CHAPTER V.--JOHNNIE SHINGLES AND OLD MR. PEN.
South, straight south. South as the bird flies. And with a fair andspanking breeze too. As for birds--once past the rocky and volcanicisland of Diego Alvarez, few indeed bore them company. I believeanybody might have this rocky place who had a mind to. They found it tobe the home of myriads--clouds, in fact--of gulls of every sort,including the well-known Cape pigeon, the puffin, the penguin, andalbatross, to say nothing of the cormorant, and that strange, strangecreature on its wondrous wings, that lives in the sky most of its time,and even goes to sleep as it soars high above the clouds--thefrigate-bird.
They went near enough to the island to witness one of the strangestsights in nature--the bird-laden rocks. There was little chance oflanding on the island itself, owing to the terrible surf that beats forever and aye around the cliffs; but Ibsen, who turned out to be a realhandy fellow, had been here before, and pointed out to the captain somerocks in the lee of which a boat could land, and--this being spring inthese regions--soon find enough eggs to keep the crew in food for amonth. His knowledge was taken advantage of, and a boat under hisguidance called away.
In it went Duncan and Frank.
What a scene! It beats imagination. Tier after tier on the rockycliffs sat those birds watching their nests and eggs.
They found a little cove in the tiny islet, and at the head of this theboat was beached on the dark sand. The ground was everywhere so crowdedwith nests that it was with difficulty they could walk amongst themwithout doing damage.
How beautiful they were too! Of every shade of blue and green, with thestrangest of jet-black markings, were most of them.
But the king penguins did not cohabit with any of the gull families.They thought themselves far too aristocratic for this, and here, as onother lonely isles of the great southern ocean, they dwelt in a colonyall by themselves, which must have numbered about one thousand all told.This colony had footpaths leading down to the shallowest parts of theshore, whence these droll birds could easily take to the water.
They are really droll, whether walking, standing, running, or swimming.They stand quite erect on their sturdy legs, so that a line dropped fromtheir beaks would almost fall between their broad webbed feet. Wingsthey have none, a pair of broad flappers doing duty for these, whichseems to aid considerably their progress in running. But these flappersare really paddles or oars in the water, and I know of few birds thatcan swim so fast or turn so quickly in the sea.
On the arrival of the boat's crew there was a general panic among thiscommunity. As regards the male birds, tall as they were, they did notshow a very great amount of courage.
_Sauve qui peut_ was their motto, and let the females take care ofthemselves. Like the pigs in New Testament times, when the cast-outdevils got leave to go into them, they ran headlong down a steep placeinto the sea. Their motions as they waddled and scurried along,oftentimes tumbling over a stone or a tussock heap, were grotesque inthe extreme, and everyone roared with laughter.
With the exception of little Johnnie Shingles. I'm sure I cannot tellyou how he came to be called Johnnie Shingles, for pet names grow onboard ship just as they do on shore. Johnnie was picked up somewhereabroad, and was looked upon as part and parcel of the good barque _FloraM'Vayne_. He was a nigger of purest, blackest breed, probably four feetfour inches high, and in age something between nine and nineteen. Nobodyknew and nobody cared. Johnnie Shingles was just Johnnie Shingles, nomore and no less. Well, he couldn't have been much less. He was veryfunny, however, and consequently a favourite with everybody on board,from Mate Morgan to the monkey. His duty on board was really to be atthe beck and call of all hands, and to clean and feed the pets,including Viking, the red-tailed gray parrot, and Jim the ape.
Well, you see, Johnnie was never allowed to land from the boat like anyof the crew, but as soon as he came within reasonable distance of theshore he was simply thrown overboard, and left to struggle in throughthe surf as best he could.
But Johnnie didn't mind the surf much, and he didn't mind the sharks.Nor do I think the sharks minded Johnnie. In fact, my knowledge ofsharks generally causes me to come to the conclusion, that they aresomewhat particular in their tastes, and much prefer a white man to ablack.
Well, at this islet, Johnnie Shingles was as usual pitched ceremoniouslyinto the water, when about seventy yards from the landing-place. But asill-luck would have it he met the whole shoal of male penguins puttingout to sea. These birds are extremely bold and audacious in the water.
"Hillo!" one of the foremost shouted or seemed to shout, "here goesanother o' them. Let us all pitch into him!"
And suiting the action to the word they seized poor Johnnie by the seatof his white ducks and dived with him under the water. Johnnie got up,but only to be seized by another, while half a dozen at least dabbed andpecked at him, till, had he been a white boy, he would have been blackand blue.
I believe that if, in answer to his shrieks the boat had not put back,and laid those penguins dead with their oars right and left, poorJohnnie Shingles would have lost the number of his mess. Even after theangry king penguins had been routed nothing could for a time be seen ofthe little nigger boy. But presently up popped a penguin, and closebehind it up popped Johnnie.
He came up smiling, as prize-fighters say, but he had got that penguinby the hind-leg all the same, and kick as it would Johnnie held fasttill he and it were landed all alive in the boat.
Now, I do not know whether that king penguin had a wife and a family ofeggs or not, but if he had he very soon forgot them and settled down toship life as if he had been to the manner born. In fact, he became ageneral favourite on board owing to his grave and peculiar gait.
Old Pen, as he was called, became specially attached to JohnnieShingles, and stuck to him as Johnnie had clung to him before they werehauled into the boat.
As to the penguin's eggs: they lay but two, a big and a bigger. Theyare good to eat--scrambled. But I am unable to say whether the kingbird or cock comes out of the big shell, and the hen out of the smaller,or _vice versa_.
This particular king had very intelligent eyes, with which he wouldstare at one fixedly for a minute at a time with his head on one side.Indeed, he was always, to all appearance, seeking for informationeverywhere, and there was not much on deck that he did not examine.
The coiled ropes were a source of great amusement to him, and afterunravelling one end he would seize it, and walk straight off with it asmen do with a hawser. When the men were washing down decks, before theweather got very cold he was never tired examining their naked toes. Heused to straddle quietly up and separate them with his beak as astarling would.
If the men jumped and cried "Oh-h!" Old Pen held back his head andchuckled quietly to himself.
"I only wanted to know if you were web-footed," he appeared to say.
Well, if old Pen was grotesque and amusing when dressed only in his ownfeathers, he was infinitely more droll when the men dressed him up as afunny old girl with a black bonnet, a short dark skirt, a shawl, a pairof frilled white trousers, and a gingham umbrella.
Old Pen didn't care. If everyone else laughed he only nodded his headand seemed all the prouder.
I don't know whether Johnnie or he was the taller, only the grinning weenigger used to give the singular old lady an arm, and together they usedto walk up and down the deck in the most comical way imaginable.
But this was not all, for Johnnie taught her to waltz.
On board the _Flora_ was a man who could play the clarionet, whileanother could bring very sweet music indeed from the guitar. Thisreally was all the band, with, of course, Frank's fiddle. But very farindeed was it from bad, and dressed in their Sunday's best, the sailorsused to be invited aft, and during that long, long voyage to thesouthern fields and floes of ice, many an evening concert beguiled thetime.
But if the sailor musicians went aft, Frank often went forward, and itwas on these occasions that old Mrs. Pen, as she
was often called, wastrotted out by the curly-polled nigger-boy. It is a misappropriation ofa term to say "trotted out", for certainly there was very little trotabout the quaint old dame. But waltzing just suited her flat feet.Yes, and there is no doubt that she liked it too. She might be downbelow half-asleep before the galley fire, when the fiddle and guitarbegan getting into tune with the clarionet; but she now pricked up herears at once and presently prepared to negotiate the broad companionsteps or stairs that led to the upper deck. This was always a veryserious matter for the great king penguin. Sometimes he tried to stridefrom one step to another, a foot at a time. But this plan wasinvariably a failure, so he found it more convenient on the whole tohop, and his lower limbs were wondrously strong.
Arrived on deck, Johnnie Shingles was there to meet him, and dress himas Susie. Then the _he_ became a _she_.
But the men would be at it by this time, dancing the daftest and wildestof hornpipes. No chance of their catching cold when so engaged, norafter, for as soon as they had finished a spell that
"Put life and mettle in their heels",
they threw on their heavy jumpers and walked around defiant, enjoyingthe daft capers of their shipmates.
Then Susie and Shingles would appear on the scene arm in arm, the boywith his round face, his laughing eyes, and his two rows of alabasterteeth, looking a picture of radiant fun and good humour.
"Now, Massa Frank," he might cry, "gib me and my ole mudder a niced'eamy valtz."
"A dreamy waltz, eh? Well, you must have it."
"I must foh shuah, sah. My mudder hab got a soft co'n, and rheumatiz,and all sorts ob tings."
There was no laughing about Susie. She took everything in grim earnest,but, with her chin resting on black Johnnie's shoulder, she evidentlyenjoyed both the movement and the melody, sometimes even closing hereyes.
Her partner, like herself, was barefooted even in the coldest ofweather; but when once he tramped on Susie's toes, the old lady rewardedhim with a dig on the cheek that made Johnnie howl, and taught himcaution for all time to come.
Well, what with laughing and dancing, an evening thus spent sped awayvery quickly, and was worth a whole bushel of doctor's stuff. There wasno surgeon on board, I may mention parenthetically. The law does notrequire such an officer to be carried when the crew, all told, is underforty men.
It is really somewhat marvellous that a bird like this big king penguin,should have taken so soon and so kindly to the company and customs ofhuman beings; but then the poor bird was exceedingly well-treated, andwhenever fish was served out, Pen was always in the front rank. Ah,well, it is only one more proof of the truth that _amor vincitomnia_--love conquers all things.
Pen was not always dressed as Mother Gamp. No, for he had a really goodoutfit, to which the neater-fisted seamen were always adding. Sosometimes he would appear on the quarter-deck as a man-o'-war sailor, atothers as a smart and elegantly-attired artilleryman, with his cap stuckprovokingly on one side, and a little cane under his left arm.
He was at times dressed as Paul Pry. And on these occasions, as hestretched his head and neck curiously out in front of him, he reallyseemed to say: "I hope I don't intrude".
Pen was a grand actor. Mr. Toole himself would have been nowhere in itwith Pen.
Viking at first must have thought the bird something "no canny". Hewould start up with a wild "wowff" if Pen came anywhere near him, andquietly retire.
The monkey or ape, on the other hand, tried to get up a friendship withPen. He would approach him with a peace-offering, crying "Ha! hah!hah!" which, being interpreted, signifieth, "Take that, old Pen, and eatit. It will taste in your mouth like butter and honey." As thepeace-offering invariably consisted of a gigantic cockroach about threeinches long, I think it may be doubted whether it tasted as well as themonkey would have had Pen believe. However, the presentation was kindlymeant.
This huge monkey's mouth was always crammed with cockroaches. One sideat all events, and that one side stuck out as if he were suffering froma huge gum-boil.
The men were somewhat sorry, I think, that they could not teach old Pento chew 'baccy, but old Pen drew the line at this. I must, out ofrespect for the truth, state, however, that the bird could not be calleda total abstainer, for he dearly loved a piece of "plum-duff" steeped inrum, and on this questionable delicacy I think he used at times to getabout half seas over. Then he would commence wagging his head and neckvery much from side to side, and indulge in a little song to himself.
Old Pen was not much of a singer, however, and never could have composedan opera. In fact his song was partly grunt, partly squeak, and partlysquawk. But it pleased Pen, and that was enough.
After singing for a short time he would pinch a favourite seaman's leg."Kack!" he would say, opening his mouth. This meant "Chuck us anothersop, matie".
After receiving it he would be off, and take his usual stand near thegalley fire, and begin to wink and wink, and nod and nod, till finallythe lower eyelids would ascend over the beautiful irises, and Pen bewafted away into dreamland. He wasn't aboard ship any longer. He wasback once more on his own little rocky sea-girt isle, with the gulls andthe cormorants screaming high in the air around. Near him stood Mrs.Pen, his wife, and near her, and in front, his two youngsters--fluffy,downy, droll brats, gaping their red mouths to be fed.
On the whole, I think Pen was a curious bird, and eminently suited for asailor's pet.