III
I HAVE A SCARE, AND GET OVER IT
I went to the stern of the brig and looked at the tug, far off andalmost out of sight in the dusk, and at the loom of the Highlands,above which shone the light-house lamps--and my heart went down intomy boots, and for a while stayed there. For a moment the thought cameinto my head to cut away the buoy lashed to the rail and to take mychances with it overboard--trusting to being picked up by some passingvessel and so set safe ashore. But the night was closing down fast anda lively sea was running, and I had sense enough to perceive thatleaving the brig that way would be about the same as getting out ofthe frying-pan into the fire.
Fortunately, in a little while I began to get wholesomely angry; whichalways is a good thing, I think, when a man gets into a tightplace--if he don't carry it too far--since it rouses the fightingspirit in him and so helps him to pull through. In reason, I ought tohave been angry with myself, for the trouble that I was in was all ofmy own making; but, beyond giving myself a passing kick or two, allmy anger was turned upon Captain Luke for taking advantage of mygreenness to land me in such a pickle when his gain from it would beso small. I know now that I did Captain Luke injustice. His subsequentconduct showed that he did not want me aboard with him any more than Iwanted to be there. Had I not taken matters into my own hands byboarding the brig in such a desperate hurry--just as I had hurried toclose with his offer and to clinch it by paying down mypassage-money--he would have gone off without me. And very likely hewould have thought that the lesson in worldly wisdom he had given mewas only fairly paid for by the fifty dollars which had jumped soeasily out of my pocket into his.
But that was not the way I looked at the matter then; and in my heartI cursed Captain Luke up hill and down dale for having, as I fancied,lured me aboard the brig and so into peril of my skin. And my angerwas so strong that I went by turns hot and cold with it, and itched toget at Captain Luke with my fists and give him a dressing--which Ivery well could have done, had we come to fighting, for I was a biggerman than he was and a stronger man, too.
It is rather absurd as I look back at it, considering what a taking Iwas in and how strong was my desire just then to punch Captain Luke'shead for him, that while I was at the top of my rage he came aft towhere I was leaning against the rail and put his hand on my shoulderas friendly as possible and asked me to come down into the cabin tosupper. I suppose I had a queer pale look, because of my anger, for hesaid not to mind if I did feel sickish, but to eat all the same and Iwould feel better for it; and he really was so cordial and so pleasantthat for a moment or two I could not answer him. It was upsetting,when I was so full of fight, to have him come at me in that friendlyway; and I must say that I felt rather sheepish, and wondered whetherI had not been working myself up over a mare's-nest as I followedhim below.
We had the mate to supper with us, at a square table in the middle ofthe cabin, and at breakfast the next morning we had the second mate;and so it went turn and turn with them at meals--except that they hadsome sort of dog-watch way about the Saturday night and Sunday morningthat always gave the mate his Sunday dinner with the captain, as wasthe due of his rank.
The mate was a surly brute, and when Captain Chilton said, in quite aformal way, "Mr. Roger Stetworth, let me make you acquainted with Mr.George Hinds," he only grunted and gave me a sort of a nod. He did nothave much to say while the supper went on, speaking only when thecaptain spoke to him, and then shortly; but from time to time hesnatched a mighty sharp look at me--that I pretended not to notice,but saw well enough out of the tail of my eye. It was plain enoughthat he was taking my measure, and I even fancied that he would havebeen better pleased had I been six inches or so shorter and with lesswell-made shoulders and arms. When he did speak it was in a growlingrumble of a voice, and he swore naturally.
Captain Luke evidently tried to make up for the mate's surliness; andhe really was very pleasant indeed--telling me stories about theCoast, and giving me good advice about guarding against sicknessthere, and showing such an interest in my prospects with the palm-oilpeople, and in my welfare generally, that I was still more inclined tothink that my scare about the shackles was only foolishness from firstto last. He seemed to be really pleased when he found that I was notseasick, and interested when I told him how well I knew the sea andthe management of small craft from my sailing in the waters aboutNantucket every summer for so many years; and then we got to talkingabout the Coast again and about my outfit for it, which he said was avery good one; and he especially commended me--instead of laughing atme, as I was afraid he would--for having brought along such a lot ofquinine. Indeed, the quinine seemed to make a good deal of animpression on him, for he turned to the mate and said: "Do you hearthat, George? Mr. Stetworth has with him a whole case ofquinine--enough to serve a ship's company through a cruise." And themate rumbled out, as he got up from the table and started for thedeck, that quinine was a damned good thing.
We waited below until the second mate came down, to whom the captainintroduced me with his regular formula: "Mr. Roger Stetworth, let memake you acquainted with Mr. Martin Bowers." He was a young fellow, ofno more than my own age, and I took a fancy to him at sight--for henot only shook my hand heartily but he looked me squarely in the eyes,and that is a thing I like a man to do. It seemed to me that my beingthere was a good deal of a puzzle to him; and he also took my measure,but quite frankly--telling me when he had looked me over that if Iknew how to steer I'd be a good man to have at the wheel in a gale.
The captain brought out a bottle of his favorite arrack, and he and Ihad a glass together--in which, as I thought rather hard, Bowers wasnot given a chance to join us--and then we went on deck and walked upand down for a while, smoking our pipes and talking about the weatherand the prospects for the voyage. And it all went so easily and sopleasantly that I couldn't help laughing a little to myself overmy scare.
I turned in early, for I was pretty well tired after so lively a day;but when I got into my bunk I could not get to sleep for a longwhile--although the bunk was a good one and the easy motion of thebrig lulled me--for the excitement I was in because my voyage fairlywas begun. I slipped through my mind all that had happened to me thatday--from my meeting with Captain Luke in the forenoon until there Iwas, at nine o'clock at night, fairly out at sea; and I was so pleasedwith the series of lucky chances which had put me on my way so rapidlythat my one mischance--my scare about the shackles--seemedutterly absurd.
It was perfectly reasonable, I reflected, for Captain Luke to carryout a lot of shackles simply as "trade." It was pretty dirty "trade,"of course, but so was the vile so-called brandy he was carrying outwith him; and so, for that matter, were the arms--which prettycertainly would be used in slaving forays up from the Coast. And evensupposing the very worst--that Captain Luke meant to ship a cargo ofslaves himself and had these irons ready for them--that worst wouldcome after I was out of the brig and done with her; the captain havingtold me that Loango, which was my landing-place, would be his firstport of call. When I was well quit of the _Golden Hind_ she and hercrew and her captain, for all that I cared, might all go to the deviltogether. It was enough for me that I should be well treated on thevoyage over; and from the way that the voyage had begun--unless thesurly mate and I might have a bit of a flare-up--it looked as though Iwere going to be very well treated indeed. And so, having come to thiscomforting conclusion, I let the soft motion of the brig have its waywith me and began to snooze.
A little later I was partly aroused by the sound of steps coming downthe companion-way; and then by hearing, in the mate's rumble, thesewords: "I guess you're right, captain. As you had to run for it to-daybefore you could buy our quinine, it's a damn good thing he did getaboard, after all!"
I was too nearly asleep to pay much attention to this, but in a drowsyway I felt glad that my stock of quinine had removed the mate'sobjections to me as a passenger; and I concluded that my purchase ofsuch an absurd lot of it--after getting worked up by my reading aboutthe West Coast
fevers--had turned out to be a good thing for me inthe long-run.
After that the talk went on in the cabin for a good while, but in suchlow tones that even had I been wide awake I could not have followedit. But I kept dozing off, catching only a word or two now and then;and the only whole sentence I heard was in the mate's rumble again:"Well, if we can't square things, there's always room for one morein the sea."
It all was very dream-like--and fitted into a dream that came later,in the light sleep of early morning, I suppose, in which the mate worethe uniform of a street-car conductor, and I was giving him doses ofquinine, and he was asking the passengers in a car full of salt-waterto move up and make room for me, and was telling them and me that in asea-car there always was room for one more.
In the Sargasso Sea Page 3
