Afloat at Last Part 18

"Me chin chin joss, lilly pijjin," he answered, turning to me his round, unconscious, and imperturbable face as if he were engaged in some ordinary occupation of everyday life. "Me askee him me watchee if kyphong catchee ship, no sabey?"

The poor fellow evidently believed more in his G.o.d than I did in mine; for here he was in a moment of danger, as he thought, praying for help, while I, who had almost lost my life when I so nearly escaped tumbling from the topgallant yard only a moment or so since, had thoughtlessly forgotten Him who had saved me!

I think of this now, but I didn't then. Nay, I even laughed at Ching w.a.n.g's ignorance when speaking to Tim Rooney, whom I met as I retreated from the galley, telling him that I wondered how the generally astute Chinaman could really fancy he was propitiating Buddha, or whoever else he believed in as his sovereign deity, by burning a few sc.r.a.ps of tinsel paper to do honour to the senseless image.

"Be jabers, though," argued Tim on my giving him this opinion of mine, "I can't say, sorr, as how we Christians be any the betther."

"Why!" I exclaimed indignantly. "How can you say so?"

"Begorra, sure we all thry to have our ray-ligion as chape as we can,"

replied he coolly. "Don't we, Cath'lics an' Protistints aloike, for there's little to choose atwane us on the p'int, contint oursilves wid as little as we can hilp, goin' once to chapel or church, mebbe, av a Sunday an' thinkin' we've wiped out all the avil we may a-done in the wake, an' have a clane sheet for the nixt one--jist as this poor ig'rant haythin booms his goold paper afore his joss an' thinks that clears off all his ould scores. I say no differ, sure, mesilf, Misther Gray-ham, atwane us, that same, as I tould ye."

I did not answer Tim, but his words affected me more than any sermon I ever heard from the pulpit; and, as I went back to my cabin I determined to try and keep to something I had promised father before parting from him, and which I had neglected up to then--my promise being never to forget my daily prayer to "Him who rules the waves," even should I have no time to look at my Bible.

The weather cleared up before sunset, and the wind subsequently began to blow steadily from the southward and eastward, showing that we had at length got into the wished-for "trade;" so the ship soon had all plain sail set on her again, now heading, though, sou'-sou'-west on the port tack, and making a bee-line almost for the island of Trinidad off the South American coast.

Having lost our outer jib, however, from its blowing away in the first squall, a new one had to be fitted and bent on; and as we were hoisting studding sails, too, the jewel block on the main-topsail yard carried away. So, another block had to be got up and secured to the end of the yard-arm before the halliards could be rove afresh for getting up the stu'n'sail; and, I had opportunities in both instances for acquiring better knowledge of seamanship--gaining more by watching Adams the sailmaker and Tim Rooney at work on their respective jobs, than I could have obtained in a twelvemonth by the perusal of books or from oral information.

We had long lost sight of our old friend the North Star and his pointers, who guide the mariner, should he be without a compa.s.s, in northern lat.i.tudes, making acquaintance now with a new constellation, the Southern Cross, which grew more brilliant each night as we ran further and further below the Equator. Other stars, too, of surpa.s.sing brightness made the heavens all radiant as soon as the sun set each evening, there being no twilight to speak of--the night and its glories coming upon us as quickly as the last sc.r.a.p of daylight fled. In the morning it was the same, the firmament being still bright with starlight when the glorious...o...b..of day rose in all his majesty and paled into insignificance his lesser rivals, who, however, twinkled up to the very last.

This was by far the jolliest part of our voyage; for, although the weather was nice and warm, it had not that disagreeable, clammy heat we experienced at the Line, on account of the fresh south-east breeze tempering the effect of the sun, which, however, still shone down on us at noon with tropical force, its rays being as potent almost as at the Equator.

But the sea had lost all that gla.s.sy brazen look it had in the calm lat.i.tudes, now dancing with life and as blue as the heavens above it; while as our gallant ship sailed on, running pretty large on the port tack with everything set that could draw--skysails being hoisted on top of the royals and staysails, and trysails on every mast, with the foretopmast staysail, jib and flying jib forward, and upper and lower stu'n'sails spread out to windward--she looked like some beautiful bird in full flight with outstretched wings, her motion through the water being so easy and graceful, while the sparkling spray was tossed up sometimes over the sprit-sail yard as she ever and anon dipped her bows, as if curtsying to Neptune. It seemed to me the most delightful thing in the world to be there, ship and sea and air and sky being all alike in harmony, expressing the poetry of progression!

My work, too, although we had plenty to do, to "keep us out of mischief," as the captain said, was not too hard, especially at this period.

In the morning, after an early coffee, when few thought of turning in again although it might be their watch below, the weather was so enjoyable, the order was given for "brooms and buckets aft," and the first duty of the day was attended to. This was to scrub decks, just as in a well-ordered household the servant cleans the door-step before anyone is astir; the decks of a ship giving as good a notion of what her commander is like, as the door-step of a house does of its mistress!

For this job the men forward rigged the head pump and sluiced the forecastle and main-deck; while we apprentices had to wash down the p.o.o.p, having a fine time over it dowsing one another with buckets of water, and chasing each other round the mizzen-mast and binnacle, or else dodging the expected deluge behind the skylight--sometimes awaking Captain Gillespie up, and making him come up the companion in a towering rage to ask "what the d.i.c.kens" we were "kicking up all that row for?"

Once, as he came up in this way, Tom Jerrold caught him full in the face with a bucket of water he was pitching at me; and wasn't there a shindy over it, that's all! "Old Jock" was unable to find out who did it, for of course none of us would tell on Tom, and the water in the captain's eyes prevented him from seeing who was his a.s.sailant; but, he immediately ordered Tom, as well as Weeks and I, all up into the cross- trees, Tom at the fore, Sam at the main, and I on the mizzen-mast, to "look out for land," instead of having our breakfast.

As we were some hundreds of miles off the nearest coast, our task of looking out for land was entirely a work of supererogation; still, we did not realise this, and strained our eyes vainly until we were called down from aloft at "two bells," after the hands had all had their breakfast and there was nothing left for us. This was "Jock's"

satisfaction in return for the shower bath he had been treated to so unceremoniously. Tom Jerrold afterwards said that he did not notice Jock coming up the companion way, and that of course he would never have dreamt of treating the captain so disrespectfully; but, as Master Tom invariably grinned whenever he made this declaration, Weeks and I, as well as Tim Rooney, who somehow or other got hold of the yarn, all had our suspicions on the point.

However, this is a digression from the description of our daily duties.

After scrubbing decks, each watch alternately had breakfast; and then, as now, when the wind was fair and hardly a brace or rope required to be handed from morning till night or from night till morning, we and the rest of the crew were set to work unravelling ends of junk and picking oak.u.m, like convicts.

After being thus disintegrated, the tow was spun into sennit or fine twine and yarn which is always of use on board, quant.i.ties of it being used in "serving" and "parcelling" for chafing gear.

At noon, the crew had their dinner, watch in and watch out, but we apprentices had to wait till the captain and mates had theirs; although, as I've already mentioned, we saw little of the delicacies of the cabin table except occasionally of a Sunday, on which day, sometimes, Captain Gillespie's heart was more benevolently inclined towards us apparently.

During the afternoon watch on week-days we were allowed to amuse ourselves as we liked, and I frequently took advantage of this opportunity to learn all that Tim Rooney and Adams could teach me forward--the two being great cronies, and busying themselves at this period of the day, if there were nothing to call their attention elsewhere, in doing odd jobs on the forecastle, the one in the sailmaking line and the other attending to his legitimate occupation of looking after the weak points of the rigging, all concerning which came within his special province as boatswain.

After tea, all hands were allowed to skylark about the decks below and aloft until the end of the second dog-watch at "eight bells;" when, the night being fairly on us in the southern lat.i.tudes we were traversing, those whose turn it was to go below turned in, and the others having the "first watch" took the deck until they were relieved at midnight and retired to their well earned rest. But, of course, should "all hands"

be called to take in sail, on account of the wind shifting or a sudden squall breaking over the ship, which fortunately did not happen at the time of which I am speaking, those who might only have just turned in had to turn out again instanter. In the same way, I may add, had the weather been stormy and changeable all of us would have had plenty to do in taking in and setting sail, without leisure for sennit reeving and yarn spinning and playing "Tom c.o.x's traverse" about the decks from morning till night, as we did in those halcyon days between the tropics.

We sighted Martin Vas Rocks, to the eastward of Trinidad Islands, in lat.i.tude 20 degrees 29 minutes south and longitude 28 degrees 51 minutes west, a little over a week from our leaving the Line, having made a very good pa.s.sage so far from England, this being our thirty-sixth day out.

Soon after this, the south-east trades failing us and varying westerly breezes taking their place, we hauled our wind, altering our course to south-east by south, and making to pa.s.s the meridian on the forty- seventh parallel of lat.i.tude. This we did so as to get well to the southward of the Cape of Good Hope, between which and ourselves a long stretch of some three thousand miles of water lay; although both Captain Gillespie and Mr Mackay appeared to make nothing of this, looking upon it as the easiest part of our journey.

Indeed, the latter told me so.

"Now, it's all plain sailing, my boy, and we ought to run that distance in a fortnight or so from here, with the strong westerly and sou'- western winds we'll soon fetch into on this tack," said he; "but, wait till we come to the region of the Flying Dutchman's Cape, and then you'll make acquaintance with a sea such as you have never seen before, all that we've gone through as yet being merely child's play in comparison."

"What, worse than the Bay of Biscay?" I cried.

"Why, that was only a fleabite, youngster," he replied laughing. "I suppose you magnified it in your imagination from being sea-sick. The weather off the Cape of Storms, however; is a very different matter. It is quite in keeping with its name!"

But, still, for the next few days, at first proceeding close-hauled on the starboard tack and then, as the wind veered more round to the west, running free before it, with all our flying kites and stu'n'sails set, the time pa.s.sed as pleasantly as before; and we had about just as little to do in the way of seamanship aboard, the ship almost steering herself and hardly a tack or a sheet needing to be touched. I noticed, though, Adams a little later on with a couple of men whom he requisitioned as sailmakers' mates busy cutting out queer little triangular pieces of canvas, which he told me were "storm staysails," the old ones having been blown away last voyage; while I saw that Tim Rooney, besides a.s.suring himself of the security of the masts and setting up preventer stays for additional strength by the captain's orders, rigging up life- lines fore and aft, saying when I asked him what they were for, "To hould on wid, sure, whin we toombles into Cape weather, me darlint!"

There were no signs of any change yet, though; and the hands got so hard up for amus.e.m.e.nt with the small amount of work they had to perform, in spite of Captain Gillespie hunting up all sorts of odd jobs for them to do in the way of cleaning the bra.s.s-work of the ship and polishing the ring-bolts, that they got into that "mischief," which, the proverb tells us, Satan frequently "finds for idle hands" to do.

Tom Jerrold and I were in the boatswain's cabin one afternoon teaching the starling to speak a fresh sentence--the bird having got quite tame and learnt to talk very well already, saying "Bad cess to ye" and "Tip us yer flipper," just like Tim Rooney, with his brogue and all; when, all at once, we heard some scrambling going on in the long-boat above the deckhouse, and the sound of men's voices whispering together.

"Some of the fellows forrud are having a rig with the skipper's pigs,"

cried Tom. "Let us watch and see what they're up to."

"They can't be hurting the poor brutes," said I, speaking in the same subdued tone, so as not to alarm the men and make them think anyone was listening; "I'm sure of that, or they would soon make a noise!"

"I suppose I was mistaken," observed Tom presently, when we could not hear the sailor's whispering voices any longer nor any grunting from the pigs; although we kept our ears on the alert. "I fancy, though, they were up to something, from a remark I heard just now when I pa.s.sed by the fo'c's'le as the starboard watch were having their tea."

"What was that?" I asked. "Did they speak of doing anything?"

"No-o," replied Tom hesitatingly, as if he did not quite like telling me all he knew, being afraid perhaps of my informing Mr Mackay, from the latter and I being now known to be close friends albeit I was only an apprentice and he the first mate. "I only heard them joking about that beastly marmalade the skipper has palmed off on them, and us, too, worse luck, in lieu of our proper rations of salt junk; and one of them said he'd 'like to swap all his lot for the voyage for a good square meal of roast pork,' that's all."

"Why, any of us might have said that," cried I laughing, and not seeing any harm in the observation. "I'm sure I would not object to a change of diet."

Later on in the evening, though, what Tom had related was brought back to me with much point; for, a curious circ.u.mstance occurred shortly after "four bells," when it was beginning to get dark after sunset, the night closing in so rapidly.

The captain was then on the p.o.o.p talking to Mr Saunders about something or other in which they both seemed deeply interested, the one sniffing and twitching his long nose about, and the other wagging his red beard as he moved his jaws in talking. I was just above their heads in the mizzen-top, my favourite retreat of an evening, whither I had taken up a book to read, although I could barely distinguish the print by this time, daylight had disappeared so quickly on the sun's sinking in the deep astern; when, all at once, a violent squealing and grunting broke out from the long-boat, sufficient for more than a herd of porkers all in their last agony, instead of its coming from one or even all three of the pigs Captain Gillespie had stowed there, fattening them up until he thought them big enough to kill for the table.

"Who the d.i.c.kens is that troubling my pigs?" roared the captain, clutching hold of the bra.s.s rail of the p.o.o.p in front of him, and squinting forwards as well as he could in the dim light to where the clew of the main-sail just lifting disclosed the fore part of the deck- house with the long-boat on top. "None of your sky-larking there, d'ye hear? Leave 'em alone!"

But, there was no one to be seen either on top of the deck-house or in the long-boat, although the squealing still continued.

"D'ye hear me there, forrud?" shouted Captain Gillespie again in a voice of thunder, having now worked himself up into one of his tornado-like rages. "Leave those pigs alone, I tell ye!"

"Sure, sorr, there's n.o.body there," said Tim Rooney, who was on the main-deck below, just under the break of the p.o.o.p. "There's divil a sowl botherin' the blissid pigs, sorr, as ye can say for y'rsilf. Faix, they're ownly contrary a bit, sorr, an' p'raps onaisy in their moind!"

"Nonsense, man!" cried Captain Gillespie stamping his foot. "It is some of those mutinous rascals carrying on their games, I--I know! Just look, will ye, bosun?"

"There ar'n't a sowl thare, I tell ye, sorr," protested Tim, rather a bit vexed at his word being doubted, as he turned to go forward where the row was still going on. "Ain't I jist come from there, sorr, an'

can't I say now wid me own eyes there ain't n.o.body not nigh the long- boat nor the pigs neither--bad cess to 'em!"

He muttered the last words below his breath, and getting up into the main-rigging he climbed half-way up the shrouds, so as to be able to drop from thence on to the deck-house, this being his quickest mode of reaching the roof of that structure; and from thence, as he knew, he would of course be able to see right into the long-boat as well as inspect its four-footed tenants.

"There's not a sowl in the boat or near it, sorr, at all, at all, cap'en dear, barrin' the pigs sure, as I towld ye," he repeated on getting so far; and he was just proceeding to lower himself down to the top of the deck-house by a loose rope that was hanging from aloft, when he swung himself back into the rigging in alarm as a dark body jumped out of the long-boat right across his face, uttering the terrified e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, "Murther in Irish! Howly Moses, what is that?"