Adrift in a Boat Part 7

"I will try and get a look at the compa.s.s when we go on deck again, but we mustn't let the Frenchmen think we care anything about the matter,"

said Harry.

"What a pity it is we can't talk French a little! I wish we could thank these kind, good-natured fellows, because really I am very grateful for their kindness to us."

"At all events, we can do it by signs," said Harry, jumping up and shaking the Frenchman by the hand who had given them the wine.

"Much obliged, monsieur; much obliged for your good dinner; the sausages were excellent. We don't often taste such claret at sea as you gave us."

Of course, though the Frenchman did not understand a word Harry had said, yet he was evidently in the way of becoming a favourite among them. When invited to return on deck they did not hesitate to do so, for by keeping forward they were not recognised among the French crew.

In the evening they were again invited to join the mess of the men below, which, if not quite in accordance with English notions, was not quite the wretched fare on which Frenchmen are supposed to exist.

Indeed, it must be owned that the provisions were far better cooked and made into more palatable messes than they would have been on board an English vessel of the same character. At night they had a berth allotted to them in a standing bed-place forward, into which they were too glad to creep. Having thanked the G.o.d of mercy who had thus preserved them, in a prayer which came from the very bottom of their hearts, and asked for a blessing on all those they had left at home, they lay down in their narrow berth, and stowed themselves away as well as s.p.a.ce would allow. They had reason to be thankful that they had escaped the perils to which they had been exposed for so many nights on the raft; and though their sleeping-place was very close and dark, it had the advantage of being dry. They were very quickly fast asleep, in spite of all the rolling and pitching of the vessel, as she dashed forward across the stormy ocean. There was no danger of their being pitched out. In spite of the groaning of the bulkheads, the whistling of the wind through the rigging, the loud dash of the seas against the vessel, and the numerous other loud wild sounds which are heard during a gale at sea, the boys slept on till a gleam of daylight found its way down to their narrow berth.

"_Mangez, mangez, mes amis_!" said a voice, which was recognised as that of their kind friend of the previous evening. He had come, it appeared, to summon them to breakfast, for the crew were employed below in discussing that meal. Once on their feet, the boys found themselves perfectly ready to join their French friends, and to do ample justice to the food placed before them.

"If it were not for the dignity of the thing we should not be so badly off, after all," said Harry; "but really I cannot quite get over the skipper not treating us as officers, as he should have done."

The Frenchmen greeted them with kind smiles, and soon again reconciled them to their wretched fate.

The gale now increased to a regular hurricane. The schooner ran before it under a close-reefed fore-topsail, but even then the seas followed so rapidly that there appeared great probability of their breaking on board. Both officers and men either remained below, or, when necessity compelled them to be on deck, kept close to the bulwarks, that they might have something to catch hold of should an accident occur. Under these circ.u.mstances no work was expected to be done; the boys were therefore allowed to do just as they pleased. They wisely kept forward among their friends the seamen. They had observed a boy about their own age eyeing them occasionally as he pa.s.sed sometimes with a dish from the cook's caboose, or with various messages with which he seemed to be generally employed; yet he had not hitherto spoken to them.

"I like his looks," said David; "I can't help fancying that he wants to be friendly. Next time he pa.s.ses us I will say something to him; or see, I've got a knife in my pocket; I'll present it to him, it will show our good-will."

"That will be very much like purchasing kindness," answered Harry.

In a few minutes after this the boy again came near.

"Here, garcon," said David, pulling out his knife as he spoke, "take this, you may find it very useful."

"Merci," said the boy, "thank you--much obliged."

"What! do you speak English?" asked David.

"Very little, but I know what you say."

"Oh, we're so glad of that," exclaimed the two boys in the same breath.

"What is your name?" asked David.

"Pierre Lamont," answered the French boy.

"We shall be friends," said David. "You don't hate the English, I hope, like the captain?"

"Oh no, no," answered Pierre, "I love the English; my poor mother was English, but she is dead, and so is my father, but he was French."

"Then have you no one to look after you?" exclaimed David, in a tone of commiseration.

"No, I am all alone in the world, no one to care for me," said Pierre.

"Are you happy here on board this ship?" asked Harry.

"Oh no, no. Sometimes I am pretty well off; but often our cruel men order me about, and beat me with the rope's-end if I do not do quickly what they command."

"You see, Harry," said David, "there's one on board this ship worse off than we are. We have some dear friends on sh.o.r.e, and though they don't know what has become of us, we hope that they are are safe, and that we shall get back to them some day."

"Do you know where we're going, Pierre?" asked Harry. "I wanted to look at the compa.s.s; but I'm afraid of going aft, lest I should meet the captain."

"You are right to keep away from him," answered Pierre. "If he knew even that I spoke English he would treat me worse than he does. But you ask where are we going. I believe that we're bound out to the West Indies to take as many English merchant-vessels as we can find."

"I thought we were going in that direction," answered David.

"But, Pierre, do you think if any of the English vessels are defended, that the captain will make us fight against our own countrymen?"

"Oh, you may depend on that," said Pierre. "That is, you will be employed in bringing up powder from below."

"What! shall we be turned into powder-monkeys?" exclaimed Harry, in a tone of indignation. "That will be too bad."

"Is that what you call the boys who bring up the powder?"

"Yes, but only the smallest among the ship's crew are employed in that work, and they should not treat officers in that way, even though we are their enemies," exclaimed Harry, indignantly.

"That is the very reason the captain will take delight in giving you such employment," said Pierre. "No one likes him on board. Even the officers fear him; but he is said to be a very good seaman and a daring character, so brave that he cares for nothing."

From this account of the captain the boys saw that they were not far wrong in the opinion they had formed of him from his countenance and his manner towards them. They resolved, therefore, to keep out of his way, and to avoid irritating him if they could. While the gale continued he had quite enough to do to look after the vessel without troubling himself about them. Indeed, as far as they could judge, he had forgotten that they were on board. Although the place below where they sat with the men was close and dark in consequence of being battened down, they spent much of their time there. Many of the men were employed in various works. Several were making models of vessels in a way few English seamen could have done. David proposed doing something of the sort, to show the Frenchmen that he did not wish to be idle, and that he felt himself at home among them. He asked Pierre to get him some corks, and to set to work to make a model of a village church.

This, with the aid of some pins, he rapidly accomplished with a file which he borrowed from one of the men, and he drew down the warm commendations of his companions, who were especially well disposed to appreciate such efforts. He accordingly presented it to his stout friend, Jacques Rossillion, the good-natured seaman who had from the first taken an interest in him.

Thus several days pa.s.sed away till the gale abated, the sea went down, and sail was once more made on the schooner. Harry had been perhaps unwisely anxious to put on his own uniform again, which was now thoroughly dry and fit to wear. Pierre advised him not to appear before the captain in it. "Still it's my proper dress," answered Harry, who, like many midshipmen, was very tenacious on that subject. The gale, which had been in their favour, had carried them a long way towards their destination, as they judged by the warmth of the atmosphere and the tropical appearance of the sea. The officers as usual paced the quarter-deck, and the men congregated together forward. A monkey, which had hitherto stowed himself away somewhere out of sight, was among the occupants of the deck. To an English crew a monkey is a great acquisition, but a French ship's company can scarcely get on without one. When they are inclined to play pranks he is always at their service, and woe betide the unhappy small boy of a ship's company on whose muster-roll a monkey is not to be found! as he has to endure what the four-handed animal would otherwise have to go through.

On looking over the side Harry observed a black fin gliding along at the same rate as the schooner. "Look there, David; did you ever see a regular shark before?" he said. "If anybody was to fall overboard that fellow would snap him in two in half a second. The best swimmer would have but a poor chance unless he was well prepared. I have heard of a sailor attacking a shark with a knife in his hand, and cutting him up; but a man only with iron nerves and great presence of mind and a good swimmer could ever make the attempt." While they were speaking the captain appeared on deck. "Here, you boys, come aft," he shouted.

"What, do you think you are to pa.s.s away your time in idleness, and get fed and grow fat? You are very much mistaken if you think any such thing. Take each of you a tar-bucket, and go and black down the rigging from the fore-topmast head." Poor Harry looked at his uniform; it had endured the wetting, but it would be spoiled in a few minutes by the operation which he was ordered to perform. He saw that it would not do to disobey the captain's orders. If they had time to find Pierre they might borrow some frocks and canvas trousers.

"I say what I mean," shouted the captain; "and off with you at once--one taking the starboard, and one the larboard rigging. What, you don't like to spoil your clothes, I see. I was not allowed any clothes to spoil when I was in an English prison."

"Surely you will let us borrow some frocks, sir," answered David.

"Though we are gentlemen, and unaccustomed to such work, we are willing to obey you, only we don't want to spoil our clothes."

"Aloft, I say, or overboard you go. There's a fellow alongside ready to breakfast off you, if you are anxious to feed him." The little Frenchman looked so fierce that the boys really believed he was in earnest.

"It can't be helped," said David. "You must tell me what to do, for I never blacked down rigging even on board the yacht."

"Just secure the bucket as you descend, and take care not to let the tar drop from the brush on deck. It's not the difficulty of the thing, but it is very derogatory."

Seeing that there was no use in further expostulation, the boys took each of them a bucket as they were ordered, and ascended, one on one side, and one on the other, of the fore-rigging, and having reached the masthead Harry secured his bucket, and showed David how to secure his.

The operation, besides being a very dirty one, was tedious, as each rope had to be gone carefully round with the tar. Often they made melancholy faces at each other as they gradually descended, but neither the captain nor officers showed the slightest commiseration, only watching apparently to see that the work was effectually performed. While the captain remained on deck the crew took no notice of them. This was, however, evidently done in kindness. At length the work was over, and, seeing the captain on deck, they thought the best way was to go aft and report what they had done. "Very well," said the captain; "tomorrow you will black down the main-rigging; in the meantime I want to see a polish put upon those bra.s.s stanchions, and the swivel guns are not so bright as they should be. I shall have work for you in my cabin, too, by and by. You are young English gentlemen, I understand. You may consider it a privilege to have to serve a poor republican seaman, who has worked his way up from before the mast."

"We will do our best to obey you, sir," answered David, who wisely wished to conciliate the man, in spite of his surly manners. He remembered that "a soft answer turneth away wrath."