“Thanks,” I said. “Good night,” and I went to my room and turned in.
Theweather continued fair, and in three weeks we crossed the line in about twenty degrees west longitude.
We had seen but few vessels on the run down, but now sails were sighted almost daily.
Some of these were heavily loaded clippers, bound round Cape Horn, that had kept well to the eastward, in order to pick up the southeast trade as far over as possible and keep from getting jammed to the northward of Cape St. Roque.
As the northeast trade died out it left us entering the region of the doldrums, with its squalls and calms. We did well to carry the trade across the line, and then we drifted about for several days without making any southing to speak of. The southeast trade appeared to be well to the southward and the weather continued hot and calm.
One damp, overcast morning, a large ship appeared on the northern horizon, standing almost directly after us. She drifted along all day without coming near enough for Captain Crojack to make out who she was, and toward evening she disappeared in a thick smudge of rain.
After supper it cleared off, and the moon shone brightly over a sea of oily smoothness.
The ship astern had drifted quite close during the rain squall, and now she suddenly appeared on the port quarter not half a mile distant.
It was a pretty sight to see her there, with her canvas all glimmering in the moonlight, and all hands took a good look at her. She appeared innocent enough.
By and by the skipper made her out to be an Englishman, and he sat aft looking at her for a long time.
Mrs. Waters and her daughter came on deck and placed chairs, so they could sit and watch the stranger, for she was the only vessel that had come within hailing distance of us since we left port.
It is a strange feeling of fellowship that comes over people who are abroad on the wide ocean when they find themselves in the vicinity of an unknown vessel. There is as much interest taken in a strange ship at sea as there would be in one carrying dear friends on soundings.
While Captain Crojack and his passengers were gazing at the vessel astern the third mate came aft and seated himself close to Miss Waters.
The young girl and he conversed in low tones, so I could not hear what was said; but as she appeared to lose all interest in the ship, it is barely possible that they were not discussing nautical matters.
I can’t explain why this irritated me. It may have been the effect of the moonlight, for the tropic moon has a powerful effect upon people if they sleep with it shining in their faces.
I was irritated and had just about concluded to put in a word to help the conversation, and was starting toward them, whenCrojack put down his night-glass with an impatient jerk.
“Where in thunder is that fellow heading?” he asked, turning and looking at me. “If he keeps on, he’ll be aboard us in an hour or two.
“It’s just the way with some of those thick-headed Englishmen! They’ll come drifting down on you in a dead calm, and, before you know it, they’ll be afoul of you and tear half the stunsails out of you, to say nothing of breaking the booms. It’s nigh eight bells, so suppose you call the second mate and tell him to bring his speaking-trumpet and hail the fellow. To run foul of a ship during a blow is bad enough, but to run foul of one during a calm means that we might lay alongside for a week and roll everything out of us aloft, stunsail-booms and all.”
Brown instantly started with me as I went forward, for the skipper brought his eye to bear on him and saw he was becoming unnautical with his niece. I sent him to call O’Toole.
“Wants me ter hail him, hey?” growledthe red-headed giant, as he tumbled out on the main-deck. “B’ th’ sowl av Saint Patrick, jist hearken ter me. If thim illigant leddies av his are below, ye will hear me talk Spanish t’ th’ bloody Englishmen, sich as ye niver heard before nor since. Hello! Wait a minit—” and the second mate, catching a glimpse of a dress in the moonlight, dived below again in a hurry.
As he had turned out just as he turned in, he had forgotten, in his eagerness, to put on his trousers.
He appeared again in a few minutes better attired for the quarter-deck. Then, growling something not very complimentary to passengers in general, he came aft.
“Hail that fellow and tell him to stand off before he drifts afoul of us,” said the skipper. “Tell him there’s room enough on the Western Ocean without crowding.”
“Ay, ay, sir,” answered O’Toole, as he walked to the rail and glared fiercely at the stranger astern.
“S’ o—o—hoy!” he roared, in a voice like a fog-horn, and then stopped to listen.
He repeated the hail through his speaking-trumpet at the request of the skipper, although it was evident that he held such an instrument in high disdain and deemed any artificial acceleration to his voice as entirely unnecessary.
Soon a faint answer came floating over the calm, moonlit waters.
“What d’ yer want?” it said.
“Stand off, or you’ll be afoul of us!” roared O’Toole.
“Go to ’ell!” came the response, clear and distinct. Then the quiet of the tropic night fell again upon the sea.
“What a brute!” exclaimed Mrs. Waters. “I wonder how a man can be so coarse and vulgar. What is the matter with him?”
“It’s a disease that afflicts a great many shipmasters, and it appears hard to cure,” I ventured. “It’s a—”
“Beggin’ your pardon,” interrupted O’Toole. “’Tis a disease I’ve had occasion t’ cure often enough, an’, by th’ faith, I’ve always seen it give way, most rapid like, before th’ inflooence av prayer, an’ th’ layin’on av hands. I know av a case where a man—”
“By thunder!” snapped Crojack, suddenly, “if it falls as calm as this to-morrow I’ll go aboard that fellow and see who he is. Mr. O’Toole, you will be on deck in the morning, and I wish you to have one of the boats ready. I’ve sailed in most seas and have met all kinds of people, but for a real out an’ outer, with a loose jaw tackle, give me one of those swine-gutted, bull-headed, egotistical Englishmen in the Indian trade. Seems to me, though, I’ve heard that voice before.”
“It’s pretty hard to tell at this distance,” I answered, “but we’ll be able to find out very soon, for she’s drifting down on us all the time.”
The skipper remained quiet for some moments, gazing steadily at the stranger through his glass, so I took the opportunity to lean on the taffrail close to where Miss Waters sat in her chair. She was looking silently at the towering white cloud of canvas astern and her profile shone clear in the moonlight.
Her large blue eyes had a dreamy, stupid look in them as they gazed from under their long lashes, such as I had often noticed before in pretty women; but her skin had a rich, creamy colour about the throat, and the outlines of her willowy figure showed such beautiful curves that I suddenly found my eyes roving in a most uncomfortable manner from ship to girl and from girl to ship.
I don’t attempt to explain it. It may have been the moonlight that made her look so pretty, but as I gazed I suddenly felt as if my blood had turned to melted lead in my veins. The heat of it made my face burn, and I could not utter a word, but I drew a long breath.
I shut my teeth hard and had just made up my mind to beat a retreat, when, to my dismay, she turned and looked me straight in the eyes.
The next instant she burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
“Why, Mr. Gore, I didn’t know you suffered so with asthma,” she said aloud. “You must pardon me, but you really made sucha noise choking that I was quite frightened. I should think the night air was bad for you.”
For an instant I felt as if the ship had sunk under me, but, as I caught the skipper’s inquiring look, my nerve, which seldom deserted me, returned.
“Well, you see, I’m so used to walking fore and aft during my watch on deck that I don’t notice it much while I’m in motion,” I replied. “It’s only when I get lazy and sit down that it affects me. After all, it don’t amount to much, and serves as well as a pipe to keep me on the move during the night.”
I noticed the old man scan the breadth of my beam with a quizzical look; for, you see, while I’m not as tall as some men, there is a certain heft to my shoulders even yet that is ill connected with a man weak in the wind.
However, my answer appeared to satisfy him, and I went below as quickly as possible, and turned in with a feeling of resentment against everybody on board the ship.
At midnight I turned out, and found thestranger close aboard our port quarter, and O’Toole furious at the answer he had received on hailing him.
“He won’t stand off, Mr. Gore,” said the second mate as I came aft, “an’ if it holds calm another hour he’ll be alongside.”
After O’Toole had gone below, I took the glass and watched the man who had just relieved the watch on her quarter-deck. He was not over fifty fathoms distant, and I could see that he was tall and wore a full beard.
Just below the stranger’s white quarter-rail was a yellowish streak on her black hull, and on focusing the night-glass upon it I readCountess of Warwickin small gold letters.
She drifted steadily nearer and I hailed her again.
At that moment a sturdy, bow-legged man appeared on deck and joined the one I had been watching.
He came to the rail and stared at me for several minutes, and then answered in a deep, gruff, even tone:
“By the great eternal! Ain’t this ocean big enough for you, that you must come wailing like a babe in the night? S’help me Gawd, when I sailed Yankee clippers there was little trouble in finding room enough in any ocean. This here lady is a real countess, and you needn’t be afraid of her sassiety, even if she is a little fast. She won’t foul them blooming stunsails of yours.”
At the sound of this voice, which was now quite near and distinct, I heard a quick movement in the skipper’s cabin, and I glanced down into it through one of the open ports.
Crojack had jumped out of his bunk and was in the act of swallowing a stiff drink of grog,—his usual toilet,—and as he finished it he bounded on deck with a series of sudden springs.
“Hello, there!” he bawled at the stranger.
His answer was a hoarse chuckle from the stout man, which swelled into a hearty laugh.
“Hello, there! Is that you, Bill Garnett?” repeated the skipper.
I heard the bow-legged man mutter something, and then take off his cap and mop his bald head, which shone in the moonlight.
“Well, sure enough, so it is,” he finally answered.
“Who the devil would be sailing with such a cargo but me? Why in thunder didn’t you tell me ’twas you, messmate? and I would have tried to put more water atween us—though there ain’t no danger.”
I had been watching him while he was talking, and I now recognized the old mate easily enough. Nearly every man in the deep-water trade at that time had seen or heard of old Bill Garnett.
“I might have known it was you,” growled Crojack. “Always an ornery, bull-headed, headstrong mate, trying to make trouble. Why don’t you keep off and give us more room?”
“Well, well, I am mate o’ this craft, sure enough,” laughed the oldsailor, “but it ain’t such a bad job alongside o’ being a d——d, shad-bellied, thieving shipmaster. As for room, you’ve got the whole ocean and can change your course as easy as my skipper can change his—but you was always a hard man to reason with.”
And old Garnett began to walk fore and aft on his deck, chuckling audibly.
“I might have known it,” repeated the skipper to himself. Then turning to me:
“I’ve had Garnett with me as mate six voyages, Mr. Gore, and I’ve never seen a more unreasonable critter in my life. What do you suppose he’s doing on that Englishman, anyway? She looks mighty light for the India trade.”
“I don’t know why he should be on her, except for the pay,” I replied. “Garnett’s a rough mate and would just as soon sail under one flag as another. He’s been under about all. The vessel does look uncommonly light.”
The skipper stood watching the Englishman for some time, but as she appeared to draw no nearer, he finally went below. TheArrow, having no steering way, now drifted so as to bring the stranger almost head on,so I could no longer see the men on her quarter-deck.
In the morning, after I had passed a restless night, I turned out with but little appetite for breakfast. I knew well enough what was the matter with me, and, had I been ashore, I would have put some distance between myself and our passengers.
I was about as awkward at the table as it was possible to be, but I dared not shirk the ordeal, for fear of making an idiot of myself before Captain Crojack.
It’s all well enough to joke about such matters, and say they don’t last, and that no man ever died for love, but joking don’t help the case in any way whatever.
The cholera don’t last long after it takes a man, either, for that matter. It’s just as well to look the subject squarely in the face.
That no man ever died for love is an absurd statement. There are more men killed or ruined by this mental disturbance than any other.
That its origin is not purely physical even a deep-water sailor knows. That it don’tlast is also certain, for nothing human ever does last above a certain limited time.
I have seen this passion burn itself out like a flash of tropical lightning, and I’ve seen it smoulder like the damp coal in a ship’s hold and last until it passes quietly into the perfect friendship between an old man and an old woman.
But because it don’t last, don’t think that it lacks force while it does act.
I’m a plain man and known as “Bull Gore” among the deep-water men. My face is too big to be handsome, and I’ve the girth of forty-five inches around the heave of my chest. In spite of this, I knew I was going to have a tough struggle and would need all my strength for the fracas brewing within me.
Who is it, I say? Who is it that has felt this passion and can say no one was ever hurt or killed by it?
Why, I once saw a Japanese samurai pass his heavy two-handed sword through nine men in succession for—
Well, I’m not a young man, but I don’t mean to be garrulous.
I don’tremember how I made out at the breakfast-table that morning, but as soon as I came on deck I looked for theCountess of Warwick.
She lay right abreast of us, and so close aboard that I could have flung a belaying-pin into her waist.
Our passengers went aft and sat in the shade of the spanker. They appeared very much interested in the English ship.
Her great black hull sat well in the water, though she was not loaded deep. At every roll of the swell I could see over her high t’gallant-rail and catch a momentary glimpse of the men on her main-deck.
Full rigged fore and aft, she showed a tremendous spread of canvas from her three skysail-yards to the foot of her courses. Her tall spars and long, tapering yards madestunsails unnecessary, and the bright blackness of her standing rigging told plainly that she had a mate on board who understood his business.
Below, her copper showed a foot clear of the sea, and the water was so quiet and clear that the eye could easily follow it down under her bilge, where it seemed to give forth a soft, greenish sheen as the light fell on it at each swing of the hull.
At every roll of the swell her sails slatted against her masts and backed and filled with short, irregular jerks at the clews, until the rattle sounded like the distant roll of musketry.
While I stood looking at her, a short, slight man with red whiskers appeared emerging from the after-companionway. He wore a cap with a long visor, and a dark waistcoat flying loose and unbuttoned, which set off the semi-whiteness of his shirt-sleeves to great advantage. He stood looking at us a few moments, and then sung out:
“Hey there! where are you bound?”
“Hongkong, if you don’t foul and roll thegear out of us,” answered Crojack, somewhat shortly.
“I will be aboard you in a minute,” came the response, and the small skipper held up his hand as if to ward off any further conversation until he arrived.
“Mr. Garnett!” he bawled, as he advanced to the edge of the poop, “Mr. Garnett!”
“Ay, ay, sir,” came the gruff response from somewhere directly beneath his feet.
The next instant the sturdy figure rose from the main-deck, and a shining bald head was furiously mopped within a foot of the skipper’s knees.
“Mr. Garnett,” roared the little captain, “get that port quarter boat overboard, sir, and don’t keep me waiting here all the morning. Jump, now, for I can’t abide waiting for a lazy, worthless set of loafers like your watch.”
A hoarse growling followed this order, and instantly all was noise and action on the ship. The men rushed for oars and tackles,and I was astonished at the large number of them in sight.
Above the turmoil could be heard some of Garnett’s favourite oaths, which had more power of expression than any equal number of words before put together.
The tackles were hooked on, and in another minute the boat was over the side and ready.
“Give Mr. Carter the course, but tell him to lie by until we come aboard again, and don’t keep me waiting here, but get into that boat and take me to the American clipperArrow. Come, bear a hand there.”
“Boat’s all ready, sir,” roared the mate, as he swung himself over the rail and dropped into her stern-sheets, red in the face with exertion.
“Are the cushions in her?” inquired the skipper, looking cautiously over the rail.
“Ay, ay, sir,” came the answer.
“Is the compass and water-breaker stowed safe?”
“Ay, ay, sir, all safe, sir.”
“Are provisions on board, in case we lose our bearings and can’t get back again?”
“Ay, ay, sir, grub enough to last a week.”
“Have you the ‘navigator’ with you?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Have you the ‘navigator’? No! Well, how many times will I have to tell you, Mr. Garnett, never to start off on a cruise until you are ready? Get the ‘navigator,’ and be quick about it.”
The mate climbed on deck again and went below, reappearing in a moment with the “navigator” tucked lovingly under his arm.
“All right, sir,” he cried, as he dropped over into the boat.
At this the little skipper climbed carefully down into the mizzen channels and stepped into the stern-sheets, while the steward came to the rail and passed the skipper’s coat to Mr. Garnett.
“Shove off! don’t sit there looking at me,” and the men let go and shoved clear of the vessel’s side. Then they raised their oars to a peak.
“Let fall!” and the two oars clattered clumsily into the row-locks.
“Give ’way together!” and the boat shot out from the ship’s side and came toward us.
“Git on to th’ style av th’ Johnnie Bull,” chuckled O’Toole, who had just come on deck; “wan would think ’twas a man-o’-war sindin’ out a bloomin’ admiral. Now, b’ th’ faith av th’ howly saints! Who’s the mug I see squattin’ there in th’ stern-sheets? Garnett! B’ th’—”
“In bow! Weigh enough!” cried the little skipper, as the boat with six sweeping strokes fell alongside.
The next instant he sprang over the rail on to our main-deck, closely followed by his mate.
Then he deliberately put on his coat, waved Garnett to stand back, and approached Captain Crojack with a majestic step.
“Captain Webster, sir, yes, sir; Captain Webster of theCountess of Warwick,” hecried, as he reached the quarter-deck, where our skipper stood.
“Ah, did I hear aright? Crojack? Captain Crojack, I’m most happy to meet you, sir; most eternally tickled. Ah, your wife and daughter, I see. Madam, I bow to you. It gives me most uncommon pleasure, miss; yes, I may even say delight. But now, sir,” he cried, turning suddenly upon Crojack, “what is this row about, and what do you mean by hailing me and ordering me to stand off?”
His attack upon the skipper was so sudden that Crojack staggered back a pace or two in amazement and stared with open-eyed wonder at the little man, while his features worked convulsively as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or throw his guest overboard.
“Come, come, sir; I can’t waste all the morning here. Do you see that flag, sir?” and he pointed to the British ensign that hung in folds from his vessel’s peak.
“That is her Majesty’s flag, sir, and I’m her Majesty’s most humble servant, thougha most uncommon man, sir; and if there’s anything I can do for you, sing out. Don’t stand there staring at me, sir. There’s nothing aggravates me so, sir, as to have a man stare at me. Come, come, don’t be afraid of me,” and he held out his hand in a friendly manner.
“Gee-whillikins!” gasped Crojack.
“Nothing of the kind, sir; not at all. Lionel Webster, if you please, and an extraordinary man in some respects, if I do venture to say so myself. Come, come, don’t be afraid. But, ah! Maybe the subject will not bear discussion before the ladies, in which case we’ll go below, sir; yes, sir, quite out of sight, sir,” and he grasped Crojack’s hand and led him like a man who is not quite awake down the companionway into the after cabin.
As they disappeared, I turned to meet Garnett, who, with O’Toole, had stood silently watching the skippers in order to render any assistance if necessary.
“Well, well, ’pon me whurd, for a fact! So it’s you, you old bald-headed, bow-leggedbean-swiller. Sure, there’s no mistaking that stove-in figurehead av yourn. Say, but I’m glad t’ see ye again, messmate. My, how it brings back the times we windjammers used t’ have together, ’mongst th’ archipelagoes. Well, well, ’pon me whurd, how is it you are afloat again, an’ on a bloody Johnnie Bull at that?”
“Don’t meddle with family affairs, shipmate. If a respectable married man chooses to follow the sea for a living, why, there it is. There is no more pious calling than a mate’s, as you might know yourself. But by the eternal thunder! I wonder they allow a man with a head like yours aboard a vessel carrying soft coal and oil in bulk. May the eternal fire swinge me, but you are a freckle-faced, red-headed bulldog—
“You say you’re for China?”
Then he turned to me.
“Ah, Mr. Gore, blast me, but it does me good to get amongst the old crowd. Seems like we’ll have a spell o’ weather, hey?” and the old mate mopped his bald head with a dirty red handkerchief.
I shook hands with him and told him I was glad to see him again, for, although he was an old man, he was active yet, and knew more about handling square canvas than any man living.
I’m not a man to bemoan my luck, like nearly all sailors, and when I find I’m down I make the best of it. So when old Bill Garnett—who had been mate with my father a score of years before—looked askance at me and called me Mr. instead of captain, knowing my rating, I shook his hand and sat beside him on the main hatch.
Once in the shade of the mainsail the old mate fixed himself comfortably and took from his coat pocket a small nickel-plated vial, at which he sniffed loudly.
“What in th’ name av the saints have ye got yer fins on now?” asked O’Toole, who had seated himself opposite. He stared in wonder at the operation while the odour of peppermint filled the air.
“Blarst me if I know,” grunted Garnett, still sniffing violently at the vial.
“What! peppermint? Ye coom t’ that inyer owld age? ’Pon me whurd, ’twas a different odour ye used to carry about ye.”
“I ain’t as young as I was onct, and that place in my head troubles me more as I grows older. This little thing was sold to me by a fellow on the beach, who said it was good for things in the head, an’ he wasn’t the biggest liar I ever knew, for it does me a power o’ good, ’specially at night. You see, I’m too old, anyway, to be cruising about much longer, and if it wasn’t for the money to be gotten out of a cargo like we carry, I would stay on the beach. Then, again, there’s family affairs that makes me want to feel the heave of a ship’s deck under me once more; but these are private matters and don’t concern no one but the parties involved.
“This here little thing’s called ‘Killakoff Kurakold,’ which, the fellow said what sold it to me, was Roosian for neuralg’a cure; but it has an almighty Yankee smack to it. After all, when a man gets along toward his last cruise, like me, he has to take some things for granted—an’ he sees the value of leadingan unselfish life, and that the only real pleasures are those what relieve sufferings of others.”
“’Pon me whurd, you have got it down mighty fine. Th’ very whurds old Father Easyman used t’ say; an’ I do belave th’ medicine has virtue whin it kapes an owld memory alive like that. ‘Sufferin’s av others,’ hey! Which goes t’ show yer mane th’ fellow what invented that little instrument was a thrue philanthropist, an’ a man after yer own heart.”
“I don’t remember hearing those words before,—leastways, not put in that way,—but if you mean to say I didn’t make them up myself, why, I suppose you’re right,” growled Garnett.
“As for making words brand-new, it’s a trade I don’t go into much. All words I ever seen or heard, except some in foreign languages, was invented long afore I was afloat,—such as Tom, Bill, and the likes. You say that dapper chap there, talking to Johnson, is third mate? S’help me! I suppose old man Crojack will be shipping sky-pilotsand holy Joes next,” and he carefully replaced his vial in his pocket, while he listened to Brown talking to one of the boat’s crew who had climbed on deck.
“He’s the best mate I ever sailed with,” I said, as I saw the look of disdain gathering on the old mate’s face. “But tell us how you came to be aboard an Englishman, and what kind of a cargo it is that pays so well. You say you are bound for the Andamans?”
“I’m coming to that now,” he replied, “if you’ll just give a man time to get his bearings,” and he reached into his pocket and drew forth an enormous piece of plug tobacco. He bit off a couple of ounces and began to manipulate the quid so as to get it securely stowed in his cheek while he replaced the remainder of the plug in his pocket.
He then drew a long breath, as if about to begin his yarn, and squirted a huge mouthful of tobacco juice on to the clean white deck.
“You see, when I married—”
“Here, Bill, get a swab an’ wipe up th’ dirty mess,” cried O’Toole to a sailor. “This ain’t no bloody Johnnie Bull, an’ we don’t make no pig-pen av the main-deck. But go ahead, messmate; there’s a swab for ye, an’ ye can take snap shots at it betwixt breaths. Leave it lay, Bill.”
Garnett scowled at the sailor, who dropped the swab; then, taking no further notice of the interruption, he began.
“AsI was saying, when I married and settled down amongst the hills to the east’ard o’ the Sacramento, I thought I’d about served my time on deep water and had come on the beach for good. You see, I married old man White’s daughter—he was a brother to Skipper White, what sailed that race with old man Gore around the Cape—and, as the gal was young and had helped keep house for the old man, I reckoned we’d get along first-rate. But there was bad blood in that White family. The old man had run a boarding-house down by the St. Joe Mission, and he was a bad man. His wife’s brother, Skipper Anderson, had done some queer things, and had got a hard name on the West Coast long ago, when I was with him. So, you see, there was bad blood in the family.
“After I had married and bought a little farm, I just settled down, peaceful like, and waited for the family to increase and multiply. You can bet I was some astonished one day, about two months afterward, when I found the family had increased and multiplied all of a sudden like.
“So I went to the fellow what sold me this vial—which cures most things in the head—and he told me there was no accounting for the strange and curious things what happen along in the course o’ nature. At first, though, he began on science, and told me there was no explanation unless I could follow him through a lot o’ stuff what was writ in a book in a foreign language. He had just about convinced me that all was right when he began on the course o’ nature.
“I ain’t much when it’s a question of science or foreign languages, but I’m way up as high as a skysail truck when it comes down to the course o’ nature. So I told him I guessed it was a family affair, and that I wouldn’t be missed much if I left the valley.
“He grinned some, and told me I was a suspicious old duffer, and I smashed a bottle of castor-oil over his figgerhead, and started for ’Frisco.
“You see, I had a bit o’ stuff left out of that deal on the Clipperton Reef, where we dived for gold in a couple of fathoms of water as it lay in the bilge of theIsabella. I reckoned to live easy enough without standing watch. I wouldn’t trust to them banks, so I had the stuff in bills stitched in a belt around my waist. When I got to town, a man came up to me with a rush and grabbed me by the hand, and he was no other than that rascal mate of Hollender’s what got two years for an incident on a voyage to Havre.
“I wasn’t glad to see the fellow, as I always had a liking for clean company. But I was feeling lonesome. He just fell down and rolled over with laughing, saying: ‘Oh, it can’t be true, it can’t be true. Oh, no, no, no; it can’t possibly be true. It ain’t so. There ain’t no such luck.’ And he laughed so hard that the tears rolled down out of hislittle, fishy eyes. All the time swearing that, of all men, he was most pleased to meet his old shipmate Garnett.
We went about town and took a few drinks together, and he kept on laughing and telling me how glad he was to meet me again. I paid for the drinks, and I guess I drank some.
“The next morning when I woke up, I didn’t have a thing left in the world but the shirt I slept in. The scoundrel would have taken that, too, if it hadn’t fitted me so tight. He even took my old shoes.
“There I was, half-naked, a-roarin’ an’ bellowin’ for further orders, till they clapped me into the calaboose for a crazy, half-drunken old sailor. They gave me some togs after I got sober enough to put them on, and, as I had nothing left in the world, I had to sign on, and I soon finds myself in Liverpool.
“But it was all them clothes’ fault I took to this job. Them Samaritans wot lives intirely fer the sake o’ others mostly fumigates all their clothes o’ the clink. Likewisethe smell o’ the sulphur sticks in them, an’ somehow I must have smelt like a gorilla, fer as soon as I heaves in sight o’ any one, they puts their fingers to their noses and sheers off. Sink me, Mr. Gore, that was a fine odour I carries about me, an’ if ye object to a bit o’ peppermint salts,—which is good fer the head,—yer ought ter smelt me then.
“I asked a man fer a job buildin’ a house,—not as I ever had a hand at buildin’ afore, but he just sheers off and coughs, an’ calls me a stinkin’ skunk, and I heaves a brick at him. Then I tries a store sellin’ meat, but they sicks the dog on me, and I heaves away again.
“’Twas that way everywhere I goes. Nobody would stand near me an’ listen to my tale. I couldn’t shuck the clothes, and I couldn’t get clear o’ the smell. So I finally starts down alongshore, where the smells is so mixed there’s no tellin’ which stinks the worst.
“Here I runs across this Webster, who is cousin to old man Jackson at the Falklands,and who is the most uncommon damn fool, as he says himself.”
“’Pon me whurd, he’s got the proper man for a mate to back him, thin,” observed O’Toole.
“I do know something about handling canvas,” answered Garnett, taking the remark for a compliment; “but may I eternally stew if I don’t speak the truth when I says it takes a m-a-n to handle those gangs about decks.”
“What air ye pratin’ about, man? Do ye mane yer own watch?”
“Now, stave me endwise if you ain’t the same red-headed idiot you always was,” growled Garnett. “Calling a watch a gang! Lord love ye, man, there are one hundred and twenty men atween decks o’ that clipper, and every mother’s son is an out an’ out, all around—”
“Steady, steady, mate,” I said. “Those ladies will hear you if you don’t brace up that tongue of yours.”
“D’ye mane t’ say ye are a convict ship?” cried O’Toole, in amazement.
I tried to conceal my astonishment, but O’Toole jumped up and stood on the hatch, staring hard at the Englishman. “’Pon me whurd, it is so, fer a fact. Now may the prophet sind us a good wind to waft us from sich company. B’ th’ faith av the howly saints, Garnett, I never thought it. ’Pon me whurd I didn’t. Now that’s a cargo I don’t want to sail with, an’ ye must be way down, shipmate, when ye drop t’ th’ carrying av a lot av human cattle. Lord! One hundred and twenty poor divils goin’ ter hell as fast as Bill Garnett can pilot them. So that’s the whyfore ye are headed for the Andamans.”
“Sure,” was Garnett’s laconic answer.
“But you don’t turn to the whole gang at once, do you?” I asked.
“How in the name of thunder can ye turn to a hundred and twenty men in irons,” answered the old mate, with a grin. “Turn them out in small gangs, man. Poor devils they be, sure enough, but they get plenty of exercise atween decks when the old hooker gets a-switching into it, when it comes on toblow. Besides, those ports you see painted on her sides there are not all make-believe. Some of them will open and let in the air, when the hatches make it too close. I’ve been in worse places than that ’tween decks on that ship, and I never was a convict, either.”
“I’ve heard tell that law and justice were two things av an ontirely different nature,” grunted O’Toole, without removing his gaze from the convict ship.
“S’help me, ’tis a fact,” chuckled Garnett, “and I onct heard a skipper say that he had onct met a man who was a bigger fool than Larry O’Toole,—but he couldn’t call to mind exactly who the fellow was.”
While the mates were chaffing each other, an uproar arose from the after cabin.
I could distinguish Crojack’s hoarse voice, raised to a pitch that I knew meant danger to some one. The cabin skylight was open, and the voices of both skippers seemed to come from just beneath it.
“D’ye mean to say that England ownsthe whole Western Ocean?” roared the old man.
“Up to within three miles of any beach whatever,” cried the little Englishman. “But don’t bellow at me, sir; I’m not deaf, and I won’t allow any one to bellow at me, sir.”
“Well, by gorry! England don’t,” roared Crojack.
“I decline to argue the case any further with you, sir,” replied the small skipper, “but I’ll head my course just the same. You have a most uncommon voice, sir, also most extraordinary good grog. So fill my glass and don’t sit there bellowing at me, sir. Nothing aggravates me more than a man bellowing at me. Don’t do it, I say, or I’ll go—”
“You may go to hell!” roared Crojack.
“I may, sir, indeed I may, but”—then came a pause during which I could hear the clink of glasses—“if I do, sir, I’ll head a straight course, sir, and arrive there shipshape with my yards squared, so her Majesty’ll have no cause to be ashamed of me, though I sincerely hope—”
Then the voice of the little skipper drew away, and I glanced at the door of the companionway just as his cap appeared above the combings.
As he stepped on deck he bowed to the ladies and proceeded, with great deliberation, to put on his coat. He had removed it during the discussion below.
“Madam,” said he, addressing Mrs. Waters, “I should extend the hospitality of my ship to you—that is, I would invite you to do me the honour of a visit—were it not that the cargo we carry is unworthy of inspection. I, therefore, wish you a pleasant voyage, and trust your husband will learn moderation from you. If not, he will prove a most uncommon and extraordinary companion for you,” and he waved his hand at Crojack, who stood on the top step of the companionway. The little skipper then walked quietly to the break of the poop and sung out lustily for Mr. Garnett. CaptainCrojack remained aft, his face wearing an expression of extreme ill humour.
Garnett was within two fathoms of his master, but he sprang to his feet at the hail and answered, “Ay, ay, sir,” in hurricane tones.
“Mr. Garnett, is the boat ready?”
“Yes, sir, all ready, sir,” bawled the old sailor as he glanced at the two men of his crew. They immediately sprang over the rail and dropped into her.
“Is all the gear in her?”
“Ay, ay, sir.”
“Then take me aboard my ship as quick as you can, for I’ve wasted all the morning talking to a blockhead.” And he made his way over the side without a word of farewell to Crojack. Garnett followed instantly, and in a few moments they were back again on board the Englishman.
From our decks we could hear the old mate bawling orders to a crowd of sailors, who hooked on the tackles and whisked the small boat on to its berth almost before the skipper had walked aft to the poop.
“I FOUND TIME TO DO SOME WORK UPON THE WHEEL GEAR.”
“I FOUND TIME TO DO SOME WORK UPON THE WHEEL GEAR.”
“I FOUND TIME TO DO SOME WORK UPON THE WHEEL GEAR.”
Itremained calm all that day, and the two vessels were in close proximity. Miss Waters sat aft under an awning rigged over the after part of the poop and gazed down at the smooth surface of the sea. Small objects went floating slowly downward through the clear medium, sending scintillating rays of light as they twisted with the motion. I found time to do some work upon the wheel gear, for the calm weather permitted the unreeving of the tackles as the vessel would not steer. Between times I had a small chance to sit upon the taffrail and answer certain questions that only a mate is expected to answer to passengers. Miss Waters seemed preoccupied and took more than usual interest in the movements of Brown, who seemed willing to aid me in my work by keeping as close to me as possible.Twenty-five feet beneath the surface of the sea the keel of theArrowshowed above the void beneath all. Miss Waters was gazing down absently into the depths when she suddenly made out a vague form, brownish yellow in the light, as all objects appear at great depths. The form grew larger, undulating, waving, but steadily increasing in size. Then, at a depth of about fifty feet the shape of a giant turtle appeared.
“Look,” she cried, “what a monster! What can it be?”
Brown looked over the rail, but failed to make the animal out. I saw the turtle would come to the surface, and called two men to get a boat ready.
“Looks like a logger-head,” I said, “and, if you care to, you can have the sport of catching him.”
“I certainly will, then,” she cried, and sprang up ready to get into the small boat. Crojack hardly liked the proceedings, but I made it all right with him by a promise of a fine turtle steak for supper. Then, getting the whale-irons, of which we hadtwo aboard, into the small boat, I called Brown and two men to get into her, and we were soon alongside theArrow.
“Come,” I said to Miss Waters, “let us see what kind of a sailor you are, for, if you can get in and out of a small boat while theArrowis rolling in this swell, you can prove yourself.”
She sprang instantly into the mizzen channels, disdaining the help offered by Crojack, and then dropped lightly into the small boat’s bottom. We were all ready and shoved clear of the ship’s side.
The turtle had risen to the surface of the sea about ten fathoms distant, but, on seeing the ship and hearing the noise, he had sounded again. However, I knew he would soon reappear, and I forthwith made my way forward and made an iron ready for him. We rowed silently over the oily ocean, keeping a sharp lookout for the game. The two ships seemed suddenly very small and distant, and the vastness of the sea became apparent. It is always that way, and when a person has never been upon the broad seain a small boat, the very greatness of the surrounding space affects one. Miss Waters seemed subdued, and I noticed that she was gazing anxiously now and then at theArrowthat lay wallowing and rolling like a log.
“I don’t think we better go too far away, do you?” she asked.
“That turtle will take us a long way before we get him,” I answered. “If you are afraid, we will go back.”
She blushed a trifle at this.
“We’ll not go back until you show us whether you are able to get him or not,” she said, with some spirit.
That settled it. We would get him if there was any show. I liked the spirit of the girl. Brown said nothing.
“Aye tank dat’s him, sur, right over dere t’ starboard,” said the Swede pulling the stroke oar. The head of the turtle rose slowly above the surface and remained there. We stopped the boat, and waited for him to get quiet before starting to creep upon him. Then, with great caution, we sent the craft drifting slowly toward him, the oars makingno noise. I held the iron ready, and waited until we were within a couple of fathoms. Then I plunged the weapon through his forward flipper, and it toggled fast. We had him.
But he was a determined monster, and he weighed nearly five hundred pounds. He started off across the ocean, and, in spite of all our efforts, we could not stop him. Hauling the line short, we poked him and jabbed him with the boat-hook, but he heeded this very little, keeping his head well down and drawn in out of the way. All the time he swam vigorously with his flippers, and we found that we were gradually getting a long way from the ship.
“If we only had something to kill him with,” said Brown.
“Aye tank I do it, den,” said the Swede, who had been most interested in the affair; “I catch ’em in de old country—so.”
He drew his sheath-knife and lashed it firmly upon the butt-end of the boat-hook. Then he went forward and leaned over the bow, while we hauled the boat as close tothe turtle as we could. Watching his chance, the sailor made a lunge, and drove his blade through the creature’s neck. This had the effect of slowing down his efforts, although it far from finished him. Wounded and harassed as he now was, we gained upon him, and in ten minutes had him landed safely in the bottom of the boat, although he almost swamped the craft in his final struggles.
“He’s big and ugly enough for anything,” said Miss Waters. “Do you mean to eat the monster?”
“He will make excellent steak for all hands,” I answered. “However, if you don’t like him, we might swap some of him for a piece of fresh pork. They have pigs aboard theCountess of Warwick, and Garnett told me they would probably kill one to-day. What do you say, shall we go aboard of her?”
“By all means. I would like nothing better,” she answered.
I looked at the cloudless sky. There was not the slightest sign of a breeze. I determined to risk old man Crojack’s wrath.Then I remembered that I was responsible for the young woman. I had taken her out upon the open ocean almost without her uncle’s consent. We had drifted over a mile from the ship, and, although the weather promised to remain calm and clear, we were on the edge of the equatorial belt, and squalls would soon be of hourly occurrence.
“I reckon we better not go aboard her without first getting the captain’s permission,” I said.
“I suppose you are afraid to,” she answered. “Two officers in one small boat, and not able to do things without permission.”
“I take no responsibility at all,” said Brown, “but I think Mr. Gore is right. Better keep on the good side of the old man, and we may be able to go again to-morrow.”
“A man who is good because afraid to be bad is a mighty mean fellow, I allow,” I said; “but that isn’t the nature of the emotion which governs me in this case.”
“You have so many queer emotions, I hardly know what to think at times,” sheanswered; “but, if you want to go back aboard theArrow, why, go ahead. I’m simply a passenger. And then, I’m not especially fond of pork, even if we haven’t had fresh meat for a month or two.”
“Nevertheless, you shall have some to-morrow, if they do their killing,” said Brown. “As for me, I’ll eat turtle. One don’t get good fresh turtle every day. Besides, the day after to-morrow is Thanksgiving Day.”
“The pig is the turkey of the seamen,” I said, and I noticed the face of the Swede pulling the stroke oar beam in anticipation. “They’ll certainly kill pork soon on board that ‘Johnny Bull.’ It’s a pity the old man didn’t bring something besides those stringy fowls along with him.”
“It seems so funny to have Thanksgiving with a temperature of ninety, and with thin linen clothes,” said Miss Waters. “I’d forgotten all about it.”
We came alongside theArrow, and a line of heads poked over the waist, for the men had seen our catch and were curious. Atackle soon heaved the turtle on deck and then we followed, but I left the small boat to tow astern in a most unseamanlike manner, for I had plans for the morrow.
TheCountess of Warwickhad drifted off during the night and was a good two miles away to the eastward when the hot equatorial sun burned his way into a mass of heavy clouds upon the horizon the day after we caught the turtle. Lumpy masses of cumuli lined the horizon, and solid quadrilaterals, slanting with well-defined edges, reached from them to the sea beneath, showing that we might expect the tropical rainpour. Now and then a slight air ruffled the surface of the ocean, but it came from almost anywhere, and we made no headway on our course. I could see that Garnett had clewed up his courses on theWarwickto keep his heavy canvas from slatting out with the rolling of his ship, and O’Toole had done our own up in a similar manner. The hot, damp air of the early morning was fresh with the salt dew, and the decks and rails were streamingwith the moisture. Sounds from forward were heard distinctly, and even the low voices of men conversing in the forecastle were carried aft. The clatter of pans and pots in the galley told of a busy “moke,” but the weather was too warm for any great appetite. I had slept badly and was in no good humour, so with great perseverance I kept clear of the main-deck to avoid trouble. At that time in the morning a ship’s officer is hardly more than human, and a man in my condition is generally a little less. I stood upon the break of the poop and watched O’Toole sitting upon the main hatch smoking a short pipe. He was in his undershirt and was very warm.
“’Tis a bit warm, or I’d lick th’ whole av th’ ship’s company,” said he to a Dutchman, who strolled past toward the galley for his watch’s breakfast.
“Vat I do, I do noddings, sur,” said the fellow, edging away.
“Och, ’tis fer that alone I’d whale ye, Dootch. Kape away from me, fer I’m th’ divil while this weather lasts. Git.”
“Good marnin’, Mr. Gore,” he continued, without taking his pipe from his mouth, “I’m havin’ steak an’ eggs fer th’ order, an’ may ye enjoy yer vittles. ’Twas a foine burd, that baste ye caught, fer within him ware no less than a hundred eggs. If ye want to take a slice av him over to Garnett an’ that Captain Webster, ’tis all ready fer ye. I’m clane homesick fer a bit av pig, an’ ’twill be a good deal if ye can make a trade. ’Tis uncommon warm.”
“O’Toole,” said I, “you’re a big, red-headed, ugly ruffian, and you’ve that to be thankful for. If you were anything else, I’d come down off this poop and knock the insolence out of you. If you want that pig, you go after it yourself, and don’t you go giving me instructions.”
The second mate grinned.
“’Twas no offence I meant, sir, but, sink me, if ye want ter try a small bit av a dispute, I’ll accommodate ye, sure,” and he rolled up a sleeve, showing an arm of power.
I knew he had been thinking of howI’d go in the small boat with Miss Waters, and it was none of his business. That and the hot morning made me quarrelsome. At the same time I had no intention of coming down off the quarter-deck, at least at his invitation. The steward was bringing the breakfast aft, and I had a means of evading the issue.
“You think too much and work too little, O’Toole,” I said, starting for the forward cabin in the wake of the meal.
“Go to th’ divil,” said the officer, and he whisked a match along the seat of his trousers and relit his pipe.
Brown had shaved and looked clean when he appeared at the table. I felt he had no business there, for it is always the third mate’s place to eat with the carpenter, steward, and the rest. I never like special arrangements for officers with a pull. The two ladies and Captain Crojack came in from the after cabin, Miss Waters dressed in a white muslin frock which fitted her splendid figure and made her bare arms and throat look all the whiter. Crojack had puton a clean duck suit, and took his seat with a quizzical look along his table.
“It’s a good thing to have passengers aboard ship at times,” said he, “for it calls forth the razor and brush. I remember the time when I could hardly tell who was who aboard this ship, for the matted hair and beards which hid the faces of the mates. That steak looks good. It won’t hurt you to eat as much as you can. The ‘doctor’ boiled a piece of silver with a chunk of the turtle meat, and it was as bright as glass after he was through. Turns black—jet-black—if the fish or turtle meat is poisonous. I’ve eaten dolphin boiled with a silver dollar and had it blacken. It broke out in boils all over me within two days.”
“The dollar?” I asked, with some concern.
Crojack looked at me askance. He was not aware of my humour, but was a bit suspicious.
“No, the dolphin,” he said, slowly.
Miss Waters smiled, but Brown looked hard into his plate.
“I once knew a man,” I ventured, “who had figures of women—and ships—all over his body. They were tattooed on him, to be sure, but I don’t quite call to mind ever having seen a man with ‘dolphins.’”
“There are so many things a young fellow of your age hasn’t seen, it would tire one out to tell of them,” said the skipper, good-humouredly. “Better have another piece of turtle.”
I took it and ate doggedly, while the old man held forth upon the evils of fresh pork in the tropics.
However, in spite of the heat and mugginess of the air, Miss Waters managed to get her own way. Crojack allowed her to go with the boat to theCountess of Warwick. The English ship lay motionless and at a distance which put the skipper in a better humour. He would not go himself, especially after seeing what manner of man her captain had shown himself, but I went with two men and Miss Waters, taking half the turtle along with us, some old Americanpapers and magazines, and some bottled beer.
“This is like yachting,” I said, as I settled myself in the stern-sheets and made the young lady comfortable. “If going to sea would only consist of this sort of thing it would not be so intolerably lonesome and monotonous.”
“I suppose I should feel flattered, but I’m at present more interested in the English ship,” said Miss Waters. “Do you think the little skipper will allow us aboard?”
“He made it a point not to invite you, surely,” I answered. I was in no very good humour even yet, and the girl deplored it.
The row across the intervening space of ocean was made rapidly, for the sea being perfectly smooth, the small boat, propelled by two strong men, sheared its way easily through the surface. The sun rose higher above our heads and the heat was intolerable.
Arriving alongside, I saw Garnett leaning over the rail amidships, gazing down at us. He was joined by half the watch, and then he pulled out his little vial andsniffed at it hard while he mopped his bald head.
“Now that’s what I call sailorizing, fer a fact,” said he. “Sink me, Mr. Gore, but that’s the way all mates should go about, with a trim little tender alongside. What have ye got? Beef? Beer? I’ll call the old man—wait.”
“Hold on,” I cried, “wait until I—”
But it was too late, the old mate had gone aft, and in a moment he was calling down the cabin companionway to his master.
“I hev to report a small boat alongside, sir,” said Garnett, in a loud tone, sticking his head under the slide of the hatchway. Captain Webster was evidently dozing, for he made no answer at once. Then the mate repeated the hail.
“Boat alongside? Tell him to get away at once,” came the voice, now aroused. “What does he mean by coming alongside? Who is it, that Yankee?”
“’Tis the mate an’ a young lady, an’ they’ve got some beer, bull-beef, an’ a lot o’ papers fer you, sir.”
“Get that accommodation ladder over the side, Mr. Garnett, and ask the lady aboard. Don’t keep her waiting,—jump, or I’ll come on deck myself.”