The Crew of the Water Wagtail Part 18

It happened thus:--

The crew had built for themselves a hut of specially large dimensions, in which they nightly a.s.sembled all together round the fires, of which there were two--one at either end. Some of the men told stories, some sang songs, others played at draughts of amateur construction, and a good many played the easy but essential part of audience.

The noise, of course, was tremendous, but they were used to that, and minded it not. When, however, two of the men began to quarrel over their game, with so much anger as to interrupt all the others, and draw general attention to themselves, the thing became unbearable, and when one called the other "a liar," and the other shouted with an oath, "You're another," the matter reached a climax.

"Come, come, d.i.c.k Swan and Bob Crow," cried Grummidge, in a stern voice; "you stop that. Two liars are too much in this here ship. One is one too many. If you can't keep civil tongues in your heads, we'll pitch you overboard."

"You mind your own business," gruffly replied d.i.c.k Swan, who was an irascible man and the aggressor.

"That's just what I'll do," returned Grummidge, striding up to Swan, seizing him by the collar, and hurling him to the other end of the room, where he lay still, under the impression, apparently, that he had had enough. "My business," said Grummidge, "is to keep order, and I mean to attend to it. Isn't that so, boys?"

"No--yes--no," replied several voices.

"Who said `No'?" demanded Grummidge.

Every one expected to see Big Swinton step forward, but he did not. His revenge was not to be gratified by mere insubordination. The man who did at last step forward was an insignificant fellow, who had been nicknamed Spitfire, and whose chief characteristics were self-will and ill-nature. He did not lack courage, however, for he boldly faced the angry ruler and defied him. Every one expected to see Spitfire follow d.i.c.k Swan, and in similar fashion, but they were mistaken. They did not yet understand Grummidge.

"Well, Spitfire, what's your objection to my keeping order?" he said, in a voice so gentle that the other took heart.

"My objection," he said, "is that when you was appinted capting there was no vote taken. You was stuck up by your own friends, an' that ain't fair, an' I, for one, refuse to knuckle under to 'ee. You may knock me down if you like, for I ain't your match by a long way, but you'll not prove wrong to be right by doin' that."

"Well spoken, Master Spitfire!" exclaimed a voice from the midst of the crowd that encircled the speakers.

"Well spoken, indeed," echoed Grummidge, "and I thank _you_, Master Spitfire, for bringin' this here matter to a head. Now, lads," he added, turning to the crowd, "you have bin wrong an' informal, so to speak, in your proceedin's when you appinted me governor o' this here colony. There's a right and a wrong in everything, an' I do believe, from the bottom of my soul, that it's--that it's--that--well, I ain't much of a dab at preaching as _you_ know, but what I would say is this-- it's right to do right, an' it ain't right for to do wrong, so we'll krect this little mistake at once, for I have no wish to rule, bless you! Now then, all what's in favour o' my bein' gov'nor, walk to the end o' the room on my right hand, an' all who wants somebody else to be--Spitfire, for instance--walk over to where d.i.c.k Swan is a-sittin'

enjo'in' of hisself."

Immediately three-fourths of the crew stepped with alacrity to the right. The remainder went rather slowly to the left. "The Grummidges has won!" cried Squill, amid hearty laughter.

The ruler himself made no remark whatever, but, seating himself in a corner of the hut, resumed the game which had been interrupted, quite a.s.sured that the game of insubordination was finally finished.

The day following that on which the reign of King Grummidge was established, a new member of considerable interest was added to the colony. Blaze, Stubbs, and Squill chanced to be out that day along the sh.o.r.e. Squill, being in a meditative mood, had fallen behind his comrades. They had travelled further than usual, when the attention of the two in front was attracted by what seemed to them the melancholy howling of a wolf. Getting their bows ready, they advanced with caution, and soon came upon a sad sight--the dead body of a native, beside which crouched a large black dog. At first they thought the dog had killed the man, and were about to shoot it, when Stubbs exclaimed, "Hold on! don't you see he must have tumbled over the cliff?"

A brief examination satisfied them that the Indian, in pa.s.sing along the top of the cliffs, had fallen over, and that the accident must have been recent, for the body was still fresh. The dog, which appeared to be starving, showed all its formidable teeth when they attempted to go near its dead master. Presently Squill came up.

"Ah, boys," he said, "ye don't onderstand the natur' o' the baste--see here."

Taking a piece of dried fish from his pocket, he went boldly forward and presented it. The dog snapped it greedily and gulped it down. Squill gave him another and another piece; as the fourth offering was presented he patted the animal quietly on its head. The victory was gained. The dog suffered them to bury its master, but for four days it refused to leave his grave. During that time Squill fed it regularly. Then he coaxed it to follow him, and at last it became, under the name of Blackboy, a general favourite, and a loving member of the community.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

HAS REFERENCE TO FOOD AND A GREAT FIGHT.

There is always a certain amount of pleasure to be derived from the tracing of any subject of interest back to its origin. We have already seen how--like a n.o.ble river, which has its fountain-head in some mountain lakelet that would scarcely serve as a washing-basin for a Cyclops--the grand cod-fishing industry, which has enriched the world, and found employment for thousands of men for centuries, had its commencement in the crew of the _Water Wagtail_! we shall now show that another great industry, namely, the Newfoundland seal-fishery, had its origin in the same insignificant source.

King Grummidge was walking one morning along the sh.o.r.e of Wagtail Bay, with hands in pockets, hat on back of head, and that easy roll of gait so characteristic of nautical men and royalty. He was evidently troubled in mind, for a frown rested on his brow, and his lips were compressed. It might have been supposed that the cares of state were beginning to tell upon him, but such was not the case: food was the cause of his trouble.

"Fish, fish, fish," he growled, to Little Stubbs, who was his companion in the walk. "I'm sick tired o' fish. It's my opinion that if we go on eatin' fish like we've bin doin' since we was cast away here, we will turn into fish, or mermaids, if not somethin' worse. What are ye laughin' at?"

"At the notion o' you turnin' into a _maid_ of any sort," replied Stubbs.

"That's got nothin' to do wi' the argiment," returned Grummidge sternly, for his anxieties were too serious to permit of his indulging in levity at the time. "What we've got to do is to find meat, for them auks are nigh as dry as the fish. _Meat_, lad, meat, wi' plenty o' fat, that's the question o' the hour."

"Yes, it's _our_ question, no doubt," rejoined Stubbs.

He might as well have bestowed his bad pun on a rabbit, for Grummidge was essentially dense and sober-minded.

"But we've had a few rabbits of late, an' ducks an' partridges," he added.

"Rabbits! ducks! partridges!" repeated his companion, with contempt.

"How many of them delicacies have we had? That's what I wants to know."

"Not many, I admit for there's none of us got much to boast of as shots."

"Shots!" echoed Grummidge. "You're right, Stubbs. Of all the blind bats and helpless boys with the bow, there's not I believe, in the whole world such a lot as the popilation of Wagtail Bay. Why, there's not two of ye who could hit the big shed at sixty paces, an' all the fresh meat as you've brought in yet has bin the result o' chance. Now look 'ee here, Stubbs, a notion has entered my head, an' when a notion does that, I usually grab that notion an' hold 'im a fast prisoner until I've made somethin' useful an' ship-shape of 'im. If it works properly we'll soon have somethin' better to eat than fish, an' more substantial than rabbits, ducks, partridges, or auks."

We may remark in pa.s.sing that the animals which those wrecked sailors called rabbits were in reality hares. Moreover, the men took an easy, perhaps unscientific, method of cla.s.sifying feathered game. Nearly everything with wings that dwelt chiefly on lake, river, or sea they called ducks, and all the feathered creatures of the forest they styled partridges. From this simple cla.s.sification, however, were excepted swans, geese, eagles, and hawks.

"Well, Grummidge, what may be your notion?" asked Stubbs.

"My notion is--seals! For all our hard rowin' and wastin' of arrows we've failed to catch or kill a single seal, though there's such swarms of 'em all about. Now this is a great misfortin', for it's well known that seals make first-rate beef--leastwise to them as ain't partic'lar-- so we'll set about catchin' of 'em at once."

"But how?" asked Stubbs, becoming interested under the influence of his comrade's earnest enthusiasm.

"This is how. Look there, d'ye see that small island lyin' close to the sh.o.r.e with several seals' heads appearin' in the channel between?"

"Yes--what then?"

"Well, then, what I mean to do is to have nets made with big meshes, an'

set 'em between that island an' the sh.o.r.e, and see what comes of it."

"But where's the twine to come from?" objected Stubbs.

"Twine! Ain't there no end o' cordage swashin' about the _Water Wagtail_ ever since she went ash.o.r.e? An' haven't we got fingers? Can't we undo the strands an' make small cord? Surely some of ye have picked oak.u.m enough to understand what that means!"

Stubbs was convinced. Moreover, the rest of the men were so convinced that the plan promised well, when it was explained to them, that they set to work with alacrity, and, in a brief s.p.a.ce of time, made a strong net several fathoms in length, and with meshes large enough to permit of a seal's head squeezing through.

No sooner was it ready than the whole community went down to see it set.

Then, with difficulty, they were prevented from waiting on the sh.o.r.e to watch the result. In the afternoon, when Grummidge gave permission, they ran down again with all the eagerness of children, and were rewarded by finding six fat seals entangled in the net and inflated almost to bursting with the water that had drowned them.

Thus they were supplied with "beef," and, what was of almost equal importance, with oil, which enabled them to fry the leanest food, besides affording them the means of making a steadier and stronger light than that of the log fires to which they had hitherto been accustomed.

It may be here remarked by captious readers, if such there be, that this cannot appropriately be styled the beginning of that grand sealing, or, as it is now styled, "swile huntin'," industry, which calls into action every year hundreds of steam and other vessels, and thousands of men, who slaughter hundreds of thousands of seals; which produces mints of money, and in the prosecutions of which men dare the terrible dangers of ice-drift and pack, in order that they may bludgeon the young seals upon the floes.

As well might it be objected that a tiny rivulet on the mountain-top is not the fountain-head of a mighty river, because its course is not marked by broad expanses and thundering cataracts. Grummidge's net was undoubtedly the beginning, the tiny rill, of the Newfoundland seal-fishery, and even the bludgeoning was initiated by one of his party. It happened thus:--

Big Swinton went out one morning to try his fortune with the bow and arrow in the neighbourhood of a range of cliffs that extended far away to the northward. Swinton usually chose to hunt in solitude. Having few sympathies with the crew he shut up his feelings within his own breast and brooded in silence on the revenge he was still resolved to take when a safe opportunity offered, for the man's nature was singularly resolute and, at the same time, unforgiving.