CHAPTER IV.
ON THE "SPARTACUS."
The ulster and the felt hat soon came off again, for a head wind laywaiting in the offing, and the "Spartacus" began to pitch and toss in amanner which made all her unseasoned passengers glad to betakethemselves to their berths. Mrs. Ashe and Amy were among the earliestvictims of sea-sickness; and Katy, after helping them to settle in theirstaterooms, found herself too dizzy and ill to sit up a moment longer,and thankfully resorted to her own.
As the night came on, the wind grew stronger and the motion worse. The"Spartacus" had the reputation of being a dreadful "roller," and seemedbound to justify it on this particular voyage. Down, down, down thegreat hull would slide till Katy would hold her breath with fear lest itmight never right itself again; then slowly, slowly the turn would bemade, and up, up, up it would go, till the cant on the other side wasequally alarming. On the whole, Katy preferred to have her own side ofthe ship, the downward one; for it was less difficult to keep herself inthe berth, from which she was in continual danger of being thrown. Thenight seemed endless, for she was too frightened to sleep except inbroken snatches; and when day dawned, and she looked through the littleround pane of glass in the port-hole, only gray sky and gray welteringwaves and flying spray and rain met her view.
"Oh, dear, why do people ever go to sea, unless they must?" she thoughtfeebly to herself. She wanted to get up and see how Mrs. Ashe had livedthrough the night, but the attempt to move made her so miserably illthat she was glad to sink again on her pillows.
The stewardess looked in with offers of tea and toast, the very ideaof which was simply dreadful, and pronounced the other lady "'orridlyill, worse than you are, Miss," and the little girl "takin' ondreadful in the h'upper berth." Of this fact Katy soon had audibleproof; for as her dizzy senses rallied a little, she could hear Amy inthe opposite stateroom crying and sobbing pitifully. She seemed to beangry as well as sick, for she was scolding her poor mother in themost vehement fashion.
"I hate being at sea," Katy heard her say. "I won't stay in this nastyold ship. Mamma! Mamma! do you hear me? I won't stay in this ship! Itwasn't a bit kind of you to bring me to such a horrid place. It was veryunkind; it was cru-el. I want to go back, mamma. Tell the captain totake me back to the land. Mamma, why don't you speak to me? Oh, I am sosick and so very un-happy. Don't you wish you were dead? I do!"
And then came another storm of sobs, but never a sound from Mrs. Ashe,who, Katy suspected, was too ill to speak. She felt very sorry for poorlittle Amy, raging there in her high berth like some imprisonedcreature, but she was powerless to help her. She could only resignherself to her own discomforts, and try to believe that somehow,sometime, this state of things must mend,--either they should all get toland or all go to the bottom and be drowned, and at that moment shedidn't care very much which it turned out to be.
The gale increased as the day wore on, and the vessel pitcheddreadfully. Twice Katy was thrown out of her berth on the floor; thenthe stewardess came and fixed a sort of movable side to the berth, whichheld her in, but made her feel like a child fastened into a railed crib.At intervals she could still hear Amy crying and scolding her mother,and conjectured that they were having a dreadful time of it in the otherstateroom. It was all like a bad dream. "And they call this travellingfor pleasure!" thought poor Katy.
One droll thing happened in the course of the second night,--at least itseemed droll afterward; at the time Katy was too uncomfortable to enjoyit. Amid the rush of the wind, the creaking of the ship's timbers, andthe shrill buzz of the screw, she heard a sound of queer littlefootsteps in the entry outside of her open door, hopping and leapingtogether in an odd irregular way, like a regiment of mice or toysoldiers. Nearer and nearer they came; and Katy opening her eyes saw aprocession of boots and shoes of all sizes and shapes, which hadevidently been left on the floors or at the doors of various staterooms,and which in obedience to the lurchings of the vessel had collected inthe cabin. They now seemed to be acting in concert with one another, andreally looked alive as they bumped and trotted side by side, and two bytwo, in at the door and up close to her bedside. There they remained forseveral moments executing what looked like a dance; then the leadingshoe turned on its heel as if giving a signal to the others, and theyall hopped slowly again into the passage-way and disappeared. It wasexactly like one of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tales, Katy wrote toClover afterward. She heard them going down the cabin; but how it ended,or whether the owners of the boots and shoes ever got their ownparticular pairs again, she never knew.
Toward morning the gale abated, the sea became smoother, and she droppedasleep. When she woke the sun was struggling through the clouds, and shefelt better.
The stewardess opened the port-hole to freshen the air, and helped herto wash her face and smooth her tangled hair; then she produced a littlebasin of gruel and a triangular bit of toast, and Katy found that herappetite was come again and she could eat.
"And 'ere's a letter, ma'am, which has come for you by post thismorning," said the nice old stewardess, producing an envelope from herpocket, and eying her patient with great satisfaction.
"By post!" cried Katy, in amazement; "why, how can that be?" Thencatching sight of Rose's handwriting on the envelope, she understood,and smiled at her own simplicity.
The stewardess beamed at her as she opened it, then saying again, "Yes,'m, by post, m'm," withdrew, and left Katy to enjoy the little surprise.
The letter was not long, but it was very like its writer. Rose drew apicture of what Katy would probably be doing at the time it reachedher,--a picture so near the truth that Katy felt as if Rose must havethe spirit of prophecy, especially as she kindly illustrated thesituation with a series of pen-and-ink drawings, in which Katy wasdepicted as prone in her berth, refusing with horror to go to dinner,looking longingly backward toward the quarter where the United Stateswas supposed to be, and fishing out of her port-hole with a crooked pinin hopes of grappling the submarine cable and sending a message to herfamily to come out at once and take her home. It ended with this short"poem," over which Katy laughed till Mrs. Ashe called feebly across theentry to ask what _was_ the matter?
"Break, break, break And mis-behave, O sea, And I wish that my tongue could utter The hatred I feel for thee!
"Oh, well for the fisherman's child On the sandy beach at his play; Oh, well for all sensible folk Who are safe at home to-day!
"But this horrible ship keeps on, And is never a moment still, And I yearn for the touch of the nice dry land, Where I needn't feel so ill!
"Break! break! break! There is no good left in me; For the dinner I ate on the shore so late Has vanished into the sea!"
Laughter is very restorative after the forlornity of sea-sickness; andKaty was so stimulated by her letter that she managed to struggle intoher dressing-gown and slippers and across the entry to Mrs. Ashe'sstateroom. Amy had fallen asleep at last and must not be waked up, sotheir interview was conducted in whispers. Mrs. Ashe had by no means gotto the tea-and-toast stage yet, and was feeling miserable enough.
"I have had the most dreadful time with Amy," she said. "All dayyesterday, when she wasn't sick she was raging at me from the upperberth, and I too ill to say a word in reply. I never knew her sonaughty! And it seemed very neglectful not to come to see after you,poor dear child! but really I couldn't raise my head."
"Neither could I, and I felt just as guilty not to be taking care ofyou," said Katy. "Well, the worst is over with all of us, I hope. Thevessel doesn't pitch half so much now, and the stewardess says we shallfeel a great deal better as soon as we get on deck. She is comingpresently to help me up; and when Amy wakes, won't you let her bedressed, and I will take care of her while Mrs. Barrett attends to you."
"I don't think I can be dressed," sighed poor Mrs. Ashe. "I feel as if Ishould just lie here till we get to Liverpool."
"Oh no, h'indeed, mum,--no, you won't," put in Mrs. Barrett, who at thatmoment appeared, gruel-cup in h
and. "I don't never let my ladies lie intheir berths a moment longer than there is need of. I h'always gets themon deck as soon as possible to get the h'air. It's the best medicine youcan 'ave, ma'am, the fresh h'air; h'indeed it h'is."
Stewardesses are all-powerful on board ship, and Mrs. Barrett was sopersuasive as well as positive that it was not possible to resist her.She got Katy into her dress and wraps, and seated her on deck in a chairwith a great rug wrapped about her feet, with very little effort onKaty's part. Then she dived down the companion-way again, and in thecourse of an hour appeared escorting a big burly steward, who carriedpoor little pale Amy in his arms as easily as though she had been akitten. Amy gave a scream of joy at the sight of Katy, and cuddled downin her lap under the warm rug with a sigh of relief and satisfaction.
"I thought I was never going to see you again," she said, with a littlesqueeze. "Oh, Miss Katy, it has been so horrid! I never thought thatgoing to Europe meant such dreadful things as this!"
"This is only the beginning; we shall get across the sea in a few days,and then we shall find out what going to Europe really means. But whatmade you behave so, Amy, and cry and scold poor mamma when she was sick?I could hear you all the way across the entry."
"Could you? Then why didn't you come to me?"
"I wanted to; but I was sick too, so sick that I couldn't move. But whywere you so naughty?--you didn't tell me."
"I didn't mean to be naughty, but I couldn't help crying. You would havecried too, and so would Johnnie, if you had been cooped up in a dreadfulold berth at the top of the wall that you couldn't get out of, andhadn't had anything to eat, and nobody to bring you any water when youwanted some. And mamma wouldn't answer when I called to her."
"She couldn't answer; she was too ill," explained Katy. "Well, my pet,it _was_ pretty hard for you. I hope we sha'n't have any more such days.The sea is a great deal smoother now."
"Mabel looks quite pale; she was sick, too," said Amy, regarding thedoll in her arms with an anxious air. "I hope the fresh h'air will doher good."
"Is she going to have any fresh hair?" asked Katy, wilfullymisunderstanding.
"That was what that woman called it,--the fat one who made me come uphere. But I'm glad she did, for I feel heaps better already; only I keepthinking of poor little Maria Matilda shut up in the trunk in that darkplace, and wondering if she's sick. There's nobody to explain to herdown there."
"They say that you don't feel the motion half so much in the bottom ofthe ship," said Katy. "Perhaps she hasn't noticed it at all. Dear me,how good something smells! I wish they would bring us something to eat."
A good many passengers had come up by this time; and Robert, the decksteward, was going about, tray in hand, taking orders for lunch. Amy andKaty both felt suddenly ravenous; and when Mrs. Ashe awhile later washelped up the stairs, she was amazed to find them eating cold beef androasted potatoes, with the finest appetites in the world. "They hadserved out their apprenticeships," the kindly old captain told them,"and were made free of the nautical guild from that time on." So itproved; for after these two bad days none of the party were sick againduring the voyage.
Amy had a clamorous appetite for stories as well as for cold beef; andto appease this craving, Katy started a sort of ocean serial, called"The History of Violet and Emma," which she meant to make last till theygot to Liverpool, but which in reality lasted much longer. It might withequal propriety have been called "The Adventures of two little Girls whodidn't have any Adventures," for nothing in particular happened toeither Violet or Emma during the whole course of their long-drawn-outhistory. Amy, however, found them perfectly enchanting, and was neverweary of hearing how they went to school and came home again, how theygot into scrapes and got out of them, how they made good resolutions andbroke them, about their Christmas presents and birthday treats, and whatthey said and how they felt. The first instalment of this un-excitingromance was given that first afternoon on deck; and after that, Amyclaimed a new chapter daily, and it was a chief ingredient of herpleasure during the voyage.
On the third morning Katy woke and dressed so early, that she gained thedeck before the sailors had finished their scrubbing and holystoning.She took refuge within the companion-way, and sat down on the top stepof the ladder, to wait till the deck was dry enough to venture upon it.There the Captain found her and drew near for a talk.
Captain Bryce was exactly the kind of sea-captain that is found instory-books, but not always in real life. He was stout and grizzled andbrown and kind. He had a bluff weather-beaten face, lit up with a pairof shrewd blue eyes which twinkled when he was pleased; and his manner,though it was full of the habit of command, was quiet and pleasant. Hewas a Martinet on board his ship. Not a sailor under him would havedared dispute his orders for a moment; but he was very popular withthem, notwithstanding; they liked him as much as they feared him, forthey knew him to be their best friend if it came to sickness or troublewith any of them.
Katy and he grew quite intimate during their long morning talk. TheCaptain liked girls. He had one of his own, about Katy's age, and wasfond of talking about her. Lucy was his mainstay at home, he told Katy.Her mother had been "weakly" now this long time back, and Bess and Nannywere but children yet, so Lucy had to take command and keep thingsship-shape when he was away.
"She'll be on the lookout when the steamer comes in," said the Captain."There's a signal we've arranged which means 'All's well,' and when weget up the river a little way I always look to see if it's flying. It'sa bit of a towel hung from a particular window; and when I see it I sayto myself, 'Thank God! another voyage safely done and no harm come ofit.' It's a sad kind of work for a man to go off for a twenty-four days'cruise leaving a sick wife on shore behind him. If it wasn't that I haveLucy to look after things, I should have thrown up my command long ago."
"Indeed, I am glad you have Lucy; she must be a great comfort to you,"said Katy, sympathetically; for the Captain's hearty voice trembled alittle as he spoke. She made him tell her the color of Lucy's hair andeyes, and exactly how tall she was, and what she had studied, and whatsort of books she liked. She seemed such a very nice girl, and Katythought she should like to know her.
The deck had dried fast in the fresh sea-wind, and the Captain had justarranged Katy in her chair, and was wrapping the rug about her feet in afatherly way, when Mrs. Barrett, all smiles, appeared from below.
"Oh, 'ere you h'are, Miss. I couldn't think what 'ad come to you soearly; and you're looking ever so well again, I'm pleased to see; and'ere's a bundle just arrived, Miss, by the Parcels Delivery."
"What!" cried simple Katy. Then she laughed at her own foolishness, andtook the "bundle," which was directed in Rose's unmistakable hand.
It contained a pretty little green-bound copy of Emerson's Poems, withKaty's name and "To be read at sea," written on the flyleaf. Somehow thelittle gift seemed to bridge the long misty distance which stretchedbetween the vessel's stern and Boston Bay, and to bring home and friendsa great deal nearer. With a half-happy, half-tearful pleasure Katyrecognized the fact that distance counts for little if people love oneanother, and that hearts have a telegraph of their own whose messagesare as sure and swift as any of those sent over the material lines whichlink continent to continent and shore with shore.
Later in the morning, Katy, going down to her stateroom for something,came across a pallid, exhausted-looking lady, who lay stretched on oneof the long sofas in the cabin, with a baby in her arms and a littlegirl sitting at her feet, quite still, with a pair of small hands foldedin her lap. The little girl did not seem to be more than four years old.She had two pig-tails of thick flaxen hair hanging over her shoulders,and at Katy's approach raised a pair of solemn blue eyes, which had somuch appeal in them, though she said nothing, that Katy stopped at once.
"Can I do anything for you?" she asked. "I am afraid you have beenvery ill."
At the sound of her voice the lady on the sofa opened her eyes. Shetried to speak, but to Katy's dismay began to cry instead; and w
hen thewords came they were strangled with sobs.
"You are so kin-d to ask," she said. "If you would give my little girlsomething to eat! She has had nothing since yesterday, and I have beenso ill; and no-nobody has c-ome near us!"
"Oh!" cried Katy, with horror, "nothing to eat since yesterday! How didit happen?"
"Everybody has been sick on our side the ship," explained the poor lady,"and I suppose the stewardess thought, as I had a maid with me, that Ineeded her less than the others. But my maid has been sick, too; and oh,so selfish! She wouldn't even take the baby into the berth with her; andI have had all I could do to manage with him, when I couldn't lift up myhead. Little Gretchen has had to go without anything; and she has beenso good and patient!"
Katy lost no time, but ran for Mrs. Barrett, whose indignation knew nobounds when she heard how the helpless party had been neglected.
"It's a new person that stewardess h'is, ma'am," she explained, "andmost h'inefficient! I told the Captain when she come aboard that Ididn't 'ave much opinion of her, and now he'll see how it h'is. I'mh'ashamed that such a thing should 'appen on the 'Spartacus,' ma'am,--Ih'am, h'indeed. H'it never would 'ave ben so h'under h'Eliza,ma'am,--she's the one that went h'off and got herself married the tripbefore last, when this person came to take her place."
All the time that she talked Mrs. Barrett was busy in making Mrs.Ware--for that, it seemed, was the sick lady's name--more comfortable;and Katy was feeding Gretchen out of a big bowl full of bread and milkwhich one of the stewards had brought. The little uncomplaining thingwas evidently half starved, but with the mouthfuls the pink began tosteal back into her cheeks and lips, and the dark circles lessened underthe blue eyes. By the time the bottom of the bowl was reached she couldsmile, but still she said not a word except a whispered _Danke schon_.Her mother explained that she had been born in Germany, and always tillnow had been cared for by a German nurse, so that she knew that languagebetter than English.
Katy was feeding Gretchen out of a big bowl full of breadand milk.]
Gretchen was a great amusement to Katy and Amy during the rest of thevoyage. They kept her on deck with them a great deal, and she wasperfectly content with them and very good, though always solemn andquiet. Pleasant people turned up among the passengers, as always happenson an ocean steamship, and others not so pleasant, perhaps, who wererather curious and interesting to watch.
Katy grew to feel as if she knew a great deal about her fellowtravellers as time went on. There was the young girl going out to joinher parents under the care of a severe governess, whom everybody onboard rather pitied. There was the other girl on her way to study art,who was travelling quite alone, and seemed to have nobody to meet her orto go to except a fellow student of her own age, already in Paris, butwho seemed quite unconscious of her lonely position and competent tograpple with anything or anybody. There was the queer old gentleman whohad "crossed" eleven times before, and had advice and experience tospare for any one who would listen to them; and the other gentleman, notso old but even more queer, who had "frozen his stomach," eight yearsbefore, by indulging, on a hot summer's day, in sixteen successiveice-creams, alternated with ten glasses of equally cold soda-water, andwho related this exciting experience in turn to everybody on board.There was the bad little boy, whose parents were powerless to opposehim, and who carried terror to the hearts of all beholders whenever heappeared; and the pretty widow who filled the role of reigning belle;and the other widow, not quite so pretty or so much a belle, who had agood deal to say, in a voice made discreetly low, about what a pity itwas that dear Mrs. So-and-so should do this or that, and "Doesn't itstrike you as very unfortunate that she should not consider" the otherthing? A great sea-going steamer is a little world in itself, and givesone a glimpse of all sorts and conditions of people and characters.
On the whole, there was no one on the "Spartacus" whom Katy liked sowell as sedate little Gretchen except the dear old Captain, with whomshe was a prime favorite. He gave Mrs. Ashe and herself the seats nextto him at table, looked after their comfort in every possible way, andeach night at dinner sent Katy one of the apple-dumplings made speciallyfor him by the cook, who had gone many voyages with the Captain and knewhis fancies. Katy did not care particularly for the dumpling, but shevalued it as a mark of regard, and always ate it when she could.
Meanwhile, every morning brought a fresh surprise from that dear,painstaking Rose, who had evidently worked hard and thought harder incontriving pleasures for Katy's first voyage at sea. Mrs. Barrett wasenlisted in the plot, there could be no doubt of that, and enjoyed thejoke as much as any one, as she presented herself each day with theinvariable formula, "A letter for you, ma'am," or "A bundle, Miss, comeby the Parcels Delivery." On the fourth morning it was a photograph ofBaby Rose, in a little flat morocco case. The fifth brought a wonderfulepistle, full of startling pieces of news, none of them true. On thesixth appeared a long narrow box containing a fountain pen. Then cameMr. Howells's "A Foregone Conclusion," which Katy had never seen; then abox of quinine pills; then a sachet for her trunk; then anotherburlesque poem; last of all, a cake of delicious violet soap, "to washthe sea-smell from her hands," the label said. It grew to be one of thelittle excitements of ship life to watch for the arrival of these dailygifts; and "What did the mail bring for you this time, Miss Carr?" was aquestion frequently asked. Each arrival Katy thought must be the finalone; but Rose's forethought had gone so far even as to provide an extraparcel in case the voyage was a day longer than usual, and "Miss Carr'smail" continued to come in till the very last morning.
Katy never forgot the thrill that went through her when, after so manydays of sea, her eyes first caught sight of the dim line of the Irishcoast. An exciting and interesting day followed as, after stopping atQueenstown to leave the mails, they sped northeastward between shoreswhich grew more distinct and beautiful with every hour,--on one sideIreland, on the other the bold mountain lines of the Welsh coast. It waslate afternoon when they entered the Mersey, and dusk had fallen beforethe Captain got out his glass to look for the white fluttering speck inhis own window which meant so much to him. Long he studied before hemade quite sure that it was there. At last he shut the glass with asatisfied air.
"It's all right," he said to Katy, who stood near, almost as muchinterested as he. "Lucy never forgets, bless her! Well, there's anothervoyage over and done with, thank God, and my Mary is where she was. It'sa load taken from my mind."
The moon had risen and was shining softly on the river as thecrowded tender landed the passengers from the "Spartacus" at theLiverpool docks.
"We shall meet again in London or in Paris," said one to another, andcards and addresses were exchanged. Then after a brief delay at theCustom House they separated, each to his own particular destination;and, as a general thing, none of them ever saw any of the others again.It is often thus with those who have been fellow voyagers at sea; and itis always a surprise and perplexity to inexperienced travellers that itcan be so, and that those who have been so much to each other for tendays can melt away into space and disappear as though the brief intimacyhad never existed.
"Four-wheeler or hansom, ma'am?" said a porter to Mrs. Ashe.
"Which, Katy?"
"Oh, let us have a hansom! I never saw one, and they look so nicein 'Punch.'"
So a hansom cab was called, the two ladies got in, Amy cuddled downbetween them, the folding-doors were shut over their knees like alap-robe, and away they drove up the solidly paved streets to the hotelwhere they were to pass the night. It was too late to see or do anythingbut enjoy the sense of being on firm land once more.
"How lovely it will be to sleep in a bed that doesn't tip or roll fromside to side!" said Mrs. Ashe.
"Yes, and that is wide enough and long enough and soft enough to becomfortable!" replied Katy. "I feel as if I could sleep for a fortnightto make up for the bad nights at sea."
Everything seemed delightful to her,--the space for undressing, thegreat tub of fresh water which stood beside the
English-lookingwashstand with its ample basin and ewer, the chintz-curtained bed, thecoolness, the silence,--and she closed her eyes with the pleasantthought in her mind, "It is really England and we are really here!"