CHAPTER IX.
BUNTING'S FORECASTLE FARE.
When breakfast was ended, Helga left the table, to go to her cabin.Punmeamootty began to clear away the things.
'You can go forward,' said the Captain. 'I will call you when I wantyou.' I was about to rise. 'A minute, Mr. Tregarthen,' he exclaimed. Helay back in his chair, stroking first one whisker and then the other,with his eyes thoughtfully surveying the upper deck, at which he smiledas though elated by some fine happy fancies. He hung in the wind in thisposture for a little while, then inclined himself with a confidentialair towards me, clasping his fat fingers upon the table.
'Miss Nielsen,' said he softly, 'is an exceedingly attractive younglady.'
'She is a good brave girl,' said I, 'and pretty, too.'
'She calls you Hugh, and you call her Helga--Helga! a very noble,stirring name--quite like the blast of a trumpet, with somethingBiblical about it, too, though I do not know that it occurs in HolyWrit. Pray forgive me. This familiar interchange of names suggests thatthere may be more between you than exactly meets the eye, as the poetobserves.'
'No!' I answered with a laugh that was made short by surprise. 'If youmean to ask whether we are sweethearts, my answer is--No. We met for thefirst time on the twenty-first of this month, and since then ourexperiences have been of a sort to forbid any kind of emotion short of aprofound desire to get home.'
'Home!' said he. 'But her home is in Denmark?'
'Her father, as he lay dying, asked me to take charge of her, and seeher safe to Kolding, where I believe she has friends,' I answered, notchoosing to hint at the little half-matured programme for her that wasin my mind.
'She is an orphan,' said he; 'but she has friends, you say?'
'I believe so,' I answered, scarcely yet able to guess at the man'smeaning.
'You have known her since the twenty-first,' he exclaimed: 'to-day isthe thirty-first--just ten days. Well, in that time a shrewd younggentleman like you will have observed much of her character. I may takeit,' said he, peering as closely into my face as our respectivepositions at the table would suffer, 'that you consider her a thoroughlyreligious young woman?'
'Why, yes, I should think so,' I answered, not suffering my astonishmentto hinder me from being as civil and conciliatory as possible to thisman, who, in a sense, was our deliverer, and who, as our host, wastreating us with great kindness and courtesy.
'I will not,' said he, 'inquire her disposition. She impresses me as avery sweet young person. Her manners are genteel. She talks with aneducated accent, and I should say her lamented father did not stint hispurse in training her.'
I looked at him, merely wondering what he would say next.
'It is, at all events, satisfactory to know,' said he, lying back in hischair again, 'that there is nothing between you--outside, I mean, thefriendship which the very peculiar circumstances under which you metwould naturally excite.' He lay silent awhile, smiling. 'May I take it,'said he, 'that she has been left penniless?'
'I fear it is so,' I replied.
He meditated afresh.
'Do you think,' said he, 'you could induce her to accompany you in myship to the Cape?'
'No!' cried I, starting, 'I could not induce her, indeed, and for a verygood reason: I could not induce myself.'
'But why?' he exclaimed in his oiliest tone. 'Why decline to see thegreat world, the wonders of this noble fabric of universe, when theopportunity comes to you? You shall be my guests; in short, Mr.Tregarthen, the round voyage shan't cost you a penny!'
'You are very good!' I exclaimed, 'but I have left my mother alone athome. I am her only child, and she is a widow, and my desire is toreturn quickly, that she may be spared unnecessary anxiety and grief.'
'A very proper and natural sentiment, pleasingly expressed,' said he;'yet I do not quite gather how your desire to return to your motherconcerns Helga--I should say, Miss Nielsen!'
I believe he would have paused at 'Helga,' and not have added 'MissNielsen,' but for the look he saw in my face. Yet, stirred as my temperwas by this half-hearted stroke of impertinent familiarity in the man, Itook care that there should be no further betrayal of my feelings thanwhat might be visible in my looks.
'Miss Nielsen wishes to return with me to my mother's house,' said Iquietly; 'you were good enough to assure us that there should be nodelay.'
'You only arrived yesterday!' he exclaimed, 'and down to this moment wehave sighted nothing. But why do you suppose,' added he, 'that MissNielsen is not to be tempted into making the round voyage with me inthis barque?'
'She must speak for herself,' said I, still perfectly cool, and nolonger in doubt as to how the land lay with this gentleman.
'You have no claim upon her, Mr. Tregarthen?' said he, with one of hisblandest smiles.
'No claim whatever,' said I, 'outside the obligation imposed upon me byher dying father. I am her protector by his request, until I land hersafely among her friends in Denmark.'
'Just so,' said he; 'but it might happen--it might just possiblyhappen,' he continued, letting his head fall on one side and strokinghis whiskers, 'that circumstances may arise to render her return toDenmark under your protection unnecessary.'
I looked at him, feigning not to understand.
'Now, Mr. Tregarthen, see here,' said he, and his blandness yielded foran instant to the habitual professional peremptoriness of theshipmaster; 'I am extremely desirous of making Miss Nielsen's betteracquaintance, and I am also much in earnest in wishing that she shouldget to know my character very well. This cannot be done in a few hours,nor, indeed, in a few days. You will immensely oblige me by coaxing theyoung lady to remain in this vessel. There is nothing between you....Just so. She is an orphan, and there is reason to fear, from what youtell me, comparatively speaking, friendless. We must all of us desirethe prosperity of so sweet and amiable a female. It may happen,' heexclaimed, with a singularly deep smile, 'that before many days havepassed, she will consent to bid you farewell and to continue the voyagealone with me.'
I opened my eyes at him, but said nothing.
'A few days more or less of absence from your home,' he continued,'cannot greatly signify to you. We have a right to hope, seeing howvirtuously, honourably, and heroically you have behaved, that Providenceis taking that care of your dear mother which, let us not doubt, youpunctually, morning and night, offer up your prayers for. But a few daysmay make a vast difference in Miss Nielsen's future; and, having regardto the solemn obligation her dying father imposed upon you, it should bea point of duty with you, Mr. Tregarthen, to advance her interests,however inconvenienced you may be by doing so.'
Happily, his long-windedness gave me leisure to think. I could haveanswered him hotly; I could have given him the truth very nakedly; Icould have told him that his words were making me understand there wasmore in my heart for Helga than I had been at all conscious of twentyminutes before. But every instinct in me cried, Beware! to the troop ofemotions hurrying through my mind, and I continued to eye him coolly andto speak with a well-simulated carelessness.
'I presume, Captain Bunting,' said I, 'that if Miss Nielsen persists inher wish to leave your ship you will not hinder her?'
'That will be the wish I desire to extinguish,' said he; 'I believe itmay be done.'
'You will please remember,' said I, 'that Miss Nielsen is totallyunequipped even for a week or two of travel by sea, let alone a roundvoyage that must run into months.'
'I understand you,' he answered, motioning with his hand; 'but thedifficulty is easily met. The Canary Islands are not far off. Santa Cruzwill supply all her requirements. My purse is wholly at her service. Andwith regard to yourself, Mr. Tregarthen, I should be happy to advanceyou any sum in moderation, to enable you to satisfy your few wants.'
'You are very good,' said I; 'but I am afraid we shall have to get youto tranship us at the first opportunity.'
A shadow of temper, that was not a frown, and therefore I do not knowwell how to convey it, penetrated his smile.
'You will think over it,' said he. 'Time does not press. Yet we shallnot find another port so convenient as Santa Cruz.'
As he pronounced these words Helga entered the cuddy. He instantly rose,bowing to her and smiling, but said no more than that he hoped shortlyto join us on deck. He then entered his berth.
Helga approached me close, and studied my face for a moment or two insilence with her soft eyes.
'What is the matter, Hugh?' she asked.
I looked at her anxiously and earnestly, not knowing as yet how toanswer her, whether to conceal or to tell her what had passed. I wasmore astonished than irritated, and more worried and perplexed thaneither. Here was an entanglement that might vastly amuse an audience ina comedy, but that, in its reality, was about as grave and perilous acomplication as could befall us. With the velocity of thought, evenwhile the girl's eyes were resting on mine and she was awaiting myreply, I reflected--first, that we were in the power of this Captain,in respect, I mean, of his detention of us, while his vessel remained atsea; next, that he had fallen in love with Helga; that he meant to winher if he could; that his self-complacency would render him profoundlyhopeful, and that he would go on keeping us on board his craft, underone pretext or another, in the conviction that his chance lay in time,with the further help that would come to him out of her condition as anorphan and penniless.
'What is it, Hugh?'
The sudden, brave, determined look that entered the girl's face, asthough she had scented a danger, and had girded her spirit for it,determined me to give her the truth.
'Come on deck!' said I.
I took her hand, and we went up the little companion-steps.
Abraham was standing near the wheel, exchanging a word or two with theyellowskin who had replaced the fierce-faced creature of the earliermorning. There was warmth in the sun, and the sky was a fine clear bluedome, here and there freckled by remains of the interlacery of cloudwhich had settled away into the west and north. The breeze was a soft,caressing air, with a hint of tropic breath and of the equatorialsea-perfume in it, and the round-bowed barque was sliding along at somefour or five miles an hour, with a simmering noise of broken waters ather side. There was nothing in sight. Two or three copper-coloured mensquatted, with palms and needles in their hands, upon a sail stretchedalong the waist; Nakier, on the forecastle-head, was standing with ayellow paw at the side of his mouth, calling instructions, in someAsiatic tongue, to one of the crew in the foretopmast cross-trees. Icaught sight of Jacob, who was off duty, leaning near the galley door,apparently conversing with some man within. He nodded often, with anoccasional sort of pooh-poohing flourish of his hand, puffing leisurely,and enjoying the sunshine. On catching sight of us he saluted with aflourish of his fist. This was the little picture of the barque as Iremember it on stepping on deck with Helga that morning.
I took her to leeward, near the quarter-boat, out of hearing of Abrahamand the helmsman.
'Now, what is it, Hugh?' said she.
'Why should you suppose there is anything wrong, Helga?'
'I see worry in your face.'
'Well,' said I, 'here is exactly how matters stand;' and with that Igave her, as best my memory could, every sentence of the Captain'sconversation. She blushed, and turned pale, and blushed again; theshadows of a dozen emotions passed over her face in swift succession,and strongest among them was consternation.
'You were vexed with me for not being civil enough to him,' said she,'and you would not understand that the civiller I was the worse it mightbe with us. Such a conceited, silly creature would easily mistake.'
'Could I imagine that he was in love with you?'
'Do not say that again!' she cried, with disgust in her manner, whileshe made as though to stop her ears.
'How could I guess?' I went on. 'His behaviour seemed to me full ofbenevolence, hospitality, gratification at having us to talk to, withcourtesy marked to you as a girl delivered from shipwreck and thehardships of the ocean.
'Will no ship come?' she cried, looking round the sea. 'The thought ofremaining in this vessel, of having to disguise my feelings from thatman for policy's sake, of being forced to sit in his company and listento him, and watch his smile and receive his attentions and compliments,grows now intolerable to me!' and she brought her foot with a littlestamp to the deck.
'Did you know you were so fascinating?' said I, looking at her. 'In lessthan a day you have brought this pale, stout Captain to your feet. Inless than a day! Why, your charms have the potency of Prospero's magic.In "The Tempest," Ferdinand and Miranda fall deeply in love, plighttheir troth, bill and coo and gamble at chess, all within three hours.This little ship promises to be the theatre of another "Tempest," Ifear.'
'Why did not you make him understand, resolutely _compel_ him tounderstand, that it is our intention to return to England in the firstship?' she exclaimed, with a glow in her blue eyes and a trace ofcolour in her cheeks and a tremor in her nostrils.
'Bluntness will not do. We must not convert this man into an enemy.'
'But he should be made to know that we mean to go home, and that hisideas----' she broke off, turning scarlet on a sudden, and looked downover the rail at the sea with a gleam of her white teeth showing uponthe under-lip she bit.
'Helga,' said I, gently touching her hand, 'you are a better sailor thanI. What is to be done?'
She confronted me afresh, her blue eyes darkened by the suppressed tearswhich lay close to them.
'Let us,' I continued, 'look this matter boldly in the face. He is inlove with you.' For a second time she stamped her foot and bit her lip.'I _must_ say it, for there lies the difficulty. He hopes, by keepingyou on board, to get you to like, and then, perhaps, listen to him. Hewill keep me, too, for the present--not because he is at all desirous ofmy company, but because he supposes that in your present mood, or ratherattitude, of mind you would not stay without me, or at least alone withhim.'
Her whole glowing countenance breathed a vehement 'No!'
'He need not speak passing ships unless he chooses to do so,' I went on;'and I don't doubt he has no intention of speaking passing ships. Whatthen? How are we to get home?'
The expression on her face softened to a passage of earnest thought.
'We must induce him to steer his ship to Santa Cruz,' she exclaimed.
'You will have to act a part, then,' said I, after pausing to consider.'He is no fool. Can you persuade him that you are in earnest in wishingto go the Cape in this ship? If not, his long nose will sniff thestratagem, and Santa Cruz in a few days be remoter than it now is.'
She reflected, and exclaimed: 'I must act a part if we are to get awayfrom this vessel. What better chance have we than Santa Cruz? We must goashore to make our purchases, and when ashore we must stop there. Yetwhat a degrading, what a ridiculous, what a wretched position to be in!'she cried. 'I would make myself hideous with my nails to end this!' andwith a dramatic gesture I should have deemed the little gentle creatureincapable of, she put her fingers to her cheeks.
Abraham was now patrolling the deck to windward, casting his eyes with alook of importance up at the sails, and then directing them at thesea-line. He would, to be sure, find nothing to excite his curiosity inthis subdued chat betwixt Helga and me to leeward. I had a mind to callhim and explain our new and astonishing situation; then thought, 'No;let us mature some scheme first; he will help us better then, if he isable to help at all.' I leaned against the rail with folded arms, deeplyconsidering. Helga kept her eyes upon me.
'We should not scheme as though Captain Bunting were a villain!' said I.
'He is a villain to his men!' she answered.
'He is no villain to us! What we do not like in him is his admiration ofyou. But this does not make a rascal of him!'
'He promised to transfer us to the first ship that passed!' said she.
'Shall you be well advised in acting a part?' I exclaimed. 'You are toofrank, of too sweetly genuine a nature; you could not act; you could notdeceive him!'
said I, shaking my head.
The gratification my words gave her rose to her face in a little smile,that stayed for a moment like a light there.
'How frank and sweet I am I do not know,' said she artlessly; 'but Ilove your praise!'
'Madeira is yonder,' said I, nodding into the westward, 'some hundredodd miles distant, according to our friend's reckoning. If that be so,the Canaries must be within easy reach of two or three days, even atthis dull pace. In fact, by to-morrow afternoon we could be having thePeak of Teneriffe blue in the heavens over the bow. We could not makethe Captain believe, in that time, that we, who have been consumed withanxiety to return to England, have suddenly changed our mind and arewilling to sail in his ship to wherever he may be bound. He would say tohimself, "They want me to steer for Santa Cruz, where they will goashore and leave me."'
'Yes, that is likely,' said the girl.
'We must not speculate and plan as though he were a villain,' Irepeated. 'I believe the safe course will be to behave as though we didnot doubt he will transfer us when the chance offers, and we must beceaseless in our expression of anxiety to get home.'
'That will be genuine in us,' said Helga, 'and I would rather act so. Hewill soon discover,' added she, colouring, 'that he is merely increasingthe expenses of the voyage by detaining us.'
'He is not a rascal,' said I; 'he means very honestly; he wishes to makeyou his wife.' She raised her hand. 'Admiration in him has nimble feet.I have heard of love at first sight, but have scarcely credited it tillnow.' Her eyes besought me to be still, but I continued, urged, Ibelieve, by some little temper of jealousy, owing to the thought of thisCaptain being in love with her, which was making me feel that I wasgrowing very fond of her too. 'But his ideas are those of an honourablepious man,' said I. 'He is a widower--his daughter leads a lonely lifeat home--he knows as much about you as he could find out by plying usboth with questions. He is certainly not a handsome man, but----' Here Istopped short.
She gazed at me with an expression of alarm.
'Oh, Hugh!' she cried, with touching plaintiveness of air and voice,'you will remain my friend!'
'What have I said or done to make you doubt it, Helga?'
'What would you counsel?' she continued. 'Do you intend to side withhim?'
'God forbid!' said I hastily.
She turned to the sea to conceal her face.
'Helga,' said I softly, for there was no chance for further tendernessthan speech would convey, with Abraham stumping the deck to windward anda pair of dusky eyes at the wheel often turned upon us, 'I am sorry tohave uttered a syllable to vex you. How much I am your friend you wouldknow if you could see into my heart.'
She looked at me quickly, with her eyes full of tears, but with agrateful smile too. I was about to speak.
'Hush!' she exclaimed, and walked right aft, raising her hand to herbrow, as though she spied something on the horizon astern.
'A delightful day--quite tropical,' exclaimed the Captain, advancingfrom the poop ladder. 'What does Miss Nielsen see?'
'She is always searching for a sail,' said I.
'May I take it,' said he, 'that you have communicated to her what haspassed between us?'
'Captain,' I said, 'you ask, and perhaps you expect too much. You havebeen a married man; you must therefore know the ropes, as the sailorssay, better than I, who have not yet been in love. All that I canpositively assure you is that Miss Nielsen is exceedingly anxious toreturn home with me to England.'
'It would be unreasonable in me to expect otherwise--for the present,'said he.
He left me and joined Helga, and I gathered, by the motions of his arms,that he was discoursing on the beauty of the morning. Presently he wentbelow, and very shortly afterwards returned, bearing a littlefolding-chair and a cotton umbrella. He placed the chair near theskylight. Helga seated herself and took the umbrella from him, the shadeof which she might find grateful, for the sun had now risen high in theheavens--there was heat in the light, with nothing in the wind totemper the rays of the luminary. The Captain offered me a cigar with abland smile, lighted one himself, and reposed in a careless, flowing wayupon the skylight close to Helga; his long whiskers stirred like smokeupon his waistcoat to the blowing of the wind, his loose trousers ofblue serge rippled, his chins seemed to roll as though in motion downbetwixt the points of his collar. Clearly his study in the direction ofposture was animated by a theory of careless, youthful, sailorlyelegance; yet never did nautical man so completely answer to one'snotions of a West-End hairdresser.
He was studiously courteous, and excessively anxious to recommendhimself. I could not discover that he was in the least degreeembarrassed by the supposition that I had repeated his conversation toHelga, though her manner must have assured him that I had told hereverything. He was shrewd enough to see, however, that she was in a moodto listen rather than to be talked to, and so in the main he addressedhimself to me. He asked me many questions about my lifeboat experiences:particularly wished to know if I thought that my boat, which had beenstove in endeavouring to rescue Miss Nielsen and her lamented father,would be replaced.
'Should a fund be raised,' he exclaimed, 'I beg that my name may not beomitted. My humble guinea is entirely at the service of the noble causeyou represent. And what grand end may not a humble guinea beinstrumental in promoting! It may help to rescue many wretched soulsfrom the perdition that would otherwise await them were they to bedrowned without having time to repent. This is lamentably true ofsailors, Mr. Tregarthen. Scarcely a mariner perishes at sea who wouldnot require many years of a devotional life to purge himself of hisnumerous vices. A humble guinea may also spare many children the miseryof being fatherless, and it may shed sunshine upon humble homes byrestoring husbands to their wives. You will kindly put me down for ahumble guinea.'
I thanked him as though I supposed he was in earnest.
'You will never take charge of a lifeboat again, I hope,' said Helga.
'Why not? I like the work,' I answered.
'See what it has brought you to,' said she.
'Into enjoying the association and friendship of Miss Helga Nielsen!'exclaimed the Captain. 'Mr. Tregarthen will surely not regret _that_experience.'
'I feel that I am responsible for his being here, Captain Bunting,' saidshe, 'and I shall continue wretched till we are journeying to England.'
'I would gladly put my ship about and sail her home to oblige you,'exclaimed the Captain, 'but for one consideration: _not_ the pecuniaryloss that would follow--oh dear no!' he added, slowly shaking his head;'it would too quickly sever me from a companionship I find myself happyin.'
She bit her lip, looking down with a face of dismay and chagrin, whilehe eyed her as though seeking for signs of gratification.
'The Canary Islands are within a short sail, I think, Captain,' said I.
'They are,' he responded.
'It would occasion no deviation, I think, for you to heave off some portthere--call at Santa Cruz--and send us ashore in one of your excellentsharp-ended quarter-boats.'
'That would be giving me no time,' he answered without the leasthesitation, and speaking and smiling in the politest, the most blandmanner conceivable, 'to prevail upon you and Miss Nielsen to accompanyme.'
'But to accompany you where, Captain?' cried I, warming up.
'To the Cape,' he answered.
'Ay, to the Cape,' said I; 'but I understood that you were to call thereto discharge a small cargo and await orders.'
'You do not put it quite accurately,' said he, still oily to the lastdegree in his accent and expression. 'I own the greater proportion ofthis vessel, and my orders are my interests. When I have discharged thiscargo I must look out for another.'
'Yes,' said I, 'and when you have got it, where is it going to carry youto?'
'Ah!' he exclaimed with a sigh, 'who can pierce the future? But who_would_ pierce it? Depend upon it, young gentleman, that humanblindness--I mean intellectual blindness----' he was proceeding; but Iwas in no humour to l
isten to a string of insipid, nasally pronouncedcommonplaces.
'The long and the short of it, Captain Bunting----' said I, finding animpulse in the soft but glowing eyes which Helga fixed upon me. But,before I could proceed, Abraham came from the little brass rail whichprotected the break of the poop.
'Beg pardon, sir,' said he, addressing the Captain. 'That there chapNakier has arsted to be allowed to say a word along wi' ye.'
'Where is he, Wise?' inquired the Captain, smiling into the boatman'sface.
'He's awaiting down on the quarter-deck, sir.'
'Call him.'
The 'boss' mounted the ladder. I was again impressed by the modest, thegentle air his handsome face wore. His fine liquid, dusky eyes glitteredas he approached, but without in the least qualifying his docileexpression. He pulled off his queer old soldier's cap, and stood lookingan instant earnestly from me to Helga, before fastening his dark butbrilliant gaze upon the Captain.
'What now, Nakier?'
'Dere's Goh Syn Koh says de men's dinner to-day is allee same asyesterday,' said the man.
'You mean pork and pease-soup?'
'Yaas, sah,' answered the fellow, nodding with an Eastern swiftness ofgesture.
'Just so. Pork and pease-soup. You threw your allowance overboardyesterday. I have not ordered pork and pease-soup to be given to you twodays running as a punishment!--oh dear no!' he went on with a greasychuckle coming out, as it were, from the heart of his roll of chins.'What! punish a crew by giving them plenty to eat? No, no! I simplyintend that you and the rest of you shall know that I am captain of thisship, and that I must have my way!'
'Dat is proper,' exclaimed Nakier. 'No man ever say no to dat. But we noeat pork. We sooner eat dirt. We will not eat pease-soup; it is gravy ofpork. We sooner drink tar.'
'Can you conceive such bigotry, such superstition, in men who arereally, Miss Nielsen, not totally wanting in brains?' exclaimed theCaptain, turning to Helga.
She looked away from him.
'Nakier,' he continued, 'you know, my good fellow, there must be abeginning. Have you ever tasted pork?'
'No, sah; it is against my religion!' cried the man vehemently.
'Your religion!' exclaimed the Captain. 'Alas, poor man! it is notreligion--it is superstition of the most deplorable kind! and, sinceevery captain stands as father to his crew, it is my duty, as yourfather for the time, to endeavour to win you, my children, for the time,to a knowledge of the truth!' He glanced askew at Helga, and proceeded:'You will begin by eating each of you a mouthful of pork. I do notexpect much--just one mouthful apiece to begin with. You may then followon with a meal of salt-beef. The first step is everything. My idea is todeal with one superstition at a time. Why should pork be unfit for you?It is good for this lady; it is good for me; for this gentleman; forWise there. Are we inferior to you, Nakier, that we should be willing toeat what you and my poor dark crew--dark in mind as in skin--profess todisdain?'
'We cannot eat pork,' said the man.
'Oh, I think so. You will try?'
'No, sah, no!' There was a sharp, wild gleam in his eyes as hepronounced these words, a look that desperately contradicted his face,and his gaze at the Captain was now a steadfast stare.
'I desire,' continued the Captain, very blandly, 'to get rid of yourdeplorable prejudices as I would extinguish a side of bacon--rasher byrasher.' This he said with another leer at Helga. 'I have some knowledgeof your faith. You need but make up your mind to know that what I do Ido in the highest interests of my crew, and then I shall have every hopeof getting you to listen to me, and of transforming you all intothoughtful Christian men before we reach Cape Town.'
'You will give us beef to-day, sah?'
'I think not, and if you throw your allowance overboard you shall havepork again to-morrow.'
'We did not sign your articles for dis,' said the man, who spoke Englishwith a good accent.
'The articles provide for certain food,' answered the Captain, 'and thatfood is served out to you in very good measure. You will try--you willtry to eat this pork; and when I learn that you have everyone of youswallowed one mouthful, you will find me indulgent in other directions,and ready to proceed on the only course which can result in yoursalvation.'
'You will not give us beef to-day, sah?' said the man, shaking his head.
'Yes; but I must learn first that you have eaten of the pork. I will notinsist upon the soup, but the pork you must eat!'
'No, sah!'
'You can go forward!'
'We signed for meat, sah: we cannot work on biscuit!'
'Meat you have, and excellent meat too! It is my business to makeChristians of you. This little struggle is natural. You can go forward,I say!'
Helga, catching her breath as though to a sudden hysteric constrictionof the throat, cried out, 'Captain, do not starve these men! Give themthe food their religion permits them to eat!'
He looked at her for a moment or two in silence. It was hard to guess athis mind under that fixedly smiling countenance, but it seemed to me asthough in those few moments of pause there was happening a really bitterconflict of thought in him.
'I know my duty!' he exclaimed. 'I know what my responsibilities arehere: what is expected of me!' He reflected again. 'I shall have torender an account for my conduct and human weakness is not forgiven inthose who know what is right, and who are in a position to maintain,enforce, and confirm the right.' He paused again, then saying softly toHelga, 'For your sake!' he turned to Nakier. 'This lady wishes that thecrew shall have the food their black and wicked superstitions sufferthem to eat. Be it so--for to-day. Let the cook go to Mr. Jones's cabinfor the key of the harness-cask.'
Without a word, the man rounded upon his heel and went forward.
The Captain gazed at Helga while he pensively pulled his whiskers.
'It is just possible,' said he, 'that you may not be very intimatelyacquainted with the character of the religion I am endeavouring tocorrect in those poor dark fellow-creatures of mine.'
'I dare say they are very happy in their belief,' she answered.
He arched his eyebrows and spread his waistcoat, and had fetched a deepbreath preparatory to delivering one of his fathoms of tediouscommonplace, but his eye was at that instant taken by the clock underthe skylight.
'Ha!' he cried, 'I must fetch my sextant; it is drawing on to noon. Iwill bring you an instrument, Miss Nielsen; we will shoot the suntogether.'
'No, if you please,' she exclaimed.
He entreated a little, but her _no_ was so resolutely pronounced that,contenting himself with a bland flourish of his hand, he went below.
'What is to be done?' whispered Helga. 'We shall not be able to inducehim to land us at Santa Cruz. Is he mad, do you think?'
'No more than I am,' said I. 'One vocation is not enough for the fellow.There are others like him in my country of Great Britain. What asea-captain, to be sure! How well he talks--I mean for a sea-captain! Hehas a good command of words. I wager he has made more than one rafterecho in his day. And he is sincere too. I saw the struggle in him whenyou asked that the men should have their bit of beef.'
'How am I to make him understand,' said she, 'that nothing can followhis keeping us here?'
'At all events,' I exclaimed, 'we can do nothing until we sight a shipheading for home.'
'That is true,' she answered.
'We came aboard yesterday,' I continued, 'since when nothing has beensighted, therefore, be the disposition of the man what it will, he couldnot down to this moment have put us in the way of getting home. But herehe comes.'
He rose through the companion hatch, with a sextant in his hand, and,stepping over to the weather side of the deck, fell to ogling the sunthat flamed over the weather-bow.
END OF VOL. II.
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My Danish Sweetheart: A Novel. Volume 2 of 3 Page 9
