Up The Baltic Part 44

"It means stealing."

"Precisely so. It is said that conductors and omnibus drivers at home 'knock down' a good deal, which is the technical name for taking a portion of the fares. They use 'spotters' in our country to keep the conductors and drivers honest."

"Spotters?"

"Yes, that's the name of them. They are men and women, whom the conductors cannot distinguish from other pa.s.sengers, employed by the railway companies to ride in the cars, and report the number of pa.s.sengers on certain trips, so that the agents can tell whether the fares are all paid over. These tickets are used for the same purpose."

"I don't see what good they do. They certainly can't keep the men honest, for almost everybody throws away his ticket."

"They are called control-marks," said a gentleman next to the captain, who had been listening with interest to the conversation, and who spoke good English. "The man has to tear one of them off every time a pa.s.senger pays him."

"They are all numbered, I see; mine is nine hundred and four," added Lincoln.

"When the man gives up this roll at night, the next number will show how many he has torn off. If he began at No. 200 this morning, he has taken seven hundred and four fares."

"But he might neglect to tear off fifty or a hundred in the course of a day," suggested Lincoln, "and put the money for them in his pocket."

"If he does so, everybody is watching him, and anybody may report him to the agent. I am a share-owner of the company, and for aught the conductor knows, there may be one in every car. If the man neglects his duty, my interest would prompt me to look after him."

"I see; thank you, sir."

"Here is Tivoli," added the gentleman. "I suppose you are going there."

"Yes, sir."

"It is a fine garden, and very cheap."

The young officers left the car, and bought tickets at the gate, for which they paid one mark, or nine cents, each. Near the entrance they found a man selling programmes of the evening's entertainment, at two skillings each. Captain Lincoln bought one, for he carefully preserved every handbill, ticket, or programme for future reference. He could read a little of it. The performances were varied, and covered the time from six o'clock till midnight. But the young officers preferred to take a general view of the premises. It was an extensive garden, prettily and tastefully laid out, with accommodations for concerts, circus, and theatrical performances. In the centre was a "beer garden," with table and seats, for little parties, who drank their beer and chatted, while a band played in a kiosk. Near it was a bazaar, where all kinds of fancy articles were arranged for sale, with the attendant raffles and lotteries. Farther removed from the centre was a theatre, consisting, however, of only the stage, the audience seating themselves in the open air. The performance, from six to seven, as the captain read in his programme, was

R1. 6. Entree gymnastique af Brodrene Hermann.

Or, in plain English, a gymnastic exhibition by the brothers Hermann.

In the circus there was a performance at half past seven, such as one sees in the United States, and "Hr. Wallet" was clown. At half past nine o'clock, another exhibition was given in an enclosed building, to which an extra admission fee was charged. At the theatre, dancing by some "celebrated sisters" was in progress at nine o'clock. A Russian mountain was in operation during the whole evening. It was a railroad down one inclined plane, and up another, and back over the same track, a ride costing a few skillings. The concert was continued at intervals during the entire evening. The "_cafe chantant_" was in full blast after nine o'clock, in two places, one of which was a small hall, with a bar, and the other the interior of a Swiss cottage, with a gallery surrounding it. In each of these were tables, where the audience seated themselves, and drank brandy, wine, beer, and milder beverages.

The singers, who are all females, stood upon a stage, and were accompanied by a piano. After one or two songs had been sung, one of the singers pa.s.sed around among the audience with a plate to receive their contributions, each person generally giving a small copper coin.

This order was continually repeated, and the money thus received is the only salary of the performers, whose singing is villanously vile, and whose character is worse than their singing. A ca.n.a.l, extending from the sea, comes up to Tivoli, and pa.s.ses around an island. Boats are to let here; and, indeed, there is no end to the variety of amus.e.m.e.nts, and "all for nine cents," as Joseph had said half a dozen times during the afternoon to his party, and a dozen times more during the evening. At half past ten the students returned to the squadron, for by that time they had seen all they desired.

CHAPTER XVI.

AN EXCURSION TO KLAMPENBORG AND ELSINORE.

Peaks sat near the brig and read his book, which he had procured from the librarian in antic.i.p.ation of a dull and heavy afternoon. Clyde sat in his cage, watching the boatswain. The book was evidently a very interesting one, for the reader hardly raised his eyes from it for a full hour, and then only to bestow a single glance upon the occupant of the ship's prison. The volume was Peter Simple, and the boatswain relished the adventures of the hero. Once in a while his stalwart frame was shaken by an earthquake of laughter, for he had a certain sense of dignity which did not permit him to laugh outright all alone by himself, and so the shock was diffused through all his members, and his body quaked like that of a man in the incipient throes of a fever and ague fit. The magnanimous conduct of O'Brien, who flogged Peter for seasickness, simply because he loved him, proved to be almost too much for the settled plan of the boatswain, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he restrained an outbreak of laughter.

For a full quarter of an hour Clyde convinced himself that he was entirely satisfied with the situation. The brig was not a bad place, or, at least, it would not be, if the boatswain would only leave the steerage and allow the prisoner to be by himself. He wished very much to try the carpenter's saw upon the slats of his prison. At the end of the second quarter of an hour, the Briton was slightly nervous; the close of the third found him rather impatient, and at the expiration of an hour, he was decidedly provoked with Peaks for staying where he was so long. When the stout sentinel glanced at him, he flattered himself with a transitory hope; but the boatswain only changed his position slightly, and still appeared to be as deeply absorbed as ever in the book.

Clyde was disgusted, and emphatically angry at the end of another half hour. The brig was a vile place, and putting a free-born Briton into such a den was the greatest indignity which had yet been offered to him. It was even worse than ordering him to be silent, or to go forward. It was an insult which required both redress and vengeance.

He rose from his seat, and walked to the door of his prison, but with his gaze still fixed upon his jailer. He had come to the conclusion that, if he moved, Peaks would, at least, look at him; but that worthy did not raise his eyes from his book. Clyde took hold of the barred door and began to shake it, making considerable noise by the act.

Peaks took no notice whatever of him, and it seemed just as though the boatswain intended to insult him by thus disregarding him. He shook the door again with more violence, but did not succeed in attracting the attention of his custodian. Then he began to kick the door. Making a run of the length of the brig, he threw himself against it with all the force he could, hoping to break it down; but he might as well have b.u.t.ted against the side of the ship. It yielded a little, and rattled a great deal; but it was too strong to be knocked down in any such manner.

The prisoner was boiling over with wrath, as much because Peaks did not notice him, as on account of the indignity of his confinement.

He kicked, wrenched, and twisted at the door, till he had nearly exhausted his own strength, apparently without affecting that of the door. The boatswain still read, and still shook with suppressed laughter at the funny blunders and situations of Peter Simple. He had seen just such fellows as Clyde in the brig; had seen them behave just as the present prisoner did; and he had learned that it was better to let them have their own way till they were satisfied, for boys are always better satisfied when they solve such problems for themselves.

"I'm not going to stay in this place!" howled Clyde, when he had wasted all his powers upon the obstinate door.

"No?"

The boatswain happened to be at the end of a chapter in his book, and he closed the volume, uttering only the single negative participle, with the interrogative inflection, as he glanced at his charge in the brig.

"No, I'm not!" roared Clyde, rousing from his seat, upon which he had dropped in sheer exhaustion, and throwing himself desperately against the unyielding door. "I won't stay in here any longer!"

"Well, now, I thought you would," added Peaks, with the most provoking calmness.

"I won't!"

"But it seems to me that you do stay there."

"I won't any longer."

"Well?"

"I'll send for the British minister."

"Do."

"I won't stand it any longer."

"Sit down, then."

Clyde dashed himself against the door again with all the remaining force he had; but the boatswain, apparently unmoved, opened his book again. It was terribly lacerating to the feelings of the Briton to be so coolly disregarded and ignored. Clyde had the saw, but he had sense enough left to know that any attempt to use it would attract the attention of his jailer, and end in the loss of the implement, with which he could remove a couple of the slats when left alone, or when all hands were asleep at night. Finding that violence accomplished nothing, he seated himself on his stool,--which, however, was far from being the stool of repentance,--and considered the situation more calmly. He was in a profuse perspiration from the energy of his useless exertions. Perhaps he was conscious that he had made a fool of himself, and that his violence was as impolitic as it was useless. In a few moments he was as quiet as a lamb, and remained so for half an hour, though his bondage was no less galling than before.

"Mr. Peaks," said he, in the gentlest of tones.

"Well, my lad, what shall I do for you?" replied the boatswain, closing his book, and going to the door of the brig.

"I'm very thirsty, and want a gla.s.s of water. Will you give me one?"

"Certainly, my boy."

The boatswain pa.s.sed a mug of water through the bars, and Clyde drank as though he was really thirsty.

"You have worked hard, and it makes you dry," said Peaks. "You can keep a mug of water in the brig if you like."

"I will," replied Clyde, as he placed the mug on the deck, after the boatswain had filled it. "Can't you let me out, Mr. Peaks?"

"Certainly I can."