nceupon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all the sailors and all the captains and all themen who had business with the ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago.
The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's, and they owned the ships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing from that wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed their office to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston.
Once the brigIndustryhad sailed for a far country. Little Jacob and little Sol had gone on that voyage, and they always raced through their breakfast so that they could get out on deck and see what there was to see. Little Sol generally beat and went on deck first, but sometimes little Jacob was first. The reason that littleSol generally beat was that little Jacob had been brought up not to hurry through his meals, but to wait for the older people; and he had to wait, anyway, because he couldn't get the second part until his father and his mother, and any company they had, had finished the first part. Then the first part was carried out and the second part was brought in; and little Jacob had to sit quietly in his chair with his hands folded in his lap until it came in. But little Sol didn't bother much about those things.
One morning little Jacob and little Sol had raced through breakfast, as they always did, and they had finished at exactly the same time, because little Jacob hurried. Then they both tried to go on deck at the same time. They managed to goup the cabin steps together, but they couldn't get through the door together without squeezing very tightly. And, in that squeezing, little Jacob caught his jacket on the lock of the door so that the jacket tore. But little Jacob didn't know it, and he kept on pushing, and at last he and little Sol went bouncing out and fell sprawling on the deck.
Captain Solomon was sitting in the cabin, and he laughed to see them go sprawling out, but he thought that he guessed the little boys had done enough of that racing business. For somebody would have to mend little Jacob's jacket and, besides, there was danger that little Jacob would forget his manners, and that would never do. Little Jacob had beautiful manners. So Captain Solomon madeup his mind that Sol would have to wait until little Jacob finished his breakfast, after that, and then they should go up the cabin steps like little gentlemen and not push and crowd and tear their jackets. And that would be a good thing for little Sol, too, but he wouldn't like it at first. Captain Solomon didn't care whether he liked it or not.
The little boys didn't know what Captain Solomon was thinking about, and they laughed and picked themselves up and looked around. And they didn't see anything but water all about, and the bright sunshine, and one or two little hilly clouds, and all the many sails of theIndustry. For they were still in the trade winds where it is generally good weather. And they saw the mate, and he was standing at the stern and looking down into the water behind the ship.
"Let's see what Mr. Steele is looking at," said little Sol.
"All right," said little Jacob, "let's."
So the two little boys walked to the stern and leaned on the rail and looked down at the water. But first little Jacob said "Good morning" to the mate.
"Good morning, Jacob," said the mate. "Now, what do you see there?"
"I know," cried little Sol. "It's a shark."
"Oh, is it?" cried little Jacob. He was very much interested and excited. "Where is it, Sol?"
Little Sol pointed. "Right there," he said. "You can see his back fin, just as plain."
And little Jacob looked again, and he saw all the little swirls and bubbles and foam that made the wake of the ship, and right in the middle of it all he saw a great three-cornered thing sticking up out of the water. It was dark colored, and it followed after the ship as if it were fastened to it.
"'RIGHT THERE,' HE SAID, 'YOU CAN SEE HIS BACK FIN.'""'RIGHT THERE,' HE SAID, 'YOU CAN SEE HIS BACK FIN.'"
"Is that his back fin?" asked little Jacob, "that three-cornered thing? I don't see the rest of him."
"If you look hard," said Mr. Steele, "you'll make him out. He's clear enough to me."
Little Jacob looked hard and at last he saw the shark himself; but there were so many bubbles and swirls, and the shark was colored so exactly like the water, as he looked down into it, that it wasn'teasy to see him. Both the little boys watched him for some time without saying anything.
At last little Jacob sighed. "He's pretty big," he said. "Why do you suppose he follows the ship that way? It's just as if we were towing him."
"Well," said the mate, "I never had a chance to ask any shark that question—and get an answer—but I think it's to get what the cook throws overboard." The mate turned and looked forward. "I see the cook now, with a bucket of scraps. You watch Mr. Shark."
Little Jacob and little Sol both looked and they saw the cook walking from the galley with his bucket. The galley is the kitchen of the ship. And he emptied the bucket over the side. Then the two littleboys looked quickly at the shark again, to see what he would do.
They saw the shark leave his place at the stern of theIndustryas the things came floating by, and they saw him turn over on his side and eat one or two of the things. He took them into his mouth slowly, as though he had plenty of time; or it seemed as if he ate them slowly. Really, he didn't. They lost sight of him, for he stayed at that place until every scrap was gone.
Little Jacob smiled. "He doesn't have to race through his breakfast," he said, "does he, Sol? Did you see that his underneath parts were white? I wonder why that is. I s'pose it's because anything that looks down looks into darkness, and anything that looks uplooks into lightness. Is that why, Mr. Steele?"
"So that the fish wouldn't see him coming?" asked Mr. Steele. "Well, Jacob, to tell you the truth, I never thought much about it. And I don't really know how a shark would look from underneath, in the water. The pearl divers in India could tell you. But I guess that comes as near to the reason as any other—near enough, anyway. I've no doubt that his coloring makes him very hard to see, in the water."
"I would like to see the pearl divers," said little Jacob, "but I s'pose I can't. And I'm rather glad the shark is gone."
"Huh!" said little Sol. "He isn't gone. He only stopped a minute. He'll be back. Won't he, Mr. Steele?"
Mr. Steele smiled. "There he comes, now."
And the boys looked and they saw the three-cornered fin cutting through the water at a great rate. The shark caught up with the ship easily and took his old place, just astern.
The shark stayed with theIndustryall of that day, and little Jacob watched him once in a while. He thought the shark was kind of horrible and he wished that he would go away. But he didn't, that day or that night, or the next. And Captain Solomon didn't like it, either.
So, when Captain Solomon saw him on the third morning, he spoke to the mate.
"Better get rid of that fellow, Mr. Steele," he said. "Got a shark hook?"
"Yes, sir," answered the mate. "But I'm afraid it isn't big enough for him."
But Captain Solomon told him to try it, anyway. And he called some of the sailors and told them to rig a tackle on the end of the mainyard. That was so that it would be easy to haul the shark in, when they hooked him. And he went down and gotthe shark hook. It was a great, enormous fishhook and it had about a yard of chain hitched to it, because if it was rope that went in the shark's mouth, he might bite it off. And a large rope ran through the blocks of the tackle, and the sailors hitched the end of that rope to the end of the chain. A lot of sailors took hold of the other end of the rope, and they stood with the rope in their hands ready to run away with it, just as they did when they were hoisting a yard with a sail.
Then the cook came with a big chunk of fat salt pork, and he put it on the hook so that the point of the hook was all covered. And the mate looked at it, to see if it was done right, and he saw that it was.
"Slack away on the line," he called to the sailors.
And they let out the rope, until the mate thought that there was enough let out, and then he threw the hook, that was baited with the salt pork, overboard, and it trailed out astern.
The shark saw the pork and he left his place at the stern and went over to see about it. First he seemed to smell of it and make up his mind that it was good to eat. Then he turned lazily over upon his side, showing his whitish belly, and opened his mouth and swallowed the pork, with the hook inside it, and nearly all of the chain. Little Jacob was watching him, and he saw that the shark's mouth was not at the end of his nose, as most fishes' mouths are, but it was quite a way back from his snout, on the under side. And he saw his teeth quite clearly. There werea great many of them, and they seemed to be in rows. Little Jacob didn't have time to count the rows, but he thought that the teeth looked very cruel. The shark's mouth was big enough to take in a man whole. And then the mate, who still had his hand on the rope, jerked it with all his might.
What happened then was never quite clear to little Jacob. He heard the sailors running away with their end of the rope and shouting a chanty and stamping their feet. And he saw the water alongside the ship being all foamed up by an enormous monster that seemed large enough for a whale. Then some water came up from the ocean and hit him in the face, so that he couldn't see for a few minutes and his jacket was all wet through. But the noise kept on.
When little Jacob could see again, the enormous monster was half out of the water and rising slowly to the yard-arm, while he made a tremendous commotion with his tail in the water, and a sailor was just reaching out with an axe. The sailor struck twice with the axe, but little Jacob didn't see where. Then the shark dropped back into the ocean with a great splash and out of sight.
"Well!" said the mate. "He's a good one! Took a good shark hook with him and pretty near a fathom of new chain!"
And when little Jacob had got his breath back again, he ran down into the cabin to write all about the shark in the log-book.
And that's all.
nceupon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the ships hadto go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago.
The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned the ships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing from that wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed their office to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston.
Once, in the long ago, the brigIndustryhad sailed from Boston for far countries, and she had been gone about three months. She was going to Java, first, to get coffee and sugar and other things that they have in Java; and then she was going to Manila and then back to India and home again. It was almost Christmas time. Little Jacob and little Sol were on board theIndustryon that voyage, and it seemed very strange to them that it should be hot at Christmas time. But they were just about at the equator, or a little bit south of it, and it is always hot there; and besides, it is summer at Christmas time south of the equator. So little Jacob and Sol had on their lightest and coolest clothes, and they had straw hats on; but they didn't run about and play much, it was so hot.
The two little boys were lying stretched out in the shadow of a great sail, and they had their hands behind their heads, and they looked up at the tall masts and the yards and the great white sails and once in a while they saw a little hilly cloud, and they didn't say anything for a long time. Finally little Jacob spoke to little Sol.
"What are you thinking about, Sol?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing, much," answered little Sol. "I was thinking it would be fun to be sitting up on the very tip top of the mainmast and letting my feet hang down and swinging back and forth with the mast. Maybe I could see Java."
Little Jacob shivered to think of sitting on top of the mast. "My, Sol!" he said. "You'd fall. There's nothing to hold on to."
"Oh, I'm not going to try it, Jake," said little Sol. "Father'd give it to me, if I did. You know the time I fell overboard?"
Little Jacob nodded. "Well, then," said little Sol. "I guess a boy'd be foolish to try that twice."
Little Jacob nodded again. "Did he thrash you, Sol?" he asked.
Little Sol smiled. "Didn'the, though?" he said. "Ever get a thrashing, Jake?"
Little Jacob hesitated. "Well," he said, slowly, "sometimes—with a slipper."
"Huh!" said little Sol, with much scorn. "That's nothing. My father don't use any slipper."
Little Jacob thought it was time to change the subject. "What makes you think that you could see Java from up there?"
"I don't s'pose I could, really," answered little Sol. "But father said that we ought to sight it within two days."
"To-morrow is Christmas," remarked little Jacob, thoughtfully. "I'd rather like to be at home, on Christmas."
"Well, you can't," said little Sol. "You're thousands of miles from home. I wonder what they'll have for dinner."
"We generally have lots of things for Christmas dinner," said little Jacob, in a stifled little voice, "goose and apple sauce, and potatoes and squash and——"
"I don't mean at home, Jake," said little Sol, gently. "I mean here. We always have good things at home, too. But we haven't any goose or anything else except salt junk and plum duff. I s'pose it'll be that."
But little Jacob didn't say anything because he couldn't speak. He tilted his hat over his eyes and thought how nice it was at home at Christmas time, and how sorry Lois, his mother, would be that he wasn't there, and how sorry his littlesister Lois would be. He didn't know about his father, Captain Jacob, but he thought that perhaps he would be sorry, too; and he knew that his grandfather, Captain Jonathan, would be sorry. He was very fond of his grandfather because Captain Jonathan was always nice and kind and gentle and he seemed to understand little boys. And, at last, little Jacob jammed his hat on straight and got up and ran down into the cabin to write his mother a letter. Captain Solomon would leave the letter in Java for some ship to take home. When he had written the letter he felt better.
When the two little boys came out on deck the next morning, they went forward among the sailors; and they wished each man a Merry Christmas and they gaveeach one some little thing that they had found. The things were some things that Captain Solomon had brought to give away, although he did not expect, when he brought them, to give them to the sailors. And the men seemed very much pleased, and they wished little Jacob and little Sol a Merry Christmas, too, and some of the men had presents for the boys. These presents were usually something that the men had whittled out of ivory or bone or ebony. And little Jacob and little Sol hadn't expected that the men would give them any presents, and they were delighted; and, by the time they had got through giving the men presents their jacket pockets bulged out with all the things the men had given them.
But one thing little Jacob didn't put inhis pocket, for fear that he would break it. That was a little model of the brigIndustry, about three inches long. The hull of the model was cut out of ebony, and the masts and spars were little ebony sticks stuck in, and the sails were of ivory, scraped thin, and the ropes were silk thread. And the sails were bulging, as if the wind was filling them and making them stand out from the yards. Altogether, it was a most beautiful model, and little Jacob was so surprised and pleased that, for some time, he couldn't say anything to the sailor who had given it to him.
"Is this for me?" he said, at last. "Forme?"
"'YES, LITTLE LAD,' HE SAID. 'FOR YOU—IF YOU WANT IT.'""'YES, LITTLE LAD,' HE SAID. 'FOR YOU—IF YOU WANT IT.'"
That sailor was an old man. The little crinkles came around his eyes as he smiled down at little Jacob.
"Yes, little lad," he said. "For you—if you want it. And with a Merry Christmas!"
"Oh," cried little Jacob, "if I want it! I think it is the—most—beautiful—thing I ever saw. I can't thank you enough."
You should have seen the old sailor's face when little Jacob said that. The crinkles were so deep that you could hardly have seen his eyes.
"To see your face now is thanks enough for me," he said.
"But—but," said little Jacob, "Sol hasn't got anything half so pretty as this."
"Never you mind about Sol," said the old man, in a whisper that Sol could hear perfectly well. "He'll be havin' a ship of his own, one o' these days soon. What does he care about models?"
And he looked at Sol and winked. And Sol straightened his shoulders and stopped looking disappointed. "That's what I will," said Sol.
And the boys stayed with the old sailor for a long time, and the sailor pointed to something that was blue and dim on the water, far away.
"See that land?" he said. "That's Christmas Island on Christmas mornin'."
CHRISTMAS ISLAND 1st VIEW, BEARING N BY ECHRISTMAS ISLAND 1stVIEW, BEARING N BY E
And the boys asked if they would go near the island, and he said that they would go pretty near. And little Jacob said that he would get some paper anddraw the island when they came near it, and he would put it in the log book. And so he did, and he made it look like the pictures here. When little Jacob had it all written in the log-book about the presents and about his little model of theIndustryand about Christmas Island, it was time for dinner.
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, 2nd VIEW, BEARING SWCHRISTMAS ISLAND, 2ndVIEW, BEARING SW
When the little boys went in to dinner, they were both very much surprised; for there, on the table, was a real goose, beautifully browned over and smoking hot, and there was apple sauce to eat with it. And there was squash and potato and cabbageand ham and almost as many different things as little Jacob would have had if he had been at home. And behind the goose stood Captain Solomon sharpening the carving knife, and he was smiling.
Little Jacob didn't ask how he managed to have fresh goose, but he evidently wanted to; so Captain Solomon told him that the cook had kept it alive in the long boat all that long time, so as to be sure to have goose for their Christmas dinner. The long boat was kept high up above the men's heads, on a sort of framework, so that little Jacob had never seen the goose; but the cook had had a great deal of trouble to keep the boys from hearing it, and he had had to make it a secret with the sailors and sometimes he had the sailors take it down into the forecastle while little Jacob and little Sol were playing about. Theforecastle is the place where the sailors sleep, and the little boys never went there. But little Sol rather suspected that there was something that the cook was hiding from them, although he had never found out what it was.
And, when they were through eating their goose, they had squash pie and apple pie, two kinds, and potato pie; but they weren't quite like the pies they would have had at home because the cook didn't have any butter to make the crust with, and his lard wasn't very good because they had been in the hot oceans for so long. And they had some very nice steamed pudding with raisins in it, and there were lots of raisins.
When they were through eating their pudding and all the kinds of pies, little Jacob was filled up about to his chin, andthere was just room enough left for an apple and some nuts and raisins. And they had the apples and the nuts and raisins; all the kinds of nuts that they had at home and another kind of nut that little Jacob had never seen before. He didn't know whether to call it a nut or a raisin. It had a thin shell and it was nearly as big as an English walnut, but inside the shell was a raisin; and the raisin had a single stone inside it, a little bigger than a cherry stone. Little Jacob and little Sol thought that these raisinuts tasted very good indeed, and they didn't care whether they were raisins or nuts. Little Sol invented the name, raisinuts.
At last they were through dinner, and the little boys got up, very slowly, for they were filled as full as they could hold. Andthey walked slowly to the cabin steps and up the steps and out on deck. It was rather squally and, just as little Jacob went out of the cabin door, a great gust of wind came and took his straw hat and carried it sailing away over the ocean. You can't stop a ship to get a straw hat, and littleJacob watched it go sailing away on the gust of wind and settle into the ocean; but he was sorry, for it was the only straw hat he had, and it was too hot to wear his white beaver hat. But he thought that he wouldn't wear any hat until they got to Java and then he would get another straw.
When little Jacob had watched his hat out of sight, he went into the cabin again to write some more on his letter to his mother.
And that's all.
nceupon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the shipshad to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago.
The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned the ships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing from that wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed their office to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston.
Once, in the long ago, the brigIndustryhad sailed from Boston for far countries and little Jacob and little Sol had gone in her. And she had got to Java and anchored near the place where they got water and they had sent some sailors ashore in boats to fill the water casks. And they had got the water and comeback; and the boats and the water casks had been hoisted on board, and they had hoisted the anchor and sailed away, through the straits, for Anger. You might not be able to find that place on a map of Java, but that is what Captain Solomon says in his log-book, so it must be right.
They got to Anger the next morning, and Captain Solomon went ashore in his boat, with sailors to row it; for he wanted to send some letters and he wanted to find out what he would have to pay for sugar and for coffee. He had the letters in a bag. There were three that sailors had written; that doesn't seem many letters for a whole crew of sailors to write after they have been at sea for three months, but sailors aren't much at writing letters, anyway. And there were about half adozen that Captain Solomon had written, and some from the mates; and there was one that little Sol had scrawled to his mother, and there was the great thick letter that little Jacob had written to his mother. Captain Solomon couldn't take little Sol and little Jacob ashore with him because he thought he would be too busy to look after them. TheIndustrydidn't even anchor, but she sailed back and forth, in front of the town, waiting for Captain Solomon's boat to come back.
At last Captain Solomon had heard all the news and had sent his letters and had found out the price of sugar and of coffee and had learned what ships were at Batavia. Batavia is a city in Java, not far from Anger, and Captain Solomon was going there on his way back. And he had gotsome fresh vegetables and some turtle and some fresh fowl of a Chinaman, and all his errands were done. So he came back to the ship and got on board and the boat was hoisted up and more sail was set; and theIndustrysailed on her way through Sunda strait. Captain Solomon called it Sunday strait. A strait is a rather narrow passage from one sea to another. Sunda strait leads from the Indian Ocean to Java Sea; and, after that, there were some more straits leading to the China Sea.
Late in the afternoon the wind got lighter; and as there was a strong current setting towards the southwest, through the straits, they couldn't sail as fast as the current carried them. So theIndustrywas carried back to Anger; but she startedagain very early in the morning, when there was more wind and when the tide was different.
When little Jacob and little Sol came on deck they saw three ships, going the other way. They wondered what they were, and they asked the mate. And the mate smiled and said that two of the ships were Dutch and he supposed that they were going to Batavia. And he thought that the other ship was American and he hoped that it would take the letters they had left at Anger. Little Jacob hoped that it would; but little Sol didn't seem to care. And, all of that day, they watched for more ships, and they saw land, now and then, far off on the horizon. It was very hot, for they were almost at the equator; so that even little Sol was contented to keep still.And, towards night, they saw one of the sailors getting the lead line ready.
The lead is just a big lump of lead, like a sinker that is used on a fishing line, and it is tied to the end of a long line that has the fathoms marked on it in much the same way that the log line has the knots marked; but the marks on the lead line are really six feet apart. And the lead itself has the lower end just a little bit hollowed. The sailor who was getting it ready first made sure that the line was all clear, without any knots or kinks in it. And, when he had seen that the line was all right, he took up the lead and smeared some grease on the bottom of it. The sailor was the old man who had given little Jacob the model of the brig.
Little Jacob was surprised. "What is that?" he asked. "Is it grease?"
The sailor was amused. "It's grease," he said, "sure enough."
"And what is it for?" asked little Jacob again. "I hope you don't mind telling me."
"No, lad," said the sailor. "Be sure I'll tell you. It's to bring up some of the bottom so's the cap'n can tell where we are."
Little Jacob didn't understand. "I don't see," he said, "how Captain Solomon can tell where we are, that way."
The sailor laughed. "Well, no," he said. "I s'pose you don't. Well, it's this way. The bottom of the sea is different in different places. In some parts it's mud and in other parts it's gray sand and in othersit's black sand and in others yet it's yellow sand, and so on. In the deep oceans it's different yet, but no lead will reach it. And every good sailor man, such as Cap'n Solomon is, should know the bottom he'll find on the course he sails. And when I heave this lead, it tells him how much water he's got under him and the kind of bottom, for the lead brings up a little of the mud or the sand that sticks to the grease. That's how it is."
Little Jacob thought that he understood. "And will you heave the lead now?" he asked.
"I heave the lead when I'm ordered to," said the old man. "But I'm thinking the cap'n won't want it hove till after dark. There's no lights, hereabouts, you see. Lighthouses," he added, seeingthat little Jacob didn't know what he meant.
"Oh," said little Jacob. And he went off to find Captain Solomon and to ask him if he might stay up that night, until they hove the lead. Heaving the lead is called sounding. And Captain Solomon laughed and said that he guessed so.
So little Jacob didn't go to bed so early as he generally did, but he stayed up to see them heave the lead. And, about nine o'clock, Captain Solomon called little Jacob and little Sol and told them that they had better be ready, for he was just going to begin taking soundings. So the two boys went to look for the sailor with the lead line.
They found him standing by the rail just where the ship was widest, and by hisside was a lantern, lighted. The mate had another lantern, and the light from those two lanterns was the only light that they could see. And, just as the boys came up, the sailor began to swing the lead to and fro.
He swung it farther and farther, each time, like a pendulum to a clock. And, when it was swinging pretty far, he let the line go, so that the heavy lead went ahead of the ship and fell into the water. As soon as he heard it strike the water, the sailor grabbed for the line quickly, and he caught it, but he let it slip through hishand. And he felt the lead strike the bottom. By the time the lead had struck the bottom, the ship had almost caught up to the place where it had gone into the water, so that the line was straight up and down.
The sailor began to pull it in, feeling, with his fingers, for the wet part. When he had come to that, he held it in the light of the lantern for a moment.
"Ten fathom," he called. Then he pulled the lead up.
The mate took it and looked at the part that had been greased. "Mud," he said; and he wiped it off on his finger and showed it to Captain Solomon.
"All right," said Captain Solomon, when he had looked at the mud. "Better keep the lead going for a while."
So the sailor wiped the bottom of the lead clean, and smeared it with grease again. Little Jacob watched him swing it and heave it and pull it in. He wondered whether it was hard or easy to do what the sailor did; whether he could do it when he grew up. The great lead would be too much for a little boy, he knew. But it looked easy.
"Ten and a half," called the sailor, "and mud. I could tell by the feel of it."
"Yes, mud," said the mate, looking at the bottom of the lead.
The lead was kept going, every half hour or so, all night. And, towards sunrise, they got twenty fathoms, and the lead brought up grains of black sand and grains of yellow sand, and they put away the lead line.
But little Jacob didn't know about that, for he was sound asleep in his bunk.
And that's all.
nceupon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who hadbusiness with the ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalks were much worn.
Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob owned the wharf and all the ships that sailed from it. The brigIndustrywas one of the ships that used to sail from that wharf, and after Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob moved to Boston she sailed from a wharf in Boston. And she had sailed from the wharf in Boston on a voyage to the far country, and little Jacob and little Sol had gone in her. And she had sailed through the great ocean and past the country where the monkeys lived and through another ocean to India, and she had anchored in a wide river. And many little boats came off to her from a city that there was on the shore of the river,and they began to take out of theIndustryall the things she had brought to that country.
Little Jacob and little Sol were as quiet as little boys could be expected to be, for they knew that Captain Solomon was very busy at first. But, at last, the things were all out of theIndustry; and Captain Solomon had to go ashore to buy things for the ship to take home again. So he had the sailors let down a boat, and he looked around for the boys. And they were so close behind him that he didn't see them until little Sol touched him.
"Hello, boys!" cried Captain Solomon. "Want to go ashore with me?"
"Yes, sir," called out little Jacob and little Sol, together, so that it sounded as if there was only one boy.
"Well, hop in, then," said Captain Solomon.
And little Sol hopped in, and little Jacob hopped in; and Captain Solomon got in, and the sailors rowed them ashore. And they got out of the boat upon some wide stone steps that went down to the water, and the boys were very glad, for it was the first time that they had set foot upon the ground for a long time. And little Jacob was surprised to find that the ground seemed to be waving around just like the deck of the ship, so that he couldn't walk very well. And he spoke of it to little Sol, and Captain Solomon heard him, and he gave a great laugh.
"So it does," Captain Solomon said. "So it does. And so it will for the next three days, Jacob, if I'm not mistaken.It's queer ground, Jacob, isn't it, to be waving around so? Must be an earthquake."
And little Jacob looked up at Captain Solomon to see whether he was joking or not. For Captain Solomon was very apt to joke, but you couldn't tell whether he was or not unless you looked at him, and you couldn't tell, even then, unless you knew him pretty well.
And little Jacob decided that Captain Solomon was joking, so he smiled. "Yes, sir," he said. "It must be an earthquake. We were very lucky, weren't we, to be just in time for an earthquake?"
It was Captain Solomon's turn to look at little Jacob to see what he meant.
"Ha! Ha! Very lucky, indeed, Jacob,"said Captain Solomon. "We're lucky dogs, Jacob."
And little Sol didn't say anything, but only grinned; and he could do that pretty well. And they went, by queer streets, to the office of Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's agent, who sold the things for them. And after that they went about among the shops and saw all the things that the men had to sell, and Captain Solomon went with them. And the men were very polite to Captain Solomon because they thought he might buy some of their things, but he didn't. And so they did all that day, and, late in the afternoon, they were rowed back to the ship. Little Jacob and little Sol were very tired, and went to sleep right after supper.
The next morning the boat was waitingfor them, and in it were bundles for little Jacob and little Sol. And, after breakfast, they were rowed ashore again to the stone steps. And, at the head of the steps, two bullock carts were waiting for them. Little Jacob was surprised, and he asked Captain Solomon if they were going to see the elephants that his grandfather had spoken of. And Captain Solomon said that they were going to that place, but he didn't know whether the elephants that Captain Jonathan had spoken of had been obliging enough to wait thirty years or not. And little Jacob smiled and got into the bullock cart.
The bullocks went very slowly indeed; and the little boys saw the villages that they passed through on the way, and they saw the women washing the clothes in thewater of the river, and they saw the crocodiles that looked like so many old logs. And, in time, the bullocks got to the place where the elephants were. It was late one afternoon that they got there, so that Captain Solomon thought that they wouldn't go to see the elephants that night. And, just as Captain Solomon said that, they heard a great gong ring. And Captain Solomon said that it wouldn't be any use to go to see them then, anyway, for the elephants stopped work when that gong rang, and nobody could get them to do anything after that. And the little boys thought that was queer.
So, early the next morning, they went to the elephant place. It was a great big place, and a high, strong fence was around it on three sides, and on the fourth sidewas the river. And, next to the river, were great piles of teak-wood logs, and the logs were piled very nicely and evenly, so that the piles wouldn't fall down. And, far off at the back of the great yard, next to the forest, were a lot of the logs which were not piled, but were just as they had been dumped there, pell-mell, when they had been brought in from the forest. The logs that were all piled up nicely were to be sent down the river.
Little Jacob and little Sol had just time to see all that, when the great gong rang. Then the elephants began to come out of a big shed that was in the back of the yard, and the little boys saw that some of the elephants had mahouts, or drivers, on them but the most of them didn't have any drivers. And the mahouts sat on thenecks of their elephants, just back of the heads, and each mahout had an elephant-goad, something like an ox-goad, only that it was shorter and the end that was sharp was bent around so that it was something like the claws of a hammer, but the claws were sharp.
And the elephants that knew their business walked slowly over to the logs that were piled pell-mell, and they made the elephants that didn't know their business go there too; and if any elephant, that didn't know, tried to go another way, the old elephants would butt him and jab him with their tusks. And then there was great squealing and noise. And when the elephants got to the logs, each one knelt down and put his tusks under a log and curled his trunk over and around it, andthen he got up and walked slowly to the place where the logs were piled so nicely. And he put his log on the pile so that it wouldn't fall down, and when the pile was so high that he couldn't reach then he began to make a new pile. But some of the elephants didn't have any tusks and they just curled their trunks around the logs and carried them that way.
Little Jacob and little Sol were very much interested in watching the elephants and in seeing how wise they were; for they piled the logs just as well as if a man had told them where to put each one. And Captain Solomon said that they piled the logs better than any man there could have done it. And little Jacob caught sight of one elephant that had his ears torn and had only one tusk.
When he caught sight of that elephant, little Jacob called out. "Look, Captain Solomon!" he cried. "See! There is the elephant that grandfather told about, that will let little boys ride him."
And the elephant was pretty near and he heard little Jacob, but he couldn't understand what he said, for those elephants only understand the language that they speak in India. But the old elephant stopped and turned his head as far as he could, which wasn't very far, for elephants haven't any neck worth mentioning, so he had to turn his whole body before he could see the little boys. And, when he saw them, he began to walk up to the place where they were. And little Jacob was a little bit scared, for the elephant was very big and he didn't know what he mightdo. But little Jacob didn't run or look scared, and little Sol wasn't frightened at all.
And, when the old elephant had got near the little boys, he stopped and stretched out his trunk toward them. And little Sol gave him a lump of sugar that he had in his pocket, and the elephant ate the sugar and stretched out his trunk again, but he didn't move.
"I know what he wants," cried little Jacob. And he got up from the log where he was sitting, and raised his arms, and the old elephant curled his trunk about little Jacob and put him up high on his back, very gently. And little Jacob grabbed hold of a sort of harness that the elephant had on, and he laughed. Then the elephant stretched out his trunk for littleSol and put him up behind little Jacob. And little Sol held on to the harness, too.
Captain Solomon didn't know what to do while the elephant was putting the little boys up on his back, but then he made up his mind that the boys were well enough off; and the old elephant walked away, very carefully, and he walked all around the great yard with the boys on his back. And the boys laughed and said that it was fun. But Captain Solomon called to them to hold on tight. And they held on tight. And when they had been all around the great yard, the old elephant came back to the place where Captain Solomon was sitting. And he reached up with his trunk and took the boys down, first little Sol and then little Jacob, and he set them down onthe ground very carefully. And the boys gave him some more sugar and stroked his trunk, and then he went away to his log piling again.