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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Happy Jack, by W.H.G. Kingston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Happy Jack
+       and other Tales of the Sea
+
+Author: W.H.G. Kingston
+
+Illustrator: Williamson
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21392]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY JACK ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Happy Jack, and other Tales of the Sea, by W.H.G. Kingston.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+HAPPY JACK, AND OTHER TALES OF THE SEA, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.
+
+A TALE OF THE SEA.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE "NAIAD."
+
+I GO TO SEA IN RATHER UNROMANTIC SURROUNDINGS.
+
+Have any of you made a passage on board a steamer between London and
+Leith?  If you have, you will have seen no small number of brigs and
+brigantines, with sails of all tints, from doubtful white to decided
+black--some deeply-laden, making their way to the southward, others with
+their sides high out of the water, heeling over to the slightest breeze,
+steering north.
+
+On board one of those delectable craft, a brig called the _Naiad_, I
+found myself when about fourteen summers had passed over my head.  She
+must have been named after a negress naiad, for black was the prevailing
+colour on board, from the dark, dingy forecastle to the captain's state
+cabin, which was but a degree less dirty than the portion of the vessel
+in which I was destined to live.  The bulwarks, companion-hatch, and
+other parts had, to be sure, once upon a time been painted green, but
+the dust from the coal, which formed her usual cargo, had reduced every
+portion to one sombre hue, which even the salt seas not unfrequently
+breaking over her deck had failed to wash clean.
+
+Captain Grimes, her commander, notwithstanding this, was proud of the
+old craft; and he especially delighted to tell how she had once carried
+a pennant when conveying troops to Corunna, or some other port in Spain.
+
+I pitied the poor fellows confined to the narrow limits of her dark
+hold, redolent of bilge water and other foul odours.  We, however, had
+not to complain on that score, for the fresh water which came in through
+her old sides by many a leak, and had to be pumped out every watch, kept
+her hold sweet.
+
+How I came to be on board the _Naiad_ I'll tell you--
+
+I had made up my mind to go to sea--why, it's hard to say, except that I
+thought I should like to knock about the world and see strange
+countries.  I was happy enough at home, though I did not always make
+others happy.  Nothing came amiss to me; I was always either laughing or
+singing, and do not recollect having an hour's illness in my life.  Now
+and then, by the elders of the family, and by Aunt Martha especially, I
+was voted a nuisance; and it was with no small satisfaction, at the end
+of the holidays, that they packed me off again to school.  I was fond of
+my brothers and sisters, and they were fond of me, though I showed my
+affection for them in a somewhat rough fashion.  I thought my sisters
+somewhat demure, and I was always teasing them and playing them tricks.
+Somehow or other I got the name among them and my brothers of "Happy
+Jack," and certainly I was the merriest of the family.  If I happened,
+which was not unfrequently the case, to get into a scrape, I generally
+managed to scramble out of it with flying colours; and if I did not, I
+laughed at the punishment to which I was doomed.  I was a
+broad-shouldered, strongly-built boy, and could beat my elder brothers
+at running, leaping, or any other athletic exercise, while, without
+boasting, I was not behind any of them in the school-room.  My father
+was somewhat proud of me, and had set his mind on my becoming a member
+of one of the learned professions, and rising to the top of the tree.
+Why should I not?  I had a great-uncle a judge, and another relative a
+bishop, and there had been admirals and generals by the score among our
+ancestors.  My father was a leading solicitor in a large town, and
+having somewhat ambitious aspirations for his children, his intention
+was to send all his sons to the university, in the hopes that they would
+make a good figure in life.  He was therefore the more vexed when I
+declared that my firm determination was to go to sea.  "Very well,
+Jack," he said, "if such is your resolve, go you shall; but as I have no
+interest in the navy, you must take your chance in the merchant
+service."
+
+"It's all the same to me, sir," I replied; "I shall be just as happy in
+the one as in the other service;" and so I considered the matter
+settled.
+
+When the day of parting came, I was as merry and full of fun as ever,
+though I own there was a strange sensation about the heart which
+bothered me; however, I was not going to show what I felt--not I.
+
+I slyly pinched my sisters when we were exchanging parting kisses, till
+they were compelled to shriek out and box my ears--an operation to which
+I was well accustomed--and I made my brothers roar with the sturdy grip
+I gave their fingers when we shook hands; and so, instead of tears,
+there were shouts of laughter and screeches and screams, creating a
+regular hullaballoo which put all sentimental grief to flight.  "No, no,
+Jack, I will have none of your tricks," cried Aunt Martha, when I
+approached with a demure look to bid her farewell, so I took her hand
+and pressed it to my lips with all the mock courtesy of a Sir Charles
+Grandison.  My mother!  I had no heart to do otherwise than to throw my
+arms round her neck and receive the fond embrace she bestowed upon me,
+and if a tear did come into my eye, it was then.  But there was another
+person to whom I had to say good-bye, and that was dear little Grace
+Goldie, my father's ward, a fair, blue-eyed girl, three or four years
+younger than myself.  I did not play her any trick, but kissed her
+smooth young brow, and promised that I would bring her back no end of
+pearls and ivory, and treasures of all sorts, from across the seas.  She
+smiled sweetly through her tears.  "Thank you, Jack, thank you!  I shall
+so long to see you back," she whispered; and I had to bolt, or I believe
+that I should have begun to pipe my eye in a way I had no fancy for.  My
+father's voice summoned me.
+
+"Now, Jack," he said, "as you have chosen your bed, you must lie on it.
+But remember--after a year's trial--if you change your mind, let me
+know."
+
+"No fear of that, sir," I answered.
+
+"We shall see, Jack," he replied.  He wrung my hand, and gave me his
+blessing.  "I have directed Mr Junk to provide your outfit, and you
+will find it all right."  Who Mr Junk was I had no conception; but as
+my father said it was all right, I troubled my head no more about the
+matter.
+
+My father's old clerk, Simon Munch, was waiting for me at the door, and
+hurried me off to catch the Newcastle coach.  On our arrival there he
+took me to the office of Junk, Tarbox and Company, shipbrokers.
+
+"Here is the young gentleman, Mr Junk," he said, addressing a one-eyed,
+burly, broad-shouldered personage, with a rubicund countenance, in a
+semi-nautical costume.  "You know what to do with him, and so I leave
+him in your hands.  Good-bye, Jack, I hope you may like it."
+
+"No fear of that, Mr Munch," I answered; "and tell them at home that
+you left me as jolly and happy as ever."
+
+"So, Master Brooke, you want to go to sea?" said Mr Junk, squirting a
+stream of tobacco-juice across his office, and eyeing me with his sole
+bloodshot blinker; "and you expect to like it?"
+
+"Of course I do; I expect to be happy wherever I am," I answered in a
+confident tone.
+
+"We shall see," he replied.  "I have sent your chest aboard of the
+_Naiad_.  Captain Grimes will be here anon, and I'll hand you over to
+him."
+
+The person he spoke of just then made his appearance.  I did not
+particularly like my future commander's outside.  He was a tall, gaunt
+man, with a long weather-beaten visage and huge black or rather grizzled
+whiskers; and his voice, when he spoke, was gruff and harsh in the
+extreme.  I need not further describe him; only I will observe that he
+looked considerably cleaner then than he usually did, as I afterwards
+found on board the brig.  He took but little notice of me beyond a
+slight nod, as he was busy with the ship's papers.  Having pocketed
+them, he grasped me by the hand with a "Come along, my lad; I am to make
+a seaman on ye."  He spoke in a broad Northumbrian accent, and in a
+harsh guttural tone.  I was not prepossessed in his favour, but I
+determined to show no signs of unwillingness to accompany him.
+
+We were soon seated in the stern of an excessively dirty boat, with
+coal-dust-begrimed rowers, who pulled away with somewhat lazy strokes
+towards a deeply-laden brig lying out in mid-stream.  "Get on board,
+leddie, with you," said the captain, who had not since my first
+introduction addressed a single word to me.  I clambered up on deck.
+The boat was hoisted in, the topsails let fall, and the crew, with
+doleful "Yeo-yo-o's," began working round the windlass, and the _Naiad_
+in due time was gliding down the Tyne.
+
+She was a very different craft to what I had expected to find myself on
+board of.  I had read about the white decks and snowy canvas, the bright
+polish and the active, obedient crew of a man-of-war; and such I had
+pictured the vessel I had hoped to sail in.  The _Naiad_ was certainly a
+contrast to this; but I kept to my resolve not to flinch from whatever
+turned up.  When I was told to pull and haul away at the ropes, I did so
+with might and main; and, as everything on board was thickly coated with
+coal-dust, I very soon became as begrimed as the rest of the crew.
+
+I was rather astonished, on asking Captain Grimes when tea would be
+ready--for I was very hungry--to be told that I might get what I could
+with the men forward.  I went down accordingly into the forecastle,
+tumbling over a chest, and running my head against the stomach of one of
+my new shipmates as I groped my way amid the darkness which shrouded it.
+A cuff which sent me sprawling on the deck was the consequence.  "Where
+are your eyes, leddie?" exclaimed a gruff voice.  "Ye'll see where ye
+are ganging the next time."
+
+I picked myself up, bursting into a fit of laughter, as if the affair
+had been a good joke.  "I beg your pardon, old fellow," I said; "but if
+you had had a chandelier burning in this place of yours it would not
+have happened.  How do you all manage to see down here?"
+
+"As cats do--we're accustomed to it," said another voice; and I now
+began to distinguish objects around me.  The watch below were seated
+round a sea-chest, with three or four mugs, a huge loaf of bread, and a
+piece of cheese and part of a flitch of fat cold bacon.  It was rough
+fare, but I was too hungry not to be glad to partake of it.
+
+A boy whom I had seen busy in the caboose soon came down with a kettle
+of hot tea.  My inquiry for milk produced a general laugh, but I was
+told I might take as much sugar as I liked from a jar, which contained a
+dark-brown substance unlike any sugar I had before seen.
+
+"Ye'll soon be asking for your bed, leddie," said Bob Tubbs, the old man
+whose acquaintance I had so unceremoniously formed.  "Ye'll find it
+there, for'ard, if ye'll grope your way.  It's not over airy, but it's
+all the warmer in winter."
+
+After supper, I succeeded in finding the berth Bob had pointed out.  It
+was the lowest berth, directly in the very bows of the vessel--a
+shelf-like space, about five feet in length, with height scarcely
+sufficient to allow me to sit upright,--Dirty Dick, the ship's boy I
+have mentioned, having the berth above me.  Mine contained a mattress
+and a couple of blankets.  My inquiry for sheets produced as much
+laughter as when I asked for milk.  "Well, to be sure, as I suppose you
+have not a washerwoman on board, they would not be of much use," I sang
+out; "and so, unless the captain wants me to steer the ship, I will turn
+in and go to sleep.  Good night, mates."
+
+"The leddie has got some spirit in him," I heard Bob Tubbs observe.
+"What do you call yourself, boy?"
+
+"Happy Jack!"  I sang out; "and it's not this sort of thing that's going
+to change me."
+
+"You'll prove a tough one, if something else doesn't," observed Bob from
+his berth.  "But gang to sleep, boy.  Ye'll be put into a watch
+to-morrow, and it's the last time, may be, that ye'll have to rest
+through the night till ye set foot on shore again."  I little then
+thought how long a time that would prove; but, rolling myself up in my
+blanket, I soon forgot where I was.
+
+Next morning I scrambled on deck, and found the brig plunging away into
+a heavy sea, with a strong southerly wind, the coast just
+distinguishable over our starboard quarter.  The captain gave me a grim
+smile as I made my way aft.
+
+"Well, leddie, how do you like it?" he inquired.
+
+"Thank you, pretty well," I answered; "but I hope we sha'n't have to
+wait long for breakfast."
+
+He smiled again.  "And you don't feel queer?"
+
+"No, not a bit of it," I replied.  "But I say, captain, I thought I was
+to come as a midshipman, and mess with the other young gentlemen on
+board."
+
+He now fairly laughed outright; and looking at me for some time,
+answered, "We have no young gentlemen on board here.  You'll get your
+breakfast in good time; but you are of the right sort, leddie, and
+little Clem shall show you what you have got to do," pointing as he
+spoke to a boy who just then came on deck, and whom I took to be his
+son.
+
+"Thank you, captain," I observed; "I shall be glad of Clem's
+instruction, as I suppose he knows more about the matter than I do."
+
+"Clem can hand, reef, and steer as well as any one, as far as his
+strength goes," said the captain, looking approvingly at him.
+
+"I'll set to work as soon as he likes, then," I observed.  "But I wish
+those fellows would be sharp about breakfast, for I am desperately
+hungry."
+
+"Well, go into the cabin, and Clem will give you a hunch of bread to
+stay your appetite."
+
+I followed Clem below.  "Here, Brooke, some butter will improve it," he
+said, spreading a thick slice of bread.  "And so you don't seem to be
+seasick, like most fellows.  Well, I am glad of that.  My father will
+like you all the better for it, and soon make a sailor of you, if you
+wish to learn."
+
+I told Clem that was just what I wanted, and that I should look to him
+to teach me my duties.
+
+"I'll do my best," he said.  "Take my advice and dip your hands in the
+tar bucket without delay, and don't shirk anything the mate puts you to.
+My father is pretty gruff now and then, but old Growl is a regular
+rough one.  He does not say much to me, but you will have to look out
+for squalls.  Come, we had better go on deck, or old Growl will think
+that I have been putting you up to mischief.  He will soon pick a
+quarrel with you, to see how you bear it."
+
+"I'll take good care to keep out of his way, then," I said, bolting the
+last piece of bread and butter.  "Thank you, Clem, you and I shall be
+good friends, I see that."
+
+"I hope so," answered my young companion with a sigh.  "I have not many
+on board, and till you came I had no one to speak to except father, and
+he is not always in the mood to talk."
+
+Clem's slice of bread and butter enabled me to hold out till the
+forecastle breakfast was ready.  I did ample justice to it.  Directly I
+made my re-appearance on deck, old Growl set me to work, and I soon had
+not only my hands but my arms up to the elbows in tar.  Though the
+vessel was pitching her head into the seas, with thick sheets of foam
+flying over her, he quickly sent me aloft to black down the main
+rigging.  Clem showed me how to secure the bucket to the shrouds while I
+was at work, and in spite of the violent jerks I received as the vessel
+plunged her bluff bows into the sea, I got on very well.  Before the
+evening was over I had been out on the yards with little Clem to assist
+in reefing the topsails, and he had shown me how to steer and box the
+compass.
+
+Nothing particular occurred on the voyage, though we were ten days in
+reaching the mouth of the Thames.  Clem and I became great friends.  The
+more I saw of him the more I liked him, and wondered how so
+well-mannered a lad could be the son of such a man as Captain Grimes.
+
+I saw nothing of London.  I should, indeed, have been ashamed to go on
+shore in my now thoroughly begrimed condition.  We were but a short time
+in the Thames, for as soon as we had discharged our cargo we again made
+sail for the Tyne.
+
+Before this time old Growl, the mate, had taught me what starting meant.
+He had generally a rope's end in his fist, and if not, one was always
+near at hand.  If I happened not to do a thing well enough or fast
+enough to please him, he was immediately after me, laying the rope
+across my shoulders, or anywhere he could most conveniently reach.  I
+generally managed to spring out of his way, and turn round and laugh at
+him.  If he followed me, I ran aloft, and, as I climbed much faster than
+he could, I invariably led him a long chase.
+
+"I'll catch you, youngster, the next time.  Mark me, that I will," he
+shouted out to me one day, when more than usually angry.
+
+"Wait till the next time comes, mate," I sang out, and laughed more
+heartily than before.
+
+The men sympathised with me, especially Dirty Dick.  His shoulders, till
+I came on board, had been accustomed to suffer most from the mate's ill
+temper.  Now and then old Growl, greatly to his delight, caught me
+unawares; but, suffering as I did from his blows, I never let him see
+that I cared for them, and used to laugh just as heartily as when I had
+escaped from him.  On this, however, he would grin sardonically, and
+observe, "You may laugh as you like, young master, I know what a rope's
+end tastes like; it's a precious deal bitterer than you would have me
+fancy.  I got enough of it when I was a youngster, and haven't forgotten
+yet."
+
+One day when old Growl had treated me as I have described, and had gone
+below, Clement came up to me.  "I am so sorry the mate has struck you,
+Brooke," he said.  "It's a great shame.  He dare not hit me; and when I
+told father how he treats you, he told me to mind my own business, and
+that it was all for your good."
+
+"I don't know how that can be," I answered; "but I don't care for it, I
+can assure you.  It hurts a little at the time, I'll allow, but I have
+got used to it, and I don't intend to let him break my spirit or make me
+unhappy."
+
+Clement all the time was doing his best to teach me what he knew, and I
+soon learned to steer in smooth water, and could hand and reef the
+topsails and knot and splice as well almost as he could.  Some things I
+did better, as I was much stronger and more active.  I was put to do all
+sorts of unpleasant work, such as blacking down the rigging, greasing
+the masts, and helping Dirty Dick to clean the caboose and sweep out the
+forecastle.  Though I didn't like it, I went about the duty, however, as
+if it was the pleasantest in the world.  Pleasant or not, I was thus
+rapidly becoming a seaman.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A STORM.
+
+I had as before, on reaching the Tyne, to remain and keep ship, though
+little Clem went on shore and did not return till we had a fresh cargo
+on board, and were just about sailing.
+
+Scarcely were we clear of the river than a heavy gale sprang up and
+severely tried the old collier.  The seas came washing over her deck,
+and none of us for'ard had a dry rag on our backs.  When my watch below
+came, I was glad to turn in between my now darkly-tinted blankets; but
+they soon became as wet as everything else, and when I went on deck to
+keep my watch, I had again to put on my damp clothes.  The forecastle
+was fearfully hot and steamy.  We had to keep the fore hatch closed to
+prevent the seas which, washing over our decks, would otherwise have
+poured down upon us.  In a short time, as the ship strained more and
+more while she struggled amid the waves, the water made its way through
+the deck and sides till there was not a dry space to lie on in our
+berths.  Then I began really to understand the miseries of forecastle
+life on board a collier, and many other craft too, in which British
+seamen have to sail; with bad food, bad water, and worse treatment.  Ay,
+I speak the truth, which I know from experience, they have to live like
+dogs, and, too often, die like dogs, with no one to care for them.
+
+Day after day this sort of work continued.  I wondered that the captain
+did not run back, till I heard him say that the price of coals was up in
+the London market, and he wanted to be there before other vessels
+arrived to lower it; so, tough seaman as he was, he kept thrashing the
+old brig along against the south-westerly gale, which seemed to increase
+rather than show any signs of moderating.  We had always, during each
+watch, to take a spell at the pumps, and now we had to keep them going
+without intermission.  I took my turn with the rest, and my shoulders
+ached before I had done; still I sang and laughed away as usual.
+
+"It's no laughing matter, youngster," said old Growl, as he passed me.
+"You will be laughing the wrong side of your mouth before long."
+
+"Never fear, mate," I replied; "both sides are the same to me."
+
+The captain and mate at last took their turns with the rest of us, for
+the crew were getting worn out.  I did not know the danger we were in,
+but I was beginning to get tired of that dreadful "clank, clank, clank."
+
+At last, by dint of keeping at it, we had got a good way to the
+southward, when one night, just as we had gone about hoping to lay our
+course for the Thames, the wind shifted and came again right in our
+teeth.  I had turned into my wet bunk all standing, when, having dropped
+off to sleep, I was awoke by a tremendous crash, and on springing up on
+deck I found that the mainmast had gone by the board.  The gale had
+increased, and we were driving before it.  As I made my way aft, the
+flashes of lightning revealed the pale faces of the crew, some
+endeavouring to clear away the wreck of the mast, others working with
+frantic energy at the pumps.  The leaks had increased.  As may be
+supposed, the deeply-laden collier had but a poor chance under such
+circumstances.  Presently the vessel gave a heavy lurch.  A sea rolled
+up.  The next instant I found myself struggling in the midst of the
+foaming surges.  All around was dark; I felt for the deck of the vessel,
+it was not beneath me; I had been washed overboard.  I struck out for
+life, and in another minute I was clinging to the mainmast, which had
+been cut clear.  I clambered up on it, and looked out for the brig.  She
+was nowhere to be seen; she must have gone down beneath the surge which
+washed me from her deck.  What had become of my shipmates?  I shouted
+again and again at the top of my voice.  There was a faint cry, "Help
+me; help me."  I knew the voice; it was Clement's.  Leaving the mast, I
+swam towards him; he was lashed to a spar.  The old captain's last act
+had been to try and save the young boy's life ere he himself sank
+beneath the waves.  I caught hold of the spar, bidding Clement keep his
+head above the water while I towed it to the mast.  I succeeded, and
+then clambering on it, and casting off the lashings, dragged him up and
+placed him beside me.  We hailed again and again, but no voice replied.
+It may seem strange that we, the two youngest on board, should have
+survived, while all the men were drowned, but then, not one of them
+could swim.  We could, and, under Providence, were able to struggle for
+our lives.
+
+I did my best to cheer up little Clem, telling him that if we could
+manage to hold on till daylight, as a number of vessels were certain to
+pass, we should be picked up.  "I am very, very sorry, Clem, for your
+father," I said; "for though he was somewhat gruff to me, he was a
+kind-hearted man, I am sure."
+
+"That indeed he was," answered Clement, in a tone of sorrow.  "He was
+always good to me; but he was not my father, as you fancy--the more
+reason I have to be grateful to him."
+
+"Not your father, Clem!"  I exclaimed.  "I never suspected that."
+
+"No, he was not; though he truly acted the part of one to me.  Do you
+know, Brooke, this is not the first time that I have been left alone
+floating on the ocean?  I was picked up by him just as you hope that we
+shall be picked up.  I was a very little fellow, so little that I could
+give no account of myself.  He found a black woman and me floating all
+alone on a raft out in the Atlantic.  She died almost immediately we
+were rescued, without his being able to learn anything from her.  He had
+to bury her at sea, and when he got home he in vain tried to find out my
+friends, though he preserved, I believe, the clothes I had on, and most
+of her clothes.  He sent me to an excellent school, where I was well
+taught; and Mrs Grimes, who was a dear, kind lady, far more refined
+than you would suppose his wife to have been, acted truly like a mother
+to me.  He was very fond of her, and when she died, nearly a year ago,
+he took me to sea with him.  I did not, however, give up my studies, but
+used to sit in the cabin, and every day read as much as I could.
+Captain Grimes used to say that he was sure I was a gentleman born, and
+a gentleman he wished me to be, and so I have always felt myself."
+
+I had been struck by little Clem's refined manners, and this was now
+accounted for.  "I am sure you are a gentleman, Clem," I observed; "and
+if we ever get home, my father, who is a lawyer, shall try to find out
+your friends.  He may be able to succeed though Captain Grimes could
+not.  I wonder he did not apply to my father, as, from my having been
+sent on board his ship, the captain must have known him.  I suspect that
+they wanted to sicken me of a sea life, and so sent me on board the
+_Naiad_; but they were mistaken; and now when they hear that she has
+gone down--if we are not picked up--how sorry they will be!"
+
+The conversation I have described was frequently interrupted--sometimes
+by a heavier sea than usual rolling by, and compelling us to hold tight
+for our lives; at others we were silent for several minutes together.
+We were seated on the after-part of the maintop, the rigging which hung
+down on either side acting as ballast, and contributing to keep the
+wreck of the mast tolerably steady in one position.  We were thus
+completely out of the water, though the spray from the crest of the seas
+which was blown over us kept us thoroughly wet and cold.  Fortunately,
+we both had on thick clothing.  Clement was always nicely dressed, for
+the captain, though not particular about himself, liked to see him look
+neat, while I, on the contrary, had on my oldest working suit, and was
+as rough-looking a sea-dog as could be imagined.  My old tarry coat and
+trousers, and sou'-wester tied under my chin, contributed, however, to
+keep out the wind, and enable me the better to endure the cold to which
+we were exposed.  I sheltered Clem as well as I could, and held him
+tight whenever I saw a sea coming towards him, fearing lest he might be
+washed away.  I had made up my mind to perish with him rather than let
+him go.  Hour after hour passed by, till at length, the clouds breaking,
+the moon came forth and shone down upon us.  I looked at Clem's face: it
+was very pale, and I was afraid he would give way altogether.  "Hold on,
+hold on, Clem," I exclaimed.  "The wind is falling, and the sea will
+soon go down; we shall have daylight before long, and in the meantime we
+have the moon to cheer us up.  Perhaps we shall be on shore this time
+to-morrow, and comfortably in bed; and then we will go back to my
+father, and he will find out all about your friends.  He is a
+wonderfully clever man, though a bit strict, to be sure."
+
+"Thank you, Jack, thank you," he answered.  "Don't be afraid; I feel
+pretty strong, only somewhat cold and hungry."
+
+Just then I recollected that I had put the best part of a biscuit into
+my pocket at tea-time, having been summoned on deck as I was eating it.
+It was wet, to be sure; but such biscuits as we had take a good deal of
+soaking to soften thoroughly.  I felt for it.  There it was.  So I put a
+small piece into Clem's mouth.  He was able to swallow it.  Then I put
+in another, and another; and so I fed him, till he declared he felt much
+better.  I had reserved a small portion for myself, but as I knew that I
+could go on without it, I determined to keep it, lest he should require
+more.
+
+I continued to do my best to cheer him up by talking to him of my home,
+and how he might find his relations and friends, and then I bethought me
+that I would sing a song.  I don't suppose that many people have sung
+under such circumstances, but I managed to strike up a stave, one of
+those with which I had been accustomed to amuse my messmates in the
+_Naiad's_ forecastle.  It was not, perhaps, one of the merriest, but it
+served to divert Clem's thoughts, as well as mine, from our perilous
+position.
+
+"I wish that I could sing too," said Clem; "but I know I could not, if I
+was to try.  I wonder you can, Jack."
+
+"Why? because I am sure that we shall be picked up before long, and so I
+see no reason why I should not try to be happy," I answered
+thoughtlessly.
+
+"Ah, but I am thinking of those who are gone," said Clem.  "My kind
+father, as I called him, and old Growl, and the rest of the poor
+fellows; it is like singing over their graves."
+
+"You are right, Clem," I said; "I will sing no more, though I only did
+it to keep up your spirits.  But what is that?"  I exclaimed, suddenly,
+as we rose to the crest of a sea.  "A large ship standing directly for
+us."
+
+"Yes; she is close-hauled, beating down Channel," observed Clement.
+"She will be right upon us, too, if she keeps her present course."
+
+"We must take care to let her know where we are, by shouting together at
+the top of our voices when we are near enough to be heard," I said.
+
+"She appears to me to be a man-of-war, and probably a sharp look-out is
+kept forward," Clement remarked.  We had not observed the ship before,
+as our faces had been turned away from her.  The sea had, however, been
+gradually working the mast round, as I knew to be the case by the
+different position in which the moon appeared to us.
+
+"We must get ready for a shout, Clem, and then cry out together as we
+have never cried before.  I'll say when we are to begin."
+
+As the ship drew nearer Clem had no doubt that she was a man-of-war, a
+large frigate apparently, under her three topsails and courses.
+
+"She is passing to windward of us," I exclaimed.
+
+"Not so sure of that," cried Clem.  "She will be right over us if we do
+not cry out in time."
+
+"Let us begin, then," I said.  "Now, shout away, Hip!  Hip!"
+
+"No, no!" cried Clem, "that will not do.  Shout `Ship ahoy!'"
+
+I had forgotten for the moment what to say, so together we began
+shouting as shrilly as we could, at the very top of our voices.  Again
+and again we shouted.  I began to fear that the ship would be right over
+us, when presently we saw her luff up.  The moon was shining down upon
+us, and we were seen.  So close, even then, did the frigate pass, that
+the end of the mast we were clinging to almost grazed her side.  Ropes
+were hove to us, but the ship had too much way on her, and it was
+fortunate we could not seize them.  "Thank you," I cried out.  "Will you
+take us aboard?"  There was no answer, and I thought that we were to be
+left floating on our mast till some other vessel might sight us.  We
+were mistaken, though.  We could hear loud orders issued on board, but
+what was said we could not make out, and presently the ship came up to
+the wind, the head yards were braced round, and she lay hove-to.  Then
+we saw a boat lowered.  How eagerly we watched what was being done.  She
+came towards us.  The people in her shouted to us in a strange language.
+They were afraid, evidently, of having their boat stove in by the wreck
+of the mast.  At last they approached us cautiously.
+
+"Come, Clem, we will swim to her," I said.  "Catch tight hold of my
+jacket; I have got strength enough left in me for that."
+
+We had not far to go, but I found it a tougher job than I expected.  It
+would have been wiser to have remained till we could have leaped from
+the mast to the boat.  I was almost exhausted by the time we reached
+her, and thankful when I felt Clem lifted off my back, I myself, when
+nearly sinking, being next hauled on board.  We were handed into the
+stern-sheets, where we lay almost helpless.  I tried to speak, but could
+not, nor could I understand a word that was said.  The men at once
+pulled back to the ship, and a big seaman, taking Clem under one of his
+arms, clambered up with him on deck.  Another carried me on board in the
+same fashion.  The boat was then hoisted up, and the head yards being
+braced round, the ship continued her course.  Lanterns being brought, we
+were surrounded by a group of foreign-looking seamen, who stared
+curiously at us, asking, I judged from the tones of their voices, all
+sorts of questions, but as their language was as strange to us as ours
+was to them, we couldn't understand a word they said, or make them
+comprehend what we said.
+
+"If you would give us some hot grog, and let us turn into dry hammocks,
+we should be much obliged to you," I cried out at last, despairing of
+any good coming of all their talking.
+
+Just as I spoke, an officer with a cloak on came from below, having
+apparently turned out of his berth.  "Ah, you are English," I heard him
+say.  "Speak to me.  How came you floating out here?"
+
+I told him that our vessel had gone down, and that we, as far as I knew,
+were the only survivors of the crew.
+
+"And who is that other boy?"
+
+"The captain's son," I answered.
+
+"Ah, I thought so, by his appearance," said the officer.  "He shall be
+taken into the cabin.  You, my boy, will have a hammock on the lower
+deck, and the hot grog you asked for.  I'll visit you soon.  I am the
+doctor of the ship."
+
+He then spoke to the men, and while Clement was carried aft, I was
+lifted up and conveyed below by a couple of somewhat rough but not
+ill-natured-looking seamen.  I was more exhausted than I had supposed,
+for on the way I fainted, and many hours passed by before I returned to
+a state of half consciousness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+ON THE RUSSIAN FRIGATE.
+
+In three days I was quite well, and the doctor sending me a suit of
+seaman's clothes, I dressed and found my way up on deck.  I looked about
+eagerly for Clem, but not seeing him, I became anxious to learn how he
+was.  I could make none of the men understand me.  Most of them were
+Finns--big broad-shouldered, ruddy, light haired, bearded fellows; very
+good-natured and merry, notwithstanding the harsh treatment they often
+received.  Big as they were, they were knocked about like so many boys
+by the petty officers, and I began to feel rather uncomfortable lest I
+should come in for share of the same treatment, of which I had had
+enough from the hands of old Growl.  I determined, however, to grin and
+bear it, and do, as well as I could, whatever I was told.
+
+I soon found that I was not to be allowed to eat the bread of idleness,
+for a burly officer, whom I took to be the boatswain, ordered me aloft
+with several other boys, to hand the fore royal, a stiff breeze just
+then coming on.  Up I went; and though I had never been so high above
+the deck before, that made but little difference, and I showed that I
+could beat my companions in activity.  When I came down the boatswain
+nodded his approval.  I kept looking out for Clem.  At last I saw my
+friend the doctor, with several other officers, on the quarter-deck.  I
+hurried aft to him, and, touching my cap, asked him how Clem was.  The
+others stared at me as if surprised at my audacity in thus venturing
+among them.  "The boy is doing well," he answered; "but, lad, I must
+advise you not to infringe the rules of discipline.  You were, I
+understand, one of the ship's boys, and must remain for'ard.  He is a
+young gentleman, and such his dress and appearance prove him to be, will
+be allowed to live with the midshipmen."
+
+"I am very glad to hear that," I answered; "but I am a gentleman's son
+also, and I should like to live with the midshipmen, that I may be with
+Clem."
+
+"Your companion has said something to the same effect," observed the
+doctor; "but the captain remarks that there are many wild, idle boys
+sent to sea who may claim to be the sons of gentlemen; and as your
+appearance shows, as you acknowledge was the case, that you were before
+the mast, there you must continue till your conduct proves that you are
+deserving of a higher rank.  And now go for'ard.  I'll recollect what
+you have said."  I took the hint.  The seamen grinned as I returned
+among them, as if they had understood what I had been saying.
+
+I kept to my resolution of doing smartly whatever I was told, and
+laughed and joked with the men, trying to understand their lingo, and to
+make myself understood by them.  I managed to pick up some of their
+words, though they almost cracked my jaws to pronounce them; but I
+laughed at my I own mistakes, and they seemed to think it very good fun
+to hear me talk.
+
+Several days passed away, when at length I saw Clement come on deck.  I
+ran aft to him, and he came somewhat timidly to meet me.  We shook
+hands, and I told him how glad I was to see him better, though he still
+looked very pale.  "I am very glad also to see you, Jack," he said, "and
+I wish we were to be together.  I told the doctor I would rather go and
+live for'ard than be separated from you; but he replied that that could
+not be, and I have hopes, Jack, that by-and-by you will be placed on the
+quarter-deck if you will enter the Russian service."
+
+"What! and give up being an Englishman?"  I exclaimed.  "I would do a
+great deal to be with you, but I won't abandon my country and be
+transmogrified into a Russian."
+
+"You are right, Jack," said Clem, with a sigh; "however, the officers
+will not object to my talking with you, and we must hope for the best."
+After this I was constantly thinking how I should act should I have the
+option of being placed on the quarter-deck and becoming an officer in
+the Russian service, for we were on board a Russian frigate.
+
+Clem got rapidly better, and we every day met and had a talk together.
+Altogether, as the boatswain's lash did not often reach me, though he
+used it pretty freely among my companions, I was as happy as usual.  I
+should have been glad to have had less train-oil and fat in the food
+served out to us, and should have preferred wheaten flour to the black
+rye and beans which I had to eat.  Still that was a trifle, and I soon
+got accustomed to the greasy fare.  Clem was now doing duty as a
+midshipman, and I was in the same watch with him.
+
+The weather had hitherto been generally fine; but one night as the sun
+went down, I thought I saw indications of a gale.  Still the wind didn't
+come, and the ship went gliding smoothly over the ocean.  I was in the
+middle watch, and had just come on deck.  I had made my way aft, where I
+found Clem, and, leaning against a gun, we were talking together of dear
+old England, wondering when we should get back there, when a sudden
+squall struck the ship, and the hands were ordered aloft to reef
+topsails.  I sprang aloft with the rest, and lay out on the lee fore
+yard-arm.  I was so much more active than most of my shipmates, that I
+had become somewhat careless.  As I was leaning over to catch hold of a
+reef point, I lost my balance, and felt, as I fell head foremost, that I
+was about to have my brains dashed out on the deck below me.  The
+instant before the wind had suddenly ceased, and the sail giving a flap,
+hung down almost against the mast.  Just at that moment, filled with the
+breeze, it bulged out again, and striking me, sent me flying overboard.
+Instinctively I put my hands together, and, plunging down, struck the
+now foaming water head first.  I sank several feet, though I scarcely
+for a moment lost consciousness, and when I came to the surface I found
+myself striking out away from the ship, which was gliding rapidly by me.
+I heard a voice sing out, "A man overboard."  I knew that it must have
+been Clem's, and I saw a spar and several other things thrown into the
+water.  I do not know whether the life-buoy was let go.  I did not see
+it.  Turning round I struck out in the wake of the ship, but the gale
+just then coming with tremendous fury, drove her on fast away from me,
+and she speedily disappeared in the thick gloom.  I should have lost all
+hope had I not at that moment come against a spar, and a large basket
+with a rope attached to it, which was driven almost into my hands.
+Climbing on to the spar, to which I managed to lash the basket, I then
+got into the latter, where I could sit without much risk of being washed
+out.  It served, indeed, as a tolerably efficient life-preserver; for
+although the water washed in and washed out, and the seas frequently
+broke over my head, I was able to hold myself in without much trouble.
+I still had some hopes that the ship would come back and look for me.
+
+At length I thought I saw her approaching through the darkness.  It
+raised my spirits, and I felt a curious satisfaction, in addition to the
+expectation of being saved, at the thought that I was not to be
+carelessly abandoned to my fate.  I anxiously gazed in the direction
+where I fancied the ship to be, but she drew no nearer, and the dark
+void filled the space before me.  Still I did not give way to despair,
+though I found it a hard matter to keep up.  I had been rescued before,
+and I hoped to be saved another time.  Then, however, I had been in a
+comparatively narrow sea, with numerous vessels passing over it.  Now I
+was in the middle of the Atlantic, which, although rightly called a
+highway, was a very broad one.  I could not also help recollecting that
+I was in the latitude where sharks abound, and I thought it possible
+that one might make a grab at my basket, and try to swallow it and me
+together, although I smiled at the thought of the inconvenience the fish
+would feel when it stuck its teeth into the yard, and got it fixed
+across its mouth.  Happily no shark espied me.
+
+Day at last dawned.  As I looked around when I rose to the summit of a
+sea, my eyes fell alone on the dark, tumbling, foaming waters, and the
+thick clouds going down to meet them.  I began to feel very hungry and
+thirsty, for though I had water enough around me, I dare not drink it.
+I now found it harder than ever to keep up my spirits, and gloomy
+thoughts began to take possession of my mind.  No one, I confess, would
+have called me Happy Jack just then.  I was sinking off into a state of
+stupor, during which I might easily have been washed out of my cradle,
+when, happening to open my eyes, they fell on the sails of a large brig
+standing directly for me.  I could scarcely fail to be seen by those on
+board.  On she came before the breeze; but as she drew nearer I began to
+fear that she might still pass at some distance.  I tried to stand up
+and shout out, but I was nearly toppling overboard in making the
+attempt.  I managed, however, to kneel upon the spar and wave my
+handkerchief, shouting as I did so with all my might.  The brig altered
+her course, and now came directly down for me.  I made out two or three
+people in the forechains standing ready to heave me a rope.  I prepared
+to seize it.  The brig was up to me and nearly running me down, but I
+caught the first rope hove to me, and grasped it tightly.  I could
+scarcely have expected to find myself capable of so much exertion.
+Friendly hands were stretched out to help me up, but scarcely was I safe
+than I sank down almost senseless on deck.  I soon, however, recovered,
+and being taken below, and dry clothes and food being given me, I
+quickly felt as well as usual.  "Where am I, and where are you bound
+to?" were the first questions I asked, hoping to hear that I was on
+board a homeward-bound vessel.  "You are on board the American brig
+_Fox_ bound out round the Horn to the Sandwich Islands and the west
+coast of North America," was the answer.  "But I want to go home to
+England," I exclaimed.  "Well, then, I guess you had better get into
+your basket, and wait till another vessel picks you up," replied the
+captain, to whom I had addressed myself.  "Thank you, I would rather
+stay here with dry clothes on my back and something to eat," I said.
+"Perhaps, however, captain, you will speak any homeward-bound vessel we
+meet, and get her to take me?"
+
+"Not likely to fall in with one," he observed.  "You had better make the
+best of things where you are."
+
+"That's what I always try to do," I replied.  "You are the right sort of
+youngster for me, then," he said.  "Only don't go boasting of your proud
+little venomous island among my people.  We are true Americans, fore and
+aft, except some of the passengers, and they would be better off if they
+would sink their notions and pay more respect to the stars and stripes.
+However, you will have nothing to do with them, for you will do your
+duty for'ard I guess."  I thought it wiser to make no reply to these
+remarks, and as the crew were just going to dinner, I gladly accompanied
+them into their berth under the top-gallant forecastle.  The crew, I
+found, though American citizens, were of all nationalities--Danes, and
+Swedes, and Frenchmen, with too or three mulattoes and a black cook.
+They described Captain Pyke, for that was the master's name, as a
+regular Tartar, and seemed to have no great love for him, though they
+held him in especial awe.  I was thankful at being so soon picked up,
+but I would rather have found myself on board a different style of
+craft.  The cabin passengers were going out to join one of the
+establishments of the great Fur Trading Company on the Columbia river.
+They were pleasant, gentlemanly-looking men, and I longed to introduce
+myself to them, as I was beginning to get somewhat weary of the rough
+characters with whom I was doomed to associate.  But from what the men
+told me, I felt sure that if I did so I should make the captain my
+enemy.  He and they were evidently not on good terms.  I got on,
+however, pretty well with the crew, and as I could speak a little
+French, I used to talk to the Frenchmen in their own language, my
+mistakes affording them considerable amusement, though, as they
+corrected me, I gradually improved.
+
+Among the crew were two other persons whom I will particularly mention.
+One went by the name of "Old Tom."  He was relatively old with regard to
+the rest of our shipmates, rather than old in years--a wiry, active,
+somewhat wizen-faced man, with broad shoulders, and possessing great
+muscular strength.  I suspected from the first, from the way he spoke,
+that he was not a Yankee born.  His language, when talking to me, was
+always correct, without any nasal twang; and that he was a man of some
+education I was convinced, when I heard him once quote, as if speaking
+to himself, a line of Horace.  He never smiled, and there was a
+melancholy expression on his countenance, which made me fancy that
+something weighed on his mind.  He did not touch spirits, but his short
+pipe was seldom out of his mouth.  When, however, he sat with the rest
+in the forecastle berth, his manner completely changed, and he talked,
+and argued, and wrangled, and guessed, and calculated, with as much
+vehemence as any one, entering with apparent zest into their ribald
+conversation, though even then the most humorous remark or jest failed
+to draw forth a laugh from his lips.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+ON BOARD THE AMERICAN BRIG.
+
+The other person was a lad a couple of years my senior, called always
+"Young Sam," apparently one of those unhappy waifs cast on the bleak
+world without relations or friends to care for him.  He was a fine young
+fellow, with a blue laughing eye, dauntless and active, and promised to
+become a good seaman.  In spite of the rough treatment he often received
+from his shipmates, he kept up his spirits, and as our natures in that
+respect assimilated, I felt drawn towards him.  The only person who
+seemed to take any interest in him, however, was old Tom, who saved him
+from many a blow; still, no two characters could apparently have more
+completely differed.  Young Sam seemed a thoughtless, care-for-nothing
+fellow, always laughing and jibing those who attacked him, and ready for
+any fun or frolic which turned up.  He appreciated, however, old Tom's
+kindness; and the only times I saw him look serious were when he
+received a gentle rebuke from his friend for any folly he had committed
+which had brought him into trouble.  I believe, indeed, that young Sam
+would have gone through fire and water to show his gratitude to old Tom,
+while I suspect that the latter, in spite of his harsh exterior, had a
+heart not altogether seared by the world, which required some one on
+whom to fix its kindlier feelings.
+
+I had been some time on board when we put into a port at the Falkland
+Islands, then uninhabited, to obtain a supply of water.  While the crew
+of the boats were engaged in filling the casks, Mr Duncan, one of the
+gentlemen, taking young Sam with him, went into the interior to shoot
+wild-fowl.
+
+The casks were filled; and the boats, after waiting for some time the
+return of Mr Duncan and Sam, came back.  Mr Symonds, the second mate,
+proposed to return for our shipmates after the casks had been hoisted on
+board.  The captain seemed very angry at this; and when Mr Symonds was
+shoving off from the brig's side, ordered him back.  He was hesitating,
+when another gentleman jumped into the boat, declaring that he would not
+allow his companion to be left behind, and promised the men a reward if
+they would shove off.  Two of the men agreed to go in the boat, and the
+mate, with the rest, coming up the side, they pulled away for the shore.
+
+The captain walked the deck, fuming and raging, every now and then
+turning an angry glance at the land and pulling out his watch.  "He
+means mischief," muttered old Tom in my hearing; "but if he thinks to
+leave young Sam ashore to die of starvation, he is mistaken."
+
+The night drew on, and the boat had not returned.  My watch being over,
+I turned in, supposing that the brig would remain at anchor till the
+morning.  I was, however, awakened in the middle watch by old Tom's
+voice.  "Come on deck, Jack," he said; "there's mischief brewing; the
+captain had a quarrel with Mr Duncan the other day, and he hates young
+Sam for his impudence, as he calls it, and so I believe he intends to
+leave them behind if he can do so; but he is mistaken.  We will not lift
+anchor till they are safe on board, or a party has been sent to look for
+them.  They probably lost their way, and could not get back to the
+harbour before dark.  There are no wild beasts or savages on shore, and
+so they could not come to harm; you slip into the cabin, and call the
+other gentlemen, and I'll manage the crew, who have just loosed
+topsails, and are already at the windlass with the cable hove short."
+
+I was on deck in an instant, and, keeping on one side, while the captain
+was on the other, managed to slip into the cabin.  I told the gentlemen
+of old Tom's suspicions, and observed that the captain probably thought
+those in the boat would return without Mr Duncan and Sam, when they saw
+the vessel making sail.
+
+They instantly began to dress; and one of them, a spirited young
+Highlander, Mr McIvor, put a brace of pistols into his belt and
+followed me on deck.  I tried to escape being seen by the captain, but
+he caught sight of me, I was sure, though I stooped down and kept close
+to the bulwarks as I crept for'ard.
+
+By this time the men were heaving at the windlass, which they continued
+to do, in spite of what old Tom said to them.  The captain had overheard
+him, and threatened to knock the first man down with a handspike who
+ceased to work.  Old Tom, however, had got one in his hand, and the
+captain did not dare to touch him.  In another instant I heard Mr
+McIvor's voice exclaiming, "What is this all about, Captain Pyke?  What!
+are you going to leave our friends on shore?"
+
+"If your friends don't come off at the proper time they must take the
+consequences," answered the captain.  "Then, what I have got to say,
+Captain Pyke, is, that I'll not allow them to be deserted, and that I
+intend to carry out my resolution with a pretty strong argument--the
+instant the anchor leaves the ground I'll shoot you through the head."
+
+"Mutiny! mutiny!" shouted the captain, starting back, "seize this man
+and heave him overboard."  As he spoke the other two gentlemen made
+their appearance, and old Tom and I, with two or three others, stepped
+up close to them, showing the captain the side we intended to take.
+Neither of the mates moved, while the men folded their arms and looked
+on, showing that they did not intend to interfere.
+
+"Very well, gentlemen," cried the captain, "I see how matters stand--you
+have been bribing the crew.  I'll agree to wait for the boat, and if she
+does not come with the missing people we must give them up for lost."
+
+"That depends upon circumstances," said Mr McIvor, returning his pistol
+to his belt.  He and the rest continued to walk the deck, while the
+captain went, muttering threats of vengeance, into his cabin.
+
+None of us after this turned in.  In a short time the splash of oars was
+heard, and the boat came alongside.  "We have come for food," said Mr
+Fraser, one of the gentlemen who had gone in her.  "I intend going back
+at daylight, and must get two or three others to accompany me.  We will
+then have a thorough search for Duncan and the boy--there is no doubt
+that they have lost their way, and if we fire a few muskets, they will,
+with the help of daylight, easily find the harbour.  Mr McIvor promised
+to accompany his friend, and I volunteered to go also."
+
+"No, Jack," said old Tom, "you remain with me.  If we all go, the
+captain may be playing us some trick."  I don't know what side old Tom
+would have taken if it had not been for young Sam.  Judging by his usual
+conduct, I suspect that he would have stood with his arms folded, and
+let the rest, as he would have said, fight it out by themselves.
+
+At daylight the boat pulled away with Mr McIvor and another additional
+hand, taking a couple of muskets with them.  Shortly afterwards the
+captain appeared on deck--though he cast frequent angry glances towards
+the shore, he said nothing--probably he could not afford to lose so many
+hands, as there were now four away, besides the two gentlemen, while the
+aspect of old Tom, with the rest of the crew, kept him from attempting
+to carry out his evil intentions.  Two or three times, notwithstanding
+this, I thought he was about to order the anchor to be hove up; but
+again he seemed to hesitate, and at length, towards noon, the boat was
+seen coming off, with Mr Duncan and Sam in her.  The captain said
+nothing to the gentlemen, but, as soon as the boat was hoisted up, he
+began to belabour poor Sam with a rope's end.  He was still striking the
+lad, when old Tom stepped between them, grasping a handspike.  "What has
+the lad done, sir?" he exclaimed.  "Why not attack Mr Duncan?  If
+anyone is to blame for the delay, he is the person, not young Sam."  The
+gentlemen were advancing while old Tom was speaking, and several of the
+crew cried out shame.  The captain again found himself in the minority,
+and, without replying to old Tom, walked aft, muttering between his
+teeth.
+
+These incidents will give some idea of the state of matters on board the
+ship.
+
+We now made sail, with a gentle breeze right aft, but scarcely had we
+lost sight of the islands when a heavy gale sprang up.  The lighter
+canvas was instantly handed--young Sam and one of the men who had gone
+in the boat were ordered out on the jibboom to furl the flying jib.  As
+they were about this work, a tremendous sea struck the bows, the gaskets
+got loose, the jibboom was carried away, and with it the two poor
+fellows who were endeavouring to secure the sail.  The captain, who had
+seen the accident, took no notice of it, but the first mate, not wishing
+to have their death on his conscience, sprang aft and ordered the ship
+to be brought to, while others hove overboard every loose piece of
+timber, empty casks, or hencoops, which they could lay hands on, to give
+our shipmates a chance of escape.  Old Tom and I instantly ran to the
+jolly-boat, and were easing off the falls, when I felt myself felled to
+the deck by a blow on the head, the captain's voice exclaiming, "What,
+you fools, do you wish to go after them and be drowned too?"  When I
+came to myself I saw the boat made fast, and could just distinguish the
+articles thrown overboard floating astern, while old Tom was standing
+gazing at them with sorrowful looks, the eyes of all on board, indeed,
+being turned in the same direction.
+
+"It would have been no use, Jack," he said, heaving a deep sigh; "the
+captain was right, the boat couldn't have lived two minutes in this sea,
+but I would have risked my life to try and save young Sam, though, for
+your sake, my boy, it's better as it is."
+
+After this the ship was put on her course, and we stood on, plunging
+away into the heavy seas which rose around us, and threatened every
+instant to break on board the brig.  The passengers looked, and, I
+daresay, felt very melancholy at the accident, for young Sam especially,
+was liked by them, and on that account Mr Duncan had taken him on his
+expedition.  Old Tom could scarcely lift up his head, and even the rest
+of the crew refrained from their usual gibes and jokes.  The captain
+said nothing, but I saw by the way he treated the first mate that he was
+very savage with him for the part he had taken in attempting to save the
+poor fellows.
+
+After this old Tom was kinder than ever to me, and evidently felt
+towards me as he had towards young Sam, whose duties as everybody's
+servant I had now to take, being the youngest on board, and least able
+to hold my own against the captain's tyranny, and the careless and often
+rough treatment of the crew.
+
+I had some time before told poor young Sam how I used to be called
+"Happy Jack," and he went and let out what I had said among the men.
+When one of them started me with a rope's end, he would sing out,
+"That's for you, `Happy Jack.'"  Another would exclaim, "Go and swab the
+deck down, `Happy Jack;'" or, "`Happy Jack,' go and help Mango to clean
+out the caboose, I hope you are happy now--pleasant work for a young
+gentleman, isn't it?"
+
+"Look you," I replied one day, when this remark was made to me, "I am
+alive and well, and hope some day to see my home and friends, so,
+compared to the lot of poor young Sam and Dick Noland, who are fathoms
+deep down in the ocean, I think I have a right to say I am happy--your
+kicks and cuffs only hurt for a time, and I manage soon to forget them.
+If it's any pleasure to you to give them, all I can say is, that it's a
+very rum sort of pleasure; and now you have got my opinion about the
+matter."
+
+"That's the spirit I like to see," exclaimed old Tom, slapping me on the
+back soon afterwards, "You'll soon put a stop to that sort of thing."  I
+found he was right; and, though I had plenty of dirty work to do, still,
+after that, not one of the men ever lifted his hand against me.  The
+captain, however, was not to be so easily conquered, and so I took good
+care to stand clear of him whenever I could.
+
+The rough weather continued till we had made Cape Horn, which rose dark
+and frowning out of the wild heaving ocean.  We were some time doubling
+it, and were several days in sight of Terra del Fuego, but we did not
+see anything like a burning mountain--indeed, no volcanoes exist at that
+end of the Andes.
+
+The weather moderated soon after we were round the Horn, but in a short
+time another gale sprung up, during which our bulwarks were battered in,
+one of our boats carried away, our bowsprit sprung, and the
+fore-topsail, the only canvas we had set, blown to ribbons.  Besides
+this, we received other damages, which contributed still further to sour
+our captain's temper.  We were at one time so near the ironbound coast
+that there seemed every probability that we should finish off by being
+dashed to pieces on the rocks.  Happily, the wind moderated, and a fine
+breeze springing up, we ran on merrily into the Pacific.
+
+Shortly after, we made the island of Juan Fernandez, and, as I saw its
+wood-covered heights rising out of the blue ocean, I could not help
+longing to go on shore and visit the scenes I had read about in Robinson
+Crusoe.  I told old Tom about my wish.  Something more like a smile than
+I had ever yet seen, rose on his countenance.  "I doubt, Jack, that you
+would find any traces of the hero you are so fond of," he observed; "I
+believe once upon a time an Englishman did live there, left by one of
+the ships of Commodore Anson's squadron, but that was long ago, and the
+Spaniards have turned it into a prison, something like our Norfolk
+Island."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+OLD TOM'S STORY.
+
+We, however, did call off another island in the neighbourhood, called
+Massafuera, to obtain a supply of wood and water.  The ship was hove-to,
+and the pinnace and jolly-boat were sent on shore with casks.  I was
+anxious to go, but old Tom kept me back.  "You stay where you are,
+Jack," he said, "or the skipper may play you some trick.  It's a
+dangerous place to land at, you are sure of a wetting, and may lose your
+life in going through the surf."
+
+In the evening, when the party returned, I found this to be the case.
+Still, I might have been tempted, I think, to run off and let the ship
+sail away without me, as I heard that there were plenty of goats on the
+island, abundance of water, and that the vegetation was very rich.
+
+It is also an exceedingly picturesque spot, the mountains rising
+abruptly from the sea, surrounded by a narrow strip of beach.  Those who
+went on shore had also caught a large quantity of fish, of various
+sorts, as well as lobsters and crabs, which supplied all hands for
+several days.
+
+Perhaps old Tom had a suspicion of what I might have been tempted to do,
+and I fancied that was his chief reason for keeping me on board.
+
+The idea having once taken possession of my mind, I resolved to make my
+escape at the next tempting-looking island we might touch at, should I
+find any civilised men living there, or should it be uninhabited.  I had
+no wish to live among savages, as I had read enough of their doings to
+make me anxious to keep out of their way, and I was not influenced by
+motives which induce seamen to run from their ships for the sake of
+living an idle, profligate life, free from the restraints of
+civilisation.
+
+A few days after leaving Massafuera, we got into the trade winds, which
+carried us swiftly along to the northward.  Again we crossed the
+equator; and about three weeks afterwards made the island of Owhyee, the
+largest of the Sandwich Islands.  As we coasted along, we enjoyed the
+most magnificent view I had ever beheld.  Along the picturesque shore
+were numerous beautiful plantations, while beyond it rose the rocky and
+dreary sides of the gigantic Mouna Roa, its snow-clad summit towering to
+the clouds.  It was on this island that Captain Cook was murdered by the
+now friendly and almost civilised natives, who have, indeed, since
+become in many respects completely so, and taken their place among the
+nations of the world.
+
+We sailed on, passing several islands, when we brought up in the
+beautiful bay of Whytetee.  Near the shore was a village situated in an
+open grove of cocoa-nut trees, with the hills rising gently in the rear,
+presenting a charming prospect.  The more I gazed at it, the more I
+longed to leave the brig, and go and dwell there, especially as I heard
+that there were several respectable Englishmen and Americans already
+settled on the island, and that they were held in high favour by the
+king and his chiefs.  Still old Tom had been so kind to me, and I
+entertained so sincere a regard for him, that I could not bear the
+thoughts of going away without bidding him farewell.  I was afraid,
+however, of letting him know my intentions.  Often I thought that I
+would try and persuade him to go too.  I began by speaking of the
+beautiful country, and the delicious climate, and the kind manners of
+the people, and how pleasantly our countrymen, residing there, must pass
+their lives.  "I know what you are driving at, Jack," he said, "You want
+to run from the ship; isn't it so?"  I confessed that such was the case,
+and asked him to go with me.  "No, Jack," he replied, "I am not one of
+those fellows who act thus; I have done many a thing I am sorry for, but
+I engaged for the voyage, and swore to stick by the brig; and while she
+holds together, unless the captain sets me free, I intend to do so.  And
+Jack, though you are at liberty to do what you like, you wouldn't leave
+me, would you?"  He spoke with much feeling in his tone.  "Since young
+Sam went, you are the only person I have cared to speak to on board, and
+if you were to go, I should feel as if I were left alone in the world.
+I should have liked to have made friends with those fine young men,
+Duncan and McIvor.  Once, (you may be surprised to hear it) I was their
+equal in position, but they don't trouble themselves about such a man as
+I now am, and they will soon be leaving the brig for the shore.  If I
+thought it was for your advantage, I would say, notwithstanding this,
+go; but it isn't.  You will get into bad ways if you go and live among
+those savages--for savages they are, whatever you may say about them.
+And you will probably be able to return home by sticking to the brig
+sooner than any other way."
+
+These arguments weighed greatly with me, and I finally abandoned my
+intention, greatly to old Tom's satisfaction.  He redoubled his kindness
+to me after this.  Towards every one else he grew more silent and
+reserved.
+
+I may just say, that the next day we anchored off Honoluloo, the chief
+town, where the king and his court resided; and that we carried on some
+trading with the people, his majesty in particular, and taking some
+half-a-dozen Sandwich islanders on board to replace the men we had lost,
+and, as old Tom observed, any others we might lose, we sailed for the
+American coast.
+
+From that day I could not help observing a more than usually sad
+expression on my friend's countenance; indeed, every day he seemed to
+become more and more gloomy, and I determined to ask him what there was
+on his mind to make him so.  I took the opportunity I was looking for
+one night when he was at the helm, and the second mate, who was officer
+of the watch, had gone forward to have a chat, as he sometimes did, with
+the men.  The night was fine and clear, and we were not likely to have
+eaves-droppers.  "Tell me, Tom," I said, "what is the matter with you?
+I wish that I could be of as much use to you as you have been to me."
+
+"Thank you, Jack," he answered; "the fact is, I have got something on my
+mind, and as you have given me an opportunity, I'll tell you what it is.
+I think I shall be the better afterwards, and you may be able to do for
+me what I shall never have an opportunity of doing myself, for, Jack, I
+cannot help feeling sure that my days are numbered.  If that captain of
+ours wishes to get rid of me, he will find means without staining his
+hands in my blood, he will not do that, there are plenty of other ways
+by which I may be expended, as they say of old stores in the navy.  For
+myself I care but little, but I should wish to remain to look after you,
+and lend you a helping hand should you need it."
+
+"Thank you, Tom," I said, "I value the kind feelings you entertain for
+me, and I hope that we shall be together till we reach England again.
+But I was going to ask why you think that the captain wishes to get rid
+of you?  He can have no motive that I can discover to desire your
+death."
+
+"He hates me, that's enough; he's a man who will go any lengths to
+gratify his hate," answered old Tom.  "But I promised to tell you about
+the matter which weighs on my mind.  Jack, I did many things when I was
+a young man, which I am sorry for, but I was then chiefly my own enemy.
+A time came, however, when I was tempted to commit a crime against
+others, and it's only since I began this voyage that I have had a wish
+to try and undo it as far as I have the power.  You must know, Jack, I
+am the son of a gentleman, and I went to college.  I had got into bad
+ways there, and spent all my property.  When my last shilling was gone,
+I shipped on board a merchant vessel, and for years never again set foot
+on the shores of old England.  I knocked about all that time in
+different climes and vessels, herding with the roughest and most
+abandoned class of seamen, till I became almost as abandoned and rough
+as they were.  Still, during all my wanderings, I had a hankering for
+the associates and the refinements of society I had so long quitted.
+Thoughts of home would come back to me even in my wildest moments,
+although I tried hard to keep them out.  At length I returned to England
+with more money in my pocket than I had ever again expected to possess.
+Throwing aside my seafaring clothes as soon as I got on shore, I dressed
+myself as a gentleman, and repairing to a fashionable watering-place,
+where I found several old friends, managed to get into respectable
+society.  I forgot that unless I could obtain some employment my money
+must soon come to an end.  It did so, but the taste for good society had
+been revived in me.  It was now impossible to indulge in it, and I was
+compelled once more to seek for a berth on board ship.  Thoughtlessly, I
+had never studied navigation while I was at sea, and consequently had
+again to go before the mast.  I got on board an Indiaman, and reached
+Calcutta.  On the return voyage we had a number of passengers.  I of
+course knew but little about them, as I seldom went aft except to take
+my trick at the helm.  I observed, however, among them a gentleman of
+refined appearance, with his wife and their little boy.  They had a
+native nurse to take care of him.  No one could be more affectionate
+than the gentleman was to his wife and child, but he seemed of a
+retiring disposition, and I seldom saw him speaking to any one else.  We
+had had particularly fine weather during the greater part of the
+passage, when the ship was caught in a tremendous gale.  During it the
+masts were carried away, several of the hands--Lascars and Englishmen--
+were lost overboard, while she sprung a leak, which kept all the crew
+hard at work at the pumps.
+
+"It became evident, indeed, before long, that unless the weather
+moderated the ship would go down.  We had four boats remaining, but as
+they would not carry a third of the people on board, the captain ordered
+all hands to turn to and build rafts.  We were thus employed when night
+came on; such a night I never before had seen.  The thunder roared and
+the lightning flashed around us, as if it would set the ship on fire.
+Some hours passed away; we could get on but slowly with our work.  I was
+on the after-part of the deck, when I remember seeing the gentleman I
+have spoken of come up and make an offer to the captain to lend a hand
+at whatever might be required to be done.  I observed at the time that
+he had a small case hanging to his side.  He did not seem to think that
+there was any danger of the ship going down for many hours to come; nor
+indeed did any one; for the leaks were gaining but little on the pumps,
+although they were gaining.  He seemed so well to understand what he was
+about that I suspected he was a naval officer.  We worked away hard, and
+it was nearly morning, when a dreadful peal of thunder, such as I had
+never heard before, broke over our heads, and it's my belief that a bolt
+passed right through the ship.  Be that as it may, a fearful cry arose
+that she was going down.  The people rushed to the boats.  Discipline
+was at an end.  The gentleman I spoke of shouted to the men, trying to
+bring them back to their duty.  Then I saw him, when all hope of doing
+so had gone, hurry into the cuddy.  Directly afterwards he came out with
+his wife and child, together with the nurse.  Supposing, I fancy, that
+the boats were already full, or would be swamped alongside, he secured
+the nurse to the raft we had been building, and had given her the child
+to hold, calling on me and others to assist in launching it overboard,
+intending to take his place with his wife upon it.  He was in the act of
+securing her--so it seemed to me--when the ship gave a fearful plunge
+forward, and a roaring sea swept over her.  I at once saw that she would
+never rise again.  On came the foaming waters, carrying all before them.
+Whether or not the gentleman and his wife succeeded in getting to the
+raft, I could not tell; there was no room, I knew, for me on it.  Just
+before I had caught sight of one of the boats, which had shoved off with
+comparatively few people in her, dropping close under the ship's
+quarter.  I sprang aft, and, leaping overboard, struck out towards her,
+managing to get hold of her bow as it dipped into the sea.  I hauled
+myself on board.  By the time I had got in, and could look about me, I
+saw the stern of the ship sinking beneath a wave, and for a moment I
+thought the boat would have been drawn down with her.  Such fearful
+shrieks and cries as I never wish to hear again rose from amid the
+foaming sea, followed by a perfect and scarcely less terrible silence.
+We had but three oars in the boat, which we could with difficulty,
+therefore, manage in that heavy sea.  Most of the men in her were
+Lascars, and they were but little disposed to go to the assistance of
+our drowning shipmates.  There were three Englishmen in the after-part
+of the boat, and I made my way among the Lascars to join them.  Even the
+Englishmen belonged to the least respectable part of the crew.  They,
+however, sided with me, and, seizing a stretcher, I swore that I would
+brain the fellows if they would not try to pick up some of the drowning
+people.  Two or three on this drew their knives, flourishing them with
+threatening gestures.  Knowing them pretty well, I felt sure that if we
+did not gain the day, they would take the first opportunity of heaving
+us overboard; and with all my might I dealt a blow at the head of the
+man nearest me, who held his weapon ready to strike.  The stretcher
+caught him as he was in the act of springing up, and he fell overboard,
+sinking immediately.  `Any more of you like to be treated in the same
+way?'  I exclaimed.  The wretches sank down in their seats, thoroughly
+cowed; but in the scuffle one of the oars was lost overboard, and was
+swept away before we could recover it.  Some time was thus lost, and the
+boat had drifted a considerable distance from the spot where the
+Indiaman had gone down.  We could hear, however, cries for help rising
+above the hissing and dashing sounds of the tumbling waters.  Every
+instant I expected that the boat would be swamped; when at length the
+Lascars, who had the oars, were induced by my threats to pull away and
+keep her head to sea.  I had taken the helm, and though we made no
+progress, the rafts and various articles which had floated up from the
+wreck came drifting down towards us, scattering far and wide over the
+tossing ocean.  I caught sight of a boat and two or three other rafts,
+but they were too far off to enable me, through the gloom, to
+distinguish the people on them.  The shrieks had gradually ceased; now
+and then the cry of some strong swimmer, who had hitherto bravely
+buffeted the sea, was heard ere he sank for the last time.  Daylight was
+just breaking when, as I was standing up in the stern-sheets, I saw a
+person clinging to a piece of timber, and I determined, if possible, to
+save him.  I pointed him out to the English seamen; and two of them,
+springing up, seized the oars from the hands of the Lascars, and by
+pulling away lustily we got up close to the spot.  The man saw us
+coming.  It was not without difficulty that we managed to haul him on
+board so as to avoid striking him or staving in the boat against the
+piece of wreck which had kept him up.  To my surprise I found that he
+was the very gentleman who had assisted in forming the raft before the
+ship went down.  I knew him by the case, which he still had secured to
+his side.  He was so exhausted that for some minutes he could not speak,
+though he was evidently making an effort to do so.  At length, beckoning
+me to put my ear down to his mouth, he asked in a low voice whether we
+had seen his wife and child, with the nurse.  The only comfort I could
+afford him was by telling him that I had caught sight of several small
+rafts, and possibly they might be upon one of them.  He had been washed
+away before he could secure himself when the ship foundered; and though
+he was carried down with her, on rising to the surface he had caught
+hold of the piece of wreck to which we had found him clinging.
+
+"There we were, fourteen human beings in a small boat out in the middle
+of the Atlantic, the dark foaming seas surrounding us, without a
+particle of food or a drop of fresh water, while our two oars scarcely
+enabled us to keep her head to the sea, and save her from being capsized
+or swamped.
+
+"I do not like to talk or even to think of the horrors which followed.
+Daylight had now come on, but all around was gloom, the dark clouds
+appearing like a pall just above our heads, and hanging round on either
+side, so as to circumscribe the horizon to the narrowest limits.  Here
+and there I occasionally thought that I saw a few dark spots, which
+might have been the boats and rafts, or pieces of the wreck.
+
+"The day passed by and there was no abatement of the gale.  The Lascars
+had again taken the oars, but as night again approached, worn out with
+hunger and fatigue, they refused to pull any longer, and the gentleman
+offering to steer, the three other men and I took it by turns to labour
+at the oars.
+
+"Thus the second night passed by.  I had begun to feel faint and hungry,
+and to experience the pangs of thirst; and, judging by my own
+sensations, I felt sure that, should we not fall in with a ship during
+the coming day, some of my companions would give way.  Another morning
+dawned, but no sail was in sight.  One of the Lascars lay dead in the
+bows, the rest were stretched out under the thwarts, unable even to
+continue baling, and apparently no longer caring what might become of
+them.  The gentleman, though the most delicate-looking of us all, held
+out the best.  His eye was constantly ranging over the ocean in search
+of the raft or boat which might contain those he loved best on earth.  I
+had great difficulty in persuading him to let me take the helm again
+while he got a little sleep.
+
+"As the day drew on the gale moderated, and the sea went down.  So weak
+were the three other Englishmen by this time, that I believe we should
+not otherwise have been able to prevent the boat being swamped.  The
+Lascars were in a worse state.  Two more died, and as their countrymen
+would not heave them overboard, we were obliged to do so.  Eagerly we
+looked out for a sail, but none appeared.  Before the next morning broke
+all the Lascars were dead, and I saw that one of my messmates was likely
+soon to follow them.  Another, however, died before him, but ere the sun
+rose high in the heavens, he was gone.
+
+"Besides the gentleman, only I and one man remained, the latter indeed
+was near his last gasp.  I will not tell you what dreadful thoughts
+passed through my mind.  Just then, as I was stooping down, I put my
+hand under the after seat.  There, stowed away, was a large lump of
+grease.  I felt round farther, and drew forth two bones with a
+considerable amount of meat on them.  One of the dogs, I have no doubt,
+had made it his hiding place.  The selfish thought came across me, that
+had the Lascars and the other two men been alive, this food would have
+gone very little way, but now it might support the existence of my two
+companions and me for another day or two.  Eagerly I seized the putrid
+meat in my mouth, offering a piece to my companions.  My messmate
+attempted to eat it, his jaws moved for a few seconds, then his head
+fell back.  He had died in the effort.  The gentleman could with
+difficulty swallow a few morsels.  `Water! water!' he muttered, `without
+water it is too late.'  I tried some of the grease, and felt revived.
+
+"Not without difficulty we hove the last who had succumbed into the sea,
+and then the gentleman and I were alone.  His spirits, which had
+hitherto kept up, were now, I saw, sinking.  He beckoned me to sit close
+to him, and I saw that he was engaged in trying to loosen the strap
+which held the case to his side.  `You are strong, my friend,' he
+whispered, `and may possibly survive till you are picked up, I feel that
+I can trust you.  Take charge of this case--it contains an important
+document, and jewels and money of considerable value.  Here, too, is a
+purse of gold, to that you are welcome,' and he handed me a purse from
+his pocket.  `The case I as a dying man commit to your charge, and
+solemnly entreat you to take care of it for the benefit of my widow and
+orphan child, for the belief is still strong within me that they
+survive.  You will find within this metal case full directions as to the
+person to whom it is to be delivered.'  He said this with the greatest
+difficulty, and it seemed as if he had exhausted all his strength in the
+effort.  I promised to fulfil his wishes, and fully intended doing so.
+He took my hand, and fixed his eyes on me, as if he was endeavouring to
+read my thoughts.  I tried to make him take some more food, but he had
+no strength to swallow it.  Before the evening closed in he too was
+gone.
+
+"I had not the heart at once to throw him overboard.  As I stood looking
+at him, prompted I believe by the spirit of evil, an idea came into my
+head.  Should I reach shore the purse of gold would enable me to enjoy
+myself for some time, and perhaps I might obtain permanent employment in
+a respectable position, instead of knocking about at sea.  I took off
+the dead man's clothes, and dressed myself in them, though I was so weak
+that the task was a difficult one.  I then lifted the body overboard.
+Having secured the box round my waist, I placed the metal case and purse
+in my pocket.
+
+"I was alone, and though suffering greatly from thirst, I still felt
+that there was some life in me.  I gazed around, but no sail was in
+sight.  A light breeze only was blowing, and the sea had become
+tolerably calm, so eating a little more of the grease and meat, I lay
+down in the stern-sheets to sleep.  I was awoke by feeling the water
+splashing over me.  It was raining hard.  There were two hats and a
+bucket in the boat.  I quickly collected enough water to quench my
+thirst, and at once felt greatly revived.  The rain continued long
+enough to enable me to fill the bucket.  Had it not been for that shower
+I must have died.
+
+"Two days longer I continued in the boat, when, just as the sun rose, my
+eyes fell on a sail in the horizon.  How eagerly I watched her; she was
+standing towards me.  Securing a shirt to the end of an oar, I waved it
+as high as I could reach.  I was seen--the ship drew nearer.  Being too
+weak to pull alongside I made no attempt to do so, and this being
+observed, the ship hove-to and lowered a boat, which soon had mine in
+tow.  I was carefully lifted up the side, and on my dress being
+observed, I was at once treated as a gentleman.  A cabin was given up to
+me, and every attention paid to my wants.  I found that the ship was an
+emigrant vessel, outward bound, for Australia.
+
+"I was some time in recovering my strength, and when I appeared among
+the passengers I took care to evade any questions put to me.  I found
+the life on board very pleasant, and having purchased some clothes and
+other articles I was able to appear on an equality with the rest.
+
+"We fell in with no other ship till Sydney was reached.  I went on
+shore, purposing to amuse myself for a short time, and then return home
+and fulfil the dying request of my unfortunate companion in the boat.
+Would that I had gone on board a vessel sailing the very day of our
+arrival.  Jack, never put off doing your duty, under the idea that it
+may be done a little time hence, lest that roaring lion we read of may
+catch hold of you and tempt you to put it off altogether.  I remained on
+day after day, mixing in society, and rapidly spending my money.  It was
+all gone, and then, Jack," and old Tom lowered his voice, "I did that
+vile deed--I broke open the box and took possession of the money I found
+within--the widow's and orphan's gold.  I tried to persuade myself that
+they had certainly been lost.  At first I only took the gold, intending
+to go home with the other articles; then I got to the notes.  I had some
+difficulty in getting them changed, and was afraid of being discovered.
+At last I began to dispose of the jewels.
+
+"At length I got a hint that I was suspected, and securing the case I
+once more dressed myself as a seaman, bought a chest, and got a berth on
+board a homeward-bound ship.  I was miserable--conscience stung me--I
+could get no rest.
+
+"The ship was cast away on the west coast of Ireland, and nearly all on
+board perished.  I had secured about me the case, which still contained
+the parchment, the title-deeds of a large property, and a few jewels.
+
+"I, with a few survivors, reached the shore.  I was afraid to go back to
+England to deliver the case to the person to whom it was addressed, and
+so, making my way to Cork, where I found a ship bound for America, I
+went on board her.
+
+"Jack, I have been knocking about ever since, my conscience never at
+rest, and yet not having the courage to face any danger I might incur,
+and make the only reparation in my power to those who, if still alive, I
+have deprived of their property.  Now, notwithstanding what you say,
+there's something tells me that I have not long to live.  I never had
+such a notion in my head before, but there it is now, and I cannot get
+rid of it.  You are young and strong, and I want you to promise me, if
+you get home, to do what I ought to have done long ago.  I will give you
+the case when we go below.  Take it to the lawyer to whom it is
+addressed, and tell him all I have told you, and how it came into your
+possession, he'll believe you, I am sure, and though the money and most
+of the jewels are gone, the remainder will, I hope, be of value to the
+rightful owners."
+
+I of course promised old Tom that I would do as he wished, at the same
+time I tried to persuade him to banish the forebodings which haunted
+him, from his mind.  "That's more than I can do, Jack," he said, "I
+shouldn't mind the thoughts of death so much, if I could find the means
+of undoing all the ill I have done in the world--that's what tries me
+now."  Unhappily neither I nor any one on board could tell the poor
+fellow that there is but one way by which sins can be washed away.  I
+did indeed suggest that he should try and borrow a Bible from one of the
+gentlemen in the cabin, if they had one among them, for there was not
+one for'ard nor in the captain's or officers' berths.
+
+When our watch was over, old Tom sat down on his chest, waiting till the
+rest of the watch had turned in and gone to sleep.  He then cautiously
+opened his chest, and exhibited within, under his clothes, a small box,
+strongly bound with silver, and the metal case he had spoken of.  "Here,
+Jack," he said, "I make you my heir, and give you the key of my chest:
+I'll tell the men to-morrow that I have done so, and let the captain and
+mates know it also, that there may be no dispute about the matter."  I
+thanked old Tom, assuring him, at the same time, that I hoped not to
+benefit by his kindness.
+
+In about three weeks we reached the mouth of the Columbia river.  A
+strong gale from the westward had been blowing for several days, and as
+we came off the river a tremendous surf was seen breaking across the bar
+at its mouth.  "I hope the captain won't attempt to take the vessel in,"
+observed old Tom to me.  "I have been in once while the sea was not so
+heavy by half as it is now, and our ship was nearly castaway."  Still we
+stood on.  Presently, however, the captain seemed to think better of it,
+and indifferent as he was to the lives of others, he apparently did not
+wish to lose his own, and the brig into the bargain.  She was
+accordingly hauled to the wind, and we again stood off.  It was only,
+however, to heave-to, when he ordered a boat to be lowered.  He then
+directed the first mate to take four hands to go in her and sound the
+bar.  The mate expostulated, and declared that the lives of all would be
+sacrificed in the attempt.  "You are a coward, and are afraid,"
+exclaimed the captain, stamping with rage.  "Take old Tom and `Happy
+Jack,' and two others," he called out their names.  "No man shall justly
+say I am a coward," answered the mate; "I'll go, but I'll take none but
+volunteers.  My death and theirs will rest on your head, Captain Pyke."
+
+"I'll not go if the boy is sent," exclaimed old Tom; "but I am ready to
+go if another man takes his place."
+
+"Let me go, Tom," I said; "if you and the mate go I am ready to
+accompany you."
+
+"No, Jack, I'll do no such thing," answered my friend.  "You stay on
+board.  Unless others step forward the boat won't go at all.  The bar is
+not in a fit state for the vessel to cross, much less an open boat."
+The captain, however, seemed determined to go into the river, and now
+ordered another man to go instead of me.  "I'll make you pay for this
+another day," he cried out, looking at me.  I saw the mate shaking hands
+with several on board before he stepped into the boat.  "Remember the
+case, Jack," said old Tom as he passed me, giving me a gripe by the
+hand.  "You have got the key, lad."
+
+The boat shoved off and pulled towards the bar.  I watched her very
+anxiously; now she rose to the top of a roller, now she was hidden by
+the following one.  Every instant I expected her to disappear
+altogether.  I couldn't help thinking of what old Tom had said to me.
+Some time passed, when the captain ordered the helm to be put up, and
+the brig was headed towards the bar.  He had been looking with his
+glass, and declared he had seen the mate's signal to stand in.  The wind
+by this time had moderated.  The brig was only under her topsails and
+mainsail, and I began to wonder at the mate's apprehensions.  We had not
+stood on long when I saw the boat to the northward of us, much nearer
+the breakers than we were.  She seemed to be carried by beyond the
+control of those in her.  A strong current had caught hold of her.
+Presently she passed, not a pistol shot from us.  The three men were
+shouting and shrieking for aid; old Tom was in the bows, sitting
+perfectly still; I could even distinguish the countenance of the mate,
+as he turned it with a reproachful glance, so it seemed to me, towards
+the captain.  Beyond her appeared a high wall of hissing, foaming
+breakers, towards which she was driving.  The captain seemed scarcely to
+notice the unfortunate men; indeed his attention was occupied with
+attending to the brig, our position being extremely critical.  I
+couldn't take my eyes off the boat.  Would she be able even yet to stem
+the current and get back into smooth water?  Suddenly, however, it
+seemed as if the wall of foaming breakers came right down upon her, and
+she disappeared amidst them.  A cry of horror escaped me.  "We may be no
+better off ere long," I heard one of the men exclaim.  He had scarcely
+spoken when the brig struck, and the foaming waters leaped up on either
+side, as if about to break on board.  Another sea came roaring on, and
+she again moved forward.  Again and again the brig struck, and at last
+seemed fixed.
+
+Darkness was coming on, the foaming waters roared around us, frequently
+breaking on board, and we had to hold on to escape being washed away.
+The hatches had been battened down, or the vessel would have filled.
+She must have been a strong craft, or she could not have held together.
+The passengers behaved like brave men, though they evidently thought
+that it was the captain's obstinacy which had brought them into their
+present perilous position.
+
+Hour after hour passed by, with no object discernible beyond the foaming
+waters surging round us.  The men declared that they could hear the
+shrieks and cries of our shipmates.  The captain swore at them as fools
+for saying so, declaring that their voices must long since have been
+silenced by the breakers.  Every instant it seemed that the brig must go
+to pieces, and that we should be carried away to share their fate.
+Suddenly, however, I felt the brig move.  The topsails were let fall and
+sheeted home, and we once more glided forward.  In another hour we were
+safely at anchor in a sheltered bay within the mouth of the river.
+
+The next morning several natives came off to us in their canoes.  They
+were red-skinned painted savages, but appeared inclined to be friendly.
+By means of Mr Duncan, who understood something of their language, they
+were told of the accident which had happened to the boat, and they
+undertook to search along the shore, in the possibility of any of the
+crew having escaped, and been washed on to the beach.  On hearing of
+this my hopes of seeing old Tom again somewhat revived, though I
+scarcely believed it possible that any boat getting into those fearful
+breakers could have survived.  Mr Duncan and two of the other gentlemen
+agreed to accompany the savages.
+
+In the evening the boat which had taken them on shore was seen coming
+off.  I anxiously watched her.  Besides those who had gone away, I
+distinguished one other person, he turned his face towards the vessel as
+the boat approached, and, to my delight, I saw that he was old Tom.
+"And so you have escaped, have you?" said the captain, as he stepped on
+board.  "Yes, sir, but the others have gone where some others among us
+will be before long," answered Tom, gloomily, "and those who sent them
+there will have to render an account of their deeds."
+
+"What do you mean?" exclaimed the captain.  "I leave that to others to
+answer," said Tom, walking forward.
+
+He told me that the boat, on entering the surf, was immediately
+capsized, and that all hands were washed out of her.  That he had
+managed to cling on with one man, and that when they got through the
+surf they had righted the boat, and picking up two of the oars, after
+bailing her out, had succeeded in paddling, aided by the current, some
+distance to the northward.  On attempting to land the boat was again
+capsized.  He had swam on shore, but the other poor fellow was drowned,
+and he himself was almost exhausted when met by the party who brought
+him back.  "You see, Tom," I observed, "your prognostications have not
+come true, and you may still live to get back to old England again."
+
+"Oh no, Jack, though I have escaped this once, I am very sure my days
+are numbered," he answered; do all I could, I was unable to drive this
+idea out of his head.
+
+The crew were so indignant at the boat having been sent away, declaring
+that the captain wished to get rid of the mate and old Tom, that I felt
+sure another slight act of tyranny would produce a mutiny.  While the
+gentlemen remained on board this was less likely to happen, but they
+were about to leave us, and take up their residence on shore.
+
+Some time was occupied in landing their goods and stores, and then we
+found that we were to proceed to the northward, on a trading voyage with
+the Indians, and that Mr Duncan was to accompany us.  We had also
+received on board an Indian, who had long resided with the whites, and
+who was to act as our interpreter.
+
+A fair wind carried us over the bar, and, steering to the northward, we
+continued on for several days, till we brought up in a deep bay, on the
+shore of which was situated a large native village.  Large numbers of
+the Indians came off in their canoes, with furs to exchange for cutlery,
+cotton goods, looking-glasses, beads, and other ornaments.  Many of them
+were fine looking, independent fellows, but veritable savages, dressed
+in skins, their heads adorned, after their fashion, with feathers,
+shells, and the teeth of different animals.  The captain treated them
+with great contempt, shouting at them, and ordering them here and there,
+as if they were beings infinitely inferior to himself.  I saw them
+frequently turn angry glances at him, but they did not otherwise exhibit
+any annoyance.  One day, however, he had a dispute with one of their
+chiefs about a matter of barter, when, losing his temper, he struck the
+savage and knocked him over on the deck.  The Indian, recovering
+himself, cast a fierce glance at him, then, folding his arms, walked
+away, uttering some words to his companions, which we did not
+understand.
+
+The next day, Mr Duncan, who had gone on shore, returned on board
+hurriedly, with the interpreter, and warned the captain that the Indians
+intended to take vengeance for the insult their chief had received.  The
+captain laughed, declaring that he did not fear what ten times the
+number of savages who as yet had come on board, would venture to do.
+"They are daring fellows, though, Captain Pyke, and treacherous, and
+cunning in the extreme," observed Mr Duncan.  "Take my advice and keep
+them out of the ship.  We have already done a fair trade here, and the
+natives have not many more skins to dispose of."
+
+"I am not to be frightened as other people are," answered the captain,
+scornfully.  "If they have no skins they will not bring them, and if
+they have, I am not the man to be forgetful of the interests of the
+Company, by refusing to trade."
+
+This was said on deck in the hearing of the crew.  "I'll tell you what,
+Jack," observed old.  Tom to me, "the captain will repent not following
+Mr Duncan's advice.  If the Indians come on board, keep by me--we shall
+have to tight for our lives.  I know these I people.  When they appear
+most friendly, they are often meditating mischief."
+
+That very evening several canoes came off, and in them was the chief
+whom the captain had knocked down.  He seemed perfectly friendly,
+smiling and shaking hands with the captain as if he had entirely
+forgotten the insult he had received.
+
+When the savages took their departure, they were apparently on the best
+of terms with us all.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE BRIG BLOWN UP.
+
+The next morning we were preparing to put to sea, when two large canoes
+came off, each carrying about twenty men.  As they exhibited a
+considerable number of furs, the captain allowed them to come on board,
+and trade commenced as usual.  In the meantime, three other canoes came
+off with a similar number of men, and a larger quantity of furs of the
+most valuable descriptions.  They also were allowed to come up the side
+like the rest.
+
+"Jack, I don't like the look of things," said old Tom.
+
+"Do you observe that the savages are wearing cloaks such as they have
+not appeared in before.  Just come down for'ard with me."
+
+I followed Tom below.  "Here," he said, "fasten this case under your
+jacket.  If the savages attack us, we will jump into the boat astern;
+they will be too much intent on plunder to follow us, and we will make
+our escape out to sea.  I propose to do this for your sake.  As for me,
+I would as lief remain and fight it out.  I have mentioned my suspicions
+to several of the men, and advised them to have an eye on the
+handspikes; with them we may keep the savages at bay till we can make
+good our retreat."
+
+I asked him why he did not warn the captain.  "Because he is mad, and
+would only laugh at me," he answered, "Mr Duncan and the interpreter
+have already done so, and they are as well aware as I am that mischief
+is brewing."
+
+On going on deck, we saw the captain speaking to the Indians, and
+ordering them to return to their canoes.  They appeared as if they were
+going to obey him, when suddenly, each man drawing a weapon from beneath
+his cloak uttered a fearful yell, and leaped at the officers and us.
+The captain, with only a jack-knife in his hand, defended himself
+bravely, killing four of his savage assailants.
+
+Led by old Tom, I, with three or four other men, fought our way aft to
+join the officers, intending, should we be overpowered, to leap, as we
+had proposed, into the boat.  I saw poor Mr Duncan struck down and hove
+into a canoe alongside.  The captain was apparently trying to reach the
+cabin, probably to get his fire-arms, when he fell, struck by a hatchet
+on the head.
+
+"Follow me," cried Tom.  "We may reach the boat through the cabin
+windows."  As he said this, he sprang down the companion-hatch, I and
+two others following him.  The remainder of our number were overtaken by
+the savages before they could reach it.  The last, Andrew Pearson, our
+boatswain, contrived to secure the hatch.  This gave us time to get hold
+of the fire-arms fastened against the bulkheads, and to load and place
+them ready for use on the table.  There were at least a dozen muskets,
+and as many brace of pistols.  Had these been in our hands on deck, we
+should probably have driven the savages overboard, or they would have
+been deterred from making the attack.  With them, we might now defend
+our lives against vastly superior numbers.
+
+The scuffle on deck was still going on, the yells of the savages rising
+above the stifled groans and cries of our unfortunate shipmates.  They
+soon ceased, and then arose a shout of triumph from our enemies, and we
+knew that we were the only survivors.  But we too were in a desperate
+plight.  Tom was severely wounded, and the boatswain and the other man
+had received several gashes.  I, indeed, thanks to the way in which Tom
+had defended me, was the only person unhurt.
+
+"Green, do you look after the hatchway," said Pearson to the other man
+who had escaped.  "Tom, do you and Jack show your muskets through the
+stern windows, I have some work to do.  The savages think they have us
+in a trap, but they are mistaken."  He opened, as he spoke, a hatch
+which led to the magazine, and I saw him uncoiling a long line of match,
+one end of which he placed in the magazine, while he led the other along
+the cabin to the stern-port.  Meantime, the savages had all clambered on
+board, and were shrieking and shouting in the most fearful manner,
+crowding down into the hold, as we could judge by the sounds which
+reached us, and handing up the rich treasures they found there.
+
+"No time to be lost," said Pearson, hauling up the boat.  He went to the
+locker, and collected all the provisions he could find.  "Jump in, Tom
+and Jack," he said.  "Now for the fire-arms."  He handed them in, and
+told us to place them along the thwarts, ready for use.  "Now, Green,"
+he said in a low voice, "jump in."  We three were now in the boat, which
+was hidden under the counter from those on deck.  He struck a light, and
+placed it to the slow match, and, having ascertained that it was
+burning, slipped after us into the boat, in which the mast was
+fortunately stepped.
+
+"Jack, do you take the helm, and steer directly for the mouth of the
+harbour," he said, cutting the painter and seizing an oar.  Tom and
+Green did the same, and pulled away lustily.  We had already got several
+fathoms from the vessel before we were perceived.  The sail had been
+placed ready for hoisting.  It was run up and sheeted home.  The savages
+were about to jump into one of the canoes, and chase us, but three
+muskets pointed towards them made them hesitate.  We were rapidly
+slipping away from the doomed brig.  We could see the savages dancing
+and leaping on deck, their shouts and yells coming over the water
+towards us.
+
+"They will dance to another tune soon," muttered Pearson between his
+teeth.
+
+He and the other two had again taken to the oars.  Even now a flight of
+arrows might have reached us, but fortunately the savages had not
+brought their bows with them, and probably that was the chief reason why
+they had not ventured to pursue us.  They well knew that several of
+their number would have been shot down with our bullets had they made
+the attempt.  Still we could see some of the chiefs apparently trying to
+persuade their warriors to follow us, and we knew that though we might
+fight till all our ammunition was expended, we should at last be
+overwhelmed by numbers.
+
+Our chance of ultimate escape seemed small indeed.  "They will not
+come," said Pearson.  "See!"  We had got half-a-mile or more from the
+brig, when a deep thundering sound reached our ears.  It seemed as if
+the whole vessel was lifted out of the water, while up into the air shot
+her mainmast and spars, and fragments of her deck and bulwarks, and
+other pieces of timber, mingled with countless human bodies, with limbs
+torn off and mangled in a fearful manner.  At the same time the canoes
+with those who had escaped were paddling with frantic energy towards the
+shore, probably believing that the Great Spirit had sent forth one of
+his emissaries to punish them for their treachery to the white people.
+We concluded that some such idea as this was entertained by them, as we
+saw no canoes coming off in pursuit of us.
+
+Rowing and sailing, we continued to make our way out to the open ocean.
+It was blowing fresh but, the wind coming off-shore, the sea was
+tolerably calm, and we agreed that at all events it was better to
+undergo the dangers of a long voyage in an open boat than trust
+ourselves in the power of the revengeful savages.  We had reached the
+mouth of the harbour, and could still see the village far off on its
+shore, when, to our dismay, we found the sea breeze setting in.  We had
+accordingly to haul our wind, though we still hoped to weather the
+headland which formed its southern point, and get an offing.
+
+Tom all this time had uttered no complaint, though I saw the blood
+flowing down his side.  The boatswain and Green had, with my help, bound
+up their wounds.  I wanted Tom to let me assist him.  "No," he said;
+"it's of no use.  If you were to swathe me up, I could not pull.  It
+will be time enough for that when we get round the headland."  He was
+evidently getting weaker, and at last the boatswain persuaded him to lay
+in his oar, and try to stop the blood.  The wounds were in his back and
+neck, inflicted by the savages as he fought his way onward to the cabin.
+I bound our handkerchiefs round him as well as I could; but it was
+evident that he was not fit for rowing, and that the only chance of the
+blood stopping was for him to remain perfectly quiet.
+
+During the last tack we made I fancied, as I looked up the harbour, that
+I saw the canoes coming out.  I told the boatswain.  "We will give them
+a warm reception, if they come near us," he answered.
+
+I felt greatly relieved when we at last weathered the point, and were
+now able to stand along shore, though we couldn't get the offing which
+was desirable.
+
+Night was coming on.  The weather looked threatening, and our prospects
+of ultimately escaping were small.
+
+At last we got so near the surf that the boatswain determined to put the
+boat about and stand out to sea.  Although the other tack might bring us
+almost in front of the harbour's mouth, it was the safest course to
+avoid being cast on shore.
+
+The night came on very dark, but the wind was moderate, and there was
+not much sea.  Still the weather was excessively cold, and my companions
+suffered greatly from their wounds.  Tom had been placed in the
+stern-sheets near me.  Though he said less, he suffered more than the
+rest, and I could every now and then hear low groans escaping from his
+bosom.  At last I heard him calling me.  "Jack," he whispered, "what I
+told you is coming true.  I am going; I feel death creeping over me.
+Remember the case.  Do all you know I ought to have done.  I have been a
+great sinner; but you once said there is a way by which all sins can be
+blotted out.  I believe in that way.  Jack, give me your hand.  It's
+darker than ever; and I am cold, very cold."  He pressed my hand, and I
+heard him murmuring to himself.  It might have been a prayer, but his
+words were indistinct; I could not understand what he said.  I kept
+steering with one hand, looking up at the sails, and casting a glance
+now and then at him, while the other two men pulled away to keep the
+boat to windward.  Presently I felt his fingers relax; an icy chill came
+from his hand.  I knew too well that my friend was dead.  It was some
+time before I could bring myself to tell the boatswain what had
+happened.  "Poor fellow!  But it may be the lot of all of us before
+another day is over," he said; "yet, as men, we will struggle to the
+last."
+
+The night passed on, and we still persevered in endeavouring to obtain
+an offing, though so indistinct was the land that we could not tell
+whereabouts we were.  What was our dismay, when morning broke, to find
+that we were directly off the mouth of the harbour, and at such a
+distance that the keen eyes of the savages on the hills around might
+easily perceive our sail.  We at once put the boat about, hoping to get
+again to the south'ard before we were discovered.  "It's too late,"
+cried Green; "I see the canoes coming."
+
+"We must fight them, then," said the daring boatswain, calmly.  "We
+don't just expect mercy at their hands after the treat we gave them,"
+and he laughed at the fearful act he had committed.  Still I thought
+what could we three, in a small boat, with our dozen muskets, do against
+a whole fleet of fierce savages.
+
+We could now see the canoes coming out of the harbour.  The sea was
+smooth, and they would without fail venture after us.  Our only chance
+of escape seemed in a sudden gale springing up, but of that there was
+little probability.  I was turning my eyes anxiously towards the offing
+in hopes of seeing signs of a stronger breeze coming, when I caught
+sight of a sail.  I pointed her out to the boatswain.  "She is a large
+vessel," he exclaimed, "and standing this way."
+
+"Perhaps the savages will be more than ever anxious to catch us, for
+fear we should persuade the people on board yonder ship to punish them
+for what they have done," I observed.  "They will catch us if they can,"
+answered Pearson; "but they will have to pay a good price yet if they
+make the attempt," and he cast his eyes at the muskets which lay ready
+loaded.  The canoes were drawing nearer and nearer, and we could now
+distinguish the figures of the plumed warriors as they stood up in the
+bows.  The boat at the same time was slipping pretty quickly through the
+water.  "The breeze is freshening," I observed; "we may escape them
+yet."
+
+"I don't much care if we do or do not," said Pearson; "I should like to
+knock over a few of these boasting fellows; we may hit them long before
+they can get near enough to hurt us."  I for my part did not wish to see
+more of the savages killed, for they had only followed the instinct of
+their untutored natures, and we had already inflicted a terrible
+punishment on them in return.  In a few minutes the breeze came down
+even stronger than before, and greatly to my satisfaction, the canoes
+appeared to be scarcely gaining on us, even if they did so at all.  I
+continued to give a glance every now and then at the ship, for I was
+afraid after all she might alter her course, and stand away from us.
+
+At length, to my joy, I saw the savages in the canoes cease paddling.
+They apparently were afraid of venturing farther out into the ocean, or
+saw that it would be hopeless to attempt overtaking us.  For some
+minutes they waited, as if holding a consultation, and then round they
+paddled and made their way back into the harbour.
+
+"Just like them," exclaimed Pearson.  "Those cowardly red-skins will
+never fight unless they can take their enemies at an advantage."
+
+We had to make several tacks towards the ship, and then when we got near
+enough for the sound of our muskets to reach her, we fired several as a
+signal.  They were at length, we concluded, heard on board.  She kept
+away towards us.  She drew nearer.  We saw that she was a whaler, with
+the English colours flying at the peak.  She rounded to, and we went
+alongside.  "What has happened?" exclaimed several voices, as old Tom's
+body was seen lying in the stern-sheets.  A few words told our tale.  I
+was able to climb up the side, but Pearson and Green were so stiff from
+their wounds that they had to be helped up.  They were far more hurt
+indeed than they had supposed, especially Pearson; but his dauntless
+spirit had hitherto kept him up.  Our boat was hoisted on board, and old
+Tom's body was taken out and laid on deck.  We were treated with great
+kindness, and the captain, greatly to my satisfaction, volunteered to
+give old Tom Christian burial.  He had, as we supposed, intended to go
+into the harbour to obtain wood and water, and to trade with the
+natives; but when he heard of what had occurred he resolved to steer for
+a port farther south, and he told me that he was very grateful to us for
+giving him warning of the danger which he otherwise would have run.
+
+In the evening I saw my poor friend lashed up in a hammock, and
+committed to his ocean grave.
+
+All night long I was dreaming of him and of the dreadful scenes I had
+witnessed.
+
+The ship was the _Juno_.  Her commander, Captain Knox, was a very
+different sort of person to my late captain; and from his kind manner,
+and the way he spoke to the officers and men, he seemed truly to act the
+part of a father to his crew.  The ship had been out a year and a half,
+and it was expected she would remain another year in the Pacific.
+
+Though I was anxious to get home, yet when the captain asked me to enter
+on board, I was very glad to do so.  Pearson continued to suffer
+fearfully from his wounds.  Whether the deed he had done preyed on his
+mind, I cannot say; but a high fever coming on, he used to rave about
+the savages, and the way he had blown them up.  At the moment he
+committed the deed I daresay he had persuaded himself that he was only
+performing a justifiable act of vengeance.  The day before we entered
+the harbour to which we were bound he died, and poor Green did not long
+survive him, so that I alone was left of all the crew of the ill-fated
+_Fox_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+A STRANGE DISCOVERY.
+
+The captain of the _Juno_ took every precaution to prevent her being
+surprised by the Indians.  Boarding nettings were triced up round the
+ship every night, and the watch on deck had arms ready at hand.  None of
+the natives were allowed to come on board, and only two or three canoes
+were permitted alongside at a time.  We judged by their manner, though
+they were willing enough to trade, that they had already heard of what
+had occurred to the northward.
+
+Having got our wood and water on board, we again put to sea, cruising in
+various parts of the ocean known to be frequented by whales.  A bright
+look-out was kept for their spouts as the monsters rose to the surface
+to breathe.  The instant a spout was seen all was life and animation on
+board; the boats were lowered, generally two or three at a time, and
+away they pulled to be ready to attack the whale as it again rose to the
+surface.  I remember, the first time I saw one of the monsters struck, I
+shouted and jumped about the deck as eagerly as if I myself were engaged
+in the work.  Now I saw the lines flying out of the boat at a rapid
+rate, as the animal sounded; now the men in the boats hauled it in
+again, as the whale rose once more to the surface; now they pulled on,
+and two more deadly harpoons were plunged into its sides, with several
+spears; now they backed to avoid the lashing strokes of its powerful
+tail; now the creature was seen to be in its death-flurry, tumbling
+about and turning over and over in its agony.  At length it lay an inert
+mass on the surface, and the boats came back, towing it in triumph.
+Next there was the work of "cutting in," or taking off the blubber which
+surrounded it; the huge body being turned round and round during the
+operation, as the men stood on it cutting off with their sharp spades
+huge strips, which were hoisted with tackles on deck.  Last of all came
+the "trying out," when the blubber, cut into pieces, was thrown into
+huge caldrons on deck, with a fire beneath them; the crisp pieces, from
+which the oil had been extracted, serving as fuel.  It was a curious
+scene when night came on, and fires blazed up along the deck, surrounded
+by the crew, begrimed with oil and smoke, looking like beings of another
+world engaged in some fearful incantation.
+
+This scene was repeated over and over again.  We visited several islands
+in the Pacific.  At some, where Christian missionaries had been at work,
+the inhabitants showed by their conduct that they were worthy of
+confidence; but at others the captain deemed it necessary to be
+constantly on his guard, lest they might attempt to cut off the crew and
+take possession of the ship, as we heard had frequently occurred.
+
+At length, to my delight and that of all the crew, the last cask we had
+on board was filled with oil, and with a deeply-laden ship we commenced
+our homeward voyage.  We encountered a heavy gale going round the Horn,
+but the old _Juno_ weathered it bravely, though, as she strained a good
+deal, we had afterwards to keep the pumps going for an hour or so during
+each watch.  We, however, made our way at a fair rate northward, and
+once more crossed the line.
+
+It may seem surprising that I had not hitherto examined the metal case
+which old Tom had committed to my charge.  The box itself I had resolved
+not to open.  I did not suppose that I should be induced to act as he
+had done, but yet I thought it wiser not to run the risk of temptation.
+We for several days lay becalmed, and one evening, while the crew were
+lying about the decks overcome with the heat, I stowed myself away
+for'ard, at a distance from the rest, and drew the paper out of the
+case.  Great was my surprise to find that it was addressed to my own
+father.  It contained a reference to the parchment in the box, and gave
+a list both of the jewels, the notes, and gold.  The writer spoke of his
+wife and infant son, and charged my father, should any accident happen
+to him, to act as their guardian and friend as well as their legal
+adviser.  The letter was signed "Clement Leslie."
+
+"This is strange," I thought.  "Then there can be no doubt that little
+Clem is the very child old Tom saw placed in his nurse's arms on the
+raft, and his poor mother must have been washed away when the ship went
+down.  Those Indian nurses, I have often heard, will sacrifice their own
+lives for the sake of preserving the children committed to their charge,
+and Clem's nurse must have held him fast in her arms, in spite of the
+buffeting of the waves and the tossing of the raft during that dreadful
+night when the Indiaman went down; and if she had any food, I dare say
+she gave it to him rather than eat it herself.  But, poor fellow, what
+may have happened to him since we parted."
+
+I now felt more anxious than ever to reach home, and longed for the
+breeze to spring up which might carry us forward through the calm
+latitudes.  It came at last, and the _Juno_ again made rapid progress
+homeward.  We were bound up the Irish Channel to Liverpool; when,
+however, we got within about a week's sail of the chops of the Channel,
+it came on to blow very hard.  The leaks increased, and we were now
+compelled to keep the pumps going during nearly the whole of each watch.
+The weather was very thick, too, and no observations could be taken.
+The crew were almost worn out; yet there was no time for rest.  The gale
+was blowing from the south-west, and the sea running very high, when in
+the middle watch the look-out shouted the startling cry of "Land! on the
+starboard bow."  The yards were at once braced sharply up, and soon
+afterwards the captain ordered the ship to be put about.  We were
+carrying almost more canvas than she could bear, but yet it would not
+then do to shorten sail.  Just as the ship was in stays, a tremendous
+squall struck her, and in an instant the three masts went by the board.
+
+There we lay on a lee shore, without a possibility of getting off it.
+The order was at once given to range the cables, that immediately the
+water was sufficiently shallow to allow of it we might anchor.
+
+I will not describe that dreadful night.  Onward the ship drove towards
+the unknown shore.  We had too much reason to dread that it was the
+western coast of Ireland, fringed by reefs and rugged rocks.  As we
+drove on it grew more and more fearfully distinct.  We fired guns of
+distress, in the faint hope that assistance might be sent to us; but no
+answering signal came.  Too soon the roar of the surf reached our ears,
+and it became fearfully probable that the ship and her rich cargo, with
+all on board, would become the prey of the waves.  I secured the
+precious box and case as usual, determined, if I could save my own life,
+to preserve them.  The lead was continually hove, and at last the
+captain ordered the anchors to be let go.  They held the ship but for a
+few minutes; then a tremendous sea struck her, and sweeping over her
+deck, they parted, and again onward she drove.  A few minutes more only
+elapsed before she struck the rocks, and the crashing and rending sounds
+of her timbers warned us that before long she would be dashed into a
+thousand fragments.  The sea was breaking furiously over the wreck, and
+now one, now another of the crew was washed away.  I was clinging with
+others to a part of the bulwarks, when I felt them loosening beneath us.
+Another sea came, and we were borne forward towards the shore.  For an
+instant I was beneath the boiling surf; when I rose again my companions
+were gone, and in a few seconds I found myself dashed against a rock.  I
+clung to it for my life, then scrambled on, my only thought being to get
+away from the raging waters.  I succeeded at length in scrambling out of
+their reach, and lay down on a dry ledge to rest.  I must have dropped
+to sleep or fainted from fatigue.  When I came to myself, the sun was
+up, and I heard voices below me.  The tide had fallen, and numbers of
+country people were scrambling along the rocks, and picking up whatever
+was thrown on shore.  I managed to get on my feet and wave to them.
+Several came up to me, and the tones of their voices showed me at once
+that they were Irish.
+
+Out of the whole crew, I was the only person who had been saved, and I
+was very doubtful how I might be treated.  However, I wronged them.  It
+was a matter of dispute among several who should take charge of me; and
+at length a young woman, whose cottage was not far off, carried me up to
+it.  She and her husband gave me the best of everything they had; that
+is to say, as many potatoes and as much buttermilk and bacon as I could
+swallow.  I was so eager to get home that, after a night's rest, I told
+them I wished to start on my journey.  I was, I knew, on the west of
+Ireland, and I hoped that, if I could manage to get to Cork, I might
+from thence find means of crossing to England.  Though my host had no
+money to give me, he agreed to drive me twenty miles on the way,
+promising to find a friend who would pass me on; and his wife pressed on
+me a change of linen, and a few other articles in a bundle.  With these
+I started on my long journey.
+
+I was not disappointed, for when I told my story I was fully believed,
+and I often got help where I least expected it.
+
+At length I reached Cork, where I found a vessel just sailing for
+Liverpool.  The captain agreed to give me a free passage, and at last I
+safely landed on the shores of old England.  I must confess that I had
+more difficulty after this in making my way homeward, and by the time I
+reached the neighbourhood of my father's house my outer clothing, at all
+events, was pretty well worn to rags and tatters.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+I REACH HOME AND THINK I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE SEA.
+
+It was the early summer when one evening I came in sight of my home.
+The windows and doors were open.  Without hesitation I walked up the
+steps, forgetting the effect which my sudden appearance might produce on
+my family.  One of my youngest sisters was in the passage.  I beckoned
+to her.  "What do you want?" she asked; "you must not stop here; go
+away."
+
+"What! don't you know me?"  I asked.  "No," she answered; "who are you?"
+
+"Jack--your brother Jack," I answered.  On this she ran off into the
+drawing-room, and I heard her exclaim, "There's a great big beggar boy,
+and he says he is Jack--our brother Jack."
+
+"Oh no, that cannot be!"  I heard one of my other sisters reply.  "Poor
+Jack was drowned long ago in the _Naiad_."
+
+"No, he was not," I couldn't help exclaiming; and without more ado I ran
+forward.
+
+My appearance created no small commotion among three or four young
+ladies who were seated in the room.  "Go away; how dare you venture in
+here?" exclaimed one or two of them.
+
+"Will you not believe me?"  I cried.  "I am Jack, I assure you, and I
+hope soon to convince you of the fact."
+
+"It is Jack, I know it is!" exclaimed one of them, jumping up and coming
+forward.  I knew her in an instant to be Grace Goldie, though grown
+almost into a young woman.  "It is Jack, I am sure it is," she added,
+taking my hand and leading me forward.  "Oh, how strange that you do not
+know him!"
+
+My sisters now came about me, examining me with surprised looks.  "How
+strange, Grace," said one; "surely you must be mistaken?"
+
+"No, I am sure I am not," answered Grace, looking into my face, and
+putting back the hair from my forehead; "Are you not Jack?"
+
+"Yes, I believe I am," I answered, "though if you did not say so I
+should begin to doubt the fact, since Ann, and Mary, and Jane, do not
+seem to know me."
+
+"Well, I do believe it is Jack," cried Jane, coming up and taking my
+other hand, though I was so dirty that she did not, I fancy, like to
+kiss me.  "So he is--he must be!" cried the others; and now, in spite of
+my tattered dress, their sisterly affection got the better of all other
+considerations, and they threw their arms about me like kind girls as
+they really were, and I returned their salutes, in which Grace Goldie
+came in for a share, with long unaccustomed tears in my eyes.  Just then
+a shriek of astonishment was heard, and there stood Aunt Martha at the
+door.  "Who have you got there?" she exclaimed.  "It's Jack come back,"
+answered my sisters and Grace in chorus.  "Jack come back! impossible!"
+cried out Aunt Martha, in what I thought sounded a tone of dismay.
+"Yes, I am Jack, I assure you," I said, going up to her; "and I hope to
+be your very dutiful and affectionate nephew, whatever you may once have
+thought me;" and I took her hand and raised it to my lips.  "If you are
+Jack I am glad to see you," she said, her feelings softening; "and it
+will at all events be a comfort to your poor mother to know that you are
+not drowned."
+
+"My mother! where is she?"  I asked.  "I trust she is not ill."
+
+"Yes, she is, I am sorry to say, and up-stairs in bed," replied my aunt;
+"but I'll go and break the news to her, lest the sound of all this
+hubbub should reach her ears, and make her inquire what is the matter."
+
+I had now time to ask about the rest of my family.  My father was out,
+but was soon expected home, and in the meantime, while Aunt Martha had
+gone to tell my mother, by my sisters' advice I went into the bedroom of
+one of my brothers, and washed, and dressed myself in his clothes.  By
+the time Aunt Martha came to look for me I was in a more presentable
+condition than when I entered the house.
+
+I need not dwell on my interview with my mother.  She had no doubts
+about my identity, but drawing me to her, kissed me again and again, as
+most mothers would do, I suspect, under similar circumstances.  She was
+unwilling to let me go, but at length Aunt Martha, suggesting that I
+might be hungry, a fact that I could not deny, as I was almost ravenous,
+I quickly joined the merry party round the tea-table, when I astonished
+them not a little by the number of slices of ham and bread which I
+shortly devoured.  My father soon arrived.  He was not much given to
+sentiment, but he wrung my hand warmly, and his mind was evidently
+greatly relieved on finding that his plan for breaking me of my desire
+for a sea life had not ended by consigning me to a watery grave.  He was
+considerably astonished, and evidently highly pleased, when I put into
+his hands the box and case which old Tom had given into my care; and I
+told him how I had fallen in, on board the _Naiad_, with the boy I fully
+believed to be Mr Clement Leslie's heir.
+
+"This is indeed strange," he muttered, "very strange, and we must do our
+best to find him out Jack.  It's a handsome estate, and it will be a
+pity if the young fellow is not alive to enjoy it.  I must set Simon
+Munch to work at once."
+
+"Perhaps if the Russian frigate has returned home, we may learn from her
+officers what has become of him," I suggested.  "We will think the
+matter over.  Would you like a trip to Russia, Jack?"
+
+"Above all things, sir," I answered.  "I could start to-morrow if it
+were necessary;" though I confess I felt very unwilling to run away
+again so soon from home, especially as my mother was so ill.  Perhaps,
+also, Grace Goldie entered somewhat into my considerations.
+
+Next morning while we were at breakfast, and my father was looking over
+the newspaper, he exclaimed, "We are in luck, Jack!  Did you not say
+that the name of the Russian frigate which picked you up was the
+_Alexander_?  I see that she has just arrived at Spithead, from China
+and the Western Pacific.  If so, there is not a moment to be lost, for
+she will probably be off again in a few days.  You must start at once.
+Get your sisters to pack up such of your brother's things as will fit
+you, and I'll order a post-chaise to the door immediately."
+
+"I shall be ready, sir, directly I have swallowed another egg or two,
+and a few more slices of toast," I answered.  "Munch must go with you,
+that there may be no mistake about the matter," said my father.  "He
+will be of great assistance."
+
+All seemed like a dream.  In a quarter of an hour I was rattling away as
+fast as a couple of posters could go, along the road to London.  I sat
+in a dignified and luxurious manner, feeling myself a person of no
+little consequence--remembering that, at the same hour on the previous
+day, I had been trudging along the road ragged and hungry, with some
+doubt as to the reception I was to meet with at home.  My tongue was
+kept going all the time, for Munch wished to hear all about my
+adventures.  "Well, Master Jack, I am glad to have you back," he said.
+"To tell the truth, my conscience was a little uncomfortable at the part
+I had taken in shipping you off on board the collier, though I might
+have known,"--he cast a quizzical look at me--"that those are never
+drowned who are--"
+
+"Born to end their lives comfortably in bed," I added, interrupting him.
+"You needn't finish the sentence in the way you were about to do; I was
+never much of a favourite of yours, Mr Munch, I know."
+
+"I hope we shall be better friends in future, Master Jack," he remarked.
+"You used, you know, to try my temper not a little sometimes."
+
+As the old clerk was accustomed to long and sudden journeys, we stopped
+nowhere, except for a few minutes to get refreshments, till we rattled
+up to the George Inn at Portsmouth.
+
+Much to our satisfaction, we heard from the waiter that the Russian
+frigate was still at Spithead, and as the weather was fine, we hurried
+down the High Street, intending at once to engage a wherry and go off to
+her.  As we reached the point a man-of-war's boat pulled up, and several
+officers stepped on shore.  "That is not the English uniform," observed
+Munch; "perhaps they have come from the Russian frigate."  He was right,
+I was sure, for I thought that I recognised the countenances of several
+I had known on board the _Alexander_.  Among them was a tall, slight
+young man, dressed as a sub-lieutenant.  I looked at him earnestly,
+scanning his features.  It might be Clement, yet I should not under
+other circumstances have thought it possible.  The young man stopped,
+observing the way I was regarding him, and I began to doubt that he
+could be Clement, as he did not appear to know me.  I could bear the
+uncertainty no longer, so, walking up to him, I said, "I am Happy Jack!
+Don't you know me?"  His whole countenance lighted up.  With a cry of
+pleasure he seized both my hands, gazing earnestly in my face.  "Jack,
+my dear fellow, Jack!" he exclaimed.  "You alive, and here!  Happy you
+may be, but not so happy as I am to see you.  I mourned you as lost, for
+I could not hope that you had escaped a second time."  His surprise was
+great indeed when I told him I came especially to search for him, and we
+at once agreed to repair to the "George," that I might give him the
+important information I had to afford, and settle, with the aid of Mr
+Munch, what course it would be advisable for him to pursue.
+
+He was overwhelmed, as may be supposed, with astonishment and
+thankfulness when I told him of the wonderful way in which I had become
+possessed of the title-deeds and jewels, which would, I hoped, establish
+his claims to a fair estate.
+
+This matter occupied some time.  "With regard to quitting the ship," he
+observed, "there will, I trust, be no difficulty.  I am but a
+supernumerary on board, and as I could not regularly enter the service
+till the frigate returned to Russia, the captain will be able to give me
+my discharge when I explain the circumstances in which I am placed."
+
+Having settled our plans, Mr Munch and I went on board with Clement.
+The captain at once agreed to what Clement wished, though he expressed
+his regret at losing him.  My friend the doctor recognised me, and
+treated me, as did several of the other officers, with much kindness and
+politeness.  I was, however, too anxious to get Clement home to accept
+their courtesy, and the next morning we were again on the road
+northward.
+
+Clement had studied hard while on board the Russian frigate, and had
+become a polished and gentlemanly young man, in every way qualified for
+the position he was destined to hold.  He was made not a little of by my
+family, and though at one time I felt a touch of jealousy at the
+preference I fancied he showed to Grace Goldie, he soon relieved my
+fears by telling me that he hoped to become the husband of one of my
+sisters.
+
+My father, after a considerable amount of labour, proved his identity
+with the son of Mr Clement Leslie, who perished with his wife at sea,
+and established his claims to the property.
+
+I had had quite enough of a "life on the ocean wave," and though I had
+no great fancy for working all day at a desk, I agreed to enter my
+father's office and tackle to in earnest, my incentive to labour, I
+confess, being the hope of one day becoming the husband of Grace Goldie.
+We married, and I have every reason still to call myself "Happy Jack."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+THE "SAN FIORENZO" AND HER CAPTAIN.
+
+NARRATED BY ADMIRAL M--.
+
+There was not a happier ship in the service, when I joined her towards
+the end of the year 1794, than the gallant _San Fiorenzo_, Captain Sir
+Harry Burrard Neale, and those were not days when ships were reckoned
+little paradises afloat, even by enthusiastic misses or sanguine young
+midshipmen.  They were generally quite the other thing.
+
+The crews of many ships found it that other thing, and the officers, of
+course, found it so likewise.  If the men are not contented, the
+officers must be uncomfortable; and, at the same time, I will say, from
+my experience, that when a ship gained the title of a hell-afloat, it
+was always in consequence of the officers not knowing their duty, or not
+doing it.  Pride, arrogance, and an utter disregard for the feelings of
+those beneath them in rank, was too prevalent among the officers of the
+service, and was the secret of the calamitous events which occasionally
+happened about that time.
+
+My noble commander was not such an one as those of whom I have spoken.
+There were some like him, but not many his equals.  I may truly say of
+him "that he belonged to the race of admirals of which the navy of Old
+England has a right to be proud; that he was a perfect seaman, and a
+perfect gentleman."
+
+"He was one of the most humane, brave, and zealous commanders that ever
+trod a deck, to whom every man under him looked up as a father."  I was
+with him for many, very many years--from my boyish days to manhood,--and
+I may safely say that I never saw him in a passion, or even out of
+temper, though I have seen him indignant; and never more so than when
+merit--the merit of the junior officers of the service--has been
+overlooked or disregarded.  I never heard him utter an oath, and I
+believe firmly that he never allowed one to escape his lips.  I will say
+of him what I dare say of few men, that, in the whole course of his
+life, he was never guilty of an act unworthy of the character of a
+Christian and a gentleman.  I was with him when his career was run--
+when, living in private on his own estate, the brave old sailor, who had
+ever kept himself unspotted from the world, spent his days in "visiting
+the fatherless and widows in their affliction"--walking from cottage to
+cottage, with his basket of provisions or medicines, or books, where the
+first were not required.
+
+Genuine were the tears shed on his grave, and hearty was the response as
+the following band gave forth the air of "The Fine Old English
+Gentleman, all of the Olden Time!"
+
+And now, on the borders of his estate, visible afar over the Solent Sea,
+there stands a monument, raised by his sovereign and by those who knew
+and loved him well, all eager to add their testimony to his worth.  But
+yet he lives in the heart of many a seaman, and will live while one
+remains who served under his command.  But, avast! whither am I driving?
+My feelings have carried me away.
+
+Note: The "Solent Sea" is the name of the channel between the Isle of
+Wight and the mainland.
+
+After what I have said, it is not surprising that the _San Fiorenzo_
+should have been a happy ship.  Her captain made her so.  From the
+highest to the lowest, all trusted him; all knew that he had their
+interest at heart--all loved him.  The _San Fiorenzo_ might have been a
+happy ship under an inferior commander--that is possible; but I doubt
+very much whether her crew would have done what they did do under any
+officer not possessed of those high qualities for which Sir Harry was so
+eminently distinguished.  The _San Fiorenzo_ was highly honoured, for
+she was the favourite ship, or rather, Sir Harry was the favourite
+captain of His Majesty George the Third, who, let people say what they
+will of him, was truly the sailors' friend, and wished to be his
+subjects' friend, as far as he had the power.  Sir Harry was a
+favourite, not because he was a flatterer, but because the King knew him
+to be an honest man.
+
+George the Third, as is well known, was very fond of spending the summer
+months at Weymouth, whence he could easily put to sea in his yacht, or
+on board a man-of-war, placed at his disposal.  He seemed never to tire
+of sailing, especially with Sir Harry.
+
+Whist was the constant game in the royal cabins.  Sir Harry, who did
+everything as well as he could, though far from a good player, often
+beat the King, who was an indifferent one.  Lord A--, a practised
+courtier, was, on the contrary, a remarkably good one, and generally
+beat Sir Harry.  When, however, Lord A--played with the King, His
+Majesty always came off victorious.  The King used to pretend to be
+exceedingly puzzled.
+
+"It's very odd--very odd.  I beat Lord A--, Lord A--beats Sir Harry, and
+Sir Harry beats me.  How can it be--how can it be?"
+
+The King was always anxious to stand out to sea, so as to lose sight of
+land.  This, however, was too dangerous an amusement to allow him.  Sir
+Harry's plan was to put the ship's head off-shore, and to make all sail.
+This satisfied the King, who was then easily persuaded to go below to
+luncheon, dinner, or tea, or to indulge in his favourite game.  Sail was
+soon again quietly shortened, and the ship headed in for the shore.
+Sometimes the King seemed rather surprised that we should have made the
+land again so soon; but whether or not he suspected a trick, I cannot
+say.  His only remark was, "All right, Sir Harry; you are always right."
+
+It was impossible for a monarch to be more condescending and affable
+than was the good old King to all on board.  He used to go among the
+men, and talk to them in the most familiar way, inquiring about their
+adventures and family histories, and evidently showing a sympathy with
+their feelings and ideas.  Did they love the old King?  Ay, there was
+not a man of them who would not gladly have died for him.  It was the
+same with the midshipmen and officers.  He used to delight in calling up
+us youngsters, and would chat with us as familiarly as would any private
+gentleman.  He showed his real disposition, when able thus to cast aside
+the cares of state, and to give way to the kindly feelings of his heart.
+I say again, in that respect the King and his captain were worthy of
+each other.  The following anecdote will prove it:--
+
+We had gone to Portsmouth, leaving the King at Weymouth, and were
+returning through the Needles, when, as we got off Poole harbour, a
+small boat, with three people in her, was seen a little on the starboard
+bow.  One man was rowing, the other two persons were beckoning,
+evidently towards the ship.  As we drew near, we saw, through our
+glasses, that the two people were an old man and woman, and, as we
+appeared to be passing them, their gestures became more and more
+vehement.  Many captains would have laughed, or taken no notice of the
+old people.  Not so Sir Harry--he had a feeling for everyone.  Ordering
+the ship to be hove-to, he allowed the boat to come alongside.
+
+"Oh, captain, is our ain bairn Davie on board?" shouted the old people,
+in chorus.
+
+Sir Harry, with the benignant smile his countenance so often wore,
+directed that they might be assisted up the side.
+
+"Who is it you want, good people?" he asked, as soon as their feet were
+safely planted on the deck, where they stood, gazing round with
+astonished countenances.
+
+"Our ain son, Davie--David Campbell, sir," was again the reply.
+
+"Is there any man of that name on board?" inquired Sir Harry.  "Let him
+be called aft."
+
+A stout lad soon made his appearance, and was immediately pressed in the
+old people's arms.  This son was a truant, long absent from his home.
+At length, grown weary at delay, quitting their abode near Edinburgh,
+they had travelled south, inquiring at every port for their lost son,
+and only that morning had they arrived by waggon at Poole, believing
+that it was a port where men-of-war were to be found.  A boatman, for
+the sake of a freight, had persuaded them to come off with him, pointing
+out the ship which was then coming out through the Needles.
+
+Sir Harry was so pleased with the perseverance and affection which the
+old couple had exhibited, that he took them on to Weymouth, when the
+story was told to the King.  His Majesty had them presented to him, and
+he and Queen Charlotte paid them all sorts of attention, and at length,
+after they had spent some weeks with their son, dismissed them, highly
+gratified, to their home in the North.
+
+Queen Charlotte was as good a woman as ever lived, and, in her way, was
+as kind and affable as was the King.  She had a quaint humour about her,
+too, which frequently exhibited itself, in spite of the somewhat painful
+formality of the usual court circle.  As an example--Sir Harry had had a
+present of bottled green peas made to him the previous year, and,
+looking on them as a great rarity, he had kept them to be placed on the
+table before his royal guests.  As he knew more about ploughing the
+ocean than ploughing the land, and affairs nautical than horticultural,
+it did not occur to him that fresh green peas were to be obtained on
+shore.  The bottled green peas were therefore proudly produced on the
+first opportunity.
+
+"Your Majesty," said Sir Harry, as the Queen was served, "those green
+peas have been kept a whole year."
+
+The Queen made no reply till she had eaten a few, and sent several
+flying off from the prongs of her fork.  Then, nodding with a smile, she
+quietly said, "So I did tink."
+
+To the end of his days, Sir Harry used to laugh over the story, adding,
+"Sure enough, they were very green; but as hard as swan-shot."
+
+But I undertook to narrate a circumstance which exhibited Sir Harry
+Burrard Neale's character in its true colours.  I need not enter into an
+account of that painful event, the Mutiny of the British Fleet.  It
+broke out first at Spithead, on the 15th April, 1797, on board Lord
+Bridport's flag-ship, the _Royal George_; the crews of the other ships
+of the fleet following the example thus set them.  The men, there can be
+no doubt, had very considerable grievances of which to complain; nor can
+it be well explained how, in those days, they could by legal means have
+had them redressed.  One thing only is certain, mutiny was not the
+proper way of proceeding.  We were at Spithead, and not an officer in
+the fleet knew what was about to occur, when, on the 14th, two of our
+men desired to speak with the captain, and then gave him the astounding
+intelligence that the ships' companies of the whole fleet had bound
+themselves to make certain important demands, and which, if not granted,
+that they would refuse to put to sea.  The two men--they were
+quartermasters--moreover, stated that they had themselves been chosen
+delegates to represent the ship's company of the _San Fiorenzo_, by the
+rest of the fleet, but that they could assure him that all the men would
+prove true and loyal, and would obey their officers as far as was
+consistent with prudence.
+
+Sir Harry thanked them, assuring them, in return, that he would trust
+them thoroughly.  He, however, scarcely believed at that time the extent
+to which the mischief had gone.  The next day evidence was given of the
+wide spread of the disaffection.  Affairs day after day grew worse and
+worse; and although some of the superior officers acted with great
+judgment and moderation, others very nearly drove matters to the
+greatest extremity.
+
+Meantime, the delegates of the _San Fiorenzo_ attended the meetings of
+the mutineers, and, though at the imminent risk of their lives,
+regularly brought Sir Harry information of all that occurred.  He
+transmitted it to the Admiralty, and it was chiefly through his
+representations and advice that conciliatory measures were adopted by
+the Government.  Nearly all the just demands of the seamen having been
+granted, they returned to their duty, and it was supposed that the
+mutiny was at an end.  Just before this, the Princess Royal had married
+the Duke of Wirtemberg, and the _San Fiorenzo_ had been appointed to
+carry Her Royal Highness over to Cuxhaven.  We could not, however, move
+without permission from the delegates.  This was granted.  Our
+upper-deck guns were stowed below, and the larger portion of the
+upper-deck fitted with cabins.  In this condition, when arriving at
+Sheerness, we found to our surprise that the red flag was still flying
+on board the guardship, the _Sandwich_.  Supposing that her crew had not
+been informed of what had taken place at Spithead, Sir Harry sent our
+delegates on board her, that they might explain the real state of
+affairs.  The disgust of our men was very great when they were informed
+that fresh demands had been made by the crews of the North Sea fleet, of
+so frivolous a nature that it was not probable they would be granted.
+Our men, in spite of the character of delegates, which had been forced
+on them, could not help showing their indignation, and expressing
+themselves in no very courteous terms.  This showed the mutineers that
+they were not over-zealous in their cause, and our people were warned
+that, should they prove treacherous, they and their ship would be sent
+to the bottom.
+
+On returning on board, they informed Sir Harry of all that had occurred.
+Our delegates, at his suggestion, immediately communicated with those
+of the _Clyde_, an old fellow-cruiser, commanded by Captain Cunningham.
+That officer, on account of his justice, humanity, and bravery, enjoyed,
+as did Sir Harry, the confidence of his ship's company.  An arrangement
+was therefore made between the captains and their crews that, should the
+mutineers persevere in their misconduct, they would take the ships out
+from amidst the fleet, fighting our way, if necessary, and run for
+protection under cover of the forts at Sheerness.  Every preparation was
+made.  We waited till the last moment.  The mutineers showed no
+disposition to return to their duty.  The _Clyde_ was the in-shore ship;
+she was therefore to move first.  We watched her with intense interest,
+while we remained still as death.  Not one of our officers appeared on
+deck, and but few of the men, though numerous eager eyes were gazing
+through the ports.  The _Clyde_ had springs on her cables, we knew, but
+as yet not a movement was perceptible.  Suddenly her seamen swarmed on
+the yards, the topsails were let fall and sheeted home.  She canted the
+right way.  Hurrah! all sail was made.  Away she went; and, before one
+of the mutinous fleet could go in chase, she was under the protection of
+the guns on shore.  It was now our turn; but we had not a moment to
+lose, as the tide was on the turn to ebb, when we should have had it
+against us.  What was our vexation, therefore, when the order was given
+to get under weigh, to find that the pilot, either from fear,
+incompetency, or treachery, had declared that he could not take charge
+of the ship!  Sir Harry would have taken her out himself; but the delay
+was fatal to his purpose, and before we could have moved, boats from the
+other ships were seen approaching the _San Fiorenzo_.  They contained
+the delegates from the fleet, who, as they came up the side, began, with
+furious looks, to abuse our men for not having fired into the _Clyde_,
+and prevented her escaping.  High words ensued, and so enraged did our
+men become at being abused because they did not fire on friends and
+countrymen, that one of the quartermasters, John Aynsley by name, came
+aft to the first lieutenant, and entreated that they might be allowed
+"to heave the blackguards overboard."
+
+Note.  The plan was proposed and executed by the late Mr W.  Bardo,
+pilot, then a mate in the navy.  He returned to the _San Fiorenzo_, and
+piloted her as he had the _Clyde_, when her own pilot refused to take
+charge.
+
+A nod from him would have sealed the fate of the delegates.  I thought
+then, (and I am not certain that I was wrong) that we might at that
+moment have seized the whole of the scoundrels, and carried them off
+prisoners to Sheerness.  It would have been too great a risk to have run
+them up to the yard-arm, or hove them overboard, as our men wished, lest
+their followers might have retaliated on the officers in their power.
+
+No man was more careful of human life than Sir Harry, and it was a plan
+to which he would never have consented.  The delegates, therefore,
+carried things with a high hand, and, convinced that our crew were loyal
+to their king and country, they ordered us to take up a berth between
+the _Inflexible_ and _Director_, to unbend our sails, and to send our
+powder on board the _Sandwich_, at the masthead of which ship the flag
+of the so-called Admiral Parker was then flying.  That man, Richard
+Parker, had been shipmate with a considerable number of the crew of the
+_San Fiorenzo_, as acting lieutenant, but had been dismissed his ship
+for drunkenness, and having lost all hope of promotion, had entered
+before the mast.
+
+Our people had, therefore, a great contempt for him, and said that he
+was no sailor, and that his conduct had ever been unlike that of an
+officer and a gentleman.  Such a man, knowing that he acted with a rope
+round his neck, was of course the advocate of the most desperate
+measures.  Everything that took place was communicated immediately to
+Sir Harry, who advised the men to pretend compliance, and, much to our
+relief, the other delegates took their departure.  As soon as they were
+gone, Sir Harry told the ship's company that, provided they would agree
+to stand by him, he would take the ship into Sheerness, as before
+intended.  The men expressed their readiness to incur every possible
+risk to effect that purpose.  The almost unarmed condition of the ship
+at the time must be remembered.  The men set zealously to work to
+prepare for the enterprise.  Springs were got on our cables.  All was
+ready.  The flood had made.  The object was to cast in-shore.  The men
+were at their stations.  We were heaving on the spring--it broke at the
+most critical moment, and we cast outward.  There was no help for it.
+Nothing could prevent us from running right in among the two ships of
+the mutinous fleet which I have mentioned, and which lay with their guns
+double shotted, and the men at quarters, with the lanyards in their
+hands, ready to fire at us.  Our destruction seemed certain; but not for
+a moment did our captain lose his presence of mind.  Calm as ever, he
+ordered the quartermaster Aynsley to appear on deck as if in command,
+while the officers concealed themselves in different parts of the ship,
+he standing where he could issue his orders and watch what was taking
+place.  All was sheeted home in a moment, and we stood in between the
+two line-of-battle ships, the _Director_ and _Inflexible_.  The ship, by
+this time, had got good way on her.  It appeared that we were about to
+take up the berth into which we had been ordered, when Sir Harry
+directed that all the sheets should suddenly be let fly.  This took the
+mutineers so completely by surprise, that not a gun was then fired at
+us.  Sir Harry next ordered the helm to be put "hard-a-port," which
+caused the ship to shoot ahead of the _Inflexible_--we were once more
+outside our enemies.  Springing immediately on deck, he took the
+command, crying out, in his encouraging tone, "Well done, my lads--well
+done!"
+
+A loud murmur of applause and satisfaction was heard fore and aft; but
+we had no time for a cheer.
+
+"Now clear away the bulkheads, and mount the guns," he added.
+
+Every man flew with a hearty will to obey his orders.  And need there
+was; for scarcely were the words out of his mouth than the whole fleet
+of thirty-two sail opened their fire on us.  The shot flew like hail
+around us, and thick as hail, ploughing up the water as they leaped
+along it, chasing each other across the surface on every side of the
+ship.  We could have expected nothing else than to be sunk instantly,
+had we had time for consideration; but, as it was, wonderfully few
+struck our hull, while not a shroud was cut away, nor was a man hurt.
+The huge _Director_, close to us, might have sent us to the bottom with
+a broadside, but not a shot from her, that we could see, came aboard us.
+
+"They have not the heart to fire at us, the blackguards!" observed one
+of the men near me.
+
+"It may be that, Bill; but, to my mind, they're struck all of a heap at
+seeing the brave way our captain did that," answered another.  "If we'd
+had the guns mounted he'd have fired smack into them.  We send our
+powder aboard that pirate Parker's ship! we unbend our sails to please
+such a sneaking scoundrel as he!"
+
+"It's just this, that the misguided chaps are slaves against their will,
+and they haven't become bad enough yet to fire on their countrymen, and
+maybe old friends and shipmates," said a third.
+
+Such were the opinions generally expressed on board.  It was reported
+afterwards that the _Director_ fired blank cartridges, and this may have
+been the case, but I think more probably that her people were first
+struck with astonishment at our manoeuvre, and then, with admiration at
+the bravery displayed, purposely fired wide of us.  As, however, we were
+frequently struck, some shots by traitorous hands must have been aimed
+at us from her, or from some of the other ships.  In little more than
+two hours the bulkheads were cleared away from the cabin door, to the
+break of the quarter-deck, (the whole space having, as I before said,
+been fitted up with cabins for the suite of Her Royal Highness).  The
+guns on both sides were got up from the hold and mounted, and we were
+ready for action.  As soon as the task was accomplished, the men came
+aft in a body, and entreated, should any ships be sent after us by the
+mutineers, that they might be allowed to fight to the last, and go down
+with our colours flying, rather than yield, and return to the fleet at
+the Nore.
+
+Sir Harry readily promised not to disappoint their wishes.
+
+We stood on, but as yet no sign was perceptible of chase being made
+after us.  It was possible, we thought, that no ship's company could be
+induced to weigh in pursuit.  They well knew that we should prove a
+tough bargain, had any single ship come up with us.  Should we prove
+victorious, every man might have been hung as a pirate.  As to Parker,
+he dared not leave his fleet, as he ventured to call it.
+
+Our master, although a good navigator, did not feel himself justified in
+taking charge of the ship, within the boundaries of a Branch pilot, and
+we were therefore on the look-out for a pilot vessel, when a lugger was
+discovered on the lee-bow, and we were on the point of bearing down to
+her, when we made out first a ship or two, then several sail, and
+lastly, a whole fleet, which we guessed must be the North Sea Fleet
+standing for the Nore.  We were steering for them, to give the admiral
+notice of what had occurred, when the red flag was discovered flying on
+board them also.  They had, as it appeared, left their station in a
+state of mutiny, having placed the admiral and all the officers under
+arrest.  To avoid them altogether was impossible, and before long a
+frigate bore down to us.  Should our real character be discovered, we
+must be captured by an overwhelming force.  Still Sir Harry remained
+calm and self-possessed as ever.  As the frigate approached, he ordered
+all the officers below, and giving the speaking-trumpet to Stanley, the
+quartermaster, told him to reply as he might direct.  The frigate hailed
+and inquired what we were about.  "Looking out to stop ships with
+provisions, that we may supply the fleet," was the answer.  The people
+of the frigate, satisfied with this reply, proceeded to rejoin the
+fleet, while we, glad to escape further questioning, made sail in chase
+of the lugger.  She was a fast craft, and led us a chase of four hours
+before we captured her.  She proved to be the _Castor and Pollux_
+privateer of sixteen guns.  Having taken out the prisoners, and put a
+prize crew on board, we were proceeding to Portsmouth, when the lugger,
+being to windward, spoke a brig, which had left that place the day
+before, and from her gained the information that the mutiny had again
+broken out at Spithead.  Under these circumstances, Sir Harry thought it
+prudent to anchor under Dungeness until he could communicate with the
+Admiralty.  This we did; but it was a time of great anxiety, for the
+mutineers might consider it important to capture us, to hold Sir Harry
+and his officers as hostages, and to wreak their vengeance on our men.
+We got springs on the cable, and the ship ready for action.  During the
+middle watch a ship was made out bearing down towards us; she was high
+out of the water, and was pronounced by many to be a line-of-battle
+ship.  Sir Harry was on deck in an instant--the private signal was
+made--would it be answered?  Yes; but there was no security in this, as,
+should the ship's company have mutinied, they would naturally have
+possessed themselves of it.  The drum beat to quarters, the fighting
+lanterns were up, their light streaming through our ports.  Our men
+earnestly repeated their request to be allowed to sink rather than
+surrender to the mutineers.  No sight of the sort could be finer, as the
+brave fellows stood stripped to the waist, dauntless and resolute, not
+about to fight with a common foe, but one that would prove cruel and
+revengeful in the extreme.  The wind was extremely light, and the
+stranger closed very slowly.  The suspense was awful.  In a short time
+we might be engaged in a deadly struggle with a vastly superior foe, and
+deadly all determined that it should be.  Nearer and nearer the stranger
+drew; at length our captain hailed.  The answer came: "The _Huzzar_!
+Lord Garlais! from the West Indies."  She anchored close to us, and we
+exchanged visits.  Her people, ignorant of the mutiny, could not
+understand the necessity of the precaution we had taken.  They were so
+struck, when made acquainted with what had occurred, at the bravery and
+determination of our ship's company, that they immediately swore they
+would stick by us, and that, should any ship be sent to take us back to
+the Nore, they would share our fate, whatever that might be.  I am sure
+that they would have proved as good as their word, but daylight came,
+and no enemy appeared.  We lay here for some time, that Sir Harry might
+ascertain what was occurring on shore.  He found that most active and
+energetic measures were being taken to repress the mutiny, and in a few
+days we heard that the ship's company of the _Sandwich_ had taken her
+into Sheerness, and allowed their late leader, Parker, to be arrested by
+a guard of soldiers, sent on board for that purpose by Admiral Buckner.
+We sailed for Plymouth, and another ship was appointed to have the
+honour of taking over the Princess Royal.
+
+I must say a word or two about that mutiny.  I am convinced that the
+proportion of disaffected men was comparatively small.  The seamen had
+grievances, but those would have been redressed without their proceeding
+to the extremities into which they plunged, led by a few disappointed
+and desperate men like Parker.  Had greater energy been shown from the
+first, during some of the opportunities which occurred, the whole affair
+might have been concluded in a more dignified manner, at a much earlier
+date.  I will instance one occasion.  Having one day got leave from the
+delegates of our ship, while we lay off Sheerness, to go on shore, I
+landed at the dockyard.  I found, as I passed through it, that I was
+followed by the whole body of delegates, walking two-and-two in
+procession, Parker and Davis leading, arm-in-arm.  Just as we got
+outside the gates, the Lancashire Fencibles appeared, coming to
+strengthen the garrison.  As soon as the seamen got near the soldiers,
+they began to abuse them in so scurrilous a manner, that the officer in
+command halted his men, and seeing the admiral and superintendent, close
+to whom I at the time was standing opposite the gates, he came, and,
+complaining of the insults offered to himself and men, asked permission
+to surround and capture them.  So eager did I feel, that I involuntarily
+exclaimed, "Yes! yes! now's the time!"  The admiral, on hearing me,
+turned sharply round, and demanded how I dared to speak in that way?
+"Because there they all are, sir, and we may have them in a bunch!"  I
+replied, pointing to Parker, Davis, and the rest.  The admiral told me
+that I did not know what I was saying; but I did, and I have no cause to
+suppose that I was wrong.  When the truly loyal and heroic conduct of
+our ship's company became known, it was intended to raise a sum in every
+seaport town in England to present to them.  From some reason, however,
+the Government put a stop to it, and the only subscription received was
+from Ludlow in Shropshire, from whence the authorities sent 500 pounds
+to Sir Harry Neale, which he distributed to the ship's company on the
+quarter-deck.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+ORLO AND ERA.
+
+A TALE OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.
+
+There exists an extensive district on the west coast of Africa, about
+forty miles to the north of the far-famed river Niger, known as the
+Yoruba country.  Sixty years ago it was one of the most thickly
+populated and flourishing parts of equatorial Africa, the inhabitants
+having also attained to a considerable amount of civilisation, and made
+fair progress in many industrial arts.
+
+Then came those dreadful wars, carried on by the more powerful and cruel
+chiefs, for the purpose of making slaves to sell to the white traders,
+who carried them away to toil in the plantations of North and South
+America and Cuba, and the prosperity of the once happy people of Yoruba
+was brought to an end.  The savage rulers of Dahomey and Lagos now
+became notorious for the barbarities they inflicted on the unoffending
+tribes in their neighbourhood.  The Yoruba country was the chief scene
+of their hunting expeditions.  Towns and villages were attacked and
+burned; the able-bodied men and young women and children were carried
+off into slavery; the aged were ruthlessly murdered, fields and
+plantations were laid waste, and a howling wilderness was left behind.
+At length the scattered remnants of the population who had escaped from
+slavery and death assembled together in a spot among rocks, especially
+strong by nature, where they hoped to be able to make a stand against
+their persecutors.  Here they built a town, to which they gave the name
+of Abbeokuta, or the place among the rocks.  It increased rapidly in
+population and extent, for numerous were the unfortunates in search of a
+home, and rest, and peace.
+
+Lagos, one of the chief strongholds of the slave-dealers, which the
+Yorubans most had to fear, has since been taken possession of by the
+British, and has been declared an English colony or settlement; but
+Dahomey, governed by its bloodthirsty monarch, with his army of six
+thousand Amazons and five thousand male warriors, still exists as a
+terrible scourge to the surrounding territories.
+
+On the confines of the Yoruba country existed a beautiful village which
+had hitherto escaped the ravages of the relentless slave-hunting foe.
+It was situated on the banks of a rapid stream, which gave freshness to
+the air, and fertility to the neighbouring plantations.  Palms, dates,
+and other trees of tropical growth, overshadowed the leaf-thatched
+cottages, in which truly peace and plenty might be said to reign.
+Although true happiness cannot exist where Christianity is not, and
+where the fear of the fetish and the malign influence of the spirit of
+evil rules supreme over the mind, the people were contented, and
+probably as happy as are any of the countless numbers of the still
+benighted children of Africa.  Rumours of wars and slave-hunts reached
+them, but they had so long escaped the inflictions others had suffered,
+that they flattered themselves they should escape altogether.  So little
+accustomed are the negro race to look to the future, contented with the
+pleasures of the passing moment, that as they did not actually see the
+danger, they allowed no anticipation of evil to mar their happiness.
+The hearts of the dark-skinned children of that burning clime are as
+susceptible of the tender sentiments of love and friendship as many of
+those boasting a higher degree of civilisation, and a complexion of a
+fairer hue.  No couple, indeed, could have been more warmly attached
+than were young Orlo and Era, who had lately become man and wife, and
+taken up their abode in the village.  They were industrious and happy,
+and from morning till night their voices might be heard singing as they
+went about their daily work.  Orlo employed himself principally in
+collecting the various products of the country to sell to the traders
+who occasionally visited the district,--palm oil, and gold dust from the
+neighbouring rivulet, and elephants' tusks, and skins which he took in
+the chase.
+
+At length Era gave birth to a child, a little boy, which proved a great
+addition to their happiness, and drew still closer the bonds of their
+affection.  Indeed no people can be fonder of their children than are
+the negroes of Africa.
+
+Soon after little Sobo was born Orlo set off on a hunting expedition
+with several other villagers, telling Era that he must get her some
+fresh soft skins for their child's bed, and that he must be more
+industrious than ever, as he had a family to provide for.
+
+Era entreated him not to be long away.
+
+"Two or three days will see me back, laden with the spoils of the
+chase," was his answer, in a cheerful tone.
+
+Era's heart sank within her--why, she could not tell.  With anxious eyes
+she watched him and his companions as, with bows, and arrows, and lances
+in hand, they disappeared among the trees.
+
+Seldom had Orlo and his party been more successful.  More than one lion,
+several antelopes, and numerous monkeys were killed.  Even a huge
+elephant was conquered by their skill and cunning.  The skins of the
+animals slaughtered were hidden in safe places, to be taken up on their
+return.  Excited by their success they proceeded even farther than they
+intended.  Night surprised them, and collecting together they formed a
+camp, with fires blazing in the centre to keep off the savage beasts
+roaming around.
+
+Their supper having been discussed, they were merrily laughing and
+talking over their adventures when they were startled by some terrific
+shouts and cries close to them.  They grasped their arms, but before a
+bow could be drawn a body of warriors rushed in on them with clubs and
+swords, knocking over or cutting down all who stood at bay or attempted
+resistance.  Some endeavoured to escape, but they were completely
+surrounded.  Several were killed by their savage assailants, and their
+bodies were left where they fell.  The greater number were secured with
+their arms bound tightly behind them, and they found themselves captives
+to the troops of the King of Dahomey, towards whose capital they were
+marched away in triumph.  They had heard enough of the fate which had
+befallen so many of their countrymen to know that they must never more
+expect to taste the sweets of liberty; but they were scarcely aware of
+the horrible cruelty to which the will of the tyrant King of Dahomey
+might compel some of them to submit.  Bitter, too, was the anguish which
+poor Orlo suffered when he felt that he should for ever be separated
+from his beloved Era.
+
+The journey was long and tedious, and the captives' feet were torn by
+the thorns and cut by the hard rocks over which they had to pass; but
+whenever they lagged behind they were urged on by the long spears of
+their relentless captors.  Arrived at the capital, they were astonished
+at its extent and the number of its inhabitants, and, more than all, by
+the vast army they saw drawn up for the inspection of the king.  They
+had little opportunity of seeing much, for they were soon conducted into
+a large low building, where they were secured by iron shackles, back to
+back, to a long beam, scarcely able to move.
+
+After remaining here for several days Orlo and others were separated
+from their companions and carried to a building on one side of the great
+square of the city, where all public ceremonies were performed.
+Dreadful shrieks assailed their ears both by day and night.  They heard
+they were uttered by the human victims offered up by the savage king to
+the spirits of his departed ancestors.
+
+They were not long left in doubt as to what was to be their fate.  They
+also were to be destroyed in the same manner.  Some of their number on
+hearing this sank into a state of apathy, others loudly bemoaned their
+cruel lot, and others plotted how they might escape, but Orlo could
+think only of his beloved Era, and the anxiety and anguish his absence
+would have caused her.
+
+At length Orlo and nine others were taken out and told they were to
+enjoy the high privilege of being sacrificed in presence of their king.
+They were now dressed in white garments, and tall red caps were put on
+their heads.  Their arms and legs were then bound securely, and they
+were placed in a sitting posture in small canoe-shaped troughs, and thus
+in a long procession were carried around the square amid the cruel
+shouts of the savage populace.  At length they reached a high platform
+or slope in the centre of the square, on which sat the king, under the
+shade of a vast umbrella, surrounded by his courtiers and chiefs.  Below
+the platform were collected a vast mob of savages, their hideous
+countenances looking up with fierce delight at the terrible drama which
+was to be enacted.  Among the crowd stood several men of gigantic
+stature, even more savage-looking than the rest, armed with huge knotted
+clubs.  These they knew instinctively were their intended executioners.
+Not one of them attempted to plead for mercy; that they knew were vain.
+Their eyes glanced hopelessly round, now on the assembled throng below,
+now on the groups collected on the platform, not expecting to meet a
+look of compassion turned towards them.  But yes, among one group they
+see a man of strange appearance.  His skin is white, and by his fine
+dress, glittering with gold, they believe him to be a great chief.  He
+advances towards the king, whom, with eager look, he addresses in a
+strange language.  What he says they cannot tell, till another man of
+their own colour speaks, and then they know that he is pleading for
+their lives; not only pleading, but offering a large ransom if they be
+given up to him.  How anxiously they listen for the reply!  The king
+will not hear of it.  The spirit of his father complains that he has
+been neglected; that his nation must have become degenerate; that they
+have ceased to conquer, since so few captives have been sent to bear him
+company in the world of shades.  Again the strange white chief speaks,
+and offers higher bribes.  Curious that he should take so much trouble
+about some poor black captives they think.  What can be his object?
+What can influence him?
+
+He does not plead altogether in vain.  The king will give him four for
+the sum he offers, but no more.  He would not dare thus to displease the
+shade of his father, and the white chief may choose whom he will.  The
+victims gaze anxiously at his countenance.  It is merciful and benign
+they think--unlike any they have before seen.  Which of them will he
+select?
+
+He does not hesitate; he knows what must be passing in the hearts of
+those poor wretches.  He quickly lays his hand on four of them, and
+turns away his head with sorrow from the rest.  Orlo is among those he
+has claimed.  They show but little pleasure or gratitude as they are
+released, and, being stripped of their sacrificial garments, are placed
+under charge of his attendants.  The rest of the miserable captives are
+held up, some by men, others by the Amazonian warriors, to the gaze of
+the expectant multitude, who shriek and shout horribly, and then they
+are cast forward into the midst of the crowd, when the executioners set
+on them with their clubs and speedily terminate their sufferings.  For
+several successive days is the same horrible scene enacted, the Fetish
+men declaring that the spirit of the late king is not yet satisfied.
+
+Orlo by degrees recovered from the stupor into which his sufferings,
+mental and bodily, and the anticipation of a cruel death had thrown him.
+He then found that the white chief, whose slave he considered himself,
+was no other than the captain of a British man-of-war, cruising off the
+coast for the suppression of the slave trade--not that he understood
+very clearly much about the matter, but he had heard of the sea, and
+that big canoes floated on it which carried his countrymen across it to
+a land from which none ever came back.  Still, as this captain had
+certainly saved his life, he felt an affection for him, and hoped that
+he should be allowed to remain his slave, and not be sold to a stranger.
+As to asking to be liberated to be sent back to Era, he did not for a
+moment suppose that such a request would be granted, and he therefore
+did not make it.  At last the coast was reached, and a ship appeared,
+and a boat came and took them on board.  The captain had seen something
+in Orlo's countenance which especially pleased him, so he asked whether
+he would like to remain with him; and Orlo, very much surprised that the
+option should be given him, said, "Yes, certainly."
+
+So Orlo was entered on the ship's books, and soon learned not only to
+attend on the captain, but to be a sailor.  His affection for his patron
+and preserver was remarkable.  Whatever Captain Fisher wished he
+attempted to perform to the best of his ability, while he was attentive
+and faithful in the extreme.  He soon acquired enough English to make
+himself understood, while he could comprehend everything that was said
+to him.
+
+The _Sea Sprite_ was a very fast sailing corvette, and had already, by
+her speed and the sagacity with which her cruising-ground was selected,
+made more captures than any other craft of the squadron.  Her success
+continued after Orlo had become one of her crew.  He always got leave to
+go on board the prizes when they were taken possession of, and his
+services were soon found of value as interpreter.  His object was
+naturally to inquire about news from his own part of the country.  He
+was not likely to obtain any satisfactory information.  Some time
+passed--another capture was made.  He returned on board the corvette
+very depressed in spirits, and was often seen in tears.  Captain Fisher
+asked him the cause of his sorrows.  He had learned that at length his
+own village had been surprised during the night by the slave-hunters of
+the King of Dahomey, that not one of the inhabitants had escaped, and
+that all had been carried off into captivity.  They had been sold to
+different dealers, and had been transported to the baracoons on
+different parts of the coast, ready for embarkation.  Where Era had been
+carried he could not ascertain; only one thing was certain--she and her
+child had been seen in the hands of the Dahomian soldiers, on their way
+to the capital.  His beloved Era was then a slave; and he by this time
+full well knew what slavery meant.  He had seen several slave ships
+captured, and the horrors, the barbarities, and indignities to which the
+captives on board were exposed.  He pictured to himself the terrible
+journey from the interior, the lash of the brutal driver descending on
+her shoulders as she tottered on with her infant in her arms, her knees
+bending from weakness, her feet torn with thorns and hard rocks--she who
+had been so tenderly cared for--whom he loved so dearly;--the thought
+was more than he could bear.  He looked over the side of the ship, and
+gazed at the blue waters, and said to himself, "I shall find rest
+beneath them; in the world of spirits I shall meet my own Era, and be
+happy."
+
+One of the officers of the ship, a Christian man, had watched him.  He
+had before observed his melancholy manner, so different to what he had
+at first exhibited.  Lieutenant L--called him, and asked him the cause
+of his sorrow.
+
+Orlo narrated his simple history.
+
+"And no one has thought all this time of imparting any knowledge of
+Gospel truth to this poor African," said the lieutenant to himself; and
+a blush rose on his own cheeks.  "No time shall be lost, though," he
+added; and he unfolded in language suited to his comprehension, and in
+all its simplicity, the grand scheme of redemption whereby sinning man
+can be accepted by a holy and just God as freed from sin, through the
+great sacrifice offered once on the Cross.
+
+Orlo listened eagerly and attentively.  All ideas of suicide had left
+his mind.  He longed to know more of this wonderful, this glorious news.
+
+"Then, Orlo, would you not wish to please so merciful and kind a Master,
+who has done so much for you?" asked the lieutenant.
+
+"Yes, massa, dat I would," answered the African.
+
+"One way in which you can do so, is to bear patiently and humbly, as He
+did, the afflictions the loving God thinks fit to send.  He does it in
+mercy, depend on that.  God's ways are not our ways; but the
+all-powerful God who made the world must of necessity know better what
+is right and good than we poor frail dying creatures, whom He formed
+from the dust of the earth, and who, but for His will, would instantly
+return to dust again."
+
+"Me see, me see," answered the negro, in a tone as joyful as if he had
+found a pearl of great price; and so he had, for he had found Gospel
+truth.
+
+"God knows better than we," was his constant remark after this when he
+heard others complaining of the misfortunes and ills of life.
+
+The ship had now been nearly her full time in commission, and her
+captain was in daily expectation of receiving orders to return home.
+Poor Orlo's heart sank within him.  He must either quit his kind master
+and his still kinder lieutenant, or, by leaving the coast, abandon all
+hopes of ever again seeing his beloved Era.  To be sure, he knew that
+she might long ere this have been carried off to the Brazils or Cuba;
+and faint indeed was the expectation that they ever should meet in this
+world.  Then, again, another feeling arose: "I am now a Christian and
+she is still a heathen.  How can God receive her in heaven?"  But after
+a time he thought--"Ah, but I can pray that she may become a Christian.
+God's ways are not our ways.  He will hear my prayers--that I know.  He
+can bring about by some of His ways what I cannot accomplish."  And Orlo
+prayed as he had never prayed before.  Captain Fisher treated Orlo with
+unusual kindness, and, under the circumstances, he could not have been
+happier on board any ship in the navy.
+
+Captain Fisher was not a man to relax in his efforts, as long as he
+remained on the station, to suppress the abominable traffic in human
+beings by all the means in his power.  The _Sea Sprite_ continued
+cruising, accordingly, along the coast, looking in at the different
+stations, till one morning, at daybreak, a suspicious schooner was seen
+at anchor, close in with the shore.  The increasing light revealed the
+corvette to those on board.  The schooner instantly slipped her cable
+and stood along the coast, while the _Sea Sprite_ made all sail in
+chase.  Of the character of the vessel there could be no doubt, or she
+would not have attempted to run from the man-of-war.  The _Sea Sprite_
+stood as close in as the depth of water would allow; farther in she dare
+not go.  There was still a possibility of the chase escaping.  Orlo, as
+usual, was the most eager on board.  He delighted in seeing his
+countrymen freed from slavery, and he never abandoned the hope of
+meeting with Era.  "I pray I meet her.  I know God hear prayer," said
+Orlo.
+
+The wind fell.  "Out boats," was the order.  Captain Fisher went
+himself.  The chase was a large schooner.  A boat was seen to put off
+from her and pull towards the surf: whether or not she could get through
+it seemed a question.  The English seamen bent to their oars; they were
+resolved to reach the chase before she could again get the breeze.  They
+clashed alongside, and soon sprang over her bulwarks.  No resistance was
+made.  Poor Orlo, glancing round, discovered, to his disappointment,
+that she had no slaves on board.  The master, it was found, had landed
+with the specie for the purchase of slaves.  One of the slave crew--a
+mate, he looked like--appeared to have a peculiar thickness under his
+knees; Orlo detected it, and pointed it out to the captain.  The
+master-at-arms was ordered to examine him.  Most unwillingly the fellow
+tucked up his trousers--grinning horribly at Orlo all the time--when he
+was found to have on a pair of garters, out of each of which rolled
+thirty doubloons.
+
+The schooner's head being put off-shore, the boats took her in tow,
+till, a breeze springing up, sail was made on her for Sierra Leone.  The
+next morning commenced with a thick mist and rain.  Orlo, from his
+quickness of vision, was now constantly employed as one of the
+look-outs.  He was on the watch to go aloft directly it gave signs of
+clearing.  His impatience, however, did not allow him to remain till the
+mist dispersed.  Away aloft he went, observing, "It must fine soon; den
+I see sip."  He had not been many minutes at the masthead when he
+shouted, "Sip in-shore!"  He had discovered her royals above the mist.
+Sail was instantly made in chase.  Some time elapsed before the _Sea
+Sprite_ was discovered.  Suddenly the mist cleared, and there appeared
+close in-shore a large American slave ship.  There was no doubt about
+her, with her great beam and wide spread of canvas.
+
+Hoisting American colours, the stranger made all sail to escape.  He was
+standing off the land; but as on that course he would have had to pass
+unpleasantly near the corvette, he tacked in-shore, and then bore away
+along the surf, hoping thus, with his large sails, to draw ahead and
+escape.  The light wind appeared to favour him, but Captain Fisher
+determined that it should not.  Ordering the boats away, he took one
+with a strongly-armed crew, and pulled to windward to cut off the chase,
+while two others went to leeward, so that his chance of escaping was
+small indeed.  The slave captain seemed to think so likewise.  He dared
+not meet in fight the true-hearted British seaman.  Regardless of the
+risk he and his own crew would run, of the destruction he was about to
+bring on hundreds of his fellow-creatures, the savage slave captain put
+up his helm, and ran the ship under all sail towards the shore.
+
+"What is the fellow about?" exclaimed Captain Fisher.  "If that ship is
+full, as she seems to be, she has not less than four or five hundred
+human beings on board, and he'll run the risk of drowning every one of
+them."
+
+It was too evident, however, that this was the design of the slaver's
+captain.  His heart was seared.  Long accustomed to human suffering in
+every possible form, he set no more value on the lives of his cargo than
+if they had been so many sheep, except so far as they could be exchanged
+for all-potent dollars.  On flew the beautiful fabric--for beautiful she
+was, in spite of her nefarious employment--to destruction.  With all her
+sails set, through the roaring surf she dashed, then rose on the summit
+of a sea, and down she came, striking heavily, her ropes flying wildly
+and her sails flapping furiously in the breeze.  What mattered it to the
+slaver's crew that they left their hapless passengers to perish!  Their
+boats were lowered, and, with such valuables as they could secure, and
+some of the slaves which, for their greater value, they wished to save,
+they made their escape to shore, leaving the ship, with the American
+colours flying, to her fate.
+
+Captain Fisher and the other boats now closed with the wreck, while the
+corvette also was standing in.  When close as she could venture to come,
+she anchored, and the master came off from her in a whale-boat and
+joined the other boats.  Terrible was the sight which now met the eyes
+of the English seamen.  Orlo beheld it, too, with horror and anguish.
+As the ship rolled fearfully from side to side, the terrified negroes
+forced their way up on deck, and in their wild despair, not knowing what
+to do, many leaped into the raging breakers which swept by alongside,
+and, helplessly whirling round and round, were soon hidden beneath the
+waves.  One after the other the poor wretches rushed up on deck; many,
+following the impulse of the first, leaped overboard to meet a like
+speedy death; others, clinging to the wreck, were washed overboard; some
+of the stronger still clung on; but many yet remained below.
+
+"This is sad work," exclaimed Captain Fisher.  "We must save these poor
+people at all hazards."
+
+A cheer was the reply, and, the men giving way, the boats dashed at
+great hazard through the surf to leeward of the wreck; but here it
+seemed almost impossible to board her from the heavy lurches she was
+making, sending the blocks and spars and rigging flying over their
+heads, and threatening to swamp the boats should they get alongside.
+Still Captain Fisher and his gallant followers persevered.  He was the
+first on board, and Orlo leaped on the deck after him.  The scene
+appeared even more horrible than at a distance.  The negroes, as they
+could get clear of their manacles, climbed up from the slave deck, and
+ran to and fro, shrieking and crying out like people deprived of reason.
+Some ran on till they sprang overboard; others turned again, and
+continued running backwards and forwards, till the seamen were compelled
+to catch them and throw them below till the boats could be got ready for
+their rescue.  The captain ordered Orlo to try and pacify them.  He
+answered, that their extreme terror arose from the idea which the
+slaver's crew had given them, that the object of the English in taking
+possession of the vessel was to cut all their throats.  Orlo did his
+best to quiet their fears when he learned the cause, assuring them the
+reason the British seaman had come on board was to do them good, and to
+try and save their lives.  It was some time, however, before they would
+credit his assertions.  The ship's barge had now been brought in and
+anchored just outside the rollers, while the cutter was backed in under
+the slaver's counter.  Three of the slaves at a time were then allowed
+to come up, and were lowered into the boat, from which the whale-boat
+took them through the surf to the barge, and that when full ultimately
+carried them to the corvette.  The process was of necessity slow, the
+toil was excessive, and the danger very great; but the British seamen
+did not shrink from it.  Orlo had from the first, while acting as
+interpreter, been scanning the countenances of all he met, making
+inquiries of those who could understand his language, (for all could not
+do so) if they could give him any information about his beloved Era.
+Again and again he went below, but the darkness prevented him from
+distinguishing any one, and the shrieks, groans, and cries from making
+his voice heard, or from hearing what any one might have said.
+
+Night closed on the hitherto unremitting labours of the gallant crew.
+They had thus saved two hundred poor wretches, but upwards of two
+hundred remained on board when darkness made it impossible to remove
+them.  Still, could they be left to perish, which they probably would if
+left alone?  The slaver's crew might return, and either attempt to land
+them, to keep them in captivity, or burn the ship, to prevent them from
+falling into the hands of the British.  The risk of remaining was very
+great, but several officers volunteered.  Orlo's friend, Lieutenant --,
+claimed the privilege, and Orlo begged that he might remain with him.
+The last performance of the boats was to bring off some rice which had
+been found in the captured schooner, and cooked, thoughtfully, by the
+captain's orders, in his coppers, in readiness for the liberated
+negroes.  Plenty of men were ready to remain with Lieutenant --.
+Without this supply of food, few, probably, of the slaves on board would
+have survived the night; even as it was, many of those who were rescued
+died on their passage to the corvette, or on her decks.  Lieutenant--and
+his brave companions had truly a night of trial.  The wind increased,
+the surf roared louder and louder as it broke around them, the ship
+rolled and struck more and more violently, till it seemed impossible
+that she could hold together, while all this time the unhappy captives
+below were shrieking and crying out most piteously for help.  Poor
+creatures! they knew not how to pray, or to whom to pray.  They thought
+and believed, and not without reason, that a Fetish, or spirit of evil,
+had got possession of them, and was wreaking his malice on their heads.
+Orlo gladly, by the lieutenant's orders, went frequently below to try
+and comfort them, and to assure them that by the return of daylight
+fresh efforts would be made for their rescue.  Still great indeed were
+their sufferings.  Many, both men, women, and children, died during that
+fearful night, from wet, cold, fear, and hunger, as they sat, still
+closely packed on the slave deck.  Orlo's kind heart made him suffer
+almost as much as they were doing--the more so that he felt how little
+could be done to relieve them.
+
+At length the morning dawned, when it was found that the ship had driven
+considerably farther in towards the beach.  As daylight broke, people
+were seen collecting on the shore; their numbers increased; they were
+gesticulating violently.  Did they come to render assistance to their
+perishing fellow-countrymen?  No; led on by the miscreant whites who had
+formed the crew of the slave ship, and deceived by their falsehoods,
+they had come to attempt the recapture of the ship.  The corvette had,
+of necessity, stood off-shore for the night.  Lieutenant --, hoisting a
+signal of distress, prepared to defend the prize to the last.  He
+examined the shore anxiously.  The slaver's crew and their black allies
+were bringing boats or canoes to launch, for the purpose of attacking
+the ship.  Should the wretches succeed, he knew that his life and that
+of all his companions would be sacrificed.
+
+At length the corvette was seen working up under all sail.  She
+approached; her anchor was dropped, and her boats, being lowered, pulled
+in towards the wreck.  As they got near, the people on shore, balked in
+their first project, opened a hot fire of musketry on them.  The boats
+had not come unarmed.  The larger ones were immediately anchored, and,
+each having a gun of some weight, opened a hot fire on the beach.  This
+was more than the slave-dealers had bargained for.  They were ready
+enough to kill others, but had no fancy to be killed themselves.
+Several times the blacks took to flight, but were urged back again by
+the white men, till, some of the shot taking effect on them, the beach
+was at last cleared.
+
+The wreck was now again boarded.  Lieutenant--and his men were found
+almost worn out; the hold was full of water, and the ship was giving
+signs of breaking up.  No time was to be lost.  The larger boats
+anchored, as before, outside the rollers, and, by means of the smaller
+ones, communication by ropes being established, the negroes were, a few
+at a time, hauled through the surf.  Many were more dead than alive, and
+several died before they reached the corvette.  Some were brought up by
+their companions dead, and many were the heartrending scenes where
+fathers and mothers found that they had lost their children, husbands
+their wives, or children their parents.  Orlo had held out bravely all
+the night, but his strength, towards the morning, gave way, and
+Lieutenant --, seeing his condition, directed that he should be carried
+back to the corvette, which he reached in an almost unconscious state.
+
+This living cargo was composed of all ages.  There were strong men and
+youths, little boys, women, young girls, and children, and several
+mothers with infants at their breasts.  How fondly and tenderly the poor
+creatures pressed them there, and endeavoured to shelter them from the
+salt spray and cold!  Fully two hundred were carried on board the
+corvette during the morning, and it was found that the immortal spirits
+of nearly fifty of those who had been left on board during the night had
+passed away.  The last poor wretch being rescued, the wreck was set on
+fire, both fore and aft; the flames burst quickly forth, surrounding the
+masts, from which still floated that flag which, professing to be the
+flag of freedom, has so often protected that traffic which has carried
+thousands upon thousands of the human race into hopeless and abject
+slavery.  The seamen instinctively gave a cheer as they saw it disappear
+among the devouring flames.
+
+The labours of Captain Fisher and his brave crew were not over.  They
+had to provide food and shelter for fully four hundred of the rescued
+negroes.  Rice, as before, was boiled, and cocoa was given them, and
+those who most required care were clothed and carried to the galley fire
+to warm.  Among the last rescued was a young woman with a little boy, on
+whom all her care was lavished.  Though herself almost perished, before
+she would touch food she fed him, and when some clothing was given her
+she wrapped it round him.  She had been found in the fore part of the
+ship in an almost fainting condition, where she had remained unnoticed,
+apparently in a state of stupor, with her little boy pressed to her
+heart.  Orlo had been placed under the doctor's care.  It was not till
+the next morning that he was allowed to come on deck, where his services
+were at once called into requisition as interpreter.  Though
+unacquainted with the language of many of the tribes to which the
+captives belonged, he was generally able to make himself understood.  A
+sail had been spread over part of the deck, beneath which the women and
+young children were collected.  The doctor, when about to visit it,
+called Orlo to accompany him, as interpreter.  Among them, sitting on
+the deck, and leaning against a gun carriage, with her arm thrown round
+the neck of a little boy, was a young woman, though wan and ill, still
+possessing that peculiar beauty occasionally seen among several of the
+tribes of Africa.  Orlo fixed his eyes on her; his knees trembled; he
+rushed forward; she sprang up, uttering a wild shriek of joy, and his
+arms were thrown around her.  He had found his long lost Era and their
+child.  "Ah!  God hear prayer; I know now!" he exclaimed joyfully.
+"Wife soon be Christian, and child.  God berry, berry good!"
+
+Happily, the next morning the corvette fell in with another man-of-war,
+between which and the schooner the rescued slaves being distributed, all
+three made sail for Sierra Leone.  The blacks were there landed, and
+ground given them on which to settle.  Orlo begged that he and Era and
+their child might also be there set on shore.  He did not go
+empty-handed, for, besides pay and prize-money, generously advanced him
+by his captain, gifts were showered on him both by his officers and
+messmates, and he became one of the most flourishing settlers in that
+happy colony.  At length, however, wishing once more to see his own
+people, and to assist in spreading the truth of the Gospel, which he had
+so sincerely embraced, among them, he removed to Abbeokuta, where, with
+his wife now a Christian woman, and surrounded by a young Christian
+family, he is now settled, daily setting forth, by his consistent walk,
+the beauties and graces of the Christian faith.  Whenever any of his
+friends are in difficulties, he always says, "Ah!  God hear prayer!  You
+pray; never fear!"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Happy Jack, by W.H.G. Kingston
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