Books: Many Cargoes
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W.W. Jacobs >> Many Cargoes
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It was not until Gravesend was passed, and the side-lights of the
shipping were trying to show in the gathering dusk, that he awoke from
his tender apathy. It is probable that it would have lasted longer than
that but for a sudden wail of anguish and terror which proceeded from
the cabin and rang out on the still warm air.
"Sakes alive!" said the skipper, starting; "what's that?"
Before the mate could reply, the companion was pushed back, and a
middle-aged woman, labouring under strong excitement, appeared on deck.
"You villain!" she screamed excitably, rushing up to the mate. "Take me
back; take me back!"
"What's all this, Harry?" demanded the skipper sternly.
"He--he--he--asked me to go into the cab--cabin," sobbed Mrs. Jansell,
"and sent me to sleep, and too--too--took me away. My husband'll kill
me; I know he will. Take me back."
"What do you want to be took back to be killed for?" interposed one of
the men judicially.
"I might ha' known what he meant when he said I brightened the cabin
up," said Mrs. Jansell; "and when he said he thought me and my daughter
were sisters. He said he'd like me to sit there always, the wretch!"
"Did you say that?" inquired the skipper fiercely.
"Well, I did," said the miserable mate; "but I didn't mean her to take
it that way. She went to sleep, and I forgot all about her."
"What did you say such silly lies for, then?" demanded the skipper.
The mate hung his head.
"Old enough to be your mother too," said the skipper severely. "Here's a
nice thing to happen aboard my ship, and afore the boy too!"
"Blast the boy!" said the goaded mate.
"Take me back," wailed Mrs. Jansell; "you don't know how jealous my
husband is."
"He won't hurt you," said the skipper kindly "he won't be jealous of a
woman your time o' life; that is, not if he's got any sense. You'll have
to go as far as Boston with us now. I've lost too much time already to
go back."
"You must take me back," said Mrs. Jansell passionately.
"I'm not going back for anybody," said the skipper. "But you can make
your mind quite easy: you're as safe aboard my ship as what you would be
alone on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic; and as for the mate, he
was only chaffing you. Wasn't you, Harry?"
The mate made some reply, but neither Mrs. Jansell, the skipper, nor the
men, who were all listening eagerly, caught it, and his unfortunate
victim, accepting the inevitable, walked to the side of the ship and
gazed disconsolately astern.
It was not until the following morning that the mate, who had received
orders to mess for'ard, saw her, and ignoring the fact that everybody
suspended work to listen, walked up and bade her good morning.
"Harry," said the skipper warningly.
"All right," said the mate shortly. "I want to speak to you very
particularly," he said nervously, and led his listener aft, followed by
three of the crew who came to clean the brasswork, and who listened
mutinously when they were ordered to defer unwonted industry to a more
fitting time. The deck clear, the mate began, and in a long rambling
statement, which Mrs. Jansell at first thought the ravings of lunacy,
acquainted her with the real state of his feelings.
"I never did!" said she, when he had finished. "Never! Why, you hadn't
seen her before yesterday."
"Of course I shall take you back by train," said the mate, "and tell
your husband how sorry I am."
"I might have suspected something when you said all those nice things to
me," said the mollified lady. "Well, you must take your chance, like all
the rest of them. She can only say 'No,' again. It'll explain this
affair better, that's one thing; but I expect they'll laugh at you."
"I don't care," said the mate stoutly. "You're on my side, ain't you?"
Mrs. Jansell laughed, and the mate, having succeeded beyond his hopes in
the establishment of amicable relations, went about his duties with a
light heart.
By the time they reached Boston the morning was far advanced, and after
the Gem was comfortably berthed he obtained permission of the skipper to
accompany the fair passenger to London, beguiling the long railway
journey by every means in his power. Despite his efforts, however, the
journey began to pall upon his companion, and it was not until evening
was well advanced that they found themselves in the narrow streets of
Limehouse.
"We'll see how the land lies first," said he, as they approached the
wharf and made their way cautiously on to the quay.
The Aquila was still alongside, and the mate's heart thumped violently
as he saw the cause of all the trouble sitting alone on the deck. She
rose with a little start as her mother stepped carefully aboard, and,
running to her, kissed her affectionately, and sat her down on the
hatches.
"Poor mother," she said caressingly. "What did you bring that lunatic
back with you for?"
"He would come," said Mrs. Jansell. "Hush! here comes your father."
The master of the Aquila came on deck as she spoke, and walking slowly
up to the group, stood sternly regarding them. Under his gaze the mate
breathlessly reeled off his tale, noticing with somewhat mixed feelings
the widening grin of his listener as he proceeded.
"Well, you're a lively sort o' man," said the skipper as he finished.
"In one day you tie up your own ship, run off with my wife, and lose us
a tide. Are you always like that?"
"I want somebody to look after me, I s'pose," said the mate, with a side
glance at Nancy.
"Well, we'd put you up for the night," said the skipper, with his arm
round his wife's shoulders; "but you're such a chap. I'm afraid you'd
burn the ship down, or something. What do you think, old girl?"
"I think we'll try him this once," said his wife. "And now I'll go down
and see about supper; I want it."
The old couple went below, and the young one remained on deck. Nancy
went and leaned against the side; and as she appeared to have quite
forgotten his presence, the mate, after some hesitation, joined her.
"Hadn't you better go down and get some supper?" she asked.
"I'd sooner stay here, if yon don't mind," said the mate. "I like
watching the lights going up and down; I could stay here for hours."
"I'll leave you, then," said the girl; "I'm hungry."
She tripped lightly off with a smothered laugh, leaving the fairly-
trapped man gazing indignantly at the lights which had lured him to
destruction.
From below he heard the cheerful clatter of crockery, accompanied by a
savoury incense, and talk and laughter. He imagined the girl making fun
of his sentimental reasons for staying on deck; but, too proud to meet
her ironical glances, stayed doggedly where he was, resolving to be off
by the first train in the morning. He was roused from his gloom by a
slight touch on his arm, and, turning sharply, saw the girl by his side.
"Supper's quite ready," said she soberly. "And if you want to admire the
lights very much, come up and see them when I do--after supper."
AN ELABORATE ELOPEMENT
I have always had a slight suspicion that the following narrative is not
quite true. It was related to me by an old seaman who, among other
incidents of a somewhat adventurous career, claimed to have received
Napoleon's sword at the battle of Trafalgar, and a wound in the back at
Waterloo. I prefer to tell it in my own way, his being so garnished with
nautical terms and expletives as to be half unintelligible and somewhat
horrifying. Our talk had been of love and courtship, and after making me
a present of several tips, invented by himself, and considered
invaluable by his friends, he related this story of the courtship of a
chum of his as illustrating the great lengths to which young bloods were
prepared to go in his days to attain their ends.
It was a fine clear day in June when Hezekiah Lewis, captain and part
owner of the schooner Thames, bound from London to Aberdeen, anchored
off the little out-of-the-way town of Orford in Suffolk. Among other
antiquities, the town possessed Hezekiah's widowed mother, and when
there was no very great hurry--the world went slower in those days--the
dutiful son used to go ashore in the ship's boat, and after a filial tap
at his mother's window, which often startled the old woman considerably,
pass on his way to see a young lady to whom he had already proposed five
times without effect.
The mate and crew of the schooner, seven all told, drew up in a little
knot as the skipper, in his shore-going clothes, appeared on deck, and
regarded him with an air of grinning, mysterious interest.
"Now you all know what you have got to do?" queried the skipper.
"Ay, ay," replied the crew, grinning still more deeply.
Hezekiah regarded them closely, and then ordering the boat to be
lowered, scrambled over the side, and was pulled swiftly towards the
shore.
A sharp scream, and a breathless "Lawk-a-mussy me!" as he tapped at his
mother's window, assured him that the old lady was alive and well, and
he continued on his way until he brought up at a small but pretty house
in the next road.
"Morning, Mr. Rumbolt," said he heartily to a stout, red-faced man, who
sat smoking in the doorway.
"Morning, cap'n, morning," said the red-faced man.
"Is the rheumatism any better?" inquired Hezekiah anxiously, as he
grasped the other's huge hand.
"So, so," said the other. "But it ain't the rheumatism so much what
troubles me," he resumed, lowering his voice, and looking round
cautiously. "It's Kate."
"What?" said the skipper.
"You've heard of a man being henpecked?" continued Mr. Rumbolt, in tones
of husky confidence.
The captain nodded.
"I'm CHICK-PECKED" murmured the other.
"What?" inquired the astonished mariner again.
"Chick-pecked," repeated Mr. Rumbolt firmly. "CHIK-PEKED. D'ye
understand me?"
The captain said that he did, and stood silent awhile, with the air of a
man who wants to say something, but is half afraid to. At last, with a
desperate appearance of resolution, he bent down to the old man's ear.
"That's the deaf 'un," said Mr. Rumbolt promptly.
Hezekiah changed ears, speaking at first slowly and awkwardly, but
becoming more fluent as he warmed with his subject; while the expression
of his listener's face gradually changed from incredulous bewilderment
to one of uncontrollable mirth. He became so uproarious that he was fain
to push the captain away from him, and lean back in his chair and choke
and laugh until he nearly lost his breath, at which crisis a remarkably
pretty girl appeared from the back of the house, and patted him with
hearty good will.
"That'll do, my dear," said the choking Mr. Rumbolt. "Here's Captain
Lewis."
"I can see him," said his daughter calmly. "What's he standing on one
leg for?"
The skipper, who really was standing in a somewhat constrained attitude,
coloured violently, and planted both feet firmly on the ground.
"Being as I was passing close in, Miss Rumbolt," said he, "and coming
ashore to see mother"--
To the captain's discomfort, manifestations of a further attack on the
part of Mr. Rumbolt appeared, but were promptly quelled by the daughter.
"Mother?" she repeated encouragingly,
"I thought I'd come on and ask you just to pay a sort o' flying visit to
the Thames." "Thank you, I'm comfortable enough where I am," said the
girl.
"I've got a couple of monkeys and a bear aboard, which I 'm taking to a
menagerie in Aberdeen," continued the captain, "and the thought struck
me you might possibly like to see 'em." "Well, I don't know," said the
damsel in a flutter. "Is it a big bear?"
"Have you ever seen an elephant?" inquired Hezekiah cautiously.
"Only in pictures," replied the girl.
"Well, it's as big as that, nearly," said he.
The temptation was irresistible, and Miss Rumbolt, telling her father
that she should not be long, disappeared into the house in search of her
hat and jacket, and ten minutes later the brawny rowers were gazing
their fill into her deep blue eyes as she sat in the stern of the boat,
and told Lewis to behave himself.
It was but a short pull out to the schooner, and Miss Rumbolt was soon
on the deck, lavishing endearments on the monkey, and energetically
prodding the bear with a handspike to make him growl. The noise of the
offended animal as he strove to get through the bars of his cage was
terrific, and the girl was in the full enjoyment of it, when she became
aware of a louder noise still, and, turning round, saw the seamen at the
windlass.
"Why, what are they doing?" she demanded, "getting up anchor?"
"Ahoy, there!" shouted Hezekiah sternly. "What are you doing with that
windlass?"
As he spoke, the anchor peeped over the edge of the bows, and one of the
seamen running past them took the helm.
"Now then," shouted the fellow, "stand by. Look lively there with them
sails."
Obeying a light touch of the helm, the schooner's bow-sprit slowly swung
round from the land, and the crew, hauling lustily on the ropes, began
to hoist the sails.
"What the devil are you up to?" thundered the skipper. "Have you all
gone mad? What does it all mean?"
"It means," said one of the seamen, whose fat, amiable face was marred
by a fearful scowl, "that we've got a new skipper."
"Good heavens, a mutiny!" exclaimed the skipper, starting
melodramatically against the cage, and starting hastily away again.
"Where's the mate?"
"He's with us," said another seaman, brandishing his sheath knife, and
scowling fearfully. "He's our new captain."
In confirmation of this the mate now appeared from below with an axe in
his hand, and, approaching his captain, roughly ordered him below.
"I'll defend this lady with my life," cried Hezekiah, taking the
handspike from Kate, and raising it above his head.
"Nobody'll hurt a hair of her beautiful head," said the mate, with a
tender smile.
"Then I yield," said the skipper, drawing himself up, and delivering the
handspike with the air of a defeated admiral tendering his sword.
"Good," said the mate briefly, as one of the men took it.
"What!" demanded Miss Rumbolt excitedly, "aren't you going to fight
them? Here, give me the handspike."
Before the mate could interfere, the sailor, with thoughtless obedience,
handed it over, and Miss Rumbolt at once tried to knock him over the
head. Being thwarted in this design by the man taking flight, she lost
her temper entirely, and bore down like a hurricane on the remaining
members of the crew who were just approaching.
They scattered at once, and ran up the rigging like cats, and for a few
moments the girl held the deck; then the mate crept up behind her, and
with the air of a man whose job exactly suited him, clasped her tightly
round the waist, while one of the seamen disarmed her.
"You must both go below till we've settled what to do with you," said
the mate, reluctantly releasing her.
With a wistful glance at the handspike, the girl walked to the cabin,
followed slowly by the skipper.
"This is a bad business," said the latter, shaking his head solemnly, as
the indignant Miss Rumbolt seated herself.
"Don't talk to me, you coward!" said the girl energetically.
The skipper started.
"_I_ made three of 'em run," said Miss Rumbolt, "and you did nothing.
You just stood still, and let them take the ship. I'm ashamed of you."
The skipper's defence was interrupted by a hoarse voice shouting to them
to come on deck, where they found the mutinous crew gathered aft round
the mate. The girl cast a look at the shore, which was now dim and
indistinct, and turned somewhat pale as the serious nature of her
position forced itself upon her.
"Lewis," said the mate.
"Well," growled the skipper.
"This ship's going in the lace and brandy trade, and if so be as you're
sensible you can go with it as mate, d'ye hear?"
"An' s'pose I do; what about the lady?" inquired the captain.
"You and the lady'll have to get spliced," said the mate sternly. "Then
there'll be no tales told. A Scotch marriage is as good as any, and
we'll just lay off and put you ashore, and you can get tied up as right
as ninepence."
"Marry a coward like that?" demanded Miss Rumbolt, with spirit; "not if
I know it. Why, I'd sooner marry that old man at the helm."
"Old Bill's got three wives a'ready to my sartin knowledge," spoke up
one of the sailors. "The lady's got to marry Cap'n Lewis, so don't let's
have no fuss about it."
"I won't," said the lady, stamping violently.
The mutineers appeared to be in a dilemma, and, following the example of
the mate, scratched their heads thoughtfully.
"We thought you liked him," said the mate, at last, feebly.
"You had no business to think," said Miss Rumbolt. "You are bad men, and
you'll all be hung, every one of you; I shall come and see it." "The
cap'n's welcome to her for me," murmured the helmsman in a husky whisper
to the man next to him. "The vixen!"
"Very good," said the mate. "If you won't, you won't. This end of the
ship'll belong to you after eight o'clock of a night. Lewis, you must go
for'ard with the men."
"And what are you going to do with me after?" inquired the fair
prisoner.
The seven men shrugged their shoulders helplessly, and Hezekiah, looking
depressed, lit his pipe, and went and leaned over the side.
The day passed quietly. The orders were given by the mate, and Hezekiah
lounged moodily about, a prisoner at large. At eight o'clock Miss
Rumbolt was given the key of the state-room, and the men who were not in
the watch went below.
The morning broke fine and clear with a light breeze, which, towards
mid-day, dropped entirely, and the schooner lay rocking lazily on a sea
of glassy smoothness. The sun beat fiercely down, bringing the fresh
paint on the taffrail up in blisters, and sorely trying the tempers of
the men who were doing odd jobs on deck.
The cabin, where the two victims of a mutinous crew had retired for
coolness, got more and more stuffy, until at length even the scorching
deck seemed preferable, and the girl, with a faint hope of finding a
shady corner, went languidly up the companion-ladder.
For some time the skipper sat alone, pondering gloomily over the state
of affairs as he smoked his short pipe. He was aroused at length from
his apathy by the sound of the companion being noisily closed, while
loud frightened cries and hurrying footsteps on deck announced that
something extraordinary was happening. As he rose to his feet he was
confronted by Kate Rumbolt, who, panting and excited, waved a big key
before him.
"I've done it," she cried, her eyes sparkling.
"Done what?" shouted the mystified skipper.
"Let the bear loose," said the girl. "Ha, ha! you should have seen them
run. You should have seen the fat sailor!"
"Let the--phew--let the-- Good heavens! here's a pretty kettle of
fish!" he choked.
"Listen to them shouting," cried the exultant Kate, clapping her hands.
"Just listen."
"Those shouts are from aloft," said Hezekiah sternly, "where you and I
ought to be."
"I've closed the companion," said the girl reassuringly.
"Closed the companion!" repeated Hezekiah, as he drew his knife. "He can
smash it like cardboard, if the fit takes him. Go in here."
He opened the door of his state-room.
"Shan't!" said Miss Rumbolt politely.
"Go in at once!" cried the skipper. "Quick with you."
"Sha--" began Miss Rumbolt again. Then she caught his eye, and went in
like a lamb. "You come too," she said prettily.
"I've got to look after my ship and my men," said the skipper. "I
suppose you thought the ship would steer itself, didn't you?"
"Mutineers deserve to be eaten," whimpered Miss Rumbolt piously,
somewhat taken aback by the skipper's demeanour.
Hezekiah looked at her.
"They're not mutineers, Kate," he said quietly. "It was just a piece of
mad folly of mine. They're as honest a set of old sea dogs as ever
breathed, and I only hope they are all safe up aloft. I'm going to lock
you in; but don't be frightened, it shan't hurt you."
He slammed the door on her protests, and locked it, and, slipping the
key of the cage in his pocket, took a firm grip of his knife, and,
running up the steps, gained the deck. Then his breath came more freely,
for the mate, who was standing a little way up the fore rigging, after
tempting the bear with his foot, had succeeded in dropping a noose over
its head. The brute made a furious attempt to extricate itself, but the
men hurried down with other lines, and in a short space of time the bear
presented much the same appearance as the lion in Aesop's Fables, and
was dragged and pushed, a heated and indignant mass of fur, back to its
cage.
Having locked up one prisoner the skipper went below and released the
other, who passed quickly from a somewhat hysterical condition to one of
such haughty disdain that the captain was thoroughly cowed, and stood
humbly aside to let her pass.
The fat seaman was standing in front of the cage as she reached it, and
regarding the bear with much satisfaction until Kate sidled up to him,
and begged him, as a personal favour, to go in the cage and undo it.
"Undo it! Why he'd kill me!" gasped the fat seaman, aghast at such
simplicity.
"I don't think he would," said his tormenter, with a bewitching smile;
"and I'll wear a lock of your hair all my life if you do. But you'd
better give it to me before you go in."
"I ain't going in," said the fat sailor shortly.
"Not for me?" queried Kate archly,
"Not for fifty like you," replied the old man firmly. "He nearly had me
when he was loose. I can't think how he got out."
"Why, I let him out," said Miss Rumbolt airily. "Just for a little run.
How would you like to be shut up all day?"
The sailor was just going to tell her with more fluency than politeness
when he was interrupted. "That'll do," said the skipper, who had come
behind them. "Go for'ard, you. There's been enough of this fooling; the
lady thought you had taken the ship. Thompson, I'll take the helm;
there's a little wind coming. Stand by there."
He walked aft and relieved the steersman, awkwardly conscious that the
men were becoming more and more interested in the situation, and also
that Kate could hear some of their remarks. As he pondered over the
subject, and tried to think of a way out of it, the cause of all the
trouble came and stood by him.
"Did my father know of this?" she inquired.
"I don't know that he did exactly," said the skipper uneasily. "I just
told him not to expect you back that night."
"And what did he say?" said she.
"Said he wouldn't sit up," said the skipper, grinning, despite himself.
Kate drew a breath the length of which boded no good to her parent, and
looked over the side.
"I was afraid of that traveller chap from Ipswich," said Hezekiah, after
a pause. "Your father told me he was hanging round you again, so I
thought I--well, I was a blamed fool anyway."
"See how ridiculous you have made me look before all these men," said
the girl angrily.
"They've been with me for years," said Hezekiah apologetically, "and the
mate said it was a magnificent idea. He quite raved about it, he did. I
wouldn't have done it with some crews, but we've had some dirty times
together, and they've stood by me well. But of course that's nothing to
do with you. It's been an adventure I'm very sorry for, very."
"A pretty safe adventure for YOU," said the girl scornfully. "YOU didn't
risk much. Look here, I like brave men. If you go in the cage and undo
that bear, I'll marry you. That's what _I_ call an adventure."
"Smith," called the skipper quietly, "come and take the helm a bit."
The seaman obeyed, and Lewis, accompanied by the girl, walked forward.
At the bear's cage he stopped, and, fumbling in his pocket for the key,
steadily regarded the brute as it lay gnashing its teeth, and trying in
vain to bite the ropes which bound it.
"You're afraid," said the girl tauntingly; "you're quite white."
The captain made no reply, but eyed her so steadily that her gaze fell.
He drew the key from his pocket and inserted it in the huge lock, and
was just turning it, when a soft arm was drawn through his, and a soft
voice murmured sweetly in his ear, "Never mind about the old bear."
And he did not mind.
THE COOK OF THE "GANNET"
All ready for sea, and no cook," said the mate of the schooner Gannet,
gloomily. "What's become of all the cooks I can't think."
"They most on 'em ship as mates now," said the skipper, grinning. "But
you needn't worry about that; I've got one coming aboard to-night. I'm
trying a new experiment, George."
"I once knew a chemist who tried one," said George, "an' it blew him out
of the winder; but I never heard o' shipmasters trying 'em."
"There's all kinds of experiments," rejoined the other, "What do you say
to a lady cook, George?"
"A WHAT?" asked the mate in tones of strong amazement. "What, aboard a
schooner?"
"Why not?" inquired the skipper warmly; "why not? There's plenty of 'em
ashore--why not aboard ship?"
"'Tain't proper, for one thing," said the mate virtuously.
"I shouldn't have expected you to have thought o' that," said the other
unkindly. "Besides, they have stewardesses on big ships, an' what's the
difference? She's a sort o' relation o' mine, too--cousin o' my wife's,
a widder woman, and a good sensible age, an' as the doctor told her to
take a sea voyage for the benefit of her 'elth, she's coming with me for
six months as cook. She'll take her meals with us; but, o' course, the
men are not to know of the relationship."
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