Up The Baltic Part 17

"I'll whip that n.o.b who told me to be silent."

"Don't you do it, my jolly Briton," laughed Scott.

"I can do it."

"Do you mean the first lieutenant?"

"Yes, that I do; and I'll teach him better manners."

"I wouldn't hurt him; Judson's a good fellow."

"I don't care if he is; he'll catch it; and De Forrest, too. They insulted me."

"I dare say they didn't mean to."

"If they didn't, I'll give them a chance to apologize," added Clyde, a little mollified by the mild words of his companion.

"That's very kind of you; but officers don't often apologize to seamen for telling them of it when they disobey the rules of the ship."

"Rules or not, I'll hammer them both if they don't apologize."

"Don't be cruel with them," laughed Scott.

"And that big boatswain--I'll be even with him yet," bl.u.s.tered Clyde, as he shook his head menacingly.

"Are you going to thrash him too?" asked Scott, opening his eyes.

"I'll take care of him. He don't toss me round in that way without suffering for it."

"Well, don't hurt him," suggested the good-natured seaman.

"He'll get a broken head before he grows much older," added Clyde, drawing out a belaying-pin from the fife-rail. "I shall not be in this ship a great while longer; but I mean to stay long enough to settle my accounts with the big boatswain and the two n.o.bs on the quarter-deck."

"How are you going to do it, my dear Albion?"

"Leave that to me. No man can insult me without suffering for it."

"Perhaps the officers will apologize, but I don't believe Peaks will.

He's an obstinate fellow, and would do just what the princ.i.p.al told him to do, even if it was to swallow you and me, and half a dozen other fellows. You don't mean to lick the princ.i.p.al too--do you?"

"I haven't had any trouble with him."

"But he is at the bottom of it all. He told Peaks to persecute you.

I'm not sure that the princ.i.p.al isn't more to blame than all the others put together."

"No matter for him; he has done very well."

"Then you mean to let him off?"

"I say I've nothing against the head master."

"Don't be too hard on Peaks," added Scott, as he climbed upon the rail to see the scenery of the fjord.

"I suppose all these islands, points, bays, and channels have names, just as they do on the other side of the ocean," said Laybold, at whose side the good-natured tar seated himself.

"Of course," nodded Scott.

"I wonder what they are."

"Don't you know?"

"Certainly not--how should I?"

"I didn't know but you might have seen the chart," added Scott, gravely.

"There's a town!" exclaimed the enthusiastic Laybold, as the progress of the ship opened a channel, at the head of which was a village, with a church.

"I see; that's Bossenboggenberg," said Scott.

"O, is it? Is that a river?"

"Not at all. That's only a channel, called the Hoppenboggen, which extends around the Island of Toppenboggen. That channel is navigable for small vessels."

"Where did you learn all those names?" demanded Laybold, amazed at the astonishing words which his companion rolled off so glibly.

"My father had to send me to sea to keep me from learning too much.

My hair all fell off, and the schoolmasters were afraid of me."

"There's another town ahead on the port hand," said Laybold, a little later.

"That is Aggerhousenboggen, I think. Let me see; here's Cape Tingumboggen, and that must be the opening to the Stoppenboggen Fjord.

Yes, that must be Aggerhousenboggen."

"Where did you learn to p.r.o.nounce Norwegian so well, Scott?"

"O, I learned Norwegian when I was an infant. I could speak it first rate before I learned to utter my mother tongue."

"Go 'way!" protested Laybold. "Do you know what island that is on the starboard hand."

"To be sure I do. Do you think my education has been neglected to that extent? That's Steppenfetchenboggen. A very fine island it is, too,"

continued Scott, rattling off the long names so that they had a decidedly foreign ring.

"I don't see how you can p.r.o.nounce those words," added Laybold. "They would choke me to death."

"I don't believe they would," laughed Scott.

The squadron pa.s.sed through several narrow pa.s.sages, and then came to a broad expanse of water at the mouth of the Drammen River. The students were perched on the rail and in the rigging of the various vessels, observing with great interest the development of the panorama, which seemed to be unrolled before them.

"It is rather fine scenery," said Lincoln, who still carried the book in his hand, and occasionally glanced at the pictures; "but I think the artist here must have multiplied the height of the cliffs by two, and divided the height of houses, men, and masts by the same number."