XXXIII
I MAKE A GLAD DISCOVERY
It was directly to my cat that I owed the great piece of good fortunethat then came to me: but I must confess that he was an unwillingagent in the matter, and probably wished himself well out of it, theimmediate result in his case being rather a bad squeeze to one of hisfore paws.
We had been examining the machine-shop, the cat and I, and whateverhis views about it may have been mine were of great satisfaction; forwhen I had got the dead-lights unscrewed so that I could see wellabout me I had been delighted by finding there everything that myboat-building project required. Indeed, I almost fancied myself backagain in one of the work-shops of the Stevens Institute, so well wasthe place fitted and supplied--a completeness probably due to the factthat the _Ville de Saint Remy_ was intended for long voyages toout-of-the-way ports, and very well might have to depend upon her ownresources for important repairs.
It was as we were leaving the machine-shop to continue our round ofinvestigations that my cat suddenly took it into his head to jump downfrom my shoulders and stretch his own legs a little; and away hescampered--being much given to such frisking dashes, as I laterdiscovered, though for the next week or so after that one he wentlimping on three legs mighty soberly--first down the deck aft, andthen past me and up a dark passage leading toward the bows; and I,being pretty well accustomed to cat habits, stood waiting until heshould have his fun out and so come back again with a miau by way of"if you please" to be taken up into my arms. But he did not come backin any great hurry, and off in the darkness I could hear his pawspadding about briskly; and then there was silence for a moment; andthen he broke out into a loud miauling which showed that he was introuble of some sort and also in pain.
As there was no helping him until I could see what was the matter withhim, I hurried first into the machine-shop for a wrench, and then wentforward into that dark place cautiously--until by a glint of light onthe ship's side I made out where a port was, and so got loose thedeadlight and could look around. What I saw was my poor cat in such apickle that I did not in the least blame him for crying out about it;he having, as it seemed, made an unlucky jump upon some small bars ofiron which were lying loose and disorderly, with the one on which helanded balanced so nicely that it had turned suddenly and jammed fasthis paw. And so he was anchored there very painfully, and was tellingwhat he thought about it in the most piercing yowls.
Fortunately it was an easy matter to let him loose from the trap thathe had got into; but even while I was doing it--and before I pickedhim up to look at his hurt and to comfort him--I gave a shout ofdelight on my own account that was a good deal louder than any of mypoor cat's yells of pain. For there before me was a very stout-lookingand large steam-launch--thirty-two feet over all, as I found when Icame to measure her--stowed snugly in a cradle set athwart-ship andlooking all ready to be put overboard into the sea. And at finding inthis unexpected fashion what I had been so long looking for, and hadquite done with hoping for, it is no wonder that I shouted with joy.
My cat coming limping to me to be pitied and cared for, holding up hispinched paw and with little miaus asking for my sympathy quite like aChristian, I had first of all to give him my attention. But his hurtwas not a very serious one--the flesh not being cut, and no bonesbroken--and when I had comforted him as well as I could, until I gothim soothed a little, I put him down out of my arms that I mightexamine carefully my great prize; but first of all opening all theports so that I might have plenty of light for what I wanted to do.
Coming to this deliberate survey, I found that the launch truly enoughwas complete, but that she was very far from being ready to take thewater; for while all her parts were there--and even duplicates of hermore important pieces, in readiness against a break-down--most of herfittings and all of her machinery was lying inside of her boxed fortransportation; being arranged that way, I suppose, because she wouldhave been far too heavy to swing into the snug place where I found herand out again with everything bolted fast. She was a very beautifullittle boat, evidently intended for a pleasure craft--but very strongand seaworthy, too; and it no doubt was to keep her in good order fordelivery that she had been stowed between-decks for the long voyage.Indeed, only with a steam-winch and a good many men to handle her,could she have been got down there; and the first of my uncomfortablethoughts about her, of the many that I had first and last, came whileI was taking stock of her equipment--as I fell to wondering how in theworld I should manage, with only a cat to help me, ever to get heroverboard into the sea.
As to assembling her parts, and so making her ready for cruising, Ihad no doubts whatever. That piece of work was directly in the lineof my training and I felt entirely secure about it; but even on thatscore I quaked a good deal at the size of the contract to be taken bya single pair of hands, and at thought of the long, long while thatwould be required to carry it through. Yet the hope that came withfinding this boat put such heart into me that my spirits did not godown far. Working on her--aside from the pleasure that any man with anatural love for mechanics finds in serious and difficult labor withhis hands--would be a constant delight to me because of what it wouldbe leading to; and in every moment of my work I would have to sustainme the thought that each rivet set in place and each bolt fastenedbrought me appreciably nearer to being set free.
Having cursorily finished with the boat, I continued my survey to hersurroundings; that I might plan roughly my scheme of work upon her,and that I might plan also for getting her launched when my work uponher should be done. She was stowed on the main-deck--in a place thatprobably was intended for the use of third-class passengers, when suchwere carried--and the machine-shop was so close to her that in thematter of fetching tools and so on my steps would be well saved.Directly over her was the forward hatch; through which she had beenlowered and set in place in the cradle previously made ready for her,and there fixed firm and fast. For a moment I had the fancy that Imight get up steam to work the donkey-engine and so hoist her outagain by that same way, and overboard too. But a very littlereflection showed me that this airily formed plan must be abandoned,as all my work on her then would have to be done far away from themachine-shop and with the additional disadvantage that through thelong time that certainly must pass before I could get her finished shewould lie open to the daily heavy rains. And then I had the much morereasonable notion--though the amount of extra labor that it involvedwas not encouraging to contemplate--that I would do my work on herwhere she lay; and when I had finished her that I would cut loose asufficient number of plates from the side of the steamer to make ahole big enough to get her overboard that way.
But having the hatch directly over where she was lying, though I couldnot get her up through it, made my undertaking a good deal easier andmore comfortable for me. Even with all the ports open I would have hadbut little light to work by; and, what was of even more importance inthat hot misty region, I would have had little fresh air--and stillless when I had set a-going my forge. But with the hatch off I couldhave all the light that I needed and as much fresh air as was to behad--with the advantage that the hatch could be set in place everynight when I went off duty and not opened again in the morning untilthe rain was at an end: so preserving my machinery against the rustthat pretty much would have ruined it--for all that it was welltallowed--had my slow building gone on in the open air.
My preliminary investigations being thus well ended, and the morningended too, I piped all hands to dinner; that is to say, I whistled tomy cat--who had been sitting still and watching me pretty solemnly,his friskiness being for the time taken out of him by the pain in hispaw--and when he perceived that I was paying some attention to himagain he came limping to me on his three good legs and said with amiau that if I pleased he would prefer going to his dinner in my arms.And when I picked him up--as, indeed, I had to, for he positivelyinsisted upon my carrying him--he forgot about his hurt and fell topurring to me at a great rate and to making little gentle thrustsagainst my arm with the fore paw that wa
s sound. And so we went aft ingreat friendship and contentment and had a gay dinner together: thecat sitting on the table opposite to me with all possible decorum--butmanifesting his daintiness by refusing to eat anything but tinnedchicken, and only the white meat at that!
In the Sargasso Sea Page 33
