CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
I AM UNSHIPPED FOR A SHORT TIME, IN ORDER TO RECORD SHIPMENTS ANDENGROSS INVOICES--FORM A NEW ACQUAINTANCE, WHAT IS CALLED IN THE WORLD"A WARM MAN," THOUGH HE PASSED THE BEST PART OF HIS LIFE AMONG ICEBERGS,AND ONE WHOLE NIGHT WITHIN THE RIBS OF DEATH--HIS WIFE WORKS HARD ATGENTILITY.
We arrived at Sheerness the next morning, landed the bricks, which werefor the Government buildings, and returned in ballast to the wharf. Myfirst inquiry was for the Dominie; but he had not yet returned; and MrDrummond further informed me that he had been obliged to send away hisunder-clerk and wished me to simply take his place until he couldprocure another. The lighter therefore took in her cargo, and sailedwithout me, which was of consequence, as my apprenticeship still wenton. I now lived with Mr Drummond as one of his own family, and wantedfor nothing. His continual kindness to me made me strive all I could toplease him by diligence and attention, and I soon became very expert ataccounts, and, as he said, very useful. The advantages to me, I hardlyneed observe were considerable, and I gained information every day.Still, although I was glad to be of any use to Mr Drummond, theconfinement at the desk was irksome, and I anxiously looked for thearrival of the new clerk to take my place and leave me free to join thelighter. Mr Drummond did not appear to me to be in any hurry; indeed,I believe that he would have retained me altogether, had he notperceived that I still wished to be on the river.
"At all events, Jacob, I shall keep you here until you are master ofyour work; it will be useful to you hereafter," he said to me one day;"and you do not gain much by sailing up and down the river."
This was true; and I also derived much advantage from the evenings spentwith Mrs Drummond, who was a very sensible good woman, and would makeme read aloud to her and little Sarah as they sat at their needle. Ihad no idea, until I was employed posting up the book, that MrDrummond's concern was so extensive, or that there was so much capitalemployed in the business. The Dominie returned a few days after myarrival. When we met his nose had resumed its former appearance, and henever brought up the subject of the evening on board of the lighter. Isaw him frequently, mostly on Sundays after I had been to church withthe family; and half-an-hour, at least, was certain to be dedicated toour reading together one of the classics.
As I was on shore several months, I became acquainted with manyfamilies, one or two of which were worth noticing. Among the foremostwas Captain Turnbull, at least such was his appellation until within thelast two months previous to my making his acquaintance, when MrTurnbull sent out his cards, _George Turnbull, Esquire_. The history ofCaptain Turnbull was as follows:--He had, with his twin brother, beenhung up at the knocker, and afterwards had been educated at theFoundling Hospital; they had both been apprenticed to the sea; grown upthorough-bred, capital, seamen in the Greenland fishery; rose to bemates then captains; had been very successful, owned part, then thewhole of the ship, afterwards two or three ships; and had wound up withhandsome fortunes. Captain Turnbull was a married man without a family;his wife, fine in person, vulgar in speech, a would-be fashionable lady,against which fashion Captain T had for years pleaded poverty; but hisbrother, who had remained a bachelor, died, leaving him forty thousandpounds--a fact which could not be concealed. Captain Turnbull had notallowed his wife to be aware of the extent of his own fortune, more froma wish to live quietly and happily than from any motive of parsimony,for he was liberal to excess; but now he had no further excuse to plead,and Mrs Turnbull insisted upon _fashion_. The house they had lived inwas given up, and a marine villa on the borders of the Thames to acertain degree met the views of both parties; Mrs Turnbull anticipatingdinners and fetes, and the captain content to watch what was going on inthe river, and amuse himself in a wherry. They had long beenacquaintances of Mr and Mrs Drummond; and Captain Turnbull's characterwas such as always to command the respect of Mr Drummond, as he was anhonest, friendly man. Mrs Turnbull had now set up her carriage, andshe was, in her own opinion, a very great personage. She would have cutall her former acquaintance; but on that point the captain wasinflexible, particularly as regarded the Drummonds. As far as they wereconcerned, Mrs Turnbull gave way, Mrs Drummond being a lady-likewoman, and Mr Drummond universally respected as a man of talent andinformation. Captain, or rather, Mr Turnbull, was a constant visitorat our house, and very partial to me. He used to scold Mr Drummond forkeeping me so close to my desk, and would often persuade him to give mea couple of hours' run. When this was obtained, he would call awaterman, throw him a crown, and tell him to get out of his wherry asfast as he could. We then embarked, and amused ourselves pulling up anddown the river, while Mrs Turnbull, dressed in the extremity of thefashion, rode out in the carriage and left her cards in every direction.
One day Mr Turnbull called upon the Drummonds, and asked them to dinewith him on the following Saturday; they accepted the invitation."By-the-by," said he, "I got what my wife calls a _remind_ in mypocket;" and he pulled out of his coat-pocket a large card, "with Mrand Mrs Turnbull's compliments," etcetera, which card he had doubled intwo by his sitting down upon it, shortly after he came in. Mr Turnbullstraightened it again as well as he could, and laid it on the table."And Jacob," said he, "you'll come too. You don't want a remind; but ifyou do, my wife will send you one."
I replied, "that I wanted no remind for a good dinner."
"No, I dare say not, my boy; but recollect that you come an hour or twobefore the dinner-hour, to help me; there's so much fuss with one thingor another, that I'm left in the lurch; and as for trusting the keys ofthe spirit-room to that long-togged rascal of a butler, I'll see himharpoon'd first; so do you come and help me, Jacob."
This having been promised, he asked Mr Drummond to lend me for an houror so, as he wished to take a row up the river. This was also consentedto; we embarked and pulled away for Kew Bridge. Mr Turnbull was asgood a hand at a yarn as old Tom, and many were the adventures henarrated to me of what had taken place during the vicissitudes of hislife, more especially when he was employed in the Greenland fishery. Herelated an accident that morning, which particularly bore upon themarvellous, although I do not believe that he was at all guilty ofindulging in a traveller's licence.
"Jacob," said he, "I recollect once when I was very near eaten alive byfoxes, and that in a very singular manner. I was then mate of aGreenland ship. We had been on the fishing ground for three months, andhad twelve fish on board. Finding we were doing well, we fixed ourice-anchors upon a very large iceberg, drifting up and down with it, andtaking fish as we fell in with them. One morning we had just cast loosethe carcass of a fish which we had cut up, when the man in the crow'snest, on the look-out for another `fall,' cried out that a large polarbear and her cub were swimming over to the iceberg, against the side ofwhich, and about half-a-mile from us, the carcass of a whale wasbeating. As we had nothing to do, seven of us immediately started inchase we had intended to have gone after the foxes, which had gatheredthere also in hundreds, to prey upon the dead whale. It was then quitecalm: we soon came up with the bear, who at first was for making off;but as the cub could not get on over the rough ice as well as the oldone, she at last turned round to bay. We shot the cub to make sure ofher, and it did make sure of the dam not leaving us till either she orwe perished in the conflict. I never shall forget her moaning over thecub, as it lay bleeding on the ice, while we fired bullet after bulletinto her. At last she turned round, gave a roar and a gnashing snarl,which you might have heard a mile, and, with her eyes flashing fire,darted upon us. We received her in a body, all close together, with ourlances to her breast; but she was so large and strong, that she beat usall back, and two of us fell; fortunately the others held their ground,and as she was then on end, three bullets were put into her chest, whichbrought her down. I never saw so large a beast in my life. I don'twish to make her out larger than she really was, but I have seen many abullock at Smithfield which would not weigh two-thirds of her. Afterthat, we had some trouble in despatching her; and while we were soemp
loyed, the wind blew up in gusts from the northward, and the snowfell heavy. The men were for returning to the ship immediately, whichcertainly was the wisest thing for us all to do; but I thought that thesnowstorm would blow over in a short time, and not wishing to lose sofine a skin, resolved to remain and flay the beast; for I knew that ifleft there a few hours, as the foxes could not get hold of the carcassof the whale, which had not grounded, they would soon finish the bearand the cub, and the skins be worth nothing. Well, the other men wentback to the ship, and as it was, the snow-storm came on so thick thatthey lost their way, and would never have found her, if it was not thatthe bell was kept tolling for a guide to them. I soon found that I haddone a very foolish thing; instead of the storm blowing over, the snowcame down thicker and thicker; and before I had taken a quarter of theskin off, I was becoming cold and numbed, and then I was unable toregain the ship, and with every prospect of being frozen to death beforethe storm was over. At last, I knew what was my only chance. I hadflayed all the belly of the bear, but had not cut her open. I rippedher up, tore out all her inside, and then contrived to get into herbody, where I lay, and, having closed up the entrance hole, was warm andcomfortable, for the animal heat had not yet been extinguished. Thismanoeuvre, no doubt, saved my life: and I have heard that the Frenchsoldiers did the same in their unfortunate Russian campaign, killingtheir horses and getting inside to protect themselves from the dreadfulweather. Well, Jacob, I had not lain more than half-an-hour, when Iknew by sundry jerks and tugs at my newly invented hurricane-house thatthe foxes were busy--and so they were sure, enough. There must havebeen hundreds of them, for they were at work in all directions, and somepushed their sharp noses into the opening where I had crept in; but Icontrived to get out my knife and saw their noses across whenever theytouched me, otherwise I should have been eaten up in a very short time.There were so many of them, and they were so ravenous, that they soongot through the bear's thick skin, and were tearing away at the flesh.Now I was not so much afraid of their eating me, as I thought that if Ijumped up and discovered myself they would have all fled. No saying,though; two or three hundred ravenous devils take courage when together;but I was afraid that they would devour my covering from the weather,and then I should perish with the cold; and I was also afraid of havingpieces nipped out of me, which would of course oblige me to quit myretreat. At last daylight was made through the upper part of thecarcass, and I was only protected by the ribs of the animal, betweenwhich every now and then their noses dived and nipped my sealskinjacket. I was just thinking of shouting to frighten them away, when Iheard the report of half-a-dozen muskets, and some of the bullets struckthe carcass, but fortunately did not hit me. I immediately halloed asloud as I could, and the men, hearing me, ceased firing. They had firedat the foxes, little thinking that I was inside of the bear. I crawledout; the storm was over, and the men of the ship had come back to lookfor me. My brother, who was also a mate on board of the vessel, who hadnot been with the first party, had joined them in the search, but withlittle hopes of finding me alive. He hugged me in his arms, covered asI was with blood, as soon as he saw me. He's dead now, poor fellow--That's the story, Jacob."
"Thank you, sir," replied I; but perceiving that the memory of hisbrother affected him, I did not speak again for a few minutes. We thenresumed our conversation, and pulling back with the tide, landed at thewharf.
On the day of the dinner party I went up to Mr Turnbull's at threeo'clock as he had proposed. I found the house in a bustle; Mr and MrsTurnbull, with the butler and footman, in the dining-room, debating asto the propriety of _this_ and _that_ being placed _here_ and _there_,both servants giving their opinion, and arguing on a footing ofequality, contradicting and insisting, Mr Turnbull occasionallythrowing in a word, and each time snubbed by his wife, although theservants dare not take any liberty with him. "Do, pray, Mr Turnbull,leave _h_us to settle these matters. Get _h_up your wine; that is yourdepartment. Leave the room, Mr Turnbull, _h_if you please. Mortimerand I know what we are about, without your _h_interference."
"Oh! by the Lord, I don't wish to interfere; but I wish you and yourservants not to be squabbling, that's all. If they gave me half the_cheek_--"
"Do, pray, Mr Turnbull, leave the room, and allow me to regulate my own_'ouse_hold."
"Come, Jacob, we'll go down into the cellar," said Mr Turnbull; andaccordingly we went.
I assisted Mr Turnbull in his department as much as I could, but hegrumbled very much. "I can't bear all this nonsense, all this fineryand foolery. Everything comes up cold, everything is out of reach. Thetable's so long, and so covered with uneatables, that my wife is hardlywithin hail and, by jingo, with her the servants are masters. Not withme, at all events; for if they spoke to me as they do to Mrs Turnbull,I would kick them out of the house. However, Jacob, there's no help forit. All one asks for is quiet; and I must put up with all thissometimes, or I should have no quiet from one year's end to another.When a woman will have her way, there's no stopping her: you know theold verse--
"A man's a fool who strives by force or skill To stem the torrent of a woman's will; For if she will, she will, you may depend on't, And if she won't, she won't--and there's an end on't.
"Now let's go up into my room, and we will chat while I wash my hands."
As soon as Mr Turnbull was dressed, we went down into the drawing-room,which was crowded with tables loaded with every variety of ornamentalarticles. "Now this is what my wife calls fashionable. One might aswell be steering through an ice-floe as try to come to an anchor herewithout running foul of something. It's _hard-a-port_ or_hard-a-starboard_ every minute; and if your coat-tail _jibes_, awaygoes something, and whatever it is that smashes, Mrs T always swears itwas the _most valuable_ thing in the room. I'm like a bull in achina-shop. One comfort is, that I never come in here except whenthere's company. Indeed, I'm not allowed, thank God. Sit on a chair,Jacob, one of those spider-like French things, for my wife won't allow_blacks_, as she calls them, to come to an anchor upon her sky-blue silksofas. How stupid to have furniture that one's not to make use of!Give me comfort but it appears that's not to be bought for money."