“How many men does your ship’s company yet require?” asked Bumpo.
“Only one,” said the Doctor—“But it is so hard to find the right one.”
“Methinks I detect something of the finger of Destination in this,”said Bumpo. “How would I do?”
“Splendidly,” said the Doctor. “But what about your studies? You can’tvery well just go off and leave your university career to take care ofitself, you know.”
“I need a holiday,” said Bumpo. “Even had I not gone with you, Iintended at the end of this term to take a three-months’ absconsion—Butbesides, I shall not be neglecting my edification if I accompany you.Before I left Jolliginki my august father, the King, told me to besure and travel plenty. You are a man of great studiosity. To see theworld in your company is an opportunity not to be sneezed upon. No, no,indeed.”
“How did you like the life at Oxford?” asked the Doctor.
“Oh, passably, passably,” said Bumpo. “I liked it all except thealgebra and the shoes. The algebra hurt my head and the shoes hurt myfeet. I threw the shoes over a wall as soon as I got out of the collegequadrilateral this morning; and the algebra I am happily forgettingvery fast—I liked Cicero—Yes, I think Cicero’s fine—so simultaneous.By the way, they tell me his son is rowing for our college nextyear—charming fellow.”
The Doctor looked down at the black man’s huge bare feet thoughtfully amoment.
“Well,” he said slowly, “there is something in what you say, Bumpo,about getting education from the world as well as from the college. Andif you are really sure that you want to come, we shall be delighted tohave you. Because, to tell you the truth, I think you are exactly theman we need.”
_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
GOOD-BYE!
TWO days after that we had all in readiness for our departure.
On this voyage Jip begged so hard to be taken that the Doctor finallygave in and said he could come. Polynesia and Chee-Chee were the onlyother animals to go with us. Dab-Dab was left in charge of the houseand the animal family we were to leave behind.
Of course, as is always the way, at the last moment we kept rememberingthings we had forgotten; and when we finally closed the house up andwent down the steps to the road, we were all burdened with armfuls ofodd packages.
Halfway to the river, the Doctor suddenly remembered that he had leftthe stock-pot boiling on the kitchen-fire. However, we saw a blackbirdflying by who nested in our garden, and the Doctor asked her to go backfor us and tell Dab-Dab about it.
Down at the river-wall we found a great crowd waiting to see us off.
Standing right near the gang-plank were my mother and father. I hopedthat they would not make a scene, or burst into tears or anything likethat. But as a matter of fact they behaved quite well—for parents. Mymother said something about being sure not to get my feet wet; and myfather just smiled a crooked sort of smile, patted me on the back andwished me luck. Good-byes are awfully uncomfortable things and I wasglad when it was over and we passed on to the ship.
We were a little surprised not to see Matthew Mugg among the crowd. Wehad felt sure that he would be there; and the Doctor had intended togive him some extra instructions about the food for the animals we hadleft at the house.
At last, after much pulling and tugging, we got the anchor up and undida lot of mooring-ropes. Then the _Curlew_ began to move gently down theriver with the out-running tide, while the people on the wall cheeredand waved their handkerchiefs.
We bumped into one or two other boats getting out into the stream; andat one sharp bend in the river we got stuck on a mud bank for a fewminutes. But though the people on the shore seemed to get very excitedat these things, the Doctor did not appear to be disturbed by them inthe least.
“These little accidents will happen in the most carefully regulatedvoyages,” he said as he leaned over the side and fished for his bootswhich had got stuck in the mud while we were pushing off. “Sailing ismuch easier when you get out into the open sea. There aren’t so manysilly things to bump into.”
For me indeed it was a great and wonderful feeling, that getting outinto the open sea, when at length we passed the little lighthouse atthe mouth of the river and found ourselves free of the land. It was allso new and different: just the sky above you and sea below. This ship,which was to be our house and our street, our home and our garden, forso many days to come, seemed so tiny in all this wide water—so tiny andyet so snug, sufficient, safe.
I looked around me and took in a deep breath. The Doctor was at thewheel steering the boat which was now leaping and plunging gentlythrough the waves. (I had expected to feel seasick at first but wasdelighted to find that I didn’t.) Bumpo had been told off to godownstairs and prepare dinner for us. Chee-Chee was coiling up ropesin the stern and laying them in neat piles. My work was fastening downthe things on the deck so that nothing could roll about if the weathershould grow rough when we got further from the land. Jip was up in thepeak of the boat with ears cocked and nose stuck out—like a statue, sostill—his keen old eyes keeping a sharp look-out for floating wrecks,sand-bars, and other dangers. Each one of us had some special job todo, part of the proper running of a ship. Even old Polynesia was takingthe sea’s temperature with the Doctor’s bath-thermometer tied on theend of a string, to make sure there were no icebergs near us. As Ilistened to her swearing softly to herself because she couldn’t readthe pesky figures in the fading light, I realized that the voyage hadbegun in earnest and that very soon it would be night—my first night atsea!
_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
OUR TROUBLES BEGIN
JUST before supper-time Bumpo appeared from downstairs and went to theDoctor at the wheel.
“A stowaway in the hold, Sir,” said he in a very business-likeseafaring voice. “I just discovered him, behind the flour-bags.”
“Dear me!” said the Doctor. “What a nuisance! Stubbins, go down withBumpo and bring the man up. I can’t leave the wheel just now.”
So Bumpo and I went down into the hold; and there, behind theflour-bags, plastered in flour from head to foot, we found a man. Afterwe had swept most of the flour off him with a broom, we discoveredthat it was Matthew Mugg. We hauled him upstairs sneezing and took himbefore the Doctor.
“Why Matthew!” said John Dolittle. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“The temptation was too much for me, Doctor,” said the cat’s-meat-man.“You know I’ve often asked you to take me on voyages with you and younever would. Well, this time, knowing that you needed an extra man, Ithought if I stayed hid till the ship was well at sea you would find Icame in handy like and keep me. But I had to lie so doubled up, forhours, behind them flour-bags, that my rheumatism came on somethingawful. I just had to change my position; and of course just as Istretched out my legs along comes this here African cook of yours andsees my feet sticking out—Don’t this ship roll something awful! Howlong has this storm been going on? I reckon this damp sea air wouldn’tbe very good for my rheumatics.”
“No, Matthew it really isn’t. You ought not to have come. You are notin any way suited to this kind of a life. I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoya long voyage a bit. We’ll stop in at Penzance and put you ashore.Bumpo, please go downstairs to my bunk; and listen: in the pocket ofmy dressing-gown you’ll find some maps. Bring me the small one—withblue pencil-marks at the top. I know Penzance is over here on our leftsomewhere. But I must find out what light-houses there are before Ichange the ship’s course and sail inshore.”
“Very good, Sir,” said Bumpo, turning round smartly and making for thestairway.
“Now Matthew,” said the Doctor, “you can take the coach from Penzanceto Bristol. And from there it is not very far to Puddleby, as you know.Don’t forget to take the usual provisions to the house every Thursday,and be particularly careful to remember the extra supply of herringsfor the baby minks.”
While we were waiting for the maps Chee-Chee and I set about lightingthe lamps: a green one on the right side
of the ship, a red one on theleft and a white one on the mast.
At last we heard some one trundling on the stairs again and the Doctorsaid,
“Ah, here’s Bumpo with the maps at last!”
But to our great astonishment it was not Bumpo alone that appeared but_three_ people.
“Good Lord deliver us! Who are these?” cried John Dolittle.
“Two more stowaways, Sir,” said Bumpo stepping forward briskly. “Ifound them in your cabin hiding under the bunk. One woman and one man,Sir. Here are the maps.”
“This is too much,” said the Doctor feebly. “Who are they? I can’t seetheir faces in this dim light. Strike a match, Bumpo.”
You could never guess who it was. It was Luke and his wife. Mrs. Lukeappeared to be very miserable and seasick.
They explained to the Doctor that after they had settled down to livetogether in the little shack out on the fens, so many people cameto visit them (having heard about the great trial) that life becameimpossible; and they had decided to escape from Puddleby in thismanner—for they had no money to leave any other way—and try to findsome new place to live where they and their story wouldn’t be so wellknown. But as soon as the ship had begun to roll Mrs. Luke had got mostdreadfully unwell.
Poor Luke apologized many times for being such a nuisance and said thatthe whole thing had been his wife’s idea.
The Doctor, after he had sent below for his medicine-bag and had givenMrs. Luke some _sal volatile_ and smelling-salts, said he thought thebest thing to do would be for him to lend them some money and put themashore at Penzance with Matthew. He also wrote a letter for Luke totake with him to a friend the Doctor had in the town of Penzance who,it was hoped, would be able to find Luke work to do there.
As the Doctor opened his purse and took out some gold coins I heardPolynesia, who was sitting on my shoulder watching the whole affair,mutter beneath her breath,
“There he goes—lending his last blessed penny—three pounds ten—allthe money we had for the whole trip! Now we haven’t the price of apostage-stamp aboard if we should lose an anchor or have to buy a pintof tar—Well, let’s pray we don’t run out of food—Why doesn’t he givethem the ship and walk home?”
Presently with the help of the map the course of the boat was changedand, to Mrs. Luke’s great relief, we made for Penzance and dry land.
I was tremendously interested to see how a ship could be steered into aport at night with nothing but light-houses and a compass to guide you.It seemed to me that the Doctor missed all the rocks and sand-bars verycleverly.
We got into that funny little Cornish harbor about eleven o’clock thatnight. The Doctor took his stowaways on shore in our small row-boatwhich we kept on the deck of the _Curlew_ and found them rooms atthe hotel there. When he got back he told us that Mrs. Luke had gonestraight to bed and was feeling much better.
It was now after midnight; so we decided to stay in the harbor and waittill morning before setting out again.
I was glad to get to bed, although I felt that staying up sotremendously late was great fun. As I climbed into the bunk over theDoctor’s and pulled the blankets snugly round me, I found I could lookout of the port-hole at my elbow, and, without raising my head fromthe pillow, could see the lights of Penzance swinging gently up anddown with the motion of the ship at anchor. It was like being rockedto sleep with a little show going on to amuse you. I was just decidingthat I liked the life of the sea very much when I fell fast asleep.
_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE
THE next morning when we were eating a very excellent breakfast ofkidneys and bacon, prepared by our good cook Bumpo, the Doctor said tome,
“I was just wondering, Stubbins, whether I should stop at the CapaBlanca Islands or run right across for the coast of Brazil. Mirandasaid we could expect a spell of excellent weather now—for four and ahalf weeks at least.”
“Well,” I said, spooning out the sugar at the bottom of my cocoa-cup,“I should think it would be best to make straight across while weare sure of good weather. And besides the Purple Bird-of-Paradise isgoing to keep a lookout for us, isn’t she? She’ll be wondering what’shappened to us if we don’t get there in about a month.”
“True, quite true, Stubbins. On the other hand, the Capa Blancas makea very convenient stopping place on our way across. If we should needsupplies or repairs it would be very handy to put in there.”
“How long will it take us from here to the Capa Blancas?” I asked.
“About six days,” said the Doctor—“Well, we can decide later. For thenext two days at any rate our direction would be the same practicallyin either case. If you have finished breakfast let’s go and get underway.”
Upstairs I found our vessel surrounded by white and gray seagullswho flashed and circled about in the sunny morning air, looking forfood-scraps thrown out by the ships into the harbor.
By about half past seven we had the anchor up and the sails set to anice steady breeze; and this time we got out into the open sea withoutbumping into a single thing. We met the Penzance fishing fleet comingin from the night’s fishing, and very trim and neat they looked, in aline like soldiers, with their red-brown sails all leaning over thesame way and the white water dancing before their bows.
For the next three or four days everything went smoothly and nothingunusual happened. During this time we all got settled down into ourregular jobs; and in spare moments the Doctor showed each of us how totake our turns at the wheel, the proper manner of keeping a ship on herright course, and what to do if the wind changed suddenly. We dividedthe twenty-four hours of the day into three spells; and we took it inturns to sleep our eight hours and be awake sixteen. So the ship waswell looked after, with two of us always on duty.
Besides that, Polynesia, who was an older sailor than any of us, andreally knew a lot about running ships, seemed to be always awake—exceptwhen she took her couple of winks in the sun, standing on one legbeside the wheel. You may be sure that no one ever got a chance to stayabed more than his eight hours while Polynesia was around. She used towatch the ship’s clock; and if you overslept a half-minute, she wouldcome down to the cabin and peck you gently on the nose till you got up.
I very soon grew to be quite fond of our funny black friend Bumpo,with his grand way of speaking and his enormous feet which some onewas always stepping on or falling over. Although he was much olderthan I was and had been to college, he never tried to lord it over me.He seemed to be forever smiling and kept all of us in good humor. Itwasn’t long before I began to see the Doctor’s good sense in bringinghim—in spite of the fact that he knew nothing whatever about sailing ortravel.
On the morning of the fifth day out, just as I was taking the wheelover from the Doctor, Bumpo appeared and said,
“The salt beef is nearly all gone, Sir.”
“The salt beef!” cried the Doctor. “Why, we brought a hundred andtwenty pounds with us. We couldn’t have eaten that in five days. Whatcan have become of it?”
“In these lower levels we came upon the shadowy shapesof dead ships”
_Page 360_]
“I don’t know, Sir, I’m sure. Every time I go down to the stores I findanother hunk missing. If it is rats that are eating it, then they arecertainly colossal rodents.”
Polynesia who was walking up and down a stay-rope taking her morningexercise, put in,
“We must search the hold. If this is allowed to go on we will all bestarving before a week is out. Come downstairs with me, Tommy, and wewill look into this matter.”
So we went downstairs into the store-room and Polynesia told us to keepquite still and listen. This we did. And presently we heard from a darkcorner of the hold the distinct sound of someone snoring.
“Ah, I thought so,” said Polynesia. “It’s a man—and a big one. Climbin there, both of you, and haul him out. It sounds as though he werebehind that barrel—Gosh! We seem to have brought half of Puddleby withus. Anyone would think we were a penny
ferry-boat. Such cheek! Haul himout.”
So Bumpo and I lit a lantern and climbed over the stores. And there,behind the barrel, sure enough, we found an enormous bearded man fastasleep with a well-fed look on his face. We woke him up.
“Washamarrer?” he said sleepily.
It was Ben Butcher, the able seaman.
Polynesia spluttered like an angry fire-cracker.
“This is the last straw,” said she. “The one man in the world we leastwanted. Shiver my timbers, what cheek!”
“Would it not be, advisable,” suggested Bumpo, “while the varlet isstill sleepy, to strike him on the head with some heavy object and pushhim through a port-hole into the sea?”
“No. We’d get into trouble,” said Polynesia. “We’re not in Jolliginkinow, you know—worse luck!—Besides, there never was a port-hole bigenough to push that man through. Bring him upstairs to the Doctor.”
So we led the man to the wheel where he respectfully touched his cap tothe Doctor.
“Another stowaway, Sir,” said Bumpo smartly.
I thought the poor Doctor would have a fit.
“Good morning, Captain,” said the man. “Ben Butcher, able seaman, atyour service. I knew you’d need me, so I took the liberty of stowingaway—much against my conscience. But I just couldn’t bear to see youpoor landsmen set out on this voyage without a single real seaman tohelp you. You’d never have got home alive if I hadn’t come—Why look atyour mainsail, Sir—all loose at the throat. First gust of wind comealong, and away goes your canvas overboard—Well, it’s all right now I’mhere. We’ll soon get things in shipshape.”