On Board the Esmeralda Part 4

"Do, if you don't mind," said I; and Tom, whisking down the room in a somewhat neglige costume, readily obtained the requisite "permit of search." He then beckoned me to follow him towards a second door communicating from the dormitory with a smaller apartment beyond, whose sides, I observed on entering within, were b.u.t.tressed from floor to ceiling with a series of diminutive square wooden chests, ranged along the walls on top of one another, like the deed boxes noticeable in the private office of a solicitor in large practice, and all numbered in similar fashion, seriatim, with large black figures on their front faces.

"Every boy has one of these lockers to stow his traps in," explained Tom, "and Smiley said you could have 31, next to mine, which is 30--just in the same way, old fellow, as our beds are alongside--good of him, isn't it?"

"Yes," I replied, "he seems a kind chap."

"He is," said Tom; "but, come, Martin, if your box is here you'd better bundle in your things at once, and leave it out on the landing for the old woman to take down again to the cellar, where all our trunks and such-like are kept."

My box was soon found; and my scanty wardrobe being quickly removed to the numbered receptacle allotted to me, Tom and I returned to the dormitory, where, as I had taken care to bring back with me the garment I required for present exigencies, we both soon made an end of our toilets and jumped into our respective beds.

I had expected that as soon as all the boys were under the sheets, the mathematical master would have left the room; but, no, "Smiley," much to my surprise, proceeded to undress, and occupy a large bed at the end of the dormitory close to the entrance.

Under these circ.u.mstances, therefore, instead of the row that would otherwise have gone on, in the absence of any presiding genius of order, the room was soon hushed in quiet repose; and, the last thing I can recollect hearing, ere dropping to sleep, after wishing Tom a _sotto voce_ "good night," was the sound of the many-voiced sea as the waves whispered to each other on the beach--the gentle lullaby noise it made, to the fancy of my c.o.c.kney ears, exactly resembling that created by the distant traffic of the London streets in the early hours of the morning to those living within the city radius.

CHAPTER FIVE.

A SECRET CONSPIRACY.

I awoke from a confused dream of having a quarrel with Aunt Matilda at Tapioca Villa about taking the tea-tray up to the parlour, and, in my pa.s.sion at being condemned to exercise Molly's functions, kicking over the whole equipage, and sending all the cups and saucers flying down the kitchen stairs--where I could hear them clattering and crashing as they descended--to the far different reality that, instead of being still under my uncle's roof at Islington, I was actually at school at Dr h.e.l.lyer's. And that dreadful gong which had interrupted my slumbers, and which must once have belonged to a mandarin of the most warlike tendencies, and of three b.u.t.tons at least, judging by the din it was capable of, was banging away down-stairs and reverberating through the house; while the score of boys or so, who occupied the dormitory along with Tom and myself, were jumping out of bed and dressing as hurriedly as they could in the semi-darkness of the wintry morning, which the twinkling of the solitary gas-jet, still alight near the door, over Smiley's couch, rendered even more dusky and dismal by contrast.

The windows were shrouded in a thick white fog, that had come up with the rising tide from the sea, which I was thus prevented from seeing had I the time to spare to look out; although, the thought of doing so never crossed my mind, for, independently of the noise of the gong and the scurrying of the other fellows out of the room as soon as they were partly dressed, being suggestive of my also hurrying on my clothes as quickly as I possibly could, I hardly needed Tom's reminder to "look sharp!" Really, no sooner had I stood on my feet and been thoroughly roused, than I was a.s.sailed by such a feeling of ravenous hunger that it would have been quite sufficient inducement for me to make haste without any further spur to my movements. I certainly did not intend to be late for breakfast--this morning at all events--and so I told Tom!

Within less than two minutes, I think, I had scrambled into my shirt and trousers; and, throwing my other garments over my arm in imitation of Tom, I was racing along with him down to the lavatory in the lower regions where our ablutions had to be performed. Thence, there was another mad rush up-stairs again to the refectory, which we reached before the second gong, calling us to the matutinal meal, had ceased to sound.

Porridge, with mugs of skim sky-blue milk-and-water, and a couple of slices of bread-and-b.u.t.ter for each pupil, comprised the bill of fare; but it might have been a banquet of Lucullus from the way I did justice to it after my prolonged fast. Noticing my voracity, the old woman, who, as on the evening before, acted as mistress of the ceremonies, gave me an extra allowance of porridge, which made me her friend thenceforth--at least at meal-times, that is!

On breakfast being cleared away, the "refectory," by the simple process of removing the dirty table-cloth from the long table occupying the centre of the apartment, was converted into a school-room, Dr h.e.l.lyer coming in immediately after a third gong had rung for a short interval, and taking the armchair at the head--that seat of honour which had been temporarily filled by "the Cobbler" during our meal being vacated by Monsieur Phelan with much celerity as soon as the Doctor's expansive countenance was seen beaming on us through the doorway, "like the sun in a fog," as Tom whispered to me.

The great man had not long taken his seat before he called me up to him, and, with many "ah's," interrogated me as to my acquirements. He was evidently not greatly impressed with my proficiency; for, severely commenting on the ignorance I displayed for a boy of my age, he relegated me to the lowest cla.s.s, under Mr Smallpage, or "Smiley," who set me tasks in spelling and the multiplication table, after which school regularly began for the rest.

Books were produced in the most extraordinary and mysterious fashion from hidden cupboards, and desks improvised out of hinged shelves of deal affixed to the walls, and supported by brackets likewise movable, one of the forms along the centre table being shifted for the accommodation of those taking writing lessons; and, at intervals, Dr h.e.l.lyer had up a batch of boys before his throne of office, rigidly putting them under examination, varied by the administration of "pandies," and the imposition of ever so many lines of Caesar to be learnt by heart, when they failed in construing it.

At sharp eleven, a large clock over the fireplace, with a round face like that of our podgy preceptor, telling the time, Dr h.e.l.lyer pushed back his chair as a sign that our morning studies were over; and the boys then all trooped out into the playground for an hour, coming back again punctually at twelve to dinner in the re-transformed room, at the summons of the inveterate gong.

As the butcher had been lately conciliated apparently, there was no recourse to tinned meats of Australian or South American brand on the first occasion of my partaking of this meal at the establishment. Roast beef, and plenty of it, was served out to us, with the accompaniment of potatoes and cabbage, vegetables being cheap at that time on account of the watering-place's season being ended; while such of the pupils whose parents paid extra for the beverage, in the same way as they did for French and dancing lessons from the "Cobbler," were supplied with a mug apiece of very small beer--the remainder, and far larger proportion of us, being allowed cold water "at discretion."

After dinner came afternoon school, lasting till four o'clock; when followed another hour's diversion in the playground; and then, tea, similar to the repast I had been a spectator, but not partaker of, the evening before. After tea a couple of hours' rest were allowed for reflection, in the same apartment, during which time the boys were supposed to learn their lessons for the next morning, but didn't--Dr h.e.l.lyer relegating his authority at this period of the day generally to Smiley, who went to sleep invariably when in charge of the room, or the Cobbler, who as invariably sneaked out and left the pupils to themselves, when the consequences may be readily imagined.

At eight o'clock, to bring this category of our day's doings to a close, the final gong sounded a tattoo, sending us all aloft, like poor Tom Bowling, to the dormitories to bed.

Such was the ordinary routine of our life at the Doctor's, according to my two years' experience, the only exception being that our meals varied, as to quant.i.ty and quality, in direct proportion to the Doctor's credit in the neighbouring town; for, I will do our preceptor the justice to state that, should fortune smile on him, in respect to the facilities afforded him by the tradespeople with whom he dealt, he treated us with no n.i.g.g.ard hand and we fared well; while, should the fickle G.o.ddess Fortune frown, and provisions be withheld by the cautious purveyors thereof until ready money was forthcoming, then we suffered accordingly, there being a dearth upon the land, which we had to tide over as best we could, hoping for better times. Every Wednesday and Sat.u.r.day, too, there was no afternoon school, the boys on these half- holidays being either allowed additional exercise in the so-called "playground," or taken out for long dreary walks under the escort of Smiley or the Cobbler; and on Sundays we were always marched to church in state, be the weather what it might, wet or fine, Dr h.e.l.lyer leading the van on these high parade occasions--in full academical costume, and wearing a most wonderful sort of archdiaconal hat that had a very imposing effect--with the two a.s.sistant masters acting as the rearguard, and closing the procession.

In summer we used to have more lat.i.tude in the way of outdoor exercise, the boys being taken down every morning to bathe in the sea, when the tide allowed, before breakfast; or, if the far out-reaching sands were not then covered with water, later on in the day. We had also cricket and football on the common during the hours of relaxation spent in winter on the barren playground in the rear of the house. Sometimes, in our solemn walks under charge of the under-masters, we occasionally encountered "the opposition school" or college fellows belonging to a large educational inst.i.tution near us, when it was no rare occurrence for a skirmish to ensue between the two forces, that led to the most disastrous results, as far as subsequent "pandies" and impositions from the Doctor were concerned, or, rather, those who had to undergo them!

This, of course, was in the working terms--when the school was in full blast, so to speak, and everything carried on by rule in regular rotation; but, at vacation time, when all the boys had dispersed to their several homes and were enjoying themselves, as I supposed, to their heart's content, in their respective family circles, the life that I led was a very different one. As at my uncle's house, I was still the solitary Ishmael of the community, doomed to spend holidays and periods of study alike under the academical roof.

The first of those educational interludes during my stay at the establishment occurred at Christmas, shortly after I had taken up my residence there, and the thought of all the jollity and merry-making my more fortunate schoolfellows would have at that festive season, about which they naturally talked much before the general breaking-up, made me feel very lonesome when left behind at Beachampton; although I did not for a moment desire to return to Tapioca Villa, in order to share the delightful society of my relatives there. However, this feeling wore off in a few days, and long before the boys came back I had learnt to be pretty well contented with my solitary lot.

But, when the midsummer recess came round, in due course, matters had altered considerably for the better on my being again left behind in my glory; and, but for the fact of being deprived of the close companionship of my constant chum Tom, I can honestly say that my life was far happier than when the school was going on as usual.

I was alone, it is true, but then I had the great counterbalancing advantage of almost entire liberty of action, being allowed to roam about the place at my own sweet will and pleasure, with no lessons to learn, and the only obligation placed on me that of reporting myself regularly at meal-times; when, as the penalty for being late consisted in my having to go without my dinner or tea, as the case might be, and I possessed an unusually sensitive appet.i.te which seldom failed to warn me of the approach of the hour devoted to those refections, even when I was out of earshot of the gong, I earned a well-founded reputation for the most praiseworthy punctuality--the lesson I had when I first arrived at the school having given me a wholesome horror of starvation!

In my wanderings about the neighbourhood I explored the country for miles round. As for the beach, I investigated it with the painstaking pertinacity of a surveying officer of the hydrographic department of the Admiralty mapping out some newly-discovered sh.o.r.e. I knew every curve and indentation of the coast eastwards as far as Worthing, with the times of high and low water and the set of the tides, and was on familiar terms with the coastguardsmen stationed between Eastbourne and Preston and thence westwards. Crabs, too, and zoophytes, sea anemones, and algae, were as keenly my study as if I were a marine zoologist, although I might not perhaps have been able to describe them in scientific language; while, should a stiff south-westerly gale cast up, as it frequently did amongst other wreckage and ocean flotsam and jetsam, fresh oysters torn from carefully cultivated beds further down the coast, none were sooner acquainted with the interesting fact than I, or gulped down the savoury "natives" with greater gusto--opening them skilfully with an old sailor's jack-knife, which was a treasure I had picked up amidst the pebbly shingle in one of my excursions.

My chief resort, however, when I could steal away thither without being perceived from the school, was the quay close to the entrance to the harbour, at the mouth of the little river which there made its efflux to the sea.

Here the small coasting craft and Channel Island steamers of low draught of water that used the port would lay up while discharging cargo, before going away empty or in ballast, as there was little export trade from the place; and it was my delight to board the different vessels and make friends with the seamen, who would let me go up the rigging and mount the masts to the dog-vane, the height of my climbing ambition, while telling me the names of the different ropes and spars and instructing me in all the mysteries of shipping life, in which I took the deepest interest.

I was a born sailor, if anything.

There is no use in my denying the fact I must have inherited it with my father's blood!

Once, Dr h.e.l.lyer spying about after me, on account of my not having turned up either at dinner or tea--a most unusual circ.u.mstance--found me messing with the hands in the fo'c's'le of a coal brig.

I recollect he pushed me along back to the school the whole way, holding me at arm's length by the scruff of the neck; and, besides the infliction of a round dozen of "pandies" and an imposition of five hundred lines of Virgil's Aeneid to learn by heart, threatened me with all sorts of pains and penalties should he ever catch me going down to the quay again.

But, all his exhortations were of no avail! Go to the harbour amongst the vessels I would, whenever I could get an opportunity of sneaking away unnoticed; and, the more I saw of ships and sailors, the more firmly I made up my mind to go to sea as soon as I saw a chance of getting afloat, in spite of the very different arrangements Uncle George had made for my future walk in life--arrangements that were recalled to my mind every quarter in the letters my relation periodically wrote to me after the receipt of the Doctor's terminal reports on my character and educational progress. These latter were generally of a damaging nature, letting me in for a lecture on my bad behaviour, coupled with the prognostication, which I am sure really came from Aunt Matilda through this side wind, that unless I mended my ways speedily I should never be promoted to that situation of clerk in uncle's office which was being held open for me as soon as I was old enough, and the thought of which--with the enthralling spell of the ocean upon me--I hated!

To tell the strict truth, these quarterly reports of Dr h.e.l.lyer in respect of my conduct were not wholly undeserved; for, with the exception of displaying a marked partiality for mathematics, which, fortunately for my subsequent knowledge of navigation, Mr Smallpage kindly fostered and encouraged to the best of his ability, my studies were terribly irksome to me, and my lessons being consequently neglected, led to my having impositions without number. I believe I must have learnt the whole of Virgil by heart, although I could not now construe the introductory lines of the first book of the Aeneid; and as for history I could then, nor now, no more tell you the names of the Roman emperors, or the dates of accession of the various Kings of England, than I could square the circle, or give you the cubical contents of the pyramids of Egypt off-hand.

The personal rows, too, that I got into with Dr h.e.l.lyer were innumerable; and I really think he wore out three flat rulers while I was a member of the school, in inflicting his dearly-loved "pandies" on my suffering palms.

The most important of these, what I may term "private differences,"

between my worthy preceptor and myself, after my first experience of his "way" of making the boys obey him, without flogging them, arose from the same cause--Master Slodgers, my enemy from the date of my entrance within the select academy, although, if you recollect, he did not "get the best of me" even then!

Some six months after that memorable occasion, having developed much bone and sinew in the meantime, besides cultivating the n.o.ble art of self-defence under the tuition of my chum Tom, I challenged the lanky cur on the self-same ground where he had first a.s.sailed me; when I gave him such a beating that he could not leave his bed in the dormitory for nearly a week afterwards. For this--what I considered--just retaliation, I received the encomiums of the majority of the fellows, who detested Slodgers for his sneaking as well as bullying ways with the youngsters; but Dr h.e.l.lyer, with whom he still continued a favourite, took my triumph in such ill part, that he treated me to no less than six dozen "pandies," incarcerating me besides in an empty coal cellar, on a diet of bread and water, in solitary confinement below for the same length of time that Slodgers was laid up ill in bed above stairs.

However, after that day I had it all my own way with the boys, for I was strongly-built and thick-set for my age, looking two years older than I really was. I could fight and lick all the rest of the fellows at the time, not excepting even Tom my instructor, although he and I were much too good friends to try conclusions on the point, and I was the acknowledged leader of the school. Athletics, indeed, were my strong point, for I may say, almost without egotism, that I had so cultivated my muscles to the sad neglect of my proper studies, that I could swim like a fish, dive like an Indian pearl hunter, run swifter than anybody else, and play cricket and football with the best; but, as far as my real school duties were concerned, I'm afraid I was a sad dunce, as I was always at the bottom of my cla.s.s.

I am now approaching the period to which these reminiscences of my school-days have all along tended, albeit I have been a long time in reaching it.

You may remember my calling your attention to the fact of the Doctor always marching us to church on Sundays, and heading the procession, wearing a most peculiar-looking hat the while?

Well, "thereby hangs a tale," as a wise jester says in one of Shakespeare's plays.

I had just completed my two years' residence under the academical roof; the summer vacation had come and gone; the boys were all back again at school, and settled down for the winter term; the month of October had flown by with unlagging footsteps; and November had come in, gloomy and dismal, with white fogs and sea mists--such as haunt some parts of the southern coasts in the autumn.

The "Fifth" was a great anniversary at the establishment.

If Guy Fawkes' Day were uncared for elsewhere, we at all events held the memory of the defunct conspirator in high reverence; and invariably did it such honour by the explosion of gunpowder, in the shape of squibs and crackers as our means afforded.

The pocket-money of those having friends with long purses was saved up for weeks beforehand for this purpose; while any boys without a regular allowance had to "beg or borrow," so that they might contribute to the general fund.

The couple of odd shillings Uncle George had slipped into my hand on leaving London, had, of course, melted away long ago, and, until this year, he never seemed to think of renewing the tip, supposing, perhaps, that I did not want anything, for I was too proud to ask him; but at Michaelmas, when my birthday came round--I was just fourteen then--he quite unexpectedly sent me a post-office order for half-a-sovereign in the possession of which I felt as rich as Croesus.

Tom, naturally, was told of the arrival of this enormous treasure instantly. Indeed, he accompanied me on the next half-holiday, when we were allowed out, to get the order cashed; but beyond expending about eighteenpence in hot three-corner jam tarts and ginger beer, at a favourite confectioner's patronised by the school, we devoted the sum to purchasing the best fireworks we could get for the money, carrying our explosives back to the school carefully concealed on our persons, and secreting them in our lockers.