Fritz and Eric Part 19

As Fritz said this, the broad-shouldered, jolly, seafaring man Eric had pointed out--who was still talking to Fritz's acquaintance of the steamboat, close to the divan and within sound of the brothers' voices-- hearing his name spoken, looked towards Fritz, who at once raised his hat politely.

"Sarvint, sir," said he, coming forward and stretching out an open hand about the size of a small-sized ham.

"You're the brother, I reckon from the likeness, of this young shaver I picked up off the Cape, hey? My name's Brown, Cap'en Brown, sir, of the _Pilot's Bride_, the smartest whaling craft as ever sailed out o'

Providence, I guess. Glad to know you, mister!"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

AN INVITATION.

"Yes, I'm Eric's brother," said Fritz, grasping the huge paw of the other, and shaking hands cordially,--"Fritz Dort, at your service. I'm only too glad to have the pleasure of personally thanking you, on my own and my mother's behalf, for your bravery in saving my poor brother here from a watery grave, as well as for all your kindness to him afterwards!

He has told me about you, captain, and how you rescued him at sea, besides treating him so very handsomely afterwards."

"Avast there!" roared out the Yankee skipper in a voice which was as loud as if he were hailing the maintop from his own quarter-deck, albeit it had a genial, cheery tone and there was a good-natured expression on his jolly, weather-beaten face. "Stow all thet fine lingo, my hearty!

I only did for the b'y, mister, no more'n any other sailor would hev done fur a shepmate in distress; though, I reckon I wer powerful glad I overhauled thet there jolly-boat in time to save him, afore starvation an' the sun hed done their work on him. I opine another day's exposure would hev settled the b'y's hash; yes, sir, I du!"

"I've no doubt of that," said Fritz kindly. "From what he says, you must have picked him up just in the nick of time."

"Yes, sirree, you bet on thet," responded the skipper. "Six hours more driftin' about in thet boat, with the sun a-broilin' his brain-box an'

his wits wool-gatherin' in delirimums, would ha' flummuxed him to a haar, I guess. He wer so mad when we got him aboard thet he took me fur his gran'mother, Lorry sunthin' or other--I'm durned if I ken kinder rec'lect the name!"

"So he tells me," said Fritz, laughing at the idea of old Lorischen being mistaken for the broad-shouldered, red-faced, whaling captain.

The old nurse, who was very particular about her personal appearance, would have had a fit at the bare supposition, much less at such an allusion to her age as would have supposed her ancient enough to be Eric's grandmother!

"Never mind, mister," continued the skipper, giving Eric a hearty slap on the back, which made the lad wince although he smiled at what the worthy sailor intended for a little friendly attention. "He's all right now, the b'y is--ain't you, my bully, hey?"

"Yes; all right, captain, all right, sir, thanks to you," replied Eric.

"Thet's your sort," said the skipper exultantly. "We've coddled him up an' made a man of him ag'in, we hev, sirree. Jerusalem, mister, you wouldn't know him ag'in for the skillagalee young shaver we h'isted aboard! An', what is more, mister, look here, we've made a sailor of the b'y since he's been along of us in the _Pilot's Bride_--none of your lazy, good-for-nothin' idlers; but, a reg'ler downeaster cat block, clear grit an' no mistake, a sailor every inch of him, yes, sir!"

"I should have thought he had seen enough of the sea, eh?" said Fritz, turning to Eric with a smile.

"Thunder, mister!" exclaimed the Yankee skipper indignantly. "What d'ye mean with your ''nough of the sea,' when he's only jest cut his eye- teeth an' taken to larnin'? Why, mister, it would be a sin to let thet b'y turn his hand to anythin' else, fur he's a born sailor to the very backbone!"

"What say you, Eric?" said Fritz to his brother.

"Oh, I'm with the captain," replied he. "I always loved the sea, and the wreck of the old _Gustav Barentz_ has not altered my thinking about it just the same. I don't believe I could ever settle down to a sh.o.r.e life now! I have learnt a lot of seamanship, too, with Captain Brown; and he says, that if I will go with him on his next whaling voyage, he'll make me third mate of the _Pilot's Bride_."

"Jest so, my young c.o.c.k shaver," said that gentleman; "an' what old Job Brown sez, why I guess he'll stick to! You rec'lect what I told you 'bout wages, hey? We whalin' men don't gen'rally give a fixed sum, as we go shares in the vally o' the venture; but, if yer brother haar likes it better, I'll give you twenty dollars a month, besides yer keep an'

mess money, thaar!"

"I'm sure, Captain Brown, that is a very generous offer," replied Fritz, acting as spokesman for his brother; "still, I hardly think my poor mother would like his being away for so long a time as your voyage would last."

"We'll be away, I reckon, fur a twelvemonth, countin' from next month, when we'll start--thet is if my shep's ready for the v'y'ge, as I kinder guess she'll be, with me to look arter her an' see the longsh.o.r.e men don't lose time over the job," interrupted the skipper. "Say now, she sails latter end o' July, so as to git down to the Forties afore October, or tharabouts; waall, I guess we'll cast anchor in Narraganset Bay ag'in 'fore next fall--will that du for you, mister, hey?"

"You see," explained Fritz, "my poor mother thinks him dead; and, of course, after she gets the letter he tells me he has just sent home, it will be as bad as a second death to her to know that he has now started on another voyage without returning to see her first! Besides that, I've read and heard that whaling life is terribly dangerous--isn't it?"

"Not a bit of it," said the skipper bluntly, in sea-dog fashion. "I reckon it's nary half so dangerous as sailin' back'ards an' for'ards across the herrin' pond 'twixt Noo Yark an' your old Eu-rope in one o'

them ocean steamers, thet are thought so safe, whar you run the risk o'

bustin' yer biler an' gettin' blown up, or else smashin' yer screw-shaft an' goin' down to Davy Jones' locker! Why, thaar ain't a quarter the per'l 'bout it, much less half, as I sed jest naow! You jest ax my friend haar, whom you seem to hev known afore. Say, Nat, what d'ye think o' whalin' life?"

"Safe as the National Bank, I guess, Job," promptly responded the individual addressed, Fritz's acquaintance the "deck hand," whose full name he now learnt was Nathaniel Washington Slater--usually addressed as "Nathaniel W Slater," or called familiarly "Nat" by his friends!

"Thaar!" exclaimed the skipper, "what more d'ye want than thet, hey?

You see, mister, the _Pilot's Bride_ don't do whalin' up in Baffin's Bay an' further north, whar I'll allow the fishin' is a bit risky. We only makes reg'ler trips once a year to the Southern Ocean, callin' in on our way at Saint Helena an' the Cape o' Good Hope. Thaar, I guess, we meets a fleet of schooners thet do all the fishin' fur us 'mongst the islands.

We fetch 'em out grub, an' sich-like notions, an' take in return all the ile an' skins they've got to bring home. In course, sometimes, we strike a fish on our own 'count; but, we don't make a trade of it, 'cept the black fins comes under our noses, so to speak! The b'y'll run no risk, you bet, if you're skeart about him."

"No, not a bit, mister," corroborated Nat; "and it's a downright capital openin' for him, I guess, too. Why, there are scores of people would give something handsome as a premium to get the cap'en to take their sons along o' him!"

"Thet's a fact," said the skipper; "though I reckon I don't kinder like to be bothered with b'ys--'specially sich as are mother's darlin's.

They're gen'rally powerful sa.s.sy, or else white-livered do-nuthins!

I've taken a fancy to this lad, howbeit; an' thet's the reason I wants fur to hev him with me."

"Besides, Fritz," put in Eric, who had refrained from speaking as yet throughout the conversation, although so interested in it, "you must recollect what a sum mother paid for my outfit? Well, I have lost every st.i.tch of it, and shall not get the slightest return from the owners for what went down in the _Gustav Barentz_--merchant sailors have to run the risk of all such casualties, you know! Now, I should not like to go back on mother's hands again, like a bad penny, with nothing to bless myself with; but, here's a capital chance for me. As Captain Brown says, I shall return in a year, and then my wages would be something handsome to take home to mutterchen, even if I then gave up the sea."

"Did you tell mother of this in your letter?" asked Fritz.

"Certainly; for, of course, I did not expect to see you here. I told her that I had almost pledged my word with Captain Brown to go with him, even if it were only to pay him for what he had already done for me, in advancing me money to buy clothes and other necessaries, for I hadn't a rag on when he rescued me, as well as promising to keep me here till the vessel is ready to start again on her next voyage. Why, Fritz, he's so kind, that he actually offered to pay my pa.s.sage home, if I were bent on seeing mother first before deciding about his offer!"

"That settles it then, Eric, for mother will be certain to say that the right thing to do will be to pay your debts first; in addition to which, knowing I am now out here, she will not expect you to return yet.

Really, Captain Brown," added Fritz, turning to the skipper, who appeared to be anxiously awaiting the result of the colloquy between the two brothers, "I'm quite at a loss to express my grat.i.tude to you, both on my brother's and my own behalf! I hope you will not think me lukewarm in the matter, from my taking so long to make up my mind?"

"Sartenly not, sirree," said the Yankee skipper with emphasis, as he gripped Fritz's hand again. "Sartenly not, sirree. Bizness is bizness, an' pleasure's another kind o' notion altogether! I only gev' the b'y an invitation, thet's all, I reckon!"

"An invitation which he now accepts with thanks," replied Fritz. "Eh, Eric?" he added, turning to the lad, who was looking at Captain Brown with a face as beaming as his own.

"Of course I will," answered Eric, without a moment's hesitation. "I should be a donkey to refuse such an offer."

"Waall," drawled out the skipper in high good humour, "I'm raal glad to hear you say thet so. You won't repent j'inin' me, I ken tell you, nor regret slingin' yer hammock aboard the _Pilot's Bride_!"

He then proceeded to wring Eric's hand as cordially, and forcibly too, in his big fist as he had done his brother's.

"Now thet's all settled an' fixed up slick," said Captain Brown, when he had finished hand-shaking, pa.s.sing on the friendly civility to Mr Nat Slater. "I guess we'd better hev a liquor-up to seal the barg'in; an'

when thet's done, if you've got nuthin' better to du, I reckon you'd better come along o' me to my little shanty at the head of the bay--your brother's ben made welcome thaar already."

"You are very kind," replied Fritz, to whom this courteous speech was addressed; "but this gentleman here," indicating Nat, "was just going to show me a boarding-house where I can put up at. He has also promised to introduce me to some shipping firm where I can get work."

"Out o' collar, then?" asked the skipper, with deep interest.

"Yes," answered Fritz. "I could get no employment in New York, and that is what made me come up here, so providentially as it has now turned out."

"Waall, come home along o' me, anyhow, till you find sunthin' to put yer hand to," said the other kindly. "My folks'll make you downright welcome, you bet, mister."

"Thank you, I will," replied Fritz, accepting the kind invitation in the same spirit in which it was offered; and presently the two brothers, reunited so strangely, were on their way, in company with the good- hearted skipper to his "shanty," as he called it, on Narraganset Bay--a comfortable, old-fashioned house, as Fritz presently found out, commanding a fine view of the Providence river on one hand, and of the wide Atlantic, rolling away into the illimitable distance, on the other.

"Nat" declined to accompany the party, on the plea of an engagement He made an appointment, however, with Fritz for the morrow, promising then to introduce him to some business men, who, he said, would probably find the young German employment; after which he took leave of the Yankee skipper and the two brothers, with a brief parting, "So long!"