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diff --git a/21104.txt b/21104.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e701fd --- /dev/null +++ b/21104.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8370 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Afloat at Last, 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: Afloat at Last + A Sailor Boy's Log of his Life at Sea + +Author: John Conroy Hutcheson + +Illustrator: W. H. Overend + +Release Date: April 16, 2007 [EBook #21104] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFLOAT AT LAST *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + + +Afloat at Last + +by John Conroy Hutcheson +________________________________________________________________ +This short book tells the adventures over just one voyage to Shanghai of +the hero, Allan Graham, whose father is a country vicar. Allan is +obtained a place as an apprentice aboard the Silver Queen, which he +joins at Wapping Docks. An Irish bosun, Tim Rooney, takes a liking to +the lad and helps him learn the ropes. Hutcheson nearly always has an +Irish co-hero in his books. We get a good description of how the vessel +is warped out of the dock, how she makes her way down river, assisted by +a steam-tug, and then down the English Channel and into the wide +Atlantic Ocean. Allan begins to learn a bit about navigation and +ship-handling, when the movement of the vessel in the Bay of Biscay +causes him to retire with sea-sickness. A stowaway is found on board, +in the forepeak. Allan finds an ally in the Chinese cook, Ching Wang. +On the other hand the Portuguese steward, Pedro, hates that cook. + +They round the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), cross the Indian Ocean, +and get into the Malay seas, where they notice a proa following them. +After negotiating the tail end of a typhoon, they think they have +escaped these possible pirates, pass through another typhoon, in which +all their storm sails are blown out, yet see the pirates again. They +are blown onto the Pratas shoal, aground, in which predicament the +pirates attack. Ching Wang and Allan manage to get away in one of the +pirates' small boats, and sail to where they can get help for the Silver +Queen from a patrolling British Naval vessel, the Blazer. Rescued, +eventually they get to Shanghai, where they receive their mails--it is +extraordinary how the mails are always waiting for them, no matter how +fast a vessel has travelled. Back home with an uneventful voyage, and +that's the end of the story. The book is very helpful in teaching you +the basics of reading these old nautical novels. N.H. +________________________________________________________________ +AFLOAT AT LAST + +BY JOHN CONROY HUTCHESON + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +IN THE RECTORY GARDEN. + +"And so, Allan, you wish to go to sea?" + +"Yes, father," I replied. + +"But, is there no other profession you would prefer--the law, for +instance? It seems a prosperous trade enough, judging from the fact +that solicitors generally appear well to do, with plenty of money-- +possibly that of other people--in their possession; so, considering the +matter from a worldly point of view, you might do worse, Allan, than +join their ranks." + +I shook my head, however, as a sign of dissent to this proposition. + +"Well then, my boy," went on father in his logical way, anxious that I +should clearly understand all the bearings of the case, and have the +advantages and disadvantages of each calling succinctly set before me, +"there is medicine now, if you dislike the study of Themis, as your +gesture would imply. It is a noble profession, that of healing the sick +and soothing those bodily ills which this feeble flesh of ours is heir +to, both the young and old alike--an easier task, by the way, than that +of ministering to `the mind diseased,' as Shakespeare has it; although, +mind you, I must confess that a country physician, such as you could +only hope to be, for I have not the means of buying you a London +practice, has generally a hard life of it, and worse pay. However, this +is beside the question; and I want to avoid biassing your decision in +any way. Tell me, would you like to be a doctor--eh?" + +But to this second proposal of my father as to my future career, I again +signified my disapproval by shaking my head; for I did not wish to +interrupt his argument by speaking until he had finished all he had to +say on the subject, and I could see he had not yet quite done. + +"H'm, the wise man's dictum as to speech being silvern and silence gold +evidently holdeth good with the boy, albeit such discretion in youth is +somewhat rare," he murmured softly to himself, as if unconsciously +putting his thoughts in words, adding as he addressed me more directly: +"You ought to get on in life, Allan; for `a still tongue,' says the +proverb, `shows a wise head.' But now, my son, I've nearly come to the +end of the trio of learned professions, without, I see, prepossessing +you in favour of the two I have mentioned. You are averse to the law, +and do not care about doctoring; well then, there's the church, last +though by no means least--what say you to following my footsteps in that +sacred calling, as your brother Tom purposes doing when he leaves Oxford +after taking his degree?" + +I did not say anything, but father appeared to guess my thoughts. + +"Too many of the family in orders already--eh? True; still, recollect +there is room enough and work enough, God knows, amid all the sin and +suffering there is in the world, for you also to devote your life to the +same good cause in which, my son, I, your father, and your brother have +already enlisted, and you may, I trust, yet prove yourself a doughtier +soldier of the cross than either of us. What say you, Allan, I repeat, +to being a clergyman--the noblest profession under the sun?" + +"No, father dear," I at length answered on his pausing for my reply, +looking up into his kind thoughtful gray eyes, that were fixed on my +face with a sort of wistful expression in them; and which always seemed +to read my inmost mind, and rebuke me with their consciousness, if at +any time I hesitated to tell the truth for a moment, in fear of +punishment, when, as frequently happened, I chanced to be brought before +him for judgment, charged with some boyish escapade or youthful folly. +"I don't think I should ever be good enough to be a clergyman like you, +father, however hard I might try; while, though I know I am a bad boy +very often, and do lots of things that I'm sorry for afterwards, I don't +believe I could ever be bad enough to make a good lawyer, if all the +stories are true that they tell in the village about Mr Sharpe, the +attorney at Westham." + +The corners of father's mouth twitched as if he wanted to smile, but did +not think it right to do so. + +"You are shrewd in your opinions, Allan," he said; "but dogmatic and +paradoxical in one breath, besides being too censorious in your sweeping +analysis of character. I should like you to show more charity in your +estimate of others. Your diffidence in respect of entering the church I +can fully sympathise with, having felt the same scruples myself, and +being conscious even now, after many years, of falling short of the high +ideal I had originally, and have still, of one who would follow the +Master; but, in your wholesale condemnation of the law and lawyers, +judging on the _ex uno disce omnes_ principle and hastily, you should +remember that all solicitors need not necessarily be rogues because one +of their number has a somewhat evil reputation. Sharpe is rather a +black sheep according to all report; still, my son, in connection with +such rumours we ought to bear in mind the comforting fact that there is +a stratum of good even in the worst dispositions, which can be found by +those who seek diligently for it, and do not merely try to pick out the +bad. Who knows but that Sharpe may have his good points like others? +But, to return to our theme--the vexed question as to which should be +your occupation in life. As you have decided against the church and the +law, giving me your reasons for coming to an adverse conclusion in each +instance, pray, young gentleman, tell me what are your objections to the +medical profession?" + +"Oh, father!" I replied laughing, he spoke in so comical a way and with +such a queer twinkle in his eye, "I shouldn't care at all to be only a +poor country surgeon like Doctor Jollop, tramping about day and night +through dirty lanes and sawing off people's sore legs, or else feeling +their pulses and giving them physic; although, I think it would be good +fun, father, wouldn't it, just when some of those stupid folk, who are +always imagining themselves ill wanted to speak about their fancied +ailments, to shut them up by saying, `Show me your tongue,' as Doctor +Jollop bawls out to deaf old Molly the moment she begins to tell him of +her aches and pains? I think he does it on purpose." + +Father chuckled. + +"Not a bad idea that," said he; "and our friend the doctor must have the +credit of being the first man who ever succeeded in making a woman hold +her tongue, a consummation most devoutly to be wished-for sometimes-- +though I don't know what your dear mother would say if she heard me give +utterance to so heretical and ungallant a doctrine in reference to the +sex." + +"Why, here is mother now!" I exclaimed, interrupting him in my surprise +at seeing her; it being most unusual for her to leave the house at that +hour in the afternoon, which was generally devoted to Nellie's music +lesson, a task she always superintended. "She's coming up the garden +with a letter in her hand." + +"I think I know what that letter contains," said father, not a bit +excited like me; "for, unless I'm much mistaken, it refers to the very +subject about which we've been talking, Allan,--your going to sea." + +"Does it?" I cried, pitching my cap up in the air in my enthusiasm and +catching it again dexterously, shouting out the while the refrain of the +old song-- "The sea, the sea, a sailor's life for me! Hurrah! Hurrah!" + +Father sighed, and resumed his "quarter-deck walk," as mother termed it, +backwards and forwards along the little path under the old elm-tree in +front of the summer-house, with its bare branches stretched out like a +giant's fingers clutching at the sky, always turning when he got up to +the lilac bush and retracing his steps slowly and deliberately, as if +anxious to tread in his former footprints in the very centre of the box- +edged walk. + +I think I can see him now: his face, which always had such a bright +genial look when he smiled, and seemed to light up suddenly from within +when he turned to speak to you, wearing a somewhat sad and troubled air, +and a far-away thoughtful expression in his eyes that was generally +there when he was having a mental wrestle with some difficulty, or +trying to solve one of those intricate social problems that were being +continually submitted for his consideration. And yet, at first glance, +a stranger would hardly have taken him to be a clergyman; for he had on +an old brown shooting-jacket very much the worse for wear, and was +smoking one of those long clay pipes that are called "churchwardens," +discoloured by age and the oil of tobacco, and which he had lit and let +out and relit again half a dozen times at least during our talk. + +"Very unorthodox," some critical people will say. + +Aye, possibly so; but if these censors only knew father personally, and +saw how he fulfilled his mission of visiting the fatherless and widow in +their affliction, in addition to preaching the gospel and so winning +souls to heaven, and how he was liked and loved by every one in the +parish; perhaps they could condone his "sin of omission" in the matter +of not wearing a proper clerical black coat with a stand-up collar of +Oxford cut and the regulation white tie, and that of "commission" in +smoking such a vulgar thing as a common clay pipe! + +Presently, after his second turn as far as the lilac bush and back, +father's face cleared, as if he had worked out the question that had +been puzzling him; for, its anxious expression vanished and his eyes +seemed to smile again. + +"I suppose it's a family trait, and runs in the blood," he said. "Your +grandfather,--my father, that is, Allan,--was a sailor; and I know I +wanted to go to sea too, just like you, before I was sent to college. +So, that accounts for your liking for it--eh?" + +"I suppose so," I answered without thinking, just echoing his words like +a parrot; although, now I come to consider the thing fully, I really can +see no other reason than this hereditary instinct to account for the +passionate longing that possessed me at that period to be a sailor, as, +beyond reading Robinson Crusoe like other boys, I was absolutely +ignorant of the life and all concerning it. Indeed, up to then, +although it may seem hardly credible, I had only once actually seen the +sea, and a ship in the distance--far-away out in the offing of what +appeared to me an immeasurable expanse of space. This was when father +took my sister Nellie and me for a day's visit to Brighton. It was a +wonderful experience to us, from the contrast the busy town on the coast +offered to the quiet country village where we lived and of which my +father was the pastor, buried in the bosom of the shires away from the +bustling world, and out of contact with seafaring folk and those that +voyage the deep. + +Yes, there's no doubt of it. That love for the sea, which made me wish +to be a sailor as naturally as a cat loves cream, ran in my blood, and +must have been bred in my bone, as father suggested. + +Before, however, we could either of us pursue the psychological +investigation of this theory any further, our argument was interrupted +by my mother's coming to where we were standing under the elm-tree at +the top of the garden. + +Father at once put away his pipe on her approach, always respecting and +honouring her beyond all women even as he loved her; and he greeted her +with a smile of welcome. + +"Well, dear?" said he sympathetically as she held out the letter she +carried and then placed her hand on his arm confidingly, turning her +anxious face up to his in the certainty of finding him ready to share +her trouble whatever it might be. "Now tell me all about it." + +"It has come, Robert!" she exclaimed, nestling nearer to him. + +"Yes, I see, dear," he replied, glancing at the open sheet; for they had +no secrets from each other, and she had opened the letter already, +although it had been addressed to him. Then, looking at me, father +added: "This is from Messrs. Splice and Mainbrace, the great ship- +brokers of Leadenhall Street, to whom I wrote some time since, about +taking you in one of their vessels, Allan, on your expressing such a +desire to go to sea." + +"Oh, father!" was all I could say. + +"They inform me now," continued he, reading from the broker's +communication, "that all the arrangements have been completed for your +sailing in the Silver Queen on Saturday next, which will be to-morrow +week, your premium as a first-class apprentice having been paid by my +London agents, by whom also your outfit has been ordered; and your +uniform, or `sea toggery' as sailors call it, will be down here next +Monday or Tuesday for you to try on." + +"Oh, father!" I cried again, in wondering delight at his having settled +everything so promptly without my knowing even that he had acceded to my +wishes. "Why, you seem to have decided the question long ago, while you +were asking me only just now if I would not prefer any other profession +to the sea!" + +"Because, my son," he replied affectionately, "I know that boys, like +girls, frequently change their minds, and I was anxious that you should +make no mistake in such a vital matter as that of your life's calling; +for, even at the last hour, if you had told me you preferred being a +clergyman or a doctor or a lawyer to going to sea, I would cheerfully +have sacrificed the money I have paid to the brokers and for your +outfit. Aye, and I would willingly do it now, for your mother and I +would be only too glad of your remaining with our other chicks at home." + +"And why won't you, Allan?" pleaded mother, throwing her arms round me +and hugging me to her convulsively. "It is such a fearful life that of +a sailor, amid all the storms and perils of the deep." + +"Don't press the boy," interposed father before I could answer mother, +whose fond embrace and tearful face almost made me feel inclined to +reconsider my decision. "It is best for him to make a free choice, and +that his heart should be in his future profession." + +"But, Robert--" rejoined mother, but half convinced of this truth when +the fact of her boy going to be a sailor was concerned. + +"My dear," said father gently, interrupting her in his quiet way and +drawing her arm within his again, "remember, that God is the God of the +sea as well as of the land, and will watch over our boy, our youngest, +our Benjamin, there, as he has done here!" + +Father's voice trembled and almost broke as he said this; and it seemed +to me at the moment that I was an awful brute to cause such pain to +those whom I loved, and who loved me so well. + +But, ere I could tell them this, father was himself again, and busy +comforting mother in his cheery way. + +"Now, don't fret, dear, any more," he said; "the thing is settled now. +Besides, you know, you agreed with me in the matter at Christmas-tide, +when, seeing how Allan's fancy was set, I told you I thought of writing +to London to get a ship for him, so that no time might be wasted when he +finally made up his mind." + +"I know, Robert, I know," she answered, trying to control her sobs, +while I, glad in the new prospect, was as dry-eyed as you please; "but +it is so hard to part with him, dear." + +"Yes, yes, I know," said he soothingly; "I shall miss the young +scaramouch, too, as well as you. But, be assured, my dear, the parting +will not be for long; and we'll soon have our gallant young sailor boy +back at home again, with lots of--oh! such wonderful yarns, and oh! such +presents of foreign curios from the lands beyond sea for mother, when +the Silver Queen returns from China." + +"Aye, you will, mother dear, you will!" cried I exultingly. + +"And though our boy will not wear the Queen's uniform like his +grandfather, and fight the foe," continued father, "he will turn out, I +hope, as good an officer of the mercantile marine, which is an equally +honourable calling; and, possibly, crown his career by being the captain +of some magnificent clipper of the seas, instead of ending his days like +my poor old dad, a disappointed lieutenant on half-pay, left to rust out +the best years of his life ashore when the war was over." + +"I hope Allan will be good," said mother simply. + +"I know he will be, with God's help," rejoined father confidently, his +words making me resolve inwardly that I would try so that my life should +not disgrace his assuring premise. + +"I must go in now and tell Nellie," observed mother after a pause, in +which we were all silent, and I could see father's lips move as if in +silent prayer; "there'll be all Allan's shirts and socks to get ready. +To-morrow week, you said, the ship was to sail--eh, dear?" + +"Yes, to-morrow week," answered father bracing himself up; "and while +your mother and Nellie are looking after the more delicate portions of +your wardrobe, Allan, you and I had better walk over to Westham, and see +about buying some new boots and other things which the outfitters +haven't got down on their list." + +As he was going into such a fashionable place as Westham, the nearest +county town to our parish, at mother's especial request father consented +to hide the beauties of his favourite old shooting-jacket under a more +clerical-looking overcoat of a greyish drab colour, or "Oxford mixture." +He was induced to don, too, a black felt hat, more in keeping with the +coat than the straw one he had worn in the garden; and thus "grandly +costumed," as he laughingly said to mother and Nell, who watched our +departure from the porch of the rectory, he and I set out to make our +purchases. + +Dear me! the bustle and hurry and worry that went on in the house and +out of the house in getting my things ready was such that, as father +said more than once in his joking way, one would have thought the whole +family were emigrating to the antipodes, instead of only a mere boy like +me going to sea! + +And then, when everything else had been packed and repacked a dozen +times or so by mother's loving hands in the big, white-painted sea-chest +that had come down from London--which had my name printed on the outside +in big capital letters that almost made me blush, and with such a jolly +little washhand-basin and things for dressing on the top of it just +inside the lid--the stupid outfitters delayed sending my blue uniform to +try on in time; and it was only on the very day before I had to start +that it was finished and sent home, for mother and Nellie to see how I +looked in it, as I wished them to do, feeling no small pride when I put +it on. + +Tom, too, got away from Oxford to spend this last day with me at home; +and, though he could hardly spare the time, mother believed, from his +studies, I think he was more interested in some forthcoming race in +which his college boat was engaged. + +My last morning came round at length, and with it the final parting with +mother and all at the rectory, which I left by myself. Father decided +this to be the wisest course; for, as I was, as he said, making my first +start in life, it was better to do so in a perfectly independent way, +bidding the dear home-folks good-bye at home. + +My last recollection was of father's eyes fixed on mine with a loving +smile in them, and an expression of trust and hope which I determined to +deserve. + +The long railway journey to town, which at any other time would have +been a rattle and whirr of delight and interest, seemed endlessly +monotonous to me, full of sad thoughts at parting with all I loved; and +I was glad enough when the train at length puffed and panted its way +into the terminus at London Bridge. + +Thence, I took a cab, according to father's directions, to the offices +of the brokers in Leadenhall Street, handing them a letter which he had +given me to establish my identity. + +In return, Messrs. Splice and Mainbrace, as represented by the junior +partner of the firm, similarly handed me over to the tender mercies of +one of the younger clerks of the establishment, by whom I was escorted +through a lot of narrow lanes and dirty streets, down Wapping way to the +docks; the young clerk ultimately, anxious not to miss his dinner, +stopping in front of a large ship. + +"There you are, walk up that gangway," he said; and thereupon instantly +bolted off! + +So, seeing nothing better to be done, I marched up the broad plank he +pointed out, somewhat nervously as there was nothing to hold on to, and +I should have fallen into the deep water of the dock had my foot +slipped, the vessel being a little way out from the wall of the wharf; +and, the next instant, jumping down on the deck, I found myself on board +a ship for the first time in my life. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +MY FRIEND THE BOATSWAIN. + +I soon made the discovery on getting there, however, that I was neither +alone nor unobserved; for a man called out to me almost the same instant +that my feet touched the deck. + +"Hullo, youngster!" he shouted. + +"Do you mean me?" I asked him politely, as father bad trained me always +to address every one, no matter what their social condition might be. + +"An' is it manin' yez, I am?" retorted my interlocutor sharply. "Tare +an' 'ouns, av coorse it is! Who ilse should I mane?" + +The speaker was a stout, broad-shouldered, middle-aged man, clad in a +rough blue jersey as to the upper portion of his body, and wearing below +a rather dirty pair of canvas overalls drawn over his trousers, which, +being longer, projected at the bottom and overlapped his boots, giving +him an untidy look. + +He was busy superintending a gang of dock labourers in their task of +hoisting up in the air a number of large crates and heavy deal packing- +cases from the jetty alongside, where they were piled up promiscuously +in a big heap of a thousand or so and more, and then, when the crane on +which these items of cargo were thus elevated had been swung round until +right over the open hatchway, giving entrance to the main-hold of the +ship, they were lowered down below as quickly as the tackle could be +eased off and the suspending chain rattle through the wheel-block above. +The clip-hooks were then unhitched and the chain run up and the crane +swung back again over the pile of goods on the jetty for another load to +be fastened on; and, so on, continually. + +The man directing these operations, in turning to speak to me, did not +pause for an instant either in giving his orders to "hoist!" and "lower +away!" or in keeping a keen weather-eye open, as he afterwards explained +to me, on the gang, so as to see that none of the hands shirked their +work; and, as I stared helplessly at him, quite unable as yet to +apprehend his meaning, or know what he wished me to do, he gave a quick +side-glance over his shoulder to where I stood and renewed his +questioning. + +"Sure an' ye can answer me if you loike, for ye ar'n't dumb, me bhoy, +an' ye can spake English fast enough. Now. I'll ax ye for the last +toime--whare d'ye spring from?" + +"Spring from?" I repeated after him, more puzzled than ever and awed by +his manner, he spoke so sharply, in spite of his jovial face and +twinkling eyes. "I jumped from that plank," pointing to the gangway by +which I came on board as I said this. + +This response of mine seemed, somehow, to put him into all the greater +rage--I'm sure I can't tell why. + +"Bad cess t'ye for an omahdawn! Sure, an' it isn't springin'--joompin' +I mane," he thundered in a voice that made me spring and jump both. +"Where d'ye hail from, me joker? That's what I want to know. An' ye'd +betther look sharp an' till me!" + +"Hail from?" I echoed, completely bewildered by this time; for, being +unused to sailor's talk, as I've previously mentioned, I could not make +head or tail of his language, which his strong Irish brogue, equally +strange to me then, made all the more difficult to be understood. I +could see, of course, that he wanted to learn something of me; but what +that something was I was unable to guess, although all the time anxious +to oblige him to the best of my ability. He was so impatient, however, +that he would hardly give me time to speak or inquire what he wanted, +besides which, he frightened me by the way in which he roared out his +unintelligible questions. So, unable to comprehend his meaning, I +remained silent, staring at him helplessly as before. + +Strange to say, though, my answer, or rather failure to answer this last +interrogatory of his--for I had only repeated his own words--instead of +further exasperating him as I feared, trembling the while down to my +very boots, appeared to have the unexpected effect of appeasing his +sudden outburst of passion, which now disappeared as quickly as it had +broken out over my unoffending head. + +"Be jabers, the gossoon's a born nat'ral!" he said sympathetically in a +sort of stage whisper to the stevedores, although in loud enough tones +for me to hear; and then, looking at me more kindly, and speaking in a +gentler key than he had yet adopted, he added, accentuating every word +separately and distinctly, with a racier Milesian accent than ever: +"Arrah, sure, an' I didn't mane to be rough on ye, laddie; but, till me +now, whar' d'ye come from, what's y'r name, an' what for are ye doin' +here?" + +This was plain language, such as I could understand; and, seeing that he +must be some one in authority, despite his tarred clothes and somewhat +unpolished exterior, I hastened to answer his string of questions, +doffing my cap respectfully as I did so. + +"My name is Allan Graham," I said on his motioning to those working the +crane to stop a bit while I spoke, "and I came up early this morning +from the country to sail in the Silver Queen. The brokers in Leadenhall +Street, Messrs. Splice and Mainbrace, to whom I went first, told me to +go on down to the docks and join the ship at once, sending a clerk to +show me the way, which he did, pointing out this vessel to me and +leaving me after saying that I was to go on board by the `gangway,' as +he called the plank I walked up by--that is why I am here!" + +I uttered these last words somewhat sturdily and in a dignified tone, +plucking up courage as I proceeded; for, I began to get rather nettled +at the man's suspicions about me, his questions apparently having that +look and bearing. + +"Och, by the powers!" he ejaculated, taking no notice of my dignified +demeanour; "yis, an' that's it, is it? Sure, an' will ye till me now, +are ye goin' as a cabin passinger or what, avic?" + +"I'm going in the Silver Queen as a first-class apprentice," I answered +with greater dignity than ever, glancing down proudly at the smart blue +suit I wore, with its shining gilt buttons ornamented with an anchor in +relief, which mother and sister Nellie had so much admired the day +before, when I had donned it for the first time, besides inspecting me +critically that very morning previous to my leaving home, to see that I +looked all right--poor mother! dear Nell! + +"Whe-e-e-up!" whistled my questioner between his teeth, a broad grin +overspreading his yet broader face. "Alannah macree, me poor gossoon! +it's pitying ye I am, by me sowl, from the bottom av me heart. Ye're +loike a young bear wid all y'r throubles an' thrials forenenst ye. Aye, +yez have, as sure's me name's Tim Rooney, me darlint!" + +"Why do you say so, sir?" I asked--more, however, out of curiosity than +alarm, for I thought he was only trying to "take a rise out of me," as +the saying goes. "Why should you pity me?" + +"An' is it axin' why, yez are?" said he, his broad smile expanding into +a chuckle and the chuckle growing to a laugh. "Sure, an' ye'll larn +afore ye're much ouldher, that the joker who goes to say for fun moight +jist as well go to the ould jintleman's place down below in the +thropical raygions for divarshun, plaize the pigs!" + +His genial manner, and the merry twinkle in his eyes, which reminded me +of father's when he made some comical remark, utterly contradicted his +disparaging comments on a sailor's life, and I joined in the hearty "ho, +ho, ho!" with which he concluded his statement. + +"Why, then, did you go to sea, Mr Rooney," I asked, putting him into a +quandary with this home-thrust; "that is, if it is such a bad place as +you make out?" + +"Bedad, sorry o' me knows!" he replied, shoving his battered cheese- +cutter cap further off his brows and scratching his head reflectively. +"Sure, an' it's bin a poozzle to me, sorr, iver since I furst wint afore +the mast." + +"But--" I went on, wishing to pursue my inquiries, when he interrupted +me before I was able to proceed any further. + +"Whisht! Be aisy now, me darlint," he whispered, with an expressive +wink; and, turning round sharply on the stevedores, who, taking +advantage of his talking to me, had struck work and were indulging in a +similar friendly chat, he began briskly to call them to task for their +idleness, raising his voice to the same stentorian pitch that had +startled me just now on our first introduction. + +"What the mischief are ye standin' star-gazin' there for, ye lazy swabs, +chatterin' an' grinnin' away loike a parcel av monkeys?" he cried, +waving his arms about as if he were going to knock some of them down. +"If I had my way wid ye, an' had got ye aboord a man-o'-war along o' me, +it's `four bag' I'd give ivery man Jack o' ye. Hoist away an' be blowed +to ye, or I'll stop y'r pay, by the howly pokher I will!" + +At this, the men, who seemed to understand very well that my friend of +the woollen jersey and canvas overalls's hard voice and words did not +really mean the terrible threats they conveyed, although the speaker +intended to be obeyed, started again briskly shipping the cargo and +lowering it down into the hold, grinning the while one to another as if +expressing the opinion that their taskmaster's bark was worse than his +bite. + +"I must kape 'em stirrin' their stoomps, or ilse, sure, the spalpeens +'ud strike worrk the minnit me back's toorned," said he on resuming his +talk with me, as if in explanation of this little interlude. "Yez aid +y'r name's Grame, didn't ye? I once knew a Grame belongin' to Cork, an' +he wor a pig jobber. S'pose now, he warn't y'r ould father, loike?" + +"Certainly not!" cried I, indignantly. "My father is a clergyman and a +gentleman and an Englishman, and lives down in the country. Our name, +too, is Graham and not Grame, as you pronounce it." + +"'Pon me conshinsh, I axes y'r pardin, sorr. Sure, an' I didn't mane no +harrm," said my friend, apologising in the most handsome way for the +unintentional insult; and, putting out a brawny hairy paw like that of +Esau's, he gave a grip to my poor little mite of a hand that made each +knuckle crack, as he introduced himself in rough and hearty sailor +fashion. "Me name's Tim Rooney, as I tould you afore, Misther Gray- +ham--sure, an' it's fond I am ov bacon, avic, an' ham, too, by the same +token! I'd have ye to know, as ye're a foorst-class apprentice--which +kills me enthirely wid the laffin' sure!--that I'm the bosun av the +Silver Quane; an' as we're agoin' to be shipmets togither, I hopes +things'll be moighty plisint atwane us, sure." + +"I'm sure I hope so, too," I replied eagerly, thinking him an awfully +jolly fellow, and very unlike the man I imagined him to be at first; and +we then shook hands again to cement the compact of eternal friendship, +although I took care this time that my demonstrative boatswain should +not give me so forcible a squeeze with his huge fist as before, +observing as I looked round the vessel and up at her towering masts +overhead: "What a splendid ship!" + +"Aye, she's all that, ivery inch of her from truck to kelson," he +answered equally enthusiastically; "an' so's our foorst mate, a sailor +all over from the sole av his fut to the crown av his hid." + +"And the captain," I inquired, "what sort of a man is he?" + +"Arrah, now you're axin' questions," he rejoined with a sly look from +his roguish eyes. "D'ye happen to know what's inside av an egg, now, +whither it's a chicken, sure, or ownly the yoke an' white, till ye +bhrake the shill?" + +"No," said I laughing. "But, we don't find chickens generally in our +eggs at home." + +"Wait till ye thry one on shipboord," he retorted. "Still, ye can't +deny now that ye don't know for sure what's insoide the shill till ye +bhrake it, an' say for yoursilf--eh?" + +"No," I assented to this reasoning; "but, I don't see what that's got to +do with the captain." + +"Don't ye, honey?" replied he with another expressive wink. "Wait till +ye can say for yourself, that's all." + +"Oh!" I exclaimed, understanding now that he was shrewd enough not to +commit himself to any opinion on the point; so, I did not pursue the +inquiry any further. + +"Sure, ye'll excuse me, Misther Gray-ham," he said presently, after +another word or two on irrelevant matters; "but I must stop yarnin' now, +as I expexes the foorst mate aboord ivery minnit, an' he'll be +groomblin' like a badger wid a sore tail if those lazy lubbers ain't +hove all the cargy in. We've got to warp out o' dock this arternoon, +an' the tide'll make about `six bells'!" + +"When is that?" I asked, to know the meaning of this nautical term, +which I guessed referred to the time of day, as my friend the boatswain +turned round again towards the stevedores, hurrying them on and making +them work with a will. + +"Thray o'clock. Sure, I forgot ye didn't savvy our sailor's lingo at +all, at all," he explained to me between the interval of his orders to +the men, shouted out in the same high key as at first. "An', be the +same token, as it's now jist toorned two bells, or one o'clock, savin' +your prisince, I've got no toime to lose, me bhoy. Jist d'ye go oop +that ladder there, an' wait out av harum's way till I've done me job an' +can come for ye." + +He pointed as he spoke to the steps or stairway leading from the main- +deck, where I had been standing alongside of him, to the poop. + +I at once obeyed him; and, ascending with alacrity the poop ladder, was +able to see from that elevated position the capital way in which he +urged on and encouraged the men, until, as if by magic, the heavy boxes +and lumbering crates that had but a short time before almost covered the +jetty beside the ship, were all hoisted inboard and lowered down into +her hold. + +Here, below, another gang of stevedores, not less busy than those above, +took charge of the stowage of the cargo, slamming the chests and crates +about, and so ramming and jamming them between the decks by the aid of +jack-screws, that they were soon packed together in one homogeneous +mass--so tightly squeezed that not even a cockroach could have crawled +in between them, not a single crack or cranny being left vacant. + +"Thare now! Sure, an' that job's done wid anyhow for this v'yge, plaize +the pigs, ma bouchal!" exclaimed the boatswain with a jolly laugh, after +seeing the main-hatchway covered and battened down, and a tarpaulin +spread over it to make all snug, gazing round with an air of proud +satisfaction, as he slowly made his way up the poop ladder again and +came up to where I was standing by the rail looking over. "Don't ye +think we've made pretty sharp work of it at the last, sorr, eh?" + +"I'm sure you have, Mr Rooney," I replied enthusiastically. For, I +could not help admiring the way in which he had got the stevedores to +work so steadily and speedily in getting in the cargo and clearing the +ship's deck, so that it was now trim and orderly in place of being +littered over with lumber as previously--the active boatswain helping +one here, encouraging another there, and making all laugh occasionally +with some racy joke, that seemed to lighten their labour greatly and +cause them to set to their task with redoubled vigour.--"It's wonderful +how you managed them." + +"Arrah, sure it's a way I've got wid me, honey," said he with a wink. +Still, I could see he was pleased with my remark all the same, from the +smile of contentment that overspread his face as he added: "Bless ye +though, me darlint, sure an' it's ownly blarney arter all!" + +"And what is that?" I asked. + +"Faix, ya moost go owver to old Oireland to larn, me bhoy," he answered +with a laugh. "Wait till ye kiss the blarney stone, an' thin ye'll +know!" + +"I suppose it's what father calls the _suaviter in modo_," said I, +laughing also, he put on such a droll look. "And I think, Mr Rooney, +you possess the _fortiter in re_, too, from the way you can speak +sometimes." + +"Bedad, I don't ondercumstubble," he replied, taking off his cap and +scratching his head reflectively, rather taken aback by my Latin +quotation; "though if that haythen lingo manes soft sawder, by the +powers I've got lashins av it! Howsomedevers, youngster, we naydn't +argify the p'int; but if the foorst mate were ownly aboord, d'ye know +what I'd loike to do?" + +"What?" I inquired. + +"Why, trate them dock loompers to grog all round. They've worruked +loike blue nayghurs; specially that l'adin' man av theirs, that chap +there, see him, wid the big nose on his face? I'd loike to pipe all +hands down in the cabin to splice the main-brace, if ownly the foorst +mate were aboord," he repeated in a regretful tone. Adding, however, +the next moment more briskly: "An', by the blissid piper that played +before Moses, there he is!" + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +WARPING OUT OF DOCK. + +While the boatswain was still speaking, and expressing his regret at not +being able to show the stevedores that he properly appreciated the mode +in which they had done their work, I noticed a boy come out from +somewhere on the deck below, just underneath where we were standing, and +make his way towards the forepart of the ship, apparently in a great +hurry about something or other. + +I wondered what he was going to do, and was puzzling my head about the +matter, not liking to interrupt Tim Rooney, when the boy himself the +next instant satisfied my curiosity by going up to the ship's bell, +which was suspended in its usual place, under the break of the +forecastle, just above and in front of the windlass bits away forward; +when, catching hold of a lanyard hanging from the end of the clapper, he +struck four sharp raps against the side of the bell, the sound ringing +through the air and coming back distinctly to us aft on the poop. I +should, however, explain that I, of course, was not familiar with all +these nautical details then, only learning them later on, mainly through +Tim Rooney's help, when my knowledge of ships and of sea terms became +more extended. + +Just as the last stroke of the bell rang out above the babble of the +men's voices and the shuffling noise of their feet moving about, the +four strokes being sounded in pairs, "cling-clang, cling-clang!" like a +double postman's knock, a slim gentlemanly young man, with brown hair +and beard and moustache, who was dressed in a natty blue uniform like +mine, save that he wore a longer jacket and had a band of gold lace +round his cap in addition to the solitary crown and anchor badge which +my head-gear rejoiced in, appeared on top of the gangway leading from +the wharf alongside. The next instant, jumping down from the top of the +bulwarks on to the main-deck, a couple of strides took him to the foot +of the poop ladder, quickly mounting which, he stood beside us. + +"Sure, an' it's proud I am to say yez, sorr," exclaimed the boatswain, +touching the peak of his dilapidated cheese-cutter in salute, and with a +smile of welcome on his genial face; "though it's lucky, bedad, ye +didn't come afore, Misther Mackay, or faix ye'd have bin in toime to be +too soon." + +"How's that, Rooney?" inquired the other with a pleasant laugh, showing +his nice white teeth. "Instead of being too early, I'm afraid I am a +little late." + +"The divil a bit, sorr," replied Rooney. "We've only jist this viry +minnit struck down the last av the cargo; an' if ye'd come afore, why, +it's ruckshions there'd a bin about our skulkin', I know." + +"No, no," laughingly said the young officer; who, I suppose, was older +than he looked, for Tim Rooney told me in a loud whisper while he was +speaking that he was the "foorst mate" of the ship. "I'm not half such +a growler as you are, bosun; but, all the same, I'm glad you've got the +job done. Who's been looking after the dock mateys below, seeing to the +stowage?" + +"Misther Saunders, sorr," promptly answered Rooney. Adding aside for my +enlightenment as to who this worthy might be: "The `sicond mate,' sure, +mavourneen." + +"Ah, then we need have no fears about its being well done," rejoined Mr +Mackay, or the first mate, as I'd better call him. "Who is our friend +here alongside of you, bosun? I don't recollect having the pleasure of +seeing him before. Another youngster from Leadenhall Street--eh?" + +He looked at me inquiringly as he asked the question. + +"Yes, sorr. He's Misther Gray-ham, sorr; jist come down to jine the +Silver Quane, sorr, as foorst-class apprentice," replied the boatswain +with a sly wink to the other, which I was quick enough to catch. Adding +in a stage whisper, which I also could not help overhearing: "An' it's +foorst-class he is entoirely--a raal broth av a bhoy, sure." + +"Indeed," said Mr Mackay, smiling at the Irishman's irony at my +expense, in return no doubt for my whimsical assumption of dignity when +telling him who I was. "I suppose he's come to fill the place of young +Rawlings, who, you may remember, cut and run from us at Singapore on our +last voyage out?" + +"I s'pose so, sorr," rejoined Tim laconically. + +"I'm very happy, I am sure, to see you on board and make your +acquaintance," said the pleasant-faced young officer, turning to me in a +nice cordial way that increased the liking I had already taken to him at +first sight. "Have you got your traps with you all right, Mr Graham?" + +"My father sent on my sea-chest containing all my clothes and things +last night by the goods train from our place, addressed to the brokers +in Leadenhall Street, as they directed, sir; so I hope it will arrive in +time," I replied, quite proud of a grown-up fellow like Mr Mackay +addressing me as "Mister." + +"You needn't be alarmed about its safety, then, I suppose," observed he +jokingly. But, of course, although he might have thought so from my +manner, I had really no fears respecting the fate of my chest, and of +its being forthcoming when I wanted it. Indeed, until that moment, I +had not thought about it at all; for I knew father had despatched it all +right from Westham; and when he attended to anything no mishap ever +occurred--at least that was our opinion at home! + +Fancying, from the expression of my face as these thoughts and the +recollection of those I had left behind at the rectory flashed through +my mind, that I was perhaps worrying myself about the chest, which of +course I wasn't, Mr Mackay hastened, as he imagined, to allay my fears. + +"There, there! don't bother yourself about your belongings, my boy," +said he kindly; "your chest and other dunnage came down to the ship +early this morning from the brokers along with that of the other +youngsters, and you'll find it stowed in that after-deckhouse below +there, where you midshipmen or apprentices will all live together in a +happy family sort of way throughout the voyage." + +"Thank you, sir," I answered, much obliged for his courtesy and +information; although, I confess, I wondered where the "house" was of +which he spoke, there being nothing like even a cottage on the deck, +which with everything connected with it was utterly strange to me. + +My face must again have reflected my thoughts; for even Tim Rooney +noticed the puzzled expression it bore, as I looked over the poop rail +in the direction Mr Mackay pointed. + +"I don't think, sorr, the young gintleman altogether onderconstubbles +your manin'," he remarked to the mate in that loud whisper of his which +the poor man really did not intend me to hear, as I'm sure he wouldn't +have intentionally hurt my feelings. "Sure an' it's a reg'ler green +hand the bhoy is entoirely." + +"Never mind that now; he'll soon learn his way to the weather earring, +if I don't mistake the cut of his jib," retorted Mackay in a lower tone +of voice than the other, although I caught the sense of what he said +equally well, as he turned to me again with the evident desire of +putting me at my ease. "Have you seen any of your mess-mates yet, my +boy--eh?" + +"No, sir," I answered, smiling in response to his kindly look. "I have +seen no one since I came on board but you and Mr Rooney, who spoke to +me first; and, of course, those men working over there." + +"Sure, sorr, all av 'em are down below a-grubbin' in the cuddy since +dinner-toime," interposed my friend the boatswain by way of explanation, +on seeing the mate looked surprised at hearing that none of the other +officers were about when all should have been so busy. "Ivery man Jack +av 'em, sorr, barrin' Misther Saunders; who, in coorse, as I tould you, +sorr, has bin down in the hould a-sayin' to the stowage of the cargy, +more power to his elbow! An', be the same token, I thinks I sayed him +jist now coom up the main-hatchway an' goin' to the cuddy too, to join +the others at grub." + +"Oh!" ejaculated Mr Mackay with deep meaning, swinging round on his +heel, all alert in an instant; and taking hold of a short bar of iron +pointed at the end, lying near, which Tim Rooney told me afterwards was +what is called a "marling-spike," he proceeded to rap with it vigorously +against the side of the companion hatchway, shouting out at the same +time so that he could be heard all over the ship: "Tumble up, all you +idlers and stowaways and everybody! Below there--all hands on deck to +warp out of dock!" + +"Be jabers, that'll fetch 'em, sorr," cried Tim with a huge grin, much +relishing this summoning of the laggards to work. "Sure, yer honour, +ye're the bhoy to make 'em show a leg when ye wants to, an' no misthake +at all, at all!" + +"Aye, and I want them now," rejoined the other with emphasis. "We have +got no time to lose; for, the tide is making fast, and the tug has been +outside the lock-gates waiting for the last half-hour or more to take us +in tow as soon as we get out in the stream. Below there--look alive and +tumble up before I come down after you!" + +In obedience to this last hail of Mr Mackay, which had a sharp +authoritative ring about it, a short, podgy little man with a fat neck +and red whiskers, who, as I presently learned, was Mr Saunders, the +second mate, came up the companion way; and as I perceived him to be +wiping his mouth as he stepped over the coaming of the hatchway, this +showed that the boatswain's surmise of his being engaged "grubbing" with +the others was not far wrong. + +Mr Saunders was followed up from below by a couple of sturdy youths, +who appeared to be between eighteen and nineteen or thereabout; and, +behind them again, the last of the file, slowly stepped out on to the +deck a lanky boy of about the same age as myself--which I forgot to +mention before was just fifteen, although I looked older from my build +and height. + +"You're a nice lot of lazy fellows to leave in charge of the work of the +ship!" cried Mr Mackay on the three presenting themselves before him, +slowly mounting the companion stairs, one after the other, as if the +exertion was almost too great for them, poor fellows, after their +dinner! "Here, you Matthews, look sharp and stir your stumps a bit--one +would think you were walking in your sleep. I want you to see to that +spring forwards as we unmoor!" + +The boatswain had already descended from the poop and gone to his +station in the fore part of the ship; and now, with the first mate's +words, all was stir and action on board. + +The tallest of the two youths immediately dashed off towards the bows of +the ship with an alacrity that proved his slow movements previously had +been merely put on for effect, and were not due to any constitutional +weakness; for, he seemed to reach the forecastle in two bounds, and I +could see him, from a coign of vantage to which he nimbly mounted on top +of the knightheads, giving orders to a number of men on the wharf, who +had gathered about the ship in the meantime, and directing them to pass +along the end of the fore hawser round a bollard on the jetty, near the +end of the lock-gates by which entrance was gained from the adjacent +river to the basin in which the vessel was lying. + +Tom Jerrold, the second youth--I heard him called by that name--was sent +to look after another hawser passed over the bows of the ship on the +starboard side, the end of the rope being bent round a capstan in the +centre of the wharf. + +Then, on Mr Mackay's word of command, the great wire cables mooring the +ship to the jetty were cast off; and, a gang of the dock labourers +manning the capstan, with their broad chests and sinewy arms pressed +against the bars, as they marched round it singing some monotonous +chorus ending in a "Yo, heave, ho!" the ship began to move--at first +slowly inch by inch, and then with increased way upon her as the _vis +inertiae_ of her hull was overcome--towards the lock at the mouth of the +basin, the gates of which had been opened, or rather the caisson floated +out shortly before, as the tide grew to the flood. + +Dear me! What with the constant and varied orders to the gang of men +working the capstan, and the others easing off the hawser that had been +passed round the bollard, keeping a purchase on it and hauling in the +slack as the vessel crept along out of the dock so as to prevent her +"taking charge" and slewing round broadside on at the entrance where she +met the full force of the stream, I was well-nigh deafened with the +hoarse shouts and unintelligible cries that filled the air on all sides, +everybody apparently having something to say, and all calling out at +once. + +"Bear a hand with that spring!" Mr Mackay would roar out one instant +in a voice that quite eclipsed that of Tim Rooney, loud as I thought +that on first going on board. "Easy there!" screamed Matthews from his +perch forwards, not to be outdone; while the boatswain was singing out +for a "fender" to guard the ship's bows from scrunching against the dock +wall, and Tom Jerrold overseeing the men at the bollard on the wharf +calling out to them to "belay!" as her head swung a bit. Even lanky +young Sam Weeks, the other middy like myself, had something or other to +say about the "warp fouling," the meaning of which I did not catch, +although he seemed satisfied at adding to the general hubbub. All the +time, too, there was the red-headed Mr Saunders, the second mate, who +had stationed himself in the main-chains, whence he could get a good +view of what was going on both forward and aft alike, continually urging +on the men at the capstan to "heave with a will!"--just as if they +wanted any further urging, when they had Mr Mackay at them already and +their tramping chorus, "Yo, heave, ho" to fall back upon! + +It was a wonder, with so many contradictory commands, as these all +seemed to my ignorant ears, that some mishap did not happen. But, +fortunately, nothing adverse occurred to delay the ship; and those on +shore being apparently as anxious to get rid of the Silver Queen as +those on board were to clear her away from the berth she had so long +occupied when loading alongside the jetty, she was soon by dint of +everybody's shouting and active co-operation warped out of the basin +into the lock, drifting thence on the bosom of the tideway into the +stream. + +Here, a little sturdy tug of a paddle steamer, which had been waiting +for us the last hour or more, puffing up huge volumes of dense black +smoke, and occasionally sounding her shrill steam whistle to give vent +to her impatience, ranged up alongside, someone on her deck heaving +dexterously a line inboard, which Tim Rooney the boatswain as +dexterously caught as it circled in the air like a lasso and fell +athwart the boat davits amidships. + +The line was then taken forwards by Tim Rooney outside the rigging, he +walking along the gunwale till he gained the forecastle; there, another +man then lending a hand, the line was hauled in with the end of a strong +steel hawser bent on to it, that had been already passed over the stern +of the tug, and the bight carried across the "towing-horse" and firmly +fastened to the tug's fore-deck, while our end on reaching the +forecastle of the Silver Queen was similarly secured inboard, Tim +satisfying himself that it was taut by jumping on it. + +"Are you ready?" now hailed the master of the tug from the paddle-box of +his little vessel, calling out to Mr Mackay who was leaning over the +poop of ours which seemed so big in comparison, the hull of the ship +towering above the tug and quite overshadowing her. "Are you ready, +sir?" + +"Aye, aye!" sang out Mr Mackay in answer. "You can start as soon as +you like. Fire up and heave ahead!" + +Then, the steamer's paddles revolved, the steel hawser, stretched over +her towing-horse astern and attached to our bows, tightened with a sort +of musical twang as it became rigid like a bar of iron; and, in another +minute or so, the Silver Queen was under good way, sailing down the +Thames outwards bound. + +"Fo'c's'le, ahoy there!" presently shouted out Mr Mackay near me all of +a sudden, making me jump round from my contemplation of the river, into +which I was gazing down from over the stern, looking at the broad white +foaming wake we left behind us as we glided on. "Is the bosun there?" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," promptly replied Tim Rooney, showing himself from +behind the deck-house between the mainmast and foremast, which had +previously hidden him from the view of the poop. "I'm here, sort." + +"Then send a hand aft to the wheel at once," rejoined Mr Mackay. "Look +sharp, we're under steerage-way." + +"Aye, aye, sorr," answered the boatswain as before; and as he spoke I +could see a tall seaman making his way aft in obedience to the first +mate's orders; and, before Mr Mackay had time to walk across the deck, +he had mounted the poop, cast off the lashings that prevented the wheel +from moving, and was whirling the spokes round with both hands in +thorough ship-shape style. + +This man's name was Adams, as I subsequently learnt; and he was the +sailmaker--one of the best sailors on board, and one of the old hands, +having sailed with Tim Rooney, as the latter told me, the two previous +voyages. That sort of man, in the boatswain's words, who was always +"all there" when wanted. + +I am anticipating matters, however, Mr Mackay being not yet done with +Tim; for, after telling Adams to go aft to take his trick at the wheel, +the worthy boatswain was just about disappearing again behind the +forward deck-house as before to resume some job on which he seemed very +intent, when his steps were once more arrested by the mate's hail, +"Bosun!" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," cried Tim Rooney rather savagely as he stopped and +faced round towards the break of the poops on which Mr Mackay stood by +the rail; and I'm sure I heard him mutter something else below his +breath even that distance off. + +"Is the anchor all clear?" asked the first mate. "You know we shall +want it for bringing up at Gravesend." + +"Yis, sorr," said the other. "I ased off the catfalls an' shank painter +iver since the mornin'; an', sure, the blissid anchor is a-cockbill, all +riddy to lit go whin ye gives the worrud." + +"And the cable--how many shackles have you got up?" + +"Thray lingths, sorr. I thought that enough for the river, wid a fower +fathom bottom; so, I've bitted it at that, an' me an' Jackson are a- +sayin' about clearin' the cable range now." + +"That's right," replied Mr Mackay, apparently satisfied that at last +everything forward was going on as it should; for he turned away from +the poop rail and entered into conversation with a stout thickset +strange man, dressed in sailor's clothes, but with a long black oilskin +or waterproof over his other garments reaching down to his heels, +although it wasn't raining at all, being a bright, fine afternoon. + +Not only had this new-comer arrived on board without my noticing him, +although I had been looking out all the time, but he managed to get up +on the poop in the most mysterious way. I was certain he had not been +anywhere near the moment before, and yet, now, there he was. + +He must be the captain at last, I thought, having been expecting to see +that personage appear on the scene every moment; and my impression of +his being one in authority was confirmed a moment later, when, from his +giving some order or command, Mr Mackay left him hastily, and coming +further aft took up a position nearer me, close to Adams, just abaft the +binnacle. The oilskin man, however, remained on the weather side of the +poop at the head of the ladder, whence he had a good look-out ahead, +clear of all intervening obstacles, and from which post he proceeded to +direct the steering of the ship by waving his arms this way and that as +if he were an animated windmill + +The first mate interpreted as quickly these signals for the benefit of +Adams, passing on the words of warning they conveyed, "Hard up!" or +"Down helm!" or "Steady!" as the case might be. These frequent and +often contradictory orders were necessary, when, owing to some +unexpected bend in the river, the Silver Queen would luff up suddenly +and shoot her head athwart stream hard a-port, or else try to "take the +bit between her teeth," and sheer into the shore on the starboard hand +as if she wanted to run up high and dry on the mud, loth to leave her +native land. + +She required good steering. + +Aye, and careful watching too, on the part of the helmsman; for, in +addition to the natural turnings and windings of the channel-way, which +were many, the Thames curving about and twisting itself into the shape +of a corkscrew between London Bridge and the Nore, the tug had besides +continually to alter her course, thus, naturally, making us change ours +too, as the tow-rope slackening one moment would cause the ship's bows +to fall off, and then tightening like a fiddle-string the next instant +her head would be jerked back again viciously into its former position, +right astern of the little vessel at whose mercy we were, as if she +insisted on the Silver Queen following obediently in her wake. + +This eccentric mode of procedure, however, must not be altogether +ascribed to any contrariness of disposition on the part of the gallant +tug, which, in spite of occasional stoppages and frequent alterations of +course, yet towed us along steadily down the river--a pigmy pulling a +giant. Such a monster we seemed, lumbering behind her as she panted and +puffed huge volumes of black smoke from her tall striped funnel, with +much creaking of her engines and groaning of her poor strained timbers, +and the measured rhythmical beat of her paddle-floats on the surface of +the water, that sounded as if she were "spanking" it out of spite. + +No, it wasn't the fault of the little, dirty, toiling tug, whose daily +drudgery did not give her time to look after her toilet and study her +personal appearance like those bigger craft she had always tacked on to +her tail. For these turnings and twistings we had to take in our +downward journey to Gravesend and the open sea beyond; the innumerable +backings and fillings and bendings this way and that, now going ahead +full speed for a couple of minutes, now coming to a full stop with a +sharp order to let her drift astern, were all due to the fact of the tug +having to keep clear, and keep us clear, too, of the innumerable inward- +bound steamers, passenger boats, and other vessels coming up stream. +The tideway being crowded with craft of all sorts, navigation was +exceedingly difficult for a heavily-laden ship in tow, especially in +that awkward reach between Greenwich and Blackwall, where the river, +after trending south by east, makes an abrupt turn almost due north. +This place I thought the worst part of the journey then when I first saw +it; and, I am of the same opinion still, although now better acquainted +with the Thames and all its mysteries. + +On the bustle that ensued when she began to warp out of dock, I had left +the poop, along with the boatswain and the others, going down the ladder +at the side on to the main-deck; but, when arrived there, I soon +discovered that an idler like myself, standing by with nothing to do, +was in the way alike of the ropes that were being thrown and dragged +about and of the men handling them--this knowledge being brought home +very practically by my getting tripped and knocked about from pillar to +post by those rushing here and there to execute the various orders +hoarsely bawled out to them each instant, and which would not admit of +delay. + +"Look out there!" would shout one, nearly strangling me with the bight +of a line circling in the air round my unfortunate head. "By your +leave!" would cry another, jamming me, most certainly without my +consent, against the bulwarks, and making me feel as flat as a pancake +all over. So, first pushed this way and then driven that, and mauled +about generally, I got forced away by degrees from the forward part of +the deck, where I had taken up a position in the thick of the fray, back +again to my original starting-point, the poop; and here, now, ensconcing +myself by the taffrail at the extreme end of the vessel, I thought there +was no danger of anyone asking me to get out of the way or move on any +further, unless they shoved me overboard altogether. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +DOWN THE RIVER. + +I remained for some time very quiet on the poop, for Mr Mackay was too +busy giving his orders, first as we worked out of dock and, afterwards, +in directing the steersman, when we were under way, to notice me; and +seeing him so occupied, of course I did not like to speak to him. + +I did not like to talk to Adams either for he was equally busy, besides +which I did not know him then; and the same obstacle prevented my +entering into conversation with the fat man in the oilskin, although I +felt sure he could tell me a lot I wanted to know, I having a thousand +questions simmering in my mind with reference to the ship and her +belongings, and all that was going on around me on board the Silver +Queen, in and on the river, and on either shore. + +Still, I had plenty to interest me, even without speaking, my thoughts +being almost too full, indeed, for words; for, the varied and ever- +varying panorama through which we were moving was very new and strange +to one like myself who had never been on board a vessel of any sort +before, never sailed down the river Thames, never before seen in all its +glory that marvellous waterway of all nations. + +I was in ecstasies every moment at the world of wonders in which I now +found myself;--the forests of masts rising over the acres of shipping in +the East and West India docks away on our right, looking like the trunks +of innumerable trees huddled together, and stretching for miles and +miles as far as the eye could see; the deafening din of the hammermen +and riveters, hammering and riveting the frames of a myriad iron hulls +of vessels building in the various shipwright yards along the river bank +from Blackwall to Purfleet; the shriek of steam whistles in every key +from passing steamers that seemed as if they would come into collision +with us each moment, they sheered by so dangerously near; the constant +succession of wharfs and warehouses, and endless rows of streets and +terraces on both sides of the stream; the thousands of houses joined on +to other houses, and buildings piled on buildings, forming one endless +mass of massive bricks and mortar, with the river stealing through it +like a silver thread, that reached back, behind, up the stream to where, +in the dim perspective, the dome of Saint Paul's, rising proudly above a +circlet of other church spires, stood out in relief against the bright +background of the crimson sky glowing with the reflection of the setting +sun just sinking in the west,--all making me wonder where the people +came from who lived and toiled in the vast city, whose outskirts only I +saw before me, seemingly boundless though my gaze might be. + +All this flashed across me; but most wonderful of all to me was the +thought that my dream of months past was at length realised; and that +here I was actually on board a real ship, going towards the sea as fast +as the staunch little Arrow tug could tow us down the river, aided by a +good tide running under us three knots the hour at least. + +It was almost incredible; and, unable to contain myself any longer I +felt I must speak to somebody at all hazards. + +My choice of this "somebody," however, was a very limited one, for Mr +Mackay and the mysterious man in the oilskin coat, and Adams, the +steersman, the only persons on the poop besides myself, were all too +busy to talk to me; albeit the former good-naturedly gave me an +occasional kindly glance, as if he wished me to understand that his +silence was not owing to any unfriendliness, or intended to make me +"keep my distance," as I might otherwise have thought. + +As for Mr Saunders, the second mate, he had dived down the companion +way into the cuddy below as soon as we had got out into the river and +were in tow of the tug; and was probably now engaged in finishing his +interrupted dinner, as his services were no longer required on deck. +Matthews, the biggest of the three young fellows who had come up with +him to help unmoor the ship and warp out of dock, had also followed his +example in the most praiseworthy fashion. + +Jerrold, the other youth, in company with the lanky boy of my own size +were still hovering about, though neither had spoken to me; and the two +were just now having a chat together by the door of the after-deckhouse, +which Mr Mackay had pointed out to me as set apart for the +accommodation of us "middies," or apprentices, although I had not yet +had an opportunity of inspecting its interior arrangements. + +But, strange to say, the noisy gangs of men, who had been only a short +time before bustling about the deck below, rushing from the forecastle +aft and then back again, and pulling and hauling and shoving everywhere, +so effectively as to push me to the other end of the ship and almost +overboard, seemed to have disappeared in almost as unaccountable a +fashion as the man in the oilskin had made his appearance. + +Beyond this latter gentleman, therefore, and Mr Mackay, and Adams the +steersman--to whom I was going to speak once only Mr Mackay shook his +head--and my fellow apprentices on the main-deck below, I could only see +Tim Rooney forward, with a couple of sailors helping him to range the +cable in long parallel rows along the deck fore and aft, the trio +lifting the heavy links by the aid of chain-hooks and turning it over +with a good deal of clanking, so as to disentangle the links and make it +all clear for running out without fouling through the hawse-hole when +the anchor was let go. + +The boatswain looked quite as busy as Mr Mackay, if not more so, his +work being more noisy at any rate; but he wore so good-humoured an +expression on his face, and had made friends so nicely with me after our +little difficulty when I first came on board, that I thought I really +could do no great harm in speaking to him and asking him to solve some +of the difficulties that were troubling me about everything. + +So resolving, I made my way down the poop ladder for the third time, +passing my fellow apprentices, who did not speak, though the lanky one, +Sam Weeks, put out his tongue at me very rudely; and, at last I came to +where Rooney was standing by the windlass bitts below the topgallant +forecastle. + +"Hullo, Misther Gray-ham!" he cried on seeing me approach, "I was jist a +wondtherin' how long ye'd be acting skipper on the poop! You looked all +forlorn up there, ma bouchal, loike Pat's pig whin he shaved it, +thinkin' to git a crop o' wool off av its back. Aren't ye sorry now ye +came to say, as I tould ye--hey?" + +"Not a bit of it," said I stoutly. "I'm more glad than ever now that I +came; and I wouldn't go back on shore if I could." + +"Be jabers, that's more'n you'll say, me bhoy, a fortnight hince!" he +retorted with a grim chuckle, while the other men grinned in +appreciation of the remark. "Sure now, though, there's no good anyhow +in fore-tastin' matthers, as the ould jintleman aid whin he onhitched +the rope from off his nick which he was agoin' to hang himsilf wid. Is +there innythin' I can do in the manetoime to oblige ye, Misther Gray- +ham?" + +"I wish you would tell me a lot of things," I replied eagerly. + +"Be aisy, me darlint," he rejoined in his funny way; "an' if ye can't be +aisy, be as aisy as ye can! Now, go on ahid wid ye'r foorst +question--`one dog, one bone,' as me ould friend Dan'l sez." + +"Well, what have become of all the sailors?" I asked to begin with. + +"The sailors? Why, here we are, sure, all aloive an' kickin'! What do +ye take me an' me lazy mates here for, ma bouchal?" + +"Oh, but I mean all those men you were ordering about when I first came +on board," I said. + +"Bedad, my hearty, there's no doubt but ye ought for to go to say, as ye +aid y'rsilf," rejoined the boatswain indignantly. "It shows how grane +yez are to misthake a lot av rowdy rapscallion dock loompers for genuine +Jack Tars! Them fellers were ownly the stevedores, hired at saxpence +the hour to load the ship; an' they wint off in a brace av shakes, as +you must have sayn for y'rsilf, whin their job was done! No, me bhoy, +them weren't the proper sort av shellbacks. There's ownly fower raal +sailors, as ye call's 'em, now aboard, barrin' Misther Mackay and the +second mate; an' them's Adams over thar aft at the wheel, these two idle +jokers here beside me, the ship's bhoy, an' thin mesilf--though, faix, +me modesty forbids me say'n it, sure!" + +"And are you really the only sailors on board?" I said, much surprised +at this piece of information, being under the impression that the others +had all gone below. + +"Iv'ry ha'porth," he answered; "that is, lavin' out ye're brother +middies, or `foorst-class apprentices' loike y'rsilf, Misther Gray-ham-- +faix, though, they aren't sailors yit by a long shot. There's that +Portygee stooard, too, that the cap'an's got sich a fancy for, I'm sure +I can't till why, as he's possissed av the timper av ould Nick himsilf, +an' ain't worth his salt, to me thinkin'!" + +"And is that the captain up there now with Mr Mackay?" I asked. + +"That the skipper? Bless ye, no, me lad--that's ownly the river pilot!" + +"Where is the captain, then?" was my next query, without stopping to +think. + +"By the powers, ye bates Bannagher for axin' quistions, Misther Gray- +ham!" cried Tim, amused at my cross-examination of him--just as if he +were in a court of justice, as he afterwards said when he brought up the +matter one day.--"Sure, how can I till where he or any other mother's +son is that I can't say before my eyes? I can till you, though, where I +belaives him to be this blissid minnit; an' that is, by the `Crab an' +Lobster' at Gravesend, lookin' out for to say if he can say the Silver +Quane a-sailin' down the sthrame." + +"And will he come on board there?" I asked. + +"Arrah, will a dook swim?" replied the boatswain in Irish fashion. "Av +coorse he will, in a brace av shakes. Ould Jock Gillespie ain't the +sort av skipper to lit the grass grow under his cawbeens, whin he says +his ship forninst him!" + +"Oh, he'll come on board at Gravesend," I repeated after him, my mind +greatly relieved; for I had been much concerned as to how and when the +captain would make his appearance as well as the remainder of the crew, +having read enough about ships to know that the Silver Queen could not +well be navigated with such a small number of hands as were only in her +then. "And will he bring any more sailors with him?" + +"Aye, sonny, the howl bilin' av the crew, barrin' us chaps here alriddy. +Yis, an' our say pilot will come aboord there, the river one lavin' us +there." + +"I'm glad of that," I said. "I thought there weren't enough on board to +sail the ship, with only you four men and the boy who struck the bell!" + +"Did ye? Then, sure, ye've got the makin's av a sailor in yez afther +all, as Misther Mackay aid whin he foorst clapped eyes on ye. An', +sure, it's now me toorn to be afther axin' quistions, me bhoy--don't ye +feel peckish loike?" + +"Peckish?" I echoed, unable to understand him. + +"Now, don't go on loike an omadhawn, an' make me angry, as ye did at +foorst," he cried. "I mane are yez houngry? For I don't belaive you've +hid a bit insoide yer little carcase since ye came aboord this forenoon; +an' we're now gittin' through the foorst dog-watch." + +I declare I never thought of it before, but, now he mentioned it, I did +feel hungry--very much so, indeed, not having tasted a morsel since the +hasty meal that morning before leaving home; when, as might be supposed, +I did not have over much of an appetite, with the consciousness that it +might possibly be the last time I should breakfast with father and +mother and sister Nell. The parting with Tom did not affect me much, as +he had got priggish and rather above a boy like me since he had been to +Oxford. + +"By the powers!" exclaimed the kind Irishman when I confessed to feeling +"peckish," as he called it, telling him I had not had anything since +eight o'clock that morning, "ye must be jist famished, me poor gossoon; +an' if I'd been so long without grub, why it's atin' me grandfather I'd +be, or my wife's sister's first coosin, if I had one! But, now I've got +this cable snug, jist you come along o' me, me bhoy, an' we'll say what +that Portygee stooard hez lift in his panthry; for I've got no proper +mess yit an' have to forage in the cabin." + +"I thought you said, though, he was bad tempered," I observed as I +followed the boatswain along the deck towards the door opening into the +cuddy from the main-deck under the break of the poop, and only used +generally by the steward and cook going to and from the galley forward, +the other entrance by the companion way, direct down from the poop, +being reserved for the captain and officers, as a rule. "Perhaps he'll +say he has nothing left, now that the others have all had their dinner?" + +I said this rather anxiously; for, now that I came to think of eating at +all, I felt all the hungrier, although until Tim asked me the question I +had not once thought about the matter, nor experienced the slightest +qualm from that neglected little stomach he had pitied! + +"Bedad, whatsomedever he may say, me lad, he'll have to git somethin' +for us to ate, an' purty sharp too, if he's forced to fry that oogly +ould mahogany face av his!" + +So saying, Tim entered the door of the passage leading into the cuddy, +which seemed very dark coming in from the open deck, and was all the +darker as we proceeded, the skylight in the poop having been covered +over to protect the glass-work while the ship was loading in the dock, +and the tarpaulin not having been yet taken off. + +It was like going from the day into the night at one jump; but, after +fumbling after my leader for a step or two, almost feeling my way and +stumbling over the coaming at the entrance, placed there to prevent the +water the ship might take in over the side when at sea from washing in +from the main-deck, I all at once found myself in a wide saloon +stretching the whole length of the after part of the ship, with a series +of small cabins on either side and two larger ones at the end occupying +the stern-sheets. The doors of the latter, however, were closed so that +no light came through the slanting windows that opened out on either +side of the rudder-post, above which is usually fitted what is called +the stern gallery on board of an East Indiaman or man-of-war. + +The skylight above being now blocked up and the ports and side scuttles +closed, the cuddy was only dimly illuminated by a couple of glass +bull's-eyes let into the deck above, and one of the swinging lamps that +were suspended at intervals over the long table that occupied the centre +of the saloon, the rest being untrimmed and only this one lit. + +The light was certainly dim, but quite enough for me to see how finely +fitted-up the saloon was, with bird's-eye maple panelling to the cabins +and gilt-mouldings; while the butt of the mizzen-mast that ran up +through the deck and divided the table, was handsomely decorated all +round its base, the Silver Queen having been originally intended for the +passenger trade, although since turned into a cargo ship, and now going +out to Shanghai with a freight of Manchester goods, and Sheffield and +Birmingham hardware. + +A nicely-cushioned seat with a reversible back, so that people could +either face their cabins or the table as they pleased by shifting it +this way and that, was fixed along either side of the table; and at the +extreme aftermost end of this, behind the mizzen-mast, I saw Mr +Saunders and Matthews. They were comfortably enjoying themselves over +their tea, judging by the cups and saucers before them, and other +accompaniments of that meal; and evidently not hurrying themselves about +it, for it was more than an hour since they had left the deck. + +Our appearance did not at all discompose them; both looking up at our +entrance, while Mr Saunders motioned to Tim to take a seat beside him. + +"Hullo, bosun! Come in to forage--eh?" he cried, with his mouth still +full and his jaws wagging away, "Bring yourself to an anchor, old ship; +and bear a hand." + +"Thank ye kindly, Misther Saunders; I will sorr, savin' y'r prisince," +said Tim Rooney, seating himself, however, on the other side of the +table close to the end of the passage way by which we had entered. "I +thought it toime to have a bit atwane me teeth as I haven't tasted bit +nor sup since dinner, an' that war at eight bells. This youngster, too, +wor famished, an' so I brought him along o' me." + +"I'm sure you're welcome," answered the second mate, losing no time +though at his eating, but still keeping up his knife and fork play while +talking. "Ah, the new apprentice Mr Mackay was telling me about just +now--eh?" + +"Yes, sir," said I for he glanced over towards me as he spoke. + +"Well, I hope you'll get on well with your shipmates." + +He did not say any more, completing his sentence by draining his tea- +cup; and my friend the boatswain, apparently taking this as a hint, +shouted out in a tone that made my ears tingle: "Ahoy there, stoo-ard!" + +"Yase, yase, I coom," replied someone in a queer squeaky voice, that had +a strong foreign accent, from somewhere in the darkness beyond the foot +of the the companion way, where the gleam of the solitary saloon lamp +did not quite penetrate; "I coom, sare, queek, queek." + +"Ye'd betther come sharp, sharp, or I'll know the rayson why," growled +Tim Rooney, however, before he could say any more a little dark man with +black crinkly hair like a negro's emerged into the light, looking by no +means amiable at being disturbed by the boatswain's hail. + +"What you want--hey?" he asked angrily. "I got my bizness to do in +pantry, 'fore ze cap'in coom aboard." + +"What do I want, me joker?" returned Tim, in no way put out by his rude +address. "I want somethin' to ate for me an' this young jintleman here. +D'ye hear that?" + +"Zere's nuzzing left," surlily answered the man. "You should coom down +in ze propare time." + +"The dickens I should? Confound y'r impudence, ye mangy Porteegee swab! +Allow me to till ye, Misther Paydro Carvalho--an' be the powers it's a +sin ag'in the blessed Saint Pater to name such an ugly thafe as ye +afther him--that I'll pipe down to grub whin I loikes widout axin y'r +laive or license. Jist ye look sharp, d'ye hear, an' git us somethin' +to ate at once!" + +To emphasise his words, the boatswain jumped up from his seat as he +spoke; and the other, thinking he was going to make an attack on him, +dodged to the opposite side of the table so as to have this as a sort of +bulwark in between the irate Irishman and himself, vehemently protesting +all the while that there was "nuzzing" he could put on the table. + +"Nonsense, steward," interposed the second mate, who with Matthews +seemed highly amused at the altercation, the two grinning between their +bites of bread and butter. "There's that tin of corned-beef you opened +for me just now, bring that." + +"An' tay," roared out Tim Rooney, resuming his seat again, which seeing, +the dark little man, who had grown almost pallid with fright, swiftly +retreated into the darkness of his pantry, muttering below his breath; +while Tim, turning to me, asked, "Ye'd loike some tay wid y'r grub, +Misther Gray-ham, wouldn't ye now?" + +"Yes," I said. + +"Tay for two, ye spalpeen!" he thereupon roared out a second time; "an' +ye'd betther look sharp, too, d'ye hear?" + +The answer to this was a tremendous smash from the pantry, and the sound +of things clattering about and rolling on the floor, as if all the +crockery in the ship was broken, whereat Tim and the second mate and +Matthews burst altogether into one simultaneous shout of laughter. + +"Tare an' 'ouns, he's at it ag'in!" cried the boatswain when he was able +to speak; "he's at it ag'in!" + +"Aye, he's at it again. A rum chap, ain't he?" said Mr Saunders. + +"It's ownly his nasty timper, though; an' he vints it on them poor +harmless things bekase he's too much av a coward to have it out wid them +that angers him," replied Tim Rooney, adding, as another crash resounded +from the distance: "Jist he'r him now. Bedad he's havin' a foine fling +this toime, an' no misthake at all, at all!" + +"What is he doing?" I asked, seeing that the boatswain and the other +two took the uproar as a matter of course, and were in no way surprised +at it. "Is he breaking things?" + +"No, ma bouchal," replied Tim carelessly. "He's ownly kickin' presarved +mate tins about the flure av his panthry, which he kapes especial fur +such toimes as he's in a rage wid anyone as offinds him, whin, instead +av standin' up loike a man an' foightin' it out wid the chap that angers +him, he goes and locks himsilf in the panthry an' kicks the harmless +ould tins about, an' bangs 'em ag'in the bulkhead at the side, till ye'd +think he was smashin' the howl ship!" + +"What a funny man!" I exclaimed. + +"He's all that," said the boatswain sententiously. "An' the strangest +thing av all is, that whin he's done kickin' the tins about an' has +vinted his passion, he'll come out av his panthry as cool an' calm as a +Christian, an' do jist what ye wants him, as swately as if he'd nivir +bin in a timper at all, at all. Jist watch him now." + +It was as Tim Rooney explained. + +While he was yet describing the steward's peculiar temperament and +strange characteristics, the clattering sounds all at once ceased in the +pantry; and the Portuguese presently appeared with a tray on which were +clean plates and cups and saucers, which he proceeded to lay neatly and +dexterously at one end of the table, looking as calm and quiet as if +"butther wouldn't milt in his mouth, sure," as Tim remarked. + +Making a second journey back to the pantry, he returned with a dish of +cold beef and a cheese, besides a plate piled up with slices of bread +and butter, which he certainly must have been cutting all the time he +was kicking the tins about. Then, taking a large bronze teapot from the +top of a stove in the after part of the cabin, where it had been keeping +hot all the while without my noticing it before, the steward poured out +a cup of tea apiece for Tim Rooney and myself, asking politely if there +was anything more he could get us. + +"No, thank ye, Paydro," replied Tim rubbing his hands at sight of the +eatables; "this will do foorst rate, me bhoy. Misther Gray-ham, why +don't ye fire away, ma bouchal? Sure an' y'r tay's gettin' cowld." + +I hardly needed any pressing, feeling by this time as hungry as a +hunter; the waiting having sharpened my appetite, as well as the sight +of the second mate and Matthews at work at the other end of the table, +they only just finishing their meal and going up on deck again as we +commenced ours. + +We did not lose any time, though, for all that, when once we began, I +can tell you, following to the full the second mate's praiseworthy +example. + +No; for, we made such good use of our opportunities that in less than a +quarter of an hour we had both assuaged our hunger--Tim appearing as bad +in this respect as myself--by making a general clearance of everything +eatable on the table, the corned-beef and bread and butter and piece of +cheese vanishing as if by magic, washed down by sundry cups of tea, +which, if not strong, made up for this deficiency by being as sweet as +moist brown sugar could make it. + +"Sure, an' that Paydro ain't such a bad sort av chap afther all," +observed Tim Rooney complacently as he rose from his seat, feeling +comfortable as to his interior economy, the same as I did, and at peace +with all mankind. "Bedad, I'd forgive him ivrythin', for a choild could +play wid me now!" + +Any further remark on his part, however, was cut short at the moment by +a hail from Mr Mackay down the companion. + +"Bosun, ahoy, below there!" + +"Aye, aye, sorr!" cried Tim Rooney starting up and making a rush for the +doorway leading to the main-deck from the cuddy, "I'm a-coming, sorr!" + +And the next moment he was out on the deck, "two bells," or five +o'clock, as I knew by this time, just striking from the fore part of the +ship as we both emerged from below the break of the poop in view of +those standing above--I having followed close on Tim Rooney's heels like +his very shadow. + +"Oh, you're there, bosun!" exclaimed Mr Mackay as soon as he caught +sight of Tim out on the deck below him. "We're just abreast of Tilbury, +and the pilot thinks we had better bring up in accordance with Captain +Gillespie's orders. Are you ready for anchoring?" + +"Quite riddy, sorr," replied Tim, looking up at the first mate and the +man in the oilskin, whom I now knew to be the Thames pilot, as they +leaned over the poop rail. "Lasteways, as soon as iver I can rache the +fo'c's'le." + +"Carry-on then. You'll find Mr Saunders already in the bows to help +you," said Mr Mackay, hailing at the same time the master of the tug +that had brought us so far down the river, and who was at his post on +the paddle-box waiting for the pilot's orders to "stand by," the little +steamer, having already stopped her engines and now busy blowing off her +waste steam, waiting for us to cast off her towing-hawser from our +bollard, where it was belayed on the forecastle. + +While I was noticing these details, Tim was scrambling forwards towards +the windlass bitts, mounting thence on to the forecastle, where Mr +Saunders and Matthews, with the other middies, were assembled. + +Adams, who had been relieved from the wheel, and the other two sailors, +as well as the boy who remained with the rest after coming out to strike +the bell, was attending to the compressor and watching the cable on the +main-deck, just below the group above, which I now joined, racing after +my friend Tim. + +Looking back astern as soon as I attained this elevated position in the +bows of the ship, I noticed the pilot on the poop bring his arm down, +whereupon Mr Mackay by his side, putting both his hands to his mouth +for a speaking trumpet, shouted out towards us on the forecastle: + +"Are you all ready for'ard?" + +"All ready!" yelled back Mr Saunders in reply. + +"Let go!" then called out Mr Mackay, the second mate supplementing his +cry with a second shout-- + +"Stand clear of the cable!" + +At the same moment, Tim Rooney giving the tumbler a smart stroke with a +hammer which he had picked up from off the windlass, the cathead stopper +was at once released and the anchor fell from the bows into the water +with a great heavy splash, the chain cable jiggle-joggling along the +deck after it, and rushing madly through the hawse-hole with a roaring, +rattling noise like that of thunder! + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +CAPTAIN GILLESPIE COMES ABOARD. + +"Oh!" I exclaimed at the same moment, drawing back hastily and tumbling +over the boatswain, who with Adams was now busy hauling inboard the +tackle of the disengaged cathead stopper. "I'm blinded!" + +You see, I had been leaning over the bows, watching the operation of +letting go the anchor; and, as the ponderous mass of metal plunged into +the river, it sent up a column of spray on to the forecastle that came +slap into my face, drenching my clothes and wetting me almost to the +skin at the same time. + +"Whisht, ma bouchal!" cried Tim Rooney, laughing at my sorry plight as I +picked myself up. "One'd think ye're kilt entoirely, wid all that row +ye'r makin'! Ye'll niver be a sailor, Misther Gray-ham, if ye can't +stand a bit av fun!" + +"Fun, you call it?" I rejoined, rather angrily, I must confess, looking +down ruefully at my soaking suit. "Why, I'm wet through!" + +"Niver moind that," replied he, still grinning, as was also Adams. +"Sure, it's ownly y'r say chris'nin', though it's pricious little av the +say there is, be the same token, in this dirthy shoal wather alongside +av us now." + +"But, it is salt for all that," said I, having had an opportunity of +tasting it's flavour, my mouth being wide open when I got the ducking. +"It is just like brine and even more nasty!" + +Tim laughed all the more at the faces I made, as I spluttered and fumed, +trying vainly to get rid of the taste; for, I had swallowed about half a +pint at least of the stuff. + +"It ain't as good as Paydro's tay that we had jist now, is it?" he +observed consolingly. "Thare's too many did dogs an' cats an' other +poor bastesesses in it for that, me bhoy; but, faix, ye jist wait till +we gits into blue wather an' out av soundin's, it'll be a real trayte +for ye to taste it thin." + +"I don't know about that," I answered, getting over my little bit of +temper and laughing too, he gave such a knowing wink and looked so +comical--as I daresay I did, with all the shine taken out of my new +uniform--"I think I've had quite enough of it already." + +I do not believe I could forget anything, however trivial, that occurred +that day, every incident connected with the ship and its surroundings +being stamped indelibly on my mind. + +The bright February afternoon was already drawing to a close, the sun +having set, as usual at that time of year, about half-past five o'clock, +going down just as we were in all the bustle of "bringing up;" and, as +the Silver Queen had swung with the tide after anchoring, her head now +pointing up stream, looking back as it were on the course she had gone +over, I had an uninterrupted view from where I stood on the forecastle +of the western horizon, with the hazy city still apparent between. I +noticed how the warm crimson and orange tints of the after-glow changed +gradually to the more sober tones of purple and madder and pale sea- +green, marking the approach of evening, a soft semi-transparent mist the +while rising from the surface of the water and blotting out one by one +the distant objects. It was still light enough, however, to see +everything all round near where we were lying, we being then just off +the Lobster, midway in the stream, which at that point is about a mile +wide, with Gravesend on our left or "port" hand, and the frowning fort +of Tilbury guarding the entrance to the river on our right. + +All seemed very quiet, as if old Father Thames and those who went to and +fro on his broad bosom were thinking of going to sleep; and thus, the +shades of night slowly descended on the scene, hushing the spirit of the +waters to rest, the ebbing tide lapping its lullaby. + +Two other vessels, large merchantmen both, were moored close to ours, +and a tug far-away down the stream astern was toiling up wearily against +the current with a long string of heavily-laden coal barges in tow, and +making but poor headway judging from the long time she took to get +abreast of us; while our own gallant little Arrow, which had pulled us +along so merrily to our anchorage, was lying-to, about a cable's length +off, waiting to see whether we would require her services any further, +blowing off her superfluous steam in the meantime, with a turn of her +paddles every now and then to show that she was quite ready for more +work. + +These were all the signs of life afloat in our immediate vicinity on the +whilom teeming, busy tideway; and the shore on either side was equally +still, only an occasional light, twinkling here and there like a Will o' +the Wisp, bearing evidence that some people were stirring, or beginning +to wake up as the darkness grew, with that topsy-turvy habit which those +who live on land have sometimes of turning day into night! + +We aboard ship, though, preserved the regular ways of sea-folk; and +beyond myself and Tim Rooney, who remained behind on the forecastle, to +keep me company more than to act as look-out, I believe, not a soul was +to be seen on the upper deck of the Silver Queen during this last half- +hour of the first dog-watch, now just expiring. + +No, not a soul. For Mr Saunders, the second mate, with Matthews and +the other apprentices had started aft to their quarters the moment the +anchor had been dropped and all things made snug forwards; Mr Mackay +had disappeared from the poop, having taken our river pilot down into +the cuddy for a glass of grog prior to his departure for the shore to +make his way back by land to the docks he had started from, unless he +could pick up a job of another vessel going up, and so "combine business +with pleasure," as Sam Weeks remarked to Matthews with a snigger, as if +he had said something extremely funny; while Adams and the other two +sailors, the remaining hands we had aboard, had likewise proceeded +towards the cuddy by the boatswain's advice to try and wheedle the +steward Pedro into giving them some tea, there not being as yet any cook +in the ship to look after the messing arrangements of the crew, so that +they were all adrift in this respect, having no proper provision made +for them. + +Then, all was still inboard and out; nothing occurring, until, +presently, the same boy I had noticed before, and who I found was +helping the steward stowing provisions in the after-hold beneath the +saloon, came out from under the break of the poop at six o'clock to +strike the ship's bell, or "make it four bells," nautically speaking, in +the same way as he had done previously. + +I think I can hear the sound now as I heard it that calm evening when we +were anchored off Gravesend. The "cling-clang, cling-clang!" of our +tocsin, tolling and telling the hour, being echoed by the "pong-pang, +pong-pang!" of the merchantman lying near us, and that again answered a +second or so later by the "ting-ting, ting-ting!" of the other vessel +further away, the different tones lingering on the air and seeming to me +like the old church bells of Westham summoning the laggards of the +congregation to prayers. Father wasn't an extreme high churchman, or +otherwise I would have said vespers! + +After sunset, it grew colder, the wind coming from the eastwards up the +open reach of the river; and so, what with my wet things and standing so +long on the forecastle I began to shiver. The boatswain noticed this on +the sound of the ship's bell waking him up from a little nap into which +he had nearly fallen when things became quiet and I ceased to talk. + +"Bedad ye're tremblin' all over, loike a shaved monkey wid the ag'ey, +sure," he said as he yawned and stretched himself, rising from his seat +on the knightheads, where he was supposed to be keeping a strict look- +out in the absence of the other men from forward. "Why the dickens +don't ye go into the cuddy aft an' warrum y'rsilf, an' dhry y'r wit +clothes be the stowve there, youngster?" + +"I was just thinking of it," I replied. + +"Ye'd betther do it, that's betther nor thinkin'," he retorted; "or ilse +ye'll be catching a cowld an' gittin' them nasty screwmatics as makes me +howl av a winther sometimes." + +As Tim spoke, I heard a splashing noise in the distance, with the +rattling sound of oars moving in the rowlocks; and, looking over the +bows to the left, I noticed a large boat rowing rapidly up to us from +the direction of Gravesend. + +This boat, as it got nearer, seemed to be crammed full of men, its +gunwale being quite down to the water's edge with the weight of its +human cargo. + +In an instant, the thought flashed through my mind, ridiculous though it +was, that the ship was about to be boarded by pirates, my reading for +some time past, and especially during the last week or so when I was +assured of going to sea, having been mainly confined to stories of +nautical adventure, in which such gentry generally played a prominent +part. + +"Look, look, Mr Rooney!" I cried stopping my shivering and feeling all +aglow with excitement. "Don't you see that boat there coming towards us +to capture the ship?" + +"Arrah, don't make a fool av y'rsilf, Misther Gray-ham," he answered, +laughing and taking the matter quite coolly. "It's ownly goin' to that +Yankee astern av us; but the tide bein' on the ebb, in course, they've +got to make foorther up the strame towards this vessel, so as to fetch +their own craft handsomely--d'ye see?" + +He was mistaken, however, for the boat approached closer and closer to +us, so that the occupants could be clearly distinguished; and, just as +it came alongside, a man in the stern-sheets, who had been steering, +stood up, still holding the yokelines, and hailed the ship. + +"Silver Queen, ahoy!" + +"Begorra, it's the skipper!" ejaculated Tim, recognising the voice at +once; and he then shouted out in a louder tone: "Aye, aye, Cap'en +Gillespie, it's the owld barquy, sure enough. Stand by, an' I'll haive +ye a rhope in a brace av shakes!" + +The quiet that had reigned on board now vanished; and all was bustle and +activity, the captain's loud hail having been heard by others besides +the boatswain. + +Almost before he had time to pitch the promised rope to the bowman of +the boat so that it could drop down with the stream under the ship's +counter, Mr Mackay and the pilot appeared again on the poop; while the +others came out on to the main-deck, ready to receive the new-comers in +seaman-like fashion, the second mate and Matthews taking up a position +just amidships, abaft of the main-chains, where the side-ladder was +fixed, acting as a sort of guard of honour as it were. + +First to appear on board, holding on to the side lines which the second +mate had thrown over within his reach, and stepping up the narrow and +slippery ladder cleats as if he were ascending a comfortable staircase, +only pausing an instant on the edge of the gunwale of the bulwarks +before jumping down on the deck, was a tall spare man with a thin face +and high cheekbones, a long pointed nose being also a most prominent +feature. He had very scanty whiskers, too, and this seemed to make his +face look thinner and his nose longer, so that the latter resembled a +bird's beak. + +This was Captain Gillespie, as I quickly learnt from the way Mr +Saunders and Matthews addressed him; Mr Mackay, meanwhile, giving him a +cordial salutation from the head of the poop, his proper place as the +officer in command, until his superior took the reins in his own hand, +which as yet the captain did not offer to do. + +"I hardly expected you so soon, sir," said Mr Mackay, leaning over the +rail. "We brought up earlier than I thought we should, the tide +fetching us down in capital time." + +"Aye, but I was on the look-out for ye, Mackay, for I told you I'd be +aboard almost as you anchored; and, you know, when I say a thing I mean +a thing." + +"Hear that now?" said Tim the boatswain to me in a loud whisper, he +having come down from the forecastle after heaving a rope over to those +in the boat, and I following him to where the others were standing on +the deck. "Ye'll soon know owld Jock's ways. We allers calls him +`Sayin's an' Maynins'; for that's what he's allars a-sayin'!" + +While the captain was exchanging greetings with the mates and Matthews, +my other two fellow apprentices being nowhere to be seen, another thin +man followed him up the side-ladder from the boat, who, wearing a thick +monkey-jacket, looked a trifle less lean than Captain Gillespie; and to +him succeeded a shoal of sailors, nineteen clambering in on board after +him. + +Tim Rooney did not notice these much, only telling me that the one who +came immediately in the captain's wake was the "say," or channel pilot, +who would con the ship for the remainder of her course down the river +and to the Downs beyond; and I may add that this individual was the only +thin pilot I have ever seen! + +Rooney also said that the batch of men brought to complete our crew +seemed "a tidy lot;" but when the last man stepped down from the +bulwarks, he seemed a little more impressed, not to say excited. + +"Bedad," he exclaimed sotto voce to me, "I'm blissid if the skipper +ar'n't picked up that Chinee cook we'd aboard two v'y'ges agone, owld +Ching Wang! There's his ugly yalle'r face now toorned this way +foreninst you, Misther Gray-ham. Begorra hee don't look a day oulder, +if a troifle uglier since I sayed him last!" + +"And is he a Chinaman?" I asked, full of curiosity; "a real, live +Chinaman from the East?" + +"Be jabers he is, ivery inch av him from his blissid ould pigtail, tied +up with a siezin' of ropeyarn, down to his rum wooden brogues an' all, +the craythur!" replied Tim, stretching out his big hairy fist to the +other, who had advanced on seeing him and stopped just abreast, his +saffron-coloured face puckered up into a sort of wrinkled smile of +pleasure at meeting an old shipmate like the boatswain, who said in his +hearty way: "Hallo, ye ould son av a gun! Who'd a-thought av sayin' ye +ag'in in the ould barquey, Ching Wang? Glad ye're a-comin' with us, an' +hopes ye're all roight!" + +"Chin-chin, Mass' Looney," answered the Chinee, putting his monkey-like +paw into Tim's broad palm and shaking hands cordially in English +fashion. "Me belly well, muchee sank you. Me fetchee chow-chow number +one chop when you wauchee." + +"Aye, that's roight, me joker; if ye say that I gits me groob whin I +wants it, we'll be A1 friends an' have no squalls atwane us," said my +friend the boatswain as the Chinaman passed along the deck to the +forward deck-house, entering the galley as if he knew the way well, Tim +adding as he got out of hearing: "The ig'rant haythin, he nivir can +spake me name roight; allers callin' me `looney,' jist as if I wor a +blissid omahdawn loike himsilf!" + +Meanwhile, the other men who had come on board, most of whom were fine +strapping fellows, as if Captain Gillespie had selected them carefully, +scrambled past us to their quarters in the forecastle, the boatswain +scanning them keenly with his sharp seaman's eye as they went by, and +commenting on their appearance; some being sturdy and having decent +chests of clothes, which they lugged after them, while others looked +lean and half starved, carrying their few belongings in bags, which +showed that they had little or nothing beyond what they stood up in, and +were but ill provided for the long voyage we were about to take. + +Tim shook his head at these latter. + +"Begorra, thay're as lane as Job's toorkey, an' that wor all skin an' +faythers," he muttered. "Thay'll pick up, though, whin they gits out to +say an' has a good bit av salt joonk insoide av 'em, instid av the poor +livin' thay've hid av late." + +As soon as the men had all disappeared under the forecastle, leaving +room for us to pass along the deck, the boatswain stepped up to the +captain to present himself; and I followed his example. + +"Hi, Rooney, man," said Captain Gillespie accosting Tim, "I'm glad you +haven't deserted us; though I knew it before, for I heard your voice +answering my hail." + +"No, cap'en, I'll niver desart the ould ship so long's ye're the +skipper," replied Tim. "It's goin' on foive years now since we've +sailed togither." + +"Aye, close on that; and I hope we'll sail together for five years more, +man, for I don't wish a better bosun," responded the other pleasantly. +"But, who's that you've got in tow?" + +"Misther Gray-ham, sorr," said Tim, shoving me more in front as I took +off my cap and bowed. + +"Our new apprentice," explained Mr Mackay from the top of the poop +ladder as he caught sight of me. "He came aboard just before we left +the docks." + +"Ah, I thought I didn't see him this morning," observed the captain. +And turning to me he said: "I've read a very good letter the owners got +about you, youngster, and if you only do your duty and obey orders I'll +try to make a sailor out of you, and we'll get on very well together; +but, mind you, if you try any tricks with me, you'll find me a +scorcher." + +"Oh, I think he'll turn out all right," put in Mr Mackay as I blushed +and stood before the old fellow not knowing what to say, he looked so +stern at me when he spoke. "I've had a chat with him already, and I +think he's got the right stuff in him." + +"Has he?" returned the captain. "That's got to be proved by and by. +All boys promise well at first, but generally end badly! However, I +only want him to understand me at the start, and know that when I say a +thing I mean a thing, and stick to it, too. Where are the other +'prentices?" + +"I told them they might turn in, as there was nothing else for them to +do," replied the first mate, excusing them; "they were hard at it all +day getting the cargo in, and helping to warp out of dock." + +"H'm," muttered the captain, as if he did not like the idea of anyone +having a rest off while he was about; and he compressed his lips while +his long nose seemed to grow longer. "H'm!" + +"What do you think of doing sir?" inquired Mr Mackay in the middle of +this awkward pause, by way of changing the conversation. "The wind +looks as if it was going to hold from the east'ard." + +"Aye, so I think, too," assented Captain Gillespie, looking more amiable +as his mind was recalled to action. "It's just the wind we want for +going down Channel; and the sooner we take advantage of it, the better. +What say you pilot?" + +"I'm agreeable," replied the thin man alongside him in the monkey- +jacket, who was giving some parting message to the one in the oilskin as +he went down the side-ladder to take a passage back to Gravesend in the +shoreboat that had brought his comrade off. "I think we'd better lose +no time but tow on at once to the Downs." + +"Just what I wish," said Captain Gillespie springing up the poop ladder +and taking his place by the side of Mr Mackay; and, as the shoreboat +pushed off with its now solitary passenger and only one waterman to +pull, he shouted out, "Hands, up anchor!" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," responded the boatswain, who, expecting the order, had +already gone forwards to rouse out the men before they had stowed +themselves into their bunks, quickly followed by Mr Saunders the second +mate, who also anticipated what was coming; and the next moment I could +hear Tim's shrill whistle and his hoarse call, which seemed an echo of +the captain's, albeit in even a louder key, "A-all hands up anchor!" + +Mr Mackay now hailed the tug, which had been standing by still with her +steam up, awaiting our summons, and she steered up alongside shortly; +so, while our portion of the crew manned the windlass, hauling in the +cable with a chorus and the clink-clanking noise of the chain as the +pauls gripped, another set of hands busied themselves in getting in the +towing-hawser from the Arrow, and fastening it a second time around our +bollards forward. + +"Hove short, sir!" soon sang out the second mate from his station on the +knightheads, when the anchor was up and down under our forefoot. "It'll +show in a minute!" + +"All right," answered Captain Gillespie from aft, "bring it home!" + +More clink-clanking ensued from the windlass; and, then, as the vessel's +head slewed round with the tide, showing that she was released from the +ground, Mr Saunders shouted, "Anchor's now in sight, sir!" + +"Heave ahead!" the captain roared in answer to the master of the tug; +and, a second or two later, we were under weigh and proceeding once more +down the river, Captain Gillespie calling to the second mate that he +might "cat and fish" the anchor if he liked, as he did not intend to +bring up again, but to make sail as soon as the tug cast off in the +morning. Adding, as Mr Saunders turned away to give the order for +manning the catfalls: "And you'd better see to your side-lights at once, +for fear of accidents." + +Mindful of my previous experiences on the forecastle, I now kept away +from this part of the vessel, especially now that it was crowded with +the additional hands that had come on board; and after remaining for +some little time near the deck-house, I went up on the poop after the +new pilot, who as soon as we were moving took up a similar position on +the weather side as his predecessor had done, proceeding likewise to con +the ship in the same manner. + +The evening was rapidly drawing in; and the big red and green lanterns, +which I noticed were placed presently in the fore-chains on the port and +starboard sides respectively, began to shoot out their party-coloured +gleams across the surface of the water, stretching out to meet the +bright twinkling lights ashore on either hand, which multiplied fourfold +as the darkness grew. + +Adams was not at the wheel now, one of the fresh hands having taken his +place. But I did not mind this man being a stranger, nor did I feel so +lonesome and anxious for someone to speak to as was the case earlier in +the day; for Captain Gillespie having taken command of the ship, Mr +Mackay the first mate was a free man, and he came and talked to me, +explaining things very kindly as we pursued our way onward, the tide +still with us and adding considerably to the rate we were being towed by +the little Arrow, which had red and green side-lights like ours and a +bright clear white one at the masthead as well, to show to other craft +that she was a steamer under weigh, so that they might avoid fouling in +the fairway. + +An hour or so after starting from Gravesend, we passed a bright red +beacon, which Mr Mackay told me was the light marking the Mucking Flat; +and, later on yet, glided by the one on Chapman Head, getting abreast of +the light at the head of Southend Pier on our left at ten o'clock, or +"four bells" in the first watch--soon after which, the revolving light +of the Nore lightship was sighted, like a single-eyed Cyclops, staring +at us in the distance one moment and eclipsed the next. + +The moon now rose, putting all these artificial lights to shame as it +flooded the stream with its silver sheen; but I got so sleepy with the +night air after all my excitement through the day, besides being +thoroughly exhausted from standing so long on my legs, that, as Mr +Mackay was pointing out something in connection with Sheerness and the +Isle of Sheppey, and a light house on top of a church--I'm sure I can't +recollect what it was all about--I made a stumble forward and nearly +fell on my face on the deck, dead beat. + +"Poor little chap, you're tired out," said the first mate +sympathisingly, putting his arm round me and holding me up; "and when a +fellow's tired out, the best thing he can do is to turn in!" + +"Eh, sir," said I sleepily. "Turn where?" + +"Turn in, my boy," he replied laughing. "Go to roost, I mean. To bed-- +if you understand that better." + +"But where shall I go, sir?" I asked, catching his meaning at last. + +"Come along and I'll soon show you," he answered, taking me down the +poop ladder to the after-deckhouse, and hailing the steward to show a +light: "There!" + +It was a little narrow box of a cabin with four bunks in it, two on one +side running athwart the deck and two fore and aft. The ends of these +crossed each other, and they looked exactly like shelves in a cupboard; +while, to add to the effect and trench on the already limited space of +this apartment, the floor was blocked up by two other sea-chests besides +my own, and a lot of loose clothes and other things strewn about. + +The two bottom bunks were already occupied, Jerrold and Sam Weeks +snoring away respectively in them; and one of the two upper ones was +filled with what looked like a collection of odds and ends and crockery +ware.--This was the situation. + +What was I to do? + +I looked at Mr Mackay appealingly. + +"Well, Graham," he said in answer to my look, "you must make the best of +a bad job. These two fellows have turned in first, so, as you're the +last comer you've only got Dobson's choice in the matter of bunks--that +top one there, which seems a little less crowded than the other, or +nothing." + +"I'm so weary," I replied, "I can sleep anywhere. I don't mind." + +"Then, in you go," cried he, giving me a hoist up, while he covered me +over with a blanket which he pulled off young Weeks, that worthy having +with his customary smartness appropriated mine as well as his own. "Are +you all right now?" + +"Yes--th-ank you," I answered, closing my eyes; "g-ood night, sir." + +"Good night, my boy." + +"Goo-goo-oo-ah!" I murmured drowsily, falling asleep in the middle both +of a yawn and of my sentence, only to wake again the next moment--it +seemed to me--from a horrible dream, in which I was assailed by a crowd +of savages, who were dancing round me with terrible cries and just going +to make an end of me, for they were pulling and hauling away at me and +shaking me to pieces! + +And, strange to say, my first waking impression appeared to confirm the +story of my dream; for there really was an awful noise going on all +round and a yellow tawny face was bending over me looking into mine, all +the yellower from the bright sunlight that streamed through the open +door of the cabin fall upon it, while the owner of the face was shaking +me and calling out close to my ear in a strange dialect, "Hi, lilly +pijjin, rousee and bittee!" + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +THE STARLING. + +Rubbing my eyes and then opening them to the full, wide awake at last, I +at once recollected where I was, and who was speaking to me as he shook +me. + +It was Ching Wang, the Chinese cook, smiling all over his round yellow +face, and holding out a tin pannikin with something steaming in it, that +sent forth a fragrant smell which made my mouth water. + +"Hi me wakee can do," he said in his broken pigeon English, although +from having been several voyages he spoke more intelligibly than the +majority of his countrymen, "Mass' Looney me axee lookee after lilly +pijjin, and so me fetchee piecee coffee number one chop. You wanchee-- +hey?" + +"Thank you," I cried gratefully, drinking the nice hot coffee, which +seemed delicious though there was no milk in it. Then, forgetting I was +in the top bunk, I sprang off the mattress on which I had been lying, +falling further than I thought, it being quite six feet to the deck +below; and, knocking down the good-natured Chinaman, with whom I tumbled +over amongst the things scattered about the floor and landed finally +outside the door of the deck-house in a heap, rolled up with him in the +blanket I had clutched as I fell! + +Fortunately, however, neither of us was injured by this little +scrimmage, which somehow or other seemed to smooth over the awkwardness +of our making acquaintance, both of us grinning over the affair as a +piece of good fun. + +"Chin-chin, lilly pijjin," said my new friend, as he picked himself up +from the deck and made his way back to his galley with the empty +pannikin, whose contents I was glad to have swallowed before jumping out +of the bunk, or else it would have been spilt in another fashion. "When +you wanchee chow-chow you comee Ching Wang and he givee you first chop." + +"Thank you," I replied again, not knowing then what he meant by his term +"chow-chow," although I fancied he intended something kind, and probably +of an edible nature, as he was the cook. But all thoughts of him and +his intentions were quickly banished from my mind the moment I looked +around me, and saw and heard all the bustle going on in the ship; for, +men were racing here and there, and ropes were being thrown down with +heavy bangs, the captain and Mr Mackay both on the poop were yelling +out queer orders that I couldn't understand, and Mr Saunders and the +boatswain on the forecastle were also shouting back equally strange +answers, while, to add to the effect, blocks were creaking and canvas +flapping aloft, and groups of sailors everywhere were hauling and +pulling as if their lives depended on every tug they gave. + +It was broad daylight and more; the sun having, unlike me, been up long +since, it being after eight o'clock and a bright beautiful morning, with +every prospect of fine weather before us for the run down the Channel. + +We had come through the Bullock Channel, emerging from the estuary of +the Thames ahead of the North Foreland, which proudly raised its head +away on our starboard bow, the sun shining on its bare scarp and picking +out every detail with photographic distinctness. Further off in the +distance, on our port quarter, lay the French coast hazily outlined +against the clear blue sky, from which the early mists of dawn that had +at first hung over the water had withdrawn their veil, the fresh nor'- +easterly breeze sweeping them away seaward with the last of the ebb. +The tide was just on the turn, and the dead low water showed up the +sandbanks at the river's mouth. + +The little tug Arrow was right ahead; but she had eased her paddles and +stopped towing us, preparatory to casting off her hawser and leaving the +Silver Queen to her own devices. The good ship on her part seemed +nothing loth to this; for, those on board were bustling about as fast as +they could to make sail, so that they might actually start on their +voyage--all the preliminary work of towing down the river by the aid of +the tug being only so much child's play, so to speak, having nothing to +do with the proper business of the gallant vessel. + +And here I suddenly became confronted with one of the discomforts of +board-ship life, which contrasted vividly with the conveniences to which +I had been accustomed at home ever since childhood. + +Before presenting myself amongst the others I naturally thought of +dressing, or rather, as I had gone to sleep in my clothes, of performing +some sort of toilet and making myself as tidy as I could; but, lo and +behold, when I looked round the cabin of the deck-house, nothing in the +shape of a washhand-stand was to be seen, while my sea-chest being +underneath a lot of traps, I was unable to open the lid of it and make +use of the little basin within, as I wished to do if only to "christen +it." + +I was completely nonplussed at first; but, a second glance showing me +Tom Jerrold, one of my berthmates who had turned out before me, washing +his face and hands in a bucket of sea-water in the scuppers, I followed +suit, drying myself with a very dirty and ragged towel which he lent me +in a friendly way, albeit I felt inclined to turn up my nose at it. + +"You thought, I suppose," observed Jerrold with a grin, "that you'd have +a nice bath-room and a shampooing establishment for your accommodation-- +eh?" + +"No, I didn't," said I, smiling too, and quite cheerful under the +circumstances, having determined to act on my father's advice, which Tim +Rooney had subsequently confirmed, of never taking umbrage at any joke +or chaff from my shipmates, but to face all my disagreeables like a man; +"I think, though, we might make some better arrangement than this. I've +got a little washhand-basin fixed up inside my chest under there, only I +can't get at it." + +"So have I in mine, old fellow," he rejoined familiarly; "and it was +only sheer laziness that prevented me rigging it up. The fact is, as +you'll soon find out, being at sea gets one into terribly slovenly +habits, sailors generally making a shift of the first thing that comes +to hand." + +"I see," said I meditatively; looking no doubt awfully wise and solemn, +for he laughed in a jolly sort of way. + +"I tell you what, Graham," he remarked affably as he proceeded to +plaster his hair down on either side with the moistened palm of his hand +in lieu of a brush. "You're not half a bad sort of chap, though Weeks +thought you too much of a stuck-up fine gentleman for us; and, d'you +know, I'll back you up if you like to keep our quarters in the deck- +house here tidy, and set a better example for imitation than Master +Weeks, or Matthews--though the latter has left us now, by the way, for a +cabin in the saloon, the skipper having promoted him to third mate, as I +heard him say just now. Do you agree, eh, to our making order out of +chaos?" + +"All right! I'll try if you'll help me," I answered, reciprocating his +friendly advances, as he seemed a nice fellow--much nicer, I thought, +than that little snob Sam Weeks, with his vegetable-marrow sort of face, +my original dislike to the latter being far from lessened by the +observation Jerrold told me he had made about me! "I like things to be +neat and tidy; and as my father used to say, `cleanliness is next to +godliness.'" + +"I'm afraid, then," chuckled Tom Jerrold, "we poor sailors are in a bad +way; for, although we live on the water and have the ocean at command, I +don't believe there's a single foremast hand that washes himself oftener +than once a week, at least while he's at sea, from year's end to year's +end." + +"Oh!" I exclaimed, making him laugh again at my expression of horror. + +"Aye, it is so; I'm telling the truth, as you'll find if you ask the +boatswain, whom I see you've got chummy with already. But, by Jove, +they're just going to set the tops'les; and we'll have the skipper or +old Sandy Saunders after us with a rope's-end if we stop jawing here any +longer." + +From the way he spoke you would think we had been talking for a very +long time; but, really, our conversation had only lasted a couple of +minutes or so at the outside, while I was making myself tidy, using a +little pocket-comb my mother had given me just before I left home, to +arrange my hair, instead of imitating Jerrold with his palm brush. I +also utilised the bucket of sea-water as an improvised looking-glass so +as to get the parting of my hair straight and fix my collar. + +The ropes I had heard thrown about the decks were the halliards and +clewlines, buntlines, and other gear belonging to the topsails being let +go, the gaskets having been thrown off before I was awake; and now at a +quick word of command from Mr Mackay--"Sheet home!"--the sails on the +fore and main-topsail yards were hauled out to the ends of the clews and +set, the canvas being thus extended to its full stretch. + +Then followed the next order. + +"Man the topsail halliards!" + +Thereupon the yards were swung up and the sails expanded to the breeze; +and then, the outer jib being hoisted at the same time and the lee- +braces hauled in, the man at the wheel putting the helm up the while, +the ship payed off on the port tack, making over towards the French +coast so as to take advantage of the tide running down Channel on that +side. At the same time, the towing-hawser which had up to now still +attached us to the tug, was dropped over the bows as we got under weigh. + +The Silver Queen seemed to rejoice in her freedom, tossing her bowsprit +in the air as she cast off from the tug; and then, heeling over to +leeward as she felt the full force of the breeze on her quarter, she +gave a plunge downwards, ploughing up the water, now beginning to be +crested with little choppy waves as the wind met the current, and +sending it sparkling and foaming past her bulwarks, and away behind her +in a long creamy wake, that stretched out like a fan astern till it +touched Margate sands in the distance. + +I now went up on the poop, avoiding the weather side, which Tim Rooney +had told me the previous evening was always sacred to the captain or +commanding officer on duty; for I noticed that the thin pilot in the +monkey-jacket, who had just mounted the companion stairs from the cuddy +after having his late breakfast, was walking up and down there with +Captain Gillespie, the latter smiling and rubbing his hands together, +evidently in good humour at our making such a fine start. + +"Good morning!" said Mr Mackay, who was standing at the head of the lee +poop ladder, accosting me as I reached the top. "I hope you had a +sound, healthy sleep, my boy?" + +"Oh yes, thank you, sir," I replied. "I'm ashamed of being so late when +everybody else has been so long astir. Isn't there something I can do, +sir?" + +"No, my boy, not at present," cried he, laughing at my eagerness to be +useful, which arose from my seeing Jerrold nimbly mounting up the after- +shrouds with Matthews and a couple of other hands to loosen the mizzen- +topsail. "You haven't got your sea-legs yet, nor learnt your way about +the ship; and so you would be more a hindrance than a help on a yard up +aloft." + +"But I may go up by and by?" I asked, a little disappointed at not +being allowed to climb with the others, they looked so jolly swinging +about as if they enjoyed it; with Tom Jerrold nodding and grinning at me +over the yard. "Sha'n't I, sir?" + +"Aye, by and by, when there's no fear of your tumbling overboard, +youngster," he answered good-naturedly. "You must be content with +looking on for a while and picking up information. Use your eyes and +ears, my lad; and then we'll see you shortly reefing a royal in a gale! +You needn't be afraid of our not making you work when the time comes." + +"I'll be very glad, sir," I said. "I do not like being idle when others +are busy." + +"A very good sentiment that, my boy; and I only hope you'll stick to +it," he replied earnestly. "That desire to be doing something shows +that you're no skulker, but have the makings of a sailor in you, as I +told the captain last night; so, you see, you mustn't go back on the +character I've given you." + +"I won't, sir, if I can help it," said I, with my heart in my words; +and, from Mr Mackay's look I'm sure he believed me, but just at that +moment he crossed over to the other side of the poop, Captain Gillespie +calling him and telling him what he wanted before he could take a step +to reach him. + +"We'd better get some more sail on her," said the captain, still rubbing +his hand as if rolling pills between them; "the pilot thinks so, and so +do I." + +"All right, sir!" replied Mr Mackay; and going to the front by the +rail, he shouted out forwards: + +"Hands make sail!" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," I heard the boatswain answer in his rich Irish brogue, +supplemented by his hail to the crew of: "Tumble up there, ye spalpeens! +Show a leg now, smart!" + +"Lay out aloft there and loose the fore and main topgallants, my men!" +cried Mr Mackay, as soon as he saw the sailors out on the deck. "And, +some of you, come aft here to set the spanker!" + +Up the ratlines of the rigging clambered the men, racing against each +other to see who would be up first, while others below cast off the +ropes holding up the bunt and leech of the sail, as soon as the smart +fellows had unloosed the gaskets; and then, the folds of the sails being +dropped, were sheeted home with a "one, two, three, and a yo heave ho!" +by those on deck, before the top men were half-way down the shrouds. + +Matthews and Jerrold alone managed the mizzen topgallant-sail, after +which the spanker was set, making the ship drive on all the faster +through the water; though, even then, Captain Gillespie was not content +yet. + +"We must have the main-sail and forecourse on her," he said a few +minutes later to Mr Mackay. "It would be a sin to lose this wind." + +"All right, sir!" replied the other; and the order being at once given, +these lower sails were soon set, adding considerably to our average of +canvas, the vessel now forging ahead at a good eight knots or more; and +we passed Deal, on our starboard hand, some couple of hours or so from +the time of our leaving the river. + +"I call this going--eh?" cried Captain Gillespie to the pilot, while he +cocked his eye up aloft as if he seriously thought of setting the +royals. "I said I'd get out of the Straits before the afternoon; and, +you know, when I say a thing I always mean a thing!" + +"Aye, aye," returned the other, motioning to the helmsman to keep her +off a bit as the ship luffed up; "but we'll soon have to come about, for +we'll be getting a little too near that shoal to the eastwards on this +tack." + +"Very good," said the captain; "whenever you please." + +"I think we'll wait till we pass the South Sands light," replied the +pilot. "Then we can round the Foreland handsomely on the starboard tack +with the wind well abaft our beam." + +"All right!" was Captain Gillespie's laconic response, rubbing his hands +gleefully together again. "Carry-on." + +Noticing Tom Jerrold just then on the main-deck, I went down from off +the poop and joined him. + +"Have you had any breakfast?" he asked when I got up to him, patting his +stomach significantly. "I was just thinking of getting mine as I feel +very empty here, for all the rest have had theirs." + +"No, I haven't had anything but some coffee the cook brought me a long +while ago, and I feel hungry too," I replied. "Where do we get our +meals?" + +"In the cuddy, after the captain and mates have done grubbing," he said. +"Come along with me and we'll rouse up that Portugee steward." + +"What! Pedro?" + +"Yes; you've made his acquaintance already, I see. Did you notice +anything particular about him?" + +"Only his temper," I said. "Dear me, hasn't he got an awful one!" + +"Bless you he only puts half of it on to try and frighten you if you're +a new hand," replied Jerrold as he jauntily walked into the cuddy with +the air of a commodore. "Only give him a little backsheesh and he'll do +anything for you." + +"Backsheesh! What is that?" + +"Palm oil--tip him. Do you twig?" whispered Tom; "but, mum's the word, +here we are in the lion's den!" + +To my surprise, however, the whilom cranky steward made no difficulty +about supplying our wants; and I strongly suspect that my fellow +apprentice must have carried out his advice anent tipping Pedro that +very morning, he was so extremely civil. He gave us some cold fried ham +and eggs, the remains no doubt of Captain Gillespie's breakfast, with +the addition of some coffee which he heated up for us especially, and +which I enjoyed all the more from its having some milk in it--it was the +very last milk that I tasted until I landed in England again, alas! + +After making a hearty meal, I suggested to Tom that if he'd nothing to +do we'd better go to work and make our cabin in the deck-house more cosy +and habitable; and, on his agreeing, we left the cuddy, I taking care +before going out to slip five shillings into the steward's ready palm as +an earnest of my future intentions towards him should he treat me well. + +"Well, you're in luck's way now, old fellow," said Jerrold when I told +him of this outside the passage, Pedro retiring to his pantry to secrete +my tip along with others he had probably already received. "Only a day +on board, and friends with the first mate, boatswain, cook, and steward; +and, last, though by no means least, your humble servant myself, I being +the most important personage of all." + +"Are you really such a very important personage?" I rejoined, laughing +at his affected air--"as big a man as the captain?" + +"Aye, for after another voyage I'll be made third mate too, like +Matthews, and then second, and then first; and after that a captain like +our old friend `sayings and meanings' here, only a regular tip-topper, +unlike him." + +"Aren't you anticipating matters a bit, like the Barber's Fifth Brother +in the Arabian Nights," said I--"counting your chickens before they're +hatched, as my father says?" + +"Your father must be a wonderful man," he retorted; but he grinned so +funnily that I really couldn't be angry, though I coloured up at his +remark; seeing which, to change the subject, he added, "Come and let us +rouse out the deck-house and make things comfortable there for +ourselves." + +This was easier said than done; for in the first place Weeks, who only +seemed to think of eating and sleeping and nothing else, was having a +quiet "caulk," as sailors call it, cuddled up in the bunk appropriated +by Jerrold as being the roomiest, with all our blankets wrapped round +him, although the day was quite warm and spring-like for February. + +"Hullo!" cried Jerrold at the sight of the slumbering lamb, seizing hold +of the blankets. "Out you go, my hearty; and confound your cheek for +taking possession of my crib!" + +With these words, giving a good tug, Weeks was rolled out on the deck, +tumbling on his head. This angered him greatly, and he got up as red as +a turkey cock, with the freckles on his face coming out in strong +relief. + +Seeing that Tom Jerrold was the culprit, however, he soon quieted down, +being an arrant sneak and afraid of him. + +"What did you do that for?" he whined. "I was only having a nap." + +"You're always napping," retorted Tom; "and I should like to know what +the dickens you mean by going snoozing in my bunk? I've half a mind to +punch your head. The next time I catch you at it I'll keelhaul you, +Master Sammy, by Jupiter!" + +Jerrold kept on grumbling away, pretending to be very angry; and he +frightened Weeks so that he forgot the ugly knock he had received on his +own head, and apologised abjectly for the offence he had committed. Tom +then allowed his assumed indignation to pass away, and forgave him on +the condition that he took away all the spare crockery ware, which the +steward had stowed in the top bunk of the deck-house, into the cuddy, +giving it to the Portuguese with his, Tom's, compliments. + +Weeks thereupon proceeded to execute this mission, Jerrold and I +awaiting the result with much anticipated enjoyment, Tom saying to me +confidentially as he started for the cuddy, "Won't Pedro carry-on at +him! I wouldn't be in the young fool's shoes for something." + +The denouement justified our expectations; for, no sooner had Weeks +entered the passage way than he came flying out again looking awfully +scared, a tremendous crash following as if all the crockery ware was +pitched after him, bang! Next, we heard Pedro swearing away in his +native tongue, and kicking his preserved meat tins about his pantry at +such a rate that Captain Gillespie sang out on the poop above, and sent +Matthews down the companion to find out what he was making all the row +about. This finally quieted the steward down, but subdued mutterings +came to our ears from the cuddy for long afterwards, Pedro never having +been so roused up before, not even when Tim Rooney tackled him on the +previous day. + +Weeks got very angry on our laughing at him when he returned crestfallen +to the deck-house, and he went off forwards in high dudgeon; but this +did not make any difference to us, we being rather pleased at getting +rid of his company--at least I was, for one. So we went on arranging +the chests and things in the little cabin until we ultimately made it +quite ship-shape and comfortable. As Jerrold had proposed, he had his +chest on one side of the doorway and mine and Weeks's were now stowed +alongside our bunks, just sufficient space and no more being left for us +to open them without having to shift them, and also to get in and out of +the cabin. + +"Be jabers ye've made a tidy job av it, lads," said the boatswain, +coming up as we finished, and surveying approvingly our arrangements. +"I couldn't have done it no betther mesilf! Ye can well-nigh swing a +cat round, which it would a poozled ye to a-done afore, faix. An' sure, +Misther Gray-ham, does ye loike bayin' at say yit?" + +"Of course I do," I answered. "Why shouldn't I?" + +"Begorra, ye're a caution!" he ejaculated. "An', did that haythin, +Ching Wang, wake ye up this mornin' wid some coffee, as he promised me. +I wor too busy to say you or ax you afore?" + +"Yes," I replied; "and many thanks for your kind thoughtfulness." + +"Stow that flummery," he cried; and to prevent my thanking him he began +to tell Jerrold and me one of his funny yarns about a pig which his +grandmother had, but unfortunately the story was nipped in the bud by a +roar from the captain on the poop. + +"Hands 'bout ship!" + +In a second the boatswain was away piping on the forecastle, and ropes +cast off and sails flapping again. + +"Helms a-lee!" was the next order from the captain, followed by a second +which grew familiar enough to me in time. "Raise tacks and sheets!" and +the foretack and main-sheet were cast off with the weather main-brace +hauled taut. + +Then came the final command, "Main-sail haul!" and the Silver Queen came +up to the wind slowly. The foretack being then boarded and the main- +sheet hauled aft, she heeled over on the starboard tack with the wind +well on her starboard beam, heading towards the South Foreland, which +she rounded soon after. + +Off Dungeness, which we reached about three in the afternoon, or "six +bells," exactly twenty-four hours from the time of our leaving the +docks, we hove-to, backing our main-topsail and hoisting a whiff at the +peak as a signal that we wanted a boat from the shore to disembark our +pilot. + +A dandy-rigged little cutter soon came dancing out to us; when the thin +man in the monkey-jacket took his farewell of Captain Gillespie and went +on board to be landed, the Silver Queen filling again and shaping a +course west by south for Beachy Head, and so on down channel, free now +of the last link that bound her to old England. + +The afternoon, however, was not destined to pass without another +incident. + +It was getting on for sunset; and, steering more to the west well out +from the land so as to avoid the Royal Sovereign shoal, we must have +been just abreast of Hastings, although we could not see it, the weather +thickening at the time, when suddenly a strange bird settled on the +rigging utterly exhausted. It had evidently been blown out to sea and +lost its reckoning. + +"Here's a Mother Carey's chicken come aboard!" cried Sam Weeks, making +for the poor tired thing to catch it. "I'll have it." + +"Don't hurt it, it's a starling," I said. "Can't you see its nice shiny +black-and-green plumage, and its yellow bill like a blackbird? Leave +the poor little thing alone, it's tired to death." + +"A starling! your grandmother!" he retorted, nettled at my speaking, and +bearing me a grudge still for what had recently occurred in the deck- +house. "A fine lot you know about birds, no doubt! I tell you I'll +catch it, and kill it too, if I like." + +So saying, he made another grab at the little creature, which, just +fluttering off the rigging in time, managed for the moment to escape him +and perched on the backstay, when the cruel lad hove a marlin-spike at +it. He again missed the bird, however, and it then flew straight into +the bosom of my jacket as I stood in front of it, whistling to entice it +in that chirpy kissing way in which you hear starlings call to each +other, having learnt the way to do so from a boy at Westham. + +Weeks was furious at my succeeding in the capture of the poor bird when +he had failed; although he would not understand that I had only coaxed +it to protect it from his violence. Poor little thing. I could feel +its little heart palpitating against mine as it rested safe within the +breast of my jacket, nestling close to my flannel shirt! + +"Why, you've caught it yourself after all, you mean sneak!" he cried; +and thinking he was more of a match for me than he was for Tom Jerrold, +and could bully me easily, he made a dash at my jacket collar to tear it +open, exclaiming at the same time, "I will have it, I tell you. There!" + +He made a wrong calculation, however, for, holding my right arm across +my chest so as to keep my jacket closed and protect the poor bird that +had sought my succour, I threw out my left hand; and so, as he rushed +towards me, my outstretched fist caught him clean between the eyes, +tumbling him backwards, as if he had been shot, on to the deck, where he +rolled over into a lot of water that had accumulated in the scuppers to +leeward--the pool in the scuppers washing forwards and then aft as the +ship rose and fell and heeled over to port on the wind freshening with +the approach of night. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +AT SEA. + +"Hullo, Weeks!" cried Tom Jerrold, coming up at the moment and grinning +at him rolling in the scuppers. "What's the matter, old fellow? You +seem rather down." + +"Begorra, he's ownly havin' a cooler to aise that nashty timper av his +own," said the boatswain from the door of his cabin, which was just next +ours in the deck-house, only more forward. And then, turning to me, he +added, "Sure an' that wor a purty droive, Misther Gray-ham; ye lit him +have it straight from the shouldher." + +"I'm sure I didn't mean to hurt him," I answered, sorry now for my +opponent as he scrambled at last up on his feet, looking very bedraggled +and showing on his face the signs of the fray. "I only held out my hand +to save the poor bird, and he ran against my fist." + +"Oh, did you?" slobbered Weeks, half crying, in a savage, vindictive +voice, and rushing at me as soon as he rose up. "You spiteful beggar! +Well, two can play at that game, and I'll pay you out for it if you've +got pluck enough to fight!" + +"Be aisy now," interposed Tim Rooney, stepping between us and holding +him back. "Sure an' if y're spilin' for a batin' I'm not the chap to +privint you; but, if you must foight, why ye'll have to do it fair an' +square. Misther Gray-ham, sorr, jist give me the burrd as made the +rumpus, I've a little cage in me bunk that'll sarve the poor baste for +shilter till ye can get a betther one. It belonged to me ould canary as +toorned up its toes last v'y'ge av a fit av the maysles." + +"The measles?" exclaimed Tom Jerrold, bursting into a laugh. "I never +heard of a bird dying of that complaint before." + +"Faix, thin, ye can hear it now," said the boatswain with some heat. +"An', sure, I don't say whare the laugh comes in, me joker! Didn't its +faythers dhrop off av the poor craythur, an' its skin toorn all spotty, +jist loike our friend Misther Wake's phiz here; an' what could that be, +sure, but the maysles, I'd loike to know?" + +"All right, bosun; I daresay you're right," hastily rejoined Jerrold to +appease him; but he made me smile, however, by his efforts to look +grave, although my own affairs were just then in such a critical +position, with the prospect of a battle before me. "I was only laughing +at the idea of a canary with the measles; but I've no doubt they have +them the same as we do, and other things like us, too." + +"In coorse they does, an' plinty of tongue, too, loike some chaps I've +come across on shipboard!" replied Tim, all himself again in all good +humour; and then, popping into his cabin, he reappeared quickly with the +cage he had mentioned, saying to me, "Sorr, give me the burrd." + +I had a little difficulty in extricating the starling from its safe +retreat, for it had crept within my flannel shirt inside my jacket, +tickling me as it moved; but, going carefully to work, I finally +succeeded in taking it out without hurting it. Then, placing the little +fluttering thing in the cage, the boatswain bore it off to his bunk, +giving me an expressive wink as he took it away, as if to say that it +would be safer and more out of harm's way in his keeping, albeit I was +quite at liberty to reclaim the bird when I pleased. + +"Now, jintlemin," said Tim, addressing Weeks and myself after putting +the innocent cause of our quarrel inside his cabin and locking the door +to prevent accidents, as he shrewdly observed, "if ye're both av ye +riddy an' willin', as it's goin' on for the sicond dog-watch, whin all +hands are allers allowed at say to skoilark an' devart theirsilves, ye +can follow me out on the fo'c's'le, me jokers, an' have y'r shindy out +fairly in a friendly way." + +I didn't want to fight Weeks, I'm sure; for I was not of a quarrelsome +disposition, besides which my father had cautioned me against ever +having any disputes with my comrades, if I could avoid such; although he +told me also at the same time always to act courageously in the defence +of my principles and of my rights, or when I took the part of another +unable to defend himself. Here, therefore, was a quarrel forced upon +me, almost against my will, to save the poor starling's life; and, +beyond that, the aggravating way in which Weeks looked at me and shook +his fist in my face would have provoked even a better-tempered boy than +I. Tom Jerrold said afterwards that I turned quite white, as I always +did when excited; while Weeks, on the contrary, was naming with fury and +as red as a lobster. + +"Come on, you coward!" he blustered, thinking I was afraid of him. +"I'll soon let you know what it is to have a good hiding, my fine +gentleman of a parson's son. You only floored me just now because you +caught me unawares." + +"I'm quite ready, Mr Rooney," said I to the boatswain, paying no +attention to the cur's snobbish bravado; but I felt his sneer against my +father's profession keenly, and had to bite my lip to prevent myself +from replying to it. I added, however, for his personal benefit as I +turned my back on him in contempt, "Those who crow the loudest, I've +heard, generally do the least when the time for real action comes!" + +"Thrue for ye, Mister Gray-ham," cried Tim Rooney. "Brag's a good dog, +but Howldfast's the bist for my money. Come on wid ye, though, to the +fo'c's'le if ye manes foightin'; for we've had palaverin' enough now in +all conshinsh!" + +So saying, the boatswain led the way forward, Tom Jerrold, who dearly +loved anything in the way of a spree, and was overjoyed at the prospect +of what he called "a jolly row," following with Weeks, to make sure that +he did not back out of the contest at the last moment, which, knowing +his cowardly character very well, as Tom told me afterwards, he +anticipated his doing. I brought up the rear--and so we proceeded +towards the bows of the ship along the lee-side of the deck, so as to +escape the observation of Captain Gillespie and Mr Mackay. These were +standing together, I noticed when the starling flew on board, by the +rail on the weather side of the poop, where they were having a good +look-out to windward, and watching some clouds that were piling +themselves in black masses along the eastern sky--shutting out the last +vestiges of land in the distance, already now become hazy from the mist +rising from the sea after sunset. + +Passing under the bellying main-sail, whose clew-garnet blocks rattled +as it expanded to the breeze, which was now blowing pretty stiff, with +every indication of veering more round to the north, causing the yards +to have a pull taken at the braces every now and then, our little +procession soon got clear of the deck-house that occupied the centre of +the main-deck, finally gaining the more open space between the cook's +galley at the end and the topgallant forecastle. + +Here, the folds of the foresail, swelled out like a balloon, interposed +like a curtain betwixt the after-glow of the setting sun and ourselves, +the shadows of the upper sails, too, making it darker than on the after +part of the deck whence we had started; but it was still quite light +enough for me to see the expression on Weeks' mottled face as he stood +opposite me. + +Not much time was wasted in preliminaries, the boatswain, who acted as +master of the ceremonies, placing me against the windlass bitts while my +opponent had his back to the galley, what light there was remaining +shining full upon him. + +I had been present at one or two fights before, at the school I used to +attend at Westham, where the boys used to settle their differences +generally at the bottom of the playground under a little clump of shady +trees that were grouped there, which shut off the view of the house and +the headmaster's eye; but never previously had the surroundings of any +similar pugilistic encounter seemed so strange as now! + +As usual in such cases, the news had circulated through the ship with +astonishing rapidity, considering that only a couple of minutes or so at +most had elapsed since I had saved the starling and knocked down Weeks; +for the whole crew, with the exception of two or three hands standing by +the braces and the man at the wheel, appeared to scent the battle from +afar, and were now gathered near the scene of action--some on the +forecastle with their legs dangling over, others in the lower rigging, +whence they could command the issues of the fray. + +It was a pitiful contrast! + +Here was the noble vessel surging through the gradually rising sea, with +her towering masts and spreading canvas, and the wind whistling through +the cordage, and the water coming every now and then over her bows in a +cascade of iridescent spray, as the fast-fading gleams of the sunset lit +it up, or else rushing by the side of the ship like a mill-race as we +plunged through it, welling in at the scuppers as it washed inboard. +All illustrated the grandeur of nature, the perfection of art; while +there, on the deck, under the evening sky and amid all the glories of +the waning glow in the western horizon and the grandeur of the sea in +its might and the ship in its beauty and power over the winds and waves +alike, were we two boys standing up to fight each other, with a parcel +of bearded men who ought to have known better grouped round eagerly +awaiting the beginning of the combat. + +A contrast, but yet only an illustration of one of the ordinary phases +of human nature after all, as father would have said, I thought, this +reflection passing through my mind with that instantaneous spontaneity +with which such fancies do occur to one, as Rooney placed me in my +assigned position. Then, recalling my mind to the present, I noticed +that Matthews, my whilom fellow apprentice and lately promoted third +mate, sinking the dignity of his new rank, had come forward to act as +the second, or backer, of my opponent, who must have sent some message +aft to summon him. + +"Now, me bhoys, are ye riddy?" sang out the boatswain, who stood on the +weather side of the deck, glancing first at me and then at Weeks. "One, +two, thray--foire away!" + +I was not quite a novice in the use of my fists, my brother Tom, who, +before he went to Oxford and got priggish, had bought a set of boxing- +gloves, having made me put them on with him, sometimes, and showed me +how to keep a firm guard and when to hit. My experience was invariably +to get the worst of these amicable encounters, for I used to be knocked +off my pins, besides feeling my forehead soft and pulpy; for, no matter +how well padded gloves may be, a fellow can give a sturdy punch with +them, or appreciate one, all the same. Still, the practice stood me in +good stead on this eventful occasion, especially as my brother had well +drilled me into being light on my feet and dexterous in the art of +stepping forward to deliver a blow and backward to avoid one--no small +advantage, and the resource of science over brute force. + +So, holding my right arm well across my chest and just about level with +it, so that I could raise it either up or down as quick as lightning, to +protect my face or body, I advanced my left fist, and waited for Sam +Weeks to come on with a rush, as I was certain he would do, bracing +myself well on my legs to receive the shock, although the pitching of +the ship made me somewhat more uncertain of my equilibrium than if the +combat had taken place ashore. + +My antagonist acted exactly as I had expected. + +Whirling his arms round like those of a windmill, he beat down my guard +and gave me a nasty thump with one of them on the side of the head, for +being lanky, as I said, he had a longer reach than I; however, as he got +in close enough, my left fist caught him clean between the eyes again, +landing on the identically same spot where I had hit him before, the +place being already swollen, and whereas I only staggered against the +windlass from his blow, mine sent him tumbling backwards, and he would +have fallen on the deck if Matthews had not held him up just in time. + +"Bray-vo, dark 'un!" shouted one of the men standing around, +complimenting me on having the best of this first exchange, and alluding +no doubt to the colour of my hair, which was dark brown while that of +Weeks was quite sandy, like light Muscovado sugar. "Give him a one-two +next time; there's nothing like the double!" + +"I'll back freckles," cried another; "he's got more go in him!" + +"Arrah, laive 'em alone, can't ye?" said the boatswain, as we faced each +other again. "Don't waste y'r toime, sure. Go it, ye chripples; an' +may the bist av ye win, sez I!" + +The next two rounds had somewhat similar results to the first, I keeping +up a steady defence and hitting my antagonist pretty nearly in the same +place each time, while he gave me a couple of swinging blows, one of +which made my mouth bleed, whereat his admirers were in high glee, +especially Matthews, his second, for I heard the latter say to him, +"Only go on and you'll soon settle him now, Sam!" + +My friend the boatswain, however, was equally sanguine as to the result, +as his encouraging advice to me showed. + +"Kape y'r pecker up, Misther Gray-ham. Sure, he's gittin' winded, as +all av thim lane an' lanky chaps allers does arter a bit," said Tim, +wiping the blood away that was trickling from my lip with his soft silk +handkerchief, which he took off from his own neck for the purpose. +"Begorra, ye've ownly to hammer at his chist an' body, me lad; an' ye'll +finish him afore ye can say `Jack Robinson,' an' it's no lie I'm +tellin'!" + +Hitherto I had been merely acting on the defensive, and parrying the +blows rained on me by Weeks in his impetuous rushes, more than hitting +in return; for only keeping my left fist well out and allowing him to +meet it as he so pleased, and which, strange to say, whether he wished +it or not, he did so meet. + +But now, thinking it time to end matters, the sight of the blood the +boatswain had wiped from my face somehow or other bringing out what I +suppose was the innate savagery of my nature, I determined to carry the +war into the enemy's camp; or, in other words, instead of standing to be +struck at, to lead the attack myself. + +As Weeks, therefore, advanced with a grin, confidently as before, +thinking that I should merely remain on guard, I threw my left straight +out, swinging all the weight of my body in the blow; and then, stepping +forwards, I gave him the benefit of my right fist, the one following up +the other in quick succession, although I acted on Tim's advice, and +directed my aim towards his body. + +The result of these new tactics of mine altered alike the complexion not +only of the fight but that of my antagonist as well; for he went down on +the deck with a heavy dull thud, almost all his remaining breath knocked +out of him. + +"Hurrah, the little un wins!" cheered some of the hands; while others +rejoined in opposition, "The lanky one ain't licked yet!" + +But, to my especial friend the boatswain the end of the contest was now +a foregone conclusion and victory assured to me. + +"Bedad, me bhoy," he whispered in my ear as he prepared me for what +turned out to be the final round of the battle, "that last dhroive av +yourn wor loike the kick av a horse, or a pony anyhow! One more brace +av them one-twos, Misther Gray-ham, an' he'll be kilt an' done wid!" + +It was as Rooney said. + +Matthews forced Weeks well-nigh against his will to face me once more, +when my double hit again floored him incontinently, when the ship, +giving a lurch to leeward at the same time, rolled him into the +scuppers, as before at our first encounter. + +This settled the matter, for, with all the pluck taken out of him and +completely cowed, Master Sammy did not offer to rise until Matthews, +catching hold of his collar, forcibly dragged him to his feet. + +"Three cheers for the little un!" shouted one of the hands, as I stood +triumphant on the deck in their midst, the hero of the moment, sailors +following the common creed of their fellow men in worshipping success. +"Hooray!" + +A change came over the scene, however, the next instant. + +For, ere the last note of the cheer had ceased ringing out from their +lusty throats, Captain Gillespie's long nose came round the corner of +the cook's caboose, followed shortly afterwards by the owner of the +article--causing Ching Wang, who had been surveying the progress of the +fight with much enjoyment, to retreat instantly within his galley, the +smile of satisfaction on his yellow oval face and twinkle of his little +pig-like eyes being replaced by that innocent look of one conscious of +rectitude and in whom there is no guile, affected by most of his +celestial countrymen. + +"Hullo, bosun!" cried the captain, addressing Tim Rooney, who was +helping me to put on my jacket again, and endeavouring, rather +unsuccessfully, to conceal all traces of the fray on my person. "What +the dickens does all this mean?" + +"Sorry o' me knows, sorr, why them omahdawns is makin' all av that row +a-hollerin'," said Tim, scratching his head as he always did when +puzzled for the moment for an answer. "It's ownly Misther Gray-ham, +sorr, an' Misther Wakes havin' a little bit of foon togither, an' +settlin' their differses in a frindly way, loike, sorr." + +"Fighting, I suppose,--eh?" + +An ominous stillness succeeded this question, the men around following +Ching Whang's example and sneaking inside the forecastle and otherwise +slily disappearing from view. Presently, only Tim Rooney and Matthews +remained before the captain besides us two, the principals of the fight, +and Tom Jerrold, who, blocked between Captain Gillespie and the caboose, +could not possibly manage to get away unperceived. + +"Yes, there's no doubt you've been fighting," continued the captain, +looking from Weeks to me and from me to Weeks, and seeming to take +considerably more interest than either of us cared for in our bruised +knuckles and battered faces and generally dilapidated appearance; for +his long nose turned up scornfully as he sniffed and expanded his +nostrils, compressing his thin lips at the end of his inspection with an +air of decision. "Well, youngsters, I'd have you to know that I don't +allow fighting aboard my ship, and when I say a thing I mean a thing. +There!" + +"But, sir," snivelled Weeks, beginning some explanation, intended no +doubt to throw all the blame on me. "Graham--" + +Captain Gillespie, however, interrupted him before he could proceed any +further. + +"You'd better not say anything, Weeks," said the captain. "Graham's a +new hand and you're an old one; at least, you've already been one +voyage, whilst this is his first. I see you've had a lickin' and I'm +glad of it, as I daresay it's been brought about by your own bullying; +for I know you, Master Samuel Weeks, by this time, and you can't take me +in as you used to do with your whining ways! If I didn't believe you +were pretty well starched already, I'd give you another hiding now, my +lad. Please, my good young gentleman, just to oblige me, go up in the +mizzen-top so that I can see you're there, and stop till I call you +down! As for you, Matthews, whom I have just promoted I'm surprised at +your forgetting yourself as an officer, and coming here forrud, to take +part with the crew in a disgraceful exhibition like this. I--" + +"Please, sir--" expostulated the culprit. But the captain was firm on +the matter of discipline, as I came to know in time. + +"You'll go aft at once, Mr Matthews," he said, waving him away with his +outstretched arm. "Another such dereliction from duty and you shall +come forrud altogether, as you appear to like the fo'c's'le so well. I +have made you third officer; but bear in mind that if I possess the +power to make, I can break too!" + +It was now Tim Rooney's turn, the captain wheeling round on him as soon +as he'd done with Matthews. + +"Really, bosun," he said, "I didn't think a respectable man like you +would encourage two boys to fight like that!" + +"Bedad it wor ownly to privint their bein' onfrindly, sorr," pleaded +Tim, looking as much ashamed as his comical twinkling left eye would +permit. "I thought it'd save a lot av throuble arterwards, spakin' as +regards mesilf, sorr; fur I'm niver at paice onless I'm in a row, sure!" + +"Ha, a nice way of making friends--pummelling each other to pieces and +upsetting my ship," retorted Captain Gillespie. But, as Tim Rooney made +no answer, thinking discretion the better part of valour in this +instance, and going up into the bows as if to look out forward, the +captain then addressed me: "Graham!" + +"Yes, sir," said I, awaiting my sentence with some trepidation. "I'm +very sorry, sir, for what has happened, I--" + +"There, I want no more jaw," he replied, hastily snapping me up before I +could say another word. "I saw all that occurred, though neither of you +thought I was looking. Weeks rushed at you, and you hit him; and then +this precious hot-headed bosun of mine made you `have it out,' as he +calls it, in `a friendly way,' the idiot, in his Irish bull fashion! +But, as I told you, I won't have any fighting here, either between boys +or men, and when I say a thing I mean a thing; so, to show I allow no +relaxation of discipline on board so long as I'm captain, Master Graham, +you'll be good enough to remain on deck to-night instead of going to +bed, and will keep the middle watch from `eight bells' to morning." + +"Very good, sir," I replied, bowing politely, having already taken off +my cap on his speaking to me; and I then went back to our deck-house +cabin and had a lie down, as I felt pretty tired. Ching Wang, however, +came to rouse me up soon afterwards with a pannikin of hot coffee, his +way of showing his appreciation of my conduct in the fray, and I +subsequently went with Tim Rooney to see the starling--which made me +quite forget all about being tired and having to stop up all night, and +that Tom Jerrold had escaped any punishment for his presence at the +fight! + +At eight o'clock, when it was quite dark, we passed Beachy Head, seeing +the light in the distance; and then, feeling hungry again, I went to the +steward in the cuddy and got something to eat, meeting there poor Weeks, +whom the captain had only just called down from his perch in the mizzen- +top, very cold and shivery from being so long up there in his wet +clothes in the night air. + +He looked rather grimly at me, and from the light in the saloon I +noticed that he had a lovely pair of black eyes; but, on my stretching +out my hand to him, we made friends, and agreed to bury all the +disagreeable occurrences of the day in oblivion. + +We had a lot of yarning together until midnight inside the deck-house, +where Tom Jerrold lay an his bunk snoring away, utterly regardless of +our presence; and then, on Mr Mackay's summoning me, by the captain's +order as he told me, to keep watch with him on the poop, I went up the +ladder and remained with him astern, watching the ship bowling along +under all plain sail, with the same buoyant breeze behind her with which +we had started. + +"Now, Graham," said Mr Mackay at daybreak, when we were just off Saint +Catharine's Point in the Isle of Wight, as he informed me, "you can go +and turn in. Bosun, call the starboard watch!" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," answered Tim Rooney from the bows, where he had been +keeping his vigils, too, like us aft. "Starbowlines, ahoy--!" + +I only remained on the poop while the man at the wheel was being +relieved, and Mr Saunders, the second mate, came on deck to take Mr +Mackay's place; when, going below to the deck-house cabin, I was soon in +my little shelf of a bed, falling asleep more quickly, I think, than I +had ever done before; doing so, indeed, almost the instant I got within +the blankets. + +The next day, at noon, we tore by the Start, and, later on, that noblest +monument a man could have, the Eddystone, Smeaton's glory; the ship +racing down Channel as if all the sea-nymphs were chasing us, and old +Neptune, too, at their heels to hurry them on, with his tritons after +him. + +Our average speed all that day was a good ten knots, the wind never +shifting and every sail drawing fore and aft. Sometimes it was even +more, according to Tom Jerrold's calculations, he having to heave the +log at intervals and turn the fourteen-second glass, his especial duty, +in order to determine our rate of progress through the water; but I +don't think it was ever less from the time the sun rose in the morning. + +At all events, the Silver Queen made such good use of her time that, at +six o'clock on this evening of our second day under sail, we were up to +the Lizard, the last bit of English shore we should see in a hurry; and +at "six bells" in the first watch, were speeding along some ten miles +south of the Bishop's Rock lightship in the Scilly Isles, really, at +last, at sea! + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +A SUDDEN INTERRUPTION. + +"Now, my boy," said Mr Mackay, who had the "first watch," from eight +o'clock till midnight that is, I sharing it with him, speaking as we +were just abreast of the light I've mentioned, although so far to the +southward that it could only be seen very faintly glimmering on the +horizon like a star, a trifle bigger than those which twinkled above it +and on either side in the clear northern sky--"we've run exactly forty- +six miles from our departure point." + +"Departure point, sir!" I repeated after him, my curiosity aroused by +the use of such a term. "What is that?" + +"The last land sighted before a ship gains the open sea," replied he +kindly, always willing to give me any information, although I'm afraid I +caused him a good deal of trouble with my innumerable questions, in my +zeal to get acquainted with everything connected with the ship and my +profession as an embryo sailor. "Ours was the Lizard; didn't you notice +Cap'en Gillespie taking the bearings of it as we passed this afternoon?" + +"Yes, sir. I saw him with his sextant, as you told me that queer +triangular thing was," said I; "but I didn't know what he was doing. I +thought our starting-place was the Thames? We must have gone miles and +miles since we left the Downs." + +"So we have, my boy; still, that was only the threshold of our long +journey, and sailors do not begin to count their run until fairly out at +sea as we are now. When you came up to town the other day from that +place in the country--West something or other?" + +"Westham, sir," I suggested; "that's where we live." + +"Well, then," he went on, accepting my correction with a smile, "when +you were telling your adventures and stated that you came from Westham +to London in three hours, say, you would not include the time you had +taken in going from the door of your house to the garden gate and from +thence to the little town or village whence you started by the railway-- +eh?" + +"No, sir," said I, laughing at his way of putting the matter. "I would +mean from the station at Westham to the railway terminus in London." + +"Just so," he answered; "and, similarly, we sailors in estimating the +length of a voyage, do not take into consideration our passage along the +river and down channel, only counting our distance from the last point +of land we see of the country we are leaving and the first we sight of +that we're bound to. Our first day's run, therefore, will be what we +get over from the Lizard up to the time the cap'en takes the sun at noon +to-morrow, which will tell us our latitude and longitude then, when, by +the aid of this fixed starting-point or `point of departure,' and +calculating our dead reckoning and courses steered, we will be enabled +to know our precise position on the chart." + +"I see, sir," said I. "I won't forget what you've told me another time, +and shall know in future what the term means, sir, thank you." + +"You're quite welcome, Graham," he replied pleasantly as he resumed his +walk up and down the deck, with an occasional glance to windward and a +look at the compass in the binnacle to see that the helmsman was keeping +the ship on the course the captain had directed before going below a +short time before--west-sou'-west, and as close up to the wind as we +could sail, so as to avoid the French coast and get well across the +mouth of the Bay of Biscay into the open Atlantic. "I hope to make a +good navigator of you in time, my boy." + +"I hope so, too, sir," said I, trying to keep pace with his measured +tread, although I always got out of step as he turned regularly at the +end of his walk, which was backwards and forwards between the cabin +skylight and the binnacle. "I will try my best, sir." + +While bearing in mind the "departure point," however, I must not forget +to mention, too, that immediately after Captain Gillespie had taken our +bearings off the Lizard, he sang out to Tim Rooney the boatswain to send +the hands aft. + +"Aye, aye, sorr," responded Tim, at once sounding his shrill whistle and +hoarse shout. "A-all ha-ands aft!" + +"Now for a bit of speechifying," said Tom Jerrold, who was along with me +on the lee-side of the poop, watching the crew as they mustered together +on the main-deck underneath. "The `old man' loves a jaw." + +But Tom was mistaken; for the captain's speech was laconic in the +extreme, being "much shorter, indeed, than his nose," as my fellow mid +was forced to acknowledge in a whisper to me! + +"My men," said he, leaning over the brass rail at the head of the poop, +and gazing down into the faces of the rough-and-ready fellows looking up +at him expectantly, with all sorts of funny expressions on their +countenances, as they wondered what was to come--"we're now at sea and +entering on a long voyage together. I only wish you to do your duty and +I will do mine. If you have anything to complain of at any time, come +to me singly and I will right it; but if you come in a body, I'll take +no notice of ye. Ye know when I say a thing I mean a thing." + +"Aye, aye sir!" shouted the hands, on his pausing here as if waiting for +their answer. "Aye, aye, sir!" + +"All right then; ye understand me, I see. That will do the watch." + +Whereupon, half of them went back into the forecastle to finish their +tea, while the remainder took their stations about the ship, remaining +on deck until their span of duty was out, the whole lot having been +divided into two groups, styled respectively the port and starboard +watches, under charge of Mr Mackay and the second mate, Mr Saunders-- +Tom Jerrold and I being in the port watch with the first mate; while Sam +Weeks and Matthews, who was like the fifth wheel of a coach as "third +mate," a very anomalous position on board-ship, mustered with the +starbowlines under Mr Saunders. + +Counting in Captain Gillespie, with the three mates, us apprentices, the +boatswain, sailmaker Adams and carpenter Gregory--the three latter all +"old hands," having sailed several voyages previously together in the +ship--the steward Pedro Carvalho, Ching Wang our cook, Billy the boy, +our "second-class apprentice," and the eighteen fresh men who had come +aboard with the Chinaman at Gravesend, our crew mustered all told some +thirty-one hands; and, to complete the description of the vessel and her +belongings, the Silver Queen was a sharp-bowed, full-rigged ship, with a +tremendous bilge, built for carrying a goodish cargo, which consisted, +as I believe I mentioned before, mainly of Manchester goods and +Birmingham hardware, besides a private speculation of our captain +consisting of a peculiarly novel consignment of Dundee marmalade, packed +up in tins like those used for preserved meats and such like dainties. + +About this marmalade I shall have something to say by and by; but I +think I had better go on with my yarn in proper ship-shape fashion, +narrating events in the order in which they occurred--merely stating, in +order to give a full account of all concerning us, that, in addition to +the particulars of our cargo as already detailed, we had sundry items of +live freight in the shape of some pigs, which were stowed in the long- +boat on top of the deck-house; three cats, two belonging to the +Portuguese steward and messing in the cuddy, while the third was a +vagrant Tom that had strayed on board in the docks, and making friends +with the carpenter Gregory, or "old chips" as he was generally called, +was allowed to take up his quarters in the forepeak, migrating to the +cook's cabin at meal-times with unwavering sagacity; a lot of fowls, +accommodated aristocratically in coops on the poop; and, lastly, though +by no means least, the starling which I'd caught coming down Channel, +and which now seemed very comfortable in the boatswain's old canary +cage, hung up to a ringbolt in his cabin next to mine, and regarded as a +sort of joint property between us two. + +There, you have our list of passengers; and, now, to continue my story. + +Shortly after passing the Bishop's Rock lighthouse, which we did some +few minutes before "Billy," the ship's boy, came out of the forecastle +and struck "six bells," eleven o'clock, near the end of the port watch's +spell on deck, the wind, which had freshened considerably since sunset, +began to blow with greater force, veering, or "backing" as sailors say, +more and more round to the north; so that, although our yards were +braced up to the full and the vessel was sailing almost close-hauled, we +had to drop off a point or two within the next half-hour from our true +western course. + +Within the next half-hour, south-west by west was as close as we could +now keep her head outward across "The Bay," the wind even then +continuing to show a tendency to shift further round still to the +northwards and westwards, and naturally forcing us yet more in a +southerly direction before gaining the offing Captain Gillespie wished. + +The sea, too, had got up wonderfully during the short period that had +elapsed from our leaving the Chops of the Channel--I suppose from its +having a wider space to frolic in, without being controlled by the +narrow limits of land under its lea; for, the scintillating light of the +twinkling stars and pale sickly moon, whose face was ever and anon +obscured by light fleecy clouds floating across it in the east, showed +the tumid waste of waters heaving and surging tempestuously as far as +the eye could reach. The waves were tumbling over each other and racing +past the ship in sport, sending their flying scud high over the +foreyard, or else trying vainly to poop her; and, when foiled in this, +they would dash against her bows with the blow of a battering-ram, or +fling themselves bodily on board in an angry cataract that poured down +from the forecastle on to the main-deck, flooding the waist up to the +height of the bulwarks to leeward, for we heeled over too much to allow +of the sea running off through the scuppers, these and our port gunwale +as well being well-nigh under water. + +Presently, we had to reduce sail, brailing up the spanker and taking a +single reef in the topsails; but still keeping the topgallant-sails set +above them, a thing frequently done by a skipper who knows how to +"carry-on." + +Then, as the wind still rose and as with less canvas the ship would go +all the better and not bend over or bury herself so much, the +topgallants were taken in. At length, when Mr Mackay and I quitted the +deck at midnight, the men were just beginning to clew up the main-sail, +the captain, who had come up from below with Mr Saunders when the +starboard watch relieved us, having ordered it to be furled and another +reef to be taken in the topsails, as it was then blowing great guns and +the ship staggering along through a storm-tossed sea, with the sky +overcast all round--a sign that we had not seen the worst of it yet! + +The Silver Queen pitched so much--giving an occasional heavy roll to +starboard as her bows fell off from the battering of the waves, with her +stern lifting up out of the water, and rolling back quickly to port +again on her taking the helm as the men jammed it hard down--that I +found it all I could do to descend the poop ladder safely. I climbed +down gingerly, however, holding on to anything I could clutch until I +reached the deck-house, which was now nearly knee-deep in the water that +was sluicing fore and aft the ship with every pitch and dive she gave, +or washing in a body athwart the deck as she rolled, and dashing like a +wave against the bulwarks within. + +I went to turn in to my bunk, which was on top of that occupied by Sam +Weeks, who, very luckily for him, had to turn out, going aft on duty +with the rest of the starboard watch; for, in my struggles to ascend to +the little narrow shelf that served me for a bed, and which from the +motion of the ship was almost perpendicular one moment and the next +horizontal, I would have pretty well trampled him to jelly, having to +stand on the lower bunk to reach the upper one assigned to me. + +Ultimately, however, I managed to climb up to my perch and pulled my +blankets about me; and then I tried to sleep as well as the roaring of +the wind and rushing wash of the sea, in concert with the creaking of +the chain-plates and groaning of the ship's timbers and myriad voices of +the deep, would let me. + +But, it was all in vain! + +Hitherto, although I had been more than two days and two nights on board +and had sailed all the way from the docks along the river and down the +Channel, I had never yet been sea-sick, smiling at Tim Rooney's +stereotyped inquiry each day of me, "An' sure, Misther Gray-ham, aren't +ye sorry yit ye came to say?" + +Since the afternoon, however, when the water had become rougher and the +ship more lively, I had begun to experience a queer sensation such as I +recollect once having at home at Christmas-time--on which occasion Dr +Jollop, who was called in to attend me, declared I had eaten too much +plum-pudding, just in order to give me some of his nasty pills, of +course! + +I hadn't had the chance of having anything so good as that now; but, at +tea-time Tom Jerrold, who, like myself, had made friends with Ching +Wang, had induced him to compound a savoury mess entitled, "dandy funk," +composed of pounded biscuits, molasses, and grease. Of this mess, I am +sorry to say, I had partaken; and the probable source of my present +ailment was, no doubt, the insidious dandy funk wherewith Jerrold had +beguiled me. + +Oh, that night! + +Dandy funk or no, I could not soon forget it, for I never was so sick in +my life; and what is more, every roll of the ship made me worse, so that +I thought I should die--Tom Jerrold, the heartless wretch, who was +snoring away as usual in the next bunk to Weeks' below, not paying the +slightest attention to my feeble calls to him for help and assistance +between the paroxysms of my agonising qualms. + +Somehow or other a sympathetic affinity seemed to be established between +the vessel and myself, I rolling as she rolled and heaving when she +heaved; while my heart seemed to reach from the Atlantic back to the +Channel, and I felt as if I had swallowed the ocean and was trying to +get rid of it and couldn't! + +_Ille robur et aes triplex_, as Horace sang on again getting safely +ashore--for he must have been far too ill when afloat in his trireme-- +and as father used to quote against me should I praise the charms of a +sailor's life, "framed of oak and fortified with triple brass" must have +been he who first braved the perils of the sea and made acquaintance +with that fell demon whom our French neighbours style more elegantly +than ourselves _le mal de mer_! + +Weeks had his revenge upon me now with a vengeance indeed for all he +might have suffered from my pummelling of the previous day; yes, and for +the reproach of the two black eyes I had given him, which had since +altered their colouring to the tints of the sea and sky, they being now +of a bluish-purple hue shaded off into green and yellow, so that the +general effect harmonised, as Tom Jerrold unkindly remarked, with his +sandy hair and mottled complexion. + +But, my whilom enemy and now friend Sammy must have been amply +indemnified for all this when, at the end of the middle watch, he came +in due course to rouse me out again for another turn of duty, not +knowing that Mr Mackay, as if anticipating what would happen after the +shaking up I had had, had given me leave to lie-in if I liked and "keep +my watch below;" for, when Weeks succeeded in opening the door of the +deck-house, which he did with much difficulty against the opposing +forces of the wind and the water that united to resist his efforts, he +found me completely prostrate and in the very apogee of my misery. + +"Hullo, Graham!" he called out, clutching hold of the corner of the +blanket that enveloped one of my limp legs, which was hanging down +almost as inanimate over the side of the bunk, and shaking this latter, +too, as vigorously as he did the blanket. "Rouse out, it's gone eight +bells and the port watch are already on deck, with Mr Mackay swearing +away at a fine rate because you're not there--rouse out with you, +sharp!" + +There was no rousing me, however, pull and tug and shake away as much as +he pleased both at my leg and the blanket. + +"Leave me alone," I at last managed to say loud enough for him to hear +me. "Mr Mackay told me I needn't turn out unless I felt well enough; +and, oh, Weeks, I do feel so awfully ill!" + +"Ill! what's the row with you?" + +"I don't know," I feebly murmured. "I think I'm going to die; and I'm +so sorry I hurt your eyes yesterday, they do look so bad." + +"Oh, hang my eyes!" replied he hastily, as if he did not like the +subject mentioned; and I don't wonder at this now, when I recollect how +very funny they looked, all green and yellow as if he had a pair of +goggle-eyed spectacles on. "Why can't you turn out? You were well +enough when you called me four hours ago--shamming Abraham, I suppose,-- +eh?" + +I was too weak, though, to be indignant. + +"Indeed I'm not shamming anything," I protested as earnestly as I could, +not quite knowing what his slang phrase meant, but believing it to imply +that I was pretending to be ill to shirk duty when I was all right. +"Weeks, I'm terribly ill, I tell you!" + +He scrutinised me as well as he could by the early light of morning, now +coming in through the open cabin door, which he had not been able to +close again, the wind holding it back and resisting all his strength. + +Tom Jerrold, too, aroused by Weeks' voice and the cold current of air +that was blowing in upon him, rubbed his eyes, and standing up in his +bunk while holding on to the top rail of mine, had also a good look at +me. + +"Bah!" cried he at length. "You're only sea-sick." + +That was all the consolation he gave me as he shoved himself into his +clothes; and then, hastily lugging on a thick monkey-jacket hurried out +on deck. + +"A nice mess you've made, too, of the cabin." + +This was Master Weeks' sympathy as he took possession of Jerrold's +vacated bunk and quietly composed himself to sleep, regardless of my +groans and deaf to all further appeals for aid. + +Tim Rooney, however, was the most unkind of all. + +Later on in the morning he popped in his head at the cabin door. + +"Arrah, sure now, Misther Gray-ham, arn't ye sorry ye iver came to say, +at all at all?" + +I should like to have pitched something at him, although I knew what he +would say the moment he opened his mouth, with that comical grin of his +and the cunning wink of his left eye. + +"No," I cried as courageously as I was able under the circumstances, +"I'm not sorry, I tell you, in spite of all that has happened, and when +I get better I'll pay you out for making fun of me when I'm ill!" + +"Begorra don't say that now, me darlint," said he, grinning more than +ever. "Arrah, though, me bhoy, ye look as if ye'd been toorned insoide +out, loike them injy-rubber divils childer has to play wid. 'Dade an' +I'd loike to say ye sprooce an' hearty ag'in; but ownly kape aisy an' +ye'll be all roight in toime. D'ye fale hoongry yit?" + +"Hungry!" I screamed, ill again at the very thought of eating. "Go +away, do, and leave me alone--o-oh!" + +And then I was worse than ever, and seemed afterwards to have no heart, +or head, or stomach left, or legs, or arms, or anything. + +The boatswain did not forget me though, in spite of his fun at my +expense; and he must have spoken to Ching Wang again about me, for the +Chinaman came to the cabin after giving the men their breakfast at eight +bells, bringing me a pannikin of hot coffee, his panacea for every woe. + +"Hi, lilly pijjin, drinkee dis chop chop," said he, holding the pannikin +to my mouth. "Makee tummy tummy number one piecee!" + +I could not swallow much of the liquid; but the drop or two that I took +did me good; for, after Ching Wang had gone away I fell asleep, not +waking till the afternoon, when, the ship being steadier, I managed to +scramble out of my bunk and made a late appearance on deck, feeling +decidedly weak but considerably better than in the morning. + +"Hullo, found your sea-legs already?" cried Mr Mackay on my crawling up +the poop ladder. "I didn't expect to see you out for another day at +least." + +"I don't feel all right yet, sir," said I, and I'm sure my pale face +must have shown this without any explanation; "but, I didn't like to +give way to being ill, thinking it best to fight against it." + +"Quite right, my boy," he replied. "I've never been sea-sick myself, +not even the first time I went afloat; but, I've seen a good many +suffering from the complaint, and I have noticed that the more they +humoured it, the worse they became. You're getting used to the motion +of the ship by this time--eh?" + +"Yes, sir," said I, holding on tightly, however, to the bulwarks as I +spoke, the Silver Queen just then giving a lurch to starboard that +nearly pitched me overboard. "I'll soon be able to stand up like you, +sir." + +"Well, at all events, you've got plenty of pluck, Graham; and that's the +sort of material for making a good sailor. You were asking me last +night about the course of the ship, if your sickness hasn't put our talk +out of your head. How far do you think we've run?" + +"A good way, I suppose, sir," I answered, "with that gale of wind." + +"Yes, pretty so so," he said. "When the cap'en took the sun at noon to- +day we were in latitude 48 degrees 17 minutes north and longitude just 8 +degrees 20 west, or about two hundred miles off Ushant, which we're to +the southward of; so, we've run a goodish bit from our point of +departure." + +"Oh, I remember all about that, sir," I cried, getting interested, as he +unfolded the chart which was lying on top of the cabin skylight and +showed me the vessel's position. "And we've come so far already?" + +"Yes, all that," replied he laughing as he moved his finger on the +chart, pointing to another spot at least a couple of inches away from +the first pencil-mark; "and we ought to fetch about here, my boy, at +noon to-morrow--that is, if this wind holds good and no accident happens +to us, please God." + +The ship at this time was going a good ten knots, he further told me, +carrying her topgallants and courses again; for, although the sea was +rough and covered with long rolling waves, that curled over their ridges +into valleys of foam like half-melted snow, and it was blowing pretty +well half a gale now from the north-west, to which point the wind had +hauled round, it was keeping steady in that quarter, for the barometer +remained high, and the Silver Queen, heading south-west by south, was +bending well over so that her lee-side was flush almost with the +swelling water. She was racing along easily, and presented a perfect +picture, with the sun bringing out her white clouds of canvas in +stronger contrast against the clear blue sky overhead and tumbling ocean +around, and making the glass of the skylight and bits of brass-work +about on the deck gleam with a golden radiance as it slowly sank below +the horizon, a great globe of fire like a molten mass of metal on our +weather bow, the vessel keeping always on the same starboard tack, for +she wore round as the wind shifted. + +Oh, yes, we were going; and so, evidently, Captain Gillespie thought +when he came up the companion presently and took his place alongside Mr +Mackay on the poop. + +"This is splendid!" said he, rubbing his hands as usual and addressing +the first mate, while I crept away further aft, holding on to the +bulwarks to preserve my footing, the deck being inclined at such a sharp +angle from the ship heeling over with the wind. "I don't know when the +old barquey ever went so free." + +"Nor I, sir," replied the other with equal enthusiasm; "she's fairly +outdoing herself. We never had such a voyage before, I think, sir." + +"No," said the captain. "A good start, a fairish wind and plenty of it, +a decent crew as far as I can judge as yet, and every prospect of a good +voyage. What more can a man wish for?" + +"Nothing, sir." + +"And I forgot, Mackay, while speaking of our luck, for you know I like +to be particular, and when I say a thing I mean a thing--no stowaways on +board!" + +"True, sir," responded the first mate with a laugh, knowing the +captain's great abhorrence of these uninvited and unwelcome passengers. +"I think it's the first voyage we've never been troubled with one." + +"Aye, aye, they're getting afraid of me, Mackay, that's the reason," +said Captain Gillespie chuckling at this. "They've heard tell of the +way I treat all such swindling rascals, and know that when I say a thing +I mean a thing!" + +His satisfaction, however, was short-lived; for, just then, several +confused cries and a general commotion was heard forward. + +"Hullo!" cried the captain, staggering up to the poop rail and looking +towards the bows, "what's the row there?" + +"Bedad, sorr," shouted back the boatswain, yelling out the words as +loudly as he could, like Captain Gillespie, and putting his hands to his +mouth to prevent the wind carrying them away seaward, "there's a did man +in the forepake!" + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +OUR STOWAWAY TUMBLES INTO LUCK. + +"A man in the forepeak--eh?" yelled out Captain Gillespie, all his +complacency gone in a moment, his voice sounding so loudly that it +deadened the moaning of the wind through the shrouds and the creaking of +the ship's timbers, whose groans mingled with the heavy thud of the +waves against her bows as she breasted them, and the angry splash of the +baffled billows as they fell back into the bubbling, hissing cauldron of +broken water through which the noble vessel plunged and rolled, spurning +it beneath her keel in her majesty and might. "A man in the forepeak, +and dead, is he, bosun? I'll bet I'll soon quicken him into life again +with a rope's-end!" + +He muttered these last words as he hastily scrambled down the poop +ladder and along the weather side of the main-deck towards the +forecastle, making his way forward with an activity which might have +shamed a younger man. + +Mr Mackay at once tumbled after him, and I followed too, as quickly as +I could get along and the motion of the ship would allow me, being +buffeted backwards and forwards like a shuttlecock between the bulwarks +and deck-house in my progress onwards, as well as drenched by the spray, +which came hurtling inboards over the main-chains from windward as it +was borne along by the breeze, wetting everything amidships and soaking +the main-sail as if buckets of water were continually poured over it, +although the air was quite dry and the sun still shining full upon its +swelling surface. + +"Begorra, he's as did as a door-nail, sorr," I heard Tim Rooney saying +on my getting up at last to the others, who were grouped with a number +of the crew round the small hatchway under the forecastle leading down +to the forehold below, the cover of which had been slipped off leaving +the dark cavity open. "I ownly filt him jist move once, whin I kicked +him wid me fut unknowns to me, as I wor sayin' about stowin' the cable." + +"Dead men don't move," replied the captain sharply, the hands round +grinning at the boatswain's Irish bull. "Some of you idlers there, go +down and fetch this stowaway up and let us see what he's made of." + +The boatswain, spurred by Captain Gillespie's rejoinder, was the first +to dive down again into the dark receptacle, where he had previously +been searching to find room for stowing the cable, the anchor having +been hoisted inboard and the chain unshackled on the ship now getting to +sea; and, Tim was quickly followed below by a couple of the other hands, +as many as could comfortably squeeze into the narrow space at their +command. + +"On deck, there!" presently called out Tim Rooney from beneath, his +voice sounding hollow and far off. + +"Some av ye bind owver the coamin' av the hatch an' hilp us to raise the +poor divil!" + +A dozen eager hands were immediately stretched downwards; and, the next +instant, between them all they lifted out of the forepeak the limp body +of a ragged youth, who seemed to be either already dead or dying, not a +movement being discernible in the inert, motionless figure as it was +laid down carefully by the men on the deck, looking like a corpse. + +Captain Gillespie, however, was not deceived by these appearances. + +"Sluice some water over his face," cried he, after leaning down and +putting his hand on his chest; "he's only swooned away or shamming, for +he's breathing all right. Look, his shirt is moving up and down now." + +"I think he must be pretty far gone with starvation," observed Mr +Mackay, bending over the unconscious lad, too, and scrutinising his +pinched features and bony frame. "He could only have stowed himself +down there when we were loading in the docks, and it is now over three +days since we cleared out and started down the river." + +"Humph!" growled Captain Gillespie, "the confounded skulker has only +brought it on himself, and sarve him right, too." + +"Shame!" groaned one of the men, a murmur of reproach running round +amongst the rest, in sympathy with this expression of opinion against +such an inhuman speech, making the captain look up and cock his ears and +sniff with his long nose, trying to find out who had dared to call him +to account. But, of course, he was unable to do so; and, after glaring +at those near as if he could have "eaten them without salt," as the +saying goes, he bent his eyes down again on Mr Mackay and the +boatswain. These were trying to resuscitate the unfortunate stowaway in +a somewhat more humane way than the captain had suggested; for, while +the mate opened his collar and shirt and lifted his head on his knee, +Tim Rooney sprinkled his face smartly with water from the bucket that +had been dipped over the side and filled. + +At first, Tim's efforts were unsuccessful, causing Captain Gillespie to +snort with impatience at his delicate mode of treatment; but, the third +or fourth dash of the cold water at last restored the poor fellow to +consciousness, his eyelids quivering and then opening, while he drew a +deep long breath like a sigh. + +He didn't know a bit, though, where he was, his eyes staring out from +their sockets, which had sunk deep into his head, as if he were looking +through us and beyond us to something else--instead of at us close +beside him. + +In a moment, however, recollection came back to him and he tried to +raise himself up, only to fall back on Mr Mackay's supporting knee; +and, then, he called out piteously what had probably been his cry for +hours previously as he lay cramped up in the darkness of the forepeak: + +"Hey, let Oi out, measter, and Oi'll never do it no more! Oi be clemmed +to da-eth, measter, and th' rats and varmint be a-gnawing on me cruel! +Let Oi out, measter, Oi be dying here in the dark--let Oi out, for +Gawd's sake!" + +"It is as I told you," said Mr Mackay looking up at the captain; "he is +starving. See, one of you, if the cook's got anything ready in his +galley." + +"Begorra, it wor pay-soup day to-day," cried Tim Rooney getting up to +obey the order; "an' Ching Wang bulled it so plentiful wid wather that +the men toorned oop their noses at it, an' most of it wor lift in the +coppers." + +"The very thing for one in this poor chap's condition," replied Mr +Mackay eagerly. "Go and bring a pannikin of it at once." + +Captain Gillespie sniffed and snorted more than ever of being baulked +for the present in his amiable intention of giving the stowaway a bit of +his mind, and, possibly, something else in addition. + +He saw, though, that his unwelcome passenger was too far gone to be +spoken to as yet; and so, perforce, he had to delay calling him to +account for his intrusion, putting the reckoning off until a more +convenient season. + +"Ah, well, Mackay," said he, on Tim Rooney's return presently with a +pannikin of pea-soup and a large iron spoon, with which he proceeded to +ladle some into the starving creature's mouth, which was ravenously +opened, as were his eyes, too, distended with eager famine craving as he +smelt the food--"you see to bringing the beggar round as well as you +can, and I'll talk to him bye and bye." + +So saying, Captain Gillespie returned to his former place on the poop, +and contented himself for the moment with rating the helmsman for +letting the ship yaw on a big wave catching her athwart the bows and +making her fall off; while the first mate and Tim Rooney continued their +good Samaritan work in gently plying the poor creature, who had just +been rescued from death's door, with spoonful after spoonful of the +tepid soup. Presently a little colour came into his face and he was +able to speak, recovering his consciousness completely as soon as the +nourishment affected his system and gave him strength. + +In a little time, he also was able to raise himself up and stand without +assistance; and, then, Mr Mackay asked him who he was and why he came +on board our ship without leave or license. + +He said that he was a country bricklayer, Joe Fergusson by name; and +that, not being able to get work in London, whither he had tramped all +the way from Lancashire, he had determined to go to Australia, hearing +there was a great demand for labour out there. By dint of inquiries he +had at length managed to reach the docks, hiding himself away in the +forepeak of the Silver Queen, she being the first ship he was able to +get on board unperceived, and the hatchway being conveniently open as if +on purpose for his accommodation. + +"But, we're not going to Australia," observed Mr Mackay, who had only +contrived to get all this from the enterprising bricklayer by the aid of +a series of questions and a severe cross-examination. "This ship is +bound for China." + +"It don't matter, measter," replied Mr Joe Fergusson with the most +charming nonchalance. "Australy or Chiney's all the same to Oi, so long +as un can git wa-ark to dew. Aught's better nor clemming in Lonnon!" + +"You've got no right aboard here, though," said Mr Mackay, who could +not help smiling at the easy way in which the whilom dying man now took +things. "Who's going to pay your passage-money? The captain's in a +fine state, I can tell you, about it, and I don't know what he won't do +to you. He might order you to be pitched overboard into the sea, +perhaps." + +The other scratched his head reflectively, just as Tim Rooney did when +in a quandary, looking round at the men behind Mr Mackay, who were +grinning at his blank dismay and the perturbed and puzzled expression on +his raw yokel face. + +"Oi be willin' to wa-ark, measter," he answered at length, thinking that +if they were all grinning, they were not likely to do him much harm. +"Oi'll wa-ark, measter, loike a good un, so long as you gie Oi grub and +let Oi be." + +"Work! What can you, a bricklayer according to your own statement, do +aboard ship? We've got no bricks to lay here." + +"Mab'be, measter, you moight try un, though," pleaded the poor fellow, +scratching his head again; and then adding, as if a brilliant thought +all at once occurred to him from the operation, "Oi be used to +scaffoldin' and can cloimb loike sailor cheaps." + +"Ah, you must speak to the captain about that," replied Mr Mackay +drily, turning aft and giving some whispered instructions to Tim Rooney +to let the stowaway have some more food later on and give him a shake- +down in the forecastle for the night, so that he might be in better +fettle for his audience with Captain Gillespie on the morrow. "You can +stop here with the men till the morning, and then you will know what +will be done in the matter." + +"Well," cried Captain Gillespie as soon as Mr Mackay stepped up the +poop ladder, "how's that rascal getting on?" + +"I think he'll come round now, sir," said the first mate, thinking it +best not to mention how quickly his patient had recovered, so that he +might have a few hours' reprieve before encountering the captain's +wrath. "I've told the boatswain to give him a bunk in the fo'c's'le for +the night, and that you'll talk to him in the morning." + +"Oh, aye, I'll talk to him like a Dutch uncle," retorted the captain, +sniffing away at a fine rate, as if Mr Mackay was as much in fault as +the unfortunate cause of his ire. "You know I never encourage stowaways +on board my ship, sir; and when I say a thing I mean a thing." + +"Yes, sir; certainly, sir," said Mr Mackay soothingly, taking no notice +of his manner to him and judiciously turning the conversation. "Do you +think, though, sir, we can carry those topgallants much longer? The +wind seems to have freshened again after sunset, the same as it did last +night." + +"Carry-on? Aye, of course we can. The old barquey could almost stand +the royals as well, with this breeze well abeam," replied "Old Jock," +who never agreed with anyone right out if he could possibly help, +especially now when he was in a bit of temper about the stowaway; but, +the next instant, like the thorough seaman he was, seeing the wisdom of +the first mate's advice, he qualified what he had previously said. "If +it freshens more, though, between this and eight bells, you can take in +the topgallants if you like, and a reef in the topsails as well. It +will save bother, perhaps, bye and bye, as the night will be a darkish +one and the weather is not too trustworthy." + +Captain Gillespie then went down the companion into the cuddy to have +his tea; and Mr Mackay, thinking I ought to be hungry after all my +sacrifices to Neptune, advised me to go down below and get some too. + +I was hungry, but I did not care about tea, the flavour of the pea-soup +the stowaway had been plied with having roused my appetite; so, +receiving Mr Mackay's permission, instead of seeking out the steward +Pedro, I paid a visit to Ching Wang in his galley forward. + +"Hi, lilly pijjin," cried this worthy, receiving me far more pleasantly +than I'm sure the Portuguese would have done, for as I passed under the +break of the poop I heard the latter clattering his tins about in the +pantry, as if he were in a rage at something. "What you wanchee--hey?" + +I soon explained my wants; and, without the slightest demur, he ladled +out a basinful of soup for me out of one of the coppers gently stewing +over the galley fire, which looked quite bright and nice as the evening +was chilly. The good-natured Chinaman also gave me a couple of hard +ship's biscuits which he took out of a drawer in the locker above the +fireplace, where they were kept dry. + +"Hi, you eatee um chop chop," said he, as he handed me the basin and the +biscuits and made me sit down on a sort of settle in the galley opposite +the warm fire--"makee tummee tummee all right." + +The effects of this food were as wonderful in my instance as in that of +the poor starved bricklayer shortly before; for, when I had eaten the +last biscuit crumb and drained the final drop of pea-soup from the +basin, I felt a new man, or rather boy--Allan Graham himself, and not +the wretched feeble nonentity I had been previously. + +Of course, I thanked Ching Wang for his kindness as I rose up from the +settle to go away, on the starboard watch, who were just relieved from +their duty on deck, coming for their tea; but the Chinee only shook his +head with a broad smile on his yellow face, as if deprecating any return +for his kind offices. + +"You goodee pijjin and chin chin when you comee," he only said, "and +when you wanchee chow-chow, you comee Ching Wang and him gettee you chop +chop!" + +Then, I stopped in front of the forecastle, as Tim Rooney giving me a +cheery hail, and saw to my wonder Joe Fergusson looking all hale and +hearty and jolly amongst the men, without the least trace of having +been, apparently, at his last gasp but an hour or so before. + +He was half lying down, half sitting on the edge of one of the bunks, +nursing the big stray tortoise-shell tom-cat which had shared his +lodgings in the forepeak, and he had mistaken it for a rat as it crept +up and down the chain-pipe to see what it could pick up in the cook's +galley at meal-times, which it seemed to know by some peculiar instinct +of its own; and although thus partially partial to Ching Wang's society, +the cat now appeared to have taken even a greater fancy to his bed- +fellow in his hiding-place below than it had done to the cook, looking +upon the stowaway evidently as a fellow-comrade, who was unfortunately +in similar circumstances to himself. + +Joe Fergusson not only looked all right, but he likewise was in the best +of spirits, possibly from the tot of rum Tim Rooney had given him after +his soup, to "pull him together," as the boatswain said; for, ere I left +the precincts of the forecastle he volunteered to sing a song, and as I +made my way aft I heard the beginning of some plaintive ditty concerning +a "may-i-den of Manches-teer," followed by a rousing chorus from the +crew, which had little or nothing to do with the main burden of the +ballad, the men's refrain being only a "Yo, heave ho, it's time for us +to go!" + +A hint which I took. + +The wind did not freshen quite so soon as either Mr Mackay or the +captain expected; but it continued to blow pretty steadily from the +north-west with considerable force, the ship bending over to it as it +caught her abaft the beam, and bowling along before it over the billowy +ocean like a prancing courser galloping over a race-course, tossing her +bows up in the air one moment and plunging them down the next, and +spinning along at a rare rate through the crested foam. + +As it got later, though, the gale increased; and shortly after "two +bells in the first watch," nine o'clock that is in landsman's time, +Captain Gillespie, who was on deck again, gave the order to shorten +sail. + +"Stand by your topgallant halliards!" cried Mr Mackay, giving the +necessary instructions for the captain's order to be carried into +effect, following this command up immediately by a second--"Let go!" + +Then, the clewlines and buntlines were manned, and in a trice the three +topgallants were hanging in festooned folds from the upper yards, I +doing my first bit of service at sea by laying hold of the ropes that +triced up the mizzen-topgallant-sail, and hauling with the others, Mr +Mackay giving me a cheery "Well done, my lad," as I did so. + +Tom Jerrold, who now appeared on the poop, and whom I had fought shy of +before, thinking he had behaved very unkindly to me in the morning, was +one of the first to spring into the mizzen-shrouds and climb up the +ratlines on the order being given to furl the sail, getting out on the +manrope and to the weather earing at the end of the yard before either +of the three hands who also went up. + +Seeing him go up the rigging, I was on the point of following him; but +Mr Mackay, whose previous encouragement, indeed, had spurred me on, +stopped me. + +"No, my boy," said he kindly, "you must not go aloft yet, for you might +fall overboard. Besides, you would not be of the slightest use on the +yard even if you didn't tumble. Wait till you've got your sea-legs and +know the ropes." + +I had therefore to wait and watch Tom Jerrold swinging away up there and +bundling the sail together, the gaskets being presently passed round it +and the mizzen-topgallant made snug. When Tom and the others came down, +he grinned at me so cordially that I made friends with him again; but I +was longing all the time for the blissful moment when I too could go +aloft like him. + +Previously to this, I had given Billy, the ship's boy, a shilling to +swab out our cabin and make it all right, so that neither Tom nor Weeks +could grumble at the state it was in; and Sam Weeks, at all events, +seemed satisfied, for he turned into his bunk as soon as Billy had done +cleaning up, having begged Tom Jerrold to take his place for once with +the starboard men, who had the first watch this evening instead of the +"middle watch," as on the previous night. This shifting of the watches, +I may mention here, gives all hands in turn an opportunity of being on +deck at every hour of the night and day, without being monotonously +bound down to any fixed time to be on duty throughout the voyage, as +would otherwise have been the case. + +This alternation of the four hours of deck duty is effected by the dog- +watches in the afternoon, which being of only two hours duration each, +from four o'clock till six the first, and the second from six to eight +o'clock, change the whole order of the others; as, for instance, the +port watch, which has the deck for the first dog-watch to-night, say, +will come on again for the first night watch from eight o'clock till +twelve, and the morning watch from four o'clock until eight, the +starboard watch, which goes on duty for the second dog-watch, taking the +middle watch, from midnight till four o'clock, and then going below to +sleep, while the port watch takes the morning one. The arrangement for +the following night is exactly the reverse of this, the starbowlines +starting with, the first dog-watch and taking the first and the evening +watch; while the port watch has only the second dog-watch and the middle +one, from midnight till morning. + +I thought I had better explain this, as it was very strange at first to +me, and I could not get out of the habit of believing sometimes that I +ought to be on deck when it was really my turn to have my "watch in" +below. + +This evening, as I felt all right and hearty after my pea-soup and had a +good sleep in the afternoon, I remained on deck, although the port +watch, to which I belonged, was not on duty, Mr Mackay, who had only +stayed on the poop to see the topgallants taken in, having at once gone +below on this operation being satisfactorily performed. + +I was glad I stopped, though; for, presently, Captain Gillespie, +ignoring Mr Saunders the second mate, who was now supposed to be in +charge of the deck, sang out in his voice of thunder, his nose no doubt +shaking terribly the while, albeit I couldn't see it, the evening being +too dark and lowering for me even to distinguish plainly that long +proboscis of his: + +"Hands reef topsails!" + +The men, naturally, were even more spry than usual from the fact of "Old +Jock" having given the order; so, they were at their posts before the +captain could get at his next command. + +"Stand by your topsail halliards--let go!" + +The yards tumbled down on the caps in an instant as the last word came +roaring from Captain Gillespie's lips; and at almost the same moment +parties of the men raced up the fore and main and mizzen-shrouds, each +lot anxious to have their sail reefed and rehoisted the first. + +The foretop men, however, this time, bore away the palm over those +attending to the main-topsail; while those on the cro'jack-yard were +completely out of the running with only four hands against the fourteen +in the other top--although Tom Jerrold was pretty quick again, and if +those helping him had been but equally sharp they might, in spite of +being short-handed, have achieved the victory. + +Urged on by Tim Rooney, though, the men forward were too smart for those +aft, and had handed their topsail and were hoisting away at the +halliards again before those reefing the main-topsail were all in from +their yard. The last man, indeed, was just stepping from the yard into +the rigging again, when an accident happened that nearly cost him his +life, although fortunately he escaped with only a fall and a fright. + +In order to render the work of reefing easier for the hands, the captain +had directed the men at the wheel by a quick motion which they +understood to "luff her up" a bit, so as to flatten the sails; and now, +on the folds of the main-topsail ballooning out before being hoisted +again as it caught the wind, the sail flapped back and jerked the +unfortunate fellow off the yard, his hands clutching vainly at the empty +air. + +We could see it all from the poop, although the night was darkish, +because the whiteness of the sails made everything stand out in relief +against their snowy background; and, as he fell, with a shriek that +seemed to go through my heart, I held my breath in agonised suspense, +expecting the next moment to hear the dull thud of his mangled body on +the deck below. + +But, in place of this, a second later, a wild hurrah burst from the men +at the halliards and from those coming down the rigging, who had +remained spellbound, their descending footsteps arrested in the ratlines +in awful expectancy and horror. It was a cheer of relief on their +anxious fears being dispelled. + +I never heard such a hearty shout in my life before, coming, as it did, +as if all the men had but one throat! + +I seem to hear it now. + +"Hurrah!" + +It rang through the ship; and we on the poop soon saw the reason for the +triumphant cry and shared the common feeling of joy. + +The main-sail had jibed and then bellied out again in the same way as +the topsail above it had done; and when the man fell, a kind Providence +watching over him caused it to catch him in its folds, and then gently +drop him into the long-boat above the deck-house below, right in the +midst of the captain's pigs there stowed--thus breaking his fall, so +that he absolutely escaped unhurt, with the exception of a slight +shaking and of course a biggish fright at falling. + +"Who is the man?" sang out Captain Gillespie as soon as some of the +hands had clambered up on top of the deck-house and released their +comrade from the companionship of the pigs, who were grunting and +squealing at his unexpected descent in their midst. "Who is that man?" + +"Joe Fergusson," cried out one of the men. "It's Joe Fergusson, sir." + +Captain Gillespie was bothered, thinking he could not hear aright. + +"Joe Fergusson?" he called back. "I don't know any man of that name, or +anything like it, who signed articles with me, and is entered on the +ship's books. Pass the word forrud for the bosun--where is he?" + +"Here, sorr," cried out Tim Rooney, who of course was close at hand, +having bounded to the scene of action the moment he heard the man's wild +weird shriek as he fell, arriving just in time to see his wonderful +escape. "Here I am, sorr." + +"Who is the man that fell?" + +"Our new hand, sorr." + +"New hand?" repeated Captain Gillespie after him, as perplexed as ever. +"What new hand?" + +"Joe Fergusson, sorr. Himsilf and no ither, sure, sorr." + +"What the dickens do ye mean, man?" said the captain, angry at the +mystification. "I don't know of any Joe Fergusson or any new hands save +those I brought on board myself at Gravesend; and there was no one of +that name amongst 'em, I'm certain." + +"Aye, aye, thrue for ye, cap'en," answered Tim, and although, of course, +I couldn't see him, I'm sure he must have winked when he spoke, there +was a tone of such rich jocularity in his voice; "but, sure, sor this is +the chap as brought himsilf aboard. He's the stowaway, sorr; Joe +Fergusson, by the same token!" + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +CROSSING THE LINE. + +"Humph!" grunted Captain Gillespie, astounded by this information. +"That's the joker, is it?" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," said Tim Rooney, thinking he was asked the question +again as to the other's identity; "it's him, sure enough." + +"Then I should like to know what the dickens he means by such conduct as +this? The beggar first comes aboard my ship without my leave or +license, and then tries to break his neck by going aloft when nobody +sent him there!" + +"Arrah sure, sorr, the poor chap ownly did it to show his willin'ness to +worruk his passige, sayin' as how Mr Mackay tould him ye'd blow him up +for comin' aboard whin he came-to this arternoon, sorr," pleaded Tim, +not perceiving, as I did, that all the captain's anger against the +unfortunate stowaway had melted away by this time on learning that he +had shown such courage. "Begorra, he would cloimb up the shrouds, sorr, +whin ye tould the hands to lay aloft; an' the divil himsilf, sorr, +wouldn't 'a stopped him." + +"He's a plucky fellow," cried the captain in a much more amiable tone of +voice, to Tim's great surprise. + +"Send him aft, bosun, and I'll talk to him now instead of to-morrow, as +I said." + +"Aye, aye, sorr," replied Tim; and, presently, the stowaway, who looked +none the worse for his fall, came shambling sheepishly up the poop +ladder, Tim following in his wake, and saying as he ushered him into the +captain's presence, "Here he is, sorr." + +"Well, you rascal," exclaimed Captain Gillespie, looking at him up and +down with his squinting eyes and sniffing, taking as good stock of him +as the faint light would permit, "what have you got to say for +yourself--eh?" + +"Oi dunno," answered the ragged lad, touching his forelock and making a +scrape back with his foot, in deferential salute. "Of's got nowt ter +say, only as Oi'll wark me pessage if you'll let me be, and dunno put me +in that theer dark pit agin." + +"Do you know you're liable to three months imprisonment with hard labour +for stowing yourself aboard my ship?" replied Captain Gillespie, paying +no attention to his words apparently, and going on as if he had not +spoken. "What will you do if I let you off?" + +"Oi'll wark, measter," cried the other eagerly. "Oi'll wark loike a +good un, Oi will, sure, if you lets Oi be." + +"Ha, humph! I'll give you a try, then," jerked out Old Jock with a +snort, after another nautical inspection of the new hand; "only, mind +you don't go tumbling off the yard again. I don't want any accidents on +board my ship, although I expect every man to do his duty; and when I +say a thing I mean a thing. What's your name--eh?" + +"Oi be called Joe Fergusson, measter," replied the shock-headed fellow, +moving rather uneasily about and shuffling his feet on the deck, the +captain's keen quizzical glance making him feel a bit nervous. "My +mates at whoam, though, names me, and the folk in Lancacheer tew, `Joey +the moucher.'" + +"Oh, then, Master Joey, you'll find you can't mooch here, my lad," +retorted Old Jock, glad of the opportunity of having one of his personal +jokes, and sniggering and snorting over it in fine glee. "However, I'll +forgive you coming aboard on the promise of your working your passage to +China; but, you won't find that child's play, my joker! Fergusson, I'll +enter you on the ship's books and you'll be rated as an able seaman, for +you look as if you had the makings of one in you from the way you've +tried already to earn your keep." + +"Thank ye koindly, measter," stammered out the redoubtable Joe, seeing +from the captain's manner that his peace was made, and that nothing +dreadful was going to be done to him, as he had feared from all that Tim +Rooney and the hands forward had told him of Old Jock's temper--although +he did not understand half what the captain said--"Oi'll wark, measter." + +"There, that will do," said Captain Gillespie interrupting him ere he +could proceed any further with his protestations of gratitude; "the +proof of the pudding lies in the eating, and I'll soon see what you're +made of. Bosun, take him forrud and rig him out as well as you can. +I'll send you an old shirt and trousers by the steward." + +"Aye, aye, sorr," answered Tim obediently, pleased at "the ould skipper +behavin' so handsomely," as he afterwards said; "an' I'll give him an +ould pair av brogues av me own." + +"You can do as you like about that," said Captain Gillespie, turning on +his heel and calling the watch to tauten the lee-braces a bit, telling +the men at the wheel at the same time to "luff" more; "but, you'd better +let the chap have a good lie-in to-night and put him in the port watch +to-morrow so that Mr Mackay can look after him." + +"Aye, aye, sorr," replied Tim, leading his charge down the poop ladder +again. "I'll say to that same, sorr." + +"And, bosun--" + +"Aye, aye, sorr." + +"Just see if those pigs in the long-boat got damaged by that fellow +tumbling on top of them. His weight ought to have been enough to have +made pork of some, I should think!" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," said Tim as he went off laughing; and I could hear his +whispered aside to Adams, who was standing by the deck-house. "Begorra, +I'd have betted the ould skipper wouldn't forgit thim blissid pigs av +his. He wor thinkin' av thim all the toime that poor beggar wor fallin' +from aloft, I belave!" + +Much to the captain's satisfaction, though, the grunting inhabitants of +the long-boat were found to be all right, escaping as harmlessly as Joe +Fergusson; and so, with his mind relieved Old Jock went below soon after +"six bells," or two o'clock, leaving the charge of the deck to Mr +Saunders--who, grumbling at the captain's rather insidious usurpation of +his authority, had betaken himself to the lee-side of the taffrail, +whence he watched the ship's wake and the foaming rollers that came +tumbling after her, as she drove on before the stiff nor'-wester under +reefed topsails and courses, the waves trying to poop her every instant, +though foiled by her speed. + +So things went on till midnight, when the men at the wheel were +relieved, as well as the look-out forward, and the port watch came on +deck; while, the starbowlines going below, Mr Mackay took the place of +the second mate as the officer on duty. Tom Jerrold, too, lugged out +Sam Weeks and made him put in an appearance, much against his will; but +nothing subsequently occurred to vary the monotony of the life on board +or interfere with the vessel's progress, for, although it was blowing +pretty nearly "half a gale," as sailors say, we "made a fair wind of +it"--keeping steadily on our course, south-west by west, and getting +more and more out into the Atlantic with each mile of the seething water +the Silver Queen spurned with her forefoot and left eddying behind her. + +The wind, somehow or other, seemed to get into my head, like a glass of +champagne I had on Christmas-day when father and all of us went to +Westham Hall and dined with the squire. I can't express how jolly it +made me feel--the wind I mean, not the champagne; for it was as much as +I could do to refrain from shouting out aloud in my exultation, as it +blew in my face and tossed my hair about, pressing against my body with +such force that I had to hold on by both hands to the weather bulwarks +to keep my feet, as I gazed out over the side at the magnificent scene +around me--the storm-tossed sea, one mass of foam; the grand blue vault +of heaven above, now partially lit by the late rising moon and twinkling +stars, that were occasionally obscured by scraps of drifting clouds and +flying scud; and, all the while, the noble ship tearing along, a thing +of beauty and of life, mastering the elements and glorying in the fight, +with the hum of the gale in the sails and its shrieking whistle through +the rigging, and the ever-murmuring voices of the waters, all filling +the air around as they sang the dirge of the deep! + +"You seem to like it, youngster," observed Mr Mackay, stopping his +quarter-deck walk as he caught sight of my face in the moonlight and +noticed it's joyous glow, reflecting the emotions of my mind. "You look +a regular stormy petrel, and seem as if you wanted to spread your wings +and fly." + +"I only wish I could, sir," I cried, laughing at his likening me to a +"Mother Carey's chicken," as the petrel is familiarly termed, a number +of them then hovering about the ship astern. "I feel half a bird +already, the wind makes me so jolly." + +Mr Mackay quietly smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. + +"Take care, my boy," said he good-humouredly, "you'll be jumping +overboard in your enthusiasm. You seem to be a born sailor. Are you +really so fond of the sea?" + +"I love it! I love it!" I exclaimed enthusiastically. "Now, I can +imagine, sir, the meaning of what I read in Xenophon with father, about +the soldiers of Cyrus crying with joy when they once more beheld the sea +after their toilsome march for months and months, wandering inland over +a strange and unknown country without a sight of its familiar face to +tell them of their home by the wave-girt shores of Greece!" + +"You're quite a poet, Graham," observed Mr Mackay, laughing now, though +not unkindly. There was, indeed, a tone of regret and of sadness, it +seemed to me, in his voice. "Ah, well, you'll soon have all such +romantic notions taken out of you, my boy, when you've seen some of the +hardships of a sailor's life, like others who at one time were, perhaps, +as full of ardour for their profession at the start as yourself." + +"I hope not, sir," I replied seriously. "I should never like to believe +differently of it to what I do now. I think it is really something to +be proud of, being a sailor. It is glorious, it--it--it's--jolly, +that's what it is, sir!" + +"A jolly sight jollier being in bed on a cold night like this," muttered +Weeks, who was shivering by the skylight, the tarpaulin cover of which +he had dragged round his legs for warmth. "Don't you think so, sir?" + +"That depends," replied Mr Mackay on Sammy putting this question to him +rather impudently, as was his wont in speaking to his elders, his bump +of veneration being of the most infinitesimal proportions. "I think, +though, that a fellow who likes being on deck in a gale of wind will +turn out a better sailor than a skulker who only cares about caulking in +his bunk below; and you can put that in your pipe, Master Sam Weeks, and +smoke it!" + +This had the effect of stopping any further conversation on the part of +my fellow apprentice, who retired to the lee-side of the deck in high +dudgeon with this "flea in his ear;" and, it being just four o'clock in +the morning now and the end of the middle watch, eight bells were struck +and the starbowlines summoned on deck again to duty, we of the port +watch getting some hot coffee all round at the galley and then turning +in. For this I was not sorry, as I began now to feel sleepy. + +"I'd rather be a dog with the mange than a sailor," yawned Tom Jerrold +when Sam Weeks roused him out of his nice warm bunk to go on duty in the +cold grey morning. "Heigh-ho, it's an awful life!" + +So, it can be seen that all of us were not of one opinion in the matter. + +But, in spite of sundry drawbacks and disagreeables which I subsequently +encountered, and which perhaps took off a little of the halo of romance +which at first encircled everything connected with the sea in my mind, I +have never lost the love and admiration for it which I experienced that +night in mid Atlantic when I kept the middle watch with Mr Mackay, nor +regretted my choice; neither have I ever felt inclined, I may candidly +state, to give an affirmative answer to Tim Rooney's stereotyped inquiry +every morning-- "An' ain't ye sorry now, Misther Gray-ham, as how ye +iver came to say?" + +The next day, our third out from the Lizard, we spoke the barque Mary +Webster from Valparaiso for London, sixty days at sea. + +She signalled that she had broken her chronometer and had to trust only +to her dead reckoning, so Captain Gillespie hove-to and gave them our +latitude and longitude, 45 degrees 15 minutes North and 10 degrees 20 +minutes West, displaying the figures chalked on a black-board over our +quarter, in order that those on board the other vessel might read the +inscription easily with a glass, as we bowed and dipped towards each +other across the rolling waves, both with our main-topsails backed. + +Before the following morning we had weathered Cape Finisterre, Mr +Mackay told me, having got finally beyond the limits of the dread Bay of +Biscay, with all its opposing tides and contrary influences of winds and +currents which make it such a terror to navigators passing both to and +from the Equator; and, in another two days, we had reached as far south +as the fortieth parallel of latitude, our longitude being now 13 degrees +10 minutes west, or about some five hundred miles to the eastward of the +Azores, or Western Islands. + +As we worked our way further westwards I noticed a curious thing which I +could not make out until Mr Mackay enlightened me on the subject. + +On my last birthday father had given me a very nice little gold watch, +similar to one which he had presented to my brother Tom, much to my envy +at the time, on his likewise obtaining his fifteenth year. + +This watch was a very good timekeeper, being by one of the best London +makers; and, hitherto, had maintained an irreproachable character in +this respect, the cook at home, whenever the kitchen clock went wrong, +always appealing to me to know what was the correct time, with the +flattering compliment that "Master Allan's watch, at all events," was +"sure to be right!" + +But now, strange to say, although my watch kept exactly to railway time +up to the day of my arrival in London and while we were on our way down +the river, I found that, as we proceeded into the Channel and out to sea +it began to gain, the difference being more and more marked as we got +further to the westward; until, when the captain, after taking the sun +on our fifth day out, told Tom Jerrold who was on the deck beside him to +"make it eight bells," or strike the ship's bell to declare it was noon, +I was very nearly an hour ahead of that time--my watch, which I was +always careful about winding up every evening as father enjoined me when +giving it to me, pointing actually to one o'clock! + +I could not understand it all. + +Mr Mackay, however, made it clear to me after a little explanation, +showing me, too, how simple a matter it was with a good chronometer to +find a ship's position at sea. + +"For every degree of longitude we go westwards from the meridian of +Greenwich, which is marked with a great round 0 here, you see, my boy, +we gain four minutes," said he, pointing out the lines of longitude +ruled straight up and down the chart as he spoke, for my information; +"and thus, the fact of the hands of your watch telling, truly enough, +that it is now about eight minutes to one o'clock in London, shows that +we are thirteen degrees further to the west than at the place where your +time is set--for we are going with the sun, do you see?" + +"Yes, I see, sir," said I; "but suppose we were going to the east +instead of the west?" + +"Why then, my boy," he replied, "your watch, in lieu of gaining, would +appear to lose the same number of minutes each day, according to our +rate of sailing. A ship, consequently, which goes round the world from +the east to the west will seem to have gained a clear day on +circumnavigating the globe; while one that completes the same voyage +sailing from the west continually towards the east, loses one." + +"How funny!" cried I. "Is it really so?" + +"Yes, really," said he; "and I've seen, on board a ship I was once in, +the captain skip a day in the log, to make up for the one we lost on the +voyage, passing over Saturday and writing down the day which followed +Friday as `Sunday'--otherwise we would have been all out of our +reckoning with the almanac." + +"How funny!" I repeated. "I never heard that before." + +"Probably not, nor many other things you'll learn at sea, my boy, before +you're much older," answered Mr Mackay, as he turned to the log slate +on which Captain Gillespie had been putting down his calculation about +the ship's position after taking the sun and working out his reckoning. +"Let us see, now, if your watch is a good chronometer for telling our +longitude. Ha, by Jove, 13 degrees 10 minutes west, or, nearly what we +made out just now. Not so bad, Graham, for a turnip!" + +"Turnip, sir!" cried I indignantly. "Father told me it was one of +Dent's best make, and to be careful of it." + +"I'm sure I beg both your father's and Dent's pardon," said Mr Mackay, +laughing at my firing up so quickly. "I was only joking; for your watch +is a very good one, and nicely finished too. But I must not stop any +more now. I hope you won't forget your first lesson in navigation and +the knowledge you've gained of the difference between `mean time' and +what is called `apparent time' on board a ship, and how this will tell +her correct longitude--eh?" + +"Oh, no, sir," I answered as he went off down the companion way below, +to wind up the chronometers in the captain's cabin, a task which he +always performed every day at the same hour, having these valuable +instruments under his especial charge; "I won't forget what you've told +me, sir." + +Nor did I. + +Shortly afterwards Mr Mackay showed me how to use the sextant and take +the sun's altitude, on his learning that I was acquainted with +trigonometry and rather a dab at mathematics, the only portion indeed of +my studies, I'm sorry to confess, in which I ever took any interest at +school. I was thus soon able under his instruction to work out the +ship's reckoning and calculate her position, just like the captain, who +sniffed and snorted a bit and crinkled his nose a good deal on seeing me +engaged on the task; although he gave me some friendly commendation all +the same, when he found that I had succeeded in actually arriving at a +similar result to himself! + +Wasn't I proud, that's all. + +But, before advancing so far in my knowledge of navigation, I had to be +initiated into my regular duties on board, and learn the more practical +parts of seamanship; however, having willing tutors in Mr Mackay and +the boatswain, and being only too anxious myself to know all they could +teach me, it was not long before I was able to put it out of the power +of either Tom Jerrold or Weeks to call me "Master Jimmy Green," as they +at first christened me--just because they had the advantage of going to +sea a voyage or two before me! I may add, too, that my progress towards +proficiency in picking up the endless details of nautical lore was all +the more accelerated by the desire of excelling my shipmates, so as to +have the chance of turning their chaff back upon themselves. + +Spurred on by this motive, I quickly learnt all the names of the ropes +and their various uses from Mr Mackay; while Tim Rooney showed me how +to make a "reef knot," a "clove hitch," a "running bowline," and a +"sheep-shank," explaining the difference between these and their +respective advantages over the common "granny's knot" of landsmen--my +friend the boatswain judiciously discriminating between the typical +peculiarities of the "cat's-paw" and the "sheet bend," albeit the one +has nothing in connection with the feline tribe and the other no +reference to one's bed-covering! + +The wind moderated when we got below the Azores, while the sea also +ceased its tumultuous whirl, so that we were able to make all plain sail +and carry-on without rolling as before; so, now, at last, I was allowed +to go aloft, my first essay being to assist Tom Jerrold in setting the +mizzen-royal. Really, I quite astonished Tom by climbing up the futtock +shrouds outside the top, instead of going through "the lubber's hole," +showing myself, thanks to Tim Rooney's private instructions previously, +much more nimble in casting off the gaskets and loosening the bunt of +the sail than my brother mid expected; indeed, I got off the yard, after +the job was done, and down to the deck a good half minute in advance of +him. + +On our sixth day out, we reached latitude 35 degrees north and 17 +degrees west, drifting past Madeira a couple of days later, the +temperature of the air gradually rising and the western winds growing +correspondingly slack as we made more southing; until, although it was +barely a week since we had been experiencing the bitter weather of our +English February, we now seemed to be suddenly transported into the +balminess of June. The change, however, took place so imperceptibly +during our gradual progress onward to warmer latitudes, that, in looking +back all at once, it seemed almost incredible. + +I found the work which we apprentices had to do was really very similar +to that of the hands forward, Tom Jerrold and I in the port watch, and +Weeks and Matthews--who, although styled "third mate," had still to go +aloft and do the same sort of duties as all the rest of us--in the +starboard watch under the second mate, having to attend to everything +connected with the setting and taking in of sail on the mizzen-mast, as +well as having to keep the ship's time, one of us striking the bell +every half-hour throughout our spell on deck. + +After the first few days at sea, too, I came to the conclusion that if +our work was like that of the sailors our food was not one whit the +better; albeit, one of the stipulations in the contract when my father +paid the premium demanded by the owners of the ship for me as a "first- +class apprentice," was that I should mess aft in the cabin. + +I certainly did so, like Tom Jerrold and the two others; but all that +either they or I had of cabin fare throughout the entire voyage was an +occasional piece of "plum duff" and jam on Sundays--on which day, by the +way, we had no work to do save attending to the sails and washing decks +in the morning; while, in the afternoon, Captain Gillespie read prayers +on the poop, his congregation being mainly limited to ourselves and the +watch on deck, the crew spending their holiday, on this holy day, in +mending their clothes in the forecastle. + +Yes, our rations were the same as those of the ordinary hands; namely, +salt junk and "hard tack," varied by pea-soup and sea-pie occasionally +for dinner, with rice and molasses as a treat on Saturdays. Our +breakfast and tea consisted of a straw-coloured decoction known on +board-ship as "water bewitched," accompanied by such modicums of our +dinner allowance as we were able to save conscientiously with our +appetites. This amounted to very little as a rule, for, being at sea +makes one fearfully hungry at all hours, and, fortunately, seems to +endow one, also, with the capacity for eating anything! + +Really, if it had not been by currying favour with Ching Wang and +bribing the steward, Pedro Carvalho, between whom there were continual +rows occurring about the provisions, which it was the duty of the +Portuguese to serve out, we must have starved ere reaching the Equator; +for Captain Gillespie, in order to "turn an honest penny" and make his +Dundee venture prove a success, persuaded the men forward and ourselves +to give up a pound and a quarter of our meat ration for a pound tin of +his marmalade, which he assured us would not only be more palatable with +our biscuit, being such "a splendid substitute for butter," as the +advertisements on the labels say, but would also act as an antiscorbutic +to prevent the spread of scurvy amongst us--it being, as he declared, +better than lime-juice for this purpose! + +The hands consented to this arrangement at first as a welcome change; +but, when they presently found themselves mulcted of their salt junk, +they grumbled much at Old Jock for holding us all to the bargain, and he +and his marmalade became a by-word in the ship. I did not wonder at +all, after a bit, that Pedro the steward got into the habit of venting +his wrath when vexed by kicking the empty tins about! + +I cannot say, however, that I disliked my new life, in spite of these +drawbacks in the way of insufficiency of food and constancy of appetite, +throughout which Ching Wang remained my staunch friend, bringing me many +a savoury little delicacy for supper when it was my night watch on deck. +These tit-bits in the "grub" line I conscientiously shared with Tom +Jerrold, who received similar favours from the steward, with whom he was +a firm favourite, the only one, indeed, to whom the Portuguese appeared +to take kindly on board. + +No, on the contrary, the charm of being a sailor grew more and more upon +me each day as the marvels of the deep became unfolded to me, and the +better I became acquainted with the ship and my companions. + +All was endless variety--the sky, the sea, and our surroundings changing +apparently every moment and ever revealing something fresh and novel. + +It did not seem real but a dream. + +Could that be the Madeira I had read about in the distance, and that the +Bay of Funchal of which I had seen pictures in books; and that the +little nautilus or "Portuguese man-of-war" floating by the side of the +vessel, now almost becalmed, with its cigar-shaped shell boat and pink +membraneous sail all glowing with prismatic colouring? Was it an +actuality that I saw all these things with my own eyes; or, was I +dreaming? Was it really I, Allan Graham, standing there on the deck of +the good ship Silver Queen, or somebody else? + +An order from the captain, who came up from his cabin just then and +caught me mooning, to go forward and "make it eight bells," stopped my +reflections at this interesting point; and the next moment I was more +interested in a most appetising odour of lobscouse emanating from Ching +Wang's galley than in poetical dreams of Atlantic isles and ocean +wonders! + +On passing Madeira, we soon got out of the Horse Latitudes, a soft +breeze springing up from the west again towards evening, which wafted us +down to the Canaries within the next two days. Here we picked up the +north-east trades south of Palma, just when we could barely discern the +Peak of Teneriffe far-away off high up in the clouds, and then we went +on grandly on our voyage once more with every sail set, logging over two +hundred miles a day and going by the Cape de Verde Islands in fine +style. We did not bring up again until we reached "the Doldrums," in +about latitude 5 degrees north and 22 degrees west, where the fickle +wind deserted us again and left us rolling and sweltering in the great +region of equatorial calm. The north-east and south-east trades here +fight each other for the possession of their eventful battle-ground, the +Line, and old Neptune finds the contest so wearisome that he goes to +sleep while it lasts, the tumid swelling of his mighty bosom only +showing to all whom it may concern that he merely dozes and is not dead! + +The temperature of the sea seemed to increase each day after we lost +sight of the Peak of Teneriffe until it was now lukewarm, if one drew a +bucket from over the side; although Captain Gillespie said it was "quite +cold" for that time of year! + +Talking about this, Mr Mackay told me that sea-water is composed of an +awful lot of things such as I would not have supposed--oxygen and +hydrogen, with muriate of soda, magnesia, iron, lime, copper, silica, +potash, chlorine, iodine, bromide, ammonia and silver being amongst its +ingredients, and the muriate of soda forming the largest of the solid +substances detected in it. With such a mixture of things as this, it is +not surprising that it should taste so nasty when swallowed--is it? + +With the enforced leisure produced by the calm, I had plenty of +opportunity for observing the various strange varieties of animal life +which came about the ship--the flying-fish with beautiful silvery wings +that sparkled in the sunlight coming inboard in shoals, pursued by their +enemies the albacores, who drove them out of the sea to take refuge in +the air; besides numbers of grampusses and sharks swimming round us. +Adams, the sailmaker, killed one of these latter gentry with a harpoon, +spearing him from the bowsprit as he came past the ship. He looked up +with his evil eye, fancying perhaps that he would "catch one of us +napping," but no one was unwary enough to get within reach of his +voracious maw; and Mr Shark "caught a tartar" instead and got a taste +of cold steel for his pains, much to our delight, though the captain was +chagrined at the loss of the harpoon, the shark parting the line +attached to it in his death struggles, and carrying it below with him +when he sank. The brute, to end the story, was eaten up at once by his +affectionate comrades, the sea being dyed red with his blood. + +We had not all leisure, though, thus hanging about the Equator under the +scorching sun, now at noon precisely perpendicular over our heads, the +heat at night too being almost as stifling and the stars as bright as +moons; for Captain Gillespie took advantage of our inaction to "set up" +the rigging, which had slackened considerably since we entered the +tropics, the heat making the ropes stretch so that our masts got loose +and the upper spars canted. + +While doing this, of course, I had another practical lesson in +seamanship, learning all about "double luffs" and "toggles," "salvagee +strops" and "Burton tackles," and all the rest of such gear, whose name +is legion. + +But I must go on now to a more important incident. + +One morning, about a week after the wind left us, with the exception of +an occasional cat's-paw of air which came from every point of the +compass in turn, we ultimately drifted to the Line; accomplishing this +by the aid of the swell ever rolling southward and the eddy of the great +south equatorial current, setting between the African continent and the +Caribbean Sea. This meets the Guinea current running in the opposite +direction in the middle of the Doldrums, and helps to promote the +pleasant stagnation, of wind and water and of air alike, of this +delightful region so dear to mariners! + +I recollect the morning well; for the night was unusually oppressive, +the heat between the middle watch and eight bells having been more +intense than at any period, I thought, during the week. + +So, after tossing about my bunk, unable to get to sleep I was only too +glad when the time came to turn out for duty, the task of washing decks +and paddling about in the cool water--for it was cool at the earlier +hours of the morning if tepid at noon--being something to look forward +to. + +I forgot, however, all about the terrible rites of Neptune for those +crossing the Line for the first time, and neither Tom Jerrold nor Weeks, +naturally, enlightened me on the subject; so that I was completely taken +by surprise when a loud voice hailed us from somewhere forward, just +about "four bells," as if coming from out of the sea. + +"What ship is that?" + +"The Silver Queen," answered Mr Saunders, who was on the poop and of +course in the joke, answering the voice, which although portentously +loud, had a familiar ring about it suspiciously like Tim Rooney's Irish +brogue. "Bound from London to Shanghai." + +"Have ye minny of me unshaved sons aboard?" + +"Aye, two," shouted back Mr Saunders, "a stowaway and an apprentice." + +"Ye spake true," returned the voice. "I knows 'em both, Misther Allan +Gray-ham an' Joe Fergusson. I will come aboard an' shave 'em." + +Then it all flashed upon me, and I tried to run below and hide; but two +of Neptune's tritons seized me and pushed me forward to where the +boatswain, capitally got up in an oakum wig with an enormous tow beard, +was seated on the windlass, trident in hand. Joe Fergusson, who had +been made prisoner before me, lay bound at his feet, close to an +improvised swimming bath made out of a spare fore-topsail, rigged up +across the deck on the lee-side and filled with water to the depth of +four feet or more. + +The ceremonies were just about to begin; and, I could readily imagine +what was in store for both me and my companion in distress, the ex- +bricklayer, who, like myself, having never been to sea before would have +to go through the painful ordeal as well as being made fools of and +laughed at by all our grinning shipmates around; so, seeing Tom Jerrold +and Sam Weeks conspicuous right in front of me, and Mr Saunders looking +on too with much gusto, I made another desperate attempt to free myself +from those holding me, urging on Joe Fergusson to try and save himself +and me too. + +Our struggles were in vain; but, strange to say, help came for us from a +most unexpected quarter. + +As I have said before, the night had been extremely hot and the morning +lowering; and now, all at once, a violent squall caught the ship in the +midst of Neptune's carnival. + +"Stand by your royal halliards!" roared out Captain Gillespie, who +coming up quickly behind Mr Saunders on the poop made him jump round in +consternation at his neglect in not keeping a look-out overhead while +watching the game going on in the bows amongst the crew. + +Neptune darted down from his perch instanter in the most ungodlike +fashion; and, the rest of the men rushing to their stations, left Joe +Fergusson and I rolling on the deck. + +"Let go!" next cried the captain; adding a moment later, "Bosun, go +forward and slack off the head sheets!" + +And then the rain came down in a perfect deluge, as if it were being +emptied out of a tub, and as it only can pour down in the tropics; and +that is how we "crossed the Line!" + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +"ONE PIECEE COCK-FIGHTEE." + +The ship had nearly all her canvas spread, so as to take advantage of +the first puff of air which came to waft us beyond the Doldrums towards +the region of the south-east trades, then beginning to blow just below +the calm belt; consequently, it took all hands some time to clew up and +furl all the light upper sails, and squall after squall burst over us +ere we could reduce the ship to her proper fighting trim of reefed +topsails and courses, our outer jib getting torn to shreds before it +could be handed. + +"Begorra, it's a buster an' no mishtake!" exclaimed Tim Rooney coming +off the forecastle as soon as he had seen the other head sails attended +to, and setting me free from the lashings with which his whilom tritons +had bound my hands and legs. "Sp'ilin' all av our fun, too, Misther +Gray-ham, jist whin I wor goin' to shave ye!" + +I did not regret this, though, I'm sure. Still, I did not stop to +answer him, being in too great a hurry to join Tom Jerrold and the +others aft in taking in the mizzen-royal and topgallant--my fellow +apprentices having had time already to get aloft while I was rolling on +the deck forward like a trussed fowl! + +"Take it aisy, me darlint," shouted Tim after me as I rushed up the poop +ladder and swung myself into the shrouds; but, I was half-way up the +ratlines before he could get out the end of his exordium, "Aisy does +it!" + +I was too late to help hand the royal, my especial sail since I had got +familiar with my footing aloft; but the mizzen-topgallant sheets, +bowlines and halliards having been hardly a second let go, and the men +on the poop having only just begun to haul on the clewlines and +buntlines, I was quite in time to get out on this yard. My aid, indeed, +came in usefully in assisting to stow the sail; although, in my haste +not to be eclipsed by Tom Jerrold, I nearly got knocked off my perch on +the foot-rope through the canvas ballooning out, in the same way as it +did when Joe Fergusson so narrowly escaped death only three weeks or so +before! + +The fright, as I clutched hold of a rope and saved myself, made my heart +come in my mouth; and what with this, and the turmoil of the elements +around me as I clung to the yard, with the deck of the ship so small and +far-away below, and saw the immense area of the swelling sea as far as +the eye could reach--now chopped up into short rolling waves, crowned +with foam, almost in an instant, and the black cloud-covered dome of the +heavens that was almost as dark as at midnight--I could not help +thinking of the grandeur of the works of God, and the insignificance of +man and his pigmy attempts to master the elements. + +For, beyond the quick sharp puffs of wind that came with the squalls of +rain from almost every point of the compass in succession, the downpour +which descended from the overcast sky was accompanied with terrible ear- +splitting peals of thunder. This seemed to rattle and roll almost +immediately above our heads, as if the overhanging black vault was about +to burst open every moment; while dazzling forked flashes of bluish +lightning zigzagged across the horizon from the zenith, first blinding +our eyes with its brilliancy for a second and then making the darkness +all around the darker as the vivid glare vanished and the accompanying +thunderbolt sank into the sea--providentially far off to leeward, where +the full force of the tropical storm was spent, and not near our vessel. + +The sight was an awful and magnificent one to me suspended there in mid- +air, as it were; but I confess I was not sorry when, presently, the +mizzen-topgallant was snugly stowed, with the gaskets put round it, and +I was able to get down to the more substantial deck below, where I was +not quite so close to the cloud war going on above! + +When I reached the poop, as the Silver Queen was now stripped of her +superfluous canvas and ready for anything that might happen should the +squalls last, Mr Mackay seeing that I was wet through told me that I +might go down and change my clothes. This I gratefully did, feeling all +the better on getting into a dry suit, over which I took the precaution +before coming out of the deck-house again of rigging my waterproof and a +tarpaulin hat; for the rain was still coming down in a regular deluge, +"as if the sluice-valve of the water tank above had somehow or other +jammed foul, so that the water couldn't be turned off for a while"--this +being Tom Jerrold's explanation of it. + +Feeling chilled from the damp after the great heat of the morning, as +soon as I had doffed my wet things I went round to the galley to see if +I could discover a drop of hot coffee knocking about, as it was getting +on for tea-time, being now late in the afternoon; but when I got there, +instead of finding Ching Wang, who was always punctuality itself in the +matter of meal-times, busy with the coppers, there he was flat on his +stomach on the floor of his caboose, with a hideous little brass image +or idol, which might have been Buddha for all that I know to the +contrary, set up in the corner--the Chinese cook being so actively +engaged in salaaming in front of this image, by touching the deck with +his forehead and burning bits of gilt paper before it, as incense I +suppose, that he did not notice me. + +"Hullo, Ching Wang," I said, "what are you about?" + +"Me chin chin joss, lilly pijjin," he answered, turning to me his round, +unconscious, and imperturbable face as if he were engaged in some +ordinary occupation of everyday life. "Me askee him me watchee if +kyphong catchee ship, no sabey?" + +The poor fellow evidently believed more in his god than I did in mine; +for here he was in a moment of danger, as he thought, praying for help, +while I, who had almost lost my life when I so nearly escaped tumbling +from the topgallant yard only a moment or so since, had thoughtlessly +forgotten Him who had saved me! + +I think of this now, but I didn't then. Nay, I even laughed at Ching +Wang's ignorance when speaking to Tim Rooney, whom I met as I retreated +from the galley, telling him that I wondered how the generally astute +Chinaman could really fancy he was propitiating Buddha, or whoever else +he believed in as his sovereign deity, by burning a few scraps of tinsel +paper to do honour to the senseless image. + +"Be jabers, though," argued Tim on my giving him this opinion of mine, +"I can't say, sorr, as how we Christians be any the betther." + +"Why!" I exclaimed indignantly. "How can you say so?" + +"Begorra, sure we all thry to have our ray-ligion as chape as we can," +replied he coolly. "Don't we, Cath'lics an' Protistints aloike, for +there's little to choose atwane us on the p'int, contint oursilves wid +as little as we can hilp, goin' once to chapel or church, mebbe, av a +Sunday an' thinkin' we've wiped out all the avil we may a-done in the +wake, an' have a clane sheet for the nixt one--jist as this poor ig'rant +haythin booms his goold paper afore his joss an' thinks that clears off +all his ould scores. I say no differ, sure, mesilf, Misther Gray-ham, +atwane us, that same, as I tould ye." + +I did not answer Tim, but his words affected me more than any sermon I +ever heard from the pulpit; and, as I went back to my cabin I determined +to try and keep to something I had promised father before parting from +him, and which I had neglected up to then--my promise being never to +forget my daily prayer to "Him who rules the waves," even should I have +no time to look at my Bible. + +The weather cleared up before sunset, and the wind subsequently began to +blow steadily from the southward and eastward, showing that we had at +length got into the wished-for "trade;" so the ship soon had all plain +sail set on her again, now heading, though, sou'-sou'-west on the port +tack, and making a bee-line almost for the island of Trinidad off the +South American coast. + +Having lost our outer jib, however, from its blowing away in the first +squall, a new one had to be fitted and bent on; and as we were hoisting +studding sails, too, the jewel block on the main-topsail yard carried +away. So, another block had to be got up and secured to the end of the +yard-arm before the halliards could be rove afresh for getting up the +stu'n'sail; and, I had opportunities in both instances for acquiring +better knowledge of seamanship--gaining more by watching Adams the +sailmaker and Tim Rooney at work on their respective jobs, than I could +have obtained in a twelvemonth by the perusal of books or from oral +information. + +We had long lost sight of our old friend the North Star and his +pointers, who guide the mariner, should he be without a compass, in +northern latitudes, making acquaintance now with a new constellation, +the Southern Cross, which grew more brilliant each night as we ran +further and further below the Equator. Other stars, too, of surpassing +brightness made the heavens all radiant as soon as the sun set each +evening, there being no twilight to speak of--the night and its glories +coming upon us as quickly as the last scrap of daylight fled. In the +morning it was the same, the firmament being still bright with starlight +when the glorious orb of day rose in all his majesty and paled into +insignificance his lesser rivals, who, however, twinkled up to the very +last. + +This was by far the jolliest part of our voyage; for, although the +weather was nice and warm, it had not that disagreeable, clammy heat we +experienced at the Line, on account of the fresh south-east breeze +tempering the effect of the sun, which, however, still shone down on us +at noon with tropical force, its rays being as potent almost as at the +Equator. + +But the sea had lost all that glassy brazen look it had in the calm +latitudes, now dancing with life and as blue as the heavens above it; +while as our gallant ship sailed on, running pretty large on the port +tack with everything set that could draw--skysails being hoisted on top +of the royals and staysails, and trysails on every mast, with the +foretopmast staysail, jib and flying jib forward, and upper and lower +stu'n'sails spread out to windward--she looked like some beautiful bird +in full flight with outstretched wings, her motion through the water +being so easy and graceful, while the sparkling spray was tossed up +sometimes over the sprit-sail yard as she ever and anon dipped her bows, +as if curtsying to Neptune. It seemed to me the most delightful thing +in the world to be there, ship and sea and air and sky being all alike +in harmony, expressing the poetry of progression! + +My work, too, although we had plenty to do, to "keep us out of +mischief," as the captain said, was not too hard, especially at this +period. + +In the morning, after an early coffee, when few thought of turning in +again although it might be their watch below, the weather was so +enjoyable, the order was given for "brooms and buckets aft," and the +first duty of the day was attended to. This was to scrub decks, just as +in a well-ordered household the servant cleans the door-step before +anyone is astir; the decks of a ship giving as good a notion of what her +commander is like, as the door-step of a house does of its mistress! + +For this job the men forward rigged the head pump and sluiced the +forecastle and main-deck; while we apprentices had to wash down the +poop, having a fine time over it dowsing one another with buckets of +water, and chasing each other round the mizzen-mast and binnacle, or +else dodging the expected deluge behind the skylight--sometimes awaking +Captain Gillespie up, and making him come up the companion in a towering +rage to ask "what the dickens" we were "kicking up all that row for?" + +Once, as he came up in this way, Tom Jerrold caught him full in the face +with a bucket of water he was pitching at me; and wasn't there a shindy +over it, that's all! "Old Jock" was unable to find out who did it, for +of course none of us would tell on Tom, and the water in the captain's +eyes prevented him from seeing who was his assailant; but, he +immediately ordered Tom, as well as Weeks and I, all up into the cross- +trees, Tom at the fore, Sam at the main, and I on the mizzen-mast, to +"look out for land," instead of having our breakfast. + +As we were some hundreds of miles off the nearest coast, our task of +looking out for land was entirely a work of supererogation; still, we +did not realise this, and strained our eyes vainly until we were called +down from aloft at "two bells," after the hands had all had their +breakfast and there was nothing left for us. This was "Jock's" +satisfaction in return for the shower bath he had been treated to so +unceremoniously. Tom Jerrold afterwards said that he did not notice +Jock coming up the companion way, and that of course he would never have +dreamt of treating the captain so disrespectfully; but, as Master Tom +invariably grinned whenever he made this declaration, Weeks and I, as +well as Tim Rooney, who somehow or other got hold of the yarn, all had +our suspicions on the point. + +However, this is a digression from the description of our daily duties. + +After scrubbing decks, each watch alternately had breakfast; and then, +as now, when the wind was fair and hardly a brace or rope required to be +handed from morning till night or from night till morning, we and the +rest of the crew were set to work unravelling ends of junk and picking +oakum, like convicts. + +After being thus disintegrated, the tow was spun into sennit or fine +twine and yarn which is always of use on board, quantities of it being +used in "serving" and "parcelling" for chafing gear. + +At noon, the crew had their dinner, watch in and watch out, but we +apprentices had to wait till the captain and mates had theirs; although, +as I've already mentioned, we saw little of the delicacies of the cabin +table except occasionally of a Sunday, on which day, sometimes, Captain +Gillespie's heart was more benevolently inclined towards us apparently. +During the afternoon watch on week-days we were allowed to amuse +ourselves as we liked, and I frequently took advantage of this +opportunity to learn all that Tim Rooney and Adams could teach me +forward--the two being great cronies, and busying themselves at this +period of the day, if there were nothing to call their attention +elsewhere, in doing odd jobs on the forecastle, the one in the +sailmaking line and the other attending to his legitimate occupation of +looking after the weak points of the rigging, all concerning which came +within his special province as boatswain. + +After tea, all hands were allowed to skylark about the decks below and +aloft until the end of the second dog-watch at "eight bells;" when, the +night being fairly on us in the southern latitudes we were traversing, +those whose turn it was to go below turned in, and the others having the +"first watch" took the deck until they were relieved at midnight and +retired to their well earned rest. But, of course, should "all hands" +be called to take in sail, on account of the wind shifting or a sudden +squall breaking over the ship, which fortunately did not happen at the +time of which I am speaking, those who might only have just turned in +had to turn out again instanter. In the same way, I may add, had the +weather been stormy and changeable all of us would have had plenty to do +in taking in and setting sail, without leisure for sennit reeving and +yarn spinning and playing "Tom Cox's traverse" about the decks from +morning till night, as we did in those halcyon days between the tropics. + +We sighted Martin Vas Rocks, to the eastward of Trinidad Islands, in +latitude 20 degrees 29 minutes south and longitude 28 degrees 51 minutes +west, a little over a week from our leaving the Line, having made a very +good passage so far from England, this being our thirty-sixth day out. + +Soon after this, the south-east trades failing us and varying westerly +breezes taking their place, we hauled our wind, altering our course to +south-east by south, and making to pass the meridian on the forty- +seventh parallel of latitude. This we did so as to get well to the +southward of the Cape of Good Hope, between which and ourselves a long +stretch of some three thousand miles of water lay; although both Captain +Gillespie and Mr Mackay appeared to make nothing of this, looking upon +it as the easiest part of our journey. + +Indeed, the latter told me so. + +"Now, it's all plain sailing, my boy, and we ought to run that distance +in a fortnight or so from here, with the strong westerly and sou'- +western winds we'll soon fetch into on this tack," said he; "but, wait +till we come to the region of the Flying Dutchman's Cape, and then +you'll make acquaintance with a sea such as you have never seen before, +all that we've gone through as yet being merely child's play in +comparison." + +"What, worse than the Bay of Biscay?" I cried. + +"Why, that was only a fleabite, youngster," he replied laughing. "I +suppose you magnified it in your imagination from being sea-sick. The +weather off the Cape of Storms, however; is a very different matter. It +is quite in keeping with its name!" + +But, still, for the next few days, at first proceeding close-hauled on +the starboard tack and then, as the wind veered more round to the west, +running free before it, with all our flying kites and stu'n'sails set, +the time passed as pleasantly as before; and we had about just as little +to do in the way of seamanship aboard, the ship almost steering herself +and hardly a tack or a sheet needing to be touched. I noticed, though, +Adams a little later on with a couple of men whom he requisitioned as +sailmakers' mates busy cutting out queer little triangular pieces of +canvas, which he told me were "storm staysails," the old ones having +been blown away last voyage; while I saw that Tim Rooney, besides +assuring himself of the security of the masts and setting up preventer +stays for additional strength by the captain's orders, rigging up life- +lines fore and aft, saying when I asked him what they were for, "To +hould on wid, sure, whin we toombles into Cape weather, me darlint!" + +There were no signs of any change yet, though; and the hands got so hard +up for amusement with the small amount of work they had to perform, in +spite of Captain Gillespie hunting up all sorts of odd jobs for them to +do in the way of cleaning the brass-work of the ship and polishing the +ring-bolts, that they got into that "mischief," which, the proverb tells +us, Satan frequently "finds for idle hands" to do. + +Tom Jerrold and I were in the boatswain's cabin one afternoon teaching +the starling to speak a fresh sentence--the bird having got quite tame +and learnt to talk very well already, saying "Bad cess to ye" and "Tip +us yer flipper," just like Tim Rooney, with his brogue and all; when, +all at once, we heard some scrambling going on in the long-boat above +the deckhouse, and the sound of men's voices whispering together. + +"Some of the fellows forrud are having a rig with the skipper's pigs," +cried Tom. "Let us watch and see what they're up to." + +"They can't be hurting the poor brutes," said I, speaking in the same +subdued tone, so as not to alarm the men and make them think anyone was +listening; "I'm sure of that, or they would soon make a noise!" + +"I suppose I was mistaken," observed Tom presently, when we could not +hear the sailor's whispering voices any longer nor any grunting from the +pigs; although we kept our ears on the alert. "I fancy, though, they +were up to something, from a remark I heard just now when I passed by +the fo'c's'le as the starboard watch were having their tea." + +"What was that?" I asked. "Did they speak of doing anything?" + +"No-o," replied Tom hesitatingly, as if he did not quite like telling me +all he knew, being afraid perhaps of my informing Mr Mackay, from the +latter and I being now known to be close friends albeit I was only an +apprentice and he the first mate. "I only heard them joking about that +beastly marmalade the skipper has palmed off on them, and us, too, worse +luck, in lieu of our proper rations of salt junk; and one of them said +he'd `like to swap all his lot for the voyage for a good square meal of +roast pork,' that's all." + +"Why, any of us might have said that," cried I laughing, and not seeing +any harm in the observation. "I'm sure I would not object to a change +of diet." + +Later on in the evening, though, what Tom had related was brought back +to me with much point; for, a curious circumstance occurred shortly +after "four bells," when it was beginning to get dark after sunset, the +night closing in so rapidly. + +The captain was then on the poop talking to Mr Saunders about something +or other in which they both seemed deeply interested, the one sniffing +and twitching his long nose about, and the other wagging his red beard +as he moved his jaws in talking. I was just above their heads in the +mizzen-top, my favourite retreat of an evening, whither I had taken up a +book to read, although I could barely distinguish the print by this +time, daylight had disappeared so quickly on the sun's sinking in the +deep astern; when, all at once, a violent squealing and grunting broke +out from the long-boat, sufficient for more than a herd of porkers all +in their last agony, instead of its coming from one or even all three of +the pigs Captain Gillespie had stowed there, fattening them up until he +thought them big enough to kill for the table. + +"Who the dickens is that troubling my pigs?" roared the captain, +clutching hold of the brass rail of the poop in front of him, and +squinting forwards as well as he could in the dim light to where the +clew of the main-sail just lifting disclosed the fore part of the deck- +house with the long-boat on top. "None of your sky-larking there, d'ye +hear? Leave 'em alone!" + +But, there was no one to be seen either on top of the deck-house or in +the long-boat, although the squealing still continued. + +"D'ye hear me there, forrud?" shouted Captain Gillespie again in a voice +of thunder, having now worked himself up into one of his tornado-like +rages. "Leave those pigs alone, I tell ye!" + +"Sure, sorr, there's nobody there," said Tim Rooney, who was on the +main-deck below, just under the break of the poop. "There's divil a +sowl botherin' the blissid pigs, sorr, as ye can say for y'rsilf. Faix, +they're ownly contrary a bit, sorr, an' p'raps onaisy in their moind!" + +"Nonsense, man!" cried Captain Gillespie stamping his foot. "It is some +of those mutinous rascals carrying on their games, I--I know! Just +look, will ye, bosun?" + +"There ar'n't a sowl thare, I tell ye, sorr," protested Tim, rather a +bit vexed at his word being doubted, as he turned to go forward where +the row was still going on. "Ain't I jist come from there, sorr, an' +can't I say now wid me own eyes there ain't nobody not nigh the long- +boat nor the pigs neither--bad cess to 'em!" + +He muttered the last words below his breath, and getting up into the +main-rigging he climbed half-way up the shrouds, so as to be able to +drop from thence on to the deck-house, this being his quickest mode of +reaching the roof of that structure; and from thence, as he knew, he +would of course be able to see right into the long-boat as well as +inspect its four-footed tenants. + +"There's not a sowl in the boat or near it, sorr, at all, at all, cap'en +dear, barrin' the pigs sure, as I towld ye," he repeated on getting so +far; and he was just proceeding to lower himself down to the top of the +deck-house by a loose rope that was hanging from aloft, when he swung +himself back into the rigging in alarm as a dark body jumped out of the +long-boat right across his face, uttering the terrified ejaculation, +"Murther in Irish! Howly Moses, what is that?" + +It was one of the pigs, which, giving vent to a most diabolical yell, +appeared to leap from the long-boat deliberately over the port side of +the ship into the sea, sinking immediately with a stifled grunt, +alongside. + +Then more weird squeaking was heard, and a second pig imitated his +comrade's example, jumping also from the boat overboard--just as if they +were playing the game of "follow my leader" which we often indulged in +when sky-larking in the second dog-watch! + +This was no sky-larking, however, for the captain on the poop, as well +as Mr Saunders and myself up in the mizzen-top, had witnessed the whole +of the strange occurrence the same as Tim Rooney, and all of us were +equally astonished. + +As for Captain Gillespie, being a very superstitious man, he seemed +strongly impressed by what had happened. His voice quite trembled as he +called out to Tim Rooney after a moment's pause, during which he was too +much startled to speak: + +"Wha--what's the matter with them, bosun?" + +"Sorry o' me knows," replied Tim in an equally awestruck voice, either +full of real or very well assumed terror, "barrin' that the divil's got +howld av 'em; an' it's raal vexed I am, sorr, av spakin' so moighty +disrespectful av his honour jist now. Aye, take me worrud for it, +cap'en, they're possiss'd, as sure as eggs is mate!" + +"I think the same, and that the deil's got into 'em," said Captain +Gillespie gravely, wrinkling up his nose so much and nodding his head, +and looking so like an old owl in the bright light of the moon which had +rapidly risen, and was already shining with all the fulness and +brilliancy it has in these southern latitudes, that it was as much as I +could do to keep from bursting out laughing and so betraying my presence +in the top above his head. I was all the more amused, too, when "Old +Jock" turned to the second mate and added: "I look upon this as a +visitation, and am glad I never killed the animals; for I would not +touch one now for anything! Have the remaining brute chucked overboard, +Saunders; it would be unlucky to keep it after what has happened. I'm +sure I could not bear the sight of it or to hear it grant again!" + +So saying, Captain Gillespie went below and took a stiff glass of grog +to recover his nerves. He must then have got into his cot for he did +not appear on deck again until the middle watch--a most unusual thing +for him to do. + +"It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good," however, and the aptness +of the adage was well illustrated in the present instance, the men +feasting on roast pork, besides putting by some tit-bits salted down for +a rainy day, at the expense of "Old Jock's" superstitious fears. + +It was wonderful, though, how many legs were owned by that one "last +pig" which the captain had ordered to be chucked overboard, and which +Mr Saunders had, instead, given over to Ching Wang's tender mercies for +the benefit of himself and the crew, stipulating, however, that he was +to have one of the best pieces stuffed and baked, the second mate being +a great glutton always, and fond of good living. Yes, it was wonderful +for one pig to have no less than twelve legs! + +I will tell you how this was. + +Tom Jerrold let me into the secret. It seems that the apparent suicidal +tendencies of the pigs who jumped into the sea in that mysterious way +was caused by the fore-topgallant stu'n'sail halliards being dexterously +fastened round them by a couple of the hands previously in sling +fashion; and when the poor brutes were jerked overboard by the aid of +these, they were allowed to tow under the keel of the ship until their +squeals were hushed for ever, and then drawn inboard again and cut up in +the forecastle. When they were carved properly into pork, the men +thought them none the less delicious because they had come to their +death by water instead of by the ordinary butcher's knife; and, as I had +the opportunity of testing this opinion in a savoury little pig's fry +which Ching Wang presented me with the same evening for supper, I cannot +but acknowledge that I agreed thoroughly with the judgment of the hands +in the matter of "spiflicated pork," as Tom Jerrold called it. + +"Dick, Dick, what do you think of it all?" said I, chirping to the +starling, who was whistling wide awake when I turned out next morning at +"eight bells" after dreaming of the poor murdered pigs, on my way to the +galley to get some hot coffee. "What do you think of it all--eh, Dick?" + +"Tip us your flipper!" hoarsely croaked the bright-eyed little bird with +the voice of Tim Rooney, only seeming to be a very long way off. He +also seemed to have the nose of Captain Gillespie, which we all said his +long beak strongly resembled. "Tip us your flipper!" + +That was all I could get out of him; but I thought that, really, a wrong +had been righted, and the captain's marmalade imposition on us and on +the hands forward been amply avenged. + +Poor "Old Jock's" live stock of late appeared to be in a very bad way; +for, not only was he deprived of his favourite pigs so unfortunately, +but since we had begun to run more to southward after leaving the Line, +his supply of eggs from the collection of hens he had in the coops on +the poop daily dwindled down to nothing, although they had previously +been good layers. + +Somehow or other the fowls seemed to have the pip, while the three +cocks, one a splendid silver and gold fellow, who lorded over the harem +of Dorkings and Brahmas, all looked torn and bedraggled as if they had +given way to dissipated habits. Besides this, they took to crowing +defiance against each other at the most unearthly hours, whereas, prior +to this, their time for chanticleering had been as regular as clock- +work, in the afternoon and in the "middle watch" generally. + +Captain Gillespie couldn't make it out at all. + +One fine morning, however, coming on the deck through the cuddy doors +below the break of the poop instead of mounting up to the latter by the +companion way as usual, before the time for washing down, he surprised a +number of the men assembled about the cook's galley. + +There was Ching Wang in the centre of the group, holding Captain +Gillespie's pet gold and silver crower and urging it on to fight one of +the other cocks, which the carpenter was officiating for as "bottle +holder" in the most scientific way, he apparently being no novice at the +cruel sport. + +The captain did not see what they were about at first; but the +delinquent was soon pointed out by Pedro Carvalho, between whom and the +Chinaman the most deadly enmity existed, and who had indeed already +informed the captain of the cook's treatment of his fowls, the +Portuguese steward doing this with much alacrity, as if proud of being +the informer. + +"Look dere, sah!" cried Pedro. "Dere is dat Ching Wang now, sah! Oh, +yase, dere he was, sah, as I say, killin' your cockles magnificent--oh!" + +The captain's appearance at once broke up the ring, the carpenter +dropping his bird incontinently and fleeing into the forecastle with the +other men; but, the Chinaman never moved a muscle of his countenance +when he turned his round innocent-looking, vacuous, Mongolian face and +caught sight of "Old Jock's" infuriated look bent on him. + +He did not even let go the gold and silver cock, whose plumage had been +sadly tarnished by a previous tournament with the Dorking which the +carpenter had squired. No, he held his ground there before the galley +with a courage one could not but admire, the only sign he gave of an +inward emotion being the occasional twinkling of his little beady +Chinese eyes. + +"Wh-wha-what the dicken's d-d-d'ye mean by this?" stuttered and +stammered Captain Gillespie, his passion almost stopping his speech. +"Wh-wh-what d'ye mean, I say?" + +"Me only hab piecee cocky-fightee," answered Ching Wang as calmly as +possible. "Me chin chin you, cap'en." + +Captain Gillespie fairly boiled over with rage. + +"This beats cock-fighting!" he cried, stating the case inadvertently in +his exclamation. "I thought it was those confounded cats we have aboard +the ship that ill-treated the poor fowls and prevented them from laying +me any eggs, till Pedro here told me it was you, though I didn't believe +it. I wouldn't have believed it now if I hadn't seen you at it. By +jingo, it's shameful!" + +Ching Wang, however, paid no attention to this violent tirade, only +salaaming humbly and looking the very picture of meekness and +contrition. + +But his eyes, as I could see, being close by, having been attracted by +the row as most of us were, had altered their expression, now flashing +with a peculiar glare as the Chinaman, with a more abject bow than +before to the captain, asked him deferentially: + +"And dis one manee you tellee Ching Wang cocky-fightee one piecee--hi?" + +"Yes, Pedro told me," replied Captain Gillespie, sniffing and snorting +out the words. "And a good job too; for, else, I wouldn't have known of +your goings on!" + +Ching Wang's yellow face almost turned white with anger. + +"Hi, blackee-brownee manee," he yelled, springing upon Pedro like a +tiger. "You takee dat number one, chop chop!" + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +A STRANGE SAIL. + +Although a coward at heart, the Portuguese steward, nerved by his +intense hatred of the cook, made a bold resistance to his first +onslaught, clutching at Ching Wang's pigtail with one hand and clawing +at his face with the other; while the Chinaman gripped his neck with his +sinewy fingers, the two rolling on the deck in a close embrace, which +was the very reverse of a loving one. + +"Carajo!" gurgled out Pedro, half-strangled at the outset, but having +such a tight hold of Ching Wang's tail, of which he had taken a double +turn round his wrist, that he was able to bend his antagonist's head +back, almost dislocating his neck. "Matarei te, podenga de cozenheiro!" + +"Aha cutus pijjin, me catchee you, chop chop!" grunted the other through +his clenched teeth; and then, not another word escaped either of them as +they both sprawled and tumbled about in front of the galley, locked +together, the Chinee finally coming up on top triumphantly, with Pedro, +all black in the face and with his tongue protruding, below his lithe +enemy. + +"Take him off the man, some of you," cried Captain Gillespie, who had +not made any effort to stop the combat until now that it bad arrived at +such an unsatisfactory stage for the steward. "Don't you see that +yellow devil's murdering him? He looks more than half dead already!" + +Tim Rooney hereupon stepped forwards; but Ching Wang did not need any +force to compel him to quit his powerless foe. + +Disengaging his pigtail from Pedro's limp fingers, he arose with a sort +of native dignity from his prostrate position over the Portuguese, his +round face all one bland smile--although it bore sundry scratches on its +otherwise smooth surface, whose oiliness had probably saved it from +greater hurt. + +"Him no sabbey," he exclaimed, pointing down to the still prostrate +Pedro, who, now that the Chinaman's grip had been released from his +throat, began to show signs of returning life, "what me can do. Him +more wanchee, Ching Wang plenty givee chop chop!" + +"I tell ye what, me joker," cried "Old Jock" after him as the victorious +cook retired into his galley on making this short speech, with all the +honours of war--the hands raising a cheer, which the presence of the +captain could not drown, at the result of the encounter; for all of them +looked on the steward as one opposed to their interests, and who cheated +them in their provisions when serving them out, regarding the Chinaman, +on the other hand, as their friend and ally, he always taking their part +in this respect. "I tell ye what, me joker, I'll stop your wages and +make ye pay for my fowls when we get to Shanghai! I don't mind your +basting the steward, for a thrashing will do him good, as he has wanted +one for some time; but I do mind your knocking those fine birds of mine +about with your confounded `one piecee cock-fightee.' Look at this one, +now; he's fit for nothing but the pot, and the sooner you cook him the +better." + +Ching Wang only smiled more blandly than ever as the captain, who had +picked up the two cocks, flung the silver and gold one into the galley, +taking the other aft and restoring it to its coop; while Pedro, rising +presently to his feet, amidst the grins of the men around, sneaked after +"Old Jock," saying never a word but looking by no means amiable. His +departure ended the incident of the morning, and we immediately finished +sluicing the decks, the cook and steward fight having somewhat delayed +this operation, as it was getting on for "eight bells" and nearly +breakfast-time. + +Towards noon, on the same day, we passed by the island of Tristan da +Cunha, the land bearing on our port quarter sou'-west by south when +seen; and, on the thirteenth day after turning our backs on the Martin +Vas Rocks, we crossed the meridian of Greenwich in latitude 46 degrees +58 minutes south, steering almost due east so as to weather the Cape of +Good Hope. The westerly wind was dead aft, which made us roll a bit; +but we "carried on," with the ship covered with sail from truck to +kelson and stu'n'sails all the way up both on our weather side and to +leeward, as well as spinnakers and a lot of other things in the sail +line whose names I can't remember. + +Proceeding thus gaily along, with our yards squared and every stitch of +canvas drawing fore and aft, in another couple of days or so the Cape +pigeons and shearwaters began to come about the ship, showing that we +were approaching the stormy region Mr Mackay had warned me of; and on +the fourth night the sky ahead of us became overcast, while a lot of +sheet and zig-a-zaggy "chain lightning," as sailors call it, told us to +look out for squalls. + +This was a true portent; for the wind freshened during the first watch, +causing us to take in all of our stu'n'sails before midnight. Then +followed the royals and topgallants in quick succession, the main-sail +and inner and outer jibs being next furled and the foresail reefed, the +vessel at "four bells" being only under topsails and fore-topgallant +staysail and reefed foresail. + +As I had noticed previously, when crossing the Bay of Biscay, the sea +got up very quickly as the wind increased, only with much more alarming +rapidity now than then; for, while at sunset the ocean was comparatively +smooth, it became covered with big rolling waves by the time that we +began to reduce sail, the billows swelling in size each moment, and +tossing and breaking against each other as the wind shifted round dead +in our teeth to the north-east, the very quarter where we had seen the +lightning. + +"We're going to have a dirty night of it, sir," said Mr Mackay to the +captain, who after turning in for a short time when the starboard watch +was relieved had come on deck again, anxious about the ship. "I thought +we'd have a blow soon." + +"Humph, Cape weather!" snorted out Captain Gillespie. "We're just in +the proper track of it now, being nearly due south of Table Mountain, as +I make it. I think you'd better get down our lighter spars, Mackay, for +this is only the beginning of it--the glass was sinking just now." + +"Aye, aye sir," returned the first mate, who had previously called the +watch aft for this very purpose, crying out to the men standing by: "Lay +aloft there, and see how soon you can send down those royal yards!" + +Matthews, who was trying all he could to deserve his promotion and had +remained up after the rest of his watch had gone below, helped Tom +Jerrold and me in sending down ours; and, when up aloft, the most active +topman I noticed was Joe Fergusson, the bricklayer. As "Old Jock" with +his shrewd seaman's eyes had anticipated, he had developed into a smart +sailor, considering the short time he was learning, being now quicker +than some of those who had been to sea for years and were thought good +hands. + +On the present occasion he ran us a rare race with the main-royal yard, +we getting the mizzen spar below but a second or two in advance of his +party. + +After this the topgallant yards were sent down likewise on deck and the +masts struck, "all hands" being called to get the job done as soon as +possible. Indeed this was vitally necessary, for the storm was +increasing in force every moment, and our topsails had to be reefed +immediately the royal yards were down and the topgallants lowered. + +Getting rid of all this top hamper, however, made the ship ride all the +easier over the heavy waves that met her bows full butt; and, now, she +did not roll half as much as she had done while she had all those spars +up, although what she lost in this respect she made up for in pitching-- +diving down as the big seas rolled under her keel and lifted up her +stern as if she were about paying a visit to the depths below, and then +raising her bowsprit the next instant so high in the air that it looked +as if she were trying to poke a hole in the sky with it! + +Shortly before "six bells" the gale blew so fiercely that it was as much +as we could do to stand on the poop; and when, presently, Mr Mackay +gave the order for us to take in the mizzen-topsail, we had to wait +between the gusts to get up aloft, for the pressure of the wind +flattened us against the rigging as if we had been "spread-eagled," +making it impossible to move for the moment. + +But sailors mustn't be daunted by anything to be "worth their salt;" so, +watching an opportunity, we climbed up by degrees to the top and then on +to the upper rigging until we gained the cross-trees, being all the +while pretty well lashed by the gale. Our eyes were blinded, and our +faces all made sore and smarting by it, I can tell you, while we were +well out of breath by the time we had got so far. + +The topsail sheets and halliards, of course, had been let fly before we +left the deck; but in order not to expose the sail more than could be +helped to the force of the storm, the clewlines and buntlines were not +hauled open until we were up on the yard, so that the topsail should not +remain longer bagged in folds than necessary before we could furl it out +of harm's way. + +Still, the precaution was of no avail; for hardly had the men on deck +handed the clewlines, when the sail, bulging out under our feet like a +huge bag, or rather series of bags, as the wind puckered its folds, +burst away from its bolt-ropes with a noise like the report of a gun +discharged close to our ears, just as if we had cut it from off the +yard, thus saving us any further trouble in furling it. + +Casting my eyes round ere beginning the perilous task of climbing down +the shrouds again, for it was as much as one could do to hold on, the +sharp gusts when they caught one's legs twirling them about like +feathers in the air, the outlook was not merely grand but positively +awful. The sea was now rolling, without the slightest exaggeration but +literally speaking, mountains high as far as the eye could reach, and +the scud flying across my face in the mizzen cross-trees; while the +waves on either side of the ship, as we descended into the hollow +between them every now and then, were on a level with the yard-arms +below and even sometimes rose above these. + +"Come, my men," I heard Mr Mackay calling out, as I at last put my foot +down to feel for the nearest ratline before commencing to descend the +rigging, "look sharp with that fore-tops'le or we'll have it go like the +mizzen!" + +His words were prophetic. + +"R-r-r-r-r-r-ip!" sounded the renting, tearing noise of the sail, almost +as soon as he spoke; and then, with a greater "bang!" than that of the +mizzen-topsail, the main topsail split first from clew to earing and the +next second blew away bodily to leeward, floating like a cloud as it was +carried along the crests of the rollers out of our ken in a minute. The +fore-topsail imitated its example the next moment, leaving the ship now +with only the reefed foresail on her in the shape of canvas, a wonderful +metamorphosis to the appearance she presented the previous evening at +sunset! + +We had been trying to beat to windward, so as not to fall off our +course; but now that we had hardly a rag to stand by, the captain put up +the helm and let her run for it, the foresail with the gale that was +blowing sending her at such a rate through the water as to prevent any +of the following seas from pooping her. The fear alone of this had +prevented him doing so before, "Old Jock" being as fond of scudding as +he was of carrying on when he had a fair wind. + +Adams and the hands forward, though, were busy getting ready the storm +staysails I had seen the former cutting out some days previously so as +to be prepared to hoist them on the first available opportunity, as it +would never do to run too far off our course, which many hours going at +that rate before the nor'-easter would soon have effected; and so, +during a slight lull that occurred about breakfast-time, a mizzen +staysail and foretopmast staysail, each about the size of a respectable +pocket-handkerchief, were got aloft judiciously and the foresail as +carefully handed, when the ship was brought round again head to wind and +lay-to on the port tack. + +A little later there was one terrific burst, the tops of the waves being +cut off as with a knife and borne aboard us in sheets of water, while +the Silver Queen heeled over to starboard so greatly that it seemed as +if she would "turn the turtle" and go down sideways with all hands; but +it was the last blast of the storm, for each succeeding hour lessened +its force, although the sea continued high. After that it grew +gradually calmer and calmer, until we were able to make sail again and +bear away eastwards, rounding the Cape two days afterwards, our fifty- +sixth from England, in 37 degrees south latitude--the meridian of the +"Flying Dutchman's fortress," as Table Mountain has been termed by those +who once believed in the Vanderdecken legend, being a little over 18 +degrees east longitude. + +"Begorra, that's a good job done wid anyhow," said Tim Rooney on "Old +Jock" telling us that all danger of weathering the Cape was past and +that we were well within the limits of the Southern Ocean, whose long +roll, however, and the cold breath of the Antarctic ice-fields had +already betrayed this fact to the old hands on board. "I once knocked +about in a vessel as were a-tryin' to git round this blissid place for a +month av Sundays, an' couldn't." + +"And what did you do, measter?" asked Joe Fergusson, who had a great +respect for the boatswain and was eyeing him open-mouthed. "What did +you do when you couldn't sail round it?" + +"Be jabers we wint the other way, av course, ye nanny goat," cried Tim, +raising the laugh against Joe. "Any omahdawn would know that, sure!" + +The wind hauled round more to the west-sou'-west again when we had +passed the Argulhas Bank, reaching down to the southward until we were +in latitude 39 degrees South; so, squaring our yards again, we preserved +this parallel until we fetched longitude 78 degrees east, just below +Saint Paul's Island, a distance of some three thousand miles. We +accomplished this in another fortnight after rounding the Cape; and +then, steering up the chart again, we shaped our course nor'-east by +north, so as to cross the southern tropic in longitude 102 degrees East. + +After two or three days, we reached a warmer temperature, when the wind +falling light and becoming variable we crossed our topgallant and royal +yards again, spreading all the sail we could so as to make the best of +the breezes we got. These were now mingled with occasional showers of +rain, as is customary with the south-west monsoon in those latitudes at +this time of year, it being now well into the month of May. + +For weeks past the Silver Queen had delighted the captain, and, indeed, +all of us on board, with her sailing powers, averaging over two hundred +knots a day, which considering her great bilge was as fast as the most +famous clippers; but now that she only logged a paltry hundred or so, +going but five or six per hour instead of ten to twelve, "Old Jock" +began to grumble, snapping and finding fault with everybody in turns. + +The men forward, too, reciprocated very heartily in the grumbling line, +there not being so much for them to do as of late; and, the great +marmalade question again cropping up, things became very unpleasant in +the ship. + +One day I really thought there was going to be a mutiny. + +The men came in a body aft, headed by the carpenter, whom the captain +had been rather rough on ever since he found him that morning we were +off Tristan da Cunha aiding and abetting Ching Wang in his cruel cock- +fighting propensities; although, strange to say, "Old Jock" seemed to +condone the action of the chief offender, never having a hard word for +the Chinee albeit plenty for Gregory, the carpenter. + +On this eventful occasion Captain Gillespie was seated on the poop in an +American rocking-chair which he had brought up from his cabin, enjoying +the warm weather and wrinkling his nose over the almost motionless sails +hanging down limply from the yards; and he did not disturb himself in +anywise when Gregory and the others advanced from forward, stepping aft +along the main-deck one by one to the number of a round dozen or more, +the crowd halting and forming themselves into a ring under the poop +ladder, above which the captain had fixed his chair, looking as if they +"meant business." + +"Hullo!" cried "Old Jock" rousing himself up, rather surprised at the +demonstration. "What are you fellows doing below there?" + +"We wants meat," replied the carpenter, taking off his straw hat and +giving a scrape back with his left foot, so as to begin politely at any +rate. "We aren't got enough to eat in the fo'c's'le, sir, an' we wants +our proper 'lowance o' meat, instead of a lot of rotten kickshaw +marmalade!" + +"Wh-a-at--what the dickens d'ye mean?" roared out "Old Jock," touched on +his tenderest point, the word "marmalade" to him having the same effect +as a red rag on a bull. "Didn't I tell ye if ye'd any complaints to +make, to come aft singly and I'd attend to 'em, but that if ye ever came +to me in a body I'd not listen to ye?" + +"Aye, aye," said Gregory, "but--" + +"Avast there!" shouted the captain interrupting him. "When I say a +thing I mean a thing; and so ye'd better go forrud again as quick as ye +can, or I'll come down and make ye!" + +An indignant groan burst from the men at this; while "Jock" danced about +the poop brandishing a marlinespike he had clutched hold of, in a mighty +rage, storming away until the hands had all, very reluctantly, withdrawn +grumbling to the forecastle. + +In the afternoon, they refused to turn out for duty; when, after a +terrible long palaver, in which Mr Mackay managed to smooth down +matters, the controversy was settled by all the men having half their +meat ration restored to them, and being obliged only to accept a half- +pound tin of marmalade in lieu of a larger quantity as previously. Both +sides consequently gained a sort of victory, the only person +discontented at this termination of the affair being the steward, Pedro, +who took a malicious pleasure in serving out the marmalade each day. I +often caught sight of him watching with a sort of fiendish glee the +disappointed faces of the hands as they looked at the open casks of pork +and beef, which he somewhat ostentatiously displayed before them, as if +to make them long all the more for such substantial fare. + +I knew the Portuguese was upset at the amicable end of the difficulty +between the captain and crew, for I saw him stealthily awaiting the +result, peeping from underneath the break of the poop; and, when the +hands raised a cheer in token of their satisfaction at the settlement, +he immediately went and locked himself in his pantry, where he began +kicking the despised marmalade tins about as if twenty riveters and +boiler-makers and hammermen were below! + +It was very nearly a mutiny, though. + +A westerly current being against us as well as the winds light, it took +us nearly a week to get up to the thirty-third parallel of latitude, +during which time this little unpleasantness occurred; but then, picking +up the south-east trades off the Australian coast, we went bowling along +steadily again northward for the Straits of Sunda, making for the +westwards of the passage so as to be to windward of a strong easterly +current that runs through the strait. + +I was the first on board to see Java Head, a bluff promontory stretching +out into the sea that marks the entrance to Sunda. This was how it was: +we'd got more to the north of the captain's reckoning, and while up in +the mizzen cross-trees, in the afternoon of our eighty-fifth day out +from land to land, I clearly distinguished the headland far-away in the +distance, over our starboard quarter. + +"Land ho!" I sang out; "land ho!" + +"Are you sure?" cried Captain Gillespie from the deck below looking up +at me, when his long nose, being foreshortened, seemed to run into his +mouth, giving him the most peculiar appearance. "Where away?" + +"Astern now, sir," I answered. "South-east by south, and nearly off the +weather topsail." + +"I think I'd better have a look myself," said "Old Jock," clambering up +the mizzen-shrouds and soon getting aloft beside me; adding as he caught +sight of the object I pointed out--"by Jingo, you're right, boy! It's +Java Head, sure enough." + +He then scuttled down the ratlines like winking. + +"Haul in to leeward!" he shouted. "Brace round the yards! Down with +your helm!" + +"Port it is," said the boatman. + +"Steady then, so!" yelled "Old Jock," conning the ship towards the mouth +of the straits. "Keep her east-nor'-east as nearly as you can, giving +her a point if she falls off!" + +By and by, we entered the Straits of Sunda; and then, keeping the Java +shore on board, we steered so as to avoid the Friar's Rock in the middle +of the channel, making for Prince's Island. + +The wind and current being both in our favour, and the moon rising soon +after sunset, we were able to fetch Anjer Point in the middle watch and +got well within Java Sea by morning. Next day we passed through Banca +Strait by the Lucepara Channel, keeping to the Sumatra coast to avoid +the dangerous reefs and rocks on the east side, until we sighted the +Parmesang Hills. After that we steered north by east, by the Seven +Islands into the China Sea. + +So far no incident had happened on our nearing land, which all of us +were glad enough to see again, as may be imagined, after our now nearly +three months confinement on board without an opportunity of stretching +our legs ashore, the only terra firma we had sighted since leaving +England having been Madeira, the Peak of Teneriffe, and the rocks of +Martin Vas; but now, as we glided along past the lovely islets of the +Indian Archipelago, radiant in the glowing sunshine, and their +atmosphere fragrant with spices and other sweet odours that concealed +the deadly malaria of the climate, a new sensation of peril added +piquancy to the zest of our voyage. + +On passing the westernmost point of Banca, as the channel we had to +pursue trended to the north-east, we came up to the wind and then paid +off on the port tack; when, just as we cleared the group of islands +lying at the mouth of the Straits of Malacca to windward, we saw a large +proa bearing down in our direction, coming out from behind a projecting +point of land that had previously prevented us from noticing her. + +"Hullo!" I exclaimed to Mr Mackay whom I had accompanied from aft when +he went forward on the forecastle to direct the conning of the ship, +motioning now and again with his arms this way and that how the helmsman +was to steer. "What a funny-looking vessel, sir. What is it?" + +"That's a Malay proa," replied he. "They're generally ticklish craft to +deal with; though, I don't suppose this beggar means any harm to us in +such a waterway as this, where we meet other vessels every hour or so." + +"Do you think it's a pirate ship?" I asked eagerly, "I should like to +see one so much." + +"More than I should," said he with a laugh; "but I don't suppose this +chap's up to any game like that, though, I think, all the Malays are +pirates at heart. He's most likely on a trading voyage like ourselves, +only he's going amongst the islands while we're bound north." + +However the proa did not bear away, either to port or starboard, nor did +it make for any of the clusters of islands on either hand; and, although +it was barely noon when we had first noticed her, as night came on, by +which time we were well on our way towards Pulo Sapata, running up to +the northwards fast before the land breeze that blew off shore after +sunset, there was the proa still behind us! + +It was very strange, to say the least of it. + +Nor was I the only one to think so; for the hands forward, and among +them Tim Rooney, the boatswain, had also observed the mysterious vessel, +as well as taken count of her apparent desire to accompany us. + +"Bedad she ain't our frind, or, sure, she'd have come up an' spoke us +dacintly, loike a jintleman," I heard Tim say to the sailmaker, outside +the door of his cabin in the deck-house. "She's oop to no good anyhow, +bad cess to the ould thafe, as sure as eggs is mate; an' may I niver ate +a pratie ag'in if I'm tellin' a lie sure, for I misthrusts them Malay +raskils jist as the divil hates howly wather!" + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +THE TAIL-END OF A TYPHOON. + +"But I allers heard them Malay chaps are awful cowards," said Adams, +continuing the conversation. "You never sees 'em singly, their pirate +proas, or junks, allers a sailing with a consort. I ought ter know; +'cause, 'fore I ever jined Cap'en Gillespie, I wer in a Hongkong trader; +and many's the time we've been chased by a whole shoal of 'em when going +to Singapore or along the coast." + +"The divil ye have," interposed Tim. "Ye niver tould me that afore, +Sails, how's that?" + +"I didn't recomember at the time, bo; but now, as that feller is a +follering us astern, in course, I thinks on it. There're a lot of them +piratical rascals in these waters; but you should go to the back of +Hainan to see 'em in their glory, the little creeks and bays there +fairly swarms with 'em!" + +"Adams!" called out Mr Mackay at this juncture; "Adams!" + +"Aye, aye, sir," quickly responded the sailmaker, stopping his talk with +Tim Rooney and walking up nearer to Mr Mackay. "Here, sir." + +"I want you to go in the chains with the lead," said the other, turning +round and speaking confidentially to old "Sails," as Adams was generally +termed by his intimates amongst the crew. "There's no man in the ship I +can trust to for sounding like you; and it's necessary for us to know +what sort of water we're in till we clear all these islands and get into +the open sea." + +"Aye, aye, sir," answered the sailmaker, who, besides his more +distinctive calling, was an experienced seaman, proud of being selected +from the rest for such a duty, disagreeable and monotonous though it +was. "I'm quite ready, sir." + +Thereupon, going back to the boatswain's cabin, where he was provided by +Tim with the lead-line and a broad canvas belt, he proceeded to climb +over the bulwarks into the fore-chains, fastening himself to the rigging +by placing the belt round his waist and hooking it on to the lower part +of the shrouds--this arrangement holding him against the side of the +vessel securely and at the same time enabling him to have his arms free +to use for any other purpose. + +Adam's next operation was to swing the lead-line with the weight +attached backwards and forwards, like a pendulum, until it had gained +sufficient momentum, when he slung it as far forwards as he could, +letting the coil of the line which he had over his arm run out until the +way of the ship brought it perpendicularly under him; when, hauling it +up quickly, and noticing how many fathoms had run out before the lead +touched the bottom, he called out in a deep sort of sepulchral chant, +"And a half-five!" + +"Ha!" exclaimed Mr Mackay, "I thought we were shoaling. Keep it going, +Adams." + +"Aye, aye, sir," replied the other, swinging the lead as before when he +had coiled up the slack and preparing for another throw; adding +presently as he had gauged the depth again, "By the mark seven!" + +"That's better," cried Mr Mackay; calling out at the same time to the +helmsman as we nearly ran over a small native boat crossing our track, +"starboard--hard a starboard!" + +Adams, however, went on sounding mechanically, not minding the movements +of the ship, his sing-song chant varying almost at every throw; and, "By +the deep nine" being succeeded by, "And a quarter ten," until the full +length of the lead-line, twenty fathoms, was let out without finding +bottom. + +"That will do now, you can come in," cried Mr Mackay on learning +this--"we're now all right and out of danger. Aft, there, steer east- +nor'-east and keep a steady helm, we're now in open water and all's +plain sailing!" + +It took us three days to pilot up to the Natuna Islands, only some three +hundred and fifty miles north of Banca, the south-westerly wind which we +had with us generally falling slack in the middle of the day, and the +land breeze of a night giving us the greater help; but, still, all the +while, the suspicious proa never deserted us, following in our track +like a sleuth-hound--keeping off at a good distance though when the sun +was shining and only creeping up closer at dark, so as not to lose sight +of us, and sheering off in the morning till hull down nearly on the +horizon. + +We had got almost accustomed to the craft by this time and used to cut +jokes about it; for, as we were continually passing other vessels bound +through the straits, it was obvious that even had the intentions of the +proa been hostile it would not have dared to attack us at sea with such +a lot of company about. + +However, on our getting abreast of Saddle Island, to the north-west of +the Natuna group, behold the proa was joined by a companion, two of them +now being in our wake when morning dawned and we were better able to see +around us. We noticed, too, that this second craft was built more in +junk fashion with large lateen sails, and it seemed to be of about five +hundred piculs burthen, Mr Mackay said, the size of those craft that +are usually employed in the opium trade. + +Matters began to look serious, it really appearing as if the beggars +were going to follow us all the way up the China Sea until they had an +opportunity of attacking us when there was no chance of any other vessel +being near! + +"Let us stand towards them, Mackay and see what they're made of--eh?" +said Captain Gillespie, after squinting away at the two craft behind us. +"I'm hanged if I like being dodged in this way." + +"With all my heart, sir," replied the other. "But, I'm afraid, as +they're well up in the wind's eye they can easily keep out of our reach +if they don't want us to approach too near them." + +"We'll try it at any rate," grunted out "Old Jock," sniffing and +snorting, as he always did when vexed or put out. "Stand by to 'bout +ship!" + +The watch at once ran to their respective stations, Tom Jerrold and I +with a couple of others attending to the cross-jack yard. + +"All ready forrud?" + +"Aye, aye, sorr," shouted back Tim Rooney from the forecastle, "all +ready forrud." + +"Helms a-lee!" + +The head sheets were let go as the captain roared out this order, the +jib flattening as the vessel went into stays. + +"Raise tacks and sheets!" cried Captain Gillespie, when the foretack and +main-sheets were cast off just as his next command came--"Main-sail +haul!" + +Then the weather main-brace was hauled taut and the heavy yard swung +round, the Silver Queen coming up to the wind with a sort of shiver, as +if she did not like turning back and retracing her course. + +However, so "Old Jock" willed it, and she must! + +"Brace round your head yards!" he now sung out; and the foretack was +boarded while the main-sheet was hauled aft, we on the poop swinging the +cross-jack yard at the same time, the captain then calling out to the +helmsman sharply, "Luff, you beggar, luff, can't ye!" + +And now, hauled up as close as we could be, the ship headed towards the +strangers; steering back in the direction of Banca again as near to +windward as she could forereach. + +It was "like trying to catch a weasel asleep and shave his whiskers," +however, to use Tom Jerrold's words; for the moment the proa and her +consort observed our manoeuvre and saw that we were making for them, +round they went too like tops, and sailing right up in the wind's eye, +all idea of pursuit on our part was put entirely out of question within +the short space of five minutes or so--the Malay craft showing that they +had the power when they chose to exercise it of going two knots to our +one. + +"Begorra, I'd loike to have a slap at 'em with a long thirty-two, or +aven a blissid noine-pounder Armstrong," cried Tim Rooney, as vexed as +"Old Jock" was at the result of this testing of the Silver Queen with +her lighter heeled rivals to windward. "I'd soon knock 'em into +shavin's, by the howly poker, I wud!" + +"It's no good, as you said," sniffed out the captain, with a sigh to Mr +Mackay, evidently cordially echoing the boatswain's wish, which he must +have heard as well as I did, for he stood just to leeward of him. +"Ready about again, stand by, men!" + +And then, our previous movement was repeated and the ship brought round +once more on the port tack, heading for Pulo Sapata to the northwards-- +the name of this place, I may say, is derived from two Malay words, the +one pulo meaning "island" and the other sapatu "shoe," and the entire +compound word, consequently, "Shoe Island," or the island of the shape +of one. + +We did not see anything more of the suspicious craft that day; so we all +believed that our feint of overhauling them had effectually scared them +away, Tom Jerrold and I especially being impressed with this idea, +attaching a good deal of importance to the talk we had overheard between +Rooney and Adams, Tom being in his bunk close by the boatswain's cabin +at the time when I was outside listening to the two old tars as they +confabbed together. + +Weeks, though, was of a contrary opinion, and Master Sammy could be very +dogged if he pleased on any point. + +"I'll tell you what, my boys," said he, with some trace of excitement in +his mottled face, which generally was as expressionless as a vegetable- +marrow, "we haven't seen the last of them yet." + +"Much you know of it, little un," sneered Tom Jerrold in all the pride +of his longer experience of the sea. "Why this is only the second +voyage you've ever taken out here, or indeed been in a ship at all; and +on our last trip we never tumbled across anything of this sort." + +"That may be," argued Weeks; "but if I am a green hand, as you make out, +like Graham here, my father was in a China clipper for years, and he has +told me more than you'll ever learn in all your life, Mister Jerrold, I +tell you. Why, he was once chased all the way from Hainan to Swatow by +pirates." + +"Was he?" I cried, excited too at this. "Do tell us, Weeks, all about +it." + +"There ain't anything to tell," said he nonchalantly, but pleased, I +could see, at putting Tom Jerrold into the shade for the moment; "only, +that they beat 'em off as they were trying to board father's ship off +Swatow, when a vessel of war, that was just then coming down from +Formosa, caught the beggars in the very act of piracy, before they could +run ashore and escape up the hills--as they always do, my dad said, +whenever our blue-jackets are after them." + +"And then--" I asked, on his pausing at this interesting point, after +rousing Jerrold's and my interest in that way, a thing which was quite +in keeping with Sam Weeks' character, his disposition being naturally an +exasperating one, to other people, that is,--"what happened then?" + +"Oh, nothing," he replied coolly; adding after another tantalising +pause, "I recollect, though, now, dad said as how the beggars were all +taken to Canton and given over to the mandarins for trial." + +"Yes," said I, "and--" + +"Well, some of 'em were tortured in bamboo cages, he told me, and he +said, too, that they made awful faces in their agony," Weeks continued, +his face looking as if he enjoyed the reminiscence; "while the others, +twenty in number, were all put up in a row kneeling on the ground, with +their pigtails tied up over their heads so as to leave their necks bare, +and the executioner who had a double-bladed sword like a butcher's +cleaver, sliced off their heads as if they were so many carrots. It +must have been jolly to see 'em rolling on the ground." + +"You cold-blooded brute!" exclaimed Tom Jerrold; but I only shuddered +and said nothing. "You seem to revel in it!" + +"If you'd heard all my dad told me of what those beggars do to the +people they capture, sometimes making them walk the plank and shutting +them up in the hold of their own ship and burning them in a lump, you'd +be glad of their being punished when caught! I only hope they won't +seize our vessel; but, I tell you what, I'm certain we haven't seen the +last of those two craft yet. They'll come back after us at nightfall, +just you see!" + +"By Jove, I hope not!" said Tom, impressed by Weeks' communication all +the more from the fact of his not being generally talkative, always +"keeping himself to himself" as the saying goes. "I hope you won't +prove a true prophet, Sammy, most devoutly." + +I could see, also, from Mr Mackay's anxious manner and that of the +captain, though neither said anything further about the matter, that +their fears were not allayed. There was no doubt that they shared the +same impression as that of Sam Weeks; for as we bore away now nor'-nor'- +west, with the south-west wind on our quarter, more sail was made on the +ship, and a strong current running in the same direction helping us on, +we were found to be going over eight knots when the log was hove at six +bells, just before dinner-time. + +"Old Jock" beamed again at this, walking up and down the poop and +rubbing his hands and sniffing with his long nose in the air to catch +the breeze, as was his wont when the Silver Queen was travelling through +the water. + +"By Jingo, we'll weather 'em yet!" he said to Mr Mackay, who also +seemed more relieved in his mind; "we'll weather 'em yet." + +"Yes, I think so, too," said the latter, scanning the horizon with the +big telescope away to windward. "There isn't a trace of them anywhere +out there now, and there are no islands for them to hide behind where we +last sighted them; so, if we can only carry-on like this, perhaps we'll +be able to give them the slip--eh?" + +"Humph!" grumbled the other, "so I told you, Mackay; and, you know, when +I say a thing I always mean a thing!" + +The afternoon passed without any further appearance of the proa or junk, +and then the evening came on, the wind veering round to our beam at +sunset, making us brace up more sharply. We looked about us pretty +keenly now, as might be imagined, but still nothing was to be seen of +our whilom pursuers; and so all on board turned in that night much more +comfortably than on the preceding one, when the danger appeared more +immediate. + +The morning, however, told a different tale. + +At the early dawn, when I was with Mr Mackay on the poop, the port +watch coming on deck just then in their turn of duty, we could see +nothing of the suspicious strangers; however as the sun rose higher up, +his rays lit a more extended range of sea, and then, far-away off on the +horizon to windward, could be seen two tiny white sails in the distance +dead astern of us. + +"Sail ho!" shouted I from the mizzen cross-trees, where I had gone to +look out, Tom Jerrold being sent up aloft forward for the same purpose. +"Sail ho!" + +"Where away?" cried Mr Mackay, clutching the glass and climbing up into +the rigging as he spoke, being as spry as a cat. "What do you make +out?" + +"Two of them, sir," said I; "and I believe it's these pirates, sir, +again. They're on our weather quarter, hull down to windward." + +"Right you are, my boy!" cried he presently after a careful inspection +of the objects I had pointed out from the top, though he did not come up +aloft any higher, his telescope under his arm being rather awkward to +carry. "They are the same craft, sure enough. It is most vexatious!" + +He went down below to tell the captain, and, of course, the news soon +spread through the ship, all hands turning out and coming on deck to +have a look at these bloodhounds of the deep, that seemed bent on +pursuing us to the death. + +They did not close on us, though, keeping the same distance off, some +ten miles or so, till sundown, when they approached a little nearer and +could be seen astern of us, through the middle watch, by the aid of the +night-glass; but they sheered off again at the breaking of this third +day, by which time we could see Pulo Sapata right ahead, a most +uninviting spot apparently, consisting of nothing but one big bare rock. + +Here, hauling round on the starboard tack, we shaped our course east- +nor'-east, to pass over the Macclesfield Bank, in a straight line almost +for Formosa Strait, our most direct route to Shanghai, the proa and the +junk still keeping after us at a safe distance off. + +"By Jingo, I'll tire 'em out yet!" cried "Old Jock" savagely, when, on +our getting abreast of the Paracels, although far off to leeward, he saw +the beastly things still in our wake as he came on deck in the morning. +"I'll tire 'em out before I've done with 'em." + +But, now, all at once, we had something more important to think of than +even the supposed pirates. + +The wind had freshened during the morning, blowing as usual from the +south-west and west, and towards noon it slackened again; but no +importance was attached to this circumstance, at first, by the captain +and Mr Mackay, although, when presently the water became thick and a +deep irregular swell set in, they both grew rather uneasy. + +"It looks uncommon like a typhoon, sir," said the first mate to "Old +Jock," after looking out both to windward and leeward. "There is some +change coming." + +"I think so, too," said the other. "Go down, Mackay, and have a look at +the barometer. It was all right when I came up, but it may have fallen +since then; if it has, that will make our doubt a certainty." + +"Aye, aye, sir," replied the first mate hurrying down the companion. He +wasn't long absent, returning the next moment with the information: "It +has gone down from 29.80 to 29.60." + +"That means a typhoon, then," said Captain Gillespie; "so the sooner +we're prepared for it the better. All hands take in sail!" + +The men tumbled up with a will, the sheets all flying as the halliards +we're let go and all hands on the yard like bees; and, as soon as the +topgallants had been clewed up, these sails were furled and lashed, as +well as having the sea-gaskets put on, so as to make them all the more +secure. + +The topsails followed suit, and then the courses; the ship's head being +brought round to the nor'-west, from which quarter the storm was +expected, as typhoons always blow eight points to the right of the +regular wind, which with us, at the time these precautions were taken, +was from the south-east. + +The Silver Queen now lay-to, motionless in the water, with only her main +trysail and a storm staysail forward set. + +"What is a typhoon?" I asked Mr Mackay, when I got down on deck again +after helping to hand the mizzen-topsail, the last job we had to do on +our mast. "What does it mean?" + +"It's the Chinese word for a `big wind,' my boy," said he kindly; but +looking very grave. "You'll soon be able to see what it's like for +yourself." + +The opportunity he spoke of was not long delayed. + +By the time the sails had been taken in and all our preparations made +for the reception of our expected but unwelcome visitor, everything +being lashed down that was likely to get blown away, and life-lines rove +along the deck fore and aft, the same as when we were making ready to +weather the Cape of Good Hope, it was late in the afternoon. + +At four o'clock, the commencement of the first dog-watch, the barometer +had fallen further down the scale to 29.46; while, an hour later, it was +down to 28.96, the wind increasing in force almost every minute and the +sea growing in proportion, until the very height of the cyclone was +attained. + +The dinghy, which was lashed inboard behind the wheel-house, was blown +bodily away to leeward, the ropes holding it parting as if they had been +pack-thread, heavy squalls, accompanied with heavy rain all the time +beating on us like hail, and bursting over the ship in rapid succession; +but the old barquey bravely stood it, bending to the blast when it came, +and then buoyantly rising the next moment and breasting it like the good +sea-boat she was. + +At "six bells" the barometer fell to its lowest point, 28.60, when the +violence of the wind was something fearful, although after this there +was a slight rise in the glass. During the next half-hour, however, the +mizzen-topsail, which Tom Jerrold and I, with Gregory to help us, had +fastened as we thought so firmly to the yard, was blown to ribbons, the +spanker getting adrift shortly afterwards and being torn away from its +lacing to the luff rope, scrap by scrap. + +The main trysail, also, although only very little of it was shown when +set, now blew away too, making a great report no doubt; but the +shrieking of the wind was such that we couldn't hear anything else but +its howling through the rigging, the captain's voice close alongside of +me, as I sheltered under the hood of the companion, sounding actually +only like a faint whisper. + +The typhoon now shifted from the north-west to the westwards, and the +barometer, rising shortly afterwards to 29.20, jumped up thence another +twenty points in the next hour. + +"It's passing off now," said Captain Gillespie, when he could make +himself heard between the squalls, which now came with a longer interval +between them. "Those typhoons always work against the sun, and we've +now experienced the worst of it. There goes our last sail, though, and +we'll have to run for it now." + +As he said the words the storm staysail forward was carried away with a +distinct bang, hearing which showed that the wind was not so powerful +quite as just now--when one, really, couldn't have heard a thirty-five +ton gun fired forwards. + +On losing this her only scrap of canvas left, the ship half broached to. + +Joe Fergusson, however, came to the rescue, no doubt from hearing +something the boatswain had said, for the gale was blowing so furiously +that the captain would not have thought of ordering a man aloft; for, +whether through catching Tim Rooney's remark or from some sailor-like +intuition, the ex-bricklayer in the very nick of time voluntarily +clambered up the rigging forwards and loosened the weather clew of the +foresail. + +Mr Mackay who was aft, seeing his purpose, at once told the men at the +wheel to put the helm up; when, the Silver Queen's head paying off, she +lifted out of the trough of the heavy rolling sea and scudded away nor'- +eastwards right before the wind, which had now got back to the normal +point of the "trade" we had been sailing with previous to the storm-- +when, as this new south-westerly gale was blowing with more than twenty +times the force of our original monsoon from the same quarter, the ship, +although with only this tiny scrap of her foresail set, was soon driving +through the water at over twelve knots the hour, in the very direction, +too, we wanted her to go, to fetch our port. + +"This is what I call turning the tables," yelled the captain, putting +both his hands to his mouth for a sort of speaking trumpet as he roared +out the words to Mr Mackay at the wheel. "By Jingo, it's turning the +tail of a typhoon into a fair wind!" + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +ATTACKED BY THE PIRATES. + +It was "the tail of a typhoon" with a vengeance; for as we raced onwards +through the boiling sea, now lit up by a very watery moon, lots of +broken spars and timbers could be seen, as well as several junks +floating bottom upwards, thus showing what the fury of the storm had +been and the damage done by its ravages. + +Mr Mackay noticed these bits of wrecks and wreckage as the captain +spoke; and, mingled with a feeling of pity for those who had perished in +the tornado, came a satisfactory thought to his mind. + +"Yes, sir," said he in reply to Captain Gillespie's observation, "we're +making a fair wind out of a foul one; but, besides that, sir, we've got +something else to thank the typhoon for, under Providence. It has +probably settled the hash of those piratical rascals that were chasing +us!" + +"Humph! I forgot all about 'em," snorted out "Old Jock," equally +pleased at this idea. "No doubt they've gone to the bottom, and good +luck to 'em too. One can't feel sorry for such vermin as those that are +prowling after honest craft, and who'd cut one's throat for a dollar." + +"We mustn't be too sure, though, sir," continued the first mate, as if +he had been turning the matter over in his mind. "We've managed to +weather the gale so far, and so might they. Those fellows are +accustomed to these seas and can smell a typhoon coming; so, if they ran +to windward in time, instead of lying-to and waiting for it, as we did, +they might have got out of it altogether by keeping ahead of it." + +"Pooh!" ejaculated "Old Jock" contemptuously--"I've no fear of being +troubled by them again. They're all down in Davy Jones' locker by this; +and may joy go with them, as I said before!" + +"Well, sir," said Mr Mackay, not pursuing his theory any further, and +desirous of turning the conversation, if conversation it can be called +when both were holding on still to the life-lines and shouting at each +other more than speaking, "what are we to do now?" + +"Carry-on, of course," replied "Old Jock," with a squint up at the +watery moon and the flying clouds that ever and anon obscured its pale +gleams, making everything look black around the moment it was hidden, +"There's nothing else to be done but to let her scud before it until the +gale has spent its force. I wish we could get up some more sail, +though." + +"Would it be safe, sir?" + +"Safe!" snorted "Old Jock," sniffing with his nose up directly. "Why, +what the dickens have you got to be afraid of, man? We're now in the +open sea, with nothing in the shape of land near us for a hundred miles +or more anywhere you chose to cast the lead." + +"But, you forget, sir," suggested the other good-humouredly, so as not +to anger the "old man," who was especially touchy about his navigation; +"you forget the rate the ship's going--over twelve knots?" + +"No, I don't forget, Mister Mackay; and, if we were going twenty it +wouldn't make the slightest difference," retorted the captain, who was +thoroughly roused now, as the first mate could tell by his addressing +him as "Mister," which he never did unless pretty well worked up and in +a general state of temper. "I'd have you to know I'm captain of my own +ship; and when I say a thing I mean a thing! Call up the hands to try +and get some more sail on her; for I'm going to make the best of this +typhoon now, as it has made the best it could of me--one good turn +deserves another." + +Of course there was no arguing with him after this; so all Mr Mackay +could do was to pass the word forward for Tim Rooney, and tell him what +Captain Gillespie's orders were--there was no good attempting to hail +the boatswain, for not a word shouted could be heard beyond the poop. + +"Begorra, it's a risky game, puttin' sail on her, sorr," said Tim +meeting Mr Mackay half-way on the main-deck; "but we moight thry +lettin' out a schrap more av the fores'le, if the houl lot don't fetch +away." + +"We must try it," returned Mr Mackay. "He will have it so." + +"All right, sorr, I'm agreeayble, as the man aid whin he wor agoin' to +be hung," said Tim Rooney grinning, never taking anything serious for +very long; "faix I'll go up mesilf if I can't get none av the hands to +volunteer. I couldn't order 'em yet, sorr, for it's more'n a man's +loife is worth to get on a yard with this wind." + +"Very good, Rooney, do your best," replied Mr Mackay. "Only don't run +into any danger. We can't afford to loose you, bo'sun." + +"Troth I'll take care av that same, sorr," returned Tim with a laugh. +"I wants another jollification ashore afore I'd be after losin' the +noomber av me mess." + +I had come down from off the poop with Mr Mackay, and now, standing by +his side, watched with anxiety Tim's movements. + +He had no lack of volunteers, however, for the ticklish work of laying +out on the yard, Joe Fergusson's previous example having inspired +whatever pluck was previously wanting; and, almost as soon as he got +forward we saw several of the hands mounting the fore rigging on the +starboard side--this being the least dangerous, as there was no chance +of their being blown into the sea against the wind. + +But Tim Rooney would not suffer them to go aloft alone, his stalwart +figure being the first to be seen leading the way up the shrouds, with +Joe Fergusson close behind, not satisfied apparently with his previous +attempt; and both, I noticed in the moonlight, which just then streamed +out full for a few minutes, had their jack-knives between their teeth, +ready for any emergency, as well as to cut away the double lashings of +the foresail, "sea-gaskets" having been laced over the regular ones so +as to bind the sail tighter to the yard. + +As they went up, the crew were flattened like pancakes against the +ratlines; and Mr Mackay and I held our breath when they got on the +foot-rope from the shrouds, holding on to the yard and jack-stay, with +the wind swaying them to and fro in the most perilous manner. Tim +Rooney especially seemed in the most dangerous position, as he made for +the lee earing, whence he might be swept off in an instant into the +foaming waves that spurted up from the chains as if clutching at him, +while Joe Fergusson worked his way out to the end of the weather yard- +arm, fighting the fierce gusts at every sliding step he took. + +Then, when all were at their posts, Tim gave some sort of signal to the +four others whom he allowed to go up with him, and at the same instant +the gaskets were severed, parties of men below slacking off the +clewlines and pulling on the sheets by degrees. By this means the +foresail, having been double-reefed fortunately before being furled, was +set satisfactorily, without a split as all of us below expected, the +hands getting down from the yards while we were yet hauling the tack +aboard. + +The effect of this additional sail power on the ship was magical, +lifting her bows out of the water and making her plunge madly through +the billowy ocean, now all covered with foam and spume, like a maddened +horse taking the bit between his teeth and bolting. + +"She wants some after sail to steady her," roared the captain bending +over the poop rail, although he held on tightly enough to it the while, +and calling out to Mr Mackay, who remained with me just below him on +the main-deck. "We must try and get some sort of rag up." + +Mr Mackay made a motion up at the fragments of the main trysail, which, +it may be remembered, had been carried away by the first blast of the +typhoon. + +"Aye," roared back "Old Jock," understanding him, and knowing that if +the first mate had spoken he couldn't have heard a word he said, from +the fact of the wind blowing forward. "I know it's gone, but try a +staysail." + +"Bedad, he bates Bannagher!" said Tim Rooney, who had returned aft and +joined Mr Mackay and I under the break of the poop, where we were +sheltered more from the force of the gale. "I niver did say sich a chap +for carryin' on, fair weather an' foul, loike `Ould Jock Sayins an' +Mayins.' Sure, he wants to be there afore himsilf!" + +"We must rig up a storm staysail, I suppose," replied Mr Mackay, +smiling at the other's remark. "Try one on the mizzen staysail--the +smallest you've got. Ask Adams, he'll soon find one; and, mind you, +send it up `wift' fashion, so as to lessen the risk of its getting blown +away, bosun." + +"Aye, aye, sorr," said Tim, opening his eyes at this expedient of +hoisting a sail like a pilot's signal, and starting to work his way +forward again along the weather side of the deck. "Begorra, you're the +boy, sure, Misther Mackay, for sayin' through a stone hidge as well as +most folk!" + +But the dodge succeeded all the same, and likewise had the advantage of +steadying the vessel, which did not roll nearly so much when the after +sail was hoisted, with the sheet hauled in to leeward; although, the +Silver Queen bent over when she felt it, as if running on a bowline, +notwithstanding that the wind was almost dead aft and she spurring on +before it. + +As the night came on it darkened more, the moon disappearing altogether +and the sky becoming completely covered with black angry clouds; while +heavy showers of cold rain pelted down on us at intervals from midnight +till "four bells" in the middle watch. + +Then the rain ceased and the heavens cleared a bit, a few stars peeping +out; and the phosphorescent light from the sea enabled us to have a good +view of the boiling waves around us, still heaving and tossing as far as +the eye could reach, although the wind was perceptibly lessening. + +An hour later its force had fallen to that of a strong breeze, and the +captain had the topsails and mizzen-topgallant set, carrying on still +full pitch to the north-east, notwithstanding that just before dawn it +became pitch dark again and we couldn't see a cable's length ahead. + +The starboard watch had been relieved shortly before this, but Mr +Saunders remained up, as indeed had most of us since the previous +afternoon; while Captain Gillespie, indeed, never left the deck once +since the first suspicion of the typhoon. + +He now yawned, however, the long strain and fatigue beginning to tell on +him. + +"I think I'll go below," he said; and, turning to Mr Mackay, all +amiable again, especially at having carried his point of "carrying on" +successfully in spite of the first mate's caution, he remarked with a +sniff, "You see, Mackay, we've gone on all right and met no dangers, and +it'll puzzle those blessed pirates, if they're yet in the land of the +living, to find us at daybreak!" + +Just as he uttered these words, however, there was a tremendous shock +forwards that threw us all off our feet, succeeded by a peculiar grating +feeling under the ship's keel, after which, her heaving and rolling +ceased as if she had suddenly sailed from amidst the waves into the calm +water of some sheltered harbour. A second shock followed soon, but not +so violent as the first; and then, all motion ceased. + +"By Jingo, she's aground!" snorted out "Old Jock," scrambling to his +feet by the assistance of Mr Saunders' outstretched hand. "Where on +earth can we've got to? there's no land here." + +Mr Mackay said nothing, although he had his suspicions, which indeed +had led in the original instance to his remonstrance against the +captain's allowing the ship to rush on madly in the dark; but, +presently, as the light of morning illumined the eastern sky and we were +able to see the ship's position, a sudden cry of alarm and recognition +burst from both-- + +"The Pratas shoal!" + +This was their joint exclamation; and, on the sun rising a little later +on, when the whole scene and all our surroundings could be better +observed, the wonder was that the Silver Queen was not in pieces and +every soul on board her drowned! + +To explain our miraculous escape, I may mention that this shoal, which +Captain Gillespie and Mr Mackay so quickly named beyond question, was a +circular coral reef almost in the centre of the China Sea, and about a +hundred and thirty miles distant from Hongkong, absolutely in the very +highway of vessels trading east and west. + +Breakers encircled it, showing their white crests on every side, the +sharp points of the coral composing the reef almost coming to the +surface of the water, while at some spots it was raised above it. In +these latter places it was covered with rank grass, exhibiting incipient +signs of vegetation; and, within the reef, inclosed by a lagoon some +three miles wide that went completely round it, lay a small island, on +which were several shrubs and a prominent tree on a slight elevation, +which will in process of time become a hill, whereon stood also the +remains of a pagoda, or Chinese temple, while pieces of wreck and +bleached bones were scattered over the shores. Of course we did not +notice all these things at first, but such was the result of our +subsequent observations and investigations. + +As wild, desolate, and dreary a spot it was as ever anchorite imagined +or poet pictured; such, at all events, we all thought on looking at it +and realising the providential way in which our safety had been +effected. + +It happened in this wise. + +There were one or two breaks in the reef surrounding this desert isle, +as we could see from a link missing here and there in the chain of +breakers. This was especially noticeable towards the south-western +portion of the rampart the indefatigable coral insect had thrown up, +where an opening about double the width of the Silver Queen's beam was +plainly discernible. Through this fissure in the reef, piloted by that +power which had watched over us throughout all the perils of our voyage, +the ship had been driven; and she had beached herself gradually on the +shore of the little island, as her way was eased by the placid lagoon +into which she entered from the troubled sea without the natural +breakwater. Here she was now fixed hard and fast forward, with her +forefoot high and dry, although there was deep water under her stern +aft. + +"Thank God for his mercy!" exclaimed Mr Mackay fervently; and I'm sure +I echoed this recognition of the loving care that had so wonderfully +preserved us. "We couldn't have got in here without striking on the +reef, if we had seen the entrance before our eyes and tried our very +best; not, at all events, with that gale shoving us on and in such a sea +as is running--only look at it now!" + +"Oh, aye," agreed Captain Gillespie, gazing out as we all did at the +creamy line of foaming breakers all round, that sent showers of surfy +spray over the coral ledge into the placid lagoon, which was calm and +still in comparison, like a mountain tarn, albeit filled with brackish +sea-water all the same. "Oh, aye, it's wonderful enough our getting +here; but how are we going to get out--eh?" + +"No doubt we'll find a way," said the other, who had bared his head when +giving thanksgiving where it was due; and whose noble, intelligent face, +I thought, as I looked at him admiringly, seemed capable of anything, he +spoke so cheerfully, his courage not daunted but increased, it seemed, +all the more by what had happened--"No doubt we'll find a way, sir." + +But "Old Jock" wouldn't be comforted. + +Obstinately insisting before, against Mr Mackays advice, that we were +going on all right, he was even more dogmatically certain now that we +were all wrong; saying that, as far as he could see, the ship and her +cargo and every one of the thirty-one souls she had on board were +doomed! + +"I can't see how it's going to be managed, Mackay," he replied +despondingly to the other's cheery words, even his nose drooping with +dismay at the prospect, superstition coming to aid his despairing +conviction. "I knew there was something uncanny when those pigs jumped +overboard that evening, and I told you so, if you recollect, Saunders; +and you know, when I say a thing, I mean a thing." + +"Aye, aye," said the second mate, thus appealed to; and who being a +shallow-pated man with little feeling for anything save the indulgence +of his appetite, thought there was some connection, now the captain put +it so, between the loss of the porkers and the ship's being castaway, he +not having been let into the secret of the reason for the strange +behaviour of the pigs on the occasion referred to. "Aye, aye, cap'en, I +remember your saying so quite well." + +Mr Mackay couldn't stand this, and he walked down the poop ladder to +conceal his amusement; and I followed him when I found him bent on +consulting Tim Rooney as to what was to be done, the captain being +hopeless at present. + +"Be jabers, we're in a pritty kittle av fish an' no mistake!" said Tim +when asked his opinion about the situation. "We might be able to kedge +her off, sorr, an' thin ag'in we moightn't; but the foorst thing to say, +sorr, is whither she's all roight below." + +"A good suggestion," answered Mr Mackay. "Tell the carpenter to sound +the well at once." + +"That'd be no good at all, sorr," interposed the other, "for the poor +craythur's got her bows hoigh an' dhry, while she's down by the starn. +The bist thing as I'd advise, sorr, excusin' the liberty, is to get down +alongside an' say if she's started anythin'. That big scrape she got as +she came over the rafe, I'm afeard, took off a bit av her kale, sorr." + +"Right you are, Rooney, sensible as ever," said Mr Mackay. "We'll have +a boat over the side at once and see to it." + +This, however, was a work of time, for the jolly-boat, which was the +only one of moderate size we had left, since the dinghy had been carried +away in the typhoon, was stowed inside the long-boat; and so purchases +had to be rigged to the fore and main yards before it could be raised +from its berth and hoisted over the ship's bulwarks. + +But, all hands helping, the job was done at last; when Mr Mackay +descended the side-ladder into the boat along with the boatswain and a +couple of men to pull round the ship, so as to ascertain what, if any, +damage she might have received. I could not help noticing, though, that +the captain did not exhibit the slightest interest when the first mate +submitted what he was about to do and asked his permission--only telling +him that he might go if he liked, but he thought it of little use! + +I should have liked to have gone with them too, and I mentioned this to +Tom Jerrold, as he and I leant over the bows and watched the jolly-boat +and those in her below us; for although Tim Rooney had spoken of the +ship being "high and dry" she was still in shallow water forward, the +shelly bottom being to be seen at the depth of two or three feet or so, +the beach shelving abruptly. + +While the two of us were looking at the boat, though, and the island in +front spread out before us, with its solitary tree, ruined Chinese +pagoda and all, which Ching Wang was also inspecting with much interest +from the forecastle, we were suddenly startled by a shout aft from +Captain Gillespie, who still remained on the poop. + +"Hi, Mackay," he cried, "come back. Here is that blessed proa and junk, +and a whole fleet of pirates after us!" + +This made both Tom and I turn pale, although Ching Wang betrayed no +expression of alarm when we explained the captain's hail to him, only +his little beady eyes twinkling. + +"You fightee number one chop, tyfong makee scarcee chop chop, Sabby? No +goodee when sailor-mannee fightee!" + +When we got aft, where we were soon joined by Mr Mackay, who had +instantly obeyed the captain's order of recall, and said, by the way, +that they could not discover much injury to the ship forward save that a +portion of her false keel had been torn off, "Old Jock" pointed out some +specks on the horizon to windward. These, on being scrutinised through +the glass by the first mate, were declared to be the now familiar proa +and her consort, a fact which I corroborated with my naked eye from the +mizzen cross-trees whither I at once ascended. + +The sea, I noticed too, had calmed down considerably outside the reef, +which the pirate junks gained later on in the afternoon, coming through +the opening we had observed to the south and west one by one, in single +file, and then advancing towards the Silver Queen in line. + +Presently, when about half a mile off, they stopped on a flag being +hoisted by the leading proa, which appeared to command the expedition; +and then, amidst the hideous din of a lot of tin-kettly drums and gongs, +the pirates, for such they now showed themselves to be without doubt, +opened fire on the ship with cannon and jingals--the balls from the +former soon singing in the air as they passed over our masts, their aim, +however, being rather high and eccentric, although the first that +whistled past made me duck my head in fright, thinking it was coming +towards me. + +"Oh!" I cried; but I may say without any exaggeration or desire to +brag, that I did not flinch again, nor did I utter another "Oh!" + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +CHING WANG AND I ESCAPE IN THE SAMPAN. + +It must not be thought, though, that we were inactive all the time the +pirates were coming nearer after the first warning of their unexpected +approach. + +No, on the contrary, we made every preparation, with the means at our +disposal, to receive them with proper respect. + +"Begorra, if they'd ownly tould us afore we lift the ould country we'd a +had some big guns, too," said Tim Rooney as he blazed away at a chap +with a red sash on in the prow of the proa, taking aim at him with one +of the Martini-Henry rifles that had been brought up by the captain from +his cabin. "So, me hearties, ye'll have to take the will for the dade, +an' this little lidden messenger, avic, to show as how we aren't +onmindful av ye, sure, an' that there's no ill falin' atwane us!" + +Yes, we had made every preparation. + +The moment Captain Gillespie was assured that the the pirates--towards +whom he had conceived a deadly hatred, although believing them lost in +the storm that had caught us--were coming again in chase of our +unfortunate ship, he woke up once more into his old animated self, his +nose twisting this way and that as he sniffed and snorted, full of +warlike energy. + +"I'll soon teach 'em a lesson," he cried cheerily to Mr Mackay. "When +they tackle Jock Gillespie, they'll find their match; and, ye know, when +I say a thing I mean a thing!" + +Thereupon he bounced down the companion, telling Jerrold and me to +follow him; which, as may be supposed, we did with the greatest +alacrity, "Old Jock" not often inviting us to his sanctum. + +"Here, lads," he said, emptying out an old arm-chest which was stowed +under his bunk on to the floor, "lend a hand, will ye?" + +Of course we did "lend the hand" he requested thus politely in a tone of +command, only too glad to overhaul the stock of weapons tumbled out all +together from the chest. + +There were a couple of Martini-Henry rifles, sighted for long ranges; +three old Enfields of the pattern the volunteers used to be supplied +with some years ago; a large bore shot-gun; and a few revolvers of +various sorts--one of the latter making my eyes glisten at the sight of +it, for it was just suited to me, I thought. + +The captain seemed to anticipate my wish, even before I could give it +utterance. + +"Do ye know how to fire a pistol?" he asked Jerrold and me, looking from +one to the other of us, with a profound sniff of interrogation. "Have +either of ye handled ere a one before?" + +"Oh, yes, sir," said I; while Tom Jerrold laughed. + +"Don't you remember, cap'en," he cried, "giving me that fat one there, +the Colt revolver, last voyage when you thought there was going to be a +mutiny; and how you instructed me how to use it?" + +"Oh, aye, I remember. I clean forgot, lad; this bother about the ship +has turned my head, I think," snorted he, not a bit angrily though. +"Well, take the same weapon again now, lad, as you're familiar with it; +and you, youngster, have you got any choice?" + +"I'd like this one, sir," I replied, fixing on my original selection, as +he turned to me and asked this question, "if you'll let me have it. I +won't hurt it." + +"No, I don't fancy ye will," he said, sniffing and chuckling and +twitching his nose. "I hope ye'll hurt some of those rascally pirates +with it, though." + +The captain then opened another chest, a smaller iron one, which he also +dragged out from under his bunk, unlocking it with a heavy key he took +off a bunch which was hanging up on a nail over his writing-desk and +throwing back the lid. + +This second receptacle, we soon discovered, contained a lot of +cartridges for the rifles, there being a hundred or more of various +sorts, some for the breech-loaders and some for the Enfields of the old- +fashioned regulation size. There were also a variety of smaller +cartridges for the revolvers, and "Old Jock" gave Tom and I each a +package of these latter for our weapons. + +In the chest, likewise, were two or three large flasks of powder and a +lot of bullets loose, which the captain crammed into a leathern bag and +told us to take on the poop with the rifles, Tom and I carrying up a +couple each with the bag of bullets and powder-flasks and then returning +for the rest. + +In our absence "Old Jock" had ferreted out from some other hiding-place +of his a couple of swords and a number of cutlasses, which he likewise +directed us to take up the companion, he assisting us; until, presently, +we had the whole armoury arranged on the top of the cabin skylight. + +"Now, Mackay," said Captain Gillespie, blowing like a grampus after his +exertions, "take y'r choice, but I think that the two best shots in the +ship ought to have the Martini rifles; and if I were picking out the +picked marksmen--he! he! that's a joke, `picking' and `picked,' didn't +intend it though--I'd have chosen y'rself and the bosun!" + +Of course we all laughed at his joke, as he had taken such pains to +point it out; and he was so pleased with it himself that it was some +time before he could speak again, he sniffed and snorted so much. + +"Not bad that, Mackay," he said; "not bad--eh? But which of these +things would ye like best--eh?" + +"I think I'll take the breech-loader, sir," replied the other, suiting +the action to the word and proceeding to examine the lock of one of the +Martini-Henrys, which seemed to be an old acquaintance of his, for he +loaded the chamber much quicker than I could manage my new acquisition; +"and I don't believe you could do better than hand the other to Rooney, +as you suggested. He's the best shot in the ship, I'm certain." + +"Y'rself excepted," interposed the captain wonderfully politely for him; +singing out loudly at the same time, "Bosun!" + +"Here, sorr," cried Tim, who had been waiting below close to the poop +ladder, expecting the summons, and who was all agog at the prospect of a +fight. "Here I am, sorr." + +"Well, bosun," said Captain Gillespie, "it looks as if we'll have to +fight those rascals coming up astern and making for us. The cowards! +They didn't dare attack the old barquey when she was all ataunto in the +open sea; and only now rely on their numbers and the fact of our being +in limbo here. However, if they do attack us, we shall have a fight for +it." + +"Bully for ye, sorr!" cried Tim enraptured. "It's mesilf as loikes a +fight, sure. I'm niver at pace barrin' whin I'm in a row, sure, sorr!" + +"Then you'll be soon in your element," retorted Jock grimly. "Call the +hands aft." + +"Aye, aye, sorr," answered Tim; and going up to the rail he shouted out +in his ringing voice, "All ha-a-nds aft!" + +"Now, my men," said "Old Jock," leaning over the poop and addressing +them as they stood below on the main-deck--"we've got a batch of +rascally pirates coming up after us astern; and, as you know, we can't +run away from 'em. What will ye do--cave in to 'em or fight 'em?" + +The crew broke into a rousing cheer. + +"Ye'll fight 'em, then?" + +"Aye, aye, fight 'em till we make 'em sick!" shouted one of the hands +speaking for the rest, who endorsed his answer on their behalf with a +"Hip, hip, hooray!" + +"And one for the skipper," shouted Joe Fergusson, who was a sailor of +sailors by this time and had learnt all their ways and talk, dropping +out of his old provincialisms. "Hip, hip, hooray!" + +"And another for Mr Mackay," cried a voice that sounded like that of +Adams, causing the hooraying to start again with fresh force, this cheer +being much heartier than the first. + +"Now, men," said Captain Gillespie, "as ye've let off all your gas, let +me see what ye can do in action. Bosun, serve out the cutlasses and +distribute the rest of the guns." + +This being done and all of the men armed in one way or another, the +deficiencies of the captain's armoury being made good by the aid of +handspikes which Mr Mackay had thoughtfully ordered to be brought aft +while we were taking up the rifles and other things from the cabin. +Even Billy, the ship's boy, got hold of an old bayonet, which he +brandished about near Pedro Carvalho the steward, who had come out of +his pantry to see what all the noise was about, which gesture on his +part almost frightening the Portuguese, who, as I've related before, was +an innate coward, into a fit. At all events, it made him turn of a +yellowish pallor that did not improve his complexion. + +"Carramba!" he exclaimed, as he retreated back within his pantry. +"Fora, maldito!" + +When offered a weapon, Ching Wang only smiled that innocent bland smile +of his, producing his own long knife, that had a blade like an American +bowie, being over a foot long and with a double edge. + +"Me one piecee in tyfong tummee tummee, chop chop, pijjin!" he said, +brandishing the awful blade in a way that I'm sure the "kyfongs," the +Chinese term for pirates, would not relish, especially in such friendly +relation with their "tummee tummees." + +All the crew being now armed, the captain and Mr Mackay disposed them +in parties about the deck and forecastle to windward, so as best to +oppose the pirates' attack; while the men provided with the Enfield +rifles were placed in the tops, with the bullets and powder for +ammunition when their cartridges ran short. Tim Rooney took his station +with Mr Mackay on the poop, from which the advancing pirates could best +be picked off, and where also were gathered the captain, as a matter of +course; Mr Saunders, who carried an old single-barrel pistol with a +heavy lock, which the second mate intended to make more use of as a club +than to shoot with; and Tom Jerrold and Sam Weeks, as well as myself-- +Sam being sadly jealous of Tom and I from the fact of our having +revolvers, while he, coming too late after they'd all been distributed, +had to be contented with a marlin-spike--poor Sammy! + +It was thus that we all awaited the attack, every man Jack of us being +at his specially appointed post and on the alert; when the pirates-- +after pounding away at us a long time at a distance, with the result of +neither wounding a soul on board nor damaging the ship very materially, +none of the shot penetrating her hull between wind and water, the only +thing we had to fear--at length mustered up courage enough to give up +their rather unremunerative game of "long bowls" and come to close +quarters. + +I had got quite accustomed now to the rushing sound of round shot in the +air and the waspish phit phitting of rifle bullets past my head; and I +was filled with a wild excitement that made my heart pant, as I stood on +the poop between Mr Mackay and Tim Rooney. + +These two were peppering away at the leading proa and the junks, as they +paddled in hastily towards the ship with their long double-banked +sweeps, anxious to get in close alongside and so to be sheltered by our +hull from the murderous and rapid fire which the wielders of the +Martini-Henrys rained on them. + +But every bullet found a billet in some pirate breast sooner or later, +one of the villainous desperadoes falling over his oar here and another +dropping down on the bamboo deck of a junk there; while, occasionally, +some wretch would tumble overboard with a wild yell, in answer to the +ping of the rifle, shot through the heart as dead as a herring, and +going down to his grave amongst the fishes in Neptune's coral caverns +below! + +"There's that scoundrel of a fellow in the red sash again," cried Mr +Mackay, when the Malay proa, which still led the van, was only about +half a cable's length off. "There he is, Rooney,--do you see him?" + +"Aye, bad cess to the black divil, I say him well enough, sorr," +returned Tim, carefully putting a fresh cartridge into the chamber of +his weapon. "Begorra, I thought I'd kilt the beggar a dozen toimes +alriddy; but he's got the luck of ould Nick, an' sames to save his skin +somehow or ither. Here goes for him ag'in--take that now, ye ould +thaife!" + +"Ping!" + +But the pirate captain, as the tall dark man in the stern of the proa +seemed to be, only let fall the long crease which he had held in his +right hand brandishing at us, the bullet from Tim's rifle having broken +his arm, that also dropped powerless by his side. + +"You nearly had him there," cried Mr Mackay, now taking a shot. "I +hope I'll have better luck though." + +"I hope ye will, sorr," heartily echoed Tim. "I mint to riddle his +carkiss an ownly winged him. The ugly black divil sames to kape a +charmed loife, an' I dare say his ould frind below helps him, the +nayghur!" + +Mr Mackay, however, was equally unsuccessful; for, as luck would have +it, another of the pirates jumping up in front of the chief received the +bullet intended for him. + +The scoundrel who got killed was, certainly, one off the list; still, +the small fry did not count like their leader, the loss of whom all of +us thought might have paralysed the enemy's advance. + +It really seemed, however, as if the gigantic villain, who towered over +his men, bore a charmed life; for, although our fellows in the tops with +the Ennelds, as well the first mate and boatswain, aimed at him, while, +now that the proa was within revolver range, the captain and Tom +Jerrold, and even I, with my little weapon, pelted bullet after bullet +in his direction, all of us missed hitting the swarthy scoundrel. We +noticed, too, on seeing him closer, that he appeared to be more of Pedro +Carvalho's nationality than belonging to the Malay race, his features +and shape of head being altogether different; albeit, he was fully as +ugly as his rascally comrades in the proa and following junks--a hybrid +lot of Javanese and Chinese and all the vile scourings of the Straits +Settlements; long-haired heavy-eyed and sullen-looking most of them, +with narrow retreating foreheads, and evidently of the lowest type of +humanity. + +As they got closer and closer to the ship, too, we noticed that several +had red sashes round their blue frocks, into which were stuck fearful +curved knives and the butt-ends of pistols; and so, with "so many +Richmonds in the field," it was not to be wondered that Tim Rooney and +Mr Mackay had previously missed their mark--albeit now that the proa +was near, it was strange that they could not pick off the pirate leader, +who, as the proa sheered up alongside the Silver Queen, looked up at us +astern and grinned a horrible sardonic grin, drawing the while his +solitary left hand across his bare tawny throat with a most unmistakable +gesture. + +"Ping!--ping!" came from Mr Mackay's and the boatswain's rifles again +in quick succession. + +And yet again, marvellous as it may seem, they both missed. There was +no longer time, though, for any more pot shots; for, with a wild savage +howl and the beating of drums and gongs again, mingled with a shower of +jingal balls over the ship, the proa struck against the fore-chains on +our starboard bow, one of the junks steering to our port side at the +same time, while another remained across our stern and raked us fore and +aft with round shot, there being a couple of hundred at least of the +bloodthirsty demons in the three craft assailing us. There were +probably as many more, too, in the junks astern, which were coming up +more leisurely, leaving their comrades in the van to bear the brunt of +the fray. + +"Now, men!" shouted "Old Jock," who I must say came out like a brave man +and a hero on the occasion, losing all his peculiarities and +littlenesses of manner and behaviour--at least we did not notice them. +"Now, men, we've got to fight for our lives! We must first try and +prevent the pirates getting aboard; and, when we can't do that any +longer and they gain the decks, we'll retreat into the cabin and +barricade ourselves, and fight 'em again there." + +"Hooray!" cried the men. "Hooray!" + +"And when we can't hold the cabin any longer," continued Old Jock, who +seemed to be in a punning vein this afternoon, "we'll go below to the +hold, and hold that as long as we can!" + +"Hooray!" shouted the hands again, full of the fire of battle now and +spurred on by his words. "We'll fight, old man, never fear!" + +"And when we can't fight 'em any longer, my lads," cried Captain +Gillespie, looking round at us all with an expression of determination +that I had never seen in his face before, "we'll blow up the ship sooner +than surrender to this villainous gang!" + +The cheer that followed this ending of his speech was so loud and +genuine, so full of British pluck, so hearty, that the pirates +absolutely quailed at the sound of it, holding back a second or two +before they sheered up alongside with the intention of boarding us. + +They only made a short delay, though, during which we were not idle with +our guns and revolvers; for, the next moment, with another yell of +defiance, the pirate craft flung their grapnels in our rigging and +climbed up on both sides of the ship simultaneously. + +"Come down out of the tops!" shouted Mr Mackay to the hands aloft. +"Come down at once, we want all of your aid with cold steel now!" + +These soon joined us, and then followed a series of shouts and cries and +shots and groans which it makes me dizzy even now to think of; until, +after losing three of our number, amongst them being poor Mr Saunders, +whom we dragged in mortally wounded with us, we all retreated to the +cabin, barricading ourselves there with all sorts of bales and boxes, +and bracing up the saloon table, which we had previously unloosed from +its lashings, to act as a shield under the skylight. + +The pirates made a rush after us, but we were too quick for them; so +then, leaving us alone for awhile, they proceeded to rummage the ship +forward, where, from the noise they made hacking and hewing at the deck, +they were evidently trying to break open the hold so as to get at the +cargo. But the hatchways being constructed of iron beneath the wood +their battering away at them did not bother us much for the moment, as +we knew they would find their work cut out for them and the job a long +one. + +Meanwhile, poor Mr Saunders lay dying on the cabin floor, bleeding from +a wound in his breast. The captain said there was no hope for him, for +he had been shot through the lungs; and as I bent over him with a glass +of water I had got from the pantry, he murmured something that sounded +like Ching Wang. + +"By Jove!" exclaimed Mr Mackay. "Where is the Chinaman?" + +Nobody knew; and although Mr Saunders had been the first to miss him, +he could not say anything else about him, or tell us what had become of +the poor fellow. We were all, therefore, giving him up for lost, when, +suddenly Pedro Carvalho, who, it may be remembered, bore no friendly +feeling towards the cook, called out from the pantry window whence, +through the jalousies, or open shutters, he could survey a portion of +the main-deck. + +"Diante de Deos!" he exclaimed, "dere is dat raskil Ching Wang yondare, +chummy chumming and chin chinning does peerats. Yase, yase, dere he is! +I see him! I see him! Carajo! Cozenheiro maldito!" + +This news came upon us like a thunderbolt, but none of us would believe +it until we had been absolutely convinced of the truth of what the +steward had stated by seeing for ourselves. Yet, there was no mistake; +for sure enough we could presently see with our own eyes, Ching Wang on +the friendliest terms, apparently, with a lot of the yellow pirate +rascals, who were of his own celestial nationality, away forward, the +cook showing them all that was to be seen and grinning and gesticulating +away finely! + +Still, even then we could hardly believe in his treachery. + +Somehow or other, too, whether through Ching Wang's offices or not, of +course, we could not say, the pirates did not bother us much during the +day, only coming up to the skylight occasionally and firing down on us +as well as they could with their clumsy muskets and pistols--a fire +which we just as promptly returned, aiming wherever we saw a flash. +They once pitched in one of their terrible fire balls or "stink-pots" of +fulminating stuff to asphyxiate us with its beastly smell; but Tim +Rooney, taking hold of it and plunging the obnoxious thing in a bucket +of water, rid us at once of the poisonous fumes. + +In the evening, when it was growing dark, a tapping was heard at one of +the ports in the captain's cabin; and both Tim and I were just on the +point of firing, when, to our great surprise Ching Wang's well-known +voice was heard. + +"Chin, chin lilly pijjin! Comee one chop quick, me wantee talkee +talkee. Lis'en me, an' you lickee kyfong number one go!" + +"I thought he'd never turn traitor," cried Captain Gillespie +emphatically; Tim Rooney adding with equal warmth, "Nor I, sorr. I've +allers found the Chinee chap a good Oirishman ivery day he's bin' +aboord!" + +The upshot of Ching Wang's communication was, that the pirates were +anxious to get all they could out of the ship and clear off; and, +believing that he had joined them, they had sent him to negotiate terms +with the captain, the pirate chief saying that he would spare all our +lives if we would let him have what dollars there was on board and a +ransom for the ship, on account, of course, of their not being able to +get at the cargo. + +Before Captain Gillespie could indignantly refuse making any terms with +the rascals, Ching Wang proceeded to say that he had overheard the +pirates saying that the reason for their violent hurry was that an +English gunboat had been seen in the distance cruising off the mouth of +the Canton river. + +"Me gottee sampan," continued Ching Wang, declaring now his real motive. +"Lilly pijjin squeezee one port, me go along findee gunboat an' catchee +kyfong chop chop!" + +"First rate," cried Mr Mackay, who acted as general interpreter, +knowing the Chinaman's lingo well, explaining that the reason why Ching +Wang had not gone off by himself in the sampan was that he did not know +the right course to steer for the Canton river in the first place; and, +secondly, he was afraid that the officers of the gunboat might not +believe his story about the Silver Queen being assailed by pirates +unless some European belonging to her accompanied him. "Nothing could +have been more sensible, you see, cap'en; and Ching Wang's got his head +screwed on straight." + +"And where is this boat ye're going in?" + +"Sampan, go long now," returned Ching Wang, motioning with his hand to +the water below the stern. "Go long chop chop, soon lilly pijjin come +down topside." + +His selection of me, though apparently a very flattering one, was due to +the fact of my being the only one capable of squeezing through the port, +Weeks, who had grown awfully fat on the voyage, being incapable of +accomplishing the feat, while all the rest of us were far too big. + +"How will ye be able to steer for Canton?" asked Captain Gillespie +sniffing--"even if ye know all about managing the boat?" + +"Oh, sir," cried I, quite joyous at the idea of starting off on such an +expedition and coming with a British gunboat to take the pirates by +surprise and give them a licking, "Ching Wang'll see to the sampan, as +he calls it, and I will steer, sir, if you give me the course, sir. +I've got a little compass here on my watch chain." + +"Humph!" he ejaculated; "I think ye'll do, boy. Ye're smart enough at +any rate for the job; and, besides, there's no one else that can get +through the port. Ye can go!" + +"Thank you, sir," said I, grateful for even this semi-reluctant +concession, being afraid he might refuse; and then, squeezing gingerly +through the port and carefully lowering myself down by a rope which Tim +Rooney hitched round the captain's bunk, I landed on the bottom boards +of the boat that old Ching Wang had ready below. + +I recollect well Tim's whispering softly as I let go my hold of the port +sill, "Sure, now, take care av y'rsilf, Misther Gray-ham, sorr, an' +don't forgit what the skipper's tould you about your coorse whin ye gits +outsoide the rafe; ye're to steer nor'-nor'-west, wid a little more west +in it, an' kape a good look-out for the blissid gunboat--an'--an' God +bliss ye me bhoy, an' that's Tim Rooney's dyin' wish if ye niver say him +ag'in!" + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +THE "BLAZER" TO THE RESCUE. + +"Hist!" whispered Ching Wang softly, catching hold of my legs as I came +down the rope to prevent my feet making a noise on touching the bottom +of the sampan; while he carefully guided me into a seat in the stern- +sheets. "Makee quiet, tyfong watchee. If catchee no go, all up +topside!" + +I hardly needed this caution; although, after receiving it I was as +still as any mouse suddenly finding itself in the company of a cat +unsuspicious of its presence could possibly be. + +It was quite dark now, the hull of the ship looming faintly above us, a +big black shadow, and the water was without a glimmer near, save where, +just ahead, the light of a flare-up, which the pirates had kindled on +the forecastle, shone out over the sea there, besides illuminating the +island beach--where a number of black figures could be seen moving about +opening some casks, which, Ching Wang explained to me, he had assisted +in getting up from the forehold, so as to distract their attention from +us for awhile; for, knowing that these casks contained salt pork, and +being acquainted with the predilections of his countrymen for this +dainty, he was certain they would have an orgy before proceeding to +further hostilities. + +This impression of the Chinaman proved to be quite correct; for not only +did the pirates rout out the salt pork, but they immediately proceeded +to cook it in Ching Wang's coppers, which were full of boiling water +which he had got ready in the first instance for the purpose of throwing +over the gentlemen as they boarded the ship. He had, however, +subsequently changed his mind on this point, thinking that by adopting +the guileless subtlety of his race and pretending to side with our +enemies he might in the end be of more effectual service to us. + +Of course the Chinaman did not mention to his new allies the original +use for which the coppers were intended, as such candour on his part +might have led to his getting into "hot water" and so spoilt his little +plot, the complete success of which was further assured by his +purloining Tim Rooney's private bottle of rum from his cabin in the +deck-house, and bestowing it with his benediction on the stalwart +Portuguese captain of the pirates. This gentleman, being partial to the +liquor, enjoyed himself to such an extent over the unexpected treasure- +trove, keeping it selfishly for his own gratification, that he was more +than "half-seas-over" ere his rascally fellow cut-throats had begun +their pork feast; so, he was equally disinclined with them for further +active operations against the ship, the captain and crew of which he +regarded for the moment in a most benevolent spirit on account of their +having saved him the trouble of making them captive, probably at the +expense of several lives on his side, by locking themselves in the cabin +below of their own accord! + +I got out all this by degrees from Ching Wang, as, paddling in the most +noiseless fashion across the lagoon where it was darkest, and carefully +avoiding the other junks anchored out in the middle, he directed the +course of the sampan towards the opening in the reef. This became all +the more distinct as we got near its edge from the phosphorescent +glitter of the surf breaking over the coral ledge, excepting at the +place where the Silver Queen had steered through the rocks and breakers +and entered the calm sheet of water within. + +The pirates ashore on the island and on board the junks were all too +busy to notice us, and indeed their eyes must have been wonderfully +acute to have done so through the darkness that enveloped sky and sea +alike, swallowing our little barque up in its folds; so, when we got +well outside the reef and beyond the line of breakers Ching Wang put up +a small sprit-sail, which he had been thoughtful enough to take out of +the long-boat when he had secured the sampan, rigging it on top of one +of his oars, and stepping it forward like a lug. + +We then kept the wind which we knew was south-west on our port hand and +pretty well abeam, steering as nearly as we could guess to the northward +and westward, according to Captain Gillespie's directions to me; for +there was not light sufficient yet to see my little pocket-compass so as +to take the proper bearings for making a straight course to fetch the +mouth of the Canton river. + +When daylight came, fortunately, not a trace of the reef or the ship and +pirate craft could be seen, though Ching Wang peered over our starboard +quarter, where we ought to have sighted any trace of them, while I +shinned up the little mast too for a better look-out. + +Nothing was to be seen, not even a passing sail--only the rolling sea +far and wide as far as the eye could reach, now lit up by the early dawn +and rose-coloured in the east, where the sun, just rising above the +horizon, was flooding the heavens with crimson tints, that presently +changed to gold and then gave place to their normal hue of azure. This +the ocean reflected with a glorious blue, seeming to be but one huge +sapphire, except where crystal foam flecked it here and there from the +topping of some impatient wavelet not content to roll along in peace +till it reached the shore. + +I could, of course, look at my compass now, and I noticed that by +keeping the wind abeam we had been working in the right direction during +the night, the head of the sampan now facing pretty nearly nor'-nor'- +west, "and a little westerly too," as Tim Rooney enjoined on me at +parting. + +Ching Wang told me in his pigeon English that we must have already run +from thirty to forty miles--"one hunled li," he said; so, we had +therefore accomplished a quarter of our journey towards the coast. + +The sun rose higher and higher, until it was almost over our heads at +noon, when the wind dropping I found it very hot. Besides the +discomfort of this the fact of our not getting on so fast as previously +made me anxious about those we had left behind, although the Chinaman +told me the pirates would not be likely to start fighting again until it +was getting towards evening, which was their favourite time for attack, +as they always kept quiet in the day. + +They would, he said, be especially afraid now of making a row in the day +more than at any other time, for fear of the sound of the fray being +heard by the gunboat, which they knew was cruising about near. + +"I only wish we could see it now, Ching Wang," I cried, thinking that +before we got to the Canton river and returned with the man-of-war, all +our shipmates might be murdered and the poor Silver Queen set fire to by +the ruffians after pillaging her, as they would be certain to do when +Captain Gillespie and the brave fellows with him could hold out no +longer. "I only wish we could sight her now." + +"You waitee, lilly pijjin," said he. "Bimeby soon comee." + +It was dreary work, though, waiting, for we were going along very slowly +on the torpid sea, which seemed to swelter in the heat as the breeze +fell; but about two o'clock in the afternoon the south-west wind +springing up again, we once more began dancing on through the water at a +quicker rate, the sampan making better progress by putting her right +before wind and slacking off the sheet of our transformed sprit-sail. +An hour later, Ching Wang, who had gone into the bows to look out, +leaving me at the tiller, suddenly called out: + +"Hi, lilly pijjin!" he shouted, gesticulating and showing more +excitement than he had ever displayed before, his disposition generally +being phlegmatic in the extreme. "One big smokee go long. Me see three +piecee bamboo walkee, chop chop!" + +I rose up in the stern-sheets equally excited; and there, to my joy, I +saw right ahead and crossing our beam, a small three-masted vessel, +showing the white ensign and blood cross of Saint George, the most +beautiful flag in the world, I thought. + +It was the gunboat, without doubt. + +She had sighted us long before we noticed her; and seeing from our +altering our course now that we desired to speak her, she downed her +helm and was soon alongside the sampan. + +Breathless, I clambered on board, a smart blue-jacket with "HMS Blazer" +printed in gold letters on the ribbon of his straw hat, handing me the +sidelines of the accommodation ladder, which reached far enough down for +me to step on to it from the gunwale of the sampan; and when the +lieutenant in command of the gunboat, a handsome fellow like Mr Mackay, +addressed me, I could not at first speak from emotion. + +But my mission was too important to be delayed, and I soon found my +voice; a very few words being sufficient to explain all the +circumstances of the case to the lieutenant. + +"Full speed ahead!" he called out to the officer on the bridge, as soon +as he had heard me out, directing also the blue-jacket who had received +me at the entry port to pass the word down that he wanted to speak to +the gunner; while Ching Wang was invited to come on board and the sampan +veered astern by its painter and taken in tow. + +The lieutenant turned to me when these orders had been given, although +he did not keep me half a minute waiting; and, calling me by my name, +which I had told him, said, "We shall be up to the pirates before +nightfall, Mr Graham, for the old Blazer can go ten knots on an +emergency like this. I've no doubt we'll be in plenty of time to rescue +your shipmates before they have another brush with the pirates." + +He then invited me to go below and have some refreshment; but I was too +anxious about those on board the poor Silver Queen to care about eating +then. However, I took a nice long drink of some delicious lemonade with +pleasure, for I was so thirsty that my tongue had swollen to the roof of +my mouth; while Ching Wang, who had recovered his usual placid and +imperturbable demeanour, accepted the hospitalities of the crew with +great complacency, his emotion not affecting his appetite at any rate. + +If I did not care about eating, though, I was highly interested in the +preparation of the Blazer presently for action, her five-inch breech- +loaders being loaded with Palliser shell and the hoppers of her machine- +guns filled; while the crew with rifles in their hands and cutlasses by +their side mustered at quarters. + +"I think, Mr Graham," said the lieutenant, noticing my admiring gaze, +"we'll be able to teach your Malay friends something of a lesson--eh?" + +"I hope so, sir," I replied. "I don't think there's much thinking about +it, though. I'm only afraid they'll run away before we can reach them." + +"No fear of that," said he laughing. "The Blazer, as I've told you, can +travel fast when we want her; and if she's not fast enough, why, that +gun there on the sponson forrud can send a speedier messenger in advance +of her, to tell the pirates she's coming!" + +"Will it reach them inside the reef, sir?" + +"Reach them inside the reef!" he repeated after me in a quizzing sort of +way. "Of course it will, my lad, and further too. That gun will carry +seven miles at an elevation of less than forty-five degrees!" + +"Oh, crickey!" I exclaimed; whereat he and the other officers laughed +at my astonishment, which my face betrayed, of course, as usual. The +crew, though, who were near were too well trained to laugh, except +according to orders. Being men-o'-war's men, they only smiled at my +ejaculation. + +It was getting on for sunset when we sighted the Pratas shoal, the masts +of the Silver Queen being seen much further off than the reef, although +I forgot to mention that her sails of course had been furled after she +grounded; and, as we got nearer and nearer, we did not hear any noise of +rifle shots, or the junks' matchlocks, as would have been the case if +they had been fighting again--my comrades I was certain would die +dearly. + +I hoped that they had not begun yet; for I could not bear to think that +their fate might have been sealed in my absence, and all those brave +fellows, perhaps, been butchered by the pirates! + +Closing in upon the reef and making for the entrance on the south-west +side, we noticed that boats were passing to and fro between the junks +and the ship. + +Just then a puff of smoke came from the stern of the ship, followed by +the sound of a rifle shot in the distance, after which followed a +regular fusillade of musketry fire. + +The lieutenant had meanwhile not been idle, the man-of-war's launch and +pinnace having been lowered with their nine-pounders in the bows, all +primed and loaded; and, on my getting after him in the pinnace, he gave +the order to pull in towards the scene of action, the gunboat meanwhile +bringing her big Armstrongs to bear on the fleet of junks in the middle +of the lagoon, only waiting until we got well up to the ship before +firing so as to take the pirates by surprise. + +I cannot describe the feeling I had as we dashed forward, the thought of +checkmating the bloodthirsty scoundrels and saving my shipmates being +too great to be expressed by words. + +Ching Wang, whom the lieutenant allowed to come in the pinnace with me, +also looked wonderfully excited again, for one generally so +phlegmatic:--he seemed really to turn his back on the traditions of his +race. + +We, though, rushed forwards; and, when close to the Silver Queen, the +lieutenant ordered the captain of the gun in the bows to "fire!" into a +junk that was coming round under her stern. + +"Bang!" and a shell burst right in the centre of the junk's bamboo deck, +sending forty of the villains at least to Hades, for she was crowded +with men. A wild yell of surprise came from the pirates at the report +of the gun, succeeded by a faint hurrah from those on board the Silver +Queen. This told us that Captain Gillespie and the rest now knew, from +the second report caused by the bursting of the shell, that their +rescuers had at last arrived, in the very nick of time. + +Then a big boom rolled in from seaward as the gunboat opened fire with +her five-inch Armstrong, shell and shot being pitched into the group of +junks as fast as those on board the Blazer could load; the launch and +pinnace, with Ching Wang and myself in the latter, pulling to the ship +and boarding her on both sides at the same time. + +Captain Gillespie and all the hands who had been intrenched in the +cabin, now burst out of their prison; and after this, those pirates who +were not cut down by the men's cutlasses or shot, surrendered at +discretion, as did also their brother scoundrels on the island and in +the junks, who were all caught completely in a trap, there being no +creeks here for them to smuggle their boats into, nor mountain +fastnesses to retreat to, the gunboat commanding the only way of escape +open to them, and her launch and pinnace within the lagoon having them +at their mercy. + +"Begorra I am plaized to say you ag'in, Misther Gray-ham, sorr!" cried +Tim Rooney, wringing my hand again and again as Mr Mackay released it-- +all the poor fellows who had been relieved from almost instant death by +the coming of the gunboat seeming to think that I had brought about +their rescue, whereas, of course it was Ching Wang who ought to be +thanked, if anybody had to be praised, beyond Him above who had sent us +on our mission and brought the Blazer up in time. Tim, too, was even +more absurd about the whole matter than any of the rest.--"Bedad, you've +saved us all, sorr," said he again and again; and I could only get him +off this unpleasant tack by asking what further damage the pirates had +done after I left. + +They had not done much, he said, their leader having only just succeeded +in breaking open the main-hold, and just beginning another attack on the +cabin, when the report of the shell from the Blazer's pinnace as it +burst made the pirates scramble overboard for their lives. + +"But, sure, I caught that chafe villain av theirs, at last, Misther +Gray-ham." + +"Oh, did you!" I cried. "That chap in the red sash?" + +"Aye, I kilt him as de'd as mutton jist now by the dor av me cabin in +the deck-house, where, would ye belaive me, sorr, the thaife wor +drainin' the last dhrop av grog out av me rhum bottle!" + +"He didn't steal it though," said I, telling him all about Ching Wang's +plot for making the rascal drunk; whereat Tim was highly delighted, +patting the Chinaman on the back as the latter blandly smiled and beamed +upon him, not understanding a word he said. After this matter was +settled I bethought me of my bird "Dick."--"And how about the starling?" + +"Oh, that's all roight," said Tim. "He scramed out `Bad cess to ye' +whin he saw the ugly pirate cap'en fall, an' sure, that wor as sinsible +as a Christian." + +Everybody had got off pretty well, the majority only having a few slight +scratches and flesh wounds; all, save, of course, the three of the hands +who had been killed on deck in the first attack, and poor Mr Saunders, +who, Tim said, was sinking fast. + +He did not die yet awhile, though, having a wonderful constitution and +persisting in eating and living where another man would have expired +long since. + +And the ship? She wasn't lost after all, as might have been thought, +albeit ashore there on Prata Island and inside the reef. Oh, no. Mr +Mackay managed it all, and surprised everybody by the way he did it-- +making even Lieutenant Toplift of the Blazer open his eyes. + +I'll tell you what he did.--Our chief mate battened down two of the +pirate junks, making them water-tight, and then, weighting them with +heavy ballast till their decks were almost flush with the water, he made +them fast under the bows of the ship. + +The ballast was then taken out of them, when, of course, as they floated +higher they lifted the Silver Queen; and a stream anchor being then got +out astern she was floated out into the lagoon, where on subsequent +examination she was found pretty water-tight below and staunch and sound +all round. + +To get her out of the lagoon, the passage through the reef was well +buoyed and the ship lightened of her cargo, a large portion of which was +taken out of her and stowed in the junks. + +She was then kedged over the reef, as Tim Rooney had suggested to Mr +Mackay in the first instance as the best plan; the Blazer's officers and +crew helping us to get her outside, and afterwards assisting us in +loading her up again. + +Then, our dear old barquey sailed for Hongkong, where she put in for +temporary repair so as to be able to prosecute the remainder of her +voyage, and here poor Mr Saunders died at last, and was laid to rest in +"Happy Valley," the English burying-place, that has such a poetical name +and such sad surroundings! + +We were detained nearly a month here docking, and during our stay +Captain Gillespie rejoiced all hands by rewarding them for their pluck +in fighting and floating the ship again with the present of a month's +wages for a spree ashore. "Old Jock" could well afford to be liberal, +too; for a native speculator gave him a better price for the balance of +his marmalade than he would have realised if he had fed the men on it +throughout our home voyage. + +Our repairs and refit being at last completed we set sail for Shanghai, +casting anchor in the Yang-tse-kiang eight days exactly after our +leaving Hongkong. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +HOMEWARD BOUND. + +"Bedad, sorr, it sames I'm dhramin', sure," observed Tim Rooney to Mr +Mackay as the two now stood together on the forecastle, looking out over +the hows. "It's moighty loike the ould river; an' I'd a'most fancy I +wor home ag'in, an' not in Chainee at all at all!" + +"You're not far wrong, bosun," replied Mr Mackay, smiling at his +remark, or rather at the quaint way in which it was made. "I can fancy +the same thing myself, the appearance of the Yang-tse-kiang hereabouts +being strangely like that of the Thames just below Greenhithe." + +I, overhearing their conversation, thought the same too; for, although, +of course, there was no dome of Saint Paul's in the distance, nor +forests of masts, nor crowds of steamers passing to and fro, nor all +that bustle of business and din and dense black smoke from those +innumerable funnels that distinguishes the waterway which forms the +great heart artery of London, still there were many points of +resemblance between the two--the show of shipping opposite Shanghai, +where we lay, being almost as fair as that which is to be seen sometimes +at the mouth of the Thames on a fine day, when it blows from the south +and there are many wind-bound craft waiting to get down Channel. + +The sampans and other native boats, darting about hither and thither in +shoals, somewhat made up for the absence of the panting tugs and paddle +steamers plying on the former stream, albeit there was no deficiency +here either of Fulton's invention, steamers running regularly a distance +of more than seven hundred miles up the Yang-tse-kiang; and, as for +houses and the signs of a numerous population, there were plenty of +these, although different to the bricks and mortar structures of our +more accustomed eyes in England, with the peaks of pagodas doing duty +for church spires, while the paddy fields planted with rice on either +hand offered a very good imitation of the low-lying banks of our great +mother river along the Essex shore. + +"Aye, it's the very image, an' as loike as two pays," reiterated Tim +Rooney on my joining the two. "Don't ye think so, too, Misther Gray- +ham?" + +"I wish you would leave the `ham' out of my name!" I replied laughing, +but a bit vexed all the same. "I think you might by this time, it's +getting quite a stale joke." + +"Faix, I dunno what ye manes, sorr," he replied, pretending to be +puzzled, but the wink in his eye showing clearly that this density of +his mental powers on the point was only assumed. "Sure, an' I can't +hilp me brogue, ye know, if ye manes that?" + +"Nobody says you can," said I rather shortly; for one or two of the +hands by the windlass bitts were grinning, as well as Sam Weeks who was +standing by, too, and I did not like being made fun of before them. "No +one could mistake you for anything else but a Paddy all the world over!" + +"Begorra, an' I'm proud av that very same, Misther Gray-ham," he +retorted, not one whit put out by my words, as I imagined he would be. +"If other folks had as little to be ashamed av, it's a blissid worrld +sure this'd be, an' we'd be all havin' our wings sproutin' an' sailin' +aloft, loike the swate little cheroob, they says, looks arter poor +Jack!" + +A general laugh followed this; and the captain just then coming out of +his cabin, where he had been busy getting all his papers and bills of +lading together, and ordering the jolly-boat to be lowered to pull him +ashore, Tim turned away to see to the job--so, he had the best of me in +our little skirmish, albeit we were nevertheless good friends +afterwards. + +In the afternoon, Captain Gillespie came off to the ship again, with a +gang of coolies under a native comprador. These were sent by the +consignees to help discharge the cargo into a lot of small junks that +they brought alongside; but the Chinamen made a poor show, contrasting +their work with that of our stalwart able-bodied tars, one of whom +thought nothing of handling a big crate as it was hoisted out of the +hold which it took ten of the others merely to look at. + +Fortunately, only a few boxes of the Manchester stuffs that were stowed +in our fore compartment were found damaged by the sea, the rest of the +goods being in good condition, and the cargo generally as sound as when +it came on board in the docks; a result which afforded "Old Jock" much +satisfaction, as he had feared the worst. The only loss, therefore, the +owners would have to suffer would be the small amount of our freight +that had been jettisoned when the ship first went ashore on the Pratas, +the cargo that had subsequently been taken out to lighten her before +getting her off the shoal having been carefully preserved. + +"`All's well that ends well,'" cried he, rubbing his hands and sniffing +and snorting, when the people ashore reported this after a systematic +examination of all the bales and stuff. "I told ye so, Mackay, I told +ye so; and when I say a thing, ye know, I mean a thing." + +"I'm sure, I'm only too glad everything has turned out right," replied +the first mate, smiling to himself, though, at "Jock's" assertion of +having prognosticated this favourable issue, the contrary being the +case; for, he'd been grumbling all the way from Hongkong about the +salvage to be paid, and compensation to the consignees for deterioration +of the cargo, besides perhaps demurrage for late delivery, the ship +arriving at Shanghai more than a month beyond her time. "`All's well +that ends well,' as you say, sir; and I only hope we'll soon have a +freight back which will recoup any loss the owners may have suffered +from the mishaps of our voyage out." + +But, hoping for a thing, and having it, are two very different things. + +It was the middle of July when we finally reached Shanghai, and it took +us, with the slow way of going to work of the Chinese coolies and their +comprador and the people ashore and all, a good three weeks to unload +our cargo; so that, by the time we had the hold swept out and got ready +below for the reception of a freight of tea promised the captain, lo and +behold we found we were too late, for the consignment intended for us +was now well on its way home in another vessel. This latter, however, +we were told in excuse for our disappointment, had been waiting longer +for a cargo than us, having been lying in the river since May, and only +starting off as we commenced discharging. + +We were cheered up, though, by the hope of having a cargo of the second +season tea, which the shore folk said was expected in the town from up +country shortly; which "shortly" proved to be of the most elastic +properties, it being September before we received authoritative +information of our expected freight being at last at Shanghai and ready +for shipment. + +When it came, though, we did not lose much time in getting it on board +and stowed, even Tom Jerrold and I working under hatches. + +"Begorra, we'll show them poor craythurs," cried Tim Rooney, bracing +himself up for the task and baring his sinewy arms with much gusto as he +buckled to the job, setting the hands a worthy example to follow. "Aye, +we'll jist show them what we calls worruk in our counthry, me darlints. +Won't we, boys?" + +"Aye, aye," roared out the men, all anxious to set sail and see Old +England again; sailors being generally the most restless mortals under +the sun, and never satisfied at being long in one place. "Aye, aye, bo, +we will!" + +And they did, too, "Old Jock" rubbing his hands and snorting and +sniffing in fine glee as the tea-chests were rattled up out of the junks +alongside and lowered into the hold, where they underwent even a greater +amount of squeezing and jamming together than our original cargo out, +the process of compression being helped on by the aid of the jack-screws +and the port watch under Mr Mackay--who now superintended the stowage +of the cargo, in place of poor Mr Saunders. No one, apparently, save +the faithful Tim Rooney, gave a thought to the latter, now resting in +his quiet tomb in Happy Valley! + +"Bedad, we miss our ould sickond mate, sorr," I heard him say to Mr +Mackay, who was a little strange to the job, having had nothing to do in +the stowing line for some time, his duties as first mate being more +connected with the navigation of the ship. "He wor a powerful man to +ate, sure; but he knew his way about the howld av a vissil, sorr, that +same." + +"That means, I suppose, bosun," replied Mr Mackay laughing and coughing +as the tea-dust caught his breath, "that I don't--eh?" + +"Be jabers, no, sorr," protested Tim; "I niver maned to say that, sorr, +aven if I thought it. But poor ould Misther Saunders samed, sorr, to +take koindly to this sort av worruk, betther nor navigatin'; which he +weren't a patch on alongside av you, sorr, as ivery hand aboard knows." + +"Get out with your blarney," said Mr Mackay good-humouredly, urging the +crew on to fresh exertions by way of changing the topic. "If we stop +jawing here long we'll never sail from Shanghai before next year. Put +your hearts in it, men, and let us get all stowed and be done with it." + +"Look aloive," yelled the boatswain, following suit; "an' hurry up wid +thim chistesses--one'd think ye wor goin' to make the job last a month +av Sundays, sore!" + +They "hurried up" with a vengeance; so that, before the week was out, +the tea was all stowed and the hatches battened down, with the ship +quite ready to sail as soon as Captain Gillespie got all his permits and +papers from the shore--of which latter, by the way, I may confess, Tom +Jerrold and I got tired at last. + +I had received no less than three letters from home, all in a batch, +when we got to Shanghai, one also coming after we arrived, telling me +about father and them all; and it seemed, as I read of their doings at +the vicarage and what went on at Westham, as if it had been years since +I left England, instead of only six months or so passing by; the change +of life and all that had happened making me feel ever so much older. + +However, reading these dear home letters made me long all the more to +get back and see them again; and, in anticipation of this, you may be +certain I did not forget to make a good collection of nice things for +mother and my sister Nellie, as well as some "curios" for father, such +as he had promised in my name when the letter came which made my mother +grieve so, telling that all the arrangements had been completed for my +going to sea,--do you recollect? + +Yes; and besides the curios I myself bought ashore, I had one given me, +at the very last moment before we left the Yang-tse-kiang, by Ching +Wang, who, much to the surprise of all, said he wasn't going back in the +Silver Queen--not, at all events, this voyage, he made the captain +understand, being desirous of remaining at Shanghai until the next year. + +"Me likee lilly gal, she likee me," he explained with his bland vacuous +smile and his little beady eyes twinkling. "Me wifoo get chop chop. +Two men not stop one placee--no go ship and 'top shore too." + +"You rascal!" shouted "Old Jock" in a rage, "you served me just the same +trick the voyage before last. You'd better come with us now, for I'm +hanged if I give you the chance again." + +"No, cap'en," grinned the imperturbable Chinaman, "no can do." + +So, amidst the chaff of the men, who asserted that Ching Wang must have +about fifty wives by this time at various ports, considering the number +of times he had contracted matrimonial engagements, he went over the +side into a sampan he had waiting for him, smiling blandly to the last, +and giving me as a parting present the little brass figure of Buddha +which he worshipped as his deity. This was a sure token of the strong +affection he entertained for me, his "lilly pijjin," as he always called +me from the time that Tim Rooney had commended me to his good graces. + +"He'll come back with us next trip," said Mr Mackay, as he with all of +us gave Ching Wang a parting "chin chin" on the celestial cook being +presently rowed ashore in great state, sitting in the stern-sheets of +his sampan and beaming on us with his bland smile as long as his round +face could be distinguished, dwindling away in the distance till it +finally disappeared. "I'm sorry to lose him, though, sir, for he was a +capital cook, besides being a plucky fellow. Recollect how he helped to +save all our lives the other day, as well as the ship and cargo." + +"Humph!" grunted "Old Jock," who appeared to have forgotten this. "He's +served us a shabby trick now, by going off like that at the last moment, +and I've half a mind not to have any truck with him again." + +"Ha, ha, cap'en," laughed Mr Mackay, "you said so last time, don't you +remember? Yet, you brought him aboard again with the other hands before +we started from Gravesend this trip. You're too good-natured to bear in +mind all the hard things you say sometimes." + +"Perhaps I am, Mackay, perhaps I am," sniggered and snorted "Old Jock," +thinking this a high compliment. "Though, when I say a thing, I mean a +thing, you know." + +Ching Wang, when he got ashore, did not forget his old friends and leave +us altogether in the lurch; for he sent off a black cook, a native of +Jamaica, one Tippoo by name, to take his place; and as a messenger from +the brokers on shore came off at the same time with the ship's papers, +nothing now delayed our departure from Shanghai. + +Then was heard Tim Rooney's piercing whistle once more on board, and the +welcome--thrice welcome cry: + +"All ha-a-nds make sail!" + +The topsails were soon loosed by one watch, while the other hove up the +anchor in fine style to the chorus of "Down in the lowlands, oh!" + +"Up and down!" cried Matthews on the forecastle, taking poor Saunders' +place here, for he was now doing duty as second mate, although he had +not yet passed the Trinity House examination for the post. "Anchor's up +and down, sir!" + +"Then heave and paul!" answered Mr Mackay from the poop, calling out at +the same time to the men standing by the halliards: "Sheet home and +hoist away!" + +In another minute, the topsails were dropped and the yards hoisted, the +jib run up and the spanker set; when, as our anchor cleared the ground, +soon peeping over our bows and being catted and fished in the old +fashion, the Silver Queen's canvas filled and she bade adieu to China +with a graceful curtsy, making her way down the Yang-tse-kiang at a rate +that showed she was as glad as those on board her to lose sight of its +yellow waters at last! + +It was the 14th September when we sailed; and, although it was rather +early in the year for it, the nor'-east monsoon had already begun to +blow, fine and dry and cold, bowling us down through the Formosa Channel +and into the China Sea beyond, "as if ould Nick war arter us," as Tim +Rooney said. + +In our progress past the same latitudes in which we had previously +encountered such perils, we now met with nothing of interest; steering +south by the Strait of Gaspar--to the other side of the island of Banca, +instead of by our former route when coming up--we navigated Sunda the +same day, getting out into the Indian Ocean at the beginning of October. + +Shaping a course from here to pass about a hundred miles to the +southward of Madagascar, our nor'-east wind changing to a nor'-westward +in 15 degrees south latitude, which was all the more favourable for us, +we were able to fetch the Cape of Good Hope in forty-three days from our +start. Our passage round the stormy headland was now comparatively +easy, being aided by the strong current that comes down the African +coast through the Mozambique, and so did not cost us any bother at all, +as we had fine weather all the time until we turned into the Atlantic. + +From the Cape to the Channel we made a splendid passage, sighting the +Lizard on the 20th December and getting into dock on the afternoon of +the 22nd of the month. Strange to say, too, we were towed up from the +Downs by our old friend the Arrow, just as we were towed down the river +at starting on our eventful voyage. + +Captain Gillespie gave me leave to go home the next day, telling me he +would write when the ship would be ready again for another trip early in +the following year; and so, bidding my mess-mates a cordial farewell, I +was soon in a train on my way to Westham once more, with "Dick" the +starling in a bran new wicker cage I had bought for him at Shanghai, as +well as my sea-chest packed full of presents for the home-folk and +everybody. + +It was late in the afternoon of Christmas-eve when I reached the old +well-known little station, which seemed to look ever so much smaller +than when I left; and the very first person I saw whom I knew--none of +my people coming to meet me, as they did not know when I would arrive, +not expecting me indeed until the next morning--was Lawyer Sharpe, as +ferrety-looking as ever! + +He gave me a hearty greeting, however, saying he was glad to see me back +again, and to have "ocular demonstration," as he expressed it, that I +had not been lost at sea as was reported; so, I recalled what father had +said when I had turned up my nose at the legal profession, and thought +Mr Sharpe no doubt was misjudged by a good many, and might not be +altogether such a tricky customer as the Westham folks made out. + +Leaving my traps at the station to be sent on by a porter, only taking +Dick's cage with me, I was soon trotting along through the village, +passing old Doctor Jollop on my way. He, too, was the very same as +ever, without the slightest alteration, muddy boots and all; for, +although there was a little sprinkling of snow on the ground, as +befitted the season, it had thawed in the streets of Westham, and as a +matter of course the doctor, who always appeared to choose the very +muddiest of places to tramp in, had managed to collect as much of the +mire as he could on his boots and legs. + +But, mud or no mud, he was a jolly kind old fellow, and more really +pleased again to see me than--even with the most charitable feelings I +must say it--Lawyer Sharpe pretended to be. + +"Just back in time, Allan, for the plum-pudding," he called out on +seeing me. "Eh, my boy, eh?" + +"Yes, sir," said I, laughing as I shook hands with him. "Just in time +for it." + +"And the pills, too," he added, chuckling as he went into a cottage +close by. "And the pills, too; you mustn't forget them." + +Nasty old fellow, as if I wished to be reminded of anything so +disagreeable at such a moment! + +The next instant, however, I was at the vicarage gate, when Nellie, who +was on the watch, although as I've said I was not expected till next +day, flew out of the porch and had her arms round my neck, with my +mother after her and father and my brother Tom, too--the latter bringing +up the rear, his dignity not allowing him to hurry himself too much; and +what with meeting and greeting these all thoughts of Doctor Jollop and +his pills and everything else were banished from my mind--everything, +save the delicious feeling of being at home again. + +"And what have you here, Allan?" inquired sister Nellie when all the +kissing and hugging was over, and I'd asked and answered at least a +thousand questions. "A bird?" + +"Yes, a starling," said I, introducing Dick and telling them his history +as we all went back into the house, keeping this a surprise and not +mentioning about the little beggar in my letter from Shanghai. "I've +brought him home for you, Nellie." + +"Oh, thank you, Allan," she cried, hugging me again. "What a dear +little fellow!" + +"Ah, wait till you hear him talk," said I, speaking to Dick and giving +him my old whistle, "Dick, Dick!" + +"Hullo!" cracked the starling, so comically, in Tim Rooney's voice that +they all burst out laughing, "here's a jolly row!" + +Dick then whistled a couple of bars, which was all he could accomplish, +of "Tom Bowling," after which he ejaculated his favourite expression, +"Bad cess to ye!" in such a faithful imitation of my friend the +boatswain's manner that father smiled with the rest; although he said +drily, "Your bird, Nellie, I hope will learn better language when he has +been amongst us a bit longer!" + +My chest arriving presently from the station, I had the happiness of +showing them all that I had forgotten none when away; for I had got a +Mandarin hat for Tom, and two old china jars I had brought for mother +delighting her heart, while Ching Wang's idol which I gave father +especially pleased him. He became, too, I may add, all the more deeply +interested in this little idol when I told him all the circumstances +connected with it, and the impression the Chinaman's devotion to his god +had made on me. + +I have little further to say, having now given a full, true, and +faithful account of my first voyage; although I might point out to you +that I was no longer a "green" apprentice, but now able to "reef, hand, +and steer," as "Old Jock," or rather Captain Gillespie to speak more +respectfully of him, said when I was leaving the ship, expressing the +hope of having me with him on his next trip out, as I "had the makings +of a sailor" in me, and was "beginning to be worth my salt." + +I had told father, though, so much about Tim Rooney, recounting all his +kindness to me on board the Silver Queen from almost the first moment I +saw him--almost, but not quite, the commencement of our first interview +having been rather alarming to me--that nothing would suit him but my +friend Tim's coming down to Westham for a short visit, if only for a +day. + +Of course, I wrote to him, inclosing a letter father sent inviting him, +and Tim came next day prompt as usual in his sailor fashion, winning all +the hearts at the vicarage before he had been an hour in the place. + +Father naturally thanked him for all that he had done for me, which made +the bashful boatswain blush, while he deprecated all mention of his care +of me. + +"Bedad, sorr," said he to father in his raciest brogue, and with that +suspicion of mirth which seemed always to hover about his left eye, "it +wor quite a plisure, sure, to sarve him; for he's the foorst lad I iver +came across as took so koindly to the thrade. 'Dade an' sure, sorr, I +belaive he don't think none the worse av it now, by the same token; an' +would give the same anser, sorr, to what I've axed him more nor once +since he foorst came aboord us. Faix, I'll ax him now, your riverince. +Ain't ye sorry, Misther Gray-ham, as how ye iver wint to say, now?" + +"No, not a bit of it," replied I sturdily, in the same way as I had +always done to his stereotyped inquiry. "And I'll go again cheerfully +as soon as the Silver Queen is ready again for her next voyage." + +"There ye are, sorr!" cried Tim admiringly. "He's a raal broth av a boy +entoirely. Sure, he'll be a man afore his mother yit, sorr!" + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Afloat at Last, by John Conroy Hutcheson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFLOAT AT LAST *** + +***** This file should be named 21104.txt or 21104.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/0/21104/ + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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