CHAPTER XXVIII.
I STRIKE A BARGAIN WITH THE YANKEE.
The captain put his cup down; the bowl was empty; I offered to brewanother jorum, but he thanked me and said no, adding significantly thathe would have no more _here_, by which he meant that he would brew forhimself in his own ship anon. The drink had made him cheerful andgood-natured. He recommended that we should go on deck and set abouttranshipping whilst the weather held, for he was an old hand in theseseas and never trusted the sky longer than a quarter of an hour.
"This here list," says he, "wants remedying and that'll follow oureasin' of the hold."
"Yes," said I, "and I should be mighty thankful if some of your menwould see all clear aloft for me, that we might start with runningrigging that will travel, capstans that'll revolve, and sails that'llspread."
"Oh, we'll manage that for you," said he. "Tru-ly, she's been bad froze,very bad froze. Durned if ever I see a worse freeze."
So saying he called to "Bill," who seemed the principal man of theboat's crew, and gave him some directions, and immediately afterwardsall the men entered the boat and rowed away to the ship.
Whilst they were absent I carried the captain into the hold and left himto overhaul it. I told him that all the spirits, provisions, and thelike were in the hold and lazarette, which was true enough, wanting tokeep him out of the run, though, thanks to the precaution I had taken, Iwas in no fear even if he should penetrate so deep aft. Before he cameout five-and-twenty stout fellows arrived in four boats from the ship,and when we went on deck, we found them going the rounds of the vessel,scraping the guns to get a view of them, peering down the companion,overhauling the forecastle-well, as I call the hollow beyond theforecastle, and staring aloft with their faces full of grinning wonder.The captain sang out to them and they all mustered aft.
"Now, lads," said he, "there's a big job before you--a big job for CapeHorn, I mean; and you'll have to slip through it as if you was grease.When done there'll be a carouse, and I'll warrant ye all such a sup thatthe most romantic among ye'll never cast another pining thought in thedirection o' your mother's milk."
Having delivered this preface, he divided the men into two gangs; one,under the boatswain, to attend to the rigging, clear the canvas of theice, get the pumps and the capstans to work, and see all ready forgetting sail on the schooner; the other, under the second mate, to gettackles aloft and break out the cargo, taking care to trim ship whilstso doing.
They fell to their several jobs with a will. 'Tis the habit of ourcountrymen to sneer at the Americans as sailors, affirming that if everthey win a battle at sea it is by the help of British renegades. Butthis I protest; after witnessing the smartness of those Yankee whalemen,I would sooner charge the English than the Americans with lubberlinesscame the nautical merits of the two nations ever before me to decideupon. They had the hatches open, tackles aloft, and men at work belowwhilst the mariners of other countries would have been standing lookingon and "jawing" upon the course to be taken. Some overran the fabricaloft, clearing, cutting away, pounding, making the ice fly in storms;others sweated the capstans till they clanked; others fell to the pumps,working with hammers and kettles of boiling water. The wondrous oldschooner was never busier, no, not in the heyday of her flag, when herguns were blazing and her people yelling.
I doubt whether even a man-of-war could have given this work thedespatch the whaler furnished. She had eight boats and sixty men, andevery boat was afloat and alongside us ready to carry what she could tothe ship. I wished to help, but the captain would not let me do so; hekept me walking and talking, asking me scores of questions about theschooner, and all so shrewd that, without appearing reserved, Iprofessed to know little. The great show of clothes puzzled him. He alsoasked if the crucifix in the cabin was silver. I said I believed it was,fetched it, and asked him to accept it, saying if he would give me thesmallest of his boats for it I should be very much obliged.
"Oh, yes," says he, "you can have a boat. The men would not sail withyou without a boat;" and after weighing the crucifix without the leastexhibition of veneration in his manner, he put it in his pocket, sayinghe knew a man who would give him a couple of hundred dollars for thething on his telling him that the Pope had blessed it.
"Ay, but," says I, "how do you know the Pope has blessed it?"
"Then _I_'ll bless it," cried he; "why, am I a cold Johnny-cake that myblessing ain't as good as another man's?"
I was glad I had hidden the black flag; I mean, that I had stowed itaway in the cabin of the Frenchman after he was dead. The Yankee neededbut the sight to make his suspicions of the original character of the_Boca del Dragon_ flame up; and you may suppose that I was exceedinglyanxious he should not be sure that the schooner had been a pirate, lesthe might have been tempted to scrutinize her rather more closely thanwould have been agreeable to me.
He asked me if I had met with any money in her: and I answered evasivelythat in searching the dead man on the rocks, I had discovered a fewpieces in his pocket, but that I had left them, being much toomelancholy and convinced of my approaching end to meddle with such auseless commodity. From time to time he would quit me to go to the hatchand sing down orders to the second mate in the hold. How many casks hemeant to take I did not know; when he asked me how much I would give, Ireplied: "Leave me enough to keep me ballasted; that will satisfy me."
The high swell demanded caution, but they managed wonderfully well. Theynever swung more than three casks into a boat, and with this cargo shewould row away to the ship that lay hove-to close, and the men in herhoisted the casks aboard.
The wind remained light till half-past three; it then freshened a bit.Though all hands had knocked off at noon to get dinner--and a fine mealI gave them of ham, tongue, beef, biscuits, wine, and brandy--byhalf-past three they had eased the hold of ten boatloads of casks,besides clearing out the whole of the clothes from the forecastle alongwith as much of the bedding as we did not require; and I began to thinkthat my Yankee intended to leave me a clean ship to carry home, though Idurst not remonstrate. Yet was my turn handsomely served too. The pumpshad been cleared and tried, and found to work well, and--which was gladnews to me--the well found dry. The running rigging had been overhauled,and it travelled handsomely. The sails had been loosed and hoisted andlowered again, and the canvas found in good condition. The jibboom hadbeen run out, and the stays set up. The stock of fresh water had beenexamined and found plentiful, and the casks in the head brought out andsecured on the main deck. In short, the American boatswain had workedwith the judgment and care of a master-rigger, of a great artist inropes, booms, and sails, and the schooner was left to my hands as fitfor any navigation as the whaler that rose and fell on our quarter.
But, as I have said, at half-past three in the afternoon, the breezebegan to sit in dark curls upon the water, and there was evidence enoughin the haziness in the west, and in the loom of the shoulders of vapourin the dark-blue obscure there, to warrant a sackful for this capfulpresently.
"I reckon," says the captain to me, after looking into the west, "thatwe'd best knock off now. There's snow and wind yonder, and we'd bettersee all snug while there's time."
He called to one of the men to tell the second mate to come up frombelow and get the hatches on, and bringing me to the rail, he pointed toa boat, and asked if that would do? I said yes, and thanked him heartilyfor the gift, which was handsome, I must say, the boat being a very goodone, though, to be sure, he had got many times its value out of theschooner; and a party of men were forthwith told off to get the boathoisted and stowed.
"Now, Mr. Rodney," said the captain, standing in the gangway, "how can Iserve you further?"
"Sir," said I, "you are very obliging. Two things I stand sadly in needof: a chart of these waters and a chronometer."
"I'll send you a chart," said he, "that'll carry you as high as SanRoque; but I've only got one chronometer, sir, and can't spare him."
"Well then," said I, "if, when you get aboard, you'll give me th
e timeby your chronometer, I'll set my watch by it; but I'll thank you verymuch for the chart. The tracings below are as shapeless as the moonsetting in a fog."
"You shall have the chart," said he, and then called to Wilkinson andthe two negroes.
"Lads," said he, "you're quite content, I hope?"
They answered "Yes."
"You've all three a claim upon me for the amount of what's owing ye,"said he, "and when you turn up at New Bedford you shall have it--that'ssquare. I see fifteen hundred dollars a man on this job, if so be as yedon't broach too thirstily as you go along. Mr. Rodney, Joe here's asteady, 'spectable man, and'll make you a good mate. Cromwell and BillyPitt are black only in their hides; all else's as good as white."
He then shook me by the hand, and, calling a farewell to Wilkinson andthe negroes, scrambled into the chains and dropped into his boat, veryhighly satisfied, I make no doubt, with the business he had done thatday.
A boat's crew were left behind to help us to make sail. But the weatherlooking somewhat wild in the west with the red light of the sun amongthe clouds there, and the dark heave of the swell running into a sicklycrimson under the sun and then glowing out dusky again, I got them totreble-reef the mainsail and hoist it, and then thanking them, advisedthem to be off. Then, putting Cromwell to the tiller, I went forwardwith the others and set the topsail and forestaysail (the spritsaillying furled), which would be show enough of canvas till I saw what theweather was to be like. I kept the topsail aback, waiting for a boat toarrive with my chart, and in a few minutes the boat we had cheeredreturned with what I wanted.
Meanwhile they were shortening sail on the whaler, and though she was nobeauty, yet, I tell you, I found her as picturesque as any ship I hadever beheld as she lay with her main-topgallant-sail clewed up, hertopsail yards on the caps, and the heads of men knotting the reef-pointsshowing black over the white cloths, her hull floating up out of thehollow and flinging a wet orange gleam to the west, a tumble of creamyfoam about her to her rolling, shadows like the passage of phantom handshurrying over her sails to the swaying of her masts, and the swellingsea darkling from her into the east.
I hollowed my hands, and, hailing the captain, who was on thequarter-deck, asked him for the time by his chronometer. He flourishedhis arm and disappeared and, presently returning, shouted to know if Iwas ready. I put the key in my watch and answered yes, and then he gaveme the time. My watch, though antique, was a noble piece of mechanism,and I have little doubt, as trustworthy as his chronometer. But I wascareful to let it lie snug in my hand. I did not want the negro at thetiller nor the others to see it. They would wonder that so fine ajewelled piece as this should be in the possession of the second mate ofa little brig, and it was my business to manage that they never shouldhave cause to wonder at anything in that way.
The dusk of the evening came quick out of the east, and the windfreshened with a long cry in our rigging as if the eastern darkness wasa foe it was rushing out of the west to meet. I brought the schoonernorth-north-east by my compass and watched her behaviour anxiously. Theswell was on the quarter, and the wind and sea a trifle abaft thelarboard beam; she leaned a little to the weight of her clothes, but wassurprisingly stiff considering how light she was. Wilkinson and thenegro came and stood by my side. The sea broke heavily from the weatherbow, and the water roared white under the lee bends and spread astern ina broad wake of foam. The whaler did not brace his yards up till afterwe had started, and now hung a pale faint mass in the windy darkness onthe quarter. A tincture of rusty red hovered like smoke coloured by thefurnace that produces it, in the west, but the night had drawn downquick and dark; the washing noise of the water was sharp, the windpiercingly cold; each sweep of the schooner's masts to windward wasfollowed by a dull roaring of the blast rushing out of the hollows ofthe canvas, and she swung to the seas with wild yaws, but withregularity sufficient to prove the strict government of the helm.
But it was being at sea! homeward bound too! There was no wish of mine,engendered by my hideous loneliness on the ice, by my abhorredassociation with the Frenchman, that I could not refer to as, down tothis moment, gratified. My heart bounded; my spirits could not have beenhigher had this ocean been the Thames, and yonder dark flowing hills ofwater the banks of Erith and the Gravesend shore.
I turned to the three men: "My lads," said I, "you prove yourselves finebold fellows by thus volunteering. Do not fear: if God guides ushome--to my home, I mean--you shall find a handsome account in thisbusiness."
"Six more chaps would have jined had th'ole man bin willin'," saidWilkinson. "But best as it is, master, though she's a trifleshort-handed."
"Why, yes," said I; "but being fore and aft, you know! It isn't as ifwe'd got courses to hand and topsails to reef."
"Ay, ay, dat's de troof," cried Billy Pitt. "I tort o' dat. Fore an' aftmakes de difference. Don't guess I should hab volunteer had she been abrig."
"There are four of us," said I. "You're my chief mate, Wilkinson. Chooseyour watch."
"I choose Cromwell," said he; "he was in my watch aboard the whaler."
"Very well," I exclaimed; and this being settled, and both negroesdeclaring themselves good cooks, we arranged that they shouldalternately have the dressing of our victuals, that Wilkinson shouldhave the cabin next mine, and the negroes the one in which the Frenchmanhad slept, one taking the other's place as he was relieved.
I asked Wilkinson what he thought of the schooner. He answered that hewas watching her.
"There's nothing to find fault with yet," said he; "she's a whale atrolling, sartinly. I guess she walks, though. I reckon she's had enoughof the sea, like me, and's got the scent o' the land in her nose. Iguess old Noah wasn't far off when her lines was laid. Mebbe his sonshad the building of her. There's something scriptural in her cut. Howold's she, master?"
"Fifty years and more," said I.
"Dere's nuffin' pertickler in dat," cried Cromwell. "I knows a wesseldat am a hundred an' four year old, s'elp me as I stand."
"I don't know how the whaler's heading," said I, "but this schooner's acanoe if we aren't dropping her!"
Indeed she was scarce visible astern, a mere windy flicker hovering uponthe pale flashings of the foam. It might be perhaps that the whaler wasmaking a more northerly course than we, and under very snug canvas,though ours was snug enough, too; but be this as it may, I was mightypleased with the slipping qualities of the schooner. I never could havedreamt that so odd and ugly a figure of a ship would show such heels.But I think this: we are too prone to view the handiwork of our sireswith contempt. I do not know but that their ships were as fast as ours.They made many good passages. They might have proved themselves fleeternavigators had they had the sextant and chronometer to help them along.Fifty years hence perhaps mankind will be laughing at our crudities; atus, by heaven, who flatter ourselves that the art of ship-building andnavigation will never be carried higher than the pitch to which we haveraised them!
Cromwell being at the tiller, I told Billy Pitt to go below and getsupper, instructing him what to dress and how much to melt for a bowl,for as you know there was nothing but spirits and wine to season ourrepasts with. I saw Cromwell grin widely into the binnacle candle flamewhen he heard me talk of ham, tongue, sweetmeats, marmalade and the likefor supper, together with a can of hot claret, and knowing sailor'snature middling well, I did not doubt that the fare of the schoonerwould bring the three men more into love with the adventure than eventhe reward that was to follow it.
I had noticed that the bundles which had been sent from the whaler asbelonging to the poor fellows were meagre enough and showed indeed likethe end of a long voyage, and I detained Billy Pitt a minute whilst Itold them that there was a handsome stock of clothes in the cabins,together with linen, boots, and other articles of that sort; that,though the coats, breeches, and waistcoats were of bright colour andold-fashioned, they would keep them as warm as if they had been cut by atailor of to-day.
"These things," said I, "you can wear at sea, keepin
g your own clothesready to slip on should we be spoken or to wear when we arrive inEngland. To-morrow they shall be divided among you, and they willbecome your property. The suit you saw me in to-day is all that I shallneed."
Both negroes burst into a most diverting laugh of joy on hearing this.Nothing delights a black man more than coloured apparel. They had seenthe clothes in the forecastle and guessed the kind of garments I meantto present them with.
Whilst supper was getting, I walked the deck with Wilkinson, both of uskeeping a bright look-out, for it was blowing fresh; the darkness laythick about us, there might be ice near us, and the schooner wasstorming under her reefed mainsail, topsail, and staysail through thehollow seas, thundering with a great roaring seething noise into thetrough, and lifting to the foaming slope with her masts wildly aslant. Italked to my companion very freely, being anxious to find out what kindof person he was, and I must say that there was something in hisconversation that impressed me very favourably. He told me that he had awife at New Bedford, that he was heartily sick of the sea, and that hehoped the money he would get by this adventure, added to his _lay_,would enable him to set up for himself ashore.
"Well," said I, "we will see to-morrow what cargo Captain Tucker hasleft us. But that you may be under no misapprehension, Wilkinson, if weare fortunate enough to bring the ship safely to England, I will enterinto a bond to pay you five hundred pounds sterling for your share oneweek after the date of our arrival."
He answered that if he could get that sum he would be a made man forlife. "But it's too much to expect, sir," says he.
I told him that he had no idea of the value of the cargo. The wines andspirits were of such a quality I would stake my interest in the schoonerin their fetching a large sum of money.
"That'll depend," said he, "on how much the capt'n left us."
"He helped himself freely," I answered, "but we are well off too. Youshall judge to-morrow. Then there's the schooner--as she stands: besidesa noble stock of stores of all kinds, sails, ropes, tools, ammunitionand several chests of small arms. I tell you I will give you fivehundred pounds for your share."
His satisfaction was expressed by his silence.
"But," continued I, "we must act with judgment. What we have we mustkeep. Are the negroes trustworthy men?"
"Yes, they are honest fellows. I wouldn't have shipped with them else."
"We shall not require much for ourselves," said I, "and the rest we'llbatten down and keep snug. There'll be some man[oe]uvring needed inorder to come off clear with this booty when we arrive: but there'splenty of time to think that over, and our business till then is to lookafter the ship and pray for luck to keep clear of anything hostile."
And then we fell to other talk; in the course of which he told me he wasan Englishman born, but having been pressed into a man-o-war, desertedher at Halifax and made several voyages in American ships. He waswrecked on the Peruvian coast and became a beachcomber, and then got aberth in a whaler. He married at New Bedford and sailed with CaptainTucker--this was his second whaling trip, he said, and he wanted nomore. I told him I was glad to learn that he was a countryman of mine,but not surprised. His speech was well-larded with americanisms, "but,"said I, "the true twang is wanting, and," added I, laughing, "I shouldknow you for Hampshire for all your reckons and guesses if I had to eatyou should I be mistaken."
"The press-gang's the best friend the Yankees has," said he a littlesheepishly. "Do any man suppose I hadn't sooner hail from my native townSouthampton than from New Bedford? Half the American foksles is made upof Yankees who'd prove hearts of oak if it wasn't for the press."
His candour gratified me as showing that he already looked upon me as ashipmate to be trusted, and, as I have said, this first chat with theman left me strongly disposed to consider myself fortunate in having himas an associate.