Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
THE WORLD OF ICE, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
CHAPTER ONE.
SOME OF THE dramatis personae INTRODUCED--RETROSPECTIVE GLANCES--CAUSESOF FUTURE EFFECTS--OUR HERO'S EARLY LIFE AT SEA--A PIRATE--A TERRIBLEFIGHT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES--BUZZBY'S HELM LASHED AMIDSHIPS--A WHALINGCRUISE BEGUN.
Nobody ever caught John Buzzby asleep by any chance whatever. No weaselwas ever half so sensitive on that point as he was. Wherever hehappened to be (and in the course of his adventurous life he had been tonearly all parts of the known world) he was the first awake in themorning and the last asleep at night; he always answered promptly to thefirst call, and was never known by any man living to have been seen withhis eyes shut, except when he winked, and that operation he performedless frequently than other men.
John Buzzby was an old salt--a regular true-blue jack tar of the oldschool, who had been born and bred at sea; had visited foreign partsinnumerable; had weathered more storms than he could count, and hadwitnessed more strange sights than he could remember. He was tough, andsturdy, and grizzled, and broad, and square, and massive--a first-ratespecimen of a John Bull, and, according to himself, "always kept hisweather-eye open." This remark of his was apt to create confusion inthe minds of his hearers, for John meant the expression to be understoodfiguratively, while, in point of fact, he almost always kept one of hisliteral eyes open and the other partially closed, but as he reversed theorder of arrangement frequently, he might have been said to keep hislee-eye as much open as the weather one. This peculiarity gave to hiscountenance an expression of earnest thoughtfulness mingled with humour.Buzzby was fond of being thought old, and he looked much older than hereally was. Men guessed his age at fifty-five, but they were ten yearsout in their reckoning, for John had numbered only forty-five summers,and was as tough and muscular as ever he had been--although not quite soelastic.
John Buzzby stood on the pier of the seaport town of Grayton watchingthe active operations of the crew of a whaling ship which was on thepoint of starting for the icebound seas of the frozen regions, andmaking sundry remarks to a stout, fair-haired boy of fifteen, who stoodby his side gazing at the ship with an expression of deep sadness.
"She's a trim-built craft and a good sea-boat, I'll be bound, MasterFred," observed the sailor, "but she's too small by half, accordin' tomy notions, and I _have_ seen a few whalers in my day. Thembow-timbers, too, are scarce thick enough for goin' bump agin the ice o'Davis Straits. Howsome'iver, I've seen worse craft drivin' a good tradein the Polar Seas."
"She's a first-rate craft in all respects, and you have too high anopinion of your own judgment," replied the youth indignantly. "Do yousuppose that my father, who is an older man than yourself, and as good asailor, would buy a ship, and fit her out, and go off to thewhale-fishery in her if he did not think her a good one?"
"Ah! Master Fred, you're a chip of the old block--neck or nothing--carry on all sail till you tear the masts out of her! Reef thet'gallant sails of your temper, boy, and don't run foul of an old manwho has been all but a wet-nurse to ye--taught ye to walk, and swim, andpull an oar, and build ships, and has hauled ye out o' the sea when yefell in--from the time ye could barely stump along on two legs, lookin'like as if ye was more nor half seas over."
"Well, Buzzby," replied the boy, laughing, "if you've been all that tome, I think you _have_ been a wet-nurse too! But why do you run down myfather's ship? Do you think I'm going to stand that? No, not even fromyou, old boy."
"Hallo! youngster," shouted a voice from the deck of the vessel inquestion, "run up and tell your father we're all ready, and if he don'tmake haste he'll lose the tide, so he will, and that'll make us have tostart on a Friday, it will, an' that'll not do for me no how, it won't;so make sail and look sharp about it, do--won't you?"
"What a tongue he's got," remarked Buzzby. "Before I'd go to sea with afirst mate who jawed like that I'd be a landsman. Don't ever you git totalk too much, Master Fred, wotever ye do. My maxim is--and it hasserved me through life, uncommon,--`Keep your weather-eye open and yourtongue housed 'xcept when you've got occasion to use it.' If thatfellow'd use his eyes more and his tongue less he'd see your fathercomin' down the road there, right before the wind; with his old sisterin tow."
"How I wish he would have let me go with him!" muttered Fred to himselfsorrowfully.
"No chance now, I'm a-feared," remarked his companion. "The gov'nor'sas stiff as a nor'wester. Nothin' in the world can turn him once he'smade up his mind, but a regular sou'easter. Now, if you had been _my_son, and yonder tight craft _my_ ship, I would have said, come, at once.But your father knows best, lad, and you're a wise son to obey orderscheerfully, without question. That's another o' my maxims: `Obey ordersan' ax no questions.'"
Frederick Ellice, senior, who now approached, whispering words ofconsolation into the ear of his weeping sister, might, perhaps, havejust numbered fifty years. He was a fine, big, bold, hearty Englishman,with a bald head, grizzled locks, a loud but not harsh voice, a ratherquick temper, and a kind, earnest, enthusiastic heart. Like Buzzby, hehad spent nearly all his life at sea, and had become so thoroughlyaccustomed to walking on an unstable foundation, that he felt quiteuncomfortable on solid ground, and never remained more than a few monthsat a time on shore. He was a man of good education and gentlemanlymanners, and had worked his way up in the merchant service, step bystep, until he obtained the command of a West India trader.
A few years previous to the period in which our tale opens, an eventoccurred which altered the course of Captain Ellice's life, and for along period plunged him into the deepest affliction. This was the lossof his wife at sea, under peculiarly distressing circumstances.
At the age of thirty Captain Ellice had married a pretty blue-eyed girl,who resolutely refused to become a sailor's bride, unless she should bepermitted to accompany her husband to sea. This was without muchdifficulty agreed to, and forthwith Alice Bremner became Mrs Ellice,and went to sea. It was during her third voyage to the West Indies thatour hero, Fred, was born, and it was during this, and succeedingvoyages, that Buzzby became "all but a wet-nurse" to him.
Mrs Ellice was a loving, gentle, seriously-minded woman. She devotedherself, heart and soul, to the training of her boy, and spent many apleasant hour in that little unsteady cabin, in endeavouring to instilinto his infant mind the blessed truths of Christianity, and in makingthe name of Jesus familiar to his ear. As Fred grew older, his motherencouraged him to hold occasional intercourse with the sailors, for herhusband's example taught her the value of a bold, manly spirit, and sheknew that it was impossible for her to instil _that_ into him, but shewas careful to guard him from the evil that he might chance to learnfrom the men, by committing him to the tender care of Buzzby. To do themen justice, however, this was almost unnecessary, for they felt that amother's watchful eye was on the child, and no unguarded word fell fromtheir lips while he was romping about the forecastle.
When it was time for Fred to go to school, Mrs Ellice gave up herroving life, and settled in her native town of Grayton, where sheresided with her widowed sister, Amelia Bright, and her niece Isobel.Here Fred received the rudiments of an excellent education at a privateacademy. At the age of twelve, however, Master Fred became restive,and, during one of his father's periodical visits home, begged to betaken to sea. Captain Ellice agreed; Mrs Ellice insisted onaccompanying them, and in a few weeks they were once again on their oldhome, the ocean, and Fred was enjoying his native air in company withhis friend Buzzby, who stuck to the old ship like one of her own stouttimbers.
But this was destined to be a disastrous voyage. One evening, aftercrossing the line, they descried a suspicious-looking schooner towindward, bearing down upon t
hem under a cloud of canvas.
"What do you think of her, Buzzby?" enquired Captain Ellice, handing hisglass to the seaman.
Buzzby gazed in silence and with compressed lips for some time; then hereturned the glass, at the same time muttering the word: "Pirate."
"I thought so," said the captain in a deep, unsteady voice. "There isbut one course for us, Buzzby," he continued, glancing towards his wife,who, all unconscious of their danger, sat near the taffrail, employedwith her needle; "these fellows show no mercy, because they expect none,either from God or man. We must fight to the last. Go, prepare the menand get out the arms. I'll tell my wife."
Buzzby went forward, but the captain's heart failed him, and he took twoor three rapid, hesitating turns on the quarter-deck ere he could makeup his mind to speak.
"Alice," he said at length abruptly, "yonder vessel is a pirate."
Mrs Ellice looked up in surprise, and her face grew pale as her eye metthe troubled gaze of her husband.
"Are you quite sure, Frederick?"
"Yes, quite. Would God that I were left alone to--but--nay, do not bealarmed; perhaps I am wrong; it may be a--a clipper-built tradingvessel. If not, Alice, we must make some show of fighting, and try tofrighten them. Meanwhile you must go below."
The captain spoke encouragingly as he led his wife to the cabin, but hiscandid countenance spoke too truthfully, and she felt that his look ofanxious concern bade her fear the worst.
Pressing her fervently to his heart, Captain Ellice sprang on deck.
By this time the news had spread through the ship, and the crew,consisting of upwards of thirty men, were conversing earnestly in knotsof four or five while they sharpened and buckled on cutlasses, or loadedpistols and carbines.
"Send the men aft, Mr Thompson," said the captain, as he paced the deckto and fro, casting his eyes occasionally on the schooner, which wasrapidly nearing the vessel. "Take another pull at thesemain-topsail-halyards, and send the steward down below for my sword andpistols. Let the men look sharp; we've no time to lose, and hot work isbefore us."
"I will go for your sword, Father," cried Fred, who had just come ondeck.
"Boy, boy, you must go below; you can be of no use here."
"But, Father, you know that I'm not _afraid_."
"I know that, boy; I know it well; but you're too young to fight; you'renot strong enough; besides, you must comfort and cheer your mother, shemay want you."
"I am old enough and strong enough to load and fire a pistol, Father;and I heard one of the men say we would need all the hands on board, andmore if we had them; besides, it was my mother who told me what wasgoing on, and sent me on deck to _help you to fight_."
A momentary gleam of pride lit up the countenance of the captain as hesaid hastily: "You may stay, then," and turned towards the men, who nowstood assembled on the quarterdeck.
Addressing the crew in his own blunt, vigorous style, he said: "Lads,yon rascally schooner is a pirate, as you all know well enough. I neednot ask you if you are ready to fight--I see by your looks you are. Butthat's not enough--you must make up your minds to fight _well_. Youknow that pirates give no quarter. I see the decks are swarming withmen. If you don't go at them like bull-dogs you'll walk the plankbefore sunset, every man of you. Now, go forward, and double-shot yourmuskets and pistols, and stick as many of the latter into your belts asthey will hold. Mr Thompson, let the gunner double-shot the four bigguns, and load the little carronade with musket balls to the muzzle. Ifthey do try to board us, they'll get a warm reception."
"There goes a shot, sir," said Buzzby, pointing towards the piraticalschooner, from the side of which a white cloud burst and a round shotricochetted over the sea, passing close ahead of the ship.
"Ay, that's a request for us to lay-to," said the captain bitterly, "butwe won't. Keep her away a point."
"Ay, ay, sir," sung out the man at the wheel. A second and third shotwere fired, but passed unheeded, and the captain, fully expecting thatthe next would be fired into them, ordered the men below.
"We can't afford to lose a man, Mr Thompson; send them all down."
"Please, sir, may I remain?" said Buzzby, touching his hat.
"Obey orders," answered the captain sternly. The sailor went below witha sulky fling.
For nearly an hour the two vessels cut through the water before a steadybreeze, during which time the fast-sailing schooner gradually overhauledthe heavy West-Indiaman, until she approached within speaking distance.Still Captain Ellice paid no attention to her, but stood with compressedlips beside the man at the wheel, gazing alternately at the sails of hisvessel, and at the windward horizon, where he fancied he saw indicationsthat led him to hope the breeze would fail ere long.
As the schooner drew nearer, a man leaped on the hammock-nettings, and,putting a trumpet to his mouth, sang out lustily: "Ship ahoy, where areyou from and what's your cargo?"
Captain Ellice made no reply, but ordered four of his men on deck topoint one of the stern-chasers.
Again the voice came harshly across the waves, as if in passion: "Heaveto, or I'll sink you." At the same moment the black flag was run up tothe peak, and a shot passed between the main and fore-mast.
"Stand by to point this gun," said the captain in a subdued voice.
"Ay, ay, sir!"
"Fetch a red-hot iron; luff, luff a little--a little more--steady, so."At the last word there was a puff and a roar, and an iron messenger flewtowards the schooner. The gun had been fired more as a reply ofdefiance to the pirate, than with the hope of doing him any damage, butthe shot had been well aimed--it cut the schooner's main-sail-yard intwo, and brought it rattling down on deck. Instantly the pirate yawedand delivered a broadside, but in the confusion on deck the guns werebadly aimed, and none took effect. The time lost in this manoeuvre,added to the crippled condition of the schooner, enabled theWest-Indiaman to gain considerably on her antagonist, but the piratekept up a well-directed fire with his bow-chasers, and many of the shotsstruck the hull, and cut the rigging seriously. As the sun descendedtowards the horizon the wind fell gradually, and ceased at lengthaltogether, so that both vessels lay rolling on the swell with theirsails flapping idly against the masts.
"They're a gittin' out the boats, sir," remarked John Buzzby, who,unable to restrain himself any longer, had crept upon deck at the riskof another reprimand; "and, if my eyes be'nt deceiving me, there's asail on the horizon to wind'ard--leastways, the direction which _wos_wind'ard afore it fell calm."
"She's bringing a breeze along with her," remarked the captain, "but Ifear the boats will come up before it reaches us. There are three inthe water, and manned already. There they come. Now, then, call up allhands."
In a few seconds the crew of the West-Indiaman were at their stations,ready for action, and Captain Ellice, with Fred at his elbow, stoodbeside one of the stern-chasers. Meanwhile, the boats of the pirate--five in number--pulled away in different directions, evidently with theintention of attacking the ship at different points. They were full ofmen armed to the teeth. While they rowed towards the ship the schoonerresumed its fire, and one ball cut away the spanker boom, and slightlywounded two of the men with splinters. The guns of the ship were nowbrought to bear on the boats, but without effect, although the shotplunged into the water all round them. As they drew nearer, a briskfire of musketry was opened on them, and the occasional falling of anoar and confusion on board showed that the shots told. The piratesreplied vigorously, but without effect, as the men of the ship weresheltered by the bulwarks.
"Pass the word to load and reserve fire," said the captain, "and hand mea musket, Fred. Load again as fast as I fire." So saying, the captaintook aim, and fired at the steersman of the largest boat, which pulledtowards the stern. "Another, Fred--"
At this moment a withering volley was poured upon the boat, and a savageyell of agony followed, while the rowers--who remained unhurt--pausedfor an instant as if paralysed. Next instant they recovered, andano
ther stroke would have brought them almost alongside, when CaptainEllice pointed the little carronade and fired. There was a terrificcrash, the gun recoiled violently to the other side of the deck, and thepirate boat sank, leaving the sea covered with dead and wounded men. Anumber, however, who seemed to bear charmed lives, seized theircutlasses with their teeth, and swam boldly for the ship. Thisincident, unfortunately, attracted too much of the attention of thecrew, and, ere they could prevent it, another boat reached the bow ofthe ship, the crew of which sprang up the side like cats, formed on theforecastle, and poured a volley upon the men.
"Follow me, lads," shouted the captain, as he sprang forward like atiger. The first man he reached fell by a ball from his pistol; inanother moment the opposing parties met in a hand-to-hand conflict.Meanwhile Fred, having been deeply impressed with the effect of the shotfrom the little carronade, succeeded in raising and reloading it. Hehad scarcely accomplished this when one of the boats reached thelarboard quarter, and two of the men sprang up the side. Fred observedthem, and felled the first with a handspike before he reached the deck,but the pirate who instantly followed, would have killed him, had he notbeen observed by the second mate, who had prevented several of the menfrom joining in the melee on the forecastle, in order to meet such anemergency as this. Rushing to the rescue with his party, he drove thepirates back into the boat, which was immediately pulled towards thebow, where the other two boats were now grappling and discharging theircrews on the forecastle. Although the men of the West-Indiaman foughtwith desperate courage, they could not stand before the increasingnumbers of pirates, who now crowded the forepart of the ship in a densemass. Gradually they were beaten back, and at length were brought tobay on the quarter-deck.
"Help, Father!" cried Fred, pushing through the struggling crowd,"here's the carronade ready loaded."
"Ha! boy, well done!" cried the captain, seizing the gun, and, with thehelp of Buzzby, who never left his side, dragging it forward. "Clearthe way, lads!"
In a moment the little cannon was pointed to the centre of the mass ofmen, and fired. One awful shriek of agony rose above the din of thefight, as a wide gap was cut through the crowd; but this only seemed torender the survivors more furious. With a savage yell they charged thequarter-deck, but were hurled back again and again by the captain, and afew chosen men who stood around him. At length one of the pirates, whohad been all along conspicuous for his strength and daring, steppeddeliberately up, and, pointing a pistol at the captain's breast, fired.Captain Ellice fell, and at the same moment a ball laid the pirate low;another charge was made; Fred rushed forward to protect his father, butwas thrown down and trodden under foot in the rush, and in two minutesmore the ship was in possession of the pirates.
Being filled with rage at the opposition they had met with, thesevillains proceeded, as they said, to make short work of the crew, whileseveral of them sprang into the cabin, where they discovered Mrs Ellicealmost dead with terror. Dragging her violently on deck, they wereabout to cast her into the sea, when Buzzby, who stood with his handsbound, suddenly burst his bonds and sprang towards her. A blow from thebutt of a pistol, however, stretched him insensible on the deck.
"Where is my husband?--my boy?" screamed Mrs Ellice wildly.
"They've gone before you, or they'll soon follow," said a savagefiercely, as he raised her in his powerful arms, and hurled heroverboard. A loud shriek was followed by a heavy plunge. At the samemoment two of the men raised the captain, intending to throw himoverboard also, when a loud boom arrested their attention, and acannon-shot ploughed up the sea close in front of their bows.
While the fight was raging, no one had observed the fact that the breezehad freshened, and a large man-of-war, with American colours at herpeak, was now within gunshot of the ship. No sooner did the piratesmake this discovery than they rushed to their boats, with the intentionof pulling to their schooner, but those who had been left in charge,seeing the approach of the man-of-war, and feeling that there was nochance of escape for their comrades, or, as is more than probable, beingutterly indifferent about them, crowded all sail, and slipped away, andit was now hull-down on the horizon to leeward. The men in the boatsrowed after her with the energy of despair, but the Americans gavechase, and we need scarcely add that, in a very short time, all werecaptured.
When the man-of-war rejoined the West-Indiaman, the night had set in anda stiff breeze had arisen, so that the long and laborious search thatwas made for the body of poor Mrs Ellice, proved utterly fruitless.Captain Ellice, whose wound was very severe, was struck down as if by athunderbolt, and for a long time his life was despaired of. During hisillness Fred nursed him with the utmost tenderness, and, in seeking tocomfort his father, found some relief to his own stricken heart.
Months passed away. Captain Ellice was conveyed to the residence of hissister in Grayton, and, under her care, and the nursing of his littleniece, Isobel, he recovered his wonted health and strength. To the eyesof men, Captain Ellice and his son were themselves again, but those whojudge of men's hearts by their outward appearance and expressions, innine cases out of ten judge very wide of the mark indeed. Both hadundergone a great change. The brilliancy and glitter of this world hadbeen completely and rudely dispelled, and both had been led to enquirewhether there was not something better to live for than mere presentadvantage and happiness; something that would stand by them in thosehours of sickness and sorrow which must inevitably, sooner or later,come upon all men.
But Captain Ellice could not be induced to resume the command of his oldship, or voyage again to the West Indies. He determined to change thescene of his future labours and sail to the frozen seas, where theaspect of every object--even the ocean itself--would be very unlikely torecall the circumstances of his loss.
Some time after his recovery, Captain Ellice purchased a brig, andfitted her out as a whaler, determined to try his fortune in thenorthern seas. Fred pleaded hard to be taken out, but his father feltthat he had more need to go to school than to sea; so he refused, andFred, after sighing very deeply once or twice, gave in with a goodgrace. Buzzby, too, who stuck to his old commander like a leech, wasequally anxious to go, but Buzzby, in a sudden and unaccountable fit oftenderness, had, just two months before, married a wife, who might beappropriately described as "fat, fair, and forty," and Buzzby's wifeabsolutely forbade him to go. Alas! Buzzby was no longer his ownmaster. At the age of forty-five he became--as he himself expressedit--an abject slave, and he would as soon have tried to steer in aslipper bath, right in the teeth of an equinoctial hurricane, as haveopposed the will of his wife. He used to sigh gruffly when spoken to onthis subject, and compare himself to a Dutch galliot that made morelee-way than head-way, even with a wind on the quarter. "Once," hewould remark, "I was clipper-built and could sail right in the wind'seye, but ever since I tuck this craft in tow I've gone to leeward like atub. In fact, I find there's only one way of going ahead with my Poll,and that is right before the wind! I used to yaw about a good deal atfirst, but she tuck that out o' me in a day or two. If I put the helmonly so much as one stroke to starboard, she guv' a tug at the tow-ropethat brought the wind dead aft again; so I've gi'n it up, and lashed thetiller right amidships."
So Buzzby did not accompany his old commander; he did not even so muchas suggest the possibility of it, but he shook his head with greatsolemnity as he stood with Fred, and Mrs Bright, and Isobel, at the endof the pier, gazing at the brig, with one eye very much screwed up, anda wistful expression in the other, while the graceful craft spread outher canvas and bent over to the breeze.