CHAPTER EIGHT.
A SUDDEN INTERRUPTION.
"Now, my boy," said Mr Mackay, who had the "first watch," from eighto'clock till midnight that is, I sharing it with him, speaking as wewere just abreast of the light I've mentioned, although so far to thesouthward that it could only be seen very faintly glimmering on thehorizon like a star, a trifle bigger than those which twinkled above itand on either side in the clear northern sky--"we've run exactly forty-six miles from our departure point."
"Departure point, sir!" I repeated after him, my curiosity aroused bythe use of such a term. "What is that?"
"The last land sighted before a ship gains the open sea," replied hekindly, always willing to give me any information, although I'm afraid Icaused him a good deal of trouble with my innumerable questions, in myzeal to get acquainted with everything connected with the ship and myprofession as an embryo sailor. "Ours was the Lizard; didn't you noticeCap'en Gillespie taking the bearings of it as we passed this afternoon?"
"Yes, sir. I saw him with his sextant, as you told me that queertriangular thing was," said I; "but I didn't know what he was doing. Ithought our starting-place was the Thames? We must have gone miles andmiles since we left the Downs."
"So we have, my boy; still, that was only the threshold of our longjourney, and sailors do not begin to count their run until fairly out atsea as we are now. When you came up to town the other day from thatplace in the country--West something or other?"
"Westham, sir," I suggested; "that's where we live."
"Well, then," he went on, accepting my correction with a smile, "whenyou were telling your adventures and stated that you came from Westhamto London in three hours, say, you would not include the time you hadtaken in going from the door of your house to the garden gate and fromthence to the little town or village whence you started by the railway--eh?"
"No, sir," said I, laughing at his way of putting the matter. "I wouldmean from the station at Westham to the railway terminus in London."
"Just so," he answered; "and, similarly, we sailors in estimating thelength of a voyage, do not take into consideration our passage along theriver and down channel, only counting our distance from the last pointof land we see of the country we are leaving and the first we sight ofthat we're bound to. Our first day's run, therefore, will be what weget over from the Lizard up to the time the cap'en takes the sun at noonto-morrow, which will tell us our latitude and longitude then, when, bythe aid of this fixed starting-point or `point of departure,' andcalculating our dead reckoning and courses steered, we will be enabledto know our precise position on the chart."
"I see, sir," said I. "I won't forget what you've told me another time,and shall know in future what the term means, sir, thank you."
"You're quite welcome, Graham," he replied pleasantly as he resumed hiswalk up and down the deck, with an occasional glance to windward and alook at the compass in the binnacle to see that the helmsman was keepingthe ship on the course the captain had directed before going below ashort time before--west-sou'-west, and as close up to the wind as wecould sail, so as to avoid the French coast and get well across themouth of the Bay of Biscay into the open Atlantic. "I hope to make agood navigator of you in time, my boy."
"I hope so, too, sir," said I, trying to keep pace with his measuredtread, although I always got out of step as he turned regularly at theend of his walk, which was backwards and forwards between the cabinskylight and the binnacle. "I will try my best, sir."
While bearing in mind the "departure point," however, I must not forgetto mention, too, that immediately after Captain Gillespie had taken ourbearings off the Lizard, he sang out to Tim Rooney the boatswain to sendthe hands aft.
"Aye, aye, sorr," responded Tim, at once sounding his shrill whistle andhoarse shout. "A-all ha-ands aft!"
"Now for a bit of speechifying," said Tom Jerrold, who was along with meon the lee-side of the poop, watching the crew as they mustered togetheron the main-deck underneath. "The `old man' loves a jaw."
But Tom was mistaken; for the captain's speech was laconic in theextreme, being "much shorter, indeed, than his nose," as my fellow midwas forced to acknowledge in a whisper to me!
"My men," said he, leaning over the brass rail at the head of the poop,and gazing down into the faces of the rough-and-ready fellows looking upat him expectantly, with all sorts of funny expressions on theircountenances, as they wondered what was to come--"we're now at sea andentering on a long voyage together. I only wish you to do your duty andI will do mine. If you have anything to complain of at any time, cometo me singly and I will right it; but if you come in a body, I'll takeno notice of ye. Ye know when I say a thing I mean a thing."
"Aye, aye sir!" shouted the hands, on his pausing here as if waiting fortheir answer. "Aye, aye, sir!"
"All right then; ye understand me, I see. That will do the watch."
Whereupon, half of them went back into the forecastle to finish theirtea, while the remainder took their stations about the ship, remainingon deck until their span of duty was out, the whole lot having beendivided into two groups, styled respectively the port and starboardwatches, under charge of Mr Mackay and the second mate, Mr Saunders--Tom Jerrold and I being in the port watch with the first mate; while SamWeeks and Matthews, who was like the fifth wheel of a coach as "thirdmate," a very anomalous position on board-ship, mustered with thestarbowlines under Mr Saunders.
Counting in Captain Gillespie, with the three mates, us apprentices, theboatswain, sailmaker Adams and carpenter Gregory--the three latter all"old hands," having sailed several voyages previously together in theship--the steward Pedro Carvalho, Ching Wang our cook, Billy the boy,our "second-class apprentice," and the eighteen fresh men who had comeaboard with the Chinaman at Gravesend, our crew mustered all told somethirty-one hands; and, to complete the description of the vessel and herbelongings, the Silver Queen was a sharp-bowed, full-rigged ship, with atremendous bilge, built for carrying a goodish cargo, which consisted,as I believe I mentioned before, mainly of Manchester goods andBirmingham hardware, besides a private speculation of our captainconsisting of a peculiarly novel consignment of Dundee marmalade, packedup in tins like those used for preserved meats and such like dainties.
About this marmalade I shall have something to say by and by; but Ithink I had better go on with my yarn in proper ship-shape fashion,narrating events in the order in which they occurred--merely stating, inorder to give a full account of all concerning us, that, in addition tothe particulars of our cargo as already detailed, we had sundry items oflive freight in the shape of some pigs, which were stowed in the long-boat on top of the deck-house; three cats, two belonging to thePortuguese steward and messing in the cuddy, while the third was avagrant Tom that had strayed on board in the docks, and making friendswith the carpenter Gregory, or "old chips" as he was generally called,was allowed to take up his quarters in the forepeak, migrating to thecook's cabin at meal-times with unwavering sagacity; a lot of fowls,accommodated aristocratically in coops on the poop; and, lastly, thoughby no means least, the starling which I'd caught coming down Channel,and which now seemed very comfortable in the boatswain's old canarycage, hung up to a ringbolt in his cabin next to mine, and regarded as asort of joint property between us two.
There, you have our list of passengers; and, now, to continue my story.
Shortly after passing the Bishop's Rock lighthouse, which we did somefew minutes before "Billy," the ship's boy, came out of the forecastleand struck "six bells," eleven o'clock, near the end of the port watch'sspell on deck, the wind, which had freshened considerably since sunset,began to blow with greater force, veering, or "backing" as sailors say,more and more round to the north; so that, although our yards werebraced up to the full and the vessel was sailing almost close-hauled, wehad to drop off a point or two within the next half-hour from our truewestern course.
Within the next half-hour, south-west by west was as close as we couldnow keep her head outward across "The
Bay," the wind even thencontinuing to show a tendency to shift further round still to thenorthwards and westwards, and naturally forcing us yet more in asoutherly direction before gaining the offing Captain Gillespie wished.
The sea, too, had got up wonderfully during the short period that hadelapsed from our leaving the Chops of the Channel--I suppose from itshaving a wider space to frolic in, without being controlled by thenarrow limits of land under its lea; for, the scintillating light of thetwinkling stars and pale sickly moon, whose face was ever and anonobscured by light fleecy clouds floating across it in the east, showedthe tumid waste of waters heaving and surging tempestuously as far asthe eye could reach. The waves were tumbling over each other and racingpast the ship in sport, sending their flying scud high over theforeyard, or else trying vainly to poop her; and, when foiled in this,they would dash against her bows with the blow of a battering-ram, orfling themselves bodily on board in an angry cataract that poured downfrom the forecastle on to the main-deck, flooding the waist up to theheight of the bulwarks to leeward, for we heeled over too much to allowof the sea running off through the scuppers, these and our port gunwaleas well being well-nigh under water.
Presently, we had to reduce sail, brailing up the spanker and taking asingle reef in the topsails; but still keeping the topgallant-sails setabove them, a thing frequently done by a skipper who knows how to"carry-on."
Then, as the wind still rose and as with less canvas the ship would goall the better and not bend over or bury herself so much, thetopgallants were taken in. At length, when Mr Mackay and I quitted thedeck at midnight, the men were just beginning to clew up the main-sail,the captain, who had come up from below with Mr Saunders when thestarboard watch relieved us, having ordered it to be furled and anotherreef to be taken in the topsails, as it was then blowing great guns andthe ship staggering along through a storm-tossed sea, with the skyovercast all round--a sign that we had not seen the worst of it yet!
The Silver Queen pitched so much--giving an occasional heavy roll tostarboard as her bows fell off from the battering of the waves, with herstern lifting up out of the water, and rolling back quickly to portagain on her taking the helm as the men jammed it hard down--that Ifound it all I could do to descend the poop ladder safely. I climbeddown gingerly, however, holding on to anything I could clutch until Ireached the deck-house, which was now nearly knee-deep in the water thatwas sluicing fore and aft the ship with every pitch and dive she gave,or washing in a body athwart the deck as she rolled, and dashing like awave against the bulwarks within.
I went to turn in to my bunk, which was on top of that occupied by SamWeeks, who, very luckily for him, had to turn out, going aft on dutywith the rest of the starboard watch; for, in my struggles to ascend tothe little narrow shelf that served me for a bed, and which from themotion of the ship was almost perpendicular one moment and the nexthorizontal, I would have pretty well trampled him to jelly, having tostand on the lower bunk to reach the upper one assigned to me.
Ultimately, however, I managed to climb up to my perch and pulled myblankets about me; and then I tried to sleep as well as the roaring ofthe wind and rushing wash of the sea, in concert with the creaking ofthe chain-plates and groaning of the ship's timbers and myriad voices ofthe deep, would let me.
But, it was all in vain!
Hitherto, although I had been more than two days and two nights on boardand had sailed all the way from the docks along the river and down theChannel, I had never yet been sea-sick, smiling at Tim Rooney'sstereotyped inquiry each day of me, "An' sure, Misther Gray-ham, aren'tye sorry yit ye came to say?"
Since the afternoon, however, when the water had become rougher and theship more lively, I had begun to experience a queer sensation such as Irecollect once having at home at Christmas-time--on which occasion DrJollop, who was called in to attend me, declared I had eaten too muchplum-pudding, just in order to give me some of his nasty pills, ofcourse!
I hadn't had the chance of having anything so good as that now; but, attea-time Tom Jerrold, who, like myself, had made friends with ChingWang, had induced him to compound a savoury mess entitled, "dandy funk,"composed of pounded biscuits, molasses, and grease. Of this mess, I amsorry to say, I had partaken; and the probable source of my presentailment was, no doubt, the insidious dandy funk wherewith Jerrold hadbeguiled me.
Oh, that night!
Dandy funk or no, I could not soon forget it, for I never was so sick inmy life; and what is more, every roll of the ship made me worse, so thatI thought I should die--Tom Jerrold, the heartless wretch, who wassnoring away as usual in the next bunk to Weeks' below, not paying theslightest attention to my feeble calls to him for help and assistancebetween the paroxysms of my agonising qualms.
Somehow or other a sympathetic affinity seemed to be established betweenthe vessel and myself, I rolling as she rolled and heaving when sheheaved; while my heart seemed to reach from the Atlantic back to theChannel, and I felt as if I had swallowed the ocean and was trying toget rid of it and couldn't!
_Ille robur et aes triplex_, as Horace sang on again getting safelyashore--for he must have been far too ill when afloat in his trireme--and as father used to quote against me should I praise the charms of asailor's life, "framed of oak and fortified with triple brass" must havebeen he who first braved the perils of the sea and made acquaintancewith that fell demon whom our French neighbours style more elegantlythan ourselves _le mal de mer_!
Weeks had his revenge upon me now with a vengeance indeed for all hemight have suffered from my pummelling of the previous day; yes, and forthe reproach of the two black eyes I had given him, which had sincealtered their colouring to the tints of the sea and sky, they being nowof a bluish-purple hue shaded off into green and yellow, so that thegeneral effect harmonised, as Tom Jerrold unkindly remarked, with hissandy hair and mottled complexion.
But, my whilom enemy and now friend Sammy must have been amplyindemnified for all this when, at the end of the middle watch, he camein due course to rouse me out again for another turn of duty, notknowing that Mr Mackay, as if anticipating what would happen after theshaking up I had had, had given me leave to lie-in if I liked and "keepmy watch below;" for, when Weeks succeeded in opening the door of thedeck-house, which he did with much difficulty against the opposingforces of the wind and the water that united to resist his efforts, hefound me completely prostrate and in the very apogee of my misery.
"Hullo, Graham!" he called out, clutching hold of the corner of theblanket that enveloped one of my limp legs, which was hanging downalmost as inanimate over the side of the bunk, and shaking this latter,too, as vigorously as he did the blanket. "Rouse out, it's gone eightbells and the port watch are already on deck, with Mr Mackay swearingaway at a fine rate because you're not there--rouse out with you,sharp!"
There was no rousing me, however, pull and tug and shake away as much ashe pleased both at my leg and the blanket.
"Leave me alone," I at last managed to say loud enough for him to hearme. "Mr Mackay told me I needn't turn out unless I felt well enough;and, oh, Weeks, I do feel so awfully ill!"
"Ill! what's the row with you?"
"I don't know," I feebly murmured. "I think I'm going to die; and I'mso sorry I hurt your eyes yesterday, they do look so bad."
"Oh, hang my eyes!" replied he hastily, as if he did not like thesubject mentioned; and I don't wonder at this now, when I recollect howvery funny they looked, all green and yellow as if he had a pair ofgoggle-eyed spectacles on. "Why can't you turn out? You were wellenough when you called me four hours ago--shamming Abraham, I suppose,--eh?"
I was too weak, though, to be indignant.
"Indeed I'm not shamming anything," I protested as earnestly as I could,not quite knowing what his slang phrase meant, but believing it to implythat I was pretending to be ill to shirk duty when I was all right."Weeks, I'm terribly ill, I tell you!"
He scrutinised me as well as he could by the early light of morning, nowcoming in through the open cabin d
oor, which he had not been able toclose again, the wind holding it back and resisting all his strength.
Tom Jerrold, too, aroused by Weeks' voice and the cold current of airthat was blowing in upon him, rubbed his eyes, and standing up in hisbunk while holding on to the top rail of mine, had also a good look atme.
"Bah!" cried he at length. "You're only sea-sick."
That was all the consolation he gave me as he shoved himself into hisclothes; and then, hastily lugging on a thick monkey-jacket hurried outon deck.
"A nice mess you've made, too, of the cabin."
This was Master Weeks' sympathy as he took possession of Jerrold'svacated bunk and quietly composed himself to sleep, regardless of mygroans and deaf to all further appeals for aid.
Tim Rooney, however, was the most unkind of all.
Later on in the morning he popped in his head at the cabin door.
"Arrah, sure now, Misther Gray-ham, arn't ye sorry ye iver came to say,at all at all?"
I should like to have pitched something at him, although I knew what hewould say the moment he opened his mouth, with that comical grin of hisand the cunning wink of his left eye.
"No," I cried as courageously as I was able under the circumstances,"I'm not sorry, I tell you, in spite of all that has happened, and whenI get better I'll pay you out for making fun of me when I'm ill!"
"Begorra don't say that now, me darlint," said he, grinning more thanever. "Arrah, though, me bhoy, ye look as if ye'd been toorned insoideout, loike them injy-rubber divils childer has to play wid. 'Dade an'I'd loike to say ye sprooce an' hearty ag'in; but ownly kape aisy an'ye'll be all roight in toime. D'ye fale hoongry yit?"
"Hungry!" I screamed, ill again at the very thought of eating. "Goaway, do, and leave me alone--o-oh!"
And then I was worse than ever, and seemed afterwards to have no heart,or head, or stomach left, or legs, or arms, or anything.
The boatswain did not forget me though, in spite of his fun at myexpense; and he must have spoken to Ching Wang again about me, for theChinaman came to the cabin after giving the men their breakfast at eightbells, bringing me a pannikin of hot coffee, his panacea for every woe.
"Hi, lilly pijjin, drinkee dis chop chop," said he, holding the pannikinto my mouth. "Makee tummy tummy number one piecee!"
I could not swallow much of the liquid; but the drop or two that I tookdid me good; for, after Ching Wang had gone away I fell asleep, notwaking till the afternoon, when, the ship being steadier, I managed toscramble out of my bunk and made a late appearance on deck, feelingdecidedly weak but considerably better than in the morning.
"Hullo, found your sea-legs already?" cried Mr Mackay on my crawling upthe poop ladder. "I didn't expect to see you out for another day atleast."
"I don't feel all right yet, sir," said I, and I'm sure my pale facemust have shown this without any explanation; "but, I didn't like togive way to being ill, thinking it best to fight against it."
"Quite right, my boy," he replied. "I've never been sea-sick myself,not even the first time I went afloat; but, I've seen a good manysuffering from the complaint, and I have noticed that the more theyhumoured it, the worse they became. You're getting used to the motionof the ship by this time--eh?"
"Yes, sir," said I, holding on tightly, however, to the bulwarks as Ispoke, the Silver Queen just then giving a lurch to starboard thatnearly pitched me overboard. "I'll soon be able to stand up like you,sir."
"Well, at all events, you've got plenty of pluck, Graham; and that's thesort of material for making a good sailor. You were asking me lastnight about the course of the ship, if your sickness hasn't put our talkout of your head. How far do you think we've run?"
"A good way, I suppose, sir," I answered, "with that gale of wind."
"Yes, pretty so so," he said. "When the cap'en took the sun at noon to-day we were in latitude 48 degrees 17 minutes north and longitude just 8degrees 20 west, or about two hundred miles off Ushant, which we're tothe southward of; so, we've run a goodish bit from our point ofdeparture."
"Oh, I remember all about that, sir," I cried, getting interested, as heunfolded the chart which was lying on top of the cabin skylight andshowed me the vessel's position. "And we've come so far already?"
"Yes, all that," replied he laughing as he moved his finger on thechart, pointing to another spot at least a couple of inches away fromthe first pencil-mark; "and we ought to fetch about here, my boy, atnoon to-morrow--that is, if this wind holds good and no accident happensto us, please God."
The ship at this time was going a good ten knots, he further told me,carrying her topgallants and courses again; for, although the sea wasrough and covered with long rolling waves, that curled over their ridgesinto valleys of foam like half-melted snow, and it was blowing prettywell half a gale now from the north-west, to which point the wind hadhauled round, it was keeping steady in that quarter, for the barometerremained high, and the Silver Queen, heading south-west by south, wasbending well over so that her lee-side was flush almost with theswelling water. She was racing along easily, and presented a perfectpicture, with the sun bringing out her white clouds of canvas instronger contrast against the clear blue sky overhead and tumbling oceanaround, and making the glass of the skylight and bits of brass-workabout on the deck gleam with a golden radiance as it slowly sank belowthe horizon, a great globe of fire like a molten mass of metal on ourweather bow, the vessel keeping always on the same starboard tack, forshe wore round as the wind shifted.
Oh, yes, we were going; and so, evidently, Captain Gillespie thoughtwhen he came up the companion presently and took his place alongside MrMackay on the poop.
"This is splendid!" said he, rubbing his hands as usual and addressingthe first mate, while I crept away further aft, holding on to thebulwarks to preserve my footing, the deck being inclined at such a sharpangle from the ship heeling over with the wind. "I don't know when theold barquey ever went so free."
"Nor I, sir," replied the other with equal enthusiasm; "she's fairlyoutdoing herself. We never had such a voyage before, I think, sir."
"No," said the captain. "A good start, a fairish wind and plenty of it,a decent crew as far as I can judge as yet, and every prospect of a goodvoyage. What more can a man wish for?"
"Nothing, sir."
"And I forgot, Mackay, while speaking of our luck, for you know I liketo be particular, and when I say a thing I mean a thing--no stowaways onboard!"
"True, sir," responded the first mate with a laugh, knowing thecaptain's great abhorrence of these uninvited and unwelcome passengers."I think it's the first voyage we've never been troubled with one."
"Aye, aye, they're getting afraid of me, Mackay, that's the reason,"said Captain Gillespie chuckling at this. "They've heard tell of theway I treat all such swindling rascals, and know that when I say a thingI mean a thing!"
His satisfaction, however, was short-lived; for, just then, severalconfused cries and a general commotion was heard forward.
"Hullo!" cried the captain, staggering up to the poop rail and lookingtowards the bows, "what's the row there?"
"Bedad, sorr," shouted back the boatswain, yelling out the words asloudly as he could, like Captain Gillespie, and putting his hands to hismouth to prevent the wind carrying them away seaward, "there's a did manin the forepake!"