With shark-hook and line I succeeded, and brought my brave gentlemanto the deck. He made an emphatic landing; lashing the planks with hissinewy tail; while a yard and a half in advance of his eyes, reachedforth his terrible blade.
As victor, I was entitled to the arms of the vanquished; so, quicklydispatching him, and sawing off his Toledo, I bore it away for atrophy. It was three-sided, slightly concave on each, like a bayonet;and some three inches through at the base, it tapered from thence toa point.
And though tempered not in Tagus or Guadalquiver, it yet revealedupon its surface that wavy grain and watery fleckiness peculiar totried blades of Spain. It was an aromatic sword; like the ancientcaliph's, giving out a peculiar musky odor by friction. But fardifferent from steel of Tagus or Damascus, it was inflexible asCrocket's rifle tube; no doubt, as deadly.
Long hung that rapier over the head of my hammock. Was it not storiedas the good trenchant blade of brave Bayard, that other chevalier?The knight's may have slain its scores, or fifties; but the weapon Ipreserved had, doubtless, run through and riddled its thousands.
CHAPTER XXXIIIOtard
And here is another little incident.
One afternoon while all by myself curiously penetrating into thehold, I most unexpectedly obtained proof, that the ill-fated captainof the Parki had been a man of sound judgment and most excellenttaste. In brief, I lighted upon an aromatic cask of prime old Otard.
Now, I mean not to speak lightly of any thing immediately connectedwith the unfortunate captain. Nor, on the other hand, would Iresemble the inconsolable mourner, who among other tokens ofaffliction, bound in funereal crape his deceased friend's copy of JoeMiller. Is there not a fitness in things?
But let that pass. I found the Otard, and drank there-of; finding it,moreover, most pleasant to the palate, and right cheering to thesoul. My next impulse was to share my prize with my shipmates. Buthere a judicious reflection obtruded. From the sea-monarchs, hisancestors, my Viking had inherited one of their cardinal virtues, adetestation and abhorrence of all vinous and spirituous beverages;insomuch, that he never could see any, but he instantly quaffed itout of sight. To be short, like Alexander the Great and otherroyalties, Jarl was prone to overmuch bibing. And though at sea moresober than a Fifth Monarchy Elder, it was only because he was thenremoved from temptation. But having thus divulged my Viking's weak;side, I earnestly entreat, that it may not disparage him in anycharitable man's estimation. Only think, how many more there are likehim to say nothing further of Alexander the Great--especiallyamong his own class; and consider, I beseech, that the mostcapacious-souled fellows, for that very reason, are the most apt tobe too liberal in their libations; since, being so large-hearted,they hold so much more good cheer than others.
For Samoa, from his utter silence hitherto as to aught inebriating onboard, I concluded, that, along with his other secrets, the departedcaptain had very wisely kept his Otard to himself.
Nor did I doubt, but that the Upoluan, like all Polynesians, muchloved getting high of head; and in that state, would be moreintractable than a Black Forest boar. And concerning Annatoo, Ishuddered to think, how that Otard might inflame her into a Fury morefierce than the foremost of those that pursued Orestes.
In good time, then, bethinking me of the peril of publishing mydiscovery;--bethinking me of the quiet, lazy, ever-present perils ofthe voyage, of all circumstances, the very worst under which tointroduce an intoxicating beverage to my companions, I resolved towithhold it from them altogether.
So impressed was I with all this, that for a moment, I was almosttempted to roll over the cask on its bilge, remove the stopper, andsuffer its contents to mix with the foul water at the bottom of thehold.
But no, no: What: dilute the brine with the double distilled soul ofthe precious grape? Haft himself would have haunted me!
Then again, it might come into play medicinally; and Paracelsushimself stands sponsor for every cup drunk for the good of theabdomen. So at last, I determined to let it remain where it was:visiting it occasionally, by myself, for inspection.
But by way of advice to all ship-masters, let me say, that if yourOtard magazine be exposed to view--then, in the evil hour of wreck,stave in your spirit-casks, ere rigging the life-boat.
CHAPTER XXXIVHow They Steered On Their Way
When we quitted the Chamois for the brigantine, we must have been atleast two hundred leagues to the westward of the spot, where we hadabandoned the Arcturion. Though how far we might then have been,North or South of the Equator, I could not with any certainty divine.
But that we were not removed any considerable distance from the Line,seemed obvious. For in the starriest night no sign of the extremePolar constellations was visible; though often we scanned thenorthern and southern horizon in search of them. So far as regardsthe aspect of the skies near the ocean's rim, the difference ofseveral degrees in one's latitude at sea, is readily perceived by aperson long accustomed to surveying the heavens.
If correct in my supposition, concerning our longitude at the timehere alluded to, and allowing for what little progress we had beenmaking in the Parki, there now remained some one hundred leagues tosail, ere the country we sought would be found. But for obviousreasons, how long precisely we might continue to float out of sightof land, it was impossible to say. Calms, light breezes, and currentsmade every thing uncertain. Nor had we any method of estimating ourdue westward progress, except by what is called Dead Reckoning,--thecomputation of the knots run hourly; allowances' being made for thesupposed deviations from our course, by reason of the ocean streams;which at times in this quarter of the Pacific run with very greatvelocity.
Now, in many respects we could not but feel safer aboard theParki than in the Chamois. The sense of danger is less vivid, thegreater the number of lives involved. He who is ready to despair insolitary peril, plucks up a heart in the presence of another. In aplurality of comrades is much countenance and consolation.
Still, in the brigantine there were many sources of uneasiness andanxiety unknown to me in the whale-boat. True, we had now between usand the deep, five hundred good planks to one lath in our buoyantlittle chip. But the Parki required more care and attention;especially by night, when a vigilant look-out was indispensable. Withimpunity, in our whale-boat, we might have run close to shoal orreef; whereas, similar carelessness or temerity now, might provefatal to all concerned.
Though in the joyous sunlight, sailing through the sparkling sea, Iwas little troubled with serious misgivings; in the hours of darknessit was quite another thing. And the apprehensions, nay terrors Ifelt, were much augmented by the remissness of both Jarl and Samoa,in keeping their night-watches. Several times I was seized with adeadly panic, and earnestly scanned the murky horizon, when risingfrom slumber I found the steersman, in whose hands for the time beingwere life and death, sleeping upright against the tiller, as much ofa fixture there, as the open-mouthed dragon rudely carved on our prow.
Were it not, that on board of other vessels, I myself had many a timedozed at the helm, spite of all struggles, I would have been almostat a loss to account for this heedlessness in my comrades. But itseemed as if the mere sense of our situation, should have beensufficient to prevent the like conduct in all on board our craft.
Samoa's aspect, sleeping at the tiller, was almost appalling. Hislarge opal eyes were half open; and turned toward the light of thebinnacle, gleamed between the lids like bars of flame. And added toall, was his giant stature and savage lineaments.
It was in vain, that I remonstrated, begged, or threatened: theoccasional drowsiness of my fellow-voyagers proved incurable. To nopurpose, I reminded my Viking that sleeping in the night-watch in acraft like ours, was far different from similar heedlessness on boardthe Arcturion. For there, our place upon the ocean was always known,and our distance from land; so that when by night the seamen werepermitted to be drowsy, it was mostly, because the captain well knewthat strict watchfulness could be dispensed with.
Though in all else, t
he Skyeman proved a most faithful ally, in thisone thing he was either perversely obtuse, or infatuated. Or,perhaps, finding himself once more in a double-decked craft, whichrocked him as of yore, he was lulled into a deceitful security.
For Samoa, his drowsiness was the drowsiness of one beat on sleep,come dreams or death. He seemed insensible to the peril we ran. OftenI sent the sleepy savage below, sad, steered myself till morning. Atlast I made a point of slumbering much by day, the better to standwatch by night; though I made Samoa and Jarl regularly go throughwith their allotted four hours each.
It has been mentioned, that Annatoo took her turn at the helm; but itwas only by day. And in justice to the lady, I must affirm, that uponthe whole she acquitted herself well. For notwithstanding the syrenface in the binnacle, which dimly allured her glances, Annatoo afterall was tolerably heedful of her steering. Indeed she took much pridetherein; always ready for her turn; with marvelous exactitudecalculating the approaching hour, as it came on in regular rotation.Her time-piece was ours, the sun. By night it must have been herguardian star; for frequently she gazed up at a particular section ofthe heavens, like one regarding the dial in a tower.
By some odd reasoning or other, she had cajoled herself into thenotion, that whoever steered the brigantine, for that periodwas captain. Wherefore, she gave herself mighty airs at the tiller;with extravagant gestures issuing unintelligible orders abouttrimming the sails, or pitching overboard something to see how fastwe were going. All this much diverted my Viking, who several timeswas delivered of a laugh; a loud and healthy one to boot: aphenomenon worthy the chronicling.
And thus much for Annatoo, preliminary to what is further to be said.Seeing the drowsiness of Jarl and Samoa, which so often kept me frommy hammock at night, forcing me to repose by day, when I farpreferred being broad awake, I decided to let Annatoo take her turnat the night watches; which several times she had solicited me to do;railing at the sleepiness of her spouse; though abstaining from allreflections upon Jarl, toward whom she had of late grown exceedinglyfriendly.
Now the Calmuc stood her first night watch to admiration; if anything, was altogether too wakeful. The mere steering of the craftemployed not sufficiently her active mind. Ever and anon she mustneeds rush from the tiller to take a parenthetical pull at the fore-brace, the end of which led down to the bulwarks near by; thenrefreshing herself with a draught or two of water and a biscuit, shewould continue to steer away, full of the importance of her office.At any unusual flapping of the sails, a violent stamping on deckannounced the fact to the startled crew. Finding her thus indefatigable,I readily induced her to stand two watches to Jarl's and Samoa's one;and when she was at the helm, I permitted myself to doze on a pile ofold sails, spread every evening on the quarter-deck.
It was the Skyeman, who often admonished me to "heave the ship to"every night, thus stopping her headway till morning; a plan which,under other circumstances, might have perhaps warranted the slumbersof all. But as it was, such a course would have been highlyimprudent. For while making no onward progress through thewater, the rapid currents we encountered would continually bedrifting us eastward; since, contrary to our previous experience,they seemed latterly to have reversed their flow, a phenomenon by nomeans unusual in the vicinity of the Line in the Pacific. And this itwas that so prolonged our passage to the westward. Even in a moderatebreeze, I sometimes fancied, that the impulse of the wind little morethan counteracted the glide of the currents; so that with much showof sailing, we were in reality almost a fixture on the sea.
The equatorial currents of the South Seas may be regarded as amongthe most mysterious of the mysteries of the deep. Whence they come,whither go, who knows? Tell us, what hidden law regulates their flow.Regardless of the theory which ascribes to them a nearly uniformcourse from east to west, induced by the eastwardly winds of theLine, and the collateral action of the Polar streams; these currentsare forever shifting. Nor can the period of their revolutions be atall relied upon or predicted.
But however difficult it may be to assign a specific cause for theocean streams, in any part of the world, one of the wholesome effectsthereby produced would seem obvious enough. And though thecircumstance here alluded to is perhaps known to every body, it maybe questioned, whether it is generally invested with the importanceit deserves. Reference is here made to the constant commingling andpurification of the sea-water by reason of the currents.
For, that the ocean, according to the popular theory, possesses aspecial purifying agent in its salts, is somewhat to be doubted. Norcan it be explicitly denied, that those very salts might corrupt it,were it not for the brisk circulation of its particles consequentupon the flow of the streams. It is well known to seamen, that abucket of sea-water, left standing in a tropical climate, very soonbecomes highly offensive; which is not the case with rainwater.
But I build no theories. And by way of obstructing the one, whichmight possibly be evolved from the statement above, let me add, thatthe offensiveness of sea-water left standing, may arise in no smalldegree from the presence of decomposed animal matter.
CHAPTER XXXVAh, Annatoo!
In order to a complete revelation, I must needs once again discourseof Annatoo and her pilferings; and to what those pilferings led. Inthe simplicity of my soul, I fancied that the dame, so much flatteredas she needs must have been, by the confidence I began to repose inher, would now mend her ways, and abstain from her larcenies. But notso. She was possessed by some scores of devils, perpetually her tomischief on their own separate behoof, and not less for many of herpranks were of no earthly advantage to her, present or prospective.
One day the log-reel was missing. Summon Annatoo. She came; but knewnothing about it. Jarl spent a whole morning in contriving asubstitute; and a few days after, pop, we came upon the lost: articlehidden away in the main-top.
Another time, discovering the little vessel to "gripe" hard insteering, as if some one under water were jerking her backward, weinstituted a diligent examination, to see what was the matter. Whenlo; what should we find but a rope, cunningly attached to one of thechain-plates under the starboard main-channel. It towed heavily inthe water. Upon dragging it up--much as you would the cord of aponderous bucket far down in a well--a stout wooden box wasdiscovered at the end; which opened, disclosed sundry knives,hatchets, and ax-heads.
Called to the stand, the Upoluan deposed, that thrice he had rescuedthat identical box from Annatoo's all-appropriating clutches.
Now, here were four human beings shut up in this little oaken craft,and, for the time being, their interests the same. What sane mortal,then, would forever be committing thefts, without rhyme or reason. Itwas like stealing silver from one pocket and decanting it into theother. And what might it not lead to in the end?
Why, ere long, in good sooth, it led to the abstraction of thecompass from the binnacle; so that we were fain to substitute for it,the one brought along in the Chamois.
It was Jarl that first published this last and alarming theft.Annatoo being at the helm at dawn, he had gone to relieve her; andlooking to see how we headed, was horror-struck at the emptiness ofthe binnacle.
I started to my feet; sought out the woman, and ferociously demandedthe compass. But her face was a blank; every word a denial.
Further lenity was madness. I summoned Samoa, told him what hadhappened, and affirmed that there was no safety for us except in thenightly incarceration of his spouse. To this he privily assented; andthat very evening, when Annatoo descended into the forecastle, webarred over her the scuttle-slide. Long she clamored, butunavailingly. And every night this was repeated; the dame saying hervespers most energetically.
It has somewhere been hinted, that Annatoo occasionally cast sheep'seyes at Jarl. So I was not a little surprised when her manner towardhim decidedly changed. Pulling at the ropes with us, she would givehim sly pinches, and then look another way, innocent as a lamb. Thenagain, she would refuse to handle the same piece of rigging with him;with wry faces, rinsed out the wooden can at
the water cask, if it sochanced that my Viking had previously been drinking therefrom. Atother times, when the honest Skyeman came up from below, she wouldset up a shout of derision, and loll out her tongue; accompanying allthis by certain indecorous and exceedingly unladylike gestures,significant of the profound contempt in which she held him.
Yet, never did Jarl heed her ill-breeding; but patiently overlookedand forgave it. Inquiring the reason of the dame's singular conduct,I learned, that with eye averted, she had very lately crept close tomy Viking, and met with no tender reception.
Doubtless, Jarl, who was much of a philosopher, innocently imaginedthat ere long the lady would forgive and forget him. But what knows aphilosopher about women?
Ere long, so outrageous became Annatoo's detestation of him, that thehonest old tar could stand it no longer, and like most good-naturedmen when once fairly roused, he was swept through and through with aterrible typhoon of passion. He proposed, that forthwith the womanshould be sacked and committed to the deep; he could stand it nolonger.
Murder is catching. At first I almost jumped at the proposition; butas quickly rejected it. Ah! Annatoo: Woman unendurable: deliver me,ye gods, from being shut up in a ship with such a hornet again.
But are we yet through with her? Not yet. Hitherto she had continuedto perform the duties of the office assigned her since thecommencement of the voyage: namely, those of the culinary department.From this she was now deposed. Her skewer was broken. My Vikingsolemnly averring, that he would eat nothing more of her concocting,for fear of being poisoned. For myself, I almost believed, that therewas malice enough in the minx to give us our henbane broth.