CHAPTER XXV
"With the evening we were once more running sharp on a wind up channel;and when she did get her own way in a good breeze, the schooner'squalities came out. 'Twas a perfect luxury to look over the side and seethe bubbles pass, her sharp bows sliding through it like a knife, sheeating into the wind all the time, in a way none but a fore-and-aftclipper could hope to do, with a glassy blue ripple sent back from herweather-bow as far as the fore-chains; then to wake of a morning andfeel her bounding under you with a roll up to windward, while the watergushed through and through below the keel, and ran yearning and topplingaway back along the outer timbers into her boiling wake, working withthe moving rudder. And our man-o'-war's-men were quite delighted withthe Young _Hebe_, as they still called her. Snelling was in his elementwhile we were having the new spars sent up aloft--a set of longer sticksthan before--till she had twice the air, as well as a knowing rake aft.Next thing was to get the long brass nine-pounder amidships from underthe boat, where the Frenchmen had kept it, besides which we foundanother in her hold; so that, added to six small carronades already ondeck, we made a pretty show. Meanwhile, for my own part, I kept crackingon with every stitch of canvas that could be clapped upon the spars,including studding-sails. Jones himself didn't know better than I did bythis time how to handle the craft, schooner though she was, in the wayof making her use what weather we had to the best purpose. Variable asit proved, too, I was aware the Indiamen would have pretty much the samenow as we had; so that, on going aloft with the glass, as I did everywatch in the day, I soon began each time expecting one or other of themto heave in sight.
"As for the five hands from Cape Town, they seemed to have fallen incheerfully enough with our own, and as soon as the fine weather came,the gang of Lascars were set to duty like the rest. Snelling would havethem even trained to work the guns, although, if it blew at all hard,not one could be got to go aloft, except their old _serang_ and the_tindal_, his mate. What surprised me most was the harbour officerhimself at last asking, as Mr Snelling told me, to be put in a watch;but as the midshipman said there was no doubt Webb had made a voyage ortwo before, somewhere or other, I agreed to it at once. 'I'm not sure,sir,' added the midshipman, with one of his doubtful double looks, 'butthe gentleman may have seen blue water the first time at Governmentexpense, and not in the service either--he don't look fore and aftenough, Mr Collins, harbour officer though he be; but, never mind, sir,I'll see after him!' 'Pooh,' said I, laughing; 'if he does turn to, MrSnelling, it shan't be in the watch _you_ have to do with! Hand him overto Mr Jones.' By this time I had changed the mid into my own watch, andgiven Jones charge of the other--so to him the harbour officer went.
"The main character aboard of us, to me at anyrate, was this Joneshimself. The fact was, at first I had my doubts of him altogether,partly owing to the queer way we got hold of him, partly on account ofhis getting the upper hand so much through chance, in the tremendousweather we had at the outset, till I wasn't sure but it might come intothe fellow's head of itself, to be upon some drift or other that mightcost me trouble, as things stood. However, I no sooner felt where I was,and got the craft under my own spoke, than I came to set him down fornothing but one of those strange hands you fall in with at seasometimes, always sailing with a 'purser's name,' a regular wonder of ashipmate, and serving to quote every voyage after, by way of a clincheron all hard points, not to say an oracle one can't get beyond, and can'tflow sky-high enough. To tell the truth, though, Jones was as thorough aseaman as ever I met with--never at a loss, never wanting on any hand;whether it was the little niceties we stood in need of for setting theschooner's rigging all right again, which none but a blue-waterlong-voyage sailor can touch, or, what comes to be still better intropical latitudes, a cool head and a quick hold, with full experiencefor all sorts of weather, 'twas much the same to him. He was all overlike iron, too, never seeming to stand in need of sleep, and seeing likea hawk. At any hour I came on deck in his watch, there was Jones, allawake and ready, till hearing him walk the planks over my head of a finenight made me at times keep my eyes open, listening to it and the washof the water together. I fancied there was something restless in it,like the sea, with now and then an uneven sort of a start; and at lastit would come to full stop, that gave me the notion of how he wasstanding quiet in the same spot; whether he was looking aloft, orthinking, or leaning over the side, or what he was going to do, troubledme wonderfully. The only want in his seamanship I noticed, he evidentlywasn't used to handle a large ship; but craft of some kind I was prettysure he had commanded in the course of his life. As for takingobservations, he could do it better than I could then, while theknowledge he had on different heads, that came out by chance, made youthink more of a Cambridge graduate than a common sailor, such as he hadshipped for with us. The strangest part of all about him, though, waswhat I couldn't well name, not to this day; 'twas more grained in withhis manner, and the ring of his voice at particular moments, as well ashis walk, though these were the smart seaman's no less; but one couldn'thelp thinking of a man that had known the world ashore some time orother, in a different enough station from now--ay, and in a way to bringout softer lines in his face than reefing topsails or seeing themain-tack ridden down would do. The nearest I could come to calling it,far apart as the two men stood, was to fancy he reminded me of LordFrederick Bury himself; especially when he looked all of a sudden to thehorizon in that wide, vacant kind of fashion, as if he expected itfarther off than it was; only Jones's face was twice the age, like aman's that had had double the passions in it at the outset, and giventhem full swing since then; with a sleeping devil in his eye yet,besides, as I thought, which only wanted somewhat to rouse it. Only forthat, I had a sort of leaning to Jones myself; but, as it was, I caughtmyself wishing, over and over, for something to make us fall regularlyfoul of each other, and get rid of this confounded doubtful state. Onehitch of a word to take hold of, and, by Jove! I felt all the blood inmy body would boil out in me to find how we stood, and show it; butnothing of the kind did Jones let pass--and as close as the sea itselfhe was in regard to his past life. As for the men from the frigate, atleast, they seemingly looked on him with no great fondness, and a gooddeal of respect, in spite of themselves, for his seamanship; whereas, ifhe had been left in the fore-peak in place of the cabin, I've no doubtin a short time it would have been no man but Jones. You light now andthen upon a man afloat, indeed, that his shipmates hold off from, ashealthy dogs do from a mad one; and you saw they had some sort of aninkling of the gloomy close nature Jones had in him by the way theyobeyed his orders. Webb's three Cape Dutchmen seemed to have a notion hewas some being with mysterious powers, while the Lascars ran crouchingat his very word--some of them being, as I found, Malays, and the restMussulmans from Chittagong; but Jones could send them about in their ownlanguage, Dutchmen and all--a part of the matter which did not tend tokeep me less careful over him. Still I observed, since his comingaboard, that Jones never once touched liquor, which had plainly enoughbeen his ruin ashore; whether on account of meaning to pull up once forall and mend, or only to have a wider bout at next port, or else to keephimself steady for aught that might turn up, I couldn't settle in my ownmind. Though deucedly doubtful of its being the first, the very idea ofit made one feel for the man; and, in case of his doing well, I had nosmall hopes of something in the upshot to save a real sailor like himfrom going to the devil altogether, as he seemed doing.
"Now, after our getting clear of the rough Cape weather, and thedead-lights being taken out of the stern-windows, I had given a look,for the first time, into the schooner's after-cabins, which were prettymuch as the people she belonged to before had left them, except for therough work the gale had played. There were two of them, one opening intothe other; and I must say it was a melancholy sight to meet the brightsunlight streaming into them from off the water astern, with all thelittle matters either just as if the owners were still inside, or elsetumbled about at sixes and sevens. One drawer, in particular, had comeout of a
table, scattering what was in it on the deck: there was ahalf-open letter, in a woman's hand, all French, and showing a lock ofhair, with a broken diamond cross of the French Legion of Honour,besides a sort of paper-book full of writing and two printed ones boundin morocco. I picked up the letter and the cross, put them in again, andshoved the drawer back to its place, though I brought the books awaywith me to have a glance over. What struck me most, though, was aplaster figure of the French Emperor himself, standing fastened on ashelf, with one hand in the breast of his greatcoat, and looking calmlyout of the white sightless eyes; while right opposite hung a sort ofcurtain which you'd have thought they were fixed upon. When I hauled itaside, I stared--there on a shelf to match the other, was a beautifulsmiling child's head to the shoulders, of pure white marble, as if itleant off the bulkhead like a cherub out of the clouds.
"Spite of all, however, the touch of likeness it had to the head I gotsuch a glimpse of at Longwood, even when the hot sunlight showed it inmy spy-glass so pale and terrible, was sufficient to tell me what _this_was--Napoleon's own little son, in fact, who was made King of Rome, as Iremembered hearing at the time. The thought of the schooner's strangeFrench captain and his desperate scheme came back on me so strong,joined to what I saw he had an eye to in fitting out his cabins, that,for my own part, I hadn't the heart to use them myself, and at firstsight ordered the dead-lights to be shipped again, and the door locked.
"'Twas a good many days after this, of course, and we had made a prettyfast run up the Mozambique, in spite of the sharp navigation required,sighting nothing larger than the native and Arab craft to be seenthereabouts; we were beginning to clear out from amongst the clusters ofislands and shoals at the channel-head, when two large sail were made inopen water to nor'-eastward. Next morning by daybreak we were towindward of the weathermost--a fine large Indiaman she was, crowding aperfect tower of canvas. Shortly after, however, the schooner was withinhail, slipping easily down upon her quarter, which seemed to give them alittle uneasiness, plenty of troops as she seemed to have on board, andlooming like a frigate. After some show of keeping on, and apparentlyputting faith in the man-of-war pennant I hoisted, she hove into thewind, when we found she was the Company's ship _Warringford_, and theother the something _Castle_, I forget which, both for Calcutta. Thenext thing, as soon as they found we were tender to His Majesty'sfrigate _Hebe_, was to ask after the _Seringapatam_; on which I was toldshe was three or four days' sail ahead with the _Mandarin_, bound toChina, neither of them having put in at Johanna Island to refresh.
"I was just ready to put our helm up again and bid good-bye, when thetiffin-gong could be heard sounding on the Indiaman's quarter-deck, andthe old white-haired captain politely asked me if I wouldn't come aboardwith one or two of my officers to lunch. Mr Snelling gave me a wistfulglance--there were a dozen pretty faces admiring our schooner out of thelong white awnings; but even if the notion of bringing up Snellinghimself as my first officer hadn't been too much for me, not to speak ofeither Jones or Webb, why the very thoughts that everything I sawrecalled to me, made me the more eager to get in sight of the_Seringapatam_. 'Thank you, sir,' answered I. 'No--I must be off afterthe Bombay ship.' 'Ah,' hailed the old captain, 'some of your Admiral'spost-bags, I suppose. Well, keep as much northing as you can, sir, and Idaresay you'll find her parted company. She's got a jury fore-topmastup, for one she lost a week ago; so you can't mistake her for the_Mandarin_, with a good glass.' 'Have you noticed any suspicious craftlately, sir?' asked I. 'Why, to tell you the truth, lieutenant,' sangout he, looking down off the high bulwarks at our long nine-pounders andthe knot of Lascars, 'none more so than we thought _you_, at first,sir!' The cadets on the poop roared with laughter, and an old lady withtwo daughters seemed to eye Snelling doubtfully, through an opera-glassas the reefer ogled both of them at once.
"'By-the-by,' sang out the captain of the Indiaman to me again, 'I fancythe passengers in that ship must have got somehow uncomfortable--one ofour Bengal grandees aboard of her wanted a berth to Calcutta with us,t'other day in the Mozambique; but we're too full already!' 'Indeed,sir?' said I; but the schooner's main-boom was jibbing over, and withtwo or three more hails, wishing them a good voyage, and so on, away weslipped past their weather-bow. The _Warringford_ got under weigh ather leisure, and in an hour or two her topsails were down to leeward ofus. On I cracked with square and studding-sails to the quarteringbreeze, till the schooner's light hull jumped to it, and aloft she wasall hung out of a side, like a dairyman's daughter carrying milk; withthe pace she went at, I could almost say to an hour when we shouldoverhaul the chase.
"Still, after two or three days of the trade-wind, well out in theIndian Ocean, and not a spot to be seen, we had got so far up the Lineas to make me sure we had overrun her. Accordingly, the schooner washauled sharp on a wind to cruise slowly down across what must be theIndiaman's track, judging as we could to a nicety, with a knowledge ofthe weather we had had. For my part, I was so certain of sighting hersoon, that I ordered the after-cabins to be set to rights, seeing anotion had taken hold of me of actually offering them to Sir CharlesHyde for the voyage to Calcutta--fancy the thought! 'Twas too good to belikely; but Violet herself actually being in that little after-cabin andsleeping in it--the lively schooner heading away alone for India, andthey and Westwood the sole passengers aboard--why, the very idea of itwas fit to drive me crazy with impatience.
"Well, one fine night, after being on deck all day, and the whole nightbefore, almost, I had turned into my cot to sleep. From where I lay Icould see the moonshine off the water through the stern-light in thatafter-cabin, by the half-open door. I felt the schooner going easilythrough the water, with a rise and fall from the heave of the longLine-swell; so close my eyes I couldn't, especially as the midshipmancould be heard snoring on the other side like the very deuce.Accordingly I turned out into the after-cabin, and got hold of one ofthe Frenchman's volumes to read, when, lo, and behold! I found it wasneither more nor less than Greek, all I knew being the sight of it. NextI commenced overhauling the bundle of handwriting, which I took at firstfor a French log of the schooner's voyage, and sat down on the locker tohave a spell at it. So much as I could make out, in spite of the queeroutlandish turn the letters had, and the quirks of the unnatural sort oflanguage, it was curious enough--a regular story, in fact, about his ownlife, the war, and Bonaparte himself.
"At another time I'd have given a good deal to go through with it at oddhours--and a strange affair I found it was some time afterwards; butmeanwhile I had only seen at the beginning that his name was _Le ComteVictor l'Allemand, Capitaine, de la Marine Francais_, and made out atthe end how there was some scheme of his beyond what I knew before, tobe carried out in India--when it struck me there was no one on thequarter-deck above. I listened for a minute through the stern-window,and thought I heard someone speaking, over the schooners lee-quarter, asshe surged along; so slipping on jacket and cap, I went on deck at once.
"It was middle-watch at the time; but as soon as I came up I saw all wasquiet--Webb near the gangway talking to the old Lascar serang, andbreaking the English wonderfully betwixt them; while the Lascars of thewatch were sitting like tailors in a ring on the forecastle planks, eachwaiting for his turn of one cocoa-nut hookah, that kept hubble-bubblingaway gravely under the smoker's nose, as he took a long suck at it,while the red cinder in the bowl lighted up his leathery Hindoo face andmoustache like a firefly in the root of a banyan, till he handed it,without even a wipe, to his neighbour. These fellows had begun to getmuch livelier as we made the tropics; and this same serang of theirs hadput out his horns once or twice to Snelling lately, though he drew themin again the moment he saw me--a sulky old knotty-faced, yellow-eyeddevil I thought him at any rate, while his dish-cloth of a turban, hislong blue gown and red trousers, reminded you at sea in a gale of adancing dervish. The day we spoke the Indiaman, in fact, I noticed therewas something in the wind for a minute or two with him and his gang,which put in my head at first to offer them to the captain f
or a coupleof good English hands; and as I passed him and Webb this time the serangstopped his talk and sidled off.
"However, a beautiful night it was, as ever eye looked upon even in theblue Indian Ocean: the heavens cloudless, the full round moon shininghigh off our weather-beam again, the stars drawn up into her brightlight, as it were, trembling through the films of it like dewdrops ingossamer of a summer morning: you saw the sea meet the sky on everyhand, without a speck on the clear line of horizon, through the squaresof our ratlins and betwixt the schooner's too long fore-and-aft booms.A pretty strongish breeze we had too, blowing from east to west with asweep through the emptiness aloft, and a wrinkling ripple over the longgentle swells as deep in the hue as if fresh dye came from the bottom,and crisping into a small sparkle of foam wherever they caught it full.Something pleasant, one could not say what, was in the air; and everysheet being hauled taut to hold wind, the slant gush of it before herbeam drove her slipping ahead toward the quarter it came from, with adip down and a saucy lift of her jibs again, as if she were halfbalanced amidships, but little noise about it. I took a squint aloft andan overhaul all round, and nothing was to be seen. The size of the skythrough the moonlight looked awful, as it were, and the strength of thebreeze seemed to send a heavenly blue deep into the western quarter tillyou saw a star in it The night was so lovely, in fact, it somehow madeone think of one's mother, and old times, when you used to say yourprayers. Still I couldn't see the mate of the watch on the weatherquarter-deck, which surprised me the more in Jones's case, since he wasalways ready for me when I came up; and, to tell the truth, I shouldn'thave been sorry to catch him napping for once, only to show he was likemen in common. I walked aft by the weather-side of the large mainsail,accordingly, till I saw him leaning with his head over the lee-bulwark,and heard him again, as I thought, apparently speaking to someone downthe schooner's side; upon which I stepped across.
"Jones's back was to me as I looked over too; but owing to what he wasbusy with, I suppose, and the wash of the water which was louder therethan in-board, while you heard the plash from her bows every time sheforged he evidently didn't hear me. You may fancy my wonder to find hewas reading aloud out to himself from the other of the Frenchman'svolumes, which I had no doubt left in the dining-cabin--the book open inboth hands, he giving it forth in long staves, with a break between--andregular Greek it was too. You'd have thought he timed them to the plashalongside; and I must say, as every string of long-tailed words flowedtogether like one, in Jones's deep voice, and the swell rose once ortwice with its foam-bells near his very hands, I almost fancied I made ameaning of them--each like a wave, as it were, sweeping to a crest, andbreaking. The gusto the man showed in it you can't conceive, and, whatwas more, I had no doubt he understood the sense of it, for all of asudden, after twenty staves or so of the kind he stopped. 'There!' saidhe, 'there, old Homer--women, wine, and adventure--what could the devilask more, blind old prater, with a sound in you like the sea? Ay, wash,wash, wash away, lying old blue-water, you can't wash _it_ out--andwine--no, not the strongest rum in Cape Town--can wash _you_ out!' Withthat Jones laid his head on his arms, with the book still in one hand,muttering to himself, and I listened in spite of me. 'Still, it rousesthe old times in me!' said he. 'Here comes this book across me, too. Ay,ay, and the rector fancied, sitting teaching me Greek out of old wildHomer all weekday--and--and his girl slipping out and in--'twould do todon the cassock of a Sunday and preach out of the pulpit against theworld, the devil, and the flesh--then warn me against the sea--ha!'
"The laugh that came from him at that moment was more like a dog than ahuman being; but on he went muttering 'Women, wine, and adventures, saidye, old Greek, and a goddess too; still he _was_ a good old man, therector--no guile nor evil in him, with his books in the cases yonder,and the church-spire seen through the window over the garden, and hiswife with--ah, the less of that the better.--Twas in me, though, and allour blood--and in _her_ dark eyes, too, Mary though she was!' He brokeout again, after a bit, as if he'd been arguing it with something underthe side: 'I didn't take her the first time I came home--nor thesecond--but-but--ay, I came _back_! Oh that parting-stile in sight ofthe sea--and that packet-ship--but O God! that night--that night withthe schooner forging ahead through the blue--blue----' And he stoppedwith a groan that shook him as he leant over. 'Hellish!' he said,suddenly standing upright and looking straight aloft with his bare headand face to the wide empty sky, and the moonlight tipping the hair onhis forehead, from over the high shadow on the lee-side of the mainsail,where it glistened along the gaff. 'She was pure to the last!' I heardhim say, though I had walked to the other side of the boom; 'ay, thoughI rot to perdition for it!--Down, old fiend!' as he lifted his one handwith the book, and drove it alongside, seemingly watching it settle awayastern.
"Now I had heard nothing from Jones that I couldn't have fancied before,and there was even a humour to my mind in the notion of clapping it allon old Homer, if Homer it was, and heaving him overboard with such aconfoundedly complimentary burial-service. But some of the words thatdropped from him shot through one's veins like icicles; and now therewas something fearful in the sight of him standing straight again, witha look right into the heavens, as if he'd have searched them up andup--in that lovely night too, spread far and wide--the very rays of themoonlight sparkled down the weather-side of the sail I was on, tremblingon the leech-ropes and brails as they swayed, and into the hollows theymade in the belly of the taut canvas; the long shining spot of itwavered and settled on the same two planks of the quarter-deck, beyondthe shadow of the bulwark from the moon's eye, fast as the schoonermoved through the water, and it was like a hand laid upon her, with theair and wind stretching between. Of a sudden I saw Jones wheel slowlyround where he stood, like a man turned about by main strength, with hiseyes fixed aloft, and his one arm raising from the shoulder till hisforefinger pointed to something, as I thought, about thefore-to'gallantsail. His face was like ashes, his eye glaring, and Isprang across to him under the main-boom. 'See!' said he, never turninghis head, and the words hissed betwixt his teeth, 'look at that!'
"'For Heaven's sake, _what_, Mr Jones?' said I. '_Her--her_,' was hisanswer, 'coming against the wind--dead fore-and-aft in the shade of thesails!' On the lee-sides of them the high boom-sails made a sort of athin shadow against the moonshine off the other beam, which cameglimpsing through between them out of a world of air to the south-east,with a double of it flickering alongside on the water as it heaved pastto leeward; and whether it was fancy, or whether it was but thereflection aloft from below, I thought as I followed Jones's finger, Isaw something like the shape of a woman's dress floating close in withthe bonnet of the fore-topmaststaysail, from the dusk it made to thebreast of the fore-topsail, and even across the gush of white lightunder the yard--long and straight, as it were, like a thing lifteddripping out of water, and going, as he said, right against theschooner's course. 'Now in the foresail!' whispered Jones, his eyemoving as on a pivot, and a thrill ran through me at the notion; for Imade out one single moment what I thought a face against the sky at thegaff-end, white as death, shooting aft towards the mainsail--though nextinstant I saw it was but a block silvered by the moon as the schoonerlifted. 'Now the mainsail!' said he, huskily, 'and now--now by theheavens--rising--rising to the gaff-topsail--away! O Lord! _Mary!_'
"He was leaning aft toward the width of the sky, with both handsclutched together before him, shuddering all over. For the first minutemy own blood crept, I must say; but directly after I touched him on theshoulder. 'This is strange, Mr Jones,' said I; 'what's the matter?''Once in the Bermudas!' said he, still wildly, 'once in the Pacific--andnow! Does the sea give up its dead, though, think ye?' 'You've a strongfancy, Mr Jones, that's all,' I said sternly. 'Fancy!' said he, thoughbeginning to get the better of himself; 'did ye ever fancy a facelooking down--down at you in the utterest scorn--down sideways off theshoulder of the garment, as it sticks wet into every outline like life?All the time gliding on the other way, too, and the
eyes like two starsa thousand miles away beyond, as kind as angels'--neither wind nor seacan stop it, till suddenly it rises to the very cope of heaven--stilllooking scornfully down at you!--No, sir, fancy it _you_ couldn't!'
"The glance he gave me was somehow or other such as I couldn'taltogether stomach from the fellow, and he was turning to the side whenI said quietly, 'No, nor Homer either, I daresay!' Jones started andmade a step towards me. 'You heard me a little ago!' rapped out he,eyeing me. 'Yes,' I said; 'by Jove! who could help being curious to heara sailor spout Greek as you were doing, Mr Jones?'
'The fact is, Mr Collins,' answered he, changing his tone, 'I was wellbrought up--the more shame to me for bringing myself to what you saw me.I had a sister drowned, too, on her passage to America one voyage, whenI was mate of the ship myself. No wonder it keeps my nerves shakingsometimes, when I've had too long about shore.' 'Well, well, Jones,'said I, rather softening, 'you've proved yourself a first-rate seaman,and I've got nothing to complain of; but I tell you fairly I had mydoubts of you! So you'll remember you're under the Articles of Waraboard here, sir,' added I, 'which, as long as I have this schoonerunder hand, I'll be hanged if I don't carry out!' All at once thethought struck me, a little inconveniently, of my carrying off Webb, andhis people, and I fancied Jones's quick eye wandered to the Lascarsforward. 'I know it, sir,' said he, looking me steadily in the face;'and what's more, Mr Collins, at any rate I couldn't forget you pickedme out, confounded low as I looked, to come aft here. 'Tis not everycaptain afloat that has such a good eye for a seaman, as _I_ know!' 'Oh,well, no more about it,' I said, walking forward on the weather-side,and leaving him on the lee one as distinctly as Lord Frederick Burycould have done to myself in the frigate. Jones no doubt thought Ididn't notice the slight wrinkle that gathered round his lee eye when hegave me this touch of butter at the end; but I put it down for nothingmore, gammon though it was.
"It was near the end of the watch, the moon beginning to set, while itstill wanted three hours of daybreak in those latitudes, when thelook-out on the topgallant-yard, who was stationed there in man-o'-warcruising fashion, reported a sail to windward. Just then the midshipmancame on deck to his watch, wonderfully early for him indeed, and on myremarking it was probably the Indiaman at last, Jones himself went aloftwith the night-glass to make her out. 'Mr Snelling,' said I, 'see thehands on deck ready for going about.' Next minute I saw him rousing upthe rest of the Lascars, who slept watch and watch on the forecastle.Only five or six of the _Hebe's_ men were up, and all of them, save theman at the wheel, ran aloft to rig out stunsail-booms to windward, assoon as the schooner was fairly on the starboard tack, standing tonor'-eastward. Suddenly I saw a scuffle between the midshipman and thetindal,[25] a stout, dark-faced young Bengalee, with a jaunty skull-capand frock, whom Snelling had probably helped along with a touch of arope's end, and in a moment two or three more of them were upon him,while the reefer drew his dirk, and sung out to me, scarce before I waswith him, the Lascars rolling into the lee-scuppers at two kicks of myfoot.
[25] Lascar boatswain's mate.
"Webb and three of the men from Cape Town were hoisting a stunsail atthe time, the smart man-o'-war's-men aloft singing out to them to bear ahand. What with the noise of the sail flapping, and its being betwixt myown men and the deck, they could know nothing of the matter; and theLascars let go the halliards in a body, making a rush at Snelling andmyself with everything they could pick up in the shape of a spar.
"This would have been nothing, as in two or three minutes more the menwould have been down, and the cocoa-faced rascals dodged every way fromthe handspike I got hold of; but I just caught a glimpse on one side ofthe sly old serang shoving on the fire-scuttle to keep down the watchbelow; and on the other, of Webb looking round him, evidently to see howmatters stood. Two Dutchmen seized the first sailor that came down therigging, by the legs, and I saw the affair must be finished at once, ithad so much the look of a regular plot on Webb's part, if Jones wasn'tconcerned in it too. I made one spring upon my Cape Town gentleman, andtook him by the throat with one hand, while I hit the biggest Dutchmanfull behind the ear, felling him to the deck, on which theman-o'-war's-man grappled his watch-mate, and Webb was struggling withme sufficiently to keep both my hands full, when I had a pleasantinkling of a Malay Lascar slipping toward my back with a bare kreese inhis fist.
"I just looked over my shoulder at his black eyes twinkling devilishlybefore he sprang, when someone came sliding fair down from thefore-topmast-head by a back-stay, and pitched in a twinkling on top ofhis head--a thing enough to break the neck of a monument. Directlyafter, I saw Jones himself hitting right and left with his night-glass,from the moonlight to the shadow of the foresail, while Snelling tumbledover a Lascar at every slap, standing up in boxer-style. By the time therest of the men came down all was settled--the Dutchmen sulking againstthe bulwarks, and Webb gasping after I let him go. 'Boatswain,' said Ito one of the sailors,' clap that man in irons below. Mr Snelling, seethe watch called, sir.' 'I 'ad the law with me,' said Webb, gloomily.'You plotted it, then, Mr Webb?' I said. 'Didn't you carry us offillegally?' said he. 'I only meant to recover the vessel--upon myhonour, nothing more, sir; and if you're 'ard with me, you'll have toanswer for it, I assure you!' Here he looked round to Jones in astrange way, as I fancied, for a moment; but Jones turned on his heelwith a sneer. 'Why, Mr Webb,' answered I, 'you lost that tack byoffering yourself in a watch, which makes the thing neither more norless than mutiny--so take him below, do ye hear, bo'sun!' And down hewent.
"'Now, Mr Jones,' said I, as soon as all hands were on deck, 'you'll beso good as have half of these Lascars seized to the rigging here, oneafter the other, and see a good dozen given to each of their backs; thenthese two Dutchmen, each three dozen--then pipe down the watch, sir.'
"Jones glanced at me, then at the fellows, then at me again. I thoughthe hung aback for an instant; but do it I was determined he should, fora reason I had; and I gave him back the look steady as stone. 'Ay, ay,sir,' said he, at last, touching his hat. I walked aft to the capstan,and stood there till every mother's son of them had got his share, theLascars wriggling and howling on the deck after it, and the Dutchmentwisting their backs as they walked off. 'Twas the first time I did thatpart of duty in command, and I felt, in the circumstances, I was in forcarrying it out with a taut hand.
"By this time the moon was setting, and in the dusk we lost sight of thesail to windward; but as we were heading well up to weather upon her,and going at least ten knots, I turned in below for a little, leavingthe midshipman. Accordingly, it wasn't very long before Snelling calledme in broad daylight 'She's a large ship, Mr Collins,' said he,'standing under all sail on a wind. I hope to goodness, sir, it's thatconfounded Indiaman at last!' I hurried on deck, took the glass aloft,and soon made out the jury fore-topmast shorter than the main, as theold captain mentioned. Accordingly, it was with somewhat of a flutter inme I came down again, watching the schooner's trim below and aloft, tosee if I couldn't take an hour or so off the time betwixt that and oncemore setting eyes on the judge's daughter.
The Green Hand: Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant Page 28
