Dick Sands, the Boy Captain Part 4

"But surely," interposed Mrs. Weldon, "you would not deny that in the navy there have been many good officers who have never had the training of which you are speaking?"

"True, madam; but yet even some of the best of them have begun at the lowest step of the ladder. For instance, Lord Nelson."

Just at this instant Cousin Benedict emerged from the stern-cabin, and completely absorbed, according to his wont, in his own pursuit, began to wander up and down the deck, peering into the interstices of the network, rummaging under the seats, and drawing his long fingers along the cracks in the floor where the tar had crumbled away.

"Well, Benedict, how are you getting on?" asked Mrs Weldon.

"I? Oh, well enough, thank you," he replied dreamily; "but I wish we were on sh.o.r.e."

"What were you looking for under that bench?" said Captain Hull.

"Insects, of course," answered Benedict; "I am always looking for insects."

"But don't you know, Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "that Captain Hull is far too particular to allow any vermin on the deck of his vessel?"

Captain Hull smiled and said,-

"Mrs Weldon is very complimentary; but I am really inclined to hope that your investigations in the cabins of the 'Pilgrim' will not be attended with much success."

Cousin Benedict shrugged his shoulders in a manner that indicated that he was aware that the cabins could furnish nothing attractive in the way of insects.

"However," continued the captain, "I dare say down in the hold you could find some c.o.c.kroaches; but c.o.c.kroaches, I presume, would be of little or no interest to you."

"No interest?" cried Benedict, at once warmed into enthusiasm; "why, are they not the very orthoptera that roused the imprecations of Virgil and Horace? Are they not closely allied to the Periplaneta orientalis and the American Kakerlac, which inhabit-"

"I should rather say infest," interrupted the captain.

"Easy enough to see, sir," replied Benedict, stopping short with amazement, "that you are not an entomologist!"

"I fear I must plead guilty to your accusation," said the captain good-humouredly.

"You must not expect every one to be such an enthusiast in your favourite study as yourself." Mrs. Weldon interposed; "but are you not satisfied with the result of your explorations in New Zealand?"

"Yes, yes," answered Benedict, with a sort of hesitating reluctance; "I must not say I was dissatisfied; I was really very delighted to secure that new staphylin which hitherto had never been seen elsewhere than in New California; but still, you know, an entomologist is always craving for fresh additions to his collection."

While he was speaking, Dingo, leaving little Jack, who was romping with him, came and jumped on Benedict, and began to fawn on him.

"Get away, you brute!" he exclaimed, thrusting the dog aside.

"Poor Dingo! good dog!" cried Jack, running up and taking the animal's huge head between his tiny hands.

"Your interest in c.o.c.kroaches, Mr. Benedict," observed the captain, "does not seem to extend to dogs."

"It isn't that I dislike dogs at all," answered Benedict; "but this creature has disappointed me."

"How do you mean? You could hardly want to catalogue him with the diptera or hymenoptera?" asked Mrs Weldon laughingly.

"Oh, not at all," replied Benedict, with the most unmoved gravity. "But I understood that he had been found on the West Coast of Africa, and I hoped that perhaps he might have brought over some African hemiptera in his coat; but I have searched his coat well, over and over again, without finding a single specimen. The dog has disappointed me," he repeated mournfully.

"I can only hope," said the captain, "that if you had found anything, you were going to kill it instantly."

Benedict looked with mute astonishment into the captain's face. In a moment or two afterwards, he said,-

"I suppose, sir, you acknowledge that Sir John Franklin was an eminent member of your profession?"

"Certainly; why?"

"Because Sir John would never take away the life of the most insignificant insect; it is related of him that when he had once been incessantly tormented all day by a mosquito, at last he found it on the back of his hand and blew it off, saying, 'Fly away, little creature, the world is large enough for both you and me!' "

"That little anecdote of yours, Mr. Benedict," said the captain, smiling, "is a good deal older than Sir John Franklin. It is told, in nearly the same words, about Uncle Toby, in Sterne's 'Tristram Shandy'; only there it was not a mosquito, it was a common fly."

"And was Uncle Toby an entomologist?" asked Benedict; "did he ever really live?"

"No," said the captain, "he was only a character in a novel."

Cousin Benedict gave a look of utter contempt, and Captain Hull and Mrs Weldon could not resist laughing.

Such is only one instance of the way in which Cousin Benedict invariably brought it about that all conversation with him ultimately turned upon his favourite pursuit, and all along, throughout the monotonous hours of smooth sailing, while the "Pilgrim" was making her little headway to the east, he showed his own devotion to his pet science, by seeking to enlist new disciples. First of all, he tried his powers of persuasion upon d.i.c.k Sands, but soon finding that the young apprentice had no taste for entomological mysteries, he gave him up and turned his attention to the negroes. Nor was he much more successful with them; one after another, Tom, Bat, Actaeon, and Austin had all withdrawn themselves from his instructions, and the cla.s.s at last was reduced to the single person of Hercules; but in him the enthusiastic naturalist thought he had discovered a latent talent which could distinguish between a parasite and a thysanura.

Hercules accordingly submitted to pa.s.s a considerable portion of his leisure in the observation of every variety of coleoptera; he was encouraged to study the extensive collection of stag-beetles, tiger-beetles and lady-birds; and although at times the enthusiast trembled to see some of his most delicate and fragile specimens in the huge grasp of his pupil, he soon learned that the man's gentle docility was a sufficient guarantee against his clumsiness.

While the science of entomology was thus occupying its two votaries, Mrs. Weldon was giving her own best attention to the education of Master Jack. Reading and writing she undertook to teach herself, while she entrusted the instruction in arithmetic to the care of d.i.c.k Sands. Under the conviction that a child of five years will make a much more rapid progress if something like amus.e.m.e.nt be combined with his lessons, Mrs. Weldon would not teach her boy to spell by the use of an ordinary school primer, but used a set of cubes, on the sides of which the various letters were painted in red. After first making a word and showing it to Jack, she set him to put it together without her help, and it was astonishing how quickly the child advanced, and how many hours he would spend in this way, both in the cabin and on deck. There were more than fifty cubes, which, besides the alphabet, included all the digits; so that they were of service for d.i.c.k Sands' lessons as well as for her own. She was more than satisfied with her device.

On the morning of the 9th an incident occurred which could not fail to be observed as somewhat remarkable. Jack was half lying, half sitting on the deck, amusing himself with his letters, and had just finished putting together a word with which he intended to puzzle old Tom, who, with his hand sheltering his eyes, was pretending not to see the difficulty which was being labouriously prepared to bewilder him; all at once, Dingo, who had been gambolling round the child, made a sudden pause, lifted his right paw, and wagged his tail convulsively. Then darting down upon a capital S, he seized it in his mouth, and carried it some paces away.

"Oh, Dingo, Dingo! you mustn't eat my letters!" shouted the child.

But the dog had already dropped the block of wood, and coming back again, picked up another, which he laid quietly by the side of the first. This time it was a capital V. Jack uttered an exclamation of astonishment which brought to his side not only his mother, but the captain and d.i.c.k, who were both on deck. In answer to their inquiry as to what had occurred, Jack cried out in the greatest excitement that Dingo knew how to read. At any rate he was sure that he knew his letters.

d.i.c.k Sands smiled and stooped to take back the letters. Dingo snarled and showed his teeth, but the apprentice was not frightened; he carried his point, and replaced the two blocks among the rest. Dingo in an instant pounced upon them again, and having drawn them to his side, laid a paw upon each of them, as if to signify his intention of retaining them in his possession. Of the other letters of the alphabet he took no notice at all.

"It is very strange," said Mrs. Weldon; "he has picked out S V again."

"S V!" repeated the captain thoughtfully; "are not those the letters that form the initials on his collar?"

And turning to the old negro, he continued,-

"Tom didn't you say that this dog did not always belong to the captain of the 'Waldeck'?"

"To the best of my belief," replied Tom, "the captain had only had him about two years. I often heard him tell how he found him at the mouth of the Congo."

"Do you suppose that he never knew where the animal came from, or to whom he had previously belonged?" asked Captain Hull.

"Never," answered Tom, shaking his head; "a lost dog is worse to identify than a lost child; you see, he can't make himself understood any way."

The captain made no answer, but stood musing; Mrs. Weldon interrupted him.

"These letters, captain, seem to be recalling something to your recollection.