro we had during the hurricane and the long time we remained a helpless +log on the waters, it was now considerably more than two months since we +had left the West Indies; and, as the _Josephine_ did not sail so well +now, besides having light and variable winds, it took us more than +another fortnight to reach Flores and sight the Morro Grande--a mountain +some three thousand feet in height, rising high in the clouds above +Santa Cruz, the capital of the island. + +But, for days before this, we sailed through that wonderful Sargasso +Sea, the circumstances of whose being Mr Marline had explained to me +during the fearful night we passed clinging to the capsized hull of the +ship, exposed to the cruel wash of the pitiless waves; and, as we +ploughed over this submerged meadow of sea-weed in the centre of the +Atlantic, I could not help recalling the mangrove swamps and lagoons of +the tropic island in which my childhood had been passed, wondering the +while, too, whether the _Josephine_ would not be reported as lost +through the protraction of her voyage--for she was expected to reach +England by the middle of September at the latest, and it was now +October. + +Why, if news came to Grenada that we were given up at Lloyd's, poor dad +and mother would be in a terrible way about me, I knew! + +The day of the receipt of such intelligence would be a sad one at Mount +Pleasant, where all had loved me and would miss me now more than ever. + +These thoughts, however, were but idle fancies, I reflected when we +sighted Flores; for, even if we had been given up, the news would now +soon be sent on that the old ship was still to the fore. So, when +Captain Miles had taken in fresh water and provisions, besides buying a +new chronometer, and then shaped a course direct for the English +Channel, I looked forward anxiously to relieving my parent's anxiety as +much as I did at the realisation of my boyhood's dream of seeing London +and going to school. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +DAD. + +My tale will soon come to an end. + +After leaving Santa Cruz, we had a fine steady wind from the north-west, +right on our quarter, all the way to the chops of the Channel; and this +enabled us to accomplish the intervening twelve hundred miles of +distance in ten days' time. + +We were equally lucky in getting up to the river, although it was well +on in the month of October, when easterly winds generally prevail; for, +without requiring the assistance of a tug, after making the Lizard, we +passed up towards London in fine style, walking at a great rate by +Dunnose, Beachy Head, Dungeness, and all those other landmarks that +mariners know so well. + +When we got to Gravesend, I had a great surprise; for, who on earth do +you think should come off to the ship as we anchored in the stream, +waiting for a pilot to take us up the river to the Saint Katherine's +Docks, where we were bound? The very last person in the world whom you +or I could possibly have expected to meet me there! + +Who do you think? + +Why, dad! + +Yes--he; and none other. + +It seems that shortly after I sailed in the _Josephine_, the gentleman +who had made him an offer to purchase Mount Pleasant when I was ill--and +then backed out of the bargain because dad would not immediately come to +terms--renewed the proposal, and dad accepted at once. + +Then, as he had nothing remaining to keep him out in the West Indies, he +took passages in the next mail steamer home for my mother and my sisters +and himself, arriving over here even before I could have expected to +reach England had all gone well with our ship. + +When they got to London, however, news came from Lloyd's that the +_Josephine_ was lost, as our boats, which had been swept away in the +hurricane, had been picked up by a homeward-bound ship. + +Needless to say, dad and all my folk were heart-broken at hearing this. + +Hardly, however, had they become reconciled to my death, as they +thought, than a fresh piece of intelligence was passed on from Flores, +narrating how we had touched there, all well on board; so, as soon as we +were reported as being sighted in the Channel, dad was on the watch to +be the first to greet me, coming down specially to Gravesend to board +the ship as soon as she entered the river. + +I need not describe the meeting with dad in the first place, nor the way +in which my mother and sisters, dear little Tot included, welcomed me? + +Hardly! + +Jake must have the last word, though; for, it was only through his +faithfulness that I had been preserved during all our perils on the sea. + +You must remember that, not only did he save me from drowning in the +first instance, when the vessel capsized; but, it was mainly through his +watchful attentions that my life was saved during the time that I was +exposed on the hull of the ship while she was on her beam-ends. + +"Golly, Massa Eastman," he cried out to dad the moment he put foot on +board the _Josephine_, "I'se look arter Mass' Tom, as I promiss, suah, +and here he am, sah, safe an' sound!" + +So I was; but, in spite of that, I have never forgotten my experiences +of the Sargasso Sea, nor The White Squall. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The White Squall, by John Conroy Hutcheson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHITE SQUALL *** + +***** This file should be named 21088.txt or 21088.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/0/8/21088/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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