The Adventures of Dick Maitland Part 2

CHAPTER THREE.

BEFORE THE MAST.

The remainder of d.i.c.k Maitland's time in England was pretty fully occupied in comforting and encouraging his mother, in view of the pending separation, and in getting his somewhat slender wardrobe ready and packed for the voyage. The first-mentioned part of his task proved very much more difficult than the other, for Mrs Maitland was rather a helpless kind of person, and had already come to look to d.i.c.k for advice and help in every sort of difficulty, whether great or small; the prospect, therefore, of being henceforth obliged to look after herself and manage her affairs unaided filled her at first with dismay.

Besides, there was the separation from her son, the feeling that she knew not whether she would ever again set eyes on him in this world, and the terrible uncertainty generally of the future, to further distract her; but at length the buoyancy and unquenchable hopefulness of d.i.c.k's spirit had its effect upon her; and, finally, when the moment of parting came, she had been brought to a frame of mind that enabled her to say the last words of farewell almost with calmness. As for d.i.c.k, he had already received Humphreys' a.s.surance that he would keep in touch with Mrs Maitland, and see, in conjunction with his friend Graham, the solicitor, that she came to no harm; therefore he had few fears for her immediate future; while, for the rest, he was confident that before his mother's little capital became exhausted he would have found means to replenish it. He spent with her the remainder of the day upon which he had interviewed the skipper of the _Concordia_, and practically the whole of that which succeeded it, finally bidding her farewell about six o'clock in the evening, in order that he might spend the remainder of the day with Humphreys, with whom he had still much of importance to discuss.

Upon d.i.c.k's return to Number 19 Paradise Street he found the genial Doctor so busily engaged in dispensing drugs and advice that the two had time for little more than a mutual nod of greeting; but later on, when the last patient had departed and business had been brought to a close for the night, they sat down together for a chat over a cup of coffee and--so far as Humphreys was concerned--a pipe. d.i.c.k had not yet taken to tobacco, and Humphreys, although an inveterate smoker himself, so far from urging his young friend to adopt the habit, had strongly dissuaded him from having anything to do with the weed, at least until he had reached his twenty-first birthday, learnedly descanting upon the injurious effects of nicotine upon the immature const.i.tution, and incidentally warning him to eschew narcotics generally, which, he insisted, were always injurious, and only to be resorted to, even medically, when it became a choice between a narcotic and some greater evil.

"Well, my boy," remarked the Doctor, when they were at length comfortably settled in their respective chairs, "so you have parted with your mother. I hope you were able to cheer the poor lady and reconcile her to the separation. It is of course very hard upon her that at her time of life she should be left absolutely alone, but necessity is a pitiless jade, exacting her tribute of sorrow and suffering from all alike, from the monarch to the pauper, and when she lays her hand upon us there is no escape. But do not allow anxiety on behalf of your dear mother to worry you for a moment, lad, for I have promised to keep an eye upon her, and, as you know, I am a man of my word, and no harm shall befall her so long as I have the power to avert it. No, don't thank me, d.i.c.k, there is no need; the satisfaction and pleasure that I shall derive from helping your dear mother will be reward enough for me, for I regard her as a personal friend, and shall consider it a privilege to be allowed to do all that I can for her."

"And now, to pa.s.s on to another topic, let me show you the medicine chest which I intend shall be my parting gift to you. Here it is,"-- producing a stout case measuring about eighteen inches long by fourteen inches wide and twelve inches high. "It is not inconveniently bulky or heavy, but it contains a practically complete a.s.sortment of drugs, sufficient in quant.i.ty to enable you to fight successfully about half a dozen cases of almost every known disease. More than that it would be inconvenient to carry about with you; and when any particular drug shows signs of exhaustion you must take timely steps to replenish your supply.

And, with reference to that same replenishment, you will find a little ma.n.u.script book, written by myself, containing full instructions in the art of preparing several of the drugs from their parent plants, which I believe you will find exceedingly useful." Here Humphreys' talk became professional and his speech surcharged with technicalities--for he was an enthusiast in everything relating to the combating and cure of disease, and far into the small hours he descanted learnedly upon his beloved science, confiding to and instructing d.i.c.k in many valuable secrets that, by dint of laborious research and much consumption of midnight oil, he had wrung from Dame Nature. And on many an occasion in the not-far-distant future d.i.c.k Maitland had ample cause to look back with grat.i.tude upon that long midnight conversation.

With exemplary punctuality young Maitland presented himself at the shipping office at ten o'clock in the morning, and duly "signed on" as ordinary seaman in the good ship _Concordia_, bound for Natal; Mr Sutcliffe, the chief mate, privately congratulating Captain Roberts, the skipper of the ship, immediately afterwards, upon his good fortune in securing so "likely" a hand for the small sum of one shilling per month, and expressing his fixed determination to "make a man of him" before they reached the Line. At the private suggestion of the said chief mate, d.i.c.k lost no time in conveying his belongings to the ship and depositing his bedding in the best-sheltered bunk in the forecastle; after which he returned to Number 19 Paradise Street, where he spent the few hours of freedom remaining to him in a.s.sisting his friend the Doctor, and absorbing further knowledge from him. Finally, as the clocks in the immediate neighbourhood were striking the hour of eight in the evening, d.i.c.k stepped over the rail of the _Concordia_ and formally reported himself to the chief mate, thereafter repairing to the forecastle and making his preparations for the night. He was the first hand to join the ship, notwithstanding the fact that the entire crew had been ordered to be on board not later than eight o'clock that evening; and it was not until close upon midnight that the remainder found their way down from the neighbouring public houses, all of them as surly and quarrelsome as bears at the termination of their short period of liberty. Fortunately for d.i.c.k, all hands were too far gone in drink to admit of their quarrelsomeness going further than words, and eventually, by about one o'clock in the morning, he was able to compose himself to sleep, to the accompaniment of the snores and mutterings of his companions--thirteen in number.

Many lads in d.i.c.k Maitland's position, and brought up amid refined surroundings, as he had been, would have regarded with horror and loathing such a situation as that in which he now found himself, and would have been overwhelmed with self-pity at the cruelly hard luck which forced them to herd with such uncongenial companions in such a pig sty of a place as the _Concordia's_ forecastle just then presented; but d.i.c.k was something of a philosopher, and was, moreover, full of "grit".

He held the doctrine that a man can make what he chooses of his surroundings, and always find in them something of amus.e.m.e.nt or interest, if he cares to look for it; and now he consoled himself with the reminder that life in that forecastle, and among those men, whose highest ideal of happiness seemed to be helpless intoxication, would after all be but a brief experience, out of which it would be hard indeed if he could not learn some useful lesson. With this philosophic reflection, he curled himself up in his blankets and dropped into a sound, dreamless sleep.

At six o'clock next morning the mate came thundering upon the fore scuttle with a handspike, following up the resounding blows with a yell of:

"All hands ahoy! tumble up there, you sleepers, and don't wait to curl your hair. Hurry up, now, and give me a chance to see who are the 'smarties' among you!"

With low growls of disgust at such rude and untimely disturbance of their slumbers the fourteen occupants of the forecastle rolled unwillingly out of their bunks and proceeded to scramble into their garments, most of them anathematising the sea life generally, and their present ship in particular. For forecastle Jack is a curious creature, and, if you are to believe him, "last voyage" is invariably the supreme period of his life, wherein has been crowded the utmost comfort and pleasure and the most remarkable adventures, while the ship on board which he happens to be at the moment is, as invariably, the slowest, ugliest, most uncomfortable, and most rotten tub that he ever had the ill luck to ship in. And all this, mind you, as likely as not before the much-maligned craft has pa.s.sed out through the dock gates, or Jack has done a hand's turn of work on board her. d.i.c.k listened with a good- tempered grin to the chorus of grumbling that was proceeding around him, interjected a merry jest or two which caused the growlers to stop in mid-career in amazement at his audacity, and then, having slipped nimbly into his clothes, he sprang up through the hatchway and presented himself first on deck of the forecastle hands, to be greeted by the mate with a cheery:

"Well done, youngster! First to answer the call. That comes of joining your ship with an unmuddled brain. I think you and I are going to get on well together."

"I sincerely hope so, sir," answered d.i.c.k. "If we don't it shall not be my fault. And although I am rather an ignoramus at present in respect of a sailor's work generally, you will find me both willing and eager to learn."

The mate stared at d.i.c.k for a moment with compressed eyebrows, rather taken aback at the lad's refined tone and manner of speech; then he nodded, and remarked gruffly:

"That's all right; if you are willing to learn I'll take care that you have the chance. And, as a starter, you may get a broom and sweep up all this litter. But don't heave it overboard, or you'll have the dock people after you. Sweep it all together and put it into that empty barrel until we get out of dock and can heave it over the side."

The rest of the forecastle hands now came stumbling up on deck, and were set by the mate to various tasks, pending the opening of the dock gates and the arrival of the tug which was to tow the _Concordia_ down the river. At length the order was given to unmoor ship, the dock gates swung open, the vessel was warped through the opening to where the tug awaited her, the towrope was pa.s.sed, and presently the _Concordia_ was heading down the river toward Gravesend, from whence, having first shipped her pa.s.sengers, she was to take her final departure for the southern hemisphere.

The _Concordia_ was a steel barque of eight hundred and seventy-four tons register, Clyde built, and modelled upon lines that combined a very fair cargo-carrying capacity with high speed possibilities. She was a very handsome vessel to look at, and Captain William Roberts, who had commanded her since she left the stocks some two years prior to the date at which we make his and her acquaintance, was inordinately proud of her, sparing no pains either to himself or his ship's crew--and especially, his boatswain--to keep her as trim and neat as a man-o'-war.

The decks were regularly holystoned every morning when the ship was at sea--to the intense disgust of the crew--the bra.s.swork was as regularly polished, not with the usual rottenstone and oil, but with special metal polish provided out of the skipper's private purse; and there was no more certain way of "putting the Old Man's back up" than for a man to allow himself to be seen knocking the ashes of his pipe out against any portion of the ship's painted work. It was even a.s.serted of Captain Roberts that, so anxious was he to maintain the smart appearance of the ship, he would, whenever she ran into a calm, have the quarterboat lowered and manned, in order that he might pull round his vessel and a.s.sure himself that her masts were all accurately stayed to precisely the same angle of rake; and woe betide the unhappy boatswain if there seemed to be the slightest occasion for fault-finding.

The _Concordia_ was a beamy ship in proportion to her length, and she carried a full p.o.o.p extending forward to within about twenty feet of her mainmast, underneath which was a handsome saloon, or cuddy, fitted with berth accommodation for twenty pa.s.sengers; for although the steam liners have, for all practical purposes, absorbed the pa.s.senger traffic, there still remains a small residue of the travelling public who, either for health or economy's sake, choose a well-found, well-built sailing clipper when they desire to make a sea voyage.

Such was the vessel in which young d.i.c.k Maitland was to make his first, and, as he hoped, his only, essay as a seaman before the mast, and after the slight sketch which has been given of her and her skipper, it will be readily seen that he could scarcely have hit upon a craft where he would be likely to have more hard work, or better opportunities for the acquirement of a large measure of seafaring knowledge in a very short time.

Mr Sutcliffe, the chief mate, had been favourably impressed by d.i.c.k from the moment when the two had encountered each other at the shipping office, and Mr Sutcliffe's method of showing his favour was to provide his favourites with an ample sufficiency of work to do. The ship had, therefore, not been out of dock half an hour when d.i.c.k was sent aloft with an able seaman named Barrett to get the fore and main royal-yards across; and so eager was the lad to learn as much as he could that Barrett very willingly permitted him to do all the work, merely directing him what to do and how to do it, and at the same time instructing him as to the nomenclature and purposes of the various parts of the gear which were manipulated during the operation. Naturally, d.i.c.k, being a novice, took about twice as long as his companion would have taken over the job; but so eager was he to learn and such apt.i.tude did he exhibit that he won the unqualified approval of Barrett, as well as of Mr Sutcliffe, who had been keeping a sharp eye upon what was going on aloft. As for d.i.c.k, although it was the first time that he had ever been aloft in anything deserving the name of a ship, and although the hull upon which he looked down seemed ridiculously inadequate to support the lofty spar upon which he was working--suggesting the idea that unless he exercised the utmost caution in the disposition of his weight he must inevitably capsize the entire complicated structure--he felt neither giddy nor nervous, but went about his work with all the coolness and confidence of a thoroughly seasoned hand.

Arrived off Gravesend, the anchor was let go, and the ship swung to the now fast ebbing tide, the quarterboat was lowered, and the skipper was rowed ash.o.r.e, while Mr Sutcliffe went the rounds of the decks and satisfied himself that everything had been done to make the _Concordia_ perfectly ready to get under way at a moment's notice; the yards were accurately squared by the lifts and braces, the running gear hauled taut and neatly coiled down, the decks once more swept; and then the worthy mate found himself compelled to admit, with a sigh, that nothing more could be done, at least to advantage, until the pa.s.sengers should have come off and the ship be once more under way. These two events happened late in the afternoon, and meanwhile the occupants of the forecastle were sent below to s.n.a.t.c.h a few hours' rest in preparation for the coming night, during which d.i.c.k Maitland had an opportunity to become better acquainted with his messmates. For a wonder these proved to be without exception British, consisting of two Irishmen, five Scotchmen, and one Welshman, while the rest were English. There was nothing very remarkable about any of them, they were all just ordinary average sailormen, but it did not take d.i.c.k very long to make up his mind that, with the possible exception of the carpenter, and Barrett, the A.B. who had been his companion and instructor aloft during the morning, the five Scotchmen were the pick of the bunch. But all hands seemed to be very decent fellows in their own rough way, now that they had had time to recover from their previous day's debauch, and manifested a distinct disposition to be friendly toward the young greenhorn whom they found in their midst, especially as they had already had an opportunity to see that the greenhorn's greenness was not of such a character as to entail upon them very much extra work.

The afternoon was well advanced when at length the pa.s.sengers, seventeen in number, came off to the ship; and the moment that they and their baggage were embarked the anchor was hove up, the tug once more came alongside and took the towrope, and the _Concordia_ proceeded upon her voyage, the hope being freely expressed, both fore and aft, that there would be no more anchoring until the ship should have arrived under the shadow, so to speak, of Natal Bluff. As soon as the ship was fairly under way, and the anchor at the cathead, the chief and second mates picked the watches, and d.i.c.k, to his satisfaction, found himself picked by Mr Sutcliffe as a member of that officer's watch.

As the ship drew down toward the lower reaches of the river she met a slight breeze breathing out from the north-east, to which she spread, first, her fore-and-aft canvas, and, later on, her square sails, so that by the time of her arrival off Deal, near midnight, she was practically independent of the tug, which at that point cast her off. Here also the pilot left her, taking with him a goodly packet of letters from the pa.s.sengers to their friends ash.o.r.e; and the _Concordia_, spreading her studding-sails, swept on into the broadening waters of the English Channel. With the other letters went one from d.i.c.k to his mother and another to Dr Humphreys, written during his watch below.

The fair wind which the _Concordia_ fell in with at the mouth of the Thames lasted long enough to carry the ship, not only clear of the Channel, but also well to the westward of Ushant, Captain Roberts having availed himself to the utmost of the opportunity to make as much westing as possible, as his experience had taught him that at that season of the year the prevailing winds which he might expect to meet with to the northward of Madeira would most probably be strong from the south- westward. And the event proved the correctness of that mariner's surmise, for on his seventh day out from Gravesend he fell in with the expected shift of wind, and four hours later the _Concordia_ was fighting her way to the southward, under double-reefed topsails, against a heavy and fast-rising sea.

Those seven days had made a vast amount of difference to d.i.c.k Maitland, so far as his usefulness as a seaman was concerned. In that comparatively brief period he had contrived not only to learn the name and function of every bit of running rigging in the ship, but also to lay his hand unerringly upon any required halyard, brace, sheet, downhaul, clewline, or other item of gear in the darkest night; he was as active and almost as handy aloft as the smartest A.B. in the ship; and he proved to be a born helmsman, standing his "trick" at the wheel from the very first, and leaving a straighter wake behind him than any of the other men, even when the ship was scudding before a heavy following sea. Mr Sutcliffe, the chief mate, was delighted with his young _protege_, and declared, in unnecessarily picturesque language, that he would qualify the boy to perform the duties of an able seaman before Natal Bluff should heave in sight.

But d.i.c.k was to prove his mettle in quite another fashion before long; for the strong south-westerly breeze which the _Concordia_ encountered on her seventh day out rapidly developed into so furious a gale that, after battling with it for some fourteen hours, Captain Roberts decided to heave-to under close-reefed fore and main topsails, and at eight bells--noon--the order was accordingly given to clew up and furl the already reefed courses, and to haul down and stow the fore-topmast staysail. This, under the weather conditions of the moment, was a task requiring the services of all hands, and by the orders of the chief mate, who was conducting the operations, d.i.c.k was stationed at the weather fore clew-garnet, with three other hands. The men, having gone to their stations, were waiting for the word of command when suddenly the chain main-tack carried away, and the part attached to the sail, acting like a whip, struck one of the men who was standing by to ease it away, smashed the poor fellow's right arm above the elbow, shattered his jaw, and laid open his right cheek from the turn of the jaw to the right ear, which was all but torn away from the man's head; the force of the blow also was such as to dash the unfortunate fellow against the bulwarks so violently that he instantly fell to the deck senseless.

The accident, naturally, at once occasioned the utmost confusion, in the midst of which the mainsail promptly threshed itself to rags, the mate sprang down the p.o.o.p ladder and rushed to the spot, yelling a whole string of orders, to which n.o.body paid the slightest attention, and d.i.c.k, with two or three others, abandoned their posts and ran to the injured man's a.s.sistance.

"Back to your stations, you s...o...b..nks," roared the mate. "What d'ye mean by rushing about like a flock of frightened sheep? D'ye want to see the ship dismasted? Here you, d.i.c.k, and Joe, pick him up and carry him below to his bunk until the skipper can attend to him."

"I beg your pardon, sir," spoke d.i.c.k, "but I am afraid we may do the poor fellow some further injury if we attempt to carry him below. I understand that there is a spare bunk in the deckhouse where the boatswain and carpenter are quartered. May we not take him in there?

And, if you will give me leave, I will attend to his hurts. I have studied both medicine and surgery, and feel sure that I can do better for him than anyone else, excepting, of course, a qualified surgeon."

"The d.i.c.kens! You don't say so?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the mate, staring at d.i.c.k in amazement. "Very well, then, in that case you had better take charge of him. And--yes, of course, take him into the deckhouse. Now, lads, clew up that fore-course, and be lively with it; haul taut your clew- garnets, ease up your tack and sheet; man your buntlines and leach- lines; that's your sort, up with it; away aloft, some of you, and make a good, snug furl of it!"

Quickly, yet with the utmost care, the injured seaman was lifted up and carried into the deckhouse, where, in accordance with d.i.c.k's instructions, he was laid upon the table, a mattress having first been hurriedly dragged from one of the bunks and placed to receive him.

Then, leaving the patient for the moment in charge of the other man, d.i.c.k hurried to the forecastle and brought up the medicine chest which had been Humphrey's parting gift to him, and his case of surgical instruments, which he opened and placed upon the carpenter's chest, to the undisguised admiration and horror of his a.s.sistant, who gazed as though fascinated at the array of highly polished saws, knives, scissors, and other instruments of queer and horribly suggestive shape.

Then, dexterously removing the man's jacket and shirt while he still remained unconscious, d.i.c.k rapidly proceeded to give his patient a systematic overhaul, with the object of ascertaining the precise nature and extent of his injuries.

He had just completed this examination when the injured man showed signs of returning consciousness, at the same moment that the skipper, having heard from the mate the particulars of the accident, came bustling into the deckhouse with a bottle of brandy in one hand and a tumbler in the other, intent upon doing something, though he scarcely knew what, for the relief of the sufferer. The brandy arrived in the nick of time, and, seizing the bottle and tumbler unceremoniously, Maitland poured out a small quant.i.ty and held the tumbler to the patient's lips. With difficulty the man contrived to swallow about a teaspoonful, which considerably revived him, and then, with a groan of anguish, strove to mumble a few words in spite of his broken jaw. Now, if ever, was the moment when Humphreys' doctrine of the efficacy of hypnotism might be effectively tested, and fixing the man's upturned gaze with his own, in the peculiar manner which Humphreys had described and ill.u.s.trated, d.i.c.k said to his patient, in a quiet, yet firm and confident tone of voice:

"Now, Tom, don't attempt to say anything or ask any questions, but listen to me. You have met with an accident, but it is not at all serious; and I am going to put you right and make you quite comfortable.

I shall be obliged to pull you about a bit, but understand this, you will suffer no pain whatever, and when I have finished with you you will fall into a quiet and refreshing sleep, from which you will awake without fever or complication of any sort. Now, turn over on your left side, and let me begin by attending to the injuries of your face."

To the utter amazement of the skipper and Joe--the man who had a.s.sisted d.i.c.k to carry the injured man into the deckhouse--the patient turned quietly over on his left side as directed, without a groan or any other sign of suffering, and resigned himself quite contentedly to d.i.c.k's ministrations. The latter, to all outward appearance perfectly calm and self-possessed, but inwardly full of astonishment at the complete success of his first experiment, at once proceeded with quick and deft hands to arrange in position the shattered fragments of the jaw, strapping them firmly in place with bandage and sticking plaster; then he deftly drew together the edges of the gashed cheek, st.i.tched up the wound, applied an antiseptic dressing, and bound up the injured face in such a manner that the patient might be enabled to take liquid nourishment without disturbance of the dressings. Lastly, he placed the broken bone of the arm in position, and firmly secured it there with splints and bandages. As d.i.c.k inserted the last pin in the bandage and arranged the arm in a comfortable position the patient closed his eyes, and a minute later his quiet and regular breathing showed that he was fast asleep!

CHAPTER FOUR.

PHIL GROSVENOR'S PROPOSITION.

"Well, dash my wig," exclaimed the skipper, his face the picture of blank astonishment, "that beats the record! Why, the man's fast asleep, in spite of all your handling of him! How in the name of all that's wonderful did you manage to work that miracle, youngster?"

"Oh, easily enough!" laughed d.i.c.k. "Everything is easy, you know, sir, when you understand how to do it. I learned how to do that, and a great many other very useful things, under one of the cleverest men in London, a man who would be famous but for the fact that he prefers to work in the obscurity of the East-End, and let the poor enjoy the benefit of his wonderful skill, instead of becoming a fashionable Harley Street pract.i.tioner. With your permission, sir, I will look after our friend Tom, here; and I guarantee to have him up and about again, as well as ever, before we reach the lat.i.tude of the Cape."

"You do?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the skipper. "Then by George, sir, you shall have the opportunity. But, look here, why didn't you tell me that you were a doctor, when you came and asked me to allow you to work your pa.s.sage out to South Africa?"

"Well, you see," answered d.i.c.k, "I was rather down on my luck just then; I--or rather, my mother--had learned, only a few days before, that she had been robbed of all her money; and it was imperative that I should at once go out into the world and earn more for her, hence my anxiety to go to South Africa. But I was so badly off that I couldn't even afford to pay my fare out there; I therefore determined to work my pa.s.sage. And, as I considered that the fact of my being a doctor would be no recommendation to you, I decided not to mention it."

"Ah!" remarked the skipper; "that is just where you made a big mistake; your services as a medical man would have been far more valuable to me than as an ordinary seaman. Besides, you can do better work than mere pulling and hauling and dipping your hands into the tar bucket. You are a gentleman in manner and speech, and will look like one when you get into another suit of clothes. Now, I tell you what it is; I am not going to waste you by allowing you to remain in the forecastle any longer, so just turn to and get the tar stains off your hands, shift into a white shirt and a sh.o.r.e-going suit of clothes, and come aft into the cuddy as ship's surgeon. There is, very fortunately, a vacant cabin that you can have; and you may earn the rest of your pa.s.sage by looking after the health of the pa.s.sengers and crew--there are three or four ladies who are pretty nearly dead with seasickness, and if you can relieve 'em they'll bless me for discovering you."

"Oh yes," answered d.i.c.k cheerfully, "I have no doubt I can relieve them all right! But there is one thing with regard to this arrangement that perhaps you have not thought of, Captain. Perhaps your pa.s.sengers will not approve of your bringing me aft out of the forecastle to a.s.sociate with them upon terms of equality."

"Don't you trouble your head about that, my son," returned the skipper.

"That is my affair. But I'm quite sure that they won't object when I tell 'em the facts of the case. Besides, they've already noticed you while you've been at the wheel, and have remarked what a well-spoken, gentlemanly young fellow you are. No, no; that'll be all right, never fear. Now, if you've finished with this poor chap for a while, you had better cut away and make yourself fit for the cuddy, and then shift aft, bag and baggage."