Afloat at Last Page 4

  CHAPTER FOUR.

  DOWN THE RIVER.

  I remained for some time very quiet on the poop, for Mr Mackay was toobusy giving his orders, first as we worked out of dock and, afterwards,in directing the steersman, when we were under way, to notice me; andseeing him so occupied, of course I did not like to speak to him.

  I did not like to talk to Adams either for he was equally busy, besideswhich I did not know him then; and the same obstacle prevented myentering into conversation with the fat man in the oilskin, although Ifelt sure he could tell me a lot I wanted to know, I having a thousandquestions simmering in my mind with reference to the ship and herbelongings, and all that was going on around me on board the SilverQueen, in and on the river, and on either shore.

  Still, I had plenty to interest me, even without speaking, my thoughtsbeing almost too full, indeed, for words; for, the varied and ever-varying panorama through which we were moving was very new and strangeto one like myself who had never been on board a vessel of any sortbefore, never sailed down the river Thames, never before seen in all itsglory that marvellous waterway of all nations.

  I was in ecstasies every moment at the world of wonders in which I nowfound myself;--the forests of masts rising over the acres of shipping inthe East and West India docks away on our right, looking like the trunksof innumerable trees huddled together, and stretching for miles andmiles as far as the eye could see; the deafening din of the hammermenand riveters, hammering and riveting the frames of a myriad iron hullsof vessels building in the various shipwright yards along the river bankfrom Blackwall to Purfleet; the shriek of steam whistles in every keyfrom passing steamers that seemed as if they would come into collisionwith us each moment, they sheered by so dangerously near; the constantsuccession of wharfs and warehouses, and endless rows of streets andterraces on both sides of the stream; the thousands of houses joined onto other houses, and buildings piled on buildings, forming one endlessmass of massive bricks and mortar, with the river stealing through itlike a silver thread, that reached back, behind, up the stream to where,in the dim perspective, the dome of Saint Paul's, rising proudly above acirclet of other church spires, stood out in relief against the brightbackground of the crimson sky glowing with the reflection of the settingsun just sinking in the west,--all making me wonder where the peoplecame from who lived and toiled in the vast city, whose outskirts only Isaw before me, seemingly boundless though my gaze might be.

  All this flashed across me; but most wonderful of all to me was thethought that my dream of months past was at length realised; and thathere I was actually on board a real ship, going towards the sea as fastas the staunch little Arrow tug could tow us down the river, aided by agood tide running under us three knots the hour at least.

  It was almost incredible; and, unable to contain myself any longer Ifelt I must speak to somebody at all hazards.

  My choice of this "somebody," however, was a very limited one, for MrMackay and the mysterious man in the oilskin coat, and Adams, thesteersman, the only persons on the poop besides myself, were all toobusy to talk to me; albeit the former good-naturedly gave me anoccasional kindly glance, as if he wished me to understand that hissilence was not owing to any unfriendliness, or intended to make me"keep my distance," as I might otherwise have thought.

  As for Mr Saunders, the second mate, he had dived down the companionway into the cuddy below as soon as we had got out into the river andwere in tow of the tug; and was probably now engaged in finishing hisinterrupted dinner, as his services were no longer required on deck.Matthews, the biggest of the three young fellows who had come up withhim to help unmoor the ship and warp out of dock, had also followed hisexample in the most praiseworthy fashion.

  Jerrold, the other youth, in company with the lanky boy of my own sizewere still hovering about, though neither had spoken to me; and the twowere just now having a chat together by the door of the after-deckhouse,which Mr Mackay had pointed out to me as set apart for theaccommodation of us "middies," or apprentices, although I had not yethad an opportunity of inspecting its interior arrangements.

  But, strange to say, the noisy gangs of men, who had been only a shorttime before bustling about the deck below, rushing from the forecastleaft and then back again, and pulling and hauling and shoving everywhere,so effectively as to push me to the other end of the ship and almostoverboard, seemed to have disappeared in almost as unaccountable afashion as the man in the oilskin had made his appearance.

  Beyond this latter gentleman, therefore, and Mr Mackay, and Adams thesteersman--to whom I was going to speak once only Mr Mackay shook hishead--and my fellow apprentices on the main-deck below, I could only seeTim Rooney forward, with a couple of sailors helping him to range thecable in long parallel rows along the deck fore and aft, the triolifting the heavy links by the aid of chain-hooks and turning it overwith a good deal of clanking, so as to disentangle the links and make itall clear for running out without fouling through the hawse-hole whenthe anchor was let go.

  The boatswain looked quite as busy as Mr Mackay, if not more so, hiswork being more noisy at any rate; but he wore so good-humoured anexpression on his face, and had made friends so nicely with me after ourlittle difficulty when I first came on board, that I thought I reallycould do no great harm in speaking to him and asking him to solve someof the difficulties that were troubling me about everything.

  So resolving, I made my way down the poop ladder for the third time,passing my fellow apprentices, who did not speak, though the lanky one,Sam Weeks, put out his tongue at me very rudely; and, at last I came towhere Rooney was standing by the windlass bitts below the topgallantforecastle.

  "Hullo, Misther Gray-ham!" he cried on seeing me approach, "I was jist awondtherin' how long ye'd be acting skipper on the poop! You looked allforlorn up there, ma bouchal, loike Pat's pig whin he shaved it,thinkin' to git a crop o' wool off av its back. Aren't ye sorry now yecame to say, as I tould ye--hey?"

  "Not a bit of it," said I stoutly. "I'm more glad than ever now that Icame; and I wouldn't go back on shore if I could."

  "Be jabers, that's more'n you'll say, me bhoy, a fortnight hince!" heretorted with a grim chuckle, while the other men grinned inappreciation of the remark. "Sure now, though, there's no good anyhowin fore-tastin' matthers, as the ould jintleman aid whin he onhitchedthe rope from off his nick which he was agoin' to hang himsilf wid. Isthere innythin' I can do in the manetoime to oblige ye, Misther Gray-ham?"

  "I wish you would tell me a lot of things," I replied eagerly.

  "Be aisy, me darlint," he rejoined in his funny way; "an' if ye can't beaisy, be as aisy as ye can! Now, go on ahid wid ye'r foorstquestion--`one dog, one bone,' as me ould friend Dan'l sez."

  "Well, what have become of all the sailors?" I asked to begin with.

  "The sailors? Why, here we are, sure, all aloive an' kickin'! What doye take me an' me lazy mates here for, ma bouchal?"

  "Oh, but I mean all those men you were ordering about when I first cameon board," I said.

  "Bedad, my hearty, there's no doubt but ye ought for to go to say, as yeaid y'rsilf," rejoined the boatswain indignantly. "It shows how graneyez are to misthake a lot av rowdy rapscallion dock loompers for genuineJack Tars! Them fellers were ownly the stevedores, hired at saxpencethe hour to load the ship; an' they wint off in a brace av shakes, asyou must have sayn for y'rsilf, whin their job was done! No, me bhoy,them weren't the proper sort av shellbacks. There's ownly fower raalsailors, as ye call's 'em, now aboard, barrin' Misther Mackay and thesecond mate; an' them's Adams over thar aft at the wheel, these two idlejokers here beside me, the ship's bhoy, an' thin mesilf--though, faix,me modesty forbids me say'n it, sure!"

  "And are you really the only sailors on board?" I said, much surprisedat this piece of information, being under the impression that the othershad all gone below.

  "Iv'ry ha'porth," he answered; "that is, lavin' out ye're brothermiddies, or `foorst-class apprentices' loike y'rsilf, Misther Gray-ham--faix, though, they
aren't sailors yit by a long shot. There's thatPortygee stooard, too, that the cap'an's got sich a fancy for, I'm sureI can't till why, as he's possissed av the timper av ould Nick himsilf,an' ain't worth his salt, to me thinkin'!"

  "And is that the captain up there now with Mr Mackay?" I asked.

  "That the skipper? Bless ye, no, me lad--that's ownly the river pilot!"

  "Where is the captain, then?" was my next query, without stopping tothink.

  "By the powers, ye bates Bannagher for axin' quistions, Misther Gray-ham!" cried Tim, amused at my cross-examination of him--just as if hewere in a court of justice, as he afterwards said when he brought up thematter one day.--"Sure, how can I till where he or any other mother'sson is that I can't say before my eyes? I can till you, though, where Ibelaives him to be this blissid minnit; an' that is, by the `Crab an'Lobster' at Gravesend, lookin' out for to say if he can say the SilverQuane a-sailin' down the sthrame."

  "And will he come on board there?" I asked.

  "Arrah, will a dook swim?" replied the boatswain in Irish fashion. "Avcoorse he will, in a brace av shakes. Ould Jock Gillespie ain't thesort av skipper to lit the grass grow under his cawbeens, whin he sayshis ship forninst him!"

  "Oh, he'll come on board at Gravesend," I repeated after him, my mindgreatly relieved; for I had been much concerned as to how and when thecaptain would make his appearance as well as the remainder of the crew,having read enough about ships to know that the Silver Queen could notwell be navigated with such a small number of hands as were only in herthen. "And will he bring any more sailors with him?"

  "Aye, sonny, the howl bilin' av the crew, barrin' us chaps here alriddy.Yis, an' our say pilot will come aboord there, the river one lavin' usthere."

  "I'm glad of that," I said. "I thought there weren't enough on board tosail the ship, with only you four men and the boy who struck the bell!"

  "Did ye? Then, sure, ye've got the makin's av a sailor in yez aftherall, as Misther Mackay aid whin he foorst clapped eyes on ye. An',sure, it's now me toorn to be afther axin' quistions, me bhoy--don't yefeel peckish loike?"

  "Peckish?" I echoed, unable to understand him.

  "Now, don't go on loike an omadhawn, an' make me angry, as ye did atfoorst," he cried. "I mane are yez houngry? For I don't belaive you'vehid a bit insoide yer little carcase since ye came aboord this forenoon;an' we're now gittin' through the foorst dog-watch."

  I declare I never thought of it before, but, now he mentioned it, I didfeel hungry--very much so, indeed, not having tasted a morsel since thehasty meal that morning before leaving home; when, as might be supposed,I did not have over much of an appetite, with the consciousness that itmight possibly be the last time I should breakfast with father andmother and sister Nell. The parting with Tom did not affect me much, ashe had got priggish and rather above a boy like me since he had been toOxford.

  "By the powers!" exclaimed the kind Irishman when I confessed to feeling"peckish," as he called it, telling him I had not had anything sinceeight o'clock that morning, "ye must be jist famished, me poor gossoon;an' if I'd been so long without grub, why it's atin' me grandfather I'dbe, or my wife's sister's first coosin, if I had one! But, now I've gotthis cable snug, jist you come along o' me, me bhoy, an' we'll say whatthat Portygee stooard hez lift in his panthry; for I've got no propermess yit an' have to forage in the cabin."

  "I thought you said, though, he was bad tempered," I observed as Ifollowed the boatswain along the deck towards the door opening into thecuddy from the main-deck under the break of the poop, and only usedgenerally by the steward and cook going to and from the galley forward,the other entrance by the companion way, direct down from the poop,being reserved for the captain and officers, as a rule. "Perhaps he'llsay he has nothing left, now that the others have all had their dinner?"

  I said this rather anxiously; for, now that I came to think of eating atall, I felt all the hungrier, although until Tim asked me the question Ihad not once thought about the matter, nor experienced the slightestqualm from that neglected little stomach he had pitied!

  "Bedad, whatsomedever he may say, me lad, he'll have to git somethin'for us to ate, an' purty sharp too, if he's forced to fry that ooglyould mahogany face av his!"

  So saying, Tim entered the door of the passage leading into the cuddy,which seemed very dark coming in from the open deck, and was all thedarker as we proceeded, the skylight in the poop having been coveredover to protect the glass-work while the ship was loading in the dock,and the tarpaulin not having been yet taken off.

  It was like going from the day into the night at one jump; but, afterfumbling after my leader for a step or two, almost feeling my way andstumbling over the coaming at the entrance, placed there to prevent thewater the ship might take in over the side when at sea from washing infrom the main-deck, I all at once found myself in a wide saloonstretching the whole length of the after part of the ship, with a seriesof small cabins on either side and two larger ones at the end occupyingthe stern-sheets. The doors of the latter, however, were closed so thatno light came through the slanting windows that opened out on eitherside of the rudder-post, above which is usually fitted what is calledthe stern gallery on board of an East Indiaman or man-of-war.

  The skylight above being now blocked up and the ports and side scuttlesclosed, the cuddy was only dimly illuminated by a couple of glassbull's-eyes let into the deck above, and one of the swinging lamps thatwere suspended at intervals over the long table that occupied the centreof the saloon, the rest being untrimmed and only this one lit.

  The light was certainly dim, but quite enough for me to see how finelyfitted-up the saloon was, with bird's-eye maple panelling to the cabinsand gilt-mouldings; while the butt of the mizzen-mast that ran upthrough the deck and divided the table, was handsomely decorated allround its base, the Silver Queen having been originally intended for thepassenger trade, although since turned into a cargo ship, and now goingout to Shanghai with a freight of Manchester goods, and Sheffield andBirmingham hardware.

  A nicely-cushioned seat with a reversible back, so that people couldeither face their cabins or the table as they pleased by shifting itthis way and that, was fixed along either side of the table; and at theextreme aftermost end of this, behind the mizzen-mast, I saw MrSaunders and Matthews. They were comfortably enjoying themselves overtheir tea, judging by the cups and saucers before them, and otheraccompaniments of that meal; and evidently not hurrying themselves aboutit, for it was more than an hour since they had left the deck.

  Our appearance did not at all discompose them; both looking up at ourentrance, while Mr Saunders motioned to Tim to take a seat beside him.

  "Hullo, bosun! Come in to forage--eh?" he cried, with his mouth stillfull and his jaws wagging away, "Bring yourself to an anchor, old ship;and bear a hand."

  "Thank ye kindly, Misther Saunders; I will sorr, savin' y'r prisince,"said Tim Rooney, seating himself, however, on the other side of thetable close to the end of the passage way by which we had entered. "Ithought it toime to have a bit atwane me teeth as I haven't tasted bitnor sup since dinner, an' that war at eight bells. This youngster, too,wor famished, an' so I brought him along o' me."

  "I'm sure you're welcome," answered the second mate, losing no timethough at his eating, but still keeping up his knife and fork play whiletalking. "Ah, the new apprentice Mr Mackay was telling me about justnow--eh?"

  "Yes, sir," said I for he glanced over towards me as he spoke.

  "Well, I hope you'll get on well with your shipmates."

  He did not say any more, completing his sentence by draining his tea-cup; and my friend the boatswain, apparently taking this as a hint,shouted out in a tone that made my ears tingle: "Ahoy there, stoo-ard!"

  "Yase, yase, I coom," replied someone in a queer squeaky voice, that hada strong foreign accent, from somewhere in the darkness beyond the footof the the companion way, where the gleam of the solitary saloon lampdid not quite penetrate; "I coom, sare, queek, queek."


  "Ye'd betther come sharp, sharp, or I'll know the rayson why," growledTim Rooney, however, before he could say any more a little dark man withblack crinkly hair like a negro's emerged into the light, looking by nomeans amiable at being disturbed by the boatswain's hail.

  "What you want--hey?" he asked angrily. "I got my bizness to do inpantry, 'fore ze cap'in coom aboard."

  "What do I want, me joker?" returned Tim, in no way put out by his rudeaddress. "I want somethin' to ate for me an' this young jintleman here.D'ye hear that?"

  "Zere's nuzzing left," surlily answered the man. "You should coom downin ze propare time."

  "The dickens I should? Confound y'r impudence, ye mangy Porteegee swab!Allow me to till ye, Misther Paydro Carvalho--an' be the powers it's asin ag'in the blessed Saint Pater to name such an ugly thafe as yeafther him--that I'll pipe down to grub whin I loikes widout axin y'rlaive or license. Jist ye look sharp, d'ye hear, an' git us somethin'to ate at once!"

  To emphasise his words, the boatswain jumped up from his seat as hespoke; and the other, thinking he was going to make an attack on him,dodged to the opposite side of the table so as to have this as a sort ofbulwark in between the irate Irishman and himself, vehemently protestingall the while that there was "nuzzing" he could put on the table.

  "Nonsense, steward," interposed the second mate, who with Matthewsseemed highly amused at the altercation, the two grinning between theirbites of bread and butter. "There's that tin of corned-beef you openedfor me just now, bring that."

  "An' tay," roared out Tim Rooney, resuming his seat again, which seeing,the dark little man, who had grown almost pallid with fright, swiftlyretreated into the darkness of his pantry, muttering below his breath;while Tim, turning to me, asked, "Ye'd loike some tay wid y'r grub,Misther Gray-ham, wouldn't ye now?"

  "Yes," I said.

  "Tay for two, ye spalpeen!" he thereupon roared out a second time; "an'ye'd betther look sharp, too, d'ye hear?"

  The answer to this was a tremendous smash from the pantry, and the soundof things clattering about and rolling on the floor, as if all thecrockery in the ship was broken, whereat Tim and the second mate andMatthews burst altogether into one simultaneous shout of laughter.

  "Tare an' 'ouns, he's at it ag'in!" cried the boatswain when he was ableto speak; "he's at it ag'in!"

  "Aye, he's at it again. A rum chap, ain't he?" said Mr Saunders.

  "It's ownly his nasty timper, though; an' he vints it on them poorharmless things bekase he's too much av a coward to have it out wid themthat angers him," replied Tim Rooney, adding, as another crash resoundedfrom the distance: "Jist he'r him now. Bedad he's havin' a foine flingthis toime, an' no misthake at all, at all!"

  "What is he doing?" I asked, seeing that the boatswain and the othertwo took the uproar as a matter of course, and were in no way surprisedat it. "Is he breaking things?"

  "No, ma bouchal," replied Tim carelessly. "He's ownly kickin' presarvedmate tins about the flure av his panthry, which he kapes especial fursuch toimes as he's in a rage wid anyone as offinds him, whin, insteadav standin' up loike a man an' foightin' it out wid the chap that angershim, he goes and locks himsilf in the panthry an' kicks the harmlessould tins about, an' bangs 'em ag'in the bulkhead at the side, till ye'dthink he was smashin' the howl ship!"

  "What a funny man!" I exclaimed.

  "He's all that," said the boatswain sententiously. "An' the strangestthing av all is, that whin he's done kickin' the tins about an' hasvinted his passion, he'll come out av his panthry as cool an' calm as aChristian, an' do jist what ye wants him, as swately as if he'd nivirbin in a timper at all, at all. Jist watch him now."

  It was as Tim Rooney explained.

  While he was yet describing the steward's peculiar temperament andstrange characteristics, the clattering sounds all at once ceased in thepantry; and the Portuguese presently appeared with a tray on which wereclean plates and cups and saucers, which he proceeded to lay neatly anddexterously at one end of the table, looking as calm and quiet as if"butther wouldn't milt in his mouth, sure," as Tim remarked.

  Making a second journey back to the pantry, he returned with a dish ofcold beef and a cheese, besides a plate piled up with slices of breadand butter, which he certainly must have been cutting all the time hewas kicking the tins about. Then, taking a large bronze teapot from thetop of a stove in the after part of the cabin, where it had been keepinghot all the while without my noticing it before, the steward poured outa cup of tea apiece for Tim Rooney and myself, asking politely if therewas anything more he could get us.

  "No, thank ye, Paydro," replied Tim rubbing his hands at sight of theeatables; "this will do foorst rate, me bhoy. Misther Gray-ham, whydon't ye fire away, ma bouchal? Sure an' y'r tay's gettin' cowld."

  I hardly needed any pressing, feeling by this time as hungry as ahunter; the waiting having sharpened my appetite, as well as the sightof the second mate and Matthews at work at the other end of the table,they only just finishing their meal and going up on deck again as wecommenced ours.

  We did not lose any time, though, for all that, when once we began, Ican tell you, following to the full the second mate's praiseworthyexample.

  No; for, we made such good use of our opportunities that in less than aquarter of an hour we had both assuaged our hunger--Tim appearing as badin this respect as myself--by making a general clearance of everythingeatable on the table, the corned-beef and bread and butter and piece ofcheese vanishing as if by magic, washed down by sundry cups of tea,which, if not strong, made up for this deficiency by being as sweet asmoist brown sugar could make it.

  "Sure, an' that Paydro ain't such a bad sort av chap afther all,"observed Tim Rooney complacently as he rose from his seat, feelingcomfortable as to his interior economy, the same as I did, and at peacewith all mankind. "Bedad, I'd forgive him ivrythin', for a choild couldplay wid me now!"

  Any further remark on his part, however, was cut short at the moment bya hail from Mr Mackay down the companion.

  "Bosun, ahoy, below there!"

  "Aye, aye, sorr!" cried Tim Rooney starting up and making a rush for thedoorway leading to the main-deck from the cuddy, "I'm a-coming, sorr!"

  And the next moment he was out on the deck, "two bells," or fiveo'clock, as I knew by this time, just striking from the fore part of theship as we both emerged from below the break of the poop in view ofthose standing above--I having followed close on Tim Rooney's heels likehis very shadow.

  "Oh, you're there, bosun!" exclaimed Mr Mackay as soon as he caughtsight of Tim out on the deck below him. "We're just abreast of Tilbury,and the pilot thinks we had better bring up in accordance with CaptainGillespie's orders. Are you ready for anchoring?"

  "Quite riddy, sorr," replied Tim, looking up at the first mate and theman in the oilskin, whom I now knew to be the Thames pilot, as theyleaned over the poop rail. "Lasteways, as soon as iver I can rache thefo'c's'le."

  "Carry-on then. You'll find Mr Saunders already in the bows to helpyou," said Mr Mackay, hailing at the same time the master of the tugthat had brought us so far down the river, and who was at his post onthe paddle-box waiting for the pilot's orders to "stand by," the littlesteamer, having already stopped her engines and now busy blowing off herwaste steam, waiting for us to cast off her towing-hawser from ourbollard, where it was belayed on the forecastle.

  While I was noticing these details, Tim was scrambling forwards towardsthe windlass bitts, mounting thence on to the forecastle, where MrSaunders and Matthews, with the other middies, were assembled.

  Adams, who had been relieved from the wheel, and the other two sailors,as well as the boy who remained with the rest after coming out to strikethe bell, was attending to the compressor and watching the cable on themain-deck, just below the group above, which I now joined, racing aftermy friend Tim.

  Looking back astern as soon as I attained this elevated position in thebows of the ship, I noticed the pilot on the poop bring his arm down,whereupon Mr Mackay by h
is side, putting both his hands to his mouthfor a speaking trumpet, shouted out towards us on the forecastle:

  "Are you all ready for'ard?"

  "All ready!" yelled back Mr Saunders in reply.

  "Let go!" then called out Mr Mackay, the second mate supplementing hiscry with a second shout--

  "Stand clear of the cable!"

  At the same moment, Tim Rooney giving the tumbler a smart stroke with ahammer which he had picked up from off the windlass, the cathead stopperwas at once released and the anchor fell from the bows into the waterwith a great heavy splash, the chain cable jiggle-joggling along thedeck after it, and rushing madly through the hawse-hole with a roaring,rattling noise like that of thunder!