Wild Adventures round the Pole
Page 41
comfortable it looked indeed, but, on touching aspring, backwards it went, and whoever might be sitting on it had thebenefit of a beautiful bath. My readers already guess what this is for.Yes, for May-day in Greenland is not only a day of fun and frolic, butthe self-same kind of performance takes place as on southern ships whilecrossing the line.
The day itself was dedicated to games on the ice, for not until towardsevening would the real fun begin. The seals had a rest to-day, and sohad the sharks; even the terrible zugaena wasn't once thought of, andBruin himself might sit on one end licking his chops and looking on, solong as he kept at a respectful distance. The games were both Scotchand English, a happy medley in which all hands joined. The morning sawcricket and football matches in full swing, the afternoon golf--and golfplayed on hummocky ice _is_ golf--and hockey. Peter was the band, andright well he played; but when, tired of march quadrille, or pibroch, heburst into a Highland reel, and the crews began to dance--well, thescene on the snow grew exciting indeed. It was grotesque enough, too,in all conscience, for everybody, without exception, was dressed infancy costume.
No wonder, too, that Cockie, whom his master had brought on deck to lookdown on them from the bulwarks, lost all control of himself, andshouted, "Go on--go on--keep it up--keep it up." Then when Cockie beganto throw his head back and shriek with laughter, the men couldn't resistit any longer; they joined in that laugh, and laughed till sides achedand eyes ran water, and many had to roll in the snow to preventcatastrophes. But the louder the men laughed, all the louder laughedCockie, till Freezing Powders was obliged to run below with him at last.
"Oh!" said his master, as he restored the cage to its corner, "I tellyou all day, Cockie, you eat too much hemp. It's drefful, Cockie, tohear you laugh like all dat."
Suddenly from the bows of the _Arrandoon_ a big gun is fired, and therevel stops. Then comes a hail from the crow's-nest,--
"Below there?"
"Ay, ay!" roared McBain.
"A procession coming along over the snow, sir, towards the ship."
A consultation was at once held, and it was resolved to march forth tomeet them.
"It is Neptune, I know," said McBain, "for a snowbird this morningbrought me a note to say he'd dine with us."
It wasn't long before our friends came in sight of the royal party. Itwas Neptune, sure enough, trident and all, both his trident and helooking as large as life.--He was drawn along in a sledge by a party ofnaiads, and Amazon jades they looked. On one side of him walked hiswife, on the other the Cock o' the North, while behind him came thebarber carrying an immense razor and a bucket of lather. Silas Grig, Imay as well mention, played Neptune, and Seth his wife--and a taller,skinnier, bristlier old lady you couldn't have imagined; and herattempts to act the lady of fashion, and her airs and graces, werereally funny. The Cock o' the North was Ted Wilson. He was dressed infeathers from top to toe, with an immense bill, comb, and wattles, andacted his part well. He was introduced by Neptune as--
"One who ne'er has been to school, But keeps us fat--in fact, our fool; A fool, forsooth, yet full of wit As he can stand, or lie, or sit."
After the usual introduction, salaams, and courtesies, Neptune made hisspeech in doggerel verse, with many an interruption both from his wifeand his fool, telling how "his name was Neptune"--"though it might beNorval," added the Cock o' the North. How--
"From east to west, from pole to pole, Where'er waves break or waters roll, _My_ empire is--" _His Wife_--"And _you_ belong to _me_." _Cock o' the North_.--"All hail, great monarch of the sea!" _Neptune_--"The clouds pay tribute, and streams and rills Come singing from the distant hills." _His Wife_.--"_Do_ stop, my dear; you're _not_ a poet, And never were--" _Neptune_.--"Good sooth, I know it. But now lead on, our blood feels cold, For truth to tell, we're getting old. We and our wife have seen much service, Besides--the dear old thing is nervous, So to the ship lead on, I say, We'd see some fun on this auspicious day. My younger sons I fain would bless 'em." _His Barber_.--"And I can shave." _His Wife (rapturously_).--"And I can kiss 'em."
The six poor lads who were to be operated on, and whose only fault wasthat they had never before crossed the line, trembled in their prison asthey heard the big guns thunder forth, announcing the arrival of KingNeptune. They trembled more when, dressed in white, they were ledforth, a pair at a time, and seated blindfolded on the chair of theterrible tub, and duly shaved and blessed and kissed; but they trembledmost when the bolt was drawn, and they tumbled head foremost into theicy water; but when, about twenty minutes thereafter, they were seenseated in a row in dry, warm clothing, you would not have known them forthe same boys. Their faces were beaming with smiles, and each onebusied himself discussing a huge basin of savoury sea-pie. They werenot trembling then at all.
At the dinner which followed, Neptune took the head of the table, withhis wife on his right and McBain himself as vice-president. The dinnerwas good even for the _Arrandoon_, and that is saying a deal. In size,in odour, and beauty of rotundity, the plum-pudding that two stalwartmen carried in and placed in front of Neptune, was something to rememberfor ever and a day. Size? Why, Neptune could have served it out withhis trident. Ay! and everybody had two helps, and looked all thehealthier and happier after them.
Our three chief heroes were in fine form, Rory in one of his funniest,happiest moods. And why not? Had not he dubbed himself Queen o' theMay? Yes, and well he sustained the part.
I am not sure how Neptune managed to possess himself of so many bottlesof Silas Grig's green ginger, but there they were, and they went allround the table, and even the men of the crew seemed to prefer it torum. The toasts given by the men were not a few, and all did honour tothe manliness of their hearts. The songs sung ere the table was clearedwere all well worth listening to, though some were ballads of extremelength.
Neptune was full of anecdotes of his life and adventures, and his wifealso had a good deal to say about hers, which caused many a peal oflaughter to rattle round the table.
Some of the men recited pieces of their own composition. Here is one bythe crew's pet, Ted Wilson to wit:
The Ghost of the Cochin-Shanghai.
'Tis a tale of the Greenland ocean, A tale of the Northern seas, Of a ship that sailed from her native land On the wings of a favouring breeze; Her skipper as brave a seaman As ever set sail before, Her crew all told as true and bold As ever yet left the shore.
And never a ship was better "found," She couldn't be better, I know, With beef in the rigging and porkers to kill, And tanks filled with water below; And turkeys to fatten, and ducklings and geese, And the best Spanish pullets to lay; But the pride of the ship, and the pet of the mess, Was a Brahma cock, Cochin-Shanghai. And every day when the watches were called, This cock crew so cheery O! With a shrill cock-a-lee, and a hoarse cock-a-lo, And a long cock-a-leerie O! But still as the grave was the brave bird at night, For well did he know what was best; Yes, well the cock knew that most of the crew Were weary and wanted their rest But one awful night he awoke in a fright, Then wasn't it dreary O! To hear him crow, with a hoarse cock-a-lo, And a shrill cock-a-leerie O!
Oh!
Then out of bed scrambled the men in a mass, "We cannot get sleep," they all cried; "May we never reach dock till we silence that cock, We'll never have peace till the villain is fried." All dressed as they were in the garments of night, Though the decks were deep covered with snow, They chased the cock round, with wild yell and bound, ####But they never got near him--no. And wherever he flew, still the bold Cochin crew, With a shrill cock-a-lee, and a hoarse cock-a-lo, And a long cock-a-leerie O!
Now far up aloft defiant he stands, Like an eagle in eerie O! Till a sea-boot at last, knocked him down from the mast, And he sunk in the ocean below. But the saddest part of the story is this: He hadn't quite
finished his crow, He'd got just as far as the hoarse cock-a-lo But failed at the leerie O!
Oh-h!
And that ship is still sailing, they say, on the sea, Though 'tis hundreds of years ago; Till they silence that cock they'll ne'er reach a dock, Nor lay down their burden of woe; For out on the boom, till the crack of doom, The ghost of the Cochin will crow, With his shrill cock-a-lee, and his hoarse cock-a-lo, But _never_ the leerie O!
No!
They tell me at times that the ship may be seen Straggling on o'er the billows o' blue, That the hardest of hearts would melt like the snow, To witness the grief of that crew, As they eye the cold