The Green Hand: Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant

by George Cupples

  CHAPTER VI

  "The next morning, when Westwood and I went on deck, there was still along sea running after us. However, by noon the sun came sifting throughaloft, the breeze got warm, the decks were dry as a bone, and one justsaw the large dark-blue swells lift up alongside with a shower of spray,between the seams of the bulwarks. By six o'clock, again, it was gotpretty dusk ahead, and I strolled forward right to the heel of thebowsprit with Westwood, looking down through her head-boards into theheap of white foam that washed up among the woodwork every time sheplunged. One knot of the men were sitting with their legs over the breakof the top-gallant forecastle, swinging as she rolled--laughing,roaring, and singing as loud as they could bawl, since the wind carriedit all forward out of the officers' hearing. I was rather surprised tosee and hear that Jacobs' friends, Bill Dykes and Tom, were there; therogues were taking back their savage to the Andaman Isles again, Isuppose.

  "'Well, my lads,' said Tom, a regular sample of the man-o'-war's-man,'this is what I calls balling it off. That mate knows how to make hergo, anyhow.' 'We'll soon be into tropical regents, I consider,' remarkedBill, who made a point of never using sea-phrases except ashore, when hecame out double salt, to make up for his gentility afloat. 'Hum,'grumbled a big ugly fellow, the same so flattered at the wheel bylittle Tommy, 'I doesn't like your fair winds. I'll tell you what,mates, we'll be havin' it puff more from east'ard ere third watch.''What's the odds, Harry, old ship?' said Tom, 'a fair wind still.' 'Isay, my lads,' exclaimed Tom again, looking along toward the poop,'yonder's the ould naboob squinting out of the round-housedoors!--what's he after now, I wonder?'

  "On stooping down, accordingly, I could see the judge's face with thebinnacle light shining on it, as he swayed to and fro in the doorway,seemingly in a passion at something or other. 'Why,' said Bill, 'Iconsider he can't altogether circumstand the shindy as this here rollkicks up inside of his blessed paliss.' 'Nabob, does ye call him,' saidHarry, sulkily; 'I'll tell you what, mates, he ben't nothin' but areg'lar ould tyrant. T'other mornin' there, I just chances to brushagainst him as I kiles up a rope; says he, "_Fellow_" an' says he to theskipper, "I'd take it kind," says he, "if ye'd horder them commonsailors for to pay more contention alongside o' _my_ legs, CaptainWilliamson." Why, do the old beggar not think as a feller ben't a _man_as well as hisself, with his _comming sailors_, an' be blowed to him.''Well, though, Harry, old ship,' said Tom, 'ain't that daurter of his'na jewel! I say, mates, she's all rounded into the head, and a clear runfrom aft, like a corvette model. My eye, that hair of hers is worthgold; I'd go down on the deck to please her, d'ye see.' 'No doubt,'says Bill, 'she's what I call a exact sparkler.' 'Well, I doesn'tknow,' said Harry, 'last vy'ge but one we'd got one aboard, a'mostbeautifuller--half as high again, an' twice her beam--I'm not sure but_she_----' 'All my eye, messmates,' broke in Tom; 'that one were builtfor _stowing_, ye see, bo', like yer cargo lumpers. No, this here younggal 'minds me o' no other blessed thing but the _Nymph_ corvette'sfigure-head--and that warn't her match, neither. She don't look downupon a sailor, I can tell ye; there, I see her t'other morning-watcha-talkin' to Jacobs yonder, as pleasant and cheery as----Hullo, there'sthe captain comed out of the naboob's cabin, and speaking with the mateby the compass--blest if they ain't a-goin' to alter her course.'

  "'Send aft here to the braces!' sung out the first officer to theboatswain. 'Blow me, shipmates, that's yeer naboob now, I'll bet aweek's grog,' growled Harry; 'ship's course as fair as a handspikethrough a grummit; couldn't bring the wind more aft; my eyes, the sea'scomin' to be bought and sold.' Whatever it might be for, in came thestarboard yard-arms till she lay over a little; down studding andtopgallant-sails, as neither of them could stand it except from aft; andoff went the old ship rising high athwart the seas, her headsou'-south-east, and one streak of broken yellow light, low down towestward on her lee quarter. It was beginning to blow harder, too, andby eight bells it was 'Reef topsails, single reef.' The waves playedslap on her weather side, the heavy sprays came showering over herbulwarks forward, and the forecastle planks were far from being socomfortable for a snooze as the night before.

  "As soon as the wheel was relieved, and the other watch below, 'the uglyman' and his companions returned. 'Mates,' said he, solemnly, plantinghis back against the bitts, 'I've sailed this five-and-twenty yearbefore the mast, an' I never yet seed the likes o' _that_! Take my sayfor it, we're _on_ a wind now, but afore next mornin' we'll beclose-hauled, beating up against it.' 'Well,' said another, 'she leaks adeal in the eyes of her below; in that case, Harry, _your_ watch asslings in the fore-peak 'll be all afloat by that time.' 'What day didthis craft sail on, I asks?' said the sailmaker gravely. 'Why, aThursday night, old ship,' replied several eagerly. 'No,' went on thesailmaker; 'you counts sea-fashion, shipmates; but till ye're clear o'the pilot, ye know, it's land-fashion ye ought for to go by. 'Twas a_Friday_ by that 'ere said reckoning, shipmates.' 'No! so it wasthough,' said the rest; 'it don't _look_ well.' 'Howsomedever I'm notgoin' to come for to go and be a croaker,' continued the sailmaker, in avoice like a ghost's. 'Well, luck or no luck, mates,' grumbled bigHarry, 'if so be them larboard bowlines is hauled taut by the morningwatch, blow me if I don't be upsides with that 'ere ould naboob--that'sall.'

  "Next morning, after all, it was easy to feel the ship had really beenhauled close on a wind. When we went up the weather was clearing, thoughwith a strongish gale from eastward, a heavy sea running, on which theIndiaman strained and creaked as she rose, rolling slowly to windwardwith her three double-reefed topsails strained full, then pitched headinto it as a cloud of foam and spray flew over her weather-bow. It wasquite early, the decks lately washed down, and the Indian judge walkingthe weather quarter-deck as grave and comfortable as if it was allright. The captain was with him, and two mates to leeward. 'Sail ho!'hailed a man on the foreyard. 'Whereaway?' sang out the mate of thewatch. 'Broad abeam!'

  "The captain went up to the poop, and I stood on the foremost carronadenear the main rigging, where I could just see her now and then whiteagainst the blue haze between the hollows of the waves, as the Indiamanlifted. 'There she is!' said I, thinking it was Westwood that stoppedbehind me; it was the judge, however, and as soon as I got down hestepped up, holding on with one hand to a back-stay. The ship was risingafter a pitch, every bulkhead and timber in her creaking, when all of asudden I felt by my feet what all sailors feel the same way--she wascoming up in the wind too fast to mount with the next wave, and aregular _comber_ it was going to be. I looked to the wheel--there wasbig Harry himself with a grin on his face, and his eye on Sir Charles,as he coolly gave her half a weather-spoke more, and then whirled itback again to meet her. 'For heaven's sake, look out, sir!' exclaimed I.'Why, so I do,' said the judge, rather good-naturedly. 'Zounds!what's----' You felt the whole ship stop creaking for a moment, as shehung with the last wave--'Hold on!' shouted a mid--she gave a dullquiver from stem to stern, and I fairly pulled the judge close into thebulwark, just as smash, like thunder, came a tremendous green sea overus, three in one, washing down into the lee scuppers. The old gentlemanstaggered up, dripping like a poodle, and unable to see--one heard thewater trickling through the skylights, and stepping away downstairs likea fellow with iron heels; while there was the sailor at the wheelgrinding down his spokes in right earnest, looking aloft at the shakingfore-topsail, and the Indiaman seemingly doubtful whether to fall off orbroach-to. Up she rose again, however, and drove round with her Turkheadin the air, then dip through the spray as gallantly as ever.

  "'Send that lubber from the wheel, Mr Macleod!' said the captainangrily, when he came down, 'he nearly broached the ship to just now!'The 'ugly man' put on a double-gloomy face, and grumbled somethingabout her 'steering wild'; but the knowing squint he gave Jacobs, whorelieved him, was enough to show me he was one of the best helmsmenaboard. As for the judge, he hadn't the least notion that it wasanything more than a natural mischance, owing to exposing himself. Heeyed the bulwark as if he couldn't understand how any wave was able torise over it
, while the captain was apologising, and hoping he wouldn'tbe the worse. 'Eh, young gentleman!' said Sir Charles of a sudden,turning round to me, after a glance from the weather side to the leeone, 'now I observe the circumstances, the probability is I should havehad myself severely injured on the opposite side there, had it not beenfor your presence of mind, sir--eh?' Here I made a bow, and looked asmodest as I could. 'I perceive you are wet, young gentleman,' said heagain; 'you'd better change your dress--eh?' 'Thank you, sir!' I said;and as he walked off quite drenched to his cabin with the captain, Iheard him remark it was 'wonderfully intelligent in a mere griffin.'

  "However, the wind soon got down to a fine top-gallant breeze; less of asea on, the clouds sunk in a long grey bank to leeward, and the strangesail plain abeam of us--a large ship steering seemingly more off thewind than the _Seringapatam_, with topgallant-sails set--you could justsee the heads of her courses, and her black lower-yards, when both of usrose together. Our first officer was all alive at the sight; the reefswere out of our topsails already, and he soon had us ploughing alongunder ordinary canvas, though still hugging the wind. In a short timethe stranger appeared to take the challenge, for he slanted his yards,clapped on royals and hauled down a stu'nsail, heading our course, tillhe was one body of white cloth on the horizon. For awhile we seemed togain on her; but after dinner, there was the other ship's hull up on ourlee-bow, rising her white streak out of the water steadily, and justlifting at times on the long blue seas; she was fore-reaching on us asplain as could be. The mate gave a stamp on the deck, and kept her awaya little to set a stu'nsail. 'Why,' said I to Westwood, 'he'll fall toleeward of himself!' 'She's too much _by the head_, Collins,' saidWestwood; 'that's it!' 'Hasn't he the sense to take the fore-course offher?' said I, 'instead of packing more on! Why that craft weathers onus like a schooner--I wish you and I had the Indiaman for an hour ortwo, Tom!'

  "It wasn't an hour before we could see the very waves splashing up underher black weather-side, and over her high bows, as she slanted rightthrough it and rose to windward again, standing up to cross ourcourse--a fine frigate-built Indiaman, sharper stemmed than her kind inordinary, and square in her spread; one yard-arm just looking over theother as they ranged aloft, and all signs of a weatherly craft. 'That'sthe _Duke o' Bedford_!' said a sailor at the braces to his companions,'all oak planks, and not a splinter of teak in _her_! No chance!' Outflew the British colours from her mizzen-peak, and next the Company'sstriped ensign at her fore-royal mast-head, as a signal to speak.However, the _Seringapatam_ only answered by showing her colours, andheld on. All of a sudden the other Indiaman was seen slowly falling offbefore the wind, as if in scorn at such rude manners, and sure ofpassing us if she chose. For a moment the red sunset glanced throughbetwixt all three of her masts, every rope as fine as wire! then thecanvas swung broad against it, blood-red from the sun, and she showed usher quarter-gallery, with a glimpse of her stern-windows glittering--youeven made out the crowd of passengers and soldiers on her poop, and aman or two going up her rigging. The sea beyond her lay as blue as bluecould be, what with the crimson streak that came zigzag on both sides ofher shadow, and gleamed along the smooth troughs, taking a crest or twoto dance on by the way; and what with the rough of it near hand, wherethe tops of the dark waves ran hither and thither in broad white flakes,we surging heavily over them.

  "In a few minutes more the sun was not only down, but the clouds bankedup to westward of a deep purple; and almost at once you saw nothing ofthe other ship except when a stray streak somehow or other caught herrising, or her mast-heads came across a pale line in the clouds. Thebreeze got pleasanter as the night went on, and the _Seringapatam_rattled away in fine style, careening to it by herself.

  "Well, you know, nothing could be better for a good understanding andhigh spirits amongst us than a fast course, fine weather, and enteringthe tropics. As for the tropics, if you have only a roomy ship and agood run of wind, as we had, in those latitudes, everything outside ofyou seems almost to have double the stuff in it that air and water havein other places; while _inside_ of one, again, one felt twice the lifehe had before, and everybody else came out _newer_ a good deal than onthe parlour-rug at home. As the days got each hotter than the last, andthe sea bluer and bluer, we began to think better of the heavy old_Seringapatam's_ pace, teak though she was, and her sole good pointright before the wind. Every night she lighted her binnacle sooner, tilldeuce the bit of twilight there was, and the dark sky came down on uslike the extinguisher over a candle. However, the look of things roundand aloft made full amends for it, as long as we held the "Trades"; oldNeptune shifting his scenes there so quickly, that nobody missed gettingweather and air, more than he could help, were it only a sight how theIndiaman got on, without trouble to any living soul save the man at thewheel, as one long, big, bright wave shoved her to another, and theslower they rose the more business she seemed to do of herself. By thetime they had furbished her up at their leisure, the _Seringapatam_ hada queer Eastern style, too, throughout; with her grass mattings andhusky _coir_ chafing-gear, the yellow varnish about her, and her threetopsails of country canvas, cut narrow towards the head--bamboostu'nsail booms, and spare bits of bamboo always ready for everything;besides the bilious-like gold-coloured patches here and there in therest of her sails, and the outlandish figure-head, that made yousometimes think there might be twenty thousand of them under the bows,dancing away with her like Juggernaut's travelling pagoda.

  "The decks were lively enough to look at; the men working quietly bytwos and threes about the bulwarks all day long, and pairs of them to bemade out at different points aloft, yarning away comfortably together,as the one passed the ball for the other's serving-mallet, with now aglance at the horizon, and now a grin at the passengers below, or acautious squint at the top of the mate's cap. White awnings triced overpoop and quarter-deck, the cover of the waist hammock-netting cleanscrubbed, and the big shady main-course half brailed-up, rustling andbulging above the boats and booms amidships; every hatchway and doorwith a round funnel of a wind-sail swelling into it, and their belliesmoving like so many boa-constrictors come down from aloft, and going into catch cadets. You saw the bright white sky dazzling along under theawning-cheeks, that glared on it like snow; and the open quarter-deckports let in so many squares of shifting blue light, with a draught ofair into the hot carronade muzzles, that seem to gasp for it, with theirred tompions stuck out like tongues. The very look of the lifting bluewater on the shady side was refreshing, and the brighter the light got,_it_ grew the darker blue. You listened for every cool splash of it onthe bends, and every rustle of the canvas aloft; and instead ofthinking, as the landsmen did, of green leaves and a lazy nook forshelter, why to my fancy there's a great deal more satisfaction in good_dark blue_, with a spray over the cathead to show you're going, andwith somewhat to go for! For want of better, one would have given hisears to jump in head-foremost, and have a first-rate bathe--the very seaitself kept rising up alongside, to make an easy dive for one, andsinking into little round troughs again, where the surges would havesprinkled over your head. Now and then a bigger wave than ordinary wouldgo swelling up, and out sprang a whole glittering shower of flying-fish,freckling the dark side with drops, and went flittering over into thenext, or skimming the crests out of sight into a hollow.

  "The writers and cadets were in high feather at knowing they were in thesame latitude as India, and appeared in all sorts of straw hats, whitetrousers, and white jackets. Ford had left off talking of going aloftfor awhile, to flourish about his swimming--when he looked over with thesurgeon into the smooth of a hollow, and saw something big and green,like an immense cucumber, floating along within a fathom or two of theship, deep down in the blue water. While the griffin asked what it was,a little ripple broke above, a wet black horn came right out of it, andtwo fiendish round eyes glared up at us ahead of it, as we leant overthe quarter, set wide in a broad black snout, shaped like agravedigger's shovel; then it sank away into the next wave. Fordshivered, in spite of
the heat. 'The devil?' inquired one of thewriters, coolly, to the surgeon. 'Not just him,' said the Scotchman;'it's only the first _shark_!'

  "The young ladies, in their white dresses, now made you think of angelsgliding about: as to the only one I had an eye for, by this time itwasn't of not seeing her often enough I had to complain, as she seemedto delight in nothing else but being somewhere or other upon deck, firstone part of the ship, then another, as if to see how different thelook-out could be made, or to watch something in the waves or thehorizon. Instead of sitting with a needle or a book, like the rest, withthe corner of one eye toward the gentlemen, or talking and giggling awayat no allowance, she would be noticing a man aloft as if she were thereherself, or trying to see past a sail, as if she fancied there wassomething strange on the other side of it. The rest of the girlsappeared shy of her at first, no doubt on account of the judge'sseparate quarters and his grandee style; next, they made acquaintance,she speaking and smiling just as if she had known them before; thenagain most of them seemingly got jealous because the cadets squintedafter her, while old Rollock said Miss Hyde would be the beauty onChowringee Course, and the first officer was eternally pointing outthings to her, like a showman at a fair.

  "However, she seemed not to mind it at all, either way; those that didtalk to her would scarce hear her answer ere they lost her, and thereshe was, looking quietly down by herself into the ripples alongside; aminute after she would be half-playing with little Tommy, and makingcompanions of Tommy's young sisters, to see the sheep, the pigs, and thecow, or feed the poultry. As for the handsome 'first officer,' when hecaught occasion for his politeness, she took it graciously enough, andlistened to all he said, till, of a sudden, a smile would break over herface, and she seemed to me to put him off as easy as a duchess--on thescore, it might be, of the judge's looking for her off the poop, orsomething else of the kind. 'Twas the more curious how much at home sheseemed amongst the men at work, when she chanced to go 'forward' withTommy and his sisters, as they skipped hither and thither: the roughblue-shirted fellows took the quids out of their cheeks as soon as theysaw the party coming from aft, and began to smirk, shoving thetar-buckets and ropes aside.

  "One forenoon, an old lady under the poop awning, where she and herdaughter were sewing together at a bright strip of needlework, asked meto hold her woollen yarns for her as she balled them off--being the redcoat for a sepoy killing a tiger, which her daughter was making inyellow. I couldn't well refuse, seeing that amongst the ladies I wasreckoned a mild, quiet young man. Even in these days I must say I had agood deal of that look, and at home they used always to call me 'quietNed.' My mother, good soul, never would believe I broke windows, killedcats, or fought; and the mystery to her always is _why_ the neighbourshad a spite at me, for if I had been a wild boy, she said, or as noisyas little Brown next door, why she wouldn't have objected to my going tosea!--that noisy little Brown, by-the-by, is now a fat banker. So in Ihad to stick my thumbs at arms'-length, and stoop down to the old lady,the more with a will since I guessed what they were talking of.

  "'Well though, Kate,' continued the old lady, winding away at thethread, 'you cannot deny her to be a charming creature, my love?' 'Oh,if you mean _pretty_!' said the girl, 'I don't _want_ to deny it--not_I_, ma'am--why should I, indeed?' 'Pity she's a little light-headed,'said her mother in a musing way. '_Affected_, you mean, mother!' saidMiss Fortescue, 'and haughty.' 'Do you know, Kate,' replied the oldlady, sighing, 'I fear she'll soon _go_ in India!' '_Go?_' said thedaughter, sharply. 'Yes; she won't stand the hot season as I did--theseflighty girls never do. Poor thing! she certainly hasn't _your_ staminanow, my love!'

  "Here Miss Fortescue bit her lip, tossed her head, and was saying thatwasn't what she cared about, though in fact she looked ready to cry;when just at the moment I saw Lota Hyde herself half above the littlegallery stair, gazing straight at me, for the first time, too; a curiouskind of half-smile on her face, as I stood with my paws out, the oldlady jerking the yarn off my wrists, and I staring right over her bigbonnet at the sky astern of the awning, pretending not to listen. All atonce my mouth fell, and before she could turn her face away from thefunny countenance I no doubt put on, I saw her cheek rosy and her eyessparkle with laughter, instead of seeming like one to die soon.

  "For my part I couldn't stand it at all, so I just bolted sheer roundand made three strides to the poop-ladder, as dignified as waspossible, with ever so many plies of red yarn foul of my wrists, and abig red ball hopping after me when I'd vanished, like a fellow runningfrom a hot shot! I daresay they thought on the poop I'd had a stroke ofthe sun on my brain, but till next day I kept clear of the passengers,and took to swigging off stiff nor'-westers of grog as long as Westwoodwould let me.