CHAPTER III.--BOUND FOR SOUTHERN SEAS OF ICE.
Frank and Duncan spent a very happy evening indeed with their friendTalbot.
Without the aid of wine either, which no one with youth on his sideshould require to make him gay. But I do not mind telling you that theold skipper himself had a drop of the "rosy" as he called it. And the"rosy" meant rum, aromatic, and of great age.
Well, there was quite a deal to talk about; they told each other theiradventures, and they spoke also of their future prospects, and thecruise of the _Flora M'Vayne_.
"She will be furnished and fitted complete," the captain said. "Weshall make sure enough of the sea elephants, but I'm going to tap awhale or two also, if I don't find elephants enough. And, bother me,Conal," he added, "I don't see any reason why you shouldn't write a bookabout our cruise."
It was long past ten before the merry little meeting broke up. Thisisn't late for land-lubbers, but with sailors it is different. "Earlyto bed when on shore" is their motto.
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It was early in August--only the first week, in fact--when the boys andtheir captain found themselves back once more at Glenvoie. The colonelhad expressed a wish to run down with them, but he had to defer it,owing to the surly way in which his liver asserted itself.
They found everything very much in the same state as when they left it,only Florie was now fourteen, and far more demure.
It is Burns who says:
"In Heaven itself I'll ask nae mair, Than just a Highland welcome".
And a true Highland welcome they had. There were no tears shed exceptsome of joy, which trickled over the somewhat pale cheeks of Mrs.M'Vayne herself when she noted how manly her boys had grown.
Frank hadn't grown an inch. Nor did he want to. You do not require verytall or leggy men as sailors. But the young fellow's heart was in theright place, and he was even more full of genuine fun and humour thanever.
But if we talk about a Highland welcome, what shall I term that whichpoor Vike accorded to Duncan and Conal, and in a lesser degree to Frank.Lucky it was that the meeting took place out-of-doors.
Had it been inside, this splendid Newfoundland would undoubtedly haveknocked down tables, and demolished crockery in his mad glee.
As it was, he contented himself with knocking first Duncan and thenConal down, and licking their faces and hair as they lay, helpless, ontheir backs.
Then, laughing down both sides, as it seemed, with white teeth flashingand hair afloat behind him, he set out for a circular spin by way ofgetting rid of his superfluous feelings. For the time being indeed hehad really resolved himself into a kind of hairy hurricane or tornado.But he gradually became calmer, and when he entered the house at last,where dinner was already laid, he threw himself down by Duncan's sidewith a sort of sixty-pounder sigh, as much as to say:
"I'm the happiest dog in Scotland, for I thought I'd never, never see mymaster again. And now that I have got him I mean to stick to him."
And he kept to that determination too, for nowhere would he sleep thatnight except in the boys' room.
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All the dear old rambles over moorland and mountain and through the darkdepths of the forest, were resumed next day, and kept up for over aweek. I do not mean to describe these happy days, for soon indeed mustwe sail far, far away to wilder scenes, and our adventures will be moreexciting than any that ever our heroes had in the romantic Highlands.
Florie was still Frank's innocent little sweetheart. So he told her, atall events, as he made her a present of a lovely locket with his ownportrait in it and a copy also of hers.
Not that Frank was proud of his phiz. Oh, no; for in fact no one wouldhave called him a real beauty, nor say his features were altogetherregular.
But he had eyes that sparkled with the radiance of health, and his facechanged in expression with almost every sentence he uttered.
He would have made an excellent actor. He had been told so more thanonce, and his answer was: "Well, I shall turn an actor when all the seasrun dry".
And now having bidden farewell to Glenvoie, our heroes had to lie atDundee for a whole week finishing the fitting-out of the good ship_Flora M'Vayne_. It was really a tiresome time, for the constantarrivals of visitors to see the ship and the crew that were about toembark on so long and so perilous a voyage was incessant all day long.
Nobody, therefore, was sorry to hear the last cheer that arose from anassembled multitude, although it was a right kindly one, and thoughprayers and blessings followed the barque.
That same evening they were far away from the eastern coast, for thiswas a lee shore, and they were wise to have a good offing before makingdirect for the south.
The barque might have been called somewhat clumsy, but nevertheless shecarried a splendid spread of canvas, and sailed remarkably close to thewind.
Captain Talbot had told Duncan that he had made the _Flora M'Vayne_ assweet as a nut, and certainly he had done so. No one to walk her deckscould ever have guessed she had been a greasy, grimy blubber-hunter notso long ago.
Why, everything on deck looked as bright and as clean as a brand-newsovereign. The quarter-deck was as white as wheaten straw, the binnaclewas an ornament, that would have looked excellently well in the best ofdrawing-rooms. The brass and hard-wood work were as bright as silver,every rope's end was coiled on deck, as if the barque had been anold-fashioned man-o'-war, and the men were all suitably dressed andtidy. The bo's'n was a most particular man, and, although some menchewed tobacco, to have expectorated anywhere on deck, would have beenan offence for which a rope's-ending would be well merited.
The galley was of the newest type; so, too, was the donkey engine, andthis would be used at sea when very far from land for the purpose ofcondensing water.
All told, the mustered crew were eight-and-thirty. The men forward hadbeen picked by Talbot himself, and every one of them had been to theArctic regions more than once.
They were therefore good ice-men, and neither frost nor cold was likelyto have any terrors for them. Nor the great green waves of far southernlands, that somehow always sing in the frosty air as they sweep past avessel's sides.
But there was something else on board which I should draw especialattention to, and this was nothing less than a huge balloon. It was notfilled, of course, but the means to inflate it were all on board, andhaving reached the great Antarctic ice-wall or barrier, the captainmeant to make an aerial voyage of discovery, farther to the south thanany traveller had ever been before.
There is nothing I love better than acts of daring and wild adventure,and Talbot was certainly to be commended on this score.
His balloon was certainly not anything like the size of Andree's, yet itwas capable of rising and floating for an indefinite period with threemen, and provisions for as many months.
A special house had been built for this great uninflated balloon betweenthe fore and main masts, and on each side, bottom upwards, lay thewhalers, or boats with bows at each end, and steered by an oar only.These were to be used in the fishery.
The ship's ballast was water-filled tanks, and tanks laden with coals.But Talbot hoped to return to Scottish or English shores with ballast ofquite a different sort, and better paying--oil, to wit.
The _Flora M'Vayne_ was to touch nowhere on her voyage out until shereached the Cape. That at least was the good skipper's intention, butcircumstances alter cases, as will presently be seen.
They had fine weather all the way till far past the dreaded Bay ofBiscay. On this occasion two boys in a dinghy might have crossed it.But it is not to be supposed that they could go on for a very long timewithout encountering what Jack calls dirty weather. And so when, inabout the latitude of Lisbon, and to the east of the Azores, it came onto blow, no one was a bit surprised.
"We'll have a gale, mate," said the captain; "but though abeam, orrather on the bow, we have plenty of sea-room; and on the whole Isha'n't be
sorry, for I really want to see how the _Flora_ behaves."
The wind, even as he spoke, began to roar more wildly through therigging, but in gusts or squalls, that at times rose for a few minutesto almost hurricane pitch.
Before the storm had come on many beautiful gulls had been screamingaround the barque and diving for morsels of food that Frank was throwingto them, but now they disappeared. Back they flew to the rocks thatfrown over the waters of their sea-girt homes. Little dark chips ofstormy petrels, however, continued to dash from wave-top to wave-top,and for once in a way, they brought tempest.
But the ship was now eased, for the lurid sun was setting, and a darkand moonless night must follow. The men were hardly down from aloft whenthe storm seemed to increase, but it blew more steadily, so she was keptaway a point or two, and now went dancing over the heavy seas as if sheimagined she was the best clipper ever built.
A little heavy-headed she proved, however, so that she shipped a gooddeal of water over the bows, otherwise the thumping, thudding, buffetingwaves seemed to make not the slightest impression on her.
The chief cabin or dining-saloon was down below, there being no poop,but a flush-deck all along. Both Frank and Duncan were off duty, and,seated in this small but comfortable saloon, the former could not helpremarking on the strange feeling and sound of each heavy wave thatstruck the ship abeam. She appeared to be hit by a huge, softboxing-glove, about a thousand times as large as any we ever use.
Immediately after there was the whishing sound of water on the deck, butalthough the vessel was heeled over somewhat by every awful blow, shetook no other notice.
"Batter away, old Neptune," the barque seemed to say; "it amuses you,and it doesn't hurt me in the slightest."
About two bells in the first watch, Talbot came below, and supper wasordered.
His face was radiant, but shining with wet. The steward, however,assisted him out of his oil-skins and sou'wester, then, having wiped hisface with his pocket-handkerchief, he sat down.
"Well," said Duncan, "Frank and I are waiting to hear the verdict."
"Why, it is this," said the skipper. "The barque is a duck, and welldeserves the name of _Flora M'Vayne_. I don't believe a hurricane couldhurt her, and she'll chuck the small icebergs on one side of her as Ishould chuck a cricket-ball. And ain't I hungry just. Sit in, boys.It's all night in with you lads, isn't it?"
"Not quite," said Duncan. "I kept the last dog-watch, and don't go onagain till four."
Viking got up and seated himself by his well-beloved master's side.
He licked Duncan's hand, as much as to say, "When you go on deck soshall I."
But his master seemed to divine his thoughts.
"No, my good dog," he said, "you must stay below to-night, else the seaswould sweep you off, and what should I do then?"
After supper Frank got out his fiddle and played for fully half an hour,then he and Duncan, who both occupied the same state-room, retired.
As a sailor always sleeps most soundly when the wind blows high, and heis really "rock'd in the cradle of the deep", it is almost unnecessaryto say that these lads dropped soundly off almost as soon as their headstouched the pillows.
Nor did they awake until eight bells at the end of the darksome middlewatch, when Conal came down to call them.
"Oil-skins, Conal?"
"Ay, Duncan, and you'll need them too. Better lock Vike in your cabin."
"That is what I mean to do."
Poor Viking did not half like it though. There is no dog in the worldmakes a better sailor's companion when far away at sea than aNewfoundland, and I speak from experience. But such dogs do notappreciate danger sufficiently high, nor have they good enough sea-legsto face a storm and walk the deck of a heaving ship. Therefore theyoften get washed into the lee scuppers.
On the present occasion Vike made up his mind to be as naughty a dog ashe could.
"I shall wake the skipper," he told Duncan, speaking through thekey-hole as it were. "Wowff!" he barked. "Wowff! wowff! What do youthink of that?"
Well, the sound could certainly be heard high over the roaring of thewind and the dash of angry waves.
The captain heard it in his dreams; but it takes more than the barkingof a dog to awake a sailor born. So Talbot just hitched himself round,and went off to sleep on the other tack.
By breakfast time both wind and sea had gone down, and there was everyexpectation of fine weather once again.
"No damage done is there, mate?" said Talbot to Morgan.
"No, sir, nothing worth speaking about. Some of the coal tanks got adrop o' water in them, that's all."
"Well, that will make them last the longer. But, mind you, Morgan, I'mrather pleased than otherwise that we've had that blow."
"So am I."
"It just shows what the barque can do."
"That's it. If she is as good against the ice as she is against asea-way, then, by my song, sir, she'll take us safely to the Antarctic,and just as safely back home again. Pass the sugar, sir."